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AUTHOR: 
 
 HEEREN, ARNOLD 
 HERMANN LUDWIG 
 
 TITLE: 
 
 HISTORICAL 
 RESEARCHES INTO 
 
 PLACE: 
 
 LONDON 
 
 DA TE : 
 
 1 846-1 857 
 
Master Negative # 
 
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 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 
 PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT 
 
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 H363 
 
 Heeren, Airnoldj H[ermannj L[Udwig] 1760-1842. 
 
 Historical rescarclics into the politics, intercourse, and 
 trade of the principal nations of antiquity. My A. H. L. 
 Heeren ... Tr. from the German ... London, H. G. 
 Bohn, KS47-57.l8ll6-l857* 
 
 4 V. front., foM. pi., maps (partly fold.) fold. jilniiH. 2:>"". 
 
 Vol. 1-2 liavc jronci-ai t.-p. oiilv; v. .'>-4. Piwcial t.-j»^onh;f , . 
 
 Vol. a: 2«UHi.; V. 4: Ne\vaii<riiuprove(Unl.; V. 1 ^Ath ed. ^ 
 
 CoNrKXix.— V. 1. Asiatic nations: rensjan.v, Pha^nicians, Ribylonian??. 
 IS^.^v. 2. Asiatic nations: Scyiliian8, Indians, Appendixes. 1854.— [v. .*)] 
 Cartliaixinians, Kiliiopiana and Kgyptians. 1S57.— [v. 4] Ancient Cireece,tr. 
 by George liancrol't. Political conFefiuenccs of the reformation. The rise, 
 projrress and practical influence of political theories. The rise and growth 
 of the continental interest.^ of Great Britain. 1847. 
 
 Subject entries: History, ^ Ancient. 
 
 * . . a-1236 
 
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Columbia (MnttJf rsfftp 
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 GIVEN BY 
 
 Prof. £• R. A. Seligiaan 
 

 HISTORICAL RESEARCHES 
 
 INTO THfi 
 
 POLITICS, INTERCOURSE, AND TRADE 
 
 OF THE PRINCIPAL NATIONS 
 
 OF ANTIQUITY. 
 
 BY A. H. L. HEEEEN. 
 
 PART I. ASIATIC NATIONS: 
 
 CONTAINING THE PERSIANS, PHCENICIANS, BABYLONIANS, 
 
 SCYTHIANS, INDIANS, AND VARIOUS GEOGRAPHICAL 
 
 AND PHILOLOGICAL APPENDIXES, SOME 
 
 NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 i 
 
 \ 
 
• 
 
 HISTORICAL RESEARCHES 
 
 INTO THE 
 
 POLITICS, INTERCOURSE, AND TRADE 
 
 OF THE PRINCIPAL NATIONS 
 
 OF ANTIQUITY. 
 
 BY A. H. L. HEEREN, 
 
 KNIGHT OF THE NORTH STAR AND GUELPHIC ORDER s AULIC COUNSELLOR AND PROFESSOR OF 
 HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF GOETTINGEN j AND MEMBER OF SEVERAL OTHER 
 
 LEARNED SOCIETIES. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN. 
 
 VOL. L 
 
 ASIATIC NATIONS. PERSIANS, PHCENICIANS, 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 LONDON: ' 
 HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 
 
 MDCCCXLVIi 
 
TO THE READER. 
 
 t-^, 
 
 f^ 
 
 U i\ 
 
 Ol ?^-^- 
 
 l|p|l««*^'4,M|B«*f^/^*l« 
 
 H-' y 'b\ 
 
 330 
 
 H3&3 
 
 Vi 
 
 \ 
 
 JOHN CBILDS AND SON, BUNGAY. 
 
 As a publisher, I feel great satisfaction in placing these volumes, 
 which complete the great work of Professor Heeren on the Politics, 
 Trade, and Intercourse of the principal states of antiquity, in the 
 hands of the English reader. I trust I shall at least deserve his 
 thanks for opening to him a new and interesting source of instruction 
 and pleasure ; and that he will bestow the same indulgence upon 
 the translation of this portion of the work, which he has shown 
 to the volumes on the nations of Africa. 
 
 I am emboldened to claim this indulgence with somewhat more 
 confidence in the present instance, as I have not personally so 
 much to dread from censure. Of the two volumes just referred 
 to, it is now very generally known that I am the translator, and 
 I cannot but feel grateful for the gentleness with which their de- 
 fects have been passed over. As the greater part of the present 
 portion of the work has been done by two gentlemen in every respect 
 much better qualified for the task, the same degree of forbearance, 
 I trust, will not be required ; praise could scarcely be more liber- 
 ally bestowed. My own sense of the imperfection of the perform- 
 ance, naturally induces me to ascribe this to the value of the 
 orit'inal work ; still there is some satisfaction in having given 
 such a version as should cause that to be readily appreciated, and 
 with that I am content. 
 
 Of the volumes now presented to the public, part of the first, 
 containing the Persians, has been translated by a gentleman 
 eminently qualified for the undertaking, and who has spared no 
 pains to give the sense of the German with accuracy. He has 
 besides referred to almost all the original authorities, and from 
 his attainments in classical literature, I feel no doubt that the 
 reader will find much of the spirit of Heeren's original work pre- 
 served in the English version. The same may be said of the 
 
 11 
 
VI 
 
 TO THE READER. 
 
 TO THE READER. 
 
 vu 
 
 ' '! 
 ; il 
 
 ii 
 
 |l' 
 
 gentleman into whose hands the remainder of the work, contain- 
 ing the Babylonians, the Scythians, the Indians, and Appendixes, 
 has fallen. But, in addition to his other attainments, an mtim^y 
 with the languages and learning of the East have peculiarly qua- 
 lified him to do justice to this portion of the work as -U be ap- 
 parent from the notes with which he has ennched it. For the 
 Ltion of the work devoted to the Phcenicians, and the first 
 Lpter of the Babylonians, I have to solicit for myself the in- 
 dulgence of the reader. I feel it proper to mention this, lest 
 others should be censured for what I may have done amiss. 
 
 In this portion of his work Professor Heeren has thrown con- 
 siderable light ui^n the commerc^ rela^on^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 sea^hrrf the lelmed Michaelis and Gesenius two men who 
 lave auained the highest rank as biblical critics, it has been ne- 
 cessary to follow their translation and interpretations, which in 
 many places difTer from the generally received versions both of 
 Geria'ny and England. As. however, the Divine authority of the 
 inspired writers is left wholly unimpaired, and - PO-^jJ ^^^ 
 trine is at all involved in these investigations, they have been 
 given as found in the German ; and must be considered, in the« 
 Le character, as illustrations of those highly mteresting parts of 
 sacred history which have reference to the life and manners of the 
 
 earl V Asiatic nations. . , , , 
 
 With regard to the present translation it remains to be added, 
 that it has been made from the last and best edition of the on- 
 i German, and from a copy supplied for that purpose by the 
 Sor himself, who has likewise favoured the publisher v^ith 
 '^following papers, never before published, expressly for this 
 
 'Tl paper on the Navigation of the Phoenicians and Cartha- 
 ginians fo Britain, and their Settlements on the Coast, forming 
 Appendix VIII. * 
 
 reader. 
 
 2. A paper read before the Royal Society at Goettingen, on the 
 commerce of the city of Palmyra, forming Appendix IX. 
 
 3. A paper containing a brief sketch of the works connected 
 with Sanscrit literature, which have appeared since the last Ger- 
 man edition of these " Researches," together with a confirmed 
 statement of the author's method of determining the several ages 
 of Sanscrit classical compositions, forming Appendix X. 
 
 4. A paper on the ancient commerce of the island of Ceylon, 
 forming Appendix XI. 
 
 Valuable as are the works of Professor Heeren, it is hoped that 
 this additional matter, together with the pains which have been 
 taken with the work in general, will enhance the merits of this 
 translation to the English readers, and insure it that success 
 which the publisher anticipates. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO THE FOURTH EDITION. 
 
 jli 
 
 If the practical direction, which in modern times has heen given 
 to knowledge and science, is a general advantage, it is more 
 especially so in the study of antiquity. During a long period this 
 was confined merely to ancient languages, or to such trifling in- 
 vestigations as degraded the pursuit. But the spirit of the age, 
 which has reformed so much, has also prevailed here, and given 
 a new direction to this branch of learning. 
 
 Besides words, things have been found worthy of attention ; 
 and it is only by an application to these that the study of antiquity 
 has preserved and augmented its credit. 
 
 The present work, it is hoped, will further contribute to raise 
 the character of this pursuit. The subjects on which it treats, as 
 set forth in the title, are, " The Politics, Intercourse, and Trade 
 of the States of Antiquity ;" and as I can have no apprehensions 
 respecting their lack of importance, I have only to hope that my 
 labours may be found worthy of them. 
 
 It has not, however, been my design to Avrite a history of the 
 nations of the ancient world ; for I have no desire to repeat what 
 has already been, in some instances, very ably related by others. 
 Neither have I attempted, as the title page might seem to suggest, 
 a general history of politics and commerce ; nor do I even in any 
 way pledge myself to discuss all that relates to these interesting 
 topics. The way has been too little travelled for any single man 
 to enter fully upon it. A clearer light must also be first thrown 
 on the natural history of the ancients, and more accurate informa- 
 tion be collected respecting their wares and merchandise, than 
 we yet possess. I 
 
 My plan has no greater scope, if I except the general preliminary 
 views, than the delineation of particular nations, principally with 
 reference to the two express objects which I have already men- 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 tioned. But the choice of these nations,— as I have limited my- 
 self to no quarter of the world, to no particular climate, hut selected 
 such as appeared most remarkable for their government, or trade, 
 or both,— not only extends our horizon to the most distant bound- 
 aries of history and geography, but affords, such a variety of ob- 
 jects, as must necessarily give a high degree of interest to these 
 
 researches. 
 
 All here, however, depends upon the principles according to 
 which, and the spirit in which, these delineations are drawn. 
 Pure love of truth, the first virtue of the historian, will not I trust 
 be found wanting. In no part of my work have I any hypothesis 
 to estabHsh, any darUng proposition to support, or any opponent 
 to refute. Upon every occasion I have stated that which I have 
 found, and stated it just as I have found it ; the certain as certain, 
 the probable as merely probable. To do this, however, a judi- 
 cious selection and critical examination of the sources whence ma- 
 terials were to be drawn was necessary. I have, therefore, made it 
 my first rule to take, not merely credible, but, as far as possible, 
 contemporary writers for my authority ; and have only made use 
 of later writers, in cases where it appeared that their information 
 was drawn from the times under consideration. The sources 
 from which these drew I have always endeavoured to point out, 
 and the citations have been subjected to an accurate revision. An 
 unnecessary assemblage of quotations I have carefully avoided ; 
 still, I hold it to be the sacred duty of an historian to add them 
 where required ; for he by no means has a right to expect that 
 the reader should believe him upon his mere word. 
 
 It was of course necessary that learning and research should 
 form the foundation of my labour ; but I have endeavoured to re- 
 strain them merely to the groundwork. It has already beeh a 
 frequent subject of complaint, that our literature boasts but few 
 historical works distinguished for more than simple research. 
 But although my performance is not a history, in the strict sense 
 of the word, yet it belongs to that class ; and I trust that a series 
 of pictures of nations, drawn with spirit and fidelity, will help to 
 supply the deficiency complained of. It has then been my wish to 
 write a work which might interest and instruct every reader not 
 entirely uninformed, and especially the young admirers of histori- 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 » 
 
 cal science. To attain this end I have felt the essential import- 
 ance of the greatest possible clearness and precision in the descrip- 
 tions which I have given. I have therefore laboured hard to 
 obtain this object ; and have entirely sacrificed to it all those 
 ornaments with which so many disfigure, while they seek to 
 
 embelHsh history. 
 
 How far I may have attained my object it is not for me to de- 
 termine ; but I think I may fairiy venture to refer to the favour- 
 able reception which this attempt has met with since its first 
 appearance, both from the well-informed of Germany and of 
 foreign countries, as a proof that I have not altogether failed. I 
 may venture to do this so much the more, as I fortunately know 
 sufficiently well that the good opinion entertained of my work 
 has been formed by the well-informed and independent, and not 
 by the Aristarchs of our literature. This approbation, together 
 with the light which modem geographical discoveries have thrown 
 upon these subjects, imparted to me as it has been by the noble 
 liberaUty of a government, long known in Germany and Europe 
 as the constant protector of every useful science, has encouraged 
 me to use the greatest exertions to render my second edition, pub- 
 lished in 1805, and again, the third in 1815, as complete as my 
 abiUties would allow. But it lies in the nature of these investiga- 
 tions that they never can be complete. Every advance made in 
 the knowledge of countries and nations, and the sciences con- 
 nected with and depending upon it, throws a new light upon 
 them. And how great has been this advance during the ten 
 years that has elapsed since the third edition ! How many of the 
 countries of Central Asia, Persia, and Judaea— how completely ' 
 those of Northern Africa, Mgyvt, Ethiopia, even as far as the 
 distant Meroe— have been rescued from obscurity ! 
 
 That I have lost no opportunity of improving this, the fourth 
 edition, which forms the second half of my historical works, will 
 be better seen from an inspection of it than from any assertions I 
 can make. All that could be gathered respecting Asia, from the 
 works of Kinneir, Ker Porter, Pottinger, Stamford Raffles, and 
 others; as weU as from the learned investigations of Rhode, 
 Gesenius,"and Brehmer, has been diligently made use of. Scarcely 
 
 .Ai^ 
 
^ PREFACE. 
 
 a page will be found without addition and improvement ; some 
 chapters, as those upon Persepolis, Babylon, and so forth, have 
 been wholly or in great part re-written. In some particulars in 
 which I have become better informed, I have altered my text ; in 
 general, however, I have had the satisfaction to find, that pro- 
 gressive discovery has not contradicted my earlier views, but 
 rather, frequently in a surprising manner, confirmed them. If, 
 then, the reader, after consulting this edition, will take a retro- 
 spective glance at the state of our knowledge of antiquity thirty 
 years ago, when these Researches first appeared, I may confi- 
 dently expect from his impartial judgment the opinion that I 
 
 have not written in vain. 
 
 According to the original plan of this work, the reasons for 
 which are stated in the Introduction, it comprises the period pre- 
 vious to Alexander the Great, so that the principal nations of 
 three quarters of the globe will be treated of in the same num- 
 ber of parts, each of two or three volumes.* A fourth, containing 
 the Macedonian-Roman period, might very well be added to 
 them, which would complete the whole of antiquity. 
 
 The Introduction placed at the beginning is confined entirely 
 to general views of politics and commerce, and will give the 
 reader some previous acquaintance with the ground which he has 
 to wander over.f In the Asiatic Nations I have treated of the 
 Persians, the Babylonians, the Phoenicians, and the Scythians ; 
 to these were first added in the third edition, the Indians. The 
 investigations respecting the Persians present the picture of a 
 vast despotic empire, such as Asia has in all times contained. It 
 will, therefore, serve as an introduction to the greatest part of the 
 history of this portion of the globe. The explanations which I 
 have inserted respecting Persepolis would necessarily belong to 
 my plan, from the monuments there being so very important in 
 the study of Persian antiquity and government, even if they were 
 not in themselves of the highest interest. 
 
 * These three parts are now all translated into English, and may be had com- 
 
 ^TtMs Introduction ^dll be found in some copies prefixed to the first volume of 
 the African Nations. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 xiu 
 
 The second volume, devoted to the Phoenicians, Babylonians, 
 and Scythians, contains on the other hand, more especially a key 
 to the earliest commerce and intercourse of the ancient world ; 
 and of the great highways through Asia, upon which it was 
 carried on. All that I have to premise respecting the Indians, 
 will be found in the preface to the volume devoted to that people. 
 
 The maps of Asia and Africa, which accompany the work, re- 
 present these two parts of the world in the time of Alexander ; 
 and possess some value from their having, for the first time, the 
 great trading routes accurately marked upon them. I have only 
 to add, that these maps have been constructed principally for the 
 illustration of this work alone, according to which they must be 
 judged. 
 
 I owe especial acknowledgments, and the public as well as my- 
 self, to my learned friends the Aulic councillor M. Tychsen, and 
 M. Grotefend, formerly of Frankfort, and now director of the 
 Gymnasium at Hanover, for the valuable information they have 
 furnished me with ; which will be found in the Appendixes, and 
 which make no trifling addition to the worth and importance of 
 this part of my work. To the extensive acquaintance of the first 
 with the languages of the East, the reader is indebted for the in- 
 terpretation of the Indian words adopted by ancient writers from 
 the Persian ; whereby an additional light has been thrown upon 
 the ancient languages of Asia. But the kindness of M. Grotefend 
 has led him to furnish the reader at my request with " an essay 
 upon the arrow-headed character, with an attempt to decipher 
 the inscriptions at Persepolis." To these there is now added a 
 second upon " Pasargadse and the tomb of Cyrus." These will 
 enable the reader to form his own judgment upon these interesting 
 discoveries. I have also added two plates containing the recent 
 deciphering of the Zend alphabet, together with other apparatus 
 for reading it, and the interpretation, as far as the discovery at 
 present reaches. 
 
 There can be no greater enjoyment to the inquisitive spirit, 
 than to find light where he has hitherto found nothing but dark- 
 ness ! More than once I have experienced this agreeable sensa- 
 tion in the progress of the present investigations. And I may 
 
ht 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 venture with the more confidence to deliver this new edition, 
 probably the last that will pass from my hands, to the reader, be^ 
 cause happily I can safely assert, that much which formerly I 
 could present to him only in doubtful and obscure gloom, wiU 
 now be seen in the full and clear light of day. 
 
 < / 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Asia . 1 
 
 NATIONS OF ASIA. PERSIANS. 
 
 Chap. I. A Geographical and Statistical Survey ojp the 
 Persian Empire, according to Satrapies 59 
 
 Countries on this side the Euphrates : — 
 
 I. Asia Minor 65 
 
 II. Syria and Phoenicia . 81 
 
 Countries beyond the Euphrates : — 
 
 I. Countries between the Tigris and Euphrates .... 84 
 
 II. Countries between the Tigris and Indus 88 
 
 III. Persian India ^'78 
 
 Chap. II. On the Constitution of the Persian Empire. 
 
 I. General and historical account 207 
 
 II. Power and privileges of the monarch. Limitations im- 
 
 posed by the code of Zoroaster. Court, Harem, etc. . 230 
 
xvi CONTENTS. 
 
 PA6B 
 
 III. Administration of the provinces. Financial system. 
 
 Satraps 261 
 
 IV. Military affairs of Persia 275 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 Chap. I. Internal Condition and Government 292 
 
 Chap. II. Colonies and Foreign Possessions 302 
 
 Chap. III. Navigation and Sea Trade 325 
 
 Chap. IV. Manufactures and Land Trade 341 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 Chap. I. General View of the Country and its Inhabitants . .371 
 Chap. II. Commerce 413 
 
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 ASIA. 
 
 Of the three divisions of the ancient world there is none 
 which more attracts and rewards the attention of the philo- 
 sophical historian, engaged in the investigation not of in- 
 dividual nations but of the human race, than Asia. It was 
 on Asia that the first dawn of history broke ; and during 
 succeeding ages, when Africa was involved in almost total 
 obscurity, from which Europe herself was slowly disengaged, 
 there rested upon Asia a degree of light which, if it did not 
 illuminate equally all the great events of which that conti- 
 nent was the theatre, served at least to illustrate their general 
 course, and to fiirnish important data towards the history of 
 the human species. The further we advance in such in- 
 quiries — the more that we compare the various traditions of 
 different nations respecting their several origins and ancient 
 history, and the better we are enabled to contrast the diversi- 
 ties of their external characters, the more do we find ourselves 
 constantly directed to Asia as the central point — the more are 
 we impressed with the conviction that in that great continent 
 was the cradle of mankind, whatever may have been the in- 
 fluence of remote climates and favourable or unfavourable cir- 
 cumstances to ennoble or degrade the original stock. Even 
 when we trace the progress of the arts and sciences, not- 
 withstanding the pains which the nations of the West have 
 bestowed in cultivating such pursuits, and conferring upon 
 them, as it were, an impress of their own, we find ourselves 
 uniformly recalled to the East as the place of their origin ; 
 and it is there that we discover the native seat, not only of 
 our own religion, but of all other modes of belief which have 
 become at any time predominant in the world. 
 
 Even in respect of her geographical position, Asia has 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 B 
 
2 ASIA. 
 
 been favoured beyond either of the other portions of the . 
 old continent. Its territory begins in a degree of N. lat. 
 beyond which the globe ceases to be habitable to men, and, 
 filling the whole extent of the temperate zone, stretches her 
 vast peninsulas alone far into the space between the tropics, 
 and one of them, the easternmost, nearly to the equator. 
 Her richest and most fruitful provinces occupy tlie degrees 
 of latitude which, in the case of Europe, are lost in the Me- 
 diterranean ; and it is only the extremities of her territory 
 which suffer from an excess of heat or cold. Europe, on 
 the other hand, appears on the map of the world only as a 
 sort of appendage to the north-western portion of Asia ; 
 and Africa, whose widest extent lies beneath the equator, 
 and whose regions are principally situated within the torrid 
 zone, can boast very few parts which, in temperature of 
 climate, can vie with the advantages possessed by the 
 greater part of Asia. 
 
 The vast extent of this last continent, whose area is four 
 times as large as that of Europe, and nearly a fourth greater 
 than that of Africa, presents the noblest theatre for display- 
 ing, in their utmost perfection and greatest variety, the in- 
 animate as well as the animated wonders of creation. Eu- 
 rope has no production which Asia has not ; and most of 
 those which she possesses in common with the latter are in- 
 ferior, except as far as they may have been improved by the 
 skill of Europeans. Africa indeed has some which belong 
 to her peculiar position and climate ; the race of negroes, 
 for instance, is confined to that continent, as well as some 
 plants and animals which flourish no where but under the 
 equator : but however striking and foreign the appearance 
 of nature may be in Africa to Europeans, it is nevertheless 
 for the most part invariable ; and the inhabitant of Caffraria 
 might believe himself at home on the coasts of Barbary, 
 where he would find nearly the same races of animals, the 
 same vegetable productions, and the same climate. On 
 the other hand, how vast a variety reigns in Asia ! How 
 different is the face of nature in the wide steppes of the 
 Mongols — in the flowery vales of Cashmere, and the sul- 
 try flats of Bengal ! — or again, in the perfumed groves of 
 Ceylon, the snowy mountains of Siberia, and the shores of 
 the Arctic Ocean ! 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 But, independently of her geographical position, Asia pos- 
 sesses other marked advantages over Africa. The means of 
 access from without, and of internal communication, are as 
 difficult in the case of the latter, as they are easy and unen- 
 cumbered in that of the former. The seas by which Asia 
 is surrounded, form on every side, but especially on her 
 southern coast, (the original seat of civilization,) vast gulfs, 
 which stretch far into the interior, and terminate in the em- 
 bouchures of mighty rivers ; facilitating the safe exchange 
 of articles of commerce. 
 
 The structure of the continent, and the equal distribution, ^ 
 throughout its extent, of considerable rivers, is probably a 
 principal reason why the interior of Asia is not found to 
 contain any deserts of sand of like magnitude with those 
 which in Africa present such formidable impediments to 
 commerce. An exception must be made in the case of 
 Arabia ; a peninsula which in its natural features, as well as 
 in its position, appears almost to belong to the adjoining 
 continent of Africa. It is true that Asia abounds in vast 
 pathless steppes, but these are by no means beset with the 
 same dangers which menace the traveller in the deserts of 
 Africa. On the contrary. Central Asia contains only one 
 waste to be compared for extent and desolation with those 
 of the other continent, that of Cobi in Little Bucharia; 
 which, however, only obstructs the way to the most remote 
 country of the East, China Proper, of which it is the 
 boundary to the west and the north ; opposing no obstacle 
 to the free intercourse of the other Asiatic nations. 
 
 To enable us to form an adequate notion of the natural 
 features of the different parts of Asia, and the intercourse 
 of its inhabitants, which is dependent on the former, it is 
 necessary in the first place to become acquainted with the 
 great mountain-ranges which stretch across this portion of 
 the globe, and determine in a great measure the nature of 
 the soil, and the modes of life of its occupants. Two of 
 these vast chains of mountains extend across the continent 
 from west to east, forming by their ramifications to the north 
 and south, by which they are connected together, a species 
 of gigantic network ; or, as it were, the skeleton, on which 
 the surface of the whole country is disposed, and to which 
 it is attached. The first of these, which was probably in 
 
 B 2 
 
^ ASIA. 
 
 a creat measure unknown to the Greeks, extends through 
 thf southern part of Siberia, and, with many changes of 
 appellation, is styled in general the Altajc range. Begm- 
 ning just above the Caspian, 't sends off a branch to the 
 north, which, under the name of the Ural, stretches as far 
 as the Arctic Ocean. It then, with a mean elevation ol not 
 more than six or seven thousand feet, traverses the southern 
 part of Siberia, becoming wider as it approaches the east, 
 till not far from the Pacific Ocean, after havmg umted to 
 itself a considerable branch of the great southern range, it 
 fills the whole territory of the Tungusians and the shores ot 
 Siberia For an accurate account of this great chain ot 
 mountains we are indebted to the recent researches ot some 
 scientific Russian travellers, before whose e^'P^d'""" «"'•.";: 
 formation respecting it was very defective ; and in the time 
 of the ancients its very existence was almost unknown^ 
 Much, however, still remains to be explored, particularly in 
 the eastern portion of the chain. 
 
 The other great range of mountains, which, under the 
 name of Taurus, in like manner stretches transversely 
 through the whole of the continent from west to east, was 
 much better known to the ancients. It commences in the 
 Beninsula of Asia Minor, of which it occupies the southern 
 Ences, Pisidia, Licia,'and Cilicia.« Thence it stretches, 
 Svith a very considerable elevation, through Armenia send- 
 ing off a branch which, with a northerly direction, fills up 
 the country between the Caspian and Euxine, and bestows 
 uponTtl^e appellation of Caucasia.' From Armenm the 
 main branch extends through the countries to the south and 
 south-east of the Caspian, through the "^thena part of 
 Media, and the districts, once so celebrated, of Hyrcama, 
 Parthia, and Bactriana, till it reaches the eastern boundams 
 of Great Bucharia, or the ancient Sogdiana. Here it di- 
 vides into two principal branches, one o which takes a 
 north-easterly, the other a south-easterly direction. Con- 
 
 . DESGU.GNES, Hia. des Nuns, torn. i. part ii. p. HI ; Ab«lgaz.-Khan, 
 Hist. Genealog. dea Tartares, p. 30 ; et ibi not. 
 
 : ^h\"4mfoK;af^s^^ by the ancient geograph- p^^^^^^^^ 
 
 designate the mountains ^ng between the two seas al^v^^^^^^^^ 
 hasten also improperly applfed to other VfJ^^ ^^^^^^'^^^ ^»^^^"' ^^ 
 cularly the mountains of northern India. Cf. Arrian. I. c. 
 
 ASIA. 5 
 
 jointly, they form, as it were, the shores of a huge sea of 
 sand, mentioned by Herodotus under the general name of 
 the Sandy Desert, but called in modern times the Desert of 
 Gobi. The part which takes a northerly direction, a portion 
 of the ancient Imaus, Belur-tag, or mountains of Cash-gar, 
 forms the northern boundary of this huge waste, and pass- 
 ing through the countries of Eygur, Mongolia, and Sun-^ 
 garia, becomes united to the Altaic chain on the confines of 
 Siberia. The south-eastern branch of the same range 
 forms the boundary of Hindustan to the north, passes 
 through Great and Little Thibet, and loses itself in Central 
 China, on the borders of the Pacific. Its appellations vary 
 with the countries through which it passes : the part which 
 skirts Little Bucharia, bearing the name of the Mus-tag or 
 Snowy-mountain, being another branch of the ancient 
 Imaus ; while the mountains of Cabul and Candahar, which 
 form the boundaries of Hindustan, were comprehended by 
 the ancients under the name of Paropamisus. Their 
 easterly continuation, beginning from the lofty peak near 
 Cabul, swell to the snowy heights of the Himalaya,* whose 
 summit, as has been ascertained by the adventurous re- 
 searches of the English, is elevated to the enormous height 
 of twenty-five thousand feet above the level of the sea;^ 
 taking from the Cordilleras of South America the reputation 
 they enjoyed as the highest mountains of the globe. From 
 this point two ranges of hills descend southward, and ter- 
 minate in the capes of Comorin and Malacca ; forming as 
 it were the spinal ridges on which hang the two great 
 Indian peninsulas. 
 
 The courses of these great chains of mountains determine 
 also those of the rivers which spring from their sides, and 
 intersect in every direction this quarter of the globe. From 
 . the northern range, the Altaic and its dependencies, flow 
 the mighty rivers of Siberia, surpassing in magnitude any 
 of the old world ; which following the inclination of Siberia 
 towards the north, empty their waters into the Arctic Ocean. 
 These are the Irtish, the Yenesci, and the still more con- 
 siderable Lena : all unknown to the ancients, and for an 
 acquaintance with which we are indebted to recent geogra- 
 
 * Elphinstone*s Account of Cabul, p. 85. 
 
 * According to the measurements of Webb. Asiat. lies. vol. xi. 
 
■i 
 
 6 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 phers The four great rivers, however, of Southern Asia, 
 the Euphrates, the Tigris, the Indus, and the Ganges, were 
 even then well known, rising in the range of Mount Taurus, 
 and taking a southerly course till they lost themselves m the 
 Indian and Persian Oceans. From the lofty ranges of Mus- 
 tag and Imaus, which unite on the borders of Little bu- 
 charia, the two great mountain-chains before described, 
 spring, to the west, the Jihoon, or Oxus, and the birr, or 
 Jaxartes, which take a westerly direction through Great 
 Bucharia towards the Caspian, and lose themselves m the 
 sea of Aral ; though it is probable that both, or at all events 
 the Oxus, may formerly have reached the greater of those 
 two inland seas. On the eastern side of the same ridge rise 
 the great rivers of China, the Hoang-ho and Yang-tse-Kiang, 
 which severally traversing the northern and southern parts 
 of that empire, fall into the Eastern Ocean. If to these we 
 add the Volga, or Rha, (the latter of which names it has 
 received from none but Ptolemy,^) we shall have enumerated 
 all the chief rivers of Asia, or at least all that come within 
 the compass of the present treatise. An acquaintance with 
 these is of the highest importance, not only for the purposes 
 of general geography, but especially for the object before 
 us. They not only serve as the great landmarks ot the 
 political divisions of Asia, but also as the principal means 
 .of communication and commerce; and it was on their 
 banks that the capitals of the East, the seats of civilization, ot 
 splendour, and luxury, were first established. 
 
 The mountain-ranges which we have described divide 
 Asia into three parts, essentially distinct from each other 
 with respect to climate and the properties of their soils ; and 
 presenting differences no less striking in the modes ot lite 
 and manners of their inhabitants. The northernmost por- 
 tion, known at present by the name of Siberia, and extend- 
 ing from the back of the Altaic ridge to the Arctic Ocean, 
 will be seldom mentioned in the present treatise, having 
 continued unknown to the ancients, with the exception ot 
 some loose traditionary legends, to be noticed in their proper 
 place. More thinly-peopled regions, inhabited only by 
 hunters and fishermen, ofier indeed a cunous field ot ob- 
 
 • Probably the same with Araxes, an appeUation appUed to several rivers. 
 
 ASIA. 7 
 
 servation to the philosopher, showing how the human race 
 can subsist in the neighbourhood of the very pole ; where 
 even the savage himself is compelled to acknowledge the 
 inclemency of the climate, and to hope, as a recompence 
 for his sufferings, an inexhaustible hunting-ground of rein- 
 deer beyond the grave."^ The historian, however, will find 
 in these desolate regions little worthy his remark, at least till 
 the philologist shall have prepared the way for his researches, 
 since the few traditions extant among these tribes, which 
 their manners and exterior seem to confirm, tend to show 
 that they are offshoots, at least in part, of the great original 
 stocks of Central Asia, driven by wars, or other contin- 
 gencies, into those remote countries, whose snowy fields were 
 not likely to invite any voluntary settlers. Yet even these 
 regions must not be altogether forgotten, as the sequel of the 
 present inquiries will prove that they have been peopled 
 from times of the most remote antiquity, and possibly more 
 thickly inhabited at that period than at present. 
 
 On the other hand, the vast regions of Central Asia, which 
 form the area enclosed between the Altaic and Tauric ranges, 
 and partly filled up by those mountains, present a rich field 
 of speculation to the antiquary and historian. These vast 
 tracts of level steppes extend, under the names of Mongolia 
 and Tartary,^ from the Caspian to the Pacific. They em- 
 brace the abodes of the Mongol tribes, the Kalmucs, and 
 Sungarians, and others apparently produced by a mixture of 
 these; and are divided by several considerable streams, 
 flowing, for the most part, towards the Caspian, but which 
 do not sufficiently irrigate these immeasurable plains, as to 
 make them capable of tillage. Besides, these districts are 
 among the most elevated regions of the globe, and On that 
 
 ' See Georgi Beschreibung der VoUcer des Eussischen Iteichs, p. 383. In 
 the almost universal belief, among the Siberian tribes, of a kind of continu- 
 ance after death, it is found, according to this writer, that it is precisely the 
 inhabitants of the wildest and most savage regions that form the most pleasing 
 pictures of a future state ; while, therefore, others hold it to be sorrowful, and 
 re^rd death on that account as a misfortune, these meet it with joy. Cer- 
 tainly a very interesting fact. 
 
 ' The perpetual confusion between the names of Tartars and Mongols, (of 
 which Desguignes is especially guilty,) has been the source of serious errors 
 in the history of nations as well as in geography. The Mongols and Tartars 
 are distinct races ; the principal territory of the former lies to the north, that 
 of the latter to the south of the Sirr-Darja, or Jaxartes of the ancients, the 
 proper limit of the two races. 
 
8 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 account, though lying between 40^ and 50** N. lat., and 
 consequently in the same parallel with Italy and the south 
 of Germany, are far from enjoying the same degree of tem- 
 perature with those countries. They do not, however, pre- 
 sent many spots altogether arid and unproductive ; but, on 
 the- contrary, are for the most part covered with herbage, 
 which occasionally attains such a luxuriant growth as to 
 equal the height of the cattle which feed there.^ 
 
 This natural condition of the soil, added to another pecu- 
 liarity, the almost total absence of woods or forests, has had 
 great influence in determining the manner of life of the m- 
 habitants of those regions. In their native country they 
 could never occupy fixed abodes, nor apply themselves to 
 the pursuits of agriculture ; and while history presents many 
 examples of nomad tribes having adopted the settled habits 
 of the nations they subdued, it affords none of a similar 
 change effected in their native country ; where, on the con- 
 trary, they appear destined to lead the wandering life of 
 shepherds and herdsmen. These vast and level plains are 
 accordingly studded, instead of with cities and houses, with 
 tents and encampments, the ordinary abodes of these migra- 
 tory tribes, often surrounded for leagues by their innumer- 
 able flocks and herds of sheep and cattle, of horses and 
 camels, which constitute their riches, and supply all, or 
 nearly all, their limited wants. The milk and flesh of their 
 cows or their mares form their principal food ; and they 
 learned at an early period the art of extracting from the 
 former an intoxicating drink.'** The skins of the same ani- 
 mals, with the hair of their camels, furnish them with a 
 coarse clothing for themselves, and with coverings for their 
 tents ; and the canes growing on the banks of their inland 
 seas and rivers are readily fashioned into bows and arrows. 
 The soil of their interminable territory is the common pro- 
 perty of all ; and they migrate without difficulty, accom- 
 panied by their numerous herds, from an exhausted to a 
 fresh pasturage, or from a poorer to a richer district. 
 
 Their social relations have, as might be expected, been 
 greatly influenced by these peculiarities of their situation. 
 It is impossible that they should adopt those civil constitu- 
 
 » Hist. Geneal. des Tartares, p. 126, et ibi not. 
 " Pallas, Gesch. der Mongol. Viilk. i. 133. 
 
 ASIA. ^ 
 
 tions to which we have been accustomed from our youth, and 
 which are the consequences of settled habitations, domestic 
 tranquillity, and established possessions. The place of these 
 was supplied by the natural bond of consanguinity ; which 
 became proportionably stronger than among Europeans in- 
 asmuch as it embraced not only individual families but whole 
 tribes and nations. Each race was subdivided into many 
 tribes, which often swelled into mighty nations, which were 
 split, according to circumstances, into a greater or lesser 
 number of hordes, each comprehending a larger or smaller 
 proportion of individual famiUes. The heads of families and 
 tribes take the place held by the civil magistrate in more pol- 
 ished nations, and exercise at the same time the offices ot 
 judges during peace, and leaders in war, with an authonty 
 which has often degenerated into unlimited despotism. It 
 also not unfrequently happens, that the chief of a tribe be- 
 comes by the preponderance of his power, or by free choice, 
 the head of the whole nation, and ends in being a monarch, 
 and perhaps a conqueror, like Cyrus, Attila, and Timur, 
 spreading death and desolation over flourishing countries, 
 and inundating more than one portion of the globe with his 
 innumerable armies. The sequel of these treatises will show 
 how important it is to a correct knowledge, not only of Asi- 
 atic history, but also of the human race at large, to possess 
 clear views respecting the manners and institutions of the 
 nomad tribes. It was among them that the greatest revolu- 
 tions in the history of mankind, which not only determined 
 the fate of Asia, but shook Europe and Africa to their centre, 
 had their origin. It would almost appear to have been the 
 design of Providence to continue these nations in a state 
 more true to nature, and nearer by some degrees to their 
 original condition, in order to renovate by their means (as 
 history proves to have been often the case) the more civihzed 
 races of the world, which had prepared, by degeneracy and 
 luxury, the way for their own destruction. 
 
 The third, or southern division of Asia, is partly hlled up 
 by the ramifications of Mount Taurus, before described, and 
 partly lies to the southward of these, comprehending also the 
 peninsula of Asia Minor, where that range of hills com- 
 
 " Pallas, i. 185. 
 
10 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 mences. Beginning at 40° N. lat., this division extends in 
 the form of a vast continent, as far south as the tropic of 
 Cancer, beyond which the three great peninsulas of Arabia, 
 Hindustan, and Malacca, extend far into the torrid zone. It 
 comprises, therefore, the richest and most fruitful regions of 
 the globe — Asia Minor, all the provinces of modern Persia, 
 from the Tigris to the Indus, the northern part of Hindustan, 
 as well as the two peninsulas on either side of the Ganges, 
 and lastly Thibet, and the whole of China Proper. With the 
 exception of a few arid tracts or mountainous regions, the 
 whole of this vast extent of country has been blessed with the 
 choicest gifts of nature ; enjoying not only a temperate cli- 
 mate, but fertilized by a multitude of rivers of all sizes. The 
 treasures of the vegetable kingdom are there found in the 
 utmost profusion and variety; and the animal creation, 
 whether quadrupeds, birds, or insects, there attain the high- 
 est perfection ; the cotton-plant and the silk-worm are na- 
 tives of the soil ; the most precious spices and aromatics are 
 peculiar to this region ; and even those commodities which^ 
 have acquired a fictitious value from the caprice or wants of 
 mankind, gold, precious stones, and pearls, abound there. 
 
 It is no wonder that the inhabitants of such a region, sur- 
 rounded by such natural advantages, should cease to be the 
 same with those who wander over the wild steppes of Cen- 
 tral Asia. Providence appears to have designed that they 
 should here cease to lead a pastoral life, and to have pointed 
 the way to a more dignified and cultivated mode of exist- 
 ence ; and history proves how early and how constantly they 
 availed themselves of the privilege. The earliest records of 
 the human race ascribe to this region the first origin of till- 
 age, of the cultivation of the vine, and the establishment of 
 cities and political combinations. It is true that a con- 
 siderable number of nomad tribes still continue to wander 
 there, particularly where the pasturage is rich, as is the case 
 between the Euphrates and Tigris ; and the encampment of 
 a pastoral horde may be often seen close beside the walls of 
 a city. But these are either wanderers from Arabia or the 
 northern parts of Central Asia, or mountain-tribes, possess- 
 ing a country incapable of being reduced to tillage. On the 
 other hand, it is a remark which the whole course of history 
 tends to verify, that not only have the original inhabitants of 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 11 
 
 these countries adopted settled abodes, and the relations of 
 social life, but that even the nomad tribes settled among 
 them as sojourners, or as conquerors, have voluntarily ex- 
 changed their restless habits for those of a more tranquil and 
 peacefiil mode of existence. The parallel of 40° N. lat. ac- 
 cordingly forms, as it were, the invariable boundary of the 
 agricultural and pastoral districts ; though it is not neces- 
 sary to remark, that this distinction must only be received 
 as generally true, and that the transition from the one mode 
 of life to the other is gradual. With this limitation the 
 observation will be found to hold true in every period of 
 Asiatic history. This parallel divides Caucasia from Ar- 
 menia, Sogdiana, or Great Bucharia, from Bactriana or 
 Balk, and China from Chinese Tartary. The countries to 
 the north of 40° have at all times been principally the 
 abode of wandering tribes of shepherds and herdsmen ; and 
 those to the south, of a settled population. 
 
 Multiplied and extensive as have been the revolutions of 
 Central Asia, there reigns throughout the histoiy of that 
 continent a uniformity which is strongly contrasted with 
 what we observe in Europe. Kingdoms and monarchies 
 have arisen and decayed, and yet the same character has 
 been constantly transmitted from the former to the succeed- 
 ing dynasty, a peculiarity which the general tenor of Asiatic 
 history will itself best explain. 
 
 The mighty empires which arose in Asia were not found- 
 ed in the same manner with the kingdoms of Europe. They 
 were generally erected by mighty conquering nations, and 
 these, for the most part, nomad nations. This important 
 consideration we must never lose sight of, when engaged in 
 the study of their history and institutions. 
 
 We have already observed, that the whole of Northern 
 and Central Asia is full of such wandering tribes ; but in 
 Southern Asia also, many portions of the Tauric range, 
 and the whole of Arabia, (with the exception of its southern 
 extremity, or Arabia Felix,) are occupied by people of the 
 same habits ; the dreary deseHs of sand in the latter country 
 being even less adapted for cultivation or fixed abodes than 
 the steppes of Northern Asia. 
 
 The few observations which we have already made on 
 these nations may convince us that they were formed to 
 
12 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 13 
 
 become nations of conquerors. Their mode of life fits 
 them to endure the hardships of war ; their hmited wants 
 enable them to dispense with much of the baggage which 
 encumber the marches of our regular armies ; their count- 
 less herds afford an inexhaustible stock of horses for their 
 cavalry, in which their principal strength has always con- 
 sisted ; for even in peace they are so continually moving 
 about,' that they are scarcely ever out of the saddle. These 
 predatory habits are a sort of preparation for actual warfare, 
 Mid inspire them, if not with the firm hardihood and cool 
 courage of Europeans, yet with an audacity and impetuosity 
 in attack, which spring from the habit of encountering 
 danger, and the lust of spoil. The same fierce passions 
 have called forth the locust-swarms of Mongols and Ara- 
 bians fi-om their steppes and deserts, and attracted from 
 their mountains the Parthians and Persians, to sweep oyer 
 and desolate the fruitful regions of Southern Asia. Having 
 subdued the civilized nations established there, they extend- 
 ed their dominion as far as their predatory hordes could 
 range, and became the founders of potent empires, ex- 
 changing without reluctance their sterile native country for 
 more fortunate situations. An acquaintance, however, with 
 the refinements and luxuries of the conquered kingdoms, 
 and the influence of a milder climate, soon effected a re- 
 markable change in the habits of these conquerors, and 
 they adopted the manners of those whom they had van- 
 quished, with the less difficulty, because a wandering herds- 
 man is attached to no native spot, and knows no home. 
 The consequence was a species of refinement, not of moral 
 taste, but of mere sensual luxury ; and the degree to which 
 this was carried was proportionate to the fierceness of the 
 desires by which it was prompted, and the suddenness of 
 the transition from a savage state to one of ease and indul- 
 gence. In this manner the conquerors subdued themselves, 
 and resigned their dominion, sooner or later, according to 
 circumstances; while fi-esh tribes of conquerors, uncor- 
 rupted by success, sallied from their ancient haunts, or fi-om 
 other districts, to erect a new dynasty on the ruins of the 
 former, and subsequently to undergo the same vicissitude 
 of degeneracy and subjugation. 
 
 Such may be pronounced to be a summary of the whole 
 
 of Asiatic history, with the single exception of the Mace- 
 donian conquest ; the only time when the Europeans have 
 been masters of the interior of Asia. In tliis manner, of 
 old, the monarchies of the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, the 
 Persians, and the Pailhians were founded, and fell ; such, 
 in the middle ages, was the history of the Arabian conquest; 
 and such, up to the present day, has been that of the Tar- 
 tarian and Mongol empires, which still subsist, though m 
 
 ruins. . • • i • 
 
 This review of the origin of the great Asiatic monarchies 
 
 suggests of itself the following observations. 
 
 I. Instead of a progressive establishment and aggrandize- 
 ment, these empires appear to have attained at once, or 
 within a very short period, a gigantic stature. The cause 
 is contained in the manner in which nomad t;ribes effect 
 their conquests, and in which alone they can effect them, if 
 destined to be durable. Extensive tracts of land are neces- 
 sary for their very subsistence, and as long as they continue 
 victorious, they have no inducement to set any bounds to 
 their conquests. On the contrary, the plunder of one coun- 
 try is an inducement to seek that of another ; and this love 
 of pillage, combined with an utter ignorance of geography, 
 has often inspired them with the notion of making them- 
 selves masters of all the world (a title they frequently arro- 
 gated) ; an imagination which, though never fulfilled in its 
 full extent, they have so far achieved as to astonish historians. 
 The Saracen dominion extended at one period from Mo- 
 rocco and Spain to Hindustan ; and the Mongol armies, 
 under the successors of Ginghis-Khan, fought at the same 
 time in Silesia, and under the wall of China ! 
 
 II. Nations of this character cannot readily give to their 
 dominions a settled civil constitution. How can they give 
 that which they do not possess themselves? It is much 
 more consistent with the natural course of events that their 
 form of government should be at the first purely militaiy. 
 The administration of the conquered provinces is committed 
 to generals at the head of numerous armies, supported by 
 the vanquished, either as garrisons in their cities, or as 
 wandering hordes. The original office of such a governor 
 was to collect, either arbitrarily or according to fixed pro- 
 portions, the tribute or donatives imposed on the con- 
 
 f 
 
 I 
 I 
 
 i" 
 I • ,1 
 
14 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 15 
 
 quered ; and for this purpose, to keep them in the most 
 complete subjection. This arrangement frequently dege- 
 nerates in a 'short time into another, by which the pro- 
 vinces are delivered over to their governors at the price of 
 a certain yearly sum paid into the royal treasury, which the 
 governor is at liberty to collect, as well as his own exor- 
 bitant interest, by any means he can. Consequently it is 
 often the case, that the internal government of such pro- 
 vinces is left untouched ; and even the conquered princes, 
 or their successors, are sometimes allowed to retain their 
 offices, unless removed on account of insubordination, or 
 the personal hostility of their conquerors. Such was the 
 custom of the Persians as well as the Mongols ; but it 
 would be a great error to attribute this to the clemency or 
 leniency of the conquerors : it was much more the conse- 
 quence of their ignorance and rudeness, which made them 
 incapable of apprehending at once subjects foreign to all 
 their former habits, and indisposed them to take the pains 
 
 of learning. n ^ - c 
 
 III. At the same time it is natural that from this sort of 
 military government should be gradually formed a civil 
 administration ; as the conquerors became by long inter- 
 course with the conquered milder in their habits, and con- 
 sequently more sensible of the advantages, and better ac- 
 quainted with the forms of civil institutions ; and exchanged 
 by degrees their roving liabits for a settled residence in 
 cities. It is tme that the genius of Timur, and a few other 
 conquerors, may have so far anticipated the order of time, 
 as to have conceived at once the idea of a more regular 
 form of government ; but, in general, it must be borne in 
 mind, that the change was slow and gradual. Those mili- 
 tary chiefs, whose authority was circumscribed by no law, 
 as they gradually became better acquainted with civil 
 affairs, took an increased interest in them, and from being 
 mere leaders of armies, assumed the characters of satraps or 
 viceroys; while the jealousy of oriental despotism often 
 purposely placed the latter as spies upon the conduct of the 
 former. In this manner the great Asiatic monarchies 
 generally form a whole, which, uncemented by civil rights 
 and relations, is held together only by the universal pressure 
 of a superior ; containing, however, in its subordinate parts, 
 
 the most heterogeneous constitutions. The most despotic 
 empires have thus tolerated not only petty kings and princes 
 with limited authority, but even republics, of which the 
 Phoenician and Grecian states, subject to the king of Persia, 
 are instances. 
 
 The above observations fiirnish an answer to a question 
 which naturally suggests itself to the student of Asiatic his- 
 tory, and which is of the highest interest with reference to 
 the general history of mankind, namely, how it came to 
 pass that the system of absolute despotism, which has always 
 characterized the Asiatic governments, should have been so 
 constantly maintained, and, under every political revolu- 
 tion, uniformly renewed ? 
 
 When the right of conquest and the power of the sword 
 were the foundation of all authority, it necessarily followed 
 that the administration, in its civil department, should bear 
 a despotic character ; especially when the unlimited sway 
 of their patriarchal chiefs had already prepared the con- 
 querors for such a system. Strange as it may appear, there 
 were many nations among them, which, while they appeared 
 to enjoy savage freedom, were subject to a rooted and rigid 
 despotism ; and among whom the head of the tribe was ab- 
 solute lord of all his race.^^ This apparent contradiction is 
 readily solved, when we recollect that the paternal authority 
 is the foundation of the patriarchal ; and that the former, 
 among uncivilized nations, is at all times strong in exact 
 proportion to their rudeness. 
 
 The gigantic extent also of these empires favoured the 
 growth of despotism. That many nations should be subject 
 to one is contrary to the course of nature, since it is obvious 
 then that each people ought to administer its own affairs, 
 although peculiar circumstances may prevail to break 
 through this general rule. The disadvantages, however, of 
 a contrary system, are apparent only when any great devia- 
 tion has taken place from the natural course of things. A 
 multitude of all nations and languages, differing in manners 
 and religion, are incapable of being governed by the same 
 laws ; and the consequence is, that arbitrary power usurps 
 their place. The method of governing by satraps becomes 
 
 " For instance, among the Mongols. Pallas, Geschichte der Mongol, 
 Volkerschafi, vol. i. p. 185. 
 
 f 
 
16 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 Ae only one by which these discordant elements can be 
 ™!ed and kept tV^^er ; and thus a system of despotism is 
 Shshed f^m 'one end of the empire to the o^er ^^ 
 from the monarch to the lowest subject; the most potent 
 dTs^t not being sufficiently powerful tp restrain his vice- 
 ?:;rly the steady authority of law, though he may bow 
 them beneath the yoke of force. i • u ^ 
 
 In the last place, the inseparable connexion, which we 
 have had occasion to remark, between religion and legisla- 
 Son must greatly embarrass, if not altogether obstruct, the 
 devdopmeSof aUstitution. A new system oHaws would 
 have been equivalent to a change of religion ; and even a 
 partial modification of the former would have been looked 
 upon as an innovation on the latter. The difficulties attend- 
 KuVinnovations are obvious, but they must have been 
 considerably increased when (as was often the case) not only 
 TceremoLs of religion but those of the cou^t were in the 
 custody of a separate caste, whose interest it was to dis- 
 courao'e anv attempt to change. ^ . . 
 
 These observations, however, are not sufficient to account 
 for the most gloomy phenomenon in the history of the hu- 
 man race-the iact that the fairest and richest portion of 
 The globe, where the mind of man might have been expected 
 to attain its greatest maturity, has, in all ages been con- 
 ITed to pe^tual slavery. . Admitting that the cha^nj «] 
 ' the Asiatic nations were forged m their very infancy, and 
 that the spirit of conquest only riveted them more firmly, 
 still we may ask, how their strength came to be so impaired, 
 hat, in thJ periods of their greatest prosperity, they were 
 unable to sh^ke off a yoke which, to European nations, ap- 
 
 pears intolerable ? i i i. ^^a 
 
 To answer this question we must go back a step, and 
 seek the cause of the phenomenon in .^^e defective consti^ 
 tution and condition, not of their civil institutions, but their 
 domestic relations. For reasons, the discussion of which 
 lies beyond the limits of the present researches these are 
 very different among the great nations of Central Asia from 
 the manners of civilized Europe. Polygamy has at all 
 times prevailed there ; and polygamy, according to all the 
 principles of our nature, has a tendency to promote un- 
 limited despotism. 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 17 
 
 No one, who is aware how closely they are connected, 
 can deny the influence which the better or worse condition 
 of the domestic relations has on those of the society at large. 
 The popular saying, that a republic to be permanent must 
 be founded on virtue, appears to be only a consequence of 
 the more general principle, that civil freedom is closely con- 
 nected with morality ; and that the one inevitably perishes 
 with the other. Now there is no one custom more adverse 
 to virtue in general, especially the domestic virtues, the 
 chief sources of all true patriotism, than that of polygamy : 
 by this many explain the phenomenon that no nation prac- 
 tising polygamy has ever attained to a true republican 
 constitution, nor even that of a free monarchy. ^^ Nay, it 
 may be confidently asserted, that it would be unable to 
 maintain a government of this kind even if presented with it. 
 
 Polygamy at once produces domestic tyranny, by making 
 woman a slave and man a tyrant ; and society at large 
 thus becomes a combination, not of fathers of families, but 
 of household tyrants, who by the practice of tyranny have 
 been fitted to endure it. He who is tyrannical in authority 
 will be abject in submission. 
 
 A plurality of wives also, as it diminishes conjugal tender- 
 ness, saps the foundations of parental attachment ; and 
 thereby impairs the interest which every member of the 
 state should feel in its preservation and prosperity. The 
 ideas of country and family, which among the Asiatics ap- 
 pear to have been always separated, if the first of them be 
 not altogether wanting, have been ever closely associated in 
 the minds of the nobler nations of Europe. Attachment to 
 the one has always produced devotion to the other : the best 
 father of a family has always proved the best citizen ; and 
 from this source has flowed, not only a respect for the au- 
 thority of law and the magistrates, but that heroic courage 
 and contempt of death which fired the rude inhabitant 
 of ancient Germany, when fighting for his wife, his chil- 
 
 " That is, a nation in which polygamy is not only tolerated but estab- 
 lished. Among the Greeks it was permitted, but never customar}'. I must 
 content myself with merely indicating in this place, for the researches of 
 others, another field of extensive interest, namely, the question how far 
 polygamy and monogamy have influenced private law. If I am not mis- 
 taken, this might be made the foundation of an entirely new classification 
 of legal enactments, which might lead to highly important conclusions. 
 VOL. I. c 
 
18 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 19 
 
 d„„, .»rt lis country, to r,»h ..pon the piko. of the Roman 
 '''KrtLe e,il effect, of polygamy have «l»«y, lieen prin- 
 
 .„Xt*t » the i^4:if:s;r:s,™:.''n 
 
 iSn'-o tCr:::XVS~mon''ty„,nt end, 
 
 EyTr„g the ,i.ve ,f;;- »;;:/i: rsTh'r^me, 
 
 J «X;,™;l: ciSuenc^of ^.r»na. cha»e.er; 
 ^d Sr J in the eo«r»> of *»/«»"' J^^X 
 
 'minutely *»/■«»' ''yChal iT^ltSS 
 corresponded with those ot ispuimn miu Kv the 
 
 Sd how in ever^ case the same causes were followed by the 
 
 ""vnrr^;'ien7of despotism was based on tlie general 
 Jtl^^of &>nny, H ^« -de"t that A^n« ^^^^ 
 
 l^r.lir/tcasionallyexpen^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 trS tr=rtirrrolf Tt Sture of their 
 
 mu?t S Se metamorphosed the entn-e nation, and 
 Z ed out ancient habits and manners, which it was out of 
 r^ J^ tTeffect If the above remarks appear to mili- 
 tLC^^slt^fhypothesis of those who confidently expect 
 rprSstvffmP^rovement of the whole human race, they 
 STT^t confirm us in the agreeable assurance that 
 vZ>t is^ured by a more perfect state of morals from a 
 d3.m Ehose of the East. It is true that Europe has 
 ffiriitl ; but not only was their tyranny of em- 
 porary duration, but the most tyrannical of ^^r princes 
 Sw^dared to set all the forms of government at defiance. 
 S characteristic feature of Asiatic despotism is this th 
 
 the monarch is taught to look "P«^h^^«"^f i^lrtv \o d^ 
 people, but as his property, whom he is at hberty to dis 
 
 » The present Shah of Persia ^^i'^^l'^'^X^^^V^t^^^r^^^r ^n'X 
 Britain. Morieb's Travels, vol. i. p. ^\o. 
 
 pose of according to his pleasure, except where religion 
 may interpose some restraint. On the other hand, admit- 
 ting that the tribunals of some of the most despotic rulers 
 of modern Europe, (such, for example, as those of the 
 Tudors and Stuarts,) as well as the revolutionary tribunals, 
 (such as that of France,) were nothing more than legal 
 forms; yet as such they were of some value, because they 
 evinced the tacit acknowledgment on the part of the tyrant, 
 that he was subject to the laws, instead of being elevated 
 
 above them. 
 
 The same uniformity which we have already had occasion 
 to remark in the constitutions of the Asiatic nations, is ob- 
 servable also in their commercial intercourse. Although 
 travelling in Asia is less obstructed than in Africa, the cha- 
 racter of internal commerce is much the same in both. 
 
 In Asia, as in Africa, it is scarcely possible for a traveller 
 to journey in safety alone, and the consequence is, the form- 
 ation of companies of merchants or caravans, such as we 
 have already described. The length of the journey, extend- 
 ing frequently across desert steppes, and the lawless hordes 
 which sometimes penetrate into more civilized districts 
 and continually infest their borders, and whose rapacious 
 dispositions can only be satisfied by forced and expensive 
 contributions, make it necessary to travel in numbers suf- 
 ficiently large to protect the travellers and their merchandise. 
 The whole of Southern and Central Asia possesses, however, 
 the invaluable gift of a beast of burden, without which these 
 long and perilous journeys would be impracticable. The 
 camel is found not only in the deserts of Arabia, but among 
 the steppes of the Kirgees and Kalmucs, to the north of the 
 
 Caspian. 
 
 The great rivers of Asia have, it is true, been also used 
 as channels of commerce, but running principally through 
 level tracts of pasture or steppes, their banks are unsupplied 
 with wood fit for the purposes of ship-building ; many dis- 
 tricts also wanting iron ; and these are probably the reasons 
 why the river navigation of Asia has never attained a like 
 importance with that of Europe. 
 
 The internal traffic of Asia has, in consequence, like that 
 of Afi-ica, been at all times principally carried on by land, 
 and in the same manner. Still, as the general commerce 
 
 c 2 
 
ASIA. 
 
 of Asia is vastly more considerable than that of the other 
 continent, and 'the p-oator part of the countries engnsecl 
 in it less uncivilizeii and u.lu.spi table, we cannot b.; sur- 
 prised at findinsr, that, in the former country, the arrange- 
 ments for the convenience and turthenuu^e ot trad.^ me 
 much more numerous. Such an- th<. public roads, and the 
 caravanserais, or buildings for tlu^ reception o caravans 
 S^reat monarchies, erected like those of Asia by force of 
 arms, the necessity for lines of military communication is 
 soon sensibly felt, for the purpose of maintaining distant 
 possessions, and insuring conquests already made;, which 
 ^ only be effectecl by keeping open the commumca ions 
 for the victorious armies. Acconlmgly, m the times of the 
 Persians, no less than in those of the Mongols, wc find that 
 royal highways were established through the whole exten 
 of conquered Asia ; constructed with an amount of cost and 
 labour which can only be commanded by despotic govern- 
 ments, having the power of concentrating on '»/'"?: epo-"* 
 all the enercies and resources of their subjects." It s true 
 that such military highways are not to be always followed 
 by the caravans, which naturally prefer short roads though 
 more desert or difficult, but it is obvious that the interna 
 commerce and communication of the empire at large must 
 have been greatly facilitated by their estabhshment. 
 
 The institution of caravanserais may also be traced to 
 times of remote antiquity ; though it has been greatly pro- 
 moted by the religion of Mohammed, which recommends 
 the establishment of such edifices as a good work. They 
 are usually large quadrangular structures, enclosing an open 
 court, on'evcij side of which is disposed a smgle or doub e 
 row of empty chambers, where the travel er is at liberty to 
 take up his quarters for the night being left to provide for 
 his further accommodation as well as his food. Even i 
 the Asiatics had inns like those of Europe, these would not 
 be sufficient to receive companies consisting of hundreds, 
 nay, thousands, of travellers with their beasts of burden. 
 It was a necessary consequence of the fact, that the com- 
 
 •* See Heeod v 52, for a description of the royal roads of Persia; and 
 com^ M^o Polo* account of tW of the Mongols, m Bamus.o Rac 
 
 coUa di Viaggi, vol. ii p. 30. 
 
 " Herodotus styles tnem caraXv<y<ic» *oc- C". 
 " Vogages de Taternierj vol. i. p. 9^- 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 21 
 
 nuTce of Asia was principally carried on by land, that it 
 should be materially influenced by the political changes and 
 revolutions which took place there. When new tribes of 
 conquerors emerged from their deserts, and overthrew by 
 their countless hordes an establisherl empire, a revolution 
 so complete could not but affect its commerce also. Never- 
 theless, it is a remark which the whole tenor of Asiatic his- 
 tory confirms, that, though often interrupted and modified, 
 the commerce of the country was never entirely destroyed. 
 On the contrary, it appears always to have resumed its ori- 
 f^inal position with j:^reater facility than could have been 
 expected ; nor are the causes difficult to discover. The 
 victorious nation soon perceived the advantages to be de- 
 rived from a continuance of the former state of things ; the 
 wants of the conquered soon became theirs also ; the customs 
 or presents extorted from the caravans which traversed their 
 country enriched them or their chiefs ; and it may be added, 
 that a sort of taste for commerce and trade prevails even 
 among the ruder tribes of Asia. Less injury was inflicted 
 on commerce by these changes of dynasty and wars of vic- 
 torious nations, than by the anarchy into which despotic 
 governments are apt to be dissolved. On such occasions 
 innumerable hordes of banditti are presently formed, which 
 destroy all internal security — the restraint of a superior 
 power having been removed. The anarchy and confusion 
 which so long prevailed in the state of Persia, caused an 
 almost absolute interruption of her commerce. 
 
 In this manner, with some partial modifications and oc- 
 casional interruptions, the internal commerce of Asia con- 
 tinued on the whole the same, through all the mighty poli- 
 tical revolutions which affected the interior, from the days of 
 Cyrus and Nebuchadnezzar to those of Ginghis-Khan and 
 Timur. As the more recent dynasties were built on the 
 same foundations with their predecessors, so their commerce 
 also retained the same general character. Its principal seats 
 remained unchanged ; and the countries in w hich these were 
 situated were at all times adorned with rich and flourishing 
 cities ; which, afler the most cruel devastation, rose unim- 
 paired from their ashes. The wants of men, whether natural 
 or fictitious, are too mighty and pressing to be lastingly af- 
 fected, far less annihilated, even by war or despotism. One 
 
 
M 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 23 
 
 event, however, has made a sensible epoch in the history of 
 Asiatic comme;ce, and will, it is probable, always continue 
 Suence it-the discovery of a passage to the East Indies 
 round the Cape of Good Hope- It is true, as we have al- 
 reX had occasion to remark, and shall prove more at length 
 hereafter, that even at a very ancient period there existed a 
 commun cation by sea between the shores of Arabia and 
 Hinrstan • and it is well known that this intercourse sub- 
 S alth^^^^^ with some vicissitudes, during the Macedo- 
 Snknd Roman periods, as well as the Arabian and Vene- 
 tian But, even at the period of its greatest prosperity, this 
 traffic bore no proportion to the vast land commerce of Asia 
 tSough which by fer the greater part of the productions of 
 the E^t, consumed in Europe, was conveyed to this quarter 
 of the world by the ports of the Euxine and Mediterranean 
 
 ^^A total change ensued when the Europeans had discovered 
 a way to the East Indies round Africa. Europe no longer 
 received the commodities required through the accustomed 
 channel of Central Asia, but obtained them direct from the 
 southern coasts of that continent, (particularly those ot Hm- 
 dustan,) which from that time necessarily became the prin- 
 cipal seats of commerce. In consequence a large Foporjon 
 of the internal commerce of the country became attracted to 
 the situations frequented by the European fleets, which 
 were thus rendered the marts for the productions reqmred 
 in the West. Nevertheless, the commerce of the interior 
 continued to maintain itself, as long as the throne of the 
 Persians and Mongols was occupied by pnnces who, with 
 the love of conquest, possessed some rehsh ^r the arts ot 
 peace, and sufficient power to assure the safety of mdividuals 
 Jvdthin their empire. The iron despotism of the Jurks the 
 anarchy of Persia, and the lawless inroads of the Afghans 
 and Mahrattas on the north of Hmdustan, first caused the 
 almost utter ruin of the commerce of Central Asia, and con- 
 verted into deserts the flourishing countries on the banks ot 
 the Euphrates and Indus ; where the rums of what were 
 once royal cities are the only records of their former mag- 
 
 ^' oTSihe divisions of Asia, the Southern, containing the 
 territory of Hindustan, is distinguished by the richness and 
 
 diversity of its productions. Here we not only find (with 
 very few exceptions) all the products of other parts of civil- 
 ized Asia, but so great a variety peculiar to its own climate, 
 that it would appear as if a new and more beautiful creation 
 had sprung up under the hand of nature. Nearly all the 
 spices, which become necessary to mankind in exact propor- 
 tion to the progress of luxury and refinement, have at all 
 times been pecuhar to this region ; while two of the most 
 important articles used in clothing, viz. cotton and silk, were 
 first produced here, and continue to be so in an especial de- 
 gree, though their cultivation has been gradually extended 
 to other countries. These natural advantages have rendered 
 this quarter the principal seat of Asiatic commerce ; its pro- 
 ductions have flowed from the east to the west in a con- 
 tinual stream; and notwithstanding some occasional de- 
 viations in its branches, the main current has never been 
 dried up. The influence which an intercourse with India 
 may have had on the civilization of mankind, is a question 
 worthy the close attention of the philosophical student of 
 history; and one which, notwithstanding the important 
 illustrations it has of late received, has been by no means 
 sufficiently elucidated. It is of the greatest consequence to 
 ascertain the channels through which, at various periods, it 
 found its way, or into which it was conducted ; and the 
 whole course of history tends to prove, that the countries 
 which became the staples or the depots of this commerce, 
 uniformly attained a high degree of opulence and refine- 
 ment ; which, however, gradually changed the habits and 
 corrupted the manners of their inhabitants ; at the same 
 time that these were softened, sowing among them the seeds 
 of luxury, and consequently of decline and ruin. The result 
 of this dispensation of Providence (by which the parts of 
 the earth most remote with respect to Europe have been 
 enriched with the most costly and highly valued, though 
 not the most necessary productions) has been, the mutual 
 intercourse and civilization of nations ; which, if they had 
 continued unconnected, would have remained still in their 
 infancy, as must be the case with all isolated nations, even 
 if by some strong instinctive efibrt they succeed in emerging 
 from their original barbarism. 
 
 These general observations may enable us to follow with 
 
bSLB 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 confidence the light which they throw on the course of an- 
 r't commerce^as earned on through the jnte^r of A^^^^ 
 previous to the discovery of the passage by ^'^^ ^^P^j; 
 Good Hope. We have already remarked, that tl e nature 
 S camvan communication requires the estabhshment ot 
 certain staples, or marts for intermediate commerce, from 
 which articles of tn^de may be fbr>varded to other countries^ 
 Without such resting-places how ^^^^I^.P^;^^^;^^,;^^^^ 
 laden camel to journev from the banks of the Ganges o he 
 shores of the Mediterranean ? Or how otherwise could the 
 inhabitant of the interior receive his allotment of the produc- 
 tions of more fruitfid countries to supply his necessities 
 
 Staples of this kind appear to have been n^^J^^^^^l/;."^' ^^ 
 it were bv the hand of Nature herself, and therefore re- 
 mained the same, as long as Asiatic commerce continued 
 to flourish. Of this kind were the countries between the 
 Ticrris and Euphrates, particularly Babylonui, as well as 
 those upon the Oxus, Bactra and Samarcand ; and, lastly, 
 the shores of the Euxine and Mediterranean. 
 
 Babylonia was the emporium for the whole of Western 
 Asia, and consequently for the nations of Europe and Asia 
 Minor. We shall have occasion, in another place to describe 
 at length the admirable situation and peculiar advantages ot 
 this district. A considerable portion of the raw produce of 
 India was manufactured here, to which were added the pro- 
 ductions of Babylonia itself, the fertility of whose soil, in 
 ancient times, almost surpasses belief. . 
 
 The territories of Bactra and Maracanda, comprised 
 under the modem appellation of Great Bucharia, are no 
 less important in the history of ancient commerce. 1 hey 
 were the depots of the wares of Northern Asia, as well o^ 
 those imported from China and Tangut across the desert 
 of Gobi, as of those brought through the mountains from 
 Great Thibet, and those which were conveyed from India 
 to the Caspian. These were the first restmg-places for the 
 caravans arriving from those various countries ; and conse- 
 quently these districts, and others lying under the same 
 latitude, to the west of the Caspian, became the natural 
 markets of the various tribes of Central and Northern Asia ; 
 which being more or less acquainted with the productions ot 
 the south, have at all times resorted hither to supply their 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 25 
 
 wants. We must not be surprised therefore at discovering 
 on this frontier of the nomad districts, (an expression which 
 may be explained by what we have already remarked,) a 
 great extent of internal commerce, and a no less astonishing 
 variety in its inhabitants. 
 
 Lastly, the sea coasts of the Mediterranean, particularly 
 the countries of Phoenicia and Asia Minor, were the natural 
 marts for all the oriental merchandise destined for the ports 
 of Europe and Africa. The inhabitants, whether Greeks or 
 Asiatics, were disposed by the situation of their country to 
 a seafaring life ; and their harbours became the places of 
 exchange for the three quarters of the globe, where the sil- 
 ver of Spain, and the amber of Prussia, were bartered for 
 the spices of Hindustan, and the fi-ankincense of Arabia. 
 Their territories consequently became the richest in the 
 world ; and, previous to the erection of the Persian mon- 
 archy, were adorned by a multitude of flourishing commer- 
 cial cities, which formed an almost unbroken line from the 
 straits of Byzantium to the confines of Egypt ; presenting a 
 picture of prosperity, only to be paralleled at the present 
 day by the cities of North America. 
 
 If the above remarks may have the effect of throwing 
 some light on the general course and character of Asiatic 
 commerce, this will be increased by considering what were 
 the principal objects of that traffic in ancient times, com- 
 pared with the present. We too often find ourselves with- 
 out the information necessary to follow the course of trade 
 into the most remote regions ; but when we meet with the 
 mention of articles which are unquestionably peculiar to 
 certain countries, we are warranted in concluding that a 
 communication then existed with those countries, though 
 we may be unable to define its nature and extent. A piece 
 of sugar, or a morsel of pepper, in a neglected corner of a 
 village inn, would be a certain proof of the trade with either 
 Indies, even if we possessed no other evidence of the com- 
 merce of the Dutch and English with those countries. 
 
 Notwithstanding the multiplicities of the natural produc- 
 tions of Asia, I hope to be able to illustrate the principal 
 articles of her commerce under the following heads. 
 
 I. Precious commodities, including gold and silver, as 
 well as precious stones and pearls. 
 
^ 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 11. Articles used in clothing : wool, cotton, silk, and furs. 
 
 ITT Snices and aromatics. 
 
 I WT cannot avoid being struck by the prod,g,ous 
 abundance in Central Asia of the precious metals, particu- 
 kriv gold, whether in ancient or modem t.mes ; and the 
 3s of this fact, under the dynasty of the ancient Persians, 
 rii Ihan that of Arabians and Mongols, are too authenUc 
 to leave room for any reasonable doubt. It has been tne 
 constlt teste of the^siatics to employ the- gold Jt- 
 
 much in coinage, as in ornaments ^^ ^/^-JJ^J^-^^^Jre ,f 
 broidery The thrones ot their princes, the furniture oi 
 the r Saces and especially all that belongs to the service 
 of LVal iable, fro'm the'time of Solomon to the Fcsen 
 dav have been fashioned of massive gold ; their weapons 
 hav; ien Xays thus decorated, and dresses, or carpets, 
 embroidered with gold, have been at all times among the 
 Tost valued commodities of the East.'" This splendour was 
 S a prerogative confined to the Persian monarchs alone, 
 TA^l^ bought up the gold in eveiy part of the. Jo- 
 minions to dazzle the eyes of their subjects Ihe same 
 pmSce prevailed through all the gradations of that system 
 Kspo£m. The satraps were comparatively as wealthy 
 Z S master, and their inferior officers agam in the like 
 po^rtion.- We meet also with occasiona instances 
 
 private individuals possessed «f ™'"7^,.^"^fxJ,,t!;L%^i, 
 cordine to Herodotus, even a pastoral nation of Eastern Asia 
 h^f S of its utensils of gold.^' We -e -t-ally t^^^^^^^^ 
 to inauire where the mines were situated from which this 
 migMycontinent was so abundantly supplied with that pre- 
 
 Toldtd silver, as far as we know are exdusivdy the 
 productions of mountainous regions, from which they are 
 Lme ime» carried down by the torrents which rise there 
 S My collected or washed from the sands in which they 
 :^ deposited. Flat countries, however much they may be 
 fevoured by nature in other respects, produce no gold , ot 
 
 » Compare the account of Chakd.n, ii. p. ^l^' ,^^ ^^Z^'of^^'Ao^^ 
 Si-^f *e P?4^r Sr cG pVerotit they 
 
 « The MassagetsD, Herod, i. 215. 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 27 
 
 which the rich alluvial tract of Bengal is an instance, though 
 the contraiT opinion has been entertained by many. On 
 the other hand, if we follow the great mountain ranges ot 
 Asia and compare the evidence they afford with the express 
 testimony of antiquity, we shall be led to the foUowmg con- 
 clusions : , 1 J 4. 
 The mountains of Asia appear to become more abundant 
 in this metal the nearer they approach the east. The west- 
 ern parts of the continent are sparingly endowed with it ; 
 Avhile it appears to be accumulated m the eastern. 
 
 Asia Minor, it is true, contains the mountain of Imoius, 
 the gold of which is carried down by the streams of the 
 Pactolus and Maeander ; but we have no proof that mines 
 were ever worked there. The produce, however, of the 
 e-old sand collected t^ere by the process of washing, (and 
 which appears to have mainly contributed to fill the treasury 
 of the Lydian kings,-) seems to have been considerable ; 
 though small in comparison with the wealth of other Asiatic 
 monarchies. The heights of Caucasus, between the Euxine 
 and the Caspian, contain, it is true, a portion of the precious 
 metals; but, as far as we know, more silver than gold.- 
 The former was obtained there by mmmg, even m times ot 
 remote antiquity : the latter is not mentioned as having 
 been found there ; unless we choose (with some of the an- 
 cients) to explain, in this sense, the traditional expedition 
 of Jason in search of the golden fleece. 
 
 The continuation of the chain of Taurus, through Ar- 
 menia, Media, Hyrcania, and Persia Proper, as far as the 
 borders of Bactriana, or Great Bucharia, although not alto- 
 gether devoid of this metal, is by no means rich m it. At 
 all events we have no evidence from history that mines were 
 ever worked there with tolerable success.^* 
 
 The first chain of Asiatic mountains abounding m gold, 
 appears to commence on the eastern borders of Great Bu- 
 charia, where the range of Taurus divides into two branches, 
 encompassing Little Bucharia and the desert of Cobi. The 
 streams which, on their descent from these mountains, take 
 a westerly direction, or, flowing to the east, lose themselves 
 
 « Herod, vi. 125. Cf. Strabo, p, 928. ^ ^ . ^, .. , . 
 
 « Strabo, p. 826. Muller, Sammhing Buss, Geschtchten, n. 14. 
 
 " Chardin, vol. ii. p. 28. 
 
2B 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 in the sands of the desert, all carry down gold ; a proof that 
 rich veins of that metal exist in the bosom of the mountains ; 
 accordingly these mountains, as well as the adjacent dis- 
 tricts of Great Bucharia on one side, and the desert to the 
 east have, at all times, been renowned for their productive- 
 ness in gold ; but especially, as we shall have occasion to 
 show, during the dynasty of the Persians, the gold ot this 
 country was collected by their tributaries, the inhabitants of 
 
 Northern India/^ . 
 
 The more easterly portions of the Tauric range also 
 abound in gold, as we know to be the case with the moun- 
 tains of Great Thibet, of China, Siam, Cochin-China, and 
 Malacca.-^ The fact, however, is all that we know ; these 
 countries continuing to be for the most part very imperfectly 
 explored by Europeans. During the Persian era they were 
 altogether unknown ; the geography of Herodotus termin- 
 atino- with the desert of Gobi and the adjacent mountains. 
 
 We must conclude, therefore, that the only territories of 
 the southern half of Asia known to the ancients as abound- 
 ing: in gold, were Lydia, and the mountains which form the 
 boundaries of Great and Little Bucharia ; and with respect 
 to the latter of these two districts, we have the express evi- 
 dence of Herodotus, that the gold was not only collected by 
 washing, but by the process of mining.^ Yet it is evident 
 that the produce of these gold countries, however consider- 
 able, (and the amount may in some degree be estimated by 
 the tribute paid by the Indians,) bore no proportion to the 
 quantity of gold then existing in Asia. Whence then were 
 these treasures derived ? Did they come from the south- 
 easterly parts of the continent already referred to ? Or 
 were the mines of Siberia worked at that early period ? Let 
 us first examine this last supposition. 
 
 The discoveries of the Russians have proved that the 
 range of hills which, under the name of Altai, divide 
 Siberia fi-om Great Tartary, are not without gold. In this 
 case also we find a confirmation of the remark already 
 made, that the eastern branch of these mountains, the high- 
 
 • Herod, iii. 102. Cf. Abulgazi, Hist, des Tart<ire8, P. 388/^^ ''^/oT^'i' 
 MiJLLER, Sammlung Rms. Geschichten, iv.p. 183 ; Brvce, Meniotre,i>, 123, etc. 
 » RocHON, Voyage a Madagascar et aux IndeSy p. 2^7- 
 ^ Herod, iii. 106. 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 29 
 
 est and most extensive, is also the most abundant in gold. 
 The Russian gold mines begin on the other side of the sea 
 of Baikal, and are situated principally m the province ot 
 Nertchinsk, along the river Onon, which empties itself into 
 the Amoor ; being worked by the inhabitants of those dis- 
 tricts, the Daourians and Tungusians.^« The Tungusian 
 country, which lies to the east, and is subject to China, 
 contains a continuation of the same chain of mountains, 
 and has at all times been celebrated for its productiveness 
 
 in gold.^^ , A , . -1 
 
 We have already remarked that the Altaic range, with 
 
 the adjacent regions, particularly towards the east, was, m 
 ancient times, beyond the limits of certain and ascertained 
 geographical knowledge. We must be content, therefore, 
 with a probable instead of a positive reply as to the question 
 whether these mines were anciently worked or not : some 
 traces, however, of such operations appear as early as the 
 dynasty of the Persians. 
 
 As the first proof, it may be observed that we find many 
 of the nomad tribes of Northern Asia to have possessed an 
 abundance of gold, such as the Massagetae to the north-east 
 of the Caspian, whose utensils were made of this metal ; and 
 still further to the north, the Arimaspians, of whom the 
 fable was., that they obtained their gold by stealth fi-om the 
 
 griffins. 
 
 Secondly, Herodotus describes the north of Europe as 
 being very rich in gold. " In the north of Europe" (he 
 says) " there appears to be by far the greatest abundance of 
 gold : where it is found I cannot say, except that the Arimas- 
 pians, a race of men having only one eye, are said to pur- 
 loin it from the griffins. I do not, however, believe that 
 there exists any race of men born with only one eye."^*^ It 
 
 28 
 
 See Georgi, Beschreibung aller Nationen des Russischen Beichs, s. 204. By 
 recent statements we have been furnished with the means of ascertaining the 
 revenue of the Russian mines, in gold and silver. The former is estmiated 
 at IGOOlbs. (40 poods), the latter at 50,0001bs. (1250 poods). See the tables 
 of the classical work of M. Von Hermann, On the Importance of the Russian 
 Mines. As the revenue of these mines is not more than this, even at the 
 present day, notwithstanding they are worked scientifically, both in the Ura- 
 fian and Altaic chain, it is probable that anciently it was still less con- 
 
 siderable 
 " Muller's Sammlung Russ, Geschichten, ii. 200, etc, 
 
 * Herod, iii. 116. 
 
30 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 SL^K'm' .ScoTqueU'ly by the no„h of Europe, 
 
 S Xt ier^^^^^^ in this place, the whole of what we de- 
 rrrSem ; the vast Lent of which contm^^^^^^^^ 
 known to Herodotus, but concerning which he b^'^^^^^^J^ 
 ^3 that it stretched eastward to the centre of Asia^^^f 
 SnSuenUy exceeded in size that quarter of the globe. 
 S eSS^^ therefore, " the north of Europe, may be 
 fp^Ued'S^^^ to'the north of Asia. I^^ ^fj^^;^^^^ 
 his meaning to Europe, properly so ca led, we must believe 
 hm to refer to the cLpathian mountains, which even at the 
 nrTse^^^^^^^^^ all the other mountainous parts of 
 
 Europe in Their productiveness of gold, and the Agathyrsi, 
 a 3n Situated in their vicinity, are described by him as 
 LvtraSa^^^ of this metaV^ This last f erp-t.tion, 
 howefer appears to be contradicted by the tact, that He- 
 roTotusV^^^^^^ the north ^^.th the west of Europe 
 
 and is therefore, much more probably speaking of Asia 
 San of apart of Europe which, -latwely to G^^^^^^^^^^ 
 be considered as lying to the north-west. I must be added 
 that another passage of the historian evidently fi^^^^^^ the 
 country of the Arimaspians in the north-east of Asia. 
 
 Th rV we know from recent authority, that m the 
 SiberiS mountains are found a multitude of ancient mines 
 wherTA^^^^^ of mining appear to have been carried 
 
 1 at a very remote period in the same manner as at present. 
 ?Le1e aSnt mines' however, are now -thing more A^^^^^ 
 mere excavations, like the Dax)urian mines in the province 
 ^f NertcSk^^ Supposing, however, that our hypothesis 
 t ^:^^^S.d that trmint of Siberia were worked at a 
 v^r^ remote period, this fact proves nothing m favour of 
 S X mSain^h^ the north of Asia was anciently in- 
 habTted by a highly civilized people. On the con traiy, it 
 L eSr to ^^^^^ «^--g operations of the kind in 
 
 nueZn m'ay have been carried on by a rude and even by 
 Tnomad natL : no sort of scientific 1^-wledf^ b^^^^^^ 
 quired, nor any thing more than a few simple mstmments, 
 and a determined spirit of gain. 
 
 « Herod, iv. 104. , oai 
 
 » Georgi, Beschreibuncf, etc. ^U-4. 
 
 « Ibid. iv. 27. 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 31 
 
 At all events, it is evident from the quantity of gold of 
 which we have proofs under the dynasty of the Persians, 
 that the intercourse which then subsisted with the gold 
 countries (whether in Southern or Northern Asia, or in 
 both) was much more considerable than the express testi- 
 mony of history would lead us to conclude. If it should be 
 thought that Asia, after all, was insufficient to produce so 
 large a quantity of this metal, the observations which we 
 shall have occasion to make on its commerce with the gold 
 countries of Africa will tend to remove this difficulty. But 
 when we consider the flourishing condition of the coun- 
 tries between the Ganges and the Indus during the Persian 
 period ; when we remember that Persia bordered on Hin- 
 dustan, and that the communication between them was 
 open and unimpeded ; it becomes at least no improbable 
 supposition, that the utmost regions of the East may even 
 then have contributed their supplies of gold for the general 
 commerce of the world. 
 
 Those who are acquainted with Asia must be still more 
 surprised with the prodigious quantity of silver which ex- 
 isted there, as early as the times of the Persian monarchy. 
 The tribute was collected in silver, except in the cases of 
 the Ethiopians and Indians ; ^* and silver used, though not 
 so abundantly as gold, for purposes of decoration. At the 
 same time, silver mines are of much rarer occurrence in 
 Asia than those of gold, and the mountain district where 
 this metal is found in the greatest abundance is the western 
 portion of Caucasus, or the country of the Chalybes, which 
 is celebrated on this account by the author of the Iliad :^ 
 
 " From Alybe remote, whence comes the silver ore.** 
 
 The inhabitants of this district have been at all times en- 
 gaged in mining; and many ages afterwards, when the 
 Genoese were masters of the Black Sea, they also opened 
 some mines, of which the traces still continue.^ Besides this 
 
 " Herod, iii. 95. ^^ Homer, II. ii. 856. 
 
 "* Muller's Sammlung Ituss, Geschichterij ii. 14. Also on the northern 
 coast of Asia Minor, near the site of the ancient Amisus (Hodie Samsoon). 
 See Porter's Travels, vol. ii. p. 696. Attempts have been made to work these 
 mines afresh. 
 
32 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 district, we know that Bactriana anciently possessed silver 
 mines of very considerable depth.^^ 
 
 Silver is also found in the mines of Siberia, in China, or 
 Southern Asia ; but the large annual importations of this 
 metal from Europe, made in consequence of the high price 
 it bears in the East, sufficiently prove that it is found there in 
 very small quantities. We may, therefore, conclude with 
 certainty, that the greater portion of the silver possessed of 
 old by the Asiatic nations was imported ; nor can there be 
 much question respecting the channel of its importation. 
 
 The richest land in silver then known was the south of 
 Spain, at that time possessed by the Phoenicians. The latter 
 derived no less an abundance of this metal from their Span- 
 ish colonies, than the Spaniards have done from their South 
 American possessions ; and by means of their traffic in the 
 interior of Asia it was disseminated through all that conti- 
 nent. The extent of their land-traffic would therefore be 
 sufficiently proved by the vast abundance of this precious 
 metal in the Persian empire ; even if there were no express 
 testimony to the fact. 
 
 With respect to the less precious metals, it is sufficient in 
 this place to remark, that the nomad tribes to the east of 
 the Caspian possessed, even in the time of the Persians, the 
 use of brass or iron, as is proved by the description Herodotus 
 has given of their military accoutrements.^ Does not this 
 circumstance give countenance to the supposition, that even 
 at that period the country between the Arctic mountains 
 and the Altaic range was not altogether unexplored ? 
 
 The taste for precious stones was no less universal in 
 Asia than that for the precious metals ; and may be traced, 
 as appears by the decorations of the Jewish hierarchy, to a 
 
 ^ Ctesias, Indica, c. ii. ; who asserts that they are deeper than those of 
 India. Traces of such mines, of great depth, from which eold and silver ores 
 had been extracted, are to be found in the mountain of WaisU-Kara, in the 
 territory of Chiwa, near the river Oxus or Jihoon. See Allg. Geogr. Ephem. 
 August, 1804, p. 447. Morier assures us that they are still worked. Travels, 
 vol. i. p. 238. The same author informs us that the greater part of the silver 
 met with in Persia comes from the mines of Bucharia and Aderbijan. 
 
 " Of the Massagetaj Herodotus relates, that they have no iron, but are 
 acquainted with the use of brass, which is very abundant in their country. 
 As for the other nations of this quarter of Asia, which formed part of the army 
 of Xerxes, he mentions their pikes, swords, daggers, etc., but does not say of 
 what metal they were made. 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 33 
 
 period anterior to the Persian monarchy. They were em- 
 ployed not only as ornaments, and to embellish furniture, 
 but still more to be engraved as signets. This usage ap- 
 pears especially to have prevailed among the Babylonians ; 
 every one of whom, according to Herodotus, possessed an 
 ornament of this description.^^ It is probable that the Medes 
 and Persians borrowed this practice from the Babylonians ; 
 which they carried so far as to ornament the hilts of their 
 poignards and cimeters, their armlets and chains, their 
 cloths, and even the accoutrements of their horses, with 
 precious stones.*^ We frequently find the sardine stone, 
 the onyx, the sardonyx, the emerald, and the sapphire, to 
 have been employed in this manner ; but the labours of the 
 learned have shown the extreme difficulty there is in ascer- 
 taining the true application of these terms.*^ Mineralogists 
 admit that the sapphire can be no other than the lapis lazu- 
 li,*^ but the question is more difficult as respects the smarag- 
 dus, or emerald, which appears to be frequently confounded 
 with a species of fluor-spar.*^ The name of sardine stone 
 appears to be a generic one, comprehending all the finer 
 species of hornstones or agates, of various colours, according 
 to which they appear, in part at least, to have been classed. 
 The red were denominated cornelians ; the white, fi*om re- 
 sembling the colour of the nail, onyxes ; and those com- 
 pounded of both, sardonyxes.** To the same class belonged 
 the chalcedony, etc. 
 
 The further discussion of such questions I must leave to 
 mineralogists, and content myself with endeavouring to 
 point out the quarters fi'om which these precious minerals 
 were derived. My observations respecting the Carthaginian 
 commerce may have proved that a great proportion of them, 
 particularly those denominated chalcedonies, were obtained 
 
 ^ Herod, i. 195. *" Arrian. vol. vi. 29. 
 
 *' Considerable progress has, however, been made in this respect since the 
 appearance of the first edition of this work, by the edition of Marhodus de 
 Gemmis, by Beckmann. The researches of the Count von Veltheim, in 
 his vermischte Schrijien, and the controversy between MM. von Kohler and 
 Brijckmann, have brought the question to nearly as complete a settlement 
 as appears possible. 
 
 " Beckmann, Gesch. der Erfind. iii. 182, sqq. 
 
 " Ibid. iii. 297> sqq. M. von Veltheim, Ueher die Statue des MemnonSf 
 und Neros Smai'agd. 
 
 ** Brtjckmann, Ueher den Sarder, Onyx und Sardonyx, p. 3. 
 
 VOL. I. D 
 
HA 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 iSrisSed by ?he Persians, the Egyptian. At present 
 
 ;TSI onW concerned with Asia, which also abounded m 
 we are ouiy «- ^^ j^^ occasion to re- 
 
 Of Hindustan, in the kingdom of Gokonda^ Ji^^oTS 
 nf these mines is very doubtful ; and, as tar as 1 know, aid 
 IndTp^rerly so called, are no where mentioned by the 
 Srecia^^^^^^^^ contemporary with the dynasty of the Per- 
 
 « TAVE.NIEK, vol. ii. p. 267, !a\Tav™ 
 
 xnines; thatat ^f VTht Mtish 'S^^^^^^ from MasuU- 
 
 sent forming part of the British f^^^""^^^' ^^^^^^^,^^ to that traveller, were 
 patam, whe?e about sixty V^o.^«^"?,X » ^^ ^as^^^^^ that at Sumelpoor or 
 ^en employed (^^«^'f >; ^°^;, "' P'/^^^^ 
 Quel, on the south-west boundary of Beng^^^^^ theYollowing: 
 
 of Rennel, communicated to me by ^1"™^^^^^^ one hundred and 
 
 One at Gandicotta in ^^-^ete^nTooti ^nd Cuddapah. Another at 
 forty miles north-wes of Madras Snoor oi Sum^^ set down m 
 
 Beiragoor, seventy ^^^l^?f\fl^'^^^^^ the peninsula near a 
 
 Rennlll's map ; and a third, at the upper Pornon^ /llahabad on the 
 
 nlace called ^n-^' ?^^^^^^^^^ the present 
 
 &anges. We are indebted for the ^^^i inio i^^^^ted Benj. Hetne, 
 
 state of the diamond mines of the peninsula lo ^"^ idmc treatise 
 
 Int^ Tracts Historical ^i .f'^'f^^Za !^^^^^ only of the 
 
 II. Account of the Diamond Mines in India Ihe a^^" P ^j^ ^^/^ ^^^^ j^ 
 
 xnines which he ^^i^^^^^ ^/JJi^^^^^^^^^^ W. S. W. 
 
 Circars, near the village ^^^^J^""^;^^^^ Nizam. Another near 
 
 from Ellora m Circars. This still »>fi^n^w centuries. It is 
 
 Cuddaza on the river Pannar, which ^^^^f ,^^^S,^.°^^^^^^^ at no great dis- 
 gtiU worked, but appe^^%^^^^,^^^,t^^^^^ than 
 
 tance, the chain of hills of ^.^JJ^^j^^^f ' ^ on, and more 
 
 deep pits, the operation of mining ^f "y^^^. J'.^^^^^^^^ niine of Pannah in 
 as a matter of chance than ^^'^J'll' .%^^l^X Description of 
 
 Bengal, the best account is «>-X'i^^^^^^^^^ ^^"^ '^' T? 
 
 Hindustan, vol. n. p. 325. ^he chamonofi ar^ F ^^^ immediate 
 
 by the Focess of wa^h^^^^^^^ ^.^^,,,, i eonceded 
 
 possessions of the Englisn, tne ngm ui & ^ student of antiquity, 
 
 fcthe Rajah. This last mine is the most P^P^^^^^J/^^^ V^^ia then known to 
 as proving t^at a diamond ^^^^^^^ ,f the Prasii, 
 
 Z r t Powel'l^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^- -'' 
 
 Patna, hJk been looked upon as the capital of all India. 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 35 
 
 sians ; but among the inhabitants of Hindustan they were 
 used from the most remote period, as I shall have an oppor- 
 tunity of showing in the portion of my work relative to that 
 country. As for the other precious stones already enumer- 
 ated ; a passage among the fragments of a contemporary 
 writer, Ctesias, throws considerable light on the question of 
 their origin. " Ctesias," (says Photius in his Excerpta,) "in 
 his description of India, speaks of the gigantic dogs of that 
 country, as well as of the great mountain where the mines 
 are situated from which the sardine, the onyx, and other 
 precious stones, are procured, which are used as signet rings. 
 They occur on the boundaries of the Great Desert, in which, 
 at the distance of ten days' journey, is a temple of the Sun."*^ 
 It is probable that the mountains here meant are those 
 on the confines of Little Bucharia.*^ Ctesias, as well as 
 Herodotus, describes only the northern part of India, the 
 part with which the Persians were acquainted, lying east 
 of Bactriana ; that is, the mountainous range of Mus-tag, 
 or Imaus, which, as we have already remarked, was fruitful 
 in gold. The observations of modern travellers have proved 
 that these mountains abound also in other precious minerals, 
 particularly the lapis lazuli, which is no where else found in 
 such perfection. Of this we find evidence as early as the 
 writings of Marco Polo, and the trade in this mineral, and 
 its high price, have at all times attracted attention.'*® The 
 missionary Goez, who travelled from India to China through 
 Little Bucharia, in the year 1605, has given us still more 
 ample information respecting the same. Precious stones, 
 particularly the jasper and lapis lazuli, form the principal 
 articles of commerce of this country,^ and so profitable is 
 
 * Ctesias, Indica, cap. 5. 
 
 *' On the other hand, the Count von Veltheim, in his Treatise On the 
 Onyx-mountains of Ctesias, {Sam?nlung vermischt. Schriften, ii. p. 237,) en- 
 deavours to prove that by these are meant the Bala-Ghaut, not far from Be- 
 rodh in the Deccan. In my observations on the commerce of the Babylonians, 
 I shall have occasion to return to this subject. I do not mean to deny that 
 onyxes may have been obtained from this quarter, but I do not believe it to 
 be the mountain to which Ctesias must be understood to refer. 
 
 *" Marco Polo, apud Ramus, ii. 10 : compare Abulgazi-Khan, Hist, des 
 Tartares, 388, 416, and Beckmann, 1. c. 
 
 ** AUgemeine historic der Reisen zu Wasser und zu Lande^ B. vii. p. 544, 
 549. According to Goez this must be the celebrated stone Yu or Yu-she, 
 (thus it ought to be written, instead of Tu-she, as is observed in a note,) of 
 which, according to a recent author, (Hager, Pantheon Chinois, p. 82,) the 
 Vasa Murrhina are made. But the name of Yu appears to be as indeter- 
 
 D 2 
 
m 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 indication of a trade with Uima. ^^^^ ^ne of the 
 
 Lastly, pearls hav« ^een at all t™^^ Thermodest splen- 
 
 most valued commodities ot ^^e l^a^*,; *»^' ^^^ tJ^ri- 
 
 Are -e *e. (p-^^^^^^ 
 
 "■^ •; "iJm^ LKey we^ vAed, in Rome »d Alex- 
 
 man freedom , ana luey wc . 
 
 andria, as highly as precious «;^ J" ^^'t^ anterior 
 of more ancient date and may be t^^^^^^ ^ ,,ring 
 
 to the Persian dynasty , nor has ^^ ^^^T . ^ ^ ^f the 
 of pearls of the largest size is ^;^/'^f ^s J" ' £[ Tippoo 
 decUons of an eastern des^o^^^^ t wa. hns^ t^^^ pp ^ ^ 
 
 was adorned ^J^" ^^ J^s^^^^^^^^^^ Persians is usual- 
 
 and u IS husthatthe p esentj^ ^^ 
 
 ly decorated. It is weii ki r ^^^^ ^j^^ 
 
 fished 7 P™p3 '^ Z penSa of Hindustan ; and 
 shores ot Ceylon, and ot the pe ^^^^ ^^.^^^ ^j^^^ 
 
 these also appear to have W ^jie q ^^ ^i 
 
 were derived ot old. ^^^^'^7^'''", fishery otf the islands 
 der s tleet, -akes ^nUon o^^^^ TS peaTs were fished up 
 in the Persian "ult, observing, i y_^ j ^^_ 
 
 '''ffiSrlju^ri'SXbut .. the .me .im. more 
 
 «» Arriani Indica^v IH ed. Steph. 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 37 
 
 important point, to ascertain the various materials for 
 clothing which were then known to the East ; not that there 
 is any lack of passages in ancient authors referring to this 
 topic, but because the expressions employed are not so 
 technically accurate as to enable us to determine with cer- 
 tainty the article meant. At the same time, some of the 
 most important questions respecting Asiatic commerce de- 
 pend upon our interpretation of these passages. Materials 
 for clothing, either raw or manufactured, have at all times 
 been one of the most important articles of exportation pro- 
 duced by the East, to which we are indebted for the most 
 costly of these commodities. Besides cotton and silk, at 
 one time peculiar to her, the East produces the finest wool, 
 camels hair, and that of the Angora goat, and hemp, at least 
 equal to any known in Europe. The value of these ma- 
 terials has been at all times greatly enhanced by the beauty 
 of the dyes, in which the East always surpassed the rest of 
 the world ; possessing a variety of the materials for dyeing 
 such as no other region can boast. 
 
 The above subjects would require each of them a separate 
 treatise to enable us to do them justice : in a general work 
 like the present, nothing more than the general results of 
 such inquiries can be looked for. 
 
 There is no doubt that the use of cotton, as early as the 
 Persian monarchy, was not only known in Asia, but very 
 extensively adopted ; of which Herodotus himself furnishes 
 proofs. He was aware that it came from India, where it 
 formed the habitual dress of the inhabitants ; ^^ and mentions 
 it in several parts of his work, as being worn by the Egyp- 
 tians and Persians, as well as the Indians. The sindones 
 byssincE of the Persians,^- were certainly cotton garments, as 
 appears from a passage of Theophrastus presently to be 
 cited ; and Herodotus informs us that the Egyptians 
 wrapped their mummies in cerements made of the same 
 stuff ;^^ which assertion is best illustrated by recent ob- 
 servations made on existing mummies, proving these cere- 
 ments to be of cotton.^ 
 
 " Herod, iii. 106. "The trees in their woods bear a species of wool, which 
 for beauty and goodness surpasses that of the sheep. The Indians use this 
 for clothing." 
 •^ Herod, vii. 181. " Herod, ii. 86. {mv^ovoq ^vaaivriQ rfXafiuKTi.) 
 
 ** Blumenbach, Observations on some Egyptian Mummies f "^^ 12. 
 
38 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 If we add, that Herodotus appears, particularly when 
 descrMng the dress of the Egyptian P"ests,» to have u ed 
 tTterm linen to express cotton, we may conclude that he 
 use of dresses of this material was vejy generally adopted 
 even beyond the confines of India. To these proofs must 
 £ S the decisive testimony of an excellent wnter and 
 n^tSst, Theophrastus; belonging indeed to a later epoch 
 but contemporary with Aristotle and Alexander, and who 
 pla% de^ived^his information from more direct sources 
 perhaps from the testimony of Nearchus.'« He tells us 
 "That in the island of Tylos, situated m the Persian Gulf, 
 are laree plantations of the cotton tree, (Gossypmm arbo- 
 7eumuL,) from which arc manufactured clothes called 
 S«i of very different degrees of value, some being 
 costly others less expensive. The use of these is not con- 
 fined io India, but extends to Arabia" (meaning, it is pro- 
 bable. Babylonia, or Imk-Arabi). After these express test- 
 monies, no fiirther evidence appears necessaiy to P^ve the 
 univer^l use of cotton at that period. I* is true that 
 Herodotus tells us that India was its native soil, but it ap- 
 pears to have been also cultivated in the islands of the Fer- 
 Ean Gulf, in Arabia, and probably m Egypt; and that the 
 manufacture of it formed a considerable branch of ancient 
 
 ''Tt^is much more difficult to determine whether the use of 
 silk as an article of dress was then known to the East ; and 
 to what extent it prevailed. Neither Herodotus, nor any 
 other writer contemporary with the Persian empire, men- 
 tions by name either the silk-worm or the stuffs manufac- 
 tured from its thread. The term of Serica, the name ofthe 
 Seres, afterwards so familiar, were then unknown, and fetrabo 
 is the first Grecian geographer, of those whose works have 
 come down to us, by whom they are alluded to. Yet we 
 are not without evidence which makes it highly probable 
 that an extensive use of silks may have existed m Asia trom 
 a very remote period. 
 
 - Herod ii 37. The express testimony of other authors would prove 
 
 that ?he dress of the Egyptia^n priests was not of linen but of eotton. Cf. 
 
 Foster, Be Bysso, p. 85. 
 
 *• Theoph. Hist, Plant iv. 9- ,.^ ^ . - ..^ .„p„ known to 
 
 »« An excellent account of the different species of cotton trees known lo 
 
 the ancients may be found in Foster, De Bysso Ant^uarum, p. 38, sqq. 
 
 Compare Beckmann's Beitrage zur Waaren-kwide, i. 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 39 
 
 
 If it were certain that the Hebrew words translated " silk " 
 in the Old Testament, really had this signification, we should 
 need no further proof of this fact. Who does not remem- 
 ber, from Luther s version, "the silken curtains ofthe temple, 
 the silken cords of the tabernacle, and the silken garments of 
 the men of Tyre ?" But as the true rendering of the original 
 in these cases cannot be determined with certainty, and as 
 most interpreters deny the possibility of silk being meant, 
 we are compelled to seek for other evidence. Let the fol- 
 lowing observation be premised. 
 
 It is incorrect to suppose that the silk-worm with which 
 we are familiar is the only animal of the species whose la- 
 bours are capable of being converted into an article of dress, 
 and actually are so employed. Asia produces a variety of 
 insects of the same class, and there is no doubt that the web 
 of many of them was used, even in ancient times, as a ma- 
 terial for clothing.^ But when we consider that the descrip- 
 tions ofthe insect in question are seldom scientifically exact, 
 and incapable of bemg so, we may clearly perceive the diffi- 
 culty of defining whether, by the term Bombyx, is meant 
 the insect with which we are acquainted, or another. How- 
 ever interesting, therefore, this question may be to the natu- 
 ralist, it is of less importance to the historian of ancient 
 commerce, who may well be content with more general 
 conclusions. 
 
 The first Grecian author who has made mention of the 
 silk-worm, and described its metamorphosis, is Aristotle in 
 his Natural History.^^ His account, however, does not tally 
 with the silk-worm known in Europe, and it is probable that 
 he had another species in view, though his commentators 
 are by no means agreed on this point. He tells us that the 
 web of this insect was wound off* by women, and afterwards 
 woven, and names a certain Pamphyle, of Cos, as the in- 
 ventress of this art. Whence then was the raw material 
 derived ? The Grecian philosopher does not expressly in- 
 form us, but Pliny,^ who has translated his words, and per- 
 haps had a more accurate copy before him than we possess, 
 speaks of Assyrian, that is, Asiatic silk, and interprets in 
 
 " Walter Hamilton, Dcscrijytion of Hindustan, p. 29, relates the same in 
 his account of Bengal, in the present day. 
 •• Aristot. Hist, Nat. v. 19. * Pliny, xi. c. 22, 23. 
 
40 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 this manner the obscure -J^iX Ik^^^^^^^^ 
 
 STsrld^ht^e^veir anew; whence that fine 
 
 from A^'^'J"\"._yent mention is made by the Roman 
 tissue, of which ^requem I „ celebrated scholar 
 
 poets under tj« f -« «*f ^.r^Mng that all the Asiatic 
 understands this passage as nn^ny ^ 
 
 garn^nts, <l-2t;;otT^^^^^^ -P- 
 
 S rtl to matemrrf winch they consisted, and th^ 
 r^ Jt nn woof havinc been withdrawn, the texture was 
 SfedTwithl done': «' an interpretat.on which though 
 
 favoured by f^^^^,^^ :Z:tZ\:t^' 
 
 %:rv"e?tht m^^^^^^^^ the silk was derived 
 
 froS treTnsect wTwhlch we are acquainted, or another, 
 kTcertaSat a trade with Asia in silk existed as early as 
 U davl^f Ar stotle ; as stuffs of that materia were to be 
 found even in Greece though perhaps in small quantities 
 rr^nrXp extent and magnitude of this commerce in the 
 4 erior 5 T fa it will be sufficiently illustrated by what 
 h^ve occasion o say respecting certain dresses, which I 
 i Xto liave beL ot^silk, namely, those denor^ina^ed 
 Median These dresses were not worn by the Medes alone, 
 Kopted from them by the Persians and agam the cus- 
 tom was borrowed from them by several nefbo^ring^a 
 fmn« whose costume Herodotus has described. It we were 
 c^^PslSrttese dresses, so often alluded to were really 
 «f ilk the antiquity and extent of the Asiatic trade in that 
 llCoulfbe at^ce manifest: and if we suppose that 
 
 iS of being entirely of silk ^^V^^^ ^^\^^ ^^^. 
 is the case in many countries of the East,) still these particu 
 
 nr Air;rntrhl'eTwe must not expect more 
 than'^a SLW- of probability. In the absence o^^^^^^ 
 express contemporaneous authority, we are left to conclude, 
 
 " Foster, De Bysso Antiq.^. 16. misunderstood 
 
 « Salmasics (ad Solmmn, p. •"') ?*^„,^„ "" „ his words. The Greek, 
 Aristotle, and put a construction ^^ }^^?^l^a^St^'-o««r means 
 "Td 3oM^«.a avoXiov*. "J"''»'?''J.«*2TetToVre silk-worm, and then 
 ra^^^eVrreir^ nSpi^y w^^^^^^^^^^^ it. "unravel the texture 
 of the dress, and then weave it over again. 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 41 
 
 from a comparison of various circumstances, that the dresses 
 in question were of silk. It is clear, from the testimony of 
 contemporary authors, that these Medish dresses formed a 
 peculiar description of clothing, distinguished above all 
 other articles of dress with which the Greeks were acquaint- 
 ed, by the beauty, the variety, and, as it were, the play and 
 splendour of their colours.^' The use of them was confined 
 to the rich and great, and accounted an article of luxury. 
 A Medish robe and cimeter, a chain of gold, and a richly 
 caparisoned horse, were the customary marks of distinction 
 bestowed on their favourites by the kings of Persia ; just 
 as at present is the caftan, which also is always of silk.^ It 
 may also be observed, that the same dresses which were 
 denominated by the Greeks Medimi, were styled by Roman 
 poets Assyrian,^^ Now it is unquestionable, that by the 
 latter were meant silken dresses, Assyria, like Media, being 
 the term employed by writers imperfectly acquainted with 
 its geography, to denote the whole of Central Asia, whence 
 silken stuffs were derived ; these writers neither knowing 
 nor suspecting that they came from a distance so immense 
 as Serica, properly so called, on the confines of China, or 
 even from China itself To these arguments must be added 
 the express testimony of a credible, though more recent 
 author. Procopius,^ speaking of the introduction of silk 
 into Europe, says, " From this web are manufactured the 
 dresses which the Greeks denominated Median, and which 
 are now called Seric (or silken)." To myself these proofs 
 appear conclusive, but I leave the point for others to decide ; 
 abstaining in this, as in every other part of my work, from 
 maintaining as a certainty what, after all, may be hypothe- 
 tical. I hope to recur once more to this question. 
 
 The finest description of wool, manufactured principally 
 in Babylonia and the Phoenician states, was the production 
 of many parts of Asia. Herodotus^^ himself has given us 
 a description of the Arabian sheep, distinguishing the two 
 sorts of which the breed is composed, that with a long, and 
 
 ^ Zenoph. Cyrop. 0pp. p. 213. . j • ^- e *\.^ 
 
 « Xenoph. Anab. i. p. 249. Compare the accurate description of the 
 Persian Khilat in Morier, Travels, vol. ii. p. 93; and the immutability of 
 Asiatic customs will very strikingly appear. 
 
 «* See the quotations apud Foster, loc. cit. .,. 
 
 «« Procop. Fersic, i. 18. " Herod, in. 113. 
 
42 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 tliat with a broad tail. In the mountains also of Northern 
 India the district of Belur, or the vicinity of Cashniire, 
 were found then, as at present, large flocks of sheep, which 
 constituted the wealth of the inhabitants;^ and no one 
 acquainted with ancient history needs to be reminded ot 
 the rich fleeces of the sheep of Asia Minor, particularly 
 those in the territory of Miletus. The Milesian wool was 
 accounted by the Greeks the finest of all ; probably because 
 thev confounded with the native fleeces of Miletus the wool 
 of Arabia and Central Asia exported from that city. 
 
 lliere are also abundant proofs that another branch ot 
 trade now of great importance, that of furs, not only ex- 
 isted in the times of which we are speaking, but had at- 
 tained considerable importance. Supposing it to have been 
 less important than it is at present, the cause was not so 
 much from want of acquaintance with the fur countries, as 
 that the temperate climates enjoyed by the then civilized 
 nations of the world rendered this article of dress unneces- 
 sary. The Grecian colonies to the north of the Euxine 
 formed, however, an exception to this rule. They drew 
 supplies of peltry, the skins of the otter and beaver, from 
 the very interior of Russia,^ and possibly even from the 
 shores of the Baltic, and easily disposed of them in the 
 neighbouring country of Thmce, the inhabitants of which 
 were principally clothed in furs. It may be observed, that 
 the Amazons are also occasionally represented in sculpture 
 as thus habited, or rather (which is observable) loosely 
 arrayed in ftirs. The use of them would appear to be in 
 general a matter of luxury as well as necessity, even in 
 warm chmates, as it continues to be at present among the 
 Turks. In his account of the army of Xerxes, Herodotus 
 enumerates several nations habited in the skins of animals, 
 as for instance, various tribes from the east and north-east 
 of the Caspian Sea, and adjoining the Sea of Aral ; such as 
 the Caspii, the Utii, etc. ; as well as the inhabitants ot the 
 ruo-ged mountainous tract on the south-east boundary ot 
 Gr'eat Bucharia, the Pactyes of Belur-Land, and others.^^ 
 
 The third grand division of Asiatic merchandise is that ot 
 spices and aromatics. These commodities belong not to 
 
 • Ctesias, xiii. 22. 
 
 Herod, iv. 109. 
 
 « Ibid. vii. 67 sqq. 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 43 
 
 Europe, and yet were used there in enormous quantities as 
 early as the Persian dynasty. Not only among the Greeks, 
 but in every other country not in a state of barbarism, it 
 was the established opinion that no sacrifice could be offered 
 without frankincense ; and if we form to ourselves only a 
 general idea of the vast quantities of this aromatic which 
 must in consequence have been daily consumed on the altars 
 of so many cities and nations, we may easily perceive that 
 this commerce must have been one of the most extensive and 
 most lucrative of ancient times. 
 
 Arabia, especially towards the south, was the native 
 country of frankincense and the other most valuable aro- 
 matics ; but the opposite coasts of Africa also abounded in 
 the same. We are indebted to the father of history for an 
 exact description of the different species of these produc- 
 tions, as well as for pointing out the channels through which 
 they were conveyed to the states of the West. We shall find 
 in the sequel that the great maritime cities of Phcenicia ^^ 
 were the principal points of exportation, but it is probable 
 that a still larger quantity was conveyed across the Persian 
 Gulf into the interior of Asia. The rites and sacrifices of 
 the disciples of Zoroaster gave a prodigious stimulus to this 
 traffic ; and we have instances on record of an almost in- 
 credible expense incurred, on the occasion of solemn festi- 
 vals or funerals, in the article of aromatics. 
 
 Of the spices used by the ancients, cinnamon was the 
 most esteemed. At the present day it is found only in the 
 East Indies, but it is difficult to say whether the same was 
 the case anciently. Some very credible authors assert that 
 it was then found in Arabia also : but a comparison of the 
 evidence of others, particularly of the admirable Herodotus, 
 makes it probable that it only passed through Arabia, in 
 consequence of the commercial relations between India and 
 that country, which we shall have occasion more fully to 
 develop in the sequel. 
 
 The object of the present general observations has been 
 to throw some light on the principal articles of the ancient 
 commerce of Asia, preparatory to the more accurate in- 
 quiries which are to follow. In proportion as our ideas on 
 
 " See the section on the commerce of the Phoenicians. 
 
44 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 the subicct are apt to be too narrow, it is inciimbent on the 
 ^.S to extend them gnuhmlly ; that conclusions which 
 are m fact, the results of careftil investigation may not as- 
 gime the appearance of striking but untounded assertions. 
 
 The greLt influence which (hversity oi- simiUirity o Ian- 
 gruaoe has on the mutual intercourse of nations, i^akes it 
 necessary to advert to this subject with reference to the 
 Persian period. This influence must have been greater of 
 old than it is at present ; no languages at tlmt time being so 
 univers^illy disseminated as to form the media ot commuiii- 
 cation abroad as well as at home ; at a time also when he 
 separation between diflerent races was much more absoh^te 
 and complete, and a stranger was not ^"^^^^^7^^^ f.^ 
 looked ujion and treated as an enemy. The chtta which the 
 Grecian historians have supplied on this ^^^ject are it is 
 true more scanty than might have been desired ; but wc 
 c^ioTlnder at this when we consider the contemptuous 
 manner in which the Greeks were accustomed to speak ot 
 
 the barbaric languages. ix r- ^i ^;av.ront 
 
 The topography (as it may be termed) of the different 
 lan-ua-es ot" Asia, must be viewed in connexion with the 
 diversities of the natural character of the continent. In 
 certain districts of no very large extent occurred a variety 
 of languacres completely dissimilar ; and, on the other hand 
 exten^ve^ons might be traversed throughou which tie 
 same language prevailed, with occasional variations in its 
 dialects. The first was the case m nearly all the mountain- 
 ous districts, where a number of independent tribes were 
 estabhshed ; and also on the sea-coasts, which were natuially 
 the first places to be occupied by foreign settlers of various 
 oricrin. On the other hand, the more widely-prevalent lan- 
 crua-es were disseminated through the vast plains which form 
 the Interior of Asia. Here also we may remark that he 
 same ^eat ranges of mountains or mighty streams which 
 formed the boundaries of different kingdoms, became also 
 the limits of different languages. One speech prevailed 
 from the iEgean to the Halys ; another from the Ha p^^^^ 
 the Tigris ; and again, another from the Tigris to the Indus 
 and the Oxus.^* 
 
 n The proofs on which the following conclusions ^If^^^^f^m^^^^ 
 found inky treatise, De Lingmrum A$taticarum m Persarum Impervo Log 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 45 
 
 In the interior of Asia Minor, as far as the Halys, the 
 prevailing speech was the ancient Phrygian, which even in 
 the time of the Greeks was looked upon as one of the oldest 
 of known languages, the Phrygians themselves being con- 
 sidered one of the most ancient races of that part of the 
 world. It appears, according to the best information vfe 
 possess, to have been a branch of the Armenian, which, in 
 the time of the Persian monarchy, it nearly resembled. 
 Agreeably to the usual progress of population, it would ap- 
 pear that the Armenians descended from their mountains 
 and spread over the subjacent plains of Asia Minor.^^ The 
 coasts, however, of that peninsula were occupied by settlers 
 of more recent origin. In the rich commercial cities, which 
 lined the shores of Asia Minor, the Grecian language was 
 as habitually spoken as English now is in the states of 
 North America. The original speech of the country ap- 
 pears, however, to have been the Carian, and its dialects ; 
 the Lydians, Mysians, and inhabitants of Caria, properly so 
 called, all speaking dialects of the same general language. 
 The northern half of the peninsula was occupied by colonies 
 of Thracians, who settled in Bithynia and carried with 
 them their native language ; their territory extending as far 
 as the river Parthenius, which separated them from the 
 Paphlagonians, who spoke a language of their own ; if it 
 were not rather a dialect of the Phrygian. A. still greater 
 variety of languages appears to have prevailed in the moun- 
 tainous region on the south of the peninsula, in Pisidia, 
 Pamphylia, and Cilicia : but with respect to these we pos- 
 sess no accurate information. 
 
 This perpetual change of language ceases as soon as we 
 cross the river Halys and enter upon Cappadocia, compre- 
 hending the country afterwards called Pontus. On the 
 eastern bank of this river began the empire of a mighty 
 language, which was spoken from the Halys eastward as far 
 as the Tigris, and from the heights of Caucasus to the 
 
 natwne et Varietate, which appeared in vol. xii. of the Comment der Gott, 
 Societ. ; an abstract of which may be found in my Historical llorks, vol. m. 
 p. 327, sqq. I consider this the proper place to indicate several learned re- 
 searches, of which I can only state the results in the present work. 
 
 '' Herod, vii. 73. He makes, however, the Armenians a colony of the 
 Phrygians, and represents the latter as one of the most ancient of nations, 
 and as having migrated from Thrace. ^ 
 
<M 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 southern coast of Arabia; and which, with some variations, 
 r^PSPrves every where a distinctive and ongmal character, 
 E u ualtySyled the Semitic. Its dialects -re *« C Pa 
 Sn in the western countries on the banks of the Ha ys , 
 t Syria" between the Mediterranean -^ the ^^^^^ 
 and the Assyrian, on the farther side of the 1 i^^s, n 
 Kurdistan, or the ancient Ad.abene ; t^e Chaldaean, in 
 R«Kvlnnia • the Hebrew and Samaritan, in Palestine , ine 
 HS n the maritime cities of Phoenicia and their 
 rxtJnTve colonies ; and lastly the A-bic extendjng no 
 only over the whole of the Aral^an Peninsula b^^^^^^ 
 the steppes of Mesopotamia which have ^t all t™es bee^^ 
 freauented by wandering hordes of Arabs. Several ot tnese 
 dXtHtiirsurvive ; with others we are acquainted o^ 
 through their literary fragments ; and it cannot be douUed 
 that at some remote period, antecedent to the comnience 
 
 melt of Tstorical recU one -g% .-- P^Tlr/of 
 va^t Tilains varying in character according to the nature ot 
 S cS^ wSchW inhabited ; in the deserts fA^bia 
 pursuing a nomad life ; m Syria applying hemselves jo 
 Agriculture, and talcing up settled .^^odes; n Baby^onm 
 erectine the most magnificent cities of ancient times , and in 
 pSa opening th'e earliest ports, and const-ting A^^^^ 
 which securW to them the commerce of the known worM^ 
 
 The boundary of these Semitic dialects was the 1 igris, it 
 we except another language of the same origin which ap- 
 pear to have prevailed in Assyria, properly so cal'ed- Vn 
 thefarther side of that river began the Persian dialects so 
 far differL from the Semitic, not only in their vocabulair 
 and phrasedogy, but also in their elements and construction 
 thatKTmpSble to consider them as belonging to the 
 i race. Notwithstanding the long-continued and vanou 
 relations in which the Greeks stood to the Persians the m 
 formation they have preserved for us respecting these par 
 ticulars is so scanty ^ to be of no essential semce to he 
 historian. We are indebted for more ^^jtant infomatK^^^ 
 to the recovered Zendavesta, and the fortunate researches 
 of Anquetil Duperron.'* By means of these, we are made 
 
 Kleuker, appended to the Zendavesta. 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 47 
 
 acquainted, not only with the names of several dialects of 
 the ancient Persian, but also with some of their literary re- 
 mains, and vocabularies; for instance, the Zend, or language 
 of ancient Media, in which the books of Zoroaster were 
 originally composed; the Pehlvi, spoken in the southern 
 districts, bordering on Assyria and Babylonia; and the 
 Parsi, or ancient Persian, which appears to have acquired 
 extended influence under the dominion of the Persians, 
 and to have swallowed up, as it were, the other dialects. A 
 comparison of these various modes of speech proves them 
 to have been distinguished by many shades of difference, 
 yet displaying such a resemblance in their construction as 
 well as their phraseology, as to show the dialects them- 
 selves, as well as the nations which used them, to have been 
 derived from the same origin. 
 
 Herodotus himself has remarked a striking variety in the 
 languages of the nomad tribes of Central and Northern Asia. 
 The Grecian merchants who travelled from the commercial 
 cities on the Black Sea, through what is now called the 
 Kipchak, to the countries north of the Caspian, and so on to 
 Great Bucharia, were obliged to take with them seven in- 
 terpreters, having occasion to pass through as many nations 
 speaking different languages.*^^ 
 
 . Notwithstanding this diversity, it cannot be doubted that 
 some languages were very widely disseminated over these 
 mighty plains, when we consider the vast extension of cer- 
 tain races, the Scythian, for instance, and Sarmatian, which 
 wandered in these regions, and retained, amidst all the 
 variety of their dialects, a mode of speech which charac- 
 terized and distinguished the whole race ; especially when 
 we reflect that the hordes belonging to each race undoubt- 
 edly descended from a common origin. 
 
 The greatest diversity appears to have prevailed, then as 
 now, in the mountainous region of Caucasus. The great 
 number of small and large tribes who inhabited these dis- 
 tricts, to which they had been drawn partly by war, but 
 more generally by the active commerce which prevailed 
 there, brought with them a variety of dialects.^^ Strabo 
 assures us that in the single city of Dioscurias, on the 
 eastern borders of the Euxine, on occasion of the great 
 
 " Herod, iv. 24. '* Herod, i. 203. 
 
4d 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 lIL-Xnirr^XTES^U » .Here »e. .*s 
 
 settled there.'" therefore, the princi- 
 
 The Semitic and the ™^;;^i ' ^ken as far as the 
 pal languages of Asia ; the latter DemgH ^ ^„ ^1^^ 
 
 Wus. Our knowledge of t»^e kn«es pr ^^ 
 
 other side of that nvcr is as Jf*' «« %^^^ it may be 
 to speak with any ^^^-^l^Yo S^^TTnS^^^^^ 
 reserved for our own «?« t^.f^'^'^ween the Zend and the 
 on this subject, it the ^^^f y ^^^^^^p " and Hindustan, 
 Sanscrit, the sacred languages of Persia a ^^.^^^ 
 
 should be ^^;fl>^;^7-;^',^^ Xuld succeed in rescuing 
 characterizes the BritisU nation s" _ 
 
 from oblivion some ^^^^^^^^^^^^1 the public 
 ture, and a second Anquetil Uuperr f ^^^, 
 
 with the sacred books ot J^^^ .^"J;,^^^^ Parsees. 
 
 cess that his predecessor has >"»f f^™^^ Asia and the 
 
 Another fac^sugg^jedby^^^^^^^^^ p,,,ed over 
 
 ancient dialects of Pers^^^^ ^^^,. b,t in other 
 
 ,n silence Not «^r" '^^^i^rly the two Indian penm- 
 
 P'f' 1 findkn<^agesC^^^^ stiU subsist, mixed up with 
 sulas, we tincl languages wu written re- 
 
 others wh.ch are F^^^^^^ -/.^^a and Pehlvi, 
 
 mains To this class belon«' ^ celebrated Sanscrit, 
 
 already mentioned m Hindustan, ^ ^^^^^^^ ^^ 
 
 as well as the fan in uic Ji„p,ms the mutual rela- 
 
 however, our present business to discus^ the m 
 tions of these languages, nor their degrees ot amn y, 
 only their general chamcters and ongm- ^^^^^.^^ only 
 Unguages can, of "^^ ';;;^' subsequent cultivation 
 by means of «- f j/SnV'nd liter^^^- ^he dead 
 Tgu ger:is:'S^ a1;U therefor. . - -« h- 
 been sWen; even if this were not fully ^"ested ^^i^^,, 
 circumstance, that several living languages appear 
 
 79 ViTvoPH. Anah, iv. Op, p. ow- 
 
 " Strabo, p. 761- 
 
 " Xenoph. Anab. iv. Op. p. 340. 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 49 
 
 been derived from them. Many reasons may be assigned 
 why they ceased to be spoken. The modifications neces- 
 sarily ingrafted on a widely-diffused language, communica- 
 tion with foreigners, and still more, subjugation to a foreign 
 yoke, all these, and the like causes, may so corrupt a lan- 
 guage, as to give birth to new dialects, capable of even a 
 still higher degree of cultivation. To enable the old lan- 
 guage in any degree to maintain its ground, it is necessary 
 that it should derive support from the institutions of religion, 
 which are usually preserved in the more ancient speech. 
 Consequently it assumes in the eyes of the multitude a still 
 higher character, as being a sacred language ; and this is 
 especially the case, when there exist in that language cer- 
 tain sacred books, on which the religion is founded. These 
 frequently contain not only the doctrines but the prayers 
 peculiar to that mode of worship, and thus prove the prin- 
 cipal means of preserving from complete decay a language 
 which has ceased to be spoken. When we consider that in 
 some countries the priests formed a separate caste, we per- 
 ceive the necessity these were under of making themselves 
 acquainted with the language of their sacred records ; such 
 knowledge becoming among them a learned study. It is 
 well known that this is true of the dead languages of Asia ; 
 and even when, as is apt to be the case, the great body of the 
 priesthood shun the labour of learning, and content them- 
 selves with reciting formularies which they do not understand, 
 yet the sacred writings are no less certainly preserved, and 
 it can scarcely fail to happen, that some individuals at least 
 will take the pains to become acquainted with their contents. 
 Strange as it may appear, we have narrowly escaped wit- 
 nessing a renewal of the same phenomenon in the west of 
 Europe ; most of the living languages of which are evident- 
 ly the offspring of the same deceased mother, the Latin. 
 They sprang from the corruption of the parent stock, be- 
 came independent, and were cultivated by means of the 
 literature of the nations which spoke them. The Latin, 
 however, still kept its ground, as the organ of public prayer ; 
 and even the Scriptures continued to be read in that lan- 
 guage. None but ecclesiastics understood it, or rather pro- 
 fessed to understand it, consequently it appears to have been 
 on the point of becoming a sacred language, like those of 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 £ 
 
50 
 
 AIS'Ia* 
 
 1 1 Id Sromllv, the Reformation, wl.u-l. by oncou- 
 classes and .ocomnj translating the Scr.p- 
 
 rilt\V«rci:staut;,'and, oui of the church, among 
 
 "oS'pSnt object has been merely to notice this fact 
 with e^ rd to ce tain Asiatic languages. We shall have 
 rdfon to attend to them more in detail when we come to 
 ciirvpv each nation individually. . 
 
 ThovXe are indebted to modern discovenes for an ac- 
 
 quaiSce with the whole of Asia, yet a ^^^^ '''[f- f^; 
 Son than we are apt to suppose, was known to the Greek as 
 «nrlv as the dvnastv of the Pei-sians. 1 hey were acquaim 
 S wi?h the whole^extent of the Persian empire irom the 
 Meliti^nean Sea to the Indvis, and as for as he desert 
 borderin- Little Buchana. We find m Herodotus traces 
 of a no less extensive knowledge of the plains of Centml 
 Xsia the steppes of the Mongols and Tartars, and of the 
 h^Ses bv which they were traversed, especially those in 
 the vkinily of the Caspian. The northern and eastern parts 
 I'fXToSnent alone 'continued to be j-^.f - <f,^^^^^^^ 
 illumined by some scattered rays of light which attord 
 irnS for hoping a more complete elucidation of the sub- 
 S Of he Sus tribes of La, those alone can at rac 
 our attention, which have been distinguished not merely ^ 
 Tie conquerors, but as civilized and commercial nations 
 ?he^Persians, as the ruhng people, justly deserve our firs 
 regard and a knowledge of their empire and its institutions 
 ^ afforf a standard^ by which to measure those of the 
 Xer l^eat monarchies established in ancient or modem 
 time^ in Asia. The Indians still continue ma sort of re- 
 m^ obsinty. The PhcBmcians and Babyta, a^^^^^^^^ 
 great commercial and manufacturing nations of th part ot 
 fhe world, next demand our observation. Under the head 
 of the Scj;thians, we shall endeavour to ^oUect f Uhe mfom 
 ation we possess respecting the nomad tnbcs of Central As^a, 
 and the camvan commerce carried on through their country. 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
PERSIANS. 
 
 The Persians have taken more pains than almost any other 
 nation to preserve their records in writing ; yet it has been 
 their fate, in common with most other nations of antiquity, 
 to be indebted for the stabihty of their fame to foreign his- 
 torians. Notwithstanding the pains they took to register 
 the acts of their government, the original documents of their 
 history, with a few accidental exceptions,^ have altogether 
 perished ; and the inscriptions of Persepolis, like the hiero- 
 glyphics of the Egyptians, will in a manner have outlived 
 themselves, unless a complete key be discovered to the al- 
 phabet in which they are composed. The relations, how- 
 ever, of the Persians with foreign nations, procured them 
 contemporary historians out of other countries, some of 
 whom were at the pains and expense of making researches 
 in Asia itself, in order to be adequately informed on every 
 point. Some of these were Jews, others Greeks : of the 
 former, the sacred annalists Ezra and Nehemiah,"^ with some 
 of the later prophets : of the latter, Herodotus, Ctesias, 
 Xenophon, and Arrian. The latter borrowed his materials 
 almost word for word from the accounts of two of Alexan- 
 der's generals, Aristobulus and Ptolemy Lagus,^ and in this 
 respect may be considered as entitled to the rank of a con- 
 temporary writer and eye-witness of the downfal of the 
 Persian monarchy. The value of this history is enhanced 
 
 * See the edicts of the Persian kings, in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. 
 
 * To these must be added the book of Esther, which contains a true pic- 
 ture of the manners of the Persian court. 
 
 ' That is, in his principal work, De JSxpeditione Alexandri Mcigni, In his 
 Lidica he followed Nearcnus, the commander of Alexander's fleet, the journal 
 of whose voyage from the mouths of the Indus to the Euphrates he has given. 
 The Periplus Maris Erythrm is the work of another Arrian ; the composition 
 (it is probable) of some merchant and traveller of the second century, and 
 consequently inapplicable to the purposes of the present w ork. 
 
M 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 55 
 
 by the critical judgment by which it is distinguished, mak- 
 incr it one of the most valuable sources of information to the 
 student in ancient Persian history. The celebrated account 
 of the Retreat of the Ten Thousand, by Xenophon, is lull 
 of valuable details respecting the interior of the Persian 
 empire, though the main design of the work was to record 
 military events ; nor is the Cyropsedia less instructive : the 
 only composition of the Greeks which breathes an oriental 
 spirit ' The Cyrus of Xenophon is a characteristic portrait, 
 sketched after the imaginary features of a Jemsheed, a 
 Gushtasp, and other heroes of the East, clothed in a romantic 
 dress, which could only have been borrowed from that re- 
 gion. Thous:h occasionally the Socratic philosopher and 
 the Grecian commander may be at times too plainly discern- 
 ible in the historian of Cyrus, yet his work continues to be 
 a masterpiece, no less valuable to the historian, who is pre- 
 pared to use it with judgment, than to the man of taste. 
 
 Ctesias lived as a physician at the court of Artaxerxes, 
 the same prince against whom Xenophon was engaged in 
 the army of his younger brother. His confidence gained 
 him access even to the archives of the Persians, from which 
 with the assistance of some oral information, he gathered 
 materials for his Persian History, in twenty-three books. 
 Of this work we unfortunately possess only a few fragments, 
 together with some jejune extracts, for which we are indebt- 
 ed to the industry of the patriarch Photius. Had his work 
 come down to us entire, Ctesias would have ranked with 
 Herodotus, who at present holds the highest place. 
 
 Herodotus, it is true, visited Asia rather as an observant 
 traveller than an historian ; but his love of knowledge and 
 unwearied curiosity— his sound judgment, his candour and 
 simplicity, so conspicuous in every part of his work, (quali- 
 ties which are the readiest and surest introductions a travel- 
 ler can have,) — procured him access to the same authorities 
 from which Ctesias derived his information. He has indeed 
 no where expressly informed us that he drew his knowledge 
 of Asiatic history from written records, but the attentive 
 observer cannot fail to remark a multitude of particulars 
 which could scarcely be derived from any other source. 
 
 ♦ Usually annexed to the editions of Herodotus. 
 
 It is obvious that the credibility of these authors (except 
 as far as they may speak from their own observation, or re- 
 peat the oral testimony of others) must be dependent on 
 the character and value of such written documents. In 
 what then did these consist ? and what was the nature of 
 the Persian archives, of which we often hear, without re- 
 ceiving any accurate account of their origin and character ? 
 Oriental history should of course commence with this ques- 
 tion, the solution of which is indispensable to all critical 
 examination of past events ; and the historian is bound to 
 take care that his readers should not, from European asso- 
 ciations, receive impressions inapplicable to the state of 
 things in Asia. 
 
 The Persians had not, as far as we know, any historical 
 poet; far less any historian, properly so called; a want 
 common to all the East. The sort of history they did pos- 
 sess was closely connected with their polity, and a fruit of 
 their despotic government, and of the almost idolatrous re- 
 spect in which their kings were held. Whatever their 
 monarchs said or did was of course worthy of being recorded; 
 and to this intent his person was usually surrounded by scribes 
 or secretaries, whose office it was to register all his words and 
 actions. They were in almost constant attendance on the 
 sovereign, and especially when he appeared in public. 
 They are repeatedly mentioned, on very dissimilar occasions, 
 by Jewish as well as Grecian writers. They attended the 
 monarch on occasion of festivals,^ of public reviews,^ and 
 even in the midst of the tumuH of battle,^ and noted down the 
 words which fell from him on such occasions. To them 
 also was committed the task of reducing to writing the 
 commands and ordinances of the king, which, according to 
 the custom of the East, were recorded from the mouth of 
 the monarch, and being sealed with his signet, were imme- 
 diately despatched according to their destination. 
 
 This institution was not peculiar to the Persians, but 
 prevailed among all the principal nations of Asia. The 
 king's scribes are mentioned in the earliest records of the 
 Mongol conquerors,^ and it is well known that Hyder Ali 
 
 • Esther, iii. 12; viii. 9: of. Ezra, vi. 1. 
 
 • Herod, vii. 100. » Ibid. viii. 90. 
 
 • Abulfasi, Hist, ties Tartares, p. 323. The present shah of Persia has 
 
 
56 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 5sr 
 
 usually appeared in public surrounded by forty such secre- 
 taries.^ 
 
 Such was the origin of the Chronicles, or Diaries of the 
 Persians/^ which being deposited in the principal cities of 
 the empire, Susa, Babylon, and Ecbatana," formed what 
 were called the Archives of the kingdom. A history com- 
 piled from such materials would necessarily be a history of 
 the court rather than of the empire, and the fragments of 
 Ctesias serve to confirm this idea.** Many circumstances 
 also, in the history of Herodotus, assume a new character 
 when viewed with reference to this fact. We perceive 
 how he was enabled to record so many conversations of the 
 Persian kings, and even anecdotes of their private life ; and 
 we are enabled to assign a much greater degree of credi- 
 bility to some of the most important facts of ancient history 
 which he has preserved to us. Among these may be reck- 
 oned that celebrated catalogue of the army of Xerxes, with a 
 description of the dress and arms of the different nations, 
 and the names of their leaders. It is inconceivable that 
 the historian of Halicamassus should otherwise have been 
 able to detail, forty years after, all these particulars with 
 the exactness of a diplomatist. He himself makes mention 
 of written records which the Persian king commanded his 
 secretaries to draw up of the muster of his army," of which 
 (unless all historical probability be an illusion) he has pre- 
 served a copy. 
 
 But it may be objected : What use could Herodotus or 
 Ctesias make of such records ? Are we to suppose that 
 they understood Persian ? Why should they not ? Ctesias, 
 who lived so many years at the Persian court, certainly 
 must ; and the same is at least highly probable with respect 
 to Herodotus, who translates Persian words, when he has 
 occasion to cite them, and who was so great and curious a 
 traveller.** Besides, the dignity and even the duties of the 
 
 his scribe or annalist, who is destined to write his history. Morier, Travels, 
 vol. i. p. 200. 
 
 • Sprengl. fftst. Taschenbuchfilr 1786, p. 247, 248. 
 
 *• Styled by Ctesias Ai^Oepai BamXueai ; apparently they were written on 
 leather or parchment. 
 
 " Ezra, vi. 1. 
 
 " Compare the account in Esther, vi. 1, 2; where the kin^ commands 
 the Chronicles to be brought, and the part relating to Mordecai is read. 
 
 » Herod, vii. 100. " Ibid. vi. 98. 
 
 
 Persian kings required that they should always have about 
 them a number of scribes and interpreters, to translate their 
 edicts into the various languages of their immense empire,^* 
 and consequently it is by no means improbable that docu- 
 ments of the kind referred to may have been composed in 
 more languages than one. The amount of information 
 which Ctesias and Herodotus may have derived from such 
 sources as these must be left for the critical examination of 
 other historians : it is clear from the very circumstances of 
 the case, that they must also have availed themselves of oral 
 traditions, even if they did not expressly declare it. 
 
 The multitude of contradictions occurring in ancient 
 Persian history has been a frequent subject of complaint 
 among the learned, but, as far as contemporary authorities 
 are concerned, this discrepancy is rather apparent than real. 
 Herodotus and Ctesias differ from one another only on 
 minor points, respecting which it was difficult, from the 
 nature of the case, to arrive at absolute certainty. On com- 
 paring the Grecian historians with the Jewish chroniclers, 
 we do not indeed trace an agreement, but at the same time 
 we discover no contradictions; a circumstance extremely 
 natural, when we consider that the latter treated only of the 
 relations in which the Persians stood to their own nation, 
 concerning which the Greeks gave themselves no concern. 
 A difference in the names or titles of certain kings has 
 occasioned some perplexity ; but this has been removed by 
 the labours of the learned ;^^ and is the less to be wondered 
 at, because the names of these monarchs were only titles or 
 surnames, of which Herodotus has given a translation.^^ As 
 such they were liable to be changed, and to be variously 
 expressed in different languages. 
 
 But when we turn from these contemporary historians to 
 the records of the Persian chroniclers and poets of a later 
 period, we discover not merely occasional contradictions, 
 but, as it were, a completely different history. Among the 
 latter was the historical poet Firdousee, who flourished 
 under the Califate ; and more recently, several chroniclers, 
 such as Mirkhond and his son, called, to distinguish him 
 
 " Esther, iii. 12. '* Eichhorn, Bepertorium, B. xv. 
 
 " Herod, vi. 98. Darius signified the mighty ; ('Ep5£ii;r) Xerxes, the war- 
 like ; Artaxerxes, the great warrior. 
 
 1 
 
5i 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 from his father, Khondemir ; both belonging to the four- 
 teenth century. They derived their information respecting 
 the fortunes of their race partly from written records, partly 
 from tradition, which, in the East, has been continued from 
 the earliest ages to the present.^^ Such records are not 
 without their importance, as acquainting us with the opinions 
 entertained by existing nations, respecting the history of 
 their forefathers, and placing it in the point of view in 
 which it is contemplated by the Orientals: we cannot, 
 however, admit them to possess any high degree of histori- 
 cal authority, when we reflect on the shortness of the time 
 since they have appeared, and consider the extent to which 
 every traditionary account must necessarily be distorted in 
 a long succession of ages. They cannot therefore be put 
 on a footing with the accounts of contemporary historians, 
 and in the following inquiries, we shall place our depend- 
 ence entirely on the latter. 
 
 » An account of Persian history as drawn from these sources may be found 
 in the Allg, Welthistorie, ( Universal History,) vol. iv. p. 318, sqq. The judg- 
 ment passed in the text on these records applies of course only to the early 
 periods of Persian history : as respects later stages of the same history, for 
 instance, the reigns of the Sassanian princes, (of which Silvestre de Sacy, 
 in his Monumens de la Perse, has presented us with a translation,) these 
 records cannot be denied considerable historical importance. 
 
 
 \\ 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A Geographical and Statistical Survey of the Persian Empire, 
 
 according to Satrapies* 
 
 The Persian empire owed its origin to one of those great 
 political revolutions which are of such frequent occurrence 
 in Asia, and the rise and progress of which we have already 
 considered in general. A rude mountain tribe, of nomad 
 habits, rushed with impetuous rapidity from its fastnesses, 
 and overwhelmed all the nations of Southern Asia, (the 
 Arabians excepted,) from the Mediterranean to the Indus 
 and Jaxartes. Even the nearest parts of Europe and Africa 
 were shaken by their onset, and to a certain extent sub- 
 dued ; and in spite of frequent insurrections which broke 
 out in these and other portions of their empire, and were 
 not always completely repressed, the Persians continued to 
 maintain their general supremacy for a period of full two 
 centuries.^ 
 
 Their conquests were effected with the headlong rapidity 
 which characterizes the wars of barbarous and nomad tribes. 
 Their first great monarch, Cyrus, Cores, or Khoosroo, con- 
 quered all the provinces which formed the Asiatic part of 
 the Persian empire ; and although his early history is wrap- 
 ped in the same obscurity in which the history of extraordi- 
 nary men, who emerge unexpectedly from humble fortunes, 
 is necessarily involved, yet sufficient is known respecting 
 him to enable us to follow the general course of his achieve- 
 ments. There existed at that time in Asia three principal 
 nations which had compelled the rest to pay them tribute : 
 the Medes, nearly allied to the Persians ; the Babylonians 
 
 ' According to the best chronologies, Cyrus became the master of Asia 560 
 B. C, and Darius III. perished 330 B. C. 
 
 r 
 l<*i 
 
60 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 or Chaldaeans (both in Central Asia) ; and the Lydians, in 
 Asia Minor. The last, under their king Croesus, had al- 
 ready pushed their conquests as far as the river Halys, 
 (their territory up to that period having been extremely 
 limited,) and were consequently possessed of the greater 
 part of the peninsula of Asia Minor, a dominion pretty 
 nearly equal in extent to the states of Germany.* The em- 
 pires of the Medes and Babylonians were of older date, but 
 both, like that of Persia, owed their origin to conquest. The 
 Tigris bounded Media to the west, and had been fortified 
 by the erection of a line of strong places, of which Mespila 
 and Larissa have been mentioned by name ;' at the same 
 time that it appears from the lamentations of contemporary 
 Jewish writers,* and from a passage in Herodotus,* that they 
 occasionally advanced their conquering armies beyond the 
 western boundaries of their empire, and penetrated even to 
 the banks of the Halys. We cannot exactly define how far 
 their dominion may have extended eastward : apparently it 
 was of different extent at different epochs. From the books 
 of the Zendavesta it would appear certain that they anciently 
 possessed Aria and Bactriana, as far as the Oxus and Indus; 
 but at the same time it seems certain, that independent 
 kingdoms were subsequently erected in those provinces. 
 One thing is clear, that a variety of nations were subject to 
 them, for Herodotus tells us that the several states were 
 ranked one above another according to their proximity to 
 the seat of empire. " The Medes," he tells us,^ " like the 
 Persians, looked upon themselves as the first people in the 
 world, and valued other nations in proportion as they were 
 situated near them ; esteeming those the least who are the 
 most remote. Under their dominion the different nations 
 were set over one another ; the Medes being rulers over all, 
 and in a particular manner over those who were situated 
 next to them : these, again, had dominion over their neigh- 
 bours, and the latter over those that came next in locality." 
 At the same time we learn from other passages, that the 
 government, like that of other Asiatic kingdoms, was one of 
 
 » Herod, i. 28. • Xenophon, Andb, Op. pp. 308, 309. 
 
 * Isaiah, xiii. 17» 18. 
 
 * Herod, i. 103, where the Halys is named as the boundary of the Persian 
 empire. 
 
 * Herod, i. 134. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 
 
 61 
 
 satrapies, each foreign satrapy being intrusted to a Mede ; 
 and the system being probably nothing more than a classi- 
 fication of the different nations, each satrap receiving the 
 tribute collected by his more remote neighbour, which was 
 passed from one to the other, till it was handed over to the 
 king's treasury, by the satrap stationed nearest to Media, 
 properly so called. Previous to the empire of the Persians, 
 the Medes were the more wealthy and more civilized mce ; 
 the Magian being their established religion. They had 
 become wealthy, not only by their conquests and the ac- 
 cumulation of a large tribute, but also in consequence of 
 the position of the country, situated on the great commer- 
 cial highways of Asia. Their government was completely 
 despotic ;^ the courts of their kings being guarded by a 
 rigid system of etiquette,® and distinguished by a taste for 
 magnificence, which could only be gratified by such a 
 system. The description of the Persian court, which was 
 founded on that of the Medes, will illustrate this. 
 
 The Babylonians, to whom we shall devote a separate 
 portion of this work, had attained a much higher degree of 
 civilization. As the Median empire embraced almost all 
 the provinces of the East from the Tigris to the Indus, so 
 the dominion of the Babylonians extended over the portion 
 of Asia westward of the Tigris, as far as the shores of Syria 
 and Phoenicia. They were masters of this territory for 
 nearly one hundred and twenty years ; the interval between 
 the foundation of their empire by Nebuchadnezzar and the 
 conquest of Cyrus. 
 
 These three dynasties were all successively overthrown 
 by the arms of Cyrus, their fate being determined by a 
 single, or, at the most, by a second battle ; the common 
 fortune of despotic governments, which are held together 
 solely by the force of the king's troops, and fall to pieces 
 when these are vanquished. These nations, subject to an 
 unlimited despotism, were unacquainted with that internal 
 strength which a state may derive from the excellence of 
 its constitution, the source of all true patriotism, and which 
 renders its overthrow all but impossible in any equal 
 contest. 
 
 Xenoph. Op, p. 13. 
 
 * Herod, i. 99. 
 
PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 It could not be expected that a people so rude as the 
 Persians then were, should have given to an empire ot 
 such vast extent, and composed of so many incongruous 
 elements, a uniform and harmonious constitution. We 
 shall have occasion to see in the sequel how they acquired 
 the forms of administration they possessed ; but in the mean 
 time we must not suppose that even an accurate partition 
 of the empire into provinces, according to fixed geographi- 
 cal limits, the first step toward such a political system, could 
 have been the work of the first conquerors. Even it they 
 had feh its necessity, they were far from possessing a sutti- 
 cient knowledge of geography to enable them to execute 
 the plan : they were, however, in fact, so far trom teeling 
 it, that, under the two first reigns, they do not appear to 
 have even laid the groundwork of such an undertaking. 
 The motive which eventually led to it appears to have 
 been the only one which could well have occasioned it, 
 namely, the necessity of providing for a regular collection 
 of the tribute payable by each nation. Even with respect 
 to the tribute itself, in the times of Cyrus and Cambyses, 
 no established and well-defined system appears to have pre- 
 vailed, but it was arbitrarily imposed, according to the 
 circumstances of the times, under the names of offerings 
 or presents, (after the custom of the East,) which were not 
 unfrequently the more oppressive because indefinite. 1 he 
 institution of a regular system was first made in the reign 
 of Darius Hystaspis, the greatest of the Persian kmgs, and 
 at the same time the first attempt was made to divide the 
 empire at lai^e into provinces, or, to use the Persian word, 
 
 satrapies. „ 
 
 An account of these has been presei-ved to us by Hero- 
 dotus," as taken from the Persian archives, and forms un- 
 
 • Herod iii. 89—97. Others have already remarked that the Herodotean 
 account of the satrapies is not applicable to subsequent «g?«°f«he monarchy 
 It is indeed eenerally alleged that the division recorded by Herodotus was a 
 JflSi^rdi^ion, and distinct from the territorial; but this idea «« unq«s- 
 SZ erroneous. No traces of any such distinction are observable in the 
 whok cowM of Persian history : on the contrary, the sequel will show that 
 U is con°?I?^ to thelpirit of tl/eir institutions. The financial arrangement's 
 of thepSs kept ^e with their territorial divisions, and ^s the latter m 
 the document refemTto. appear extremely rude and imperfect, so the former 
 could not have remained unaltered to the end. 
 
 Bennell, in his Geography of Herodotus, has given us an exce^^^^^^^^ 
 accompanied by a learned commentary, on this part of his author, at tne 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 
 
 63 
 
 questionably one of the most interesting remains of antiquity. 
 A closer acquaintance with Persian history convinces us 
 indeed that this first outline is inapplicable to the state of 
 the empire in succeeding ages ; and the document itself 
 bears manifest traces of being a first essay ; a circumstance 
 which rather increases than diminishes the interest attach- 
 ing to it. We are not to look in this document for a 
 geographical division of the different provinces, but merely 
 for a rude classification of the different subject nations, with 
 a statement of the tribute imposed on each. Even these 
 nations are not always enumerated according to their 
 geographical position, but, for reasons which we cannot 
 divine, remote tribes have, occasionally, as Herodotus him- 
 self remarks,^® been classed together. '- 
 
 It is obvious, therefore, that the Herodotean catalogue 
 of the satrapies can by no means be assumed as the ground- 
 work of a geographical and statistical account of the empire. 
 The historian ought rather to take his position at an epoch 
 when those provincial divisions had become better defined 
 and established; that is to say, about the latter half, or 
 towards the conclusion of the Persian monarchy ; and 
 although we possess no enumeration of the satrapies as they 
 existed at that period, such a catalogue may be easily com- 
 piled out of the works of contemporary authors, especially 
 Xenophon and Arrian.^^ 
 
 The Persian empire at that time embraced the countries 
 extending eastward as far as the Indus, in which direction 
 Darius Hystaspis had pushed an expedition. The Indus, 
 
 same time that he treats the division into satrapies as purely departmental, 
 that is to say, as if each satrapy were composed of adjacent districts. This 
 is contrary to the intention of the author, who expressly asserts that some- 
 times adjoining and sometimes distant tribes were thrown into the same 
 government (see Herod, iii. 89). The latter appears, however, to have 
 been the case in only two instances, and the utiUty of RennelFs map is con- 
 sequently in no degree diminished. 
 
 ■* Herod, iii. 89. We may also observe that the catalogue referred to com- 
 prehends the nations then conquered, or such as were looked upon as con- 
 quered. Several of these, protected by their mountains or their steppes, pre- 
 sently made themselves independent, and ceased to pay tribute ; of which 
 we shall find several instances in the sequel. 
 
 " In the book of Esther, i. 1, the number of provinces subject to the king 
 of Persia is stated as 127. It does not, however, follow, that these were so 
 many satrapies, because each satrapy commonly embraced several tribes or 
 nations, as from chap. viii. verse 9, this would appear to be the case in the 
 above enumeration. 
 
 I 
 
 (. 
 
Si 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 however, formed at all times the eastern boundary of their 
 dominion, and is mentioned as such by Jewish as well as 
 Grecian authors/* We may be inclined to wonder that 
 they never carried their conquests farther, in a countiy which 
 has at all times especially attracted the cupidity of con- 
 querors by its riches ; but the Persians were too much oc- 
 cupied by wars in the West, especially with the Greeks, to 
 have leisure to extend their dominion in the opposite direc- 
 tion, even if the warlike and populous tribes of the interior 
 of India had not been able to oppose their progress. 
 The Caspian and the Euxine, with the intervening range of 
 Caucasus, (the lofty summits of which were never crossed 
 by any Asiatic conqueror before Ginghis-Khan,) formed 
 the natural boundaries of their empire to the north ; *^ the 
 nomad tribes which occupy the steppes of Astracan not 
 being their tributaries. To the east of the Caspian, their 
 territory was fenced against the incursions of the Mongul 
 and Tartar hordes by the mighty streams of the Jaxartes 
 and Oxus, and the country between these two rivers, Sog- 
 diana or Great Bucharia, was their farthest province in that 
 direction. To the south, their empire was bounded by the 
 Indian Ocean and the Arabian peninsula, the deserts of 
 which have defied the incursions of every conqueror ; and, 
 to the west, it rested on the Mediterranean.^* 
 
 This vast empire was cut, as it were, in two by the 
 Euphrates ; a division which was recognised by the Per- 
 sians themselves, who distinguished their provinces as they 
 lay on this or the other side of that river. This natural 
 division greatly facilitates the survey of the whole, and 
 may be assumed with advantage in the present work. The 
 western or nearest portion of the empire, accordingly com- 
 prehends the peninsula of Asia Minor, as well as Syria and 
 Phoenicia ; while the farther or eastern half, embraces the 
 countries between the Tigris and Euphrates, with those 
 which extend from the latter river to the Indus. We shall 
 endeavour to illustrate these severally, according to their 
 pohtical demarcations. 
 
 " Esther, i. 1. Herod, iv. 44. " Herod, iii. 97. 
 
 " The extent to which certain islands of the ^gean, and the districts of 
 Europe bordering on the Hellespont, were subject to Persia, depended on cir- 
 cumstances, and on the extremely variable relations in which the Persians 
 stood to the Greeks. 
 
 COUNTRIES ON THIS SIDE OF THE 
 
 EUPHRATES. 
 
 I. THE PENINSULA OF ASIA MINOR, OR NATOLIA. 
 
 There are few regions of the ancient world of greater his- 
 torical importance than that part of Asia usually denomi- 
 nated Asia Minor. Its position rendered it the theatre of 
 almost all the wars carried on between the nations of Europe 
 and of Asia ; and it was here that the fate of several mighty- 
 empires was decided. But this very circumstance rendered 
 it at all times the prize of the conqueror ; nor has it, since 
 the overthrow of the Lydian empire by Cyrus, ever con- 
 tained any native kingdom of tolerable extent and duration. 
 It was, besides, possessed not by a single race, but by va- 
 rious tribes, some of them established there from time im- 
 memorial, while others had migrated from Europe, or the 
 interior of Asia ; differing no less in civilization than in 
 origin. The luxurious lonians and Lydians, whose effemi- 
 nacy has become proverbial, lived in the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood of the wild inhabitants of the Pontic provinces, 
 some of whom still tenanted their aboriginal forests, while 
 others lived a Scythian life in their wandering carts. He- 
 rodotus* mentions thirty distinct tribes, which in his time 
 occupied the interior of this peninsula, and their number was 
 increased rather than diminished in afler ages. This diver- 
 sity of origin would of itself have rendered it difficult for so 
 many nations to combine in one independent state, even if 
 the continual assaults from without, to which they were ex- 
 posed, had not rendered such a union impossible. 
 
 The Persians were the masters of the whole territory, but 
 their power was far from being the same throughout. A 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 * Herod, iv. 38. 
 F 
 
PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 dominion established by force of arms may, at the first on- 
 set, make no distinction among the conquered ; but differ- 
 ences will speedily arise as the power of the conquerors be- 
 comes modified by the local situation, the manner of life, or 
 the political constitution of the conquered. The Persians 
 soon discovered, to their cost, that free commercial states, 
 like the Grecian cities of Asia Minor, are not to be subjected 
 to a perpetual yoke, even when they may have been com- 
 pelled to yield to the first pressure of necessity ; and it was 
 soon perceived that the numerous cavalry of the conquerors 
 were much more able to scour the level parts of each dis- 
 trict, than to maintain their authority among its mountainous 
 retreats. Accordingly, we often find in the heart of the 
 Persian empire tracts inhabited by free races of mountain- 
 eers, who retained their liberty, protected by their fast- 
 nesses, or by their poverty : while others, acknowledging 
 the general supremacy of the Persians, yielded a very 
 doubtful and imperfect obedience to their authority, which 
 varied according to circumstances. However imposing 
 may be the aspect of a despotic government, its internal 
 strength is by no means proportionate ; and anarchy is in- 
 variably its companion, or its follower. 
 
 Asia Minor, at that time, contained ten provinces or sa- 
 trapies, resembling in extent the circles of the German em- 
 pire.'^ Of these the richest and most cultivated were the 
 three maritime districts to the west, Lydia, Mysia, and Ca- 
 ria ; which, as well as Phrygia and Cappadocia in the inte- 
 rior, were subject to the Persians, a kind of exception being 
 however made in favour of the Grecian cities within their 
 limits. The authority of the Persian king was less absolute 
 in the mountainous districts to the south, Lycia and Cilicia ; 
 as well as in the northern provinces of Bithynia, Paphlago- 
 nia, and Pontus, then styled Little Cappadocia. 
 
 » I shall refer to authorities under the head of each satrapy as it occurs. 
 When I speak of these different countries as so many satrapies, the expres- 
 sion may require an explanation. It is true that all these different countnes 
 did not actually form so many satrapies, but they were destmed to beconie 
 such, even although they had attained a greater or less degree of independ- 
 ence. Darius originally divided Asia Minor into four satrapies, (Rennell, 
 vol. i. p. 307,) but in no part of the empire was it more likely that continual 
 changes should occur, not only in consequence of the Grecian wars, but tne 
 lemoteness of the capital. 
 
 ■ [MHHMHI i p l^. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. ASIA MINOR. 
 
 et 
 
 The satrapy of Lydia was the richest in Asia Minor,' and 
 was always accounted by the Persians the most considerable, 
 because at the period of their conquest the Lydians were 
 masters of that part of the continent. Sardes, the ancient 
 capital of the Lydian kings, became the seat of the Persian 
 satrap,* and the residence of the monarch, when he visited 
 Asia Minor.^ It was built in a plain upon the river Maean- 
 der, and would appear not to have been distinguished for 
 magnificence, the houses being constructed of, or at least 
 thatched with, reeds.^ It possessed, however, a citadel, pro- 
 tected by a triple wall, and always occupied by a Persian 
 garrison.^ 
 
 The territory in which Sardes was situated abounded in 
 all the sources of wealth, possessing a rare fertility, an ex- 
 tensive commerce, and even the auriferous mountain of 
 Tmolus. The city was surrounded by spacious plains, re- 
 nowned m the time of Strabo for their fertility,^ and through 
 which serpentined the Maeander and Cayster. Lydia was 
 also formed to be one of the grand emporia for the export- 
 ation of Asiatic produce into Europe ; and although the sea 
 commerce was principally in the hands of the Greek cities 
 of the coast, yet many passages of the ancients prove that a 
 large portion of the land traffic, as might be expected, was 
 carried on by the Lydians. Sardes itself is described as a 
 great commercial city, resorted to not only by Greeks and 
 Phrygians, but even by remote nomad tribes, for the ex- 
 change of their various commodities.^ In particular this was 
 a principal mart for slaves, and hence were derived eunuchs 
 to protect the harems of the Persian grandees ; this trade 
 having been apparently carried on there on a large scale.'^ 
 
 • !o^^v ^ ^^^^^ i^^^*' *^® sea-coast) is mentioned as a satrapy by Arrian, 
 1. 12; Xenoph. Op. p. 427, and elsewhere. ^ * 
 
 Herod, v. 100. Xenoph. Anab, Op, p. 245. 
 
 • Xenoph. ix. 108. 
 
 • Herod, y 101. These were all consumed by fire. The city is subse- 
 quently described as magnificent. 
 
 ' Arrian, i. 7. The ruins of this citadel may still be traced, seated on an 
 emmence, so steep as not to be approached without difficulty, and even 
 danger. See the account of Dr. Seetzen, Allg. Geogr. Ephem. Feb. 1803 
 
 ' Strabo, p. 929. 
 
 • Stephan. De Urhib. v. kaia. By Asia he undoubtedly means Sardes 
 as there was a tribe there called the <pv\^ AoiAq ; and the Lydians prided 
 themselves on having given a name to the w^hole continent 
 
 " Herod, viii. 105. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. ASIA MINOR. 
 
 The Lydians have also been celebrated as the inventors 
 of the art of coining money ; an art not likely to have been 
 discovered by any but a commercial nation." They were 
 the first also to provide places of public entertainment tor 
 the reception of foreigners ; and even the custom prevalent 
 amone them, that their young women should obtain a 
 marriage portion by the sacrifice of their modesty, proves 
 that tlSir city was the resort of a great number of wealthy 
 strano-ers The relations between the sexes are modified 
 and deteriorated in places of great commercial resort ; and 
 this is especially true of the Asiatic towns. To attract 
 strangers is the great object, and the manner in which they 
 are allured sometimes takes a tincture from the prevailing 
 
 depravity of the times. 
 
 Yhe industry of this people appears to have been exer- 
 cised chiefly in the manufacture ot articles of luxury. 
 They were clothed in upper and under garments ot purple, 
 and were skilled in the workmanship of the precious metels, 
 of which also they invented some new combinations. Ihe 
 temples of the Greeks were crowded with the presents trom 
 their kings ; which appear, however, to have been generally 
 wrought by Grecian artists. They also exported their un- 
 wroulht gold into Greece, where it was purebred for the 
 purpose of gilding the statues of the deities.'' The imple- 
 ments used in various games of hazard, or otherwise, were 
 their inventions, and either exported by them into Greece, 
 or imported by the Grecians. Their commerce bore 
 throughout a passive rather than an active character ; nor 
 did they under the Persians, ever become a seafaring peo- 
 ple • even the colonies which they are said, at a remote 
 Lri^, to have sent out to Etruria, having been conveyed 
 in Grecian vessels." Their gold was washed down from 
 Mount Tmolus by the river Pactolus, which ran through 
 their city, from the sands of which it was subsequently col- 
 lected by washing;'* there being no proof that they ever 
 carried on the operation of mining. The treasury of their 
 kings, like that of the Persians, was filled with heaps of 
 this precious dust.'* 
 
 •• HE.OD. i. 94 , where maybe also found the authorities for what follows. 
 >. L 50, etc. » Ihid. i. 69. . ">id. i. 5W. 
 
 I 
 
 The sea-coast of this rich province was studded with 
 Grecian colonies of Ionian origin, and on that account 
 denominated Ionia ; but in the catalogue of the Persian 
 provinces was not distinguished from the rest of Lydia.^^ 
 Twelve of these towns, the most celebrated of which were 
 Phocaea, Ephesus, and Smyrna, formed, for the space of 
 about ninety miles, an almost uninterrupted series of various 
 establishments and edifices, and presented to the stranger, 
 as he arrived by sea, an imposing spectacle of civilization 
 and splendour.^® They contested with the Phcsnicians the 
 advantage of possessing the grand exchange of Asia and 
 Europe ; their harbours were crowded by vessels from every 
 port on the Mediterranean, and their fleets of merchantmen 
 and men-of-war covered the iEgean. They had all ex- 
 perienced a great number of political revolutions, by which 
 they had acquired, or maintained, their republican form of 
 government ; and the spirit of independence and love of 
 freedom to which these circumstances gave birth, were so 
 effectually stamped upon the national character, that all the 
 force of the Persian empire, though it oppressed, was unable 
 to efface them. They opposed an heroic resistance to the 
 conquering Cyrus ; and many of them, after an ineffectual 
 resistance, preferred exile to slavery.^^ They revolted in 
 the reign of Darius Hystaspis, and, aided by the Athenians, 
 reduced Sardes to ashes. During the wars between the 
 Greeks and Persians which followed, they sometimes were 
 engaged, by compulsion, on the side of the latter, and some- 
 times fought against them ; their condition with respect to 
 their masters varying with the events of war. The Eu- 
 ropean Greeks never lost sight of the idea of liberating their 
 Asiatic brethren ; and this was at all times a pretext for a 
 war with Persia ; and, as is apt to be the case with such 
 pretexts, survived the motive which prompted it. The 
 Persians, on the other hand, were at last convinced that 
 free commercial cities could not be reduced to absolute 
 servitude ; and as the possession of these towns, which sup- 
 plied them with the greater part of their navy, was indis- 
 pensable, they adopted the middle course of bestowing 
 upon them an appearance of freedom. They were not 
 
 •* Hebod. 
 
 » Ibid. V. 101. 
 
 »• Ibid. vi. 125. 
 
 " Arrian, i. 12. 
 
 *" Herod, i. 142, etc. 
 
 *• Ibid. i. 169. 
 
70 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 OHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. ASIA MINOR. 
 
 71 
 
 subjected to Persian satraps, but ruled by magistrates, who, 
 as well as the commanders of the mercenaries which formed 
 their garrisons, were chosen from a party favourable to the 
 cause of Persia. The consequence was, the formation in 
 some cities of an oligarchical constitution ;'« while in others 
 the power gradually fell into the hands of a single man, who, 
 in the Grecian phrase, was usually denominated a tyrant. 
 
 The chain of Greek colonies extended also along the 
 coast of the satrapy of Caria," which adjoined that of Lydia 
 to the south. The northern portion of this provmce, like 
 the preceding, was occupied by lonians ; but the southern 
 coast, with the adjacent island of Rhodes, was colonized by 
 people of Dorian origin, who conferred on all this region 
 the appellation of Doris. Miletus, the queen of all the 
 Grecian cities of Asia, was Ionian : the next to Tyre herself 
 in commercial opulence, and the fruitful mother of a hun- 
 dred colonies, many of which rivalled, and in the end sur- 
 passed their parent in riches and greatness. In the general 
 revolt under Aristagoras, Miletus alone equipped a squa- 
 dron of a hundred triremes ; and fleets of equal size are 
 mentioned on other occasions. Her extensive commerce 
 was not confined to the Mediterranean, but sought to 
 monopolize the navigation of the Euxine and sea of Azof: 
 the shores of both were crowded with Milesian colonies : 
 settlements originally made for the benefit of the mother 
 city, but which, in consequence of their favourable situa- 
 tions, soon attained considerable consequence, enabling the 
 merchants of Greece to penetrate into the interior of Eu- 
 ropean and Asiatic Russia, and at a later period, if not 
 then, forming a channel for the introduction of Indian 
 merchandise into the ports of the West.^ 
 
 The Doric colonies, of which Halicamassus, the native 
 town of the father of history, was the most considerable, 
 did not come up to those of Ionia in the fertility of their 
 
 » Such appears to have been the case towards the close of the Persian 
 empire. See Arrian, i. 17, 18. . j i„« 
 
 «^Caria is mentioned as a distinct satrapy by Arrian, i. 20 ; and else- 
 
 « See the excellent probationary Essay of Professor Rambach, l)e M- 
 Uto eiusque Coloniis, Would that more of our young scholars would m like 
 manner select certain specific subjects belonging to ancient history and geo- 
 graphy for illustration I 
 
 soil, or extent of their commerce;^' they were, however, 
 treated by the Persians on the same footing with the 
 others. 
 
 The Carians, the original inhabitants of the country, 
 were forced by these Grecian settlers farther back into the 
 interior : they had at one time been a powerful and war- 
 like nation, possessing the islands of the ^Egean, pursuing 
 maritime commerce, and practising piracy. They had 
 voluntarily submitted to the power of the Persians ;^* and 
 had been allowed to retain their native princes or kings, of 
 whom mention is made in the muster of the army of 
 Xerxes.*^^ Their territory was, however, in the end, treated 
 as a conquered province, and is described by later writers 
 as forming a distinct satrapy. 
 
 The satrapy of Mysia,^^ or, as it was afterwards called, of 
 Phrygia on the Hellespont, bordered on Lydia to the north. 
 Even in ancient times it was difficult to define its limits, 
 as it never composed a single state, but consisted of a col- 
 lection of various tribes. Its shores were occupied by 
 Greeks of iEolian origin, continuing the series of Grecian 
 colonies as far as the Hellespont and Propontis, where 
 Cyzicus, a colony of Miletus, eclipsed all the rest. The 
 soil of Mysia surpassed even that of Ionia in fertility,^ 
 though the climate was not so good : agriculture appears 
 to have been the principal pursuit of its old inhabitants, the 
 Mysians,^ who were probably of the same origin with the 
 Lydians and Carians, and observed the same religious rites.^ 
 To the Persians, the possession of this territory was of pe- 
 culiar importance, as commanding the passage from Asia 
 to Europe ; and the more so in proportion as they were led 
 to attach a still higher value to their European possessions 
 in consequence of their wars with Greece, and the appre- 
 hension they entertained of the inroads of Greeks or Mace- 
 donians. 
 
 We also learn from the testimony of Xenophon, that the 
 
 » Herod, i. 142. « Ibid. i. 174. 
 
 ** The king of Calynda, a Carian city, is there mentioned. 
 
 * Mysia is mentioned as a separate satrapy by Arrian, i. 12, and Xeno- 
 phon, Hist. Grcec, Op. p. 482 and 486 : in tne first of which places Phama- 
 bazus is styled the satrap of -^olis, and, in the second, of Phrygia on the 
 Hellespont. 
 
 « Herod, i. 149. » Ibid. i. 36. » Ibid. i. 171. 
 
 
72 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 western portion of the adjacent province of Bithynia was 
 attached to that of Mysia, whose satraps took up their ha- 
 bitual residence in the Bithynian town of Dascyhum.^ This 
 fruitful country, thickly studded with villages and country 
 towns, was subject to the Persians ; but, as we shall have 
 occasion to show, the relations between the conquered and 
 their conquerors were by no means the same in its eastern 
 
 division. . , , • r 
 
 The interior of Asia Minor contamed the two satrapies ot 
 Great Phrygia and Great Cappadocia, between which flowed 
 the river Halys, the most considerable stream in the penm- 
 sula. Phrygia,^^ comprehending what was afterwards de- 
 nominated Galatia, would have formed one of the most 
 extensive provinces of the empire, had not the Persians, pro- 
 bably to prevent this, detached from it two of its limitary 
 districts, and added them to the adjoining governments. 
 These were, to the east, Lycaonia,** which they threw to 
 Cappadocia, and, to the west, the territory of the Milyae, 
 which was considered as a part of Lycia.^ The Phrygians 
 were not only one of the most ancient and considerable 
 nations of Asia Minor, but also at one period possessed ex- 
 tensive dominion, which appears to have embraced the 
 greater part of the peninsula. They were long celebrated 
 as an agricultural people," and continued to maintain the 
 same reputation under the dynasty of the Persians.^ The 
 nature of their country, consisting for the most part of a 
 fertile plain, watered by several streams, favoured this mode 
 of life ; at the same time that they paid great attention to 
 the keeping of live stock, especially sheep.^ The sheep 
 reared in the vicinity of Celaenae, one of their cities, were 
 celebrated not only for the fineness of their fleeces, in which 
 respect they rivalled those of Miletus, but for their peculiar 
 blackness, which was so perfect as to be compared to that 
 of the raven's wing.^ It appears to have been a general 
 
 • Compare Xenoph. Op. p. 509. 
 
 " Phrygia is mentioned as a distinct satrapy by Arrian, i. 25 ; Xenoph. 
 
 Anab. Op. p. 527, et aUbi. , 
 
 « Xenoph. loc. cit " Arrian, i. 24 , ^ . , . , 
 
 •• They are thus described in the early traditions of some of their kmgs, for 
 
 instance, that of Lityersas. See Bibl. der aUen Litt. und Kunst, st. vn. Ined. 
 
 p. 9, etc. 
 
 » Schol. Theocrit. ad Idyll, x. 41. 
 
 » Herod, loc. cit. *" Strabo, p. 80/. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. ASIA MINOR. 
 
 73 
 
 property of the interior of Asia Minor, that, for some reason 
 with which we are unacquainted, the cattle reared there 
 had fleeces of a peculiarly soft and delicate texture. The 
 goats and rabbits of the country being no less distinguished 
 for this quality than the sheep ; for it is in the territory of 
 the ancient Phrygia that the Angora goat ^ and rabbit are 
 found. The hair of the goat was woven into cloth in the 
 time of the Persians, for we find in Aristotle the remark 
 that the goats of this country were shorn like sheep else- 
 where ; ^ and garments made of the fur of the rabbit are 
 mentioned by ancient authors of a later period.'^ 
 
 The capital of the satrapy was Celaenae, a rich and splen- 
 did city, situated on the great commercial highway leading 
 from the interior of Asia to Ephesus and Miletus, and which 
 from this very circumstance became one of the most con- 
 siderable commercial marts of the interior. Merchants from 
 this place resorted to Carura, situated on the borders of Ca- 
 ria, Phrygia, and Lydia, and celebrated for its spacious 
 caravanserais.'*^ Celaenae numbered among its inhabitants, 
 at the time of the expedition of Xerxes, the richest private 
 individual of all Asia : wealthy enough to offer that mon- 
 arch, when he passed through the city, an enormous sum 
 of ready money as a contribution towards the expenses of 
 the expedition, considering himself abundantly rich in his 
 landed possessions and slaves.*^ At Celaenae was the usual 
 residence of the Persian satrap, which was adorned with a 
 
 * The modern Angora is the Ancyra of the ancients, situated in the north- 
 eastern part of Phrygia, called afterwards Galatia. It must not be con- 
 founded with another Ancyra on the borders of Mysia, where the celebrated 
 Marmor Ancyranum was found. The hills about Ancyra are at the present 
 day covered with herds of thousands of these goats. Porter, vol. ii. 720. 
 
 "• Arist. Hist. Anim. viii. ; Op. i. p. 791* 
 
 *• Consult on these points the learned dissertations of Beckmann on the 
 camel's hair, or his Vorhereitung zur Waarenkunde, B. i. p. 466, sqq. To the 
 rich harvest there stored up, I take pleasure in adding a few gleanings re- 
 specting the early manufacture of the Angora fur, to be found in the Uxpositio 
 totius mundi of an anonymous author, in the Geographici Antiqui of Jac. 
 Gronovius. The composition belongs to the first half of the fourth century ; 
 and the original appears to have been in Greek, of which we only possess a 
 translation in barbarous Latin, not however without its value. 
 
 ** Hav^oxeta. Strabo, p. 867- The Carura of Strabo is either the same 
 with, or in the immediate vicinity of, the Cydrara of Herodotus, (vii. 30, 31,) 
 where the road from the interior of Asia parted off to Caria and to Lydia, or 
 to the cities of Miletus and Sardes, and where Croesus fixed the limits of 
 Caria and Phrygia. 
 
 ** Herod, vii. 27. 
 
74 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 palace, probably erected by Xerxes, as well as with other 
 establishments, and a park of such extent as not only to af- 
 ford room for great hunts of wild animals, but to permit an 
 army of twelve thousand men to encamp within its precincts. 
 
 Other cities of the same satrapy were distinguished, un- 
 der the Persians, for their importance and weaUh, such as 
 Colossi, Sagalassus,- and others of inferior note ; and 
 Phrygia at large is described by Herodotus as one ot the 
 richest provinces of Asia Minor. 
 
 The district to the south-east, called Lycaonia, which, as 
 we have already remarked, was attached to the satrapy of 
 Cappadocia, was a steppe impregnated with salt, and con- 
 tainmg a salt lake, named Tatta. Almost the only occu- 
 pation of the inhabitants appears to have been the keepmg 
 of sheep, but, although numerous, these did not equal those 
 of Cel^nse in the fineness of their fleeces.-^ 
 
 Cappadocia, under the Persians, was the common de- 
 signation of all the countries between the Halys and Eu- 
 phrates ; the former separating it from Phrygia and Paph- 
 lagonia, the latter from Armenia. It comprehended not 
 only Cappadocia, properly so called, but all the districts 
 afterwards known under the general name of Pontus. 
 Writers contemporary with the Persians do not mark any 
 subdivisions of this extensive territory, but Strabo speaks 
 of two distinct satrapies as having existed in the time of 
 the Persians, that of Great Cappadocia, and Cappadocia on 
 the Pontus ;*^ from which, in after times, proceeded the 
 appellation of the kingdom of Pontus. 
 
 Supposing that such a division was in fact made by the 
 Persians, it would appear to have been very imperfectly 
 observed. The few records we possess of the history of the 
 territory at that period, tend to show that, upon its con- 
 quest, a prince of the royal family, the Achaemenidae, was 
 placed upon the throne, on which his posterity were con- 
 stantly maintained, with the title of kings. These were 
 generally tributary to the Persians, but occasionally, when 
 favoured by circumstances, asserted their independence; 
 or were even put in pssession of some of the adjacent 
 satrapies, without its being possible to define with accuracy 
 
 « Xenoph. Anab. Qp. p. 246. ** Herod, vii. 30 ; Xenoph. loc. cit. 
 • Steabo, p. 852, 853. ** Ibid. p. 808. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. ASIA MINOR. 
 
 75 
 
 the limits of their territory.*^ At the time of the retreat of 
 the ten thousand, both divisions of Cappadocia appear to 
 have been subject to Mithridates, who, notwithstanding he 
 took part in the revolt of Cyrus, was allowed to retain his 
 dependent authority after the overthrow of that prince.^ 
 His son Ariobarzanes was created during his father's life- 
 time satrap of Phrygia, and after his death succeeded also 
 to the hereditary possessions of his family.'*^ His successors, 
 the kings of Pontus, down to the celebrated Mithridates, 
 continued to trace their descent from the ancient royal race 
 of Persia, though many objections might have been started 
 to such a genealogy. 
 
 Great Cappadocia, or Cappadocia Proper,^ continued in 
 all ages to be an indifferently cultivated district, with few 
 natural advantages. Wheat was grown where the nature 
 of the soil permitted ; but the greater part of the province 
 consisted of lofty downs, fit only for the pasturage of sheep ; 
 the climate also being raw and inclement. To these natural 
 disadvantages was added an almost total want of wood, 
 rendering the construction of buildings difficult and ex- 
 pensive. Consequently the greater part of the territory 
 was destitute of towns ; the inhabitants, though not migra- 
 tory, living in open villages, and even their principal city, 
 (as it was called,) Mazaca, resembling more an encampment 
 of shepherds and herdsmen than a regular town. There 
 existed, however, two cities in the more fi:Tiitfiil part of the 
 country, Comana and Morimena, which are remarkable for 
 having possessed, in common with some cities of Asia which 
 we shall have occasion to mention, the traces of a hierarchi- 
 cal constitution.^ 
 
 ^^ The fragments illustrative of the history of the kings of Pontus and Cap- 
 padocia have been collected with great industry by Vaillant, in his Htstoria 
 Achcemetiidarmn seu regum Ponti Bospori et Bithynice, It is manifest from 
 this work that the early history of these princes, during the Persian monarchy, 
 can only be gathered by conjecture. 
 
 ** Xenoph. Anab. Op. p. 427. 
 
 *• DioD. ii. p. 73. ed. Wessel. 
 
 " Besides tne places of Strabo already referred to, Cappadocia is mentioned 
 by Xenophon as forming, ^dth Lycaonia, a separate satrapy. Xenoph. 
 Op, D. 427. 
 
 *' I have taken the above particulars from Strabo, but they appear appli- 
 cable to the state of the country under the Persians. Writers of that age fre- 
 quently mention Cappadocia, but are so poor in facts respecting it, that it is 
 easy to see they knew nothing about it No nation of Asia Minor was more 
 
76 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 The Cappadocians are always styled by writers contem- 
 porary with the Persians, I^uco-Syri, or White Syrians;^ 
 to distinguish them from the Syrians properly so called. 
 
 " Their complexion," says Strabo, " was fairer than that 
 of their countrymen to the south." It is probable, however, 
 that the Cappadocians had themselves assumed this appella- 
 tion, from motives of vanity. Most of the eastern nations 
 take a pride in bearing a name significant of fairness of 
 complexion. Hence the White Huns, the golden-horde, 
 (among the Kalmucs,) etc. Even the empress of Russia 
 was habitually styled by her oriental subjects, the White 
 
 Czarina. 
 
 Cappadocia on the Pontus, or, as it was afterwards styled, 
 Pontus, was also inhabited by the Leuco-Syri in its western 
 division bordering on the Halys.^' Besides these, how- 
 ever, were settled there a mixed multitude of tribes, which 
 had probably migrated from the north, and in many respects 
 retained their original barbarism. It is possible that the 
 western division of their territory may have been subjugat- 
 ed, and formed, as Strabo leads us to conclude, a separate 
 satrapy ; ** but the inhabitants of its eastern half, safe in their 
 woods and mountains, paid little or no regard to the 
 authority of the Persian king, except when, for the sake 
 of plunder, they chose to accompany his armies. Many 
 traits respecting them have been preserved by Xenophon 
 and other contemporary authors, which possess all the 
 interest which attaches to the records of a semi-barbarous 
 people. In the most easterly corner of their territory 
 lived the Heniochi, whose name was significant of their 
 manner of life, and their Scythian origin. They migrated, 
 like other Tartar tribes, from place to place in their carts, 
 in which were their habitations. The vicinity of the sea 
 inclined them to maritime pursuits ; and the rich trading 
 vessels of the Greeks allured them to practise piracy. The 
 Chalybians occupied a mountainous district in their neigh- 
 bourhood; a nation celebrated as early as the Homeric 
 poems for their silver mines, and who continued, in the time 
 
 rude or uncivilized than these Cappadocians : by the Romans they were only 
 esteemed as good litter-bearers, on account of the breadth of their shoulders. 
 
 « Herod, v. 49 ; Strabo, p. 819. * Strabo, p. 822. 
 
 •• Ibid. p. 808. I am not aware of any other place where this temtory is 
 named as a distinct satrapy. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. ASIA MINOR. 
 
 ^ 
 
 of Xenophon, to work them, though then producing nothing 
 but iron.*^ They were at that time subject to their more 
 powerful neighbours, the Mosynaeci ; one of the wildest and 
 most uncivilized nations of Asia, who were governed by a 
 chief or king, maintained at the public expense in a wooden 
 tower, which he was never permitted to quit. Their habit- 
 ations were pitched upon the summits of the mountains, at 
 certain intervals, so that the approach of an enemy might 
 be announced from one to the other by signals. Their 
 food consisted of dried fish and chestnuts ; the latter sup- 
 plied in abundance by their extensive forests ; and on this 
 diet the children of their principal men were so effectually 
 fattened, that, according to Xenophon, they were nearly as 
 broad as they were long. They practised piracy, in boats 
 containing only three persons, two combatants and one who 
 rowed ; they dyed and tattooed their bodies with represent- 
 ations of flowers. 
 
 The Tibareni were of less barbarous manners, and in- 
 habited a less mountainous country, reaching to the spacious 
 and fruitful plain of Themiscyra ; one of the most fertile spots 
 in Asia, and the ancient seat of the fabled Amazons. This 
 plain, with the surrounding mountains, was covered by woods 
 of fruit trees, many of the most valuable sorts flourishing 
 without cultivation. Corn and wine were no less abundant 
 there, and the vast woods abounded in game. On the coast 
 were the Milesian colonies of Amisus and Trapezus, found- 
 ed for the purpose of promoting the navigation of the Eux- 
 ine, and favouring a commercial intercourse with the natives. 
 
 In the centre of their territory was situated the city of 
 Comana, resembling one of the same name in Great Cappa- 
 docia, not only in its appellation, but its internal constitu- 
 tion. The government was in the hands of the priesthood: 
 the high priest of the deity worshipped in both cities exer- 
 cising a sort of authority over the town and the adjacent 
 district. Several thousand slaves of both sexes belonged to 
 the temple, as well as extensive landed possessions. 
 
 A spiritual supremacy of this kind prevailed in several 
 cities of Asia Minor ; as, for instance, at Pessinus in Phry- 
 gia.^ The origin of such constitutions is uncertain ; but, 
 
 u 
 
 Xenoph. Op. p. 357. 
 
 « Strabo, pp. 838, 851. 
 
78 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 according to tradition, was of very ancient date. The same 
 cities were also great resorts of commerce, lying on the high- 
 road from Armenia to Asia Minor. The bond between 
 commerce and religion was very intimate ; the festivals of 
 their worship were also those of their great fairs, frequented 
 by a multitude of foreigners ; all of whom, (certain classes 
 of females not excepted,) as well as every thing which had 
 a reference to trade, were considered as under the imme- 
 diate protection of the temple and the divinity. The same 
 feet may be remarked here which has obtained in several 
 states of Central Africa ; namely, that the union of com- 
 merce with some particular mode of worship gave occasion, 
 at a very early period, to certain political associations, and 
 introduced a sacerdotal government. 
 
 To the west of Pontus lay Paphlagonia, separated from 
 it by the Halys, here two stades in breadth, and only pass- 
 able by boats.^^ The eastern division of this country was 
 covered, like the former, with lofty hills, over which the road 
 lay from Amisus to Trapezus, but the western portion of the 
 country formed a noble plain watered by several rivers. 
 This district possessed an excellent breed of horses, from the 
 possession of which the Paphlagonian cavalry came to be 
 accounted the best in Asia. The Persians had taken pos- 
 session of the country, and the Paphlagonians are enumer- 
 ated by Herodotus among the tributary nations ; ^ but 
 they were too strong to be completely subdued. In the 
 time of Xenophon they appear to have been nearly inde- 
 pendent, under a ruler of their own, who, though frequently 
 siding with the Persians, did not hesitate, when inclined by 
 circumstances, to take part with the Greeks ; and as the 
 Paphlagonians were able to bring into the field an army of 
 one hundred and twenty thousand men, they possessed the 
 means of making their alliances respectable.^ Sinope, a 
 Milesian colony, the most opulent of all the Grecian towns 
 on the Euxine, was also situated on their coast. It was an 
 independent republic, possessing an extensive territory of 
 its own, but tributary to Pereia, at least at certain periods. 
 
 One district alone of the northern coast of Asia Minor 
 
 •' Xenoph. Anab, Op. p. 358} whence also the following particulars are 
 taken. 
 *• Herod, iii. 90. 
 
 *• Xenoph. loc. cit 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. ASIA MINOR. 
 
 79 
 
 remains to be considered, that of Bithynia, situated to the 
 west ; a country no less fruitful, level, and rich in pastures, 
 than Paphlagonia, except at its western extremity, where 
 rose the lofty and woody region of Mount Olympus. Like 
 Pontus, it was inhabited by various tribes, all of European 
 origin, from the adjacent kingdom of Thrace.^ They had 
 no towns, but lived in large open villages, with which the 
 interior of the country was filled in every direction. The 
 level parts abounded in all sorts of grain, as well as vege- 
 tables and vines ; and fed large flocks of sheep. Their oil, 
 as in many other parts of Asia, was procured from sesamum. 
 The sea-coast was covered with extensive forests, supplying 
 good timber for ship-building, of which the Grecian colon- 
 ists of Heraclea did not fail to make use.^^ 
 
 There is no territory of Asia Minor concerning which the 
 information we possess is more defective, nor one the rela- 
 tions of which to the Persian empire it is more difficult to 
 define. It is true that Herodotus specifies some of the tribes 
 inhabiting Bithynia, both in his catalogue of the satrapies, 
 and his account of the forces of Xerxes ; ^ but it is probable 
 that the different tribes were not treated by the Persians on 
 the sanie footing. The Bithyni were the principal race, 
 occupying the western division of the country. They were 
 subject to a Persian satrap, who was also governor of Little 
 Phrygia, and had his residence in the city of Dascylium, 
 situated between the two provinces, where eveiy thing 
 which could minister to the unbounded luxury of a Persian 
 vice-regal court was found in abundance.^^ The other 
 Thracian tribes, however, which occupied the eastern part 
 of the country, were not subject to his dominion, but go- 
 verned by a chief of their own, who was an ally and tribut- 
 ary of the Persian monarch ; in return for which his au- 
 thority was maintained, and his country defended by the 
 
 " Herod, loc. cit. 
 
 "' See Xenoph. Anab. Op. pp. 376, 377. 
 
 « Herod, iii. 90; vii. 72. 
 
 * Xenoph. Jlellen. iv. Op. p. 509. " Agesilaus marched to Dascylium, 
 where was the palace of the satrap Pharnabazus ; surrounded by many large 
 villages, abounding in all the necessaries of life. There were also abundance 
 of animals of the chase; some in enclosed parks, others in the open country. 
 They were surrounded by a stream full of all kinds of fish ; and there were 
 also in the neighbourhood a multitude of birds for such as were skilled in 
 fowling." 
 
 
^ 
 
 80 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. SYRIA AND PHCENICIA. 
 
 81 
 
 neighbouring satraps against the assaults of enemies, espe- 
 cially of the Greeks. . r A • TVT- 
 
 It remains to speak of the southern coast of Asia Mmor, 
 comprehending the districts of Lycia, Pamphyliawith Pisidia, 
 and Cilicia. All these countries were extremely mountam- 
 ous • the range of Taurus commencing in the first, and ex- 
 tending through the others. The difficult nature of their 
 country always opposed obstacles to their conquest ; and 
 though reckoned by the Persians among their conquered 
 provinces, they were in reality far from being always in 
 
 subjection to them. 
 
 Of all these, the Lycians, situated on the sea-coast, were 
 the most civihzed. According to Strabo, their cities formed 
 at a very early period a federal league, bearing a close re- 
 semblance to that of the Achseans. They held congresses 
 in which their common interests were discussed ; and were 
 governed by a president styled Lyciarchus, with other sub- 
 ordinate magistrates.^ The date of this constitution is un- 
 certain, but the Lycians are always spoken of as a free 
 people up to the Persian invasion ; when they sank under 
 the attacks of the generals of Cyrus.^ Their subsequent 
 revolts prove that they had been reduced to the state of a 
 conquered province,^ although we do not find any satrap 
 of Lycia expressly mentioned. The same appears to have 
 been the case with Pamphylia ; the sea-coast of which was 
 a frequent station for the fleets of the Persians. The rude 
 Pisidians, however, seated on their mountains, gave them- 
 selves so little concern about the authority of the Persians, 
 that it appears to have been, as it were, the constant duty 
 of the neighbouring satraps to wage war against them.^'^ 
 The same was true of the much more extensive district of 
 Cilicia ; which contained, between its lofty chains of moun- 
 tains, especially in those to the east, spreading plains and 
 valleys, adorned with the most luxuriant vegetation, and 
 producing abundance of every kind of corn, as well as of 
 fruit and vines. Through this elevated country ran the 
 high-road from Lycaonia to Tarsus, a large, opulent, and 
 splendid city on the Cydnus ; by which, also, Xenophon, 
 with the army of the younger Cyrus, entered into Upper 
 
 Asia.^ Cilicia was at that time governed by a prince of 
 its own, styled Syennesis, who, though tributary, retained 
 the title of king, and who was treated by Cyrus as an enemy, 
 till he had appeased him by presents. Not only were the 
 limits of his kingdom accurately defined, but Cilician and 
 Persian outposts were stationed over against each other, 
 and the boundary pass secured by gates. On other occa- 
 sions, however, we find Persian satraps mentioned as govern- 
 ing the country : ^ the ships of the Cilicians always formed 
 a part of the Persian fleet, and Xenophon himself, who men- 
 tions the circumstances above referred to, speaks of the 
 country as forming part of the dominions of Persia,^® a cer- 
 tain proof that the conquerors at first permitted the Cilicians, 
 as they did so many other nations, to retain their former 
 rulers and their internal constitution ; and that their do- 
 minion continued to be undefined, and was perpetually 
 modified by existing circumstances. 
 
 11. SYRIA AND PHCENICIA. 
 
 The countries comprehended by the Greeks under the 
 general name of Syria, formed another principal portion of 
 the Persian territory on this side of the Euphrates ; but the 
 term Syria was used by them in so loose and indefinite a 
 manner that a previous account of it is necessary. 
 
 The appellation of Syria answers, in its widest significa- 
 tion, to the oriental term Aram, and denotes all the countries 
 inhabited by the Aramaeans or Syrians; embracing not 
 only the countries on this side the Euphrates, but frequently, 
 also, Mesopotamia and Babylonia, and even Assyria pro- 
 perly so called, or Kurdistan, on the other side the Tigris ; 
 nothing being more common with the Greek and Roman 
 authors than to interchange the terms of Syria and Assyria. 
 In general, therefore, this name was applied to the exten- 
 sive plains which stretch from the Mediterranean to Arme- 
 nia, and the mountains of Persia, throughout which the 
 same language was spoken, differing only in its dialect ; a 
 proof that the same race possessed that region. 
 
 t 
 
 •* Strabo, p. 980. 
 •• DioD. ii. p. 74. 
 
 •Herod, i. 28, 176. 
 •* Xenoph. Anab. i. Op, 244. 
 
 • Xenoph. loc. cit p. 248. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 Arrian, ii. 4. ^ Xenoph. Op, p. 427. 
 G 
 
82 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 In the more restricted sense of the word, Syria was un- 
 derstood to mean the countries on this side the Euphrates, 
 and lying between that river and the Mediterranean ; some- 
 times comprehending Phoenicia and Palestine, sometimes 
 without including these, especially the former, whose inha- 
 bitants, originally of the same stock, soon distinguished 
 themselves from those of the interior by their addiction to 
 maritime affairs. The latter preserved the peaceful habits 
 and dispositions which usually characterize the occupants 
 of extensive and fertile plains. They frequently became 
 the prey of foreign conquerors, without ever themselves be- 
 coming conspicuous in the history of the world as such ; 
 although the rulers of some of the states into which their 
 country was subdivided, especially the princes of Damascus, 
 occasionally made successful efforts to enlarge their do- 
 minion. On the contrary, they devoted themselves to the 
 cultivation of their own territory, which in many parts 
 abounded in wine,* com,^ and the other necessaries of life ; 
 or, where the nature of the soil did not permit this, they 
 became herdsmen, or, more frequently, shepherds. These 
 fruitful situations were principally found in the northern 
 portion of the country, where the chain of mountains which 
 runs along the coast divides itself into two branches, Liba- 
 nus and Anti-Libanus, whose woody eminences enclose 
 one of the richest vales on the surface of the globe ; a dis- 
 trict which in consequence of its depressed situation was 
 denominated by the Greeks, the Hollow (or Ccele) Syria. 
 This was looked upon as the most important part of the 
 whole territory, and is frequently named when in fact the 
 whole of Syria is meant. The rest of the country consisted 
 of one uninterrupted plain, diminishing in fertility in pro- 
 portion as it receded from the mountains and approached 
 the confines of Arabia, and finally becoming, from the want 
 of water, a mere desert, where no further traces of cities or 
 settled habitations were to be found, occupied only by the 
 tents and herds of wandering Arabs.' Yet even this sandy 
 waste contained some fertile spots, in one of whicR Palmyra, 
 
 » Especially in the territory of Chalybon, the wine of which was held in 
 high estimation. Strabo, p. 1068. 
 
 * Particularly wheats which no where attained greater perfection than in 
 Palestine. 
 
 ' Strabo, p. 1093. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. SYRIA AND PHCENICIA. 
 
 83 
 
 SO celebrated for her magnificent remains, was seated ; serv- 
 ing as a halting-place to the Indian caravans, on their way 
 to Tyre and the coast of the Mediterranean. Several other 
 cities were planted in the northern or mountainous region, 
 as Damascus, (at one time the mistress of the whole coun- 
 try,) Chalybon, (or Haleb,) and others ; or along the course 
 of the Euphrates, as was the case with Thapsacus, and Cir- 
 cesium, (or Karchemish,) where the Euphrates was usually 
 passed. Even the less fruitful districts were sprinkled here 
 and there with groves of palms ; and the ridges of Libanus 
 and Anti-Libanus were crowned with forests of cedar and 
 other stately timber trees, affording an inexhaustible supply 
 of wood for the dock-yards and edifices of the commercial 
 cities of Phcenicia. 
 
 As the Persians were always able to sweep with their 
 cavalry the plains of Syria, they treated it altogether as a 
 conquered and subject country; the possession of which 
 was the more important, as it tended to secure that of 
 Egypt, which they were anxious to maintain in subjection, 
 in the same degree that the Egyptians were on many occa- 
 sions eager to shake off their yoke. It would appear from 
 notices in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, that nearly the 
 whole of Syria formed, at the period of which we are speak- 
 ing, the province of a single satrap, who bore the title of 
 governor of the country "beyond the river,"* Palestine be- 
 ing, without doubt, comprehended in his jurisdiction, though 
 occasionally the Jews were governed by a ruler of their own 
 race. At other times we find allusion made to more satraps 
 than one.^ At a later period we have proof that Coele-Sy- 
 ria, with Phoenicia, were detached from the rest of Syria,^ 
 and we may, therefore, conclude that the country was ge- 
 nerally, though not always, divided into two governments. 
 The usual residence of the Syrian satraps was near the 
 sources of the little river Dacadacus, about fifty miles to the 
 west of Thapsacus on the Euphrates, where they had a 
 palace and spacious pleasure-grounds, which were laid waste 
 by the younger Cyrus.^ The residence of the satrap of 
 (Joele-Syria was probably Damascus ; but of this we have 
 no positive proof. 
 
 * Ezra, vi. 6, etc. 
 • DioD. Sic. ii. p. 261. 
 
 o 2 
 
 * Nehemiah, ii. 7> 9. 
 ' Xenoph. Anab, Op. p. 254. 
 
84 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 The great maritime towns of Syria, to which we shall 
 subsequently devote a separate part of this work, though 
 annexed in the catalogue of Persian satrapies to that of 
 Coele-Syria, enjoyed many important privileges.^ They 
 were of the highest importance to the Persians, not only as 
 being the richest in their empire, but as their fleets enabled 
 them to command the Mediterranean. Besides, these cities 
 had voluntarily submitted themselves to the first Persian 
 conqueror ; ^ probably because they very properly consider- 
 ed the payment of a tribute would be less burdensome than 
 a siege and a possible sack of their town ; of which the in- 
 cursions of the Assyrian and Babylonian armies had left on 
 their minds a terrible recollection. In return for this sub- 
 mission, they were allowed to retain their internal constitu- 
 tion, and even their native line of princes ; their subjection 
 being confined to the payment of a tribute, for the collection 
 of which the neighbouring satraps were responsible, and to 
 the furnishing a certain contingent to the naval armaments 
 of the Persians. By such moderate concessions they se- 
 cured the undisturbed prosecution of their commerce through 
 the whole extent of the Persian empire, and requited their 
 masters with a fidelity and zeal which was proof against 
 almost every change of fortune. 
 
 COUNTRIES BEYOND THE EUPHRATES. 
 
 I. COUNTRIES BETWEEN THE TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES.. 
 
 The vast plains enclosed by the above rivers formed, as it 
 were, an isosceles triangle, of which the rivers composed the 
 two sides, and the Tauric range, by which it was bounded 
 to the north, the base. From its situation between the two 
 great streams, the Greeks gave it the name of Mesopotamia ; 
 
 • See the chapter on the Phoenicians below. 
 * Herod, iii. 19. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. MESOPOTAMIA. 
 
 85 
 
 an appellation which appears, however, not to have been 
 known during the dynasty of the Persians. It was much 
 more usually considered a part of Syria, because inhabited 
 by a portion of the Syrian race ; or as belonging to Arabia, 
 because a number of Arab tribes were accustomed to wander 
 in the steppes it contains ; and accordingly we find that the 
 names of Syria, or Assyria, and Arabia are applied to it in- 
 discriminately.^ 
 
 The district thus called, in after-times, Mesopotamia, va- 
 ries greatly in its natural features. The greater part forms 
 a barren steppe of immense extent, without the smallest in- 
 equality of surface, and equally destitute of wood and water, 
 some desert streams excepted, which in dry seasons are to- 
 tally absorbed. A few plants, of small size, some of them 
 aromatic, and among others a species of absinthium, were 
 its sole vegetable productions. No inhabitants were found 
 there, with the exception of some nomad hordes, partly 
 wanderers from Arabia, partly from the mountainous region 
 to the north. Many districts were totally destitute of grass 
 and fodder : the animals, however, of the desert, wild asses 
 and ostriches, were found in abundance. The former, which 
 have now retired into the steppes of Mongolia and the de- 
 serts of Persia, then wandered over these plains, and were 
 chased by horsemen, and caught with the lasso.* The os- 
 trich also, which is still so abundant in the deserts of Africa 
 and Arabia, now rarely occurs in the ancient Mesopotamia. 
 
 The country improved in fertility as it verged towards 
 the banks of the Euphrates, or rose in the direction of the 
 chain of Taurus. In these parts were found a considerable 
 number of towns of some importance ; such as Circesium, 
 Anthemusias, with others near on the Euphrates ; and, in 
 the northern part of the country, Zoba or Nisibis. The 
 antiquity of these cities was very great : their inhabitants 
 
 ' It is styled Syria, or Assyria, when understood to comprehend Babylonia. 
 Xenophon (from whose descri^)tion in the first book of the Anab. tne fol- 
 lowing account is taken) calls it Arabia. Neither he nor Herodotus ever 
 use the term Mesopotamia. 
 
 ^ The animal described by Aristotle, Hist. Anim, vi. 24 and 36, is un- 
 ijuestionably the Dsiggetai of the Mongols, of which Pallas has given so 
 interesting an account, Neue Nbrdische Bettrdgef ii. p. I, sqq. Porter met 
 with one in the deserts of Persia, which he was fortunate enough to kill, and 
 of which he has given a plate. Porter's Travels^ vol. i. p. 459. 
 
86 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP« I* 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. MESOPOTAMIA. 
 
 87 
 
 111 
 "1 
 
 were in a great measure Syrians, and thus the whole terri- 
 tory came to be annexed by the Persians to the satrapy of 
 Syria. The desert part of Mesopotamia appears to have 
 been in a great degree abandoned to itself.^ 
 
 During the empire of the Persians, the southern part of 
 this country, forming the district of Babylonia, and a separ- 
 ate satrapy, was cut off by a wall of bricks, cemented with 
 bitumen, which ran obliquely across the plain from the 
 Euphrates to the Tigris, and was commonly called the Me- 
 dian wall* Like many other structures of the same kind in 
 Asia, it appears to have been designed to repress the incur- 
 sions of the barbarous hordes, which infested the desert 
 
 without. 
 
 Babylonia formed a satrapy by itself, and though one of 
 the smallest in extent, was in riches and resources the most 
 considerable of all.^ This important district demands a 
 separate portion of this work for its consideration. 
 
 The mountains which bounded Mesopotamia to the north 
 were in a great measure occupied by rude and warlike 
 tribes, which owned no allegiance to the Persian monarch. 
 Their country extended along the banks of the Tigris, from 
 the little river Centrites,^ (Khabour,) which formed the 
 boundary of Armenia, as far as Cappadocia on the Pontus ; 
 as we learn from the interesting recital of Xenophon, whose 
 retreat with the ten thousand lay directly through this ter- 
 ritory. The first that he fell in with were the Carduchi, 
 occupying the steep mountains and deep valleys which 
 contain the sources of the Tigris as well as the Euphrates. 
 They dwelt in open villages, situated in the valleys, and 
 enjoyed an abundant supply of com and wine. Every at- 
 tempt to subdue them had proved fruitless, and they had 
 even annihilated mighty armies of invaders.^ The neigh- 
 bouring satraps could only secure a free intercourse with 
 them by means of previous treaties. They were a prosper- 
 ous people, possessing houses carefully constructed, and 
 provided with plenty of metal utensils, and so abundant was 
 their country in wine, that it was commonly kept in tanks 
 
 • On the other hand, a satrap of Arabia is mentioned, Ctrop. viii. 230. 
 Whether Mesopotamia, or Eastern Syria, or both, be meant by this term I do 
 not venture to decide. 
 
 • Xenoph. Op. p. 282. • Herod, i. 192. 
 
 • Xenoph. Anab, Op. p. 322. ' Xenoph. loc. cit. p. 356. 
 
 or cisterns.® To the north of these lived the Chaldaei,^ in- 
 habiting regular cities ; a no less warlike race than the 
 Carduchi, accustomed to fight in Hnen corslets, with pikes 
 and short swords, with which they sought to cut off the 
 heads of their enemies. Next came the Phasiani and Tao- 
 chi, inhabiting the interior of the same mountainous dis- 
 trict ; and then the Macrones, clothed in dresses made of 
 hair ; the Colchi, on the sea-coast of the Euxine ; and the 
 Mosynseci, the wildest and rudest of all these tribes, situated 
 in the eastern division of Pontus ;^^ to whom adjoined the 
 Chalybes, subjects of the former, a nation celebrated in the 
 Homeric poems as possessing mines of silver, but in the 
 time of Xenophon working only iron mines, by which they 
 gained their livelihood." All these tribes, though occa- 
 sionally enrolled as mercenaries in the Persian armies, paid 
 little regard to the authority of the great king, being suffi- 
 ciently protected by their mountains and strong holds 
 against the incursions of his troops.^^ 
 
 On the other hand, these mountains enclosed an exten- 
 sive tract, Armenia, which was subject to the Persians, and 
 formed a separate satrapy. It was one of the most elevated 
 regions of Asia, surrounded on every side and intersected 
 by mountains, and of so cold a climate, that even in milder 
 seasons the snow frequently falls deep enough to make the 
 roads nearly impassable. The valleys, however, and the 
 southern parts of the country are not unfruitful. Corn, 
 wine, and pulse are produced there in abundance, though 
 the more constant occupation of the inhabitants has at all 
 times been the keeping of cattle." In the Persian period 
 they did not live in cities, but generally in great open 
 places ; even the Persian satrap resided in one of these ; or 
 else in under-ground habitations, in which also they kept 
 
 * Porter describes the great natural fertility of this country in his Travels, 
 vol. i. p. 130. The hills are covered with noble woods : the grapes grow 
 wild, and may be pressed at once. Rice, wheat, and rye abound. 
 
 ' Rennell, Illustration of the Expedition of Cyrus the Younger^ p. 233, has 
 shown that Xenophon probably meant Chaldsei, when he wrote (p. 356) 
 ciialybes. In the Cyrop. Op. p. 70, the same country is assigned to them. 
 
 »• See above, p. 77- " Xenoph. Op. p. 354. 
 
 " Xenophon expressly asserts this of the Carduchi, the Taochi, and the 
 Chaldsei, loc. cit. p. 356. 
 
 " Strabo, p. 800, sqq. For what follows, consult the elegant account of 
 Xenophon, Anab. Op. p. 327, sqq. 
 
88 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 89 
 
 their cattle. Every place had its own ruler, who was 
 treated with great respect, and allowed to take provisions 
 wherever he might think proper. It may be remarked, 
 that the nation appears to have been generally distinguished 
 by a singular simplicity of manners, and almost patriarchal 
 hospitality. They were not then infected with the spirit 
 of wandering and love of trade, which at the present day 
 make them so often strangers to their own country ; though 
 some traces of such a disposition may be discovered, even 
 under the Persians. They kept up a close commercial 
 communication with Babylon, (whither they exported their 
 wines by the Euphrates,^*) as well as with Tyre and the 
 other maritime cities of Phoenicia, which took from them 
 their cattle, particularly their mules and horses.^^ The 
 latter were so highly prized, that a yearly tribute of twenty 
 thousand were delivered for the service of the Persian 
 monarch ; ^^ they were smaller, but more spirited, than those 
 of the Persians, and belonged to the Median breed ; which 
 we shall have occasion to mention hereafter. 
 
 II. COUNTRIES OF UPPER ASIA, LYING BETWEEN THE 
 
 TIGRIS AND INDUS. 
 
 We are now arrived at the principal provinces of the Per- 
 sian monarchy, which contained the abodes of the conquer- 
 ors, and the capital of the empire. Even at the present 
 day they are comprised under the general name of Persia, 
 though Farsistan, the original country of the Persians, forms 
 a very small part of this territory. Anciently they were 
 called by the Orientals themselves by the common term of 
 Iran, (the Ariana of the Greeks,^) and the inhabitants, in- 
 
 >* Herod, i. 194. " Ezekiel, xxvii. 14. " Strabo, p. 797- 
 
 » We must carefully distinguish between the terms Aria and Ariana, as 
 used by the Greeks. The former was appHed to a province which we shall 
 have occasion to describe in the sequel ; the latter is equivalent to Iran, and 
 appears to have been formed from the ancient term in the Zend language, 
 :^ene. The whole of Iran composes a sort of oblong, the Tigris and Indus 
 forming its sides to the east and west, the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean 
 bounding it to the south ; and the Caspian, with Mount Taurus and the river 
 Oxus, shutting it in to the north. These were also the Umits of the ancient 
 Ariana, (see Strabo, p. 1048,) except that, towards the west, its boundary 
 was an imaginary Une separating it from Persia Proper. Of this more ex- 
 tensive district, Aria (according to Strabo) formed only a part, distinguished 
 
 asmuch as they possessed fixed habitations and laws, were 
 styled Iranians, in opposition to the Turanians, or wander- 
 ing hordes of Central Asia. The distinction between our 
 country^ and not our country, is that on which the geo- 
 graphy of all nations, especially oriental nations, is apt to be 
 grounded. Notwithstanding the great diversity which pre- 
 vails in these countries, which in superficial extent are at 
 least four times as large as Germany, they all enjoy a de- 
 licious climate, the mountainous tracts alone excepted ; 
 their fertility being generally proportionate to the supply 
 of water they possess. In some parts it is altogether want- 
 ing ; and to remedy this, it was usual of old, and continues 
 to be so at present, to irrigate such districts by drawing off 
 streams of water into a multitude of canals. In this manner 
 the Oxus, being divided into forty smaller currents, was 
 made to water an extensive plain ;^ and for the same reason 
 Cyrus devoted a whole campaign to the task of leading off 
 the water of the Gyndes into a number of streamlets.^ By 
 such means the arid parts were irrigated ; the inhabitants 
 either cutting tanks to receive it, or sinking wells ; or, last- 
 ly, conducting the water of springs from place to place 
 through subterranean ducts.* This fact, which the observ- 
 ations of the best informed modern travellers tend to con- 
 firm, may explain how it has come to pass that many dis- 
 tricts, anciently celebrated for their fertility, are at present 
 barren and unproductive. A single invasion, by destroying 
 the watercourses, is sufficient to reduce in a short time a 
 fertile and flourishing country to an arid desert ; and to how 
 many such disastrous contingencies has Persia at all times 
 been exposed ! 
 
 Of all these districts, Persia, properly so called, (Fars or 
 Farsistan,^) unquestionably demands our chief attention, as 
 
 by its superior fertility. Herodotus appears to have been unacquainted with 
 the term Ariana ; he merely (vii. 62, 66) mentions the Arii, as a nation allied 
 to the Medes. 
 
 * Herod, iii. 117. The Aces of this author is probably the Oxus. 
 
 * Herod, i. 189. 
 
 * An accurate account of these canals will be found in Morier, Journey to 
 Persia^ p. 163. See also Polybius, x. 28, 3, for the manner in which they 
 were constructed by the ancient Persians. 
 
 * Pars is the Persian, Fars the Arabic pronunciation of the word : the Per- 
 sian termination stan denoting country. Almost all the modem names of the 
 part of Upper Asia subject to the Persians, end thus : Farsistan^ the country 
 
 i 
 
dO 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 91 
 
 "S 
 
 the chief country of the conquerors, and the seat of govern- 
 ment. It formed a satrapy by itself,^ independent of the 
 adjacent Susiana, (Khuzistan,) though frequently associated 
 with the latter by ancient writers ; forming a country of 
 moderate extent, not much larger than Hungary, but pre- 
 senting a great variety in its parts.^ The southern portion, 
 bordering on the gulf to which it has given name, is a sandy 
 plain, rendered almost uninhabitable during the summer 
 months by heat, and by the pestilential winds which blow 
 over it from the deserts of Kerman. It is generally inac- 
 cessible on the side of the sea ; the flat shore, unindented by 
 any inlet, offering only in one or two places the shelter of a 
 harbour. At a little distance from the sea the land nses as 
 it were in terraces ; the surfaces of which form downs, whose 
 rich pastures are watered by a number of rivulets, and 
 covered with villages and numerous herds. Fruits of all 
 sorts are here found in abundance, and the excessive heat of 
 the sea-shore becomes mitigated. Towards the north these 
 agreeable districts pass into lofty and sterile mountains, a 
 continuation of the range of Taurus, enclosing some fruitftil 
 valleys, but, for the most part, affording shelter only to a 
 few nomad tribes and their flocks, being generally inca- 
 pable of tillage. The soil is for the most part arid and un- 
 productive, and the mild climate of the country just de- 
 scribed becomes so inclement, that, even in the summer 
 season, the mountain tops are not unfrequently covered with 
 snow. This ungenial region was, nevertheless, the cradle 
 of the conquerors of Asia. Inured from their childhood to 
 a rugged climate, they conquered without difficulty the ef- 
 feminate inhabitants of the low-lands ; but, although it wa^ 
 the policy of their rulers to attach them as much as possible 
 to their barren country ,« they were soon seduced by the 
 allurements of luxury, and themselves prepared the way for 
 the destruction of their empire. 
 
 Not only is Persia Proper memorable on account of its 
 historical associations, but also for the architectural remains 
 
 of the Persians : Hindustan, of the Hindus : Kurdistan, of the Kurds or 
 
 Koords, etc. 
 • Arrian, iii. 18. -.u r» 
 
 ' Compare for the following particulars, Strabo, p. 1027, with Chardin, 
 
 L p. 6, etc. 
 ' Herod, ix. 122. 
 
 which it continues to present. The ruins of Persepolis are 
 the noblest monument of the most flourishing era of this 
 empire, which has survived the lapse of ages. As solitary 
 in their situation, as peculiar in their character, they rise 
 above the deluge of years which for centuries has over- 
 whelmed all the records of human grandeur around them or 
 near them, and buried all traces of Susa and of Babylon. 
 Their venerable antiquity and majestic proportions do not 
 more command our reverence, than the mystery which in- 
 volves their construction awakens the curiosity of the most 
 unobservant spectator. Pillars which belong to no known 
 order of architecture ; inscriptions in an alphabet which 
 continues an enigma ; fabulous animals which stand as 
 guards at the entrance; the multipHcity of allegorical 
 figures which decorate the walls— all conspire to carry us 
 back to ages of the most remote antiquity, over which the 
 traditions of the East shed a doubtful and wandering light. 
 Even the question, What Persepolis really was ? is not so 
 perfectly ascertained as to satisfy the critical historian. An 
 answer to this question may, however, be fairly expected, 
 when we consider the ample materials which the traveller 
 and the artist have already contributed.^ 
 
 The common opinion is, that Persepolis was the capital 
 and residence of the Persian monarchs, but a closer ac- 
 quaintance with the records of antiquity must cause this 
 opinion to appear very doubtful. No contemporary author, 
 Greek or Hebrew, mentions Persepolis by name. It is first 
 alluded to at the period of the decline of the Persian mon- 
 archy, the moment of its destruction being that also of its 
 earliest mention. It is to be observed, that the ancient 
 authors referred to— Herodotus, Ctesias, and Xenophon, as 
 well as Nehemiah— were perfectly well acquainted with 
 the other principal cities of the Persian empire, and make 
 
 • Of the early travellers who make mention of Persepolis I shall only refer 
 to the three best: Le Bruyn, Voyage au Levant, vol. iv. p. 301, sqq. ; Char- 
 din, ii. p. 140; and Niebuhr, Reise nach Arahien, etc. ii. 121, sqq. What- 
 ever may be the merit of each of these, they are all echpsed by the descnption, 
 and still more by the designs, of a recent English traveller. Sir Robert 
 Ker Porter, Travels, vol. i. He not only enjoyed greater opportunities, 
 from a more abundant leisure and longer stay near the ruins, than any of his 
 predecessors; but as an artist he leaves them at an immeasurable distance 
 behind him ; not onlv by the beauty, but also by the accuracy of his designs. 
 
n 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 frequent mention of Susa, Babylon, and Eebatana. Nor 
 can their silence respecting Persepolis be attributed to ac- 
 cident, for they mark the portions of the year which the 
 Persian monarchs used to spend at their several residences 
 in such a manner as to leave no portion of the year vacant 
 for Persepolis.*® 
 
 It is clear, therefore, that Persepolis must not be put on 
 the same footing with those other great cities, as one of the 
 proper and permanent residences of the king. Neverthe- 
 less it is styled by the most credible historians, the capital 
 of all the empire;" and the conduct of Alexander, who, 
 seeking to avenge himself on the Persians, laid waste Per- 
 sepolis, while he spared Babylon and Susa, confirms the 
 idea that this place possessed a more peculiar and exalted 
 character. The mystery which appears to hang over its 
 history confers additional interest on its ruins : a mystery 
 which nothing but the light of critical investigation can 
 dispel. Let us see whether it may not suffice to guide us 
 by an untried path, among ruins and sepulchres, to a more 
 elevated point of view, whence we may command a pros- 
 pect of this field of desolation above the mists by which it 
 is enveloped ! 
 
 The proper way of replying to the question, What Per- 
 sepolis was ? is by showing what it is ; and to this end, I 
 shall endeavour to give a general sketch of its ruins, without 
 entering into a description of their details, which could not 
 be intelligible without the designs of Niebuhr, Chardin, or 
 Porter.*^ 
 
 The ruins of Persepolis are situated in a plain encom- 
 passed by mountains, and named from a village it contains, 
 the plain of Merdasht, connected, to the north, with another 
 called that of Mourghaub, and together with this, extends 
 from 30° to the 3P of N. Lat., a distance of about fifty-four 
 miles from south to north, not, however, without inflections. 
 It is watered by a considerable stream, the Bend-Emir, or 
 
 *• See the places quoted by Brissox, De Reffno Persico, p. 88. 
 
 *' It is 8t}r1ed Caput Regni ; MiyrpoiroXH: r^c rmv Ufpowv /3a<riXiia£ — Begia 
 iotius Orientis, etc. See Brisson, loc. cit. p. %. 
 
 " To assist the imagination of my reader, I have added a plan of the re- 
 mains of Persepolis or Chehl-MenAr. I must beg my reader to consult the 
 designs of Chardin and Niebuhr, or rather those of Porter, on which my de- 
 scription is grounded. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 93 
 
 Araxes of the ancients, which receives a smaller river, the 
 Kur, (Cyrus,) and empties itself into a lake not far from 
 Shiraz. To this copious supply of water the fertility of this 
 district is to be ascribed ; over the whole extent of which 
 are scattered ancient ruins of very different dates ; bearing 
 inscriptions in a variety of languages, and works of art in 
 very different tastes. In order to make the following ac- 
 count intelligible, it is absolutely necessary to describe the 
 different classes to which these various remains may be re- 
 ferred. These may be described as three. 
 
 I. The ancient Persian remains, belonging to the old 
 empire of Persia, and some perhaps to a still more remote 
 period. II. Those of the era of the Sassanian princes, the 
 second Persian empire, which arose out of the Parthian, in 
 the third century. III. The Arabic, Neo- Persic, and other 
 inscriptions, belonging to the period of the Califate ; copies 
 of which, with their explanations, are to be found in Nie- 
 buhr.^' 
 
 Those of the last class, containing nothing but some 
 moral observations on the perishable condition and muta- 
 bility of all human things, may be passed over in silence ; 
 nor does the second class demand more than a single ob- 
 servation or two, which I shall make in this place, that I 
 may not again recur to the subject. 
 
 The monuments of this date consist partly in relievos, 
 partly in inscriptions, hewn in the rocks, at the distance of 
 about five miles from Persepolis, or Chehl-Menar properly 
 so called.^* They are styled Neksk-i- Roost em (the Image 
 of Roostem) ; from an idea that they represent the achieve- 
 ments of that fabulous hero of the Persians. The labours, 
 however, of a learned Frenchman'* have made us better 
 acquainted with their true meaning, by deciphering the in- 
 scriptions beneath, which are couched in Greek as well as 
 Persian characters.*^ They refer to kings of the Sassanian 
 
 " Niebuhr, p. 139, sqq. 
 
 " Niebuhr, p. 154, pL xxxii. See also Porter, pi. xi. — xxxiv. 
 
 " De Sacy, MSmoires sur diverses Antiquttes de la Perse, Paris, 1793-4. 
 The inscriptions of the third class are also explained in an appendix. 
 
 " Properly speaking, they are in the ancient Pehlvi laneua^, (see above, 
 p. 47,) which under the Sassanides, though no longer a living language, ^v-as, 
 m a manner, the language of the learned, answering in some respects to the 
 Latin in Europe, as the most ancient translations of the Zend writings had 
 been composed in it At present it is rare to meet with a Parsee priest who 
 

 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. [. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 95 
 
 dynasty, as is proved by the style of the head-dress of the 
 figures, the same with that which invariably appears upon 
 their coins. As these princes chose to derive their descent 
 from the ancient kings of Persia, whose successors they 
 styled themselves, they endeavoured to perpetuate their 
 memory by monuments placed as near as possible to those 
 of the former race, and on this account the neighbourhood 
 of Persepolis, styled by them Istakhar, became as much 
 classical ground with them as it had been with the ancient 
 Persians ; though their monuments were not confined to 
 
 its vicinity. 
 
 The remains of the first class, or the old Persian monu- 
 ments, with which alone we shall at present concern our- 
 selves, are of a totally different character, so different that, 
 fortunately, there is no danger of confounding them with 
 those of a later epoch. To this class belong the ruins of 
 the palace of Persepolis itself, called by the Arabs, Chehl- 
 Menar, or the Forty Pillars; with two great sepulchml 
 monuments in their neighbourhood. 
 
 2dly. Four sepulchres, resembling the former, situated 
 about five miles farther towards the N. E., near Neksh-i- 
 Roostem, and dignified with the name of the Tombs of the 
 Kings ; with the remains of some ancient edifices in their 
 neighbourhood. Besides these, there are other ruins lying 
 between Chehl-Menar and Neksh-i-Roostem, consisting in 
 columns, pillars, and tombs ; some of which do not appear 
 to have been ever completed. In the next place, are 
 situated in the plains of Mourghaub the ruins of Pasargada ; 
 and, lastly, more to the north, those of Bisoutoun, on the 
 confines of Media; with others of inferior consequence 
 scattered here and there. It is clear that our observations 
 ought not to be confined to a single spot, as anciently the 
 whole of this territory was classical ground. The principal 
 ruins are those of Chehl-Menar,*^ and ftre evidently the re- 
 mains of a great and splendid edifice, arresting the attention 
 
 understands it, and Europeans are acquainted with it only by means of the 
 little vocabularies which Anquetil du Perron has preserved for us. The 
 inscriptions of the ancient Persian era, or the first class, which we shall pro- 
 ceed to consider, are totally distinct from the above. 
 
 *» See the plan annexed. The pillars are not exactly forty, but the Per- 
 sians use the term to express any large number, and have applied it to other 
 great palaces ; for instance, that at Ispahan. Chardin, ii. p. 33. 
 
 of the spectator even by their remarkable position. They 
 are situated on the declivity of the mountainous region of 
 Persia, and rising, as it were, from the very foot of the hill 
 where it meets the plain. That lofty and rocky chain of 
 hills, of the most beautiful grey marble, forms a sort of 
 crescent, opening to receive the back part of the ruins, 
 while their front extends far into the plain. They are con- 
 structed on a platform hewn out of the rock, and facing 
 the four quarters of the heavens. ^^ The nature of the 
 ground, of which the architect appears to have availed him- 
 self, gives the whole building the aspect of an amphitheatre 
 erected on three terraces rising successively above one 
 another. The whole is built of marble, quarried in the 
 neighbouring hills, and so artfully are these enormous blocks 
 disposed upon one another, without lime or cement, that it 
 is often difficult, by the nicest observation, to detect their 
 junctures. The passages from the lower to the upper ter- 
 races are by marble staircases, wide enough to allow ten 
 horsemen to ascend abreast.^^ The staircase of the first ter- 
 race (a, b ; see the plan) led to a portico, of which only 
 four pilasters {cc^ dd) remain standing, which, grouped in 
 pairs, form the entrance towards the north and south. A 
 pair of fabulous animals, of colossal size, are sculptured on 
 each, and appear to have been placed there as sentinels to 
 guard the entrance. Between them are situated (at e) four 
 columns ; every thing else here is in ruins. From this first 
 terrace you ascend by steps (^, i) resembling the first, only 
 less wide, to a second terrace, where you find one, or more 
 properly four colonnades, (H,) a considerable number of 
 the columns of which still remain. They are fluted, about 
 forty-eight or fifty feet high, and of such size that three men 
 can with difficulty encompass them. Instead of capitals, 
 they are surmounted by the heads of animals addossed^ as a 
 herald would term it, the space between the heads being 
 hollow, and probably designed to contain the supports of a 
 
 " Porter, Travels, vol. i. p. 582. 
 
 " The three terraces are indicated on the plan by the capital letters A, B, 
 C. Porter, p. 644, distinguishes them into five, but it appears to me more 
 simple to treat of them as mree, and to consider the fourth and fifth (which 
 are scarcely distinguishable from one another, in consequence of their ruins) 
 as portions of the third. 
 
 I 
 
 ■•^ 
 
PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 flat roof;** so as to form a great peristyle of the whole edi- 
 fice. These colonnades lead to several edifices still stand- 
 ing, of which the largest (r) is situated on the same level ; 
 the others (s, /, j;, w) stand higher up, and form, as it were, 
 a third terrace. They all contain a number of apartments 
 of various sizes, and appear to have been occupied as habit- 
 ations. The interior of these buildings is decorated with 
 numerous designs, which are doubly interesting to the anti- 
 quarian, as evidently referring to the destination of the 
 building to which they are attached. We have already 
 mentioned the fabulous animals by which the entrances at 
 c and d appear to be guarded ; in like manner the walls of 
 the staircase at g and i are adorned with a great number of 
 human figures, distinguished from one another by the variety 
 of their dresses and attributes, and apparently forming a pro- 
 cession. The walls and entrances of the buildings further 
 back are no less plentifully sculptured with representations, 
 either of persons of rank, with their attendants and insignia, 
 or the combats of wild or fabulous animals, sometimes with 
 one another, and sometimes with men. On the face of the 
 rock,^^ from which the terrace projects on which the build- 
 ing stands, are two sepulchral monuments at d and e. A 
 facade has been formed in the surface of the cliff, at a con- 
 siderable height from the ground, behind which is a square 
 apartment, at present to be approached only by an entrance 
 forcibly broken open ; the true entrance having never been 
 discovered by the closest investigation. Beneath, the rock 
 has been cut away perpendicularly, so as to make all access 
 impracticable. The fe^ades of the two sepulchres are nearly 
 similar, and the same singular arrangement prevails in four 
 other tombs, about nine miles from the first, at Neksh-i- 
 Roostem ; in a mountain, called from that circumstance. 
 The Mountain of the Tombs of the Kings."" 
 
 Such is the general aspect of these celebrated remains, 
 
 * Porter (vol. i. p. 635) has shown that this was probably the case ; and 
 com^ires very aptly the account of the palace of Solomon, 1 Kings, vii. 2, 3. 
 
 " The mountain is now called Rachmed. 
 
 ** Porter has delineated (plate xvi.) the mountain of Naksh-i-Roostem ; 
 and (plate xvii.) the lowermost of the two sepulchres, the interior of which 
 he also explored. Chardin, on the other hand, has given engravings of the 
 two monuments near Persepolis. They differ only in some unimportant 
 particulars. 
 
 i-»i 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 97 
 
 which I shall now endeavour to illustrate. The first terrace 
 is approached by a single ascent from the west, consisting 
 of a double staircase of blocks of marble, forming two ranges 
 of a hundred and three steps, of such proportions, as to pre- 
 pare the mind of the stranger for the colossal objects which 
 await him ; though, at the present day, a large part of the 
 lower half of the staircase is unquestionably covered with 
 earth. 
 
 On the first terrace, (A,) the fabulous animals which ap- 
 pear to guard the double portal at c and rf, necessarily first 
 attract our attention. They are of colossal proportions ; 
 twenty feet in length, and eighteen high, and stand upon a 
 plinth five feet high ; their heads and fore-quarters projecting 
 from the rest of the body, which is cut in relievo. Many 
 other monstrous figures are sculptured on the walls, as archi- 
 tectural ornaments, or as symbolical representations belong- 
 ing to a mythology altogether peculiar ; from which the 
 ancient artist drew his ideas. They are all capable of being 
 explained ; but their explanation uniformly tends to show 
 that this mythological system was of Oriental-Persian, or 
 rather, of Bactro- Indian origin. The native land of all 
 these chimeras is the range of mountains denominated that 
 of Badakshan or Cashgar, (the probable abode of the old 
 Medo-Persian race,) which separates Bactriana from Hin- 
 dustan and China, and is bordered to the east and north by 
 the desert of Gobi. It was long celebrated for its precious 
 productions of gold and gems, and also became the scene of 
 oriental fable, and the legendary abode of those traditionary 
 monsters which, besides being celebrated by the Asiatic 
 poets, have become familiar to the inhabitants of Europe. 
 
 That such was the case, we learn even from the frag- 
 ments of Ctesias, in which are preserved the traditions cur- 
 rent in Persia respecting India and the nations bordering 
 upon it ; which, though mixed up with much that was fa- 
 bulous, must not be set down (as has oflen been done) as 
 pure inventions of the author. The countries in question 
 continued in his time to be the land of Persian romance ; 
 nor had any one better opportunities of collecting such le- 
 gends than Ctesias, who resided so long at the court of Per- 
 sia. Accordingly, he has given us a description of many 
 of these monstrous figures almost limb for limb, and possibly 
 
 I 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 H 
 
 f*. 
 
98 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 III! 
 
 we might have found them all depicted in his writings, if 
 these had come down to us entire. Nearly the same de- 
 scriptions are repeated in the History of Animals of JElian, 
 and in his Various History ; most of the particulars being 
 taken from Ctesias. The elements of this mythological cre- 
 ation were all real animals ; — the lion, the bull, the horse, 
 the onager or wild ass, the rhinoceros, the ostrich, the eagle, 
 and the scorpion, blended together in a variety of monstrous 
 combinations, to which the fancy of the poet or the artist 
 superadded a number of capricious ornaments. For this 
 very reason it would be too much to expect that his descrip- 
 tion should tally limb for limb with the sculptures ; it b(nng 
 sufficient if we can trace the essential characteristics of the 
 same animal in both : the accordance in points of detail may 
 be sometimes more and sometimes less exact, provided the 
 figure, as a whole, belongs exclusively to the region of my- 
 thology. 
 
 The first pair of these monsters,^^ which guards the en- 
 trance at r, and are turned like it towards the west, have 
 lost their heads ; but as the same animal remains sculptured 
 in various parts of the interior of the palace fighting with a 
 lion,^* there is no doubt that they were meant for unicorns. 
 Ctesias has given us an account of the figure, as well as the 
 habitat of this mythological animal.^^ He tells us, " That 
 in the mountains of India the wild ass is found, which is as 
 large and larger than a horse. His body is white, his head 
 red, and on his forehead he has a horn an ell long, which 
 towards the bottom is white, black in the middle, and red 
 towards the tip. He is one of the strongest of all creatures, 
 and so fleet that neither a horse nor any other animal is able 
 to overtake him. When first pursued he runs leisurely, but 
 by and by increases in speed.*^ He defends himself with his 
 
 I m 
 
 " NiEBUHR, plate XX. A ; Le Bruyn, table cxxii. ; and Porter, plate xxxi. 
 The drawing given by Chardin is altogether incorrect. He has supplied the 
 heads, whicn are wanting, according to his own fancy. 
 
 ** NiEBUHR, plate xxiii. ; Porter, plate xxxv. Porter has expressly re- 
 marked (p. 598) that the drawing in plate xxxv. represents the same animal 
 with that in plate xxxi. The only difference is in the attitude, and some of 
 the ornaments. 
 
 * Ctesias, Ind. cap. 25. 
 
 * The accuracy of this description (with the exception of the fabulous 
 horn) is attested by the statement and drawing of Porter, (i. p. 459, plate 
 ii,) who killed one of these animals in hunting. The Persian name is Goor. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 99 
 
 horn, with his teeth, and his hoofs, and often lays prostrate 
 many men and horses." ^Elian has also given us the Indian 
 name of the animal,^ Kartazonon, which Tychsen pro- 
 nounces to mean, the swift animal, or the swift rhinoceros.^ 
 ^Elian's description proves that various accounts were cur- 
 rent of the figure of this fabulous animal. He tells us that 
 the horn is not straight but tortuous f^ and, accordingly, 
 many of the sculptures in the interior of the palace present 
 this variety. Other differences will also appear on compari- 
 son and examination. The body of the animal, however, is 
 represented not only by Chardin and Niebuhr, but by 
 Porter, as resembling the horse, or rather the wild ass, and 
 I cannot comprehend how the last-named traveller should 
 insist on maintaining that it is meant for that of a bull ; to 
 which his own drawings as well as those of his predecessors 
 bear no sort of resemblance.^^ At all events, to whatever 
 animal the body may belong, the figure is clearly meant for 
 a unicorn, and belongs to that fabulous class of animals 
 from which alone (as the next description will tend to show) 
 the figures guarding the entrances were taken. It is to be 
 observed, that we must not confound with the above another 
 one-horned animal with wings, occurring in the interior of 
 the palace, and which we shall by and by have occasion to 
 describe. 
 
 It is remarkable that the ass, which is the most tardy and most patient of all 
 tame animals, should in its wild state be the swiftest and the most untamable. 
 Compare the description of the chase of these animals in Morier, Journey, 
 etc. ii. p. 201. 
 
 ^ ^Elian, Hist Anim. xvi. 20. 
 
 ^ See Appendix to the following volume. 
 
 ^ Kkpag ov Xtiov dW iXiyfiovg ex^v rivdg. See PoRTER, plate XXXV. 
 
 "• Compare the figure in plate xxxv. As Sir Robert Porter adds, (in op- 
 position to my view of the matter,) that he could not avoid recognising m 
 this animal the bull, (see vol. i. p. 587,) it may appear presumptuous to con- 
 trovert the testimony of such an eyewitness. I go, however, by his own design, 
 which any reader may compare. At the same time I have on my side two 
 other eyewitnesses, Niebuhr, ii. 126, and Morier, i. 132 ; neither of whom 
 took the animal in question for a bull. The first sets it down as the unicorn 
 so often represented here ; the last notices particularly its resemblance to a 
 horse. Neither, as far as I am aware, was the single horn ever, in the Per- 
 sian mythology, attributed to the bull, or even to the primal animal of that 
 species of the Zendavesta. If, with Porter, we consider the body and its 
 muscles are too powerful for those of the horse or the wild ass, I should be 
 inclined to pronounce it to be the rhinoceros rather than the bull ; since I am 
 willing to admit that the former has contributed to furnish the elements of 
 the fabulous unicorn. Compare the statements of Tychsen in the Appendix 
 to the following volume. 
 
 H 2 
 
 (*l 
 
!l 
 
 100 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 i 
 
 The second pair of monsters, placed at the eastern portal, 
 (d,) and turned towards the mountains in the same direction, 
 are of equally colossal stature, but of a totally different form. 
 They are winged, have the body of lions, the feet of horses, 
 with human heads, crowned with the tiara, or diadem, and 
 with long beards artfully curled. This monster also was 
 borrowed from the same mountainous country, and we are 
 indebted for a description of it to the same author, Ctesias. 
 It appears to be the Martichoras, or Man-eater. " There 
 is an animal," he says, " in India, of prodigious strength, 
 surpassing in size the largest lion, of a colour red as ver- 
 milion, with a thick coat of hair like a dog. The Indians 
 call it Martichoras, which signifies man-devourer. Its head 
 is unlike that of any other quadruped, and resembles the 
 human countenance. Its feet are like those of a lion, and 
 its tail has a sting like a scorpion's." 
 
 This description also tallies (a few points excepted) with 
 the figure of the animal delineated. The latter has not the 
 scorpion s tail, but this, as we shall have occasion to see 
 when treating of the griflSn, was nevertheless a part of the 
 mythology in question. Again, the figure has the feet not 
 of a lion, but a horse ; and has wings, of which Ctesias 
 says nothing. The essential characteristic, however, of this 
 monster, and that which at once stamps it as such, is its 
 human countenance, which, according to the testimony of 
 Porter, belongs to no other of the animals represented here.^^ 
 This convinces me that the present figure was meant for 
 the Martichoras of Ctesias, notwithstanding some differences 
 in the other members ; which are observable also in some 
 smaller representations of the same animal, where also it 
 appears with a human face.^^ The name itself indicates the 
 symbolical meaning which the form of the animal appears 
 intended to express. Merdenkhor, or man-eater, is the 
 term now used by the Persians to denote a daring warrior. ^^ 
 The diadem denotes unquestionably the monarch, which is 
 confirmed by the artfully curled beard. The whole there- 
 fore appears to betoken the courage and wisdom of the 
 king ; in like manner as the unicorn was, in the East, the 
 
 " Porter, vol. i. p. 592. 
 
 " See, for instance, Niebuhr, table xviii. 
 
 " See the Appendix for the opinion of Tychscn. 
 
 CHAP. i« 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 101 
 
 symbol of strength and speed : the most appropriate decora- 
 tions for the portals of an imperial palace. 
 
 A modern author, to whose works I shall frequently have 
 occasion to refer,^"* thinks that he discovers in these chimeras 
 the heads of the clean animals, or of the creation of Or- 
 muzd, as opposed to that of Ahriman ; and rejects my in- 
 terpretation, which refers it to the Martichoras; because, 
 as he alleges, the latter being the head or chief of the un- 
 clean animal creation, or that of Ahriman, could have no 
 place before the entrance of a palace. But it is not the 
 unicorn, but the bull, or the primal bull, whence come the 
 clean animals, which is mentioned in the Zendavesta as the 
 head of the clean creation ; and the bull never is to be con- 
 founded with the unicorn. Neither, as far as I am aware, 
 is there any mention in the same authority of any chief or 
 head of the opposite order of animals, far less that the Mar- 
 tichoras was such ; which indeed is never mentioned in the 
 Zendavesta. Without inquiring whether the figures of the 
 heads of the creation of Ormuzd were stationed at the en- 
 trance of the palace, and supposing it to have been so, it 
 remains to be proved that there were two heads of that 
 creation, because two pair of animals occur in the present 
 instance ; and, as Rhode himself admits, the image of the 
 unclean race was inadmissible here. 
 
 In the space between the two portals, at e, formerly stood 
 four pillars, of which only two remain. They are fluted, 
 with capitals of a very peculiar form.^^ Whether they had 
 any further destination we must be content to be ignorant ; 
 but the first glance suffices to show that they are as little 
 allied to the architecture of Egypt as to that of Greece. 
 
 The remaining space of the first terrace presents nothing 
 more for our observation, than a square cistern at f, hewn 
 out of the solid rock. Such a basin, often supplied with a 
 fountain, is of frequent occurrence in the courts of oriental 
 palaces at the present day. The more accurate researches 
 of Porter have proved that this cistern derived its water 
 fi*om a spacious tank or pond to the east of the palace, of 
 which vestiges still remain, by means of subterraneous 
 channels, or ducts, extended in various directions : and this 
 
 m 
 
 v\ 
 
 Rhode, Heilige Sage der Perser, p. 219, sqq. ** Porter, plate xlv. B. 
 
 f0: 
 
102 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 103 
 
 m 
 
 fact destroys the hypotheses which had been raised respect- 
 ing the destination of those ducts.^ 
 
 From the terrace A we ascend by the magnificent 
 stairs at g, A, /, ky to the second terrace at B ; but before ex- 
 amining this second platform, the steps which lead to it, 
 and the sculptures with which the walls are decorated, de- 
 mand our attention. The staircase is double, extending to 
 the length of two hundred and twelve feet, each having a 
 landing-place in the middle, where it turns. These stairs 
 conduct from the court to the apartments above ; and are 
 no less worthy of admiration than the former for their 
 grandeur and commodious construction, although towards 
 the bottom they are encumbered with earth and rubbish. 
 The sculptures, however, with which the sides are adorned, 
 are their principal distinction. 
 
 On the wall which presents itself to the left of any one 
 entering by the portico, (see g in the plan,) are discovered 
 four rows of figures, one above the other, in a sort of natural 
 disorder, and most of them, apparently, engaged in discourse. 
 To any one acquainted with the habits of the ancient courts 
 of the East, the situation where these figures are found, as 
 well as their appearance, suggests at once their meaning. 
 They are meant to represent the " Friends," or, in the lan- 
 guage of the East, the "Kinsmen of the King," "Those who 
 stood in the king s gates ; " or, as we should express it, the 
 courtiers and great oflScers of the king. According to the 
 customs of the Persians, the majesty of the king required 
 that a number of such courtiers should be at all times found 
 before the gates, or in the courts and antechambers of the 
 palace,^ to be ready to attend the least signal of his pleasure. 
 The artist, therefore, has only given a faithful representation 
 of what really took place, when he has delineated them as- 
 sembled in numbers and engaged in conversation ; of which 
 a nearer inspection of the individual figures will afford us 
 still better proof. 
 
 These figures are characterized by their dress, their orna- 
 ments, and their insignia. Their dress (as the first inspec- 
 
 " Porter, vol. i. 594. 
 
 " A clear idea of these personages may be gathered from Cyrop. viii. p. 
 202, and several other places. They were commonly called tvriiioi and 6fi6- 
 Tt/toi, or also vvyyi^iigy which latter term did not always imply a real consan- 
 guinity with the king, but only a certain dignity. Compare Esther, iii. 2, 3. 
 
 tion is sufficient to prove) is twofold ; some being habited 
 in a full and ample attire ; others in a lighter and closer 
 dress. The former I suppose to be such as had received 
 from the king the distinction of the Median dress, (a dis- 
 tinction represented by that of the caftan or khilat of the 
 modern Persians,) or possibly such as by their rank or office 
 were entitled to wear it ; the others I presume to be such 
 as had not yet attained this honour, and are consequently 
 represented in the old Persian dress. 
 
 All that we know of the ancient Median dress tallies with 
 that worn by the first class of figures. It was a long and 
 loose attire, reaching to the feet, and so enveloping the 
 figure, as to conceal its defects.^ But it is an error to 
 imagine that all the Persians indiscriminately adopted the 
 garb of the vanquished. It continued, on the contrary, to 
 be the court-dress, worn by the king, and those to whom he 
 sent it as a mark of honour.^^ Even after the use of it be- 
 came more general, it continued to be the customary mark 
 of distinction, and in such cases was marked by its superior 
 fineness and the beauty of its colours. 
 
 The other I consider to be the old Persian dress, which 
 was of leather, and fitted close. " You are going to fight," 
 says Sandanis to Croesus,*^ " against a people that wear 
 drawers, and all the rest of their dress of leather." The 
 sculptor was, of course, unable to express the material of the 
 dress ; but the fashion of it coincides with the above ac- 
 count. The dagger also is worn, according to the Persian 
 custom, on the right side.*^ 
 
 The head-dress differs as well as the garments. Those 
 appareled in the Median attire wear the head-dress belonging 
 to the same, which resembled that of the king, and, like the 
 garments, was bestowed by him.*^ The form, it is true, does 
 not answer to that of the Median tiara, which ended in a 
 point. I do not pretend to solve this difficulty, but it may 
 be observed that we have no reason for supposing the form 
 of the Medo-Persic tiara to have continued invariable.*^ 
 
 " See the places collected by Brisson, p. 544, etc. 
 
 » See Xenoph. Cyrop. viii. p. 206, 213 ; and several other places. 
 
 *" Herod, i. 71. *' Ibid. vii. 61. " Esther, vi. 8. 
 
 ** Most of the places bearing on this point have been collected by Brisson, 
 p. 61, etc. If any one will compare these with one another, and not argue 
 from single passages, he will probably come to the same conclusion with 
 
104 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 The customs of the East, permanent in other respects, dis- 
 play considerable diversity in this. Even the Sassanian 
 princes, who usually wore a particular head-dress, did not 
 always retain the same, as may be seen by their coins ; and 
 it may be added, that we are acquainted with the tiara of the 
 Medes only by description, and not from any other delinea- 
 tion. With respect to the ancient Persian head-dress, which 
 is here represented as a cap, we have (as far as I am aware) 
 no information whatever. 
 
 The ornaments worn by these figures denote their high 
 rank, and answer exactly to those worn by Persians of dis- 
 tinction, consisting in necklaces, armlets, and earrings. They 
 are observed on those in Median as well«as in Persian attire ; 
 and in both cases were presents from the king, and could 
 only be worn by his permission.** 
 
 As for the mode of wearing the hair, when we shall have 
 occasion to treat of the dress of the king, we shall see that 
 this was artificial, and, in fact, a sort of peruke, which was 
 as completely the costume of the old Persian monarchy, as 
 of the courts of Europe in the seventeenth century. 
 
 These figures are represented as supporting various im- 
 plements ; some a sort of vessel, others a short staff with a 
 round head, others different things not easy to be distin- 
 guished. The vessel appears to be either a golden cup, and 
 as such to denote a personage privileged to sit at the king's 
 table (one of the highest distinctions among the Persians *^) ; 
 or it is a vase containing perfumes, such as myrrh or the 
 like ; and as perfumes, as also liquids, were employed in re- 
 ligious rites, it may denote the relation of the bearer to the 
 M^i, and his admission into their order ; which appears the 
 more probable from the circumstance that the king himself 
 in other relievos is represented bearing such a vessel. 
 
 I do not believe that these vessels denoted the office of 
 cup-bearer ; though that was of the highest dignity in the 
 Medo-Persian court.*^ The others who bear short staves, I 
 
 myself, that the fashion of the most ancient kind of tiara was not invariable. 
 Even the Persian kings are not always represented on their darics with the 
 tiara recta. See Tychsen, Commentatio I., de Nummis Veterum Persarurrif in 
 Comment. Reg, Soc, Gott. vol. i. 
 
 ** Xenoph. Cyrop, viii. p. 224. Anab. i. p. 257. A multitude of other 
 places may be found collected by Brisson, p. 204. 
 
 •* Ezra, iii. 3. Compare Xenoph. Anab. i. Op, p. 269. Herod, iii. 132. 
 
 *• Xenoph. Cyrop. Op, p. 10. 
 
 chap. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 105 
 
 conceive to be the Melophori, a chosen body of the hand- 
 somest and most distinguished of the king's body-guard, who 
 were in immediate attendance on his person, and carried, 
 instead of a lance, a stave with a golden head, shaped like an 
 
 apple.**^ 
 
 The circumstance that most of these figures are armed, 
 has given rise to the idea that they represent the body- 
 guard, which is contradicted by the diversity of their 
 dresses, and the natural irregularity of their attitudes. We 
 shall also find that the body-guard were represented in an- 
 other place. It was customary among the Persians to ap- 
 pear armed in the king's presence ;*® as in our courts it is 
 necessary to wear a sword. Nor are these figures com- 
 pletely armed, their only weapons being a dagger, (which 
 in the East is rarely laid aside, and being often studded 
 with precious stones, forms a principal ornament,) or a bow, 
 enveloped in a sheath, in the same manner that Europeans 
 wear their swords in a scabbard. Niebuhr has already 
 shown that this sheath must not be mistaken for a shield.'^ 
 A Persian seldom quitted his bow, as may be gathered from 
 several passages in history ; particularly fi'om the account 
 of the assassination of Smerdis.^ 
 
 A difference of rank is also indicated by the different car- 
 riage of these figures towards one another. Those without 
 the caftan, when seen in conversation with others bearing 
 that distinction, hold their hands before their mouths, that 
 their breath may not reach the other. Others have their 
 hands covered by the sleeves of their robes, which also was 
 a sign of reverence among the Persians.^^ 
 
 The wall on the right hand of the stairs at z, presents a 
 totally different scene. " Here may be distinguished a long 
 procession of men variously attired, in several rows, one 
 above another, who appear to be ascending towards the 
 palace, and carry a variety of things in their hands." Five 
 or six figures, clothed alike, form a division, which is parted 
 fi*om the succeeding one by a large leaf by way of separation. 
 
 ^^ MtiKo<ft6poc (apple-bearers). They were selected from the guard of ten 
 thousand immortals, (as they were styled,) and appear to have resembled, in 
 some degree, our chamberlains. See the places collected by Brisson, p. 270. 
 
 ** Xenoph. Cyrop, Op. p. 202. *" Niebuhr, ii. p. 128. 
 
 * Herod, iii. 78. 
 
 " Xenoph. Op. p^). 214, 215 j et Hist. Gr. Op. p. 454. 
 
106 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 The first of the party bears nothing, and is led by the hand 
 by one of the officers of the court above mentioned.^ 
 
 It is true that we possess only half of this series of figures, 
 which unquestionably filled the upper portion of the wall 
 also, consisting of a projecting parapet, which has now dis- 
 appeared. What remains is, however, sufficient to give a 
 clue to the meaning of the sculpture which represents the 
 different nations of the empire, or their satraps, offering by 
 their ambassadors their presents to the king. 
 
 According to the maxims of the East, the monarch is not 
 only the ruler of the people, but the proprietor also of the land ; 
 and this title was anciently acknowledged, not only by the 
 payment of certain arbitrarily imposed tributes, but by pre- 
 sents of the most valuable productions of each country. 
 These are made on certain solemn occasions, such as the 
 king s birthday,^ and, among the Persians, more especially 
 at the beginning of their new year, which commences with 
 the vernal equinox. The governors of the different pro- 
 vinces then transmit their offerings ; without which an in- 
 ferior cannot, in the East, present himself before a superior. 
 The description which a modern traveller has given us of 
 one of these feasts proves that the relievo m question has 
 reference to some festivity like that of the new year, the 
 origin of which is attributed by the Persians to the founder 
 of their monarchy, Jemsheed : ^ — 
 
 "The first ceremony of the festival of Norooz, says 
 Morier, "was the introduction of the presents from the dif- 
 ferent provinces. That from prince Hossein Ali Mirza, 
 governor of Shiraz, came first. The master of the cere- 
 monies walked up, having with him the conductor of the 
 present, and an attendant, who, when the name and titles 
 of the donor had been proclaimed, read aloud from a paper 
 the list of the articles. The present from prince Hossein 
 Ali Mirza consisted of a very long train of large trays 
 placed on men s heads, on which were shawls, stuffs of all 
 sorts, pearls, etc. ; then many trays filled with sugar, and 
 sweetmeats ; after that many mules laden with fruit, etc. 
 
 « Chardin (table Iviii.) has given a full delineation : Niebuhr (xxii. 
 xxiu.) has only represented a part. See, however, Porter, plates xxxvii.— 
 xliii., for the best representation. ,. ,r»i ^ g«,^„., 
 
 » Cyrop. viii. Op, p. 230. " Plato, Op. u. p. 121, ed. Steph. 
 
 »* Morier, i. p. 207. The Persian name of this feast is Norooz. 
 
 chap. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 107 
 
 The next present was from Mahomed Ali Khan, prince of 
 Hamadan, the eldest born of the king's sons, but who had 
 been deprived by his father of the succession, because the 
 Georgian slave who bore him was of an extraction less 
 noble than that of the mothers of the younger princes. His 
 present accorded with the character which is assigned to 
 him ; it consisted of pistols and spears, a string of one hun- 
 dred camels, and as many mules. After this came the pre- 
 sent from the prince of Yezd, another of the king s sons, 
 which consisted of shawls and the silken stuffs, the manu- 
 facture of his own town. Then followed that of the prince 
 of Mesched ; and last of all, and the most valuable, was 
 that from Hajee Mohammed Hossein Khan, Ameen-ood- 
 Doulah. It consisted of fifly mules, each covered with a 
 fine Cashmire shawl, and each carrying a load of one thou- 
 sand tomaunsr 
 
 In like manner, it is probable that, in the relievo we are 
 considering, the persons offering the presents are not the 
 different nations themselves, but their governors or satraps, 
 who offer them in their name ; which, as far as the repre- 
 sentation is concerned, amounts to the same, as the deputies 
 and their attendants are taken from the tribe or nation they 
 represent ; and it is clear that different nations, and not dif- 
 ferent corporations, or the like, are indicated by these groups 
 of figures, because their dresses are distinct and peculiar. 
 Any one possessed of an accurate acquaintance with the 
 various garbs and head attires of the East, might be able, on 
 comparing these with the descriptions of Herodotus in his 
 catalogue of the army of Xerxes, to illustrate many particu- 
 lars, which it is hardly possible to explain without a thorough 
 acquaintance with both these sources of information. To 
 avoid, therefore, running into mere conjecture, I shall con- 
 tent myself (abstaining from too great details) with some 
 general observations, which may suffice to show the proba- 
 bility of the interpretation offered. 
 
 The diversity of their dresses proves these figures to be- 
 long to different nations, and those nations situated under very 
 different climates — ^very hot and very cold. One individual 
 is wrapped in a dress of fiirs,^ while another is destitute of 
 
 M 
 
 Chardin, table Iviii. fig. I, H. 
 
IW 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CRAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 lod 
 
 any clothing whatever, except a hght apron about he lower 
 parts of his body." The greater number wear loose and 
 flowing garments ; some on the contrary have dresses which 
 mS Arsons closely. This is the case with their rowsm 
 also ; most of which are the long and loose „.afv/>.«« such 
 as Herodotus describes as the customary dress ot the 
 Medes and other nations." The greatest variety however, 
 prevSs Tn the head-dresses, in which the Orienta s have at all 
 Emis principally delighted to show their taste of splendour ; 
 but ou^r little acquaintance with the different modes which 
 anciently prevailed in this particular makes it ^o^^^e to 
 define any thing with certainty ; and even the accurate de- 
 signs of Porter only tend to teach us caution, proving that the 
 he^ attire of those in the highest row are no longer d'scernr- 
 ble : nor can we depend upon those given by Chardin ot 
 the other rows of figures. It is true that Herodotus in his 
 catalogue so often referred to, is very particular in his de- 
 scription of this part also of the dresses of the army but we 
 mus^t remember that in time of war some ^rt of helmet was 
 worn by almost every nation ; a dress which is not be looked 
 for on the present occasion. 
 
 The offenngs presented by the different nations may be 
 raneed under certain general classes, consisting either ot 
 ves^ls of various forms and kinds, such as are now com- 
 monly used in the East ; and were P'-«bably earned fuUo 
 spices and other precious commodities ; or different articles 
 of dress, such as shawls, robes, or furs; o'' o^^.^^^"**' ^"^^ 
 instance, armlets (such I conceive to be the little nakes 
 carried by some figures*) and necklaces or vanous imple- 
 ments, with the exception of weapons. Others, agam, carry 
 
 " r»A»niK same Dlate, fie. F, S. It is worthy of remark, however, that 
 made this necessary. We may presume the Indians *» Jf ^^PJ^^^'^ng o^f 
 
 as thus habited as late as the catalogue of Herodotus (vii. 69). 
 "• See Chardin, M and N. 
 
 esteemed fruits of different kinds, especially in the shape of 
 conserves ; as appears to be indicated by the form of the 
 vessels in which they are still commonly kept in the East ; 
 while others, again, are seen leading up different animals — 
 horses, camels, bullocks, mules, sheep, and even wild asses, 
 tamed, and led by a halter. All these animals are repre- 
 sented in their natural proportions, without any monstrous 
 or fabulous addition. The horse is sometimes figured single, 
 sometimes yoked with another to a car. In the second row, 
 the Median charger may be easily recognised. Each animal 
 is evidently meant to denote a number of the same kind. 
 Niebuhr asserts ^ that the remains of the highest row of 
 figures contain that of a lioness, which, as well as the rest, 
 is perfectly consistent vnth the manners and usages of the 
 Orientals, and especially of the Persians ; among whom wild 
 animals, no less than tame, were customary presents to their 
 kings. The former were kept in their parks for the chase, 
 or even as curiosities : ^^ the latter were used to breed from, 
 as well as for show. In some satrapies, for instance that of 
 Cilicia, a certain number of horses made part of the yearly 
 tribute ; ^ and that the other articles described are still pre- 
 sented as offerings, is shown by the passage of Morier giving 
 an account of the procession of the new year. 
 
 Again, that these presents were designed for the king, and 
 not (as Chardin and others have supposed) as offerings to 
 any deity, is apparent from the very order of the procession. 
 The first person in each compartment, who is obviously the 
 deputy, carries nothing, leaving the presents to be brought 
 up by others of his nation, who support them, according to 
 custom, with both hands. The custom continues to be the 
 same at Constantinople, and in all the other courts of the 
 East.^ Every deputy, however, is led by the hand by a 
 master of the ceremonies, who bears a staff. This again is 
 in accordance to the ceremonial of the Persian court, by 
 which no one could be admitted to the presence without be- 
 
 * Niebuhr, loc. cit. 
 
 «' Ctesias, ap. Ml. iv. 21 ; Xenoph. Cijrop. Op. p. 14, etc. Compare the 
 description of a presentation to the court of modern Persia, in Kaempfer, 
 Amwnit. Exotic, p. 216, etc. 
 
 ** Herod, iii. 90. 
 
 • For a drawing and description of this in the court of modem Persia, see 
 
 Chardin, vol. iv. table xxxii. 
 
 I 
 
110 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ing introduced by one of these ushers, who were distinguish- 
 ed by the rods or staves they carried, and thence termed by 
 the Greeks <TKf,TrTovxoi, stave or sceptre bearers.^ In other 
 respects their dress resembles that of the other courtiers, ex- 
 cept that they appear alternately in the Median and the 
 Persian attire, their badge of office being the sceptre or rod. 
 The number of the groups is made by Porter to amount 
 to twenty, if we include two not represented in the drawing. 
 This appears strictly conformable to the twenty satrapies, 
 into which Darius Hystaspis divided his empire ; at the same 
 time we cannot identify the satrapies represented, because 
 we are not entitled to suppose them to stand in the same 
 order in which they are described by Herodotus ; but we at 
 least learn that the sculpture must be assigned to the reign 
 of that monarch. In this respect it is highly deserving of 
 remark, that not only are the Median and Persian dresses 
 worn by the courtiers indiscriminately, but the habits of the 
 masters of the ceremonies, or ushers, regularly alternate from 
 Median to Persian, and vice versa. Does not this confirm 
 the idea that the whole sculpture belongs to the age of the 
 Medo-Persian dynasty ? • 
 
 I must close this account of the relievos, with the remark, 
 that the place assigned to each appears to have been chosen 
 designedly, so as to place the representation of the court on 
 the left hand (that is, the side of honour^) of any one en- 
 tering, and the images of those bearing presents on the right 
 hand, or the less honourable place : an arrangement which 
 can scarcely have been the effect of chance. And it may be 
 asked, what more appropriate subjects could have been se- 
 lected to decorate the walls of this palace ? what could have 
 been devised more simple, and at the same time more ex- 
 pressive? J V r 
 Along the steps of each staircase is disposed a line ot 
 armed men ; so that a man is assigned to each. Their po- 
 sition, as well as the circumstance of their being armed, 
 proves them to be the king's body-guard ; of whom those 
 stationed on the right, at k, where the procession is repre- 
 
 •* See the authorities cited by Brisson, p. 309, sqq. Cyrus had three hun- 
 dred of these court attendants. Xenoph. p. 215. 
 
 • Agreeably to the customs of the East, Xenoph. Cijrop. Op. P./^- /{je 
 custom (as Xenophon shows in the place quoted) arose from this, that the 
 left is the unguarded side, and therefore that of confidence. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 Ill 
 
 sented, are in full costume, as if to do honour to the solem- 
 nity. They wear the Median accoutrements and head-dress, 
 but without necklaces or other ornaments borne by the 
 courtiers, and support with both hands a long lance, ground- 
 ed before them in the earth. Behind them are suspended 
 their quivers, and their bows, without a sheath, are passed 
 over at the left shoulder. The soldiers on the left hand, at 
 g k, are more simply attired and armed, bearing only the 
 lance, without any bow or quiver ; and their heads merely 
 bound about with a fillet. All this corresponds with the 
 usages of the Persian court, where the king's body-guard 
 formed a privileged and numerous class of soldiers, styled 
 by the Greeks doryphori, or lance-men. Some authors 
 have made them the same with the ten thousand immortals, 
 but this needs confirmation. It was their office to guard 
 all the approaches to the palace; and they probably re- 
 ceived from Cyrus himself the right of wearing the Median 
 attire, in which they are represented, as they ranked above 
 all other classes of soldiers. 
 
 At the same time it is evident, from the descriptions of 
 the Greeks, that there existed also other troops, the aich- 
 mophori, or pike-men, distinct from the former ; but whe- 
 ther this distinction has been obsei'ved in the instance before 
 us, and the soldiers on the right hand, armed only with the 
 spear, be meant to represent this body of troops, is what I 
 do not pretend to determine.^ 
 
 In the upper portion of the wall we observe four times 
 repeated the sculpture of a lion in the act of rending a 
 unicorn. Are we to suppose this a mere capricious decora- 
 tion, or as expressive of a symbolical meaning ? I should 
 lean to the former opinion, if it appeared that the combats 
 of wild beasts were a favourite pastime among the Persians^ 
 as they were with the Romans ; but, notwithstanding the 
 devotion of their monarchs to the chase, we can discover no 
 traces of this pastime in their annals. It is probable, there- 
 fore, that these figures had a deeper meaning. We have 
 already had occasion to remark, that the unicorn seems to 
 have been adopted by the Persians as the emblem of speed 
 and strength. If, in like manner, we suppose the lion to 
 
 66 
 
 See the places quoted by Brisson, pp. 270^280. 
 
112 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. f. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 113 
 
 be the symbol of sovereig:nty, as it appears to have been 
 both in the East and the West, with an especial reference to 
 the Persian power, the whole device may be fairly inter- 
 preted to mean, that nothing, however strong, was capable of 
 resisting the might of the Persian monarch and his empire. 
 If the unicorn had been meant to denote some particular 
 kingdom, (for instance, the Babylonian, as Porter supposes,) 
 what reason could be alleged for a fourfold repetition of the 
 same emblems, instead of the representation of other king- 
 doms also ? Still less can I imagine these figures designed 
 to typify the triumph of the good over the evil principle, 
 because we have no reason to suppose the unicorn was ever 
 assumed as the emblem of the latter. 
 
 The staircases referred to, lead to the second great ter- 
 race, (B,) which must once have presented a most magnifi- 
 cent spectacle, from the grandeur and splendour of the 
 edifices it supported. " Nothing," says Porter, " can be 
 more striking than the view of its ruins ; so vast and mag- 
 nificent, so fallen, mutilated, and silent : the court of Cyrus, 
 and the scene of his bounties ; the pavilion of Alexander's 
 triumph, and, alas ! the awfiil memorial of the wantonness 
 of his power."^ The first object which anciently presented 
 itself to the observer was a columned hall of the largest size, 
 surrounded on both sides and in front by others of smaller 
 dimensions. Each of these subordinate apartments was 
 supported by twelve columns, and the great central one by 
 six and thirty. The columns of the inferior halls were sixty, 
 those of the principal fifty-five feet in height. They are 
 all fluted, and surmounted by capitals formed into the shape 
 of the heads of horses, or, according to Porter, of bulls,^ 
 placed neck to neck, but so as to leave a space or hollow 
 between them. The accurate researches of Porter have 
 proved that these crevices were meant to support beams, 
 and that the pillars upheld a roof, possibly of cedar, to serve 
 as a protection against the heat of the sun. The same was 
 
 " According to Porter, this platform extends three hundred and fifty feet 
 from north to south, and three hundred and eighty feet from east to west. 
 Porter, vol. i. p. 631. 
 
 " Porter, i. plate xlv. A. I cannot conceive how Sir Ker Porter could 
 discover in these heads also a resemblance to those of bulls. Not only have 
 they no horns, but the head, shoulders, and hoof, are clearly those of a horse, 
 and even the reins are marked. 
 
 probably effected on the sides by means of veils or hangings, 
 as would appear from a passage in the book of Esther:^ 
 "Where were white, green, and blue hangings, fastened 
 with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pil- 
 lars of marble : the beds were of gold and silver, upon a 
 pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black marble." 
 
 Of these beds, or rather seats, no remains exist, but we 
 must not pass unobserved an interesting remark of Porter. 
 He noticed that the pedestals of the twelve central columns 
 of the great hall are higher by some feet than the rest, and 
 appear to prove that a sort of dais anciently stood there, 
 which was probably meant to support the throne of the king. 
 Not only have we reason, fi*om general custom, to conclude 
 that the throne was thus elevated, but we shall be convinced 
 that such was the case in the court of Persia in particular. 
 
 There can be no doubt as to the destination of this colon- 
 nade ; which is clearly proved not only by its position and 
 character, but by the very decorations of the staircases. It 
 was the hall of audience, the scene of great national solem- 
 nities; where the king, seated on his throne, was accustomed 
 to receive the offerings of his tributaries. The eyes of those 
 who approached were prepared by the appropriate emblems 
 on the walls for the scene which awaited them, and the 
 majesty of these stately columns must have filled every one 
 with awe, even before they were admitted to the presence 
 of the monarch in all his magnificence. 
 
 In like manner, in the other buildings of this as well as 
 of the third terrace, it is from the decorations on the walls 
 that we must principally form our notions of their destina- 
 tion ; and, following the simple line of interpretation which 
 we have already found confirmed, namely, that the orna- 
 ments have a reference to the destination of the building, 
 (which they appear, as it were, graphically to demonstrate,) 
 we shall be able to form a probable conjecture.^^ 
 
 The most spacious and splendid of the buildings which 
 remain to be described, is also situated on the second ter- 
 
 " i. 6. A delineation of such a colonnade in front of the palace of Ispa- 
 han, may be seen in Chardin, ii. table xxxix. 
 
 " The same custom still prevails in Persia, only that the art of painting 
 has taken the place of sculpture. The paintings in the halls of the great 
 palace at Ispahan represent sometimes the great festivals of the court 
 (MoRiER, i. 165) ; sometimes the likenesses of tne king (Porter, i. 304).^ 
 
 VOL. I. I 
 
U4 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 race at r, between the colonnades and the mountain where 
 the two tombs are found. It forms a square, two hundred 
 and ten feet long and wide ; having on each side two en- 
 trances, adorned with relievos. The northern entrances 
 (MM) being wider than the rest, appear to have been the 
 principal. Before each is placed, as a sentinel or guard, a 
 colossal monster, such as we have described, but exceed- 
 ingly mutilated. Both are turned towards the north. At 
 the distance of two hundred and seventy feet front these, 
 in the opposite direction, and only ten feet from each other 
 are two others, (at u,) forming the great portal by which 
 access was gained into the court before the edihce. 1 he 
 relievos above the principal entrances arc the same, and 
 afford a clue to the destination of the edifice." The king 
 is here represented in grand costume, in the act of giving 
 audience to an ambassador. He is seated on a throne, with 
 a footstool of gold at his feet, which was always borne after 
 him •'' his golden sceptre in his right hand ; and in his left 
 the Mcred vase or cup Havan," used in sacrifices and be- 
 tokening a worshipper of Ormuzd. Close behind him 
 stands a eunuch, (recognised as such by the feminine cha- 
 racter of his dress and figure,) bearing a fan, and with his 
 mouth covered ; and behind the latter the kmg s armour- 
 bearer, with his dagger and his bow m a sheath.'* Both 
 descriptions of body-guards are here represented in their 
 different costumes, the Persian and Median, with their full 
 accoutrements. They are disposed in five rows, one above 
 the other, each row consisting of ten men, standing, it is 
 probable, in the same order in which they were actually ar- 
 ranged." Immediately before the king are placed two 
 costly vessels, probably for the purpose of burning incense ; 
 and behind these the deputy or ambassador to whom au- 
 
 " See NiKBrHR, table ctx. j Chabdin, table Ixiii. . 
 
 " Properly speaking this was not a throne, but a simple chair, or A^poc. 
 hieh eXgh to'^t of the use of a footstool, v^o^6iwy. It fapof gold^ 
 S^=23 »ith a cosUy carpet, and no one but the kmg might sit thereon 
 on mL of death. See the authorities coUected by Brisson p. 102, etc It 
 fc JC represented among these sculptures, and always such as we have de- 
 
 '^^'^-dfcjTm ■ Xe^es made Ubations from U to the sun, and cast 
 it into the sea, as an expiatory offering. Hebod. ▼"• 54- armour- 
 
 " That the weapons are the king's, is proved by the fact that the armour 
 
 bearer has also his own dagger. 
 • Porter, I plate xlix. ; see also his descnption. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 115 
 
 dience is given. He is represented in converse, but in the 
 respectful attitude in which the monarch was always ap- 
 proached ; his hand before his mouth, to prevent his breath 
 offending the king's majesty. Behind him is another eu- 
 nuch, holding a vase. Every tiling bespeaks grandeur and 
 magnificence. The mural decorations above the canopy 
 contain the emblems of a lion and unicorn ; the whole en- 
 closed within a border of roses, admimbly carved. 
 
 The observations already made sufficiently prove, that 
 the seated figure can be no other than the king ; but if this 
 were doubtful, it would be proved by a remark which I am 
 the more disposed to make, as it carries us back to the most 
 remote period of Persian antiquities. 
 
 As often as the person of the king occurs in these sculp- 
 tures, he is represented as of a stature considerably more 
 elevated than his subjects. " As often as Cyrus appeared 
 in public," says Xenophon,^^ " his chariot was driven by a 
 charioteer of lofty stature, but who was still inferior to the 
 king." To assist this national prejudice, the kings of Persia 
 wore a peculiar sort of shoe, intended to give them additional 
 height." It may be added, that the monarch is here repre- 
 sented in full costume, his tiara and armlets even bearing 
 traces of having been once overlaid with gold, and we may 
 here particularly remark the artificial head of hair, and the 
 fashion of the beard J^ We have already observed that the 
 hair appears to be a peruke, consisting of a multitude of curls: 
 as for the beard, the excessive attention which the modem 
 Persians pay to the grovrth of theirs, makes it doubtful whether 
 we must consider this natural or artificial, but it is evident that 
 the form, at least of those in the sculptures, has been modi- 
 fied by art. The representation of the king's household and 
 his body-guard prove that all these particulars were prescribed 
 by court etiquette. 
 
 The figures referred to are placed above the principal 
 
 '• Xenoph. Ci/rop. viii. ; Op. p. 215. " Ibid. loc. cit. p. 206. 
 
 " The most accurate delineation on a large scale of this style of wearing 
 the hair is to be found in Morier, ii. plate i. The beard was sometimes even 
 worn in a case, Morier, ii. p. 32. The Persians still evince the same devo- 
 tion to their beards, but perukes are utterly unknown. The circumstance of 
 an Englishman taking off his, caused on one occasion considerable alarm, 
 Morier, i. p. 60. Artificial head-dresses, however, appear to have been at 
 one time extensively used in Southern Asia. Niebuhr describes them as 
 found in the sculptures of the cave of Elephanta. 
 
 I 2 
 
116 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 117 
 
 entrance, by which the ambassador must have been mtro- 
 duced as he came from the colonnades. At the postern 
 entrance, n w, is another relievo, which also is capable of 
 being very readily explained.^^ We no longer discover 
 the ambassador, but only the king, seated, as before, on his 
 throne. This throne, however, appears to be supported by 
 three rows of human figures, one above the other, with up- 
 lifted arms, in the attitude of caryatides. They all differ in 
 attire and head-dress, and were evidently designed to repre- 
 sent so many distinct nations, and the whole to have been 
 meant as emblematical of the grandeur of the empire and 
 the majesty of the king. I do not attempt to identify the 
 different nations, fourteen in number, which appear to be 
 thus typified : their dresses, however, resemble those of the 
 grand procession already described, and, possibly, if we 
 possessed both series entire, might be found to be identical. 
 Two remarks, however, I cannot forbear making. I. The 
 figure which comes first is habited in the full Median dress ; 
 a proof that the Medes were accounted the principal nation, 
 though, like all the rest, they were the servants of the king. 
 II. Niebuhr assures us that in one of the figures of the 
 lower row may be distinctly traced the peculiar profile and 
 the woolly hair of a negro.^ It would appear, as if for 
 the purpose of placing before the spectator a sensible proof 
 of the extent and magnitude of the monarch's power, the 
 most distinguished and the most remote nations of this em- 
 pire had been selected ; and at the same time we have a 
 proof that these sculptures could only have been designed 
 after that dominion had been extended beyond Egypt. 
 
 What an idea does this give us of the degree of com- 
 munication subsisting among the most ancient nations of 
 the old world, when we thus find, among the earliest monu- 
 ments of Eastern Asia, the representations of the tribes of 
 
 Central Africa ! 
 
 Over the figure of the king hovers another, nearly resem- 
 bling him in its upper portions, but furnished with wings, 
 and having its lower members concealed by a garment not 
 unlike a farthingale. It is the feroer, or ferooher, the 
 archetype or spirit either of the king himself or Zoroaster, 
 
 » Niebuhr, table xxx. ; Chardin, table ixiv. ; Porter, i. plate 1. 
 * Niebuhr, ii. 147. See Porter, ii. 670. 
 
 respecting which we shall have occasion to speak at greater 
 length when we come to the sepulchral remains. The cir- 
 cumstance of its accompanying the king during his lifetime 
 proves that it does not denote a departed spirit ; and its ap- 
 pearance on the dwellings of the living as well as on the 
 abodes of the dead is important, as marking in both places 
 the prevalence of the religion of Zoroaster. 
 
 In the interior of the edifice are certain large and highly 
 finished niches ; such as are seen at the present day, only of 
 smaller dimensions, in the palaces of Persia ; being designed 
 to contain bouquets of different kinds of flow^ers, particularly 
 roses, the favourite and as it were national flower of Persia.®^ 
 
 The four side entrances, oo and pp, are adorned with 
 other sculptures, representing the king engaged in conflict 
 with a wild animal. The human character of the figure 
 proves that it is meant for the king, and not for a being of 
 a higher order, an Amshaspand for example ; because the 
 Persian artists never represented superior beings without 
 some external indication, such as wings. The wild animals 
 are in the act of rearing themselves on their hind legs 
 against the king, who in each instance seizes them by the 
 horn with his left hand, while with his right he plunges a 
 dagger into their breast. The first is a griffin ;^ the second 
 and third resemble the first ; the fourth appears to be a lion. 
 
 The fiction of the existence of griffins was not only com- 
 mon to all Asia, but even in ancient times extended to 
 Europe also. Here, however, the monster is represented in 
 his original form, and we are also enabled to trace his pro- 
 per country, which, like the other chimeras we have had oc- 
 casion to notice, was the Bactro-Indian mountains, and their 
 adjacent desert, where gold was found. Fortunately we 
 derive not only these particulars, but an exact description 
 of the creature, such as it is portrayed in the relievo before 
 us, from the remains of Ctesias. " The griffin," says iElian,^ 
 
 " Porter, i. 671. He describes a rose bush covered with innumerable 
 blossoms, and fourteen feet high, p. 337. Can we be surprised to find this 
 flower introduced as an ornament in almost every relievo ? 
 
 ^ Porter, i. plates Hi. liii. liv. 
 
 " -(Elian. Hist, Anim. iv. p. 26. Chardin gives a representation which 
 Niebuhr omits ; but the more accurate one is that ot Porter, plate Hi. 
 For the name griffin see Tychsen, in the Appendix, who proves that the 
 Greek yp^ was of Persian origin, which appears to be the case also with the 
 German greif. 
 
118 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 119 
 
 copying the author just mentioned, " is a quadruped of 
 India, having the claws of a lion, and wings upon his back. 
 His fore-parts are red, his wings white, his neck blue ; his 
 head and his beak resemble those of the eagle ; he makes 
 his nest among the mountains, and haunts the deserts, where 
 he conceals his gold." The description is so exact that it 
 is unnecessary to compare it in detail with the sculpture : it 
 would almost appear as if he had seen the relievo, or as if 
 the artist had copied his description. The only addition 
 made by the latter is that of a horn, the symbol of strength. 
 The other animal^ has not been described by any ancient 
 author; it is, however, so closely allied to the foregoing, as 
 to be evidently a creature of the same fiction. Its body 
 and claws, like those of the former, resemble a lion's ; like 
 the former, it has wings ; its head and tail alone being dif- 
 ferent. The head and mouth are those of a lion, and its 
 tail that of a scorpion. It is evidently compounded of the 
 other fabulous animals, without the addition of any new 
 effort of the fancy. We have already shown that the scor- 
 pion tail formed a part of the attributes of the monstrous 
 creation of the Bactro-Indian mythology, as we learn from 
 Ctesias, who mentions it as belonging to the Martichoras, 
 contrary to what we observe in the sculptures of that ani- 
 mal at Persepolis ;^ either because the artist followed his 
 own fancy, or because the fables to which he adhered were 
 different from those which have reached us. The third 
 figure is a repetition of the same, but without wings ; hav- 
 ing, however, feathers, but wanting the scorpion tail.®^ The 
 fourth, differing altogether from the preceding, has only 
 been figured by Niebuhr,^ (Porter not even mentioning it,) 
 and appears to be a young lion, which the king rather 
 presses to him than combats. I cannot (as Rhode^ does) 
 interpret it to be a hound or dog, which the king takes un- 
 der his protection, as a sacred animal ; but as the delinea- 
 
 •• A representation of this creature is to be found in Niebuhr, loc. eit., as 
 well as in Le Brutn, Kampfer, and Porter, vol. i. plate liii. Chardin 
 has not given it. . ,. . . 
 
 » On this account, Rhode, p. 225, thinks he discovers m this aninial the 
 Martichoras. It wants, however, the essential charactenstic, the human 
 
 countenance. 
 ~ Porter, plate liv. •* Niebuhr, table xxv. D. 
 
 "• Rhode, p. 226. 
 
 tion is too imperfect to enable me to offer any thing certain, 
 I shall confine my observations to the three preceding. 
 
 What, then, is the design of these figures? were they 
 meant merely as ornaments, or do they contain a symbolical 
 meaning ? My first idea was that the artist meant only to 
 represent the king as a bold and successfiil hunter ; and 
 certainly much might be said in favour of this interpretation. 
 It is in perfect accordance with the habits of the East, where 
 the chase and war are pursuits held in equal honour, and 
 where the former is looked upon as an image of and prepar- 
 ation for the latter, and not unfrequently, with oriental 
 princes, thought to demand no less preparations. This was 
 especially the case with the Persians, who appear, when at 
 the period of their highest civilization, never to have lost the 
 recollections of their earlier habits, but at all times to have 
 esteemed the chase one of their principal luxuries. For 
 proof of this it is only necessary to refer to the descriptions 
 of the Cyropaedia, or even to the inscription on the tomb of 
 Darius Hystaspis : '' Among the hunters I bore the palm : 
 what I would that I could." ^ 
 
 The simphcity of the delineation also favours this inter- 
 pretation. No trace is to be seen of artificial or difficult 
 positions : in every instance the animal rears himself on his 
 hind legs against the king, who seizes it by the ear or by the 
 horn, and drives a dagger into its chest. The dress too of 
 the king differs from the state attire which we have been 
 considering: he neither wears the tiara, nor the flowing 
 upper garment of the Medes ; nor, on the other hand, is he 
 portrayed in armour, (as would surely have been the case 
 had it been the object to represent him as victorious over an 
 enemy,) but he appears in a tunic vnthout sleeves, as would 
 of course be the case in hunting. 
 
 In renouncing, however, this opinion, I am principally 
 influenced by the circumstance, that the animals in question 
 are not real but fabulous monsters, which appear always to 
 have had an allegorical meaning. The sculpture also itself 
 contradicts the above interpretation : for it is a combat, not 
 a chase ; and the animal is despatched with a dagger, not 
 attacked with weapons appropriate to hunting. 
 
 w 
 
 Strabo, p. 1062. 
 

 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. f. 
 
 Supposing, however, an allegory to be designed, we are 
 still left to inquire whether its meaning was historical or re- 
 ligious. Those who incline to the former opinion, conceive 
 that the monsters in question denote conquered kingdoms, 
 in the same manner that the beasts described by the prophet 
 Daniel betokened the four monarchies. But we have no 
 proof that the countries conquered by the Persians were ever 
 typified by such symbols; and, besides, we recognise in 
 these chimeras the essential characteristics of one and the 
 same, the griffin, modified only in some of its inferior mem- 
 bers ; whereas if different kingdoms had been designed, they 
 would surely have been expressed by different symbols. 
 
 We are compelled, therefore, to have recourse to a mixed 
 interpretation, partly religious and partly political. The 
 king, as a servant of Ormuzd, was in duty bound to wage 
 war against the unclean creation of Ahriman.^ Among 
 these was numbered the griffin. These creatures were be- 
 lieved to infest the desert, to be the guardians of concealed 
 gold, (as Herodotus informs us,) and were formidable to 
 such as sought it. They were also the symbolical emblems 
 of the deevs, or evil genii of the kingdom of Ahriman. The 
 king, therefore, as a servant of Ormuzd, is represented as 
 attacking in these creatures the powers of Ahriman, or of 
 darkness. It must be remarked, that these conflicts of the 
 king with the animals sacred to Ahriman, have nothing in 
 common with the conflicts between the lion and unicorn, so 
 often repeated on the stairs, and described above. 
 
 As the decorations on the walls prove that this great edi- 
 fice was destined for the reception of deputies and ambassa- 
 dors, so we cannot fail to observe how suitable it was in all 
 its arrangements and decorations for such a purpose. Every 
 thing was calculated to fill the mind with a feeling of awe, 
 and a sense of grandeur. This was the impression excited 
 by the colossal animals which guarded the entrance : while 
 the interior of the edifice revealed the king as the master of 
 many nations, who were represented supporting his throne ; 
 at the same time that he was portrayed as the servant of the 
 deity whose commands he fiilfilled. Thus even the subor- 
 dinate decorations harmonized with the general scope and 
 
 See in the following section the account of the tenets of Zoroaster. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 121 
 
 design of the edifice, which was intended to express by 
 sensible images the greatness and the piety of the monarch. 
 
 Next come the buildings which occupy the platform of 
 the third terrace, C ; one of which being situated on higher 
 ground than the other, has led Porter to speak of a fourth 
 and fifth terrace. Not only their position, but their inter- 
 nal character and decorations tend to show that these were, 
 to take the word in its widest signification, the inhabited 
 apartments of the palace. They were approached through 
 the colonnades, and thus lay behind the piazzas, where the 
 ministers and grandees of the court were stationed. They 
 consist of four or five edifices, constructed without any uni- 
 form plan, and seemingly at different periods, as seems to 
 be especially proved by the style of building observable in 
 that at t, which appears considerably older than the rest.»^ 
 As they are all more or less in ruins, it is impossible to give 
 a detailed account of them, though many particulars may 
 be asserted with confidence. 
 
 That this was the king s own residence, and not designed 
 for the ministers of religion or the officers of the court, as 
 some have imagined, is proved by the perpetual occurrence 
 of the figure of the monarch in a variety of attitudes ; to be 
 recognised not only by his insignia, but by his superior size 
 and stature. He is represented on many of the internal 
 doorways, not in a sitting but a walking attitude : behind 
 him are two attendants, both about a head shorter than 
 himself, one bearing a fan or fly-chaser, the other an um- 
 brella, signs, in Persia, of royal dignity.^ The style of 
 these figures is on the whole the same, the only difference 
 being that which occasionally occurs in the implements 
 borne by the king, which, however, is almost always the sa- 
 cred vessel.^' The form of this vessel continues always the 
 same, whether in the hands of the king or of his courtiers, 
 and so evidently resembles the lotus, a plant esteemed sa- 
 cred throughout all the East, that we cannot but conclude 
 
 " For this remark we are indebted to Niebuhr, p. 142; with whom Por- 
 ter coincides. 
 
 •* See Xenoph. Cyrop, viii. p. 241, for a proof that these luxuries of a warm 
 chmate were in use among the Persians. Porter, i. p. (557, shows that the 
 umbrella continues to be a mark of royal dignity in Persia. 
 
 " Compare Chardin, table Ixii., and Niebuhr, table xxv. c, where, at/^ h, 
 the different implements are represented. 
 
 'I 
 
122 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 123 
 
 its form to have been borrowed from that of the flower. It 
 is probably the sacred cup Havan, of which mention is so 
 often made in the Zendavesta,^ and which was necessary to 
 the libations accompanying the daily prayers of the followers 
 of Zoroaster.^^ When we reflect that the whole private life 
 of the Persian monarchs was regulated by a system of the 
 most rigid etiquette, we cannot perhaps form a nearer guess 
 as to the design of these sculptures than by supposing them 
 to contain a complete delineation of the same, agreeably to 
 the precepts of the Magi, the monarch being represented as 
 a servant of Ormuzd engaged in the various offices of his 
 civil and religious station. We shall have occasion to see 
 that each representation was in accordance with the design 
 of the building where it is found. At the entrances are 
 usually posted two of the body-guard, in Median attire ; 
 and combats of wild animals already described are not un- 
 frequently found there. 
 
 But before we arrive at the rest of the edifices, the way 
 lies over a space,^ at present destitute of any building, (see 
 Z in the plan,) but which is covered with heaps of what are 
 apparently the remains of former structures. And here we 
 must not omit to mention a very probable and ingenious 
 conjecture of the most recent traveller in Persia, whom we 
 so often have had occasion to cite. Porter surmises that 
 " this was the site of the true palace of Persepolis destroyed 
 by Alexander." By the term palace, must be understood 
 the building destined, according to the customs of the Per- 
 sians, for the entertainment of the grandees of the court, on 
 occasions of solemn festivals.^ That such was the custom 
 of the court of Persia, there is no question : " In the third 
 year of his reign the king Ahasuerus made a feast unto all 
 his princes and his servants ; the power of Persia and Me- 
 dia, the nobles and the princes of the provinces, being 
 before him : when he showed the riches of his glorious 
 kingdom and the honour of his excellent majesty many 
 days, even a hundred and fourscore days."^ It would be 
 superfluous to cite other instances. Now, the existing re- 
 
 •• Zendavesta, i. 143, 221 ; ii. 231, etc. "* See above, p. 114. 
 
 •• Porter, i. p. 646, states its length to amount to three hundred and fif- 
 teen feet. 
 
 " " Banqueting-house," as Porter terms it. " Esther, i. 3, 4. 
 
 mains prove that here once stood an edifice of great extent, 
 and the situation of the surrounding ruins show that no 
 place more proper could have been selected for the purpose 
 we imagine. In front of it were the state apartments, and 
 behind it, as we shall see, the private residence of the king ; 
 from which he could conveniently pass to the one or the 
 other. What situation more appropriate could have been 
 selected ? Again, supposing that such was the destination 
 of the building, what place more fitting for the celebration 
 of the triumphal feast of Alexander ? And this will explain 
 the fact, that the edifice has ceased to exist ; this being the 
 portion of the palace which was consumed by the flames of 
 that Bacchanal feast ; and if the entablatures and roof, as 
 Curtius assures us, were of cedar, the flames would find 
 abundant materials^ to feed on. The other edifices were 
 left standing, and we have no reason to be surprised that 
 they betray no marks of having been destroyed by fire. 
 
 It may be reasonably expected that fiiture excavations 
 will tend to confirm this hypothesis, and Porter complains, 
 with reason, of the British residents at the court of Persia, 
 who with ample opportunities have neglected to promote 
 such researches. At present this " ruinous heap" is over- 
 spread with grass, which covers the scene of the magnifi- 
 cence and pride of the conquerors and lords of the world, 
 whose name once filled all the regions of the East ! 
 
 By this scene of desolation we arrive at the largest of all 
 the buildings, that at Y, belonging to the third terrace. It 
 once formed a square peristyle or court, every side of which 
 was ninety feet in length ; the roof being supported by 
 thirty-six pillars in six rows, and the entrances being two 
 antechambers to the east and west, surrounded by many 
 other apartments. It can scarcely be doubted that this 
 was the private residence of the king. His figure appears 
 repeatedly on the walls, surrounded by his customary at- 
 tendants ; and the sculptures on the windows of two of the 
 chambers appear to prove that they were banqueting apart- 
 ments. The figures of three court attendants are often re- 
 peated, the foremost of whom carries a skin of wine ; the 
 next a vessel in which victuals are even now commonly 
 
 ■• Curtius, v. 7. 
 
 II 
 
■ tflfV 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 served up in the East ; and the third another vessel, or cup, 
 with a cover. ^^ Art has done all it could to record, even 
 on the ruins of these structures, their former destination. 
 
 It would be a vain attempt to endeavour to ascertain the 
 design of all the other edifices, distinguished only by their 
 ruins. That at S appears to resemble the others already 
 described in magnitude and arrangement. Was this the 
 harem, or, as it is called in the book of Esther,^ the queen's 
 house? This we must leave to conjecture. The smaller 
 square structure, however, at W affords proof of having 
 been designed for religious purposes. At all the four en- 
 trances the king is represented in a walking attitude, and 
 as of superior stature to those around him, carrying in his 
 left hand a staff* with a golden head or knob, in his right 
 the sacred cup. Behind him come his attendants with the 
 umbrella and fan, or fly-chaser. These are the decorations 
 of the entrances. In the interior, he is represented seated 
 on his throne, attended only by the fan-bearer; the umbrella, 
 as no longer necessary under a roof, having disappeared. 
 At the entrance, however, as well as in the interior, the 
 monarch is accompanied by the ferooher or spirit, which 
 hovers above him and marks him as a servant of Ormuzd. 
 No guards are to be seen, being inappropriate to a place 
 of worship ; but in the centre of the edifice are four de- 
 tached columns, which can hardly have been meant for any 
 other purpose than that of surrounding the altar of the 
 sacred fire. The conjecture, therefore, of Porter,^ that 
 this was the sanctuary or place of worship, becomes highly 
 probable, and we may conceive that the king here presented, 
 according to the precepts of the Magi, his daily prayers and 
 offerings ; the position of the building, as well as its struc- 
 ture, appearing to indicate this ; being only a few steps re- 
 moved from the apartments of the monarch. 
 
 The inscriptions on these ruins, no less than the sculp- 
 tures, have long attracted general attention. They are 
 scattered in various directions ; and, first of all, at the ex- 
 tremities of the staircase leading to the second terrace, near 
 the figures of the monsters engaged in conflict. Secondly, 
 on the walls and windows of the interior, generally accom- 
 
 "• Porter, i plate xlvii. ' Esther, ii. 9, 14. * Porter, i. p. 660. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 125 
 
 panying the figure of the king;^ and making it probable 
 (in conformity with the general disposition of the edifice) 
 that they relate to him. But the unknown languages in 
 which these inscriptions are couched, and the mysterious 
 character in which they are traced, have involved them in 
 an obscurity, which long appeared impenetrable. Accord- 
 ingly, when these essays first appeared nothing could be 
 advanced respecting them with any show of certainty ; but 
 since that time the unwearied spirit of research, which cha- 
 racterizes the age, has so far pushed its inquiries, that we 
 are enabled at least to conjecture the general scope and de- 
 sign of these records, though much uncertainty niust still 
 attach to them in detail. No commentator, for instance, 
 doubts that they are composed in three distinct sets of cha- 
 racters, all comprehended under the general term of the 
 arrow-headed or cuneiform characters ; because all the let- 
 ters have been carved of a wedge-shaped form.* The 
 simplest and most ancient style evidently is an alphabetical 
 mode of writing, and the second table of inscriptions of M. 
 Grotefend (see the Appendix) prove that the same is true of 
 the second, and even of the third ; which had appeared the 
 most doubtfiil. These three alphabets prove the inscriptions 
 to have been originally composed in three different lan- 
 guages, which is rendered still more certain by the discovery 
 that the middle one contains a verbal repetition of the first. 
 
 ■ Porter, i. p. 654. 
 
 * As it is to a German that we are indebted for an authentic copy of these 
 inscriptions ; a praise which belongs to Niebuhr, (though now to be shared 
 with Porter,) notwithstanding all which has been done by Chardin, Le Bruyn, 
 and Kaempfer ; so it is to another German that we owe the best attempt at 
 their interpretation. See Grotefend, in the Gott. gel. Anz, 1802, pp. 149 
 — 178 ; and 1803, pp. 60—117. 1 do not mean to express my preference for 
 this interpretation merely because it is in accordance with my own opinions 
 respecting these edifices, (my opinions resting on grounds independent of his 
 researches,) but because, apart from all philological reasons, he appears best 
 to have seized the true spirit of the East, and apprehended the real design of 
 these structures. Niebuhr tells us that we must here only look for the titles 
 and names of the kings ; and are not these titles in perfect accordance with 
 the manners and religion of the Persians ? We find the same occurring at a 
 later period, in the inscription (respecting which there is no question) of 
 their successors and imitators, the Sassanian princes, and, in like manner, 
 disposed above their images. I forbear to enlarge upon this subject at pre- 
 sent ; reserving it for the Appendix to the second volume. Nor is it neces- 
 sary to refer to the Tentamefi PakeographicB of the late M. Lichtenstein, 
 who has been convicted of the radical fault of reading these inscriptions in 
 the wrong direction. 
 
126 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I* 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 127 
 
 i = • 
 
 As far as relates to the first,* all interpreters are agreed that 
 it is composed in the old Median language, or the Zend, 
 which continued to be at all times the sacred language ot 
 the Magi. Those of the second class appear to be composed 
 in the Pehlvi dialect ; and if the opinion be correct that 
 those of the third are in the Assyrian or Babylonian speech, 
 we shall have detected remains of the three prmcipal lan- 
 guages of the Persian empire, which were also the prevail- 
 ing dialects in the capitals, which at stated periods were the 
 successive residences of the monarchs ; the Median being 
 spoken at Ecbatana ; the Pehlvi at Susa ; and the Assyrian 
 (an Aramaic dialect) in Babylon. All the inscriptions 
 which have been hitherto explained are found to relate to 
 Darius and Xerxes : to the first those designated in Niebuhr 
 by the letters B,^ H,^ and I ; to the latter those marked 
 
 A« and G.^ • j • u 
 
 So far we have endeavoui-ed to become acquainted with 
 the palace of the Persian rulers ; but close beside the abodes 
 of the living are the receptacles of the dead. The examina- 
 tion of the latter is rendered still more important by the 
 fact, that they may tend to fix the era to which the former 
 monuments belong, if it should be proved that they relate to 
 the period of the ancient Persians, and contain the remains 
 of the successors of Cyrus. Fortunately we possess m the 
 fragments of Ctesias suflficient evidence to make such a con- 
 clusion extremely probable. 
 
 It is proved by the concurrent testimony of ancient au- 
 
 • See NiEBUHR, table xxiv. A, B, G ; table xxxi H I ; for the ^cond see 
 D, F, K : for the third, C, E, L. See the Appendix for the remarks of M. 
 
 ^'^xlble xxiv. According to Grotefend they signify : « Darius the valiant 
 kine the king of kings, the son of Hystaspis, the successor of the ruler ot 
 fhe world; in^ the conTteUation of Moro." See Grotefend, GoU. gel Am. 
 
 ^^Table xxxi. According to Grotefend : « Darius the monarch, the valiant 
 king, the king of kings, the king of all the zealous, (or beUevers,) the success- 
 or of the ruler of the world, Jemsheed." Gott gel. Anz. \^^, v n7 ^ The 
 
 interpretation of I has not yet been given. , , valiant 
 
 • fable xxiv. According to Grotefend : « Xerxes the monarch, the valiant 
 king, the king of kings, the king of all pure 'nations, the kin^of the pure and 
 of tL pious, the most potent assembly, the son of Danus the king, the de- 
 scendant of the lord of the universe, Jemsheed." Gott. gel Anz. 1 8UJ, p. 1 1/. 
 
 • According to Grotefend : " Xerxes the valiant king, the king of Ws» the 
 son of Darius the king, the successor of the ruler of the worid. Gott. gel. 
 Anz. 1802, p. 149. 
 
 thors that the remains of the old monarchs of Persia were 
 interred, not bumt,"^ which would have been contrary to 
 the laws of Zoroaster, as tending to desecrate the sacred 
 element of fire ; nor yet were they previously exposed to 
 ravenous animals, as was prescribed by the precepts of the 
 Magi.^^ The place, however, where the bodies of the de- 
 ceased monarchs were deposited was by no means a matter 
 of indifference, but, wherever they might chance to die, it 
 was esteemed a religious duty to remove their remains for 
 interment to their native country, or Persis properly so 
 called. This is expressly recorded of most of the kings of 
 Persia, and must be concluded to have been the case with 
 the rest. The body of Cyrus was conveyed by the eunuch 
 Bagapates, according to the command of Cambyses, into 
 Persia, not however to Persepolis, but to Pasargada ; where 
 Alexander saw his tomb still remaining.^^ His successors, 
 however, were interred at Persepolis and the neighbouring 
 Neksh-i-Roostem. The body of Cambyses was transported 
 thither by Ixetas.^^ Darius Hystaspis caused his own 
 monument to be erected there in his lifetime : ^^ respecting 
 Xerxes nothing is recorded, but the remains of his son Ar- 
 taxerxes were conveyed thither with those of his queen ; ^^ 
 and the body of his son, Xerxes H., who was slain after 
 five and forty days' reign, overtook them while yet upon the 
 road.^^ Concerning Artaxerxes HI., history tells us that 
 his body failed of being deposited here only in consequence 
 of a change.^^ The custom continued to the end of the 
 Persian dynasty, as the same honour was paid, by the com- 
 mand of Alexander, to the remains of the last Darius.^® 
 It cannot be doubted, therefore, that the kings of Persia 
 were buried in Persis properly so called, and Diodorus 
 points out to us the very situation of their tombs. He tells 
 us, (after an admirable account of the palace of Persepo- 
 lis,^^) " That eastward of the city, at the distance of four 
 hundred feet, is a mountain called the king's mountain, in 
 which the graves of the kings are situated. The rock there 
 
 " See the places collected by Brisson, loc. cit. p. 320, etc. 
 " Herod, i. 140 ; iii. 16. See also Kleuker s Anhang zum Zendavesta, 
 B. ii. Th. iii. s. 21. 
 
 " Ctesias, Pers. cap. 9. " Ibid. 13. " Ibid. 15. 
 
 » Ibid. 44. " Ibid. 45. " ^lian. Var. Hist. vi. S. 
 
 * Arrian. iii. 22. Justin, xi. 15. *° Diodorus, ii. 215. 
 

 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 is hewn into a multitude of chambers, which are not to be 
 approached by any entrances made by art, but the coffins 
 are wound up and introduced into the receptacles by means 
 of machines." 
 
 The description, both as regards the situation and the 
 character of these monuments, tallies so exactly with the 
 tombs of the kings situated near Chchl-Menar, that no 
 doubt can exist respecting their identity. The distance 
 from the ruins of the palace is precisely the same, and the 
 remarks already made prove that the character of the struc- 
 ture corresponds with the account given by the historian. 
 
 To this account of Diodorus must be added the testi- 
 mony of a contemporary author, which throws so much 
 light on the monuments of Persepolis, that I cannot forbear 
 giving it entire. Ctesias^ tells us, that " Darius, the son 
 of Hystaspis, commanded a tomb to be prepared for himself 
 during his lifetime, in the double mountain,^^ which was 
 accordingly undertaken; but when he desired to see it 
 himself, he was prevented by the Chaldaeans and by his 
 parents. His parents, however, having desired to ascend 
 to see it, the priests who drew them up were seized with 
 alarm, and let go the ropes, and his parents fell down and 
 were killed. Darius was greatly afflicted at this, and cut 
 off the heads of those who had wound them up, being in 
 number forty persons."** 
 
 The expression, " in the double mountain," is obscure : 
 can it be meant to express the crescent-like shape of the 
 hill, branching out into two arms, from between which pro- 
 ject the ruins of Chehl-Menar ? Or did Ctesias write, the 
 inaccessible mountain ?" Whatever may be the case, the 
 mountain is clearly that called by Diodorus the kings 
 mountain, as is shown by his description which follows, 
 and which clearly refers to a monument of the same de- 
 scription with the tombs of Chehl-Menar. 
 
 In this mountain are discovered two spacious facades of 
 sepulchral monuments, (D and E,) of which Chardin has 
 
 • Ctesias, Pera, cap. 15. " Ivn^ Sifftrtp opiu 
 
 " Sir B. Keb Porter also found it impossible to get at the opening made 
 in the face of the rock, at Neksh-i-Roostem, sixty feet above the surface of 
 the plain, in any other manner ; and was wound up to that height at some 
 danger to himself, voL i. p. 520. 
 " That is, aiprt^ insteaui of Strrtp. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 129 
 
 given a drawing.^* With the exception of some minor 
 points of detail, they are exactly alike, and as their plan and 
 construction, no less than their position, closely tallies with 
 the account of the historian, we may be satisfied that we 
 behold in one of these the tomb of Darius Hystaspis, erected 
 by his own command during his lifetime, and in which, 
 after death, his body was deposited. Which of the two 
 was the sepulchre of this king, must indeed remain un- 
 certain ; but this is of the less consequence, as they so 
 closely resemble one another. Tradition ascribes the second 
 (according to Chardin) to Darab or Dardus ; but this 
 tradition is the less to be regarded, as when the Orientals 
 speak of Darab, they usually mean the last Darius, who was 
 vanquished by Alexander, with whom we have nothing 
 whatever to do on the present occasion. If, however, any 
 one be inclined to rest satisfied with this authority, he has, 
 at all events, some slight grounds for deciding in favour of 
 one of these tombs.*^^ 
 
 Whatever may be the fate of this question, it is clear that 
 we have at least made a very considerable step towards a 
 more complete knowledge of the ruins of Persepolis, by as- 
 certaining that in one or other of these tombs we have 
 before us a genuine monument of the ancient Persians, be- 
 longing to the age of the greatest of the kings of that coun- 
 try. I reserve for the sequel the general observations 
 deducible from this fact, and would first direct the attention 
 of my reader to the figures with which the facades of these 
 tombs are decorated. They so nearly resemble, in all their 
 essentials, those at Neksh-i-Roostem, that I shall make the 
 latter the subjects of my observations, because Chardin has 
 given the figures of the latter with the greatest accuracy, 
 even when compared with the designs of Porter. 
 
 The whole facade is that of a building of two stories ; the 
 lower of which only presents the false entrance, marked by 
 two pilasters, which have the appearance of supporting the 
 upper stoiy. The latter contains a stage, or scaffold, deco- 
 rated with various ornaments, the following being the prin- 
 
 " Chardin, table Ixvii. Ixviii. They are not represented in Niebuhr or in 
 Porter ; except only that at Neksh-i-Roostem. 
 
 ^ Porter conceives that the tomb examined by himself at Neksh-i- 
 Roostem was that of Darius, for which I can sec no probable reason. The 
 tomb at Chehl-Menar is equally inaccessible as the otner. 
 
 VOL. I. K 
 
f 
 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 131 
 
 pi 
 
 cipal subject. An elderly man, with a strong bow in his 
 hand, stands before an altar, on which a fire is burning. 
 Above the altar is suspended a globe, and above the human 
 figure another resembling it, except that, instead of a bow, he 
 holds a ring, and that the upper parts alone of his person are 
 visible, the lower being covered by a spreading garment. 
 
 The design (as might be expected in a sepulchral monu- 
 ment) is obviously of a religious character, and consequently 
 must be explained by a reference to the religion of the Per- 
 sian court and state, that of Zoroaster. A statement of the 
 tenets of this religion must be reserved for the sequel ; all 
 that I shall advance in the present place may be understood 
 apart from the detail into which I shall then enter. 
 
 The whole is meant as a representation of the king in the 
 character of a disciple of Zoroaster, and a worshipper of 
 Ormuzd, as will be still more apparent on an examination 
 of the figures considered separately. 
 
 The figure standing before the fire is the image of the 
 king, not (as Porter supposes) that of a priest. He may 
 be recognised by the bow in his hand, with which the Per- 
 sian monarchs generally chose to be represented, as the 
 symbol of courage and dexterity in the chase and war. 
 The inscription which Strabo assures us was engraved upon 
 the tomb, and of which he has fortunately preserved a trans- 
 lation, proves this : " I was a fi-iend to my fi'iends, the first 
 of horsemen and of bowmen ; among hunters I bore the 
 palm : what I would that I could.^^ Nor is the circum- 
 stance that the bow is represented as exceedingly powerfiil 
 to be passed over as immaterial, for to bend such a bow 
 was a proof of strength and manhood. When Darius ad- 
 vanced against the Scythian king Scytharces, the two mon- 
 archs sent their bows to one another by way of challenge ; 
 and when that of the Scythian proved the stronger, Darius 
 withdrew.*^ 
 
 The accompanying figures also prove the principal one 
 to be that of the king. On one side of the stage stand 
 three of the body-guard, in Median attire : on the other 
 side, three courtiers, in a mourning attitude,^ being in- 
 tended to represent, as we shall see hereafter, those who 
 
 *• Strabo, p. 1062. ^ Ctesias, Pers. cap. 17. 
 
 * See Porter, plate xvii. 
 
 were appointed to attend the dead monarch, and to con- 
 tinue near his tomb. The circumstance of the king being 
 represented without the tiara, is very readily accounted for 
 by his having ceased to reign : his right hand is elevated in 
 an attitude of supplication. On the altar is represented 
 blazing the sacred fire, the principal object of worship 
 among the ancient Persians, the symbol of the primal fire 
 or creative energy of the godhead, from which emanated 
 Ormuzd himself, the author of all good.*^ This symbol, 
 however, had a still more especial value as relating to the 
 king. The king, as the living image of Ormuzd, was also 
 the first of the worshippers of the sacred fire, which, there- 
 fore, inseparably accompanied his person. It was carried 
 before him whenever he appeared in public ; it was daily 
 the object of his adoration, and was extinguished when he 
 expired.^^ We behold, therefore, the monarch in the atti- 
 tude in which he was every day seen by the Magi, and in 
 which they must have had peculiar pleasure in beholding 
 him, as a member of their religion. 
 
 The ball which is seen hovering over the flame is meant 
 to represent the sun, the second great national deity of the 
 Persians, whose whole mythology might be said to turn 
 upon the ideas of light and the sun, their established sym- 
 bols of wisdom, goodness, and excellence. The sun they 
 always worshipped with a countenance directed towards 
 that luminary, especially at his rising ; and in such an atti- 
 tude the king is here represented ; the sun also appearing 
 in the sculpture to the east of him. 
 
 Here then we see delineated both the principal divinities 
 of the Persians ; the same to whom the kings of Persia, on 
 their arrival at Pasargada, (as we shall have occasion to see,) 
 were bound by the precepts of the Magi to offer sacrifice on 
 the neighbouring mountains. 
 
 The winged half-length figure, which hovers over the 
 king, and looks like a repetition of his, appears the most 
 difficult to explain, for we must not suppose it represents a 
 departed spirit, as we have already seen that the same figure 
 accompanied the king in his lifetime. The image is, how- 
 ever, by so much the more valuable, as affording a distinct 
 
 • Zendavesta of Kleuker, vol. i. p. 50, sqq. 
 
 • See the proofs alleged by Brisson, loc. cit p. 351. 
 
 K 2 
 
 liib 
 
 i 
 
132 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 133 
 
 indication of the religion of Zoroaster ; being, in the lan- 
 guage of the Zendavesta, the ferooher, either of the king 
 himself, or of Ormuzd. 
 
 According to the tenets of Zoroaster, not only all men, 
 but all other animals, have their archetype, the purest efflux 
 of the creative thought of Ormuzd, by which he called into 
 existence the various orders of created beings. The name 
 of these ideal essences was Ferooher.'^ They were con- 
 ceived to resemble the beings made after their model, only 
 purer, more glorious and immortal. As created beings differ 
 in their degrees of perfection, so also do their archetypes. 
 The feroohers of Zoroaster, Bahman, and others, were 
 esteemed the most excellent of all, and with them ranked 
 those of the kings. Collectively, these composed the pure 
 creation of Ormuzd, and the constant attendance of the 
 images of the ferooher on that of the king, denotes that the 
 monarch was a worshipper and favourite of Ormuzd, or, in 
 other words, a good king. 
 
 The idea that this is the ferooher of the king is confirmed, 
 at the first glance, by the resemblance between the two 
 figures ; but on the other hand, it appears to be designated 
 as the spirit of Ormuzd, by those insignia, the tiara and ring, 
 which, as they were no longer appropriate to the dead mon- 
 arch, could not belong to his spirit. The latter of these 
 insignia is the symbol, not, as has been improperly imagined, 
 of eternity, but of dominion : the circular girdle being the 
 costi or cincture of the priests. That Ormuzd himself had 
 his spirit, or ferooher,^- is apparent from the Zendavesta, 
 where Zoroaster is exhorted by Ormuzd to adore it.^"* 
 
 The principal design having been explained, the accesso- 
 ries cannot occasion much difficulty. 
 
 On both sides of the stage or scaffold are seen the fore- 
 parts of the fabulous animal, the unicorn, so often intro- 
 duced by way of ornament. The stage itself on which the 
 
 •* For this fiction see the Zendavesta, vol. i. p. 14, sqq. Ferooher and soul, 
 or spirit, may be considered as nearly equivalent terms. 
 
 " This last idea, that the ferooher is that of Ormuzd, has been proposed by 
 Grotefend, Amalthea, ii. 78, where sufficient proofs are given of the true 
 meaning of the symbolical ring, as denoting universal dominion. Whichever 
 interpretation may be adopted, the general conclusion remains the same, that 
 the king is represented as a worshipper of Ormuzd. 
 
 " Vendidat, Quest, xix. ; Zendavesta of Kleuker, ii. p. 377. 
 
 king and the altar are placed, is supported by two rows of 
 human figures, one above the other, in the manner of ca- 
 ryatides. These do not appear to me introduced merely by 
 way of ornament, but rather, as I have had occasion to re- 
 mark in other instances, as a sign of the majesty and power 
 of the principal personage. Beneath these are carved on 
 the entablature, which appears to support the second story, 
 a row of dogs, in which also we have an evidence of the re- 
 ligion of Zoroaster, as the Magians accounted the dog to be 
 a sacred animal, the maintenance of which was strictly en- 
 joined in the Zend books.^ 
 
 The lower story, which appears meant to represent the 
 entrance, is only remarkable in an architectural point of 
 view. The columns on both sides terminate in capitals, 
 shaped like unicorns' heads, back to back ; and on both 
 sides, as on the upper story, are seen men armed with 
 spears, apparently belonging to the body-guard, and dis- 
 posed in pairs. In the vacant space between the necks of 
 the unicorns, the blocks of stone which support the entab- 
 lature above are mortised ; a certain proof that in other 
 cases also, where the same capitals occur, they were meant, 
 in like manner, to support an architrave or roof.^^ 
 
 The explanation of one of these sepulchres becomes a 
 key to the rest, the designs of those at Chehl-Menar and 
 Neksh-i-Roostem being all essentially the same. The same 
 four figures occur in all, except that at Neksh-i-Roostem, 
 as far as we can judge from the very imperfect delineations 
 of Chardin, there appears less of ornament ; which, how- 
 ever, is by no means the case with the one examined and 
 copied by Porter. On the other hand, one of them bears 
 a copious inscription in the arrow-headed character, which, 
 when copied and explained, may probably throw great light 
 on the destination of the monument. 
 
 To this question is immediately attached another, by the 
 satisfying of which alone the former can be fiiUy answered. 
 What was the destination of these costly sepulchres ? Why 
 
 " The dog is the animal of Ormuzd ; the wolf (his natural enemy) of Ahri- 
 man, the evil principle. The former is, therefore, an appropriate emblem of 
 vigilance, and enmity to Ahriman. Zendavesta, Ann. ii. lii. p. 34. 
 
 ** See above, p. 95, 96. 
 
 I 
 
134 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 were they constructed on this peculiar plan ? and what re- 
 lation had they to the neighbouring palace ? 
 
 The treatment of the dead is usually regulated by the 
 opinions each nation entertains of the state after death. 
 According to the religion of Zoroaster, there remained a fu- 
 ture resurrection of the departed, which would be accom- 
 panied by a universal restoration of all things, the universal 
 triumph of the kingdom of Ormuzd, or of light, and the de- 
 struction of that of Ahriman, or the evil principle.^^ It 
 was a natural consequence of this belief, that the bodies of 
 the dead should be carefully preserved, as being destined to 
 rise from their graves in renewed glory.^^ The intermedi- 
 ate state of the soul was looked upon as a prolongation of 
 the present life, and the grave of the monarch came to be 
 considered a sort of residence, which it was the duty of the 
 living to provide with all things which had been deemed 
 necessary or suitable to its occupant while alive. This idea 
 very naturally led to the practice of making the decorations 
 of their sepulchres correspond in magnificence with the 
 progress of luxury in the world without. The dead king 
 was allowed to retain not only his robes and personal pos- 
 sessions, but even his treasure. Each monarch, as it would 
 appear, having a sepulchral treasury of his own.^ In this 
 manner Persepolis became the depot of immense treasures, 
 which were protected by numerous bodies of guards and 
 sentinels, posted not only about the palace itself, but over 
 the neighbouring hills.^ It became also the office of the 
 most illustrious courtiers to follow the body of the monarch, 
 and abide near his tomb ; and Bagoraxus, who had been 
 appointed to this by Secundianus, fell into disgrace because 
 he deserted the sepulchre of Artaxerxes.*^ Bagapates, the 
 
 ■• See the Zendavesta^ i. p. 27, sq. 
 
 " See the Appendix to the Zendavesta^ vol. i. p. 140. 
 
 " Frequent mention is made of the treasure preserved near the tomb of 
 Cyrus. See Arrian. loc. cit. The historians Alexander, Diodorus, Arrian, 
 and Curtius, allude to the treasures of the other kings stored up at Per- 
 sepolis. 
 
 " Diodorus, loc. cit Remains of ancient forts of this kind are to be 
 found on several of the adjoining heights. Chardin, ii. p. 141. The most 
 remarkable of these, the ruins or which Porter visited, stood immediately at 
 the entrance of the plain of Merdasht, which it overlooked. That traveller 
 found clear traces of a palace and a temple having anciently existed there. 
 
 *» Ctesias, Pers, cap. 46. 
 
 chap. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPtER ASIA. 
 
 135 
 
 governor of the harem of Darius Hystaspis, accompanied 
 his master to the place of his interment, and continued to 
 reside near it for seven years, when he died f and we are 
 warranted to presume, from this circumstance, that the ha- 
 rem also of the deceased king must have been removed to 
 Persepolis, which appears to explain the circumstance, that 
 the soldiers of Alexander found there so many women of 
 rank, and costly articles of female apparel, when they sacked 
 the palace of the kings of Persia.** . i • 
 
 That such rock tombs were completely Persian m their 
 character and design is proved also by those found in the 
 mountain close by Telmissus in Lycia. Choiseul Gouffier 
 recognised in the latter imitations of those of Chehl-Menar,*^ 
 and his remarks are confirmed by those of a more recent 
 traveller.** They prove that not only the monarchs, but 
 the grandees of Persia, caused sepulchral chambers to be 
 hewn out for themselves in such rocky situations, hoping (m 
 vain !) to secure their remains from disturbance or spoliation. 
 
 From what has been stated it is clear that such monu- 
 mental edifices not only form a considerable part of the re- 
 mains of Persepolis, but are intimately connected with the 
 rest, and we may hence conclude how it came to pass that 
 the place was looked upon as the metropolis, as Diodorus 
 terms it, and the true capital of all the empire ; being re- 
 garded as the home of the Persian monarchs, not only dur- 
 ing their lifetime, but after their death. 
 
 Before I quit the subject of Persepolis I must say a word 
 
 « Ctesias, Pers. xiv. 19. *^ Diodorus, ii. p. 214 
 
 « Choiseul Gouffier, Voyage Pittoresque, i. p. 118. "Quelle analogic 
 frapporte entre les tombeaux de Persepolis et ceux de Telmissa!" See the 
 drawing given by him, plate Ixvii. 
 
 ** VoN Hammer, Topographische ansichten in der Levanie, 1811, pp. 109, 110. 
 " The mountain of Telmissus, where the tombs are situated, lies five hundred 
 paces from the walls of the ancient city, and may be called a double moun- 
 tain, if the hill on which the castle stands and the hill of tombs be considered 
 as one. The graves had originally no entrance, and must have been wrought 
 in the rock by the aid of scaffolding: the entrance which was left to receive 
 the corpse was closed by means of a table of stone fitting in with the pannels 
 of the tomb. After the stone had been cemented in its place and the scaf- 
 folding removed, all entrance or ascent became nearly impossible. The 
 whole appears to prove that Telmissus, having been built by the Greeks and 
 conquered by the Persians, became the residence of the satraps of the latter, 
 who imitating as nearly as possible the manners of the court, not only during 
 their Ufetime, but with reference to their interment, copied in their own pro- 
 vince the monuments of Persepolis, and sought like their princes to repose 
 in lofty sepulchral palaces hewn out of the rock." 
 
 • 
 
136 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 137 
 
 or two about the name. How comes it that the place was 
 thus designated by a Grecian appellation, signifying the '*city 
 of the Persians?" According to the general opinion, the 
 Persian appellation for the ancient capital of the empire, 
 situated in the neighbourhood of Chehl-Menar and Neksh- 
 i-Roostem, was Istakhar, or Estakhar. But, in the first 
 place, it is by no means clear that this is an ancient Persian 
 name, as recent oriental historians assert;*^ the Jewish 
 authors who make mention of Susa and Ecbatana never 
 once naming it ; and even admitting it to be so, this will 
 not account for the Grecian appellation of Persepolis. The 
 Greeks were by no means in the habit of thus giving names 
 entirely new to foreign cities, and it is difficult to suppose 
 that Persepolis was the only example of such a practice. 
 
 I consider Persepolis to be a translation of Pasargada, 
 which, according to Grecian authorities, signifies " the en- 
 campment of the Persians.''*^ Supposing this to be its 
 meaning, we must read Parsagada instead of Pasargada ;*^ 
 and this, which is probably the more correct form, has been 
 uniformly preserved by Q. Curtius.^ The Greek transla- 
 tion of the original name would thus be fully accounted for ; 
 but as Persepolis and Pasargada are represented by the 
 authors of that nation as distinct places, it is necessary to 
 inquire further into the matter. 
 
 The followers of Alexander, the first Grecian authors 
 who make mention of Persepolis, when they express them- 
 selves with precision, speak of the " royal palace of the 
 Persians," without naming the city ; and the description 
 they have given leaves no room for doubt that they were 
 speaking of the edifice at Chehl-Menar.*^ When, however, 
 they express themselves with less accuracy, they use in- 
 differently the terms palace and city, and in this manner 
 the term Persepolis has come to be applied to both.^ On 
 
 ** See Herbelot, Btbl Orient, s. v. Isthakar, 
 ** Steph. s. v. Uaffffapyadah — from an ancient author. 
 *' The Greeks have given the name with many variations. They write it 
 Pasagardae, Passararda, etc. For its etymology consult the explanation 
 
 fiven by Prof. Tychsen in the Appendix. Ouseley also, ii. 317, considers 
 ersepolis to be a translation of Pasargada. 
 
 *" CURTIUS, V. 6. 
 
 *• See Arrian, iii. 18, vi. 30. For proof of the latter assertion, see the 
 admirable description of the palace of Persepolis in DiOD. ii. p. 215. 
 * See Arrian, vii. 1, and others. 
 
 w 
 
 the other hand, Pasargada is mentioned by them as the place 
 where the tomb of Cyrus was situated, and where, accord- 
 ing to other authorities, there also existed a royal palace.^' 
 The latter is never confounded with the former, and it is so 
 far clear that the ancient palace of Chehl-Menar and the 
 buildings at Pasargada were two distinct structures. Might 
 not, however, the term Persepolis, taken in a wider signifi- 
 cation, be understood to comprehend not only the palace at 
 Chehl-Menar, but also the city, or rather district, in which 
 this multitude of ancient Persian monuments is found, and 
 so be extended to the tomb of Cyrus itself? According to 
 Chardin, whose account is borne out by that of more recent 
 travellers, the ruins extend as far as ten leagues round/^ 
 Why might not such a circuit as this embrace all the places 
 referred to ? Pasargada might, in that case, be said with 
 truth to lie at a considerable distance from the modern 
 Chehl-Menar, and yet be comprehended within these limits. 
 The fertile and well-watered plains of Merdasht and Mour- 
 ghaub were anciently the favourite stations of the Persians, 
 who encamped there at a period anterior to their conquests. 
 The whole district came in this manner to assume the nanre 
 of Pasargada, or the encampment of the Persians, which it 
 continued to retain even after the increased power of the 
 nation had caused cities and palaces to spring up in these 
 the former sites of their temporary encampments. The 
 Greeks, however, were in the habit of applying the term 
 only to the spot where the remains of Cyrus were de- 
 posited. 
 
 The situation of Pasargada, in this restricted sense of the 
 term, is so clearly marked as scarcely to admit a question, 
 and we are indebted for accurate information on this head 
 to the researches of Morier, and afler him of Porter. Both 
 these travellers agree that Pasargada stood in the plain of 
 Mourghaub ; so called from a village it contains, near which 
 are some highly interesting remains of Persian architecture. 
 We have already remarked that this plain is connected with 
 that of Merdasht, where the ruins of Chehl-Menar are 
 
 " Arrian, vi. 29. Steph. loc. cit. 
 
 « Ouseley, ii. p. 421. The road from Chehl-Menar to Pasargada passes 
 through Sirvued, a village at the distance of five hours* ride. On every side 
 are to be seen the remains of buildings, columns, portals, etc. constructed in 
 the same style with those at Chehl-Men^r. 
 
 
133 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 139 
 
 situated ;*^ and accurate measurements have proved that the 
 distance from Chehl-Menar amounts to nine and forty 
 English, or nearly eleven geographical German miles.** It 
 is to be regretted that no ancient author has given us the 
 exact distance from Persepolis to Pasargada, but that it can- 
 not have been very considerable is clear from the narrative 
 furnished by the followers of Alexander, upon whose ac- 
 count Arrian founded his history. Alexander marched 
 from the one to the other, and the capture of Pasargada 
 followed immediately upon that of Persepolis. A distance, 
 however, of about fifty miles does not appear so great, as to 
 contradict the solution offered ; especially when we reflect 
 that the whole road appears to have been covered with an- 
 cient edifices, and that the name of Pasargada may be very 
 well understood to have comprehended the greater part of 
 the intervening space.^ Although Morier has given the 
 earliest account of Mourghaub and its antiquities, it is to 
 Porter that we are indebted for more accurate information 
 respecting them. The plain of Mourghaub is watered by 
 the Khur-Aub, the Cyrus of the ancients, which soon 
 empties itself into the Bend-emir, or Araxes, and has con- 
 sequently been often confounded with it. The plain is 
 extremely fertile, and, when Porter saw it, was highly cul- 
 tivated. The ruins scattered over this district, by their 
 character and the form of their arrow-headed inscriptions, 
 leave no doubt that they belong to the period of the ancient 
 Persians. Porter also discovered here a platform, consist- 
 ing of hewn blocks of marble, skilfully joined together and 
 
 *■ See above, p. 92. 
 
 *• OusELEY, ii. 421 ; Porter, i. 50S (on an accurate measurement). 
 
 " The arguments against the identity of Mourghaub and Pasargada have 
 been best detailed by Hoeck, Veteris Persia et Medice Monumental p. 58, etc. 
 They do not, however, appear satisfactory, since the publication of the more 
 accurate descriptions of Porter. In the first place, the distance of about 
 forty-five miles between the two places does not seem great enough to occa- 
 sion any difficulty. Secondly, It is not certain that Pasargada lay due east 
 from Persepolis, (instead of north-east, as is the fact,) for the passage in 
 Pliny (vi. 29) does not prove it. Thirdly, The line of Alexander's marcn, on 
 his return from India, does not contradict the assertion of my text, for it is 
 to be observed that he did proceed with his army to Pasargada, but left his 
 troops to pursue their march alon^ the direct road, under the command of 
 Hepnaestion, (Arrian, vii. 29,) while he himself proceeded thither escorted 
 by a light detachment, (Arrian, ibid,,) in order to regulate the affairs of the 
 empire he had conquered, which could not have been suitably effected amid 
 the ashes of the palace of Persepolis. This march, which must have been 
 northward, rather favours than contradicts the supposition I have advanced. 
 
 proiecting from the side of the rock. Its size, three hundred 
 feet in length by two hundred and ninety-eight in breadth, 
 makes it probable that this wa^ the side of some con- 
 siderable edificc,»« and the place is at present called lakhti- 
 Suleiman, or Solomon's Throne. , , j n 
 
 On the plain itself are discovered various detached pillars 
 bearing an inscription in arrow-headed characters, and in 
 one place four such columns, forming a square ; and the re- 
 searches of Porter have proved that the inscription is the 
 same in each instance.^' Upon one of these solitary pil- 
 lars, however, near the side of an edifice, of which the only 
 remains are the pedestals of two rows of columns, is disco- 
 vered at the foot of the inscription a remarkable figure in 
 rehevo having the human shape and colossal proportions, 
 twelve' feet in height, and habited in a long robe with a 
 peculiar head-dress ; in addition to which it has four wmgs. 
 This figure occurs no where else that I am aware of among 
 the Persian remains, though one resembling it may. he 
 traced (wanting only the head-dress) on the cylmdncal 
 fragments of the ruins of Babylon. It is certainly not the 
 king, being without the insignia by which he is distinguished, 
 particularly the artificial head of hair and beard; and evi- 
 dently is meant to represent one of a superior order ot be- 
 ings, as is shown by the addition of wings, which the artists 
 of Persia, like those of other nations, were m the habit ot 
 attributing exclusively to superior natures. The wings are 
 remarkable not only for their size but their number, being 
 four ; and in that respect recalling to our recollection those 
 of the Cherubim, as Porter has already remarked.^ 1 he 
 head-dress, however, is still more remarkable. Between two 
 horizontal rams' horns are disposed three vessel-like figures, 
 on each of which is placed a white ball. Porter observed 
 exactly the same head-gear on the head of a female figure 
 among the ruins of Thebes in Upper Egypt, and the com- 
 
 56 'PnRTFR i 4^4 
 
 " Porter! i. 489, where the inscription is copied with diplomatical ac- 
 curacy The words, with the exception of the names and titles of the kmg, 
 are th; same as at Chehl-Menar. According to Grotefend they are to be 
 rendered, " Cyrus, the lord, the king, the ruler of the world." In the name 
 of the monarch, however, the third^etter is dubious. See the observations 
 on Pasargada, in the Appendix. 
 
 » Porter, i. plate xiii. Forter, i. ^yo. 
 
 I 
 
140 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 position IS too intricate for the resemblance to be thought 
 accidental. The rams' horns were the invariable symbol 
 among the Egyptians of the worship of Ammon ; while a 
 bright ball was no less the established symbol among the 
 Persians of light, the sacred element of Ormuzd. We can- 
 not therefore fail to remark in the present instance a blend- 
 ing of the Egyptian and Persian superstitions, which is not 
 to be discovered on any other of the Persian architectural 
 remains. We miss, however, in the Persian example, the 
 four keys, as they are called, which in the Egyptian are 
 suspended from the horns of Ammon, and denote inaugura- 
 tion into the priesthood. A similar figure, without the head- 
 dress, but with four wings, and each hand employed in 
 throttling an ostrich, may be seen on the cylindrical frag- 
 ment from Babylon, described by M. von Dorow, denoting, 
 according to Grotefend, Serosh, one of the Izeds, the supe- 
 rior genii, or most exalted servants of Ormuzd.^ Whether 
 it be meant to represent this divine personage, or Ormuzd 
 himself, it is evidently one of the superior essences of the 
 empire of Ormuzd. 
 
 According to Strabo, Pasargada was founded by Cyrus, 
 and Morier ^* has informed us that the plain of Mourghaub 
 contains so great a multitude of architectural remains that 
 we cannot doubt it was once the site of a mighty city ; and 
 the character of these ruins sufficiently proves them to be 
 coeval with the old Persian dynasty. 
 
 The most remarkable, however, of them all, is the struc- 
 ture which is supposed to have been the tomb of the founder 
 of the Persian monarchy, Cyrus.^ That the tomb of Cyrus 
 was at Pasargada is proved by the concurrent testimony of 
 antiquity, and Arrian has given an accurate description of 
 it, taken from the account of an eye-witness, Aristobulus.^' 
 " At Pasargada, in the royal park," he tells us, " was the 
 tomb of Cyrus, having about it a grove of all sorts of trees, 
 with abundance of water, and rich grass in the meadow. 
 The tomb itself had a foundation of square stones in a qua- 
 
 AmaUhea, ii. p. 87. Above all Dorow, Morgenldndiache AUherthiimer, 
 
 p.i. 
 •1 
 
 Morier, i. p. 146; Strabo, p. 1061, 1062. 
 
 See Porter's Drawing, i. plate xiv. ; and his detached description, p. 498, 
 etc. It is now commonly called the grave of the mother of Solomon, 
 • Arrian, vL 29. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 141 
 
 drangular form. On this was raised a stone edifice, with a 
 roof and a door-way so narrow that even a man of moderate 
 height could with difficulty get in. Withm was a golden 
 sarcophagus, in which the body of Cyrus was deposited ; 
 and near it a couch, the feet of which were covered with 
 wrought gold, and upon it were laid Babylonian carpets, 
 and on these again costly garments of Median and Babylo- 
 nian manufacture, of various colours ; with chains, cimeters, 
 and earrings of gold, and precious stones. Close by was a 
 small dwelling built for the residence of the Magi, to whom, 
 since the time of Cambyses, the care of the monument has 
 been committed, descending from father to son. Ihe king 
 allowed them every day a sheep, and a measure of corn and 
 of wine, and every month a horse, to be sacrificed to Cyrus. 
 On the tomb was engraved in Persian an inscription to this 
 effect : ' O man ! I am Cyrus who gave the empire to the 
 Persians, and was lord of all Asia : therefore grudge me not 
 my sepulchre ! '" Are then the remains, which at present 
 subsist, the tomb of this great king ? a question indifferent 
 to none possessing any taste for antiquity, and which can 
 only be answered by a comparison of facts. 
 
 If it should appear from what has been already advanced 
 that Pasargada was situated in the plain of Mourghaub, we 
 may expect with certainty to find there the tomb of Cyrus. 
 Arrian informs us that it was situated in the royal park, m 
 a well-watered and grassy meadow, and such is the case 
 with the remains in question, the groves of trees alone hav- 
 ing disappeared.^* The basement consisted of quadrangular 
 stones forming a square. The foundation of the present 
 edifice is an oblong, composed of blocks of white marble of 
 prodigious size, placed one above another, so as to form 
 seven steps or degrees, or (counting those of the sacellum 
 itself) ten.^ The exterior of the edifice tallies exactly with 
 the description of Arrian, the whole compass of it, the nar- 
 row entrance and the stone roof, corresponding precisely 
 with his account : we can even trace on the floor (consist- 
 ing of two huge squares of marble) the holes in which the 
 
 •* Porter i. 503. 
 
 • See the' plate in Porter, loc. cit. This agrees with the description of 
 another eyewitness, one Sicritus in Strabo, p. 1062 ; who calls it hKavrtvo^, 
 and adds that the body reposed in the topmost story. 
 
142 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 irons were probably fastened which served to secure the 
 supports of the sarcophagus.^ Internally the chamber is 
 only ten feet in length, seven in breadth, and eight in 
 height, and can scarcely have been intended for any other 
 purpose than as a place of interment. The shape of the 
 structure, as has been observed, is an oblong ; but as the 
 longer sides are forty-four feet in length and the shorter 
 forty, the disproportion is not obvious to the eye. For- 
 merly the whole was surrounded by a square colonnade of 
 twenty-four pillars, of which seventeen remain standing, six 
 in each row : this is undoubtedly the enclosure (vepipoXo^) 
 to which Arrian alludes. So far there is all the agreement 
 which could have been expected when the author has omit- 
 ted to give an accurate measurement of the building in 
 question : one objection, however, remains to be noticed — 
 the absence of any inscription.^^ It is to be observed, how- 
 ever, that a recent inscription in Arabic may be traced on 
 the interior of the edifice, which may possibly have occu- 
 pied the place of the ancient one ; or we may be allowed to 
 suppose that the latter was cut upon a marble tablet now 
 lost, but anciently affixed to some part of the building, or 
 perhaps upon one of the columns of the irepipoXo^.^ It is also 
 objected that the edifice is not in the style of the architec- 
 tural remains of ancient Persia ; but the account of Arrian 
 proves that the tomb of Cyrus was in this style, and conse- 
 quently that it was a style known to the old Persians. Be- 
 sides, there are in reality the remains of a similar building 
 at Neksh-i-Roostem, over against the hills where the tombs 
 of the kings are situated.^ When the sepulchre of Cyrus 
 was built, the architecture of Persia had not yet acquired 
 that peculiar character by which it was afterwards distin- 
 guished ; or rather, it was not at that time the established 
 practice to inter in excavations formed out of the solid rock, 
 as was the case in later reigns. Extreme simplicity, com- 
 bined with durability calculated to last for ages, are pre- 
 
 •" Porter, i. p. 500, from whom also what follows has been taken. 
 
 ^ The arguments against the supposition advanced above, are best stated 
 by HoECK, Veteris PersUe Monumenta, p. 59 ; but if we admit the identity of 
 Pasargada and Mourghaub, these objections can be allowed little weight. 
 
 • Porter, loc. cit 
 
 • This is the building described by Niebuhr, ii. 159 : this traveller never 
 visited Mourghaub. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 143 
 
 cisely the properties which we should expect to charactenze 
 the sepulchre of this ancient monarch, and which m fact 
 distinguish the edifice in question. The balance of proba- 
 bilities appears therefore to incline to the opinion advanced 
 above ; and to require certainty in questions like the pre- 
 sent, is to demand what the nature of the subject does not 
 
 admit of. i r i. 
 
 At all events, it is certain that Pasargada was one ot the 
 earliest residences of the Persian monarchs, and the fre- 
 quent abode of Cyrus ; and the circumstance to which this 
 is attributable is well known. It was at Pasargada that he 
 gained his decisive victory over the Medes, and founded the 
 empire of the Persians ; the best authorities assuring us that 
 in this spot Astyages was overthrown, and the fate of Asia 
 decided.^^ It is therefore not surprising that the conqueror 
 should have selected this as his favourite seat, and the 
 destined place of his interment. 
 
 Even in after times, Pasargada was regarded by the Per- 
 sians with a sort of reverence, and associated with many of 
 their religious observances and institutions. It was here 
 that their kings were consecrated by the Magi upon ascend- 
 ing the throne. Here they were invested with the robes of 
 Cyrus, and partook of a consecrated banquet, with many 
 other mysterious ceremonies necessary to their inauguration 
 in the kingly office.^' To this sacred spot also, from time 
 to time, they conveyed their oiferings. We read of Cyrus 
 that he performed this sort of holy pilgrimage seven times,"^^ 
 and the same is related of Darius Hystaspis ;^^ and Porter 
 even attempts, with some plausibility, to point out the spots 
 in the plain of Mourghaub devoted to these religious rites. 
 The platform, for instance, which we have already described, 
 would appear to have been an appropriate place for the 
 public investiture of the monarch in the robes of his great 
 predecessor. The building surrounded by pillars bearing 
 the image of Ormuzd, may possibly have been the sanctuary 
 where they were inaugurated by the Magi, as it undoubted- 
 
 " StRABO, loc. cit. StEPHANUS, sub. v. ITawapya^ai. 
 
 " We are indebted for these particulars to Plutarch, in his Life of ArtO' 
 xerxeSf Op. i. p. 1012. , 
 
 « Xenoph. Cyrop. viii. Op. p. 228, 233. Xenophon expressly states that 
 this practice continued in his own time. 
 
 " Ctesias, Pers. cap. 19. 
 
 .-ti 
 
 '!• 
 
144 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ly was designed for religious purposes of some kind or other. 
 The imagination dehghts to picture to itself the particulars 
 of those ceremonies of venerable antiquity, and in the pre- 
 sent case, this is justified by the fact that we have ascertain- 
 ed the very scene of their celebration. 
 
 It is not the object of the present work to present a de- 
 tailed account of the various remains of ancient Persia, a 
 task which has also been performed by others.'* They ex- 
 tend from the Persian Gulf as far as the confines of Media :'* 
 it may be remarked, however, as Niebuhr has already done, 
 that many of the fmgments of Ghehl-Menar, such as pillars, 
 etc., have been carried from their original situation and em- 
 ployed in the construction of more recent edifices.'^ I can- 
 not, however, avoid adding a few words respecting the rock 
 monuments of Bistoon, of which Porter has been the first 
 to afford us an accurate description and delineation.^' They 
 are only a few hours' journey distant from Kerman-Shah, 
 so celebrated for its remains of the age of the Sassanian 
 princes.'® The rocky mountain of Bistoon rises to the 
 height of one thousand five hundred perpendicular feet, and 
 has at its feet a platform hewn out of the cliff, resembling 
 that of Chehl-Menar, on which a building anciently stood, 
 or was destined to stand. A gigantic figure is carved in 
 relievo on the wall of the rock, the character of which, as 
 well as the form of the letters composing the inscription by 
 which it is accompanied, prove it to belong to the times of 
 the ancient Persians. Porter assures us that it would take 
 two months to copy these figures and inscriptions, supposing 
 that any one were willing to expose himself to the danger 
 of being wound up to the necessary height. He has only 
 copied a series of twelve figures, which, however, are suf- 
 ficient to give an idea of the design of the sculpture. The 
 principal one is that of the king, who is represented armed, 
 
 " See especially the treatise of Hoeck, Veteris Media et Persia Monumental 
 GoeU. 1818. 
 
 " I consider the ruins mentioned by Morier, vol. i. p. 51, near the port of 
 Congun, on the Persian Gulf, as the farthest to the south (lat. 27" 12" N.) 
 He informs us that he observed in that neighbourhood extensive ruins, and 
 sculptures in the Persepolitan style. 
 
 "Niebuhr, xi. 166. 
 
 " Porter, ii. p. 154, plate Ix. The former delineations are altogether in- 
 correct 
 
 " On the confines of Media, lat. 34« 20". 
 
 Ift^ 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 145 
 
 and in the quiet attitude of a triumphant conqueror : before 
 him are a row of captives, while his foot is placed on a pros- 
 trate enemy : the monarch bears a bow in his hand, and is 
 distinguished by his superior stature ; his ferooher being 
 also seen to hover over him. His dress and hair are ar- 
 ranged in the Median fashion, as is the case also with two 
 of his body-guard, who are placed behind him, the one 
 armed with a bow, the other with a lance. The row of 
 captives before him are characterized not only by their de- 
 jected countenances, but by the manner in which their 
 hands are fastened behind their backs, and by the cords at- 
 tached to their necks. Their dresses vary, some being 
 longer than others ; but none wear any head-dress, except 
 the last, and his consists of a sugar-loaf-shaped cap. The 
 robes of the third in the line bear an inscription in the ar- 
 row-headed character ; and Porter assures us that there is 
 also an inscription carved over the head of every individual. 
 The king is standing with his right hand elevated, in an at- 
 titude rather of exhortation than of menace ; as if he were 
 according pardon ; and is obviously represented speaking. 
 He does not wear the tiara : his hair is curled, and his beard 
 enveloped in a bag or case. The whole character of his 
 dress bespeaks rather the camp than the court. It is also 
 to be remarked that the line of captives is represented con- 
 tinually increasing in height, and consequently the last, 
 with the conical cap, overtops them all. The prostrate 
 figure on which the king stands, and which is at present 
 scarcely discernible, extends his arms upwards in the atti- 
 tude of a suppliant, but it is evident that the king is not 
 addressing him, but the string of captives. 
 
 The explanation of a sculpture, as yet so imperfectly 
 known, must necessarily be imperfect, and all that can be 
 certainly pronounced respecting it is, that it undoubtedly 
 belongs to the period of the ancient Persian empire, and 
 that it represents a monarch of that dynasty in the attitude 
 of a conqueror, who appears to be granting pardon to a 
 long line of prisoners. We may also venture to assert, that 
 these figures refer to some particular transaction, and were 
 not merely intended to express generally the majesty and 
 power of the Persian empire, for the prisoners appear to 
 belong, not to a variety of nations, but to the same ; or, at 
 
 i« 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
146 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 the most, to two ; if the somewhat different length of their 
 dresses be understood to denote them. Who, then is the 
 monarch thus dehneated, and who are the prisoners? We 
 have nothing but probabiUties to suggest in answer to these 
 questions, but these would lead us to conclude that the 
 rehevo has reference to the earliest penod of the Persian 
 empire, and the reign of Cyrus. Persian sculpture betrays 
 here all its original simplicity, without the finish and com- 
 pass which is displayed on the walls of Persepolis. Here 
 are no fanciful nor allegorical monsters: the facts them- 
 selves are historically detailed. The very place would lead 
 us to the same conclusion. Under the reigns of the suc- 
 cessors of Cyrus, Darius Hystaspis and Xerxes, Persian 
 sculpture was in a manner concentrated in Persepolis and 
 the adjacent district; which consequently became the classic 
 eround of Persian art. The mountain of Bistoon lies, how- 
 ever, without this district, oti the borders of Media. Now 
 if the Persian government had desired to commemorate any 
 victory obtained at a more recent period, it is probable that 
 they would have preferred for this purpose the rocks of the 
 plain of Merdasht. Even the circumstance of an ascrip- 
 tion occurring on the dress of one of the figures, (of which 
 no example is to be found elsewhere,) appears to argue a 
 remote era in the history of the art ; and supposing this to 
 be the case, what monarch can be so properly supposed to 
 be meant as Cyrus himself? It cannot be Cambys^ ; tor 
 the scene of his achievements was a different country, Egypt. 
 On the contrary, all the circumstances are perfectly corre- 
 spondent with the history of Cyrus ; and as he overthrew 
 the Lydian and Phrygian kingdoms, may we not suppose 
 that the captive figures designate those nations ? and may 
 not the conical head-dress be meant to denote the Phrygian 
 cap, such as we see it on the busts of Pans and Atys i 
 Again, may not this have been the habitual residence ot 
 Cyrus, before the foundation of Persepolis, whence he re- 
 sorted to the sacrifices and solemnities at Pasargada ? All 
 this, it is true, is conjecture, and advanced as such ; but it 
 is a conjecture which wears the appearance of considerable 
 probability, and if our representations of these sculptures 
 
 *• See the Essay of Grotepend, Amalthea, ii. 98, sqq. 
 
 Ill' 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 14T 
 
 were more complete, we might possibly be able to trace in 
 them all the history of that memorable man, whose exploits 
 are no less celebrated in the Holy Scriptures than in the 
 
 annals of the Greeks. 
 
 To the above remarks respecting particular monuments 
 of ancient Persia I may, with some confidence, subjoin 
 others relating to the general character of such remains in 
 
 that country. 
 
 I. The remains of Persepolis clearly belong to the most 
 ancient period of Persian history. This is apparent from a 
 multitude of concurring proofs. In the first place, it is as 
 certain as any matter of such high antiquity can be made 
 by historical evidence, that the ancient sepulchres we have 
 been considering are those of old Persian monarchs ; and 
 this being admitted, we are compelled to refer the ruins of 
 Chehl-Menar to the same period. Not only is there a close 
 analogy between the styles of architecture and the religious 
 or mythological decorations in both, but the sepulchres may 
 in some sense be said to belong to the edifices, with which 
 their very situation causes them in a manner to combine and 
 form a whole. In the next place, we discover nothing in 
 these remains which offends against what we know of Per- 
 sian usages or costume ; but, on the contrary, an appearance 
 of perfect conformity with them. The dress, as we might 
 expect, is Medo-Persian ; the religion impUed, that of Zo- 
 roaster ; which is not only proved by the adoration of fire 
 represented there, but by the undeniable evidence of the 
 attendant spirits, or feroohers. The arrangement of the 
 court also is exactly what, from the records we possess, we 
 have reason to believe obtained in that of Persia ; and if any 
 doubt could still remain, it would be removed by the occur- 
 rence of the very names of the old Persian monarchs in the 
 inscriptions. 
 
 II. Though it appears certain that these structures were 
 raised in the time of the ancient Persians, it is very possible 
 that they may have employed people of another nation in 
 their erection : a fact in perfect accordance with the usages 
 of the East. Rude nations which suddenly pass to the con- 
 dition of conquerors from that of wandering shepherds and 
 herdsmen, are not capable of erecting for themselves cities 
 and palaces. For this purpose they are obliged to enlist 
 
 L 2 
 
 M 
 
 f 
 
148 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 149 
 
 the services of the conquered, among whom the arts of 
 architecture and sculpture may have already attained some 
 degree of perfection. This was the case with the Mongol 
 tribes in China, the Chaldaeans in Babylon, as well as other 
 nations ; and it is expressly related of Cambyses, that he 
 transported from Egypt a large number of builders to erect 
 his palaces at Susa and Persepolis.®® It is certain, however, 
 that we discover at the latter place no traces of Egyptian art, 
 either as regards the general character of the ruins, or their 
 details ; nor can we reasonably suppose an Egyptian archi- 
 tect to have conceived the plan of structures so completely 
 different from any to be found in his native country, any 
 more than we can suppose that masons accustomed to what 
 we call the Gothic style, if transported into another country, 
 would at once be able to construct buildings in the Grecian 
 taste. The prevailing character of Persian architecture, a 
 fondness for terrace works, a style totally unknown to the 
 ancient Egyptians, was considerably more ancient than the 
 reign of Cambyses, and altogether of Asiatic origin, as is 
 proved by the hanging gardens of Babylon, constructed by 
 Semiramis. Allowing the utmost that in fairness we can 
 to the account of the Egyptian workmen imported by Cam- 
 byses, we cannot suppose them to have achieved more than 
 the mechanical parts of the structures erected. The archi- 
 tectural remains of Egypt prove that the Egyptians were 
 very capable of elevating and working large masses of stone, 
 and possibly also of carving relievos after a given design or 
 copy. The question, therefore, may be considered as still 
 unanswered : What was the original country whence this 
 style of architecture was derived ? Who were the masters 
 of the Persians in this art, and whence did they borrow their 
 models ? 
 
 The simple answer is undoubtedly this : From the same 
 quarter that they derived the other rudiments of their civil- 
 ization, in short, from Media. 
 
 From all that we know of the Medes, and the splendour 
 of the Median court and their principal city Ecbatana, (a 
 city which appears originally to have been constructed on 
 terraces elevated successively one above the other,®^) we 
 
 DioDORUS, i. p. 55. 
 
 " See the description in Herod, i. 98. 
 
 may conclude that the science of architecture had attained 
 among them a certain degree of perfection : a conjecture 
 which appears carried to certainty by the accounts of recent 
 travellers. The traces of the ancient royal seat Ecbatana, 
 of which we shall have occasion to speak hereafter, present- 
 ed, according to Morier and Porter, the same characteristic 
 style of architecture with which those travellers had become 
 familiar at Chehl-Menar ; the fashion of the columns and 
 even the characters of the inscriptions being the same. We 
 cannot avoid inferring that it was from the Medes that the 
 Persians derived, with the rest of their civilization, the art 
 of architecture also. It must be added, that the sculptures 
 in these ruins are so obviously derived from the Magian re- 
 ligion, which prevailed among the Medes, that we can 
 hardly doubt that the buildings in question were erected 
 under the influence and according to the ideas of that caste; 
 since the figures in question must not be mistaken for mere 
 idle decorations, but had an intimate relation to the pur- 
 poses for which the buildings themselves were severally de- 
 signed. But the Magian religion and the Magian priest- 
 hood were not confined to Media, but extended over the 
 countries to the East, especially those upon the Oxus, as far 
 as the mountains bordering on India, the parent country of 
 those fabulous monsters, of which, as we have observed, 
 traces are to be seen. Here lay Bactriana, at all times one 
 of the richest countries of the world, in consequence of its 
 position between the Indus and Oxus, and its connexion 
 with India, as well as the fertility of its soil ; forming an 
 important part of the empire of the Medes, whose monarchs 
 appear to have resided at Bactra long before they occupied 
 Ecbatana.^'^ This also was the country where the religion 
 of Zoroaster first took root and flourished,^ and thus it be- 
 came the parent land of the civil institutions of the Medes. 
 When, therefore, the Persians are said to have derived their 
 architecture originally from thence, it must be understood 
 that they did so as the disciples of the Medes. 
 
 It is true that the ancients ascribe in part the erection of 
 
 " I gather this from the Zendavesta, in which the residence of the king is 
 placed there. See below. 
 
 " Not, however, as is generally supposed, under the reign of Darius Hys- 
 taspis, but long before the very commencement of the Persian dynasty ; as I 
 shall show in the sequel. 
 
 (I 
 
150 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I, 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 151 
 
 Pasargcada and Persepolis to the two earliest monarchs of 
 the old Persian race— Cyrus and Cambyses ;" but this is 
 easily reconcilable with the supposition that Darius and 
 Xerxes were their principal founders. Niebuhr has already 
 remarked, that the buildings of Persepolis do not appear all 
 to belong to the same period, nor to have been constructed 
 on one uniform plan, and this is especially true of those 
 situated on the third terrace. It is certain that most of the 
 considerable remains of remote antiquity (as was particularly 
 the case with Egyptian edifices) were much more slowly 
 erected than we might be inclined to suppose ; and it is 
 extremely probable that successive kings of Persia may 
 have taken part in the erection of Persepolis, especially as 
 the undertaking assumed the character of a religious duty ; 
 not to mention that continual additions must, from time to 
 time, have been found necessary. 
 
 III. The destination of the buildings at Persepolis can 
 no longer be obscure or enigmatical. It was neither a tem- 
 ple, (in fact, the Persians never possessed any thing of the 
 kind,) nor, in the proper sense of the word, a palace, at least 
 during the flourishing period of the Persian monarchy. 
 Like many other capitals of Asia, it owed its aggrandize- 
 ment to the residence of the first Persian conquerors, who 
 made this their earliest place of abode. Subsequently this 
 ceased to be the case, but the ideas of the Father-land of 
 sovereignty, and of national worship, with which it con- 
 tinued to be associated, caused it to be considered at all 
 times the home and the appropriate burial-place of their 
 monarchs, till it became not indeed the temple but the 
 sanctuary of the nation, built upon the native soil of the 
 whole race, and the favourite seat of their tutelary deities. 
 Nay, in consequence of its arrangement and decorations, it 
 was a kind of image or panorama of the empire at large, 
 and presented a lively picture of the tranquillity it enjoyed 
 under a mild despotism, agreeably to the conceptions of the 
 East, displaying the duties as well as the privileges of all 
 classes of the state, from the king to the meanest of his 
 subjects, graphically delineated. The whole place, accord- 
 ingly, became (what the records of antiquity assure us it 
 
 •« BiODORUS, ii. p. 215, ed. Steph. v. navoapyaSai. Mu Hist Anim. i. 59. 
 
 was) the head or capitol of the whole P^/^JPJXTto 
 remi metropolis Persarum; and we can be at no loss to 
 pefceive how " Macedonia's Madman" sought to glut his 
 Kngeance by destroying these structures. The overthrow 
 of Perseoohs was calculated to be a visible token to the 
 whole of^sia that the power of Persia was no more, and 
 That the star of a new dynasty had risen on the nations of 
 
 *'l m'^y be allowed to sum up these observations on Per- 
 seoolis by a few remarks on the state of the fine arts in the 
 S n ardent, times, as evidenced by these reniains On 
 this account, also, these ruins are highly interesting trans- 
 porting us, as they do, into an entirely new region and m- 
 Kdulng us to a completely new set of ideas ; and we are 
 the better enabled to appreciate them, since such an artist 
 and connoisseur as Porter has delineated them with exact- 
 ness and described them with spirit. We may now pro- 
 Tunce with certainty (what before must have been mere 
 coniecture) that the arts of architecture and sculpture must, 
 W before the dynasty of the Persians, have attained a 
 much higher degree of perfection than men have been ge- 
 nerally disposed to admit. If this be doubted we must be 
 prepared to show that such efforts of art as the edifices of 
 Chehl-Menar could have started at once into existence, as 
 if bv enchantment. In these structures we see proofs that 
 arcl^tecture must have attained, when t^ey were erected, 
 a wonderful degree of excellence m its mechanical depart- 
 ment. No spot on the globe (Egypt perhaps excepted) dis- 
 plays such mLonry as the walls of Persepolis. J* was un- 
 questionably a prodigious advantage to the architect that 
 ?he neighbouring mountains afforded him materials on the 
 very spot ; but no other nation has left examples of an 
 equally skilful combination of such enormous blocks of mar- 
 ble. The character and style of the building is, however, 
 perhaps still more remarkable, being directly opposed to 
 that of the Egyptians, with which it has been injudiciously 
 compared ; and, if I am not mistaken, the original modes of 
 life of the two races may be traced even in the several styles 
 of their architecture. The observer of Egyptian antiquities 
 can hardly fail to remark the grotto-style of building there 
 prevalent, bespeaking a nation long accustomed to a sort ot 
 
 ;.;l 
 
 1 
 
152 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 153 
 
 Troglodjrte life, in caverns and hollows of the rock. The 
 gigantic temples of Thebes and Philse are obviously imita- 
 tions of excavated rocks ; the short and massive pillars re- 
 presenting the props, left to uphold the roof of such excava- 
 tions, and the whole structure conveying the impression of 
 enormous incumbent weight, and proportionate resistance : 
 on the other hand, the remains of Persepolis indicate a na- 
 tion not in the habit of occupying the bosoms of their hills, 
 but accustomed to wander free and unconstrained over their 
 heights and among their forests, and who, when they forsook 
 this nomad life, sought to retain in their new habitations 
 as much as possible of their original liberty. Those terrace- 
 foundations, which appear like a continuation of the moun- 
 tain, those groves of columns, those basins, once, no doubt, 
 sparkling with refreshing fountains, those flights of steps, 
 which the loaded camel of the Arab ascends with the same 
 ease as his conductor, forming a sort of highway for the 
 nations whose images are sculptured there : all these parti- 
 culars are as much in unison with the character of that joy- 
 ous land which the industry of the Persians converted into 
 an earthly paradise, as the gigantic temples of E^pt are 
 appropriate memorials of their old grottos in the rocks. 
 The columns of Persepolis shoot upwards with a slender yet 
 firm elevation, conveying a fit image of the stems of the lotus 
 and palm, from which they were probably copied. As in 
 Egypt every thing is closely covered, and, as it were, op- 
 pressed by a roof, so here is every thing free and uncon- 
 fined, in admirable harmony with the religion of the nation, 
 whose sole objects of worship were the sun, the elements, 
 and the open vault of heaven. 
 
 The art of design also preserves in the ruins of Persepolis 
 a character peculiar to itself, a character of sobriety and 
 dignity. Sculpture here appears formed on the habits of a 
 court, and of an oriental court. No female or naked figure 
 is to be traced ; the seclusion of the harem being religiously 
 respected. Of the male figures, none are portrayed in any 
 violent or constrained attitude, not even when the monarch 
 is represented destroying a monster ; and it is only in the 
 conflicts of animals with one another that the artist has dis- 
 played his power of expressing strong excitement. Where 
 every thing had reference to a court, no attitude was ad- 
 
 missible which was not sanctioned by court etiquette. At 
 the same time, this air of composure and dignity does not 
 degenerate into stiffness : the design of the artist appears to 
 have been, not to excite an impression of the beautifiil, but 
 a feeling of veneration ; an end which has been fully attain- 
 ed. It is to be observed that no statue, nor any vestige of 
 one, appears to have been discovered, and Persian sculpture 
 seems to have been confined to the carving of reliefs, more 
 or less prominent ; and in the case of the monstrous figures 
 which guard the entrance, amounting to half-relievos. How 
 different are these historical relievos of Persia fi-om those of 
 the Egyptians, the favourite themes of which are battles and 
 triumphal processions ! There the object of the artist has 
 been to exhibit the characters of action and energy : here, 
 those of repose. In its subjects, also, the Persian sculpture 
 is distinguished from that of the Egyptians, as well as that 
 of the Indians. While it occasionally delineated super- 
 human beings, such as feroohers and izeds, it abstained 
 from the deities themselves. On the other hand, it is in 
 close and perfect harmony with the architecture it accom- 
 panies. As the latter was lofty and grand, but not colossal, 
 so was the former, and both characterized by a high degree 
 of simplicity. It was the most obvious and natural idea 
 with which the ancient artist could set about his work, to 
 make the one the handmaid of the other, and the sculptor 
 may be said to have given animation to the labours of the 
 architect, by representing under emblematical figures the 
 design of his works. Accordingly, as the different parts of 
 the edifice combined to form a whole, so the various groups 
 of sculpture composed one general design, and all, down to 
 the most minute decorations, were in strict unison with one 
 leading idea, associated with the religious opinions of the 
 nation. With the exception of the fabulous animals, every 
 thing was copied fi-om nature ; and fi'om the parts of these 
 monsters were borrowed nearly all the ornaments, consisting 
 for the most part of the heads of unicorns and claws of grif- 
 fins ; and chimerical as these fabulous creations may at first 
 sight appear, they are all capable of being reduced to four 
 or five elementary forms of real animals, the horse, the lion, 
 the onager or wild ass, the eagle, and the scorpion ; to which 
 we may perhaps add the rhinoceros. 
 
 I 
 
154 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 155 
 
 In proportion, however, as the mythology at the com- 
 mand of the sculptor were limited, so his circle of observa- 
 tion, as applied to real nature, was extensive. He appears 
 to have been familiar with the nations of more than one 
 quarter of the globe, and to have distinguished with exact- 
 ness their features and profiles ; the thick lips and woolly 
 hair of the negro being no less accurately marked than the 
 limbs of the half-naked Indian. The same mechanical ac- 
 curacy also and perfect finish, which distinguishes the archi- 
 tectural details, is observable in the labours of the sculptor. 
 We may still count the nails in the wheels of the chariot in 
 the great relievo ; and the hair of the negro is so carefully 
 wrought, that it is impossible to confound it with that of the 
 Asiatics.^ This sort of scrupulous care, which marks also 
 the inscriptions, most of which also occur twice, appears in 
 all countries to have distinguished the infancy of the art. It 
 could hardly fail to appear in works pretending to nothing 
 more than a faithfiil imitation of nature, and would of course 
 disappear as soon as the artist caught a glimpse of ideal 
 beauty. The manual skill, however, which it has called 
 forth, is not the less remarkable. 
 
 We must now take our leave of the ruins of PersepoHs. 
 When an author is compelled to illustrate the scanty remains 
 of ancient cities by means of the still more imperfect frag- 
 ments of writers well nigh lost, he may not unfairly presume 
 on the favourable allowance of his reader : in such a case 
 the most certain sign of having erred, would be to attempt 
 to explain every thing. 
 
 The province of Susiana adjoined that of Persis (Fars) 
 to the west, and separated it from Babylonia. Though fre- 
 quently treated as a part of Persis, it was made distinct from 
 it in the arrangement of the satrapies, and formed a govern- 
 ment by itself, nearly half as large as the chief district of 
 that of Persia.^ The way fi-om the one to the other ran 
 over a range of lofty and steep mountains, inhabited by rude 
 and warlike tribes, of which the most celebrated were the 
 Uxii. Such of this race as dweU in the plain were subject 
 to the satraps of Persia ; but the mountaineers, a lawless 
 race, were so far fi-om yielding any such submission, that 
 
 ■• NiEBUHR, ii. p. 130, 147. 
 
 "• It is mentioned as a separate satrapy by Arrian, iii. 17, and elsewhere. 
 
 they even extorted a tribute fi-om the great kmg himself, as 
 the price of his free passage across their heights from Susa 
 to Persepolis.^^ They were supported by their flocks, which 
 were so numerous, that Alexander the Great imposed upon 
 them, as an act of grace, a yearly tribute of thirty thousand 
 sheep, besides a large amount of cattle and horses.^ 
 
 Susiana was inhabited by the Cissii, a race not properly 
 Persian, but allied to the Persians, whom they resembled m 
 manners and dress.^^ They enjoyed nearly the same cli- 
 mate, but the multitude of streams by which their territory 
 was watered, (of which the most distinguished were the Eu- 
 laeus, or Ulai of the Chaldaeans, and the Choaspes,) confer- 
 red upon it a greater and more general fertility.^ The 
 country forms a perfect level of the richest soil, which for- 
 merly produced in abundance cotton, rice, sugar, and wheat. 
 At present, a few spots excepted, a perfect wilderness, 
 rarely visited even by travellers. Kinneir and his com- 
 panion, Teignmouth, have been the first to afford us any 
 information respecting it ;9' Porter himself not having 
 visited it, but taking his information from the above travel- 
 lers.^ We cannot, therefore, be surprised that considerable 
 obscurity continues to involve this region. Nevertheless it 
 was one of the principal provinces of the Persian empire, 
 and renowned for its fertility, as well as for its still more 
 characteristic distinction, as the winter residence of the 
 monarch. In its centre was situated Susa ; a name no less 
 familiar to the Greeks than to the Orientals ; being cele- 
 brated by both as the usual residence of the Persian kings, 
 selected by them, as it would seem, on account of its vi- 
 
 «^ Arrian, iii. 17; Strabo, p. 728. " Ibid. loc. cit. 
 
 •8 Herod, v. 49 • vii. 62. 
 
 » Great confusion prevails among the ancient geographers with respect 
 to the rivers of Susiana, (see Strabo, p. 1060,) which it is impossible to 
 remove. Besides the Eulceus and Choaspes, Arrian (m. 17) mentions also 
 the Pasitigris, which must not, however, be confounded with the more recent 
 Pasitigris, formed by the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates. Kinnier 8 
 map represents the Eulaeus as the Karroon, into which the Abzal empties 
 itself; the Choaspes as the Kerah, and the Pasitigris as the Moras. The 
 Karoon and Kerah unite, and are both connected by canals with the Shat- 
 ul-Arab, their embouchures, however, being distinct. At the same time it is 
 uncertain whether the Choaspes and Eulaeus were the same river or not; and 
 it is equally doubtful which of them is the Karoon or Kerah. 
 " Kinneir, Memoir of the Persian Empire^ etc. 
 " Porter, vol. ii. p. 411, etc. 
 
 t 
 
156 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ii 
 
 cinity to the gigantic Babylon.^' Here were to be found 
 all the structures essential to the luxury of a Persian royal 
 residence, palaces, courts, and parks of prodigious extent;^ 
 every trace of which appears to have been destroyed by 
 time. Wonderful as this may appear, after a survey of the 
 ruins of Persepolis, historians have assigned a cause which 
 appears an adequate one. The buildings of Susa were not, 
 like those of Persepolis, constructed of marble, but more 
 resembled those of Babylon, being built of bricks, hardened 
 in the sun, and consequently exposed to the same destruc- 
 tive accidents which have annihilated the latter.^^ Even the 
 site of Susa is now a matter of dispute. It has been gener- 
 ally sought in the modem Shuster, a considerable city on 
 the Karoon ; but more recent observations render it pro- 
 bable that the ancient Susa was situated forty-five miles 
 to the west, at Sus on the Kerah.^ At Shuster no remains 
 occur indicating a high degree of antiquity, while those of 
 Sus unquestionably belong to the Persico- Babylonian 
 period. Hillocks of bricks are discovered, which corre- 
 spond, according to the account of Strabo, with those of 
 Babylon ; the largest of these heaps having a circumference 
 of two, the other of one mile, making together an extent of 
 ten or twelve miles.^ There can be no doubt, therefore, 
 that this was the site of some great city. Teignmouth also 
 observed here several sculptured blocks of marble, one, a 
 drawing of which he has given, bearing on one side the 
 figures of animals, and on the other an inscription in the 
 
 " Herod, v. 49, and still more, Strabo, p. 1058. Ezra, Nehemiah, 
 Daniel, and the author of the book of Esther, all mention Susa as a royal 
 
 residence. 
 
 " Esther i. 2, etc. Steph. v. IZovva. •" Strabo, p. 1059. 
 
 " KiNNEiR, Memoir, p. 101, etc., has detailed the arguments adduced by 
 Rennel in favour of Sus, and by Vincent in favour of Snuster. Both these 
 authors are disposed to make the position of the ancient Susa depend on the 
 courses of the rivers of Susiana, which, according to the testimony of Kin- 
 neir, it is impossible to reconcile with the accounts of the ancients. (See p. 
 104.) The most decisive argument in favour of Sus, appears to me to be the 
 correspondence between the remains observable there, and the account given 
 by Strabo. Add to this its geogiaphical position. Strabo, p. 1058, puts 
 the distance from PersepoUs to Susa at four thousand two hundred stadia, or 
 four hundred and twenty geographical miles. The distance from Shuster, 
 however, only amounts to seventy miles; that from Sus to eighty, in a direct 
 line. According to Curtius, vol. iii, Alexander marched from Susa to the 
 Pasitigris in four davs. The latter river would thus appear to be the Karoon, 
 which agrees with the hypothesis in favour of Sus. 
 
 •^ KlNNEIR, p. 101. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 157 
 
 arrow-headed character, resembling those which occur at 
 Babylon.^ The adjacent district is now a mere waste, 
 echoing only to the roar of the lion or the yell of the 
 hyaena, but celebrated for a sanctuary, reported to be the 
 tomb of Daniel ; which, if it prove nothing more, is suffi- 
 cient evidence that the traditions of the East pointed to this 
 spot as the ancient Susa. The foundation of Susa has been 
 differently ascribed to Cyrus and to Darius Hystaspis ;^ 
 but it is from the period of the accession of the last-named 
 king that it appears to have become the usual residence of 
 the Persian monarchs. This city also owed its gradual ag- 
 grandizement to the residence of the court ; but the poetic 
 traditions of the Greeks ascribed to it a more remote and 
 even heroic origin, attributing its foundation to Memnon, one 
 of the demi-gods of the East, in consequence of which it was 
 called Memnonium.^^ The period, however, of its pros- 
 perity, or rather of its historical renown, commenced with 
 the dynasty of the Persians, and all that we know of its 
 architecture, resembling that of Babylon, tends to prove 
 that the Persians employed, in the erection of their build- 
 ings here, the natives of that conquered city, and borrowed 
 from them their architecture. 
 
 The country to the north of Persia, as far as the confines 
 of Media, was wild, and in part altogether deserted, filled 
 up in a great measure by mountains bordering on the Great 
 Salt Desert, of which we shall have occasion to speak here- 
 after. This mountainous tract was occupied by tribes of 
 robbers, among whom the most considerable were the Pa- 
 raetaceni, a Median race,^ and next to these the Cossaei, 
 who possessed the mountains bordering on Media. These 
 tribes continued to preserve their independence, notwith- 
 standing their vicinity to the capital, and the insecurity they 
 occasioned to travellers ; compelling the king of Persia 
 himself to purchase by a present the liberty of crossing their 
 mountains, when he removed with his court in the spring 
 
 " See the drawing of Porter, ii. 415. 
 
 •" Strabo, p. 1059. Pliny, vi. 27. 
 
 '" Herod, v. 53, 54. Strabo, loc. cit. Jacobs ueher die Grahei' des Ment' 
 non, has shown that Memnon was a fabulous hero, not an historical person- 
 age. The places in ancient authors, relative to Susa, have been collected by 
 Brisson, p. 88, etc. 
 
 * Herod, i. 101. 
 
 \ 
 
 H 
 
 : I 
 
I'wil 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 of the year to Ecbatana.* Even Alexander, who overcame 
 them in battle, and reduced their country to a satrapy, 
 experienced the difficulty with which they were kept under 
 the yoke.^ His successors were unable to change the habits 
 of these lawless tribes, yet it was principally under them 
 that the Paraetaceni became somewhat civilized, and applied 
 themselves in a great degree to the cultivation of their 
 
 territory.* 
 
 The road through the district of the Pargetaceni led to 
 another of the grand divisions of the empire. Media, one 
 of the most extensive as well as most fertile regions of 
 Asia. In extent it resembles Spain, lying also under pretty 
 nearly the same degrees of latitude. In the time of the 
 Persians it was not only one of the most fertile countries in 
 the world, but one of the most highly cultivated ; its inha- 
 bitants had long held the rank of a paramount nation. 
 
 A country so extensive, however, necessarily presented 
 many varieties of soil and situation ; and accordingly the 
 northern or mountainous part,^ subsequently called Media 
 Minor or Atropatene,^ was much more wild and less fertile 
 than the southern, (Media Major or Irak-Ajami,) which 
 spreads into spacious plains, diversified by gentle emmences. 
 In this part, and particularly in the neighbourhood of the 
 city of Nysa, were wide tracts of pasture abounding in the 
 herba medica of the ancients, probably the same with our 
 clover, . Here also was found the finest race of horses then 
 known in Asia, called, from the name of the city, the Ni- 
 saean, and distinguished no less for the beauty of their coats, 
 which were of a pure white, than for their remarkable size, 
 speed, and sureness of foot.^ They were consequently in 
 great request among the grandees of Persia, and became 
 one of the principal objects of their lavish expense. The 
 stock appears to be not even yet extinct, and Porter de- 
 
 * See Strabo, p. 7%, from Nearchus. 
 
 » Arrian, ui. 19. * Pliny, vi. 26 ; Mannert, v. 501. 
 
 » Herod. L 110; Strabo, p. 796 ; from whom the foUowmg particulars 
 
 are taken. ^, ^ u r 
 
 • Called by the modems Azerbijan. The name appears to have a reter- 
 ence to the reUgion of Zoroaster, the worship of fire ; and has been explamed 
 by Anquetil from the Zend or ancient language of the country. Zendavesta, 
 
 ''Compare Herod, vii. 40; and a multitude of other places collected by 
 Bhisson, p. 175 and 667- 
 
 
 GHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 199 
 
 scribes the shah as mounted, on grand occasions, on a horse 
 whose natural colour was white.« As it was the custom of 
 the Persian monarchs to exact from every province, under 
 the form of tribute, its most valuable productions ; so in this 
 country they kept up a most numerous stud of these valu- 
 able animals, and reserved for them spacious pastures, from 
 which a certain number were annually drafted for the king's 
 use. In this manner Media contributed, in addition to her 
 yearly tax in money, not less than three thousand horses, 
 four thousand mules, and nearly one hundred thousand 
 sheep.9 Besides this astonishing supply of cattle, this coun- 
 try abounded also in some of the most valued fruits, not 
 only grapes, but every variety of the orange or citron being 
 natives of its soil.'" • The silphium also was found here, a 
 vegetable anciently so highly prized that it was sold for its 
 weight in gold ; though at the same time that of Africa was 
 thought much superior, and large plantations of it were 
 formed in the interior of the district of Cyrene, on the bor- 
 ders of the Great Desert.^' 
 
 When we recollect that the dress of the Medes became 
 by the prevalence of fashion the habit of all the grandees of 
 the Persian empire, and was recommended also by the fine- 
 ness of the material and the brilliancy of the colours, we 
 shall readily perceive that the natural advantages of this fine 
 country were equalled by its manufactures.'^ Again, if the 
 
 ■ Porter, i. p. 333. It appears to be the same race which we possess, by 
 importation, in Germany. The plains where these celebrated pastures were 
 situated appear to have lain between Casvin and Teheran (near the ancient 
 Ragae): Mannert, v. p. 170. Even Porter, though possessed with the 
 groundless notion that the Nisaean plains lay near Kermanshah, (1. 206,) was 
 struck with the beauty and fleetness of the horses of the plains of Casvm, 
 when he rode across tihem in the suite of the crown pnnce. Abbas Mirza : 1. 
 299,300. 
 
 * Strabo d. 797. 
 
 " See the learned dissertation of Beckmann, Anleitung zur Waarenkunde, 
 
 i. p. 527, sqq. . , _ . ... 
 
 ^> The silphium of the ancients is generally considered the same w^tn as- 
 safcBtida. Without entering into the question, which has been ably treated by 
 BuDiEUS ad TheophM.3i I would simply remark, that the followers of Alex- 
 ander found silphium in abundance on the lofty and cold mountains of Kan- 
 dahar, Arrian, iii. 28. The most recent travellers have furmshed us \oth 
 the best information respecting it, and prove that assafcetida ctows m Media, 
 as well as in Kerman and Cabul ; and still forms a considerable article of the 
 commerce with India, where it is esteemed an article of luxury. Kinneir s 
 Geography, p. 225 ; Pottinger, Travels, i. p. 226. 
 « See above, p. 103. 
 
 f, 
 
1 
 
 160 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 161 
 
 conjecture I have hazarded possess any weight, and these 
 dresses were either wholly or in part of silk, we obtain a 
 glimpse of a commerce carried on with the countries on the 
 fiirther side of the desert, the illustration of which does not 
 belong to the present place. Whatever may be the fate of 
 this question, it is certain, from modem authorities, that the 
 arts of weaving and dying were in a manner indigenous in 
 these countries, and the Persian colours in particular have 
 been always celebrated by contemporary writers, and only 
 surpassed, in public estimation, by those of India." 
 
 The capital of this important province was Ecbatana, the 
 foundation of which, and its most ancient form, have been 
 described by Herodotus.** Originally it was rather a for- 
 tress than a city, but subsequently it became not only the 
 residence of the Median kings, but one of the places where 
 the sovereigns of Persia were in the habit, at fixed periods, 
 of taking up their abode. Thus it ranked among the first 
 cities of Asia, and its palace was scarcely inferior in wealth 
 and splendour to those of Susa and Babylon. We are en- 
 abled to affirm this with the greater certainty because an 
 accurate description of it is contained in the writings of Po- 
 lybius ; an author who has never been accused of exaggera- 
 tion ; and whom, on this occasion, we have a double reason 
 for citing, as his words establish beyond dispute the fact of 
 the great abundance of the precious metals in Asia, even 
 before the Persian period.*^ 
 
 He tells us that the royal palace was situated below the 
 citadel, having a circumference of seven stades, and in all 
 its parts displaying a magnificence which attested the wealth 
 of its founders. Although all the wood-work was of cedar 
 or cypress, no part of it was suffered to remain uncovered ; 
 the raflers, roofs, and columns of the halls and courts being 
 overlaid with plates of gold and silver, and all the tiles being 
 of silver. These plates were taken off by Alexander, Anti- 
 ochus, and Seleucus Nicanor ; nevertheless Antiochus the 
 Great found there so much silver, that he was able to coin 
 therefirom nearly four thousand talents. 
 
 If after two successive spoliations so much still remained, 
 what riches must at one time have been accumulated here ! 
 
 " Ctesias, Indic,2\, 
 
 »* PoLYB. X. 27; Mannert, v. p. 160. 
 
 " Herod, i. 98. 
 
 and what an idea must we not form of the splendour and 
 magnificence of the ancient monarchs of Media ! Ecbatana 
 was situated either on the very site, or in the immediate 
 neighbourhood, of the modern Hamadan, near Mount 
 Orontes, now called Elwund.^^ But though its situation 
 was never doubtful, the merit of having visited and investi- 
 gated its precise position was reserved for Morier, and still 
 more for Porter. The ancient city was built on a steep 
 eminence, from which it descended on all sides to a fruitful 
 plain, abundantly watered by streams which poured down 
 from the lofty Orontes. Of the splendid palace of the Me- 
 dian and Persian kings nothing now remains, but the travel- 
 lers above mentioned recognised without difficulty the ter- 
 races on which it had been constructed, and Porter even 
 detected the holes in the rock, meant to receive the hinges 
 of the great gates which closed the entrance.^^ Though no 
 other vestige remained, an important relic was discovered by 
 the same traveller in the base and shaft of a pillar, bearing 
 evidently the Persepolitan character. The shafl was fluted, 
 and about four inches less in diameter than the great pillars 
 at Chehl-Menar, and the ornaments of the capital clearly 
 showed the form of the lotus leaf.^^ Morier also discovered, 
 on a rock of the Orontes, two tablets or plane surfaces, with 
 inscriptions in the arrow-headed character ; each tablet be- 
 ing divided into three areae, and thus evidently resembling 
 those of Persepolis in the threefold repetition of the same 
 inscription. The high rank which Ecbatana held among 
 the cities of Asia was promoted by a concurrence of almost 
 every possible advantage : a fruitful soil, a mild climate, the 
 residence of a splendid court, and the vicinity of the great 
 commercial high-road which traversed Asia from east to west, 
 all combining to invest it with a degree of splendour, of which 
 scarcely any vestiges remain in the modem Hamadan. 
 
 Media formed, under the Persians, a separate satrapy, 
 but its limits are very difficult to be traced, as it was far 
 from being the case that all the parts of that great country 
 were given to the same government. Besides the Paraeta- 
 ceni mentioned above, (who, however, were Medes by de- 
 
 '" Porter, ii. p. 103, etc. ; Morier, ii. p. 267. 
 " Porter, ii. p. 103, etc. ; Morier, ii. p. 267. 
 " Porter, ii. 115; see the drawing in Morier, ii. 269. 
 
 VOL. I. M 
 
 P } 
 
 « 
 
 !1 
 

 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 163 
 
 scent,) the inhabitants of the mountainous districts to the 
 south of the Caspian were not included in this satrapy. 
 Among these were the Tapyri and Mardi, whose names are 
 in part preserved in those of Taberistan and Mazanderan, 
 to which must probably be added the fertile region of 
 Ghilan. The Tapyri were subject to the Persians, and 
 formed a separate satrapy. On the other hand, the Mardi, 
 a Persian race, inhabiting a district almost inaccessible in 
 consequence of its mountains, and as poor as they were 
 warlike, had found for a long time no conqueror bold 
 enough to assail them, till they were subdued by Alexander, 
 who joined their country to the satrapy of Taberistan.^^ 
 They do not appear to have joined in the armament of 
 Xerxes ; at least they are not enumerated among the na- 
 tions which composed it ; both tribes, however, are men- 
 tioned as having fought on the side of Darius at Arbela, the 
 Mardi as bowmen;^ though it is very probable that they 
 served for pay, or with the hope of plunder. 
 
 Aria, also, lying to the east of Media, properly belonged 
 to that country, though distinguished from it in the cata- 
 logue of Persian satrapies. It derived its name from the 
 river Arius, the modern Heri, and the Arians and Medes 
 were originally the same race, the Medes, according to 
 Herodotus, having anciently borne the name of Anans.|^' 
 Either the dynasty of the Medes had already dissolved this 
 union, or the Persians judged it expedient to weaken a race 
 once so powerful by subdividing it, and thus Ana came to 
 be formed into a distinct satrapy,'* and the Arians to rank 
 as a separate race."' The passage from Media into this ter- 
 ritory was through the Caspian gates, (Caspiae Pylae,) con- 
 sisting in a strong and narrow strait lying between the two 
 countries ; a day's journey from the modem Rey or Rages, 
 near Teheran.^ We learn from several instances that the 
 
 *• Arrian, iii. 23, 24. * Ibid. iii. 11. 
 
 " Herod Vii. 62. It is apparent from the same place, that what were 
 called the Median habits were not confined to Media Proper, but extended 
 to the countries lying eastward ; and as these touched on Bactra, we cannot 
 be surprised at the conformity which prevailed. «c j i i, .,« 
 
 « Ana is mentioned as a separate satrapy by Arrian, ui. 25, and elsewhere. 
 He does not apply the term in the restricted sense m which it is used by 
 Strabo, but uses it to comprehend part of Media, as far as Arachotus. 
 
 " Herod, vii. 66. ,. , ^^ • _ ,i«;f,wio 
 
 « In the mountainous regions surrounding the Caspian were a muUituae 
 
 Persians were accustomed to fortify such positions with 
 walls and iron gates, to repress the incursions of predatory 
 tribes ; a precaution especially necessary in the present 
 instance. 
 
 Aria differed essentially from Media, as it consisted of 
 an extensive steppe, partially marked by more fertile and 
 better cultivated districts. It is the more important to form 
 a correct idea of the characteristics of this great country, 
 (embracing the southern part of Khorassan, the northern 
 part of Kerman, and Sehestan towards the east,) because it 
 helps to determine the course of the great commercial high- 
 way from Eastern to Western Asia. The interior of the 
 steppe alluded to forms a desert connected with those of 
 Kerman or Carmania, in which it may be said to merge. 
 Its western extremity is so impregnated with salt, that the 
 earth appears to be covered with it, and the name of the 
 Salt Desert has been in consequence bestowed upon it. 
 
 It begins on the further side of the chain of mountains 
 formerly inhabited by the predatory tribes already men- 
 tioned, and presents nearly the appearance of a tract co- 
 vered with snow. The desert extends, however, beyond 
 the portion thus covered with salt, stretching (with partial 
 interruptions) about three hundred and twenty geographical 
 miles from east to west, and for the most part nearly as far 
 from north to south. To the north it is bounded by the 
 chain of Taurus,^ at the foot of which, between the latitudes 
 of thirty-five and thirty-six degrees, run the great commer- 
 cial highways ; the desert itself being scarcely passable even 
 in the winter months, and entirely so during those of sum- 
 mer. To the south, the waste is bounded by the moun- 
 tains of Kerman and Beloochistan, about the thirtieth degree 
 of latitude. We have recently obtained more accurate in- 
 formation respecting these districts, since two English offi- 
 
 of such narrow straits, which received the general appellation of Caspise 
 Pylae, inasmuch as they led to that sea. The pass, however, between Aria 
 and Media was pre-eminently so named. Strabo, p. 796. Authors are per- 
 fectly agreed with respect to its position. 
 
 " The large map of Kinneir, which I use, gives the best delineation of the 
 course of this chain of mountains, which stretches, with some moderate de- 
 viations from the direct line, as far as the neighbourhood of Cabul, from the 
 Caspiae Pylae ; from the fifty-first to the sixty-eighth degree of longitude. 
 At the latter point it first diverges into minor branches extending north and 
 south, and filling up the boundaries of Hindustan. 
 
 M 2 
 
 -T 
 
 I 
 
164 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 cers, named Pottinger and Christie, have had the hardihood 
 to traverse them imder the characters of horse-dealers and 
 pilgrims. In their interior is situated a considerable lake, 
 called the lake of Zurra ; unquestionably the Aria palus of 
 antiquity. A large river, anciently bearing the same name, 
 at present called the Ilmend, empties itself into this inland 
 sea, from the deserts to the south-east ; and Christie fell in 
 with another stream, further to the north, called the Herat, 
 near a town of the same name. The banks of this stream 
 are distinguished by a high degree of fertility, and verify all 
 that Strabo has recorded of Aria : but it must be observed 
 that this fertility is confined to the neighbourhood of the 
 river. The banks of the Ilmend, says Christie, are well 
 cultivated and fertile ; the soil being of a dark colour and 
 well watered. The greatest breadth, however, of this fruitful 
 district is not above two miles, when the desert with high 
 cliffs again appears, and continues without water or vegeta- 
 tion to the great trading highway from Herat to Candahar, 
 The valley also in which Herat is situated, even now a city 
 of nearly one hundred thousand inhabitants, is exceedingly 
 fertile. Maize, roggen, and fruit, are produced in abund- 
 ance. Numerous villages are scattered round the city, which 
 is one of the first trading places of Asia, and celebrated for 
 breeding horses and camels. 
 
 I consider (with Kinneir) the city of Herat to be the 
 same with the ancient Aria, or, as it was also called, Artaco- 
 ana;-^ a city at all times of importance, as lying on the 
 great commercial highway leading to Candahar, Cabul, and 
 the whole of northern India. By following this tract it was 
 possible to avoid the mountains of Hyrcania, at the foot of 
 which the roads in question ran, and consequently to avoid 
 the lawless tribes which occupied those heights. 
 
 » Mannert, v. p. 98, has already shown that Aria and Artacoana are the 
 same. I am inclined to think that it was also the same with the more recent 
 Alexandria Ariana. Arrian does not inform us of the foundation by Alex- 
 ander of any new city in this country ; nor does his rapid passage through it 
 countenance such a supposition. Several ancient cities received new names 
 from their Macedonian conquerors. We are told that Alexander, on his 
 march to Bactriana, inclined to the south to visit Ana. This corresponds 
 with the site of Herat, which, according to Kmneir's map, hes m lat. J4^ , lo 
 the south, not, as Mannert asserts, to the north, of the great mountain chain. 
 Compare by all means, Kinneir, GeograpK 181, 182, for an account of the 
 commercial importance of Herat. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 165 
 
 The mountainous districts just mentioned, Parthia and 
 Hyrcania, (the modern Corcan,) formed under the Persians 
 a single satrapy, which they also continued to do under 
 Alexander.^ Parthia, a rude and confined district, was 
 one of the poorest provinces of all the empire. The Per- 
 sian monarchs, with their countless suite, were in the habit of 
 traversing it with all possible speed, it being too poor to 
 subsist their followers if they made any halt, little suspecting 
 that this rude race of horsemen would eventually descend 
 from their mountains to seize (as their own forefathers had 
 done) the empire of all Asia. 
 
 The more fertile Hyrcania (the valleys of which were 
 distinguished by luxuriant vegetation) does not appear to 
 have been much better cultivated. The sides of the hills 
 were clothed with impenetrable forests, seemingly intended 
 by Providence to supply wood for the navigation of the 
 Caspian, though the inhabitants of the country appear never 
 to have converted them to such a purpose. The capital of 
 the country was called Zadracarta, which also was once a 
 royal residence;^® and according to Arrian's account must 
 have been situated on the great highway at the foot of the 
 mountains. 
 
 To the north of these districts, in the sandy wastes of 
 Khievan, to the east of the Caspian, wandered a mixed 
 multitude of nomad tribes, many of which are often men- 
 tioned as forming part of the Persian armies, but who still 
 retained their character of independent nations, only paying 
 a tribute when compelled by circumstances. Of the number 
 of these were the Dahae, (whose appellation survives in the 
 modern Dahestan,) the Paricanii, and others whom we shall 
 have occasion to mention in the sequel of this work. 
 
 Adjacent to Aria was Bactriana,'^^ one of the richest and 
 
 " Strabo, 782. Compare Arrian, iii. 22. 
 
 » Ba<rtX«'a. Arrian, loc. cit. I consider Zadracarta to have been situated 
 in the neighbourhood of Naisabour. 
 
 *• Between Aria and Bactriana the more recent Greek geographers place 
 the province of Margiana, deriving its name from the desert-stream of the 
 Margus (Morg). Under the Persians, however, Margiana did not form a 
 distinct satrapy, but belonged partly to Aria, and partly to Bactriana. It 
 first acquired the name of Margiana when Antiochus Soter founded here a 
 city, which he called after himself, when he surrounded with a wall (fifteen 
 hundred stades in circuit) the fertile district by which it was environed, 
 where the vines are said to have attained a thickness in the stem equal to 
 that of ordinary trees. Strabo, p. 785. 
 
166 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 167 
 
 most considerable satrapies of the empire,^ at present known 
 under the name of Balkh. Bactriana was situated to the 
 north of India, along the course of the Oxus or Gihoon, one 
 of the principal rivers of Asia, which bounded it to the 
 north ; dividing it from Sogdiana. This advantageous po- 
 sition soon caused it to become one of the best cultivated 
 parts of all the continent, and its capital was, according to 
 the traditions of the East, the seat of powerful and inde- 
 pendent princes long before the dynasty of the Persians ; 
 and the satraps by whom it was governed under the latter 
 frequently sought occasions of attempting to make them- 
 selves independent.^^ Nay, even after the overthrow of 
 that empire, Bessus assumed there the title of monarch ot 
 all Asia.^ The principal city, of the same name with the 
 territory, was situated on a little river which empties itself 
 into the Oxus. It has been often identified with Zariaspa, 
 but the followers of Alexander speak of Bactra and Zariaspa 
 as two distinct cities.^ In consequence of the fertility of 
 its soil and its fortunate position, Bactriana was at all times 
 one of the most wealthy regions of Asia. It was destined 
 by nature herself to be the first place of exchange for the 
 productions of India, which it purchased with those of its 
 own climate. The great highways of communication fi*om 
 east to west ran, as we shall have occasion to show, at the 
 foot of the surrounding mountains, and were directed 
 towards its capital. The vicinity of the gold districts of 
 India rendered it, at the same period, the centre of the com- 
 merce of the continent, and as early as the remotest period 
 of history it was illumined by a degree of mild civilization, 
 of which the last reflection may be traced amid the rums of 
 Persepolis. It is greatly to be regretted that these general 
 fects are all which we can afiirm with certainty respecting 
 the earlier history of Bactra. Even the followers of Alex- 
 ander have scarcely preserved for us any other information 
 than that the conqueror visited this country, and left a con- 
 siderable detachment of his army, (fourteen thousand men,) 
 
 • Bactriana is frequently menrioned as a distinct satrapy. See Arrian, 
 
 iii. 21, and elsewhere. r -d * • o « 
 
 " Ctesias, Fers. cap. 8, etc. Ctesias always speaks of Bactnana as a 
 principal province of the Persian empire ; concerning which the remarks 
 already made on the ruins of Persepolis afford some light 
 « Arrian, iii. 25. " See the places in Cellarius, u. p. /H. 
 
 to keep possession of it : ** a sufficient proof of the import- 
 ance he attached to its conquest. 
 
 No modern traveller has penetrated as far as Balkh, and 
 we are indebted to Mr. Elphinstone for a few particulai-s 
 respecting it, collected in Cabul.^ 
 
 Balkh, at present subject to the Usbeck Tartars, is 
 situated to the north of the Hindoo-koh, which sinks with 
 a rapid declivity towards the Oxus, thus rendering the cli- 
 mate more temperate. The city of Balkh enjoys among the 
 Asiatics the reputation of being the most ancient in the 
 world, and the cradle of their kings ; for which reason it is 
 styled the mother of cities. At the present day it is of in- 
 considerable extent;'^ a part only being inhabited, while 
 its ruins extend in every direction, and attest the ancient 
 grandeur of the place. The country about it is fertile, being 
 watered by eighteen canals, which derive their water from 
 a great reservoir among the mountains. 
 
 On the further side of the Oxus lay the northernmost of 
 all the provinces of Persia, Sogdiana.'^ It was bounded to 
 the south by the river just mentioned, and to the north by 
 another, flowing in a parallel direction into the Caspian Sea, 
 at present called the Sirr-Daria, anciently the Jaxartes. 
 Of the latter river, we know that its principal branch for- 
 merly was the now nearly dry channel of the Jan-Daria, 
 towards the south, whereas at present it is the northernnaost 
 of the two branches, which, though eight hundred feet wide, 
 steals slowly along through forests of reeds.^ Neither of 
 these rivers at present flow into the Caspian, but lose them- 
 selves in the sea of Aral, a lake not named by the ancients. 
 The sandy desert, however, between the Aral and the Cas- 
 pian, still shows traces of their ancient course, though their 
 arms are at present choked with mud. The northern por- 
 tion of Great Bucharia now represents the ancient Sogdiana, 
 but the old appellation is still preserved in that of the ter- 
 ritory adjacent to the capital, Samarcand, or Maracanda, 
 which is called Al-Sogd. • 
 
 This district is one of high importance in history, not 
 
 ** Arrian, iv. 22. "* Elphinstone, Account of Cahult p. 462, etc. 
 
 *• KiNNEiR, in his Geography, speaks of it as containing at present from 
 six to seven thousand inhabitants. 
 
 " Sogdiana is mentioned as a distinct satrapy by Arrian, iv. 15, etc. 
 * According to the accounts of Russian travellers referred to below. 
 
 I 
 
168 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 169 
 
 only on account of its natural productions, but also for its 
 commerce. It formed, as it were, by its very position, the 
 line of demarcation between the agricultural and pastoral 
 regions, and consequently has at all times been inhabited by 
 tribes belonging to both classes : by the wandering hordes 
 which have probably broken in from the north of Asia, and 
 have often made themselves absolute masters of the coun- 
 try ; and by those who may be more properly termed its 
 inhabitants, occupying established seats, and devoting them- 
 selves to agriculture and commerce. In the same manner 
 as the Bucharians are now distinguished in their character 
 and habits from the Usbeck Tartars,^ so in the days of 
 Alexander the Sogdiani were distinct from the wandermg 
 hordes of Scythians, whose immense bands of horsemen 
 traversed the country with their herds and tents, eager to 
 avail themselves of every occasion for surprising a booty, and 
 prepared, on the approach of superior forces, to fly back to 
 their steppes and deserts, where no one could follow them.*^ 
 It is only within the last few years that the commercial 
 enterprises of the Russians have supplied us with some more 
 accurate data respecting the present condition of this coun- 
 try.** The caravans of that nation travel from Orenburg to 
 Khieva and Bokhara, and have contributed to throw light 
 on the steppes of Central Asia, as well as of Bucharia, at 
 least towards the west. It has, in this manner, become 
 evident that the face of this country has in part undergone 
 important changes ; and the fact of the perpetual recession*' 
 of the sea of Aral, with the circumstance of a level bed of 
 sand lying between it and the Caspian, containing smaller 
 
 » MiJLLER*s Sammlung Euss. Geschichten, vol. iv. p. 205. The Usbeck 
 Tartars, and their khans, are the lords of the country, and form, as it were, 
 the noblesse : while the great mass of the population (perhaps three-fourths) 
 consist of the Taidshees, or old stationary inhabitants, who having no share 
 in the government, devote themselves to commerce and agriculture. 
 
 • The best account of Sogdiana is to be found in Arrian, vol. iv. p. 2, etc. 
 He makes a broad distinction between the Sogdiani, living in cities, and the 
 nomad Scythians, of whom a host, to the number of thirty thousand men, 
 were then scattered over the country. 
 
 ** Particularly on occasion of the great caravan to Bokhara of the year 
 1820, which Dr. Eversmann accompanied as physician, and my respected 
 friend the Col. Baron von Meyendorf, as one of the escort. The former has 
 published his Journey from Orenburg to Bokhara, Beriin, 1823, Lichtenstem. 
 To the latter I am indebted for many MS. notes ; to which I shall also have 
 occasion to refer when I come to speak of the Scythian tribes. 
 
 * £vERSMANN*s Beise, p. 65. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 salt lakes, leave no reasonable ground for doubting that 
 SiLX the sea of Aral was united with the Caspian ; a 
 sufficient reason why the former should not have been men- 
 S by ancient Waphers.^ The former channel of 
 the Oxus also may still be traced to the Caspian « and the 
 tradition of the inhabitants of the adjacent plains is, that it 
 was first deserted in the sixteenth century, m consequence 
 If an earthquake; and it is even thought not impossible to 
 restore the river to its ancient course. The country has 
 also suffered the greatest changes from the perpetual en- 
 croachment of sand fi-om the north and west, which no art 
 or J^wer of man ha. proved able to restrain and which has 
 converted into deserts what were once fertile districts In 
 conlequence of the thinness of the soil, it is dependent for 
 its ferSy on artificial irrigation, effected by means of in- 
 numerable watercourses of various sizes ; owing to which 
 Sot 3y the country round Bokhara but the whole tem- 
 to,; as far as Samarcand, has been brought into a state of 
 Svat on resembling that of a garden^ ^he same is he 
 case with the territory of Khieva on the Oxus.^ On he 
 other hand, the northern part of this country, as far as the 
 neighbourhood of Bokhara, is a waste, and in many places 
 ;^Lplete desert of sand, extending under the appellation 
 of the Red Desert, to the distance of five days journey. 
 
 Samarcand, the birth-place in after times of the renowned 
 Timour, was in the time of the Persians a flourishing city 
 Anciently it was called Maracanda, and ranked as the royal 
 city of the Sogdiani, having at one time, though afterwards 
 reduced to thi government of a Persian satrap, been ruled, 
 (it is probable,) like many other Asiatic nations, by mon- 
 archs of its own. The surrounding distnct was so cele- 
 brated throughout the East for its fertility, that it ranked 
 among the paradises of Asia, and the commerce of barter 
 
 « EVERSMANN*S iZetSe, pp. 81, 86. «„„^f„nce Mttpaviff 
 
 « This is also affirmed by %>2^^^ ^^'''''^:^7^^^:;^''^:Sili 
 (Voyage en Turcomanie et a Chiica, 1819, IcCfiW- I'ans, voaj,) 
 from Bacou across the Caspian Sea to Khieva. 
 
 : le7M=E?; foe. cit. I can scarcely aouU that the d^^^^^^^^^ 
 Khieva is the same with that which H^^o'^otus (m. 117) desm^^^^^^^^ 
 ficially irrigated by watercourses from the Aces (Oxus) ; and which paid an 
 annual tribute to the king of Persia. 
 
 " Eversmann, p. 52. 
 
170 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I< 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 m 
 
 between the productions of India and those of this country 
 formed at all times one of the most considerable branches of 
 trade.*® Maracanda was in fact what Bokhara now is, one 
 of the chief marts for the commerce of all the continent.*^ 
 It is a pity that the route of the Russian caravans did not 
 pass through this city ; at the same time it appears, from 
 information collected at Bokhara, that Samarcand still pos- 
 sesses a population of about fifty thousand inhabitants, but 
 without retaining its ancient importance as a commercial 
 city, which must be ascribed in part to the residence of the 
 khan at Balkh, and partly to the more difficult nature of its 
 communication with that city, lying as it does across a moun- 
 tainous country; while the road from the latter place to 
 Bokhara runs along a plain. On the other hand, in pro- 
 portion as the traveller proceeds from Bokhara to the sea of 
 Aral and the Caspian, he discovers a country more and 
 more desolate, the haunt of wandering tribes of the Turco- 
 man race. In the days of the Persians these were much 
 more formidable than at present, both for strength and num- 
 bers ; a fact which we can affirm with certainty on the au- 
 thority of our faithful guide Herodotus, who is no where 
 more copious in information than here. He appears, as it 
 were, to be peculiarly at home in describing and distinguish- 
 ing the different races of these remote nomad nations, to the 
 admiration of all succeeding historians. I shall, however, 
 defer for a later portion of my undertaking an examination 
 of the evidence he has thus afforded us respecting the tribes 
 of Central Asia, when I shall have occasion to revert to these 
 
 regions. 
 
 To protect themselves against the incursions of these na- 
 tions, and to fence, as it were, the boundaries of their em- 
 pire, the Persians adopted the plan of forming a line of cities 
 in the neighbourhood, or along the very banks, of the Jax- 
 artes. Seven fortified places of this description were erect- 
 ed,^ the strongest of which appears to have been founded 
 by Cyrus himself, whose name it bore.*^ This was protected 
 
 • Ifist. General des Tari. p-278 ; cf. Strabo, p. 785. . ^ v. 
 
 • Eversmann, p. 76, etc. The caravans from Cabul, Cashmir, Cashgar, 
 Urgentz, and Orenburg all meet at Bokhara ; which is also the principal mart 
 for precious stones ana indigo. 
 
 ** Arrian iv. t2. 
 
 " It was called iiy the Greeks Cyreschata, or the most remote city of Cy- 
 
 by a citadel, and contained a garrison of eighteen thousand 
 men ; but the rest appear to have been places of no great 
 consequence, and calculated, (it is probable,) only to with- 
 stand the loose assaults of predatory hordes, as appears from 
 the fact that Alexander took them all in the course of a few 
 days, and founded here a new city called after his own name. 
 The place was designed partly to answer the same purposes 
 with the preceding, partly as a point of peacefiil intercourse 
 with the nations of Central Asia.^^ Even at the present day 
 may be discovered on the banks of the Jan-Daria,^' once the 
 principal stream of the Jaxartes, hillocks of ruins, the age of 
 which I cannot venture to determine with certainty. 
 
 We have now reached the limits of the Persian empire, 
 before crossing which and taking a g;limpse of the adjacent 
 districts of India, we must revert to its southern provinces, 
 extending from Persia Proper along the shores of the Per- 
 sian Gulf and Indian Ocean. In proportion as the present 
 state of these countries is involved in obscurity, we must be 
 surprised to find that they were anciently illumined by a 
 degree of light and certainty which does not attach to many 
 other regions less remote in their situation and more distin- 
 guished in their history. For this we are indebted to the 
 companions of Alexander and to the historian Arrian, who 
 has preserved the information they afforded. Neither the 
 difficulties nor the dangers with which such a route is beset 
 could deter the Macedonian conqueror from marching across 
 these dreary provinces in his return from India, though he 
 knew that he was risking the fruits of all his victories by 
 exposing his army to the most formidable of all adversaries, 
 famine and thirst. If, however, there be any point in the 
 history of Alexander which more than another proves his 
 inflexible adherence to a resolution once adopted, as well as 
 the discipline of his army, which was proof against the ex- 
 tremities of want, and circumstances little short of desperate, 
 it is this celebrated retreat ; concerning which his more re- 
 cent historians have indulged in the most childish exagger- 
 ations.^* 
 
 rus. 
 
 .^^. Other writers, however, have already shown that this was probably a 
 corruption for Corascarta or Corescarta, (the city of Cyrus,) like Tigrano- 
 certa, etc. Cf. Steph. de Urh. s. v. Kvpov 7r6Xic et ibi not. 
 « Arrian, iv. 3. " Eversmann's Eeise, pp. 49, 50. " Arrian, vi. 28. 
 
 * I 
 
 n 
 
172 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 173 
 
 Next to Persis came the province of Carmania (the 
 modern Kerman^) ; divided from the former by a river 
 which empties itself into the sea, opposite to the island ot 
 Catsea or Kais,^ and extending not only along the shores 
 of the Persian Gulf, but, beyond these, as far as Oedrosia 
 
 or Makran. 1 x ir 
 
 Under the Persians, Carmania formed a satrapy by itselt, 
 the inhabitants of which in speech, manners, and arms re- 
 sembled the Persians.*^ The flat shore of the Persian Oult 
 was only in parts sandy, and sprinkled with the huts ot a 
 race of fishermen, while in other parts fruitful fields ex- 
 tended to the very margin of the sea, among which the 
 beautifiil plain of Ormus, over against an island of the same 
 name, deserves to be specified.^ At a certain distance from 
 the sea, the country swelled into eminences, and abounded 
 in a variety of natural productions. Fruits of every kind, 
 particularly olives and grapes, were found there in the great- 
 est perfection. The beds of the rivers also, which are 
 numerous, are said to have afforded traces of the more pre- 
 cious metals, and the followers of Alexander have made 
 mention of two mountains, one of which produced arsenic, 
 and the other salt.^ Further to the north, the country be- 
 came less productive, and ended in a spacious salt desert, 
 extending as far as Parsetacene,^ with which the travels and 
 researches of Pottinger have made us better acquainted. 
 It takes in by far the greater part of Carmania,^* stretching 
 from the 30° to the 34° of N. lat., and from the 52° to the 
 56° of long. ; and according to the limits laid down by 
 Strabo, loses itself in the steppes of Ariana. In consequence, 
 however, of the saline quality of the soil, it is peculiarly 
 well adapted for the feeding of sheep, and it is well known 
 that the modern Kerman produces the finest wool, which 
 was anciently supposed to be obtained, not by the process 
 of shearing, but by that of combing, and by gathering what 
 
 » We must be careful not to confound this with the present Caramania, 
 the southern part of Asia Minor. 
 
 »• Arrian, Indica Op, p. 194, ed. Steph. 
 
 " Arrian, loc. cit. ; and in his JExped, Alex. vi. 2/. 
 
 - Nearchus in Arrian, Ind, p. 191. Harmozia. For a more complete 
 account see the chapter on the trade of the Babylonians, contammg a descnp- 
 
 tion of the Persian Gulf, vol. ii. p. 220, sq. ♦ iv. , ;. r. 920 
 
 » Strabo, p. 1057. • Ibid. loc. cit. •' Pottinoer's Travels, p. 229. 
 
 chap. I. 
 
 fell off of itself;^ an error which the latest travellers have 
 corrected.^' Kerman, the metropolis, anciently Carmania, 
 is celebrated throughout all Asia for its manufacture ot 
 shawls, which are as fine, but not as soft, as those ot Cash- 
 mir ^ In the time of the Persians Carmania was tar better 
 cultivated than at present, and it is therefore to be supposed, 
 that its ancient inhabitants improved the facilities for dis- 
 posing of their wool, afforded them by the manufactures ot 
 
 Persia and Babylonia. r- t j- „* *u^ 
 
 The coast from Kerman to the confines of India, at the 
 present day rarely visited and little known, was anciently 
 Smprehenid under the name of Gedrosia, which is no 
 longer to be traced in the modem appellation of Makran. 
 Thfs was the most desolate and sterile of all the countries 
 subiect to Persia. The coast of the Indian Ocean, and 
 great part of the interior, forms a sandy desert, traversed 
 indeed by many watercourses, in their general s ate without 
 water but after rain has fallen on the mountains to the 
 north! swelling into floods, which overspread the whole sur- 
 rounding district, and carry away every thing wrthm their 
 reach « The districts bordering on India were, m the time 
 of Alexander, fruitful in aromatic trees and shrubs par- 
 ticulariy the myrrh and nardus, which here flounshed m 
 great abundance and perfection; and the Phoenicians who 
 Iccompanied the army of that conqueror being well ac- 
 quainted with the value of these commodities, baded thmr 
 beasts of burden with what they collected.^ These signs 
 of vegetation, however, quickly disappeared, and as the 
 country stretched further and ftirther to the west, it was 
 found to increase in sterility, till ^ ended m an utter deserL 
 The traces of a road were often effaced by the sand drifted 
 by the wind, and even the guides were compelled to trace 
 
 their course by the stars. . , 
 
 The interior of the country contains, however, a capital 
 
 named Puhra, which Alexander reached after many dift- 
 
 culties and dangers, by a march of sixty days, from the 
 
 • Tavwkvieu i D. 87. Beckmann's TTaarenAiMwfe, i. p. 476. 
 - PoT^mJER D m has given us some accurate information respecting 
 the ^e of shecpMtherefwhich immediately degenerates m other coun- 
 
 tries. ^ AooTAv VI 2fi 
 
 » ARBU^N^^i '^^m whom also the following p'artlculkrs are taken. 
 
 ■ 
 
 * ' I 
 
 i: 
 
m 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 175 
 
 borders of the Oritae.^ He was, however, compelled once 
 more to commit himself and his army to the desert, which 
 terminated only on the confines of Carmania. While the 
 king was traversing the interior, his fleet, under the com- 
 mand of Nearchus, followed the sea-coast to the Persian 
 Gulf; and that officer has bequeathed us a description of 
 those shores, so accurate, that a mariner might, even in the 
 present day, safely steer by it.^ The inhabitants of this 
 sea-coast were savages, living almost entirely on fish, and 
 consequently distinguished by the general appellation of 
 Ichthyophagi. " Few of these people," says Nearchus,^ 
 " obtain the fish by fishing, for few of them possess the pro- 
 per boats, or understand the art : most of the fish being 
 caught on the retreat of the tide. Some, however, have 
 nets fit for this purpose, frequently two stades in length. 
 These nets are woven out of the bark of the date tree, which 
 is twisted after the manner of flax. When the sea has re- 
 treated, and the land appears, the dry parts of the shore are 
 of course destitute of fish, but wherever the tide remains in 
 hollows of the beach, they are found in great numbers, some 
 small, others large, which are taken with nets. Of these, 
 the more tender kinds they devour raw, as they take them 
 out of the water ; the larger and tougher they bake in the 
 sun, and when dry, grind into a sort of meal, of which they 
 form loaves, while others convert the same into a sort of 
 pudding. Even their cattle feed in like manner on dried 
 fish, for their country is destitute of meadows and bare of 
 grass. They also take, in many places, crabs, oysters, and 
 shellfish ; and salt is naturally formed in their country, from 
 
 " I can scarcely doubt but this is the modern Puhra, which Pottin^er de- 
 scribes as a very small but well-built city of four hundred houses, in the 
 midst of a wood of date trees, which afford its inhabitants a considerable 
 revenue. Pottinger visited the spot, and has laid it down in his map at 28° 
 of lat, and 60° 15' long. It is clear from the account of Arrian, that Alex- 
 ander penetrated far into the country, for the purpose of procunng supphes 
 of com and dates, which were not to be obtained in the desert. 
 
 " Since the appearance of the first edition of the present work, great light 
 has been thrown on the sea-coasts of Gedrosia and Cfarmania, by the Periplus 
 of Nearchus, by Dr. Vincent, London, 1798. The learned author has 
 availed himself of the charts and plans of two officers of the East India 
 Company, appointed to survey these shores. This comparison of the ac- 
 counts of the British captains with those of Alexander's admiral, has proved 
 highly to the advantage of the reputation of the latter. We are enabled, in 
 fact, to verify almost all his statements. 
 
 • Arrian, Indie, xxix. 
 
 which they concoct a sort of oil (?). Some of these people 
 inhabit desolate situations, destitute of wood, and producmg 
 no cultivated crops, and these depend entirely on fish for 
 their subsistence. A few, however, cultivate some small 
 portion of land, and make the bread they obtain a sort of 
 side-dish ; fish being their main support. The better sort 
 among them construct houses by collecting the bones of 
 cetaceous fishes cast on shore by the ocean, which serve for 
 the frame-work of their habitations ; the broadest bones be- 
 ing converted into doors, while the poorer construct their 
 huts of the bones of the fish they catch." 
 
 The habits of this miserable race continue to be the same 
 as they were two thousand years ago, the fodder of their 
 cattle not excepted.'^ They turned their fish to eveiy pos- 
 sible account, and the rich and poor were distmguished, as 
 we have seen, by the size of the bones they collected h-om this 
 ffrand source of their subsistence. The people at large are 
 those now denominated Ballooches, and have been rescued 
 from obscurity principally by the observations of Pottinger 
 and Christie. They extend far into the interior, and the 
 description of them, which the followers of Alexander have 
 handed down to us, in consequence of their march through 
 their territory, is far from attractive. The prisoners, we are 
 told, had hairy bodies, and nails resembling the talons ot 
 wild beasts, and were habited in the hides of animals taken 
 in the chase, and the skins of fish. The Ballooches continue 
 to be a race of banditti, practising systematic robbery. 
 They are distinguished into two races, differing in speech 
 orimn, and figure ; the Ballooches, properly so called and 
 the Brahoos ; which, nevertheless, in consequence ot long- 
 continued intercourse, have come to regard themselves as 
 one nation. Neither race possesses any histoiy, but in 
 point of language, as well as figure, the Ballooches appear 
 to beloncr to the Persian, and the Brahoos to the Indian 
 stock. Their pastoral lives preclude them from occupying 
 fixed abodes ; and they are subdivided into a multitude ot 
 
 »• See NiEBUHR's Accourtt of Arabia, p. 310; and compare Marco Polo, 
 in Eamusio, ii. p. 60; who gives the same account ofthiBX^ce, The most 
 recent information we possess, afforded by Morier, vol. 1. p. 50, who visited 
 this coast, confirms this statement. 
 
 •| 
 
176 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. UPPER ASIA. 
 
 177 
 
 clans, subject to cliieftains, who pay little regard to the au- 
 thority of the monarchs of eastern or western Persia. 
 
 The desolation which marked the coast ceased to prevail 
 in the interior, and a more fertile district commenced with 
 the range of mountains, where the province of Arachosia 
 (or Arokhage) bordered on Gedrosia, and was marked by 
 superior cultivation and a numerous population. Ihe 
 latter province was united in the same satrapy with (jedro- 
 sia, and continued to be so under Alexander," though the 
 Persians appear to have given themselves little concern 
 about that desolate coast and its savage inhabitants ; at all 
 events the Gedrosians are not enumerated either among the 
 nations of which their armies were composed, or among 
 those which paid them tribute. They were protected by 
 their poverty, the only effectual protection against the am- 
 bition of their conquerors. j- • ^ i- 
 
 The territory of the Zarangsei was, however, distinct trom 
 this satrapy, and formed a part of the modern Sehestan ; 
 the ancient appellation being still partly preserved in the 
 name of the capital, Zarang.'* It is an extensive district, 
 for the most part level ; bounded to the south by Uedrosia, 
 to the north by Bactriana, to the east by Arachosia, and to 
 the west by Aria. From the latter region it is separated by 
 the mighty lake of the desert, the sea of Anus or Zurra, the 
 receptacle of all the inferior streams which water this and 
 the neighbouring countries. It formed under the Persians 
 a distinct satrapy," and its inhabitants are enumerated not 
 
 " PoTTiNGER, p. 53, etc. ; p. 270, etc. 
 
 « Rennell hak'inserted in 'his map the name of Arokhage, wh.ch is not 
 riven in those of Kinneir and Pottinger. I consider jt to be the Saravan of 
 ^oSinger; a province of the modern^alloochistan, the capital being Kelat 
 for an^count of which we are indebted to Pottinger, TraveU, p. 264. It 
 c^ntlnu^ to be the principal province of Balloochistan. When Pottinger 
 "pti to prove rimt Ara^osFa lay further to the north, i» Kandahar, he is 
 midouWlv in an error. The march of Craterus, to which he refers, cannot 
 Sv^ eSeS^so far northward Arachosia must P;//«^"\»'tr&etame 
 upon Gedrosia (Makran) to the south, being umted with it in the same 
 
 gatrapy. 
 
 « fn K^JIjeT^s^Lpit is set down as Dooshak or Zullaba, with the addition, 
 however of the nam? of Zaranga. It was situated thirty-six miles from He- 
 rat^o^^he I m^^^^^ in 32" N. lit. which agrees with what might be expected 
 S^^iL position ^ Mannert, V. p. 71. Ve can «carcdy^J;^™g»^^ 
 supposing this to be the city in question. Arrian, m. 2D. 
 
 only in the catalogue of the tributaries of Darius, but in 
 that of the army of Xerxes. They appear to have been one 
 of the more civilized nations, and were distinguished in the 
 army of Xerxes by the beauty of their coloured vestments,^^ 
 either having manufactures of their own, or obtaining them 
 by the course of commerce from India and Persia. At the 
 present day also the great caravan road from Ispahan to 
 Kandahar passes by their capital." 
 
 The country of the Zarangsei was bordered to the east 
 by the mountains of Kandahar, which, under the name of 
 Hindu-koh represent the Indian Caucasus of the Greeks ; 
 surrounded by several inferior tribes, such as the Drangae 
 and Dragogi, through whose territory it was necessary to 
 pass on the way to Arachotus. It is the more necessary to 
 specify these nations, because they have been frequently 
 confounded with the Zarangsei, from whom, nevertheless, 
 they were perfectly distinct.^^ It is not certain whether 
 they were subject to the Persian dominion, or lived as a 
 free race of mountaineers ; their poverty, and the inclemency 
 of their native country, in which Alexander suffered no less 
 from cold and snow than from hunger, appear to have been 
 their protection.^^ Their name has so completely perished, 
 that, even with the assistance of the best modern maps, it 
 would be a hopeless task to attempt to identify in detail 
 their places of abode. We must not, however, omit to no- 
 tice another inconsiderable tribe in their vicinity, styled by 
 the Greeks Evergetae, or Benefactors, but anciently called 
 Agriaspae. These enjoyed the privilege of paying no tribute, 
 but on the contrary were permitted in a manner to retain their 
 own free constitution.^ It is said that this immunity was 
 granted in recompence for a service performed to the army 
 of Cyrus, when that conqueror, during an expedition against 
 the nomads, fell into great straits for want of provisions, and 
 this people voluntarily contributed thirty thousand waggon- 
 loads of com ; for which they were honoured by the appel- 
 lation of the king's benefactors. Strange as this story may 
 
 ^ Herod, vii. 67. 
 
 " Tavernier, i. p. 626. In Kinneir's map it inclines somewhat more to 
 
 the north. 
 
 »* Arrian, iii. 28. Even the maps of Danville are not exempt from this 
 error. 
 
 " Arrian, loc. cit •» Ibid. iii. p. 27 ; cf. Diodorus, ii. 222. 
 
 VOL. I. N 
 
178 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. PERSIAN INDIA. 
 
 179 
 
 appear, it is perfectly in unison with Persian manners, among 
 whom whosoever had the good fortune to perform a personal 
 service to the monarch obtained the title of the kmgs bene- 
 factor His name was immediately enrolled by the court 
 secretaries in the list of those thus distinguished together 
 with the service which he had rendered. As such he pos- 
 sessed the highest claim to the monarch's gratitude, whose 
 honour demanded that he should requite the benefit received 
 by some distinguished favour." Accordingly, it was con- 
 sistent with the dignity and honour of Cyrus that he should 
 accord to the entire nation the appellation of his benefac- 
 tors • and the reward which accompanied this distinction 
 was, 'in the opinion of the Persians, a necessary consequence 
 of such a title. 
 
 III. PERSIAN INDIA. 
 
 I HAVE now conducted my reader as far as the most eastern 
 provinces of the Persian empire, and the confines of India ; 
 of which country also a portion was subject to the great 
 king, and composed a separate satrapy. The limits, how- 
 ever, of this satrapy are lost in uncertainty, and it is impos- 
 sible to throw any light on the subject without extending 
 the present researches to the whole of Hindustan then 
 known, or which, at the fall of the Persian empire, emerged 
 from obscurity. By Persian India, therefore, we must be 
 understood to mean, not only the portion which was sub- 
 ject to Persia, but all with which the Persians were ac- 
 quainted ; standing as it did in a certain relation to that 
 empire, and being naturally connected with its geographical 
 and statistical survey. We shall reserve for a separate por- 
 tion of this work our general observations on ancient India. 
 
 Two observations must, however, be premised, without 
 which the following remarks cannot be properly understood. 
 
 When we speak of ancient India we must not be under- 
 stood to mean the whole of Hindustan, but chiefly the 
 northern parts of it, or the countries between the Indus and 
 Ganges ; though we are far from asserting that the rest ot 
 
 « Brisson, p. 194. The custom is not even yet extinct, and he who brings 
 good tidings to the king is entitled to a reward. Morier, u. 1U.J. 
 
 that peninsula, particularly its western coast, was then ut- 
 terly unknown. It was from this quarter that the Persians 
 and the Greeks (to whom we are indebted for the earliest 
 accounts of India) invaded the country ; and this was con- 
 sequently the region which must first have become generally 
 known. The countries bordering on the Ganges continued 
 to be involved in obscurity ; the great kingdom of the Pra- 
 sians excepted, which, situated nearly above the modem 
 Bengal, was dimly discernible. The nearer we approach 
 the Indus, the more clear becomes our knowledge of the 
 ancient geography of the country ; and it follows, that the 
 districts of which, at the present day, we know the least, 
 were anciently best known. 
 
 2ndly. The western and northern boundaries of India 
 were not then the same as at present. To the west, it was 
 not then bounded by the river Indus, but by a chain of 
 mountains which, under the name of Koh, (whence the 
 Grecian appellation of the Indian Caucasus,) extended from 
 Bactriana to Makran, or Gedrosia, enclosing the kingdoms 
 of Kandahar and Cabul, the modern kingdom of Eastern 
 Persia, or Afghanistan. These districts anciently formed a 
 part of India, as well as (further to the south) the less per- 
 fectly known country of the Arabi and Haurs, bordering on 
 Gedrosia, and which bore of old the same appellations.' 
 Concerning the latter districts we have recently obtained 
 more accurate information from the narrative of Pottinger ; 
 as the work of Elphinstone has made us better acquainted 
 with the former. This western boundary continued at all 
 times the same, and was removed to the Indus only in con- 
 sequence of the conquests of Nadir-Shah.^ Nor was ancient 
 India less widely extended towards the north. The whole 
 of the mountainous region above Cashmir, Badakshan, Be- 
 loor-Land, the western boundary mountains of Little Bucha- 
 ria, or Little Thibet, and even the desert of Gobi, so far as 
 it was then known, were all considered to belong to India, 
 With the latter countries our present inquiries must com- 
 mence, but it is greatly to be regretted that the subject con- 
 tinues to be involved in an obscurity, which the labours of 
 modem geographers and travellers have not been able to 
 
 * The Arahita and Oritce of Arrian, vi. 21, etc. 
 
 • Rennell's Memoir, etc., p. 19. 
 
 N 2 
 
i 
 
 180 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. PERSIAN INDIA. 
 
 181 
 
 disperse. The discovery of a passage by sea to the coasts 
 of Lia ha. contributed to withdraw from the above regions 
 the regard of Europeans, and left them in undisturbed ob- 
 scurity^ Even Alexander did not visit them >s road ^^^^^ 
 Bactra to Taxila, or Attock, carrying ^'^.^^^^^^ .^\^r^ 
 south, and it is in vain therefore to look to his historians for 
 information respecting these countries. Two only ot the 
 most ancient writers of anti^quity were more accurately 
 acquainted with them, Herodotus and Ctesias ; of whose 
 oiiidance we shall avail ourselves. 
 
 The former, after having given us some information re- 
 specting the Indians south of the Indus, as far as Guzerat 
 whom 1 shall have occasion to mention hereafter, adds as 
 follows •=* "There are other Indians living near the city 
 Caspatyrus and the country of Pactyica, (the city and ter- 
 ritory of Cabul,) situated to the north of the rest of the 
 Indian nation, and resembling the Bactrians, their neigh- 
 bours, in their manner of life. These are the most warlike 
 of all the Indians, and the people who go to procure the 
 cold For in the neighbourhood of this nation is a sandy 
 desert, in which are ants, less in size than dogs, but larger 
 than foxes, specimens of which are to be seen at the resi- 
 dence of the king of Persia, having been brought from that 
 country. These creatures make themselves habitations un- 
 der ground, throwing up the sand like the ants in Greece, 
 which they nearly resemble in appearance. The sand, how- 
 ever, consists of gold-dust. To procure this the Indians 
 make incursions into the desert, takmg with them three 
 camels, a male one on each side, and a female m the centre, 
 on which the rider sits, taking care to choose one which has 
 recently foaled. When, in this manner, they come to the 
 place where the ants are, the Indians fill their sacks with the 
 sand, and ride back as fast as they can, the ants pursuing 
 them, as the Persians say, by the scent ; the female camel, 
 eager to rejoin her young one, surpassing the others in 
 speed and perseverance. It is thus, according to the Per- 
 sians, that the Indians obtain the greater part of their gold ; 
 at the same time that the metal is also found, though m less 
 quantities, in mines." 
 
 • Herod, iii. 102, 106. 
 
 Herodotus has so accurately marked the situation of these 
 auriferous deserts, that it is impossible to be mistaken. 
 The nation in whose neighbourhood they are situated " live 
 near to Bactra and Pactyica, to the north of the other In- 
 dians," and consequently among the mountains of Little 
 Thibet, or Little Bucharia ; and the desert in their vicinity 
 can be no other than that of Gobi, which is bounded by the 
 mountains of the above countries. 
 
 There is no doubt that the account of the historian is ap- 
 pHcable to this region. We have already remarked that the 
 lofty chain of mountains which limit the desert is rich in 
 veins of gold ;* and not only the rivers which flow from it 
 westward, through Great Bucharia, but the desert-streams 
 which run to the east and lose themselves in the sand, or in 
 inland seas, all carry down a quantity of gold-sand. Be- 
 sides, who knows not that the adjacent country of Thibet 
 abounds in gold ? Nor can we be surprised if, at the present 
 day, the rivers in question should be less abundant than for- 
 merly in that metal, as must always be the case when it is 
 not obtained by the process of mining, but washed down by 
 a stream. As late, however, as the last century, gold-sand 
 was imported from this country by the caravans travelling 
 to Siberia ; and under Peter the Great this gave occasion 
 to abortive attempts to discover those supposed El Dorados, 
 which were not without some beneficial results for the sci- 
 ence of geography, though utterly unprofitable for the pur- 
 poses of finance.* 
 
 •Even the story of Herodotus about the ants, will not ap- 
 pear out of character to any one well acquainted with the 
 East. Possibly there may have been some historical found- 
 ation for this fable, which may have taken its rise in the 
 existence of some species of animal, which, like the Ham- 
 ster-rat, burrows in the earth :® possibly the whole may be 
 
 * See above, pp. 27 — 35. 
 
 - * See an excellent and learned statement of these attempts in Muller's 
 Samml, Russ. Gesch. iv. p. 183, etc.; and compare Bruce, Memoir, etc. p. 
 176, etc. 
 
 • That these were not ants, but a larger species of animal, having a skin, 
 is apparent not only from the account of Herodotus, but from that of Me^- 
 thenes in Arrian, Indie. Op. p. 179, who saw their skins, which he describes 
 as being larj^er than those of foxes. The Count von Veltheim, in his 
 Sammlung einiger Aufsdizc, vol. ii. p. 268, etc., has started the ingenious idea 
 that the skins of the foxes, {Canis Corsak, Linn.,) found in great abundance 
 
 ii 
 
PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. !• 
 
 182 
 
 pure fiction. Considering our li»"ited acquaintance wkh 
 L natural history of this region, who shall be hardy 
 enough to decide between the above suppositions? It may 
 Sad^ded that Herodotus does not conceal h>« ^y^^orm^ 
 but reoeatedlv says that he had his information from the 
 i^riaS '' an'd b'y asserting that the animal - q-t- J 
 to be seeA at the residence of the Persian monarch, he aflords 
 an adSnal reason for adopting the former hyPothe«- ^^ . 
 Supposing, however, that this was not the case i must 
 be rememberU that we are now come to the feble-land of 
 ZZu the country of all the fabulous amma^s jluch ^ 
 have had occasion to consider. A caravan legend, such as 
 are told of almost every desert, and have m much more re- 
 Snt times been recor^ded of the very desert in question,' 
 cannoUin the regions we are contemplatmg) be regarded 
 
 '^ tKcS of India preserved by Ctesias, refer in like 
 manner principally to this mountainous region towards the 
 north, as far as Thibet, or m other wordMo the land o 
 ?ndiak fable, comprehending the above. This is the point 
 of view in which we ought to regard his relations, if we 
 would appreciate them truly. Thus considered, they con- 
 tain data of importance to the naturahst and historian, par- 
 ticularly the historian of ancient commerce ; and it cannot 
 be doubted that much of what now appears full of obscurity 
 and exaggeration, will eventually be cleared up when a 
 Humboldt or a Pallas shall have visited these regions. 1 
 
 in this country, were employed in the washing of ^W- «°^ L^wL^onfeT- 
 
 of fresh travellers can alone afford us a ^^J^P ^t« f,f "^^^°- ., ^ecrred by 
 ' See the accounts of Marco Polo, who travelled over it, prescrvea oy 
 
 ^MrL%\\fcate task to strip off the mask of exaggeration, and arrive at 
 the mOi belowr^^^^ the latter is snfficientfy discernible An in- 
 
 sLlTof tWs mky be found in WilfordXremarks, ^«a^^ i^*. i^^^^^^ 
 
 Zl^ iv 41 resSg the artificial means of procuring sleep, presented to 
 Ae^^i^ian kTnTfrom M the earliest notice of the qualities of opium? 
 
 '^everaTt^diS of this kind have l^en P---ft.rnTntaV'oI^^^^^^ 
 in the Puranas, and consequently must be a^^^^^/^^ f p^^^^^'Tt'^^^^ 
 the Indo-Persic names recorded by Ctesias, consult the Eemarks of 1 tchsen, 
 
 Appen<Ux to vol. ii. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. PERSIAN INDIA. 
 
 183 
 
 shall find another opportunity for recurring to the notices 
 Ctesias has given us of the productions of this country, and 
 shall at present confine myself to some remarks on its geo- 
 graphy and the way of life of its inhabitants. 
 
 That Ctesias is speaking of the countries in question is 
 apparent from the geographical notices which he has added. 
 The Indians he refers to are neighbours of the Bactrians ;^ 
 they all are inhabitants of elevated mountainous tracts;^® 
 either in the immediate neighbourhood of the sources of the 
 Indus," or above them.^^ There can, therefore, be no ques- 
 tion that he refers to Great and Little Thibet, and the re- 
 gion of Himmalaya. I would not, however, by any means 
 be understood to affirm that he refers exclusively to them, 
 or that all his expressions point to the inhabitants of these 
 countries alone ; we merely possess some scanty fragments 
 of his Indian history, compiled by the patriarch Photius, 
 without method or arrangement. It is possible, therefore, 
 that some of these ill-assorted remnants may relate to 
 southern Hindustan, at the same time that the generality 
 refer to the countries above indicated. 
 
 These were inhabited by various nations, differing in 
 aspect and speech; some of them whites, or nearly ap- 
 proaching the colour of whites, of whom Ctesias himself saw 
 some at the Persian court, five men and two females;*' 
 others again are of a more dusky complexion, according to 
 the account of a modern traveller.^* 
 
 With respect to the figure, also, of these Indians, we find 
 in Ctesias a multitude of marvellous stories, as, for instance, 
 respecting pigmies with dogs' heads, tails, etc. ; no doubt 
 these are mere legends, but it is to be remarked that they 
 are genuine Indian legends, and recur two thousand years 
 after, in the narrative of Marco Polo, who visited these 
 countries.*^ 
 
 • Ctesias, in Ml, Hist. Anim. iv. 27. 
 
 " Ctesias, Ind. cap. 12, 20. 
 
 « Ibid, cap. 24. 
 
 " FoRSTER, TravelSj etc. p. 227. 
 
 " Compare Ctesias, Ind. cap. 11, 22, etc., and Marco Polo in Ramus, 
 vol. ii. p. 52, 53. Marco Polo tells us that the Indians send monsters of the 
 kind referred to, stuffed, into foreign countries, to give countenance to the 
 stories respecting them. Supposing that this fraud was practised at a more 
 ancient period, the monstrous figures which the Greek authors assert they 
 beheld in the collection of the Persian kings, are readily accounted for. Re- 
 specting the dogs' heads, see Wilford, loc. cit. 
 
 " Ibid. cap. 21. 
 " Ibid. cap. 9. 
 
184 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 The Indians of Ctesias were occupied exclusively with 
 the feeding of cattle, particularly of sheep ; their sheep and 
 goats being larger than those of Europe : of the former a 
 species exists among them with large tails, common to all 
 the East.^^ With these countless flocks of sheep the whole 
 western side of Paropamisus, over which Alexander marched, 
 was covered ; and in this neighbourhood was found the sil- 
 phium, so often mentioned in the writings of the ancients, 
 and which caused the sheep that fed on it to attain such an 
 extraordinary growth.'^ Respecting this plant we are in- 
 debted to recent travellers for much information.*® When 
 we reflect that the finest wool comes, in the present day, 
 from Thibet and the mountains bordering on Cashmir, we 
 perceive that these accounts possess a twofold degree of in- 
 terest and importance. 
 
 The value of this wool was enhanced by the colours with 
 which it was dyed. Several natural dyes, particularly the 
 cochineal, were indigenous in the country; and robes of 
 such extreme beauty and splendour were exported from it, 
 that they were worn by the kings of Persia themselves.*^ 
 
 In these countries are some considerable lakes, on the 
 surface of one of which floats a species of oil, which being 
 skimmed off* is used with victuals.^*^ 
 
 Next to the feeding of sheep, these nations were depend- 
 ent on hunting for their subsistence, in which they employed 
 not dogs, but falcons, vultures, and eagles ; a custom which 
 has since extended over a great part of Asia.^* 
 
 Notwithstanding the marvellous and monstrous account 
 which Ctesias has given us of the figures of these Indians, 
 it is to be observed that they are hot described as savages, 
 but as the most upright, that is, the most civihzed, of man- 
 kind.^^ They pursued commerce, partly for the purpose of 
 disposing of their robes and the produce of their flocks ; 
 partly to exchange their amber for bread, meal, and gar- 
 
 '• Ctesias, Ind, cap. 13, 22, 24. 
 
 " Arrian, iii. 28. See above, p. 159. 
 
 '• Besides the notices respecting the assafoetida, contained in Pottinger, 
 (see above, p. 159,) compare by all means those of Elphinstone, {Account of 
 Cabuly p, 302,) where is found an accurate description of the plant, and a 
 statement of its importance as an article of Indian commerce. 
 
 »• Ctesias, Ind. cap. 21 ; cf. Ml. Hist. Anim. iv. 46. 
 
 » Ctesias, Ind. cap. 11. " Ibid. cap. 22; cf. Ml. loc. cit. iv. 26. 
 
 " Ctesias, Ind. cap. 8. 
 
 chap. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. PERSIAN INDIA. 
 
 185 
 
 ments made from the rind of trees. The amber is described 
 as a resinous subtance, which they collected from the trees 
 on which the insect from which cochineal is prepared is 
 found.^^. They also obtained by exchange the swords they 
 used in the chase, as well as bows and arrows. They were 
 admirably skilled in the use of the bow, and their lofty and 
 inaccessible mountains secured them from the attempts of 
 any conqueror.*^* 
 
 Interesting and instructive as these early records are, it 
 must still be a matter of surprise that, notwithstanding the 
 accurate information the ancients appear to have possessed 
 respecting this part of India, we do not meet with any dis- 
 tinct mention of the vale of Cashmir, so celebrated through- 
 out all the East. All that we can do is to detect some 
 doubtful notices of it in the remains of Ctesias, for neither 
 Alexander nor any of his followers visited this spot, and 
 Herodotus appears not to have even heard of it. It is pos- 
 sible that what Ctesias relates of Indians of a complexion 
 nearly white, may apply to the inhabitants of the vale of 
 Cashmir, as well as the fabulous account of horses of the 
 size of sheep : ^ these animals being used in that country, 
 as well as goats, for the purpose of bearing burdens ; and 
 the same may be the case with regard to the lake in which 
 oil is found to float, the only lakes which occur in these 
 parts lying within that valley. But what is still more in 
 point, is the circumstance of the beautiful robes imported 
 from these parts, of such splendid colours and brilliancy 
 that they were worn even by the kings of Persia. To what 
 can this account be so aptly referred as those precious shawls 
 of Cashmir, the most highly prized decoration not only of 
 the ladies of the West, but much more so of the other sex* 
 in the East ? The remote antiquity, also, claimed for their 
 race by the people of Cashmir, appears to be confirmed by 
 this account.^^ 
 
 " I am not sure that it is the same with the cochineal of the West Indies j 
 cf. WiLFORD, Asiatic Res. loc. cit. 
 
 " Ctesias, loc. cit. 22. For the cochineal and the other articles of trade 
 alluded to, see the chapter on the Commerce of the Babylonians. 
 
 ^ Ctesias, Ind. cap. 11. For the fair complexion of the people of Cash- 
 mir, see TiEFENTHALER, i. p. 28; and Bernier, ii. p. 282. 
 
 ^ According to the Ayin Achan, they trace their line of kings for a period 
 of four thousand years. 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
186 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ClfAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. PERSIAN INDIA. 
 
 187 
 
 ! 
 
 The Persian dominion, however, did not extend so far, 
 and the position of the Happy Valley, as this fairy land is 
 denominated throughout the East, sheltered, for centunes, 
 its peaceful inhabitants from the revolutions which devas- 
 tated the rest of Asia.^ It is environed on all sides by a 
 chain of inaccessible mountains, covered with perpetual 
 snow ; and can be approached only by two defiles on the 
 banks of the Behud, which flows through it. The soil of 
 the valley appears to have been deposited by this stream, 
 which at some distant period was arrested here, and con- 
 verted the whole valley into a lake, till it found at last an 
 exit towards the south, in which direction its waters de- 
 scend to join those of the Indus. The mud thus deposited, 
 like that of the Nile, has become a soil which abundantly 
 recompenses the labours of the husbandman. The height 
 of the surrounding mountains defends the vale of Cashmir 
 from the periodical rains which deluge the rest of India ; 
 and their lofty peaks are only surmounted by the lighter 
 and more feathery clouds, which float in the upper regions 
 of the atmosphere, and when thus arrested, descend in gen- 
 tle showers, forming innumerable cascades, which precipi- 
 tate themselves on all sides from the lofty and romantic 
 walls of rock which encompass the valley, and contribute 
 to swell the stream by which it is divided. Protected by 
 its peculiar position, this fortunate valley neither suffers 
 from the heat which prevails in the flats of Hindustan, nor 
 feels the cold of the surrounding mountains. Its fertile soil 
 produces all the fruits known in temperate climes, and en- 
 joys a perpetual spring, of which the nations of the north 
 know nothing, except in the dreams of poets. 
 ' Although not unknown to the Persians, Cashmir was not 
 subject to their dominion ; but it lay at no great distance 
 from the limits of the latter. It is certain that the Indians, 
 who paid their tribute of gold-dust, were near neighbours 
 of Cashmir, and the greatness of this tribute (three hundred 
 and sixty talents) enables us to comprehend what is told us 
 by Herodotus and Ctesias, of the numerous caravans of In- 
 
 » For the following account we are indebted to Bernier, vol. ii. p. 292, 
 (the first author who gave an accurate description of this valley,) and to 
 FoRSTER, Travels, p. 225, etc., as well as Rennell, Memoir^ etc., p. 14A 
 third edit. 
 
 dians who penetrated with their camels into the desert,^ at 
 that time probably more abundant in gold-sand than at pre- 
 sent. What we have already advanced, together with what 
 we shall hereafter have occasion to remark, may suffice to 
 prove that these regions are no less interesting to the his- 
 torian of commerce than to the philosophical observer of the 
 progress of civilization. 
 
 A considerable portion of these northern regions of India 
 were unquestionably subject to the dominion of Persia, and 
 as early as the time of Herodotus, we find the north of In- 
 dia described as a separate satrapy ;'^ though in after times 
 this province was more usually denominated from the range 
 of Paropamisus, the boundary mountains of India, which 
 continued to be distinguished by the same name in the days 
 of Alexander.*" We must not, however, expect an accurate 
 line of demarcation, as the authority of the Persian king, 
 indifferently respected in all the mountainous parts of his 
 nominal empire, could not have possessed much weight in 
 this remote comer of it. 
 
 The countries to the west of the Indus also, and stretch- 
 ing downwards from the modem territories of Cabul and 
 Kandahar, as far as the mouth of that river, and former- 
 ly thought to belong to India, are no less deserving our 
 attention. They became first known in the time of Darius 
 Hystaspis, who, meditating an expedition against these parts, 
 first caused them to be explored by a Grecian named Scylax, 
 who was instmcted to descend the stream of the Indus.^^ 
 They were afterwards subjected by the enterprise of Darius, 
 and either formed into a separate satrapy, or attached to 
 that of Northem India or Paropamisus.^^ The want of his- 
 torical records leaves the further relations of Persia with 
 these regions in obscurity ; we must observe, however, that 
 it is inherent in the nature of extensive empires, that their 
 
 " Ctesias, in -^lian, Hitft, Anim. iv. 26, speaks of them as consisting of 
 several thousands. For a further investigation of the extension of this com- 
 merce, as far as the easternmost parts of Asia, see the chapter on the trade of 
 the Babylonians. . 
 
 *• Herod, iii. 94 * Arrian, vi. 15, and elsewhere. " Herod, iv. 44. 
 
 •* Herod, ii. cc. Alexander laid down as the southern limits of the sa- 
 trapy of Paropamisus, the river Cophenes, which empties itself into the Indus^ 
 below Attock. Arrian, iv. 22. These may probably have been the bound- 
 aries under the Persians ; though this is a point which cannot be asserted 
 with confidence. 
 
PERSIANS. 
 
 CRAP. !• 
 
 4 
 i 
 
 f 
 
 188 
 
 extreme provinces should become more or less independent, 
 and the constant direction of the arms of Persia to the west, 
 in consequence of continual wars with the Greeks the 
 Eo'ptians, and the Scythians, can scarcely fail to have 
 withdrawn the attention of that power from its eastern 
 
 boundaries. , . , . ^i j„„„ 
 
 A light begins to dawn on the subject only at the down- 
 fel of the emjire, when Alexander pushed his victories in 
 this direction:" The northern half, as far as the Guraeus, 
 
 - Notwithstandine the assistance which may be derived from the import- 
 
 ^.JiSe'rable K^meh. The st'reams «hich.flow into Jae Indus sout^^^^ 
 
 Pv^^^th7hfmrprKSi^^Ston^^S^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 te'e!abl "'^In ten' days' n.arch. Alexan|r advanced from B,e,^ to 
 
 lrt»i:d^i^ -^ ^^^^^^^ Hr sif 
 
 buTorT linity, situated at 'a distance of about two ^undred miles from 
 Rictra, and therefore consider it to be the Caspatyrus of H"°f°'"'' A^^^. 
 »n,lri^ Vin? obviously only a more recent appellation, by no means neces 
 SriW beSkfn°nT a city of recent erection. Alexander next marched as far 
 STbut not acZ the ^^phenes, and there -™moned the P™ whose d 
 minions lav south of tWs Hver, and among them Taxilas. 1 he ^.opnenes i 
 '^^^Z'tJ^'t CabuU A part of his aLy he ^e^tche^^d^S^^^^^^ 
 tion, across this stream, through the territory of Taxilas, with dvrecHons w 
 marih to the Indus, and prepare a passage at J'^"!^ (AttockV A^ tn^^^e 
 time he aoDointed a satrap of Alexandria, and annexed to nis governmeni 
 STthe coS^J? from Paropimisus to the Cophenes, while he pursued his own 
 ^ chrtwaTd to the moLtains for the P-po- of -bduin|^he ^nbe^and 
 ciHps there In this march he first fell in with the nverU noes, w men ap- 
 ^" t^ ^" theVunsheer of Elphins.one, passing through a wild country, 
 ^d having crossed this river, reached the Euaspla, (Toeow,) and ^tienja 
 ^nced"ofheVeat river Gurjeus, which was not passed without ifficuUy. 
 ^d^ch aDoS^ to be the modern Kameh. Passing this and the Cabul 
 a^ihdr wK^onfluence, he reached the principal city, Massaga. in the 
 territoArtt mSern Paishawur, (where Elphinstone fo""d 'he cour^) and 
 ^^Srched by Peucela, (Pakholy,) to the Ip^us; on ^^ng^t whirti 
 he found that the necessary prei»rations for passing '^e "V" M been "n^^^^ 
 hv Henhipstion at Taxila. When the materials are so scanty, it must neces 
 K S^rcL^ thaTo?inions should differ ; I have »"*ly .f.'f'f J^J^.Tf 
 nears to me the most probable conclusion, after comparing the narrative m 
 Se histo^ vrith die^charts of Elphinstone, which arc the best we possess. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. PERSIAN INDIA. 
 
 189 
 
 (Kameh,) and from the latter stream to the Cophenes, 
 (Cabul,) was at that time very populous, inhabited by vari- 
 ous Indian tribes, which lived under the sway of their na- 
 tive rajahs, either altogether independent of the Persians, or 
 allied to them only for purposes of natural defence and pro- 
 tection. Herodotus himself mentions the province of Pac- 
 tyica, and the city of Caspatyrus,^ where Scylax commenced 
 his navigation of the Indus,^ and which I consider to be 
 the same with Cabul. Of these tribes the Astaceni and the 
 Assaceni were the most powerful."^ " They were not, how- 
 ever, as tall in their persons, nor as courageous in their dis- 
 position, nor as dark-complexioned, as those on the further 
 side of the Indus. Anciently they were subject to the As- 
 syrians, (Medes ?) but when the Medes became subject to 
 the Persians, they also paid tribute to Cyrus." ^^ These na- 
 tions possessed several strong cities, for instance, the capital 
 of the Assaceni, Massaca, a very populous place ; and an- 
 other great city, near the Indus, named Peucela (Pakholy). 
 In the territory of the other nation lay Bazira (Bijore); 
 Arigseus (Irjab) ; and the fortified rock of Aornus. In this 
 same region dwelt also another tribe of a different race, the 
 
 The course of the rivers of this country is not exactly the same in Rexnell, 
 (see Memoir to a Map of Hindustan, etc. p. 65, sqq.,) who makes the Guraeus 
 fall at once into the Indus at Attock. This necessarily occasions certain 
 minor discrepancies, which, however, are of no consequence, except as re- 
 lates to the details of Alexander's progress. Rennell also places Alexandria 
 under Paropamisus in the district of Cabul ; Morier alone removes it further 
 to the west, near Bamian. 
 
 •* Herod, iv. 44. 
 
 ** It is indeed said that Caspatyrus lay on the Indus, but the streams which 
 empty themselves into the Indus on the north, and, in fact, compose that 
 river, may easily have been confounded with it. The opinion of Herodotus 
 also, (founded on the accounts of Scylax,) that the Indus flowed from east to 
 west, (Herod, iv. 44,) may be thought to confirm this interpretation, which 
 supposes that Herodotus took the Guraius for the Indus, and that Caspatyrus 
 was situated on the former river. Even the name of Pactyica, in which ter- 
 ritory the city of Caspatyrus lay, appears to be preserved in that of Pokua, 
 near Cabul ; consequently I am not disposed (with Rennell) to find Pacty- 
 ica in Pakholy (the PeuceHotis of the Greeks) ; nor, as Gatterer does, in 
 Badakshan ; though I would not deny that the limits of the ancient Pactyica, 
 like those of the modem Cabul, may very well have extended northwards as 
 far as Badakshan, and southwards as far as Pakholy. We have not the 
 means of determining these questions with perfect accuracy ; but it is suffi- 
 cient that we have obtained information which may secure us from any con- 
 siderable error. 
 
 ** Arrian, iv. 25, etc., from whom the following facts are taken. Cf. Ren 
 NELL, Memoir to a Map of Hindustani p. 171, etc., and the map to p. 201. 
 
 * Arrian, Ir^d, Op, p. 169. 
 
 
190 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. PERSIAN INDIA. 
 
 191 
 
 It 
 
 1 
 
 Nissei of whom we shall have occasion to speak hereafter : 
 these 'were not subject to a rajah, but lived under a free 
 government. It is to be remarked, that all these nations, 
 besides tilling their land, occupied themselves with the feed- 
 inff of cattle, of which Alexander carried away two hundred 
 thousand head of oxen, of so excellent a breed, that he 
 caused a number of them to be sent into Macedonia to im- 
 prove the cattle of that country.^ j -.i 
 I abstain from burdening the memory of my reader with 
 the names of several smaller tribes of Indians, the Aspians, 
 Thurseans, Gur^ans, and others in these parts. They ap- 
 pear all to have possessed the same character, and to have 
 marked the approach to India ; their manners and customs, 
 no less than the difference of their complexion, distmguish- 
 inff them from the natives of Western Asia. Their armies 
 are composed principally of infantry ; differing in this re- 
 spect from the armed hordes of the nomad tribes ; and we 
 even discover among them the use of elephants for purposes 
 of state and war, though in less numbers than in Southern 
 India ;'^ the rajahs of this region being little distinguished 
 for power or opulence compared with their mightier bre- 
 thren of the interior. 
 
 The districts in question form at the present day the chiet 
 part of the territory of the Afghans, or Eastern Persia, called 
 also the kingdom of Cabul, from the name of the principal 
 city, and which the mission of Elphinstone has rescued from 
 obscurity. A comparison of his account with that of Arrian, 
 proves the accuracy of the latter ; some particulars excepted, 
 which may be considered undetermined ; and the nation at 
 large (making allowances for the influence of Moham- 
 medanism) appears to be in pretty nearly the same stage of 
 civilization as at the time of Alexander s conquest, borne 
 of them occupy fixed abodes in cities and villages, others 
 lead a pastoral life under the shade of tents ; but even m 
 the case of the former their wealth principally consists in 
 their cattle : their constitution nearly resembhng that of the 
 clans of Scotland. The whole race is divided into different 
 
 - iRRlAN'ius^;, (iv. 30,) that Alexander himself caused elephan^^^^^^^^^^ 
 taken by men that used to hunt them, and to be tamed for military service . 
 a practice which was continued afterwards. 
 
 clans or tribes, and though professing a general allegiance 
 to a common prince, they pay a much more implicit obe- 
 dience to their several chieftains, though the influence of 
 the latter is always greater or less in proportion to the 
 weight of their personal character. The British traveller 
 found them a people of simple manners, whose pastoral 
 habits presented a pleasing picture ; while at the same time 
 they were courageous and independent: such also they 
 were found to be by Alexander; and we cannot peruse 
 without indignation the recital of their severe treatment at 
 his hands, for having attempted to defend their cities and 
 possessions.'*® 
 
 The cultivation and the dense population which mark 
 the northern side of the Cophenes disappeared on its south- 
 em bank. Towards the mouths of the Indus the land de- 
 generated to a sandy desert, inhabited by the Arabitae, who 
 are expressly declared to be an Indian race.^^ To the west 
 of these were the Oritae, descended from the Gedrosians, or 
 wild Ballooches or Balloges. The names of both nations 
 have been preserved in their modern appellations. The 
 Arabitae were so called from the river Arabius, or Al-Mend, 
 at the mouth of which is still found a city named Araba, 
 near Dioul, close to Porto dos Ilheos,*^ the same river di- 
 viding them from the Oritae, whose name is still preserved 
 in the city of Haur, on the western side of the Mend. 
 They were an independent race, who preserved their free- 
 dom by sacrificing, at the approach of Alexander's army, 
 all their possessions, and retiring into the desert, where the 
 Macedonian victor could not follow them.*^ 
 
 Let me be permitted now to carry my reader from these 
 boundary nations across the river, which gives name to the 
 country, into the interior, and to speculate on its condition 
 during the existence of the Persian monarchy, and at its 
 downfel, when Alexander, by his Indian expedition, opened 
 for Europeans the road to the extreme East. 
 
 * Tychsen, Comment Soc. Gott. vol. xxi., has disproved the absurd hy- 
 pothesis which would trace the descent of the Afghans from the Armenians 
 or from the Jews. They are unquestionably an original stock. 
 
 *' Arrian, Indie, Op, p. 184. 
 
 ** Barros, Decadas da Asia, Dec. iv. p. 290. The maps of Pottinger and 
 Kinneir confirm this. 
 
 *" Arrian, vi. 21. 
 
192 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Previously to this event, however, Herodotus had de- 
 scribed a part of Hindustan, properly so called, and his ac- 
 count (imperfect as it is) demands our regard. 
 
 He tells us** that, " The Indians are the most easterly of 
 all the nations of Asia of which we have any certain know- 
 ledge : the country to the east of these being a sandy desert. 
 There are, however, various nations of Indians, speaking 
 different languages. Some of them lead a nomad life; 
 others not. Others, again, live amid the marshes of the 
 river, (the Indus,) and live on fish, which they eat raw, and 
 take by means of canoes made of canes : a single joint of the 
 cane in question being sufficient to form a canoe.*^ These 
 Indians wear dresses made of river plants, which they cut 
 and beat, and having woven matwise, put on like a corslet." 
 
 The remark that the Indians consist of a variety of differ- 
 ent tribes must at once prepossess us in favour of his ac- 
 count, when we reflect on the multitude of errors which 
 have resulted from a contrary opinion. In the next place, 
 he draws a distinction between the nomad Indians and those 
 who occupy fixed abodes ; and adds to these a third class, 
 who subsisted by fishing, and whose situation he points out ; 
 telling us that they inhabited the marshes of the Indus. 
 We must suppose them, therefore, to have been placed near 
 the mouths of that river, and near to the Arabitae, with 
 whom they are perhaps to be identified. The soil in these 
 parts is altogether alluvial, and consequently must at a 
 former period have been a marsh. At present, the insup- 
 portable heat and continual drought which prevail there 
 render this district so unhealthy that Europeans abstain 
 from visiting it at all, or continue there only for the shortest 
 possible time ; which accounts for the little knowledge we 
 possess respecting it.*^ The investigations, however, of some 
 recent English travellers have tended to disperse the ob- 
 
 ** Herod, iii. 98. 
 
 *• The cane of which Herodotus speaks, I consider to be the Bamboo, 
 which abounds in these parts. Thevenot, ii. p. 158. Other authors as well 
 as Herodotus have greatly exaggerated its thickness. Ctesias (/wrf. cap. 6) 
 gives some other marks which perhaps mi^ht assist a botanist in identifying 
 the plant : " The Indian canes are of different degrees of thickness : the 
 thickest being so large that two men cannot encompass it, and as high as an 
 ordinary mast. The plants are male and female, the male, which is very 
 strong, having no pith, which the female has. 
 
 ^ Till lately the oest account we possessed was that of Rennell (3f<?wotr, 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. PERSIAN INDIA. 
 
 193 
 
 scurity which hung over it, and the statements of Pottinger, 
 who accompanied Ellis in his mission to the Ilmeers, the 
 modern masters of Sinde, confirms the accuracy of Arrian's 
 account. Under the name of Sinde is comprehended not 
 only the Delta of the Indus, but all the country above, as 
 far as the influx of the Acesincs or Chunaub ; a territory 
 which may be compared with the valley of the Nile : the 
 climate, the character of the soil, the inundations of the In- 
 dus, and the irrigation of the soil, justifying the comparison. 
 The mouths of the river at all events appear to have been 
 subject to as many changes as those of the Nile, and conse- 
 quently we must not expect to find every spot tally exactly 
 with the descriptions of ancient writers. If, however, we 
 suppose with Pottinger, that the territory of Musicanus, 
 with whom Alexander waged war, was Chanduki above the 
 Delta, and that Kurachi, the principal harbour near the 
 mouth of the Indus, is the Crocala of Arrian, we shall look 
 for the ancient capital of Pattala, not in the site of the 
 modern Tatta, but at the very commencement or apex of 
 the Delta, in the territory of the modern Hydrabad.*^ 
 
 Herodotus*® continues to tell us, that " other Indians, 
 situated to the east of the former, are nomad tribes, living 
 on raw flesh, and called Padaeans. They are said to observe 
 the following customs. When any is sick among them, 
 whether man or woman, if a man, the men who are his 
 principal associates put him to death, alleging that by 
 allowing him to linger on his flesh would be spoiled. He 
 denies with all his might that he is sick, but the others, not 
 listening to him, kill him, and make a feast of him. In Kke 
 manner, if a woman be sick, the women that are her princi- 
 pal associates do the like by her. Those who happen to 
 attain to old age are all killed and eaten, but this is the case 
 with few ; as the generality fall beforehand into some dis- 
 ease, which causes them to be put to death. Again, there 
 are other Indians who live as follows : They neither kill any 
 
 etc. p. 180) and Vincent, Periplus of Nearchus, etc. Since their time we 
 possess the accurate description of Pottinger, (Travels, 342—382,) accom- 
 panied by an excellent map of the mouths of the Indus. 
 
 *' Arrian expressly tells us (vi. 17) that Pattala was situated at the apex 
 of the Delta. 1 must leave it to geographers to examine this point more par- 
 ticularly, and determine its details. 
 
 *" Herod, iii. 99—101. 
 
 VOL. I. O 
 
194 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. PERSIAN INDIA. 
 
 195 
 
 thing having life, nor sow seed, nor possess houses, but live 
 
 on a kind of grain nearly as large as millet, enclosed in a 
 
 husk, and springing up spontaneously, which they cook and 
 
 eat in the husk. If any one among these fall into a malady, 
 
 he retires into the desert and is there laid up ; nor does any 
 
 one show the least concern about him during his sickness, 
 
 or at his death." *» Herodotus also tells us that these people 
 
 live to the south of the Persian empire, and pay not the 
 
 smallest respect to the authority of the monarch of that 
 
 country, which sufficiently defines their general position. 
 
 They are evidently Southern Indians, living on the further 
 
 side of the Indus, which was the boundary of the dominion 
 
 of Darius. Consequently we cannot apply the description 
 
 to any other countries but those which flank the Indus to 
 
 the east near the sea; the province, namely, of Sinde, 
 
 already mentioned, or the country between Multan and 
 
 Guzerat ; and notwithstanding the imperfect state of our 
 
 information respecting these territo* les, we possess sufficient 
 
 to enable us to illustrate the traditional accounts followed 
 
 by the father of history. 
 
 Herodotus has marked the situation of the first of these 
 tribes, the Padsei, by adding, " that they live to the east of 
 the Indians who subsist by fishing." If the latter lived near 
 the mouth of the Indus, it follows that the former must be 
 sought to the east of them, and consequently above the dis- 
 trict of Guzerat. Their situation again leads to a very pro- 
 bable conjecture respecting the origin of their name, which 
 appears to have been derived from the river Paddar, on the 
 banks of which they fed their flocks. In their immediate 
 neighbourhood are extensive deserts of sand, extending to 
 Multan, at all times haunted by lawless Indian tribes, with 
 whom a large part of the peninsula is filled, almost in a state 
 of savage nature.** In two other places Herodotus calls 
 them Calantiae, or Calatiee : ^^ a name which seems to have 
 been immediately derived from their Indian appellation of 
 Callar, Coolier, or Cooleries.^* 
 
 • Presently after follows the author's account of the Northern Indians 
 already referred to. 
 
 " Sprengel, Geachichte der Maratten, p. 17—30. 
 
 " Herod, iii. 38, 97, from whose account it is clear that this was a general 
 appellation for the Indians of these parts. 
 
 « Barros, Decadas da Asia, p. 298 ; cf. Sprengel, Gesch. der Maratten, 
 
 Their disposition to robbery has at all times made them 
 formidable to the merchants of Guzerat, and the imputation 
 attached to them by Herodotus, of eating human flesh, has 
 at all times adhered to their race, as even Thevenot assures 
 us that a little before the time of his visit food of this de- 
 scription was exposed for sale in the bazaar of Debca.^' In 
 another place Herodotus tells us that their custom is to eat 
 their parents ;^ and, without vouching for the truth of these 
 accounts, it is clear that the tradition is of genuine Indian 
 growth, being repeated almost word for word nearly two 
 thousand years after the time of Herodotus, by Marco Polo,^ 
 the earliest Indian traveller to whom the nations of modern 
 Europe are indebted for more accurate information respect- 
 ing these countries, as the ancients were to Herodotus. 
 
 Nor can we fail to recognise the race of Indians who 
 live on a vegetable diet, and abstain from all things having 
 life. The distaste for animal food is indeed extremely 
 general among the Hindus, but it may also be traced among 
 their neighbours whom we at present know under the 
 name of Mahrattas,*^ whose ancestors (as I shall have oc- 
 casion to show) have always occupied the same districts. 
 Even the species of grain on which he tells us they subsist 
 cannot remain a question, notwithstanding he has afforded 
 us no complete description of it ; rice, as we all know, being 
 the principal diet of these tribes, and (so to speak) in- 
 digenous in their country. What he adds respecting the 
 wild and savage character of these tribes is strictly conform- 
 able with what we know of their warlike and cruel habits, 
 as well as his remark respecting their complexion, which, 
 especially in the southern parts of Hindustan, becomes al- 
 most black.^ 
 
 These preliminary remarks enable us to reduce the in- 
 formation afforded by Herodotus to certain general heads. 
 
 I. The India of Herodotus embraces also, in part, the 
 countries to the north, known likewise to Ctesias, namely. 
 Little Thibet and Cabul, as well as the southern districts 
 
 " Thevenot, ii. p. 18. The same is confirmed by the most recent ac- 
 counts. Elphinstone tells us (p. 28) that the tribe of the Vizores, living 
 here, are savages and cannibals. 
 
 ** Herod, iii. 38. " Marco Polo in Ramus, ii. p. 53. 
 
 " Sprengel, Gesch. der Maratten. passim. 
 
 »7 PoTTiNGER, Travels, p. 378. 
 
 o 2 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP.- I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. PERSIAN INDIA. 
 
 197 
 
 near the mouths of the Indus, and, beyond that river, as far 
 as the Paddar and the confines of Guzerat. Of these coun- 
 tries he had learned all that a stranger was sure to hear first, 
 (as may be seen by comparing the narrative of Marco Polo,) 
 namely, the wonderful and the marvellous. Nevertheless, 
 there is in the most part a fund of truth at the bottom of all 
 his statements, and the historian errs only in cases where it 
 was impossible for him to attain exact information. 
 
 II. The assertion of Herodotus that India terminated in 
 the east in a sandy desert, admits of an easy and satisfactory 
 explanation. This notion must appear at first sight the 
 more erroneous, from the fact that, even in the time of the 
 Persians, it is certain, from other authorities, that the great 
 kingdoms of Central Hindustan were not unknown to the 
 rest of the world. Nevertheless, it is certain that both 
 Southern and Northern India, as known to Herodotus, ac- 
 tually terminated in such deserts ; the former in the desert 
 of Gobi, the latter in the sandy waste which stretches from 
 Guzerat to Multan, and it was, therefore, very natural that 
 the historian should fall into the error, that the whole of 
 India terminated towards the east in a desert of this de- 
 scription.^ 
 
 These ideas were of course corrected by the daring ex- 
 pedition of Alexander, which threw a new light on the 
 countries into which he penetrated. 
 
 The countries explored by that conqueror, are those at 
 present denominated the provinces of Lahore and Multan, 
 comprehended under the general appellation of the Panjab, 
 or the Land of the Five Streams, because, besides the Indus, 
 which bounds it to the west, it is watered by five rivers, 
 which rise in the boundary-mountains to the north, and 
 pursue a south-westerly direction towards the principal cur- 
 rent, to which they unite themselves. The ancient names 
 of these rivers, as recorded by the followers of Alexander, 
 appear to be all of Persian origin, and hence we miss the 
 resemblance which we generally find between the local 
 names of ancient and modern Hindustan. The nearest to 
 the Indus is the Hydaspes or Behut, which falls into the 
 second, the Acesines or Chunaub, and both descend into 
 
 " In RennelVs great map of Hindustan, these deserts are indicated in all 
 their extent. 
 
 the third, the Hydraotes or Rauvee. The confluence of 
 these rivers takes place in Lahore, and they traverse in a 
 single current Multan, situated more to the south, and pour 
 their waters into the Indus, near a city of the same name 
 with the province, in lat. 30° 50". Lastly, the fourth of 
 these minor streams, the Hyphasis or Beyah, as far as which 
 Alexander advanced, and which receives the Setledge, pur- 
 sues a course nearly parallel with the preceding, forming 
 the eastern boundary of Lahore and Multan, and emptying 
 itself into the Indus, without encountering the others, in 
 lat. 29° 12". 
 
 This fruitful territory was the scene of Alexander s victo- 
 ries,^ who penetrated as far as the banks of the Hyphasis, 
 but was compelled to stop, just in the middle of his triumph- 
 ant march from the Indus to the Ganges, (which would 
 otherwise have been the proper termination of his con- 
 quests,) by the mutinous dispositions of his troops. He 
 marched homewards by a different direction from that by 
 which he had advanced, pursuing a southerly direction to 
 the mouth of the Indus, through the territory of Multan.^ 
 Thence he despatched his fleet along the coast to the Per- 
 sian Gulf, and the mouths of the Euphrates, while he him- 
 self led his triumphant forces to Susa and Babylon, directly 
 across the deserts of Gedrosia and Carmania, by a route 
 never attempted by any other regular army of Europeans. 
 
 In this manner, at the downfal of the Persian empire, a 
 large portion of ancient Hindustan emerged from obscurity, 
 and we are entitled to consider that the state in which this 
 region was found by Alexander, was the same in which 
 it had subsisted during the empire of the Persians, for it 
 
 ** The march of Alexander has been traced with critical accuracy, by Ren- 
 nell, in his excellent map illustrative of the countries situated between the 
 sources of the Ganges and the Caspian Sea, as well as in his Memoir appended 
 to the same, p. 200. Elphinstone also, who returned from Cabul through 
 the Panjab, has thrown new light upon the subject, Accountf p. 501, etc. 
 Notwithstanding the present lamentable condition of the Panjab, it appears 
 by the account of the latter, to be still a fruitful country, though not equal 
 in that respect to Bengal and the district of the Ganges, which have at all 
 times been the richest parts of Hindustan. 
 
 • It is remarkable how many even of the less considerable details afforded 
 by Arrian, have been confirmed by modem travellers. Pottinger (Travels, 
 p. 9) has remarked the extraordinary noise and turbulence of the waves of 
 the ocean, where they meet the waters of the Indus, which so astonished and 
 alarmed the Macedonian soldiers. 
 
 I 
 
198 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHA¥, I. 
 
 was found by that conqueror in the repose of a profound 
 peace, no traces existing of violent revolutions, nor any 
 thing at the most but slight matters of dispute between the 
 princes of the interior. Consequently, the picture which 
 the followers of Alexander have transmitted to us of the 
 country, is applicable to its former condition, and would on 
 this account deserve our attention, even if it did not con- 
 tain so many interesting points of detail. 
 
 The whole of the Panjab appears at that period to have 
 been densely inhabited, and generally cultivated; filled 
 with a multitude of flourishing states, and various tribes, 
 living under different and independent forms of government. 
 All, however, were equally warlike, and by the testimony of 
 the soldiers of Alexander, the most courageous race of Asia, 
 and their obstinate resistance, and the dread of the still more 
 powerful nations on the Ganges, had no small share in 
 driving the unconquered army of the Macedonian to the 
 mutinous conduct which put an end to his further progress. 
 The complexion of all these nations is described as being 
 swarthy, but not black like that of the Ethiopians : they 
 were not enervated by habits of effeminacy ; their stature 
 was tall and slender, and they had a proportionable alert- 
 ness in their motions.^* 
 
 The Panjab, like the rest of India, consisted of a number 
 of states of different sizes, mutually independent of each 
 other. On the further side of the Indus, as far as the Hy- 
 daspes or Behut, reigned the king or rajah of Taxila or 
 Attock, an ally of Alexander, who had purchased the favour 
 of that conqueror, by an offering of two hundred talents, 
 three thousand oxen, ten thousand sheep, and thirty ele- 
 phants. His kingdom was the most considerable of all be- 
 tween the above-named rivers, and though only accounted 
 one of the petty kings of India, the extent of his present 
 proves the abundance of cattle within his territory, which 
 was bounded on the north by that of another rajah, Abisarus, 
 who also submitted to the conqueror.^ 
 
 A much more powerful monarch ruled on the further 
 side of the Hydaspes, and opposed a stout resistance to the 
 invader. The Grecian historian calls him Poms, which. 
 
 ' 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. PERSIAN INDIA. 
 
 199 
 
 * Arrian, v. 4. 
 
 Arrian, v. 8. 
 
 however, may have been only a title ; as we find it belonged 
 also to another rajah.^' This king headed an army of thirty 
 thousand foot, four thousand horse, and two hundred ele- 
 phants, with three hundred and fifty war-chariots, and 
 ranked among the most powerful monarchs of India. He 
 had at all times been the enemy of Taxilas ;^ a proof that 
 the mutual rivalry of the Indian princes was no less ser- 
 viceable to the cause of Alexander, than that of their suc- 
 cessors to the English. The habits of life and the court 
 establishment of these princes, appear to have been much 
 the same then as at present ; the rajah appearing in pubUc 
 on a state elephant, and his power being generally estimated 
 by the number of these animals in his service. The general 
 dress of the great men was then, as now, garments of fine 
 cotton ; either wrapped round the shoulders, or enveloping 
 the head. Their beards are dyed of various colours, white, 
 scarlet, or blue, or some dark colour. They are adorned 
 with costly earrings of ivory, and the more wealthy are dis- 
 tinguished by an umbrella, and an umbrella-bearer. A 
 difference of rank is also marked by the fashion of their 
 shoes, which are high and decorated, in proportion to the 
 rank of the wearer.^ 
 
 These, and the like circumstances, demonstrate that the 
 manners, as well as the constitutions of the nations of Hin- 
 dustan were the same then as at present ; but in these same 
 districts we are called upon to remark another fact highly 
 deserving of our attention. When Alexander had crossed 
 the Acesines or Chunaub, and penetrated fiirther into the 
 country, he fell in with other nations not living under the 
 rule of princes, but possessing a republican constitution. 
 These Indian republics, of which Nysa, already mentioned, 
 was one, occurred in the country between the Acesines and 
 Hyphasis, (Chunaub and Beyah,) or in the eastern half of 
 the province of Lahore, as well as in the southern district 
 of Multan, as far as the Indus. Along the banks of the 
 latter, after its junction with the Hyphasis, we again meet 
 with nations living under the authority of rajahs, like those 
 to the north. In the province of Lahore, the Cathaei, the 
 
 •• Arrian, v. 9, 21. In the annals of Hindustan he is denominated Pur ; 
 if this be not fictitious. Dow, Hist, of Hindustan, i. p. 24. 
 •* Arrian, v. 18. ** Arrian, Indie, Op, p. 179, 180. 
 
 ti 
 
 I 
 
 Y 
 
 ij 
 
200 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Adraistae, and some others, were of this description ; in 
 that of Multan, the Malli and Oxydracae ; and it is said that 
 still more powerful nations, living under the same form of 
 government, were to be found on the other side of the Hy- 
 phasis, in the direction of the Ganges.^ 
 
 Republican governments are of much too rare occurrence 
 in Asia, to be passed over unobserved, especially when dis- 
 covered in such remote regions, and at so great a distance of 
 time. It shall be our endeavour first of all, carefully to 
 collect the scattered notices respecting them preserved in 
 ancient history ; and next, to inquire whether any traces of 
 them may still be discovered in modern Hindustan, which 
 may lead to a better understanding of them. 
 
 The constitution of all these republics was uniformly 
 aristocratic ; all, without exception, being described as 
 under the government of their optimates. They usually 
 were governed by a senate, which in the instance of the city 
 of Nysa, already mentioned, consisted of three hundred 
 members, in whom the supreme authority resided.^ The 
 numbers of the same body in other cities has not been given, 
 but they appear to have been considerable. The Oxydracae 
 (inhabiting Outch, below Multan) sent one hundred and 
 fifty of their aristocracy as deputies to Alexander;^ and 
 the same conqueror demanded as hostages from the Malli, 
 (in Moultan,) the most powerful of the mall, no les sthan a 
 thousand of their principal citizens (KpajiarevovTei),^ The 
 authorities of these states are denominated either nomarchae,^® 
 or autocrats, (avroKpdropc^,) or, generally, magistrates (jtXrj) ; 
 nor is it possible accurately to define the differences of their 
 respective ranks ; only it is to be observed, that the nom- 
 archae and autocrats are expressly distinguished from one 
 another.^^ 
 
 •• Arrian, v. 22; vi. 6, 14. " Ibid. v. 1, 2. 
 
 * Ibid. vi. 14. *• Ibid. loc. cit. 
 
 '• The Greeks were in the habit of giving the title of nomarchae to the 
 governors of districts or provinces : consequently they were inferior magis- 
 trates, and, as such, opposed to the avroKparopiQ, or the supreme magistrates. 
 Diodorus mentions only one of these cities, (named by him Hyala,) which 
 appears in its constitution to have resembled Sparta, possessing two races of 
 hereditary chiefs or kings, whose office it was to command the troops of the 
 nation in war. The supreme authority appeal's to have resided in their 
 senate. Diodorus, ii. p. 241. 
 
 " Arrian, loc. cit. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. PERSIAN INDIA. 
 
 201 
 
 In the next place, all these nations are described as very 
 warlike, and many of them as very populous and powerful ; 
 opposing to Alexander an impetuous and courageous resist- 
 ance, such as he had scarcely encountered any where else. 
 His victories over them were uniformly purchased at a vast 
 price of blood ; and the Macedonians had to overcome, not 
 only the usual obstacles of walls and ramparts encircling 
 their cities, but also the resistance of citadels within. Their 
 encampments were often protected by a triple line of mili- 
 tary waggons and cars ; the numbers of which are as re- 
 markable as were those of the various descriptions of boats 
 and vessels, which the conqueror got together in their 
 country. The size and populousness of their cities may be 
 gathered from the example of Sangola, the capital of the 
 Cathaei ; on the capture of which seventeen thousand of its 
 inhabitants perished ; seven thousand were made prisoners ; 
 as were also five hundred horsemen and three hundred 
 chariots.^* Many tribes, however, deserted their cities, and 
 withdrew into the deserts which border Multan to the east ; 
 preferring exile to subjugation. 
 
 In the midst of these warlike tribes we meet with a race 
 of Brachmans, or Bramins, who are expressly distinguished 
 from them by the historian. Mention is made of certain 
 cities exclusively belonging to the Brahmani,^^ at the same 
 time that we also hear of the Brahmans as residing in other 
 places, and as having been the authors of a very formidable 
 insurrection against the conqueror.^* 
 
 Lastly, it is to be observed that all these tribes, according 
 to the Greeks, esteemed their free constitutions as an inhe- 
 ritance which had descended to them from Bacchus or Di- 
 onysus. This tradition is first mentioned in the case of 
 Nysa, a city on this side of the Indus, in which instance it 
 appears to have received considerable embellishments from 
 the fancy of the Greeks ;^^ but we also find the same story 
 repeated with reference to the republics of the Malli and 
 Oxydracae, the most powerful of all, and seems to have been 
 common to the rest also.^^ 
 
 These few particulars are all that history has preserved 
 for us respecting these states, and these naturally lead, in 
 
 « Arrian, v. 23, 24. " Ibid. vi. 7. "^ Ibid. vi. 16. 
 
 '» Ibid. V. 1. '• Ibid. vi. 14 
 
 ij 
 
202 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. PERSIAN INDIA. 
 
 203 
 
 the first place, to the question, What, in general, were these 
 Indian tribes ? Do any remains of them still subsist ? or 
 have they altogether perished in the lapse of centuries ? 
 
 This question the history of India enables us to answer 
 with certainty. The countries possessed by the nations 
 already described, have in all ages been the abode of the 
 warrior-caste of Hindustan, the Rasboots, or Rajpoots, of 
 whom the renowned Mahrattas, and the Seikhs, are branches. 
 It was natural that the most warlike tribe of a mighty nation 
 should be placed on its most exposed frontier, (as was the 
 case with those of the Egyptians in Lower Egypt,) and it 
 was from this quarter alone that Hindustan was accessible to 
 an enemy. It is also clear from Indian history, that these 
 tribes have never been completely eradicated from their 
 seats, but at the most have been only reduced to the tem- 
 porary payment of a tribute." Their country is full of nar- 
 row valleys and defiles, and even the plains which occur 
 are encompassed by hills, and the approach of a conqueror 
 was moreover impeded by a multitude of strong holds and 
 castles. Even under the Moguls, their subjugation appears 
 to have been merely nominal : their fastnesses, indeed, were 
 occasionally taken, but the spirit of freedom and independ- 
 ence, which does not reside in fortresses, nor is cooped up 
 by walls, was not so to be overcome, and the Rajpoots 
 preferred a retreat into their deserts to subjugation and 
 
 slavery.'® 
 
 If we adopt the idea that the military castes of Hindus- 
 tan occupied these districts, we may easily understand how 
 Alexander came to experience a resistance so determined ; 
 and the feet is confirmed by their very names. One of the 
 most common appellations of the caste, in addition to that 
 of Rasboots, is Kuttry, or Catry, and is often applied to the 
 whole caste,'^ though it originally appears to have been 
 only the appellation of a particular tribe, situated in the 
 
 " Rennell, Memoir, etc. p. 230. Sprengel, Geschichte der Maratten, p. 
 16. The name of the Mahrattas is of modern origin ; and (according to 
 Sprengel, p. 40) first occurs about the middle of the last century. An- 
 ciently they were denominated Rajpoots. 
 
 '* According to Elphinstone, p. 61, the upper class of the inhabitants of 
 the Panjab stul consists of Rajpoots ; the inferior, of Jauts. The latter are 
 of low stature, dark complexion, and unsightly : the Rajpoots, on the con- 
 trary, are beautifully formed, with aquiline noses. 
 
 " FoiisTER, Travels, etc. p. 188. Rennell, Memoir, etc. pp. 123, 130. 
 
 eastern part of Multan.®° Exactly in the same situation we 
 find, as early as the days of Alexander, the republic of the 
 Catheri,®^ which was subdued by the Macedonian prince. 
 Any one who, by comparing modern history with ancient, 
 has been led to remark the unchangeableness of Indian 
 names, will not consider this proof a slight one. 
 
 If we consider it as established that the modern Seikhs 
 and Mahrattas are the genuine descendants of the ancient 
 enemies of Alexander, and occupy the same districts, how- 
 ever widely they may have extended their conquests south 
 and north, we may fairly conclude, that in proportion as 
 we become acquainted with the modern races, we advance 
 in information respecting their ancestors. The most recent 
 accounts which we possess respecting these tribes, tend in 
 a striking manner to confirm this expectation. 
 
 A love of independence continues to characterize this 
 race, and the republican form of government still subsists, 
 as was found to be the case by the Portuguese, when they 
 first became acquainted with the Rajpoots, and the countries 
 in their possession. The nation was then under a repub- 
 lican government of an aristocratical or ohgarchical cha- 
 racter.^- 
 
 In like manner, it is certain that the constitution of the 
 Seikhs, for a knowledge of which we are indebted to con- 
 temporary writers,®^ is altogether republican. The nation 
 
 " Thevenot, ii. 184. This is confirmed by the statement of Elphin- 
 stone, p. 15, who travelled through Multan, and visited its principal city, 
 which has still a circumference of four miles. It is, at present, governed by 
 a deputy of the king of Cabul. 
 
 " DioD. ii. p. 231. Arrian, v. 22. By the latter they are called Cathaei ; 
 which reading Wesseling has injudiciously, as it appears to me, adopted into 
 the text of Diodorus. 
 
 " Barros, Asia, Decas iv. p. 545. Estes Rasbutos erao da mais nobre 
 gente, que senhoreavao aquelfa terra da Guzerate, e sao homens grandes, e 
 nao tem a religiao de Baneanas, (the merchant-caste,) armados, e em bons ca- 
 vallos descem das montanhas. Govemao-se os Rashutos em liepublica, per os 
 mais velhos, repartidos em Senhorias. 
 
 " See Forster's Travels, p. 211, sqq. The Seikhs appear, however, not 
 to have been, in their first ongin, a distinct race, so much as a religious sect, 
 which formed itself among the Hindus in the sixteenth century, the founder 
 of which was a prophet named Nanok, A. D. 1539. They continued for a 
 considerable space of time a mere sect, under nine successive spiritual heads, 
 till they were compelled by the external violence to assume the character of a 
 political party. Tney became victorious over their enemies, the Afghans and 
 Moguls ; and, in the last centurv, extended their dominion over the greater 
 part of the Panjab, and even further towards the Ganges. 
 
 ! 
 
204 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 consists of a multitude of military republics, compelled, on 
 occasion of aggression from without, to combine for their 
 mutual defence ; just as their ancestors the Malli, Oxydra- 
 C8e, and others, became united on the approach of the Ma- 
 cedonian conqueror, as they had done before on the invasion 
 of the rajahs to the north, who were, it is probable, as little 
 well affected to republics as Alexander himself.®* " Their 
 constitution," says the British traveller,^ " has, at first sight, 
 the appearance of being aristocratical, but on a nearer in- 
 spection, it appears to deserve rather the name of a de- 
 mocracy. No member of the state enjoys any title or 
 honorary distinction, the chiefs are only military. In com- 
 mon society, an equality of rank prevails, which no class, 
 however rich and powerful, durst venture to abolish. The 
 assemblies of the people are altogether military ; each mem- 
 ber has a vote, and the majority decide." 
 
 Pure as this democracy appears to have been, it is appa- 
 rent from the very account of the narrative, that these as- 
 semblies of the nation at large were convoked only when the 
 Seikhs were menaced by foreign enemies, and have ceased 
 since their wars with the Afghans. On the contrary, it 
 would seem that an aristocracy was the established form of 
 government, modified to a more popular constitution, when 
 the necessity for a general resistance to a powerful oppressor 
 called for such a change. 
 
 However this may be, it is clear, (and I shall not press 
 this conclusion further,) that a taste for republican institu- 
 tions has at all times characterized these Indian nations, of 
 which the Mahrattas, a race allied to the Seikhs, afford still 
 stronger proofs. The latter have indeed their chiefs or ra- 
 jahs, yet it is no uncommon circumstance for a number of 
 their principal men, especially of the Brahmanical caste, to 
 assume the supreme authority, and reduce their monarchical 
 to an oligarchical or aristocratical form of government.^ 
 These countries are, indeed, the proper seats of the warrior- 
 castes, but nevertheless contain, like all the rest of Hindus- 
 tan, a large number of Brahmans, and the warlike spirit of 
 the country has taken and seized this caste, no less than 
 those of the agriculturists and traders. 
 
 •* Arrian, v. 22. " FoRSTER, loc. cit. 
 
 " Sprengel, Geschichte der Maratten, pp. 102, 105. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 SATRAPIES. PERSIAN INDIA. 
 
 205 
 
 " The character of Northern India is very different from 
 that of the South. In the Panjab the peasant is also a sol- 
 dier from necessity, and the Brahman himself scruples not 
 to handle the sword ; no one goes out of his house unarmed, 
 the merchant as well as the labourer, even when he has to 
 go but a few miles from home, is fully accoutred ; and in 
 some districts it is not unusual to see the peasant armed 
 with a spear while engaged in tilling the ground." ^ 
 
 Precisely the same phenomena occurred in the time of 
 Alexander, when, as at the present, the Brahmans were not 
 only disseminated over the country, but (as we have had oc- 
 casion to observe) had cities of their own, which they de- 
 fended with no less obstinacy than the rest of their country- 
 men against the Macedonians.^ It even appears to me 
 highly probable, that the rulers of the states alluded to (as 
 is at present the case among the Mahrattas) were all, or the 
 greater part of them, Brahmans. First, because this hypo- 
 thesis would tend to explain the extraordinary tradition that 
 these republican governments were an inheritance derived 
 from Dionysus, or Bacchus, since not only the character- 
 istics of the Indian Bacchus, as recorded by the Greeks, but 
 many particulars of his mythological history, appear to prove 
 that his story has been ingrafted on that of Brahma ; and 
 we cannot be surprised that the Brahmanical caste, which, 
 besides the privilege of ministering to the worship of their 
 deity, claimed the distinction of being the civilizers of their 
 country, should have assumed the merit also of being their 
 political legislators. Secondly, this conjecture is rendered 
 still more probable by the circumstance, that the Brahmans 
 are expressly mentioned as the authors of the revolts against 
 Alexander,^^ since what cause (no encroachment being 
 made in their national religion) could so readily lead them 
 to such attempts as the desire of regaining their lost au- 
 thority ? If this supposition be well founded, we see an- 
 other proof of the immutability of Indian constitutions, as 
 well as manners, notwithstanding the number of centuries 
 that have elapsed, and the multitude of political revolutions 
 to which they have been exposed. I reserve for the por- 
 tion of my work relative to India, the observations which 
 
 *• FoRSTER*s Travels. Preface. 
 
 Arrian, vi. 7. "^ Ibid. vi. 16. 
 
206 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 I have to make on the origin and character of Republican- 
 ism there. 
 
 With the above nations terminates the degree of Hght 
 which the expedition of Alexander disseminated over Hin- 
 dustan. It was reserved for his successor, Seleucus Nicator, 
 to penetrate to the banks of the Ganges, in all ages the 
 genuine abodes of Indian religion and civilization. It was 
 only by hearsay that Alexander could gather any thing re- 
 specting the mighty kingdom of the Prasii, the modem 
 Bengal and Oude, and its capital Palibothra, near the mo- 
 dem Patna, which has since been often regarded as the 
 metropolis of all India.^ The reports they heard of the in- 
 numerable elephants and mighty armies of this nation, so 
 terrified the hitherto unconquered Macedonians, that, in 
 opposition to the will of their commander, they commenced 
 their retreat homewards ; and although Alexander himself 
 at first treated these rumours as exaggerations, succeeding 
 ages have proved them to be any thing but ill-founded. 
 
 " Arriax, Ind, Op, p. 1/5. Concerning the site of Palibothra, (Patelpu- 
 ther,) see my essay Be Gracorum notitia IndiaSy in the Comment. Soc. Goett. 
 vol. X. p. 139. 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 y 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE PERSIAN 
 
 EMPIRE. 
 
 I. GENERAL AND HISTORICAL ACCOUNT. 
 
 Previous to an examination into the state and constitution 
 of the Persian empire in later ages, it is indispensable that 
 we should take a survey of the early history of the race, 
 their origin and connexion with their neighbours, — circum- 
 stances which influenced most of their more recent institu- 
 tions, though modified, indeed, by many accidents of time 
 and circumstances. 
 
 The Persians are descended from that widely-disseminated 
 people, who occupied the countries between the Tigris and 
 Indus on one side, and between the Oxus and the Indian 
 Ocean on the other. Their very aspect and complexion dis- 
 tinguish them from the Mongols, their neighbours to the 
 north, as well as from the Hindus to the south, in a manner 
 too decided to admit of our supposing any consanguinity 
 between them ; while their languj^e proves them to be 
 equally independent of the Semitic or Arabian tribes to the 
 west ; since the fact of a totally different speech prevailing 
 on the western bank of the Tigris from that spoken on the 
 eastern,^ entitles us to consider the races by whom it was 
 used as equally distinct. In like manner, as we are enabled, 
 not only by the fragments we possess of the language of the 
 race in question, but by the express testimony of antiquity, 
 to assert that its different dialects were essentially off'-shoots 
 
 • See above, p. 45. 
 
 i 
 
208 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 209 
 
 of the same stock,^ we may fairly conclude, that the nations 
 who employed them were the descendants of a single race.^ 
 This proposition must not be interpreted to mean that all 
 the inhabitants of those regions belonged to this stock. Even 
 previous to the time when the Arabs, with the sword in one 
 hand and the Koran in the other, overran and subdued 
 Persia, they were the more open to settlers from the north 
 and east, from the circumstance that Persia was situated on 
 the great highway of nations by which the human race spread 
 itself from east to west. All that is meant to be asserted is, 
 that the various races who successively had dominion in 
 these parts, all belonged to the same original stock. 
 
 The most ancient of these ruling nations are recorded to 
 have been the Medes, Bactrians, and Persians, but we are 
 expressly told that the term Medes was applied not only to 
 the inhabitants of Media Proper, but that the Arii also be- 
 longed to the same race.* In like manner we are assured 
 by Herodotus that the Arii meant, not only the inhabitants 
 of Arii in the more restricted sense of the term, but rather, 
 all who occupied the extensive regions comprised, according 
 to Strabo, under the term Ariana, and at present termed 
 Iran.* To this belonged Bactriana ; and the evidence we 
 possess of the ancient civilization and prosperity of this 
 country, would of itself incline us to the belief that the Bac- 
 trians belonged to the same race, even if their own tra- 
 ditions, as we shall presently have occasion to see, did not 
 confirm the fact. It is true that Herodotus in his catalogue 
 
 • I assume as proved by the essays in the Appendix to the Zendavesf^y ii. 1, 
 that the Zend, Pehlvi, and Parsee, are all dialects of the same language. 
 
 ' Strabo, p. 1054. *E7ri(cr«i vera* Sk r ovvofia rrJQ 'Apiavrjg fiBxpt fispovg rtvbg 
 Kai lUpatHVf rat MrjSiav Kai In ruv irpoadpKTiuiv BaKTQiutVf koi ^oydiavdv. Elai yap 
 irutc Kai ofioyXuTTOt teapd. fiiKpov. Arianse nomen usque ad partem quandam 
 Persarum et Medorum, et septentrionalium Bactrianorum et Sogdianorum 
 extenditur. Sunt enim fere ejusdem linguae. 
 
 This important passage contains not only a specification of the countries 
 comprehended by Strabo under the name of Ariana, (Iran,) i. e. Persia, Media, 
 Bactriana, and Sogdiana (see p. 88) ; but also his express testimony that 
 the languages of those countries differed only as dialects. The testimony of 
 Strabo is tne more valuable from the circumstance that he was himself born 
 not far from Persia ; and in his great historical work, which has not come 
 down to us, The Continuation of jPoli/btus, containing a particular account of 
 Parthian history, (cf. CommerU. iv. cfe Fontibus Vitarum Plutarchi,) must 
 have been necessarily led to touch on these points. Respecting the eastern 
 provinces, compare Elphinstone, p. 31 1 ; who considers the languages 
 spoken there also to be of Persian origin. 
 
 * Herod, vii. 62. * Strabo, loc. cit 
 
 / 
 
 speaks of the Bactrians, and several other nations, as being 
 distinct races, but this is the more easily to be accounted 
 for, inasmuch as we not only discover a great similarity in 
 their arms and dress,^ but Herodotus himself, in other places, 
 speaks of some of them as only offshoots of the same original 
 race."^ 
 
 It is no less clear, from the similarity of their language, 
 as w^ell as from their history, that we must not consider the 
 Persians as being a distinct race from the Medes, but as be- 
 longing to the same stock. The case of the mother of Cy- 
 rus is a familiar instance of what appears to have been of 
 frequent occurrence among them, the intermarriages even 
 of tlieir sovereigns ; and after that these nations had suc- 
 cessively reduced one another to a state of dependence, it is 
 difficult to believe that on the subjugation of the Medes, 
 the amalgamation (so to express myself) of manners and 
 religion could have been so complete, if they had been of 
 totally different originals. Accordingly, we shall venture 
 to consider as the same parent stock, the race which bore 
 rule in Iran, comprehending all the inferior races, and 
 which may be termed in general the Persian or Medo-Per- 
 sian ;® inasmuch as the countries in its occupation were 
 termed, in a wider sense, the land of Persia. 
 
 The traditions of this race preserve some very important 
 particulars respecting their descent, their ancient abodes, and 
 their gradual dissemination through the land of Iran. These 
 traditions are preserved in the beginning of the Vendidat, 
 the most important, and, it is probable, the most ancient of 
 all their sacred books, the collection of which is styled the 
 Zendavesta, to which we shall have occasion to refer here- 
 after. The two first chapters of this work, entitled Far- 
 gards, contain the above traditions, not wrapped up in alle- 
 gory, but so evidently historical as to demand nothing more 
 than the application of geographical knowledge to explain 
 them.^ With the exception of the Mosaical Scriptures, we 
 are acquainted with nothing (the untranslated Vedas per- 
 haps excepted) which so plainly wears the stamp of remote 
 
 • Herod, vii. 64. ' Such as the Mardi, Paraetaceni, etc. 
 
 * They have been denominated by Rhode, {Heilige Sagen^ etc.,) the people 
 of Zend, not improperly, if we consider the Zend as the original language of 
 all the race. 
 
 ' See the Appendix to the following volume. 
 
 VOL. I. P 
 
210 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 antiquity, ascending beyond the times within which the 
 known empires of the East flourished ; in which we catch as 
 it were the last faint echo of the history of a former world, 
 anterior to that great catastrophe of our planet, which is 
 attested in the vicinity of the parent country of these legends, 
 by the remains of the elephant, the rhinoceros, and the mam- 
 moth, and other animals properly belonging to the countries 
 of the south. It would be a fruitless labour to attempt to 
 assign dates to these remains, but if the compiler of the 
 Vendidat himself, who was long anterior to the Persian, and, 
 as we shall have occasion to show, probably also to the Me- 
 dian dynasty, as known to us, received them as the primeval 
 traditions of his race, our opinion of their importance may 
 
 be fully justified. 
 
 These legends describe as the original seat of the race a 
 delicious country named Eriene-Veedjo, which enjoyed a 
 climate singularly mild, having seven months summer, and 
 five of winter. Such was its state at first as created by the 
 power of Ormuzd ; but the author of evil, the death-dealing 
 Ahriman, smote it with the plague of cold, so that it came 
 to have ten months of winter and only two of summer. 
 Thus the nation began to desert the Paradise they at first 
 occupied, and Ormuzd successively created for their recep- 
 tion sixteen other places of benediction and abundance, 
 which are faithfiilly recorded in the legend. 
 
 What, then, was the site of the Eriene referred to ? The 
 
 editors and commentators on the Zendavesta are inclined to 
 
 discover it in Georgia, or the Caucasian district,^^ but the 
 
 opinion must necessarily appear unsatisfactory to any one 
 
 who will take into account the whole of the record, and the 
 
 succession of places there mentioned as the abodes of the 
 
 race. On the contrary, we there trace a gradual migration 
 
 of the nation from east to west ; not, as this hypothesis 
 
 would tend to prove, from west to east. The first abode 
 
 which Ormuzd created for the exiled people was Soghdi, 
 
 whose identity with Sogdiana is sufficiently apparent ; next 
 
 Moore, or Maroo, in Khorasan ; then Bakhdi, or Balkh 
 
 (Bactriana) ; and so on to Pars itself, and the boundaries of 
 
 Media and India. The original coimtry of Eriene must, 
 
 *• I am unconscious on what grounds Rhode (p. 63) has ascribed to me 
 this opinion, which in fact I have never entertiiined. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 211 
 
 therefore, lie to the east of Sogd, and thus we are led by the 
 course of tradition to those regions which we have already 
 referred to, as the scene of the traditions and fables of the 
 nation, viz. the mountainous tracts on the borders of Bu- 
 charia, the chain of Mus-tag and Beloor-Land, as far as the 
 Paropamisan range on the confines of Hindustan, and ex- 
 tending northwards to the neighbourhood of the Altaic 
 chain. This savage and ungenial region enjoys at present 
 only a short summer, at the same time that it contains the 
 reliques of an ancient world, which confirm, by positive 
 proof, the legend of the Vendidat, that anciently the climate 
 was of a totally different character. When the altered na- 
 ture of their original seats compelled the race to quit them, 
 Ormuzd prepared for them other places of repose and 
 abundance, within the precincts of that territory, which has 
 preserved, to the present day, the appellation of Iran ; the 
 nation carrying with them the name of Eriene, which is 
 obviously the same with Iran. How does it come to pass, 
 however, that instead of a single spot, sixteen are named as 
 the abodes of blessing* and abundance ? 
 
 The answer is contained, if I mistake not, in the observ- 
 ations of the preceding part. Iran, or Persia, in the more ( 
 extensive sense of the word, is by no means generally fertile; 
 its fertility depending, as we have seen, altogether on its 
 irrigation, which is very partial. Though some fruitful 
 situations are scattered over its surfece, it coiUains immense 
 deserts incapable of cultivation, and this is the account con- 
 veyed to us by the legend. The abodes which Ormuzd 
 created for his people, are described as single and separate : 
 the intervening or surrounding country being passed over 
 without notice. I leave it to the commentators on the 
 Zendavesta to identify all the sixteen places there recorded ; 
 and the more willingly, as I would abstain from any thing 
 like mere conjecture. Even if a few names should remain 
 unexplained, it is apparent that this chain of successive abodes 
 followed the course of the great highway of nations which 
 afterwards became that of commerce, and led from Sogdiana 
 across the Oxus to the west, into Media and Persia, and 
 southward by Herat, Cabul, and Kandahar, to Arachotus, 
 and the confines of India. To identify all the places men- 
 tioned in our authority, would demand a more accurate 
 
 p 2 
 
PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 213 
 
 knowledge than we possess of the language of Zend the 
 ancient speech of the original race ; but our present ac 
 quaintance with the subject fully warrants the above con- 
 
 ^ ^men this people quitted their original abodes, it appears 
 from their records that they were a race of herdsmen and 
 shepherds, acquainted with no other species of property 
 than their herds of camels, horses, oxen, and sheep. A 
 change of residence was, however, necessarily accompamed 
 bv a change of habits. The earliest of their kings or chiefs, 
 Jemshid, is celebrated in the legend as the first who, at the 
 command of Ormuzd, introduced into the countries he 
 visited, or the land of Iran, a knowledge of agriculture, till- 
 age, and cattle-breeding. He was also the legislator of his 
 race, having been appointed to that office by Ormuzd. 
 
 When Jemshid and his people occupied Iran, it was, ac- 
 cording to the legend, uninhabited by any but wild animals. 
 The nature of the country, however, did not admit ot all the 
 new settlers devoting themselves to the same occupations. 
 A comparatively small number gave themselves to agricul- 
 ture, and occupied settled habitations ; by far the greater 
 part of the nation continuing of necessity to pursue their 
 old pursuits as shepherds and herdsmen. In this manner, 
 by the variety of their occupations, rather than the diversity 
 of their origin, was the nation necessarily split into a multi- 
 tude of distinct tribes, of which some, like the Medes and 
 Bactrians, acquired by agriculture and the improvement ot 
 commerce, (the highways of which crossed their territory,) 
 riches and power ; while others, shut up m steppes and 
 mountains, continued true to their original habits, which 
 their situation in a manner prescribed. • /• 
 
 To this latter class belonged the Persians ; the portion ot 
 the race of which we have occasion to speak at present. 
 One of the first observations which must impress itself on 
 the mind of the historian must be this, that the constitution 
 of their country could not have sprung up at once, but must 
 have been the gradual effect of time and circumstances. 
 The question, what were their habits and form of govern- 
 ment when they effected the conquest of Asia, is the first to 
 be answered, if we would trace the development of their 
 civilization. 
 
 Their original abode may be fixed with certainty, the 
 general testimony of all antiquity proving them to have 
 been a race of mountaineers, inhabiting the wild and hilly 
 region of Fars, or Persia properly so called : Herodotus ^^ 
 tells us, that '' The Persians originally occupied a small and 
 rugged country, and that it was proposed in the time of 
 Cyrus that they should exchange this for one more fertile ; 
 a plan which Cyrus discouraged, as likely to extinguish 
 their hardy and warlike habits ! Arrian^^ from more an- 
 cient authorities assures us of the same fact ; " That the 
 Persians, when, under Cyrus, they conquered all Asia, were 
 a poor people, inhabiting a rugged country ;" to whose tes- 
 timony must be added the still more full and important evi- 
 dence of Plato, who was contemporary with their monarchy. 
 " The Persians," he assures us,^^ " were originally a nation 
 of shepherds and herdsmen, occupying a rude country, such 
 as naturally fosters a hardy race of people, capable of sup- 
 porting both cold and watching, and, when needful, of en- 
 during the toils of war." It will appear, however, from the 
 names of some of their tribes, that the Persians were not con- 
 fined to Persis properly so called, but extended over the 
 steppes of Carmania and to the shores of the Caspian. 
 
 It is clear from the above authorities that the Persians 
 were at the commencement a race of shepherds and moun- 
 taineers. However much, therefore, their own legends 
 may have disguised or embellished the truth, any one ac- 
 quainted with the course of Asiatic history in general will 
 have no diflSculty in detecting the true character of the re- 
 volution of which they were the authors. It was no unusual 
 occurrence in the East for mighty empires to arise from 
 similar beginnings. 
 
 Agreeably to what was invariably the case among the 
 great nomad races, the Persians were subdivided into several 
 hordes or tribes, of which Herodotus has given us an excel- 
 lent account.^* The number of these hordes was ten, and 
 they were no less distinguished from one another by their 
 differences of rank than by their modes of life. 
 
 l/j ^f,, " Herod, ix. 122. '^ Arrian, v. 4 
 
 h i)d ?ii^' " Plato cfe Legg. iii. Op. ii. p. 695. A passage of classical importance as 
 \jl.Uff- '^^^'far as regards the ancient Persian history. \ 
 
 " Herod, i. 125. 
 
914 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 215 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Three of them were noble ; the Pasargadae, the noblest 
 of them all, the Maraphii, and the Maspii. Three other 
 tribes devoted themselves to agriculture, the Panthialaei, the 
 Derusii, and the Germanii;'" while four others, the Dai, 
 Mardi,'^ Dropici, and Sagartii continued to retam their 
 wandering and nomad habits, but are occasionally men- 
 tioned (more especially the last) as contributing hardy bands 
 of cavalry to the Persian armies.^^ The extensive salt 
 deserts Which divide Persia from Media, as well as the 
 plains of Southern Persia, offered inexhaustible pasture to 
 the cattle of these hordes, whenever they thought proper to 
 descend from their mountains. ^ , i • o 
 
 Two principal observations illustrative ot the history ot 
 Persia naturally flow from these facts, as recorded by Hero- 
 dotus : 1st. We must discard the idea that the Persian na- 
 tion even at the most flourishing epoch of its history, was 
 universally and equally civilized. A part of the nation 
 ruled the remainder, and this portion alone had attained a 
 certain degree of civilization by its acquaintance with the 
 arts of peace and of luxury. The other tribes continued m 
 their original barbarism, and partook but little, or not at all, 
 in the improvement of the race. Persian history, therefore, 
 as it has come down to us, is not so much the history of the 
 whole nation as of certain tribes, or possibly even of a sin- 
 gle tribe, that of the Pasargadae. These composed the court, 
 and it appears that, almost without exception, all that was 
 distinguished among the Persians proceeded from them. 
 
 When we contemplate in this point of view what Xeno- 
 phon in the Cyrop^dia has told us of the Persians, especially 
 as relates to their national education, we are struck by the 
 greater degree of probability which his account acquires ; 
 
 " Probably the same with the Carmanians, or inhabitants of Kennan, who 
 continue to give some attention to agriculture. ., r.v. n • 
 
 " Of these the Mardi occupied the mountains to the south of the Caspian ; 
 the Dai, the sandy plains to the east of that sea. . .. r * 
 
 " The statement of the historian is corroborated in the most satisfactory 
 manner by the accounts of latest travellers. The case continues on the whole 
 to be the same in modern Persia. Morier (i. p. 240) tells us that the Persian 
 nation is split into tribes having their several chiefs or heads ; and that some 
 occupy permanent habitations, while others continue to dwell m tents : the 
 numbers of the latter class being, it is probable, greater than those ot the 
 agriculturists. The strength of the nation (says Kmneir) consists in the 
 nomad hordes; and he proves their numbers by his statements at p. 45. Ihe 
 mode of life which nature herself has prescribed must needs be invanable. 
 
 the discipline which would have been impossible in the case 
 of an entire nation, being very practicable as applied to a 
 single tribe. 
 
 2ndly. The above particulars would at once lead us to 
 conclude, that in a country so constituted every thing would 
 depend on descent and the distinctions of tribe. As the tribes 
 were distinguished by a greater or a less degree of nobility, 
 so there was a gradation also in the different families of 
 which each tribe was composed. The noblest family of the 
 most noble tribe was that of the Achaemenidae, from which 
 exclusively the kings of Persia were always taken.^^ The 
 same distinction of more or less noble tribes has at all times 
 existed among most of the nomad nations of Central and 
 Southern Asia, the Arabs and Mongols, and probably had its 
 origin in the military pride of the more warlike, to which the 
 rest were reduced to pay homage. The tribes thus distin- 
 guished by descent are often rendered still more distinct by 
 the different modes of life they pursue, and hence arises the 
 distinction of castes, which has so invariably prevailed among 
 certain nations of the East. To judge from the examples of 
 other oriental nations, this gradation of ranks prevailed 
 among the Persians at a period anterior to their empire,^^ 
 and (though we have no direct evidence of it in history) 
 may probably have been anciently connected with a degree 
 of actual authority residing in the superior tribes and fa- 
 milies. However this may be, the historian who would in- 
 vestigate the constitution of a nomad people, establishing 
 itself in permanent abodes and attaining to dominion, ought 
 to give his close attention to this question, almost to the 
 exclusion of all others : namely, how a political constitution 
 came to be gradually formed from the mere association of 
 so many tribes ? 
 
 The revolt of the Persians against the Medes, a very sim- 
 ple circumstance in itself, and readily accounted for by the 
 fact that the revolted nation were tributaries to the other, 
 became by its consequences an event of the highest import- 
 ance, and the groundwork of numberless exaggerations and 
 
 *' Herod, loc. cit. He calls it ^pi/rpi;. 
 
 ** In this manner we hear of the golden horde among the Calmucs ; and 
 we find that among the Mongols this dominion of tribes degenerates, even 
 in their nomad state, into the most absolute tyranny. Pallas, Mongol Vol- 
 ker^ i. 185. 
 
 
216 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 217 
 
 fictions. The legends respecting the childhood and youth 
 of Cyrus, and the causes which led to the revolution 
 achieved by him, like those of Ginghis-Khan, are involved 
 in a cloud of fable which it would be in vain to attempt to 
 dissipate, and which, if removed, would probably ill repay 
 the labours of the inquirer. Accident has frequently been 
 at the bottom of such insurrections : a slight and occasional 
 cause has often sufficed to set in motion those armed and 
 warlike hordes, which, accumulating like a mass of snow, 
 presently forms an avalanche, crushing kingdoms and em- 
 pires in its resistless descent. 
 
 The only circumstance in this part of ancient history 
 which deserves our attention, is the fact which Herodotus 
 has recorded, that previous to the revolt, Cyrus procured 
 himself to be appointed generalissimo of all the Persian 
 tribes. This is described as having been effected by craft, 
 and the Persian conqueror is said to have accomplished his 
 purpose by a method similar to that adopted by Ginghis- 
 Khan among the Mongols, before he also began his con- 
 quering career. The method pursued by both is decidedly 
 characteristic of a rude state of society, when men were to 
 be wrought upon only by appeals to their senses.^^ 
 
 » "When the assembled tribes," says Herodotus, (i. 126,) "in confor- 
 mity with his subtle design, which he pretended to confirm by exhibiting a 
 fictitious written order, as if from the Median king, appointing him commander- 
 in-chief, immediately recognised him as such, he ordered them to attend on 
 the following day in a field overgrown with thistles, each prepared with a 
 reaping-hook. Accordingly, therefore, when they were all come together, he 
 set them to work the whole day in clearing the field ; when they had executed 
 their task, they were desired to attend the following day to feast and make 
 merry. For this purpose Cyrus collected and slew all the goats, sheep, and 
 oxen, which were the property of his father ; and further to promote the en- 
 tertainment of the Persians, he added rich wines and abundance of delicacies. 
 The next day, when they were met, he desired them to recHne on the grass 
 and enjoy themselves. When they were satisfied, he inquired of them which 
 day's fare delighted them the most. They replied, the contrast betwixt the 
 two was strong indeed, as on the first day they had nothing but what was 
 bad, on the second day every thing that was good. On receiving this an- 
 swer, CvTUS no longer hesitated to explain the purpose which he had in view: 
 * Men o'f Persia,' he exclaimed, * you are the arbiters of your own fortune ; if 
 you obey me, you will enjoy these and greater advantages, without any ser- 
 vile toils : if you are hostile to my projects, you must prepare to encounter 
 worse hardships than those of yesterday. My voice is the voice of freedom ; 
 Providence appears to have reserved me to be the instrument of your pros- 
 perity ; you are, doubtless, equal to the Mcdes in every thin^, and most as- 
 suredly are as brave ! ' " Compare the account of the elevation of Ginghis- 
 Khan to the rank of general-in-chief of the Mongols in Lacroix, Hist, de 
 
 Ginyhk'Khan, p. 77- 
 
 
 As general of the armies of Persia, Cyrus assumed the 
 name or title by which he is constantly known and desig- 
 nated in history, and which betokens the sun ;^* his original 
 name having been Agradates.^^ It has been the invariable 
 custom of princes of the East to change the names of their 
 birth for surnames or titles of honour, as Ginghis-Khan 
 from the time of his elevation to the throne received the 
 appellation of Temugin ;^^ and we have had occasion to re- 
 mark that this has continued to be the custom of Persia, 
 down to the most recent time.'^* 
 
 We have already analyzed the course of the conquests of 
 Cyrus, who overcame all the kingdoms of Asia: his course, 
 like that of all the other great nomad incursions, being from 
 east to west. His host, as was generally the case in Asia, 
 consisted principally of cavalry, perpetually accumulating 
 fresh recruits from the conquered nations, (which also took 
 place with later Persian armaments,) and thus his wars re- 
 sembled in some sense the migrations of an entire people, 
 who, for a time at least, were transplanted from their ori- 
 ginal seats to other countries. The sieges of cities were the 
 operation which, as requiring the greatest degree of skill, 
 was the most formidable to these warlike wanderers ; and 
 if art had not come in to succour force, it is possible that 
 the walls of Babylon might have opposed a continual bar- 
 rier to their further progress. As yet, they were unac- 
 quainted with any other method of vanquishing such ob- 
 stacles than that of throwing up an agger equal to the height 
 of the wall, and from this assailing the ramparts of the 
 city.^^ 
 
 The expeditions of Cyrus, however, are of less import- 
 ance than his institutions for the administration, and at the 
 same time for retaining possession of the conquered coun- 
 tries. 
 
 Little as history has recorded of these institutions, that 
 little is in close accordance with what we might have been 
 led to anticipate ; being exactly of that simple character 
 which must at all times mark the system of a conquering 
 
 ^' Ctesias, apud Plut. in Artaxerxe, Op, i. p. 1012 : Khor in Parsee 
 signifies the sun. 
 " Strabo, p. 1060, as corrected by Palmerius. 
 " Lacroix, Hist, de Ghinghis-Khan, p. 77. \ 
 
 ** See above, p. 57. " Herod, i. 162. 
 
 *',L 
 
218 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 219 
 
 nation like the Persians, and being, in fact, precisely similar 
 to those of the Mongols under Ginghis-Khan. The con- 
 quered provinces were left in the occupation of armies com- 
 manded by generals charged with the duty of keeping them 
 in subjection, and answerable for the security of the con- 
 quest. Associated with these were the receivers of the 
 king s tribute, whose office was to levy, and remit it to the 
 royal exchequer, while the commanders of the garrisons of 
 the several cities remained independent of both ; the secure 
 possession of the conquered cities being important in the 
 same degree as their conquest had been difficult. These 
 were precisely the regulations adopted by the first great 
 Mongol conqueror, when his conquering hordes overran the 
 very countries which had been subdued by Cyrus. 
 
 The tributes to be collected were never accurately de- 
 fined by the Persian government. The whole of the con- 
 quered country, with all its inhabitants, was looked upon as 
 their absolute property ; of which they might appropriate 
 whatever they preferred.'^ The sums levied were denomi- 
 nated presents ;'« but it would be a false inference to con- 
 clude from the use of this term any thing in favour of the 
 mildness or forbearance of the administration. The obsti- 
 nate resistance which most of the Grecian colonies of Asia 
 Minor had opposed to the generals of Cyrus, and their de- 
 spair, which drove many of them to plan, and some to ex- 
 ecute, a complete abandonment of their native country, are 
 ample proofs of the contrary ."^ In the case, indeed, of 
 undefined arbitrary imposts, every thing must of course 
 depend on the character of the sovereign for the time being, 
 and the clemency attributed by his subjects to Cyrus is 
 easily explained by the harshness and oppression of his 
 
 successors.^ 
 
 Various methods have been at different times adopted 
 for the maintenance of dominion acquired by conquest, and 
 
 « See the account of Cyrus's arrangements in Lydia, where Mazacus was 
 commander-in-chief, Tatalus governor of Sardes, and the traitor Pactyas 
 receiver-general of the treasury, Herod, i. 153-156; and compare those of 
 Ginffhis-Khan, in Lacroix, Hist de Gini/his-Khan, j^. 276, sq, 
 '"^Herod. ix. 116. » Ibid. iii. 89. « Ibid. i. 64 
 
 •» MoRiER (i. 237) shows that presents in the East are, to this day, of the 
 most oppressive description ; in fact, tribute under another name. The 
 whole burden, however, ultimately falls on the inferior landholders. 
 
 it cannot be without its use to inquire into the nature of 
 the plans, (some of them highly remarkable,) which were 
 devised by infant despotism for the permanent subjugation 
 of mankind. 
 
 The most natural and simple of these was the plan of 
 keeping on foot standing armies in the conquered districts, 
 composed in part of hordes of the conquerors, and in part 
 (especially at a later period) of mercenary troops. A mili- 
 tary government was thus established, and that at the cost 
 of the vanquished, who, as we shall show, were compelled 
 to be at the whole expense of maintaining their conquerors. 
 
 A second, and no less common method, was the trans- 
 planting, as it were, of such conquered nations, as, after 
 having been once overcome, had proved refractory. In- 
 stances of this occur previous to the Persian monarchy, and 
 are familiar to all, from the Jewish records of the Babylonian 
 captivity. The Persians, however, not only retained but 
 extended this practice. Examples occur in almost every 
 reign, and occasionally we meet with the remains of nations 
 forcibly transported from Europe or Africa, into the very 
 heart of Asia.^^ In the case of islanders, it was even their 
 custom to make a sweep of the inhabitants. The army of 
 the conquerors was formed in a line, extending across the 
 island, and drove before it every thing which bore the hu- 
 man form, leaving a desert behind !^^ "It is the charac- 
 teristic of despotism," (says Montesquieu,) " to cut down the 
 tree in order to get at the fi-uit."^^ The most usual situa- 
 tions appointed for such exiles, were the islands of the Persian 
 Gulf, and the Indian Ocean ; and, as examples had occurred 
 of entire nations, impelled by longing for their native land, 
 escaping, in spite of a hundred dangers, fi*om their places 
 of exile, it was the design of the conquerors to select spots 
 from which flight was impossible.^ Such transplanted na- 
 
 " I have no doubt that the celebrated colony of Egyptians, which Hero- 
 dotus visited at Colchis, was the effect of some such transplantation of the 
 race, by Nebuchadnezzar or some other of the Asiatic monarchs who pene- 
 trated into Egypt. See Herod, ii. 104, 105. In like manner a colony of six 
 thousand Egyptians was transported to Susa on the conquest of that country 
 by Cambyses. Ctes. Pers. cap. 9. 
 
 ^ The Greeks called this sort of chase very appropriately (rayrjvevuV} to 
 sweep with a drag-net. Herod, vi. 31 ; cf. Brisson, p. 7^1, etc. 
 
 " Esprit des Loix, vi. 9. 
 
 '* For instance, the Pceonians, in Herod, v. 98. 
 
220 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OP THE EMPIRE. 
 
 221 
 
 tions (styled by Herodotus avaa-rri.ato:) gradually appeared to 
 constitute, as it were, a new nation, and are occasionally men- 
 tioned in connexion with the expeditions of the Persians. 
 
 A third and perhaps still more extraordinary method 
 adopted for the same end, was that of compelling by positive 
 laws certain powerful and warlike nations to adopt habits 
 of luxury and effeminacy. In this manner the Lydians were 
 constrained by Cyrus to deliver up their arms to clothe 
 themselves in effeminate apparel, and to train up their youth 
 in habits of gaming and drinking.^^ In this way, from the 
 most warlike people of Asia, they soon became the most 
 effeminate : a lot which, within a short time, was shared 
 by their conquerors also, uncompelled by any legal enforce- 
 ment of luxury. 
 
 Such are some of the features which characterize the 
 Persian empire on its first establishment; but the rude 
 victors very soon adopted much of the manners, the modes 
 of life, and even the religion of the vanquished ; as was the 
 case, also, with other nations resembling them in circum- 
 stances, and the degree of civilization they had attained. In 
 the arts of luxury and habits of effeminacy, the Persians 
 became the pupils of the Medes, the Babylonians, and Ly- 
 dians ; just as the Mongols, who overthrew the Chinese em- 
 pire, adopted the manners of the Chinese. It has been 
 already remarked, that nomad tribes are peculiarly prone to 
 adopt such changes, owing to their unsettled mode ot lite, 
 and because the desire of sensual gratifications is the only 
 motive which spurs them to conquest. The Persians, how- 
 ever, showed such a peculiar aptness in this particular, that 
 Herodotus himself makes the remark,^^ " that no nation in 
 the world was so ready to adopt foreign customs ; and even 
 as early as the time of Cyrus, that conqueror, as we have 
 already remarked,^ was obliged to bind them to their native 
 land by national institutions, foreseeing the pernicious con- 
 sequences which would follow upon their desertion of it. 
 
 » Herod, vii, 80; cf. Brisson, p. 58. These .islands however can only 
 have been devoted to the above purpose from the time of DanusHystaspis, be- 
 cause the Persians then first became masters of them. See Herod, iv 44. 
 
 - It must be remarked, however, that Cyrus adopted this plan at the sug- 
 gestion of Croesus, who thus saved his people from the doom of transporta- 
 tion. Herod, i. 135. 
 
 " Herod, i. 135. " See above, p. 213. 
 
 The records both of the Greeks and Jews prove that the 
 Medes, hitherto the ruling nation, were the principal in- 
 structors of the Persians, not only in the manners and 
 habits of domestic life, but as respected their public institu- 
 tions, the consanguinity of the two races contributing to 
 produce this effect. The new monarchy is usually denomi- 
 nated the Medo-Persian, the Jewish chroniclers commonly 
 mention together the laws of the Medes and Persians,^ and 
 while the Persians assumed the rank of the sovereign race, 
 it is no less certain that the Medes came next to them in 
 importance. It must not, however, be forgotten, that the 
 name of Media embraced other nations besides that properly 
 so called ; comprising the more civilized regions of Eastern 
 Asia, and, in particular, Bactriana. The customs of Media 
 were, therefore, those also of Eastern Asia in general, and 
 the remarks above made on the remains of Persepolis, tend 
 to show how much had been adopted from those of the 
 Bactrians. 
 
 There is no question that the whole system of the court, 
 and particularly the seraglio, or harem, of the king and the 
 grandees, as well as the dress and manners of private life, 
 were borrowed from the Medes ; but together with these 
 they adopted the religion of that nation, with all its cere- 
 monies, political and religious. The caste of the Magi, to 
 which had been committed by Zoroaster the conservation 
 of these ordinances, originally of Median descent,*® became 
 the priest-caste of the Persians, and, as such, possessed 
 great influence in the government. In the next section I 
 shall endeavour to analyze the spirit of this religious legisla- 
 tion, and at the same time to defend the position I have laid 
 down, (in opposition to the common belief,) that its origin 
 dates further back than the commencement of the Persian 
 dynasty. At present I would only entreat my reader to 
 guard against the erroneous opinion that all the Persians at 
 once adopted the manners and religion of the conquered. 
 It is apparent from what has been said, and will be still 
 more certain from the sequel, that this change took place 
 only in a part of the nation, namely, in the ruling tribe or 
 
 " Book of Esther, i. 18, 19 ; Daniel, vi. 8, etc. * Herod, i. 101. 
 
PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 race ; and even in the case of these, it is self-evident, even 
 if we were not able to adduce express evidence, that such 
 an alteration could not have taken place at once in the 
 opinions, the manners, and the customs of the victors ; and 
 that the change could not have been a complete one, but 
 rather that an admixture must have taken place of the man- 
 ners of the two nations, wliich may be still distinctly recog- 
 nised in its effects.*^ 
 
 The disposition of his empire which Cyrus made before 
 his death is worthy of observation, and completely in cha- 
 racter with the spirit of the great Asiatic conquerors. He 
 divided it between his two sons, ordaining, however, that 
 the younger, to whom he bequeathed Bactriana and the ad- 
 jacent countries, though not a tributary, should be depend- 
 ent on the elder.*^ 
 
 The internal constitution of Persia appears to have re- 
 ceived little development under the reign of his successor 
 Cambyses. Like his father, he also was a conqueror, and, 
 by the concurrent testimony of Ctesias and Herodotus, 
 achieved the conquest of Egypt. In estimating the charac- 
 ter of this prince, however, as given by Herodotus, great 
 allowance must be made for the hatred borne him by the 
 Egyptian priests, who could never forgive him the humili- 
 ation and loss of dignity to which he had subjected them, 
 and were thus led to represent him as brain-sick and epi- 
 leptical. He is described in a less odious light by Ctesias,*^ 
 except that the murder of his brother, whom he suspected 
 of a design to supplant him in his authority, leaves him with 
 a stain, which is of too fi-equent and almost uniform occur- 
 rence on a change of reign in the Asiatic monarchies. The 
 continual wars which, like his father, he waged at a distance 
 from his own country, and his consequent absence from the 
 seat of government, were little favourable to the advance- 
 ment of civilization at home. Nevertheless, the foundation 
 of the principal cities of Persia, and the adoption in the 
 
 •' The illustrations of the remains of Persepolis must have already afforded 
 sufficient proofs of this. Compare, however, the observations of H. D, 
 Kleuker, in the Appendix to the Zendavesta^ ii. iii. p. 13, etc. 
 
 " Ctesias {Pers. 8) calls the younger brother Tanyoxances : Herodotus 
 names him Smerdis. 
 
 « Ctesias, cap. 9. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 223 
 
 court at that early period of the Median system of education, 
 prove that a great alteration had already taken place in the 
 manners of at least the principal tribe.** 
 
 The events, however, which followed upon the death of 
 Cambyses, the two revolutions of the pretended Smerdis 
 and of Darius Hystaspis, deserve our observation in the 
 highest degree. 
 
 The first of these events was a revolution concocted within 
 the seraglio. It is usual to consider it as an attempt of the 
 Magians to get possession of the sovereign authority, because 
 the principal conspirator belonged to that caste ; but by the 
 express evidence of the most credible authorities, the con- 
 spiracy had a higher object, namely, the re-establishment of 
 the monarchy of the Medes.*^ The Magians, as we have 
 observed, were a Median race ; and it was natural for the 
 Medes, when the true stock of Cyrus had ended in Camby- 
 ses, to aim at a resumption of their ancient sway. The 
 commotions which ensued were so vast as to be felt through- 
 out all Asia ;*^ but it is well known that the attempt was 
 rendered abortive by the assassination of the pretended 
 Smerdis by the seven Persian chiefs, among whom was 
 Darius Hystaspis, who afterwards succeeded to the throne.*'^ 
 
 The history of this conspiracy, as detailed by Herodotus, 
 contains much that is interesting as well as surprising, for 
 one engaged in the study of the state and constitution of* 
 
 ** This remark is admirably developed by Plato. He traces the disorders 
 which occurred during the reign and after the decease of Cambyses, to the 
 adoption by the Persian king of the Median custom of committing the edu- 
 cation of the heir to the throne to the women and eunuchs of the seraglio. 
 Plato, Op. ii. p. 695. 
 
 " " Cambyses," says Plato, (loc. cit.,) " was for his debauchery and mad- 
 ness deprived of his empire by the Medes, by means of the eunuchs, but 
 Darius restored the kingdom to the Persians." " Shall we that are Persians 
 endure to be governed by a Mede?" demands Gobryas of the other conspi- 
 rators. Herod, iii. 73. See especially the last speech of Cambyses. Ibid, 
 iii. 65. 
 
 *• Herod, iii. 126. The Magian pretender had remitted the imposts for 
 three years, which were afterwards to be collected by his successor. Ibid, 
 m. 67. 
 
 " That an undertaking, such as that ascribed to the Magians, is com- 
 pletely in the spirit of the great empires of the East, is proved by the accurate 
 and highly instructive account which we possess of a revolution attempted a 
 few years since in China, where certain Bonzes undertook to overthrow the 
 ruling dynasty, and establish another in its place : an exact counterpart to 
 the narration of Herodotus ! See Henke Archiv fur die Neueste Kirchen- 
 ffesckiehte, B. ii. p. 385, etc. 
 
aS24 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Persia The question which we are told was agitated, after 
 the assassination of the usurper, whether Persia should 
 thenceforward be governed by a monarchy, aristocracy, or 
 democracy, is so singular a phenomenon in Asiatic histoiy, 
 that even in the time of Herodotus himself, many of the 
 Greeks were disposed to disbelieve it.« The historian, how- 
 ever, expressly asserts the fact ; which is sufficient to prove 
 that it cannot have been a mere fiction of his own.'*^ It is 
 much more probable that there existed some foundation for 
 the narrative of Herodotus, though all acquainted with the 
 usages of the East will readily be convinced that the fact 
 has been disguised by a Grecian dress. If the historian had 
 named his authorities, we might indeed have formed a more 
 certain opinion ; in the absence of these we are reduced to 
 reason upon analogies drawn from the practices of other 
 nations, possessing the same constitution with that of ancient 
 Persia. With such nations it is not an unusual occurrence 
 for the heads of various tribes or families to meet for the 
 purpose of discussing the claims of a successor to the 
 throne ;^ and all that we know of the seven conspirators 
 tends to prove, that either they were the heads of the tribes 
 of Persia, or that they belonged to the race of tlie Pasargadae. 
 By the express testimony of historians, they were of the 
 number of the most illustrious among the Persians : Darius 
 himself being the son of the governor of the province of 
 Persia, and belonging to the family of the Achaememdae.'' 
 Their dignity was so considerable that, as the narrative 
 proves, they were allowed to approach directly the person 
 of the monarch, without being stopped by his guards. All 
 this appears to put it beyond question that they were the 
 chiefs of Persian tribes. Supposing this to be the case, we 
 may readily perceive, that it is no improbable circumstance 
 that an aristocracy of this sort, consisting of the heads of 
 tribes, should be proposed and discussed. The proposal of 
 a democracy would appear, on the same grounds, to be 
 
 * Herod, iii. 80. * Ibid. loc. cit. He repeats his assertion, vi. 43. 
 
 »• Compare tlie account of the convention of the heads of tribes of the 
 Mongols, and their dehberation respecting the choice of Mangu-Khan, the 
 third in succession from Ginghis-Khan, A. D. 1250, Hist, des Tartares, p. 
 
 377 etc. 
 
 "' Herod, iii. 70; cf. vii. 11 ; which places prove the family of Darius to 
 have been a branch of that of the Achaemenida?. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 225 
 
 nothing more than a pre-eminence accorded to the principal 
 tribe, as is the case with the "golden horde" among the 
 Mongols. Such a supposition, though it be impossible to 
 establish it by positive proof, appears to be the only one in 
 accordance with the known usages and temper of oriental 
 nations, * 
 
 The reign of Darius Hystaspis is unquestionably that 
 which possesses most interest for the student of the ancient 
 Persian constitution. It was to this monarch that the em- 
 pire owed the commencement of what might be called its 
 " internal organization," having previously consisted of no- 
 thing more than an incongruous union of conquered nations. 
 It was in his time that the crisis occurred, which necessarily 
 takes place in the history of every nomad nation which has 
 attained a dominion by conquest, when the simple institu- 
 tions of a constitution of tribes are exchanged for those of a 
 regular state, although traces of the former are allowed to 
 remain. Darius himself, as well as Cyrus and Cambyses, 
 was of the ruling family of the Achaemenidae ; yet we find 
 that he esteemed it essential to the confirmation of his title 
 to take in marriage a daughter of Cyrus.^^ The nation 
 looked up for a monarch to this family, and although in 
 Asiatic kingdoms the rule of primogeniture does not neces- 
 sarily determine the right of succession, yet the idea is very 
 general that the monarch must be taken from the reigning 
 family. 
 
 The services which Darius rendered his country by im- 
 proving its internal organization were of more than one de- 
 scription. In the first place, it is certain that he first estab- 
 lished the royal residence in certain fixed situations, and 
 thus led the way to a change in the habits of the ruling 
 tribe, from a nomad life to one more stationary ; although, 
 as we shall have occasion to see hereafter, the domestic 
 manners of the Persian kings themselves continued to retain 
 somewhat of their ancient character. Cyrus and Cambyses 
 were almost constantly engaged in wars at a distance from 
 their country ; but from the time of Darius, who was him- 
 self a conqueror, Susa appears to have been the customary 
 residence of the king, though occasionally exchanged for 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 ** Herod, vii. 11. 
 Q 
 
PERSIANS. 
 
 OIIAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 227 
 
 that of Babylon or Ecbatana ; and (as we have had occasion 
 Id see) part of the monuments of Persepolis were of his 
 erection. 
 
 The principal step, however, which was made in the reign 
 of Darius, towards a better internal administration of the 
 countrj% was *' the division of the empire into satrapies." 
 An accurate division into departments is the first thing ne- 
 cessary to the orgimization of an empire of great extent, 
 whatever may be its form of government ; and in despotic 
 states, in particular, is the only method by which the abso- 
 lute authority of the monarch can be extended through all 
 the gradations of his subjects, and thereby more effectually 
 consolidated. Imperfect as was the departmental division 
 of the empire, being rather ethnical than geographical,^^ yet 
 the beneficial ctfects which resulted were considerable. A 
 regular nomination of governors was a necessary conse- 
 quence, as well as a regular collection of the tribute, which 
 was the original object of the plan ; ^ and the former of 
 these institutions led to that of an established civil adminis- 
 tration, which was the more certainly and speedily effected, 
 because, as we shall show, it was kept distinct from the 
 military government. 
 
 The long reign of Darius sufficed to bring to maturity his 
 plans, and under his successor, Xerxes, the Persian empire 
 assumes the appearance of an internally organized country. 
 It is to be regretted that Herodotus is principally engaged 
 with the details of the wars of this prince, and the remains 
 of Ctesias are in no one point so defective as where they bear 
 upon the history of this reign. Nevertheless, even these 
 records suffice to prove that, as the internal constitution of 
 the empire was first established in the reigns of these princes, 
 so also the seeds were then sown of those abuses, which in 
 the sequel proved fatal to the existence of the empire. 
 
 Even in the time of Darius began those mighty arma- 
 ments against Europe which led to all the fatal effects sub- 
 sequently developed. Not only did the prodigious efforts, 
 and boundless expense, which these expeditions demanded, 
 drain the empire of men and exhaust its resources, but the 
 Persians soon perceived, to their cost, that they could effect 
 
 See alio¥€, p. 63. 
 
 •• Hebod. iii. 89. 
 
 little with those undisciplined hordes, compelled to march 
 into another quarter of the globe, against a people who, be- 
 sides their courage and patriotism, were possessed of mili- 
 tary discipline ; and who were inspirited by their past suc- 
 cesses to assume an offensive attitude. These circumstances 
 brought about a revolution in the military system of the 
 Persians, who saw themselves compelled to maintain by 
 arms the dominion they had forcibly acquired ; and who, 
 with the most important results to themselves, lost their own 
 military character, and fell the faster into an almost incredi- 
 ble excess of luxury and effeminacy.^ In the armament of 
 Xerxes, the Persians are still cited as the most valiant na- 
 tion, but with their defeat they lost this distinction, and it 
 became the practice to compose the body of their armies of 
 mercenary soldiers, especially Grecians, though the nomad 
 tribes of Central Asia are often mentioned as having served 
 in the pay of Persia. The consequence was, that even in 
 his time Xenophon confesses that the Persian troops were 
 scarcely of any use, and his own histoiy proves that the fate 
 of a battle was usually decided by the Greek auxiliaries. 
 Historians have not yet fully developed all the evil conse- 
 quences to the character of both nations which flowed from 
 this practice, and influenced the history of the world at 
 large. Bands of men, governed by no motive but their 
 individual interests, and selling themselves without scruple 
 to the highest bidder, cannot but degenerate into hordes of 
 banditti, among whom, as the history of Xenophon alone 
 may suffice to show, it must have been impossible to main- 
 tain discipline. The facility with which such armies were 
 got together contributed in an especial manner to augment 
 the frequency of wars ; and in consequence of the general 
 insecurity which ensued, it frequently happens that the 
 times subsequent to a war proved more disastrous than the 
 war itself. The abolition of this practice has been one good 
 effect of our standing armies ; and notwithstanding all the 
 abuses which the latter institution may entail, the enlight- 
 ened philanthropist will not overlook the disastrous conse- 
 quences which would follow upon an exchange of the 
 present system for that established of old. 
 
 " See the comparison, which Xenophon draws, of the Persian castoms of 
 his time, with those of an earlier period. Cyropadiaf sub. Jin. 
 
 Q 2 
 
 ?•! 
 
 I 
 
228 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 .CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 229 
 
 Another cause of the internal decomposition of the Per- 
 sian empire, must be sought in the refractory conduct and 
 frequent revolts of the satraps. It had been attempted to 
 guard against this by separating the civil and military 
 powers ; but the great extent of the satrapies must neces- 
 sarily have had the effect of allowing these two distinct 
 authorities to counteract and reverse their several operations. 
 As an empire increases in extent, it becomes necessary that 
 it should be subdivided into a number of small, and conse- 
 quently feeble, provinces, in order to prevent the rebellion 
 and usurpation of more powerful satraps. The princes of 
 Persia, however, were guilty of the folly, not only of neg- 
 lecting to diminish, in any degree, the extent of the pro- 
 vinces, but even of intrusting several governments to the 
 same individual, more especially when the satrap in ques- 
 tion belonged directly to the family of the king, being a 
 brother or other near kinsman.^ So far was this practice 
 from preventing rebellion, that it directly encouraged it, as 
 we learn by the example of the younger Cyrus ; and the 
 more so, as it was a frequent custom to nominate the go- 
 vernor of the province to the command of the army, and 
 commit the civil and military authorities to the same per- 
 son. Such revolts of the satraps began in the time of 
 Artaxerxes I., the successor of Xerxes, and grandson of 
 Darius,^^ and were promoted by the relations in which Per- 
 sia stood to Greece and Egypt, the western countries of 
 Asia — Asia Minor and Syria being the usual theatres where 
 they were enacted. The inveterate hatred which the Egyp- 
 tians bore to their conquerors, and the constant dissensions 
 of Greece, rendered it no difficult matter for a revolted sub- 
 ject to obtain succour from one or other of those coun- 
 tries ;^ and in this respect those remote provinces acquired 
 a high degree of importance in the eyes of the government, 
 
 •• This was the case with the younger Cyrus, Anah. 1. Op. p. 243. An- 
 other example is furnished by Xenophon, Hist. Gr. Op. p. 480. The same 
 is the case at the present day in modern Persia. 
 
 •' Compare Ctesias, Pers. cap. 23. Scarcely any one contributed more to 
 this effect than Megabyzus, the satrap of Syria, who was one of the first to 
 set the example, and who, notwithstanding his reverses, left behind him a 
 party which proved formidable to the royal authority. Ctesias, cap. 22, etc. 
 
 " During the latter half of the period of the Persian dynasty, occurred the 
 Peloponnesian war, which afforded continual encouragement to both the fac- 
 tions into wh^'^h Greece was split. 
 
 and became the principal objects of their policy, while, in 
 spite of all the precautions that were taken, the evil con- 
 tinually gained ground, especially after the revolt of the 
 younger Cyrus. He had been joined by several satraps of 
 Asia Minor, and this gave occasion to leagues formed among 
 the satmps themselves, of which frequent instances occur in 
 the subsequent history of Persia.^ Without the assistance 
 of a party among them, how could the Spartan king, Age- 
 silaus, with a handful of his countrymen, have defied the 
 whole power of Persia, and shake the throne of the great 
 king in Asia ? 
 
 Lastly, the monstrous corruption of the court, or rather 
 of the harem, was another no less powerful cause of the 
 decay of the empire. Every thing was here subject to the 
 influence of eunuchs, of the reigning queen, or, still more, 
 of the queen-mother. It is necessary to have studied, in 
 the court-history of Ctesias, the character and violent actions 
 of an Amytis or Amistris, or, still more, a Parysatis, to form 
 an adequate idea of the nature of such a harem-government. 
 The gratification of the passions, the thirst for vengeance, 
 and the impulse of hatred, no less than voluptuousness and 
 pride, were the springs which moved every thing in this 
 corrupted circle ; passions which acquire a force in propor- 
 tion to the narrowness of the circle in which they are exer- 
 cised. None of the Persian kings (with the single excep- 
 tion perhaps of Cambyses) appears to have had an innate 
 proneness to cruelty ; but the furious effects of female hatred 
 and vengeance were not, on that account, a whit the less 
 formidable ; and it is impossible to read without shudder- 
 ing, the descriptions of the horrible and premeditated pun^ 
 ishments which were executed at the command of the 
 females of the royal family, when the sanction of the mon- 
 arch had been obtained.^^ 
 
 These causes combined to prepare the downfal of the 
 Persian monarchy, in the second century of its existence : 
 resembling, in this respect, other great despotic dynasties, 
 which, at first, collapse in their internal structure, and on 
 an impulse from without, are shaken to pieces. We behold, 
 
 *• See DioD. xv. xvi. 
 
 * Compare the accounts of Herodotus, ix. 109, 113, with those af 
 Ctesias, Pers. 42, etc. 
 
PERSIANS. 
 
 QHAP. II. 
 
 in the present day, a similar empire, which possibly may 
 not even require the reverses of three defeats, to afford on 
 the banks of the Hellespont, the same spectacle which fol- 
 lowed the success of Alexander on the Granicus, at Issus, 
 and at Arbela. 
 
 II. POWER AND PRIVILEGES OF THE MONARCH. LIMITATIONS 
 IMPOSED BY THE CODE OF ZOROASTER. COURT, HAREM, AND 
 DOMESTIC LIFE OF THE KING. 
 
 In the great empires of Asia, the person of the monarch is 
 the central point around which every thing else revolves : 
 according to the notions of the East, he is regarded not 
 merely as the ruler, but rather as the master and proprietor 
 of the lands and lives of all. On this leading principle were 
 founded all the institutions of that continent, and these were 
 frequently stretched to a length, which to civilized Euro- 
 peans, living in the undisturbed possession of personal free- 
 dom and the rights of property, appears either incompre- 
 hensible or ridiculous/ 
 
 The monarchs of Persia present themselves to the his- 
 torian of antiquity precisely in the same attitude, and 
 invested with the same splendour, which usually character- 
 izes the despots of the East. At the same time the justice 
 of this idea has been questioned, and several authors have 
 even described them as pssessing a limited authority.^ 
 The cause, however, of this discrepancy appears to lie not 
 so much in a real contradiction as in a misapprehension, 
 which can only be removed by a right understanding of the 
 nature of despotic governments in general, and in an 
 especial manner those of the East. An examination into 
 this question will lead us to discuss another respecting the 
 legal institutions of the East, and those especially which were 
 peculiar to the Persians. . 
 
 Since the time of Locke and Montesquieu, it has been 
 constantly the aim of political writers to carry still further 
 
 » If a Mongol plucks another by the tuft of hair on his head, he is liable 
 to punishment, not because he has committed an assault, but because the 
 tuft is the property of the king ! Pallas, Mongol Vblker, i. p. 1 iH. 
 
 « Gatterer, Versuch einer allgemeinen Weltgeschichte^ p. 180. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 231 
 
 the distinctions drawn by them, respecting the different 
 forms of government ; but as long as these theorists adhered 
 to the threefold division handed down from the days of 
 Aristotle, of the monarchical, aristocratic, and democratic 
 governments, it was impossible that much progress should 
 be made in such speculations. It was impossible that any 
 satisfactory result should be obtained so long as men as- 
 sumed, as an essential division, a distinction which respected 
 merely the number of the rulers, and not the nature of the 
 government. The only solid distinction must arise out of 
 the relations in which the governing part of the community, 
 whether consisting of a single, or many members, stands to 
 the governed. The differences belonging to such relations 
 can alone afford a principle, according to which the different 
 forms of civil government may be classed. The essential 
 character of a republican form of government is, that the 
 possessor of the executive authority is responsible and sub- 
 ordinate to the people, as their magistrate : while in mon- 
 archies the executive, residing in the person of the sove- 
 reign, is exalted above the rest of the community. In the 
 former case the supreme power resides with the people ; in 
 the latter, with the king." The monarchical form, however, 
 leaves room for three different relations between the rulers 
 and the ruled ; according as the mass of the community 
 may stand in the situation of vassals, subjects, or citizens. 
 By vassals, I mean such as are not possessed of personal free- 
 dom, nor the free use of their private will ; their ruler is a 
 despot, and these relations are the foundation of what are 
 called despotic governments. By subjects we must be un- 
 derstood to mean such as are possessed, indeed, of personal 
 freedom, but have no share in the public councils, nor any 
 civil freedom ; and in such relations originate what are call- 
 ed autocratic forms of government, or, as they are commonly 
 termed, unlimited monarchies. Lastly, by citizens, we mean 
 such as not only possess private freedom, but through the 
 medium of public assemblies, conventions of the States- 
 General, or representatives chosen by themselves, participate 
 in the public councils, and enjoy alike personal and civil 
 
 • For a further development of this idea, see my essay Ueher den Einflms 
 der politischen Theorien in Earopa und die Erhcdtmg des Monarchischen Fnn- 
 zips. Hist ^crAe, i. 434, etc. 
 
232 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 liberty. The ruler of such a nation continues to be a prince 
 or sovereign so long as the popular assemblies cannot be 
 holden without his consent, nor establish any ordinance with- 
 out his concurrence. 
 
 This last class presupposes, at least to a certain extent, 
 the existence of that division of powers which is generally 
 designated by the executive and legislative authorities, since 
 it is this participation in the legislative functions, whether 
 personal and direct, or by means of deputies, which implies 
 an interest in the public councils. Such constitutions, 
 however, with all their immense results to the cause of 
 civilization and human happiness, flourish only under the 
 climate of Europe : it is only in Europe that, in the proper 
 sense of the term, there has ever existed a constitutional 
 monarchy. 
 
 If we apply these theoretical principles to the great Asiatic 
 kingdoms, (with which alone, and not with any isolated 
 states or small communities, like those in Phoenicia, or India, 
 we have to do,) it is easy to perceive that they all belong to 
 the class first described. In none of these was the legislative 
 power lodged in the hands of the people, nor was the idea of 
 such a state of things ever even started among them. On the 
 contrary, not only did both the legislative and executive 
 powers reside in the hands of the monarch, but to these was 
 also added the supreme judicial authority ; and history even 
 asserts that in some cases the regal office grew out of the ex- 
 ercise of the latter ;* and it must be observed, that next to the 
 causes which have been enumerated in the Introduction, as 
 tending to create the despotic governments of the Elast, there 
 was none which was calculated to produce that effect so 
 much as this sort of origin of the sovereign power. From 
 the want of a civil and criminal code, every thing was left 
 to the judgment or caprice of the judge, and a way prepared 
 by which he might readily make himself master of the lives 
 and properties of those under his jurisdiction. The oppres- 
 sions which result from an abuse of the judicial authority 
 are peculiarly galling, and the first attempts at legislation 
 on the part of the people are generally directed to the re- 
 formation of abuses in this department ; especially with a 
 
 * Herodotus expressly says this of the Medes and their first king Deioces. 
 Ibid. i. 96, 97. 
 
 CHAF. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION DP THE EMPIRE. 
 
 233 
 
 view to the prevention of corruption. Recent political 
 writers have even assumed, as the characteristic distinction 
 between despotic and limited monarchies, that the courts of 
 justice in the latter are independent of the control of the 
 government. 
 
 This concentration of all the powers of the state in the 
 person of the king, makes it impossible to suppose that our 
 ideas of a limited monarchy, like those which exist in Eu- 
 rope, could in any degree apply to the kingdoms of the 
 East : the leading principle of which, whether formally re- 
 cognised or tacitly admitted, was this, that the sovereign 
 was not only an irresponsible autocrat, but the master also 
 of the lives and fortunes of his subjects. Consequently the 
 notion of the rights of free citizenship, in the European 
 sense of the term, was utterly unknown ; all, from the high- 
 est to the lowest, being looked upon as the vassals of the 
 monarch, and the monarch's right of disposing of any indi- 
 vidual without any personal and formal servitude on his part, 
 according to his good pleasure, was never contested on the 
 part of the nation.^ 
 
 Unlimited as such a system of despotism must be pro- 
 nounced to have been, according to European principles of 
 government, it nevertheless was not without its restraints, 
 imposed by other circumstances. The very nature of things 
 made it necessarily less exorbitant in practice than in theory. 
 The despot can tyrannize only within the narrow circle of 
 those by whom he is surrounded. Accordingly, the iron 
 sceptre of oriental despotism fell immediately on the heads 
 of the great and the powerful who were in the service of the 
 king ; and the punishment of satraps and pashas, on the 
 smallest shadow of suspicion, has ever, in the East, been one 
 of the most ordinary occurrences. The mass of the people, 
 on the other hand, have at all times been removed by dis- 
 tance from the observation of the monarch ; and self-interest 
 has made it a maxim with the latter to observe rigid justice 
 towards the great body of the people. The avarice and 
 partiality of the satraps, however, and of their inferiors, suf- 
 fice to grind down the commons ; and it is for this reason 
 
 • On this subject, compare Morier, i. p. 212, in reference to the modem 
 Persians. See also what we have remarked above, (p. 18, note,) of the pre- 
 sent Shah of Persia. 
 
P4 
 
 If "■ 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 11 
 
 that we constantly find, in the case of all the Asiatic king- 
 doms, that it is not the gentleness and clemency of the sove- 
 reign, but his severity and inexorable rigour against all in- 
 justice, which are cited as the proofs and measure of the 
 goodness of his government. When we reflect that the 
 power of the king was equally absolute to promote good as 
 to inflict evil, we cannot be surprised at the picture which 
 is presented to us in oriental history of the flourishing con- 
 dition at certain periods of several of those monarchies.^ 
 The evil lies in this, that it was left to chance whether a 
 fiirious tyrant like Nadir-Shah, or an Acbar the Great, 
 should ascend the throne. If it had pleased Providence to 
 afford to mankind an oracle by which the wisest and best 
 individual might always be appointed to the supreme power, 
 even a philosopher need not perhaps have blushed to pro- 
 claim himself the partisan of unlimited authority. 
 
 This limitation to the exercise of the king's despotic au- 
 thority, imposed by the very nature of things, was not, how- 
 ever, the only one. The human mind devised in those 
 countries another way of attaining to something like the 
 same end, which has been accomplished in Europe by more 
 direct means. The idea of legislation was not altogether 
 unknown to the kingdoms of the East, but it had its origin 
 in a different source, and was differently modified, from any 
 thing which has existed among the civilized nations of Eu- 
 rope. What was here the effect of philosophy and political 
 science, was there, under the pressure of despotic power, 
 achieved by religion. On religion were raised their rude 
 essays at legislation ; the priests were the conservators and 
 expositors of such laws ; and it was religion which furnished 
 the motives for obedience. 
 
 The ideas of legislation and religion are consequently in- 
 separably connected in the East ; but it is obvious that a 
 legal system of this kind must necessarily possess a character 
 peculiar to itself. Inasmuch as the laws thus enjoined were 
 not enacted by the nation, nor assured to it any share in the 
 
 • See the admirable picture given by Chardin, iii. p. 368. The cupidity 
 of the satraps of the East, and their inferiors, causes the effects of a rigid or 
 indolent administration of justice on the part of the monarch to be inconceiv- 
 ably rapid and striking. A mere change of sovereign, by which an infant is 
 placed on the throne, suffices, in a few years, to convert into deserts the most 
 fertile provinces. Forster's Travelst p. 150. 
 
 CHAP. ii» 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 235 
 
 legislative prerogative, they were incapable of securmg the 
 rights of the people : one description of men alone, the 
 priestly caste, assumed an attitude more independent of the 
 monarch, nor has any legislator of the East ever conceived 
 the idea of a limited monarchy like those of Europe. None 
 of them ever ventured to attack the persuasion, that the lives 
 and fortunes of the subject were at the disposal of the mon- 
 arch, and so to convert the subject into a citizen. We are 
 thus' led to make the following general observations : 
 
 In the first place, the legislative systems of the East were 
 designed to soften the rudeness of the nation, by placing a 
 restraint on the prevailing vices, and therefore enforcing the 
 penalties of crime. Consequently they can only be said to 
 oppose limits to the arbitrary exercise of judicial authority ; 
 and it cannot be pretended that they gave occasion to any 
 regular constitution, by which the prerogatives of the ruler 
 and his relations to the governed were defined. Notwith- 
 standing the degree of good which they may have effected, 
 by restraining the arbitrary procedures of the inferior judges, 
 yet the instances of barbarous punishments inflicted by the 
 Asiatic monarchs are so abundant, as to prove that the 
 degree of deference paid to such restraints by the function- 
 ary, must have been always dependent on his personal cha- 
 racter. Faith is the only principle on which a priesthood 
 can erect their ordinances, and this sanction must neces- 
 sarily be extremely indeterminate, inasmuch as every thing 
 depends on the individual. 
 
 Secondly, as religious and political systems, (the legisla- 
 tive codes of the East have been at all times connected with 
 a religious ceremonial,) making religion to consist less in 
 doctrines than in rites, the observance of which (the more 
 important because it compelled to certain prescribed forms) 
 was looked upon as a religious oWigation, early mcu cated, 
 and which, as the individual could be induced to fiilhl them 
 only by moral motives, gave to the priesthood a great in- 
 fluence in forming the personal character of the king, buch 
 religions necessarily partook of the character of a religious 
 court-ceremonial, and at the same time gave to the priest- 
 hood a share of authority, by elevating them to the rank ot 
 chief ministers of their worship ; giving occasion, within 
 their own order, to the establishment of an hierarchy con-. 
 
 f.. 
 
236 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IT. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 237 
 
 sisting of many gradations of ranks. Such an hierarchy in 
 some degree compensated for the imperfect rights of the 
 nation at large, and the pretended ministers of the deity 
 stood in something hke the position of the representatives 
 of the nation. 
 
 These general observations are of importance before en- 
 tering on an account of the constitution and legislative sys- 
 tem of the Persians. The different questions respecting the 
 degree of limited or absolute authority enjoyed by the 
 princes of Persia become in this manner more capable of 
 solution, and our way is cleared tov^^ards a better perception 
 of the character of the doctrines and laws of Zoroaster, 
 which were the established code of the nation. I have al- 
 ready had occasion in two several places to refer my reader 
 to the present disquisition, which embraces a topic of great 
 interest as regarding a religion which, like that of Moham- 
 med, was disseminated over a large portion of the world, 
 and retained for centuries its predominance. Nor was it in 
 the power of persecution, nor of civil or religious revolu- 
 tions, effectually to eradicate this creed ; the adherents of 
 which preferred exile to apostacy, and sought in the deserts 
 of Kerman and Hindustan places of refuge and toleration 
 for themselves and their sacred records. It is only in our 
 own days that the latter have been rescued from obscurity 
 and presented to Europe ; a fact which has mainly contri- 
 buted to improve and extend our acquaintance with ancient 
 oriental history, and we are enabled to speak with the 
 greater certainty on this subject, as few remains of antiquity 
 have undergone such attentive examination as the books of 
 the Zendavesta. This criticism has, however, turned out to 
 their advantage : the genuineness of the principal composi- 
 tions, particularly the Vendidat and Izeshre, as religious 
 books of the ancient Persians, has been demonstrated ; and 
 we may consider as completely ascertained all that regards 
 the rank of each book of the Zendavesta.'' 
 
 ' A foreigner had the honour of first presenting the Zendavesta to the na- 
 tions of Europe, but the German Hterati were the nrst to examine it critically. 
 The superficial remarks of some Englishmen are as far from satisfactory, as 
 the disquisitions of Anquetil, who on many points of importance has struck 
 into an erroneous path. The researches of Kleuker, and still more those of 
 Rhode, have placed this obscure subject in the proper light The latter, in 
 his excellent introduction, shows what we must understand by the authen- 
 
 With respect, however, to another question, which also 
 demands a previous inquiry, the age in which Zoroaster 
 first appeared as a religious reformer, and the reign in which 
 he flourished, opinions continue to be divided. Did he 
 promulgate his laws in the time of the Persian, or rather of 
 the Median empire ? or at a period of still more remote an- 
 tiquity ? Was his religion first addressed to the Persians, 
 or was it only adopted by them ? It is easy to perceive that 
 these inquiries are of the highest interest, not only for the 
 antiquarian in general, but in particular for the student of 
 Persian history. 
 
 It is the almost universal opinion, promulgated by Hyde,^ 
 and defended by the editor of the Zendavesta,^ that the pro- 
 phet was contemporary with Darius Hystaspis, and that 
 consequently his laws were promulgated under the empire 
 of the Persians ; while another hypothesis carries them back 
 to the dynasty of the Medes, and the reign of Cyaxares the 
 First ; about seventy years before Cyrus. ^^ Rhode, however, 
 has laboured to prove that they are considerably more an- 
 cient even than this date. 
 
 Notwithstanding the general adoption of the first hypo- 
 thesis, it could hardly have been suggested, had not all the 
 first commentators pursued a wrong course. The chrono- 
 logical data afforded by the later Grecian authors were com- 
 pared — these were thought to tally with the date of Darius 
 Hystaspis — and it was considered a decided confirmation of 
 this supposition, that the name Hystaspis tallies with that of 
 Gustasp, to whom Zoroaster generally addresses his doc- 
 trines. It would surely have been a more natural mode of 
 proceeding, without the assumption of any such hypothesis, 
 to have endeavoured to collect from the writings of Zoroas- 
 ter himself the place and time of his appearance, and after- 
 
 ticity of the Zendavesta ; namely, that this collection contains either all or 
 most of the compositions which existed before the destruction of the Persian 
 empire by Alexander. He has examined with scrupulous criticism all the 
 books of the collection ; but while we admit the general accuracy of his con- 
 clusions, we may be allowed to differ on points of detail, as our remarks on 
 the ruins of Persepolis have proved. 
 
 " Hyde, De Reltg, Veter. Persar, 303, 312—335. 
 
 • Zendavesta of Kleuker, Appendix i. 1, etc. ; cf. p. 327, etc. 
 
 " This opinion has been fully developed in the treatise of M. Tychsen, De 
 Religionum Zoroastricarum apud veteres gentes vestigiis ; in Comment, Soc, 
 Goett, vol. xi. p. 112, etc. 
 
 I 
 
PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 wards to apply the information so obtained towards support- 
 ing or invalidating the very imperfect data afforded by 
 Grecian writers, without allowing too much importance to 
 the name of Gustasp, which was no uncommon appellation 
 or title in the East, and which consequently of itself proves 
 nothing. It may be added that the Persepolitan inscrip- 
 tions show that Darius did not himself assume this as his 
 
 proper name. 
 
 If this method be adopted, the data of more recent au- 
 thors neglected, and the Zendavesta studied by itself, the 
 hypothesis referred to must fall to the ground ; being indeed 
 utterly destitute of any foundation, except the resemblance 
 of the name Gustasp, and contradicted by the most decisive 
 ^^vifipncf* 
 
 The works of Zoroaster abound in details relating to his 
 own person, as well as the countries and kingdom which 
 were the first scene of his career as a religious reformer. He 
 proves, by the clearest geographical data, that his native 
 country was Northern Media, Azerbijan, or the territory be- 
 tween the rivers Kur, or Cyrus, and the Araxes ; both of 
 which empty themselves into the Caspian. Here he first 
 appeared as a legislator and reformer ; but soon quitting this 
 district, he passed into the countries east of the Caspian, to 
 Bactra, the residence of king Gustasp, who became his dis- 
 ciple and admirer. The original seat, therefore, of his new 
 religion or doctrine was Bactra, whence (under the protec- 
 tion of Gustasp) it was disseminated over Iran. 
 
 The writings of Zoroaster, we thus perceive, lead us to 
 conclude that the kingdom in which he first appeared as a 
 reformer was a Bactrian monarchy. Might not, however, 
 the Persian empire be understood to answer this description, 
 the above-named countries being important provinces of its 
 dominion ? and might not Darius Hystaspis have made Bac- 
 tra, for a time at least, the place of his residence ? 
 
 Zoroaster has himself so accurately described the extent 
 and partitions of the kingdom in which he lived, that this 
 hypothesis cannot be maintained. The opening of his Ven- 
 
 " It is to be observed, that reference is here made only to the most ancient 
 parts of the Zendavesta, particularly the Vendidat and Izeshne, not to the 
 Boondehesh, which is a mere commentary, appertaining to the age of the Sas- 
 sanian princes. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OP THE EMPIRE. 
 
 239 
 
 didat contains a catalogue of the provinces and principal 
 cities of that kingdom ; and this record, so invaluable to 
 the historian, is so clear and complete as to leave no room 
 for doubt.^^ The chief provinces and places, sixteen in 
 number, are registered according to their oriental appella- 
 tions, and for the most part are easily to be recognised. We 
 learn hence that, except Azerbijan to the west of the Cas- 
 pian, all the countries east of the same, as far as Northern 
 Hindustan, were, together with the latter country, subject 
 to king Gustasp, at whose court the sage resided. The 
 whole of Khorasan is here enumerated, with the several 
 provinces of which it is composed. Bactriana and Sogdi- 
 ana. Aria or Sehestan, Cabul, Arokhage, the confines of 
 Hindustan, and finally, Lahore in the Panjab, are all suc- 
 cessively mentioned. Nothing, however, is said of the two 
 chief provinces of the Persian empire, Persis and Susiana, 
 nor of their capitals, PersepoUs and Susa, nor of Babylon ; 
 which, nevertheless, were the customary residences of the 
 kings of Persia, and, in particular, of Darius Hystaspis. 
 Can it, then, be supposed that it was under this king that 
 Zoroaster lived, and that his laws were digested for his do- 
 minions ? Is it to be imagined that, in a catalogue of all 
 the principal cities and provinces of his patron s empire, he 
 should have omitted to mention the very chiefest of all, 
 living as he did at the court of the monarch ? To make 
 Zoroaster contemporary with Darius Hystaspis is not only 
 to vitiate all historical probability, but to make Zoroaster 
 contradict himself. 
 
 What, however, must we say to the chronological notices 
 of the Greeks, which place him in this era ? Supposing 
 them to have been much more authentic than they are, they 
 cannot be admitted as destructive of undeniable data, drawn 
 from the writings of Zoroaster himself : the genuineness of 
 the latter having been once established. The contrary, 
 however, is the fact : it is only in the third, fourth, and fol- 
 lowing centuries that any authors speak of Zoroaster as 
 living in the reign of Darius Hystaspis ; while no trace of 
 any such assertion is to be discovered in the remains of 
 writers contemporary with that monarch, who alone would 
 
 •« Zendavesta, ii. 299. 
 
240 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 be competent witnesses of the truth. Neither Herodotus, 
 Ctesias, nor Xenophon, who make such frequent mention 
 of the Magi, and the former of whom relates their unsuc- 
 cessful attempt to regain their power in the person of the 
 pretended Smerdis, as well as the reign of Darius which fol- 
 lowed, none of these historians say a word of Zoroaster, who 
 is supposed to have appeared at that time. Even Plato, the 
 first Grecian writer who mentions Zoroaster, speaks of him 
 as a sage of remote antiquity ; and the same is established 
 by the evidence of Hermippus and Eudoxus, which Pliny 
 has preserved.*' 
 
 We may therefore assume it as proved, that the reform- 
 ation effected by Zoroaster took place, not in the time of 
 Darius Hystaspis, but antecedently to the commencement 
 of the Persian dynasty. What then was the date of its oc- 
 currence ? a question perfectly distinct from that which we 
 have been considering, and much more difficult to answer. 
 From Zoroaster himself we can only learn that it took place 
 during the Bactro-Median empire, under a king named 
 Gustasp, of the dynasty of the Keanides.** By a compari- 
 son of different authorities it has been thought probable that 
 this monarch was the same with the Median king Cyaxares 
 the First, who, according to Herodotus, reigned about a 
 hundred years before Darius Hystaspis.*^ Of the two hy- 
 potheses alleged, the latter is undoubtedly the more plausi- 
 ble, but even this is open to many objections.*^ The 
 kingdom in which Gustasp is described as reigning, and in 
 which Zoroaster appeared, was not Media, properly so call- 
 ed, but Bactriana. The very name of Medes and Persians, 
 as distinct nations, are not even mentioned ; the nation sub- 
 ject to the monarch in question, is styled the people of Or- 
 muzd. It cannot even be shown that Media was among 
 
 " Consult a collection and critical statement of the accounts pven by dif- 
 ferent Grecian authors of Zoroaster, Kleuker's Anhang zum ZendavestCf ii. 
 iii. p. 90 : besides the proofs alleged and examined with great ability by my 
 friend M. Tychsen, in his treatise already referred to. 
 
 '* 2jendave8ta, ii. p. 142. 
 
 " This hypothesis was first proposed by Foucher, who, however, adopted 
 the idea that there were two Zoroasters. His treatises are translated in the 
 Anhang. zum Zendavesta^ i. ii. p. 51, etc. The second Zoroaster, supposed by 
 Foucher to have flourished under Darius Hystaspis, is the mere figment of 
 some later Grecian authors of little credit. 
 
 *• See the disquisition of Rhode, Heilige Sage, p. 152, etc., who makes Zo- 
 roaster anterior to the Assyrian monarchy. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 241 
 
 his tributary kingdoms, and it is certain that it was not the 
 principal kingdom, the seat of the empire. On the whole, 
 we are compelled to carry back Zoroaster to the period 
 when Bactriana was an independent monarchy, a period 
 anterior to the very commencement of the Median empire, 
 as related by Herodotus, ascending beyond the eighth cen- 
 tury before the Christian era. Whether we must refer him 
 to a still more ancient epoch, prior to the Assyrian mon- 
 archy, (as is the opinion of Rhode,) must remain a question, 
 as we have no certain knowledge whether Bactriana formed 
 a part of the empire of the Assyrians, or whether it con- 
 stituted a contemporary and independent kingdom. The 
 chronological notices we have already given are all that can 
 be afforded, except we be prepared to transport the sage be- 
 yond the utmost limits of recorded history. 
 
 These preliminary observations were indispensable to the 
 solution of the two questions with which, on the present oc- 
 casion, we are chiefly concerned, namely, what was the 
 religion of Zoroaster under the Medes, and what under the 
 Persian dynasty ? 
 
 It is not without anxiety that I prepare to answer these 
 queries, not only on account of the difficulties with which 
 they are encumbered, but because I feel how hard it is to 
 transport my reader to a point of view which may enable 
 him (and which alone can do so) to view this system of 
 laws in its true light and proportions. Zoroaster made his 
 appearance in the heart of Asia, among a people whose con- 
 stitution, religion, and manners are completely different 
 from our own. His doctrines, however, like those of every 
 reformer, were occasioned by present circumstances, and 
 adapted to the times in which he flourished ; and conse- 
 quently, we form a just estimate of his character only by 
 contemplating him with a reference to his age. We must 
 forget that we are Europeans, and, together with our more 
 advanced knowledge, lay aside our prejudices also. It is 
 no objection to his laws, that they contain much that is 
 strange, or even absurd, nay, this very circumstance rather 
 confirms their authenticity, being precisely what was to be 
 expected in a legislative system belonging to so remote an 
 age and country. , 
 
 In several parts of his writings, Zoroaster speaks of him- 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 R 
 
242 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Ill 
 
 self as a subject of one of those great despotic governments, 
 which have always abounded in Asia,^^ and consequently 
 was more sensible than a European can be, ot the advan- 
 tagces and evils which attend such a form of government in 
 a civilized country. He could not be blind to the beneficial 
 effects of agriculture, and the other peaceful arts, which 
 flourish only under the shelter of civil society, and his sense 
 of these advantages must have been heightened by the con- 
 trast of the lawless and wandering hordes by which his 
 country was overrun. The evils, also, which generally at- 
 tend despotic governments, must have been no less strikingly 
 presented to his observation : the intolerable oppression of 
 Straps and their subalterns ; luxury and debauchery, with 
 the maladies and physical afflictions of another kind which 
 he himself enumerates and bewails,^« had so generally crept 
 in, as to excite in him the desire to restore by his religious 
 reform more fortunate and better days. , / ,. . , 
 The picture which an Asiatic forms to himself ot such 
 happier days, is different from that which a European 
 would conceive. Bowed down from his youth beneath the 
 yoke of absolute authority, he does not presume to emanci- 
 pate himself, even in idea; but takes another way of com- 
 pensating his present grievances. He pictures to himselt 
 a despotic government in the hands, not of a tyrant, but a 
 father of his people ; under which every class of men and 
 every individual might have his appropriate sphere ot action, 
 to which he confined himself, and the duties of which he 
 fulfilled ; under whom the peaceful arts of agriculture, tend- 
 ine: of flocks, and commerce, were supposed to flourish, riches 
 to increase and abound, as if the hands of the monarch, 
 like those of a divinity, showered blessings on his people. 
 
 Such a government and such a sovereign are recorded in 
 the Cyropaedia itself; and their image has survived through 
 all the periods of Asiatic historjs still continumg to form, 
 as it were, the central point of oriental tradition and vividly 
 impressed on the code of Zoroaster. Accordmg to that 
 sage, the era of Jemshid, the ancient sovereign of Iran, 
 
 " See the first Fargards of the Vendidat, Zendavesta, ii. 300, etc., and the 
 
 books of Yesht-Sades and \zts\inQ passim. 
 
 ^* Zendavestay i. ip. 7^ 118, etc. . . c w u Ao;o oc far ac tho 
 
 '» Iran, the oriental name for the countries ^of higher Asia, as far as the 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 243 
 
 was the golden age of his country. " Jemshid the father of 
 his people, the most glorious of mortals whom the sun ever 
 beheld. In his days animals perished not : there was no 
 want either of water,'^^ or of fruit-bearing trees, or of animals 
 fit for the food of mankind. During the light of his reign 
 there was neither frost nor burning heat, nor death, nor un- 
 bridled passions, the work of the Deevs. Man appeared to 
 retain the age of fifteen ;2' the children grew up in safety, 
 as long as Jemshid reigned, the father of his people."^^ 
 
 The restoration of such a golden age was the end of the 
 legislation of Zoroaster, who, however, built his code on a 
 religious foundation, agreeably to the practice of the East ; 
 and the multifarious ceremonies he prescribed had all refer- 
 ence to certain doctrines intimately associated with his 
 political dogmata ; and it is absolutely necessary to bear in 
 mind this alliance, if we would not do injustice to one part 
 or other of his system. 
 
 The philosophical system of Zoroaster set out with those 
 speculations with which philosophy, in the infancy of na- 
 tions, is apt to commence her career, being impelled thereto 
 in the most lively and powerful manner, namely, with dis- 
 cussions respecting the origin of evil, which in so many 
 forms oppresses human nature. It is indifferent to us, 
 whether he was himself the first propounder of the doctrines 
 he maintained on this subject, or whether he borrowed 
 them from more ancient traditions of the East. It is suffi- 
 cient that in this respect he assumed such high ground that 
 
 Indus, and also appUed to the country in which Zoroaster resided. In the 
 language of Zend it is called Eriene. See above, p. 88. 
 
 * As the fertility of the soil depended in those countries on a plentiful 
 supply of water, the latter circumstance is perpetually mentioned by Zoro- 
 aster as denoting the former. 
 
 " That is to say, they enjoyed a perpetual youth. In those warm coun- 
 tnes the age of puberty is accelerated. 
 
 ^ Zendavesta, i. 14. Jemshid is generally described as the founder of civil 
 society, by introducing the art of agriculture. See the beautiful mythus in 
 lu ^^"*^^^^^» Zendav, ii. 304. A recent author has made it appear probable 
 that the above name conceals the Achaemenes of the Greeks, the reputed 
 head of the royal family of Cyrus. See Wahl, AlUfemehte Beschreih. des 
 Fersischen Reichs, p. 209. I confess that this hypothesis appears to me ex- 
 tremely probable. Besides the similarity of the names, which will be imme- 
 diately recognised if we take away the Greek termination enes, and the 
 ^ersian shid ; it is perfectly in harmony with the practice of the Orientals, 
 that the more recent dynasty of the descendants of Cyrus should seek to in- 
 graft their genealogy on iht ancient Median stock which sprang from Jemshid. 
 
 R 2 
 
 i 
 
244 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CBAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OP THE EMPIRE. 
 
 245 
 
 all obscurity which involved the subject seemed to disappear, 
 as long as no clouds of metaphysics obscured the horizon 
 The doctrine of a good and evil principle the sources ot 
 all good and ill, is the foundation-stone of the whole struc- 
 turl, both of his religious and political philosophy. 
 
 This leading idea was, however, modified by the cha- 
 racter which its author assumed of a legislator. He as- 
 serted the existence of a kingdom of light, and a kingdom 
 of darkness : in the former reigns Ormuzd, the author and 
 iriver of all good; in the latter, Ahriman, the source of ail 
 Ivil, moral as well as physical. The throne of Ormuzd is 
 surrounded by the seven Amshaspands, the princes of light, 
 of whom the sage himself was the first. Subordinate to 
 these are the Izeds, the genii of good of whatever kind. 
 The kingdom of darkness subject to Ahriman, contains the 
 same sort of hierarchy ; his throne being surrounded by the 
 seven superior Deevs, the princes of evil, while an infinite 
 number of inferior Deevs are subordinate to the former, as 
 the Izeds to the Amshaspands. The kingdoms of Ormuzd 
 and Ahriman are eternally opposed to each other, but at a 
 future period Ahriman shall be overthrown^ and the powers 
 of darkness destroyed ; the dominion of Ormuzd shall be- 
 come universal, and the kingdom of light alone shall subsist 
 and embrace the universe."' 
 
 It is apparent that this ideal system was copied from the 
 constitutions of the oriental monarchies, and conversely, the 
 forms of the first were applied to the latter : the whole being 
 obviously adapted to the place and circumstances ot time in 
 which the legislator appeared. He lived m a country 
 situated on the borders of the nomad tribes,"* where he had 
 opportunities of comparing the advantages of civil society 
 with the striking contrast presented by the wandering and 
 lawless hordes, which incessantly laid waste his native land. 
 He beheld, as it were, his kingdoms of light and of darkness 
 realized on the earth : Iran, the Medo-Bactnan kingdom, 
 subject to Gustasp, being the image of the kingdom of Or- 
 muzd, and the monarch, of Ormuzd himself ; while Turan, 
 the land of the nomad nations to the north, of which Atra- 
 siab was king, was the picture of the kingdom of darkness 
 
 " Zendavestay i. p. 4, etc. 
 
 " See above, p. 11, 12. 
 
 under the rule of Ahriman. The leading ideas, originally 
 distinct, have been so intimately mixed up together, that if 
 not absolutely confounded, at all events many of the subor- 
 dinate images have been transferred from one to the other. 
 For instance, as Turan lay to the north of Iran, the king- 
 dom of Ahriman is made to occupy the same relative posi- 
 tion ; thence descend the Deevs, v^^hich at all times inflict 
 infinite mischiefs on Iran. As the inhabitants of Turan led 
 a lawless, unsettled life, causing continual mischief by their 
 incursions, so the Deevs wander in all directions from their 
 abodes in the north, and seek occasions of inflicting mis- 
 chief every where. Nevertheless, as Ahriman shall even- 
 tually be overcome, and his kingdom annihilated, so shall 
 the power of the chiefs of the Turanians be broken ; the 
 laws of Zoroaster prevail, and the golden age of Jemshid 
 return.*^^ 
 
 Such are the principal ideas on which the system of Zo- 
 roaster turns. He did not, however, confine himself to ge- 
 neralities, but applied his principles to the different species 
 of created beings. All that exists appertains either to the 
 kingdom of Ormuzd or to that of Ahriman, whether rational 
 or irrational, animate or inanimate. There are pure men, 
 pure animals, pure vegetables ; (all these the creation of 
 Ormuzd ;) and again, there are impure men, impure ani- 
 mals, impure vegetables, subject to the dominion of the 
 Deevs, and appertaining to the kingdom of Ahriman. 
 
 All men are accounted impure, (kharf asters^) who by 
 thought, word, or deed despise the laws of Zoroaster ; all 
 poisonous and pernicious animals or reptiles, (which in the 
 countries bordering on Media are much more abundant 
 and formidable than in Europe,) with all plants and vege- 
 tables possessing the same quahties. On the other hand, 
 in the country where the law of Zoroaster is revered, every 
 thing is pure, every thing is holy : so that his precepts ex- 
 tend their influence not only over the human race, but even 
 to the brute and inanimate creation. It is the duty of the 
 servant of Ormuzd (Mazdryesnan) to foster every thing in 
 nature which is pure and holy, as all such things are the 
 creations of Ormuzd, at the same time that the enmity he 
 
 \ 
 
 * Zendavestay i. p. 116, 160. 
 
246 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II< 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 247 
 
 has vowed against Ahriman and his creation, make it in- 
 cumbent on him to attack and destroy all impure animals. 
 On these principles Zoroaster built his laws for the improve- 
 ment of the soil by means of agriculture, by tendmg of cat- 
 tle, and gardening, which he perpetually inculcates, as it he 
 could not sufficiently impress his disciples with a sense ot 
 
 their importance.'^ . , . , . , n 
 
 In the internal organization of his kingdom, Zoroaster 
 continued faithfully to copy the character pecuhar to the 
 despotic governments of the East. The whole system re- 
 posed on a four-fold division of castes : that of the priests, 
 the warriors, the agriculturists, and the artificers of what- 
 ever denomination.*^ This is the order in which they are 
 enumerated, but the legislator omits no opportunity of ele- 
 vating and dignifying that of the agriculturists. 1 hese 
 extract plenty from the earth. ; their hands wield the blade 
 of Jemshid with which he clove the ground, and drew forth 
 the treasures of abundance.'" It is to be observed, how- 
 ever, that this division into castes is not described as an in- 
 stitution of Zoroaster, but as having existed from the era of 
 Jemshid ; an institution which the legislator did not ori- 
 ginate, but merely maintained. 
 
 The gradation of ranks is conformable to the hierarchy 
 of the kingdom of Ormuzd. We hear of rulers of petty 
 towns, rulers of streets, (or portions of cities,) rulers of cities, 
 and rulers of provinces ; the head of all these potentates be- 
 ing the king. All, as subjects of Ormuzd, are supposed 
 good and upright, especially the highest of all, the monarch. 
 He is the soul of all, on whom all depend, and around whom 
 the whole system revolves. His commands are absolute and 
 irrevocable, but the religion of Ormuzd forbids him to or- 
 dain any thing but what is just and good.'^ 
 
 These are the principal characteristics of the kingdom 
 sketched by Zoroaster ; the picture of a despotic govern- 
 ment on the principles of the customs of the East. To this 
 he added precepts calculated to advance the moral improve- 
 ment of his people ; nor did it escape his observation, that 
 on the habits of the nation, and in particular on their do- 
 mestic virtues, must be founded its public constitution. 
 
 Zendavestaf i. p. 16, etc. 
 » Ibid. ii. p. 305. 
 
 ^ Ibid. i. p. 141. 
 » Ibid. i. 72, etc. 
 
 Hence his laws for the furtherance of marriage, his praises 
 of fruitfulness in women, and his condemnation of the un- 
 natural vices which abounded in the countries where he 
 dwelt.^ He did not, however, venture to proclaim himself 
 a patron of monogamy, either because he himself had not 
 been convinced of its expediency, or because his country- 
 men were too firmly attached to their existing practices. 
 
 The conservation of his ordinances was intrusted to the 
 priestly caste, the Magians,^^ who, under the Medes, formed 
 one of their original tribes, to whom was committed the 
 preservation of such sciences as were known among them, 
 and the performance of the offices of public devotion. He- 
 rodotus expressly names them as a distinct tribe of the 
 Medes,^^ and this arrangement, peculiar to the East, with 
 which the Jewish annals have made us familiar, is further 
 illustrated by the observations already offered respecting the 
 priest-caste of the Egyptians. The reform of Zoroaster also 
 addressed itself to these. According to his own professions, 
 he was only the restorer of the doctrine which Ormuzd him- 
 self had promulgated in the days of Jemshid : this doctrine, 
 however, had been misrepresented, a false and delusive Ma- 
 gia, the work of Deevs, had crept in, which was first to be 
 extinguished in order to restore the pure laws of Ormuzd.^^ 
 He composed the first and best of his treatises, the Vendidat, 
 at a period when his doctrines had only begun to obtain the 
 ascendency, and when the false Magians, the worshippers 
 of the Deevs, withstood him ; hence the maledictions which 
 he continually heaps upon them."** We know from history 
 that in the end his reformation triumphed, though we are 
 not enabled to trace its progress in detail. 
 
 Zoroaster, therefore, must not be considered as the 
 founder, but only the reformer of the caste of Magians, and 
 to him must therefore be ascribed the internal constitution 
 of this caste, though it may have subsequently received 
 some further development. The three orders of Herbeds 
 (disciples), Mobeds (masters), and Destur Mobeds (com- 
 plete masters), into which they were divided, occur in his 
 
 * See the precepts of the Vendidat, Fargard, v.— xix. 
 " The name of Magian is derived from the Pehlvi dialect : Mag and 3Iog 
 in this language signifying a priest. Zendavesta^ Anhaiig iii. p. 17- 
 « Herod, i. iOl. ^ Zendavesta, i. p. 43. '* Ibid. ii. 171, etc. 
 
248 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP, II. 
 
 works ^ They alone were entitled to perform the offices of 
 religion, they alone possessed the sacred formularies or htur- 
 eies by which Ormuzd was to be addressed and were ac- 
 quainted with the ceremonies by which the offering ot 
 prayers and sacrifice was to be accompanied. Ihis was 
 their peculiar knowledge and their study, and it was only 
 bv them that prayers and sacrifice could be presented to the 
 deity "^ In this manner they came to be considered the 
 only interlocutors between God and man ; it was to them 
 alone that Ormuzd revealed his will, they alone contem- 
 plated the future, and had the power of revealing it to such 
 as inquired into it through them. 
 
 On these foundations was reared, both among the Per- 
 sians and the Medes, the dignity of the priestly caste. 1 he 
 general belief in predictions, especially as derived irom ob- 
 servation of the heavenly bodies, and the custom ot under- 
 taking no enterprise of moment without consulting those 
 who were supposed acquainted with such oracles, as well as 
 the blind confidence reposed in such pretenders, all con- 
 spired to give this class of men the highest influence, not 
 only in the relations of private life, but also over public un- 
 dertakings. In the days of Zoroaster, as at present, it was 
 esteemed necessary to the dignity as well as the exigencies 
 of an Asiatic court, that the person of the king should be 
 surrounded by a multitude of soothsayers, wise men, and 
 priests, who formed a part of his council. The origin ot 
 this persuasion, which has so universally and invariably pre- 
 vailed in the East, may be left for others to discuss ; but the 
 extraordinary influence which it has exercised over the 
 manners of private life and the constitution of the state at 
 lai^e, deserves the closest attention of every one who inter- 
 ests himself in the history of nations and their manners. 
 
 If we take these things into the account, and assume it 
 as proved that Zoroaster flourished under the Median dy- 
 nasty, we cannot be surprised by the fact, that on the down- 
 M of that monarchy its hereditary religion was adopted by 
 the conquerors. Supposing (what I am not prepared either 
 to assert or deny) that up to that period these doctrines 
 were unknown to the Persians, yet from the nature ot 
 
 Zendaresta, ii. 261. 
 
 *" Herod, i. 132. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 249 
 
 things, their reception was an almost necessary consequence 
 of a fact which is indisputable, the adoption by the Persian 
 monarchs of the court-ceremonial of the Medes. The latter 
 had been defined and prescribed by the mixed political and 
 religious code of that nation, and was inseparable from the 
 authority on which it rested. The Magians and wise men 
 formed the most dignified portion of the court ; they sur- 
 rounded the king's person, and were indispensable to him 
 as soothsayers and diviners. They were distinguished also 
 by their dress ; their girdle (costi), which was not passed 
 over the shoulder like the cord of the Brahmans in the 
 manner of a scarf; the sacred cup havan, used for libations ; 
 and the barsom, a bundle of twigs held together by a band.^^ 
 Besides, the question was not whether a new religion should 
 be adopted by the mass of the people, (the doctrines of Zo- 
 roaster being the exclusive inheritance and science of the 
 priest-caste,) but only respecting the observance of certain 
 religious forms and modes of worship which were left for 
 the priests to administer. 
 
 The above observations will, I trust, enable us to reply 
 with somewhat greater accuracy to the second question, re- 
 specting the time when the doctrines of Zoroaster were 
 adopted by the Persians, the extent to which they were re- 
 ceived, and the influence they had on the national consti- 
 tution. 
 
 It is certain from history that the Median priest-caste be- 
 came established among the Persians as early as the founda- 
 tion of their monarchy by Cyrus. Not only do Herodotus 
 and Ctesias describe them as an order of priests under the 
 first Persian princes,^ but the express testimony of Xeno- 
 phon in the Cyropsedia leaves no fiirther question, possess- 
 ing as it does an historical value from an observation ap- 
 pended by the author. Having described the etiquette of 
 the Persian court as copied from that of the Medes, he 
 adds : " Cyrus also first appointed the Magi to chaunt 
 
 " I should be disposed to consider the fan, already mentioned, p. 114, and 
 borne, together with an umbrella, by an attendant on the person of the king, 
 as the sacred instrument called barsojn, if it were carried by the monarch 
 himself, and not (as is the case) by an inferior. If, after all, it be the barsom, 
 it must be understood as denoting the priestly authority, as the umbrella does 
 the secular. For the sacred utensils of the Magi, see Zendavesta, iii. 204. 
 
 " In his account of the usurpation of the pretended Smerdis. 
 
250 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 sacred hymns at the rising of the sun (the Has,) and to 
 offer daily sacrifices to the deities, to whom it was enjoined 
 by their law. This state of things continues to be main- 
 tained by each successive monarch; and the rest ot the 
 Persian nation followed the example of their prince, con- 
 ceiving that they should in the same way be more likely to 
 prosper, if they worshipped the gods as their monarch did 
 
 Thus the first consequence of their appointment was the 
 introduction of a certain religious ceremonial m the court 
 of Persia. It by no means, however, follows from this that 
 the Persians at once laid aside the manners and customs ot 
 their forefathers, and, as it were, suddenly became converted 
 into Medes ; but rather, that a mixture and union ot their 
 ancient and newly-adopted opinions and customs took place. 
 The laws of the Persians, in consequence, came to be cited 
 in connexion with those of the Medes ; their national deities 
 were still reverenced as before ; *° and in his time Herodo- 
 tus remarks certain diversities observable in the ceremonies 
 of the Persians as compared with those of the Magians. 
 We must not therefore be surprised at not finding a com- 
 plete correspondence between the precepts of the Zenda- 
 vesta and the customs of the Persians ; on the contrary, this 
 very diversity is one mark of the genuineness of that com- 
 
 '^Nor^are we authorized to conclude from the expressions 
 of Xenophon that the whole Persian nation at once adopted 
 the Magian religion. This appears to be sufficiently con- 
 tradicted by the totally different way of life of the various 
 Persian tribes ; besides, as we have already had occasion to 
 remark,^' and shall presently see confirmed, by the Persians 
 Xenophon means the nobler tribes, and possibly only that 
 of the Pasargadae. Far less are we entitled to suppose that 
 the creed of Zoroaster was at once introduced in the con- 
 quered countries as the universal religion of the state ; tor 
 although strongly marked by the character of intolerance, 
 this religion appears never, like that of Mohammed, to have 
 
 " Xenoph. Cvop. viii. Qp. p. 204. h . j i t>„,. 
 
 - He frequently names the fooi narpvo'- see the places collected by Bris- 
 
 '"^'t/^Zl^n iSt^tr^Ii of the dead, which the Magi,. previous to 
 interment, suffered to be torn by a dog or bird of prey. Herod, i. 14U. 
 « See above, p. 214. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 251 
 
 been propagated by fire and sword : its author was himself 
 neither a conqueror nor a warrior, nor did the princes who 
 embraced it esteem it a duty to provide for its dissemination 
 by the power of the sword. 
 
 It is much nearer to the truth to suppose that the recep- 
 tion of this rehgion was at first confined to the court, of 
 which the caste of Magi, as priests, as soothsayers, and as 
 councillors of the king, formed an important part, and next 
 to the wives and eunuchs of the monarch, had nearest ac- 
 cess to his person. It was a principal part of the education 
 of the monarch to be instructed in the lore of the Magi,*^ a 
 privilege communicated to very few personages besides, and 
 those highly favoured.** This doctrine of the Magi, mixed 
 up with the hereditary opinions of the Persians, was desig- 
 nated as the law of the Medes and Persians, and embraced 
 a knowledge of all the sacred customs, precepts, and usages 
 which concerned, not only the worship of the deity, but the 
 whole private life of every worshipper of Ormuzd, respect- 
 ing the duties which he was bound to perform, and the pe- 
 nalties which he would incur by transgressing them. In 
 proportion as the ritual prescribed was extensive and multi- 
 farious, so was it open to cases of doubtful interpretation, 
 when the counsel of the Magi was needed, and consequently 
 was not neglected. From a comparison of several passages, 
 it appears probable that they composed the council of the 
 king's judges, of which mention is made as early as the time 
 of Cambyses.*^ The very notion of a religious legislation, 
 such as we have described, implies that the priests should 
 be also judges, and the individual cases which have been re- 
 corded as brought before this tribunal appear to fortify such 
 a conjecture. This court of judicature consisted of men 
 distinguished for their wisdom no less than their justice, 
 possessing their places for life, unless proved guilty of some 
 act of injustice. When this happened, they were punished 
 not only with strictness, but with a cruelty such as despot- 
 ism alone can either devise or execute.*^ Examples, how- 
 
 ** Cic. de Divin. i. 23, and other passages in Brisson, p. 384. 
 
 " As, for instance, to Themistocles during his residence at the Persian court. 
 Plutarch, in Themist. Op. i. p. 126. 
 
 ^ Compare Esther, i. 13, with Herod, iii. 31 ; vii. 194. The other places 
 which bear on this point are to be found in Brisson, p. 189. 
 
 ** In this manner Darius caused one of them to be crucified, but on dis- 
 

 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 ever, are not wanting to prove that although it was esteemed 
 a duty by the monarch to take the opmion of this council, 
 vet he was by no means necessarily bound to abide by their 
 sentence. Cambyses demanded whether it was lawful for 
 him to marry his sister, and the council, knowing that it 
 was his purpose to do so, replied that there was no law which 
 permitted it, but that there did exist a law which made it 
 allowable for the king of the Persians to do what seemed 
 him good.*^ Notwithstanding, therefore, the apparent limit- 
 ation set to the royal authority by the separation of the ju- 
 dicial power from the administrative,*^ the answer ot this 
 hicrh tribunal makes it plain that the authority of the kings 
 of Persia was as unlimited as that of any other oriental des- 
 pot at any period. i ^ j i. 
 
 In like manner, the idea which has been adopted by 
 several eminent modern authors, that the Persian constitu- 
 tion was modelled after the hierarchy of the kingdom ot 
 Ormuzd, appears, at all events, to require strong hmitations. 
 Appeal is continually made to the seven princes who stood 
 about the throne of the king, in like manner as the Amshas- 
 pands surrounded the throne of Ormuzd ; as well as to 
 other less striking analogies.^ But, at the most, this ana- 
 logy applied only to the economy of the court, and did not 
 extend to the kingdom at large : of the former the Magi 
 composed an important part, and it is very possible that 
 this may have influenced the character of the whole When, 
 however, we come to compare the picture which Zoroaster 
 has sketched of the constitution of the kingdom in which he 
 
 covering that he had benefited more than he had injured the royal house, he 
 commanded him to be taken down from the cross. Cambyses commanded 
 3er to be flayed aUve; and his.skin spread oyer the li?dgmer^-s^^^^^ 
 which his son and successor was to sit. Herod, vii 194. 1? or a similar ex- 
 ample of modern Persian justice, see Morier, ii. 105. 
 
 •The^wanrof such a separation has been often felt in the East. In the 
 Turkish empire, as in the Persian, the cadi, or judge, is not subject to the 
 pasha ; but L aU criminal jurisdiction, as well as that of the i)olice, is never- 
 theless in the hands of the ruler and his officers, little good is effected by a 
 
 """^^Thi nSiTeven is continually found in all the public institutions of 
 the Persians, where a pluraUty of persons were required, and accordingly 
 would appear to have been long esteemed by them a sacred number, i^ome- 
 thing siSar is to be remarked in the cases of some other Asiatic races for 
 instance, the Mongols, who esteem the number nine to be holy. Pallas, 
 L198. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OP THE EMPIRE. 
 
 253 
 
 lived with that of Persia, we remark similarities which exist 
 in all great despotic governments : a prince, whose man- 
 dates are irrevocable, a division of the empire into provinces, 
 and a departmental administration by satraps ; while we dis- 
 cover at the same time some striking dissimilitudes. The 
 general distinction of castes, on which the legislative system 
 of Zoroaster is founded, was never completely established 
 among the Persians, although the foundation of such a sys- 
 tem was laid in the diversity of occupations and modes of 
 life pursued by the different tribes. We find among them 
 the tribes of nobles or warriors, and of agriculturists, but 
 none of artisans, which indeed could hardly exist among a 
 race of conquerors ; nor is it certain that in the cases of the 
 former their occupations were necessarily restricted to in- 
 dividuals of that tribe. 
 
 If we take into account these and some minor differences, 
 which have been already touched upon by others, between 
 the law of Zoroaster and the institutions of the Persians, we 
 shall see in them a confirmation of the remark that Zoroas- 
 ter was not contemporary with the Persian monarchy, but 
 that his doctrines were received at the same time with the 
 order of priests, to whom they were committed, without 
 being adopted by the nation at large or literally complied 
 with by all. 
 
 The fiirther information which has been preserved to us 
 respecting the court and household of the Persian monarch, 
 I would fain compress in some general remarks relative to 
 the information afforded by Xenophon in the eighth book of 
 the Cyropaedia, which has all the weight of historical testi- 
 mony, in consequence of the repeated assertion of the au- 
 thor, that the same state of things subsisted in his own time.^ 
 
 First. Agreeably to the customs of all the great despotic 
 princes of the East, the court consisted not only of the king's 
 servants, but also of a numerous army, principally cavalry, 
 which surrounded the person of the king, and formed part 
 of his retinue. This body of cavalry was divided into corps 
 of ten-thousands ; according to the nations of which it was 
 composed.*^ The most distinguished were the Persians ; 
 
 " Xenoph. Cyrop. Op. p. 202—216. 
 
 " Xenoph. loc cit. p. 215. Next to the Persians came the Medes, then 
 the Armenians, the Hyrcanians, the Cadusians, and the Sacse. 
 
254 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 255 
 
 the rest succeeded in a fixed gradation. To these were at- 
 tached the numerous body-guards posted at the gates of the 
 palace, of whom we have already had occasion to speak m 
 the description of Persepolis. If we compare with these the 
 descriptions of the household troops of the kmgs of modern 
 Persia, or the Mongol princes in Hindustan and Chma, we 
 shall perceive that the court establishment of the monarchs 
 of the East is precisely what it was in the days of Cyrus. ^^ 
 
 Secondly. It was a natural consequence of the mcreasmg 
 luxury of the Persians, that the number of courtiers should 
 be augmented, when the rule had once been established, 
 that for all, even the most trivial duties, special officers were 
 
 necessary.^^ 
 
 As all these officers were supported free of expense, there 
 were daily fed at the king's table, according to Ctesias, fif- 
 teen thousand persons,^ and Xenophon assures us that a 
 considerable body of men was required only to make the 
 king's bed.^ These inferior attendants on the court were 
 marshalled in the same manner as the army, and divided 
 into tens and hundreds.^ Courtiers, however, of a superior 
 rank were also very numerous, distinguished by the general 
 appellations of the friends, the kinsmen, or the servants of 
 the king, titles which under every despotic government are 
 understood to confer a high degree of importance. It is 
 unnecessary to enter largely on particulars respecting them 
 in the present place, as the remarks already made on the 
 remains of Persepolis must have conveyed a distinct idea of 
 
 their characters.^^ . 
 
 Lastly. Not only from the analogy which prevails in 
 other courts of the East, but from a comparison of different 
 passages in ancient writers, it appears probable that the 
 household of the Persian monarch was originally composed 
 of the ruling tribe or horde, namely, that of the Pasargadse, 
 and especially of the family of the Achaemenidse.^ For this 
 
 « Chardin, iv. p. 370, etc. Bernieb, Voyage aux Indes, ii. p. 218, etc. 
 
 " Xenoph. loc. cit. p. 209. „ . , xi, 
 
 " Ctesias, in Athen. iv. p. 146. Where are also collected many other 
 details respecting the luxury of the Persian court. 
 " Xenoph. p. 241. ^"^<^- P* '^^*^* 
 
 " A number of passages bearing on this point have been collected by Bris- 
 
 soN, p. 279, etc. . /. • -1 
 
 * This view of the matter receives considerable confirmation from a similar 
 economy prevalent at the present day in the court of Eastern Persia. 1 he 
 
 reason the courtiers of superior rank bore the appellation of 
 the king s kinsmen,^ and almost every page of Persian his- 
 tory proves that every trust of importance was confided, if 
 not to this family, at all events to this tribe. The great body 
 of the inferior attendants of the court was, as Xenophon ex- 
 pressly informs us, gradually filled up with the warlike fol- 
 lowers of the king.^ 
 
 The very name Pasargadae, as we have had occasion to 
 remark, betokens that the household of the court was made 
 up of this race,^' and though it cannot be ascertained to what 
 extent in the end the other noble tribes were gradually ad- 
 mitted to the same privileges, it is certain that the majority 
 of the court at all times was taken from this. The student 
 of Persian antiquity will, accordingly, find reason to adopt 
 the conjecture, that the Grecian authors in general meant 
 by " the Persians," not the entire nation, but only, or prin- 
 cipally, the tribe of the Pasargadae ; and this hypothesis 
 applies (as has been already remarked) with especial pro- 
 priety to the Cyropsedia of Xenophon. The details which 
 lie affords us, in the commencement of his work, respecting 
 the education and institutions of the Persians, cannot be 
 referred to the whole nation, but only to the ruling tribe, 
 or the king's household, as is proved by the notices of place 
 which he adjoins. If we adopt this principle of interpreta- 
 tion, the whole picture presents itself under a totally differ- 
 ent aspect, and it is no longer necessary to consider it as a 
 romance. It is a description of the education and habits 
 of life which, in compliance with custom, the noblesse of 
 the nation, or the portion of it which composed the house- 
 hold of the king, were obliged to observe ; and the very 
 strictness of the discipline prescribed is perfectly in harmony 
 with the customs of oriental courts, where every thing is 
 regulated by an exact ceremonial. Accordingly, it must 
 not be looked upon as an account of the national system of 
 
 tribe of the Doraunis there stands in exactly the same relation to the kin? 
 that the Pasargadae did to the monarchs of ancient Persia. This tribe is dis- 
 tinguished above all the rest, and furnishes satraps or governors for the pro- 
 vinces. Elphinstone, p. 522, 532. In Western Persia also, the body-guard 
 is described as twelve thousand men strong, taken principally from the tribes 
 allied to the reigning shah. Morier, i. p. 242. 
 
 " They were distinguished by peculiar marks of honour, a purple garment, 
 and an ornament of gold. Jos. Ant. Jud. xiii. 5, 4. 
 
 • Xenoph. Op. p. 242. «• See above, p. 214. 
 

 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II* 
 
 education, nor of the manners of the people a,t large, but 
 the court-education, and court-ceremomal ; and in propor- 
 tion as these are strict under all despotic and especially 
 under all oriental governments, it becomes necessary to 
 accustom to them from their very youth such as are destined 
 
 to observe them.*^ „ , t^ • u 
 
 The economy of the harem of the Persian monarchs ap- 
 pears to have been precisely the same with the present 
 customs, in that respect, of the Asiatic nations. It was 
 peopled from the different provinces of the empire, and the 
 surveillance of the whole committed to eunuchs, of whom 
 we find traces, long before the Persian monarchy, in the 
 courts of the Median kings, a consequence of the practice 
 of polygamy. His eunuchs and his wives encircled the 
 person of the monarch, and thus easily attained an influence, 
 which, under a weak monarch who felt himself unable to 
 shake off the yoke, often became a species of protectorship, 
 by which they were enabled to sway the helm of state, and, 
 in the end, to exercise dominion over the throne itself. 
 
 The interior of these gynaecea is best described in the 
 narrative of the book of Esther, while the account of a court 
 ^ intrigue in the reign of Xerxes, recorded in the last book 
 of Herodotus, throws great additional light on their history. 
 The harem was divided into two sets of apartments, and the 
 new comers were transferred from the first to the second on 
 having been admitted to the king's chamber.*^ Unbounded 
 luxury, which in the end degenerates into wearisome eti- 
 quette, imposes of itself a restraint on the passions of ar- 
 bitrary despots. It is far from being the case that, at the 
 present day, the sultan of Constantinople can select tlie ob- 
 fect of his desire according to his own pleasure ; and Per- 
 sian etiquette demanded that a whole year should be spent 
 in purification by means of aromatics and costly perfumes, 
 before the noviciate beauty was thought worthy of approach- 
 
 " That this hvDOthesis is correct will be apparent to any one who will 
 
 mat tnis nypoinesis is ,. ^.i, the eighth book of the same 
 
 compare the bepnnn^g of A^ „f ^he Persian 
 
 Zrt contnffi hUown'ume. but had been much loosened by the luxury 
 Xch had crept in. Op. p. 240. In another place, when the same author 
 ^uu U>e whole^n^ber ^f t'he Persians at one hundred and twenty housand, 
 (Op. p. 7.) it is evident that he can only Ik> shaking of the ruling tnbe. 
 ^ - fiEROD. ix. 1 10, etc. " Esther, u. 12-14. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OP THE EMPIRE. 
 
 257 
 
 ing the presence of the despot.«= The number of concu- 
 bines must therefore have been sufficiently great to present 
 a new victim for every day.«^ The passions of hatred and 
 jealousy, which are apt to become intense in proportion as 
 their sphere is limited, attained in the harem of Persia a 
 degree of rancour which our imaginations can hardly picture 
 When Amestris, the wife of Xerxes, succeeded at last in 
 getting into her power her sister-in-law, whom she sus- 
 pected as her rival, she caused her to be mutilated in a 
 manner so horrible that I dare not even lay the recital of it 
 before my reader.^ 
 
 The legitimate wives of the king stood, however, on a 
 totally different footing from his concubines ; a distinction 
 which prevailed also in the inferior conditions of life.^ As 
 every thing in the constitution of the country depended on 
 the distinctions of tribe, the consort was chosen from the 
 family of Cyrus, or that of the Achaemenidae ;^ though the 
 example of Esther appears to prove, that occasionally con- 
 cubines were elevated to the same rank. In that case they 
 were invested with the insignia of royalty, the diadem and 
 the other regalia.'" The mode of life, however, of the queen- 
 consort, was no less rigidly prescribed and limited than that 
 of the concubines ; and it is mentioned as a remarkable 
 instance, that Statira so far overstepped that burdensome 
 system of etiquette as to appear in public without a veil.'^ 
 
 Uncertainty of succession is an inseparable consequence 
 of a harem administration. It is true that illegitimate chil- ; 
 dren were altogether excluded from inheriting by the cus- 
 toms of Persia;" but the intrigues of their mothers, and 
 the treachery of eunuchs, with the help of poison, often pre- 
 pared the way for them to the throne." Of legitimate sons 
 the rule was, that the eldest should inherit, especially if he 
 
 <a 
 
 Esther, and elsewhere. Each was brought only once into the king's 
 presence, except he should expressly command them to be presented again. 
 
 Danus Hystaspis had three hundred and sixty concubines : a number 
 proportioned to that of the days of the year, according to the computation of 
 
 f *u ^S^^"^* ^'°^- "• P- ^^^* ^^^y ^^^^^ details relative to the economy 
 ot the Persian harem may be found in Brisson, p. 163, etc. 
 •' Herod, loc. cit. « Ibid. i. 135. 
 
 Ibid. iii. 88. Ctesias, Pers. cap. 20. 
 '" See the passages collected by Brisson, p. 158, etc. 
 ^ Plutarch, in Artaxerxe, Op. i. p. 1013. « Herod, iii. 2. 
 
 As in the cases of Darius Nothus, and Darius Codomannus. Cf. 
 Ctesias, 44 J Arrian, ii. 14. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 S 
 
258 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 was born when his father was king.'* The selection was, 
 however, left to the monarch, and as his decisions were 
 commonly influenced by his queen, the power of the queen- 
 mother became still more considerable among the Persians 
 than among the Turks. As the education of the heir to 
 the crown was mainly intrusted to his mother, she did not 
 fail early to instil a spirit of dependence on her wishes, trom 
 which the future king was rarely able to emancipate him- 
 self. The narratives of Herodotus and Ctesias respecting 
 the tyrannical influence exercised by Parysatis, Amestris, 
 and others, bear ample testimony to the fact. 
 
 Another necessary consequence of such a system is tne 
 insignificance of any thing which could be properly called 
 a council of state. Affairs of public importance are dis- 
 ' cussed in the interior of the seraglio, under the influence ol 
 1 the queen-mother, the favourite wife, and the eunuchs. 
 ' It was only on occasions of some great expeditions being 
 meditated, or the like, that councils were held for any length 
 of time, to which the satraps, the tributary princes, and the 
 commanders of the forces were invited.'* The principal 
 question was, however, for the most part already settled, 
 and the debate respected only the means of carrying it into 
 execution. Even in this point, however, the despotic cha- 
 racter of the government manifested itself; since he who 
 gave any advice, was obliged to answer for its issue; and 
 in case of ill success, the penalty fell on his own head. 
 
 All the other circumstances of the king s private lite bore 
 traces of the original condition of the race, and presented 
 the picture of a nomad state of existence carried to the high- 
 est excess of luxury. Even after these monarchs had occu- 
 pied permanent residences, the signs of this did not alto- 
 gether disappear, especially in their annual migrations from 
 
 « Hfbod vii 2 In Persia, as in all other despotic countries, every 
 chanK of reiXwi generally stained with blood. Such as were suspected 
 
 Geneal des Tartares, p. 342, 381 ; and compare La Croix, Mut. <le uengm, 
 
 '*»"c^'u's!- Pers. 8. 10, 39, etc. The same system prevaiU in modern 
 Persia, see Chardin, iii. p. 296. 
 
 " Herod, vii. 8; viii. 67 ; cf. Brisson, p. 49. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 259 
 
 one abode to another, at fixed seasons of the year. Like 
 the chiefs of nomad hordes, the kings of Persia removed 
 with their household at certain seasons, from one chief city 
 of their empire to another. The three capitals, of Susa, / 
 Babylon, and Ecbatana, each enjoyed every year the privi- / 
 lege of being for a certain period the residence of the mon-' 
 arch.77 The spring was spent at Ecbatana, the three sum- 
 mer months at Susa, the autumn and winter in Babylon. 
 The great diversity of climate in so extensive an empire^ 
 (a diversity which for several reasons is still more percep- 
 tible in Asia than in Europe,) was the source of enjoyments, 
 which, in our quarter of the globe, we can scarcely appre- 
 ciate. These removals took place with such a multitude of 
 followers, that the suite of the court resembled an army,^« 
 and for this reason the poorer provinces were spared a visit- 
 ation, which would have exposed them to the horrors of 
 famine.^^ A numerous attendance of armed followers con- 
 stitutes at the present day a permanent part of the house- 
 hold of the great men of the East ; and in the cases of their 
 kings these amounted to the numbers of a regular army. 
 The same system is retained unaltered by the rulers of mo- 
 dern Asia, and the accounts of travellers respecting this par- 
 ticular can hardly be read without astonishment.^ 
 
 The traces of the same nomad mode of life may also be 
 detected in the arrangement of the king's palaces and plea- 
 sure-houses. These were universally surrounded with spa- 
 cious parks, or, as the Persians denominated them, paradises; l\ 
 forming domains suflficiently extensive to allow armies to be ' 
 reviewed in them, or to assemble for the pursuit of game, 
 of which great numbers and in every variety were collected. 
 Such establishments existed, not only in the three capitals 
 already named, but in several other countries of Asia, in 
 
 " Xenoph Ct/rop. viii. Op, p. 233. A number of other passages have 
 been collected by Brisson, p. 88, etc. 
 
 " We are indebted for an accurate picture of the internal arrangement of 
 the royal household on these occasions to Xenoph. Cyrop. viii. Op. p. 225. 
 
 bTRABo makes this observation with respect to Parthia, p. 783, and Mo- 
 ri er observes the same of modern Persia, ii. 274. The king and his suite 
 are the quests of the country through which they make their progress; and 
 the provinces and towns are compelled to supply every necessary. 
 
 See especially Bernier for an account of the progresses of the Great 
 Mongol, Voffoffe, ii. 318, etc. ; and Chardin, for those of the shahs of modern 
 Persia, m. p. 393. 
 
 s 2 
 
PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 260 
 
 which the king was accustomed to spend a part of his time, 
 or in which his satraps resided.*' • . n • 
 
 The king's palace was styled among the ancient Persians 
 also aslnLdem Constantinople the Porte; Agreeably 
 to the customs of other despots of the East, the kings of 
 Persia resided in the interior of their palaces, seldom ap- 
 pearing in public, and guarding all means of access to their 
 Lrsons. The crowd of ministers and courtiers were con- 
 seauentlv obli<^ed to take their stations, according to their 
 Ees of rank, in the court without, or before the gate or 
 porte of the palace ; and respect for the monarch prescribed, 
 especially in his actual presence, a ngid system of etiquette 
 the discipline of which commenced with the earfy youth of 
 those who were compelled to observe it^- The number of 
 courtiers, masters of ceremonies, guards, and others was 
 endless. It was through them alone that access could be 
 gained to the monarch ; and they were consequently in- 
 vested with titles which betokened their relation to him, be- 
 ing styled the king s ears, the king s eyes, etc., because no 
 one without permission, or without their intervention, could 
 
 approach his presence.** , , , '' f „♦; 
 
 The king s table also was regulated by a system of eti- 
 quette no less absolute, which, while it aimed at securing 
 the highest enjoyment, necessarily became m the end more 
 burdensome to the despot himself than to his guests 
 
 As lord and owner of the whole empire, it was thought 
 unworthy of him to taste any but the best and most costly 
 productions of his dominions ;"» no water was fit to be 
 drank by him but that of the Choaspes, which accordingly 
 was conveyed in silver vessels on a multitude of waggons 
 wherever he might journey.*^ His very salt was brought 
 
 ■• See Xekoph. (Emum. Op. p. 8, 29; f^'T'^^Z'^J'^Xoy' ^c "on 
 l(yM. an<l several other passages collected by Brisson, p. •"''"*=•."" 
 
 h^'^^^^ l^rSrnVrocrjrtr-C,.^.. see p. 20.. 
 
 and elsewhere. • o ..- 
 
 " Sep above. D. 256 ; and compare Daniel, i. a, etc. 
 
 "xInoph ^r^ oc. cit. feany other places have been collected by 
 Brisson. p. 264.^The same appellations were current also among the Medes. 
 
 Herod, i. 114. .„ tt-,-^^* i 188 
 
 - Athen. p. 652, ex Dinone. "* Herod, i. l«». 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 261 
 
 from the neighbourhood of the temple of Jupiter Ammon in 
 the centre of the African desert;^ his wine from Chalybon 
 in Syria ;^ the wheat, of which his bread was made, from 
 iEoHa,^ and so forth. Hence arose the custom, that on his 
 progresses the best of the fruits of each country should be 
 presented to the monarch ; and on the testimony of Xeno- 
 phon, there were bodies of men destined to the sole purpose 
 of searching through his spacious dominions for whatever 
 might add to the luxury of the royal table.^ 
 
 Lastly. Among the pleasures of the court was accounted 
 the chase, which was not only esteemed the highest of all 
 amusements, but a suitable preparation for the toils of war.^^ 
 In the end whole armies were devoted to the pursuit, and 
 such expeditions resembled those occasionally adopted by 
 the monarchs of continental Europe. The Persians were 
 originally a race of hunters as well as shepherds, and one 
 entire tribe among them, the Sagartians, who adhered to 
 their pastoral habits in the time of Herodotus, practised in 
 war the arts of hunting, casting a lasso round the neck of a 
 flying enemy, as of an animal of the chase.^^ In their more 
 advanced stage of civilization, the Persians are still charac- 
 terized by their fondness ht the same pursuits, and the 
 manner in which of old they prosecuted this amusement 
 precisely resembled that adopted by the Mongol princes.^ 
 A distinction was made between the chase as carried on in 
 the park, and which constituted the favourite recreation of 
 the monarchs and grandees of Persia, and in the open coun- 
 try, which was a nobler species of amusement,^* and usually 
 pursued in the districts abounding with game of Northern 
 Media and Hyrcania. 
 
 III. ADMINISTRATION OF THE PROVINCES. 
 
 SATRAPS. 
 
 FINANCIAL SYSTEM. 
 
 As our preceding observations have been confined to the 
 court and person of the king, it is now time to extend our 
 regard to the conquered countries and the provinces of the 
 
 " Athen. ii. p. 67, " Ibid. i. p. 28. «» Strabo, xv. p. 1061. 
 
 " Xenoph. in Affesil. Op. p. 671. " Xenoph, Ci/rop. Op. p. 5. 
 
 " Herod, vii. 85. " Compare Bernier, loc. cit. ^ Xenoph. Op. p. 5, 6. 
 
 f , 
 
•WP^P 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 263 
 
 it 
 
 empire. The division of these, as established in the latter half 
 of the Persian monarchy, has been already discussed in the 
 first chapter : but the question still remains, What was their 
 internal condition, and the nature of their administration ? 
 It may be hoped, however, that the reader has already re- 
 ceived some information on these heads from the foregoing 
 pages. If we reflect upon the original circumstances of the 
 Persians, we must acknowledge that their ideas on the sub- 
 jects of administration and finance could not have been very 
 refined ; and the primitive condition of the race continued 
 to give a tinge to their institutions, notwithstanding their 
 gradual refinement and the development of their first con- 
 stitution. The forms of European government and finance 
 could have no place in an empire founded by a nomad peo- 
 ple ; notwithstanding the difficulty which many authors, of 
 great pretensions to an intimate, knowledge of the East, have 
 shown in liberating themselves firom their European pre- 
 conceptions. . 
 
 " The Persians," says Herodotus, " look upon all Asia as 
 theirs, and as the property of each successive king of Persia." ^ 
 These few words contain the leading idea, on which all the 
 following discussion must be grounded. 
 
 A rude people of conquerors naturally look upon the con- 
 quered countries, with all they contain, as their own ; and 
 Asiatic history presents several instances of such nations, m 
 order to their own peaceable occupation, entirely depopu- 
 lating their conquered possessions. The Persians did not 
 fml to adopt the same plan, when no other appeared likely 
 to answer the purpose of repressing their vassals ;^ but 
 when their conquests became very extensive this was im- 
 practicable, and they were compelled to devise other means 
 of securing their dominion. 
 
 We have already explained how and when these institu- 
 tions were first adopted.^ The conquered nations were 
 compelled to pay a tribute, at first arbitrarily imposed, but 
 under Darius reduced to an annual and regular tax, of 
 which Herodotus has given us a full statement.* 
 
 * Herod, ix. 116. , . itt • tt 
 
 * Compare the conduct of the Persians on the conquest of Ionia. Herod. 
 
 ^^» See above, p. 218, 219. **Herod. iii. 20, etc. 
 
 Important as this document is, it has nevertheless given 
 occasion to many misapprehensions. The tribute in money 
 has been treated as the only, or, at all events, the principal 
 revenue which the monarch derived from his empire ; and 
 (with the customs of Europe before their eyes) authors have 
 imagined the existence of a public exchequer, out of which 
 the expenses of the state were paid, the armies maintained, 
 and the public officers remunerated, etc.^ Such a mode of 
 proceeding was, however, utterly unknown in the East. 
 The Persian public officers received no appointments in the 
 European sense of the word ; the tribute in question fiim- 
 ished nothing more than the private revenue of the king, 
 and, besides his own expenses, was applied to no public 
 purposes whatever, unless, perhaps, to that of conferring 
 presents. 
 
 As the end of a financial system adopted by a nation of 
 conquerors must be different from that of all others, so also 
 must the internal regulations belonging to such a system. 
 
 The end in question is no other than that of obUging the 
 conquered nations (whose land is esteemed the property of 
 the conquerors) to pay for every thing, and provide for the 
 maintenance of the king, the court, and, in some sense, of 
 all the nation. 
 
 Herodotus tells us that, independently of the tribute, the 
 whole Persian empire was divided into portions for the sup- 
 port of the king and his army, or his suite ; each district 
 being obliged to provide for a certain period.^ In conse- 
 quence of this arrangement the payments from the provinces 
 were principally made in the fruits and natural productions 
 of the earth ; exacted with a reference to the fertiUty of each 
 soil, and its natural advantages. The best of every country 
 was considered as the property of the king, and was delivered 
 to him by the rulers of the provinces ; "^ and as by these 
 
 ' Even a recent author who designs to give an account of the statistics of 
 Persia adheres to this opinion. How else could he argue against the veracity 
 of Herodotus from the fact that the treasury of Xerxes would be inadequate 
 to maintain his forces ? Wahl, Geschichte Fers. Mnleit. p. 12. 
 
 • Herod, i. 192. 
 
 ' Xenoph. Op, p. 202; compare Strabo, p. 1086. The payments in money 
 appear to have been usually collected from the maritime states, while those 
 in Kind were made from the provinces of the interior. In this way Media 
 alone contributed annually one hundred thousand sheep, four thousand horses, 
 etc. ; and the same is related of Cilicia, Armenia, and other countries. Cf. 
 Strabo, p. 797 j Herod, iii. 90 j Xenoph. Anab. Op. p. 333. 
 
264 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 
 means provisions of all sorts were accumulated at the royal 
 residence from every quarter of the empire, there necessarily 
 reigned there an abundance and luxury which corrupted the 
 morals of the court, and introduced those habits of waste 
 and sensuality for which the Persians were so notorious. 
 
 Not only, however, was the king's court to be maintained, 
 but also those of the satraps of each province, which were 
 modelled on that of their master : their suite was often no 
 less numerous, and they kept up a state which often ex- 
 ceeded their income ; and as the wants of the monarch were 
 supplied from all parts of his empire, so were theirs from 
 every part of each department. Particular spots were ap- 
 pointed to provide particular necessaries or luxuries, and 
 Herodotus tells us that Masistius, satrap of Babylon, re- 
 served no less than four considerable villages of Babylonia 
 for the support of his Indian hounds.® 
 
 To these burdens was added the maintenance of the king's 
 troops, which were quartered in large corps through all the 
 provinces, and which (as will be shown in the next section) 
 were paid, not out of the king's private chest, or from the 
 provincial tribute, but by the provinces they occupied. 
 
 With these contributions in kind were reckoned the pay- 
 ments in specie, or rather the tributes in uncoined gold and 
 silver, of which Herodotus has afforded us his well-known 
 statement.^ Whether these were collected by way of a poll- 
 tax, or an income-tax, or in whatever other way, the histo- 
 rian does not inform us, but he assures us that they amounted 
 annually to fourteen thousand five hundred talents. The 
 gold and silver thus collected (the Indians alone paying 
 their tribute in gold) was stored up in ingots, of which the 
 king made use as he found occasion.^*^ 
 
 We may, however, readily suppose that the sums set 
 down by Herodotus did not always continue the same. The 
 
 • Herod. 1. c. ' * Herod, iii. 20, etc. 
 
 » Ibid. iii. 96. Before the time of Darius Hystaspis the Persians had no 
 coin^e of their own ; and the daricus first struck by him was properly a 
 medal (Herod, iv. 166) of the finest gold. Such also was the on^n of the 
 gold coinage of the Sofis of the later Persian empire. Chardin, li. p. 127. 
 when the darics became current, especially after the mercenary troops were 
 paid in them, their numbers must have been greatly augmented. Yet Strabo 
 assures us that coin was by no means abundant among tne Persians, and their 
 gold was rather employed in decoration than as a circulating medium. 
 Strabo, p. 1068. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OP THE EMPIRE. 
 
 265 
 
 mighty armaments undertaken by the Persian government, 
 especially under Xerxes, called for extraordinary expenses, 
 and necessitated an augmentation of the imposts, as is ex- 
 pressly mentioned." When mercenary troops came to be a 
 part of the Persian establishment, an augmentation of the 
 tribute was a necessary consequence. 
 
 Nor were the sums of which the satraps drained the pro- 
 vinces comprehended in those already enumerated. The 
 satrap of Babylon alone received every day more than an 
 Attic medimnus full of silver, ^^ which on a moderate com- 
 putation made up a revenue of more than £100,000 sterling, 
 and the sum paid to the king from the same province 
 amounted to about twice as much. 
 
 The conclusion deducible from all this is, that the sums 
 enumerated by Herodotus by no means comprehended all 
 that the provinces had to furnish, but only what the satraps 
 paid over to the king's exchequer. 
 
 These imposts were extended over the whole empire, 
 Persis alone excepted : ^^ immunity from tribute being a 
 natural privilege of the victorious nation. 
 
 To these principal sources of public revenue were added 
 others, founded partly in the peculiar character of the coun- 
 try, partly in the nature of its constitution. 
 
 To the first class belongs the revenue derived from the 
 rights of irrigation. Persia is a very arid country, and, with 
 the finest climate, its fertility depends in consequence on 
 the supply of water. In ancient, as well as modern times, 
 this has furnished its rulers with a pretext for exacting con- 
 tributions from their subjects,^* of which Herodotus records 
 a remarkable example. One of the most fertile portions of 
 the country was divided by the river Aces into five distinct 
 branches or arms, which extended up into the mountains ; 
 among these mountains the kings of Persia caused to be 
 erected mighty embankments, in order to keep in their own 
 power the water of the river, and employed this power to 
 extract from their subjects an additional tribute.^^ 
 
 Another source of revenue to the royal treasury was the 
 
 " Herod, vii. 7j Strabo, loc. cit. " Herod, i. 192. 
 
 J Ibid. iii. 97. " See the account riven by Chardin, ii. 346. 
 
 Herod, iii. II7. We have ah-eady remarked that this appears to be the 
 modern Khieva. ' 
 
PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 266 
 
 rieht of fishing in the canal which connects the lake Moeris 
 with the Nile. During the six months that the water flowed 
 into the lake, the revenue amounted to a talent each day, 
 during the remaining six, to twenty mmae.^ 
 
 In Addition to these, the confiscations of the property ot 
 satraps and other grandees was a considerable source ot 
 revenue ; in Persia, as in all despotic states, the loss of life 
 beine: accompanied by the forfeiture of property. 
 
 The free-will oflFerings, however, as they were styled, 
 which were presented to the king, were probably stdl more 
 considerable. It was the universal custom of the bast tor 
 none to present himself before a superior more especially 
 the king; without a present. The grandees of the court 
 (the satmps for instance) sought in this manner to purchase 
 or retain the king s favour, but on certam solemnities, (par- 
 ticularly on the king s birthday,) such offerings flowed in 
 from all parts of the empire.^« These consisted not so much 
 in money, as in rarities and valuables of every description 
 such as are delineated on the ruins of Persepolis. What 
 treasures must on such an occasion have been accumulated 
 out of the immense empire of Persia ! 
 
 Such an arrangement with respect to the pubhc revenue 
 shows at the outset that the expenditure also must have 
 
 been no less peculiar. . 
 
 We have already remarked, that we must dismiss the idea 
 of any thing like a public treasury, out of which the serv- 
 ants of the state were regularly paid, an arrangement equally 
 unknown in ancient as in modem Persia. 
 
 All the expenses which could be characterized as public, 
 such as the maintenance of armies, etc., are not met by the 
 resources of the king's exchequer, but previously provided 
 for in the provinces. The king s treasure remains a private 
 chest for his personal use, from which he takes what he 
 wants for the purpose of making presents, not in com but 
 in ingots, or in vessels of gold ;'^ even the expenses of the 
 court and household not being provided for out ot it, but 
 defrayed in the two following ways. 
 
 " An Pxamnle occurs in the punishment of Oroetes, Herod, iii. 128. 
 » pLTo!XirDT2L Compare what has been already offered respect- 
 ing the relievos at Persepolis. 
 " Herod, iii. 130. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 267 
 
 All the inferior attendants in the court, including the 
 body-guard, which in Europe would receive pay, were not 
 paid in specie at the court of Persia, but in produce ;^^ and 
 to this purpose were devoted the provisions of which such 
 abundance was transmitted from the different provinces, and 
 which more than sufficed for the consumption of the court. 
 
 On the other hand, all of a more elevated rank, the great 
 officers of the court, the friends or kinsmen of the king, who 
 on account of their birth or offices might aspire to favours 
 or pensions, did not receive any thing in money, but were 
 rather in assignments of towns or cities, which the king dis- 
 posed of at his pleasure, in virtue of his title as sole pro- 
 prietor of the chattels and lives of his subjects ; as the auto- 
 crat of all the Russias was in the habit of making a pre- 
 sent of some thousands of serfs.^' The individual to whom 
 
 » The principal passage on this subject is in AxHENiEus, iv. 146, taken 
 from an ancient author, Heraclides of Cumae. The reader may not be dis- 
 pleased to find it here entire, though only the last words have reference to 
 the present chapter. 
 
 " Those who wait on the king at table, being always freshly washed and 
 handsomely dressed, pass nearly half the day m preparing his repast. As 
 for the kmg's guests, some of them dine A^dthout, m a place where all may 
 see them, others in the interior of the palace in his presence. Even these, 
 however, do not properly dine with him, for there are two apartments over 
 agamst one another, in one of which dines the king, and in the other his 
 guests. The king sees them through the curtain at the door, but they cannot 
 see the king. On solemn occasions, they sometimes dine all together in the 
 great hall. When the king eives a banquet (which happens frequently) only 
 twelve guests are invited. When the king and his guests provide severally 
 their own dinners, the latter are called in by a eunuch, and when they are 
 all assembled they drink wine with him, but not the same wine ; they are 
 seated on the floor, the king on a chair with golden feet, but it is usual for 
 them to quit his presence intoxicated. Generally, "however, the king dines 
 alone, his consort" (as in the history of Esther) or one of his sons is occasion- 
 ally admitted to his table, and damsels from the harem are accustomed to 
 sing before him. The banquet of the king has the appearance of being very 
 splendid, though in fact there reigns a great economy, as in the meals of the 
 grandees also of Persia. A thousand victims are slaughtered every day for 
 the service of the palace, consisting of horses, camels, oxen, asses, but espe- 
 cially sheep ; together with a ^reat abundance of fowls. A separate mess is 
 set before every one of the km^s guests, and he takes away what he does 
 not eat. By far the greater portion however of these victuals, as well as the 
 bread, is destined to support the household of the court, the guards, etc., and 
 is carried out to them in the courts, both bread and meat, where they receive 
 It in rations. For as the mercenary troops among the Greeks are paid in 
 money, so are the king's soldiers in food. The same is the case in the house- 
 holds of the grandees of Persia, and those of the governors of cities and pro- 
 vinces." 
 
 ^' For what follows I must refer to the excellent account of Chardin, vol. 
 in. 352, etc. It is astonishing how completely the same customs appear on 
 comparison to have prevailed in the court of Xerxes, and that of the Softs. 
 
268 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 269 
 
 such an assignment was made received the revenue of the 
 place in question, and the king possessed accurate accounts 
 of their value, so as to regulate the distribution of his 
 favours.^ Nevertheless the person thus favoured appears 
 to have been obliged to make over a part of his income to 
 the king in the way of tribute.^^ With individuals of the 
 highest rank, the mother or consort of the monarch, luxury 
 had attained such an excess, that a variety of places were 
 assigned them to provide severally for even the most in- 
 significant of their wants. In this manner a fruitfiil dis- 
 trict, a day's journey in length, was allotted to fiirnish the 
 queen's zone ;'^'* and thus Themistocles received the city of 
 Magnesia, producing a revenue of fifty talents, to supply 
 him with bread, Lampsacus to furnish wine, and Myus the 
 side dishes of his table.^^ 
 
 Besides these allotments of villages and cities, it was 
 usual also to assign, in like manner, houses and lands in the 
 provinces ; and donations of this kind were usually coupled 
 with offices at the court, an institution ascribed to Cyrus 
 himself, and which descended to after ages.^^ 
 
 Those possessed of such assignments enjoyed them for 
 their lives; on their decease their places and possessions 
 reverted to the king, to dispose of according to his pleasure. 
 Without such an arrangement it would have been impossi- 
 ble for the boundless empire of Persia itself to have suf- 
 ficed to supply the liberality of the monarch, exercised as 
 it was towards so large a number, and compelled also to 
 provide for many expenses. Nevertheless the possessions 
 attached to places at court became, according to Xenophon, 
 hereditary, and constituted the patrimony of those whose 
 ancestors had been first appointed to the same by Cyrus.*^^ 
 Among a people whose constitution, like that of the Per- 
 sians, was entirely dependent on descent and distinctions 
 of tribe, it was natural that offices should become heredi- 
 
 The same thing is true also of Eastern Persia. See Elphinstone, 524. In 
 almost every case remuneration is made there also in the way of payments in 
 kind, or assignments on the part of the court, denominated Tokuts. 
 
 " A variety of examples confirmatory of this custom have been collected 
 by Brisson, p. 209, etc. 
 
 ^ This appears from the example of Tissaphemes, Xenoph. Op. p. 244. 
 
 " Plat. Op. ii. p, 123; cf. Cicero, in Verrem. iii. c. 83. 
 
 ^ Thucyd. i. 138; cf. Strabo, xiv. p. 943; and Diod. i. p. 447. 
 
 " Xenoph. Cyr&p. viii. Ojh p. 230. . ^ Ibid. loc. cit. 
 
 tary,^ and an immediate consequence that the revenues at- 
 tached to them should follow the same rule. 
 
 These preliminary observations will help us to compre- 
 hend the internal administration of the provinces. As the 
 very division into provinces was for the purpose of collect- 
 ing with greater accuracy the tribute, the political admin- 
 istration of the satrapies connected therewith was not 
 matured at once, but gradually developed. As the age of 
 Xenophon may be considered on the whole the most flour- 
 ishing period of Persian history, we shall be less likely to 
 err if we confine ourselves to the evidence which he has 
 afforded. 
 
 The government by satraps, which was then complete, 
 was common to Persia with other despotic empires ; but as 
 it entailed a multitude of abuses, attempts were made as 
 much as possible to mitigate them. 
 
 The advantage which, in this particular, the Persian sys- 
 tem of administration possessed over all others of the same 
 kind, was the careful separation made between the civil and 
 military powers ; the exceptions which occurred in the lat- 
 ter ages of the empire having grown out of abuses. Ac- 
 cording to Persian ideas the king had a twofold duty to 
 perform, of providing for the security, and also for the good 
 government and cultivation, of his empire : to secure the 
 former object, garrisons were established throughout its 
 whole extent ; and the civil authorities ^^ were appointed to 
 provide for the latter. 
 
 The foundation of this beneficial arrangement was laid 
 at the very commencement of the empire, by the appoint- 
 ment of receivers of the royal treasury, together with that 
 of commanders of the forces, and the same continued after 
 the provinces came to be more accurately divided, and sa- 
 traps to be created. Xenophon gives us the most satisfac- 
 tory proof of this, when he records the first nomination and 
 appomtment of satraps, which, as he tells us, were first made 
 by Cyrus.^ 
 
 "You know," he is introduced saying to his friends, 
 " that I have left garrisons and their commandants in the 
 
 " The same is the case with the modem Persians, Chardin, iii. 325. 
 
 " See for what follows, Xenoph. (Econ. Op. p. 829. 
 
 * Xenoph. Cyrop. Op. p. 230. \ 
 
 < ' 
 
 ill 
 
270 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 271 
 
 conquered countries and cities, to whom I have given in 
 charge to attend to nothing else but their security. Toge- 
 ther with these I shall also appoint satraps who may govern 
 the inhabitants, receive the tribute, pay the garrisons, and 
 attend to all other necessary points of business." This in- 
 stitution continued uninterrupted for a long period, and the 
 satraps are repeatedly mentioned in history together with 
 the commandants of troops.^* However, in the later ages 
 of the Persian monarchy, it became the custom to appoint 
 the satraps to the command also of the king's troops, more 
 especially when they happened to be individuals of the royal 
 family. In this manner the younger Cyrus was satrap of 
 Mysia, Phrygia, and Lydia, and at the same time general- 
 issimo of all the forces assembled in the plain of Castolus.^^ 
 The same we find to have been the case with Pharnabazus 
 and others, so much so, that even in the time of Xenophon 
 it had become customary for the satrap of a province to be 
 also commander of the forces there ;^ more especially in the 
 frontier provinces, where such a union of powers was more 
 especially necessary.^ The pernicious effects of this prac- 
 tice, and its tendency to promote revolt among the satraps, 
 and to prepare the way for the internal dissolution of the 
 empire, are sufficiently proved by the single example of the 
 younger Cyrus. Notwithstanding, however, this abuse, it is 
 not true that a military government was introduced in the 
 provinces, for the other civil officers continued to be inde- 
 pendent of the commanders of the forces, and the latter were 
 not allowed to take any part in the civil administration. 
 Xenophon tells us that the satraps were intrusted with the 
 surveillance of the commanders of the troops as well as over 
 the civil magistrates ; the king of Persia appointing persons 
 of both descriptions commanders of the forces, and also ma- 
 
 " See Herod, v. 25; Arrian. ii. 2. 
 
 « Xenoph. Op. p. 267. " Ibid. p. 829. 
 
 In modern Persia, also, the military commanders (sardars) are distinct 
 from the civil authorities. They hold their offices as military men, and con- 
 sequently pay no tribute ; but in time of war they are obliged to levy troops 
 and defend the frontier. This is the case with the governor, or rather prince, 
 of Envan, who has also assumed some of the insignia of royalty. (Porter, 
 1. 2(>2.) This throws a light also on ancient Persian history. In like man- 
 ner Cyrus bequeathed at his death Bactriana, or the eastern provinces, to his 
 younger son free from tribute. Ctesias, Pers. 8. The same, undoubtedly, 
 was also often the case in Asia Minor, as in the instance of the younger 
 
 gistrates to govern the country, the one class being bound 
 to pay deference to the other.^ 
 
 The first duty of the satraps and their deputies (vfrapxoi) ^ 
 undoubtedly was the collection of the revenue, whether in 
 kind or in money ; their office, however, was not limited to 
 this, but they were at the same time commissioned to pro- 
 mote agriculture and the improvement of the soil ; ^ and 
 the remarkable attention which was devoted to these objects 
 constitutes the chief merit of the Persian administration. 
 The code of Zoroaster, as has been already remarked,^ in- 
 sisted upon the duty of cultivating the soil, by gardening, 
 rearing of cattle, and tillage, as one of the most sacred du- 
 ties of his disciples, every thing impure being banished from 
 the land where his law was received, and nothing allowed 
 there but pure men, pure animals, and pure vegetables. 
 This idea of the legislator, when applied to a whole empire, 
 presents, doubtless, a magnificent picture, which, though it 
 must needs remain for the most part an ideal picture, was 
 nevertheless, to a great extent, realized under the Persian 
 monarchy. Those parks or paradises, which surrounded 
 not only the palaces of the monarch, but those of his satraps, 
 were so many lively images of the pure kingdom of Or- 
 muzd, realized as far as was possible by the most illustrious 
 of his servants. When the younger Cyrus led the admiring 
 Lysander through his pleasure-grounds, and displayed their 
 regularity and beauty, " All these,'' he informed him,^^ " I 
 have myself planned, and even planted many of the trees 
 with my own hands ;" and when the Spartan general replied 
 by an incredulous glance at his splendid robes, and chains, 
 and armlets of gold, he sware to him by Mithras, as a good 
 servant of Ormuzd, that he never tasted food till he had 
 fatigued himself by labour. 
 
 These precepts, therefore, of their religion made it the 
 sacred duty of the rulers of the provinces to fiirther the cul- 
 tivation of their several districts ; and as the military estab- 
 lishment underwent a review every year, so also did the civil 
 
 "* Xenoph. loc. cit. 
 
 *" The Grecian name virapxot denotes sometimes the satraps themselves ; 
 sometimes the intendants under them, otherwise termed oUovofioi. Jos. Ant, 
 xi. 6. 
 
 "^ See Xenoph. (Eeon. Op. p. 829. " See above, p. 242, sqq. 
 
 " Xenoph. (Econ. Op. p. 830. 
 
 i i\ 
 
272 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 department. Xenophon tells us, that " The king visited 
 every year some part of his empire, and wheresoever he was 
 not able to proceed himself he sent a delegate for the same 
 purpose. Those magistrates in whose territory the ground 
 was found to be well cultivated, and covered with trees or 
 crops, had an augmentation of territory allotted to them by 
 the king, and are rewarded with presents ; and those whose 
 provinces were found to be ill cultivated and depopulated, 
 whether through neglect or in consequence of oppression, 
 were rebuked and deprived of their command, and others 
 appointed in their place."*® 
 
 If these institutions had not been broken down by the 
 abuses which hastened the fall of the Persian monarchy, 
 they would have formed a considerable set-off against all the 
 inevitable evils which accompany despotic governments. 
 However considerable might be the expense occasioned by 
 the maintenance of the king, his satraps, and forces, it can- 
 not have been oppressive in countries blessed with such sin- 
 gular fertility, where the imposts were chiefly paid in kind, 
 so long as wise enactments for the cultivation of the soil 
 tended to lighten these burdens ; but the extravagance and 
 luxury of the great, and their frequent revolts and intestine 
 wars, caused these sage laws to fall into disuse, and frustrated 
 the benevolent intentions of the Median legislator. 
 
 The disposal of the government of provinces rested with 
 the king, who usually appointed kinsmen of his own, his 
 brothers, or his sons-in-law.*^ The court of the satrap was 
 formed on that of the monarch, and all its ceremonial the 
 same, only less magnificent. The satraps also had their ha- 
 rems, intrusted, like that of the monarch, to eunuchs, and a nu- 
 merousattendanceof household troops, distinct from theking's 
 soldiers, and consisting in part or altogether of Persians :*^ 
 their residences, like those of the monarch, were surrounded 
 by parks ; and occasionally, in the finer months of the year, 
 they (like the monarch) migrated from one place to another, 
 attended by their courts, and spent the summer under tents.*^ 
 
 • Xenoph. Op. p. 828. « Ibid. p. 664. 
 
 ** OroBtes, the satrap of Mysia and Phrygia, had a thousand Persian guards 
 about him. Herod, lii. 128. Tritantaechmus, the satrap of Babylon, had no 
 less than eight hundred stallions and sixteen thousand mares, without count- 
 ing his war-horses. Herod, i. 192. 
 
 " See the example of Astabazus, in Xenoph. Op. p. 509, 510. 
 
 CHAP. II. CONSTITUTION OP THE EMPIRE. 27a 
 
 History has afforded us a remarkable instance of the man- 
 
 wli ^^ .T n ^^"^ '"???*' ^^^^ collected by these officers. 
 When the Persians had subdued Ionia the second time the 
 whole territory was measured out by parasangs, and' the 
 tribute apportioned accordingly.^^ In this case it was evi- 
 dently a land-tax, which, however, was paid, it is probable 
 for the most part in produce. The satrap received these 
 imposts, whether m kind or in money, and after providing 
 for his own expenditure, the support of the king's troops 
 and the maintenance of the civil magistrates, the remainder 
 was handed over to the king. The personal interest of the 
 satrap, if he wished to retain the king's favour, prompted 
 him to make this return as considerable as possible even if 
 no precise amount was fixed. ' 
 
 To take care of the king's interests there were also at- 
 tached to the court of each satrap royal scribes,^^ to whom 
 were issued the king's commands, and by whom they were 
 communicated to the satrap. The commands thus con- 
 veyed required the most prompt obedience, and the smallest 
 resistance was accounted rebeUion. Even the suspicion of 
 any thing of the kind was sufficient to cause their ruin, and, 
 as m the Turkish empire, their punishment was unaccom- 
 panied by any formality whatever. The sovereign de- 
 spatched an emissary, who delivered the order for the execu- 
 tion of a satrap to his guards, who put it in execution bv 
 hewing him down upon the spot with their sabres.^ 
 
 To further the speedy communication with the provinces 
 a system was adopted which has been compared, but ver^ 
 improperly, with the European institution of posts Mes- 
 sengers were appointed at different stations, distant from 
 each other a day's journey, for the purpose of conveying 
 the kings mandates to the satraps, and the despatches of 
 the latter to the court.*^ 
 
 ^ Herod, vi. 42. « Jbid iii 128 
 
 Hr.f!!^^!*'^ interesting account of the punishment of 'Oroetes under Darius 
 T^«!nT ' ' ^r^" V Herodotus, iii. 126, etc. Another example is that of 
 
 rTitS'f Notwithstandmg this favour, Artaxerxes sent a plenipotentiary 
 (Tithraustes) with orders to ])ring back his head. Xenoph. Op. p!^501. ^ 
 bv fhp W* ""'"•. ^^' ?^' Xenoph. Op. p. 232. The institution was termed 
 uy [lie Persians ayyapiiov. It cannot be compared with our posts, as it was 
 
 ImTZf.l'^''''^'^ ^""'^^ ^^ ^^L'^' ^^"^^ ^^^"^- A simila^r arrang^me^ 
 still remains m modern Persia. Morier, i. 269. 
 
 VOL. I. m 
 
274 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II' 
 
 CRAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OP THE EMPIRE. 
 
 Institutions of this kind are peculiarly essential to des- 
 potic governments, in which it is excessively difficult to 
 maintain the dependence of the prefects or governors, and 
 occur in almost every one which possesses any thing like 
 an internal organization. The same existed under the 
 Roman monarchy, and was established, at still greater ex- 
 pense, in the empire of the Mongols, by the successors of 
 
 Ginghis-khan.** . ,, • i, 
 
 jSiother plan was also adopted by the Persian monarchs 
 for securing the allegiance of their satraps. A commissioner 
 at the head of an army was sent every year, with authority, 
 according to circumstances, to uphold or chastise those offi- 
 cers ; and Xenophon assures us that this custom, which 
 dated from the commencement of the empire, subsisted in 
 his time.« The design at first undoubtedly was, as in other 
 kingdoms similarly governed, to collect the outstanding tri- 
 bute but when we consider the power and arrogance ot the 
 satraps during the latter half of the Persian monarchy, we 
 may well believe that the custom may have died away. 
 
 We have already described in general the causes ot the 
 presumption of the satraps and the revolts to which it led. 
 Besides the union in their persons of the civil and military 
 powers, one main cause was the greatness of the command 
 intrusted to some by joining together two or more satrapies. 
 An example of this, and of the arrogance to which it gave 
 rise, occurs as early as the reign of Darius Hystaspis in the 
 person of Oroetcs, who was at the same time satrap ot 
 Phrygia and Lydia;" and in succeeding reigns this prac- 
 tice l^came still more frequent, especially in the case ot the 
 satrapies of Asia Minor. Cyrus the younger was governor 
 of the greater part of that peninsula, and, after his death, 
 Tissaphernes was allowed to hold the governments possessed 
 by him in addition to those which had been all along his 
 
 own *^ 
 
 From this period Persian history continues to present a 
 constant picture of the perpetually increasing arrogance ot 
 these viceroys, who sometimes openly revolted, and some- 
 
 " See a highly interesting account of Marco Polo, in the collection of 
 
 Ramusio, vol. ii. p. 30. , -,„ 
 
 • Xenoph. Qp. p. 232. " See above, p. 228. 
 
 " Hebod. iii. r^. " Xenoph. Op. p. 480. 
 
 275 
 
 times, with the title of satrap, set themselves up as independ- 
 ent sovereigns.^' Several of them were, in fact, the found- 
 ers of monarchies, which, like those of Cappadocia, Pontus 
 and othere, gradually became more or less independent! 
 1 he combinations and dissensions of these governors amonc 
 themselves contributed to keep alive a spirit of insubordina- 
 tion which was promoted by the effeminacy and corruption 
 of the court. They began to treat their provinces, not as 
 districts committed to their care, but as territories, the reve- 
 nues of which they were to enjoy ; and as early as the time 
 of Xenophon, we find a satrap of Mysia arbitrarily nomin- 
 ating a vice-satrap, to whom, on payment of a tribute he 
 committed the management of his province, and after' his 
 death, continued the same to his widow, on security being 
 given of the payment of his revenues." Such arbitrary 
 measures must have gradually destroyed the internal struc- 
 ture of the empire, and the slightness of the adherence of its 
 several parts is effectually proved by the history of its fall 
 
 rv. MILITARY AFFAIRS OF PERSIA. 
 
 In the case of a conquering nation, the institutions of 
 war are so intimately mixed up with its constitution that 
 even m a work principally devoted to the arts of peace, the 
 former cannot be entirely passed over. This is still more 
 indispensable from the circumstance that the peculiar cha- 
 racter of oriental warfare has given occasion to many erro- 
 neous ideas. 
 
 The military expeditions undertaken by a nomad nation, 
 such as the Persians once were, are, in their origin, migra- 
 tions, for the purpose of occupying better and more fruitful 
 spots. Hence the custom of removing at the same time 
 their wives and children and all their movable possessions, 
 which invariably encumbered the march of such armaments. 
 Aenophon expressly tells us that this was the practice of 
 
 vio"J!??fcjlf^^,J^ the younger Cyrus were at war with one another pre- 
 
 faeri^n hi fJ,/^ ?°"v^*''^ ^^^^^' ='"'* ^^^'' «"'"i«y ^^ viewed with satis- 
 taction by the court Xenoph. Ob. p. 480. 
 
 *• Xenoph. SUt. Or. iii. p. 482. 
 
 T 2 
 
 1 t1 
 
 yf 
 
276 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II* 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 277 
 
 most Asiatic nations,^ and that it was an old Persian custom 
 would appear from the sequel of their history.* 
 
 In like manner the habits of nomad nations necessari y 
 causes such armaments to consist altogether or principally 
 of cavalry. The first was the case with the Mongols ; the 
 last with the Persians. As the first-mentioned practice re- 
 tards, so does this greatly accelerate the march of their 
 armies. The limited nature of their wants enable them, 
 when occasion requires, to dispense with any baggage, and 
 the history of the Mongols affords examples of the incon- 
 ceivable speed with which such armies have accomplished 
 lengthened marches which would have driven a European 
 
 army to despair.' j vu 
 
 These are the fundamental points to be observed with 
 regard to the military system of nomad nations in general 
 and the Persians in particular ; but as their civil constitu- 
 tion became gradually developed, so did their military insti- 
 tutions undergo at all events considerable modifications, 
 although they never attained the perfection which marks 
 those of Europe. The example of the Turkish empire con- 
 tinues to show with what difficulty an Asiatic, who is al- 
 ways half a nomad, can be inured to discipline. As this is 
 the offspring of a sense of honour and love of country, so, on 
 the other hand, despotism is the parent of licence and bru- 
 tality, which may indeed display their energies in fiirious on- 
 sets, but not in deeds of cool daring like those of Europeans, 
 A dominion acquired by conquest can only be main- 
 tained by standing armies, and we cannot, therefore, be sur- 
 prised to find the provinces of Persia constantly occupied 
 by great masses of men, destined to keep them m subjec- 
 tion, as well as to defend them against a foreign invader. 
 
 Immediately upon the completion of their conquests such 
 forces were suffered to remain in the provinces, supported 
 not by the king but by the conquered. Examples espe- 
 cially occur in the frontier states, in Asia Minor, Egypt, 
 and others, which were especially exposed to assaults from 
 without, or where an insurrection was most to be appre- 
 
 ^ HEROD^ViiL 'iSel^Vsr. Not only the king, but all the chief Persians, 
 continued to take their families with them. Arrian. ii. 11. 
 
 » Se^a highly interesting account of the Mongol expeditions by Marco 
 Polo, Ramusio, ii. p. 151. 
 
 hended.*' Asia Minor, however, from the commencement 
 of the wars with Greece, became the principal depot for the 
 forces of Persia : it was filled with considerable bodies of 
 men which could be readily drawn together when occasion 
 required, and thus Alexander, on invading it, found there 
 troops drawn together to oppose him on the banks of the 
 Granicus.^ 
 
 In the most flourishing epoch of their history the miH- 
 tary system of the Persians was as follows.^ In every pro- 
 vince were kept up two descriptions of forces, those which 
 occupied the open country, and those which kept possession 
 of the cities, as garrisons. These were distinct, and com- 
 manded by different generals. 
 
 Of the first description of forces it was clearly defined 
 how many, and of what class, were to be maintained in 
 each province. The principal strength consisted in cavalry, 
 but there were also bowmen, slingers, and heavy-armed in- 
 fantry. The care of keeping up the full numbers of these 
 forces was committed to their successive commanders, and 
 they were supported, both as respected food and money, by 
 the revenues of the provinces, and as these were paid into 
 the treasury of the satrap, the latter had to provide for the 
 pay of the soldiery. The commanders, however, of the 
 forces, were not subject to the governors,^ unless by special 
 appointment. On the other hand, they appear to have been 
 immediately dependent on the king, having been appointed 
 by him, and deposed at his pleasure,® and a catalogue of 
 such officers remaining in his hands. The annual review of 
 the forces also, which was extended to all the empire, were 
 not usually held by the satraps, but in the neighbourhood of 
 the capitals, by the king himself, and in remote provinces, 
 by persons deputed by him to hold them in his name. Great 
 exactness was exercised on these occasions, and according 
 to the good or bad condition of the forces, their commanders 
 
 * See Herod, i. 162. For instance, in Thrace, under Darius, iv. 143, and 
 V11.58; and Egypt, iv. 167. 
 
 * The Persian army was then forty thousand men strong, half infantry and 
 half cavalry ; the latter being Persians. 
 
 J The proofs of what follows are to be found in Xenoph. (Econ. Op. p. 828. 
 ' If the satrap desired the services of the king's troops, he was obliged first 
 to ask the king's permission. ; 
 
 ■ Herod, vi. 43. 
 
 
278 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 were applauded, and rewarded with presents, or deprived 
 of their rank, or visited with arbitrary punishments.^ 
 
 To these arrangements was added another, the subdivision 
 of the empire into certain mihtary cantons, independent of 
 the civil administration ; formed with a reference to the 
 muster-places of the troops.'^ In this manner the forces 
 stationed in a particular province were always collected at 
 one point, from which the canton derived its appellation. 
 Mention occurs of those in Asia Minor, and as the above 
 institutions extended to the whole of the empire, and reviews 
 were held in every province, it is to be supposed that this 
 custom also was universal. Herodotus expressly mentions 
 the cantons on this side the Halys, and consequently we 
 must conclude the same to have prevailed on the other side. 
 Of the cantons in Asia Minor, Xenophon particularizes that 
 of which the muster-place was the plain of Castolus ; " as 
 that of Thymbra '^ was for the army of Syria ; Herodotus 
 also mentions the Aleius Campus in Cilicia.^** 
 
 These troops were distributed through the provinces by 
 thousands, and their commanders consequently denominated 
 Chiliarchs ; '* and not only were they generally dispersed 
 over the country, but bodies of them were posted on the 
 boundaries, where, if the nature of the ground permitted it, 
 the passage from one province to another was strongly for- 
 tified.^^ 
 
 It certainly remains a question what was the strength of 
 these forces in the provinces, but the great facility with 
 which armies were got together, proves them to have been 
 very considerable. In Asia Minor alone Cyrus assembled 
 above one hundred thousand men ; ^^ Abrocomas, who was 
 opposed to him on his march, had three hundred thou- 
 sand ; ^"^ and the Persian army on the Granicus was forty 
 thousand strong.^® 
 
 From these troops the garrisons in the cities were kept 
 
 •® They are termed by Herodotus 
 
 • Xe^oph. loc. cit. 
 voiAoif V. 182. 
 
 »' Xenoph. Op. p. 243, 267. 
 
 " Herod, vi. 95. ^^^.^^ — -^. t^. 
 
 » For instance, at the defiles of Cilicia, the Persian and Cilician forces were 
 posted over against one another. Xenoph. Op. p. 253. 
 
 "« Xenoph. Op. p. 261. . " Ibid. p. 262. 
 
 " Arrian, i. 14. 
 
 •2 Ibid. p. 158. 
 " Xenoph. Op. p. 828. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 279 
 
 entirely distinct,^^ ^nd the importance attached by the Per- 
 sians to places of strength was in proportion to the difficulty 
 which (like all other nomad nations, who know nothing 
 about the conduct of sieges) they had experienced in sub- 
 duing them. They were looked upon as the keys of the 
 provmces in which they were situated, and accordingly pro- 
 vided with ample garrisons. The troops in question were 
 completely different from those mentioned above, not being 
 comprehended in the military divisions alluded to, but being 
 under commanders of their own, and not bound to appear 
 at the general muster.^*' 
 
 Both descriptions of forces were, however, comprehended 
 under the title of the king's army, and were distinct from 
 the household troops of the satraps and grandees, which 
 often amounted to several thousands.'^ By the customs of 
 the East, every great man is attended by an armed retinue, 
 proportioned to his rank and wealth, and as the vice-regal 
 courts were formed upon the model of the king's, this be- 
 came necessarily a part of their establishments, and the more 
 readily, as corps of troops were a no less customary present 
 from the monarch to his favourites than were cities.^" 
 
 Originally, it is probable that all these troops may have 
 been Persians, but as these gradually withdrew themselves 
 from martial duties, their places were supplied by merce- 
 naries, Greeks or Asiatics. As cavalry, the nomad nations 
 to the south and east of the Caspian were preferred, the 
 Hyrcanians, Parthians, and Sacae. The first especially had 
 a high character with the Persians for courage,^^ and on this 
 account the latter kept up a good understanding with the 
 wandering hordes of Great Bucharia, though no longer 
 their tributaries.^* The Greeks, however, were preferred 
 to all the rest, and as early as the time of the younger Cy- 
 rus, not only did the flower of the army always consist of 
 them, but, towards the end of the Persian monarchy, they 
 
 " Xenoph. Op. p. 828. 
 
 * Their duty was not so much to guard the cities themselves as the cita- 
 dels and castles, which existed in everyplace of any sOTt of consequence. 
 Their commanders were styled ippovpapxoi, and were perfectly distinct from 
 the civil magistrates. Xenoph. loc. cit. 
 
 ^' See Herod, iii. 127 ; ix. 113. 
 
 « Herod, ix. 109. » Xenoph. Op. p. 91. 
 
 Arrian, iii. 19. These nations, thus receiving pay from the Persian 
 government, were comprehended under the general term of allies, avfifiaxoi. 
 
280 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 constituted the garrisons of all the cities of Asia Minor.^^ 
 Before the time of the younger Cyrus, their pay amounted 
 to a daric^^ per month, (about 1/. 0^. 4d. sterling,^^) which 
 was augmented by Cyrus to a daric and a half. We have 
 already remarked the fatal consequences which this custom 
 had on the warlike temper of the Persians. 
 
 In a nation of conquerors every individual is expected to 
 be a soldier, and among the Persians all, especially those in 
 possession of lands, were required to be able to serve on 
 horseback.^® This necessitated an internal constitution of 
 the whole empire, having for its object the military equip- 
 ment of the population ; and the arrangement adopted has 
 usually been the same in all Asiatic nations, and is the sim- 
 plest that could have been devised. A decimal system runs 
 through the whole empire, and serves at the same time to 
 mark the rank of the commander. The common people 
 are divided into bodies of ten, having a captain of that num- 
 ber, after whom come the commanders of hundreds, thou- 
 sands, and tens of thousands. Officers of a higher rank are 
 not apportioned to particular bodies of men, but form the 
 general staff. This has been equally the case among the 
 Mongols and the Persians,^^ and this simple arrangement 
 made it possible for both races to assemble large armies with 
 incredible rapidity. All that was required was a mandate 
 from the commander of ten thousand, which was transmitted 
 to the commanders of thousands, and hundreds, and tens, 
 till the forces, already organized, assembled in martial array. 
 In this manner the Mongol princes often got together, in a 
 few days, armies of cavalry to the number of several hun- 
 dreds of thousands, and we cannot, therefore, be astonished 
 to see the same thing take place among the Persians. 
 
 The great multitude of nomad tribes which wandered on 
 
 " Arrian, i. 19. " Xenoph. Op. p. 252. 
 
 [" Heeren says, " one ducat," but a ducat is only about 9s. 6</. or at most 
 10«. of our money. Trans.] 
 
 * Xenoph. Cyrop. viii Op. p. 241. 
 
 *• See the places cited by Brisson, p. 725; and for the Mongols compare 
 Marco Polo, HaimmOf ii. p. 15. The nomination of the officers depends 
 upon the king only inasmuch as he appoints the generals, rovg arparnyovg* 
 The latter nominate the commanders of tens of thousands and thousands ; 
 and the former of these, the captains of hundreds and tens. Herod, vii. 81. 
 A similar institution (differing in some particulars) existed in the army of 
 Timour. Institutes de lamerlain, p. 47. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 281 
 
 the borders of the Persian empire greatly faciUtated the as- 
 sembhng of mighty armaments. These tribes readily en- 
 gaged in such enterprises, either for pay, or allured by the 
 hope of plunder. As the Baskirs and Calmucks follow the 
 Russian armies, so did the Mardi, Pericanii, and others, 
 those of Cyrus ; ^ and the more widely the dominion of the 
 Persians was extended, the greater became the number of 
 such auxiliaries. The Persians stood the more in need of 
 their aid, as their own cavalry was always heavy-armed. 
 With them, as with the Parthians, both man and horse were 
 armed in mail,^^ though, strictly speaking, this appears to 
 have been a distinction confined to a certain number, ^^ and 
 the greater part seem to have had no defensive armour, and 
 thus served to swell the carnage which the Greeks wrought 
 among them after the victory of Plataeae.^^ 
 
 The foregoing sections must have served to explain the 
 way in which these forces subsisted in the provinces. Each 
 province was obliged to furnish to the governor what was 
 necessary to their maintenance,^* in kind, and the governor 
 caused what was so collected to be distributed among the 
 soldiers.^^ Payment in money was made only to the Gre- 
 cian auxiliaries, who could not otherwise have been kept 
 together, having been accustomed to the same in their own 
 country : the Persians were bound to serve without pay, 
 and the nomad races of Central Asia, many of whom had 
 never even seen coined money, were as little disposed to 
 require remuneration in that shape as are at the present day 
 many of the auxiliaries of the Russian armies. 
 
 In a warlike nation, a military command always confers 
 great distinction, being often regarded as more honourable 
 than the civil magistracies ; and this was the case among 
 the Persians. The Myriarchs (commanders of tens of thou- 
 sands), and Chiliarchs (commanders of thousands), enjoyed 
 
 * The Mardi are mentioned as making part of the army of Cyrus by He- 
 rodotus, i. 84. 
 
 " The introduction of this custom is ascribed by Xenophon to Cyrus. 
 Xenoph. Op. p. 263. 
 « Herod, viii. 113. " Ibid. ix. 70. »* See above, p. 264. 
 
 * This would appear from the expressions of Xenophon. Among the mo- 
 dern Pepians the governor does not receive the payments in kind at all, but 
 the soldiers are allowed billets upon particular villages, which are compelled 
 to furnish them with all they want. It may be conjectured, therefore, that 
 the same was the case among their ancestors. (Chardin, iii. 312, etc.) 
 
282 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 11. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 283 
 
 a distinguished rank, and the officers above them, the gene- 
 rals, were among the most illustrious of the nation. Of the 
 generality of these we are expressly told that they belonged 
 to the family of the Achaemenidse, or at all events to the 
 tribe of the Pasargadae,^^ or were connected by marriage 
 with the royal house,^' and consequently the officers of rank 
 consisted principally of the king s kinsmen. Among these 
 generals themselves, however, (of whom there were usually 
 several in an army,^) there existed gradations of rank;^ 
 and if a king's son was appointed generalissimo, this was 
 understood as equivalent to his nomination as successor.'*** 
 
 Hitherto we have confined our remarks to the troops 
 which were regularly maintained by the Persians to defend 
 the conquered provinces. With the exception of those 
 raised among the Persians themselves, these appear, from 
 what has been stated, to have consisted of mercenary troops, 
 to the exclusion of the natives of the provinces themselves ; 
 nevertheless the latter were by no means free from all mili- 
 tary service, but were summoned on occasions of extraordi- 
 nary expeditions undertaken for the extension of the empire. 
 On such emergencies general mandates were issued through- 
 out all the vast dominion of Persia, the nations of the East 
 and West were gathered together in herds, and one of the 
 most extraordinary spectacles ensued which the history of 
 the world has recorded, and the more deserving of our re- 
 gard for the accuracy with which Herodotus has described 
 the armament of Darius, and still more that of Xerxes. 
 
 When the Persians began their career as conquerors they 
 adopted and always maintained the custom, that the con- 
 quered nations should swell the numbers of their host, and 
 accompany them in their more remote expeditions.*^ When, 
 however, their empire had become consolidated and organ- 
 
 •• See Herod, iv. 167; v. 32; and especially vii. 82, 88, 97. I am aware 
 of only one instance of such a command being delegated to one of another 
 tribe, the Maraphii (which, however, was one of the noble tribes). See He- 
 rod, iv. 167. 
 
 "Herod. V. 116. " Ibid. loc. cit. 
 
 " Herod, v. 123, where Otanes is denominated the third in command. It 
 is to be remarked that exactly the same system, both as regards the constitu- 
 tion and maintenance of the army, were adopted also by the Mongol conquer- 
 ors. See Imtituts Pditiques et Militaires de Ttmur, p. 47, etc., and (for the 
 modern Persians) Chardin, loc. cit. 
 
 " Herod, vii. 2. " See Herod', i. 171 ; iv. 87. 
 
 ized, and stretched from the Indus to the Mediterranean, 
 the drawing together of forces so widely disseminated must 
 have become burdened with endless difficulties, and would 
 consequently, on occasions of minor importance, (such as 
 slight internal disturbances, or trifling wars,) have been as 
 futile as impossible. On extraordinary occasions, however, 
 whether of great national undertakings for the aggrandize- 
 ment of the empire, or of formidable invasions from without, 
 the custom was revived of mustering the whole force of the 
 empire, as is proved by the mighty expeditions of Darius 
 Hystaspis, of Xerxes, and the last Darius. 
 
 Even the preliminary steps to such armaments were of 
 vast magnitude. The king's mandate was addressed to all 
 nations, and specified the number of men, horses, and ships, 
 or the amount of provisions to be furnished by each.*^ The 
 commotion which was excited in all Asia by the prepar- 
 ations made for the expedition of Xerxes, lasted for four 
 years. Time was necessary to enable remote nations to 
 send in their contingent. 
 
 A general rendezvous was then appointed, which, in the 
 case of the armament just mentioned, was Cappadocia in 
 Asia Minor.'*^ Hither all the contingents of the different 
 provinces resorted, conducted by leaders of their own race.'" 
 These, however, were allowed no authority in actual war, 
 the officers being taken exclusively from among the Per- 
 sians.*^ This was a privilege reserved for the conquering 
 nation, as was the case, also, among the Mongols and Tar- 
 tars. The subject nations, on the other hand, were treated 
 as bondsmen, and termed slaves, in contradiction to the 
 Persians, who were denominated freemen. These terms, 
 however, only marked the comparative freedom of the na- 
 tions to whom they were applied, for with reference to the 
 king, the Persians were as little free as the other subject 
 nations.*^ 
 
 The order of the march, as long as the army continued 
 to traverse the dominions of the empire, was remarkable ; 
 
 « Herod, iv. 83 ; vii. 20. « Ibid. vii. 26. 
 
 " Herodotus tells us that each nation had as many commanders as they 
 possessed cities ; probably the cities were the first places of rendezvous. 
 " Herod, loc. cit. ** Ibid. vii. 9. 
 
234 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 or rather, it might almost be called an absence of all order. 
 The men were not arranged according to the nations to 
 which they belonged, but formed one vast chaotic mass. 
 In the centre was the king, among his Persians ; and the 
 baggage was sent on before.*^ As the troops advanced on 
 their march, the inhabitants of the country were driven on 
 before them, and augmented the numbers of the host,*® 
 which thus perpetually accumulated, and as most nations 
 took their wives and children with them to war, the bag- 
 gage must have been immense.*^ Undoubtedly the most 
 inexplicable part of this account, is the way in which the 
 army was supplied with provisions. In the countries through 
 which they had to pass, magazines of corn were necessarily 
 prepared, long before, and further supplies of the same 
 followed the army by sea.^^ The rest of their food the 
 forces were left to find for themselves. For the king and 
 his suite banquets were provided long before, and with 
 such an unbounded expense, that this alone sufficed to ruin 
 the cities which furnished them. This also was a conse- 
 quence of the idea that the monarch was the sole proprietor 
 of all that his provinces contained, and the Persians under- 
 stood this so literally as to carry away with them the costly 
 utensils of plate which were displayed on these occasions. 
 It is needless to say that the idea of a regular encampment 
 could not be entertained in the case of such enormous hosts ; 
 the king and his great men had indeed their tents, but the 
 army at large bivouached under the open heavens, the 
 necessary consequence being a multitude of diseases.^^ 
 
 It was only on their approaching the enemy's borders 
 that the army was classed according to the nations of which 
 it was composed ; and at the same time the host was re- 
 viewed at the king s command.^'^ To this custom we are in- 
 debted for that precious document, the catalogue of the host 
 
 "" Herod, vii. 40. « e. g. the Thracians. 
 
 * The multitude of the women, slaves, beasts of burden, and dogs, (says 
 Herodotus,) was without number, (vii. 187.) 
 
 ^ The Phoenicians and Egyptians had been previously commissioned to 
 store up magazines in Thrace and Macedonia. Herod, vii. 25. The want, 
 however, of adequate supplies compelled the king to divide his immense 
 army into three portions. Herod, vii. 121. 
 
 " Herod, vii. 118. 
 
 ** Ibid. vii. 118,119. 
 
 f 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 285 
 
 53 
 
 of Xerxes, which the father of history has preserved for us. 
 This review took place just within the confines of Europe, 
 and Httle as the scene may instruct the soldier, this is one 
 of the most interesting of all the records of history to the 
 philosophical historian. On no occasion have so many and 
 such various races of men been gathered together, as were 
 here assembled in one spot, in their appropriate dresses and 
 armour, on the plain of Doriscus.^* Herodotus has enu- 
 merated and described fifty-six, which served some on foot, 
 some on horse-back, and others on board the fleet.^^ Here 
 were to be seen the cotton garments of the Indians, and 
 the Ethiopians from above Egypt habited in lions' hides, 
 the swarthy Ballooches from Gedrosia, and the nomad 
 hordes from the steppes of Mongolia and Great Bucharia ; 
 wild races of huntsmen like the Sagartians, who, destitute 
 of weapons of brass or iron, caught their enemies, like 
 animals of the chase, in leathern lassos ; and besides these, 
 the rich dresses of the Medes and Bactrians, the Libyans 
 drawn in war-chariots of four horses, and the Arabs 
 mounted on camels. Here also were to be seen the fleets 
 of the Phoenicians, and the Greeks of Asia Minor, com- 
 pelled to serve against their kindred. Never did despotic 
 power create a spectacle more glorious at its commence- 
 ment or more lamentable in its issue. The straits of Ther- 
 mopyte first presented to the astonished Asiatics a sight 
 
 "^ Herod, vii. 59, 100. See above, p. 56. 
 
 *' Situated in Thrace, near the mouth of the Hebrus. 
 
 " Herodotus assures us that all these nations were originally accustomed 
 to act as cavalry, but that the Persians only employed a certain number of 
 them in that capacity. The difficulty of finding adequate forage must of 
 itself have made this necessary. Herod, vii. 84. He states the total amount 
 of the fighting men in the army at about two miUions and a half. In our 
 own days we have seen the empire of France assemble in like manner about 
 a miUion of warriors, and we cannot therefore be surprised that two millions 
 and a half should have been collected from the vast extent of Asia, and no 
 inconsiderable portion of Europe also. Herod, vii. 185. The numbering 
 of the army by tens of thousands was the customary practice on such expe- 
 ditions, and adopted by Darius when he marched against the Scythians ; the 
 numbers, when thus ascertained, having been engraved on pillars. Herod. 
 iv. 87. The account, therefore, of the manner in which the troops were 
 counted is no fiction, nor must the amount be considered as an exaggeration 
 of Herodotus. Whether it was over-stated in the Persian accounts it is im- 
 
 gossible to decide, and if any one should be inclined to think it exaggerated, 
 e has a right to retain his opinion. As far, however, as relates to Herodo- 
 tus, it is much more easy to accuse than to convict him of inaccuracy. 
 
286 
 
 PERSIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 completely novel to them ; it was to no purpose that their 
 countless hordes were driven by the scourge^ against a 
 handful of Spartans ; and although treachery at last con- 
 ducted them over the lifeless bodies of those heroes, the 
 names of Salamis and Plataese remained behind everlasting 
 monuments of Grecian valour ! 
 
 »• Herod, vii. 22a 
 
 PHOENICIANS. 
 
I 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 The reflection, that the origin and interaal government of 
 the great Asiatic empires were nearly all ahke, in a great 
 measure consoles the historian for the scantiness of the in- 
 formation which has been preserved respecting the Assyrian, 
 the Median, and other powerful monarchies. Even if our 
 accounts of these were ever so perfect, they would scarcely 
 afford us a picture of higher interest than the history of the 
 Mongol states ; — an endless series of warlike expeditions ; 
 of intestine wars, and the rebellion of powerful satrapies ; 
 of despotism, wholly unrelaxed, or only ceasing to reappear 
 under some new form. How strikingly different from this 
 is the history of the nation to whom the present chapter is 
 devoted. The severest loss which ancient history has to 
 mourn, a loss irreparable, is that of the destruction of the 
 records that should inform us of the affairs, the government, 
 and the enterprises of the Phoenicians. In proportion to 
 the vast influence which this nation had in the civilization 
 of mankind by its own great inventions and discoveries; 
 (and the invention of alphabetical writing is alone suflScient 
 to show their importance ;) by its numerous colonies estab- 
 lished in every quarter, and by its commerce extending 
 even beyond these ; the more sensibly we feel the gaps 
 which the loss of these records leaves in the history of the 
 human race. It is the conviction of the extent of this loss 
 that gives the few fragments which have been preserved out 
 of the great mass, a peculiar attraction to the historian ; 
 and though it may be impossible to compile from them a 
 history of the Phoenicians, yet they will probably enable 
 him to draw a tolerably faithful picture of the general cha- 
 racter and genius of this nation in its various circumstances, 
 and in the prosecution of its various undertakings. This 
 object I think will be best attained by dividing the following 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 u 
 
A 
 
 290 
 
 PHOENICIANS. 
 
 researches into four chapters : the first of these will relate 
 to the peculiar nature of the country, and the condition and 
 government of the people ; the second will contain a geo- 
 graphical sketch of their extensive colonies ; and the third 
 and fourth, a view, founded on the foregoing, of their com- 
 merce both by sea and land. 
 
 The Hebrew and Greek writers are here again the sources 
 from which our materials must be drawn. Had some kind 
 chance preserved us, among the latter, the works of Dius, 
 and Menander of Ephesus,^ who wrote, in Tyre itself, a 
 history of that city compiled from her own annals, how much 
 more complete might our information have been ! Of the 
 native writers of Phoenicia, we have indeed some fragments 
 of the celebrated work of Sanconiathon, preserved in a Greek 
 translation among the remains of Philo of Byblus ; but were 
 these even freer from interpolations than they appear to be, 
 they would still remain of little value to the historian, be- 
 cause they are the least important part of the entire works 
 of Sanconiathon ; namely, the cosmogony and theogony with 
 which he commenced his treatise. 
 
 A writer, lately deceased, has attempted to open a 
 new source of information respecting the geography and 
 commerce of the Phoenicians,^ by maintaining that the 
 geography of Ptolemy, and the old maps of Agathodsemon, 
 which are joined to it in the manuscripts, derive their ori- 
 gin from an ancient Phoenician atlas, and consequently give 
 the most complete picture of the geography and com- 
 mercial routes of that people. The principles of criticism, 
 however, which I have prescribed to myself in the present 
 work, have not allowed me to make an unreserved use of 
 these, as yet unproved, discoveries. I have therefore con- 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 291 
 
 tented myself with referring the reader to them where it ap- 
 peared necessary. I have adopted this course the more 
 readily, because, as far as they relate to Asia, the commercial 
 routes which they lay down, although much more numerous, 
 are, with some exceptions, on the farther side of India, the 
 same in their general direction as those which will be found 
 described upon my early maps of Asia, and proved from 
 other authorities. With regard to the conjectures of the 
 author, I have thought it most convenient to give my opinion 
 upon them in an appendix at the end of the volume. 
 
 Il 
 
 » Joseph. Op. p. 1042. ed. Colon. 1691. cf. Fabric. B. Gr, i. p. 166. The 
 fragments of Tyrian annals, preserved in Josephus, prove that these records 
 were purely historic, and written according to the succession of kings, in a 
 carefully determined chronological order ; and that they must not, therefore, 
 be classed with the fabulous relations of the Egyptians and Hindoos. Be- 
 sides, as upon Alexander's conquest of Tyre, the city was not destroyed, and 
 the great temple of Hercules, in which probably they were deposited, was 
 anxiously saved from violence, the preservation of these documents cannot be 
 considered strange. 
 
 * EtUdeckungen im AUerthum, versucht von N. H. Brehmbr, M. D. Wei- 
 mar, 1822. (Studies in Antiqui^, by N. H. Brehmer, etc.) The first part 
 comprises Asia, and the second, Europe : these are all that have appeared 
 
 V 2 
 
PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Internal Condition and Government of the Phoenicians. 
 
 WHO HATH TAKEN THIS COUNSEL AGAINST TYRE, THE DISTRIBUTER OF CROWNS, 
 WHOSE MERCHANTS ARE PRINCES? ISAIAH XXiH. 8. 
 
 The Phoenicians were a branch of the great Semetic or 
 Aramean family of nations, which, at an epoch beyond the 
 reach of history, occupied the extensive plains between 
 the Mediterranean Sea and the Tigris, the most southern 
 point of Arabia and the Caucasian mountains, and whose 
 common descent is fully established by the use of one prin- 
 cipal language, divided into various dialects. Much, too, in 
 the government of the Phoenicians will appear in a clearer 
 light by our considering them, not as a distinct people, but 
 as composed of Syrian tribes which had settled on the coasts; 
 and in no ancient writer are they ever found distinguished 
 by name from them. It appears likely that they came 
 originally from Arabia ;^ probably the native country of the 
 Semetic tribes in general, although in other regions, ac- 
 cording to local circumstances, they adopted a different 
 mode of life from the one they had been accustomed to in 
 the sandy deserts of their parent country. The migrations 
 of rude hordes at this early period is, however, a matter of 
 very little consequence. 
 
 Phoenicia proper, even in its most flourishing state, was 
 one of the smallest countries of antiquity. It comprised 
 that part of the Syrian coast extending from Tyre to Ara- 
 dus, a narrow strip of land about a hundred and twenty 
 miles in length, from north to south; and probably no where 
 more than eighteen or twenty miles in width. This short 
 
 * See the inquiry in Michaelis Spictleg. Geograph, Hehr. exter. Vol. I. 
 p. 166, etc. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CONDITION AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 293 
 
 line of coast, rich in bays and harbours, was covered with 
 lofty mountains, many of which ran out into the sea and 
 formed promontories, and whose heights, covered with for- 
 ests, supplied the most valuable material in the construction 
 of the fleets and habitations of the Phoenicians. The larger 
 range of these mountains bore the name of Libanus, from 
 which another branch, the Antilibanus, stretched easterly 
 towards Syria.'^ The sea, which broke with great fiiry upon 
 this rocky shore, had probably separated some of these pro- 
 montories from the main land, and which, forming little 
 islands at a small distance from the shore, are not less worthy 
 of note than the main land itself, being every where covered 
 with extensive colonies and flourishing cities. Thus Ara- 
 dus, the most northern frontier city of Phoenicia, was built 
 on one of these islands ; ^ and opposite to it on the main 
 land was Antaradus, which derived its name from it. About 
 eighteen miles to the south of this stood, and stills stands, 
 Tripolis ; and at a like distance, Byblus, with the temple of 
 Adonis ; and again, further south, Berytus. Keeping along 
 the coast, we come to Sidon at nearly the same distance ; 
 and finally, fourteen or fifteen miles further, at the extreme 
 southern boundary of the country, was erected, upon an- 
 other island, the stately Tyre, the queen of Phoenician cities. 
 The space between these places was covered with a number 
 of towns of less import, but equally the abode of industry, 
 and widely celebrated for their arts and manufactures. 
 Among these were Sarephta, Botrys, Orthosia, and others ; 
 forming, as it were, one unbroken city, extending along the 
 whole line of coast and over the islands ; and which, with 
 the harbours and sea-ports, and the numerous fleets lying 
 within them, must have afforded altogether a spectacle 
 scarcely to be equalled in the world, and must have excited 
 in the stranger who visited them, the highest idea of the 
 opulence, the power, and the enterprising spirit of the in- 
 habitants. 
 
 Although these cities existed altogether in the flourishing 
 period of Phoenicia, history has given us some account of 
 the manner and time of their successive foundations. They 
 
 ' Strabo, p. 1095. , . , , 
 
 ' The Arvath of the Hebrews. The authorities for this an I tl e next re- 
 mark, will be found in Cellar. Geogr. Ant, ii. p. 350, 374, etc. 
 
294 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 were colonies of one another ; and, like all other colonies of 
 the ancient world, were founded either for purposes of trade, 
 or by bodies of citizens who left their native abode in con- 
 sequence of civil dissensions. The oldest of them, " the 
 first-bom son of Canaan," according to the Mosaic record,* 
 was Sidon, the foundress of the trade and navigation of the 
 Phoenicians. Sidon was the parent of Tyre. In the first 
 place, merely as a staple for her own wares ; but the daugh- 
 ter soon waxed greater than the mother, and successfully 
 rivalled her. In the blooming period of Phoenicia, Sidon 
 was only the second Phoenician city in point of extent, 
 though still rich and mighty, and secured in a great measure 
 by her excellent harbours from ruin and decline, so long 
 as the maritime commerce of the Phoenicians should en- 
 dure.* Arvath was founded by another colony from Sidon, 
 and owed its origin to a civil broil in this city, which drove 
 the discontented party to seek a new abode.^ Tripolis, as 
 its name imports, was a common colony of the three cities 
 of Tyre, Sidon, and Aradus.^ 
 
 The eldest Tyre, founded by Sidon, and situated on the 
 main land, continued a powerful, rich, and flourishing com- 
 mercial city till the time of Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylo- 
 nian-Chaldean conqueror ; against whom it had to defeijd 
 itself during a siege or blockade of thirteen years ;^ but that 
 he in reality ever took or destroyed it, as is commonly as- 
 serted, there is no historical proofs During this blockade, 
 the greater part of the inhabitants took refuge upon a neigh- 
 bouring island, already furnished with numerous establish- 
 ments and buildings,^® and thus founded the island city of 
 
 ' Ibid. p. 1094. 
 
 * Gen. X. 15. cf. Bochart et Michaelis ad. h. 1. 
 
 * Strab. p. 1097. ' Ibid. p. 1093. 
 
 • About the year B. C. 600. 
 
 • See Gesenius, Commentar zum JesaiaSy i. p. 710. The capture of Tyre 
 by Nebuchadnezzar is confirmed by no Phoenician or Greek writer ; it rests 
 upon the prophecy of Ezekiel alone, c. xxvi. ; but a later oracle of the same 
 prophet, xxix. 18, shows that the attempt to subdue it failed. The total 
 silence of historians upon this subject is expressly referred to by Hierony- 
 Mus, ad JBzech. xxvi. 7, who rests the capture entirely upon the authority of 
 the oracle ; as do all later writers. 
 
 '• It is a false assumption to say, that the island city of Tyre had its first 
 rise about this time. The island afforded more security than the continent, 
 and it will be presently shown, that it was a usual custom of the Phoenicians 
 to settle upon islands. That the island city was much older is clear from 
 JosEPHus, OpeiGy p,3$J5, for Psalmanasser had already besieged it about 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CONDITION AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 295 
 
 Tyre, which, favoured by its strong position, soon equalled 
 the parent city, and not only outlived the Babylonian and 
 Persian empires, but continued to increase as the ancient 
 Tyre declined. It was finally captured by Alexander, after 
 an obstinate resistance ; but he robbed it less of its ancient 
 opulence and splendour by his arms, than by the foundation 
 of Alexandria, which henceforth became the great seat of 
 the commerce of the world, though Tyre did not altogether 
 decline. In the midst of this city stood the temple of the 
 principal deity of the Tyrians, the protecting god of the 
 city, as its name, Mclcarth," signifies. This deity was 
 called by the Greeks the Tyrian Hercules, though entirely 
 different ^^ from their god bearing the same name ; hence 
 the mythi of the two are often confounded. The worship 
 of the Tyrian deity was introduced into the most distant 
 parts of the world to which that people penetrated and 
 founded settlements ; he was honoured as the national god 
 by the independent colonies of Tyre, who were wont to ac- 
 knowledge his supremacy by solemn embassies.^' The city 
 
 B. C. 730, at which time the Ancient Tyre, with the other cities, shook off 
 her yoke : it must therefore at that time have been the chief city. 
 
 " Melcarth, the city king. For further information, see the learned work 
 of Creuzer, SymhoUk, ii. 211, etc., second edition. 
 
 « Herodotus, ii. 44. Although this author very properly notices this 
 difference, yet the passage here quoted seems to imply, that this deity was 
 called Hercules by the Tyrians themselves. But it was doubtless out of com- 
 plaisance to the Greeks, that the Phoenician priests in addressing them thus 
 named him ; for his native appellation was, in all likelihood, very different. 
 According to the accounts given by the Phoenician priests to Herodotus, 2300 
 years had already elapsed since the foundation of the city of Tyre, and that 
 of the temple, which took place at the same time (about the year 2740 B. C). 
 This ancient temple, however, had long before been destroyed to give place 
 to the new one constructed by Hiram, the contemporary of Solomon. (Joseph. 
 contra Apion., Op. p. 1043.) It was this new temple, which stood upon the 
 island Tyre, that Herodotus saw, about 550 years later: now, as we learn 
 from the passage of Josephus, quoted from Menander, that Hiram took down 
 the ancient temples of Melcarth and Astarte and built new ones ; that ne en- 
 compassed the great square of the city, ixoxrag rbv cu/ovx^pov,) and compelled 
 the Tyrians to pay him the disputed tribute ; we cannot well be mistaken in 
 regarding him as the original founder of the island city of Tyre, and as hav- 
 ing, in opposition to the wishes of the inhabitants of the ancient Tyre, made 
 it the capital. This is expressly confirmed by another passage in Josephus, 
 Ant. viiL 3, 5, p. 259, 267, where it is said of Hiram, that he dwelt on an 
 island. However this may have been, there is here a clear proof, that it was 
 altogether in the spirit of antiquity to connect the foundation of cities with 
 that of temples and sanctuaries ; an observation more fully developed in my 
 Researches on Egypt. 
 
 " An example of this is given by the Carthaginians, who sent an embassy 
 at the moment that Tyre was besieged by Alexander. Arrian, ii. 24. Tem- 
 
296 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 was protected by high walls of cut stone ; and had two 
 harbours, one on the north towards Sidon, the other on the 
 south towards Egypt. The mouth of the latter could be 
 closed by immense chains.^"* 
 
 Let us now inquire what was the internal government of 
 these cities ? What their relation with each other ? Whether 
 they fonned one general confederation? or whether they 
 remained entirely separate states, without any common tie ? 
 These questions demand our serious attention. 
 
 The remarks above made upon the nature of the country 
 readily explain why the Phoenicians could never become a 
 conquering nation, and the founders of a great monarchy, 
 such as that of the Chaldeans, the Persians, and others. 
 They must have been well satisfied, if they could protect 
 their little territory from the invasions of such powerful 
 Asiatic conquerors ; and being, from the earliest times 
 downwards, a people dwelling in cities,*^ they could have 
 had no idea of taking the long marauding expeditions 
 common to nomad nations. 
 
 In order to obtain a correct idea of the political state of 
 Phoenicia, it is necessary to have a general notion of the 
 rise and progress of civil government among the Syrian 
 tribes. As far as the light of history carries us back, we 
 every where find a number of single cities, with the territory 
 around them, under a monarchical form of government ; 
 the sovereign power being placed in the hands of kings or 
 princes. Examples certainly are to be met with, where 
 some of these cities and their monarchs obtained a decided 
 preponderance, (Damascus is at once an instance,) and as- 
 sumed to themselves a degree of authority. This, how- 
 ever, was a kind of forced alliance, which extended no fur- 
 ther than the exaction of tribute and subsidies in times of 
 war, without depriving the subjected cities of their govern- 
 ment and rulers.'^ Syria, while independent and left to itself, 
 never became organized into one state, or one monarchy. 
 
 pies of the Tynan Hercules were found in Gades, and upon the island of 
 Thasos. Herod. 1. c. 
 " Arrian, ii. 24. 
 
 " They appear as such in the early times of Moses and Joshua, upon the 
 invasion of the Israelites. 
 
 •• Proofs of it may be found in the Jewish accounts of the kings of Damas- 
 cus, and their wars : Compare 1 Kings, xx. 1, etc. 
 
 « 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CONDITION AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 297 
 
 Here then we trace the ground-work of the Phoenician 
 government. This country, like Syria, never became one 
 state ; but, from the earliest period down to the Persian 
 monarchy, was always divided into a number of separate 
 cities, each with its little territory around it. Some writers 
 have stated positively the precise extent of the dominions 
 of each city. Thus Antaradus, and the territory about it, 
 formed part of the domain of Aradus, to which it lay op- 
 posite ;^^ thus Sarephta came within the dominion of Si- 
 don ;^^ etc. 
 
 Allied cities, however, were certainly frequent in Phoe- 
 nicia ; indeed it seems very probable, that at certain times, 
 all the cities of Phoenicia formed one confederation, at the 
 head of which stood originally Sidon, and afterwards Tyre. 
 Even as early as the Mosaic period, alliances among these 
 cities were common ;^^ the necessity of their common de- 
 fence from foreign attack, which separately they were too 
 weak to withstand, must naturally have led to this system. 
 Neither were these confederations confined to Phoenicia 
 alone ; they prevailed also in the countries colonized by the 
 Phoenicians ; and Carthage in Africa, as well as Gades in 
 Spain, stood at the head of the settlements in these districts, 
 without, however, obtaining a complete authority over them.^® 
 A common religion, the worship of the Tyrian Hercules, 
 the national and colonial deity, formed likewise a bond of 
 union for all these cities, both of the mother country and 
 the colonies, and strengthened and preserved the connexion 
 between them. 
 
 It is the nature, however, of all such confederations, to 
 be liable to frequent changes ; they vary indeed according 
 to the political interests, and even the power and views of 
 the separate states. Many changes of this kind must have 
 arisen in this quarter, by the foundation and growing pros- 
 perity of the inland colonies ; and many modifications must 
 have taken place as these acquired sufficient strength to as- 
 sume a kind of independence of the parent states. In the 
 present case, in which we shall confine our observations to 
 the flourishing period of Tyre,— that is, the period from 
 Solomon to Cyrus, or at least Nebuchadnezzar,— it will be 
 
 " Strabo, p. 1093. Arrian, ii. 13. " 1 Kings, xvii. 9, 10. 
 
 " Joshua li. 1—5. ^ See Researches on the Carthagimans, 
 
298 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 sufficient to show that Tyre, in the sense just stated, was 
 always the dominant city of Phoenicia. 
 
 This may be inferred, in the first place, from the descrip- 
 tion given of Tyre by the prophet Ezekiel. Sidon and 
 Arvath were at this time her allies, and supplied their con- 
 tingents of soldiers and sailors.-^ This being proved of the 
 largest and most distant city of Phoenicia, no doubt can be 
 well entertained respecting the smaller and nearer. 
 
 Besides, the subjects and allies of Tyre, and their revolts 
 f^inst the capital, are more than once expressly spoken of 
 in history. The most striking proof of this is preserved in 
 Josephus, from the works of Menander. For when king 
 Salmanasser undertook his expedition into Western Asia 
 and against Phoenicia, the allied cities, Sidon, Old Tyre, 
 Acre, and many others, revolted against the Tyrians, and 
 submitted to the king of Assyria. They went so far indeed 
 as to fit out a fleet against them, which was defeated by the 
 Tyrians, who thus secured themselves from further danger.^^ 
 
 By comparing these fragments of Phoenician history and 
 its government with the accounts that are left us respecting 
 the state of Carthage, we obtain something more than bare 
 historical conjecture, as we find a striking similarity be- 
 tween the government of the mother country and the colo- 
 nies. What Tyre was towards Sidon, Arvath, Tripolis, etc., 
 Carthage was towards Utica, Leptis, Adrumetum, and other 
 cities. It not only seems quite natural, that in cities inha- 
 bited by one people, and so frequently called upon to strug- 
 gle against their common and powerful enemies, alliances 
 should be formed, and by alliances a kind of authority be 
 conceded to the mightiest ; but it is also consonant with the 
 whole tenor of ancient history, that colonies should adopt 
 the government of the mother state. 
 
 It may be concluded then from these facts, that the 
 Phoenician cities formed together one confederation : at the 
 head of which, in the period of their greatest splendour and 
 perfect independence, stood Tyre. At the time of their 
 subjection to Assyria and Persia, the bond that connected 
 
 " Ezekiel, xxvii. 8, 11. 
 
 " Joseph. Ant Jud. ix. 14. Op. p. 306. This also explains the resistance 
 which Tjrre always made against the most famous conquerors, even Alex- 
 ander himself, when the other Phoenician cities voluntarily submitted. The 
 latter were oppressed while Tyre ruled. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CONDITION AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 299 
 
 them necessarily became loosened, the other cities paid their 
 tribute and furnished their contingents to Persia instead of 
 to Tyre ; the latter, however, still preserved its rank, and 
 was always considered the chief city of the land. 
 
 The second question, namely. What was the internal go- 
 vernmeyit of the Phoenician cities ? is equally difficult and 
 
 obscure. 
 
 However desirable it may be to trace out accurately the 
 gradual rise and progress of civic government in these, the 
 earliest commercial cities, want of information limits us to a 
 few general observations. 
 
 First, then, there can be no doubt but that each Phoe- 
 nician city had its own proper government, and that in this 
 respect they were perfectly independent of each other. 
 They always appear so, as the following pages will evince, 
 upon every occasion, and in every period of their history ; 
 being never spoken of but as separate states. 
 
 Secondly, It seems equally certain, that the chief author- 
 ity was placed in the hands of kings, and certainly of here- 
 ditary kings, although political parties many times fomented 
 revolutions by which new families were raised to the throne. 
 This is especially shown by the history of Tyre ; a catalogue 
 of whose kings is extant in Josephus, from the time of Hi- 
 ram, the contemporary of David, till the siege of the city 
 by Nebuchadnezzar."" . Even under the dominion of the 
 Persians, the royal dignity was preserved ; though the mon- 
 archs were now only tributary princes, obliged to furnish 
 money and ships to the Persians, and to attend them, when 
 required, in their military expeditions. The kings of Tyre 
 appear in this state in the expedition of the Persians against 
 Athens,'* and even as late as the overthrow of Persia and 
 the capture of Tyre by Alexander."' As Tyre had its pro- 
 per kings, so also had the other Phoenician cities, Sidon, 
 Aradus, and Byblus.'^ These are mentioned in various 
 periods, and even as late as the Macedonian conquest. 
 Thirdli/, Notwithstanding the existence of the royal 
 
 " Josephus contra Anion, i. Op. p. 1043. j _. u 
 
 ^ Herodotus, viii. 67. The kings of Sidon and Tyre formed part of 
 
 Xerxes' council of war ; the former taking precedence of the latter, at the 
 
 command of Xerxes. Was this merely personal ? or according to the rank 
 
 of the cities, among whom Sidon, as the parent city, stood at the head j* 
 
 » Arrian, ii. 24. '" Ibid. n. 2Q. 
 
300 
 
 PH(ENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 dignity, the government was certainly not despotic ; nay, 
 the monarchical power was so strictly limited as to render 
 it almost republican. It was indeed well-nigh impossible 
 that despotism could have endured for so many centuries in 
 commercial states, which can only thrive in the atmosphere 
 of political liberty. A large maritime commerce requires a 
 spirit of enterprise and resolute activity altogether incom- 
 patible with despotic government. Even the repeated po- 
 litical changes which took place in all these cities, and more 
 particularly in Tyre ; as well as the continual departure of 
 colonies and their settlement in distant parts of the world ; 
 are circumstances which not only could not have been 
 brought forth by despotism, but are the legitimate offspring 
 of free nations. Many particulars which warrant this con- 
 clusion may still be found in Phoenician history, notwith- 
 standing the general scantiness of its information. 
 
 Next to the kings stood the Phoenician magistrates.^ 
 These conjointly sent ambassadors.^^ Indeed, at certain 
 periods, a general congress of the great Phoenician cities 
 was wont to be held, when the kings in council with the 
 synedrims, deliberated upon the common affairs of the con- 
 federacy.^^ Tripolis was the place destined for the common 
 assembly of the three principal cities. 
 
 Besides this, there is no question but the authority of the 
 monarchs was very essentially limited by religion. The 
 priests in these states formed a numerous and pow^erful 
 class, and seem to have stood next in rank to the kings. 
 Sicharbas, or Sichaeus, the chief priest of the principal tem- 
 ple, was the husband of Dido, and brother-in-law to king 
 Pygmalion. His persecution and death by the latter, gave 
 rise to those serious commotions which ended in the emi- 
 gration of that numerous colony which founded the city of 
 Carthage. The political influence of the Phoenician priests 
 of Baal among the Jews, which caused a revolution in the 
 
 ^ Arrian, ii. 24, who calls them rovg Iv rlX«. " Arrian, ii. 15. 
 
 " DiOD. ii. p. 1 13. As when a council was held respecting the revolt from 
 the Persians. Even the very circumstance that some of the Tynan kings, as 
 for example Pygmalion, were named tyrants, seems to prove that they should 
 not all be considered such. There is mention, too, of a time when the kingly 
 dignity was entirely banished from Tyre, and its place supplied by that of 
 suffetes. This was after the ineffectual siege of Nebuchadnezzar. Joseph. 
 Op. 1046. 
 
 chap. I. 
 
 CONDITION AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 301 
 
 State, is sufficiently well known.^^ Among a people like the 
 Phoenicians, where every thing so much depended on sanc- 
 tuaries and religion, the priesthood could scarcely fail to 
 have a large share in the government, though we are not in 
 a situation to determine precisely its extent. 
 
 The prophet Ezekiel, in his prophecy against the king of 
 Tyre gives us a somewhat deep insight into the power of 
 the prince of that city. He pictures him as a powerful 
 prince living in great splendour ; but still as the prince of 
 a commercial city, which by its trade filled his treasury. 
 As a prince encouraging and protecting commerce by his 
 wisdom and policy ; but which, in the end, degenerating to 
 craft and injustice, he is threatened with the punishment of 
 his misdeeds. " With thy wisdom and with thy understand- 
 ing: " he cries out, " hast thou gotten thee riches ; with gold 
 and silver hast thou filled thy treasury by means of the 
 s-reatness of thy commerce. Full of wisdom sealedst thou 
 Ireat sums ; thou dwelt in a garden of God ornamented 
 from thine infancy with precious stones, clothed with hne 
 garments. But traffic has enriched thee with ill-gotten 
 wealth, and thou hast sinned." ^^ From this remarkable 
 passage it may at least be gathered, that the revenue of the 
 Tyrian kings, and without doubt that of the princes of the 
 other cities also, was derived from commerce ; but whether 
 from the customs, or, which seems more probable, trom a 
 monopoly of some of the branches of trade, or from both, 
 
 cannot be decided. 
 
 These few observations contain the sum ot what inform- 
 ation is left us concerning the internal government of these 
 mighty cities ; and even of these few, some are only con- 
 jectures. We are rather better instructed respecting their 
 foreign relations and colonies, and these we shall now pro- 
 ceed to investigate. 
 
 •» How numerous they were appears from 1 Kings, xviii. 22. 
 
 " Ezekiel, xxviii. 4, 5, 12, 13, 16. Conf. Michaelis's ^ramhtjona^^^^ 
 Remarks, Among the precious stones (verse 13) nme sorts are menUoned 
 by name, as the onyx, carbuncle, topaz diamond emerald, ^tc. ; a proof of 
 tfee high pitch to which the luxury of the great of Tyre was carried m this 
 particular. 
 
PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Colonies and Foreign Possessions of the Phoenicians, 
 
 ARISE, O THOU DAUGHTER OF SIDON, TAKE THY FLIGHT TO THE ISLES OF 
 
 CHITTIM. ISAIAH Xxlu. 12. 
 
 One of the most interesting spectacles which history affords 
 us, is the spread of nations by peaceable colonization. Des- 
 potic empires, which are only enlarged by conquest, exhi- 
 bit to us no picture of this kind : the forcible transplanting 
 of nations, a custom common to them, could never become 
 the foundation of flourishing colonies, attended, as they at 
 all times are, by oppression, and often by the dispersion of 
 the captives carried away. If we look into these colonies, 
 they will generally be found of a military cast, and intended 
 rather, as in the Macedonian, Roman, and Russian mon- 
 archies, to guard the provinces of the empire, than for the 
 cultivation of the land. Commercial nations, on the con- 
 trary, especially when under the auspices of civil liberty, 
 extend their navigation to distant regions; — Phoenicians 
 and Greeks, not less than the British and Dutch, soon dis- 
 cover the necessity for foreign settlements ; and notwith- 
 standing all the abuses to which they are liable, abuses 
 which the historian cannot mistake, it is still undeniable, 
 that not only their own civilization, but, in a great measure, 
 the civilization of the whole human race, depend very much 
 upon these peaceful means of advancement. The continual 
 intercourse with their colonies enlivens and extends the 
 knowledge of the mother states ; and besides this, it infalli- 
 bly promotes the development of political ideas, and what 
 is founded upon it, the perfecting of civil government. 
 The portion of the people separated from the parent country 
 undergo some change in every new settlement, as the differ- 
 
 CHAP, II. 
 
 FOREIGN POSSESSIONS. 
 
 303 
 
 ence in the nature of the country, and favourable or unfa- 
 vourable circumstances necessarily give a new direction to 
 the mind. In such cases, where society in a manner sets 
 out anew, many improvements are easily and necessarily 
 made, which could scarcely be adopted where every thing is 
 become fixed and settled ; and though it generally happens 
 that colonies copy, in the first place, the government of the 
 mother state, yet the difference of their foreign relations, 
 and the enlarged sphere of action which their necessities 
 open to them, soon lead them to different views. It is from 
 the bosom of colonies that civil liberty nearly in all ages has 
 set forth : Greece had no Solon till the colonies of Asia 
 Minor had attained their highest degree of splendour ; and 
 while the parent country could only boast of a single legis- 
 lator, whose object was to form citizens, and not merely war- 
 riors, nearly every colony of Greece and Sicily possessed its 
 Zaleucus or Charondas. In this way, indeed, every com- 
 mercial state may be said to live again in the colonies it has 
 founded. And thus, amid the rise and fall of empires, the 
 advances of man in civilization, in all its multitudinous 
 forms, is perpetuated and secured. Tyre and Sidon yielded 
 to their fate, but they had the happiness before their fall, to 
 see flourishing around them, in their hundreds of colonies, 
 a numerous progeny. And though Europe should again 
 experience the dreadfiil misfortune to sink under the yoke 
 of despotism or anarchy, into the gloomy horrors of barbar- 
 ism. Providence has provided for its re-birth, by scattering 
 the seeds of its civilization over every part of the globe ; ex- 
 hibiting in our days the astonishing spectacle, never before 
 displayed, of ripened civilization in one part, while in others 
 it is yet in blossom, or only pushing forth its earliest buds. 
 
 To counterbalance these great benefits, the system of 
 colonization has in every age been attended with disadvan- 
 tages equally striking. It leads to thirst of conquest and 
 commercial jealousy ; and, unfortunately, has it not too often 
 been the fate of nations founding colonies, to sicken of this 
 double malady, and perish under its influence. 
 
 Thirst of conquest seems above all to be opposed to the 
 interests of commercial states. Friendship and peace with 
 the nations with whom they have dealings, would appear the 
 most likely means of keeping their ports open, and of ob- 
 
904 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 PHAP. II. 
 
 FOREIGN POSSESSIONS. 
 
 305 
 
 taining commodities with which to freight their vessels. 
 But unfortunately it has never been thus ; in ancient as in 
 modem times, subjection has been the cry of the strongest, 
 and with this upon their lips, the Carthaginians subjugated 
 Spain ; the Spaniards, America ; and the British, India. 
 
 It cannot be denied, but that, in numerous instances, the 
 blind desire of aggrandizement, or even plunder, has been 
 the object of these conquests ; but quite as often, perhaps 
 oftener, this desire of conquest sprung out of the peaceable 
 system of spreading the human race by colonies. In trading 
 with distant countries, and especially with rude, uncivilized 
 nations, these kind of settlements are indispensable to the 
 carrying on a secure and regular commerce ; but even these 
 are almost sure to give rise to disputes, by the aggressions 
 of one party or the other ; little bickerings grow into violent 
 disputes ; these lead to open war, which only ends with the 
 subjugation of the natives, or the destruction of the colonies. 
 The extent to which commercial jealousy was carried at 
 a very early period, is shown in my Researches upon the 
 Commerce of the Carthaginians; the Carthaginians inherited 
 it from their ancestors, who, even in the time of Herodotus, 
 threw all the mystery they could over their distant naviga- 
 tion. This rivalry led to wars whenever powerful competi- 
 tors started up, such as the Carthaginians found in the 
 I Greeks. The Phoenicians, on the contrary, had the good 
 ' fortune to enjoy the sea trade of the Mediterranean for cen- 
 turies, without any powerful competitor. As the Greeks of 
 Asia Minor began to acquire importance, these ancient 
 merchants seemed rather inclined to shun, than contend with 
 them ; and they came less frequently in contact, as their 
 principal maritime commerce lay in different regions. 
 
 So far therefore as we may judge from the information 
 before us, the Phoenicians appear to have been less en- 
 tangled in commercial wars than their descendants the Car- 
 thaginians, or the British and Dutch of modem times. Yet, 
 that they did not keep entirely clear of war and conquest, 
 though their circumscribed territory, fortunately for them, 
 rendered it impossible for them to think of making large 
 conquests ; — that they had the will, though not the means, 
 may be gleaned from numerous particulars scattered in their 
 history. For though the extent of their population did not 
 
 allow of their raising large armies from among themselves, 
 they very early adopted the system of carrying on their wars 
 by means of hired troops : a system to which all commer- 
 cial states have had, and always must have, recourse in their 
 continental wars, — and one which their colonists, the Car- 
 thaginians, carried on to a much wider extent. It is not 
 merely the relatively small number of idle and useless men, 
 nor the facility of procuring the means of subsistence, which 
 prevents the formation of powerfiil armies in such states ; 
 we must also take into account the little consideration in 
 which soldiers are held in countries where the merchant is 
 every thing, and especially in republics, where the hired 
 soldier is regarded as the paid servant of the citizens. 
 
 In much the same manner, therefore, that Carthage hired 
 troops from almost every part of Africa and Europe, did 
 Tyre hire them from the countries of Minor and Upper 
 Asia. The other Phoenician states also furnished their con- 
 tingents, both of land and marine forces. From these states 
 were taken the garrison of Tyre itself, to which was con- 
 fided the care and security of the city. " They of Persia, 
 of Lydia, and of Lycia were thy warriors ; they hanged their 
 shields and helmet in thee ; they of Arvad were in thine 
 army about thy walls, and kept watch before thy gates ; 
 they hanged their shields upon thy towers, and have thus 
 made thee illustrious."^ It is probable, however, that 
 foreign mercenaries were only employed upon extraordi- 
 nary occasions, when these states were engaged in foreign 
 wars. 
 
 It has already been remarked, that the situation of Phoe- 
 nicia rendered it impossible for its inhabitants to extend 
 their territory in Asia by conquest ; but a wide range was 
 open to them in the neighbouring isles of the Mediterra- 
 nean ; and of all these none seems to have had greater at- 
 tractions for them than the nearest and largest — the isle of ^ / 
 
 Cypms.^ It is not only certain that the Tyrians established 
 themselves in this island, but also that they made it one of 
 their provinces ; for the Cyprians rebelled against Tyre with 
 its other subjects, when Salmanasser invaded Syria. The /V/ 
 city of Cittium was the principal settlement of the Tyrians 
 
 \4JLyO 
 
 urn. 
 
 * EzEKiEL) xxvii. 10, 11. 
 * Joseph. Ant Jud, ix. 14 j cf. Michael. Spicih i. p. 106. 
 
 VOL. I. X 
 
906 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 upon this island, which they named after this city,' as they 
 did also the smaller islands of the Archipelago and the 
 coasts; they still however had colonies m the other cities ot 
 the island.* Even afterwards, when Tyre had lost all do- 
 minion over her, Cyprus and Tyre stood in the closest al- 
 liance ; and this is particularly visible in the time ot Alex- 
 ander, who regarded the subjugation of Cyprus, with its 
 nine cities and their nine monarchs or chiefs, as a natural 
 and inevitable consequence of the capture ot lyre. 
 
 It is even more difficult to point out the exact relations 
 which the Phoenicians maintained with their other colonies 
 than it is with Cyprus. Nevertheless the fragments of their 
 history, considered together, afford us several particulars, 
 strikingly characteristic of the genius and policy of that 
 
 ^%rst. The system of extending themselves by coloniza- 
 tion was very clearly a natural consequence of their trade, 
 which absolutely required such settlements. But besides 
 this, their history proves that they considered it as the surest 
 and most convenient method of preventing disturbances and 
 revolutions at home, which would naturally result from the 
 disproportionate increase of population m so small, and yet 
 so commercial a country." An overgrown population is 
 commonly the curse of large trading cities ; and it is this 
 evil in particular which renders violent revolutions so dread- 
 fiil ; hence its increase is necessarily dangerous, and should 
 be guarded against. The republican states of the ancient 
 world soon became acquainted with this evil ; and the most 
 natural remedy which presented itself to them, was to lessen 
 
 • There can be no doubt that B'l?? (Kitfim) is identical vdth Cittium ; 
 andTlXit^gnTfied not only the whole island but aho ^e ncghbounng 
 r»1an<la and coasts is clear from Josephus, Arch. i. 7- Op. v. 13. We learn 
 f" Zm cTcERO. % m iv. 20. that Cittium was a Ph»n-an -d not 
 a Greek colony. See Gesenius, Commentar zum .hmiat, i. p. /■«'>«'; , 
 
 • The aSrities wUl be found collected in Bochart, p. 370, etc. ct. 
 Stbaro n Ora Ve^ees of the Phoenician settlements upon this island 
 tm^F; Sor exS, in the Ph^nician epUaph discovered by M. V. 
 Hammer, Topograph, Amichten tn der Levante, p. 104. 
 
 • J^llnd'J^lii in the part of this work relating to the Cartharinians, 
 
 that'^mfw^ Ks^eatr^^^^^^^ ^TL^lCa^S c^n^x- 
 
 flip trrf^Af resemblance of the colonial system of the two nations is S""«»J 
 d^^eHo rubTcLr^ ent^^^^ of th'e Carthaginians hav^gm^^^^^^^ 
 from the Phoenicians. But this reason is expressly stated as the cause ot the 
 foundation of Utica. Justin, xvin. 4. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 FOREIGN POSSESSIONS. 
 
 307 
 
 the number of the people by colonization. The following 
 up of this system, and the want of foreign settlements for 
 the purposes of trade, would at once satisfactorily account 
 for the astonishing spread of this nation by colonies, even if 
 their history did not show that internal commotions, not- 
 withstanding this precaution, were the occasion of new emi- 
 grations, by forcing the weaker and discontented party to 
 leave their country and seek a foreign abode ; an example 
 of which occurs in the history of the foundation of Carthage. 
 
 Secondly, The direction of Phoenician colonization, was 
 from east to west along the shores of the Mediterranean. 
 Their sea trade, from the situation of their country, could 
 proceed in no other ; and we are led by the remains of early 
 traditions, which have been preserved from the ancient his- 
 tory of this people, to conclude, that this was the route pur- 
 sued. For what else was that Tyrian Hercules, of whose 
 expedition to Iberia, to make war upon the son of Chrysaor, 
 the rich-in-gold, we have an account, if not the tutelary god, 
 first of the mother city, then of the colonies also ; and thus 
 generally the symbol of the Phoenician race ? And the his- 
 tory of his expeditions along the coasts of the Mediterranean, 
 what is it, if not an allegorical relation of the outspread of 
 the people by trade and navigation, and of the general civil- 
 ization which resulted therefrom ? 
 
 All these traditions are handed down to us through Greek 
 poets and mythologists, and have been changed by them in 
 various ways, and even confounded with others, in order to 
 fit in and form part of their epic poems and narrations. 
 But notwithstanding this, the pure mythos seems to have 
 been preserved to us almost in its original shape by Di- 
 odorus.'^ 
 
 ' The passage of Diodorus will be found in his works, i. p. 262, etc. The 
 expedition of Hercules into Spain is there given as the tentn of his labours ; 
 the whole narrative of Diodorus, however, if not immediately taken from 
 Timaeus, is evidently borrowed from a Greek epic poet, who has transferred 
 the Phoenician tradition of the Tyrian Hercules to the Greek deity of the 
 same name, with only such alterations as were necessary to the plot of his 
 poem. This opinion obtains no small confirmation from what Diodorus, 
 Op. i. p. 344, relates of the inhabitants of the Balearic islands, among whom 
 a tradition prevailed, that Hercules had conquered the country of Geryon on 
 account of its treasures in silver and gold ; they therefore forbade the intro- 
 duction of these metals into their islands, that they might not excite the cu- 
 pidity of conquerors. They therefore explained the mythos in this way, being 
 themselves of Phoenician origin. i 
 
 X 2 
 
308 
 
 PHGENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 The attempt to clear tip and explain every particular of 
 this fable would be doing violence to the manes of remote 
 antiquity. Some of the principal features of this allegory I 
 shall, nevertheless, venture to expose, fearless of incurring 
 
 this reproach. 
 
 Hercules is said to have undertaken his expedition with 
 a numerous fleet, which assembled at Crete; an island 
 forming, as will presently be seen, one of the principal links 
 of the Phoenician chain of colonies. Its object was Spain, 
 the country abounding in gold, and where Chrysaor the 
 father of Geryon, reigned. Hercules passed through Africa, 
 where he introduced agriculture, and built the great city of 
 Hecatompylos.^ He thus came to the strait, which he 
 crossed over to Gades. Spain submitted to him, and he 
 carried away the oxen of Geryon as booty ; taking his way 
 back through Gaul, Italy, and the islands of Sicily and 
 
 Sardinia. 
 
 The principal features of this allegory seem scarcely to 
 require an explanation. It is only among a maritime people 
 that this mythos could have been formed, as a fleet is fitted 
 out for the undertaking. That this took place at Crete, the 
 most convenient island, shows that the party did not extend 
 their views toward the western Mediterranean, until they 
 had well established their dominion over the eastern islands. 
 Neither did they undertake these expeditions for the mere 
 purpose of destruction and conquest. They carried civiliza- 
 tion with them ; they instructed the barbarians in the art 
 of agriculture, and accustomed them to fixed dwellings. 
 And where did this take place ?— Precisely in those countries 
 which were colonized by the Phoenicians ; that is, in Africa, 
 Sicily, and Sardinia. But the express object of this expe- 
 dition was, that very land which was the main source of Phoe- 
 nician wealth, and the principal seat of its trade ; namely, 
 the southern and western parts of Spain. Thus the tradi- 
 tions, as they have been handed down to us by the poets, are 
 in accordance with the historical facts. The Phoenicians 
 gradually spread themselves round the coasts of the Medi- 
 terranean. They came at last to the pillars of Hercules, 
 and even went beyond them. But in every part their 
 
 • Hecatompylos was a large city in the interior o£ the Carthaginian do- 
 minions, which was afterwards conquered by them. 
 
 DioDOR. i. p. 265. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 FOREIGN POSSESSIONS. 
 
 309 
 
 colonies were confined to the sea coast, and hence it may 
 fairly be concluded, that they owed their foundation to 
 commerce. 
 
 Thirdly. These colonial cities were spread in a very 
 unequal manner along the coasts of the Mediterranean, 
 being in some districts crowded and numerous, while in 
 other parts there were but few or none. Like the English 
 and Dutch, the Phoenicians had their colonial dominions, 
 which of course were precisely those which they made the 
 principal seats of their trade. To these more especially be- 
 longed the territory of Carthage, on the northern coast of 
 Africa, and the s outhern an djwestern parts of S pain. Their 
 settlements were more rare on the great islands of the west- 
 ern Mediterranean, Sicily and Sardinia, which they seem to 
 have regarded only as stations for their more distant naviga- 
 tion, and which therefore were the same to them in their voy- 
 ages to Gades and the pillars of Hercules, as is the Cape of 
 Good Hope to our modern navigators in their way to India. 
 Fourthly. Commercial jealousy, though they avoided 
 as much as possible all collision, arose out of the colonial 
 system of the Phoenicians. The Greeks were the first na- 
 tion with whom they came in contact ; and this must have 
 happened as soon as that people became powerfiil on the 
 Mediterranean. Yet a comparison of the situation of the 
 Greek and Phoenician colonies would almost lead one to con- 
 clude, that a tacit agreement had existed between the two 
 nations, to keep as much as possible out of each other's way. 
 They ceded voluntarily, as it were, to the Greeks many 
 countries which in high antiquity they seem to have colo- 
 nized. They left to them the coasts of Asia Minor and the 
 Black Sea ; they abandoned to them Southern Italy and 
 the greatest part of the Sicilian coast ; and they scarcely 
 interfered with them on the shores of Gaul. But it must 
 be remembered, on the other hand, that they would suffer 
 no Greek settlement in their colonial dominions, where m 
 general they would not endure foreigners. The stories re- 
 specting their sacrificing strangers to their gods, seem, sup- 
 posing them fables, to have been imagined and spread 
 abroad, for the purpose of keeping foreigners from their 
 
 settlements. 
 
 Fifthly. It seems natural to suppose that a close con- 
 
310 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 FOREIGN POSSESSIONS. 
 
 311 
 
 nexion must always have been kept up between colonies, 
 indebted to commerce for their origin with the parent state ; 
 indeed a kind of dependence upon the latter. But the 
 great and difficult art of keeping their colonies in subjec- 
 tion, so well understood by their descendants, the Cartha- 
 ginians, seems never to have been known in an equal degree 
 by the Phoenicians. Their colonies, favoured by their for- 
 tunate situation, grew beyond their management, and soon 
 became independent, if they were not so from the first. It 
 requires but little reflection to account for this. The Phoe- 
 nicians, like many of the commercial nations who have come 
 after them, extended their dominion beyond what their 
 power would suffice to maintain in authority. To this it 
 may be added, that Tyre was not situated like Carthage in 
 the centre of her colonies ; consequently, though she might 
 have been able to raise armies equally numerous, yet she 
 could not so easily make them effective. Carthage, almost 
 without effort, could transport her armies to Sicily and 
 Sardinia ; Britain in the present day can send out forces to 
 India; but if Tyre had made the attempt to carry an Asiatic 
 army to Spain, it is probable she would have failed. If we 
 except therefore the neighbouring island of Cyprus and 
 others, and a few of the most important at a greater dis- 
 tance, especially the settlements containing mines worked 
 by the natives, it will be found, that the relations of Tyre 
 with her colonies were limited to the ties of commerce, and 
 the obligations imposed by their mutual piety : the latter 
 were never neglected ; the former were most carefully pre- 
 served ; and religion furnished a strong band, which knit 
 the whole together. This band was the common worship 
 of the national gods by common feasts and sacrifices, at 
 which ambassadors, sent expressly by the different cities, 
 joined and assisted. Was not this policy, though generated, 
 as perhaps it was, by circumstances, the wisest, best, and 
 most rational, which the Phoenicians, in their situation, 
 could follow? They gave up nothing by so doing, but 
 what after a great expense of blood and treasure they would 
 have been compelled to relinquish. The ports of their 
 colonies were open to them ; and they enjoyed for centuries 
 all the valuable blessings which a peaceable and undisturbed 
 commerce is wont to bestow. 
 
 Sixthly. The period at which the Phoenician colonies 
 were founded can only be determined in a general manner. 
 That of the building of Carthage is still uncertain Ihere 
 can however, be no doubt, that the establishment of some ot 
 the 'settlements, beyond the sea, took place m Jhe deepe^^^ 
 antiquity. Should even the early foundation of Tartessus 
 and Gades be doubted, there can be no question respecting 
 the migration of Cadmus to Boeotia, and the building ot 
 Thebes ; facts which prove, that 1500 years before the 
 Christian era, Phoenician colonies had crossed the seas. 
 The foundation of most of them, however, certainly took 
 place in the flourishing period of Phoenicia, dunng which 
 the trade and navigation of Tyre made such wonderfol ad- 
 vances ; that is, from the reign of David to that of Cyrus, 
 1000—550, B. C. During this time, according to the 
 best evidence of antiquity, Utica, Carthage, Leptis,^ etc., 
 were founded ; a statement which is further confirmed by 
 the fact, that the greater part of the Phoenician colonics are 
 expressly called colonies of Tyre. Now this ci y did not 
 acquire much celebrity till about this time, nor till after the 
 period of Homer, who seems not to have been acquainted 
 with it, though he often speaks of Sidon. . 
 
 I shall now leave these general preliminary observations, 
 and entering rather more into particulars, take a closer view 
 of the Phoenician colonies.- It is only by this that an ade- 
 quate idea of the importance of this nation m the history ot 
 the world can be obtained ; it will also pave the way to the 
 inquiry respecting their commerce. I shall not here follow 
 the example of Bochart, who has founded his opinions 
 chiefly upon etymologies ; but shall take for my guide only 
 the positive evidence which history furnishes. ^ 
 
 The islands of the Mediterranean nearest to Phoenicia, as 
 well Cyprus and Crete, as the smaller ones of the Archipela- 
 go, the Sporides and the Cyclades ; and agam, those towards 
 the north, as far as the Hellespont, almost without excep- 
 tion were colonized by Phoenicians. The cities in the isle 
 of Cyprus, according to the testimony of one ot the most 
 
 • See the proofs in Bochart, p. 373, etc. c«i.xtav t must 
 
 « In order that he may understand properly the ^°"7/?£ ^^y; jL^J^^ 
 
 beg of the reader to have continually before him a map of the Mediterranean 
 
 and the surrounding countries ; D'Anville's, if possible. 
 
312 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II, 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 FOREIGN POSSESSIONS. 
 
 313 
 
 I 
 
 credible writers, were nearly all of Phoenician origin;" it 
 has already been remarked, that the whole island seems to 
 have been reduced to a Phoenician province ; and it must 
 have been of the highest importance to that nation, from its 
 supplying them in abundance with all the materials for ship- 
 building. Traces of the Phoenicians in Crete are preserved 
 in the mythology of the island ; here also the worship of 
 Hercules was naturalized; and the fable of Europa, of 
 which it was the scene, was certainly of Phoenician origin.** 
 The cities of the isle of Rhodes, Jalyssus, Camirus, and Lin- 
 dus," (Rhodes itself was not built till a later period,) fol- 
 lowed the Phoenician worship ; and the vestiges of it in the 
 lesser islands of the Archipelago will be found carefully col- 
 lected in Bochart.** This nation also had a considerable 
 establishment in the island of Thasos, on the Thracian coast. 
 They found out in one of their voyages of discovery, that 
 the mountains of this island abounded in gold ; this magnet 
 soon attracted them, and they here founded mines — works 
 of which Herodotus saw the shafts and galleries.*^ 
 
 Traces also of the Phoenicians are found on the west, and 
 even on the northern coast of Asia Minor. They are said 
 to have founded the cities of Pronectus and Bithynium on 
 the Black Sea and the Propontis;*^ and in the mountains 
 of Pisidia and Caria still dwelt a nation, or rather the rem- 
 nant of a nation, the Solymes, whose language betrays their 
 Phoenician descent.*^ 
 
 The Phoenicians, however, were driven out of all these 
 countries and islands, as the Carian race , and still more so, 
 the Hellenic, spreading out of Greece, filled with their co- 
 lonies not only the islands, but also the coast of Asia Minor. 
 There is no account of the Phoenicians engaging in any 
 hostilities with the Greeks for the possession of these coun- 
 tries, probably because the principal direction of their sea 
 
 " DioD. ii. p. 114. 
 
 " Apollod. iii. 1. If, as Hoeck has rendered probable, (Creta, p. 83, etc.,) 
 Europa, in the most ancient PhoDnician mythos, is to be understood, not as 
 Bi^ifying a part of the world, but the Phoenician deity Astarte, whose wor- 
 ship was spread with the Phoenician colonies, this will evidently confirm the 
 interpretation given above of the mythos of the expedition of Hercules. 
 
 " DioD. i. p. 377. " BocHART, p. 406, etc. 
 
 " Herod, li. 44, et vi. 47. »• Steph. de urb. h. v. 
 
 " TXvffffav fxkv ^oiviaaav Airb ffrofiarutv cupdvTii. JoSEPH. in Apion, i. ex 
 ChoerUo Tragico^ p. 1047. 
 
 trade lay in other regions, which they considered more pro- 
 ductive and more important. Perhaps, indeed, it was their 
 expulsion from these islands which turned their attention to 
 those in the western Mediterranean. 
 
 They could have no colonies on the Egyptian coast, be- 
 cause it was a fundamental maxim of the Egyptians to suf- 
 fer no vessels, either of their own or of foreigners, to enter 
 the mouths of the Nile. To make up for this, however, 
 they had a large settlement in the capital of Egypt itself; 
 one entire quarter of Memphis being inhabited by Phoe- 
 nicians :^® a very evident proof that they carried on, by the 
 inhabitants of that quarter of the world, a part in the primi- 
 tive caravan trade of Eastern Africa. 
 
 Perhaps the same cause which led them to retire from 
 Asia Minor kept them out of Italy ;^^ for however extraor- 
 dinary it may appear, not the least trace is here to be found 
 of any Phoenician settlement. Probably it was the Etrus- 
 cans, rather than the Greeks, who prevented their establishing 
 themselves in this country. On the other hand, they en- 
 deavoured with all their might to keep their footing in Sicily, 
 the only place in which they came in direct contact with 
 the Greeks, as declared rivals. 
 
 There is one difficulty which attends all modern re- 
 searches respecting the colonies of the Phoenicians in Sicily, 
 and other parts of the western Mediterranean ; and that is, 
 to distinguish between the proper Phoenicians and the Car- 
 thaginians, as the Greek writers very frequently designate 
 the latter by the same name. But notwithstanding the mis- 
 trust to which this must always give rise, there are decisive 
 proofs that the proper Phoenicians had established settle- 
 ments in Sicily long before the rise of the Carthaginian 
 power. " Long before the Greeks emigrated into Sicily," 
 says Thucydides,^^ "the Phoenicians had occupied the coasts 
 of that island, and the smaller ones in its neighbourhood ; 
 but when the Greeks began to frequent it, they retired to 
 Motya, Soloes, and Panormus." Diodorus's account of the 
 
 " Herod, ii. 112. 
 
 " How much the Carthaginians desired to establish themselves on the 
 Italian coasts, and what efforts were made to prevent it, is shown in the old 
 commercial treaties between Carthage and Rome, which are given in the ap- 
 pendix to the African nations. 
 
 » Thucyd. vi. 2. I 
 
314 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 colonies which the proper Phoenicians successively founded," 
 in proportion as their navigation and commerce increased, 
 in Sicily, Sardinia, and the neighbouring islands, is still more 
 conclusive. 
 
 When the Carthaginians began to wax great, and to ap- 
 propriate to themselves the navigation of the western Medi- 
 terranean, they usually trod in the footsteps of the parent 
 state, and inherited, as it were, their possessions and estab- 
 lishments, by sending new colonists into the old places which 
 had fallen into decay. It may, therefore, very safely be af- 
 firmed, that just those very cities which became the most 
 celebrated of Sicily, (as for example, Motya, Soloes, and 
 Panormus, together with the mountain city of Eryx, where 
 the worship of Astarte, or Venus Erycina, continued a last- 
 ing monument of the Phoenicians,^^) were also among the 
 most ancient Phoenician settlements. 
 
 Equally certain, but just as vague, are the accounts re- 
 specting their colonies in Sardinia. It was principally for 
 the sake of their intercourse with Spain, that they were so 
 desirous of securing here, as well as in Sicily, stations for 
 their ships to touch at in their long voyages.^^ To the do- 
 minion of Sardinia, however, which their successors the 
 Carthaginians obtained, they never, so far as we know, made 
 the least pretension. It was enough for them to maintain 
 themselves in the island ; and they could not, like the Car- 
 thaginians, transport over numerous armies to subdue the 
 inhabitants. 
 
 The Balearic islands lay just in their way, and could not 
 remain unknown. Indeed, according to a direct statement 
 of Diodorus, they were first occupied by the Phoenicians, 
 one hundred and fifty years after the building of Carthage.^* 
 We know not upon what data this chronological statement 
 is grounded; and it is impossible to determine from the 
 words of this author, whether he is speaking of the proper 
 Phoenicians or of the Carthaginians ; but the first seems 
 certainly the more probable, as well from the connexion in 
 which the passage stands, as fi*om the respective situations 
 of Tyre and Carthage at the time mentioned ; Tyre being 
 then by far the greater and more powerful trading city of 
 
 " DioD. i. p. 358. 
 " DiOD. i. p. 358. 
 
 ^ PoLYB. i. 55. DioD. i. p. 326. 
 •" Ibid. i. p. 343. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 FOREIGN POSSESSIONS. 
 
 315 
 
 the two, and was still in full possession of a maritime com- 
 merce with Spain. 
 
 We thus reach this most important peninsula ; one of the 
 chief colonial countries of the Phoenicians ; the great object 
 of their navigation ; the principal seat of their commerce ; 
 and not a whit less important to them than Peru has been 
 to modem Spain. The description of their trade with this 
 rich province I shall reserve for the next section, and limit 
 myself here to merely such geographical and historical ob- 
 servations as I think may be fairly deduced from the various 
 accounts which have been handed down to us fi-om antiquity. 
 First. There is, upon the whole, scarcely the least doubt 
 respecting the part of Spain occupied by the principal set- 
 tlements of the Phoenicians. All, or certainly the most 
 part, were situated in the southern part of the present An- 
 dalusia, on both sides of the strait, from the mouths of the 
 Anas, (Guadiana,) at both sides of the Guadalquiver, to the 
 frontiers of Granada, and even Murcia. The aborigines 
 dwelling in this district were the Turdetani ; but this native 
 tribe had so much intermingled with the Phoenicians, as to 
 give rise along the coast to a mixed race, who were called 
 
 the Bastuli.^ , ... ,.,.,. ^ 
 
 Secondly. It seems certain then that it is in this district 
 that must be sought the celebrated Tartessus, Carteia, 
 Gades, as well as the pillars of Hercules ; and here there is 
 but little difficulty till we come to fix the, particular situation 
 of each. The embellishments of the poets, who made this 
 distant region the scene of many of their fables, have so 
 confused and distorted historical facts, that at last even the 
 very historians themselves knew not upon what to rely. 
 Respecting even the pillars of Hercules, the greatest diver- 
 sity of opinions has been held ; some have sought for them 
 in the Atlantic Ocean near Gades ; others at Gibraltar ; and 
 others elsewhere :^^ scarcely a doubt, however, can now be 
 entertained, but that the rocks of Calpe and Abyla, upon 
 which Gibraltar and Ceuta now stand, gave rise to this ap- 
 pellation, and to the long string of fables which reter to 
 them. The inquiry respecting Tartessus is beset with much 
 greater difficulties : a river Tartessus, an island Tartessus, a 
 
 » See Cellarius, i. p. 65. Mannert, i. §-275. 
 « Cellar, i. p. 72. Mannert, i. §. 290. 
 
316 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. lU 
 
 FOREIGN POSSESSIONS. 
 
 317 
 
 place Tartessus, are spoken of, and have been sought for 
 sometimes in one place and sometimes in another; and, 
 lastly, we hear of a district Tartessus. This great diversity- 
 seems alone sufficient to instruct us respecting the idea we 
 should attach to this name. As in ancient geography, all 
 names applied to the furthermost countries of the earth are 
 vague and uncertain ; such is the case with this, and it 
 would therefore be useless to endeavour to determine the 
 exact spot where Tartessus formerly stood. Among the 
 oriental nations, who had heard nothing more from the 
 mysterious Phoenicians than the name of this distant coun- 
 try, it was considered, in a general manner, as the further- 
 most place towards the west, without any one being able to 
 give more accurate information respecting it ; but in the 
 commercial geography of the Phcenicians, by Tartessus was 
 evidently understood, the whole of southern Spain, which 
 had been subjected to their authority. It was consequently 
 a very indefinite term, probably much the same as that of 
 the West Indies among the modems ; and thus perhaps we 
 have a river, an island, and a territory of this name, because 
 that country comprised all these.^ Now when the river 
 Tartessus is spoken of, we understand it to be the Baetis, or 
 Guadalquiver, which, by flowing into the sea in two streams, 
 forms an island, where, from the usual commercial policy 
 of the Phcenicians, it is highly probable that their first set- 
 tlement was made ; and it is for this reason that Strabo has 
 placed here the city of Tartessus.^® But as they extended 
 their dominion, the name extended also ; and thus arose a 
 district of Tartessus, which increased to a considerable size. 
 The name Tartessus was also applied to nearly all the colo- 
 nial cities in the neighbourhood.'^^ It seems therefore a fruit- 
 less hypothesis of Bochart's to adopt three Tartessuses ; and 
 still less can I adopt the opinion of a modern writer, who 
 places Tartessus where Seville, the ancient Hispalis, now 
 stands ; ^ though I will not undertake to deny that Hispalis 
 never bore the name of Tartessus. If there ever was a city 
 Tartessus, it was certainly one of the most ancient, probably 
 
 " Steph. de urb. s. v. Taprijaadc. et ibi interpret 
 
 " Strab. p. 221. He remarks soon after, that some had confounded it 
 with Carteia. 
 » Cellar, i. p. 69. * Mannert, i. §. 295. 
 
 the most ancient of the Phoenician colonies ; and it is 
 scarcely conceivable that they should have founded this so 
 deep in the country, and so far from the coast. 
 
 Next to Tartessus, the island city of Gades, or Gadeix, is 
 most deseiTing attention. It was a ruling maxim of the 
 Phcenicians, as well as of the Carthaginians, to choose islands 
 at a short distance from the continent for their settlements ; 
 these proving the most secure staples for their wares. This 
 custom they observed in Spain. At a very small distance 
 from the coast, and beyond the pillars of Hercules, were 
 situated two small islands in the Atlantic Ocean.^' The 
 largest of these was about nine miles in circumference, and 
 from its situation and state left them nothing to wish for. 
 Here, on the most remote point of the known world, beyond 
 which all was viewless, except the immeasurable waste of 
 ocean, did they fix their abode, and built upon the two 
 islands one city, which became one of the most remarkable 
 of the worid ; and which, favoured by its happy situation, 
 has continued such, notwithstanding all the pohtical and 
 commercial revolutions that have taken place, up to the 
 present day. This enterprise, so justly celebrated in their 
 annals, was also sung by the poets ; who make the islands of 
 Gades and Erythea, where reigned the triple-bodied Geryon, 
 the furthest point of the expedition of the Tyrian Her- 
 cules. To him indeed was dedicated the renowned temple, 
 built at the northern extremity of the largest island, and 
 which, even in the time of the Romans, was regarded as one 
 of the most venerable monuments of antiquity.'* 
 
 A third city, equally remarkable, and whose name alone 
 betrays its Phoenician origin, was Carteia. It would be 
 difficult to determine accurately its site ; it may be regarded 
 however as certain, that it stood in the neighbourhood of 
 the present Gibraltar, probably near to Algiziras.^ Its situ- 
 ation, too, led it to be called Calpe ; at least there seems 
 many reasons for believing, that the city so frequently men- 
 tioned under this name was no other than Carteia. 
 
 Of the remaining cities, Malaca and Hispalis, the present 
 Malaga and Seville, best deserve notice. The first derives 
 
 " Strab. p. 257. The smaller island usually bore the name of Erythea. 
 Plinv assures us that the ancient Gades was built upon this small island. 
 « bioD. i. p. 345. Strab. 1. c. ^ Mannert. i. §. 287- 
 
 I 
 
If 
 
 318 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 FOREIGN POSSESSIONS. 
 
 319 
 
 its name from the excellent salt fish which it exported in 
 large quantities ;^ the other was built on the Guadalquiver, 
 at the point to which the tide ran up, and where it was 
 navigable for ships of considerable burthen. ^^ 
 
 These were the principal places ; but besides these, the 
 country was every where strewed over with Phoenician vil- 
 lages, and altogether, as it were, Phoenicianised. Accord- 
 ing to Strabo, there were here above two hundred places 
 said to be of Phoenician origin ;^^ and though even many 
 may have been Carthaginian, yet they could only be few 
 compared to the whole. 
 
 Thirdly, When it is remembered, that, even in the time 
 of Homer, tin and amber were well-known articles of Phoe- 
 nician commerce, there can be no doubt that the settle- 
 ments of the Phoenicians reach up beyond this period. It 
 is impossible to fix accurately the time of its foundation. 
 The name Tarshish, or Tartessus, mentioned in the Mosaic 
 records, among the tribes descended from Noah and dis- 
 persed afler the flood, cannot with any direct certainty be 
 referred to Spain; there is, however, a very remarkable 
 historical fact preserved respecting the foundation of Gades, 
 which any one acquainted with the usual manner of pro- 
 ceeding among the Phoenicians must consider, from its situ- 
 ation, to have been one of their first settlements. " Gades, 
 it is said, was founded at the same time with Utica ; the 
 foundation of Utica took place 270 years before that of Car- 
 thage."^ According to this statement, the foundation of 
 Gades must be placed at about 11 00 years before the Chris- 
 tian era, or 100 years after the Trojan war. Exactly the 
 same account is found in Pomponius Mela ; and although 
 these statements only bring us to some where about the date, 
 they must be regarded as of great advantage ; because they 
 very clearly prove, that the most lively intercourse with 
 Spain existed in the most flourishing period of Tyre, and of 
 Phoenicia in general. 
 
 ■• Strab. p. 236 ; cf. Bochart, p. 683. 
 
 » Strab. p. 209. "• Ibid. p. 207. ^ :, ^ 
 
 ^ Velleius Paterculus (i. 2) expressly says, that Gades was founded 
 nearly at the same time as Utica ; and adds, that it was about the time of the 
 reign of Codrus, viz. about 1 100 B. C. Aristotle has recorded the date of the 
 foundation of Utica in his work, De Mirahil c. 146; and also adds, that it 
 was thus stated in the Phoenician annals : iv toiq ^oivuciKdiQ XaropiaiQ, The 
 statement will be found in Diodorus, i. p.- 358. 
 
 Fourthly, The relation in which the parent country and 
 the colonies stood towards each other, is here also unfortu- 
 nately buried in such deep obscurity, that very little can be 
 said positively upon this highly interesting object. Only 
 a few dark traces are lefl ; but these, when carefiiUy investi- 
 gated, seem to give us the clue to several important facts. 
 Thus it appears that the Phoenicians at first came merely as 
 merchants,^ and made no attempt to plant settlements, till, 
 after a closer acquaintance with the natives, they found it 
 necessary for the enlargement and better security of their 
 trade. Whether these colonies from the beginning were 
 dependent upon Tyre is uncertain ; their nature, so far as 
 their object was the working of the mines, seems to decide 
 in the affirmative. How, unless this had been the case, 
 would the Tyrians have been able to turn them to such good 
 account, that they should be represented as the principal 
 source of their opulence ; — how have kept strangers away ? 
 The numerous emigrations that were constantly taking 
 place, (much the same as in the last centuries poured from 
 Spain into the new world,) as well as the intermixture 
 with the natives, seem to lead to the same conclusion. A 
 passage, too, in the prophet Isaiah,^^ tends to show that 
 their dominion, like that of all other mining colonies, was 
 not very mild. However this may have been, it is quite 
 certain that the Phoenician colonies in Spain, if not inde- 
 pendent from the first, became so at a very early period : 
 for when the Phocsean Greeks first voyaged to Phoenician 
 Spain, which happened in the period of Cyrus, about 556, 
 they found Tartesstis existing as a free state, with its own 
 king, who bore himself so civilly towards the Greeks as 
 
 " DioDOR. i. p. 358. 
 
 "» See chap, xxiii. 10. This obscure passage is thus translated by Ge- 
 
 senius : , ,« , . i 
 
 " Pass like the Nile through thy land, daughter of Tarshish j 
 No girdle longer obstructs thee." 
 Thus the prophet, while he is foretelling the downfal of Tyre, cnes out to 
 the Tartessians, Move now at liberty in your emancipated country, for your 
 chains are broken ! The exegetical commentator may decide, whether, in 
 this comparison with the Nile, the expression daughter of Tarshish alludes to 
 the Tartessian people, or may not also be referred to the river Tartessus, 
 the Guadalquiver, which it is said shall as freely flow through the free-be- 
 come country of Tartessus, as the Nile through Egypt. The sense is the 
 same, the metaphor alone being changed. Gesenius, Comment, i. 732, refers 
 the words to the people. i 
 
320 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP.^ II. 
 
 FOREIGN POSSESSIONS. 
 
 321 
 
 plainly to show, that he was not unaccustomed to the visits 
 of strangers.*® This prince, whose reign is said to have ex- 
 tended to eighty years, was named Arganthonius ; and this 
 account of him, given by Herodotus, has been repeated by 
 numerous other writers. There can therefore be no doubt, 
 but that the territory of the Phoenicians upon the main land 
 of the Spanish peninsula, fell under the dominion of a 
 monarch perfectly independent. But the case was other- 
 wise with regard to Gades. This state appears to have had 
 a republican government, and to have been the chief of the 
 neighbouring small colonies on the coast, much the same as 
 Carthage was in Africa ;'*^ with this city it soon entered into 
 a friendly alliance, which continued to the time of the Ro- 
 man wars, when its willing submission to the Romans pur- 
 chased it the rights of municipality. 
 
 The columns of Hercules formed the boundaries of the 
 world, as known to the ancients. The countries without 
 these, and beyond Gades, were enveloped in the thickest 
 obscurity, which the Phoenicians endeavoured to increase 
 by a mysterious secrecy. Only very doubtful information, 
 therefore, can be expected respecting their farther settle- 
 ments upon the shores of the ocean. We hear nothing be- 
 yond this point of great and flourishing colonies, such as 
 Gades ; though the very extensive range of their navigation 
 must have rendered more distant settlements necessary. 
 Strabo speaks of no less than three hundred cities, said to 
 have been founded by Tyre on the western coast of Africa, 
 but which afterwards fell a prey to the rude Gaetuli and 
 Libyans.*^ However exaggerated this number may be, it 
 would not render the fact itself improbable, if it did not 
 seem to be opposed by the circumstance of Hanno's having 
 described the coast in his Voyage, as a land in which no 
 earlier settlements had been made.*^ The date of Hanno's 
 voyage, however, is itself uncertain ; and it may very well 
 have happened, that these earlier settled colonies were de- 
 stroyed before it took place. Who, a hundred years hence, 
 would be able to find any traces of the present colonies of 
 
 *• Herod, i. 163. *' See Carthaginians^ chap. i. 
 
 *«STRAB.p. 1182. 
 
 " A translation of Hanno's Voyage will be found in the Appendix to the 
 African nations^ vol. i. 492, of the English edition. 
 
 Great Britam on the coasts of Australia, if it should be their 
 lot to be subjugated and destroyed by its savage natives ? 
 
 Another tradition was spread abroad by numerous writers 
 of antiquity respecting a large island beyond the pillars of 
 Hercules, which was taken possession of by the Phoeni- 
 cians.** Although this tradition probably refers to Madeira, 
 as is shown m my Researches upon Carthage, yet it still 
 seems doubtful, whether the proper Phoenicians ever reach- 
 ed that island ; and whether this fact must not rather be 
 understood of their successors the Carthaginians, who, it is 
 well known, founded a colony there. The statements of 
 Diodorus, however, are too precise to allow of our depriv- 
 ing the Phoenicians of this glory. The whole body of tradi- 
 tions respecting the fortunate isles beyond the pillars of 
 Hercules, which the poets and philosophers have so meta- 
 morphosed and adorned, would have become of themselves 
 fluctuating and uncertain, even though the Phoenicians had 
 not designedly cast over them a veil of mystery ; a practice 
 which they also followed with regard to their settlements 
 on the European coasts, of which they would let nothing 
 transpire, although the wares they brought from them pre- 
 vented the fact of their visiting them from remaining alto- 
 gether a secret.*^ It would indeed be entirely at variance 
 with their general custom, and with their whole system of 
 commercial policy, if they had not in various places of the 
 "^™^^^,coasts of Spain, and especially in the Casiterides, 
 (fecilly islands,) established settlements; although no definite 
 account of them had been preserved. Let no warm imagina- 
 tion, however, refer any of these traditions to a discovery of 
 America. The Phoenicians might very well circumnavigate 
 Africa and penetrate to the Eastern Sea ; but to sail across 
 the Atlantic to America was beyond them ; for their navi- 
 gation, even in its most flourishing state, like that of all 
 other nations of antiquity and the middle ages, was confined 
 to the coasts. Had indeed any accident driven a single 
 ship to that distant shore, it would have been impossible to 
 nave turned the discovery to any advantage. 
 
 Let us now return through the pillars of Hercules into 
 the Mediterranean Sea, and here we shall find another wide 
 
 «4 
 
 DioD. i. p. 344. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 ** Herod, iii. 115. 
 
in 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAl*. II. 
 
 rHl It 
 
 ^2 
 
 «m«^ of Phoenician colonies on the northern coast of Africa, 
 r^er times the territory of Carthage. As a more exter^- 
 sWe nquiry respecting the government and ^tate of A. 
 
 eount^^s ^^f^^^^^^^'^Z ^^Z ItaTiS wth 
 Z!^L:^ ^^ ^'l a general idea of the great 
 MtPnt of the Phoenician colonial system. 
 
 S; colonies of this nation were not spread over the 
 
 fh7v Imef hS weLso' many staples, as well for their 
 they tormea ue ^^^^^ ^^^j^ ^j^e 
 
 xnore 'i^^^'J *^^^"i*^^^^^^ prosperity to which these 
 
 mtenor of Africa «"« [^«S V V ^^^ ^.^^ ^^^^^-^^^ 
 
 &%SSthtwe cte" ill this strip of coast was 
 S^erTd witrl chain of colonial cities of which Utica, 
 Xos^foundation, as has already been observed was c^n- 
 r^raiy with that of Gades was, according ^o 1 ex^st^ 
 
 ^cLhrn^d^n>^ToXn Son, Adrumetum, 
 tI^S GrTat and Little Leptis, and some others less con- 
 ■l ut wKioh in the end, became not exactly subject, 
 hnt 'S&r S; of Carthage, and so fornied together a 
 but rather a'"es o & j^ ^^m as that of the 
 
 federative state, ^^f ,*^2on in which these cities stood 
 KIT ?tier,\l^ r predominance of the Cartha- 
 ZiZ could scarcely have been the same m all and pro- 
 Cr differed from the beginning ; as some, Utica and 
 Swte evidently founded as%taples for trade while 
 
 !t ^'nwpd S origin to political troubles, by the emi- 
 
 ^tirif the fatisfied party. From their later relations 
 
 ^rrarthaoret is very clear, that within a short period 
 
 I ^«d formed a Me independent state, with its own 
 
 "trtovrment\ithin itself^ and its own Me terntoH. 
 
 around it, without any further connexion with the mother 
 
 ^"g STaLTwtLtXthat the principal direction 
 
 « DioD. i.'3j8. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 FOREIGN POSSESSIONS. 
 
 323 
 
 in which the Phoenician race extended itself by colonization, 
 was towards the west ; because, from their situation, their 
 sea trade could take no other. But notwithstanding this, 
 so soon as their land trade through Asia had reached the 
 coasts of the Indian Ocean, the want of settlements there 
 must naturally have been felt. Traces of them, though 
 certainly in part only doubtful traces, are found both on the 
 Persian and Arabian Gulfs. The names of two islands in 
 the midst of the Persian, Tyrus, or Tylos, and Aradus, bear 
 striking marks of Phoenician origin; and in these have 
 lately been discovered vestiges of Phoenician workmanship 
 and buildings. I hope to identify these places in the fol- 
 lowing pages with the Baharein isles ; but as this inquiry 
 cannot well be carried on without taking a larger range, 
 and spreading over the whole of the Persian Gulf, I shall 
 reserve it for the chapter on the Babylonians, where it will 
 be more in place. 
 
 It would be strange if the Phoenicians had not likewise 
 made some attempt to navigate the Arabian Gulf, which lay 
 nearer to them than the Persian. But the access to this 
 was closed to them by another commercial and extensive 
 nation, the Idumeans or Edomites, with whom the Jews 
 stood in no friendly relation,*^ ^nd who themselves possessed 
 two seaports, Eloth and Ezion Geber, on the northern coast 
 of the same Gulf When, however, the boundaries of the 
 Jewish empire under David had been so extended by the 
 subjugation of the Edomites, as to take in these two places, 
 the Phoenicians did not let the opportunity escape of open- 
 ing the way to them for themselves by treaty ; "^ and the 
 navigation which they, in common with Solomon, carried 
 on upon the Red Sea, drew so many of them to the above- 
 named cities, that they may be fairly regarded as their 
 colonies. 
 
 But, besides this, it seems that the Phoenicians fitted out 
 ships from the western bay of the Arabian Gulf, the present 
 Suez and the Heroopolis of antiquity. Theophrastus, in 
 speaking of the frankincense trade of Arabia Felix, to which 
 we shall presently return, mentions the merchants who car- 
 ried on this trade in their ships, from the city of Heroopolis, 
 
 *' Gesenius Commentar zu Jesaias, i. 904, etc. *" 1 Kings, ix. 26, 27. 
 
 Y 2 
 
324 
 
 PH(ENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 and the bay named after it, with the land of the Sabeans.*^ 
 This navigation, too, was certainly ancient, even in his times. 
 Who then could have carried it on except the Phoenicians f 
 Thus, then, this remarkable people spread themselves, not 
 by fire and sword, and sanguinary conquests, but by peace- 
 able and slower efforts, yet equally certain. No overthrown 
 cities and desolated countries, such as marked the military 
 expeditions of the Medes and Assyrians, denoted their pro- 
 gress ; but a long series of flourishing colonies, agriculture 
 and the arts of peace among the previously rude barbarians, 
 pointed out the victorious career of the Tynan Hercules. 
 
 Theophrast. Hist. Plant, ix. 4. 
 
 «» DioD. i. p. 264. 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 Navigation and Sea Trade of the Phoenicians. 
 
 WHO ARE THOSE THAT FLY LIKE A CLOUD, 
 
 AND LIKE DOVES TO THEIR HOLES ? 
 
 THEY ARE VESSELS FROM SPAIN, WHO BRING THY SONS FROM AFAR ; 
 
 THEIR GOLD AND THEIR SILVER WITH THEM. 
 
 ISAIAH, Ix. 8, 9. 
 
 It requires no great sagacity to develope the caujses by which 
 the Phoenicians became a commercial and sea-faring people. 
 They were in a manner constrained to it by their situation ; 
 for the commodities of interior Asia becoming accumulated 
 in vast quantities upon their coasts, seemed to demand a 
 further transport.^ It would, nevertheless, be an error to 
 assume this as the first and only impulse to their naviga- 
 tion, which most likely had the same origin here that it 
 generally had among commercial nations : it sprung from 
 piracy. The seeming advantages which this affords are too 
 near and too striking to be overlooked by uncivilized na- 
 tions ; while the benefits to be derived from a peaceable 
 and regular commerce, are too distant to come at first with- 
 in the scope of their ideas. It was thus, that the piratical 
 excursions of the Normans gave the first impulse to the na- 
 vigation of the western countries of Europe. But among 
 nations who are not, like the African nest of pirates, held 
 back by despotism and other unfavourable circumstances, 
 good gradually grows out from this original evil. A trifling 
 advance too in civilization soon teaches mankind how great- 
 ly the benefits of trade surpass those of plunder ; and as 
 the latter diminishes, the former increases. 
 
 This is exactly the state in which the navigation of the 
 
 * See above, p. 25. 
 
326 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Phoenicians is first presented to our notice, in the time of 
 Homer; the earliest period at which we catch an authentic 
 glance at it from any definite accounts. 
 
 The Phoenicians at this period visited the Greek islands 
 and the coasts of the continents, as robbers, or merchants, 
 according as circumstances offered. They came with trin- 
 kets, beads, and baubles, which they sold at a high price to 
 the inexperienced and unwary Greeks ; and they thus gained 
 opportunities of kidnapping their boys and girls, whom they 
 turned to good account in the Asiatic slave markets, or who 
 were redeemed at heavy ransoms by their parents and coun- 
 trymen. A most faithful and lively picture of the state of 
 society in these respects is drawn by the Greek bard him- 
 self, in the narrative which he makes Eumaeus relate of his 
 birth and early adventures.^ 
 
 This kind of intercourse, however, could not last beyond 
 the infancy of Grecian civilization. As this advanced, and 
 that people grew formidable upon the seas, and Athenian 
 and Ionian squadrons covered the Mediterranean, it must of 
 itself have assumed another shape, as piracy would no longer 
 be tolerated. But notwithstanding this, the connexion be- 
 tween Phoenicia and Greece, in the flourishing period of 
 the latter, seems not to have continued so strong as might 
 naturally have been expected. There is no trace of an 
 active intercourse between Tyre and Athens, or Corinth ; 
 there is no vestige of commercial treaties, such as frequently 
 were closed between Carthage and Rome.^ Commercial 
 jealousy, common to both nations, in some measure accounts 
 for this phenomenon. — How much less has the intercourse 
 between England and France always been, than it might 
 have been, considering the situation and magnitude of the 
 two kingdoms! — I trust, however, that the following ob- 
 servations will be deemed satisfactory upon this subject. 
 
 First. The principal source of trade among all great sea- 
 faring nations must ever be directed towards their colonies. 
 It is only there that mutual exchange of commodities can 
 be effected upon an extensive scale ; all other sales are by 
 retail, or in small quantities. The truth, which the experi- 
 
 * See Odyss. xv. 402, etc. Herodotus also gives the same account at the 
 beginning of his history. 
 ■ Aristot. PoUt. iii. 9. 
 
 CHAP. 111. 
 
 NAVIGATION AND SEA TRADE. 
 
 327 
 
 ence of the greatest maritime states of modern times con- 
 firms beyond a doubt, was felt both by Phoenicians and 
 Greeks ; hence the chief commerce of both nations was 
 confined to their colonies. 
 
 Secondly. The Greeks could the more easily abstain 
 from purchasing of the Phoenicians, as they could import 
 nearly all the wares they required from their own colonies 
 in Asia Minor, which maintained the same intercourse with 
 the countries of inner Asia, as Tyre and Sidon ; and ob- 
 tained and exported in a great degree the same Asiatic 
 merchandise. 
 
 Thirdly, During the time of their greatest splendour, 
 that is, from the commencement of the Persian wars, the 
 Greeks were not only the rivals of the Phoenicians, but their 
 declared political enemies. The hatred of the Phoenicians 
 towards the Greeks is shown in nothing clearer, than in 
 their ready wilHngness to lend their fleets to the Persians ; 
 and in the active share they took in the Persian expeditions 
 against the whole of Greece, or against the separate states. 
 How then can it be expected, that under such circum- 
 stances a very lively or regular commerce could have ex- 
 isted between them ? 
 
 The Phoenicians, however, still possessed the advantage 
 of fiirnishing the Greeks with certain articles of the most 
 costly description, in great demand, which they could not 
 obtain from their own colonies, and the Phoenicians alone 
 could supply. To these belong especially, perfiimes and 
 spices, which they imported from Arabia, and which were 
 absolutely necessary to the Greeks in their sacrifices to the 
 gods. They also supplied them with the manufactures of 
 Tyre ; its purple garments, its rich apparel, its jewels, trin- 
 kets, and other ornaments, which could be obtained no where 
 else of such fine workmanship, or so decidedly in accord- 
 ance with the prevailing fashion. 
 
 The same causes which limited the commerce of the Phoe- 
 nicians with Greece, tended also to diminish it with its co- 
 lonies on the coast of Asia Minor and in Sicily. History 
 has preserved us no express information upon this parti- 
 cular ; but to the causes already cited, there remains to be 
 added the fact, that in proportion as the trade of the Phoe- 
 nicians decreased in the Western Mediterranean, that of the 
 
328 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 NAVIGATION AND SEA TRADE. 
 
 329 
 
 Carthaginians increased, till at length they possessed it al- 
 
 most exclusivelv. 
 
 It is therefore the commerce of the Phoenicians with their 
 own colonial countries, and more particularly with Spam, 
 that especially demands our attention. Even their estab- 
 lishments upon the great islands of the Mediterranean were 
 only regarded, as I have already observed, as stations for 
 these distant voyages. We will return to these Capes of 
 Good Hope, when we have made ourselves acquainted with 
 that country which formed the great object of their navi- 
 gation. " Spanish ships were the great work of thy trade ; 
 thou wast a perfect city, and honoured upon the seas."* 
 
 A general view of Phoenician navigation leads us at once 
 to remark, that their commercial policy proceeded upon the 
 same principle, which obtains in all commercial states in 
 their infancy ; namely, to regard the representative of the 
 value of things as more important than the things them- 
 selves ; and consequently to prefer the possession of coun- 
 tries producing gold and silver to all others. The working 
 of mines therefore was the business to which they most se- 
 dulously applied ; and no fear, no labour, seems too great 
 for them to overcome, if gold or silver mines were the ob- 
 ject that called forth their enterprising spirit. Here that 
 profit seemed to be made at once, which in other cases they 
 could only hope to make by repeated barter of their wares. 
 Here seemed to be opened at once the sources of wealth ! 
 Animated by these expectations, they penetrated the Arabian 
 Desert, and braved the dangers of the Red Sea, till they 
 reached Happy Arabia and the Ethiopian coasts. The same 
 object led them through the pillars of Hercules and to the 
 western limits of the world. 
 
 Spain, who in modem days has been compelled to fetch 
 her treasures from the other side the Atlantic, was herself 
 the Peru of antiquity. She was the richest country in the 
 world for silver ; she abounded in gold^ and the less pre- 
 cious metals.^ The most productive mines of silver were 
 found in the districts which have been described above, and 
 
 * EzEKiEL, xxvii. 25. Compare this with the very interesting passage in 
 Isaiah, Ix. 8, 9 ; in which the prophet ^ives a fine picture of the future hap- 
 piness of Jerusalem by comparing it with Tyre, to whose commerce he pro- 
 mises that city shall succeed. 
 
 • Strab. p. 216. • Especially tin. Strab. p. 219. 
 
 which were comprised by the Phoenicians under the general 
 name of Tartessus or Tarshish. The prodigious quantity 
 of the precious metals which they found here upon their 
 first arrival so excited their astonishment, and the repre- 
 sentation they made was so strongly impressed upon the 
 mind of the nation, that the traditions preserved respecting 
 them seem very remarkably to suit the pictures given by 
 the Spanish discoverers of Peru. When the first Phoeni- 
 cians visited Spain, it is said they found silver there in such 
 abundance, that they not only freighted their ships with it 
 to the water s edge, but made their common utensils, an- 
 chors not excepted, of this metal. Thus laden, they re- 
 turned back to their native country, which lost no time in 
 taking possession of this ancient Peru, and founding colonies 
 there, whose name and situation we have already described."^ 
 When the Phoenicians first settled here, artificial mine 
 works were quite unnecessary. The silver ore lay exposed 
 to view, and they had only to make a slight incision to ob- 
 tain it in abundance.® The inhabitants themselves were so 
 little acquainted with its value, that their commonest imple- 
 ments were composed of this metal. The demands of the 
 Phoenicians, and their avidity to possess it, first taught 
 them its worth; and it is probable that the arrival and 
 settlement among them of these strangers, who could supply 
 them with so many usefiil articles, in exchange for that upon 
 which they set such little store, was to them a source of 
 gratification. But when the stock they had in hand was 
 exhausted, and the insatiable foreigners saw it necessary to 
 open mines, the lot of the poor Iberians became truly 
 pitiable. That the Spanish mines were worked by slaves is 
 clear from Diodorus, who describes their wretched fate ; 
 and even though his statement may refer to the time of the 
 Romans, there can be but little doubt that the same practice 
 had long previously existed. Whether the natives were 
 compelled to this labour we know not positively ; but they 
 scarcely could have escaped it altogether, though the ex- 
 tensive traffic of the Phoenicians in slaves would have 
 rendered it easy for them to introduce suflScient hands 
 
 ' See Aristot. d^ Mirahil. cxlvii. et ibi Beckm. 
 Strabo, I. c, and compare the chief passages with DiOD. i. p. 358, etc., 
 my authority for the following remarks. \ 
 
330 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 CHAP III. 
 
 NAVIGATION AND SEA TRADE. 
 
 331 
 
 from abroad. Even if only employed as free labourers, 
 their lot was sufficiently hard. That however the mmes m 
 Spain were not worked merely by diggmg, is clear from 
 Diodorus, whose relation of itself proves that shafts were 
 opened, and the subterraneous water forced out by ma- 
 chines ; even if the interesting allusion to mine works in 
 the book of Job should not be admitted as referring to the 
 
 PVirPTllPlrillS 
 
 The mine works of the genuine Phoenicians seem to 
 have been confined to the present Andalusia. According 
 to Strabo, the oldest were situated upon the mountain in 
 which the Bsetis or Guadalquiver takes its rise, upon the 
 south part of the Sierra Morena, which, on the borders ot 
 Andalusia and Murcia, bore the name of Sierra Segura 
 They did not extend beyond this previous to the time ot the 
 Carthaginians, who entered upon the conquest ot bpain 
 with much more energy and power. . . , , , , , 
 
 For the rest, silver was certainly the principal, but could 
 scarcely be the only object obtained. Gold, lead, and iron 
 were discovered; and besides these, tin mines were opened 
 bv the Phoenicians on the northern coast of bpam, beyond 
 Lusitania. All these metals are spoken of by the prophet 
 Ezekiel as the produce of the Spanish mines Spain 
 ( Tarshish) traded with thee, because of the multitude of thy 
 goods ; silver, iron, tin, and lead, it gave thee in exchange 
 
 tor thy wares."" , tm • • * 
 
 That in addition to the mines, the Phoenicians were at- 
 tracted to Spain by the great fertility of the southern part 
 of the country, is proved by the direct testimony of ancient 
 writers.'* Spain was regarded as the only country that 
 was at once rich in metals, in corn, m wine, in oi^ wax, 
 fine wool," and fruits, which, under its mild and benign 
 skv attain to the highest perfection. Their superabundance 
 naturally suggested the invention of pickles and preserves. 
 
 • Tor xxviii 1—13, with the remarks of Michaehs. 
 - NearTasVillon: the mountain was called the silver mountain Strab 
 p. 221 Consequently the metals might be transported down the Ba^tis to 
 
 '*' n TLTJ: xx?f 12 ; and for what relates to the tin, Strab p 219. . 
 n ItrIb anrDiODOR. ii. cc., who are my authorities for the followmg 
 
 '*^'''so"exiellent, according to Strab. p. 213 even thus early was the Span- 
 ish lleece, that a talent was given for a ram of this breed. 
 
 The trade in salt fish has already been mentioned as a branch 
 of the earliest commerce of Spain.** 
 
 The commerce of the Phoenicians in their Spanish settle- 
 ments was carried on in the same manner as they usually 
 carried it on elsewhere ; the only method indeed by which 
 it can be carried on among uncivilized nations — namely, by 
 barter. It is not only so described in the passage above 
 quoted from the prophet Ezekiel, but the same is confirmed 
 by Diodorus. They brought, on their side, Tyrian wares — 
 probably linen, the usual clothing of Spain ; perhaps, also, 
 trinkets and toys, and such articles of finery as are eagerly 
 coveted by barbarians. In exchange for these they obtain- 
 ed the above-mentioned natural productions; and silver, 
 not as money, but as merchandise, and upon which their 
 profit must have been doubled, if the conjecture, not des- , 
 titute of probability, be true, that they bartered it in the 
 southern countries for gold.*^ 
 
 But besides these direct advantages which the Phoeni- 
 cians drew from their Spanish colonies, they were likewise 
 of important service in the extension of their commerce upon 
 the Atlantic Ocean. Gades was not merely the secure sta- 
 ple for the treasures and produce of Spain ; but was like- 
 wise the starting point for that more distant navigation and 
 commerce, over which the Phoenicians have cast a veil of 
 secrecy, that all our endeavours cannot completely remove. 
 It is known that from this port their vessels were fitted out 
 for the tin islands, and the amber coasts ; but where these 
 are to be sought can only be conjectured, because it was 
 evidently so much their advantage to keep away all rivals, 
 especially from the amber trade, whose high price, equal 
 to that of gold, must have been greatly reduced by compe- 
 tition. All that can be said upon this subject with any de- 
 gree of certainty, will be found in the chapter upon the 
 navigation of the Carthaginians, whose ships also visited 
 these regions. It is there fiilly proved that the British and 
 
 " Strab. p. 213. 
 
 " According to Agatharchides ; cf. Bochart, p. 139. Silver in Arabia 
 ck ij^?^ tenfold the price of gold, which was there in great abundance. 
 Should the correctness of this statement be disputed, it will nevertheless be 
 certam, that the relative value of the precious metals must have been very 
 dilferent and in favour of silver there, to what it was in other parts of the 
 world. , * 
 
332 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 NAVIGATION AND SEA TRADE. 
 
 333 
 
 
 Cassiteridean isles were the seat of the tin trade ; but that 
 nothing is known beyond probable conjecture respecting 
 the native country of amber. It is still however probable, 
 that the ships of the Phoenicians stretched as far as the Bal- 
 tic Sea and the coast of Prussia. Nothing can be argued 
 aeainst it from the difficulties of the navigation. 1 he 
 Phoenicians held no voyage to be impossible, which the 
 state of the maritime art at that time would allow, and that 
 was only coasting ; and it lay in the very spirit of that peo- 
 ple to penetrate along this coast by repeated attempts, as 
 far as it was possible for man to reach.^^ 
 
 Respecting the navigation of the Phoenicians in the At- 
 lantic Sea there is still more uncertainty. The dark tradi- 
 tions of islands which they there visited certainly render it 
 probable that they stretched out from Gades to Madeira and 
 ' the Canary Islands ; but of regular voyages to the gold 
 coast beyond the Senegal, such as performed by their colo- 
 nists the Carthaginians, there is not a shadow of proof. Ut 
 their great voyage of discovery round Africa I shall speak 
 presently ; in the mean time, let us return by the Pillars of 
 Hercules into the Mediterranean, and take a glance at their 
 commerce with Sicily and Carthage. 
 
 It would appear from Diodorus as if their settlements m 
 both these countries were founded with no other object, than 
 for the convenience of their intercourse with Spain ; and so 
 far as Sicily alone is concerned he seems to be right.^^ In 
 the long voyage from their native shores to that distant 
 country, a harbour, to which they might run in, in case of 
 storms or other accidents, was indispensably necessary. 
 And although they established here a trade by barter with 
 the natives, and thus managed to obtain the rich produce 
 of the island for themselves ; it is probable that the Greeks, 
 who were always extending their possessions, soon deprived 
 them of all, except the original object of their settlement. 
 
 " Several well-informed men have objected to me, that the navigation 
 through the Bay of Biscay must have presented an insurmountable dithcu ty, 
 n consequence^of the currents which prevail there. The same obstacles, 
 however, are found on the north-west coast of Africa, and were overcome. 
 Although the navigation of the Phoenicians was a coasting navigation, yet 
 it must not be understood to have confined them always to the ^hore, and to 
 have prevented them at all times from daring the open sea. If this Ij^d been 
 the case, how could they have performed their voyages across the Mediter- 
 ranean? >- Diod. i. p. 358. 
 
 The case was different, however, with regard to Africa. 
 If we merely look at the long line of commercial establish- 
 ments formed upon this coast, it will be difficult to believe 
 them all intended solely for the preservation of a com- 
 munion with Spain. It is not denied but that such may 
 have been the origin of the earliest settlements, as for ex- 
 ample that of Utica ; but when these cities began to flour- 
 ish, ^^ and drew to themselves the trade of inner Africa, 
 there can be no doubt but the Phoenicians took a part in it, 
 and obtained the commodities of this quarter of the globe, 
 though in the first instance only at second hand. Unfor- 
 tunately we have not the least positive information respect- 
 ing the commerce with these African colonies ; yet if the 
 nature of things alone should not establish its existence, it 
 is sufficiently done by the strict friendly alliance which Car- 
 thage always maintained with Tyre. Mindful of their Phoe- 
 nician origin, the Carthaginians sent sacred embassies upon 
 certain occasions to the temple of the Tyrian Hercules. 
 Such were found in that city when it was captured by 
 Alexander ;'^ and during its siege the Tyrians sent part of 
 their treasures, together with their wives and little ones, to 
 Carthage, where they found a secure place of refuge.^^ So 
 close and constant a connexion as this between two trading 
 nations necessarily presupposes a long previous intercourse, 
 which can therefore require no further proof. 
 
 Having thus shown the direction and extent of the trade 
 and navigation of the Phoenicians towards the west, let us 
 now bend our course eastwards, and trace their progress 
 upon the two great south-western gulfs of Asia, the Arabian 
 and Persian. In these, it has already been stated, they had 
 partly settled, and thus gained secure harbours from which 
 to set forth on their still more distant enterprises. 
 
 It must, however, be at once perceived, that their navi- 
 gation here could not have a like undisturbed continuance 
 with that of the Mediterranean. As the proper dominions 
 of the Phoenicians never stretched so far as to either of 
 these gulfs, it depended upon their political relations how 
 far they could make use of the harbours they possessed 
 there. For even though the way might be open to their 
 
 " DiOD. 1. c. 
 
 " Arrian, ii. 24. 
 
 a> 
 
 DiOD. ii. p. 190. 
 
334 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 CHAP. HI. 
 
 NAVIGATION AND SEA TRADE. 
 
 335 
 
 caravans, the dominant nations of inner Asia might not be 
 always willing to allow foreign colonies on their coasts. 
 
 Their navigation upon the Arabian Gulf arose out of their 
 connexion with the Jews, and the extension of the domi- 
 nions of the latter under David. Upon no portion of the 
 ancient history of navigation and commerce has there been 
 so much written, as upon the trade to Ophir ; and, as is 
 usually the case, where we have much that is probable and 
 but little certain, upon nothing has less been concluded. 
 
 Respecting the date of this navigation and its starting 
 point, history leaves us in no doubt. It certainly took place 
 under Solomon, from the ports of Eloth, and Ezion-geber.*' 
 These places were situated on the two points where the 
 JElanitic gulf of the Arabian Sea ends. They had previously 
 belonged to the Idumeans, or Edomites, a people who had 
 probably carried on this same navigation from time imme- 
 morial;^^ and fell into the hands of the Jewish conqueror, 
 with that nation itself The Phoenicians did not let this 
 opportunity pass by, but founded, in connexion with their 
 allies, the Jews, a maritime commerce of advantage to both 
 parties, as the Jews were scarcely in a situation to carry it 
 on alone. Uncertainty, however, prevails when we inquire 
 the situation of the place to which their voyages were di- 
 rected : the celebrated Ophir, which some would find in 
 Ceylon, others in Happy Arabia, and a celebrated traveller, 
 with an extraordinary show of learning, on the eastern 
 coast of Africa."" Like, however, the name of all other very 
 distant places, and regions of antiquity — like Thule, Tartes- 
 
 « See I Kings, ix. 26 ; 2 Chron. viii. TO, 21. • u u 
 
 ^ Many historians and commentators have laid it down as certain, that the 
 Idumeans were a maritime people, on the sole ground of their possessing 
 these two seaports ; but though such a possession may give rise to conjecture, 
 it can never become a positive proof. In the oracles pronounced so many 
 times against the Idumeans by the prophets, (Isaiah, xxxiv. and Ixin., and 
 EzKKiEL, XXV. 20, etc.,) no allusion is made to their maritime commerce ; 
 though no doubt is left as to their having taken a share in the land trade ; 
 since Petra, its principal mart, (of which more anon,) was in their ternlory; 
 and Bozrah, their capital, is represented as a splendid city doomed to be laid 
 waste : Isaiah, xxxiv. 6—13. Their relations with the Hebrews, almost in- 
 variably hostile, have been historically developed by Gesenius, Comment ad 
 Jjwwim, xxxiv. . , 
 
 » See BocHART, p. 769; Michaelis, Spicil. u. p. 184; and Bruges 1 ra- 
 vels, i. p. 143. What most confirms the truth of the explanation ^ven in 
 the text is, that Bochart and others who wish to fix the name of Ophir to one 
 particular spot, have been obliged to admit several places of the same name. 
 
 sus, and others, we may safely infer that Ophir denotes no 
 particular spot, but only a certain region or part of the 
 world, such as the East and West Indies in modern geogra- 
 phy. Ophir was the general name for the rich countries of 
 the south, lying on the African, Arabian, and Indian coasts, 
 as far as at that time known. From these the Phoenicians 
 had already obtained vast treasures by caravans ; but they 
 now opened a maritime communication with them, in order 
 to lighten the expense of transport, and to procure their 
 merchandise at the best hand. The name of Ophir was 
 common even in the time of Moses, and was then applied 
 to those southern countries only known by common report. 
 It was therefore now spoken of as a well-known name and 
 country; and it may be fairly presumed, that when the 
 Phcenicians entered upon this new line of trade, they only 
 took possession of a previously well-established system; 
 since it was a regular, settled navigation, and not a voyage 
 of discovery. From its taking three years to perform, it 
 would appear to have been directed to a distant region ; 
 but if we consider the half-yearly monsoons, and that the 
 vessels visited the coasts of Arabia, Ethiopia, and the Mala- 
 bar coast of India ; and also that the expression, in the third 
 year,^* may admit of an interpretation that would much 
 abridge the total duration, the distance will not appear so 
 great. The commodities which they imported were ivory, 
 precious stones, ebony, and gold, to which may be added 
 apes and peacocks ; all satisfactorily proving that they vi- 
 sited the countries just mentioned ; especially Ethiopia, and 
 probably India, ^^ 
 
 ^* 2 Chron. ix. 21. According to Michaelis's translation. As the period- 
 ical winds of the Arabian Gulf vary from those of the Indian Sea, and the 
 same southerly wind only continues to blow for three months, viz. from Janu- 
 ary to April, a vessel coasting along the shore of India, of Ethiopia, and 
 Arabia, and which would naturally touch and trade at several places, could 
 not return the same year it set out. If, for example, it left (Elana in the 
 month of October one year, it would be unable to return with the south wind 
 into the Gulf before the spring of the third year from its departure. Thus 
 the year of its return would be the third in number, although its absence in 
 reaUty would be but eighteen months. Salt, {Travels to Ahyssinia, p. 103,) 
 in contradicting the statements of Bruce,, says, that the Arabians perform 
 this voyage in one year ; but he does not mark the date of their departure 
 from (Elana, nor reckon the time spent at the intermediate stations, which 
 seems to be the essential point. 
 
 ^•^ Compare Herodot. lii. 1 14, where these very Ethiopian wares will be 
 found mentioned. ^ 
 
 y 
 
336 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 NAVIGATION AND SEA TRADE. 
 
 337 
 
 'ill 
 
 We learn from the Jewish annals that the advantages of 
 this navigation were immense. But admitting that their 
 representations are not over-coloured, it will still be highly 
 incorrect to suppose that it was to this trade alone, or even 
 in an eminent degree, that Tyre was indebted for her power 
 and opulence. From what is said in the sacred writings, it 
 would seem that this trade was very limited. It certainly 
 formed only a lesser branch of the great Phoenician com- 
 merce, whose merchants procured the same merchandise by 
 another, perhaps more profitable way ; besides, no diminu- 
 tion is observable in the splendour of Tyre upon the inter- 
 ruption of this navigation, when the Jews were driven from 
 these two seaports, which probably took place during the 
 civil wars which arose upon the death of Solomon, when 
 the Edomites revolted.^^ 
 
 The case was different with their navigation in the Per- 
 sian Gulf. For though the exact point to which they traded 
 from the Arabian Sea is uncertain, there can be no doubt 
 but fi:'om this point they had a communication with the In- 
 dian coasts. As the investigation of this matter, however, 
 demands a previous description of the Persian Gulf, and as 
 the Phoenicians only shared this trade with the Babylonians 
 and Chaldseans, the inquiry will be more in place in the 
 following section, devoted to the Babylonians, where it will 
 be set forth in as clear a light as possible. 
 
 The voyages of the Phoenicians thus far had a fixed and 
 regular course ; but besides these, they were in the habit of 
 fitting out expeditions for the purpose of discovery, which 
 often led the way to an enlargement of their commerce ; 
 though they sometimes had no result beyond the extension 
 of their geographical knowledge. Chance has preserved us 
 some particulars respecting a few of these enterprises, 
 through their having been fortunately quoted by Herodotus ; 
 but how much more may have been undertaken, and suc- 
 cessfully performed, by a people who, no doubt, like Great 
 Britain and Portugal, had its Cooke and its Vasco de Gania ! 
 In one of these voyages towards the Hellespont, which 
 they undertook at a very early period, to explore Europe, 
 they discovered the isle of Thasos, opposite the Thracian 
 
 " See Gesenius and others. The attempt made to re-establish this mari- 
 time intercourse under Jehoshaphat was unsuccessful. 
 
 coast, and were amply repaid for their pains by its produc- 
 tive gold mines, which they worked with wonderful labour 
 and skill, as we learn from Herodotus, who saw them, till 
 they were driven from the island by the Greeks.^^ 
 
 The same writer has given us an account of a still more 
 wonderful voyage which this people undertook and success- 
 fully performed ; this was nothing less than the circumnavi- 
 gation of Africa. I shall here place before the reader the 
 remarkable narrative, as given by the historian himself^ 
 
 " That Africa is clearly surrounded by the sea, except 
 where it borders on Asia, Neco, king of the Egyptians, was 
 the first we know of to demonstrate. That prince, having 
 finished his excavations for the canal leading out of the Nile 
 into the Arabian Gulf, despatched certain natives of Phoenicia 
 on shipboard, with orders to sail back through the Pillars of 
 Hercules into the north (Mediterranean) sea, and so to re- 
 turn into Egypt. The Phoenicians, consequently, having 
 departed out of the Erythraean sea, proceeded on their voy- 
 age in the southern sea : when it was autumn they would 
 push ashore, and sowing the land, whatever might be the 
 part of Libya they had reached, await there till the harvest 
 time : having reaped their com, they continued their voy- 
 age ; thus, after the lapse of two years, and passing through 
 the Pillars of Hercules in the third, they came back into 
 Egypt, and stated, what is not credible to me, but may be 
 so, perhaps, to others, namely, that in their circumnavigation 
 of Libya, they had the sun on the right hand (that is, on 
 the north)." 
 
 Such is the account of this bold and successful voyage, as 
 given by the father of history. We see here that the Phoe- 
 nicians undertook the circumnavigation of Africa from the 
 side opposite to that from which the Portuguese set forth ; 
 that is, they started from the Arabian Gulf and returned 
 through the Straits of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean. 
 They landed several times in order to sow and to reap ; a 
 procedure by no means surprising, if it be borne in mind 
 how soon, in the warm climates of Africa, the harvest follows 
 the seed time, — in three months at most ; and as their vessels 
 would need repair, the crew rest, and the sick attention and 
 
 "Herod, il 44; of. vi.47. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 f Herod, iv. 42. 
 
338 
 
 PHOENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 NAVIGATION AND SEA TRADE. 
 
 339 
 
 fresh provisions, they would sometimes be absolutely obliged 
 to lay to and land for several weeks ; hence there will be 
 nothing strange in their sowing and reaping. The most 
 interesting part of the narration, however, is the observation 
 at the end, by which the writer, against his will, as it were, 
 confirms the truth of the statement, by the recital of what 
 appeared to him a fable ; namely, that the mariners reported 
 upon their return, that in the course of their voyage they 
 had seen the sun in the north. Such we know must have 
 been the case if they passed the equator ; and who does not 
 feel how impossible it was for them to have imagined this fact? 
 Notwithstanding this, modern writers of high character 
 have formally denied the whole narrative of Herodotus, and 
 brought forward various objections against it.^^ Herodo- 
 tus's account, they say, is founded upon a mere tradition ; — 
 it is unexplained why a king of Egypt should have formed 
 such a plan as this ; — the time occupied by the voyage is 
 too short ; — the difficuhies of the navigation along a dan- 
 gerous coast too great ; — and, finally, it is inconceivable that 
 the discovery should not have led to more important results. 
 Now it seems, in my opinion, always unreasonable to con- 
 tradict positive historical testimony, on account of mere pre- 
 tended improbabilities ; and more especially when it is so 
 strongly supported by internal evidence, as in the present 
 instance. The objections, however, here brought forward 
 are easily removed. For, in the first place, it is a mere as- 
 sumption to say, that Herodotus's narrative is founded merely 
 upon tradition. He does not, it is true, name his authority, 
 but he speaks of the fact so positively as to imply a certainty, 
 that in his eyes it had sufficient weight. Still less will it 
 seem strange, that Neco, king of Egypt, should have planned 
 this enterprise, when the character of that prince is taken 
 into consideration. He had already built fleets on the Me- 
 diterranean and Red Seas, and had endeavoured to unite 
 them by means of a canal, which would make Afi-ica an 
 island.'** He had penetrated into Asia as a conqueror, to 
 
 " Mannert, Geographie der Griechen und Homer, i. 20, etc., and Gosselin, 
 Mecherchea sur la Geographie des AncienSj i. 149. Herodotus's statement, on 
 the other hand, has found a most able defender in Uennel, Geography of 
 Herodotus, p. 682, etc. 
 
 * Herod, ii. 158, 159. 
 
 the banks of the Euphrates.'* Can it then excite surprise 
 that he should conceive the idea of discovering the form and 
 size of Africa ? 
 
 The last objection, that this discovery must have led to 
 greater consequences, falls at once to the ground, if we con- 
 sider the history of Phoenicia immediately after it took place. 
 The desolating expeditions of the Babylonian conquerors — 
 indeed the protracted siege of Tyre itself by Nebuchadnez- 
 zar, followed closely after. A period in which the Phce- 
 nicians were constrained by the loss of their independence, 
 to forego the idea of new voyages of discovery, even if they 
 had had the power and inclination to undertake them. 
 
 The greatest objection, perhaps, is that presented by the 
 difficulties of the navigation, and the shortness of the time 
 in which the voyage is said to have been performed. It 
 amounts, however, as I think, to nothing ; for are we in a 
 situation to judge, even with any tolerable degree of accu- 
 racy, of the perfection to which Phoenician navigation had 
 been carried, or of its various resources? The following 
 observations, however, I trust, will completely clear away 
 this objection. 
 
 First, It has already been remarked in the introduction, 
 that those nations which are accustomed to coasting naviga- 
 tion are generally much better acquainted with its peculiar 
 dangers than even the great seafaring nations, whose vessels 
 keep to the high seas. How well exercised in it then must 
 the Phoenicians have been, who navigated from Tyre round 
 Europe to Britain, and probably into the midst of the Bal- 
 tic Sea ! 
 
 Secondly, It is incorrect to assume that they had to na- 
 vigate a coast wholly unknown. The eastern coast of Africa 
 they had visited from the time of Solomon ; their voyages 
 to Ophir prove that they had a regular maritime communi- 
 cation with this quarter ; and who can determine to what 
 extent it was carried on, or how far they had penetrated 
 along this coast ? Indeed, even the above-mentioned seed- 
 times and harvests presuppose an acquaintance with the 
 climate of those hot regions, without which they never could 
 have conceived such an idea ; it affi)rds therefore, instead of 
 
 •' He lost the great battle at Circesium, or Carchemis, which estabhshed 
 the Babylonian empire. See Jerem. xlvi. 2, etc. 
 
 z 2 
 
 y 
 
 [ 
 
 ^. 
 
340 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 an objection, rather a proof of the truth of Herodotus's nar- 
 
 Finally, It has been clearly ascertained by recent in- 
 vestigations, that the difficulties of the circumnavigation of 
 Africa are not nearly so great in starting from the Arabian 
 Sea as from the Mediterranean. All here combined to faci- 
 litate the progress of the expedition; not only the regular 
 winds which prevail in those regions, but also the currents, 
 which are perhaps in this case of still more importance. It 
 is principally upon these that coasting navigation depends ; 
 and both these, and the winds, were favourable to the Phoe- 
 nicians from the time they cleared the Arabian Gulf, till they 
 reached the coast of Guinea, the longest and most difhcult 
 
 part of their voyage.'"^ 
 
 But leaving these distant voyages of discovery out ot the 
 question, the extent to which this enterprising people car- 
 ried their regular navigation is truly wonderful. Though 
 voyages across the open seas have been the consequence of 
 our acquaintance with the new world beyond the Atlantic ; 
 yet their hardy and adventurous spirit led them to find a 
 substitute for it in stretching from coast to coast into the 
 most distant regions. The long series of centuries during 
 which they were exclusively the masters of the seas, gave 
 them sufficient time to make this gradual progress, which 
 perhaps was the more regular and certain in proportion to 
 the time it occupied. The PhcBuicians earned the nautical 
 art to the highest point of perfection at that time required, 
 or of which it was then capable ; and gave a much wider 
 scope to their enterprises and discoveries than either the 
 Venetians or Genoese during the middle ages. Their nu- 
 merous fleets were scattered over the Indian and Atlantic 
 Ocean, and the Tyrian pennant waved at the same time on 
 the coasts of Britain and on the shores of Ceylon. 
 
 « However mat my belief in Herodotus's narrative, I cannot aeree with 
 Michaelis in supposing that this discovery gave rise to the establishment of 
 f reS navi^^^ to^Gades and Tarshish, round Africa, of which there is 
 not the least proof. See Michaelis, iS>>tci/. i p 98, etc. 
 
 « These particulars are fully detailed, for the first time, in Rennel s Geo- 
 graphy of Herodotus, In this hkewise will be found an important map of 
 Africa, in which the winds and currents are noted down. 
 
 PHOENICIANS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Manufactures and Land Trade of the Phoenicians. 
 
 A MULTITUDE OF CAMELS SHALL COVER THEE, 
 DROMEDARIES FROM MIDIAN AND EPHAH ! 
 FROM SHEBA WILL THEY COME, 
 AND BEING THEE GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE. 
 
 ISAIAH, Ix. 6. 
 
 The merchandise exported by the Phoenicians consisted 
 partly of the produce of their own industry and skill ; but 
 in a much greater extent of the wares which they received, 
 or imported themselves, from the countries of Asia with 
 which they maintained an intercourse. The raw materials, 
 which their art and labour fashioned, must have been drawn 
 from abroad, as their own little territory could have sup- 
 plied but a very small portion of what was necessary to 
 satisfy the demands of their numerous and large customers 
 scattered all over the world. It is very evident, therefore, 
 from these facts, that the Phoenicians must have enjoyed an 
 extensive commerce by land, although no express informa- 
 tion respecting it has been handed down to us. This trade, 
 however, as well as that of the Carthaginians, has been but 
 very little noticed, and would, perhaps, have escaped in- 
 vestigation altogether, if it had not in a manner been forced 
 upon the attention of the expositors of the Old Testament, 
 who could not, without comment, well pass by the constant 
 allusions made to this traffic in the prophecies of Ezekiel. 
 
 The whole of the twenty-seventh chapter of that prophet 
 refers to this subject. This portion of the sacred writings, 
 so valuable for the history of national intercourse, contains, 
 for example, a geographical view of commerce, so precise, 
 that one might almost imagine the prophet had a map of 
 the world before him. It relates in a particular manner to 
 
342 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 the land trade of Tyre, now threatened with ruin by the 
 military expeditions of Nebuchadnezzar. The difficulties 
 which occur with regard to the geographical names have 
 been satisfactorily removed, or at least as far as possible, by 
 Bochart and Michaelis. Without these contemporary docu- 
 ments the extent of Tyrian commerce might have been con- 
 ceived, but it could not have been proved ; for the state- 
 ments of the Greek writers upon this subject are extremely 
 short and meagre. The sketch, however, of the Hebrew 
 poet affords us an interesting picture of the great mter- 
 national commerce of inner Asia, which enlarges our narrow 
 ideas of ancient trade, by showing us that it connected 
 nearly all the countries of the known world. 
 
 Previous to the investigation of this branch of foreign 
 commerce of the Phoenicians, let us take a glance at the 
 productions of their own skill and industry, which were, 
 even in the remotest antiquity, so generally celebrated, that 
 the remembrance of them has been preserved to the present 
 
 dav* 
 
 Among the inventions of the Phoenicians, their dyes in- 
 disputably hold the highest rank. The beautifully coloured 
 garments of Sidon were celebrated in the Homeric period ;' 
 and no one can be ignorant that the Tyrian purple formed 
 one of the most general and principal articles of luxury in 
 antiquity. All that I have been able to collect upon this 
 important subject is comprised in the following general ob- 
 servations.- 
 
 In the first place, it is altogether incorrect to consider this 
 purple as one particular colour. The expression seemed 
 rather to have signified among the ancients, the whole class 
 of dyes manufactured from an animal substance ; namely, 
 the juice of shell-fish. It thus formed a distinct species of 
 dye, differing from the second, the vegetable dye, which 
 was composed of various vegetables ( color es herbacei^). 
 
 • See Iliad vi. 291. Od. xv. 424. 
 
 2 The best works upon this material have been wntten by the Italians. 
 The chief work is Amati de Eestitutione purpurarurriy third edition, Cesena, 
 1 784. To this is appended a Treatise by Capelli, de antiqua et nupera Pur- 
 pura, with notes. An excellent addition to these two works is contained in 
 Don Michaele Rosa Dissertazione delleporpore e delle materie vestiarie presso 
 gli antichiy 1768. 
 
 ■ Amati, p. 1. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 MANUFACTURES, ETC. 
 
 343 
 
 Now the first species comprised not merely one, but a great 
 number and variety of colours ; not only purple, but also 
 light and dark purple, and almost every shade between.* 
 
 Secondly > There were two species of testaceous animals 
 made use of for this dye ; one, buccinum, found in cliffs 
 and rocks ; the other, purpura or pelagia, (the proper pur- 
 pie-shell,) was taken by fishing in the sea. The shells of 
 both were spiral ; but that of one was round ; and that of 
 the other, pointed ; both being said to be as many years old 
 as they had circles round.^ . They were both found in such 
 o-reat quantities, that, according to Pliny's expression, they 
 covered, as it were, the shore ; and not merely on the Phoe- 
 nician coast, but the whole of the Mediterranean, and even 
 the Atlantic. In the Mediterranean, the countries most ce- 
 lebrated for them were the shores of the Peloponnesus and 
 Sicily ; and in the Atlantic, the coast of Britain. There 
 is an essential difference, however, in the quality of the 
 colour, which of course must proceed from physical causes. 
 Thus the shells of the Atlantic are said to have the darkest 
 juice ; those on the Italian and Sicilian coasts, a violet, 
 or purple ; and those on the Phoenician, and in general on 
 the southern coast, a scarlet, or crimson.^ The juice of 
 the whole animal was not made use of; but a substance, 
 called the flower, was pressed from a white vein or vessel in 
 the neck, and the remaining part throvm away as useless."^ 
 
 Thirdly, It is evident that this dye was only by slow de- 
 grees brought to perfection, and acquired its great celebrity. 
 Still the Phoenicians are expressly indicated as the first who 
 brought it into use ; for the Tyrian Hercules is mentioned 
 as the inventor; and the circumstance of their dwelling 
 where these shells were found in such vast quantities na- 
 turally led them to make the discovery. Purple dyes, how- 
 ever, were by no means exclusively confined to the Phoe- 
 nicians;^ but by their great industry and skill, and from 
 the excellent quality of the shells on their shore, they were 
 enabled to bring it to a higher degree of perfection, and to 
 
 * Amati, 1. c, enumerates nine simple purple colours from white to black, 
 and five mixed. The first are black, grey, (lividusj violet, red, dark blue, 
 light blue, yellow, reddish, and white. 
 
 * See Amati, p. xxvii. • Amati, p. xxvi. 
 
 ' The principal authority is Plin. ix. 36 ; cf. Amati, p. xxx. 
 " Amati, p. xxxv. > 
 
344 
 
 PHGENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 maintain the superiority. Scarlet and violet purples, in 
 particular, were no where dyed so well as in Tyre ; garments 
 of this colour, therefore, were in the greatest request among 
 the great, and the prevailing fashion in the higher ranks of 
 society. This furnishes us at once with a reason for the 
 unbounded extent to which this branch of industry was car- 
 ried by the Phoenicians. 
 
 Finally, Although all kinds of stuffs among the ancients, 
 both cotton and linen, and in later times silk, were dyed 
 purple, yet was this colour made use of in a more especial 
 manner for woollens. The neighbouring nomads, as I shall 
 presently show, supplied these of an excellent quality and 
 fineness to the Phoenicians, who were thereby enabled to 
 produce garments of a higher value, both in the superiority 
 of the material and the colour.^ 
 
 The dyeing was performed at all times in the wool, and 
 was usually repeated (purpurce dibaphce). By this was 
 sometimes obtained the bright scarlet, and sometimes the 
 violet tint ; indeed, various sorts of purple were produced, 
 and various processes followed.*® Beauty, delicacy, and du- 
 rability, were the great excellencies for which purple raiment 
 was generally esteemed ; but besides this, the Phoenicians 
 also understood the art of throwing a peculiar lustre into 
 this colour, by making other tints play over it, and pro- 
 ducing what we call a shot colour, which seems to have 
 made it wonderfully attractive.** Gaudy and glaring co- 
 lours have in all ages most excited the attention of the 
 vulgar and uncivilized ; it is not therefore surprising that 
 they had most admirers in the time of the Phoenicians. 
 
 Dyeing cannot exist without weaving. And it follows, 
 that as the dyeing among the Phoenicians was done in the 
 wool, the stuffs which they exported must have been the 
 product of their own industry. The principal manufac- 
 
 • Amati, p. xlvi. 
 
 * It will be easily perceived, that neither the superior beauty nor the 
 variety of the colours depended merely upon the natural properties of the 
 material j but principally upon the skill displayed in the preparation and 
 mixing. Thus to obtain a dark red, the wool was first dipped in the juice of 
 the purpura^ and then, after being combed, in that of the huccinum. To ob- 
 tain a violet this process was reversed. Peculiar dexterity and care, how- 
 ever, were required in the preparations, in order to obtain the exact tint 
 required. See Amati, p. xxxv. etc. 
 
 " Amati, p. xlii. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 MANUFACTURES, ETC. 
 
 345 
 
 tories of this sort were, in earlier times, at Sidon : Homer 
 repeatedly praises its raiment. ^^ At a later period, however, 
 they were common in the other Phoenician cities, and espe- 
 cially in Tyre. It is much to be regretted, that history, 
 which so celebrates the garments and woollens of this city, 
 has preserved us no direct information respecting them. 
 
 Another product of Phoenician skill was glass ; of this 
 they were the inventors, and long enjoyed the exclusive 
 manufactory.^^ The sand, or vitrum, used for this purpose, 
 was found in the southern districts of this country, near the 
 little river Belus, which rose at the foot of Mount Carmel, 
 out of the lake Cendeva (probably Megiddo ^'^), The glass 
 manufactories continued, according to Pliny, during a long 
 succession of centuries ; their principal seats were at Sidon 
 and the neighbouring Sarephta.^^ From the small number 
 of glass houses, the use of glass would seem to have been 
 much less general in antiquity than among us. While the 
 mildness of the climate in all southern countries, as well as 
 all over the East, rendered any other stoppage of the win- 
 dows unnecessary, except that of curtains or blinds, goblets 
 of the precious metals or stones were preferred as drinking 
 vessels. This, however, seems in some measure to have 
 been made up for by the early introduction of a singular 
 kind of luxury in the stately edifices of these countries ; 
 that of covering the ceilings and walls of the apartments 
 with glass.^^ The various significations, however, in which 
 the Greek expression vaXo^i is made use of, and which pro- 
 perly means any transparent material, as crystal, various 
 kinds of stones, and the like, render it impossible to deter- 
 mine with certainty whether glass itself or some other 
 transparent substance is spoken of 
 
 Under this head of Phoenician industry, too, may be 
 ranged ornaments of dress, implements, utensils, baubles, 
 
 " 77. vi. 29. Od. xv. 424. 
 
 " Upon this subject we have two treatises : Hamberger, Vitrt Historia 
 ex antiquitate cruta ; and Michaelis, Historia vitri apud HebraoSj both in 
 the Commentariis Soc, Goett. t. iv. p. 1754 A. 
 
 " See Michaelis, 1. c. p. 310. 
 
 " The chief authority is Plin. xxxvi. 26; cf. Hamberger, 1. c. p. 488. 
 
 " Michaelis, 1. c. That this taste still prevails in Asia will be seen in 
 MoRiER, i. 218. So long as glass was only manufactured by the Phoenicians, 
 it was accounted a precious commodity, and consequently might very well be 
 esteemed an article of luxury. i 
 
m40 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 MANUFACTURES, ETC. 
 
 and gewgaws, which they produced. The nature of their 
 trade, which for a long time was confined to a traffic by 
 barter with rude, uncultivated nations, among whom such 
 commodities have always a quick and certain sale, must at 
 a very early period have turned their attention to this branch 
 of industry. A skilfully wrought chain of amber and gold 
 was brought by Phoenician ships into Greece, according to 
 Homer ;^^ artificial works in ivory, supplied by their trade 
 with India and Ethiopia, are mentioned by Ezekiel;'^ and 
 how many other branches of their skill and industry may 
 the lack of information have consigned to forgetfulness ? '^ 
 Chance has preserved us but little, yet this little is sufficient 
 to prove that much must have existed among a rich, proud, 
 and luxurious people. 
 
 Let us now turn to the foreign commerce which the Phoe- 
 nicians carried on with the nations of the interior of Asia. 
 
 We shall have a better view of this land trade of the 
 Phoenicians, if we divide it into three branches, according 
 to its three principal directions. The first of these com- 
 prises the southern trade, or the Arabian-East-Indian, and 
 the Egyptian ; the second, the eastern, or the Assyrian- 
 Babylonian ; and the third, that of the north, or the Ar- 
 menian-Caucasian. The statements of the prophets supply 
 the groundwork of this investigation ; the scattered accounts, 
 however, to be found in other writers, and especially the 
 Greek, will frequently throw an additional light upon the 
 
 subject. 
 
 It is evident, from the various particulars mentioned by 
 the Hebrew poets, as well as by profane writers, that the 
 first of these three branches of commerce was the most im- 
 portant. We call it the Arabian-East-Indian, not because 
 
 " Odtss. XV. 459l " EzEK. xxvii. 6. 
 
 »• If we may assume that the ornaments worn by Jewish ladies were of 
 Phcenician manufacture, which can scarcely be doubted, then the passage 
 in Isaiah, iii. 18—23, will give us a more accurate view of them. " In that 
 day will the Lord take away the ornaments of feet-buckles, and the cauls, 
 and the little moons ; the earrings, and the httle chains ; (query bracelets ?) 
 and the veils ; the frontlets, and the feet-chains, and the girdles, and the 
 smelling bottles, and the amulets ; the rings for the fingers, and the nose- 
 rings ; the holiday clothes, and the petticoats, and the mantles, and the 
 pockets ; the mirrors, and the shifts, and the turbans, and the flowers. 
 (Gesenius's Translation.) In the following verse are mentioned the arti- 
 ficial hair arrangements, " the well-curled locks.'* 
 
 347 
 
 we here assume it as proved that the Phoenicians themselves 
 journeyed over Arabia to India; but because they procured 
 in Arabia the merchandise of the East Indies, for which it 
 was at that time the great market. With regard to Arabia 
 itself, however, they kept up an intercourse with every part 
 of it, as well its eastern coast as that bordering on the 
 Arabian Sea. It is necessary, therefore, to make a few pre- 
 liminary remarks upon the state and peculiarities of this 
 extensive country, without which the reader would scarcely 
 be able to form a correct estimate of the extent and import- 
 ance of Phoenician commerce. 
 
 Arabia is one of the largest countries of the world, its 
 superficial extent being more than three times as much as 
 that of Germany. Its physical pecuUarities distinguish it 
 in a striking manner from the rest of Asia ; and seem in a 
 manner to point it out as a continuation of Africa, from 
 which it is only divided by a gulf Its natural features are 
 not only generally the same, but change under the same 
 parallels of latitude. The regions between 30° and 28** 
 N. L., over which in Africa the great sandy desert spreads 
 itself, find their exact counterpart in Arabia ; and were it 
 not for the existence of the Nile and the Arabian Gulf, the 
 whole of this immense portion of the globe, from the shores 
 of the Atlantic Ocean to the Persian Gulf, would be one un- 
 interrupted desert of sand, in which not the least difference 
 would be visible in the African and Asiatic or Arabian por- 
 tions. In Africa, again, the region of fertility recommences 
 under the twentieth parallel in the countries about the 
 Niger ; the same also takes place in Arabia. This change 
 is expressed in the very name of the southern part of this 
 peninsula, which is called the Happy Arabia. From this 
 similarity of country, the trade of Arabia necessarily assumed 
 the same form as that of Africa. Those, for example, who 
 were desirous of opening a communication with this rich 
 country, had first to cross the desert ; and as this could only 
 be done by large companies or caravans, it follows that the 
 land trade with Arabia in ancient times, as well as since, 
 could only be carried on by caravans. 
 
 Now although the desert itself was not without its pro- 
 duce, it is the southern fertile districts that more particularly 
 merit the attention of the historian. It bore the name of 
 
348 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Yemen (the country to the right, in opposition to Syria) ; 
 a name which, like that of Arabia FeHx, given to it by the 
 Greeks, but unknown in the country itself, sometimes signi- 
 fied the whole of the southern part of this peninsula between 
 the Persian and Arabian Gulfs ; and at others, only the dis- 
 trict on the south-west, washed by the Indian Sea. Even 
 in the latter acceptation of the word, Yemen is about equal 
 in size to France ; and well deserves its name of Happy, 
 contrasted with the desert. It derives it, indeed, not so 
 much from a positive uniform fertility, as from its compara- 
 tive, occasioned by the many little mountain-streams which 
 it contains, and which, in this hilly region, every where 
 spring forth, without increasing to large rivers. 
 
 In a commercial point of view, Yemen was important in 
 two respects : first, on account of its own productions ; and, 
 secondly, as the great staple of Indian and Ethiopian mer- 
 chandise. It has always been, as well as the opposite coast 
 of Ethiopia, from the earliest times, the principal country 
 for spices and perfumes, and especially frankincense ; whose 
 great importance in ancient commerce has been spoken of 
 upon several occasions. The various kinds of perfumes im- 
 ported from this country by the Phoenicians in the time of 
 Herodotus, are accurately described by that writer.*^ " To 
 the south," he observes, " is Arabia, the most distant of in- 
 habited countries. In this land grow frankincense, myrrh, 
 cinnamon, cassia, and ledanon. The frankincense is col- 
 lected from trees, in which are found a number of small 
 winged serpents, which they are obliged to drive away by 
 burning gum-styrax. Cassia grows in a shallow lake, in- 
 fested by numerous winged insects, like bats; from these 
 the inhabitants protect themselves by covering the whole 
 body and eyes with skins. Finally, the ledanon is found 
 like filth sticking to the beards of he-goats : this perfume, 
 however, is used in several ointments, and is that which in 
 general the Arabians burn." ^' How these legends are to 
 be interpreted, and how far they are founded upon historical 
 
 " Herod, iii. 107—112. 
 
 ^' Distrusting my own experience, I have given the decisions of natural 
 historians respecting these plants, as furnished me by a scholar well skilled 
 in the botany of tne ancients. 2/ivpvij is myrrh, cf. Dioscor. i. 77' The- 
 OPHR. ix. 45. Ka<rta is laurus casta L. cf. Diosc. i. 12. Theoph. ix. 45. 
 But Xi^avov is cistiu creticm L, Diosc. i. 128. cf. Tournefort, i. p. 29. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 MANUFACTURES, ETC. 
 
 349 
 
 truth, I shall not venture to determine. It may perhaps be 
 doubtful, whether the small flying serpents were any thing 
 more than musquitoes; or the winged insects, similar to 
 bats, any thing more than the winged lizards so common in 
 that country.^^ The statement respecting the ledanon ex- 
 plains itself, in assuming that it exudes from a shrub upon 
 which the goats are fond of browsing.'^^ The frankincense 
 is less a native of Arabia itself than the opposite coast of 
 Zuila in Africa, as our investigations respecting that country 
 will prove. 
 
 Besides these spices, gold and precious stones are ex- 
 pressly enumerated among the natural productions of Happy 
 Arabia. Gold mines, it is true, are no longer to be found 
 there, but the assurances of antiquity respecting them are so 
 general and explicit, that it is impossible reasonably to doubt 
 that Yemen once abounded in gold.^* Why indeed should 
 not the mountains of Arabia yield this metal, which was so 
 plentiful in those just opposite, in Ethiopia ? The minute 
 acquaintance which Job (supposed to have been an Arabian) 
 displays of mining affairs, renders this highly probable.-^ 
 Golden ore was also washed down by the mountain streams, 
 and cleared from the sand by washing.*^ With regard to 
 precious stones, they were found in the mountains of the 
 province of Hadramaut;^^ such at least as were considered 
 precious by the ancients; namely, onyxes, rubies, agates, etc. 
 
 But in addition to these native productions of Happy Ara- 
 bia, other wares are mentioned as Arabian, certainly not the 
 proper produce of this country, but either Ethiopian or In- 
 dian. To the former belongs cinnamon, or cannella ; and 
 to the latter, ivory and ebony. Cinnamon is certainly enu- 
 
 " Draco volans L. See Gesenius, Commentar zu Jesaias, i. 496. 
 
 ^ [The ledanon is a production of the ledum, a species of cistus ; it is a sort 
 of gummy exudation, collected now-a-days in the Levant, by rubbing the 
 branches with a piece of leather, to which the viscous matter sticks : it is 
 afterwards scraped off, rolled into balls, and dried. I have seen goats brows- 
 ing on the leaves, in the interior parts of the island of Ceos, and have no 
 doubt that what Herodotus states respecting the ancient mode of collecting 
 this drug may be true. The ledum is cultivated in our gardens, under the 
 name of the gum cistus (cistus ladaniferus, Linn.) ; the viscidity of the foli- 
 age is not so great as in the plants that grow on the coast of Asia Minor, al- 
 though it is sufficient to produce a very disagreeable clamminess on the fingers 
 of those that handle it. Note to the passage in Laurent's Herodotus. Tr.] 
 
 ** MiCHAELis, SpicUeg. ii. p. 190. Bochart, p. 139, 140. 
 
 » Job, xxviii. 1—12. ^ Strab. p. 777> 
 
 ^ The Cliatratnotite of the Greeks. I 
 
35a 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAl*. IV. 
 
 merated by Herodotus among the productions of Arabia ; 
 but the fabulous account which he repeats upon the author- 
 ity of the Phoenicians, shows very plainly, that they made a 
 mystery of its real native country.*^ Where cmnamon 
 grows, or what country produces it, they cannot say ; except- 
 ing that some, not improbably, affirm, that it grows m those 
 regions where Bacchus was brought up.^ A large kmd of 
 fowl is said to bear these plants, which we, after the Phceni- 
 cians, call cinnamon, to their nests,^ from which it is pro- 
 cured by a stratagem, which he goes on to describe. Theo- 
 phrastus,^^ also, who distinguishes the various kinds of 
 cinnamon according to its quality, has a story about serpents, 
 that rendered its collection dangerous, which shows how 
 widely these tales of the Phoenicians were spread. Later 
 historians, as Diodorus and Strabo, '^ mention cinnamon, it 
 is true, among the other productions of Arabia; but it may 
 be easily seen that they confounded the merchandise im- 
 ported with the produce of the country. Besides these, 
 cardamomum, nard, and other spices, used in odoriferous 
 waters and unguents, are expressly enumerated by Theo- 
 phrastus as coming from India.^' 
 
 Having settled the principal articles of trade, the very im- 
 portant question arises, what districts and places of Arabia 
 Felix were the chief seats of this commerce ? It is a great 
 advantage to history, that the prophet has left us so many 
 accurate particulars upon this subject. The places mention- 
 ed by him render it quite certain that the Phoenicians made 
 choice, in an especial manner, of the two districts of Hadra- 
 maut and Sedscar, the richest and most fruitfiil of Yemen. 
 " Wadan and Javan brought thee fi-om Sanaa sword-blades, 
 cassia, and cinnamon, in exchange for thy wares. The mer- 
 chants of Saba and of Raema traded with thee ; the best 
 spices, precious stones, and gold, brought they to thee for 
 thy wares. Haran, Canna, Aden, Saba, traded with thee. ^ 
 Some of these places, as Aden, Canna, Haran, all celebrated 
 
 as Herod 1 c ** That is, in India. 
 
 » I shall show in the next section, on the trade of the Babylonians, that this 
 is an ancient tradition of Ceylon. ,«, c iio^ 
 
 » Theoph. Hist. Plant, ix. 5. « Diod. i. p. 161. Strab. p. 1124. 
 
 " Theoph ix 7 
 
 "EzEKiEL,xxvii. 19—24, according to Michaelis's translation, whose re- 
 marks I must beg the reader to compare with what follows. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 MANUFACTURES, ETC. 
 
 351 
 
 seaports on the Indian Sea, as well as Sanaa and Saba, or 
 Mariaba, still the capital of Yemen, have retained their 
 names unchanged to the present day : the site of others, as 
 Waden, on the straits of Babelmandel, rest only on pro- 
 bable conjecture. These accurate statements of the prophet 
 at all events prove what a special knowledge the inhabitants 
 of Palestine had of Happy Arabia, and how great and active 
 the intercourse with that country must have been. 
 
 Similar statements are found in Theophrastus ; and like- 
 wise some remarkable particulars respecting the frankin- 
 cense and spices there cultivated. " Frankincense, myrrh, 
 and cassia," he observes, ^' grow in the Arabian districts of 
 Saba and Adramotitis (Hadramaut) ; frankincense and 
 myrrh on the sides or at the foot of mountains, and in the 
 neighbouring islands. The trees which produce them grow 
 sometimes wild, though occasionally cultivated ; that of the 
 frankincense being somewhat taller than the myrrh. The 
 land belongs to the Sabeans, who regard the property as sa- 
 cred, so that no one watches his trees. The harvested frank- 
 incense and myrrh was carried to a temple of the sun, the 
 most holy among this nation, (always given to the idolatry 
 of star-worship,) and guarded by armed Arabians. Each 
 proprietor here set out his heap, placing upon it a ticket, on 
 which was inscribed the quantity and price. Then came 
 the merchant and deposited near each lot the price marked ; 
 after him followed the priest, who took one-third of this price 
 for the deity, and left the remainder for the proprietor. The 
 frankincense from the young trees is whitest, but least odo- 
 riferous; that of the more aged, yellow, but of stronger 
 scent." ^ 
 
 The frankincense trade then was carried on under the 
 protection of a sanctuary ; it was also a kind of dumb trade, 
 as is at this time the coffee trade in the same regions. "The 
 frankincense grown on the main land was the most agree- 
 able, but that of the neighbouring isles emitted the most 
 powerfiil odour." Among these islands without doubt must 
 be comprised* the opposite Ethiopian peninsula of Zuila, 
 now inhabited by the Samilis, who still, as I have shown 
 in another place, possess the frankincense trade. 
 
 " Theophrast. Hist. Plant, ix. 4., 
 
 i\ 
 
352 
 
 PHOENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 MANUFACTURES, ETC. 
 
 353 
 
 The commerce of the Phoenicians, however, was not con- 
 fined merely to southern Arabia, but stretched along the 
 eastern coast on the Persian Gulf:—" The sons of Daden 
 carry on thy trade, and to large countries went thy mer- 
 chandise ; with horn, ivory, and ebony, did they requite 
 thee for thy wares." ^^ Daden is one of the Baharein islands 
 on the Persian Gulf, as will be fully shown in the chapter 
 on the commerce of the Babylonians ; and on this island 
 Phoenician settlements it is said have been discovered in the 
 vicinity of the trading city, Gerra. But if these words of 
 the prophet prove an intercourse between Phoenicia and the 
 Persian Gulf, they also prove not less indisputably the con- 
 nexion in which the Phoenicians stood with India. The 
 large countries to which the Phoenician trade extended be- 
 yond Daden could be no other than India ; if this is not 
 sufficiently proved by the situation, it is beyond a doubt by 
 the commodities mentioned. Ivory and ebony could only 
 have been procured in Daden from India, as there were no 
 elephants in Arabia ; and by the horn is probably meant 
 the tusk of the narval, (or sea unicorn,) which is a native of 
 
 the Indian sea.^^ ^ 
 
 Having settled the principal directions which the Phoe- 
 nician-Arabian commerce took, it is now important that we 
 should discover who were the intermediate agents by whom 
 it was transacted, and the way and manner by which it was 
 
 carried on. 
 
 It has already been shown, that from the nature of the 
 country this could only have been done by caravans. Let 
 us now investigate by whom these were formed, from what 
 point they started, and what route they travelled. 
 
 I have in another place observed, that the greater part of 
 the caravans were usually formed by nomad tribes of herds- 
 men, who, from their mode of life, were much better adapted 
 to it than the inhabitants of towns.^ These remarks apply 
 here, and are at once confirmed by the picture drawn by 
 the prophet of the Tyrian land trade, in which we always 
 see represented the nations coming and bringing theu- wares 
 to the Tyrians ; but never the latter going forth to fetch 
 them. Tyre was, in this respect, much in the same situa- 
 
 » EZEKIEL, XXVii. 15. . " MlCHAELIS, 1. C. 
 
 » See General Introduction, (p. xci.,) African Nations, vol. i. 
 
 tion as Carthage. She had in her neighbourhood numerous 
 nomad nations, which she employed to transact her business. 
 The Syrian and Arabian deserts were occupied by tribes of 
 this description, who wandered about with their flocks and 
 herds, and, living in their tents, acknowledged no authority 
 but that of their sheiks and emirs. These formed the cara- 
 vans, by letting or selling their numerous camels, with their 
 guides and drivers, to the merchants. " Arabians, and all 
 the emirs of the Kedarians, traded with thee and brought 
 thee dromedaries."^^ It seems, too, very naturally to follow, 
 that from mere carriers these men would soon become deal- 
 ers ; and hence it is no way extraordinary to find among 
 these nations certain tribes very opulent. Among the Ara- 
 bian tribes, none appear to have cultivated the caravan trade 
 earlier, or with more advantage, than the Midianites, who 
 wandered on the northern boundaries of that country, and 
 consequently in the neighbourhood of Phoenicia. It was to 
 a caravan of Midianite merchants, which, laden with spicery, 
 and balm, and myrrh, was journeying from Arabia into 
 Egypt, that Joseph was sold.*^ The spoil which the Israel- 
 ites took from this nation in gold was so prodigious as to 
 excite our wonder ; it was indeed so common among them, 
 that not only their own ornaments, but even the collars of 
 their camels were made of this precious metal.*^ 
 
 But besides the Midianites there was another nation of 
 northern Arabia, not less remarkable in the history of com- 
 merce, and which is also mentioned by the prophet, as one 
 of the chief nations from whom the Phoenicians obtained 
 the merchandise of the south : these were the Idumeans, or 
 Edomites. " Edom also managed thy trade and thy great 
 affairs; emeralds, purple, broidered work, cotton, bezoar, 
 and precious stones, she gave thee for the wares, which thou 
 deliveredst to her."*^ The Edomites, however, were cer- 
 tainly not nomads. They had, as we have already noticed, 
 cities, as, for example, the seaports of Eloth and Ezion- 
 geber, (now Acaba,) and others deeper in the land, as Bussra 
 and Petra. The wares enumerated by the prophet seem to 
 
 " EzEKiEL, xxvii. 21. Kedar, a tribe in the neighbourhood of Happy 
 Arabia, always appears rich in cattle, and as trading with them. Isaiah, xx. 
 16, with the commentary of Gesenius. , 
 
 *• Genesis, xxxvii. 28. *' Judges, viii. 21, 26 ; Genesis, xxxi. 47-53. 
 
 " EzEK. xxvi. 16. 
 VOL. I. 2 A 
 
354 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 MANUFACTURES, ETC. 
 
 355 
 
 be mostly Indian and Arabian ; to these belong the precious 
 stones, pearls, and purple, by which we must here under- 
 stand that of India.*^ These, therefore, the Edomites bought 
 of the caravans, and brought them to Tyre and the other 
 Phoenician cities. The cotton and broidered work might 
 probably have come from Egypt. 
 
 All these nomad tribes roving about northern Arabia were 
 comprised by the Greeks under the name of Nabathian 
 Arabs, which, though then applied to the inhabitants of 
 the north of Arabia in general, properly belongs only to 
 those of the important district of Hedjas. Diodorus, who 
 describes very elegantly their manner of life, does not for- 
 get their caravan trade to Yemen. '' No small number of 
 them," he says,*^ "follow the business of carrying to the 
 Mediterranean frankincense, myrrh, and other costly spices, 
 which they purchase of persons who bring them from Happy 
 Arabia." According to this account, it appears that they 
 did not travel to Yemen themselves, but obtained their goods 
 of the caravans which came from that country, in order to 
 carry them still further. Both systems, however, might 
 very well have existed together ; for the merchant changes 
 the conductor of his wares upon the route, accordingly as 
 he may find opportunity or have occasion. It is neverthe- 
 less plain, from the description of the prophet, that caravans 
 were formed in Arabia itself to journey into Phoenicia ; for 
 he expressly asserts, that merchants from Javan and Wadan 
 had brought the wares of Yemen to Tyre.*^ 
 
 We find the same things to have happened in Arabia that 
 obtained in the Carthaginian dominions and Egypt : the great 
 markets for the merchandise which the caravans exported 
 were on the borders of the desert. Thus, in the territory of 
 Edom, in a situation fixed by nature herself, Petra grew into 
 opulence, and gave its name to the whole of North-west Ara- 
 bia.^ Here became accumulated, in great abundance and 
 
 *■ See MiCHAELis, 1. c. ** Diod. ii. p. 390. 
 
 ** EzEKiEL, xxvii'. 19. Wadan and Javan, both cities of Yemen. See 
 
 IkflCHAELIS 1. C. 
 
 *• Now Kami ; in Josephus, iv. 4, JRekam ; the present Selah, 30° 20' N. 
 L., 36° east longitude. According to the recent maps of Syria by Paultre, it 
 is, at the present time, a place where many caravan roads meet : care must 
 be taken not to confound it with Moba-Carrak, to the east of the Dead Sea, 
 to which the name of Carrak has been given improperly. In the neighbour- 
 
 in security, a great variety of wares brought fi*om the south- 
 ern regions ; such, for example, as were the property of these 
 nomad races themselves, and which they exchanged with the 
 Phoenicians and others for articles of clothing and the ne- 
 cessaries of life. This place also has been visited by Burck- 
 hardt,*^ Banks, and Legh.^ According to Diodorus, it was 
 three hundred stadia from the southern extremity of the 
 Red Sea ; ^ and it seems therefore scarcely doubtful that it 
 must be sought some where near Wadi Muta^ (the valley of 
 Moses,) so celebrated for its ruins. The description given 
 of it by Burckhardt confirms the statement of Diodorus. By 
 cutting through the solid rocks, a way has been made into 
 a narrow valley, through which flows little streams, while 
 the overhanging rocks often intercept the sight of the hea- 
 vens. A handful of resolute men might here maintain 
 themselves against an army. Where this valley begins to 
 open lay the ancient city of Petra. The ruins of buildings 
 found here are no earlier than the time of the Romans ; but 
 temples, and numerous sepulchres hewn out of the rock, are 
 probably of a more remote origin.^ Even as early as the 
 times of Alexander, Petra was the staple of the Arabians for 
 their spice and frankincense trade. At that time a great 
 fair was held in its neighbourhood,^^ which there is no reason 
 to doubt had been established at a much earlier period. 
 Demetrius Poliorcetes attempted, at the command of his 
 father Antigonus, to fall upon the merchants here in a 
 treacherous manner, and to plunder them of their wealth, 
 but the attempt failed.*^ 
 
 If the foregoing remarks have shown, in a general man- 
 ner, the extent and activity of Arabian commerce, they 
 must naturally have excited a desire in the reader to know 
 the routes by which it was carried on. Had we in this case 
 the description of a caravan road, such as Herodotus has left 
 us of the one through the interior of Africa, our curiosity 
 
 hood is Mount Hor, a place resorted to by pilgrims, and where is shown the 
 grave of Aaron. 
 *'' BuRCKHARDT*s Travels in Syria and the Holy Land, p. 422, etc. 
 
 * Their narratives will be found appended to Mac Mich/el^s Journey from 
 Moscow to Constantinople. 
 
 • DiOD. 1. c. 
 
 *• Mac Michjel, p. 228. Prudence unfortunately prevented Burckhardt 
 from accurately examining these ruins. 
 •' Diod. 1. c. " Ibid. 
 
 2 A 2 
 
356 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 might be easily gratified ; this however fails us, and the few 
 obscure traces of one, which may be found in Strabo, only 
 afford us data for the settlement of some individual places. 
 This writer mentions at least one of the intervening stations, 
 which the caravans from Arabia Felix usually passed through, 
 and determines the time which the journey occupied. They 
 consumed seventy days in going from Yemen to Petra, and 
 passed in their route a place named Albus Fagus, Aev^ciJ KWfiri 
 of the Greeks, and the Havra or Avara of the Arabians.^' 
 This place is situated on the Arabian Gulf, under 25° N. 
 Lat., on the boundaries of the fertile country of Nejed, be- 
 longing to central Arabia. Hence it is evident that the 
 caravan road extended along the Arabian Gulf, most pro- 
 bably touched upon Mecca, the ancient Macoraba, and so 
 arrived at the frontiers of Arabia Felix. By this route the 
 caravans would enjoy the advantage of passing through fer- 
 tile regions in the midst of their journey ; while, deeper in 
 the interior, they would have had to traverse long and 
 dreary sandy deserts. The number of days' journey agrees 
 very well with the distance. From Mariaba to Petra is 
 reckoned at about 1260 geographical miles, which, divided 
 by sixteen, the ordinary distance which caravans travel in a 
 day, amounts to seventy. 
 
 This same writer has left us also some few particulars re- 
 specting the trading routes of eastern Arabia. It was the 
 inhabitants of the city of Gerra on the Persian Gulf, who 
 more especially carried on the caravan trade. They kept 
 up a commercial intercourse with the marts of Hadramaut, 
 the journey to which occupied forty days, the road stretch- 
 ing right across the great sandy desert in the south-east of 
 the peninsula, and not along the coast. The distance in a 
 direct line from Hadramaut to Gerra is not less than from 
 six hundred and fifty to seven hundred miles, and would 
 consequently require a forty days' journey. 
 
 Besides this, there existed, as we learn from the words of 
 the prophet, a direct intercourse between the eastern coast 
 of the peninsula and Gerra and Phoenicia. For, he says, 
 the merchants of Daden brought the merchandise of the 
 Persian Gulf to Tyre,^ whose route, consequently, must have 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 MANUFACTURES, ETC. 
 
 357 
 
 "Strab. p. 1113. 
 
 •* Ezek. xxvii. 15. 
 
 run through the north-eastern part of the land. This fact is 
 still further proved by a passage from Isaiah, who, when he 
 threatens Arabia with a foreign invasion, forgets not to 
 mention the interruption which it would cause to its com- 
 merce. " In the wilderness of Arabia ye will be benighted, 
 ye caravans of Daden ! To the thirsty bring out water, 
 inhabitants of Tema ; bring forth bread for the fugitives ! 
 For they fly before the sword and before the fiiry of war."^^ 
 The trading caravans of Daden, which had hitherto journeyed 
 undisturbed, were to be driven from their usual route by the 
 approach of the enemy, and compelled to pass their nights 
 in the wilderness, where the hospitable tribe of Tema, out 
 of compassion, would bring them water and bread. Tema 
 was situated on the western border of the fertile province 
 of Ncjed,^ by which therefore the road passed. From this 
 road the caravans were to be compelled to turn, in order to 
 hide themselves in the desert. 
 
 Thus we learn the usual caravan road which led fi'om 
 Gerra to Tyre ; that it was the only one is not here asserted. 
 There must have been a time when the interior of Arabia, 
 of which we are now so ignorant, was well known ; and this 
 is proved by the number of places mentioned by Ptolemy.^^ 
 Whether or not this knowledge had descended from the 
 Phoenicians, it is impossible to determine : perhaps it will 
 not be thought improbable. In the investigation of the 
 commerce of Babylon, it will however be more clearly 
 proved, that the eastern coast of Arabia did not less abound 
 in staples for Arabian, as well as Indian merchandise, than 
 the southern. It requires therefore scarcely any fiirther 
 proof, that it also contained trading routes upon which this 
 merchandise might be transported to the shores of the Me- 
 diterranean, or at least to the marts of Arabia Petraea. 
 
 Should it appear from what has been advanced that this 
 
 * Isaiah, xxi. 13—15, with Gesenius*s Commentary. These passages of 
 the prophets are of the greater importance from the seldomness with which 
 caravans are mentioned by historical writers. It is from them, and not from 
 the historians, that may be gathered the extent of the commerce of the an- 
 cient world. 
 
 °" 27° N. Lat. : see Gesenius's Commentary on Isaiah^ i. 657- 
 " Many caravan roads in the interior of Arabia are marked upon the map 
 to D. Brehmer's Entdeckiingenj etc, I shall notice them in the appendix 
 upon the ancient commercial routes. The starting points are the same as 
 Iwd down above. 
 
 4 
 
358 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Arabia Petraea — the boundary country between the desert 
 and the fertile regions — was the district in which the Ara- 
 bian caravans were formed, and where the great staples for 
 their wares were found, let it be allowed me, further, to add 
 a single conjecture upon the way in which it was forwarded 
 from this place to the great seaports of the Phoenicians ; as 
 it seems probable, that by this may be cleared up, what 
 hitherto has been a very obscure passage in Herodotus. I 
 mean that in which he describes the sea-coast of Phoenicia, 
 as far as the frontiers of Egypt.^ " From Phoenicia to the 
 boundaries of the city Cadytis, stretch the country of the 
 Syrians of Palestine (the Jews). From Cadytis, a city 
 which does not seem to me to be much smaller than Sardis, 
 as far as Jenysus, lie, on the sea-coast, the Arabian staples. 
 The country from Jenysus to lake Sirbonis and to the Ca- 
 sian mountains, where Egypt begins, belong again to the 
 Syrians. This is no small district, but three days' journey 
 long ; it is in other respects a waterless desert." 
 
 These Arabian staples on the Mediterranean are men- 
 tioned by no other writer but Herodotus ; and the passage 
 is more remarkable from his so determinately distinguishing 
 between the Arabians, and Syrians, and Jews. But does it 
 not seem highly probable, that the principal and particular 
 business of these seaports, among which I include Gaza and 
 Ascalon, was to ship the merchandise brought by the Ara- 
 bian and Egyptian caravans, and to transport it along the 
 coast to Tyre and the other large Phoenician cities ? This, 
 though only a conjecture with regard to these early times, 
 is a certainty as regards the period of the Ptolemies ; for 
 the city of Rhinocolura, which, if it did not form one of 
 these very cities, lay in the same neighbourhood, is ex- 
 pressly mentioned as a seaport, to which a great portion of 
 the wares of Arabia were brought from Petra, in order to 
 be shipped off for their further destination.^^ 
 
 Modem travellers, first Seetzen,^ then Burckhardt,^^ and, 
 
 " Herod, iii. 5. Cadytis I take to be Jerusalem. The expression IfitrSpta 
 Tov 'Apaj3tov, according to the connexion, can have no other sense than that 
 given above. 
 
 '^ Strab. p. 1 128. 
 
 "In extracts from his letters ; Monatliche CorrespondenZj 1808, B. 17, 18. 
 
 •* Travels in Syria and the Holy Land^ by J. L. Burckhardt. Lond. 1822, 
 with maps. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 MANUFACTURES, ETC. 
 
 359 
 
 finally, Bankes and Buckingham,^^ have brought to light 
 the remains of the cities east of the lake Tiberias and the 
 Dead Sea, (the ancient Decapolis and Havra,) comprised 
 between 32° — SS** N. Lat. ; the magnificent ruins of Ge- 
 rasa, (Dsieres,) Gadara, and Philadelphia, (Amman,) some 
 of which are little inferior to those of Palmyra. Decayed 
 temples, colonnades, and amphitheatres, show the former 
 grandeur and opulence of these cities, when they were the 
 seats of the Indian- Arabian commerce. So far, however, as 
 these ruins have been made known to us, they belong alto- 
 gether to a later period, that of the Antonines ; while in 
 those of Palmyra, among the vestiges of this, are discovered 
 some of an earlier period : on this account the former do 
 not come within the scope of this inquiry. 
 
 From the foregoing observations the following results 
 may be deduced. 
 
 First, It is clear that Arabia was the great seat of the 
 Phoenician land trade, and that with this was interwoven a 
 connexion with the rich countries of the south, Ethiopia and 
 India. Notwithstanding the vast deserts of sand, which pro- 
 tected Arabia from the attacks of foreign conquerors, the 
 merchant's desire of gain was not damped, but surmounted 
 every difficulty. Caravans, composed of various tribes, pe- 
 netrated through its wastes in every direction, even to its 
 southern and eastern coasts ; ^^ here they traded, either di- 
 rectly or indirectly, with the Phoenicians, whose seaports 
 became at last the great staples of their valuable merchan- 
 dise, whence it was shipped off*, and spread over the West at 
 an immense profit to these merchants. 
 
 Secondly. This commerce must have been the more lucra- 
 tive, as it was, according to the very clear statement of Ezekiel, 
 altogether carried on by barter. It is every where spoken 
 of as an exchange of merchandise against merchandise, and 
 even the precious metals are only considered as such. What 
 an immense profit the Phoenician merchant must have made 
 of his Spanish silver mines, by exchanging their produce 
 for gold in Yemen, where this metal was so abundant ! What 
 
 *^ Buckingham's Travels in Palestine^ 1823. 
 
 " See the sublime description of Isaiah, Ix. &-9, in which the prophet re- 
 presents the caravans as whole tribes, which should come to Jerusalem in- 
 stead of going to Tyre. ' 
 
360 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 MANUFACTURES, ETC. 
 
 361 
 
 a profit he must have had on other wares, which the Ara- 
 bians in a manner were obhged to take of him, and in which 
 he had no competitor ! While, however, the Phoenician 
 had no rival to compete with, he established, as it were, one 
 among the Arabians, by procuring the commodities they 
 sold from every country in which they were to be obtamed, 
 by which means he prevented the Arab merchants from fix- 
 ing an arbitrary price upon their goods. If driven to it, he 
 could do without the merchants of Saba or Aden, smce he 
 could obtain the same wares from Gerra ; and had the mer- 
 chants of Gerra attempted to overcharge him, they would 
 as soon have been supplanted by those of Yemen. 
 
 Thirdly. The intercourse with Arabia must have been 
 greatly facilitated by the similarity of the languages of the 
 two nations. These were only dialects of one same lan- 
 guage ;^ and though differences might occur, yet there 
 scarcely could have been any difficulty in making each other 
 understood. What an advantage to the Phoenician mer- 
 chant, to be able, in the mutual intercourse with these dis- 
 tant regions, to make use of his native tongue, instead of 
 being at the mercy of treacherous interpreters ! This ad- 
 vantage alone would have sufficed to secure him the exclu- 
 sive commerce of Arabia, even if the situation of the country 
 had not made it almost impossible for any foreign nation to 
 
 compete with him. 
 
 The commerce of the Phoenicians with Egypt must be 
 considered as a second branch of their southern land trade. 
 Their intercourse with this nation was one of the earliest they 
 formed, as Herodotus expressly assures us that the exportation 
 of Assyrian and Egyptian wares was the first business they 
 carried on.^^ Their early acquaintance with Egypt, too, comes 
 before us even in the patriarchal age ; as every one knows 
 from the Mosaic records. And when it is remembered that 
 Egypt at all times enjoyed the principal land trade of Africa, 
 as I have shown in the portion of my work relating to that 
 country, it would indeed seem surprising if no intercourse 
 had subsisted between two such great neighbouring com- 
 mercial nations. Still more positive information, however, 
 respecting its existence is given by Ezekiel, who, in his pic- 
 
 ture of Tyrian commerce, forgets not that with Egypt, but 
 even enumerates the wares which Tyre obtained from the 
 banks of the Nile. " Fine cottons and embroidered work 
 from Egypt spreadest thou over thy pavilions ; dark blue 
 and purple from the Peloponnesus were thy coverings."^ 
 In my Researches on the Egyptians, I have shown that weav- 
 ing was one of their principal occupations, and that cotton 
 was a native of their soil. Embroideries of cotton, and with 
 cotton, were common in Egypt, and considered as master- 
 pieces of art ; as is proved by the linen corslet embroidered 
 with cotton thread, which Amasis presented to Polycrates 
 of Samos.^'^ Corn, the other great product of Egypt, was 
 only procured from that country upon extraordinary oc- 
 casions ; as Palestine and Syria furnished it of an excellent 
 quality. It is proved, however, that it was fetched from 
 thence, in cases of emergency, by the caravan journey of the 
 sons of Jacob into Egypt. 
 
 Some particulars, too, have been preserved respecting 
 the form and manner of the commercial intercourse between 
 the Egyptians and Phoenicians. It was carried on by land 
 and not by sea, for the entrance to Egypt by the latter was 
 forbidden to foreigners previous to the reign of Amasis. 
 The first trace of this commerce is found in the earliest 
 tradition of the expedition of the Tyrian Hercules. " After 
 the victory over Anteus, he went into Egypt, and there de- 
 stroyed the tyrant Busiris, who dyed his hands in the blood 
 of all strangers."^ I cheerfully resign to my readers the 
 easy and agreeable task of unveiling the sense which is en- 
 veloped under this beautiful mythos ; who sees not that 
 civilization is the thing here meant ? and that Busiris, being 
 one of the ancient kings of Thebes, this tradition refers to 
 * the Phoenician commerce with Upper Egypt, (one of the 
 most ancient land trades of the world,) where the hundred- 
 gated Thebes was the capital, and at the same time the prin- 
 cipal seat of the commerce of interior Africa, as I have 
 proved in the Researches upon the Egyptians ? 
 
 With the domestic revolutions of Egypt, the seat of Phoe- 
 nician trade became changed. Thebes no longer remained 
 its chief mart, but the later capital, Memphis. Here was 
 
 \ 
 
 See above, p. 45, 46. 
 
 * Herod, i. 1. 
 
 •• EzEK. xxvii. 7. 
 
 es 
 
 DioD. i. p. 263. 
 
 " Herod, iii. 47. 
 
PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 established a colony of Phoenicians ; as an entire quarter of 
 the city was inhabited by their merchants.^ These facts 
 are surely sufficient to prove how extensive their transac- 
 tions must have been with this nation. 
 
 One of the principal articles exported by the Phoenicians 
 to Egypt was wine, which this country did not at that time 
 produce. Twice a year large cargoes of this were shipped 
 from Phoenicia and Greece. The earthen vessels, in which, 
 according to the custom of the ancient world, it was con- 
 tained, were applied to an extraordinary purpose by the 
 Persians, when they ruled in this country. They were 
 pl^ed as cisterns in the three days' desert, which divided 
 Syria from Egypt, in order to make the communication 
 easier for strangers.*^® 
 
 The second great branch of the Phoenician land trade 
 spread towards the east. . It includes their commerce with 
 Syria and Palestine, with Babylon and Assyria, and with 
 the countries of eastern Asia. 
 
 Palestine was the granary of the Phoenicians. Their 
 own mountainous territory was but little adapted for agri- 
 culture, while Palestine produced com in such abundance, 
 as to be able to supply them plentifully with this first ne- 
 cessary of life. " Judah and the land of Israel traded with 
 thee ; corn of Minnith, honey of raisins, oil, and balm, gave 
 they to thee for thy wares." ^^ The corn of Judea was the 
 best known. It excelled even that of Egypt. It was not 
 therefore merely the proximity of the country which led the 
 Egyptians to prefer this market. The other productions, 
 also mentioned by the prophet, are among those which the 
 Holy Land was famous for producing of a superior quality. 
 The strong vine, which has been native in this country from ^ 
 time immemorial, afforded them an abundance of delicious * 
 grapes. The oil of Palestine, as we are informed by a mo- 
 dem traveller, even still excels that of Provence, notwith- 
 standing the sunken state of culture under Turkish despotism. 
 The balm was collected in the lands about lake Genezareth ; 
 and is of the same sort as that still in high repute, under 
 the name of balsam of Mecca.^* 
 
 • Herod, ii. 112. '" See Herod, iii. 5, 6. 
 
 " .EzEKiEL, xxvii. 17. For what follows, see the remarks of Michaehs. 
 
 " Theophrast. JEfis^. Plant ix. 6. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 MANUFACTURES, ETC. 
 
 363 
 
 The fact, that Palestine was the granary of the Phoenicians, 
 explains, too, in the clearest manner, the good understand- 
 ing and lasting peace that prevailed between these two na- 
 tions. It is a striking feature in the Jewish history, that 
 with all other nations around them they lived in a state of 
 almost continual warfare ; and that under David and Solo- 
 mon they even became conquerors, and subdued consider- 
 able countries ; and yet with their nearest neighbours, the 
 Phoenicians, they never engaged in hostilities. But if a 
 sense of their weakness prevented them from attacking these 
 mighty cities, the natural policy of the Phoenicians no less, 
 on the other hand, restrained them from any hostile attempt 
 on a country from which they drew their subsistence : to 
 which it may be added, that it seems to have been a maxim 
 among them to avoid all wars and forcible extension of their 
 dominions upon the continent of Asia. 
 
 Syria proper, also, supplied its various productions, ac- 
 cording to the nature of the different parts of the country, — 
 accordingly as it was adapted for agriculture, the cultivation 
 of the vine, or merely to the nomad life and the breeding of 
 cattle. " Damascus traded with thee on account of thy 
 great riches, and the multitude of thy wares ; and brought 
 thee wine from Chalybon, and wool from the wilderness." ^^ 
 The wine of Chalybon, probably the modern Aleppo, was 
 the best that Asia afforded, or at least was esteemed as such. 
 It was the only sort which was served at the table of the 
 Persian kings, whose custom it was, only to admit to their 
 board the greatest delicacies that each province of their em- 
 pire brought forth.^* If it be considered that the vine at 
 this period was naturalized neither in Africa nor in the west 
 of Europe, the conjecture will appear more probable, that 
 wine in general was one of the most important commodities 
 of Phoenician sea trade, as it could only be transported on 
 land by waggons, and not upon beasts of burden. 
 
 The wool of the wilderness was one of the wares supplied 
 by the pastoral tribes, who wandered with their flocks as 
 well over the Syrian as over the Arabian deserts.''^ The 
 fleece of these sheep is the finest known ; it is improved by 
 
 '* EzEKiEL xxvii. 18. 
 
 '* See the chapter on the Internal Government of the Persians. 
 
 "EzEKiEL, xxvii. 18, 21. \ 
 
 I 
 
364 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 the heat of the climate, the continual exposure to the open 
 air, and the care that these people bestow upon their flocks, 
 which constitute their only business, all of which help to 
 render it more precious.^^ The Arabian sheep, distinguished 
 from the European by their immense tails, were known to 
 Herodotus, who has left us a description of them.^^ " Ara- 
 bia likewise possesses two extraordinary breeds of sheep, 
 neither of which is found elsewhere. One of these has long 
 tails, not less than three cubits ; and were they suffered to 
 drag them behind them, they would become sore by rubbing 
 asrainst the ground. The shepherds therefore make small 
 carriages, and fasten them under the tails, to each animal 
 one. The other kind of sheep have broad tails, each full an 
 ellinwidth.^ 
 
 Herodotus only errs in taking a mere variety for a dis- 
 tinct species ; all the other circumstances he here mentions 
 are known to modern naturalists and travellers. A moment's 
 reflection upon Tyrian manufacture of woven goods and 
 their dyes, will enable the reader at once to perceive the 
 great importance of this branch of commerce. It converted 
 the very wilderness, so far as they were concerned, into an 
 opulent country, which afforded them the finest and most 
 precious raw materials for their most important manufac- 
 tures. This circumstance, too, was a means of cementing 
 and preserving a good understanding between them and 
 these nomad tribes ; a matter of no inconsiderable conse- 
 quence to the Phoenicians, as it was through them that the 
 rich produce of the southern regions came into their hands. 
 
 The great point, however, to which the trade of the Phoe- 
 nicians was directed in the east, was Babylon. That a very 
 active commerce was carried on with this flourishing city, 
 even before it forcibly obtained the dominion of Asia and 
 subjected Phoenicia itself, no one can doubt, who is ac- 
 quainted with the situation and manners of the two nations; 
 and yet, however astonishing it may seem, we have less in- 
 formation respecting this very important branch of trade 
 than upon almost every other. Still we have the positive 
 testimony of Herodotus, that it was one of the most ancient. 
 
 '• See MiCHAELis, on the Wandering Shepherds, in his Vermischten Schrif- 
 ten, B. i. s. 6. 
 " Herod, iii. 1 13. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 MANUFACTURES, ETC. 
 
 365 
 
 *' At the beginning, they exported Egyptian and Assyrian 
 wares (the latter comprising the Babylonian) to the Medi- 
 terranean." ^^ The prophet also mentions this commerce, 
 but, like Herodotus, only in a general manner, and without 
 at all setting forth its nature and objects.^^ . It probably 
 happened, that it was frequently interrupted by the great 
 revolutions of interior Asia, in which Babylon itself often 
 necessarily participated ; it must however soon have revived, 
 when the trade of Babylon itself again began to flourish. 
 
 In proportion, however, as the silence of history upon 
 this interesting subject is remarkable, the conjecture is 
 strengthened, that the trading route between Babylon and 
 Tyre lay through a long uninterrupted desert ; the natural 
 consequence of which would be, that, even supposing it not 
 purposely concealed, this commerce would have become 
 but little known. But even in this desert itself are found 
 vestiges which seem to denote its course and magnitude : 
 the ruins of Palmyra and Balbeck ; probably links of the 
 commercial chain which connected Tyre and Babylon.^ 
 
 The magnificent remains of these two cities have only 
 been made known within the last century, by the publica- 
 tion of two celebrated works, in which they are represented 
 by engravings. Of Palmyra, indeed, it may in some mea- 
 sure be asserted, that it was not discovered till within this 
 period.^^ The form of the buildings which are left, show at 
 the first glance that they have no claim to the antiquity of 
 Thebes and Persepolis, but belong rather to the Greek- 
 Macedonian, and a considerable part of them even to the 
 Roman period ; it is not however less certain, that the 
 foundation of both cities must be carried much farther back 
 than the origin of their existing remains. 
 
 The Jewish annals ascribe the building of both cities to 
 
 " Herod, i. 1. 
 
 " EzEKiEL, xxvii. 23. " Assur and Chilmad were also thy merchants." 
 
 "* The first of these lay in the fruitful valley between Libanus and Antili- 
 banus, conseq^uently not within Phoenicia proper. Palmyra, on the contrary, 
 was situated in the midst of the Syrian desert, three days' journey from the 
 Euphrates, upon one of those gems of the desert, or oases, which I have de- 
 scnbed with more detail in the volumes upon Africa, 33y° N. Lat. Its abund- 
 ance of palms gave it its name, though this tree of the wilderness is no longer 
 to be found there. 
 
 "' See the two well-known works, Ruins of Palmyra, and the Ruins of Bat- 
 heck, in the preface to which will be found collected the principal historical 
 data for the history of both cities. i 
 
366 
 
 PHCENICIANS, 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 MANUFACTURES, ETC. 
 
 367 
 
 
 Solomon : " He built Baalath and Tadmor in the desert."^ 
 Baalath, the temple of the sun, is the same with Balbeck, 
 the valley of the sun ; which name has been given it be- 
 cause the city was built in a valley. The first name is also 
 expressed by the Greek appellation, HeliopoUs. Tadmor, or 
 Thadamora, is one of the common Syrian names of Palmyra. 
 If it be beUeved, from the high antiquity of this city, that 
 it was built just at the time when the land trade of the 
 Phoenicians, and especially of the new island city of Tyre, 
 was so rapidly spreading, it must be admitted that a share 
 in this trade entered exactly into the views of Solomon their 
 builder, as is shown from the navigation to Ophir. Their 
 lying, too, exactly in the direction of Babylon; and the 
 great highway of eastern commerce running, certainly at a 
 later period, through them, and thus became the cause of 
 their magnitude and splendour, render it at least highly 
 probable, that they had fulfilled the same destination in ear- 
 lier times. Even now, according to Seetzen, all the com- 
 mercial roads from Damascus to the Euphrates run by 
 Palmyra, where they first divide.^ This indeed is the path 
 prescribed by nature herself Taking this for granted, Bal- 
 beck may be considered as the point of departure ; it being 
 the general custom of the East for caravans to assemble at 
 some distance from the chief city. In three days they 
 i-eached Emesa, (Hems,) another celebrated city of Syria, 
 on the borders of the desert. The distance through this sea 
 of sand then required from four to five days to bring the 
 traveller in sight of Palmyra. From this oasis to the Eu- 
 phrates again required a journey of from three to four days 
 to bring the caravan to Thapsacus, where it usually crossed 
 over this stream. On the opposite side, the travellers had 
 the choice of either following the course of the river, or of 
 passing through the steppes of Mesopotamia.®* 
 
 Whether, however, this is now the usual route or not, the 
 commercial intercourse between Tyre and Babylon will not 
 be the less certain ; but this is not the case with regard to 
 the more distant countries of Asia. I shall reserve the in- 
 vestigation of this matter to the next book, on the trade of 
 
 •* I Kings, ix. 18. " Monatliche Correspondenz, 1808, S. 508. 
 
 •♦ This route is also marked upon Paui^tre's Map of Syria, which describes 
 both the ancient and modern caravan roads. 
 
 Babylon. I trust, I shall in that be able to make it appear 
 that the Phoenicians, either directly or indirectly, procured 
 the productions of the much more remote regions of the 
 
 world. 
 
 We have now only to consider the third, and least branch 
 of Phoenician land trade, which would have remained en- 
 tirely unknown had it not been casually mentioned by the 
 prophet. No Greek writer, that I am acquainted with, has 
 left the least information respecting it. " Tubal and Me- 
 shech traded with thee, and gave thee slaves and vessels of 
 brass for thy wares. Togarmah gave thee horses of com- 
 mon and noble breeds, and mules, for thy wares." ^ The 
 o-eographical difliculties to which these names give rise have 
 been cleared away by Bochart and Michaelis.^ There can 
 be no doubt, that Tubal and Meshech denoted the regions 
 lying between the Black and Caspian Seas ; the abode of 
 the Tibarenians and Mosches, and probably also the Cap- 
 padocians. With regard to Togarmah, conjecture runs 
 very strong in favour of its being Armenia. The proba- 
 bility of the truth of these conjectures is much augmented 
 by the fact, that the wares enumerated are exactly such as 
 these regions produce. Cappadocia, together with the Cau- 
 casian districts, from the very earliest times, was the chief 
 seat of the slave trade, and always continued so in the ancient 
 world. The finest race of men have always been preferred ; 
 and it is very generally known, that at the present time the 
 harems of the Turkish and Persian nobility are peopled with 
 the most beautiful of the Georgians and Circassians. The 
 speculating spirit of the Phoenicians soon found a way to these 
 countries, and knew very well how to take advantage of the 
 prevailing taste in this merchandise. Their commerce in 
 this detestable branch of trade was very extensive. The 
 prophets bitterly reproach them with dealing in boys and 
 girls, even in those of their neighbours the Jews, and for 
 selling them to the Greeks ; and predict that they should be 
 punished for this offence, and their own children sold to the 
 Sabeans.^ 
 
 " EzEKiEL, xxvii. 13, 14. 
 
 "' Bochart, p. 200, 207. Michael. Spicihg. i. 44, 67- 
 
 " The principal authorities are the prophet Joel, iii. 1—8, 'wdth the re- 
 marks of MichaeHs, and Gesenius in Isaiah, xxiii. I. 708. See also Amos, 
 i. 9, where the slave trade is enumerated among the transgressions of Tyre. 
 
368 
 
 PHCENICIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 The mines of these regions, however, were probably a 
 still greater attraction ; and one which their whole history 
 shows they could not withstand. The prophet mentions 
 numerous vessels of copper : and perhaps the reader may 
 call to mind the evidence of a later witness, Xenophon, 
 who, in his expedition through the country of the Cardu- 
 chians, was astonished at the great quantity of metal house- 
 hold utensils which these people possessed ; and which, 
 therefore, for many previous centuries, had been an object 
 of Phoenician commerce. These countries abound in cop- 
 per as much now as they did in antiquity. It forms the 
 principal article of their trade with Bagdad and Basra ; 
 household utensils are commonly made of it, and scarcely 
 any other profession is so common in those countries as that 
 of coppersmiths. 
 
 Armenia, finally, is also recognised by its wares. It is 
 described as a land abounding in horses ; and in this re- 
 spect, as well as in the distinction which the prophet makes 
 between those of an inferior and a more esteemed breed, no 
 country of Asia agrees so well as Armenia. In the nobler 
 race we at once identify the Nyssean horses, the stately 
 coursers of antiquity, no less celebrated for their colour and 
 the splendour of their hides than for their beautiful sym- 
 metry ; they were alone deemed worthy to draw the cars of 
 the Persian monarchs. 
 
 To conclude, it is evident that this northern trade also 
 was not carried on with money, but by barter. It was not 
 necessary here, however, to have recourse to caravans. The 
 way lay through inhabited and civilized countries, which 
 might in part be traversed upon the royal highways running 
 from Upper Asia to Sardis and the Mediterranean, which 
 in the following pages will be accurately described. 
 
p I 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 - 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 2 B 
 
r. 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 General View of the Country and its Inhabitants. 
 
 AND THEY SAID, COME, LET US BUILD A CITY AND A TOWER, WHOSE TOP MAT 
 REACH UNTO HEAVEN. AND THE LORD CAME DOWN TO SEE THE CITY AND 
 THE TOWER WHICH THE CHILDREN OF MEN BUILDED. GENESIS, xi. 4, 5. 
 
 Few countries of antiquity have so just a claim to the at- 
 tention of the historian as Babylonia. However the writers 
 of the eastern and western empires may have exaggerated 
 the wonders of the capital, the country itself is distinguished 
 by striking peculiarities from all others in this quarter of 
 the globe. In no other did the cultivation of the earth by 
 the industry and exertions of its inhabitants make such rapid 
 progress ; and in no other was industry more richly reward- 
 ed.' Notwithstanding the numerous revolutions it under- 
 went, and the devastations of the barbarous conquerors who 
 invaded it. Babylonia, unlike every other country of the 
 earth, presented an astonishing succession of flourishing 
 cities, which, like the Phoenix, seemed to arise from the 
 ashes and ruins of their own destruction. In the earliest 
 records of the human race, the name of Babylon appears as 
 the primeval seat of political society, and the cradle of civil- 
 ization.^ And this name endured great and renowned for a 
 long succession of ages. At last, when Babylon declined — 
 just at the time when, according to the projects of the Ma- 
 cedonian conqueror, it was destined to form the capital of 
 all Asia, and the central point of his new monarchy — Se- 
 lucia sprung up and flourished near it on the Tigris : ere 
 this city fell, it was eclipsed by Ctesiphon, the capital of the 
 Parthian empire : when both these were destroyed by the 
 
 !• 
 
 Herod, i. 193. 
 
 2 B 2 
 
 ^ GENESlk, X. 8—10. 
 
372 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 373 
 
 I: ^ 
 
 conquering Arabs, the royal cities of Bagdad and Ormus 
 arose in their place ; and the last glimmer, as it were, of the 
 ancient splendour of Babylon seems still to hover over the 
 
 half ruined Bassora. t^ , , • 
 
 Under these different points of view. Babylonia appears 
 as one of the principal countries of Asia, and the most im- 
 portant on the globe. But its internal condition and phy- 
 sical peculiarities are so striking and remarkable, that we 
 arc compelled to take a survey of them before we turn our 
 attention to its inhabitants. 
 
 Babylonia, or Chaldea," was situated between the Eu- 
 phrates and the Tigris, the former bounding it on the west, 
 and the latter on the east. A description of these two 
 rivers must precede our account of this country, because it 
 is from their peculiar properties that it derives its own. 
 
 Both these streams rise in Armenia, and, after pursuing 
 their course from north to south, fall into the Persian Gulf* 
 But as the plain between these rivers has a considerable fall 
 towards the east, the western river, the Euphrates, has a 
 much higher bed than the Tigris. Its level banks are 
 generally filled to the brink with the mighty mass of waters 
 which roll between them, so that the least increase causes an 
 overflow. The Tigris, on the contrary, has a much deeper 
 channel, with bolder shores, over which it seldom or never 
 passes, although its current is much more rapid than that of 
 the Euphrates. At a certain period of the year, however, 
 from the snow meUing in the mountains of Armenia, this 
 latter river, like the Nile, constantly inundates the surround- 
 ing country. To set bounds to the frequent inundations of 
 so large a stream in a completely level country, was cer- 
 tainly not an easy, though an indispensable undertaking. 
 Like the people dwelling on the banks of the Egyptian river, 
 the Babylonians had to wrest their country from the inva- 
 sions of the flood. And the efforts this required seem to 
 have developed their genius, and to have given an impulse 
 to the progress of civilization and the arts among them, for 
 
 » A distinction, it must be observed, is sometimes made between Babylonia 
 and Chaldea ; the latter comprising the south, and the former the northern 
 division. Usually, however, and certainly more correctly, they were con- 
 sidered as synonymous, the Chaldeans having taken possession of the whole 
 
 country. . 
 
 * See Arrian, vii. 7, for the following j^articulars. 
 
 which they were scarcely less celebrated than the Egyp- 
 tians. 
 
 In the warm and dry climate of Babylon, it was not suflli- 
 cient merely to restrain the floods, there was likewise the 
 proper irrigation of the soil to be cared for. 
 
 It is in this twofold point of view that we must consider 
 the arrangements made by the inhabitants to subjugate this 
 river : a labour certainly lightened by the dikes, canals, 
 lakes, and marshes, which nature itself had formed, though 
 all these required the assistance and improvement of art. 
 
 The whole of Babylonia was intersected by a variety of 
 large and small canals ; some running right across the 
 country from one river to the other, and answering the 
 double purpose of a communication between them, and the 
 irrigation of the soil ; while others were formed solely for 
 the latter object.^ These canals began above Babylonia 
 proper, in Mesopotamia ; four of the largest, running from 
 the Tigris to the Euphrates, being found north of the 
 Median wall, about two miles and a half apart, and suffi- 
 ciently broad and deep to be navigable for ships of burden. 
 One of them was made use of by Artaxerxes as a line of 
 defence when his brother Cyrus marched against him. 
 
 There seems but little doubt, that these canals were de- 
 signed, like the Median wall, to prevent the inroads of the 
 nomad hordes. Supposing that the Medes had effected a 
 passage over this wall, and penetrated into Babylonia 
 proper, they would still have found themselves arrested 
 by two great canals, extending from the Tigris to the 
 Euphrates, and from which a multitude of smaller ones 
 branched off*, for the purpose of irrigation. These latter^ 
 which seem, however, not to have reached to the Euphrates, 
 were nevertheless so deep and broad, that Xenophon, at the 
 head of the ten thousand, could only pass them by means 
 of bridges ; and even then had just cause to fear, lest he 
 should be surrounded. Still nearer Babylon was situated 
 the grand or royal canal, running from the Euphrates to 
 the Tigris, and of sufficient breadth and depth to be navi- 
 gable for merchant vessels.^ It is impossible to determine 
 
 * Herod, i. 193, may be consulted for what follows, and more especially 
 Xenoph. Anah, L 
 
 * Herod. 1. c. I 
 
374 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CBAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 375 
 
 I 
 
 the number of these canals ; for, according to the testimony 
 of Herodotus, the whole land was intersected by them, from 
 their being every where indispensable for the watering of the 
 soil. He relates as a curious fact, that the Euphrates, which 
 had formerly flowed to the sea in almost a direct line, had 
 been rendered so serpentine in its windings by the number 
 of canals dug above Babylon, that in its passage to the city 
 it passed three times the Assyrian village of Ardericca, and 
 certainly on three different days.^ 
 
 It is evident from this passage of Herodotus, that Ar- 
 dericca lay above Babylon ; and that the great aim of this 
 laborious undertaking was to defend the country from the 
 incursions of the Medes, and to facilitate the navigation of 
 the vessels in their descent from the higher countries. 
 Hence it seems highly probable that these alterations were 
 made in the districts where the bed of the Euphrates is full 
 of rocks and sandbanks ;® and that they formed an immense 
 series of sluices and floodgates, making the river navigable, 
 but at the same time so lengthening it, both by the time 
 occupied in going through the numerous locks, and by the 
 numerous windings of the canal, as to make it a three days' 
 voyage to pass the village of Ardericca. But all that seems 
 extraordinary in passing by the same place three times 
 vanishes, if it be considered that the canal was cut in this 
 zigzag manner, to diminish the fall occasioned by the steep- 
 ness of the land. Thus the two outer branches of the canal, 
 in passing to and fro, touched the two extreme points of the 
 village, while the centre also passed by it, which fully .ex- 
 plains the length of the voyage ; while the time it occupied 
 may be accounted for, by the delay occasioned in passing 
 the great number of locks. This, to be sure, is no more 
 than a conjecture, but it seems a more probable one, than 
 that which makes the length of the canal alone require a 
 navigation of three days' duration.^ 
 
 ' Herod, i. 185. ' Busching's Asia, 239. 
 
 • See a treatise by Breiger, Bescriptio Asia Herodoti, an essay which 
 trained the prize in the university of Gottingen in 1793. The name of 
 Ardericca has led to the conjecture, that it is the present Akkerkuf, above 
 Baffdad, where yet is found a large ruin of bricks, in the Babylonian style of 
 building, which Ker Porter has minutely described. Porter's Travels, u. 
 277. Akkerkuf however lies on the Tigris, not the Euphrates, as Ardencca 
 did ; a difficulty which would not be got over, though it should be granted, 
 that a triple canal here ran from the Euphrates to the Tigris. 
 
 Besides canals, the Babylonians had recourse to dams, 
 for the regulating the power of the current. Some of these 
 were so ancient, that their first erection is ascribed to Se- 
 miramis, to whom it has been customary to attribute most 
 of the great works of Asia, whose authors are unknown.^** 
 But according to Herodotus, queen Nitocris raised on both 
 sides of the river new embankments of an extraordinary 
 height and thickness, for which purpose the earth was made 
 use of that had been dug up in the formation of an artificial 
 lake ; while in the interior of the city were built quays or 
 banks of stone, such as are found in most of the capitals of 
 Europe, situated upon large rivers or the sea-shore. 
 
 Though the construction of these dams and canals seems to 
 have required almost incredible labour, yet what is told us 
 of the lakes of Babylon is still more extraordinary, and, on 
 account of the discrepancies in the information, still more 
 difficult to explain. It would be nothing uncommon for 
 the overflowings of such mighty rivers as the Euphrates and 
 Tigris to have formed lakes in various districts ; and, unless 
 we take for granted there were a great number of such lakes 
 in Babylon, a conjecture which a cursory examination of 
 the ancient writers tends to confirm, it will be impossible to 
 reconcile their various statements. The enterprising spirit 
 of the inhabitants, however, combined with their industry 
 and skill, soon discovered the means of rendering these lakes 
 useful, as they did also, in part, the canals, by turning into 
 them the overplus waters of the Euphrates ; and to effect 
 this, they had only to perfect the work began by nature, 
 by the making of deep excavations, and the formation of 
 sluices. The first of these lakes, which is described by He- 
 rodotus, and attributed to Nitocris, was at a considerable 
 distance fi*om the capital in the northern part of Babylonia. 
 It was at least fifty miles in circumference, and lay at a 
 small distance fi*om the river. The earth dug out of this 
 lake served for the embankments of the river, but the lake 
 itself was faced by a stone and mortar enclosure. An un- 
 dertaking such as this would appear colossal, even though 
 it were but an extension of the work of nature, and con- 
 fined to the enlarging the lake, already formed by the over- 
 ly Herod, i. 184. . 
 
376 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 €HAP. I. 
 
 i|f 
 
 flowings of the river, and giving it a solid boundary ; and 
 this appears from Herodotus to be precisely what took place. 
 They dug down, he says, till they came to stagnant water. 
 Into this lake, which usually resembled a morass, they could 
 introduce the waters of the Euphrates by means of a canal ; 
 and it was by doing this that Cyrus conquered Babylon, 
 when he forced his way into the city by the bed of this 
 
 river. 
 
 This lake must not be confounded with the lakes or 
 swamps formed by the Euphrates near ancient Babylon. 
 The western quarter of the capital was entirely surrounded 
 by these, which formed a natural barrier, and serving instead 
 of wall and ramparts, rendered Babylon on this side inac- 
 cessible." Alexander, who, in order to nullify a disastrous 
 prophecy, was desirous of making his entry into his future 
 capital on this side, was obliged to renounce his wish, in 
 spite of all his exertions, and to take the common way.^^ 
 The necessity to which the Babylonians were driven of 
 building large quays in the interior of the city, is a proof 
 that these lakes had been formed by the natural operation 
 of the river, before its current had been restrained. It was 
 probably these that led Alexander to conceive the design of 
 forming a harbour near Babylon, which should be worthy 
 the capital of his empire, and capable of containing a thou- 
 sand lai'ge ships.^^ 
 
 There was another third great work of the same kind, 
 wholly different from the lakes above mentioned, about 
 forty-five miles below Babylon, and about one hundred and 
 thirty from the mouth of the Euphrates. In this district 
 the lands on the west of the river were low and marshy, 
 covered with water, and stretching so far into the deserts of 
 Arabia, that they were said to communicate with the sea.^* 
 These marshes were considerably lower than the bed of the 
 river, and seem to have been destined by nature as a reser- 
 voir for its drainings. The water of the main stream was 
 
 " Arrian, vii. 17. An excellent map of ancient Babylonia will be found 
 in Kennel's Geography to Herodotus^ in which, with some slight variations, 
 are noted the canals, laies, etc. of the country. 
 
 " According to Ker Porter, who himself saw them, {Travels^ ii. p. 389,) 
 these numerous lakes and swamps still exist. He also confirms the remark, 
 that they rendered access to the city on this side impossible. 
 
 " Arrian, vii. 19. " For what follows, see Arrian, vii. 21. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 377 
 
 conducted into this morass, by means of a large canal of the 
 breadth of a considerable river. It was called Pallacopas. 
 Lest, however, the river should lose itself altogether in this 
 morass, recourse was had to dams and sluices. One of the 
 Babylonian satraps had effected this work at the cost of im- 
 mense labour; ten thousand men having been employed 
 upon it three months. It was nevertheless but of short 
 duration, owing to the insurmountable difficulties which the 
 nature of the soil presented ; for as the lands about here 
 afforded nothing but a fat, muddy soil, the embankments 
 soon yielded to the action of the waters, and were washed 
 away. In consequence of this, Alexander stopped up the 
 ancient opening, and built at about five miles distance, in a 
 strong soil, a new canal reaching to the Pallacopas. These 
 works were the more interesting to him, because his design 
 was to render these lakes navigable, and to penetrate with 
 his ships into Arabia ; that country being the only one of 
 which it may be said he required the conquest, in order to 
 complete the interior communication of his empire, without 
 which it could not be perfectly consolidated, nor acquire the 
 consistence which this great prince wished to give it, by the 
 promotion of commerce and navigation, and the various arts 
 of peace. 
 
 By these contrivances to subdue the Euphrates, that ob- 
 ject was not only effected, but another consequence ensued, 
 perhaps neither foreseen nor desired : the Euphrates was 
 drained of the greatest portion of its waters before it reached 
 the sea.^^ Instead of increasing in its descent, it diminished ; 
 several of its channels lost themselves in the sand ; and its 
 proper mouth became so shallow that it seems never to havQ 
 been navigable. It is nevertheless proved, that it always 
 retained its own mouth in the time of the Persians, and did 
 not lose itself altogether in the Tigris, as it now does, sixty 
 miles above the sea.*^ The great mass of its waters, how- 
 ever, threw itself into that river, which, increasing in pro- 
 portion as the Euphrates diminished, could no longer find 
 room for its waters within its accustomed channel, but, as it 
 
 " Arrian, viii. 18. . 
 
 " This junction now takes place at Corna. The superior impetuosity of the 
 Tigris is here evident ; for the tide in the Euphrates runs up above twenty 
 miles beyond Corna, while it is stopped by the Tigris, whose current it can- 
 not overpower. Transactions of the Bombay Society ^ i. 135. 
 
 I 
 
378 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 379 
 
 approached the sea, flowed over its banks and formed large 
 lakes, equal to those formed by the Euphrates m the higher 
 
 regions. , . . 
 
 The country enclosed by these two rivers was one vast, 
 uninterrupted level, indebted to them for its fertility. Ihis 
 level was every where intersected by canals, which gradually 
 decreased in size till they became mere ditches. On their 
 banks were innumerable machines for raising the water and 
 spreading it over the soil.^^ The heat and almost constant 
 dryness of the climate rendered this continual irrigation 
 necessary ; but the labour of man was here, as in Egypt, 
 rewarded by such a luxuriant crop, that historians, fearful 
 of being suspected of exaggeration, have been afraid to state 
 the full truth. " Of all the countries that I am acquainted 
 with," says Herodotus,^^ "Babylonia is by far the most 
 fruitfiil in corn. The soil is so particularly adapted for it, 
 that it never produces less than two hundred-fold, and in 
 seasons remarkably favourable, it sometimes amounts to 
 three hundred. The ear of the wheat, as well as the bar- 
 ley, is four digits broad. But the immense height to which 
 the cenchrus and sesasum stalks ^^ grow, although I have 
 witnessed it myself, I dare not mention, lest those who have 
 not visited this country should disbelieve my report. 1 his 
 fertility with regard to corn, however, was counterbalanced 
 by a dearth of wood. The fig tree, olive, and vine, were 
 not found there at all ;'' and their place was but poorly 
 suppUed by an abundance of date or palm trees, with which 
 Babylonia was completely covered. These even still grow 
 in large quantities on the banks of the Euphrates, but nei- 
 ther in the plains nor on the Tigris. The fruit of the palm 
 was not only used as food, but converted into wme and 
 honey .^' The process observed in the culture of this fruit 
 
 17 Herod i 185 " ^^i^- ^- ^^^* 
 
 » Cench^s is Panicum MUiaceum ; cf. Theoph. viii. 3. Sesamumis gener- 
 ally considered to be the Sesamiiyn Orientale, L., but is most likely the Sesa- 
 mumlndicum; cf. Pun. xviii. 10. " Sef mum ablndisvenit, ex eoet oleum 
 faciant." Diosc. ii. 124, describes the oil manufactured from it by the H^eyp- 
 tians ; cf. Alpin de Plantis jEgyptica, c. 32, and Forskal. m Flora Arahica, 
 
 ^' » Herod. 1. c. Compare with what he says, Xenoph. AnahVi. 
 
 " This is also the case at present : see Otter, Voyage 11. p. 63, where will 
 be found some information upon the artificial culture of dates. Ihe honey 
 must be considered as nothing more thaii palm sugar made of the fresh sap 
 
 is described by Herodotus ; they bind the fruit of the male 
 tree on the female, by which means the insect that is pro- 
 duced in the former, entering the fruit, brings it to ma- 
 turity.^^ Of all other lofty trees. Babylonia was entirely 
 destitute. Thus, even when its agriculture had attained its 
 highest perfection, the country never entirely lost its pri- 
 mitive character of a land of steppes. The cypress, though 
 some, was but a poor substitute for all other kinds of wood,^^ 
 the want of which must have been severely felt, and had a 
 vast influence upon the navigation and architecture of the 
 Babylonians. 
 
 Like the generality of steppe regions. Babylonia was as 
 destitute of stone as of wood. The free-stone made use of 
 by the inhabitants in their buildings must therefore have 
 been brought down the Euphrates, from the northern coun- 
 tries, whose quarries supplied them with millstones.** Na- 
 ture, however, made up for the want of these important 
 building materials in a remarkable manner. The vicinity 
 of Babylon ftirnished an inexhaustible supply of superior 
 clay, which, dried in the sun or burnt in kilns, became so 
 firm and durable, that the remains of ancient walls which 
 have been thrown down for centuries, have withstood the 
 effect of the atmosphere to the present day,^^ and still retain 
 the inscriptions with which they were impressed — a species 
 of that arrow-headed character, which has lately so much ex- 
 cited the attention of the learned. Nature also even pro- 
 vided for the mortar. Eight days' journey above Babylon 
 was the small river Is, and near to it a place of the same 
 name, where was found a plentiful supply of naphtha, or bi- 
 tumen, which well supplied the place of lime. No doubt 
 seems to prevail respecting this being the modern Hit, where 
 the pits or wells whence this material was obtained, still smoke 
 and boil up, as though a river would break forth ;^^ and 
 
 of the palm, and still in common use among the Arabians. Tramactimis of 
 the Literary Society of Bombay, 1819, vol. i. p. 138. 
 
 " Herod. 1. c. He and Aristotle both call this insect yf/tjv ; see Hist Anim. 
 y. 32. It belongs to the Cynips Psenes. Pliny, xv. 19, very indefinitely calls 
 it Culex. 
 
 ^ Xenoph. 1. c. 
 
 ** Near a place called Corsote, beyond the Median wall. Xenophon. Op. 
 p. 256. 
 
 " Herod, i. 179 ; cf. Niebuhr's Voyage, ii. 288. 
 
 ** Tith's Travels to Ormus, in Harris's Collection of Voyages, p. 207. 
 
 '^ 
 
380 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 381 
 
 where, according to Herbelot, a tradition still exists, that it 
 was of this bitumen that Babylon was formerly built.^^ It 
 was used instead of cement ; and layers of rushes or reeds 
 were likewise placed between every thirtieth row of bricks 
 as a binding material. This process, described by Herodo- 
 tus, is verified by the ruins of Babylon, and according to the 
 statements of a modern traveller, the layers of rushes and 
 palm leaves are still so fresh, that one would suppose, from 
 their appearance, that scarcely a year had elapsed since they 
 were first placed together.^® 
 
 Such was the character of this remarkable country. If 
 nature on one side had done much towards assisting the la- 
 bours of the inhabitants, she had on the other thrown incre- 
 dible obstacles in their way. The perception of the first 
 urged them to overcome the latter. It was precisely this 
 struggle which developed the power of human genius among 
 them, in a manner in which it has taken place no where else. 
 Yet all this, perhaps, would have been in vain, without the 
 still greater advantage derived from the favourable position of 
 the country. In consequence of this, Babylon became the 
 principal state of Western Asia ; nature herself seeming to 
 have formed it for the great seat of the international com- 
 merce of Asia.^^ Situated between the Indus and the Medi- 
 terranean, it was the natural staple of such precious wares of 
 the East as were esteemed in the West. Its proximity to the 
 Persian Gulf, the great highway of trade, which nature seems 
 to have prepared for the admission of the seafaring nations 
 of the Indian Seas into the midst of Asia, must be reckoned 
 as another advantage, especially when taken in connexion 
 with its vicinity to the two great rivers, the continuation, as 
 it were, of this great highway, and opening a communication 
 with the nations dwelling on the Euxine and the Caspian. 
 Thus favoured by nature, this country necessarily became 
 the central point, where the merchants of nearly all the na- 
 
 - Herbelot, B^^lioth. Orient s. v. HU. It must not however ^e supposed 
 that these were the only sources whence naphtha might be procured, it is 
 found atLTpkntiful Lar the Tigris ; so much so that it jf. an amusemen 
 of the sailors upon that river to set fire to the bitumen which floats on its 
 
 '"» Herod, and Niebuhr, U. cc. Traces of these are visible on a Baby- 
 lonian brick in the museum of Gottingen. 
 • See above, Persians, p. 24 
 
 tions of the civilized world assembled ; and such we are in- 
 formed by history it remained, so long as the international 
 commerce of Asia flourished. Neither the devastating 
 sword of conquering nations, nor the heavy yoke of Asiatic 
 despotism, could tarnish, though for a time they might dim 
 its splendour. It was only when the Europeans found a_ 
 new path to India across the ocean, and converted the great 
 commerce of the world from a land trade to a sea trade, 
 that the royal city on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates 
 began to decline. Then, deprived of its commerce, it fell 
 a victim to the two-fold oppression of anarchy and despot- 
 ism, and sunk to its original state — a stinking morass, and 
 a barren steppe. 
 
 The investigation of the commerce of Babylon will form 
 the subject of the following chapter ; but previously to en- 
 tering upon it, let us take a glance at the people who took 
 up their abode on this spot : who, in short, were the Baby- 
 lonians ? 
 
 In order to answer this question, we must, in the first 
 place, distinguish the ancient inhabitants, who dwelt here 
 before the invasion of the Chaldeans, from the latter race, 
 who, about the year 630 before Christ, became the domi- 
 nant people of Babylon. 
 
 We know enough of the ancient Babylonians to con- 
 clude, that they belonged to the Semetic family of nations ; 
 their language, which is very incorrectly called Chaldean, 
 (as the rude Chaldeans only changed their barbarous speech 
 for that of the cultivated Babylonians,) being an Aramean dia- 
 lect, differing but slightly from the proper Syriac. Whether 
 the inhabitants of Babylon came from India, or were tribes 
 from the peninsula of Arabia, as their language renders pro- 
 bable, is of the less consequence to the historian, as in a coun- 
 try which became a principal seat of commerce, a very mixed 
 race of people must necessarily have arisen. It is, on the 
 other hand, of importance to know, that the Babylonians 
 had, in the most remote antiquity, advanced not only to 
 fixed habitations, but also to a certain degree of civilization. 
 
 The most ancient tradition that refers to Babylon, repre- 
 sents them as a nation possessing fixed abodes and political 
 institutions.^^ Every one is familiar with the accounts 
 
 * Genes, xi. 1—7. I 
 
• 
 
 382 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 383 
 
 which the Mosaic records give us of the^r*^ empire founded 
 by Nimrod, and of the celebrated building of which Jehovah 
 prevented the completion. There is, perhaps, no where else 
 to be found a narrative so venerable for its antiquity, or so im- 
 portant in the history of civilization ; in which we have at 
 once preserved the first traces of primeval international com- 
 merce, the first political associations, and the first erection 
 of secure and permanent dwellings ! 
 
 For a long time after this early appearance, Babylon 
 vanishes, as it were, from the scene of history. The Jewish 
 annalists had no opportunity to mention her, as the Baby- 
 lonians had no connexion with them ; and with regard to 
 what the later Greek writers, Herodotus and Ctesias, tell 
 us, their statements are so mixed up with fabulous reports, 
 which they picked up in the country itself, that they are in- 
 capable of being reduced to any chronological arrangement. 
 The historical mythology of the Babylonians seems to rest 
 almost exclusively upon the names of Semiramis, Ninus, 
 and Belus, which, however embellished and interwoven with 
 astronomical ideas, still render it in the highest degree pro- 
 bable, that great conquerors had arisen in this part of Asia 
 long before the origin of the Babylonian-Chaldean empire, 
 and had founded two empires, of which nothing more has 
 been preserved than the remembrance, in the general name 
 of Assyrian monarchy. 
 
 I will leave to others the collection and arrangement of 
 these fragments of the primitive history of Babylon,^* and 
 confine myself to that epoch in which this city played so 
 great and mighty a part in the drama of the world. 
 
 This brilliant epoch begins in the latter part of the seventh 
 century before our era, about 630 years before Christ, or 
 nearly seventy years before the rise of the Persian monarchy. 
 
 A revolution then took place in Asia, similar to that 
 which Cyrus afterwards effected. A nomad people, under 
 
 "' See Gatterer's Weltgeschkhte, p. 151, etc. It is evident from a pas- 
 sage in the Armenian version of Eusebius's Chronicle^ quoted and illustrated 
 by Gesenius, the learned commentator upon Isaiah, that Babylonia, even in 
 the time of Hezekiah, 728—700, B. C, was dependent upon the Assyrian em- 
 pire, notwithstanding that Merodach-baladan is mentioned, (Isaiah, xxxix. 1,) 
 as at that time king of Babylon. It appears that the monarch here spoken of 
 had only rebelled, and now implored the assistance of Hezekiah. He was 
 slain six months after this by Elibus, another usurper, who was taken prisoner 
 by Sanherib the Assyrian ruler. 
 
 the name of Chaldean,^^ descending from the mountains of ' 
 Taurus and Caucasus, overwhelmed southern Asia, and 
 made themselves masters of the Syrian and Babylonian 
 plains. Babylonia, which they captured, became the chief 
 seat of their empire, and their king Nebuchadnezzar, by 
 subduing Asia to the shores of the Mediterranean, earned 
 his title to be ranked among the most famous of Asiatic 
 conquerors. The great victory which he gained at Cer- 
 cesium, on the banks of the Euphrates, over Pharaoh Necho, 
 king of Egypt, established his power. He destroyed Jeru- 
 salem, besieged Tyre and the other cities of Phoenicia, and 
 probably overran Egypt itself. Thus was founded the 
 Babylonian-Chaldean empire, which, about half a century 
 later, was in its turn overthrown by Cyrus. 
 
 This was not then the period of the foundation and growth 
 of Babylon, but it was that of its grandeur and power. It 
 may seem extraordinary that Herodotus does not mention 
 Nebuchadnezzar ; but if he omits the name, he agrees in 
 chronology with the statements of the Hebrew writers ; for 
 his queen Nitocris,^^ to whom he ascribes the great works 
 in and about Babylon, must have been contemporary with 
 Nebuchadnezzar, and was probably his wife.^'* 
 
 By admitting these data, already sufficiently proved by 
 
 ** The question what the Chaldeans really were, and whether they ever 
 properly existed as a nation, is one of the most difficult that history presents. 
 From eastern analogy, it seems most probable that the onraof the Hebrews, 
 which is translated Chaldeans, was a general name among the Semetic na- 
 tions for the northern barbarians^ as Turani was among the inhabitants of 
 Iran. At all events, it is certain, that the conquering Chaldeans forced their 
 way from the north, since their separate hordes had already wandered in the 
 steppes of Mesopotamia for a hundred years, and had in part settled there. 
 The reader, however, is particularly referred to Gesenius on Isaiah, xxiii. 13, 
 where the fragments of the earlier history of this people will be found col- 
 lected. This learned commentator seeks the original seat of the Chaldeans 
 in the mountains of Curdistan, now inhabited by the Curds, probably their 
 successors ; and conjectures that they were brought from their native re- 
 gions by the Assyrians as mercenaries, after which they settled in the plains 
 till they started forth as conquerors. Every one acquainted with Asiatic 
 history will at once see, that there is nothing in the opinion that their name 
 was a general appellation, but what may very well agree with this notion. 
 The hypothesis of Michaelis, that would make them Scythians, refutes itself. 
 Spicileg. Oeogr. Hebr. sic. ii. 77^ etc. 
 
 " Herod, i. 183. 
 
 " Herodotus, i. 188, calls the king Labynetus, against whom Cyrus 
 waged war, her son. It is extraordinary how the name of Nebuchadnezzar 
 could remain unknown to this historian, when, according to Josephus, Op. 
 
 E. 350, it was well known to Megasthenes and other Greek writers. I shall 
 ereafter find an opportunity of saying a few words upon this subject. 
 
384 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 m 
 
 ■ •■i>!' 
 
 the critical researches of early writers, we begin to see a 
 little more clearly through the obscurity which still en- 
 velops the foundation and aggrandisement of Babylon ; and 
 the statements of Herodotus, which were long considered 
 unworthy of credit, become intelligible. The same wonders 
 which he relates of Babylon are related by other writers 
 who like him, speak as eye-witnesses of other great cities of 
 Asia. We ought not to doubt of what appears extraordi- 
 nary, because it does not, judging from our own experience, 
 seem probable ; for this does not enable us to decide what 
 may be possible under another climate and other circum- 
 stances. Do not the pyramids of Egypt, the great wall of 
 China, and the rock-temples of Elephantis, stand as it were 
 in mockery of that criticism which would arrogate to itselt 
 the privilege of fixing boundaries to the capabihties of the 
 united strength of congregated nations ! 
 
 It is one of the peculiarities of the great despotic empires 
 which Asia has always contained, that they can with amaz- 
 ino; faciHty concentrate their power upon one single point ; 
 and thus, in consequence of the immense assemblage of 
 various tribes from distant countries, and the almost incre- 
 dible population which the ease of procuring subsistence 
 accumulates in certain fruitful regions, many vast undertak- 
 ings are practicable there, which could not be executed in 
 
 Europe. , v r a • 
 
 It must also be borne in mind, that the great cities ot Asia 
 were constituted in a manner wholly different to those of 
 Europe. They generally grew out of the settlements ot 
 nomad conquerors, who fixed their abode m a subjugated 
 country, and changed their old mode of life for one more 
 
 settled and peaceful. 
 
 The encampment of a chieftain, near the walls ot some 
 already existing capital, was speedily converted into a new 
 city which eclipsed the splendour of the old one. Itie 
 vanquished people were employed in its erection ; the plan 
 of the camp, which it followed in every particular, insured 
 its symmetry, and enables us to account for its square form, 
 and the straight lines in which its streets extended, and in- 
 tersected each other at right angles. • i • • 
 
 Such was the general origin of these vast capital cities, 
 and the process of their foundation. Where a plentiful 
 
 385 
 
 supply of building materials could be found at a convenient 
 distance ; a clay that the sun could dry, or the fire bum 
 into bricks ; and sources of bitumen that rendei-ed mortar 
 unnecessary ; our surprise must be lessened at the erection 
 of edifices and monuments such as Europe cannot equal. 
 
 These favourite residences of victorious monarchs, where 
 luxury and delight took up their abode, insensibly became 
 the central points of the commerce of their states. Long 
 trains of caravans were directed towards them, and the pro- 
 duce of the provinces here became accumulated. That this 
 was the case with Babylon will be shown in the following 
 chapter. ° 
 
 The extent of these cities forms but little guide to the 
 European in estimating their population. The compact 
 close streets of Europe form a striking contrast to the scat- 
 tered mansions of the East, surrounded with their extensive 
 courts and gardens, occupying more than an even portion 
 of the whole area. An equal space therefore was far fi-om 
 containing an equal number of men, as in the cities of Eu- 
 rope. How well these remarks apply to Babylon will be 
 seen from the express testimony of the ancients. "The 
 buildings of this city," says Quintus Curtius,^^ "do not 
 reach to the walls, but are at the distance of an acre (Ju- 
 gerum) from them. Neither is the whole city covered with 
 houses, but only ninety fiirlongs (stadia); nor do the 
 houses stand in rows by each other, but the intervals which 
 separate them are sown and cultivated, that they may fiirn- 
 ish subsistence in case of siege." ^ 
 
 Such was the origin and state of the mighty Babylon, 
 whose majesty and splendour was so celebrated in antiquity! 
 Much of its glory was due to the Chaldeans, whose mon- 
 archs, having achieved by their swords the sovereignty of 
 Asia, made it their habitation. " Is not this great Babylon 
 that I have built ! " was the proud exclamation of its king 
 Nebuchadnezzar. 37 — Still more expressive is the testimony 
 of the prophet : " Behold the land of the Chaldeans ; that 
 
 •* CuRTius, V. 12. Without doubt from the accounts of one who accom- \ 
 panied Alexander. Should not therefore Herodotus's account of the high I 
 nouses and straight streets be limited to one part of the city ? ' 
 
 Per nonaginta stadia hahitatur. He estimates the whole extent at three 
 hundred and sixty-eight stadia. 
 
 * Dan. iv. 27. 
 
 VOL. I. 2 C 
 
BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 386 
 
 nation which a little time since was not. The Assyrian sub- 
 dued it, and gave it to the inhabitants of the desert ! they 
 transformed the wandering hordes of nations mto settled 
 abodes ; and built up the palaces of the land. 
 
 Ancient Babylon, from the character and arrangement ot 
 its buildings, was prevented from leaving monuments to 
 posterity worthy of comparison with tho^ of Persepolis ; 
 but its heaps, or rather mountams of rubbish stdl interes 
 the attention of the philosopher and historian. The most 
 ancient of ancient ruins, the very traditions of whose origin 
 reach back to the eariiest dawn of history ! A living wit- 
 ness, as it were, of the truth of the first records of our sacred 
 books However changed during the lapse of thousands ot 
 years, that first building began by the nations has not alto- 
 gether vanished from the earth ! 
 
 It was again, in this case, reserved for the present age to 
 throw a clearer hght upon this great object, by exploring 
 the site of ancient Babylon, the only means by which it 
 
 could be effected. , . n 
 
 Notwithstanding the labours of so many early travellers, 
 and among others of Niebuhr, who first led the way, various 
 obstacles prevented any one of them from making an ac- 
 curate examination of the monuments of Babylon ; and the 
 most important, or at least the largest, were precisely those 
 which still remained enveloped in almost total obscurity. 
 Recent English travellers, among whom Sir Ker Porter 
 holds the first rank, raised at length the veil which had so 
 long covered these venerable remains of the primeval world. 
 
 According to Herodotus, the only ancient writer who, a^ 
 an eye-witness, has left a description of ancient Babylon, 
 
 ■ Isaiah, xxiii. 13. Michaelis's translation. . ., ■, -n i. i 
 
 - Ekh the British resident at Bagdad, in 1811 repeatedly vis.ed Babylon, 
 accom^ni d by Ws Wend Belino. ajseman. The rmts of 'h^earch^^ 
 were a first and second Metmir on the Rmng of Babylon, Lond. 1818. beven 
 vea«1ato Porter likewise accompanied by Selino, visited and explored the 
 SHf the anc°ent city i and his exact, and detailed, and very interesting de- 
 scrintions a?e riven !n his Traveh m Georgia, Persia, Babyhnm, etc vol u. 
 nTSeOwUh views and plans. I would, once for all. remark, that they 
 L t^Sed as the authority for the following statements where no 
 ^er is qXd. The accompanying plan by the assistance of my fnend 
 Pmfi.«or Otfr Miiller, has been reduced from plates 73, 74, of sorter. 
 There °s also an Essay on ancient Babylon, by daptain Frederick m the 
 YZJ^ofL LUeJary Society of Bombay, Lond. 1823, those who have 
 
 *"-"H"RTD:Tf8^irrVheV.!^;ulars mentioned by D.oo. i. p. 121, etc.. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 387 
 
 the city formed a perfect square, of which each side was one 
 hundred and twenty stadia (twelve geographical miles) long. 
 It was built on both banks of the Euphrates, which divided 
 it into two parts connected by a stone bridge, with wooden 
 planks laid over for the pathway, which might be removed 
 at pleasure. The banks of the river were lined with bricks. 
 In the midst of one quarter of the city stood the royal palace ; 
 in the other, the temple of Bel, in a quadrangular enclosure 
 two stadia in circumference. In the midst of the same rises 
 a tower composed of eight stories ; the lowermost being one 
 stadia in length and breadth ; around which runs up a flight 
 of steps with resting places. Upon the uppermost tower 
 stands the sanctuary, in which is placed a table and couch 
 of solid gold, but no statue. The city was surrounded by 
 a deep and wide moat full of water, and faced with bricks; 
 behind which was an embankment, or wall, two hundred 
 royal cubits high, built of ihe earth, dug out of the moat, 
 burnt into bricks, with doors at the top. A second wall, of 
 almost equal strength, formed a further defence between the 
 other and the city : the royal palace also was fortified. The 
 streets were built in straight lines running in two directions, 
 and cutting each other at right angles ; those towards the 
 river had gates of brass. The houses were built three and 
 four stories high ; and Babylon was the most richly adorned 
 city that the historian had ever seen. 
 
 Setting aside for the present the two questions relative to 
 
 evidently borrowed from Ctesias, who undoubtedly visited Babylon, contain 
 numerous events not to be found in Herodotus ; such, for example, as those 
 relatmg to the hanging gardens, the double royal palace, etc. Ctesias, how- 
 ever, not only recounts what he saw himself, but also what he heard. Such, 
 too, is in some measure the case with Herodotus, who certainly saw the ex- 
 terior of the temple of Belus, which was still in good preservation, though he 
 could not obtain a sight of the interior, which had been previously pillaged 
 by Xerxes. He must likewise have seen the royal palace of Babylon, since 
 the kings of Persia were accustomed to pass a part of the winter in that capi- 
 tal ; but Darius had already, at its capture, thrown down the walls, or at least 
 a part of them, (Herod, iii. 159,) and the particulars of their prodigious 
 height and thickness rest upon a relation made to Herodotus, which he re- 
 peats as he heard it, and which the reader must modify according to his be- 
 lief. We must not however judge of them from what we see around us. The 
 Chinese wall which now exists, could not have been built in Europe; this, 
 and the Median wall, built also of brick, which once bounded Babylonia on 
 the north, and extended from the I'igris to the Euphrates, though perhaps 
 "o^so high, were certainly longer than those of Babylon. At all events it is 
 sufficiently clear from the history of the siege of Babylon, by Darius, that the 
 walls of this city were of an extraordinary height and solidity. 
 
 2 c 2 
 
 < 
 
BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 383 
 
 the position of the principal monuments and the extent of 
 ancient Babylon, let us take a survey of the inims as hey at 
 present exist, according to the latest mformation. This will 
 be much facilitated by the plan annexed to this volume. 1 
 hope, after this preparation, I shall be able to investigate the 
 above two, otherwise difficult, questions, with less labour 
 
 both to myself and reader. e n u ^ ., ^r. t\.^ 
 
 Rich and Porter both sought the rums of Babylon on the 
 banks of the Euphrates, near the little modern town ot Hila, 
 32" 31' N lat. Starting from Bagdad, about hity miles 
 forther north on the Tigris, the first place Porter arrived at 
 was Akkerkuf on the Tigris, where the Median wall for- 
 merly reached this river; thence taking a south-west direc- 
 tion, he crossed the plain to the Euphrates. The direct 
 ioumey thence to Babylon is forty-four miles, the interven- 
 ing space being a completely level, but now uncultivated 
 plain! though the numerous canals, now dry, by which it 
 is every where intersected, as well as the fragments of bricks 
 and tiles with which it is every where strewed, are proofs ot 
 its former different state. Here and there an isolated cara- 
 vanserai points out the usual resting place, and offers the 
 traveller its scanty accommodation. At the last of these, 
 near the village of Mahowill, ten miles from HiUa, begin, 
 properly speaking, the ruins of Babylon ; the rest of the 
 way being every where covered with unburnt bricks, evi- 
 dently the remains of a great, wide-spread city. 
 
 The great ruins which first strike the eye of the traveller 
 in coming from Bagdad by the way of Mahowill, he on the 
 east side of the river northward of Hilla. Their first ap- 
 pearance is that of natural hills, but a closer examination 
 soon clearly shows, that they are composed of bricks and 
 are evidently the remains of large buildings. Three of these 
 immense mounds are found in succession from north to south, 
 on the eastern side of the Euphrates. 
 
 In the language of the Arabians, one now bears the name 
 ot Mukallibe*' (the overturned,) the second, El Kasr, (the 
 palace,) and the third, the Amram hill (the grave of a saint 
 
 of that name). , , i 
 
 The first mound, a, Mukallibe, is the most northern, and 
 
 " Pronounced bv the Arabians Mojalihe, 
 
 CHAP. !• 
 
 LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 389 
 
 the largest of the three.*'^ It is formed of bricks dried in 
 the sun. The whole forming an oblong square, the top of 
 which presents an uneven surface, having the appearance 
 of a platform, upon which some great buildings had formerly 
 been erected. The interior is full of ravines and holes, now 
 the resort of wild beasts, which renders the entrance danger- 
 ous. In an opened apartment Mr. Rich found a wooden 
 sarcophagus, containing a skeleton, covered with nitre, whose 
 great antiquity admitted of no doubt. This building has 
 been erroneously taken for the ancient temple of Belus, its 
 structure being quite opposed to the pyramidical form in 
 which this was built. It was probably the fortress which 
 defended this quarter of the town, in which the royal palace 
 was situated. Nothing more can be said of it with any de- 
 gree of certainty. 
 
 At two thousand two hundred and fifty feet south of this 
 hill, is the second hill, b, named by the Arabs El Kasr, or 
 the palace. When visited by Rich, it was nearly a square 
 of seven hundred yards in length and breadth. But even 
 in the seven years which intervened between this visit and 
 that of Porter, the everlasting digging and carrying away 
 of the bricks had been suflficient to change its shape. What 
 then must have been its size twenty centuries before ! Every 
 vestige discoverable in it declares it to have been composed 
 of buildings far superior to all the rest which have left traces 
 in the eastern quarter of the city. The bricks are of the 
 finest description, hardened not in the sun but in the fire, 
 perfectly moulded and ornamented with inscriptions. And 
 notwithstanding they have been taken away from this place, 
 as from a great storehouse for centuries, they appear still to 
 be abundant. But these continued robberies have disfigured 
 the appearance of the hill. Deep pits and ravines have been 
 dug out, and in some places they have bored into the solid 
 mass, forming winding caverns and subterranean passages. 
 Besides these bricks, fragments of alabaster vessels, fine 
 earthen ware, marble, and great quantities of polished tiles, 
 the glazing and colouring of which are surprisingly fresh, 
 
 " Its present height, which, according to Porter, is the same it always was, 
 is 140 feet ; the northern, which is the longest side, is 542 ; and the south and 
 east sides 230 feet. The four points are placed according to the opposite 
 points of the compass. 
 
390 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 391 
 
 are still found. The walls are eight feet in thickness, m 
 some places ornamented with niches, and in others strength- 
 ened by pilasters. The face of every brick on which the 
 inscription is stamped was universally turned downwards. 
 The upper side of each row was covered with a layer of 
 cement ; and on this, carefully prepared, the face of the suc- 
 ceeding row was bedded. The firmness of these masses is 
 so great, that in spite of the bricks being the hardest of any 
 that Porter had met with, he found they would not bear de- 
 taching. It was only after considerable labour, that he 
 succeeded in chipping oft^ a few pieces, although the layers 
 of cement are not more than the twentieth part of an inch 
 in thickness. Along the western and northern face of this 
 great mound, are detached portions of a wall, which proba- 
 bly composed the piers or buttresses of the terraces, attached 
 to the celebrated hanging gardens described by Diodorus, 
 and which, according to Curtius, had the appearance ot a 
 forest. In the ruins which now remain, lines of long pas- 
 sao-es and square chambers may be easily traced, which com- 
 manded a view of the city. Amongst these ruins stands a 
 solitary tree, of a species altogether strange to this country. 
 It bears every mark of high antiquity, its originally enorm- 
 ous trunk being worn away, and shattered by time, while 
 its spreading and evergreen branches are particularly beau- 
 tiful, and adorned with long tress-like tendrils ; probably 
 the last descendant of those hanging gardens, which were 
 numbered among the wonders of the world. 
 
 About two thousand four hundred feet from Kasr, is 
 Amram hill, c. This great mass spreads over a vaster ex- 
 panse every way than that of Kasr, and is now of a trian- 
 gular form. Its longest side, on the south-west, is no less 
 than four thousand two hundred feet ; the shortest, on the 
 north, is two thousand five hundred. The whole of this 
 stupendous heap is broken, like that of the Kasr, into deep 
 cavemed ravines, and long winding furrows, from the 
 number of bricks that have been taken away ; so that it now 
 has the appearance of an ordinary heap of irregular form. 
 It is a shapeless assemblage of bricks, mortar, and cement, 
 where the foot of the traveller plunges at every step into 
 dust and rubbish. Its former state or designation it is now 
 impossible to determine. 
 
 Several lofty corresponding ridges or mounds of ramparts 
 surround the space occupied by these different heaps ; and 
 notwithstanding their ruinous state, it is easy to discover 
 their ancient designation ; which, without doubt, was the 
 defence of this large space, and all the establishments it 
 contained. The outermost line of defence begins on the 
 north-west of Mukallibe, at the point d^ surrounds this 
 fort, and stretches in a straight line to point e, in a south- 
 east direction. Here there is an opening, /, where, without 
 doubt, once stood a stately entrance ; it then returns in a 
 south-west direction, g^ beyond the hill of Amram, which 
 it encloses towards the river ; so that it forms with this a 
 great triangle, of which the curved line h — i (the river) 
 forms the base, and the two lines e and g the two sides. 
 Within this triangle run two wall lines of defence, of which 
 one forms an angle to the other ; the first near k ; and, two 
 hundred paces behind this, parallel to it, a second, near /, 
 which, however, in the midst has a large opening. 
 
 Behind these triple lines rise the three great mounds 
 above described, together with some smaller ones. But all 
 that part of the river which forms the base of the triangle is 
 defended by a wall enclosure, composed of bricks dried in 
 the sun, and rising in some places sixty feet above the bed 
 of the river ; in this most likely were fixed the splendid 
 gates of brass that defended the city towards the river. In 
 Porter s plan, the length of the base of the great triangle, 
 formed by the Euphrates, is three English miles and three 
 quarters ; the length of the northern shank, two miles and 
 three quarters ; and that of the southern, two miles and a 
 half, reckoning from the opening near^, to the river. 
 
 All that has thus far been described lies on the eastern 
 bank of the river. Let us now take a view of the western, 
 which Porter had an opportunity of minutely exploring. 
 The earlier opinion, which even Rennel adopted, and which, 
 owing to the very defective information that had then been 
 obtained, placed the temple of Bel and the royal palace on 
 the eastern side of the river, is now completely refuted ;** 
 
 *" However valuable, therefore, may be the chart of the country of Baby- 
 lonia by this great geographer, the ground plan of the city contained in the 
 same sheet can be of no practical use. Rich, in his second Memoir, has 
 examined and confuted Rennel's opinion. 
 
 A 
 
 .\ 
 
 *• 
 
 t^'- 
 
 I 
 
392 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 393 
 
 and the local of this immense city obtains, by more recent 
 investigations, an extent corresponding to what we are told 
 of it by the ancients ; though it cannot be supposed that 
 modern research, often directed to the mere tracing of 
 ruins, rather than to ruins themselves, should produce 
 measurements and definitions as exact as if the whole an- 
 cient city, not only with its walls, its palaces, and temples, 
 but likewise its houses and their offices, remained in its full 
 extent, unchanged. 
 
 The western bank of the Euphrates certainly contamsno 
 such mounds of ruins as those lying opposite on the eastern; 
 for scarcely any eye could discover the largest of them, (the 
 ruins of Nimrod's fort, of which we shall presently speak,) 
 at a greater distance than twelve miles. But notwithstand- 
 ing this, the researches of Porter lead to some highly in- 
 teresting results. I shall here quote that traveller s own 
 words :** " We left the town of Hillah on the western bank 
 of the Euphrates, by the gate nearest the river, which gave 
 our march a northerly direction. In this route, having 
 crossed four dry canals, and found for two miles beyond 
 them the ground perfectly level, we approached the village 
 of Anana. It is situated on the western bank of the Eu- 
 phrates, almost immediately opposite the ruins of the Amram 
 and Kasr hills, and is distant nearly three miles from Hillah. 
 About fifty yards to the north-west of the village of Anana 
 rises a rather considerable ridge of mounded earth, fourteen 
 feet high, running due north for three hundred yards, then 
 forming a right angle due east, takes that direction till it 
 meets the river. All around was very low and marshy, and 
 the mounds in question were nearly all I could see for a 
 good way up along this bank of the stream. On the face 
 of the ridge, terminating at the water-side, the courses of 
 the sun-dried brick are distinctly visible ; but the level of 
 the land is now so equal with that of the river, that any 
 more abundant traces of a corresponding embankment to 
 that on the opposite shore must be confessed to be no longer 
 discernible ; yet the discovery of one link is sufficient for 
 concluding that others have formerly been there to complete 
 the chain. But why this western dike has been so much 
 
 •• Travels, ii. 379. 
 
 more nearly totally demolished than its eastern neighbour, 
 we cannot conjecture : the fact only is certain ; and the 
 consequence probably has been, that the want of any pro- 
 tection from the superflux of the river has rendered its 
 * besom of desti-uction' more completely sweeping over this 
 level tract. Some trifling mounded hillocks however are 
 perceivable a little to the south of the village. 
 
 " Having traversed the plain north-west for some time, 
 in search of further mounds in that direction, I turned, dis- 
 appointed, and bent my way south-west, keeping the Birs 
 Nimrod in my eye. After riding onward about a mile, I 
 found the little vegetation which cheered the waste gradually 
 disappear, and the ground become perfectly sterile. All 
 over this surface evident marks are visible of its having been 
 formerly covered with buildings ; these indications increased 
 at every step, till, after such growing proofs for more than 
 a mile, we came to a numerous and very conspicuous as- 
 semblage of mounds ; the most considerable of which was 
 about thirty-five feet in height ; and from its elevated sum- 
 mit I observed that the face of the country, both to the 
 north and the south, for upwards of a mile either way, bore 
 the same hillocky appearance ; besides being thickly scat- 
 tered with those fi-agments of past habitations, which, in all 
 Babylonian ruins, have so particularly marked their charac- 
 ter. Here, doubtless, is the trace of a building of consider- 
 able consequence, o. The extent of its mounds and ruins- 
 tracked ground seemed more than two miles ; and having 
 traversed that extent to the south-west, I found the hilly 
 vestiges did not cease for a mile beyond. Here, I think it is 
 possible, I may have found the site of the old or lesser palace. 
 
 " On quitting this first extensive heap of mounds, which, 
 for perspicuity at least, I shall designate by the name of 
 lesser palace, and keeping on in the same direction (south- 
 west) we crossed a space of high grass and rank weeds for 
 nearly a mile ; we then found the plain arid again, and un- 
 dulated with a multitude of mounds, but of inferior elevation 
 to those last described ; these two were attended by the 
 usual exterior fragments of ruins, spreading in a circular 
 form rather more than half a mile in breadth. Having duly 
 explored this second specimen of considerable remains, we 
 came out upon a great deal of cultivated ground, over which 
 
394 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 we took our course for more than a mile, when we arrived 
 at the banks of a canal, the bed of which we crossed, and 
 half a mile more brought us to an extensive wood of date 
 trees, in the bosom of which stands the village of Thamasia. 
 We did not halt there, but passed on over t^o miles of cul- 
 tivation and high grass, at which extremity a vast tract 
 opened before us, covered with every minor vestige ot 
 former buildings ; and which appearances continued the 
 whole way to the eastern verge of the boundary around the 
 Birs Nimrod, a distance of nearly a mile and three quarters. 
 Thus then we come to the most distant but largest monu- 
 ment which yet remains of ancient Babylonia. The Arab 
 name of the Birs Nimrod is I think translated as exactly as 
 possible by that of Nimrod^s tower. Although Niebuhr saw 
 it at a distance, and mentioned it in his Travels, neither he 
 nor his predecessors had the satisfaction of exploring it.* 
 This pleasure was reserved for Rich, an Enghsh resident at 
 Bagdad, who was followed a short time after by Sir Ker 
 Porter, to whom we are indebted for the most exact re- 
 searches and details, as well as the best drawings on the 
 subject. This huge mass of building lies about six miles 
 south-west of Hillah. It has the appearance of an oblong 
 hill, the base of which, according to Porter, is two thousand 
 and eighty-two feet in circumference. Rich reckons it at 
 two thousand two hundred and eighty-six.^ It may easily 
 be conceived that it is scarcely possible to fix in a positive 
 manner the circumference of such a ruin. Its present 
 height, reckoning to the bottom of the tower, standing on 
 its summit, is two hundred feet ; the tower itself is thirty- 
 five. Looking at it from the west, the entire mass rises at 
 once from the plain in one stupendous, though irregular, 
 pyramidal hill. It is composed of fine bricks, kiln-baked. 
 From the western side two of its stories may be distinctly 
 seen ; the first is about sixty feet high, cloven in the middle 
 by deep ravines. The tower-like looking rum on the sum- 
 mit is a solid mass twenty-eight feet wide, of the most beau- 
 tiful masonry ; to all appearance it formed an angle of some 
 square building, the ruins of which are yet to be seen on the 
 
 « Niebuhr mentions (Beise ii. §. 290) with regret his having been prevented 
 prehension of the wil'' ^-^-^ '" ♦^'^ ^'^'^''^ ^'''^"^ ''^"^^^^ examinme it. 
 ich's Memoir, p. 36. 
 
 « Niebuhr mentions {Meise ii. ^. zw; wuu rcgict mo .i«,t..5 ^ — *'.„«,•; 
 by apprehension of the wUd tribes in the desert from closely examining it. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 395 
 
 eastern side. The cement which connects the bricks is so 
 hard, that it was impossible to chip off the smallest piece ; 
 and for this reason none of the inscriptions can be copied, 
 as they are always on the lower surface of the bricks. It is 
 rent from the top nearly half way to the bottom ; and at its 
 foot lay several unshapen masses of fine brick-work, still 
 bearing traces of a violent fire, which has given them a 
 vitrified appearance, whence it has been conjectured that it 
 has been struck by lightning. The appearance of the hill 
 on the eastern side evidently shows that this enormous mass 
 has been reduced more than half. Only three stories out of 
 the eight which it formerly contained can now be discerned. 
 The earth about the bottom of the hill is now clear, but is 
 again surrounded by walls, which form an oblong square, 
 enclosing numerous heaps of rubbishy probably once the 
 dwellings of the inferior deities, or of the priests and oflScers 
 of the temple. The appearance of the tower of Nimrod is 
 sublime even in its ruins. Clouds play around its summit ; 
 its recesses are inhabited by lions, three being quietly bask- 
 ing on its heights when Porter approached it,*^ and, scarcely 
 intimidated by the cries of the Arabs, gradually and slowly 
 descended into the plain. Thus the words of the prophet 
 have been fiilfiUed : " wild beasts of the desert shall lie 
 there ; owls shall fill their houses, ostriches shall dwell there, 
 and satyrs shall dance there. Jackals shall howl in their 
 palaces, and wild hounds in their pleasant places." *® 
 
 Previously to giving my opinion upon these monuments 
 separately, it will be necessary to determine from history, 
 the epochs of the rise, the aggrandisement, and embellish- 
 ment of ancient Babylon. Its foundation must be carried 
 back to the time of Nimrod, the first chieftain in those re- 
 gions ; when a tower, that is a sanctuary, a temple, and a 
 city were built here by the nations.'*^ Whether this temple 
 was consecrated to some idol, Bel, or any other, we are not 
 informed ; but supposing this to have been the case, it ac- 
 counts for the wrath of Jehovah, who descended to interrupt 
 the progress of the building. Near this temple was built a 
 city. The age, not merely of the tower, but of the oldest 
 city of the earth, of which any vestiges yet exist, cannot be 
 
 *' Travels, ii. p. 387. *^ Isaiah, xiii. 20, 21. ' • Genes, xi. 4. 
 
396 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 397 
 
 computed to a year ; but, according to general chronology, 
 it dates from some where about the second century after the 
 flood. 
 
 The second epoch is that of Semiramis. Diodorus re- 
 lates in detail all that is attributed to this queen. She made 
 Babylon the seat of her government. She built the outer 
 walls ; erected two royal castles or palaces upon the two 
 banks of the Euphrates, of which that upon the western side, 
 within a triple enclosure, was by far the most magnificent. 
 She not only built a bridge over the river, but erected 
 quays on each bank, and dug a subterraneous tunnel under 
 it, which connected the two royal residences. Lastly, to 
 her is attributed the foundation of the temple of Belus.^ 
 
 It is of little consequence whether we consider Semiramis 
 as belonging to mythology or history. The great works 
 attributed to her must in either case be carried back to a 
 period previous to the Chaldean conquest ; whether she 
 founded them herself, or whether she merely obtained the 
 credit for doing what had been accomplished by a series of 
 the most ancient sovereigns of Babylon. According to 
 Herodotus, who calls her husband Ninus, her reign must be 
 placed about 1200 years before Christ. ^^ 
 
 The third epoch, perfectly historical, that of the aggrand- 
 isement and embellishment of Babylon, falls in the reign of 
 Nebuchadnezzar, after the Chaldean conquest, from 604 to 
 561 before Christ. This is placed beyond a doubt, by the 
 contemporary accounts of the Hebrew writers. Besides 
 this, Josephus has left us in the fragments which he has 
 preserved of the books of Berosus, positive accounts of the 
 works began and executed by Nebuchadnezzar.^*^ " He 
 built a three-fold wall or entrenchment round about the 
 inner city, and another in like manner about that which 
 
 *• DiODOR. i. 121, who informs us expressly, that the palace on the western 
 side was far the most splendid ; and at the same time describes not only its 
 dimensions, but likewise its ornaments, composed of great pictorial represent- 
 ations of hunting scenes, etc. The tradition of a way under the river, which 
 Ctesias, from whom Diodorus evidently copied, certainly did not see, probably 
 arose from subterranean caverns near the palaces, wliich were indispensable 
 in this climate. W^hat wonderful stories have not been told of subterranean 
 passages and vaults in our cloisters and castles? 
 
 *' Reckoning the Assyrian empire, according to his account, i. 95, to have 
 continued 520 years. 
 
 ■^ Josephus, Arch. x. 349, etc. 
 
 was the outer, all of burnt brick. And when he had walled 
 the city about, and adorned its gates gloriously, he built 
 another palace by the side of his father s, but so that they 
 joined. To describe their vast height and great splendour 
 would be superfluous. In this royal seat he also erected 
 terraces of stone, which resembled mountains, and planted 
 it with various kinds of trees, which was called a suspended 
 paradise ; because his wife, who had been bred up in Media, 
 was desirous of having things like her own country." 
 
 These were the epochs of the advancement and embellish- 
 ments of Babylon, up to the conquest of Cyrus, by which 
 it became a Persian city. How grievously the Babylonians 
 felt this yoke is proved by their general revolt at "the com- 
 mencement of the reign of Darius, who, after the capture 
 of Babylon, by the stratagem of Zopirus, demolished the 
 greater part, if not the whole, of its outward walls. 
 
 Although it was the winter residence of the kings of Per- 
 sia, it had already much declined when conquered by Alex- 
 ander. Xerxes had despoiled the temple of Bel of its most 
 precious ornaments and utensils ; the temple itself began to 
 wear the appearance of decline ; and the canals of the en- 
 virons were stagnant and poisonous. Had not death de- 
 feated the grand projects of Alexander, the venerable Ba- 
 bylon would have become the capital of his empire ; the 
 central point of the land and sea commerce of the world. 
 She would probably have become the flourishing and mighty 
 queen of nations, and the destinies of the human race might 
 have been altogether changed. But inscrutable Providence, 
 who disposes of all according to his will, recalled, in the 
 midst of his career, the only man capable of giving peace 
 to the world, as it then existed, and of securing it a durable 
 form. His death decided the fate of Babylon. The new 
 cities of Selucia, Ctesiphon, and others, arose in its neigh- 
 bourhood ; and as the materials were almost entirely fetched 
 from its inexhaustible magazines,^^ they were built, as it 
 were, at her expense. Thus was that ancient city laid waste 
 and transformed into a wild, where the hunter might await 
 his prey, where the beast might flee before his pursuer, and 
 where he still takes up his habitation. 
 
 " Plin. H. N. vi. 30. ' 
 
398 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 The foregoing elucidations, I conceive, justify me in 
 making the following conclusions. 
 
 First. The accounts given by the ancients, and especially 
 by Herodotus, respecting the extent and situation of ancient 
 Babylon, seem to be confirmed by the investigations of the 
 modems quite as much as could be expected, considering 
 the nature of its ruins. Herodotus states its length and 
 breadth to have been one hundred and twenty stadia, or 
 twelve geographical miles. From the most southern mound 
 of ruins, to the northernmost one, that is to say, from the 
 Birs Nimrod to Mukallibe, is upwards of eight miles in a 
 straight line. Vestiges of ancient buildings, however, which 
 are still found for upwards of three miles beyond Mohavil, 
 prove very plainly, that the city extended towards the north 
 beyond Mukallibe. Whether also it extended towards the 
 south, beyond the Birs Nimrod, has not yet been deter- 
 mined ; but if I succeed, as I hope soon to do, in showing 
 that the Birs Nimrod is the ancient temple of Bel, this con- 
 jecture will be confirmed ; since this temple was not situ- 
 ated at the end of the city, but in its interior. Thus the 
 length of ancient Babylon, from north to south, may be es- 
 timated at twelve miles ; as regards its width from west to 
 east, we have no such positive data, because, at the extremi- 
 ties of the ruins in this direction, there are no great monu- 
 ments. Nevertheless, from the most western heap of rums, 
 to the eastern point, where the opening of the great triangle, 
 of which I have above spoken, (from /to o,) may be reckon- 
 ed at five or six miles ; and that the city extended beyond 
 both these points will, in the sequel, be made very clearly 
 
 to appear. 
 
 Seco7idly. It is not only proved from the most recent in- 
 vestigations, that ancient Babylon was situated on the banks 
 of the Euphrates, and that the course of this river has un- 
 dergone no important change ;'* but it also becomes highly 
 probable, that the western part of this city, whose existence 
 has been doubted, was the largest. The distance from Nim- 
 rod's tower to the most northern hill, ;/?, beyond the village 
 of Anana, is very nearly six geographical mjles ; and that 
 
 « Only that in the neighbourhood of the hanging gardens, the river on the 
 eastern side has gained upon the land, so that the ancient embankment is 
 now at some distance from the shore, as is pointed out in the plan. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 399 
 
 the width of this part of the city could not have been less, 
 is sufficiently evident from the statements of Porter given 
 above. 
 
 Thirdly. This traveller I believe to be correct in con- 
 sidering this western quarter of the city as the most ancient. 
 It is said by him to be that which included not only the 
 primeval city and tower of Nimrod, but likewise, at least 
 the greatest portion, of the mighty works attributed to Se- 
 miramis. This explains why, with the exception of the 
 tower of Nimrod, which thousands of years have not been 
 able to destroy, so few great ruins are to be found in this 
 western quarter ; for not only time, but the neglect occa- 
 sioned by the aggrandisement of the eastern quarter, must 
 have hastened its decay. 
 
 Fourthly. The tower of Nimrod is the ancient temple of 
 Bel, which, therefore, was in the western quarter of the 
 city, and not in the eastern, as was formerly generally be- 
 lieved. This must be at once admitted, if it can be estab- 
 lished, that the western quarter of the city was the most 
 ancient ; a fact which will receive additional support from 
 what we shall have to say upon the eastern. It has been 
 very clearly proved by Porter, that neither the situation nor 
 form of a single eastern ruin, (nor Mukallibe, as Rennel 
 believed,) will agree with the ancient temple of Bel. 
 
 The Birs Nimrod, however, corresponds with it, first in 
 form ; for of the eight stories, which it had originally, three 
 can still be made out. It corresponds with it, secondly, in 
 dimensions, for its length and breadth agree with what is 
 stated by Herodotus, so far as they can be determined from 
 a mountain-heap of ruins. It corresponds, finally, with the 
 statement of the same historian, that this pyramid-formed 
 sanctuary stood within a square enclosure ; for the remains 
 of such a one are still very clearly to be traced. It is im- 
 possible to carry the comparison further than this respecting 
 a building now reduced to a heap of rubbish. Even when 
 seen by Herodotus it had been destroyed by Xerxes, and, 
 at least in part, lay in ruins. So immense, however, were 
 they, that Alexander, who entertained the idea of restoring 
 it, was obliged to abandon even the clearing away of the 
 rubbish, upon which he employed his army, afler having in 
 
400 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 vain tried the Babylonians upon it.^ Besides, it is no 
 where stated, that the temple of Bel was erected in the 
 eastern quarter of the city; but only that it stood in the 
 midst of one quarter. Whether this is to be taken in a 
 strict sense, or whether it means no more than that it was 
 situated within the city, it will be impossible to determine, 
 unless some other traveller be able to inform us, whether to 
 the south of Nimrod's tower, as well as on the other sides, 
 traces of the ancient city are still to be found for any con- 
 siderable distance. 
 
 Fifthly. If Nimrod's tower be the ancient temple of Bel, 
 then it must be admitted that it belongs to the oldest ruins 
 of Babylon ; or rather that it is the oldest. There seems 
 nothing to oppose this fact ; while all seems to speak in 
 favour of its being the remains of that primeval building 
 erected by the assembly of nations, whose top should reach 
 to heaven, but whose completion was prevented by Jehovah. 
 It may be assumed that its site was westward of the stream, 
 because it was built by the descendants of Noah, when they 
 were journeying from west to east. " As they now to- 
 wards the east journeyed," it is said, " they found a plain 
 in the land of Sinear, and dwelt therein."^ It was built of 
 the same material as that of which the ruin consists. " And 
 spake they to one another : Let us make and burn bricks. 
 And take bricks as stone and clay for lime."*^ There is no 
 reason why so mighty a building should have been entirely 
 swept from the earth, in so dry and favourable a climate, 
 where so many smaller have been preserved. Its preserv- 
 ation seems in some measure accounted for, from its having 
 been, after the adoption of the worship of the stars, the tem- 
 ple of the national deity ; (whether, as I believe, the sun, 
 or, as some others think, the planet Jupiter ;^) and likewise 
 the astrological sanctuary. It is almost needless to add, that 
 this supposition in no way militates against the gradual ad- 
 ditions, aggrandisement, and embellishments, which it after- 
 wards received, and which were again, in the course of cen- 
 turies, reduced to ruins. Neither can any thing be argued 
 
 •ft Arrian vii. 17. 
 
 •• Gen. xi.'2. [The English translation has it/row the East. TVs.] 
 
 *» Gen. xi. 3, 4. * Gesenius in Isaiah, ii. p. 395. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 401 
 
 against its high antiquity, from bricks with inscriptions hav- 
 ing been found amongst its ruins. The only question here 
 is respecting the original foundation— the first and mightiest 
 that the hand of man erected ; and what higher confirma- 
 tion can there be of the most ancient record we possess, than 
 the existence of the most ancient monument, mentioned by 
 its inspired author ? 
 
 SLvthly. Modern investigations confirm also the particu- 
 lars respecting the two royal palaces in Babylon. These 
 ancient residences of the kings before the Chaldean dynasty, 
 were among the great works of Semiramis, and were still 
 existing in the time of Alexander. Here he was taken ill, 
 and causing himself to be transported across the river, died 
 in the Chaldean palace, on the eastern side, of which we 
 shall presently have occasion to speak. It is true, there are 
 no such remains of the western palace, as we have of the 
 eastern ; but the vestiges of a large edifice, near o, which 
 led Porter to conjecture,^^ that the western edifice must have 
 been here situated, are sufficient to confirm the testimony 
 of Diodorus and others respecting the two royal palaces on 
 the opposite sides of the river. It is to this author we are 
 indebted for the description, borrowed from Ctesias, of the 
 western palace. It is represented as having a triple enclo- 
 sure ; the first, sixty stadia ; the second, forty stadia ; and 
 the innermost, the palace itself, twenty stadia. The walls 
 were adorned with large pictorial representations of the 
 hunting of wild beasts, similar to those which are still found 
 of a later period, that of the Sassanides, upon the walls of 
 the rock grottoes at Kermanshah. Though these buildings 
 have been swept away by time, yet the conjecture of Porter, 
 who, in the great and extensive elevations, would see the 
 remains of these enclosures, seem in the highest degree pro- 
 bable. 
 
 Seventhly. The eastern quarter of the city was the later, 
 but probably the most magnificent. It was the city of the 
 Chaldeans, where Nabopolasser and his son Nebuchadnezzar 
 reigned, and erected their royal dwellings. Here, on the 
 eastern bank of the river, was situated the new eastern 
 palace. " When Nebuchadnezzar," says Josephus,^ quoting 
 
 ** Porter, ii. p. 308. 
 
 * See above, p. 396. I repeat the passage here at length. 
 VOL. I. 2d 
 
402 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 from Berosus, '* after the death of his father, had taken 
 upon himself the administration of the government of the 
 empire of his father, and directed that when the captives 
 came they should be distributed as colonies, in the most 
 convenient places of Babylonia. Then adorned he the tem- 
 ple of Bel and the rest of the temples in a magnificent 
 manner, with the spoils he had taken in war. He also em- 
 bellished the ancient city, and so guided the stream, that it 
 might not again be turned by such that came against the 
 city to besiege it. He surrounded it about with a triple 
 enclosure without, and with a triple one within, which were 
 built of burnt brick. And after he had fortified the city, 
 and splendidly adorned the gates, he built a new palace 
 near that of his father, of the magnitude and splendour of 
 which it would be superfluous to speak. He added to it 
 elevated stone terraces, which had the appearance of moun- 
 tains ; and then planted them with various kinds of trees ; 
 and prepared the celebrated suspended paradise ; to please 
 his consort, who, having been brought up in Media, was 
 desirous of having scenery here like that of her native 
 
 country." 
 
 This account agrees in general with what is said by the 
 prophets of the improvements and beautifying of Babylon 
 by Nebuchadnezzar ; although the latter enter into no par- 
 ticular detail. But the statements of Josephus are in a 
 striking manner confirmed (with the exception of what re- 
 gards the outward wall, of which nothing remains) by the 
 existing ruins, if a proper idea, corresponding with the cir- 
 cumstances, be first formed of the extent of this palace. It 
 is not a mere palace that is to be understood, but a division 
 of the eastern city ; comprising not only the palace itself, as 
 well as the suspended gardens, and many other great build- 
 ings, but also a triple line of fortification for its defence. 
 And traces of all these may even now be pointed out with 
 all the precision that could be expected. This new palace, 
 as I call it, to distinguish it from the more ancient one in 
 the western quarter, comprised the whole above-mentioned 
 triangle, of which the Euphrates, A— i, forms the somewhat 
 irregular base, and the lines, d e, and g A, the sides. These 
 lines also were the outermost of the three interior entrench- 
 ments. One of these sides ended in the north, near the 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 403 
 
 fort, now called Mukallibe, which, whether merely a citadel, 
 or destined for some other use, defended the palace on its 
 northern side. The opening between the two sides, /, 
 formed the grand entrance, or principal gateway, to the 
 palace. The line k marks the second entrenchment ; the 
 line /, the third ; between which, other openings occur. It 
 was only through these three entrenchments that visitors 
 could approach the interior part of the residence, in which 
 was situated the royal palace, (El Kasr,) i, and near to it, 
 along the river, the hanging gardens. 
 
 So far as we can gather from the words of Josephus, the 
 palace was built by Nabopolasser, the father of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar ; for he says, near to the palace of his father, built 
 he a new one, which is understood to be the vast construc- 
 tion called the hanging gardens, p. This I believe to be 
 the correct interpretation; for Josephus expressly says, 
 Nebuchadnezzar's palace touched that of his father's. If 
 we had not however this authority, either the northern for- 
 tress, or even the great southern mound Amrarrij near c, 
 might be taken for it; for as they are merely great heaps of 
 rubbish, nothing can be determined respecting their former 
 designation. That the hanging gardens were founded by 
 Nebuchadnezzar, and not by Semiramis, is confirmed by 
 Diodorus, where he says, that a Syrian (Assyrian) king 
 built them to please his consort. If this consort be regarded 
 as Herodotus's Nitocris, and according to his chronology, 
 and his calling her the mother of the last king, Labynedus, 
 such would appear to be the case, then becomes cleared up 
 how Nitocris came to be mentioned as having embellished 
 Babylon by the great works she caused to be executed. 
 
 At all events, however, these hanging gardens, or para- 
 dises, must not be considered as merely gardens. They 
 formed together a vast construction of terraces, of which 
 Diodorus has left us the dimensions and description.^* They 
 rested upon immense buttresses ; were supplied with water 
 from the neighbouring river, by hydraulic machines ; and 
 contained, as is expressly stated by this historian,^^ royal 
 
 •' I do not believe that these particulars, so accurately given, could have 
 been taken from Ctesias. Perhaps they were borrowed from Megasthenes, 
 who, according to Josephus, 1. c, had described the works of Nebuchadnezzar. 
 
 *^ ^tatrac jSao-iXwcde, DiOD. i. p. 125. 
 
 2 D 2 
 
404 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 habitations, as well as gardens. That the Persian expres- 
 sion paradisus comprises all these, may be seen m the 
 inquiry upon the Persian court. With much propriety, 
 therefore, might these spacious works be called a new resi- 
 dence ; a summer residence, in our phraseology, (though 
 rather a winter one, as that is the only season in which man 
 can here live in the open air,) which stood contiguous to 
 the palace El Kasr, built by the father. That this building 
 could be no other than the proper palace, is evident from 
 its situation in the centre of the inhabited quarter, as well 
 as from the nature of its materials, which entirely consist of 
 kiln-burnt bricks, and also from the numerous fragments of 
 costly vessels and marble which are found here. 
 
 Should, however, after all this, any doubt remain re- 
 specting the correctness of my views, it will, I should hope, 
 vanish, upon comparing them with the account Arrian has 
 left us respecting the latter days of Alexander.^^ Accord- 
 ing to this, Alexander fell sick after the banquet with Me- 
 dius on the west side of the river ; for from his residence 
 there he caused himself to be removed in a palanquin to 
 the river, and then in a boat over the river to the paradise, 
 or hanging gardens. Here he bathed and rested in his 
 chamber,^ and gave orders to his officers. The next day 
 he caused himself to be removed to the house near the pond, 
 where he offered the prescribed sacrifices.^^ This pond, 
 therefore, was a reservoir, or fountain in the paradise, near 
 which was a place of sacrifice. On the following day, as 
 he continued to grow worse, he caused himself to be re- 
 moved from the paradise into the palace.^ This, therefore, 
 could be no other than the neighbouring palace. El Kasr, 
 in which he died. It is an interesting labour to trace out 
 accurately the scenes of great events ; but it rarely happens 
 that it is rewarded with so much success and certainty as in 
 ancient Babylon. It was from the battlements of this for- 
 tress, that Nebuchadnezzar was gazing upon that royal Babel, 
 
 " Arrian, vii. 25. From the Royal Journal, ^^ij/ilpt^ec ^aaCKiKai 
 
 •* 'EKtiQtv ik KaTOKOfUoOrivai liri KXivnc ^Q ''«'* ^ov irorafioVi koI rrXoiov ImfSavra 
 Siair\ev(fai irkpav rov rroranov its rbv TrapddiiaoV K^'rei av9ic Xovaafiivov, dvairav- 
 ctrOai, ii<n\96vTa tig rrjv KOfidpav. 
 
 " T^ ik v(TT(pai<f fitTaKOfiiaOiivai tig r^v oUiav rtjv Trpbg ry roXv/x/Bij^p^, Kai 9v<rai 
 
 likv rd Tirayfifpa. 
 
 ^ diaKOfxiaOnvai U rov napaSthov ilg rd /5cf(TiXeca. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 405 
 
 which he had built as a witness of his power, when he was 
 struck with the punishment of his haughty pride ! Through 
 those gates Cyrus and Alexander once triumphantly entered 
 into Babylon ! In those halls they dwelt ; and here the Ma- 
 cedonian hero breathed his last ! 
 
 Eighthly. Our observations upon the architecture of the 
 Babylonians must be much more limited than upon that of 
 the Persians. Of the latter, Persepolis still affords the re- 
 mains of real buildings ; of Babylon nothing is left but 
 heaps of rubbish. Yet from these it is evident, that the 
 character of the Babylonian style was totally different from 
 that of the Persians. It here took its form from the nature 
 of the materials, and the peculiarities of the climate. 
 
 The latter is dry and arid, and it scarcely ever rains. 
 The summer half-year is insupportably hot, but during the 
 winter season a most agreeable temperature prevails; so 
 that in the latter, the inhabitants dwell in the open air, 
 while in summer, coolness and shade being most in request, 
 they pass the day in grottoes, or subterraneous vaults, and 
 the nights upon the flat roofs of their dwellings. Building 
 materials here, putting cement out of the question, are con- 
 fined to one single substance, bricks, either dried in the sun, 
 or burnt in kilns. It might consequently be naturally ex- 
 pected, that the greatest pains would here be taken in the 
 manufacture and improvement of this article ; and its dura- 
 bility alone is a sufficient test of the high degree of perfec- 
 tion to which the Babylonians carried it. No where, says 
 Rich, is such masonry to be seen as is found here, espe- 
 cially in the royal palace El Kasr. Besides this, the Baby- 
 lonians excelled all other nations in the preparation and use 
 of their cement. It was of two kinds, lime and bitumen. 
 The latter, according to Porter, was only used in the lower 
 parts of their buildings, as a protection against the damp 
 and wet ;^^ lime was used for the upper parts. They were 
 both spread in layers as thin as possible, and yet were won- 
 derfully firm. With such materials, and in such a cUmate, 
 the largest buildings might be erected with a durability in 
 proportion to their size. And had not these monuments 
 been destroyed by the digging up and carrying away of 
 
 •^Travels,!!. p.315. 
 
40G 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 407 
 
 these bricks for the erection of other cities, their great 
 masses would still have remained, though the exterior might 
 perhaps have crumbled to dust. Time has not done so 
 much to destroy them as the hand of man. 
 
 The investigations respecting the use of this building 
 material have proved, that the two kinds, the bricks dried in 
 the sun, and those burnt in kilns, were not used indifferently. 
 The sun-dried were mostly employed in the formation of the 
 interior of the masses of large foundations ; while the exte- 
 rior of the buildings was faced with the more beautiful fab- 
 ric, manufactured in the furnace.^ The dimensions of these 
 bricks, according to the report of all the English travellers, 
 vary considerably, both in their largest surfece, and their 
 thickness, a fact which proves that the use of this material 
 did not require the same mechanical force as the building 
 with large blocks of stone. As these, however, might have 
 been brought down the Euphrates, they may have been 
 employed for the paving and facings of the terraces ; but it 
 would be rash to venture an opinion upon this circumstance. 
 
 The most essential peculiarity of this architecture, how- 
 ever, must have arisen from the exclusion of columns, which 
 the material made use of would not allow. Neither shafts 
 nor capitals, with their ornaments, could here be adopted. 
 Pillars and pilasters stepped into their place. But while 
 columns among other nations principally determine the cha- 
 racter of their architecture, the case here must have been 
 altogether different. What degree of taste and elegance 
 might be displayed in the formation of these brick pillars, it 
 is certainly impossible to determine, except that it seems 
 evident, that nothing could be executed where roundness 
 was required.^ This naturally leads us to consider, whe- 
 ther the Babylonians were acquainted with the use of the 
 arch. That the material they used would very well allow 
 of this, is evident from our own buildings ; and the account 
 Diodorus gives of the vast substructures of the hanging gar- 
 dens, seems certainly to point to this useful part of architec- 
 ture ; yet neither Rich^® nor Porter"'^ discovered in any por- 
 
 ■" Porter's Travels, ii. 330. 
 
 * [Round columns of brick covered with cement, arc, however, now com- 
 mon in London buildings. Trs.'} 
 '• Memoir^j^m. '» Travels, i. p. 122. 
 
 tion of the existing ruins the least trace of one, not even in 
 the subterraneous foundations of El Kasr. The case there- 
 fore seems decided as far as it possibly can be at present. 
 
 In what relation the plastic arts, sculpture and painting, 
 here stood with architecture, we have no means of ascertain- 
 ing. The first could scarcely flourish in a land destitute of 
 marble and stone. It is true that wc read in Diodorus, in 
 the above-quoted descriptions, of hunting and other expedi- 
 tions, which were represented on the walls of Semiramis's 
 palace.''^ That these were a mixture of sculpture and paint- 
 ing, or coloured reliefs, similar to those in the Egyptian 
 temples, is certainly evident from the manner in which 
 Diodorus describes them ; but there seems some difficulty 
 in conceiving how these could be executed upon walls of 
 brick. Perhaps they were cut out and filled up with colours. 
 
 Finally, One of the most remarkable circumstances con- 
 nected with this subject, is, that these bricks are frequently 
 covered with inscriptions. These are found chiefly in the 
 walls of the royal palace El Kasr, yet not here alone; they have 
 been met with even beyond the city, in the ruins oial Hima?% 
 and in other places. They are composed of a very fine clay, 
 highly burnt, and arc half a foot square, and about a full inch 
 thick. We learn from Porter, that the side with the writing 
 on is always turned downwards ; a proof of the care taken 
 for its preservation. Hence it may be inferred, that the 
 Babylonians made use of these bricks as a material for writ- 
 ing upon, as the Egyptians did papyrus, and the Indians 
 palm-leaves. The writing was probably impressed upon 
 the bricks by moulds before they were burnt ; an approach 
 therefore was made towards the discovery of printing, as 
 near as their materials would admit. The characters in 
 which the inscriptions were made, and indeed all the Baby- 
 lonian wedge-shaped writing, as we learn from the investi- 
 gations of Grotefend, were of one kind, derived from the 
 second Persepolitan, but with a much greater variety of 
 characters, though alphabetical. The language seems Ba- 
 bylonian, or the ancient Chaldean. Although these in- 
 scriptions have not been deciphered, and their contents con- 
 sequently remain unknown ; yet an important step has 
 
 « DioDOR. i. p. 122. 
 
408 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 409 
 
 already been made towards it, as their designation seems no 
 longer doubtful. The investigations of Bellino and Grote- 
 fend show that they are frequently found impressed with 
 seals on the narrow side, representing beasts or other ob- 
 jects. In one of these, BelHno recognised a lion (the arms 
 of Babylon) ; and thought that in another he could discern 
 the unicorn. Above these stand two lines of inscription ; 
 in the upper the same form is always repeated, but in the 
 lower one the words vary. This circumstance led them to 
 conclude, that they were the signature of witnesses ; the first 
 line being an equivalent to / witness, the under one the 
 name of the witness, accompanied with that of his father. 
 This naturally led to the notion, that these bricks were 
 documents, either of public or private transactions; and 
 that the places in which they are found should be regarded 
 as archives.^^ It must not however be concluded from this, 
 that all the bricks of this kind with inscriptions upon them 
 are documents ; and it would be equally precipitate, if not 
 unreasonable, to assert, that the buildings in which they are 
 found are public or royal, or even belonging to the Chal- 
 dean dynasty. Grotefend, by comparing these inscriptions 
 with those of Persepolis, found upon one of the bricks the 
 name of Darius; and who can help wishing this scholar 
 courage and opportunity to persevere in his investigations 
 of the monuments of Babylon and Persepolis, till he shall 
 have developed them in their foil extent ; especially as it is 
 found that the correctness of his interpretation of the latter 
 has even received an additional proof from the attempts 
 made to refote them.^* 
 
 I think I can scarcely offer a better confirmation of the 
 accounts the ancients have given of Babylon, whose ruins I 
 am now quitting, than by contrasting them with a similar 
 description, given by a writer of the middle ages, who may 
 be called the Herodotus of his times, and whose credibility 
 has never been questioned. 
 
 " Near Cambalu," (that is, Pekin in China,) says Marco 
 Polo, " Kublai-Khan, the successor of Ginghis-Khan, caused 
 
 " See Grotefend's Dissertation in the Fundgrttben des Orients^ B. vi., and 
 the Memoir presented to the Society of this place (Gottingen). Gott. yelehrte 
 Anzeigerii 1819, §. 1950, etc. 
 
 '* See the postscript to Appendix, ii. 
 
 a new city to be erected, called Taidu. This city was 
 twenty-four miles in circumference. No side is longer than 
 another, but each six miles. This city is encompassed with 
 a wall ten paces wide at the bottom, but narrower above. 
 All the streets are built in exact lines; so that a person 
 standing at one gate of the wall can see the opposite. The 
 sections also for the dwellings are square. In every part 
 are large palaces surrounded with spacious courts and gar- 
 dens ; so that the whole city is divided into squares similar 
 to a draft-board. The wall has twelve gates, three on each 
 side ; and at each gate is a large and splendid palace, with 
 wide roomy halls, in which are the arms of the guards. 
 About the city are spacious suburbs, or open places, ex- 
 tending for three or four miles, and joining one another. 
 In these are great caravanserais, where the merchants abide, 
 who arrive from different countries ; each nation having its 
 own separate one. In these suburbs too dwell the public 
 women, to the number of 25,000, who give themselves up 
 for money. In this great city, Cambalu, the grand Khan 
 was wont to reside the three winter months of every year." 
 
 Will not the reader almost imagine this to be another 
 description of ancient Babylon, with its old and new city, 
 with its walls, its gates, its straight and regular streets, and 
 its splendid palaces ? Nor can the extent of this city be 
 much less. Herodotus's Babylon was 408 stadia (48 miles) 
 in circumference ; ^^ twice that of the city built by Kublai 
 Khan. But in the dimensions of the latter there is neither 
 reckoned the ancient city, near to which it was founded ; 
 nor the royal residence, which, according to Marco Polo, 
 was of still greater extent ; nor the extensive suburbs and 
 caravanserais : so that what this traveller saw could not be 
 less altogether than ancient Babylon ; and the father of his- 
 tory requires no forther confirmation. 
 
 Respecting the government of the Babylonian-Chaldean 
 empire, some few particulars have been preserved, princi- 
 pally by the prophet Daniel. It appears, on the whole, to 
 have been much the same as that of the Persian empire, 
 which has already been investigated. A ruler with despotic 
 power ; a court, in which eunuchs held the highest oflSces ; 
 
 " Herod, i. 178. I 
 
 U20 
 
410 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 411 
 
 an empire, divided into satrapies, governed by rulers, among 
 whom a regular gradation of rank and title was found, and 
 where the civil and military were often, though not always, 
 separated; collectors of tribute in the provinces; higher 
 and inferior judges.'^ We find also a priest-caste, or priest- 
 hood, comprised under the names of Magians and Chal- 
 deans ; and which, principally by astrology and soothsaying, 
 had a considerable influence upon the government. In 
 what relation to society did this class stand? And how 
 came the term Chaldeans, which originally belonged to a 
 people, to become the name of the priesthood ? These are 
 questions which have been often agitated, but from want of 
 sufficient information can never be satisfactorily answered. 
 
 Although Babylon did not become a mighty empire till 
 after the Chaldean conquest ; yet every thing leads us to 
 suppose, that it had long before been the seat of science and 
 civilization, though principally confined to the order of 
 priests. Unless this had been the case, how could those 
 great works, more especially the mighty canals and lakes, 
 ascribed to their earlier rulers, without which the city could 
 not have existed, or the land have been cultivated, have 
 been executed? There is no doubt that astronomy, or 
 rather astrology, formed a great branch of their learning ; 
 and whatever opinion may be formed of the degree of per- 
 fection to which they had carried these sciences, it seems an 
 indisputable fact, that at the time of Alexander's conquest, 
 astronomical observations existed, and were imparted to him, 
 which are affirmed to reach back for nineteen centuries." 
 
 This, combined with various other proofs, seems to ren- 
 der it evident, that the Magians had been established in 
 Babylon long before its conquest by the Chaldeans. As 
 the primitive Magian religion had its origin in the worship 
 of the heavenly bodies, and spread itself over so large a por- 
 tion of Asia, it is the less to be wondered at that it should 
 have made its way into Babylon, where the continual clear- 
 
 " Berthold has attempted to enumerate these various officers, and to de- 
 termine the business of each, in an excursus to his Translation of Danielf to 
 which I more particularly refer the reader. 
 
 " Very honourable for the Chaldeans is the opinion which the latest >\Titer 
 has given of their progress in astronomy. Ideler, ueher der Sternkumle der 
 Chakkeer ; among the treatises of the Berlin academy of sciences for the 
 years 1814 and 1815, Berlin, 1818. 
 
 ness of the sky, and the peculiar brightness of the stars, 
 greatly facilitated astronomical observations.'^® Astrology, 
 however, was the chief support of the Magians and the 
 priesthood, and it was principally by its practice that they 
 maintained their authority and influence in the state. Whe- 
 ther, however, these earliest Magians of Babylon were dis- 
 ciples and followers of Zoroaster, I cannot venture to deter- 
 mine. The Magian doctrine, indeed, was much older than 
 that of the Zend, as Zoroaster only appeared in the charac- 
 ter of its reformer. How can this question be settled, when 
 the Babylonian cylinders and gems referring to the religion 
 of Ormuzd may very probably belong to the Persian period? 
 If we admit, indeed, that the Chaldeans, and it seems very 
 likely, were descended from the Curds, then would they 
 also belong to the Persian race, and could not have been 
 strangers to the Magian doctrine, though they might have 
 ingrafted other particular points of belief upon it. And if 
 they also had their priests, as indeed the Magian worship 
 prescribes, there is nothing very strange in their becoming 
 united with the Babylonian Magians. They are indeed 
 usually mentioned with them, and are only distinguished as 
 a separate class when spoken of definitely ;^^ though the 
 two names are often confounded.^ 
 
 In this manner, therefore, the Magians and Chaldeans 
 formed the priest-caste in Babylon. It is certainly possible, 
 that, according to rule, the son succeeded the father ; but, 
 that the priest-caste was not strictly hereditary, that even 
 foreigners might be admitted to this office, if their early 
 education had fitted them for it, is shown by the example 
 of Daniel and his companions.®^ At their head was the 
 high Magian, whose influence was so great, that, upon the 
 death of the father of Nebuchadnezzar, he administered the 
 affairs of the empire until the arrival of that prince.®'^ They 
 were divided into several classes, as expounders of the sa- 
 cred writings, interpreters of dreams, astronomers, and 
 soothsayers; and again distinguished from these are the 
 
 ** SiMPLic. in Aristot. de coelo, p. 123; cf. Plin. Hist. Nat vii. 56. 
 " See JosEPHUS, Op, 346, 347- 
 
 ■* Thus in Herod, i. 13S. Ctesias also confounds the Magians and Chal- 
 deans, Pers. i. 15. 
 "' Dan. i. 4. " Josephus, Opera, 349. 
 
412 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Chaldeans.^ They dwelt not only in the capital, but also 
 in other places ; and among others, probably in establish- 
 ments of which the mounds of bricks spoken of above are 
 the remains.®* Their connexion with the kings is clearly 
 shown from the history of Nebuchadnezzar. Their influence 
 was founded upon their knowledge ; but their power seems 
 never to have been so great as in the Persian court, if we 
 may judge from the manner in which they were treated by 
 Nebuchadnezzar ; unless, indeed, we may attribute this to 
 the personal character of that formidable conqueror. 
 
 The boundaries of the Chaldean-Babylonian empire ex- 
 tended as far under Nebuchadnezzar as they ever were 
 carried, comprising Western Asia, as far as the Mediterra- 
 nean. Immediately, however, upon the death of its founder, 
 its greatness declined. Several feeble successors followed 
 rapidly, one rising upon the overthrow of the other, till the 
 founder of the Persian monarchy threw the last upon the 
 heap, and made Babylon one of the capitals of his new em- 
 pire. There was no city in Asia of whose possession the 
 Persians were more jealous ; and the repeated attempts of 
 the Babylonians to shake off the foreign yoke show that 
 they could not cloud the remembrance of their former might 
 and greatness, nor stifle their repugnance to dependence 
 and slavery. 
 
 " The authorities are collected by Berthold, etc. 
 
 •* As at Akkerkuf, Al Himar, and above all, at Borsippa, where, according 
 to Strabo, xvi. p. 1074, there was one of their principal schools. 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Commerce of the Babylonians, 
 
 A. LAND OF TRAFFIC— A CITY OF MERCHANTS. 
 
 EZEKIEL, Xvii. 4. 
 
 As the European steps into a new world as soon as he has 
 crossed the Alps, so is the contrast equally striking to the 
 Asiatic traveller upon descending from the mountainous 
 country of Persia and Media, or Irak Ajemi, into the plain 
 of ancient Babylon and modern Bagdad, the capital of Irak 
 Arabi. The connexion, frequently so mysterious and inex- 
 plicable, which exists between climates and countries, and 
 even between climates and inhabitants, is here most remark- 
 ably exemplified. The manners of the people, their habita- 
 tions, their dress, are all different. While in Persia and 
 Media, the garments, though long, were closely fitted to the 
 person ; they are here, on the contrary, loose and flowing. 
 The black sheepskin cap which covered the head, gives way 
 to the lofty and proud folds of the turban ; and the girdle, 
 with its single knife, is replaced with the costly shawl and 
 rich poignard. " On my entrance into the city of the Ca- 
 liphs," says a modern traveller,^ " I found the streets crowded 
 with men in every variety of dress, and of every shade of 
 complexion. Instead of the low dwellings peculiar to Per- 
 sia, the houses were several stories high, with lattice win- 
 dows closely shut. The great Bazaar was full of people, 
 and I saw on all sides innumerable shops and coffee-houses. 
 The sound of voices, and the rustling of silks, reminded one 
 of the buzzing of a swarm of bees. For even now, though 
 but the shadow of its former splendour, Bagdad is still the 
 
 * Porter, ii. 243, etc. 
 
414 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. ir. 
 
 grand caravanserai of Asia." But wliat a change has taken 
 place in manners and modes of Hfe ! The rigid etiquette of 
 the Persian court has disappeared ; the tone of society, the 
 relation of the sexes is under less constraint ; and every- 
 thing betokens pleasure and voluptuousness. Though in 
 the hot season the glowing sky forces the inhabitants during 
 the day into their under-ground vaults ; yet they enjoy the 
 balmy coolness of night in the open air on their housetops. 
 The delightful temperature of the winter months, from the 
 middle of November to that of February, compensates for 
 the inconveniences of summer, though at the same time it 
 offers irresistible incentives to all manner of sensual enjoy- 
 ments. 
 
 It must surely have been the same in former times. Can 
 it be supposed that those who came down the Euphrates 
 from the royal cities of Persia and Media to the great city 
 of traffic, had not the same spectacle before their eyes ? But 
 what is modern Bagdad compared with the ancient capital 
 of the East ? What crowds must have once thronged the 
 streets and squares of that city, when the caravans of the 
 East and West with the crews of ships trading to the South 
 were there collected together ; when the Chaldee and Per- 
 sian sovereigns, with their numberless attendants, made it 
 their residence ; when it was the emporium of the world, 
 and the great centre of attraction to all nations ! How bus- 
 tling and animated must not these desolate places have been 
 formerly, where all now is still, save the call of the Bedouin, 
 or the roaring of the lion ! 
 
 The accounts of ancient Babylon given by Jewish and 
 Grecian writers, set before us a picture of wealth, magni- 
 ficence, and pomp ; though at the same time, a less pleasing 
 representation of luxury and licentiousness. Their ban- 
 quets were carried to a disgusting excess, and the pleasures 
 of the table degenerated into debauchery ; nay, at the very 
 time when the victorious Persians rushed into the city, the 
 princes of Babylon were engaged in festivities ; ^ and Bel- 
 shazzar was given up to intoxication in company with thou- 
 
 ^ The reader may compare the terrible description of Isaiah, xxi. 5, where 
 it is said, that the cry of battle should frighten them from the table, with the 
 information of Xenophon, Cyrop. vii. 5, Op. p. 192, that the very guards 
 were intoxicated. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 415 
 
 sands of his lords, when the hand which wrote on the wall 
 of the royal banqueting house, and predicted his approach- 
 ing fate, aroused him to the dreadful reality of his condition. 
 But this total degeneracy of manners was above all con- 
 spicuous in the other sex, amongst whom were no traces of 
 that reserve which usually prevails in an eastern harem. 
 The prophet, therefore, when he denounces^ the fall of 
 Babylon, describes it under the image of a luxurious and 
 lascivious woman, who is cast headlong into slavery from 
 the seat where she sits so effeminately. Moreover, at these 
 orgies the women appeared, where they proceeded so far as 
 to lay aside their garments, and with them every feeling of 
 shame \^ nay, there was even a religious enactment, as we 
 are informed by Herodotus,^ according to which every 
 woman was obliged to prostitute herself to strangers in the 
 temple of Mylitta, once in her life, and was not allowed to 
 reject any person who presented himself. 
 
 The principal cause of this profligacy of manners was ] 
 the riches and luxury consequent upon extended commerce, I 
 which Babylon owed to its geographical position. Climate i 
 and religion effected the rest. ' 
 
 I have already had occasion to notice this advantageous 
 situation of Babylonia, in which respect it was probably 
 superior to every other country in Asia. While this af- 
 forded admirable facilities for traffic by land, it was equally 
 convenient for maritime and river navigation. The two 
 large rivers which flowed on each side of it seemed the 
 natural channels of commercial intercourse with the interior 
 of Asia ; and the Persian Gulf by no means presented the 
 same difficulties and dangers to the navigator as that of 
 Arabia. 
 
 * Isaiah, xiii. 
 
 * CuRTius, V. 1. Nihil urbis ejus corruptius moribus; nee ad irritandas 
 inliciendasque immodicas voluptates instructius. Liberos conjugesque cum 
 hospitibus stupro coire, modo pretium flagitii detur, parentes maritique pati- 
 untur. Convivales ludi tota Perside regibus purpuratisque cordi sunt; 
 Babylonii maxime in vinum et quae ebrietatem sequuntur, perfusi sunt. Femi- 
 narum convivia ineuntium principio modestus est habitus ; dein summa quae- 
 que amicula exuunt ; paulatimque pudorem profanant ; ad ultimum (horror 
 auribus sit) ima corporum velamenta projiciunt. Nee meretricum hoc dede- 
 cus est, sed matronarum virginumque, apud quas comitas habetur vulgati 
 corporis vilitas. It is plain, Curtius is not here speaking of the Bayaderes, 
 as might perhaps be supposed. 
 
 * Herod, i. 199. 
 
416 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 If we add to this, the accounts which ancient authors 
 have given us of the industry, manners, and civil institu- 
 tions of Babylon, it will be evident, that it owed its splen- 
 dour and wealth to the same causes which in latter times 
 have been the occasion of an extensive commerce to the 
 cities of Bagdad and Bassora. They unanimously describe 
 the Babylonians as a people fond of magnificence, and ac- 
 customed to a multitude of artificial wants, which they could 
 not have supplied, except by commercial relations with 
 many countries, some of them very remote. In their pri- 
 vate life, especially in their dress, costliness appears to have 
 been more their object, than either convenience or utility. 
 Their public festivals and sacrifices were attended with im- 
 mense expense, particularly in precious perfiimes, with 
 which they could not have been provided but from foreign 
 countries. The raw materials too, required for their cele- 
 brated manufactures, flax, cotton, and wool, and perhaps 
 silk, were either not the produce of their soil, or certainly 
 not in sufficient quantities for their consumption. Lastly, 
 many of their civil institutions were of such a nature as only 
 to be calculated for a city, into which there was a continual 
 influx of strangers. On this principle alone can be ex- 
 plained, not only their custom of exposing sick persons in 
 the market-place, that they might meet with some one 
 competent to prescribe for them ; but also, and more par- 
 ticularly, the above-mentioned law, which obliged their 
 women to prostitute themselves in the temple of Mylitta, 
 and the public auction of marriageable virgins.^ It has 
 been already observed,^ that the relations of the sexes are 
 formed in a peculiar manner in large commercial cities ; 
 and this will serve to explain many remarkable institutions 
 of several nations in Asia. 
 
 However certain may be the evidence drawn from these 
 
 • Heyne, in his treatise, de Bdbyhniorum instituto religioso, etc., {Commen- 
 tat. Soc. Gott. vol. xvi.,) has shown with great learning the relation which 
 this custom bears to the social condition of women throughout the East. 
 Yet I cannot conceive how it could have been considered as a consecration 
 to marriage. For from the relation of Herodotus, it appears quite plain to 
 me, that not virgins, but women were obliged to submit to it. He uses the 
 words lyx^P^*^ yvvaiKict native women, not iropOivot, virgins, under which 
 latter term he describes the young maidens, who were submitted to the 
 auction. 
 
 ' See above, p. 229. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 417 
 
 prmciples, and the accounts of antiquity in general viz 
 that Babylon was the great centre where all nations assem- 
 bled, and whence they departed to their several destina- 
 tions, yet It IS difficult to enter in detail on the commerce 
 of the Babylonians, and to settle with any degree of accuracy 
 Its nature and its course. The obscure traces of it which 
 yet remain must be laboriously sought for in the works of 
 Greek and Hebrew writers alone; the labour, however, will 
 not be without its recompence, and the general result of 
 this investigation will be a picture, which, though not com- 
 plete m its subordinate details, will yet present a generally 
 faithful outline. 
 
 As a preliminary step, however, let us take a glance at 
 the products of Babylonian skill and industry ; amongst 
 which, weaving of various kinds deserves our first notice. 
 The peculiar dress of the Babylonians consisted partly of 
 woollen, and partly of linen, or probably cotton stufls. 
 " They wear," says Herodotus, " a gown of linen, (or cot- 
 ton,«) flowing down to the feet, over this, an upper woollen 
 garment, and a white (woollen) tunic covering the whole." 
 This garb, which must have been too much for so warm a 
 climate, seems to have been assumed rather for ostentation, 
 than to meet their actual wants, and probably some alter- 
 ation was made in it as the weather became warmer. Their 
 woven stuffs, however, were not confined to domestic use, 
 but were exported into foreign countries. Carpets, one of 
 the principal objects of luxury in the East, the floors of the 
 rich being generally covered with them, were no where so 
 finely woven, and in such splendid colours, as at Babylon. 
 Particular representations were seen on them, of those won- 
 derful Indian animals, the griflSn and others, with which 
 we have become acquainted by the ruins of Persepolis, 
 whence the knowledge of them was brought to the West.» 
 Foreign nations made use of these carpets in the decoration 
 of their harems and royal saloons ; indeed this species of 
 luxury appears no where to have been carried further than 
 
 ' AivMv is the term Herodotus uses, which with him signifies either linen 
 or cotton. 
 
 Ill, p. 106. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 2 E 
 
418 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II 
 
 among the Persians. With them, not only the floors, but 
 even beds and sofas in the houses of the nobles were cover- 
 ed with two or three of these carpets ; nay, the oldest of 
 their sacred edifices, the tomb of Cyrus at Pasargada, was 
 ornamented with a purple one of Babylonian workmanship.^^ 
 Babylonian garments were not less esteemed ; those in 
 particular called sindones were in very high repute. It ap- 
 pears that they were usually of cotton, and the most costly 
 were so highly valued for their brilliancy of colour and 
 fineness of texture, as to be compared to those of Media, 
 and set apart for royal use ;" they were even to be found 
 at the tomb of Cyrus, which was profusely decorated with 
 every description of fiimiture in use amongst the Persian 
 kings during their lives.'^ The superiority of Babylonian 
 robes and carpets will not be a matter of surprise, when we 
 consider how near Babylon was to Carmania on the one 
 side, and to Arabia and Syria on the other, and that in these 
 countries the finest cotton was produced. 
 
 Large weaving establishments were not confined to the 
 capital, but existed likewise in other cities and inferior towns 
 of Babylonia, which Semiramis is said to have built on the 
 banks of the Euphrates and Tigris, and which she appointed 
 as marts for those who imported Median and Persian goods.'' 
 These manufacturing towns also were, as will soon be 
 shown in respect to Opis, staples for land traffic. The most 
 famous of them was Borsippa, situated on the Euphrates, 
 fifl;een miles below Babylon, and mentioned in history be- 
 fore the time of Cyrus.'* These were the principal linen 
 and cotton manufactories, and they still existed in the age 
 
 of Strabo.'^ 
 
 Besides these, the Babylonians appear to have made all 
 kinds of apparel, and every article of luxury ; such as sweet 
 waters, which were in common use, and probably necessary, 
 from the heat of the climate; walkipg sticks delicately 
 chased with figures of animals and other objects, and also 
 elegantly engraven stones, were in general use amongst the 
 Babylonians. 
 
 »• Xenoph. and Arrian, vi. 29. " Theoph. Hist. Plant, iv. 9. 
 
 " Arrian, 1. c. " Diod. i. p. 125. ^ ^ , , , 
 
 »* Jos. in Apion. Op. p. 1045, relates that the king of Babylon, conquered 
 by Cyrus, was imprisoned in this town. 
 " Strab. xvi p. 1074. 
 
 chap. II. 
 
 COMMERCE 
 
 419 
 
 These stones begin to form a particular class, since the 
 curiosities called Babylonian cylinders have become less 
 rare. Many of them have undoubtedly served for seal 
 rings ; for, in the East, the seal supplies the place of a sig- 
 nature, or at any rate makes it valid, as we still see on spe- 
 cimens of Babylonian documents. The same may be said 
 of the cylinders. We have a striking illustration of the per- 
 fection to which the Babylonians had brought the art of 
 cutting precious stones in the collection of M. Dorow, 
 which contains a cylinder, formed from a jasper, bearing a 
 cuneiform inscription, and an image of a winged Ized, or 
 Genius, in a flowing Babylonian dress, represented in the 
 act of crushing with each hand an ostrich, the bird of 
 Ahriman.^^ 
 
 These various manufactures and works of art presuppose 
 an extensive commerce, because the necessary materials 
 must have been imported from foreign countries. 
 
 We shall now trace this vast commerce of Babylon 
 through all its branches, beginning with its land trade ; and 
 after that, proceed to investigate its navigation and maritime 
 trade. The first will be divided according to its principal 
 directions into eastern or Persico-Bactrian, northern or Ar- 
 menian, western or Phoenician, that of Asia Minor, and the 
 southern or Arabian. Our inquiries into the maritime trade 
 of the Babylonians will comprehend in general their naviga- 
 tion and traffic in the Persian Gulf 
 
 From what has been already adduced, no doubt can be 
 entertained that Babylon enjoyed a lively commerce with 
 the principal countries of the Persian empire. Not only 
 did the Persian and Median lords decorate their houses with 
 the productions of Babylonian skill, but the kings of Persia 
 spent a great part of the year in that city with all their nu- 
 merous attendants ; added to which, the satraps exhibited in 
 the same capital a pomp but little inferior to royal magnifi- 
 cence. ^'^ Owing to this intimate connexion between the 
 chief provinces of Persia and Babylonia, the country lying 
 between this and Susa became the most populous and culti- 
 
 " Morgenldndische AUerthilmer, (Oriental Antiquities,) published by D. 
 Dorow, first number 1818, with the draughts and interpretation of Grotefend 
 and others. My description is taken from a cast in sulphur, for which I am 
 indebted to the kindness of the owner. 
 
 " See above, p. 272. \ 
 
 2 E 2 
 
420 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 ^ 1 
 
 A^} 
 
 ft'l 
 
 vated in Asia ; and a highway was made from Babylon to 
 Susa, which was twenty days' journey distant, sufficiently 
 commodious for the baggage of an army to be conveyed on 
 it without difficulty. ^^ 
 
 The investigation, however, is involved in greater difficul- 
 ties as we proceed towards the east beyond Persia ; though 
 a principal country to which they traded, that is to say, 
 Persian India, or the present Belur-land, and with the parts 
 adjacent, whence the Babylonians imported many of their 
 most highly prized commodities, afford a clear proof of the 
 direction and extent of this commerce. We have already 
 given a geographical account of these countries, so import- 
 ant in ancient commerce ; our present business will be 
 therefore to describe more particularly their produce, and 
 the relation in which they stood towards Babylon. 
 / The first article which we may confidently assert the Ba- 
 bylonians to have obtained, at least in part, from these 
 countries, were precious stones ; the use of which for seal 
 rings was very general amongst them. Ctesias says ex- 
 pressly, that these stones came from India ; and that onyxes, 
 sardines, and the other stones used for seals, were obtained 
 in the mountains bordering on the sandy desert.*^ The 
 testimonies of modern travellers have proved that the ac- 
 count of this author is entitled to fiill credit ;^° and that even 
 at the present time the lapis lazuli is found there in its great- 
 est perfection ; and if it be added to this, that what Ctesias 
 relates of India undoubtedly refers for the most part to these 
 northern countries,^^ we must consider it probable, that the 
 stones in question were found in the mountains of which we 
 are speaking ; while with regard to the sapphire of the an- 
 cients, that is to say, our lapis lazuli, I have no doubt that 
 it is a native of this country. A decisive proof is fiirnished 
 by Theophrastus, a more recent author, but worthy of credit. 
 " Emeralds and jaspers," says he,^*^ " which are used as ob- 
 jects of decoration, come from the desert of Bactria (of 
 Gobi). They are sought for by persons who go thither on 
 horseback at the time of the north wind, which blows away 
 the sand, and so discovers them." " The largest of the 
 
 " Arrian, iii. 16. " Ctesias, Ind. cap. 5, compared with Herod, i. 195. 
 " See above, p. 353. *' See above, p. 345. 
 
 " TiiEOPHRAST. de lapid. Op. p. 396. 
 
 chap. II. 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 421 
 
 S3 U 
 
 is 
 
 emeralds called Bactrian," says he, in another place, 
 at Tyre, in the temple of Hercules. It forms a tolerably 
 large pillar." The passage, however, of Ctesias, to which 
 we have referred, as a modern author has justly remarked,^* 
 contains some indications, which, relatively to onyxes, ap- 
 pear to refer to the Ghat mountains ; since he speaks of a 
 hot country, not far from the sea. 
 
 The circumstance of large quantities of onyxes coming out 
 of these mountains at the present day, viz. the mountains 
 near Cambaya and Beroach, the ancient Barygaza, must ren- 
 der this opinion so much the more probable, as it was this 
 very part of the Indian coast with which the ancients were 
 most acquainted ; and their navigation from the Persian Gulf 
 to these regions, as will be shown hereafter, admits of no 
 doubt. This opinion, however, must not lead us to con- 
 clude, that the commerce of Babylon was confined to those 
 countries ; for that they were acquainted with the above- 
 mentioned northern districts is equally certain. 
 
 Hence also the Babylonians imported Indian dogs. This 
 breed is asserted to be the largest and strongest that exist ; 
 and, on that account, the best suited for hunting wild beasts, 
 even lions, which they will very readily attack. The great 
 fondness felt by the Persians for the pleasures of the chase, 
 by whom it was regarded as a chivalrous exercise, must have 
 increased the value and use of these animals, which soon be- 
 came even an object of luxury. The Persian nobles were 
 obliged to keep a great number of them, as they formed a 
 necessary part of their domestic economy, and their train ; 
 and they were also accustomed to take them with them on 
 their journeys and military expeditions. Thus Xerxes, as 
 we are assured by Herodotus, was followed by an innumer- 
 able quantity of dogs, when he marched against Greece;^ 
 and an example taken from the same writer, shows to what 
 a pitch the Persian lords and satraps had carried their luxury 
 
 ^ TiiEOPHRAST. Op, p. 394. This is certainly the same pillar which Hero- 
 dotus mentions, ii. 44. " In the temple of the Tyrian Hercules I saw two pil- 
 lars, one of pure gold, and the other of emerald, which gave hght in the darn." 
 Might not tnis have been of lapis lazuli, like the pillars in the church of the 
 Jesuits at Rome ? 
 
 ** Ueber die Onyxgehirge des Ctesias in dcr Sammlung der Aufsatzej des Hm 
 Graf en von Veltheim^ (on the onyx mountains of Ctesias in the collection of 
 the treatises of the Count von Veltheim,) ii. p. 236. 
 
 ^ Herod, vii. 187. 
 
 r\ 
 
 /• 
 
422 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 in this particular. Tritantaechmus, satrap of Babylon, de- 
 voted to the maintenance of these Indian dogs no less than 
 four towns of his government, which were exempted from 
 all other taxes.*® It is easy to settle the extent of this branch 
 of commerce, admitting, as is reasonable, that the supply of 
 the animals in question was not continually renewed by 
 fresh importations, but that they were propagated in the 
 
 country. 
 
 The native country of these animals, according to Ctesias,^ 
 was that whence precious stones were obtained. And this 
 account of the ancient author has been confirmed by a mo- 
 dem traveller ; for Marco Polo, in his account of these re- 
 gions, has not foi^otten to mention large dogs, which were 
 even able to overcome lions.^ 
 
 A third, and no less certain class of productions, which 
 the Persians and Babylonians obtained from this part of the 
 world, were dyes, and amongst them the cochineal, or rather, 
 Indian lacca. The most ancient, though not quite accurate 
 description of this insect, and of the tree upon which it set- 
 tles, is also found in Ctesias.'^^ According to him, it is a 
 native of the country near the sources of the Indus, and pro- 
 duces a red, resembling cinnabar. The Indians themselves 
 use it for the purpose of dyeing their garments, to which it 
 gives a colour even surpassing in beauty the dyes of the 
 Persians. It is evident from this passage, that these beau- 
 tifully coloured Indian robes were an article of commerce 
 with Western Asia ; and here I cannot forbear reminding the 
 reader of an observation already made : namely, that these 
 mountainous countries of Candahar and Cashmire were iden- 
 tical with those in which sheep-breeding formed the princi- 
 pal occupation of the inhabitants, who reared these animals 
 with wonderful success, on account of the abundance of sil- 
 phium growing here, with which they were fed.^ Hence 
 we can have no doubt, that the same parts of Asia which 
 at this day produce the finest woollen cloths, and whose 
 
 * Herod, i. 192. ..." ^'^^^' ^^' ^' 
 
 * Marco Polo, i« Ramusio, ii. p. 53. . i u 
 
 » Ctes. Ind, c. 21. Beckmann. Beitrage, etc. HI, supposes it to be the co- 
 chineal. WiLFORD, Asiat. Res. ix. 65, more correctly considers it the Indian 
 lacca, an insect which, when bruised, produces a beautiful red ; as the cU- 
 mate is too severe for the cochineal. 
 
 " Sect, on Persian India, 
 
 chap. II. 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 423 
 
 shawls (a word which having passed fi'om the Sanscrit into 
 the Persian language, must be very ancient) are now so 
 highly valued by ladies, both for convenience and for orna- 
 ment, enjoyed the same advantages in the time of the ancient 
 Persians, and that the harems of Susa and Babylon were 
 decorated with these productions of the loom. 
 
 I intentionally omit to mention other objects of commerce 
 probably obtained from India, and among them, gold and 
 gold-dust, which we are assured the natives of these regions 
 sent into Persia, as tribute. But a second, and no less in- 
 teresting question demands our notice concerning this trade : 
 viz, what was its route, and who were the people who car- 
 ried it on ? 
 
 Strabo'^ has preserved to us from Eratosthenes, a know- 
 ledge of the roads by which the commodities of the Indian 
 districts, bordering on the Persian empire, were conveyed 
 to its principal cities, and especially to Babylon. The usual 
 high road, through populous and cultivated regions, first 
 ran in a northerly direction, in order to avoid the preda- 
 tory tribes which infested the desert between Persia and 
 Media. It continued along the southern part of this desert, 
 as far as one of the most celebrated defiles in Asia, called 
 the Caspian gates, through which it proceeded to Hyrcania 
 and Aria. In this latter country, taking its course along 
 the foot of the high and woody Hyrcanian and Parthian 
 moimtains, the road thence turned northward toward Bac- 
 tra. This is the same which Alexander followed in his ex- 
 pedition against the Bactrians ; and though he left it oc- 
 casionally to attack the inhabitants of the neighbouring 
 mountains, he always returned to it. In Arrian/^ it bears 
 the name of the great military road. 
 
 The great commercial route to India was the same as this 
 as far as Aria. Here, however, it took a different, that is 
 to say, an easterly direction, while the other proceeded 
 northward towards Bactra. Thence it ran to Prophthasia, 
 Arachotus, and Ortospana, where it divided itself into three 
 branches. One of these went due east to the borders of 
 
 " Strabo, p. 782. That this is an ancient road, anterior to the times of 
 Alexander, the names of the places, which are all ancient, are sufficient to 
 prove. Alexandria in Aria, is the same as Artakoana. See the Appendix. 
 
 " Arrian, iii. 21. Aiw^poc b^dq. 
 
424 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 425 
 
 India ; perhaps the second had a similar direction, with a 
 little inclination to the south ; and the third turned north- 
 ward towards Bactria, and formed the great road, through 
 which India had communication with this country and its 
 capital, Bactra. . 
 
 This city must then be regarded as the commercial sta- 
 ple of Eastern Asia. Its name belongs to a people who 
 never cease to afford matter for historical details from the 
 time they are first mentioned. Not only does Bactra con- 
 stantly appear as a city of wealth and importance in the age 
 of the Persian empire ; but it is continually interwoven, in 
 the traditions of the East, with the accounts of Semiramis 
 and other conquerors.^^ It is situated on the borders of the 
 gold country, " in the road of the confluence of nations," 
 according to an expression in the Zendavesta ; and the con- 
 jecture, that in this part of the world the human race made 
 its first advance in civilization, becomes highly probable 
 from the facts which have been mentioned in the course of 
 the present investigation. 
 
 We cannot entertain any doubt as to the persons through 
 whose hands the commodities of India came to Bactra. It 
 is evident, fi*om what has been said before, that the natives 
 of the countries bordering on Little Thibet and others, or the 
 northern Indians of Herodotus and Ctesias, formed the ca- 
 ravans which travelled into the gold desert, and that it was 
 the same people from whom Western Asia obtained ingredi- 
 ents for dyeing, and also the finest wool. But it may be 
 asked how fer this commerce extended ? whether it com- 
 prised the countries beyond the desert ? and this question 
 is involved in very great difficulties. 
 
 The name of Serica is not mentioned by the writers of 
 this period, nor for some time afterwards ; when it does ap- 
 pear, it is only an indefinite appellation for the countries 
 beyond the desert of Gobi, whence silk was imported ; and 
 therefore iloes not exclusively denote the present Tangut, 
 but also Coshotei, and as much of China as they were ac- 
 quainted with. There can be no question of commodities, 
 indisputably Chinese, so long as the age of the silk trade 
 continues unsettled. One of the most celebrated of modem 
 
 " DioD.Lp: 117. 
 
 writers has brought down the commerce with China to the 
 third century before the Christian era ; but has overlooked 
 a passage in an author contemporary with the Persian 
 monarchy, from which, although the higher antiquity of 
 commercial relations with the extreme east of Asia is not 
 certainly established, at any rate it becomes extremely 
 probable. 
 
 " The country where gold is found, and which the griffins 
 infest," says Ctesias, " is exceedingly desolate. The Bac- 
 trians, who dwell in the neighbourhood of the Indians, as- 
 sert, that the griffins watch over the gold; though the 
 Indians themselves deny that they do any thing of the kind, 
 as they have no need of the metal, but (say they) the 
 griffins are only apprehensive on account of their young, 
 and these are the objects of their protection. The Indians 
 go armed into the desert, in troops of a thousand or two 
 thousand men. But we are assured that they do not return 
 from these expeditions till the third or fourth year."^ 
 
 It is clear, from the foregoing statement, that the Indians 
 here mentioned were no other than the natives of Northern 
 India ; and by the desert where they found gold, must be 
 understood the sandy desert of Cobi, bounding Tangut on 
 the west, and China on the north. With regard, however, 
 to the account of Ctesias, that caravans of a thousand or two 
 thousand men travelled into this desert, and returned after 
 three or four years laden with gold — what other direction 
 could this journey have had, than to the rich countries in 
 the most remote and eastern part of Asia?^ I willingly 
 leave it to the reader to judge what degree of probability 
 there is to support this conjecture. The distant obscurity 
 indeed prevents our having a clear view, yet this very ob- 
 scurity possesses a certain charm. 
 
 We are indebted to Strabo^^ for an account of the road 
 
 •• De Guignes, in the Memoires de V Academie des Inscrip.y t. xlvi. 
 
 •* Ctes. ap. jEI. Hist. An., iv. 27- Compare with this passage the time 
 which Ptolemy assigns for the journey to Serica (i. 11). Reckoning from 
 the eastern limit of Little Bucharia near Scrtem, seven months were necessary 
 to reach the capital of Serica ; and from Bactra to Sertem five more, a year 
 altogether. If we allow the same time for returning, it will be evident that 
 the caravans could only be at home in the third year. In my inquiries con- 
 cerning the Indians, I shall return to this subject, when I hope to place it 
 in a clearer light. 
 
 " Strab. p. 1084. \ 
 
426 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 by which the wares of Babylon were conveyed to the shores 
 of the Mediterranean. It ran in a due northern direction 
 through the midst of Mesopotamia, and reached the Eu- 
 phrates near Anthemusia, five and twenty days' journey 
 distant, where it turned off towards the west, to the Medi- 
 terranean. This could have been only a caravan road, be- 
 cause a numerous company of merchants would be necessary 
 for mutual defence against the predatory nomad tribes, the 
 Scenites, who infested the desert ; or indeed for procuring 
 a safe passage by the payment of a ransom. I cannot ad- 
 vance it as certain, that this road was generally used under 
 the Persian dynasty ; yet it appears in the highest degree 
 probable from the circumstance, that roads were seldom or 
 never altered by the ancients. 
 
 Another great military road, described by Herodotus, 
 from station to station, and leading to Sardis, and other 
 Greek commercial towns in Asia Minor, was made by the 
 Persian kings at a vast expense. It is not, indeed, to be 
 doubted, that political reasons were a principal inducement 
 to the formation of this road, because the Persians, when 
 they were engaged in war with the Greeks, scarcely set so 
 high a value upon any of their provinces, as they did upon 
 Asia Minor, with which they were very desirous to further 
 and maintain an uninterrupted communication. But we 
 moreover learn from the description of Herodotus, that it 
 was a commercial road, upon which caravans travelled from 
 the chief cities of Persia into Asia Minor. According to 
 him the road began from Susa, and not from Babylon ; yet 
 the vicinity of these two cities, and their intimate connexion, 
 which has been remarked above, renders this a circumstance 
 of no importance. The passage of the Greek historian 
 deserves to be communicated entire to the reader.^^ 
 
 " The following," says he, " is an account of the military 
 road from Sardis and Ephesus to Susa. . Royal stations and 
 magnificent caravanserais^ continually succeed each other 
 in all parts of it ; and it passes through an inhabited and 
 safe region all the way. First, (from Sardis,) there are 
 
 " Herod, v. 52. 
 
 " KaraXw(T«ic, lodging-places. There are no inns in the East answering to 
 those of Europe, but caravanserais, as I have translated the term employed 
 by Herodotus. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 42r 
 
 twenty stations through Lydia and Phrygia, or ninety-four 
 parasangs^^ and a half Leaving Phrygia, we come to the 
 river Halys, near which there is a guarded passage, neces- 
 sary to be passed in our way over the river. On the other 
 side of the river we come to Cappadocia, and through this 
 country to the Cilician*^ mountains ; comprehending twen- 
 ty-eight stations, or a hundred and four parasangs. We 
 penetrate into these mountains by a double defile, which is 
 intrusted to a double frontier guard, and then traverse 
 through Cilicia, a space of three stations, or fifteen parasangs 
 and a half The river Euphrates, which can only be passed 
 by a ferry, separates Cilicia from Armenia,*^ in which there 
 are fifteen stations, or fifty-six parasangs and a half There 
 is here also a frontier guard, and four rivers, which are 
 crossed in boats. The first is the Tigris ; the second and 
 third bear the same appellation, without being either the 
 same rivers, or flowing from the same country,*^ as the first 
 of them comes out of Armenia, and the other out of the 
 land of the Matienians; the fourth is the Gyndes, which 
 Cyrus divided into three hundred and sixty branches. 
 From Armenia into the land of the Matienians there are 
 four stations ; and eleven stations, or forty-two parasangs 
 and a half, from this country into that of the Cissians,** as 
 far as the river Choaspes, which must likewise be passed in 
 boats ; and on the banks of this river stands the city of 
 Susa. Thus in the journey from Susa to Sardis there are 
 one hundred and eleven** stations, with the same number of 
 caravanserais." 
 
 This principal road of Asia, once so famous, having un- 
 dergone no other alteration than that occasioned by its dif- 
 ferent limits, is now commonly used by caravans from 
 
 \ ■• The parasang, according to Herodotus, was equivalent to thirty stades, 
 about three English miles. 
 
 * Cilicia, according to the same author, extended as far as Cappadocia, 
 along the Upper Euphrates, and comprehended the region afterwards named 
 Little Armenia. Compare v. 49. And therefore by the term Cilician moun- 
 tains, we are to understand all that chain which reaches to Mount Caucasus. 
 
 *' In Herodotus, Armenia comprehends all northern Mesopotamia. 
 
 ** Without doubt, the greater and lesser Zabus, of which the first springs 
 from the mountains which bound Media, or those of Matiene ; the other from 
 the mountains of Armenia. 
 
 *■ That is to say, Susiana, or Chusistan, the inhabitants of which Herodotus 
 calls Cissians. 
 
 ** See the Appendix, on the incorrectness of this number. 
 
428 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. It. 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 429 
 
 f^Si^lxiX-" 
 
 Ispahan to Smyrna ; Tavemier*^ has given us a ftill de- 
 scription of it. Its present course is from Smyrna to Tokat, 
 and thence to Erivan. Only the last half has varied ; for, 
 in order to be in the direction of Ispahan, the traveller now 
 proceeds north-east, beyond the lake of Ormia ; v^^hereas 
 the ancients, on the contrary, without going so far east, in- 
 clined more to the south, and followed the course of the 
 Tigris. 
 
 On the whole, however, the ancient and modern roads 
 agree in one particular, the reason of which we are told by 
 Herodotus ; that is to say, they chose the longer in prefer- 
 ence to the shorter way, that they might travel through in- 
 habited countries, and in security. The direct road would 
 have led them through the midst of the steppes of Mesopo- 
 tamia ; where security would have been quite out of the 
 question, on account of the roving predatory hordes. 
 Therefore in ancient times, as well as the present, they 
 chose the northern route along the foot of the Armenian 
 mountains, where the traveller enjoyed security from mo- 
 lestation and an abundant supply of all necessaries. 
 
 As to the rest, the division into stations was evidently 
 adopted for the advantage of the caravans. According to 
 Herodotus, the distance between each station was five para- 
 sangs, a journey of seven or eight hours ; and this we learn 
 from Tavemier, is exactly the space which caravans con- 
 sisting of loaded camels are accustomed to traverse in the 
 course of a day ;*^ but those of horses travel much faster. 
 As this road, however, was perfectly safe, there can be no 
 doubt, that single merchants and travellers performed the 
 journey alone. 
 
 A third branch of Babylonian commerce in the interior 
 of Asia had a northern direction ; particularly to Armenia. 
 The Armenians had the advantage of the Euphrates to con- 
 vey their wares to Babylon ; and amongst these, wine, which 
 the soil of Babylonia did not produce, was the principal. 
 Herodotus has described this navigation ; and we learn from 
 him that the ships or floats of the Armenians were con- 
 structed similarly to those which are at present seen on the 
 Tigris, under the appellation of Kilets.*^ The skeleton only 
 
 « Tavernier, t i. p. 68. ** Ibid. i. p. 99. 
 
 • Herod, i. 194. Tavernier, i. p. 184 Potter, ii. p. 259, gives an 
 
 was of wood ; this had a covering of skins overlaid with 
 reeds ; and an oval form \7as given to the whole, so that 
 there was no difference between the stem and prow. They 
 were filled with goods, especially large casks of wine, and 
 then guided down the stream by two oars. The size of 
 these barks varied considerably ; Herodotus observed some 
 which were rated at more than five thousand talents' burthen. 
 On their arrival at Babylon, the conductors sold not only 
 the cargo, but also the skeleton ; the skins, however, were 
 carried back by land on asses, which they brought with 
 them for the purpose ; since, as the historian has remarked, 
 the force of the stream rendered it impossible for them to 
 return up the river : thus in Germany, the market boats 
 which go down the Danube to Vienna never return, but are 
 sold with the commodities which they convey. 
 
 We shall be led to conclude, that the navigation of the 
 Euphrates must have been very important, if we recollect 
 the great works which were performed in order to secure it. 
 Herodotus speaks of it as extraordinary ; and, truly, if we 
 believe, as there is great probability for doing, that this 
 trade was confined to the consumption of Babylon, it must 
 necessarily have been very considerable, from the immense 
 population of the city, and from the peculiarity of its soil, 
 which, as it yielded a superfluity of some things, was neces- 
 sarily quite deficient in others. Hence the Babylonians 
 were obliged to import from the northern regions those 
 necessaries of life which their own soil failed to produce ; 
 and we shall have more distinct notions respecting this 
 trade, if we recollect that Herodotus includes under the 
 name of Armenia, in addition to the mountainous district 
 which may be termed Armenia Proper, also the whole of 
 that rich and fruitful country. Northern Mesopotamia. 
 
 Further, with whatever difficulties the navigation of the 
 Euphrates, when against the stream, may have been attend- 
 ed, even supposing them to have been insurmountable by 
 barks of the above-mentioned construction ; yet Herodotus 
 is mistaken when he declares it absolutely impossible. At 
 all events it was practised, and considered as a continuation 
 of the trade on the Persian Gulf, as the precious commodities 
 
 exact description of them. According to him, bladders filled with air were 
 fastened to them to prevent their sinking. , 
 
 [ 
 
430 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. 11. 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 431 
 
 of the southern regions were hence conveyed up the stream 
 to Thapsacus, and from that place into the other parts of 
 Asia by caravans. This investigation is most intimately 
 connected with the question concerning the maritime trade 
 and navigation of the Babylonians, one of the most difficult 
 which antiquity presents to us, and involved in almost total 
 obscurity ; the only way by which any light can be thrown 
 on the subject, is to obtain, in the first place, a more exact 
 knowledge of the state of the Persian Gulf at that time, as 
 being the principal theatre of this commerce. 
 
 A single glance at the map will be sufficient to show, 
 that the situation and nature of the Persian Gulf rendered 
 it eminently qualified to be the common emporium for the 
 whole southern Asiatic trade, or that with Arabia and India. 
 Its very configuration afforded it great advantages over the 
 Arabian Gulf While the latter resembles a long and nar- 
 row canal, studded eveiy where with rocks and islands ; the 
 Persian Gulf, on the other hand, presents to our view a large 
 and spacious basin, of almost equal extent with the Gulf of 
 Bothnia, and by the extreme smallness of its mouth, breaks 
 the waves of the Indian Ocean ; it presents, too, fewer dan- 
 gers to navigation from hidden rocks, as its shores are almost 
 free from them. Beside this, the streams which it receives 
 appear like so many roads of trade for transporting com- 
 modities into the interior of Asia. Hence few countries can 
 be found where nature has done so much for man ; and the 
 history of the middle ages, in which the names of Ormus, 
 Bassora, and other cities frequently occur, proves that her 
 labours were not in vain ; and it required nothing less than 
 the different direction which the discovery of the Cape of 
 Good Hope gave to Indian commerce, to deprive the Per- 
 sian Gulf of this pre-eminence. 
 
 The ancients considered as the beginning of this Gulf, 
 the narrow strait formed by the cape of Makae or Dsiulfar 
 on the Arabian shore, and that of Ormus or Harmozia on 
 the Persian; the broad embouchure between Oman and 
 Carmania not being reckoned as part of it. The above- 
 nientioned strait is so small, that the promontories on both 
 sides may be distinctly seen from the middle. But as soon 
 as we pass beyond this entrance, the shores fall off on both 
 sides, and give to the Gulf that oval shape with which it is 
 
 represented in our maps. We shall now conduct the reader 
 along these two shores to the mouth of the Euphrates ; and 
 take for our guide, together with Strabo, the relation of 
 Arrian, drawn from Nearchus, who sailed along and de- 
 scribed the whole eastern coast.*® 
 
 After Nearchus had passed the mouth of the Indus with 
 Alexander's fleet, and had sailed through the entrance of the 
 Gulf, he kept on the right hand according to his plan, and 
 followed the line of the eastern coast. However, he saw in 
 the distance the high promontory of Makae or Dsiulfar. 
 After sailing sixteen miles, he landed in the fruitful and 
 populous country of Harmozia, which produced every thing 
 but olive trees ; and here the wearied mariners first reposed 
 from their fatigues and dangers. This is no other than the 
 valley of Ormus, which extends two days' journey along 
 the sea-coast.'*^ Opposite to this, on a small island, the com- 
 mercial city of Ormus was afterwards erected under the 
 Caliphs ; but the account of Nearchus shows that the name 
 is much older. According to Marco Polo, a number of 
 large rivers, of which Nearchus mentions the Aramis, water 
 this valley, which abounds with dates, parrots, fruits, and 
 animals of various kinds, very different from ours. While 
 the ships were repairing in this place, Nearchus hastened 
 by land to the army of Alexander, in order to announce the 
 happy arrival of his fleet, and took the same road which has 
 been so well described by Marco Polo, at that time infested 
 with bands of robbers, who took refuge in the mountains 
 behind the valley, and therefore extremely dangerous. On 
 his return, he continued his voyage, and landed twice on 
 the large island of Oaracta, (now Broet,)^ which produced 
 vines, palms, and corn, and was under the government of a 
 Persian named Macenes, who was his attendant to Susa. 
 They were shown in this island the tombs of the ancient 
 
 • For what follows, the reader may compare Arrian's Indicaj Op. p. 19, 
 etc. A full investigation, of which I can here give only the result, will be 
 found in my treatise, De prisca sinus Persici faciei in Commentat. Soc. Goettin^, 
 t. xiii. p. 138. 
 
 ^ For what follows, compare Marco Polo in Eamusio, ii. p. 8, 9. 
 
 "• For what follows, I have made use of the map of Delisle, as well as 
 that of Niebuhr, to determine the modern names of the islands. From a 
 comparison of these geographers with Nearchus, it appears that the greater 
 part of them have been disfigured by Greek terminations, or by transcribers. 
 
 ' I 
 
 I 
 
 I ' 'I 
 
432 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP* II* 
 
 COMMERCB. 
 
 433 
 
 kings ; a circumstance which proves, that it was once inde- 
 pendent, and inhabited from a considerable time back. He 
 passed by another small and uninhabited island, named Or- 
 gana, (now Aragan,) on his left hand. Of the remaining 
 small islands which are in the vicinity, Nearchus mentions 
 the name of one more, Pylorus, (now Malora,) and alludes 
 to another without a name, probably Talengo, which is said 
 to have been dedicated to Neptune. He now approached 
 the coast of Carmania, which here seemed to him uninha- 
 bited ; and after that, reached the island Cataea, probably 
 Keiche, where was the boundary between Persia and Car- 
 On the Persian coast, he landed at a place called 
 
 mania. 
 
 Ila, (now Cailo,) opposite the small island Caicandros, (now 
 Androvari,) and on the following morning reached another 
 island, which is not named, where there was a pearl fishery. 
 From a comparison of situations, this appears to have been 
 the same as the island Lara. Along the coast he saw many 
 villages thickly inhabited, and ships in the roadstead ; there 
 was also no want of palms and fruit trees like those of 
 Greece. From hence he proceeded to Gogorna, (Congon,) 
 at the mouth of a small river, and after having observed 
 several other small rivers which are to be found in the niap, 
 he came to Hieratis, (probably Corsiara,) situated on a river 
 of the same name, where he saw many gardens and fruit 
 trees. Pursuing his voyage, and, as before, incurring dan- 
 ger from rocks and shallows, he arrived at the mouth of the 
 large river Aresas, (now Rasain,) which separated Persis 
 and Susiana, as it now divides Fars from Chusistan. Next 
 followed the coast of Susiana, which was so dangerous from 
 shallows, that the inhabitants were accustomed to direct the 
 course of ships by setting up long poles. He then crossed 
 over the Choaspes, called in Arrian the Pasitigris ; passed 
 by the inland sea into which the Tigris empties itself; and 
 at length reached the mouth of the Euphrates, where was 
 situated the commercial town of Tenedon, otherwise called 
 
 Diridotis. 
 
 I wish it were in my power to impart to the reader an 
 equally exact and authentic description of the western coast 
 of the Persian Gulf ; but here, alas ! we have no Nearchus, 
 whose testimony we might use as that of an eye-witness ; for 
 
 on account of the many dangerous rocks and shallows, 
 navigators have always preferred the opposite side of the 
 Gulf^* 
 
 AH this part of Arabia, from the Euphrates to Cape 
 Dsiulfar, is included by the Arabs under the name of Had- 
 jer, or Bahrein ; and it is one of the parts of our globe with 
 which we are the least acquainted. It is moreover neither 
 sterile nor without water ; but, on the contrary, abounds in 
 dates and other productions ; nevertheless, the sand which 
 is blown hither from the neighbouring desert not only turns 
 this line of coast into a waste, but obstructs the passage 
 through it, and chokes up the road.** It is at this day in- 
 habited by the Wahhabites. 
 
 In the accounts of antiquity, only one city appears 
 throughout this coast, Gerrha, situated near a bay, which 
 takes its name from it ; but for this very reason, it is so 
 much the more remarkable to the historical inquirer into 
 the commerce of the ancients. It occupied the very same 
 position which Lachsa does now, under the twenty-eighth 
 degree of north latitude, or perhaps a few miles further north, 
 near the present El Katif. Here there are, according to 
 the accoimt of a modern traveller, monuments of stone with 
 inscriptions ; though inconsiderable, it is at this day a city 
 provided with all the necessaries of life ; and date trees are 
 found in its vicinity.^' " When " says Strabo,^ who here 
 speaks from the accounts of the followers of Alexander, 
 "we have travelled along the coast 2400 stades, we arrive 
 at Gerrha, built by a colony of Chaldeans from Babylon. 
 It is situate in a country abounding in salt, of which the 
 houses of the inhabitants are constructed ; and these it is 
 necessary to moisten frequently, that they may not splitj 
 through the heat of the sun. The city is 200 stades from 
 the sea. Its inhabitants transport the goods of the Arabians 
 and spices by land ; though Aristobulus says, they fre- 
 quently went in ships to Babylon, and sailed as far up as 
 Thapsacus, from whence their wares were carried into all 
 
 " T«EVENOT, ii. J). 298, etc. 
 
 " BuscHiNG*s Asioj p. 559. Otter, Voyage ii. p. 74. 
 
 ■^ History of Seyd Said^ Sultan of dfuscata, by Sheik Mansur, (an assumed 
 name,) a native of Rome. London, 1819. North of El Katif, a desert begins, 
 twenty days' journey in length. 
 
 " Strab. p. 1110. I 
 
 VOL. I. 2 F 
 
434 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 435 
 
 parts." I shall soon find occasion to say more of this colony 
 from Babylon, and of its commerce. 
 
 The continuation of the coast as far as the Cape Makae 
 or Dsiulfar, offers nothing remarkable ; along it, however, 
 there are sand banks, which, time out of mind, have been 
 celebrated for pearl fishery. The Cape Dsiulfar, according 
 to Nearchus, was situated in a desert country ; but the ad- 
 joining district towards the south, by name Oman, is one of 
 the richest and most fruitful in Arabia, and in former times 
 rendered the Cape itself an emporium of commerce, as I 
 shall presently show. 
 
 First, however, there remains an investigation as obscure 
 as it is important, concerning some islands situated near 
 this coast, which, as they are said to have been eminent trad- 
 ing places, must not be passed over in silence. In the 
 Greek geographers, for instance, we read of two islands, 
 named Tyrus or Tylos, and Aradus, which boasted that they 
 were the mother country of the Phoenicians, and exhibited 
 relics of Phoenician temples. The Hebrew poets, on the 
 other hand, mention another, by the name of Daden, whose 
 caravans travelled with valuable merchandise into the north 
 
 of Arabia. 
 
 The Greek geographers do not agree as to the position 
 of Tylus and Aradus; wherever, therefore, we fix their 
 situation, it will still be liable to objections. For my own 
 part, however, I am convinced that these two islands were 
 the same as those at this day called Bahrein. I shall first 
 communicate to the reader my reasons for this opinion, 
 which may be taken both from the situation, and from the 
 names given them by the ancients ; yet without concealing 
 the objections to which it is liable. 
 
 Pliny and Strabo are the principal authorities, yet they 
 are both indebted to more ancient authors. " On sailing 
 ferther (south) from Gerrha," says Strabo,^ " we come to 
 two islands, where there are to be seen Phoenician temples, 
 and the inhabitants assure us, that the cities of Phoenicia 
 bearing the same name are colonies from them. These 
 islands are ten days' sail from Tenedon, (Diridotis, at the 
 mouth of the Euphrates,) and one from Cape Makae." 
 
 ** Strab. p. 1110. Plin. vi. 28. The latter names Arad, Little Tylos, 
 which he reports to be ten miles from* Great Tylos. 
 
 From the account of Strabo, so much is evident ; viz. that 
 these islands must be sought for to the south of Gerrha ; 
 yet what distance they were from the bay of Gerrha is not 
 to be determined with certainty by this passage; here, 
 however, Pliny comes to our assistance. " Tylos," says he, 
 '* is fifl:y niiles from the bay of Gerrha." This calculation 
 exactly suits the Bahrein islands, which are just that dis- 
 tance from the present bay of Lachsa, or, as it is also called, 
 El Katif Moreover, the ten days' sail mentioned by Strabo 
 from the mouth of the Euphrates are no objection ; for 
 although it is only a distance of sixty or seventy miles, yet 
 on the eastern side Nearchus spent a much longer time in 
 the very same navigation. 
 
 The situation then of Aradus and Tyrus would seem to 
 be sufiiciently determined by the testimony of Strabo and 
 Pliny, if there were not a difficulty in the account of the 
 former, when he adds, ^* from these islands to Makae, (or 
 the mouth of the Persian Gulf,) there is a distance of one 
 day's navigation." This is impossible, if we suppose him to 
 be speaking of the islands named Bahrein ; we ought rather, 
 in this case, to seek them in the group off Ormus ; to which 
 opinion, however, the account of Pliny is opposed. 
 
 The report of the followers of Alexander, who were sent 
 by him to discover the western coast of Arabia, countenances 
 another view of the question.^ " They were informed that 
 there were two islands in the sea beyond the mouth of the 
 Euphrates. The first not far from it, at a distance of a 
 hundred and twenty stades, (about twelve miles,) was very 
 woody, and contained a temple of Artemis, surrounded by 
 habitations of the inhabitants. That there was in it a mul- 
 titude of wild goats and roe bucks, which were never killed ; 
 and that the island had received the name of Icarus from 
 Alexander." (The situation of this small island before the 
 mouth of the Euphrates is sufficiently determined, to make 
 it evident that it can be neither of those mentioned by 
 Strabo and Pliny. It is probably the same as that which 
 is called Bubean in the map of Niebuhr ; but as the coun- 
 try has been so much changed by the junction of the 
 Euphrates and Tigris, we cannot come to any certainty on 
 
 " Arrian, vii. 20. 
 
 2 F 2 
 
436 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 this point.) " That the second island was at the distance 
 of a day and night's navigation, supposing a favourable wind, 
 from the Euphrates : that it was named Tylos, was of con- 
 siderable magnitude, produced a quantity of excellent fruits, 
 and was neither mountainous nor woody." Here we have 
 another Tylos, evidently of a different situation from that of 
 Strabo and Pliny. It is probably the Cathema^^ of our 
 maps, situate in 29° N. Lat., 48° 30" Long. All this, how- 
 ever, proves nothing more than that the name of Tylos, or 
 Tynis, has been improperly given to this island; and the 
 voucher of it is one Archias, whom Alexander sent to ex- 
 plore Arabia and Tylos ; but he had not courage to sail 
 farther than the island in question, and therefore was willing 
 to find Tylos here. This confusion of names has been al- 
 ready noticed by an old grammarian, who informs us that 
 Arrian mistook Anata for Tylos.^ 
 
 From what has been said, two things occur to us : first, 
 that the name of Tylos has been taken for that of several 
 islands in the Persian Gulf; and, secondly, that the islands 
 Tylos and Aradus, where relics of the Phoenicians were 
 found, were those named Bahrein, according to the definite 
 accounts of ancient writers ; and the critic will have no 
 hesitation in preferring these to vague and indeterminate 
 
 notions. 
 
 To these geographical proofs another may be added, 
 which arises out of the name. The smallest of the Bahrein 
 islands has preserved the ancient appellation of Aradus, for 
 it is still called Arad ;^ this will carry conviction to those 
 who are aware how little Asiatic appellations are subject to 
 
 change. 
 
 The question respecting the island Daden of the He- 
 brews remains to be considered. This question, which is 
 extremely important in considering the commerce of the 
 ancients, is answered by the help of the oriental geogra 
 phers, so far with certainty, as the island is either one of the 
 Bahrein, or the rather more northerly one of Cathema.^ 
 
 •' This island is to be seen in the map of Delisle, but not in that of Niebuhr. 
 
 ^ Steph. de Urh. v. ILqoq, The island Anata is no longer known. Might 
 it not have been a corruption for Cathcma? 
 
 * See N^igbuhr's 2lt£ciD 
 
 " The proofs, which to detail here would be out of place, may be found 
 in Assemani, Bibl. Orient torn. III. pars II. p. 160, 564, 604, 744. Diffi- 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 437 
 
 It is not necessary to settle this point with greater exact- 
 ness, considering that these islands are at no great distance 
 from each other, and in general, what the Greek and He- 
 brew writers have said of the islands Tyrus, Aradus, and 
 Daden, will apply to those in the bay of Gerrha, especially 
 to the Bahrein islands. 
 
 According to the report of a modern traveller,^^ there 
 exist several places on the coast of the Persian Gulf, whose 
 names seem to indicate a Phoenician origin ; such are, Sido- 
 dona on the eastern side, and a city named Szur, (Tur, Ty- 
 rus,) which Niebuhr^ calls Sur, and describes as having a 
 good harbour in Oman, on the western side ; these appear 
 to prove that the Phoenicians had colonies on the continent, 
 as well as in the islands. Niebuhr was acquainted with, 
 and has described, another harbour called Tur, at the en- 
 trance of the Gulf of Suez.^^ 
 
 It was necessary to give these geographical notices with 
 regard to the Persian Gulf previously to investigating its 
 ancient navigation. * I would, however, request the reader 
 to refer to the times anterior to the Persian dominion, or 
 the period^ of the Chaldaico-Babylonian empire, since this 
 navigation suffered great changes under the Persians, as 
 will presently be shown. 
 
 . That the Babylonians possessed a maritime navigation, 
 when their power was at its height, may be gathered, in 
 general, from the predictions of the contemporary Jewish 
 prophet Isaiah.^^ "Thus saith the Lord your deliverer; 
 
 culties arise here not merely from want of maps, but also from the variation 
 and confusion of names. Dadein or Daden is also frequently called Dirin ; 
 and it may be conjectured, that from hence arose the name of Dehroon, which 
 is given to one of the Bahrein islands in the map of Delisle. If that were the 
 case, then Dciden would not be Cathema, as Assemani asserts, but the island 
 mentioned above ; and this is rendered probable by the resemblance of names, 
 which is a certain guide in comparing the modern and ancient geography of 
 
 Asia. 
 •* Dr. Seetzen, in Zach's Monatl. Correspond, for Sept. 1813. See the 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 •^ Niebuhr's Description of Arabia, p. 307. 25*» N. L. He has also a place 
 named Sur, south of Muscat, 22^" N. L. 
 
 « Niebuhr's Travels, i. 259. " From 630 to 550, B. C. 
 
 *^ Isaiah, xliii. 14, according to the translation of Michaelis. Gesemus 
 has it differently : " For your sakes sent I to Babel, and drive all its fugitives, 
 and the Chaldees, to their ships which are their delight." To which he has 
 the following note : " The fugitives are the people collected together in the 
 commercial city of Babel, (consequently different from the Chaldees,) who, on 
 the invasion of the enemy, take refuge in the ships of their delight, their joy, 
 
438 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 for your sakes have I sent to Babel, and thrown to the 
 ground all obstacles, and the Chaldeans, who exult in their 
 ships." This is a graphic description of a people no less 
 proud of their ships than of their gates and ramparts. But 
 more definite information is preserved to us in the Greek 
 writers, who deserve the utmost attention of the historical 
 inquirer, ^schylus, in his play of the Persians, enumer- 
 ating the nations who composed the army of the great king, 
 ^ ; speaks as follows : " Babylon, too, that abounds in gold, 
 sends forth a promiscuous multitude, who both embark in 
 ships, and boast of their skill in archery." 
 
 The accounts of these writers, dispersed as they are 
 through a multitude of different works, and sometimes at 
 variance with each other, nevertheless concur in represent- 
 ing Babylon as a city, which received the merchandise of 
 the South, Arabian and Indian productions, by means of the 
 Persian Gulf; and they put it in our power sometimes to 
 point out clearly the course and limit of this trade, and 
 sometimes to give an obscure glimpse of it. 
 
 Amongst these, Strabo's information concerning Gerrha 
 and Tylos merits a closer examination.^ Gerrha, accord- 
 ing to him, was a Chaldean colony ; that is, from Babylon. 
 Although, when he adds that it was founded by Chaldean 
 emigrants, it does indeed appear to have been the conse- 
 quence of some political revolution, with which we are un- 
 acquainted ; or at any rate, to have owed its rise to a colony 
 of priests, and not to any purpose of extending commerce ; 
 this is a consideration of very little importance, so long as 
 we are satisfied that it had a flourishing trade, and constant 
 intercourse with Babylon. We have no certain account 
 with respect to the period of its foundation ; yet since the 
 contemporaries of Alexander described it as a rich com- 
 mercial town, it is evident that the brilliant period of this 
 colony must be referred to the era of the Macedonian con- 
 queror. 
 
 We are assured by Agatharchides^^ that the inhabitants 
 of Gerrha were one of the richest people in the world ; and 
 
 or tumultuous pleasure ; for these vessels, instruments of the magnificence 
 of Babel, were commonly filled with crowds of rejoicing people." 
 
 "Strab. 1110. 
 
 * AoATHARCHiDES dc Rubro Man ; ih Geogr. min, Hudson, i. p. 60. 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 L 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 439 
 
 that for this they were indebted to their traffic with Arabian 
 and Indian commodities, which they transported into the 
 West by means of caravans, and to Babylon by their ships ; 
 for although they inhabited a barren district themselves, yet 
 were they in the vicinity of Arabia Felix, the native coun- 
 try of frankincense and other perfumes, which the Babylo- 
 nians consumed in great quantities.^ 
 
 These precious goods were carried to Babylon in such 
 abundance, that a vast overplus which remained, after the 
 capital was supplied, was conveyed up the Euphrates to 
 Thapsacus, and then, by land, over the whole of Western 
 Asia.^ As, therefore, Babylon was the emporium on the 
 river Euphrates, in like manner the Tigris had the city Opis, 
 which was a few miles above Bagdad, and not far from the 
 Median wall, so called, the limit of Babylonia. Thither the 
 inhabitants of Gerrha had directed their navigation from 
 very ancient times, although, for reasons which I shall pre- 
 sently explain, the Persians interrupted it;^® and undoubt- 
 edly Opis was their emporium, from whence merchandise 
 was conveyed by the caravan trade into the interior of Asia.^^ 
 
 Gerrha had, as appears from Strabo, another advantage 
 from its situation ; that of being in a country which con- 
 tained an abundance of salt. We shall show, in speaking of 
 Africa, how great an advantage this is for regions where, as 
 in Arabia and Africa, salt is scarce. Though we are not 
 acquainted how far Gerrha profited by this gift of nature, 
 in a commercial point of view, we may reasonably suppose 
 she would not overlook the advantages which might be de- 
 rived from it. 
 
 The formidable desert, which separated this city from the 
 fruitfiil countries of Asia, served to protect her from the 
 victorious nations, who ravaged the interior of this quarter 
 of the globe ; and hence its revolutions in general operated 
 but slightly on Arabia. While, however, the peculiarity 
 of its situation opposed to the conqueror a boundary, which 
 he never passed, it could not repel the advances of mer- 
 chants stimulated by the hope of gain ; and with them 
 
 • According to Herodotus, a thousand talents of frankincense were an- 
 nually consumed in the temple of Bel or Belus alone by the Chaldeans. 
 
 " Strab. 1. c. from Aristobulus. 
 
 ~ Strab. p. 1074; cf. Arrian, vii. 7. 
 
 " Strab. p. 1075. He names Opis expressly as the emporium of the cir- 
 cumjacent region. 
 
 U 
 
 t- 
 
440 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 441 
 
 J 
 
 Gerrha was obliged to share its rich commerce. The Phoe- 
 nicians had found out the way to this coast through the 
 «andy desert of Arabia, and, as usual, were attracted by the 
 neighbouring islands. They chose the above-mentioned 
 one of Tylos or Daden, and Aradus, for the purpose of 
 forming commercial establishments; and were induced 
 hereunto not only by the productions of these islands, but 
 by the hope of participating in the East Indian trade. 
 Amongst the former, the pearl fishery first claims our notice. 
 It is generally known that the finest pearls are found in the 
 Persian Gulf, and near the island of Ceylon. The shell-fish 
 which produce them are found in almost all the islands of 
 this Gulf; but the most considerable bank is that which ex- 
 tends along the western coast fi'om the Bahrein islands 
 nearly as far as Cape Dsiulfar.^^ Nearchus, in his journal, 
 mentions this ancient pearl fishery.^' It is true that he 
 only speaks of the island Cataea on the eastern coast, for he 
 did not see the Arabian coast or its islands ; but he must 
 of necessity suppose, that if those small and often uninha- 
 bited islands were fi'equented by pearl fishers, the ever ac- 
 tive mind of the Phoenician in point of commerce, could 
 not have overlooked the treasures which the larger islands 
 presented to them. One of the latest British travellers who 
 have explored these regions, informs us how extremely pro- 
 ductive this fishery is, or might be made. " There is no 
 place in the world," says Morier, " where more pearls are 
 found ; the bottom of the sea being quite covered with the 
 shell-fish. The island Bahrein, with Karek, is considered 
 the richest bed of pearls ; the fishery, however, has been 
 followed with less eagerness since the removal of the Eng- 
 lish market to Ceylon. At present, the principal market is 
 at Muscat, from whence the greatest number of them are 
 carried to Surat, Those in the Persian Gulf are yellow or 
 white ; the latter of which are taken to Asia Minor and Con- 
 stantinople, chiefly for the supply of the seraglio. While 
 \ the pearl of Ceylon shivers in pieces, that of the Persian 
 Gulf is as hard as a rock. The largest are at the bottom of 
 the sea, and divers go down ten or fifteen fathoms under 
 water." ^* But we need say no more to show the great im^ 
 1 portance of this branch of commerce to the ancients. 
 
 ^ See Niebuhr's Map. V Arrian, Ind, Op. p. 194. 
 
 MoRiER, Jlrst Voyage^ p. 53, etc. 
 
 T4 
 
 Another production of these islands, or at least of the 
 largest of them, that is to say, cotton, must have been a 
 great attraction to the Babylonians. Theophrastus informs 
 us, that there were at Tylos such large plantations of cotton 
 trees, that a considerable part of the island was, as it were, 
 quite covered with them ; ^^ and modern accounts give us 
 to understand that cotton is produced at this day on the 
 eastern coast of Arabia.'^ It is highly probable, that these 
 plantations were the fruit of a commercial intercourse with 
 India, the native country of cotton. Tylos might not indeed 
 have produced enough to supply the manufactories of Ba- 
 bylon ; but whatever this island furnished would be doubly 
 valuable, because it was close at hand, and the conveyance 
 without diflfiiculty. 
 
 A comparison of Herodotus with Theophrastus renders it 
 very probable that the Babylonians imported a third com- 
 modity from this island, which, although it may appear in- 
 significant, I cannot entirely pass over in silence. Herod- 
 otus, in describing the magnificence of the Babylonians, 
 adds, that it was a general custom amongst them to carry a 
 ' walking-stick or cane, elegantly chased with the representa- 
 tion of some emblem.^^ It appears from Theophrastus, that 
 this came from Tylos. " There grows in this island," says 
 he,^^ " a tree from which the most handsome sticks are cut. 
 They are streaked and spotted like the skin of a tiger, and 
 very heavy ; but fly in two when struck against any hard 
 substance." This brief description is not sufficient for us to 
 determine botanically the species of the tree, though show- 
 ing very plainly that it has nothing to do with the bamboo, 
 which has neither this heaviness nor hardness. 
 
 But there was another production peculiar to this island, 
 which contributed much more to its value than these which 
 have been mentioned. It has been already remarked in 
 another place, that Babylon was totally deficient in timber, 
 with the exception of the date and cypress tree, both which, 
 however, are little suited for ship-building. This applies 
 also to the coasts of the Persian Gulf, and would, therefore, 
 have put an insurmountable obstacle in the way of that navi- 
 
 « Theoph. Hist. PL iv. 9 ; cf. Plin. xii. 10, 11. According to him, Little 
 Tylos or Aradus was still more productive in cotton than the large island. 
 '• Otter, Voyage, ii. p. 74. " Herod, i. 195. 
 
 7" Theophrast. Hist. PL v. 6. 
 
 y 
 
 I 
 
 .1 
 
442 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 443 
 
 ^ 
 
 gation, if the deficiency had not been supplied by the island 
 of Tylos. " There is in this island," says Theophrastus,'^ 
 " a species of timber for ship-building, which under water 
 resists all tendency to putrefaction, lasting for upwards of 
 two hundred years ; but out of water it decays much sooner." 
 To this Pliny adds, that the followers of Alexander brought 
 the knowledge of it to Greece. The want of a fuller de- 
 scription will not permit us to define this timber scientifi- 
 I cally, which is, possibly, the celebrated Indian teak -wood ; 
 but the passage quoted affords an important disclosure, not 
 only because it proves, in general, the navigation of the 
 Persian Gulf, but also, as it brings within our comprehen- 
 sion the long voyages undertaken by vessels from Tylos, of 
 which we shall soon have occasion to speak. 
 
 Gerrha and Tylos were, therefore, certainly principal 
 marts of Babylonico-Phcenician commerce ; yet there was 
 another no less remarkal)le emporium for the commodities 
 of the South, just in the entrance of the Persian Gulf Or- 
 mus, which was afterwards so celebrated, did not yet exist, 
 and its place was occupied by Cape Makae or Dsiulfar. 
 Nearchus, who had only a passing view of this Cape, as he 
 sailed by, gives an interesting account of it.®" His com- 
 panions, who were acquainted with the country, told him 
 that there was here a mart for cinnamon and similar mer- 
 chandise, which was conveyed to the Assyrians, that is, to 
 Babylon. They added, that the district around the Cape 
 was sterile and uninhabited. Here it is worthy of remark, 
 that the above-mentioned city of Tur,**^ in Oman, was very 
 near Cape Makae. Without building much upon the evi- 
 dence of names, we may, however, believe, as we have 
 historical accounts to confirm the idea, that this Tur was a 
 Phoenician colony, and the staple for the spice trade men- 
 tioned by Nearchus. 
 
 An emporium like this, at the entrance of the Gulf, natur- 
 ally leads us to suppose a more distant navigation, and 
 strengthens our idea of an ancient Indian trade from the 
 Persian Gulf 
 I Amongst the commodities which Tyre received by the 
 Persian Gulf may be enumerated ivory, ebony, and cinna- 
 j mon.^ It is true, that the two first are no less natural to 
 
 " Theophrast. L c. Plin. xvi. 41. • * Arrian, Ind. Op. p. 190. 
 
 " See above, p. 437. " Ezek. xxxvii. 15. 
 
 Ethiopia than India ;«' but it is contrary to all probability, 
 that the natives of the eastern coast of Arabia should have 
 imported them from Ethiopia, when India was so much 
 nearer and more convenient for trade. 
 
 A more important and difficult question is that concern- 
 ing the native country of cinnamon, (cinnamomum,) which 
 was so much sought after, and so highly valued by the 
 
 ancients. 
 
 The researches of modern naturalists have sufficiently 
 
 proved, that at the present day cinnamon is found in the 
 East Indies alone. Its principal country is Ceylon, from 
 whence we obtain the best ; yet it is not confined to Cey- 
 lon, but is also found on the coasts of the Deccan and m 
 the' East Indian islands ; no where, however, in Africa or 
 Arabia.^ Some of the later Greek geographers, indeed, 
 amongst whom Strabo may be reckoned, speak of cinnamon 
 as a production of Arabia ;«^ but as no one of them speaks 
 as an eye-witness, it is more than probable that they were 
 deceived by the circumstance of cinnamon being obtained 
 through the medium of Arabia. We may add to the in- 
 vestigations of other writers«^ on this point, that the two 
 oldest authors who have mentioned cinnamon, Jeremiah 
 and Herodotus, express themselves in a manner tending to 
 confirm our notion of its Indian origin. " To what pur- 
 pose," it is said in Jeremiah,«« " cometh there to me mcense 
 from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country. If 
 the prophet, with the later geographers, had considered 
 Arabia Felix to be its native country, he would not have 
 made this distinction. The same is clear from Herodotus. 
 He had been told by the Phoenicians that cinnamon was 
 brought through Arabia ; but they would not, or could not 
 inform him where it was found, or what country produced 
 it All he could discover was, that it came from the 
 country in which Bacchus was educated.^^ The mystery 
 thus thrown over this commerce, proves suthciently that 
 
 " "nnamon'is Ihe bark of the Laurus Cinnamomum a ^eeo^^^^^^ 
 height and raagnitude, and the Laurus Cassia (probably a vanety ot the 
 othir produdnfhowever a coarser sort). See concerning this spice, 
 SbIrg XLr;fc..n^m uher den Zimmet, auf Ceyhngermcht, m den Neuen 
 IZnZ^eider ScZed, Akad., (Observations on the einn-"Jon grown at 
 Ceylon, in the new treatises of the Swedish academy,) vol. i. p. 5d. 
 
 ^ ThUNBERG, 1. C. ^ ^ . on ^wVVnn iii 111 
 
 " Beckmann. ad Antiff. p. 86. « Jerem. vi. 20. «» Herod, hi. 111. 
 
444 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 its former possessors were no less anxious to conceal it from 
 the rest of the world, than the Dutch have been in more 
 modern times. 
 
 It was not however possible to keep it entirely secret ; and 
 the father of history has the glory of having first discovered 
 traces of it, leading to the Indian peninsula and Ceylon. 
 
 Herodotus, in speaking of the native country of cinnamon, 
 adds to his account a fabulous tradition. He had been told 
 that a species of large birds brought the cinnamon, and 
 carried it to their nests, from whence it was taken by a stra- 
 tagem which he describes. This tradition of cinnamon 
 birds prevailed throughout antiquity, and is found under a 
 variety of modifications in several even of the most credible 
 ancient writers ;^ for we cannot be surprised that they had 
 every one their own version of the story. Nay, this very 
 tradition which Herodotus related after the Phoenicians, 
 more than two thousand years ago, was heard in Ceylon ^^ 
 itself, by a modem writer of the greatest fidelity, to whom 
 we are indebted for our best information as to the manner 
 of obtaining cinnamon. " The inhabitants of this island 
 maintain," says Thunberg, " that good cinnamon must al- 
 ways grow wild. The propagation of the trees, however, 
 takes place in the following manner. Magpies eat the 
 berries when ripe, but do not digest the stones, which they 
 sow here and there in the woods. On which account these 
 birds are preserved, no one being allowed to shoot them." 
 The same has been related of pigeons.^ Similar to this is 
 the fact of the English having shot a pigeon at Tanna with 
 a nutmeg in its beak. 
 
 Another valuable commodity was obtained from Ceylon 
 in these distant ages, that is to say, pearls. Of this we can 
 have no doubt, because we read of Indian pearl fisheries as 
 well as those of the Persian Gulf Nearchus, when he 
 mentions the latter of these, adds the following observ- 
 ation :^^ " Pearls are fished up here as well as in the Indian 
 Sea." Now it is generally known, that the most consider- 
 able pearl fishery is on the south-eastern coast of the penin- 
 sula, this side of the Ganges, between Ceylon and Cape 
 
 " Thunberg, 1. c. 
 
 * Beckmann. ad Antig. de Mirahil. 
 
 " FoRSTER, Voyage Bound the Worlds ii. p. 332. 
 
 " Arrian, Ind. Op. p. 194. It is even said in another place, that accord- 
 ing to the traditions of the Indians, Hercules had established this fishery. 
 Would not this seem to imply the participation of the Phoenicians ? 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 445 
 
 Comorin. Hence a connexion between these countries and 
 Babylon is sufficiently proved. 
 
 Lastly : the ancient name also of Ceylon, Taprobane, was 
 known very early, and was even brought to Greece as a 
 very remarkable one by the followers of Alexander; and 
 the oldest traditions concerning it have exactly that ob- 
 scurity which usually involves the most distant countries on 
 the extremities of the known world.^* Accordingly it was 
 long undetermined, whether Taprobane was an island or a 
 large continent, upon which the antipodes were to be 
 sought. And even the discoveries made by the followers 
 of Alexander appear to have afforded but little more light, 
 as is manifest from Strabo, who drew his information from 
 them. This is however very different in Ptoleniy.^ He 
 has, it must be confessed, made false representations (pro- 
 bably borrowed from his predecessors) concerning the mag- 
 nitude of the island ; since he makes it extend from 12° 30' 
 N. L. to 3° S. L. But he is acquainted with its real figure 
 and the direction in which it lies ; its coasts, cities, rivers, 
 and harbours ; and even its ancient capital Maagrammum, 
 in the situation of the present Candi. There was certainly 
 a time in antiquity when Ceylon was quite as well known 
 as it was under the dominion of the Dutch ; and we may 
 here repeat a question which has been started before, in re- 
 gard to the interior of Arabia :^ viz. whether this was not 
 the age of the Phoenicians, and whether Ptolemy did not 
 obtain his information from Tyrian sources. If we could 
 assume this, how vast a commerce must there not have ex- 
 isted between the Phoenicians and Indians ! 
 
 But without such a supposition, it is sufficiently made 
 out, that the principal direction of the maritime Indian 
 trade was to Ceylon and the neighbouring coast of Hindu- 
 stan. We now naturally ask, who they were by whom this 
 commerce was carried on ; whether the Indians sailed to 
 the Persian Gulf, or whether the inhabitants of the latter 
 brought away the Indian commodities themselves. In my 
 own opinion, the previous statements have sufficiently estab- 
 lished the fact of the last of these having been the case, con- 
 sidering that the Chaldeans and Phoenicians had a joint 
 participation in this trade. " The men of Dedan were thy 
 
 •* See Plin. vi. 22. "^ Ptolem. vii. 4. *" See above, p. 360. 
 
446 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 447 
 
 merchants, and went to extensive countries, who gave them 
 in exchange for thy wares, horn, ivory, and ebony." ^ The 
 identity of these countries with those of India would be ren- 
 dered probable by their geography ; but the Indian com- 
 modities which are mentioned turn this probability into 
 certainty. This remarkable passage, however, informs us 
 of the nature of this trade, as well as of its course. The 
 men of Daden, viz. the inhabitants of the islands in the bay 
 of Gerrha, sail to India with Phoenician wares, which they 
 exchange for Indian ; after this they bring the fruits of their 
 traffic to their own country, and then form, on the neighbour- 
 ing Arabian shores, near Gerrha, those caravans from Daden 
 mentioned by Isaiah,^ which travelled through the Arabian 
 desert to Babylon, or to the maritime cities of Phoenicia. 
 
 Putting together what has been said thus far, we shall 
 have the following general results : 
 
 First, We can entertain no doubt of a considerable na- 
 vigation on the Persian Gulf, not, however, limited to that 
 sea, but extending to large and distant countries, before the 
 age of the Persian empire. . 
 
 Secondly, The principal places to which this navigation 
 was directed were Ceylon and the western coasts of the In- 
 dian peninsula, on this side the Ganges. Here was situated, 
 not far from the mouth of the Indus, the port Crocola, 
 where Nearchus embarked. It is undoubtedly the modern 
 Kurachi, which now carries on a considerable commerce, 
 adjoining a city of thirteen thousand inhabitants ;^ and it is 
 extremely probable that Barygaza likewise, (now Beroach,) 
 though coming under our notice somewhat later, was in 
 these early times a port of some consequence. The proxi- 
 mity of these countries would favour the voyage, which was 
 still more facilitated by the periodical winds, which at regu- 
 lar intervals of half a year conducted ships thither, and 
 brought them back. 
 
 Thirdly, This navigation was perhaps much less applied 
 to by the Babylonians that by the Phoenicians, who had 
 settlements on the eastern coast of Arabia, and in the neigh- 
 bouring Bahrein islands, where they were supplied with 
 timber for ship -building ; it was also carried on by the 
 Arabians, who became very early a navigating people, and 
 
 " EzEKiEL, xxvii. 15. " Isaiah, xxi. 13. 
 
 " PoTTiNOER, Travels, p. 333, 342. 
 
 conveyed the commodities which they had imported from 
 India, to Babylon and the Phoenician commercial cities, from 
 whence they were communicated to all parts of the world. 
 
 Lastly, The objects of this trade were Arabian frank- 
 incense, Indian spices, especially cinnamon from Ceylon, 
 ivory, ebony, precious stones, and Persian and Indian 
 pearls. These are, at least, the wares mentioned by histo- 
 rians ; yet we cannot doubt, from our want of a complete 
 catalogue, that there are many articles omitted, which used 
 to be offered to strangers who came to the several countries, 
 and upon which they set a considerable value. 
 
 Under the Persian empire, however, the navigation of 
 the Persian Gulf had many difficulties to contend with. 
 The Persians, who were not themselves a navigating people, 
 had great apprehension of their provinces being suddenly 
 attacked and laid waste by some foreign fleet or other.'^ 
 When we consider the situation of their principal cities, 
 this will appear any thing but a groundless fear. Not only 
 Babylon, but Susa, the metropolis of their empire, and the 
 depot for tribute collected from many nations, were both 
 situated on large and navigable rivers, which afforded foreign 
 fleets an easy access into the heart of their dominion ; Ba- 
 bylon on the Euphrates, and Susa on the Choaspes, which 
 is connected with the Tigris by a canal' No great naval 
 power, in the modern sense of the term, would be requisite 
 for such an attempt, but only some squadrons of daring 
 pirates, resembling the Normans of the middle ages, a de- 
 scription of people which has never been wanting in the 
 Persian Gulf. What could the Persians on the moment 
 have opposed to such a fleet ? Their principal cities would 
 inevitably have been plundered and destroyed ; nay, it is not 
 going too far to suppose the utter abolition of their empire. 
 In order to prevent such a misfortune, they determined 
 to make the entrance of the principal stream, viz. the Tigris, 
 through which ships passed to the Choaspes, entirely inac- 
 cessible for navigation ; and the expense and trouble which 
 they bestowed upon accomplishing this design, clearly shows 
 how much the danger of a foreign invasion had alarmed 
 their fears. At certain distances one after the other they 
 interrupted the course of the stream by masses of stone, 
 
 »* Strab. p. 1075. 
 
 * Arkian, vii. 7. 
 
448 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 which, as the waves passed over them, formed cascades more 
 or less elevated. Alexander, who considered nothing of 
 greater importance than the fiirtherance of trade and navi- 
 gation, caused these obstructions to be removed, on his re- 
 turn from India.^ But his premature death prevented the 
 completion of this design, and one of these has probably 
 remained to our time. " One day's journey below Mosul," 
 says Tavemier,' " our bark stuck against a dam, across the 
 Tigris from one side to the other. It is two hundred feet 
 broad, and forms a cascade twenty feet high ; being con- 
 structed of large stones, which by the lapse of time are be- 
 come as hard as a rock. The Arabians assert that Alexan- 
 der the Great ordered it to be made, to conduct the stream; 
 others maintain, that Darius endeavoured by this means to 
 prevent Alexander from penetrating by the river into his 
 dominions." The monument certainly deserves a more 
 accurate investigation, were it only on account of ancient 
 Persian architecture ; for it is not at all probable that a dam 
 should have been made so far up the river.* 
 
 Here, then, we may seek for the reason of the great de- 
 cline of the Persian Gulf navigation in the time of Alex- 
 ander. It was a result of the Persian policy ; and hence it 
 would be very hasty to decide, in conformity with this, as 
 to the antecedent period, when the Babylonico-Chaldean 
 power was at its height. A people who, like the Persians, 
 are not themselves navigators, would be inclined to attach 
 but little value to maritime trade in general. Moreover, 
 the dams of which we have been speaking were no detri- 
 ment to the navigation of the Euphrates ; and although the 
 maritime commerce of Babylon may have been much re- 
 duced under the Persian dominion, it certainly was not put 
 a stop to altogether. 
 
 * Strab. 1. c. If I dared to oppose evidence so definite as that of Strabo, 
 I should conjecture, with great probability, that these dams were made to 
 restrain the river, and to prevent an inundation. 
 
 * Ta VERNIER, i. p. 185. 
 
 * They extended, however, as far as Opis, which, as an important com- 
 mercial town, it was of great consequence to defend from any attack. 
 
 END OP VOL. I. 
 
 JOHN CHILDS AND SON, BUNOAT. 
 
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 LIBRARY 
 
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 I 
 
HISTORICAL RESEARCHES 
 
 INTO THE 
 
 POLITICS, INTERCOURSE, AND TRADE 
 
 OF THE PRINCIPAL NATIONS 
 
 OF ANTIQUITY. 
 
 BY A. H. L. HEEREN, 
 
 KNIGHT OF THE NORTH STAR AND OUKLPHIC ORDER, AULIC COUNSELLOR AND TROFESSOU OP 
 HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF GOETTINGEN j AND MEMBER OF SEVERAL OTHER 
 
 LEARNED SOCIETIES. 
 
 • •- -• • ' 
 
 
 • - • • 
 
 • ••#• • •••* •• • 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN. 
 
 • •••••• •• «■••• • •• 
 
 • • • • • • • 
 
 • • 
 
 • 
 • • • 
 
 ••- • • 
 
 •: V6A- !i; V 
 
 • • » * 
 
 ASIATIC NATIONS. SCYTHIANS, INDIANS, 
 
 APPENDIXES. 
 
 LONDON: 
 HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 
 
 MDCCCLIV. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 
 OF 
 
 THE SECOND VOLUME. 
 
 ^" 9t^ 
 
 ►^^ 
 
 .>^^^ 
 
 
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 t • • • • • • 
 
 
 • • • 
 
 JOHN CniLI/S AND SON, BUNGAT. 
 
 SCYTHIANS. 
 
 PAOB 
 
 Chap. I. Geographical Survey of the Scythian Tribes ... . . .3 
 
 Chap. II. Commerce and Intercourse of the Nations of Central 
 
 Asia 21 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 Chap. I. A Critical View of the Antiquities and Literature of 
 
 India 45 
 
 Chap. II. Fragments relative to the History, Constitution, and 
 
 Commerce of Ancient India 210 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 I. The two first Fargards of the Vendidat, from the Zenda- 
 
 vesta 313 
 
 II. On the Cuneiform Character, and particularly the Inscrip- 
 
 tioils at Persepolis; by G. F. Grotefend 319 
 
 III. On Pasargadae and the Tomb of Cyrus ; by G. F. Grotefend . 350 
 
 IV. On the Indian words occurring in Ctesias ; by Professor Tych- 
 
 «en 360 
 
it CONTENTS. 
 
 PACE 
 
 V. On the words Pasargada and Persepolis ; by Professor Tych- 
 
 sen ^'^^ 
 
 VI. Some observations on Herder's Persepolis 377 
 
 VII. On the most ancient Navigation of the Persian Gulf . . . 385 
 VIII. On the Voyages of the Phoenicians and Carthaginians to 
 
 Britain, and their settlements on the coast 387 
 
 IX. On the Commerce of Palmyra and the neighbouring Cities . 392 
 
 X. On the latest additions to Sanscrit Literature 412 
 
 XL On the Commerce of Ceylon 416 
 
 XII. On the sources of Ptolemy's Geography 440 
 
 XI I L On the Commercial Routes of Ancient Asia 450 
 
 SCYTHIANS. 
 
 VOL. 11. 
 
SCYTHIANS. 
 
 I 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Geographical Survey of the Scythian Tribes. 
 
 GOMBR, AND ALL HIS BANDS; THE HOUSE OF TOGARMAH OF THE NORTH QUAR- 
 TERS, AND ALL HIS BANDS : AND MANY PEOPLE WITH THEE. 
 
 ^ EZEKIEL, XXXTiii. 6. 
 
 The aspect of Central Asia, or the wild countries between 
 the Taurus and Altai chain of mountains, have not, it must 
 be confessed, the same attractions as the southern parts of 
 this quarter of the globe. Those boundless plains, without 
 wood or arable land, and covered only with pasture for 
 cattle, present to the eye as little variety as the encamp- 
 ments of the wandering tribes who travel through them 
 with their herds. But the great influence which these 
 people have exercised on the fortunes of the human race 
 would render it unpardonable to pass them over in silence, 
 even if the period of the Persian empire did not supply us 
 with more ample materials for the investigation than we 
 might otherwise expect. 
 
 The name of Scythians is quite as vague in ancient 
 geography, as those of Tartars and Monguls are at present. 
 We sometimes find the name applied to a particular pec^le, 
 and sometimes to all the nomad tribes who were settled 
 throughout that immense tract of country extending from 
 the north of the Black and Caspian Seas, into the heart of 
 Asia. The same uncertainty prevails in the use of a name 
 for the country, the term Scythia being sometimes applied 
 to the region inhabited by Scythians properly so called, and 
 sometimes employed as an indefinite appellation for modem 
 Mongolia and Tartary. We shall use the names Scythia 
 and Scythians in this latter extended sense, a liberty which 
 will be permitted in a general survey, although the Scythi- 
 
 B 2 
 
SCYTHIANS. 
 
 CBAP. 1. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 ans may have already formed a distinct people, at the era 
 to which our researches apply. . , , . . „ i 
 
 We cannot be surprised that nations who have never had 
 any fixed place of abode, but have always led an unsettled 
 life, should leave their country on the slightest occasion, 
 and wander about from one to another. Moreover, these 
 chances of habitation make it necessary to take one particu- 
 lar iwint of time when we are delineating such countries ; 
 for otherwise, it is evident from the nature of the case, the 
 several parts of our sketch will not be in keeping with each 
 other; perhaps they will even be at vanance with truth. 
 This necessity becomes much more urgent when we are 
 taking a general survey of the nomad tribes of Central Asia. 
 From the earliest times we have noticed periodical emigra- 
 tions of these nations from east to west; their extensive 
 country seems to have been, as it were, the magazine of our 
 race. The farther back we go into the history of the first 
 aces of the world, the more probable does it appear that 
 the whole of western Europe received its population from 
 thence ; and it is a case of common notonety, that these 
 regions have been the focus of important revolutions at a 
 more modern epoch. It would, therefore be a great error 
 to found our observations on Pomponius Mela, or Ptolemy, 
 or to intermix the picture set before us by these geogra- 
 phers with the more credible delineations of earlier writers. 
 Herodotus,' then, a contemporary author, will be our only 
 
 > An invMtiration concerning the ancient northern tribes is, according to 
 PtoW one oThe most diffic^ult in history. .This chaos wa^ fij«t red.Ked 
 to soStag like order by Gatterer. in his inquiry into the ongin of the Finn., 
 I^tti Mid^avi, in the Commentat. Soc. Gott,ng. (Vol. XI. XII.) His tot 
 
 '"'•^^rtsTiS ss- *.y~~ KbS sts rs 
 
 guide, who has devoted the fourth book of his work to a 
 description of the immense steppes which unite Europe to 
 Asia. This great historian seems here to be perfectly fami- 
 liar with his subject ; he is acquainted with the rivers, the 
 country, and the people ; their manners and way of life no 
 less than their parentage. The wilds of the Ukmine and 
 Astracan are geographically described by him ; and it is in 
 his work that the ancestors of the Letti, Finns, Turks, Ger- 
 mans, and Calmucks first occupy a place in history ; he has 
 mentioned the Ural and Altai chain, though without a fixed 
 appellation; and we even read of traditions concerning 
 Siberia, which, though they at first appeared unworthy of 
 credit, have been subsequently verified. 
 
 Herodotus begins his description with the European 
 countries on this side of the Don or Tanais, or new Ukraine, 
 and for the sake of method, it will be necessary to follow 
 him in the same order. The division which he has adopted, 
 is that formed by the rivers, and is indeed the best way of 
 settling the boundaries of districts inhabited by wandering 
 tribes who have no fixed residence. The principal rivers 
 mentioned by the historian are undoubtedly correct ; but 
 two, which flow across the steppes, are uncertain, and he 
 seems to have considered them larger than they are in 
 reality.^ 
 
 Conformable to his exactness in fixing localities, is the 
 distinction which he establishes between different tribes, 
 enumerating eight of Scythians, properly so called : who- 
 
 that the Persian army contained an abundance of light cavahy, which could 
 and must have advanced in all directions as the Scythians retired before them. 
 To what distances do not the Cossacks at this day remove before the regular 
 armies of the Russians ? I would not, however, maintain that the vanguard 
 of the Persian army advanced as far as the Wolga, or found upon the tradi- 
 tions a distinction which they do not make ; but could only give the point of 
 view in which we oueht, in my opinion, to look upon the subject. 
 
 The principal of these rivers are, the Ister or Danube, the Tyras or Dnies- 
 ter, (still called Tyral, near its mouth,) the Hypamis or Bog, which unites 
 with the Borysthenes or Dnieper, before it empties itself into the Black Sea. 
 Between this last and the Tanais or Don, which flows into the sea of Azof, 
 Herodotus has placed three secondary rivers, the Pantikapes, the Hypakyris, 
 and the Gerrus, of which the last is uncertain, and the two others are not to 
 be found, at least according to his description. (See Mannert, Geography, 
 ly. p. 31. Rennel, p. 57.) These uncertainties, however, only aflect the 
 I of demarcation of some Scythian tribes between the Dnieper and Don, 
 and have nothing to do with other nations settled beyond the Don, and far- 
 ther towards the north. 
 
it 
 
 6 
 
 SCYTHIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 
 ever were not included in these did not belong to the Scy- 
 thian stock. The settlements which he assigns to the 
 Scythians proper extend from the Danube to the Tanais, or 
 Don,* around which several other tribes had their residence. 
 The Scythians, or Skolots, as they were called in their own 
 language, had not always inhabited this tract of country, 
 but were reported, by historical tradition preserved among 
 themselves, to have come from the East. Being pressed 
 by another people, the Massagetae, they crossed the river 
 Araxes, expelled the Cimmerians,^ and took possession of 
 their settlements, which they still retained in the age of our 
 historian. From time to time they made irruptions into the 
 south of Asia ; and in a great expedition undertaken by the 
 whole nation against the remains of the Cimmerians, they 
 even conquered the Medes about seventy years before Cy- 
 rus, kept the whole of Asia Minor in subjection to them for 
 eight and twenty years, and extended their excursions to 
 the borders of Egypt, whose king Psammetichus was obliged 
 to buy them off.^ 
 
 I shall now make the reader acquainted with each of the 
 tribes comprehended under the general name of Scythians. 
 My plan will be to present them in the order of their rela- 
 tion to each other, and to fix their settlements by rivers ; 
 which, I flatter myself, will prevent our falling into any 
 considerable mistakes. As long as we are confined to the 
 shores of the Black Sea the subject will be clear and with- 
 
 * The boundaries which Herodotus assigns to Syria are as follows : on the 
 south, the coast of the Black Sea, from the mouth of the Danube to the Pa- 
 lus Maeotis (called by him Mseetis) ; on the east, the Persian Gulf and the 
 Don, or Tanais, to its rise out of the lake Ivan, which Herodotus was ac- 
 quainted with ; on the north, a line drawn from this lake to that out of which 
 me Tyras (or Dniester) flows, that is, to the northern arm of the last lake in 
 the circle of Sombrov in Galizia, towards the 49th degree of latitude ; for 
 Herodotus makes this lake the frontier between the Scythians and Neuri, 
 whose settlements began about the 50th degree. Herod, iv. 55. Lastly, the 
 western boundary was a line from thence to the Danube. Thus the figure of 
 Scythia is that of an irregular oblong, which Herodotus ascribes to it, iv. 
 101, 102. 
 
 * Herod, iv. 11, 12. I forbear to notice the other fabulous traditions con- 
 cerning the Scythians. In this passage, we are, in my opinion, to under- 
 stand the river Wolga for the Araxes. I have already remarked, that this 
 name does not always mean the same river, in Herodotus, but is also applied 
 to diff*erent streams on the eastern side of the Caspian Sea; it was probably 
 a general denomination for any river. 
 
 * Herod, i. 103 — 106. This is the famous Scythian invasion, which Mi- 
 chaelis and Schlozer have shown to be identified with that of the Chaldeans. 
 
 out difficulty : it is first involved in obscurity, and we can- 
 not be surprised, when it regards the remote countries of 
 the North. 
 
 The northern coast of the Black Sea was occupied by 
 Greek colonies, of which the most considerable was Olbia 
 on the Borysthenes, whose name it sometimes bore. With 
 respect to these, it has been already observed,^ that they had 
 all one common origin fi-om the city of Miletus. They 
 were situated at the mouths of the large rivers ; and beyond 
 them the Greeks had formed many other settlements ; viz. 
 in the Crimea at Panticapaeum, and on the farther shore of 
 the sea of Azof, at the mouth of the river Tanais,^ where 
 Milesian merchants had established themselves. 
 
 In their vicinity, the Tauri occupied the greatest part of 
 the Crimea, to which they gave their own name. They 
 figure in Greek mythology as a people of barbarous customs 
 and manners, being even addicted to human sacrifices, 
 which were practised among them in the days of Herodotus.^ 
 " They gain their liyehhood," says this historian, " by war 
 and plunder." Their origin is not known, but they were 
 probably a remnant of the Cimmerians,'^ whom the Scy- 
 thians dispossessed of their settlements ; for the most fero- 
 cious conquerors are seldom found to exterminate a people 
 utterly ; and as we find no further traces of them in their 
 former country, our conjecture may be considered very 
 probable, at least in the absence of any express testimony. 
 
 Next to these, the Scythian tribes first occur along both 
 sides of the river Dnieper ; and to the west, on the banks 
 of this river, above the city of Olbia, the Callipidse, a mixed 
 people of Greeks and Scythians," who had fixed habitations, 
 and applied to agriculture as well as their neighbours, the 
 Alazones, whose ancient abodes must be sought where' the 
 Dnieper and Bog approach the nearest to each other. The 
 
 ' See above, p. 70, sq. 
 
 • A new light has been diffused over these cities, and principally over Olbia 
 by the controversies which have been lately entered into. See Raoul 
 RocHETTE, Antiqmtes Grecques de Bosphore Cimmerien, Paris, 1822 • Peter 
 Von Kovvk^ AlterthUmer am Gestad des Pontm, (Antiquities of the coast 
 of Pontus,) Vienna, 1823; and Von Kolu, Zwei Aufschriften Von Olbia, 
 (two inscnptions from Olbia,) Petersburg, 1822. I shall make use of these 
 different works m sj^aking of the Greek colonies. It would as yet be too 
 soon, while we are engaged with the inland nations. 
 
 • Herod, iv. 103. >• Gatterer, 1. c. p. 140. " Hkrod iv 17 
 
8 
 
 SCYTHIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 tribes which were settled above these, comprehended under 
 the creneral name of agricultural Scythians, followed the 
 same way of life.^^ They cultivated the land, however, less 
 for the sake of enjoying its produce themselves than on ac- 
 count of the trade which they carried on in corn. 
 
 These last, it is true, extended far towards the west, but 
 the principal tribes were only settled on the eastern side of 
 the Dnieper, between this river and the Don or Tanais. 
 "Having crossed the Borysthenes," says Herodotus, "a 
 woody region first presents itself, after which we come to 
 the agricultural Scythians, whom the Greeks name Borys- 
 thenites, but they call themselves Olbiopolites." 
 
 It is uncertain whether there remam any traces of that 
 woody region. Some old maps present the name of the 
 Black Forest in the very same place ; and this may have 
 had a much wider extent in earlier times. From the com- 
 munications of several travellers, however, it appears, that 
 there is no wood there now, although the fact of its having 
 once existed, is preserved in the popular traditions of the 
 country ; nor does the woody country occur until we come 
 to the banks of the river Don." Modern travellers assert, 
 that these districts, which at the present day are occupied 
 by colonies of Germans, Greeks, and others, afford a soil 
 very favourable to the pursuit of agriculture. Rich meadow 
 land, which can easily be converted into arable, is their 
 general character ; from the Don to the Danube, from Po- 
 land to the sea of Azof, the soil is deep and fruitful, and 
 well adapted to every kind of produce.^* 
 
 According to Herodotus, the settlements of those agri- 
 cultural Scythians extended three days' journey to the east 
 from Olbia, as far as the river Pantikapes, which empties 
 itself into the Dnieper, and flows through the woody coun- 
 try to the north, eleven days' navigation up the Borysthenes. 
 If we follow Gatterer in considering the Pantikapes to be 
 the same as the Desna, we must make the woody country 
 
 12 Herod. 1. c. 
 
 " The forest commences near Tcherkask, on the banks of the Don, and 
 extends to the Dnieper near Tchernigov, in 52° Sa of north latitude, liaying 
 the appearance of a long black Hne on the horizon ; it is here succeeded by a 
 steppe, which continues to the Black Sea, and presents a considerable number 
 of monumental mounds. 
 
 »* New Eussia, by Miss Holderness, Lond. 1823. 
 
 reach as far as Kiev ; in this case, the country of the agri- 
 cultural Scythians would begin at the confluence of the 
 Desna and Dnieper, and extend northward to Mohilow on 
 the Dnieper, 54° N. L.^^ But it is not easy to believe, that 
 the Pantikapes is the same river as the Desna ; as we are 
 not authorized by the expression of Herodotus to suppose 
 that the woody country extended so far north ; and the dis- 
 tance between the Dnieper and the Desna is not equal to 
 three days' journey. I would therefore take the Pantikapes 
 for one of the more southern rivers which fall into the 
 Dnieper, either the Sula or the Psol. Under this view, the 
 limit of the country inhabited by the agricultural Scythians, 
 will be fixed near Kiev, 5P N. L. The importance of set- 
 tling the locality of these tribes will be readily acknow- 
 ledged ; but we shall pursue the investigation no farther, as 
 it is amply sufficient for all the purposes of a general survey, 
 to know that the district in question lies between the Don 
 and the Dnieper, and that the agricultural Scythians occu- 
 pied the western part of it. On the other side of the Pan- 
 tikapes, we enter upon the country of the nomad Scythians, 
 who neither plough nor sow. It is a steppe destitute of 
 wood, and comprehending a space of fourteen days' journey 
 in an eastern direction as far as the river Germs, and the 
 region which bears the same name, where are the tombs of 
 the Scythian kings.^^ Beyond this river the ruling horde of 
 the Scythians, who were named royal, first appear ; their 
 country is bounded on the south by the lake Maeotis and 
 
 " M. V. KoppEN, 1. c. p. 12, note 2, thinks I am mistaken in making 
 the Scythia of Herodotus extend so far north as Mohilow ; he adds, that it 
 was terminated by the southern tumuli in the government of Kursk, where, 
 owing to peculiar circumstances, we discover quite a different race of men, 
 inasmuch as the southern and northern Russians differ from each other, both 
 in language and in manners. It is, however, doubtful whether these tumuli 
 should be considered to decide the question ; at the same time it seemed rea- 
 sonable to fix the limit at Mohilow, on account of our uncertainty respecting 
 the course of the Pantikapes, as well as the mention of eleven days* naviga- 
 tion on the Dnieper. If, as I think, the river Psol is the ancient Pantikapes, 
 the opinion of M. Koppen with respect to the north-western limit of Scythia, 
 coincides with mine : but I hold, from the express declaration of Herodotus, 
 that its north-eastern frontier extended as far as 54 or 55° N. L. 
 
 •* Herod, iv. 19. The region of Genus must have been at a considerable 
 distance up the Dnieper, as we are told that forty days* navigation on tliat 
 river were required before they came to it (iv. 52). But we cannot form any 
 estimation of these days' navigation against the stream. We are acquainted 
 with no vestige of the tombs of the Scythian kings. 
 
10 
 
 SCYTHIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 11 
 
 I 
 
 the city Cremni, and on the east by the river Don, which 
 here terminates the whole of Scythia. i •• j <• 
 
 Herodotus speaks of some other nations on tins side ot 
 the river Don, who bordered on the Scythians to the west 
 and north, but were not of a similar extraction with them^ 
 These, with the addition of the Tauri and Greeks whom I 
 mentioned before, as being settled on the south of Scythia, 
 were the Agathyrsi, the Neuri, the Anthropophagi, and the 
 Melanchlseni. Among these, the Agathyrsi were farthest 
 towards the west ; they lived, according to the express 
 words of our historian, on the Maris," (Marosch,) which 
 falls into the Danube, and occupies a part of Transylvania 
 and Temeswarian Banat. They were a very rich people, 
 having an abundance of gold, probably obtained from the 
 Carpathian mountains, which they employed for the fabri- 
 cation of their utensils. We are not to suppose that they 
 were at the trouble of working gold mines, as the metal was 
 probably found in the sand washed down by their rivers. 
 In the centre of the region which now comprises Poland and 
 Lithuania, Herodotus places the Neuri,'« bounded on one 
 side by the Carpathian mountains, and the lake out ot which 
 the Dniester rises ;'» and on the other, by the Dnieper. 
 They had been once obliged to leave their country, on ac- 
 count of a quantity of serpents, with which it was intested 
 and had taken refuge with the Budini on the eastern side ot 
 the Don ; but they afterwards returned.'"' 
 
 " Herod iv 48, 100, 104. This helps to determine the settlements of 
 the o^hertSbTs. It is surprising how fell Herodotus -s acquam^ed wj^^h 
 the inferior rivers which flow into the lower Danube (i. 48, 49). t or tms 
 accura e"nformation he must have been indebted to.>"t™'''^?r"J'='l^^^^ 
 Lions between the Greeks of Pontus and *<= mhabitante o^f the Carpathian 
 
 """""i^'rod iv 51 This author was acquainted with' the entire course of 
 all th"rive;s from the Danube to the DoS, the Dnieper alone excepted, re- 
 specting which he avows his ignorance, ly. 53. .i„«;„„ !„ » ,,,. 
 
 » So Gatterer explains the passage, Herod, iv. 105, translating cc * »«- 
 n .„„. " so Ion? M thev were molested," which was formerly rendered by 
 "thk they wefeTh4 molested:- this does away with all apparent eontm- 
 diSs i%erodotus to the passage in iv 21, as well as puts -» jn^ t» ^ 
 discussion relative to the country of the Ncun and Bndini (See the com 
 mentators on Herodotus and Mannert.) Schweighteuser ad h. -translates 
 Ui ad extremum, because Herodotus never uses these words m the sense of 
 «^^r He adds, however, that the Neuri returned to their country when 
 Has no longer infested by the serpents Whatever interpretation may be 
 adopted, it will not affect the Umite which have been assigned to the Neuri, 
 Herod, iv. 51. 
 
 Scythia was bounded on the west by the country of these 
 two nations ; and on the north, by that of the Anthropo- 
 phagi, (cannibals,) and Melanchlaeni, (black clothed,) from 
 whom it was, however, separated by a desert."' The former 
 of these were settled in the modern government of Smolensk, 
 and the latter in the vicinity of Moscow ; and their names 
 were not the peculiar appellation of the tribes to which they 
 belonged ; but rather were derived from their customs and 
 dress. Herodotus says expressly, that they were not of 
 Scythian extraction ; and we learn at a later period that 
 their true name was Bastamae.^^ These were a branch from 
 the German stock, which probably first occupied the Scy- 
 thian country, and were expelled from it by the inroads of 
 other wandering tribes. Thus Herodotus is the first author 
 who has made us acquainted with the ancestors of the mo- 
 dern Germans, such as they were in these remote ages, when 
 they clothed themselves with the skins of animals and fed 
 on human flesh. 
 
 The Tanais or Don formed the eastern boundary of Scy- 
 thia. On the other side of this river we meet with a new 
 race, that is to say, the Sarmatians,^^ whose name is no less 
 celebrated than that of the Scythians. " On crossing the 
 Tanais we come to no more Scythians, but enter into a 
 country inhabited by the Sarmatians, who extend to a dis- 
 tance of five days' journey towards the north from the Palus 
 Maeotis. The district which they possess is equally destitute 
 of wild and of cultivated trees." It is clear from this pas- 
 sage of the historian, that they occupied the steppe, which 
 is now appropriated to the Cossacks of the Don ; and per- 
 haps a part of that of Astracan besides. As fifteen days' 
 journey are equivalent to about seventy-five German miles, 
 (about three hundred English,) their country must have ex- 
 tended to the 48th degree of north latitude, or to the point 
 where the Don and the Wolga approach the nearest to each 
 other. The language, however, of the Sarmatians was a 
 dialect of the Scythian ; and according to the fabulous tra- 
 
 *• Herod, iv. 18, 20. 
 
 " Gatterer, 1. c. p. 14S. From a comparison of Herodotus with Strabo. 
 It is plain that the appellations of Anthropophagi and MelanchUeni were de- 
 rived from the Greeks. 
 
 " Herod, iv. 21. He calls them :ZavpoiJiarai. 
 
 I 
 
I 
 
 n 
 
 SCYTHIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 dition, their nation owed its origin to an intermixture of the 
 Scythians with the Amazons. 
 
 Another very remarkable people were settled above the 
 Sarmatians, viz. the Budini.^^ " They inhabited a country 
 full of thick woods. They were very numerous, and had 
 blue eyes and red hair. In their country there was a city, 
 whose walls, houses, and temples were of wood ; and each 
 of its sides were thirty stades (about three miles) long. The 
 inhabitants of the city, however, the Geloni, were originally 
 Greeks who had retired thither from the commercial towns ; 
 and they spoke a mixed dialect of Greek and Scythian. 
 The Budini, on the contrary, had a language and way of life 
 pecuUar to themselves ; they were nomads, and lived by 
 hunting, while the Geloni cultivated the soil, and supported 
 themselves by its produce. They likewise differed from 
 each other in complexion. It is true that the Greeks used 
 to apply the name of Geloni to the Budini ; but it is very 
 incorrect to confound these two nations." 
 
 According to this, the settlements of the Budini began 
 where those'of the Sarmatian steppe ended, viz. in the go- 
 vernment of Saratov ; but Herodotus does not inform us 
 how far they extended to the north or east ; his calling 
 them, however, a great and powerful nation is sufficient to 
 convince us that their territory must have been considerable. 
 If we admit that it was equal in extent to that of the Sar- 
 matians, it will have comprised the present governments of 
 Pensa, Simbirsk, Kasan, with a part of that of Perm, and 
 terminate in the vicinity of the southern branch of the Ural 
 mountains. We know that at this day these provinces 
 abound in woods of oak, the magazines for Russian naval 
 architecture; which perfectly agrees with the account of 
 Herodotus, that the Budini inhabited thick forests ; as they 
 were not then so enlightened as at present. We cannot 
 now discover the lake mentioned by Herodotus ; but it is 
 to be observed that he describes it as a morass, and we shall 
 remark hereafter that the same place where we should ex- 
 pect to find it, is occupied by marshy grounds, which at 
 certain periods turn the land into a vast lake ; and this will 
 also afford me an opportunity to express my opinion re- 
 
 " Herod, iv. 10^. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 13 
 
 specting the colonies of Greeks which were established here, 
 and their motives for forming such settlements. 
 
 "Beyond the Budini ^^ on the north, there is a desert, seven 
 days' journey in length. Having crossed this, and turned 
 eastward, we come to the Thyssagetae, a large and inde- 
 pendent nation, who live by hunting. In the same country, 
 and adjoining them, we come to another people, the lurcae, 
 who follow the same way of life. They climb trees, where 
 they watch for the deer ; and hunt with horses and dogs ; 
 their horses are taught to lie down on their belly in order to 
 appear smaller. To the east of these are to be found a 
 colony of emigrants from Scythia, (Scythae exules,) who 
 came from the country of the royal Scythians." 
 
 Thus we fix the northern boundary of the Budini, in 54® 
 N. L., and adding to the account the desert of seven days' 
 journey, or five and thirty miles, (about one hundred and 
 forty, English measure,) we shall come to the government 
 of Wiatka, towards the 56th degree of latitude. Here we 
 must turn towards the east, in order to arrive in the coun- 
 try of the Thyssagetae, and lurcae ; and this can be no other 
 than the government of Perm, near the Ural mountains. 
 Herodotus assures us that the Thyssagetae were very nu- 
 merous ; whence we are authorized to suppose that they 
 would occupy the whole of the government of Perm, and 
 even extend beyond it on the north. With respect to the 
 lurcae, who, as it has been remarked, inhabited the same 
 country, it would appear, forming our calculation fi*om the 
 order adopted by Herodotus, that they occupied the eastern 
 part, that they reached nearly to the Ural chain, and were 
 even to be found in the interior of these mountains. In the 
 succeeding chapter we shall return to the lurcae, and en- 
 deavour to throw some light upon them, as well as upon 
 the Scythian emigrants. 
 
 Herodotus continues thus : ^^ " Leaving the habitations 
 of these Scythians, the country, which was before plain and 
 open, now becomes unequal and mountainous." Taking 
 this passage as our guide, we shall seek for the ancient 
 abodes of these tribes on the western side of the Ural chain; 
 but as they are said to have extended to the foot of these 
 
 Herod, iv. 22. 
 
 « Ibid. iv. 23. 
 
14 
 
 SCYTHIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 15 
 
 mountains, and even into their interior, we shall conclude 
 that they touched upon the frontiers of Siberia.^ 
 
 Hence we can have no difficulty in deciding the stony 
 and mountainous country which follows, to be the Ural 
 chain, reaching from the northern side of the Caspian to 
 
 the icy sea. 
 
 " Having^ proceeded a considerable way through this 
 stony region, we come to the people named Argippaei, set- 
 tled at the foot of high mountains. The women as well as 
 the men of this nation are bald from their youth ; they have 
 flat noses and large jaw bones ; their costume is Scythian ; 
 but their language peculiar to themselves." From the phy- 
 sical account of this people, with which our author has 
 furnished us, we can have no hesitation in identifying them 
 with the Calmucks, a principal branch of the Mongols. 
 " Their diet," says Herodotus, " partly consists in the fruit 
 of a tree named Ponticum, about the size of a fig tree. The 
 fruit which it produces resembles a bean in the pod. When 
 this is ripe, they put it in bags for filtration, and a thick 
 black juice issues out, which is called Aschy ; this becomes 
 a part of their food, either by itself, or mixed virith milk. 
 The mass of the fruit remaining after this process is formed 
 into cakes, which are baked and eaten by them.^ They have 
 few sheep, as their pastures are but indifferent." The fruit 
 in question is probably the bird's cherry, (Pennus Padus, 
 Linn.,) which at this day the Calmucks eat in almost the 
 same manner ; they dress the berries with milk, then press 
 them in a sieve, and afterwards form them into a thick 
 mass, which is called moisun chat ; a small piece of which, 
 mixed with water, makes a nutricious and palatable soup.^^ 
 This people made their tents as at present, of black felt, but 
 they were not yet acquainted with the method of supporting 
 them artificially like the modems.^^ They each of them 
 hung their canvass on a tree^^ for their winter abode ; in 
 
 * Gatterer, 1. c. p. 128, derives the name of lurcse from the river Trgis, 
 which flows on the eastern side of the Ural chain, and empties itself into the 
 lake Acsacal. 
 
 * Herod. I. c. 
 
 » Neunich, Polyglot Dictionary of Natural History, s. v. Prunus Padus 
 L. According to Wassili Michailow, (Riga, 1804,) an intoxicating beverage 
 is made from this fruit. 
 
 * Pallas,!, c. i. p. 111. 
 
 " This must be a misunderstanding which has arisen from the supporters 
 
 summer, when they lived in the open air, it was folded up. 
 The horde of which Herodotus speaks does not appear to 
 have been one of the most wealthy ; we collect, however, 
 from him, that they roved about in the same country which 
 is inhabited by the modern Calmucks. 
 
 " We are now arrived," continues Herodotus, " into the 
 most distant country which we can become acquainted with, 
 as this terminates the journeys undertaken by the Scythian 
 and Greek caravans from the commercial cities of Pontus. 
 No one can give any account of that region which is beyond 
 the Argippaei, because this people are separated from the 
 remote districts in question by inaccessible mountains, which 
 have never been passed. The Argippaei, it is true, assert 
 that men are to be found there with goats' feet, and that at 
 a great distance the country is inhabited by men who sleep 
 six months in the year. But these stories are fabulous, and 
 quite unworthy of credit." 
 
 The inaccessible mountains which terminate the region 
 possessed by the Argippaei, are evidently the Altai chain 
 bounding southern Siberia, which in this passage first oc- 
 curs in history, though without a name, like the Ural moun- 
 tains. The tradition concerning men who had goats' feet 
 is one of those stories which are so often indulged in with 
 regard to distant countries, and particularly Siberia. In 
 the other tradition of men who sleep six months in the year, 
 we can perceive a ray of truth, inasmuch as we know that 
 the polar regions continue for six months, more or less, 
 without having the light of the sun ; their darkness being 
 only relieved by the moon and the aurora borealis. This 
 was unknown to the ancients, and their ignorance of it jus- 
 tifies the caution of Herodotus. 
 
 '* The country to the east of the Argippaei," continues 
 the historian,^^ " we know to be inhabited by the Issedones. 
 These people have a custom, when any one loses his father, 
 for the relations to kill a certain number of sheep, whose 
 flesh they hash up together with that of the dead person, 
 and feast upon it.^** But the dead man's skull is cleansed 
 
 of their tents being of the shape of trees, which were not to be found in the 
 desert. 
 
 ^ Herod, iv. 25. 
 
 Incredible as this custom may appear, it nevertheless exists amongst the 
 
16 
 
 SCYTHIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 \7 
 
 and gilded, and becomes a sort of idol, to which they offer 
 sacrifices every year. In other respects they are said to be 
 a civilized nation, and women amongst them are ehgible to 
 the sovereignty as well as men." 
 
 Although the Greek writer has not given us any positive 
 account of the country of this nomad people, it is not difh- 
 cult to determine the point. They began in the interior of 
 Great Mongolia, the present residence of the bungares, and 
 were terminated by ancient Serica, whose inhabitants appear 
 to have been derived from them.'* The Greeks were ac- 
 quainted with the name of this people long before the time 
 of Herodotus, from an epic poem, attributed to Ansteus ot 
 
 ProcontiGSUS. 
 
 "To the north of the Issedones^ we find, according to 
 this people themselves, men with only one eye, called m the 
 Scythian language Arimaspi, and griffins, who watch over 
 the gold. The Scythians learned this circumstance from 
 the Issedones, and we ourselves from the Scythians." 
 
 We have already spoken of the fabulous country of the 
 griffins, and have proved that it was situated more to the 
 south of the mountains bordering on Little Bucharia. But 
 since the gold mountains of Eastern Asia extend as much 
 to the north as to the south, it is probable that the tradition 
 prevailed in both these directions ; moreover, this fabulous 
 story of the Arimaspi, and the griffins who watched over 
 
 Battas of Sumatra. The inhabitants of that land related to Dr. Leyden that 
 ihev frequently eat their nearest relations when they are become old and m- 
 firm- and this less to gi-atify their appetite, than in obedience to a precentof 
 relTffion When a man gets old an/^rceives his strength fail him, he W 
 se f^n^ges his relations to eat him, St the season when salt is the cheapest. 
 He thenlscends atree, and his children, with his nearest kmsmen, disp^^^^^^ 
 themselves around it; they shake the tree, singing these words : The fruit 
 s n>! and Jiust be sliaken down." After which, the old man descends from 
 the^tree, and is killed and eaten by his relations at a so emn repast. In other 
 resVects the Battas as well as the Issedones are described as a civihzed peo- 
 ple^ LEYDENin^^^. Besearch, ix. p. 202. It is remarkable that Herod- 
 otus has the same story concerning an Indian people named Padsi, m. 99. 
 
 •» Ptolemv nlaces the Issedones m Senca. 
 
 « TMs^Centitled'Api/iaWca, contained the most ancient trachtions 
 concerainJ^e ^ast and north of the ancient world. The p(^t pre ended to 
 wTavelled into the country of the Issedones, and related a multitude of 
 fables relS (Her^d. iv. 13-15.) He lived about two hundred 
 
 fe^^lren!rodoius ; knd we see by tbat historian's account of the poe^ 
 to wh^ high antiquity the commerce of the Greek colonies of the Pontus 
 Euxinus with Eastern Asia must be referred. 
 
 " Herod, iv. 2/. 
 
 the gold, tends to confirm the opinion which we have given 
 in the introduction, that the gold mines of Southern Asia 
 were known from the most remote antiquity. 
 
 We shall now follow our historian along the eastern side 
 of the Caspian Sea, and the lake Aral, where his geogra* 
 phical knowledge will excite our admiration quite as much 
 as it did in the north. No subsequent ancient writer, nor 
 even any modern geographer, has collected equally exact 
 accounts of these regions. The greatest part of the tribes 
 were settled in Great Bucharia ; yet any attempt to fix the 
 residence of each of them would be fruitless, as that must 
 have changed frequently in the vicissitudes of their wander- 
 ing life ; but there will not be much danger of confounding 
 them with each other, because we know them already from 
 the list of nations tributary to Darius, and have seen them 
 exhibited with their arms and accoutrements in the immense 
 army of Xerxes. 
 
 The vast plains of Great Bucharia, or Tartary, to the east 
 of the Caspian Sea, have been at all times the favourite 
 abode of nomad tribes. Some have been attracted to these 
 seats of commerce, the staples for southern Asiatic produc- 
 tions, by their wants ; while the commodities in which they 
 abounded have afforded others an inducement to piracy. 
 On the whole, the nations in question do not appear to have 
 been ever more numerous than they were in the age of the 
 Persian empire, in the service of which they were for the 
 most part engaged.^ 
 
 The tribes of the Caspii, Pausicae, Pantimathi, and Daritae, 
 wandered along the shores of the Caspian Sea, between it 
 and the lake Aral. The Caspii figure in the army of 
 Xerxes with costumes of fiir, their arms being sabres, and 
 bows made of a sort of reed. 
 
 The other nations which we have just named did not 
 appear in the army of Xerxes, but were included in the 
 tributaries of Persia, as may be seen by the catalogue made 
 under Darius, where they are placed by the side of the 
 Caspii. The name of the last has undergone no alteration ; 
 at a later period, however, they are found on the west and 
 north of the Caspian Sea. 
 
 " Proemmichen, Asia HerodoteaB diffwUioray with the notes of Gatterer: 
 this treatise gained a prize from the academy of Gottingen in the year 1 794. 
 
 VOL. n. c 
 
SCYTHIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 18 
 
 To the south of these tribes, in the vast plains of Khiva, 
 the habitations of the Chorasmii and Thamansei were dis- 
 oersed The name of Chorasmii constantly appears m his- 
 fory. According to Herodotus, they were settled on the 
 S, that is to iy, the Oxus,- and m the army of Xerxes 
 had the Median arms with the Bactrian costume 1 he 
 Thamanaei lived on the banks of the same river, and are 
 only found in the list of tributaries.- Their neighbours 
 were the Mycians- and Utii, who are probably identical 
 with the modern Uzes, known as the ancestors of the Turks. 
 These two nations were principally clothed with fur cloaks, 
 and apphed to agriculture like the Chorasmii, though at a 
 later epoch they are enumerated amongst nomad tribes 
 
 To the north of these last, on the lower Jaxartes lived 
 the Paricanii and Orthocorybantii. The Paricami^ were 
 clothed with far like the preceding, and armed with bows 
 made in their own country. We have already seen m 
 Herodotus another people bearing this name, and cited in 
 the list of tributaries with the Asiatic Etb^pians,*^ which 
 will authorize a conjecture that they extended much farther 
 to the south than the people of whom we are speaking here. 
 With regard to the Orthocorybantii, they do not appear in 
 the expedition of Xerxes, being only mentioned m the 
 catalogue of satrapies.*^ 
 
 In the interior of Great Bucharia, and on the east these 
 are succeeded by the Gandarii, Aparytae, Dadicae and feat- 
 taevd^. The Gandarii and Dadicae imitated the Bactrians 
 in their method of arming themselves ; the two other people 
 were included in the list of tributaries, though not m the 
 
 army of Xerxes.*^ .^ , . , tt j x 
 
 Such are the ancient nomad tribes which Herodotus was 
 acquainted with, and has faithfally described. After his 
 time the greater number of them do not appear any longer in 
 history, though some, as the Caspii and Utii are found more 
 recently in other districts to the west of the Caspian Sea; 
 and by this remarkable change of situation, conhrm the ob- 
 
 » It has been frequently asserted, that the Aces is the Ochus of the moderns 
 but tlL opi^on of ^Ga^^^^^^^ who takes.it for the Oxus, appears to me the 
 most probable. Gatterer, 1. c p. 17, m the notes. 
 
 - iIerod. iii. 93. I bid. ni, 93 ; vu. 68. ^ Ib^ v^ b^, 
 
 « Ibid. iii. 94. ** Ibid. m. 92. A Did, vu. oo. 
 
 « Ibi4Ji. 91. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 19 
 
 servation already made, that these nomad hordes have moved 
 from east to west. If we reflect, however, on the uninter- 
 rupted expeditions of the powerful nomad nations of Great 
 Tartary, there will be no room to doubt that the hordes 
 mentioned in Herodotus were detached branches of them. 
 These hordes, whose country was beyond the borders of the 
 Persian empire, that is, on the other side of the Jaxartes, 
 were confounded by the Persians under the general name of 
 Sacae, an appellation as indefinite perhaps with them, as 
 that of Scythians with the Greeks, or that of Tartars with 
 us. " The people named Scythians by the Greeks," says 
 Herodotus,*^ " are called Sacae by the Persians." We may 
 add that these tribes followed the Persians in all their ex- 
 peditions, in the capacity of mercenaries, and formed the 
 greater part of the armies of the great king. 
 
 Besides this general information, Herodotus has given a 
 detailed account, equally instructing and interesting, of a 
 nation beyond the Jaxartes, bearing the name of Massa- 
 getse, against whom Cyrus undertook the expedition which 
 occasioned his death.*^ " Some assert," says the historian, 
 " that they are a warlike nation established on the eastern 
 side of the river Araxes, and near the Issedones ; others, 
 that they inhabited an immense plain to the east of the 
 Caspian Sea, and were related to the Scythians. The 
 Massagetae do, in fact, resemble the Scythians in their 
 costume and manner of life. They fight on foot as well as 
 on horseback, being equally skilled in both. They make 
 use of bows and lances, and are accustomed to the battle- 
 axe. Their lances and clubs are of brass ; their helmets 
 and girdles ornamented with gold. The harness of their 
 horses is of brass ; though the bit is gold as well as the orna- 
 ments of the bridle. They are not acquainted either with 
 iron or silver, their country being entirely destitute of these 
 metals, while it affords gold and brass in abundance." 
 
 The exactness of the geographical data here furnished us, 
 renders it impossible to mistake the situation of this people. 
 The Araxes can be no other than the Jaxartes, as we are re- 
 ferred to a lai^e river on the east of the Caspian Sea. It is 
 true, that this designation would equally apply to the Oxus ; 
 
 Herod, vii. 64 
 
 47 
 
 c 2 
 
 Ibid. i. 201, 204, 215, 216. 
 
20 
 
 SCYTHIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 but the name of Araxes cannot be given to the latter, because 
 Herodotus calls it the Aces, and because it flows m Bucharia ; 
 for the Massagetse were not inhabitants of this countiy, but 
 rather were fixed more to the east or to the north, and near 
 the Issedones. To which it may be added, that they were 
 not tributaries of the Persians, or mercenary soldiers m 
 their armies, like all the other nations of Great Bucharia ; 
 that the gold and brass with which their country abounded 
 were not found in Great Bucharia, but in the Altai moun- 
 tains ; and that the immense plain to the east of the Caspian 
 Sea is that steppe land, which at this day includes feungaria 
 and Mongolia, touches on the frontier of Eygur, and ex- 
 tends to the Altaic chain. 
 
 It appears, then, that the Massagetae were neighbours ot 
 the Issedones, and that these two nations had a common 
 origin, being both, as well as the Argippaei, of Mongol ex- 
 traction. With these, our historian concludes his survey, 
 his geographical knowledge not extending beyond their 
 country; for he does not seem to have been acquainted 
 with the name of Seres, who have since become so famous 
 in the west ; and yet they were, as we have already proved, 
 a branch of the Issedones. We may supply his place by 
 the Chinese annalists, who take up the thread of narration 
 where he quitted it ; but here we shall only remark, from 
 what they relate^ of the Hiongnu, (according to all appear- 
 ance, the ancestors of the Huns,) that this people, to the 
 east, bordered on the Issedones and Massagetae, of whom 
 they probably formed a part; and we do not intend to 
 pursue our inquiries so far as to touch upon nations, which, 
 being extremely remote from all parts of the world known 
 to the ancients, cannot furnish us with facts of much import- 
 ance to the present investigation into the commerce and 
 manufactures of antiquity. 
 
 *• De Guiones, Histoire des Huns, ii. p. 13, etc 
 
 SCYTHIANS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 k 
 
 Commerce and Intercourse of the Nations of Central Asia, * 
 
 JAVAN, TUBAL, AND MESECH, THEY WERE THY MERCHANTS: THEY TRADED THE 
 PERSONS OF MEN AND VESSELS OF BRASS IN THY MARKET. THEY OF THE 
 HOUSE OF TOGARMAH TRADED IN THY FAIRS WITH HORSES AND HORSEMEN 
 AND MULES. EZEKIEL, XXVii. 13, 14. 
 
 If it be true, as our preceding pages evince, that the inte- 
 rior of Asia was better known in the times of the Persian 
 empire than it is now, the knowledge of this fact ought to 
 make us entertain a very high idea of the relations of every 
 kind which in these remote ages existed between the differ- 
 ent nations of Asia ; it ought to enlarge the picture which 
 we have undertaken to portray, of ancient commerce, and 
 enrich it with an additional group in the back ground, 
 which will be more attractive from the contrast which it 
 forms with the rest. 
 
 In this task we are not reduced to content ourselves with 
 simple conjectures. History has fortunately preserved a 
 sufficient number of positive accounts to enable us to attain 
 to correctness in our general view of the subject, though 
 some of its details may be liable to exception. 
 
 The Greek cities on the coasts of the Black Sea infused 
 life and activity into the tribes of the north ; their bold and 
 enterprising genius opened to them a connexion with the 
 most remote countries of the East ; and perhaps they even 
 introduced into their own country the commodities of India, 
 conveying them over the immense steppes of Asia. 
 
 We have remarked already, that all these cities were 
 colonies from Miletus ; Olbia, situated at the mouth of the 
 Borysthenes, on the site of the modern Cherson, being the 
 most considerable. The second rank was distinguished by 
 
*'jy 
 
 22 
 
 SCYTHIANS. 
 
 CHAP. U. 
 
 CHAP. 1I< 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 23 
 
 
 ! I 
 
 Panticapseum, in the Tauric peninsula; Phanagoria and 
 Tanais, at the extremity of the sea of Azof; Dioscurias, 
 near the mouth of the Phasis ; and lastly, Heraclea, Sinope, 
 and Amisus on the shores of Asia Minor, which were washed 
 by the Pontus Euxinus. These cities, the greater part of 
 which were founded seven hundred years before the Chris- 
 tian era, and consequently existed before the Persian do- 
 minion, appropriated to themselves the navigation and com- 
 merce of the Black Sea ; they saw in profusion in their own 
 markets, the productions of all the countries bordering on 
 this sea, which found here a sale as advantageous as it was 
 prompt ; and their industry increasing with their wealth, 
 they at length monopolized all the productions of the North 
 and East. We shall now proceed to trace their commerce 
 through its different branches. 
 
 All the cities in question, and especially Dioscurias, Pan- 
 ticapaeum and Phanagoria, had formerly the most consider- 
 able and famous slave markets. The countries situated on 
 the north and east of the Black Sea were inexhaustible 
 magazines for this shameful and inhuman traffic : hence the 
 name of Scythian was frequently used as synonymous with 
 the word slave. 
 
 In the continual wars which the nations of Mount Cau- 
 casus waged against each other, all the prisoners were sold 
 as slaves ; for slavery was generally prevalent amongst the 
 Scythians, as amongst other nomad tribes ; ^ and the slave 
 markets of Panticapaeum and Dioscurias were, even in the 
 time of Strabo, a great attraction to these barbarous nations.* 
 
 But a much more advantageous commerce for them was 
 that which consisted in corn. We have already seen in our 
 quotations from Herodotus, that several Scythian tribes had 
 attained to the knowledge of agriculture, and that the 
 Ukrain, amongst others, on the two banks of the Dnieper, 
 produced a considerable quantity of corn. The cultivated 
 part of this district reached to the modern government of 
 Kiev. We have likewise remarked in the same historian, 
 that the inhabitants cultivated the soil not for the purpose 
 
 * Herod, iv. 2, 3. 
 
 » Strab. p. 757, 761. According to the testimony of this author, there 
 were more than seventy tiibes collected together in the great markets of 
 Panticapaeum, 
 
 of consuming its productions themselves, but to find their 
 account in it by the profits of commerce.^ Thus the Ukrain 
 was, in the Persian era, as it still is in our time, very pro- 
 ductive in corn, and the city of Olbia served as an empo- 
 rium for this branch of traffic. The same city maintained 
 especially an intercourse * with Athens, whose territory did 
 not produce enough of this necessary commodity to supply 
 the wants of its inhabitants. 
 
 The commerce which was carried on with fur put it in* 
 the power of the Greeks to penetrate still deeper into the 
 heart of this country. We have already observed in another 
 place, that this commerce could not have been so consider- 
 able in ancient times as it has become recently ; but it was 
 not of less importance. The climate of the regions border- 
 ing on the Black Sea, as that of many others on the same 
 degrees of latitude, was more inclement than at present; 
 and warm garments were more necessary.^ Accordingly 
 the use of furs was nearly general among the nations of 
 Thrace, and all the Asiatic tribes settled in countries above 
 the 40th degree of north latitude. The Thracians wore 
 caps of fox skin and boots of fur ; ^ the Scythians and Me- 
 lanchlaeni used cloaks of the same material. Similar habili- 
 ments were common to other people on the east of the Cas- 
 pian Sea ; and we shall show afterwards that fine furs were 
 of equal estimation in Southern Asia. 
 
 But the adventurous and enterprising spirit of the Greeks 
 on the shores of the Euxine Sea did not confine itself to this 
 commerce with the nations of the North ; they penetrated 
 into the East, and made way for themselves even into Great 
 Mongolia. Herodotus is still our authority on this subject. 
 
 " As far as the Argippaei,^ (the modern Calmucks,) the 
 country is very well known ; and also that of the other na- 
 tions whom we have mentioned before. For it is often 
 visited, either by the Scythians, who readily communicate 
 what they have learned respecting it, or by the Greeks of 
 Olbia and its neighbourhood. The Scythians who go into 
 these districts usually carry on their affairs in seven different 
 
 ' Herod, iv. I7. * Demosth. in Lept p. 254. ed. Wolf. 
 
 * This inclemency of the climate is a fact of which we may assure ourselves 
 from Herodotus, (iv. 28,) if we are inclined to consider the complaints of Ovid 
 exaggerated. 
 
 ' Herod, vii. 75. ' Ibid. iv. 24. 
 
24 
 
 SCYTHIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 25 
 
 languages, by the assistance of the same number of inter- 
 preters." 
 
 This remarkable passage of our historian evidently de- 
 scribes a commerce by caravans, which, having crossed the 
 Ural mountains, travelled northward round the Caspian Sea, 
 and thence advanced into the interior of Great Mongolia. 
 This commerce was jointly carried on by the Greeks of 
 Pontus and by Scythians; and when we once know its 
 route, it will be easy to explain its organization ; as the 
 Scythians were accustomed to travel with immense herds, 
 and were possessed of many beasts of burden, they were 
 probably the best conductors of merchandise ; and we must 
 therefore conclude, that they in a great measure formed the 
 caravans which travelled into Eastern Asia. 
 
 Hence we can entertain no doubt as to the place of set- 
 ting out, or the termination of their journey. It began at 
 Olbia, near the mouth of the river Borysthenes, and ended 
 beyond the Ural mountains, in the country of the Argippaei 
 (the Calmucks). This people belonged to the great Mon- 
 golian family, and formed the most western branch of it. 
 Their tents being made of felt proves in some degree their 
 relation with the Mongols or Calmucks ; while the Scythi- 
 ans, by living, according to Herodotus, on their waggons,^ 
 showed their Tartar origin. All we know of the country of 
 the Argippaei is, that we must seek them in the western 
 part of Great Mongolia, and probably in the present canton 
 of the Kirghis : ^ we must not however conclude from this 
 that the region was of moderate extent ; for it might have 
 reached to the Jaxartes on the south, that is, to the confines 
 of the tribes of Great Tartary and Mongolia ; and on the 
 east, to the territory of the Issedones. Our acquaintance 
 with their neighbours on two sides seems very important, 
 as it tends to prove that the commerce of the Greeks with 
 the Argippaei could open to them a communication with 
 the different countries situated on the east and north of Asia. 
 
 We shall now examine the routes of this commerce. 
 
 The latter part of the route which crossed the steppes 
 beyond the Ural mountains, was the same as that at present 
 traversed by caravans from Orenburg towards Bokhara, or 
 
 • Herod, iv. 46. 
 The Kirghis emigrated very late from Siberia to their present country. 
 
 I(hiva, or from these latter cities to Orenburg. The com- 
 mercial expeditions of the Russians, particularly that in the 
 year 1820, have thrown considerable light on these coun- 
 tries and their roads ; and we have obliged the reader with 
 the information which has been communicated to us in 
 writing.*^ 
 
 According to these accounts, there is no high road be- 
 tween Orenburg and Bokhara. From Orenburg to the Sir- 
 Darja we find no beaten way ; we only meet occasionally 
 some paths made by camels. 
 
 The Russian caravan, which, as it was accompanied by 
 a strong escort, could without danger take the most fre- 
 quented road, doubled the north-eastern extremity of the 
 lake Aral ;" passed the two arms of the Sir-Darja, on the 
 north and south, and then proceeded along the desert of 
 Kisil-Koum, in northern Bucharia. But for several reasons, 
 caravans are not always able to travel on the same road : 
 sometimes on account of the insecurity occasioned by the 
 predatory hordes, which are roving about ; at others they 
 are prevented by the want of forage and water for camels, 
 which it is not safe to pasture any where, except on the ter- 
 ritory of friendly hordes. The Khivans have four routes of 
 communication with Russia. The first passes between the 
 lake of Aral and the Caspian Sea across the steppe of the 
 Kirghis. This is safe only in times of peace, and when an 
 intelligence is maintained with these tribes, which has been 
 diflScult for some years. The second road is by way of 
 Saruchek, along the frontiers of Russia, and ends likewise at 
 Orenburg. By this circuitous route the Khivans seek to 
 avoid the insults of the Kirguis. The third road goes from 
 Saruchek to Astracan, from whence merchandise is trans- 
 ported to Novgorod by the Wolga. The fourth road sets 
 out from Khiva and leads to Karagan,^^ and from thence by 
 the Caspian Sea to Astracan. Of these four roads the se^ 
 cond and third are most frequented. 
 
 10 
 
 Vol. i. p. 168, (note «.) 
 
 " It went to Bokhara, and not to Khiva ; if the latter city had been its 
 destination, the road between the Caspian Sea and the lake of Aral would 
 have been the shortest. 
 
 ** Karagan is the most westerly cape of the eastern shore of the Caspian 
 Sea, towards the 44th degree of nortn latitude, and at the shortest distance 
 from Astracan. 
 
26 
 
 SCYTHIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 11. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 27 
 
 We shall show how far these data will apply to Scythian 
 commerce, after having explored the commercial route of 
 the cities on the Black Sea, from the shores of that sea to 
 the Uralian mountains. , 
 
 Although Herodotus has not accurately determined this 
 road, it is not difficult to trace it from the indications he 
 has left. According to him, the commercial Scythians and 
 Greeks were obliged to traverse countries inhabited by 
 seven different tribes, and speaking seven different dialects, 
 and consequently under the necessity of employing the as- 
 sistance of seven interpreters, in order to make themselves 
 understood. These cannot be the same which Herodotus 
 himself has mentioned:'' the Tauri, the Sarmatians, the 
 Budini, the Geloni, the Thyssagetae, the Jurcse, and the 
 
 Argippsei.'* 
 
 Thus if, with Herodotus, we consider Olbia to have been 
 the emporium in whose neighbourhood the caravans assem- 
 bled, their route must have passed along the Hylgean or 
 wood country, and have coasted the sea of Azof, as far 
 as the mouth of the Tanais. It was here that the Tauri '^ 
 inhabited, whose settlements extend far beyond the penin- 
 sula to which they have given their name. Having passed 
 the Tanais, the caravans entered into the steppe of Astracan, 
 whence they took a northern direction across the country 
 of the Sarmatians, reached the territory of the Budini, and 
 arrived in the wooden city of the Geloni. Hence they 
 turned to the north-east, and after seven days' journey 
 through a desert, they reached the country of the Thyssa- 
 getge and Jurcse, on the frontiers of Siberia. After passing 
 the Ural chain they came into the steppes of the Kirghis 
 and Calmucks, which terminated their journey. 
 
 " This is proved incontestably by the context. 
 
 " I pass over in silence the Scythian exiles or emigrants ; m their inter- 
 course with whom the caravans had no need of interpreters, as they still pre- 
 served their own language. If, however, we were desirous to substitute them 
 in this passage for the Tauri, there could be no reason to oppose this dispo- 
 sition. Herodotus does not fix their settlements positively ; he only says 
 that they were formerly estabUshed on the east of the Jurcie, without explain- 
 ing the cause of their emigration. It would seem that this was a voluntary 
 emigration, (as we should understand by the expression diroffTavTsg,) and that 
 the object of this people in changing their country was to be fixed on the 
 great commercial road. 
 
 »* Herou, iv. 99. 
 
 It is evident that this was not the shortest way from Olbia 
 to the country of the Argippaei. It was necessary to turn 
 to the left, make a circuit in the northern direction, and 
 proceed as far up as the frontiers of Siberia, if not pass be- 
 yond them ; for the account of Herodotus will not permit 
 us to assign a more southern position to the regions tra- 
 versed by the caravans. Perhaps this circuitous route was 
 necessary, on account of the predatory hordes which infest- 
 ed the more direct way. It appears, however, from the 
 text of Herodotus, that it was rather enjoined by the de- 
 mands of commerce than any other necessity ; and what 
 proves this to a demonstration is the fact, that the caravans 
 were obliged to use interpreters, whom they could have dis- 
 pensed with, if it had not been their purpose to traffic with 
 different nations. With respect to the nature of this traffic, 
 Herodotus himself has taken care to inform us that this road 
 of the Scythian caravans had been frequented fi*om time 
 immemorial by merchants who traded in furs. 
 
 According to the testimony of Herodotus, the Budini, 
 Thyssagetae, and Jurcae, were all hunting people, who lived 
 in the midst of the woods ; they watched for the animals from 
 the top of trees, and killed them with their arrows ; some- 
 times also they hunted with horses and dogs. The deserts 
 which separated their territories formed, as it were, parks 
 filled with all kinds of animals ; and the object which they 
 had in view when they hunted these animals, like the modern 
 Siberians, was to possess themselves of their valuable ftirs. 
 This is, moreover, confirmed by the following passage from 
 Herodotus. " In the country of the Budini, there is a lake 
 and a marsh full of rushes, where they catch otters, beavers, 
 and other animals of the same kind, whose skins serve for 
 the decoration of garments." ^^ 
 
 The wooden city, of which we have spoken above, was 
 situated in the country of the Budini, and was surrounded 
 
 " Herod, iv. 109. The authenticity of this passage, doubted by some au- 
 thors, has been justly defended by Schweigha^user, ad h. 1. Let naturalists 
 explain, if they can, what is meant by square-headed animals. As to myself, 
 I at first believed that sables were intended, although I have quitted this 
 opinion, since the fact has come to my knowledge, that sea-dogs (phocae vi- 
 tulinae) inhabit the lakes of Siberia. I have no doubt of these being the 
 animals which Herodotus had in view, because they are amphibious, like 
 those which he has mentioned first in this passage ; and the surprising size 
 of their head justifies the expression he has employed in defining them. 
 
28 
 
 SCYTHIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 29 
 
 ■;( I 
 
 by a wooden enclosure, each side of which was thirty stades 
 long. This establishment, founded by the Greeks of the 
 commercial cities of Pontus, contained buildings and tem- 
 ples for their use.^^ There can be no doubt as to their ob- 
 ject in founding this slobode. It could only be designed as 
 a staple for the fur trade. And this fact explains why the 
 Greek caravans, instead of taking the direct way to the end 
 of their journey, did not reach it till after a long circuitous 
 route to the north. For the wooden city was a great mar- 
 ket, where they not only disposed of the fruits of their own 
 industry, but received other commodities in exchange, which 
 they carried away for the purpose of traffic with remote 
 
 nations. 
 
 A German scholar,^^ who, alas ! died much too soon for 
 the interests of science, a short time ago succeeded in throw- 
 ing a brighter ray of light on these countries, hitherto in- 
 volved in such obscurity. He has proved from original 
 documents, that the country which has been sought for a 
 long time on the north-west of Russia, is that into which 
 we have just arrived with the caravans whose route Herod- 
 otus has described. This country comprehended the vast 
 territory on both sides of the Ural chain, the government 
 of Perm, and the western part of that of Tobolsk, to the 
 banks of the Obi. Its inhabitants, the Jugrians, are the 
 same who at this day live near the Obi, under the name of 
 Voguls and Ostiacks. The district in question, one fourth 
 larger than Germany, contains sixteen thousand square miles, 
 from the 56th to the 67th degree of north latitude. It has 
 been always celebrated for animals whose furs are held in 
 estimation, found in the greatest numbers on the east of the 
 Ural mountains, which were passed three difterent ways. 
 The soil of this country is in a great measure marshy, and 
 becomes more and more so as we advance towards the 
 north : which explains the passage of Herodotus, where he 
 
 " Herod, iv. 108. 
 
 " Untersuchungen zur Erlduterung der dltern Geschichte Rmzlands, (Re- 
 searches relative to the illustration of ancient Russian history,) by A. C. 
 Lehrberg ; published by the Royal Academy of Sciences, under the super- 
 intendence of Ph. Krug. St. Petersburg, 1816 ; with an introductory biogra- 
 phical sketch, extremely interesting. This admirable man found after his 
 death an equally admirable friend in the publisher of his work. The first 
 treatise belongs to our subject ; entitled, On the geographical position and his- 
 tory ofjugria^ 
 
 jnentions a large lake, or rather a marsh, of rushes. Here 
 also were found the best sort of beavers, those, namely, who 
 built near the water : and those animals which supply the 
 finest furs, as sables, squirrels, and foxes, of every descrip- 
 tion.*^ During the long period of the middle ages, Jugria 
 was in possession of this commerce. But after the eleventh 
 century, this trade fell into the hands of the inhabitants of 
 Novgorod, who soon reduced it into a province of their 
 republic ; nor did the ruin of this state, as Lehrberg has 
 proved, interrupt the commerce in question.^® Finally, the 
 caravans of Bokhara came to these districts in the sixteenth 
 century, and conveyed thither the commodities of their own 
 country and of India.^^ 
 
 We refrain as much as possible from founding our opin- 
 ions on a mere resemblance of proper names. But if it is 
 established that the Jurcee inhabited the same country where 
 at a later period we find the Jugrians, and that this country 
 extended into the interior of the Ural mountains, are we 
 not authorized in supposing that the Jugrians and Jurcae 
 are the same people ; and the commerce which subsisted 
 amongst them until the fifteenth century of our era had 
 flourished perhaps for several thousand years before ? We 
 find in these cold regions a city resembling that of the Bu- 
 dini ; the spotted herd^^ so named from the piebald horses 
 which they give to the Indians in exchange for their com- 
 modities ; and lastly, we even hear of the fabulous traditions 
 mentioned by Herodotus ; for the story of men sleeping six 
 months in the year is incontestably a Siberian tradition,^' 
 which would naturally prevail in a region where, with the 
 exception of man, the whole of nature, animated and inani- 
 mated, sleeps during the winter. 
 
 The caravans, leaving behind them these countries of 
 skins and these hunting tribes, turned to the east of the 
 Thyssagetae, and passed the Ural mountains, whose most 
 southern branch, under the name of Auro-Uruk, reaches to 
 the shores of the lake Aral. It would be diflScult to deter- 
 mine the point at which they passed this chain ; but it is 
 probable that after having gone so far north, they did not 
 effect the passage lower than Orenburg, in 52 degrees of 
 
 19 
 
 Lehrberg, 1. c. p. 31. 
 " Ibid. p. 41. 
 
 » Ibid. p. 32. " Ibid. p. 37, 38. 
 
 » Ibid. p. 44. 
 
30 
 
 SCYTHIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. n. 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 31 
 
 north latitude ; and the road which they followed from this 
 point must have been one of those we have already described, 
 conducting them from Orenburg to the steppes of the Kir- 
 ehis • and, according to Herodotus, there was still a great 
 distance to the country of the Argippsei : we must, there- 
 fore seek the ancient abodes of this people in the eastern 
 part' of the steppes of the Kirghis; and perhaps they ex- 
 tended in a southern direction to the Jaxartes or the bir- 
 Darja, like the habitations of the Kirghis. 
 
 But it may now be asked, whether they could expect 
 amongst the Argippaei a favourable market for their princi- 
 pal commodity, which were furs. In order to reply to this 
 question, we must recollect an observation made in the in- 
 troduction ^^ to this work, that furs have been at all times 
 not only an object of necessity, but also of luxury ; as they 
 have been used for personal decoration in general : hence 
 they have been by no means confined to the northern coun- 
 tries, but have always found a market amongst the nations 
 of Southern Asia. Captain Cook had no difficulty in dis- 
 posing of the otter skins which he had obtained from Nutka 
 Sound, in the market of Canton, a city of Southern China. 
 Going farther back into antiquity, we learn from Herodotus, 
 that there were several tribes on the shores of the Caspian Sea 
 who wore cloaks of fur ; and that they were also worn in Ba- 
 bylon, being considered a necessary to wealth, rank, and 
 beauty. We have already observed furs among the presents 
 of the governors, represented on the great relief of Perse- 
 polis f^ and in the sequel of our researches, we shall prove 
 that this object of luxury was in great estimation amongst 
 the Indians from the most ancient times. The Scythians 
 and Greeks, therefore, could have been under no difficulty 
 in selling their furs to the Argippaei, any more than the 
 Russians of modern days who exchange them at Kiachta 
 for the merchandise of China. This will be set m a clearer 
 light by the following observations. 
 
 Herodotus, it is true, says that the Scythian and Greek 
 merchants of the Euxine Sea did not go beyond the country 
 of the Argippaei, but he does not say that this was the ter- 
 mination of their commerce. All we learn is, that the 
 
 « Vol. i. p. 42. 
 
 » Vol. i. p. lOS. 
 
 caravans of the East and West assembled amongst the Ar- 
 gippaei, and that they here found markets in which they 
 exchanged their merchandise. 
 
 And in fact, although the journey of the Greeks ended 
 in the country of the Argippaei, they were not ignorant of 
 the existence of more remote tribes, such as the Issedones 
 and Massagetae. Whoever has studied the history of an- 
 cient commerce, will easily discover from the account of 
 Herodotus, what it was which attracted the Greeks into 
 those remote countries. However important the traffic in 
 skins may have been, it could not have been sufficient to 
 induce them to undertake such long and perilous journeys ; 
 in addition to this, they furnished themselves with horses, 
 camels, and other beasts of burden from these pastoral 
 tribes. They also procured various metals, for all these 
 nations had much brass, and some of them a great abund- 
 ance of gold.^^ 
 
 Settled just on the frontiers of the mountainous districts 
 of Asia, they maintained a relation with these countries ; 
 and their communication was facilitated by a long concate- 
 nation of various tribes which succeeded each other without 
 interruption from these frontiers to Bactra and Maracanda, 
 the two principal marts for Indian merchandise. This it 
 must be confessed is only a presumption, but a presumption 
 which approaches to certainty ; for how could Herodotus 
 have been so well acquainted with the nations on the eastern 
 side of the Caspian Sea, if these districts had not been tra- 
 versed by commercial roads ? With respect to the object 
 of this commerce, that is to say, gold, or the merchandise 
 of India ; here, as before, the historical inquirer has ample 
 matter for admiration, as well as for the most serious reflec- 
 tion. And this surprise will considerably increase, when 
 he reads in Herodotus that there existed at the same time 
 
 " The same abundance of gold is attributed to the nations which frequented 
 the market of Jugria in the middle ages. Lehrberg, 1. c. p. 42. 
 
 [The information for which we are indebted to Herodotus on the subject 
 of the riches of the Ural mountains, has been latterly confirmed by the dis- 
 covenes of the Russians. The Ural chain is at this day the object of the 
 most accurate scientific investigations. We know by the public papers, that 
 gold 18 found there at such a very slight depth, that no expensive mining 
 operations are necessary in order to obtain it. This sufficiently explains how 
 tne nomad tribes, such as they were described by Herodotus, were able to 
 procure this metal without much trouble. Inedited note of the author,] 
 
SCYTHIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 ■ lilt 
 jiil 
 
 I! 
 
 32 
 
 an oreanized navigation on the Caspian Sea. Herodotus is 
 far from falling into a similar error with some more recent 
 authors, who have supposed this sea to be a branch of the 
 Northern Ocean ; he is acquainted with the circumstance 
 of its being an inland sea, and even gives an estimate ot its 
 length and breadth in days' navigation.; , , .. ,, • 
 
 Whence could he have obtained his knowledge ^this 
 navigation had not been really established? In the Mace- 
 donian period, the productions of India and Bactria were 
 carried down the Oxus to the Caspian Sea ; then oyer this 
 sea to the mouths of the Araxes and Cyrus; after that by 
 land to the Phasis, where they were again conveyed by 
 water to the different Greek cities on the coasts of the Euxine 
 Sea '« There is no positive historical evidence for this route 
 which we have just traced ; but one conjecture will na- 
 turally arise from other circumstances which we know tor 
 certain respecting the traffic in its neighbourhood. 
 
 These conjectures seem to be strengthened by the pic- 
 ture which Herodotus has drawn of the character and man- 
 ners of the principal nations of Central Asia. He describes 
 the Massagetae as a warlike people, and the Argipp^i and 
 Issedones as devoted to peaceful possessions ; which would 
 almost make us suppose that there existed distinct castes 
 amongst these nations. " The Argippaei, says he, are 
 never injured by any one, for they are regarded as a sacred 
 and holy people. They carry no arms, and reconcile the 
 differences of their neighbours. And when a man takes 
 refuo-e with them, he is not disturbed-''^* Their territory 
 was,''therefore, a sanctuary, as well as the emporium ot an 
 extensive commerce. The name of holy people which was 
 given them, shows plainly that there was a religious cha- 
 racter attached to them, and that they hlled the same 
 office amongst the Mongols, as the sacerdotal order amongst 
 other nations. The circumstance of their being bald, which 
 is added by Herodotus, proves our assertion, for the priests 
 of the Calmucks, that is to say, the Lamas, are bald-headed. 
 When he says of them that they reconciled their neigh- 
 
 » See^my* treatise, efe Gracorum cum Indis commerciia, in Commentat Soc. 
 
 Ooett. p. xi. 76« 
 ^ Herod, iv. 23. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 33 
 
 hours who were at variance with each other ; this can imply 
 nothing else than that they acted as mediators in the differ- 
 ences which occurred between the merchants who had 
 come to so great a distance from their own country, and 
 were such entire strangers to each other. We thus dis- 
 cover the connecting link so often in antiquity uniting re- 
 ligion to commerce, which we have already observed in 
 some nations, and shall have occasion to remark again as we 
 proceed in our subject. Here, however, it differs a little 
 from that which has been the subject of our previous ob- 
 servations, as it is appropriated to a particular place, and 
 conformable to the ideas of a people who were not ac- 
 quainted with either temples or any permanent sacred 
 edifice, but at the utmost had only a tent set apart for re- 
 ligious purposes, like their descendants the modern Cal- 
 mucks. As the Massagetae, who were neighbours of the 
 Argippaei on the south, and descended from the same stock, 
 are represented in Herodotus as a warlike people, and ac- 
 customed to the use of arms, we may suppose that they 
 formed a caste of soldiers. But this was not the case with 
 the Issedones, who were neighbours of the Argippseans, 
 and related to them like the Massagetae, but were not de- 
 voted to arms ; on the contrary, they were described under 
 the honourable name of a just people, that is, civilized, and 
 were not hostile to any other nation.'^ This nation, in par- 
 ticular, were those from whom any information concerning 
 the most remote districts of the east and north of Asia was 
 obtained ; for the Scythians had their intelligence from the 
 Issedones, and the Greeks from the Scythians. They thus 
 appear as the commercial people, who extended their rela- 
 tions even to Greece. If we add to this, what has been re- 
 marked before, that the Seres were a branch of this nation, 
 a still clearer light is thrown on the fact of the propagation 
 of the woven stuffs of the Seres having been their principal 
 employment ; and the most ancient path of the silk trade is 
 thus discovered amongst them. 
 Thus also it is explained, how the frontiers of their settle- 
 
 ♦.r ^^^??' ^^- ^* Compare Gatterer's first treatise, de Ilunnis, in Commen- 
 n«^ *K^* ^**^"-7o^- xiv. p. 19, etc. In the second, he has placed the Budini 
 ana their neighbours on the east of the Sarmatians, instead of the north, quite 
 contrary to the opinion of Herodotus. ^ 
 
 VOL. II. J) 
 
u4 
 
 SCYTHIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 11. 
 
 i: 
 I" 
 
 !l 
 
 ments became the principal seat of trade and temina ed 
 the ioumev of the caravans which travelled thither from the 
 shores of the Black Sea in order to traffic for those produc- 
 tions which the Issedones imported from Western Asia 
 But here history is lost in complete darkness. We shall 
 not, however, give up all hopes of throwing some light 
 upon this obscurity, particularly with regard to Eastern 
 Asia, when we shall have entered upon our investigation 
 relative to the Indians, in the succeeding part of this work. 
 
 -m: 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 I) 2 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 In preparing the following translation of Professor Heeren's work 
 on India, the translator has been furnished with some additional 
 matter from the author himself, which will be found in two of 
 the Appendixes at the end of the volume. The first contains a 
 brief sketch of the works connected with Sanscrit literature, which 
 have appeared since the last edition of the " Researches," in 
 Germany, together Avith a confirmed statement of the author's 
 method of determining the several ages of Sanscrit classical com- 
 positions. The second comprises an interesting discussion relative 
 to the island of Ceylon, which the Professor satisfactorily shows 
 to have been the principal emporium of Oriental commerce for up- 
 wards of two thousand years. 
 
 The translator has also examined the French version of M. 
 Suckau, with the view of incorporating such of his notes as ap- 
 peared likely to throw some further light on the subject ; and has 
 at the same time added a few remarks of his own, in the humble 
 attempt to explain, and sometimes to modify, the assertions of the 
 author ; for these, he has only to request the reader's favourable 
 consideration. 
 
 With regard to the orthography of the Sanscrit names occur- 
 ring in the body of the work, it was at first apprehended that any 
 attempt to correct the vicious mode of spelling adopted by some 
 writers, from whom Heeren quotes, would unavoidably impede 
 the reader in verifying the references made to them ; but upon 
 second thoughts, and particularly as there is no sort of reason 
 why an erroneous custom should usurp the rank and authority of 
 a legal precedent, the translator has uniformly endeavouied to 
 ascertain the genuine orthography by an immediate reference to 
 
3g ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 the Sanscrit originals. This, however, was a task of considerable 
 difficulty, because, in quoting from EngUsh writers, who have 
 adopted one mode of spelling proper names, the writers of the 
 continent employ, as might be expected, another, peculiar to 
 themselves ; so that, after a few successive alterations of this kind, 
 by the time the words in question find their way back again to 
 England, it is frequently no easy matter to say precisely what 
 they stand for. In some cases, indeed, the complete restoration 
 of the true form was altogether impracticable ; as, for example, in 
 the review of the great epic poem, the Mahabharat, which Heeren 
 derived solely from the accounts contained in the Ayin Acban, 
 and of course has followed the corrupt spelling pecuhar to the 
 Persian writers upon India, who have disfigured the proper names 
 of Sanscrit origin quite as much as their own were, formeriy, by 
 the Greeks. And as the translator was unable to procure a copy 
 of the Mahabharat, he has therefore been obliged to leave the 
 barbarous spelling of the Ayin Acbari, with a few exceptions, just 
 as he found it, in which it would certainly puzzle Ganesa himself 
 to discover any thing like a resemblance to Sanscrit orthography. 
 The same reproach of misspelling applies also in full force to most 
 of the Sanscrit words noticed in Polier's Mythology of the Hin- 
 dus. As to the manner of representing Oriental names in Eu- 
 ropean letters, the system first proposed by Sir W. Jones, and re- 
 commended by the practice of almost every subsequent writer m 
 this department of literature, has been followed as the most con- 
 venient and simple, and at the same time of universal appUcation, 
 as it enables the scholars of the continent to comprehend, at a 
 glance, the proper way of pronouncing an Eastern word, even 
 when occurring in English writers, whose general pronunciation 
 has scarcely any thing in common with that of the rest of Europe. 
 According to this system, the vowels will be pronounced after the 
 ItaUan uTethod, while the consonants, with the exception of cer- 
 tain aspirated forms, such as /// and j>h, etc., (to be pronounced as 
 in the words nut-hook, hap-hazard, etc.,) retain their Enghsh 
 sounds unaltered. The translator has to apologize for a few casual 
 deviations from the above system ; but there is no occasion to 
 detain the reader any longer with the trifling minurise of verbal 
 criticism, which it is probable (supposing the translator to have 
 bestowed as much care upon sentences as upon words) he may 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 39 
 
 willingly choose to overlook, for objects of much greater import- 
 ance, and infinitely more worthy his attention. 
 
 With regard to the particular merits of the work here presented 
 in an Enghsh dress, the public will be the most appropriate 
 judges ; and the reputation of the author is too well established to 
 be affected by any thing that might be offered in this place; 
 which, besides its liability to be considered as nothing more than 
 an attempt to bias the reader, would, together with observations 
 of another kind, be more suitably exhibited in the pages of a Re- 
 view. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 41 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 TO THE FOURTH EDITION. 
 
 As the following Researches are almost wholly derived from na- 
 live Indian sources, which the recent study of Sanscrit literature 
 in Europe has just opened to us, it will he requisite to give the 
 reader a brief notice of the works I have been enabled to consult 
 in this inquiry ; more particularly as at the time of my first 
 edition, the state of continental blockade prevented me from hav- 
 ing recourse to many valuable works which could only be procured 
 in England. They are as follows :— . 
 
 The Ramayana of Valmiki, in the original Sanscrit, with a 
 prose translation and explanatory notes, by William Carey and 
 Joshua Marshman. Vol. i. containing the first book, Serampore, 
 1806, 4to, pp. 656. Vol. iii. containing the latter part of the 
 second book, Serampore, 1810, pp. 493. 
 
 Of the seven books which compose the entire poem, the two 
 first are all that has appeared ; but unfortunately the copies of the 
 second volume were lost in their passage to Europe, and no others, 
 I believe, are now to be found even in England, certainly not in 
 the libraries of the continent. It is with great regret, therefore, 
 that I have been obliged to confine myself to the first and third 
 volumes only ; for it is unquestionable, that next to the Maha- 
 bharat, the Ramayana is the purest and most fertile source for the 
 elucidation of Hindu antiquities. In preparing the first edition 
 of my work, it was by mere chance that I was able to procure 
 even the first volume of this poem. 
 
 Nalus, carmen Sanscritum e Mahabharatd, edidit, latine vertit, 
 et adnotationibus illustravit Franciscus Bopp. Londini, 1819, 
 
 8vo, pp. 216. 
 
 Bhagavad-gita ; id est, Q€<T7riaiov fUXo^, sive almi Krishna et 
 ArjufKB Colloquium de rebus divinis, Bharate<e Episodiunu Po- 
 
 etam recensuit, adnotatiotws criticas et interpretationem Latinam 
 adjecit Aug. Gul. a Schlegel. Bonnae, 1823, 8vo, pp. 189. 
 
 Tlie Megha-duta, or Cloud-Messenger, a poem in the Sanscrit 
 language, by Calidasa, translated into English verse, with notes 
 and illustrations, by Horace Hayman Wilson. Calcutta, 4to, pp. 
 120. 
 
 Gita-govinda, by Jayadeva, in Sir W. Jones's Works, vol. i. 
 
 Sacontala, or Tfie Fatal Ring, by Calidasa, in Sir W. Jones's 
 Works, vol. vi. 
 
 Hitopadesa of Vishnusarman, in Sir W. Jones's Works, vol. vi. 
 
 Institutes of Hindu Law, or the Ordinances of Menu ; ver- 
 bally translated from the original Sanscrit, with a preface, by Sir 
 W. Jones. Calcutta, 1796, 8vo. 
 
 A Digest of Hindu law, on Contracts and Successions, with a 
 Commentary by Jagannatha Tercapanchanana ; translated from 
 the original Sanscrit by H. T. Colebrooke, in three volumes. 
 London, 1801, 8vo. 
 
 Upnekhat, studio Anquetil du Perron. Paris, 1801, 2 vols. 4to. 
 
 Bhagavadam, ou doctrine divine, ouvrage Indienne canonique, 
 par Obsonville. Paris, 1788, 8vo. 
 
 A Grammar of the Sanscrit Language, by Charles Wilkins. 
 London, 1804, 4to. 
 
 Cosha, or a Dictionary of the Sanscrit Language, by Amara 
 Singha, with an English interpretation, by Colebrooke. Seram- 
 pore, 1821, 4to. 
 
 Amara-Singha, sectio prima de ccelo a P. Paulino a Sto. 
 Bartolom<BO, Romas, 1798. 
 
 Ejusdem, Vyacarana seu Samscrdamic(B Lingute Institutio, 
 Romae, 1804. 
 
 Ejusdem, Sy sterna Brahmanicum. Romae, 1802. 
 
 Ejusdem, Grammatica Samscrdamica, Romae, 1790. 
 
 Chrestomathia Sanscrita, quam ex codd. Manuscriptis, edidit 
 Othmarus Frank. Monachii, 1820, vol. i. ii. 
 
 Asiatic Researches, or Transactions of the Society instituted in 
 Bengal, vol. i. — xiv. The last volume is only known to me by 
 partial extracts. 
 
 Annals of Oriental Literature, part i. ii. iii. London, 1821. 
 
 Indische Bibliothek, von A. W. von Schlegel, Heft. I. II. 
 
 With regard to separate treatises on India, travels, copper-plate 
 
42 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 43 
 
 representations of ancient monuments, etc., it is unnecessary to 
 mention them here, as they will be found quoted in their proper 
 
 places. 
 
 The above list, I believe, contains all the works of any import- 
 ance relating to Sanscrit literature, which have hitherto been 
 procurable in Europe. The writings of Father Paulino are in- 
 cluded, less on account of any use I have made of them, than 
 merely to complete the enumeration. The Grammars of Carey 
 and Wilkins, notwithstanding their acknowledged merit, were 
 but little applicable to my purpose. In the use of translations I 
 have strictly confined myself to such as were generally allowed to 
 be correct by Sanscrit scholars themselves ; rejecting, on the other 
 hand, all poetical versions, or at least imitations, similar to those 
 of Sir William Jones, which it is obvious cannot safely be de- 
 pended on. Should it nevertheless be objected to me that an ac- 
 quaintance with the Sanscrit is indispensable to a writer on Sans- 
 crit literature, I answer, that my inquiries do not so much concern 
 language as matters of fact ; in proof of which, I can only appeal 
 to the work itself. 
 
 It may be as well, however, to enter somewhat more into detail 
 with regard to the particular subjects discussed in the first chap- 
 ter of the ensuing Researches. My object was to furnish a critical 
 view of Hindu Archaeology, whether consisting in ancient works 
 of art, or the writings of native authors. This chapter, therefore, 
 was intended to supply such a body of useful preliminary inform- 
 .ation as, in addition to a knowledge of the language, would en- 
 able the student to prosecute his inquiries into the literature and 
 antiquities of India. That some such introduction to the study 
 would not only be serviceable, but even necessary, can hardly ad- 
 mit of doubt. 
 
 When the present essay was first published, in the year 1814, 
 there was absolutely no similar compilation then in existence ; 
 and the very favourable reception awarded to my undertaking, 
 inspired me with well-grounded hopes that I had not laboured in 
 vain, and had even materially contributed to introduce the study 
 of Sanscrit literature among the scholars of Germany. Since that 
 period, however, I have not yet been able to meet with any work 
 completely satisfactory on the subject, and calculated to supply all 
 the deficiencies of our existing information relative to India. 
 
 Under these circumstances, it can scarcely be expected that I 
 should furnish the reader with a general account of Hindu an- 
 tiquities, except in so far as they are connected with the particular 
 object of the present work. I can promise no learned disquisitions 
 on the mythological, philosophical, or religious systems of the an- 
 cient Hindus ; and least of all is it my purpose to institute a com- 
 parison between them and other nations in any of these points, 
 or to investigate the probable manner in which such systems may 
 have been communicated to other countries. An undertaking of 
 this nature, besides being extremely hazardous, would altogether 
 exceed the legitimate province of history. I shall therefore be 
 satisfied with merely introducing the reader to the threshold, if I 
 may so call it, of Hindu Archaeology ; well aware that even such 
 a step will not be deemed superfluous, if he would penetrate the 
 recesses of the interior. 
 
 The study and elucidation of Indian antiquities from native 
 sources, is, in my opinion, one of the most important additions 
 that have been made to the literature of the present day, and will, 
 it is hoped, enlarge its circle of acquirements to a much greater 
 extent hereafter. It is not merely the aesthetic merit of Sanscrit 
 literature, great as that is, which renders it so valuable in our 
 estimation ; the same merit also attaches to it in an historical point 
 of view. We must, indeed, allow, that we are not yet enabled to 
 attempt any composition resembling a consecutive critico-chrono- 
 logical history of ancient India ; the means at our present disposal 
 are far too inadequate to effect such a laborious undertaking ; and 
 probably they will continue to be so. At the same time, however, 
 while it carries us back into remote ages, and among a distant 
 people, who have attained a high and peculiar degree of civiliza- 
 tion, the ancient literature of the Hindus discloses to our sight a 
 new world, which is so much the more captivating, as it is entirely 
 different from our own. I would ask, is the addition thereby 
 made to the general history of mankind of no more value than a 
 senes of chronological tables, containing only a dry nomenclature 
 of princes and dates ? or should we be willing to receive them in 
 exchange for the Ramayana and Mahabharat of the Hindus, or 
 the Iliad and Odyssey of the Greeks ? 
 Our present knowledge of Sanscrit literature may be said to 
 
 11 
 
m 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 stand nearly on the same footing as that of the Greek did in Italy 
 towards the end of the fifteenth century. The inestimable bene- 
 fits which the study of the latter has conferred upon the whole 
 Western world, are too well known ; and though it were presump- 
 tuous, perhaps, to expect the same important consequences from 
 the study of the Sanscrit, yet we are not without the wish and the 
 expectation, that it may also flourish and produce its own peculiar 
 fruits. 
 
 July 27, 1824. 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A Critical View of the Antiquities and Literature of India. 
 
 THB ACCOUNTS WB BECEIVB OF INDIA REQUIRE AN IMPARTIAL AND UNPREJUDICED 
 CONSIDERATION, FOR IT IS SITUATE AT* A VERY REMOTE DISTANCE FROM US, 
 AND BUT FEW OF OUR COUNTRYMEN HAVE EXAMINED IT WITH ATTENTION ; AND 
 THOSE EVEN WHO HAVE TRAVELLED THITHER, HAVE SEEN ONLY PARTS OF IT, 
 AND WHAT THEY RELATE IS MOSTLY FROM HEARSAY. STRABO, LIB. XV. INIT. 
 
 The historians who have inquired into the religion and 
 learning of the East, have almost always been obliged to 
 revert to India for information in their researches. That 
 distant country, however, has at no former period attracted 
 the attention of Europeans, in these particulars, so much as 
 at the present day. From the time that it became subject 
 to the English, it has excited their regard, not more by its 
 productions than by its arts and literature : and the learned 
 of Great Britain now flatter themselves, that they have at 
 length discovered the sources from which, not only the rest 
 of Asia, but the whole Western World derived their know- 
 ledge and their religion. They have accordingly endea- 
 voured to render these sources accessible to Europe, through 
 the medium of learned dissertations on the most important 
 points of Hindu mythology and civilization, as well as by 
 translations of native works.' These inquiries have given 
 
 ' Sir W. Jones, the first president of the Asiatic Society founded at Cal- 
 cutta, in 1784, has undoubtedly the credit of having originated these studies, 
 and by his own exertions contributed to render them worthy the notice and 
 favourable consideration of the European world. What other scholar indeed 
 but himself could have brought to the task such multifarious acquirements, 
 such a profound knowledge of languages, such extensive views of history, so 
 rich a vein of poetic feelmff, and, in a word, such a predominant taste for 
 every thing Oriental ? And if occasionally his amiable enthusiasm hurries 
 him beyond the limits of true criticism, we can easily excuse it in one who 
 was the means of exciting the same spirit equally in others, and thus giving 
 
46 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 47 
 
 * di 
 
 rise to corresponding ones in Germany ; the number of 
 students in this department of letters has greatly mcreased ; 
 the sacred language of India, together with its literature and 
 poetry, have been introduced to our acquaintance ; and edi- 
 tions of Sanscrit works printed in the original character 
 have issued from the German press, as well as from those 
 on the banks of the Ganges and the Thames. 
 
 Were it possible clearly to define and characterize in all 
 its extent, the influence which this most cultivated people 
 of the East has exercised upon the rest of the world, we 
 could scarcely then doubt the probability of our being able 
 to supply one of the most important chasms in the present 
 history of the civilization of mankind. The Hindus, how- 
 ever, have been always too much occupied with themselves 
 to pay much attention to other nations, except when obliged 
 by invasion and conquest ; they have therefore, as it would 
 seem, preserved no information for us on the subject ; and 
 the conclusions which might be drawn from a comparison 
 of their knowledge and institutions with those of other coun- 
 tries, however probable, are yet by no means certain ; and 
 even supposing they were, we shall still have to reply to 
 such questions as the following : What do we really know 
 of the ancient learning of this people ? of their religion, 
 their poetry, their arts, their political institutions, or of their 
 commerce, and their influence upon other nations ? From 
 what sources do we derive this knowledge ? And to what 
 extent are these sources themselves clear and authentic, or 
 the reverse ? We must satisfy ourselves upon all these 
 points, before we can even pronounce upon our ability to 
 compose an historical sketch of that olden time when the 
 Hindus, as yet their own masters, and not bowed down un- 
 der the yoke of a foreign conqueror, had free and unfettered 
 liberty of developing the national character. 
 
 Such an inquiry as this, however, is one of the most dif- 
 ficult for many reasons. First of all, the very abundance of 
 
 due effect to the important axiom, that Hindu Antiquities can only be satis- 
 factorily explored in the country itself. .,.,..,. ti u f 
 Of the writings of the above Society contamed in the Asiatic Researches, 1 
 have only consulted the first twelve vols., (i.— iv. of the 4to edit, and v.— xii. 
 of the 8vo,) not having been able to procure the thirteenth, which was all 
 then published. The essays of Sir W. Jones may be found also in his A\ orks, 
 voL i. — vi. 4to edil* 
 
 materials itself is one obstacle. And again, notwithstanding 
 the vast accumulation of facts, we are perpetually meeting 
 with great and important chasms. Add to this the still 
 greater number of difficulties naturally inherent in the sub- 
 ject, which impede the progress of investigation, and which 
 can only be removed by an intimate acquaintance with the 
 spirit and ways of thinking peculiar to Eastern nations ; it 
 is by such means alone that we can hope to arrive at more 
 ample and satisfactory conclusions. 
 
 It is true we have one great advantage here which does 
 not assist our researches into most other nations of antiquity 
 —it is the fact that the Hindus still exist as a people. Com- 
 pletely separate by their customs and religion from the rest 
 of the world, and disdaining to make converts, they have 
 thereby preserved their national existence. Even the fo- 
 reigners who have settled among them, and what is still 
 more surprising, their very conquerors, remain altogether as 
 distinct and isolated as they would be in their own native 
 land. It is this exclusive character which renders commu- 
 nication with them so difficult, and checks all our inquiries. 
 And though it is very probable they would not under all 
 circumstances maintain the same reserve towards a foreigner, 
 who knew how to insinuate himself into their confidence] 
 yet travellers too often bring with them preconceived 
 opinions, or are deficient in that kind of knowledge which 
 will enable them to profit by the information they may ob- 
 tain : and moreover, instances are by no means rare of the 
 fact, that a desire of flattering strangers will often induce a 
 cunning Hindu to furnish them with statements either ab- 
 solutely false, or at least so artfully mixed up with what is 
 true as not to be worthy of confidence.* 
 
 The Hindu passes as it were a kind of spiritual existence 
 m ages long since gone by. The present is to him an age 
 of profound corruption, and according to his legendary no- 
 tions a still more deeply corrupted era is to ensue, until the 
 restoration of a former happy state shall introduce a new 
 and better order of things. But this present age, truly so 
 
 ' WiLFORD, (Asiat. Hes, vol. viii. p. 250, etc.,) with noble frankness, admits 
 this to have been the case with respect to his essay on Egypt and the Nile. 
 {Asiat. Has. vol. iii.) His Hindu teacher had falsified the names of places 
 occurring in the MSS. from which he borrowed his materials. 
 

 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 49 
 
 named by us, is no other than what a European writer 
 would generally term " The Age of History/' The Brah- 
 man, however, looks down upon it with a glance of indiffer- 
 ence, if not of actual contempt. His soul discovers more 
 abundant nourishment in the contemplation of those far dis- 
 tant periods of time when the mighty Vishnu, disguised as 
 Rama, made war on the Demons, or when, in the character 
 of Krishna, he became the restorer of a better order of 
 things. What could induce him to condescend to the sur- 
 vey of this present age of misery ? What could reconcile 
 him to such studies as those to which we are indebted for 
 our critical history of his countrymen ? To no purpose 
 should we search for a native of this description, and yet, 
 nevertheless, to the Hindu, such as he is, does the European 
 apply for information. The grand object, therefore, of a 
 writer who would describe this singular people, would be 
 to make himself a Hindu among Hindus, without at the 
 same time divesting himself of the character of a European. 
 Whoever has satisfied himself of the difficulty of fulfilling 
 these requisites, must necessarily, in proportion as he dis- 
 trusts his own abilities, be obliged to make larger claims 
 upon the impartial judgment of his readers. Even though 
 he had in person visited the banks of the Jumna and the 
 Ganges, and received instruction at the feet of the most 
 learned pundits of Benares, yet he must still allow the im- 
 possibility of fully complying with the pre-requisites to his 
 task. How then must the difficulties be increased to one 
 who, living under a dreary northern sky, has never beheld 
 the gorgeous magnificence of an Indian climate ; who, out 
 of all its rich literature, is acquainted with but a few detached 
 fragments ; and who, in order to obtain even this scanty 
 knowledge, must content himself with translations, them- 
 selves probably imperfect and incorrect ! 
 
 We have however (thanks to the preparatory labours of 
 English scholars) arrived sufficiently far on our way, to be 
 able to fix on some certain point of view from which we can 
 take a comprehensive survey of the whole field of Indian 
 antiquities and literature, though many portions of it still 
 remain enveloped in mist and obscurity. It will therefore 
 be our principal task to determine the correctness and ex- 
 tent of our sphere of vision, as well as to ascertain the de- 
 
 gree of clearness with which the several objects strike our 
 view. It is indeed always a considerable point gained, 
 when we are able to distinguish what we know fi-om that 
 which we are ignorant of. The day perhaps may come 
 when the mists which now intercept our observation will 
 be dissipated ; should that ever be the case, some later 
 artist may then fill up this imperfect outline with a more 
 sure and successfiil hand. Incomplete and defective as it 
 now is, it will nevertheless, till that time, have a certain 
 value, and will perhaps suffer but little in the estimation of 
 my successor, even should he pass a correct and impartial 
 judgment on its merits. 
 
 Since, then, the object of our inquiries has been thus de- 
 termined, it follows, of course, that we have here nothing 
 to do with laying down systems of Hindu religion and 
 philosophy by themselves, nor with starting hypotheses, as 
 for example, touching the earliest connexion of India with 
 Egypt, or the transmission of Hindu civilization into the 
 Western World, etc. (although probably we shall have 
 occasion now and then to advert to these subjects) : as little 
 do we propose to contradict those learned men who have 
 written upon these topics. Our end will be attained when 
 we have discovered a fixed standard, by reference to which 
 we can examine and set a just value upon their researches. 
 The general opinion of ancient as well as of modern times 
 is unanimous in considering the Hindus as oneof the eariiest, 
 if not in fact the oldest, civilized nation in the world. The 
 critical inquirer however has an undoubted right to demand 
 upon what foundation this universal opinion of the high 
 antiquity of the Hindus rests ; and whether the bare asser- 
 tion of the natives themselves be equivalent to an absolute 
 verification of the fact ? Or, have not we also good reasons 
 for being incredulous in an equal ratio to their own exag- 
 gerated accounts of their antiquity, particularly as it appears 
 more and more evident that India is the last place to look 
 to for any thing like authentic systems of chronology ? To 
 this question however we shall only be able to furnish a de- 
 cisive answer in the sequel of our inquiry. In the mean 
 time, it will merely be necessary at the outset to define with 
 somewhat more precision the rather vague acceptation of 
 the words " high antiquity." Allowing as we do the Hin- 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 £ 
 
5t) 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 51 
 
 dus to be a most ancient people, we are not therefore 
 obliged to appeal to their chronological series of years 
 reckoned by the million, nor indeed, with several English 
 writers, need we go so far back even as the deluge, at which 
 period, according to their calculations, the fourth age of the 
 Hindus, the age of corruption, began. Under the title ot 
 hiffh antiquity we generally comprehend that space ol time 
 which extends to the tenth century before the Christian era. 
 The historic records of no other people, if we except the 
 Jews, reaches beyond this point. All that goes /virther 
 back is concealed beneath the cloak of tradition and hiero- 
 rrlvphics, and as long as we can draw no broad line o 
 demarcation in the case, the definition just laid down will 
 crenerally be found sufficient for our purpose. Whether 
 the civilization of India reaches back to one thousand years 
 before the Christian era, as is pretty certain, or even to two, 
 which is not improbable, can never be a question altogether 
 devoid of interest. But it is equally certain, that at the 
 precise point where the thread of history and the connexion 
 of its details is broken off, the interest attached to accu- 
 rate chronological data ends likewise ; and all judicious 
 readers must be unanimous in allowing that it is much better 
 to confess ignorance, than boldly to substitute conjecture 
 in the place of knowledge : at the same time however a 
 writer must have free permission to advance probabilities, 
 and even, occasionally, conjectures, «^ ^wc//. ■ 
 
 Our knowledge of Indian antiquities is derived partly 
 from Grecian sources, and partly from the accounts of the na- 
 tives themselves. The first of these authorities has already, 
 in great measure, been weighed and examined in our work 
 on Persian India, and the writers themselves are too we 
 known to require any critical notice in this place. I shall 
 content myself therefore with repeating the general conclu- 
 sion deduced from their histories, that, at the period of the 
 Macedonian invasion, nearly three hundred and fifty years 
 before the commencement of our era, the Hindus already 
 appeared to have reached the same degree of refinement 
 and civilization, both in pubhc and private hfe, which they 
 subsequently maintained : we are therefore fully authorized 
 in the conclusion, that this civilized state must then have 
 been several hundred years in existence, and even extend 
 
 as far back as that " high antiquity" above defined. The 
 present inquiry then will be limited solely to a consider- 
 ation of Indian sources of information : these are of a two- 
 fold description; Monuments and Writings. Each kind 
 will therefore require a separate examination. 
 
 The monuments still remaining of Indian architecture, 
 considered with a view towards furthering our knowledge 
 of the people, are scarcely less important than those on the 
 banks of the Nile are for a similar purpose with respect to 
 the Egyptians. Who has not, even though he may b6 
 ignorant of all else, at least heard something of those stu- 
 pendous erections to be seen in the islands of Salsette and 
 Elephanta ? These serve to confirm the remark, that the 
 more India is examined, the greater variety of illustrative 
 subject-matter, in this point of view, presents itself to the 
 inquirer. But before we can regard Hindu monuments as 
 authentic sources of information on the antiquities of India, 
 we ought previously to ascertain the extent of our acquaint- 
 ance with them ; — how far in connexion with this object 
 they have already been examined — to what degree they are 
 capable of further illustration? And moreover, what are 
 the conclusions, particularly with respect to the antiquity 
 of the nation, which we are enabled to deduce from our 
 present knowledge of them ? Our first endeavour then 
 will be to fiirnish a satisfactory reply to each of these 
 questions. 
 
 We are indebted for almost all that we know of Indian 
 monuments to the labours of Englishmen. Neither the 
 Portuguese nor the Dutch, nor yet the French, have em- 
 ployed their minds on the subject, if we except a few occa- 
 sional remarks occurring in books of Travels. But partial 
 notices, and even descriptions in detail, explain but little 
 when unaccompanied with accurate engravings. The Eng- 
 lish have presented us with several magnificent works on 
 India, but they have for the most part considered the sub- 
 ject in a very different light. It was rather their aim to 
 represent Indian nature in general as it now appears, than 
 to give a description of the Hindus of antiquity. The great 
 work of Hodges is composed with this design.' The two 
 
 * Views of Hindostan, vol. i. ii. Other works, such as Pennant's Views of 
 
 e2 
 
52 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 53 
 
 11 T 
 
 volumes of copper-plate illustrations contain only two pages 
 descriptive of ancient Hindu temples the pagod^»^™"f>' 
 of Deoffur and Tanjore. In a work mdeed of this kmcl 
 every thin^ is calculated more for effect than to give a 
 true and correct representation; and moreover the whole 
 manner of Hodges is very little adapted to convey an ade- 
 quate idea of Hindu architecture, as he gives nothing but 
 
 sketches and views. 
 
 As far as I am aware, before any thing of importance to- 
 wards illustrating these monuments appeared m England, a 
 native of Germany had already gained the credit of leading 
 the way, and had given a description of the rock excava- 
 tions at Elephanta.* The name of Niebuhr is a sufficient 
 guarantee for the correctness of his copies, and we are in- 
 debted to that enterprising traveller for a ground-plan of 
 the rock temple, a design of one of the pillars with its 
 dimensions, and seven plates representing the bas-reliets on 
 the walls. His drawings of Elephanta are even now the 
 most accurate that we have, though he describes only a tew 
 of the bas-reliefs, sufficient however to give us some notion 
 of Hindu sculpture. A large field still remains open to 
 future draughtsmen. 
 
 Nevertheless Niebuhr s attempt was so much the more 
 meritorious, in that it appears to have given the first impulse 
 to British zeal and activity. A few years afterwards there 
 appeared in London a work under the title of " The An- 
 cient Monuments of India, by R. Gough."^ In this produc- 
 tion, however, we meet with evident proofs of the low state 
 in which Indian archaeology still continued in England. 
 It contains merely a notice of the writers who have spoken 
 about Salsette and Elephanta ; Niebuhr is translated word 
 for word, and the accompanying plates are all copied from 
 his designs : only one new engniving is added, containing 
 ground-plans of the rock temples of Salsette and some others, 
 together with a view of that island, and two or three inscrip- 
 tions. Our knowledge of Indian monuments is not there- 
 fore much increased by this meagre compilation. We are 
 
 Hindostan, which contain no designs of ancient monuments, I shall pass 
 over in silence. _ ... 
 
 * NiEBUHR^s Traveh, vol.ii. 1778, plates m.—xi. , « r- ^„ 
 
 * A Comparative View of the Ancient Monwnents of India, hy R. Uough, 
 
 London, 1785. 
 
 indebted for a more accurate acquaintance with the temples 
 of Salsette to Lord Valentia. 
 
 The foundation of the Asiatic Society at Calcutta about 
 this time, under the auspices of Sir William Jones, led us to 
 expect fresh information respecting the monuments of India. 
 Such subjects, it is true, were not excluded from the re- 
 searches of the Society, but their principal attention was 
 directed to languages, literature, and science ; and what no- 
 tices they have given of Hindu monuments are confined to 
 the description of certain pagodas, chiefly those of Ellora 
 and Mavalipuram, and some pillars charged with inscrip- 
 tions. Thankfully as we acknowledge even these, our grati- 
 tude would have been much greater had we been favoured 
 with more drawings, and on a larger scale. 
 
 Although since the appearance of Gough's work, designs 
 of monuments had been given in various books of Travels 
 and other writings f yet the splendid work of the Daniells^ 
 was the first exclusively devoted to the monuments of 
 Hindu architecture. Their plan comprised the whole ex- 
 tent of Indian antiquities, and even the buildings of modern 
 time, particularly those of the Mogul period. But even 
 this work, if I may be allowed to judge from what I have 
 seen of it, appears more calculated to charm the eye than 
 inform the understanding. The employment of colours is 
 scarcely capable of giving an accurate idea of architecture, 
 because it unintentionally embellishes too much, and that this 
 latter is even sometimes done with design a modern traveller 
 is obliged to confess.® How otlten, indeed, does suspicion 
 force itself upon the mind of the beholder that these paint- 
 ings are too beautiful to be true ! Besides, the editors of 
 this publication were artists and not scholars ; neither are 
 the monuments there designed classed according to time 
 and nation ; and we feel the want of a learned commentary 
 to give us the previous instructions under what era to ar- 
 range them. It is impossible therefore with no better ma- 
 terials than these to compose a history of Hindu architecture. 
 
 •As in Maurice's -History o/'^mcfos^m, 1794, etc., Crawfurd's Sketches 
 of Hindostan, and others. 
 
 ' Antiquities (f India^ from the Drawings of Thomas Daniell, engraved hy 
 himself and TFilliam Daniell^ taken in the years 1790, 1793. 
 
 • Lord Valentia's Travels, vol. i. p. 357- 
 
M 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAI'. J. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 55 
 
 The work of Mons. Langles,^ finished but a short time 
 before his death, presents, it is true, only designs of monu- 
 ments already known, after the original drawings ot the 
 Daniells and others ; but it is nevertheless of great ment, 
 because he has incorporated a variety of information dis- 
 persed abroad in costly and scarce collections, and has 
 thereby materially abridged the labours of the student. 
 With reference, however, to the accuracy of the monuments 
 of Elephanta designed by them both, it appears to me upon 
 comparison that the preference is due to Niebuhr. 1 he 
 scale too of the designs, I think, is not sufficiently large to 
 convey a just idea of the original. The great in architecture 
 can only be represented by corresponding greatness in the 
 delineation. At the same time the work above mentioned 
 proves, in a striking manner, that we have as yet scarcely 
 passed even the threshold of a perfect acquaintance with 
 Hindu monuments. The learned Orientalist has not even 
 ventured to classify the buildings according to their age, 
 style, and the particular architects ; but has followed rather 
 a geographical plan, in proceeding from south to north. 
 
 Among modern travellers. Lord Valentia has distinguished 
 himself above all others by presenting us with correct draw- 
 ings*^ of particular ancient monuments, with which we were 
 previously altogether, or at least but imperfectly, acquainted. 
 Since this period, a considerable number of Travels and 
 other publications connected with India have niade their 
 appearance ; but I have not been able to meet with any re- 
 markable illustrations, or descriptions of monuments, con- 
 tained therein. 
 
 Fortunate indeed would it have been for our labours, had 
 these interesting relics employed the hand and exercised the 
 ingenuity of a Wood or a Stuart ! Every opinion delivered 
 upon architectural remains, must always be hazardous and 
 uncertain when we have no plans on an accurate and ex- 
 tensive scale to guide our judgment. But nevertheless, we 
 cannot still be said to grope our way in perfect darkness. 
 The works above mentioned have contributed a good deal 
 towards showing the path, and have led to conclusions 
 
 • Momimem AncieM et Moderties de VInde en 150 Planches, par L. Langl^s, 
 
 Paris, 1813. . i_ J X u* 'n- 7 
 
 "> See the copper-plate engravings attached to his lYavefs, 
 
 which are of the greatest importance to a correct knowledge 
 of Indian antiquities. 
 
 The monuments of Hindu architecture naturally divide 
 themselves into three classes; the first, comprises subter- 
 raneous temples hewn out of the rock ; the second, contains 
 those temples which have been similarly formed upon the 
 surface, but have also portions of the structure under ground ; 
 the third, includes buildings, properly so called. They have 
 all a common connexion with religious purposes, being de- 
 dicated as well to the worship of Vishnu and Siva or Ma- 
 hadeva, whose followers exist to this day, as also to Buddha, 
 whose sect, long since expelled this part of India, still sub- 
 sists universally in Ceylon and the Ultra-Gangetic continent. 
 I enumerate the above three classes in the order which ap- 
 pears to agree also with the date of. their construction. If 
 this be but a conjecture, there certainly is every appearance 
 of probability in its favour, for it can scarcely be maintained 
 that a people, who had already been accustomed to build in 
 the open air, should subsequently begin to lodge their di- 
 vinities in under-ground temples ; on the contrary, it appears 
 more natural on the very face of things that excavation of 
 the rock should have preceded its exterior embellishment. 
 Whichever be the real state of the case, we must necessarily 
 divide them into three classes, of each of which we will now 
 attempt to give a correct view in succession. 
 
 The rock temples of the first kind are found in various 
 parts of India, and are probably not all known to us even 
 at the present day. Although in the plains of Bengal and 
 the Punjab, the nature of the ground does not admit of 
 their construction, yet, on the other hand, the whole of the 
 peninsula on this side of the Ganges is traversed by a rocky 
 chain of Ghauts, at present in great measure unexplored. 
 The nature of this country itself would seem to suggest the 
 convenience of under-ground habitations, where neither the 
 vertical rays of the sun nor the impetuous torrents of the 
 rainy season could penetrate. The natives of many other 
 portions of the globe have adopted similar contrivances ; 
 and in proportion to the more extensive scope allowed by 
 them to the introduction of science, so will it appear less 
 wonderfiil that a people in such a situation, and not de- 
 ficient in tools, should exercise their ingenuity in this 
 
56 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 way." The same kind of habitation which a man would con- 
 struct for himself, he would also appropriate to his gods. It 
 was a religious feeling which transformed a hut into a temple. 
 But an excavation of the rock would seem just so much the 
 more obvious to him, as it favoured his design of rendering 
 these monuments of his religion imperishable. A design 
 which is apparent in the monuments themselves ; and which 
 is exhibited still more strongly among all nations in propor- 
 tion as we go further back into their antiquity. But the 
 extent of these buildings in India, the vastness of the plan, 
 the care displayed in the execution, the richness of the 
 ornaments which adorn the walls, often indeed fantastic, yet 
 still finished with great taste, all conspire together in ex- 
 citing the admiration and surprise of the observant traveller ; 
 and immediately suggest to his mind the propriety of a re- 
 mark which one has so often occasion to make, when con- 
 templating the gigantic works of remote antiquity, that such 
 stupendous edifices could hardly have been the production 
 of one generation, but must have required the peaceable 
 and uninterrupted labour of upwards of a century to bring 
 them to completion. We shall now proceed to detail in 
 regular order the accounts of those monuments which are 
 already made known to us. 
 
 The rock temple in the small island of Elephanta,*^ near 
 Bombay, has been the most frequently visited of any. This, 
 together with the adjacent buildings, is hewn solely out of 
 the rock, and forms consequently a perfect grotto. The 
 temple itself, exclusive of the apartments and chapels at- 
 tached, is about one hundred and thirty feet in length, and 
 the same in breadth. In front of the principal entrance 
 facing the north, and therefore sheltered from the sun, is an 
 artificial terrace, from which there is an extensive prospect 
 of the ocean, and on each side is an additional opening to 
 
 " Even the naked Hottentots are in the habit of sketching rude designs 
 on the walls of their huts. But what a wide interval is there between an 
 African kraal and a Hindu rock temple ! and yet the refined artifice observ- 
 able in the latter, must have previously traced the intermediate steps between 
 the two extremes. An authentic account of the rise and progress of grotto 
 architecture, (were sufficient materials at hand,) would doubtless lead to new 
 and interesting conclusions respecting the general history of mankind. 
 
 " So called by Europeans from a colossal figure of an elephant hewn out 
 of the stone ; the heaa and neck are now fallen off, and the whole statue 
 threatens approaching ruin. Langles, vol. ii. p. 148. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 57 
 
 admit the fresh breeze. The rock which serves for a roof 
 to this grotto is supported by twenty-six pillars and sixteen 
 pilasters : the latter occupy half of each side, and are left 
 by the architect in the original unhewn state of the material. 
 The chambers or chapels adjoining are not quite so high, 
 but are finished in precisely the same manner. The walls, 
 without inscriptions, but formerly covered with a beautiful 
 stucco, are still ornamented with reliefs, some of which are 
 so highly prominent that the figures are merely attached to 
 the rock by their backs ; there is no doubt therefore that 
 they are as old as the temple itself Similar carving is ob- 
 servable on the walls of other rock temples, and the same 
 figures present themselves : the whole are consequently bor- 
 rowed from the same mythology. The question is, whether 
 from that of the modern Hindus, and whether these monu- 
 ments belong to the same people, or are they the production 
 of an earlier race which has now disappeared, together with 
 its religion? Although it is not the object of the present 
 work to furnish a detailed history of these sculptures, of 
 which by the way we have only a few partial drawings, yet 
 they require a more particular examination, in order that 
 we may offer some reply to the foregoing question. I shall 
 endeavour, therefore, in following the order of Niebuhr s 
 drawings, to give some illustration of the subject ; premising, 
 however, that where any thing is doubtful I shall choose 
 rather to confess my own ignorance than advance idle con- 
 jecture. 
 
 The first of Niebuhr's seven plates*^ is the easiest to ex- 
 plain. We here see directly in the entrance of the temple 
 a colossal bust, thirteen feet high, with three heads and four 
 arms. It represents, as he has rightly observed, the Hindu 
 Trinity,^* Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva or Mahadeva, the three 
 Devas, or personifications of the godhead. The middle one 
 is Brahma, that on the right Vishnu, the left with a serpent 
 and mustachios is Siva. The same mythological idea still 
 remains perfectly unaltered among the modern Hindus. 
 There is an accurate representation of these three figures, 
 
 " Plates to Niebuhr's Travels, vol. ii. plate v. Langles, plate Ixxiii. 
 
 vol. 11. r » t- 
 
 Called Trimurti by the Hindus, from the Sanscrit tri, three, and murti, 
 form. Paulino, Systema Brahmanicum, p. 109. 
 
INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. 1* 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 59 
 
 with their proper attributes, to be seen in an idol of bronze 
 in the Borgian museum, which has already been copied and 
 described by Father Paulino.*^ It is uncertain what charac- 
 ters the large human figures represent which are on each 
 side of the bust ; probably they are chobdars, or attendants, 
 usually assigned to divinities and great men as part of their 
 retinue. The one on the right hand, supported by a dwarf, 
 bears on his left shoulder a cord, which is the usual distinc- 
 tion of a Brahman, but in many of the reliefs is as often 
 applied to a godhead. In either case we cannot but con- 
 sider these personages as of a higher rank than simple at- 
 tendants, a supposition which is confirmed by their stature, 
 the Brahmanical thread, and the additional circumstance of 
 their being supported by inferiors. 
 
 The representation contained in the following plate (tab. 
 vi.) is very remarkable. It portrays Siva or Mahadeva,^^ as 
 an hermaphrodite with one breast, a circumstance which has 
 sometimes caused the figure to be mistaken for an Amazon. 
 He is however recognised by his insignia — in one of his 
 four hands he holds a snake, in the other a timbrel, in the 
 third a whip, and with the fourth he supports himself on the 
 bull Nmidi, his usual mode of conveyance. ^^ Father Pau- 
 lino has already observed,^® that it is very common to repre- 
 sent Siva, as well as the two other great deities, under the 
 form of an hermaphrodite, an emblem which no doubt con- 
 tains some deep and mysterious meaning. On his left stand 
 two female figures, one holding a fly-flap, the other an un- 
 known instrument; both therefore evidently in a menial 
 character. On the right Siva himself again appears as a 
 man, with his usual attribute, a trident, the symbol of his 
 dominion over the upper, middle, and nether world. Be- 
 hind, or rather above him, is an intended representation of 
 Brahma, with four heads, of which however only three are 
 visible ; but the four accompanying swans (the bird that 
 carries him through the heavens) leave no doubt of the real 
 number. On the other side, opposite to Brahma, is Kar- 
 tikeya, the son of Siva and Parvati, the god of war, with 
 
 ■* Syst Brahm.jp. 105, sqq. tab. xv. a. 
 
 J* Mahadeva, " The Great God," is only one of the many surnames of Siva. 
 " See Paulino, Systema Brahmanicum, pp. 88, 89. 
 
 " Paulino, Syst. Brahm. p. 86. It is from this that he is called " Artha- 
 nari," (ArddhanarUaJ the lord, half female. 
 
 sword in hand, sitting upon his conquered enemy, the giant 
 Kaymughusura. Next to Brahma is Ganesa, the god of 
 wisdom, holding in his hand a style : another attribute of 
 his is an elephant's head, which the god himself often bears.^^ 
 On another part of the wall is represented the fable of his 
 origin, (which Niebuhr has recounted, without however 
 subjoining any illustration,^^) and from which also is evi- 
 dent that he must have formed part of the suite of Siva. 
 The figures hovering above them in the attitude of ador- 
 ation, are a choir of Devas and Devanis, (male and female 
 genii,) who compose Siva's court in his palace of Kailasa. 
 
 In the next plate (tab. vii.) Siva again appears as the prin- 
 cipal figure, recognisable by his attribute, the snake, in one 
 of his four hands. He is adorned with the Brahmanical 
 thread, and is supported on a dwarf, who carries a fly-flap. 
 At his side stands his consort Pai*vati, supported also on a 
 dwarf The stature and attributes of the four-headed Brah- 
 ma, Ganesa, and Kartikeya, are similar to those of Siva ; 
 and we see also here the accompanying choir of Devas and 
 Devanis. The principal figure in the lower part of tab. viii., 
 in human form, and in a sitting posture, is difficult to de- 
 termine, because the four arms being broken off, the attri- 
 butes have disappeared likewise. It should, as the similarity 
 of the head ornaments, the four arms, and the Brahmanical 
 thread make sufficiently probable, be another representation 
 of Siva. Under this supposition the female figure sitting 
 near him would also be his wife. The two chobdars on 
 each side, both ornamented with the Brahman's thread, de- 
 note in either case the presence of two great deities, upon 
 whom they are attendant. Their inferiority of condition is 
 expressed in this, as well as in the foregoing plates, by the 
 smallness of their stature. Of these two figures, both of 
 which are female, one carries a fly-flap, the other an infant, 
 indicative of Lakshmi,^^ the consort of Vishnu. If this ex- 
 planation be correct, the figures before us become very re- 
 
 " In Niebuhr, owing to a mistake, the head only of an elephant is repre- 
 sented, without adding thereto the image of Ganesa ; the ^od himself ap- 
 pears in LanglAs, vol. ii. plate Ixxv., and also in the following plate of Nie- 
 buhr's book itself. 
 
 * Niebuhr's Travels^ vol. ii. p. 39. 
 
 " See F. Paulino's description of the bronze statue in the Borgian Mu- 
 seum, Syst. Brahm, tab. xii. v 
 
INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 markable, inasmuch as the wife of Vishnu is here represented 
 in the capacity of a menial attendant upon Siva. However, 
 I consider it more likely to be a female servant carrying the 
 son of Parvati, that is, Kartikeya, the god of war. 
 
 The figure of a man with two arms, in the upper part of 
 the same plate, is without any attributes, unless we suppose 
 what he is represented to be sitting upon is a lotus flower. 
 But this peculiarity is so common to many other Hindu 
 deities, that we can draw no certain conclusion from the 
 fact supposing it be true. I cannot possibly agree with 
 Langles,** in imagining it to be Buddha, for that personage 
 has no business here, nor is there the slightest trace of his 
 worship to be found in any part of this temple. 
 
 The representation given in the following plate (tab. ix.) 
 is one of the most remarkable. In the human figure which 
 occurs here also, though three arms with the accompanying 
 attributes are lost, there can be no mistaking the presence 
 of Siva. Every thing favours the conclusion, that the sub- 
 ject before us represents a passage taken from the history of 
 that god — it is in short Siva, receiving his consort Parvati 
 from the hands of Kamadeva, the god of love, into his para- 
 dise of Kailasa. The tedious hinderances which had opposed 
 this union, so necessary to the welfare of the universe, were 
 at length happily surmounted. This adventure is here por- 
 trayed in all that simplicity of style which seems so peculiar 
 to the ancient Hindu mythology. Other deities, among 
 whom the four-headed Brahma is conspicuous, assist at the 
 ceremony ; an attendant is bringing in a covered dish, pro- 
 bably in allusion to the marriage feast ; a numerous band of 
 Devas and Devanis are employed in keeping holy day. If 
 any one wishes to see an example of the manner in which 
 this Hindu fable, so simple in its origin, has been spun out 
 by the poets, let him compare the recital communicated to 
 a modern antiquary by one of their learned pundits.** 
 
 The frightful object represented in plate x. is easy 
 enough to comprehend. It is Siva again, but as the 
 Avenger and Destroyer ; he is therefore armed with all the 
 attributes of terror — ^the sword, the infant marked out for 
 slaughter, the serpent, and the timbrel : instead of the Brah- 
 
 ^ Langl^s, vol. ii. p. 161. 
 " PoLiER, Mytholoffie des IndouSy torn. i. p. 204, etc. 
 
 CIIAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 61 
 
 manical thread he wears a collar of skulls. The same sub- 
 ject, but furnished with a greater number of attributes, is 
 observable in a painting in the Borgian museum, described 
 by Father Paulino.** 
 
 My intention in offering the above remarks being less to 
 give a circumstantial account of these pieces of sculpture 
 than to note down the prevailing idea in each representation, 
 I shall therefore omit the last plate in Niebuhr s book, of 
 which I need only observe in passing, that it appears to de- 
 scribe some scenes in the history of Siva. Nothing further 
 is necessary to enable us to draw certain legitimate conclu- 
 sions, of no small importance to a correct knowledge of 
 Hindu monuments. 
 
 First, then, the representations to be seen in the island of 
 Elephanta are borrowed from the Hindu mythology still in 
 existence, and are therefore capable of being illustrated in a 
 general way by referring to that source ; though at the same 
 time, the particular details must still remain inexplicable, 
 owing to the extent of a very complicated mythology, and 
 our limited and imperfect acquaintance with its allusions. 
 And even supposing that the Brahmans of the present day 
 were themselves unable to explain a great portion of the 
 subjects here represented, yet this circumstance would fur- 
 nish additional proof of the high antiquity of these monu- 
 ments. It is however actually demonstrable, that the peo- 
 ple who excavated the temple and designed the sculptures, 
 must have possessed the same religious worship, and the 
 same mythological system, though probably more circum- 
 scribed than the present. 
 
 Secondly : It is no less certain that the grotto of Ele- 
 phanta is dedicated to Siva. All the ornamental designs 
 represented on the walls either exhibit him in person, or 
 have a manifest allusion to his history ; the prevailing idea 
 is to describe him seated on a throne in his palace of Kai- 
 lasa, surrounded by his court of Devas and Devanis. — Were 
 there, indeed, any doubt of the person intended, it would 
 be removed by the gross obscenity of the figures which are 
 observed on the walls, though Niebuhr has omitted to men- 
 tion this circumstance. The chief symbol of Siva is the 
 
 ** Syst Brahnu, pp. 88, 89, tab. x. 
 
INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Lingam, or Phallus, the organ of generation, which is re- 
 presented in all the modem temples dedicated to him ; and 
 is itself an object of religious veneration. It is also found 
 here, in the back-ground of the principal temple.*^ The ob- 
 scenity displayed on the walls surpasses every thing that the 
 most depraved European fancy could possibly imagine.^^ 
 It has however been remarked by many writers, that no 
 conclusion can properly be drawn from this peculiarity, re- 
 specting the morals of the nation itself 
 
 ThiiSly : It is also sufficiently clear that the worship of 
 Siva and the sect of his followers, were already in high re- 
 pute in India at the early period when these rock temples 
 were excavated. Of Vishnu and his worshippers, however, 
 to the best of my knowledge, I can find no trace whatever. 
 Yet under all circumstances it would be too precipitate, to 
 infer that his sect was not at that time in existence. That 
 of Siva certainly appears to have been predominant — and 
 the probability that it is also the most ancient, derives ma- 
 terial confirmation from the fact. 
 
 And fourthly. If it be asked to what era must we assign 
 the formation of these grottos, and with what reason is that 
 high antiquity so commonly attributed to them ? We can 
 only plead the want of accurate chronological data, for sug- 
 gesting a satisfactory answer. The Hindus themselves con- 
 fess their perfect ignorance upon this point,^^ and where 
 then shall we seek any other historic testimony? The 
 Greeks, it is true, under Alexander and his followers, be- 
 came acquainted with India, but they saw only the northern 
 parts of it, the plains lying between the Indus and the 
 Ganges, where structures of the above description are not 
 to be found. To the best of our knowledge, the first cer- 
 tain trace of the existence of Hindu grotto temples that we 
 meet with in ancient authors, is found in a fragment of 
 Porphyry's treatise on the Styx, preserved to us by Sto- 
 bseus.^® The colossal statue of a god with two sexes there 
 
 * Gough's Monuments j etc.y p. 14. 
 
 * I judge so at least, from an engraving published in London, and which 
 was communicated to me. 
 
 " Niebuhr's 2Vaic&, vol. ii. p. 41. 
 
 " Stob. Eclog, Phys. vol. i. p. 144 of my own edition. " The Indian mes- 
 sengers," says Bardesanes, a contemporary of Heliogabalus, " report that there 
 is in India a large grotto- under a lofty hill, in which is to be seen an image 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 63 
 
 mentioned, evidently alludes to the figure of Siva already 
 described. Though at the same time no one can venture 
 to affirm that the account given by the Indian Bardesanes 
 directly refers to the pagoda of Elephanta, yet it is never- 
 theless quite plain, that he must be speaking of some temple 
 precisely similar, and also adorned with sculptures, in which 
 he reports, that at certain times the Brahmans were there 
 wont to assemble and keep holy day, and where also the 
 judicial trials or ordeals, of which there were many kinds 
 among the Indians, used to take place.^^ 
 
 It is therefore only from the monuments themselves that 
 we can draw any conclusions respecting their antiquity, and 
 in them indeed every thing concurs to render the fact' cer- 
 tain. Their vast extent and perfect execution of detail, as 
 well as the nature of the undertaking itself, sufficiently show 
 that it must have required a great number of years to 
 bring them to completion. The rock out of which they are 
 hewn is a clay-porphyry, one of the very hardest kinds of 
 stone ;^ and in all probability could only be worked by the 
 help of that celebrated Indian steel called Wudz, which 
 even in ancient times was famous for its excellent temper. 
 Is it credible that all recollection of such a laborious enter- 
 prise as this should have been totally lost, were it not dated 
 from very remote antiquity ? Even nature itself has im- 
 pressed the marks of venerable age upon them, and many 
 of the sculptured representations on the walls are so dis- 
 solved by the operation of the atmosphere that they can 
 with difficulty be recognised. How many hundred years 
 must have been necessary to produce such an effect upon a 
 rock so hard ! In fine, the style itself also of these in- 
 genious works would seem to attest their extreme age; 
 characterized as they are by great simplicity, united with 
 consummate perfection. The figures of the gods appear 
 all of them naked, but at the same time carefiilly furnished 
 with their respective ornaments, their head-dress, necklaces, 
 
 from ten to twelve ells high, with the arms folded across, and the right side 
 that of a man, the left a woman, etc. 
 
 QQo '^^^^^ ^? * curious dissertation on this suhject, in the Asiat. Res, vol. i. p. 
 
 2*T ^^^^ grotto was performed the ordeal by water. Stob. vol. i. p. 148. 
 
 I can attest the truth of this myself, as I have by me a specimen of the 
 
 stone from the collection of M. Blumenbach, together with a penknife made 
 
 of Wudzy the first instrument of that material manufactured at London. 
 
64 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 earrings, girdles, together with their proper attributes. 
 There is here no appearance of that excessive surcharge of 
 apparel with which the modern Hindus disfigure their idols. 
 
 Grotto temples of a similar description but of larger size 
 are found in the neighbouring island of Salsette, which is 
 also opposite to Bombay. Of these we possess a descrip- 
 tion, with a ground-plan and a view, but of the sculptures 
 by no means such correct drawings as those of Elephanta, 
 for Niebuhr did not visit Salsette. We are indebted to 
 Gemelli Carreri,'^ an Italian, for the first account of these 
 monuments. Anquetil du Perron, in the preface to his 
 edition of the Zend-Avesta,^- has given a more accurate de- 
 scription, but the subjoiaed ground-plan is not very in- 
 telligible. A more particular notice and an exterior view 
 have been furnished by Lord Valentia ;'^ and it is only a 
 few years since we have been presented with a new ground- 
 plan of the temple, and some drawings of the bas-reliefs, by 
 Mr. Salt.^* These, with the accounts given in the Calcutta 
 Journal, have already been made use of by Langles.^ The 
 above publications are sufficient to convey some general 
 idea of the monuments, but of the numerous sculptures they 
 give only a few specimens. 
 
 In point of size and number, the temples of Salsette ^^ are 
 much superior to those at Elephanta. The lofty mountain, 
 which this island contains, is also composed of a species of 
 rock equally hard, but which nevertheless is excavated in 
 every direction. The grand pagoda is vaulted, and extends 
 over an area of forty paces in breadth and one hundred in 
 length : exclusive of the four columns at the entrance, thirty 
 are enumerated inside, of which eighteen have their capitals 
 formed of elephants ; the rest are merely of an hexagonal 
 shape, which would induce a supposition that they still re- 
 
 " Gemelli Carreri, Voyaffe autoiir du Momle^ torn. iii. p. 36, etc. It con- 
 tains merely a description without either plan or drawing. 
 
 " This is translated, and the plan copied by Gough, Ancient MonmnentSf 
 etc., p. 38, sq. 
 
 " VALENTIA, Travels, vol. ii. p. 195, plate x. 
 
 " In the Transactions of the Bombay Literary Society^ vol. i. 
 
 •* liAV Ghksy Monumens de Hindostanf torn. ii. p. 181 — 208, and pi. Ixxvii. — 
 
 Ixxxii. 
 
 '• This island is called by the Portuguese, Canaria. From thence the great 
 temple has its name of " The Pagoda of Kennery j" the others are called 
 *• Monpeser ** and " Jegvasary.** 
 
 CHAP. I. ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 65 
 
 main unfinished. At the end of the pagoda, which ter- 
 minates in a circular form, is a kind of cupola, which as 
 wel as the other portions of the structure, are all hewn out 
 of the living stone. 
 
 The Great Pagoda is only so termed by way of distinc- 
 tion, for there are two others scarcely inferior in size, which 
 are even furnished with several stories, one over the other- 
 and between and round about these there is an innumerable 
 quantity of smaller chapels. Every part is ornamented with 
 sculpture and the apartments, tanks, open courts, are all 
 hewn out of the rock. 
 
 .K y'^^/Ji^'^'J^^ture of these monuments so nearly resembles 
 that of hlephanta as to preclude all doubt of their belong- 
 ing to the same people and the same age, though the excava- 
 tions at fealsette must have occupied a considerably longer 
 time m execution. The effects of the weather on the sculp- 
 tures here, too, give striking evidence of the many hundred 
 years that must have elapsed in order to reduce them to 
 their present state of decay. 
 
 But a distinguishing feature in the temple grottos of Sal- 
 sette are the inscriptions, which we meet with on the walls 
 Ut these Anquetil du Perron has enumerated twenty-two' 
 specimens of which he has subjoined.^^ The alphabet in 
 which they are composed has no resemblance to any one 
 among the great number that are still used in the peninsula 
 nor has any one hitherto been able to decipher their meaning' 
 
 but the large temple of Kennery is distinguished from 
 tliat at hlephanta principally by the circumstance of beinff 
 consecrated to Buddha. We here see manifold representa- 
 tions of this god, who is easy to be known by his woolly 
 hair, long ears, and sitting cross-legged.^ His principal 
 statue IS surrounded with small reliefs, describing, probably 
 some scenes ,taken from his mythological history, in one of 
 which IS represented the fore-part of a vessel filled with 
 strangers; but these sculptures are, in general, too diminutive 
 m size to enable us to offer any illustrations of their meaning. 
 
 On the other hand there is no doubt that of the smaller 
 temples, the one called Monpeser is dedicated to Siva, as 
 
 ^ They are also copied by Gough, vid. supra. 
 Langl^s, plate Ixxx. This proves it to be the statue of a god, and not 
 H aevotee, though the woolly hair is also attributed sometimes to the latter 
 VOL. II. p 
 
INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 e? 
 
 that of Jegvasary is to India. In the first we meet with a 
 colossal statue of Siva surrounded with all his court, re- 
 ceiving his consort Parvati, as before observed in the reliefs 
 at Elephanta taken by Niebuhr.^^ In the other we see In- 
 dra with his wife in the same position as represented in the 
 plate already explained.*^ It follows, therefore, that in the 
 same small island, and near to each other, fornierly prevailed 
 the two hostile sects of Buddha and of Siva, unless we 
 might take it for granted that the sculptures are anterior to 
 the expulsion of the Buddhists by the followers of Siva. It 
 is also worthy of remark, that they contain no allusion to the 
 history of Vishnu : on the contrary, according to the tes- 
 timony of Lord Valentia, Vishnu is in one place represented 
 as the servant of Buddha, being employed in fanning him.^^ 
 " Not only the great number of these grottoes,'' continues 
 the same traveller, " but also the tanks, the terraces, the 
 flights of stairs leading from one to the other, all clearly 
 show what must have been the population of these arid 
 rocks in former times, where all now is silent except the 
 casual footstep of the inquisitive traveller. The plains once 
 so highly cultivated are become an impenetrable jungle, the 
 lair of ferocious wild beasts, and the abode of desolation and 
 noxious miasmata."*^ 
 
 Another rock monument of the same kind, and to the 
 best of my knowledge first described and delineated by Lord 
 Valentia, is the temple grotto of Carli,*"^ situate about half 
 way between Bombay and Poonah, the capital of the Mah- 
 rattas. The drawings we have of this piece of antiquity 
 are much superior to those of any other. Considered with 
 regard to the complete finish of its details, the temple of 
 Carli appears to occupy the first place of all, though in 
 point of extent it is inferior to that of Salsette. The prin- 
 cipal grotto is one hundred and twenty-six feet long, and 
 
 » Langl^s, plate Ixxxii. * Langles, plate Ixxxi. 
 
 *' The relation of superiors and inferiors, as Gemelli Carreri remarks, is 
 here also represented by a difference in stature. 
 
 *'- Valentia, Travels,\o]. ii. p. \9H. 
 
 *» Valentia, Travels, vol. ii. p. 162, sq. Plate viii. an interior view of the 
 grotto. Plate ix. plan of the same. There are many grottos at Carli, of 
 which the largest only has been delineated. The interior appears altogether 
 like that of Salsette. The pillars arc supported by elephants, on which male 
 and female figures are sitting. Underneath the vaulted roof is an arcade of 
 timber, no doubt of modem construction. 
 
 Sixty-four m breadth ; the roof is also vaulted and supported 
 by pillars, and moreover terminates in a circular chapel 
 surmounted with a cupola. There are no sculptures in the 
 mterior, but only on the walls of the portico, partly repre- 
 senting elephants, and partly figures.of men with two sexes. 
 The statue of Buddha is observable in many parts, some- 
 times m a sitting posture, after the Indian fashion, at others 
 in an upright position, and always surrounded with wor- 
 shippers. Here also we meet with numerous inscriptions, 
 and all in the same unknown character which is found in 
 the seven pagodas at Mavalipuram.** It appears, therefore, 
 that this temple also was dedicated to Buddha ; but as the 
 drawings of the several figures, and the inscriptions, left to 
 the Literary Society at Bombay by Lord Valentia, still re- 
 main unpublished, we can offer no further opinion on the 
 subject : there is, however, less reason for doubt, because 
 the Brahmans ascribe its erection to the agency of Rakshasas 
 or evil genu ; and all religious services therein are peremp- 
 torily forbidden. ^ 
 
 As far as our knowledge extends, Ceylon is the only 
 other Indian island besides Salsette and Elephanta, in which 
 there are temple grottoes ; and it is not many years since we 
 became acquainted with this island after its possession by 
 the British, through the medium of Davy s Travels in the 
 interior. The largest structure of this description is found 
 m the southern part of the island, in about 7° N. Lat., near 
 to Uamboulou, and in a south-easterly direction from the 
 capital town of Candy.^^ These rock temples, according to 
 iJavy s opinion, are the largest, the most perfect and ancient, 
 as well as the best preserved, in the whole island. They are 
 contained m a grotto, much less indebted to art than to na- 
 ture for its formation, before which a wall extends of four 
 hundred feet in length. The dimensions of the largest 
 temple are one hundred and ninety feet by ninety, and 
 forty.five in height. The smaller one is ninety feet long 
 and seventy broad ; the third is seventy-five feet in length 
 and only twenty-one in breadth. They are all dedicated to 
 Buddha, whose religion is still preserved exclusively in 
 
 *\YALEJiTi A, Travels, vol. ii. p. 163. All these inscriptions have been 
 copied by Lord Valentia. 
 
 ** John Davy, Account of the Interior of Cetflon, London, 1821, t». 232. 
 
 F 2 
 
63 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 m ' 
 
 Ceylon, and perhaps there in its greatest purity. The prm- 
 cipal temple contains a recumbent statue of Buddha thirty 
 feet long, of colossal size, as he is generally represented ; we 
 also melt with numerous smaller statues of this god, or his 
 worshippers, in different attitudes ; of which fifty-three have 
 been counted, representing probably persons of h^ suite It 
 is however in the heart of India, and m the midst of the 
 Ghaut-Range, that buildings of the above description are 
 found, which far surpass all those hitherto enumerated. 
 These are the celebrated grottoes of EUora in the neighbour- 
 hood of Dewgur and Aurengabad.^' The first, I believe 
 who gave any account of them, though a very superficial 
 one, was Thevenot ;" a more correct description, especially 
 of the sculptures, is furnished by Anquetil du Perron 
 The latter visited the grottoes in person, accompanied by 
 two Brahmans, on whose veracity must depend the correct- 
 ness of the explanations given of the sculptures of which 
 however he has subjoined no engravings. Du Perron has 
 certainly the merit of having supplied a tolerably detaded 
 account of these monuments, most of which he appears to 
 have seen, and noted down the observations of the Brah- 
 mans on the subject : nevertheless, without presuming to 
 question the fidelity of these latter, few descriptions, accu- 
 rate as they may be, are alone capable of conveying any 
 
 iust idea of the subject. v j v. 
 
 This deficiency was in some measure remedied by an 
 Englishman of the name of Malet, to whom we owe a de- 
 scription of EUora, accompanied with some designs and a 
 eround-plan of the principal temple.^ He states, however 
 that bad health prevented him from visiting every one ot 
 the numerous grottoes in person ; and moreover that, his 
 draughtsman being sick also, he could neither guarantee the 
 correctness of the designs made by the latter, in which, too, 
 
 « In Lai 20» North, and Long. 7G° East. It might be owing to chance, 
 buti is wiX of remark, that^llora is situate exactly in the m.ddle be- 
 l^eenSie northern boundary of India and Cape Comonn Its d'^an«« f™™ 
 thrcoMt is somewhat greater on the cast than on the west side. The exprcs- 
 sbn ntverthe"ssTthat^it is in the centre of India, is sufficiently correct, whc 
 ther that was the etfcct of design or mere chance. 
 
 *' Thevenot, Vouagedes Iiides, pp. 220— 2iJ. . j v. f n.,^u 
 
 « zZ^Avesia, dL. Prelim, p. cexxxiii.-ccl., and copied by GouoH, 
 
 Monuments, etc., p. 60, sq. 
 • Atiatic Researches, vol. vi. p. ivZ, sq. 
 
 1 
 
 69 
 
 we are sometimes at a loss to discover the true expression of 
 Indian character. 
 
 A great deal more certainly was effected by the Daniells 
 from whose splendid work Langl^s has copied his illustra- 
 tions m thirty-four plates on a reduced scale. In the above 
 we are presented with a ground-plan, as well as an exterior 
 and interior view, of twelve of these rock temples ; but only 
 a few designs, and those already known, of the many bas- 
 reliefs. Our acquaintance, therefore, with these works of 
 Hindu sculpture still remains very imperfect ; it is sufficient 
 however, to give some idea of the whole, and to enable our 
 deducing certain legitimate and irrefragable conclusions 
 
 Let the reader imagine to himself a chain of rocky moun- 
 tains consisting principally of very hard red granite, and in 
 a semicircular or rather horse-shoe form, with a distance of 
 nearly five miles between the extreme points. In this range 
 IS found a series of grotto temples, some of two and even 
 three stories m height, partly in juxta-position with each 
 other and partly separated by intervals, which in their turn 
 are filled with a number of smaller temples ; and the whole 
 ornamented with innumerable reliefs, many of which have 
 suffered from the effects of time, and not a few from the 
 hands of wanton violence. It is difficult to determine pre- 
 cisely which IS the principal temple of all these, but the 
 largest, and that of which we possess a ground-plan and the 
 greatest number of views, is called the temple of Kailasa 
 I. e. the palace of Siva or Mahadeva.*' All that is great,' 
 splendid, and ornamental, in architecture above ground is 
 here seen also beneath the earth ; peristyles, stairca^s, 
 bridges, chapels, columns, porticos, obelisks, colossal statues, 
 
 » The ground-plan and views of the temple of Jagannatha, (Juggernaut \ 
 
 xxxfil'" i?i|P''"? n "^^ ' f ^"^l" «r«' « P'»t« ='^='^'- ■' of in« plate 
 ^Hv "Cr^ -'f n ^'J'Par-Leyna, ,„ plates xliii._xlv.; of Jenussa, in plates 
 
 n»!rf • ''°^ Ram'shur, in plates xlviii., xlix. j of Kailasa, in pla es l._lv., 
 
 Dasavatara, m p ate v.. , of Havana, in plates Ivii., Iviii. ; of Tintodi, in plates 
 
 lix.. Ix. ; of Dautah, in plates Ixi., Ixii ,• of Visvakarma, in plates Ixiii.-lxv. • 
 
 ot Uherwara, in plate Ixyi. ; and general views of the country about Ellora 
 
 m plates Ix^i.-lxix. The vignette title page of this volume contains a view 
 
 ol Jagannatha, after plate xxxv. 
 
 n,vt.*r'^'"j'"S ',° ^^^ dimensions given of this temple, the vestibule is eighty- 
 fm,„ .r /^'P ^^u""" ^"."dred and thirty-eight in breadth; the temple itself 
 from the door of the portico to the inmost wall is one hundred and three feet 
 in length by sixty-one broad, exclusive of the platform behind the temple, 
 *hich makes the whole length one hundred and forty-two feet: so that in pmnt 
 01 extent it might bear a comparison with several of our Gothic churches. 
 
70 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 and reliefs sculptured on almost all the walls, representing, 
 as we have already noticed, Hindu deities and their fabu- 
 lous history : nor must we omit to mention the imposing 
 effect produced by a row of enormous elephants, who seem 
 to bear up the superincumbent weight of the temple/* 
 
 In an open court, to which we arrive through the grand 
 entrance, stands within the grotto itself a second temple ; 
 the whole mass of the rock which has been suffered to re- 
 main having been hewn into a pyramidal form as a pagoda. 
 Of this wonderful structure, the variety, richness, and skill 
 displayed in the ornaments surpass all description.^^ T^^**?. 
 are also many other temple grottoes here, which are little if 
 indeed any thing inferior to that of Kailasa ; that of Indra 
 and his consort Indrani contains in like manner a pagoda of 
 the form just described, and in point of richness of archi- 
 tecture and decoration is fully equal to it. The two divini- 
 ties, both surrounded with worshippers, are represented as 
 sitting, Indra on a recumbent elephant, Indrani on a lion : 
 all these figures are of colossal dimensions. The grotto 
 known by the name of Dumar-Leyna, and consecrated to 
 Siva and his wife Parvati, is not a whit less remarkable and 
 surprising. The sculptures on the walls describe among 
 other subjects the marriage of Siva and Parvati, and are 
 therefore confirmatory of the explanations already given of 
 a similar scene in the grotto of Elephanta.^ According to 
 Anquetil du Perron, one of the intermediate pagodas was 
 dedicated to Vishnu, and several of the adjacent ones to his 
 wives and follower, particularly to his architect Visvakarma, 
 who constructed the palace which the god occupies in his 
 celestial abode of Vaicuntha;^^ another pagoda is conse- 
 crated to Rama, his wife, and various persons in their suite, 
 etc. Among all the Hindu divinities, in whose honour 
 temples have been erected, there is hardly one who does not 
 appear to have possessed at some time or other his respective 
 sanctuary at Ellora ; and in fact we might justly consider 
 the gallery in rear of the great temple of Kailasa, as a per- 
 fect specimen of an Hindu Pantheon. The names of not 
 
 " Lanoles, vol. i. plate lii. ** Asiatic Hcs, vol. iii. p. 405. 
 
 " See above, p. 60. 
 
 " Asiatic Res, vol. vi. p. 421. The grotto here given is vaulted like that of 
 Carli, but the arcades are of stone. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 71 
 
 less than forty-three deities of one sort or other have been 
 there enumerated by Malet. 
 
 The age of the grottoes at Ellora is as difficult to determine 
 on just historical principles as those at Elephanta. If we 
 believe the reports of the Brahmans communicated to Ma- 
 let, they must have been constructed as much as seven 
 thousand eight hundred and ninety-four years ago, by one 
 Rajah Ilu ! ^ consequently long anterior to the commence- 
 ment of the Cali Yug, i. e. the present age according to 
 Hindu computation, and therefore also in the fabulous pe- 
 riod. On the other hand, a certain Mahomedan professes 
 to have heard from some learned pundit, whose name by the 
 way he has forgotten, that these temples, together with the 
 fortress of Deogur, now called Dawlatabad, were the work 
 of one Rajah II, who reigned above nine hundred years ago. 
 Such testimony as this, however, which rests on no certain 
 foundation, must appear in the eyes of a critical inquirer, 
 as little satisfactory and convincing as the former. Indeed, 
 the single circumstance that all these stupendous buildings 
 could have been completed by one rajah involves an abso- 
 lute contradiction ; it is very possible the fortress might have 
 been built at the time specified, and this supposition would 
 at least furnish some ground for the general report. It fol- 
 lows, therefore, that in the present state of the question, we 
 can only ascertain the age of the monuments at Ellora, by 
 considering them either separately or in comparison with 
 others already described ; and in conducting this examina- 
 tion, I believe I can fairly secure certain conclusions which 
 are too important to be withheld from the reader. 
 
 In the first place. Every thing in these grotto buildings 
 wears an Indian character, no foreign admixture whether of 
 mythology or art is perceptible. They must therefore be- 
 long to a period of time when the people, freely left to them- 
 selves, and under no foreign yoke, were able to lead what 
 sort of life they pleased, and were their own masters in 
 every thing. There is, nevertheless, in their architecture, a 
 certain gradation which it is impossible to mistake ; while 
 at Salsette and Elephanta all is simplicity in the extreme, 
 and the art of sculpture appears yet in its infancy ; so on the 
 
 ^ Asiatic Res, vol. vi. page 3S5. 
 
n 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 73 
 
 other hand, in the principal temple at Ellora, the richness 
 and variety of the designs, and the completeness of execu- 
 tion observable in the details, both of architecture and sculp- 
 ture, exemplify the most flourishing period of Hindu art. 
 The completion of these surprising works must, according 
 to our calculations, have required some hundreds of years ; 
 but we must also allow a space of time nearly equal in dur- 
 ation to that epoch, in which Ellora, situate in the middle 
 of India, and near to Deogur, (i. e. the Divine Mount,) 
 continued to be the central point of the Hindu religion : 
 and although it might be impossible to determine this 
 period with chronological exactness, yet every thing con- 
 curs to prove that the temple grottoes of Ellora are posterior 
 in construction to those of Salsette and Elephanta. 
 
 2. In the rock temples of Salsette and Elephanta, as well 
 as Carli, the prevailing creed appears to have been that of 
 Siva or Mahadeva, and next to this, even that of Buddha. 
 They must consequently be prior in point of time to the 
 expulsion of the latter from India. On the other hand, the 
 temples of Ellora betray not the slightest symptom of any 
 connexion with the worship of Buddha : whether it directly 
 follows, therefore, that at the period of their excavation, the 
 Buddhists were already driven from the Indian continent, 
 I cannot certainly venture to determine : this however 
 seems unquestionable, that at the above period the two still 
 existing sects of Siva and Vishnu were then already separate, 
 and flourishing in the neighbourhood of each other, a fact 
 which an examination of the grottoes at Elephanta and 
 Salsette still permitted us to doubt, and which also furnishes 
 us with additional presumptive evidence of the more modern 
 antiquity of Ellora. 
 
 3. It appears highly probable that, at the time when 
 these temples, or at least those of Ellora, were constructed, 
 the Hindu system of mythology had already attained its full 
 and perfect state of development ; as on the walls of these 
 grottoes we find not merely the several deities by themselvc s, 
 but represented also with their companions, relations, and 
 attendants in general, and indeed to much greater extent 
 and perfection at Ellora than any where else ; from which 
 we may safely argue for a more recent foundation in the 
 case of the latter temples, independent of the great increase 
 
 of probability which the argument derives from the follow- 
 ing very remarkable circumstance. We observe on the 
 walls of Ellora sculptured representations of great epic sub- 
 jects, which appear beyond a doubt to have been furnished 
 by those famous Hindu heroic poems the Ramayana and 
 the Mahabharata, of which we shall have occasion to speak 
 hereafter. In the large temple of Kailasa, on the right side, 
 is represented the engagement between Rama and Ravana' 
 in which Hanuman the king of the monkeys plays a chief 
 part.'^ This forms the principal subject of the Ramayana. 
 On the left side, directly opposite to the former, is observed 
 the battle of Keyso Pandos taken from the Mahabharata.^» 
 The armies engaged consist mostly of foot soldiers ; some 
 are riding upon elephants, others in chariots, but none on 
 horses. The principal weapons appear to be bows and 
 arrows, though we may occasionally remark the use of 
 maces and straight swords.^ In another grotto at Ellora, 
 called the three-storied temple, (leen Tai,) is seen a repre- 
 sentation of the five brothers of the family of Pandu, all of 
 whom are principal characters in the Mahabharata. 
 
 4. The plan upon which these great temple grottoes are 
 constructed is usually simple, but at the same time always 
 grand in conception. The first entrance is through a 
 vestibule, supported by several rows of pillars ; this leads 
 frequently by a series of steps into the grand portico, which 
 is covered in some instances with a flat roof; in others it is 
 vaulted.^^ For the most part this is of a rectangular form, 
 yet terminating in a circular end, and fiirnished with two 
 rows of columns, by which the nave of the temple is divided 
 through its whole length into three portions. This plan 
 
 *^ Asiatic Res. vol. vi. p. 406. This last circumstance shows clearly that the 
 representation on the walls is copied without variation from the Ramayana. 
 
 ^ Asiatic Res. vol", vi. p. 40/. 
 
 " The Hindu painting in the Bor^an Museum described by Father Paulino 
 in his Syst. Brah. tab. xvii. and xviii., represents the battle between Rama 
 and Ravana in perfect conformity with what is noticed above, and is most 
 likely a direct, or at least a second-hand copy of the reliefs at Ellora. 
 
 " It is therefore quite clear, that the architect of these subterranean temples 
 was no stranger to the principles of vaulting, though it does not at all follow 
 that he knew how to apply them to buildings above ground. Lord Valentia's 
 conjecture, (vol. ii. page 189,) that the temples dedicated to Buddha only 
 were vaulted, appears to be groundless, from the fact that a building of this 
 description is found at Ellora consecrated to Visvakarma, an attendant of 
 Vishnu. Asiatic Res. vol. vi. p. 420. 
 
|4 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 75 
 
 however is not always observed. There is one grotto at 
 Elephanta which is supported by three rows of pillars ; and 
 another at Salsette has as many as six. The sanctuary of 
 these temples, which is frequently nothing more than a 
 chapel furnished with a Lingam, is generally found at the 
 extremity : in the large grottoes at Ellora it is a perfect 
 temple of itself, hewn out of a portion of the solid rock 
 which has been suffered to remain for that purpose. On 
 the right and left are chambers cut out of the rock, ap- 
 parently designed for the reception of priests belonging to 
 the sanctuary ; and in some cases a gallery, supported on 
 pillars, runs round the whole extent, the walls of which are 
 ornamented with exquisite taste and skill. 
 
 5. The number and extent of these structures, particularly 
 at Ellora, appear to show sufficiently the object contemplated 
 in their erection. They must have been designed as a sanc- 
 tuary and habitation, not only for the principal deity, but 
 also for his family and attendant worshippers. Hence arose 
 the necessity of providing for them also, and erecting for 
 each his separate place of worship. The vast number of 
 smaller grottoes, though without doubt partly intended for 
 the accommodation of the priests, were yet however in a much 
 greater degree adapted to receive the many thousand pil- 
 grims and penitents who flocked to the temples, as they still 
 do to the celebrated pagodas of modern India. 
 
 6. The idea of employing colonnades in the cases before 
 us, arose from the obvious necessity of leaving pillars to sup- 
 port the roof of the excavated rock, and of course their form 
 would not in the nature of things be so slender as the Gre- 
 cian column. There is, however, in several instances, an 
 jevident desire to produce the utmost degree of attenuation 
 and delicacy of shape which the enormous weight they had 
 to sustain would allow.^^ And what ravages the hand of 
 time has been able to effect in other parts of these venerable 
 structures, the colonnades and pillars seem generally to have 
 escaped. It is not without an involuntary shudder that we 
 pass the threshold of these spacious grottoes, and compare 
 the weight of the ponderous roof with the apparent slender- 
 ness and inadequacy of its support ; an admirable and in- 
 
 " See GouGH, tab. i.j Niebuhr, tab. iv.; and Valentia, vol. ii. tab. 
 ▼iii — %. 
 
 genious effect, which must have required no ordinary share 
 of abihties in the architect to calculate and determine ! In 
 the general form and mode of decorating these columns, 
 judging by the few designs we have of them, we meet with 
 great variety, although the pillars in the same grotto have 
 always the same form and dimensions. The length of the 
 shaft, in comparison with its diameter, is also subject to 
 considerable variation ; in some cases, as for instance, in the 
 temple of Kennery at Salsette, the pillars are furnished with 
 capitals apparently suffered to remain in order to confer 
 additional strength. These capitals, agreeably to the pur- 
 poses for which they are designed, would not therefore admit 
 of that delicacy of shape which is observed in the buildings 
 above ground ; the design and general form of the capital 
 itself appears to be copied from certain plants, particularly 
 the lotus. But an accurate and characteristic description 
 of these details, which however would be scarcely intelli- 
 gible without illustrative designs, we must leave to the study 
 of professed architects : yet after mentioning the colonnades 
 and pillars, we ought not to omit noticing the obelisks, which 
 to the best of our knowledge are only met with in the grottoes 
 of Ellora. The single one which up to this time has been 
 copied and designed, and is of a circular form,^^ certainly 
 favours the supposition that it was intended to represent a 
 Phallus : nevertheless, Malet expressly remarks, that two 
 others are found of a square figure.^^ 
 
 7. The Hindu sculpture, like that of the Egyptians, ap- 
 pears to have proceeded from relief, but owing'to the small 
 number of designed specimens at present in our possession, 
 it is impossible to deliver any correct opinion of its rise and 
 progress. The art of sculpturing in very low relief seems to 
 have remained foreign to the usual practice of Hindu artists; 
 probably because in these temples they were obliged to 
 make their calculations with reference to the general effect 
 which could be produced by the whole, when viewed from 
 a certain distance. Their sculpture however appears, even 
 from the commencement, to have usually developed itself in 
 
 ■ Astatic Res. vol. vi. p. 392. In the drawdng of Langles, plate xxxvii., 
 copied from the work of the Daniells, this monument has almost entirely lost 
 the form of an obelisk. 
 
 ■ Asiatic Res, vol. vi. p. 405. 
 
?6 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 11 
 
 a colossal form ; as almost all the statues of gods are from 
 ten to twelve feet high : it has also been already observed, 
 that the relation of inferiority is here expressed by a corre- 
 sponding diminution of stature, extending even down to 
 that of d warfs.^^ The walls of these grottoes, at least those at 
 Ellora, were overlaid with a kind of stucco, called Chunam, 
 (Chuma,) that progressively hardens by length of time.^^ 
 Now the employment of colours would naturally serve to 
 enliven the sculpture ; we accordingly find, that the Hin- 
 dus like the Egyptians used to paint their reliefs. The 
 climate of India, which is not so dry as that of Egypt, would 
 appear to be less favourable to the preservation of fresco 
 paintings ; we nevertheless find in the temples at Ellora 
 universal proof of the contrary. From working in relief, 
 the art of sculpture would insensibly proceed to statuary ; 
 several of the reliefs themselves having been formed in such 
 high prominence that they are merely attached to the walls 
 by a portion of their backs. A colossal character was also 
 applied to their statues, not merely when they represented 
 divinities, but likewise, and indeed in an especial manner, 
 to animals, such as elephants, bulls, lions, etc., which was 
 partly necessary perhaps in order to preserve the general 
 keeping of the whole, and partly was agreeable to the sense 
 of Hindu mythology. These numerous colossal figures of 
 animals, according to the testimony of an eye-witness, con- 
 tribute to enliven as it were the general appearance of the 
 temples, and seem to give the whole a species of animation. 
 Even fabulous beasts were not excluded from this mytho- 
 logy : though we still want accurate designs for enabling 
 us to compare them with those of the Persians and other 
 nations. 
 
 Lastly, the grottoes of Ellora contain also certain inscrip- 
 tions, two or three of which have been made out in San- 
 
 •* What is most striking in these figures, at least at Elephanta, besides 
 their diminutive height, is the pecuhar fashion of their hair, partly resem- 
 bling the largest full-bottomed wigs of our ecclesiastics ; and as this head-dress 
 is confined to a few only of the attendants, they must therefore belong to a 
 particular class by themselves. Is it probable that they are professional 
 story-tellers? According to Hindu mythology, the rajah Vicramaditya used 
 to have forty-two of these little creatures standing round his throne. Polier, 
 vol. i. p. 90. Sir Stamford Raffles was informed at Java, that similar head- 
 dresses were worn by native hermits. History ofJavOt vol. ii. p. 10. 
 
 *» Asiatic Bes. vol. vi. pp. 397, 408, 409. 
 
 scrit, by Wilford, with the help of a book professing to be 
 an explanatory key to several ancient Hindu alphabets, and 
 communicated to him by some pundits, provided they are 
 to be relied on.^^ According to this explanation, the in- 
 scriptions refer in part to the subjects taken from the Maha- 
 bharat, and represented in sculpture on the walls, and the 
 conjecture is certainly not improbable that they may be 
 real quotations from that poem. The last of these inscrip- 
 tions mentions the name of the sculptor who executed the 
 work.''^ They are, however, less remarkable for their con- 
 tents than for the peculiar idiom in which they are written, 
 as it tends to prove that the Sanscrit, though iq^ form 
 which is now obsolete, was still the prevailing'diaTect when 
 these grottoes were excavated ; a circumstance which must 
 furnish additional proof of their antiquity.^*^ 
 
 The range of Hindu architecture, however, was not limited 
 to tlie construction of this first, and probably most ancient 
 
 ^ Asiatic Res. vol. v. p. 135, sq. 
 
 ^ His name is Sakya Padamrita. Ibid. p. 13S. 
 
 * Langl^s, in his seventh number, admits the probability of the before- 
 mentioned report of a learned Mussulman, viz. that the grottoes of Ellora 
 were excavated nine hundred years ago, by one Rajah II; and that in his 
 time Deogur, the capital of the Deccan, was the metropolis of a great empire : 
 and further, that architects from Ethiopia might have constructed these 
 temples upon Ethiopian or Egyptian models. For my part I must confess, 
 that excepting a few partial resemblances, I am unable to detect any traces of 
 general imitation in these works, which are so perfectly Indian in their whole 
 character, and indeed were so pronounced to be at the first inspection by 
 Malet. Asiatic Res. vol. vi. p. 3S3. How unreasonable is it to suppose that 
 any foreign artists could at once bring into existence such a peculiar kind of 
 architecture as the Hindu, and at the same time leave only indistinct and 
 altogether uncertain traces of their own ! As to the report above alluded to, 
 we have already remarked on what slender ground it rests, while the Mus- 
 sulman himself could adduce no authority m confirmation of it ; to say no- 
 thmg of the utter improbability that one prince's reign could sufl[ice for the 
 completion of such vast and laborious undertakings. At the same time, 
 however, I am perfectly willing to allow% that a portion of these grottoes, con- 
 secrated to the religious services of modern sects, as the Sevras or Jats, may 
 l^ of later origin (an opinion already advanced by EngHsh WTiters, Asiatic 
 llfis.voX. vi. p. 3S4) ; but this is no argument whatever against the antiquity 
 
 K- D •^^^^* ^^^ ^'^^^ "^^' ^^ ^^. knowledge, any true historical notice of 
 this Rajah II, beyond the mere opinion of the Mohammedan above mentioned, 
 who supposes him to have been a contemporary of Shah Momim-Arif, who 
 reigned some nine hundred years ago in Persia. There might possibly have 
 existed such a person as Rajah II of Deogur, but he could scarcely possess a 
 very extensive territory ; since, according to the very few fragments of Indian 
 history still remaining to us, the whole country, previous to the Mohamme- 
 dan invasion in 1002, was parcelled out into a number of petty principaUties, 
 (Dow's History of Hindostan, vol. i. p. 32,) and consequently would contain 
 no one prince at all capable of erecting such stupendous monuments. 
 
78 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 79 
 
 class of buildings ; nor did it remain satisfied with exca- 
 vating temples and habitations in the heart of rocky moun- 
 tains ; but it also elaborately fashioned the outside of the 
 rocks themselves into the form of an architectural monument, 
 and thereby produced effects still more great and surprising 
 than in those temple grottoes we have just now described, 
 although even these latter are not wanting to increase the 
 magnificence of the other kind. 
 
 India contains one specimen of this new class which is so 
 pre-eminently distinguished above all the rest, that a parti- 
 cular description of it alone will be sufficient. Such are 
 the " Seven Pagodas," or ancient monuments so called, at 
 Mavalipuram on the Coromandel coast,^ of which extraor- 
 dinary buildings it will hardly be too much to assert, that 
 they occupy a most distinguished place in the scale of hu- 
 man skill and ingenuity. But we must in this case also, 
 before we can offer any remarks on their style of archi- 
 tecture, previously ascertain the extent of our acquaintance 
 with them. 
 
 This, in truth, is at present but very imperfect. Those 
 travellers who have visited them, appear to have seen little 
 more than the parts immediately adjacent to the coast ; few 
 indeed would venture to penetrate into the interior, over 
 rugged barriers of rock, and through jungles infested with 
 tigers and noxious reptiles, and certainly no single individual 
 could possibly make the attempt with safety. The first ac- 
 count of these buildings was communicated in the Asiatic 
 Researches, by Mr. Campbell ; ^*^ but only from recollection 
 of a visit made eight years before. He was followed (in 
 the same collection) by Mr. Goldingham ;'* and a few 
 years subsequently by Mr. Haafner.'^'^ Neither of these tra- 
 vellers, however, have given any illustrative designs; and 
 in the large work of the Daniells, only two plates are de- 
 voted to the subject, which were afterwards copied by 
 
 * Situate in 12° 3(y' North Lat., one day's journey south of Madras. They 
 are called " The Seven Pagodas," because there appears to be a greater num- 
 ber of temples when seen from the sea; some of these project into the water, 
 and others are actually submerged. 
 
 *• Asiatic lies. vol. i. p. 145. " Ibid. vol. v. p. 69, sq. 
 
 " Haafner, Ileise Idnf/st der Kiiate von Coromandely vol. ii. p. 192, sq. He 
 is the only one who pretends to have made his way into the interior of these 
 pagodas, though it must be confessed, the account of his travelling adventures 
 frequently savours rather too much of the marvellous. 
 
 Langles.^'' From these and some other detached accounts, 
 arose the instructive description of these ruins compiled by 
 the late Mr. Ehrmann, and inserted in the Geographical 
 Ephemerides.^* This in its turn produced a valuable dis- 
 sertation by the late Baron Dalberg,^^ communicated in the 
 same periodical work. These essays, however, even at best, 
 serve only to show how limited and imperfect our know- 
 ledge is, the whole extent of which may be comprised in the 
 following statement. 
 
 The ruins of Mavalipuram do not merely consist of a 
 few subterranean temples, but the whole has an appearance 
 of a royal town, almost completely hewn out of the rock. A 
 large, and probably the most considerable portion, appears 
 to have been swallowed up by the sea ; but a few miles in- 
 land are seen, on the summits of a rocky hill, a vast collec- 
 tion of grottoes, halls, apartments, and other buildings, all 
 worked in the solid stone : not all of these, however, are 
 temples; for among other structures, we meet with' one 
 supported by two or three rows of pillars, which seems to 
 have been a choultry, or place of accommodation for tra- 
 vellers : in another part of the hill is a kind of couch formed 
 out of the rock, and which some imagine to represent a 
 king's throne. Besides these excavations, there are other 
 remnants of architectural works, properly so called ; these 
 consist of massy walls formed of hewn stone, immense blocks 
 of which are piled one above the other, similar to those 
 buildings termed Cyclopea^i : and, again, the whole of the 
 top of the hill is strewed with bricks. This is the sum total 
 of our acquaintance with the ruins of Mavalipuram. The 
 two drawings, to be found in the work of the Daniells, are 
 merely exterior views, one of them representing the en- 
 trance of a grotto, the walls of which are ornamented with 
 sculpture— the other, two temples excavated in the rock, 
 the style and workmanship of which is peculiarly striking, 
 and might almost be compared with some of our Gothic 
 churches. The sides of the rocky hill are here also in every 
 direction covered with reliefs in sculpture, which the 
 Daniells have but imperfectly designed, or rather only 
 sketched, if we except a few more elaborate specimens of 
 
 ;' Monnmens de VInde, plates xxiii. xxiv. 
 Allycm. Geograph. Ephemeriden, 1809, Sept. '» Ibid. 1810, May. 
 
80 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE, 
 
 81 
 
 colossal figures, such as elephants and lions : we must there- 
 fore confine ourselves here to the brief accounts which Mr. 
 Goldingham has given of these sculptures. According to 
 him, then, they represent for the most part statues of Hindu 
 deities, with four or more arms, and furnished with their 
 various attributes, as the Brahmanical thread, and different 
 animals consecrated to their service, etc., all which points 
 of resemblance leave no room to doubt the fact of these 
 divinities being borrowed from the same system of mytho- 
 logy as those in the rock temples already described ; indeed 
 Mr. Goldingham had previously come to the same conclu- 
 sion, after comparing the sculpture of Mavalipuram with 
 that of Elephanta, and particularly the double statue of an 
 hermaphrodite, and the dwarfs. These circumstances, as 
 well as the representation of the Lingam, are quite sufficient 
 to prove that the worship of Siva prevailed here also, con- 
 jointly with that of Vishnu, in so fiir as the latter is said to 
 have appeared on earth in the character of Krishna. And, 
 according to the same authority, similar figures of men and 
 animals are found here also, and even whole scenes taken 
 from the Mahabharat, representing among other subjects, 
 the fable of Krishna's sojourn among the Gopis or shep- 
 herdesses ; we therefore know where to find a key to the 
 interpretation of these sculptures : but this desirable object 
 can only be attained by the traveller who is enabled to in- 
 vestigate these ruins with the Mahabharat in his hand. 
 Even the inscriptions over the several statues, and which 
 have been copied by Mr. Goldingham, do not, however, 
 furnish us with any explanations, because the character has 
 not yet been deciphered, and consequently we know nothing 
 of the language in which they are composed. If this pecti- 
 liar alphabet really were identified with that in which the 
 inscriptions at Kennery are written, it would prove the 
 same character to have been in common use on both sides 
 of the peninsula J^ 
 
 •• LANGLfes, Monumens de Vlnde, p. 50, has remarked a similarity between 
 the characters used at Mavalipuram and those at Kanara (without doubt he 
 means Kennery). But for my part I can discover no resemblance between 
 
 the drawings made of the former by Goldingham, and those of the latter 
 copied by Gough. On the other hand, I fancy they are more Hke those found 
 at EUora, communicated by Wilford in the Asiatic Res. vol. v. p. 141. At 
 all events there is a general resemblance in the form of the character, though 
 
 The buildings at Mavalipuram are partly in an unfinished 
 state, and furnish evident proofs of having been interrupted 
 by some terrible convulsion of nature, such as an earth- 
 quake, which has rent the sohd rock, and perhaps ingulfed 
 a considerable portion of the town in the sea, under which 
 the ruins are still seen, extending a great way out. But all 
 recollection of the time when this catastrophe happened is 
 completely lost ; which is another probable ground of the 
 high antiquity of these structures, on which moi cover the 
 finger of Time has imprinted other strong marks of age, in 
 the defacement and obliteration apparent in many of the 
 sculptures. Nevertheless, imperfect as our knowledge of 
 these interesting monuments certainly is, I still conceive 
 myself entitled to make the following observations. 
 
 1. Mavalipuram was at the same time the chief seat of 
 religion, the residence of kings, and in all probability a 
 town of considerable commercial importance. The monu- 
 ments still remaining, attest the certainty of its having been 
 at some former period a place of very great extent ; and 
 supply us also with additional evidence of the intimate con- 
 nexion that subsisted in these countries between religion 
 and commerce. 
 
 2. Hindu tradition itself assigns a very high antiquity to 
 these buildings, in attributing their erection to the kings 
 Yudhishthira, of the family of Pandu, and Bali (both of 
 them related to Krishna, and principal characters in his 
 mythological history);" their age therefore extends back 
 to the fabulous period, which is of course independent of all 
 accurate chronological determination. But upon comparing 
 these monuments with one another, it appears highly pro- 
 bable that they do not themselves all belong to one and the 
 same period, but were constructed at long intervals of time, 
 both on account of their great extent, and particularly the 
 variation observable in their style of architecture. Two of 
 these rock pagodas appear to have, as it were, a vaulted 
 roof, but terminating in a sharp angle, similar to a Gothic 
 arch.^^ Near to these are observed others constructed 
 
 ^' PoLiER, Mythuhgie des Indom, vol. i. p. 122, 338. 
 Chambers, in the Asiatic Ees, vol. i. p. 151. See the drawing in Lan- 
 GLfts, plate xxiii. Goldingham, in the Asiatic Res. vol. v. p. 74, quotes a 
 VOL. II. G 
 
82 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 83 
 
 merely with blocks of stone laid across one another m a 
 pyramidal form, like the oldest specimens of architecture 
 above ground. Does not this variety of structure, which a 
 more intimate acquaintance with these ruins, and a greater 
 number of well executed drawings, would doubtless increase 
 tend to prove that the monuments of Mavahpuram are of 
 very different degrees of antiquity ; and likewise that the 
 city itself must have had a duration of several hundred years 
 3 The sculptures at Mavalipuram have reference as well 
 to the religious worship of Siva as of Vishnu, prmcipally 
 however to that of Vishnu. On the other hand as far as our 
 present knowledge extends, we find not the least trace of 
 the service of Buddha. This circumstance, together with 
 the hicrh state of perfection in which the sculptures are 
 finished, must necessarily lead us to infer that these monu- 
 ments, though of great antiquity, are yet however by no 
 
 means the oldest in India. , , p , i i 
 
 4 But they are also very remarkable for the close rela- 
 tion in which they stand to the great epic poem of the 
 Mahabharat. The sculptured representations on the walls, 
 are for the most part borrowed from the fabulous legends 
 therein recounted ; and, according to the testimony ot the 
 Brahmans, the very name of the place is mentioned in that 
 poem, under its Sanscrit appellation of Mahabahpura, 1 he 
 dty of the great Bali."^^ This fact, if true, together with 
 that of the inscriptions having become unmtelhgible, woukl 
 seem fresh evidence in favour of its high antiquity. W e 
 must not, however, confound Mavahpuram with the wonder- 
 ful city Dwarka,«^ celebrated in the Ramayana, which was 
 situate in the middle of the ocean, not on the coast : and in 
 
 traditionary report, according to which it would appear that, about a thou- 
 IlnH Ta^7fiin?c a certain northern prince wished to execute some splendid 
 work orrrchUee\u^^^^^^ not agree with the Hindu architects abou 
 
 Te price Sh^^^^^ latter, being incumber upwards of five thousand fid 
 awa?TconLquence, and in the short space of five or six years compk^^^^^ 
 S superb monuments, after which the above-mentioned prmce recalled 
 Ihem TaroiTdal^erg in the Allffem, Geof^raph. me^^rul. vo\,^x^v.V- 
 7 h^ reV.tated this tradi ion, but, through inadvertence no doubt, has omit- 
 ted tlheXdHndu. I remark this expressly, lest it should be mferred, in 
 consSuInce o?Se omission, that a certain kind of architecture had been in- 
 troduced into India from the north. , .^ i tr 
 
 " Chambers, in Astatic lies. vol. i. p. 14b, loo. •• lo 
 
 "•The conjecture of Baron Dalberg, Fphem. Geogr. vol. xxxn. p. U 
 
 the Hindu legend, Vishnu is represented as marching from 
 Dwarka to Mavalipuram.^^ 
 
 5. In the same country where we now discover the ruins 
 of Mavalipuram, Ptolemy places the situation of a town 
 called Maliarpha.«2- He mentions it as a commercial resort, 
 (emporium,) and according to his account there were several 
 others on the same coast of India. The situation and re- 
 semblance of name concur in making it very probable that 
 this town can be no other than Mavalipuram ; admitting 
 which to be correct, we have consequently an historical 
 proof that it existed in the time of Ptolemy, and was also a 
 place of considerable commercial importance. This, how- 
 ever, is no sort of argument against the supposition that 
 these monuments are of much higher antiquity, especially 
 if we consider Ptolemy to have derived his information from 
 sources long anterior to the times in which he wrote. 
 
 Such are the most considerable of the rock monuments 
 that have hitherto been discovered in India : ^ and from the 
 brief examination we have been able to give them, it must 
 by this time be sufficiently evident, that the natives of that 
 country, surrounded as they are with every natural induce- 
 ment for the undertaking, have carried the art of construct- 
 ing and ornamenting excavated grottoes to a much higher 
 degree of perfection than any other people ; though it does 
 not at all equally follow that the Hindus were accustomed to 
 employ grottoes and caves in general for the purposes of 
 domestic habitation. The structures we have just been 
 considering are only met with in certain portions of the 
 country, and even then not as the common receptacles of 
 the living or the dead, but solely as places of abode for the 
 divinities and their attendant worshippers. Every thing, 
 therefore, concurs to establish the fact, that an all-powerfiil 
 
 ^ Asiatic Mes. vol. i. p. 156. « Ptolemy, vii. cap. I. 
 
 . Lfc>ee an animated description of the ancient temples and-nriiwof Barolli 
 in Kajpootana, m the second volume of Col. Tod^s Amials of Baiasthmi' 
 1 tie grand temple is dedicated to Siva, and stands in an area of about two 
 Hundred and fifty yards square, enclosed by a wall of unshaped stones without 
 cement ; and contains unrivalled specimens of sculpture, some parts of which 
 especially the heads, in the language of an eye-witness, would be no disgrace 
 10 tanova himself. The whole is in wonderful preservation, being chileled 
 out ot the close-grained quartz, though some of the figures have suffered from 
 Moslem bigotry. « In short," says Col. Tod, " it would require the labour oC 
 several artists for six months to do any thing like justice to the wonders of 
 oaroiii. Transl.] 
 
 G 2 
 
84 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 CHAP* I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 85 
 
 priesthood must have formed them, in order to serve as m- 
 destructible sanctuaries and central points of rehgious attrac- 
 tion, and not improbably also with a view of securmg politi- 
 cal influence. When we consider indeed, as will appear 
 still more evident in the sequel of this inquiry, the very in- 
 timate connexion that formerly subsisted in India between 
 relio-ion'and politics, what more eflectual method, we would 
 ask^ could be adopted for working upon the feelings of the 
 multitude through the medium of religion, than by erecting 
 such stupendous fabrics, where the pomp and splendour of 
 art might co-operate with the awful solemnities of religious 
 worship ? Dead, as it were, and unmeaning as they must 
 appear when considered abstractedly and by themselves, 
 they receive in the eyes of the historian a kind of reflected 
 animation and significance, when he views them in connex- 
 ion with the religion and mythology of the people, as pre- 
 served to us in their epic poetry : the conviction immedi- 
 ately flashes across his mind, that the one must have given 
 birth to the other ; and while he hears the voice of their 
 rehgion speaking in the language of remote antiquity, he 
 scruples not, therefore, in the absence of all accurate chro- 
 nological testimony, and as long as no direct proof of their 
 more modern origin has been given, to assign these time- 
 honoured works of art to the same age that produced the 
 
 former. 
 
 After having treated of rock monuments, whether sub- 
 terraneous or above ground, there still remains a third and 
 most numerous class of buildings to examine, which arc 
 altogether the production of human art. These are of dif- 
 ferent kinds. But as we are engaged only with ancient 
 structures, we shall not stop to inquire into the disputed ag(^ 
 of a few mountain fortresses, which are the only other monu- 
 ments exclusive of the rock temples that prefer any claim 
 to antiquity ; we must therefore confine our researches to 
 those temples that have been called by Europeans, Pagodas,"^ 
 
 •* Vihara in Sanscrit, Langles, p. 4. [Vihara properly means a Bauddha 
 or Jaina temple: see Wilson's Dict..t« roe. The word pagoda is a corruption 
 of Bhagavati, " holy house," one of the several names by which Hindu tem- 
 ples are known. Others have derived it from the Persian Putkedeh, " House 
 of Idols ;" which, as it appears to involve a term of contempt, is not at all 
 probable. They are also called in Sanscrit, Sabhcy " a house ; " Prasrda, 
 « palace;" or />cra%d, " abode of the gods." See Bohlen's -r4/fe Imlien^ 
 vol. ii. p! 82. Transl.] 
 
 an appellation previously unknown even to the Hindus 
 themselves. 
 
 Many of these buildings have been copied in the works 
 already so often alluded to. But whoever wishes to regard 
 them as authentic sources of information in the study of In- 
 dia antiquities, will soon find reason to employ great circum- 
 spection and cautious mistrust when he would determine 
 their age with even the semblance of probability. The 
 grand desideratum of a perfect historical account of Hindu 
 architecture, becomes immediately evident.^* And unless 
 he chooses blindly to follow the accounts given by the Brah- 
 mans, who perhaps make a merit of deceiving him, he will 
 be obliged to stop short at every question involving the an- 
 tiquity of any particular edifice. This is a chasm in history 
 which no one can reasonably expect to be filled up by the 
 present investigation. A professed architect alone could 
 possibly supply the deficiency ; but even he I am persuaded 
 would derive very little assistance from consulting the cop- 
 per-plate illustrations we possess ; it is only by a personal 
 inspection of the places themselves, and after long and re- 
 peated observation in several parts of India, that he would 
 be enabled at last to furnish the required history. And yet, 
 notwithstanding the imperfect state of our knowledge of this 
 subject, I cannot avoid submitting a few remarks to the 
 judgment of my learned readers. 
 
 The Architecture of India, as the excavated rock temples 
 sufficiently inform us, was the daughter of Religion ; and 
 continued to remain so even in the case of structures raised 
 above ground. This character was completely developed 
 only in pagodas, and other buildings connected with them : 
 not however in private dwellings. What, properly speak- 
 ing, are the Hindu cities of the present day ? What is the 
 Black Town (so called) of Calcutta, Madras, and other 
 places, any more than a collection of huts such as the cli- 
 mate requires, formed of bamboo and similar materials, and 
 surrounding a pagoda ? But while their architecture was 
 inseparably connected with religion, the one remained as 
 imperishable as the other. Without doubt certain periods 
 might be named, in which the erection of splendid architec- 
 
 " See Capt. M*Kenzie*s remarks on this subject in Asiatic Res, vol. vi. 
 p. 443. 
 
86 
 
 Indians. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 87 
 
 tural works became more rare and uncommon ; as, for m- 
 stance, during the subjection of India to foreign power ; but 
 even then the religious zeal of the Hindus was only repress- 
 ^, not at all extinguished. Temples have been constructed 
 at all times throughout India, and continue to be so still ; 
 we should therefore be cautious in attributing a high an- 
 tiquity to pagodas in general, though it is very likely that 
 in several instances a particular pagoda may have just claims 
 
 to that title. • /. i j 
 
 Supposing, then, that we have now satisfactorily proved 
 the existence of a sacred architecture in India from the 
 earliest periods, it still remains for us to ascertain, how far 
 it continued free and independent of external influence ; or 
 otherwise, to what extent did its foreign masters succeed in 
 altering its distinctive character ? Previous to the Moham- 
 medan invasion, which took place about the commencement 
 of the eleventh century, we have no certain information 
 whether any foreign invaders ever permanently established 
 themselves, and became naturalized in India : though it is 
 probable that a portion of the country might have been oc- 
 casionally subject to the neighbouring governments of Per- 
 sia or Arabia. And notwithstanding there is equal proba- 
 bility that distinct Arabian colonies might have been settled 
 at an earlier period on the coasts of the peninsula, yet up to 
 the present time no traces, I believe, of Arabian architec- 
 ture have been discovered in India, similar to those still 
 found in many parts of Spain. But since the establishment 
 of the Mongols in the country, and the erection of their 
 splendid empire, the study and practice of architecture 
 flourished among them also, and an infinite number of 
 palaces and mausolea, particularly on the banks of the 
 Ganges, still remain m proofs of their ingenuity and taste. 
 The progress of architecture among that people in India, 
 would no doubt furnish subject-matter for a most highly 
 interesting chapter in a general history of this art m the 
 East ; but I feel myself incompetent to undertake such a 
 task. In the mean time, though I certainly cannot dispute 
 the reciprocal influence which Hindu and Mongol architec- 
 ture may have exercised upon each other, yet, nevertheless, 
 to me it appears much more probable that the Mongols 
 borrowed something from the Hindus, than that this latter 
 
 people were indebted to the former: and even admitting 
 the willingness of the Hindus to copy foreign models, would 
 their religious principles have allowed them to do so? 
 The Mongols profaned and overthrew their sacred edifices, 
 and is it likely that the Hindus would reconstruct them in 
 the architectural style of their enemies ? I am much more 
 inclined to believe, that Indian architecture in all its prin- 
 cipal traits has preserved its character pure and unconta- 
 minated by foreign admixture ; while at the same time I 
 allow, that in the subordinate details, particularly in the 
 ornamental part of their buildings, the Hindus may very 
 possibly have adopted some hints and improvements from 
 their conquerors. Hence, therefore, arises the very natural 
 question as to wherein consists the peculiar characteristics 
 of Hindu architecture ? To this, it is beHeved, the following 
 remarks will fiirnish an appropriate solution. 
 
 1. The architecture of the Hindus originated with the 
 pyramid, in which form the oldest pagodas are built. This 
 is the principal feature which distinguishes the buildings of 
 India Proper from those of the Ultra-Gangetic continent, 
 and probably also the greatest portion of the rest of Asia ; 
 where the architectural character betrays evident marks of 
 having been borrowed from the form of a tent.^ It is ob- 
 vious to remark how this difference of origin must have 
 respectively influenced the general character of both ar- 
 chitectures, as well as their particular details. 
 
 2. The pyramidal form essentially excludes the notion of 
 an arch, and by consequence the employment of vaulted 
 roofs. It is certainly true from the description above given 
 of the temple grottoes, that the Hindu architects were 
 no strangers to the idea of vaulted roofs ; but, as we have 
 before remarked, it does not at all follow therefore, that they 
 either did in fact, or even knew how to apply this principle 
 in the construction of buildings properly so called. Some 
 modern writers indeed directly question their ability to form 
 an arch ;^ whereas in the drawings we have of their oldest 
 specimens of architecture, a considerable number are ob- 
 
 " Let the reader compare, especially for the opposite continent, Ava, Pegu, 
 etc., the drawings of Birmese temples and monasteries, represented in Symes^s 
 Travels. 
 
 "• See particularly Lanoles , p. 54. 
 
88 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 S9 
 
 served to terminate in a cupola ;«^ does not this circumstance 
 therefore imply their being able to construct a vaulted roof; 
 or are these cupolas only modem additions to the original 
 fabric ? The designs given us of these buildings, however, 
 as we shall soon have occasion to remark, do not even agree 
 among themselves ; we must consequently leave this ques- 
 tion for architects, and persons supplied with more accurate 
 sources of information than ourselves, to discuss. 
 
 3. This pyramidal architecture, moreover, renders the 
 employment of columns and pilasters altogether unnecessary; 
 and yet, nevertheless, they were already well known from 
 their use in subterranean structures ; and as they could not 
 be applied to buildings constructed on the principle of a 
 pyramid, they consequently found a suitable place in those 
 of another description ; and even in the latter case they 
 evidently appear to be copied from the models already fur- 
 nished by the grottoes themselves. In the proportions and 
 ornaments of their pillars, the Hindus remained very far 
 behind the Egyptians and the Greeks, but in the richness 
 of decoration bestowed on their pilasters, and, among other 
 things, in their execution of statues resembling caryatides, 
 but not used for support, they far surpass both those 
 
 nations.^ 
 
 4. As the pagodas were the resort of many thousand 
 pilgrims, the necessity became obvious of constructing edi- 
 fices of another class in the neighbourhood, in the number 
 of which, the choultries, or houses of accommodation, 
 ought first to be reckoned. These might be termed cara- 
 vanserais, were no false idea of a similar destination likely 
 to arise from the similarity of name. The Hindus regard 
 the erection of such buildings in the light of a religious 
 duty, or at least place it in the number of good works ; we 
 shall therefore be less surprised at meeting with such a vast 
 quantity of them, or at their being usually most numerous 
 in the vicinity of a celebrated pagoda. It is in the con- 
 struction and ornament of these choultries, where religion 
 has prescribed no definite plan to be followed, that Hindu 
 architecture seems to have exercised itself in all its perfec- 
 
 •^ As, for instance, in the pagoda of Tanjore. . . x ^c 
 
 "* Compare the specimen of a richly ornamented pilaster given m Langles, 
 
 plate vii. 
 
 tion and freedom of restraint.^ It is here also that pillars 
 and pilasters find their most appropriate situation : as to 
 vaulted choultries, I have not been able to meet with any 
 such specimens in the drawings of Hindu monuments at 
 present known : whether this feet entitles us to infer that 
 the art of vaulting, without being altogether unknown to 
 the Hindus, was yet employed but in a few instances, and 
 probably in forming cupolas only, I shall leave to profes- 
 sional judges to determine. A tank or reservoir of ma- 
 sonry, filled with water, is always in the neighbourhood of 
 a choultry. 
 
 5. In the construction of pyramidal pagodas, we may, I 
 think, easily remark the various degrees of progressive im- 
 provement made in the art. The most ancient specimens 
 appear to be those which are built after the manner of 
 structures called Cyclopean, with naked blocks of hewn 
 stone piled one over the other in the form of a pyramid, 
 and destitute of all ornament. The next step taken, ap- 
 pears to have been exterior embellishment, and the intro- 
 duction of various kinds of architectural decoration. The 
 art subsequently proceeded to represent the figures of gods 
 and animals in sculptured relief on the outer walls, and soon 
 after, whole scenes from the great epic poems were added. 
 The interior of these pyramidal temples is usually awful and 
 gloomy ; the light of day is excluded, and only a single lamp 
 serves to make the darkness visible, and show the several 
 objects under a doubtful light. In progress of time the 
 architecture appears to have successively laid aside its mas- 
 sive and unwieldy form ; the pagodas assumed a lighter as- 
 pect, and concluded their improvements with the addition 
 of grand entrances or portals in the interior of the sanctuary. 
 The whole extent of this portion of the pagoda was furnished 
 with one, two, or even more enclosures ; within which 
 other buildings and necessary works were erected, such as 
 large halls with a flat roof, supported in the Egyptian man- 
 ner by several rows of pillars ; edifices appropriated to the 
 reception of colossal images of holy animals, and other 
 apartments containing the necessary furniture for proces- 
 sions with the statues of the gods from one sanctuary to an- 
 
 •9 
 
 See the magnificent choultry of Madura represented in LanglAs, plate vi. 
 
INDIANS: 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 91 
 
 other, together with tanks of holy water for the purposes of 
 ablution, etc. If we possessed an authentic history of these 
 pagodas, we should probably find that in the first instance 
 the sanctuary was isolated and stood by itself, as is proved 
 beyond a doubt in those of Egypt, until devout individuals 
 erected the adjacent buildings, which in point of splendour 
 and decoration frequently eclipse the pagoda itself 
 
 Before I proceed to mention the particular pagodas which 
 are distinguished for their antiquity, I ought to premise an 
 observation of no gratifying import to the historian of Hindu 
 architecture. In that portion of the country, which must 
 ever be considered as the cradle of Indian religion and 
 civilization, the ancient monuments have for the most part 
 been destroyed by the fanatical bigotry of the Mohammed- 
 ans. Bengal Proper contains the fewest remains of anti- 
 quity of any ; more are discoverable in Behar, and especially 
 in the holy city of Benares. On the other hand, Coroman- 
 del, being much less exposed to similar devastation, presents 
 us with the greatest number of celebrated religious struc- 
 tures, both on the coast and in the interior of the peninsula. 
 " Here," says Lord Valentia,^^ " almost every village has its 
 respective pagoda, adorned with a lofty portal of stone, and 
 by no means contemptible in point of architectural merit, 
 where the Brahmans reside either at their own private ex- 
 pense or supported by the liberality of government. The 
 high roads leading to these holy places are thickly studded 
 with choultries for the reception of crowds of pilgrims ; and 
 which are also taken care of by the Brahmans." Thus in 
 Indm we meet with the direct reverse of what has happened 
 in Egypt ; whereas in the latter country that portion of it 
 which had been the cradle of its greatness, I mean the up- 
 per part, still presents the most considerable remains of 
 architectural skill, while lower Egypt is proportionably de- 
 hcient : on the contrary, in upper India, where it is proba- 
 ble they were first erected, these monuments have mostly 
 disappeared ; and whatever may be the age of particular 
 structures which the peninsula still preserves to us, we may 
 rightly conjecture they are not the oldest India has ever 
 possessed. 
 
 •• Vaientia, Travels, vol. i. p. 355. 
 
 In the number of those pagodas, which, according to 
 their style of architecture and the testimony of the natives 
 themselves, appear to be the most ancient, we must first 
 reckon Deogur or Dowlatabad, in the vicinity of Ellora. 
 This is formed, similar to those at Mavalipuram, of a group 
 of three pagodas, and is built in a pyramidal form of blocks 
 of hewn stone laid one over another, without any sculptures.^* 
 On the summit of each of them is raised the trident of Ma- 
 hadeva, a certain proof that they were dedicated to that god. 
 The Hindus themselves are unable to determine their age 
 any further than they reckon them among the most ancient, 
 an opinion which appears to be confirmed by their position 
 and style of building. Is there not indeed the highest pro- 
 bability that they must have had some connexion with the 
 neighbouring rock excavations already described, and that 
 they may belong to the period, w^hen, as we have before ob- 
 served, Ellora was most likely the central point of Hindu 
 religion and civilization ? We shall have another occasion 
 of reverting to this subject hereafter. 
 
 The celebrated pagoda of Tanjore presents a perfectly 
 similar specimen of architecture : it is also constructed of 
 hewn stone piled in large blocks one above another, without 
 any exterior decoration, and without a cupola.^^ The py- 
 ramid is two hundred feet high, and according to the opinion 
 of Lord Valentia, is the most beautiful work of this kind in 
 India. The interior contains a hall only lighted with lamps, 
 and which is a place of assembly for the Brahmans. All 
 determinate accounts of the time of its construction are 
 wanting, and this circumstance, coupled with the peculiar 
 style of architecture, warrant us in referring it to a period 
 of high antiquity. The presence of the Linganx denotes its 
 consecration to Siva, and this is confirmed by a colossal 
 statue of his bull, Nundi, which appears in an adjacent 
 
 •' They are represented in Hodges, plate xxiii. ; and in Maurice's History 
 of Hindostan, vol. vi. 
 
 " The engraving of this pagoda, given in Maurice's History of Hindostan, 
 vol. i. plate lii., after a drawing by Hodges, essentially differs from that given 
 by Langles, plates ix. x., after the Daniells. In the latter, the pyramid is 
 adorned on the outside with false windows, almost like the obelisk at Axum, 
 (Valentia, TraveU, vol. iii. plate vii.,) and terminates in a small cupola. But 
 Valentia Wmself confesses (vol. i. p. 305) that the Daniells have embellished 
 too much. I therefore follow the engravings given by Maurice. 
 
92 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 93 
 
 II 
 
 building supported by pillars in the true Indian style.^^ 
 The statue is formed of an entire block of brown porphyry, 
 sixteen feet in length, by twelve feet high ; and although 
 much inferior in size to the colossal statues of Egypt, is 
 nevertheless a proof that the Hindus were acquainted with 
 the method of transporting unwieldy masses. This bull is, 
 no less than the god himself, an object of religious venera- 
 tion ; and it was amid the din of cymbals and flutes in the 
 vicinity of his apartment, as well as the pagoda, that those 
 solemnities were observed which involuntarily recall to our 
 minds the Bacchanalian orgies of the ancients. 
 
 The pagodas of Ramiseram are remarkable for their situ- 
 ation on an island between the continent and Ceylon, from 
 whence Rama made his celebrated expedition against Ra- 
 vana, which forms the subject of the Ramayana. They 
 consist of a group of pagodas, of which Lord Valentia has 
 given a description but no drawings.^ The largest is dedi- 
 cated to Rama, the second to his consort Sita, and a third, 
 which is the smallest, to Mahadeva. They are still regarded 
 as the most ancient sanctuaries of the nation, and no fo- 
 reigner is allowed to enter their precincts. The statues of 
 the gods must be washed only with water from the Ganges, 
 which is brought for that purpose by pilgrims and fakirs. 
 The whole is surrounded with an enclosure, the principal 
 gate of which is forty feet high ; a grand entrance, con- 
 structed in the form of a truncated pyramid, leads to the 
 principal pagoda, and reminded Lord Valentia of the an- 
 cient monuments of Egypt. It is here that we recognise 
 all the characters of primitive architecture, which consists 
 in piling up rough hewn blocks of stone one above another, 
 first perpendicularly and then in a horizontal direction. 
 The exterior of the pagoda is painted red, and adorned with 
 a surprising number of sculptures. The interior is here also 
 lighted with lamps, " but the whole building," says the 
 same noble traveller, " presents a magnificent appearance, 
 which we might in vain seek adequate language to describe." 
 Among the number of those pagodas which are remark- 
 
 " In Langles, plate x. But here also, according to Lord Valentia, the 
 drawing made by the Daniells is incorrect. 
 ** Valentia, Travels^ vol. i. p. 340. 
 
 able for their antiquity, that of Madura, under all circum- 
 stances, appears to deserve mention. It is like the others, 
 of a pyramidal form,^^ and the exterior is tidorned with 
 architectural embellishments, such as pillars and false win- 
 dows. But at the same time it may serve to show how 
 cautious we should be in pronouncing upon the antiquity 
 of these structures; the buildings which surround the 
 pagoda, especially the choultry, are altogether of modem 
 origin ; the latter, for instance, was constructed in the year 
 I 1623. It is nevertheless highly remarkable as furnishing 
 a specimen of Hindu architecture at that period, and as a 
 proof that, although probably in the subordinate details 
 somewhat may have been borrowed from the Mohammed- 
 ans, yet the general character of the whole, as well as the 
 ornaments, appear to be truly Indian.^^ 
 
 One of the oldest, and at the same time most holy pagodas 
 of India, is that of Jaganatha, or as it is more commonly 
 pronounced. Juggernaut, a surname of Krishna, to whom it 
 is dedicated. It is situate almost at the northern extremity 
 of the Coromandel coast, and is known to Europeans by the 
 name of the " Black Pagoda," because its dark colour being 
 relieved by the sandy shore makes it a conspicuous object 
 to mariners a great distance off.^^ This structure is also of 
 a pyramidal form, and a number of smaller pagodas are found 
 in its vicinity, the largest of which is one hundred and 
 twenty feet high;^ with respect to its age, opinions are 
 very much divided. The Brahmans reckon it among the 
 most ancient of their holy places ;^ on the contrary, Lan- 
 gles will have its antiquity extend no further back than 
 from seven hundred to eight hundred years.^^ It is, how- 
 ever, highly remarkable as it concerns the religious history 
 of the Hindus, if the assertion be correct, that at the epoch 
 
 * See Langles, plate v. p. 3, copied from the Daniells.^ 
 
 "• See a drawing of this magnificent choultry in La\glb:s, plate vi. 
 
 " Valentia, Travels j vol. i. p. 55. 
 
 " Langles, plates i. xxv. xxvii., gives the best illustration of this pagoda 
 that I know of, together with a ground-plan, after a design which had been 
 communicated to him. i. -, . 
 
 "• PoLiER, vol. ii. p. 162, reports the legendary account of its foundaUon 
 by Rajah Aindcrdon, in the time of Krishna's sojourn upon earth. 
 
 "* Langles, Notice Geographique, vol. i. p. 120, etc. His reasons for this 
 opinion appear to be very weak, as is almost always the case when he chooses 
 to support mere conjecture. 
 
m 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 of its foundation the distinctions of caste were abolished, 
 and superiors might eat in company with their inferiors 
 without incurring pollution.^ 
 
 We have already remarked above, that although Indian 
 architecture remained constant to its primitive forms in the 
 construction of temples, yet, nevertheless, its progressive im- 
 provement in the sculptures with which they were adorned, 
 as well as in the style of the adjacent buildings, and par- 
 ticularly the enclosures surrounding the consecrated pre- 
 cincts, was very conspicuously developed. In the first in- 
 stance, for example, an additional number of pagodas were 
 built in the immediate vicinity of each other ; a practice 
 which evidently had its rise (as in the case of the temple 
 grottoes) in the wish to provide, near the habitation of the 
 god, a similar place of abode for his wife or his companions : 
 subsequently other buildings were erected, and in particular 
 those flat-roofed halls, formed like the Egyptian specimens 
 of blocks of hewn stone, and supported by several rows of 
 pillars. The next step made was to surround the whole 
 sacred enclosure with a wall of hewn stone, which frequently 
 comprehended a space of very considerable extent, and for 
 this reason again required entrance gateways on a large and 
 magnificent scale. As it is obviously inconsistent with my 
 present purpose to give a detailed account of every one of 
 these pagodas, I shall therefore confine myself in this place 
 to a description merely of those of Siringam with its seven- 
 fold enclosure ;^ of Kanjeveram,^ dedicated to Siva and his 
 consort Parvati ; and above all, to that of Chalambron,* in 
 the district of Tanjore, which may with great propriety be 
 considered the model of all the others. A twofold enclo- 
 sure surrounds the sanctuary of this pagoda/ the outer one 
 
 ' According to Polier, vol. ii. p. 167, this custom subsists even at the 
 present day. 
 
 ' L ANGLES, p. 25. The outermost enclosure comprehends the space of a 
 square league. The four sides exactly correspond with the cardinal points, 
 and each of the four grand entrances is surmounted with a pyramid richly 
 adorned with sculpture. 
 
 • See a drawing of this i)agoda in Lord Valentia*s Travels^ plate xii. ; and 
 in Langles, plate xxviii. : it is particularly remarkable for presenting a row of 
 statues of animals, which seem, as it were, to officiate as guards of the temple. 
 
 • This pagoda is situate two leagues from the coast, and nine in a southern 
 direction from Pondichery. 
 
 • See a detailed description given in Langles, p. 26, sq., together with a 
 ground-plan in plate xv. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 95 
 
 forms a complete rectangle, two hundred and twenty fathoms 
 in length, by one hundred and sixty broad, is exactly op- 
 posite to the four cardinal points, and is composed of bricks, 
 faced however with stone ; the second enclosure is built 
 wholly of the latter material. Each side is fiirnished with a 
 magnificent gateway, formed of large blocks of stone, and de- 
 corated with pilasters thirty-two feet high, surmounted more- 
 over with a pyramid of one hundred and fifty feet in height, 
 the architecture of which evidently resembles that of the 
 pagodas, though it is of a lighter character, and is orna- 
 mented from top to bottom with sculptures representing gods 
 and animals.^ Within this second enclosure, are the holy 
 buildings and oflBces, and a portion of the area is occupied 
 by a third enclosure, round the interior of which runs a co- 
 lonnade ; this contains three chapels, one consecrated to the 
 Lingam, another to Vishnu, the third is without any reli- 
 gious symbol. A large tank, appropriated to the purposes 
 of ablution, occupies the centre of the area ; this is also 
 adorned with a colonnade and steps of stone, by which the 
 pilgrims descend into the holy water, there to employ them- 
 selves in religious contemplation. On the right side is the 
 principal temple, dedicated to Parvati, whose statue stands 
 immediately facing the entrance : this building also has its 
 separate enclosure, which is surrounded with an interior 
 colonnade ; and a peristyle, supported on six rows of co- 
 lumns, leads to the temple, the sanctuary of which is lighted 
 by numerous lamps, and before the entrance is seen a statue 
 of the bull Nuridi The pilasters which form this entrance 
 are bound together at the top by a chain of stone, the links 
 of which are very ingeniously formed of a single piece. 
 Both colonnades and pillars are decorated from top to bot- 
 tom with sculpture. Adjoining the temple towards the 
 south, is a large hall with a flat roof, supported by one hun- 
 dred columns ; and on the north is a perfectly similar build- 
 ing, only of smaller dimensions. But the most wonderful 
 structure of all is on the other side of the large tank ; this 
 is a sanctuary or chapel in the middle of an enormous hall, 
 three hundred and sixty feet long, by two hundred and 
 sixty in breadth, and supported by upwards of one thousand . 
 
 * See the drawing in Langles, plate xvi. 
 
96 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 pillars,^ each thirty feet high, and disposed in regular order ; 
 the roof is flat, and hke the Egyptian temples is formed of 
 immense blocks of stone laid horizontally. Every part of 
 it is ornamented with sculpture representing scenes taken 
 from the Mahabharata, and other general subjects of Hindu 
 theogony. These different halls, together with their chapels, 
 were destined to receive the statues of the gods, when con- 
 veyed to them on huge cars at the celebration of the annual 
 festivals. Not less than three thousand Brahmans were 
 employed in the religious services of this sanctuary ; and 
 how prodigious therefore must have been the influx of pil- 
 grims, whose pious liberality was sufficient to maintain such 
 a number of priests, as the temple possesses no landed pro- 
 perty itself! 
 
 I have considered it necessary to give a somewhat more 
 particular account of this temple, in order that the reader 
 might be furnished with a kind of scale, by which he might 
 judge of other similar specimens of Hindu architecture; 
 and at the same time, with a view of confirming the remark 
 previously made, as to the different periods of time in which 
 the large Indian monuments were erected, and the degree 
 of caution which is necessary in determining their respect- 
 ive ages. With regard to the origin of the sanctuary above 
 described, the Brahmans adduce positive testimony from 
 Sidambara Purana,^ (or history of this temple,) according 
 to which it was built by the three monarchs, Durjohn, Cho- 
 ren, and Pandu, and finished about the year 400 of the Cali 
 Yug, or 617 before the Christian era.^ The names of these 
 rajahs belong to the mythological period celebrated in the 
 Mahabharata,*^ and therefore we should receive with mis- 
 trust any chronological testimony which places them within 
 the sphere of historical record ; to say nothing of the very 
 great uncertainty we are in respecting the genuineness and 
 even the contents of the Sidambara Purana itself There 
 
 ' Although the number of these pillars may not, perhaps, amount exactly 
 to one thousand, yet it cannot be far short of that sum, as is probable from 
 comparing the hall with one hundred, which latter number has been actually 
 ascertained. Before the entrance are erected lofty standards with colours 
 flying. 
 
 * Sidambara is a name of Parvati, to whom the pagoda is dedicated. 
 
 • According to the usual calculation. See Langl^s, pp. 36, 3/. 
 
 '• For an account of Durjohn [Duryodhana], who lived in the time of the 
 war between the Pandus and Corns, see Polier, vol. ii. p. 140, sq. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 97 
 
 is sufficient evidence, however, that the Hindus themselves 
 
 indeed be difficult to find another where the ^duaH e 
 and progres^v^ increase of the adjacent buildLs is more 
 strikingly exhibited, according to the remark of an eye wk- 
 ness;" and it is very probable that this pagoda thL7her 
 with Its appendages, would alone be suffiLnt to give a 
 sketch as It were of Hindu architecture throughout the 
 most distant periods of time. One of the large^ entrance 
 gateways, according to the report of Lord Valentfa waTnot 
 many years ago rebuilt by a pious widow, at an c^oTse of 
 not less than 40,000 pagodas f (almost equal to £ 1 gooO ) 
 and even at the time of his visit to the place they were stil 
 
 cording to the san^tZ^^t^ Sl^^'^^^^^^ 
 the oldest style of architecture, that he scruples not to Xe 
 It even anterior to those of Tanjore and Ramiseram It? 
 however, scarcely possible that the rich sculpture of the 
 colonnades representing for the most part subjeSs taken 
 
 state ot the art; and whoever attentively examines fh^ 
 drawings made of those elegant and profLely decora tod 
 
 pC;f a^nl^^ P^^'P^i Tr^' ^^g^*"^- with tS 
 pi asters, and the ornamental chains of stone that so tastP 
 
 ff th^Xl^wT' "'" "^'^'y "^ '^^'^ "^ porsuade'himSf 
 It woSl h ^^' '^^'""^^n^ed with such works as these. 
 resneS! .K """^cessaiy to enter into fiirther detail here 
 respecting the other pagodas," as the object I proposed has 
 
 a comI^"'°''r.""'"^ '^'''^^y-' -hiih wasWow, by 
 a comparison of the accounts that we possess of these monu- 
 ments, incomplete as they are, the evident marks orpro- 
 ^es.ve improvement which Hindu architecture presl^o 
 our view. Let us expect that some artist and critic (for a 
 
 ^ Valentia, IVavels, see above, 1. c. 
 atingfromtt nvZiHl??"'"''?" '^^ pagoda of Trichinopoly, which, devi- 
 
 'OL. II, XT 
 
INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP, I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 union of these two qualities is indispensable) will ere long 
 complete these researches in the country itself, and fill up 
 thnSciencies while he rectifies the mistakes of tins brief 
 IndtmSct outline. We can then only hope to arrive 
 at moXcurate conclusions respecting the comparative age 
 of the monuments themselves. i-^ x 
 
 Butlr knowledge of Indian antiquities and architecture 
 has been greatly enrkhed since the last edition of this work 
 W the diLveries made in Java, by the late Sir Stamford 
 Ks, who distinguished himself no less as a ze^^^^^^^^^ 
 nuarv than as the governor of that island. His administra 
 Son which lasted only five years, has served to make us 
 mor'eTntimately acquainted with Java than even the two 
 Cndred years' possession of it by the Dutch. In the course 
 S iStra^vels he penetrated into the interior of the island, 
 Z6:!£o.ereA £ greatest portion of those remain^^ oi an 
 tiquity, which he has devoted a separate chapter ot h s 
 valuabe work to describe.- The interior of Java especmly 
 IhTsouth-east part, abounds in monuments of Indian archi- 
 tecture and sculpture ; which not only prove these arts to 
 have once flourished here but also ^^/^^.^^g^, J f^^^^^^ 
 perfection almost as on the continent itself. AH these mo 
 ^meX however, belong to the class of buildings properly 
 rSed ; for, to the best^f our present knowledge, no such 
 ^rS ure as grotto temples have yet been discovered m 
 Java The largest edifices are those in the neighbourhood 
 orBran Lan, Lost in the centre of the island ; these cm^^^ 
 sist of five parallelograms contained one within the other 
 and comprising a number of no less than two hundred and 
 ninety-six small temples or chapels ; the principal one is in 
 the form of a pyramid, and before the entrance stand several 
 human figures of colossal size, appearing to act as guardians 
 of the temple. The whole is without doubt consecrated ^ 
 the purposes of Brahmanical worship, and from its interioi 
 arrangements reminds us of the above-mentioned pagoda o 
 Siringam, with its seven-fold enclosure.- Whether indee 
 any certain proofs of the worship of Buddha are to be foun 
 in the island, particularly at Boro-Bodo, is still a matter ot 
 doubt.^« The buildings are partly constructed ot hewn 
 
 H Raffles's History of Java, vol. ii. pp. 1-65. » See above p. H 
 
 " rIffles, vol. ii. pp. 10, 29. The brahman who accompanied Sn Stam 
 
 99 
 
 Stone, and partly of brick ; the latter kind are of course less 
 ancient than the former ; though the age of none of them 
 extends so far back as those found on the main land. Ac- 
 cording to Sir Stamford none of them are anterior to our 
 era, while for the most part the largest of them appear to 
 have been erected between the sixth and ninth centuries. 
 They consequently belong to the middle ages, and are not 
 indeed for that reason less worthy the attention of the in- 
 quirer, as tending in all probabiHty to throw some light on 
 a period of Indian history hitherto so perfectly obscure and 
 unintelhgible. In other respects Java is the only one of the 
 great Indian islands where, to the best of our present know- 
 ledge, any monuments are discovered which exhibit traces 
 of the formerly prevailing Brahmanical worship ; nothing of 
 this sort has yet been found either in Sumatra or Celebes. '^ 
 We must, however, be cautious in pronouncing decisively 
 on the subject, as these islands are by no means sufficiently 
 explored, and there may possibly exist monuments in the 
 heart of impenetrable forests, which the rank and luxuriant 
 vegetation of those climes would often conceal from the eye 
 of a traveller, though almost in their immediate vicinity : 
 who, indeed, would venture to determine what may be con- 
 tained in the interior of Borneo, the largest island on the 
 globe, and which is altogether unexplored ? Might we not 
 expect the most important results, were that spirit of disco- 
 very so peculiar to our times, and which undauntedly ex- 
 plores barren and desolate wastes, to direct its attention with 
 the same activity and zeal to this most mysterious, and pro- 
 bably the richest of all nature's domains. ^« 
 Although, however, up to the present day, we are often 
 
 ford, maintained the negative side of the question, alleging that the artificial 
 licad-dress of woolly hair, which in other cases is one of the insignia peculiar 
 to iiuddha, is also common to devotees on certain expiatory occasions. How- 
 ever this may be, the whole plan of construction, and the sculptured repre- 
 sentations at Boro-Bodo, so nearly resemble those in Ceylon, that, under all the 
 circumstances, I cannot help considering the former to be a Buddhist temple 
 ^^ Uaffles's account of Celebes, vol. ii. in the Appendix, p. 281. 
 [A late traveller in this island observes, that " in the very inmost recesses 
 of the mountains, as well as over the face of the country, the remains of tem- 
 ples and pagodas are to be seen similar to those found on the continent of 
 India, bearing all the traits of Hindu mythology ; and that in the country of 
 waahoo, at least four hundred miles from the coast, there are several of very 
 superior workmanship, with all the emblematical figures so common in Hindu 
 places of worship." See Dalton's account of the Diaks of Borneo, Asiatic 
 Journal, N. S. vol. vii. p. 153. Transl.] 
 
 H 2 
 
1110 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 left in uncertainty respecting the age of Hindja temples yet 
 there are other monuments which speak with more clear 
 netraS preclion on this point, and which therefore cannot 
 be pa^ed over in silence. These are the inscribed pillars, 
 or tablSs, for an interpretation of which we are indebted to 
 Brhish igacity and skill. It was the ancient custom m 
 rnS toTransLt the memory of -y .mportant ev«i^ to 
 posterity by means of inscriptions written on pillars, as 
 S X engrave on metal or stone tab ets, royal grants of 
 hnd, by way of title deed, and as a security to the possessor. 
 Of thoi which have been hitherto deciphered, and contain- 
 ing also chronological dates, the most ancient is a convey- 
 ance of land engraved on a plate of copper, found at 
 Monghir in BengS and accodiiSg to Wilkins, bearing date 
 the twenty-third year before the birth of Christ.' It only 
 mentions indeed the thirty-third samvat or year ; we must 
 SeSre infer that the calculation here used is to be under- 
 stood of the era of Vicramaditya, which commenced with 
 the death of that prince, fifty-six years before Ch"« : J "J 
 particular object of this inscription is to record the liberality 
 of a certain renowned conqueror named Deb Pal Deb, who 
 overran all India, from the sources of the Ganges to Ramas 
 bridge at Ceylon, which is celebrated in the Ramayana. 
 
 Of the same age, probably, is another inscription, found 
 on a pillar at Buddal in Bengal, and also deciphered by 
 Wilkins ;'' which is destined to convey to posterity the 
 names of Gurava Misra, who erected it and those ot his 
 ancestors. It however contains no date, but the characters 
 strikingly resemble those of the preceding inscription ;- it 
 also mfkes mention of a king Pal Deb, probably the same 
 person as already mentioned, and is like the other in San- 
 scrit, and not only mentions several mythological heroes of 
 the Mahabharata and Ramayana, but also the name ot the 
 poet Valmiki, who composed the latter. 
 ^ Of not much later date, I imagine, than the 67th year of 
 the Christian era, is a third inscription, found on an obelisk 
 
 » Asiatic Re,, vol. iii. pp. 46. 47. • I^d. vol i. p. m. 
 
 " Ibid. vol. i. p. 142: see the note of Sir W. Jones. J" Jbid vol. i p. Ml 
 
 » Compare the specimens of character used in both inscriptions, gi>cn 
 
 the Atiatic Sesearehes. ^ ■ . ■ i> ..„i ; „ •jtci .his obelisk con- 
 
 " According to Cou Poiier, Aetahc Ee». vol. i. p. ^i/'}^?^ ViivThears 
 
 tains five inscriptions in Sanscrit; the first in honour of Visala Deva, bears 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 101 
 
 erected over a monument commonly attributed to Firoz- 
 shah, who reigned at Delhi between the years 1351 and 
 1388 ; although another, which professes to be a more cor- 
 rect copy of the inscription, maintains the date to have been 
 mistaken m the first instance, and that instead of the above- 
 mentioned year, A. D. 67, we must read A. D. 1164 which 
 makes it comparatively modern. The inscription itself is in 
 honour of the rajah Visala, or Vigraha Deva, whose victori- 
 ous arms were extended as far a^ the snowy mountains in 
 the north (Himadri). 
 
 The most ancient inscription of any that he had yet ex- 
 amined, Wilkins considered to be one found in an artificial 
 grotto with a vaulted roof, at Gya (the modern Nagarjeni) 
 in Behar ; '' it is without any date, and written in a charac- 
 ter essentially different from the preceding ones, but which 
 VVilkms conceived to be the oldest of all that he had seen : 
 the language, however, is pure Sanscrit, and purports to be 
 an invocation addressed to the goddess Durga, or Parvati, 
 the wife of Siva, to whose temple a devout prince named 
 Ananta Varma had made a grant of land. 
 \\T^!' ^ ^^^^ inscription, remarkable for its date and contents, 
 VVilkins has furnished a translation, without however sub- 
 joining any specimen of the character, or any observations 
 of his own : ^^ it was found engraven on stone, at a place 
 
 date 1230. The second, of which we are now speaking, is dated 123 of the 
 era of Vicramaditya (i. e. 67 after Christ). It is expressly ^MeCus^l 
 
 ^Iv Itli^' ^f '^ " ^^^ ^"^^ '' ^^yf ^^"^'^'^y ^1^^^' ^^ l^^t it is clear tha? 
 on y the three figures are wntten, without even room for a cipher after them " 
 Alter such positive testimony who could doubt the truth of the fact ? and vet 
 m the same work, vol. vii. p. 1^5 of Colebrooke^s essay, we read, « The date 
 instead of being 123 of the era Vicramaditya, or A. D. 67, as appeared from 
 (^.AT^n ^^Py ^'^ ^°1- Polier, was clearly ascertained from tlie present, 
 (made by Capt. Hoare,) to be 1220 of the above era, or A. D. 1164*' Here 
 men, we see two authorities directly opposed to each other: Poller, however' 
 nad procured not merely a copy, but, to use his own words, (vol. i. p. 379,) 
 
 exact impressions," of the inscription : our readers, therefore, must decide 
 wnich of these two accounts is most worthy of credit. The circumstance of 
 tne first inscription being dated 1230 might possibly give rise to some doubt 
 on the matter, as both that and the second are in honour of one and the same 
 pnnce : but PoHer expressly remarks that this date also may be read 123, as 
 tne double circle, which stands for the cipher 0, may be nothing more than 
 an ornamental flourish or termination ; in which case both inscriptions are of 
 the same date, that is, A. D. 67. ^ 
 
 [In deciding between Poller and Colebrooke we must recollect that the 
 loraier was not acquainted with Sanscrit. French Transl.] 
 
 "* Asiatic Res. vol. i. p. 279. 
 
 *• Ibid. vol. i. p. 284. He does not mention the author of the inscrip- 
 "on. l?or the two following, see vol. i. p. 357 ; vol. iii. p. 39. 
 
102 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 called Buddha Gaya, in a wild and solitary part of Behar ; 
 where once upon a time Amara Deva, during his twelve 
 years' penance, had a vision of Buddha when he appeared 
 on earth at the commencement of the Call Yug. This 
 Amara Deva was one of the nine jewels, as they were called, 
 or wise men, who adorned the court of the celebrated king 
 Vicramaditya, whose prime minister he also was. The in- 
 scription testifies him to have erected a temple or sanctuary 
 to Buddha, in the year of the era Vicramaditya 1005, that 
 
 is, A. D. 949. Ill 
 
 Another inscription in Sanscrit, and translated by a 
 learned Hindu, contains a grant of land made to certain 
 holy pilgrims by the rajah Arikesari Deva, whose ancestors 
 and their heroic exploits are here celebrated in a poetic 
 strain. It is dated in the year 939 after the death of king 
 Saca, that is, 1018 A. D. The subjoined specimens of the 
 character are very much like that of the first inscription 
 mentioned above, as answering to the date of A. D. 23 ; 
 several of the letters are exactly similar ; the language also 
 is pure Sanscrit. 
 
 Another inscription of an age still more modern contains, 
 in like manner, a grant of land made by rajah Krishnaraya, 
 who pretended to be sprung from Buddha, and bears date 
 1448 of the same era, called Sacabda, which answers to 1526 
 of ours. Two or three others without date we shall pass 
 over in silence.^^ The inscriptions published and explained 
 in the ninth volume of the Asiatic Researches, are as usual 
 engraved on copper-plates, nine in number ; and represent, 
 like the preceding, documentary conveyances of land, or 
 proprietary rights. They are written in Sanscrit with the 
 Devanagari character, and the oldest is of a date corre- 
 sponding to A. D. 1173. The introductory formula con- 
 tains a panegyric on the person who makes the grant ; and 
 as it sometimes recapitulates his genealogical descent, (as in 
 the case of an inscription without date published in the 
 twelfth volume,) this circumstance might probably throw 
 some light on the succession of the several families who 
 reigned in India during the middle ages. 
 
 The inscriptions, therefore, that have been hitherto ex- 
 plained, (supposing this explanation to be correct,) extend 
 
 ^ Asiatic Res. vol. ii. p. 167 ; vol. v. p. 132. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 103 
 
 but a few years beyond the commencement of our era ; 
 while on the other hand they reach down even to the ter- 
 mination of the middle ages. They can consequently fur- 
 nish no sort of conclusions respecting the earUer Indian an- 
 tiquities ; but, nevertheless, exclusive of information on 
 other separate points of history which are irrelevant to our 
 present purpose, they lead to some important consequences 
 respecting the language, the peculiar characters used in 
 writing it, and the chronological system of the ancient 
 Hindus. « 
 
 The inscriptions that have been deciphered are all of 
 them composed in Sanscrit, and that generally pure and 
 uncorrupt ; whence it follows, that, although the Sanscrit 
 might not have been at that period the vernacular tongue 
 of the whole of India, yet, that in the neighbourhood of the 
 Ganges, especially in Behar, it certainly was the written, 
 and most probably the spoken language of the people. We 
 further learn from these inscriptions, that two kinds of 
 chronological computation were in common use ; one 
 reckoned from the death of rajah Vicramaditya, the other 
 from the death of rajah Saca ; these modes were, however, 
 in all probability confined to diiferent parts or provinces of 
 India. The commencement of both these eras is sufficiently 
 ascertained, that of Vicramaditya begins fifty-six years be- 
 fore, and that of Saoa about seventy-eight years after the 
 birth of Christ : and according to the inscriptions both 
 methods were still in use, the former until the middle of 
 the tenth, and the other as long as the sixteenth century. 
 The objections brought forward by Bentley, in the Asiatic 
 Researches,^ relative to the age of Vicramaditya, do not 
 so properly concern his era, as the question, whether the 
 above-mentioned nine wise men, or poets, particularly 
 Amara Sinha, Calidas, and Varaha Mihira, flourished at the 
 court of an earlier, or a more modern prince, named Vicra- 
 maditya ? A subject to which we shall soon have another 
 occasion to refer. 
 
 The alphabetical character in which the above inscrip- 
 tions are written, is either that sacred species known by the 
 name of Devanagari, (writing of the gods,) or one so nearly 
 
 Asiatic Res. vol. viii. p. 243. 
 
104 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 105 
 
 connected therewith, as to be easily deciphered by an ac- 
 raSncewith the' former. The successful mquines of 
 ?ear^ed Enghshmen have, therefore, incontrovertibly de- 
 moTstrated that the use of this character extends even be- 
 vond the commencement of our era, and has been per- 
 petuated down to the present day ; ^ut we ^^^f^^^^^^^^^ 
 ever from possessing a general key to all the Hmdu alpha- 
 bets The inscriptions discovered m the grottoes and rock 
 excavations at Salsette, Mavalipuram, and other places, are 
 not at all capable of being iijterpreted by any modes of 
 Hindu writing at present known, whether ancient or modern, 
 not even excepting the Devanagari itself. They moreover 
 appear to be very different from each other, which would 
 niake it probable that, even in the earhest times a var^ty 
 of alphabets were in common use throughout India. But 
 since notwithstanding, as we have previously remarked,-^ 
 a key to the alphabets used in the inscriptions at EUora has 
 actually been discovered, and they are proved to be written 
 in Sanscrit and not in any unknown language, what should 
 prevent us from indulging the reasonable expectation that 
 the others also are capable of being deciphered with equal 
 success ? The task indeed would be comparatively easy, 
 did we but possess an accurate inquiry into the connexions 
 subsisting between the various alphabets of India, con- 
 sidered with reference to their age and probable origin. 
 
 There is, perhaps, no country throughout Asia, where the 
 art of writing has been in such general use as in India, as 
 indeed there is none other that possesses such a vast number 
 and variety of alphabets. But on this point the opinions 
 of learned men differ so much, that they are not unfrequently 
 in direct opposition to each other ; let any one, for exam- 
 ple, compare the assertions of Sir W. Jones with those ot 
 Father Paulino : according to the former the Devanagari is 
 the alphabet originally employed to write the several Hindu 
 dialects, and which is still in universal use from the borders 
 of Cashgar to Ceylon, and from the Indus to Ava, and is 
 even the original source from whence the alphabets ot 
 Western Asia were derived.^ On the contrary, says Father 
 Paulino, ** whoever made such an assertion could never 
 
 have seen the other Indian alphabets, or at least, never have 
 compared them attentively with the Devanagari."'^ He 
 then goes on to enumerate four different alphabets in which 
 Sanscrit is commonly written, the Devanagari, used at Patna 
 and in the neighbouring country; a second employed by 
 the Brahmans in their schools at Benares ; a third called 
 the Telinga character, common to Orissa and the interior of 
 the peninsula as far as Golconda ; and fourthly, the Malabar 
 Sanscrit alphabet, which is exclusively used in that country, 
 as well as on the Coromandel coast, to write Sanscrit. This 
 contradiction, however, is more apparent than real, for Sir 
 W. Jones was so perfectly well acquainted with those differ- 
 ent alphabets, that even in his very first essay on the subject, 
 he expressly distinguishes the Devanagari from that used 
 by the Brahmans of Bengal.^^ The Devanagari, (which is 
 by no means confined exclusively to the expression of San- 
 scrit, but is as common to other languages of India as the 
 use of Roman characters is with regard to those of modern 
 Europe,) is found in the same essay explained in the order 
 of the several letters ; and since we have been possessed of 
 the grammars and profound researches of Carey, Wilkins, 
 Bopp, and Frank, an additional and sufficient degree of 
 hght has been thrown over the elementary characters of this 
 alphabet. It presents us with sixteen marks to denote vow- 
 els, as the long and short are separately distinguished, and 
 thirty-four to represent consonants ; although, according to 
 Wilkins, these fifty characters may be reduced to twenty- 
 eight simple articulations, that is to say, five vowels and 
 twenty-three consonants. ^^ The Devanagari is, then, the 
 character still most generally adopted for expressing the 
 Sanscrit : and carefully executed copies of the ancient in- 
 scriptions have not only proved that it was commonly used 
 in very distant times for the same purpose, but also, that 
 the forms of its letters have subsequently undergone consi- 
 derable modification and change ; by no means, however, 
 such a complete transformation as not to admit of being de- 
 ciphered by means of study, and a critical acquaintance 
 with the language, together with a comparison of the an- 
 
 cient with the modern Devanagari. 
 
 See above, p. ^^, 
 
 Asiatic Res. vol. i. p. 423. 
 
 "' Gramm. Samscrd. pp. 6, 7. 
 
 " Wilkins, Gram. pp. 2, 3. 
 
 ^ Asiatic Res, vol. i. p. 9. 
 
106 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 107 
 
 I 
 
 m 
 
 Nevertheless, as long as the history and relative connex- 
 ion of the Hindu alphabets still remain to be further ex- 
 amined and elucidated in the country itself, we must confine 
 ourselves here also to certain general remarks, which a 
 comparison of them appears to suggest. ^ . ^ ^. 
 
 1. All the inscriptions hitherto discovered in India, even 
 the most ancient, which are not yet deciphered, consist uni- 
 versally of literal characters, without the least appearance 
 of hieroglyphics. Again, the small number of alphabetical 
 signs, which are therefore continually recurring, prove be- 
 yond' a doubt that the writing in question is not syllabic 
 like that of the Chinese. Moreover, the reading of the 
 Vedas, which is enjoined as the most sacred duty of a Brah- 
 man, presupposes the use of literal characters, which in their 
 tum'must necessarily be anterior to Hindu civilization itself, 
 as the latter is mainly grounded on the art of writing. 
 
 2. The inscriptions hitherto deciphered are read from 
 left to right, which, according to Wilkins, is the general 
 rule for all languages of the Hindu class ; '* they also con- 
 tain separate marks to represent the vowels as well as the 
 
 consonants.^ 
 
 3. The alphabets of India which have come to our know- 
 ledge, as well as the inscriptions found in excavated temples, 
 could never have been immediately designed, as is the case 
 with the cuneiform letters of Western Asia, for the purposes 
 of engraving on stone, or for inscriptions exclusively. The 
 traces of these letters are generally of a circular character, 
 and are for that reason less convenient to engrave ; while 
 the quantity of minute flourishes peculiar to their form, 
 renders that operation still more difficult. We observe, 
 therefore, that although the Hindu monuments are not uni- 
 versally without inscriptions, yet these latter are only seldom 
 used; and when met with, are always very short. The 
 whole character, indeed, of these alphabets, seems rather to 
 imply their being invented, and usually employed, only for 
 the purposes of writing, properly so called. India more- 
 over supplies a vast quantity of suitable materials, such as 
 
 •• Wilkins, Ch-am. p. 2. 
 
 •• Sir W. Jones had before expressly asserted both these facts ( Works, 
 p. 116). And herein, therefore, the Indian alphabets essentially differ from 
 the Semitic family, while at the same time they coincide with those of a cu- 
 neiform character. 
 
 the palm leaf for instance, and although we cannot exactly 
 ascertain the period when this came into use, it is, however, 
 perfectly certain that it must have been employed from very 
 remote antiquity. ^^ Again, to say nothing of the popular 
 report attributing the Devanagari, as the name itself implies, 
 to the invention of the gods, Hindu religion and civilization 
 are mainly founded on the holy books ; the size and con- 
 tents of which are a sufficient proof that no other than literal 
 characters could have been used in their composition. 
 
 The course of our inquiries into the mode of writing pe- 
 culiar to the ancient Hindus, naturally leads us to an exa- 
 mination of their languages, in so far as they still exist in 
 works of literature, and particularly the Sanscrit. 
 
 Supposing, then, that India was originally inhabited by 
 one people speaking one and the same language, yet, never- 
 theless, when we consider the vast extent and diversified 
 nature of the country, it must inevitably follow, that in 
 course of time this one language would be divided into a 
 great number of dialects ; so different probably from each 
 other that only a remote resemblance could be traced. 
 Upon recollecting, however, the many foreign immigrations 
 that have occurred, principally too of conquerors retaining 
 their own native language, we shall find less reason to be 
 astonished at the variety of dialects which prevail in India : 
 at the same time the difference between the original and 
 foreign idioms is so strongly marked, that it is impossible to 
 confound the two ; and this diversity of character appears, 
 not only in the case of those dialects which still subsist, but 
 also in those which are no longer spoken. — To the former 
 class belong the Bengali, current in the neighbourhood of 
 the Ganges, the Mahratta, the Telinga, used in the interior 
 of the peninsula, the Tamul spoken on the Malabar, and the 
 Hindustani on the Coromandel coast : to the latter are con- 
 fined principally the Sanscrit and the Pracrit.^^ 
 
 * See the inquiries of Father Paulino on this subject, in his SamscrdamiccB 
 Ungues Institution p. 327, sq., where it is also proved that the use of cotton 
 paper m India extends beyond the commencement of our era. 
 
 See on this subject especially, Colebrooke's treatise on the Sanscrit and 
 Pracrit languages, inserted in the Asiat. Res. vol. vii. p. 199. I adopt 
 throughout the orthography of this learned scholar in spelling the word San- 
 scrit, of which he gives the derivation at page 200. According to him San- 
 scrit signifies jw/wAec? (language), in contradistinction to Pracrit, which means 
 ^uigar. 
 
INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. !• 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 109 
 
 «i 
 
 None of the other ancient languages of Asia have m our 
 days attracted such general attention as the Sanscrit ; though 
 it IS only within the last fifteen years that its study may be 
 said to have taken firm root on the continent. The credit 
 of having given the first impulse, is perhaps justly due to 
 Father Paulino,^ formerly a missionary in India, however 
 unfavourable in other respects have been the opinions pro- 
 nounced on his merits.^ The state of war and continental 
 blockade effectually prevented all access to the Grammars 
 and other works on Sanscrit, published in Bengal and 
 England, in which latter country a professorship had al- 
 ready been founded at Hertford, with the express purpose 
 of teaching the languages of India ; nor was it until the re- 
 establishment of peace in Europe, that we at last became 
 acquainted with these and other valuable works on the sub- 
 ject.*^ In the mean time, however, the philological zeal of 
 Germany was excited ; and two young scholars, Bopp*' and 
 Frank,*' supported by the liberality of the Bavarian govern- 
 ment, made a successful voyage to England, with a view of 
 consulting the fountain-head of Sanscrit literature. They 
 were closely followed in these studies by the Schlegels and 
 others ; and we can now no longer doubt that the seed thus 
 sown, and already budding forth, will, at no distant period, 
 grow to maturity, and produce an abundant harvest. 
 
 The grammatical treatises of the above-mentioned scholars, 
 
 » Or, as he styles himself, Frater Pauhnus a S. Bartholomeo, Carmelita 
 excalceatus Malabariae Missionarius. 
 
 » Grammatica Samscrdamica, Romae, 1790. The same wnter also noticed 
 the similarity existing between the Sanscrit, Persian, and German languages, 
 in his treatise, De Antiquitate et Affinitate Linguae SamscrdamicsD, ZendicaN 
 et Germanicffi, RomcB, 1798. Subsequently appeared his Vyacarana, scu 
 locupletissima Samscrdamicae Linguae Institutio, Romae, 1804, containmg a 
 Sanscrit Grammar and Lexicon. i ^ i 
 
 * A Grammar of the Sungscrit Language, composed from the works of the 
 most esteemed grammarians, to which are added examples for the use of the 
 student, and complete Usts of the Dhatoos or Roots, by William Carey, D.D., 
 teacher of the Sungscrit, Bengalee, and Mahratta languages, in the College 
 of Fort William, (price eight guineas,> 1808. Judging from its high price, 
 this should be a work of considerable extent, though I have not yet seen it. 
 A Grammar of the Sanskrita Language, by Charles Wilkins, L. L. D., London, 
 
 1808; the work that I have principally consulted. 
 
 " Bopp, On the Conjugation-system of the Sanscrit, as compared with the 
 Greek, Persian, Latin, and German, together with Episodes translated from 
 the Ramayana and Mahabharata. See Annals of Orient, Lit. P. i. pp. 1— -W-. 
 
 « Chrestomathia Sanscrita, quam ex Codd. MSS. adhuc ineditis, Londini 
 exscripsit, et in usum tyronum, vcrsione, expositione, etc., illustratam cdulit 
 Othmarus Frank, Monachii, 1820. 
 
 in conjunction with the assistance furnished by translations, 
 although still limited and imperfect, are nevertheless suffi- 
 cient for enabling us to give some general opinion on the 
 subject. And even admitting that the claims of Sanscrit 
 upon our admiration have been sometimes enthusiastically 
 overrated, yet it is hardly possible to avoid considering it as 
 one of the richest, most harmonious, and refined languages 
 in the world. With respect to its character for harmony, 
 the vowels are almost all pure, there being only two diph- 
 thongs in the whole alphabet; and the thirty-eight con- 
 sonants, as well simple as compounded, are for the most 
 part labials and linguals :*^ it would indeed be difficult to 
 instance another language exhibiting so just a proportion 
 between the vowels and the consonants, in which it is not 
 even exceeded by the Spanish ; beyond this point we can 
 scarcely speak with confidence, so long as we have no other 
 guide to our judgment than the sound of a dead letter. At 
 the same time we can safely assert it to be one of the richest 
 and most refined of any. Poetry, in all its various forms, 
 whether epic, lyric, or dramatic, appears to have been the 
 peculiar appanage of Sanscrit, as is sufficiently evinced by 
 the many excellent poets of either class, who for so many 
 ages have made it the vehicle of their compositions : it also 
 admits the employment of rhyme, without however being 
 fettered by its restrictions, nor is it unacquainted even with 
 alliteration, while it seems to have appropriated all the most 
 delicate species of metre for which the Indian ear is suscep- 
 tible.** And though perhaps it may not possess the charms 
 of rhetorical composition, (which the temper of Indian 
 governments would not admit,) it is nevertheless abundantly 
 
 " [This appears to be a misapprehension, as there are but thirty-four con- 
 sonants at most ; and these are distributed into five classes, viz., gutturals, 
 palatals, cerebrals (or linguals), dentals, and labials. The diphthongs, pro- 
 perly speaking, are four, e and o, as well as ai and au, being usually reckoned 
 among the number ; though to be sure the two first differ not in sound from 
 the simple vowels in the words there and stone ; but as the author had pre- 
 viously restricted the vowels to five, viz. a, i, m, n, and /n, (see p. 105,) we 
 must necessarily include e and o under the diphthongs. Transl.] 
 
 ** On the metrical art of the Hindus, we now possess the learned Essay of 
 Colebrooke, On Sanscrit and Pracrit Poetry, inserted in the Asiatic Researches, 
 vol. X. p. 389, etc., and which is exclusively devoted to this subject. Sanscrit 
 literature contains several copious works on Prosody, as that of Pinjala and 
 others. The most common metre is that of the slokas, or stanzas consisting 
 of four verses of eight syllables each. 
 
no 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 Ill 
 
 r 
 
 \ 
 
 recompensed with a poetic prose,^ which the best writers 
 were perpetually endeavouring to embelhsh and rehne : it 
 has moreover reached a high degree of scientific cultivation, 
 and the richness of its philosophy is no way inferior to its 
 poetic beauties, as it presents us with an abundance of tech- 
 nical terms to express the most abstract ideas. It appears 
 to have received its grammatical structure at a very remote 
 period of antiquity, as the Hindus carry their oldest gram- 
 marians far back into the fabulous ages,*^ while at the same 
 time the study of grammar seems to have furnished their 
 learned men with a never-ending source of occupation and 
 amusement. The inflection of nouns in Sanscrit is different, 
 according as the word terminates with a vowel or conso- 
 nant ; the declensions are eight in number, and completely 
 designate each case by a variation of the terminating sylla- 
 bles ; among these occurs a triple ablative.*^ The numbers 
 are singular, dual, and plural. The three genders, mascu- 
 line, feminine, and neuter, are also distinguished by the 
 termination ; but there appears to be no common gender, 
 as in our Occidental languages.*^ The inflection of verbs, 
 also, is accomplished by means of different terminations; 
 they are divided into ten classes or conjugations, and admit 
 in addition to the active, passive, and deponent, an impera- 
 tive and optative form : the tenses also are variously modified 
 by the employment of three preterites, and two futures, to- 
 gether with several participles, and like the nouns they 
 admit the distinction of singular, dual, and plural num- 
 
 « [See Colebrooke's Essay on this subject, p. 449. In this kind of prose 
 compound words are principally used, which are considered a great beauty. 
 Mr. Colebrooke mentions four kinds of prose; viz. 1. Simple prose, admit- 
 ting no compound terms. 2. Prose in which compound terms are sparingly 
 admitted. 3. Prose abounding in compound words, some of the inordinate 
 length of one hundred syllables ; and, 4. Modulated prose, frequently exhibit- 
 ing portions of verse. Transl.] ,. uw 
 
 ** For instance, Panini, whose Grammar serves as the text, on which later 
 grammarians have commented. An excellent review of the History of Hindu 
 writers on Grammar, is inserted in the seventh volume of the Asiatic He- 
 searches, p. 202, etc., by Colebrooke. , , , . , i 
 
 *' [This is incorrect ; the author seems to have confounded the instrumental 
 and locative cases with the ablative, from which, however, they are perfectly 
 distinct, as well as from each other. Transl.] 
 
 • [In remarking on this passage the French translator observes, " 1 here 
 are actually more nouns of common gender in the Sanscrit than in any other 
 known language ;" and indeed, Wilkins, in his Grammar, p. 614, sq., gives 
 copious lists of nouns which are of any two genders respectively, and even ot 
 all three together. Transl.] 
 
 bers.*^ In all these points the attentive observer will remark 
 a striking resemblance to the construction of Western lan- 
 guages ; while in its extraordinary capabilities of forming 
 compound expressions, the Sanscrit evidently has the ad- 
 vantage ; for by the elision of certain letters it can unite a 
 number of words together, almost to an indefinite extent, a 
 licence which, especially in reading the poets, often serves 
 to retard the progress of the learner, but to the experienced 
 eye of a native presents no obstacle whatever.^^ 
 
 The Sanscrit, according to the Hindus, is the language 
 of the gods;^^ in it are composed for the most part their 
 religious books, and the writings which form their classic 
 hterature ; it is not therefore without reason that it has been 
 called a holy tongue. At present it is a dead language, 
 understood only by the pundits, who themselves have been 
 obliged to make it their previous attentive study. This cir- 
 cumstance has induced some writers to question the fact of 
 its ever having been a living or vernacular tongue, and to 
 suppose, on the contrary, that it was a mere invention of the 
 Brahmans, having for its object the interest and preserva- 
 tion of their religion.^^ 
 
 This is, however, a gratuitous supposition, which the pre- 
 sent state of our acquaintance with the Sanscrit will furnish 
 ample and satisfactory means to contradict; besides, it is 
 not very easy to define what is precisely meant by the ex- 
 pression of inventing a language : and indeed admitting 
 that such an invention were even possible, yet still its fur- 
 ther development could only be accomplished through the 
 medium of vernacular speech : for how can we imagine it 
 at all likely that a literature, which is one of the richest both 
 in poetry and prose, should have been formed in an un- 
 spoken language, or how could the works contained in it 
 have been, I will not say preserved merely, but even have 
 acquired their high degree of classical reputation through- 
 
 *' All this is borrowed from Wilkins's Grammar, compared with that of 
 Bopp. 
 
 *" These prodigious compounds, some of them extending to one hundred 
 and fifty-two syllables, (see Asiat. Res. vol. i. p. 360,) seem rather an artificial 
 embellishment, peculiar to the written style, than to have had any influence 
 on the spoken language. [See also Asiat. Res. vol. vii. p. 202 ; Colebrooke on 
 the Sanscrit and Pracrit Languages. Transl.] 
 
 *• Asiatic Res. vol. vii. p. 199. "^ Ibid. p. 201. 
 
 li t 
 
INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 out the country ? A language which was once spoken is 
 still capable of being preserved in its literature, as is the 
 case with the Latin and the Greek ; but this very literature 
 could only have been produced when the respective lan- 
 guages were vernacular. 
 
 Asia supplies us with several examples of languages that 
 have been formerly spoken but are now dead, still subsist- 
 ing in their literary compositions ; we need only mention 
 the old Persian dialects, although none of these, in point of 
 richness and extent, deserves even a remote comparison 
 with the literature comprised in the Sanscrit. Where the 
 religious opinions of any people are founded in holy books, 
 the language also in which these are written, however in 
 progress of time it may be corrupted, and even become 
 actually obsolete, will yet never be altogether forgotten; 
 especially when a privileged caste of priests are made the 
 sole depositaries <;f their contents, together with the par- 
 ticular forms of worship enjoined in them. We ought 
 moreover to recollect, that among the Eastern nations, the 
 connexion between literature and religion is usually very 
 close, in some instances indissoluble ; and this is in a high 
 degree the case with the Hindus ; consequently when the 
 Sanscrit ceased to be any longer a vernacular language, its 
 literature still found a never-failing support in the religion 
 of the country. 
 
 The question whether the Sanscrit was an aboriginal In- 
 dian language, has been variously answered. Sir W. Jones 
 is of opinion that the principal Asiatic nations and dialects 
 were derived from Persia; and also that conquerors from 
 the latter country invaded India and brought with them 
 their own language,*^ to which cause he attributes the strik- 
 ing resemblance between the Sanscrit and the Zend, one of 
 the most ancient Persian dialects. Father Paulino, who is 
 so fond of contradicting Jones in every thing else, is on this 
 point, however, unanimous with him.^ The name of a later 
 antiquary, Dr. Leyden, to whom I shall soon have another 
 occasion to refer, would certainly add much weight to this 
 
 p seven were pure Sanscrit." 
 
 In his treatise, De Affinitate Linguae SamscrdamicEB et Persicee. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 113 
 
 opinion, provided we were sure that the extent of his philo- 
 logical acquirements embraced a sufficient knowledge of the 
 Zend also. But so long as all our acquaintance with the 
 Zend is merely derived from one imperfect vocabulary, and 
 beyond which the learning of the above-mentioned oriental- 
 ists themselves did not extend, we may be allowed to defer 
 pronouncing any opinion on the subject till we are in posses- 
 sion of further information. Whether the Sanscrit was intro- 
 duced into India by foreign invaders, is a question which we 
 are equally unable to determine upon any certain historical 
 principles, because the date of the supposed occurrence is 
 too far beyond the range of authentic history ; neither in- 
 deed does its solution appear to be of any great practical 
 importance. Those writers even who assume the fact, must 
 at the same time be obliged to confess that the Sanscrit 
 could only have acquired its exquisite refinement in India 
 Itself, and among the people who inhabited it. Now it is 
 unquestionable that the proper country of any language is 
 that where it was cultivated and refined, not the one fi-om 
 whence it was originally brought. So in the case of the 
 German, which modern philologists, with every appearance 
 of probability, have derived from the Persian ; yet no one 
 will therefore be disposed to question the fact of the German 
 language having been formed in Germany alone : it is pro- 
 bable, indeed, that the resemblance between the Sanscrit and 
 the Zend, owing to the neighbourhood of Persia, may be 
 much greater than that between the German and the Per- 
 sian ; but still, according to all our notions on the subject, 
 the Sanscrit could only have been perfectly developed and 
 refined in India, just as the German only in Germany ; and 
 all the writers and poets who have contributed to the refine- 
 ment of Sanscrit belong to India, with the same propriety 
 as those of Germany do to the latter country. 
 
 Although, however, it is impossible to doubt the fact of 
 the Sanscrit having been formerly a living language, yet it 
 still remains for us to determine whether this was the case 
 all oyer India, or whether it was only spoken in particular 
 districts, and where ? as also, how it came to be the lan- 
 guage of literature, and what was the period of its most 
 perfect development? and further, when, and from what 
 causes, did it cease to exist as the medium of vernacular in- 
 
 VOL. II. , 
 
114 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 115 
 
 tercourse ? These, it is true, are questions to which we can 
 then only expect to fiirnish a full and satisfactory solution, 
 when we ha^ a critical history of the nation itself; in the 
 absence of which, therefore, we must be obhged to content 
 ourselves with conjectural probabilities, instead of absolute 
 
 historical facts. r • i 
 
 In asserting the Sanscrit to have been once a living lan- 
 ffuaece we are far from concluding, therefore that it was 
 ever spoken in one single part of India, much less over the 
 whole country, with the same degree of refinement and pu- 
 rity as we now find exhibited in the classical works ot Hindu 
 literature • we only maintain the literary Sanscrit to have 
 been formed on the basis of a highly polished and improved 
 colloquial idiom. That in this sense of the word, at least 
 the Sanscrit was formerly vernacular to a great portion ot 
 India may be inferred with the highest probability from u 
 comparison of the other still existing Indian dialects, and 
 the various degrees of relation in which they stand to the 
 Sanscrit. According to some learned English writers, who 
 were not likely to be mistaken on such a point, there is at 
 present a language spoken in Cashmir so nearly resembling 
 the Sanscrit, that it is impossible to avoid deriving it from 
 that source. Colebrooke aflSrms that the Bengali contains 
 few words which are not evidently borrowed from the San- 
 scrit.^^ And, according to the same writer, the present 
 dialect of the Punjab is nothing more than a corruption of 
 the Pracrit ; which in its turn is a peculiar dialect of the 
 Sanscrit, and next to that language most successfully culti- 
 vated by the poets. Do not all these circumstances, then, 
 unite in authorizing the probable conclusion, that in the 
 northern parts of India, especially on the banks of the 
 Ganges and in Behar, the scene of so many of the oldest 
 Hindu poems, the Sanscrit was at one time the vernacular 
 language of the people ? We have, besides, already proved, 
 from an examination of the inscriptions, that it was used in 
 this very country for the purpose of inscribing on public 
 monuments. Mr. Colebrooke further conceives himself to 
 be fully borne out in asserting the Hindustani, which is 
 spoken in certain parts of the interior, to be a veritable de- 
 
 * Asiatic Res, vol. vii. p. 224. 
 
 scendant of the Sanscrit.^ On the other hand, it appears 
 uncertain whether a similar origin can be justly attributed 
 to the Mahratta, as well as the dialects prevailing on the 
 coast, such as the Telinga, spoken on the banks of the 
 Krishna and Godavery, and the Tamul on the Malabar 
 coast ; and, although we are informed that many words in 
 these languages are derived from the Sanscrit,^^ yet this will 
 not prove their whole structure to be so likewise. 
 
 But the researches of the learned Dr. Leyden, in whose 
 death the interests of Hindu philology received a severe 
 blow, have satisfactorily proved the Sanscrit to have ex- 
 tended much further, and that it must have been prevalent 
 in the Ultra-Gangetic continent. This country, over which 
 is spread the religion of Buddha, though perhaps consider- 
 ably modified, is also in possession of a sacred language, 
 called Bali, or Pali, in which the holy books are written! 
 According to the investigations of the above-mentioned 
 scholar, who lived a long time in that part of the world, and 
 to whom we are indebted for the most accurate accounts of 
 the nature, analogy, and derivation of the several dialects 
 prevailing in those countries, there is every reason to be- 
 lieve that the Bali is a legitimate daughter of the Sanscrit, 
 as well in its terms as in its grammatical inflection.^ Dr! 
 Leyden, indeed, considers it, together with the Zend, as the 
 very oldest oflTspring of the parent tongue ; and asserts it to 
 be the predominant language of religion from Malacca to 
 China. It would therefore follow that the Bali was propa- 
 gated in these countries at the same time with the worship 
 of Buddha, but whether as an independent language, or 
 merely a corruption of Sanscrit, consequent among nations 
 situate at a distance and using different idioms, cannot cer- 
 tainly be determined. 
 
 Admitting, then, the above-mentioned dialects to be 
 really derived from the Sanscrit, and as moreover the oldest 
 works of Hindu literature are composed in that language. 
 
 Asiatic Res. vol. vii. p. 221. 
 
 47 
 
 Ibid. p. 228. 
 
 On the Language and the Literature of the Indu Chinese Nations, by J 
 i^EYDEN, M. D. in the Asiatic Res. vol. x. pp. 158—288. In this essay the 
 ^'{^."or enumerates thirteen dialects current in India beyond the Ganges, of 
 Which he points out the nature and analogy ; and finishes with an account of 
 me hah, the sacred language of those countries. [Consult also with respect 
 10 ttie Uali the researches of Messrs. Burnouf and Lassen. French Transl ] 
 
 l2 
 
INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 
 I 
 
 lie 
 
 it follows, therefore, that in one sense at least its high anti- 
 quHy has been proved, simply because we know of no other 
 Cuage in India more ancient than the Sanscnt But U 
 stuf remains to inquire at what time it received its full and 
 perfect development ; and when and from what causes, did 
 k cease to be a living language? To the first of these ques- 
 t ons, the ensuing remarks on Hindu literature in general 
 will furnish an appropriate answer. With respect to the 
 second, we can only adduce conjectures more or less capa- 
 
 ^Vhe'^bquiries of Sir W. Jones and his literary friends 
 brought them to the conclusion, that the century imme- 
 diately preceding the commencement of our era must be 
 considered, if not as the earliest, yet at least one of the most 
 brilliant periods of Hindu literature ;« for it was at th.s 
 time, according to native tradition, and in the court of the 
 raiah Vicramaditya,*^ (whose era commences with his death, 
 fifty-six yeai-s before Christ,) that nine of the most cele- 
 brated Hindu poets flourished, particularly Cahda^, who 
 wrote the Sacontala, and Amara Sinha, the author ot a dic- 
 tionary called the Amara Cosha. An English critic, already 
 mentioned, of the name of Bentley, contends against this 
 opinion, and endeavours to prove that Vicramaditya and the 
 nine gems of his court belong to a much later age, that is to 
 say, to the twelfth century of the Christian era ; and that he 
 succeeded one rajah Bhojah, who died in the year 1182, 
 after a reign of one hundred years." This chronological 
 statement, however, which assigns such a modern prmce ot 
 the name of Vicramaditya, at whose court those nine poets 
 are supposed to have flourished, is founded solely and en- 
 tirely upon the bare assertion of a learned Hindu, which 
 Bentley eagerly took up because it confirmed his doubts 
 respecting the age of the poet Varaha, which he objected 
 upon astronomical grounds to place so early as the reign ot 
 an elder Vicramaditya, as is commonly supposed. But this 
 report of a Brahman who produces no authority, and may 
 very possibly have forged it in order to meet Bentley's views, 
 
 "Jones's TForfo, vol. i. pp. 310, 311. , 
 
 • Dow, in his History of Hindostan, and Poller write this name Bickcr- 
 magit. [The indistinct pronunciation of the vulgar. Transi.] 
 " AnatU Res, vol. viii. p. 243. 
 
 CHAP. I. ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 117 
 
 is SO much the less calculated to bias an unprejudiced 
 reader as it is indirectly refuted by history itself .for the 
 supposed age of the later Vicramaditya is that in which the 
 conqueror Mohammed Ghauri overthrew the dynasty of 
 the Ghaznavide sultans, who reigned in Northern India ^ 
 Is It at all hkely that at such an epoch a number of poets 
 flourished at the court of an Indian prince, and obtained a 
 classical reputation throughout the country, while the very 
 name of th^ prmce is not even mentioned in history ? 
 Moreover, the hundred years' reign attributed to his pre- 
 decessor rajah Bhojah, seems to have originated in a mis- 
 take, as It IS not the predecessor but the successor of the 
 elder Vicramaditya, called also rajah Bhojah in Indian his- 
 tory, who having come to the throne after the disturbances 
 that ensued upon the death of the latter, is said to have 
 reigned not a hundred, but fifty years;"' and the coinci- 
 dence ot the two names must appear no less extraordinary 
 and improbable than the pretended long reign "^"'^'^y 
 But, whatever may be the opinions respecting the true 
 rf' '!5 If l^'"^ "'"? P°"*' flourished, it is impossible to 
 S™/ * ^"^rT ^^^ ""««» ancient epoch oV classical 
 Sanscnt poetry. The great epic poems had already been 
 composed many years previous, and what we shall soon have 
 occasion to say respecting the influence which these works 
 have exercised upon the civilization of India, will it is hoped 
 be sufficient to prove that the classical period of Sanscrit 
 erature must be referred to a much higher antiquity than 
 m faS f.^'r'^^^d'tya. The strongest general evidence 
 in favour of this supposition may be drawn from the ad- 
 vanced state of cultivation exhibited in the language and 
 terature itself^, which could only have been produced by 
 he su^essive labours of many generations ; and also from 
 the additional circumstance of the Vedas, which are the in- 
 dispensable requisite of the Brahman caste, being all com- 
 
 nS.[.°.?f°T"*' ^""^ consequently fiirnishing a decisive 
 proof tliat the language must be as old as the establishment 
 ot that caste. 
 
 But the question is, whether, from being once a living 
 'anguage, the Sanscrit has gradually degenerated in the 
 
 £2 
 81 
 
 In the year 1183, A. D. 
 
 Dow's History of Hindostan, vol. i. pp. 26, 27. 
 
1 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 „outh of the people who ^v^\::,:z^ ^'^s ,^:; 
 
 '^ .llnno^es' fcse, however, are points of inquiry, 
 'K cSr ng the perfect chasm that appears m Indian 
 which, considering u p centuries of our 
 
 history d"n°g jeariy A^^^^^^^ satisfactorily. It 
 
 riTprlr £ a Ire accurate knowledge of 
 ,s indeed proDa ^^^^^^^ ^^ ^j^^^^g „p 
 
 Sanscrit '' f^^ef '\„t 'tJU {hen we must be content 
 ""•Th^ddule merr^^ few dates, which at best scarcely 
 Tetl throlTparLl my of light amidst the universal 
 ^arbnpq.; in which the subject is involved. 
 
 SfJooIr country of the Sanscrit, according o our 
 noln ff Ts, the Sthern parts of India, is exactly that 
 ;:S of the countiy which has bee- m-^/^-,^,!" ^; 
 vftsion bv foreign conquerors, from the time ot Alexanaer 
 Twn to Wr^hah. This circumstance would naturdly 
 Sri we m ght suppose, have some influence upon he 
 kngu'agerbut since n'o'conquer^ 
 
 themselves in the country, at least before the time ot tue 
 S mmedan invasion, t?is does -t appear to ha ^ 
 the c^ase. Unfortunately the Greeks have !«» "^ J^^ "^^ ," 
 information respecting the languages of I^dm, e^her at « 
 subsequent to the time of Alexander ; "everthf^^ J ^J n 
 scriDtions we have a ready examined, sufficiently attest tne 
 JSTsanLit being thWout that whole intervd tl. 
 exclusively written language of the cou^tiy. The first ac 
 counts we have of the popular dialect of I°dia, df e no 
 higher than the commencement of the eleventh century, a 
 which period the Mohammedan invasion took place. At 
 this time, we are informed, the Bhasha, which is nothing 
 more than a colloquial variation of the Sanscrit, was com- 
 monly spoken in Bengal.-^ " The term Bhasha says Cde^ 
 brooke,«^ " is employed by all the Indian phdologists,fom 
 Panini downwards, to denote a popular dialect ot the bans- 
 crit, in opposition to the obsolete language ot the Vedas, 
 and is fiirther used in common acceptation to designate any 
 modem dialect of India, particularly if it be corrupted trom 
 
 "• Joneses Worksy vol. i. p. 25. 
 
 <» 
 
 Asiatic Res. vol. vii. p. 22.'). 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 119 
 
 the Sanscrit.'' From this account it would follow that the 
 corruption of the Sanscrit as a popular dialect must be long 
 anterior to the invasion of India by the Mohammedans. 
 But since, however, the oldest Hindu grammarian, Panini, 
 distinguishes the Bhasha or colloquial speech from the writ- 
 ten language, does not this lead us to conclude that such 
 distinction must have existed from time immemorial ; and 
 further, that we cannot with so much probability regard the 
 colloquial form as a corruption of the written Sanscrit, as 
 that this last is rather a polished and improved variation 
 of the popular language ? It is certainly very possible that 
 the colloquial dialect may have been considerably altered 
 since the period of the Mohammedan invasion ; but from 
 what we have already observed respecting the modern Ben- 
 gali, and its striking resemblance to the Sanscrit, it would 
 appear in all probability to be that identical Bhasha report- 
 ed to have been spoken when the Mohammedans first in- 
 vaded India, subject only to the natural corruptions intro- 
 duced by foreigners. As to the rest, Mr. Colebrooke^^ 
 makes a very important observation, which is, the fact that 
 the ancient dialect, Vraja Bhasha, formerly spoken in the 
 country of Mathura, where Krishna made his appearance, 
 is still used in great purity over a considerable portion of 
 the Duab, and on the banks of the Jumna and Ganges ; 
 and that the amorous adventures of that god with the Gopis, 
 usually form the subject of the national songs composed in 
 this dialect. Indeed the nearer we approach the north, the 
 more frequent traces do we find of Sanscrit preserved in the 
 common language of the people. 
 
 The remarks, hitherto made, will serve in some sort to 
 pave the way to our inquiries into the second grand source 
 of Hindu archeeology, viz. the literature of India. Here 
 also we must premise the usual questions, as to the extent 
 of our acquaintance with this subject, our ability to form 
 any decisive opinion, and what general conclusion we may be 
 allowed to draw from a comprehensive survey of the whole. 
 
 The expression, however, Hindu literature, appears to be 
 rather vague and indefinite : with us the denomination will 
 chiefly comprise the literary productions written in Sans- 
 
 ss 
 
 Asiatic Res. vol. vii. p. 231. 
 
120 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 121 
 
 crit, considering the high degree of interest which this lan- 
 guage has excited in Europe, though it is by no means the 
 only one which the Hindus have cultivated and refined as a 
 written language. The same distinction has been enjoyed 
 by several other dialects, some of them no longer spoken, 
 such as the Pracrit,^^ which may be considered a more soft 
 though less polished variation of the Sanscrit ; and even 
 those which still exist are not at all deficient in works of 
 prose, and especially poetry, which are even in some degree 
 considered classical by the nation. But on account of the 
 decided pre-eminence of Sanscrit literature over all the rest, 
 this appellation has been more exclusively applied to the 
 compositions written in that language : it is besides regard- 
 ed by the Hindus as a holy tongue ; their most ancient books 
 on religion, the Vedas, and all that has any reference to the 
 same subject, are uniformly composed in Sanscrit, which is 
 also the language of their oldest and most celebrated epic 
 poems. The reunion of all these qualities, therefore, con- 
 curs to direct our attention with more particular respect to 
 that part of Hindu literature which is comprised in the 
 Sanscrit. 
 
 The sum of our acquaintance with these productions is 
 no longer confined to a mere knowledge of their titles ;^^ 
 but includes also translations, and copious extracts, together 
 with impressions of the original text. From them we learn 
 how rich the Sanscrit is in works of poetry and prose, and 
 yet a more accurate examination of the particular details will 
 but show our knowledge of the whole extent of this litera- 
 ture, notwithstanding our acquisitions, to be still limited 
 and imperfect. 
 
 * Jones's Worksy vol. vi. p. 206. The Pracrit, which is little more than the 
 language of the Brahmans, melted down by a delicate articulation to the soft- 
 ness of the Italian. 
 
 * As far as these are concerned the most important information has been 
 contributed by Messrs. Hamilton and Langles, in their Catalogue des Manu- 
 scrits Sanscrits, de la Biblioth^que Imperiale, avec des notices sur la pliipart 
 de ces Merits, etc., k Paris, 1807. This Hst contains the titles, and partial ex- 
 tracts of one hundred and seventy-eight works in Sanscrit, and fourteen in 
 Bengah. To these we must not omit adding, Catalogus Librorum Sanscrit- 
 anorum, quos Bibliothecte Universitatis Havniensis vel dedit vel paravit Na- 
 thanael Wallich, M. D. Horti Botanici Calcuttensis praefectus. Scripsit Eras- 
 mus Nyerup, Bibliothecarius Universitatis. Hafniae, 1821. This valuable 
 CO lection comprises the titles of almost all the Sanscrit works printed in Ben- 
 gal, accompanied with short though interesting literary remarks by the editor. 
 
 The Vedas are reputed to be not only the most ancient 
 composition in Sanscrit, but in the whole circle of Indian 
 literature ; and even in a certain sense as the real source 
 from whence the latter was derived. On every occasion 
 they are mentioned as the holy books, which it is the espe- 
 cial duty of a Brahman to study, as the fountains of religion, 
 and in short as the gracious communication of Brahma him- 
 self ^^ The first question therefore we have to discuss will be, 
 what is our knowledge of the Vedas, and of their contents ? 
 
 Europe possesses one copy of the Vedas in the original 
 Sanscrit, which is probably complete, and is preserved in 
 the British Museum.^® But they have not yet been trans- 
 lated ; indeed their vast extent will scarcely perhaps admit 
 of this being ever perfectly done. Some of the hymns 
 have been rendered by Sir W. Jones in English verse,^^ and 
 Bopp has furnished us with translations of several other 
 passages ;^^ the former however are not so properly to be 
 called translations, as poetical imitations ; we are neverthe^ 
 less indebted to that learned Orientalist for more exact in- 
 formation in his essay on the literature of the Hindus.^^ 
 
 These, however, and some other scattered notices or frag- 
 ments, alone, would be far from enabling us to pronounce 
 even a general opinion on the subject of the Vedas, had we 
 not also the assistance of Mr. Colebrooke's essay,^* who was 
 the first that undertook a critical examination of these holy 
 books, and yet nevertheless was obliged to pass over with' 
 out notice several important sections, owing to the very 
 great diflficulty of procuring a complete copy of the Vedas 
 even in India itself. 
 
 The collection of sacred writings, which we call the Ve- 
 das, though forming one perfect whole, is however divided 
 
 * See the essay translated from the Sanscrit, On Indian Literature, in the 
 Asiatic Res. vol. i. p. 340 ; with the commentary. 
 
 *° This manuscript, contained in eleven very large volumes, was brought 
 from India and deposited in the Museum by Col. Polier, the same gentleman 
 to whom we are indebted for an account of the Mythology of the Hindus, of 
 which we shall have occasion to speak hereafter. See Asiatic Res, vol. i. 
 p. 347. 
 
 " Jones's Works, vol. vi. p. 313, sq. 
 
 "^ Subjoined to his Conjugation-system of the Sanscrit. 
 
 "^ Jones's Works, vol. i. p. 349. 
 
 'Mn the Asiatic Res. vol. viii. pp. 377> 497: On the Vedas, or Sacred 
 Writings of the Hindus. I follow Mr. Colebrooke in writing Vedas, not Ve- 
 dams, Veds, or Beds, as the word is sometimes spelt. 
 
122 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 123 
 
 into four parts, each of which is considered a separate Veda, 
 and is farther distinguished by a particular name. These 
 are the Richveda, the Yajurveda, which is again subdivided 
 into the white and black, the Samaveda, and the Atharva- 
 veda.'^ The last is generally regarded by critics as of later 
 origin than the others, but nevertheless, without wishing to 
 maintain the authenticity of the whole, it seems highly pro- 
 bable that a portion at least of the fourth Veda is as ancient 
 as any of the rest.^^ The reason why it has not been so 
 frequently mentioned as the three former, is perhaps owing 
 less to its supposed difference in point of age than to the 
 nature of its contents. The names of the three former Ve- 
 das are descriptive of the different nature and destination of 
 the several prayers which they respectively contain, and 
 which are wont to be recited on solemn festal occasions. 
 The term Rich, therefore, denotes their being in verse; 
 Yajus is applied to prose ; and Saman to the purposes of 
 chanting. The fourth Veda also contains prayers, but they 
 are not employed in the same festal ceremonies as the others, 
 it is consequently of a distinct character by itself. 
 
 Each Veda consists of two parts, viz. prayers (Mantras), 
 and precepts (Brahmanas). The whole collection of hymns, 
 prayers, and invocations, which appertain to a Veda, is 
 termed its Sanhita. All the rest belongs to the Brahmanas, 
 comprising certain precepts which inculcate religious duties, 
 together with maxims explanatory of those precepts, and 
 arguments which relate to theology ; the latter are called 
 Upanishads. The above classification, however, of the con- 
 tents of the Vedas, is not always strictly followed. Some 
 Upanishads are portions of the Brahmanas, properly so 
 called ; others are found only in a detached form ; and one 
 is a part of a Sanhita itself." 
 
 The Vedas, then, consist principally of hymns and pray- 
 
 " In Persian they are called Rig, Yagir, Sam, and Atherbam. See the 
 Ai/in Acbari, vol. ii. p. 408. The Ezour Vedam, ou ancien commentaire de 
 Vedam, traduit par un Brame du Sanseritam, published by Voltaire in \77^} 
 and so long considered one of the genuine sources of Hindu wisdom, is 
 nothing more than a modem forgery, as Mr. Ellis has lately proved in his 
 Account of a Discovery of a modern imitation of the Vedas. Asiatic Res. 
 vol. xiv. p. 1. The name Ezour is corrupted from Yajus, or Yajur. 
 
 " CoLEBROOKE, 1. c. p. 381. It is certainly of very great age, for even the 
 oldest epic poems make mention of four Vedas as already existing. 
 
 " CoLEBROOKE, 1. c. pp. 387, 388. 
 
 ers ; those of the first are chiefly panegyrical, and are com- 
 prised in ten thousand verses, or rather stanzas, of various 
 measures ; they are put in the mouth of holy men, (Rishis,) 
 who are therein mentioned, along with the divinities, to 
 whom the prayers are addressed. The composers are very 
 frequently Rishis themselves,^® and count among their num- 
 ber Brahmans, and sometimes even royal personages. The 
 same Veda contains, also, invocations and gratulatory poems 
 in honour of certain princes who had liberally rewarded the 
 authors. The hymns and prayers of the second Veda, writ- 
 ten partly in verse and partly in metrical prose, form but a 
 small portion of its contents compared with the first. The 
 hymns refer chiefly to certain sacrifices, during which they 
 were to be recited, especially at the solemn one of a horse : 
 the prayers are to be employed at the inauguration of kings, 
 and are attributed some to Rishis, others to various gods.^^ 
 The hymns and prayers of both this and the preceding Veda 
 are intended for recitation, but only according to certain 
 invariable prescript forms : on the other hand, the hymns of 
 the third Veda, composed altogether in verse, are destined 
 exclusively for chanting. The fourth Veda, in fine, con- 
 tains upward of seven hundred and sixty hymns and prayers, 
 which are for the most part of an imprecatory character. 
 The divinities, however, to whom they are addressed are by 
 no means those who subsequently make such a brilliant ap- 
 pearance in the Hindu heroic mythology, but consist rather 
 of personified natural objects, such as the firmament, fire, 
 the sun, the moon, water, air, atmosphere, the earth, etc., 
 designated under various appellations.^ The peculiar sa- 
 crifices to be offered them, the incense and holy drink, made 
 of the juice oi Soma or moonplant,®^ afford abundant matter 
 for the numerous prayers which are to be recited during 
 each ceremony ; and of which, according to a singular prin^ 
 ciple laid down by the Brahmans, it is not at all necessary 
 
 " CoLEBROOKE, 1. c. p. 392. What follows, is borrowed from the same 
 writer 
 
 '" Several of these prayers are translated in Mr. Colebrooke's three import- 
 ant essays. On the Religious Ceremonies of the Hindus, and of the Brah- 
 mans especially, inserted in the fifth and seventh volumes of the Asiatic 
 ItescarcJies. 
 
 •* See particularly Colebrooke, Asiatic Res. vol. viii. p. 398, and compare 
 the specimen of a translation given by Bopp. 
 
 •' Asclepias acida, or Cynanchum viminale. 
 
124 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 125 
 
 to comprehend the sense ! The only requisite, they say, is 
 to know what holy person is speaking, the divinity whom 
 he addresses, the particular event which is the occasion of 
 the hymn, the syllabic measure or rhythm, and the different 
 modes of 'recitation, whether word for word, or alternately 
 backwards and forwards, to which latter method some oc- 
 cult virtue is usually attributed.^" 
 
 The second part of each Veda consists of Brahmanas and 
 Upanishads. All those portions which do not belong to the 
 Sanhita, are collectively termed Brahmanas, of which the 
 Upanishads constitute the major part : the latter appellation 
 does not signify mysteries, as it has often been translated, 
 but the knowledge of God, and that indeed in a twofold 
 sense, as describing not only the knowledge itself, but also 
 those' writings in which it is explained and taught.^' The 
 Upanishads are consequently the true foundation of Hindu 
 theology, as they contain special inquiries into the being of 
 God himself, the world, and the nature of the soul, etc. 
 Each Veda, we must allow, contains also Upanishads, but in 
 the first two they form only a small proportion ; whereas 
 the Samaveda comprises the most detailed and abstract re- 
 searches of the above description ; and even in the fourth, 
 or Atharvaveda, they occupy more than half of the whole 
 book.^ These Upanishads are composed in various forms, 
 ordinarily in dialogues between the divinities, Rishis, and 
 the elements, etc. ; frequently, however, they assume a di- 
 dactic character, and as they very often diverge into a pre- 
 cative form, it is evident that we cannot always draw an ex- 
 act line of distinction between them and the Mantras : some 
 of these pieces have been translated by Sir W. Jones,^ but 
 it is to Anquetil du Perron, the learned OrientaUst, who 
 brought the Zendavesta to Europe, that we are indebted, if 
 not tor a complete translation, yet at least for extracts so 
 very considerable as to occupy no less than two quarto 
 volumes of his Upnekhat.®^ With such assistance as this, 
 one might be led to suppose that very little was further 
 wanting to complete our knowledge of Hindu theology. In 
 
 " COLEBROOKE, 1. c. p. 389, 390. 
 
 « Ibid. 1. c. p. 472. 
 » - - 
 
 "Ibid. pp. 461, 471. 
 Jones's Works, vol. vi. Extracts from the \ edas. 
 "• Upnekhat studio Anquetil du Perron, Paris, 1801. Upnekhat is the 
 Persian form of the word Upanishad. 
 
 the first place, however, this Upnekhat is nothing more than 
 a Persian abridgement, and the translation is made from the 
 latter tongue instead of the original, and how can we 
 guarantee the fidelity of the Persian translator ? Besides, 
 had the editor even intended that his book should be com- 
 pletely unserviceable to nine-tenths of his readers, he could 
 scarcely have adopted a more convenient plan for the pur- 
 pose than the disorderly arrangement he has observed. The 
 Upnekhat contains, it is true, selections from all the four 
 Vedas, but they seem to be made at random, sometimes 
 from one and sometimes from another ; by far the greatest 
 part are taken from the fourth: the consequence is, that 
 there can be nothing like a systematic and complete view 
 of the whole. Again, the extracts are rendered into such 
 literal and therefore unintelligible Latin, that he has very 
 frequently been obliged to subjoin in a parenthesis an addi- 
 tional version somewhat more explanatory than the one 
 made word for word. Now let any one conceive the dif- 
 ficulty of wading in this way through a subject which of 
 itself is suflSciently abstract and obscure, and he would not 
 be at all surprised to find that, with the exception of the 
 author and his printer, no person had yet been able to read 
 through the whole of Du Perron's Upnekhat : and sup- 
 posing any one actually has had the patience to achieve a 
 complete perusal, I would then ask him whether he under- 
 stood it ? For my part, I must confess my own repeated 
 attempts have proved unsuccessful, and I must, therefore, 
 leave to the inquirers into religious history the difficult task 
 of elucidating its obscurities.^ 
 
 These discussions, however, will serve to furnish a general 
 reply to the question, as to the contents of the Vedas ? It 
 is indeed no small advantage to know what these books 
 comprise in the whole of their subject, as well as in their 
 constituent parts, (though each of the latter still require a 
 separate and particular examination,) for even our present 
 
 " [There is a notice of this work in the Edinburgh Review , vol. i. p. 412. 
 The critic therein does full justice to M. du Perron's knowledge of the Per- 
 sian, but questions his knowledge of the Sanscrit, or rather, announces his 
 total ignorance of that language. Ritter also remarks that the Upnekhat 
 contains so many mistakes and false interpretations as to be quite useless in 
 a work of investigation. See Geschichte der Philosophies vol. i. p. Jb. A 
 milder sentence is pronounced by the Count Lanjuinais in the Mag, Eneycl, 
 torn. iii. Transl.] 
 
126 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 127 
 
 imperfect acquaintance with these sacred writings is, never- 
 theless, of itself sufficient for enabling us to draw certain 
 
 weighty conclusions. . * n r 
 
 First then the Vedas are, for the most part, collections 
 of small detached pieces by different authors whose names 
 are frequently therein cited, as is the case with the hymns «» 
 Thev cannot, therefore, be all of the same age, and although, 
 for reasons which shall appear in the sequel, we must 
 necessarily refer them to a remote period, yet it must have 
 required a long interval of time to produce and unite tliem 
 together in one collection as they now appear. And as 
 they consist principally of hymns and prayers, it would 
 seem highly probable, even independent of such being the 
 actual report, that at first they were preserved by means ot 
 oral tradition, until the assistance of letters enabled them to 
 be transmitted with greater certainty to future ages.^^^ 
 
 2 In order to give them their present arrangement and 
 connexion, the Vedas must evidently have required the 
 labours of some compiler who incorporated the detached 
 pieces into one work. And in effect Hindu tradition has 
 assimed the task to Vyasa, whose age goes far back into 
 the fabulous periods. Vyasa, however, is nothing more 
 than a common term applicable to any compiler in general f 
 we are therefore still in the dark. Mr. Colebrooke at- 
 tributes the surname in question to Dwaipayana, whom he 
 supposes to have compiled the Vedas. But even of this 
 latter personage we know nothing further, and Mr. Cole- 
 brooke himself confesses^^ the total absence of any chrono- 
 logical data for ascertaining the exact period when they 
 were either composed or set in order. There is, however, 
 the less reason to be surprised at this uncertainty, the case 
 is the same with the books of Moses and the Zendavesta. 
 
 - Each Veda, for instance, is furnished with an index of "unquestionable 
 authenticity,'* which describes the contents of the ^.^^eral Pieces and^ 
 also the names of the composers. Asiatic Res, vol. ^"^- P; ^^^ ^ vvh^^^^^ 
 brooke mentions the most imDortant. Among the ^^X.^l/^^^^^^^^f ^^^^^ 
 this list, we meet with none tliat are found in that of Sir W. Jones, IVotns, 
 
 ''« ik^S?: vol. viii. p. 378. The Greeks who accompanied Alexanders 
 had already remarked the Indian custom of reciting these hymns ; a"d it ^af 
 in singing one to the praise of the gods that the Brahman Calan us so reddil) 
 mounted the funeral pile. Arrian, Op. p. 14/. Is it possible to doubt the tact 
 of their being taken from the Vedas ? 
 
 " AsUttic Mea. vol. viii. pp. 378, 392, 488. Ibid. p. 489. 
 
 They have been preserved to our times, but the true account 
 of their origin is involved in the deepest obscurity. 
 
 3. With respect to the age of the Vedas, we are in pos- 
 session of several weighty reasons for referring it to very re- 
 mote antiquity. They are without doubt the oldest work 
 composed in Sanscrit ; as is sufficiently attested by the ob- 
 solete idiom in which they are written, and which interposes 
 such frequent and serious obstacles in the way of translating 
 and explaining them. Another proof is derived fi'om the 
 circumstance that all, even the most ancient Sanscrit writ- 
 ings, allude to the Vedas as already in existence, and cite 
 numerous passages from them almost at every page.^^ What 
 a considerable portion, indeed, of Hindu literature is prin- 
 cipally founded upon them, we shall soon have occasion to 
 observe. And lastly, to each Veda is subjoined a treatise 
 explanatory of the regulations of the calendar, which de- 
 fines the exact time appropriated to certain religious cere- 
 monies. It is adapted to the comparison of solar and lunar 
 time with the vulgar or civil year; and was evidently com- 
 posed in the infancy of astronomical science.^^ 
 
 4. But the strongest proof of the antiquity of the Vedas, 
 in my opinion, is the fact that they exhibit no traces what- 
 ever of the present existing sects of Siva and Krishna ; which 
 is expressly remarked by Colebrooke.^ " In no part of the 
 Vedas," says he, " excepting only the latter sections of the 
 Atharvaveda, which must therefore be regarded as spurious, 
 have I been able to discover the slightest vestige of the wor- 
 ship of Rama and Krishma, considered as incarnations of 
 Vishnu." Does not this entitle us to infer that the Vedas 
 must be long anterior to the origin of those sects, which are 
 themselves, however, of remote antiquity, as we have al- 
 ready shown in our examination of the monuments of Hin- 
 du architecture. At the same time, moreover, the above 
 
 ^ Asiatic Res. vol. viii. p. 482. 
 
 * Asiatic Res. vol. viii. p. 489. This calendar is termed Jyotish, and the 
 cycle, (Yuga,) therein employed, extends only to five years ; the nionths are 
 all lunar ; but in the middle and end of the period, an intercalation is effected 
 by doubling one of them. Colebrooke (p. 493) quotes a passage from the 
 calendar of the second Veda, which contains a determination of the solstitial 
 point at that time, and which coincides with the fourteenth century previous 
 to the commencement of our era. These inquiries, however, more properly 
 belong to the province of astronomy. 
 
 '* Ibid. p. 494. 
 
12S 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 129 
 
 remark serves to explain the reason why the different sects 
 of India do, nevertheless, regard the Vedas as the authentic 
 source of their respective dogmas ; just in the same way as 
 the various denominations of Christian believers do, all of 
 them, severally uphold the authority of Scripture. 
 
 5. ' Admitting, however, the Vedas to be of very great an- 
 tiquity, is it not probable that during the lapse of ages, and 
 since they were committed to writing, several important 
 changes and interpolations may have crept into the original 
 text ? What appears to confirm such a supposition, is the 
 fact that, according to Hindu report, Vyasa had numerous 
 disciples, each of whom again had their own respective 
 scholars, who successively instructed others in their turn ; 
 insomuch, that at length the vast number of alterations 
 made in the text, and variations in the manner of reading 
 and reciting it, gave rise to no less than one thousand one 
 hundred different schools of scriptural knowledge.^^ 
 
 Now, without estimating such a report at more than its 
 real value, we are fully authorized in suspecting the exist- 
 ence of considerable interpolation ; though our conjecture, 
 it is true, can only be ascertained by a comparison of se- 
 veral copies of the Vedas. In the first place, however, these 
 alterations, for the most part, would only concern the out- 
 ward form of pronunciation, which is so much the more 
 likely, as that appears, from what has gone before, to have 
 been the principal object in making them. And secondly, 
 these very alterations can hardly be of modern date, but 
 must have existed for centuries ; or in other words, the 
 text of the Vedas, whatever changes and modifications it 
 may formerly have experienced, has continued in its present 
 state from very remote antiquity. This is proved, both by 
 the numerous quotations occurring in the oldest writings, 
 and which perfectly agree with the modern copies of the 
 Vedas, and also from the circumstance of their being fur- 
 nished with ancient scholia ; which, as the learned natives 
 of India pretend, is the only security against falsification, 
 owing to the scholiast's taking care to explain every word, 
 and comment on the sense of every passage.^ And lastly, 
 the strict rules prescribed for reading or chanting the Vedas 
 
 Asiatic Res. vol. viii. p. 382. 
 
 96 
 
 Ibid. p. 480, sq. 
 
 in a certain defined rhythm or tone, would render every at- 
 tempt at interpolation very difl[icult, if not impossible, as it 
 must be immediately detected. 
 
 6. As the Vedas, like the Zend-Avesta, are for the most 
 part conversant about ceremonial laws, they imply conse- 
 quently the existence of a certain form of religious worship ; 
 which being obliged to the observance of peculiar rites and 
 invocations, would of course be confided to a sacerdotal 
 caste. Now the worship in question concerns a religious 
 system, which, according to the unanimous opinion of all 
 those who have studied the subject, has for its foundation 
 the belief in one God.^^ This divinity however was mani- 
 fested in the grand phenomena of nature, which were them- 
 selves again separately invoked as deities under various de- 
 nominations ; we might, therefore, in this sense, consider the 
 religion of the Vedas as a kind of natural religion. But at the 
 same time, and this constitutes its national peculiarity, it is 
 interwoven with a tissue of the most refined speculations, 
 which particularly abound in the Upanishads. In those 
 abstruse and mysterious disquisitions, on the infinite, on 
 the origin and nature of things, on the emanation and ab- 
 sorption of beings into the Godhead, the Hindus, naturally 
 addicted to profound contemplation, would discover abund- 
 ant food for the intellect, and frequent opportunities of 
 indulging their taste for abstract reverie to the wildest ex- 
 tent. That portion of the Vedas which is contained in the 
 Upanishads is not we must confess very easy to understand ; 
 but still a moderate degree of application and study, would 
 no doubt succeed in illustrating the principal traits in the 
 intellectual character of this remarkable people, and their 
 proneness to abstract speculation. 
 
 7. The Vedas were consequently the real source of the 
 religion, it is true, but certainly not of the mythological 
 system of the Hindus. The origin of the latter, as will be 
 shown in the sequel, was the Indian epic poetry. The di- 
 vinities, to whom are addressed the invocations contained 
 in the Vedas, though many in number, are yet only person- 
 ifications of natural objects, and according to the commen- 
 
 " Asiatic Res. vol. viii. p. 396. Sir W. Jones, Father Paulino, and the re- 
 ports of the Danish missionaries, all agree on this point ; which is further 
 confirmed by numerous passages in the Upanishads. 
 
 VOL. II. K 
 
130 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 131 
 
 lators may be reduced to three,^ viz. Fire, Air, and the Sun ; 
 and these again in their turn are to be considered nothing 
 more than particular manifestations of the one original Be- 
 ing. In some passages, indeed, we occasionally meet with 
 the groundwork of certain fables, subsequently expanded 
 by the poets, but no trace whatever of the favourite legends 
 peculiar to those sects who adore Krishna, or the Lingam ;''y 
 whence it necessarily follows, that the religion of the priests 
 was always distinct from that of the common people ; though 
 it cannot be denied that both stood in some mutual degree 
 of relation and connexion one with the other; to explain 
 which will be the special business of an inquirer into the 
 religious opinions of India. **^ 
 
 The Vedas, then, which are the sources of the sacerdotal 
 religion, can by no means be considered as such with regard 
 to the popular system of belief: the common people are 
 not even once permitted to read these books ; whereas it is 
 the duty, as well as the exclusive privilege of a Brahman, 
 to study and explain them ; and the reputation of being 
 versed therein is considered an honourable title of renown. 
 The caste next in immediate order is only allowed to hear 
 them read, or at most barely to read them ; while the in- 
 ferior, comprehending the general mass of the people, are 
 absolutely forbidden both : so that the Brahmans appear to 
 have always had it in their power to communicate as much 
 or as little of the Vedas to the other castes as they thought 
 proper. But is it possible that such abstruse dogmas as 
 those contained in the Upanishads could have been adapted to 
 the purposes of popular instruction, even supposing the will- 
 ingness of the Brahmans to make them so ? Is it not rather 
 
 * CoLEBROOKE {Asiatic Res. vol. viii. p. 396) has given the passages in 
 the original, together with a translation. Compare the first of his three 
 treatises On the Religious Ceremonies of the Hindus, Asiatic lies. vol. v. ; 
 which contains the daily prayers and exercises of a Brahman. These are 
 addressed to the Sun, Fire, and Water, etc., and not to Vishnu or Siva, etc., 
 though the names of the latter occur two or three times. But much more 
 frequently is Brahma mentioned as the first and unchangeable ; " Brahma 
 is truth, the one immutable beine," etc., p. 3G2. It was only after the estab- 
 lishment of the sects of Siva and Vishnu that the worship of those deities 
 superseded that of Brahma ; the last is of a purely spiritual character ; the 
 two former are altogether sensual. 
 
 "* CoLEBROoKE, p. 3S9, notc. 
 
 '^ The treatise of Colebrooke just mentioned, though it does not absolutely 
 distinguish the two religions, contains nevertheless the most important evi- 
 dence for establishing the fact. 
 
 agreeable to the common order of things, that, in a nation 
 whose priesthood was in the exclusive possession of the holy 
 books, a natural distinction should exist between the sacerdo- 
 tal and popular forms of religion ? The truth and importance 
 of this remark will derive additional illustration from the results 
 of our inquiries into the religious system of ancient Egypt. 
 8. It is, however, far from probable, that the ancient 
 dogmas and form of religion peculiar to the Vedas, should 
 have been preserved even among the Brahmans in all their 
 original purity. How indeed were this possible, when the 
 obscure and obsolete idiom in which they are written, espe- 
 cially the three first, renders their study extremely difficult 
 even to Brahmans themselves,^ to say nothing of the small 
 number of copies to be found in the country ? Mr. Cole- 
 brooke observes,^ " A very great proportion of what the 
 Vedas teach has already become obsolete ; other religious 
 precepts and ceremonies have been substituted in its stead ; 
 a ritual founded on the Puranas, and customs borrowed 
 from the impure source of the Tantras, have in great measure 
 antiquated the liturgy of the Vedas. The worship of Rama 
 and Krishna has replaced that of the elements and planets." 
 This remark will, therefore, serve to throw some light on 
 the origin of religious sects among the Hindus : a variation 
 in the manner of reading and explaining the Vedas would 
 naturally produce a variety of different schools, and we have 
 already noticed^ the great number which were established 
 by the Brahmans in consequence ; but the same cause will 
 not account for the different sects which have arisen among 
 the common people. The latter have reference to the worship 
 of certain divinities, not to be found in the Vedas, but derived 
 solely from the Indian epic poems. It was long ago re- 
 marked by the Father of Grecian history, that Homer and 
 Hesiod furnished the deities of popular mythology ; and in 
 the same manner the great epic poets of India have in great 
 measure supplied the numerous gods which fill the Indian 
 Pantheon. We must not, however, forget to observe, that 
 these poets themselves belonged to the Brahman caste ; a 
 circumstance which might explain not only, in general, the 
 intimate connexion always subsisting between the religion 
 
 ' Asiatic Res. vol. viii. p. 49/. * Ibid. vol. viii. pp. 495, 496. 
 
 ' See above, page 12S. 
 
 K 2 
 
INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 132 
 
 of the priests and that of the conunon people b^t also^moje 
 particularly the reason why, "P"Ua„rthe^ two forms be- 
 
 Untic f^^^^?^.^^:^J:^^:f^kieA together, 
 came confounded and as ^^^^^1 ^^^^ 3,,,,^ 
 
 With respect to the ong m ^^^^^ ^.^^^ 
 
 "^ r coll :f till' ToftsVuinTthf res'pective dates to 
 
 ''"i Those of sT; and Vishnu are at present the most 
 each, inose oi c.iva ^ , j^ . 
 
 generally prevadmg on j^b^^^^^^ The Lriu- 
 
 of sta which adore the Lingam, aflfo,-d a reasonable pre- 
 ot Mva, wnicu a o ancient, and pro- 
 
 l3Te "ig nTcld Se common people : whereas 
 thK Vishnu, on the contrary, worshipped under the name 
 S- Krishna owes its origin merely to a reformation, under- 
 ifn for the purpose of refining the grossly sensual worship 
 of the former The sect of Krishna, however stands in 
 IhinSte connexion with the epic poem, which has for 
 sucli mumdie ia. u- ^orv of the ncarnation ot Vishnu 
 
 llrE ri f kS Tat we n,.y co,-.»,.ly .em. 
 
 .tpVeUcS^on, as will W« «■". JJ* J'"'"^ *"„ 
 «;« nnmc to exam nc the subject of Hindu epic poeiiy ni 
 LnemT The attempts of Sir W. Jones to fix the origin 
 fhe limentioned Li, one thousand two "^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 before the Christian era, repose upon no more solid ground 
 than his argument for placing the appearance of Budc h. 
 tTcenturifs later, both'one and the other being founds 
 
 solely on the traditionary reports ^^ *^.«f' ""r ddha is that 
 mire = All that we know with certainty of Buddha 1., tliat 
 he was tt founder of a sect, which must <o™er^y have pr - 
 vailed over a considerable part of India, bu whose tenet, 
 and forms of worship were in direct opposition to those ot 
 the BrnTmans, and engendered a deadly hate between the 
 two parties, which terminated in the expulsion of the Bud- 
 dhists from the country. One may easily eonceive theie 
 fore, how many questions of great historical importance t. 
 remain to be solved in the course of our '"quines into hi 
 subject, in addition to our ignorance respecting the time 
 
 •See esi^eially on thU poi.t ColebvooUe in ^^^^f^^;^;^'-'' 
 27% sq. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 133 
 
 when the sect was first established. Notwithstanding the 
 various conjectures which have been advanced by learned 
 men on this point, Mr. Colebrooke, who cannot be supposed 
 inferior to any Sanscrit scholar living, nevertheless only 
 ventures to surmise that the Buddhists, though certainly of 
 more modern origin than the Vedas, are yet, however an- 
 terior to the sects of Siva and Krishna.^ That they must 
 be of considerable antiquity is, I imagine, quite apparent, 
 from the fact that a great number of the oldest rock tem- 
 ples, as we have already remarked, were dedicated to Bud- 
 dha. But what IS a still more important proof in support of 
 their age is, that the Buddhists are actually mentioned in 
 the Ramayana, (though we believe only in one passage,^ 
 and are there classed along with atheists, that is, the oppo- 
 nents of Brahma who reject the doctrine of the Vedas. It 
 would follow, therefore, that at the time when the Ramayana 
 was composed, the Buddhists were not merely in existence 
 as a religious sect, but were considered also the adversaries 
 of the Brahmans. What relation, however, there might 
 have subsisted between the respective dogmas of these two 
 sects, together with the history of the persecution and ex- 
 pulsion of the Buddhists from India, is at present involved 
 in impenetrable obscurity. Mr. Colebrooke would make 
 the difference between the two consist in the Buddhists 
 wishing to do away with animal sacrifices, or at least, to di- 
 mmish the frequency of their occurrence : by which the 
 Brahmans would lose their perquisite of the flesh of the 
 victims.^ But without presuming to question the correct- 
 ness of this opinion, there is a still more important point, I 
 
 [^si^tic Res. vol. viii. p. 495. His reasons for attributing a greater age 
 to the Vedas are again brought forward in his Observations on the Jains, 
 ibid. vol. IX. p. 293, etc. 
 
 ' Ramayatia, Part iii. § 7Q, p. 452. " As an atheist fallen from the path of 
 rectitude ! as a thief, so is a Buddhist ! " The whole of this section, in which 
 the Brahman Javah is represented under the assumed character of an atheist 
 and a Buddhist, in conversation with Rama, is very interesting. What prin- 
 cipally excites the abhorrence of the Brahmans is the rejection of funeral 
 sacrifices to be offered by surviving children, and by consequence, the depre- 
 ciation of matrimony. ^ 
 
 [The passage of the Ramayana just quoted, is one of a great raanv in 
 which the translators through improvident haste have misconstrued 'the 
 sense : moreover, it i^ not at all improbable that the whole is an interpola- 
 tion. Vide Schlegel's Preface to his edition of the JRamayana, tom. i. p. 55. 
 French Transl.] • > y » f 
 
 " Colebrooke,!. c. 
 
INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 135 
 
 134 
 
 1 • v ^,,^K+ riitlipr to direct our attention, 
 
 think, to which ^f «"g^; ™;,Ss throughout Ceylon, 
 The rehgion of Buddlm yet p^e g ^^^ 
 
 over the whole «f 1"7 'JJ^"" introduced: as for example 
 countries where Islam has been ^^^^^^ 
 
 the Malayan P;--fh')^^^X' opular creed, is reported 
 tl^^fZytl^^^^o^ BSdSha. These assertions, 
 k t true require the support of more accurate inquiries 
 Id comp'arSns than have hitherto been instituted into the 
 and •^^""P;;'*" i ti,em to be founded on fact, we have 
 
 Z^s:;.e^l^S^-^^r' «f ''^ ^'^^^^"^^ '^^^^^^" 
 
 nrSXTuntt" Wtentioned the d.^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 vastest perfectly unknown ; is it because probably rejected 
 bv the dS rine of Buddha? With regard to the higher 
 castes particularly that of the Brahmans, the fact is clear; 
 t£ inferior ones are not of so much importance. This, 
 Sen suffic ent"y explains the hatred of the Bmhmans to- 
 Ss the Buddhists^ There is, however an additional cu- 
 rumstance no less remarkable, to be observed : wherever 
 ?he Buddhist creed prevails, the sacerdotal caste ot the 
 Bmhmans has been reVaced by a monastic order of priest, 
 P^tablished throutrhout the respective countries under va 
 r iis detminations, being called Talapoins in Ava and 
 pZ am? Gvlongs n Tibet. In the latter country these 
 mSs posseJs thi sovereign power; in some others as in 
 Ava, (the Birmese Empire,) and in Ceylon they either have 
 or had formerly considerable political influence. But as 
 
 L monastic coW-n P'-f ^r/*' f W wThe accel on 
 enjoyment of hereditary rights, but **«l^y ^y the access on 
 of fresh members, they must consequently be obliged to the 
 observance of perpetual celibacy, and be immured in a 
 Sr all their'livL.'" The Brahman, on the conti^ry -s 
 not only permitted but absolutely enjoined by his religion 
 Tmar^^id he must be the father of a "Y befo'« Jf. 
 can be allowed to offer sacrifice, or be admitted to the pri 
 vileges of holy expiation. The hope ot leaving children 
 
 • Jones's Works, vol. i. p. 104. _^^,f^^ tn pxist in Cevlon, viz. 
 
 - Two monasteries of this desmption are ^h re J^^^^^^^^ 
 those of Malvathe and Asgin ; Davy, p. 47- ^^^*l!i,^^^;; f" Ji,^:- respective 
 and Tibet, see the accounts given by Synies and Turner in their respeci 
 
 Travels. 
 
 behind him is the very point on which all his happiness de- 
 pends, not merely in reference to this life, but to the next 
 also, on account of the funeral sacrifices which his children 
 are religiously obliged to offer, and which involve the eter- 
 nal welfare of the soul of the deceased. Under such cir- 
 cumstances as these, what violent disputes must necessarily 
 have arisen when the Buddhists first began to propagate 
 their obnoxious doctrines ! — disputes probably more out- 
 rageous than those occasioned by the introduction of celi- 
 bacy into the Christian priesthood. We have, as yet, no 
 accounts of the persecution and expulsion of the Buddhists 
 from India, and this circumstance of itself would allow us 
 to infer, with great probability, that those events must have 
 taken place at a very remote period of antiquity. And 
 though some modern writers bring the date of these occur- 
 rences as low down as the first and second centuries of our 
 era,^' their opinions seem to have no better foundation than 
 mere conjecture. It is, however, very true that some traces 
 of them are supposed to have been found in 'India, which 
 are as late as the middle ages ; ^^ but they are, nevertheless, 
 of very doubtful authority : and even should we admit the 
 probability that a feeble remnant of this sect might still be 
 discovered to exist in some one part of the country, yet the 
 admission would not be at all conclusive against the flict of 
 the Buddhist persecution and consequent expulsion having 
 tjiken place at a much earlier date. 
 
 The Vedas are regarded by the Hindus as the source not 
 only of their legislation, but of all their scientific knowledge. 
 The intimate connexion, indeed, which usually subsists 
 among Oriental nations, between religion, laws, and science, 
 especially where these form the exclusive appanage of a sa- 
 cerdotal caste, has already been demonstrated in our work 
 on the Persians ; and will receive additional proof from the 
 
 " [See a learned discussion of this subject in Wilson's preface to his Dic^ 
 tionanj, pp. 15, etc., and ^. Mr. W. considers it probable that an utter ex- 
 tirpation of the Buddhists was effected between the twelfth and sixteenth 
 centuries, and that the Jains performed an important part in their expulsion. 
 With regard to the pecuHar doctrines of the Buddhists, see Mr. Hodgson's 
 Memoir, in tfie Tramactions of the Boyal Asiatic Society, tom. ii. pp. 225, 257. 
 Transl,] 
 
 '* Partly in the inscriptions above explained, see p. 100, and partly in the 
 accounts of two Arabian travellers through India in the ninth century, trans- 
 lated by Renaudot, p. 109. 
 
136 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 result of our inquiries into the Egyptians. Before, how- 
 ever, we can attempt to illustrate this question, we must 
 examine how far we are in possession of the requisite data 
 which will enable us to pronounce an opinion in the case. 
 
 It was the legislative system of India which first attracted 
 the attention of its English conquerors, and justly too, in 
 preference to any thing else. For though by no means in 
 itself an uninteresting subject to theni as antiquarians, yet 
 considered with reference to their political situation it was 
 essentially necessary for them to become acquainted with 
 the laws of a people whom they wished to govern. Now as 
 the Hindus themselves attribute a very high antiquity to 
 their laws, so a particular examination of this subject must 
 necessarily involve an inquiry into a very principal branch 
 of Sanscrit literature. The learned founder of the Asiatic 
 Society made it the favourite object of his studies, and pub- 
 lished the Institutes of Hindu Law, accompanied with a 
 preface.*^ This was followed soon after by a work of much 
 greater extent, from the pen of Mr. Colebrooke, and enti- 
 tled A Digest of Hindu Law.** We are scrupulous to pre- 
 serve the respective titles of these two works, as Sir W. 
 Jones has already made use of them to express their com- 
 parative relation.*^ The first, however, on account of tlie 
 high antiquity assigned it, is more important for our pur- 
 pose of giving a general outline of Hindu legislation than 
 the Digest, of which only the titles of contracts and the 
 right of succession have hitherto been published. 
 
 The Laws of Menu comprise in twelve chapters the 
 principles both of public and private right. In ascribing 
 their composition to Menu, the first of the mythological 
 kings, the grandson of Brahma and father of Bhrigu, nothing 
 
 " Institutes of Hindu Law, or the Ordinances of Menu, according to the 
 gloss of Culluca, containing the Indian System of Duties, rehgious and civil, 
 verbally translated from the original Sanskrit ; with a preface by Sir \V. 
 Jones, Calcutta, 17^6. 
 
 " A Digest of Hindu Law on Contracts and Successions, with a Commen- 
 tary by Jagannatha Tercapanchanana, translated from the original Sanscrit, 
 by H. T. Colebrooke, Esq., in three volumes, London, ISOl. In this work 
 we are presented, first, with the text of the ancient Hindu jurists. Menu, 
 Sankha, Vrihaspati, and others ; then follow the interpretations of the com- 
 mentators. That part which treats of the law of succession is particularly 
 important, as it contains also the laws of family relations, of man and wife, 
 parents and children, etc. 
 
 ** Institutes J ct€.^ preface, p. iv. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 137 
 
 more is meant, according to Hindu expression, than that 
 they are of Divine origin, and the most ancient code of law 
 belonging to the nation. They were communicated by 
 Bhrigu to the Rishis, or sages, who consulted him for that 
 purpose. ^^ These laws are so closely allied to the Vedas, 
 particularly the first three, which are quoted almost at every 
 page, that we may with great propriety refer them to that 
 source, and consider the Vedas to be the parent stock of 
 Hindu legislation in general.'^ The Institutes of Menu are 
 consequently posterior to the sacred books just mentioned ; 
 nevertheless it will be very easy to persuade ourselves in 
 reading them, that they cannot be all the work of one per- 
 son, scarcely indeed of one generation, but that they must 
 have been some considerable time in practical use before 
 they were collected together and committed to writing. 
 They form a strange medley of barbarism and civilization, 
 and although several portions of the code, especially the 
 penal laws, betray the infancy of political science, yet upon 
 the whole it exhibits remarkable proofs of a very advanced 
 state of society for an Asiatic nation. The distinction of 
 castes appears to have been already organized, the ceremo- 
 nial laws of religion in full practice conformably to the 
 doctrine of the Vedas, and the dominion of the Brahmans 
 perfectly established, although the sovereigns were not yet 
 chosen from that caste. The various relations of proprietary 
 right are already very numerous and complicated, and 
 money is considered as the usual medium of exchange, with 
 reference to which most of the penal laws are determined. 
 This is, by no means, such a system of legislation as would 
 be supposed coeval with the nation itself 
 
 On the other side, however, we are in possession of con- 
 siderable evidence, both internal and external, for attributing 
 a high degree of antiquity to the Code of Menu. Several 
 proofs already adduced in support of the age of the Vedas, 
 will apply with the same force to the laws in question. 
 And first with respect to the language in which they are 
 written ; this is metrical Sanscrit, and in an obsolete idiom, 
 
 16 
 
 InstituteSy etc.y preface, p. viii. 
 " Ihid. p. xviii. The Vedas are the foundation of law, which in itself, and 
 notwithstanding it was given by Menu, is nevertheless entirely explained in 
 the Vedas. 
 
138 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 139 
 
 similar to that of the Vedas, though not so ancient^ Ac- 
 Za\^^ to Sir W. Jones, when compared with the Ian- 
 
 f? the Twelve Tables as compared with tha of Lucre- 
 S,. - Further, the laws of Menu are exactly conform- 
 able to the Vedas in all that concerns rehgion and its 
 nrLances • we find the same divinities, always excepting 
 Sfceiated by the poets. Thirdly, we meet with no 
 races o the sects already alluded to, into which the Hindus 
 were suL^^^^ divided. And m conclusion the long 
 hst of commentators and scholiasts who have endeavoured 
 
 o explain these laws, would ^'^-^ .^^'^^^'ZuL^^^^ 
 acre and justify the common opinion of the Hindus in re- 
 Sing them as the most ancient code they possess.^^ 
 ^Notwithstanding this general evidence, however, m favour 
 of the antiquity of the laws of Menu, we have no positive 
 Lsitny Vregard to the precise time when they were 
 collected and embodied in their present shape, bir. W. 
 Jones endeavoured to prove that they might have been com- 
 piled about eight hundred and eighty years before the com- 
 mencement of our era ; and that, at most, their age can- 
 not exceed one thousand two hundred and eighty years 
 before that period. In order to arrive at this conclusion 
 he supposes that the Yajur-Veda, according to the lis 
 therein given of masters and scholars, in connexion with 
 certain astronomical data, relative to the deter"iinati^^^^^^^^^ 
 the solstitial point, may be referred to the year 1 580 before 
 the birth of Christ.^^ He observes further, that judging by 
 analogy from the alterations which have taken place in the 
 Latin language, as evidenced by a comparison of the trag- 
 ments we possess of the laws of Numa with those of the 
 Twelve Tables, it must have required upwards ot three cen- 
 
 « ?hf whofe collection of these glosses ^nd^r?;r'^ts.^sL'^VsTsi^^^ 
 Munis, or sages, on the Laws of Menu, is called the ^^j^fj^f ,^^^^f ^; ^^^^^^^ 
 of Law. oSe of the most celebrated of these sages s CuUuca, whose com 
 mentary has been pubhshed together with the text, etc. 
 
 TThe original text of Menu with the commentary ^as first pnnteaoy 
 Babu Ram,^at Calcutta, in 1813. The splendid and ^^'^'^^^^l^^^^^^^^^^ 
 Haughton followed at London, in 1825. This was m g^eat measure the ba.i. 
 of a third lately pubhshed at Paris by M. Loiseleur ^^f ^"g^^?^?' ^f^^^ 
 lastly, a fourth edition has just appeared at Calcutta, under the authonty oi 
 the Committee of PubUc Instruction. Transl.J 
 ** Institutes, etc., preface, pp. v. vii. 
 
 turies to produce similar modifications in the style of the 
 Vedas, so as to become what it is in the Code of Menu ; and 
 by consequence he places the latter one thousand two hun- 
 dred and eighty years before the Christian era. Although 
 we cannot, for obvious reasons, enter into a particular ex- 
 amination of this hypothesis, requiring as it does not merely 
 an acquaintance with astronomy, but a critical knowledge of 
 Sanscrit as spoken at the most distant periods, yet our read- 
 ers will easily perceive upon what vague and uncertain 
 grounds it rests ; and without taking into consideration the 
 supposed analogy existing between the intervals of time re- 
 quired to produce the respective changes in the Sanscrit 
 and Latin, it is evident that these very changes, owing to 
 the most different causes, are sometimes quick and at others 
 slow in their operation ; a striking example of which is 
 afforded in the history of the German language. 
 
 With regard to the question how far the Hindus have 
 pursued the study of philosophy, it would be impossible to 
 furnish a complete answer with the aid of their writings on 
 this subject alone ; and indeed could we do so, the task is 
 more properly within the province of the writers upon phi- 
 losophy in general. All that we know of the Hindu philo- 
 sophical Sastras, is confined to a few extracts, for none of 
 them have yet been completely translated. The only one 
 of these treatises which Sir W. Jones studied in the original, 
 and which is commonly ascribed to Vyasa, is short and very 
 obscure, though consisting of some beautifully modulated 
 sentences.^^ The most accurate information on this subject 
 is given in the Ay in Acbari, which treats of nine different 
 schools, and quotes the several writings on which they are 
 respectively founded." The work however itself will only 
 possess a secondary authority in the eyes of an antiquarian 
 who wishes to consult the first and most authentic sources, 
 though it may nevertheless serve to furnish a general notion 
 of Hindu philosophy ; and particularly to determine the 
 question whether it be distinct, or derived from the religion 
 of the Brahmans. Now it is scarcely possible to doubt afler 
 a perusal of the Ayin Acbari, that the bond of union be- 
 tween Hindu philosophy and religion was as close as the 
 
 ** ListittUeSy etc., preface, pp. v. vii. ** Jones's Works, vol. i. p. 103. 
 
 "^ Ayin Acbari, vol. ii. p. 406, etc. 
 
CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 140 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 141 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 peculiar interests of an exclusive priesthood would allow us 
 to expect, and that consequently the Vedas were as much 
 the real source of the one as they certainly were of the 
 other This is further proved by the circumstance of the 
 principal school of Hindu philosophy being referred to Vy- 
 asa, the compiler of the Vedas and the preceptor of Jaimini 
 whose work, entitled Vedanta, both in its appellation and 
 contents, gives evident proof of being derived from those 
 holy books.-^ The Upanishads by their mysticism and ob- 
 scurity afforded exuberant subject-matter for the display of 
 abstract speculation, and of course gave rise to a variety of 
 opinions, which subsequently produced the various sects 
 enumerated in the Ayin Acbari. It is here that the cha- 
 racter of the Hindus for profound and subtile investigation, 
 so closely allied to their fondness for a contemplative life, is 
 exhibited in the most conspicuous manner. But this indis- 
 soluble connexion subsisting between Hindu philosophy and 
 relio-ion, must at once forewarn us not to expect the same 
 free"" development of philosophical spirit among the natives 
 of India as among those of the West.^^ The philosophy of 
 the Hindus appears to have taken the same course as the 
 scholastic of the middle ages ; it is quite as subtile, and like 
 it attaches a preference to the study of dialectics ; while tlie 
 various schools seem to be founded on distinctions equally 
 minute and refined with those which divided the schoolmen 
 of Europe. The Hindus, nevertheless, have cultivated 
 practical philosophy, and have not altogether neglected that 
 called moral, but their writings of the latter kind appear t() 
 contain nothing beyond naked maxims or dogmas enveloped 
 in fable ; and up to the present time at least, we have met 
 with no works which deserve a comparison with those of the 
 Grecian moralists. 
 
 In the same way that the Vedas are the real source ot 
 
 « Jones's Works, vol. i. p. 165. Whoever will compare the respective ac- 
 counts of Sir William and the Aijin Acbari, vol. ii. p. 42S, etc., relative to tne 
 precepts of Jaimini, will easily see how uncertain must be the judgment whicu 
 we could venture to pronounce on the philosophical systems of India. 
 
 ^ [See Colebrooke's essays on this subject in the Transactions of the Moj/oi 
 Astatic Society, vol. i. pp. 92, 439, 549, where the reader will find ample prooi 
 that the philosophers of India allowed themselves as great, if not greater lati- 
 tude of thought and expression than their brethren of the West ; and tniit 
 their speculations are by no means always in the most orthodox conformii) 
 with the Vedas. Transl.] 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 Hindu philosophy, so are they considered with respect to 
 the other sciences and arts contained in the four Upavedas ; 
 that is to say, medicine, music in the larger sense of the 
 term, as comprehending both poetry and dancing, the art 
 of war, and architecture ; under which last the mechanical 
 arts in general are included. These are held to be derived 
 immediately from the Vedas.^^ None of the Upavedas have 
 yet been published, and of the above-mentioned arts, music 
 is the only one respecting which we are in possession of 
 learned inquiries drawn from original sources. The essay 
 of Sir William Jones on this subject,*^ which has been 
 translated by Baron Dalberg, and enriched with valuable 
 remarks and additions,'^ will serve to show how nearly the 
 music of the Hindus was connected with their religion. 
 With the same view we need only repeat an observation al- 
 ready made, namely, that one portion of the hymns con- 
 tained in the Vedas is exclusively devoted to the purposes 
 ot* singing. 
 
 The study of the Sanscrit grammar may also be con- 
 sidered as forming a particular branch of the philosophical 
 system of the Hindus. As in the other departments of 
 science, so in the case before us, the credit of having in- 
 vented grammar is usually attributed to a single author, 
 named Panini, whose sutras, at least in India, are regarded 
 as the most ancient grammatical treatise extant ; and which, 
 in the absence however of any correct data for their opin- 
 ion, the natives assign to those remote periods when in- 
 spired sages appeared on earth as the instructors of man- 
 kind in arts and sciences. Panini is said to have been the 
 grandson of Devala, an inspired lawgiver ; of his work on 
 grammar we know nothing beyond the account given of it 
 by Mr. Colebrooke.'^ According to this learned scholar, 
 the perfect coherence of all the parts of Panini s work 
 
 "" Jones's Worh^, vol. i. p. 358, On the Literature of the Hindus. The 
 u-n- ^P^v^'^^'^s denotes inferior or supplementary Vedas, translated by Su- 
 >v illiam suhscriptures, 
 
 J* Sir W. Jones, On the Musical Modes of the Hindus, Asiatic Res. vol. 
 i».^p. 55, etc. 
 
 " On the Music of the Hindus, by Baron Dalberg, 1802; together with a 
 Collection of Indian National Songs. 
 
 r ^'o^EBRooKE in Asiatic Ites. vol. vii. p. 202, sq. The grammatical 
 sutras of Panini were published at Calcutta, in the year 1809, but without a 
 translation I believe. 
 
lU 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 143 
 
 evidently proves it to have been the composition of one 
 person; nevertheless, it seems to imply the pre-ex.stence 
 of other inquiries of the same description, and Pamni him- 
 self frequently quotes other grammarians who precedal 
 him ; and yet the general report in favour of its great an- 
 tiauity appears to be fully confirmed by an examination of 
 the work itself, for not only has it been commented on by a 
 lone series of grammarians belonging to very distant epochs,'' 
 so that we might in some measure consider it as the general 
 text-book of all the Hindu grammatical compositions ex- 
 tant • but it is still more remarkable for the conciseness and 
 obscurity of its precepts, which must have rendered the ad- 
 dition of commentaries a work of indispensable necessity.* 
 It is probable, indeed, that a more accurate acquaintance 
 with the relation in which Panini's rules stand to the lan- 
 guage of the Vedas and the later classic poets, may enable 
 us to determine their age with greater certainty. 
 
 The study of grammar would naturally be followed by 
 the compilation of dictionaries. The most celebrated of 
 which is the Amara Cosha, by Amara Sinha, who flourished 
 at the court of Vicramaditya." A manuscript copy of this 
 work is preserved in the Royal Library of Pans ;^- and since 
 the whole has been published and translated,^' we are better 
 able to form some correct opinion of its merits. 1 he Amara 
 Cosha is a vocabulary written in verse, and explaining in 
 seventeen sections, the names of gods, men, the stars, e e- 
 ments, sciences, mountains, rivers, etc. ; and is m jts turn the 
 subject of numerous commentaries explanatory of the deriv- 
 ation of words, by reducing them to their several primitives. 
 
 x» 
 
 - The most celebrated of these, PatanjaU himself, belongs to the abulou 
 acres. In his Maha Bhashya, or great commentary, each of Paninis t ree 
 thousand nine hundred and ninety-six rules is examined and explained at 
 
 ^^»^C0LEBR00KE, 1. c. p. 205. " ^ '' J^id. 1. c p. 214. 
 
 - ^;nam.tV;Aa,secaoprima,deCaao;Roma 179S jhis first part cont.^^^^ 
 chiefly explanations of the names of Hindu gods ; ^^'^^^le passages, and s^^^^^^^^ 
 times a number of verses, are cited. The entire work was subsequent^ 
 printed in Bengal, under the title of Cosha, or Dictionary of the f^"^^^^^^ 
 language, witlf aA English interpretation by Colebrooke ; Serampoor^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 •'CoLEBROOKE,l.c. According to Langles, . c. p. 25, the nunb^^^ 
 Sanscrit radicals does not exceed ten thousand. [In general the number o 
 radicals in the ordinary lists is about one thousand f\^r!..^»^rn; Jinn- 
 repeated in different chisses they exceed two thousand. In Wilson s A^»cnon 
 ary the number is somewhat more than one thousand nine hundred, l RAN^l.j 
 
 It has been already remarked in the commencement of 
 this inquiry, what Httle reason we have for expecting to 
 find any thing like critical history among the Hindus ; and 
 yet the subject requires a little more accurate investigation. 
 The meaning we intended to convey in making the above 
 remark, was the fact that Hindu, or in other words Sanscrit 
 literature in general, presents us with no historical compo- 
 sition in the sense in which we commonly understand that 
 expression, considered either as legitimate history or a sim- 
 ple enumeration of events. 
 
 With respect to the first of these assertions, it is incon- 
 testably true that no historical work has yet been discovered 
 in India ; even the pundits themselves have not been able 
 to quote a single exception : ^^ would they have omitted to 
 do so had the case been otherwise ? or could they possibly 
 have concealed them from the ardent research of British 
 scholars ? would not national vanity or a thirst of gain in- 
 duce them to exhibit these literary treasures were they in 
 existence ? Should any doubt however remain on the sub- 
 ject, it will soon be removed when we comxC to treat of the 
 Hindu epic poetry. It is indeed hardly possible that critical 
 history should ever exist among a people who had no sort 
 of taste for that kind of literature, and consequently held it 
 in little or no estimation. It is not with the soberness of his- 
 toric truth, but with the meretricious ornaments of poetical 
 fiction, that the Hindus are chiefly concerned ; and hence 
 it is that a narrative, to please them, must be directed less 
 to inform the understanding than to captivate and amuse 
 the fancy. To what extent, indeed, the great Indian 
 epic poems may be founded on real matter of fact will ap- 
 pear in the sequel ; and even admitting that they are, yet 
 the facts themselves have been so metamorphosed by the 
 poets as to present scarcely any documents available for the 
 purposes of history. It will, therefore, be no exaggeration 
 
 ■ ** In the numerous collection of Sanscrit MSS. belonging to the Royal 
 Library at Paris, there is not one properly historical work. This is expressly 
 asserted by Laxgles, CaUihgue des MSS. Sanscrits, p. 13. 
 
 [Mr. Wilson's translation of the Raja Taringini, or History of Cashmir, 
 has clearly demonstrated that regular historical composition was an art not 
 unknown in Hindusthan, and affords satisfactory ground for concluding that 
 these productions were once less rare than at present, and that further exer- 
 tions may bring more relics to light. See Col. Tod's preface to his Annals of 
 ^jasihany and Asiatic Res. vol. xv. Transl.] 
 
144 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 to assert, that the Hindus never had the least idea of what 
 rterm an historic style. Many of the mscnptions already 
 Tlhided to/^ will furnish striking evidence of the truth ot 
 our assertion : for in them even the most simple facts, such as 
 a grant of land, for instance, cannot be recorded without 
 putting into requisition the whole apparatus of poetry ; and 
 die achievements of princes there mentioned, are set off in 
 such a style of pomp and amplification, as among us would 
 scarcely be allowed even in a poet. Can we, therefore, rea- 
 sonably expect any thing like critical history from a people 
 with whom prevailed such a taste as this . 
 
 Assuming, then, that the Hindus possessed no regular 
 historian, yet surely, like other Oriental nations, they might 
 at least have had their writers of annak In default of a 
 Polybius, or a Gibbon, the banks of the Ganges might have 
 cherished an Abulfeda, or a Mirchond ? We shall certainly 
 not deny the possibility of such an occurrence, though we 
 have as yet heard of no proof in support of the conjecture; 
 and were the case otherwise, can we imagine the Hindus 
 less eager to recommend their annalists to the notice ot a 
 foreigner than the Arabians or Persians ; we must conse- 
 quently take it for granted that the pundits are acquainted 
 with no such historian ; and if even these learned natives 
 are unable to inform us, where else shall we seek or expect 
 to find any exception ? In the mean time, however, we 
 must reserve the further elucidation of this point to the com- 
 mencement of the following section, where it properly be- 
 longs ; the more as it can only be determined in any satis- 
 factory manner when we shall have previously discussed the 
 subject of Hindu epic poetry : it will then appear in what 
 sense we must consider the history of this people as nothing 
 more than a poetical history. . 
 
 The geooTaphy of the Hindus bears the same poetical 
 character as their history. They possessed several works m 
 this department of science, some of them composed ^^^.rT^] 
 crit, and others in the popular dialects, of which Wiitorct 
 has given a circumstantial account in the eighth volume ot 
 the Asiatic Researches.^ According to him, many of the 
 
 " See above, p. 100, the inscriptions cited from the Asiatic Res. 
 ^ Asiatic Res. vol. viii. p. 267- An Essay on the Sacred Isles m the wes • 
 of which however only the first part, viz. Of the Geographical Systems ot tne 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 145 
 
 Puranas, or mythological poems, contain particular sections 
 on geography, which are termed Bhuchanda, (section of the 
 earth,) or Bhuvana Cosa, i. e. the treasure of terrestrial 
 mansions. These are the sources from whence the Hindu 
 geographical knowledge found in books which treat of this 
 subject, is derived.^^ Such treatises are however very rare, 
 as the Brahmans are averse to their being generally circu- 
 lated. " The people," say they, " have the Puranas, what do 
 they want more ?" Even Wilford himself was unable to 
 procure two of the most important, both attributed to a 
 royal hand, the one to Vicramaditya, the other to Munya.'^ 
 The geography of the Hindus, considered in a scientific 
 point of view, may be said to resemble that of the Greeks, 
 which was borrowed from the writings of Homer and Hesiod,' 
 or the cyclical poets ; thougli it does not follow that all is a 
 poetical fabrication. The Hindu poets were naturally ac- 
 quainted with their own country, and much of what appears 
 in their writings, relative to its geography, may be explained 
 on historic principles. Thus we cannot mistake the Holy 
 River of India, the Ganges, with its seven branches of equal 
 sanctity ; the countries bordering on its course, especially 
 Magada or Bahar, the scene of Krishna's fabulous history ; 
 the Himalaya mountains in the north, the island of Lanca 
 or Ceylon in the south, as well as particular towns, such as 
 Ayodhya or Oude, Canoge, and some others. But the geo- 
 graphical names in Sanscrit are usually very difterent from 
 the modern appellations, and even the English commentators 
 have been obliged to confess their ignorance of most of 
 them. This circumstance alone is therefore sufficient to 
 involve the ancient geography of India itself in very great 
 obscurity. But as to their ideas respecting countries be- 
 yond the limits of their own, which the Hindu geographers 
 
 Hindus, is inserted in this volume. Wilford himself says, p. 269, " With 
 regard to history the Hindus really have nothing but romances, from which 
 some truths occasionally may be extracted, as well as from their geographical 
 tracts." It is, therefore, the more surprising that he should have endeavoured 
 to prove the sacred Indian isles in the West to be— Great Britain! Unfor- 
 tunately the zeal and assiduity of this writer were guided by no just rules of 
 critical discernment, else what might not his great abilities have accom- 
 plished ! 
 
 * " It is true," says Wilford, " that in addition to the poetic there is a 
 modern system of geography, but this is certainly the worst of the two." I. c. 
 V-V2. «» Wilford, I.e. p. 268. 
 
 VOL. II. L 
 
14G 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHA1». I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 14; 
 
 represent as seven islands or peninsulas [Dwipas] and .^ith 
 reLd to their notions as to the form of the earth, the re- 
 searches and drawings- hitherto published on this subject, 
 are quite sufficient to prove them to be founded solely in 
 the imagination of their poets. 
 
 The discussion relative to Hindu astronomy and its age, 
 we must leave altogether for professional men to determine, 
 and shall confine ourselves to a mere literary notice ot the 
 science. This depends chiefly on the true age to be as- 
 signed to the Surya Siddhanta, the principal work on Hindu 
 astronomy, and which the pundits extol as the most ancient 
 of its kind. Its high antiquity however has been disputed 
 bv Bentley, who endeavoured to prove that the work m 
 question, which is attributed by those learned natives to 
 Varaha, one of their ancient sages, or at least a contempo- 
 rary of Vicramaditya, was composed by Varaha Mihira ni 
 the eleventh century.*^ This assertion met with an oppo- 
 nent even in England, against whom Bentley defended 
 himself in the eighth volume of the Asiatic Researches, and 
 took that occasion of attacking the age of a considerable 
 portion of Sanscrit literature in general ; an argument to 
 which we shall have another occasion of referring. Con- 
 nected with this subject is the opinion of a learned German 
 scholar,*- who supposes the Hindus to have derived their 
 astronomical science from the Arabians ; this assertion wdl 
 also require a more particular examination as we proceed. 
 
 Our inquiries hitherto have been occupied chiefly with 
 the scientific literature of the Hindus, in assumed contni- 
 distinction to their poetical ; though it must be observed, 
 that a separation between the two cannot possibly be made 
 with such definitive accuracy as in the case of European 
 literature. All Hindu works of science, not even exceptino; 
 such as by their subject would seem inapplicable to the 
 purpose, are nevertheless composed in verse. The voca- 
 
 ^ Asiatic Ren. vol. viii. p. 376. o-jji, 
 
 «• Compare Bentley's essav, On the Antiquity of the Surya Siddhanta. in- 
 serted in the Asiatic Res. vol. vi. p. 54rt, and his reply to the cnticisms ot tnc 
 Edinburgh Review, in Asiatic Res. vol. viii. p. 195, On the Hindu system oi 
 Astronomv. . . ... ^ 
 
 « M. Inspector Schaubach, in his two cssavs, De Astronomici studn apmi 
 Indos, etc. ; and Uel)er die Chronologic der Inder, (On the Chronology ot m 
 Hindus,) in Zach's Monatl. corresp. IS3I, for Feb. and March. 
 
 bulary of Amam Sinha may serve for an example. It is 
 true the Sanscrit contains also a few compositions in prose, 
 but it seems that even these, at least those of any classical 
 reputation, are composed in language nearly approaching 
 to metre, a kind of style which some English scholars have 
 termed modulated p7vse^^ These modulations are without 
 doubt of a rhythmical, or perhaps of an assonantial character ; 
 a point which a more accurate acquaintance with the lan- 
 guage itself can only enable us to determine. For the pre- 
 sent we may content ourselves with defining the expression 
 poetical literature, to include those compositions which by 
 their very nature and contents, as w^ell as outward form, 
 belong in a legitimate sense to poetry. 
 
 The various branches of poetry, such as the narrative and 
 tlie dramatic, the lyric as well as the didactic, and the apo- 
 logue, have all flourished in Sanscrit literature, and pro- 
 duced the most excellent fruits. Upon comparing, how- 
 ever, the several kinds with each other, we shall not long 
 hesitate in deciding to which of them the preference belongs. 
 The Hindus themselves award the prize to their great clas- 
 sical epic poems, which they consider as so many branches 
 of their sacred literature. They, as well as the Vedas, are 
 assigned to the most remote periods, and like them are sup- 
 posed to be of divine origin. To the influence of epic poe- 
 try, the civilization of the Hindus is principally owing, as 
 the former was the parent of their mythological system, 
 which in its turn was the chief source of the other kinds of 
 poetry as well as of art. The subject is consequently of 
 very great importance, and deserves our special consider- 
 ation ; but, as a preliminary step, we must here also first 
 determine the limits of our acquaintance with the Hindu 
 epic, and ascertain our capability of forming a just opinion 
 of its merits. Although neither the one nor the other are 
 yet so complete and extensive as we could wish, and indeed 
 as we had reason to expect, still our present knowledge is 
 quite suflScient for enabling us to define its character with 
 some degree of positive certainty. 
 
 The literature of the Hindus is rich in epic poetry ;** and 
 
 " Jones's WbrkSy vol. i. p. 319, 327, as for instance in the Bhagavat, see 
 above, p. 110. 
 " See Colebrooke's treatise, On Sanscrit and Pracrit Poetry, Asiatic Res. 
 
 L 2 
 
148 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 CRAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 149 
 
 their most ancient classic works, of this kind, hke the poems 
 of the Ionian bard, have produced a number of imitations. 
 But as in the Greek the lUad and the Odyssey far outshine 
 all the rest, so do the Ramayana and the Mahabharata 
 ecHpse all similar productions in the Sanscrit." Of these 
 two classical works we are more perfectly acquamted with 
 the Ramayana ; the two first books of which have been 
 translated into English prose by the learned missionaries ot 
 Serampore,*" and however we might otherwise regret the 
 absence of the charms of verse, we have from that very cir- 
 cumstance less reason to doubt the scrupulous exactness of 
 the translators. And we are the better enabled to give a 
 general notion of the contents of the entire poem, as the 
 
 vol X in which are given the titles and contents of several epic poems, to- 
 
 ^^'^::^Xl^^^ie ,Us L.40US, vol. i. p. 115, incorrectly plHces the 
 •i«; of the M«c andaya Purina anterior to both these great epics The sal.- 
 ;^t of this i»eris tW victory of the goddess Bhavam mother of three great 
 Was or* as". e is frequently callel, Durga, (one of her many names, see 
 ui:^7sMyt!.ol.,,!cal z2r/eo«, under />-i^«.) o-r the g^-' de-on Mo.sasa 
 rMihishasural. Langles, in Ins Catalof/ue des MSS. banscntb, p. 04, gives 
 in abs raA of t he hundred and twenty -fonr sections composing the Mar- 
 cLtyrPurana!ft^^^ which it appears that the history of Durga is only an 
 Se of the whole poem. The mistake of Polier however is excusable, on 
 tKou u thit a^^ is circulated in India as a separate and mdc^ 
 
 nendent 1 oem under tL title of ChamUea. And yet it is not very easy to 
 Fell wlmthidued him to believe it more ancient than the two great classical 
 ep cs particularly as it is never placed in the same c ass with them. 
 ^- The Ram yuna of Valmiki, in the original Sungskrit, with a Prose Trans- 
 lation andLplnatory Notes,' by William Carey and J-hua Mar^hma . 
 Vol. i., containing the first book Serampore, ^ ^0«' ^^^«' PP' .^^^^^^^ S;^^ 
 containing a part of the second book Serampore, IsO,^ PP-.j^^^-J 403 Te 
 containing the latter part of the second book, berampore, 1810, pp. 4JJ 1 ne 
 2T^TcLiJoi seven books, each containing a certain number of 
 sections, the first sixty-four, the second eighty. 
 
 A ne^ and critical edition of this poem has just appeared ^'^f^']^'^^^ 
 of Rimivana id est Carmen Epicum de Ramae rebus gestis, poetir antiqu s- 
 1? V"^"s opus!' Textum, Lm, MSS.,.collatis recensuit nte^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 nem Latinam et annotationes criticas adjecit Aug. Gul. a Schlegel. Volu- 
 Tn s pr^mrp'ars Z" ; Bonnie ad Rhenum, 1829. This volume contains 
 fhetexfonhe first! and a considerable portion of the second book. [Ineditcd 
 
 "TThe'dfff"^^^^^^^^^ these two editions is such, that --X ^/"^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 verses occurring in that of Serampore are not to be found M^^hat of Bonn 
 to say nothing of various other discrepancies. But the versions foUowtd b^ 
 the learned editor of the latter, are the most ancient, and every v^ay pr^t r 
 able to those of Bengal adopted by the Semmpore missionaries. ^^^^ «. ^^ 
 tailed account in Schlegel's elegant and erudite preface, p. 22, e c. ; the ^^noie 
 of which will amply repay an attentive perusal; while the/ypographK. 
 merit and general appe«^ra^^ce of the work itself reflects infinite credit on all 
 parties concerned. Transl.] 
 
 proper beginning (for the translation commences only with 
 the fifth section) is replaced with an original abstract of the 
 whole, which is probably of later date than the poem itself, 
 thougli not the less valuable on that account. 
 
 The subject of this poem is the victory of the divine hero 
 Rama over Ravana, prince of the Rakshasas or evil genii. 
 It is possible, indeed, to consider the Ramayana as an alle- 
 gory, representing the triumph of the good principle over 
 the bad ; but the question whether an epic poem be alle- 
 gorical or not, depends less on the subject itself than on the 
 manner of treating it. Now this in the Ramayana is not of 
 an allegorical, but of a purely epic character ; at least ac- 
 cording to the Hindu notion of an epic poem. The Rak- 
 shasas had gotten the upper hand of the benevolent deities, 
 by whom however they could not be overcome, as the latter 
 were bound by a promise of making their adversaries in- 
 vulnerable. None therefore except a mortal, but a mortal 
 of no ordinary mould, could subdue Ravana. In this emer- 
 gency the gods address themselves to Vishnu, one of their 
 superiors, praying liim to become man. Their petition is 
 granted, but in such a manner that Vishnu divides himself 
 into four parts, and assumes the mortal shape of four bro- 
 thers, of whom Rama is chief The principal hero there- 
 fore of the poem, is a god-man ; he overcomes Ravana and 
 puts him to death, and after this exploit returns back to his 
 celestial mansion accompanied with the subjects whom he 
 had governed in this lower world. Such, in few words, is 
 the chief subject of the Ramayana, while the development 
 and method of handling this simple argument, is so remark- 
 ably rich and copious as to suffer little from a comparison 
 in this respect with the most admired productions of the 
 epic muse ; an opinion which a perusal of the first book 
 only, as represented in the translation, will abundantly serve 
 to confirm. It begins with a description of the city Ayo- 
 dhya, formerly the residence of the wise and pious monarch, 
 Dasaratha, in the person of whose son Rama was about to 
 appear. '' This city was founded by Menu, the first sovcr 
 reign who ruled over mankind. Its streets and avenues 
 were admirably disposed, and the principal ones well water- 
 ed. Its walls of various hues resembled the chequered sur- 
 face of a chess-board. It was filled with merchants of all 
 
150 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 151 
 
 sorts, with male and female dancers, with elephants, horsey 
 and chariots. It was decorated with precious stones, hlled 
 with riches, amply furnished with all manner of provisions, 
 beautified with temples and palaces whose lofty summits 
 equalled the mountains, and adorned with baths and gar- 
 dens thickly planted with mango trees. The air was em- 
 balmed with incense, with the perfume of flowers, and the 
 sweet-smelling savour of sacrificial offermgs. It was in- 
 habited by the regenerated^ profoundly mstructed in the 
 Vedas, endowed with excellent qualities, full of smcerity, 
 zeal, and compassion; Uke the great sages, and perfectly 
 masters of their passions and desires. In Ayodhya there 
 was no covetous person, no liar, no deceiver no one of an 
 evil or implacable disposition. None of its inhabitants hved 
 less than a thousand years ; none of them but left behmd a 
 numerous offspring ; none gave the Brahmans less than a 
 thousand rupees ; none flinched from performing the duties 
 attached to their respective situations ; none of them went 
 without earrings, garlands of flowers, necklaces, perfumes, 
 or richly ornamented apparel^' Dasaratha their sovereign 
 already aged nine thousand years, would have been the most 
 fortunate of princes if he had possessed children. With tlie 
 advice of his Brahmans, he determines to off^er the Asliva- 
 meda, or solemn sacrifice of a horse. This, which is one ot 
 the greatest religious ceremonies of the Hmdus, is of such 
 vast importance, according to the prescriptions ot the has- 
 tras, that it requires a previous preparation ot many years. 
 Hence arises a fresh subject, under the form of an episode, 
 and of all others one most adapted to display the capabilities 
 of the poet. In order to the success of the intended sacri- 
 fice it was necessary that a daughter of the king, named 
 Shanta, who had been adopted by another pious prince, 
 should wed a young saint, who led a solitary lie in the o- 
 rests, and occupied himself in studying the Vedas. Bu 
 was no such easy matter to draw Rishya Sringa, for tliat 
 was the name of our youthful hermit, from his retreat. 1 he 
 task was deputed to a number of young maidens, well versed 
 in the arts of seduction, and who were commissioned to en- 
 tice him in the disguise of sages. Now Rishya 8ringa had 
 
 « The name regenerate, or twice born, is applied to the three superior 
 castes ; pre-eminently, however, to the Brahmans. 
 
 never yet seen the face of womankind : he hears their song, 
 discovers them dancing through the odoriferous shrubs and 
 creeping plants, conducts them to his cell, and after being 
 intoxicated with the wine they had offered him, is inspired 
 with the flame of mutual passion, is led away captive, and 
 becomes the husband of the lotus-eyed Shanta. On this 
 fascinating^ picture are displayed all the charms of Hindu 
 poetry. Then follows a description of the great sacrifice, 
 to which princes and Brahmans are invited from afar, and 
 its complete success insures Dasaratha the blessing of male 
 children. This event consequently paves the way for the 
 incarnation of Vishnu, and the poet introduces us to the 
 mansion of Brahma, whither repair the Devas and heavenly 
 sages, who had assisted at the sacrifice, and implore his aid 
 against the impious Havana. Here Vishnu arrives also. 
 " The illustrious lord of the universe, clad in vestments of 
 yellow, ornamented with golden bracelets, and riding on the 
 eagle Vainataya, like the sun on a cloud, and holding his 
 discus and mace in hand." Yielding to the entreaties of 
 the gods, he promises them an incarnation of eleven thou- 
 sand years, and the destruction of Havana, who could only 
 thus be overcome. Vishnu accordingly becomes man, in the 
 persons of the four sons who were born to Dasaratha of his 
 three wives ; Hama the eldest of Kausalya, Lakshmau and 
 Satrughna of Sumitra, and Bharata the fourth of the beauti- 
 ful Kaikeyi.*** Vishnu, however, notwithstanding his incar- 
 nation, (so goes the Indian fable,) still retains his divinity in 
 heaven. But at his demand an innumerable host of mon- 
 keys are produced as the allies and assistants of Hama in the 
 approaching war. The introduction of monkeys into an 
 epic poem certainly appears rather a strange idea: but 
 their meanness vanishes when we find these animals to be 
 of divine nature. In fact their origin proves them to be 
 children of the gods, produced as they were by the latter at 
 the command of Brahma ; supernatural beings endowed 
 with monstrous power, especially their chiefs and princes, 
 Bali, Hanuman, etc.,*^ strong as tigers and lions. We might 
 safely call them satyrs, if the appellation were not likely to 
 convey a wrong idea. The poet, however, by creating such 
 
 * Ramayanaf i. 217. 
 
 " Ibid. i. 223—231. 
 
132 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAT. 1. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 153 
 
 I 
 
 affents as these, has contrived to open a fertile source of in- 
 cident for the sequel of his poem. The action of the piece 
 now passing over the infancy of Rama, transports us to the 
 time when he and his brothers were old enough to marry. 
 At this period a certain sage of royal extraction, named 
 Visva Mitra, who by a life of penance had elevated himself 
 to the rank of saint and Brahman, comes into the presence 
 of King Dasaratha. He had made a solemn vow of offering 
 a particular sacrifice, but the opposition of the Rakshasas 
 had hitherto prevented him from doing it m a manner ac- 
 ceptable to the deity. 1 1 Ul 1 
 Now his troublesome assailants could only be subdued 
 by the power of Rama, and therefore he came to implore 
 Rajah Dasaratha that he would allow his son, the youthful 
 hero, to become his assistant. The narrative of the recep- 
 tion of Visva Mitra forms a truly patriarchal scene. The 
 aged monarch cannot resolve to part with his darling child 
 the lotus-eyed Rama ; for how should a youth of sixteen be 
 able to cope in battle with those impious demons? but, 
 alas ! he was bound by his promise of granting whatever 
 Visva Mitra desired, and the latter severely upbraids him 
 with the infraction of his word. " At the wrath of the sage, 
 the earth quaked, and fear seized even the gods."^ At this 
 juncture the priest Vasishtha, the monarch's counsellor, in- 
 terposes his advice, and overrules Dasaratha. The king 
 himself summons Rama and his brother Lakshman, kisses 
 them, and hands them over to Visva Mitra. At their de- 
 parture, a shower of odorous flowers signifies the approba- 
 tion of heaven, and the celestial inhabitants themselves 
 celebrate the event with songs of joy. The description of 
 their travels furnishes a new and exuberant subject for the 
 poet's fancy ; a number of adventures take place, some of 
 them very artfully connected with the principal story, the 
 enumeration of which occupies almost half the book. In 
 the course of the expedition Rama obtains from Visva Mitra 
 a present of celestial weapons, as in the Iliad Achilles re- 
 ceives the same from Thetis. But the weapons of Rama 
 are of a very different temper, they are every where ready 
 at the beck of the hero, on his pronouncing a certain 
 
 so 
 
 Mamayana, i. 251. 
 
 formula ; they are even personified, and hold conversations 
 with their master.^* Rama now achieves his first exploit 
 by killing the sorceress Taraka. Pursuing their journey 
 the travellers reach the banks of the Ganges, an occasion 
 which serves to introduce a detailed account of its fabulous 
 origin, for Visva Mitra carefully imparts information upon 
 every remarkable object calculated to instruct the mind of the 
 youthfiil Rama. The Ganges with its seven tributary streams 
 are represented as females, but the fable contains so much 
 of what is revolting to our notions of propriety, that the 
 translators have only ventured a summary allusion to the 
 subject. The holy river descends from the mountains of 
 Himalaya, purifies the world, and goes to replace the waters 
 of the ocean. The Ramayana likewise informs us that the 
 Gano*es was of little less consequence to the natives of India 
 than the Nile was to the Egyptians ; and that, together with 
 its various branches, it was reputed to be of divine origin ; 
 moreover, we find that the transformation of female saints 
 into rivers is no stranger to the genius of Hindu poetry. 
 The thread of our history now brings us near to the marriage 
 of Rama. The travellers having passed the Ganges and 
 journeyed towards the north-east, arrive at the palace of a 
 king named Janaka, who had an enormous bow which no 
 person had yet been able to bend ; the monarch was at that 
 moment occupied with the solemnities of a sacrifice ; his 
 reception of the new comers is quite as imposing, if not 
 more so, than any recounted in the pages of Homer, ; while 
 the distinguishing part of the Hindu character, is the awful 
 veneration with which even royalty itself condescends to 
 address an illustrious Brahman sage. The king, with his 
 hands respectfully joined together, says to the principal of 
 the wise men, Visva Mitra, " O thou godlike, take place 
 among the great sages." Thus invited Visva Mitra sits 
 down ; upon which the king, surrounded with his counsel- 
 lors, and with joined hands,^^ drawing near to him speaks 
 in these words, " O thou heavenly one, to-day am I blessed 
 with the water of immortality ! to-day will my sacrifice 
 have the desired effect !"— After which the pious king, with 
 
 *' Ramayana, i. 295, 299. 
 
 ^ Properly with the palms joined together, which is a sign of devout 
 respect. 
 
154 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 155 
 
 a smile of delight, and with hands folded as before, pro- 
 ceeds to inquire, " Who I pray (may eternal prosperity at- 
 tend thee !) are those noble youths of majestic gait like the 
 elephant, courageous as the tiger and the buffalo, and with 
 large eyes resembling the lotus ? who are those heroes ra- 
 diant in the bloom of youth, of godlike aspect, as if de- 
 scended from heaven, and armed with daggers?" Upon 
 hearing these words of the mighty king, the sage replies, 
 " They are the sons of Dasaratha, and are come to inquire 
 about thy great bow." The sage having thus spoken, was 
 silent.^^ Now the king had promised that he who could 
 bend this bow should be rewarded with the hand of his 
 daughter, the fair Sita, who had been solicited by all the 
 neighbouring rajahs in vain. 
 
 Here follows a long episode ^^ recounting the history of 
 Visva Mitra's penances, by means of which the sage, already 
 a king in his own person, though of the Kshatriya caste, was 
 finally successful in being admitted among the Brahmans. 
 
 The king then orders the redoubtable bow to be brought ; 
 it required the united efforts of eight hundred men to draw 
 the eight-wheeled machine in which it was deposited. 
 With one hand Rama grasps the bow, bends it, and lo ! it 
 breaks in the middle, with an astounding noise, like the 
 crash of a falling mountain. It was now determined that 
 Sita should become the bride of the successful hero, while 
 Urmila her sister should wed Lakshman. His father, the 
 king Dasaratha, is invited to the nuptials of his son ; and 
 afler a four days' journey from Ayodhya, he arrives at the 
 city Mithila, accompanied with his sages, his counsellors, 
 and his army. The marriage is then celebrated, and his 
 two remaining sons also espouse each of them a wife of the 
 family of Janaka, from among his brother's daughters. 
 Rama and his brother with their consorts and the king 
 Dasaratha return home to Ayodhya ; the king determines to 
 associate Rama with him in the government, while he sends 
 off his other son, Bharata, to his maternal grandfather, the 
 wise monarch Kekuya ; in order to receive under his super- 
 
 " Ramayanaf i. 444. j e v a 
 
 ** A German translation of this episode is given at the end of tred. 
 SchlegcVs Essay, Ueber die Sprache und Weisheit der Inder (On the Lan- 
 guage and Wisdom of the Hindus). 
 
 intending care the necessary and suitable education of a 
 prince. 
 
 From this concise abstract of the first book we may 
 easily perceive what a variety of incident the poet is furn- 
 ished with in order to fill up an extended narrative. The 
 table of contents relating to the other books,^^ and which is 
 prefixed to the commencement of the poem, informs us, that 
 the intrigues of Kaikeyi, who was desirous that her own son 
 Bharata should succeed to the throne, prevented the eleva- 
 tion of Rama, and that in consequence Dasaratha was per- 
 suaded to banish him for a period of fifteen years. Rama, 
 followed by his wife Sita, and his brother Lakshman, leaves 
 Ayodhya, and retires into a forest, where he lives in penance. 
 But the king soon repents his misguided action, and is un- 
 able to bear the loss of his favourite Rama. The complaints 
 of his mother, and the lamentations of the people, unite in 
 distracting the aged monarch ; he falls down in a swoon, 
 and immediately expires.^^ His corpse is laid in a vessel 
 filled with oil, and his disconsolate widow Kausalya, the 
 mother of Rama, determines to burn herself with him. In 
 the mean time the state is without a king, and the poet 
 takes occasion to give an animated description of the con- 
 sequences attendant upon such a loss. The assembled 
 counsellors and Brahmans, with the chief priest Vasishtha 
 at their head, determine on sending messengers to Bharata 
 the son of Keikeyi, who was still at the court of his mater- 
 nal grandfather, inviting him to mount the vacant throne. 
 The messengers set out, and their journey is described ; 
 Bharata, dismissed by his grandfather with rich presents 
 and a numerous retinue, accompanies them home. Then 
 follows a description of the funeral obsequies of Dasaratha ; 
 the royal body is clothed in vestments of silk, and being 
 placed on a bier is committed to the flames. Bharata, how- 
 
 " In the third section. The poem itself commences properly with the fifth. 
 
 *" It is with the death of Dasaratha that the third volume commences. 
 
 [This episode was elegantly published in 1826, at Paris, by the celebrated 
 Chezy, under the title of Yndjnadattabada, or The Death of Yadjnadatta, to- 
 gether with a French translation, copious grammatical analysis, notes, and a 
 preface exhibiting a brief view of some of the more striking peculiarities of 
 Sanscrit grammar. The text is beautifully engraved in the BengaU character, 
 and the whole followed by a literal version in Latin by M. Burnouf. It was 
 subsequently edited in the Devanagari character by M. Loiseleur Deslonfj- 
 champs, in 1829. Transl.] 
 
156 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 157 
 
 ever, declines accepting the crown which according to 
 Hindu law belongs of right to the elder brother Upon 
 this the council of sages and Brahmans resolve to despatch 
 him into the forests in quest of Rama, with the view of pro- 
 posing him as the successor. Bharata sets out with a 
 splendid retinue, and his travels are described. He passes 
 westward beyond the Ganges, on his way to the residence 
 of a renowned sage, Bharadaraja, who lived in that neigh- 
 bourhood, and to whom he pays a visit, leaving his atteiid- 
 ants and army behind. Bharadaraja, however, who by a 
 course of penitence and devotion had elevated himself to 
 the dignity of a Rishi, insists upon his numerous suite also 
 coming and partaking of the entertainment he should pro- 
 vide for them. A description of the banquet then follows, 
 which in a certain degree is a feast of enchantment ; for tlie 
 power of the saint is so prodigious, that all nature seems to 
 be at his command. Here again is another opportunity of 
 displaying all the richness of the Hindu epic. The rivers 
 and forests appear to bring tribute to this wonderftil Bhara- 
 daraja : a magnificent palace is raised, furnished with tables, 
 richly decked with provisions of every kind. The princes 
 and sages take their place, and next to them the commander 
 of the army. Celestial music enlivens the scene, while thou- 
 sands of beautiful damsels and dancing girls are sent by 
 Brahma himself The whole army prolong the feast until 
 the morning, when, at the command of the sage, the en- 
 chantment is dissolved, and every thing returns to its usual 
 order, as if the whole had been no more than the illusion of 
 a dream.^^ Bharata now pursues his journey and arrives 
 at the forest, where he finds Rama, with his brother and 
 Sita, in the guise of penitents. He offers him the sove- 
 reignty, but Rama steadily refuses to accept it, until he 
 has completed his engagement of fifteen years penance. 
 He surrenders to Bharata the royal insignia, the golden 
 slipper,^ and the umbrella, promising to resume them 
 after the expiration of the above period. Bharata, in 
 consequence, returns to the orphaned city of Ayodhya; 
 he does not, however, stay there, but takes up his resi- 
 
 " Ramayana^ iii. 304. 
 
 ** A peculiar kind of high shoe was also in use among the Persians, jukI 
 considered a mark of royalty. 
 
 dence in Nadigrama, from whence he administers the em- 
 pire in the name of his brother ;^^ while Rama with his 
 wife and brother continue their penance in the woods. In 
 the mean time Ravana prince of the Rakshasas conceives a 
 violent passion for the beauteous Sita ; and by stratagem 
 and force succeeds in carrying her oif to his city of Lanka, 
 situate in the island of that name. The complaints and he- 
 roic achievements of Rama fill up the remaining books ; he 
 enters into an alliance with Hanuman chief of the monkeys, 
 who engages to go in quest of Sita. Hanuman proceeds to 
 Lanka, obtains an interview with her, and after delivering a 
 message from her lord, hastens back to rejoin him. The grand 
 expedition against Lanka is now undertaken; a bridge is con- 
 structed across the sea ; the allied armies pass over, and lay 
 siege to the fortress of Lanka. In the description of this war, 
 the poet's imagination seems to have taken its highest flight. 
 The scene of battle is not confined to the surface of the 
 earth, for the hostile armies are represented engaging in the 
 air itself Rama and Ravana encounter one another on 
 their war chariots ; a combat ensues, which makes the earth 
 tremble for seven days, until the prince of the Rakshasas, 
 Ravana, is overthrown. Rama and Hanuman now make 
 their entrance into Lanka, find Sita, and as Rama had 
 thought proper to question her fidelity, she proves her in- 
 nocence by submitting to the ordeal of fire. Brahma and 
 the other deities appear and give them their benediction. 
 Dasaratha also arrives ; and afterwards the whole party re- 
 pair home to Ayodhya, where no further obstacle remained 
 to the elevation of Rama. He does not, however, continue 
 on earth, but after committing the reins of government to 
 his brother Lakshman, returns with all his people to heaven, 
 his real abode. 
 
 The above sketch comprises only the main incidents of 
 the Ramayana, as it would be impossible to unravel the 
 wliole contexture of the poem, and its endless variety of fic- 
 tion, with no better assistance than we can derive from a 
 
 *" Here ends with the second book the translation of the Ramayana. The 
 contents of the remaining five, perhaps the most beautiful of all, are only 
 known to us through a brief summary prefixed at the commencement of the 
 poem. 
 
158 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAF. 1. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 159 
 
 meagre table of contents. There are many points, there- 
 fore, which require a critical investigation. 
 
 We can, then, as little doubt the existence of a great epic 
 poem entitled the Ramayana, as we can doubt that there is 
 such a book as the Iliad. The Ramayana, however, is not 
 the only poem known under that title ; there are several 
 others^ which are probably imitations, or, at least, variations 
 of the same principal subject. But the one now before us 
 is distinguished from all the rest by its being the production 
 of Valmiki ; and it is the general opinion that his composi- 
 tion is the original upon which the others have been formed. 
 Nevertheless, the question relative to the poet himself, aiul 
 the history of his poem, is involved in much greater ob- 
 scurity than the works of Homer. The epoch assigned to 
 Valmiki is very indefinite ; he belongs to the same time as 
 Rama himself, and is one of the great Munis or sages, who 
 lived in the society of the gods.^^ In the last book of his 
 poem he introduces himself as speaking in character ; he is 
 therefore something more than Homer, in that he is the 
 confidant and familiar acquaintance of the gods themselves. 
 This being the case, how can we reasonably expect any 
 thing like chronological accuracy with regard to his life and 
 works ? Yet the Ramayana itself is certainly very ancient, 
 and must have been composed at a time when Hindu poetry, 
 altogether independent, and uncontaminated with foreign 
 alloy, flourished in all its native purity and splendour. But 
 whether the poem in its present state was the immediate 
 offspring of one poet's imagination, or whether it has gradu- 
 ally become what it now is by the incorporation of many 
 successive compositions, cannot be so easily determined. 
 The Ramayana, it is true, exhibits a certain degree of epic 
 unity, though from the frequent intermediate narrations put 
 in the mouth of sages and heroes, the Hindu poem is of ii 
 more episodical character than the Greek. But ere we can 
 proceed to offer any general remarks on this subject, it will 
 be necessary first to examine another great heroic poem of 
 the Hindus, the Maha-bharata. 
 
 * See Langles, Catalogue des Manuscrits Sanserifs, p. 14, where several 
 other poems with this title are enumerated. 
 
 •' He is so described in the first section of the poem. 
 
 Our long-cherished expectations of being presented with 
 an English translation of this celebrated work ^^ from the 
 pen of Dr. Wilkins, have unfortunately not yet been realized. 
 Only one episode, of moderate extent, the Bhagavad-Gita, 
 has hitherto been translated by him ; but this, as it contains 
 a dialogue between Krishna and his pupil Arjuna upon re- 
 ligious subjects, introduced into the body of the Mahabharat, 
 belongs rather to didactic than epic poetry, and under that 
 head we shall have another opportunity of referring to it. 
 
 The Mahabharat was translated into Persian by order of 
 the emperor Akbar the Great. In this translation each 
 book is preceded by a short table of contents, which the 
 editor of the Ayin Acbari has rendered into English.^^ Ra- 
 jah Behrut (Bharata) reigned in the city of Hastnapur, (Has- 
 tinapura,) the metropolis of India. From him was descended 
 in the seventh degree Rajah Chutterberi, (Bichitrabirya,) 
 who left behind him two sons. The eldest, Dertrashter, 
 (Dhritarashtra,) who was blind, had a hundred and one 
 sons, called the Coros, (Koravas,) of whom the eldest was 
 named Durjohn (Duryodhana) ; Pandu, the younger bro- 
 ther of Dertrashter, had five sons, Yudister, Bimsin, Arjun, 
 Nekul, and Seddu (Yuddhishthira, Bhima-Sena, Arjuna, 
 Nakula, Sahadeva) ; these are called the Pandos (Pandavas). 
 After the death of Pandu his blind brother Dertrashter be-^ 
 came king : but his eldest son Durjohn possessed himself of 
 sovereign power, seized hold of the government, and appre- 
 hensive lest it should devolve upon the Pandos, he endea- 
 voured to destroy them by setting fire to their dwelling, 
 which had been filled with pitch and other combustible 
 materials. Durjohn believed the Pandos were burnt ; how- 
 ever, they contrived to escape, and fleeing through the de- 
 
 •= The title Mahabharata is usually translated " the great war." But ac- 
 cordinff to some writers, Bharata, is either the name of a king from whom 
 were descended the families of the Coros and Pandos, or else the name ot a 
 city. Obsonville, Bfmgavadam, p. 129; and Sir William Jones, Works, 
 vol. vi. p. 443. I have adopted the former interpretation. . ^ . . , 
 
 [Mr. Wilson in his Dictionary notices a whimsical derivation of this word 
 from Bhara, weight, the poem having been put by the Rishis ma scale and 
 weighed against the four Vedas, which it was found to outweigh, thence its 
 usual prefix of Maha, or great ; a special grammatical rule, however, denves it 
 from Bharata, the prince so named, because the war narrated m it occurred 
 amongst his descendants. Transl.] , , , . , • ^u o „..;«. 
 
 « Ayin Acbari, ii. p. 100, sqq. I have added in a parenthesis the Sansciit 
 form of the proper names as far as tliey could be ascertained. 
 
liii 
 
 160 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 161 
 
 « 
 
 sert, took refuge in the city Cumpela. They soon became 
 renowned for their valour and generosity, and Durjohn af- 
 terwards resolved to divide his kingdom with them. He 
 gave them one half, including Delhi, and reserved for him- 
 self the other, with Hastnapur. But Yudister beginning to 
 distinguish himself, the jealousy of Durjohn was excited ; 
 and after inviting the Pandos to a feast, he unfairly won 
 from them in a game at draughts the whole of their pos- 
 sessions. As a last stake, they promised, in case they should 
 lose, to confine themselves for the space of twelve years in 
 solitude, and after that term withdraw into private life. 
 Being again unfortunate, they duly kept their promise ; but 
 at their return Durjohn behaved with such cruelty towards 
 them that they flew to arms ; and thereupon ensued the 
 great war between the Pandos and the Coros. After a 
 long series of mutual hostilities, a general engagement took 
 place on the lake Kurkhet, which lasted eighteen days; 
 Durjr>hn was slain, and a complete victory at length secured 
 the throne to the Pandos.^* 
 
 •* The Mahabharat is divided into eighteen cantos, or books, (Parvas,) 
 which, according to the Index prefixed to the Persian translation, contain 
 the following particulars. — Book I. History of the famiHes of the Pandos 
 and Coros. if. Yudister sends his brothers into all parts to make conquests. 
 The Coros arrange a sacrificial feast in order to play at draughts. Prepar- 
 ations for the same. III. The Pandos, having lost at play, retire into the 
 desert, where they continue twelve years. Enumeration of events which 
 happened in the mean time. IV. The Pandos remove from the desert to 
 the city of Behrut, and conceal themselves there. V. They are discovered, 
 and the war breaks out. General engagement on the lake Kurkhet. VI. 
 Combats of heroes. The first ten days of the battle several of Dertrashter's 
 sons are slain. VII. Durjohn holds a council of war. Derna becomes com- 
 mander-in-chief, but falls in battle five days afterwards. VIII. Events of 
 the two following days. Kurren is appointed chief; one of the greatest he- 
 roes of his time. He puts Yudister to flight, but is killed by Arjun. IX. 
 Schul succeeds to the command of the army. His exploits and death. 
 Durjohn hides himself. He is discovered by Bakiken. His death. This is 
 the eighteenth day of the battle. The Pandos are at length victorious. X. 
 Account of the last events of the war. Eight only of the Pandos survive. 
 XI. Lamentations of the women on both sides for the loss of their re- 
 spective friends. The mother of Durjohn curses Krishna. XII. Acts of 
 Yudister after the victory. He wishes to abdicate, but is dissuaded by Vyasa, 
 Krishna, and Bikum. This book contains many sublime religious and moral 
 precepts, and rules of good government. XIII. Yudister wishes to retire 
 mto solitude, but Vyasa dissuades him. XIV. Preparations for the feast of 
 Ismid. XV. Dertrashter and Kundehary, the mother of Durjohn, and Kuaty, 
 the mother of the Pandos, go into retirement. XVI. Extinction of the race 
 of the Yadus and other events. XVII. King Yudister and his brothers re- 
 tire into solitude in the Himalaya mountains, and the former abdicates the 
 throne. XVIII. Death of the Pandos. Yudister and his brothers mount 
 
 The index from which tlie above abstract is taken appears 
 to give a general though very succinct view of the whole 
 poem. From an additional notice we learn, that altogether 
 it consists of 100,000 distichs, (slokas,) of which 24,000 are 
 occupied in describing the war between the Pandos' and the 
 Coros, while the remaining, and of course by far the greatest 
 portion, comprises episodes and digressions. The index is 
 apparently confined to the mere history of the war and the 
 events which followed it. This is, in fact, the principal sub- 
 ject of the poem, to which all the rest is subordinate ; and 
 it is not improbable that the Persian prose version of the 
 Mahabharat may turn out to be merely an abridgement in- 
 stead of a translation of the Hindu original. What indeed 
 may surprise is the fact that the index makes no allusion to 
 the influence of the gods ; except once in the eleventh book, 
 where Krishna is unexpectedly introduced upon the scene : 
 may we not, therefore, reasonably consider this index to the 
 Mahabharat to be an imperfect compilation V'^ What ap- 
 pears strongly to confirm this supposition, is a comparison of 
 the extracts of the same poem given by PoHer, in his My- 
 thology of the Hindus. A great portion of this work is bor- 
 rowed from the Mahabliarat ; but here arises a considerable 
 difficulty, because the author having also mentioned the Bha- 
 gavat Purana as another source from whence he derived his 
 information, it is almost impossible to determine accurately 
 what belongs to the one or the other of these poems. The 
 Bhagavat Purana contains chiefly the history of Krishna, 
 which, however, is also interwoven with the thread of the 
 Mahabharat, as we shall see presently, and as the former 
 
 up into heaven.— I am indebted for a translation of this Index to my learned 
 Inend Professor Mitscherlich of Berlin. It agrees almost exactly with the 
 accounts given in the Aj/in Achari, ii. p. 100, and consequently serves tocon- 
 nrm their general correctness. 
 
 " Prefixed to the Mahabharat is a proem, relative to the inauguration of 
 tne poet Vyasa, by Brahma and Ganeslia, and of which the second part con- 
 tains also a general index to the poem. But in the English translation of 
 tins proem, inserted in the Annals of Oriental Literature, P. I. II. III., this 
 part IS altogether left out. The chapter of contents is here omitted, being of a 
 mure not to be translated. II. p. 2S2.— the scarcely intelligible Latin trans- 
 ation of the proem in Frank's Chrestomathia, P. I. p. 122—147. gives only 
 H 1 (f ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ English version, and consequently nothing of the index. 
 nad Mr. Frank made choice of this instead of the other, he would have done 
 us some service. In default of the index, therefore, we must be content with 
 tie other sources of information alluded to in the text. 
 
 / 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 M 
 
I'liii 
 
 l(i2 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 ia3 
 
 li 
 
 poem itself bears witness.«^ Although the war of the Pan- 
 dos and Coros is properly the subject, yet Krishna, or rather 
 an incarnation of Vishnu under that name, is no less the prin- 
 cioal hero of the Mahabharat : iie is the defender and as- 
 sistant of his relations the Pandos ; and it is under his 
 guidance, and through his power, that they are victonom 
 And consequently the legitimate object of the poem woiild 
 seem to refer rather to the appearance of Vishnu upon the 
 earth in the character of Krishna, and to the victory which 
 by his means the good princes obtained over the bad It 
 is easy to see how the latter subject, properly speakin<r, 
 has given the Mahabharat its poetic form, an observation 
 which will appear still more evident from the following ex- 
 tract of the poem itself/^ 
 
 The dominion of the bad spirits had become so excessive, 
 that the earth could no longer endure their violence. As- 
 suming, therefore, the form of a cow, she presents herself 
 before^ Indra, the lord of the firmament, to complain of her 
 wrongs : he directs her to Siva, who in his turn sends her 
 to Vishnu. Vishnu repairs with her to the temple of Brah- 
 ma the invisible, on the borders of the sea of milk, and is 
 there commanded to become man, or to appear as an in- 
 carnation under the name of Krishna, in the city Matra, 
 (Mathura,) situate on the banks of the Jumna, and in the 
 house of Bosdajo and Deyoki. This Bosdajo was of the 
 family of Yadu, son of Jayat, who had formerly reigned 
 over the land (of India), and from whom were also descend- 
 ed the two branches of the Coros and the Pandos, who were 
 now disputing the succession to the throne. This paves 
 the way for a description of the genealogical descent ot 
 the family, which occupies the first book of the poem ; and 
 as it embraces the whole circle of Hindu mytholooy, 
 serves to furnish the poet with a rich variety of subject- 
 matter. With this is intimately connected the birth of 
 Krishna, which, as one may easily suppose, could not take 
 place unattended with miracle, in order to escape the per- 
 secutions of Kansa, to whom it had been prophesied that 
 the eighth son of that marriage (and this was Krishna) would 
 
 * Bhaf/avadam, par Obsonville, p. 303. Bhagnvat is one of the surnames 
 of Krishna. 
 *' PoLiER, 3fi/tkolof/{e des Indmis^ vol. i. p. 39o, etc. 
 
 take away his life. To prevent the accomphshment of this 
 prediction, the whole empire of Daints, or evil genii, was 
 put in motion, but all to no purpose. Even in infancy 
 Krishna performed the most surprising actions; and the 
 history of his youth, his education, and sojourn among the 
 Gopis, or milkmaids, and his adventures with them, opens a 
 wide field of display for the poet's imagination. When 
 grown up, Krishna returns to Matra and slays Kansa, who 
 had put his relations into confinement. The family of Yadu 
 then governed in Hastnapur on the Jumna ; and of the 
 line of Pandu there were five princes, all born under 
 circumstances of wonder, and all of them extraordinary 
 beings. Of these, Yudister was the most just, Bhim the 
 strongest, Arjun the most expert archer, Shekdajo the 
 wisest, and Nakul the most handsome. They were not, 
 however, in possession of the throne, for it had been usurp- 
 ed by the tyrant Durjohn of the house of the Coros, who 
 having fraudulently invited the Pandos to play with him, had 
 managed to cheat them out of their kingdom; since which 
 he had never ceased to oppress and persecute them by all the 
 means in his power. Krishna, apprized of the situation of 
 his relatives by a confidential friend whom he had sent to 
 Hastnapur, engages to assist them. In the mean time, 
 Matra was attacked by the Rajah Jerasind, (Ugrasena,) the 
 father-in-law of Kansa, who had solemnly sworn to avenge 
 his death. But he was overcome by Rama the brother of 
 Krishna, and would have been slain, had not the latter 
 vouchsafed him his life. Jerasind, however, took up arms 
 a second time, and with more formidable preparations than 
 before. Then Krishna, to insure the inhabitants of Matra 
 from all danger, summoned up an island from the middle of 
 the ocean, on which by his order the architect of heaven, 
 Biscurma, (Visvakarma,) constructed the wonderful city 
 Dwarka, " whose walls and pavements glittered with gold, 
 silver, and precious stones; its ramparts were formed of 
 solid gold, and the houses of pure crystal. Vessels of gold 
 adorned the portals of every mansion. The bazaars were 
 decked with splendid stalls, the gardens were shaded with 
 trees of Paradise, and refreshed with the waters of immor- 
 tality. A multitude of temples raised their towering sum- 
 mits, and the smoke of incense from the altars perfumed the 
 
 M 2 
 
164 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 air " To this wonderftil city Krishna transports the inha- 
 bitants of Matra, where they remain in perfect security. 
 Here also he places his first wife, Rukmmi, who like her 
 lord is of more than human origin, being an incarnation of 
 his celestial consort Lakshmi. After this Krishna proceeds 
 to Hastnapur to stand as mediator between the Pandos and 
 Durjohn. The tyrant, however, has recourse to artifice, 
 and prepares a banquet, to which he invites the Pandos, in- 
 tending to burn them with tlie house where they are all as- 
 sembled. But they escaped this violent death, (though 
 Durjohn believed them to be destroyed, as he had con- 
 founded them with other strangers,) and withdrew into the 
 solitude of a deep forest, where no one was acquainted with 
 the place of their concealment except Krishna. The heroic 
 exploits achieved by the Pandos, though unknown, during 
 their residence in the forest ; the marvellous city Dwarka 
 and its destinies, the machinations and attempts of Durjohn 
 and the Pandos respectively against each other, the assist- 
 ance afforded to the latter by Krishna and his brother, the 
 final war, and the great battles fought during its continu- 
 ance, which terminated in the overthrow of Durjohn ; all 
 these particulars furnish an inexhaustible source of descrip- 
 tive embellishment to the poet. He then concludes with 
 an account of the absorption of the wonderful city Dwarka 
 into the ocean from whence it arose, the Pandos recover 
 their dominion in Hastnapur, and Krishna ascends up into 
 his heavenly and original mansion of Vaikuntha. 
 
 Whatever judgment we may be disposed to pronounce on 
 the merits of the poem before us, imperfect as that must 
 necessarily be, when we are not even possessed of a simple 
 prose translation, and of course can form no idea of its ma- 
 jestic style and metrical character, yet it will scarcely be 
 possible to deny the Mahabharat to be one of the richest 
 compositions in epic poetry that was ever produced. 
 
 Although, however, the summaries and indexes before 
 mentioned are insufficient for enabling us to form a correct 
 opinion of the whole poem, yet with regard to the subordi- 
 nate parts, two episodes, taken from the Mahabharat, have 
 not long ago been published in the original Sanscrit, and 
 accompanied with an excellent translation, of which the 
 Bhagavadgita, already alluded to, belongs to didactic, and 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 165 
 
 the other (Nala) to epic poetry ; our present business is 
 therefore only with the latter, for which we are indebted to 
 the labours of Bopp, the first scholar who fathomed the 
 depths of Sanscrit literature in Germany.^^ We are now 
 eagerly expecting the fulfilment of his promise of editing 
 several other episodes from the great poem, in the same 
 manner, which will enable us to pronounce a more deter- 
 minate judgment on the merits of the whole. The episode 
 of Nala is taken from the third book of the Mahabharat. 
 When the Pandos, after having been cheated out of their 
 kingdom by the unfair play of Durjohn, had retired into 
 the forests, the sage Vrihasdana recounts to the eldest of the 
 brothers, Yudhishthir, in order to console him, the history 
 of Nala, who had met with a similar misfortune, but who 
 nevertheless regained . his kingdom in the end. Nala king 
 of Nishadha, inflamed with the bare accounts of the beauty 
 of Damayanti, the daughter of Bhima king of Vidharba, had 
 fallen violently in love with her. A golden-winged swan^^^ 
 proposes to act as his ambassador. He accordingly de- 
 spatches the bird with a message to Damayanti ; and the 
 princess, surrounded with her women, receives it with great 
 complacency. In the mean while the king her father had 
 invited the neighbouring princes and monarchs to Vidharba, 
 in order that she might select a husband from among their 
 number. Thither also Nala himself hastens to repair. The 
 
 « Nalus, Carmen Sanscritum e Mahabharata ; edidit, Latine vcilit, et ad- 
 notationibus illustravit Franciscus Bopp, Londini, 1819, pp.210. 1 he notes 
 are chiefly critical. [Professor Bopp has since pubhshed four other episodes 
 of the Mahabharat, under the title of " Diluvuim ciim tnbus i^^^^ Mahabha- 
 ratjE episodiis prsstantissimis, 1829." This publication contains the Deluge, 
 m interesting to compare with the Mosaic account, the Mythic history of Sa- 
 vitri, the Ra|e of Draupadi, and Aijun's journey to Indra's Heaven, of which 
 last, however, only the latter half is given. Inedited note of the author ] 
 
 " [The oridnal word has usually been rendered by the very unpoetical 
 term « goose !" but the Hansa of the Hindus bears little or "o resemblance to 
 that plebeian fowl. There are three distinctions : tl^«^I^^>'^^-^,^."^t\iJp£ 
 Hansa,) with a milk-white body and deep-red beak and legs ; f^^is s the Phc^^^ 
 nicopt^ros or Flamingo : the Mallikaksha-hansa, (or Haiisa v^^th eyes li^^^^^^^^^ 
 Mallika-flower,) with brownish beak and legs ; and the l^h^'-^.^r^f^/^^^^^^^^ 
 (or Hansa of Dhritarashtra,) with black beak and legs : the latter is he 
 European swan, the former a variety. It is somewhat remarkable, that the 
 Egyptian Nile-Ibis {Ibis relif/iosa of Cuvier) is still called Abu Hansa (Father 
 Hfnsa) by tbe Arabs, though it essentially differs from the embalmed speci- 
 mens of the ancient Ibis, which correspond more with the Hindu bird See 
 AstaU'c Res. vol. xiv. p. 29. Crawfurd's Sketches of Himlusthan, p. 150. 
 Symes' Travels, p. 363. Transl.] 
 
166 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CIIAI'. I. 
 
 CHAP. I- 
 
 ANTIQL'ITIKS AND LITERATURE. 
 
 167 
 
 report, however, of Damayanti's beauty had even reached 
 the ears of the gods, for Indra too and .some others enter the 
 hsts of competition. To mislead the princess they assume 
 the form of Nala ; but Damayanti contrives to recognise her 
 lover, and, rejecting the celestial rivals, places the bridal 
 garland on his shoulder. The gods approve her clioice 
 load her with presents, and return back again to heaven' 
 Damayanti, accordingly, becomes the wife of Nala, ami 
 bears him a son and a daughter. But unfortunately tlie 
 gods on their return meet with two Rakshasas, Dwapara and 
 Cali, who had also intended to present themselves amonfr 
 the suitors of Damayanti. They learn from Indra that they 
 are too late, and Cali therefore determines to be revenged. 
 He directs his route towards Nishad, where Nala and his 
 spouse were enjoying the fruits of their happy union, and 
 engages Pushkar the brother of Nala to invite him to a 
 game at draughts, while he himself inspires the luckless 
 pnnce with an uncontrollable desire for play. In vain Da- 
 mayanti endeavours to withhold her husband ; to no pur- 
 pose does she send her two children out of the way to tlieir 
 relations. Nala has lost every thing, even to the clothes on 
 his back : the latter are actually taken from him. But his 
 faithful consort not only follows him in his distress and ex- 
 ile, but also shares her raiment with him. All this, how- 
 ever, could not satisfy the vengeance of Cali. He disorders 
 the understanding of Nala, so as to make him desert his un- 
 fortunate Damayanti while sleeping in the forest ! Who can 
 describe her waking despair, and her wanderings in search 
 of her bewildered lord ! She meets with a caravan of mer- 
 chants, but they can give her no assistance ; for in the night 
 they are attacked by a herd of wild elephants, and the whole 
 caravan is torn in pieces. Damayanti alone manages to 
 escape destruction, and makes her way to a city, where she 
 IS recognised by the mother of King Chadir, her relation, 
 and IS sent home to her parents at Vidharba. In the mean 
 time Nala, pursuing his route through the forest, arrives at 
 the residence of Carcothaca king of the serpents, who, giv- 
 ing him another form, sends him to Ayodhya in the charac- 
 ter ot a charioteer, in order to be instructed by Ratoparna 
 in the art of playing at draughts. In requital Nala oives 
 his instructor lessons in his own assumed art ; and in "pro- 
 
 cess of time is enabled by this accident to wm back the 
 whole of what he had lost, and to recover possession ot his 
 wife his children, and his throne. , . ,. 
 
 Remarkable as this episode appears for inventive merit, 
 it is not at all inferior in point of style ; and some passages, 
 especially in the first part, would do credit even to Homer 
 
 '" Thl war of the Pandos and Coros seems to have furnished 
 as abundant subject-matter to Hindu poets, particularly the 
 fnic as the Trojan war did to the Greek. Several other 
 epic' poems, of which we know scarcely any thing at pre- 
 sent beyond their names, have all been drawn from the 
 ame storehouse, such as the one entitled Magha which is 
 Znded on the death of Sisupala, slam by Krishna m the 
 ame war ; and that called Kiratarjuniya which celebrates 
 Tvictor; of Arjuna over Duryodhama, by the aid of celes- 
 M weapons.'" I have considered it necessary to enter into 
 some detail with regard to these poems, m order to give 
 greater effect to the ensuing remarks on the subject ot 
 Bindu epic poetry in general, and its influence on the 
 Station of the^ people. In comparing their epopee 
 occSonally with that ot" the Greeks and the modems it is 
 by no means my intention to draw any parallel between the 
 tio, but merely to throw greater light on the original 
 character of the former. „„^ f.,,. o„ 
 
 The action of the Hindu epos is placed m an age far an- 
 tecedent to all historical computation. The Mahabhara is 
 supposed to be less ancient than the Ramayana ; ^nd in- 
 deed it describes a later, that is, the eighth •ncar^^y.,^ 
 Vishnu: but according to the pundits, the war ot the 
 Pandos 'and Coros, together with the poem, whose subje^ 
 it forms, ought to be referred to the lOSth year before the 
 
 commencement of the Cali 7»g'' (^^^V P''^^^.^'^ Z 
 opinion which would therefore place them both in the 
 fabulous times. In this sense the composition of the Ma- 
 
 consists of twenty cantos, and .«"J Vf f^f ^^ ^l?Xby t^^^ »a- 
 
 Professor Wilson at Calcutta m 1812, »?'' ^"''f.X , a i Transl.] 
 
 lives, accompanied with a commentary, in *^ >^"':'5'?- ,.„Xl api;ar that 
 
 '■ According to a passage m Polier, ^°1; '; J'; ^7^' '^..!^°f ' ^^'^ 
 the MHhabha?at actually contains allusions to the Kama>ana. 
 
 " ,/^irt Acbari, vol. ii. p. 99- 
 
168 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 169 
 
 habharat has been usually attributed to Vyasa, who belongs 
 to the same period.^' What proportion, however, of the 
 episodes, and other subordinate pieces, are really from his 
 pen, can only be determined with some degree of proba- 
 bility, when we possess the entire poem itself. As to its 
 o-reat' age, it will be impossible to entertain the least doubt 
 on the subject, after having remarked that the ancient rock 
 temples are ornamented with sculptured representations 
 mostly borrowed from that source. The Mahabharat and 
 the Ramayana determine the character of the Hindu epos, 
 and to a certain degree also that of the whole range of na- 
 tional poetry. What constitutes their peculiarity, is the fact 
 that they do not confine themselves exclusively to subjects 
 purely human. The personages whom they introduce upon 
 the scene are either absolutely supernatural beings, or, 
 when they appear in human shape, are men of no ordinary 
 kind. The Hindu system of religion has many ways of 
 approximating gods to men, and of elevating men to the 
 rank of gods. The illustrious sages, the Rishis and the 
 Munis, who have purified themselves by continual study of 
 the Vedas, by meditations in solitude, and by a long course 
 of penance, are on a level with the Devas, and not unfre- 
 quently even superior to them. They are placed in the 
 same heaven which is the abode of Indra, lord of the firma- 
 ment, Siva, and Vishnu, to whose court and attendants they 
 belong ; they can even arrive at tlie high rank of Mukti, 
 and enjoy the most perfect happiness in an intimate union 
 with the deity himself. Another still more remarkable 
 characteristic of the poetry of the Hindus is the incarnation 
 of their divinities ; which is, as it were, the very foundation 
 of their epopee, and absolutely necessary for maintainmg its 
 essential form. These incarnations consist in making the 
 superior and inferior Devas and Devanies assume for a 
 definite period the form of man, be naturally born, and pass 
 through all the vicissitudes of a terrestrial life, in order to 
 attain a certain object, which was only attainable by these 
 means. The ever playful fancy of the Hindus often treats 
 this part of their mythology in a very complicated and arti- 
 ficial manner. The divinities, though in human shape, 
 
 "See above, p. 120-150. 
 
 continue nevertheless to preserve their heavenly relations • 
 as Vishnu, during his appearance on earth under the form 
 of Krishna, was still residing in his celestial abode of 
 Vaikuntha. The same divinity also appears under various 
 human forms at the same time, and while his first incarnation 
 is going on, a second may have already commenced. These 
 monstrous productions of Hindu imagination may no doubt 
 offer their weak side to European criticism ; but they are 
 notwithstanding the grand lever of the national poetry, and 
 indeed altogether indispensable in the epic ; for it is only 
 by such means that the superior beings of Hindu mythology 
 can be made available for the purposes of the epopee. It 
 depends upon the poet to give them what shape he pleases ; 
 and here we may remark, that the expression used above, 
 viz. incarnation, as implying the assumption of a human 
 form, is too limited in that sense for conveying the whole 
 of what is meant by the term. The Hindu deities are not 
 all confined to manifestations of themselves, exclusively 
 human. They occasionally appear in the shape of animals. 
 Many of the characters introduced by the poet, such as 
 Hanuman leader of the monkeys, Yamvent king of the 
 bears,^* Garud prince of the eagles, and a hundred others, 
 are all incarnations of this kind. It is easy to see how this 
 must have altered the whole character of Hindu poetry, and 
 that a neglect of the purely human form must have been the 
 necessary consequence. Divine personages appear also in 
 the Greek epos, and are represented as exercising an influ- 
 ence upon human destiny ; but they appear there only in a 
 subordinate capacity, or rather, to use a technical expres- 
 sion, as forming the machinery of the poem. In Hindu 
 poetry, on the other hand, especially in the Ramayana, the 
 case is exactly the reverse. Those superior beings are here 
 the principal characters upon whose destinies the whole 
 action of the epos turns; and even when simple mortals 
 enter upon the scene, it is always in a subordinate relation 
 to the former. Should any of them indeed be called upon 
 to play a distinguished part, the poet almost in every case 
 takes advantage of his discretionary power of approximating 
 them to the rank of divine beings. We might here ven- 
 
 " POLIER, vol. i. p. 579. 
 
 Iff 
 
170 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 in 
 
 ture an observation which naturally suggests itself, that, 
 considered in the above point of view, the Hindu epos has 
 a p-reater resemblance to the religious poetry of the Ger- 
 mans and the English than to the Greek, with this differ- 
 ence, however, that the poet of India has a wider range 
 afforded his imagination than the latter. Not confined to 
 the single personification of the one eternal and invisible 
 being, he can introduce at pleasure among the characters 
 of his' poem an innumerable crowd of Devas and Devanies, 
 which again have not the monotonous uniformity attached 
 to our notions of angelic personages, whether good or evil, 
 arising from their want of sex, and the perfect moral excel- 
 lence or depravity inseparable from their nature. Never- 
 theless, a certain degree of resemblance between the epic 
 poetry' of the Hindus and that of the English and the Ger- 
 mans, particularly the latter, is still incontestable ; and is so 
 much the more curious, as the two kinds must have been 
 formed and developed in complete independence of each 
 other. May we not be allowed to conjecture that during a 
 separation of some thousand years, admitting the former 
 connexion of these nations, they have mutually preserved 
 that sentiment of the divine and the heavenly which after- 
 wards burst forth in their respective epic writers at the same 
 time with the rise of their national poetry ? And may we 
 not suppose that Vyasaand Klopstock, Valmiki and Milton, 
 though far removed from each other by the longest intervals 
 of space and time, were nevertheless animated by the same 
 
 spirit? 
 
 That neglect of the purely human character, which we 
 
 have just noticed among the Hindu epic writers, would 
 
 seem to explain certain other striking peculiarities of their 
 
 epopee. The Hindu divinities, for instance, could never 
 
 represent the perfect exemplar of corporeal beauty, as those 
 
 of the Greeks did in all their principal modifications. The 
 
 poet of India, it is true, allows some of them a general share 
 
 in this privilege, but then he as little scruples to assign 
 
 them attributes which are altogether incompatible with the 
 
 true notion of purely human beauty. The blue colour ot 
 
 Vishnu, the many arms and heads with which other deities 
 
 are represented, and a number of similar deformities, quite 
 
 foreign to the mythology of Greece, all serve to confirm the 
 
 truth of our observation. For the same reason it would 
 appear further, that the Hindu epic poets themselves never 
 knew how to draw the exact line of distinction between the 
 simply wonderful and the outrageously extravagant. Where 
 indeed, could they draw it, as long as they had to deal with 
 personages of such an extraordinary character, and furnished 
 with such supernatural powers ? The prodigious in every 
 shape appears to be their peculiar object of search, even in 
 cases where, according to our notions, it might very easily 
 be dispensed with. In fine, the epic poetry of the Hindus, 
 notwithstanding its rich luxuriance, is upon the whole less 
 calculated to move the passions than ours," inasmuch as we 
 are most strongly affected by purely human sympathies ; 
 though it is not on that account altogether without some 
 scenes which are truly pathetic and affecting. But of all 
 the various characteristic marks discoverable in Hindu epic 
 poetry, the most sensible, and the most generally prevailing 
 one, is the influence of a sacerdotal caste. Not only is the 
 principal subject borrowed from religion, but the whole 
 circle of the poem itself turns upon religious images and 
 allusions. Whatever age we may attribute to the Raraa- 
 yana and Mahabharat, yet it is pretty certain that the epic 
 poetry of the Hindus could only have been developed at a 
 period of time when the Brahman caste was already flourish- 
 ing in all its splendour. Every thing therein seems cal- 
 culated with the view of aggrandizing that caste, and this 
 too not always in the most delicate manner possible. Were 
 It allowable to speak of dates, in a case where chronology is 
 quite out of the question, I should be inclined to refer the 
 origin of this poetry to the time when, according to Hindu 
 traditionary report, the sacerdotal caste had obtained the 
 victory over the Kshatriyas, or warrior caste, and con- 
 sequently, too, over the Rajahs, who belonged to the latter. 
 llie profound reverence with which the Brahmans are 
 treated by kings themselves ; the limits assigned to regal 
 authority by religion ; the scrupulous care to avoid offend- 
 ing a member of that holy order ; are all capable of imme- 
 diate explanation when referred to this source. But, above 
 all, we must not omit noticing the terrible effect attributed 
 to a Brahman s curse, which, sooner or later, was sure to 
 overtake its object. This again was a powerful engine in 
 
172 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I* 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 173 
 
 the hand of the poet, and one which he did not fail to make 
 use of; while at the same time it tended to increase and 
 maintain the influence of the priests themselves. The re- 
 ligious character of this poetiy gives it also an air of pe- 
 culiar dignity, which, though it does not indeed absolutely 
 exclude all notion of the comic, nevertheless admits it but 
 sparingly and seldom.^^ The personages introduced ob- 
 serve towards each other, and especially towards the Brah- 
 mans, a kind of ceremonial, both in their behaviour and in 
 their language, which has some resemblance to the dignified 
 intercourse of Homer s heroes. 
 
 The introduction of supernatural beings would occasion 
 serious embarrassment to the epic poet of India, as he felt 
 himself under the necessity of assigning them limited powers 
 both of mind and body ; and it was therefore to obviate this 
 inconvenience that he even made his incarnate deities amen- 
 able to the laws of fate.^^ Whenever it is destined that a 
 certain event shall take place, at a certain time and under 
 such and such circumstances, the gods themselves dare not 
 attempt to counteract the fulfilment ; which would, more- 
 over, be to no purpose if they did. Another contradiction, 
 arising from the assignment of limited knowledge to these 
 superior beings, was very ingeniously removed by substitnt- 
 ing an imaginary film, called Maya, or illusion, before their 
 eyes, which prevents their seeing into the future. When 
 this is withdrawn, the incarnate god immediately discovers 
 the most hidden relations of things, and all futurity lies open 
 
 before him. 
 
 In fine, with all these national peculiarities, the epic 
 poetry of the Hindus, nevertheless, bears evident marks of 
 that fabulous story-telling character so generally prevalent 
 in all Oriental compositions. Most of the episodes, althougli 
 artificially connected with the main thread of the narrative, 
 may yet, however, be detached, and considered as so many 
 independent tales by themselves, as the Ramayana suffi- 
 ciently proves ; and so no doubt would the Mahabharat, 
 were we able to procure a translation of it. This very cir- 
 cumstance rendered the Hindu epic poetry so popular ; for 
 it lived not merely written on palm leaves, but spoken ni 
 
 " See a proof of this in Polier, vol. ii. p. 42, 43. 
 
 '• Ramayana, iii. 165; Polier, vol. i. p. 605 j vol. ii. p. 243. 
 
 the mouths of all men. The productions of Valmiki and 
 Vyasa, like those of the Maeonian bard, were originally in- 
 tended for the public recitation of separate pieces, as indeed 
 is the case at the present day.'^ And in exact proportion 
 to the degree of respect and liberality which they every 
 where strictly enjoin towards the Brahmans, so would it be 
 the interest of the latter to make them as completely national 
 as they could. Ought we, then, to be surprised at the 
 powerful influence which the great epic poems of the Hindus 
 have exercised upon the popular religion, upon arts and 
 other branches of poetry — in one word, upon the whole 
 civilization and intellectual development of the nation itself? 
 Can we wonder that the Hindus should place the Ramayana 
 and the Mahabharat immediately by the side of the Vedas ? 
 Next to these great poems rank the Puranas, which also 
 make a part of the Shastras, a general term under which 
 the Brahmans include all their sacred writings.^*^ Eighteen 
 of these Puranas are enumerated, of which the last only is 
 known to us, through an imperfect translation. Of the 
 others, we possess little beyond the summary notices to be 
 found in the catalogue published by Hamilton and Langles 
 of the Sanscrit manuscripts contained in the Royal Library 
 at Paris. Sir William Jones has given a list of the eighteen 
 Pnranas ; but upon comparing it with the account of M. 
 Langles, we can discover no kind of agreement between 
 the two, even in the titles themselves.^^ 
 
 " According to Father Paulino, {Gram. Samscrd. p. 70,) portions of the 
 Ramayana were stiU sung in his time before the doors of the temples, to the 
 assembled multitude. 
 
 " The signification of the word Shastras will be found in Sir W. Jonks's 
 Works, vol. i. p. 3(H, " On the Literature of the Hindus," and is equivalent 
 to (Urine commandments. But as it is not precisely agreed upon the number 
 of those books which must be considered as of divine origin, tne term Sastras, 
 or Shastras, is consequently used in various limitations by different writers. 
 According to Sir \V. Jones, the Ved.as, Vedangas, Upavedas, Dhermas, Der- 
 saiuis, and the Puranas, together make up the six great Shastras. In the 
 Ramayana it is frequently said of a person that " he was learned in the 
 Vedas, Vedangas, and Shastras." See, for example, vol. i. p. 220. 
 
 " Names of the Puranas, according to Sir W. Jones, JVorks, vol. i. p. 360, 
 are: 1. Brahma Purana. 2. Padma. 3. Brahmanda. 4. Agni. (These 
 four he supposes to relate to the creation.) 5. Vishnu. 6. Garuda. 7- The 
 transformations of Brahma. 8. Siva. 9. Lingrim. 10. Nareda. 11. Scanda. 
 •2. Marcandeya. 13. Bhavishya. (These nine treat of the attributes and 
 power of the divinities.) 14. Matsya. 15. Varaha. 16. Kurma. I7. Va- 
 r^na. 18. Bhagavat Purana. Of these the catalogue of Langles only gives 
 Nos. I, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, (which is there designated as the first Pu- 
 
174 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 175 
 
 The Puranas are mythological poems, in tlie more ex- 
 tended signification of the term, as comprehending not 
 merely the fabulous histories of the gods, but also a variety 
 of precepts,**^ which are the sources of the popular religion, 
 of history, geography, and other sciences, as far, indeed, as 
 we can expect to meet with science in a work on mytholo^ry. 
 " Each Purana," observ^es Mr. Colebrooke,^^ " treats of five 
 different subjects, viz. cosmogony, or the Hindu doctrine of 
 the creation and renovation of the world ; the genealogies 
 of gods and heroes ; chronology, according to the fabulous 
 system of the people ; and an heroic history, describing the 
 exploits of demi-gods and heroes." Although this opinion 
 is, perhaps, too generally expressed, yet it is certain that 
 the principal subjects alluded to by him are contained in 
 the Puranas, and it is not without some reason that he com- 
 pares them to the cosmogonies and theogonies of the Greeks, 
 and even attributes to them greater luxuriance and variety. 
 
 The Matsya Purana,"" which is regarded as the first and 
 most important of all, commences with a dialogue between 
 Menu and Vishnu on the creation of the universe, of the 
 gods and demons ; it also contains a history of the kinp:s, 
 children of the sun and moon, descriptions of several feasts 
 in honour of various divinities, certain chapters on the habit- 
 ations of the gods, and different parts of the earth ; a history 
 of Parvati, the wife of Siva ; the war between the Devas 
 and Rakshasas, etc. 
 
 The Brahma Purana"^ comprises, in four sections, a copi- 
 ous Hindu theogony ; but owing, perhaps, to some omission 
 in the Parisian manuscript, it wants the genealogy of the 
 kings, which, according to Hamilton, forms an essential 
 portion of every Purana. 
 
 The Agni Purana,^ one of the largest in the collection, is 
 
 rana,) and No. 18: instead of the missing Nos. 3, 6, 7, 13, 15, 16, 17, we have 
 the three following, KaHka Purana, Vayu, and Narasinha, the contents of 
 which are not indicated. Sometimes, though the arrangement is by no means 
 general, the two great epic poems already described are also reckoned among 
 the Puranas. 
 
 * The Puranas, or Hindu Mythologies, by Colebrooke, Astatic Res. vol. 
 ix. p. 290. Although certainly used for purposes of instruction, the Puranas 
 are by no means, properly speaking, didactic, as some writers have endeavour- 
 ed to make them. 
 
 "' Asiatic Res. vol. vii. p. 202, not. 
 
 ■* Lanoles, Catahfjue ties Munuscrits Sanscrits, p. 5S. 
 
 " Ibid. p. 36. '• Ibid. p. 44. 
 
 divided into three hundred and fifty-eight chapters, and 
 may be considered as an abridgement of all the science, legis- 
 lation, and medicine of the Hindus. Some other Puranas, 
 on the other hand, such as those of Siva^ and the Lingam,^*^ 
 are almost exclusively dedicated to the history of certain 
 o-ods ; or, as the Marcandeya Purana,^^ to the lives of re- 
 nowned saints, devotees, and hermits. 
 
 Of the Kalika Purana we have nothing more than a trans- 
 lation of one section, relative to animal sacrifices, among 
 which we find even those of human beings enumerated.^ 
 
 The Bhagavat Purana,^^ the last of all, is at present, how- 
 ever, the only one of which we possess an entire, though 
 very imperfect translation.^ Its principal subject is the 
 fabulous history of Krishna, who among his many surnames 
 bears the one of Bhagavat, though it also contains a variety 
 of information on other topics. " I should like to know," 
 said King Parikyita to the wise Suka, son of Vyasa, " in 
 what manner the soul is united to the body ? How Brah- 
 ma came into existence? How he created the world? 
 How he recognised Vishnu and his attributes ? What time 
 is, and what the respective ages of mankind and the world ? 
 How the soul is absorbed into the godhead ? What the di- 
 mensions and magnitude of the universe ? Of the sun and 
 moon, of the stars and the earth ? How many kings have 
 ever reigned in the world ? What is the difference between 
 the several castes ? What are the various forms assumed 
 by Vishnu ? What are the three principal powers ? What 
 is the Vedam ? What is virtue, and good works ? What is 
 the object of all these things?" — I considered it useful to 
 select the above passage, in order to give the reader some 
 notion of the contents, and the variety of subjects treated of 
 in the Puranas.^^ 
 
 ** Langles, Catalogue des 3IanHscn'ts SanscritSy\). 49. 
 
 *" Ibid. p. 29. ^ "' Ibid. p. 5S. 
 
 * Asiatic Res. vol. v. p. 371. 
 
 *• Bhagavadam, on Doctrine Divine outrage Indien canoniquc (par Obson- 
 ville). Paris, I788. The translation is not immediately from the original 
 Sanscrit, but from a Tamul version. According to Hamilton, it is merely an 
 abridgement, of which the beginning is tolerably correct, but the remainder 
 swarms with mistakes of every kind. Langles, Catalogue, p. 2. [Recent 
 discoveries have proved that this so-called translation merits no confidence 
 whatever. Fr. Transl.] 
 
 *" BJuigavadam, p. 49. 
 
 "' The'twelftli and last chapter of the Bhagavat contains a summary trans- 
 
 J 
 
176 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 177 
 
 The Puranas occupy an intermediate space between epic 
 and didactic poetry. They resemble the first m contaming 
 a crreat number of mythological fables; but as they are 
 altogether devoid of that unity of action which prevails m the 
 Ramavana and Mahabharat, notwithstanding the vast col- 
 lection of episodes inserted in the latter, they cannot pos- 
 sibly be ranked in the same class. Their principal object 
 is to convey instruction, and in this point of view they 
 closely approximate to didactic poetry, and the resemblance 
 is increased by the form of dialogue, which is their predo- 
 minant feature, as they usually represent one of the great 
 sacres imparting instruction by way of answer to the in- 
 quiries of his diligent and attentive disciples. It is this 
 circumstance which renders the Puranas so well adapted 
 for being; read in the schools of the higher castes, and is 
 the reason why they are considered as the best preparative 
 
 for studying the Vedas. • • i 
 
 It follows, then, that the Puranas are the principal sources 
 of Hindu mythology, and, as for as the divinities therein 
 celebrated are objects of popular worship, of the national 
 religion also ; for the latter, as we have already shown m 
 another place, could not be derived from the \edas. It is 
 like the national rehgion of the Greeks, simply of a poetical 
 oris-in, and borrowed from the epic poems, taken m a larger 
 sense as comprehending also those of a descriptive character. 
 But an important question still remains for us to discuss, 
 viz. whether the Puranas are original or only secondary 
 sources : in other words, are we to reckon them among the 
 ancient compositions of Sanscrit literature, or must we as- 
 sign them a more modern origin ? . 
 
 Before we can with any propriety venture upon a critical 
 examination of the Puranas, we ought first to possess them 
 in the original. At present, however, all that we can ad- 
 vance on the subject must depend upon the accounts of others, 
 and upon imperfect abstracts of the works themselves. 1 he 
 common assertion of the Brahmans would refer the Puranas 
 to an age as remote as that which produced the Vedas and the 
 Mahabharat, in assigning Vyasa as the author of all three. 
 Now, though it is impossible in our present circumstances 
 
 latcd by Hamilton, (see Langles, Catalogue, p. 10,) from which it appears 
 that all the above questions are therein discussed. 
 
 to institute a critical inquiiy into the date of each Puraiia 
 considered separately, yet it appears pretty certain that, 
 taken altogether, and in the state in which they now are, 
 they cannot be so old as the report would make them. 
 
 the Puranas are evidently for the most part nothing but 
 compilations, and could therefore only be produced at a 
 time when Sanscrit literature was already in a rich and per- 
 fect state of development in all its various branches. The 
 literature of any nation could obviously never begin with 
 compilations, for these require a previous age of learning;, 
 usually too of considerable duration, to have elapsed ; and' 
 moreover, they presuppose a demand for instruction. ' Now 
 it was precisely with a view of satisfying this demand that 
 the Puranas were composed, as in fact they are still used for 
 the same purpose at the present day. They are by no means 
 the work of a poetic genius like the great epics of which we 
 have spoken ; but, like the poems of Tzetzes and other gram- 
 marians, the fruit of extraordinary diligence combined with 
 extensive reading. Add to this, we are assured that the 
 historical sections of the Puranas contain several accounts 
 of pretended prophecies, which, however, were evidently 
 made after the events had taken place.^* 
 
 Although I am convinced that the Puranas in their pre- 
 sent state cannot possibly be referred to the earliest periods 
 of Sanscrit literature, yet I am nevertheless far from con- 
 sidering them altogether as an invention of modern times, 
 that is, of the middle ages. When and how they received 
 their present form is a question hitherto undetermined. 
 Apparently they are not the work of one person, as native 
 tradition would make us believe, for they very frequently 
 contradict each other on the most essential points, some- 
 times ascribing greater honour to Vishnu, at others to Siva. 
 It is also very probable that even each separate Purana was 
 not composed all at once, but by slow degrees. The form 
 of these books is itself extremely favourable to additions 
 and interpolations, for no one of them consists of a regular 
 and consecutive whole ; but appears more like a collection 
 of detached pieces of descriptive and didactic poetiy . 
 
 I am therefore inclined to believe that the Puranas are 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 ^ Asiatic Res. vol. viii. p. 486. 
 N 
 
178 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CilAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 179 
 
 *|| 
 
 modern compilations, drawn from the works of ancient 
 poets'' to which the compilers may perhaps have made 
 several arbitrary additions of their own. fhe prmcpal 
 sources from whence they borrowed their matenals, are un- 
 doubtedly the old epic poems of the nation ; for instance, 
 Sie Bhagavat, which is supposed to be one of the latest,'* is 
 almost wholly taken from the Mahabharat ; to these, in- 
 deed we should add the philosophical systems, discussed m 
 poems of a different kind. All this, and much more, would 
 naturally precede the existence of compilations oi the above 
 
 character. . . - ^ . 
 
 Considered in this point of view, it is evident we may 
 very properly regard the form of the Puranas as a work of 
 comparatively modern date ; though at the same time we 
 have equal reason in attributing a much >-£-^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 to their contents. A modern critic, Mr. Bentley,^ contend 
 that none of the Puranas are more than six hundred and 
 eishtv-four years old, because none of those writings which 
 mention the chronological system, known by the name ot 
 Brahma Calpa, are any older. Supposing this assertion o 
 be correct, which, however, is disputed by others, it would 
 then only be conclusive with regard to the chrono ogical 
 sections of the Puranas, which bear but a very small pro- 
 portion to the rest of their contents. 1 1 1 .)6 
 
 ««In Europe, too," observes a most profound scholar, 
 " literary forgeries have been committed. But a native ot 
 India, who should argue from a few instances that the whole 
 literature of Europe which is held ancient consists ot 
 modern forc^eries, would be justly censured for his pre- 
 sumption. ^We must not then indiscriminately condemn 
 the whole literature of India. Even Father Harduin, when 
 he advanced a similar paradox respecting the woi;ks ot 
 ancient writers, excepted some compositions ot Licero, 
 Virffil, Horace, and Pliny. It is, however, necessary in 
 India, as every where else, to be giiarded against literary 
 impositions : some fiibricated works, some interpolated pas- 
 sages will be detected by the sagacity of critics; but the 
 greatest part of those books which are considered ancient hy 
 
 " Compare Wilford, in Asiatic lies, voL v. p. 244. 
 
 " AsiJic Res. vol. viii. p. 487. _ ** I bid. vol. viii. p. 24 1 . 
 
 »• CoLEBROOKE, in Asiatic Res. vol. viii. p. 487. 
 
 the learned among the Hindus, will assuredly be found 
 genuine. I mean to say, that they are the same composi- 
 tions which have been revered by the Hindus for hundreds, 
 if not thousands, of years." 
 
 I am altogether of the same opinion. To suppose, in- 
 deed, as Mr. Bentley seems inclined, the whole collection 
 of Sanscrit literature to be no older than the middle ages, 
 involves a paradox even more monstrous than the one set 
 up by Father Harduin. Admitting the accounts left us by 
 the Greeks to be correct, in reporting the civilization of 
 India to have been regarded as ancient even in the time of 
 Alexander, we must necessarily infer the corresponding 
 antiquity of Hindu literature, as the prime origin of the 
 former. It were certainly just as impossible for the Hindus 
 to have become a cultivated nation without their Vedas and 
 their epic poetry, as for the Greeks to have attained their 
 advanced state of refinement without the writings of Homer 
 and his successors ; the impossibility, indeed, appears even 
 more striking in the case of the latter people, when we re- 
 flect that they had no Holy Scriptures like the Vedas to 
 assist their intellectual development. 
 
 The mythological systems contained in these poems are 
 but imperfectly known to us at present, through the medium 
 of extracts and summary abridgements, which must for this 
 reason be necessarily partial and disfigured, as it was the 
 main object both of Father Paulino and the English writers 
 who have directed their attention to this subject, to discover 
 points of resemblance in the mythology of India as com- 
 pared with that of the Greeks and the Egyptians.^^ They 
 found what they sought after, and their opinions getting 
 into circulation, contributed in no small degree to embarrass 
 and confound the science of Hindu antiquities in general. 
 Polier, who has supplied the latest, and by far the most 
 complete information on the subject, has taken care to avoid 
 this fault.^^ The form of dialogue adopted by him for re- 
 
 •* Sir W. Jones's treatise, On the Gods of Greece, Italy, and India, (vid. 
 Asiatic Res. vol. i. p. 221, and his Worksj vol. i. p. 229,) gave the first im- 
 pulse, and was followed in the same track by Father Paulino, in his Sifstema 
 ^rahfnanicum, who is otherwise almost always the opponent of English 
 writers. 
 
 * Mythologie des Indous, travaillee par Mdme. la Chanoinesse de Polier, 
 des MSS. authentiques rapports de I'lnde, par feu M. le Col. de Polier. 
 
 N 2 
 
 sur dof 
 
180 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 181 
 
 
 portino- a conversation with his instructor, Ramcmnd and 
 which'is so agreeable to European taste may also be re- 
 sedas truly Indian ; and the whole dialogue Uself ap. 
 neirs to^^^ considerable accession of probabdity from 
 
 C circums^^^^^^^ of Ramchund^s belonging to the sect ot 
 te Shrwho having turned back again to monotheism, 
 re^aT^^^ ^^^ ourselves, as nothing more 
 
 S a tLe of p'oet.cal fictions. It - J^f ^^^^^^^^ 
 Ramchund's extensive acquaintance with the tables o hi. 
 Pmmt™ • but whether he has correctly reported them, 
 can^Xbe'de^^^^^^ when we are able to consult the 
 ^Xi^al sources The Mahabharat and Bhagavat are gener- 
 Sir^^^^^ the principal authorities, but whence each 
 mKSr is borrowed we have no certain information, 
 
 r he^^^^^^^ us, the critic will perhaps find much to 
 
 suDplv S regard to details, but considered altogether it 
 SS uSoubid merit of having contrib^te^^^^^^^^^^ 
 enlarge the circle of our acquaintance with the tables com 
 3 in the epic poems and the Puranas ; and of enabling 
 r-tigreate? prLsion than before was poss^bK to J^^^ 
 of the character, the beauties, and the defects of Hindu mj 
 
 T. i. ii. 1809. Poller was a native of L-an- -^^^^^^^ 
 
 service of the East India 9^°^P'^"?'^^^^^^'w'^lnd o^^^^^^^^ i- P' 
 
 and, according to the testimony o ^^/^J^„^^^^^^ the study of 
 
 355, Asiatic Res. vol. vni. p. 377,) ^^*!,^^^^^"?^nlTvvit was remarkable in the 
 Hindu mythology, and the collecUo^^^^^^^^^ ,,,, d 
 
 country. Bemg unacquainted, ho^^^^j J';*" ^'^x X explained to him the 
 to have recourse to a learned native, (?^"^chund,) ^ ho expwi 
 mythological fables according to the epic poems ^^^ the Puran^^^^^ he returned 
 immediately wrote down as t^e piindit d^^^f ^d.^^^^^ ^^^^ 
 
 home to Europe, during the ^^^^^ "/^^"^^^f ^Hn his o^^ near Avig- 
 
 awaited him. He was unfortunately murdered i«^hisj>Y^ouse, ^^ 
 
 non, by a band of French brigand.. By good chance ^owY^r^^^^^^^^^ 
 fell into the hands of a relation, the ^-^^^^ and d sciple o^ ^ u>o 
 Poller, only a few years since deceased at Ruddst^^^^^ arranged the Scattered 
 for the undertaking by early studies (see ^er preface,) arrangeai ^^^ 
 
 documents and pubHshed them No one ^'^^j^^^^^i^^^^t of ^^^^^^ 
 
 study of Hindu antiquities, can fail to F^nounce the n^me ot tnia ^^^^^ 
 
 nary lady with veneration and gratitude ; and it ^^^^^Ftaimy n ^^ 
 
 among the curiosities of literature, that the most ^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 count we possess of Hindu mythology, should ^^ve been compiica uy 
 
 in an obscure village in the heart of the mountains ^^ ™ it 
 
 sidering the unusual circumstances under which ^^''^V^^^^^ in the 
 
 would Lrdly perhaps be reasonable to expect '"^f,^^;^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 details ; and'yet the laudatory judgment ot the author re^^ ^^^J^;^^^^ ^ .,i ^e 
 
 cation. A less favourable, but more correct opinion 5>t ^ts mem 
 
 found in an excellent article by Kosegarten, inserted m the Menne , 
 
 xxvi. Transl.] 
 
 thology. We must here content ourselves witli only giving 
 a general outline of the subject. 
 
 The series of Hindu divinities commences, as we have 
 already seen, w^ith the three superior Devas, Brahma, Vish- 
 nu, and Siva. There being no incarnation of Brahma, he 
 is for that reason less adapted to the uses of poetry.^'-' He 
 possesses a temple called Dheira, on the shores of the Milky 
 Sea; whither Vishnu, accompanied with the other Devas, 
 repairs to consult the oracle.**^ The response is communi- 
 cated to them in a voice, which is only audible after many 
 (lays of preparatory devotion and prayer. Would not this 
 serve to explain the singular fact, that Brahma, notwith- 
 standing his superiority of rank, is only the object of in- 
 ternal worship ; that is, of meditation, and not of external 
 ceremonies. Admitting the popular religion of the Hindus, 
 together with their divinities, to be of poetical origin, does 
 it not follow of course that a deity who was unserviceable 
 to the poet, whatever might be his superiority in other re- 
 spects, could never become an object of popular worship, or 
 have his own peculiar sect, like the two other great Devas ? 
 But I must leave the further discussion of this argument to 
 the professed inquirer into the religious opinions of India. 
 
 The case is quite otherwise with respect to Vishnu and 
 
 " European writers have involved themselves in a labyrinth of inextricable 
 confusion, by employing the names of Brahma, Brehm, Birmah, Brumah, 
 sometimes as synonymous, at others as different appellations. " Brehm," says 
 Poller, (vol. i. p. 358,) " means the invisible, the deity ; Birmah, the creative 
 power of Brehm." On the other hand, according to Sir W. Jones, Brahma, 
 m the neuter gender, means the deity, and when masculine, the creative 
 power ( IForks, vol i. p. 249, 250). The Upnekhat always mentions Brahma 
 as the being who is the self-existent, though it confounds with this simple 
 notion much that is subtle and obscure. See vol. i. p. 240, 256, 320. A more 
 intimate acquaintance with Sanscrit works can only, perhaps, dissipate these 
 obscurities ; it is, however, quite evident that the Hindu poets never troubled 
 themselves with such metaphysical distinctions, and that an abstract being 
 like Brahma was considered very Httle adapted to their purpose. [These as- 
 sertions of Professor Heeren have been contradicted, and with reason, by 
 Schlegel ; the names Brahma and Brahma may be compared with the Greek 
 Gfoc and GcTov, except that they are never taken one for the other. Brahma 
 means the divinity, in the most sublime and abstract sense that it is possible 
 for the mind to conceive. See many passages in the Bhagavadgita. — Note of 
 the French Translator.'] [The confusion above noticed, seems only to exist 
 in the vitious pronunciation and orthography adopted by Col. Polier. His 
 Brehm is the same as Sir \V. Jones's Brahma, the final short vowel being cut 
 off, as is common among the vulgar ; and Birmah, or Brumah, is probably a 
 corrupt way of pronouncing Brahma. Transl.] 
 
 •*' Polier, vol. i. p. 398. 
 
182 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 THAP. !• 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 183 
 
 (I 
 
 Siva These two deities divide between them the principal 
 religious sects of India ; and are, under various denomin- 
 ations, (not a little embarrassing to the study of Hindu the- 
 oloev,) the objects also of external worship. They are no 
 less the principal characters in Hindu epic poetry and that 
 indeed in a twofold sense, being gods m heaven at the same 
 time they appear as incarnations upon earth. Their celes- 
 tial palaces have been described by the poets of India m the 
 most brilliant and glowing colours, but m a manner suffi- 
 ciently at variance with the propriety of European notions 
 The residence of Vishnu is called Baikunt, or Vaikun ha.' 
 He is there enthroned as a handsome young man, radiant 
 with beams of light ; but withal of a blue complexion, and 
 fomished with four arms. One hand holds a shell, in an- 
 other is a lotus flower, an equally important symbol among 
 the Hindus as among the Egyptians ; a third arm wields a 
 mace ; and in the fourth appears the ring called Sudarsan, 
 from which, as well as from the precious stone depending 
 on his breast, issues a stream of light which illumines the 
 whole palace. When awake, he is seated on a resplendent 
 throne; and when asleep, he reposes on the serpent be- 
 shanaga, whose thousand heads serve him for a pillow. 
 This reptile is himself a Deva, and becomes incarnate along 
 with his master when the latter appears on earth ; as does 
 also the king of birds, the eagle Garuda, who carries Vislinu 
 when he leaves Vaikuntha. By his side appears his wite 
 Lakshmi, the fairest of the Devanies, who likewise accom- 
 panied her lord in human shape, as his terrestrial consort. 
 A muhitude of inferior Devas surround him, and two sen- 
 tinels guard the entry of his palace. The mansion ot t?iva, 
 or Mahadeva, called Kailasa Parvat, is not so brilliant as 
 that of Vishnu : it is situate on the lofty peaks of Himalaya. 
 The god, comprising in his own person both the powers ol 
 creation and destruction, is represented with corresponding 
 svmbols— the lingam to denote the former, and the trident 
 
 » Sir W. Jones, Works, vol. i. p. 267- Poller, however, a^'.^ys spells this 
 word Baikunt. [The letters b and v in Sanscrit are, from similarity oftorin, 
 very liable to be confounded ; and, moreover, their occasional interchange is 
 perfectly optional; see Wilson's Dicfionan/, preface, p. ^1- ^dd^^, ^;"l 
 some of the Hindu dialects having no v in their alphabet, substUute 6, ana 
 vice versa, which is perhaps the reason why the Vedas are sometimes nas- 
 called Beds. Transl.] 
 
 when he appears as the avenger and destroyer. His com- 
 plexion is of a red colour, he is girt with an elephant's hide, 
 and is seated upon the skin of a tiger, while near him stands 
 his consort Parvati. But the manner of representing this 
 deity, as well as his names, are subject to various modifica- 
 tions, according to the different ideas formed of his charac- 
 ter.^ The mansions of these superior Devas, belonging as 
 they do principally to the invisible world, have not furnished 
 such exuberant matter for poetical display as that of Indra, 
 prince of Swerga, the firmament or visible heaven ; not- 
 withstanding Indra himself occupies a much lower rank in 
 the celestial hierarchy ^ than the former. Lord of the infe- 
 rior Devas, he inhabits his palace of Vaijayanta, constructed 
 for him by the architect of heaven, Visvakarma, and situate 
 in the middle of the gardens of Nandana. Here ever play- 
 ing fountains maintain a perpetual verdure, and here also 
 grows the celestial fruit, called Amrita, which confers im- 
 mortality, the produce of the wonderful tree Parajati, trans- 
 planted by Krishna to the marvellous town of Dwaraka, with 
 which it sunk again into the ocean. This surprising tree is 
 adorned with the most brilliant flowers, and whoever re- 
 poses under its shade obtains the complete fulfilment of all 
 his wishes. All that the earth contains of what is precious 
 and excellent, is here found in its highest state of original 
 perfection ; such as Camada, the cow of abundance ; the 
 sacred horse Sajam, an indispensable requisite at the solemn 
 sacrifices ; and the white elephant, Airavata. These and 
 many other animals are all produced from the Sea of Milk, 
 which is the source of all perfection. As lord of the firma- 
 ment, Rajah Indra rules over the winds and the weather ; 
 to him the earth addresses her prayers when she has need of 
 rain ; and subject to him are the innumerable hosts of infe- 
 rior Devas, amounting to upwards of three hundred and 
 thirty-two millions. These are divided into classes, but 
 their chiefs alone have access to the Rajah, and the 
 privilege of being admitted to his court of Mulasthan is 
 
 * As each sect gave the pre-eminence to their own respective deities, we 
 ought not to be surprised at these variations and contradictions, whether ap- 
 parent or real. 
 
 ' Compare Polier, vol. ii. p. 229, sq., with Jones*s Worls, vol. i. p. 248, sq. 
 In Polier Indra is always called Ainder. [The latter way of spelling follows 
 the corrupt pronunciation of the vulgar. Transl.] 
 
I 
 
 184 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 considered the I'ig'-^ ^Y.: twSet:^^^^^^^ 
 SI yX-tKV X s W upon r throne ; and 
 K h m dance the Apsaras, celestial nymphs, breathing 
 the most exquisite perfumes. Notwithstanding all this 
 spLXur, holever, the majesty and power of Indra had 
 been sorely paralyzed for a considerable space of time ; the 
 natts 'oJ bad Devas, who inhabit Pit41a, or the inferna 
 SSon^ under the c^and of their king Ravana, had 
 Xd war with him, and had overcome him ; and it was in 
 Si to free the world from their unjust domination, that 
 Vishnu was obliged to appear on earth in the person of 
 Rama%nd perform the heroic achievements described in 
 
 %Sgion of the Hindus, though it admits in lliis man- 
 ner both good and evil demons, nevertheless at the same 
 Sme Sves^vident proof of that mildness of characterso 
 ZZi\mv to it Penances and purifications are held suffi- 
 5 to wipe out the crimes of all, not only of mortals bu 
 aso of immortal beings; for in answer to the mediatorial 
 gravers of the Devas, even the Daints themselves, after a 
 Skte expiation, a;e to be liberated fro-J^e^^> -d r. 
 instid in all their original happiness. But what ,„ a st^ 
 more eminent degree contributes to enlarge th« « ' ^'^ o 
 Hindu mythology, is the fact, that its poetical fictions ot 
 D vas and Devani'es are transferred also to natural objects 
 ioth animate and inanimate The sun and ™>on' ^oth ^f 
 which are considered by the Hindus as "^^scul^";' /'^^ 
 earth, mountains, streams, etc no k«« than t^'^^^;"!^ ^2- 
 tion, such as apes, bears, elephan^, birds, etc jre ah occ^n 
 sionally introduced as Devas and Devanies, an<i thus become 
 available for the uses of poetry We have already seen 
 Hanuman king of the monkeys playing a distinguished p^ 
 in one of the great epic poems; m the ^l^^^^^^^^^f 
 observe moral precepts superior even to those of A.soP 
 fables put in the mouth of animals ; as, for lustance in the 
 last book of the Ramayana, where the royal eagle Gaiuda 
 is represented in sage conversation with a crow. 
 
 These primary elements of Hindu mythology, which it 
 
 • So Polier always calls them. In the Baraayana they are termed r.ak- 
 Bhasns. 
 
 CIIAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 185 
 
 would be unnecessary further to develop in this place, as the 
 reader will find an ample detail in the before-mentioned 
 work of Polier, are sufficient, however, to show its extreme 
 fecundity. What an inexhaustible fund of subject-matter 
 does it not supply for the exercise and display of poetic 
 genius ! And when we consider the vast number of poets, 
 who have separately made it the theme of song, each in his 
 own peculiar manner, what an endless variety may we not 
 conceive to be the result ! If we compare the mythology 
 of the Hindus with that of the Greeks, it will have nothing 
 to apprehend on the score of intrinsic copiousness. In point 
 of aesthetic value, it is sometimes superior, at others inferior, 
 to the Greek ; while in luxuriance and splendour it has the 
 decided advantage. Olympus, with all its family of gods 
 and goddesses, must yield in pomp and majesty to the 
 palaces of Vishnu and Indra. On the other hand, we must 
 not expect to find among the Hindu gods that beau ideal of 
 the human form which the mythology of Greece supplies : 
 a want of taste in this particular is no less evident in the 
 Puranas than in the epic poems. To what extent, then, the 
 mythology of the Hindus is adapted to the uses of their epic 
 poetry will be sufficiently clear. This is obviously under 
 such circumstances only as mark the peculiarities of the 
 Hindu epopee, and so far only as the latter elevates itself 
 above the consideration of humanity ; and, like the sublinie 
 compositions of Milton and Klopstock, extends its poetic 
 flight far into the regions of unlimited space. 
 
 The different kinds of poetry do not appear to have been 
 so exactly distinguished from one another among the Hin- 
 dus as among the nations of the West. The general cha- 
 racter of the Indian epic poem, the unsettled connexion of 
 its parts, and the frequent episodes, would easily permit the 
 introduction of didactic pieces. Their dramatic poetry, 
 however, is so far intimately blended with the lyric species, 
 that it is often very difficult to draw a marked line of dis- 
 tinction between the two. 
 
 The lyric poetry of the Hindus appears to have consisted 
 originally of hymns to their divinities, which bear some re- 
 semblance to those commonly attributed to Orpheus, in that 
 they contain for the most part laudatory epithets in honour 
 of the gods. Scarce any other mythology furnishes such a 
 
186 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. !• 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 187 
 
 vast abundance of these epithets, and as they are often em- 
 ployed as surnames, and even as proper names, they give 
 rise to considerable difficulty in readmg the Hindu poets; 
 for the same deity is designated by so many appellations, 
 that it is nearly impossible to know or remember them all. 
 Hymns, however, of a purely epic nature could not long 
 remain unknown to the Hindus, while their mythology sup- 
 plied them with such abundant subject-matter for the pur- 
 pose • and even many of the episodes introduced into their 
 ffreat' epopees bear the character of epic hymns, resembling 
 those of Homer. We are indebted to Sir W. Jones for ver- 
 sions of several of these hymns in praise of the gods ; but they 
 are rather imitations in rhyming verse than correct trans- 
 lations ; it would therefore be too hazardous to attempt 
 drawing any satisfactory conclusion from them.^ Father 
 Paulino, however, and the scholars of England, have in their 
 respective writings and essays furnished some complete speci- 
 mens in the original, accompanied with a literal translation, not 
 merely with the view of ascertaining their contents, but also 
 of showing the variety of forms under which the lyric poetry 
 of the Hindus is found, with regard to rhyme and metre.*^ 
 The poetry in question was formerly among this people as 
 intimately allied to song and music, as among the ancient 
 Greeks ; and the case is the same at the present day : both 
 arts were treated by them in a theoretical manner, and both 
 accordingly made the same progress.^ But the Hindu lyric 
 surpassed that of the Greeks, in admitting both riiyme and 
 blank verse ; and although we might compare it in tins re- 
 spect with the German, y^t it would seem that the Hindu 
 ear has much less affection for rhyme than the latter. 
 
 Among such a poetical people as the Hindus, however, 
 lyric poetry would not be confined to merely religious 
 hymns; and more than one writer has already remarked, 
 that song in general has been no less extensively cultivated 
 by them.® But the popular religion, and the various festal 
 
 • Works, vol. i. p. 313, sq. . 
 
 • See examples of these hymns taken from the Vedas, m Sir W . Jones s 
 
 Works, vol. vi. p. 423, 427. ^ , ,^ .v,. 
 
 » See Baron Dalberg's Treatise, ZTeber die Musik der Inder (Un tne 
 Music of the Hindus) ; see also Asiatic Ees. vol. i. p. 35. 
 
 • Dalberg, loc. cit. p. 90. The Baron has also published the melodies oi 
 several Hindu songs. 
 
 solemnities it prescribes, opened such a wide field for the 
 display of sentiment, that their lyric poetry almost always 
 preserved some actual connexion with, or reference to, re- 
 ligious ideas. In what other nation besides the Hindu could 
 the erotic species, for example, have found a more abundant 
 supply of argument in the religion of the country ? And 
 with respect to the graver kind of lyric poetry, the songs of 
 war and victory, was it possible to give them any other than 
 a religious character, among a people who lived, as it were, 
 upon the deeds of high emprise and heroic achievement 
 performed by their gods and heroes. 
 
 A great proportion, nevertheless, of the Hindu lyric po- 
 etry belongs to the elegiac species. One of the most beau- 
 tiful of this description, called the Mega Duta, or Cloud 
 Messenger of Calidasa, has not long since been published 
 in the original, and accompanied with an English transla- 
 tion in verse.^ The following is a brief abstract of the 
 contents of this poem. A Yaksha, or Deva, who was in 
 the service of the god Cuvera, at his residence in the city 
 Alaca, among the mountains of Himalaya, had drawn upon 
 himself the angry vengeance of his master, for suffering In- 
 dra's elephant, named Airavata, to enter and lay waste a 
 garden of which he had been left in charge. As a punish- 
 ment for his negligence, he was exiled for one whole year 
 to the mountains of Ramagiri, (which form the commence- 
 ment of the Ghaut range,) where, during all this mterval, 
 he lived separate from his dearly beloved wife. Eight 
 months of his banishment had passed over, when the ramy 
 season began, and he beheld the clouds advancing from the 
 south towards the north in the direction of Himalaya and 
 Alaca, where his fond and bereaved consort was mourning 
 his tedious absence. He commissions one of these clouds 
 to convey her intelligence of himself, and describes the road 
 which it must take in order to arrive at the celestial Himath, 
 his own dear country, where he pictures to his mind's eye 
 the form of his much-loved spouse, plunged in grief, and 
 anxiously looking forward to the day of his return. He 
 
 • The Mega Duta, or Cloud Messenger, a poem in the Sanscrit language, 
 bv Calidasa, translated into English verse, with notes an^ illustrations by 
 Horace Hayman Wilson, Calcutta, 1813. 4to. pp. 120. The notes contain 
 many valuable explanations. 
 
188 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAF. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 189 
 
 paints her distress in moving terms, and charges the mes- 
 senger with the following words of consolation. " The 
 thirsty plant looks up to thee ; and a gentle shower is thy 
 only answer." Could he have expressed himself with 
 greater truth or delicacy ? 
 
 The first Hindu lyric poet is considered by the natives 
 themselves to have been Jayadeva, who, according to Sir 
 W. Jones,^^ upon hearsay evidence, is reported to have lived 
 even before Calidasa. This vague chronological date, 
 which would therefore place him anterior to the first century 
 of our era, is at present almost all we know of his history. 
 He was born, as he himself states, at Kenduli, which, ac- 
 cording to many writers, is situated in Calinga ; but as 
 there exists another town of this name in Burdwan, the in- 
 habitants of the latter place claim Jayadeva as their fellow 
 countryman, and celebrate an annual feast in his honour, 
 when they pass the whole night in joyous revel, singing his 
 poems and representing his idyls. 
 
 Although we are in want of positive data for assigning 
 the real period of the golden age of Hindu lyric poetry, yet 
 we are enabled to form some opinion on the subject from 
 a review of one of the principal compositions in this depart- 
 ment, the Gita Govinda." We are indebted to the skill 
 and industry of Sir W. Jones, ^^ for a translation of this mas- 
 terpiece of Jayadeva, which is so much the more valuable 
 from being rendered into literal prose, with the omission, 
 however, of certain passages rather too highly coloured in 
 the original. The poem itself is composed in rhymed stan- 
 zas, and the subject is of an epic character, being borrowed 
 from the Mahabharat ; the whole is a species of idyl, inter- 
 mixed with lyric songs, and has been incorrectly termed a 
 pastoral drama, though it possesses nothing of the dramatic 
 form. The subject of the poem is taken from the history 
 of Krishna, what time the god, disguised as a youthful herds- 
 man, sojourned among the Gopis, or milkmaids, and gave 
 himself up to the enjoyments of love. Radha, the most 
 
 *• Jones, Works, vol. i. p. 462. - 
 
 " Govinda is one of the many surnames of Krishna, which he bears as the 
 god of herdsmen ; Gita means song ; the whole expression is therefore equiva- 
 lent to " the song of the ^d of herdsmen." Astat. lies, vol. i. p. 262. 
 
 " Jones's Workst vol. i. p. 463. Sir William Jones's version was translated 
 by Baron Dall>erg into German, with the addition of explanatory^ notes. 
 
 beautiful of them, conceived herself slighted and despised, 
 by the caresses he bestowed on the others. She pours forth 
 the bitterness of her grief, until, through the mediation of 
 one of her companions, the stray god is at length brought 
 back to her arms, and they enjoy together the secret plea- 
 sures of amorous dalliance. . Although there is a unity of 
 action preserved through the whole poem, it is, nevertheless, 
 no drama, but rather a series of amatory songs connected 
 with the principal story. 
 
 The Gitagovinda may serve as a complete specimen ot 
 the erotico-iyric poetry of the Hindus. It exhibits a pic- 
 ture of love, confined to the sole gratifications of sense, and 
 betraying rather the grossness of animal desire than the pure 
 and refined enjoyments of intellectual passion. We need 
 not, therefore, be surprised at the wanton luxuriancy of the 
 poeVs imagination, which has even occasionally obliged the 
 translators to draw a veil over certain passages.'^ How 
 much of the beauty of a lyric poem must inevitably be lost 
 in a prose translation it would be superfluous to remark ; 
 and yet it is almost impossible to read the Gitagovinda even 
 in a translation, without being charmed. 
 
 What immediately strikes us in the lyric poetry of the 
 Hindus, is the perfect absence of any foreign alloy ; purity 
 and originality of character are predominant throughout, 
 and we feel ourselves suddenly transported into the world 
 of India. But how unable are we to appreciate its beauties, 
 for want of clear and precise ideas of that gorgeous cUmate ! 
 Most of the comparisons are borrowed from Indian vegeta- 
 tion ; and yet the melodious names of trees and plants, al- 
 though reduced in the notes to the Linnsean system, are to 
 our apprehension but empty sounds, while we are unac- 
 quainted with the plants themselves, and, consequently, are 
 incapable of estimating the correctness of the allusion. 
 When to this we add the charms of verse and rhyme, not to 
 
 " The limits which separate the decent from the indecent, and which in 
 general vary according to nation and climate, are utterly disregarded by Hin- 
 du poets, for the very reason that works of poetry are not intended for female 
 
 ^»"[Dr. Wallich, in his magnificent work on the plants of ^^f a, which is 
 now in course of publication, has in part supplied this deficiency. Mr Cole- 
 
 brooke, in his learned notes to the Amara ^^o^^^' ^^ ^^^^Z^^^^' ^"^ ^L" ^'^^^^ 
 larly Mr. Wilson, in his Dictionary, hacl previously given the synonymes ot a 
 
 great number of Indian plants. Fr. Transl.] 
 
190 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 191 
 
 be conveyed in a prose translation, there will remain scarcely 
 any thing of the original. It is impossible, however, not to 
 notice the extreme richness of the poet's fancy, the stren<>-th 
 and vivacity of his sentiment, particularly observable in his 
 delicate taste for the beauties of nature in general ; and 
 which not even the ardour of passion was able to extincrujsh. 
 In India the painter of love is at the same time the painter 
 of landscape also, but such a one as could only be formed 
 under the softness and luxuriant vegetation of an Indian 
 climate. In fine, the poem before us shows clearly in what 
 sense the epic of the Hindus may be regarded as the parent 
 of their lyric poetry. The fable to which it refers is handled 
 not only in the Mahabharat, but also in the Bhagavat Pu- 
 rana, and perhaps in many other poems of a later date. 
 From thence the lyric poet borrowed the materials which 
 served to inspire the outpourings of his genius and sensi- 
 bility.'^ 
 
 From the Gitagovinda we proceed by a natural transition 
 to consider the dramatic poetry of the Hindus. The Eng- 
 lish were the first to discover the fertility of Indian litera- 
 ture in this species of composition. For, upon theatrical 
 representations of the British stage being introduced at 
 Calcutta, Sir W. Jones heard a learned Brahman named 
 Radhacanta remark, that their nataks^ which had hitherto 
 been considered historic poems, were almost the same thing.'^ 
 The curiosity of Sir William was excited by this observa- 
 tion ; he immediately informed himself of the best of these 
 compositions, and it is to this circumstance we owe his dis- 
 covery and translation of the Sacontala. 
 
 Although this interesting play, of which we shall presently 
 have occasion to speak, has enabled us to ascertain the na- 
 ture of the Indian drama, we are still in comparative ignor- 
 ance of its extent, and the several branches belonging to it. 
 Mr. AVilson, in his Theatre of the Hindus, has furnished us 
 with additional information on the subject. According to 
 
 " The amatory poet above noticed, was no less the poet of religion ; and we 
 are obliged to Sir W. Jones for a literal translation of one of his odes to 
 Vishnu or Hari, which contains a panegyrical account of all that god's incar- 
 nations. Jones's Worlts^ vol. i. p. 2S9. So inseparably connected among 
 the Hindus appear to have been the sentiments of love and devotion. [The 
 same remark will apply to the Persians also. Fr. Transl.] 
 
 '• Jones's Works, vol. vi. p. 202. 
 
 this learned scholar, the Hindu drama is sometimes of an 
 elevated, at others of an inferior kind. The natakas, which 
 belong to the first description, have this peculiarity, that the 
 principal characters are always gods or heroes and heroines, 
 and ought rather to be termed heroic plays than tragedies, 
 for the catastrophe is invariably fortunate. The action of 
 the piece must not occupy less than five, or more than ten 
 acts, which are severally distinguished by the exit of all the 
 players. The language of the superior personages is Sans- 
 crit, that of the lower orders Pracrit and other dialects. 
 The second class of the Hindu drama, called Uparupacas, 
 comprehends smaller pieces, extending mostly from one to 
 four acts, and the characters are ordinary men. We must, 
 however, add to these two kinds a third, which is that of the 
 allegorical drama, exemplified in a play entitled Chandro- 
 (laya, translated by Dr. Taylor, where Reason, Passion, and 
 Desire are personified. 
 
 Imperfect as our knowledge of the Hindu drama at pre- 
 sent is, we cannot mistake the sources from which it was 
 derived ; these are no other than the popular religion and 
 epic poetry, from which last the religion itself originated. 
 The histories of gods and heroes, therefore, supplied it with 
 materials, and in this it coincides with the Grecian drama, 
 however great may be the difference between the two in 
 other respects. Although the constitution of Indian govern- 
 ments would not easily admit the introduction of any thing 
 like the old Grecian comedy/^ yet it did not altogether ex- 
 clude the comic species, which was partly indispensable as 
 a popular amusement. The fabulous histories of gods and 
 heroes, conformably to the great epic poems, were repre- 
 sented upon solemn feasts in the vicinity of the temples, and 
 are still occasionally at the present day. One of the most 
 fertile subjects for the dramatic poet was furnished in the 
 history of Rama, and the celebrated war of Lanka or Ceylon, 
 
 " [This is inexact, as there are specimens of Hindu comedy still extant, no 
 ways inferior to the ancient Greek ; and it would be curious to examme which 
 of the two kinds had the advantage in all manner of licence. Fr. Traxsl.] 
 [It will be sufficient to notice, in confirmation of M. Suckau's opinion, the 
 Hcisyamava, or Sea of Laughter, a force in three acts, by Jagadisvara. It is 
 a bitter satire on kings and their servants, who are described as profligate 
 scoundrels ; and on priests, who arc represented as hypocrites ! See Sir W. 
 Jones's Works, vol. vi. p. 451 ; Langles, Cat. des Manuscrits Sanserifs, p. 
 HO; and Schlegel's Jnd, BihL ii. 2. p. 161. Trans.] 
 
im 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. ,. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 193 
 
 from the Ramayaha ; which is still frequently represented 
 on his feast-day, and the exhibition closes, according to an 
 eye-witness/® with the ordeal of fire, in which Sita, the ^vife 
 of Rama, proved her innocence after being carried off by 
 Ravana.^^ 
 
 The nature of the Hindu drama itself would lead us to 
 infer, that it is of greater antiquity than we are enabled to 
 determine with correctness. Its invention, according to 
 Sir W. Jones,-® is attributed to Bharata, an inspired sage. 
 JJut, supposing the drama to have been founded upon epic 
 poetry, it must of course be less ancient than the latter • 
 and the Hindus themselves ascribe its perfect development 
 to the comparatively modern age of Vicramaditya ; while 
 they are far from allowing their dramatic writings the same 
 degree of veneration as their epic poetry. The former are 
 not reckoned in the number of sacred compositions, which 
 the superior castes only are permitted to read, but are 
 classed with the national poetry ; and in fact their prevail- 
 ing language bears the same character. They are, it is true, 
 written in Sanscrit, but not exclusively ; the principal per- 
 sons, especially the higher beings, alone talk Sanscrit ; the 
 women Pracrit ; and the lower orders their respective popu- 
 lar dialects. The language is elevated or lowered according 
 to the exigency of the subject ; when that is sublime, the 
 interlocutors use only poetry ; in familiar conversation, on 
 the other hand, they return to common prose. 
 
 How inexhaustible were the sources from whence the 
 dramatic writers of India borrowed their materials, may be 
 easily conceived, from what we have already said of the 
 mythology and epic poetry of the Hindus. On the other 
 hand, the general taste for these poems, and their being put 
 in requisition at the public solemnities, must have increased 
 their number to an extraordinary degree. The pundits, 
 indeed, pretend they are innumerable ; and we could will- 
 ingly believe the assurance of Sir W. Jones, when he affirms, 
 that the Hindu theatre would fill as many volumes as that 
 
 " Asiatic lies. vol. i. p. 258. [See an epitome of the Ramayana, as dra- 
 maticaUy represented by the cotamon people on the festival of Rama. Asiatic 
 Journ. vol. iv. p. 130, 185, N. S. Transl.] 
 
 " See above, p. 157. 
 
 " See for this, and what immediately follows, his preface to the Sacontala. 
 WorA'Sj vol. vi. p. 204, etc. 
 
 of any nation of modern Europe. More than thirty com- 
 positions, next to those of Calidasa, were pointed out to him 
 as the flower of this branch of Hindu literature ; of which, 
 however, up to the present time, we know scarcely any thing 
 beyond the mere names.^^ 
 
 The most brilliant period of Hindu dramatic poetry is un- 
 doubtedly that of Calidasa, whom the natives are unanimous 
 in regarding as the first of their dramatic writers, though 
 two only of his pieces are now extant.^^ He is reckoned 
 among the nine poets who adorned the court of that friend 
 of the muses Rajah Vicramaditya, the sovereign of India ; 
 who gave name to the era so called, commencing with his 
 death fifty-six years before Christ ; and which, as we have 
 
 2' Sir W. Jones cites the following: The Ill-natured Child; The Rape of 
 Usha; The Taming of the Dervasas; The Rape of the Lock; Malati and 
 Madava ; with five or six others, the subjects of which turn upon the adven- 
 tures of incarnate deities. Mr. Wilford {Asiatic Res. vol. x. p. 450, etc.) has 
 given an extract from the play entitled Malati and Madava, written by the 
 poet Bhurivasu, and which has for its subject the loves of a youthful pair, 
 whom their parents had already destined for each other, but who were only 
 united at length after many obstacles. As far as I am able to judge, this 
 play seems much inferior to the Sacontala. The translation of another drama, 
 called Prabodha Chandrodaya, (i. e. Rise of the Moon of Intellect,) by Dr. 
 Taylor, London, 1812, is only known to me by quotations. 
 
 "Sacontala, and Vikrama and Urvasi. Sir William Jones, Works, vol. 
 vi. p. 205. The drama entitled Vikrama and Urvasi has been published by 
 Wilson in his " Theatre of the Hindus." The following is a brief account 
 of its subject. The king Pururava appears in his chariot on the mountain 
 tops of Himalaya, where he deUvers Urvasi, a celestial Apsara, or nymph, 
 who had been carried off from the court of Indra : a mutual passion is the 
 consequence ; but the lovers are obliged to separate, on account of Urvasi's 
 return to heaven. The king gives himself up to melancholy, and communi- 
 cates his misfortune to his friend Manava, who plays the traitor, and by 
 means of a flying leaf discloses the secret to the queen his wife. Urvasi, 
 impelled by love, returns to visit the king, and invites him to retire with her 
 into the bosom of a wood called Rarikeya. The entrance of this wood was 
 forbidden to all women, upon pain of being turned into vine-stocks, a meta- 
 morphosis which accordingly befell the luckless Urvasi, after giving birth to 
 a son. At length, however, being disenchanted by Indra, she is received into 
 his celestial abode together with her spouse and son. The plot and unravel- 
 ""? of the piece are evidently similar to those of Sacontala. The character 
 of Irvasi, of the king and his companion Manava, a grossly sensual Banian, 
 who acts the droll in this play like Madavia does in the Sacontala, are per- 
 fect counterparts of those found in the latter poem. Nevertheless, the cha- 
 racter of Pururava is delineated with less vigour than that of Dushmanta, to 
 whom he is besides generally inferior. Inedited note of the Author. 
 
 [The text of this play, and several other specimens of the Hindu drama, 
 have been published by the Committee of Public Instruction at Calcutta. 
 Another comedy, in five acts, entitled Agnimitra and Malavika, purports to 
 oe written by Calidasa, but it seems uncertain whether the great poet of that 
 name or another. Transl.] 
 
 VOL. II. o 
 
194 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. !• 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 195 
 
 seen, was still in use during the middle ages According o 
 this computation, the age of Calidasa would comcide with 
 that of Lucretius, and follow not long after Terence. It 
 must be candidly allowed that we have no stronger proof of 
 the correctness of this date ; but surely the bare circum- 
 stance of an era having prevailed among the whole nation 
 for upwards of a thousand years, is undoubtedly a s rong 
 presumption in its favour; and that the objections alleged 
 bv Mr. Bentley against the age of Calidasa rest upon no 
 solid grounds, has, I think, been sufficiently shown already.^^ 
 As far, then, as our present knowledge extends, we may 
 feel ourselves justified in regarding the first century before 
 Christ as the most flourishing period of Sanscrit literature, 
 particularly of the drama. Whoever, indeed, examines 
 with attention the only specimen of the latter kind at pre- 
 sent known in Europe, will find ample reason, I imagine, 
 for considering the play in question to have been coniposed 
 not for the people but the court, and for a brilliant court 
 too : in this sense we might not unaptly term the piece a 
 royal drama. A king, together with a heroine, is the prin- 
 cipal character; and every thing is calculated with a view 
 to his aggrandizement. The action of the play is confined 
 to the court, and the society of gods and holy anchorites, 
 which last are on the same footing with princes. Itie 
 preparations requisite for enacting this drama, in whatever 
 manuer we may suppose that to be done, are on such a 
 large and expensive scale, as none but a royal stage could 
 either accomplish or aflPord. 
 
 The Sacontala^ is already too well known to the learned 
 of Europe to require a particular exposition of its contents. 
 It was this celebrated drama which first gave us a more cor- 
 rect idea of the treasures contained in Sanscrit literature ; 
 and we must in truth allow Calidasa to be one ot those 
 poets who have done honour not merely to their own nation 
 but to all civilized mankind. At the same time it will not 
 
 « See above, p. 116, 117. We ought, however, ^o remark thaJtAe^^^^^ 
 
 only concerns Ae age of CaUdasa, and other P^^^.^)?, ^"^1"^^ 
 has nothing to do with the work entitled Surrya Siddhanta, upon wmcn 
 will be the appropriate task of astronomers to decide.^ , • ono etc 
 
 ^SacontalaVxhe Fatal Ring. Sir W. Jones, ^^r^y''\^l:^'^;^^r 
 The ensuing observations are grounded solely on this translation, without 
 reference to the criticisms of other writers. 
 
 be too much to assert, that the number of those readers who 
 can perfectly comprehend him must ever be small. He only 
 who has become naturalized to an Indian world, and has 
 been able to identify himself with the habits of thinking and 
 sentiments peculiar to the natives, can ever thoroughly 
 understand the most beautifiil passages of this author.*^ 
 
 As the Hindus themselves regard the Sacontala as the 
 first of all their dramatic compositions, there will be no im- 
 propriety, therefore, in our attempting to examine their 
 whole drama, by referring it to the same standard. Not- 
 withstanding the charms of language and versification are 
 necessarily lost, yet enough remains, in the plan and de- 
 velopment of the plot, for enabling us to make a proper 
 estimate of the whole play, and thereby to ascertain the 
 general character of the Hindu drama itself. That distin- 
 guishing feature of Hindu poetry, its not being satisfied with 
 mere humanity, but confounding the divine with the terres- 
 trial, yet so as that the former shall predominate, is no less 
 conspicuous in the drama than in the epic poem. Both the 
 principal characters are of supernatural origin ; Sacontala 
 is the daughter of a Rajah, and a Devanie ;^^ Dushmanta 
 the king is of the race of the Purus, who derived their 
 lineage fi-om the moon, and is at the same time the friend 
 and companion of Indra, upon whose chariot he appears 
 riding in the clouds. The action of the piece commences 
 
 ** To cite a few instances, I need only allude to Sacontala*s farewell address 
 to her plants and flowers, expressed in as afiectionate terms as if they were 
 her sisters : to the fearful malediction of the Brahman Durvasa and its con- 
 sequences, which form the principal groundwork of the plot ; to Dushmanta.'s 
 grief, and horrible presentiment of the ruin of his house, if he should die 
 childless, and consequently lose the benefit of a funeral sacrifice to be offered 
 by his heirs for the repose of his soul ; and to his relationship with Indra, etc. 
 
 " The birth and history of Sacontala are related in the Mahabharat, from 
 whence Calidasa borrowed his subject; but which he further detailed and 
 embellished, as the nature of dramatic interest might require. The above 
 episode has been translated by Fred. Schlegel, in his Essay on the Language 
 and Science of the Hindus, p. 303 ; where at the same time that he shows 
 how the dramatists of India borrowed their materials from theei)ic poems, he 
 also informs us what freedom they allowed themselves m their resnective 
 methods of handling them. According to the Mahabharat, Sacontala was 
 the daughter of Rajah Vishvamitra, who by his penances had raised himself to 
 the dignity of a Brahman ; whom, notwithstanding, the Devanie Menuca had 
 Beduced to her embraces at the suggestion of Indra, who was alarmed at the 
 uncommon mortifications of the sage. In the drama she is called Causica, 
 p. 222. The great simplicity of the narrative contained in the epic poem, 
 compared with that in the drama, is another proof of the high antiquity of 
 the former, and of the different ages in which the^f were severally composed. 
 
 o 2 
 
1% 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 197 
 
 on earth and terminates in the celestial mansions of the gods ; 
 all which gives to the poem a certain degree of majesty and 
 
 elevation. 
 
 This is not the place for unravelling the web of this 
 astonishing literary performance, or we might expatiate 
 upon the intimate connexion of its parts, and the exact 
 measure and proportion of the whole. We might show how 
 the progressive and harmonious march of the action, com- 
 mencing like an idyl, with the picture of a delicate young 
 nymph surrounded with her plants and flowers, continually 
 rises in majestic interest till the last act, where Sacontala, 
 being again united to her husband and son, the youthful 
 vanquisher of lions, is presented to the gods her relations, 
 and the piece closes, as it were, with a species of transfigur- 
 ation. Calidasa has been termed the Hindu Shakspeare;"' 
 and in truth there is as much affinity of soul between these 
 two dramatists, as we have already noticed between the re- 
 spective epic poets of the two countries. The action of the 
 Sacontala, however simple it may be, is of no less extent 
 than the great works of the English poet. Both are equally 
 unrestricted by the unities of time and place ; unity of ac- 
 tion, indeed, is the only one which Calidasa recognises. 
 Neither does he disdain, when the subject requires it, to in- 
 terweave with scenes of ordinary life those also of a more 
 elevated character ; but his representations are always true 
 and animated, in every variety of circumstance, whether he 
 introduces us to gods or princes, to constables or fishermen. 
 He paints with equal delicacy and force the graceful and 
 the pathetic, the terrible and the sublime. Even the comic 
 is not foreign to his pencil, though he employs it but spar- 
 ingly, and always with design.^^ And if he does not express 
 the passions so forcibly as the English dramatist, we should 
 recollect that the grand aim of Hindu philosophy is to re- 
 press them altogether. 
 
 It would appear, then, that Calidasa raised the Indian 
 
 " Jones's WbrJcSf vol. vi. p. 205. 
 
 " Madhavya is certainly in some measure the droll in Sacontala, though 
 incorrectly characterized as a buffoon in the English translation. He is re- 
 presented as a Brahman by birth, and, in consequence, as the equal in rank 
 and playmate of the king from his youth up, p. 236. It is not his wit so 
 much as his dulness, in contrast with the lofty character of Dushmanta, to 
 whom he serves as a foil, which produces the comic of the play. 
 
 drama to a degree of excellence, of which, previous to the 
 discovery of his Sacontala, we had not the slightest concep- 
 tion. But what a course of preliminary mental improve- 
 ment must the nation have gone through, ere they could 
 possess a writer like Calidasa ! ere they could understand 
 and appreciate his genius ! It is only from one of his two 
 principal works that we are at present enabled to form any 
 opinion of tlie poet himself, or of the whole dramatic litera- 
 ture of his nation. How confined, therefore, is our sphere 
 of vision, and how much more correctly might we judge of 
 both, did we but possess those thirty other pieces, which 
 were represented to Sir W. Jones as the most valuable of 
 this authors compositions!'^ We can now only judge of 
 the Indian drama, as we might of the English, supposing 
 Hamlet were the only play we had to guide our judgment. 
 It is, indeed, easy to conceive what we have lost, but 
 scarcely possible for us to estimate its real value. 
 
 The poetry of no other nation exhibits in such a striking 
 manner the didactic character as that of the Hindus ; for no 
 other people were so thoroughly imbued with the persua- 
 sion, that to give and receive instruction was the sole and 
 ultimate object of life. How could such a sentiment fail to 
 exercise a reflected influence upon poetry ? A large pro- 
 portion of the Vedas, the Upanishads, must be regarded in 
 the light of philosophico-didactic poems, indissolubly con- 
 nected, however, with religion. The case is the same with 
 most of the Puranas, especially the cosmogonies and theogo- 
 nies which those writings contain. The nature of the Hindu 
 epic poem, so favourable to the introduction of episodes, is 
 equally well adapted for conveying moral and philosophical 
 precepts. The last book of the Ramayana, and the Bhagavat 
 Gita in the Mahabharat, may serve as examples of the fact. 
 
 The Bhagavat Gita, which is in the form of a dialogue be- 
 tween Krishna and his disciple Arjuna, is one of the prin- 
 
 ■^ According to Sir W. Jones, {TForks, vol. vi. p. 205,) Calidasa was not 
 only a dramatic, but an epic writer also. Two heroic poems of his composi- 
 tion are still extant : The Children of the Sun, and The birth of Curama the 
 God of War. Some amatory tales are likewise attributed to him, and a poem 
 on Sanscrit metre. " According to some," adds Sir WilHam, " he revised the 
 works of Valmiki and Vyasa, and arranged them in their present order." 
 This last observation will serve to throw a considerable degree of light upon 
 the obscure history of Sanscrit Uterature, a subject to which I shall very soon 
 have occasion to refer. 
 
198 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 cipal sources of the religious philosophy of the Hindus.*** 
 Krishna is there represented as the supreme being, through 
 and in whom every thing exists. The poem certainly 
 abounds in sublime passages, which remind one of the Or- 
 phic hymn to Jupiter, quoted by Stobaeus. How far, in- 
 deed, the poet can be absolved from the charge of pantheism, 
 when he represents the deity sometimes as a simple and in- 
 divisible being,^' at others, as composed, and the substance 
 of all things,*^ is a question for philosophers to decide. Ac- 
 cording to him, the body, when once become unserviceable, 
 is thrown aside like an old garment, and the immortal soul 
 is enveloped in another.'^ The government of the passions 
 and the mortification of sensual desires comprise the whole 
 extent of his moral system. Whoever, says he, can attain 
 perfection in this respect, will after death be absorbed into 
 the Divine essence, without being born again.^* He adds 
 a great deal of what is excellent and true upon this subject, 
 though he also pretends that abstract meditation or devotion, 
 accompanied with invocation of the deity by the mystical 
 word Om^ will conduct a man to supreme happiness.^^ 
 Here, again, we remark the strong propensity of the Hindus 
 to mysticism. 
 
 Although the didactic poetry of the Hindus, conformably 
 to the general character of their civilization, remained in 
 intimate connexion with religion, the descriptive, on the 
 other hand, appears to have emancipated itself To the lat- 
 ter kind belongs a poem of Calidasa, entitled Ritusanhara, 
 
 * We are indebted to A. W. Schleeel for a complete and critical edition of 
 the Bhagavat Gita, from the Paris MSS. " Bhagavad Gita, id est, Qiamaiw 
 iktkoq, sive almi Krishnae et Arjunae colloquium de rebus divinis Bharatea 
 Episodium." Bonn, 1828, 4to. This is the first book that was printed in 
 the Devanagari character in Germany ; the chapters of the Bhagavad Gita 
 inserted in Frank's Chrestmnathiay vol. ii., being lithographed. As to Mr. 
 Wilkins's edition printed at Calcutta in 1803, and accompanied with an 
 English translation, scarce any copies appear to have reached Europe. 
 [Wilkins never pubHshed the text of the Bhagavad Gita, which only appeared 
 for the first time at Calcutta, in 1815; his English translation came out in 
 1785. Fr. Transl.] 
 
 " Essentia simplex et indi vidua est summum numen, p. 155. 
 
 " Mea natura in octonas partes distribuitur, p. 153. 
 
 » Page 135. •J Page 143. 
 
 »* Page 156. iOm is the mystic name of the deity, prefacing all the pray- 
 ers and most of the writings of the Hindus ; compounded of ^ a name of 
 Vishnu, U of Siva, and M of Brahma ; it therefore implies the Indian triad, 
 and expresses the three in one. Transl.] 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 199 
 
 or the Seasons, which has been printed at Calcutta in the 
 original Sanscrit : but Sir W. Jones, in his Works, only 
 presents us with a title and a very short notice. " It is im- 
 possible," says he, " to commence the study of Sanscrit with 
 a more elegantly written composition. Every line of Cali- 
 dasa is elaborated with the utmost care ; and each stanza 
 of the poem describes an Indian landscape, always beautiful, 
 sometimes strongly coloured, but never untrue to nature." 
 The name and reputation of Calidasa were sufficient to jus- 
 tify the largest hopes ; but unfortunately we must content 
 ourselves with this imperfect account of Sir William, for 
 neither original nor translation appear yet to have reached 
 Europe. 
 
 The poetry of the Hindus particularly affects the form of 
 dialogue, which it also employs in didactic poetry, as we 
 have before noticed in speaking of the Puranas. But its 
 peculiar feature consists in putting these dialogues in the 
 mouths of animals, not merely for the purpose of enabling 
 them to speak in character, like those in the fables of ^Esop, 
 or Reynard the Fox, but also, as beings of a higher and en- 
 lightened or at least of a rational nature, in order to convey 
 precepts of wisdom and prudence. This peculiarity is 
 strictly conformable to the light in which the Hindus regard 
 the brute creation. We have already had occasion to re- 
 mark the superior character which animals assume in the 
 mythology of this people ; that they are not only companions 
 of the deities, but are themselves also of divine nature, and 
 appear upon earth in an incarnate form by the side of the 
 divinities. But in the case before us, a much stronger in- 
 fluence is exercised by the general belief in the transmigra- 
 tion of souls. According to the Brahmans, all life is an 
 emanation of the deity ; and this, too, not only with regard 
 to men, but also to brutes, and even the vegetable world. 
 The soul is supposed to migrate successively through the 
 bodies of men and inferior animals, which are so many forms 
 of purification, until at length it is raised to its original con- 
 dition, and is absorbed again into the divinity;-^ though it 
 is also pretended that this may take place immediately, 
 through intense meditation, and extraordinary penances. 
 
 •• PoLiER, vol. ii. p. 418. 
 
200 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 201 
 
 n 
 
 I 
 
 Under such a system of belief, the whole race of brute ani- 
 mals appear in a much more dignified point of view • we 
 are no longer astonished at seeing them, particularly as in- 
 carnations of gods, invested with all the reason and intelli- 
 gence of man. 
 
 A striking example will be found in the last book of the 
 Ramayana, of which Sir W. Jones has furnished us with a 
 translation, or rather an abridgement.^^ The eagle Garuda 
 the attendant of Vishnu, having sinned in thought against his 
 divme master, comes in penitent guise to the crow Bhushan- 
 da, who dwelt on the lofty summits of Nila, or the blue moun- 
 tains, "rich in virtues as in vices; well acquainted with all that 
 has happened since the beginning of time ; sometimes wrapt 
 m profound meditation on the being of God, at others pour- 
 mg forth invocations, and proclaiming to the birds of land 
 and water the praises of Vishnu." This sagacious fowl be- 
 comes the instructor of Garuda, recounts to him the num- 
 ber of his transmigrations, and gives him lectures on the 
 greatness and power of Vishnu and Rama, to which latter 
 personage he had belonged from his birth. He informs 
 iiiiii that he once animated the body of a Brahman but 
 that, owing to the maledictions of a certain Rishi or saint, 
 he had afterwards passed into that of a crow. 
 
 Another work of this description, but of much greater 
 extent, is the celebrated Hitopadesa ; ^ which, under the 
 name of "The Fables of Pilpay,'' has already been trans- 
 lated into most of the Oriental and Western languao-es, but 
 so disfigured by alterations and additions as scarcely to re- 
 tain any feature of its original character.^ As long ago as the 
 sixth century it was translated into Persian, by order of Chos- 
 ru Nushirvan ; and from this, at a subsequent period, into 
 
 " Works, vol. vi. p. 399. 
 
 •» Translated by Sir W. Jones, Works, vol. vi. p. 3-177; and also by 
 
 rTrn^'"'' London, 1810. [Mr Wilkins only reprinted the tex , after the Se- 
 
 hrX^Llr"' ""'^^l ^PP'-'^^'I L" *^' under the superintendence of Cole- 
 
 rth W 1 'Ft- ^^^ ^"g"^^ ^?"'""^ ^^« ^^"^« ^^^ published conjointly 
 
 PiljX Tnnl/^'^''^^ v"'' ""^u^'v *''^"^'?. ^'^ ^'•^'^^^Z ^«^'«^^^- Instead of 
 frnCVf ^^^^dpay, which, according to Sir \V. Jones, is corrupted 
 
 the Bamnte''' '^' k"''^ physician. [T^t illustrious Arabic scholar, 
 nlete^v^vh^L^ ZV'" ^1^^^^^"^"^ edition of Calila and Dimnah, has com- 
 pletely exhausted the subject of the different versions into which the Hito- 
 
 &L.] ' ^'" '''"'^"!'^- ^^^ ^' preUminary Melolre uLh^^^^^ 
 
 Arabic and Turkish ; and lastly, into French and other lan- 
 (Tuages, until Sir W. Jones presented us with a new version 
 immediately from the original Sanscrit; to which last we shall 
 confine ourselves in the ensuing observations. The Hitopa- 
 desa is a book upon morals, propounded through the medium 
 of fable, and composed for the instruction of princes. The 
 Rajah Sudarsana, king of Pataliputra, having froward sons, 
 confided them to the care of the sage, Vishnu Sarman ; who, 
 under the form of apologue, delivered to them precepts of 
 morality and wisdom. The whole work is divided into four 
 books ; which treat respectively on the acquisition and loss 
 of friends, on war, and peace ; all of them subjects of the 
 last importance for princes to study. 
 
 The fables contained in the Hitopadesa are certainly like 
 those of iEsop, but with this difference, that the animals in 
 the former collection are made to speak not only according 
 to the several characters we usually attribute to them, but 
 also generally as rational and intelligent beings. The apo- 
 logue is, without doubt, one of the most ancient kinds of 
 Oriental poetry ; and yet the Hitopadesa in its present shape 
 can scarcely be reckoned among the oldest specimens of 
 Sanscrit literature. The scene of these fables is laid in the 
 city Pataliputra, by no means the most ancient in India ; 
 and the national literature must have already attained an 
 advanced stage of development when they were composed, 
 and the author himself have been a man of considerable 
 reading; for, instead of the moral commonly subjoined to 
 our fables, he always quotes illustrative passages from the 
 poets ; without, however, mentioning their names. But the 
 Hitopadesa may also be considered as a collection of fables 
 arranged by Vishnu Sarman, with a particular object in 
 view ; they may consequently have been invented by differ- 
 ent authors. And on this last supposition who could pos- 
 sibly venture to determine their respective ages ? 
 
 Having thus examined in detail the several branches of 
 Sanscrit literature, together with the productions of each as 
 far as they are at present known to us, we may now proceed 
 to some more general considerations, which will probably 
 assist us in replying to the questions proposed in the outset 
 of our inquiry. 
 
 The literature of the Sanscrit language incontestably be- 
 
202 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 203 
 
 longs to a highly cultivated people, whom we may with 
 great reason consider to have been the most informed of all 
 the East. It is true we are only acquainted with a very 
 small portion of this literature, and that mostly through 
 translations; but still these, in conjunction with the ac- 
 counts derived from the researches of learned and credible 
 persons conducted in the country itself, are nevertheless 
 sufficient for enabling us to judge of its value and extent. 
 It is at the same time a scientific and a poetic literature ; 
 and yet how much soever the national genius may have ex- 
 ercised itself upon particular branches of science, poetry 
 notwithstanding was the predominant study ; and its forms 
 have even been applied to many subjects, which, according 
 to our notions, do not admit of such application. 
 
 Further, Sanscrit literature is not only very rich, but also 
 in a certain sense extremely ancient. Every thing concurs 
 to establish the fact that alphabetical writing was known in 
 India from the earliest times ; and that its use was not con- 
 fined to inscriptions, but extended also to every purpose of 
 common life. When we call the literature of the Hindus 
 extremely ancient, we mean to say that a great number of 
 their principal works, considered with regard to subject and 
 essential component parts, are the productions of remote 
 antiquity, though at the same time we are far from assertmg 
 that they have always existed in their present form. 
 
 Sanscrit literature, perhaps more than any other, stands 
 in need of critical examination ; and yet this deficiency has 
 hitherto been but very imperfectly supplied. The first dis- 
 covery of its hidden treasures gave rise to an excess of en- 
 thusiasm and credulity. At a later period men went into 
 the opposite extreme ; they began to question the authen- 
 ticity of particular works, or only particular passages; and 
 forthwith, like Bentley, endeavoured to throw suspicion 
 upon the whole. The truth, however, lies here also, as in- 
 deed every where else, in a mean between the two extremes. 
 We have already observed that the principal works of this 
 literature consist of compilations, which therefore presup- 
 poses the existence of earlier compositions ; and that the 
 epic poems, though severally forming a connected whole, are 
 nevertheless of a character extremely favourable to the in- 
 troduction of episodes. Now, in order to determine with 
 
 precision the exact age of Sanscrit literature, we must pre- 
 viously satisfy ourselves upon these two points : how old are 
 the works in question, considered with respect to their prin- 
 cipal contents ? and in what manner, and at what time, did 
 they receive their present form ? Something has been done 
 already towards fiirnishing an answer ; and if we resume 
 our preceding observations, we shall come, I believe, to the 
 following conclusions. 
 
 Sanscrit literature has had its respective periods. This 
 we are assured, not only by the voice of national tradition, 
 and the nature of its several works, but also by the progres- 
 sive stages of development which we meet with in the lan- 
 guage itself The Vedas could not have been written at the 
 same time as the classical epic poems, nor these latter have 
 been contemporary with the Sacontala and other pieces of 
 that kind. For want of accurate chronological data, we 
 cannot absolutely determine these periods ; we can only 
 make a general reference to them. The first, we shall 
 call that of the Vedas ; though a still longer interval of time 
 might have elapsed before they assumed their present shape. 
 The various hymns and prayers contained in these books, 
 are by very different authors ; and are evidently not all of 
 the same age, for how can we imagine the abstract theories 
 which are found in the Upanishads, to have been simul- 
 taneously developed? And, moreover, how long might 
 they not have existed in a separate form prior to their being 
 reduced to order, and incorporated by some judicious com- 
 piler ? Important as it would be to determine this question, 
 we must stop here for want of materials ; but that the com- 
 pilation of the Vedas, or at least the three first, must have 
 taken place at a very early period, has, I think, been suffi- 
 ciently proved in a former part of our inquiry ; with regard 
 to the Atharvan Veda, it seems likely to be a continual sub- 
 ject of discussion whether we are to assign it an equal origin 
 with the others. 
 
 The second period we shall call the epic ; comprehend- 
 ing the interval in which the great epic poems were written, 
 particularly the Mahabharat and the Ramayana, and no 
 doubt several others at present unknown. That these are 
 of later composition than the Vedas, will be evident on com- 
 paring their style and language ; on the other hand, it has 
 
204 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I- 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 205 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 been elsewhere satisfactorily ascertained that the two poems 
 themselves are of very great antiquity ; and must be con- 
 siderably older than the commencement of our era The 
 fact however, contributes just as little towards illustrating 
 the critical history of these works as a similar presumption 
 in the case of Homer s poems. If the history ol these latter, 
 which we possess not only in translations, but also in the 
 original, and have besides so many other helps for explain- 
 inl them, has never yet been cleared up, notwithstanding 
 all the perspicacity and erudition of the most learned scho- 
 lars • what better success can we, or ought we, to expect, 
 from' the researches made into Sanscrit literature ? ISeyer- 
 theless when I consider the unity of action prevailing 
 throughout the Mahabharat and the Ramayana, as well as 
 the Iliad and the Odyssey, I can hardly persuade myself 
 that they are nothing more than a simple collection ot his- 
 toric songs. At the same time, I am perfectly wil ing to 
 allow that the form of the Hindu epic poems is much more 
 fevourable to episodes than the Greek ; add to this, the 
 manner of writing, and the materials used for that purpose 
 in India, both afford singular opportunities for their intro- 
 duction The Hindus wrote ordinarily upon palm leaves, 
 which did not admit of being folded or bound up, like rol s 
 of parchment or papyrus, and at most could only be ightly 
 strung together, when this method was not forbidden, as 
 they even now pretend is the case with regard to the Vedas. 
 Under these circumstances, therefore, how easily might in- 
 terpolations creep into the original text ; and on the other 
 hand, how difficult, we would almost say, how impossible, 
 to arrange and collect the whole into one volume ! 1 he in- 
 evitable consequence of all this, and particularly m propor- 
 tion as these songs came into popular use, would be their 
 dismemberment, and ceasing to be regarded as one unitorm 
 whole. Fortunately, however, they met with the sanie 
 lucky chance as the poems of the Ionian bard ; and, like the 
 
 <• PoLiER vol i Preface, p. 21. The Vedas were only given to Col. Polier 
 upon conSn im^^^^^^^^ s Jild not be bound with leather, (for hornWep^ 
 Eion to a Brahman, it might possibly be made of a ^ow s hide but^^^^^^ 
 with silk. It is easy, therefore, to conceive the extreme d thculty ot prot 
 Tna even in India, a complete copy of the Vedas. A critical history (^^ft 
 various materials used for writing by the Hindus, would throw considerable 
 light on the history of their literature. See above, p. IU7. 
 
 rhapsodies of Homer, the Mahabharat and the Ramayana 
 also found their Lycurgus or Pisistratus. In the absence of 
 direct historical testimony on this point, we are nevertheless 
 furnished with some hints from popular tradition, which are 
 too important to be passed over in silence. 
 
 It was during the reign of the celebrated Rajah Vicra- 
 maditya, and one hundred years before the commencement 
 of the Christian era, that this compilation is reported to have 
 been made by order of the prince himself. The first notice 
 of this circumstance we find in Sir W. Jones, who thus 
 briefly alludes to the report : " He (Calidasa) is believed by 
 some to have revised the works of Valmiki and Vyasa, and 
 to have corrected the perfect editions of them which are 
 now current."*^ Col. Polier has given us a detailed account 
 of this transaction, though it certainly appears rather fabu- 
 lous.*- According to him. Rajah Vicramaditya, the Mecae- 
 nas of poets and men of letters, convened an assembly of 
 Brahmans at Benares, and expressed to them his desire of 
 hearing the ancient books of sacred histories read. But as 
 these, being written on detached palm leaves, were found 
 to be incomplete, either through length of time or the negli- 
 pjence of their guardians, the Rajah accordingly directed 
 them to be gathered together, and commissioned one of the 
 most able among the Brahmans to execute the task. As 
 none of them, however, were willing to engage in such a 
 difficult labour, Calidasa, the most famous of all the wise 
 men and Brahmans of his time, alone ventured to undertake 
 it ; and made a complete collection of these works, which 
 even the learned men and Brahmans his rivals, universally 
 regarded as authentic.*' 
 
 This account of Polier, it is true, has no better founda- 
 tion than the common saying of the Brahmans, for no other 
 sources are quoted in support of it scorrectness. And yet, as 
 Sir William Jones has also noticed the report, it would seem 
 to be the object of pretty general belief; and we can hardly 
 suppose it altogether devoid of historic probability. But, 
 
 " Worksj yo\. vi. p. 205. *^ Mytholoffie des Indous, vol. i. p. 104. 
 
 ** Polier, in another passa<^e, (vol. i. p. 185,) recounts the fabulous embel- 
 lishments made to this traditional report, (which, however, chiefly concern 
 the works of Valmiki,) the persecution which Calidasa met with from his 
 rivals, and his final triumph over them. 
 
206 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 207 
 
 admitting the reality of the fact as there stated, we must 
 first inquire, what books were so collected together ? The 
 account only mentions historic poems, which would there- 
 fore seem to exclude the Vedas. The expression all, made 
 use of by Poller, cannot possibly be taken in a literal sense, 
 when we consider the great number of these poems ; and as 
 Sir W. Jones expressly mentions the works of Valmiki and 
 Vyasa, we may safely include the Ramayana and also the 
 Mahabharat in the report ; without presuming to determine 
 whether others of that kind were among the number. It is, 
 perhaps, a more important question for us to decide, in 
 what consisted the undertaking of Calidasa ? Was it merely 
 a compilation, or was it rather a critical and accurate edition 
 of the poems alluded to ? Now it is otherwise such an ex- 
 traordinary thing to meet with what we call criticism among 
 the Orientals,*^ that one cannot easily incline to the latter 
 supposition ; and yet this seems to be the meaning attached 
 to the native report, when it ascribes all the current editions 
 of their holy books to the supervision of Calidasa. We 
 shall, probably, not be far from the truth, if we understand 
 the report to mean, that Calidasa, and his assistants, collect- 
 ed together and arranged the separate poems, but that they 
 excluded whatever in the poet's judgment seemed to be an 
 improper addition. It is easy to see how much still remains 
 for future discussion and inquiry ; but researches of this 
 kind can only be appropriately carried on in India itself. 
 
 Whatever be the result of further examination on the 
 above point, we must in every case regard the age of Vicra- 
 maditya,as constituting the third period of Sanscrit literature. 
 That the reign of this prince was a splendid one, may be 
 inferred with great probability from the mere circumstance 
 of his having given name to an era, which commenced with 
 his death, and continued for a long time to be in general 
 use. The literary character of this reign was not, however, 
 confined to the mere revision of ancient works ; it was no 
 
 ^ [The edition of the Ramayana published by Schlegel proves that manu- 
 scripts were in the habit of being critically reviewed in India, like the works 
 of the ancient Greek poets were at Alexandria : the same may be said of 
 many important works in Persian and Arabic ; and it is well known that the 
 Chinese, upwards of a thousand years ago, established the text of their sacred 
 books by a mode of procedure analogous to that of the Masorites. Fr- 
 Transl.] 
 
 less remarkably evidenced in the production of original 
 compositions, by the poets and learned men who adorned the 
 monarch's court. The Sanscrit literature of the time, in- 
 deed, seems to have assumed generally a courtly form ; and 
 the language itself and the study of versification to have 
 reached the highest point of refinement. The drama was 
 favoured beyond all other kinds of poetry, and gave birth to 
 the greatest masterpieces in the art, which, however, were 
 throughout constructed on principles of court taste. Be- 
 sides the productions of poetic genius there appeared also 
 works of science, in connexion with the artificial wants of 
 polished society ; and encyclopedic dictionaries, like that of 
 Amara Sinha.*^ In short, the age of Vicramaditya is cer- 
 tainly one that in a pre-eminent degree recommends itself 
 to the attention of the historians of India. 
 
 The fourth and last period of Sanscrit literature we may 
 consider to have been comprised in that interval of time 
 which we usually call the middle ages. That many Hindu 
 compositions belong to this period is evident from Bent- 
 ley's researches ; and we have already shown that the Pu- 
 ranas then received their present form and arrangement. 
 
 All that we have hitherto laid before the reader is, we 
 candidly allow, but a feeble attempt to trace even the out- 
 lines of this comprehensive subject. Much, very much, 
 still remains for future inquirers to fill up, and probably to 
 alter, as soon as a brighter ray of light shall have been 
 thrown upon this interesting branch of Oriental literature. 
 It is, however, with such an outline only that we can here 
 commence operations ; and, indeed, from the imperfect 
 nature of our materials, it were hardly reasonable to expect 
 much more than an outline. 
 
 At the same time, though it is sufficiently obvious, from 
 all that has gone before, that our knowledge of ancient India 
 is still very defective, yet we shall nevertheless be better 
 able to estimate at their real value, not only the sober 
 opinions, but also the wild reveries that have been indulged 
 in by modern scholars with reference to Hindu antiquities. 
 
 ** See above, p. 142. [The Amara Cosha can hardly be called an ency- 
 clopedic dictionary, being little more than a bare collection of words, arranged 
 according to the order of their several subjects, without any explanation 
 whatever. Fr. Transl.] 
 
208 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 1. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES AND LITERATURE. 
 
 209 
 
 Quitting the straightforward path of history, and turning 
 aside in pursuit of etymological conjecture, and the results 
 of comparison between the religious systems of India and 
 those of other nations, they have attempted to prove that 
 the Western world must have derived a great part of its 
 mythology, and its civilization in general, from India. Now, 
 though we are very far from wishing to deny the fact of 
 such influence having taken place, yet we have to regret the 
 want of previous acquaintance with the principles on which 
 those comparisons and etymological conclusions are founded. 
 Scarcely had the English become in some measure famihar 
 with the names and attributes of the Hindu deities, than 
 they immediately began to compare them with those of 
 Greece, and to confound them together. Krishna and the 
 Gopis were forthwith changed into Apollo and the Muses ; 
 and, in short, the prototype of Olympus was discovered m 
 the Hindu Pantheon. To what erroneous consequences all 
 this must inevitably lead, could not escape the observation of 
 those even who fancied they saw some probable resemblance 
 between certain Greek and Hindu divinities; for m the 
 course of such a long passage from one country to the 
 other what various changes and modifications might not 
 have occurred ? While, therefore, the principal sources oj 
 Hindu religion and mythology are so little accessible, and 
 as long as we can only have recourse to the information sup- 
 plied by foreigners, who have too often examined things 
 through a coloured medium, how can we possibly establish 
 our inquiries upon any solid foundation ? And even sup- 
 posing we could freely avail ourselves of the sources alluded 
 to, yet our progress would be little better, for it is in the 
 very nature of the subject to contain much that will always 
 be conjectural, and the question proposed for solution be- 
 comes a kind of enigma, which every one is at liberty to 
 explain in his own way. Some of our modern mytholo- 
 ffists, indeed, have made the attempt, and with such a dis- 
 play of sagacity and erudition, that it would be superfluous 
 to enlarge upon the subject in this place, even though a 
 particular inquiry into religious systems were less foreign to 
 the object of the present work, in which we have only 
 considered them in a political point of view. Still greater 
 liberties have been taken with the etymological department . 
 
 here also the English gave the first impulse ; but to what 
 unwarrantable lengths have some natives of Germany pro- 
 ceeded ! These latter, with no more assistance than could 
 be derived from two or three meagre vocabularies (it were 
 a solecism to call them lexicons) of the Sanscrit and the 
 Zend, forthwith set about investigating the connexion be- 
 tween those languages ; and a similarity of sound was quite 
 enough, in their opinion, to establish what they were pleased 
 to call derivations, but which might more appropriately 
 have been termed the distortions of a playful fancy. A more 
 profound study of Sanscrit literature, and a better acquaint- 
 ance with its real sources, have contributed to remove such 
 disorderly erudition ; it is still, however, useful to remark, 
 that mere etymological conjecture, unsupported by historic 
 proof, is but a species of lottery, where for one prize we 
 may reckon upon very many blanks.*^ In our researches, 
 therefore, into these distant regions, we shall do well to 
 follow the light of history rather than a deceitful meteor, 
 even though it be not as yet the light of broad day, but 
 only the faint glimmer of the morning dawn. 
 
 " [The rapid progress lately made in the study of Sanscrit has served to 
 show that the etymological conclusions, which had been drawn by expert 
 philologists, were much more certain than were formerly supposed. It is, 
 indeed, astonishing to observe with what tenacity the synthetical languages, 
 as they are called, preserve the forms of grammar ; and conscientious re- 
 searches have satisfactorily proved, that all these forms may be traced to the 
 Sanscrit, or possibly to some more ancient dialect from which it is derived. 
 The publication of the Vedas can alone enable us to determine the latter 
 question with any degree of certainty. The numerous mistakes at first com- 
 mitted in the etymological branch of the study, originated with persons who 
 were but little, if at all, acquainted with Sanscrit. So late even as the year 
 1823, M. Frank was for deriving that extraordinary language from the mo- 
 dern Persian ; and still more recently, Dugald Stewart and Professor Dunbar 
 have preposterously attempted to deduce its origin from the Greek and the 
 Latin. The same remark will also apply to the mythological comparisons 
 noticed by our author. Fr. Travsl.] [See Schlegefs Reflexions sur I'Etude 
 des Langucs Asiatiques, addressed to the late Sir James Mackintosh, p. 
 99-107. Transl.] 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
CHAP. 11. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 211 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Fragments relative to the History, Constitution, and 
 Commerce of Ancient India* 
 
 THE EXTREME REGIONS OF THE HABITABLE WORLD HAVE IN SOME MEASURE RE- 
 
 CEIVED THE FAIREST GIFTS OF NATURE; NOW THE MOST DISTANT COUNTRY 
 
 TOWARDS THE EAST IS INDIA. HEROD. THALIA, 106. 
 
 Although the title of the present chapter will not lead the 
 reader to expect any thing more than historical fragments, 
 yet it will be necessary in this place to investigate some- 
 what more closely a question already touched upon in the 
 foregoing pages, viz. To what extent are the Hindus in 
 possession of a general history ? and how far can a denial 
 of the fact be reconciled with their vaunted pretensions to 
 a very remote chronology ? 
 
 The absence of regular historians, in our sense of the 
 term, is a loss which India sustains in common with the 
 other nations of Central Asia ; among whom, as far as we 
 are aware, the art of writing history has in no case exceeded 
 the simple compilation of annals. The Hindus, however, 
 do not appear to have ever possessed even their annalists, 
 like the Arabians, Persians, and others ; whose business it 
 was to hand down the memory of events, if not in historical 
 connexion, at least in chronological order. 
 
 And yet the Hindus are not altogether without some 
 documents relating to histoiy ; such as the genealogies ot 
 their kings, which traverse a number of generations, and 
 contain a great many proper names. The genealogies 
 themselves, as we shall presently have occasion to remark, 
 are found in the epic poems and in the Puranas ; and were 
 most likely, previous to their being consigned in those 
 
 writings, preserved by means of oral tradition, as is common 
 among other Oriental nations. For, in proportion to the 
 degree of consequence attached by them to lineage and 
 descent, so would be their anxiety to preserve some me- 
 morial of both ; and as the recollection necessary for this 
 purpose was less burthened with a weight of other know- 
 ledge to acquire and retain, they succeeded much better 
 than we should at first imagine to be possible. In India, 
 however, as we learn from the Ramayana, an additional 
 degree of interest was attached to this kind of tradition ; 
 for as a preliminary step to the marriage of a prince's 
 daughter, it was necessary that her genealogical table should 
 be prepared, in order to establish her descent from a royal 
 stock.* In this manner, consequently, the possession of a 
 genealogical register would be an indispensable requisite in 
 the houses of the reigning families. 
 
 Sir W. Jones, in liis Essay on the Chronology of the 
 Hindus, has already made us acquainted with some of these 
 royal genealogies; among which, those of the kings of 
 Maghada, or Behar, particularly deserve our attention. 
 The sources from which he borrowed these tables will be 
 found in the work of a learned native, called Rhadacanta 
 Sarman, who was then still living, and who had published 
 in Sanscrit an exposition of the Puranas;" from which, 
 according to his own avowal, he had collected the genealo- 
 gies themselves. The first of these specimens evidently 
 betray their mythological character, in representing the 
 kings as descendants of the sun and moon ; at all events 
 they go far back into the fabulous ages, and Sir W. Jones 
 himself remarked their deficiency in chronological arrange- 
 ment. The genealogical series of the kings of Maghada is 
 distinguished by somewhat of a more historical character ; 
 these are reported to have reigned in five separate dynasties, 
 from the year 2100 to 452 B. C, from which we might in- 
 fer, with some probability, that in those distant periods of 
 time, when the throne of the Pharaohs was in all its splen- 
 dour in Egypt, an equally considerable empire might have 
 
 ' Ramayana, i. p. 580. At the court of Dasaratha this is represented to be 
 the pecuhar office of Janaka. 
 
 ' Sir W. Jones's IVorks, vol. i. p. 288. This work is entitled Pura- 
 narthapracasa, i. e. an explanation of the meaning of the Puranas. 
 
 p 2 
 
212 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 flourished on the banks of the Ganges. If we inqun-e, 
 however, for the authenticity of this chronological statement, 
 we must be content with admitting the bare report of the 
 Hindus themselves, who commence the series with the reign 
 of Pradyota, 2100 B. C, and close it with that of Chandra- 
 vidya, who died three hundred and ninety-six years before 
 the era of Vicramaditya, or four hundred and fifty-six before 
 ours. Now, though it is evident these statements are bor- 
 rowed from the Puranas, we must still decide which of those 
 writings have furnished the account ; and as they differ veiy 
 much from one another in regard to age, we must further 
 ascertain the period of time to which they belong. In an 
 inquiry of this nature, the critic is obliged to grope his way 
 in complete darkness; and the numerous improbabilities 
 with which these genealogical tables abound, as Sir W. 
 Jones has remarked, must render us doubly cautious how 
 we proceed.^ Wilford made a fresh attempt to classify the 
 dynasties of the empire of Maghada according to the Pu- 
 ranas ;* but his work is so full of inconsistencies and arbi- 
 trary assumptions, that the critical historian will scarcely 
 derive any more benefit from consulting this, than he will 
 from his other treatises.^ 
 
 A much more important undertaking was accomplished a 
 few years since by Mr. Hamilton, who has arranged the 
 Hindu dynasties, and assigned the names of their respective 
 kings, in the genealogical tables which accompany his re- 
 marks on this subject.*' In fact, he has adopted the only 
 method capable of throwing a greater degree of light oyer 
 these complicated successions of princes. The introduction 
 
 * Sir W. Jones's Works, vol. i. p. 804. 
 
 * Asiatic Res. vol. ix. p. 82, " On the Kings of Maghada." He quotes as 
 his authorities the Vishnu, Brahmandri, and Vayu Puranas, loo. cit. p. f>7. 
 
 * [While Wilford's general erudition and high attainments in Sanscrit lore 
 eminently fitted him for archaeological pursuits, his love of theory made him 
 the dupe of designing knaves ; and his works, which are mines of knowledge 
 to those who can justly appreciate them, are pregnant with danger to the un- 
 initiated. Traxsl.] . 
 
 •* " Genealogies of the Hindus, extracted from their Sacred Writings, with 
 an Introduction and Alphabetical Index, by Francis Hamilton, Edinburgh, 
 1819, 8vo. ; together with Genealogical Tables of the Deities, Princes, Heroes, 
 and remarkable personages of the Hindus, extracted from the Sacred Writings 
 of that people." The tables are twenty-six in number. The alphabetical 
 index to the gods, kings, cities, mountains, rivers, etc., as far as they are con- 
 nected with mythology, is very useful. 
 
 CHAT. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 213 
 
 to bis work contains certain preliminary observations and 
 discussions relative to the two principal branches of the royal 
 Hindu genealogies, already noticed by Sir W. Jones ; that 
 is to say, the dynasties of the sun and the moon. Of these, 
 the dynasty of the moon appears in some measure best 
 adapted to the purposes of classification ; it is divided into 
 several branches, particularly those of the Coros and Pandos, 
 the quarrel between whom forms the subject of the Maha- 
 bharat. To this belong the kings of Mathura, Maghada, 
 Ayodhya, Ilastinapura, and others. The dynasty itself is 
 derived from King Atri, and that of the sun from King Ma- 
 richi, two contemporary sovereigns. To the latter belong 
 the kings of Mithila, and Kasi, or Benares, etc. The tables 
 give merely the names of the kings, distributed according 
 to their respective families, without any chronological ad- 
 justment whatever. The author, in the body of his work, 
 endeavours to arrange the several dynasties by centuries, 
 beginning with the twentieth before our era, and terminat- 
 ing with the ninth after Christ ; particularly those of the 
 kings of Maghada, Mithila, and Ayodhya; and attempts to 
 show how far they were contemporary with each other. In 
 default, however, of more precise data, he is obliged to cal- 
 culate by generations, reckoning from four to five for each 
 century. It is easy to conceive how uncertain and incon- 
 clusive this method of demonstration must necessarily be, 
 and yet it is the only one at our present disposal. 
 
 The principal question for us to determine is, what are 
 the sources from whence these genealogies are derived ? 
 And here fortunately the author has not left us in doubt. 
 They are four in number, viz. the Bhagavat Purana, for 
 the twelve first tables ; the Bangha-Lata, (probably another 
 Purana, but of which we have no further information,) for 
 the four next ensuing ; the Harivansa, an episode from the 
 Mahabharat, for the nine following ; and the Ramayana, for 
 the last table. Although we could have wished the author 
 to have given a more detailed account of his several authori- 
 ties and the use he has made of them, and to have informed 
 us also whether he has perused them throughout, and in the 
 original ; yet one principal result of the whole is no less 
 clear and intelligible, namely, that we must consider the 
 Hindu epic poems, properly so called, and the Puranas, as 
 
214 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 11. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 215 
 
 M ' 
 
 I I 
 
 the real sources of the history and genealogies of the ancient 
 kings of India ; and it is by reference to those writings that 
 the critical inquirer must estimate the value of the genealo- 
 gies themselves. In fact, he will not hesitate to class them 
 along with the genealogies of the kings and heroes of 
 Greece ; for the tables before us stand almost in the same 
 relation with Hindu mythology, as those of Apollodorus do 
 with respect to the Greek ; we ought not, therefore, to ex- 
 pect in them much critical exactness, whether of history or 
 chronology. Composed and preserved as they were by the 
 poets, we may not inaptly term them poetical histories, 
 though at the same time we are not for that reason obhged 
 to suppose them altogether the fruit of poetical imaginations. 
 Indeed it would be unreasonable to conclude that the gene- 
 alogies in question were solely invented by the epic poets, 
 in direct contradiction to the nature of the ancient epic 
 poem, as well as to the composition of the genealogies 
 themselves, which only mention the bare names, without any 
 distinction of time ; ^ and for whose insertion we should be 
 at a loss to conceive any adequate motive, were they not 
 founded in ancient tradition, and probably also in written 
 genealogical registers. It is just as certain that there for- 
 merly existed kings of Maghada, Ayodhya, and Mitliila, as 
 that there were such persons as the kings of Troy, Thebes, 
 and Athens ; but with regard to their further history, we 
 must be content to take it for fabulous. 
 
 In opposition to this opinion might perhaps be objected 
 what we are told respecting the Annals of Cashmire, which 
 Abulfazl informs us in the Ayin Acbari, extend as far back 
 as four thousand years.^ According to this author, when 
 the emperor Acbar made his grand entry into Cashmire, 
 the inhabitants presented him with a Sanscrit work, entitled, 
 " Raja Taringini," containing this history, and which the 
 emperor subsequently ordered to be translated into Per- 
 sian. Abulfazl quotes the names of the kings who appear 
 in these Annals, whose successive reigns are said to have 
 occupied a space of four thousand one hundred and nine 
 years, eleven months, and nine days ; these, being a 
 
 ' This remark will apply as well to the genealogies contained in the Rama- 
 yana as to those in the Mahabharat. See above, p. 162. 
 ■ Af/tn Acbari f vol. ii. p. 157. 
 
 hundred and ninety-one in number, he has distributed in 
 nine tables or dynasties, indicating at the same time the 
 duration of each king s reign, except those of the first dy- 
 nasty. The work of Abulfazl was for a long time the only 
 available source of information on this subject. Modern 
 researches, however, have since acquainted us with the ac- 
 tual existence of these annals in Sanscrit, and in a much 
 more detailed form than in the Persian translation.^ But 
 all that we know of the work up to the present time, only 
 serves to confirm our previous opinion, that these annals 
 were extracted from the epic poems and the Puranas, en- 
 riched nevertheless with chronological dates ; and conse- 
 quently it follows that the history of Cashmire, as well as 
 that of other parts of India,, is nothing more than a poetical 
 history, in the above sense of the term, since from the very 
 beginning it was immediately connected with the Hindu 
 epic poems. After giving a brief notice of the foundation 
 of a colony in Cashmire, and the series of kings down to the 
 Coros and Pandos, the author commences his history and 
 list of kings, with a contemporary of Yudhishthir, named 
 Gonanda, who was slain by Balabhadra, the elder brother 
 of Krishna, and a principal character in the Ramayana. 
 According to Abulfazl's own confession, the whole is every 
 where intermingled with fabulous narrations, from which he 
 "has only selected those which bore some resemblance to 
 historic probability ; and even then merely because he was 
 in want of better materials to supply their place. Some of 
 the facts, however, recounted by him, are not without inter- 
 est in an historical point of view ; such, for instance, as the 
 expulsion of the Buddhists from Cashmire through the 
 agency of the Brahmans, an event which is referred to a 
 veiy remote antiquity. '' Among the successors of Gonan- 
 da," observes Abulfazl, "the rehgion of Siva was predominant 
 until a usurper, named Bodhisatwa, introduced that of 
 Buddha. This reformer reigned a hundred years ; his suc- 
 cessor, Abymaniah,^® overthrew the worship of Buddha, and 
 re-established the ancient form." We may also add, as an- 
 other interesting historical fact, the submission of Cashmire 
 to Vicramaditya, king of Ujjayani, after the death of Rajah 
 
 * See Colebrooke's observations on the Jains, Astatic Res. vol. ix. p. 294. 
 '" Called Nerk in the Ayin Acbari, p. 159. 
 
216 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 11. 
 
 CHAP., II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 217 
 
 Heren." In conclusion, we may remark of the tables in 
 question, that notwithstanding the apparent accuracy with 
 which the duration of each reign is attempted to be laid 
 down, they are nevertheless in certain dynasties so long, and 
 in others again so short, as to be opposed to all historic 
 credibility.^* 
 
 It is true, the opinions hitherto set forth have reference 
 only to those sources of Hindu history which are peculiar 
 to the Brahmans and their religious followers. Another 
 question, therefore, still remains to be answered, viz. whether 
 there do not also exist historic writings and annals among 
 the professors of Buddhism ? We are at present but imper- 
 fectly acquainted with the literary compositions of this sect ; 
 and yet it is from one of their writings, entitled, Rajavali, 
 that the " History of Ceylon " has been taken ; ^^ a work 
 which has considerably enriched the province of Hindu 
 literature, since, to the best of our knowledge, it is the only 
 composition of the Buddhists that has hitherto reached Eu- 
 rope. The book commences with an account of the forma- 
 tion of the earth ; and its contents in general are evidently 
 derived from other sources than the Puranas of the Brah- 
 mans, though they contribute much less to history than even 
 these latter ; for the matters therein recounted are not so 
 much of a mythological, as a simply fabulous character. 
 The kings mentioned in the first part of the book, are made' 
 to reign upwards of a thousand years, and have often as 
 many sons ; and although the reigns of the kings comprised 
 in the latter part are of much shorter duration, yet they are 
 distinguished by no memorable event, if we except sundry 
 invasions of the Malabars on the opposite coast, which are 
 represented to have taken place at various times, and with 
 various success. In short, we have little doubt that these 
 narrations were borrowed from poetical works, though we 
 may not be able to substantiate our opinion by a particular 
 reference to the works themselves. 
 
 " Ayin Acbarij loc. cit. [Maharana ?] 
 
 " Compare, for instance, Table ii. (which represents twenty-one princes to 
 have reigned, collectively, a thousand and twenty-one years, and none of 
 them, individually, less than thirty) with Table vii., where we have only fifty- 
 four years* duration for the reigns of no less than ten princes. 
 
 Alex 
 
 " Translation of the Singhalese History of Ceylon ; communicated by Sir 
 ex. Johnston, in the " Annals of Oriental Literature," Feb. 1821, p. 385, etc. 
 
 The attention of English scholars having been first di- 
 rected to the antiquities of India, could hardly fail in the 
 sequel, to include the chronology also of that country as an 
 appropriate object of investigation, the two being so in- 
 timately connected together, that, according to our notions, 
 whatever concerned the history could not but have some 
 reference to the chronology of India. Add to this the rea- 
 sonable expectation that was entertained of throwing some 
 light upon general history, by the result of their inquiries 
 into the chronology of such an ancient people as the Hin- 
 dus. The result, however, was by no means commensurate 
 with the extent of their hopes. The very first English 
 scholar who directed his attention to this subject was obliged 
 to confess, that the chronology of the Hindus set out from 
 a point so extravagantly absurd, as to involve the destruc- 
 tion of the whole system.^* He was followed in the same 
 course by Wilford, whose opinion is not a whit more favour- 
 able, when he declares, that the chronological system of the 
 Hindus is quite as extravagant as their geography. ^^ In 
 the mean time, considering the close connexion subsisting 
 between their chronology and astronomy, the question might 
 still be said to have remained in abeyance, so long as pro- 
 fessed astronomers had not examined this litigious point. 
 Accordingly, Mr. Davis ^^ was the first to undertake the 
 task, and after him Bentley, with the application certainly 
 of much more rigorous criticism. The inquiries of both 
 these scholars were principally directed to an examination 
 of a work already mentioned, the Surya Siddhanta, which 
 the Hindus themselves consider as the foundation of their 
 astronomical and chronological systems; and as one of 
 their most ancient literary productions, but which Bentley 
 lias proved to be of comparatively modern origin. ^^ 
 
 With regard to the advantage which has or can be de- 
 rived to history from this discussion, it is rather of a negative 
 than a positive kind. The only fact which seems to be 
 
 " Sir W. Jones's Works, vol. i. p. 295. 
 
 '* Asiatic Bes, vol. v. p. 241. " Ibid. vol. ii. No. 15. 
 
 '^ See above, p. 146. [In India, as well as elsewhere, works of science 
 were in the habit of being remodelled from time to time, in order to keep 
 l»ace with the march of discovery ; but the fabulous name of the original au- 
 thor was generally retained in the improved work. This remark will apply 
 to all that Bentley has advanced on the subject. Fr. Transl.] 
 
218 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 proved is, that the present chronological system of the Brah- 
 mans is not so old as they represent it to be ; that no traces 
 of it are to be found in those works whose great antiquity 
 has already been shown to be indisputable ; and that conse- 
 quently it has been derived as little from the Vedas as from 
 the great epic poems.*® Even the accounts left us by the 
 Greeks respecting their first acquaintance with India, all 
 tend to support the same conclusion. It is true, the Hindus 
 even then boasted of a succession of kings, which they car- 
 ried back to upwards of six thousand years,*^ thereby affect- 
 ing the same pretensions to high antiquity which they do 
 at the present day. But then we hear nothing of those 
 enormous periods of time embracing thousands of millions 
 
 " According to Beiitley, the Brahmans at the present time have three 
 chronological systems: 1. the Brahma Calpa, invented one thousand and 
 three hundred years ago, by Brahma Gupta; 2. the Padma Calpa, invented 
 some eight or nine hundred years since, by Dhara Padma ; and the third con- 
 tained in the Surva Siddhanta, invented seven or eight hundred years ago 
 by Varaha Mihira, Asiatic Res, vol. viii. p. 199. In addition to these, Bent- 
 ley quotes from another astronomical work, entitled Graha Munjari, two 
 more ancient systems, which he has endeavoured to reconcile and make avail- 
 able for the purposes of history, p. 224, etc. ; an attempt, however, which 
 appears to be conducted on very arbitrary principles, as may be seen by in- 
 specting the treatise itself. Their application to history is founded on a com- 
 parison of the Puranas with the determination of the four ages, according to 
 the first of the two systems, which makes the Satya Ywf, or the golden asfe, 
 to have began 3164 years before Christ ; the Treta Yug, or tlie silver age, 2204 
 B. C. ; the Dwapar Yug, or the brazen age, 14S4 B. C. ; and the Kali iV/,or 
 the iron age, 1004 B. C. ; in direct contradiction to the other systems, which 
 place the commencement of the latter age, 3100 years before Christ. Jonks's 
 VorA's, vol. i. p. 318. The first age contains nothing of historical import- 
 ance, but a fabulous account of the Deluge ; the second, or silver age, com- 
 
 CHAP. li* 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 219 
 
 Dwapar, or iron age, the war of the Pandos and Coros fell out ; and during the 
 same period lived Vyasa, Causica, Rishyasringha, and other renowned saints. 
 But we are first entitled to ask, on what foundation that system is built; are 
 they historical ? if so, where are the authorities ? or are they astronomical ? 
 In the latter case, according to Bentley himself, the Hindus possessed no 
 scientific astronomy before the time of Brahma Gupta, who lived in the sixth 
 century after Christ, p. 235. And further, were the Puranas composed with 
 reference to that system ? The supposition of four ages is probably of very 
 ancient date in India ; but the time of their respective durations, being the 
 peculiar business of chronologists to determine, is independent of all fiction. 
 Besides, both those systems comprise cycles of millions of y^ars ; and agree- 
 ably to what has been noticed above, we shall for that reason alone be less 
 disposed to attribute to them a very remote antiquity. Of the fourth, or proper 
 historical age, no remarkable events are given, and of course, its application 
 will be of no service to the purpose of history. 
 
 ^ Arrian, Oy;. p. 175. From Dionysus to Sandracottus the space of six 
 thousand and forty-two years is said to have elapsed. 
 
 of years. It is further extremely probable that the Hindus 
 '^ possessed no continuous system of chronological computa- 
 tion before the era of Vicramaditya, and that they reckoned 
 by generations as the Greeks did for a long course of time. 
 We know of nothing which would prove the existence of 
 any era prior to the one just mentioned;*^ we only know 
 that the Hindus themselves did not furnish the Greeks with 
 any other notion of their method of computing time than 
 that by generations."^ Now it is perfectly impossible to 
 suppose the existence of any thing like regular historic 
 chronology without some fixed era. And even if we con- 
 sider the chronological cycles of the Hindus as astronomical 
 or poetical, or as a mixture of both, yet still history will de- 
 rive no further benefit from the consideration, than merely 
 venturing to assign the date of certain fables in general 
 terms ; and we must content ourselves with endeavouring 
 to distinguish the more ancient from what is less so, with- 
 out seeking to fill up the interval with positive and well 
 recognised dates. 
 
 The question relative to the origin of a people to whom, 
 notwithstanding the imperfect state of their chronology, it 
 is impossible to avoid attributing a very remote antiquity, 
 can only be solved by mere conjecture. But supposing we 
 were to investigate the origin of the Hindus, considered as 
 forming a principal nation by themselves, we must first of 
 all determine whether they are actually one undivided and 
 aboriginal people or no ? A more particular examination 
 of them, indeed, would lead us to doubt the correctness of 
 the latter position, and to infer with much greater proba- 
 bility that this union among them was of a political charac- 
 ter,*' and brought about by religion and legislation, than 
 that it was founded on an identity of race. The division of 
 the Hindus into castes, extends as far back as their history 
 itself; but the difference between these several castes is so 
 very great, that we are almost obliged to admit a cor- 
 
 " The era of Yudhishthir indeed is said to have preceded that of Vicrama- 
 ditya by the space of 3044 years, and to have commenced about 3100 before 
 Christ; but, according to Wilford, we are to understand this, not of an his- 
 toric era, but solely of an astronomical cycle. Asiatic Ees. vol. ix. p. 8b. 
 
 *' Arrian, loc. cit. . . - i /. . • 
 
 ^ In this sense I understand the common derivation of the four castes, m 
 respective order, from the head, arms, body, and feet of Brahma. 
 
220 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CIIAI'. 11. 
 
 CHAP. n» 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 221 
 
 responding difference of original extraction. I shall reserve 
 to another opportunity, when I come to speak of the Egyp- 
 tians, an attempt to show how the division of castes is al- 
 most always based upon an original diversity of race, and 
 shall confine myself in this place merely to the proofs which 
 arise from variations in exterior appearance, and particu- 
 larly colour. According to Niebuhr,^^ the caste of Brali- 
 mans and Banians have a complexion so clear, as almost to 
 pass for white ; " because," adds the same traveller, " they 
 have preserved themselves pure from all foreign admixture,' 
 while on the other hand the lower orders are of a dark 
 colour, often approaching to black. "It is remarkable," 
 says a British observer,^* " that the same fair complexion 
 and caste of features distinguish this class (the Brahmans) 
 through all the different provinces, from eight to twenty 
 degrees of N. lat., (and by all accounts still further,) among 
 nations varying so much in both as the Tamuls, the Telin- 
 gas, the Canarins, Mfihrattas, and Orias, the five families 
 which appear to compose the body of the original inhabit- 
 ants of the peninsula, at present distinguished by different 
 dialects as by different features." A more extended exa- 
 mination of the Hindu castes, will serve to bring forward 
 many other points of resemblance peculiar to the three 
 higher ones, viz. that of the Brahmans, the Kshatriyas, or 
 warrior caste, which no longer maintains its original form, 
 and the Vaisyas, or mechanics ; all three directly opposed 
 to the Sudras, or inferior caste, and its various ramifica- 
 tions ; and thus tend to confirm the supposition of a differ- 
 ent origin upon other grounds. If we choose, with Sir W. 
 Jones, "^ to derive the Hindus, as well as the other principal 
 nations of Asia, from Iran, we must confine ourselves in 
 making such an assertion to the three superior castes; 
 these, however, especially that of the Brahmans, which yet 
 appears to be the only one of all that has remained in its 
 
 ^ Niebuhr's TravelSf vol. i. p. 450. 
 
 * Capt. Colin Mackenzie, Asiatic Res. vol. vi. p. 426. 
 
 "^ Works, vol. i. p. 129, etc. [Sir W. Jones was the first who broached 
 this opinion, which however reposes on no historic grounds. In point of 
 fact, the Zend is derived from the Sanscrit ; and a passage in Menu (x. 44) 
 makes the Persians (Pahlava) to have descended from the Hindus of the 
 second or warrior caste. As to the colonies in the Himalaya, it is very pro- 
 bable that they are much less ancient than the civilization of Aryaverta, or 
 India properly so called. Fr. Transl.] 
 
 original state, are so pre-eminently distinguished from the 
 inferior caste, that they may be considered as properly 
 constituting the nation. And although we cannot deter- 
 mine their original country upon correct historical prin- 
 ciples, yet every thing induces us to believe that they first 
 came from the north. The traditionary reports of the na- 
 tives of Cashmire, mention the Brahmans as the earliest im- 
 migrants into that country.^^ Some additional light has 
 been thrown on this subject by the researches of certain 
 English travellers who journeyed in quest of the sources of 
 the Ganges ; an expedition which conducted them into the 
 heart of the Himalaya mountains.*^ As early as the year 
 1807 Lieutenants Webb and Raper had penetrated as far as 
 Bhadrinath, (in N. lat. 30° 42',) and Gangoutri, (in N. lat. 
 30" 59') ;^" subsequently Capt. Hodgson in 1817 succeeded 
 in reaching a spot situated in 3P 51' N. lat., where a prin- 
 \ cipal branch of the Ganges takes its rise in a cavern sur- 
 mounted by a rock covered with snow. Beyond this point 
 the further progress of the traveller was arrested by lofty 
 mountains of snow, and tremendous glaciers, forming pro- 
 bably tlie highest part of the Himalayan range, and from 
 which towards the south flow the Ganges and Indus with 
 their tributary streams ; and in an easterly direction the 
 Brahmaputra, or Sampo, the principal river of Tliibet.*^ 
 It is here, however, in the heart of this Alpine country, that 
 we still find the abode of Brahmans, which we can scarcely 
 consider as any other than their original seat, together with 
 the temples of their gods, and the accompanying body 
 of priests. At the confluence of two branches of the 
 Ganges stands the holy city of Devaprayaga, (in N. lat. 
 
 ** Atjin Acbarl. 
 
 " See Colebrooke, " On the Sources of the Ganges," with the accounts of 
 Lieutenant Raper, Asiatic Res. vol. xi., and the " Journal of a Survey to the 
 heads of the rivers Ganges and Jumna," by Capt. LA. Hodgson, vol. xiv. 
 Moorcroft has proved that the Ganges does not rise in the lake Mansarowar, 
 in Little Thibet, as was formerly supposed. See his Travels, Asiatic Res. 
 vol. xii. p. 3S0, etc. 
 
 ^ In Major Rennell's earlier charts the situation of these places was laid 
 down two or three degrees further north. See Colebrooke, loc. cit. 
 
 ** [M. Klaproth maintains, in opposition to the accounts of English tra- 
 vellers, but in accordance with the Chinese authorities, that the Sampo, or, 
 «is he calls it, the Yarou-dzangbo-tchou, is distinct from the Brahmaputra, 
 and is identical with the Irawaddy of the Birmese empire. See a review of 
 ^' 'th statements in the Asiatic Joum. vol. xxv., and Memoire sur les sources 
 > 'i Brahmaputra et de Tlrawaddi, par M. J. Klaproth. Paris, 1828. Transl.] 
 
^^^£^a 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II* 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 223 
 
 30° 8',) inhabited by Brahmans. Further on we find the 
 temple of Bhadrinath, which is very opulent, and said 
 to have upwards of seven hundred flourishing villages in 
 dependence on the high priest."^^ To the same dignitary 
 belongs also the commercial town of Mana, which contains 
 fifteen hundred inhabitants of Tartar extraction, and is situ- 
 ate on the high road to Cashmire and Little Thibet, but is 
 however only habitable in summer, owing to the snow 
 under which it lies covered during the remainder of the 
 year. At Gangoutri also, where the river issues from the 
 bosom of lofty mountains, the interior of which seems to 
 form one vast sea of ice, stands another of these ancient 
 temples. The predominant sect throughout this part of 
 India is that of Siva, without however being the only one ; 
 and the temples there existing are still holy places of resort 
 to thousands of pilgrims, who assemble for purposes of de- 
 votion, as well as to carry on international commerce.^' It 
 was in this manner, at distant periods of time unknown to 
 history, and in countries inaccessible to hostile invasion, 
 that sacerdotal empires were formed and maintained, which 
 subsequently produced similar establishments all over India, 
 and perhaps also in other parts of the globe. The most an- 
 cient Hindu poems represent the neighbourhood of tlie 
 Ganges to have been the capital territory of India, the cra- 
 dle of her heroes, and the point of departure for expeditions 
 undertaken into southern countries, as far as Ceylon ; and 
 the above described series of holy temples, extending 
 throughout this vast country, botli above and below ground, 
 together with the figures of their divinities, are as it were 
 a living chronicle of their progressive extension from north 
 to south ; the very reverse of what we find to have occurred 
 
 » [Since the period of the Ghurkhah invasion, these places have been in 
 a miserable state of decline, and the pontificate is usually put up for sale to 
 the highest bidder. Transl.] 
 
 ■• [If in the plains at the foot of the Himalaya we meet with no traces oi 
 ancient temples, it ought to be recollected that, owing to the nature of the 
 soil, brick was the only available material for the purposes of buildmg, as 
 was the case also in Babylonia ; and edifices of this kmd would of course 
 offer less obstruction to the hands of Moslem violence. But that there were 
 many temples here in former times, is sufficiently attested by the Journal ot 
 a Chinese traveller, in the early part of the fifth century, discovered by the 
 late Abel-Remusat, and the publication of which, had it not been for the la- 
 mented and untimely death of that illustrious scholar, would have thrown 
 Bome new light on researches of this nature. Fr. Transl.] 
 
 in Egypt, where the social and religious advance was in an 
 opposite direction, from south to north. 
 
 What we may regard as an incontestable fact in the his- 
 tory of the Hindu nation, is the pre-eminence, or rather 
 absolute sovereignty, of the Brahmans over the other classes 
 of society. This dominion, it is true, was not exercised im- 
 mediately, and without the intervention of kingly power ; 
 in other words, we are not to infer that the Brahmans 
 themselves enjoyed the royal authority ; for the Rajahs be- 
 longed not to this powerful body, but were selected, as in 
 Egypt, from among the warrior caste, or from some par- 
 ticular families; the priesthood, however, restrained the 
 power of the sovereign by religious enactments, and we 
 have already noticed in the Ramayana more than one in- 
 stance of the awful veneration in which the Brahmans were 
 held even by kings themselves. The question is, did the 
 Brahmans owe this distinction solely to the influence of re- 
 ligion, or did they acquire it by force of arms ? Without 
 doubt, religion may have served to confirm this power, and 
 yet the national report has preserved to us the recollection 
 of a violent struggle, which ended in placing the Kshatriyas 
 and the Rajahs under subjection to the Brahmans. This is 
 described as the work of Parasu Rama, an incarnation of 
 Vishnu, under the form of a Brahman. After having gained 
 twenty victories over the warrior caste, he was on the point 
 of exterminating them, when the Brahmans themselves in- 
 terceded in their behalf, vouchsafed them an asylum and 
 permission to eat at the same table.^^ The Mahabharat, as 
 well as the Ramayana, both allude to this struggle. In the 
 former poem the narration of that event forms an episode : ^* 
 m the latter, on the contrary, it is spoken of in reference to 
 the remarkable story of the quarrel between Visvamitra, 
 (who was Rajah of the Kshatriyas, before his penances had 
 
 ^ PoLiER, vol. i. p. 288. 
 
 " At the end of the fifth book, according to the translation of M. Mits- 
 cherlich, Durjohn speaks in an assembly as follows : " And I will tell you a 
 story which is very similar to the one just mentioned. There was in Malwa 
 a king named Herghes, whose army consisted altogether of Kshatriyas, and 
 between him and the king of the Brahmans a war broke out. The Kshatriyas, 
 though the most numerous party, were nevertheless worsted in every engage- 
 n|»ent. At last they came and asked the Brahmans, — " What is the reason 
 Tk ^ ??" are always victorious, though inferior in numbers to ourselves?" 
 A he Brahmans answered,—" (Here is a break in the MS.) 
 
224 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 11. 
 
 CHAP. n. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 225 
 
 elevated him to the rank of a principal sage,) with the 
 Brahman high priest Vasishtha, who was counselled to offer 
 resistance when Visvamitra demanded of him and carried off 
 by force the holy cow, the fruitful giver of all abundance.^* 
 
 Although it would be impossible to determine the exact 
 period when this quarrel took place, yet it is no less evident 
 that it must have been long anterior to the composition of 
 the holy books above mentioned. For they every where 
 notice the Brahmans as already the predominant caste, and 
 the Kshatriyas as standing in a subordinate relation to them. 
 The successive incarnations of Vishnu would seem to con- 
 firm this opinion ; for that in which he appears in the 
 character of Parasu Rama is the sixth, and by consequence 
 must have preceded the incarnation which is sung of in the 
 Ramayana. Accordingly, the Brahmans place its occur- 
 rence as far back as the second age. It is true, our know- 
 ledge of this event is only derived to us through a poetic 
 medium, and if we conceive ourselves entitled to assume it 
 as an historical fact, it is merely because we are thereby 
 enabled to explain the relations subsequently established 
 between the two castes. 
 
 Next to the establishment of Brahmanical influence, tlie 
 war between the Coros and Pandos is the most famous 
 event in the history of India, and one which has been the 
 most celebrated in tradition and poetry. In this respect it 
 has been no less important for the Hindus than the Trojan 
 war was to the Greeks, in its influence upon their poetry, 
 literature, and arts; we may naturally therefore inquire, 
 whether it is the pure offspring of poetical imagination, or 
 is it founded upon any historical fact ? We might certainly 
 furnish a more determinate reply to the question, were we 
 in complete possession of the poem which has immortalized 
 this war ; we might then be enabled to ascertain whether 
 the Mahabharat is interwoven with a sufficient number of 
 geographical and historical details, as to imply the actual 
 occurrence of the events therein related. An inquiry of 
 this sort, however, would involve a more general discussion, 
 narrowly concerning the ancient history of India itself, viz. 
 
 ** Ramayana, i. 4/0, etc. " The power of the Kshatriyas is not greater than 
 that of the Brahmans : O Brahman ! thy power is of divine origin, and far 
 superior to that of a Kshatriya." 
 
 the question whether in the most early times there has 
 flourished one or more empires in the neighbourhood of the 
 Ganges ? Whatever we may have it in our power to ad- 
 vance on this subject, it must «itill be remembered, agree- 
 ably to an observation already made, that we have here to 
 speak of a history which has only been preserved to us 
 through the medium of the poets. 
 
 Tradition represents India, like Egypt, to have originally 
 formed but one empire. The first kings of the fabulous 
 period, such as Menu and others, are generally termed 
 kings of India ; but the two contemporary dynasties of the 
 Sun and Moon, the one reigning at Ayodhya, the other at 
 Pratishthana, or Vitora, would suggest the idea of a separa- 
 tion having already taken place.^^ A similar plurality of 
 sovereigns afterwards continued to be an ordinary occur- 
 rence in Hindu mythology, with the occasional difference, 
 however, that one of these monarchs was considered as lord 
 paramount over the rest, who stood towards him in the re- 
 lation of feudatory princes ; nevertheless, his superiority in 
 such cases appears to have been merely transient, and ex- 
 torted by violence.^^ For in the epic poems India is gener- 
 ally represented as comprising a number of petty principali- 
 ties, each under the government of its respective chief, who 
 is independent of the others, and equal to them at least in 
 rank, if not in power. 
 
 In speaking of India, we understand more especially by 
 that appellation the northern parts of the country, contain- 
 ing Hindustan Proper, above all the land of the Ganges, in 
 contradistinction to the Deccan, which forms the southern 
 peninsula. Under the term, land of the Ganges, we mean 
 to include the whole tract adjacent to the banks of that river, 
 from its rise in the mountains to the sources of its confluent 
 J^treams, particularly the Jumna, Goggra, and Sona. Though 
 the position of certain towns may still appear subject to 
 doubt, it will hardly be possible to mistake the geography 
 of the whole, as the fables contained in the Ramayana, rela- 
 tive to the Ganges and its tributary rivers, are sufficient for 
 enabling us to determine the general localities, which are 
 still more precisely ascertained by reference to the Laws of 
 
 ^ Jones's Works, vol. i. p. 296. 
 
 PoLiER, vol. i. p. 598, etc., in reference to the fable of Rajah Jerashind. 
 VOL. II. Q 
 
226 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. n. 
 
 CHAP. n. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 Menu.^^ According to the latter authority, it is true, we 
 find the land of Bramavarta, formerly the abode of the gods 
 and situate between the holy rivers Sarasvati and Ahrishad- 
 vati (the Deva and Ganges) ; and the country of Brahmar- 
 shi, with the cities of Kurukshetra, or Indraprastha, (Delhi,) 
 Matsya, Kanyakubja, (Canoge,) and Surasena, or Mathui-a 
 (in Behar,) the place where Krishna revealed himself to 
 mankind, and the favourite habitation of Brahmans ; for it 
 is said, (by Menu,) " From a Brahman who was born at 
 Brahmarshi, let all men on earth learn their several usages." 
 Contiguous to this is the country of Madhyadesa, or the 
 Middleland, together with Ariaverta, extending from the 
 eastern to the western ocean, and inhabited by honourable 
 men ; since it was exclusively destined for the abode of the 
 three superior castes, a privilege refused to the country of 
 the Nilechas, or Barbarians. In the above countries are 
 found all those famous cities, which are celebrated in the 
 Hindu epic poems. In the Ramayana, the capital of India 
 appears to have been Ayodhya, situate in the land of Ku- 
 shula, and the royal abode of King Dasaratha.^ It was 
 built on the river Suriya, no doubt the same as the Goggra 
 or Deva, which flowing from the north-east, empties itself 
 into the Ganges, not far from Sirpur. The upper part of 
 this river is still called Surjew in Major Rennelfs chart. 
 It would follow, therefore, that Ayodhya is rightly con- 
 sidered to be the modem Oude, though the limits of the 
 ancient territory appear to have been less extensive than the 
 present ; for at a distance of no more than three or four 
 days' journey ^^ was the city Mithila, in the kingdom of 
 Videha, (now the province of Tirhut,*^) where king Janaka 
 resided. Ayodhya is represented in the Ramayana as the 
 capital of one of the oldest Hindu states ; and the genea- 
 logical register of King Dasaratha is there carried back 
 through forty-two generations, as far as Brahma, whose de- 
 scendant in the seventh degree, named Ikshvaku, was the 
 first king of Ayodhya, and from whom, in the thirty-sixth 
 remove, Dasaratha traced his descent.** It would therefore 
 
 " Bamayanaj i. 345, sq. Compare Laws of Menu, ii. 17—23, and vii. 193. 
 [The rivers Nerbudda and Mahanadi form the boundaries of Aryaverta, to- 
 wards the south. Fr. Transl.] 
 
 » Bamayana, 94, sq. »• Ibid. i. 5^5. *° Ibid. i. 565. *' Ibid. i. 574, sq. 
 
 227 
 
 -; 
 
 follow, according to the usual mode of calculation, that the 
 kingdom of Ayodhya had already existed nearly a thousand 
 years previous to the birth of Rama, in the person of that mon- 
 arch's son. On the other hand, the genealogical table of Ja- 
 naka, the king of Mithila, only comprises twenty-two genera- 
 tions. Now, whatever be the measure of dependence we can 
 reasonably place in these documents, this at least is certain, 
 that Ayodhya is celebrated in Hindu tradition, which was 
 repeated and confirmed by the epic poets as one of the most 
 ancient states of India ; and we do not, perhaps, assume too 
 much, when, in accordance with the testimony just noticed, 
 we venture to place its origin from 1500 to 2000 years be- 
 fore the Christian era. In a very remarkable passage of the 
 Ramayana mention is made of certain foreign Rajahs, who 
 were invited by Dasaratha to be present at his solemn sacri- 
 fice;*' these were the sovereign of Kasi, or Benares, the 
 Rajahs of Maghada, or Behar, of Sindu and Surashtra, (Sind 
 and Surat,) of Unga and Suvira, (of which, one is conjec- 
 tured to mean Ava, the other some district situate on the 
 Persian frontier,) and, in fine, the princes of the South, or 
 the Deccan. They are represented as the friends, and some 
 of them also as the relations of Dasaratha, by no means, 
 however, as his vassals. It is therefore evident, that the 
 author of the most ancient Hindu epic poem, considered 
 India to be divided into a number of separate and independ- 
 ent principalities. 
 
 The same manner of representation, as far as we can at 
 present judge, prevails also in the Mahabharat. The king- 
 dom of the Pandos is there described as the principal one, 
 though by no means including the whole of India, according 
 to the modern definition ; as it merely comprised a con- 
 siderable portion of territory along the Ganges, from the 
 northern mountains as far as Bengal. During the separa- 
 tion between the two families, a kingdom was formed in the 
 South under Yuddhishthir, chief of the Pandos, who estab- 
 lished his residence at Delhi, or Indraprastha ; *^ and another 
 m the North, under Duryodhana, chief of the Coros, of which 
 
 ° Bamayanaj i. 159. 
 . *',„^^® name of Delhi is of modern origin ; but the foundation of the city 
 "self (attributed to Rajah Bhagavat) is as old as the fabulous ages, (Polier, 
 yol. 11. p. 263,) at which time it was already celebrated for its splendour ; vol. 
 '• p. 606. 
 
 q2 
 
228 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. U. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 229 
 
 the capital was Hastinapura, and continued to be so upon 
 the union of the two kingdoms, after the victory procured to 
 the Pandos by the assistance of Krishna. In this manner 
 the empire of the latter family became the principal, though 
 it was by no means the only one in India.*^ The Maha- 
 bharat also mentions other Rajahs, such, for instance, as those 
 of Canoge'*^ and Mandota,*^ etc., of whom we know but 
 little, from our not possessing a complete translation of the 
 whole poem. The historical portion, however, of the Mu- 
 habharat, appears to be confined to the neighbourhood of 
 the Ganges. The Deccan is of old the country of fM\ 
 and the abode of a numerous community of apes, under 
 their several kings and generals ; in the same quarter dw ell 
 the commander of the bears and the prince of the Raksha- 
 sas, lord of the marvellous island of Lanka. The mountain- 
 ous regions seem to have always been the peculiar province 
 of fable, and the Ghats of Southern India, no less so than 
 the snow-clad mountains of the north. 
 
 According to the Mahabharat, Canoge above mentioned 
 is said to have risen in importance after the decline of Ayo- 
 dhya. The latter had continued to be the seat of empire for 
 upwards of fifteen centuries, when one of its kings, of the 
 family of the Surayas, or children of the Sun, founded the 
 city of Canoge, and he taking up his residence there, it be- 
 came the royal capital. This event took place about the 
 time when the simple worship of Brahma degenerated into 
 pantheism, and gave way to the introduction of other gods 
 and heroes, who had made themselves renowned by then- 
 conduct in peace or war. Temples and statues were erected 
 to their honour, and the vanity of the princes, together with 
 
 ** The empire of the Pandions, mentioned by Ptolemy and other writers in 
 the time of the Romans, recalls to our mind that of the Pandos. The fabu- 
 lous portion of whose history would certainly appear to have been known to 
 the Greeks, and probably gave rise to the tradition relative to Pandea, who is 
 said to have been a daughter of the Indian Hercules, and mother of the race 
 of kings who governed India. Arrian, Op. p. 174. The very name of Fan- 
 dion may perhaps be derived from that of the Pandos ; but we must take care 
 not to confound the later empire of the Pandions, (situate at the southern ex- 
 tremity of Malabar,) with the more ancient one of the Pandos. The term 
 Pandion was probably a titular appellation common to the successors of the 
 Pandos ; as that of Porus belonged to the whole family of Puru, and was 
 borne by many successive princes of that house, as is proved by Mannert, 
 Geographies vol. v. p. 120, 126, 21 1. 
 
 « PoLiER, vol. i. p. 519. *' Ibid. p. 54b. 
 
 tlie superstition of the people, contributed to adorn Canoge 
 with magnificent buildings.*^ The ruins which still exist of 
 this city sufficiently attest its former splendour, and prove it 
 to have been the capital of a great empire. And it would 
 appear to have maintained its importance for a very con- 
 siderable space of time ; for as late even as the sixth century 
 it was reported to contain not less than thirty thousand 
 shops for the mere selling of betel-nut ; and it only fell at 
 last, in 1018, under the destructive invasions of the Ghaz- 
 nevide sultans.*^ 
 
 Among the states situate in the land of the Ganges, next 
 to Ayodhya, the kingdom of Maghada appears to have been 
 one of the most ancient. According to the testimony of all 
 writers, it comprised the modern Behar,^^ particularly tlie 
 southern part ; but considered in a larger sense, as a mon- 
 archy whose kings were in some degree lords paramount of 
 all the rest of India, it will include the whole tract of country 
 near the Ganges.^^ The Ramayana describes it as watered 
 by the river Sumagodi, which flows towards the east.^^ Its 
 capital, Hastinapura,^^ the ordinary residence of the kings, 
 is particularly celebrated in Hindu mythological history. 
 The kingdom of Maghada is mentioned in the poem just 
 alluded to, as contemporary with Ayodhya ; ^^ and the Pu- 
 ranas so frequently speak of it, that we might, without much 
 difficulty, collect and arrange the genealogical series of its 
 kings from that source alone.^* Maghada, therefore, may 
 
 " This account is repeated from Maurice, {History of Hindustan, vol. i. p. 
 36,) who affirms it to be gathered from the Mahabharat. He makes Canoge 
 to have been founded only 1000 years before Christ; it is, however, already 
 mentioned in the Ramayana, if the editors of that poem are correct in sup- 
 posing Kanyakubja to mean Canoge, and a different story of its origin is 
 therein related. Banuujana, i. 230. It is possible, indeed, that the removal 
 of the court thither, from Ayodhya, may have been considered as a second 
 foundation, for the splendour of Canoge only commenced with that epoch ; 
 in which case, both the Ramayana and the Mahabharat may be right. 
 
 *^ Rennell, Memoir, p. 54, second edition. According to this writer, Ca- 
 noge was built more than a thousand years before the Christian era. 
 
 "* Asiatic Res, vol. i. p. 304 ; vol. v. p. 263. 
 
 *• WiLFORD, in the Asiatic Res. vol. ix. p. 82. 
 
 *' Ramayana, i. 325. Probably the Sona. 
 
 ^' PoLiER, vol. i. p. 539. ^ Ramayana, i. 159. 
 
 ** AxQUETiL Du Perron, in his RecJicrehes, and Tiefenthaler, J?<JscAm- 
 '>^iig von Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 232, etc., give another table of the ancient 
 Hindu kings, together with the duration of their respective reigns, but with- 
 out determining the places where they reigned. Tnis register is borrowed 
 liom a modern Persian work, entitled, " Tadhkiratu-palatm," which its au- 
 
230 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. n. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 231 
 
 claim the first place in Hindu poetic history ; and whatever 
 objections the critic may choose to allege against particular 
 details in the account of it, he is not at all authorized to 
 question the existence of such a kingdom in very remote 
 times, while he allows the general antiquity of the Hindus 
 as a polished nation. According to the evidence reported 
 by Sir William Jones from the Puranas/^ eighty-one kings 
 are said to have reigned in Maghada, whose names he also 
 mentions. The first twenty reigns are unaccompanied with 
 any chronological determination : but the ensuing are di- 
 vided by him into five separate dynasties, of which the first 
 commenced with King Pradiota, about 2100 A. C, and ter- 
 minated with King Namda about 1500 A. C, embracing a 
 period of sixteen reigns : the second only comprises ten, 
 and ends with the year 1365 before Christ : the third dy- 
 nasty, that of Sunga, contains also the same number of kings, 
 and terminates 1253 A. C. : the fourth, that of Canna, only 
 consists of four names, and lasted till the year 908 A. C. : 
 the fifth, that of Andrah, forms a series of twenty-one kings, 
 and continued down to the year 456 before the Christian 
 era, and 400 before that of Vicramaditya ; since which time, 
 say the pundits, there is no fiirther account of any inde- 
 pendent kingdom existing in Maghada.^^ Consequently, at 
 this epoch India appears to have been placed in precisely 
 the same situation as ancient Egypt, which was at first di- 
 vided into several small states, but after the expulsion of the 
 
 thor, in his turn, compiled from Sanscrit books. " This treatise," observes 
 WiLFORD, {Asiatic Res. vol. ix. p. 132,) " is a most perfect specimen of the 
 manner of wntin? history in India; for with the exception of one original 
 hst, almost every thing else is the production of the fertile genius of the com- 
 piler, who lived above a hundred years ago. In all these lists the compilers 
 and revisers seem to have had no other object in view, but to adjust a certain 
 number of remarkable epochs. This being once effected, the intermediate 
 spaces are filled up with the names of kings not to be found any where else, 
 and most probably fanciful. Otherwise, they leave out the names of those 
 kings of whom nothing is recorded, and attribute the years of their reigns to 
 some among them better known and of greater fame. They often do not 
 scruple to transpose some of those kings, and even whole dynasties, either in 
 consequence of some pre-conceived opinion, or owing to their mistaking a 
 famous kin^ for another of the same name," etc. After such an avowal, who 
 would require further proof? The remarks, however, just quoted, are only 
 to be understood as applicable to modern compilers of chronological genealo- 
 gies ; not to the epic poems and ancient Puranas, which usually affix no dates 
 to their genealogical tables. 
 
 " Jones's Works, vol. i. p. 304 ; Asiatic Res. vol. ii. No. vi. 
 
 *" Jones's Works, vol. i. p. 30.S. 
 
 Hyksos, or shepherd kings, vs^as consolidated into one great 
 empire under the sovereigns of Memphis. But if v^^e are 
 unable to trace the vicissitudes of the particular states in 
 Egypt, much less can we attempt to investigate those of 
 India ; for v^^ith the exception of a few bare lists of names, 
 we are deprived of almost every other source of information 
 necessaiy for the purpose. Nevertheless, we are in posses- 
 sion of absolute proof from history, derived from the ac- 
 counts of the companions and successors of Alexander, that 
 at the epoch above noticed, there had already existed, for a 
 long space of time, very flourishing empires in the country 
 bordering on the Ganges. In these accounts, it is not 
 merely Western Hindustan that presents to our view a 
 number of small states, as we have already shown in our 
 researches into Persian India ; but we also remark at this 
 period the grand empire of the Prasii, and their capital Pa- 
 libothra, situate on the banks of the Ganges. Here, at 
 length, then, we step from the regions of poetical tradition 
 into the legitimate province of history ; at the same time, 
 however, and especially when we consider the long period 
 of tranquillity which must necessarily have preceded the 
 establishment of empire on the Ganges, we may be enabled 
 to form some opinion also of the ages just then elapsed, by 
 referring to the events of the epoch in question. Now if, 
 at such an early period, we meet with a highly civilized 
 nation, and endowed with a degree of refinement which 
 could not but have required a long course of preparatory 
 discipline, have we not suflficient grounds for recognising in 
 the native tradition of the Hindus, if not critical exactness, 
 yet, at least, some foundation in truth ? 
 
 According to what the Hindus themselves informed the 
 Greeks, it would seem that India, from the time of the ex- 
 pedition of Bacchus down to the invasion of Alexander, had 
 never suffered any hostile aggression from without, nor been 
 engaged in any foreign war.^^ As this piece of information 
 
 " Whatever the first Greeks, who established themselves in India, recount 
 of Hindu mythology, must always be received with extreme caution. It 
 certainly appears, as I have before observed, that some of the fables contain- 
 ed in the great epic poems had come to their knowledge ; and, indeed, how 
 could it well be otherwise? But unacquainted with the language of the 
 country, they saw and heard every thing through a prejudiced medium, and 
 were biassed in all their judgments by a strong spirit of nationality. Among 
 
232 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 233 
 
 comes from Megasthenes, who heard it at Palibothra, we 
 must understand it more especially of the countries in the 
 neighbourhood of the Ganges, and not of the frontier pro- 
 vinces of India, which had been previously subjected by the 
 Persians. To whatever distance this epoch be removed, it 
 is no less evident, that during a long interval of time pre- 
 vious to the expedition of Alexander, the Hindus, un- 
 shackled by foreign dominion, and left to their own re- 
 sources, had free and undisturbed liberty to develop the 
 national character: this is obviously no unimportant cir- 
 cumstance, when we have to speak of the progress they 
 made in early civilization and literature. 
 
 The exact determination of the locality of Palibothra is 
 not unattended with difficulties, arising principally from our 
 ignorance respecting the river Erannoboas, on whose banks 
 it was situated. But according to the researches of Major 
 RennelP and Mannert^^ it would appear almost beyond a 
 doubt, that the river in question can be no other than the 
 Sona ; and that in consequence Palibothra, which was buih 
 at its point of junction with the Ganges, must be sought 
 
 the number of those mythological stories which had undoubtedly reached 
 their ears, we may probably reckon the expeditions of Bacchus and Hercules 
 into India, so naturally explained by the incarnations of Rama and Krishna 
 and their heroic actions described in the Ramayana and Mahabharat We 
 can hardly doubt that Bacchus and Hercules are both of them Hindu deities 
 since they are not only represented as objects of general worship, but the 
 particular countnes and places are also specified, where both the one and the 
 other had temples erected to their service. See Arrian, Op. p. 174- and 
 Strabo, vol. XV. p. 489; according to whom, the inhabitants of the moun- 
 tains pnncipally adored Hercules, and those of the plain Bacchus. This fact 
 would lead us to infer the existence of two sects, and at the same time bring 
 to our mmds the respective followers of Siva and Vishnu. Proof may be 
 adduced in support of both one and the other interpretation, though sound 
 cnticism will not venture into the particular details ; and besides, the princi- 
 pal conclusion that the Hindu Bacchus and Hercules derive their ori^nn from 
 a conception of the Hindu epic poems, remains the same in botli cases. 
 Compare Maurice, History of Hindrntan, vol. ii. p. 119, 153. According to 
 WiLFORD, Asiatic Res. vol. ix. p. 93, the subject of the Dionysiacs of Nonmis 
 was borrowed from the Mahabharat ; this, however, must be understood only 
 of the expedition of Bacchus into India. But even where the scene is laid in 
 that country, it is not very easy to discover in this poem any thing of the true 
 Indian character. It must, therefore, have passed through several inter- 
 mediate stages, before it reached the Greeks. 
 
 T> " ^^J^^EL\^<^"««^ P- ^» sq. second edirion. He had at first supposed 
 Fahbothra to be Canoge, but was subsequently convinced of his mistake by 
 a personal examination on the spot itself. He shows that the Sona has 
 changed its former course, having previously entered the Ganges nearly 
 twenty-five miles from its present embouchure. 
 ** Mannert, Oeogr., vol. v. p. 100. 
 
 after, in or near the modern town of Patna, where even the 
 ancient appellation still survives in the name of a certain 
 district called Patalputhra ; another opinion however, which 
 identifies the Erannoboas with the river Cusa, would place 
 that city farther east, and not far from Boglipur.^^ The 
 empire of the Prasii, although described to the Macedonian 
 conqueror as the most powerful of all, could nevertheless 
 hardly comprise more than a part of the country of the 
 Ganges. Towards the west it extended beyond the junc- 
 tion of the Jumna with that river, where at no great dis- 
 tance from the modern Allahabad, was situated the ancient 
 Matura, called Methora by Arrian,^^ in the classic land, so 
 famous for being the scene of Krishna's appearance among 
 mortals, and the place where he spent his early youth. On 
 the south-east, it was bounded by the country of the Gan- 
 pjarides, situate towards the lower Ganges, and forming 
 Bengal Proper, which was already governed by its own 
 Rajah, not improbably the vassal of some more powerful 
 neighbour.^ If the ancient empire of Maghada terminated, 
 as the native reports affirm, in the year four hundred and 
 fifty-six before Christ,^^ we might be allowed to conjecture 
 the kingdom of the Prasii to have been founded on its ruins, 
 possibly after a certain lapse of time. For like the former 
 it also comprised Behar, and some of the neighbouring pro- 
 vinces. But as Alexander himself, though arrived at the 
 banks of the Hyphasis, was nevertheless very far from having 
 reached even the boundaries of this empire, and of which 
 therefore he could only have uncertain information, it would 
 follow of course that its limits were not much extended to- 
 wards the west. 
 
 After the retreat of Alexander, there arose a conqueror in 
 India, who was known to the Greeks by the name of San- 
 dracottus. He was a native of low extraction, and yet 
 formerly in his youth had seen Alexander.^ This chief be- 
 came the author and leader of a revolt, in which the Hindus 
 
 " WiLFORD, Asiatic Res. vol. v. p. 272. 
 
 "Arrian, p. 174. In the land of Suraseni: we must not confound this 
 ancient Matura or Madura, with the present Madurah, on the coast of Coro- 
 mandel, a mistake which Langl^s has committed. The names of Suraseni 
 and Matura occur also in Menu, ii. p. 19. 
 
 " Pliny, vol. vi. p. 22. " Jones's Works, vol. i. p. 308. 
 
 •' Plutarch, O/j. vol. i. p. 700. 
 
 11 
 
234 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 235 
 
 shook off the yoke of allegiance to the Macedonian stranger, 
 and put to death the governors he had established.^^ Placed 
 at the head of his countrymen in the western provinces, as 
 the restorer of liberty, he became a conqueror in his turn, 
 and overthrew the reigning dynasty at Palibothra, at that 
 time represented by a weak and odious prince. Although 
 the victorious arms of Sandracottus extended over a portion 
 of the modem Punjab, yet the principal seat of his empire 
 was confined to the country of the Ganges, as specified in 
 his treaty with Seleucus Nicator, to whose ambassadors he 
 gave audience at his court of Palibothra, or at Canoge.^ 
 The scholars of England believed that they had at length 
 discovered a fixed point in ancient Hindu history, when 
 they found the Sandracottus of the Greeks actually occur- 
 ring in the native genealogies. He was considered to be 
 the same as the Chandra Gupta of the Hindus,^^ and the 
 resemblance between the two names appears even more 
 striking in the earliest editions of Athenaeus, which, instead 
 of Sandracottus, have Sandracoptus.^ But even admitting 
 an identity of name, will that prove a corresponding identity 
 of person ? On the contrary, this resemblance of name ap- 
 pears to be almost the only feature the two have in common. 
 They are both indeed represented as Hindu princes, but 
 with this sole exception all further comparison must cease. 
 Chandra Gupta was by no means, like his namesake San- 
 dracoptus, a man of low birth, but the son of King Nanda, 
 upon whose death he took possession of the throne :^ and 
 
 65 
 
 M 
 
 Justin vol xv. di 4. 
 
 Maurice, Hist of Hind.y vol. i. p. 38. It seems that Palibothra and 
 Canoge were both one and the other considered as the capital towns of the 
 Prasian empire; in the same way that Agra and Delhi were under the Gre.it 
 Moguls. According to Maurice, Sandracottus is said to have rebuilt Canoge. 
 
 *^ Sir W. Jones, on Asiatic History, in the Asiatic Bes. yo\. iv., and 
 Francis Hamilton, Genealogies, Introduction, p. 14. According to the lat- 
 ter, Chandra Gupta was the second king of the house of Marija, ten of whom 
 are reported to have reigned at Maghada during a space of one hundred and 
 thirty-five years. 
 
 * Athenjeus, edit. Schweighauser, vol. i. cap. 3/. 
 
 " Compare the account of Chandra Gupta, given by Wilford in the 
 Asiatic Bes. vol. v. p. 264, sq. In the list of kings arranged by Sir ^y. 
 Jones, ( Works, vol. i. p. 306,) the reign of Nanda is placed one thousand six 
 hundred and two, and Chandra Gupta one thousand five hundred and two 
 years before Christ ; the latter therefore must have lived one thousand two 
 hundred years before Sandracottus. Will any one pretend that there was 
 another Chandra Gupta? in which case how comes it that his predecessor is 
 likewise called Nanda? Is it still necessary to put the reader on his guard 
 
 far from being an enemy to the Yavanas, (under which term 
 are impUed the Greeks or Macedonians,) he is their friend 
 and ally. If we pursue the history of Chandra Gupta fur- 
 ther, we shall find it to be merely poetical, and borrowed 
 partly from the epic and partly from the dramatic poets ;^** 
 who, according to their particular exigencies, have so dif- 
 ferently handled the same history, that we are sometimes led 
 to doubt whether their Chandra Gupta be always one and 
 the same person, and not rather a common title and appella- 
 tion, applied to many individuals.^^ 
 
 After Sandracottus the history of his empire again falls 
 into obscurity, in which it is involved for a space of two 
 hundred years, when Vicramaditya, to whose splendid reign 
 we have already had several occasions of alluding, appears 
 on the scene, as king of precisely the same countries. Still, 
 however, we possess no extract of what is recounted in the 
 Puranas of this celebrated prince ; a few partial and scat- 
 tered accounts being all that we are able to collect of his 
 history.'" Vicramaditya is called the sovereign of all In- 
 dia ;^^ without doubt, as having reduced a number of the 
 petty Rajahs to his authority. The principal seat of his 
 empire was in the land of the Ganges, on both sides of that 
 river ; and his residence seems to have been established al- 
 ternately at Palibothra and at Canoge. He was also lord of 
 Benares, whither he convened the already mentioned as- 
 sembly of Brahmans. He rebuilt Ayodhya, so celebrated 
 in the ancient history of the Hindus, but then in complete 
 
 against these abortive endeavours to apply fixed chronological dates to what 
 is nothing more than a poetic history. 
 
 ^ These are cited by Wilford, Asiatic Res. vol. v. p. 262; where also will 
 be found a history of Chandra Gupta according to these authorities. 
 
 " Wilford, loc. cit. The word Chandra Gupta means " protected by the 
 moon." [Wilson, in the preface to his edition of the 3fudra Itakshasa, which 
 appeared at Calcutta in 1827, identifies Sandracottus with Chandra Gupta; 
 in fact, the resemblance is too striking to have been the effect of mere acci- 
 dent. Fr. Transl.] 
 
 " We certainly have a prolix treatise by Wilford, Asiatic Bes. vol. ix. p. 
 117. etc., " Vicramaditya and Salivahana, their respective eras," in which 
 however the subject is rather obscured than illustrated. " The Hindus," ob- 
 serves this writer, " know but of one Vicramaditya, but the learned acknow- 
 ledge four; and when at my request they produced written authorities, I was 
 greatly surprised to find no less than eight or nine." When we recollect in 
 what manner the lists of Hindu kings were made up, how can we doubt that 
 these numerous Vicramadityas also owe their origin solely to the hypotheses 
 of native chronologers ? 
 
 " Polier, vol. i. p. 104. 
 
236 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAl'. 11. 
 
 rumJ^ His power extended northward as far as Cashmire 
 the governors of which submitted to him of their own ac- 
 cord ; and he appointed a Rajah to administer the affairs of 
 that country.75 At one time the extent of his dominions 
 embraced also the northern parts of the Deccan, as far as 
 Tagara ; but the Rajahs of tliat quarter having revolted 
 from his authority, they gave him battle and he was slain "^ 
 These facts are sufficient to show in what sense Vicrama 
 ditya was called the sovereign of India, and how his court 
 might easily have been one of the most brilliant of the a(re 
 and a central point of attraction to poets and learned men ' 
 While the foregoing inquiries have made it evident 
 enough that the country about the Ganges must have been 
 for a long series of ages, not less probably than two thousand 
 years before Christ, the seat of great empires and splendid 
 cities ; so, on the other hand, the various destinies which 
 have befallen the western side of the peninsula, still remain 
 mvolved in the deepest obscurity. It appears, as we have 
 already remarked, even in the epic poems, as the country 
 of fable. And yet it is precisely in this part of India, that 
 we find those prodigious monuments of antiquity, both un- 
 der and above ground, imperishable proofs of the spread of 
 that caste, which, in the above-noticed sense of the expres- 
 sion, appears to have been the predominant one in the land 
 of the Ganges ; and, with the two other superior castes, was 
 only allowed, agreeably to the laws of Menu, to reside in 
 that part of the country. While the true origin of those 
 remarkable structures, wrapped as they are in the gloom of 
 centuries, will only permit us to advance conjecture, what 
 can be a more natural and obvious supposition, than to re- 
 fer their erection to the period of the victory gained by the 
 Brahmans over the warrior caste ; when the former, grdund- 
 mg the influence thus acquired on the support of religion. 
 endeavoured to maintain it in the southern provinces also 
 by the foundation of establishments similar to those already 
 existing in the neighbourhood of the Ganges ? And where- 
 in could such establishments otherwise consist than in re- 
 ligious sanctuaries ; which, as their nature and method of 
 arrangement clearly show, were intended to serve for the 
 
 " PoLiER vol. i. p. 185. » Ayin Achari, vol. ii. p. l(il. 
 
 WiLFORD, m the Asiatic Ees., vol. i. p. 3/4. 
 
 CHAP. n. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 237 
 
 residence of the divinities, as well as their attendant priests ? 
 The particular reason why these buildings were constructed 
 under ground in preference to above, is sufficiently explained 
 by referring to climate and locality ; the latter presenting 
 every convenience for such an undertaking ; more especially, 
 too, when we take into account the probable and easy adapt- 
 ation of naturally formed grottoes to the purpose in hand ; 
 while the heat of the climate would furnish peculiar attrac- 
 tions to a residence in subterranean edifices. The suppo- 
 sition already made will also assign an adequate motive for 
 the earliest establishments of this kind ; like those of Ele- 
 phanta and Salsette, being formed on some small island in 
 the immediate vicinity of the coast, where they might be 
 less exposed to attack from the barbarous aborigines of the 
 continent. In the same manner, we can explain the gradual 
 enlargement of these sanctuaries, and the progressive care 
 bestowed on their decoration, while we consider them as 
 central points of religious dominion ; which it was the ob- 
 ject to establish and confirm by all possible means ; such as 
 oracles, pilgrimages, and solemn feasts. And how satis- 
 factorily can we account for the peculiarities above men- 
 tioned, when we refer to the spirit of rivalry which subsisted 
 between a number of such establishments, each striving to 
 outvie the other; while reputation, the love of gain, and 
 above all, mutual jealousy, acted as a spur to sectarian op- 
 position ; and when probably the worshippers of Buddha 
 endeavoured to supplant the followers of Vishnu or Siva ; 
 an attempt, however, which ended in the total expulsion of 
 the former from the peninsula. In this manner the art must 
 necessarily have been perfected by degrees ; until at length 
 a period of general tranquillity, succeeding the distraction 
 of party spirit, permitted the secure erection of these sanc- 
 tuaries in the heart of the mainland, such as Ellora, for in- 
 stance, the most wonderful and magnificent of all. The 
 gradual progress subsequently made in the formation of 
 rock-temples above ground, and other buildings, together 
 with the perfection to which the Hindus brought this kind 
 of architecture, has already been shown in our description 
 of the monuments themselves ; and would seem to furnish 
 a more convincing proof both of the long interval of time 
 which must have preceded all these successive improve- 
 
 iii 
 
238 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. u. 
 
 CHAP. II« 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 239 
 
 ments, and also, by consequence, of the high antiquity of 
 the nation, than we can derive from Usts of kings collected 
 from the poets, and laboriously arranged in chronological 
 order ; although certainly the general agreement of poetical 
 fiction with these monuments, is an additional proof in 
 favour of their antiquity. The monuments themselves, too, 
 have their own language ; it is concise and monosyllabic, 
 but of unquestionable veracity to those who are acquainted 
 with them, and with the people who erected those lasting 
 memorials. The nature of sacerdotal states can only be 
 seen in its true light, when we come to examine the cor- 
 responding phenomena which ancient Egypt presents to 
 our view. The religion of the Hindus, in a greater degree 
 than that of the Egyptians, was adapted, and indeed pur- 
 posely calculated, to bind the people in strict connexion with 
 their sanctuaries, while it prescribed the dutiful observance 
 of pilgrimage thither, and made to depend thereon the hope 
 both of present and future happiness. Even in modern 
 times, notwithstanding the weight of foreign oppression 
 under which they have languished for so many centuries, 
 thousands of pilgrims still find opportunity and means to 
 visit the temples and holy places ; and to support, and even 
 enrich them, by the number of their presents. What, then, 
 may we conceive to have been the case in more fortunate 
 times, when neither Moslem bigotry nor European avarice 
 had yet quenched their zeal, or straitened their resources!" 
 In recurring to such an epoch, the imagination pleases itself 
 with portraying the varied enjoyments of social and com- 
 mercial intercourse, which these periodical assemblies of 
 foreigners from all parts of India would naturally bring in i 
 their train ; we see, as it were, before our eyes those vast 
 grottoes and halls, peopled with living multitudes, that are I 
 now only the abode of frightfiil desolation, or ravenous wild 
 beasts. But, to return to the Brahmans, how truly con- 
 genial to the spirit of that caste were establishments like 
 those we have just mentioned, may be inferred from the 
 Brahmanical colonies which Alexander found in the north 
 
 " [The whole amount of taxes collected fro.n pilgrims to the four following 
 places, viz. Juggernaut, Gya, Allahabad, and Tripetty, for a term of seven- 
 teen years, ending 182S, is reported to have been not less than a million of 
 money, after deducting all necessary expenses. See Astatic Journal for Octo- 
 ber, 1830, p. 103, sq. Transl.] 
 
 of India f^ as well as those still existing in the recesses of 
 the Himalaya mountains. In fact, does not the holy city 
 Benares, at the present day, stand in precisely the same re- 
 lation to the country of the Ganges, as, according to all ap- 
 pearance, Ellora and Deoghur did formerly to the Deccan ? 
 It was only in the time of the Roman empire, during the 
 first and second centuries of our era, and after the establish- 
 ment of a regnilar navigation between Egypt and India, 
 that the peninsula, under its present name of the Deccan,^^ 
 began to emerge from obscurity. It is noticed, both by the 
 author of the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, and by Ptole- 
 my ; their accounts, however, cannot be applied to the 
 elucidation of the eariier history of that part of India, except 
 they make express mention of anterior epochs. In the 
 time of the above writers, as well as fifteen centuries after, 
 when discovered by the Portuguese, the Deccan appears to 
 have been portioned out among a number of petty Rajahs, 
 some of whom resided in the same cities as their successors 
 of the present day. This was the case with Ozene,®^ the 
 name of which is still preserved in Uzen or Ujein, (Ujjayani,) 
 and which, as we have seen, the powerful Vicramaditya sub- 
 jected to his arms for a certain time; it is now the residence 
 of Scindia, one of the great Mahratta chieftans. A still 
 more important place than the last is Tagara, without doubt 
 the modern Deoghur, in the neighbourhood of the famous 
 Ellora,^^ and, according to the author of the Periplus,^- the 
 grand capital of the district of Ariaca ; which comprehended 
 most of the present Subah of Aurungabad, and the southern 
 part of the Concan ; the northern parts of which, with the 
 islands of Salsette, Bombay, and Elephanta, were subject to 
 the Rajah of Larikeh. With the exception of a short inter- 
 val of time, during which the residence of the kings was 
 transferred from Tagara to Pattan, the former city continued 
 upwards of two thousand years, down to the Mohammedan 
 
 ^ See Persians. 
 
 " Arrian, Peripl. Mar. Erythr. in Geoff r. Min. vol. i. p. 29. According 
 to the Ayin Acbari, vol. ii. p. 546, Ozene, Oude, Mahtra, and Maya, without 
 reckoning Benares, are still holy places of the first order, and the resort of 
 numerous pilgrims. 
 
 Arrian, loc. cit.-p. 72. He mentions it as formerly a roysil city ; for in 
 '"J|tirne the residence of the Rajahs had been transferred to Minnagara. 
 Compare Wilford's Essay on Tagara, Asiatic Res. vol. i. p. 369. 
 Arrian, loc. cit. p. 29. 
 
240 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAF. n. 
 
 CHAP. n. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 241 
 
 invasion in 1293, to be reckoned among the capital towns 
 of India. We shall have occasion to show, in another place, 
 that it remained also for an equal period of time the grand 
 emporium of Mediterranean commerce. 
 
 Although it is extremely probable that the general con- 
 dition of the peninsula and its line of coast, must have been 
 for a long time previous the same as we find it represented 
 in the Periplus, that is to say, divided into a number of 
 small kingdoms, yet it would be hazardous to infer from the 
 description there given, more particular conclusions respect- 
 ing its constitution in earlier periods ; for, considered in 
 this point of view, many and divers changes might unavoid- 
 ably have occurred ; and more especially, as the active com- 
 mercial intercourse kept up with India by the Romans after 
 their conquest of Egypt, must necessarily have produced 
 corresponding relations on the coast of the peninsula. It 
 is a subject of regret, that the author of the above voyage 
 had not visited the Coromandel, as well as 'the Malabar 
 coast ; we might then possibly have been favoured with 
 some more important disclosures relative to the wonderful 
 city of Mavalipuram, the ruins of which are at present al- 
 most the only proof we have of its former existence. But 
 as, according to the remarks heretofore made, its antiquity 
 must be very considerable,^ we may at least infer, this part 
 also of India to have once contained sacerdotal empires, like 
 the other side of the peninsula, governed by Rajahs who 
 possessed no inconsiderable share of territorial dominion. 
 
 Notwithstanding the early history of these ancient Hindu 
 states (with regard to their destinies and extent) is still in- 
 volved in obscurity, we are yet able to ascertain with some- 
 what more correctness, the nature of their political constitu- 
 tion. The Ramayana and the Laws of Menu are important 
 sources of information, which we may advantageously con- 
 sult in this part of our inquiry ; and whatever be the degree 
 of poetical merit awarded to the first of these works, we 
 cannot but consider it as a valuable present to the general 
 history of mankind. It transports us, as it were, into a new 
 world, in every sense of the term ; and, like the graphic 
 representations of the Ionian bard, makes us immediately 
 and personally acquainted with the various characters intro- 
 
 " Sec above, p. 81. 
 
 duced upon the scene. It exhibits before our eyes, not 
 merely the external form of ancient Hindu polity, but what 
 is of greater moment, the inward springs, and the very 
 spirit of sacerdotal administration. That curious pheno- 
 menon, so abhorrent from the character of our times, the 
 preponderance of the sacerdotal over the civil power, is 
 there shown in all its nakedness ; but not in those odious 
 colours which we are accustomed to attach to the concep- 
 tion, and which we borrow from our experience or habits 
 of association. The epopee, in the case before us, is closely 
 united with the idyl ; but it is with a religious idyl. Not 
 kings alone, but the sons even of gods themselves, are there 
 represented as looking up with profound veneration to those 
 holy men, who, long celebrated for their penances, are al- 
 most equal to the Devas in point of rank ; and thrice happy 
 the princes whose court was honoured with their presence. 
 The beau ideal of a prince is always there represented as 
 the union of a monarch and a hero, with the character of a 
 saint. Let us compare, for instance, the picture which the 
 Ramayana gives us of Dasaratha, sovereign of Ayodhya : 
 "Dasaratha, the descendant of Ikshvaku, perfectly versed 
 in the precepts of the Vedas and the Vedangas ; of consum- 
 mate ability; beloved by his people; dexterous in the 
 management of horses ; indefatigable in sacrifices ; pre-emi- 
 nent m the holy ceremonies of religion ; a royal sage, al- 
 most equal to a Rishi ; renowned throughout the'^three 
 worlds ; the vanquisher of his enemies ; the observer of jus- 
 tice ; master of his desires ; in magnificence like Shakra ; 
 protector of his subjects like Menu, the first of monarchs."«* 
 It is probably in delineating the portraits of their sovereigns, 
 that the national character of any people is most conspicu- 
 ously developed ; and the Hindus, as we have seen, adopted 
 by no means a contemptible exemplar for their own. 
 
 The code of Menu in connexion with the digest of law 
 above mentioned, seem to present us with an exact notion 
 ot the forms of Hindu polity ; and however divided we may 
 always be in opinion with regard to the antiquity of that 
 code m its present state, it nevertheless contains a collection 
 01 the oldest institutes and laws relative to public and pri- 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 " Ramayana, i. 100. 
 R 
 
242 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 11. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 243 
 
 vate right ; which may therefore owe their sanction to 
 estabhshed usage, or to the fact of their having been drawn 
 up and committed to writing. These legislative enactments 
 are not confined in their application to particular states of 
 India ; because, being attributed to Menb, the first sove- 
 reign of that country, they recognise the whole as forming 
 but one undivided kingdom. Whether, indeed, all of them 
 were in actual force throughout every portion of India may 
 admit of reasonable doubt ; but that the groundwork of 
 Hindu polity, and, by consequence, the fundamental laws, 
 were the same in all states, is clearly evident from the Ra- 
 mayana. Wherever the dominion of the Brahmans ex- 
 tended, the same order of things is found generally to have 
 prevailed ; we need not, therefore, hesitate to assume the 
 code in question for the basis of our present inquiry. 
 
 The fundamental principle of all Hindu polity is the 
 division of castes. In the laws of Menu this classification 
 appears to have been completely organized already ; and so 
 it is also represented in the epic poems ; we shall hardly, 
 therefore, be liable to serious error in attempting the follow- 
 ing description of them. 
 
 All Hindu writers are unanimous in assigning only four 
 original castes,*^ viz. the Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, 
 
 ** The Greeks alone differ from them, (Arrian, p. 1/6; Diod. i. p. 153; 
 Strabo, lib. XV.,) in admitting sevm castes instead of four: viz. 1. Sophists. 
 2. Agriculturists. 3. Herdsmen. 4. Handicraftsmen and artisans. 5. ^Va^ 
 riors. 6. Inspectors. 7. Councillors. The whole of this statement is bor- 
 rowed from one and the same source, that is to say, from the Indica of Me- 
 gasthenes. A very slight acquaintance, however, with India will be sufficient 
 to prove, that such could never have been the real division of Hindu castes; 
 but there is less reason to be surprised that a Greek, who resided for a short 
 time only at the court of Sandracottus in the quality of an ambassador, should 
 not immediately have understood the subject, when we reflect, that no subse- 
 quent traveller has yet been able clearly to elucidate the matter, on account 
 of the numerous intermediate castes, and their respective subdivisions. Me- 
 gasthenes has sometimes divided one caste into two, as, for instance, the agri- 
 culturists and herdsmen ; at others, he has mistaken (probably because lie 
 collected his information from the court) the simple classes of courtiers and 
 public oflicers for distinct castes, and thus made out his sixth and seventh; 
 and, in fine, he has omitted some, as the merchants and serving-men. His 
 caste of sophists are, in fact, part and parcel of the Brahmans, as it was their 
 business to superintend religious ceremonies ; and this very name is expressly 
 given to them in another passage, Arrian, Op. p. 134. Again, Megasthenes 
 confounds the penitents or fakirs, who, as he reports, lived naked in the 
 woods, enduring the extremes of cold and heat, (whence came the term gym- 
 nosophists,) with the Brahmans, to which caste they frequently, though by 
 no means exclusively, belong. This mistake seems to have occasioned an- 
 
 and Sudras. Of these, the three first are distinguished 
 from the fourth, or servile caste, not only by their manner 
 of life, but also by their general appearance. The members 
 of the former severally wear round their body a peculiar 
 kind of girdle or cord, which is, however, different in differ- 
 ent individuals ;^ and this being regarded as the emblem of 
 a second birth, they are collectively termed by Menu the 
 regenerate ; an appellation which the epic poets neverthe- 
 less usually attach, by preference, to the Brahmans. The 
 three superior castes have also the full enjoyment of their 
 personal liberty, a privilege which is denied the Sudras 
 Further, they alone are permitted to derive instruction from 
 the Vedas, in the respective degrees peculiar to each caste • 
 so that we may not improperly term them, predominant 
 castes, in contradistinction to that of the Sudras, who are 
 absolutely debarred from all manner of acquaintance with 
 those holy books. 
 
 The purity of the privileged castes would naturally de- 
 pend upon their not confounding themselves with the others 
 by marriage. On this point the laws are very precise • it 
 is however, a misapprehension to suppose, as the Greeks 
 did, that marriages are only allowable between individuals 
 of the same caste ; for the laws of Menu permit the three 
 higher castes to intermarry with each other, though only in 
 the case of a second marriage ; so that upon these terms, a 
 man belonging to a superior caste may take a wife from an 
 interior one, without risking contamination ; «7 a woman on 
 the other hand, is not allowed to profit by this concession. 
 Nevertheless, the purity of caste was preserved by another 
 tundamental law, which enacted, that those children only 
 vvho were born to mothers of the same caste as the father 
 should properly belong to that caste. Whence it follows' 
 that the son of a Brahman must also have a Brahman mo- 
 ther, m order to be reckoned a legitimate Brahman him- 
 self, and so of the rest.«« The Sudras, on the contrary, 
 
 other, committed by Megasthenes, when he pretends that a Hindu of any 
 caste may become a sophist. ^ 
 
 thp r^r^' "• ^^» ^?' ?^' ^' '^^- Compare the Aym Achari, ii. 509, where 
 '"J^^dern custom is descnbed. 
 
 « M ^ principal passages are in Menu, iii. 12, 13; ix. 149. 
 dr>nnl- ^y* ^' ^'/.^* ^^^ pnncipal passage ; where are also found the various 
 "^nominations of intermediate castes, arising from unequal marriages. 
 
 R 2 
 
244 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 11. 
 
 CHAP. n. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 are not permitted to choose a wife, except of their own 
 
 caste.^ 
 
 While in this manner, notwithstanchng the hberty of 
 intermarriage, a strong barrier was raised between the prin- 
 cipal castes, yet the natural consequence of these mis-alli- 
 ances would be the formation of intermediate classes, the 
 number of which, it is easy to conceive, would be very con- 
 siderable ; and, in fact, this circumstance renders the task 
 of ascertaining the various shades of difference between 
 them extremely difficult, and contributes to embroil an ex- 
 amination of the castes in general with perplexity and con- 
 fusion. The law, however, has bestowed a great deal of 
 care in attempting to determine these manifold subdivisions ; 
 each class has a particular name, and follows a definite trade 
 or occupation.^ Several of them, being the fruit of a con- 
 nexion between Sudra fathers and the women of other 
 castes, are impure, and considered the most despicabhi of 
 mankind ; they are not even allowed to dwell in towns/^' 
 etc. These appear to be synonymous with the modern 
 
 Pariahs. 
 
 The caste of the Brahmans would seem to have spread 
 itself all over India. It possesses the exclusive privilege of 
 studying and explaining the Vedas.^ This, indeed, is their 
 principal destination ; and as the Vedas are the source of all 
 Hindu learning, whether religious or scientific, the priest- 
 hood is for the same reason in exclusive possession of know- 
 ledge. The Brahmans are, therefore, the only physicians 
 in India ; for sickness being considered as the punishment 
 of transgression, it is remedied by the imposition of penance 
 and certain religious ceremonies.^^ They are also judges ; 
 for who but themselves would have such a perfect acquanit- 
 ance with the law ? ^ They alone are the national priests, 
 and offer sacrifice for themselves as well as for others. They 
 make presents ; but then they have an especial right to re- 
 ceive, and even to demand them in their turn ; ^^ while no 
 
 245 
 
 m 
 
 ti. 
 
 - Menu, ix. 157. The favour of marrying women of an inferior clas 
 allowed to the three superior castes, is a concession of the Laws of Men' 
 which, as Sir W. Jones remarks, (Institutes of Menu, p. 362.) according to 
 the Brahmans, was subsequently abolished. 
 
 " Compare the whole tenth chapter of Menu. 
 
 " Meni), X. 50—56. " Ibid. i. 8S. " Ibid. viii. 1. 
 
 « Ibid, i' 88. " Ibid. X. 80-90. 
 
 one may refuse a liberal accordance to their petitions A 
 Brahman is also permitted to follow the occupations of the 
 two castes next in order to his own ; he may carry arms 
 and even embark in a mercantile profession, though not in- 
 deed, with every kmd of ware.9« From this variety of' oc- 
 cupation the several classes of Brahmans arise, among which 
 those who expound the Vedas take the first place The 
 latter are treated even by sovereigns with the most profound 
 respect, and are represented as beings of a supernatural 
 order at whose biddmg the powers of the invisible world 
 are obedient. The landed possessions of a Brahman are 
 free of all impost,*"' and himself exempt from the infliction 
 of capital punishment ; hence, to slay one of this privileged 
 caste, even though he had deserved death by the commission 
 of the inost enormous crimes, would be a heinous and un- 
 pardonable offence. He can only be amerced in a pecu- 
 niaiy fine, or banished for a term of years at most » Not- 
 withstanding these high prerogatives, however, the Brahmans 
 are bound to the performance of duties which, with the ex- 
 ception of celibacy, are as severe as the rule of the strictest 
 order of European monks. Until they are thoroughly and 
 intimately acquainted with the Vedas, they are obliged to 
 pass a long course of previous study in the house of their 
 Ouru, or spiritual teacher, whom they are enjoined to regard 
 in the light of a second parent. It is only then that thev 
 are allowed, or rather it becomes their duty, to marry and 
 become heads of families.f^ Every day of their life appears 
 to be subject to the performance of a severe ritual "» The 
 many prayers, ablutions, and sacrifices they must go througli 
 take up a great portion of their time ; and the facility with 
 which they may contract pollution, only to be cleansed by 
 ngorous penances, require the most heedful circumspection. ' 
 Uiey are forbidden to eat in the company of any one of an 
 interior caste, and even with princes themselves ; they must 
 not kill any thing that has life, except for sacrifice, and con- 
 sequently they may eat no flesh but that of victims. When 
 ■"•I'ved at a certain age, it is their duty, or at least their 
 custom, to withdraw into retirement, in order to devote 
 
 ^MENu.viii. 330,381. » Ibid. iii. if ^ 
 
 l-ompare the whole twelfth chapter of Menu. 
 
!m 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAl>. 11. 
 
 CHAP. n. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 247 
 
 Ijj^ii 
 
 themselves to religious contemplation, by means of which 
 they may attain to spiritual union with the deity. As to the 
 interior organization of their caste, it is no where expressly 
 mentioned that they recognise the authority of a sovereign 
 pontiff, etc. : but when we read of the hundreds, and often 
 thousands of Brahmans attached to a single temple, we are 
 naturally led to infer the existence among them of some re- 
 gular order and gradation of rank.^ 
 
 The second caste, which is that of the Kshatriyas, or war- 
 riors, according to the express assertion of Menu, arose out 
 of the first.^ But although of the same origin, it has never- 
 theless undergone considerable modifications, partly arising, 
 as we have before remarked, from the unfortunate issue of 
 their struggle with the Brahmans, and partly from the com- 
 mon fate of all warrior castes, in a country which happens 
 to be overrun by foreign invaders.^ Under such circum- 
 stances this caste would not long maintain its primitive 
 form ; it would obviously be the first to suffer. So that 
 notwithstanding the greater part of the present inhabitants 
 of Northern India are in all probability descended from 
 these warriors,* we can easily conceive the reason why they 
 are no longer considered to belong to that caste. In this 
 sense the Brahmans may justly affirm, that the old warrior 
 caste no longer exists, and that it is altogether annihilated.^ 
 But another passage in Menu furnishes us with more decisive 
 information on the subject ; according to which, several 
 tribes of the Kshatriyas, having neglected to observe the 
 holy customs and to visit the Brahmans, became so de- 
 generate that they were expelled the caste, and regarded as 
 
 * [The Buddhists alone introduced an ecclesiastical hierarchy ; because, as 
 they did not recognise the distinction of caste, such method of subordination 
 was indispensably necessary ; the reverse of what naturally obtained among 
 the Brahmans. Fr. Transl.] 
 
 « Menu, ix. 320. 
 
 * In the southern parts of the peninsula, the Nairs (a species of country 
 nobility rather than a distinct tribe) are considered to belong to the warrior 
 caste. Whether they are the dispersed remnants of the old Kshatriyas, is not 
 yet sufficiently ascertained. 
 
 * See vol. i. sect. 3, sub fin. What is there said must be understood of the 
 ori^n, and not of the ancient organization of the warrior caste. If we may 
 believe modern report, the inhabitants of Multan, and its capital, (Malli,) fiom 
 whom Alexander met with the most obstinate resistance, are the present Raj- 
 poots. See Elphinstone's Accounty etc. p. 15. 
 
 * Ramayanay i. 584, not. 
 
 Dasyas, or robber- tribes.^ Many of the neighbouring coun- 
 tries of Hindustan appear to be inhabited by these outcasts ; 
 and the sect of the Sikhs, for instance, who now occupy a 
 considerable part of Northern India, can be looked upon by 
 orthodox Hindus in no other light than as the offspring of 
 those ancient exiles. 
 
 The old Kshatriya caste inhabited the northern parts of 
 India ; its business, according to Menu, was to defend the 
 country, and of course to bear arms. The individuals of 
 this class were not allowed, except in cases of urgent neces- 
 sity, to follow the occupations of inferior castes; by no 
 means, however, those of the Brahmans.^ They might de- 
 rive instruction from the Vedas, that is to say, read or hear 
 them read, but they were not to impart this knowledge to 
 others. It was also their duty to offer sacrifice, to give but 
 
 * Menu, x. 43. They are called Paundracas, Odras, Draviras, Cambojas, 
 Yavanas, Sacas, Paradas, Pahlavas, Chinas, Kiratas, Deradas, and Chasas. 
 Sir W. Jones, in his Treatise on the Chinese, ( Works, vol. i. p. 99,) under- 
 stands by Chinas, the Chinese, who, as the Brahmans report, are descended 
 from the Hindus. The other names, which are apparently those of different 
 nations, give rise to various conjectures. Are the Sacas the ancient Sacae? 
 are the Pahlavas Medes speaking Pehlvi ? are the Cambojas the inhabitants 
 of modern Camboja; and the Yavanas, as is commonly supposed, Greeks or 
 Macedonians ? But how are we to draw accurate conclusions from a bare re- 
 cital of names ? It is, however, certain, that several of these tribes designate 
 foreign nations. " They are," continues Menu, " Dasyas, whether they speak 
 the language of Mlechas, (that is, barbarians, or strangers,) or that of Aryas" 
 (degenerated aborigines). There is a remarkable passage in the Ramayana, 
 p. 326, 327, relative to this subject, in reference to the fable already mentioned 
 of the quarrel between the Kshatriya Rajah Vishva Mitra with the Br.ahman 
 Vasishtha. We here find Pahlavi kings, whom the editors interpret of the 
 ancient Persians ; Chacas, or Saces, whom they connect with the Yavanas ; 
 the Cambojas and Varvaras, (probably the Draviras of Menu,) and the 
 Mlechas. They are fabulously reported to have* sprung from portions of the 
 sacred cow belonging to Vasishtha, and to whom they served as auxiliary 
 troops. The explaining of the word Yavanas by Greeks, or Macedonians, 
 is most generally adopted by English scholars ; particularly as the name 
 occurs in the history of Chandra Gupta, whom they identify with Sandracot- 
 tus. Asiatic Res. vol. v. p. 264, 267. It is, however, difficult to say why 
 the Hindus should call the Greeks or Macedonians Yavanas, even supposing 
 the appellation to be derived from Yavan, or lonians, because the latter was 
 not their real name. [The word Javan, or Yavan, is found in Genesis, chap. 
 X., and in Arabic, Persian, Coptic, and Armenian, is always employed to 
 designate the Greeks. Moreover, in the early periods of Grecian history the 
 name lones is generally applied to the whole nation. See Homer, Plato de 
 Leg. iii. n. 6^4, and Hesych. ad voc. 'Iwi/cg et 'lavva. According to Herodotus, 
 yii. 62, the Medes were in former times universally called Arii : now, arya, 
 in Sanscrit, means * noble,' * venerable ;' and India Proper is termed Aryavarta, 
 the Holy Land, or country of the Aryas. Transl.] 
 
 ' Menu, x. 95. 
 
24S 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 249 
 
 not to receive alms, and to abstain from sensual mdulgences.« 
 These precepts, if we omit the latter, seem, it must be con- 
 fessed, but little calculated to form a soldier ; and they will 
 perhaps furnish one principal reason why the Hmdus have 
 Bever been remarkable for warlike spirit, and have so fre- 
 quently become the easy prey of foreign conquerors.^ In 
 general, however, the laws of Menu are extremely deficient 
 in their notice of this caste. We are told nothing of its in- 
 terior organization, of its divisions, its arms ; nothmg, in 
 fact, of the essential character which belongs to it as a warrior 
 caste. It might certainly have been the interest of the 
 Brahmans to maintain the Kshatriyas in greater subordina- 
 tion to their authority than any other caste ; but the people 
 at large have suffered the inevitable and pernicious conse- 
 quences of their ambition. 
 
 The third caste is that of the Vaisyas. It is a mistake to 
 confine the individuals composing this class to merchants/'^ 
 they being merely a subdivision, for it also includes hus- 
 bandmen. Agriculture, breeding of cattle, commerce, and 
 the lending of money upon interest, are their prescribed 
 modes of occupation." The Vaisyas, like the Kshatriyas, 
 are also admitted to a knowledge of the Vedas, and to sa- 
 crifices. This caste would obviously be the most numerous 
 
 of all. 
 
 The fourth, or Sudra caste, is separated from the pre- 
 ceding ones by a broad line of distinction. Its members 
 being forbidden to wear the sacred thread, are, therefore, 
 not counted among the regenerate ; but, according to the 
 Hindu expression, among those who have only been born 
 once/^ They are said to have sprung from the feet ot 
 
 • With^regard to the present state of the Kshatriya caste, compare the 
 Ayin Acharl ii. 397, 398. " There are," says the author, " more than five 
 hundred tribes tearing the name of Kshatnyas, but the real caste so called 
 
 '''''» T^rn^odern name of Banians, as Hindu merchants are called by foreigii- 
 ers, properly means corn merchants ; the Bannyeh bemg a subdivision ot tne 
 Vaisya caste. Ayin Achari, vol. ii. p. 399. .in^fi n- 
 
 » Menu, i. 59. The breeding of cattle seems to have been the first desti. .i 
 tion of the Vaisyas, to which agriculture and .commerce were subsequent > 
 added. Compare Menu, ix. 327, where it is said "The Creator in tmstc^^^^^^^^ 
 management of cattle to the Vaisyas, as he did that of men to the Braliman. 
 and the Kshatriyas." 
 
 •* Menu, x. 4. 
 
 Brahma : although the lowest caste of all, they are not con- 
 sidered impure; but as they cannot marry out of their own 
 class/^ it is principally from an infraction of this law that 
 the epithet impure is applied to the offspring of an illegiti- 
 mate connexion with individuals of a superior caste. The 
 Sudras are absolutely forbidden a knowledge of the Vedas ; 
 the mere reading of these books would entail upon them 
 the punishment of death. They are born to be servants;^* 
 and are considered to do best when they wait upon a Brah- 
 man, then on a Kshatriya, and lastly on a Vaisya. If a 
 Sudra meet with no opportunity of getting into service, he 
 may, in such case, follow some useful occupation ; he who 
 serves a Brahman faithfully, has the consolatory hope of 
 migrating, by some future metempsychosis, into a higher 
 caste.'^ The respective relations of master and servant are 
 not very explicitly defined in the laws ; nor are we inform- 
 ed to what extent the latter is to be regarded in the light of 
 a slave ; they specify, however, the various ways in which 
 a man may lose his liberty, either by being taken prisoner 
 in war, or by birth, or by sale, or when condemned to 
 slavery as a punishment.'^ , Nevertheless, the Sudras are in 
 general considered as placed in a state of slavery ; because, 
 even though a member of this caste should happen to be 
 affranchised by his master, he does not, therefore, enjoy all 
 the rights of a free-man, his natural condition being that of 
 a slave.'7 T^jg condition, however, admits of so many mo- 
 difications that we can draw no positive conclusions from 
 such indefinite premises ; and although it appears certain 
 that the Hindus had slaves at all times, the Greeks might 
 nevertheless have sufficient reason for maintaining a con- 
 trary opinion ; '» because slavery in India was a very dif- 
 ferent thing from what it was in Greece. 
 
 The number of mixed castes, partly rejected and impure, 
 was already so considerable, even in the time of Menu, 
 that his laws' do not mention the whole of them by name ;'9 
 a circumstance which perfectly explains the relation of a 
 
 I J^?Nu, ix. 157. '• Ibid. ix. 334. '^ Ibid. ix. 335. 
 
 ,^ Ibid, vm 415. " Ibid. viii. 414. '« Arrian, Op, p. i;5. 
 
 Jsee the whole tenth chapter of Menu. The Sutas, Vaidehas, and Chan- 
 itu(i\^^ ^ ^^® mentioned as the lowest and most impure castes ; the latter 
 line Lhandalas) are the modern Parias. Menu, x. 26, sq. 
 
250 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 11. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 251 
 
 modern traveller, who reckons in a general way, upwards 
 of eighty-four.*"* Now, as the members of these castes were 
 exclusively employed in certain occupations, particularly 
 handicraft, their increase in number may be considered a 
 proof of the advanced state of civilization at the early period 
 when the laws of Menu were first compiled. 
 
 We can thus comprehend how the number of castes has 
 gradually multiplied ; but it does not, therefore, follow that 
 all the inferior ones, many of them impure, should have 
 been descended from the same stock as the higher castes. 
 It seems evident, from what has been already advanced, that 
 the three latter, which have so much that is common, both 
 in outward appearance and in their religious and political 
 privileges, constituted, properly speaking, the Hindu nation. 
 Herodotus remarked long ago, that India was inhabited by 
 a great many different nations ;^^ and if we examine with 
 attention that assemblage of various races, now generally 
 termed Hindus by Europeans, we shall find suflicient rea- 
 son to be convinced of the correctness of his remark. Re- 
 ligion is the sole bond of union which has joined all these 
 nations together, and in a certain degree made them consti- 
 tute but one people. With this exception, the variety of 
 colour and features, the diversity of idiom and manner of 
 life, all furnish so many proofs in attestation of a different 
 And although it be impossible for us to draw a 
 
 origm.- 
 
 * Thevenot, Voyages^ p. 84, last part. 
 
 2' Herod, iii. 98. He adds also, " Who do not use the same language ;" an 
 additional confirmation of the fact, that all the languages spoken in India 
 were not equally derived from the Sanscrit ; but that radical differences ex- 
 isted between them in this respect as well as in others. [It seems prettv 
 ulear that the ancients, in making use of the term " language," understood 
 very often nothing more than idioms or dialects ; which, although derived 
 from one and the same original stock, were yet sufficiently distinct from each 
 other to obstruct the purposes of verbal communication. And besides, He- 
 rodotus was only acquainted with that part of India which borders on the 
 Sindhu, or Indus ; whereas it is in the Deccan, and to the south of the pe- 
 ninsula, that we must search for languages radically different from the Sans- 
 crit. Fr. Transl.] 
 
 ^ It is not the reading of a dead letter description, but ocular testimony 
 alone, which can convince any one of this difference. Could I lay before the 
 reader a series of portraits of individuals belonging to different castes, taken 
 on the spot, and for which I am indebted to the friendly communication o» 
 M. Blumenbach, he would probably dispense with my adducing further proof. 
 The contrast exhibited between the Spanish Creoles and the Peruvians, ui 
 point of complexion and people, is by no means so striking as that between 
 the Brahmans and the Farias. I have the rather made choice of this corn- 
 
 marked line of distinction in the case, or to say positively 
 how far the Sudra caste are of a different stock from the 
 others; yet nevertheless there appears little doubt that 
 generally the inferior castes, v^^hich are distinguished by a 
 much darker colour,^^ were the primitive inhabitants of In- 
 dia ; whom the predominant castes subsequently reduced 
 under their authority, either by means of religion only, or 
 by force of arms.^* 
 
 The distinction of caste, though a fundamental principle 
 of the constitution itself, at least in the three superior castes, 
 based upon the organization of families. The desire of per- 
 petuating the memorial of his house by heirs male, is, to a 
 Hindu, one of the most lively importance ; and the want of 
 sons is considered a misforttine only to be remedied by 
 adoption. The peculiar notions of the Hindus on this point, 
 
 parison, as the establishment of the Spaniards in the New World, effected 
 not merely by the sword, but also by the cross, appears to be an exact coun- 
 terpart of a similar establishment of dominion by the ruling caste over the 
 aboriginal natives of India, did we but possess the history of the Brahmans as 
 we do that of the Spaniards. At all events, the fable of Parasu Rama, the 
 vanquisher of the Kshatriyas, seems to contain some allusions to that history. 
 According to Polier, (vol. i. p. 287,) this Parasu Rama reduced into subjec- 
 tion the Sanchalas, a wild and barbarous nation, who fed on human flesh. 
 A traditionary report, current among the natives of Canara, makes a dynasty 
 of seventy-seven kings to have reigned at Banavassi, 1450 years B. C. ; who 
 subjected the Parias,and plunged them into their present degraded state of 
 slavery. Lieut.-Col. Mark Wilks, Sketches of Southern India, p. 157. 
 
 ^ The Ramayana, i. p. 493, contains a remarkable passage, in which a 
 Chandala, or Paria, is described as a man of dark colour. The sons of Va- 
 sishtha had uttered a terrible imprecation on the Rajah Trishanka, to the 
 effect that he might be turned into a Chandala ; " In the self-same night," 
 proceeds the poem, " a complete metamorphosis took place in the king ; on 
 the morrow he appeared like a monstrous creature, in short, exactly like a 
 Chandala. His nether garments were of a blue colour, and his upper in o, 
 soiled and filthy condition ; his eyeballs gleamed like copper ; while the com^ 
 plexion of his body resembled that of a hideous brown ape. His kingly robes 
 were transformed into bear skin, and all his ornaments mto iron." The same 
 lot afterwards befell the sons of Vasishtha in turn ; their imprecation upon 
 the innocent Rajah having recoiled upon themselves. It would follow, there- 
 fore, that upwards of three thousand years ago, when tlie Ramayana was 
 probably composed, the same diversity of colour was observable between the 
 several castes as at present. How are we to explain this, except by suppos- 
 ing a difference of origin ? 
 
 [It IS astonishing to observe the number of Cerebral letters there are in 
 the Pracrit : M. Burnouf is of opinion that these letters were originally Ta- 
 niul ; and, from their not being found in the Zend, the Armenian, or any of the 
 derivative languages, it is extremely probable that they were not incorporated 
 into the Sanscrit till after its estabhshment in India. In this case, the mi- 
 gration of a foreign people into that country would become almost an histori- 
 cal fact. Fr. Transl.] 
 
252 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. n« 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 253 
 
 are not so much the effect of political institutions as of re- 
 ligious precepts ; as, for instance, those relating to funeral 
 sacrifices ; which are prescribed to be offered by children 
 to the manes of their ancestors, in order to insure their en- 
 trance into Swerga, or paradise. Add to this the laws of 
 succession; and especially the prerogatives attached to 
 primogeniture, from which we may easily conceive the 
 great importance of this question in the eye of the legis- 
 lature.^^ We have already seen what frequent use the poets 
 have made of this national peculiarity ; and how, both in 
 the epic poem and in the drama, the preservation of a male 
 child is so often the main point on which the action of the 
 
 piece turns. 
 
 To this place naturally belongs a question connected with 
 the political organization of the Hindus ; the solution of 
 which, as I have already had occasion to remark,*^ is not 
 unattended with difficulty ; viz. to what extent is the social 
 character of this people founded upon polygamy ? That it 
 was sanctioned in the higher castes by law, admits of no 
 doubt whatever;-^ and we shall but deceive ourselves if we 
 expect to find among the Hindus the same clear and rigor- 
 ous conceptions of the marriage union, which in Europe are 
 
 2* See Menu, ix. 104, sq. The great importance attached by the ancient 
 Greeks and Romans to the maintaining family sacrifices, both on civil and 
 religious grounds, is well known. The prize Dissertation of M. Bunsen, " De 
 jure hereditario Atheniensium," Gottingae, 1813, contains a profound and in- 
 structive investigation of this subject ; and particularly deserves mention here, 
 as the learned author has discovered a really surprising agreement between 
 the laws of Athens and those of the Hindu Digest, v. 12; whence it follows 
 that the sacrifices in question were oflfered in the same degrees of affinity ; and 
 also that the classification of families, and their descending branches, in a 
 legal point of view, was the same among both people. [It is very singular, 
 that notwithstanding the apparently ample means for deciding this point, no 
 question is less determined than that of primogeniture among the Hindus. 
 Some writers aflfect to deny its existence altogether ; and assert that property 
 descends to the whole family in common. Others again, and these great and 
 honourable names, admit indeed this mode of equable partition, to obtain 
 among individuals of the Sudra and Vaisya caste, but absolutely reject its 
 application to the case of the higher classes ; among whom it is maintained 
 that primogenitureship is not only recognised, but reigns paramount. Those 
 contradictory opinions seem in great measure to arise from the conflicting 
 nature of the authorities adduced on either side ; those who deny the rule 
 of primogeniture, grounding their arguments upon the abstract law of Menu 
 and Jagannatha ; while the supporters of the opposite side justify their view 
 of the point at issue, by an appeal to the actually existing practice. See par- 
 ticularly, Asiatic Journal^ N. S. vol. v. p. 46, 138 ; vol. vii. p. 297. Tran^l] 
 ** in the first volume. "" Menu, ix. 85. 
 
 founded on custom and the precepts of religion. The kings 
 and great men had their harems in India, as well as else- 
 where in the East ; and the practice being authorized by 
 the laws, was further confirmed and exemplified in the 
 epic,'^ as well as dramatic poetry.^^ The difference be- 
 tween a wife and a concubine is not so clearly laid down 
 by the Hindus as by other nations of the East ; though it 
 seems the law has endeavoured to specify the distinction.^ 
 And yet nevertheless the world of India, both as it exists in 
 the fanciful descriptions of poetry, as well as in the sober 
 reaUties of actual life, presents us with a sufficient number 
 of characteristic traits to show that monogamy is the pre- 
 dominant custom. In mythology, for instance, each god is 
 assigned his own proper wife, although some fables, particu- 
 larly those relating to Krishna, attribute to certain deities 
 the possession of well-filled harems. "^^ While in innumer- 
 able passages of the poets marriage is represented in such a 
 manner as only to be understood of the union of one man 
 with one woman, and accompanied too with all the con- 
 stancy and tenderness which the matrimonial tie is suscept- 
 ible of: we need only appeal for an illustration to the mar- 
 ried loves of Nala and his faithful Damayanti ;^^ and to the 
 tenderness with which the poet of the Mega Duta bemoans 
 Ills absent spouse.^^ Corresponding ta this, is the voice of 
 Hindu legislation : " A man and his wife," says Menu,^* 
 "constitute but one person; a perfect man consists of him- 
 self, his wife, and his son." In another passage, the mutual 
 fidelity of a married pair is regarded as the first of duties.^^ 
 The law of succession, so favourable to the interests of the 
 eldest son, appears to be founded on monogamy ; while an 
 additional proof of the existence of this custom may be dis- 
 covered in the tender attachment of a wife to her husband, 
 and which forbids her to marry a second time ; ^^ although 
 nothing is said of the supposed duty of a wife's burning 
 
 " As in the Ramayana, i. p. 216, the three wives of Dasaratha. 
 As Dushmanta's seraglio of a hundred wives, in the Sacontala. Sir W. 
 Jones's Works, vol. vi. p. 251. 
 
 * Menu, vii. 'JJ. In nis precepts to kings on the choice of a wife. 
 
 " PoLiER, vol. i. p. 627. [In a note on this passage, the French translator 
 very justly questions the antiquity of the fables above alluded to, as an ex- 
 ception in support of polygamy. Transl.] 
 
 " See above, p. 165. '' See above, p. I8S. " Menu, ix. 45. 
 
 "Ibid. ix. 105. ^ Ibid. v. 161. 
 
254 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. n. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 255 
 
 along with the corpse of her husband, either in the hiws of 
 Menu, or in the epic poetry of the Hindus.*^ From all 
 these circumstances we may reasonably conclude that poly. 
 gamy among the princes and great men, was the conse- 
 quence of luxury and fashion ; but that in general wherever 
 it existed among the higher classes, it was principally 
 founded on the necessity of preserving families ; and, more- 
 over, on the religious precept, which allowed a man to 
 marry one or more additional wives,^ on account of the 
 sterility of his first. The members of the fourth caste, the 
 Sudras, were only permitted to have one wife, taken ex- 
 clusively from their own class.^^ These regulations will not 
 therefore necessarily infer the seclusion of the women, though 
 certainly the husband appears to be the legally constituted 
 lord and master ; and the principle is expressly laid down, 
 that the dependence of the woman on the man is of per- 
 petual obligation.*® 
 
 As the partition of families, and the assignment of re- 
 spective rights to each, formed the earliest bond of society, 
 so was this additionally consolidated by the division and 
 laws of caste. And, it is easy to conceive how the internal 
 regulations of families and castes might become the funda- 
 mental tie of Hindu constitution in general. Add to this 
 the common worship of certain divinities, originating in the 
 family sacrifices, in such sort that the gods of a particular 
 family, as the latter increased in process of time, became the 
 gods of a distinct tribe descended from it ; and the first 
 
 " The Ramayana^ iii. 30, it is true, represents Kausalya to have formed the 
 design of burning herself on the funeral pile of her husband, Dasaratha, but 
 it never took place ; a circumstance which would lead us to infer that this 
 custom was considered among the ancient Hindus as a voluntary act, and not 
 as an indispensable duty. See the enactments of modern legislators relative 
 to this point, in the Digests of Hindu Laws, vol. ii. p. 451, etc. 
 
 • Menu, ix. 81. A barren wife may be replaced by another at the expir- 
 ation of eight years. [Menu, viii. 362, mentions the existence, even in his 
 time, of " wretches who lived by the intrigues of their wives ; and conducted 
 them to their paramours, or connived at the visits of the latter." In the 
 Jlamayana, ii. 297» mention is made of a husband who actually let out his 
 wife for hire ! The custom of Sati, i. e. a wife's burning herself with the 
 dead body of her husband, only became general in consequence of the op- 
 pressive enactments of modem lawyers; which rendered the life of a widow 
 more insupportable than death itself. Fr. Transl.] 
 
 ** Menu, ix. 157. 
 
 * Menu, v. 148. Compare the detailed regulations on this head, in the 
 Digests of Hindu Laws, vol. ii.p. 377» etc. 
 
 origin of sacerdotal states Hke those of India, is susceptible 
 of immediate explanation. It would seem, however, that 
 these states did not receive their full and perfect develop- 
 ment, except by the colonization of detached branches from 
 a similarly organized state, among foreign and barbarous 
 tribes ; in which case, the forms of religious worship in- 
 troduced by the new comers, being first grounded in the 
 estabhshment of sanctuaries, and subsequently maintained by 
 oracles and solemn feasts, became the means of gaining over 
 such tribes, and of founding thereon a powerful government, 
 more substantial and secure than could possibly have been 
 effected by mere force alone. The application of these re- 
 marks to the case of India has been already shown ; and 
 will admit of still further illustration in our inquiries into 
 ancient Egypt. Such, then, was the origin of sacerdotal 
 states, or theocracies, as we might term them, with which 
 the progress of civilization in the earlier ages of the world 
 was most intimately connected. As far as India is con- 
 cerned, the oldest remaining specimens of her literature, the 
 Ramayana, and in a certain degree also the Laws of Menu, 
 furnish us with a correct representation of the fact ; and it 
 is not the least part of their value, that they place us, as it 
 were, in immediate contact with the ancient world of India, 
 as it appeared on the banks of the Ganges ; just as the ac- 
 counts of Moses and Homer serve to transport us back into 
 the early periods of Western Asia and Greece. It is hardly 
 necessary to observe, however, that India would not always 
 remain in the same state as we find it represented in the 
 ancient documents just noticed ; but it is in them alone that 
 we must seek, conformably with our present object, for any 
 traces of the original condition of the people. 
 
 In the laws of Menu, as well as in the Hindu epic poetry, 
 a monarchical form of government is that most generally in- 
 troduced, hereditary it is true, and regulated according to 
 the strict rule of primogeniture,*^ but nevertheless counter- 
 balanced and limited in its powers by a sacerdotal aris- 
 tocracy. Between the Brahmans and the Rajahs there was 
 always a broad hue of distinction kept up, as the latter did 
 
 *' Ramayana, vol. iii. p. 146, 225, 3S8. The subject of the poem turns in 
 great measure on the refusal of Bharata, the younger son of Dasaratha, to 
 encroach upon the hereditary right of his eldest brother Rama. 
 
256 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAl'. II. 
 
 CHAP. n. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 257 
 
 not belong to the same caste as the former ; and although 
 this arrangement was probably, at first, the effect of neces- 
 sity, as the king was of course a warrior, yet it appears no 
 less probable that the sacerdotal caste considered it as a 
 means of preserving their own power intact ; because, were 
 it otherwise, how could they have been able to confine 
 within due bounds the influence of a Brahman Rajah ? We 
 do not indeed pretend to say that it was absolutely impos- 
 sible for a Rajah to be elected into the Brahman caste, but 
 as Hindu fable mentions only one instance of such election, 
 in the case of Vishvamitra, already so often alluded to, as liav- 
 ing acquired that distinction by the most unheard of pe- 
 nances, we may justly therefore infer the general dislike of 
 the Brahmans to make exceptions of this kind. 
 
 The laws of the sacerdotal caste effectually limited the 
 independence of the king, in prescribing to him his daily 
 occupations and mode of life. He was to reside in a for- 
 tress, situate in a retired part of the country. He was to 
 espouse a wife from his own caste. Early at break of day 
 he rose from his couch, and paid a visit to the Bralunans, 
 who possessed the three Vedas, after which, with the assist- 
 ance of the priest of the household, he offered the proper 
 sacrifices and prayers ; then he devoted himself to the af- 
 fairs of state, and deliberated upon them with his ministers 
 in council. At mid-day he retired to his apartments, in 
 order to take refreshment, composed only of lawful meats, 
 and previously tasted by his servitors. The consequences 
 of poison were fiirther obviated by the use of medicaments 
 and amulets. After dinner he amused himself a short time 
 with the beauties of his harem ; then he engaged in public 
 business as before, and reviewed his army, steeds, and ele- 
 phants. Immediately after sunset he resumed his devotional 
 exercises, listened to the reports of his ambassadors, and 
 again withdrew to the privacy of his harem, where he par- 
 took of a slight repast, enlivened by the sound of music, 
 until the hour of retirement for the night.*^ Such, accord- 
 ing to the laws, was the daily life of a Hindu Rajah ; though 
 of course many exceptions to this regular compliance with 
 prescribed duty would necessarily occur, the conduct of 
 
 *■' Menu, vii. 75—79, 145, 146, 215-226. 
 
 each prince in that particular varying with his personal 
 character.*^ 
 
 When the Rajah found himself incompetent to discharge 
 the functions of his oflSce with becoming propriety or con- 
 venience, he was free to select a representative, or first 
 minister, who was to be a learned man, completely master 
 of his passions, and of high birth.''* The Rajah was also 
 enjoined to admit from seven to eight persons to his coun- 
 cils, deeply read in the Vedas, and whose fathers had pre- 
 viously filled the same responsible oflSces ; in concert with 
 these he was to deliberate on the affairs of the nation. He 
 should also make choice of some learned Brahman, to be 
 the depositary of his secrets. And for the administration of 
 foreign affiiirs he was to appoint a high officer well versed 
 in the Sastras, of superior abilities, and of honourable de- 
 scent ; under whose directions were the emissaries of am- 
 bassadors, who communicated to him the designs of foreign 
 princes.'*^ Thus, in exact conformity with the laws of Menu, 
 the Ramayana describes the court of the pious monarch 
 Dasaratha, sovereign of Ayodhya.*^ " The courtiers of the 
 son of Ikshvaku were richly endowed with good qualities, 
 intelligent, and faithfully devoted to the interests of their 
 royal master. Eight virtuous ministers directed the affairs 
 of government. The two priests made choice of by him 
 were the illustrious Vasishtha and Vamadeva. To them were 
 added other inferior councillors to the number of six. With 
 these holy sages were associated the ancient priests of the 
 king, discreet, submissive, profoundly skilled in the law, 
 and masters of their desires. With the assistance and coun- 
 sel of such advisers Rajah Dasaratha governed his kingdom. 
 
 SaconnK^h^n"' '^ ''u''"?^' necessary to compare King Dushmanta in the 
 iSm^fc ?^ Dasaratha m the Ramayana. Both of them reverenced the 
 wanmans, but how much more independent is the former than the latter ! 
 •tttrihS? 1 ^l^.^J}"^^»ta s greater share of independence, is rather to be 
 
 s W^ "i ^^' ^5"'^^ ^^"^" *" ^^^^^^ ^^ ^i^^^' ^"d ^'^^^^ l^as produced 
 ^«i« lUr effects on the character of European monarchs. Fr. Transl.I 
 
 Menu, VI,. 141. « Ibid. vii. 54-64. 
 
 death nnwTr'--- i^J' ^^''" ^^"^ ^^^ ^^^""^^ ^^^^^h ^^^^ place upon the 
 
 n e ll^f'f -^S' "': ^^\f 'V ,^*i'"' ^"r"& ^^^ ^^^^"ce «^ ^^^ next heir to 
 
 Pfnl! ?' ^^%H^ P"cst Vasishtha put himself at the head of affairs. The 
 
 anda?tPmi!". J'""" court, filled with poets, panegyrists, parasites, eunuchs, 
 
 here rln"^'' f^'^^'u' ^"^'^^'.'* ^^^^ *^^ ^^^^^^ etiquette ohhe court itself, is 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 S 
 
258 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CUAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 259 
 
 Surveying the whole earth (India) by means of his emissa- 
 ries, as the sun by its rays, the descendant of Ikshvaku 
 found no person who was hostilely disposed towards him." 
 The Sacontala presents us with a similar picture of the court 
 
 of Dushmanta. 
 
 The government and administration of the interior, is 
 wholly regulated in the laws of Menu, by means of cities 
 or townships. The king is enjoined*^ to set a head-man 
 over each separate town and its environs, one over ten, one 
 over twenty, one over a hundred, and one over a thousand 
 towns. The report of any disorders that may occur is com- 
 municated by the head-man of detached towns to the chief 
 of ten, and by him to the others in regular succession. The 
 intendant of a single town derives his income from the con- 
 tributions of the inhabitants, which are paid in eatables, 
 drink, and wood, conformably to the laws. The revenue 
 of a chief of ten towns, is equivalent to the produce of two 
 acres of land, that of a chief of twenty to five.*« The chief 
 of a hundred towns receives for his support the revenues of 
 a small township, while the chief of a thousand has those of 
 a large one. A superior officer is charged with the super- 
 intendence of all the local authorities ; he is to appoint a 
 particular commandant for each town, who by personal in- 
 spection, or by means of emissaries, shall inform himself of 
 their conduct, in order that the king may defend his sub- 
 jects against those magistrates who, instead of being the 
 protectors, are the oppressors of the people ; and that upon 
 conviction he may punish such evil-minded servants, witli 
 confiscation of their property and banishment from the 
 kingdom. 
 
 These enactments of Menu will enable us to investio:ate 
 somewhat more thoroughly the primitive constitution of In- 
 dia. The whole seems to have originated in the partial 
 organization of isolated communities ; which, with their re- 
 spective head-men, might be considered as so many petty 
 states; and this fundamental institution still continued to 
 subsist, even when several of these townships, or communi- 
 
 « MENu,vii. 115—120. 
 
 *■ That is, according to the commentary, so much land as a man can turn 
 up with two or five ploughs respectively, each of them drawn by a yoke of six 
 oxen. This passage, by the way, will also prove the high antiquity of tlic 
 plough in India. 
 
 ties, were united under the dominion of one Rajah, and thus 
 formed a larger state or kingdom. In the northern parts 
 of India, particularly near the Ganges, where the irruptions 
 of foreign conquerors succeeded eacli other like the waves 
 of the ocean, all traces of the primitive form must have lonff 
 since been obliterated ; but in the southernmost division of 
 the peninsula, in Mysore, and Malabar, etc., which were 
 least of all exposed to foreign invasion, they are still in ex- 
 istence at the present day. A modern traveller who visited 
 the places m question, has furnished us with some very in- 
 teresting, as well as authentic, information on this subject *^ 
 " Each Hindu township," '^ says this writer, " is, and indeed 
 always was, a particular community or petty republic by 
 Itself; and furnishes us with a vivid representation of the 
 early state of things, when men first joined themselves toge- 
 ther in societies for the purpose of relieving their mutual 
 wants. Every community of the above kind, in addition 
 to the landed proprietors, contains twelve different mem- 
 bers; the judge and magistrate (Potail); the registrar- the 
 watchman of the place and the fields ; the distributor of 
 water for the purposes of inundation ; the astrologer, for 
 determining lucky and unlucky days and hours ; the cart- 
 wright ; the potter ; the washerman of the few garments for 
 which there is occasion, and which are generally manufac- 
 tured m the family itself, or purchased at the nearest market • 
 the barber ; and lastly, the goldsmith, or maker of orna- 
 ments for the women and young maids, who is in many vil- 
 lages replaced by the poet (rhapsodist) and schoolmaster.^* 
 1 hese twelve functionaries are paid either in land, or in a 
 certain quantity of grain, furnished by the agriculturists of 
 the community. The whole of India is nothing more than 
 one vast congeries of such republics. The inhabitants, even 
 in war, are dependent on their respective Potails, who are at 
 the same time magistrates, collectors, and principal farmers.^^ 
 
 rlf'^'^r^iA ^^^.^' ""ff' '^^"^^ ^f I»^dia, by LiEUT.-CoL. Mark Wilks, 
 t.ojidon, 1810, vol. i. p. 1 17, sq. ' 
 
 J bid. p. 119. So the author corrected the term villaqe, which he had 
 
 ex'.X'!f.\r^°'P^.''^^^-r. '^^^^^ particularly on this subject, Mr. Colebrooke's 
 excel ent Memoir on Courts of Justice in India, in the Transactiotis of the 
 ^ml Asiatic Society, London, vol. ii. 1G6— 196. Transl.] 
 
 irol.kmitL''- ^^'Sqo'*?!?''''.^ •''''^ ^^'^?^ "^.^^''^^ ^y ^^'^^ 5 ^«' ^«^ instance, the 
 goMsmith, IX. 292 ; the jomer, x. 100 ; the washerman, viii. 396, etc. 
 
 1 ncir modern names of Zemindars and Ryots, superior and inferior farm- 
 
 s 2 
 
260 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. U. 
 
 They trouble themselves very little about the fall and dis- 
 memberment of empires ; and provided the township with 
 its limits, which are exactly marked out by a boundary line, 
 remain intact, it is a matter of perfect mdiiference to them 
 who becomes sovereign of the country ; and therefore their 
 internal administration always continues the same/' 
 
 Sir Stamford Raffles, in his account of the small island of 
 Bali, situate to the eastward of Java, has furnished us with 
 a remarkable instance of these petty states yet existing under 
 their original constitution. " Here," says he, " together 
 with the Brahman religion, is still preserved the ancient 
 form of Hindu municipal polity, and its accompanying Po- 
 tails, called by the natives Parbakes, in subordination to u 
 Rajah of unlimited power." ^^ 
 
 Will not the above serve to throw some light on the po- 
 litical situation of Northern India at the time of Alexander s 
 invasion, and illustrate the remarks we have already made 
 on the republics then found to exist in that part of the 
 country ? ^ Most of these petty communities, it is true, 
 were then under subjection to the Rajahs; but some of 
 them still maintained their original freedom, which, as we 
 have just now seen, has been preserved even to a much later 
 period. Such instances as these, however, were at that 
 time, and continued to be afterwards, exceptions from the 
 general rule ; for although the laws of Menu made no change 
 in the interior organization of isolated communities, they 
 were nevertheless framed, as we have before observed, on a 
 monarchical principle ; which is the reason why they are so 
 particular and express in defining the rights and occupa- 
 tions of the sovereign. As greater empires were formed, 
 the number and gradation of persons employed about the 
 court would naturally increase in proportion. A remark- 
 able instance of this is exhibited in the ancient inscription 
 found at Monghir, in Bengal ; in which a royal grant u^ 
 notified to near thirty of such public functionaries.^^ Amonn; 
 
 ers, do not occur either in Menu, or in the Ramminna. [Certainly not; be- 
 cause the first is a Persian, and the second an Arabic term. Transl.] 
 
 ^ Sir Stamford Raffles' Description of Java, vol. ii. App. p. ccxxxvi. 1 nc 
 expression " unHmited power," must certainly not be taken here in the strict- 
 est acceptation of the term. 
 
 " See the first volume. With respect to the boundaries, see Menu, viu. 
 
 245, sq. 
 " Asiatic Res. vol. i. p. 12G, and the note, p. 130. 
 
 criAi*. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 261 
 
 these we find the prime minister ; the chief investigator of 
 all things; the chief oflBcer of punishments; the chief 
 keeper of the gates ; the generalissimo of tlie army ; the 
 chief obviator of difficulties ; the chief instructor of chil- 
 dren ; the provost marshal of the thief-catchers ; the super- 
 visor of cultivation, and others ; among whom we must not 
 omit to reckon the king's charioteer, or gentleman of the 
 horse.^ The state calendars of our European courts hardly 
 mention one of these titles, and yet we can easily imagine 
 that all the officers just named had others again under their 
 immediate orders. 
 
 The supreme judicial authority is vested in the king ; and 
 he may even exercise it himself, conjointly, however, with 
 certain Brahmans, by whose advice he may guide his own 
 judgment ;^^ or he may nominate one of them, who is skilled 
 in the laws, to the dignity of grand judge ; adding three 
 other Brahmans, equally instructed in the Vedas, to be his 
 assessors ; the whole then constitute the highest court of 
 justice, emblematical of the four-headed Brahma, and are 
 competent to decide in all causes, criminal as well as civil. 
 Offences are punishable either by death, and corporal chas- 
 tisement, (from both which, however, all of the Brahman 
 caste are exempt,) or by fine ; those committed against a 
 Brahman are prosecuted with the most rigour, and the fines 
 increase in a duplicate ratio according to the rank of the 
 caste to which the offender belongs.^ 
 
 The king is the commander-in-chief of the army. He is 
 allowed to make war not only in defence of his own terri- 
 tory, but also for the purposes of conquest.^ The enact- 
 ments of Hindu law in this respect, are by no means con- 
 formable to our philosophic notions ; they are rather maxims 
 of precaution and prudence relative to the occasions when, 
 and the manner in which, a war is to be carried on. Many 
 of the ancient Rajahs are described as conquerors, whose 
 victorious arms were extended over the whole of India, from 
 the western to the eastern seas, and from the mountains of 
 
 s« c. 
 
 See Bopp's Nalus, p. 45 — 149. The king's equerry is one of the highest 
 rank among the courtiers ; and enjoys an especial share of confidence. 
 " As Dushmanta, in the fifth act of the Sacontala. 
 *" Menu, viii. 338. "^ Ibid. vii. 101, sq. 
 
2G2 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. n. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 263 
 
 the north to the southern extremity of the peninsula ;^« but 
 none of them are reported to have undertaken great expe 
 ditions beyond these limits, or to have invaded distant coun^ 
 tries, like the Egyptian or Babylonian conquerors. As in 
 Its mythological system, India almost always continued to 
 be a world by itself; so also the geography of the nation 
 becomes fabulous, as soon as ever it steps beyond the na- 
 tural boundaries of the country. 
 
 One of the most important, but at the same time one of 
 the most difficult questions for us to determine, is, to what 
 extent was the sovereign considered as the proprietor of the 
 soil ; and consequently whether the cultivators held their 
 lands in fee-simple, or were merely tenants upon lease fi-om 
 the crown ? The latter kind of tenure having been found 
 to prevail though under very mild forms, during the period 
 ot Mogul dominion, as far as this extended, it is therefore 
 generally supposed to have been the case in earlier times 
 also, when India was still an independent country.^^ The 
 transition from absolute propriety in the soil, to mere lease- 
 hold tenure, would naturally take place when the contribu- 
 tions of the landed proprietors became so burdensome that 
 their right, without being formally abolished, must neces- 
 sarily lose its real value ; but whether this might have oc- 
 curred m the earlier ages of Hindu history, we cannot 
 possibly venture to determine. The only question for us to 
 decide m this place is, how far the laws of Menu and other 
 ancient documents, recognise the principle as applied to 
 the case of the sovereign ? The remarks we have already 
 had occasion to make, relative to the petty Hindu commu- 
 nities as they were originally constituted, are an evident 
 proot that absolute propriety in the soil was not inherent in 
 the crown; and the laws of Menu, so far from recognising 
 the principle in question, contain an express assertion to 
 the contrary. " The sages who are acquainted with the 
 
 whert'' ^°'' ^^s*^"*^«' ^"^ the ancient inscriptions found at Monghir, and else- 
 
 eitLHn'nn!!fl^"^^^ /""^ ^^^""Z ^J ^"^'"'^ ^^ ^'^^^^ ^'^ ^^^^ with no traces 
 fntroducPd iS th"''''^'! ""' '^ Mohammedan law, would seem to have been 
 rnsHrn^Hon^^^ System of vilenage or feudal tenure in the middle ages, 
 mssa"7h W.Tr.? ^?.^ 5^^.'*^'e^ convulsions. Consult on this head, a 
 Andegav. ap. Achery, Spicileg.," ni. 272, fol. ed. Fr. Transl.] 
 
 times of old," says he, " declare that cultivated land is the 
 property of him who first cut away the wood, or who 
 cleared and tilled it ; just as an antelope belongs to the first 
 hunter by whom it is mortally wounded."^^* Could the 
 right of freehold have been laid down with greater clearness 
 and precision, than in the passage just quoted ? Moreover 
 the same laws enumerate with great care the formalities to 
 be observed respecting the alienation or sale of landed pro- 
 perty ;^^ to what useful or even necessary purpose, we would 
 ask, unless propriety in the soil were a fully recognised 
 principle?^* In fine, wherever mention is made of the 
 Vaisya caste, which comprises not only merchants but also 
 agriculturists and herdsmen, the latter are never represent- 
 ed as leasehold tenants. Nevertheless, it is evident that 
 princes, as well as the temples and sanctuaries, were in pos- 
 session of considerable domains, from the frequent occur- 
 rence of royal and other grants of landed property, of which 
 we have already given several examples in the former part 
 of this inquiry. 
 
 But although, according to the most ancient institutions 
 of the country, the kings of India were by no means abso- 
 
 •^ Menu, ix. 44, " Indian Di^/est, vol. iii. p. 432. 
 
 " [With reference to this knotty and much debated question, as well as to 
 that concerning the law of primogeniture, the existence of which is absolute- 
 ly denied by some writers and as vehemently asserted by others, see espe- 
 cially, Col. Tod's able defence of his view of the feudal system of Rajasthan, 
 ill the Asiatic Journal, N. S. vol. v. p. 40, s(i. This ingenious writer thus dis- 
 tinguishes between the sovereign right to share in the fruits of the soil, and 
 in the soil itself: " The proprietor of the soil, i. e. he who redeemed it from 
 steriUty, is the ryot cultivator, by whom a rent or land-tax (in kind) was 
 paid to the prince. It is this rent, this tax, this tribute of the land, with 
 which the prince enfeoffs ; it is this alone which he alienates, or can alienate, 
 because it is this alone over which he possesses dominion. Such is the state 
 of landed property in Rajpootana ; every where there are * two properties in 
 one thing,' viz. the ryot cultivator's property in the land, and the prince's 
 property in the usufruct thereof. It is this usufruct with which the prince 
 enfeoffs, which descends by * fixed rules ' to the eldest sons lineally of such 
 proprietor." It will easily be seen that this view of the question involves no 
 contrariety to the dictum of Menu. But see also, Asiatic Journal^ N. S. vol. 
 i. p. 81, and vol. iv. p. 282. It is extremely probable that a variety of sys- 
 tems have always prevailed in different provinces at the same time ; some 
 niore, some less, favourable to the people ; some admitting of private landed 
 property, some rejecting it ; that in the same province different systems have 
 predominated at different times ; and that the system of all land being the 
 property of the sovereign has sometimes succeeded that of private landed 
 property, and sometimes given way to it. See the excellent Minute of the 
 late Sir Thomas Munro, "On the Condition of Southern Inddsi" Asiatic 
 Jm-nal, N. S. vol. ii. p. 316, sq. Transl.] 
 
264 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 ^'HAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. !!• 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 265 
 
 lute proprietors of the soil, yet they were permitted by law 
 to raise contributions therefrom, which in all probability 
 formed the chief part of their revenue. In specifying the 
 limits of sovereign right on this head, the regulations of 
 Menu are particularly express.^^ In ordinary times it was 
 restricted to an eighth of the whole produce ; in cases of 
 great emergency the king might exact as much as a fourth. 
 On the other hand, the imposts laid upon movable property 
 never exceeded a twentieth part of the profits. In otlier 
 respects, these impositions pressed wholly on the industrious 
 classes ; the Brahmans, and no doubt their lands also, boino- 
 exempt.^^ Individuals of the menial classes, handicraftsmeii^ 
 and labourers, must endeavour to make themselves useful ; 
 but, adds the commentator, they never pay taxes.^^ 
 
 Another source of the royal income consisted in imposts 
 laid upon merchandise, and the customs. In the direction 
 of commercial aftairs, indeed, the king was permitted to ex- 
 ercise an extraordinary degree of influence. He might ab- 
 solutely forbid the exportation of merchandise, or reserve 
 the whole monopoly to himself. He issued ordinances 
 relative to the buying and selling of goods ; he regulated 
 the price of the market, and received as his customary dues 
 five per cent, on the profits of sale. With respect to land 
 and river toll, several other enactments are laid down; 
 among which it is provided, that any person who is guilty 
 of defrauding the customs shall pay a fine of eight times the 
 value of the smuggled article.^ 
 
 In examining the spirit of these ancient constitutions and 
 laws, we discover evident traces of a germ of republicanism ; 
 which, however, could never come to the full growth of 
 political freedom. This germ was produced by the organ- 
 
 •* Menu, x. 120. The subjoined commentary says, " In good times, ^ 
 twelfth ; in bad, an eighth or a sixth, which is the average ; and only in 
 times of necessity, a fourth part of the produce." Some other regulations 
 more exact will be found in chapter vii. p. 130, 131, relative to the contrilHi- 
 tions in fruit, flesh, honey, butter, etc., on which a sixth of the clear produce 
 is levied. In the Ramayana also, (iii. I70,) the king is allowed a sixth 
 part of the whole revenue of the land. [A tenth is the traditional share paid 
 in Hmdustan before the sixth was instituted. It is the portion paid in the 
 territory of Koorg to this day j and the Dutch found and continued it in Cey- 
 lon. Transl.] 
 
 •• This exemption is, however, qualified with the condition of their under- 
 standing the Vedas. Menu, vii. 133. 
 " Menu, x. 120. •« Ibid. viii. 400—406. 
 
 ization of separate communities, while its further develop- 
 ment was obstructed by the institution of caste. The au- 
 thority of the prince was limited, not by the nation itself as 
 constituting the body politic, but solely by the influence of 
 a sacerdotal caste ; and the character of despotism, though 
 considerably modified by the priesthood, was nevertheless 
 exhibited in its true form by the executive power, being 
 vested in the king as a mark of sovereign right. " Punish- 
 ment," says Menu,^ " governs the whole race of mankind, 
 and keeps them in order." And, as a further indication of 
 the same character, Hindu legislation, otherwise so mild in 
 its nature, becomes savage when it has to determine certain 
 punishments ; especially for offences committed against the 
 Brahmans."^^ Moreover, in addition to the spirit of caste, 
 is it not possible that polygamy also, by changing the form 
 of domestic society, may have operated unfavourably to the 
 development of free constitutions ? Whatever be the real 
 state of the case, it certainly appears that nothing of the 
 kind, at least in the European acceptation of the term, ever 
 came to maturity on the banks of the Ganges. 
 
 The foregoing observations naturally lead us to a discus- 
 sion of the ancient commerce of India. What we have to 
 advance on this subject, will not so much refer to the com- 
 mercial intercourse of the Hindus with foreign nations, 
 (which has been already partly examined, in our inquiries 
 into the Phoenicians and Babylonians, and will receive 
 further illustration, when we come to speak of Egypt,) as 
 to the interior commerce of the people, arising from their 
 own particular industry ; though we shall necessarily have 
 occasion to touch also upon their foreign commerce as we 
 proceed. 
 
 As a preliminary step, it will be requisite to describe the 
 sources of information which have been consulted in this 
 part of our inquiry, as well as the use here made of them. 
 The most valuable of these, both for its purity and extent, 
 is undoubtedly the circumnavigation of the Red or Indian 
 Sea, performed in all probability during the first, or at latest 
 during the second century of our era.^^ The work itself, 
 
 • Menu, vii. 18. ™ See, for instance, Menu, viii. 270, 271. 
 
 " Periplus Maris Erythraei in Hudson, G^eo/^r. Min. vol. i. The excellent 
 commentary of Dean Vincent, of which a new^ and very correct edition sub- 
 
266 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II» 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 267 
 
 which is usually attributed to Arrian, commemorates the 
 voyage of a certain merchant, from Egypt to tlie western 
 coast of the peninsula on this side the Ganges, and contains 
 some valuable and authentic information, with respect to 
 the commercial traffic as well as the navigation of these parts. 
 In the present inquiry, which is principally devoted to the 
 commerce of India as it existed prior to the times of the 
 Macedonians and the Romans, we cannot in reason apply 
 all that is reported of the latter period, to the elucidation 
 of its commercial relations at an earlier epoch : thougli it is 
 at the same time quite certain that much of what Arrian 
 reports of the commerce in question may with proper care 
 be adapted to such purpose. Whenever, therefore, we have 
 had occasion to speak of the early commerce of the Hindus, 
 little use has been made of the accounts furnished by this 
 writer. The case however is altered, when the national 
 industry, and consequent impulse given to internal traffic, 
 becomes the subject of discussion : it is then evident, that 
 many of the data communicated by Arrian have reference 
 to anterior epochs, and we are enabled to appreciate the 
 value of his information by comparing it with that derived 
 from ancient Hindu sources, which are now at our disposal. 
 Having thus premised, we shall not incur the imputation of 
 confounding different periods of time, if we adopt these 
 principles as the basis of our present inquiry. 
 
 The Hindus in their most ancient works of poetry are 
 represented as a commercial people. And it is one evidence 
 of the prosperity and well-being of a country, that its mer- 
 chants can travel from one place to another with perfect 
 security to themselves and their merchandise.^*^ But 
 further, the regulations of society appear to have awarded a 
 high rank to persons who were employed in the business of 
 commerce. In the Ramayana we are informed, that at the 
 triumphal entry of Rama into his capital, " all the men of 
 distinction, together with the merchants and chief men of 
 
 sequently appeared, containing also the voyage of Nearchus, under the title 
 of, "The Commerce and Navigation of the Ancients in the Indian Ocean, 
 in two volumes, London, 1807, 4to, has spared me the trouble of entering at 
 large into geographical and various other discussions, which would be so 
 much the more out of place as I have no intention of commenting on the 
 work itself. 
 " Itafnayana, iii. 97* 
 
 the people," went out to meet him ; and the procession is 
 closed by the warriors, tradesmen, and artisans.^^ 
 
 The internal commerce of India could not have been in- 
 considerable, as it was in a certain degree prescribed by 
 nature herself For the sandy shores of the peninsula, not 
 producing in sufficient quantity the first necessaries of life, 
 and particularly rice, the importation of these articles from 
 the country bordering on the Ganges became absolutely in- 
 dispensable. In return for which the latter received chiefly 
 spices; and among other valuables, precious stones, and 
 the fine pearls only to be procured in the ocean which sur- 
 rounds the former. Although cotton, one of the most im- 
 portant materials used for clothing, is common all over 
 India, and manufactured with the same activity on the 
 coasts of the peninsula as in the land of the Ganges, yet 
 the fabric of the two countries differs so much in texture, 
 that a commercial interchange of both kinds would natural- 
 ly be introduced. The mode of life peculiar to the higher 
 classes, especially in courts and cities, as represented to us 
 by the poets, imply the existence of a multitude both of na- 
 tural and artificial wants,^* only to be satisfied by a cor- 
 responding system of active internal commerce. The con- 
 stant experience we have of Asia, which shows that royal 
 cities are always the principal depots of inland traffic, will 
 serve to establish the same fact also with regard to India ; 
 let us only compare the picture which the Ramayana draws 
 of the capital town of Ayodhya.^^ " It was filled with mer- 
 chants, and artificers of all kinds ; gold, precious stones, and 
 jewels were there found in abundance ; every one wore 
 costly garments, bracelets, and necklaces." And in another 
 passage, in allusion to the mourning which took place on 
 the death of the king, the poet says, '' The tables for the 
 
 " Effrmt/anOf iii. 245. 
 
 '* Ramayana, iii. 98, in the description of the mourning for King Dasara- 
 tha, which put a stop to the fashionable amusements and occupations of the 
 luxurious Ayodhyans. At other times the town always resounded with the 
 noise and bustle of men and women, like the shout of contending armies. 
 The great men were ever going to and fro upon chariots, elephants, and pran- 
 cing steeds. The gardens of pleasure were always crowded with eager in- 
 quirers after their friends and lovers." In all descriptions of this kind, we 
 constantly meet with strong proofs of a highly refined state of social life 
 among the ancient Hindus. 
 
 ^* Hamayanaf i, 94. 
 
268 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. ir. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 2G9 
 
 sacrificial offerings are empty, the shops where they sold 
 garlands are closed ; and the bankers and merchants do not 
 show themselves as usual." ^^ Such descriptions as these, 
 even though we make every allowance for poetic colouring, 
 will nevertheless show what was the Hindu idea of a rich 
 and flourishing city ; and we may be sure it would repre- 
 sent nothing but what was perfectly well known. 
 
 The great quantity of the precious metals, particularly 
 gold, possessed by India, may w^ell excite our attention and 
 surprise. Though it had neither gold nor silver mines," it 
 has always been celebrated even in the earliest times for its 
 riches. The Ramayana frequently mentions gold as in 
 abundant circulation throughout the country. And the 
 nuptial present made to Sita, we are told, consisted of a 
 whole measure of gold pieces, and a vast quantity of the 
 same precious metal in ingots. Golden chariots, golden 
 trappings for elephants and horses, and golden bells, are also 
 noticed as articles of luxury and magnificence;^^ and it 
 has been already shown, in the course of our inquiries into 
 the ancient Persians, that the Hindus were the only people 
 subject to that empire who paid their tribute in gold and 
 not in silver.^^ The quantity of this metal then current in 
 India will therefore enable us to infer, with reason, the ex- 
 istence of a considerable foreign commerce and trade with 
 the gold countries. Where these latter are to be soupjht 
 for, will be shown in the sequel, when we come to ascertain 
 the connexion subsisting between India and Thibet, as well 
 as the country situate beyond the Ganges ; at present we 
 shall content ourselves with remarking, that it is evident 
 from the Periplus, that commercial transactions with India 
 during the time of the Romans, and for some time after- 
 wards, were principally carried on in ready money, which 
 is more than once mentioned as an article of importation."" 
 
 '^ Hamay ana, ui. \29. 
 
 " Pliny, (vi. 20,) indeed, quotes the existence of gold and silver mines in 
 the mountains of Capitalia, which are represented by him as the highest of the 
 Ghilt range ; but we have no other proof of the fact. The Periplus also {p. 
 36) speaks, from hearsay, of certain gold mines situate on the Lower Ganges; 
 where, however, there is nothing of the kind to be found now. 
 
 " Ramayana, i. 605, 606. See also the introduction to the Maliabharat in 
 Frank's Chrestomath. vol. i. p. 147. 
 
 " See the Persians, in vol. i. . 
 
 *" As, for example, in p. 2S of the Periplus. A»;vffpiov xP"'^o*'*' '^"' a/«7»fot'»', 
 
 And who does not recollect the complaints of the elder 
 Pliny, of the vast sums annually absorbed by the commerce 
 with India ?*"' How, indeed, could the case have been other- 
 wise, when a country, which produced in superabundance 
 every possible article, whether required for the necessaries 
 of life or the refinements of luxury, would of course export 
 a great deal, while it imported little or nothing in return ; 
 so that the commercial balance would always be in its fa- 
 vour. Hence it followed, that from the moment she pos- 
 sessed a foreign commerce, India would enrich herself with 
 the precious metals by a necessary consequence from the 
 very nature of things, and not by any fortuitous concourse 
 of circumstances. 
 
 This naturally brings us to the question, whether the 
 Hindus possessed a regular coinage, and how far back the 
 use of it extends ? There is no doubt that the precious 
 metals, gold and silver, particularly gold, were in very an- 
 cient times the established medium of exchange in India ; 
 but this, however, will not prove it to have been coined. If 
 we can repose any confidence in the published translations 
 of native works, the use of coined money would appear to 
 have prevailed in very remote times; for it is expressly 
 mentioned in the fable of Krishna: but it is uncertain 
 whether the passage is taken from the Maliabharat, or the 
 Bhagavat, or from one of the other Puranas.^- In the Ra- 
 mayana a distinction is made between gold pieces and gold 
 unwrought f' but it does not follow that the pieces bore 
 any impression. In the Laws of Menu, the respective weights 
 of paras and racticas of copper, silver, and gold, are very 
 exactly determined, without, however, any allusion to their 
 being stamped. The list of kings given by Tiefenthaler also 
 makes mention of various changes introduced into the coin- 
 age by different monarchs ; but we know not on what au- 
 thority the account rests,"* and we have already noticed the 
 
 which was, moreover, actually exchanged against the native money, ivT6mov 
 vomafia. The Hmdu gold coinage was termed raXraj;, (p. 76,) the Kaltris of 
 tJie present day. *^ 
 
 l^u^. Ilist Nat, ^ii. 18. 
 
 ^ PoLiER, vol. i. p. 456. " Une grande quantite d*argent monnoye." 
 liamayana, i. 60G. " He also gave a full ajuta (of pieces) of gold ; and 
 J iiKc quantity of unwrought gold." Mention is also made of presents of 
 •";m ten to twenty crores. Ibid. iii. p. 1 14. 
 
 According to this list, King Savuin, the thirty-fifth monarch of the first 
 
270 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CH^P. II. 
 
 CHAP. n. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 271 
 
 very little credit to be attached to the list in question."^ 
 The Periplus expressly mentions pieces of Hindu gold coin, 
 under the name of Kaltris, which were exchanged with profit 
 against the Grecian and Roman money.^ But whatever 
 may have been the value and character of the ancient Hindu 
 coinage, it is quite certain that its use is of very remote an- 
 tiquity. This is sufficiently attested by the permission to 
 lend money upon interest, and by the exact definitions laid 
 down in the Laws of Menu with respect to the rate of in- 
 terest. And, again, in the Sacontala we find the discovery 
 of a lost ring rewarded with a sum of money ;^^ and in the 
 Hitopadesa, among other persons, we frequently meet with 
 money-changers.^ 
 
 Precious stones and pearls, both of them indigenous pro- 
 ductions, may be comprised among the most ancient ob- 
 jects of Hindu luxury, and, therefore, of commerce ; and 
 they are even expressly recommended by Menu, together 
 with coral and woven stuffs, as the most important articles 
 on which the Vaisyas were carefully to inform themselves 
 as to price,^^ etc. It would be superfluous to adduce proofs 
 on this head from native works ;^ for even the oldest spe- 
 cimens of Hindu sculpture, found in the rock temples, suffi- 
 ciently attest it. According to the Periplus, precious stones 
 of every kind were brought from the interior to the port of 
 Nelkynda ; ^* among these, diamonds and rubies are par- 
 ticularly noticed ; ^- and as the former is a native of India,'^ 
 we may reasonably conclude that some of the mines where 
 
 of the nine races, that of the Pandos, had already issued a gold and silver 
 coinage, containing an effigy of the sun. Rajah Sernaut, of the second race, 
 was the first who added his name ; Rajah Bempal, of the seventh race, coined 
 pieces with his name, and the representation of some divinity; and Rajah 
 Gobenchand, of the eighth race, first gave the rupee, which was hitherto 
 square, its present circular form. But we may justly ask, how the author 
 came to know all this ? Now it has been already shown that these lists de- 
 serve no sort of confidence : the question, therefore, still remains where it 
 did. Is there even anjr Hindu coinage older than our era ? We certainly know 
 of none. There are, indeed, plenty of coins impressed with some emblem- 
 atical device, but none of them have either date or inscription of any kind. 
 « See above, p. 229. ** Periplm, p. 26, 36. 
 
 »' Jones's Works, vol. vi. p. 280. * Ibid. p. 27, 44, 47- 
 
 • Menu, ix. 329. , 
 
 ^ Whoever wishes to see them may read the Gitagovinda, which frequently 
 mentions the ornaments still in use among Hindu women at the present day. 
 See also Ratnayana, iii. 157. 
 
 *• SiQia Ziatpavri navToia Ik rdu tVw roirmv. " "A^a/lac and vaKiveoc. 
 
 " Compare Vincent, vol. ii. App. p. 6. 
 
 they are found must have been worked at a very remote 
 period. In another passage we find mention made of the 
 onyx-stone, which was brought from Ozene, and conse- 
 quently from the Ghat mountains, to Barygaza.^* 
 
 Although pearls were as anciently used for ornament as 
 precious stones, and are, moreover, indigenous to the 
 country, yet it is surprising we find no sort of allusion to the 
 pearl fisheries, in any works of the ancient Hindus that have 
 come down to us ; whereas, the islands and sand-banks be- 
 tween Ceylon and the main-land, where these fisheries exist, 
 and where Rama built his famous bridge when he made war 
 upon Ravana, are precisely those spots which are most cele- 
 brated in Hindu mythology. But this circumstance is un- 
 doubtedly owing to our very limited acquaintance with the 
 ancient literature of India ; because the fable reported by 
 Arrian, of Hercules' having searched the whole Indian 
 Ocean, and found the pearl with which he adorned his 
 daughter Pandsea, is of Hindu origin.*-^^ That the fisheries 
 in question must have existed before the time of Alexander, 
 is evident from their being mentioned by his companions.^ 
 The author of the Periplus informs us, not only that pearls 
 were found near Manaar, a small island situate between 
 Ceylon and the continent ; but that they were also bored 
 there.^^ It is, therefore, pretty certain that these fisheries 
 existed from time immemorial ; ^ for the pearl is of no use 
 till it is bored ; while the operation itself requires no in- 
 considerable degree of skill. In the time of the writer just 
 quoted, the principal market for pearls was the town of 
 Nelkynda, or Neliceram.^ 
 
 The use and manufacture of ornamental works in ivory is 
 equally ancient throughout India. Pendants for the ear, 
 and necklaces, both of that material, form the ordinary de- 
 corations of the divinities of Elephanta, as was observed to 
 
 "^ Penplus, p. 28. 
 
 Arrian, Op. p. 174. Kai ravra fitTt^hrtpoi IvlGtv 'HpatcXeovc \fyovai. Sup- 
 posing Hercules to have been of Phoenician extraction, we might also under- 
 stand this tradition to allude to the Phoenicians having pearl fisheries in the 
 Indian seas, as they had in the Persian Gulf. 
 
 ^ Arrian, Op. p. 194. 
 
 " Geogr. Min. vol. i. p. 34. In this work Manaar is called the island of 
 r^piodorus, probably from the name of some Greek who discovered it. 
 Periplusj p. 32. 
 
 "" Situate to the northward of Calicut, in 12° N. lat. 
 
272 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 273 
 
 be the case even in Alexander s time.^^ Above all, the art 
 of working in ivory must have attained a high degree of 
 perfection, from the circumstance, that the ornamental 
 chains above noticed seem to have been carved out of a 
 
 single piece. 
 
 According to the unanimous report both of history and 
 tradition, weaving is reckoned among the most important 
 manufactures of ancient India ; a country which nature lias 
 abundantly furnished with all kinds of raw material for the 
 purpose, and especially cotton. We are not informed, how- 
 ever, who was the inventor of the simple loom used by the 
 Hindus, which from its first origin does not appear to have 
 undergone any alteration. The variety of cloth fabrics 
 mentioned even by the author of the Periplus, as articles of 
 commerce, is so great, that we can hardly suppose the num- 
 ber to have increased afterwards. We there read of the 
 finest Bengal muslins ; of coarse, middle, and fine cloths, 
 either plain or striped ; of coarse and fine calicos ; of co- 
 loured shawls and sashes ; of coarse and fine purple goods, 
 as well as pieces of gold embroidery ; of spun silk and furs 
 from Serica.' As it is certain this variety of cloth manu- 
 factures was then found to exist in India, so is it extremely 
 probable that such was the case long prior to the time of 
 the Periplus; for the industry which produced them was 
 not the fruit of external commerce, but of the national wants 
 themselves. With respect to earlier times, indeed, we can- 
 not expect to find such an accurate enumeration of manu- 
 factured articles, as the Periplus is the oldest work we have 
 on the subject ; but that they were generally the same, there 
 is every reason to believe ; for the Greeks who visited India 
 four hundred years before, in the train of Alexander and his 
 immediate successors, observed the same state of things 
 prevailing. The cotton garments of the Hindus were the 
 first to draw their attention, from the extraordinary white- 
 ness of the cloth ; and they are described as being made 
 and worn in the same manner as at the present day." The 
 accounts we find of this cloth in the prophet Ezekiel would 
 lead us to similar conclusions.^ That the " coloured cloths 
 and rich apparel" brought to Tyre and Babylon from du^tant 
 
 ino 
 2 
 
 Arrian, Op, p. 179. 
 Arrian, Op, p. 179. 
 
 • Periplus, p. 13, 10,22,2^32,30. 
 
 » Ezck.x:;vii.23,24. 
 
 countries were partly of Indian manufacture will scarcely 
 be doubted, after what has been already said of the extent 
 of the Phoenician and Babylonian commerce.* But still 
 older and more important testimony will be found on this 
 subject in India itself. The coloured garments usually 
 worn by the inhabitants of Ayodhya have been before 
 noticed, in the description of that city quoted from the 
 Ramayana.^ The principal passage, however, to which we 
 would now refer, is the one descriptive of the nuptial pre- 
 sent made to Sita by her father the king of Videha.^ It 
 consisted of woollen stuffs, furs, precious stones, fine silk, 
 vestments of divers colours, princely ornaments, and sump- 
 tuous carriages of every kind. Now, what can we under- 
 stand by the term woollen stuffs, but those Cashmir shawls, 
 which still form part of the female attire in Eastern coun- 
 tries, and even in modern Europe? Only the finest cloths 
 of this material would be a suitable present to a king s 
 daughter, and especially, too, upon such an occasion. The 
 passage, therefore, just quoted, supplies an additional proof 
 in favour of the high antiquity of these celebrated fabrics. 
 Mention is also made of coarse woollen cloths, or tilts to 
 cover waggons.' Articles of furriery, so much sought after 
 HI warm countries, as in China, for instance, more by way 
 of ornament than for defence against the cold, would of 
 course only come from northern climes. With respect to silk 
 stuffs, they are probably what we should least of all expect 
 to meet with in India at that early period. The above, how- 
 ever, is not the only passage in the Ramayana where they 
 are mentioned. Vestments of silk are usually worn on festal 
 occasions, and even in the interior of the royal harems. 
 Such, also, we find to have been the case upon the recep- 
 tion of Rajah Dasarathas four beautiful daughters at the 
 court of Ayodhya.^ " Kausalya, Sumitra, the fair Keikeyi, 
 and the rest of the king's wives, eager to embrace their 
 beauteous daughters, received the happy Sita, the far-fajned 
 yrmda, and the two daughters of Kusa Dhwaja. All these 
 ladies, sumptuously clad in silk, and entertaining each other 
 
 \ See the first volume. > See»p. 150 of this volume. 
 
 . ^'^^w^yawa, i. 605. ' Ibid. i. 201. 
 
 ii'imayam, i. 627. Compare iii. 204, 2S2. 
 
 VOL. II. T 
 
i 
 
 274 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CIIAI'. II. 
 
 CHAP. H. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 with agreeable conversation, hastened to the temples of tlie 
 gods to offer incense." From the circumstance of these 
 garments of silk being worn on state occasions m the harems 
 of princes, we might immediately conclude the stuffs to have 
 been of foreign manufacture ; but to this subject we shall 
 have another opportunity of reverting in the sequel. 
 
 Besides the materials hitherto noticed, Herodotus and 
 Ctesias both mention the bark of trees being used in India, 
 from very remote times, for the purpose of manufacturing 
 cloth.^ In the Sacontala, we find garments of this descrip- 
 tion worn by pious hermits and penitents;'^ and Sacontala 
 had a mantle of the same kind, expressly distinguished from 
 the magnificent apparel which was presented to her by the 
 Devanies, when she became the wife of Dushmanta.^^ The 
 king also, during the time of his penance, laid aside his 
 robes of mushn and silk, and put on garments of a simdar 
 coarse texture.^- The manner in which this cloth was 
 manufactured, is no where particularly described ; but there 
 is a remarkable passage in the Sacontala, which says, that it 
 was dried in the sun.^^ It must, therefore, have been dif- 
 ferent from that made by the Soutli-sea islanders of the 
 same material, as the latter will not bear moisture. Or 
 might it not have been first wetted during the process ot 
 manufacture, and then exposed to the sun ? 
 
 Among articles of food, rice, according to the Ramayana, 
 occupies the first place. Of this, various kinds are th^-e 
 distinguished ; and in the flourishing city of Ayodhya, the 
 most esteemed, as well as the most usually eaten, was that 
 called shall, which ripened in the cold season.** One ot 
 the most curious passages in the above poem, relative to this 
 subject, is the list of provisions and drink, with which Hajah 
 Vasishtha regaled the well-fed army of Vishva-Mitra : ^ 
 '' Every man had what he desired, sugar-cane, honey, laja, 
 mireja,'^ wine, and the most generous liquors ; an immense 
 
 " Herod. Hi. 98. heiic ^Xotvij. Ctes. Indie. 22. ifiduaKvXtya. 
 
 '« Jones's Works, vol. vi. p. 225, 226. Ibid. p. 257- 
 
 » Ibid p 283 '^Ibid. p. 289. " Ramayana, i. m- 
 
 '» Ramayana, i. 463. Compare the description of an entertainment giNcr 
 
 by Bhurdmaja, iii. 296. • . • ,,t > r»- / t 
 
 '• A dish consisting of rice. [Fried gram, in Wilson s BicU^ 
 " A fermented drink of molasses and water. 
 
 275 
 
 variety of dishes piled mountains high, and containing dain- 
 ties for sucking, licking, chewing, and drinking, ^« together 
 with rice-curries, sweetmeats, pastry, and large vessels filled 
 with excellent curds and whey ; all adapted to the six kinds 
 of taste, and served out in every direction, in thousands of 
 vessel sweetened with the inspissated juice of the sugar- 
 cane." What may excite our surprise in this copious enu- 
 meration of provisions is the fact, that although the question 
 concerns an entertainment given to soldiers, we nevertheless 
 find no allusion to more substantial food than mere sweet- 
 meats. The sugar-cane is not only mentioned in the Ra- 
 mayana, but also in the Laws of Menu'^ and in the Periplus 
 as an article of exportation.^^ The juice of it is sometimes 
 drank in a raw state, at others it is thickened and preserved 
 in vessels for future use ; but we meet with no traces of its 
 being refined. Of strong and intoxicating liquors, ancient 
 India was acquainted with more than one sort ; the use of 
 them, however, was by no means general. The Ramayana 
 distinguishes the Surs, who indulged themselves in these 
 liquors, from the Asurs, who abstained from them;^! two 
 sects which even at that time must have been of pretty an- 
 cient standing, as they are noticed in the old fable about the 
 descendants of Aditi (who are the Surs) and Diti (who are 
 the Asurs). 
 
 Under the head of strong liquors, wine is more than once 
 mentioned m the Ramayana. If we suppose this to mean 
 wine made from grapes, it must, in that case, have been 
 imported ; because, to the best of our knowledge, they do 
 not press the grape in India itself.^^ It is very doubtful, 
 iiowever, whether this sort of wine is to be understood in 
 the passages alluded to ; and even admitting it to have been 
 introduced into the country as early as the time of the 
 Hamayana, it would scarcely be the usual drink of common 
 soldiers, any more than it is at the present day. It appears, 
 indeed, much more probable that palm-wine is intended by 
 the expression ; as this could be easily made in any part of 
 
 SJ^^^ *^^ ^^^^^r ^^"*^y himself in India, where they suck the juice of the 
 sugfir^cane and other succulent fruits, lick ice, and cheiv the betel-nut. 
 
 ^uT'T'-^^^' . "^ Periplus, ^.^. .. *' Ramayana, i.m,TxoU 
 afinn i"^.^^'V«^, wme is several times mentioned as an article of imimrt- 
 
 ItX Lnd s"rir''^' '" ^'* ^'^~^^* "^^"'"^ '^ '" ^^'^ ^"^ ^^""^ ^^^^ brought from 
 
 T 2 
 
•27G 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 11. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 2/7 
 
 ■I 
 III 
 
 India, and was, moreover, in the time of the Penplus, im- 
 ported from Arabia, which is the reason of its bemg called 
 Arabian wine." The strong liquors, however, in most 
 general use throughout India, appear to have been those 
 obtained by distillation. The Ramayana mentions a bever- 
 age of this sort procured from fruits and the sugar-cane;** 
 and in Menu we find three principal kinds distinguished," 
 according as the liquors in question were distilled from mo- 
 lasses, bruised rice, or the Madhuca-flower.'^ Of the last 
 we know nothing beyond the mere name ; the two former 
 are most likely equivalent to the arrack and rum of modem 
 times. The lirahmans are forbidden the use of all three. 
 
 India is the mother country of spices ; and we have al- 
 ready shown, in the course of our inquiries into Phoenician 
 commerce, that, from the most ancient times, she supplied 
 the whole western world with that article. Although in tlio 
 few native works at our present disposal there is no parti- 
 cular mention made of spices, yet we cannot possibly doubt 
 of their consumption in the country itself. This sdence, 
 however, is merely the effect of accidental causes ; for nei- 
 ther Menu or the Ramayana had any special occasion of 
 alluding to the subject. But it is quite certain that pepper 
 was very early known to the western world as an article of 
 commerce ; for Theophrastus even distinguishes several va- 
 rieties of it.^ Together with the spice itself, the name also 
 of pepper seems to have migrated, probably through Persia, 
 into the countries of the West.-« There is little doubt tliat 
 it came originally from the southern parts of Malabar, from 
 Cochin and the neighbourhood ; which was noticed for its 
 growth of pepper by Cosmas in the sixth century, and in- 
 deed is so at the present day. 
 
 With respect to articles of perfumeiy, we are enabled to 
 speak more decisively. These are of various kinds, partly 
 foreign, as frankincense, and partly indigenous, as the san- 
 
 • Periplm, p. 21. *' Ranmywm. "i- 2S9. , =* Menu, xi. 95. 
 
 » Bassia Latifolia. [Called also Mahwah by the natives. See an interes - 
 inff description of this very curious and useful tree in the Astatic B£S. vol. i. 
 p. 300, sq^ together with an account of the native method of distilling m 
 flowers, p. 309. Transl.] 
 
 " Theophrast. Hist. Plant, ix. 22. . 
 
 » The Sanscrit name is pipimJi, whence the Greek Tr.Trtpi, Latin ;>VJ^N 
 pepper, etc. Dr. Hunter's Remarks on the species of Pepper, etc., m me 
 Asiatic Res, vol. ix. p. 3^4. 
 
 dal-wood, which is frequently mentioned in the Ramayana 
 and the Gitagovinda,-^ and was in common use throughout 
 India as well as China. Perfumes in general, and particu- 
 larly frankincense, were from the most ancient times not 
 confined solely to the purposes of sacrifice ; they were also 
 indispensable requisites in Hindu private life, and above all 
 on festal occasions ; an example of which will be found in 
 the Ramayana, where the poet describes the solemn entry 
 of Bharata into his grandfather's capital:^® "The inhabit- 
 ants, after having watered the streets, had sprinkled them 
 with sand, and garnished them with flower-pots, ranged in 
 order, and containing fragrant plants in full blossom. The 
 city was adorned with garlands, and exhaled the odours of 
 frankincense and sweet-smelling perfumes." The quantity 
 of frankincense consumed in India deserves to be particu- 
 larly remarked, as it is not an indigenous production, but 
 imported from Arabia.^^ Many other kinds of perfume are 
 mentioned in the Periplus as being of native growth ; we 
 can scarcely, therefore, doubt their having been used in 
 very remote antiquity. 
 
 This is not the place for enumerating in detail all the ob- 
 jects of commerce mentioned in the earliest accounts of 
 India ; such, for instance, as female slaves, destined for the 
 replenishing of harems ; ^^ different sorts of colours, as lac^^ 
 and indigo;^* together with base and precious metals ; not 
 
 ® Ramayana, iii. 125, and elsewhere ; Gitagovinda, p. 58, 65, 84. Accord- 
 ing to which, it grew chiefly on the mountains of Malaya. An odoriferous 
 unguent was also prepared from this tree, by reducing the wood to powder and 
 mixing it with oil. Beckmann ( Waarenkunde, vol. ii. No. i. p. 1 12, sq.) has 
 furnished us with a learned inquiry into the nature and properties of this wood. 
 The passages above quoted must be understood, in all probability, of the best 
 species of sandal-wood, viz. the yellow, which grows in Malabar, and not of 
 the red sort. 
 
 ** Ramayana, i. 636. 
 
 " [Mr. Colebrooke has satisfactorily shown, that the resinous gum called 
 Olibanum (the frankincense of the ancients) is an indigenous production of 
 India as well as of Arabia. See his " Account of Olibanum," in the Asiatic 
 Res. vol. ix. p. 377, sq. According to Niebuhr, however, (vol. i. p. 202,) it is 
 not even a native of Arabia, but originally brought thither from Abyssinia ; in 
 which opinion he is supported by Bruce. See Michaelis, Question xxix. 
 Transl.] 
 
 " Ramayana, i. 606. Rajah Janaka is there represented as adding to his 
 olher presents a thousand female slaves, adorned with collars of gold. 
 
 " Ctesias, JnrZic. cap. 21. 
 
 ** Indian black, (called ftkXag 'IvBiKbv in the Periphis, p. 22,) as well as cin- 
 nabar, (p. 18,) are also mentioned. At the present day indigo, called by the 
 
278 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 2/9 
 
 forgetting the celebrated Indian steel,^ and many other valua- 
 ble productions. But enough has been already said for the 
 purpose of showing the extent of ancient Hindu commerce, 
 considered with reference to its principal objects. 
 
 The nature of the country, however, rendered the inter- 
 nal commerce of India different from that of the rest of 
 Asia, in respect of transportation ; for it was not necessary, 
 nor indeed was it always possible, to employ caravans, as 
 in the extensive tracts of Inner Asia. That this mode of 
 conveyance was nevertheless occasionally resorted to, we 
 learn from the beautiful episode of Nala, where Damayanti 
 ia her flight is represented to have joined a caravan of mer- 
 chants.^^ But the beasts of burden made use of, in this 
 instance, are tame elephants, which were therefore attacked 
 in the night and dispersed by their wild brethren of the 
 forest ; and besides, the caravan in question appears to liave 
 belonged to some royal personage, rather than to a company 
 of private merchants.^^ The greatest part of India, that is 
 to say, the whole of the peninsula, being traversed with 
 rocky mountains, would scarcely, if at all, admit of the em- 
 ployment of camels ; ^ and the moderate distances between 
 one town and another, and the general spread of civilization, 
 would enable merchants to travel alone with perfect secu- 
 rity, while river-navigation and the coasting trade afforded 
 unusual facilities for transporting merchandise. The Ganges 
 and its tributary streams were the grand commercial routes 
 of Northern India ; and mention is also made of navigation 
 on the rivers of the peninsula in the south.^^ It is not 
 improbable, indeed, that artificial routes between the Ganges 
 and the Indus, as we find to have been the case in after- 
 times,*^ existed even at an earlier period. The great high 
 roads across the country are not only frequently men- 
 tioned in the Ramayana;^^ but we also read of a particular 
 
 natives n??, (i. e. dark blue,) still forms a principal branch of the commerce 
 between India and Bokhara. 
 
 " Ctesias, Indie, cap. 4. 
 
 ** Nalus, ed. Bopp, p. 88, etc. See p. 166 of this volume. 
 
 " It is called the caravan of King Chandir. Nalus, xii. 132. 
 
 " The Peripltts (p. 29) expressly remarks, that merchandise was trans- 
 ported from the commercial towns of the interior to the sea-coast on carriages 
 (a/<a'Cmc). 
 
 ^ Periplusj p. 31. The river-tolls are specified in Menu, viii. 406. 
 
 ^ Strabo, p. 1010. *' As, for example, Jimnm/ana, iii. 228. 
 
 class of men who were conunissioned to keep them in re- 
 pair.^* According to Arrian, the commercial intercourse 
 between the eastern and western coasts was carried on in 
 country-built vessels ; and when we consider the high an- 
 tiquity of the pearl-fisheries in the straits of Ceylon, to- 
 gether with the necessary requisites thereto, we can hardly 
 doubt that such was also the case many hundred years be- 
 fore his time. It would appear, then, that conveyance of 
 merchandise by means of a caravan, as in other countries of 
 the East, continued always foreign to the practice of India, 
 unless the multitudes of pilgrims and penitents, that were 
 continually resorting to places of sanctity, may be said to 
 have compensated for the want of it. The almost in- 
 numerable crowds that yearly flock to Benares, Juggernaut, 
 and elsewhere, amounting to many hundred thousands of 
 souls, would obviously give rise to a species of commerce 
 united with devotion ;*'^ and markets and fairs would be a 
 natural, and indeed an indispensable requisite to satisfy the 
 
 *^ The principal passage is in book iii. 226, where the poet describes the 
 preparations made for Bharata's journey. " The people were collected to- 
 gether who superintended different parts of the roads ; able carpenters, diggers, 
 engineers, hired day labourers with carts, hewers of wood," etc. It is not, 
 indeed, positively mentioned that these were regular artificial roads ; for there 
 is nothing of the sort even at the present day to be found in India ; but they 
 were at least beaten or levelled ways. However, in p. 231, we read that 
 "Bridges are built, rocks broken through, canals and wells dug, and the 
 roads planted with flowers and trees : thus adorned, they resemble the cause- 
 ways of heaven." There is no allusion to milestones, though otherwise well 
 known in the East. 
 
 *' It will be sufficient by way of illustration, to quote Capt. Hardwicke's 
 account of the pilgrimage and fair held at Hurdwar on the Ganges, in 30" 
 N. lat. See Asiatic Res. vol. vi. p. 312. "This fair," says the Captain, "is 
 iin annual assemblage of Hindus, to bathe, for a certain number of days, in 
 the waters of the Ganges, at this consecrated spot. The multitude collected 
 here on this occasion, might, I think, with moderation, be computed at two 
 and a half millions of souls. Although the performance of a religious duty is 
 their primary object, yet many avail themselves of the opportunity to transact 
 business, and carry on an extensive annual commerce. In this concourse of 
 nations, it is a matter of no small amusement to a curious observer to trace 
 the dress, features, manners, etc., which characterize the people of the differ- 
 ent countries of Cabul, Cashmir, Lahore, Butan, Sirinagur, Cummow, and 
 the plains of Hindustan. From some of these very distant countries, whole 
 families, men, women, and children, undertake the journey ; some travelling 
 on foot, some on horseback, and many, particularly women and children, in 
 long heavy carts, railed, and covered with sloping matted roofs, to defend 
 them against the sun and wet weather ; and during the continuance of the 
 fair these serve also as habitations." And yet Hurdwar is by no means in 
 the first rank of holy places ! Markets and fairs are expressly mentioned in 
 t)ie RajiiayanUf iii. 482. 
 
2S0 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. n« 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 281 
 
 wants of such throngs of people. And consequently, too, 
 the establishments already noticed under the appellation of 
 choultries, the erection of which was considered a relioious 
 duty, and whose forms not unfrequently displayed all the 
 magnificence of native architecture, might be said to have a 
 similar destination with the caravanserais of other Eastern 
 countries, without, however, the resemblance between the 
 two being exactly perfect. 
 
 Although commercial traffic was not carried on in India, 
 as elsewhere, by means of caravans, yet there was necessarily 
 an occasion for the establishment of certain intermediate 
 depots and places of mercantile resort. These were partly 
 in the interior of the country, and partly also on the coast ; 
 and the names of three of them are given by the author of 
 the Periplus : Ozene to the north of the peninsula, and 
 Tagara and Pluthana in the interior. The first of these, 
 Ozene, or, under its modern appellation, Oujein, is the pre- 
 sent capital of Scindiah, one of the most powerful of the 
 Mahratta chieftains, but it is also represented by Arrian 
 as an ancient city, and " formerly" a royal residence."*^ At 
 first, Ozene was the market for internal traffic, and sup- 
 plied the neighbouring countiy with necessaries ; at a sub- 
 sequent period, however, it also became the emporium of 
 foreign commerce for inland productions, such as the onyx- 
 stone, muslins, coarse and fine calicos, which it transmitted 
 to the haven of Barygaza for exportation ; and probably it 
 was also a depot for the produce of more distant northern 
 countries, of which we shall have occasion to speak hereafter. 
 Ozene was at all times reckoned in the number of holy towns, 
 and indeed of the first rank, the surrounding territoiy, for 
 
 ** PertpluSt p. 27, 2S. The modern Oujein is one mile distant from the 
 ancient town, which was overwhelmed by an earthquake, as report says, in 
 the time of Vicramaditya. At the depth of from fifteen to eighteen feet, 
 entire walls of extraordinary sized bricks, pillars, various utensils, and an- 
 cient coins have been discovered ; and, what is more singular, a large quan- 
 tity of wheat. Adjoining these ruins is a subterranean palace, said to have 
 been the abode of Rajah Bhirtiry, the brother of Vicramaditya. It contains 
 a court, galleries, and apartments, curiously carved with figures of men in 
 high relief. It is, however, impossible to explore the whole, a great portion 
 of the ruins being choked up with rubbish. See Hunter's narrative, in the 
 Asiatic lies. vol. vi. p. 36. Oujein is, therefore, certainly one of the most an- 
 cient towns in India, and it is also a place of great sanctity ; both which cir- 
 cumstances would concur in proving it to have been originally an establish- 
 ment altogether resembling those of Ellora and Elephanta, etc. 
 
 the space of two coss in circumference, being held to be 
 sacred/^ It is, therefore, of course, the resort of pilgrims ; 
 and every year, at a particular season, an immense number 
 of people flock together from all parts into the town, a cir- 
 cumstance which immediately explains the reason why 
 Ozene, as the residence of kings and a place of such pecu- 
 liar sanctity, should become the principal depot of interior 
 
 commerce. 
 
 In the interior of the Deccan, two places, lagara and 
 Pluthana, are expressly mentioned as the most important 
 commercial staples in the whole province.*^ The first of 
 these is the ancient Deogur, or Devagiri, " the hill of the 
 gods," celebrated for its pagodas, and also for the close 
 proximity of the still more celebrated Ellora;*^ and con- 
 sequently we have here, too, another proof of the intimate 
 connexion subsisting between the establishment of inland 
 commerce and religion ; for Tagara, being considered one 
 of the most famous sanctuaries in the country, would of 
 course owe all its importance as a place of mercantile resort, 
 to the great number of pilgrims who for more than a thou- 
 sand years had been wont to assemble there. The author of 
 the Periplus reckons Tagara among the largest cities of In- 
 dia, even in his time ; a circumstance which would naturally 
 lead us to infer a long period of antecedent splendour. 
 From hence coarse and fine cotton goods, different kinds of 
 muslin, and other indigenous productions, were conveyed 
 over difficult roads to the port of Barygaza, to be shipped 
 for foreign countries. 
 
 The situation of Pluthana is not so well ascertained. 
 According to the present text of the Periplus, it should be 
 sought for at a distance of twenty days' journey to the south- 
 ward of Barygaza; and Tagara is said to have been ten 
 days^ journey to the east of Pluthana. At first we might 
 suppose it to be the same with the modern Patual, which 
 in fact is about a hundred and fifty miles distant to the 
 westward of Tagara, and consequently the journey between 
 the two places would require a space of ten days to accom- 
 plish with heavy laden carriages over difficult and moun- 
 tainous routes; but then the distance from Patual to 
 
 •* Ayin Achari, ii. 546. ** Periplus, p. 29. 
 
 *' See p. 72 of this volume. 
 
282 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. n« 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 283 
 
 Oujein,^ instead of being only twenty, is at least thirty 
 days' journey. The passage, however, in the Penplus is 
 manifestly corrupt; and we must therefore be content with 
 mere conjecture. Nevertheless, under all the circumstances, 
 it is quite clear that Pluthana was situate among the Ghats, 
 for it was the general market for onyx-stones, which were 
 transported from this town over very bad roads to Barygaza.^'^ 
 The most active internal commerce, however, was that 
 carried on in the northern parts of India, along the course 
 of the Ganges. Here was the royal highway, extending 
 from Taxila on the Indus, through Lahore, to Palibothra on 
 the Gano-es ; and which, measured by schcens, was upwards 
 of ten th'^ousand stadia in length.^ The first writer, we be- 
 lieve, who makes any mention of this road is Megasthenes ; 
 but whether it existed before the time of Alexander is very 
 doubtful, as Arrian does not expressly notice it ; and the 
 admeasurement by schcens is not of Indian but Persian 
 origin. On the other hand, the fiicility with which Alex- 
 ander was able to advance, as well as the frequent use of 
 chariots among the ancient Hindus, would clearly show that 
 there was no want of levelled roads in this part of India. 
 Even the Ramayana describes in a circumstantial manner, 
 the road leading from Ayodhya over the Ganges, by Hasti- 
 napur and the Jumna throuo:h Lahore, to the city of Ginibe- 
 raja in the interior of the Punjab ; and by which Rama, 
 after the death of his father, was conducted to Ayodhya. 
 
 The observations hitherto made, will at least serve to 
 throw some light on the internal commerce of India ; and 
 the latter probably will receive additional illustration by 
 combining therewith the results of our inquiry into the 
 commerce of the same country, as it existed in times ante- 
 rior to the reign of the Ptolemies. In conducting this in- 
 
 « [Tlie author Drobably means Barygaza, though both towns appear to be 
 equidistant from Patual. Transl.] , x-,.^ 
 
 • Penplus, loc. cit. [Wilford, with every appearance of probability, sup- 
 poses Pluthana to be the modern PuUanah, situate on the southern bank ot 
 the Godavery ; about two hundred and seventeen Bntish miles to the south- 
 ward of Baroach. See Asiatic Eesearches, vol. i. p. 369, sq. Transl.J 
 
 » Strabo, p. 1010. Casaubon has demonstrated the true reading to have 
 been 10,000 stadia, instead of 20,000. It is the same road spoken of by 
 Pliny, Hist Nat, vol. vi. p. 21, and which Wilford {Asiatic ites. vol. ix. p. 
 48, etc.) and other writers have endeavoured to explain ; but they do not in- 
 form us whether its antiquity reaches as far back as the times of whicli we 
 are treating. 
 
 quiry, we shall confine ourselves to the same limited prin- 
 ciples of criticism already prescribed for examining the 
 other ; that is, we shall only make use of the information 
 contained in later writers, such, for instance, as the Periplus 
 of Arrian, in so far forth as it either directly refers to more 
 ancient times, or is capable of throwing some light on them, 
 in connexion with the accounts furnished by earlier writers. 
 In the mean time, however, we would request the reader 
 always to bear in mind a remark, the propriety of which 
 must by this time be sufficiently evident, and will be further 
 corroborated in the sequel : viz. that the internal commerce 
 of the East has undergone little other change than what 
 would arise from partial deviations in the route ; while on 
 the contrary, the direction of Western commerce has been 
 subject to considerable modifications. 
 
 The nature of tlie country and its productions, together 
 with the peculiar genius of the people themselves, both con- 
 tributed to render Hindu commerce of a passive rather than 
 an active character. For as the productions of India were 
 always in high request with the Western world, the Hindus 
 would clearly have no occasion to transport them to foreign 
 countries themselves ; they would of course expect the in- 
 habitants of the latter to come and fetch what they wanted. 
 And again, the Hindu national character has no pretensions 
 to that hardy spirit of adventure, which is capable of achiev- 
 ing the most extraordinary undertakings. While their fa- 
 bles abound with prodigious enterprise, the people them- 
 selves are content to lead a quiet and peacefiil life, with just 
 so much activity as is requisite to guide the plough or di- 
 rect the shuttle ; without running the risk of hazardous and 
 unnecessary adventure. Their India — their Jambu-dwipa, 
 comprised in their estimation the Kmits of the known world. 
 Separated from the rest of Asia by a chain of impassable 
 mountains on the north ; while on all other sides the ocean 
 formed a barrier, which, if their laws are silent on the sub- 
 ject, yet at least their habits or their customs would not 
 permit them to transgress ; we can find no certain proof 
 that the Hindus were ever mariners. 
 
 These remarks, however, must only be understood as ap- 
 plicable to the great body of the nation, without at all im- 
 plying that some particular individuals were not enterprising 
 
284 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAl'. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 285 
 
 enough to pass the seas, and estabhsh themselves in foreign 
 countries, in order to profit by commercial speculation. 
 Merchants of this kind are expressly mentioned in the Ra- 
 mayana, who " traffic beyond sea and bring presents to the 
 king."^* In fact, no law had ever forbidden this species of 
 commerce ; on the contrary, the Institutes of Menu contain 
 several regulations which tacitly allow it, in giving the force 
 of law to all commercial contracts relative to dangers incur- 
 red by sea or land.^^ Moreover, the religion of the Hindus 
 does not recognise the Egyptian principle of the sea being 
 impure. The latter is assigned its own peculiar sovereign ; 
 and according to mythological report, the sea, that is, the 
 Bay of Bengal, owed its origin to the influx of the holy 
 stream, the Ganges.^' It is well known that the Hindu 
 merchants, called Banians, are in the habit of traversing the 
 IKJean, and settling in foreign countries. And a modern 
 writer observes,** that, " The commerce of Arabia Felix is 
 entirely in the hands of the Banians of Guzerat ; who, from 
 father to son, have established themselves in the country, 
 and are protected by the government, in consideration of a 
 certain impost levied upon their estimated property." We 
 can easily conceive this to have been the case also in much 
 earlier times. In the Hitopadesa^^ it is said, '' A ship is a 
 necessary requisite for enabling man to traverse the ocean f 
 and in another passage we read of a " certain merchant, 
 who, after having been twelve years on his voyage, at last 
 
 ^^ Hamai/ana, iii. 237. 
 
 " [See Menu, iii. 158; viii. 157. Sir W. Jones has supposed that from 
 bottomry being mentioned in the laws of Menu, the Hindus must have been 
 navigators in the age of that work. Now, that ships belonging to Hindus 
 went to sea, and that a proportionate interest for the hazard of the sea was 
 to be paid on money borrowed, must be perfectly true ; but it remains to be 
 proved that the seamen were Hindus. And Sir W.'s endeavour to prove that 
 Ihey used the sea in former aees, proves that it is contrary to their principles 
 and practice in later times. It is only within these few years that the Eng- 
 lish have been able to carry their sepoys to sea ; and in doing this, there 
 seems to have been employed money, discipline, and a variety of fictions, to 
 salve their conscience. Fishermen there are, but they can cook and eat 
 their food on shore ; and even fishermen are an abomination in Malabar. 
 Merchants, however, may grow rich at home while other nations are their 
 carriers ; and the Armenians, who are no navigators themselves, freight ships 
 in every port of India. Transl.] 
 
 ** Ramayana, i. 400. 
 . *• From the accounts of M. Clou pet, in the Allffem. Geof/r. Ephem. for 
 November, 1810, p. 235. 
 
 "Sir W. Jones's Works^ vol. vi. p. 94. 
 
 returned home w^ith a cargo of precious stones." ^^ But 
 what makes the case still more evident, is the story told in 
 the Sacontala of the merchant Danavriddhi, vi^hose immense 
 wealth devolved to the king on the former's perishing at sea, 
 and leaving no heirs behind him.^^ If, in addition to these 
 authorities, the reader wishes for more decisive historical 
 proof, he will find it in the Periplus ; which, besides mer- 
 chants of Arabia and Greece, mentions also the Banians of 
 India, who, for commercial purposes, had established them- 
 selves on the north side of the island of Socotra.^ 
 
 The foregoing remarks will, it is hoped, serve to explain 
 in some degree the manner in which the Hindus took a part 
 in external commerce. We have seen that although it was 
 not their general practice to travel in caravans, or to man 
 vessels for the purposes of commerce, yet it by no means 
 follows that private individuals had not extensive mercantile 
 transactions with foreign countries, and even occasionally 
 undertook long voyages themselves. We shall now then 
 proceed to inquire into this foreign commerce of the Hin- 
 dus, according to its several directions, towards the north, 
 east, and west ; and examine each quarter in succession. 
 
 The only country in the north with which India had 
 commercial relations was China.^ Notwithstanding all the 
 obstacles which nature herself has interposed, such as ap- 
 parently inaccessible mountains, and pathless deserts, it is 
 impossible to doubt the existence, even from very remote 
 times, of a commercial intercourse between the two coun- 
 tries ; particularly as we meet with articles of Chinese mer- 
 chandise in India. Silk stuffs, and garments of the same 
 material, are mentioned in the Ramayana as ordinarily worn 
 in the harems of great men.^^ Whether, indeed, the rich 
 nuptial vestments spoken of in the Sacontala,^^ might not 
 Hkewise have been made of silk, we shall leave our 
 readers to determine. The Periplus, however, expressly 
 mentions silk stuffs, and also spun silk, as articles of 
 
 ** Sir W. Jones's Works, p. 80. *' Ibid. p. 292. 
 
 " Periplus, p. 17. There called the island of Dioscorides. 
 
 *• Vincent, vol. ii. p. 5/4, 575, has already shown that the name of China 
 IS of Hindu origin, and came to us from India. [The word Sinim occurs in 
 the Bible, Isaiah, xHx. 12. Compare also a passage in Menffsteu, i. 121 ; and 
 the " Nouveaux Melanges " of M. Abel, Remmat, ii. 334. Fr. Transl.] 
 
 * See p. 273, of this volume. 
 
 •' Sir W. Jonks's irorhs, vol. vi. p. 257-] 
 
286 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. U. 
 
 foreign importation.^^ That silk is the indigenous produc- 
 tion of China and the neighbouring country of Tangut, on 
 its western frontier, both comprised by the ancients under 
 the indefinite appellation of Serica, is a fact too well known 
 to require proof ;^^ we have, therefore, only to ascertain by 
 what route, and in what manner, the commerce in question 
 was carried on. 
 
 It is an undeniable fact, that a land traffic between India 
 and China has existed heretofore, and probably is still in 
 being at the present day. But the obscurity in which this 
 part of our subject is involved, cannot altogether be cleared 
 away, in consequence of the very small number of European 
 travellers who have investigated the countries bordering on 
 the route. With regard to the commerce itself, we shall 
 begin by quoting some decisive testimony from the Periplus, 
 which will set the matter beyond a doubt. The first place 
 mentioned in that work, as being situate on the eastern side 
 of the peninsula, is Masalia ; which extended a considerable 
 way along the coast, and was famous for the manufacture of 
 cotton piece goods.^* That this can be no other than the 
 modern Masulipatan, is sufficiently proved by its situation, 
 name, and produce.^ The next commercial town men- 
 tioned by our author, is one situate on the mouths of the 
 Ganges, and bearing the same name as the river, where 
 betel, pearls, and the finest sorts of muslin were sold. Then 
 follows an account of the island, or rather peninsula, of 
 Chryse, which is mentioned as the furthest part of India 
 towards the east; comprising, in fact, the modern Ava, 
 Pegu, and Malacca. To the northward of this, and con- 
 tiguous to the ocean, lay a country in the interior of which 
 we find the large city Thina ; ^ from whence raw and spun 
 
 " PertpluSf p. 36. 
 
 " [It is not at all improbable that silk was also indigenous in India even at 
 a remote epoch. See Schlegel, Berlin Kalender, 1829, p. 9. Fr. Transl.] 
 [It is worthy of notice, that the Rudra-Yamala-Tantra, in an enumeration of 
 Hindu castes, mentions the Pundracas and Pattasutracaras, or feeders of silk- 
 worms, and silk-twisters ; this authority, therefore, in conjunction with the 
 frequent allusions to silk in the most ancient Sanscrit books, may be consider- 
 ed as decisive of the question, provided the antiquity of the Tantra be allowed ; 
 of which Mr. Colebrooke seems to have no doubt. See his Essay on Indian 
 Classes, in Asiatic Researches^ vol. v. p. 61, sq. Silk is known throughout the 
 Archipelago by a Sanscrit name, sutra. Transl.] 
 
 " Periplus^ p. 35. " Vincent, vol. ii. p. 523. 
 
 ^ Periplus^ p. 36. lioKig fiKrSytioc ^fyiVri;, Xfyofihij OTva, a<p^ rjg tou tptoi; 
 
 CHAP. 11. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 287 
 
 silk and silk stuffs were conveyed by land through the coun- 
 try of the Bactrians to Barygaza ; and also by the Ganges 
 to Limyrica. From the last words of this passage it is evi- 
 dent that silk was imported into India by two different 
 routes ; one towards the west altogether by land, through 
 Bactra, and the other towards the east by the Ganges. The 
 city Thina, whether it be Pekin ^^ or some other large town 
 in Western China, was in either case the great emporium of 
 silk merchandise in these parts. The next question, there- 
 fore, for us to decide is, by whom and by what routes was 
 this traffic in silk carried on ? 
 
 With regard to the persons engaged in the above com- 
 merce, there is a very remarkable testimony contained in a 
 passage of Ctesias, already quoted on another occasion,^ and 
 which we have always considered as presenting the earliest 
 traces to be found of any connexion between China and the 
 Western world. " The Indians," says he, " who live near 
 the Bactrians^ make expeditions into the gold desert, in 
 armed companies of a thousand or two thousand men. But, 
 according to report, they do not return home for three or 
 four years." ^^ Now we have before shown that the desert 
 here mentioned is the great one of Cobi, and the " Indians" 
 are the northernmost inhabitants of the country, or those 
 who bordered on the Paropamisus. But the expeditions 
 through this desert, made in such numerous caravans, and 
 for so long a space of time, for what region could they be 
 intended, or whither, in fact, would they lead, except into 
 China ? The writer, it is true, having only heard of gold as 
 the object in quest of which these expeditions were under- 
 taken, makes no mention of silk, with which, probably, he 
 was unacquainted. It were superfluous, however, to prove 
 
 Kat TO oQoviov TO 'SitipiKOV (Ig rqv BapvyaKav Sid BaxTpdv ire^rj ^sperai' Kcti tig ri)v 
 AtfivptK})v TTaXiv Sid Tov Fdyyov Trorafiou. That the Thina of the Periplus must 
 be looked for in the north, that is, in Serica or China, is quite evident from 
 the express words of the passage just quoted. Ptolemy, however, and other 
 writers, place a town of that name in Malacca, near the modern Tenasserim. 
 Concerning this determination and the reasons for it, see Mannert, vol. v. 
 p. 234, 275. 
 
 " Some writers identify it with the " Senim Metropolis," of Ptolemy ; 
 others take it to be the present Se-Chuen. 
 
 * See the chapter on the Babylonians. 
 
 " Apud ^LiAN. Hist. An. iv. 27. This passage is not to be found among 
 the Fragments of Ctesias, because it stands only at the end of the chapter, 
 but that it is really borrowed from that writer is evident from the context. 
 
238 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 t'ilAP. [I. 
 
 CHAP. n. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 289 
 
 11' 
 
 ill 
 
 that silk might have been used as a medium of exchange for 
 gold, and that the most valuable production of China would 
 surely not have been suffered to remain a useless com- 
 modity in the hands of the merchant. The individuals in 
 question, then, were North Indians, that is, inhabitants of 
 Cabul and Badakshan, who travelled in numerous caravans 
 for the productions of China, which they either exported 
 themselves, or transmitted for that purpose to their neigh- 
 bours the Bactrians, in whose country the first principal 
 mart of the carrying trade for Media, as well as India Pro- 
 per, was most probably situated. At all events, these mer- 
 chants are represented as travelling through Bactra in order 
 to reach India '^ and Barygaza; but whether their route 
 was altogether by land, or partly down the Indus, can only 
 be determined by conjecture. The accounts we have of 
 Alexander s expedition evidently show, that an active navi- 
 gation must have existed on that river and its confluent 
 streams long before his arrival ; otherwise he could not in 
 so short a time have collected a sufficient number of vessels, 
 for enabling him to embark the greatest part of his army, 
 and so transport them down the Indus to its mouth, pass- 
 ing in his way by Pattala, a commercial port situate on the 
 delta of the river. 
 
 That part of our question which relates to the particular 
 routes by which this commerce was carried on, may be an- 
 swered by applying the accounts of later times, as the na- 
 ture of the subject will allow us to do, to the elucidation of 
 an earlier period. These accounts are furnished by Pto- 
 lemy,^^ who calculates the distances between the Euphrates 
 and Serica accordins; to the determinations of Marinus. He 
 mentions as a principal commercial station, a certam lithinos 
 pyrgos^ or stone tower, which was situate under the same 
 parallel of latitude (42°) as Byzantium and the capital of 
 the Seres, from which latter place it was seven months 
 journey distant. The approach to this tower was through 
 a defile at the point of junction between the north and south 
 chains of the Imaus, that is, where the great mountain range 
 
 70 
 
 Accordinff to the latest Russian accounts, the j)rincipal rendezvous of the 
 caravans which set out for India, Persia, and Asiatic Russia, as well as Cliin;i, 
 is the modern Bokhara. So that what the ancient Bactra was formerly, 
 Bokhara is now. 
 ^' Ptol. i. cap. 11, 12. 
 
 of Taurus, on the western frontier of Little Bucharia, di- 
 vides itself into two branches, skirting the vast plain of the 
 desert of Gobi. 
 
 It is only within these few years that additional light has 
 been thrown on this statement of Ptolemy ; and the tower 
 itself, so interesting a monument for the history of com- 
 merce, been actually proved to exist. We are indebted for 
 this information to Wilford, who had it from a Russian of 
 the name of Czernichev, who had been made prisoner on 
 the frontiers of Siberia by the Kalmucks, and sold as a slave 
 to the Usbeck Tatars. In the year 1780, his master, who 
 was a merchant, went to trade from Bokhara to Cashgar, 
 Yarkand, and Cashmir; and being pleased with his be- 
 haviour, gave hini his liberty; upon which, in company 
 with some Armenians, he came to Lucknow, where he was 
 reheved by Sir Eyre Coote, whose generosity enabled him 
 to revisit his native country. According to the Russian's 
 narrative of his travels,'^ Wilford says, " The elevated plains 
 of Meru are, perhaps, the highest spot, or at least the high- 
 est flat, in the old continent. Its height towards India and 
 China is prodigious : it is not so considerable toward the 
 north, and is still less toward the north-west, w^here the 
 ascent between the stone-tower and the station of the mer- 
 chants trading to China, is by no means very diflJcult. 
 The stone-tower still exists under the name of Chihel-Sutun, 
 or the Forty Columns,^^ and is famous all over these coun- 
 tries. The station of the merchants is still their place of 
 rendezvous to this day, and is called Takhti-Suleiman, or 
 the Throne of Solomon. The tower is at the extremity of 
 a small branch, jutting out of a range of mountains to the 
 left of the road, or to the north, and which projects toward 
 tlie south, and ends abruptly in the middle of a plain.^* Its 
 
 ^ Asiatic Res. vol. viii. p. 323. 
 
 "* ^u^ ^"^"^ ^^ Persepolis are also called by the Persians Chehl-MenAr, 
 agreeably to their usual custom of expressing an indefinite number by the use 
 ot a definite, such ^% forty. Can this tower be the Temple of the Sun, men- 
 iioned by Ctesias in the eighth chapter of his Indica ? See Persians, p. 94. 
 
 In 41° N. lat., 69" &' E. long. [In the maps hitherto pubHshed, the geo- 
 graphy of these countries is extremely defective. The new Atlas by Sidney 
 Hall has a place called Takhti-Suleiman laid down in lat. 31" 20", which ia 
 much too far south to be in the route of merchants travelling from Bokhara 
 JO thma; to say nothing of its being represented on the left bank of the 
 inaus, on a plain, and far away from any mountains. Transl ] 
 
 VOL. II. XT 
 
290 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 11. 
 
 CHAP. II< 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 291 
 
 extremity, consisting of a solid rock, has been cut into a 
 regular shape, with two rows, each of twenty columns. 
 The front part is in a very ruinous condition, and the up- 
 per row of columns remains suspended from the top ; the 
 columns below answering to them, with their entablature, 
 having been destroyed. It is a most wonderful work, and 
 ascribed by the natives to supernatural agents, as usual." 
 The latest Russian information which we have been able to 
 procure, relative to Bokhara, serves to confirm the above 
 account! Bokhara is now what Bactra formerly was, the 
 grand mart of Indo-Chinese traffic. Upwards of three hun- 
 dred Banians are established there, and the road leading 
 from thence to India through Bactra, which is twelve days 
 journey distant, is still in common use. The route from 
 Bokhara to China passes through Samarcand, Cocan, Takhti- 
 Suleiman, or the Stone-tower, and the neighbouring town 
 of Owsh, where the mountains begin. 
 
 This tower so called was therefore a building of consider- 
 able extent ; probably a large caravanserai, with a sanctuary 
 attached. According to the Russian accounts, it is still 
 much frequented by pilgrims: it is here also we find the 
 miraculous stone,^^ said to be of sovereign application in all 
 diseases. At the entrance of the desert, some such monu- 
 mental edifice as the above would naturally enough be re- 
 quired, and therefore easily become an important commercial 
 station. By means of this building, it is easy to determine 
 the particular route as well as the length of time employed 
 by the Hindu merchants in their journey to China.^^ K 
 we assume Cabul, or rather Bactra, as their place of de- 
 parture, the expedition would take a north-easterly direction 
 as far as the forty-first degree of north latitude. It would 
 then have to ascend the mountains, and so arrive at the 
 stone-tower through the defile of Hoshan or Owsh. From 
 hence the route led by Cashgar, beyond the mountains, to 
 
 '» Qu. The stone called Yusche probably ? ^ „ v 
 
 '• The route of Czemichev from Cogend to Cashgar is as follows, from 
 Cogend to Cucan, two days' journey ; to Marhelan, one day ; to Gheraba and 
 Chihel-Sutun, two days ; to the pass of Hoshan, one day ; to the lead mines, 
 ten days ; to Girrel and the entrance into the plains, two days ; to Cashgar, 
 one day. In a " Chart of the Country of the Kirgheez Tatars," (Weimar, 
 1804,) designed after a Russian MS., we meet with the following P aces: 
 Cucan (Kotschan); Machalan (Murgalan); the defile of Hoshan (Adjan); 
 and Cashgar ; with the distances marked as above. 
 
 the borders of the great desert of Cobi, which it traversed 
 probably through Khoten and Aksu (the Casia and Auxazia 
 of Ptolemy) : from these ancient towns the road lay through 
 Koshotei to Se-Chou on the frontiers of China, and thence 
 to Pekin, a place of great antiquity, if we are to understand 
 it as the metropolis of Serica, which, indeed, the accounts 
 of Ptolemy would hardly leave any room to doubt.^^ The 
 whole distance amounts to upwards of two thousand five 
 hundred miles ; and though the journey to and fro, together 
 with the necessary delays there, is said to have required a 
 space of no less than three years to accomplish, we shall 
 not be disposed to consider this calculation exaggerated.^^ 
 
 But the Periplus mentions another route, by which silk 
 was imported into India: viz. down the Ganges to its 
 mouth, and from thence to Limyrica."^^ This way, thouo-h 
 it was the shortest, was yet the most diflScult, as it must 
 have passed through the lofty mountains of Thibet, in the 
 heart of which the Ganges has its source. Nevertheless, 
 whatever hinderances nature might have opposed to such a 
 route, it is, however, certain that motives of religion and a 
 thirst of gain have been able to overcome them, and have 
 done so for a long time. In prescribing to its votaries the 
 duty of pilgrimage to the sovereign pontiff, who resides in 
 the interior of Thibet, the religion of Lama furnishes strong 
 inducements to undertake the journey. We are in posses- 
 sion of an itinerary of the Dalai Lama himself, from his resi- 
 dence to Pekin, whither he had been invited by the em- 
 peror Kien-Long, and where he died of the small-pox.^ 
 
 " The latitude given by Ptolemy is nearly correct 
 
 "^ Among the moderns who have travelled this route, we may notice the 
 missionary Goez. He proceeded to Pekin from Cabul, by way of Samar- 
 cand, Cashgar, and Yerkand, at which latter place the caravan from Cabul 
 exchanged their merchandise with another coming from China. Purchas- 
 Pilf/ritn, vol. iii. p. 312. 
 
 " PeripluSy loc. cit. 
 
 *** This journey was undertaken in the year 1780; and an authentic ac- 
 count of it will be found in Turner's Embassy to Thibet, p. 443, 45/. The 
 principal stations on the road were Ducbu, situate on a river of the same 
 name, forty-six days' journey ; Tuktharing, twenty-five ; the town of Cumbu- 
 Gumbaw, nineteen, where the Grand Lama was detained four months by a 
 heavy fall of snow ; the town of Tumdatelu, fifteen ; Nissaur, nine ; Karam- 
 bu, thirty ; Tolowar, twenty-nine ; Singhding, fifteen ; as far as which latter 
 the emperor had come to meet him. The Lama only reached Pekin a year 
 after leaving his residence in Thibet. It is worthy of remark, that the pre- 
 sents made him by the emperor, consisting of silks, pearls, and furs, are pre- 
 cisely similar to those so often occurring in the Ramayana. 
 
 u 2 
 
 
292 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 293 
 
 This itinerary, however, containing only the names of 
 towns with which we are otherwise unacquainted, and sup- 
 plying? no accurate determinations of their geography, will 
 not throw much light upon the subject. Nevertheless, every 
 thing concurs to prove that some such commercial route 
 must have already existed in the time of the Periplus : and 
 thoucrh we are, indeed, unable to assign the particular sta- 
 tionsT yet as in after-times merchandise was usually con- 
 veyed down the Ganges, it is quite certain that the route in 
 question must have followed the course of that river, and 
 consequently have proceeded from the south-west of China. 
 The modern route passes by a town called Teshu-Lumbo, 
 situate in 29° 4' 20" N. lat. and 89° T E. long. ; and as it 
 reaches the Ganges in a direct line from hence, there is less 
 reason to doubt the probability of its being also the ancient 
 one. Teshu-Lumbo is a place in Thibet where the great 
 commercial roads cross each other ; and Mr. Turner, from 
 his residence, was able to see at once the roads leading to 
 China, to Nepal, Mongolia, and to Cashmir, through Ladak, 
 the principal market for shawl- wool, and the point of junc- 
 tion for the road leading from Cashgar.^* 
 
 At the mouth of the Ganges, merchandise was conveyed 
 to a town of the same name ; situate probably in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Duliapur, to the south-cast of Calcutta, and 
 on the central branch of the river.«^ The Periplus does not 
 inform us in what way the transport of goods was effected 
 from hence to the last Hindu market, Limyrica ; but as the 
 whole coast of Coromandel was navigated, we can scarcely 
 doubt that it took place by sea. 
 
 The passage above quoted from Ctesias evidently shows 
 that the first described route by land is much older than 
 the Periplus ; but whether the second has an equal claim 
 to remote origin, must be left undetermined. That articles 
 of silk, however, were imported into India from China by 
 one or other of the two routes, if not by both, as early as 
 
 •' Turner, p. 296. , . . , „„nt 
 
 « According to Mannert, vol. v. p. 232. Its situation, however, cannot 
 be defined with precision. It was not merely the enriporium for Chniese 
 commerce, but also for the productions of Bengal particularly fine mus ms. 
 As the Ganges, with its tributary streams, formed the high road of inlami 
 commerce, we can hardly doubt that the commercial town situate at us 
 mouth was a place of considerable importance. 
 
 the composition of the Ramayana, is too well established to 
 admit of the least doubt. 
 
 Silk, however, was not the only article of commerce 
 which India received from China. The Periplus mentions 
 a second, under the name of " skins from Serica,"^^ an ex- 
 pression which may be understood in two different senses, 
 either as denoting furs or prepared leather. Whichever 
 mode of interpretation be adopted, the skins certainly came 
 from the land of the Seres. In the first case, supposing 
 furriery to be intended, the expression would prove, that 
 one branch of the fiar trade, of which we have already 
 spoken in our inquiry into the Scythians, must have been 
 transmitted through Serica into India ; and the supposition 
 is confirmed by a passage in the introduction to the Maha- 
 bharat.^* In the second case, assuming these "skins" to 
 have been dressed or prepared, it is not at all improbable 
 that the preparation of Morocco, and the finer kinds of 
 leather, was formerly as well known in Asia as at the pre- 
 sent day, being still indispensable for the manufacture of • 
 slippers, usually worn by the great people of both sexes. 
 But what may be considered as certain is, that this species 
 of commerce existed long before the time of the Periplus, 
 and was indeed of very remote antiquity. In the Rama- 
 yana we find skins of animals^^ mentioned among the nuptial 
 presents made to a king's daughter, that is, to Sita, together 
 with shawls, garments of silk, and precious stones. So 
 that, whether we understand the term to imply fine leather 
 or furs, the skins in question were obviously, in either case, 
 of considerable value, and an article of foreign merchandise. 
 The Periplus describes a third branch of commerce, as 
 remarkable as the mode of procuring it was attended with 
 difficulty. We shall quote the passage entire : " It is not 
 easy," says the writer,"^ " to arrive at Thina, and but few 
 individuals have made the journey and returned back again. 
 This country is situate under the Little Bear, and is said to 
 touch upon the Black and Caspian Seas, at the point where 
 the lake Maeotis empties itself into the latter. Every year 
 
 ^ i'spHara YrjpiKd. Perij^lics^ p. 22. 
 These skins are translated hy pelles villosce in Frank's ChrestomatK 
 iianscrU. vol. i. p. 147. 
 •* " Deer-skins." Ramayana, i. 605. 
 " Periplm, p. 36, 37. 
 
294 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 295 
 
 Aere come to the borders of Thina a set of ill-formed, broad- 
 faced, and flat-nosed people, who are called Sesatae,^^ and 
 resemble savages ; they bring with them their wives and 
 children, and carry great burdens in mats, which look like 
 vine-branches. They stop short at a certain place between 
 their own territory and that of Thina, where seated on their 
 mats they celebrate a kind of festival, which lasts for some 
 davs'- and afterwards they return home into their own coun- 
 trv ' The natives of Thina then arrive upon the ground, 
 collect the mats left by the strangers take out the haulm 
 which forms the betre so called,«« and, joining the leaves 
 together, make the whole up into balls through which they 
 pass the fibres of the haulm. Of this there are three seveml 
 kinds, the large, middle, and small, prepared in the above 
 manner, and conveyed by the persons whose occupation it is 
 to prepare it, into India. The country situate beyond Thma 
 is unexplored, either in consequence of cold and severe frosts, 
 which render travelling thither very difficult, or because the 
 ^ immortals have so willed it." From this description we 
 come to the following natural conclusions, viz. 
 
 First. The pecuhar kind of merchandise here alluded to, 
 though not expressly mentioned by name, can evidently be 
 no other than the betel, that is to say, the areca-nut, en- 
 veloped in the leaves of betel, which, as is well known, the 
 Orientals are in the general habit of chewing. The method 
 of preparation described above, though not altogether cor- 
 rect is yet, however, sufficiently so in its essential points. 
 The betel is a species of pepper, the fruit grows on a vine, 
 and the leaves are employed to wrap up the areca-nut. 
 
 Secondly. The people called Sesatae belong to the Mon- 
 crol family; audit is scarcely possible to describe them m 
 more striking colours than in the passage before us. Ihey 
 are nomads, and travel for purposes of commerce to the 
 borders of Serica ; the festival they celebrate, as is usually 
 the case, is at the same time also a fair. The goods they 
 
 ^ Besatse by Ptolemy. , , x^- •. • • « ;« ♦v.o rjrppk 
 
 « nlrpoc We cannot mistake the Hindu name surviving in t^ie Greek 
 appellatfon: the term elsewhere used in the P^^P^^^ ^^^^enote be te^^^^^ 
 u;^/3a0pov, (Vincent, vol. u. p. 735,) which is also applied to the preparea 
 K. ^h; names of the three kinds are Malabathrum hadrosph^ruin^ m^^^ 
 sosphsrum, and microsphamm. It is evident, therefore, that the passage 
 alludes to the preparation of betel. 
 
 bring with them are disposed of to the Seres, by whom they 
 are subsequently transmitted to the Indian markets. 
 
 And thirdly. This fair must have been held in some 
 northern country ; because Thina itself was situated so far 
 north as to touch upon that region, which is represented to 
 be inaccessible on account of the extreme rigour of the 
 climate. 
 
 In this last point, however, lies all the difficulty ; as the 
 betel grows only in warm countries, in the two Indian penin- 
 sulas, in Malabar and Arracan,^^ and consequently could 
 not have been brought into India from any distance north 
 of the latter. The solution adopted by Vincent, who sup- 
 poses it to have been imported from Arracan by the Ta- 
 tars of Thibet, does not seem to bring us any nearer the 
 truth.^ The author of the Periplus evidently places the 
 mart in question far north ; and makes the Sesatai inhabit- 
 ants of Middle Asia, under the same parallel as the Black 
 and Caspian Seas, and, in fact, as the lake Mseotis, which is 
 the most northerly part of the former. 
 
 At the same time, however, it is impossible to deny that 
 the author of the above work must have had very confused 
 notions of these northern countries, which he had never 
 visited himself, but drew all his information from hearsay. 
 Can we, therefore, do him any wrong, or offend against the 
 laws of true criticism, if we venture to assume that he has, 
 in the passage before us, confounded two very different nar- 
 rations, one relating to the northern traffic and its commer- 
 cial mart, and the other to the traffic in betel, which he 
 has incorrectly stated to belong to the former ? We shall 
 not take upon ourselves to decide this point ; but that the 
 
 S9 
 
 And so, indeed, the author of the Periplus himself had before correctly 
 stated in p. 32, when speaking of Nelkynda, that the Malabathrum was 
 brought thither from the interior, that is, from Malabar. 
 
 " Vincent, vol. ii. p. 52/. By the Tatars, Vincent understands those of 
 Lassa, or Thibet. But the inhabitants of the latter country have no sort of 
 resemblance to the Mongol physiognomy. Wilford, in the Asiatic Res, 
 vol. ix. p. 60, gives another explanation, according to which, the Sesatae, or 
 Besatae, were a nomad tribe on the frontiers of l^engal, supporting themselves 
 by the occupation of basket-making. This opinion, however, will not serve 
 to explain the difficulty in question, as the Sesatse of Arrian are located in 
 countries much further north than Bengal. It is much more likely that the 
 author has here confounded two different narrations. Nor does it seem diffi- 
 cult to account for the fact, in supposing him to have mistaken Thina for 
 Tzina, which latter appellation was used even by Cosmas to designate China. 
 
296 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 297 
 
 Sesatae of the Peri plus were a nomad Mongol tribe, appears 
 to be as little questionable as the fact of their residing, not 
 in Southern Thibet, but in Middle Asia, which is obvious 
 from the description itself Supposing them to have been 
 as is probable enough from their origin and place of resi- 
 dence, a branch of the Issedones of Herodotus, whom we 
 have already seen to be a nomad mercantile people,^* this 
 circumstance would serve to explain the commercial inter- 
 course carried on through Central Asia, and establish the 
 existence of a regular chain of mercantile nations, extendino; 
 from China to India, as well as to the Black Sea. At all 
 events, we are fully justified in applying these accounts of 
 the Periplus, not merely to the time in which that work 
 was composed, but also to the elucidation of an earlier pe- 
 riod. The use of betel is very ancient in India ; and, be- 
 sides, the northern commerce just noticed stood in no kind 
 of connexion with that of Alexandria, and consequently, 
 therefore, could not originate from that source. 
 
 The second direction which the commerce of India took 
 was towards the east, that is, to the Ultra-Gangetic penin- 
 sula, comprising the countries of Ava, Pegu, and Malacca. 
 These are not, it is true, expressly so mentioned in ancient 
 Hindu records ; but the pundits are unanimous in under- 
 standing Anga, the powerful sovereign of which country is 
 noticed in the Ramayana,^ to mean Ava ;^' and Yamala is 
 interpreted by Malacca.^ The traffic with these countries 
 would of course be carried on by sea only, though the trans- 
 mission of goods across the Bay of Bengal could not be at- 
 tended with much difficulty. That this navigation existed 
 in the time of the Periplus, is evident from that work itself* 
 as it actually mentions a place situate on the Coromandel 
 coast, from which the passage was usually made to Chrysa.""* 
 This appellation is manifestly used by Ptolemy to denote 
 Malacca ; ^ but in the Periplus it seems to be applied in- 
 differently to the whole region on that side the Ganges. 
 How far the commercial intercourse with this country ex- 
 tended beyond the time of the Periplus, cannot be cleter- 
 
 *' See the chapter on the Scythians. 
 
 " Mamayana.i. 159. "=* Ibid. i. 119, et ib. not. 
 
 " WiLFORD, in the Asiatic Res. vol. viii. n. 302. 
 
 ^ PertplnSf p. 34. * See Mannert, vol. v. p. 242, sq. 
 
 mined with certainty ; as no particular kind of merchandise 
 is there mentioned which would enable us to ascertain the 
 question, if we except gold, from the abundance of which, 
 the Greeks gave the peninsula its name of Chryse, whence 
 we may very reasonably infer that metal to have been an 
 article of foreign export. Nevertheless, the antiquity of 
 this connexion may be inferred from other sources; because, 
 in the first place, the Hindus themselves were in the habit 
 of constructing vessels, in which they navigated the coast of 
 Coromandel, and also made voyages to the Ganges, and the 
 peninsula beyond it. These vessels bore different names 
 according to their size.^ Nothing, indeed, could furnish 
 better proof that this commerce did not originate from an 
 intercourse with the Greeks, but was the sole product of 
 ancient native industry ; a fact which receives additional 
 confirmation from the existence of commercial towns and 
 ports on the Coromandel coast, from time immemorial. 
 Masulipatam, with its cloth manufactures, as well as the 
 mercantile town situate above the mouth of the Ganges, 
 have already been noticed as existing in the time of the 
 Periplus; and if we allow these places to have been, even 
 then, very ancient, of which there is scarcely any doubt, 
 have we not also equal reason for believing their commerce 
 and navigation to be so too ? The coast of Coromandel, 
 especially the southern part, is represented by Ptolemy to 
 have been thickly studded with a series of commercial 
 towns ; a circumstance which may not improbably serve to 
 throw some light on the ruins of the wonderful city, Mavali- 
 purain, already described.^ Even as early as that writer s 
 time it was called '' a place of commerce," (Emporium,) 
 
 " Periplus, loc. cit. The smallest kind, formed of a single piece of tinibe r, 
 [fiovo^vXa,) and used for navigating along the coast, were called sanqara ; the 
 larger sort, m which voyages were made to Malacca, bore the name oUolan- 
 '(lop/ionta. This last appears to be a compound term. Are they both of 
 Malay ongin? If so, it would prove the navigation in question to have been 
 earned on by the Malays, a fact of which there appears to be little doubt, 
 iney are not to be found in Marsden's Dictionary of the Malay, though we 
 might reasonably expect the insertion of naval terms ; but there are several 
 Hords very much hke them, which tend to support the above conjecture 
 
 LLoIandiophonta has been derived from the Hindustani, coilati-fH-mta, 
 coi an boats or ships ; pota, in Sanscrit, signifies a boat or ship, and di, or da, 
 m the western parts of India, is either an adjective form, or the mark of the 
 genitive case. Astatic Res. vol. v. p. 2S3. Transl.] 
 
 " See above, p. 79. 
 
298 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP, n* 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 299 
 
 that is, if we assume his Maharpha to be the same as Mava- 
 lipuram, a supposition which its geographical site and the 
 macrnificence and extent of its buildings abundantly tend to 
 confirm In what sense Mavalipuram might become a 
 town of very great commercial importance, is clearly shown 
 bv its peculiar situation ; and admitting it to have been at 
 a remote epoch the central point of intermediate commerce 
 between the two Indian peninsulas, similar to what Malacca 
 became in subsequent ages, we have then a sufficient reason 
 to account for its splendour. 
 
 The same observation will also apply to the neighbouring 
 isle of Ceylon. It was through the followers of Alexander 
 that the fame of Taprobana, as the first of Indian islands, 
 and its pearl-fisheries, became known in Europe, and in- 
 creased with the progress of time. In the accounts of 
 Ptolemy, we find its shores well furnished with commercial 
 ports -99 and if we cannot venture to refer the precise in- 
 formation which this author gives, not only of the coast, but 
 also of the interior of Ceylon, to a Phoemcian source, yet 
 the stupendous monuments, still found there, are amply 
 sufficient to show, that at some distant time, as we know 
 also to have been the case, according to Cosnias, even in 
 the sixth century,^^ this island was the centre of Hindu com- 
 
 -Sll'Si^sf.. apud MoNTFAUCON, Bihl Patr,.o\A\. p. 336. 
 The whok passage is too important, in reference to Ceylon and the ancien 
 ^mmerce o^India, to be onlitted here. " Taprobana called by the Hindus 
 SeSv (Sinhala-Dwipa,) is a lar^e island in the Indian Ocean where he 
 hyS-stone (ruby) is found; it !s opposite to ^»}f .W^/.^TalK 
 hirV and in the vicinity are numerous other small islands (the Maimyes). 
 IHs governed by two kings, one of whom rules in the country of the hyacint - 
 «tonef ISrmoSn trac4 of the interior,) and the other on the coast, with 
 itX4bours"o^^^^ towns. From all India, Persia, and Ethiopia 
 
 hotwTen S cor/ri^ is situate in the middle, an infimte number of 
 veS arrive at'"' as go from, Ceylon. From the interior of the conti- 
 Tent L for instance! from China, {rlJrM and other commercial countnes, 
 S reccTv^s s aloes cloves, and other Foduetions^ which ^t^xpo^s to Ma^ 
 labar fMaXa,) where the pepper grows, and to Calhene, from whence is 
 Waht stee and cloth ; for this latter is also a ereat commercial port. It 
 Ukewt l^lv^t^^^^^ni. to Sinde on the borSers of India, whence comes 
 «,.T nrid Vistoreum- and also to Persia, Yemen, and Adule. From all 
 Te e cott^'sTrr^^^^^ articles of produce, which again it ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 the interior, together with its own P.^-^^/Jf *»^".«,- ,, ^4^^^^^^^ 
 great emporium; and being situate m the f^^^^^/^^^^^^^ 
 chandise from, as well as sends it to, all parts of the world. J^ \s;liereio^ 
 evident, from 'this passage, that Ceylon was, m the y^jJ^^W f our ^^^^^^^ 
 principal mart of the carrying trade of India ; and that it was so three nun 
 
 merce • for which purpose, indeed, its natural situation and 
 commodious havens afforded singular opportunities. 
 
 The western coast of the peninsula on this side the 
 Ganges, contained in the time of the Periplus a chain of 
 ports, of which Barygaza in the north, and Muziris, toge- 
 ther with Nelkynda, in the south, were the most consider- 
 able. The first is Beroach, not many years since reduced 
 by the British arms, and which in modern times has lost 
 much of its ancient splendour, owing to the neighbourhood 
 of Surat ; Muziris in Limyrica, will be found in the present 
 Mangalore; and Nelkynda survives in Neliceram.^ Pat- 
 tala, which was a place of considerable importance even in 
 Alexander's time, would appear to be more ancient than the 
 former ; according to the illustrations furnished by Pottin- 
 ger, tliis town is not to be identified with Tatta, as was once 
 supposed, but with the modern Hydrabad,^ situate on the 
 Delta of the Indus, in lat. 25. If, as it is said, Ae word 
 Pattala, in Sanscrit, means " a commercial town," this cir- 
 cumstance would prove the extreme antiquity of the navi- 
 gation carried on by the Indus ; and Agatharchides,^ who 
 wrote upwards of three hundred years before the time of 
 the Periplus, had previously noticed the active commercial 
 intercourse kept up between Pattala and Yemen. Of the 
 other towns, we shall only mention Calliene, the modern 
 
 dred years earlier, in the time of Ptolemy, is also certain, from that author's 
 own account. And so it was also in the time of the emperor Claudius, ac- 
 cording to Pliny, Hist. Nat. vi. 24. From this writer, who quotes the testi- 
 mony of ancient historians, {prisci memorant,) namely, those of Alexander's 
 age, " who first discovered Taprobana to be an island," we learn that Ceylon 
 enjoyed this commercial reputation in the time of the Ptolemies, and even in 
 that of Alexander. If we extend this period but a century and a half further 
 back, which no one, surely, will consider unreasonable, we come at once to 
 the interesting historical fact, that during a space of a thousand years, that 
 is, from 500 before Christ to 500 after, the island of Ceylon, so conveniently 
 situated for such a purpose, continued to be the great emporium of the Hindu 
 carrying trade, from Adule on the coast of Africa, Yemen, Malabar, and the 
 Ultra-Gangetic peninsula, even to China. On the other hand, in the my- 
 thology and in the oldest epic poems of India, Ceylon does not at all appear 
 in this matter-of-fact shape, but only as the land of fable ; a circumstance, 
 however, which tends to estabUsh its claim to remote antiquity. With re- 
 gard to the ancient monuments still existing in Ceylon, particulariv the rums 
 of Mandotta, and the gigantic reservoirs to be found there and at Tnncoma- 
 lee, see especially Bertolacci's View of the ar/ricultural, commercial, and 
 finamial Interest of Ceyhn, London, 1817. See Appendix XII. 
 
 * See the map in Vincent's edition of the Periplus, These places are 
 somewhat differently laid down in Mannert. ^ 
 
 ' See on the Persians, vol. i. ' Geogr. Mm, i. p. 06. 
 
300 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. H. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 301 
 
 Gallian, situate over against Bombay and the islands of Sal- 
 sette and Elephanta, as a proof that in the vicinity of these 
 famous sanctuaries, commerce had once fixed her abode. 
 Calliene is expressly mentioned as having been formerly a 
 place of considerable importance, but that its decay was 
 owing to a certain king, named Sandanes."* 
 
 From these and other similar towns, the commerce of In- 
 dia was directed towards the west. We have already ob- 
 served that it would be precipitate to apply what the Peri- 
 plus reports of their flourishing condition to an earlier 
 period; because the commercial prosperity alluded to in 
 that work, originated altogether in the direct intercourse of 
 India with Egypt ; which only commenced under the 
 Romans, and was not even in existence during the Ptole- 
 mies. Independently of this, however, a very ancient con- 
 nexion subsisted betw^een India and Arabia, and mediately 
 with Egypt also, by means of the commercial towns estab- 
 lished on the Nile as well as on the Euphrates and Tigris. 
 This point has been already in great measure ascertained, 
 in the course of our inquiries into the Phoenicians and Ba- 
 bylonians; and will receive additional confirmation when 
 we come to treat of the Egyptians and Ethiopians. With- 
 out, therefore, repeating what has been formerly said on an- 
 other occasion, or anticipating the regular series of our re- 
 marks, we shall content ourselves with observing in this 
 place, that if Arabia drew largely upon the productions of 
 India, yet in its turn this latter country w^as no less indebted 
 to those of the former. Frankincense forms an article of 
 commerce peculiar to Arabia, though in part originally im- 
 ported thither from Africa. Now we have already shown 
 how general was the use of this perfume in India, and yet, 
 according to the express testimony of the Periplus,^ it all 
 came from Arabia ; from which country, indeed, India, in 
 common with the rest of the world, must have derived her 
 supplies of that article from the earliest times. 
 
 Besides this commercial intercourse between India and 
 
 * Periplus, p. 30. 
 
 * PeriphiSf p. 18. The principal mart of the frankincense trade on the 
 coast of Arabia, was Mocha ; to which place vessels came from Barygaza and 
 Limyrica, and received in exchange for cotton goods, etc., the incense from 
 the king's officers. From this it would appear that the trade in question, at 
 Mocha, was a royal monopoly. 
 
 Arabia, the t^eriplus informs us of another scarcely less re- 
 markable trade, carried on with the opposite coast of Africa ; 
 comprised by us under the general denomination of Zan- 
 guebar, that is, the Black, or Caffre coast. After having 
 enumerated the commercial stations as far as the promontory 
 of Rhapta, now called Delgado,^ which was the most south- 
 erly point of his geographical knowledge, and after describ- 
 ing their mercantile relations with Egypt, the author con- 
 tinues,^ '^ Moreover, indigenous productions, such as corn, 
 rice, butter,^ oil of sesamum, coarse and fine cotton goods, 
 and cane honey, (which we call sugar,) are regularly ex- 
 ported from the interior of Ariaka, (Concan,) and from Ba- 
 rygaza to the opposite coast. Some particular vessels are 
 purposely destined for this trade, others engage in it only as 
 occasion or opportunity offer." It is obvious that the navi- 
 gation just noticed, could have had no sort of connexion 
 with the Graeco-Indian commerce ; but was perfectly inde- 
 pendent, and for that reason, of much earlier origin than the 
 other. From what follows, it is also evident that both the 
 persons and vessels engaged in this trade were Arabian ; for 
 the whole coast, though parcelled out among several petty 
 chiefs, was nevertheless dependent on Arabian princes.^ 
 But further, observes Arrian, " This navigation was regu- 
 larly managed ; " an expression which, as applied in refer- 
 ence to those seas, can mean nothing else than that it was 
 regulated according to the monsoons. Here, then, we have 
 an indisputable proof of the existence in very ancient times 
 of a maritime commerce, carried on by the Arabians be- 
 tween India and the opposite coast of Africa ; we see in 
 what manner, and by whom, the productions of the former 
 country were conveyed into the latter; though it is possible, 
 indeed, that the importation of Indian produce into Africa, 
 
 " Situate in lat. 10*' South. See Vincent's map, vol. ii. p. 121. 
 ' PeriplKs, p. 8. 
 
 * Ghee, or melted butter; an indispensable requisite in India, for religious 
 as well as common purposes. It appears also to haye^been known to Cte- 
 siAS ; for the " oil of milk," noticed by him in his Indica^ cap. xxii., can be 
 nothing else. We may remark, by the way, that several of the stories related 
 by this writer, and which have usually been considered as incongruous ab- 
 surdities, may be explained in a similar manner. His Cynocephali, for in- 
 stance, or people with the head of a dog, appear to mean the Pariahs, or 
 some other impure caste. 
 
 • Periplus, p. 10, 18. 
 
302 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. 11. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 303 
 
 by means of the intermediate traders of Arabia Felix, was 
 much more considerable. '* Here," says the Periplus, " was 
 Muza, (the present Mocha,) wholly inhabited by Arab ship- 
 owners and sailors, who traded at the opposite port of Bary- 
 gaza, with the productions of their native country." ^^ 
 
 It is surprising, that under this head the Periplus makes 
 no mention of gold. Now, the eastern coast of Africa, to- 
 wards the south, contained precisely those countries where 
 this metal is found ; and when we observe in later times, 
 that the exchange of African gold for the spices and cloth 
 of India was of regular occurrence, and considering more- 
 over that similar commercial transactions took place on the 
 Indian Ocean both before that time and afterwards, we are 
 naturally led to inquire whether the exchange above men- 
 tioned did not exist also at a much earlier period. In the 
 time of the Periplus, the establishments, or at least the do- 
 minion of the Arabs on the African coast, extended as far 
 down as Rhapta ;" and when Pliny wrote, the same adven- 
 turers had already naturalized themselves in Ceylon ; and 
 had even introduced their religious worship into that islands- 
 Admitting then the fact of the Arabs having navigated the 
 Indian seas, can we possibly imagine them to have neg- 
 lected an article of commerce, which, more than any thing 
 else, was calculated to excite their love of gain ? It is true, 
 indeed, that we have no positive testimony in support of the 
 direct commercial intercourse between India and the east- 
 ern shores of Africa ; but then if we conceive the navigation 
 to Ophir as extending not merely to Yemen, but also with 
 great probability to Africa, we have immediate proof that 
 the gold countries of the latter were well known even in the 
 time of Solomon, and that the natives of Yemen enriched 
 themselves by the discovery. In this manner, therefore, it 
 might, if not by direct means, yet at least indirectly, find its 
 way into India ; a circumstance which will also serve to ex- 
 plain the great abundance of this precious metal in the lat- 
 ter country. 
 
 Whatever opinion we may choose to entertain on this 
 point, for I merely adduce the above as a probable conjec- 
 ture, yet the early navigation of the Indian seas, and the 
 
 •» Periplus, p. 12. " Ibid. p. 10. " Pliny, vi. 24. 
 
 commercial intercourse of the surrounding nations, are facts 
 not the less generally certain. They are indeed completely 
 established by the consumption of Indian produce in the 
 Western world ; that is, in Egypt and Western Asia. Nor 
 is it less true, that from time immemorial the Arabs, as a 
 seafaring people, had monopolized the whole carrying trade 
 of the Indian Ocean ; and continued in undisturbed posses- 
 sion till the discoveries of the Portuguese. 
 
 The preceding observations, referring as they do to Africa, 
 naturally bring us to a point which I have reserved for the 
 termination of this part of our inquiry ; as it prepares us, in 
 some measure, for the transition from Asia to Africa ; I 
 mean the affinity existing between the Hindus and the 
 Egyptians. By the term affinity, I would merely under- 
 stand the resemblance discoverable between the two na- 
 tions ; as it is by no means my design to attempt deducing 
 the origin of either from the other. When I shall have 
 placed in juxtaposition, not only the various points of re- 
 semblance, but also the peculiar shades of difference which 
 distinguish both people, I shall then leave it to the reader 
 to determine whether such comparison leads to the conclu- 
 sion that one is derived from the other. With regard, how- 
 ever, to my application of the term people, it is necessary 
 to observe beforehand, that I merely allude to the higher 
 classes, or castes, of each nation ; as, on account of the 
 greater degree of interest attached to their superior civiliza- 
 tion, they may not unreasonably be said to comprehend the 
 whole people respectively. 
 
 Upon comparing, then, the Egyptians and Hindus toge- 
 ther, many and very remarkable points of resemblance will 
 certainly strike the observer. First of all, we notice a phy- 
 sical similarity in colour, and in the conformation of the 
 head ; the brighter complexion of the higher Indian castes 
 has been already mentioned, and the ancient paintings still 
 found in Egypt attest the same peculiarity with regard to 
 the upper classes of the latter country ; a fact which will be 
 incontestably demonstrated in the volume on the Egyptians. 
 As to the form of the head, I have now before me the skulls 
 of a mummy and a native of Bengal, from the collection of 
 M. Blumenbach ; and it is impossible to conceive any thing 
 
304 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. Ii. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 more striking than the resemblance between the two, both 
 as respects the general form, and the structure of the firm 
 portions. Indeed, the learned possessor himself considers 
 them to be the most alike of any in his numerous collection. 
 
 But the resemblances we discover between these two 
 people, upon comparing their civil and religious polity, 
 their arts, customs, and manner of life, are no less striking, 
 while they are much more varied than the other. 
 
 The constitution of the ancient Hindu and Egyptian 
 states evidently bears the same character. Both were sacer- 
 dotal ; legislation, and every other species of science, was 
 in the exclusive possession of a caste or tribe of priests, who 
 also confined the power of the sovereign ; elected, in both 
 cases, not from their own body, but from the warrior castes. 
 The same form is observable in the courts of these limited 
 monarchs; their authority and occupations, as well as fa- 
 miliar connexions, are perfectly similar. 
 
 The rise and progress of these states in political civiliza- 
 tion appear to have followed the same course. Originally, 
 Egypt also contained several petty communities; which, 
 however, owing to their limited extent, might be consolidated 
 into one great kingdom, more easily and more permanently 
 than was possible in India, where nature, by the interposi- 
 tion of lofty mountains, pathless deserts, and broad and rapid 
 streams, has thrown almost insuperable obstacles in the way 
 of such a union. 
 
 In both countries, the constitution was based on a division 
 of caste ; which, as far as the higher orders were concerned, 
 was perfectly similar ; and the only diflference with regard 
 to the lower classes, necessarily arose from circumstances of 
 a purely local character. In Egypt, as well as India, the 
 impure castes are distinguished from the pure. The sacer- 
 dotal orders of both countries exhibit various points of re- 
 semblance. Their possessions and their rights are the same ; 
 their manner of life is connected with a similar ritual ; and 
 the costume of the one differs not from the cotton garments 
 of the other. Both are married, and yet in neither country 
 is there any female priesthood. Each order possesses its 
 holy books, the perusal of which is confined to its respective 
 members alone. The influence of both is established by the 
 
 305 
 
 same means ; that is, by their being the sole depositaries of 
 knowledge ; for they are not only priests, but also astrolo- 
 gers, physicians, judges, etc. 
 
 The warrior castes of both countries present an equally 
 striking resemblance to each other ; the Egyptian, however, 
 was the more powerful of the two ; though'even this in the 
 end was obliged to emigrate. Their costume, and manner 
 of equipment, appear to have been alike.^^ They had their 
 war-chariots, but no cavalry, precisely as the Hindus, only 
 the Egyptians did not employ elephants in battle. 
 
 In all states of this kind, the inferior classes naturally form 
 themselves according to local circumstances. In Egypt as 
 well as India the right of propriety in the soil originally ob- 
 tained ; and we learn from the Bible that the patriarch 
 Joseph, during his abode in the former country, took occa- 
 sion of a famine to transfer the landed property from the 
 original owners to the king. 
 
 Whether the gods of Egypt were derived from those of 
 India, IS a question which I must leave for the professed in- 
 quirers into mythological history to determine. In such an 
 undertaking, however, it is scarcely possible to advance 
 much beyond simple conjecture, more or less probable; 
 that m certain divinities, common to both people, we may 
 recognise the same general idea prevailing is certainly very 
 true ; but it does not at all follow therefore, that either were 
 borrowed from the other. The worship of the Lingam 
 was as natural to Egypt as it was to India ; but might not 
 the natives of each country have invented and introduced 
 It independently of the other ? 
 
 The most surprising resemblances, however, are those we 
 meet with in their external worship. This among both 
 people IS attached to particular sanctuaries and particular 
 localities. Bloody and unbloody sacrifices are prescribed 
 by the religion of both, as indeed they have been also 
 among other nations. The same authority required the ob- 
 servance of pilgrimage ; whence the numerous assemblies 
 
 . "Compare the representation of two Kshatriyahs, from an Indian drawinff 
 
 dPdnt^"^? V ^""^^^'^^ ^'^^^'' ^"^ ^-^"^^'^ ^^^ ^'*^''» t^b. ii., with the numerous 
 thltfh u fgyptian warriors in the Description d^Egypie, It is remarkable 
 tnat the head-dress of these two Kshatriyahs, is the same as that of the Indian 
 voUr""^ r^-esented in vol. ii. plate 10, of the Besoripti^n cPEgypte. See 
 
 VOL. II. V 
 
306 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 if 
 
 of people that crowded together upon festal occasions ; with 
 these were connected penances, and even personal sacri- 
 fices. Not only bathing in the holy river, but drowning 
 also is supposed to confer peculiar sanctity.** The religious 
 processions are likewise similar in certain points of view. 
 Images of the gods too are not only carried about the per- 
 son, but also conveyed from one temple to another on 
 enormous stages, erected upon four-wheeled cars.*^ The 
 worship of animals is found in both countries, but not so 
 generally nor so fully developed in India as in Egypt. As 
 much reverence indeed is paid to the Bull Nandi of the 
 former, as to the Apis of the latter; and the cow is an 
 equally sacred animal, which it would have been as great a 
 profanation to sacrifice on the banks of the Nile,*^ as it still 
 is on those of the Ganges. But we hear nothing of the 
 worship of any other species of animal in India ; *^ and in- 
 deed, it is sufficiently evident from what has gone before, 
 that the Hindu idea of the brute creation was totally differ- 
 ent from the Egyptian. 
 
 With respect to the state of the soul afler death, the 
 notions of both people were pretty much the same, their 
 priesthood inculcated the doctrine of a metempsychosis; 
 the popular creed contained the same representation of 
 Hades. And even the judgment of the dead, so celebrated 
 in Egypt, is reproduced in India with every feature of exact 
 and astonishing resemblance.- 
 
 The progress of art among these two people generally 
 followed the same path. The study of architecture was 
 the predominant taste, to which sculpture and painting, in 
 Egypt as well as India, served only as accoraipaniments. 
 
 " Herod, ii. 90. " Ibid. ii. 63 ; see also above, p. 96. 
 
 '* Herod, ii. 18. 
 
 " [The Hindus have also a religious veneration for monkeys, probably out of 
 respect to Hanuman, so celebrated in the Ramayana : the late Bishop Heber 
 in his Journal alludes to a case of two young officers, who shot at one near 
 Bindrabund, being driven into the Jumna, by a mob of Brahmans and 
 devotees, where they perished. And Menu, ii. 132, 136, enumerates a list of 
 animals, the slaughter of which by an individual of the Sudra Cciste would 
 entail the punishment of death. Transl.] 
 
 " Polier, ii. p. 426. Jamray (Yama) the Hindu judge of the dead, like 
 the Egyptian, has also two assessors, one of whom enumerates the good, and 
 the other the bad actions of mankind. The resemblance in fact is so strong 
 that the designs lately published of the Egyptian doomsday might be almost 
 explained by referring to the Hindu representations alone. 
 
 CHAP. 11. CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE, 307 
 
 The architecture of the Egyptians, however, is not pre- 
 cisely the same as that of the Hindus, though it is impos- 
 sible to mistake a similarity of general character prevailing 
 in both. That of India evidently took its rise in grotto 
 constructions, and the same feature prevails in that of 
 Egypt. The internal arrangement of the great temples, 
 their component parts, the flat-roofed halls supported by a 
 forest of pillars, the pyramidal form of the large entrances 
 or porticos, found m both countries, involuntarily remind 
 the observer of one another.^^ The same taste and the same 
 mode of procedure obtains likewise in the ornaments of 
 both. Colossal statues of gods and animals, reliefs on the 
 walls covered with stucco and painted in various colours,^^ 
 the grand entrances of the sanctuaries adorned on festal 
 occasions with flags^^— all this is still seen in India as 
 formerly m Egypt. We nevertheless meet with certain 
 variations ; the general character only of the art was the 
 same m both countries, as its ulterior development in the 
 one as well as in the other necessarily varied according to 
 ocal circumstances. The ornaments of the capital of a pil- 
 lar for example, are in both cases copied from native plants. 
 Add to this another more important distinction : in India, 
 where they burn their dead, the grottoes are inhabited by 
 the hvmg ; m Egypt, on the contrary, where they did every 
 thing to preserve them, they were the receptacles of the 
 dead. What influence this distinctive peculiarity would 
 naturally exercise upon the architecture of the Egyptians, 
 will be shown hereafter, when we come to treat more parti- 
 cularly of that people. In sculpture and painting the two 
 nations appear to have reached very nearly the same degree 
 ot perfection ; and both undertook the execution of compli- 
 cated subjects in relief: in this department, however, the 
 l^gyptians perhaps succeeded better than the Hindus. In 
 painting, neither people understood the art of blending 
 colours, or paid any attention to the rules of perspective. 
 . Both nations had their literature ; but that of the Egyp- 
 tians was by no means so rich, in poetry at least, as that of 
 
 » See "ibove, p. 93, sq., and compare the general accounts of Effvpt. 
 ^^ Asiatic lies. vol. vi. p. 389. ^^^ 
 
 book i?"*^^"'"''* "'• ^^^' ^'^' '" connexion with the vignette title of vol. ii. 
 
 X 2 
 
303 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 the Hindus. The epic poem, so intimately connected with 
 the civilization of India, appears to have been completely 
 unknown in Egypt. How, indeed, could the poesy of that 
 gorgeous world have flourished in the narrow valley of the 
 Nile, hemmed in on both sides by a wilderness of sand ? 
 The clime of Egypt seems to have been equally unfavour- 
 able to the other higher species of song. And even thougli 
 we allow her to have possessed what we may term her sa- 
 cred books, in the writings commonly attributed to Hermes, 
 yet these latter do not appear, in an equal degree with the 
 Vedas, to have been the sources of the sacerdotal religion. 
 The knowledge of history, apart however from accurate 
 chronological determinations, was confined in both coun- 
 tries to the family registers of the kings, and the popular 
 traditions of their individual exploits ; but the Eg}^ptian, 
 nevertheless, depended more upon public monuments than 
 
 that of the Hindus. 
 
 But the most remarkable dissimilarity between the two 
 nations is exhibited in their different modes of writing. 
 The Egyptians had their hieroglyphics, of which there ap- 
 pears to be no sort of trace among the Hindus. As far as 
 we know, the latter were only acquainted wdth literal writ- 
 ing, which in fact was not unknown to the former people ; 
 but then, owing to the circumscribed extent of their litera- 
 ture, it evidently would not be so comprehensive as that of 
 the Hindus. But how unfavourably must the hieroglyphic 
 writing of the Egyptians have operated, not only upon their 
 general literature, but also upon the free development of its 
 particular branches, scientific (astronomy, for instance) as 
 well as religious and ceremonial ! Had indeed that inti- 
 mate connexion subsisted between the religious opinions of 
 the Egyptians and those of the Hindus, which some modern 
 writers are inclined to suppose, could the Vedas have been 
 unknown in Egypt, or the hieroglyphics in India ? 
 
 In their customs and manner of life, the two nations as 
 closely resembled each other as the different nature of their 
 respective countries would allow. Agriculture was the 
 principal occupation of both ; and exercised principally on 
 the same objects, wheat and rice. To this, both people 
 added another branch of industry, which their other indi- 
 genous productions, and above all cotton, seemed naturally 
 
 CHAP. II. CONSTITUTION AND COMMERCE. 309 
 
 to call for. The art of weaving, which in both countries 
 was more the busmess of men than of women, o-oes back to 
 as remote a period of antiquity in Egypt as in India. The 
 simple Egyptian loom coincides with the Hindu : as does 
 a so the ancient plough, if we may judge from a represent- 
 ation of It copied from the monuments of Thebais The 
 domestic society of either nation was organized on the same 
 princip e. Polygamy was allowed, without however bein^ 
 generally practised ; and therefore also the many legislative 
 enactments bearing upon this subject, would of course be 
 nearly similar among both people."^ 
 
 The foregoing comparative sketch of these nations will 
 furnish the reader with abundant matter for reflection ; and 
 must Itself necessarily precede our discussions upon Africa 
 It is by no means my present intention to confine the circle 
 of our view, and terminate this inquiry by asserting the de- 
 rivation of the Egyptians from the Hindus. That is not at 
 all my own opinion. But as we have already proved the 
 antiquity of a commercial intercourse between the natives 
 of the southern world, there is nothing improbable in such 
 an opinion ; on the contrary, it is perfectly agreeable to 
 Hindu manners that colonies from India, i. e. Banian fami- 
 les should have passed over into Africa, and carried with 
 worTh n'^ native industry and perhaps also their religious 
 worship. The objection drawn from the fact that the Hin- 
 
 ;rj^7 ''?! ^ r^^""^ P^^P'^' P''^^^^ "^thing to the con- 
 trary ; tor the Egyptians were even less so, and vet it is 
 notorK3us that they planted colonies in Crete and Greece. 
 And as the latter probably employed Phoenician vessels for 
 hat purpose, so might the Hindus have had recourse in a 
 similar way to the Arabians. Whatever weight may be 
 
 coLTttTxceTi^^^^^^^^^ ^"^"^^".f "^^^^ ^» ^^^^^ should 
 
 &n7eTu^^^^^^^ '''''' settlements/ And^adanTPrtlon 
 
 prob^hir ^« o r " ^ ^^yP^ ^^'^" preserved to our time, it is more than 
 
 Joun^an^^^^ ': P- ^~/^' A writer in the Ashd 
 
 tenor V Ar- ^* .^ ^^*^^ ^ curious hst of the names of places in the in- 
 
 to l^ an stnsSt ZTZ'J y'J''''\ ^r "^ •^^^^'^^^ ' -^-h'l;: shown 
 
i I 
 
 t< 'if 
 
 i 
 
 i; ' 
 
 310 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 CHAP* II, 
 
 attached to Indian tradition, and the express testimony of Eu- 
 sebius,^"* confirming the report of migrations from the banks 
 of the Indus into Egypt, there is certainly nothing improbable 
 in the event itself; as a desire of gain would have formed a 
 sufficient inducement. Moreover, how could such a thickly 
 peopled, and, in some parts, over-peopled country as India, 
 have disposed of her superabundant population, except by 
 planting colonies ; even though intestine broils (witness the 
 expulsion of the Buddhists) had not obliged her to have 
 recourse to such an expedient ?^^ 
 
 Supposing, however, the Hindu origin of the Egyptians 
 to admit of historical proof, which it does not at present, 
 and most probably never will, yet the fact would allege no- 
 thing against the civilization of Egypt being exclusively of 
 native growth. In such case, the germ only would have 
 been introduced, and in an Egyptian soil, and under an 
 Egyptian sky, must have developed itself somewhat difler- 
 ently from what it did in India. And let not the reader 
 forget that the question before us concerns an interval, not 
 of one, but of many hundred years. Such a germ as we 
 speak of was transplanted from Egypt into Greece ; but 
 how very different were its fruits in the latter country from 
 those which had ripened on the banks of the Nile ! 
 
 Here, then, with a mind still free and unprejudiced, we 
 take our leave of Asia, in order to examine the political and 
 commercial phenomena which Africa presents to our notice. 
 And should we succeed in rendering the subject as familiar 
 to the apprehension of our readers, as we have endeavoured 
 to make it with regard to Asia, the dark cloud which now 
 hangs over that interesting portion of the globe will be dis- 
 persed, and a new and instraqtive prospect unfold itself to 
 our view. 
 
 " See Marsham, Chroniccm^ p. 335. [The most decisive evidence of the 
 fact, may be found in Philostratiis and Nonnus. Fr. Transl.] 
 
 ^ It is hardly possible to maintain tlie opposite side of the question, viz. 
 that the Hindus were derived from the Egyptians ; for it has been already 
 ascertained that the country bordering on the Ganges was the cradle of Hindu 
 civilization. Now, the Egyptians could not have established themselves in 
 that neighbourhood ; their probable settlement would rather have taken place 
 on the coast of Malabar. 
 
 '■■II 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 i; 
 
M 
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 
 FARGARD I. 
 
 
 ;:ii;i 
 
 
 Hi 
 
 I. ne two first Fargards of the Vendidat, from the 
 
 Zendai'efita.^ 
 
 Ormuzd, speaking to Stipetman Zoroaster, said as follows : 
 " I have created, O Sapetman Zoroaster, a place of delights 
 and abundance, such as no other being besides myself could 
 have formed. It is called Eeriene Veedjo, and is more 
 beautiful than the whole wide world. • Nothing, indeed, 
 can be compared to it for pleasantness. 
 
 " I have acted first, but Peetiare,^ whose soul is immortal, 
 has exercised his own power after me. 
 
 " The first abode of happiness and abundance which I 
 created without any mixture of impurity, was Eeriene 
 Veedjo. Upon this came Ahriman, pregnant with death, 
 and prepared in the river which waters Eeriene Veedjo, 
 the great serpent of winter, the offspring of Div. 
 
 " Here there were then ten months of winter and two of 
 sumnier ; whereas formerly the warm weather lasted seven 
 months, and the cold only five. The winter spreads cold 
 all over the water, land, and trees ; and is very severe in 
 he middle of Eeriene Veedjo. This scourge, however, is 
 highly beneficial to mankind ; for scarcely has winter be- 
 gun to appear, than all good things shoot forth in abundance. 
 1 he second place of happiness which I, Ormuzd, created 
 
 * Zendavesta, by Kleuker, torn. ii. p. 299. 
 * The source of evil, Ahriman. 
 
314 
 
 APPENDIX 1. 
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 
 315 
 
 for an habitation was Soghdi,^ abounding in men and herds. 
 But the pernicious Peetiare Ahriman produced swarms of 
 flies, which destroyed the herds. 
 
 " The third place of abundance which I fashioned for an 
 abode, was the great and holy Moore ;'* then came Ahriman 
 and introduced evil speeches. 
 
 " The fourth place of delights created by me was the pure 
 Bakhdi,^ decorated with lofty standards; thereupon came 
 Peetiare Ahriman, bringing death, and produced an army 
 of ants. 
 
 " The fifth place of abundance which I, Ormuzd, created 
 was Nesa,^ between Moore and Bakhdi ; then came the 
 deadly Ahriman, and brought forth there reprehensible 
 doubt. 
 
 ** The sixth place of plenty created by me was Haroin/ 
 celebrated for the number of its inhabitants. Upon this, 
 Ahriman the destructive produced there the highest degree 
 of misery. 
 
 ** The seventh country and town of abundance which I 
 created, was Veekereante^ with numerous villages. Here 
 the deadly Ahriman instituted the worship of Peris, (Fai- 
 ries,) which inflamed the anger of Gueshap. 
 
 " The eighth country and place of felicity created by me, 
 was Ornan,^ fertile in pastures. Thereupon came Ahriman 
 breathing death, and poisoned men's hearts. 
 
 " Khneante,*° the abode of wolves, was the ninth place of 
 abundance created by me; but the destructive Ahriman 
 there perpetrated an act which rendered the passage of the 
 bridge Tschinevad impossible, which is a sin against nature. 
 
 " The tenth place of felicity which I, Ormuzd, created, was 
 
 ■ Without doubt, the modern Al Sogd, or Sogdiana. Whether this coun- 
 try is still infested with gadflies must be determined by future travellers. 
 
 * Moore, in Chorasan, the Margiana of the Greeks. 
 
 * Certainly Balkh or Bactria. How formidable an invasion of ants may 
 be, is well known from their ravages in Guinea and the West Indies. 
 
 * Nesa, a city in Chorasan, the position assigned to it in the text will not 
 aUo%v us to confound it with ijysa on the Indian frontier. 
 
 * Probably Herat or Asia, properly so called. 
 
 ' In Pehlvi Kawi&l, which bears a striking resemblance to Kabul. 
 
 ' Perhaps Lahore, though we have not sufficient evidence of its identity. 
 
 '• This place is uncertain ; some writers suppose it means Kandahar. 
 The bridge of Tschinevad leads from the mountain Albordi to the vault of 
 heaven, the habitation of the blessed. 
 
 the pure Heerekheeti/^ Hereupon the deadly Peetiare 
 Ahriman instigated men to a crime, which obstructs the 
 passage of the bridge ; namely, the burial of dead bodies 
 in the earth. 
 
 " The eleventh country and town of abundance created by 
 me, Ormuzd, was Heetomeante,^Uhe intelligent and happy ; 
 but the pernicious Peetiare Ahriman introduced there 
 magic, the bad art which produces all manner of illusions 
 and procures all things. Specious as it may seem, it is ne- 
 vertheless the offspring of the evil principle, the father of 
 all calamity. Far is it from the great one, from him who 
 doeth good ! 
 
 " The twelfth place of felicity created by me, Ormuzd, 
 was Raghan,^^ the abode of three germs, rich in under- 
 standing and free from passion. But the deadly Peetiare 
 Ahriman sowed there the seeds of fatal doubt and pre- 
 sumptuous insolence. 
 
 " The thirteenth country and town of abundance created 
 by me was Tschekhre,^* the powerful and holy. Here, 
 however, the destructive Peetiare Ahriman instigated to an 
 action which prevents the passage of the bridge, namely, 
 the practice of burning the dead. 
 
 " The fourteenth place of happiness created by me, who 
 am Ormuzd, was Verene,^^ with four corners, forming a 
 square, and the birth-place of Feridoun the vanquisher of 
 Zohak. But the deadly Peetiare Ahriman introduced 
 there, and into all its dependencies, the monthly purgations 
 of women. 
 
 " The fifteenth place of felicity, which I, Ormuzd, created, 
 was Hapte Heando,^^ which rules over the seven Indies. 
 India surpasses all the rest of the world in power and extent. 
 But the destructive Peetiare Ahriman, the enemy of nature, 
 inflamed (precipitated ?) the monthly terms of the women. 
 
 " In this word we may recognise Arokage (Arachotus) on the borders of 
 India. 
 
 " Probably Hendmend in Shehestan. 
 
 " Supposed to be the town of Rcy or Rages. 
 
 " This should be Chark in Chorasan. 
 
 '* Apparently the district of Pars ; if any doubt remains as to the identity 
 of name, it is removed by the circumstance of its being mentioned as the 
 country of Feridoun, a great hero among the Persians. 
 
 " There can hardly be any doubt, that Heando is the Zend form for Hind. 
 The end of this, as well as the preceding verse, seems to allude to the prema- 
 ture puberty of women in hot climates. 
 
316 
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 
 317 
 
 "The sixteenth country and town of happiness and abund- 
 ance which I created, was the mighty Rengheiao;^^ the 
 abode of numerous cavahers who acknowledged no supe- 
 rior. But the deadly Peetiare Ahriman brought hither, 
 and into all its dependent villages, the raw cold of winter, 
 the pernicious gift of Div. 
 
 " These countries and towns were all pure and embellished 
 with fruitful valleys — there was not the least uncleanness 
 among them. 
 
 " Abundance and Bihisht are the reward of him who is 
 upright and pure.*^ He alone is holy and pure who doeth 
 holy and pure actions." 
 
 FARGARD II. 
 
 Zoroaster asked Ormuzd as follows : " O Ormuzd, sur- 
 rounded with majesty, thou equitable judge of the universe, 
 who dost exist by thine own power, and who art purity it- 
 self; what man has first interrogated thee before myself, 
 thou who art Ormuzd ? To whom hast thou communicated 
 thy law?" Ormuzd replied, " The pure Jemshid, the chief 
 of men and herds, was the first man who inquired of me as 
 thou doest now, Zoroaster ! To him I imparted a know- 
 ledge of the law. 
 
 " ' I am Ormuzd,' was my reply to him ; ' be obedient to 
 my law, O pure Jemshid, thou son of Vivengham ; meditate 
 upon it and convey it to thy people.' ' But,' answered Jem- 
 shid, ' I am not just enough to execute thy law, to meditate 
 upon it, or to convey its blessings to mankind.' Upon this 
 I replied, O Zoroaster, I who am Ormuzd, * Cannot Jem- 
 shid execute my law ; can he not meditate upon and com- 
 municate it to mankind ? still less then will he be able to 
 make happy the world, my property ; to bless it with fer- 
 tility and abundance, to be its nourisher, its chief, and its 
 sovereign.' In answer to this, O Zoroaster, the pure 
 Jemshid replied, ' Yes, I will make the world thy pecuhar 
 possession, both happy, fruitful, and blessed ; I will provide 
 
 " The locality of this place is uncertain : according to some, it is to be 
 found in Assyria. 
 
 *• The ordinary formula of benediction. 
 
 for its necessities, will nourish and govern it like a father 
 so that under my sovereign care there shall be no frosty or 
 scorching wind, no corruption, no death ; and the dews 
 shall disappear as soon as I repeat the words of thy law.' 
 
 " The holy zeal of Jemshid was great before me, and 
 therefore he reigned. Whatever his sublime tongue com- 
 manded, was done immediately. I gave to him and his 
 people nourishment, intelligence, and a long life ; his hand 
 received from me a poniard, the blade and hilt of which 
 were gold. Upon this. King Jemshid traversed three hun- 
 dred parts '9 of the earth, inhabited by domestic animals as 
 well as savage, by men, dogs, and birds, and filled with ruddy 
 and brilliant fires. Before him there were neither tame nor 
 savage animals, nor men, nor red-flaming fires ; the pure 
 Jemshid, the son of Vivengham, produced all. 
 
 " Jemshid arrived in the country of light (the south) and 
 found it beautiful. He clave the ground with the blade of 
 his golden poniard, and said, ' Sapandomad,"^ bless us ! ' 
 He proceeded still further, and pronounced the holy word, 
 accompanied with prayers for wild and tame animals and 
 for men. Accordingly the expedition of Jemshid through 
 these countries became the source of happiness and pros- 
 perity to this third part of the world. The domestic ani- 
 mals and wild beasts as well as men ran together in great 
 crowds. 
 
 " In the same manner did Jemshid traverse the two other 
 parts of the world. 
 
 " Jemshid now built Ver, the vast extent of which was 
 comprehended in a square enclosure. Hither he brought 
 the germ of wild and tame animals, of men, dogs, birds, and 
 the ruddy bright flame of fire. The water burst forth in 
 torrents, and surrounded the grand palace of Ver. Here 
 were fowls of all kinds ; and the ever-fruitful golden fields 
 produced every thing that was good to eat. Here too the 
 youth were shamefaced, modest, respectful, strong, and well 
 nourished. 
 
 *' Into Ver Jemshid brought the seed of men and women. 
 The land was charming and excellent, and as pure as Bi- 
 hisht. Hither, too, Jemshid conveyed the germ of all kinds 
 
 '• That is, the third part. 
 
 '^ The Ized (genie) of the earth. 
 
318 
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 
 of animals, of all trees, and all nourishment. The little hills 
 of this country exhaled agreeable perfumes. 
 
 " Among all the inhabitants of Verefchue,-' there was no 
 man who commanded with severity ; no beggar ; no impos- 
 tor who would seduce people to the worship ot Dm ; no 
 concealed enemy ; no cruel tyrant, the oppressor of man- 
 kind ; no ravenous tooth. , u • ^, , 
 
 « Jemshid caused nine streets to be built in the large 
 towns six in those of moderate size, and three in the small 
 ones ' Jemshid constructed at Ver a palace on an eminence, 
 which was surrounded with a wall, and its interior was di- 
 vided into several apartments and well lighted. 
 
 " Jemshid endeavoured with all his might to render Vct 
 complete, according to the commandment which 1, Urmuzd, 
 
 gave to him." 
 
 Abundance and Bihisht, etc. etc 
 
 •' That is, Ver, nch in every blessing. 
 
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APPENDIX II. 
 
 On the cuneiform character, and particularly the inscriptions at 
 
 Persepolls, by G. F. Grotefend, 
 
 You request me, Sir, to furnish you with a brief sketch of 
 the result of my inquiries into the cuneiform character, and 
 particularly the inscriptions at Persepolis, for the purpose 
 of subjoining to the new edition of the first part of your 
 Researches into the Politics and Commerce of the Nations 
 of Antiquity. To a request so flattering, I shall endeavour 
 to furnish the best answer I am able, and so much the more 
 willingly, as I have been for some time waiting for a favour- 
 able opportunity of publicly testifying my acknowledgments 
 to your kindness and friendship. Although in the present 
 sketch we have only to do with the inscriptions of Persepo- 
 lis, and specially with the kind I have deciphered, I shall 
 nevertheless take advantage of your permission, to extend 
 my remarks to the other kinds of cuneiform inscriptions, as 
 far as may be compatible with the limits of the present 
 essay ; it having been discovered that the general conclu- 
 sions drawn in my first Treatise, were only applicable to the 
 inscriptions at Persepolis. I shall therefore, first of all, en- 
 deavour to determine with exactness the particular as well 
 as general character of all the known species of cuneiform 
 writing, and then submit the results obtained from an ex- 
 amination of all the species, before I proceed to a detailed 
 notice of the Zend inscriptions which I have succeeded in 
 deciphering. 
 
 In my first Treatise, the cuneiform inscriptions are di- 
 vided according to the countries where they are found, into 
 three classes ; viz. the Babylonian, the Persian, and the 
 
320 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 321 
 
 ^gyptico-Persian. But as both the Persian and the Baby- 
 lonian species have been discovered in Egypt, it is obvious 
 the above division is inadmissible, in a case where the cu- 
 neiform character is to be examined with reference to its 
 distinctive pecuHarities. Neither can we admit of a classifi- 
 cation of these inscriptions, according to the nail or arrow- 
 headed form of the letters, because the very same characters, 
 which, on the Babylonian bricks, resemble nails, or daggers, 
 are observed to take the form of an arrow or hammer, or 
 even simple lines, when graven on a finer sort of stone. 
 Under these circumstances I shall endeavour to define the 
 several species in some other manner, first pointing out the 
 distinctive character of cuneiform writing in general, and 
 then classifying the different kinds according to the differ- 
 ent construction of their letters. 
 
 In the first place, I exclude all kinds of writing, more or 
 less alike, which were used in the west and north of Europe, 
 and confine to the term cuneiform those inscriptions only 
 which have been discovered in the different provinces of 
 the ancient Persian empire.* These inscriptions are distin- 
 guished from all other modes of writing adopted in the East, 
 by the absence of every thing like roundness : some speci- 
 mens, it is true, present the appearance of circular charac- 
 ters ; but upon comparing them with others, it is evident, 
 that this form is rather a fault of the copier than the true 
 shape of the original. In my opinion, the cuneiform letters 
 appear to have been exclusively destined for the purpose of 
 engraving on stone, or other durable materials employed in 
 public monuments ; on urns, gems, seals, talismans, or amu- 
 lets, etc. ; and were never intended for the ordinary pur- 
 poses of writing, as in the latter case they were, like the 
 hieroglyphics of Egypt, probably replaced by another kind 
 of character more adapted to the wants of the people.^ — The 
 
 * With respect to the extent of country over which cuneiform writing pre- 
 vailed, see the Hall. AUg. Litt, Zeitung,, for April 1820, No. 106. 
 
 * A particular kind of very hard baked bricks, found in the ruins of ancient 
 Babylon, of which I gave the first account, in the Fundgruhen des Orients^ 
 vol. vi. No. 2, p. 161, and on which Miinter fancied he discovered some as- 
 tronomical observations, have been compared with other specimens, and 
 found to contain documents. On certain of them the name of Darius, or 
 some other Persian king, is engraved, in the third species of Persepolitan 
 character, which is the same as the Babylonian ; most of them are sealed on 
 the sides, with a device, under which is found the name of the witness ; or 
 
 elementary strokes of all cuneiform writing are composed of 
 wedges, so called, and angles, which M. Murr has also 
 denommated swallow-tails. Those writers who consider 
 angular forms simply as the union of two wedges placed 
 obliquely, and who therefore assume the wedge as the only 
 stroke peculiar to this species of writing, are certainly mis- 
 taken, because, in consequence of such union the character 
 receives quite a different form. Besides, these small angles, 
 in many of the inscriptions, except those of Persepolis, ap- 
 pear to make up but one perfect triangle, the principal an- 
 gle of which inclines to the left, so that, particularly when 
 connected by a transverse wedge, they bear the appearance 
 of a single wedge turned towards the left. In addition to 
 the wedge-like and angular forms, we find on bricks, gems 
 and cylinders, and in both the large inscriptions discovered 
 m Babylon and Persia, certain marks of conjunction, which 
 however cannot be considered as integral portions of the 
 cuneiform character, because in precisely similar cases, where 
 they would be no less essential, they are altogether wanting, 
 and in fact do not occur in any of the Persepolitan inscrip- 
 tions. On the other hand, when, upon comparing similar 
 passages in different inscriptions, we find these marks of 
 conjunction employed instead of small wedges, this inter- 
 change of the two characters must be attributed to a mistake 
 of the copier.^ The elements of the cuneiform character 
 
 '^hf^ -1^ ^^'i\ ^^7^ ^^■^'* ^^'"^ ^'"P^^'' ^^ ^ cylinder. Two of them are furn- 
 ished with an illegible inscription, the characters of which partly resemble 
 thaldee ; though they do not appear to differ from the Pehlvi engraved on 
 ancient monuments still unexplained. This writing, engraven by some more 
 recent possessor of the documents, (one of which is subscribed with the name 
 L . "r%,?^i ^^^ second with that of another king, in the cuneiform cha- 
 racter of Babylon, the ongmal being partly erased, in reference to which the 
 new inscription is upside down,) has been confounded by M. Kopp, in his 
 Bilder und schnftender Vorzeit, (hieroglyphics and writing of antiquity,) vol. 
 11. p. 154, with a Phoenician inscription also of later date, and faintly in- 
 scribed in three lines on a Babylonian brick, in such a way, however, that to 
 use the expression of M. Bellino, it is very easy to leave the characters out 
 altogether, though not, as M. Kopp supposes, to decipher them. In these 
 characters, which are graven on a brick, simply baked in the sun, I think I 
 can discover the words " Ben dulkalnin," (son of the rays of the sun.) thoueh 
 M. Kopp is of a different opinion. ^ 
 
 , ' It is necessary to repeat here an observation which has not been suffi- 
 ciently attended to. It is, that the most exact copier has not always, or in- 
 deed even could copy an inscription with such minute accuracy as to represent 
 al the peculiarities of the original. Nay, more, it is very possible for mis- 
 takes to have crept into the original itself, as well as the copy ; and an en- 
 hghtened critic is therefore free to correct the draught of an inscription when 
 VOL. II. Y 
 
322 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 APPENPIX II. 
 
 323 
 
 If 
 
 from the ruins of Persepolis are exhibited in the most per- 
 fect manner, and in their full size, by M. Murr, in the 
 Journal zur Kunstgeschichte, vol. iv. tab. i. fig. E. 1,2, 3. 
 In order to characterize them with definitive accuracy, I 
 shall make the following observations. 
 
 1. The wedge-shaped characters, whether primary or 
 accessory, great or small, in every specimen of inscription, 
 assume chiefly four directions, but always so that their 
 principal inclination is from top to bottom, or, in other 
 words, from left to right. They are either perpendicular or 
 horizontal, or inclining obliquely upwards or downwards : 
 but their points are neither turned directly upwards, nor 
 transversely to the left. Should they appear occasionally 
 to assume the latter direction, it is either owing to the fault 
 of the copyist, or else the particular character is composed 
 of an angle. The initial sign upon all the bricks, which re- 
 presents an assemblage of all the directions of the cuneiform 
 character crossing each other, is copied in Murr s Journal 
 (vol. iv. tab. i. fig. C.) under the form of a star with eight 
 rays. Pietro della Valle, who discovered the same sign on 
 some bricks in the desert, compares it, in like manner, to 
 an eight-rayed star; but in no one species of cuneiform 
 writing are all these eight directions found to exist at the 
 same time. 
 
 2. The angular-shaped character, whether great or small, 
 affects only one direction, so that the opening is constantly 
 turned to the right. When it happens to be otherwise, it 
 is in consequence of the copier having confounded the 
 angular with the wedge form, as for instance, in the inscrip- 
 tion of the royal mantle quoted by Le Bruyn ; or from his 
 having reversed the character, as is the case with the name 
 of Gushtasp in Niebuhr, fig. C, which M. de Murr has cited 
 as the only instance in Niebuhr s inscriptions where the 
 angular letters are placed one over the other, like a roof. 
 The Babylonian angular character, the opening of which is 
 turned towards the left, is composed for the most part either 
 of lines of conjunction crossing each other, as is observable 
 upon a comparison of certain bricks, or of the upion of two 
 
 he can do so on valid grounds. In fact, had I depended solely on Niebuhr'8 
 copy, my attempts to decipher these inscriptions would have succeeded just 
 as little as those of my predecessors who were more scrupulous. 
 
 oblique wedge-shaped letters. Accordingly, we find on 
 some bricks a character which appears to consist of two 
 half moons turned to the left, and placed one over the other, 
 but which, in point of fact, according to its real design, is 
 composed of four oblique wedges, so placed as to form a 
 zigzag. 
 
 This very character, which on the cylinders ordinarily 
 stands at the commencement of the second line, has, in 
 various copies, the appearance of a Latin B unrounded, 
 thus 1^ , or without the stroke of conjunction which precedes 
 it, that of a Latin W placed sideways, as ^ , besides many 
 other distorted and connected forms, which seriously aug- 
 ment the diflSculties of deciphering them. 
 
 These preliminary notices are enough to show, beyond 
 the possibility of mistake, in what direction we are to read 
 a cuneiform inscription. That is to say, we must place our- 
 selves in such a manner, that the points of the vertical wedge 
 letters may look downwards, and those of the oblique ones, 
 as well as the openings of the angular letters, may be turned 
 to the right. This being observed, we shall find that no 
 cuneiform writing has a perpendicular, but always a hori- 
 zontal direction, and that the accompanying figures occur- 
 ring on gems and cylinders, aflford no sort of criterion as to 
 the real direction of the writing. The fragment of a stone 
 covered with cuneiform letters, which was found near Suez, 
 and copied by Gen. Dugua for Denon, ( Voyage, pi. 124,) 
 and which represents the head of a Persian, with a hawk's 
 wing above it, in token of apotheosis, will furnish a striking 
 example of the very little connexion subsisting between these 
 figures and the direction of the writing by their side, as well 
 as the slight dependence to be placed on some copies. The 
 inscription on the above stone, is only distinguishable from 
 the cuneiform writing in the Zend language at Persepolis, 
 by the absence of any division between the words ; and, 
 with the exception of two or three inconsiderable mistakes 
 in the copy, and an unfinished U standing by itself, repre- 
 sents pretty clearly the words Ddrheiisch KhscMhidh eghr6 
 (that is, Darius the valiant king) ; in the beginning, how- 
 ever, three letters and a half, and at the end, three are want- 
 ing, and the royal title is expressed in the ordinary manner 
 by a monogram. We cannot reasonably doubt the correct- 
 
 Y 2 
 
324 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 ness of this interpretation, as Count Caylus has already pub- 
 lished an account of an Egyptian urn furnished with a similar 
 inscription relative to Xerxes, and the hawk's wing alludes 
 to the apotheosis of Darius, an honour which, according to 
 Diodorus in his first book, was never rendered in Egypt to 
 any other living monarch but Darius. Supposing our ex- 
 planation to be correct, we may remark, that the characters 
 of this inscription are traced in such an inverted manner, 
 that it is almost impossible to read them, except by elevating 
 the stone itself above one's head.* 
 
 The different species of cuneiform writing are determined 
 by the degree of simplicity apparent in the formation of 
 characters, by means of the two elementary strokes before 
 noticed. The letters on the monuments at Persepolis are 
 the least complicated of any; and of the three kinds of writ- 
 ing there found, the first place is assigned on the urn dis- 
 covered by Count Caylus to the most simple, and the second 
 to the more so of the two others. According to this arrange- 
 ment, therefore, the various kinds of cuneiform character 
 may be classified in the following manner. 
 
 1. First of all, rank the cuneiform characters of the Per- 
 sepolitan inscriptions, which in their turn may be subdivided 
 into three classes, each of them exactly indicated on the 
 ruins of Persepolis, as well as on the urn of Count Caylus. 
 The first, deciphered by me in the Zend, that is, in all pro- 
 bability, the Median language, is found above one of the 
 wmdows of Darius's palace. . The second, which is to the 
 right of these windows, would seem to belong to the Parsi, 
 the language of the true Persians. The third, which is 
 situated to the left, or to the right of the spectator, likewise 
 exhibits all the characteristics of some other Persian dialect ; 
 the absence of any prefixes shows that it cannot belong to 
 the Semitic family. The second species, which occupies an 
 intermediate rank between the two others, is distin^ished 
 from the first, which I consider to be the ancient Assyrian 
 
 • It has subsequently been ascertained that the inscription and figures 
 upon this stone were copied from different parts of a monument erected under 
 the Persian km^ Danus, on the canal which joined the Nile with the Red 
 fV: Tl . "^^ absence of any division between the words was entirely the 
 fault of the transcriber. A perfect copy of this inscription would furnish the 
 best proof of the coirectness of my interpretation. Compare my treatise in 
 the FUndffruben des Onents, vol. vi. No. 3, p. 252, sq. 
 
 325 
 
 writing mentioned in one of the letters attributed to Themis- 
 tocles, by the circumstance of its containing less of the 
 angular than the oblique wedge letter ; while it differs from 
 the third kind by the absence of any oblique, or crossing 
 wedge letters. 
 
 2. Next to the above, we must class the writing on a 
 stone described by M. Millin, (Monumens Antiques, pi. 
 viii. ix. No. 1,) the characters of which partly resemble 
 the Persepolitan of the third kind, and partly those of the 
 Babylonian bricks, gems, and cylinders, without however 
 being perfectly similar. We may also remark in this writ- 
 ing some of the strokes of union which characterize the 
 Babylonian cuneiform letters. 
 
 3. The third and last rank will be assigned to the cha- 
 racters of the large inscription found in the ruins of ancient 
 Babylon, together with those on the bricks, gems, and 
 cylinders, recently published at London by the East India 
 Company. These are the most complicated of any, and 
 present not only the same characters, but also the same 
 words, and occasionally even the same contents. This kind 
 of writing is distinguished by the multiplication of the strokes 
 of union, and by the sign resembling a star with eight rays, 
 which occurs at the commencement of all writing on bricks, 
 as may be seen in the large inscription of London. As this 
 peculiar sign is only met with in the cuneiform writing of 
 this class, I have for that reason included under it the bricks 
 and gems of the desert extending from Basora to Aleppo, 
 which are mentioned by Pietro della Valle, as well as the 
 jaspers, made known to us through the medium of the East 
 India Company. 
 
 Of each of these specimens of cuneiform writing, I shall 
 venture to submit the following elementary principles, as 
 the general result of my examination. 
 
 1. The cuneiform inscriptions are all written in a hori- 
 zontal direction, from left to right, by no means however 
 vertically, or alternately from right to left, and from left to 
 right. 
 
 It is almost two hundred years since Pietro della Valle 
 (Voyage, Paris, 1745, tom. v. p. 320, sq.) and Figueroa, 
 the ambassador from the court of Philip III. of Spain, came 
 to a similar conclusion from examining the wedge-shaped 
 
326 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 327 
 
 and angular inscriptions of Persepolis ; viz. that the cunei- 
 forai writing proceeded from left to right ; and this general 
 principle has been confirmed by so many particular examin- 
 ations of each species, that I have not room to notice them 
 all. When Chardin, however, (Travels, p. 168,) accom- 
 panies the remark of Figueroa with the observation, that 
 cuneiform writing is also read from top to bottom, like the 
 Chinese, (alluding particularly to the inscriptions over the 
 windows of Darius's palace,) he no more contradicts our 
 opinion, than if he said that it was also read in a cir- 
 cular manner, as is actually the case with an inscription 
 which completely surrounds the head of a cameo in Tassie's 
 collection, {Raspe Catal, No, 655,) because in the latter 
 instance the characters are arranged like the legends on our 
 money, so that the direction from left to right is still pre- 
 served, as in the horizontal situation. The analogy between 
 the three species of the Persepolitan writing proves incon- 
 testably that they are to be read from left to right ; and the 
 same holds good also with regard to the Babylonian bricks. 
 It is evident also, that Niebuhr must have drawn the same 
 conclusion, from his having remarked, (vol. ii. p. 143,) that 
 in the inscriptions graven on the door-posts of the building 
 I. (Nieb. tab. xxiv. E. F. G.) two characters occurring on 
 one of the doors to the right, at the end of the third line, 
 were repeated on the other door to the left, at the com- 
 mencement of the fourth line. 
 
 When M. Hager, at the end of his last treatise, Illustra- 
 zione d^uno Zodiaco Orientale, maintains that the cuneiform 
 writing of Babylon descends like the Chinese in perpen- 
 dicular columns, of which the farthest to the right is the 
 first ; his opinion certainly corresponds with the series of 
 signs I have adopted, though he reverses the inscriptions 
 themselves, being misled by the lines drawn as a mark of 
 separation, and by the position of these inscriptions on the 
 cylinder alongside of the figures. That all the Babylonian 
 inscriptions are to be read in the manner I have before pre- 
 scribed, that is to say, in the initial sign of all the bricks, the 
 vertical wedge-letters turn their points downwards, while 
 the oblique ones, on the contrary, turn theirs to the right, 
 is proved by the great London inscription, which is written 
 from left to right, as demonstrably as M. Millin has already 
 
 shown in the case of the stone found near Tak-Kesra. The 
 same may be said of the gems and cylinders charged with 
 similar writing ; though being intended for impression, and 
 for the purpose of attesting documents, they generally pre- 
 sent the characters reversed. M. Lichtenstein was therefore 
 too precipitate, when he inferred from the Oriental origin of 
 the cuneiform writing, that it must in consequence be read 
 from right to left. He was supported in this conclusion by 
 a specious argument of M. Wahl, (^Algemeine Geschichte der 
 Morgcnl'dndischen Sprachen^ General History of Orien- 
 tal Languages, p. 618,) (who however really maintained a 
 different opinion,) and forthwith he set about deciphering 
 the cuneiform character, upon principles altogether arbitrary, 
 with the assistance of some known alphabet, without having 
 previously compared the different inscriptions together. In 
 confounding the term Oriental with Aramean, it never oc- 
 curred to him that the writing of an Oriental people might 
 very well have a direction quite contrary to the Aramean ; 
 and that there might be inscriptions engraven on stones 
 from left to right, while the ordinarary mode of writing fol- 
 lowed an opposite direction. 
 
 2. All cuneiform writing is composed of letters, and not 
 merely of syllabic signs. 
 
 The principle which I have just laid down has scarcely 
 been combated, except by a single writer ; and yet in refer- 
 ence to the more complicated species of cuneiform writing, 
 almost all my predecessors have^ taken an opposite view of 
 the question. It will therefore be worth my while to estab- 
 lish its correctness by a particular review, under certain 
 limitations, of each kind of cuneiform writing. 
 
 It is perfectly certain that none of these writings are com- 
 posed of signs or compendious characters, for, generally, 
 several enter into the composition of one word ; and there 
 are words compounded of as many as eleven characters in 
 the first species of Persepolitan writing, of nine in the se- 
 cond, and of seven in the rest. Besides, under the suppo- 
 sition that any of the complicated specimens of cuneiform 
 writing were hieroglyphic, I cannot conceive why the same 
 characters should be so often repeated, or why several of 
 them should even immediately succeed each other two or 
 three times running. In the first case, supposing the mode 
 

 APPENDIX II. 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 329 
 
 of writing to be by signs, it is obvious, the circles of ideas 
 must be extremely confined ; while the other supposition is 
 inadmissible, except we limit the number of these signs to a 
 few such words as ** king," " lord," " prince," " sacred," 
 etc., not expressed in as many characters. It is very true, 
 that the reduplication of a sign might signify the dual 
 number, as its triple repetition might stand for the plu- 
 ral, because in Du Perron's Vocabulary of the Zend and 
 Pehlvi, the dual is usually marked by the number two, 
 as the plural is by three. But then the repetition of 
 these signs would be more frequent than it is ; we should 
 meet with several signs following each other in immediate 
 succession ; and, what is of much more consequence, the 
 triple repetition, as a mark of the plural, would be more 
 common than the simple reduplication; the reverse of 
 which, however, is evident from examining the inscriptions. 
 I am convinced, therefore, that none of the cuneiform writ- 
 ings are composed of signs or whole words. It would be 
 less easy to prove that they do not consist of simple syllabic 
 writing in the strict acceptation of the term ; but that, on 
 the contrary, the whole of the signs employed, though with 
 considerable variations, might be arranged under one alpha- 
 bet. It is essential to remark, that the more complicated 
 the characters are, the fewer of them enter into the compo- 
 sition of a word ; a circumstance which would lead us to 
 infer, that even though all cuneiform writing was alphabetic, 
 yet the manner of composing syllables and words of letters 
 was necessarily subject to considerable variation. I shall 
 therefore endeavour to enumerate all the possible varieties 
 of compounding alphabetical signs before I proceed to ex- 
 amine each species of cuneiform writing in detail. 
 
 Literal writing then may either employ consonants alone, 
 and designate the vowels by intercalated signs, placed above 
 or below the consonants, as is the case in several Eastern 
 alphabets ; or, agreeably to Western usage, it may elevate 
 the marks for repeating consonants, as well as those for 
 vowels, to the rank of independent letters ; or, in short, it 
 may employ particular signs for denoting a short or long 
 vowel, an acute or a grave, as, for example, in the ancient 
 Persian. Accordingly the letters of a particular syllable 
 might be written in an isolated form, or they might be 
 
 joined together, and in fact, like several alphabets of South- 
 em Asia, certain accessory marks might be added to the 
 consonants, according to the different vowels subjoined to 
 them, so that the writing would appear at first to be syllabic, 
 while in reality, from its alphabetical construction, and the 
 analogy of its signs, it would truly be a writing composed 
 of separate characters. If we consider this last species of 
 writing as formed of letters, I will boldly venture to assert, 
 that every kind of cuneiform writing is in like manner com- 
 posed of characters ; but if the propriety of that appellation 
 be disputed, I must certainly allow the most complicated 
 species of cuneiform writing to be syllabic, though it may 
 also possess certain signs to represent the vowels ; thus in 
 the Persepolitan inscriptions we meet with monograms to 
 denote whole words. The perfectly opposite nature of the 
 Persian and Aramean tongues will not allow us to suppose, 
 in the case of the Persian or Babylonian remains, the ex- 
 istence of any syllabic writing, like that of Japan. 
 
 It is now time, however, for me to speak of each kind of 
 cuneiform writing in particular, for it becomes necessary in 
 this place more especially to mark the distinction between 
 them. 
 
 The first of the Persepolitan kinds of writing is now ge- 
 nerally allowed to be alphabetical, since M. M. Tychsen and 
 Miinter were so fortunate as to discover the sign, denoting 
 the separation of words, and which intercludes from two to 
 eleven characters on both sides, though the sum of all the 
 primitive characters never exceeds forty. M. Tychsen has 
 observed, that in several inscriptions, the series of signs so 
 frequently occurring is replaced by a monogram ; and very 
 probably he might have succeeded in deciphering the whole 
 writing before myself, had he taken this monogram for the 
 title, and not for the name of the king. A more successful 
 attempt has now proved that this species of writing has not 
 only particular signs to represent the vowels as well as the 
 consonants, but that, like the ancient Zend inscription dis- 
 covered by Anquetil Du Perron, it also distinguishes the long 
 vowels from the short and acute. M. Tychsen appears to 
 consider the second and third kinds as specimens of this 
 mode of writing ; while M. Miinter regards the second as 
 syllabic and the third as hieroglyphic. For myself, I am 
 
330 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 331 
 
 no more at liberty than my predecessors entirely to reject 
 this opinion, as long as the inscriptions in question have 
 not yet been completely deciphered ; nevertheless, from the 
 comparison I have made of analogous inscriptions, I feel my- 
 self justified in asserting, that neither of these two kinds is a 
 writing of signs ; since both in one and the other, though less 
 frequently in the third, we may remark the occurrence of 
 inflections composed of several signs. With respect to the 
 second kind, owing to the great number of multiplied signs 
 which it exhibits for detached words, I must allow its em- 
 ployment of particular signs for the long and short vowels, 
 as well as signs of consonants, including the vowel, provided 
 I am not mistaken in my opinion, that certain words of the 
 first kind are cited literally in the second. On the other 
 hand, as to the third species of writing, which has occasion 
 for very few signs in the composition of words, though the 
 number it employs is nevertheless much greater than that of 
 our alphabets, I must absolutely deny it the use of vowel 
 signs altogether ; and therefore I concede the employment 
 of consonants, including a vowel, in cases where one con- 
 sonant alone would be insufficient. As far as regards the 
 other specimens of cuneiform writing, I have not been able 
 to compare them with any that has already been deciphered, 
 such as the Persepolitan ; but after having compared them 
 with several analogous inscriptions, such as those on bricks, 
 and collated numerous passages from the large inscriptions, 
 I can confidently venture to assert, that they do not contain 
 a compendious writing of signs, because it is easy to dis- 
 cover in them instances of four or five characters following 
 in succession, and, as it were, connected together. I have 
 already observed in another place,^ that I consider syllabic 
 and literal writing, to a certain extent, as identical terms, as 
 long as we can apply them indifferently to a species of 
 writing which, like the Hebrew, excludes the vowels from 
 the rank of consonants, and unites, by means of connecting 
 strokes, such of the consonants as are immediately dependent 
 on each other. Whoever wishes to know my reasons for 
 holding this opinion, will find them detailed at length in the 
 literary periodical already alluded to ; I shall only add, that 
 
 • IntetttgenzhlaU der JenaiscTien AUgemeinen Litter atttrzeUnngy 1824, No. 101. 
 
 considered under this point of view, I allow the great inscrip- 
 tion, published by Millin, to possess the same character as 
 the Babylonian cuneiform writing. It would be unreason- 
 able to expect more decisive proofs, till such time as we pos- 
 sess a complete interpretation of one of the most compli- 
 cated specimens of this kind of writing ; for the present, it 
 will be enough to have shown, that none of the cuneiform 
 inscriptions are stenographic, or composed of signs repre- 
 senting whole words, and that consequently their explana- 
 tion is by no means impracticable. 
 
 Let us now, then, proceed to an examination of my own 
 method of deciphering the first species of Persepolitan 
 writing ; after which I shall endeavour to fiimish a brief 
 sketch of the results obtained from my interpretation as far 
 as they may interest the general historian. With regard to 
 my mode of procedure and manner of deciphering, they are 
 both so excellently laid down by the Baron Silvestre de 
 Sacy, in a letter to M. Millin, (Magasin Encyclopedique 
 Annee VIII. tome v. p. 438,) that I need only refer the 
 reader to that source. But as it might prove interesting to 
 know how a person, without any profound acquaintance 
 with Oriental languages, has been able to decipher a species 
 of Asiatic writing of the most remote antiquity, of which 
 the alphabet, the language, and the contents, were equally 
 unknown, I may as well enter into a few details relative to 
 the history of my interpretation. 
 
 Among the inscriptions of the first kind, there are two 
 very accurately copied by Niebuhr, vol. ii. tab. xxiv. B, 
 and G. They are accompanied with translations evidently 
 made from the two other kinds of writing which are of the 
 same size, and, according to all appearance, of the same 
 contents ; and therefore as the first kind is in general the 
 most simple of all the cuneiform writings, my predecessors 
 have applied themselves to decipher it in preference to the 
 rest. From the same point also I took my own departure, 
 particularly as the word recognised by Tychsen and Miinter 
 as the key of the whole alphabet occurs most frequently in 
 the species in question; and supposing vnth Tychsen, that 
 we must look for titles of kings in the inscriptions placed 
 over their portraits, (Niebuhr, Travels, vol. ii. p. 112, 117,) 
 I felt convinced that the word so often repeated, must sig- 
 
I 
 
 332 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 333 
 
 nify " King.'' Having therefore arrived at the same prin- 
 ciple as Tychsen and Miinter, without perusing any work 
 upon cuneiform writing, and without seeing any other 
 copies than those of Le Bruyn and Niebuhr,^ I translated 
 the two inscriptions according to the analogy of those in 
 Pehlvi deciphered by M. de Sacy in the following manner. 
 
 N. N. REX. MAGNUS (?) REX. REGUM. (rEX. UM.) 
 
 FiLius — . (regis). STIRPS. ACHAEMENIS (?) ( ) 
 
 I was thus naturally led to infer, that these two kings must 
 be father and son, because the king in Niebuhr s pi. G was 
 called the son of the king in pi. B ; and because in both 
 the translations of the other kinds of writing, there existed 
 the same connexion between the two names. Upon this I 
 examined Heeren's Researches, and the essay of M. Miinter, 
 in order to ascertain the particular age of the Persian kings, 
 to which the bas-reliefs in the ruins of Persepolis belonged, 
 and thereby to discover the names applicable to them, the 
 only way in which I could possibly succeed in finding out 
 the signification of certain letters, and ultimately by this 
 means elucidate the whole of them. Being fully persuaded, 
 from the examination of the contemporary Greek historians, 
 whose writings are the most circumstantial of any we know, 
 that I must in this case look for two kings of the dynasty 
 of the Achaemenides, I in consequence ran over the list, and 
 successively applied the names to the characters of the in- 
 scriptions. These names could obviously be neither Cyrus 
 nor Cambyses, because the names occurring in the inscrip- 
 tions do not begin with the same letter ; Cyrus and Arta- 
 xerxes were equally inapplicable, because in reference to 
 the characters, the first is too short and the second too long ; 
 there only remained, therefore, the names of Darius and 
 Xerxes ; and these latter agreed so exactly with the charac- 
 ters, that I could not hesitate in selecting them. Besides, 
 in the inscription relative to the son, the royal title was also 
 
 • I cannot omit expressing my obligations to my fellow-helper and friend 
 M. Fiorillo, at that time secretary to the library, and afterwards rnagister 
 legens at Gottingen, who first persuaded me to attempt deciphering these in- 
 scriptions, and assisted me with his advice for the first eight to fifteen days, 
 dunng which I was busied in establishing the general principles. To the 
 same person I am also indebted for the liberal and friendly communication 
 of whatever essentially concerned the hterature of cuneiform writing. 
 
 attributed to the father, but not in the one relating to the 
 latter ; an observation which holds good with regard to the 
 Persepolitan inscriptions generally. Having thus found 
 out more than twelve letters, among which were precisely 
 those composing the royal title, with the exception of only 
 one, the next business was to give these names, hitherto 
 merely known to us by Greek pronunciation, their true 
 Persian form, in order, by ascertaining the correct value of 
 each character, to decipher the king's title, and thereby also 
 to determine the particular language in which the inscrip- 
 tions were written. The Zendavesta of Anquetil Du Perron 
 appeared to furnish the best information on the subject, 
 especially as the frequent use of vowels had already inclined 
 M. Miinter towards the Zend. From this authority I learn- 
 ed that the Greek name of Hystaspes was pronounced, in 
 Persian, Goshtasp, Gustasp, Kistasp, or Wistasp. Here, 
 then, were the seven first letters of the word Hystaspes m 
 the inscription of Darius, already pointed out ; while a com- 
 parison of all the royal titles led me to conclude, that the 
 three last formed the inflection of the genitive case singular. 
 It is scarcely possible to admit the conjecture of M. Du 
 Perron, that the name of Darius was pronounced, in Per- 
 sian, Eanteraffesh ; for in Reland's Dissertation, De vet, 
 lin^. Pers,, I observe the following quotation from Strabo ;^ 
 -rov^^apsLaiTiv (conscqucntly in the nominative Dariaves, or, 
 according to the Persian system, Dariavesli) ^ape2ov iKdXeffav; 
 and it is not easy to conceive why the Greeks and the He- 
 brew writers should have transformed Eanteraffesh into 
 Dareios or Dariavesh. I confined myself, therefore, to 
 the word Darius, or Dariavesh, and only endeavoured to 
 find out the Persian sounds in the name of Xerxes. With- 
 out stopping at the name of Artaxerxes in the Pehlvi or the 
 modern Persian, I gave the preference to the Zend, takmg 
 as a model the word Araxes, on which Du Perron makes the 
 following remark in the Memoires de VAcademie Royale 
 des Inscriptions, tom. xxxi. page 367. " Araxes is formed 
 from Weorokeshe or Warakshe, simply by droppmg the 
 first letter ; and Kshe is always represented m Greek by ^" 
 In consequence, I had no hesitation in transformmg the 
 name of Xerxes into Kshershe or Ksharsha, being guided by 
 
 ' Strab. xvi. sub fin. 
 

 334 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 335 
 
 I 
 
 M 
 
 ■•I 
 
 the letters indicated in the words Hystaspes and Darius; the 
 only difficulty was the occurrence of an additional sign be- 
 tween the first sh and the e, which last Miinter rightly 
 conjectured to be the first letter of the Zend alphabet, and 
 which has also the value of an open a. Having compared 
 afresh all the inscriptions given by Niebuhr and Le Bruyn, 
 in order to assure myself that the names were faithfully 
 copied, I found that the fourth character in the word Hys- 
 taspes ought to be composed of three principal wedges of 
 the same length ; but that in the name of Xerxes, the third 
 character ought to be written with only one, and the fifth, 
 on the contrary, with three transverse wedges. This cir- 
 cumstance led me to remark, that the third character in the 
 name of Xerxes was synonymous with the fourth and last of 
 the royal title ; and as the three first signs in his title had 
 been ascertained by means of the name of Xerxes, and the 
 last but one by that of Hystaspes, I endeavoured to deci- 
 pher the whole, in order to find out the meaning of the un- 
 known sign^ which also occurs in the name of Darius, after 
 the three first characters representing the syllable Dar. 
 The vocabulary of the Zend language, by M. Du Perron, 
 presented no word under the letters Kshe, signifying King, 
 but a number of equivalent forms under Kshhe, which led 
 me to understand the language of the inscription, and 
 proved to a certainty that the first letter in the name of 
 Xerxes was Kk ; but I found no clue to the meaning of the 
 unknown sign. In the mean while, however, as no form of 
 the Zend accorded better with the characters of the inscrip- 
 tion than that of Khskeio, I assumed this unknown sign as 
 the mark of aspiration, or a long k. I was the less scrupu- 
 lous in admitting some such sign of aspiration, as I had be- 
 fore observed in the Zendavesta a number of words written 
 sometimes with, at others without an h ; and had also met 
 with a remark (in the Memoires already quoted, page 365) 
 to the effect, that " a final a is aspirated as if it was followed 
 by an A." This also would serve to explam satisfactorily 
 the third character in the name of Xerxes, as well as the 
 fourth in that of Darius ; and the h would apply with equal 
 propriety to the inflection of the genitive case singular ahe, 
 and to the end of the word ah so often occurring, as tsh 
 does to the inflection of the genitive plural etshao, I have 
 
 recognised this aspiration in several words of the Persepoli- 
 tan inscriptions ; as for example in DahutshaOy which I at 
 first supposed to stand for Daharum, but which a continued 
 study of the Zend language has shown me to be synonym- 
 ous with populorum. But since M. de Sacy has made 
 several well-grounded objections® relative to the names of 
 Xerxes .and Darius, I began to conjecture, that this sign 
 might also serve to determine the correct pronunciation of 
 the names in which it occurs, and provide against their be- 
 ing enounced Khsher-she instead of Kksh-ershe, or Da-re- 
 ush instead of Dar-eush.^ 
 
 In this case, one might imagine the aspirate to be changed, 
 after certain consonants, into w or y, so that the two names 
 just mentioned would be pronounced Khshwershe and 
 Daryemh or Daryeoesh ; a supposition which may serve 
 to explain how the Hebrews, like the Egyptians, by placing 
 an a before each word commencing with two silent conso- 
 nants, in order to faciUtate the pronunciation, as the French 
 would employ an e for the same purpose, might easily 
 change the name of Xerxes into tth1::;^^^ Ahhashyerosh, and 
 Darius into trm Daryavesh. In all probability the Per- 
 sian name of Xerxes might contain the sound of w, omitted 
 by the Greeks for want of a corresponding sign, as in the 
 case of 'Apa^i;? for Worokeshe or Warakshe ; such at least 
 might be gathered from the different ways of spelling this 
 name, that is, if we admit the words 'kaaovripo^^ 'O^vaprj^, 
 v^vapiffi, and 'Afo/)!/? (in Kvofa^iyv) to be nothing more than 
 
 • I am not so scrupulous as M. de Sacy about the transposition of h in the 
 word Khshhcrshe, instead of Khshehrshe ; particularly as that learned scholar 
 himself observes in his Memoire, M, de Sassanid., p. 175, (see also, p. 191,) 
 " In the name of Sapor^ the heth of the last syllable is placed after the resch, 
 which makes Schapourh."—" On the reverse, the name of the king is well 
 engraved, but the vaw of the syllable pouhri is placed after the Mh, which 
 makes Schahphouri." 
 
 • The names of Darius and Xerxes do not appear to be simple, but com- 
 pound words, of which the first part is an abbreviation of Dara (Lord) and 
 Kshah (King) ; which is the reason why (Elius Lampridius in Alex. Severus, 
 calls Artaxerxes ^^ potentissimum regem tarn re quam nomine" Herodotus, on 
 the other hand, (vi. c. 98,) explains Artaxerxes by fikyaq aorfioQ, and Ammia- 
 nus Marcellinus by " hellorum victor" Herodotus seems to have merely trans- 
 lated the latter parts of the names Darius and Xerxes by igUiriQ and ap^Voc, 
 imitating, after the Greek fashion, the sound of the Persian wwd, though m 
 an inverted order : at all events kfkiitiQ is a term fabricated by Herodotus him- 
 self, for &aiaQ or irpriKTtig, that is to sa)^ TroXepiKbsy according to the explanation 
 of the Stymologicum magnum, in which Aapclog is, after Hesychius, derived 
 from the Greek ^fnQ, i. e. ^povi/ioc. 
 
336 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 337 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 in 
 
 different modifications of 'Sep^rj'i, just as *Apro^aprj'i, ^Ap-ra^apri^^ 
 
 and 'A^Tofa<rny9, are of *Apro^€p^ri9 or 'A^Tafe/>^iy9, (in Zend Ar- 
 takhshethr, in Pehlvi Artaskir, in Persian Ardeshir, in 
 Arabic Azdeshir,) with the initial Art or Ard (strenuus, 
 magnus, fortitudine pollens, Herod, vi. 98). Not being 
 myself sufficiently versed in the Oriental languages to pro- 
 nounce decisively on this point, I shall merely add, that M. 
 de Sacy himself has confessed his complete failure in every 
 attempt to give the characters another signification. M. de 
 Roziere, in his Description de V Egypt e, (Antiquites, Me- 
 moires, tom. i. livraison iii. p. 265, 276,) objected to the 
 introduction in the name of Darius of the letter //, so diffi- 
 cult for French organs to pronounce ; and M. Saint-Martin 
 also, in his last essay has changed it into e, a mode of pro- 
 cedure which has led him to other deviations from my 
 method of deciphering ; but he adduces so little reason for 
 his alterations, that I cannot venture to adopt any of them. 
 The hieroglyphics engraven on the urn of Count Caylus, 
 entirely confirm my interpretation, as, according to M. 
 Champollion, they exhibit the name of Xerxes in literal 
 characters, Khshharsha, Again, the name of Hadrian, 
 in which the sign asserted by M. Champollion to represent 
 a Greek h precedes the letter a, proves that this sign is 
 rather a Latin A, or the fifth character of the phonetic 
 alphabet, which, instead of vowels, has only their fulcra, 
 and therefore employed the he to designate the Greek e. 
 This remark alone is sufficient to overthrow the whole struc- 
 ture of M. Saint-Martins plan of deciphering, as far as his 
 determination of the sign in question is concerned, even 
 though it were free from numerous misconceptions of an- 
 other kind. 
 
 There is no occasion for me to detail the particular method 
 which I followed, in gradually tracing out the signification 
 of all the other characters, as it must be sufficiently evident, 
 from what has already been said, that my mode of procedure, 
 so far from being conducted on arbitrary principles, has been 
 as circumspect as possible, and that my plan of deciphering 
 least of all deserves the imputation of blind chance, which 
 certain partisans of my antagonist have been pleased to 
 throw upon it. I shall only observe, that if I flatter myself 
 with having succeeded in deciphering the first specimen ot 
 
 Persepolitan character, it can scarcely in fairness be required 
 of me to furnish also a satisfactory explanation of the writ- 
 ing itself, though it is too much the general custom to con- 
 found the business of a decipherer with that of an interpreter. 
 Being little acquainted with the Oriental languages, I have 
 merely endeavoured to determine the value of each sign by 
 a species of logical induction, founded on a comparison of 
 all the cognate inscriptions, and the different combinations 
 of their characters. The way being once laid open, it will 
 b^ the appropriate task of the Orientalist alone to furnish a 
 complete interpretation of the writing now first rendered 
 legible ; it were too much to call upon the decipherer him- 
 self to prove the validity of his system by engaging in such 
 an attempt, particularly when there is no such thing as 
 dictionary or grammar of the deciphered language in ex- 
 istence, but only a few detached fragments. This will serve 
 as an answer to those who, inconsiderately enough, require 
 what is beyond one's power to effect. In the mean while, 
 however, the following corroboration of one of my conjec- 
 tures may be advanced as a satisfactory proof of the little 
 reason there is to doubt the reality of the Persepolitan Zend 
 alphabet having been actually deciphered. 
 
 M. Miinter informed me by letter, that M. Fuglsang, a 
 clergyman, well versed in the Sanscrit, and who returned 
 two years since from Tranquebar, had communicated to 
 him, among other things, the remark, that some Englishmen 
 were in the habit of writing and employing the word bun, 
 as a Sanscrit term, signifying descendants, race ; and that 
 m consequence they made use of the expression, surya 
 buns, and chandra buns, to denote, descendants of the sun 
 and moon. Whoever is acquainted with the striking analogy 
 existing between the Zend and the Sanscrit, will immediately 
 recognise in the above fact no small confirmation of the 
 truth of my rather daring hypothesis at first, when asserting 
 that the word bun must signify stijps, though M. Du Perron 
 had only given root, foundation, as its meaning. Further, 
 M. de Sacy assures us that he met with the word pun (as 
 he writes it, though M. Du Perron constantly has bun, bon, 
 or bonem) in the above sense, on several monuments of the 
 Sassanide dynasty. Nevertheless, I cannot help thinking 
 that this word, as well as pothrk, or pothrem, which Du 
 
 VOL. II. z 
 
*^*"* 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 Perron (Zendavesta, i. 2, p. 179, No. 2,) translates by son 
 and germ, might also signify son ; and I refer it to the pre- 
 ceding genitive cases, because in the great inscription of Le 
 Bruyn, (No. 131, lin. 14,) we read hondarheaush khshehio- 
 hake, and the word borne (lin. 12, in Pehlvi, boman ; 
 " son") is expressed in the translation of the second species 
 of cuneiform writing by the same character as bon. So that 
 there is no occasion to supply the word son in the titles of 
 Darius and Xerxes : and the word akheotshoskoh, which 
 ordinarily follows that of bun, may perhaps be considered 
 as an epithet of the latter. 
 
 I shall not detain the reader any longer with unseasonable 
 conjectures relative to the interpretation of these inscrip- 
 tions, as there is reason to expect, that M. Du Perron s ob- 
 servations on the Zend will at some future day be entirely 
 cleared up. It is sufficient to have shown that the Zend is 
 the language of the first class of inscriptions, and that my 
 deciphering of the alphabet, a few signs only excepted, re- 
 poses on solid grounds. Although I cannot flatter myself 
 with having done as much in this case as M. de Sacy has 
 for the Sassanide inscriptions, yet I feel abundantly recom- 
 pensed for my labour by the conviction, that the rational 
 system I have adopted has at length set bounds to the pre- 
 vailing mania for arbitrary hypotheses, and secured the pub- 
 lic from an inundation of writings, which threatened to 
 embroil rather than to elucidate the question. From my 
 researches then I come to the following conclusions. 
 
 1. All the cuneiform inscriptions of Persepolis at present 
 known, have reference to Darius Hystaspis, and his son 
 Xerxes ; consequently to these kings belong all the edifices 
 on which they are inscribed, and the bas-reliefs of which 
 attest the high degree of Persian civilization and taste at 
 this early period. In order, therefore, to furnish the reader 
 with an exact notion of what concerns the two monarchs 
 respectively, I shall proceed to a particular enumeration of 
 all the inscriptions alluded to ; first of all remarking, that 
 those found on the royal mantle, which Le Bruyn (No. 133) 
 assures us that he put together again from several broken 
 pieces, are in fact fragments of two inscriptions, relating to 
 the two kings whose portraits are placed side by side, and 
 which inscriptions are written in all the three kinds of 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 339 
 
 character, but have been confounded by Le Bruyn into 
 one, and in such an inverted manner, that it is necessary to 
 read them from bottom to top, so that in consequence the 
 four first lines contain the inscription relative to Darius, and 
 the fifth, sixth, and seventh, that concerning Xerxes. The 
 former is almost entire, at least in the first kind of writing, 
 and evidently represents these words : 
 
 DaRHEUSH K H EGHRE GoSHTASPAHE BUN AK- 
 
 HEOTSHOSHOH. DaRIUS ReX FORTIS HySTASPIS FILIUS (?) 
 
 The inscription which refers to Xerxes can only be re- 
 stored by a comparison of all the three species of writing, 
 as it exhibits for the most part only fragments of isolated 
 words. Upon comparing it with the inscription of Darius, 
 above deciphered, and with Niebuhr s perfect copies, E. F. G., 
 we find the contents to be : 
 
 Xerxes rex fortis Darii regis filius (?) 
 Somewhat more circumstantial than these are the in- 
 scriptions over the figures of the kings, placed on the doors 
 in the interior of the buildings ; ^° those relative to Darius 
 (Niebuhr, B. D. C.) are from the building marked G. (Nieb. 
 tab. xxvi. in Heeren s ground-plan s) ; those of Xerxes, 
 on the other hand, (Nieb. G. F. E.,) are from the building 
 marked I. (in Heeren's plan, t,) This circumstance con- 
 firms the opinion of Niebuhr, (vol. ii. p. 142 : compare 
 vol. i. p. 150, of this work,) who, from the interior form 
 and architecture of these buildings, was led to assign them 
 a different origin ; at the same time, however, it shows that 
 Niebuhr mistook the more ancient building to be a later 
 erection." The inscriptions over the windows prove that 
 the edifice marked G, was intended for Darius, to whom 
 also they themselves refer : only at the south-west angle of 
 the building there is an upright stone, about twenty feet in 
 height, presenting on its upper face the long inscription, 
 (Le Bruyn, No. 131,) relative to Xerxes, the contents of 
 which are almost the same with the one marked A, in 
 Niebuhr, engraven on the front of the principal terrace of 
 
 '° See Lettre de M. Silvestre de Scicy a M, Millin sur les inscriptions des mo- 
 numens Persepolitains : Extrait du Magasin Encyclop6dique, annee VI 11. 
 tome V. p. 438. 
 
 " Unless, indeed, as appears likely from the four words subjoined to the 
 end of the inscriptions relating to Darius, we suppose this building to have 
 been erected by Xerxes himself, in honour of his father. 
 
 z 2 
 
340 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 341 
 
 't 
 
 the esplanade. According to Le Bruyn, this stone was 
 erected at a later epoch. There are no other inscriptions 
 relating to Darius, besides the one marked H. I. K. L. in 
 Niebuhr, which is found nearly in the middle of the southern 
 wall of the building, on a stone twenty-six feet long by six 
 in height. The other cuneiform inscriptions are scattered 
 about in all directions over the ruins of Persepolis ; a proof 
 that the whole of these ancient buildings were erected by 
 the two kings above mentioned ; that Darius began them, 
 and that Xerxes made considerable additions, without, how- 
 ever, completely finishing them ; for, in the portions con- 
 structed by the latter prince, we still meet with stones bear- 
 ing no inscription. M. de Murr (Journal, vol. iv. p. 125, 
 sq.) has enumerated thirty-five Persepolitan inscnptions, 
 reckoning some of them over again as many times as they 
 are repeated, though they are all the same, and omitting on 
 the other hand a number of others, of which we have no 
 copies. Of the twelve inscriptions enumerated by him as 
 occurring on the pilasters of the grand entrance, we possess 
 no copies that are legible ; their height from the ground 
 rendering it difficuU to distinguish them. Gemelli Carreri, 
 who visited Persepolis about the end of the seventeenth 
 century, alone pretends to have transcribed two lines, (Voy- 
 age, tom. ii. fig. i. p. 246,) the first of which corresponds 
 with the former half of the twenty-first line m Niebuhr s A., 
 and the second contains the isolated characters of an inscrip- 
 tion which appears to have been the same as Niebuhr s G. 
 Tavemier {Relations de divers voyages curieux. Pans, 
 1663) had already given the same characters, and in the 
 very same order. I consider the opinion of M. Tychsen 
 rather too hazardous, when he affirms the grand palace, 
 marked L., to have been erected by the Arsacides; though 
 the ruins of Nakshi-Rustam appear to belong in part only 
 to the era of the Sassanides, as together with some inscrip- 
 tions in the cuneiform character, they contain others in that 
 of the Pehlvi dialect. 
 
 2. The language of the first species of Persepolitan writ- 
 ing is the Zend ; the ancient existence of this dialect, first 
 discovered by M. Du Perron, being as little subject to be 
 called in question as that of the Pehlvi or Parsi, we may 
 therefore consider the Zendavesta as a genuine religious 
 
 code of the old Persians, by reference to which we are 
 enabled to judge of their peculiar notions in matters of re- 
 ligion. Although the language of the deciphered inscrip- 
 tions does not exactly correspond with that of the Zend- 
 avesta, if we may conclude from the forms and inflections 
 published by Du Perron, (for the Zend must necessarily 
 have undergone considerable modifications during the time 
 when it flourished,) yet the conformity in point of language 
 discoverable upon comparing the inscriptions with the 
 manuscripts of the Zendavesta, proves equally beyond a 
 doubt the ancient existence of the Zend, as the Sassanide 
 inscriptions deciphered by M. de Sacy prove that the Pehlvi 
 flourished some centuries later.^^ It is possible, indeed, 
 that the Zend alphabet published by Du Perron might have 
 been in use even under the old Persian monarchy, and 
 might just as possibly have been written from right to left, 
 while the cuneiform character was engraved in an opposite 
 direction. For however beautiful and convenient the latter 
 is for engraving on stones, it must have been equally tedious 
 and troublesome for ordinary purposes. I am, therefore, 
 decidedly of opinion that it was only employed for inscribing 
 on public monuments, solemn deeds, seals, and amulets, as 
 a kind of sacred and venerable writing, and do not think it 
 improbable even, that its two elementary signs might origin- 
 ally have contained some mysterious meaning. 
 
 The direction of the characters would seem to be explained 
 by the Oriental custom of sitting cross-legged to write, in 
 which position the order from right to left is the most natural, 
 as it is the most convenient ; while, on the other hand, in mo- 
 numental inscriptions the eye loves to follow a contrary di- 
 rection.^' Such was the case in ancient Egypt, where the 
 
 " In a recent publication, breathing the very spirit of dogmatism and con- 
 ceit, the writer coolly asks, " To what country and epoch does this pretended 
 language belong ? Has any ancient dialect ever borne the name of Zend ? or 
 is it not rather a corruption of the Sanscrit Chhandas, one of the most usual ap- 
 pellations of the Vedas ?" As to the Zendavesta, our Uterary dictator supposes 
 It to be a comparatively recent forgery by Guebres or Parsees of Guzerat ; an 
 opinion indeed which others besides himself have entertained. See Rejkxions 
 sur Vitude des Langues Asiatiques, par A. W. de Schlegel, etc. Bonn. 1832, 
 
 8vo, pag. 69. Transl. 
 
 " This distinction seems rather fanciful ; it is not very easy to see why the 
 direction from right to left should be considered the most natural, or even 
 the most convenient, or why any connexion should be supposed to exist^ be- 
 tween the eye and the material on which the characters are traced. Few, 
 
342 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 APPENDIX 11. 
 
 343 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 h 
 
 hieroglyphics were occasionally written from left to right, 
 as I observe by a comparison of certain inscriptions resem- 
 bling each other, and disposed in a square ; whereas the 
 ordinaiy mode of writing evidently proceeded from right to 
 left. Admitting the cuneiform writing, like the hieroglyphics 
 of Egypt, to have been a sacred writing, only employed on 
 public monuments and amulets, etc. ; it must of course 
 have declined in estimation with the fall of the Persian em- 
 pire, and gradually have come into disuse. Perhaps how- 
 ever it might have been still known in the time of the Sas- 
 sanide dynasty, as the inscriptions at Nakshi-Rustam are 
 copied from those of Chihel-Minar. But that it was under- 
 stood as late as the fourth century of the Hegira, which is 
 the opinion of M. de Sacy in his explanation of the cufic 
 inscriptions at Persepolis, is utterly groundless and impro- 
 bable. . 
 3. The inscriptions of Persepolis that have been deci- 
 phered, speak of Hystaspes, Darius, and Xerxes, as grand- 
 father, father, and son ; but they never attribute the title of 
 king to the first, while the two others are represented as 
 kings even on the monuments of Egypt ; and it is in this 
 latter quality that the sign manual of Darius appears on two 
 Babylonian documents hitherto unpublished. Here then 
 we meet with a full confirmation of the history of the Per- 
 sian kings, as preserved to us by the Greeks : a history 
 which is as little liable to be affected by the monstrous tra- 
 ditions of the modern Persians, as by the unconnected nar- 
 ratives of the sacred writers, and which, notwithstanding 
 the corruptions it may have undergone, bears nevertheless 
 80 many marks of intrinsic credibility, that I cannot but 
 consider its agreement with the inscriptions as one of the 
 strongest proofs of the correctness of my interpretation. The 
 very manner in which Darius is said to have come to the 
 
 perhaps, if any, who have seen the Arabic sentences so beautifully sculptured 
 on the walls of Mohammedan mosques, complain of their eyes bemg annoy ea 
 by having to read them from right to left, or seem to have thought this cir- 
 cumstance any diminution to the beauty of the writing. Besides, there need 
 be no question about posture in the case, for the Hebrews foUowed the same 
 direction in writing as the Arabs, and yet there is nothing to show that tiiey 
 wrote sitting cross-legged. In the abstract, indeed, either direction appears 
 equally natural ; or if there is any difference, it should be m favour ot tne 
 Euroi^ean system from left to right; because, were the Asiatic method tne 
 most natural^,htw came the European ever to be adopted ? Transl. 
 
 throne, is altogether in the true spirit of the Persian reli- 
 gion ; agreeably to which, the sun, as representing the visi- 
 ble apparition of the divinity, could only communicate an 
 oracular response by the neighing of his sacred animal the 
 horse, at the moment of his own appearance above the hori- 
 zon. The history of a foreign people, written by contem- 
 poraries, naturally deserves more credit than that which the 
 natives themselves have composed several centuries after the 
 events recorded. An attempt, therefore, to illustrate the 
 ancient history of Persia from modern Persian sources, 
 would be just as futile as to study the ancient history of our 
 own country in the chronicles of the middle ages. The 
 expectations which were conceived by learned men of being 
 able to form new conclusions respecting the ancient history 
 of Persia by means of the cuneiform writings, have not yet 
 indeed been realized ; but that person would betray no 
 small want of taste for true learning, who should regard all 
 the attempts hitherto made in deciphering these inscriptions 
 as abortive, the study itself as useless, and its consequences 
 as unimportant ! Because, when once the true method of 
 interpreting the character has been pointed out, to what 
 important results may not a scrupulous collation of the in- 
 scriptions already known, as well as the discovery of others 
 of the same kind, lead us, and particularly the documents and 
 inscriptions at Hamadan and Bissutun, together with those 
 found on the canal of Suez, or in the desert between Aleppo 
 and Bassora. Besides, in those ancient monuments, which 
 have been supposed to contain profound mysteries, or in- 
 teresting information on curious subjects or remarkable 
 events, every step towards positive certainty, and even the 
 very conviction that we shall be disappointed in our search, 
 is a positive gain, which none but a frigid compiler can 
 affect to deny, to whom every additional acquisition made 
 in the knowledge of history is of much more consequence 
 than the limitation of his materials for constructing hypo- 
 theses. 
 
 Postscript by Prof. Heeren. 
 
 M. Grotefend, in the preceding essay, has so expressly 
 declared that his object was merely to decipher, and not to 
 explain the inscriptions, that it would be superfluous to call 
 
344 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 345 
 
 i 
 
 the reader s attention to this point, were it not for the ex- 
 treme partiality with which his labours have been reviewed 
 by some of our critics. Whoever reflects on the scanty 
 knowledge we have of the Zend, confined as that is to a 
 meagre list of two or three hundred words, furnished by 
 Anquetil Du Perron, will rather be surprised that so much 
 should have been eflected, than complain of so little. Up 
 to the present time no person has succeeded in refuting M. 
 Grotefend's method of explanation ; for dogmatic asser- 
 tions prove nothing to the contrary, even when emitted by 
 Oriental scholars, who being unacquainted with the Persian, 
 cannot possibly be considered judges of the question, the 
 Zend having just as little connexion with the Semitic dia- 
 lects, as the German has with the Turkish. In England, on 
 the other hand, his method has been generally recognised as 
 correct. It is no business of mine to undertake the defence 
 of M. Grotefend ; he has already done it himself to the satis- 
 faction of every unprejudiced mind. Within these few 
 years, however, a decided adversary to his system presented 
 himself in the person of the late M. Saint-Martin, who read 
 before the Asiatic Society of Paris a memoir relative to the 
 ancient inscriptions of Persepohs, an extract from which is 
 given in the Journal Asiatique for February, 1823. But 
 if I may be allowed to judge from a perusal of this extract, 
 M. Grotefend has every reason to congratulate himself in 
 meeting with such an opponent, who, so far from confuting 
 his interpretations, actually appears to confirm them in their 
 essential points. What Saint-Martin finds fault with in 
 Grotefend, is confined chiefly to his method of deciphering 
 certain characters, (which the critic asserts to have been too 
 arbitrary,) and to his explanation of a few words. In other 
 respects, Saint-Martin himself adopts the whole system of 
 M. Grotefend; allows him the credit of having first cor- 
 rectly read the names of the kings, which furnished a clue 
 to the rest of the alphabet ; and in his explanations, a few 
 points of secondary importance excepted, comes to precisely 
 the same conclusions as the German scholar. According 
 to M. Saint-Martin, the inscription relating to Xerxes reads 
 thus : " Xera^es the powerful king, king of kings, son of 
 king Darius, of an illustrious race,'' According to Grote- 
 fend, (see vol. i. p. 253,) " Xerxes the valiant king, king 
 
 of kings, son of Darius the king, successor of the sovereign 
 of the world.'' The inscription on Darius, as translated by 
 the first-mentioned scholar, is, " Darius the powerful king, 
 king of kings, king of the gods, son of Vyshtasp, of an 
 illustrious and very excellent race," By Grotefend, " Da- 
 rius the valiant king, king of kings, king of the people, son 
 of Hystaspes, successor of the sovereign of the world," 
 Such being the general agreement of these two scholars in 
 their respective modes of interpretation, we may, I think, 
 safely leave them to settle their other differences together in 
 an amicable manner, without any apprehension that the 
 system adopted by M. Grotefend will eventually turn out to 
 be false, or that any other scholar will venture to contest 
 with him the merit of discovery. Being desirous of en- 
 abling the reader not merely to form an opinion of this 
 branch of study, but even to prosecute it himself should he 
 feel curious to do so, I have accordingly subjoined to the 
 end of this volume a copper plate, tab. i., in which, with the 
 assistance of M. Grotefend's treatises, I have laid down the 
 whole apparatus necessary for reading the cuneiform inscrip- 
 tions of the first species, written in the Zend language, and 
 found on the ruins of Persepolis, which up to the present 
 time have been deciphered by the above scholar only. In 
 this table then we observe, 
 
 1. The deciphered Zend alphabet, not however in gram- 
 matical but in chronological order, so that the student may 
 proceed from the most simple to the most complicated me- 
 thod of arranging the wedge-letters, and subsequently to the 
 composition of the angular with the wedge-form. It is 
 evident this order must throw some fight on the origin and 
 development of the alphabet itself 
 
 2. Opposite to each character of the Zend is placed the 
 corresponding one in Latin and Persian. But as the latter 
 possesses no marks to denote the vowels, they are only re- 
 presented in the Latin. The last sign is an abbreviation of 
 the royal title Khshehioh, (Pers. Shah,) Rex, composed of 
 the initial and final characters of the word. 
 
 3. By the side of the alphabet descends a column entitled 
 sphalmata, which contains the mistakes of the transcriber.^* 
 
 " The letters N and B stand for Niebuhr and Le Bruyn. 
 
 ^ 
 
346 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 APPENDIX IL 
 
 347 
 
 In the course of deciphering the alphabet itself, as well as 
 upon comparing the several copies made by Niebuhr, Le 
 Bruyn, Chardin, and others, M. Grotefend was led to notice 
 the occurrence of numerous errors, rendered almost in- 
 evitable by the state of the inscriptions, and the peculiar 
 circumstances under which they were copied. It was alto- 
 gether necessary to point out these mistakes, otherwise the 
 reader would have been stopped by the frequent recurrence 
 of characters not to be found in the alphabet. They are 
 therefore so arranged in the table, that by the side of each 
 letter he will also observe the corresponding erroneous form. 
 
 4. Although the preceding directions might seem sufficient 
 for enabling the reader to commence the study of decipher- 
 ing, I have judged it convenient to add also a specimen of 
 reading, in order to remove the serious difficulties he would 
 still have to encounter ; this specimen I have taken from 
 M. de Sacy's Lettre h M. Millin sur les inscriptions des 
 Monumens PersepoUtains ; and together with the alphabet, 
 and the rest of the apparatus, has been copied with the most 
 scrupulous fidelity, Professor Tychsen having had the good- 
 ness to undertake the trouble of revising the plate. 
 
 5. M. Grotefend had also enriched the third edition of 
 this work with another plate, (tab. ii.,) containing the above- 
 mentioned specimen in all the three kinds of writing, toge- 
 ther with the cuneiform inscription on the urn of Count 
 Caylus, which is the same as the former, word for word. 
 His object in making this addition was partly to explain what 
 he had previously remarked of the character of cuneiform 
 inscriptions in general, and of the three Persepolitan species 
 in particular ; and partly also to show that these three spe- 
 cies of writing read from left to right, correspond verbally 
 with each other ; and that each of them is composed of let- 
 ters, of which several go to make up a single word, with the 
 exception of the royal title, which is represented by a mo- 
 nogram, either with or without inflection. From the same 
 plate, also, we learn the peculiar method by which M. Grote- 
 fend, notwithstanding the absence of any division between 
 the words of the second and third species of writing, suc- 
 ceeded, nevertheless, in effecting their separation ; and be- 
 fore he had actually deciphered any part of them, put him- 
 self into a way of translating a considerable number ot 
 
 detached words, with the assistance of the first species, and 
 also of discovering the vtrrepov -n-porepov, already referred to, 
 as committed by Le Bruyn, (No. 133,) in confounding to- 
 gether the fragments of two different inscriptions. 
 
 It must, however, be confessed, that, notwithstanding the 
 progress hitherto made in deciphering and explaining the 
 cuneiform inscriptions, we have as yet scarcely passed the 
 threshold of the science, for want of other aids than we now 
 possess, towards understanding the ancient Persian dialects, 
 and particularly the Zend ; nevertheless the attempts made 
 by learned scholars, up to the present day, are quite suffi- 
 cient to interest the attention of every friend of antiquity in 
 their favour. Independently of the new conclusions they 
 promise to supply with respect to the ancient history of Per- 
 sia, they serve also to make us better acquainted with one 
 of the most important of all human inventions next to lan- 
 guage, I mean the art of literal writing. And if they do 
 not throw a full blaze of light on the art itself, and the place 
 where it originated, they at least supply us with a feeble i*ay 
 to guide our researches into these distant regions, which in- 
 deed is all that we have reason to expect. 
 
 The cuneiform writing is so simple in its character that 
 it evidently bears all the marks of an original invention. 
 It only consists of two signs, the wedge and the angle, and 
 it is impossible to construct a literal writing with a fewer 
 number of elements. This is the reason why a single letter 
 is often composed of more wedges or angles than at first 
 sight would be thought necessary ; which is the more re- 
 markable, because, from the total absence of curved lines, 
 it would be impossible to connect the signs together with- 
 out considerable difficulty. At the same time it is equally 
 clear, from the very nature of this kind of writing, that it 
 could not have proceeded from hieroglyphics, as the latter 
 from their first origin necessarily retain a character of va- 
 riety, which an alphabet derived from them (admitting such 
 to have been the case) would scarcely fail to betray : and 
 even if we regard the two elementary signs above mention- 
 ed as hieroglyphical, that is, for example, supposing them 
 to represent the idea of two sexes, yet the writing itself still 
 remains essentially distinct from that of hieroglyphics. 
 That it is neither a syllabic writing has already been proved 
 
348 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 349 
 
 Pl^^ 
 
 •^1 
 
 •(I 
 
 by M. Grotefend ; and, in fact, it is not very easy to see 
 how its elementary characters could be composed of sylla- 
 bles. What other supposition, therefore, can we entertain, 
 than that the writing in question was originally formed of 
 letters only, allowing even that it was developed slowly, and 
 by degrees ? It is, however, true, particularly with respect 
 to the first species of cuneiform writing, that it appears in a 
 remarkable manner to betray all the characteristics of an 
 infant state of the art, in the quantity, or rather the super- 
 abundance of letters in certain words. Does not this pecu- 
 liarity evince an anxious effort on the part of the inventor 
 to leave no sound, however insignificant, or even aspiration, 
 without its appropriate symbol? or, in other words, does 
 not this writing bear all the marks of having been carefully 
 written in conformity with the spoken language ? In the 
 second and third species, the fact just mentioned is much 
 less frequently observable; a circumstance which might 
 lead us to infer, though they contain more complicated spe- 
 cimens of particular characters, that they are less ancient 
 than the former. 
 
 As to the question, in what country this writing was 
 invented, we may answer without hesitation, that it is of 
 Asiatic origin. It differs to such a degree from the Egyp- 
 tian writing, not merely that of hieroglyphics, but also the 
 literal, as existing on the Rosetta stone, that they scarcely 
 deserve a moment's comparison. The discoveries made at 
 Persepolis and at Babylon, prove further, that its use ex- 
 tended over a considerable portion of Upper Asia, and that 
 being divided into several alphabets, (of which the three 
 kinds found on the ruins of Persepolis are again distinguished 
 from those engraven on the Babylonian bricks,) it was 
 adopted by several different nations, the original elementary 
 signs being variously modified in constructing the new al- 
 phabet. It appears certain, that the invention of cuneiform 
 writing was long anterior to the Persian monarchy, from the 
 circumstance of its being engraven at this early epoch, under 
 three forms, on the buildings of Persepolis ; but to deter- 
 mine the precise spot where it was first brought into use, 
 is not so easy. As there can be no doubt, however, that the 
 first Persepolitan species, which is also the most simple, was 
 employed for writing the Zend language, we might with 
 
 2;reat probability assume its original country to have been 
 Media, where the Zend, and with it the doctrines of Zoro- 
 aster, once flourished. But when, on the other hand, we 
 find in the ruins of Babylon bricks and tablets, themselves 
 of very remote antiquity, covered all over with cuneiform 
 inscriptions, we feel equally disposed to attribute to them 
 an Aramaean origin. The latter hypothesis derives great 
 confirmation from the fact, that in all probability the writing 
 which the Greeks and Persians termed Assyrian, was no 
 other than the cuneiform. I am particularly led to this con- 
 clusion by a passage in Herodotus, (iv. 87,) where he speaks 
 of the two columns on which Darius, after crossing the 
 Bosphorus in his Scythian expedition, caused the names of 
 the different nations composing his army to be engraven, 
 on one in Greek, and on the other in Assyrian characters ; 
 the latter of which columns the historian himself saw in the 
 temple of Bacchus at Byzantium. Now the cuneiform cha- 
 racter being in general use among the Persians for inscrib- 
 ing on public monuments, is it likely that Darius would 
 have employed any other in the case just alluded to ? There 
 is no sort of occasion to suppose that the Babylonian or 
 Assyrian writing was of Aramaean origin, under the idea that 
 it was brought to Babylon by the Chaldaeans, at the epoch of 
 their power, because it has been already shown, in another 
 part of this volume, that the Chaldeeans were a branch of 
 the great Persico-Median tribe. 
 
APPENDIX III. 
 
 351 
 
 « I 
 
 APPENDIX III. 
 
 On Pasargad(B and the Tomb of Cyrus ; by G, F. Grotefend. 
 
 The Essay contained in the preceding Appendix had 
 already been printed off, when, during an accidental stay at 
 Gbttingen, I received from M. d'Olenin, director of the 
 Imperial Library at St. Petersburg, through the medium of 
 Prof Rommel, a cuneiform inscription in all the three 
 forms of the Persepolitan character, which had been copied 
 from a pillar in the neighbourhood of a village called Mur- 
 ghab, distant about fifty-two miles from Persepolis, by Sir 
 Gore Ousely, the British envoy at the court of Persia. 
 Upon comparing it with the Persepolitan inscriptions al- 
 ready deciphered by me, I found that it consisted of four 
 words in the three known species of writing, the first of 
 which formed the beginning of Niebuhr s I. and K. Judg- 
 ing by analogy from the inscriptions of Persepolis, the se- 
 cond word should represent a certain name, which in the 
 third and fourth is followed by the titles of " king" and 
 " sovereign" respectively. In the first specimen of writing, 
 this name consists of six characters, which, according to 
 my alphabetical table, and presuming Sir Gore Ousely's 
 copy to be correct, fiirnish us with the word " Zushudsh!' 
 But the uppermost wedge representing the letter d is made 
 so long, that we might suppose it to have been drawn over 
 three perpendicular wedges instead of two, which would in 
 that case give us a or ^, the first letter of the Zend alphabet/ 
 It is true I have in my table explained the first and third 
 signs by z and sch respectively, because I conceived them 
 
 * A later copy of the inscription made by Sir Robert Ker Porter, shows 
 that the above character does not exist in the original. 
 
 to be synonymous with certain other characters of similar 
 import ; but a more scrupulous examination has convinced 
 me that they are different, as it is only in particular words 
 that they occur without variation; the first sign in the forms 
 '* ezutskush" " ezutsheo,'' and the other in those of ^'pshut- 
 sheo,"" '' pshueotshetshaoy I have no hesitation therefore 
 in considering the first to represent a A, and the second the 
 double consonant sr ; the whole inscription then may b6 
 interpreted in the following manner : 
 Edo. Kusruesh. Khshehioh. Akheotshoshoh. 
 Dominus. Cyrus. Rex. Orbis terrarum rector. 
 What leads me to infer that the inscription contains the 
 name of Cyrus, is the circumstance of its being expressed 
 in the two other specimens of writing by no other than three 
 signs, which could hardly stand for a name of greater length 
 than the one in question.^ The reason why this name in 
 both the other kinds of writing presents no sign common to 
 those of Hystaspes, Darius, or Xerxes, is because the original 
 appellatives of the kings of Persia sounded differently in dif- 
 ferent languages ; a circumstance which, in addition to the 
 titles of '*king" and "sovereign" being designated bya mono- 
 gram, has prevented my deciphering the other specimens. 
 
 The occurrence of the name of Cyrus in the above inscrip- 
 tion necessarily excited my curiosity to know whether the 
 ruins of Murghab had ever been the residence of that mon- 
 arch. Upon this, M. Blumenbach, with that kindness 
 which always distinguishes him, was so good as to lend me 
 a copy of Morier's Travels, in the French translation of 
 1813, in which I was not a little surprised to find the very 
 inscription itself, and the ruins of Murghab described in 
 such a manner as to make me unite with Morier, in behov- 
 ing them to be the identical remains of Pasargada. And 
 as the fiirther I examined the subject only served to confirm 
 me in my opinion, though Pasargadae had hitherto been 
 sought for in quite an opposite direction from Persepolis, I 
 willingly complied with the request of Prof Heeren, to ex- 
 plain my reasons for this conjecture in a separate treatise.'* 
 
 ' M. Saint-Martin reads Huschusch, which he considers to be synonymous 
 with Ochus. How far this supposition is admissible will be shown in the 
 semiel. 
 
 A particular defence of my hypothesis, in opposition to the attacks of M. 
 
 If 
 
352 
 
 APPENDIX III. 
 
 APPENDIX III. 
 
 353 
 
 The name of Pasargada occurs only in Ptolemy and Soli- 
 inus (cap. 55). All the other writers, with the exception 
 of Q. Curtius, who in one place (v. vi. 10) has " Persaga- 
 dum" (i. e. Persagadarum) " urbs," and in another (x. 1, 22) 
 " Persagadse," uniformly call it by the name of " Pasar- 
 gadae," or " Passargadae ;" which latter appellation deserves 
 the preference, as we generally find it attributed to the Per- 
 sian tribe surnamed from this place. The method of spell- 
 ing it Pasagarda adopted in modern maps, is founded solely 
 on the untenable supposition, that its site was on the pre- 
 sent Fasa, near a river of the same name. It is far more 
 probable that the term Pessargadeh, signifying " the abode 
 of princes," has been corrupted into that of Persepolis by a 
 very common transposition of the letter r, because Stepha- 
 nus of Byzantium explains Passargadae by " Persian camp," 
 just as Kyreshata (Koreshgadeh) has been converted mto 
 Cyropolis. We must confess, however, notwithstanding 
 the similarity of name, that Pasargadee, where the tomb of 
 Cyrus was, is altogether distinct from the Persepohs, (i. e. 
 Persarum urbs, called by Arrian simply ne><yoi, the Pars of 
 the cuneiform inscriptions,) which was burnt by Alexander. 
 At the same time, we are not to look for it at such a dis- 
 tance from Persepolis as the ruins of Fasa, or in so perverted 
 a direction as to suppose the modem Shiraz, merely on ac- 
 count of the resemblance between Cyr and Chyas, as written 
 by the French, to have been the ancient capital of Cyrus. 
 
 The Greeks first became acquainted with Persepolis and 
 Pasargadse in consequence of Alexander s expedition. Ac- 
 cording to the unanimous accounts of all writers, the Mace- 
 donian conqueror in his progress towards the east, arrived 
 first at Persepolis, and afterwards at Pasargadae, so that the 
 possession of the former immediately led to the capture of 
 the latter. Upon this is founded the statement of Phny, 
 (Hist. Nat. vi. 26, compare Sohnus, cap. 55,) and also of 
 Strabo, that Pasargadae was situated at the eastern extren)ity 
 of Persis. A still more decisive passage is that of Strabo, 
 (xv. p. 1060, or 729,) where he says, that in the country of 
 Pasargadae, the river Cyrus, a name altered from the ori- 
 ginal one of Agradates by Cyrus himself, flowed through 
 
 M. HoBck and Hammer, is inserted in the Hallische Allgein. Litt. Zeitung, 
 No. 140, for June, 1820, 
 
 Hollow Persis, so called. The latter appellation evidently 
 denotes the valley extending from Persepolis to Murghab, 
 along the banks of the Ruh-koneh-siwond, which is also 
 termed by Oriental writers the Abkhuren or Kervan. We 
 must not however look for Pasargadae in a direction due 
 east from Persepolis, because the eastern part of the plain 
 in which the latter is situated abuts upon the marble moun- 
 tain of Rachmed, where, according to Diodorus, (xvii. 70,) 
 the tombs of the Persian kings were to be found ; while a 
 similar chain of marble rocks form the boundary of the plain 
 towards the north. But in the neighbourhood of the ruins 
 of Istakhar, and along the banks of the above river Kervan, 
 which flows between Nakshi-Rustain and Chihel-Minar into 
 the Bend-Emir or Araxes, we find a valley, (represented in 
 Morier s chart, further to the east ; in that of Kinneir, on 
 the contrary,* more to the east,) which runs in a north- 
 easterly direction, parallel to the road from Shiraz to Ispa- 
 han. The same road conducts us over two mountain-chains 
 to the ruins from which the inscription before alluded to 
 was copied ; after passing these mountains, which, on ac- 
 count of the snow, is only practicable in summer, we arrive 
 by another route at the " valley of Heroes," the favourite 
 hunting-place of the ancient kings of Persia, and where 
 Bahram-Gur, who is said to have derived his surname from 
 the wild asses of this country, {Gur or Kkor,) had seven 
 palaces all of different colours. As early as the year 1471, 
 these ruins had been visited by Josaphat Barbaro, the Vene- 
 tian envoy ; Morier, however, is the only traveller who has 
 examined them with attention. Kinneir, who has made us 
 'acquainted with several routes leading through this valley, 
 observes, in his Geographical Memoir, that " he saw nothing 
 remarkable along the above road, except a singular edifice 
 in the neighbourhood of Murghab, called Takhti-Suleiman, 
 which was in a superior style of architecture, and, to judge 
 from an inscription^ on one of the pillars of a portico, 
 seemed to be contemporary with the buildings of Persepolis. 
 This pillar, which is round, is about forty feet high and 
 eight in circumference. A hill in the vicinity bears evident 
 traces of having been once fortified ; and about a mile fur- 
 
 * In his Geographical Memoir of the Persian Empire^ London, 1813, 4to. 
 
 * This is the one copied by Sir Gore Ousely. 
 
 VOL. II. 2 A 
 
354 
 
 APPENDIX III. 
 
 ther to the west, is an ancient structure, said to have been 
 erected to the memory of a certain sultan Suleiman, l^rom 
 the circumstantial description and drawings furnished by 
 Morier, we learn that the very edifice in question is the 
 tomb of Cyrus, and that the surrounding ruins are no other 
 than those of ancient Pasargadae. 
 
 The writers from whom the Greeks, and subsequently the 
 Romans, derived their first knowledge of this country, were 
 Onesicritus, Nearchus, and Aristobulus, the contemporaries 
 of Alexander the Great. Of these, Onesicritus appears to 
 have mixed up a good deal of what is fabulous in his ac- 
 counts ; the second has led both Ptolemy and Pliny into 
 the error of confounding the rivers of the coast, which 
 empty themselves into the Persian Gulf, with those of the 
 interior, to which latter, according to Kinneir s Geography, 
 (p. 59,) the Cyrus of Pasargadae and the Araxes of Perse- 
 
 polis belong. . . i 
 
 The only writers likely to be of service m determining 
 the locality of Pasargadae, are those who have borrowed 
 their accounts from Aristobulus, the principal of whom are 
 Arrian and Strabo. According to the last-mentioned 
 author, (compare also Diodorus i. p. 43; .Elian. Hist. 
 Anim. i. 59,) Pasargadae was built by Cyrus to commemo- 
 rate the victory which secured to the Persians their dominion 
 over the Medes ; and Morier informs us, that the moun- 
 tainous defile leading from this country into Media, con- 
 sidered in a military point of view, presents very favourable 
 advantages for obstructing the march of an enemy. Tor 
 that reason Cyrus made Parsagardae the principal seat of 
 ' empire, of his treasures, and, as Plutarch writes, the place 
 of coronation for the Persian kings, where the newly-elected 
 monarch, in order to his solemn inauguration at the hands 
 of the Magi, was obliged, in addition to many other cere- 
 monies, to put on, in the temple of the goddess of war, the 
 robe formerly worn by Cyrus before he came to the throne. 
 Here also did that monarch erect his own tomb, which, by 
 its peculiar form of architecture, was distinguished as much 
 from the tombs of his successors, as it was from all others. 
 The burying-places of the Persian kings and the satmps 
 were in general lofty edifices, into which the coffins were 
 wound up by means of machinery, and afterwards placed 
 
 APPENDIX III. 
 
 355 
 
 in shrines ; the tomb of Darius Hystaspis, however, accord- 
 ing to Ctesias, (Pers. cap. 15,) was hewn out of a rocky 
 mountain ; that of Cyrus, on the contrary, is reported by 
 Arrian, (vi. 29,) and Strabo, (p. 730, or 1041,) on the 
 authority of Aristobulus, to have been built of square stones 
 in the midst of a delightful paradise. Making every proper 
 allowance for the great alterations which must necessarily 
 have taken place in this ancient monument since it was 
 pillaged in the time of Alexander, it is worth while to ex- 
 amine the following circumstantial description of it furnished 
 us by Arrian. " It was in the royal paradise at Pasargadae," 
 says this writer, " that the tomb of Cyrus was erected, on 
 a foundation of square blocks of stone, above which was 
 raised a building also of stone, with a roof, and having a 
 doorway so extremely narrow, that it was difficult for a 
 small-sized man, and altogether impossible for a large one, 
 to enter. Within the building stood a golden sarcophagus, 
 which contained the body of Cyrus ; near this was a kind 
 of throne, the feet of which were carved in gold ; and un- 
 derneath the sarcophagus were carpets of Babylonian manu- 
 facture, while over it were spread rich vestments and 
 coloured stuffs in the Median and Babylonian taste, to- 
 gether with collars, scimitars, earrings of gold, and precious 
 stones. In the neighbourhood was built a small habitation 
 for the Magi, to whom was committed, in hereditary suc- 
 cession, the guardianship of the tomb. According to Ari- 
 stobulus, the tomb of Cyrus is reported to have borne the 
 following inscription, written in the Persian character and 
 language. " man, I am Cyrus, (the son of Cambyses,) 
 who laboured to give empire to the Persians, and who 
 reigned over Asia. Therefore, envy me not the possession 
 of a monument." Onesicritus and Aristus of Salamis, g;ive 
 this inscription in a more concise form, as in the following 
 hexameter : — *Ei/^o5' i'^w K€iiu,ai Kupo^ paai\e:v<i patnXi^ivv, Al- 
 though it is not likely that the Greek verse, as pretended by 
 some, should have been engraven in Persian characters 
 alongside of the other inscription, yet it certainly cor- 
 responds better with the spirit of the Persepolitan inscrip- 
 tions, than that mentioned by Athenaeus, (Diepnos. x. 9. p. 
 
 434,) 'HBvvdfi^v Kai oivov irtveiv ttoXvv koi tovtov (pepetv KoXwi. L he 
 
 latter betrays the same fictitious character, as that of Sarda- 
 
 2 A 2 
 
356 APPENDIX III. 
 
 napalus in CiUcia, or as the inscription represented to have 
 beS engraved on the tomb of Darius. *.x.. ,. «« «.v«« 
 
 .V.eu, «T Tojo.,, 5,.-« Hevi^"- .«.,7- «/>-««"" -"" '^'""'' 
 
 ^^"The'town of PasargadiB was destroyed by Alexander, 
 r Arrian iii 18,) but the tomb of Cyrus still remains unin- 
 ured. though no longer exhibiting the sumptuous ornament 
 described by Aristobulus, or the same appearance it did 
 when restored by Alexander after the pillage of its treasures. 
 The building is situate at no great distance from the mosque, 
 as it is called, of Solomon's mother, {Mesm-Madan-Sulei. 
 Zan and on account of the peculiarity of its structure is 
 Tmed the "devil's court;" it still subsists entire, just as 
 Sescribed by Arrian, and a representation of it m^y be «een 
 in Morier's Travels, pi. 18. It consists of a stone apart- 
 ment raised upon a foundation of large blocks of marble in 
 ^veral layers, which are so disposed, that each upper one 
 S succe?sion comprehends a less extent of surface, and 
 frequently 'the wLle foundation or base of the structure 
 has a pyramidal form. The general outhne is that of a 
 Darallelogram, the lowest course of masonry being upwards 
 K fSTong, and 37 in breadth. The apartment above 
 measures 20 feet, by 10 feet 5 inches and the roo^e; 
 minates in a sharp angle just like our houses The who k 
 is constructed of one kind of marble, and the blocks are 
 Ldd tSher by cramps of iron. One of the blocks com^ 
 posing the base is 14 feet 8 inches long, 5 feet high, and 
 Tfee? 6 inches broad. In the interior of this marb 
 edifice, by peeping through a chink in the door (for the 
 key is in the hands of a woman, who permits nobody but 
 those of her own sex to enter,) we observe a «>««"j'»'a;"f ^ 
 blackened with smoke; the door itself is ^ narrow, thatto 
 effect an entrance would be attended with no small dith- 
 culty. The guardians of the key declare that nothing is o 
 be found in the inside except a large stone, which probably 
 supported the sarcophagus of Cyrus. , x „„„ 
 
 Sough there is not the slightest resemblance between 
 this ancient monument and the tombs of the Mohammedan 
 saints, the common people nevertheless imagine it to be he 
 burial-place of the mother of Solomon, a name with which 
 they connect all sorts of miraculous legends. In the vicinity 
 
 APPENDIX III. 
 
 357 
 
 is shown a spring of water, a draught of which is said to cure 
 the bite of a mad dog, and prevent all dangerous conse- 
 quences arising therefrom. All around the edifice is strewn 
 a vast quantity of blocks of marble, and fourteen shafts of 
 pillars, which appear to have once formed a colonnade ; at 
 present, however, they are half buried under a mound of 
 earth, which encloses the whole of these ruins. The para- 
 dise in which the tomb of Cyrus was formerly situated, is 
 now a cemetery, filled with grave-stones of modern date. 
 The building itself is covered on all sides with inscriptions, 
 written by persons who have been led to undertake a journey 
 thither, from motives of superstitious veneration ; among 
 which Josaphat Barbaro read the words Madari Suleiman, 
 in the Arabic character. Morier, however, no where dis- 
 covered any traces of ancient Persian writing, inscribed on 
 the walls ; though at no great distance, near the above- 
 mentioned mosque of Solomon's mother, he found three 
 pilasters so inscribed, and which appeared to be the ruins 
 of some hall or other, adorned in the inside with columns. 
 From one of these pillars was copied an inscription, which 
 resembles that taken by Sir Gore Ousely, though it is not 
 so well executed.^ At a distance of a hundred and sixty 
 feet, we meet with similar ruins, and similar inscriptions, 
 while the whole plain is covered with fragments of marble, 
 which Morier considered to be the ruins of some large city. 
 There can scarcely indeed be any doubt that it was Pasar- 
 gadae ; for every particular, even the most minute, recorded 
 of this capital of Cyrus, is peri'ectly applicable to the situa- 
 tion before us. To the left of the above-mentioned pilasters 
 are the ruins of a fire-temple, which, in its dimensions, style 
 of architecture, and ornament, altogether resembles Nakshi- 
 Rustam ; and about a thousand feet more to the east, is a 
 hill on which are the remains of a fort, constructed of mar- 
 ble blocks, as large as those found in the buildings of the 
 plain This marble is white, and polished in the most ex- 
 quisite manner. The village of Murghab, situated about 
 ten miles from the fort, contains several fine springs, which 
 water the whole plain, and derives its appellation (of Murgh- 
 ab, i. e. Birdwater) from the very singular property 
 
 • See pi. II. at this end of the volume. 
 
I 
 
 353 APPENDIX III. 
 
 ascribed to the water of one of these springs which is said 
 to Stract certain red and black coloured birds wh.ch, hke 
 starlinTs follow the course of the stream in large flocks, 
 slreSg incessantly all the time, and are very usefiiUo the 
 Sabhante in exterminating the immense swarms of locusts 
 wSlnfes the country. ^What is more extraordma^, if 
 totUes be filled with this water and exposed uncorked, m 
 the ODen air the birds are equally attracted to them by 
 sSLSnown charm ; and it is incredible with what quick- 
 TsTd vLcity they' despatch all the locusts they find on 
 thpir nassaffe Vil amont also, (Livre ii. p. 39, 4U,) aiiuaes 
 oproTeS something similar belonging to the wt 
 birSs of the island of Cyprus ; and says, that the Persmns 
 and Turks dignify these birds with the appellation of Mo- 
 iSns Konling to other authorities, they are called 
 Abmelekh. or locust-eaters, and the water, Abi-mui-ghan. 
 cSin (Voyage en Perse, edition de Langl^s, torn ni. p. 
 390 makes^this water spring from a source •" Bac^riana ; 
 but Father Angelus k St. Joseph, (Ange de la Brosse,) a 
 Camel te friar, who travelled in the East as a missionary, 
 anTw ote a book, entitled " Gazophylacmm Linguae Per- 
 ^um" ?Fol. Amstelod. 1684,) places the source of the 
 Swater in the district of Udjan C^lje /-odicea of Plinj^^ 
 between Shiraz and Ispahan ; whde ViUamont, who^e 1 m- 
 veirChardin himself is in the habit of quoting, says 't js m 
 the neighbourhood of the Persian town of Cuerch, by which 
 UseeS likely he meant Khoneh-Kergab, situate about nine 
 
 "^We'ZsXt^e of confounding two different edifices, 
 both named from Solomon s mother, a mistake ;^bich Char- 
 din, nevertheless, has committed. Almost all the traveller 
 tt have visited Shiraz, mention a budding so call^, and 
 which Chardin, (Voyage en Perse, tom. ^m- P- 432,) has 
 described and illustrated with the most f^plete drawing , 
 this building, however, is in the plam of Shubsar, scarcely 
 
 more than five miles from Shiraz. K^^^Pfey^d^f ' (^,Xd 
 Exot. Fasc. II. Relat. vi. p. 357,) speaks of a place ;«M 
 Abi-murghan, from the springs it contained ; but then the 
 marble ruins of a building which he calls the temple of So- 
 lomon s mother, (p. 354,) are in fact the three porticos to be 
 found at Shubaskr, built of the same kind of marble, and 
 
 APPENDIX III. 
 
 359 
 
 furnished with the same figures and ornaments so generally 
 prevailing at Chihel-Minar. Besides, there are several an- 
 cient structures in Persia, bearing a similar appellation; 
 thus, among others, we meet with a Takhti-Suleiman on the 
 high road from Cocan to Cashgar, about nine hours' distance 
 beyond Mui^helan ; so also the river Margus of the an- 
 cients, which flows through the province of Margiana, and 
 rises in the mountains near Gur, bears the name of Murghab. 
 It is not improbable that Chardin confounded this river with 
 the Birdwater, in the neighbourhood of Pasargadse, just as, 
 in the passage already alluded to, he has confounded Josa- 
 phat Barbaro's tomb of Solomon's mother, (according to 
 Bizari, Rerum Persicarum Historia, Frankf 1601, p. 325,) 
 with his own three porticos of the same name at Shubasar. 
 
APPENDIX IV. 
 
 361 
 
 » 
 
 APPENDIX IV. 
 
 On the Indian Words occurring in Ctesias; by 
 
 Professor Tychsen. 
 
 It was long ago asserted by Reland, that the remains of 
 the Indian language, preserved by Ctesias in his Indica^ 
 might to a certain extent be interpreted with the help of the 
 Persian, and accordingly that scholar himself first made the 
 attempt/ His explanations, however, seeming neither com- 
 plete nor altogether satisfactory, I have myself undertaken to 
 comment on the Indian glosses of Ctesias without any refer- 
 ence to the explanations of Reland ; and will now therefore 
 proceed to submit the result of my study to the learned 
 reader.** In order to facilitate the comparison of our respec- 
 tive essays, I shall also subjoin the interpretation proposed 
 by Reland. The particular words we have severally endea- 
 voured to explain, are the following, arranged according to 
 the order of the paragraphs, in the Excerpta of Ctesias : 
 
 1. Ctesias (§. 2) speaks of a stone, CQ}\eA pantarba, (irepl 
 Traviappa^ t^5 ff(l)par^7SoK,) which had the property of attracting 
 precious stones when thrown into the water ; he has not, 
 however, supplied any explanation of the word itself, and 
 therefore it is not very easy from his description of the stone 
 to determine what Persian word it corresponds with. Pa?i' 
 
 ddr, (;^*Xaj) means^?';w, stable. If the letter ? is the sign of 
 the Greek genitive, we might explain the last member of 
 
 the word in question by ^U pay, i. e. ?*unning water ; the 
 
 * Reland, IHss. MisceUan. Pars I. Diss. vi. 
 
 ' An extract from this Essay will be found in the Gott. Gel. Anzciff. for 
 1796, p. 1997, sq. 
 
 whole would then signify, frm in running water ; or per- 
 haps the word may be interpreted by ^b. ^ ^^ Bend der 
 pay, i. e. Band or attraction in the water. These compa- 
 risons, however, are too artificial to lay much stress upon ; 
 and Reland has omitted to notice this word altogether. 
 
 2. The name of the parrot, pirraKo^, (Ctesias, §. 3,) is 
 compared by Reland, {De Ophir, p. 184,) with the Persian 
 \jijj, tedek, which is the modern appellation of the bird. 
 From this might come Te^aicos, jiBuko^, ahaKo^^ and finally, 
 ^IrraKo^ ; it is just possiblc that Ctesias may have written it 
 with ,_, instead of ci, as /S/ttaicos.— All this, however, it 
 must be allowed, is mere conjecture ; though I have nothing 
 better to substitute in its place. 
 
 3. The name of martichora, (Ctesias, §. 7,) applied to a 
 fabulous animal, having the body of a lion, the face of a 
 man, with the tail of a scorpion, may be very satisfactorily 
 explained from the Persian. According to Ctesias, /ia/)T/xo/'a 
 means in Greek, ivepivirocpa^oi, the man-eater ; this is neither 
 more nor less than the Persian ^^r-^j^ from ^^^ viard, man, 
 and v,^ kkorden, to eat. Khor, the eater, is an abbre- 
 viate^^ form of the participle khordeh, which is still in use. 
 The Persians usually style an intrepid warrior mardam-khor, 
 the eater of men, which is the same expression at bottom. 
 Mardam, however, at present is the general form, mard 
 being for the most part employed in a more elevated sense 
 to denote a hero or warrior. 
 
 In the above comparison we have considered the final a to 
 be merely the Greek termination : if on the other hand it 
 be viewed as a component part of the Persian word, we 
 have only to substitute the participial form, Sjy^^^^ mardi- 
 khord, (abbreviated from ^^1;^^^^ mardikhoran,) as Reland 
 has already done, (p. 223,) and we obtain precisely the 
 same signification. ^ 
 
 4. The Greek term for gjnffin, iRvt, (Ctesias, §. 12,) 
 seems to be of Persian origin ; at all events it may easily be 
 derived from that language. For example, ^j^^ giriften, 
 means to gripe or seize : upon cutting off the termination 
 we have cJj^ girif, which in sound as well as meaning 
 corresponds well enough with the word ^pvf. The modern 
 appellation for griffin in Persian, is Si-murgh, (i. e. thirty 
 
362 
 
 APPENDIX IV. 
 
 APPENDIX IV. 
 
 363 
 
 111' 
 
 If 
 
 birds,) or Si-reng, (i. e. thirty colours,) equivalent to " great," 
 or " variegated." The two last names are obviously nothing 
 more than epithets. 
 
 6. The bird Bi'xaipo^ is reported to be synonymous with 
 Biicaio9,just (Ctesias, §. 17). I can compare this word with 
 BO other than the Persian (s:^ di, good, the good principle, 
 and^L^ kar, doing, a participle of the verb ^^^^ kerden ; 
 the whole then means benefactor, and might possibly allude 
 to the supposed custom of this bird's taking care to bury its 
 own excrement, which is said to possess very deadly pro- 
 perties. Reland supposes the word to be altogether of In- 
 dian derivation, and he may be perfectly right in his con- 
 jecture ; but the Persian AJL>i dilmek, which he compares 
 with Siicaipo9, (p. 221,) is too fer-fetched, and moreover sig- 
 nifies a venomous spider. 
 
 6. The tree called iraprfpov, (Ctesias, §. 18,) in Apollonius 
 wapv^o^, the wood of which is said to have the quahty of 
 attracting any substance, may be compared with the Persian 
 
 jh, bar, weight, burden, and^^T dver, bearing, drawing, 
 the participle of ^^^^^ averden. Bar-aver would then sig- 
 nify drawing a weight. This comparison however is too 
 defective ; we are not told the meaning of vapriPoi, and the 
 sound is very different from that of the Persian term. Re- 
 land has forgotten to notice this word. 
 
 7. In India, says Ctesias, (§. 19,) there is a river called 
 
 vrrapxo^, which mcaUS (t)epu;v iravra ra ^70^0, i. C. '^ produciflg 
 
 all good things'" To explain this word I adduce the Per- 
 sian ^^T dver, bringing, carrying, from the verb ^:^j^ aver- 
 den ; and ji^ khosh, good ; consequently dver-khosh, 
 bringing good, which corresponds exactly with the signifi- 
 cation pointed out by Ctesias. The word should properly 
 have been written cipapxo^ or vfiapxo^ in order to represent 
 the Persian ; but it is well known that the Greeks, who 
 were seldom able to appreciate foreign sounds with correct- 
 ness, generally expressed them according to Greek ety- 
 mology, or a fancied resemblance to certain words in their 
 own language ; as, for instance, in the case of 'UpoffoXvfia for 
 Jerusalem, 'Upa^a^ for Jarmuch. We might also compare 
 Ji^^j, berkhosh, good, so that the initial letter vvapxo^ 
 would be merely euphonic, but then, the participle (^pt^v 
 
 would not be expressed. Reland (p. 46) compares it with 
 . \ av'perkh, from dv, water, and perch, utility, conveni- 
 ence ; the whole expression thus amounting to aqua uti- 
 
 8. In the same passage with the above, Ctesias also speaks 
 of an Indian tree called ^nTrraxopa, from which electrum, 
 probably some odoriferous gum, distilled, and which like- 
 wise produced a kind of fruit something like a grape. Sip- 
 tachora is represented to signify ikvKv, rjBv^ sweet, agreeable. 
 We may compare this with the Persian ^^^ iC^jJ^, shifteh- 
 khor, that is, '* agreeable to eat," which applies very well 
 to the signification alluded to. Shifteh from shiften, " to 
 be in love," properly means " amorous," but is also attri- 
 buted to any object that inspires affection, and thus comes 
 to signify " agreeable." In the same manner the Persians 
 call an apricot .2J0, iC^^kJ;* Shifteh reng, literally " agreeable 
 colour." The other part of the word ^^^ or ^^ khord or 
 khor means " eating," '' food." Reland (p. 229) follows 
 the reading in Hoschel's edition of Photius, viz. cnraxopa, and 
 derives the word from UL^ safa, " pleasing," " delightful," 
 and t^^ijy^ khdrden, to eat. Safa however comes from the 
 Arabic, a language we dare not have recourse to for ex- 
 plaining the Persian words of the age of Ctesias. But the 
 correctness of the former reading, even with the t, is con- 
 firmed by a passage in Pliny, (Hist. Nat. 37. 2,) where 
 the word occurs, though in a disfigured shape; he says 
 ** arbores eas Aphytacoras vocari." It is otherwise not a 
 little surprising, that Reland preferred the reading oiaiiraxopa, 
 because forsooth it came nearer to his proposed Persian 
 etymology, as if the convenience of the commentator ought 
 to decide when such and such a reading is to be adopted 
 
 as the correct one ! 
 
 9. The mountains in the neighbourhood of the Indus, 
 according to Ctesias, (§. 20,) were inhabited by a wild 
 race of beings, with dog's heads, of a black colour, and 
 speaking an unintelligible language; these the Indians 
 termed Ka\{)arpLoi, that is, KVPOKe(t)a\oi, or the dog-headed. 
 Admitting the Greek translation of the name to be not alto- 
 gether literal, and that the Indian sound has not been cor- 
 rectly expressed, I would nevertheless venture to compare 
 
APPENDIX IV. 
 
 365 
 
 SCA 
 
 APPENDIX IV. 
 
 II 
 
 it 
 
 it with the Persian dCjL& kelek, or keluk, a wolf, and j^ sef\ 
 the head ; that is to say, j^*SX^> kelukse?^ wolf-headed ; 
 which in Greek would properly be Ka\vK(Ttpto9, and in the 
 plural, KoXvicffipioi, But pronounced rapidly, the word might 
 sound to a Greek ear like xaXvK^p, from whence came 
 
 KoXvarpiot. 
 
 Another word more exactly answering to the sound of 
 the Greek, would be ^,^J:^J\J^ kalusterin, the superlative 
 degree of kalus^ stupid, foolish, which would convert these 
 " dog-headed " people into " blockheads." But although 
 this latter epithet agrees well enough with the description 
 of the Cynocephali, it is nevertheless too little consonant 
 with the translation of the term as furnished by Ctesias, to 
 admit of our regarding it as the more probable etymology. 
 
 Reland (p. 213) compares the Persian isjSJi* aX^) kalla 
 shikari, caput caninum, dog-headed. He supposes that 
 Ctesias at first wrote KaXiaxapoi, which was altered by the 
 copyist into KaKvatpioi ; nevertheless he himself hesitates in 
 adopting this explanation, and very justly observes, that 
 isjSJ^ shikari, means properly a hound, from ^^^^^5^;^ shikar - 
 dan, to hunt ; and that aJl& kalla, signifies the top of the 
 head, rather than the head itself 
 
 10. As to the unicorn described by Ctesias, (§. 25,) in a 
 very circumstantial manner, but without the addition of its 
 Indian name, I must beg leave to make it the subject of a 
 few remarks. If there really is such an animal as a uni- 
 corn, resembling the stag or the horse, a notion which ap- 
 pears to be again entertained in modern times, we must 
 look for it in Africa, the only country in which it has been 
 reported to exist, by the concurrent testimony of all travel- 
 lers, from Barthema down to Barrow. But the animal de- 
 scribed by Ctesias, after the Persian manner of representing 
 it, and which occurs frequently on the ruins of Persepolis, 
 seems to me, in all its essential characteristics, to be no 
 other than the Asiatic rhinoceros. To the latter will apply, 
 1. what Ctesias says of its wildness and strength, (§. 26. 
 Compare Bruce's Travels, vol. v. p. 105,) which prevented 
 its being ever taken alive ; 2. its at first slow, but conti- 
 nually increasing pace ; (Bruce also, p. 97, says that the 
 rhinoceros sets off at a gentle trot, which after a few minutes 
 
 is increased to a rapid gallop, and which the animal keeps 
 up for a long time, though a horse can easily overtake him ;) 
 3 the circumstance of its flesh being unfit to eat (Ctesias, 
 & 26). It is true the Abyssinians, according to Bruce, eat 
 tiie flesh of the elephant, as they do also of the rhinoceros, 
 but it has a disagreeable musky flavour. The flesh, how- 
 ever, of an animal of the stag or horse kind (Ctesias calls it 
 a wild ass) would not be bitter, as represented in the above 
 paragraph. 4. A still more evident proof, in my opinion, 
 of its being the rhinoceros, is the single horn, together with 
 the property attributed to it of counteracting the effects of 
 poison ; for which purpose it is still the custom in Asia to 
 make drinking cups of that material. The colour of this 
 horn, according to Ctesias, is red at the point, black m the 
 middle, and white at the base ; which agrees very well with 
 the account of Bruce, (p. 93,) who describes its exterior 
 surface as of a reddish-brown. It is probable, also, that 
 Ctesias may be describing the animal's horn after it had 
 been formed into a drinking vessel, in which case, the va- 
 riety of colour he notices might be produced by artificial 
 means, and by the removal of the outer covering.^ 
 
 The figure of an ass, with the size of a horse, which Cte- 
 sias attributes to his unicorn, agrees also with the size and 
 unwieldy appearance of a rhinoceros. On the ruins of Per- 
 sepohs, indeed, it is represented with a more slender shape, 
 and more like a horse ; this, however, is due to the imagin- 
 ation of the sculptor alone ; and when we recollect that it 
 was also a fabulous animal which he meant to portray, we 
 shall have as little reason to expect a faithftil adherence to 
 natural history in this case, as we have in those of the 
 martichora and the griffin. Ctesias further remarks, as a 
 peculiarity worthy of attention, (§. 25,) that all asses, tame as 
 well as wild, (among which last he reckons his unicorn,) 
 and other solid-hoofed animals, have no huckle-bones, 
 
 • This conjecture is reduced almost to a certainty, by a passage in Manuel 
 Philo de animal proprwt. cap. 37, which treats of the Indian onager and its 
 horn, and is evidently borrowed from Ctesias. The author asks an Indian 
 prince what the cup out of which he drank was made of, and which was 
 ornamented with three rings, of a white, black, and red colour? Tc 5i, iror 
 hrlv 6 rpari)p i^ ol ^f rttc ; (-c^i T^P ^•««r'?C wii 7rpo;«?.fnc ^v^^^n. ««« rptiq cx« 
 C«(Tr^p«C J,e XiBov (pXk^Cy) XtvKovre n^Xavd ft Kai rb xpCipairop^pvpovv. 1 ne re- 
 ply is, that it was made of the horn of the ovaypog, or wild ass. 
 
 
366 
 
 APPENDIX IV. 
 
 APPENDIX IV. 
 
 367 
 
 (icrpartdkovi,) or gall in the liver ; whereas the unicorn pos- 
 sesses both. He himself declares he had seen such a huckle- 
 bone, which resembled that of an ox, but was as heavy as 
 lead, 'and throughout of a bright red colour (^<T7rep Kivipap^^ 
 like cinnabar, or rather, hke vermihon). He obsei-ves also, 
 that the animal was hunted as much for the sake of these 
 bones, as for its horn. The circumstance of the unicorn 
 having a gall-bladder agrees perfectly well with the rhino- 
 ceros, which, as I am informed by M. Blumcnbach, actually 
 has one, and of a considerable size. Here then we discover 
 an additional proof of the identity of these two animals. 
 Ctesias merely notices the fact as remarkable, because he 
 classes his unicorn with the Solidunguli, which, as he 
 very justly observes, do not in fact possess a gall-bladder. 
 What he says of the astragalus is so far correct and ap- 
 plicable to the rhinoceros, inasmuch as the latter certainly 
 has huckle-bones, provided that be the true meaning of the 
 Greek word. But how Ctesias, himself a physician, could 
 possibly assert that solid-hoofed animals had no huckle- 
 bones, which, on the contrary, they really have, just as 
 much as the cloven-footed, and which are, moreover, com- 
 mon to all animals, quadrupeds as well as quadrumanous, 
 not omitting the human subject itself— this we must con- 
 fess is perfectly unaccountable. According to Blumenbacli, 
 there is nothing particular in the huckle-bone of a rhinoce- 
 ros, either as regards colour or specific gravity. It is pos- 
 sible, therefore, that Ctesias may have seen one of these 
 bones artificially stained with red, which he mistook for 
 the natural colour ; and as it was also one of the objects 
 for which the animal was hunted, we can scarcely doubt its 
 being apphed to some sort of use, and consequently, that it 
 was fashioned by the hand of art, and perhaps some addition 
 made to its natural weight. 
 
 On the other hand, however, I must not omit to notice 
 certain difficulties in the description of Ctesias, which seem 
 to contend against my hypothesis, and point to some other 
 animal than the one I have supposed. The first of these 
 respects colour. According to Ctesias, the unicorn is white, 
 with a red head, and blue or dark eyes ; whereas the rhino- 
 ceros is all over of a yellowish or greyish brown, his flanks 
 only present a slight tinge of flesh colour, while the eyes 
 
 are dark brown.'* We must not, however, examine Ctesias 
 too rigorously on the subject of colours, for his martichora 
 is also said to be of a bright red, and he describes the griffin 
 to be black, with a red breast. In fact, I am strongly in- 
 chned to suspect that he took these colours from some 
 painted representation of the animals in question. His 
 unicorn, both as described by himself, and as it is repre- 
 sented on the ruins of Persepolis, has a solid hoof, and one 
 horn on the forehead ; neither of which is the case with the 
 rhinoceros. But if we consider the Persians to have de- 
 rived their knowledge of the animal merely from liearsay and 
 exaggerated reports, this apparent difficulty will soon vanish ; 
 for having heard it described as strong and quick-footed, 
 they naturally attributed to it a slender form, with a solid 
 hoof, and placed the horn on the forehead as the most con- 
 venient situation. Besides, the hoof of the rhinoceros is not 
 entirely cloven, like that of oxen and other animals, but 
 only in part. For the same reason, the Arabs attribute to 
 the Kerkend or rhinoceros a single hoof, and also speak of 
 its horn as placed on the head or fore part of it. Even 
 Marco Polo, (lib. iii. 15,) though certainly describing the 
 rhinoceros of Asia, nevertheless observes, " in medio frontis 
 gestat unum cornu." It is not improbable that the curva- 
 ture of the horn, when viewed in front, may make it appear 
 to be situated higher up than it really is. • 
 
 The exaggerated statements of Ctesias relative to the 
 strength and swiftness of this animal, are nothing compared 
 to what the Arabian authors relate ; according to whom, 
 the Kerkend requires upwards of a hundred parasangs of 
 land for his support, that he chases all other animals away 
 from his neighbourhood, carries off elephants upon his 
 
 horn, and so forth ! 
 
 The observations already made appear to be confirmed by 
 the Indian or Persian name of the unicorn, as preserved to 
 us by iElian, De Natura Afiimalium, xvi. 20. 
 
 ** There is also," says this writer, "among them (the In- 
 dians) a one-homed animal, which they call kartazonoiL^ 
 
 * For these and several other particulars, I am indebted to the kindness of 
 M. Bhimenbach ; and I have myself also seen a living specimen of the anmial 
 in this country. . 'v n 
 
 * Aeyirat U Kal ^woi/ iv tovtoiq tlvai /iovoicfpwv, Kai air avT&v ovoiial^foOai eap- 
 
 ro^wvov. 
 
 m 
 
3G8 
 
 APPENDIX IV. 
 
 APPENDIX IV. 
 
 369 
 
 I 
 t 
 
 From the description he gives of it, though somewhat in- 
 correct, it is evident that the Indian rhinoceros is the animal 
 meant, and that M\mn drew his account from good authori- 
 ties. Bochart {Hieroz. i. p. 934) wanted to change the 
 above appellation into KapKai^wvov, in order to make it cor- 
 respond better with the modern term, which is kerkeddan, 
 or kerkendan, {^S^j^ ^^jj^^^;) he has omitted to 
 notice another form, karkadan, ^^^«x^<t^, which would 
 have been still more applicable. But as the word in ques- 
 tion occurs twice, the proposed change seems too hazardous, 
 and the termination ^^^ or ^b, den, dan, is too remote from 
 ^wvo'i, as the letter ^ rf is usually expressed in Greek by a t. 
 Suppose, however, we take Kapra^ujvo^ without alteration, as 
 a word compounded of i$^ kerk, the ancient and still 
 surviving Persian term in use, to signify a rhinoceros, and 
 ^^jU tdzdn, currens, velox, irruens ? Tdzcin ^ is the parti- 
 ciple of t^Jvjlj, to run, to fall upon ; the whole expression, 
 therefore, would designate the rhinoceros : or, if we reject 
 the idea of pip, "the nose," which is not imphed in the word 
 kerk, it would mesLufera velox, "the swift beast ;"^ an ap- 
 pellation very suitable to the notions of strength and swift- 
 ness, popularly attributed to this animal. From the distin- 
 guished situation the unicorn occupies in the entrance of 
 the palace of Persepolis, it might perhaps have been a sym- 
 bol of strength and activity, as the martichora was of courage 
 and wisdom. 
 
 With regard to the winged unicorn, I must confess the 
 appellation appears to me inappropriate.® This fabulous 
 animal is also noticed by Le Bruyn (tab. 158). It is, how- 
 ever, perfectly distinct from the unicorn, by the circum- 
 stance of its being represented with the head of a lion and 
 the body of a griffin : the only thing it has in common with 
 the former is the horn. It is consequently a monster of a 
 peculiar kind, which the fanciful imagination of the sculptor 
 
 * The long A in Persian occasionally sounds something like the Greek w. 
 
 * The true meaning of Kerk is lost. It also denotes a species of goat with 
 red hair ; a large kind of eagle, avis magna qua elephantein tollity (the Hoc of 
 the Arabian Nights,) and also Hylactor (see Cast. Lex. Hept.) : the latter 
 meaning is probably the same as MoUmus, Perhaps the word may signify, 
 generally, helluafera, Qrjp, 
 
 * [It has since been altered. Heeren.] 
 
 jUj 
 
 l!i 
 
 has fiirnished with the head of a lion, the horn of a uni- 
 corn, and the figure of a griffin ; it is in fact only another 
 way of representing a griffin, and perhaps a more suitable 
 designation for it would be, the lion-headed griffin. 
 
 12. A large tree, (proceeds Ctesias,) which distils an 
 odoriferous oil, is called in the Indian language, Kdpinov, 
 but in Greek, fivpopoha, i. e. " unguent-roses." (Ctes. §. 28.) 
 This word seems to be compounded ofj^s kar, faciens, and 
 iSyj bui, odor suavis ; karbui, then, suave olens, expresses 
 the Greek fivpop6Ba, not, indeed, literally, but yet as far 
 as the sense is concerned. Kd?% the participle of ker- 
 den, forms several compound words, mostly, however, as 
 an affix, though sometimes also as a prsefix ; for example, 
 
 kdr sdz, faciens concordiam. The expression 
 (Syj bui kerden, is still generally applied to perfiimes. 
 Reiand (p. 215) considers the tree in question to be the 
 cinnamon, which is called in Persian ^j3 kirfah : the 
 Singhalese call it koredhu, whence kirfah and karpion have 
 been derived. Kirfah, however, is properly an Arabic 
 word, from the root i _%^' karafa, decorticavit, and denotes 
 the peeled bark of the cinnamon tree, cassia, etc. Paulinus 
 a S. Bartolomaeo, (in his dissertation, T)e Antiquitate et 
 Affinitate Linguce Zendicce, Samscrdamicce et Germanicce, 
 Paduae, 1798, 4to, p. 49,) remarks, that the Sanscrit name 
 of the cinnamon tree, is karuva, of the bark, karuvatoli. 
 The first of these words has certainly some sort of resem- 
 blance to Karpion, and may possibly be the very word 
 Ctesias meant to express. The signification, however, of 
 KiipTTiov is not mentioned. 
 
 13. Lastly, Ctesias (§. 30) describes a certain kind of 
 mineral spring, called by the Indians, fiaWaBTj^ which he in- 
 terprets to mean w0e\i>i7, " useful" or " wholesome." With 
 this I shall compare the Persian y^ or ^::^^ veldd or veld, 
 " eminent," " strong," " mighty," though it appears to have 
 formerly signified, " excellent ;" as, according to Castell, the 
 word is also applied to a sort of rich silk stuffs. Reiand (p. 
 21 1) cites :»^Vj heldd, laudatus, because what is usefiil deserves 
 praise. According to Father Paulino, ballam, in Sanscrit, 
 means "water," and nallada, " good :" in this case, the word 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 2 B 
 
fc'; 
 
 I 
 
 3-0 APPENDIX IV. 
 
 ^„xx^a,, would be properly Indian, though expressed in a 
 
 "7„X tpeX'to the E.cerpta of Ctesi^, (§• 32 ) 
 wh kht o7/found m the MS. of Munich and probaby 
 does not belong to that writer ment.on - -^Je^ J^J^^°j 
 Dian animal, under the name of .poKo..a,, which is interprctea 
 Fn Greek by --x^.c According to the description, it 
 should be the hy^na, but then the word is not Eth.opic, us 
 S?be supposed ; for the proper name m that lan|^ag 
 hTekula. 1 am almost inclined to look for ^po^or.a, m the 
 P ■ <.'=^ which usually means a wolf, and ■^y^ wliicli 
 siSs Cne," pedibus infirmus. " Lame wolf," would 
 bf no improper designation, as applied to the hy^na for the 
 ArXiZatLlists always describe that animal with an in- 
 firm eait for which reason he has the epi het of UyO Al- 
 5SSe"lame." (See Bruces Travels, vol. v p. 13. 
 '"^ftom the above comVarisons, which are -rtairdy "ot ^ 
 of them far-fetched or strained, it would seem, that the word. 
 c ted by Ctesias, as Indian, are in fact of Persian ongm or 
 Sy related thereto. There are, besides, several Indian 
 do ses to be found in Hesychius,'" and other wn ers to 
 S the same observation will apply. One example from 
 the former may suffice : Hesychms writes, Ma., ^e-fu Mo, , 
 now Xbeing pronounced in later times like the word nta^, 
 is evidently the Persian *- ,«iA, which sjgmfies "great 
 In SanscS it is mah, or make [maha]. Here then we meet 
 with rid more nearly allied to the Persian than the 
 
 ^" How are we to explain this phenomenonj can we suppo^ 
 that Ctesias knowingly gave out these Pers>a^word * 
 Indian, or that he really mistook them for such ? The last 
 the opinion of Reland, accoi-ding to whom, (p. 20 J, 211, 
 219,) the Greeks and Romans, owing to their ignorance ot 
 
 ever occurs is another question. TRANS. pxDlained by Reland; but 
 
 trcJ-Sn" Kx'Si™ff'.-^&" itn? ±^ s.«*. 
 
 pattala, a " commercial town," etc. 
 
 APPENDIX IV. 
 
 371 
 
 the countries and languages, very often confounded the 
 latter, and mistook Persian words for Indian. This may 
 certainly apply very well to the Greeks of later times, but 
 Ctesias, who resided so long in Persia, cannot but have been 
 perfectly able to distinguish the language of that country 
 from the Indian, while, on the other hand, it is impossible 
 to conceive for a moment, that he seriously meant to deceive 
 his readers. We may easily allow certain words not ex- 
 pressly mentioned as Indian, in the Excerpta, to be Persian 
 names of Indian objects or productions ; most of them, how- 
 ever, are accompanied with the remark, that they are Indian, 
 though, nevertheless, they have a Persian sound, as in the 
 case of ffiTnaxopa, Kapiriov, etc. The more probable supposi- 
 tion is, that in the northern parts of India, which Ctesias is 
 particularly describing, a dialect of the Persian was spoken ; 
 and perhaps we might infer as much from the ancient tra- 
 dition which represented Bokhara and the countries on the 
 Oxus, to have been colonized from Istakhar or Persepolis, 
 that is, admitting the report to extend so far back. But 
 without laying too much stress on this tradition, we must 
 bear in mind that the Sanscrit, which is the parent source 
 of all the Indian dialects, and was certainly at one time a 
 living language, and, according to all appearances, current 
 in Northern India, is most . intimately connected with the 
 Persian, both in matter and form, as Father Paulino has 
 shown in the Treatise already alluded to. And when we 
 reflect on the influence which emigration, the admixture of 
 different tribes, and a variety of other circumstances, occur- 
 ring through a space of so many hundred years, must un- 
 avoidably have exercised on the languages in question, we 
 shall readily believe the affinity between them to have been 
 still greater in ancient times. 
 
 This very resemblance, however, may possibly appear, to 
 some of my readers, to interpose a serious objection to the 
 truth of my comparisons ; and certainly it may seem strange 
 to look in the modern Persian for words quoted by a writer 
 who lived upwards of two thousand years ago. In reply to 
 this, I shall merely observe, that the Parsi dialect has, for 
 the most part, undergone but little apparent change, and, 
 notwithstanding the revolution of empires, and the over- 
 whelming eflfect of Arabian dominion, religion, and litera- 
 
 2 B 2 
 
. APPENDIX iV. 
 
 11 •* n«/.«lAntil sister the German, managed to 
 ture, has, hke its 9''''"^" Irlnrrmitive form. It has indeed 
 preserve its radical words and pn^^^^^ .^^ ^^^^ 
 
 'tt::^^Y^^^cUr^^^^^ ---d it from 
 
 Sal chlT Owing to this fortunate circumstance, we 
 essential change u g ^^^^ ^^^ ^^ p 
 
 "'' r.f ft Parian wo ds occurring in Herodotus and other 
 rrf w'u.: Xrthey have not entirely disappeared .a 
 the lapse of centuries. 
 
 APPENDIX V. 
 
 On the words Pamrgada and Persepolis ; hi/ Professor 
 
 Tijchsen. 
 
 You desire to know, my dear Sir, first, whether the words 
 Pasargacla and Pcrsce, considered as the names of a people, 
 are etymologically distinct, or whether they are synonym- 
 ous » and, secondly, whether Pasargada and Persepolis, 
 as names of places, have a different signification ? To this 
 question I have only a few observations to ofter as a reply, 
 though, at the same time, I am obliged to confess they are 
 nothing more than conjectural. The explanation of ancient 
 Persian words by the help of the modern language ot Persia 
 is very frequently uncertain, owing to our ignorance re- 
 specting the pronunciation ; as, for example, whether we 
 are to say, Pasargada or Pfeargad* ; and, in the next place, 
 because the modern Persian, though really descended trom 
 the ancient, has nevertheless lost a great number ot words, 
 and undergone other considerable modifications, m the 
 course of time. In many cases, therefore, we are reduced 
 to the necessity of guessing at the signification ot the word 
 in question, when not pointed out by ancient documents. 
 
 Pasargadae is evidently a compound term, formed ot 
 pasar and gad<z. Of both these words, several etymologies 
 have been furnished from the Persian, of which I shall only 
 notice the most probable.' At setting out, I take it tor 
 
 1 must be allowed to doubt the correctness oi ""*„>='>'7'"b^^; , J^ „■ rc„„: 
 Peuer certainly does mean " son," yet the J^ea of "royal house, >«"«'«?" 
 tuined in the word keda : which does not signify " house, m the acceptation 
 
374 
 
 APPENDIX V. 
 
 APPENDIX V. 
 
 375 
 
 I 
 
 granted that both as are short, because there is no word 
 having the a long 0) that will furnish any tolerable ety- 
 
 "^Vo begin, then, with Gada ; which I consider to be the 
 same as the Persian Kedek or Kadeh, (bjJ') signifying 
 " place," " abode," etc., and often joined to substantives, m 
 order to form a compound word ; as, for example, Atesk- 
 Kedek, " the place of fire" or " fire-altar," Mei-Kedeh, 
 
 " wine-house," etc. 
 
 Pasar may either be compared to the well-known 1 er- 
 sian word ^.y, buzurk, "great," "magnificent,^' "power- 
 ful ;" in which case the final letter, being repeated m the 
 second member of the compound, will suffer elision ; or, 
 still more probably, with jy bezer, " light," " splendour," 
 " ray " In the first case, therefore, buzurk-kedeh would sig- 
 nify " the place" or " abode of the great ;" in the second, 
 bezer-kedek would be, " the abode" or " country of light. 
 
 Upon comparing the proper name Persce with the last- 
 mentioned word, we discover a very striking affinity of sig- 
 nification. According to Anquetil Du Perron, Pares, (u-jW) 
 in the Zend language, means, " pure," " brilliant, an ap- 
 pellation which, in a physical sense, applies very well to 
 Fars, or Persia Proper, as enjoying an ever clear sky ; and 
 is equalfy appropriate in a religious point of view, as a lucl- 
 ing to the introduction of Magianism, the religion ot light 
 and purity. Even in the modern Persian, the word Parsa 
 (Ujt) means " pure," though it is more correctly employed 
 in a' moral sense, as denoting " holy," " pious." Persce, 
 therefore, as the name of a people, would signify " the in- 
 habitants of Pars;* or, according to the etymology just 
 given, " the country of light;" and Pasargadcv, as a patrony- 
 mic formed by the Greeks from Pasargada, would have pre- 
 cisely the same meaning, that is, provided we are right in 
 
 our comparison. , 1 i t> 
 
 With regard to the second question, viz. whether Fasar- 
 
 of « family " but solely in that of " abode,^ " habitation." Besides, Pesser- 
 2;cfa 3 more correctly mean "house of children;" to say nothing of the 
 tZ Th^nt it was not the whole tribe of the Pasargades, but only a part of ^^^^ 
 the family of the Ach^menides, which consisted of P^P^fS- ^ ^^'^^^^^ 
 seems to have had in his mind the pecuhar acceptation of the French word 
 mauton, maison royale. 
 
 gada and Persepolis, considered as names of places, are of 
 different signification ; we may easily answer it by what has 
 gone before. Pasar, (Bezer,) and Pares, mean very nearly 
 the same thing, and Gada, (Kedeh,) as we have just no- 
 ticed, is synonymous with ttoXi^. The interpretation of an- 
 cient writers who explain Pasargada by castra Persarum, 
 is so far correct, as Pasar agrees in sense with Pars, from 
 which the proper name Persce was derived. 
 
 In drawing the above comparisons, the Greek <t has been 
 rendered by the Persian j (ze^) not altogether in conformity, 
 I must confess, with the general rule laid down for com- 
 paring languages, according to which the sigma of the 
 Greeks should correspond with the Arabic sin {jj^). But 
 the Greeks and Romans frequently expressed the j of Per- 
 sian words by an s ; for instance, the name Pyroses, occur- 
 ring in Ammian, (lib. xix. 3,) is undoubtedly the Persian 
 j^^ Firuz, " victor," as Ammian himself explains it ; the 
 case is the same with Hormisdas, Isdegertes, etc. The 
 liberty I have taken may therefore be justified by analogy ; 
 and the interchange of the letters b and p can present no 
 difficulty whatever. 
 
 Supposing the Greeks to have written the word incor- 
 rectly, as they very often did, when translating a foreign 
 term into their own language, we might bring Pasargada 
 and Persepolis into still closer affinity with each other, 
 merely by a slight transposition of the letter r, as Parsa- 
 gada ; the name would signify " place of the Persians," and 
 be exactly equivalent to Persepolis. Reland (Diss. viii. De 
 Vet. Ling, Pers. p. 213,) has already adopted this reading, 
 which he found in Curtius, (v. 6,) who correctly writes 
 Persagada. Explanations, however, which render it neces- 
 sary to alter the original word, are for that very reason to 
 be rejected, particularly in a case where it so often occurs 
 as the one in question ; and, besides, very little dependence 
 is to be placed on the authority of a writer so comparatively 
 modern as Curtius, who most likely wrote Persagada, 
 purely and solely for the sake of etymology. I am of 
 opinion, too, that after what has been already observed, the 
 emendation of Reland is altogether unnecessaiy.^ 
 
 ' The word Gada may also be compared with the Persian Tshadar, which 
 
376 
 
 APPENDIX V. 
 
 The proTJOsed change, however, is not so bold as that 
 adopted by several modem geographers who have written 
 the word ''Pasagardar which has found its way even into 
 our manuals, and is so spelled in the latest map of Persia. 
 For this reading I can discover no other kind of authority 
 than a fancied resemblance in termination to such words as 
 Tisranocerta, Artagkerta, and others, compounded ot the 
 Artmsean Carta, which means " city." The comparison, 
 however, is inadmissible, because, as the Persian anguage 
 belon^rs to an essentially different family from the Aramaan 
 dialecte, it would be absurd to attempt illustrating the 
 former by the help of the latter. , , , • j 
 
 You yourself, my dear Sir, will be best able to judge, 
 whether Pasargada and Persepolis, on account of this athnity 
 between the two names, are to be considered as synonymous 
 appellations of one and the same place, and how far our 
 Dwraphers are authorized in placing them nearly a whole 
 decree apart from each other. You will perhaps find tliat 
 ihlpasargadw of Herodotus are in fact the Persepolitans, 
 whom that writer distinguishes from the other Persian tribes, 
 on account of the reigning dynasty of the Achsemenides be- 
 ing descended from them ; of which latter appellation 1 may 
 remark, in passing, that it scarcely contains a single syllable 
 common to that of the fabulous Jemshid. 
 
 mmiifies "tent" or "camp;" and thus Persagada would mean precisely 
 »f^«t« P^^r^n." ^J^e shall scarcely meet with - exampk of the 
 hard sound tsh (tshim) being ever expressed by y, to say nothing oi tnt 
 orn^ion of the final letter n Father 'Paulino compares the Indian pase, 
 «puer°" "a young man," and cada, "a plain," so that the whole word would 
 signify " the field of youths." 
 
APPENDIX VI. 
 
 r. 
 
 7, 
 
 7. 
 
 n 
 
 e 
 5!: 
 
 Some observations on Herder*s Persepolls> 
 
 In my treatise on Persepolis, I have purposely refrained 
 altogether from alluding to Herders pubHcation on the 
 same subject, because nothing would be gained by a repe- 
 tition of what had been said before ; without at the same 
 time presuming to assert, that my own investigations have 
 been of any considerable service to this branch of literature. 
 We have each of us travelled by different roads ; and it 
 would not, therefore, be uninteresting to know how far 
 these have conducted us to the same point. 
 
 Herder rests his illustrations on Eastern tradition, such as 
 it is found in modern Asiatic writers, or as it has been 
 orally communicated from one generation to another. Thus 
 he supposes the buildings of Chihel Minar to be the palace 
 of Jemshid, on the walls of which there is an allegorical re- 
 presentation of the actions and government of this king, 
 without, however, seeking to establish, from the hypothesis, 
 either that the edifice is really the work of Jemshid, or that 
 it belongs to his age. Moreover, his commentary is con- 
 fined to the building, an explanation of the tombs being re- 
 served for some future period. I, on the contrary, have 
 begun with the latter, and, agreeably to my plan, have not 
 relied on tradition, or modern testimony, but simply and 
 solely on the evidence of contemporary writers. This, I 
 am ready to allow, has not led me to any such positive re- 
 
 ' It has been announced, that in the new edition of Header's wjH^^^ 
 treatise on Persepolis would be corrected and enlarged. The author regre s 
 his having been unable to consult this edition, though it is probable that Hei- 
 der's principal notions continue the same. 
 
378 
 
 APPENDIX VI. 
 
 suits as those of my predecessor ; and I have been obhged 
 to content myself with determining in general terms the 
 date of the buildings, and the use for which they were pro- 
 bably intended. Accordingly, I think I have succeeded in 
 proving that they must be referred to the period of the 
 Persian empire, and that the building itself, as the residence 
 and place of sepulture of the Persian kings, was considered 
 in the light of a sanctuary, and held to be the chief place in 
 the kingdom. 
 
 Upon comparing these two results together, it will easily 
 be perceived, that they are not in any degree opposed to 
 each other. For when I maintain in general that the re- 
 presentations sculptured on the monuments of Chihel Minar 
 are those of a happy reign and brilliant court, according to 
 Eastern notions, I cannot but consider it very probable that 
 the ideal picture given of Jemshid's reign in the Zendavesta, 
 formed their ground-work ; and the rather as they so fre- 
 quently afford traces of Zoroaster's religion. But I could 
 not bring forward this opinion without infringing the severe 
 rules of criticism which I had imposed on myself. 
 
 Supplement, 
 
 The further illustrations of Persepolis promised by Her- 
 der, did not appear till after his death, and the publication 
 of the second edition of my work ; they will be found in 
 his first volume, which is devoted to philosophy and history, 
 imder the title of Persepolitan letters addressed to several 
 learned men ; one of them being particularly addressed to 
 myself. Whoever is acquainted with my labours, will soon 
 perceive that the greatest part of these letters, even where 
 I am not mentioned by name, are written against me, and 
 that not unfrequently with a degree of harshness which 
 might appear surprising in a writer who talks of urbanity in 
 every page, if we were not prepared for this by his earlier 
 polemical writings. I first defended myself against his re- 
 presentations in the InteUigenxblatt der Allgem, Litter. 
 Zeitung, 1806, No. 17 ; and afterwards more at large in a 
 treatise which I read in the year 1808 to the Gottingen 
 Society of Sciences, {Eruditorum conatn'ma ad e.vpticanda 
 urbis Persepolis monument a censurce subject a,) and which 
 was only published in an abridged form, (Gottinger Ge- 
 
 APPENDIX VI. 
 
 379 
 
 lehrte Anzeiger, 1809, No. 4,) as it did not seem proper to 
 be included in the general collection of commentaries, which 
 ought to have something higher for its object than the dis- 
 putes of the learned. If the aggressions of which I com- 
 plain were not made in a periodical paper, I should rest 
 satisfied with what I have so often professed, that if my 
 works cannot defend themselves, they do not merit any pro- 
 tection from me. But as the allegations in question are 
 placed at the head of Herder's works, they will not be so 
 easily consigned to oblivion as the other polemical writings ; 
 and under these circumstances, I consider myself bound to 
 offer something in reply. 
 
 In my opinion, a monument of antiquity is to be regarded 
 as the public property of succeeding ages, and every one is 
 at liberty to exercise his ingenuity in explaining it, so far 
 as it is involved in obscurity. Consequently each individual 
 may have a way of his own, and whatever rank he holds in 
 the list of illustrators, his claim to originality is as good as 
 that of the very first, whether or not he attains to the same 
 results. 
 
 Such is the relation in which I stand with respect to 
 Herder. Throughout the whole course of my researches, I 
 have nothing in common with him ; I have followed a path 
 of my own, and have drawn my information from other 
 sources than his ; my right to my own work is therefore 
 incontestable. The duty also which I owed him as my pre- 
 decessor, has been fulfilled by explaining in the last appendix 
 the plan of his commentary and my own, without contra- 
 dicting him. Even supposing that I carried the interpreta- 
 tion no further than he had done himself, the merit of having 
 confirmed those results by a critical examination would be 
 due to me ; that is, so far as any merit will be ascribed to 
 such inquiries. Was I, in this case, liable to any charge of 
 plagiarism from Herder, and had he any reason to say that 
 he would not be deprived of the fruit of his researches ? 
 Who wished to deprive him of any part of his merit ? 
 
 But does the interpretation, as Herder represents, remain 
 where he lefl it ? The public are in a condition to judge ; 
 I fear no comparison, and will confine myself to the follow- 
 ing observation : Herder, in his Persepolis, has given only 
 a general explanation ; he says that the palace of Jemshid 
 
vHRr 
 
 APPENDIX VI. 
 
 APPENDIX VI. 
 
 331 
 
 was the palace of the Persian government, on the walls of 
 which the king and his court are represented. This is also 
 my opinion, but have I gone no further than this general 
 assertion, which occurs to the mind naturally of itself? 
 Have I not entered into details in my interpretation, which 
 is indeed its peculiar character ? Moreover, as Herder has 
 not even once alluded to the tombs, or to the figures repre- 
 sented on them, should not my explanation of the latter, and 
 the proofs by which I have ascertained the personages to 
 whom they belong, and consequently the general epoch at 
 which they were built, be considered as belonging entirely 
 to myself ? Is this not to advance the question beyond the 
 point where Herder left it ? I have here intentionally omit- 
 ted to notice the inscriptions, as it is my purpose to return 
 to them hereafter. 
 
 But I am again reproached, (p. 191, 192,) for not having; 
 gone sufficiently into details. I ought to have described 
 the nations represented on the great relief one by one, and 
 have illustrated them by a comparison with the list of satra- 
 pies in Herodotus. It will readily be believed, that a writer 
 who has devoted several months to an investigation of Per- 
 sepolis, with Herodotus constantly before him, has not left 
 this undone. It has, however, led me to conclude that no 
 certain result is to be derived from this course ; on which 
 account I have omitted to mention it. The attempt has 
 teen renewed in the present edition, but without my having 
 reason to congratulate myself on its greater success. 
 
 What Herder is the least able to pardon me, is the use I 
 have made of contemporary Greek writers, in order to the 
 illustration of Persepolis. " As they have not mentioned 
 Persepolis by name, we ought not to take them for our au- 
 thority, particularly in fixing the age of the building ; the 
 edifice itself must inform us of this" (p. 189). But does 
 not Ctesias describe the tombs, Xenophon the court and 
 body-guard, and Diodorus (from later sources) the palace ? 
 Whence can we obtain purer and more certain intelligence 
 than the accounts of contemporaiy writers ? Perhaps the 
 traditions which Herder follows ? This assertion is a very 
 singular one, and serves to show into what absurdities the 
 love of contradiction will sometimes bring a man. For it 
 has never yet come into the mind of any one, to maintain 
 
 seriously, that popular traditions, after the lapse of two 
 thousand years, have more weight than the accounts of con- 
 temporary authors. Are we then, according to this system, 
 to receive confidently all that the Orientals are pleased to 
 advance concerning Solomon and Alexander the Great? 
 Besides this, a curious circumstance occurs with respect to 
 these Persian traditions. According to Herder himself, 
 (p. 213,) the Persian tradition relative to Jemshid originated 
 in the monuments of Persepolis. Thus the tradition was 
 formed from the monuments, and, conversely, the monu- 
 ments are to be explained by the tradition. This is criticism 
 indeed, with a vengeance i 
 
 It appeared probable to me that the arts amongst the 
 Persians, and particularly that of architecture, may have 
 had a Bactrian origin. At the same time I have said, as 
 clearly as I could, that I considered Bactria as the eastern 
 part of the Median kingdom, with which, according to the 
 Zendavesta, it was incorporated ; so that this expression can 
 mean nothing more than that the Persians borrowed their 
 arts from the Medes, as they did their religion, and civil- 
 ization in general. Herder, on the contrary, derives their 
 architecture successively from the Egyptians, (p. 145,) 
 which he retracts in another place (p. 153) ; then from the 
 Greeks, then from the Babylonians, though he afterwards 
 says it was not Babylonian (p. 189) ; and lastly from the 
 Medes : " it was," says he, " an Egyptico-Grecian art, re- 
 gulated after the Medo-Persian manner" (p. 167). Is this 
 intelligible ? And how can we answer a writer who so fre- 
 quently contradicts himself? 
 
 After this, (p. 158,) it is objected to me, that I have 
 named Persepolis the residence of the Persian kings after 
 their death. Is not, however, such an expression justifiable, 
 when I have proved, as Herder himself cannot deny, that 
 the kings were buried here ; that, agreeably to the Persian 
 custom, the servants of the dead kings attended them hither, 
 where they were obliged to remain ; and that this place was 
 by no means the usual residence of the sovereigns, but that 
 they went to it at certain seasons only, for the performance 
 of certain sacred rites ? Have I ever called it a Necropolis, 
 a city of the dead, (or rather a mere cemetery,) as Herder 
 imputes to me? Have I not, on the contrary, said ex- 
 
3S2 
 
 APPENDIX VI. 
 
 APPENDIX VI. 
 
 383 
 
 pressly that it was considered by the Persians as the capital 
 of their empire, caput regni ? 
 
 I had advanced a conjecture that the name of Persepolis 
 is a translation of Pasargada, and that they may both have 
 had originally the same signification, although the language 
 of a later period distinguished between them. A greater 
 Orientalist, who understands the Persian language, which 
 Herder did not, has confirmed my notion by etymological 
 proofs. (See above, Appendix V.) But Herder informs me 
 that the word Pasargada signified assembly, camp of the 
 Persians; and that every camp gave rise to a Pasargada 
 (p. 156, 159). The first of these notions I published my- 
 self, and before him. Could then Herder have forgotten in 
 the warmth of his zeal, what he had previously read in my 
 own work ? With regard to the second, I acknowledge that 
 wherever the Persians encamped, there was a Persian camp; 
 though I deny that every such place bore afterwards the 
 name of Pasargada. I am acquainted with only one Pasar- 
 gada, and Herder has failed to prove that there were more 
 places of the same name. 
 
 If there. is any one merit which I have endeavoured, as 
 far" as possible, to communicate to my writings, and espe- 
 cially to the present work, it is that of the utmost perspi- 
 cuity. My experience, however, has brought me to the 
 conclusion, that though it may be possible enough to secure 
 my being understood by the generally educated reader ; an 
 attempt to satisfy the critical scholar is but labour in vain. 
 My conjecture respecting the original identity of Persepo- 
 lis and Pasargada has been the motive for inducing an 
 esteemed French writer, Sainte-Croix, {Examen critique 
 des historiens d Alexandre-le-Gvand^ p. 892,) to accuse me 
 of having denied the existence of Persepolis. And this I 
 am accused of, who have actually been engaged in illus- 
 trating the monuments of this very Persepolis ! Another 
 writer, St. Julien de Ruet, {Tableau du commerce des an- 
 cienSy vol. ii. p. 525,) who follows Sainte-Croix, absolutely 
 complains, and with every appearance of sincerity, of my 
 defending such paradoxical assertions ! 
 
 Another objection of Herders is drawn from my ex- 
 planation of the fabulous animals. I have taken my illus- 
 trations from Ctesias, who has described them exactly as 
 
 they are on the reliefs, or only with such variations as may 
 evidently be included in the circle of this species of my- 
 tholooy. If this be the case, and the Indica of Ltesias 
 contam only such traditions of Eastern Asia as had found 
 their way to the Persians ; what can be excepted against 
 this method of interpretation ? It seems obviously a better 
 proceeding than to borrow our lights from Ferdousi, who 
 confessedly used the traditions which had been formed from 
 the monuments of Persepolis. Herder himself has been 
 unable to deny that the griffin and unicorn appear exactly 
 the same on these monuments as Ctesias has described 
 them- and with respect to the wonderful animal with a 
 humak head, I have said that I consider it to be the same 
 as the martichm^a of Ctesias, which, as a quadruped with a 
 human head, agrees with it in its essential character ; though, 
 at the same time, I have not overlooked the differences 
 which exist in the minor details. According to Ctesias 
 the term martichora signifies destroyer of men. Hence i 
 have explained this animal as being the symbol of strength 
 and military courage ; and I considered it a very appropri- 
 ate emblem for placing before the gates of a palace, which 
 was the central point of an empire gained by conquest Is 
 not all this in strict keeping ? Is it not consistent ? More- 
 over the etymological explanation of Ctesias has been also 
 confirmed by M. Tychsen, from the Persian, who adds, that 
 at this day the Persians are accustomed to name a hero and 
 great warrior, merdemkhor. If this does not at the same 
 time confirm my own explanation, I am ignorant what does. 
 With respect to the figures of the kings engaged m single 
 combat with the fabulous animals, I said, that these proba- 
 bly represented the king as a bold and successful hunter ; 
 that this appeared to me the simplest and most suitable in- 
 terpretation, because it is conformable to the spirit ot the 
 East, where hunting is considered as an exercise preparatory 
 to war, where the great hunter shares the glory ot a hero ; 
 and because Darius is thus distinguished m the inscription 
 reported by Strabo. This I advanced, as what appeared to 
 me the most probable supposition, without, however, reject- 
 ing Herder s idea, that these animals were the representa- 
 tions of subjugated nations and kingdoms But here also 
 1 am in the wrong. It would be impossible to understand 
 
384 
 
 APPENDIX VI. 
 
 how a writer who thinks he has caught the spirit of the East 
 more than all others, who has in all probability read the 
 Cyropsedia, as well as the Travels of Chardin and Bernier, 
 can deny that hunting is here regarded in the light which I 
 have stated, were it not to be accounted for by the spirit of 
 contradiction. Moreover, I said in a former part of my 
 work that I considered my conjecture only as the most 
 probable which has been offered. Accordingly I have now 
 changed it for another, without adopting that of Herder 
 
 (vol. i. p. 186). ^ ^ _ 
 
 For the attempt which has been made to clear up the in- 
 scriptions, the public are not indebted to me, but to M. 
 Grotefend. The readers will be the best judges, whether 
 this interpretation continues where Herder left it. No ob- 
 jection of any importance against M. Grotefend^s method 
 has hitherto come to my knowledge : on the contrary, the 
 Orientalists of Germany and France have received it with 
 approbation. In his Persepolis, Herder has left this sub- 
 ject untouched. In his Persepolitan letters, he begins by 
 expressing a high admiration of the method of interpreta- 
 tion followed by the late M. Tychsen, of Rostock. But, 
 unfortunately for him, this impartial scholar retracted his 
 own, after he became acquainted with that of M. Grotefend. 
 I forbear all further observations on the subject, as they will 
 naturally occur to the reader of themselves. 
 
 In this reply I have confined myself to the monuments 
 of Persepolis. What Herder says of the age of Zoroaster, 
 whom he makes contemporary with Darius, and of the 
 Persian religion, would furnish matter for long discussion. 
 But both our writings lie before the public, and I have no 
 desire to repeat what has been said of me. It is indeed no 
 agreeable task to engage in literary polemics with a man 
 whose deserved reputation I have no wish to lessen ; nor 
 should I have been willing to disturb him if he had not first 
 begun this dispute. 
 
 APPENDIX VII. 
 
 Additions to page 448 of the first volume. On the most ancient 
 
 Navigation of the Persian Gulf. 
 
 In my inquiries into the commerce of the Phoenicians and 
 Babylonians, I have, as I think, sufficiently proved, that 
 these people navigated the Persian Gulf, and that they main- 
 tained by its means a considerable traffic with India, either 
 directly, or through the intervention of other nations. Some 
 publications which have since come into my hands have given 
 me occasion to subjoin the following remarks on the subject. 
 I have already shown that the Phcenicians possessed some 
 colonies in the Persian Gulf, amongst which I reckon the 
 Bahrein islands, named Tyrus and Aradus, after two of 
 their largest cities. A modern traveller. Dr. Seetzen, (see 
 his Letter in Zach's Monthly Correspondence for Sept. 
 1813,) has remarked, as I had indeed myself, that there 
 were traces of Phoenician appellations in the names of se- 
 veral places in the Persian Gulf; from which Dr. Seetzen 
 concludes, that the Phoenicians had several colonies in the 
 islands and on the neighbouring shores ; and this conclusion 
 he employs in explaining the journey to Ophir. According 
 to him, the length of the voyage may be easily accounted 
 for, by the supposition, that the Phoenician ships sailed along 
 the coast from one colony to another, for the purpose of 
 traffic, before they returned to the place from whence they 
 set out. Moreover, Edrisi expressly mentions an Ophir in 
 the region of Bahrein, (there is another in the country of 
 Oman,) beyond which, he says, there is a place named El- 
 Harrah, which would seem to be the ancient Gerrha. All 
 this is extremely probable. As soon as the Phoenicians 
 participated in the trade of the Persian Gulf, they could not 
 dispense with colonies in this ; and necessity obliged them 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 2 c 
 
386 
 
 APPENDIX VII. 
 
 APPENDIX VIII. 
 
 387 
 
 i 
 
 III 
 
 to found several on the two shores and in the islands. At 
 the same time this confirms my opinion respectmg Ophir, 
 and that it did not imply any one single place, but generally 
 the southern emporia of Arabia Felix, Africa, and perhaps 
 India, so far as the ancients were acquamted with it. This ex- 
 planation is favoured by analogy, as the appellations of distant 
 places and countries are usually vague amongst all nations; 
 and much perplexity has been introduced into ancient geo- 
 graphy by attempts to ascertain them ; as, for example, in the 
 case of Thule. The explanation is also agreeable to history, 
 as it discovers to us, why several Ophirs are found in those dif- 
 ferent countries, and at the same time enables us to account 
 for the duration of the voyage, and the nature and variety of 
 the merchandise. Lastly, it is agreeable to etymology as 
 Ophir in the Arabic language signifies, ' ' rich countries. (See 
 Tychsen, De Commerciis Hehrceorum, in Commentat, Soc. 
 G'ott. vol. xvi. p. 164.) Thus, I consider Tarshish to be a 
 o-eneral appellation for the countries with which the ancients 
 were acquainted in remote parts of the West ; for Spain in 
 particular. The more recent opinion of Gosselin, witli 
 which Vincent concurs, (ii. p. 638,) urges that the expres- 
 sion, ships of Tarshish, should be rendered generally, ships 
 of the sea, and this notion is favoured by Luther. But in 
 the Second Book of Chronicles, (xix. 21,) there is express 
 mention of ships going to Tarshish, ^^'\r\ n:hb; which the 
 interpretation in question would suppose to be interpolated. 
 (Tychsen, 1. c.) Should we explain the Hebrew Tarshish by 
 the word sea, this will not affect the existence of the Phoe- 
 nician Tartessus, as a colony in Spain, which is sufficiently 
 known from the authority of Greek and Roman authors. 
 
 Besides the Phoenicians, the Babylonians or Chalda?ans 
 navigated the Persian Gulf The arguments which have 
 been already adduced appear to me sufficient to establish 
 the fact ; Dr. Vincent, however, has led me to remark the 
 existence of other proof {PeripL ii. p. 356.) He supposes 
 that the destruction of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar had for its 
 object the extension of Indian commerce to the Persian 
 Gulf and Babylon, and from thence, through the empire ot 
 this king, to Damascus and Syria, by way of Palmyra. At 
 the same time he quotes a fragment of Abydenus, (in Scali- 
 ger, De Emendat, Temp. Notse ad Beros. p. xii.,) con- 
 
 cerning the works designed by Nebuchadnezzar, near Baby- 
 lon, according to which he made two canals, the Harmacales 
 and Aracanus, constructed large sluices, confined the waters 
 of the Tigris by a dam, and built the city of Tenedon, as a 
 defence against the incursions of the Arabs. This city of 
 Tenedon, above the mouth of the Pasitigris, was a consider- 
 able emporium ; and as lately as the age of Nearchus af- 
 forded a market for Arabian and Indian productions. 
 
 APPENDIX VIII 
 
 On the Voyages of the Phoenicians and Carthaginians to 
 Britain, and their settlements on the coast. 
 
 In my disquisition upon the voyages of the Carthaginians to 
 the Tin-islands, from not being aware of the existence of 
 any others in the neighbourhood, I had identified the Lisu- 
 Ice (Estrymnides with the Scilly group, though, at the same 
 time, I could not conceal from myself the difficulties con- 
 nected with this hypothesis. A critical notice of my work, 
 inserted in the Metropolitan Magazine for January, 1832, 
 and for which I feel very much obliged to the writer, has 
 since pointed out the inadmissibility of my assumption ; and 
 from a more accurate knowledge of the locality than I could 
 pretend to, the Reviewer has been enabled to place the 
 whole subject in a better light, and I am, therefore, anxious 
 to submit his explanation to tlie reader. Before we proceed, 
 however, I shall first of all endeavour to show how far we 
 are justified in supposing the Phoenicians, and their colonists 
 the Carthaginians, to have extended their voyages as far as 
 Britain, and to have formed settlements on the coast : in 
 doing this, we must be careful to make a due discrimination 
 between what has real historical testimony for its basis, and 
 that which depends on conjectural probability alone. 
 
 2 c 2 
 
388 
 
 APPENDIX VIII. 
 
 APPENDIX VIII. 
 
 389 
 
 1 
 
 In the portion of my work relating to the Carthaginians, 
 (see African Nations, Appendix vi.,) I have already cited 
 the authority which, as connected with this question, must 
 be looked upon as the first and most important, being no 
 less than that of the Carthaginian commander Himilco, to 
 whom the charge of the expedition destined for the British 
 shores was intrusted ; and though it comes to us through 
 an indirect channel, we must still be content to receive it 
 as entitled to our earliest consideration. 
 
 The Carthaginians fitted out two grand simultaneous ex- 
 peditions for the purpose of planting colonies, and pushing 
 their discoveries further : one of them, under Hanno, was 
 destined for the western coasts of Africa ; the other, under 
 Himilco, for the corresp5nding shores of Europe. Both 
 commanders had their respective adventures commemorated 
 on a public monument, set up in one of the principal tem- 
 ples of Carthage. The account of Hanno's expedition has 
 fortunately been preserved in a Greek translation, already 
 noticed in the volume on the Carthaginians (App. vi.); 
 where it was shown, that the account in question is not a 
 detailed narrative of Hanno's adventures, or even an extract 
 of any such narrative, as has been generally supposed, but, 
 as the title itself proves, "a public memorial;" in fact, a 
 mere inscription, such as the Carthaginians were accustomed 
 to inscribe on public monuments in commemoration of some 
 great national undertaking. What has been said of Hanno's 
 voyage will also apply to that of Himilco. Unfortunately, 
 however, but little information has come down to us respect- 
 ing the latter ; and that little is contained in the fragments 
 of a poem by Avienus, entitled, " Ora Maritima ;" which, 
 as far as they relate to this subject, will be found in the Ap- 
 pendix above referred to. 
 
 These fragments supply us with the following data :— 
 
 1. The Phoenicians had, in very early times,, extended 
 their voyages from Gades along the coasts of Europe. 
 
 2. The Carthaginians did not merely follow in their wake ; 
 but had also founded a series of independent colonies be- 
 yond the pillars of Hercules, along the shores of Spain, 
 from whence they sailed still further to the country where 
 tin and lead were to be procured. 
 
 3. This was also the destination of Himilco's voyage : 
 
 but whether his expedition consisted of a single ship, or of 
 a whole squadron, is uncertain ; probably the latter was the 
 case, as it is known to have been with respect to the under- 
 taking of Hanno. 
 
 4. The extent of the voyage itself was the Insulae (Estrym- 
 nides, which Himilco reached after a four months' sail. 
 
 5. These islands lay contiguous to the shores of Albion, 
 so near, in fact, that the communication between them and 
 the main-land was kept up by means of boats made of 
 leather : ^ they were also within two days' sail of the " Holy 
 Island," inhabited by the Hiberni. . 
 
 6. The coasts of Albion, opposite to this island, were in- 
 habited by a people whose chief occupation was commerce ; 
 for which purpose they traded thither in their canoes. 
 
 All this is clearly deducible from the passages cited in the 
 above-mentioned Appendix ; but still the original question 
 recurs — which are the Insulse OEstrymnides ? 
 
 Unacquainted with the existence of any others, I had set 
 them down as the Scilly Islands, to which the Reviewer ob- 
 jects, that such a determination is out of the question, they 
 being nothing more than bare rocks, at too great a distance 
 from the main-land, and situate in too stormy a sea to admit 
 of being approached in canoes. On the other hand, the 
 opinion of the Reviewer points to St. Michael's Mount, as 
 the probable situation of the (Estrymnides, which is accessi- 
 ble from the main at ebb tide, and where also there are traces 
 of other small islands, now submerged. I will, however, 
 give the whole passage in the words of the writer himself: — 
 " We are of opinion, that the present St. Michael's Mount 
 is intended, which, at low water, is joined to the main-land, 
 and where tin is found in two ways, in stream works, and 
 by mining. The Scilly Isles are mere rocks : St. Michael's 
 Mount, it is true, is not more of itself; but we know that 
 
 ' Boats formed of wicker work, covered with oil-cloth or leather, are still in 
 common use throughout Wales, and particularly on the Wye and Severn, 
 where they are termed Coracles ; they are not much bigger than a moderately 
 sized basket, and are only made to hold one person, who also carries it about 
 with him, and makes use of it, as occasion may require. The public papers, 
 however, lately noticed an occurrence of shipwreck on the western coast of 
 Ireland, from which it appears that boats of this description are also used on 
 the open sea, and are large enough to accommodate upwards of half a dozen 
 people, having been employed in the above instance to convey the survivors 
 to land. Trans. 
 

 I 
 
 ! 
 
 3gQ APPENDIX VIII. 
 
 there was other land, perhaps isolated also in Mount's Bay, 
 and since submerged. In those days we do not believe tin 
 was found in mines, whence it is now taken in the state ol 
 ore : it was in all probability collected from the stream 
 works in the form which is denominated grain-tin. Ihese 
 stream works are horizontal excavations, open to the earths 
 surface, whence the tin is obtained by washing. These 
 stream works do not require machinery to descend into 
 them or to drain them. Pickaxes of holm, boxwood, and 
 hartshorns, have been often found in them, the instruments 
 of a rude people and age. May not (Estrymnon m Avi- 
 enus mean the Lizard ? The bay and isles, Mounts Bay? 
 Then is all accounted for." 
 
 With this explanation I fully concur, as the most proba- 
 ble that has yet been offered ; for it not only removes the difti- 
 cultv but perfectly coincides also with the customs ol the 
 Carthacrinians, whose usual plan it was to make choice ot 
 some small island contiguous to the shore, as an emporiuin 
 for their merchandise, of which the Cerne islands ofl the 
 coast of Libya, are an instance. I take then St. Michaels 
 Mount, with the islets formerly surrounding it, to be th' 
 Insula GEstrymnides ; Mount's Bay to be the Sinus, and 
 Cape Lizard the Promontory, mentioned by Avienus. 
 These islands are situate- on the coast of Cornwall, the na- 
 tive country of tin and lead. I do not see, however, why 
 the means of obtaining the metal should be hmited to 
 merely trenching the soil, a^ in the case of the stream works 
 above noticed. The Phoenicians posseted considerable 
 skill in mining operations, which it is not likely they would 
 have failed to exercise in the case before us. 1 he only se- 
 rious difficulty seems to consist in lernas bemg placed at a 
 distance of only two days' sail from the spot ; but perhaps 
 it would be unreasonable to expect very minute accuracy 
 in such framients as those we have alluded to. 
 
 The above explanation agrees also with the ac^^^^J^; 
 given by Diodorus, (i. p. 347,) who mentions that the 
 inhabitants of the British continent were very skilful in ob- 
 taining the tin, which they afterwards conveyed to a small 
 islandfcalled Fetis, accessible from the shore dryshod, when 
 the tide is out :" this was the mart where the foreign mer- 
 chants carried on their trade, and took in their cargoes. 
 
 APPENDIX VIII. 
 
 391 
 
 We may receive it then as an historical fact, that the 
 Phoenicians, and after them, the Carthaginians, extended 
 their discoveries and their commerce from Gades to the 
 shores of Britain, and indeed to the coast of Cornwall, as 
 being the nearest, and at the same time the most abundant 
 in the productions they particularly sought for. It is not 
 expressly said that they also passed over into Ireland, nor 
 in fact is it probable they did, because the articles they 
 were in quest of could not be procured there. They were, 
 however, acquainted with the island, and from their having 
 denominated it " the holy," they must in consequence have 
 attached to it certain ideas connected with religious worship. 
 An intercourse between Britain and Ireland must also have 
 existed, from the fact of its being known how many days 
 the passage thither would require. 
 
 The next question is, whether the Phoenicians or Cartha- 
 ginians ever established any permanent settlements on the 
 coasts of Britain ? We know that the colonies of the latter 
 people extended a considerable way along the western shores 
 of the Spanish peninsula, but how far they reached in this 
 quarter we have no positive means of ascertaining. Cer- 
 tainly no account on which we can rely of their having 
 founded colonies in Britain, has come down to us. That 
 it was the general custom, however, of the Carthaginians to 
 form such settlements may be inferred from the account of 
 Hanno's expedition, and that Himilco's also had a similar ob- 
 ject in view is very probable. Moreover, Diodorus and Stra- 
 bo both expressly mention, that the natives of these islands be- 
 came civilized through their commerce and intercourse with 
 foreigners.^ No Phoenician remains of any kind, that I am 
 aware of, have hitherto been discovered in Britain. In 
 Ireland, however, they have still a tradition, founded on the 
 songs of their bards,' that a portion of the island was once 
 in the possession of settlers who came from Spain, and were 
 called Phenies ; these might certainly have been Phoeni- 
 cians, but they might also have been of Iberian descent. 
 Nevertheless, the tradition is altogether too vague to carry 
 any weight in a critical examination of the question. 
 
 ' Strabo, p. 265. We must take care, however, not to confound his Insul* 
 Cassiterides, which can hardly be any other than the SciUy Isles, with our 
 
 Insulffi (Estrymnides. ,,,.,,,» i • oo»i 
 
 * See Turner's History of England in the Middle Ages, vol. i. p. £&I^. 
 
 I 
 
APPENDIX IX. 
 
 393 
 
 APPENDIX IX 
 
 On the Commerce of Palmyra and the neighbouring Cities.^ 
 
 My object in the present essay is to illustrate the commer- 
 cial history of Palmyra and the neighbouring cities of Ara- 
 bia Petraea, and the eastern parts of Syria, by means of 
 ancient monuments and inscriptions, still found existing 
 after the lapse of centuries ; at the same time, I shall not 
 omit to notice the corresponding statements of contempo- 
 rary and other writers. Before we proceed, however, to a 
 general discussion of the subject, it will be requisite to pre- 
 mise a few observations relative to the situation and history 
 
 of Palmyra itself 
 
 This celebrated city, whose ruins still attest its former 
 importance, was situated in the heart of the Syrian desert," 
 though on an isolated spot well watered, and abounding 
 with palm trees, from which latter, in fact, it derived its 
 name. It was distant about four or five days' journey from 
 Damascus, and about two or three from the Euphrates. 
 The peculiarity of its situation is well described by Pliny ; ^ 
 " Palmyra," says he, " urbis nobiUs situ, divitiis soli, et aquis 
 amcenis, vasto undique ambitu arenis includit agros, ac vel- 
 ut terris exempta a rerum natura privata sorte, inter duo 
 imperia summa Romanorum Parthorumque ; et prima in 
 discordia semper utrimque cura." Palmyra, however, went 
 into decay, and its very name was almost forgotten, in con- 
 sequence of the commercial routes of the caravans from 
 Syria to the Euphrates being altered. It was only in the 
 
 » From a Latin dissertation by the author, entitled Commercia urhis Pal- 
 myr<B victnarumque urhiumy ex monumentis et inscriptwnibus dlustrata. 
 * Lat. 34. Long. 38" ICV from Greenwich. " Plin. Hist. Nat. vi. 21. 
 
 latter part of the seventeenth century that it again came 
 into notice ; and certain English merchants established at 
 Aleppo having had their curiosity excited by the reports of 
 the wandering Arabs, proceeded, in the year 1691, to ex- 
 plore its ruins, and brought home with them copies of some 
 of the inscriptions, which were afterwards published in the 
 Transactions of the Royal Society."^ From this epoch the 
 attention of antiquaries was generally directed to these in- 
 teresting remains, until, in the year 1751, two English tra- 
 vellers, named Bouverie and Dawkins, well furnished with 
 the necessary means, having undertaken a journey to the 
 Levant, with the view of exploring the remains of antiquity 
 to be found in that neighbourhood, determined at the same 
 time to pay a visit to Palmyra, not merely for the purpose 
 of supplying a general description of the ruins, but also of 
 bringing home with them an accurate delineation of the 
 particular buildings, together with copies of the inscriptions. 
 In effecting the latter part of their intention, they were sin- 
 gularly fortunate in making choice of Mr. R. Wood, him- 
 self also an antiquarian, and an architect of very great taste. 
 Under his superintendence was published the magnificent 
 work entitled " The Ruins of Palmyra ;"^ as well as another 
 of similar form and subject matter, being dedicated to the 
 scarcely less surprising remains of the city of Heliopolis, or 
 Baalbec, in Syria. 
 
 The origin of the city Palmyra, as we learn from the 
 Jewish records, may be referred to the tenth century before 
 the birth of Christ, it having been built, together with some 
 other cities in Eastern Syria, by Solomon the son and suc- 
 cessor of David. This is expressly mentioned in the book 
 of Kings,^ and in the Chronicles,^ where we read, that 
 " Solomon built Tadmor in the wilderness ;" and, according 
 to Josephus,® Tadmor is the same as Palmyra. " This city," 
 says he, " was built and strongly fortified by Solomon, who 
 called it Thadamor, as indeed the Syrians do to this day, 
 but the Greeks call it Palmyra." We are not indeed told 
 
 * Phtlos. Tram. vol. 48. An explanation of them was attempted by Abraham 
 Seller, in his Antiquities and History of Palmyra, Appendix. London, 1696. 
 
 * The Ruins of Palmyra, otherwise tadmor, London, 1753. The splendid 
 work of Cassas, Voyage pittoresque en Syrie, etc., contains drawings of the 
 buildings, but not of the inscriptions. 
 
 * 1 Kings, ix. 18. ' 2 Chron. viii. 4. • Ant, Jud, viii. 6. 
 
394 
 
 APPENDIX IX. 
 
 APPENDIX IX. 
 
 395 
 
 l\ 
 
 
 I 
 I 
 
 r 
 
 for what particular purpose Solomon built Palmyra, but as 
 he is said to have surrounded it with very strong fortifica- 
 tions, it must have been intended as a fortress or garrison 
 town to repress the incursions of the wild roving hordes of 
 the desert, especially as the kingdom of Judaea, in conse- 
 quence of the warlike expeditions of his father David, was 
 extended as far as the banks of the Euphrates. After the 
 time of Solomon, we find no mention of Palmyra in Jewish 
 history, which is not much to be wondered at, considering 
 the revolt of Syria from the Jews, upon the erection of an 
 independent kingdom at Damascus. Some writers, indeed, 
 are of opinion, that the city was taken and destroyed by 
 Nebuchadnezzar,^ though I have not been able to ascertain 
 on what authority they found their opinion ; it is, however, 
 so far probable that Nebuchadnezzar may have taken Pal- 
 myra, as we know that in the course of repeated expeditions 
 against the kings of Judaea and Damascus, he at length re- 
 duced the whole of Syria into his power. After the time of 
 Cyrus, Palmyra, from the nature of its situation, was most 
 likely subject to the Persians ; but as long as their empire 
 lasted, I can find no mention made of it ; from whence we 
 may rightly infer, that the city was not at that period of 
 very great importance, even though it might have served 
 the purposes of commerce. We are equally without in- 
 formation as to Palmyra during the military career of Alex- 
 ander, both when he took possession of Syria, after the 
 battle of Issus, and when he marched fi-om Egypt to the 
 Euphrates ; because, in order to avoid the desert, he pro- 
 ceeded straight to that river, which he crossed at Thapsacus. 
 After the death of Alexander, upon the foundation of the 
 empire of the Seleucidae, the condition of Palmyra seems to 
 have been the same with that of Syria generally ; at least, 
 in the monumental inscriptions, of which we shall have soon 
 occasion to speak, the method of computing time by the 
 cera of the Seleucidae universally prevails ; but we look m 
 vain for any account of the city itself during the reign ol 
 
 those monarchs. 
 
 We now come down to the time of the Romans ; and 
 here, at length, the name of Palmyra seems to have become 
 
 Seller, loc. cit p. 379. 
 
 known to the Western world. For when, upon the over- 
 throw of Mithridates, and the expulsion of his ally Tigranes 
 from Asia Minor and Syria, those countries were reduced 
 to the form of Roman provinces, the city of Palmyra, in all 
 apparent probability, underwent the same fate. It was pos- 
 sible, however, considering its isolated situation in the mid- 
 dle of a desert, that it might have continued free and inde- 
 pendent ; and that this is no unwarrantable supposition 
 appears, among other circumstances, particularly from what 
 is reported of the conduct of M. Antony in his expedition 
 against Palmyra, and also from what we read in the histo- 
 rian Pliny. For when Antony, after the defeat of Brutus 
 and Cassius, took possession of Syria,. he despatched his 
 cavalry to plunder Palmyra, by way of remunerating them 
 for their services, objecting against the citizens the crime of 
 siding alternately with the Romans and Parthians, on the 
 confines of whose territories their town was situated. The 
 design of Antony was indeed prevented, as the inhabitants, 
 having obtained previous intelligence, abandoned the city, 
 and transported all their valuable effects beyond the Eu- 
 phrates, on the further bank of which river they posted a 
 guard of archers to defend the passage, so that the detach- 
 ment were obliged to return empty-handed, and without 
 even coming to an engagement. But had the Palmyrenians 
 been under the power of Rome, I can hardly understand 
 how they could possibly fall under the accusation imputed 
 to them by Antony. However the case may be, this at 
 least is suflSciently evident, that the inhabitants at this period 
 had already acquired a great reputation for wealth. The 
 same may be inferred, I think, from the words of Phny : 
 " Palmyra, privata sorte utitur inter duo imperia summa, 
 Romanorum Parthorumque, et prima in discordia utrimque 
 cura :" for what else can the expression " privata sorte uti- 
 tur" signify, as applied to a town situated between two 
 powerfiil empires, than that it was subject to neither of 
 them ? and if, upon the breaking out of quarrels between 
 the two powers, it was the first object of both to secure the 
 alliance of such a city as Palmyra, is it not plain that the 
 latter must have been independent, from the very circum- 
 stance of its being free to choose which party it would side 
 with? 
 
396 
 
 APPENDIX IX. 
 
 APPENDIX IX. 
 
 39; 
 
 Palmyra, however, seems to have undergone considerable 
 change soon after the time of Pliny : in fact, it had now 
 reached a period which, if we may judge from existmg re- 
 mains, was by far the most flourishing and prosperous the 
 city had yet seen. ** Its still surviving monuments almost all 
 belong to the age of the Antonines, including the reign of 
 Adrian, and extend downwards to its final decay under the 
 emperor Aurelian. What was the particular condition of 
 Palmyra under Trajan the contemrporary writers have 
 omitted to notice ; but as we read of its being restored''' by 
 Adrian, who was his successor, it had probably experienced 
 some reverses of fortune, either in consequence of the wars 
 carried on in Mesopotamia, Syria, and Arabia, during the 
 latter part of Trajan's reign, or from the earthquakes which 
 at that time devastated Antioch and other neighbouring 
 cities. From the remark of Stephanus, just alluded to, it 
 appears, that Adrian not only restored Palmyra, but that he 
 also called it, after his own name, Adrianopolis ; an appella- 
 tion, however, which subsequently grew into disuse. In 
 the inscriptions the name of Adrian occurs twice." From 
 one of them we learn, that the emperor paid a visit to the 
 city, and was received with great pomp and magnificence. 
 The inscription itself is in honour of a certain Malech, also 
 called Agrippa, who, on this occasion, when the town was 
 filled with strangers, supplied the public baths with unguents 
 at his own expense. The other inscription is found not in 
 the city itself, but in a neighbouring Mohammedan mosque, 
 and commemorates the piety of a certain Abilenus of De- 
 capolis ; who, in the year of the Seleucidae 445, (A. D. 133,) 
 had erected an oratory to the health of Adrian, and pre- 
 pared eipulvmar, or lectisternium, on the occasion. If we 
 inquire how it came to pass that the splendour of Palmyra 
 increased to such a degree under the Antonines, we should 
 recollect what was the peculiar situation of the Asiatic pro- 
 vinces during the reign of those princes. Upon Adrian s 
 spontaneously restoring to the Parthians the provinces which 
 had been taken from them by Trajan, the protracted war 
 between that people and the Romans was followed by a 
 tranquil state of aflairs, which lasted all through the reign ot 
 
 *• StephaN. de Urh. sub UaXftvpa. 
 
 " Buins 0/ Palmyra, No. xx., and Seller, No. xvm. p. 363. 
 
 Antoninus Pius, and consequently for upwards of forty 
 years. That, during this long interval of peace, as was 
 natural, the arts also of peace were cultivated, magnificent 
 buildings erected, and an additional stimulus given to the 
 commercial intercourse of Asia, particularly now that a free 
 passage was allowed to merchants travelling through the 
 Parthian territories, has already been shown in another 
 place. ^^ In the absence of almost all the contemporary 
 historians, a suflScient degree of light is thrown upon the 
 subject by the monumental inscriptions of Palmyra, for en- 
 abling us to understand how that, in common with the 
 other cities of Syria, attained such an eminent degree of 
 splendour, owing to the vast increase of wealth consequent 
 upon commercial speculation. 
 
 With regard to the political condition of Palmyra at this 
 period, it is evident fi-om the inscriptions, that the Romans 
 allowed her such a measure of civil liberty as the " urbes 
 aiVoi/o/tot" enjoyed. We hear of pubhc decrees being issued 
 by the senate and people, though at the same time we meet 
 with frequent mention of the Procurator of Augustus, who, 
 under the title of Ducenarius, superintended the collection 
 of the imperial revenue.^^ 
 
 As long as the Parthian empire lasted. Palmyra con- 
 tinued faithful to the Romans, whom she frequently assisted 
 in their wars with the former power ; and, as the inscrip- 
 tions testify, gave a splendid reception to the emperors 
 Alexander Severus and Gordian,^^ when they visited the 
 city. About this time, however, a great revolution took 
 place in Asia ; the Parthian empire, under the Arsacides, 
 being overthrown, and the Persian dynasty of the Sassanides, 
 under Artaxerxes, being established in its room. The 
 latter, who boasted their descent from the ancient kings of 
 Persia, accordingly strove to recover the provinces formerly 
 belonging to the Persians, but now in the possession of the 
 
 " See Appendix, On the sources of Ptolemy's Geography. Joh. Malala, in 
 his Chronicon, gives a list of the public buildings erected by the Roman em- 
 perors in Syria ; and among them, a temple at Heliopohs, by Antoninus Pius. 
 What is surprising, however, the name of Palmyra is not even mentioned by 
 
 this writer. .«,... 1 u 
 
 " Ruins of Palmyra, No. xv. xvi. xvii. These mscnptions, however, be- 
 long to the last ages of Palmyra ; that is, to the time of GalUenus. 
 ^ Inscript. No. ix. Compare Jul. Capitolinus in Gord. in. cap. 9. 
 
398 
 
 APPENDIX IX. 
 
 APPENDIX IX. 
 
 399 
 
 i 
 
 'H 
 
 Romans, which necessarily gave rise to new and frequent 
 wars between the two nations. On this occasion, too, the 
 Palmyrenians, we are informed, continued for some time to 
 side with the Romans. Their forces were commanded by 
 Odenatus, a bold and successful general, of noble birth, and 
 the husband of Zenobia ; who, having entered into a league 
 with Balista, the praefectus prsetorii, defeated the Persian 
 king Sapor, who had invaded the Roman provinces, drove 
 him beyond the Euphrates, took possession of his capital, 
 Ctesiphon, and restored the wavering power of Rome in the 
 East.^^ In return for these services, he was associated by 
 Gallienus in the empire, under the title of Augustus. Upon 
 the assassination, however, of Odenatus by his kinsman Mae- 
 onius, A. D. 260, the whole face of affairs was completely 
 changed : his widow Zenobia, a woman of masculine spirit, 
 who administered the government in the name of her sons, 
 neglected the interest of Rome to make an aUiance with the 
 Persians ; and, with the view of founding an independent 
 kingdom for herself, carried arms over a wide extent of 
 country, invaded Egypt and the provinces of Asia Minor, 
 and affected the haughty title of " Queen of the East."' 
 Her success, however, was not of long duration ; for Aure- 
 lian, having restored tranquillity in the West, proclaimed 
 war against Zenobia, routed her at Emesa, besieged Palmyra, 
 whither she had fled after the battle, and, upon her attempt- 
 ing to escape, took her prisoner and carried her to Rome to 
 adorn his triumph. The consequences of this defeat were 
 ruinous to Palmyra; the citizens having again revoked, 
 Aurelian came back and took the place by storm, slew the 
 inhabitants, according to his own declaration in a letter to 
 the senate,*' and finally razed the city to the ground, A. D. 
 273. There is no occasion to enlarge upon this part of our 
 subject, as it will be found at length in the contemporary 
 Roman historians. 
 
 With respect to the commerce of Palmyra, we shall be 
 best able to explain its nature by referring to that of Asia 
 in general. This has already been done in a preceding- 
 part of this work, where I have proved the commerce in 
 
 '* Trebellius PoLLio tVt Odenato, Script. Hist. Aw/, vol. ii. 
 
 '* Trebellius Pollio in Zenobia. 
 
 " Flavius Vopiscus in Aureliano, Scrij^t. Hist. Attg, vol. ii. 
 
 question to have been carried on by land rather than by sea, 
 though in fact the latter kind was not wanting. The pe- 
 culiar nature of Asiatic land-commerce is such that it cannot 
 be engaged in by a single individual, or by a few only, but 
 requires the co-operation of a numerous body of merchants 
 traveling in company, who form what is termed a caravan. 
 The length of the journey, and the savage disposition of 
 the wild roving hordes, who subsist by plunder, would 
 effectually deter a small unarmed band of individuals fi'om 
 making the attempt. Accordingly, it was usual for a numer- 
 ous and well-armed body of merchants to assemble together, 
 who elected one of their number as leader of the whole 
 caravan. Their merchandise was transported on camels ; 
 but as neither men nor beasts of burden could possibly ac- 
 complish the whole journey without stopping, it became 
 necessary to select certain halting-places, for rest and re- 
 freshment. Such of these places as offered favourable op- 
 portunities in point of situation for the establishment of fairs 
 and markets, became in process of time themselves emporia 
 of considerable trade, and, under fortunate circumstances, 
 soon grew to such a pitch of wealth and prosperity, as to vie 
 with the most splendid cities of the East. Such was Palmyra. 
 Being situated on the confines of the Roman and Parthian 
 empires, its very situation rendered it singularly adapted for 
 all the purposes of intermediate commerce, or, as we should 
 term it, " a carrying-trade." This species of commerce, 
 more than any other, is calculated to insure abundant pro- 
 fits, as the goods that have been purchased from one set of 
 traders are not retailed to another, but at a considerable ad- 
 vance upon the prime cost. A similar observation is made 
 by Appian, who says, " Palmyreni, mercatores sunt, qui 
 merces ab Arabibus ac Parthis coemtas, Romanis iterum 
 vendunt."^^ How extremely profitable this kind of trade 
 was to the Palmyrenians has been already noticed by Pliny, 
 where he speaks of the Arabians : '^ "gentes," says he, '' quae 
 hsec agunt, in universum sunt ditissimae, ut apud quas 
 maximae Romanorum ac Parthorum opes subsistant, ven- 
 dentibus quae capiunt, nihil autem invicem redimenti- 
 bus." The latter part of this remark will generally apply 
 
 Appian, De Bellis Cimlibus, lib. v. 
 
 " Plin. Hist. Nat vi. 31. 
 
400 
 
 APPENDIX IX. 
 
 APPENDIX IX. 
 
 401 
 
 H -■" 
 
 also to the commercial intercourse of modern Europe with 
 China. 
 
 The situation, therefore, of Palmyra in the heart of the 
 Syrian desert, made it necessary that the commercial routes 
 leading thither should be traversed, not by single traders, 
 but by a whole society of merchants, sharing the danger in 
 common. A safe passage through the territories of the wild 
 Arabs was only to be purchased by money, or secured by 
 force of arms. The tribes inhabiting the district now called 
 Nejed were famous, even in the remotest times, for the num- 
 ber and superiority of their camels, with which they sup- 
 plied the Palmyrenians, who would otherwise have been ut- 
 terly unable to accompHsh their long commercial journeys. 
 
 The passage, however, through the countries inhabited by 
 the wandering Arabs was attended with very considerable 
 expense : — " Mirum enim," says Pliny, " ex innumeris illo- 
 rum populis, pars magna in commerciis aut latrociniis.''^^ 
 During the prosperous ages of Palmyra, this expense was 
 occasionally defrayed by private citizens or magistrates, to 
 whom, in consequence, public honours were decreed either 
 by the senate and people of the city, or by the caravans of 
 merchants themselves. These honours consisted in erecting 
 a statue, accompanied with an inscription,*^ commemorative 
 of the liberality and public spirit of the individual concern- 
 ed ; and it is owing to the fortunate preservation of certain 
 of these inscriptions, that we are enabled in any measure to 
 illustrate the commerce of Palmyra. In prosecuting this 
 subject, we shall therefore, first of all, inquire into the par- 
 ticular articles in which Palmyrenian commerce consisted ; 
 secondly, into its nature, and method of carrying on ; and 
 thirdly, we shall examine the several routes along which it 
 passed. 
 
 With respect to the merchandise itself, we have already 
 ascertained it to have consisted for the most part of Arabian 
 and Indian productions ; what these were may be easily 
 
 * Plin. loc. cit. 
 
 " In WooD*8 Palmyra, these inscriptions are twenty-three in number, of 
 which thirteen are in Palmyrenian character and dialect, with the addition of 
 the Greek interpretation, (explained by Eichhorn, in Comment. JRec. Soc. 
 Gott. vol. vi.,) and the rest in Greek alone. Three of the latter are here in- 
 serted, the fourth or last has been already interpreted by Eichhorn, in the 
 work just quoted. 
 
 gathered from Herodotus, Strabo, and other writers. From 
 Arabia was procured frankincense, myrrh, and other aro- 
 matics ; and from India also, articles of perfumery, pearls, 
 precious stones, together with cotton and silk stuffs of vari- 
 ous kinds ,* all accurately enumerated by the author of the 
 Periplus. At Palmyra were to be had silken garments of 
 a very expensive kind, and remarkable both for their ex- 
 treme delicacy of texture as well as brilliance of colour, 
 (these were conveyed to Rome, where, however, they were 
 at first prohibited,^^) purple vests of Indian manufacture, 
 embroidered with gold and precious stones, and other articles 
 of commerce, too numerous to mention. 
 
 I shall now proceed to notice those inscriptions which 
 serve to throw some light on the character of Palmyrenian 
 commerce. These are four in number, three being written 
 in Greek only, and the last in the dialect of Palmyra, with 
 a Greek translation subjoined. I shall here present them 
 to the reader as they occur in Mr. Wood's work, together 
 with a translation in Latin, remarking beforehand, that I do 
 not intend to trouble him with the niceties of verbal criticism, 
 which would be foreign to my purpose ; as all that I wish 
 to deduce from them has reference exclusively to commercial 
 subjects. 
 
 I. 
 
 (Ruins of Palmyra, No. XVIII. In the court of the 
 great temple.) 
 
 H (^ovXt) Kat 6 ^rjfiog ScTrrt/ieoy tov kpaTiffrov eTrirpoiroy ScjSaorou Aov- 
 \tvapiov - - - [tXjiodoTrfv rfjg firiTpoKoXioveiag, Kai avaKOfxiaavTa tclq (rvv(y- 
 ciag e^ i^iwy Kai fjLaprvprjdiyTa vwo twv ap-)(jE^Tr6p(aVf Kai XafnrpCjg (TTparri- 
 yrjffayra koI ayopoyofiTjarayTa Tfjg ahrfig firjTpoKoXoyEiag^ Kai vXelffra oiKodey 
 avaXwcraiTa, jcai apiaavra t^te avr^ fiovXy Kai r^ ^tj/jl^ Kai yvyei Xafnrp&g 
 ffi;/i7ro<rtap)(ov ribv tov Atoc B^Xou iepSjy rufirig 'iyeKty ir - - - Say^iK^. 
 
 "Senatus Populusque (Palmyrenus) Septimium opti- 
 mum Procuratorem Ducenarium Augusti, qui oleum cura- 
 vit donandum metropoli coloniae, quique suo sumptu com- 
 meatum mercatoribus iter commune facientibus praebuit ; et 
 a negotiorum praesidibus amplum testimonium adeptus est ; 
 
 " Flavius Vopiscus in Aureliano, cap. 29, 45. 
 VOL. II. 2 D 
 
 i! 
 
I 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 402 APPENDIX IX. 
 
 fortiter et cum laude militantem, et ^dUem ejusdem metro- 
 poleos colonic, plurimas etiam opes domi impendentem ; 
 Seoque placen em idem Senatui Popu oque ; nunc magm- 
 teT4o^-^^^-^ -^'^''^ in sacrificns Jovis Beh honons 
 ereo Ccoluit) anno - - mense Xanclico. 
 
 The Septimius mentioned in the above mscnption called 
 also Orodes, was the Ducenarius or Procurator of the em- 
 peror, and at the same time, a^poVo^^ov, or cEdile of the city of 
 Palmyra. He is commended on many accounts. 
 
 First Because he made the city a present of oil ; tor 
 there can be no doubt, that the letters cX are to be supplied 
 as Seller has correctly observed.- It is easy to conceive that 
 the consumption of oil must have been very great not only 
 for the purposes of daily use, but also for the public baths 
 particularly when we consider the numerous population of the 
 citv Such a present, therefore, must have been very accept- 
 able to the Palmyrenians, as oil could not be procure^ except 
 at a vast expense, owing to the pecuhar situation ot Palmyra. 
 Secondly. Because he entertained or provisioned the 
 company of travelling merchants at his own expense. 1 he 
 inscription therefore alludes to the caravans, whom beptimms 
 Orodes furnished with provisions for their journey. 
 
 Thirdly This grateful attestation was made to beptimms 
 bv the prefects or head-men of the merchants (to?, ipx^^- 
 i,o.,); whence we may conclude, that at Palmyra tjie 
 merchants constituted a particular rank or^^^^mblyof indi- 
 viduals, who had their own presiding officers ; ot whom, 
 however, nothing further is known. , i e . 
 
 Fourthly, This Orodes, it appears, was also Xhe Sympo- 
 siarch, upon occasion of festivals and sacrifices being held 
 in honour of Jupiter Belus, or the Sun, who was the tutela 
 divinity of the city, as well as of its merchants. He is saul 
 to have discharged this office in a splendid manner as hav- 
 ing taken upon himself the whole management of the sacn- 
 fices, together with the sumptuous banquets which usually 
 succeedld. We learn, therefore, from the above inscriptioi. 
 that the care of superintending sacred and commercial ma - 
 ters was vested in the same person, which also supplies i ^ 
 with an additional proof, that among the Palmyrenians, as 
 
 *» Seller, in the Appendix, p. 323. 
 
 APPENDIX IX. 
 
 403 
 
 well as the other nations of the East, an intimate connexion 
 subsisted between religion and commerce. 
 
 For all these services, the senate and people of Palmyra 
 awarded to Septimius Orodes the honour of a public in- 
 scription, and no doubt also a statue, set up in the court of 
 the principal temple, commemorating his munificent libe- 
 rality to his native town. 
 
 n. 
 
 (Rui7is of Palmyra, No. X. In the long portico.) 
 
 'IovXlov Avpr)\iov ZePaihav Modfiov tov Zefiaidov AffOopovfiaiha oi (tvv 
 avT^ KareXBoyreg elg 'OXoyeo-m^a kfiiropoiuv tarrjaar apicavna avroit," reif^ifJQ 
 Xapiv SavhiK^ TOV HN^ etovq, 
 
 " Juhum Aurelium Zebidam Mozimi F. Zebidse nepotem 
 mercatores qui cum illo descenderunt ad Vologesiae merca- 
 tum constituerunt Asthorubaida, virum ipsis gratissimum 
 honoris gratia, a, 558. SeL {Chr. 246.) 
 
 1. Here again we meet with a company of merchants, 
 under the conduct of Aurelius Zebida, coming down from 
 Palmyra to Vologesia, a town situate on the Euphrates, in 
 order to attend the markets held there. 
 
 2. These merchants, it seems, elected Zebida to the office 
 of Astorubaida. The latter appellation must of course be 
 interpreted from the Palmyrenian dialect, and not from the 
 Greek. According to Prof. Ewald ; " It is of Semitic 
 origin, the latter part of the compound being evidently the 
 Arabic, Ij^aj, Baida, i. e. desertum ; with respect to aaOepov, 
 supposing "the letter o to represent n, it might stand for 
 ni!pi^, tutela ; so that the whole word would mean prcesi- 
 diuin deserti ; but it seems more likely to come from npitrh?, 
 (in Hebrew, ")Dittr,) which makes the whole equivalent to 
 prcefectus deserti*' Which of these two interpretations be 
 the more probable I leave my readers to judge, though I 
 certainly prefer the last mentioned, so that Astorubaida 
 would be a kind of honorary title conferred upon the leader 
 of a caravan, after a prosperous journey, similar to that of 
 Imperator, with which the Roman legions saluted their ge- 
 neral. In fact, it is a title not merely given by acclamation, 
 but commemorated on a public monument, which could 
 hardly have been done without public authority. 
 
 2 D 2 
 
 11 
 
 ii 
 
404 
 
 APPENDIX IX. 
 
 APPENDIX IX. 
 
 405 
 
 3 This inscription was set up, possibly together with a 
 statue, by the company of merchants, (not by the senate and 
 people,) because Zebaida had discharged his office of con- 
 ductor with great credit. The date of the inscription coin- 
 cides with the year 246, A. D., and consequently with the 
 reien of the emperor Philip. As to Zebaida himself, it is 
 not altogether improbable, that he was the same person as 
 Zaba, or Zabda, who is mentioned among the generals ot 
 Zenobia, in the time of Aurelian, twenty-five years after- 
 wards " in which case he must have been a young man 
 when he was appointed Astorubaida ; but in a question ot 
 so much uncertainty, I dare not venture to be positive. 
 
 III. 
 
 C Ruins of Palmyra, No. V., in the court of the temple.) 
 
 flian 'AXXirov row NfVn row 'AXKirov <rvi'oampxn>' «< <r«vava/3arrcc 
 fitr abrov ifi^opoi &ir6 ^fopadov Ka\ 'OXoya^ASof Tu^rji Kal eix"?""''-* 
 tvcKiv erous TNY finfot SaySiKoi. 
 
 " Nesse Allati F. Nes« N. Synodiarchse, mercatores qui 
 cum eo d'escenderunt ab Euphrate et Vologesia, honoris et 
 gratitudinis causa (banc statuam posuerunt) a. 453, (Chr. 
 
 1/11 N" 
 
 This inscription is almost of similar import with the pre- 
 ceding one. We learn from it, 
 
 1. That it was set up, and perhaps together with a statue, 
 in the court of the temple, in honour of a certam ISesa, the 
 son of AUatus, of whom nothing more is known. 
 
 2 That this was done by the company of merchants to 
 whom Nesa had served the office of &/worfmrcA, or conductor. 
 
 3. That this company also had returned to Palmyra trom 
 the Euphrates, and the city of Vologesia. 
 
 4. That this occurred in the year 141, A. D., and con- 
 sequently under the reign of Antoninus Pius. 
 
 And lastly, from the circumstance of the inscription be- 
 ins; set up in the court of the temple itself, we derive an- 
 other proof of the connexion between commerce and religion. 
 
 IV. 
 
 ( Ruins of Palmyra, No. XIII. This inscription is found 
 
 « ZosiMUs, i. 50, 51. F. Vopiscus in Aureliano, cap. 25. 
 
 in the long portico, and is written both in Greek and in the 
 Palmyrenian dialect. The Greek translation is imperfect, 
 but the Palmyrenian is preserved entire, and has been in- 
 terpreted by Eichhorn (loc. cit.) in Hebrew and Latin. It 
 is short indeed, but remarkable, from being set up in honour 
 of a Jew.) 
 
 'H BouX[i) KOI 6 Afjfiog 'i\ov\iov 'Avpri\io[v aBovMaXri apxifiiropov 
 
 uvaKOui(Tav[Ta ] crvvo^lav irpoiKa i^ ihiu)y Teifirjg x"P**' trovg Q^\p. 
 
 Hsec est statua Julii Aurelii Schalmalath, filii Malae, He- 
 brsei, ducis societatis peregrinatorum, quam in ejus honorem 
 erexit S. P. Q. P. quod adduceret talem societatem. Gratis 
 solebat itinera facere. A. 569, (Chr. 258.) 
 
 1. This monument it appears was erected in honour of a 
 certain Schalmalath, who is expressly said to have been a 
 Jew. It follows therefore, that Jews *^ also exercised the 
 mercantile profession at Palmyra, were in the habit of mak- 
 ing journeys, and held in so much respect as to have public 
 honours paid them. 
 
 2. This Schalmalath had served the office of apxtfnropoc, or 
 conductor of the caravan, which he brought safe to Pal- 
 myra, and indeed at his own private expense. The addition 
 of " gratis solebat itinera facere," leads us to infer that he 
 had often exhibited such proofs of liberality before, and thus 
 have laid repeated claims to the gratitude of the city. 
 
 3. The statue and inscription were erected to him, not 
 by the merchants themselves, but by the senate and people 
 of Palmyra, which is an additional proof of their high regard 
 for individuals who had deserved well of the merchants when 
 m a commercial expedition. Nor is it surprising that 
 public honours should be awarded them in consequence, 
 when we consider that the welfare of the state absolutely 
 depended on the safe arrival of the caravans. 
 
 It is, I think, sufficiently evident, from what has been 
 advanced on this subject, that the commercial interests of 
 Palmyra were supposed to be under the special protection 
 of the gods, that is, of the tutelar divinity of the city, viz. 
 the Sun. This is confirmed by the character of the places 
 
 " What a vast concourse of strangers there was in Palmyra may be gathered 
 from the list of captive nations which adorned the triumph of Aurchan, given 
 by Flav. Vopiscus, c. 33. He mentions the Blemmyes, Axumitans, natives 
 of Arabia Felix, Indians, Bactrians, Iberians, Saracens, Persians, besides 
 others from the North. 
 
 ii 
 
406 
 
 APPENDIX IX. 
 
 APPENDIX IX. 
 
 40; 
 
 I 
 
 
 r 
 
 where the inscriptions are found. The temple dedicated to 
 the Sun stood in the middle of a spacious area or court, 
 Wns a sCre, and of such extent, that a whole encamp- 
 m™t of Bedouin Arabs is contained in the enclosure This 
 wL surrounded with double peristyle, each consisting of 
 Zut aTundred pillars, behind which was a senes of apart- 
 ments The entrance was through a grand and highly or- 
 namented portico ; immediately upon entermg were seen 
 two Se tanks or reservoirs, eight feet deep, and fiirnished 
 S st?ps to go down into the water ; the whole court bemg 
 paved with marble.^« Its modem appellation among the 
 Kbs Ts " the court of Camels," which leads us in a mo- 
 mSit to 'suspect, that its original d-tinati- w^ Pga^^^^^^ 
 
 similar. It has l^^^^^^l :'Z'^Zf, :^^^^^^^ 
 
 ^rnri'rtine^tt Teem^^^^^^ 
 
 CeEt tanks supplied an abundance of water wie 
 
 the spacious court afforded plenty of room for the beasts of 
 burden, and the merchandise they conveyed 
 
 It is here too, as we have already seen, that the statues 
 with inscr^tions were erected in honour of those individuals 
 who had conducted the caravans at their own expense. In 
 Ihe neighbourhood was another stupendous portico up- 
 w^rdTlfour thousand feet long, itsdf also XTeSlt 
 inscriptions and statues m honour of particular mjchante- 
 When we take all this into consideration, are we not author 
 ked^n supposing this court of the temple to have been 
 originali;Tkind 'of public inn (the e-tjon of ^^^^^^^^ 
 in fhe East being always regarded m ^^J l^'^* f^^^J^ f ^^^^ 
 obhgation,) destined for the reception of the merchants ana 
 their came s ^ May not the long portico, secured as it was 
 tm r scorching' rays of the sun, have been a bnd 
 bazar or exchange, where the merchants ^^P^^^J *^>' ^X 
 modities for sale, and at the same t™e assenibled for^t^^ 
 transaction of business ? We must, it is true, be content 
 SrSSZ m^re conjeeture ; bu. *« 'he P «ce rn^e^ 
 tion was in some way or other subservient to the P^J^^^^^^ 
 commerce is plain enough from the mscnptions themselves. 
 Tto the e^^^^^^ wealth of the Palmyreman merchants, 
 
 Compare for this and what foUows, the concise description of Cassas, 
 attached to his Views of Palmyra. 
 
 2S 
 
 it will be sufficient to quote what Flavius Vopiscus says of 
 Firmus, a native of Seleucia, and the ally and friend of Ze- 
 nobia, who arrogated to himself the title of prince, but was 
 afterwards overthrown by Aurelian : — " De hujus divitiis 
 multa dicuntur. Nam et vitreis quadraturis domum indux- 
 isse perhibetur, et tantum habuisse de chartis, ut publice 
 ssepe diceret exercitum se alere posse papyro et glutino. 
 Idem et cum Blemmyis (Nubiae populo supra iEgyptum) 
 societatem maximam tenuit, et cum Saracenis (Arabibus) ; 
 naves quoque negotiatorias ad Indos saepe misit. Ipse quo- 
 que habuisse dicitur duos dentes elephanti, pedum denum, 
 ex quibus Aurelianus ipse sellam constituerat facere."^^ — It 
 is well known that the inhabitants of Sidon understood the 
 art of manufacturing glass ; which however was not em- 
 ployed for windows, or for making cups and other articles 
 of domestic use, but solely for the luxurious purpose of 
 overlaying the walls of their houses, etc. 
 
 It now remains for us to say something of the particular 
 routes by which the Palmyrenian merchants travelled in 
 their commercial expeditions. I consider this part of our 
 subject of very great importance, as involving not merely 
 the conveyance of merchandise, but also the propagation of 
 religious opinions, laws, and national civihzation in general. 
 As far as Palmyra is concerned, I shall rest my deductions 
 chiefly on the authority of Appian and Phny, before quoted, 
 and which proves the Palmyrenians to have had in their 
 hands the intermediate commerce, or carrying trade, be- 
 tween the countries of the East and the whole Western 
 world. The language of these writers is alone sufficient to 
 show, that the commercial routes in question were directed 
 partly towards the South, partly towards the East, and 
 partly towards the West. 
 
 Those routes which had a southern direction, led, in the 
 one case, into Arabia, in the other to Egypt. That the 
 Arabian trade was of very great importance, and perhaps 
 the most considerable of all, I consider to be evident from 
 what has gone before. With regard to the particular route 
 which it traversed, some light is thrown on the subject by 
 a passage in Pliny (Hist. Nat. vi. 32). " Nabatsei, Arabise 
 
 ^ Flav. Vopiscus in Firmo, cap. 3. 
 
408 
 
 APPENDIX IX. 
 
 APPENDIX IX. 
 
 409 
 
 populus, oppidum includunt Petram nomine in convalle, 
 paulo minus duorum millium passuum amplitudine, circum- 
 datum montibus inaccessis. Hue convenit utrimque bivium 
 'eomm qui et Syria (al. Syriae) Palmyram petiere, et eorum 
 qui ab Gaza venerunt." As to the situation of Petra, there 
 can no longer be any doubt that it is the same as the mo- 
 dern Carrak, It has been seen and described by Burck- 
 hardt \^ and a ground plan and views of the ruins are given 
 by Laborde. The place is strongly fortified by nature, and 
 is distant about thirteen geographical miles south of the 
 Dead Sea. An extremely narrow defile between lofty 
 mountains, more like a sheep-walk than a regular path, leads 
 to a plain of moderate extent, shut in on all sides by pre- 
 cipitous rocks, in the middle of which stands the city of 
 Petra, still remarkable for its remains of ancient buildings. 
 In the time of Alexander, and consequently therefore under 
 the Persian dynasty, Petra was the emporium for the aro- 
 matics which the Nabatheans brought thither from Arabia 
 Felix. Antigonus formed the design of plundering this opu- 
 lent city ; and with that view sent his son Demetrius, who 
 carried off from Petra five hundred talents of silver, to- 
 gether with a large quantity of frankincense ; he was however 
 eventually defeated in his enterprise, for the Nabatheans pur- 
 suing after him, succeeded in recovering the stolen booty.'^ 
 
 From the words of Pliny, whichever reading we choose to 
 prefer, one thing at least is certain, that at Petra the com- 
 mercial road parted in two directions, one leading to the 
 left, towards Gaza and the shores of Syria ; the other to the 
 right, towards Palmyra. We have already shown from Stra- 
 bo,^" that the road to Arabia Felix, that is, the region of Ha- 
 dramaut, the native countryof frankincense, occupied seventy 
 days' journey from Petra ; though it is not likely the Pal- 
 myrenian merchants proceeded fiirther than the last-nanied 
 place, which was the market for the productions of Arabia. 
 
 That Palmyra maintained a commercial intercourse with 
 Egypt, that is, with Alexandria, may be inferred from the 
 vicinity of these cities, as well as the example of Firmus 
 quoted above. If, as he is reported to have done, he kept 
 
 " Travels in Syria and the Holy Land, p. 422. 
 
 =* This story is related by Diodorus, ii. p. 390. 
 
 » Strab. p. 1113: see the chapter on the Phosmctans, 
 
 up a close correspondence with the Blemmyans, a people of 
 Nubia, who traded at Meroe in the interior of Afi-ica, it is 
 evident that a part of this commerce also was in the hands 
 of the merchants of Palmyra. Moreover, we learn of Fir- 
 mus, that he had a share in the Indian trade, and by sea 
 too ; according to Strabo,^^ the grand emporium for the lat- 
 ter was the port of Myos Hormos in Egypt, situate on the 
 Arabian Gulf, from whence also Firmus must have de- 
 spatched his ships to the Indian markets ; for, to the best of 
 our knowledge, the Persian Gulf, in the time of the Par- 
 thian empire, was not open to the trade with India. How- 
 ever this may be, it is quite certain that the Palmyrenians, 
 in addition to their commerce by land, exercised also a sea 
 trade with India. 
 
 Further : that the routes leading from Palmyra towards 
 the east were also frequented by her merchants might be 
 inferred from the situation of that city itself, as being the 
 intermediate point of the carrying trade between the East 
 and the Western world. The inscriptions, however, are 
 conclusive of the fact. From them we learn, that one of 
 these routes was directed towards the Euphrates, and con- 
 sequently to Babylonia; which I have already shown to 
 have been, in very ancient times, a celebrated commercial 
 country.^^ The city, indeed, from which it derived its own 
 name, was no longer in existence when Palmyra flourished, 
 as we are informed by Strabo and Pliny. The latter has 
 these words : — " Babylon, Chaldaicarum gentium caput, diu 
 summam claritatem obtinuit in toto orbe. Nunc ad solitu- 
 dinem rediit, exhausta vicinitate Seleucise, ob id conditse a 
 (Seleuco) Nicatore intra nonagesimum lapidem, ad Tigrin. 
 Ferunt ei plebis urbanae DC. M. esse. Invicem ad hanc 
 exhauriendam Ctesiphontem, quod nunc caput est regnorum 
 juxta tertium ab ea lapidem condidere Parthi. Et postquam 
 nihil proficiebatur, nuper Vologesus rex aliud oppidum Vo- 
 logesocertam in vicinio condidit."^' Now if the treasures of 
 Parthia were exhausted by the Arabian trade, as the same 
 writer asserts to have been the case, there can be no doubt 
 that the cities just mentioned were the principal emporia for it. 
 We learn however from the inscriptions, that the Palmy- 
 renian caravans did not actually proceed as far as the great 
 
 " Strab. p. 179. ** See the Babylonians. " Hist. Nat. vi. 30, 
 
 I 
 
410 
 
 APPENDIX rX. 
 
 APPENDIX IX. 
 
 411 
 
 cities, but stopped short in the town of Vologesia, which 
 Pliny calls Vologesocerta. It is, in fact, the peculiar nature 
 of Asiatic commercial intercourse, that the merchants travel- 
 ling in company do not go at once to the royal cities, but 
 halt at some station in the neighbourhood, where they ex- 
 pose their goods for sale, and which, from that circumstance, 
 and from being much frequented by the inhabitants and 
 general traders, becomes itself a town of considerable im- 
 portance ; from hence to the capital the road is easy and 
 secure, and individual merchants may proceed thither with- 
 out danger. Thus the caravans for Constantinople stop 
 short at Brussa, and those for Cairo in the town of Girgeh. 
 In the same manner, the inscriptions inform us that the 
 merchants of Palmyra halted at Vologesia ; which was situ- 
 ate on the Euphrates, near Babylon, and only a day's journey 
 or two from Ctesiphon. Vologesia was built by Vologesus, 
 the first of that name, and a contemporary of Nero, a little 
 before Pliny s time, as he himself reports.'* The inscription 
 already noticed shows, that markets or fairs (tfnropeia) were 
 held here for the sale of merchandise brought by the cara- 
 vans. From hence the merchants could proceed to Seleucia 
 and Ctesiphon with perfect security, and without the risk of 
 being plundered ; whereas from Palmyra, through the mid- 
 dle of the desert, they were obliged to travel in numerous 
 companies, and well armed. There appear to have been 
 certain stations on this route, the names of which, otherwise 
 unknown, are mentioned by Ptolemy.'^ In the time of 
 Strabo, when Vologesia was not yet built, the Syrian mer- 
 chants turned off towards the north, and passed the Eu- 
 phrates at Anthemusias, in order to escape the oppressive 
 exactions of the petty Arabian princes.^ The merchants of 
 Palmyra, who frequented the royal cities and commercial 
 towns of the Parthian empire, brought home with them the 
 productions of India, and even, as appears likely, of China 
 itself, the original country of silk ; these they disposed of to 
 the traders of the Roman world. We have already shown 
 in another place, that Babylonia and its various cities were, 
 from the most ancient times, the common emporia of Eastern 
 commerce. But as the limits of the Parthian empire were 
 
 " Plin. Hist. Nat. loc. cit. 
 Adaclia, and others. 
 
 *^ Ptol. v. 15: for instance, Avoria, 
 » Strab. p. 10S4. 
 
 contiguous to India, it was very easy for the inhabitants of 
 the former to hold a commercial intercourse with the Indi- 
 ans ; though it does not, indeed, appear that the Palmyre- 
 nians themselves ever proceeded as far as India, by land ; 
 the extreme limit of their mercantile expeditions being the 
 city of Vologesia. 
 
 Lastly : the commercial routes of Palmyra were directed 
 towards the cities of Syria and the Phoenician ports. The 
 particular stations on the line are not, in fact, mentioned by 
 any writer of antiquity ; but we have sufficient evidence in 
 the splendid ruins of temples and other buildings still found 
 at Emesa, (Homs,) and Heliopolis (Baalbec). The pre- 
 dominant worship in these places, as at Palmyra, was that 
 of the sun ; and they were both situated on the direct road 
 from the latter city to the shores of the Mediterranean ; so 
 there can be no doubt of their having been stations for the 
 caravans of Palmyra. 
 
 The accounts of recent travellers, particularly Seetzen 
 and Burckhardt, speak also of magnificent ruins, scarcely 
 less remarkable than those of Palmyra, existing in the east- 
 ern part of Palestine, beyond the Jordan and the Dead Sea, 
 formerly called Decapolis. The principal of these remains 
 are found at the ancient Gerasa, Gadara, and Philadelphia. 
 The ruins of Gerasa, named Jerash by the Arabs, have been 
 described by Burckhardt,^^ and consist of a temple and 
 portico, together with an amphitheatre : those of Gadara 
 and Philadelphia are said to be little inferior. If we ask 
 how these cities, on the very margin of the desert, an-ived 
 at such a pitch of splendour, opulence, and luxury, the same 
 causes may be alleged as contributed to the elevation of 
 Palmyra. They were all situate on the direct road which 
 led from Petra, the principal emporium of Arabian com- 
 merce, to Damascus and Palmyra ; they flourished in the 
 same age, their architectural remains exhibit the same cha- 
 racter, and the name of Antoninus occurs at least once in all 
 three.** But as we do not find in these ancient cities any 
 inscriptions similar to those of Palmyra, I forbear to enlarge 
 upon them in this place, having confined myself throughout 
 to such evidence only as depended on the express testimony 
 either of ancient writers or of the monuments themselves. 
 
 " Travels in Syria, p. 252. ^ Burckhardt, loc. cit. The 
 
 words MopKov Avp v, occur on a fragment of stone. 
 
APPENDIX X. 
 
 413 
 
 APPENDIX X. 
 
 On the latest additions to Sanscrit Literature^ 
 
 In the preface to The Indians I have given a complete Hst 
 of the works connected v^rith Sanscrit v^^hich had appeared 
 in Europe up to 1824, (the date of the last edition of this 
 work in Germany,) and from which most of my information 
 on the subject had been derived. During the seven years' 
 interval which has elapsed since that time, Sanscrit litera- 
 ture has received some very considerable and important 
 additions, chiefly, too, by the labours of my own country- 
 men ; and in order to show how far the opinions I then ad- 
 vanced have been confirmed, or otherwise, it will be neces- 
 sary for me to enter upon a brief review of those works 
 which have subsequently made their appearance, as well 
 through the medium of translations as in impressions of the 
 original text. They are as follows : — 
 
 Rigvedce Specimen. Edidit Fridericus Rosen. Londini, 
 1830. All that we had hitherto known of the Vedas was 
 contained in the valuable essay of Mr. Colebrooke, inserted 
 in the eighth volume of the Asiatic Researches. In the 
 above work, we are now, for the first time, presented with a 
 specimen of the text itself The only copy, I believe, of 
 these sacred writings, viz. the one that Polier brought to 
 Europe, has been lying many years unnoticed in the Britisli 
 Museum. Professor Rosen has now commenced drawing 
 it from obscurity; and although his specimen is but of 
 limited extent, it is nevertheless sufficiently ample to give 
 us an insight into the language, the poetry, and, to a cer- 
 tain degree, the contents also of the Vedas. It consists of 
 seven hymns, selected from the first of the four Vedas. 
 Of the two great epic poems, the first part of the Rama- 
 
 yana has been published by Schlegel : Ramayana, id est, 
 Carmen epicum de Ramce rebus gestis poetce antiquissimi 
 Valmicis opus. Vol. i. pars 1, 1829. It contains the text 
 of the first, and a considerable portion of the second book, 
 out of the seven which complete the entire poem. 
 
 The other great epic, the Mahabharat, is also gradually 
 coming to light. In addition to the episode of Nalus, 
 which had already appeared, we now possess the Diluvium 
 cum tribus aliis Mahabharati episodiis prcestantissimis, 
 primus edidit Franciscus Bopp, 1829. This publication, 
 besides the episode of the Deluge, so interesting to compare 
 with the narrative of Moses, contains also the mythic history 
 of Savitri, the rape of Draupadi, and the return of Arjuna 
 to Indra s heaven, of which last, however, only the latter 
 half has yet been published. 
 
 Schlegel and Lassen have also conjointly edited, in the 
 original Sanscrit, the celebrated collection of fables con- 
 tained in the Hitopadesa, under the title of, Hitopadesa, id 
 est, institutio salutaris, cura A. W. von Schlegel et Chr. 
 Lassen, 1830. 
 
 Almost immediately after this, the Sacontala came out, 
 together with the episode of the Mahabharat, on which it is 
 founded, described as. La reconnaissance de Sacontala, 
 drame Sanscrit et Pracrit de Calidasa, publiee pour la pre- 
 mihrefois en original, par A. L. Chezy. Paris, 1830. 
 
 And further we may notice, Nalodaya, Sanscriticum 
 carmen Calidasce adscriptum, edidit Ferd. Denary, 1830. 
 The Nalodaya is a later attempt upon the episode of Nalus 
 in the Mahabharat, and is also attributed by the Hindus to 
 
 Calidasa. 
 
 When to these are added Haughton's Institutes of Menu, 
 Ix)ndon, 1827, and Wilson's Theatre of the Hindus, con- 
 sisting wholly of translations, I believe we shall not have 
 omitted any work of particular importance. With the 
 assistance of the above publications, it is evident that we 
 are much better qualified to pronounce with certainty upon 
 the poetic literature and history of the Hindus, than we 
 could possibly have done in 1828. Let us now, then, ex- 
 amine how far the principles I then laid down are confirmed 
 by the information that has thus subsequently come to light. 
 These principles were the following : — 
 
414 
 
 APPENDIX X. 
 
 APPENDIX X. 
 
 415 
 
 1 The classic poetry of the Hindus, when considered 
 with regard to its relative antiquity, may be classed under 
 three different eras ; the most ancient of which is that of the 
 Veda^ ; the second, that of the great epic poems ; and the 
 third that of the dramatic writings ; so far, we had assigned 
 the right characteristics to each of them : a fourth kind, 
 which comes in later, (since the birth of Christ,) cannot 
 properly be said to belong to the classic ages. 
 
 2 The epic poem was the fountain-head of the arts and 
 sciences, and the source from whence most of the other 
 kinds of poetry took their rise. 
 
 3 It was also the true source of the Hindu national the- 
 ology, while the Vedas, on the other hand, were merely an 
 embodied representation of the objects of natural religion. 
 
 The determination of the respective eras ot feanscrit 
 poetry could then only be effected by means of historic tes- 
 timony ; but now, we are in possession of the most valuab e 
 and authentic evidence, which, however, to be made avail- 
 able requires a critical acquaintance with the language 
 itself. I shall therefore refer to the following passages from 
 an article inserted in the Gottingen gelehtre Anzeiger, by 
 Professor Ewald, in order that it may be seen how tar my 
 classification met the approval of one of the most profound 
 Sanscrit scholars of the present day. " The specimens from 
 the Vedas," he observes, " are sufficient for enabling us to 
 trace a variety of style between those ancient writings, and 
 the other specimens of Hindu literature which come nearest 
 to them in point of antiquity. This would prove that an 
 interval of many centuries must have elapsed between the 
 composition of the Vedas and the Ramayana : we see how 
 the Sanscrit of the former has been softened and smoothed 
 down in the epic poems, to almost as great a degree as the 
 language of Homer, when deprived of its native freedoni by 
 the hands of the Grecian dramatists. The metre also of the 
 Vedas betrays evident marks of a similar distinction, far re- 
 moved as it is from the formality and unalterable rules to 
 which the epic slokas are subject." An equal modification 
 of style may likewise be discovered, upon comparing the 
 epic and dramatic writers. The language of the Sacontala 
 is the purest Sanscrit. Sir William Jones's translation, 
 however well it may generally serve to represent its poetical 
 
 beauties, is nevertheless very far from always conveying the 
 true sense, or even elegance, of the original. At the same 
 time, we perceive that, while the Sanscrit is exactly the 
 same all over India, the popular idiom of the Pracrit, on 
 the other hand, is divided into two distinct dialects, of 
 which the higher one, spoken by the female characters of 
 the play, differs but little from the Sanscrit, except in its 
 broader pronunciation; the second, which is put into the 
 mouths of the lower classes, differs in a very material de- 
 gree. The precise periods of time that must have inter- 
 vened between the respective writers of the Vedas, the two 
 epic poems, and the Sacontala, cannot now with any certainty 
 be determined, from the want of accurate chronological data. 
 We may, however, from a comparison of the different eras 
 of our own national poetry, be able to form some conjec- 
 tures with respect to those of the Sanscrit ; and, indeed, 
 whoever will take the trouble to compare the Vedas, the 
 Ramayana, and the Sacontala, with Luther's Psalms and 
 Church Hymns, Klopstock's Messiah, and Schiller's Maid 
 of Orleans, would easily find himself induced to carry the 
 parallel much further. 
 
 That the epic poetry of India was the fountain-head of 
 the arts as well as the source of the dramatic and lyric spe- 
 cies, has been already demonstrated, from the representa- 
 tions on the Hindu monuments, drawn from thence ; and 
 the argument is further strengthened by the account given 
 of the colossal reliefs at Mavalipuram and EUora, inserted 
 in the last volume of the Transactio77S of the Royal Asiatic 
 Society of Great Britain. With respect to the dramatic 
 poetry of the Hindus being founded on their great epic 
 poems, we are in possession of new and decisive evidence 
 in Chezy's edition of the Sacontala, in conjunction with 
 the episode of the Mahabharat, from whence the dramatist 
 has borrowed his materials. " And though," as Professor 
 Ewald observes, " we might be inclined to assign a more 
 recent date to the episode of Sacontala than to the rest of 
 the Mahabharat, still it is by no means less certain that the 
 latter poem must have been composed some centuries before 
 the time of Calidasa, the author of the drama." 
 
 And lastly, it is now also evident, from the above-men- 
 tioned specimens of the Vedas, that they cannot be looked 
 
'Vs'lp 
 
 APPENDIX XI. 
 
 APPENDIX XI. 
 
 417 
 
 upon as the source of the present mythology of the Hindus. 
 "At that early period," remarks the same distmguished 
 critic, " a complete revolution must have taken place m the 
 philosophical notions of the people, which shows itself still 
 more clearly in their religion and mythology than in the 
 language itself. The hymns of the Vedas are addressed to 
 the dawn of day, the sun, fire, and rain, etc. : the descrip- 
 tions of such deities are merely personifications, in which 
 there is not the slightest exhibition of heroic adventure. Of 
 the infinitely rich and perfectly mythological characters of 
 the epic poems, (such as Siva, Krishna, etc.,) not the slight- 
 est vestige is discoverable ; while at a later period the sim- 
 ple divinities of the Vedas shrink quite into the back-ground." 
 Thus, what Herodotus said of his countrymen may with 
 equal propriety be apphed to the Hindus, viz. that their my- 
 thology owed its existence to the epic poets ; and the fact 
 that the sesthetic and religious systems of India may be dated 
 from the Ramayana and the Mahabharat, in the same man- 
 ner as Greece derived hers from the Iliad and Odyssey, will 
 no longer admit of a doubt. 
 
 APPENDIX XI. 
 
 On the Commerce of Ceylon,^ 
 
 When the British first took possession of Ceylon, and be- 
 gan to extend their researches into the interior of that in- 
 teresting island, they soon met with the most convincing 
 proofs that its former condition must have been very different 
 from what they now saw. They beheld with astonishment 
 the stupendous remains of ancient civilization, not merely 
 
 » From a Latin Dissertation by the author, entitled " De Ceylone Insula 
 per viginti fere saecula comrauni terrarum mariumque Australium Empono ; 
 read ^fore the Gottingen Society in 1831. 
 
 temples and other edifices, but, what is more extraordinary, 
 tanks of such amazing extent as to deserve rather the name 
 of lakes, being intended for the purposes of irrigation, and 
 not formed by nature, but constructed by art, and the whole 
 faced with hewn stone. Upon examining these striking re- 
 lics of former prosperity, still existing after the lapse of ages, 
 the question very naturally arose, to what period is their erec- 
 tion to be referred ? That a considerable portion of the 
 general history of India itself must depend on that of Cey- 
 lon, is certain, not only from the remains just alluded to, but 
 also from the express testimony of ancient writers. The 
 worship of Buddha, concerning the rise and progress of 
 which we at present know so little, still flourishes in Ceylon ; 
 and however foreign this may appear to the question before 
 us, it is hardly necessary to remark that religion has at all 
 times exerted no small influence on the fortunes of commerce. 
 
 We must first however premise a few observations on the 
 nature, situation, and productions of this island, in order 
 thereby to illustrate the peculiarities of its commercial his- 
 tory. That the Taprobane^ of the ancients is synonymous 
 with the Ceylon of the moderns, and the Selan-Div ^ of the 
 Hindus, it would be superfluous to show ; for in this point 
 the geographers are all agreed ; though at the same time I 
 willingly allow that the accounts of ancient authors may 
 sometimes be applied to other islands. In fact, it is gener- 
 ally the case with all distant countries and islands, to be 
 called by vague and indefinite appellations, in proof of 
 which we need only mention the name of India itself as 
 employed by Europeans. 
 
 Ceylon is by far the largest island of India on this side 
 the Ganges : its circumference having been ascertained by 
 modern travellers to amount to a hundred and twenty geo- 
 
 * Onesicritus is recorded as the first author who mentions Ceylon under 
 the title of Taprobane, and its variety of names in the East, as well as in 
 Europe, is one of the extraordinary circumstances that attend it. See the 
 list given in Vincent's Periplus of the Erythreean Sea, p. 493. Taprobane 
 has been ingeniously derived from Tap^ an island, and Raharty or Ravan, (for 
 h and V are mdifferently pronounced,) a former king of the island, conquered 
 by Rama, Asiatic Res. vol. v. p. 39. Transl.] 
 
 * [Sclandiv, or Serendib, was corrupted by the Arabs from Singhala-dwipa, 
 which is the true Sanscrit name, meaning the island of Singhala, or the 
 " lion-raced," in allusion to a former king of Ceylon, fabulously reported to 
 have sprung from a lion. See Aftiatic Res. vol. vii. p. 48. Transl.] 
 
 VOL. 11. 2 E 
 
4ig APPENDIX XI. 
 
 graphical miles. Some ancient writers indeed have as- 
 Lned it a much greater extent, a mistake which may very 
 possibly have arisen from confoundmg Ceylon with tlu3 
 IJltra-Gangetic peninsula, or from placmg too much confi- 
 dence in the fabulous reports of certain navigators of the 
 age of Ptolemy. On the other hand the companions of 
 Alexander, and among them Onesicritus have ^ndicated its 
 real size with sufficient accuracy when they put it down at 
 five thousand stadia.^ In either case it is reasonable to sup- 
 pose that the circumference of the island has always con- 
 tinned the same, particularly as there is nothing to show 
 that it has lost by the encroachment of the ocean. 1 he 
 more plausible opinion, however, that it was formerly joined 
 t^ the^continent, is evidently disproved by the oldest Hindu 
 poems now extant, which uniformly represent Lanka oi 
 Ceylon, as detached from the main-land, and only joined to 
 
 '^ The 2or of Ceylon is occupied by mountains covered 
 with impenetrable forests, the highest of which is the one 
 now coiUonly called AdanVs peak, in the southern part of 
 the island. The shores are generally level, and on t^ie 
 
 northern side form an extensive and ^^^^^^H"/- '^ aV«K 1 
 central position between the east coast of Africa, A labia 
 and India on either side the Ganges, as far as the shor^^^^^^^ 
 China, seems to have been destined by nature ^r Ceylon s 
 becoming the grand emporium of the South ; while its am- 
 ple and secure harbours afford unusual facilities to naviga- 
 tion.^ It is separated from the continent by a narrow frith 
 abounding in shoals, but intersected by channels sufficiently 
 wide and deep to admit the passage of a moderately-sized 
 
 ""^The northern part of the island, already alluded to, and 
 extending from Trincomalee on the east, as far as Aripa and 
 Manaar on the west, requires to be examined somewhat 
 
 * Strabo, XV. p. 1012. [According to Strabo, Onesicritus did no^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 whether it is in Sength, breadth or ^^^J?""?^^ ;;ile "hU amo^^^^^^ 
 meant the latter, because, at eight stadia ^o ^he ^V^^^^ 
 hundred and twenty-fivc miles; which is "«\;^^y/;™ ^^^e bieadth one 
 Renneirs map the length is wo hundred '-^"^^/.^^rL Lnd s xtv To make 
 hundred and 'fifty, and the circumference "^^*^""^f f, ^ YJ^^^^^ 
 amends, howevef , for accuracy in this point, he adds that it he. twent> qh. 
 sail from the continent. Transl.] , , .• f^^:^ 
 
 " The harbour of Trincomalee is said to be the best m India. 
 
 APPENDIX XI. 
 
 419 
 
 more in detail. Manaar^ is a small island, separated from 
 the larger one of Aripa by a narrow channel. The sea is 
 here fiill of shoals as far as Tuttocarin on the opposite con- 
 tinent, and was celebrated even in the remotest antiquity 
 for its fisheries of pearl-oysters, and a species of shell called 
 chank,^ which is used by way of ornament, and in certain 
 religious ceremonies. It is not therefore surprising that this 
 portion of the island, as being most adapted to the purposes 
 of navigation and commerce, as well as the cultivation of 
 rice, should consequently have been more crowded with in- 
 habitants than the other parts, a circumstance which is con- 
 firmed by the remains that still exist. It is in this neigh- 
 bourhood we meet with the ruins of the once flourishing 
 cities of Mantotti and Condromalee ; and, according to the 
 testimony of Knox,® the banks of the river Aripa, which 
 flows into the bay of the same name, are covered with frag- 
 ments of pillars and ruined buildings. At Mantotti is seen 
 an immense artificial reservoir, called by the natives Catto- 
 carle, or The Giant's Tank, of capacity suflSciently ample 
 for the irrigation of land producing upwards of forty million 
 pounds of rice.^ The number of Roman coins also found 
 
 • [Manaar in the Tamul language signifies a sandy river, applied here to 
 the shallowness of the strait. Asiatic Mes. vol. v. p. 395. Transl.] 
 
 ' Valuta gravis of Linnaeus. [Specified as the 3furex Tritonis by M. 
 Bournouf. The chank shells, which are of a spiral form, are chiefly exported 
 to Bengal, where they are sawed into rings of various sizes, and worn on the 
 arms, legs, fingers, and toes of the Hindus, both male and female. They are 
 likewise used entire to sound as a horn at funerals, and are employed for 
 other purposes in religious ceremonies. A chank opening to the right hand 
 is highly valued, and being rarely found always sells for its weight in gold. 
 Thousands of these shells are also buried with the bodies of opulent and dis- 
 tinguished persons in Bengal, which is the cause of the great and constant 
 demand for them. Transl.] 
 
 " Robert Knox, Historical Relation of the Isle of Ceylon, vol. iv. chap. 10. 
 
 " Sir Alexander Johnston, in a Memoir read before the Royal Asiatic 
 Society of Great Britian, i. 3. p. 347. Compare the account of Ant. Ber- 
 TOLACCi, (formerly comptroller-general of the customs,) in his excellent work, 
 A View of the Agricultural, Commercial, and Financial Interest of Ceylon. 
 London, 1817, p. 131. [The circumference of this tank is nearly eighteen 
 miles, and the dam laid across the Aripa river to divert the stream into it, is 
 constructed with stones of seven and eight feet in length, by four in breadth, 
 and from two to three feet thick. The length of the dam itself is six hundred 
 feet, its breadth in some parts sixty, never less than forty, and its height from 
 eight to twelve. Not less surprising are the works constructed round the 
 lake of Candeley, about sixteen miles from Trincomalee. This lake or tank, 
 which is nearly fifteen miles in circumference^ is embanked in several places, 
 with a wall of huge stones, each from twelve to fourteen feet long, and of 
 proportionable breadth and thickness. That part of this majestic work par- 
 ticularly deserves attention, where, by a parapet of nearly one hundred and 
 
 2 E 2 
 
420 APPENDIX XI. 
 
 here, particularly of the age of the Antonines, is another 
 proof of the active and flourishing state of commerce m 
 
 Ceylon in former times. • v . 
 
 Having thus premised, it will now be requisite to say 
 somethini of the method in which I purpose to conduct the 
 present inquiry ; confining myse f throughout to such facts 
 ks are derived from sources purely historical and worthy of 
 credit ; to notice mythological and fabulous reports, would 
 be altogether foreign to my design. We shall commence 
 therefore, with the epoch at which the most certain and 
 ample testimony relative to the commerce of Ceylon was 
 consigned to writing : we shall then ascend into more re- 
 mote periods, in order to show the corresponding antiquity 
 of the commerce in question ; the next step will be to re- 
 turn to the point of setting out, and so descend into the 
 middle ages as far as their termination ; in pursuing which 
 course I hope to establish on satisfactory grounds the truth 
 of the' proposition already stated in the commencement ot 
 this EsL, viz. " that Ceylon continued to be the common 
 emporium of Southern commerce for upwards of two thou- 
 
 "^Ou^ first epoch, then, will be nearly the middle of the 
 sixth century after the birth of Jesus Christ. In this period 
 that is to iy, about A. D. 560, and m the reign ot the 
 emperor Justin II., a merchant named Cosmas who after- 
 wards became a monk, travelled for commercial purposes as 
 far as Adule, at that time a celebrated port, belonging to the 
 king of Axume in Ethiopia, and situate near to Arkeeko^ 
 Here he met with a certain acquaintance by the name o 
 Sopater, just then on his return from Ceylon, which he had 
 visited in the capacity of a merchant. It was from the re- 
 port of this voyager that Cosmas drew his account of Ceylon 
 and its commerce as it then existed, and which he has in- 
 serted in his T^pographia Christiana, a work of unquestion- 
 able veracity. And as all I propose to advance m the pre- 
 sent discussion will be founded on this account of Cosmas 
 I shall make no apology for transcribing the whole passage 
 from the version of Montfaucon,'" as follows :— 
 
 fifty feet in breadth at the base, and thirty at the summit t*°WUs are made 
 to join in order to encompass and keep in the waters of the lake. Bbrtolac , 
 
 etc. p. 14. TRANSL.] nnn OOQ 
 
 » Montefalcmii CoUectio nora Patrum, torn. u. pp. AW— aj^ 
 
 APPENDIX XT. 
 
 421 
 
 " Taprobane is a large island in the Indian Ocean, called 
 by the Hindus Sikdiva, where the precious stone termed 
 hyacinth" is found; and it is situated above the pepper 
 country (irepaiiepw rip x*^/""* "^^^ Tre-n-epetv^j. A great number 
 of small islands, closely adjoining, surround it ; each of 
 which contains fresh-water springs, and abounds with cocoa- 
 nuts («P76\x/ot9).*2 According to the inhabitants, the large 
 island is nine hundred miles in length, and as many in 
 breadth. It is governed by two kings, who are always in 
 a state of mutual hostility ; one of them possesses the moun- 
 tainous region producing the hyacinth-stone, and the other, 
 the remaining portion of the island, in which are the com- 
 mercial towns and harbours, and which is, therefore, most 
 frequented by the neighbouring people. There is also a 
 church of Christians from Persia, under the inspection of a 
 presbyter ordained in the latter country, together with a 
 deacon, and other ecclesiastical officers.'' The native in- 
 habitants, with their respective kings, profess a different re- 
 ligion. Numerous temples are to be seen in the island, and 
 in one of them particularly there is said to be a hyacinth of 
 great brilliance and uncommon size, being almost as large 
 as the cone of a pine-tree {arp6pi\o^) ; this stone is placed m 
 an elevated and conspicuous situation within the sacred 
 edifice ; and, when illumined by the rays of the sun, reflects 
 a light which may be seen a considerable distance, formmg 
 altogether a most curious and extraordinary spectacle. 
 
 " A great number of vessels from all parts of India, Persia, 
 and Ethiopia, are in the habit of trafficking with Ceylon, 
 so conveniently situated as it is with regard to those coun- 
 tries, while the island itself has also a numerous fleet of ships 
 belonging to its own merchants. From the interior coun- 
 tries of the East, (r^p iulo-ripwv,) that is to say, from Sina, 
 (T^VtTfa.,) and other mercantile places, she procures silk, 
 aloes, cloves, and tzandana, {-r^avUvav,) with other articles 
 of commerce peculiar to those regions : these, in her turn, 
 she transmits to more distant countries ; to Male, where the 
 
 ?' fThe ruby of Ceylon is proverbial. Paolino. Plin. xxxvii. 41. Tr.] 
 « \Narikedis the Sanscrit, and nargil the Persian name for the cocoa- 
 
 ^"^MThese Chl'fsli'ans were Nestorians, whose catholicos resided at Ctesi- 
 phon, and afterwards at Mosul ; in fact, they were the same as the Malabar 
 Christians of St. Thom^. Transl.] 
 
 ff 
 
422 
 
 APPENDIX XI. 
 
 APPENDIX XI. 
 
 423 
 
 11 
 
 pepper grows ; to Calliana, a place of great trade, from 
 whence the return cargo consists of native brass, (x^^ko.,) 
 sesasum-wood,^* and other articles adapted for clothing 
 (^ri<rifiiua gvXa .cal hepa Ifi^na) ; further, shc transports them to 
 Sindus, the country of musk, or castoreum, and spikenard ; 
 and also to Persia, Homerite, and Adule ; from all these parts 
 Ceylon receives an exchange of merchandise, which, to- 
 isrether with her own produce, she forwards into the interior 
 of India Sinde, moreover, is the commencement of the 
 last-named country ; for the river Indus divides it from 
 Persia The principal trading towns of India are, bindus, 
 Orrhota, Calliana, Sibor, Parti, Mangaruth, Salopatana 
 Nalopatana, and Pudapatana, the last five being included 
 under the province of Male ; about five days aiid nights 
 iourney further (from Male) is Silediva, or Taprobana. 
 Still further, on the continent, is Mavallo, which produces 
 a peculiar kind of shell-fish ; and Caber, which affords the 
 alabandanum.^^ Next to this is the country where cloves 
 grow; and, lastly, Sina, whence silk is procured; beyond 
 this there is no other region, the ocean forming the boundary 
 
 of Sina to the east. .. . j i 
 
 " The island of Silediva, therefore, being situated almost 
 in the middle of India, and producing the precious stone 
 called hyacinth, receives merchandise from all other coun- 
 tries, and supplies them in its turn ; it is consequently itsel 
 a place of very great mercantile resort. This 1 was told 
 both by Sopater himself, and his fellow-travellers, who had 
 sailed from Adule to the same island." , , , , . 
 
 Thus far the account which Cosmas has handed down ot 
 Ceylon, according to the relation of Sopater. It is evident, 
 therefore, that, about the middle of the sixth century atter 
 the birth of Christ, this island was the common centre, as 
 it were, of the commercial transactions which took place 
 between the countries of the South, from the eastern shores 
 of Africa as far as China. Nor can there be any doubt o 
 the nature and character of this trading intercourse ; tor it 
 
 » [It is uncertain what this article can he; hut it is also mentioned in the 
 Periplus, and may possibly be a corrupt readmg 3^ *5,?.^*^- / ^,^,^,'N • fo-„,s 
 
 » [Vossius reads aXmc ahvov, which seems unintelligible ; hut he informs 
 us it means nutmegs of Banda. We are, however, at present on the coast ot 
 Coromandcl. Hoffman says, all tnerces barbanca are so called, as also to}s 
 and trifles. Transl.] 
 
 is equally clear that Ceylon was the intermediate point, 
 where the merchandise of many different countries was 
 collected together, and a mutual interchange of their re- 
 spective productions negotiated ; it follows, therefore, that 
 the kind of trade here carried on was one of exchange, or, 
 in other words, a carrying trade, notwithstanding the island 
 also had its own exports, consisting in articles of native 
 produce. We further learn, from the passage above quoted, 
 that Ceylon was at this time inhabited by two distinct races, 
 and governed by two different princes. The mountainous, 
 or interior part of the island, which produced the precious 
 stones and cinnamon, was subject to one of them ; and the 
 coast, with its harbours and commercial towns, came under 
 the dominion of another or more, who, as it appears, were 
 continually at war with the former. This circumstance 
 may be explained by supposing the maritime districts to 
 have been in the possession of a race of foreigners, who had 
 established themselves in the island with a view to com- 
 merce, and were of a different origin from the native in- 
 habitants. That these strangers were Persians must be 
 inferred from the words of the author ; at the same time we 
 may reasonably comprehend under that denomination, not 
 only Persians properly so called, but also, on account of the 
 trade carried on with them, the inhabitants of the countries 
 immediately bordering on the Persian Gulf. These foreigners 
 seem to have constituted a single colony of Christians, no- 
 ticed by Sopater more particularly, because that traveller 
 had himself embraced the same faith. It is, however, ex- 
 tremely probable that natives of other countries, Arabia or 
 Malabar for instance, had also settled in the island at the 
 same time with the former. 
 
 Among the various kinds of commerce carried on with 
 foreign nations, particular mention is made of that with the 
 Ethiopians at the port of Adule. For at this time flourished 
 the kingdom of the Axumitae, to whom the productions of 
 India were indispensable, being exchanged for the gold with 
 which the country abounded. We further meet with the 
 Homeritae, inhabiting the shores of Arabia Fehx, m whose 
 country was the harbour of Aden, situate beyond the straits 
 of Babelmandel, and therefore easily accessible to ships sail- 
 ing direct from India, without a change of wind being ne- 
 
 1 
 
424 
 
 APPENDIX XI. 
 
 APPENDIX XI. 
 
 425 
 
 1 1 
 
 H 
 
 cessary Next to these, the Persians are mentioned, that is, 
 natives of the Persian Gulf, together with the Mediterranean 
 
 provinces of Persia itself. ^ >^ , i 
 
 The most important trade, however, of Ceylon, was that 
 carried on with the continent of India, compnsmg the west- 
 ern coast of the peninsula, from the mouths of the Indus as 
 far as the land of Malabar, where pepper grows. We here 
 meet with the name of Sinde, an appellation still in use to 
 denote the countries situate on the lower part of the Indus. 
 The fact of musk being noticed as an article of importation 
 from this quarter, necessarily leads us to infer the existence 
 of a corresponding commercial intercourse with Thibet and 
 the Himalaya mountains, which is the native country of the 
 drug in question. On the shores of India, several ports 
 are mentioned by name ; as Orrhota, now called Surat ; 
 Calliana, the modern Callian, near Bombay ; Sibor, which 
 is uncertain ; and Male, still preserved m Malabar This 
 latter is the native country of pepper, and was, m the time 
 of Cosmas, so remarkable for its extensive trade, as to con- 
 tain no less than five ports, to be sought for in the modern 
 provinces of Cochin and Travancore, and whose names all 
 ending in patan, evidently betray their Indian origin. Ma- 
 vallo, which comes next in the enumeration, from whence 
 the shell-fish termed chanks are procured, I take to be Ma- 
 naar ; the only mistake committed by Cosmas is, that he 
 places it on the continent, whereas, in fact, it is a small 
 island. On the eastern or Coromandel coast, we look m 
 vain for the famous city of Mavalipuram, cut out of the 
 solid rock ; an omission which is the more surprising, be- 
 cause Caber, or Cabera, immediately follows, in which every 
 body will at once recognise the river Caveri with the town 
 situate at its mouth, close to the modern Tranquebar. Ala- 
 bandanum, occurring as one of its productions, would seem 
 to specify a particular kind of precious stone.^^ 
 
 It is not, however, merely the produce of the Indian 
 peninsula that we read to have been conveyed to Ceylon ; 
 but that also of countries and islands much more remotely 
 situated. Of this kind are the spices, and silk imported 
 from Tzinitza, or China. That the Sunda islands were al- 
 
 » [Reported by Mons. Dutens to be something between an amethyst and 
 a ruby. Transl.] 
 
 ready well known many ages before the time of Cosmas, we 
 shall have occasion to show hereafter, from Ptolemy. It 
 seems most likely, therefore, that voyages between these 
 several places were made by the Chinese, in the same kind 
 of vessels which they now use, cviAeA. junks. This indeed 
 may be iiferred from the express words of Cosmas, when 
 he menti(ms the importation of " aloes, spices, and tzandana, 
 from Tzinitza, and other distant regions.'* As to tzandana, 
 it seems to be identical with the modem sandal-wood ; and 
 all writers are unanimous in considering silk as the peculiar 
 and exclusive produce of China and the neighbouring coun- 
 tries alone. 
 
 It may appear strange that so few of the indigenous pro- 
 ductions of Ceylon itself are mentioned ; that is to say, only 
 precious stones and pearls, without a single allusion to cin- 
 namon and ivory, with which the island abounds. This ap- 
 parent inconsistency, however, is removed, when we come 
 to consider the very nature of Singhalese commerce, and at 
 the same time serves to show the vast extent and importance 
 of the latter. For, as we have already seen, the trade of 
 Ceylon consisted for the most part in the exchange of foreign 
 goods, brought thither in great quantities from distant re- 
 gions ; in comparison with which the sole produce of the 
 island itself, would seem very trifling and insignificant. 
 Besides, cinnamon grew only in the interior, and not in the 
 northern parts of the island, to which alone Sopater's visit 
 was confined ; and we must also recollect, that at this early 
 period, gardens appropriated to the cultivation of cinnamon 
 were not yet in existence.^^ The same peculiarity, how- 
 ever, is observable in the commercial history of the Phoeni- 
 cians, Venetians, and Dutch, as long as they continued in 
 succession to monopolize the trade of the whole world. For 
 the productions mentioned as peculiar and indigenous to 
 either people, are precisely those of native manufacture ; 
 whereas, on the other hand, nothing of the kind appears to 
 have been yet extant among the inhabitants of Ceylon. 
 With regard to silk manufactures, which at this time flour- 
 ished in high perfection on the Indian continent, we shall 
 show presently that the art was not introduced into Ceylon 
 
 " [See this argument further examined in Vincent's Periplw, etc., p. 511, 
 sq. Transl.] 
 
 'ill 
 
42S 
 
 APPENDIX XI. 
 
 APPENDIX XL 
 
 427 
 
 I 
 
 I) 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 till a much later period ; though to be sure the island was 
 already a most extensive market for silk goods of foreign 
 
 manufacture. 
 
 What has been advanced, therefore, up to the present 
 stage of our inquiry, may be considered as amountmg to an 
 absolute proof of the fact, that Ceylon, especially the north- 
 ern part of it, was, in the sixth century of our era, the com- 
 mon mart of Australian commerce. Now, if we ascend from 
 this epoch into more remote times, the reader surely will 
 not require a description of the island always as circumstan- 
 tial as that of Cosmas ; which, indeed, would be altogether 
 unnecessary for the purpose of insuring credit to our rela- 
 tion ; for the nature and extent of Singhalese commerce 
 being once ascertained, we shall have less occasion for par- 
 ticular proof in the sequel. 
 
 • Setting out then from the middle of the sixth century, 
 and passing over an interval of four hundred years, let us go 
 back to the second century after Christ ; that is, to the age 
 of Ptolemy the geographer. Here also we meet with indi- 
 cations equally certain, though more concise than those ex- 
 hibited by Cosmas. In Ptolemy's work on geography,^« 
 there is a whole chapter dedicated to Ceylon, (called by the 
 natives Salice,) which contains such an accurate descnption 
 of the island, as may justly excite our admiration. The 
 particular sources from which this writer derived his geo- 
 graphical information, namely, the reports of contemporary 
 navigators and merchants, have already been pointed out in 
 a separate treatise.'^ Ptolemy, however, seems to have been 
 acquainted not only with the shores of the island and its 
 harbours ; but even in some degree with the interior also, 
 though less accurately than the former. His description of 
 Ceylon commences with the northern part, proceeding west- 
 ward as far as the southern promontory, and from thence to 
 the eastern shores and the interior of the island. He re- 
 marks, that it was formerly called Palaesimundi, (which we 
 shall presently see confirmed by Pliny,) but in his own time 
 Salice, and the natives Sate^^ (whence Selan and Ceylon); 
 
 »« Ptolem. Geoffr, lib. vii. cap. 4. " See Appendix XII. 
 
 » [There is a particular caste on the island at this day, called bale, or 
 Challe, and Challias; they are labourers, manufacturers of stuffs, and cinna- 
 mon-peelers, and are settled in the southern districts of the island, wnere 
 
 that the productions for which it was celebrated were rice, 
 honey, ginger, precious stones, viz. beryl and the hyacinth ; 
 oold and silver ; elephants and tigers ; but what is astonish- 
 ing not one word about cinnamon here either ! In the first 
 place, therefore, he mentions rice, which grows only in the 
 northern part of the island, where lakes have been dug for 
 watering the lands. The precious stones and metals are 
 found in the interior alone ; and ivory, in the southern part, 
 where the geographer places the elephant-pastures. On 
 either coast of the island four ports are noticed, and twelve 
 cities; particularly on the northern side, where was the 
 commercial town of Modutti, (recognisable in Mandotti,) 
 and also that of Talacori. In the interior are six cities, 
 among which Amurogrammum, the residence of the court, 
 and the capital Maagrammum,-^ are specified. This account 
 of Ptolemy will derive some illustration from comparing it 
 with the narratives of modern travellers. Among these the 
 most remarkable, and at the same time the earliest, is Robert 
 Knox, a native of Scotland, who, in the year 1657, was 
 shipwrecked on the coast of Ceylon, and detained in the 
 island nearly twenty years in captivity ; until at length he 
 fortunately contrived to escape to the Dutch settlements on 
 the shore, from whence he returned to Europe. This extraor- 
 dinary man was possessed of every qualification which would 
 be required in a traveller who sits down to describe distant 
 countries ; the utmost degree of historical credit, and an at- 
 tentive eye to every thing worthy of remark ; add to this, a 
 perfect acquaintance with the language of the natives, so 
 that it is not gi-eatly to be wondered that the contents of 
 later itineraries are scarcely more than a supplement to the 
 description of Knox. He had himself seen the monuments 
 of antiquity still extant in the island ; and had diligently 
 inquired into their former names, most of which he commit- 
 ted to writing ; and upon comparing his account with that 
 of Ptolemy, some of them appear to be still in conimon use. 
 The geographer, for instance, calls the principal river in the 
 island by the name of Ganges, in which we are at no loss to 
 
 they form the principal part of the population in the neighbourhood of Point 
 de Galle. Astatic Res, vol. vii. p. 431. Transl.] 
 
 " [Maha-grammam, i. e. the great city. There is a town m the south- 
 eastern part of the island still called Mahagam, or Mahagram. Transl.] 
 
428 
 
 APPENDIX XI. 
 
 APPENDIX XI. 
 
 429 
 
 I 
 
 recognise Mavela Gonga,^^ which flows into the ocean near 
 Trincomalee. The mountain called by Ptolemy, Malea, 
 under which were the elephant-pastures, extending as far as 
 the sea, still bears the name of Malell among the natives ; ^^ 
 but among Europeans, that of Adam's Peak. It is situated 
 in the southern part of the island, and is a place of distin- 
 guished resort for pilgrims from all quarters. The name of 
 the royal city Amurogrammam, appears to survive in the 
 Amuroburro of Knox, in which, according to the tradition 
 of the inhabitants, ninety kings formerly reigned, who 
 erected many temples, and had divine honours paid to them 
 in consequence.^* The word gramma, which often occurs 
 in the island, would seem properly to imply, not only a city, 
 but its surrounding territory as well ; for thus Knox also 
 observes, that Amuroburro is the name of a city together 
 with the neighbouring country.^* This town was situated 
 
 " [Maha-bali-ganga, i. e. the great river of Bali. Transl.] 
 Knox, Description of Ceylon, vol. i. p. 4. ** Ibid. Vol. i. ps 44. 
 
 23 
 
 ** Ibid. vol. iv. p. 323. [In order to appreciate the author's derivation of 
 Amuroburro from Amurogrammam, it may be necessary to observe, that the In- 
 dian terminations grammam, burroy or pura and ffore, are nearly synonymous ; 
 and mean in either case a village or town. A paper, containing some re- 
 marks upon Anarajahpura, or Anaradhcpura, (evidently the Amuroburro of 
 Knox,) and Mehentel^, in the island of Ceylon, by Captain Chapman, R. E., 
 was read before the Asiatic Society of London, at their general meeting on 
 the 2 1 St July, 1832. This officer visited Anarajahpura in 1828, and was in- 
 duced to lay his notes before the Society in consequence of finding the oral 
 traditions collected by him on the spot, to agree in a remarkable manner with 
 the accounts contained in the Ceylonese Histories, entitled Mahavansi, Ra- 
 javali, and Rajaratnacari ; translations of which, prepared under the auspices 
 of Sir A. Johnston, are now in course of pubhcation. The city of Anaradhc- 
 pura is situated in the district of Neura Wanny, in the interior of Ceylon, 
 about 8° 15' N. lat. and 80" 35' E. long. According to the native records it 
 continued to maintain its rank and importance for tne long period of fifteen 
 hundred years. The only traces now remaining of magnificent buildings, 
 once said to have existed within its limits, are nine temples still held in great 
 reverence, and ruined tanks and groups of columns scattered about for several 
 miles. Captain C. devotes a section to each of these temples, which he sub- 
 sequently illustrates by copious extracts from the histories above named. 
 From Anaradhepura the captain and his party proceeded to Mehentele, about 
 twelve miles north-east of the former place, the road to which was, for some 
 distance, along a beautiful lake, formed by an artificial embankment, upwards 
 of two miles in length, of great thickness, and in many places thirty feet in 
 height. The large daghopey or hill-temple, at Mehentele, is said to be a hun- 
 dred and twenty cubits high, and is approached by a flight of two hundred 
 steps. After describing the other antiquities of Mehentele, and illustrating 
 them by extracts from the sacred histories. Captain C. concludes with a dis- 
 quisition respecting the antiquity of Anaradhepura ; the foundation of which, 
 from various authorities, he places at 470 B. C. ; thus assigning to these 
 interesting remains, the remote antiquity of two thousand three hundred 
 years. Transl.] 
 
 on the northern side of an extensive plain, tlie largest in the 
 island, in which were artificial lakes upwards of a mile in 
 circuit, for irrigating the rice plantations.^^ And in fine, 
 the Modutti of Ptolemy, which he describes as a commer- 
 cial city, is called Mantotti by the present inhabitants ; in 
 its neighbourhood is the Giant's Tank, destined for the same 
 purpose as the above-mentioned lakes. 
 
 According to Ptolemy, various nations inhabited the 
 island, called indeed by the common name of Salae, but 
 otherwise of different races ; he begins his enumeration with 
 those on the western side, and then proceeds to those on the 
 east. Their unknown names appear to indicate a Malabar 
 origin ; which, although I must leave for others to decide, 
 it is no less certain that the condition of the island in the 
 age of Ptolemy, was precisely similar to that described by 
 Cosmas ; in other words, that the shore was occupied by fo- 
 reigners, who possessed the harbours and commercial towns, 
 while the interior was left to the aboriginal inhabitants. 
 
 Ptolemy adds, that before, or to the west of Ceylon, 
 lay a multitude of smaller islands, in number amounting 
 to one thousand three hundred and seventy-eight, nineteen 
 of which he mentions by name.^^ That this must be under- 
 stood of the Maldives, no one who is acquainted with their 
 situation, can possibly doubt. For they are not so properly 
 single islands, as a congeries of smaller ones, called AtoUons, 
 being eighteen or nineteen in number, and defended by a 
 belt of coral reefs against the violence of the ocean ; while 
 each of them contains a multitude of sandy islets, separated 
 only by narrow channels. It is evident, therefore, that the 
 islands alluded to by Ptolemy, must be these very AtoUons ; 
 and the vast number assigned to them is itself a proof that 
 they were not merely accessible, but also frequently visited 
 
 by navigators. 
 
 But further, the Sunda islands, as they are now called, to 
 the eastward of Ceylon, were by no means unknown to 
 Ptolemy. He mentions particularly Jabadia, the most fer- 
 tile of all, and which is no other than Java (Javan-Dwipa) ; 
 the capital town he represents to be Argentea, on the north- 
 em side of the island and upon the site of the modern Ban- 
 
 JoHNSToN, loc. cit. p. 54^. 
 
 ^ Ptol. vii. 4. s. fin. 
 
430 
 
 APPENDIX XI. 
 
 APPENDIX XI. 
 
 431 
 
 •ii 
 
 tarn, which is at no great distance from the Dutch settlement 
 of Batavia. The very name of Sunda, however, may be 
 found in Ptolemy ; for he notices three islands m this situa- 
 tion called Sinde. Three others are likewise mentioned 
 under the name of Sabadib, in which we again meet with 
 the Hindu termination dih, or more correctly dwipa, signify- 
 ing an island: the inhabitants are stigmatized by him as 
 cannibals, an epithet which has been abundantly confirmed 
 by the testimony of modern travellers. The fact, hitherto 
 conceived too horrible to be true, has at length been estab- 
 lished beyond the possibility of a doubt by the researches of 
 Mr. Anderson,^ who visited the Battas inhabiting the in- 
 terior of Sumatra and the adjacent islands, and found those 
 people in the common habit of feeding on human flesh, 
 though in other respects possessing a high degree of civiliza- 
 tion, and by no means unacquainted with the refinements of 
 life.^^ Ptolemy mentions several other islands, which it 
 would be hazardous, perhaps, to attempt defining with in- 
 dividual accuracy ; but as Java, particularly the northern 
 part, was well known to him, we can hardly suppose him to 
 have been ignorant of the celebrated passage called the straits 
 of Sunda, between that island and Sumatra. That the Java 
 sea was navigated, is evident from Ptolemy's mentioning a 
 peculiar kind of vessel in use among these islands, the planks 
 of which were fastened by bolts of wood instead of iron, in 
 perfect agreement with the description of Pliny.-^ When 
 we add to this, his account of India beyond the Ganges, to- 
 gether with the Golden Chersonesus, now called the penin- 
 sula of Malacca, and Serica, with its various cities and ports, 
 it will be impossible to doubt, that in the age of Ptolemy 
 these countries were accessible to navigators, and that Cey- 
 lon was the common mart for the trade of them all. 
 
 From Ptolemy let us now proceed to Arrian, the author 
 of a work entitled, the Circumnavigation of the Erythraean, 
 
 » Anderson's Mission to the East Coast of Sumatra, in the year \S23. 
 
 « rSee also, Life and Public Services of Sir Stamford Ruffles, Ato, p. ^^• 
 In a letter to Mr. Marsden, the historian of Sumatra, Sir Stamford ^ives a 
 detailed account of this extraordinary and revolting practice, from whicU 
 appears, upon the most unimpeachable testimony, that the Battas are can 
 nibals both upon principle and system, and that criminals and P^soners aie 
 not only eaten according to the law of the land, but that the same law even 
 permiU their being mangled and eaten alive ! Transl.J 
 
 *» Plin. Hist, Nat. vi. 26. 
 
 or India Sea, certainly prior in time to the geographer, 
 though it is doubtful whether he flourished in the reign of 
 Nero, or under the Antonines. The excellent account of 
 Indian commerce preserved to us in the Periplus of this 
 writer, is too well known to require illustration in this place, 
 at the same time that it is equally worthy of credit, as the 
 author himself visited India as a merchant, and therefore 
 describes what came under his own immediate observation. 
 In this work we are presented with an accurate description 
 of the Malabar coast, together with a distinct notice of its 
 different ports, and the particular kind of trade for which 
 they were severally remarkable. Hence we gather the 
 flourishing state of commerce on the southern part of the 
 peninsula, in Cochin and Travancore, the native country of 
 the pepper-plant, and in the close neighbourhood of Ceylon 
 itself To this latter island, indeed, our author never went ; 
 which is much to be regretted, though what he has written 
 concerning it is well worth an attentive examination.^^ In 
 his time, it appears, the former name of the island, Tapro- 
 bane, had been changed to Palaesimundum ; that the north- 
 ern part was best cultivated ; that distant voyages were often 
 made from thence in large vessels ; and that the island 
 abounded with pearls and precious stones, fine linen, and 
 tortoise-shell. In this brief notice, the first point which re- 
 quires discussion is the origin of the name of Palaesimun- 
 dum ; '^ and here, fortunately, we may borrow some light 
 from PHny.^' In fact, the historian informs us that Palaesi- 
 mundum was a very large city, containing upwards of two 
 hundred thousand inhabitants. It seems, therefore, to have 
 been the capital of the island, being much frequented by 
 merchants and seafaring men, so that possibly the name of 
 
 " Arrian, Peripl. M. Erythrcci, ed. Stuckii, sub fine. It is, however, 
 quite evident, both from the testimony of Arrian, and in a later age, that of 
 Ibn Batuta, a celebrated traveller of the fourteenth century, that much of 
 what is here advanced respecting the commerce of Ceylon may with equal 
 justice be applied to the opposite coast of Malabar. He mentions several 
 very flourishing places of trade in Malabar, filled with opulent Mohamme- 
 dan merchants, and frequented by vessels from China. See Travels oj Ibn 
 Batuta, chap, xviii., translated from an Arabic 3IS. London, 182.). 
 
 '" [With respect to the derivation of this word, the late Mr. Hamilton con- 
 sidered Siniuntu as expressing the utmost boundary, or extremity; m this 
 case, Palisimjintu, or Palaesimundu, would signify the limit of the expedition 
 of Bali, the Indian Hercules, as he has been called.] 
 
 '' Hist. Nat. vi. 24. 
 
432 
 
 APPENDIX XI. 
 
 APPENDIX XI. 
 
 433 
 
 III 
 
 the town may have been appHed to designate the whole 
 island, just as in our time Batavia is often put for Java col- 
 lectively. Ptolemy, indeed, does not mention the city by 
 name ; but he speaks of the promontory of Anarismundum, 
 which Salmasius long ago suspected to mean the same 
 thing.** The city in question was situated on the northern 
 side of the island ; and by some has been sought for in the 
 modern Jafnapatam. It is more probable, however, accord- 
 ing to the account of Pliny, which we shall presently refer 
 to, that its site must be looked for on the bay of Trincoma- 
 lee, which is, besides, the finest harbour in all India. Large 
 vessels are also mentioned, adapted for making long voyages, 
 and distinct from those formed out of a single piece of tim- 
 ber. Though Arrian, therefore, could not furnish us with 
 such a correct description of Ceylon as those who had actu- 
 ally been there, it is nevertheless sufficiently evident from 
 his account, that the northern part of the island was then in 
 the highest state of cultivation, and the seat of a most ex- 
 tensive trade, not only with western countries, but also witli 
 the East as far as the mouths of the Ganges, including the 
 Golden Chersonesus, or Malacca, and the neighbouring 
 islands, even to the remotest province of China. 
 
 Let us now proceed to the examination of Pliny.*^^ The 
 accounts furnished by this author are of two kinds, which 
 ought to be carefully distinguished from one another : the 
 first belongs to his own age, or at least that of the Caesars ; 
 the second comprises what he copied from older writers. 
 AVe learn, however, both from himself and Strabo, that in 
 his time, as well as during the Caesars, who immediately 
 preceded him, a very large trade was carried on with India 
 through the Arabian Gulf. From the time, indeed, that 
 Egypt was reduced to a Roman province, navigation took 
 such extraordinary strides, that not only single vessels, but 
 whole fleets, yearly set sail to the different ports of India, 
 and were freighted back with a return cargo of native pro- 
 duce, in exchange for specie. What Pliny relates of Cey- 
 lon, was borrowed from the accounts of the ambassadors 
 who had been sent from that island to Rome, in the time of 
 the emperor Claudius. This embassy was occasioned by 
 
 ** Salmas. ad Solin. p. 684. 
 
 » Hist. Nat. vi. 24. 
 
 the following circumstance : a freedman of Annius Ploca- 
 mus, who farmed the customs on the Red, or Indian Sea, 
 happened, as he was coasting about Arabia, to be blown 
 away by the north wind, and carried to the port of Hippuri 
 in Ceylon, where he was kindly received and hospitably 
 entertained by the king of the country for the space of six 
 months. At his suggestion the king was induced to send 
 an embassy to Caesar, consisting of four persons, under the 
 direction of their chief, Rachia (in which latter appellation 
 we immediately recognise the Hindu Rajah, and therefore 
 an honorary title, and not a proper name, particularly as the 
 individual himself is called a chief, or prince, pr'mceps). 
 These ambassadors reported that there were upwards of five 
 hundred towns in this island ; that Palaesimundu, with its 
 adjoining harbour, was the most magnificent of all, and con- 
 tained the royal palace, together with a population of two 
 hundred thousand souls. That in the same neighbourhood 
 was the lake Megisba, three hundred and seventy-five miles 
 in circumference, from which two rivers flowed, one to the 
 north, the other, called Palaesimundum, close to the town of 
 that name, and emptying itself into the sea by three mouths. 
 From this account it is evident, first, that the freedman 
 above mentioned must have been carried to Ceylon by the 
 Etesian wind, or, in other words, by the north-east mon- 
 soon ; that he landed on the northern side, where, as we 
 have before observed, those lakes are found, and, in short, 
 at the harbour of Hippuri, the precise locality of which I 
 cannot venture to determine. In the second place, it is 
 equally clear that the island must have been in a very flour- 
 ishing state, to contain no less than five hundred cities, of 
 which it appears that Palaesimundum, with its port, was the 
 chief. All these particulars coincide with the bay on which 
 Trincomalee is situated ; the largest river in the island, by 
 name Gonga or Ganges, flows into it ; the harbour is the 
 most convenient in the whole island ; even the remains of 
 the ancient city are still to be found ; and if I may be al- 
 lowed to conjecture, its very name is discoverable. In a 
 map of Ceylon, edited by Bertolacci,^^ there is a place laid 
 down on the northern mouth of the river, by the name of 
 
 * Bertolacci, View of tJie Agricultural and Commercial Interests of Cey- 
 Im. London, 1817. 
 
 VOL. II. 2 F 
 
 i 
 
434 
 
 APPENDIX XI. 
 
 APPENDIX XI. 
 
 435 
 
 tl 
 
 I'liJii 
 
 Pontiemolli, which might easily be corrupted, by Greek 
 enunciation, into Patesimundum." Be this as it may, how- 
 ever, it is quite evident that Ceylon was at this tune pos- 
 sessed of a very extensive commerce ; for we learn that the 
 father of Rachia himself undertook a voyage to Senca, on a 
 commercial speculation. We shall omit the rest of Pliny s 
 account, in which, if we sometimes discover truth mingled 
 with fable, (admitting the latter to have come from the am- 
 bassadors,) there will be no great reason for surprise, as it 
 was this writer's especial aim to collect wonderfiil stones ; 
 for he closes his account with, " the rest is according to the 
 report of our navigators." There is no occasion, then, to 
 dwell any further on this part of our subject, my design be- 
 ing merely to show that the condition of Ceylon, as far as 
 relates to commerce, was the same in the age of Claudius, 
 and consequently at the commencement of our era, as we 
 have already proved it to have been in the time of Ptolemy 
 
 and Cosmas. , i ^ 
 
 From the period of the Caesars, let us now go back to 
 more remote times, that is, to the age of the Ptoleniies and 
 Alexander the Great. In the three centuries which inter- 
 vene, we meet with presumptive evidence of the splendour 
 of Ceylon ; though the accounts of writers respectmg the 
 island itself are less frequent and less circumstantial. In 
 the first place, but few of those accounts have come down 
 to us ; and secondly, the commercial intercourse between 
 Ceylon and the Western world was more seldom, and took a 
 circuitous route. It is altogether erroneous to suppose, as 
 is very often the case, that under the Ptolemies, annual voy- 
 j^es were in the habit of being made between Egypt and 
 India ; because there would obviously be no occasion to go 
 to the latter country, for what was to be obtained much 
 nearer home, in the abundant and well-supplied markets ot 
 Arabia Felix. Besides, we have the decisive testimony ot 
 Strabo, to the point, that although he saw in the harbour ot 
 Myos Hormos as many as one hundred and twenty ships ot 
 burden destined for India, yet he never heard of more than 
 
 " rMaking every possible allowance for the liberties taken by the Greek 
 writeW in afeommUating foreign sounds to the.r »*" P^X"'^! u7o 
 still be very difficult for the author to persuade any one of '"e probability oi 
 the derivation given in the test. Besides, the name Pontjemolh may be com' 
 paratively modern. Transl.] 
 
 one or two vessels at most having undertaken this voyage 
 during the reign of the Ptolemies.^ In fact, the Egyptians 
 were not yet acquainted with the periodical winds, blowing 
 every six months from an opposite quarter, called mon- 
 soons; which, according to Arrian, were not discovered 
 till some ages after, by Hippalus,^^ when Egypt had already 
 become a Roman province : there is no doubt, however, 
 that the Arabians had made use of them long before. All 
 that has come down to us of the age of Ptolemy, is the ac- 
 count of a voyage said to have been made by one lambulus, 
 which is either a fabrication, or at least mixed up with fable ; 
 it is quoted by Diodorus.^ 
 
 The accounts, therefore, of Ceylon, which were current 
 among the Alexandrines in the age of the Ptolemies, did not 
 come from eye-witnesses who had themselves visited the 
 island, but only from the report of Alexander's followers, 
 Nearchus and Onesicritus, and after them, from Megas- 
 thenes and Daimachus, who were sent as ambassadors by 
 the Seleucidae to the Indian court of Palibothra, and from 
 whom Eratosthenes, Agatharchides, and subsequently Strabo 
 and Pliny, borrowed their accounts of Ceylon. All these 
 writers, therefore, relate, not what they had actually seen, 
 but what they had gathered by hearsay, in the distant coun- 
 tries bordering on the Ganges ; and, of course, they contain 
 much that appears fabulous. 
 
 Let us see, then, what Alexander, in his expedition to In- 
 dia, heard reported of the island of Ceylon. That its reput- 
 ation was very great, even at this early period, is attested by 
 Strabo and Pliny. *^ The latter has these words, " Tapro- 
 bane was for a long time considered to be a second world, 
 and went by the appellation of Antichthones. It was dis- 
 covered to be an island during the expedition of Alexander 
 the Great. Onesicritus, the admiral of his fleet, says, that it 
 produces larger elephants than India. According to Megas- 
 thenes it is divided by a river, and the inhabitants are called 
 Palaeogoni,*^ and abound much more with gold and large 
 pearls than the Indians. Eratosthenes makes it seven thou- 
 sand stadia in length, and five thousand in breadth. It has 
 
 * Strabo, xi. p. 179. ^ Arrian, Peripl, M. Myth, sub fine. 
 
 *• DioDORus, i. p. 167. ^' Plin. et Strabo, in loc. cit. 
 
 ^ [That is, probably, the descendants of Bali ? Transl.] 
 
 2 F 2 
 
436 
 
 APPENDIX XI. 
 
 \4 
 
 no cities, but only villages, of which there are reckoned up- 
 wards of seven hundred. Its beginning is in the Eastern 
 Ocean, and was formerly supposed to be twenty days sail 
 distant from the kingdom of the Prasii ; but it bemg after- 
 wards found that the natives commonly made the passage m 
 vessels of very slight build, like those used on the Nile, the 
 distance was reduced to seven days sail. The intermediate 
 ocean is here and there shoaly, but with occasional chan- 
 nels so deep that no anchor can reach the bottom. For this 
 reason the vessels, which are generally of about three thou- 
 sand amphorae burden, are built sharp fore and aft, in order 
 to avoid the necessity of going about, in the narrows. The 
 natives only put to sea during three months of the year, and 
 wait a hundred days after the summer, and as many after 
 the winter solstice, before they venture out." 
 
 The expression which Pliny himself makes use of in 
 quoting these remarks, viz. '' that he borrowed them from 
 ancient writers," is a sufficient proof that they belong to the 
 age of Alexander and his successors.*' Strabo likewise re- 
 fers to the same authority, and in enumerating the various 
 articles of merchandise, particularly tortoise-shell and ivory, 
 exported from Ceylon into India, affords convincing testi- 
 mony that the island was at that time the seat of a widely- 
 extended commerce. No further evidence therefore is re- 
 quired to show, that upwards of three hundred years before 
 Christ, and consequently nine hundred before the time of 
 Cosmas, the island of Ceylon, and above all, the northern part, 
 together with the channel which divides it from the Indian 
 continent, was the seat of a very active and opulent trade. 
 
 But if Ceylon had already acquired such a distinguished 
 name as a commercial emporium in the time of Alexander, 
 we are fiilly justified in concluding that its celebrity extends 
 much further back, and reaches even the epoch of Persian 
 dominion. This, indeed, is corroborated by the Journal of 
 Nearchus, who commanded the fleet of the Macedonian 
 conqueror. We are informed, that as this officer was en- 
 tering the Persian Gulf on his return from India, the pro- 
 montory of Maketa, now called Muskat,** was pointed out 
 
 " Strabo, xv. p. 1012. 
 
 « [The author must surely be mistaken ; for in all our maps, this promon- 
 tory is now called Cape Mussendon, whereas Muskat, the ancient Moscna 
 Portus, is at least seventy leagues further to the east. Transl.J 
 
 APPENDIX XI. 
 
 437 
 
 to him as the principal mart for cinnamon (which is a native 
 of Ceylon) and other Indian productions, which were trans- 
 ported from thence into Assyria, i. e. Babylonia. The same 
 writer also notices the pearl-fisheries of India. There can 
 be no reasonable doubt, therefore, that the produce of Cey- 
 lon found its way to the markets of Arabia, Babylonia, and 
 Persia, as early as the time of the Persian empire. 
 
 There is no occasion to carry the subject any further 
 back, to the voyages of the Phoenicians and Jews under So- 
 lomon ; this has been already done in another treatise ; and 
 besides, the name of Ceylon does not occur in that early 
 period. Lest I should therefore advance what is doubtful 
 and uncertain, in the place of what is clear and authentic, I 
 shall rest satisfied with having endeavoured to show,, that 
 five centuries before Christ Ceylon was already noted for 
 her trade and navigation. 
 
 Let us now, then, retrace our steps to the time of Cosmas 
 and Sopater, the epoch from which we set out, preparatory 
 to establishing the correspondent activity of Singhalese com- 
 merce in the middle ages. Here it will, perhaps, be ob- 
 jected, that we must necessarily grope our way in the dark; 
 for, excepting the accounts of two Arabian travellers, pub- 
 lished by Renaudot, we have no information relative to India 
 or Ceylon, prior to the invasion of the Mongols in the 
 eleventh century. The objection is certainly valid, as far as 
 India is concerned ; but with respect to Ceylon, consider- 
 able light has been thrown on the subject by a memoir of 
 Sir Alexander Johnston, lately read before the Asiatic So- 
 ciety of London.*^ Sir Alexander was for seven years one 
 of the judges of the supreme court of Ceylon, and visited 
 every part of the island, particularly the northern coast, 
 which is now almost deserted, with the view of supplying 
 government with data in their projected restoration of its 
 ancient commerce. Hence he was led to investigate the 
 nature and form of Singhalese trade in earlier times ; and 
 for this purpose he applied himself not so much to the na- 
 tive Hindus as to the Mohammedan merchants and priests 
 still residing in the island, whose fathers had themselves been 
 engaged in this very commerce. We have, therefore, not 
 
 Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland^ 
 vol. i. part iii. p. 537—543 ; from which the following is taken. 
 
i 
 
 ill 
 
 43S 
 
 APPENDIX XI. 
 
 APPENDIX XL 
 
 439 
 
 the fabulous reports of the natives to guide our inquiry, but 
 the authentic evidence of men who still cherished a recollec- 
 tion of former prosperity. Their accounts comprise the in- 
 terval of time which elapsed since the Mohammedan mer- 
 chants first visited the island ; and upon comparing them 
 with the narrative of Cosmas before quoted, every one must 
 be satisfied of their correctness and veracity. We find, in 
 short, the account of Cosmas and Sopater repeated in almost 
 the same words. 
 
 From them it appears that the first Mohammedans who 
 established themselves in the island, were Arabs of the family 
 of Hashem ; who, in order to .escape from the tyrannical 
 oppression of the Caliph Abdolmelic, withdrew about the 
 end of the sixth century, from the Euphrates to the coast of 
 Malabar and the Concan, and subsequently into Ceylon ; 
 so that these emigrations were a consequence of the disputes 
 between the Abassidee and the Hashemites. In Ceylon they 
 founded eight colonies, at Trincomalee, Jafiiapatam, Mantotte 
 and Manaar, Cudramalle, Putlam, and then atColumbo, Bar- 
 berin, and Point de Galle. The most celebrated of these, 
 however, were Manaar and Mantotte, on account of their 
 proximity to the narrow channel dividing Ceylon from the 
 continent ; their commanding the passage through ; and also 
 on account of the pearl-fisheries in their neighbourhood.^ 
 The whole trade, therefore, passed from the hands of the 
 Arabs and Malabarians, who had formerly possessed it, into 
 those of the Mohammedans ; and was carried on with Egypt, 
 Arabia, Persia, and Hindustan, on one side, and with the 
 Ultra-Gangetic countries, the peninsula of Malacca, and the 
 adjacent Archipelago as far as China, on the other. It was 
 in this part of the island that the Chinese merchants, who 
 had left their own country with a cargo of silk goods, and 
 bartered them on the voyage for aloes, nutmegs, and 
 articles of perfumeiy, sold the latter to traders from Arabia 
 and Persia ; so that Ceylon became the centre of an ex- 
 change commerce between the productions of the East and 
 those of the Western world. The Singhalese merchants 
 were, even at that time, persons of considerable wealth ; 
 but the most flourishing period of their commercial pros- 
 
 * The ruins of Mantotte are still to be seen, near the Giant's Tank, called 
 Cattocarli. Sir A. Johnston, p. 546, not. 2. 
 
 perity, was the interval between the tenth and twelfth 
 centuries. Their ample warehouses, extending from Ma- 
 naar to Mantotte, were then filled with the most valuable 
 productions of Ceylon and the neighbouring countries; 
 such as rice from Trincomalee; purple dye from Jafna; 
 shells and pearls from Cudramalle; areca-nuts and betel 
 leaf from Putlam ; cinnamon and precious stones from Co- 
 lumbo ; cocoa-nut oil from Barberin ; and ivory from Point 
 de Galle : all this, however, was nothing compared to the 
 merchandise procured from foreign countries. Moreover, 
 these spirited merchants contrived to maintain their influence 
 in the straits as well as on shore, by stationing armed vessels 
 in the roadstead to defend the channels, by which alone the 
 harbour could be approached. They also took care that 
 the artificial lakes or tanks, of which there are said to have 
 been upwards of six hundred, built for the purpose of irri- 
 gating the rice plantations, should be always kept in eflScient 
 repair ; the adjacent country was therefore in a most ex- 
 cellent state of cultivation, and thickly populated. Sir 
 Alexander Johnston also informs us, that about this time a 
 number of silk weavers were first introduced into Ceylon, 
 from India ; to whom the king of the island granted un- 
 usual privileges, and allowed them to have their own laws 
 and courts of justice. 
 
 In this manner did commerce flourish in the hands of the 
 Mohammedan merchants of Ceylon, till the beginning of 
 the sixteenth century. From that period, however, it gra- 
 dually declined, in consequence of the great change brought 
 about in navigation by the discovery of a passage to India 
 round the Cape of Good Hope; when the straits between 
 Ceylon and the continent were no longer frequented by 
 vessels, and the Portuguese, followed by the Dutch, suc- 
 cessively established themselves in the island. Nevertheless, 
 it is still said to contain near seventy thousand Moham 
 medans, dispersed abroad in the various ports and towns on 
 the coast. 
 
 I shall now draw these observations to a close, though 
 much still remains worthy of closer investigation ; particu- 
 larly when we are furnished with some more accurate de- 
 scriptions of the northern part of the island, and the ancient 
 monuments there found. What has hitherto been advanced. 
 
 ! .1 
 
440 
 
 APPENDIX XII. 
 
 APPENDIX XII. 
 
 441 
 
 1 
 
 however, may be considered sufficient to establish the truth 
 of our proposition, that Ceylon, for the space of about two 
 thousand years, continued to be the common emporium of 
 Southern commerce; and that, consequently, commercial 
 history in general, but particularly with reference to India, 
 is mainly dependent on that of Ceylon. We have also 
 alluded to the peculiar nature of this commerce, which was 
 carried on by foreign colonists, who had made settlements 
 on the coast, while the native inhabitants, confining them- 
 selves to the interior of the island, abstained altogether from 
 maritime occupations. And, further, it has been shown 
 that these foreigners were of various countries ; being either 
 Arabians, Persians, or Hindus from the coast of Malabar,'^ 
 whose descendants are still found on the island. 
 
 APPENDIX XII. 
 
 On the sources of Ptolemy's Geography} 
 
 The question relative to the authorities consulted by Ptole- 
 my, in drawing up his Geography, was first mooted by the 
 late Dr. Brehmer of Lubeck, and by that lamented scholar 
 answered in a novel manner.^ Before his time, it had been 
 usual to assume the fact of their being purely Grecian ; 
 
 ^ Knox, p. 323, expressly declares, that the natives of Malabar extraction 
 are altogether different from the Singhalese; both as regards their physical 
 appearance, their language, and their habits of life. The same writer men- 
 tions having seen a town in Ceylon, exclusively inhabited by Malabanans; 
 but subject to the kins of the island. Compare Bertolacci, p. 39, sq., who 
 carefully enumerates the different races of inhabitants. ,- ,oo4 
 
 ' From an essay laid before the Royal Society of Gottingen, July 17, l«^'. 
 Be fontibm Geographicorum Ptolemaei, tabularumque its annexarum; num n 
 GrtBCdB an vero tyrim originis fuerint f and which may also be considered as 
 a supplement to the extracts from the author's other treatises, presented to 
 the same Society, and which are found in his Historical Works, vol. lu. 
 The essay itself appeared in the Comment. Bee. Soc. Ootting. vol. vi. 
 
 * In his Entdeckungen aus dem AUerthum, Th. i. ii. Lubeck, 1822. 
 
 Brehmer, on the contrary, maintained that Ptolemy's work 
 itself, as well as the accompanying charts, usually attributed 
 to a certain Agathodaemon, who is said to have lived at 
 Alexandria in the fifth century, were in reality derived from 
 Phoenician or Tyrian sources. In other words, that Ptole- 
 my, or, more properly speaking, his predecessor, Marinus 
 of Tyre, who Uved but a short time before him, and whose 
 work he only corrected, must have founded his geographical 
 descriptions and maps on an ancient Tyrian Atlas, represent- 
 ing in several plates or tables, probably as many as are con- 
 tained in Ptolemy's work, namely, twenty-six, the whole 
 world as known to the Tyrians. That this ancient Atlas was 
 the fruit of the commercial voyages and travels of the Phoe- 
 nicians, which naturally led to the construction of geogra- 
 phical charts ; and, indeed, rendered such an undertaking 
 indispensably necessary. And, that the above-mentioned 
 work, therefore, together with the accompanying maps, 
 might properly be considered as exhibiting the commercial 
 geography of the Phoenicians : a new ray of light would 
 thereby be thrown on the subject itself, and at the same 
 time upon remote antiquity in general ; while the geogra- 
 phical knowledge and extensive commerce of that enter- 
 prising people would emerge at once from the obscurity in 
 which they have so long been enveloped. 
 
 Before we proceed to examine the ground-work of this 
 hypothesis, it will be necessary to premise a few words re- 
 specting Ptolemy's Geography, and the accompanying 
 charts. In the first of the eight books which compose the 
 whole work, the author informs us of the origin and object 
 of his present undertaking, and lays down some rules for 
 the construction of maps. The six following contain IHtle 
 more than a bare nomenclature of towns, mountains, and 
 rivers ; always, however, with the addition of their longitude 
 and latitude, according to the three climates of the world, 
 and the several countries they respectively contain. The 
 eighth and last book comprises a catalogue of three hundred 
 and fifty towns, together with the length of the day in each, 
 for the purpose of determining its latitude, and the distance 
 either east or west of Alexandria, with regard to time, for 
 its longitude. According to the report of Ptolemy him- 
 self, he was led to undertake this work by the example of 
 
442 
 
 APPENDIX XII. 
 
 his immediate predecessor, the above-mentioned Marinus of 
 Tyre, who must have Hved about the commencement of the 
 second century, as Ptolemy flourished in the middle of the 
 same period. This Marinus had published three successively 
 improved editions of his Geography; the two first being furn- 
 ished with maps, which he was only prevented from adding 
 to the third by death. Ptolemy bears witness to the great 
 care bestowed upon this work : in fact, Marinus had made 
 use of every available source in the accounts of travellers, 
 whether ancient or modern, in order to improve his Atlas 
 (iriva^ ycwypa^uoc). The maps, howcvcr, belonging to the 
 second edition were no longer applicable to the third, which 
 had been so much improved ; and the followers of Marinus 
 would have been led into a great many mistakes, had 
 they attempted so to apply them : moreover, there was still 
 room for considerable improvement in the text of the third 
 edition itself. In consequence, Ptolemy determined to un- 
 dertake the labour of correcting Marinus where it should 
 be necessary, adopting, however, the general substance of 
 his work, and subjoining to the last book some instructions 
 on the method of drawing geographical charts.' This will 
 serve to explain the relation in which Ptolemy's work stands 
 to that of Marinus : with the exception of some improve- 
 ment in the details, and the addition of the first and eighth 
 books, which undoubtedly belong to the former writer, the 
 remaining portions of the work are the sole and exclusive 
 property of Marinus alone. 
 
 Some good manuscripts of this work, particularly one in 
 the Imperial Library at Vienna, and another in that of St. 
 Mark at Venice, are furnished with a series of ancient maps, 
 twenty-six in number, of which ten are devoted to Europe, 
 four to Africa, and the remaining twelve to Asia. These 
 maps are, in the MSS. themselves, attributed to a certain 
 Agathodaemon ; for at the end we read the following sub- 
 scription : *Aya6o^aifJHM)y fi»;xavt*:oc AXe^av^pevg vireTvnwtre, He waS, 
 
 therefore, an artist of Alexandria : but this comprehends all 
 that we certainly know of him. The common opinion, that 
 he lived in the fifth century, rests upon the bare assumption 
 of his being the same individual as the grammarian named 
 
 Ptol. Geoff r. i. cap. 6, 17. 
 
 APPENDIX XII. 
 
 4^13 
 
 Agathodaemon, to whom some epistles written by Isidore of 
 Pelusium are still extant. This supposition, however, is not 
 only without foundation, but is even extremely improbable, 
 from the unlikely circumstance that an artist should be at 
 the same time also a grammarian. On the other hand, he 
 might very possibly have been contemporary with Ptolemy, 
 and have assisted him in the construction of his charts. 
 Several passages* plainly intimate Ptolemy's own intention 
 of adding maps to his work. In the modern editions of the 
 Geography, these maps have not always remained without 
 alteration, though copied in the first instance from the ori- 
 ginals themselves. The first edition accompanied with the 
 charts is that of Rome, in the year 1478 ;^ these charts 
 were copied in that of 1490. The second edition is that of 
 Ulm, in 1482, which was furnished with maps by the care 
 of Nicholas Donis, a Benedictine of the monastery of Reich- 
 enbach. It is a mistake to suppose, as is commonly done, 
 that all the maps in our editions belong to this editor ; for 
 he had no share in either of the two which were issued at 
 Rome. The nature and extent of the alterations made in 
 the charts appended to these editions, can only be deter- 
 mined by a more accurate comparison of them with the 
 originals. The Roman editors appear to have altered least : 
 they have not introduced new names, but only supplied 
 them in certain cases by a reference to Ptolemy himself ; 
 they do not even seem to have made any improvement in 
 the geographical outline of countries which were incorrectly 
 laid down. 
 
 We must, however, leave it to the future editor of Pto- 
 lemy to furnish a more accurate notice of these variations. 
 In the mean time, we shall proceed to examine the argu- 
 ments advanced by Brehmer in support of his hypothesis. 
 
 The first is grounded on the " declarations of Ptolemy 
 himself." ^ The author here alludes to the passage where it 
 is said, " that Marinus had met with several accounts of 
 
 * Particularly lib. i. cap. 19. 
 
 * An earlier one of 1475, the editio jmnceps^ is without maps : as to the 
 edition purporting to be of the year 1462, Fabricius and others have already 
 shown that date to be spurious. All the old editions exhibit the Latin ver- 
 sion, often altered and improved, of Jacobus Angelus. The first edition in 
 the original Greek was that of Erasmus, printed at Basil in the year 1533, by 
 Frobenius. 
 
 * Brehmer, JSrUdeckungen, i. 25. 
 
4 
 
 ^^flKwKii 
 
 APPENDIX XII. 
 
 APPENDIX XII. 
 
 445 
 
 earlier travellers ; that he had carefully perused the writings 
 of almost all his predecessors on this subject, and had made 
 such corrections as they or himself deemed necessary. "This," 
 says Brehmer, " is evident from the improvements in the 
 successive editions of the Atlas (jrivaico^ r^ewr^pacpiKod).^'"^ But the 
 last-mentioned work is, in fact, that of Marinus alone, which 
 he several times edited and corrected according to the 
 former editions. The passage consequently makes nothing 
 for Brehmer; on the contrary, it rather militates against 
 him, for it expressly mentions the accounts of preceding 
 travellers, both ancient, indeed, and modern, as the sources 
 from which the work was composed, but without any allu- 
 sion to an ancient Tyrian Atlas being consulted for that 
 purpose. 
 
 The next argument advanced by Brehmer is drawn from 
 the " impossibility of constructing without a model, and 
 with no other assistance than mere catalogues of names, and 
 other data fiimished by Ptolemy, a series of charts, so exact 
 and conformable to nature as the ones in question."^ This 
 opinion, however, is formed only from an inspection of the 
 charts as they appear in the printed editions ; for the author 
 never examined the manuscripts themselves, and therefore 
 we are unable to judge of its correctness. But, independent 
 of this, we are ready to allow, that no such ancient charts, 
 supposing them to be as exact as the author mentions, could 
 possibly have been designed without the help of some pre- 
 vious sketch. There is little doubt that charts of countries 
 were in existence before the time of Marinus, and they 
 might very likely have been made use of by him : indeed, 
 we should not be at all surprised to find that the Phoenicians 
 had attempted the construction of a general map of the 
 known world, and even particular delineations of different 
 countries. We learn from Herodotus,^ that their neigh- 
 bours and commercial allies, the Greeks of Asia Minor, pos- 
 sessed such maps ; and if we do not find it expressly men- 
 tioned that the Phoenicians had theirs also, this circumstance 
 ought to form no solid objection ; because, where is it pos- 
 sible now to look for proofs in support of our opinion ? The 
 geographical attempts just alluded to might have been im- 
 
 ' Ptol. i. cap. 6. • Entdechingm, i. 37. ' Herodotus, v. cap. 49. 
 
 
 proved from time to time, and thus have served as models to 
 Marinus in constructing his own charts, which were never- 
 theless very imperfect, notwithstanding the improvements 
 he made on the labours of his predecessors. Marinus, who 
 was a native of Tyre, and undoubtedly had it in his power 
 to consult the literary treasures of Alexandria, would easily 
 find in the latter place all the requisite materials for his un- 
 dertaking. But that at such an early period a complete and 
 original Atlas should h ave been immediately formed, in con- 
 sequence of the mercantile connexions of Tyre in the most 
 ancient time, is, to say the least of it, an unnecessary as- 
 sumption. 
 
 " Further," argues Brehmer, " many of the names occur- 
 ring in Ptolemy's work evidently betray their Phoenician 
 origin." It is certainly true, that many names in ancient 
 geography come from the Phoenicians ; but does it there- 
 fore follow, that they were all taken from a very ancient and 
 original Atlas ? And, as they must already have been a long 
 time in use, might not the Greeks have adopted them in 
 their own nomenclatures and charts ? 
 
 The most important argument, however, advanced by 
 Brehmer, still remains to be considered. He appeals to 
 the extent of Ptolemy's geographical knowledge as compared 
 with that of his predecessors, for instance, Eratosthenes and 
 Strabo;^^ and, indeed, the difference between them on that 
 score is suflSciently striking. Eratosthenes lived and wrote 
 at Alexandria, and was himself superintendent of the famous 
 library ; we may therefore reasonably conclude that its am- 
 ple resources were at his perfect disposal. Strabo, notwith- 
 standing his temporary residence at Alexandria likewise, 
 and the same facility of consulting its literary stores, never- 
 theless closely follows in the steps of Eratosthenes, and 
 copies his descriptions of distant countries and regions ; so 
 that with some few exceptions, which have already been 
 discussed in another treatise,^^ he has not much advanced 
 the science of geography. The northern parts of Asia were 
 entirely unknown to him ; as a proof of which, he repre- 
 sents the Caspian Sea as a bay of the ocean; and his 
 
 " Brehmer, JSntdeckum/en, i. p. 24. 
 
 " Commentationes de funtihus StrahoniSy in Comment. Rec. Soc. Getting, 
 vol. V. 
 
446 
 
 APPENDIX XII. 
 
 APPENDIX XII. 
 
 447 
 
 knowledge of India was extremely confined. Two or three 
 cities in India, on this side the Ganges, comprehend the 
 whole of his acquaintance with that part of the world ; his 
 notice of Ceylon is limited to a few traditional reports ; of 
 the Ultra-Gangetic peninsula he was perfectly ignorant. 
 The little more that he knew of Arabia was chiefly derived 
 from the verbal accounts of ^Elius Gallus, the lieutenant 
 whom he conversed with in Egypt. Of ^Ethiopia, the parts 
 adjacent to the coast are almost all that he describes ; while 
 his knowledge of Libya extends no further than Ammonium. 
 That he was completely ignorant of northern Europe from 
 the Elbe to the Caspian, is his own honest confession. How 
 very different does the case stand with regard to Ptolemy ! In 
 the Eastern part of the world, the continent of India now 
 emerges from its obscurity : and though incorrectly laid 
 down, yet enough is said of it to evince Ptolemy's knowledge 
 of the coast, and the maritime towns, and even the interior 
 of the country. Of Ceylon alone he notices upwards of 
 twenty towns and harbours ; and he is the first geograplier 
 who mentions the peninsula beyond the Ganges. His de- 
 scription of Arabia, comprising the interior as well as the 
 coast, enumerates a large list of names. No less remark- 
 able is his knowledge of the northern parts of the world ; 
 he was acquainted with the peninsula of Jutland and its in- 
 habitants, if not also with Norway and Sweden. The Ger- 
 manic nations, and even those inhabiting the modern coun- 
 tries of Poland and Lithuania,^^ as far as the Baltic, were 
 well known to him. The Caspian Sea is no longer repre- 
 sented as a gulf of the ocean, for the existence of vast tracts 
 of country to the north of that lake was now fully ascertained. 
 Hence, therefore, arises the question, whether during the 
 interval of time which elapsed between Strabo and Marinus, 
 and again between Marinus and Ptolemy, that is, during 
 the first hundred and fifty years of our era, the science of 
 geography had made sufficient progress to enable us to ac- 
 count for its extraordinary subsequent development, as ex- 
 hibited in the works of latter writers ? The scantiness of 
 
 " The names of these latter nations, frequently corrupt in the original, 
 have been corrected and put in order, by the late M. Gatterer, in his third 
 essay. An Populorum Letticorum Origines liceat a Sarmatis repeiere ? See 
 Gonimejit Soc, GotUng. vol. xii. p. 210, etc. The essay is accompanied with 
 AH improved map of Lithuania, after Ptolemy. 
 
 our authorities, particularly for the last half of the above 
 period, including the reign of the Antonines, will not indeed 
 permit us to return a positive answer to this question. 
 Thus much, however, is certain, that war as well as com- 
 merce, by sea and land, most powerfully contributed thereto. 
 
 Among the causes, then, most favourable to the progress 
 of geography, we may reckon, first, the wars which were 
 carried on in the time of Augustus against the Germans of 
 the north-west, as well as the confederation under Marbo- 
 dus, in the opposite quarter ; the history of which had al- 
 ready furnished Strabo with his account of Germany." 
 After Augustus and Tiberius, we may instance the wars in 
 Britain, which commenced under Claudius, and lasted till 
 Domitian ; and were followed, not only by the subjection of 
 the southern parts of the island, but also by the circumnavi- 
 gation of the northern coast by Agricola, as we learn from 
 Tacitus. Next to these were the wars under Nero against 
 the Parthians ; and, after the conquest of Mauritania, the 
 almost incessant frontier war with the nations inhabiting the 
 interior of Libya, the Garamantes and others, as far as the 
 Great Desert. Under Domitian began the wars on the 
 Danube against the Daci, so gloriously terminated by Tra- 
 jan ; who reduced Dacia itself into a Roman province. 
 The Asiatic campaigns also of the same emperor, against 
 the Parthians and the Arabians, must have greatly furthered 
 the interests of geographical science. Add to these the 
 wars in Ptolemy's own age, against the Marcomanni, which 
 extended a considerable distance north of the Danube. 
 
 But still more influential was the operation of commerce 
 in the improvement of geography. The late M. Gatterer 
 has already shown, that it was owing to this cause the coim- 
 tries extending from the Danube to the Baltic first became 
 known. ^* But more especially does the observation apply 
 to the southern parts of the world, which, during this inter- 
 val, progressively came to light. The conquest of Egypt 
 by the Romans, laid the foundation of an improvement in 
 geographical science ; for we are told by Pliny, that from 
 the time of their entering the countiy, a regular and spirited 
 commercial intercourse was opened between Egypt and In- 
 
 " See my historical treatises. 
 
 " Gatterer, loc. cit. 
 
448 
 
 APPENDIX XII. 
 
 dia. Some kind of connexion, indeed, between the two 
 countries, appears to have subsisted under the Ptolemies ; 
 but only through the medium of Arabia. Now, however, 
 whole fleets of merchantmen set sail with the monsoons 
 every year from Myos Hormos on the Arabian Gulf, to the 
 ports of India and Ceylon ; *^ from which latter island an 
 embassy was sent to Rome as early as the reign of Clau- 
 dius;*^ and in consequence, the Indian Ocean with the 
 countries situate on its coast, and the neighbouring islands, 
 became generally better known. 
 
 It is, however, certain, that during this period, especially 
 the latter part of it under the Antonines, and therefore in 
 the age of Ptolemy, the interior countries of Southern Asia, 
 that is, Arabia and India, were no less explored by means 
 ©f caravans, than the coasts were by sea voyages. This par- 
 ticularly holds good with regard to the reign of Antoninus 
 Pius. But owing to some strange fatality, it has happened 
 that the reign of this prince, the most excellent perhaps that 
 ever sat on a throne, is precisely that of which we have the 
 fewest memorials extant, from the almost complete destruc- 
 tion of the contemporary historians. It is nevertheless easy 
 to show that this period must have been extremely favour- 
 able to the progress of general commerce, and consequently 
 therefore of geography. At the commencement of his reign, 
 Adrian made peace with the Parthians, and even restored to 
 them the territories conquered by his predecessors ; the con- 
 sequence was, that for the space of forty years, under him 
 and Antoninus Pius, the interior of Asia enjoyed almost 
 perfect tranquillity. The happy effects which this moder- 
 ation produced, are sufficiently demonstrable, in the absence 
 of history, from the ruins discovered in those countries, not 
 only at Palmyra, which has been explored long since, but 
 also within these few years at Gerasa and Petra on the Syro- 
 Arabian frontier, and also at other places. The style of 
 architecture, as well as the number of inscriptions found in 
 these ancient cities, prove beyond a doubt that their most 
 flourishing period belongs to the age of the Antonines. 
 From what other sources, indeed, could they have derived 
 their opulence, situated as they were in a barren country, 
 
 " Plin. Hist Nat. vi. 24. 
 
 '• Ibid. vi. 26. 
 
 APPENDIX XII. 
 
 449 
 
 and even in the heart of deserts, except from the Indo-Ara- 
 bian commerce, the high roads of which at that time, and 
 long after, passed through those places ? Although the evi- 
 dence furnished by these data is suflficient generally to show 
 that in the hundred years previous to Marinus and Ptolemy, 
 wars, commerce, and travel had greatly contributed to the 
 extension of geographical knowledge ; yet we must not omit 
 to include the active co-operation of professed writers on the 
 science. The work of the elder Pliny will serve to confirm 
 our position ; what an abundance of geographical informa- 
 tion do we not meet with in his first six books, upon com- 
 paring them with Strabo ! We read of geometrical surveys 
 carried on as early as the time of Augustus, under the super- 
 intendence of his son-in-law Agrippa ;^7 and partially in the 
 countries above Egypt, under Nero.^« But what especially 
 deserves our consideration in treating of this period, are the 
 written accounts of land and sea voyages (peripli). The 
 only work of the latter kind now extant, is the celebrated 
 Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, by Arrian ; evidently the 
 composition of a merchant who traded to the shores of the 
 Indian peninsula, and a fair specimen of the manner in 
 which these voyages were written. That such accounts of 
 travels were of frequent occurrence, may be inferred from 
 Ptolemy himself, who observes that Marinus borrowed his 
 materials from similar authorities.^^ The successively im- 
 proved editions of his work on geography are another proof 
 of the fact ; for how otherwise could Marinus obtain addi- 
 tional and more correct information on the subject, except 
 by consulting the accounts of recent travellers ? We have, 
 indeed, the express testimony of Ptolemy on this point, for 
 he mentions the names of certain writers whom Marinus 
 had thus made use of**' These were, for the maritime 
 countries of the Indian seas, Diogenes, Theophilus, an 
 Alexander of Macedon, Dioscurius, and "many others:"*^ 
 ii>r the interior of Libya, Septimus Flaccus, and Julius 
 Maternus : "^ and for the route to Serica, Titianus of Mace- 
 don, also called Maes,^^ the son of a merchant who had sent 
 his commercial agent into that country. The narratives of 
 all these travellers were consulted by Marinus. And if we 
 
 I Plin. iii. 3. '« Ibid. vi. 35. " Ptol. i. 6. 
 
 Ibid. i. 14, a a\X<uv noWiov. « Ibid. i. 8. 
 
 VOL. II. O Q 
 
 * Ibid. i. 9, 14. 
 ^Ibid. i. II. 
 
450 
 
 APPENDIX XIII. 
 
 inquire further, upon what Ptolemy founded his corrections 
 of the Tyrian geographer, he himself informs us that it was 
 the perusal of the latest itineraries.** With regard to the 
 determinations of latitude and longitude, and particularly 
 what is reported in the eighth book of the duration of the 
 longest day, together with the distance of places from Alex- 
 andria according to time, we cannot, indeed, pretend that 
 all this was the fruit of actual observation : but only, for the 
 most part, the result of calculations made from the several 
 distances laid down by the travellers above mentioned. 
 
 There is, therefore, no occasion for us to have recourse 
 to the hypothesis of an ancient Tyrian Atlas in order to 
 explain the improved state of geographical science, as 
 exemplified in the works of Marinus and Ptolemy : on 
 the other hand it is evident from the preceding remarks, 
 that the countries and seas which they describe had been 
 actually visited and explored by contemporary travellers ; 
 and such authorities might just as likely have been con- 
 sulted by the writers in question, as any original Phoenician 
 work. We have not indeed attempted to show from what 
 sources Ptolemy borrowed all the particular details of his 
 geography, or the accompanying charts. Such an inquiry 
 presupposes a critical examination of the text, and a collation 
 of the best manuscripts, together with a correct and scrupu- 
 lously faithful copy of the ancient charts ; and even then we 
 could scarcely hope, considering the total loss of all the 
 writings before noticed, to ascertain the precise authorities 
 in every instance which Ptolemy consulted. 
 
 APPENDIX XIII. 
 
 On the Commercial Routes of Ancient Ada. 
 
 In the chart of Asia appended to this work, I have en- 
 deavoured for the first time to point out with critical ac- 
 
 " Ptol. i. 19. 
 
 APPENDIX XIII. 451 
 
 curacy, the ancient commercial routes of Asia, as well by 
 land a^ by sea. And, although a particular account of them 
 has already been given in the course of the work itself, yet 
 perhaps a general view of these routes, together with' the 
 authorities on which I formed my conclusions, will not be 
 unacceptable to the reader, particularly as he will then be 
 enabled to judge how far they are correct, or only probable. 
 I shall also subjoin a review, before promised, (vol. i. p. 357, 
 note,) of the commercial routes laid down by Dr. Brehmer 
 in his map of Asia. 
 
 LAND-ROUTES. 
 
 I. ROUTES OF THE ARABICO-PHCENICIAN CARAVANS. 
 
 Their direction is towards Petra in northern Arabia, and 
 from thence to Phoenicia. 
 
 1. Route from Arabia Felix to Petra : attested by Strabo, 
 (p. 1113,) who points out its direction, as well as the number 
 of days' journey. (See vol. i. p. 356.) 
 
 2. Route from Arabia Felix to Gerra : also ascertained 
 froin Strabo (loc. cit.) by his mentioning the number of 
 days' journey. The town of Leuke Kome^ through which 
 It passed, according to Seetzen, (Monatl. Corresp. Jan. 1813, 
 p. 75,) was so called from the whiteness of its cliffs. I have 
 made this route to commence from Mariaba, or Saba, as the 
 capital town ; the passages, however, already quoted from 
 Ezekiel and the other prophets, evidently show that there 
 was a commercial intercourse with all parts of the country. 
 
 3. Route from Gerra to Tyre ; not positively mentioned, 
 but there can be no doubt of its existence, particularly as 
 on one hand, Gerra is represented as an opulent town, (see 
 vol. 11. p. 433,) and on the other, its land commerce is ex- 
 pressly noticed by Agatharchides (Geogr. Min. i. 60, and 
 Strabo, p. 1110); the prophets also, Ezekiel, xxvii. 15, 
 and Isaiah, xxi. 13, allude to its connexion with Tyre, that 
 IS, if we assume, as is generally supposed, their Dedan'to be 
 one of the neighbouring islands in the Persian Gulf, pro- 
 
 ' [It is not easy to see why this route should pass through Leuke Rome, 
 sucn direction being less circuitous in the case of the first-mentioned route, 
 irom Arabia Felix to Petra. Transl.] 
 
 2 G 2 
 
 m 
 
.^52 APPENDIX XIII. 
 
 bably one of the Bahrein islands. (See vol. i. p. 434 ) 
 mil regard to the direction of the route from Gerra to 
 Tvre we have no certain information. I have made jt pass 
 £tly thrrgh the middle of the great Arabmn desert and 
 SpVlam^ justified in so doing by the passage above 
 Suoted from Isaiah. The modem route ,s from Hedjaz 
 
 ?hrough the fertile plain of Nedjed, due -l^:oM^^2:i 
 the ancient Macoraba. Accordmg to Seetzen (Monatl. 
 TorresD Sept 1813, p. 244,) it occupies the caravan thnty 
 dl and pa^^^^^ several villages, whereas the route 
 
 to Medina is all desert^ In this case the route would here 
 joiiTthat of Yemen, and consequently, though longer, would 
 
 ''i'lRrto Egypt, particularly Memphis, (see vol. 
 i p 361,) requires no explanation, as the commercal m- 
 ter^course between that country and PhcEmcia admits of no 
 
 nVhtTuSby which the ^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 sri^^tTEetu^^^^^^ 
 
 dvil zed, there was in all probabihty no general route, md.- 
 vidual merchants being at^iberty to choose their own way. 
 
 II. ROUTES OF THE BABYLONICO-PERSIAN CARAVANS. 
 
 A. Routes leading to Western Asia, 
 
 1 Route from Lydia to Susa in Persia : there can be no 
 doubt of Its existen'ce, as Hei^dotus (v. 52) -enUo- both 
 the direction and the number of stations. (See voU- P^^^^^^^^^ 
 Some mistake, however, seems to have ^^^ept ii^^to ^^^^^^ 
 for the whole amount of stations is said to be ^ '^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 eleven, whereas eighty-four only are speafied^ ^^^^e' 
 this be owing to the inadvertence of Herodotus himselt, 
 his transcriber, it is impossible to say. nositivelv 
 
 2. Route from Babylon to Phoenicia : «^/^^^;f I^^^^^^^^^^ 
 laid down, and perhaps there were several. W-^^^^^^^^^ 
 reasons, however, for presuming it ^o ^^^^ P^^ 
 Palmyra. In the first place, because that ^^s the most ob 
 
 vious direction, otherwise the ^^^^^ ^^^ J ebe^L^^^^^^^^ 
 obliged to make a large circuit to the north, or else have 
 
 APPENDIX XIII. 
 
 453 
 
 cross an extensive desert entirely without water ; and on 
 the other hand, we know Palmyra to have been a very 
 ancient city, and that from its position it could scarcely 
 have had any other original destination, than to serve as a 
 resting-place to the caravans. (See vol. i. p. 366.) The 
 route then led to Thapsacus, an important commercial town 
 on the Euphrates, which it crossed at Circesium, and sub- 
 sequently took a southerly direction through the Median 
 wall to Babylon. 
 
 3. Route from Babylon to Syria ; precisely determined 
 by Strabo, p. 1084. This was exclusively a caravan-route, 
 for none but a large body of merchants could undertake 
 such a journey, as it passed directly through the heart of 
 the Mesopotamian desert, and was infested by roving 
 hordes of robbers, who levied a toll on all passengers. It 
 traversed Syria, as far as Anthemusias, where it crossed the 
 Euphrates ; from hence it proceeded through Bambyca to 
 Edessa ; and afterwards, at a distance of three days' journey 
 from the river, it passed through the steppes inhabited by 
 the Scenites, or nomads, and where were some cisterns of 
 water, to the town of Scene on the frontiers of Babylon, and 
 about eighteen schaens, or seventy-five miles, distant from 
 Seleucia on the Tigris. This route was probably frequented 
 by the Phoenicians ; but as Strabo quotes no authorities on 
 the point, it is impossible to ascertain how long it had been 
 in use ; no doubt, however, it was from very early times. 
 
 B. Routes leading to Eastern Asia. 
 
 1. Route from Babylon and Susa to India : may be con- 
 sidered as forming but one single route, as the road between 
 the two cities was much frequented, and the intermediate 
 countries well peopled, and in a high state of civilization. 
 (Arrian, iii. 16; see vol. i. 419.) From hence, however, 
 the route to the countries situate on the Indus, could not 
 take a direction fiill east without having to pass through 
 the great desert between Persis and Media; it therefore 
 proceeded due north of the desert, through the latter coun- 
 try, and was consequently, for the former part of its course, 
 identical with the royal road, mentioned by Herodotus, on 
 the left bank of the Tigris, leading into Asia Minor. Near 
 
 ■■•HI'. 
 
 i ' 
 
454 
 
 APPENDIX XIII. 
 
 the Median frontier it joined the direct route to India, the 
 principal stations of which have been enumerated by Strabo 
 arid Pliny. Now, as both these writers derived their inform- 
 ation from earlier sources, Strabo from Eratosthenes, and 
 Pliny from the companions of Alexander, that is, from Be- 
 ton and Diognetus, who were attached to the royal army in 
 the capacity of geographers, (prj^imiajai, itinennn dimcnsores^) 
 we cannot therefore doubt either the direction or the anti- 
 quity of the route before us. It is, nevertheless, frequently 
 difficult to assign the exact position of certain places, owing 
 to the corruption of the numbers in the MSS. and the very 
 defective state of our modem charts of these countries. The 
 reader may, however, advantageously consult Mannert, vol. 
 v. part ii.' 
 
 On leaving Mesopotamia, the route went directly cast, iu 
 about 36** N. lat. to Ecbatana, the capital of Media, (Ptol. 
 i. 22,) and from thence by Rages to the Caspian Gates 
 (llvXai KciffTTtot). Every thing that came from Western Asia 
 to the east, must necessarily pass through these gates, be- 
 cause on the north the way was blocked up by the Hyrca- 
 nian mountains and their barbarous inhabitants, while to- 
 wards the south began the desert. It is, therefore, important 
 to ascertain the position of this pass. Its exact situation 
 will be found in the Caspian mountains, which at this point 
 divide Media from Aria, in 35° N. lat. and 52° E. long. 
 (Compare Mannert, vi. ii. 175, with Renneirs chart.) Ac- 
 cording to Pliny, (vi. 17,) it was a very narrow defile, about 
 eight Roman miles in length, cut through the rocks. 
 
 From the Caspian pass, the high road led by the follow- 
 ing places : Hecatompylos in Parthia, Alexandria in Aria, 
 Prophthasia in the country of the Drangi, Arachotus and 
 Ortospana, to the Indus. With regard to these stations, the 
 account of Eratosthenes, as preserved by Strabo, (p. 782 — 
 1053,) agrees perfectly with that of Beton and Diognetus 
 in Pliny (vi. 17, 21); though they occasionally differ as to 
 their respective distances; and therefore it is not always 
 easy to determine their real position. As far as concerns 
 the whole length of the route from the Caspian pass to the 
 Indus, the difference between the two is not material, as 
 may be seen in the following comparison of the several dis- 
 tances mentioned by both writers : — 
 
 APPENDIX XIII. 
 
 455 
 
 
 Hecatompylos 
 
 Alexandria in Aria 
 
 Prophthasia 
 
 Arachotus 
 
 Ortospana 
 
 Alexandria 
 
 Peucela on the Indus 
 
 Pliny. 
 
 R. MUet. 
 
 133. 
 
 bm, 
 
 199. 
 515. 
 250. 
 50. 
 227. 
 
 Strabo. 
 
 Stadia. 
 
 1960 = 
 
 4530 = 
 
 1600 = 
 
 4120 = 
 
 2000 . = 
 
 1000 = 
 
 1940. 
 Geographical miles, 388. 
 
 15210 
 
 R. Mile*. 
 245. 
 
 566^. 
 200. 
 515. 
 250. 
 
 125. 
 
 1901i. 
 380. 
 
 This variation is too trifling to affect the general accuracy 
 of the account ; though not much stress is to be laid on this 
 circumstance ; for even Pliny has already observed, that the 
 manuscripts of his time varied in their determination of 
 places, as we still find to be the case in the modern copies. 
 (See Salmas. Exercit. in Phn. p. 556.) Moreover, the sum 
 total of 380 geogr. miles appears too much ; for, as these 
 places are laid down in our present maps, the distance 
 scarcely exceeds 300. Our geographical knowledge, how- 
 ever, of this part of the world is not yet sufficiently accurate 
 to enable us to determine every one of the admeasurements 
 with correctness. 
 
 The first station is Hecatompylos, the capital of Parthia ; 
 its situation, however, cannot be precisely ascertained, owing 
 to our uncertainty respecting the distances. Its name, sig- 
 nifying '' a hundred gates," is evidently Greek, and accord- 
 ing to Polybius, (x. 28,) was derived from the circumstance 
 of°a hundred roads meeting in that place. It must, tliere- 
 fore, have been an important mart for the carrying trade. 
 
 The second principal station is Alexandria in Aria, as far 
 as which, Strabo expressly informs us, the route was one 
 and the same all the way, but that her it separated into two 
 branches, one of which led to Bactria, and the other, with a 
 southerly direction, into India. It would be desirable to 
 ascertain the position of this town with sufficient accuracy ; 
 all that we have to guide us, however, is the bare informa- 
 tion, that Alexandria was situate 566 miles to the east of 
 Hecatompylos, and on the banks of the river Arius, (Plin. 
 vi. 23,) which flowed into a lake of the same name (now 
 called Zere). We must, therefore, look for it on the north 
 
456 
 
 APPENDIX XIII. 
 
 APPENDIX XIII. 
 
 457 
 
 or north-east of this lake ; and, indeed, as Strabo describes 
 the route to be perfectly straip;ht as far as this place, and 
 almost under the same parallel as the Caspian passes, we 
 may possibly identify it with the ancient capital Artacoana 
 or the modern Herat. From hence the route proceeded 
 with a southerly inclination to Prophthasia, in the country 
 of the Drangi, which is either the present Zarang, or at 
 least in its neighbourhood ; and as both our authors agree 
 in making its distance from Alexandria amount to nearly 
 200 miles, we shall be less liable to commit serious error, in 
 assigning its probable situation. The next stage we come 
 to is the town of Arachotus, in the country of the same 
 name, which seems to be preserved in the modern appella- 
 tion of Arocage ; nevertheless, its real position cannot ex- 
 actly be determined ; nor, without a better knowledge than 
 we now possess of the country itself and its inhabitants will 
 it be easy to explain why the road up to this p ace should 
 make such a sharp turn to the south. This sudden inclina- 
 tion, however, ceases after passing Arachotus, where the 
 road acrain winds to the north, in its course towards Ortos- 
 pana and Alexandria. The latter town, from f situation 
 at the foot of that mountain range, was also called Alexan- 
 dria ad Paropamisum ; and was formerly supposed to be the 
 same with the modern Kandahar ; but the researches of 
 modern geographers have concurred to make it probable 
 -that Ortospana itself is the ancient Alexandria, distant abou 
 fifty miles south of Kandahar. (See Mannert, vol. v. part 
 ii p 85) It was an important commercial town, on ac- 
 count of the route from Bactria terminating there, and its 
 being: a place where three roads met {h i>c Ba^cr^uiv rpiodog). 
 From hence the Indian route proceeded across the river 
 Choes, to Peucela and Taxila, where it was usual to pass 
 the Indus. 
 
 III. ROUTES TO BACTRIA AND SAMARCAND. 
 
 1 Route from Western Asia to Bactria : the same as the 
 Indian route, as far as Alexandria in Aria, at which place it 
 turned off into Bactria, a distance of 3000, or, according to 
 another reading, 2870 stadia (about 375 or 358 English 
 miles respectively) ; and from thence it proceeded oOW 
 
 \\ 
 
 stadia (or 625 miles) further to the borders of Central Asia, 
 or Great Tartary, inhabited by the Issedones and Massa- 
 getae. (Strabo, p. 782.) 
 
 2. Route from Bactria to India; considered by Strabo 
 (p. 1053) merely as a continuation of the preceding, so that 
 it might also be frequented by merchants who had come from 
 Media, by way of the Caspian pass as far as Alexandria in 
 Aria, and wished to avoid the more circuitous southern route. 
 From Bactria the road went southwards over the mountains 
 of Paropamisus, and at Ortospana formed a junction with the 
 other Indian route, from which circumstance that place was 
 called the Bactrian Trivium. We may understand this ap- 
 pellation to mean, that in addition to the two roads leading 
 to India and Bactria, there was also a third, which led to the 
 southern parts of the Indus. (See vol. i. p. 424.) This, 
 however, is nothing more than a conjecture, and even with- 
 out having recourse to such a supposition, we can easily 
 imagine how a real trivium might have been formed at Or- 
 tospana, when we consider that place as the central point 
 where the three roads to India, Bactria, and Western Asia, 
 met together. 
 
 3. Route from Bactria to Little Bucharia and Serica: 
 authenticated by a passage in Ctesias, where he speaks of 
 Indian caravans from Little Thibet (already quoted and ex- 
 plained in vol. i. p. 425). The same passage also confirms 
 in the most satisfactory manner the existence of a trading 
 intercourse between the neighbouring inhabitants of Bactria 
 and Upper India, and justifies my insertion of a correspond- 
 ing commercial route in the map. This route joined the 
 one from India, and the principal station for both was in the 
 neighbourhood of the Stone Tower, mentioned above, p. 290, 
 of this volume. With respect to the route from Serica to 
 the Ganges, I have only been able to trace it by conjectural 
 evidence. 
 
 C. Commercial Route through Central Asia. 
 
 This route, which proceeded from the Greek establish- 
 ments on the Black Sea, over the Ural mountains to the 
 country of the Argippaeans, or Calmucks of Great Tartary, 
 is founded on the accounts of Herodotus, and particularly a 
 
458 
 
 APPENDIX XIH. 
 
 ii 
 
 passage in his fourth book, (c. 24,) which has been sufficient- 
 ly explained in this volume, p. 22, 23. In the map I have 
 continued this route beyond the frontier of the Issedones, as 
 we have already shown that extensive and highly commercial 
 nation to have been in the immediate neighbourhood of the 
 Seres ; with whom an active trading intercourse was always 
 maintained. That an exchange of the merchandise as well 
 of Eastern as of Southern Asia, might very well take place 
 in the country of the Issedones, will be evident enough when 
 we consider that nation to have extended from Serica on the 
 east, to the Jaxartes on the south, where, as we have seen 
 from Strabo, the caravan-route from India terminated. Be- 
 sides, how could Herodotus have acquired any tolerable 
 knowledge of the various nomad tribes inhabiting Sogdiana, 
 unless some kind of commercial intercourse had existed be- 
 tween them ? 
 
 SEA VOYAGES. 
 
 The navigation of the Asiatic seas in former times, as far 
 as we are able to ascertain its character, was confined to the 
 Arabian and Persian Gulfs, and the Indian Ocean. The 
 doubts which have been raised as to the practicability of 
 these voyages, fall to the ground when we consider the 
 various circumstances concurring to render them easy ; in 
 the first place, the voyages themselves were almost wholly 
 along the coast, or, at all events, there was no occasion to 
 get out of sight of land ; and secondly, the distances were 
 moderate ; add to this the peculiar facilities afforded by the 
 monsoons. The direction of these periodical winds, in that 
 part of the Indian Sea now under consideration, is south- 
 west in summer, and north-east in winter ; the same order, 
 but slightly varied, obtains also in the Arabian and Persian 
 Gulfs, where they blow alternately from the north in sum- 
 mer, and from the south during a part of the winter. A 
 single glance at the map will be sufficient to show how ex- 
 tremely favourable this peculiarity must have been to voy- 
 ages made to and from the Indian peninsula, at different 
 seasons of the year. The particular routes by sea are laid 
 down on the map, and are as follow : 1. From the Arabian 
 Gulf 2. From Arabia Felix to India. 3. From the Per- 
 
 APPENDIX XIIL 
 
 459 
 
 sian Gulf also to India. To what has been already advanced 
 in the body of this work, I have now only to add, that the 
 general destination of these voyages was the Indian port of 
 Barygaza, (Baroach,) which still continued to be the princi- 
 pal one in the time of the Periplus. Besides this, Pattala 
 also, situate in the Delta of the Indus, appears to have been 
 from the earliest times a place of considerable importance ; 
 and is represented as such in the expedition of Alexander. 
 The further navigation from this port to Taprobane or Cey- 
 lon, as well as the eastern coast of the peninsula to the 
 mouth of the Ganges, was very probably close along shore, 
 and therefore need not have been specified on the map. 
 The passage across the Bay of Bengal to Chryse, is given 
 from the accounts contained in the Periplus. 
 
 Though, for reasons already mentioned in the foregoing 
 appendix, we do not feel ourselves authorized in assigning 
 such a remote antiquity to the commercial routes laid down 
 by Brehmer, after the determinations of Ptolemy, as that 
 scholar attached to them ; it will nevertheless be as well to 
 furnish the reader with a comparative sketch of my own map, 
 and that which Brehmer has subjoined to the first volume 
 of his work. These routes, both in their general course and 
 destination, are the same with those which have been here- 
 tofore pointed out, after other authorities, in my earlier 
 maps ; only their number has been augmented, and the di- 
 rection of particular routes occasionally varied ; which was 
 a natural consequence of Brehmer's founding his conclusions 
 exclusively on Ptolemy. I shall here present them in the 
 same order as my own. 
 
 1. Commercial routes of Arabia. Brehmer agrees with 
 me in making Yemen, Gerra, and Petra, the principal marts 
 of the Arabian land-trade ; and in connecting them together 
 by routes, similar to those of my own map. He mentions, 
 however, some other routes traversing the interior of Arabia 
 to certain towns called by Ptolemy, Carman, Itala, Thumna, 
 and Macpha, of which I can meet with no precise inform- 
 ation in the authorities I have consulted. 
 
 2. Babylonian routes to Arabia and Phoenicia; repre- 
 sented by Brehmer as running due east from Petra to Baby- 
 lon, Teredon, and Gerra, and in a northerly direction from 
 Petra to Palmyra, Thapsacus, and Trapezus on the Black 
 
460 
 
 APPENDIX XIII. 
 
 Nil 
 
 Sea ; and again, from Babylon to Gerra. ^o direct route 
 from Tyre and the other Phoenician cities 's specified. 
 
 3. Babylonian routes to Eastern Asia. That which went 
 from Babylon and Susa through Ecbatana and the Caspian 
 passes, as well as the one leading to Ana, Ortospana' et«-. 
 corresponds generally with my own. On he other hand, 
 Brehmer introduces another commercial route through Car- 
 mania to Gedrosia, of which I have not been able to disco- 
 ver any indication. ... .^ i j 
 
 4 The route through Central Asia, he represents as lead- 
 ins from the city Tanais, across the narrow strip of land be- 
 tween the Caspian and Aral Seas, to Maracanda and Bactna. 
 
 5 Indian commercial routes ; from Bactna to Taxila ; 
 from Ortospanato Taxila; from Ortospana to Pattala ; and 
 subsequently from Pattala to Barygaza and Soana on he 
 Ganges ; from Taxila to Delhi ; from Bucephala on the 
 Hydaspes, to Uzene, Tagara, Plutana, and Masalia (Masu- 
 lipatam on the Coromandel coast). . , ^^ , , , ,^ 
 
 6. Routes to Serica ; one from Bactna, by Tashkend to 
 the Stone Tower ; another from Taxila due north to the 
 same place; and a third from the Ganges, a so in a north- 
 erly direction to the same tower : of this last-mentioned 
 route, however, only a portion can be ascertamed. 
 
 7 The sea voyages from the Arabian and Persian Gults, 
 the former from Yemen and the latter from the Bahrein 
 islands, as laid down by Brehmer, correspond with those in 
 my own chart. He has not, indeed, specified any particu- 
 lar route to the peninsula beyond the Ganges ; but has 
 merely pointed out the place of departure for vessels trading 
 toCkyse. 
 
 THK END. 
 
 jon 
 
 N CHILD" ASn SON. Bl'NOAY. 
 
 INDEX 
 
 TO 
 
 VOL. L 
 
 AUaic range of moTintains in south of Si- 
 beria, 4. not without gold, 28. imper- 
 fectly known to the ancients, 29. 
 
 Arabia, its ancient Phoenician trade, 347. 
 its natural features and productions, ib. 
 Arabia Felix, 348. its spices, ib. gold 
 and precious stones, 349. the chief seats 
 of its commerce, 350. its frankincense, 
 351. the Midianites, 353. the Idu- 
 means, ib. routes of Arabian commerce, 
 355. mentioned by the prophet Isaiah, 
 357. Arabia Petraea, 358. Arabian 
 
 sheep, 364. , ^^ * • 
 
 Aria, region of Upper Asia, 162. Arians 
 and Medes originally same race, ib. 
 character of the country, 163, 164. 
 
 ilrmcnia, an extensive country of Western 
 Asia, 87. subject to the Persians, ib. 
 its climate and productions, ib. govern- 
 ment and commerce of the people, 88. 
 trade with Phoenicians, 368. 
 
 Arrian, his records of Persians valu- 
 able, 53. 
 
 Artaxerxes, /., king of Persia, 228. re- 
 volt of the satraps in his reign, ib. 
 
 Asia, its prominence in the history of the 
 world, 1. its geographical position, pro- 
 ductions, &c.. 2, 3, 10, 23. its moun- 
 tains, 3. its rivers, 5. its natural divi- 
 sions, 6—12. to what extent known to 
 the Greeks, 50. 
 
 Asia Minor, as part of Persian empire, 
 65—81. theatre of almost all the wars 
 between nations of Europe and of Asia, 
 
 65. possessed by various tribes, tft. not 
 completely subdued by the Persians, 
 
 66. then contained ten provinces, ib. 
 originally divided by Darius in four 
 satrapies, ib. Grecian cities of Asia 
 Minor not subject to Persians, ib. sa- 
 trapy of Lydia, 67—70. of Caria, 70, 
 71. of Mysia, or Phrygia on the Hel- 
 lespont, 71. of Great Phrygia and Great 
 Cappadocia, 72—77. Paphlagonia, 78. 
 Lycia, 80. Pamphylia, ib. Cilicia, ib. 
 
 VOL. II. 2 H 
 
 Babylonia, the emporium of Western 
 Asia, 24. the Babylonians a powerful 
 nation at the time when the Persian 
 empire was founded, 59. more ancient 
 than the Lydians, 60. the extent of their 
 dominion not easily defined, ib. they 
 attained a higher degree of civilization 
 than the Medes, 61. over what pro- 
 vinces their dominion extended, ib. how 
 long they held it, ib. a separate sa- 
 trapy, 86. trade with Phoenicians, 364, 
 366. progress of agriculture, 371. city 
 of Babylon, ib. description of Baby- 
 lonia, 372. Euphrates, 6, 64, 372. Tigris, 
 373. canals and lakes, ib. lakes formed 
 by Alexander, 376. fertility of the 
 country produced by irrigation, 378. 
 building materials, 379. bitumen, ib. 
 favourable position of the country, 380. 
 language of the Babylonians, 381. ear- 
 liest tradition, ib. Jewish annals, 382. 
 Chaldeans, ib, great cities, how formed, 
 384. their population, 385. ruins of 
 Babylon, 386. the city as described by 
 Herodotus, 387. modem accounts, 388. 
 the Birs Nimrod, 394. date of its erec- 
 tion, 395. epoch of Semiramis, 396. of 
 Nebuchadnezzar, ib. conquest of Cy- 
 rus, 397. Alexander, ib. agreement of 
 ancient and modern writers, 398. hang- 
 ing gardens of Babylon, 403. scene of 
 Alexander's death, 404. Babylonian 
 architecture, 405. inscriptions, 407. the 
 Babylonian-Chaldean empire, 409. as- 
 trology and the priest class, 410. com- 
 merce, 413. dress, ib. Bagdad, 414. 
 ancient luxury, ib. articles of trade, 417. 
 of dress, 418. commerce with Persia, 
 419. trade in precious stones, 420. in 
 dogs, 421. in dyeing materials, 422. 
 commercial route to India, 423. Serica, 
 424. road from Sardis to Susa, 426. 
 Armenian trade, 429. navigation of the 
 Euphrates, ib. of the Persian Gulf, 
 430. voyage of Nearchus, 431 . Gerrha, 
 
46^ 
 
 INDEX TO VOL. I. 
 
 INDEX TO VOL. I. 
 
 463 
 
 433, 438. Tylus and Aradus, 434. Ba- 
 bylonian navigation in time of Isaiah, 
 438. pearl fisheries of Persian Gulf, 444. 
 Ceylon, 445. direction of the Indian 
 trade, tb. difficulties attending naviga- 
 tion of Persian Gulf, 447. its decline, 
 448. 
 
 Bactra, its importance in history of an- 
 cient commerce, 24, 424. not the same 
 as Zariaspa, 166. original seat of re- 
 ligion of Zoroaster, 238. 
 
 BactriafMy territory of Western Asia, 24. 
 165, 166. its commerce, *6. known in 
 modem times as Balkh, 167. its an- 
 tiquity, ib, 
 
 Birs Nimrod, ruins of temple at Babylon, 
 394. time of its erection, 395. is the 
 temple of Bel, 399. description given 
 by Herodotus, ib. Mosaic account of 
 "Tower of Babel," 400. modern in- 
 vestigation, 401 . Nebuchadnezzar, 402. 
 
 Bistooriy ancient monuments of, 144. 
 
 Bithynia, province of Asia Minor, 72. its 
 western region attached to Persian 
 satrapy of Mysia, ib. features of the 
 country, 79. how far under the power 
 of Persia, ib, 
 
 Cambyses, king of Persia, 222. conquered 
 Egypt, ib. testimony of Herodotus and 
 Ctesias, ib. 
 Cape of Good Hope^ discovery of pas- 
 sage to East Indies round, 22. efiected 
 great changes in Asiatic commerce, ib. 
 
 Cappadocia^ a coimtry of Asia Minor, 72. 
 its limits, 74. Great Cappadocia, ib. 
 not completely subject to Persia, »&., 75. 
 the country poor and ill cultivated, tft. in- 
 habitants called by the Persians Leuco- 
 Syri, ib. Cappadocia on the Pontus, 74. 
 afterwards called Pontus, 76. contained 
 variety of tribes, ib. how far imder the 
 authority of Persia, ib. the Heniochi, ib. 
 the Chalybians, ib. the Tibareni, 77. 
 seat of the slave trade, 367. 
 
 Caravanserais, buildings for the recep- 
 tion of travellers in the East, 20. their 
 value, 24. route of Phoenician cara- 
 vans, 353. 
 
 Carduchif tribe of ancient Mesopotamia, 
 86. 
 
 Caria^ province of Asia Minor, 70. as a 
 - satrapy of the Persian empire, »6., 71. 
 how occupied, 70. its orginal inhabit- 
 ants, ib. voluntarily submitted to the 
 Persians, ib. 
 
 Carmania, province of Persian empire, 
 172. a satrapy by itself, ib. face of the 
 country, ib. 
 
 Carthage^ colony of Tyre, 300. time of its 
 establishment uncertain, 311. towns of 
 its territory, 322. 
 
 Catiterides, the Scilly islands, 321. trade 
 in tin, 332. 
 
 Caucasus, mountain range of Asia, 4. pro- 
 duces gold, 27. dialects of its region, 47. 
 
 Celeen<Sy capital city of Phrygia, 73. the 
 usual residence of the Persian satrap, ib. 
 
 Chaldrsi, tribe of ancient Mesopotamia, 
 87. period of their conquest of Baby- 
 lonia, 383. their origin, ib. Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, t6. Babylonian-Chaldean em- 
 pire, 409. why the term Chaldean 
 applied to the priests, 410. 
 
 Chalybians^ nation of Asia Minor, 76. 
 celebrated for silver mines, 77. their 
 manners and customs, ib. 
 
 Ciliciay extensive district of Asia Minor, 
 80. its fertility, ib. Tarsus, «6. uncer- 
 tainty attending limits of the coimtry, 
 and the extent to which under the do- 
 minion of Persia, 81. 
 
 Cinnamon, esteemed by ancients, 43. 
 
 Cobi, desert of, 3, 5. 
 
 Colchi, a rude tribe of ancient Mesopo- 
 tamia, 87. 
 
 Colossee, city of Phrygia, 74. 
 
 Commerce of Asiatic nations, its uni- 
 formity, 19. necessity for caravans, ib. 
 river navigation inferior to that of Eu- 
 rope, ib. caravanserais, 20. highways, 
 ib. afiected by political changes, 21. 
 discovery of passage round Cape of 
 Good Hope efiected great changes, 22. 
 commerce of the south of Asia, 23. its 
 chief seats, 24, 25. articles of com- 
 merce, 25—43. influence of language on 
 commerce, 44. trade of India, 182. sea 
 trade of Phoenicians, 325. their land 
 trade, 341. Babylonian commerce, 413. 
 
 Cotton, 37, 38. 
 
 Croesus, king of Lydia, his conquests, 60. 
 
 Ctesias, value of his Persian history, 54 — 
 57. his account of the Indians, 182. 
 
 Cyprus, a province of Tyre, 305. its cities, 
 311. 
 
 Cyrus, CoreSf or KkoosroOj first great 
 monarch of Persian empire, 59. date of 
 his supremacy, ib. partial obscurity in 
 which his history is involved, ib. prin- 
 cipal nations of Asia at that time, ib. 
 successively overthrew the Median, 
 Babylonian, and Lydian dynasties, 61. 
 his tomb at Pasargada, 141. city bear- 
 ing his name, 171. his original name 
 Agradates, 217. his expeditions, ib. his 
 disposition of the empire at his death, 
 222. his appointment of the magi, or 
 priest caste, 250. 
 CyzicuSf a colony of Miletus, 71. 
 
 Damascus, city of Syria, 83. probably the 
 residence of the satrap of CoBle-Syria, ib. 
 
 Daniel the prophet, 409. his accounts re- 
 ferring to Babylonian-Chaldean em- 
 pire, ib. to the Magians, 411. 
 
 Darius Hystapis, the greatest of the Per- 
 sian kings, 62. regular system of tribute 
 
 organized first in his reign, tb. and first 
 attempt to divide the empire mto sa- 
 trapies, ib., 226. revolts of lonians m his 
 reign, 69. his tomb, 128. his share in 
 SsSsination of Smerdis, 223. efi-ect of 
 his reign on the form of government, 
 225. made Susa his chief residence, i6. 
 Gustasp said to be D. Hystaspis, 238. 
 this not probable, 239. 
 Diamonds, 34 — 36. » • »#• 
 
 Dons, a district of Caria, m Asia Mmor, 
 
 70. the Doric colonies, 71. 
 Dress, materials of ancient, 37—42. ot 
 fiffures in ruins of Persepolis, 107. ot 
 Persian kings, 115. Babylonian dress, 
 413, 418. 
 
 Ecbatana, capital of ancient Media, 160. 
 its royal palace, ib. its situation, Ibl. 
 
 remains, ib. .., ^t T.t,^ 
 
 Egypt, its ancient trade with the Phoe- 
 nicians, 361. manner of intercourse, tb. 
 Ephesus, city of Ionia, 69. 
 Esther, book of, contains true picture ot 
 Persian court, 53, 55. speaks of Persian 
 edicts in various languages, 57. num- 
 ber of the Persian satrapies mentioned 
 in it, 63. those who " stood in the king's 
 gates," 102. hangings of palaces, 113. 
 the king's footstool, 114. festivals. 111. 
 the Magians, 251. the Persian harem, 
 
 256. , , . „ ,. ., 
 
 Euphrates, great river of Asia, 6. divides 
 the Persian empire in two, 64. course 
 of the river, 372. canals, 373. lakes, 
 375. its conjunction with the Tigris, 
 
 377. abundance of palms on its shores, 
 
 378. navigation of the river, 429. 
 Ezekiel, the prophet, his references to 
 
 Phoenician commerce, 341, 346. to seats 
 of Arabian trade, 350. to trade of Egypt, 
 
 360. ^T^ . 
 
 Ezra, book of, contains edicts of Persian 
 kings, 53. reference to Persian Chron- 
 icles, 56. notice of Syria, 83. customs of 
 Persian court, 104. 
 
 Firdousee, Persian historical poet, 57. 
 Furs, ancient trade in, 42. 
 
 Gades, city of ancient Spain, 317. time of 
 its foundation, 318. its importance m 
 Phoenician commerce, 331. 
 
 GangeSf river of India, 6. 
 
 Gedrosia, rude country subject to Persia, 
 on coast of Indian Ocean, 173. the pro- 
 ductions of the soil, ib. inhabitants, 174. 
 modem Balloochees, 175. ^ 
 
 Gerrha, a Chaldean city, 433. Strabo s 
 account of it, 438. its ancient commerce. 
 
 Gold and silver, abundance of m Central 
 Asia, 26. in what districts found, Ib-- 
 32. trade of the Lydians in gold, 68. 
 2 H 2 
 
 silver mines of the Chalybians, 76. how 
 the Indians obtained gold, 180. gold 
 of Thasos, 211. Phoenician trade in 
 gold and silver, 328. gold of Arabia 
 Felix, 349. of desert of Cobi, 425. 
 Gustasp, an Eastern monarch to whom 
 Zoroaster has addressed most of his 
 writings, 237. resided at Bactra, 238. 
 not the same as Darius Hystaspis, 239. 
 his kingdom, 240. 
 
 Halicamassus, town of Doris, in Asia 
 
 Minor, 70. , • ^/j 
 
 Heniochi, tribe of ancient Cappadocia, 7b. 
 
 Herodotus, value of his testimony in Per- 
 sian history, 54. the minuteness of his 
 details accounted for, 56. his account 
 of the Persian satrapies, 62. of India 
 and its inhabitants, 192—196. of eariy 
 Persians, 213. of Babylon, 387. 
 
 Highways, ancient Asiatic, 20. 
 
 Hyrcania, district of Central Asia, 165. 
 
 Idumeans, nation of northern Arabia, 353. 
 their trade with the Phoenicians, ib. 
 Petra, 354. 
 
 Imaus, the modem Belur-tag or moun- 
 tains of Cashgar, 5. 
 
 India, Persian, 178. limits of the country, 
 179. the account Ctesias gives of the 
 inhabitants, 183. their commerce, 184. 
 Cashmir, 185. vale of, 186. countries 
 west of the Indus, 187. kingdom of 
 Cabul, 190. the Arabitae, 191. Smde, 
 193 account Herodotus gives of Indi- 
 ans, 192—196. the Padaei, 194. canni- 
 bals, 195. the expedition of Alexander, 
 196. the Panjab, ib. its condition m 
 time of Alexander, 198. manners, &c. 
 same then as now, 199. Nysa, ib. repub- 
 lican governments, 200, 201. Brach- 
 mans or Bramins, ib. the Rajpoots, i02. 
 constitution of the Seikhs, 203. war- 
 like character of Northem India, 205. 
 the Brahmans in the time of Alexan- 
 der, ib. , A • c 
 Indus, great river of Southern Asia, b. 
 
 Delta of, 193. , . 
 
 loniay so called from its Grecian colonies 
 of Ionian origin, 69. as a Persian pro- 
 vince not distinguished from the restol 
 Lydia, ib, splendour of its towns, tb. 
 lonians rivals of the Phoenicians m com- 
 merce, ib. the republican form of govern- 
 ment not efi"aced by the power of Per- 
 sia, ib. sometimes engaged on the side 
 of the Persians, ib. revolted in reign ot 
 Darius Hystaspis, and burnt city of Sar- 
 des, ib. the commercial cities of lonia 
 suffered to retain partial freedom under 
 the Persians, ib. what the form of their 
 government, 70. 
 
 I Languages, of Asia, how distributed geo- 
 
464 
 
 INDEX TO VOL. I. 
 
 i 
 
 graphically, 44. the Phrygian, 45. the 
 Grecian, spoken in great cities of Asia 
 Minor, i&. the Semitic, ib. its dialects, 46. 
 the Persian dialects, ib. the Zend, Pehl- 
 vi, and Parsi dialects, 47. the number 
 and variety of ancient dialects, 47, 48. 
 why ceased to be spoken, 49. 
 
 Libanus, mountain chain of Syria, 82. 
 valley of, ib. Anti-Libanus, ib. 
 
 Lycaonia, in Asia Minor, 72. was a steppe 
 impregnated with salt, 74. 
 
 Lycia^ district of southern coast of Asia 
 Minor, 80. but partially subject to the 
 Persians, ib. the form of government, i&. 
 
 LydianSi a powerful nation of Asia Minor, 
 60. Conquests of Croesus, t6. Lydia, 
 the richest Persian satrapy of Asia 
 Minor, 67. Sardes, capital of Lydia, 
 fd. the Lydians inventors of the art of 
 coining money, 68. the first to provide 
 places of public entertainment for fo- 
 reigners, ib. laxity of public morals, ib. 
 not a seafaring people, ib. their trade 
 in gold, &c., ib, district of Ionia, 69, 70. 
 
 JIfacrofie*, ancient tribe of Me8opotamia,87. 
 
 Magians, the priest-caste in religion of 
 Zoroaster, 221. a Median race, 22.3. 
 their oflBces, 247. their influence, 248. 
 their order established as early as 
 Cyrus, 249. their doctrines designated 
 as the laws of the Medes and Persians, 
 25 L their share in the royal councils, 
 252. their establishment in Babylonia, 
 410. their influence, 411. 
 
 Maracanda^ its ancient commercial im- 
 portance, 24. modem Samarcand, 169. 
 a chief mart of Asiatic commerce, 170. 
 
 JklassageUe, a pastoral nation of Eastern 
 Asia, 26. possessed abundance of gold, 
 29. and of brass, but no iron, 32. 
 
 Medea, a great nation of Ancient Asia, 
 nearly allied to the Persians, 59. their 
 empire more ancient than that of the 
 Lydians, 60. limits of their empire not 
 easily defined, ib. a variety of nations 
 subject to them, ib. their government 
 one of satrapies, ib. their mode of col- 
 lecting tribute, 6L their religion the 
 Magian, ib. their courts, ib. what re- 
 gions their empire embraced, »6., 158. 
 the Median horses, ib. Ecbatana capital 
 of Media, 160. to what people the term 
 Medes applied, 208. the influence of 
 the Medes on the Persians, 221. the 
 Medo-Persian monarchy, ib. the Ma- 
 gians, 247. 
 
 Mesopotamia^ a vast region of Western 
 Asia, so called firom its situation be- 
 tween the two great rivers Tigris and 
 Euphrates, 84. this appellation not 
 known to the Persians, 85. the natural 
 features and productions of the country, 
 ib. its chief towns, ib. district of Baby- 
 
 lonia, 86. tribe of the Carduchi, ib. the 
 Chaldoei, 87. the Phasiani and Taochi, 
 ib. the Macrones, ib. the Colchi, ib. the 
 Mosynaeci, ib. the Chalybes, ib. Arme- 
 nia, ib., 88. 
 
 Miletus, a Grecian city of Caria, in Asia 
 Minor, 70. its opulence, ib. its colonies 
 and fleets, ib. colony of Cyzicus, 71. 
 
 Monarchies, the ancient Asiatic, erected 
 chiefly by nomad nations, 11. causes 
 of their rise and decline, 13. their con- 
 stitution, 13, 14, 15. their despotic go- 
 vernments, 15, 16. 
 
 Mongols, tribes of Central Asia, 7. not to 
 be confounded with the Tartars, ib. 
 their predatory habits, 12. extent of 
 their power, 14. customs as conquerors, 
 15. scribes of their kings, 55. 
 
 Mountains of Asia, 3 — 5. abounding in 
 precious metals, 26. Libanus, 82. Tau- 
 rus, 4, 27, 84. Altaic range, 4, 28. 
 Caucasus, 4, 27, 47. 
 
 Mysia, a country in Asia Minor, 71. a 
 satrapy of the Persian empire, after- 
 wards called Phrygia on the Hellespont, 
 «6. its inhabitants, ib. fertility of its soil, 
 ib. its importance to the Persians, ib. 
 
 Natalia. See Asia Minor. 
 
 Navigation, river navigation of Asia in- 
 ferior to that of Europe, 19. of Phoeni- 
 cians, 325. of Babylonians, 428. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, 383. 
 epoch of his works, 396. account given 
 by Josephus, 402. his father Nabopo- 
 lassar, 403. 
 
 Nehemiahi Book of, contains edicts of 
 Persian kings, 53. notice of Syria un- 
 der the Persians, 83. 
 
 Nomad tribes of Central Asia, their ha- 
 bits, &c., modified by peculiarities of the 
 soil, 8. their institutions, 9. their influ- 
 ence, ib. nomad life almost unknown in 
 Southern Asia, 11. power of nomad 
 tribes, 12. 
 
 Ophir, uncertainty of its geographical 
 
 position, 334. a name of indefinite use, 
 
 335. Tyrian trade, 334. 
 Oxus, or Jihoon, river of Western Asia, 
 
 6. divided into currents for the purpose 
 
 of irrigation, 89. 
 
 Pactolus, river of Lydia, 27. furnishes 
 gold, 68. 
 
 Palestine, inhabitants of, 82. character of 
 their territory, ib. Libanus, t6. trade 
 with Phoenicians, 362. articles of com- 
 merce, ib. com of Holy Land, 363. 
 Jews never at war with Phoenicians, ib. 
 
 Palmyra, city of Syria, 82. to what period 
 belongs, 359, 365. 
 
 Pamphylia, country of Asia Minor, 80. its 
 sea-coast a station for Persian fleets, ib. 
 
 J 
 
 INDEX TO VOL. I. 
 
 465 
 
 Paphlagonia, country of Asia Mmor, 78. 
 its cavalry reckoned the best in Asia, 
 ib. never completely subdued by Per- 
 sians, ib. Sinope, a Milesian colony, ib. 
 
 Parataceni, a mde tribe of ancient Asia, 
 
 157, 158. ^ 
 
 Paropamisus, ancient name lor the moun- 
 tains of Cabul and Candahar, 5. 
 
 Parthia, province of Persian empire, 165. 
 
 Pasargada, ruins on the plain of Persepo- 
 lis, 94. meaning of the word, 136. its 
 situation, 137. remains, 139. tomb of 
 Cyms, 140. Persian kings consecrated 
 
 here, 143. . 
 
 Pasargada, noblest of the Persian tribes, 
 214. chiefly composed the king's house- 
 hold, 254. ancient authors refer to them 
 as " the Persians," 255. 
 Pearls, and pearl fisheries, 36, 444. 
 Persepolis, a splendid city of ancient 
 Persia, supposed to have been its me- 
 tropolis, 91. obscurity attending its his- 
 tory, ib. not mentioned by ancient au- 
 thors till the time of its fall, ib. its 
 situation, 92. mins of the plain of Per- 
 sepolis, — those with Arabic and Neo- 
 Persic inscriptions, 93. those of the era 
 of the Sassanian princes, ib., 94. those 
 of the old Persian period, 94. of the 
 palace of Persepolis, ib. called by the 
 Arabs Chehl-Menar, ib. their situation, 
 &c., 95. description of them, 95 — 135. 
 the name, Persepolis, 136. general re- 
 marks on its remains, 136 — 154. 
 Persians^ paucity of their historical re- 
 cords, 53. their historians belong chiefly 
 to other nations, ib. Xenophon, Ctesias, 
 Herodotus, as Persian historians, 54. 
 what kind of records the Persians pos- 
 sessed, 55. scribes of their kings, ib. 
 their chronicles, 56. edicts in many 
 languages, 57. modem records, 58. 
 origin of Persian empire, 59. maintained 
 its supremacy for two centuries, ib. 
 Cyms their first king, ib., 61. their con- 
 stitution at first crude, 62. partition of 
 the empire into provinces, ib. regular 
 system of tribute first constituted m 
 reign of Darius Hystaspis, ib. the Indus 
 formed at all times the eastern bound- 
 ary of Persian empire, 64. its natural 
 boundaries, ib. the empire divided by 
 the Euphrates, ib. Asia Minor under 
 the Persians, 65—81. the provinces 
 comprised under the general name of 
 Persia, 88. ancient names of Persia, ib., 
 89. extensively irrigated by art, 89. its 
 climate and soil, 90. Persepolis, 90— 
 135. Pasargada, 94, 136—144. Persian 
 remains generally, 147—154. 
 Persian empire, constitution of, 207. ori- 
 gin of the Persians, ib. a distinct race 
 from the Medes, 209. the Medo-Persian 
 races, ib. the Zendavesta, ib. its account 
 
 of early history of the human race, 210. 
 Jemshid said to have been their earliest 
 king, 212. the Persian constitution not 
 of rapid growth, ib. notice of early Per- 
 sians by Herodotus, 213. their various 
 tribes, 214. the Persian nation un- 
 equally civilized, ib. influence of dis- 
 tinction of tribe, 215. revolt of Persians 
 against the Medes, ib. Cyrus, 217. his 
 institutions, ib. collection of tribute, 
 218. maintenance of dominion by 
 standing armies, 219. by transplanting 
 conquered nations, ib. by inducing ef- 
 feminacy in the conquered, 220. influ- 
 ences which caused the Persians to 
 degenerate, ib. they were chiefly in- 
 structed by the Medes, 221. the Medo- 
 Persian monarchy, ib. influence of the 
 Magi, ib. disposition of the empire by 
 Cyrus at his death, 222. Cambyses, ib. 
 conspiracy of the Magians after his 
 death, 223, 224. Darius Hystaspis, 225. 
 division of empire first into satrapies, 
 226. Xerxes, ib. armaments against 
 Europe, 227. decay of military power, 
 ib. evil consequences of engaging mer- 
 cenary troops, t6. revolt of the satraps, 
 228. the cormption of the court, 229. 
 supremacy of the monarch in Persian 
 empire, 230. theories of government, 
 
 231. despotism of Eastern monarchs, 
 
 232, 233. modifying causes, ib., 2.34. 
 religion and legislation in ancient mon- 
 archies, 235. aim of their legislation to 
 restrain vice, ib. religion of Zoroaster, 
 236. time of his appearance, 237. Gus- 
 tasp not Darius Hystaspis, 238, 239. 
 period when doctrines of Zoroaster 
 adopted by Persians, 249. officers of the 
 Persian court, 253. their number, 254. 
 friends or kinsmen of the king, ib. the 
 economy of the harem, 256. its effect 
 on the succession, 257. and on public 
 affairs, 258. periodical removal of royal 
 households from one city to another, 
 259. parks of the kings, ib. court eti- 
 quette, 260. luxury of the royal table, 
 ib. the chase, 261. administration of the 
 provinces, ib. exaction of tribute, ib, 
 expenditure of the state, 266. govem- 
 mentby satraps, 269. their power, 270. 
 their duties, 271. their courts, 272. royal 
 scribes, 273. modes of communication 
 with the provinces, ib. gradual disaf- 
 fection of satraps, 274. military aff'airs 
 of Persia, 275. early expeditions, %b, 
 cavalry, 276. want of discipline, ib. 
 two kinds of forces, 277. military dis- 
 tribution of the empire, 278. facility of 
 assembling troops, ib. city garrisons, 
 279. decimal system of reckoning in the 
 army, 280. mercenary nomad tribes, 281 . 
 how the forces maintained, ib. military 
 distinctions, ib, native troops of the 
 
466 
 
 INDEX TO VOL. I. 
 
 INDEX TO VOL. I. 
 
 467 
 
 proYinces, 282. the whole force of the 
 empire at times united, 283. order of 
 march, 284. armies of Xerxes, 285. 
 
 Pe^a, ancient city of Idumea, 354. ac- 
 count of modem travellers, 355. 
 
 Phasianif tribe of ancient Mesopotamia, 
 87. 
 
 Phocaa^ town of Ionia, 69. 
 
 Phoenicians, ancient Asiatic nation, 289. 
 paucity of records relating to their his- 
 tory, ib. their territory, 292. city of 
 Aradus, 293. Tyre and Sidon, ib. their 
 internal government, 296, 299. Phoeni- 
 cian colonies, 302. Cyprus, 305. source 
 and direction of their colonization, 307. 
 the Tyrian Hercules, «*. no difficulty 
 in keeping their colonies in subjection, 
 310. period of founding colonies, 311. 
 Phoenicians often confounded with the 
 Carthaginians, 313. Phoenician colonies 
 in Sicily and Sardinia, 314. the Balearic 
 islands, »&. settlements in Spain, 315. 
 Tartessus, 316. Gades, 317. Carteia, 
 ib. Malaca and Hispalis, ib. colonies 
 the effect of commerce, 319. Carthage, 
 322. colonies in Asia, 323. navigation 
 of the Phoenicians, 325. influence of 
 piracy, ib. sea trade with Greece, 326. 
 trade of Greek colonies in Asia Minor, 
 
 327. limitations of Phoenician trade 
 with Greeks, ib. chief trade i^-ith Spain, 
 
 328. abundance of gold and silver, ib. 
 mode of carrying on their commerce, 
 331. Cassiterides, 321, 332. commercial 
 establishments of Africa, 333. of Arabian 
 and Persian Gulfs, ib. connexion of 
 Phoenicians with the Jews, 334. trade 
 with Ophir, 335. expedition of dis- 
 covery, 336. their manufactures and 
 land trade, 341. Tyrian dyes, 342. 
 manufacture of glass, 345. branches of 
 inland commerce, 346. Arabia, 347. 
 route of caravan trade, 352. Midianites, 
 353. Idumeans, ib, influence of lan- 
 guage on trade, 360. commerce with 
 Egypt, ib. trade in wine, 362. trade 
 wiUi Syria and Palestine, ib. Babylon, 
 364. Tubal and Meshech, 367. slave 
 trade, ib. Armenia, 368. 
 
 PhrygiUy on the Hellespont, Mysia so 
 called, 71. Great Phrygia, a Persian 
 satrapy, 72. antiquity and power of the 
 Phrygians, ib. an agricultural people, 
 ib. their flocks, ti., 73. capital of Phry- 
 gia, Cela^nae, ib. 
 
 Polygamy y its tendency to promote des- 
 potism, 16 — 18. its absence in Europe 
 the cause of greater freedom, 18. 
 
 Pontus, province of Asia Minor, 76. con- 
 tained many tribes, ib, the Heniochi, 
 »6. the Chalybians, ib. the Tibareni, 77. 
 
 Preciotts atones^ 32 — 36. of the Baby- 
 lonians, 420. pearl fisheries, 36, 444. 
 
 Riters of Asia, 5, 6. the Indus at all 
 times the eastern boundary of Persian 
 empire, 64. Euphrates, ib. Pactolus, 
 contains gold, 68. 
 
 Sardes, capital of ancient Lydia, 67. the 
 seat of the Persian satrap, ib. not dis- 
 tinguished for magnificence, ib, its ter- 
 ritory rich, ib. a commercial city, ib. 
 mart for slaves, ib. reduced to ashes in 
 reign of Darius Hystaspis, 69. 
 
 Satrapies, provinces of Persian empire, 
 first defined in reign of Darius Hystas- 
 pis, 62. the financial and territorial 
 division into satrapies coincident, ib. 
 value of Herodotus*8 account of this 
 division, ib. a catalogue of the satrapies 
 may be compiled from Xenophon and 
 Arrian, 63. their number as stated in 
 the book of Esther, ib. satrapies of 
 Asia Minor, 65 — 81. how the court of 
 the satraps was maintained, 264. 
 
 Scribes, of Persian kings, 55. of Mongol 
 kings, ib, 
 
 Siberia, 6. mines of, 28 — 32. 
 
 Silk, ancient use of, 38 — 40, 
 
 Smyrna, city of Ionia, 69. 
 
 Sogdiana, northernmost province of Persia, 
 167. its commerce, 168. present con- 
 dition of the country, 169. city of Ma- 
 racanda, ib, 
 
 Spain, its ancient commerce with Phoeni- 
 cians, 315, 328. Gades, 315. Tartessus, 
 316. abundance of silver and gold, 328. 
 other productions, 330. 
 
 Spices, used in sacrifices, 43. abundance 
 in Arabia, 348. cinnamon, 350, 443. 
 ancient growth of and trade in frank- 
 incense, 351. 
 
 Susiana, province of Persian empire, 154. 
 inhabited by the Cissii, 155. nature of 
 the country, ib. city of Susa, ib. its 
 situation, 156. called Memnonium, 157. 
 
 Syria, a wide region of Asia, including 
 several countries, 81. indefinite use of 
 the appellation Syria, ib. frequently 
 interchanged with the term Assyria, 
 ib. its limits, ib., 82. sometimes included 
 Palestine, 82. Coele-Syria, ib. cities of 
 Syria, 83. subjection of Syria to Persia, 
 ib. seems sometimes to have formed a 
 single satrapy, ib. at other times to have 
 been divided into two governments, ib. 
 its maritime towns, 84. their state under 
 the Persians, ib. Phoenician trade, 363. 
 natural productions of the coimtry, ib, 
 
 Taochi, tribe of Mesopotamia, 87. 
 
 Tartars, tribe of Central Asia, 7. 
 
 Tartessus, ancient name for district and 
 town in Spain, 315. uncertainty in use 
 of the name, 316. not to be considered 
 the same as Tarshish, 318. 
 
 Taunts, mountain range, 4. not rich in 
 
 gold, 27. northern boundary of Mesopo- 
 tamia, 84. . , « J • T? 
 
 Tibareni, tribe of ancient Cappadocia, 77. 
 their territory, ib. city of Comana, tb, 
 their government, ib, . • c 
 
 Tigris, great river of Southern Asia, b. 
 description of the river, 372. irrigation 
 of the land by its waters, 373. canals, 
 ib, lakes, 375. how connected with the 
 Euphrates, 377. its entrance rendered 
 inaccessible by the Babylonians, 447. 
 
 Tylos and Aradus, islands of the Persian 
 Gulf, 434. their productions, 441. 
 
 Tyre, city of Phoenicia, 294. besieged by 
 Nebuchadnezzar, ib, taken by Alex- 
 ander, 295. its temple, ib, its govern- 
 ment, 296, 299. description of Tyre by 
 Ezekiel, 298, 301. catalogue of its kings 
 in Josephus, 299. magistrates, &c., 300. 
 its colony of Carthage, ib. its mercenary 
 troops, 305. Cyprus, ib. the Tyrian 
 Hercules, 307. the Tyrian dyes, 342. 
 
 Wool, ancient manufacture of, 41, 42. 
 Indian wool, 184. wool of Syria, 363. 
 of Arabia, 364. 
 
 Xenophon, his works relating to Persian 
 history, 53. 
 
 Xerxes, successor of Darius Hystaspis, 
 king of Persia, 226. state of the empire 
 during his reign, ib., 227. decay of mili- 
 tary power, ib. effect of mercenary 
 troops, ib. the nations composing hi 
 armies, 285. 
 
 Zarangeei, a rude tribe of ancient Asia, 
 176. their territory, ib, 
 
 Zendavesta, collection of sacred books of 
 Persians, 209. its account of the original 
 seat of human race, 210. Jemshid 
 earliest of the kings, 212. gentiineness 
 of the books, 236. 
 
 Zoroaster, religion of, 130. its teachings 
 concerning the dead, 134. its wide in- 
 fluence, 236. age in which Zoroaster 
 appeared, 237. evidence from his own 
 works, 238. lived under a despotic go- 
 vernment, 242. his system, 243. its 
 leading idea, 244. reigns of Ormuzd 
 and Ahriman, ib. division of castes, 
 246. the Magians, 247. their influ- 
 ence, 248. time at which his doctrines 
 adopted by Persians, 249. their gra- 
 dual reception by Persians, i&c, 250. 
 how the government affected by them, 
 252. 
 

 INDEX 
 
 TO 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 Alphabets of India, 104. of the Sanscrit 
 language, 105. not designed for inscrip- 
 tions, 106. 
 
 Araxes, the river, 19. 
 
 Argippaiy tribe of the, 14. account of 
 them by Herodotus, lA., 32. are now 
 the Cabnucks, 23. their country, 24. 
 their trade in furs, 30. 
 
 Arimaspi, ancient tribe of Northern Asia, 
 16. traditions respecting them, ib. 
 
 Brahma, Hindu divinity, 58. figures on 
 the temple of Elephanta, ib, his sect 
 opposed to worshippers of Buddha, 132. 
 the Brahmans, unlike the BudcUiists, 
 must marry, 134. worship of Brahma, 
 181. 
 
 Brahmans, caste of the, 220. their su- 
 periority, t6., 223. veneration in which 
 held, ib. their victory over the warrior 
 caste, 236. their religious establish- 
 ments, 237. their privileges, 244. their 
 dutie8,245. organization of the caste,246. 
 
 Bucharia, Great, or Tartary, 17. various 
 tribes, 18. 
 
 Buddha, Hindu deity, 65. temple of Sal- 
 sette dedicated to him, ib. his statue at 
 Carli, 67. temples in Ceylon, ib. estab- 
 lishment of sect of Buddha, 132. its 
 antiquity, 133. modem religion of 
 Buddha, 134. monastic order of priests, 
 ib. expulsion of the Buddhists, 135. 
 
 Bttdini, tribe of ancient Asia, 12. their 
 territory, ib, their chief city, ib. not to 
 be confounded with the Geloni, ib. 
 were hunting people, 27. 
 
 Calidasa, Hindu dramatic poet, 188. his 
 Sacontala, 191. time at which he lived, 
 193. has been called the Hindu Shaks- 
 peare, 196. his influence on the drama, 
 197. his poem Ritusanhara, 198, other 
 works of his, 205. 
 
 Carli, temple grotto of, 66. described by 
 Lord Yalentia« i6. 
 
 Castes of India, 219. the Brahmans, 220. 
 th« Kshatriyas, or warrior caste, ib. the 
 Vaisyas, or mechanics, ib. the Sudras, 
 or inferior caste, ib. this classification 
 found in the laws of Menu, 242. general 
 distinctions, 243. laws respecting mar- 
 riage, ib. intermarriage of castes, 244. 
 privileges of Brahmans, ib. the Ksha- 
 triyas almost extinct, 246. fimctions of 
 this caste, 247. of the Vaisyas, 248. of 
 the Sudras, ib. mixed castes, 249. per- 
 petuation of castes, 252. 
 
 Ceylon, island of, 67. its rock temples, ib. 
 its ancient commerce, 298, 417, Appen- 
 dix XL its pearl fisheries, 298. ' 
 
 Chalambron, pagoda of, 94. description 
 of it, 95. period of its construction, 96. 
 
 Commerce of the Scythians, 21. Greek 
 cities on the Black Sea, ib. slave mar- 
 kets, 22. com, ib. trade in furs, 23, 30. 
 caravaji trade, 24. route of Scythian 
 commerce, ib, Russian caravans, 25. 
 the Jugrians, 28. navigation, 32. com- 
 merce of the Argippaei, ib. of the Isse- 
 dones, 33. commerce of India, 265. 
 account given by Arrian, 266. social 
 position of merchants, ib. internal 
 commerce of the country, 267. articles 
 of commerce, ib. abimdance of gold 
 and silver, 268. use of coined money, 
 269. precious stones, 270. pearls and 
 pearl fisheries, 271. trade in ivory, ib, 
 art of weaving, 272. variety of fabrics, 
 t*. use of bark of trees, 274. rice, ib. 
 other articles of food, ib. intoxicating 
 liquors, 275. wine, ib. spices, 276. per- 
 fumery, t*. female slaves, 277. trans- 
 portation of goods, 278. caravans, ib. 
 navigation, ib., 284. intercourse by sea, 
 
 279. commerce affected by religion, ib. 
 depots and places of mercantile resort, 
 
 280. Tagara and Pluthana, 281. chief 
 commercial routes, 282. commerce of 
 India in time of the Ptolemies, ib. want 
 of enterprise, 283. foreign trade, 285. 
 
 INDEX TO VOL. II. 
 
 469 
 
 trade with China, 285. route of that 
 trade, 287. trade in skins, 293. in the 
 betel-nut, ib. the Sesatae, 294. the Ul- 
 tra-Gangetic peninsula, 296. trade of 
 Ceylon, 298. commercial ports, 299. 
 trade of India with Arabia and Egypt, 
 300. with coast of Africa, 301. com- 
 merce of Palmyra, 392, Appendix IX. 
 of Ceylon, 416, Appendix X. commer- 
 cial routes of ancient Asia, 450, Ap- 
 pendix XIII. 
 
 Deogur, or Dowlatabad, pagodas of, 91. 
 a great commercial station, 281. 
 
 Drama, Hindu, 190. its antiquity, 192. its 
 most brilliant period, 193. the Sacon- 
 tala, 194. abundance of dramatic writ- 
 ings, 192. Calidasa, 196. his influence 
 on the drama, 197. 
 
 Elephanta, rock temple of, 56. Niebuhr*8 
 descriptions of it, 57. antiquity of its 
 representations, 61. 
 
 EUora, temples of, 68. described by Malet, 
 ib. by Daniells, 69. the Hindu Pan- 
 theon, 70. time of its constmction, 71. 
 plan of the temples, 73. object of their 
 erection, 74. the Hindu sculpture, 75. 
 inscriptions, 76, 104. 
 
 Furs, ancient trade in, 23. market of the 
 Argippaei, 30. 
 
 Herodotus, value of his account of the 
 Scythians, 5. 
 
 Eitopadesa, Hindu fables, 200. " the Fa- 
 bles of Pilpay," ib. their subjects, 
 &c., ib, 
 
 Indians, sources of information respecting 
 them, 45. their abundance, 46. isolation 
 of the Hindus as a nation, 47. their 
 mental habits, ib. their antiquity, 49. 
 their chronology not to be trusted, ib. 
 Grecian sources of information, 50. 
 monuments of Indian architecture, 51. 
 labours of Englishmen, ib. Hodges, 52. 
 Niebuhr, ib. Gough, ib. Lord Valentia, 
 53. Sir W. Jones, ib. the Asiatic So- 
 ciety, ib. Daniells, ib. M. Langlfes, 54. 
 classes of Hindu architecture, 55. rock 
 temples, ib. temple of Elephanta, 56. 
 Niebuhr's descriptions of it, 57. temple 
 of Salsette, 64. of Carii, 66. of Ellora, 
 68. Hindu sculpture, 75. temples of 
 Mavalipuram, 78. Maliarpha, 83. pago- 
 das, 84. architecture of India, 85. the 
 Mongols, 86. pagodas of Deogur, 91. 
 of Tanjore, ib. of Ramiseram, 92. of 
 Madura, 93. of Jaganatha, ih. of Cha- 
 lambron, 94. of Java, 98. inscribed pil- 
 lars, 100. inscriptions, ib. variety of 
 alphabets, 104. writing materials, 106. 
 different languages, 107. Vicramaditya, 
 2 I 
 
 116. literature of India, 119. the Vedas, 
 121. Hindu sects, 132. legislation, 136. 
 code of Menu, ib. philosophy, 139. the 
 Sastras, ib. sciences taught by the Vedas, 
 141. dictionaries, 142. geography of 
 Hindus, ib. astronomy, 146. poetry, 
 147. the Ramayana, 148. the Maha- 
 bharata, 158. Hindu mythology, 168. the 
 Puranas, 173. worship of Brahma, 181. 
 of Vishnu, 182. of Siva, ib. lyric poetry, 
 185. dramatic poetry, 190. Calidasa, 
 191. didactic poetry, 197. Sanscrit li- 
 terature, 202. its antiquity, ib. collec- 
 tion of Hindu books by Calidasa, 205. 
 reign of Vicramaditza, 206, 235. history 
 of Hindus, 210. dearth of records, ib. 
 kings of Maghada or Behar, 211. un- 
 certainty of Hindu chronology, 212. 
 Hamilton's researches, ib. genealogies, 
 213. Abulfazl, 214. Buddhist wTitings, 
 21 6. researches of English scholars, 217. 
 origin of the Indian nation, 219. castes, 
 220, 244. war between the Cores and 
 the Pandos, 224. original state of the 
 empire, 225. its geography, ib. its capi- 
 tal city, 226. different dynasties, 227. 
 the kingdom of Maghada, 229. invasion 
 of Alexander, 231. the river Palibothra, 
 232. the conqueror Sandracottus, 233. 
 obscurity of succeeding ages, 236. pro- 
 gress of various religious sects, 237. in- 
 creased knowledge of India at time of 
 Roman empire, 239. early condition of 
 Hindu states, 240. information derived 
 from the Ramayana, ib. sacerdotal su- 
 premacy, 241. code of Menu, ib, func- 
 tions of the different castes, 242. multi- 
 plication of castes, 250. tribes of different 
 origin, ib. polygamy, its influence, 252. 
 monogamy, 253. monarchical form of 
 government, 255. limits to power of 
 king, 256. habits of the court, ib. of- 
 ficers of the rajah, 257. government of 
 townships, 258. their revenue, ib. their 
 public functionaries, 259. the king, 261. 
 his power and judicial authority, ib. 
 how far the proprietor of the soil, 262. 
 laws of tenure, ib. revenue of the king, 
 264. taxes and custom-dues, ib. ele- 
 ments of republicanism, t&. ancient 
 commerce of India, 265. its internal 
 trade, 267. abundance of the precious 
 metals, 268. coinage, 269. precious 
 stones, 270. pearl fisheries, 271. ivory, 
 ib. manufacture of cloth fabrics, 272. 
 variety of materials used for clothing, 
 274. rice, ib. other articles of food, ib. 
 sugar-cane, 275. intoxicating drinks, ib. 
 wine, ib. spices, 276. perfumes, ib. use 
 of elephants, 278. caravans, ib. navi- 
 gation, ib., 284. sea-trade, 279. effect 
 of religion on commerce, ib. great marts, 
 280. Tagara and Pluthana, 281. com- 
 mercial routes, 282. state of commerce 
 
 ^ 
 
470 
 
 INDEX TO VOL II. 
 
 INDEX TO VOL. II. 
 
 471 
 
 : 
 
 l! 
 
 in time of the Ptolemies, 282. lack of en- 
 terprise, 283. foreign trade, 285. trade 
 with China, ib, how carried on, 287. 
 tower of Chihel-Sutim, 288. ancient na- 
 vigation of the Ganges, 291. trade in 
 slans, 293. the betel-nut, ib. the Sesatae, 
 294. trade of Ultra-Gangetic peninsula, 
 296. trade of Ceylon, ib. Indian trade 
 with Arabia and Egypt, 300. with 
 Africa, 301. in gold, 302. affinity be- 
 tween the Hindus and Egyptians, 303. 
 in race, ib. in political constitution, 304. 
 in mythology, 305. in art, 306. in liter- 
 ature, 307. in customs and manner of 
 life, 308. migrations, 310. were the 
 Egyptians of Hindu origin ? ib. the com- 
 mercial routes of ancient Asia, 450, 
 Appendix XIII. 
 
 InscriptioMf ancient Hiadu, 100. that at 
 Gya in Behar, 101. age of inscriptions, 
 103. chronology in use, ib. inscriptions 
 of India not hieroglyphics, 106. are 
 read from left to right, ib. Zend inscrip- 
 tions of Persepolis, 319. 
 
 lisedones, tribe of the, 15. their customs, 
 ib. their territory, 16. were not war- 
 like, 33. 
 
 Jaganatha^ pagoda of, commonly called 
 Juggernaut, 93. its antiquity, tb. 
 
 Java^ antiquities of, 98. Brahmanical 
 temples, «6. 
 
 Jayadeva, Hindu lyric poet, 188. the Gita 
 Govinda, ib. 
 
 Jugrians, ancient tribe on N. E. of Rus- 
 sia, 28. their modern names, ib. their 
 commerce, 29. 
 
 Jurca^ tribe of the, 13. fond of the chase, 
 27. not the same people as the Ju- 
 grians, 29. 
 
 Languages of India, 107. how formed, ib. 
 the Bengali, ib. the Mahratta, ib. the 
 Telinga, ib. the Hindustani, ib. the 
 Sanscrit, 103, 108. 
 
 Lawa^ Hindu, 136. legislation of the Ve- 
 das, ib. code of Menu, ib. 
 
 Literature, Hindu, 119. pre-eminence of 
 Sanscrit language, 120. the Vedas, 121. 
 Hindu law, 136. study of philosophy, 
 139. the Sastras, ib. Sanscrit grammar, 
 141. lack of historical works, 142. geo- 
 graphy of the Hindus, ib. astronomy 
 146. work of Surya Siddhanta, ib. 
 woiks in verse, ib. poetry, 147. its in- 
 fluence, ib. the Ramayana, 148. subject 
 of the poem, ib. Valmiki, 158. the Ma- 
 ha-bharata, ib. Hindu mythology, 167. 
 the Puranas, 173. antiquity of Hindu 
 literature, 179, 202. lyric poetry, 185. 
 the Mega Duta, 187. Jayadeva, 188. 
 the Gita Govinda, ib. dramatic poetry, 
 190. the Sacontala, ib. Calidasa, 194. 
 his influence on the drama, 197. didac- 
 
 tic poetry, 197. the Baghavat Gita, ib. 
 Ritusanhara, 198. the Hitopadesa or 
 " Fables of Pilpay," 200. Sanscrit li- 
 terature must have belonged to a high- 
 ly cultivated people, 202. what its ex- 
 act age, 203. age of the Vedas, »4. the 
 epic period, ib. difficulties in preserv- 
 ation of books, 204. collection of books 
 by Calidasa, 205. age of Vicramaditya, 
 206. last age of Sanscrit literature, 207. 
 Rhadacanta Sarman, 211. Hamilton's 
 researches, 212. Abulfazl, 214. Budd- 
 hist writings, 216. the book llajavali, 
 ib. the Surya Siddhanta, 217. code of 
 Menu, 240. the Periplus Maris Ery- 
 thrcei, 265. points of resemblance be- 
 tween the literature of tlie Hindus and 
 that of the Egyptians, 307. the Zenda- 
 vesta, 314. the Indian words occurring 
 in Ctesias, 360, Appendix IV. the words 
 Pasargada and Persepolis, 373, Appen- 
 dix V. the latest additions to Sanscrit 
 literature, 412, Appendix X. sources of 
 Ptolemy's geography, 440, Appendix 
 
 Madura, pagoda of, 93. 
 
 Mahabharat, Hindu epic poem, 82. its 
 subject, 159. time of its composition, 
 167. the author, 168. 
 
 Massageta, nation of ancient Asia, 19. ac- 
 count of Herodotus, ib., 32. expedition 
 of Cyrus against them, 19. of Mongol 
 extraction, 20. 
 
 Mavalipuram, temples of, 78. modem ac- 
 counts of, ib. Mr. Goldingham's ac- 
 count, 80. the buildings partially de- 
 stroyed, 81. ancient prominence of this 
 place, ib» antiquity of the temples, ib. 
 their sculptures, 82. its great commer- 
 cial importance, 298. 
 
 Menu, laws of, 136. their origin and anti- 
 quity, 137. not the work of one person, 
 ib. their contents, ib. written in San- 
 scrit, ib, when compiled, 138. 
 
 Navigation, of the Caspian, ancient, 32, 
 maritime trade of Asia, ib. the most 
 ancient navigation of the Persian Gulf, 
 385, Appendix VII. the voyages of the 
 Carthaginians and Phoenicians to Bri- 
 tain, 387, Appendix VIII. 
 
 Niebuhr, the historian, 52. his account of 
 the temple of Elephanta, 57. 
 
 Pagodas, religious buildings of Hindus, 
 84. what their age, 86. form of oldest, 
 87, edifices in their neighbourhood, 88. 
 improvement in construction of pago- 
 das, 89. pagodas of Coromandel, 90. of 
 Deogur, 91. of Tanjore, ib. of Ramise- 
 ram, 92. of Madura, 93. of Jaganatha, 
 ib. progress of architecture, 94. pagoda 
 of Chalanibron, t*. 
 
 Palmyra, commerce of, 393, Appendix 
 
 IX. ruins of, 401. 
 Pasargada, and Persepolis, 350. tomb of 
 Cyrus, ib. the meaning and use of tlie 
 word Pasargadee, 373. 
 Persepolis, inscriptions of, 319, Appendix 
 II. use of the word Persepolis, 373, 
 Appendix V. Herder's Persepolis, 377, 
 Appendix VI. 
 Philosophy, Hindu, 139. the Sastras, ib. 
 study of dialectics, 140. sciences taught 
 by the Vedas, 141. absence of histori- 
 cal works, 143. astronomy, 146. the 
 Bhagavat Gita, 197. 
 Pillars, ancient use of them by Hindus, 
 
 100. pillar of Buddal in Bengal, »6. 
 Poetry, Hindu, 147. its influence, ib. the 
 Ramayana, 148. the Mahabharata, 158. 
 character of Hindu poetry, 167. of the 
 epics, 172. the Puranas, 173. lyric 
 poetry, 185. the Mega Duta, 187. 
 Jayadeva, 188. the Gita Govinda, ib. 
 dramatic poetry, 190. the Sacontala, ib. 
 didactic poetry, 197. the Bhagavat 
 Gita, ib. the Hitopadesa, 200. 
 Ptolemy, his Geography, its sources, 440, 
 
 Appendix XII. 
 Puranas, Hindu poems, 173. their num- 
 ber, ib. description of them, 174. the 
 Matsya Purana, ib. the Brahma Pu- 
 rana, ib. the Agiii Purana, ib. the Ka- 
 lika Purana, 175. the Bhagavat Purana, 
 ib. the character of these compositions, 
 176. they are the chief sources of 
 Hindu mythology, ib. period of their 
 composition, ib. are compilations, 177. 
 but imperfectly known, 179. 
 
 Ramayana, Hindu epic poem, 148. sub- 
 ject of the poem, 149. its author, Val- 
 miki, 158. age of its composition, ib. 
 
 Bamiseram, pagodas of, 92. Lord Va- 
 lentia's description of them, ib. 
 
 Sacontala, Hindu dramatic poem, 190. its 
 author, 194. its subject, 195. and form 
 of composition, 196. 
 
 Salsette, grotto temples of, 64. description 
 of, ib. its inscriptions, 65. the temple 
 dedicated to Buddha, ib. 
 
 Sanscrit, inscriptions, 103. those in tem- 
 ple of Ellora, 104. different alphabets, 
 105. modem study of Sanscrit, 108. na- 
 ture of the language, 109. its stmcture, 
 110, reverence for it. 111. was a living 
 language, ib. was it an aboriginal lan- 
 guage ? 112. was developed in India, 113. 
 and extensively vemacular, 114. Lejr- 
 den's researches, 115. antiqukty oC the 
 Sanscrit, 116, 202. in what' age 'de- 
 veloped, 116. causes of its decay, 117. 
 the Bhasha, 118. the Bengali, ?J?, gh^ 
 
 Pracrit, 120. Sanscrit literati;ie' ^; ^6 
 
 • • • • • 
 
 Vedas, 121. Sanscrit grammar, 141. 
 Panini, ib. dictionaries, 142. Hindu 
 books chiefly in verse, 146. poetry, 147. 
 its influence, ib. the Ramayana, 148. 
 the Mahabharata, 158. the Puranas, 
 173. value and extent of Sanscrit liter- 
 ature, 202. what the exact age at which 
 it flourished, 203. age of the Vedas, ib. 
 the Epic age, ib. collection of books by 
 Calidasa, 205. age of Vicramaditya, 
 206. last age of Sanscrit literature, 207. 
 Abulfazl, 214. Buddhist writings, 216. 
 the book Rajavali, ib. chronology of the 
 Hindus, 211, 217. the Surya Siddhanta, 
 ib. the latest additions to Sanscrit liter- 
 ature, 412, Appendix X. 
 
 Sarmatians, tribe of the, 11. their coun- 
 try, ib. 
 
 Scythians, indefinite application of the 
 name, 3. nomad tribes of Central Asia, 
 4. value of the accounts given by He- 
 rodotus, 5. number of Scythian tribes, 
 ib. their origin, 6. their early expedi- 
 tions, ib. geographical position of the 
 tribes, 7. nations surrounding them, 10. 
 the Budini, 12. the Thyssagetae, 13. the 
 Jurcae, t6. the Argippaei, 14. the Isse- 
 dones, 15. the Arimaspi, 16. the Scy- 
 thians called SacsB by the Persians, 19. 
 the MassagetsB, ib. the commerce of the 
 Scythians, 21. Greek cities on the Black 
 Sea, ib. slave marts, 22. trade in com, 
 ib. in furs, 23. trade by caravans, 24. 
 the Jugrians, 28. 
 
 Siva, or Mahadeva, Hindu god, 58. re- 
 presentations on temple of Elephanta, 
 ib. that temple dedicated to him, 61. 
 temple at Salsette, 65. at Ellora, 69. 
 probably the most ancient of Hindu 
 deities, 132. descrij)tion of Siva, 182. 
 
 Slavery, 22. slave markets, ib. 
 
 Tanais, or Don, river of ancient Scythia, 
 6,11. 
 
 Tanjore, pagodas of, 91. of Chalambron 
 in district of Tanjore, 94. 
 
 Temples, Hindu, 51. different classes of 
 them, 55. rock temple of Elephanta, 
 56. of Salsette, 64. of Carli, 66. of 
 Ellora, 68. pagodas, 84. improvement 
 in architecture, 94. temples of Java, 
 98. 
 
 ThyssagetcB, tribe of the, 13. their coun- 
 try, ib. their mode of life, ib. account 
 given by Herodotus, ib. their habits in 
 hunting, 27. 
 
 • • 
 
 , tr^/ Jf««geCa^i*; 1|. 
 
 ' *f*e3fes' s?icred*ly5olA Of the Hindus, 121. 
 
 their antiquity, ib. our acquaintance 
 
 ', .V^fli* tlfen>*f«ri5)A2(?c(; ib. their differ- 
 
 ..•e4f paiT,s,.'jf^2: tfieirVontents, ib. ac- 
 
 • • • • • • • 
 
 !| 
 
 • • • 
 
 
 • « • 
 
 ••. 
 
 • • 
 
 
I 
 
 47g 
 
 INDEX TO VOL. U. 
 
 count of them by Anquetil du Perron, 
 124. are by various authors, 125. by 
 whom compiled, 126. their age, 127, 
 203. early interpolations, 128. to what 
 form of worship attached, 129. the 
 sources of Hindu sacerdotal religion, 
 ib. not to be read by the people, 130. 
 corruptions in the religion of the 
 Vedas, 131. influence of the poets, 
 ib. Hindu sects, 132. the Vedas are 
 scientific as well as religious, 135. 
 
 and source of Hindu legislation, ib. 
 
 code of Menu, 137. the Sastras, 140. 
 Vendidat, Appendix I., 314. 
 Vishnu, Hindu divinity, 57. his worship 
 
 at Mavalipuram, 80. origin of sect of 
 
 Vishnu, 132. traditions respecting him, 
 
 182. 
 
 Zend inscriptions, 319. 
 Zendaveata, Appendix I., 314. 
 
 . ». » 
 
 C • 4 
 
 • • • ■ • I 04 
 
 • • ( • ( 
 
 
 • • • JtlOHN. CHILDS /Nr serf, cBlXNGAY. 
 
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1 
 
 This book is due two weeks from the last date stamped 
 below, and if not returned at or before that time a fine of 
 five cents a dav will be incurred. 
 
 
 COLUMBIA UNIVERS TY 
 
 0032261900 
 
 Heeren 
 
 Historical researches. 
 
 930 
 
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 w% m »'i |M ii ii n i j iii j w fmmffiiff^ 
 
 JUN 11 1934 
 
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 LIBRARY 
 
 GIVEN BY 
 
 -r>» .'X^yr^*>,^'^V^/l)tt 
 
m 
 
 >■-■/: 
 
 HEEREN'S 
 
 HISTORICAL RESEARCHES. 
 
 AFRICA. 
 
HISTORICAL RESEARCHES 
 
 INTO THE 
 
 POLITICS, INTERCOURSE, AND TRADE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS, ETHIOPIANS, 
 AND EGYPTIANS. 
 
 BY A. H. L. HEEREN. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN. 
 
 THE SECOND EDITION, 
 
 CORRECTED THROUGHOUT, AND TO WHICH 18 MOW FIRST ADDED AN INDEX, 
 NEW APPENDIXES, AND OTHER ADDITIONS. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 Wry g. bohn, york street, covent garden. 
 
 MDCCCLVII. 
 
 I 
 
TRANSLATORS PREFACE. 
 
 ^^0 
 
 am 
 
 W. JAMES PECK 
 
 June 7. 19li 
 
 Op the excellence of the work now presented to the English reader little needs 
 be said in this preface. The name of its author has long been most honourably 
 connected with the Uterature of Germany and of Europe. His works have been 
 pillaged to furnish matter for almost every respectable hterary periodical of the 
 age. This portion of them, in particular, has been described by a writer in one 
 of the leading critical journals of this country, as, " a work of the very highest 
 rank among those with which modern Germany has enriched the Uterature of 
 Europe."* The same writer adds, " This author unites the laborious erudition 
 of his countrymen with that animating spirit of real genius, which disposes into 
 harmonious order and quickens into Ufe that which, in meaner hands, lies in 
 dull and heavy masses of unintelligible, or at least unattractive, learning." In these 
 sentiments the translator of the following pages fully concurs. So long, indeed, 
 as the sage institutions of ancient nations shall find admirers ; so long as the 
 investigation of their poUcy, commerce, colonies, and legislation shall be con- 
 sidered as the proper training for eminence in our own courts of law and legis- 
 lative assemblies ; so long, indeed, as that sacred book, the Bible, shall be re- 
 garded as the foundation of our civility, our morals, and our hope ; so long must 
 the work now presented to the EngUsh reader be known and appreciated. 
 
 In the review which the author takes of the Carthaginian state, we see a re- 
 markable instance of the power, the opulence, the grandeur, and the political 
 importance to which a nation may rise by commerce and navigation alone ; and 
 England, which in so many striking particulars resembles Carthage, may read an 
 instructive lesson in her decline and fall, occasioned as it was by the corruption 
 of her government, the factious spirit of her aristocracy, the fkilure of her navy, 
 and the degeneracy of her citizens. 
 
 In the profound disquisition on the Ethiopians we see the whole frame- 
 work of the powerful government of the Pharaohs, in connexion with the the- 
 ocracy and its agents, the priest caste, traced up to its primary elements. Here 
 again we see, in its monuments and temples, the archetypes of the stately edi- 
 fices and the reUgion of Egypt. Here, too, are traced along the two banks of 
 the Nile, from Memphis to Meroe, city after city— the temples of gigantic mag- 
 nitude,— the grottoes or sepulchres hewn out of the soUd rock, with colossal 
 statues as their guardians -.—all these are so exhibited before us— in such order 
 and connexion— as to prove that civilization descended with the Nile from the 
 south J and that the same religion, the same arts, the same institutions, manners, 
 and civiUty, prevailed from almost the sources of that river till its junction with 
 the Mediterranean. The learned author portrays commerce as the parent of 
 
 JOHN GUILDS AND SON, PRINTERS. 
 
 » The Quarterly Review, No. LXXXV. 
 
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 such civilization, religion as its nurse, and the distant regions of the south as its 
 cradle. He compares Herodotus with the Sacred Writings, and describes 
 «• Ethiopia, the most distant region of the earth, whose inhabitants are the tallest, 
 most beautiful, and long-lived of the human race," ' as " the Sabeans, the men of 
 stature," of one prophet,* and as " the mighty men— the Ethiopians, that handle 
 the shield," of another;' and in other instances throws a considerable light on 
 the sacred text. 
 
 In the researches on the primeval and mysterious Egypt is laid before us a 
 concise but clear sketch of the first attempts at writing, together with the dis- 
 coveries of Young and ChampolUon in deciphering hieroglyphics— the land and 
 its inhabitants — their divisions — their occupations — their literature— their re- 
 ligion, their laws and poHty : — and, finally, the wonders of that land of marvels 
 — its pyramids, its majestic and solemn temples — the stupendous colossi and 
 monuments of the hundred-gated Thebes, are exhibited before us. 
 
 Considering the very interesting nature of these subjects, and the abihty and 
 learning displayed by Professor Heeren in their investigation and illustration, 
 it is. truly a matter of surprise that such a work has not before been made ac- 
 cessible to the English reader. 
 
 No one wishes more sincerely than he who has made this attempt, that it had 
 been done by some one better qualified for the office. The translation was 
 begun merely as a Hterary exercise, without any view to publication ; and was 
 continued solely ifrom the interesting nature of the work, and the pleasure felt 
 in its performance. 
 
 Of the high qualifications enumerated by a writer in the Quarterly Revieio as 
 necessary for the proper performance of this task, but few are possessed by 
 him who has undertaken it.* Nevertheless, he still hopes that what he has done 
 will be found to be a correct version of the German : and he is led to state this 
 with more confidence from its having received the sanction and commendation 
 of Professor Heeren himself. That learned gentleman, at the request of the 
 publisher of these volumes, kindly took upon himself the task of reading over 
 the sheets before pubhcation— a task to which his knowledge of the EngHsh lan- 
 guage rendered him competent, and which the numerous corrections he has 
 made, show him to have executed with much care and attention. Soon after 
 the fii-st thirteen sheets had been transmitted to him, the learned author writes, 
 «* I have read them with attention, and attest that they are made with a due 
 knowledge of the two languages, and with all the accuracy which I could 
 desire. I should be well content if the continuation should be executed with 
 the same diligence ; and if the whole of my works should be presented in this 
 form to the English pubhc." In a letter received a few days since, containing 
 the Professor's corrections and emendations of the whole of the first volume 
 and the principal part of the second, together with the Appendix IX., which 
 has never before been pubUshed, he again expresses his approbation of the 
 Enghsh version. A considerable part of the work was also revised by a gen- 
 tleman distinguished for his accompHshments, and his high attainments in clas- 
 sical and German Literature, whose name (were I at Hberty to mention it) 
 would give the reader entire confidence in this part of the work. 
 
 1 Herodotus, iiL 114. a Isaiah xlr. 14. » Jeremiah xlvi. 9. 
 
 * " We would gladly see the whole work made accessible to the English reader ; but it would require 
 no ordinary accomplishments to do so. Oriental, classical, and modem languages must be alike familiar 
 to the person who should undertake the task." Quarterly Review, No. LXXXV. p. 118, note. The 
 translator cannot but congratulate the public upon the able hands which the remaining parts of this 
 work are now in. 
 
 6 
 
 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 Besides the Appendix just mentioned, there is prefixed to this translation the 
 General Introduction of the author to his Reflections upon the Nations of 
 Antiquity, which, in the German, is found at the beginning of the volume on 
 the Persians. It has been thought proper to prefix it to this volume, as con- 
 taining a concise and general development of the first rise of states and govern- 
 ments; of the influence of religion in their formation, and of its beneficial effects 
 upon legislation ; of the origin of commerce, and of its offspring, civilization, 
 navigation, and finance. These particulars are so skilfully grouped, so lumin- 
 ously displayed, and the whole finished with so much judgment and taste, that 
 it altogether forms a fine historical picture. 
 
 Although the business of translating be perhaps the most humble connected 
 with hterature, yet some anxiety is naturally felt for the success of what has cost 
 us much labour. From this feeling the translator of the present work does not 
 profess to be exempt : perhaps it is increased by this being the first literary 
 attempt he has offered to the public. Nevertheless, as he has aimed at nothing 
 beyond clothing the ideas of another in an English dress, he expects no higher 
 praise than that of having executed his task with fidelity, and of having by so 
 doing contributed his feeble efforts for the advancement of knowledge. 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 In the Appendix VI. I have given the original Latin as well as an English 
 version of the portions of Avienus, which Prof. Heeren has translated into 
 German. The description given by Heeren of the early Carthaginian yoy- 
 at^s in the Atlantic Ocean, receive no small confirmation from the ancient 
 traditions of the Irish. No one but a genuine Irish antiquarian would, of course, 
 contend that the Annals collected by Keating, Flaherty, and O'Connor, are to 
 be received as implicitly as » Holy Writ," and no one but a confirmed sceptic 
 would reject them as wholly unworthy of attention,' There is, in all the varying 
 accounts given by the Irish historians, one fact in which all the traditions meet 
 —that letters and some of the arts of civilized Ufe were brought to their country 
 by a people called Phenians ; by a change, which, as Faber remarks, is very 
 common in the traditions respecting the origin of nations, the people is some- 
 times spoken of as an individual, and the personified Phenius becomes the in- 
 ventor of letters* and the parent of civilization. The route prescnbed for the 
 Phenians, or the descendants of the imaginary Phenius, brings them from some 
 part of the Levantine coast to the western Mediterranean, and thence round 
 Spain to the British islands. In the oldest legends no date is assigned to the 
 successive steps of this migration, and the chronology given by Keating and 
 
 1 Turner, History (^English Middle Ages, i. 276, says, that of all their traditions, one of their most 
 ancient and least irrational is that which deduces some part of their population from Spam.-A Greek 
 writer Nennius, who wrote in the ninth century, mentions this tradition twice; and his account is 
 valuable, as it shows that in the ninth century the Irish derived themselves from Spam, when they 
 had no motive but their own traditions to do so. , . .^ « .v i • 
 
 « Much has been disputed about the Irish letters. The Bobeloth characters, the Beth-luisnon, 
 Ogham, and Ogham-Crabh writing, have been eagerly dilated on. But also it has been fancied that 
 Fenius Farsadh, the pronepos of Japhet, first invented Irish letters. Turner 8 Middle Ages, vi. 277. 
 
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 O'Connor is manifestly a clumsy forgery by the monks in the middle ages. 
 Still there are some circumstances which would lead to the conclusion that the 
 period when the Phenians came to Ireland, must have been nearly that which 
 is assigned for the voyage of Himilco. Of these the most remarkable is the 
 tradition that a colony of Phenians worked the mines in the county of Wicklow, 
 and that another discovered metallic treasures at Killarney. Now it is suffi- 
 ciently well known, that the first mines worked by the Poeni, as the Cartha- 
 ginians should properly be called^ were those in Spain, and that the art of 
 mining was brought there to some degree of perfection about the time of 
 Himilco's expedition. 
 
 The appearance of the ancient shafts in different parts of Ireland is precisely 
 similar to that which travellers in Spain assure us is presented by the remaining 
 traces of Carthaginian works; the brazen instruments sometimes dug up in the 
 Irish bogs, are found when assayed to have the same proportions of mixture in 
 the metals, as the Carthaginian relics discovered in Sicily and Italy ; and the 
 shape of several ornaments found at various times is perfectly congruous to the 
 description given of Carthaginian habits by the Roman historians. Of the coin- 
 cidences in language it is useless to speak, for the only relic of the Carthaginian 
 tongue is so hopelessly corrupt, that it may be wrested to support any system 
 of which the wildest antiquarian ever dreamed. 
 
 The long-disputed question of the Milesian settlement in Ireland may be then 
 settled, if we suppose that the Phenians were a Carthaginian colony ; their ac- 
 quiring the mastery of the country will not appear surprising when we reflect 
 that a handful of Englishmen at the present moment rules over Hindostan ; and 
 the pretensions of the Irish to remote antiquity and an eastern origin will appear 
 to have resulted from the adoption of the traditions, which the colonies that 
 introduced letters brought witji them from the parent state. In these traditions 
 no note was taken of time, no attempt made to separate what occurred in the 
 earlier steps of the migration from what happened in later periods. Hence 
 room was afforded for the invention of all the fabulous tales that the fancy of 
 flattering genealogists and dreaming monks could invent; but all these leave 
 unchanged the simple fact, that the Irish traditions invariably ascribe the in- 
 troduction of letters and the arts to a colony called Phenians, and ascribe to 
 that colony a route precisely coincident with the progressive course of the Car- 
 thaginians. 
 
 Respecting the Cassiterides there are many interesting particulars in Tur- 
 ner's Anglo-Saxons, (vol. i. p. 51, etc.,) to which the reader is referred. 
 
 Oxford. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 To the Reader. 
 The Translator's Preface. 
 
 General Introduction to the Historical Researches on the Nations 
 of Antiquity ....... 
 
 Preface to the Reflections on Ancient Africa . , . . xix 
 
 General Introduction ..,.•.. xxiii 
 
 • •«* 
 
 m 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 Chap. I. Formation and Condition of the Carthaginian Dominions 
 
 in Africa ....... 3 
 
 Chap. II. Foreign Possessions of Carthage .... 22 
 
 Chap. III. The Government of Carthage ... 46 
 
 Chap. IV. Public Revenue of Carthage . . . . 66 
 
 Chap. V. Of the Navigation and Maritime Commerce of Carthage 73 
 
 Chap. VI. The Land Trade of Carthage .... 86 
 
 Chap. VII. War Forces . . . . . . 120 
 
 Chap. VIII. Decline and Fall 130 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 Chap. I. Geographical Survey of the Ethiopian Nations 
 Chap. II. The State of Meroe and its Monuments 
 Chap. III. Commerce of Meroe and Ethiopia 
 
 143 
 Vfl 
 
 22$ 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 Preface. On the Nature of a History chiefly founded on Monuments. 
 Preliminary Observations ...... 
 
 Chap. I. General View of the Country and its Inhabitants . 
 
 Chap. II. Pohtical State of the Ancient Egyptians 
 
 Chap. III. Thebes and its Monuments 
 
 Chap. IV. Commerce and Manufactures .... 
 
 Chap. V. Decline and Fall of the Empire of the Pharaohs 
 
 a 
 
 249 
 
 286 
 
 309 
 
 366* 
 
 446 
 
 466 
 
11 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 I. Aristotle upon the Carthaginian Government 
 
 II. Commercial Treaty between Rome and Carthage, concluded in 
 
 the year 509 b. c. . 
 
 III. Second commercial Treaty concluded between Rome and Carthage, 
 in the year 348 b. c. 
 
 IV. Treaty concluded between Hannibal, general of the Carthaginians, 
 and Philip, king of Macedonia, in the fourth year of the second 
 Panic war, 215 b. c. . 
 
 V. The Voyage of Hanno, commander of the Carthaginians, round 
 
 the parts of Libya beyond the Pillars of Hercules, which he de- 
 posited in the temple of Saturn ..... 
 
 VI. Fragments of the Account given by the Carthaginian commander 
 Himilco, of the Countries of Europe beyond the Pillars of Hercules 
 
 VII. Fragments of the Works of Mago on Husbandry 
 
 VIII. On the Genealogy of the ruling Houses of Carthage 
 
 IX. On the late Discoveries in Africa .... 
 
 X. On the Travels of G. A. Hoskins, Esq. in Ethiopia 
 
 XL A comparison of the ideas put forth by the Author upon the high 
 antiquity of Egypt, with those of ChampoUion and Rosellini 
 
 XII. The passage of Clemens Alexandrinus respecting the Egyptian 
 characters ........ 
 
 XI I L Inscription on an Obehsk at Heliopolis 
 
 XIV. A comparison of the Egyptian kings, as given by Herodotus, 
 Diodorus, and Manetho ..... 
 
 XV. The relation between Theocracy and the Monarchical form of 
 Government ••...,. 
 
 XVI. The Commercial Routes of Ancient Africa 
 
 General Index ..... 
 
 PAOK 
 
 474 
 475 
 
 47G 
 
 477 
 
 478 
 
 481 
 
 484 
 487 
 491 
 492 
 
 496 
 
 501 
 502 
 
 503 
 
 50() 
 508 
 
 511 
 
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 r 
 
 Although Modern history possesses great importance from our proxmutym 
 Doint of time to the actions it records, as well as their manifold relations to the 
 affe in which we live, yet on the other hand Ancient history is not without cer- 
 ^n advantages peculiar to itself; which, notwithstanding the many centunes 
 that have intervened, confer upon its records the appearance, as it were, and the 
 graces of a perpetual youth. The crowds of illustrious men conspicuous in its 
 Innals, as citizens, as statesmen, or as warriors, will never cease to have their 
 admirers, and, it may be hoped, their imitators also ; and even if we admit that 
 th^e heroes of past ages may have been indebted for part of their grandeur to 
 the venerable mists of antiquity through which we contemplate them, yet does 
 Ancient history possess an incontestable advantage over that of modern times m 
 the rich variety of the forms of government and pohty which ^t ^^/^l^s to^^^^^^ 
 Modem history is confined to Europe, or, beyond those limits, to the colonial 
 settlements of Europeans; and consequently, throughout all its details relatave 
 to civilized nations, preserves an uniformity which is the necessary result of the 
 almost equal degree of refinement they have attained. This s^"^|l^rity <)f ma^ 
 ners, arts, and religion has, in some degree, given to mankind at large as con- 
 templated in these^ countries, the appearance of one mighty naUon, which ma^ 
 be Jbnsidered, notwithstanding some subordinate diflerences, as forming an uni- 
 form whole. How different an aspect does the Old world present to us ! The 
 S dvmz^d nations of the earth^were not then, hke those of modem Eurone, 
 the links of a general system ; were not pent up withm one quarter of the globe, 
 TutSiSed t!irou|h Ju the'parts of it fhen known : lastly, they were not ass^ 
 elated W the ties of a common religion. Every nation, in consequence, much 
 more readily assumed and maintained a character peculiar to itself ; a great 
 SvSsity of Wemments grew up and flourished together; and hus it is that 
 Ancient histSry, although^many of our P^e^ent constitutions wei^^^^^^^ 
 enlarges the sphere of our observation, and affords us, in the variety of the forms 
 of X™ presented to our notice, practical lessons of pohtica ^sfom. 
 
 & ttie other liand, questions relative to the commerce of ancient nations ap- 
 peafto l^ im^^^^^ less intimately connected, than is the case in modem times, with 
 S^r^Htical institutions ; be/ause commerce ^^^^ not as yet ex^^^^^^^^ e^ual 
 deoreethe attention of their governments. Nevertheless, even at that time, tnere 
 weKtes wSTn a greater or less degree owed their eidstence to commerce ; 
 ^Tof which the institutions can be veV hnperfectly understood without a re- 
 ference To tMs subject. We cannot, however, form a judgment on any m.dividua^ 
 Son tmwe shall have ascended so far in the history of Antiquity as to 
 Jlprehend the whole extent of ancient commerce, with its principal character- 
 S^v the hght of such records as have been preserved to us. This will justify 
 Sie ektensiveS of the present inquiries, which embrace the trade as well as 
 Se STconsL^^ of the ancient world. Both these questions wdl be D 
 d^ciffi according to the plan of the present work, by the inquiries we shall 
 nm^u^ res^^^^^^^ of the most prominent nations xndxv^mlly ; but it is 
 
 ELi^TX^first some general oWrvations, wWch,^^^^^^^^^ 
 principles, may contribute to illustrate the detail which follows. 
 ^ NotwTan, in itself, be more obscure than the Question respecting the form- 
 Rtion of spates or civil societies, (expressions which we may consider as syno- 
 nJZi) aid Ae ca^es of the diveW of form they have assmned; but this 
 
 I ^ 
 
 f 
 
IV 
 
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 question, which the very remoteness of their origin and the want of credible 
 information renders so difficult, has been still more embarrassed by the practice 
 of transferring to ancient times ideas drawn from the constitutions of existing 
 nations, which are utterly inapplicable to those of Antiquity. The further we 
 advance in such investigations, the more we shall have reason to be convinced, 
 that the origin of political constitutions was, at the first, exceedingly simple, 
 and as far as possibfc from being the effect of deUberate intention or established 
 principles ; being much more the result of circumstances and necessity. It is 
 seldom, however, that the history of nations ascends so far : but our observations 
 on such tribes as are still in their political infancy supply us with data respecting 
 the progress of ancient nations, which we shall in vain expect from the history 
 of the latter ; ' nor was there ever a period when the opportunities of making such 
 observations were more copious than at present. What then are the general 
 conclusions to which such observations lead us, and how do they agree with the 
 records which have been preserved to us in Ancient history ? 
 
 The first bond of community existing among men was, beyond all question, 
 the natural one of domestic ties. It is greatly to be doubted whether any people 
 ever existed, among whom the law of marriage, or the domestic alliance of the 
 two sexes, did not prevail ; and even if an instance or two could be cited, it may 
 safely be pronounced that such a state of society would resolve itself into bar- 
 barism. The very bond, however, of domestic society implied an inequality which 
 was necessarily productive of authority on the one hand and submission on the 
 other. Among barbarous nations the husband is always the lord of his wife 
 and of his children, so long as the latter are supported by him ; and as the moral 
 motives which should mitigate this authority are few and feeble, it is apt to de- 
 generate into absolute desj>otism. His wife and his children are treated by the 
 lordly savage as parts of his property ; and all the laborious occupations of the 
 household or the field, and every task which does not demand courage as well as 
 strength, are laid upon the females of the family. 
 
 It cannot escape an attentive observer, that this sort of domestic tyranny, so 
 early established and the fruitful source of so many evils, must also have been 
 a serious obstacle to the estabUshment of a better order of things. By whatever 
 means anything like a constitution may be effected, it presupposes the association 
 and combination of a considerable number of separate famiUes. Can it then 
 be matter of surprise that we find so many abuses in civil constitutions, when 
 their roots had already penetrated so deep into the domestic relations from which 
 the latter were formed ? 
 
 This bond, however, of consanguinity, is much more extensive and powerful 
 among savage tribes than among civilized nations. The different members of 
 the family do not, as with us, devote themselves, as soon as they have attained 
 a certain age, to various occupations in the world without, and thus separate 
 from the parent-stock. All pursue the same occupation, whether it be hunting 
 or the tending of cattle. Consequently the families remain united : they gradually 
 form Tribes, and the Tribes — Nations. The distinction of tribes is universally 
 prevalent, and no less influential among the savages of North America or Aus- 
 tralasia, than amon^ the half-savage inhabitants of Central Asia, or of the deserts 
 of Arabia and Africa. The members of the same tribe settle or migrate toge- 
 ther : and although the first formation of such societies was undoubtedly the 
 effect of a law of Nature, yet their common interest must have confirmed and 
 strengthened the bond of union, as providing for their mutual defence and se- 
 curity during their continual petty wars. It is always the case that tribes of 
 this sort are subjected to a despotic authority possessed by the head of their 
 race ; who owes his power to the patriarchal privileges of his birth, and con- 
 sequently is sometimes tempted to indulge i^ till it becomes an oppressive 
 
 > Among the works illustrative of the history and geography of nations which have appeared since. 
 the last edition of these Inquiries, deserves to be mentioned first, Mountstuart Elphinston's Account of 
 the Kingdom ofCabtU and its Dependencies, London, 1815 ; the author of which had visited Afghan- 
 istan, as ambassador at the court of Cabul. The Afghans are at present precisely in a transition-4tai«, 
 half pastoral and half agrici^tural. Tribes of both classes live intermingled ; and in no part of the world 
 are there greater opportunities for studying with advantage the outlmes of civil society in its infancy ;> 
 letpecting which the accomplished author has afforded us details as authentic as they are interesting. 
 
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. ▼ 
 
 tyranny : at the same time that the dependents of other chiefs are nowise suffer- 
 ers in their personal freedom. 
 
 We must distinguish, however, between such patriarchal authorities, prevalent 
 among wandering tribes, and the civil and political constitutions which presup- 
 pose settled habitations and territorial possessions. It is true that even the pas- 
 toral state of such tribes can hardly exist without the acknowledgment of certain 
 laws of property : the herds, for instance, are considered to belong to certain indi- 
 viduals, and occasionally the pastures to certain tribes ; but the occupations of 
 such races of men, confined principally to the tending of cattle, are so exceed- 
 ingly easy and simple, that they fail to supply motives for the development of 
 their faculties. The questions which arise among them respecting thefr posses- 
 sions are so little intricate, that the decision of the head of the tribe is sufficient 
 to compose all their differences respecting the grand controversy of JtfcMw and 
 Tuum, Another state of things prevails when such wandering tribes obtain 
 settled possessions, and the law of absolute proprietorship over certain lands and 
 territories is introduced in favour of individuals. It is not easy to define in each 
 instance, on historical grounds, how and when this came to pass : partly because 
 our records rarely ascend so high, and partly because these changes rarely took 
 place simultaneously, but for the most part gradually and insensibly. We may 
 however allege a multitude of causes, connected with the climate, the nature of 
 the soil, and the external relations of each nation, which contributed to effect 
 this change, and will afford us abundant matter for observation. 
 
 The consequence of this adoption of settled habitations was the establish^ 
 ment of towns and cities, which severally possessed their respective territory, of 
 greater or less extent. The effect of the formation of communities of this sort 
 was the commencement of certain relations between the inhabitants of the same 
 place ; and the outline, however rude, of something like a civil constitution. 
 The unity of their interests and their common security, required that they shmild 
 be governed by councils common to all, and guided by the same leader. The 
 authority of the heads of tribes and families declined in the same proportion : 
 because as these cities increased in population they gave occasion for a great 
 diversity of arts and occupations, which facilitated the resort of strangers, and 
 contributed to break through the distinctions of clan and tribe. 
 
 Whatever may have been the original causes of the formation of such cities 
 or communities, for the present inquiry one fact is amply sufficient,— that m 
 several countries of the Old Worid, such as Egypt, Syria, Italy, etc., we find that 
 cities existed at the earUest period to which our acquaintance with those coun- 
 
 ^rips ().scends 
 
 Such an origin of civil government was the frequent and perhaps universal 
 source of the constitutions which we denominate Republican. To this inference 
 we are led by all the evidence which Ancient history has preserved to us; with- 
 out pretending to establish an hypothesis which might be made the basis of stiU 
 broader conclusions. The free states of Antiquity, as far a^ we are acquainted 
 with them, were nothing more than cities surrounded by their pecuhar distncts ; 
 and this character they continued to preserve, whatever degree of political con- 
 sequence they may have subsequently attained. At the same time, the greatest 
 differences prevailed with regard to the equaUty or inequality of rights enjoyed 
 by the inhabitants of the country as compared with the citizens of the town. 
 The Phcenician, Grecian, and Italian free states were of this description. It is 
 easy to conceive, from what has been advanced, how such a state of things inay 
 have commenced and been established in a single city, or even throughout a ter- 
 ritory of small extent (though in this case there always previously existed, or 
 fras soon formed, some chief town) ; while it is very difficult to inaagine how an 
 entire nation, dispersed over an extensive tract of country, could fall at once upon 
 the expedient of adopting a free civil constitution.* , , ' , 
 
 With respect to such constitutions, it is easy to see not only how they came to 
 be greatly diversified, but also how some of them attained great importance. It 
 
 t The example of the Jewish confederacy is not a proof to the '^<>"J,'^'7. The va^^^^^ 
 composed it would have been effectually dissolved in a complete anarchy, if the establishment oi Kingiy 
 power among them had not contributed to hold them together. 
 
VI 
 
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Vll 
 
 is true that their leading characteristics must always have continued essentially 
 the same. When the state consisted of a number of citizens possessing equal 
 rights, it was a necessary consequence that assembUes should be convened from 
 time to time to debate on their common interests. In such assemblies all the 
 inhabitants of the same town or its territory, being members of the same com- 
 munity, were entitled to appear in person : and tms circumstance may furnish 
 US with an answer to the question, — How it came to pass that the Representative 
 System, as it obtains among the modems, continued so long unknown to the 
 ancients ? — Because the very forms and constitution of their republics, implying 
 as they did a right of voting in person, excluded the idea of representation. For 
 several reasons, however, it was found necessary to remedy the defects inherent 
 in a form of government purely democratical, by establishing another council, 
 consisting of men of some experience, who might be constantly at hand to sup- 
 ply the place of assembhes which could not be always held, and to decide ques- 
 tions of a nature remote from the apprehension of a popular meeting. Such a 
 council was formed under the name of a Senate, and consisted of the most con- 
 siderable and most experienced citizens, constituting a distinct and independent 
 body. Finally, as the various departments of the administration demanded a 
 number of special functionaries, it became necessary to create Magistrates, 
 who were intrusted with a greater or less degree of authority according to cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 Such was necessarily the outline of the civil constitutions of all the ancient 
 repubhcs ; Comitia — a Senate — and Magistrates, composing their principal parts. 
 Yet, notwithstanding this general similarity, what a diversity of modifications 
 may we expect to discover in them! It is impossible that in any state an 
 absolute equahty should exist between its members. The unavoidable differences 
 of opulence and poverty will for the most part bring with them a pohtical in- 
 equaUty also. The hereditary disposition of the more distinguished families to 
 appropriate to themselves the exclusive possession of honours and offices neces- 
 sarily tends to establish a patrician caste, which would engross the control of all 
 public business. In this manner the constitution would become more or less 
 aristocratic or democratic (to borrow the language of the Greeks); and the same 
 principles will serve to show how individuals also came to acquire an authority 
 more or less arbitrary. Differences no less important would obtain with respect 
 to the senate, the number of its members, as well as the number, the offices, the 
 authority, and the denominations of the magistrates. An example of such di- 
 versities we may remark in the free towns of Germany during the days of their 
 liberty ; and which is preserved in the few which still subsist. No other coun- 
 try has borrowed so largely from the political institutions of Antiquity, (as may 
 be best seen by tracing back the history of such free towns for two or three hun- 
 dred years,) notwithstanding some diversities which it does not belong to this 
 place to point out. 
 
 Such republics were necessarily of small extent at their commencement: with- 
 out, however, renouncinff their original character, they were often enabled in 
 various ways to extend tne limits of their power and their territory, and even 
 to become the mistresses of empires, as, for instance, Rome and Carthage. 
 When several communities belonging to the same nation were situated near each 
 other, they naturally formed a mutual alliance ; especially when the pressure of 
 enemies from without drove them to combine their means of resistance. In such 
 cases it was natural that the most considerable state or city should place itself 
 at the head of the confederation, and assume a precedence, which almost neces- 
 sarily degenerated into a species of domination ; of which we see examples in the 
 conduct of Rome towards the Latin states, of Tyre with respect to the Phoe- 
 nician, of Thebes with respect to those of Boeotia, etc. Nevertheless, the in- 
 ferior cities would still continue to lay claim to a certain independence. In 
 questions affecting the whole confederacy, such as those of peace and war, the 
 superior state might sometimes carry its claims of precedence to the extent of 
 an absolute supremacy ; but so long as her general authority remained unques- 
 tioned, she did not much concern herself with the internal polity of the inferior 
 states, or with matters which only affected them individually. Such a prece- 
 
 dence enjoyed by the principal state will readily explain how cities, insignificant 
 in themselves, were able to attempt and achieve conquests, aided in many cases 
 bv a combination of favourable circumstances, with men of talent and spirit at 
 the head of affairs, and enjoying the resources which their navigation, commerce, 
 and mines supplied. - • i j 
 
 But besides this class of states, whose origin and formation we have endea- 
 voured to illustrate. Ancient history presents us with another totally different 
 in all the circumstances of their creation and constitution,— in the Great Mon- 
 archies of antiquity ; of which the origin was often no less rapid than their ex- 
 tent was enormous. Some of them were of moderate size and consisted of a 
 single people ; the power of their kings being derived from the ancient hereditary 
 law of patriarchal authority. In this manner in Epirus, Macedonia, and else- 
 where, the family of their native princes maintained itself on the throne. Others, 
 however, (and those in every respect the most considerable,) comprehended 
 under one dominion a multitude of all nations and languages. It is not to be 
 supposed that a number of independent nations should have voluntarily sub- 
 mitted themselves to one, and it is, a priori, much more probable that such a 
 state of things was the result, for the most part, of the rapid growth and vic- 
 torious progress of a conquering people. The sequel of these inquiries ^^^ll con- 
 vince us, in the case of Asia, that such conquering nations were, for the most 
 part, wanderers and shepherds, who forsook their own barren abodes, allured by 
 the prospect of booty and the hope of possessing richer and better cultivated 
 regions, which they overran, pillaged, and subdued. Even if these conquerors 
 had been less barbarous than they were, it is obvious that the whole political 
 condition of such monarchies was necessarily formed on a model totally different 
 from that which prevailed in republics, which owed their existence to the erec- 
 tion of cities and establishment of communities. In a kingdom founded upon 
 the right of conquest, the authority of the ruler could only be maintained by force 
 of arms ; and even if a military despotism in its fullest extent were not the con- 
 sequence, it is obvious that the constitution must partake of that character. An 
 absolute monarchy is the inevitable result ; sufficiently rigid to preclude such 
 states from ever assuming the character of /ree ; and this may already serve to 
 explain in part the remarkable contrast which the great Monarchies present, 
 in their internal constitution and development, to the Republics of antiquity. 
 
 If we are not at liberty to affirm that all the ancient forms of government 
 originated in the manner we have described, it is at least certain that the greater 
 number and the most powerful of the states then existing may be classed under 
 one or other of these two descriptions. When we reflect, however, that all civil 
 societies, which deserve the name, are associations of free men ;— that it was not 
 possible that anything like political wisdom or sound philosophy should have 
 regulated their first formation ;— that the very desire of security and mutual de- 
 fence which contributed to their creation was not likely to be at all times equally 
 urgent, and might sometimes be forgotten ;— when all these considerations pre- 
 sent themselves to the mind of the inquisitive historian, he feels that, m the in- 
 fancy of the human race, such communities could not have been held together 
 except by a more durable and powerful bond than all of these,— that of Meligion, 
 There is no conclusion which political history suppUes more remarkable than 
 this; that the farther we advance in the history of any nation, the greater be- 
 comes the influence of religion in state affairs: and it is the more necessary to 
 advt rt to this early combination of Religion with Polity, because many circum- 
 stances in the following inquiries can only be illustrated by referring to such an 
 union. On the present occasion I use the term Rehgion to express the bar- 
 barous reverence which uncivilized nations have always paid, by certain ntes 
 and customs, to imaginary deities, under whatever form they may have been 
 represented or conceived to exist. Whether there may or may not exist some 
 tribes among whom no traces of religion (in the above sense of the word) can be 
 discovered, is a question which has not been perfectly ascertained, and which, m 
 the present case, is immaterial; since, even if such exist, they form at all events 
 exceptions of the rarest occurrence. Now, to convert such a religion into a bond 
 of poUtical union, it is only necessary that it sliould possess m each nation or 
 
Vlll 
 
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 tribe a national character, as is generally the case; since, as is proved by a mul- 
 titude of examples, every nation is easily led to adopt certain gods as its tutelary 
 and peculiar deities. Such an idea, — of a tutelary deity the common protector 
 of the whole nation,— is obviously an invisible bond of interest and alliance. 
 From being an invisible bond of union it is calculated to become a visible one 
 also, and in this respect is especially influential. As soon as the worship of their 
 deities became connected with some particular spot, and took place in some 
 national temple or sanctuary, with public festivals at which all tne nation and 
 only that nation assisted, — so soon was there established among them a prin- 
 ciple of until/, independent of external circumstances, and allied to the innermost 
 feelings of man. Of this we find abundant confirmation in every page of 
 Ancient history. 
 
 A state consisting of a single city with its petty territory, in which the very 
 circumstance of its inhabitants living together establishes a strong bond of union, 
 can better subsist without this tie of a common religion, though even in this case 
 it can hardly be altogether dispensed with. But the absolute necessity for such 
 an alliance is best seen in the cases of confederations formed after the manner 
 we have been describing. The very idea of combination implies a previous state 
 of separation, and on tnis account extraordinary means are necessary to prevent 
 the ^ssolution of the confederacy and a return to the original condition. It may 
 be added, that as every such association imposes on its members certain common 
 burdens, there is a natural tendency on the part of the combined states to release 
 themselves from such obligations, so soon as circumstances may permit. What 
 then shall insure the durability of such aUiances ? It is true that the pressure of 
 foreign enemies and the necessity for a combined resistance may effect this for a 
 time, but such occasions are transitory : — even the influence of a paramount 
 authority can insure it only to a certain extent, and only while completely pre- 
 dominant : — Religion alone can maintain such an union, through the influence 
 of common rites and temples, which confer an individuality, as it were, upon the 
 nation ; — which appeal to the senses, and the heart ; which distinguish that from 
 all other nations, and by that very circumstance infuse into it a spirit of nation- 
 ality. In this manner the temple of the Tyrian Hercules became the centre of 
 the Phoenician League, — that of Jupiter Latialis of the Latin Confederacy ; and 
 thus it was that the Grecian states, discordant in their forms of government and 
 disunited by frequent wars, yet felt themselves to be members of one community, 
 when assembled to celebrate the festival of the Olympian Jupiter. 
 
 It is true that Religion can afford no such bond of union to a variety of na- 
 tions of different origin and various creeds, who formed one mighty mass only in 
 consequence of the superior power of their common conquerors. In as far in- 
 deed as the religion of the conquering nation superseded those of the conquered, 
 it exercised of course a considerable but not an universal influence ; but its prin- 
 cipal efficacy in such cases consisted in its introducing legislation, which opposed, 
 as it were, some bounds to the overwhelming violence of miUtary desi)Ots, and 
 limited what it could not control. Legislation, to be effectual and to insure 
 respect, demands the sanction of a higher authority. Among nations which 
 have already attained a certain degree of intellectual cultivation and political 
 constitution, the laws, it is true, will of themselves command respect, because 
 men have had time to be convinced that obedience is a duty; but such senti- 
 ments were not to be looked for among rude and uneducated tribes, who were 
 not disposed to venerate the laws, except as far as they were sanctioned by Re- 
 ligion. For this reason, in the earliest ages of antiquity, civil institutions, no less 
 than those which were of a character strictly religious, bore the impress of Re- 
 ligion ; and even in the present day we see an example of it in the case of all 
 those nations which own the authority of the Koran. Among the Greeks and 
 Romans also, the enactments of Lycurgus and Numa were sanctioned by the 
 authority of the popular religion. Sucn a state of things naturally caused the 
 establishment of a sacerdotal race, as a distinct order, or even caste, (the cus- 
 toms of the East differing in this respect from those of Greece and Rome,) which 
 necessarily attained the highest influence in political questions ; an influence 
 which, although occasionally abused, was not without its good effects in limiting 
 
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 IX 
 
 the omnipotence of the monarch. Religion also prescribed certam ceremomes 
 which all were equally bound to observe; and the duty of observing them, 
 Tnd the forms they imposed, placed some salutary limits to the power of the 
 
 ^° The Ibove must be received as merely some general observations on the politi- 
 cal constitutions of the Ancients, which in the sequeW^ shall have abundant 
 occasion to apply to particular examples. A system of Polity, m the fu U sense 
 of the term, is not the proper subject of researches which necessanly follow the 
 course of h story. Nevertheless, if I do not deceive myself the remarks already 
 offered suggest an explanation of some obscurities which, ^ ^^ ^P^^^^^^^f 
 many of our theorists.^nvolve the first origin of civil society. We do not con- 
 X^he Lmation of' such societies to be the result of a ^rmal, social com^c^ 
 Lthe verv idea of which is at variance with the condition of a people still m 
 to infIL7:-nor do we think that anything like the dmovery of a cons Uu- 
 tfon took pface at a definite period; but we believe it W^^'^^^^^'^^f^ 
 out of the exigencies and the passions of mankind. All this was so far from 
 be ng the resuU of theory, that it is probable the notion of a theory ^^^^^^ 
 tered the heads of the first founders of states, whatever may have been thought 
 of subsequently ; and in consequence of this want of system at their commence- 
 ment hSrent forms of government assumed a variety of character which 
 the theorist finds it hard to reduce to the classifications of modern systems 
 
 The origin of Commerce is involved in no less obscunty than that of Govern- 
 ment Though we may be convinced that in general it must have onginated m 
 
 Se wanJs of iankind,'and the consequent i^T kT 'L^^LwHat^^^^^^^^^^ 
 vet many important questions still remain, which historv cannot solve ^tislac 
 Lrilv For instance we are either altogether ignorant, or httle less than ignorant, 
 when aKw men first came to convert simple barter to commerce, properly so 
 Tailed, by affixing an adventitious value to the precious metals as measures of 
 the prici of a commodity ;-how this arrangement became u^^^^^^^^^ 
 were its earliest effects on commerce and c^pl^^^^^^^ ^-when goW 
 were first stamped and became current as coinage, and how this discovery also 
 wfs unifersall7d^^^^^ ? Such inquiries are beside our present purpose^ 
 
 Tn" Tould "Xbly be of little utility, since all that can with an^ cert^n^ be 
 ascertained on these subjects, has been already said. It mil be ^^^fj^^'^ 
 nppp«;«;arv and it is to be hoped, a more profitable task, to take a general survey 
 o rS «roe at thi" period of Its greatest ra^S it 3 toto 
 the peculiarities by which, as regards its objects and institutions, it was mstrn 
 
 ^tt J^ois^r rir/a^ThtfouXand largest quarter of our globe re- 
 
 rrtThiroX^dr^c^stS^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 S«^crron\7trttt^^^^^^ 
 
 ri3"/omrce°"w^ are accustomed to. consider improveinent^m comme^e 
 porting.certain weighty commodities ^^ ^^^ dim>very of 
 
 A'zir'v.'i th^t ^Horth^co^mSi:^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 pursued, on tie whole, the same course :-this g«*' ^^^"\ X^™^^ the 
 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XI 
 
 be permitted to doubt whether the circumnavigation of Africa could ever have 
 produced those great and general results which followed upon the discovery of 
 America. It is probable that the communication with India would have long 
 continued to be a mere coasting trade, such as it originally was. 
 
 But the discovery of America alone, independently of the circumnavigation 
 of Africa, was sufficient to give a new character to the commerce of the world. 
 That vast continent was accessible only across the ocean ; not to be approached 
 by a timid navigation from promontory to promontory, or island to island. 
 Either this great discovery, with all its immeasurable consequences, was to be 
 renounced, or it was necessary to brave the perils of the Atlantic. The ports 
 of the Mediterranean became deserted as soon as those on the western coasts of 
 Europe were opened to fleets from both the Indies ; and the ocean at last as- 
 sumed its proper character and natural pre-eminence, as the high- way for the 
 —4 commerce of the world. 
 
 As the commerce of Antiquity was principally carried on by land, we shall be 
 better able to appreciate its nature and extent by taking a survey of the general 
 characteristics of land traffic. 
 
 It is evident that the countries which are the most fruitful in the most valua- 
 ble commodities, (especially if these be peculiar to their soil,) must also be able 
 to supply the greatest quantity of exports ; which will be sought by other na- 
 tions, nowever remote, who may have learnt the value of such productions. 
 Now the interior of Europe, till the times of the Roman empire, continued in 
 a state which made it incapable of assuming any importance in commerce. 
 Some of the southernmost states of Greece and of Italy had, to a certain de- 
 gree, emerged from barbarism : — the rest were so uncivilized — had so few wants, 
 and so few commodities of their own to offer in exchange, that even if anything 
 like trade was carried on with them, it was not sufficiently important to rank as 
 a branch of general commerce. Even that of Greece and Rome could be little 
 more than what was necessary to supply their own demands. What productions 
 — raw or manufactured — had they to offer to the East in return for hers ? An 
 exception must be made in favour of the south of Spain, the precious metals of 
 which found a ready market in every country. 
 
 It is obvious, then, that Asia and Africa, both of them inhabited in a great 
 measure by civilized nations, and both — (more particularly the eastern regions 
 of Asia) — renowned for their splendid natm-al productions, — must have become 
 the grand emporia of Ancient commerce. Obstacles, however, unknown to 
 modern Europeans, were presented by the vast extent of the Asiatic continent, 
 the peculiarities of its geography and soil, the many deserts which intersect it, 
 and the lawless hordes which infest them. The safety of the merchant accord- 
 ingly demanded precautions unnecessary in our own countries. As it was im- 
 possible for single travellers to effect those long and hazardous journeys, it 
 became necessary to collect companies either sufficiently numerous to defend 
 themselves, or able to pay for the protection of a body of guards. Such bodies 
 of men, which we are accustomed to designate by the word Caravans,' could 
 not, however, be collected at a moment's notice, or in every place ; and it was 
 necessary that a rendezvous should be appointed, that the merchants and travel- 
 lers might know where to join a sufficient force for their common defence. In 
 like manner the places of resort for the sale as well as the purchase of their 
 merchandise were necessarily fixed, being recommended by their, favourable 
 jwsition, or by some other circumstance, such as long usage ; because in such 
 situations alone the sellers were sure to meet a sufficient number of purchasers, 
 and vice versa. For like reasons the very course of the caravan was not a mat- 
 ter of free choice but of established custom. In the vast steppes and sandy 
 deserts which they had to traverse. Nature had sparingly allotted to the traveller 
 a few scattered places of rest, where, under the shade of palm trees and beside 
 the cool fountains at their feet, the merchant and his beast of burden might 
 enjoy the refreshment rendered necessary by so much suffering. Such places of 
 repose become also entrepots of commerce, and not unfrequently the sites of 
 
 J follow the common pronunciation of the word, which is properly Kiervan. 
 
 temples and sanctuaries, under the protection of which the merchant prosecuted 
 his trade, and to which the pilgrim resorted ; and these frequently increased to 
 great and opulent cities, and contributed, by motives of interest or necessity, to 
 attract to the same route the various bands of travellers. 
 
 From all this it is apparent why such commerce by caravans became subject 
 to certain rules, and restricted to a definite course. It is not wonderful therefore 
 that the routes of caravans should have continued, on the whole, invariable, for 
 hundreds and even for thousands of years ; notwithstanding they may have been 
 partially diverted by the decay or destruction of particular cities, or the growth 
 of others in their stead. The same considerations will show us how it came to 
 pass that certain situations peculiarly favourable for the transactions of land 
 commerce, such as Egypt and Babylon, so soon assumed a conspicuous place in 
 history ; which they continued to preserve through the Middle Ages no less than 
 in those of Antiquity, notwithstanding some occasional diminutions of their 
 splendour. We shall also find that similar reasons led to the effect we have 
 already pointed out, namely, that the commerce of the Middle Ages continued, 
 on the whole, to be the same in its operations with that of Antiquity, and could 
 not in fact have been otherwise, except it had changed its nature to a sea com- 
 merce from a traffic by land. Till this took place, in other words, till the dis- 
 covery of America, the species of commerce by land which was carried on, 
 derived its characteristics not so much from the method it pursued and the 
 countries it traversed, as from the nations by which it was maintained ; and 
 whether the grand channel of communication through Asia terminated at Tyre 
 or at Alexandria, made no essential difference in the nature of the commerce 
 
 itself. 
 
 The trade by caravans requires a multitude of beasts of burden, particularly 
 of camels, an animal fitted above all others not only for supporting great bur- 
 dens, but for enduring long and painful jounieys through desert tracts sparingly 
 supplied with water. In like manner a number of camel-drivers are necessary, 
 accustomed to the care of these animals, and, like them, habituated to support 
 fatigue and privation. The horse and the mule, though useful for such purposes, 
 are far inferior in these qualities to the camel ; and accordingly we do not find 
 any large communication by means of caravans to have existed except in regions 
 where the camel (the ship of the desert, as it is termed by the Arabs) is found. 
 But this useful animal, though reduced to a state of perfect bondage, is not, like 
 the horse or the mule, easily reared in the stable ; it loves the free air and open 
 country, and consequently the rearing of camels has, on the whole, continued at 
 all times the occupation of nomadic tribes. 
 
 This will already explain how such tribes,— (even if their habitual mode of 
 life had been less analogous than it was to that of the followers of a caravan,)— 
 came to devote themselves so much to this mode of traffic. When they did not 
 themselves become merchants they were accustomed (as we shall see by ex- 
 amples cited in the course of this work) to supply beasts of burden to the in- 
 habitants of mercantile cities, and not unfrequently to undertake the transport 
 of commodities for others ; ' and when we consider that one half of Asia and of 
 Africa is occupied by such roving tribes and their herds,'^ can we be surprised 
 that this description of traffic should have been so widely extended? 
 
 Whatever may be the strength of the camel, it w^as still too limited not to have 
 the effect of restricting the commerce carried on by its means. Many hundred 
 camels would scarcely suffice to convey the freight of one of our East Indiamen; 
 and consequently the transport of wares by such means of conveyance must have 
 been exceedingly confined. Articles of great weight or bulk are necessarily 
 transported in much smaller quantities by land ; and this will explam the fact 
 how so many of the most valuable products of distant countries, though known 
 
 » See Elphinston's account of Cabul, p. 290, fol. ro^xr t * „» ,.,«ii 
 
 « The camel is found throughout the whole of Southern and Central Asia as far as 53° N. Lat. ; as well 
 as throughout the whole of Northern Africa. We have no means of knowmg to what extent it is founa 
 in Southern Africa, but it would appear to be entirely unknown there ; possibly never passing the great 
 chain of mountains which divides that continent. I have pointed out in another work *he effect whicft 
 the importation of this useful animal might have on the commerce of those countries, Uut. frorics, 
 ii. 8, 420. 
 
zu 
 
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XlU 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 to exist, so seldom became articles of commerce among the Ancients. How, for 
 instance, could rice, the most valuable of all the productions of the East, be con- 
 veyed in any large quantities to Europe ? How could the sugar and saltpetre 
 of Bengal be transported by land to the markets of the West ? On the other 
 hand, articles of less weight but great value, such as spices, perfumes, light ap- 
 parel, the precious stones and metals, etc., were readily transported, and on that 
 account also became objects of primary importance in Ancient commerce. 
 
 These remarks will have the effect of illustrating the great importance of the 
 r- communication by means of caravans to the nations of Antiquity. Civilization 
 -^ being generally the result of commerce, it is obvious that the progress in this 
 respect of the nations of Africa and Asia mainly depended on such a mode of 
 intercourse ; and a moment's consideration will teach us how it was calculated, 
 in itself, to promote by twofold relations such a consequence. In the first place, 
 a communication by caravans always creates a considerable intermediate com- 
 merce. The caravans necessarily traverse various countries and nations, and 
 the demands of these, as well as the interest of the merchants, have the effect of 
 promoting an interchange of articles of commerce^ It is true that in many cases 
 this continued for centuries extremely simple, and it would be an extremely 
 hasty conclusion to assert that in every case a progressive improvement in civil- 
 ization was the necessary result of such traffic ; which is apt to be limited accord- 
 ing to the luxuries or necessaries in demand. In proportion, however, as such 
 interchange is confined to profitable and excludes injurious articles of commerce, 
 it produces an immediate improvement in the economy of domestic life. Among 
 more civilized nations it is proportionably extensive ; and although the fixed, 
 track to which the caravans are confined prevents their disseminating very 
 widely an equal degree of improvement, yet such a mode of communication has 
 the effect, as we have already seen, of creating certain emporia of commerce 
 along the line of its route, which being frequented by numbers attracted by the 
 love of gain, gradually grow up into flourishing cities, and, following the usual 
 progress of refinement, increase in wealth and civilization, — in luxury and cor- 
 ruption. The progress of commerce at large being intimately connected with 
 this species of intermediate traffic, the importance of the latter is sufficiently 
 obvious. 
 
 Notwithstanding the prevalence in Ancient times of land commerce, we must 
 not lose sight of the trade then carried on by sea, particularly as it has been 
 variously misrepresented by authors. Some have not scrupled to send the fleets 
 of the Tyrians and Carthaginians to America ; while others have denied their 
 means of effecting the distant voyages of which we possess indisputable evidence. 
 
 The chief characteristic of the navigation of the Ancients was this, that it 
 continued to be at all times a coasting navigation. The sailors of Antiquity never 
 quitted the land except when constrained to do so by some unavoidable necessity, 
 such as the violence of currents, or when the passage from one coast to the other 
 was of the shortest duration. It is the general opinion, that they were compelled 
 to adhere to the land for want of the mariner's compass ; but the true reason 
 must be sought in the scantiness of their geographical knowledge, which em- 
 braced only three parts of the world. To induce seamen to make distant 
 voyages across an open sea some object is necessary, which, before the discovery 
 of America, did not exist to any. Such long navigations were not attempted nor 
 desired ; and it may be doubted whether the bare circumstance of the invention 
 of the compass could have ever given rise to them, had not a daring adventurer 
 been conducted by it to the discovery of regions on the other side of the Atlantic. 
 The mariner's compass had already been discovered more than a hundred years 
 when Columbus first used it as his guide across the Ocean. 
 
 But while we admit the navigation of the Ancients to have been always car- 
 ried on along the coast, we must be cautious how we attribute to it the degree of 
 imperfection so liberally assigned it by many. It is certain that a coasting navi- 
 gation is not only subject to greater difficulties and dangers than any other, but 
 has the property, in consequence, of forming at all times the most expert seamen. 
 Is it not true that at the present day the Newfoundland fisheries and the coal- 
 trade form the best mariners of England ? The greater frequency of danger in 
 
 such navigations habituates the sailor to overcome and despise it. It would be 
 a most unwarrantable inference, therefore, to conclude that, because the nations 
 of Antiquity confined themselves to coasting voyages of small extent, they were 
 therefore deficient in maritime experience and skill. It was by the prosecution 
 of such voyages that the Portuguese found their way to the East Indies. The 
 very position of the three continents of the Ancient world precluded the possi- 
 bility of fixing any absolute limit to navigation ; and nothing was more likely to 
 advance discovery than the long continuance of such coasting voyages. No in- 
 surmountable barrier prohibited further progress : — the love of lucre and the 
 love of discovery perpetually allure the mariner onwards from the known to the 
 unknown ; — and when we reflect that the Carthaginians and Phoenicians were 
 enabled to pursue at their leisure, and in profound peace, their long and adven- 
 turous voyages, we shall easily admit that they may have been gradually induced 
 to extend them farther and farther till they had penetrated into very remote 
 regions. Without attempting at present to draw any general inference from 
 these observations, we may at least be convinced that it is a very unfounded 
 proceeding to assert that the accounts we possess of the distant voyages of these 
 nations along the coasts of Europe and Africa, and even of the circumnavigation 
 of the latter, are fabulous, merely because they do not coincide with our own 
 preconceived notions of the unskilfulness of Ancient mariners. If we would 
 nave some external evidence,-r-what corroboration can be more strong than the 
 instance of the Normans during the Middle Ages ? Can it be doubted that thei/ 
 circumnavigated Europe ? Or can we deny the fact of their voyages, which, never- 
 theless, from the relative position of their native country, were prosecuted under 
 circumstances of much greater difficulty and danger than were the expeditions 
 of Tyre and Carthage, seated as these were on the coasts of the Mediterranean ? 
 
 At the same time the navigation of the Ancients was not so exclusively a coast- 
 ing one as not occasionally to venture across the open sea ; but within very moder- 
 ate limits, and only in the case of narrow seas. A glance at a map of the Eastern 
 hemisphere of the globe will show us two seas of this description, both of great 
 importance. The Mediterranean, with its subordinate portions, comprehending 
 the Black Sea; and the Indian Ocean, lying between the coasts of Eastern 
 Africa, Arabia, and Hindostan, and comprising the Arabian and Persian Gulfs. 
 
 The Mediterranean was obviously formed to be the principal scene of the 
 commerce and navigation of the Ancients, by its position, in the centre of the 
 three continents, and surrounded by the most fruitful and most civilized regions 
 of the known world. The facility of its navigation was greatly increased by the 
 abundance of islands strewed over its surface, the promontories which on every 
 side stretch far into its bosom, and by the smallness of its total extent. It served 
 as the medium of communication between the inhabitants of the three continents, 
 who, beyond all question, would have continued as uncivilized as those of Cen- 
 tral Africa, if the basin of the Mediterranean had been a steppe, like those of 
 Mongolia. 
 
 In the Indian Ocean, within the limits we have mentioned, navigation is facili- 
 tated not only by the vicinity of the opposite shores, and by the frequent occur- 
 rence of islands, but also by periodical winds, which change their direction twice 
 in the year. During all the summer half-year, from May to October, the pre- 
 vailing south-west winds wafted from the coast of Africa to those of Malabar 
 and Ceylon the fleets which the north wind, prevailing at the same time, had 
 carried down the Arabian Gulf, and led through the straits of Babelmandeb : 
 and in like manner, during our winter months, a constant north-easterly breeze 
 served to conduct them home again, and taking a southerly direction as it entered 
 the Arabian Gulf, conveyed them securely to its innermost recess.* Th« sequel 
 of these observations will convince us that at a very early period the nations 
 of the South availed themselves of the advantages thus afforded them by na- 
 ture ; and will at the same time show us how easy it was for the Ancients to 
 
 » The Indian Ocean and the Arabian Gulf have both of them their monsoons, which differ in their di- 
 rections. In the latter northerly winds prevail during the summer, and in the former south-westerly ; 
 which assist the navigation towards the coast of Malabar. On the other hand, during the winter months 
 north-easterly winds prevail in the Ocean, and, in the Arabian Gulf, gales from the south ; the effect of 
 which is such as has been described. 
 
XIV 
 
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XV 
 
 prosecute the voyages referred to, without supposing the nature of their naviga- 
 tion to have undergone a change. 
 
 The extreme difference between the commerce of the Ancients and that of the 
 Modems must be apparent from what has been advanced, but it will be ren- 
 dered yet more evident by a brief comparison of the system and objects of each. 
 The system of Ancient commerce was, on the whole, much more simple than 
 that of modern nations; wanting many of the artificial improvements without 
 which trade, as it now exists, could not be carried on. Its object was simply to 
 supply certain demands of necessity or luxury ; and these the merchant sought 
 to sell at an advanced price, especially when he had bestowed upon them labour 
 of his own. In this simple manner he acquired competence or wealth ; but 
 without carrying his speculations or his views any further. Consequently the 
 commerce of the Ancients was characterized by this leading circumstance,— that 
 it was a traffic or barter of commodities. In many cases, especially in very an- 
 cient times, these commodities were simply exchanged by way of barter ; and 
 even when the precious metals became the standard of value, they Avere at first 
 employed with a reference to their weight, and only at a later period as coins 
 properly so called. We know indeed that the Phoenicians, the Persians, and 
 other nations possessed a coinage of their own, and we are certain that some 
 species of coin (the Dane for instance) were current among the Greeks also ; 
 but it is not known to what extent this practice prevailed. One thing however 
 is certain, that there was nothing hke a money trade estabUshed among the An- 
 cients, which at present forms a very principal branch of European commerce, 
 and which, if it existed at all, was then merely in its infancy. In sonie of the 
 great cities, such as Athens, Rome, Alexandria, etc., the constant influx of 
 foreigners must have' given rise to the trade of money-changers ; but as long as 
 there was no exchange, properly so called, such partial and incomplete inter- 
 changes of coinage could never become a branch of trade. The instances to the 
 contrary which have been produced from certain Ancient authors are of an ex- 
 tremely doubtful nature, and appear to be nothing more than cases of orders of 
 payment. It was natural that these should be drawn on a third person, but the 
 art was not yetlcnown of making them circulate, and converting them into arti- 
 cles of commerce. In modem days the money market at large is intimately con- 
 nected with public credit, particularly with that of the great commercial states ; 
 and maybe considered as a consequence of the habit so universally adopted and 
 understood, of contracting and liquidating at a minimum price pubhc debts. 
 Such a practice was unknown, because unnecessary in Ancient times. The 
 moderate expenditure of Ancient governments was supplied either by means of 
 tribute, or, in the free states, extraordinary occasions were met by voluntary loans 
 on the part of the citizens, which were subsequently repaid ; without ever afford- 
 ing grounds for mercantile speculation. A regular system of exchange must be 
 dependent on certain general laws affecting that branch of trade, and can scarcely 
 be maintained without a well-organized system oi Posts ; since everything depends 
 upon a certain, rapid, and constant correspondence between the diflferent money 
 markets. Yet we are not at liberty to suppose the commerce of the Ancients to 
 have been as inefficient as ours would be if all communication by postage were 
 suddenly removed ; since it is a very diff*erent thing to be deprived of an advan- 
 tage, and never to have possessed it: in the latter case the difficulty suggests of 
 itself some partial remedy. It is not, however, the less certain, that many 
 branches of modem commerce owe their present activity,— nay, their very exist- 
 ence, — to the communication estabhshed by the system of posts. 
 
 The greater simpUcity of Ancient commerce is also shown by this circum- 
 stance, that a much less variety of employments was created by it, restricted as 
 it was to the mere purchase and sale of commodities. Yet even in this respect 
 we must not be too positive in our assertions. Who can pronounce with cer- 
 tainty all that passed in the great mercantile houses of Tyre or Carthage ? We 
 have many examples to prove that in commercial countries a great variety of 
 employments has been always created by trade, besides those immediately devoted 
 to it : for instance, in Egypt, the various mercantile agents, interpreters, brokers, 
 etc. ; and we are warranted by the unchangeable character of Oriental manners 
 
 to infer that such was probably the case in Ancient times. The principal dif- 
 ference, therefore, lies between the commerce of Europe as it is, and as it was. 
 Even in the East, however, it is probable that the circumstances of those times 
 made it impossible for the merchant to transact, as he does at present, a great 
 proportion of his affairs by means of others : he was obliged himself to travel 
 into foreign countries to purchase his commodities, particularly into regions 
 which, (like Spain,) from their situation on the other side of the Mediterranean, 
 and from the barbarism of their inhabitants, did not admit of any other mode 
 of access. On this account also he was compelled, for the most part, to be at 
 the same time the owner and captain of his vessel. All these observations are 
 of course liable to many exceptions, but it may be safely asserted in general, 
 that the very circumstance of the want of a regular communication by posts 
 rendered it impossible for the Ancients to carry on their negotiations in the 
 manner now established, by commission. 
 
 The objects of commerce must have been obviously much more limited then 
 than in the present day, not only because many articles of trade now of great 
 importance were then either unknown or little used, but also because the means 
 of conveyance employed were insufficient, as we have seen, to transport the 
 weightier merchandises. ^ 
 
 Among these must be comprehended the most necessary article of all — Com, 
 Allowing that such a trade may to a certain extent have been carried on by 
 land, it is clear that this necessary of hfe could not have been so transported in 
 large quantities, or to any great distance. A trade in corn is especially dependent 
 on navigation, and, in ancient times, was limited, in general, to the shores of 
 the Mediterranean and Black Seas, and possibly also of the Arabian and Persian 
 Gulfs. The coasts of Barbary and Egypt, which at the present day are so pro- 
 ductive, were then still more so, because more highly cultivated. Who does 
 not know that Rome derived her very subsistence from their granaries, and 
 
 those of Sicily? -^ u • 
 
 The transport of Wine was attended with even greater difficulties ; it being 
 impossible to transport Hquids in sufficient quantities on beasts of burden ; and 
 difficult and sometimes impossible for wagons to follow a caravan, from the 
 want of roads, or the badness of them. There were also other circumstances 
 which contributed to give a totally different character to the wine-trade of the 
 Ancients. The western countries of Europe, which now almost exclusively 
 supply the rest of the worid with this article, then produced little or none, even 
 for their own consumption ; at the same time that they had little demand for 
 this luxury, and (contrary to the present state of commerce in this respect) con- 
 tributed httle to increase its value as an article of trade. Every country was 
 then content with a wine of its own ; and the cultivation of the vine was the 
 more considerable and the more widely disseminated, because there existed no 
 rehgion which interdicted the use of the grape. 
 
 On the other hand. Oil was then a much more important article of commerce. 
 It bears transportation better than some kinds of wine, and was at that time in 
 universal request, in consequence of the little use of butter in the southern 
 countries. It may be added, that the cultivation of the Olive has undergone 
 httle change : the districts which then produced that useful tree continue to 
 produce it exclusively ; and Sicily, and the southern coast of Italy, were then 
 indebted to it for no small share of their prosperity. ^ i ,u- 
 
 The diflaculties opposed to the conveyance of different articles of clothing 
 were much less considerable, although the raw matenal could not be imported 
 in such large quantities as at present. The most precious of these, silk, cotton, 
 and fine wool, were pecuHar to the East, and the sequel of these observations 
 will show the high degree of importance attached to these commodities as articles 
 
 of land commerce. , ^ ^- i i r i 
 
 The precious productions of the East, spices and perfumes, particularly frank- 
 incense, poured in a rich stream through various channels from the coasts of 
 India and Arabia, to supply the costly sacrifices of the Ancients. The subject 
 will be treated more fully in the course of the present work, but it has been al- 
 ready remarked, that no article of commerce was so well adapted to land carnage. 
 
XVI 
 
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The epochs of the Roman and Macedonian empires are far from being the 
 most important or the most instructive, either as respects the poUty or the trade 
 of the Ancients. The variety which distinguished the ancient forms of govern- 
 ment was necessarily overwhelmed by an universal dominion, and Commerce 
 herself was apt to be fettered with the same bondage in which every other civil 
 relation was confined. We must ascend to a more distant age, if we would 
 contemplate the constitutions of the Ancients in all their diversity, and their 
 commerce in its most tranquil and flourishing condition. The period immedi- 
 ately preceding the establishment, and during the continuance of the Persian 
 monarchy, appears to offer to the historian the most satisfactory survey and the 
 richest field of inquiry. By examining this epoch we shall be enabled to esti- 
 mate correctly the commerce of Alexandria of a later date, and the questions 
 arising out of the political systems of the Romans and Macedonians. In like 
 manner, by ascending to the age referred to, we behold, as it were, everything 
 in its proper place, before the success of one nation had deprived the rest of 
 their independence :^-every commercial state then occupied the rank and posi- 
 tion in the general system for which it appeared to be designed by its peculiar 
 advantages. The shores of the Mediterranean were inhabited in every direction 
 by industrious and sea-faring nations : Carthage had occupied the greater part 
 of the coast of Africa, and by opening her ports for the importation of foreign 
 produce, had already begun to monopolize the commerce of tne Interior. Cyrene 
 was the immediate neighbour of Carthage, and had become her rival, by her 
 possessions along the eastern portion of the same coast. Over against these 
 cities the Grecian colonies of Sicily and Italy had grown, by the cultivation of 
 their fruitful territories, to a degree of opulence and prosperity which in the end 
 proved fatal to them. Their narrow limits could with difficulty produce as much 
 oil and wine as was absorbed by the neighbouring country of Gaul, and the 
 boundless continent of Africa ; which were either altogether barren of these 
 productions, or afforded them sparingly and with difficulty. Italy was then 
 principally in the hands of the Etrusci ; a nation who, in spite of the jealous 
 rivalry of Carthage, maintained themselves in the Mediterranean : while the 
 Homanst pent up as yet within the limits of Latium, were content to carry on a 
 peaceful traffic, and conclude a treaty of commerce with their future enemies 
 the Carthaginians. The internal commerce of Gaul was in the hands of Mas- 
 tiUa^ the most peaceful and prosperous of all the Grecian states j while, on the 
 coast of Spain, Gades and other independent Phoenician colonies, were mistresses 
 of fleets which even braved the waves of the Atlantic. 
 
 The States of Greece, more particularly Athens and Corinth, with their Ionian 
 dependencies, had secured to themselves the commerce of the -ffigean and the 
 Black Sea ; and even Egypt, exclusive as it was (under the dominion of the 
 Pharaohs) in all its institutions, had opened at Naucratis a free port for Grecian 
 commerce. The later kings of this ancient dynasty went still further, and with 
 the hope of making themselves masters of Phoenicia and Syria, removed their 
 residence from Memphis to Sais, and equipped fleets at the same time on the 
 Arabian Gulf and the Mediterranean. The nations of Central Asia were 
 brought into closer contact by the levies of the Assyrians and Babylonians ; 
 and even the compulsory migration of some conquered nations — (the first ex- 
 pedient which despotism in its infancy devised to maintain its conquests) — was 
 not without some beneficial result, by making different nations better acquainted 
 with each other, — with their productions and their demands. The haughty 
 Babylon, formed by her very position for the seat of empire and of commerce 
 to the rest of Asia, had already become the resort of the arts and civilization ; 
 while Tyre and the other Phoenician states maintained their rights as the prin- 
 cipal channels of communication for the trade of Asia and Europe : a trade 
 wnich, though momentarily disturbed by the Persian conquest, presently re- 
 sumed its former current. Under the dominion of the last, the whole of Central 
 Asia assumed the internal arrangement of a settled empire : the traveller pur- 
 sued without difficulty his way along the high roads from Sardes to Persepolis 
 and Bactria ; and the very remains of their palaces, decorated with the repre- 
 sentations of public feasts, on occasion of which the different nations are 
 
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XV 11 
 
 nortrayed as presenting their offerings before the throne of the monarch, are 
 mn now a striking nroof of the industry and arts of the people, and the wise 
 
 governmen^ outline we add the commerce of Southern Africa and Ethiopia, 
 carried on, as we shall have occasion to see, by means of caravans communi- 
 cating with Carthage and Tyre across the deserts of that continent, we are pre- 
 sented (in the period we are contemplating) with a picture of life and activity— 
 of the commerce and combinations of mankind,— extending over the fairest 
 Dortions of the globe, and affording the historian a surprise and pleasure, pro- 
 portioned to the multiplicity of the objects it embraces. Without pushmg our 
 inquiries to the utmost Hmits of recorded time, we take up our position at a 
 period when the clear light of authentic History began to lose itselt in the 
 twilight of Tradition:— an obscurity which, in proportion as it is capable ot 
 beini penetrated, allures the curiosity of the observer. Without attempting to 
 explore it beyond the limits to which the torch of criticism may safely conduct 
 us, we may hope that occasionally some scattered rays may shoot far into its 
 
 Of this splendid picture we shall attempt to delineate at least the principal 
 features To this end we must cause the wariike races which usually occupy 
 the most prominent place on the stage of History, to withdraw awhile, and 
 make room for more pacific and unpresuming nations. Let the march ot de- 
 vastating armies give place to that of peaceful caravans ; and instead of mined 
 cities, let us contemplate the more pleasing spectacle of newly-founded and 
 flourishing colonies. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 During the forty years which have now nearly elapsed since the 
 first appearance of these Keflections upon Ancient Africa, a pro- 
 gress has been made in the exploration of this quarter of the globe, 
 which far surpasses the highest expectations that could have been 
 formed with any semblance of probability. Bruce's Travels, and 
 the Narrative of Lucas, in the first part of the Proceedings of the 
 African Society, were at that time the most important authorities to 
 which I could have recourse for a comparison between the present 
 Afirica and the Ancient, which forms throughout the groundwork of 
 these Researches. But the spirit of the age, which, with a power 
 before unknown, achieved all it attempted, did wonders with regard 
 to Africa. Hardy and enterprising adventurers, among whom were 
 some of my personal friends, penetrated into its interior. The chief 
 country, indeed, of this part of the world, once the cradle of civiliza- 
 tion and science, unexpectedly obtained a political consequence 
 which it had lost for centuries : it was the object of an expedi- 
 tion led on by the hero of the age, with a literary as well as an 
 armed retinue ; of an expedition which, from the new stores of in- 
 formation it opened, will never be forgotten. 
 
 The fruits of these enterprises, by the honourable liberality of 
 our government, were placed at my disposal; and, encouraged by 
 the indulgent reception which I saw vouchsafed to my first essay, I 
 felt the obligation pressed upon me, to lay every new edition before 
 the reader in as improved a state as possible. This I did in the 
 second edition, which appeared in 1804, and which not only con- 
 tained many additions and improvements, but was almost entirely 
 rewritten. If this was rendered necessary formerly by the Travels 
 of HoRNEMANN, Denon, and others, it was not less so after the ap- 
 pearance of the great French work. Description d^Egypte, with its 
 magnificent atlas of copper-plates, of which I made use in the third 
 edition, published in 1815. It only remains for me now to state 
 what has been done for the fourth. 
 
 Already, in the third edition, it was found necessary to divide the 
 
 b 2 
 
XX 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 XXI 
 
 li 
 
 fl 
 
 Reflections upon the African Nations into two volumes ; the first 
 containing the Carthaginians and Ethiopians, the second the Egyp- 
 tians. The same division has been observed in this fourth edition. 
 But the vast increase made to our stock of information respecting 
 this quarter of the globe within the last ten years, has made numer- 
 ous additions and occasional alterations necessary. For the section 
 on the Carthaginians, much new information has been derived from 
 the Travels of Bella Cella, which shows us, for the first time, 
 what a rich harvest for the lovers of antiquity may be collected in 
 the ancient Cyrenaica ; from those of Captain Lyon, who, follow- 
 ing the footsteps of Hornemann, conducts us into the very heart of 
 Africa; and, above all, the important work of General Count 
 MiNUTOLi, by which the ichnography and picture of the ancient 
 Ammonium are laid before us. 
 
 Others, of which premature accounts have reached the public, such 
 as those of Major Denham and his companion, could only be quoted 
 from periodical publications, such as the Nouvelles Annates des 
 Voyages y the Quarterly Review, etc. 
 
 Still more important is the information which has lately been 
 afforded us respecting Ethiopia. The names of Burkhardt, Bel- 
 zoni, Gau, and Caillaud, of whom the two first, alas ! have fallen 
 sacrifices to their enterprising spirit, here become illustrious. To 
 Burkhardt we are indebted for an accurate description of the tribes 
 inhabiting those regions. Of Niebuhr it may truly be said, that 
 there scarcely ever existed a traveller whose merit has been so soon 
 and so generally acknowledged as that of my immortal friend : his 
 nanae is already an authority both in the East and the West. Bel- 
 zoni has erected himself a lasting monument by rescuing from the 
 desert the gigantic grotto of Ipsambul. The great work of Gau now 
 lies before our eyes, displaying with the most scientific accuracy the 
 monuments of Nubia as far as the cataract of Wadi Haifa. The bold 
 enterprising spirit of Caillaud penetrated even still farther : the 
 monuments of ancient Meroe could no longer remain concealed ; 
 and even the ancient temple of Jupiter Ammon again presents itself 
 to our admiring eyes. Tlie fruits also of these enterprises, so far 
 as they have yet been made public, are placed within my reach ; and 
 what interesting matter I found therein for enriching this new 
 edition, the discernment of the reader will discover. The chapter 
 upon Meroe has been almost entirely re-written. I was taught to 
 regret the delayed publication of the Travels of Gau and Caillaud, 
 by the use of the engravings ; and even hesitated whether I ought 
 not to defer the parts published till the appearance of the letter-press. 
 The plates, however, lay almost complete before me ; and it seemed 
 
 to me, as these at all events must form the groundwork of the in- 
 quiry, most advantageous to form it upon my own judgment and 
 view of these, and to leave a future comparison to the reader, or to 
 supply the omission in an Appendix to some following part. When, 
 however, I applied through a common friend to Monsieur Cail- 
 laud, in order to obtain information respecting the appearance of 
 his Travels, he gave me for answer that they would be ready for the 
 public in a few months ; and tendered me, in the most obliging 
 manner, more early communications; a favour I felt bound in justice 
 to decline. But, not unacquainted with my former researches, he 
 added an assurance, which I here give in his own words : " Le juge- 
 ment de M. Caillaud sur la position de Meroe," as he writes, "se 
 rapporte parfaitement avec celui de M. Heeren ; et il approuve 
 beaucoup ce qu'il dit sur la marche de la civilisation entre I'Ethiopie 
 et I'Egypte. II pense, et atteste meme, qu'un antique etat de Meroe 
 a jou^ un tres grand role dans cette marche, et que les premiers pro- 
 gres du d^veloppement des arts et de la civilisation sont descendus 
 d'Ethiopie en Egypte, ou ils se sont developpes, et perfectionn^s ; 
 qu'un grand nombre d'usages dans les ceremonies religieuses tout k 
 fait perdus en Egypte, et que Ton retrouve dans les ceremonies an- 
 ciennes, y sont encore conserves. II a remarqu^ aussi, que le cos- 
 tume des habitans de certaines contr^es a la plus grande resemblance 
 avec le costume connu des peuples anciens. II ajoute, qu'un grand 
 nombre des monumens de ces contrees doivent dater d'une antiquity 
 tres recul^e ; que quant a beaucoup d'autres qui subsistent encore, et 
 dont les restes sont encore bien conserves, il ne croit pas qu'ils soient 
 tres anciens : les pluies qui tombent si abondamment dans ces pays 
 devant contribuer et contribuant k leur destruction." All this will 
 undoubtedly be further explained and more accurately determined 
 by the journal of Caillaud. The reader needs scarcely be told, that 
 it crave me great pleasure to find this conformity of opinion between 
 myself and a person who had been at the very place in question : 
 whether it will give as much satisfaction to certain critics, who had 
 already decreed that what has now come to pass could not be, and 
 who would rather shut their eyes than see, I shall leave them to 
 
 settle. 
 
 Quite of another kind are the discoveries which the successful 
 exertions of ChampolUon in deciphering hieroglyphics, especially the 
 names of the Pharaohs, promise us. It is certainly to Egypt that 
 they have the closest relation, and it is therefore in that part of my 
 work that I shall more fully consider them ; still, however, they 
 touch upon Ethiopia. When it is rememhered how many particu- 
 lars in regard to this subject remain still undetermined, although 
 
XXll 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 the discovery of a phonetic alphabet is proved in general ; if it be 
 moreover considered, that without a knowledge of the Coptic no 
 progress can here be made ; it will not be expected that I in this 
 path, follovring the footsteps of Champollion, should attempt blindly 
 to grope my way. Still however I cannot pass over in total silence, 
 as the reader will readily see, the relations which these discoveries 
 bear to my researches. They will therefore be found quoted in a 
 few places, not as proofs of my assertions, but merely to show the 
 agreement of their results with my statements. 
 
 The advantages, then, of this new edition will appear from what I 
 have now said. Everything available in the new discoveries for 
 the improvement of my work has been carefully made use of; and 
 with that discriminating caution which would render it most likely 
 to shed a clearer light upon the subject. How far I have attained 
 my end the reader must judge ; yet I flatter myself that fair critics 
 will not underrate my endeavours to impart to these researches that 
 degree of clearness and precision which my means and ability would 
 
 allow. 
 
 The new maps which are appended will, I hope, give a proof of 
 this. They represent ancient Africa, so far as is necessary for the 
 present vrorli, previous to the Ptolemies and Romans. The modern 
 names are always enclosed within brackets : of the ancient, no more 
 places are specified than could be conveniently given upon a general 
 map without overcharging it ; namely, the countries, nations, and 
 cities which have some historical importance. 
 
 With much greater confidence than 1 did the foregoing do I now 
 deliver this edition into the hands of the reader ; as my former state- 
 ments are here confirmed by additional evidence in numerous and 
 important particulars. 77ie monuments are still standing; and 
 stand too firm to be disputed away by the efforts of daring criticism. 
 
 Gi}ttingen, May 4^A, 1825. 
 
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Africa, from the earliest times to the present, hag always ex- 
 cited, in a more lively degree than any other quarter of the 
 world, the curiosity of mankind ; and yet it has never been 
 drawn forth from the mysterious obscurity in which it is in- 
 volved. The great difficulties which the nature of its interior 
 opposes to every attempt made to explore it, have prevented 
 any one of them, up to the present time, from being successful 
 beyond a certain point ; still this very mystery and obscurity, 
 combined with the peculiar productions of its soil, have always 
 offered a continual allurement to inquisitive spirits ; and no 
 sooner has one enterprise in part or altogether miscarried, than 
 new ones have been formed. Nature seems to have destined 
 Africa for her mysterious workshop : there peculiar races of 
 men are formed ; there the larger species of savage beasts, in- 
 habitants of the desert, wander in safety ; there a vegetable 
 creation arises, the first glance at which tells us that it belongs 
 to a distant and unknown region of the world. 
 
 Notwithstanding this, a considerable part of Africa broke 
 through, at an early period, the thick darkness in which it , 
 seemed enveloped ; and indeed, as a comparison of the latest 
 discoveries with the earliest will show, a much greater portion 
 than has hitherto been generally supposed. According to 
 evidence, which has gained credit in an unusual manner, Africa 
 was circumnavigated at a period of very remote antiquity;* 
 and although this circumstance had no influence upon the 
 further exploration of the southern part, it concurred with many 
 favourable circumstances to promote that of the northern. 
 Even in the earliest ages, the north-east coast of Africa was 
 inhabited by civilized and commercial nations, who were natives 
 of the soil like the Egyptians, or had migrated from other 
 countries like the Carthaginians and Cyreneans. The exten- 
 sive intercourse and multifarious connexions which these na- 
 tions had, as the further prosecution of these inquiries will 
 show, with the interior of this quarter of the globe, brought 
 
 1 Herod, iv. 42. 
 
 I 
 
XXIY 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXV 
 
 many accounts from thence to the countries on the sea-coast ; 
 and it is possible that Herodotus might collect during his resi- 
 dence in Egypt, a place where merchants from every quarter 
 met together, his admirable accounts of these countries : ac- 
 counts which not only confirm the latest discoveries, but 
 which often go beyond them and require further discoveries 
 to establish their credibility. But the vicissitudes to which 
 Africa was afterwards exposed must have assisted still more to 
 extend the information respecting it. The dominion of the 
 Ptolemies in Egypt was in more than one way conducive to 
 this end. As the commerce of this country increased, the cir- 
 cle of geographical knowledge became of course extended. 
 The necessity of obtaining elephants for their wars, which could j 
 only be procured from the interior of Africa, occasioned more ' 
 minute inquiries to be made respecting it. The more accurate 
 information thus obtained, and the connexions so formed, paved 
 the way to those conquests, which under the third Ptolemy 
 and Evergetes I. extended into the interior of ^Ethiopia. We 
 need not, therefore, wonder at finding in the fragments which 
 are left us of the works of the Alexandrine geographers, and 
 especially of Agatharchides, so minute a description of those 
 distant regions, which did not again become known till in the 
 present age they were discovered by Bruce. The fall of Car- 
 thage also, much as that state had done in exploring Africa, 
 tended rather to extend than to limit the information already 
 obtained of its interior. As a Roman province, North Africa 
 acquired a Roman character ; and besides the wars carried on 
 in the country of the Garamantes, which extended to the fron- 
 tiers of ^Ethiopia, another circumstance aided the exploration 
 of Africa. Its immense deserts were obliged to furnish the 
 savage animals for the great combats of wild beasts that took 
 place, principally under the emperors : and to which the Ro- 
 man people became the more attached, in proportion as the 
 state declined. The Roman historians sufficiently show the 
 almost incredible pitch to which these amusements were carried 
 at that time, and if we reflect upon the distance that it would 
 be necessary to penetrate into the interior of the country to 
 obtain the great number of lions, elephants, and other beasts 
 requisite for them,^ we shall scarcely be able to doubt but this 
 
 * Compare for example the catalogue of wild beasts of the emperor Philip, which must 
 have been brought for the great procession and fight of wild beasts at the secular games 
 (Ittdi seeculares) 1000 years from the building of Rome. Among others there were no less 
 than ten girafles (camelopardi). Script. Hist. Aug. ii. p. 5Sy Bipani edition. There is no 
 
 4 
 
 custom was of great importance in extending the information 
 respecting those countries, although we cannot say exactly how 
 much was actually gained thereby. « » i? • 
 
 In this way antiquity obtained its knowledge ot Africa, 
 which was still further increased, in the middle ages, by the 
 victories of the Arabs, and their settlement on its northern 
 coasts ; when all those places, Fez, Morocco, and others, now 
 overrun by barbarians, were, under their dominion, the seats 
 of science and literature. From this source, and from the dis- 
 coveries of the Europeans in the latter part of the fifteenth and 
 commencement of the sixteenth centuries, have been drawn 
 up, to the latest times, our accounts respecting Africa, as well 
 as the names on our more early maps. The entire change 
 which then took place in the colonial system of bu rope, and 
 which caused it to turn its whole attention to the two Indies, 
 was without doubt the principal reason why curiosity respect- 
 ing this quarter of the globe, which no longer seemed interest- 
 ing, except to furnish slaves for planting distant possessions, lay 
 dormant ; till in our own days, by a conflux of fortunate cir- 
 cumstances, the spirit of discovery has again been roused, and 
 in twenty years done more towards dispelling the mysterious 
 darkness which hangs over Africa, than had been done in the 
 two preceding centuries. 
 
 The physical features, however, of this quarter of the globe, 
 notwithstanding all that has been done by ancient and modern 
 research, have not been yet so well ascertained as to enable us 
 to reduce them to any general division, as is done with regard 
 to Asia. How little, indeed, do we know, even after the re- 
 peated journeys undertaken from the Cape of Good Hope, ot 
 the southern part, into which nobody up to the present time 
 has penetrated beyond the Tropic of Capricorn whilst all our 
 information respecting the country northward of this is limited 
 to a very unsatisfactory knowledge of the coasts. Uur pre- 
 sent view therefore must be confined, as it would have been m 
 ancient times, merely to the northern part, particularly as the 
 object of these inquiries, limited to the period when that alone 
 was known, requires no more. 
 
 "^^Um however, on these parts now begins to dawn; if *e ^^"""^ j^^X-^" *^ 
 papTr^'of 'the decea^d Bowdiel formed »P» ^XSia'irhe a"Sh'l^tk!tL°rE^^^^ 
 
xxvi 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The northern part of Africa is divided into three regions, 
 which Herodotus lias already very properly distinguished. He 
 separates his Libya into the inhabited^ situated on the Medi- 
 terranean, the wild beast territory, and the desert Libya.^ This 
 division, founded upon the natural features of the country, 
 answers to the modern names of Barbary, Biledulgerid, and 
 Sahara ; but the fertile and inhabited lands beyond the desert, 
 which we comprise under the names of Nigritia or Soudan, 
 are not included therein. They were not, however, as the 
 prosecution of this inquiry will show, altogether unknown to 
 Herodotus. But the part which he knew of it he gave to 
 Ethiopia, the general name for the interior of Africa as far as 
 it was inhabited by black or dark-coloured people. 
 
 The first region therefore comprises Mauritania, Numidia, 
 the proper territory of Carthage, (which the Romans afterwards 
 called, in a stricter sense, Africa,) Cyrenaica, and Marmarica ; 
 or the northern parts of the present kingdoms of Morocco, 
 Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and Barca, which are together com- 
 prised under the name of Barbary. Justly, indeed, does it 
 merit the name of habitable Africa, which is pre-eminently 
 given it by Herodotus, on account of the fertility which al- 
 most every where characterizes it. The coasts of Tripoli and 
 the eastern part of Barca have, however, even to the sea, large 
 sandy districts, but even these were inhabited in ancient times 
 by nomad hordes. 
 
 Beyond this region, under latitude 30°, a chain of mountains 
 runs across Africa, which in the western regions are comprised 
 under the name of Atlas. Separate portions only of this chain 
 are known up to the present time, although recent discoveries 
 satisfactorily show that it extends in the same latitude across 
 the whole continent of Africa, from the sea-shore to the bound- 
 aries of Egypt. Its loftiest and broadest part seems to be in 
 the west, where it usually bears the name of Atlas, and where 
 it occupies the whole of the southern provinces of Morocco 
 and Algiers ; as it approaches Tripoli, where it takes the name 
 of Harudsta, it becomes narrower, parched, and sterile ; after 
 which it continues along the north boundary of the desert, a 
 chain of barren rocks, until it reaches Egypt.^ In the western 
 
 > Herod, ii. cap. 32, and iv. 181. 
 
 • See Homemann's Journal of his Travels in Africa. He is the first traveller, within 
 my knowledge, who has opened to us the eastern half of this chain, and 8ho^vn us that it 
 extends athwart Africa. His accounts are confirmed and enlarged by the journey of Delia 
 Cella to Cyrenaica, as well as b^ that of General Minutoli. Although this chain, according 
 to Delia Cella, Via^gio da Tripoli aUe frontiere occidentali delV Egitto fatto nel, 1817, ?• 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXYU 
 
 parts, where there is no lack of water, it is, more than in any 
 Other, the peculiar haunt of savage beasts ; from which circum-' 
 stance Herodotus, with great justice, calls it the wild beast 
 country. By the Arabs it is called the Land of Dates,' from 
 the great quantity of that fruit, so important to Africa, which 
 grows there. The whole region, therefore, comprises the 
 southern side of Atlas, together with the territory lying near it, 
 extending as far as the great desert, between the 30th and 26th 
 degrees of north latitude. The later Greek and Roman geo- 
 graphers call it Gsetulia ; and it is known even by their poets, 
 as the native haunt of savage beasts. This whole district forms 
 at present the southern parts of the before-mentioned king- 
 doms ; but in consequence of the weakness of those wretched 
 governments, several independent states have been formed 
 there, as Fezzan {Phazaiiia Regio, PtoL) which formerly be- 
 longed to Tripoli, Sigilmessa, and others : but the inhabitants 
 of these regions are, and have been from the earliest times, the 
 greatest merchants and travellers in the world. Of these peo- 
 ple the great caravans are principally composed, which at one 
 time penetrate athwart the deserts into the golden regions of 
 the interior of Africa, and at others pass to Egypt, Arabia, and 
 
 |3p|*C'ia 
 
 Their country, which is only fertile in some of those places 
 where water is found, loses itself by degrees in a barren desert ; 
 which Herodotus calls the sandy regions,'' and which is com- 
 prised by the Arabs under the general name of the Desert, 
 Sahara. It extends, as Herodotus very accurately remarks, 
 across Africa, from Egypt to the western coast, and stretches 
 itself, under the same degrees of latitude, through the regions 
 of Asia, Arabia, the southern provinces of Persia, and pene- 
 trates considerably into northern India.' It is, however, an 
 inaccurate, though a common notion, to suppose it forms one 
 continuous sterile ocean of sand. It contains, on the contrary, 
 not only several fruitful patches, but whole districts, which 
 form steppes, over which nomad hordes wander with their cat- 
 tle.* The breadth of this sandy region is not every where the 
 
 162, is sometimes broken eastward of the Great Syrtis, yet it is not interrupted to Miy ex- 
 tent ; and the same species of mountain, a sort of chalk stone, succeeds agam soon after. 
 » Beladal Jerid, commonly pronounced Biledulgerid. *v ♦ ♦Ko eo«,o «» 
 
 > Herod, iv. 181, 6<^f>ut, i^aMA*^!^, a sandy tract. He expressly adds, that the same ex- 
 tends from Thebes in Egypt to the Pillars of Hercules. •« le^^v Tn;i;a 
 » Through Kerman (iJarmania) Mecran {Gedrosia) as far as Moultan ^^^ North India 
 * See especiallv Golberry, Fragmemdhm Voyage enAfriqvf, toI. i. cap. 6. ^o^^^J. 
 physical nature of the soU of the desert see in particular Miiutoh, Journey to the Temple of 
 Ammon. 
 
XXYIU 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 same ; its widest extent is in the western half of North Africa, 
 between the present kingdom of Morocco and the Negro 
 country ; and its narrowest between the present states of Tri- 
 poli and Kassina, where also it is most frequently interrupted 
 by watery districts. It becomes again much broader as it 
 approaches Egypt. Every where, however, it presents suffi- 
 cient terrors to prevent single travellers from venturing to cross 
 it ; and where it is broadest, the largest caravans cannot tra- 
 verse it without the greatest danger. The western desert of 
 Zuenziga is the most terrible of all ; the deserts of Berdoa, 
 Bilmah, and Barca, with some others, form parts of it, and 
 finally lose themselves in the sandy deserts of Upper Egypt 
 and Nubia. 
 
 Beyond these sandy solitudes happier regions are again 
 found. A chain, or rather a ridge of mountains, which pro- 
 bably runs across Africa under 12° north latitude, becomes the 
 common parent of many large and small rivers, and entirely 
 changes the features of the country. The dark obscurity in 
 which this ridge, called on our latest maps the Kong moun- 
 tains, has always hitherto remained, has only recently been 
 partially broken through. The streams which it pours forth, 
 swollen by the violence of the tropic rains, which here, near 
 the equator, have their longest duration, overflow like the Nile 
 the neighbouring lands, and fertilize their soil. Instead of a 
 sandy desert, the eye now ranges over extensive plains covered 
 with wood, and now over gently sloping hills, containing, often 
 at the depth of but a few feet, the richest veins of gold. Of 
 the succeeding immeasurable tracts we scarcely know a single 
 spot, yet, from what little information we have, southern Africa 
 seems generally more fertile, and therefore more thickly in- 
 habited, than the northern.^ 
 
 These preliminary observations on the physical state of 
 Africa, upon which rests the foundation of the whole inland 
 trade of this quarter of the world, are of the greatest importance 
 to our subject, and many of the following remarks would be 
 unintelligible without them. I purposely abstain from more 
 minute detail, as I would not burthen the memory of my 
 readers with names which might obscure the general outline. 
 
 One of the most extraordinary facts respecting all this part 
 of Africa is, without doubt, the rarity of large rivers, which, 
 
 » We as yet know nothing of great sandy deserts which may be contained in southern 
 Africa ; and the many and yery considerable streams therein, render it improbable that any 
 such are there to be found. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXIX 
 
 however, may be accounted for from the course of the prin- 
 cipal mountain chain. The northern chain runs so closely 
 along the Mediterranean, that the rivers which flow from it 
 are properly mountain streams, which, after a short course, lose 
 themselves in the sea. The extensive tracts which lie between 
 this and the southern chain, have no slope either towards the 
 north or south, sufficient to make the streams take either of 
 these directions, but only towards the west and east, and even 
 this, as it seems, only near the mountains. Under such cir- 
 cumstances those regions must necessarily remain without 
 water, as no stream could form itself a channel through them. 
 These impediments do not cease till we come to Egypt, where 
 the mountain chain ends, or alters its course ; and the Nile is 
 the only large stream which continues to flow from south to 
 north in the northern part of Africa. Whether, however, this 
 river has yet been traced to its source, and whether it flows in 
 the same direction, from south to north, at its rise, still remains, 
 notwithstanding the recent discoveries and the boast of a cele- 
 brated traveller that he had penetrated to its head, undeter- 
 mined. We know that this stream is formed in the interior of 
 Africa by the conflux of several rivers, but it seems not to be 
 settled which of these is properly the Nile. The river which 
 Bruce takes to be it rises between the 10° and IP north lati- 
 tude, and bears the name of Abavi ; but the more westerly 
 branch, which is called by him the White River, {Bahr el 
 Abiad^ the Astapus of the ancients,) has its source much deeper 
 in the interior of Africa ; and seems, from the mass of waters 
 which it rolls along, to have more right to be considered as the 
 principal stream. The direction of its course remains still un- 
 certain and unexplored ; even the latest adventurer, M. Cail- 
 laud, who saw its conjunction with the Nile, could not trace 
 the stream upwards ; the problem, therefore, still remains un- 
 solved, whether the Nile comes from the south or west. A 
 tradition which, from the earliest times to the present, has ob- 
 tained in Africa, speaks of a branch of the Nile flowing in the 
 latter direction. It is clearly and precisely given by the father 
 of history : " The Nile," says Herodotus, " flows out of Libya, 
 dividing it into two parts ; and, as I conjecture, (assuming un- 
 known things from what is known,) runs in a direction parallel 
 to the Danube."^ The Arabian geographers name this river 
 the Nile of the Negroes, but make it to run in a contrary 
 
 » Herod, ii. 33, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXXI 
 
 xzx 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 direction, from east to west : only giving it a common source 
 out of the same lake with the Egyptian Nile ;^ while, according 
 to the statements of the latest travellers in Africa, the assertion 
 of Herodotus is still the generally prevailing belief in the in- 
 terior of this quarter of the world.^ This question, however, is 
 not likely to remain long unsettled in an age like the present, 
 in which so much zeal is testified to clear up every doubt that 
 remains respecting the distant regions of the globe ; and since 
 a British traveller has already penetrated along the western 
 bank of the Nile as far as Darfur,^ without finding any river, 
 we may with safety conclude, that it is only above this point 
 that such a westerly principal arm can now be sought for, if 
 after all it really should exist. 
 
 Intimately connected with this question is another, of which, 
 in modern times, we have a more accurate solution ; namely, 
 upon the course of the stream, which generally goes under the 
 name of the Niger. Modern geographers have often con- 
 founded this stream with the Senegal, which, flowing from east 
 to west, falls into the ocean under 16** north latitude ; and is 
 reckoned among the principal streams of Africa. In the an- 
 cient geographers, on the contrary, the Senegal, which by 
 Ptolemy and others is called the Daradus, never bears the name 
 of the Niger. Pliny, as well as Ptolemy, seems rather to have 
 understood by this latter, a river in the interior of Africa, not 
 flowing from east to west, but from west to east.* This being 
 added to the information given above respecting a branch of 
 the Nile, which was said to flow from the west of Africa, caused 
 the Niger to be confounded with the Nile, and is by Pliny ex- 
 pressly declared to be the same river with the Astapus, or 
 White River.^ Modem geography, in consequence of the ex- 
 ploration of the Joliba, discovered by Mungo Park, tends to 
 confirm the tradition respecting the existence of a river in the 
 interior of Africa, flowing from west to east ; a tradition known 
 to Herodotus,^ and upon which he founded the conjecture 
 that this river might be the Nile.^ Its discoveries, however, 
 off*er no confirmation of the conjecture that the Joliba has any 
 connexion with the Nile ; but there are, on the contrary, im- 
 
 » As Edrisi and Abulffeda. See Hartmann, Geogr. Africa Edrisiana, p. 23. 
 ■ Horneraann, p. 138, 141. 
 
 * H. Browne, whose particular object it was to trace the course of the White River to its 
 gource ; but who was detained prisoner in Darfur. 
 
 * See Ptolemy, Africa^ tab. iv. The principal authority is Pliny, V. cap. 9. 
 
 * Pliny, 1. c. 
 
 * Herod, ii. 32. See the section upon the Land Trade of the Carthaginians. 
 
 * Herod, ii. 33. 
 
 portant reasons which render it improbable ; for not only the 
 length of the course which we must in that case assign the 
 Joliba, and which would make it divide nearly all Africa in its 
 widest part, but also the course of the mountain chain, as far 
 as we are acquainted with it, and the direction of the slope de- 
 pending upon it, seem to contradict it.^ The latest discoveries 
 of the British, of which however we have only preliminary 
 notices,^ seem to place it beyond a doubt that the Joliba falls 
 into the great lake of Tzaad in the empire of Bornou. Whe- 
 ther, however, it flows again out of it on the eastern side of 
 this lake, or whether the floods, during the rainy season, cause 
 a junction with the White River, is still unknown. 
 
 This want of navigable rivers, together with the large sandy 
 deserts, must have impeded the intercourse of the African na- 
 tions, and on that account must have thrown great, almost 
 insurmountable, difficulties in the way of their civilization. 
 The inhabitants of the interior of this quarter of the globe have 
 lived, from the earliest times, almost always cut off* from the 
 rest of the world. Protected by their sandy deserts, they 
 were scarcely accessible to the persevering toil of friendly 
 caravans, never to the army of a foreign conqueror. Great 
 and sudden moral or political revolutions seem to have hap- 
 pened as rarely here as violent physical changes. Nature, 
 nevertheless, has provided in a remarkable manner, that they 
 should not remain total strangers to each other ; she has not 
 only given them fruitful inland countries, but stored even the 
 immense sandy deserts themselves with treasures, which have 
 either excited the avarice, or been required by the necessities 
 of mankind. The central countries of Africa were celebrated 
 among the northern nations, even in the earliest ages, for the 
 abundance of gold which they contained ; but probably another 
 present, bestowed by nature on the desert, did more towards 
 keeping up an intercourse between them. In its interior were 
 found, sometimes in hills, sometimes in lakes, the great maga- 
 zines of salt, which supply the most distant tribes with this 
 indispensable mineral, of which the negro countries are totally 
 destitute, and which obliges them to undertake in large com- 
 panies such dangerous journeys through the sandy regions. 
 
 • The arguments for the opposite opinion have already been explained by Rennel, in hi6 
 additions to Iloruemann's Travels, p. 191. 
 
 * The accounts of Denham, Clapperton, and Oudeny, in the Quarterly Review, Dec. 
 1823, before the publication of their travels. The improbable hypothesis, that; the Joliba 
 turns to the west, and runs into the Congo river, and which even occasioned an unsuccessftd 
 journey of discovery to that river, falls therefore of itself to the ground. 
 
xxxu 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Besides this, unfortunately for humanity, even in that early 
 period the slave trade existed, (which, as far back as history can 
 trace, seems always to have been a native of that soil,) and 
 many other, though less important, branches of commerce. 
 Thus we see that several thousand years ago, as well as at pre- 
 sent, there existed an intercourse with the nations of Central 
 Africa, which became the principal cause of its civilization, and 
 furnished the remainder of the world with the means of inform- 
 ation respecting this quarter of the globe. The accounts which 
 are come down to us from antiquity concerning it are scanty 
 and defective, but on that very account are the more attractive 
 to the historical inquirer ; and the research which will be made 
 as we proceed' will perhaps, therefore, be more secure of the 
 attention, and have more claim to the indulgence of the reader. 
 But if the interior of Africa was subject to fewer changes, 
 her coasts, especially the northern, were more exposed to foreign 
 migrations. Here arose the republic of Carthage, one of the 
 first and most remarkable of the ancient world ; here the state of 
 Cyrenaica, had it enjoyed more domestic tranquillity, might 
 have become the rival of Carthage. Here also the only native 
 people, who on the'shores of the Nile attained so high and re- 
 markable a degree of civilization, attract our attention ; while 
 the .Ethiopians in the obscure distance, and enveloped in the 
 thickest mist of antiquity, glimmer, almost invisible, on the 
 confines of the earth. 
 
 In the hands of these nations rested the commerce of Inner 
 Africa, and besides them not a single large state, that we know 
 of, has been formed within it, as the later Numidian empire 
 is not here to be considered. But although my inquiries may 
 be limited to these, I shall nevertheless find occasion to intro- 
 duce what I may have to say respecting the other inhabitants 
 of this quarter of the globe. Gyrene did not become suffi- 
 ciently large, and too little information is left concerning it to 
 give materials for a separate division. The accounts preserved 
 respecting it, will find a more appropriate place in the third 
 part of this work, which relates to the Greeks and their colo- 
 nies in general. 
 
 > See the section on the Land Trade of the Carthaginians, in which will be found further 
 explanation and proofs of what we have here said. 
 
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CAHTHAGINIANS. 
 
 CAETHAGE. 
 
 KEC TANTUM CARTHAGO HABUISSET OPUM SEXCENT08 FERE ANNOS. SINE CONSILIIS 
 
 ET DISCIPLINA. CiCERO DE RePUBL. ii. 48. ' 
 
 It has been the unfortunate lot of Carthage to have her fall 
 alone stand conspicuous in the annals of the world, and the 
 preservation of her glory left to foreign historians. Her native 
 writers have long been lost ;^ and even among foreigners no 
 one has written a proper history of Carthage. The Greeks and 
 Romans have only left us details of those transactions in which 
 they themselves were concerned; and would, perhaps, have 
 been altogether silent respecting this state, had it not been for 
 the wars it carried on against Syracuse and Rome ; and though 
 very minute information is given us respecting these wars, 
 especially concerning the struggle with Rome, yet it becomes 
 gradually less valuable as we ascend into more remote antiquity. 
 This later period, however, is not the one from which we can 
 hope to form a proper opinion of Carthage. From the time 
 when the contest between these powerful republics broke out, 
 Carthage no longer remained what she had been. Her whole 
 existence from that period, even though fortune sometimes 
 shone favourably upon her arms, was no more than a struggle 
 for self-preservation ; all other enterprises, as well as her whole 
 previous system of policy, were sacrificed for that object. The 
 heroic family of the Barcas, indeed, did for some time support 
 the declining commonwealth ; but, having been once shaken 
 to its foundation, it could never afterwards recover its former 
 splendour and stability. 
 
 * .Sallust. Jug. cap. 17, Qui mortales initio Africam habuerint, ut ex libris Punicis, qui 
 regis Htempsahs dicebantur, interpretatum nobis est,—dicam. The libri Punici here men- 
 tioned are evidently historical books written in the Carthaginian language, as is shown by 
 the added tyiterpretatum nobis est. The addition Qui regis HiempsaUs dicebantur points 
 out the possessor, and not the author,—" I (namely Sallust) am told they belong to King 
 Hicmpsal." It is highly probable, that the historian saw these books not at Rome, but 
 Uuring his government in Africa ; where he collected the materials for his Jugurthine war. 
 Hiempsal II. was at that time king of Numidia. That the Carthaginians were not deficient 
 m literature is evident from their writings on agriculture, which were translated at Rome. 
 
 B 
 
% CARTHAGE. 
 
 Herodotus is the only great historian who has descended to 
 us from the flourishing period of this state — shortly before, and 
 during the Persian empire — and here deserves particular no- 
 tice. From the general plan of his work we might have ex- 
 pected that he would have given us a digression as well upon 
 Carthage, an opportunity for which more than once occurs,^ 
 as upon the other states and nations which he describes. Why 
 he has not done so, whether from accident or design, or be- 
 cause he had not visited Carthage himself, or what other reason 
 he might have, it is impossible to determine. Of how much 
 might he not have informed us ! He, by whom no opportunity 
 was neglected of collecting information respecting the Cartha- 
 ginians ! Notwithstanding this, many of his accounts, as will 
 be seen as we proceed, are indirectly of the highest importance 
 to this inquiry. Polybius saw Carthage (only) in its decline ; 
 he is accurate and impartial as an historian, although a friend 
 of the Romans, and even intimate with the younger Scipio. 
 He frequently gives us a deep insight into the internal affairs 
 of the Carthaginian republic ; and some genuine documents 
 which he has preserved us, together with the voyage of Hanno,- 
 afford us some compensation, although but little, for the loss 
 of its native writers. Diodorus Siculus** is principally valuable 
 because he comprises the period immediately before the Roman 
 wars, namely, that of the wars with Syracuse ; and for having 
 preserved many interesting particulars. Livy, on the contrary, 
 can only be referred to for events relating to the wars ; he did 
 not give himself the trouble to study the internal state of Car- 
 thage, and clothes, moreover, the picture which he draws, in 
 a Roman dress. Appian, in his book of the Roman wars, is in 
 this respect more copious ; although in the art of handling his 
 materials he is far inferior to Livy. Among a host of other 
 writers, Justin,* although otherwise scanty and not to be relied 
 upon, must be mentioned as the only one to whom we are in- 
 debted for a continuous view of the earlier fortunes of the 
 republic and her first advance, respecting which most of the 
 
 » As for example in viii. 165. " This, as well as the documents here mentioned, will 
 
 be found collected and translated at the end of this volume. 
 
 > Diodorus has drawn his accounts of Carthage from two Greek writers, Ephonis and 
 Timseus. The doubtful nature of the first is shown by his exaggerated statements respect- 
 ing the number of the Carthaginian armies and fleets ; which by Tima?us, who is very 
 accurate where his passions do not come into play, are always reduced to half, or one tlurd. 
 See examples in Diodorus, i. p. 584, and other places. , ., j 
 
 * The accounts of Justin, or rather of Trogus Pompeius, whom he only abridged, con- 
 cerning Carthage, are mostly drawn from Theopompus, and perhaps from Timoeus, as 1 
 have shown in my treatise, de ForUibus et auctoritate Justini. See Commentat. Hoc. Scient. 
 Goetting. voL xt. p. 225, etc. 
 
 CARTHAGE. 
 
 s 
 
 others are totally silent. — It is not our intention to write a 
 history of Carthage, and if it were, it is not her later period 
 that would occupy our chief attention. Our consideration 
 should be given to that brilliant period when this state was in 
 full activity, and enjoyed the free exercise of its power. What 
 form did she at that time bear ? Upon what foundation in 
 reality rested her internal constitution, and how was it made 
 to totter ? What was the circumference and condition of her 
 home territory ? What were her relations with her provinces 
 and colonies ? What with the independent nations of inner 
 Africa? How far did her intercourse extend in this direction, 
 and what were the limits of her navigation ? How were her 
 armies and fleets organized ? What were the principles of her 
 policy, and how were they acted upon ? In a word, what was 
 Carthage and what did she wish to be ? None of these ques- 
 tions seem to me yet satisfactorily answered, although a promi- 
 nent place is assigned to Carthage in every work on universal 
 history.^ 
 
 CHAP. I. Formation and condition of the Carthaginian dominions in 
 
 Africa, 
 
 Carthage was one of the many colonies which Tyre, like other 
 Phoenician states, established on the northern coast of Africa.^ 
 It was not the only one, nor the first ; Utica was certainly more 
 ancient,^ as were probably some others. All this coast, reckon- 
 ing from the Lesser Syrtis westward, was covered with colonies 
 of the Phoenicians, as may be seen in my inquiries respecting 
 them ; and that they even extended their settlements beyond 
 
 * The best information we have at present respecting Carthage, is to be found in Spanish 
 writers. 1 pass by all others to mention the very valuable work of Campomanes, Antiguedad 
 Maritima de la Repuhlica de Cartago. The first part contains the history of the great en- 
 largement of the Carthaginian navigation and maritime power, and is certainly very valuable, 
 as it is confined to one definite object. The second comprises the Periplus of Hanno, with 
 a too prolix commentary, mostly founded on etymologies, Hendrich, de Jiepublica Cartha- 
 giniensiuniy is a mere compilation, partly tricked up with out of the way hypotheses. Since 
 the first appearance of these inquiries, they have been made use of by most of the writers 
 among us upon ancient history — would that I could add, corrected and enlarged. I mention, 
 however, with pleasure, the instructive treatise of Professor Kluge of Breslaw, Aristoteles, 
 de Politia Carthaginiensium ; to which I shall again refer in the prosecution of this work. 
 
 * According to the usual chronology, Carthage was built b. c. 878, and destroyed B. c. 146. 
 It stood therefore altogether 732 years. Its history is best divided into three periods. The 
 first extends from the foundation of the city to the commencement of the wars against Syra- 
 cuse ; from 877 — 480. It comprises the period of the rise and growth of the state ; its ex- 
 tension in Africa, in Sardinia, and other smaller islands in the Mediterranean. It was like- 
 wise the period of the commercial wars with the Massilians and Etrurians. The second 
 extends from 480 — 265 ; from the rise of the SjTacusan to the commencement of the Roman 
 wars. It comprises the period of its greatest power and extent. The third, from 265 — 146, 
 includes the history of its wars with Rome, the period of its declining power, and its over- 
 throw. See my Manual of Ancient History, p. 59, etc. of the English translation. 
 
 * Proofe of this may be found in Bochart, Canaan, p. 473, etc. 
 
 B 2 
 
1 
 
 CARTHAGlx>4lAN 
 
 [chap. I. 
 
 CHAP. 1.] 
 
 DOMINIONS IN AFRICA. 
 
 5 
 
 the Pillars of Hercules, on the shores of the great ocean, is 
 shown hereafter from several concurrent facts. In this they 
 were influenced by various circumstances. To some parts they 
 were allured by the fertility of the soil, and to others by the 
 traffic which they carried on with the nomad inhabitants ; but 
 besides these, their principal motive, the same which drew 
 them to Sicily, seems to have been the keeping open a com- 
 munication with southern Spain, and to maintain their power 
 there, which, on account of its rich mines, became, as it were, 
 their Mexico and Peru. 
 
 Most of these settlements were established for purposes of 
 trade, and seem originally to have been but small ; they were 
 indeed, at their first formation, rather staples for their goods 
 than places of traffic. Many of them, however, taking ad- 
 vantage of their happy situation, soon got that trade into their 
 own hands which they should have insured to the mother state. 
 Among the ancients, with whom, excepting the Romans, the 
 bonds which connected the colonies with the parent states were 
 slight, this was a common occurrence ; modern history seems 
 likewise to confirm the fact, that trading colonies, if they im- 
 prove, are the most uncertain of all possessions. 
 
 Besides these, there was another species of colonies in the 
 ancient world, most numerous among the Greeks, but not un- 
 known to the Phoenicians. This owed its origin to civil broils 
 or dissensions. The discontented party emigrated or was ex- 
 pelled, and sought settlements for themselves in foreign lands. 
 The Greeks in such cases went to Asia Minor or Lower Italy ; 
 the Phoenicians to Africa.^ 
 
 According to all accounts, Carthage belonged to the latter 
 species, and this circumstance deserves here to be remarked, 
 because through it the connexion between her and the mother 
 state becomes determined. She was from the beginning an 
 independent state. Tyre and Carthage, without claiming do- 
 minion or acknowledging subjection, observed towards one 
 another all those duties of mutual regard, which, according to 
 the opinions both of the Phoenicians and Greeks, mother states 
 and colonies owe to each other. Tyre constantly refused the 
 use of her fleet to Cambyses when he wished to attack Car- 
 thage;^ and Carthage not only testified her religious devotion 
 to "the Tyrian god by embassies and votive offerings, but 
 
 > We are, for example, quite certain that it was under such circumstances that tt^e city 
 of Leptis Magna, in the territory of Syrtis, was founded by a colony from Sidon. Sallust. 
 Jug. c. 78. • Herod, iii. 17, 19. 
 
 granted a place of refuge to the inhabitants and treasures of 
 Tyre when that city was besieged by Alexander.^ 
 
 History has not preserved to us the means by which Car- 
 thage first raised itself so much above the other Phoenician 
 colonies. It certainly might have been effected by a conflux 
 of favourable circumstances ; but the excellent situation of the 
 city, which at the same time aflforded it every convenience for 
 navigation, and protected it from foreign attack, was certainly 
 one of the principal. Carthage was built in the interior of a 
 large bay, formed by the projection of Cape Bon^ in the east, 
 and Cape Zebid^ in the west, now called the Gulf of Tunis. 
 At the bottom of this bay is a peninsula, which was formerly 
 connected with the mainland by an isthmus about three miles 
 broad. Upon this peninsula was Carthage erected, about half 
 way between Utica and Tunis, both which might have been 
 seen from the walls of the city, as the former was only nine 
 and the latter only six miles distant. A very narrow neck of 
 land, projecting westward into the sea, formed a double harbour 
 for the vessels of commerce and war, and also separated the 
 lake behind from the Mediterranean. On the side towards 
 the sea it was only protected by a single wall ; while upon the 
 isthmus, on the contrary, it was guarded from foreign attack 
 by the citadel Bj/7^sa, and a threefold wall, thirty yards high 
 and thirty feet broad.* 
 
 Carthage observed from the beginning the natural policy, 
 which her original weakness must have prescribed to a single 
 city, built on the border of a large and populous quarter of 
 the world. She endeavoured to maintain a good understand- 
 ing with the original nations that lived in her neighbourhood. 
 The Tyrian colonists came not as conquerors, but bought the 
 land for their city and its territory for a yearly ground-rent or 
 tribute, which is often mentioned in their early history ; and 
 
 * Diodoms, ii. p. 190. ' The ancient promonforium Hermaum. 
 ' The ancient promontorium Apollinis. 
 
 * The local situation of ancient Carthage deserves a more minute inquiry than it would 
 be here proper to give it. The principal source is Appian, i. 435, etc. The picture of Cam- 
 pomanos, i.fin., is mostly drawn from fancy. The accounts of Shaw upon the great change 
 of the coast must form the principal groundwork ; the charts thereto annexed are undoubtedly 
 the best : but the situation of the haven is not given, and it is precisely in that wherein lies 
 the obscurity. It appears certain, however, from Appian, that the neck of land stretching 
 into the sea, only half a stadia broad, formed one side of the harbour ; from which it be- 
 comes plain how the Carthaginians, at the time Scipio blockaded their harbour, found so 
 easily a passage out. Another obscurity rests upon that part of the city called Magalia, 
 or Magara. According to Appian, -snii. 117, it seems to have been a sort of suburb, full 
 of gardens, occupying the most southern part of this neck of land. It is, however, diffi- 
 cult from the description of Appian to obtain a clear notion of the whole. We have; 
 hitherto hoped iu Vain for the publication of the recent researches made by Earl Camillo 
 Borgia. 
 
6 
 
 CARTHAGINIAN 
 
 [CIIAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 DOMINIONS IN AFRICA. 
 
 which, as Justin tells us, although it seems very improbable, 
 continued till the time of Darius Hystaspes.' 
 
 They forsook, however, this policy as soon as they found it 
 convenient, that is to say, as soon as they felt themselves strong 
 enough. Wars with the natives naturally followed,^ in which, 
 though the Carthaginians obtained the superiority, yet they 
 only ''obtained subjects who were eager at every opportunity 
 to shake off their yoke. It is necessary that we should now 
 inquire a little further into the state of these nations. This 
 inquiry will lead to the most important results, respecting the 
 whole internal state and real power of the Carthaginians. 
 Herodotus, Scylax, and Polybius will be the authorities for 
 the observations we shall make. 
 
 Whenever Polybius^ speaks of the African nations who 
 fought in the Carthaginian armies, he always most carefully 
 distinguishes the subjects of the Carthaginians from the free 
 people who served as mercenaries. The former he calls Liby- 
 ans, (A/^i;€9,) the latter, whenever they are Africans, Numidians 
 or nomades, but this name being given them entirely on ac- 
 count of their manner of living, is not properly the name of 
 the people ; the different tribes or races comprised under this 
 general term are, therefore, likewise mentioned by him under 
 their particular names. The Libyans, on the contrary, he never 
 distinguishes more precisely ; it stands always as the general 
 namelbr the African inhabitants of the Carthaginian territory. 
 It seems probable that, about the time of Polybius, the earlier 
 divisions of the tribes and distinctions of these people were 
 lost, because, as we shall presently see, they had not only been 
 obliged to change their manner of living, but had partly be- 
 come mixed with the Carthaginians. 
 
 One general character distinguishes these Libyans from the 
 other inhabitants of northern Africa. They had settled places 
 of abode, and appear every where as followers of husbandry ; 
 while all the other tribes, both on the eastern and western sides 
 of the Carthaginian territory, seem, on the contrary, even in 
 the most flourishing period of that state, to have been nomades. 
 The tribute imposed by Carthage on the Libyans was for the 
 most part paid in grain,* and it was principally with the pro- 
 duce of their industry that those republicans were enabled to 
 raise and maintain the numerous armies with which they made 
 their foreign conquests. 
 
 1 Justin, xix. 2. * Justin, 1. c. » A principal authority on this subject, 
 
 toL i. p. 161, 167, 168, Schweighauser's edition, * Polybius, vol. i. p. 177. 
 
 If Carthage wished to establish an empire in Africa, it was 
 necessary to obtain as subjects nations who had fixed dweUings. 
 Dominion over merely nomad hordes is little better than none ; 
 it cannot, at least, become the permanent foundation of a state. 
 The Carthaginians, therefore, observed a very natural policy 
 in endeavouring to civilize the nomad hordes, wherever they 
 could bring them under their yoke. But whoever reflects 
 upon the difficulties to be surmounted before nomades can be 
 brought to that state, and made to change their manner of liv- 
 ing, will be able satisfactorily to account for the frequent wars 
 in which the Carthaginians were engaged with the old inhabit- 
 ants, from that circumstance alone ; as well as the implacable 
 hatred of the latter towards their rulers, even supposing there 
 were no acts of oppression on the side of their new masters. 
 
 At the time Herodotus wrote, that is to say, in the flourish- 
 ing era of the Carthaginian state, no native people were to be 
 found in North Africa, beyond the boundaries of the Cartha- 
 ginian territory, who tilled their lands. All the native tribes 
 between Egypt and the Lesser Syrtis, and as far as the lake 
 Tritonis,^ then connected with it, were, according to the ex- 
 press testimony of that writer, nomad hordes.- With these 
 M^e shall shortly have an opportunity of becoming more par- 
 ticularly acquainted. The father of history has so minutely 
 
 * We have in ancient geography a lake, an island, and a river Triton ; the latter said to 
 communicate with the lake. See Cellar. Geog. Ant. ii. p. 860. The situation of the lake 
 has been differently stated ; we may, therefore, doubt whether the name always signifies 
 the same. It is generally placed near the Lesser Syrtis ; others are said, according to Pliny, 
 V. 4, to place it between the two Syrtes ; and Solinus, cap. 27, even places it near the Greater 
 Syrtis, towards the Aree PhiUBnorum. Solinus, however, has merely misunderstood Pliny ; 
 and the expression, between the two Syrtes, is at least so undefined, that it does not contra- 
 dict the general opinion. The uncertainty of these statements probably arises in part from 
 the Argouautic poets having made their heroes visit these territories, and created a locality 
 from their own imagination, many of which were afterwards introduced into the works on 
 geography. From Herod, iv. 179, it is clear that he took the Triton lake to be one and the 
 same as the Lesser Syrtis, or as being closely connected with it. This opinion also, as Rennel, 
 Geog. of Herod, p. 662, very pointedly remarks, is confirmed by Scylax, p. 49, ed. Hudson, 
 who places the island Triton in the Syrtis, and makes mention of no lake Triton. The pas- 
 sage in Scylax is certainly very corrupt, and instead of the words h ravrri ti; Supriii 
 iJtarijKev h vriao^ T/ditcoi/os KaXovnivrj, Kal trorano^ TpiToov, it must be fi vijcro^ TpiTtouos 
 KOI Xifii/Tj, Kal TT. T/D. or, if it should be preferred, v vvaos Tpirtouoi KaXovp.ivij, kuI Xifivri 
 TpiTwj/os, Kal ir. rp. This is clear from the following : v Sk \t>i/Tj ai/rrj, which Xifivti, 
 namely, cannot be the Syrtis itself, because we read that it had only a small opening (o-To>a 
 fiiKpov) ; but it is the lake which, according to Shaw, i. p. 274, is now called Shtbka el 
 Lowdeath. Nevertheless, in the times of Scylax, this lake communicated with the Syrtis, 
 though only by a small entrance, in the midst of which an island was to be found. This, 
 as he adds, however, was only uncovered by the sea in time of ebb, and in flood time re- 
 mained under water. The sand bank, therefore, has thus been raised up, and cut off the 
 communication between the lake and the sea. The difficulty, however, stUl remains, where 
 the river Triton is to be sought for. Although we, with Shaw, thereby would understand 
 the little river El Hammah, yet this will not suit the statement of Herodotus, who makes it 
 a river of considerable magnitude, iv. 178. But the narrative of Herodotus, cap. 179, is 
 drawn without doubt from some Argonautic poet. May not then the size of the nver, if 
 not its very existence, be merely the creation of some such poet's imagination ? The settle- 
 ment of the Triton lake is important for the geography of the Carthaginian dominions, as 
 it is usually considered as their boundary towards the south. * Herod, iv. 186. 
 
8 
 
 CARTHAGINIAN 
 
 [chap. I. 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 DOMINIONS IN AFRICA. 
 
 enumerated and so accurately described them, that the credi- 
 bility of the accounts he has left us concerning them cannot 
 be doubted. " But immediately on the other side of the river 
 Triton," continues he, that is to say on the western bank, " we 
 first find nations who cultivate their lands." ^ He gives us the 
 names of three of these tribes ; the first is the Maxyes,^ and 
 from the slender account which Herodotus gives of them, we 
 clearly see, that they had not been long accustomed to their 
 new manner of life. They were a branch of the Ausenses, 
 the remaining part of whom, as he before remarks, were still 
 nomades. " The Maxyes, on the contrary, are tillers of the 
 earth, and accustomed to live in houses." They still, how- 
 ever, retained their former customs. " They suffer the hair 
 on the right side of their heads to grow, but shave the left ; 
 they paint their bodies with red lead." Both these are still 
 nomad customs. That of painting the body is expressly men- 
 tioned by Herodotus,^ as existing among other nomades ; and 
 the manner of cutting the hair was the mark of distinction by 
 which the clans were distinguished from one another ; accord- 
 ing to the fashion in which it was done, or the side of the head 
 which was cropped. Herodotus always particularly mentions 
 the mode in which the neighbouring clans wore their hair; 
 and remains of this custom seem still to be preserved by their 
 successors, the present Tuariks.* 
 
 Next to these we find the Zaueces : " whose women used to 
 drive their chariots of war."^ They were, therefore, a people 
 who bred horses ; and perhaps, by the custom just mentioned, 
 gave occasion to the relations respecting the Amazons in these 
 regions. The use of war-chariots, which the Carthaginians 
 adopted in their early times, was probably taken from them, 
 as will be shown in another place. 
 
 These two tribes are mentioned and described by Herodo- 
 tus alone, who immediately after quotes the Carthaginians as 
 his authority. They were undoubtedly the extreme tribes of 
 the Carthaginian territory towards the south. Herodotus also 
 describes their country as full of woods, overrun with wild 
 beasts, lions, elephants, boars,^ etc. We may, therefore, con- 
 
 » Herod, iv. 191. « These Maxjres are probably the same people as those mentioned 
 
 by Justm, XYui. 6, and called Maxytani ; and whose king is said to have been Hiarbas, who 
 desired Dido for his wife. ' Herod. 1. c. * Homemann, p. 151. » Herod, iv. 193. 
 
 • Herod, iv. 191. The confirmation of these accounts of Herodotus may be seen in TuUy's 
 Narrative of a Residence in Tripoli, 1820. The woods on the road from Tunis to TripoU 
 are so infested by savage beasts, that even numerous caravans cannot pass them without 
 great danger. As the darkness comes on, the woods resound with the howling of the jack- 
 aU, and the dreadful roar of the lion seeking his prey ; even large watch-fires will scarcely 
 keep them off. o «— ^ 
 
 elude that agriculture was still in its infancy among them ; no 
 evidence, however, is wanting of the fact, that the culture of 
 the soil improved as it approached Carthage. 
 
 A third tribe, larger by far, and more remarkable, was 
 known to Polybius and others, as well as to Herodotus. This 
 was the tribe of the Gyzantes or Byzantes,^ which was subdi- 
 vided into many branches. " In their country the bees collect 
 a vast quantity of honey, and still more is said to be made by 
 confectioners. All these paint themselves like the others with 
 ruddle, and eat apes, which are found in great numbers on 
 their mountains."- Respecting the quantity of honey in these 
 territories, accurate accounts are given by Delia Cella. The 
 clefts in the mountains are full of swarms of wild bees, whose 
 honey not only serves for nourishment, but forms also an im- 
 portant article of commerce. ^ The manufactured honey, men- 
 tioned by Herodotus, is that prepared from the juice of palms, 
 the method of preparing which is described by Shaw."* In 
 these same regions it is still in most frequent use. The moun- 
 tains are branches of the Atlas, marked on our modern maps, 
 but without proper names being given them. The number of 
 apes was there so great, that, according to Diodorus,^ three 
 places derived from them the name of ape-towns, (Pithecussae,) 
 in which the apes lived with the inhabitants in their houses. 
 
 .Herodotus places his Gyzantes to the west of the Zaueces, 
 and consequently towards the Numidian frontiers. A proof 
 that he only obtained information respecting the most distant 
 and least cultivated tribes of this nation. From other writers, 
 it is clear that it not only extended itself much farther, but 
 also that it occupied the finest and most fertile part of the Car- 
 thaginian territory, which therefore bore the by-name of By- 
 zazium.^ It lay in the neighbourhood of the Lesser Syrtis, 
 and stretched to the Mediterranean. According to Polybius, 
 it was 2000 stadia, or 227 miles in circumference.'^ I shall 
 frequently have occasion to speak of this region, which was the 
 granary of Carthage. 
 
 With regard to the other Libyan tribes, I do not find their 
 names mentioned ; the loss, however, is but of little conse- 
 quence. There are many proofs which show positively that 
 there was a continuation of them, and that they were extreme- 
 
 » The latter name is given them by Steph. de Urhihus in Bu^avTE?, in the notes to which 
 will be found collected the evidence of the other writers who speak of them. 
 « Herod, iv. 194. ^ Delia Cella, Viaagio, p. 154. * Shaw, p. 291. 
 
 » Diodorus, ii. p. 449. * See Steph. 1. c. ' Polyb. iii. p. 384. 
 
10 
 
 CARTHAGINIAN 
 
 [chap. 1. 
 
 ly numerous. They always formed a part of the Carthaginian 
 army ; and in the unfortunate war against the mercenary 
 troops, or rather in the civil war which Carthage carried on 
 immediately after the termination of the first war with Rome, 
 70,000 of them were under arms at onetime,^ and numbers 
 equally considerable occur upon other occasions. 
 
 These tribes seem to have preserved themselves the purest, 
 and to have intermingled the least of any of those which in- 
 habited the southern and western part of the Carthaginian ter- 
 ritory. They did not even understand the Carthaginian 
 tongue, but seem to have spoken many different languages 
 among themselves.- Those dwelling to the east, on the con- 
 trary, along the coast from the capital to Byzazium, and even 
 in that province itself, had intermixed in a greater degree with 
 the Carthaginians, and from them had descended a race which 
 is often mentioned in history under the name of the Liby-Phce- 
 nicians. They were generally, but not always, expressly dis- 
 tinguished from the genuine Libyans ;^ and occupied the rich- 
 est and most fruitful part of the country. 
 
 In order to keep these tribes in subjection, Carthage made 
 use of the same means that Rome did towards the small na- 
 tions of Italy ; that is, she settled colonies of her own citizens 
 in their territory. This answered the double purpose of 
 maintaining their authority and improving the connexion apd 
 intermixture with the original inhabitants, which, as we see, 
 produced the Li by-Phoenician race. No state in the ancient 
 world probably better understood, or prosecuted on a larger 
 scale, the colonial system than Carthage. A separate division 
 of our work will be devoted to her foreign settlements ; and 
 we shall only here treat of those within her own territory. 
 
 The foreign colonies of Carthage were always chosen for 
 purposes of commerce ; this is even shown by their situation, 
 as they all, without exception, lay near the sea ; but those 
 within her own territory were, at least for the most part, in- 
 land, and fixed upon for the promotion of agriculture. Even 
 those on the sea-coast had so limited a trade, that they could 
 scarcely rely on that alone for subsistence. But as the ex- 
 ports of the Carthaginians consisted partly in the productions 
 
 » Polyb. i. p. 181. « Ibid. i. 168. 
 
 ' Polyb. i. p. 458. Another important passage is found in Diodorus, ii. p. 447. He ex- 
 pressW distinguishes four species of inhabitants in the Carthaginian territory in Africa. 
 The PhoBnicians, or the inhabitants of Cartilage itself ; the Liby-Phccnicians, under which 
 he comprises, rather improperly, the inhabitants of the cities on the coast j the Libyans, or 
 the ancient natiye tribes ; and the nomades. 
 
 CHAP. 1.] 
 
 DOMINIONS IN AFRICA. 
 
 11 
 
 of their soil, commerce and agriculture mutually assisted each 
 other. The policy of the Carthaginians led them to consider 
 the formation of these settlements as the surest method of pre- 
 serving the good will of the people ; as it prevented the too 
 great increase of the lower orders in the capital, and placed 
 the poorer citizens, by the distribution of lands, in better cir- 
 cumstances. " In this way," says Aristotle,^ " Carthage pre- 
 serves the love of her people. She sends out continually co- 
 lonies composed of her citizens into the districts around her, 
 and by that means makes them men of property. It is a 
 proof," he adds, " of a mild and intelligent government, that 
 it assists the poor by accustoming them to labour." 
 
 A sound and equitable policy certainly ! But it presupposes 
 a people still sufficiently uncorrupted to have a taste for agri- 
 culture ; and in the later period of Carthaginian history we 
 hear no more of the formation of such settlements.^ So in 
 Rome, where the same means were adopted, they could only 
 be employed till the time of the Gracchi ; the later military 
 colonies, under Sylla and others, were altogether of a different 
 nature ; and corresponded so little with the intention of their 
 founders, that they confirm in a remarkable degree the observ- 
 ation just now made.^ 
 
 The whole Carthaginian territory seems to have been full of 
 these settlements; they appear, however, to have abounded 
 most on the eastern side, from the gulf and lands belonging to 
 the town of Carthage down to the Lesser Syrtis, in the seat of 
 the Liby-Phcenicians and Gyzantes, or the district of Emporia. 
 
 That these places were kept in strict dependence upon Car- 
 thage needs scarcely to be remarked. The tribute which they 
 paid was a principal source of the Carthaginian revenue ; and 
 the wars, by which the Carthaginian dominions were extended, 
 were chiefly carried on at their expense.^ Under the name 
 of the towns {at ttoXci^i) they are always mentioned in con- 
 nexion with the other colonies on the north coast of Africa, as a 
 main support of the Carthaginian power ; but sometimes are 
 distinguished from them by the name of the neighbouring 
 
 • 
 
 » Aristot. Op. ii. p. 252 ; Polit. ii. 11. ; and \i. 5. p. 317. I cannot understand this latter 
 passage in the way that Mr. Kluge would, as referring to individuals of the nation, who ob- 
 tained government offices in the neighbouring cities to enrich themselves ; for Aristotle is 
 speaking of the manner in which the poverty of the great multitude might be relieved ; Stl 
 Toif (4\ti6ti/<os SrifjiOTiKdv hpav birSi'i t6 irXriQo^ fiij Xlav airopou ij ; and says that trade and 
 agriculture promote this object. , « , ^-^ ^x. r 
 
 « ♦* Nothing," says Cicero, de Repvbl. ii. 4, " more weakened Carthage than the prefer 
 e of its citizens for trade and navigation, for which they neglected agriculture and arms.* 
 Sallust, Catil cap. 11. 16. * Polyb. i. 177. 
 
 ence 
 s 
 
12 
 
 CARTHAGINIAN 
 
 [chap. I. 
 
 towjis («* TrepioiKiBes^,^ In other respects they seem to have 
 been rather open towns than walled cities :^ the Carthaginians 
 had no fortified places except along the sea-coast. There is 
 no doubt but the jealousy of the capital prevented their being 
 fortified ; but it also left them the certain prey of every con- 
 queror, or adventurer, who had courage to invade the territory 
 of Carthage. 
 
 From these towns, colonised by the Carthaginians, we must 
 carefully distinguish the original Phoenician colonies, which 
 were established by Tyre and other Phcenician states ; some, 
 indeed, previous to Carthage, in the territory which afterwards 
 belonged to that city. It is impossible to trace the origin of 
 all of these with accuracy and certainty ; we know, however, 
 that of Utica and Leptis,' and according to the accounts of 
 Sallust,* most of the large towns on the Carthaginian coast, 
 Adrumetum, Hippo, and the smaller Leptis, were of genuine 
 Phoenician origin. 
 
 These Phoenician colonies were from the beginning, or 
 soon became, free towns ; every one of which, with the terri- 
 tory belonging to it, formed a small republic. As Carthage 
 became powerful they in some degree certainly became de- 
 pendent, but were never so absolutely under the government 
 of the Carthaginians as the above-mentioned colonised towns. 
 They seem to have been rather allies than subjects ; as even 
 the mother country. Tyre itself, does not appear ever to have 
 had unlimited authority over the other towns. So much at 
 least is certain with respect to the principal among them: 
 Utica, for example, which according to the unanimous voice 
 of antiquity was the most considerable town next to Carthage, 
 and which, after her ruin, became the capital of the Roman 
 province of Africa. 
 
 I found this opinion upon the following circumstances, 
 namely, that Utica in two genuine documents, made indeed at 
 very different times, is expressly mentioned as a state by it- 
 self, as well as Carthage. The first of these is the commercial 
 treaty between Carthage and Rome, made in the year b. c. 
 348. In this it is said, at the very beginning, " upon these 
 conditions shall be peace between Rome and her allies, and 
 between Carthage, Utica, Tyre, and their allies."^ Utica is 
 
 » Aristot. Polit. vi. 5. 
 
 ■ How numerous these must have been, we may gather, among other things, from Aga- 
 thocles being able to conquer nearly two hundred of them. Diodorus, ii. p. 418. A string 
 of names is eiven by Seylax, p. 48. 
 
 » Steph. de Urb. 'IrvKij. * Sallust, Jug. cap. 19. > Polyb. i. 437, etc. 
 
 CHAP. 1.] 
 
 DOMINIONS IN AFRICA. 
 
 IS 
 
 here evidently placed upon an equality with Carthage, as even 
 its allies are recited. It seems, therefore, to have had the 
 right of contracting alliances ; notwithstanding this treaty was 
 entered into in the most flourishing period of the Carthagi- . 
 nian state. 
 
 The Tyre here mentioned with Utica, could scarcely be the 
 Phoenician Tyre. Its situation renders it improbable that it 
 should have entered into a treaty with Rome ; it was, besides, 
 at this time under the dominion of Persia : but the principal 
 fact is, that nothing occurs throughout the whole treaty that 
 could relate to that city, or be of any importance to it. I feel, 
 therefore, inclined to believe that instead of Tyre, some other 
 name should be read, perhaps Tunis, or Tysdrus, if indeed 
 Polybius himself did not refer it to Tyre; or might it not have 
 been one of the large sea-port towns on the Carthaginian ter- 
 ritory, of which we at present know nothing further, but which 
 at that time was really so called?^ It was no unusual thing 
 among the Phoenicians for colonies to be named after their 
 parent town. Of this New Carthage in Spain and Tyre on 
 the Persian Gulf afford us examples. If, however, the Phoe- 
 nician Tyre should be understood, I can only account for it 
 from the custom which prevailed among the Carthaginians of 
 comprising the parent town in their treaties. The second do- 
 cument on which I ground my opinion belongs to the last pe- 
 riod of Carthage- — to the second Punic war. It is the treaty 
 which Hannibal entered into with Philip of Macedon. As in 
 the former case, Utica, wherever its name is mentioned, stands 
 upon an equal footing with Carthage. The alliance with the 
 Macedonian king is contracted by Carthage and Utica. If 
 Utica, then, in both these periods, were connected with Car- 
 thage merely by alliance, surely no proof will be required that 
 it did in earlier times maintain its rights. 
 
 What I have here proved respecting Utica, is more than 
 probable respecting the other Phoenician cities in the Cartha- 
 ginian territory. The cities in alliance and having equal laws 
 with Carthage, are not only distinguished in the documents 
 which we have just cited, but also by the historians,' from 
 those in subjection ; and what could these be if not the Phoe- 
 nician cities ? They were originally, as Phoenician colonies, 
 
 » The names alone of many of the great Carthaginian cities have descended to us ; for what 
 know we, beyond the names, of the great cities Toka, Maschala, Hecatompylos, enumerated 
 by Diodorus ? See Diodor. ii. p. 449. 
 
 « Polyb. ii. p. 589, etc. ' Diodorus, ii. p. 413. 
 
14 
 
 CARTHAGINIAN 
 
 [chap. I. 
 
 equally free and independent as Carthage itself. It follows, 
 therefore, from the nature of these circumstances, that they 
 could not at first be treated as subjects, but only as allies. 
 Surely we have many examples in history in which the pre- 
 ponderance of the superior power transforms allies into sub- 
 jects ; and when we see that Utica alone is mentioned as an 
 independent city, we must from that circumstance conclude, 
 that the others did not stand altogether in the same rank with 
 her ; though they certainly did not belong to so low a grade 
 as the various places of the interior. The words of the treaties 
 show this, and they are confirmed by history. They appear 
 throughout as the most faithful adherents of Carthage. They 
 usually remain so when the Carthaginian subjects revolt ; they 
 are fortified, they besiege, and in their turns are besieged.^ 
 All these are sure proofs that they stood so closely connected 
 with Carthage as to have the same friends and enemies, but by 
 no means that they were subject to her despotic sway. 
 
 It was a general principle of Carthaginian policy, to im- 
 prove as much as possible the cultivation of their lands ; and 
 to accustom the native tribes under their subjection to do the 
 same. There was, however, a considerable portion of their 
 territory which, from its physical nature, was, either for the 
 most part or altogether, unfit for tillage. Such was the case 
 in the country of the Syrtes, or the north coast of Africa be- 
 tween the Greater and Lesser Syrtis, which forms the present 
 proper kingdom of Tripoli, a narrow strip of land about a 
 hundred geographical miles in length. While the territory of 
 Carthage already described, consisted of fertile lands watered 
 by the Bagradas and other rivers ; that of the Syrtes comprised 
 only a sandy plain,^ stretching from the interior of Africa to 
 the sea, and only watered in a few places by small streams.^ 
 In districts of this kind a Carthaginian or Phoenician colony 
 
 ' Proofs of this will be found in all the wars which the Carthaginians carried on in their 
 own territory. 
 
 * This remarkable difference in the soil, which begins even at Lake Triton, is truly and 
 accurately remarked by Herodotus, iv. 191. ** As far as the Triton river the soil is level 
 and sandy, but from thence towards the west it becomes mountainous and woody." 
 
 ' For a more accurate description of the country on the sea-coast, we are indebted to Delia 
 Cella, Viaggioy p. 22, etc. From Tripoli to Lebeda, (the ancient Leptis,) the fruitful strip 
 along the coast is scarcely half a mile broad ; then follow, in the neighbourhood of the river 
 Cinyps, green meadows, which however are again soon lost in the sandy deserts surrounding 
 the Gulf of Sidra, or the Great Syrtis. Delia Cella, Viaggio, p. 60, and Tully, Residence in 
 Tripoli, p. 213. [The work of Delia Cella has been translated into English by Aufrere, 
 8vo, 1822. All however that is interesting in the two writers above mentioned, as well as in 
 the important narrative of Beechey, Expedition to Explore the Coast of Africa^ 1828, 4to, 
 and the accounts of the most recent travellers, will be found collected and condensed in The 
 Modem Traveller, Africa, 1829, 3 vols. 12mo. A compilation which has deservedly received 
 much praise. Trans.] 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 DOMINIONS IN AFRICA. 
 
 15 
 
 was settled ; such, for example, as the Greater Leptis, whose 
 ruins still attest its former greatness ; (Ea, and some few others. 
 But in general the soil was unfit for agriculture, and still re- 
 mains so,^ and therefore the native tribes remained nomades 
 even in the most flourishing times of Carthage. Of these we 
 have a very accurate account in the works of Herodotus, and 
 it will be of importance for the further prosecution of our de- 
 sign, to give here more definite and clear information respect- 
 ing them.^ There dwelt still around the Triton lake, the Au- 
 senses and Machlyes : the latter cut the hair from the back of 
 their head, as the former do from the front, in order to mark 
 their race.^ A branch of the Ausenses, that is, the Maxyes 
 before mentioned, had taken to cultivate the soil. Near to 
 these were the Lotophagi, or Lotus eaters, and behind them 
 lived the Gindanes. The name of the former, who had spread 
 in remote antiquity far over the earth, became celebrated by 
 the songs of Homer, and which afterwards gave rise to so many 
 fables among the Greek poets, is the name of one or more tribes 
 who subsisted principally on the fruit of the lotus-tree ; for corn 
 in those countries could not be cultivated. The ancients have 
 handed down such minute descriptions respecting this tree, 
 (which must not be confounded with the lotus plant of Egypt,) 
 that it is impossible to mistake it.* It is the Rhamnus Lotus, 
 Linn. Its fruit, even at the present time, is the common food, 
 not only in these districts but also in the centre of Africa ; and 
 now, as well as formerly, a sort of wine or meath is made from 
 it, but which will only keep for a few days.^ The site of the 
 lotophagi may be very accurately determined from Herodotus. 
 They must have occupied just the middle point of the coast of 
 Tripoli, from about the island Meninx, which they likewise 
 possessed, as far as the ancient Leptis Magna, They had not, 
 certainly, spread themselves farther west, as we shall immedi- 
 ately see. The determination of this point is necessary, as it 
 will be of great importance on another occasion. • 
 
 Next to them towards the east, follow the Macae.^ They 
 cropped both sides of the head, leaving only a tuft on the top. 
 
 \ ?Kcofnrorslr^ compared with those of Herodotus, w..hwh^^^ 
 
 they agree very well, though not borrowed from them. This description of the coast alone 
 shows the high antiquity of this writer. , «. v ^^n^ 
 
 » Herod, i?. cap. 180. * Polyb. iii. p. 384, and Strabo, p. n91; . 
 
 » DaoDcr n 296 In Tripoli is a market-place where tree-fruit, simflar to beans, is 
 broSTn'Ae quantUies. ^t comes chiefly from the island Jirba, the ^«em^t AWx^ 
 See f ullv, B^sideme in Tripoli, p. 11, where the fruit is accurately described. [See also 
 The Modern, Traveller, Africa, vol. i. p. 43, and 254.] ' Herod, iv. 17d, 17G. 
 
16 
 
 CARTHAGINIAN 
 
 LCHAP. I. 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 DOMINIONS IN AFRICA. 
 
 17 
 
 The Cinyps* (Zenifes, and Magro) flows through their coun- 
 try, and served as a fixed boundary both for their country and 
 that of the Lotophagi. According to Scylax, they only at- 
 tended their flocks on the sea-coast during the winter ; in sum- 
 mer, as soon as it became dry, they retired with them into the 
 mountains. 
 
 Finally, the extreme nation towards the east are the Nasa- 
 mones; for those adjoining are beyond the country of the 
 Syrtes, and lie in the territory of Cyrene and Barca.^ The 
 Nasamones were a very extensive race, and lived chiefly by 
 tending their flocks. They sent a caravan yearly to Augila for 
 dates, one of the principal articles of food in Africa. Between 
 them and the Macse another nation had formerly dwelt : these 
 were the Psylli, who were buried in the sands during an ex- 
 cursion, or caravan-journey, into the interior of Libya. " The 
 south wind," says Herodotus, " having dried up their water- 
 springs, they came to the resolution of advancing towards the 
 south ; but when they came to the sand, the south wind buried 
 them."^ How closely this narrative agrees with the place, we 
 again learn from the latest discoveries. " The south wind," 
 says Delia Cella, " drives the sand out of the great desert like 
 moving clouds, which bury whole caravans."* These are the 
 nations in the eastern part of the Carthaginian dominions, from 
 the Lesser Syrtis to the frontiers of Cyrene. It is improbable 
 that they should all have vanished from the earth ; and it seems 
 they have not. They appear merely to have been pressed back 
 into the mountains by the Bedouin Arabs, from whom they are 
 distinguished by descent and manners, although intermixed 
 with them by marriage.^ Here they still live upon the lotus 
 and honey ; their women decorate their legs with rings, and 
 are offered to strangers.^ Their skin, which they paint with 
 ruddle, is even still so thickly crusted over, that their true coIoit 
 cannot be discerned. They were all, according to the distinct 
 testimoay of Herodotus, nomades, and from the nature of their 
 soil were obliged to remain so. The relation in which they 
 stood with the Carthaginians is no where expressly defined ; 
 
 works hare been pubHshed since the last German edition of Heeren. Trans ] 
 
 Namely, the Auschis<B and Cabales around the Greater Syrtis; the Asbystof beyond 
 cyrene ; the Gthgamm<e and the Adyrmachtdts dweUinar on the frontiers of Egypt. All 
 nomad tribes Herod iv. 168-171. =» Herod, iv. 173. * Delia Cdla, Vioff- 
 
 gio, p. y^. 1 heir expedition was probably intended for Phazania in the country of the Gara- 
 mantes. » Delia CeUa, p. 154. • Delia Cella, p. 109 ; of. Herodf iv. 168. 
 
 there is no doubt, however, of their being in subjection to 
 them, as their country was always considered as part of the 
 Carthaginian dominions. What tribute they were obliged to 
 pay, we indeed know not, but supposing it to have been of 
 ever so little importance to so great a commercial state, still 
 the possession of this country, and a dominion over these na- 
 tions, must have been a matter of the highest consideration. 
 
 For, in the first place, they served them as a bulwark against 
 the power of Cyrene. The growth of this Grecian colony 
 was regarded by Carthage with a jealous eye, and she carried 
 on many wars against it. Who could tell that it would not 
 become a second Carthage ? And in that case, it could not 
 be indiffierent who was in possession of the desert by which 
 the states were divided ; nor whom the hordes obeyed who 
 wandered over it. 
 
 But these nations were of still more importance to Carthage 
 on another account. By them were formed the caravans which 
 crossed the Libyan desert, and penetrated to the banks of the 
 Niger, and journeyed eastward as far as Upper Egypt and 
 Ethiopia. By their means, as we shall see, Carthage main- 
 tained an intercourse with the interior of Africa, upon which 
 depended a considerable portion of her trade. In a following 
 chapter I intend to give further proofs of this. History, indeed, 
 only gives us a few unconnected views «of these secrets of the 
 Carthaginian policy in trade; but fortunately they reveal so much 
 that there can be no doubt respecting the principal facts. 
 
 I have still to mention certain other towns, which, under the 
 name of Urbes Metagonitce, are sometimes met with as Car- 
 thaginian towns in Africa.' Historians have not accurately 
 defilied their situation, but they certainly must be sought for 
 on the coast of Numidia, westward of the proper territory of 
 Carthage. A promontory is still found there called Metago- 
 mum;^ a district of precisely the same name; and even a 
 people Metagonii^ Pliny, on this account, takes the name 
 Metagonitis to be synonymous with Numidia.^ I understand, 
 therefore, by these towns, all those settlements established by 
 the Carthaginians on the coasts of Mauritania and Numidia, 
 and which seem in a manner to have formed a regular chain 
 from their frontier to the Pillars of Hercules. Should it still 
 remain doubtful whether all those towns were really comprised 
 
 » Polyb. i. p. 458. 
 of Constantine. 
 
 « The present Ccibo di Ferro, not far from Bon, in the provmco 
 3 See Cellarii, Geog. Ant., vol. ii. 929, 936. * Plmy, v. 2. 
 
 C 
 
18 
 
 CARTHAGINIAN 
 
 [chap. I. 
 
 under that name, an authority has fortunately been preserved, 
 which leaves the truth of the fact beyond dispute. We find 
 in Scylax a specification of all the towns and harbours which 
 lie along the shore, and on the small islands opposite, as far as 
 the Pillars of Hercules. After the enumeration of them^ he 
 expressly adds, *' all the towns and marts from the Hesperides 
 (on the Larger Syrtis) to the Pillars of Hercules, belong en- 
 tirely to the Carthaginians." It is, therefore, certain that a 
 chain of Carthaginian towns stretched as far as that point. 
 These stations were of great importance to Carthage, both on 
 account of the trade which she carried on with the inland no- 
 mad tribes that dwelt in their neighbourhood, and because they 
 enabled her to keep open a communication by land with Spain, 
 as well for her merchants as for her armies. Hannibal took care 
 to have them all properly garrisoned before he set out for Italy.^ 
 In other respects they seem not to have been of great import- 
 ance, as none of them ever attained any celebrity. 
 
 From what we have now said, it will be easier to answer a 
 question otherwise very difficult : namely, what were the 
 boundaries of the Carthaginian empire in Africa? We mean, 
 of course, in its most flourishing state. On the south and north 
 its limits are determined, but there is still some difficulty in 
 settling them towards the west. Nature herself has traced the 
 southern frontiers : the Carthaginian dominion reached as far 
 as the land was fertile ; that is to say, to the Triton lake, which 
 is, besides, expressly mentioned as the boundary.^ The barren 
 districts began, indeed, on this side the lake, but towns, never- 
 theless, were found as far as the Triton lake, which were after- 
 wards destroyed in the Roman wars.* 
 
 With still more accuracy are the eastern frontiers defined. 
 As in this part they joined another state, Cyrene, it became 
 absolutely necessary that the boundary should be determined ; 
 and long struggles and wars at length produced a treaty, in 
 which the advantage was on the side of the Carthaginians, as 
 it secured them the districts between the Syrtes. According 
 to a tradition, it is said that the brothers Philaeni purchased 
 this advantage by the sacrifice of their lives ;^ and, indeed, the 
 
 * Scylax, p. 61. ed. Huds. Unfortunately their names are very much corrupted. According 
 to the corrections of VoSvsius, they were called CoUops, Pithecusae, Tipasa, Canucchis, Jol, 
 Chalka, Siga, Mes, Acris, besides the small islands of Acium, Psamathus, etc., whose situa- 
 tion cannot be determined. 
 
 » Polyb. i. 458. » Strabo, p. 1189. * Strabo, 1. c. 
 
 * Sallust, Juff. cap. Ixxix. ; Valer. Max. v. 6. 4. According to Sallust, the war to which 
 this gave rise was very fierce both by sea and land, and happened during the flourishing 
 period of both powers. 
 
 CHAP. I.J 
 
 DOMINIONS IN AFRICA. 
 
 19 
 
 offering was not too great, if we remember, from what has been 
 said before, how important these regions must have been, al- 
 though barren, to Carthage. The last place in the Carthaginian 
 dominions was Turris Euprantus, on the eastern shore of the 
 Greater Syrtis, from whence a considerable contraband trade 
 was carried on with Cyrene.^ Near to this place stood the 
 landmarks, which were named ArtB Philcenorum, in honour 
 of the brothers. They were nothing more than mere marks 
 of the boundaries, and were no longer in existence in the time 
 of Strabo.^ In the accounts come down to us respecting these 
 landmarks, all writers agree. ^ 
 
 It is a task of much diflBculty to determine the western 
 boundaries. In this quarter nomad hordes alone wandered 
 about, and it will on that account alone be immediately seen 
 that any certain limits were both impossible and unnecessary. 
 
 According to the writers most worthy of credit, the Cartha- 
 ginian dominions reached as far as the Gaditaniaji^ gulf. But 
 it is evident that this must not be understood to the letter. 
 They had established cities, harbours, and forts along the coast, 
 and in the small islands opposite, for reasons which I have 
 already in part given. The permission of the nomad hordes, 
 who dwelt in these districts, was without doubt obtained for 
 this purpose ; and in this way the Carthaginians came, by de- 
 grees, to be masters of the coast : a matter to them of the utmost 
 importance, but of very little consequence to the native tribes. 
 Carthage seems especially to have desired to secure this point, 
 when the conquest of Spain first suggested itself to her. A 
 communication with that province would thus be kept open 
 by land, should any untoward event interrupt it by sea. But 
 we discover no where a trace, nor even so much as a hint, of 
 her arrogating to herself an authority over the interior of Nu- 
 midia and Mauritania. " The Carthaginians," says Strabo,^ 
 " rule over Libya, wherever it is not occupied by mere nomad 
 hordes." It is well known, also, that during the Roman wars 
 the native princes of the neighbouring country of Numidia 
 appear as perfectly independent. Indeed, how could Carthage 
 have maintained a dominion over them ? The Carthaginians 
 certainly had formed an alliance with these princes, which they 
 
 * Strabo, p. 1 193. « There still exist, however, pillars of sandstone, with inscrip- 
 
 tions almost obliterated, which may be taken for them ; Delia Cella, ViaggiOy p. 77. Scylax 
 employs the singular number in speaking of them ; ol tou <piXaivov Bwfioi, p. 47. So also 
 Polybms, i. p. 469. The account of Sallust is evidently a corrupted tradition. 
 
 ' Polyb. i. p. 469, and besides him Scylax in the passage above quoted. 
 
 « Polyb. 1. c. * Strabo, p. 1189. 
 
 c 2 
 
20 
 
 CARTHAGINIAN 
 
 [chap. I. 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 DOMINIONS IN AFRICA. 
 
 01 
 
 endeavoured to strengthen, and knit more closely, by giving 
 them ladies of high rank in marriage.^ Some of them might 
 perhaps at times have been tributary, but these exceptions 
 cannot be taken for a rule. 
 
 • The most probable boundary to the west of the proper Car- 
 thaginian territory, where it stretched farther inland, was, there- 
 fore, in short, the point where the tribes who cultivated the soil 
 ceased, and the nomad hordes began. Although it is not likely 
 that any line was drawn marking the exact boundary, yet we 
 shall commit no great error by placing it under 8° east longi- 
 tude. Beyond that was Hippo Regius, the residence of the 
 Numid^an kings, which never belonged to Carthage ; an ac- 
 curate definition is from the nature of things impossible. 
 
 According to this survey, the fertile provinces of Carthage, 
 occupied by people who tilled the soil, extended from Cape 
 Bon in a direct line to the most western angle of the Triton 
 lake, a distance of nearly 200 geographical miles. Its breadth 
 in most parts was 150 miles.^ The northern part is usually 
 called Zeugitafia, a name of uncertain derivation. It comprised, 
 besides the capital, the most important sea-ports, as Hippo Za- 
 rytus, Utica, Tunis, Clypea, and others. The interior of the 
 country was every where filled with Carthaginian colonies and 
 native tribes, who had intermingled with the Phoenicians. 
 Vacca, Bulla, Sicca, and Zama, are the best known of these 
 settlements. The soil was fertile throughout, but more par- 
 ticularly so on the banks of the Bagradas. The southern part 
 was called Byzazium. It derived this name from the Byzantes, 
 the principal race, which from the earliest times had been settled 
 in it, but had gradually intermixed with the Carthaginian colo- 
 nies.' Its coast was also covered with a succession of flourish- 
 ing sea-ports, of which Adrumetum, the Leptis Minor, Tysdrus, 
 and Tacape were the principal. , i- • 
 
 In the more extensive sense of the word, another district 
 was included in Byzazium, but which was very often separated 
 from it, and requires here to be particularly noticed, on account 
 of its great importance to Carthage. I mean the country 
 around the Lesser Syrtis and the Triton lake, which is gener- 
 ally mentioned under the name of Emporia.^ All writers agree 
 
 .In this -nnerHamilc^ \Te\&" e^ ^^le^ph^^^^^^^ 
 ^^^T:^y l^t '' '' '• slaU P im^Wes 2^ stadia^ (280 xniles,) but expressly 
 remarks, at the same time, that the authorities differ. ^ ^ _ , , . /. „ ^o^ x fv„m Bvza- 
 
 > The territory of Emporia is expressly distinguished by Polybius (i. p. ^36,) from iiyza 
 num. or ByssaSs. In other places writers are not always Tery exact respectmg it. 
 
 in praising it for its astonishing fertility. " This region," says 
 Scylax,^ " which is occupied by Libyans, is most magnificent 
 and fertile, it abounds in tall fine cattle ; and its inhabitants are 
 most beautiful and wealthy." It derived its name from the many 
 flourishing towns it contained,^ and which, as the name implies, 
 were places of trade. From all the passages in Polybius con- 
 cerning them, we learn the great esteem in which they were 
 held by the Carthaginians. The principal cause of this was, 
 that they contained the great store-houses, from which their 
 troops, especially those of the capital, were supplied with pro- 
 visions.^ Their situation, moreover, renders it probable that 
 they were the great staple towns for the trade with the in- 
 • terior of Africa, and it might be from this that they derived 
 their name. 
 
 In addition to these cultivated countries, the abode of men 
 who tilled the earth, Carthage possessed the Regio Syrtica^ or 
 the sea-coast between the two Syrtes, extending from Tacape 
 to the monument of the PhilcEni ; a tract of about 400 miles, 
 inhabited by nomades, as the sandy nature of the soil rendered 
 fruitless the labour of the husbandman. Great Leptis, a colony 
 from Sidon, occasioned by civil disturbances,* and (Ea, were 
 the only considerable towns in the whole district. The reasons 
 why this country, notwithstanding, was of so much conse- 
 quence to Carthage have been already given. From all that 
 has now been said, I think I may draw the following important 
 conclusions respecting the Carthaginian state. 
 
 First : That the Carthaginian territory in Africa was never 
 so completely united that all its parts stood in an equal and 
 entire dependence upon the capital. The succession of old 
 Phoenician colonies along the coast was only, at least for some 
 lime, a number of confederate states, of which Carthage was 
 certainly the head, but by no means the absolute mistress. 
 Those nations were the only real subjects of Carthage who 
 were accustomed to agriculture, to which manner of living 
 they had been brought by the Carthaginians themselves, for 
 the nomad tribes between the two Syrtes were only so far in 
 subjection to Carthage as to pay tribute. 
 
 Secondly : The internal weakness of Carthage, so frequently 
 remarked by every writer, and usually ascribed to her great 
 
 * Scylax, p. 49. * By Strabo, p. 1191, an iixiroptlov is chiefly named as important^. 
 
 Also by Appian, Punic, cap. 72, it is called the territory, h iripl tJ tfitropiov yrj. 
 ' This is clear from Polyb. ii. p. 204. Compare i. p. 436, and iv. p. 547. 
 ^ Sallust, Jt^. cap. 78. 
 
22 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 military establishments, and the employment of mercenaries, 
 may be far more naturally explained by this very circumstance. 
 The policy of the Carthaginians did not extend so far as to 
 make friends of the nations they conquered. The inborn hatred 
 which the nomad hordes had previously felt, was continued, 
 and nourished, and increased, by the oppression of their rulers. 
 The approach of every enemy was considered by them as a 
 signal of revolt; how otherwise could Agathocles, and after 
 him Regulus, have dared to invade Africa with only 15,000 
 men, without deserving to be reproached for their temerity ? 
 and which they certainly would have justly merited under any 
 other circumstances. 
 
 CHAP. II. Fareign possessions of Carthage. 
 
 I. PROVINCES. 
 
 Carthage inherited from her parent state the spirit of com- 
 merce ; but the desire of conquest sprung, at first, from her 
 situation, and was nourished by success. 
 
 This will not appear strange to any one who understands 
 the genius of powerful free states. There is no example of 
 any great republic, either of ancient or modern times, that did 
 not become a conquering state, provided its geographical situ- 
 ation did not prevent it. Athens and Sparta, Rome and Car- 
 thage, Venice and Genoa, are proofs of this fact. The latest and 
 largest republics of Europe began and ended with conquest ; 
 and North America will arrive at the same point, whenever 
 space is wanting in which she may peaceably extend herself. 
 
 The states of Phoenicia Proper were republics, although 
 they had what were called kings. But there are some states, 
 which, from their situation, are obliged to renounce all pro- 
 jects of conquest, or, at least, to confine them within very nar- 
 row bounds ; and such were these. Their small territory was 
 surrounded by powerful empires, against whom they could not 
 always defend even their own independence. 
 
 The case with Carthage was entirely different. Built on 
 the edge of a large quarter of the globe, whose warlike no- 
 mades afforded, for pay, numerous armies ; and almost sur- 
 rounded by countries without a master, she could conquer, 
 and soon found it her interest so to do. For the first time, 
 therefore, history here shows us a free and powerful commercial 
 
 CHAP. II. J 
 
 FOREIGN POSSESSIONS. 
 
 2S 
 
 state, whose greatness was founded upon foreign possessions 
 acquired by force of arms. 
 
 A commercial state of such a nature must, in prosecuting 
 its conquests, necessarily have been guided by considerations 
 which obliged it to pursue a different line of policy from that 
 followed by the Persians and Babylonians, who took countries 
 by assault, and subdued and plundered one nation after an- 
 other, for no other reason but because there was yet a nation 
 to plunder and subdue. It must by no means be inferred 
 from this that the Carthaginians, throughout their whole course, 
 pursued one fixed formal plan of aggrandizement, but only 
 that experience had pointed out to them certain maxims upon 
 which they acted whenever it was possible, and which they 
 only left for some cogent reason. This line of conduct was 
 planted in the spirit of the aristocratic government, where 
 such maxims so easily become hereditary in the ruling fami- 
 lies, of which history shows us such evident proofs as to leave 
 no doubt of the fact. 
 
 Even the extent and nature of their possessions on the con- 
 tinent prove clearly enough, that a willing moderation, flow- 
 ino* from this principle, was connected with their system of 
 aggrandization, which prevented them from occupying more 
 than they intended to retain. Did there ever exist a more 
 powerful state which had such large and tempting prospects 
 of increasing its dominion, and which, nevertheless, limited its 
 extent so willingly ? Behind her proper territory, Carthage 
 saw spreading itself the immeasurable Africa, in which no 
 other state was yet formed, and which in a manner seemed 
 waiting for a ruler. Notwithstanding this, her proper domi- 
 nions here were, and remained, confined within a moderate 
 compass. Western Europe offered her the same temptation. 
 But even the rich country of Spain, known to them so mi- 
 nutely, although they had several settlements therein, could 
 not incite them to a regular conquest of it, until it offered 
 them, in time of need, when their political power had lost its 
 balance, a compensation for Sicily, during the last struggle 
 with Rome. 
 
 But their foreign possessions chiefly show, that they fol- 
 lowed one maxim equally simple and natural. A maritime 
 and commercial nation would soon, of itself, become acquaint- 
 ed with the fact, that it could have no better or more secure 
 possessions than islands. That large continents, although upon 
 
u 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 FOREIGN POSSESSIONS. 
 
 25 
 
 i 
 
 pressing occasions they may quietly, at least for a time, shut 
 their ports, or suffer a blockade from without, cannot be main- 
 tained by a fleet : of this North America furnishes us with a 
 sufficient example in modern times. The policy of the Car- 
 thaginians must soon have discovered this, and they limited, 
 therefore, even in the most flourishing period of the republic, 
 their foreign possessions almost exclusively to islands. ^ These 
 served both to shelter their squadrons, and to conceal their 
 designs ; here no troublesome rivals were to be feared, and if 
 any showed themselves they were easily restrained ; here com- 
 mercial activity, unperceived, could exert itself; here no loss 
 was to be apprehended in an age when there were no great 
 maritime powers as rivals. 
 
 These were all established maxims which the Carthaginians 
 undeviatingly followed in their conquests, and the western 
 half of the Mediterranean, sprinkled with large and small 
 islands, opened to them a field which seemed just suited to 
 their situation and power. History has preserved to us but 
 few accounts respecting the occasion of their first conquests. 
 The private settlements which the Carthaginians at first estab 
 lished here, gave them, probably, opportunities of interfering 
 in the broils of the native tribes, and the system of conquest 
 arose out of the system of colonization. This, however, does 
 not appear to have been the case with Sicily. We know of 
 no regular colonies planted there by the Carthaginians. They 
 seem at once to have entered upon its conquest ; and history 
 has not left us altogether in the dark respecting when and bj/ 
 whom this design was first prosecuted. It took place just at 
 the time that the Persians, under Cyrus and his immediate 
 successors, started forth as conquerors in Asia, namely, in the 
 latter part of the sixth and the beginning of the fifth century 
 before the Christian era.* The Carthaginians were at that 
 time indebted for the foundation of their power to one single 
 family, namely, to that of Mago, which gave them a succes- 
 
 » The republic of the united states of Holland has followed, in modern times, a similar po- 
 licy with rec^ to its East India possessions, and this example confirms the truth of the 
 remark. With how much more ease, and with still greater advantt^e, has Holland main- 
 tained herself in India, than either France or England ! the East Indian empire of the latter 
 threatens to fall in the end under its own weight. 
 
 * Between B. c. 650 — 450. Justin, xix. 1, gives us authority for all the following state- 
 ments. The chronology here is derived from the fact, that Darius, before his expedition 
 a^;ainst the Greeks, sent to Hamilcar for assistance. Therefore about the year 490. But 
 his brother and father had had the command before him, as had his sons after him. We 
 cannot therefore, upon the whole, err in this statement. Attempts at conquest in Sicily 
 and Sardinia had indeed been made by Malcus, or Malchus. before the time of Mago; but 
 that in Sardinia ended unfortunately, and sent its commander into exile. Justin, xyiii. 7. 
 It must therefore ^tc happened between 600 and 550 ; and was the first noticed in history. 
 
 sion of heroes similar to that of the Barcas at a later period. 
 Mago himself, the founder, was the first who introduced mili- 
 tary discipline and created their foreign power.^ He was 
 succeeded by his two sons, Asdrubal and Hamilcar, who made 
 Sardinia the scene of their conquests. Here Asdrubal fell, 
 after having been eleven times commander ; his native town 
 honoured him with a public mourning. His brother, upon 
 whom he bestowed the command before his death, met with a 
 similar fate in Sicily, as after being defeated in battle by Gelon 
 of Syracuse, he is said to have killed himself^ Each of them 
 left three sons : those of Hamilcar were Himilco, who succeed- 
 ed to his father's command in Sicily ; Hanno, to whom, per- 
 haps, we are indebted for the Periplus ; and Gisco. Those of 
 Asdrubal were Hannibal, Asdrubal, and Sappho. All were 
 placed at the head of the armies of the republic,^ and extend- 
 ed its dominion both without and within Africa, by their vic- 
 tories over the Mauritanians and Numidians. They are also 
 said to have been the first who relieved Carthage from paying 
 tribute to the Libyans. This is all the information we have 
 respecting these conquests. The following more minute sur- 
 vey of their provinces will serve to prove the remarks already 
 made. 
 
 I. SARDINIA. 
 
 The first and most important province of the Carthaginians 
 was Sardinia, the largest of all the islands of which they be- 
 came completely masters. Its inhabitants, with the exception 
 of a few insignificant tribes, who retreated into their inaccessi- 
 ble mountains, were all brought under the subjection of the 
 Carthaginians, who founded Calaris, (Cagliari,) which still 
 remains the capital,* and Sulchi, both on the south side of the 
 island. On every occasion, and in almost all the genuine do- 
 cuments which have descended to us respecting Carthage, 
 Sardinia appears as their first and most valuable province ; and 
 in these it is expressly mentioned immediately after their ter- 
 ritory in Africa, with which it is placed on an equal footing. 
 The first two treaties with Rome afford suflScient proof of this. 
 By the earlier of these, it is true, the Romans were permitted 
 to trade in Sardinia, as well as in Libya, that is to say, in the 
 Carthaginian territory in Africa, yet only under great restric- 
 
 « Justin L c Primus omnium, ordinata disciplina militariy imperium Poemrum cm-' 
 didit. ' i In the year B. c. 480. Herod, yii. 167. ' Per Jwsres Carthofftnten- 
 
 Slum ea tempestate gerehantur. Justin, 1. c. * Pausan. x. p. 838. 
 
9^ 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 FOREIGN POSSESSIONS. 
 
 £7 
 
 tions. In the second, their ships were forbidden, in express 
 terms, to enter the ports of either. * 
 
 , It seems remarkable that this large island, about 162 miles 
 in length, and from between 60 and 70 in breadth, should have 
 been, both in ancient and more modern times, the least known 
 of any country in Europe. It is only lately that a better de- 
 scription has been obtained of it,^ and that only increases our 
 desire for further information ; previous to this, Otaheite and 
 Owhyhee were better known to us than Sardinia ; and the 
 knowledge of the ancients respecting it was equally scanty. 
 
 The great value in which the Carthaginians held this island, 
 and were necessarily obliged to hold it, may be accounted for 
 from its geographical situation ; for a nation whose existence 
 depended upon maintaining a dominion over the western Me- 
 diterranean, and which never completely subdued Sicily, 
 could not do otherwise than make Sardinia their principal sta- 
 tion. There is no doubt but it was likewise the emporium 
 for their trade with the west of Europe, with which they kept 
 up a constant intercourse, and indeed no situation was better 
 adapted for that purpose. 
 
 Sardinia, however, was not of less importance to the Cartha- 
 ginians on its own account ; for in affording them supplies of 
 corn, it was only surpassed by their African dominions. It is 
 thus spoken of upon every occasion in their history f even its 
 rudest and most savage native tribes, who dwelt in the moun- 
 tains, were not entirely ignorant of agriculture. The moun- 
 tainous districts of the island, it is true, were not much adapt- 
 ed to husbandry ; but its fertile valleys and plains were not at 
 all inferior to those of Sicily.* But no one who considers how 
 numerous her armies were, and also the little attention paid to 
 agriculture at that period in the west of Europe and in Africa,^ 
 
 > Polyb. vol. i, p. 435, 439. ■ Azuni, Histoire geographiqtie politique et naturelle de 
 
 la Sardaigne. T. i. ii. 1802. » Diodorus, i. p. 274. Polyb. i. 205. ♦ Strabo, 344, etc. 
 
 * We may quote Sardinia as a proof of the manner in which the Carthaginians were wont 
 to treat their provinces. When the Romans took it from the Carthaginians it was in a 
 flourishing condition. Polyb. i. p. 196. The latter do not appear certainly to have been the 
 first who introduced agriculture mto this island, although they certainly increased it very 
 much among its ancient inhabitants. The various races of these Strabo has minutely speci- 
 fied. One part of them dwelt in caves in the most inaccessible mountains ; and these it was 
 that the Carthaginians coiJd never completely subjugate. Strabo, p. 344, and Diodorus, i. 
 p. 342. Sardinia, however, in general, was from the earliest times occupied by foreign set- 
 tlers, who are most satisfactorily enumerated by Pausanias, x. p. 838. A particular account, 
 but completely at variance with all these remarks, is found in the treatise de Mirabilibus, 
 cap. 105, ascribed to Aristotle. " The Carthaginians," it is there said, " had rooted up all 
 the fruit-6rees in Sardinia, and interdicted agriculture to the inhabitants upon pain of death." 
 "Whence this tale could come I know not. The interdiction, perhaps, only referred to the 
 "unconquerable cave-dwellers, that they might starve them out. That the tradition itself, 
 however, was wholly unfounded, was not unknown to Beckmann, the latest editor of that 
 work, wherefore it is needless to enter iitto a fresh refutation of it here. 
 
 will question the great importance of this fruitful country to 
 Carthage. 
 
 But besides this, there is another circumstance which, it is 
 probable, greatly increased the value of Sardinia in the eyes of 
 the Carthaginians. Although it admits not of proof, there are 
 many reasons for supposing that mines were worked there, 
 which yielded a rich produce of precious stones and metals. 
 That countries containing one or both of these had a peculiar 
 charm both for the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, is already 
 well known. Gold is now in vain sought for in Sardinia, 
 though that island is still rich in silver.^ Among the precious 
 stones the sardel holds the first rank ; it is not unfrequently 
 found in the island,^ though whether it derives its name from 
 that, or, according to Pliny,^ from the city of Sardes in Lydia, 
 is uncertain. The high value put upon this stone by the an- 
 cients, and its importance in commerce, may be known from 
 the frequent use made of it by lapidaries. I am induced to 
 believe that the Carthaginians obtained treasures of this kind 
 from the island, by the pains which they took to keep all 
 strangers at a distance from it. That they did this has already 
 been shown in the above-mentioned treaties with Rome. Stra- 
 bo also states,^ that strangers were forbidden, upon pain of 
 death by drowning, to sail to Sardinia, or the Pillars of Her- 
 cules. By the Pillars of Hercules we must here understand 
 the south-western part of Spain, where their richest mines 
 were situated. Might not then the severe prohibition respect- 
 ing Sardinia arise from the same cause ? 
 
 Carthage kept a garrison in Sardinia, formed almost entire- 
 ly of mercenaries.^ Civil and military authority seem here, as 
 well as in the other foreign possessions of Carthage, to have 
 been separated, and not bestowed on one person ;^ a regula- 
 tion which, if it really existed, gave it a decided preference 
 over Rome in the manner of governing its foreign provinces. 
 
 The conquest of Sardinia cost the Carthaginians many 
 wars, as has already been remarked. The Etrurians are said 
 to have possessed it before them ; but I find no trace of their 
 having carried on a war with them respecting it. In the first 
 treaty concluded between Carthage and Rome, b. c. 509, 
 
 » Azuni, ii. p. 341, where the several silver mines are enumerated. Might not some 
 traces be even still found there of ancient works ? * Azuni, ii. p. 351. ^ 
 
 ' Pliny, xxxvii. 7. That the Carthaginians carried on a considerable trade m precious 
 stones I shall prove in another place. * Strabo, p. 1154. * Polyb. i. p. 195. 
 
 • Polyb. i. p. 195, where the Boetharch (the governor in times of peace) is distmguished 
 from the Straiego, 
 
pt-f 
 
 28 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 CHAP. II.J 
 
 FOREIGN POSSESSIONS. 
 
 29 
 
 namely, in the period of Darius Hystaspes, it appears to have 
 been completely a Carthaginian province. According to the 
 above-mentioned accounts of Justin, however, from which in- 
 deed only a general chronology can be deduced, they were 
 still at this period busily engaged in its conquest ; but the 
 apparent contradiction instantly vanishes if we remember, that 
 frequent revolts occasioned frequent wars. Sardinia remained 
 a Carthaginian province till the year b. c. 237, a little beyond 
 the close of the first war with Rome. 
 
 II. CORSICA. 
 
 The name of Corsica but seldom occurs in Carthaginian 
 history, and it is doubtful whether it was ever entirely brought 
 under the dominion of that republic. From a very early date 
 it appears to have been occupied by the Etrurians, and a part 
 of it seems to have continued subject to their authority. On 
 one occasion, however, when their jealousy had been roused, 
 the Carthaginians gave a proof that they were not at least in- 
 different respecting who possessed the island. Some Greeks 
 wished to settle there : a body of Phocians, who had left their 
 native country rather than endure Persian bondage, landed at 
 Corsica, and there founded the colony of Alalia. Carthage 
 did not think it proper to suffer this. She entered into a 
 treaty with the Etrurians, and the allied fleets came to an en- 
 gagement with the Greeks, who, though victorious, feeling 
 themselves too weak to maintain their ground in the island, 
 quitted its shores and turned towards Italy.^ 
 
 What happened to Corsica after this, whether the Cartha- 
 ginians left it to its fate and to the Etrurians, or whether they 
 assumed a share in its government, history does not inform us ; 
 but in the year 450, about eighty years later, Corsica^ appears 
 under the dominion of the Etrurians. At a later period, how- 
 ever, though the time be uncertain, it must have again fallen 
 under the yoke of Carthage ; for in the wars with Rome it is 
 mentioned as a Carthaginian province, which, together with 
 Sardinia, fell at the end of the first contest into the hands of 
 the Romans. It is not however probable that they at this 
 time possessed all, or even a considerable part, of Corsica; 
 and, in fact, the opinion respecting their dominion there at all 
 rests upon very weak authority. Certain it is, at all events, 
 
 » Herod, i. 166. This remarkable sea-fight, the first which history records, happened be- 
 fore B. c 536, in the time of Cyrus. » Diodorus, i. p. 471. 
 
 that they never gained much from this island, nor could it ever 
 have been of so much importance to them as Sardinia.^ Its 
 soil was rugged and sterile, and the inhabitants savage ; Car- 
 thaginian policy was, besides, too profound to place much 
 value on a possession which would have been more expensive 
 than useful. Their only care was to prevent rivals from set- 
 tling there, who might disturb their commerce or interrupt 
 their navigation. 
 
 III. SICILY. 
 
 The largest of the islands I have reserved till now, because 
 it was never entirely subdued by Carthage. Had that repub- 
 lic once effected this object, which she was more than once on 
 the point of doing, her dominion would probably have been 
 established for centuries, and Rome would have been unable 
 to shake it. 
 
 A glance at the map, with some knowledge of the fertility 
 and internal riches of Sicily, will be sufficient to justify that 
 policy of Carthage, whose principal and almost only aim was 
 the possession of this island ; an object she endeavoured to 
 effect with all that firmness and constancy which so peculiarly 
 belongs to aristocratical governments. How much the domi- 
 nion of the Mediterranean, the provisioning of her armies, and 
 the trade in oil and wine, depended upon the execution of this 
 project, it were needless to prove. The island, besides, is of so 
 moderate extent, that she would have had no difficulty in 
 maintaining it. 
 
 Sicily was also the point where the interest of the Cartha- 
 ginians and Greeks clashed. Both of them here possessed 
 cities ; but those of the former were soon eclipsed by the lat- 
 ter. The Greek cities were free independent states, and that, 
 combined with the extraordinary fruitfulness of the soil, and 
 the unobstructed sale of their merchandise, enabled them to 
 raise themselves to a considerable pitch of opulence and power. 
 Those of Carthage, on the contrary, were founded with all that 
 economy, and watched with all that jealousy, which is peculiar 
 to suspicious, niggardly merchants. The best among them 
 would not bear a comparison with Agrigentum, much less with 
 
 Syracuse. 
 Carthage, so far as we know, founded no new colonies in 
 
 > SeeStrabo, p. 320; and Diodorus, i. p. 340. Diodorus says, that the Etrurians some 
 time had been masters of the island. 
 
 / 
 
m 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 FOREIGN POSSESSIONS. 
 
 81 
 
 Sicily. The Phoenicians Proper had already established some 
 settlements there, which, as the power of the Carthaginians ex- 
 tended itself, fell into their hands.^ The latter here also, as 
 they did on many other occasions, trod in the footsteps of their 
 parent state, whose dominion and navigation in the western 
 part of the Mediterranean fell in the same ratio as theirs in- 
 creased. The settlements of the Phoenicians spread at first 
 over all the coasts of the island, since they possessed the pro- 
 montories and the islets lying around. But as the Greeks 
 continually extended their possessions, the others, on the con- 
 trary, in the same degree, were always forced to retire ; and so 
 became at last limited to merely the western part of the island, 
 where Motya, Panormus, and Soloes for a long time remained 
 their principal settlements. They likewise often found allies 
 in the neighbouring people Elymi. 
 
 Carthage seems at first only to have obtained possession of 
 those cities from whence lay, as Thucydides remarks, the 
 shortest passage to Carthage. By this she appears to have 
 gained a strong footing in the island, and was fully satisfied, 
 during the increasing power of the Greeks, if she could main- 
 tain her ground. 
 
 But frequent contentions with the native inhabitants soon 
 led to wars ; and these to plans of conquest, which even from 
 the beginning seem to have been forwarded by the continual 
 dissension of the Greek cities in Sicily among themselves, 
 some of whom invited the Carthaginians to their assistance. 
 We are told by some writers that they also formed alliances 
 with the Persians : first with Darius, during his war with the 
 Greeks ; and again with Xerxes, during his celebrated expe- 
 dition against their country.^ At all events, it was at this ex- 
 act point of time that Hamilcar, son of Mago, endeavoured to 
 advance the Carthaginian arms in Sicily. He was unsuccess- 
 fiil : for on the very same day that the might of Asia was 
 overthrown at Salamis by the Athenians and their allies, was 
 the united power of Africa destroyed by their western coun- 
 trymen in Sicily ; and Hamilcar himself fell a sacrifice to his 
 
 > Thucyd. lib. vi. cap. 2. The most important passage in Thucydides respecting the first 
 establishment of Carthaginian dominion in Sicily is obscure ; because the expression <botvi- 
 /c£s may as weU be referred to the Proper Phoenicians as to the Carthaginians. The histo- 
 rian intends, in my opinion, to embrace both by it. He enumerates the nations which had 
 established themselves in Sicily, and as the Phoenicians and Carthaginians were descended 
 from the same stock, he only reckons them as one. The beeinning of the passage, there- 
 fore, refers to the Phoenicians, as the first colonists. The close, on the contrary, refers to 
 the Carthaginians, as it states, that they possessed the cities which lay nearest to Carthage. 
 
 * Herod, vii. 165. 
 
 enterprise.* The Greeks after this enjoyed for some time 
 a state of tranquillity on the island, as the Carthaginians 
 could only maintain themselves in their old possessions on its 
 western side. 
 
 This tranquillity, however, was not of long duration, and 
 after the second change of the republican government of Syra- 
 cuse into a monarchy, under Dionysius I., (b. c. 410,) the 
 Carthaginians made a new attempt to conquer Sicily. The 
 contention of two Greek cities, one of whom, Segesta, called 
 in their assistance against Selinus, gave them a new opportu- 
 nity of commencing hostilities. The rapid progress, however, 
 which they at first made, extended their views ; it proved also 
 the cause of a revolution in Syracuse, which gave despotic 
 power to Dionysius. He and his successors, especially Aga- 
 thocles, pursued, as often as circumstances would permit, the 
 same uniform design of converting Sicily, and Lower Italy if 
 possible, into one kingdom. Had this design been carried into 
 execution, Carthage would not only have lost her possessions on 
 the island, but would probably have anticipated her approach- 
 ing overthrow : if not a sudden, a lingering decay must have 
 brought her to her end. • To say nothing of the dominion of 
 the Mediterranean, which she would thereby have lost, as well 
 as have been cut oiF from Sardinia, and have had her sea trade 
 ruined, how would she have been able to withstand the united 
 efforts of the Greek states of Sicily and Magna Graecia ? Cir- 
 cumstances would naturally have given rise to bloody wars. 
 It could not, therefore, have been either a false or ambitious 
 policy in Carthage, to make every exertion in her power to 
 frustrate their intention. 
 
 The history of these wars does not properly belong to this 
 place. They continued, with little interruption, till the com- 
 mencement of the struggle with Rome — nearly one hundred 
 and fifty years, (410 — 264, b. c.,) without either party being 
 able completely to expel the other from the island. It is pro- 
 bable, however, that the Carthaginians only wanted a great 
 commander to put them in entire possession of Sicily. Had 
 a Hannibal at that time been at their head, neither the timid 
 and insolent Dionysius, nor the adventurer Agathocles, would 
 have been able to have withstood them. Syracuse, moreover, 
 had its most dangerous enemy within its walls. The inhabit- 
 ants of that city were by far the most restless of all the states 
 
 » In the year b. c. 480. 
 
S£ 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. ir. 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 FOREIGN POSSESSIONS. 
 
 33 
 
 m 
 
 of Greece. Their own commander, as Polybius cleverly ob- 
 serves,' dared not remove his army to any distance without 
 the walls, because he might be sure that during its absence a 
 revolution would take place. The history of the world, indeed, 
 could scarcely produce another state, which, in so short a space 
 of time, underwent such various, such sudden, and such vio- 
 lent changes in its form of government. Its history, in reality, 
 might with great justice be called a practical compendium of 
 the art of government. 
 
 It would be a fruitless undertaking to attempt the settlement 
 of the Carthaginian boundaries during these wars. They were 
 subject to continual changes, dependent upon the success of 
 their arms. In the treaty of peace, however, made in the year 
 B. c. 383, the little river Halycus, on the south side of the 
 island, was fixed upon as their frontier,* and it may be regarded 
 as the usual boundary after that time ; so that about the third 
 part of the island, which lay on the western side of that river, 
 was under the dominion of the Carthaginians, subject, however, 
 to frequent variation. In the time of Agathocles they seem 
 only to have wanted the city of Syracuse to complete their 
 conquest of the whole island ; while at other times they found 
 themselves limited to their original possessions, which they en- 
 deavoured more firmly to secure by removing their principal 
 seat to Lilybaeum, (after Motya had been taken from them by 
 Dionysius,) as being a better situation for their fleet and armies.^ 
 
 IV. THE BALEARES, AND OTHER SMALLER ISLANDS IN THE 
 
 MEDITERRANEAN. 
 
 The remaining smaller islands in the Mediterranean, as well 
 those lying along the coast of Africa and Sicily as those in the 
 open sea, were all taken possession of by the Carthaginians. 
 They cost them little to maintain, and served as so many 
 staples for their goods, and as stations for their vessels to touch 
 at in their long voyages. Nearly all these had previously been 
 Phoenician settlements, and history does not inform us of the 
 exact epochs when the Carthaginians became, in each of them, 
 the heirs and successors of their forefathers. They were pro- 
 bably obtained without bloodshed. 
 
 The greater and lesser Balearean islands, Majorca and Mi- 
 norca, together with the neighbouring Ebusus, or Yvica, they 
 seemed to have occupied at an early period. Diodorus fixes 
 
 » Polyb. i. p. 19. 
 
 Diodorus, ii. p. 503, et ibi nota. * Diodorus, i. p. 498. 
 
 the time when they took possession of the latter at one hundred 
 and sixty years from the building of Carthage.^ It produced 
 wine, oil, and fine wool. The Carthaginians built in it the 
 colonial city Ebusus, celebrated for the splendour of its build- 
 ings and its excellent harbour; but it may be questioned 
 whether they ever became masters of the whole island. The 
 inhabitants of the Baleares were Troglodytes, and fought as 
 slingers in the Carthaginian armies. Excellent mules were 
 bred in these islands, and the Carthaginians found among the 
 inhabitants a ready sale for their African slaves, particularly 
 females ; their situation sufficiently shows that they were at the 
 same time the principal staples for the Spanish trade. 
 
 Nearer to the African coast lie the islands Melita, Gaulos, 
 and Cercina.^ The first two of these islands were also very 
 early occupied by the Phoenicians, as we learn from monu- 
 ments and coins still existing, probably about the same time 
 that they founded their colonies on the opposite coasts of the 
 continent.^ Next to them, and seemingly also at a very early 
 period, an Ionian colony from Chalcis settled there, as is like- 
 wise shown by coins and inscriptions.* It is impossible to 
 determine exactly when they were brought under the dominion 
 of Carthage ; most likely about the same time that she effected 
 her conquests in Sicily and Sardinia, but certainly not later. 
 When Scylax wrote they were already occupied by the Car- 
 thaginians.^ Malta was a principal mart for Carthaginian 
 manufactures, chiefly for woven goods. From this place the 
 finest cloths were exported.^ Malta was therefore covered with 
 large manufactories and buildings, and the inhabitants derived 
 from their industry a high degree of prosperity and opulence. 
 Gaulos and Cercina served as convenient stations for ships ; 
 the harbour of the latter was even sufficiently large to hold 
 vessels of war. I pass by the other smaller islands — such as 
 Lipara, and those belonging to it, which, previous to the com- 
 mencement of the Roman wars, had been subjected by Car- 
 thage,^ who was enriched by their produce, and benefited by 
 their harbours. The express assertion of Polybius,® that all the 
 islands of the western Mediterranean belonged to her, makes it 
 unnecessary that we should point them out separately by name. 
 
 » Diodorus, i. p. 343. ' See Clurer, Sic. Ant. p. 425, etc. Their present names are 
 
 Malta, Gozo, and Karkenna. ' The principal work on ancient Malta, but which did 
 
 not appear till after the third edition of these Inquiries, is Malta Antica illustrata^ co* 
 Monumenti e colV Istoria dal Prelato Onorato Bres ; Roma, 1816. * Especially a 
 
 tessera Hospitalism besides the money issued by the people and senate of Malta. Bres, p. 91. 
 
 * Scylax, p. 50. • Diodorus, i. p. 339. ' Polyb. i. p. 53. * Ibid. i. p. 22. 
 
 ( 
 
S4 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 ICHAP. n. 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 FOREIGN POSSESSIONS. 
 
 35 
 
 Respecting the internal government of these provinces, and 
 the relation in which the Carthaginians stood with the inhabit- 
 ants, very little information unfortunately can be obtained. If 
 we may judge of the other islands from what we know of Sar- 
 dinia, the republic garrisoned them with bodies of mercenary 
 troops, commanded by Carthaginian officers. This plan was 
 also adopted in Malta.* Its inhabitants, however, could never 
 be entirely brought under the dominion of Carthage ; many 
 of them chose rather to retire into their inaccessible fastnesses, 
 and dwell in caves, where the Carthaginians could not approach 
 them : forbidding the introduction or possession of silver and 
 gold lest they should excite the cupidity of their enemies.^ 
 
 v. SPAIN. 
 
 Should what has been already said respecting that principle 
 of Carthaginian policy, which led them to confine their con- 
 quests within certain bounds, want further confirmation, no 
 country will give it as well as Spain. Carthage possessed for 
 a long time, perhaps centuries, settlements in Spain, and had 
 entered into a close connexion with the tribes which inhabited 
 it, without aiming at a complete conquest of the country, or the 
 subjugation of its inhabitants. She did not venture to take this 
 step till the loss of Sicily and Sardinia pointed it out to her as 
 the only means of preserving herself, and counterbalancing the 
 formidable power of the Romans. 
 
 It is difficult, or rather impossible, to point out the exact 
 period when the Carthaginians first obtained footing in Spain. 
 Here, as well as in Sicily, they trod in the footsteps of their 
 forefathers the Phoenicians. From time immemorial that peo- 
 ple, as has been shown in our inquiries respecting them, made 
 that ancient Mexico the chief object of their voyages, and there 
 formed settlements, some of which afterwards became, in their 
 turn, opulent and powerful states. Who is unacquainted with 
 Gades, Carteja, and Tartessus? South-west Spain, or the coun- 
 try of the Turdetani, the present Andalusia, was the proper 
 territory of Phoenician colonies. Of the history of their settle- 
 ments, however, such scanty accounts have descended to us, 
 that we can only form a general notion of their government 
 and of their relations as well among themselves as with Car- 
 thage. Gades was and continued the principal among them, 
 
 * When the consul Sempronius took the island in 218, the Carthaginian garrison, under 
 Hamilcar the son of Gisco, was 2000 strong. Livy, xxi. 61. 
 ' The inhabitants of the Balearian islands are an example of this. Diodorus, i. p. 342. i 
 
 and seems to have exercised a kind of authority over the others, 
 or at least to have been the chief of these allied cities. It was 
 likewise the seat of the national god, the Tyrian Hercules. 
 There existed, therefore, a relation between these cities similar 
 to that which existed between Carthage and her neighbouring 
 colonies, and that between Tyre and the towns around her in 
 the parent state. The number of settlements on the coast had 
 also produced an intermixture with the ancient inhabitants ; 
 and this had created a mingled race, called Bastuli, similar to 
 the Liby-Phoenicians in Africa, whom the inhabitants of the 
 interior would not acknowledge as their brethren.^ We may 
 see by this, that Gades bore a great similarity to Carthage, 
 although it seems never to have equalled her in power. 
 
 It was in the south-western districts that the Carthaginians 
 planted their first settlements in Spain. That this took place 
 at a very early period is rendered probable by their early occu- 
 pation of the Balearian islands, which certainly were of no use 
 to them but as places to touch at in their intercourse with the 
 peninsula. But the express testimony of Scylax, a contempo- 
 rary writer who lived in the flourishing period of the republic, 
 renders the fact certain.^ '' Beyond the Pillars of Hercules 
 in Europe," says he, " are found a number of Carthaginian 
 marts." ^ These settlements must, moreover, have caused a fur- 
 ther extension and increase of possessions at a very early pe- 
 riod, even a considerable time before the commencement of the 
 Roman war. This is incontrovertibly proved by the testimony 
 of Polybius, from whom we learn that the Carthaginians even 
 at that time were not only masters of all the islands of the 
 western Mediterranean,' but also of many parts of Spain. It 
 would be a vain attempt to endeavour to define accurately how 
 much belonged to them ; but from the nature of things we 
 must place their possessions in the southern and western part 
 of the peninsula. There is, however, much room to doubt 
 whether their dominion extended far into the country ; for at 
 the commencement of the conquests of Hamilcar Barca in 
 Spain, not even the Tartessians, who dwelt on the banks of the 
 lower Guadalquiver, were under their subjection, but were the 
 first to be attacked.* It is, therefore, highly probable that down 
 to this period their dominion there, though equal in extent to 
 that of their forefathers, did not reach far beyond the coast. 
 
 * See the proofs in Mannert. Geog. i. p. 224. * Scylax, p. 1. 
 
 ♦ Diodorus, ii. p. 510. 
 D 2 
 
 Polyb. i. p. 22. 
 
36 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 FOREIGN POSSESSIONS. 
 
 37 
 
 However this might be, they derived great and most import- 
 ant advantages from these colonies. Even their close connexion 
 with the opulent city of Gades was in more than one way 
 beneficial to them. In consequence of the rich silver mines 
 which lay just in its neighbourhood, the price of silver must 
 have been much lower here than in more distant countries 
 where it was not to be found. Hence the Carthaginians opened 
 a market for their own commodities in Spain, and extended 
 themselves all over the country, if not as conquerors, at least 
 as merchants. From here they drew the best of their mercen- 
 ary troops ; and the harbour of Gades served at the same time 
 as a station for their vessels in their distant voyages beyond 
 the Pillars of Hercules, along the shores of the ocean. 
 
 The mines of this country, and the rich treasures they 
 yielded, were nevertheless the great points of attraction. These 
 had already been opened and worked by their forefathers the 
 Phoenicians. Here, then, the way was again ready paved for 
 them ; and they most probably attempted, in the infancy of 
 their settlements, to turn these mines to account. Even during 
 their Sicilian and Libyan wars, they were enabled by them, 
 according to the express declaration of Diodorus,^ to maintain 
 the mighty armies which they at tfiat time raised ; and the 
 mines which the Romans at a later period worked, had all been 
 previously opened by the Carthaginians. This, however, does 
 not render the fact less certain that the attempt to conquer the 
 whole country, which was undertaken and prosecuted during 
 the Roman wars, was the principal cause of the working of 
 these mines being carried to its greatest extent ; but seems 
 rather, from the nature of things, to confirm it. 
 
 It appears, therefore, that the relations of Carthage with 
 Spain, during the whole of her most flourishing period, were 
 altogether of a peaceable nature. She enjoyed all the advan- 
 tages which this rich country could bestow without risk or 
 expense, and simply because she had sufficient moderation to 
 prefer a quiet intercourse to the glitter of conquest. The silver 
 mines, whether under her dominion or not, were equally be- 
 neficial to her ; as by the profitable sale of her wares, she re- 
 ceived the treasures they produced. The Spanish tribes were 
 her friends and allies, and willingly served in her armies tor a 
 moderate pay. Carthage long enjoyed the fruits of this policy ; 
 her treasury was filled, and her argosies rode widely undis- 
 
 ^ Diodonu, i. p. 360. 
 
 turbed across the seas. The pressure of circumstances, which 
 time brought about, compelled her to change this policy ; but 
 this led to a series of misfortunes which gradually sapped the 
 foundation of the republic, and caused her overthrow. This 
 I shall have opportunities of showing as I proceed. 
 
 Respecting the manner of governing the provinces, we have 
 some occasional hints ; but nothing like detailed accounts. We 
 glean from the whole, that they were always intrusted to a 
 single person, who was usually called general (a-TpaTqr^h^) ; 
 though this appellation by no means designated merely a mili- 
 tary character, and is much better translated by governor or 
 lieutenants Such a strategos, or commander, was first in 
 Carthage itself.^ Another was placed over the Carthaginian 
 territory in Libya ;^ and again others are named as having go- 
 verned in Sicily and Sardinia.* It seems also to have been a 
 custom, as might naturally be expected in a state founded by 
 conquest, that the commander of the army should likewise be 
 the governor. Nevertheless, in those provinces which were 
 completely subjugated, and remained tranquil, we find mention 
 of boetharchs instead of strategoi,^ This appellation did not 
 exclude military command; and we may therefore doubt 
 whether the difference did not consist rather in the name than 
 in the power of the oflScer. The authority of the governors 
 in the provinces must have been very great, as with them prin- 
 cipally originated the great oppressions, which made the op- 
 pressed upon such light occasions revolt.^ 
 
 II. FOREIGN COLONIES. 
 
 The foregoing inquiries must already have shown how 
 closely the conquests and colonies of Carthage were connected 
 with each other ; the former were generally consequences of 
 the latter. The colonies of the Carthaginians stretched out far 
 beyond their provinces ; for even in places where they had no 
 intention of making extensive conquests, as, for example, on 
 the distant coasts of their own continent, they planted, without 
 hesitation, separate settlements whenever their trade and navi- 
 gation required it. 
 
 Colonies, understanding thereby secure ports and harbours 
 
 ' Polyb. i. 179, in this place generally calls the governors crrpaTtiyoi. * 'O t^» 
 
 »oX£a»s ffT/jaTTjyos, thus Gisco, Polyb. i. 163. ' Like Hanno, Polyb. i. 166. 
 
 ♦ Polyb. i. 172. * Like Bostanis in Sardinia, Polyb. i. 195 ; and Carthaloin Africa, 
 
 Appian, Pun. 68. • Polyb. i. 179. Those governors were most esteemed who exact- 
 
 ed the most taxes. Of course we must not understand this in a general sense ; nor of all 
 pciioda. 
 
38 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. 11. 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 FOREIGN POSSESSIONS. 
 
 39 
 
 for vessels, and staple towns for merchandise, are indispensable 
 to every seafaring and commercial nation, whenever their trade 
 extends to remote or uncivilized countries, or perhaps to those 
 whose inhabitants are nomades. In these places the merchant 
 must at least have factories in which to deposit his wares in 
 safety, and the inhabitants a place to which they may bring 
 the produce of their industry, and dispose of it with certainty. 
 Without this it is impossible that trade should be regularly and 
 uninterruptedly carried on, as the time during which the ships 
 are absent cannot otherwise be employed in collecting their 
 lading ; not to mention many other advantages belonging to 
 such colonies which must be obvious to every one. 
 
 Carthage was under both the forementioned circumstances, 
 and especially the latter. By far the greater part of her com- 
 merce was carried on with nations to whom she was greatly 
 superior in civilization. The native tribes of Africa beyond 
 her own dominions were all nomades ; the inhabitants of Spain, 
 Gaul, and Liguria, were but little better. It was not, there- 
 fore, a mere desire of aggrandizement, which led Carthage to 
 plant colonies ; it was necessary to her well being ; it was jier 
 soundest policy. They were by no means in general intended 
 as the groundwork for future conquest, although in some in- 
 stances they certainly became so. 
 
 No other state of antiquity carried the colonial system to so 
 great an extent as Carthage ; and to no other did their colo- 
 nies remain to the last of so much importance. The state it- 
 self was so greatly indebted to them, or was rather so founded 
 upon them, that they were almost necessary to its very exist- 
 ence. Of one kind we have already spoken, namely, the in- 
 land ; these were intended for agricultural purposes, and to 
 improve and reform the native tribes : what follows relates 
 only to their foreign possessions. 
 
 The usual, and probably the general, intention of these fo- 
 reign settlements was to facilitate and secure to the parent 
 state its intercourse with the countries in which they were 
 planted. Their situation affords a proof of this, as they al- 
 ways fixed upon the coasts, or small islands near the shore. 
 The cause, however, of their foundation, naturally gave rise to 
 certain general principles, which were not only acted upon at 
 their first establishment, but also in their subsequent treatment. 
 
 With the planting of their colonies the religious worship of 
 the Carthaginians was closely connected. This arose from the 
 
 origin of their own city. They were indeed themselves a co- 
 lony ; and had brought the worship of their national god Mel- 
 earth, or Heracles, as the Greeks call him, with them ; the 
 god of the city and boundaries of Tyre, and consequently also 
 of Carthage. In the same manner that he had obtained a sanc- 
 tuary at Carthage, was his worship introduced into her foreign 
 settlements ; and thus he acquired the appellation of the colo- 
 nial god.^ The form of worship here observed, was the tie 
 which bound the colonies to the mother state, as was the case 
 with Carthage, otherwise completely independent, towards 
 Tyre. The greater security of commerce certainly was not 
 less the object. How could this in distant lands, probably 
 among barbarous nations, be better carried on than under the 
 protection of a sacred institution ? 
 
 Upon the manner in which her colonies were first establish- 
 ed and regulated, a considerable light is thrown by one of the 
 most valuable documents that has descended to us from ancient 
 Carthage. I mean the celebrated expedition of Hanno, who, 
 in the most flourishing period of the republic, set sail, with a 
 whole fleet, to plant a chain of settlements on the western 
 coast of Africa, on the shores of the Atlantic ocean, in the pre- 
 sent kingdoms of Fez and Morocco, and at the same time to 
 make a more distant voyage of discovery along the coasts.^ He 
 placed, after his return, as a memorial of this enterprise, an in- 
 scription in the temple of Cronos, one of the principal temples 
 of Carthage ; this was probably translated by a Greek traveller 
 into his native language, and has fortunately descended to us. 
 
 From this account it is plain that the Carthaginians on dis- 
 tant coasts, where they wished to establish settlements, erected 
 not merely a single town, but at once a chain of stations. The 
 preparations, therefore, must necessarily have been on an ex- 
 tensive scale. The fleet of Hanno, consisting of sixty ships, 
 did not contain less than 30,000 colonists, including men, 
 women, and children. These he distributed into six towns, 
 containing on an average five thousand inhabitants each. New 
 Carthage, founded at a later period on the Spanish coast, was 
 from the first a large city.* In both cases, however, peculiar 
 
 ' Diodonis, ii. p. 415. 'Hpo^cX^s o irapA rots airoiKoi^. An important passage. This 
 does not, however, exclude the establishment of other sanctuaries. 
 
 • See the translation of these in the Appendix, where also are stated the proofs of the fol- 
 lowing conjecture. If this Hanno was the son of Hamilcar who fell in Sicily, 480, (see the 
 Appendix upon the genealogy of the ruling houses in Carthage,) then his expedition, as well 
 a« nis brother Himilco's to the western coast of Iberia for the same object, may perhaps be 
 placed about the year 450 ; which becomes the more probable, as about this time the Cartha- 
 ginians were not engaged in any foreign wars that we know of. ' Polyb. i. p. 249. 
 
40 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. 11. 
 
 CHAP. II. 1 
 
 FOREIGN POSSESSIONS. 
 
 41 
 
 circumstances contributed to the rather extraordinary magni- 
 tude of these establishments. New Carthage was intended to 
 be the chief city of the repubhc in Spain ; and it was requi- 
 site that the towns founded on the African coast should have 
 the means of defending themselves against the nomad tribes, 
 whom, however, at last they were unable to resist. Otherwise 
 it would scarcely have agreed with the plan of the Carthagi- 
 nians to found such large settlements at first. ' Their object 
 did not require them ; and if they had not been deterred from 
 founding such by the expense, the difficulty of maintaining 
 them would have been too great. 
 
 The colonists which Hanno carried out consisted, as we are 
 expressly informed, of Liby-Phcenicians, and were not chosen 
 from among the citizens of Carthage, but taken from the 
 country inhabitants. Whether this was done that they might 
 carry on agriculture in their new abode, is a point which his- 
 tory leaves doubtful ; and it would be rash to judge from its 
 being done on this occasion, that such was the general practice. 
 It is highly probable that in other cases the emigrants were 
 taken from Carthage or the allied cities. 
 
 The same motive which led to the foundation of these colo- 
 nies, naturally made it the anxious care of the parent state to 
 keep them in strict dependence. And in this respect Carthage 
 showed herself superior to all the commercial powers of anti- 
 quity who planted colonies. Neither the original Phoenicians, 
 nor the Greek states, were able to maintain their authority for 
 so great a length of time. Their colonies either were or soon 
 became independent ; raised themselves often above the mother 
 state ; and not unfrequently wrested from her that trade which 
 they ought properly to have protected. From such mortifica- 
 tions Carthage found means to secure herself: and principally 
 by the great advantages she derived from her geographical 
 situation, and her great power both by land and sea. She was 
 placed nearly in the centre of her foreign settlements, and was 
 therefore always nigh at hand in case of need. Her great mi- 
 litary and naval force enabled her to maintain a preponder- 
 ance which rendered it easy for her to keep a careful watch 
 over her colonies, to hold them in subjection, and to repress 
 every revolt in its infancy. None of them, the Sicilian not 
 excepted, among which Panormus was the most considerable,^ 
 ever attained any great degree of power ; much less were they 
 
 »Polyb.i.97. 
 
 able to cope with Carthage, with whom, indeed, not one of 
 them ever dared to enter the lists. 
 
 To what distance their colonies in general extended, cannot 
 now be determined with certainty. Over the more remote, on 
 the shores of the ocean, an obscurity seems to hover which we 
 in vain endeavour to break through. Time, circumstances, 
 and experience, seem, however, even here to have given rise 
 to certain maxims which were never swerved from but in cases 
 of necessity. Their navigation stretched much farther, both 
 along the western coasts of Europe and Africa, than traces of 
 their settlements are now to be found. And here, again, so 
 far as we can judge, they seem willingly to have confined 
 themselves within the rule, which forbade them to extend their 
 colonies farther than they felt they had sufficient power to 
 maintain the dominion of the sea, and thereby to insure them- 
 selves the undisturbed possession of their settlements, and the 
 trade belonging to them. This accounts for the phenomenon, 
 that in all their contentions with the Greeks and Etrurians, 
 they scarcely ever lost one of their colonies. 
 
 The shores of the western Mediterranean was the principal 
 seat of their settlements ; though they were very unequally 
 distributed. The coast of Africa, from the western limits of 
 their proper territory to the Pillars of Hercules, was covered 
 with them, and there they would scarcely have endured a ri- 
 val. No nation even dared to make the attempt. The places 
 there situated are mentioned, as has already been remarked, 
 under the name of the Metagonitish cities, but seem for the 
 most part to have been rather forts ((ppovpia) than towns. 
 
 Their connexions and settlements on the southern coast of 
 Spain have been already described. 
 
 The shores of Gaul were barred against them. They here 
 came in contact with their hereditary enemies the Phoenicians, 
 who had built Massilia. The inhabitants of that city ruled 
 over a great part of the coast, and were as little inclined to 
 suffer a rival foreign settlement to be made near them, as the 
 Carthaginians were in Africa. Repeated forcible attempts 
 were fruitless; the Massilians could defend themselves by 
 land and sea;^ and the Carthaginians were compelled to 
 abandon their design of founding a settlement there. They 
 must, however, have formed connexions at a very early period 
 in the interior of the country, as they drew from thence a large 
 
 » See Justin, xliii. 6 ; and compare Campomanes Antiguedad, etc., ii. p. 23, 24. 
 
42 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. n. 
 
 portion of their mercenary troops.^ In the time of the Ro- 
 man wars, their allies in Celtica are expressly mentioned in 
 the treaty between Hannibal and Philip. 
 
 On the shores of Liguria they were better received. Hired 
 troops of this nation were generally found in their armies ; 
 they were, besides, united by a common hatred against the 
 Massilians. We do not, however, find that they had any co- 
 lonies there. The neighbourhood of the Massilians, who had 
 covered a part of the Ligurian coast with their settlements, 
 might have been sufficient to keep them at a distance. 
 
 But upon no country, perhaps, were the eyes of Carthage 
 so constantly fixed as upon Italy Proper. Its situation, its 
 fertility, the opulence of its inhabitants, all attracted her atten- 
 tion. Yet we find there no trace of any Carthaginian settle- 
 ments. The coasts of the whole country were occupied by 
 seafaring and trading nations, — Etrurians, Romans or Latins, 
 and Greeks, all too well acquainted with their own interest to 
 permit it. The Carthaginians seem, however, to have neglect- 
 ed no opportunity by which they could hope to effect their 
 purpose ; whence we may account for the many treaties and 
 alliances by which their rivals endeavoured to prevent their 
 approach. Those with Rome have in part been preserved by 
 Polybius, and have already been several times mentioned. A 
 single glance at them will be sufficient to show with what 
 anxious care the Romans provided that their adversaries should 
 build no fort in Latium, nor retain any town which they might 
 previously have occupied. A number of similar treaties with 
 the Etrurians are quoted by Aristotle.^ It is unnecessary to 
 mention the Greeks of Lower Italy. When, indeed, could 
 Carthaginians and Greeks ever come to an agreement ? 
 
 But, on the contrary, a clear and extensive field was open to 
 them on the ocean-shores of Africa and Europe. Here there 
 were no competitors to be feared ; here there was no one even 
 to limit their possessions r every establishment in these regions 
 might in its turn become a point from which a still more dis- 
 tant commerce might be carried on, of which they could not 
 themselves foresee the extent. An immeasurable ocean and a 
 new world here offered themselves to their enlarging views 
 and enterprising spirit. 
 
 The advantages which these held out were not lost upon the 
 
 » Polyb. i. p. 39. « Aristot. Polit iii. 9. " The Carthaffinians and Etrurians," 
 
 •ays he, " have a great many treaties on their mutual rights and aUiances." 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 FOREIGN POSSESSIONS. 
 
 43 
 
 Carthaginians, who, at a very early period, seized upon, and 
 followed them up, without suffering themselves to be dazzled 
 by their magnitude. However alluring the prospects, they 
 seem never to have permitted their colonial system to extend 
 to a larger circumference than their naval power would enable 
 them to keep in subjection. But we are so insufficiently in- 
 formed upon this matter, that we cannot safely pronounce any 
 judgment upon their undertakings. 
 
 We know, however, with certainty, that their colonies were 
 scattered along the western coasts of Africa and Spain, and 
 were founded at the same period in both quarters of the globe. 
 About the same time that Hanno was sent to the coast of Africa, 
 Himilco, another commander, was sent to explore the western 
 coast of Europe ; and his narrative, as well as that of Hanno, 
 was extant in ancient times.^ It has not, indeed, like that of 
 Hanno, been preserved to us, but very important extracts from 
 it are found in the fragment of a poem come down to us, valu- 
 able for the information it gives us of the coasts in the time of 
 the Phoenicians and Carthaginians. I mean the Ora Mari- 
 tima of Festus Avienus, in which Himilco is repeatedly quoted 
 as authority,^ together with the Greek geographers, who were 
 very nearly, or quite contemporary with him. This poem con- 
 firms all that we have said in the section on the Phoenicians, as 
 well concerning their settlements, as on the extent and signi- 
 fication of the name of Tartessus. It also becomes clear that 
 the Carthaginians were their successors in this part of the 
 world, and that to a great extent. Both Avienus and Scylax, 
 who likewise made use of Himilco, agree with each other re- 
 specting the fact, that many Carthaginian settlements were 
 founded beyond the Pillars of Hercules.^ Even from the 
 analogy of the voyage of Hanno, who formed a series of set- 
 tlements on the western coast of Africa, we cannot conclude 
 otherwise than that the commission of Himilco was of equal 
 
 or similar extent. t^ ^ 
 
 When Scylax says, in the beginning of his Periplus, that 
 from the Pillars of Hercules on the European coast, there lay 
 many settlements of the Carthaginians, it certainly is to be 
 
 1 Plinv H N ii 67 « Festi Avieni Ora Maritima, (different from MsDescriptio 
 
 Orbis,) i: 177, 412,' etc'. See the translation of the passages in the .^VV^ndixri 
 
 by tUtrOf v. 375 : 
 
 Ultra has columnas propter Europas latus 
 Vicos et nrbes incolse Carthaginis 
 Tenuere quondam. 
 
44 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 understood that they lay without the Pillars, as the context in- 
 forms us that morasses and shallows next follow, which agreed 
 with the common notion of that people, who believed the ocean 
 to be unnavigable, but did not apply to the Mediterranean. 
 And besides, as Gades and the neighbouring Phoenician colo- 
 nies lay without* the Pillars, we may safely conclude that those 
 parts were not unknown or unoccupied by the Carthaginians. 
 Where their settlements were planted, and how far they stretch- 
 ed, we do not exactly know ; but we may with certainty affirm 
 that they reached as far as the river Anas (Guadiana) and to 
 the Sacred Promontory (Cape St. Vincent).' That the Car- 
 thaginians formed establishments on the north coast of Spain, 
 and in the British islands, is indeed proved by no express evi- 
 dence ; but that they visited these shores, especially the Scilly 
 islands, for commercial purposes, will be placed beyond a doubt 
 in the chapter on their navigation and maritime commerce. 
 
 The towns built by Hanno on the western coast of Africa, 
 wherever we may separately place them, certainly did not ex- 
 tend beyond the boundaries of Fez and Morocco : the first of 
 them, Thymiaterium, was only two days' sail from the end of 
 the strait, or promontory of Spartel;^ Scylax mentions it by 
 name.^ Next to that follows the promontory Soloe, Cape Blanc 
 near Agimur, where was erected a sanctuary to Neptune, (pro- 
 bably a votive offering for their prosperous voyage,) which 
 Scylax describes as a large altar, decorated with bas-reliefs, 
 representing human figures, lions, and dolphins. A day and a 
 half's farther sail to the south, probably in the vicinity of Saffy, 
 along the sea-coast, five towns were built : their names were 
 Caricum Teichos, Gytta, Acra, Melite, and Arambe. The last 
 settlement to the south was founded on the small island Cerne, 
 wliich must be sought for either near Mogador, or more proba- 
 bly in the bay of Santa Cruz. The name which it bore (but 
 which the Greeks transferred to almost every distant southern 
 island, in the same manner as they did Thule to every distant 
 northern) was given it by Hanno himself It was only five 
 stadia (about two-thirds of a mile) in circumference, and lay 
 in a bay close to the shore ; where it afforded the Carthaginians 
 a convenient emporium, both on account of its security from 
 
 ' Festus Avienus, v. 205, 225. According to him the proTince of Tartessus extended as 
 far as the Anas. The whole of this coast is full of Phoenician-Carthaginian remains and 
 names of places. From the Anas to the Sacred Promontory dwelt the Cynetes, who are 
 mentioned by Herodotus, iv. 49, as the most westerly people of Europe. 
 
 * The further illustration of what follows may be seen in the Appendix, on the Periplus- 
 of Hanno. ' Scylax, p. 52, 53. 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 FOREIGN POSSESSIONS. 
 
 45 
 
 the attacks of the natives, and as it permitted the approach of 
 the Carthaginian vessels, which were unable to reach the coast 
 itself on account of its shallows/ 
 
 These colonies of Hanno seem, indeed, to have been the 
 first planted in these regions. No traces are found in his nar- 
 rative of any settlements having previously existed there ; but 
 the whole length of the coast is described as a new discovery, 
 which he extended beyond the Senegal, as he pushed his dis- 
 coveries much farther than he founded settlements. The ulti- 
 mate fate of the latter is wrapt in obscurity ; in the time of 
 the Roman wars they had ceased to exist, and had probably 
 fallen a prey to the nomad tribes. 
 
 But it^ as we shall presently see, the navigation and inter- 
 course with these regions were, at least for a considerable time, 
 kept up, it will not be surprising that some of the western is- 
 lands should become known to the Carthaginians. Such ex- 
 press evidence is preserved of this, that we cannot doubt of 
 the fact in general, although some obscurity still rests as to par- 
 ticulars. The Phoenicians had, indeed, as Diodorus informs 
 us,^ discovered an island in the ocean, many days' sail to the 
 west of Libya, the romantic description of which almost forces 
 upon our remembrance some of the Fortunate Islands of the 
 South Sea, which have lately been made known to us. All 
 that Diodorus tells us of its being situated at a considerable 
 distance in the ocean, of its nature, of its plentiful streams and 
 rivers, of its productions, and especially of its great variety of 
 trees, agrees with no other island so well as Madeira.^ The 
 general information spread abroad respecting it, made the 
 Etrurians, then a formidable maritime power, desirous of pos- 
 sessing it. But the Carthaginians, treading in this respect, as 
 
 * Scylax, p. 54, * Diodorus, i. p. 345. 
 
 ' Quite the contrary is the case with regard to the Canary Islands, to which we might at 
 first apply it ; and it agrees with them least of all in the number of streams, even navigable 
 rivers, of which Diodorus speaks. These islands lack water ; while in Madeira we reckon 
 seven rivers, besides numerous brooks. It may be asked whether the Cartha^nians were 
 likewise acquainted with the Canary Islands. A passage in F. Avienus's Description of the 
 Coasts^ not only seems to point towards them, but I think I can trace therein a certain allu- 
 sion to Tenerifle and its volcano. Beyond the Pillars, says he, v. 164, etc., lies an island, 
 
 — on ocean's bosom spread. 
 
 Where varying herbs in wild profusion grow. 
 
 Sacred to Saturn is the land esteemed ; 
 
 And nature's power is there terrific seen ; ^ 
 
 For when by chance the mariner draws nigh 
 
 The coast, the ambient waters rage around, 
 
 The island shakes and starts among the waves 
 
 And deeply trembles— while the ocean lies : • 
 
 Calm in the distance, silent and unmoved. 
 Can an island in which a volcano rages be better pictured in words ? Its being dedicated 
 to Saturn shows plaiidy that it was occupied by the Carthaginians. We shall become 
 acquainted with lum, as we advance, as one of their principal deities. 
 
46 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 CHAP. Ill-] 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 47 
 
 P 
 
 well as others, in the footsteps of their forefathers, would not 
 allow it. They guarded the island with their own peculiar 
 jealousy. When, indeed, the settlements from Carthage began 
 to be numerous, they not only prohibited the entrance of the 
 Etrurians, but, according to another account,^ exterminated 
 even the ancient inhabitants. They set a higher value upon 
 this island because, according to Diodorus, they regarded it as 
 a place of refuge in case of need : that at the first appearance 
 of decay in the mighty Carthage, this island might shelter its 
 inhabitants, and a new Carthage rise here in the midst of the 
 ocean. Unfortunate people ! They foreboded the fall of their 
 empire, whose frail support they felt shake beneath them : but 
 their protecting genius drove from their imagination the lugu- 
 brious idea that they should be buried under its ruins.^ 
 
 CHAP. III. The government of Carthage. 
 
 Aristotle, who possessed so accurate a knowledge of the dif- 
 ferent constitutions of his age, mentions it as a merit in the 
 Carthaginian government, that it had at that time undergone 
 no very great change, either from the civil broils of its citizens, 
 or the usurpation of tyrants.' He justly considers this as a 
 proof of its judicious organization ; and an inquiry into it 
 would, on that score alone, deserve attention, even if the state 
 with which it is connected did not, on so many other accounts, 
 justly claim it. To give, indeed, what the historical inquirer 
 would naturally wish for, an historical development of the Car- 
 thaginian government throughout all the periods of the repub- 
 lic, our want of information renders impossible. But few ac- 
 counts have descended to us, and even these few we dare not 
 make use of without mistrust. The foreign historians of this 
 republic rarely extend their research into its internal affairs ; 
 and when they do, the form of the Roman government floats 
 continually before their eyes ; they compare silently, and often 
 imagine that they find a similarity because they look for it. 
 The names of the Roman magistrates are given to the Cartha- 
 ginian, and, together with the name, its attributes ; although 
 the nature of things tells us that the corresponding situation 
 of the magistrates among a commercial and a warlike people 
 
 * Aristot. de Mirab. cap. 85, ed. Beckm. Compare the passage with the corrections of 
 Heyne. " Polyb. ii. 598. 'Evavriov Saifiovo^ Kopxn^oi/teoi/. 
 
 * Aristot. Polit, ii. 11. See the translation of the chapter in the Appendix. 
 
 must be very different. The inquiry is thus rendered exceed- 
 ingly diflScult, and if we would at all succeed in our object, we 
 must not number the authorities, but weigh them. The first 
 place among the historians is due, without contradiction, to 
 Polybius. He was best acquainted with the constitution, is 
 accurate, and the most uniform in his expressions. His au- 
 thority, where we can quote it, is in my opinion decisive, whe- 
 ther confirmed by the agreement of others or not. Diodorus 
 and Appian are certainly inferior to him, yet not so much so 
 as Livy and Justin. We make use of them only where Poly- 
 bius fails us. Fortunately, however, historians in this part of 
 our labour are not the only source of information. In addition 
 to them we have Aristotle, who, in his treatise on politics, has 
 devoted a whole chapter to the constitution of Carthage.^ To 
 him we are indebted for the most valuable, and at the same 
 time the most faithful particulars ; and the following remarks 
 are for the most part founded upon his statements. 
 
 The Carthaginian state had, in common with Rome, Athens, 
 Sparta, and the other most celebrated republics of antiquity, 
 the general character of having a single city for its head. And 
 although all parts of the empire did not stand in an equal re- 
 lation towards the capital, they were, nevertheless, in some 
 degree subordinate to it ; and the citizens of Carthage formed 
 the ruling body. However great, therefore, the dominions of 
 this city might become, the government still remained muni- 
 cipal, and must as such be considered. But since the compass 
 of our inquiry confines us to the burghers of this city, it be- 
 comes of so much the greater importance that we should form 
 a clear conception not only of what is properly called their 
 constitution, but also respecting their civil relations in general, 
 the classes of the citizens, their sources of profit, etc. These 
 taken together will enable us to estimate with tolerable accu- 
 racy the civilization of this people. 
 
 Carthage was from the beginning a trading city, and it was 
 undoubtedly by trade that she raised herself to opulence and 
 
 » Aristot. Polit ii. 11. How much better still should we have been informed if his lost 
 treatise on governments had been preserved. That of Carthage was explamed therein. In 
 his Politics this was not his object, but only to show how far the Carthagmian constitution 
 corresponded with the advance which man, according to his system, may make towards a 
 good government. A complete and detailed explanation of it cannot therefore be here ex- 
 pected. The treatise of Theodorus Metochita belonging to the fourteenth century, -jrem 
 Kapxu^ovoi Kal ttjs kut' avT^v -rroXiTtia^, was not pubUshed tiU after tbe third edition of 
 this work, in his Miscellanea philosophica et historica, Grace, Ltps. 1821 ; and reprinted 
 and explained by Professor Kluge, at the end of his Aristoteles de Pohtia Carthaginiensium. 
 It is, however, not so much an investigation as a characteristic of the Carthaginian govern- 
 ment, mostly from known sources, yet not altogether without new matter. 
 
48 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 49 
 
 t 
 
 f 
 
 ll 
 
 power. It is, nevertheless, a mistaken notion to suppose the 
 Carthaginians a mere nation of merchants ; the foregoing ob- 
 servations have in some measure already shown in what esteem 
 they held the cultivation of the soil as well as commerce. 
 Nature did not lavish upon them her treasures in vain. The 
 establishment of so many inland colonies, appropriated solely 
 to agriculture, is at once a decided proof of the fact. They 
 left not, however, this branch of industry to be carried on in 
 the colonies alone, but followed it themselves. All accounts 
 agree in praising the high state of cultivation found in the 
 neighbourhood of Carthage. " The territory through which 
 Agathocles led his army after their landing," says Diodorus,^ 
 *' was covered with gardens and large plantations, every where 
 intersected by canals, by which they were plentifully watered. 
 A continual succession of landed estates was there seen, adorned 
 with elegant buildings, which betrayed the opulence of their 
 owners. These dwellings were furnished with every thing re- 
 quisite for the enjoyment of man ; the proprietors having ac- 
 cumulated immense stores during the long peace. The lands 
 were planted with vines, with palms, and many other fruit 
 trees. On one side were meadows filled with flocks and herds, 
 and on the lower grounds ranged troops of brood mares. In 
 short the whole prospect displayed the opulence of the inhabit- 
 ants: the highest rank of Carthaginians had possessions here, 
 and vied with one another in pomp and luxury." Fifty years 
 later, when they were invaded by the Romans under Regulus, 
 Polybius draws a similar picture of this district.^ A number 
 of elegant villas were upon that occasion destroyed, an immense 
 booty obtained in cattle, and above 20,000 slaves carried off. 
 And in general, says this writer in another place,^ the Cartha- 
 ginians drew their private income from their own landed pro- 
 perty ; the public revenue from the provinces. It is, moreover, 
 a well-known fact, that the science of agriculture in its widest 
 range, and in all its parts, was so well handled by them in their 
 writings, that the Romans did not think them unworthy to be 
 translated into their own language.* 
 
 I Diodorus, ii p 411. » Polyb. i. p. 76. » Ibid. p. 177. 
 
 rim. xvm. 6. When the Romans, says he, took Carthage, they gave the libraries found 
 there (consequently there were some) to the native princes ; namely, to their allies in Nu- 
 midia. And this throws a light upon the manner in which the works of the Carthaginian 
 historians had come into the possession of King Hiempsal (see above, p. 1). The works of 
 Mago alone, one of the kings or suffetes of Carthage, upon agriculture, in twenty-eight 
 ^ks, was trwislated into Latin by D. Silanus. The fragments of it preserved to us by 
 Fliny are sufficient to show us that it treated in full detail upon all kinds of husbandry, 
 agriculture, plantmg, breeding of cattle, etc. See a translation of them in the Appendix. It 
 
 They in fact appear to have even attached more importance 
 to agriculture than to commerce. In scarcely any part of the 
 ancient world did the merchant hold the highest rank, and 
 probably not in Carthage. It is plain from what has been 
 already said, that families of the first rank were in possession 
 of large estates, from whose produce they drew their income ; 
 while, on the contrary, there is not a single trace in the whole 
 history of the republic of their being concerned in trade. 
 Aristotle certainly informs us, that their magistrates were not 
 prevented from engaging in trade;' but the expression is so 
 vague that it may as well be understood of the produce of their 
 lands and their mines, which in part belonged to private indi- 
 viduals, or with still greater probability of the usurious interest 
 on loans. In whatever way, however, we may explain this 
 passage, it is evident, from the whole tenor of their history, 
 that commerce was not the usual occupation of the higher 
 ranks of Carthaginians. It seems more probable that it was 
 their common custom, as one of the following chapters, on 
 their military system, will show, to devote themselves to a 
 martial life ; particularly as the military state is expressly dis- 
 tinguished from that of the merchant.^ 
 
 The government of Carthage was the work of time and cir- 
 cumstances. An express legislation by which the rights and 
 relations of the constitutional authorities were defined is no 
 where mentioned. And if we consider this rightly, it will im- 
 mediately appear that nothing was more firmly estabhshed or 
 accurately determined in the Carthaginian constitution than in 
 the Roman ; consequently the government could not come to 
 maturity at once. Probably, therefore, the constitution was 
 perfected by degrees, chiefly by internal broils, of which some 
 slight traces are found in the early history of the state ; custom 
 and usage was the sanction which made it legal. A monarchical 
 government is usually given to Carthage at its foundation ; this 
 afterwards became changed, we know not how or when, into 
 a republic. That this really happened is stated, though only 
 incidentally, by Aristotle.' This opinion, however, only rests 
 upon an uncertain tradition respecting a Queen Dido, who is 
 generally supposed to have been a princess of unhmited au- 
 
 cannot then be doubted, even if the above mention of libraries ^^ ^^ PJ2I^?e^*^^lV^^ 
 existed a Carthaginian Uterature ; that it was supported by the gf ^ «Wn^^Xive i^ th^t 
 it was certainlyiot merely a poetical one, but rather a prosaic. A work so extensive as that 
 of Mago could neither be the first nor the onhr one. t»-«^««,c ii ,. i^n 
 
 ' Aristot. V. 12. "EgsffTti; airoU xP»I^aTit^(r0a». « Diodorus, ii. p. 4oO. 
 
 » Aristot. Polit. V. 12. 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. hi. 
 
 CHAP. III.J 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 5i 
 
 ml 
 
 thorify.* But, without doubt, Carthage adopted, after the cus- 
 tom of all the colonies of ancient times, the constitution of her 
 parent state ; and, notwithstanding she might thereby give her- 
 self what were called kings, yet, as will be seen under the head 
 of Phoenicia, this government was by no means despotic. 
 
 However this may have been, all accounts agree that an aris- 
 tocracy arose, which soon obtained that strength and solidity 
 which form the striking feature of that kind of government, 
 distinguished, however, by many institutions peculiar to itself 
 During the flourishing period of the republic, and even as 
 late as the Roman wars, it remained unshaken ; two attempts to 
 overthrow it passing over with little or no effect.- The foreign 
 policy of Carthage was the counterpart of her domestic govern- 
 ment. While the latter remained firmly established, the former 
 remained equally secure. The constant prosecution of the same 
 plans for many centuries, a wilHng limitation of her conquests, 
 and a moderation even in the midst of fortune, are all charac- 
 teristic features of a temperate aristocracy, and are incompatible 
 with a democratic government. The prevailing projects re- 
 mained as it were hereditary in the ruling families ; and as 
 these became changed by the wars with Rome, a reaction upon 
 the internal relations of the state followed, as an almost un- 
 avoidable consequence, for they were too closely connected not 
 to be mutually influenced by each other. The all-dissolving 
 hand of time, and the corruption of the national character by 
 avarice and immoderate wealth, helped also to effect this 
 change ; but it is probable that the careful and bustling ac- 
 tivity of aristocratic policy would have found means to prop 
 up the tottering fabric of the state, if the internal shocks had 
 not been assisted by violence from without. 
 
 But what was the form of this aristocracy ? Did it give 
 Carthage an hereditary nobility ? And if so, what were its 
 rights and privileges ? These are questions of very high import- 
 ance, but which cannot be answered without great difficulty. 
 
 If we take hereditary nobility in the stricter sense of the 
 word— that is, if we understand by it a number of families 
 who, by their birth alone, had an exclusive right to the ad- 
 ministration of government, such as was possessed by the pa- 
 tricians in the early days of Rome, and by the nobili in Venice 
 
 » That there was also another fable besides that of Dido, according to which Zorus and 
 Carchedon were the founders, we learn from Appian, viii. 1. TTo^nn «nd 
 
 « Aristot. and Polyb. ii. cc. The first attemnt was made by a senator named Hanno, ana 
 another by Bomilcar ; both of which failed. Justin, 1. c. 
 
 — there remains no proof that such an hereditary nobility with 
 hereditary rights existed in Carthage. But there are many 
 degrees between so powerful an aristocracy as this and com- 
 plete political equality ; and although there may be no evi- 
 dence of an hereditary nobility in Carthage similar to the one 
 here described, yet it may, on the other side, be very easily 
 proved that a perfect political equality was still further distant. 
 From the want of a fixed constitution, with its fundamental 
 laws reduced to writing, everything had here been effected by 
 circumstances and relations to which time and place had given 
 birth. In a rich commercial city wealth had naturally the 
 greatest influence. As in Carthage the magisterial office con- 
 ferred honour without revenue,* and as it nevertheless must 
 have brought with it a great expense, it follows of course that 
 it could only be administered by the opulent. Rich families, 
 therefore, although they might have no hereditary claim, pro- 
 cured one by their wealth, which was not less valid while it 
 lasted. Riches, however, were not always alone suflScient. 
 " The magistrates of Carthage," says Aristotle, " were chosen 
 on account of their property, their worth, and their popu- 
 larity."^ The latter was essential, as the elections in Carthage 
 depended, in a great measure, on the people. Authority 
 flowed from personal superiority of every description. Birth 
 might assist in obtaining it, but could not give it alone. Even 
 noble families, if they sunk into poverty, lost it. But of all 
 qualifications, none would be so powerful in a conquering 
 state as military renown ; and even from the scanty remains 
 of Carthaginian history which are left, we may gather suflScient 
 evidence to prove that it was chiefly at the beginning of what 
 may be called the Period of Conquest, that great and noble 
 families raised themselves to such a pitch, as to excite the 
 jealousy of the state. 
 
 It was not, therefore, so much a real hereditary nobility that 
 composed the aristocracy of Carthage, as a number of opti- 
 mate families,^ The number of these families cannot now be 
 ascertained with anything like certainty ; it could not always 
 have been the same ; but it is evident that sometimes a single 
 
 ' Aristot. 1. c • Aristot. Polit. v. 7 ; ii. p. 280, "Oirou ovv fi nrokiriia fiXiirtL iU 
 
 T« ttXovtov Koi ApiTTiPf Koi dfjfjiov, olov iv K.apxn^ovif tiurtj dpLtrroKpaTiKn ivTi. And ii. 
 2, Ou fiovov apt<rTii/df|i/, a'XXd Kai trXovTivdtjv olovrai Stiv aipelv tous ap-xpm-a^. The 
 ipivri»ir\v of Aristotle does not signify birth, but personal merit, of whatever sort it might 
 be, which procured for its possessor general esteem. 
 
 ' It bears the appellation of iv^ofoi, Polyb. i. 118 ; of itri(f>avt<TTaTot, Diodorus, ii. 399 ; 
 of Nobiies, Livius, xxii. 58, and sucn like. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. hi. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 53 
 
 family maintained for a long period so high a degree of author- 
 ity, that the generals and principal magistrates were taken 
 chiefly from it. The house of Mago, the first conquerors in 
 Sicily and Sardinia, affords a striking example of this. From 
 the genealogy of this house, so far as it can now be collected 
 from the fragments which remain of ancient writers,^ it is clear 
 that for at least four generations (a full century, if not more) 
 it gave generals to Carthage; and even the repeated misfortunes 
 of some of its members did not take from it this privilege. 
 
 But however great the power and influence of such families 
 might have been, it remains, nevertheless, certain that the go- 
 vernment never became a pure aristocracy, but always con- 
 tained a mixture of democracy, though that democracy was 
 very limited. Both Poly bins" and Aristotle^ agree in placing 
 the government of Carthage among the mixed forms, although 
 the aristocratic element predominated. A closer inquiry into 
 the rights of the people, the nature and power of the senate, 
 concerning the magistrates and their business, as well as the 
 formation of the courts of justice, will give us a deeper insight 
 into the internal organization of the state, and perhaps as deep 
 a one as the scarcity of materials will allow. 
 
 Aristotle and Polybius both mention the Spartan govern- 
 ment as that which bore the greatest resemblance to the Car- 
 thaginian in most of its principal parts ; the latter also com- 
 pares it with that of Rome as it existed in his time, when as 
 yet no demagogue had broken the power of the senate.* Al- 
 though we must beware of following these comparisons too far 
 in particulars, as the great difference in the manners and habits 
 of the two nations will sufficiently teach us, they nevertheless 
 serve, taken together, as the groundwork of many important 
 inquiries; and by employing them we become immediately 
 convinced that the power of the people in Carthage was more 
 moderate than could otherwise have been supposed. 
 
 The rights which they possessed were exercised, as we learn 
 from many examples, in their public assemblies ; of the inter- 
 nal organization of which we, however, know nothing, as we 
 are altogether ignorant of the way in which the people or citi- 
 
 * See the Appendix. ' Polyb. ii. p. 562. The government of Carthage seems also 
 
 to have been originally well contrived M-ith regard to those general forms that have been 
 mentioned. For there were kings in this government, together with a senate, which was 
 vested with aristocratical authority. The people likewise enjoyed the exercise of certain 
 powers that were appropriated to them. In a word, the entire frame of the republic very 
 much resembled those of Rome and Sparta. ' Aristot. ii. 11. * Aristot. et 
 
 Polyb. 1. c. 
 
 zens were divided and classed. Even respecting the extent of 
 their rights we can only give probabilities. We only know 
 for certain, that whatever was brought before the people was 
 first deliberated upon in the senate ; how otherwise could the 
 aristocracy have maintained their authority. What, however, 
 was brought before the people we cannot precisely determine. 
 The principal question is, what part had the people in the 
 election of magistrates ? Many of these, kings and generals in 
 particular, we know were elected ; and so far as we can judge 
 from single examples, the nomination was first made in the 
 senate, and afterwards brought to the people for their confirm- 
 ation.^ Although the election, therefore, was not entirely in 
 the hands of the people, they nevertheless acted a principal 
 part in them. This important right kept the leading families 
 in a continual dependence on the people, whose favours they 
 could not do without. But in a state so rich as Carthage these 
 elections would easily produce bribery; which, even in the 
 time of Aristotle, was become so common, that he expressly 
 says, the highest oflSces in Carthage were bought and sold. 
 
 Besides this, another right which was enjoyed by the people, 
 as we can aflSrm with certainty on the testimony of Aristotle,^ 
 was that of deciding in all cases upon which the senate and 
 kings could not agree : and when these were brought before 
 them, they not only possessed the powerof adopting Or reject- 
 ing them, but also of deliberating upon them ; as every one 
 was at liberty to attack or defend them.^ Lastly, we find many 
 examples of state affairs of high importance, such as declara- 
 tions of war and treaties of peace, being brought before the 
 people for their sanction, after having been discussed by the 
 senate,* although this does not seem to have been absolutely 
 necessary.^ 
 
 The highest political body of the republic, and upon which 
 devolved the management of all affairs of state, was the senate ; 
 and there seems no doubt but that during the flourishing pe- 
 
 • Hannibal was thus named general, Polyb. iii. 419. Another example of the nomina- 
 tion of the people, which does not however exclude the previous one by the senate, is found 
 in Polyb. i. 206. So, on the contrary, we find the nomination of the senate did not exclude 
 the confirmation by the people, Diodorus, ii. 399. The usual expression of Polybius is, the 
 Carthaginians elected, which seems to be used intentionally as including both the senate 
 and people. 
 
 * Aristot. Polit. ii. 11. ' Aristot. 1. c. * Polyb. iii. 490, 493, and the prin- 
 cipal passage in the speech of Scipio, 508, which leaves no room for doubt. Also Diodorus, 
 i. p. 679. * Examples of the contrary are found in Polyb. i. p. 456. Diodorus, ii. p. 
 412. They are, however, rather specious than real, as from the mere silence of the people it 
 cannot be concluded that they were not consulted. Might it not, also, during the period in 
 which the power of the senate became absolute, as was the case in Rome, have become little 
 more than a mere form ? 
 
54 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. hi. 
 
 CUAF. III.] 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 55 
 
 Tiod of the republic, previous to the commencement of the 
 M^ars with Rome, that assembly held in its own hand the whole 
 power of the government. Respecting its internal organiza- 
 tion the writers of antiquity are silent, and, as they had occa- 
 sion so frequently to mention it, we may judge from their 
 silence how little attention they paid to the study of the Car- 
 thaginian government. Indeed, whether the senate was merely 
 a chosen body of the citizens, from time to time renewed ; or 
 a permanent assembly ; whether it was in the power of every 
 citizen to become a member of it, and how many enjoyed this 
 privilege ; and finally, by whom the senators were elected ; are 
 all questions of high importance, but which, for want of more 
 information, can only very unsatisfactorily be answered. 
 
 That the senate of the republic was not periodically renewed 
 from among the citizens, but a permanent assembly, admits of 
 no doubt ; otherwise it could not have acquired the solidity 
 which secured it the government of the republic ; and Poly- 
 bius would have been as little able to compare it with the Ro- 
 man senate as Aristotle with the Spartan. But whether it 
 filled up its own body, or whether, as in Rome, the having 
 filled certain offices opened the entrance to it, or whether new 
 members were elected from the people, there unfortunately 
 remain only very imperfect accounts. We are no better in- 
 formed respecting the number of its members. Perhaps it was 
 not legally fixed. There are, however, data from which we 
 may conclude that they amounted to a considerable number, 
 and probably, as in Rome, to several hundreds. We find nu- 
 merous deputations of its members sent forth ;^ many others 
 were absent with armies as commissioners ; besides which, a 
 considerable number was requisite for the preservation of its 
 dignity and authority. 
 
 The name usually given to the senate by the Greek writers, 
 and which they also applied to the Romans, was gerusia. This 
 term is frequently used as synonymous with that given to the 
 council of state (ffv^KXijro^) ;^ and sometimes with the syne- 
 drium.^ We learn, however, from more precise writers that 
 those appellations were not synonymous ; and this throws an 
 important light upon the internal organization of the Cartha- 
 ginian senate, which contained within itself a smaller and a 
 larger council. The former, or more select council, was called 
 
 > In Polyb. i. p. 215, a deputation of thirty members to reconcile Hamilcar and Hanno. 
 Again in Livy, xxx. 16. 
 * Aa for example in Diodorus, i. p. 679, and many others. « Polyb. i. p. 480. 
 
 gerusia, and the latter synkletos, and both these were some- 
 times included under the name of synedrium. Thus we find 
 in two passages of Polybius, the gerusia and synkletos ex- 
 pressly distinguished from one another. In the army of Mago 
 in Italy, two out of the gerusia and fifteen out of the council 
 were taken prisoners.^ When Rome obliged the Carthaginians 
 to give up three hundred young men as hostages, they were 
 partly to be taken from the sons of the gerusia and partly from 
 those of the council.^ Diodorus also makes a distinction be- 
 tween them in more than one passage.^ It is therefore evi- 
 dent that a distinction must have existed ; and from the pro- 
 portion which the number of prisoners above mentioned bear 
 to each other, it seems plain that the members of the council 
 were more numerous than those of the senate, ov gerusia. We 
 may, therefore, consider the latter as composed of a selection, 
 as its name implies, of the senior or most worthy members ; 
 for in it, as is shown by a great number of examples, the most 
 important affairs were first debated. This is placed beyond a 
 doubt by a passage of Livy :* " The Carthaginians were so dis- 
 mayed at the capture of Syphax, that they refused to listen to 
 any one who advised a continuance of hostilities, and sent 
 thirty of their principal elders, as ambassadors, to solicit peace. 
 With them," continues the historian, "the select council is 
 held in the highest reverence, and enjoys a paramount control 
 over the senate itself." The relation in which the gei^usia 
 stood to the larger council, may doubtless be drawn from this 
 fact: they were not two completely separate assemblies, for 
 the members of the gerusia belonged also to the larger coun- 
 cil, and we have therefore very properly called it a select coun- 
 cil. This is also confirmed by the manner in which they 
 transacted business; for we learn from many examples, that state 
 affairs were first laid before the gerusia, and after having been 
 deliberated upon there,were brought before the larger assembly. 
 Respecting the origin of this select council, an account is 
 preserved to us in Justin which gives us a deep insight into the 
 Carthaginian government. " When the house of Mago," says 
 he,* " became dangerous to a free state, an hundred judges 
 were chosen from among the senators, who, upon the return 
 
 1 Polyb. iii. p. 228. * Polyb. iv. p. 671. But in another place Polybius calls 
 
 the senate <ruyK-\tjTos, see iii. p. 490. ' Diodorus, 11. cc. 
 
 * Liv. xxx. 16. Oratores ad pacem petendam mittant triginta seniorum pnncipes. Id 
 erat sanctius apud illos consilium, maximaque ad ipsum senatum regendum vis. What 
 Livy calls the senatus is therefore the larger council, the o-uyKXrjTos ; the seniores, on the 
 contrary (the gerusia) the smaller. * Justin, xix. 2. 
 
56 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 57 
 
 of generals from the war, should demand an account of the 
 things transacted by them, that they, being thereby kept in awe, 
 should so bear themselves in their command in the war, as to 
 have regard to the laws and judicature at home." From this 
 passage it is clear that the hundred were selected from the 
 more extensive assembly of the senate ; and the number of its 
 members is also determined. The subsequent history of Car- 
 thage sufficiently shows that it remained a permanent assembly, 
 as does also the severity, and often cruelty, with which it treated 
 unsuccessful commanders, who sometimes chose rather to lay 
 violent hands upon themselves, than submit to its rigour.^ This 
 assembly was, from its first formation, a high court of judica- 
 ture and state tribunal ; and to it was confided the care of 
 maintaining the existing government. An institution such as 
 this is quite in the spirit of an aristocratical republic, in which 
 a comprehensive system of police is the main support of the 
 government ; it is however too apt to degenerate into espionage 
 and tyranny, as did the council of ten, and the state-inquisi- 
 tion connected with it, at Venice. The influence of indi- 
 vidual members of an aristocracy, especially when invested 
 with military command, soon excites the jealousy of the other 
 rulers; such a tribunal- as this, therefore, is not so much 
 raised against the people as against the aristocracy itself It 
 is likewise easy to comprehend how an institution like this 
 would go beyond the purpose for which it was originally de- 
 signed ; and as a natural consequence, that the most important 
 affairs of state would ere long be first transacted in it. This 
 is corroborated by the testimony of Aristotle, who calls the 
 council of the hundred the highest tribunal in the state. It 
 is true that he does not expressly say that this council was the 
 same as the gerusia, nor on the other hand does he contradict 
 it ; and it seems therefore rather to follow from the expression 
 just recited that it was, as we cannot see in what sense a cen- 
 tumvirate like this could have stood superior to the gerusia. 
 But the formidable power necessarily under the command of a 
 state-tribunal of this kind, elevated as it is above all that is 
 great and powerful, and, what is almost inseparable from it in 
 whatever form it may appear, even though its primary institu- 
 tion may be merely to repress luxury, the erecting itself into 
 a censorship of public morals,* render it frequently dangerous 
 
 » Diodorus, ii. 412. » Aristot. Polit. ii. 11. 
 
 ' The censorship of morals in Carthage was very rigid. A single magistrate was appointed 
 to the office, whose power was so great that he even reprimanded and cheeked the general 
 
 to that liberty which it is its peculiar duty to protect. This 
 was the course which affairs took in Carthage. During the 
 flourishing periods of the republic, the council certainly an- 
 swered the end for which it was designed ; the prevention of 
 domestic revolutions in the state. Only two attempts of this 
 kind are known to us, both of which failed;^ and the great 
 and permanent solidity which is universally ascribed to the 
 Carthaginian government, was in some measure owing to this 
 institution. In the latter period of the republic, however, its 
 power degenerated into oppressive despotism, as will be shown 
 in the last chapter of this inquiry. 
 
 As regards the internal organization of this council, we have 
 a little more information. Its members, according to Aristotle, 
 discharged the duties of their office without fee or reward. 
 They were elected ; yet neither by the people nor the larger 
 senate, but by the pentarchies, or councils of five. What these 
 were it is difficult to discover. They are only mentioned by 
 Aristotle ; but then it is with the addition that they managed 
 many and the most important affairs of government, and that 
 they filled up their own number. There were therefore not one, 
 but several pentarchies ; each of them, as the name implies, 
 composed of five members. Aristotle adds that the members 
 of these continued in office for a very long time ; as it was 
 necessary that they should hold some office before they could 
 be elected into a pejitarchy, which still they retained after they 
 ceased to belong to that body.*^ Such is the sum of our in- 
 formation, which, though thus limited, affords some idea of the 
 general character of these bodies. They were committees to 
 which various and indeed the most important branches of the 
 government were intrusted. What these branches were can- 
 not be affirmed with certainty ; but it is highly probable that 
 the administration of finance, etc. were among them. It is 
 not, however, probable that the government of the provinces 
 fell within the number of their duties.^ From all that we know 
 of the Carthaginian state, and from what we have already stated, 
 it appears that these were always confided to individual govern- 
 ors ; and never to a council. — Again, it is certain that the pen- 
 
 Hamilcar, as he interdicted him from following a suspicious connexion. Com. Nepos, Arail- 
 car, c. 3. If this magistrate was not a magistrate of the gerusia, he certainly stood in a 
 close connexion with it. 
 
 ' The one already mentioned by Hanno, B. c. 340, which Aristotle knew of; and that by 
 Bomilcar, Diodorus ii. 437, who did not die till 306, therefore after Aristotle's time. 
 
 « Aristot. 1. c. ^ Kluge, ad Aristotelem, p. 120, etc. The reason which the author 
 
 brings forward is the analogy of the ten men of Sparta ; this, however, can have no great 
 weight, as these were only military magistrates. 
 
58 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. in. 
 
 tarchies were closely connected with the gerusia, whose mem- 
 bers they even elected. It seems indeed probable that they 
 themselves were nothing more than committees chosen from 
 the gerusia ; for if all affairs of importance first came before 
 that council, is it to be supposed that they would have trans- 
 ferred the management of them to any but members of their 
 own body ? This also best explains the statement of Aristotle, 
 that the members of the pentarchies remained very long in 
 office, and took part in the government ; because they must 
 previously have belonged either to the gerusia, or at least to 
 the larger senate, and afterwards have again become members 
 of the gerusia. Although many of the above statements rest 
 only upon conjecture, they appear to be highly probable ; not 
 merely from their agreement with all the other written ac- 
 counts, but because they also are most in unison with the aris- 
 tocratic character of the government, which nearly approached 
 to an oligarchy. 
 
 The duties of the Carthaginian senate, including both the 
 larger and smaller body, seem, upon the whole, to have been of 
 the same nature and extent as those of the Roman. There is 
 no doubt that all business relating to foreign affairs were under 
 its management. The official reports were delivered to it by 
 the kings, who presided.^ It received foreign ambassadors ; it 
 deliberated upon all matters of state ; and its authority was 
 then so great that it decided even upon war and peace : al- 
 though, as a matter of form, the question was sometimes laid 
 before the people.*^ Its power, therefore, seems to have been 
 unlimited, so long as its decisions agreed with that of the suf- 
 fetes. In this case it alone had the power of deciding whether 
 the matter should be laid before the people.^ It was only when 
 these two branches of the government could not agree, that it 
 was left for the people to determine.* The senate consequently 
 held the greater part of the legislative power in its hands ; no- 
 thing being brought before the people upon which it had not 
 first dehberated ; and the senate then determined whether or not 
 it should be laid before the popular assembly. That to its care 
 was confided the welfare and security of the city, and that it 
 had the supreme direction of the public revenue, is probable 
 
 > Polybius, i. p. 456. « Polybius, i. p. 81, 456 ; iii. 498. Diodorus, i. p. 412, 450 ; 
 
 ii. p. 574, 679. 
 
 ' Aristot. Polit. ii. 11 ; Joh, v, Miiller, Univ. Hist. vol. i. p. 105, is in error when he says 
 that the pentarchy and the senate agreed on the questions which were to be submitted to 
 the people. This is in direct opposition to the testimony of Aristotle, who speaks of the 
 unanimity of the kings and the senate. * Aristot. Polit. ii. 11. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 59 
 
 from what has been said of the gerusia. They belonged 
 essentially to the character of the aristocracy. 
 
 Aristotle, in comparing the Carthaginian with the Spartan 
 constitution, finds another similarity, viz. between the public 
 meals of the companies^ and the Phiditia. But that the st/ssitia 
 or clubs at Carthage were very different from the public tables 
 of Sparta, in which all the citizens, and even the kings, were 
 obliged to share, is however evident. How, in one of the most 
 populous commercial cities of the world, which even at its fall 
 numbered 700,000 inhabitants, composed of every variety and 
 mixture of ranks, could such a regulation exist ? On the other 
 hand, social unions among the ruling class (which might per- 
 haps have had some political tendency) are completely in the 
 spirit of an aristocratical republic ; and in a city so rich as 
 Carthage they would become connected, if not always, yet 
 occasionally, with public banquets. Such assemblies I under- 
 stand by the companies of Aristotle, and not a general division 
 of the people. In free states political parties are naturally 
 formed, and we know that there was no want of them in Car- 
 thage. The members of such parties required meetings unre- 
 strained by ceremony or form, (perhaps like the Whig club in 
 England,) where they might come to an understanding among 
 themselves ; and from modern history we know, that in such 
 political clubs determinations are often formed beforehand, 
 which afterwards are sanctioned in the legitimate assemblies. 
 How far this was the case at Carthage we cannot say with cer- 
 tainty ; but traces of it are plainly to be discovered in its his- 
 tory. Deliberations among the nobles without form, or in 
 secret, are repeatedly mentioned by Polybius.^ The evidence 
 of Livy is still more to the purpose, in the passage where he 
 states, that the plans and negotiations of Aristo, with the Bar- 
 cine party, when sent to Carthage by the fugitive Hannibal, 
 were debated first in societies and at banquets, and afterwards 
 in the senate.^ But we obtain most light upon this subject 
 from a passage in the above-mentioned work of Theodorus 
 Metochita. " The Carthaginians," says he, " transacted their 
 state affairs by night ; and in the evening and at night time 
 held their meetings and societies." That this cannot be 
 understood of the regular meetings of the senate and people, 
 which certainly were held by day and not by night, may be 
 shown by many examples. If they were held by night, it was 
 
 * Ta crvacriTta Ttov iraipiwv. 
 
 ' Polyb. iii. p.83; iv. 639. 
 
 ' Livy, xxxiv. 61 
 
60 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. 111. 
 
 because the affairs required secrecy.^ It can therefore only 
 be understood of social meetings such as clubs or private 
 societies ; and which, in so hot a climate, might very naturally 
 take place in the evening or night, and be connected with 
 feasting; without our concluding therefrom that they were 
 secret assemblies. These must not be confounded with the 
 public entertainments which some of the nobles gave to the 
 people.* 
 
 At the head of the senate and republic were the kings, as 
 they are called by the Greek writers; the Romans usually 
 compare them with their consuls; their proper name was 
 suffetes,^ All that we know positively respecting them is that 
 they were elected, and elected from the principal families ; that 
 they had the highest place in the senate, before whom they 
 laid the subjects to be discussed ; and that, on the whole, they 
 possessed a high degree of power and influence.^ Thus far we 
 learn expressly from Aristotle ; all beyond is left to conjecture. 
 As Aristotle compares them with the Spartan kings, and Po- 
 lybius with the Roman consuls,^ and both speak of them in the 
 plural number, it certainly seems highly probable that there 
 were always two reigning at the same time. That this was in 
 fact the case we are not expressly informed by any contem- 
 porary writer,^ and those of later date have here but little 
 authority ; we might, indeed, be led to adopt the contrary sup- 
 position because only one king is frequently spoken of;^ 
 though this is not conclusive that there was not also a second. 
 The same uncertainty exists respecting the duration of their 
 office. It has generally been believed from the analogy of the 
 Roman consuls, that they were changed every year ; but little 
 dependence is to be placed on the testimony of Nepos,° upon 
 which this opinion rests, as this writer is drawing a parallel 
 between them and the Roman magistrates. On the other 
 hand, there are strong reasons for supposing the contrary to be 
 the case. Thus the name of kings, (/3aai\e?v,) by which the 
 Greeks distinguished them, would indicate rather a ruler for 
 
 ' As the secret audience which the senate were obliged to give the ambassadors of Per- 
 seus. Liv. xli. 27. 
 
 * On this point I cannot concur in the opinion of Kluge upon Aristot. p. 45, though I 
 agree otherwise with his view of the Syssitia. The account of the banquet of Hanno, 
 (Justin, xxi. 4,) intended for the purpose of bringing about a revolution in the state, has . 
 nothing to do with our subject. It was altogether of a different kind. 
 
 ' Liv. XXX. 7 : Suffctes, quod velut consulare imperium apud eos erat. Festus : Suffes^ 
 consul lingua Pocnorum. The Schophetim of the Hebrews. 
 
 ♦ Aristot. 1. c. » Polyb. ii. p. 562. • See Com. Nep. Hannib. cap. 7. 
 » As in Polyb. i. p. 456, 478. - Com. Nep. 1. c. 
 
 CHAP. 111.] 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 61 
 
 life than one annually elected.^ Besides, Aristotle, in com- 
 paring them with the Spartan kings, finds only one difference 
 of importance between them ; namely, that in Sparta the dig- 
 nity was hereditary in two families, whilst in Carthage it de- 
 pended upon election. Now had the Carthaginian kings been 
 renewed yearly, would Aristotle have neglected to note so 
 striking a difference ? Would he, in short, have been justified 
 in making the comparison at all ? The same inference may be 
 drawn from an expression of Polybius. " In HannibaVs army," 
 says he, " was Hanno, the son of king Bomilcar."^ Would he 
 have thus distinguished him if his father had only been king 
 for one year ? The question, however, is decided, in my opi- 
 nion, by a passage in the newly-discovered work of Cicero, 
 De Re Publica? In this he compares the kings of Carthage 
 with those of Rome, and contrasts them with the magistrates 
 who were afterwards annually elected. How could he have 
 done this if he had not been assured that this dignity con- 
 tinued for life ? 
 
 It is sometimes stated of particular kings of the Carthagini- 
 ans, " that they ruled according to law."* Whether this ex- 
 pression refers to the legitimacy of their power or its restriction 
 by law, or whether it denotes the king who administered affairs 
 at home, as opposed to the one who acted as general abroad,^ 
 I dare not venture to decide. 
 
 Next to the rank of king, that of general was the highest in 
 the republic. " In elections," says Aristotle,^ " and especially 
 in those of the highest offices, such as kings and generals, re- 
 spect is paid to the two qualifications of rank and wealth." It 
 appears, therefore, that its government in one particular had a 
 great superiority over the Roman. It kept distinct the military 
 and civil power. The dignity of king and general was not 
 regularly united, though several examples show that these of- 
 fices were not incompatible with each other. But then the 
 king could not enjoy the latter without the command being 
 expressly conferred upon him.^ At the close of the campaign 
 his powers expired ; and previously to a new one, a fresh nomi- 
 nation was necessary.^ There are also examples of generals 
 being made kings during their command.^ That other foreign 
 
 » Although the second archon in Athens bore the title of /3a<riXcu9, (king,) it happened, 
 as is well known, because he had under his care the sacra of the ancient kings, and so far he 
 stood in their place. « Polyb. i. 478. » Cicero, de Repvb. ii. 23. * Diodorus, 
 
 i. p. 685 ; ii. p. 574, KaTk i/oVous fiaaiXtvtvv. * Kluge, ad Aristot. Poht. p. 92. 
 
 • Aristot. Polit. ii. 11. ' Diod. i. p. 574. The elder Hannibal, ii. p. 14. Upon king 
 
 Mago was conferred the command in Sicily. " Diod. ii. p. 412. ' Diod. i. p. 685. 
 
62 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 expeditions were also intrusted to the kings, is shown by the 
 voyage of Hanno for the establishment of colonies on the west- 
 ern coast of Africa ; who is expressly called king of the Car- 
 thaginians. At the same time we often meet with generals 
 who were not kings ; and Aristotle is therefore right in dis- 
 tinguishing them. Hannibal, in his treaty with Philip, calls 
 himself general, and not king.^ It would be superfluous to 
 bring forward other examples. 
 
 The election of generals according to regular order first took 
 place in the gerusia, and afterwards was brought before the 
 senate and people.^ If the army took upon themselves to 
 nominate one of their commanders, it must only be considered 
 an exception to the rule ; and even in this case their nomina- 
 tion required the sanction of the senate and people. It was 
 not unusual for several generals to be appointed when several 
 armies were in the field.^ The power of the Carthaginian 
 generals does not appear to have been at all times the same. 
 We have examples of unlimited authority being given them ;* 
 and probably even the title of general was conferred, as that 
 of imperator, in the higher sense, among the Romans. At 
 other times commissioners were delegated by the gerusia from 
 their own body to attend the generals ; and in their name, 
 jointly with that of the generals, public affairs were transacted ; 
 though perhaps the power of the commander in military mat- 
 ters still remained unfettered.^ But the high responsibility of 
 the latter at their return made circumspection necessary ; and 
 therefore we often see them, before decisive undertakings, 
 calling the other commanders to a council of war.^ 
 
 The Roman writers speak of praetors and quaestors among 
 the Carthaginians.^ But only once, and that an extraordinary 
 case, when Hannibal, after the war with Rome, was placed at 
 the head of the state, do we hear of a praetor. It does not 
 therefore seem to have been a regular office in the republic. 
 The quaestor, in close connexion with the gerusia, had the 
 management of all matters relating to the finances; but neither 
 the duties of his office nor his proper title can be more accu- 
 
 » Corn. Nep. Hannib. 7, is the only one who says of Hannibal, he had become rex at 
 twenty-two years of age. This, however, is evidently a blunder either of the writer or tran- 
 scnber and rex is put instead of dux; for we know that Hannibal at this aj?e was created 
 
 ^?TV- *>. ^''^^^- \^^^- . xt ^^^y^- »• 77. * Polyb. i. p. 166 ; Diod. ii. 675. 
 
 •• 2Jfo^*T . ^^^ ^ ^"^ *""y ®^ Hannibal, as is shown by the treaty with Philip. Polyb. 
 u. p. 698. It 13 weU known that the same was done by the French National Convention 
 during the wars of the French Revolution. 
 
 • Hannibal called to a councU his brother Mago and the rest of the officers. Polyb. i. p. 538. 
 ' Livy, juuiui. 46. J f 
 
 CHAP. III.J 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 63 
 
 rately determined. Perhaps he was the chief of a pentarchy 
 which conducted the affairs of the treasury. 
 
 Respecting the administration of justice in Carthage, our 
 information is very scanty ; we shall nevertheless be able to 
 seize its general character. For this we are indebted to Aris- 
 totle, who, though he is so brief in his remarks on the Cartha- 
 ginian constitution as to be almost unintelligible, yet, in another 
 part of his work, he explains himself somewhat more fully. 
 "In some states," he says,^ *' there is no body of citizens 
 (Brj^osf) and no popular assembly (cV^cXiycrm), but only a senate 
 (avrfKXrjTo^)^ and lawsuits are decided solely by individuals {Kara 
 fiepoi), as is the case in Lacedemon, where civil suits {av^^o\a7a) 
 are decided by the different ephors, criminal cases by the 
 gerusia, and other magistrates perhaps determine other causes. 
 It is just the same at Carthage, for there all lawsuits are de- 
 cided by certain magistrates."^ From these statements it will 
 at once appear that there was no judiciary assembly of the 
 people at Carthage, as at Rome and Athens. This must cer- 
 tainly have prevented many evils ; as popular tribunals formed 
 one of the most dangerous and injurious institutions possessed 
 by the free states of antiquity. The foregoing arrangement 
 too was quite in the spirit of aristocracy, with which popular 
 tribunals are incompatible. It further appears from the pas- 
 sage quoted, that all lawsuits were decided in Carthage by 
 magistrates and regular courts of justice. Respecting the 
 constitution of these courts we have indeed little information, 
 as Aristotle, our only authority, is here so very concise. He 
 names expressly only one of these bodies, that of the hundred 
 andfour^ which we must be careful to distinguish from that 
 
 > Aristot. Polit. iii. 1. 
 
 * [Aristot. Polit. Hi. 1. 'Ev AaKtSai/jioui tu^ twv trvfi^oXaiuiV ^lkuX^h twv t<p6pa)u aXXoi 
 aWav, 01 8k yipovTti Tas tpoviKO.^, kripa 6' t<ra)S «pxn Tts ixtpas tov avTov hk t^ottov Kal 
 iripl Kapx»]d6va' irao-as yap dp\al Tti/£s hpivovcri Ttis SiKas. Compare ii. 9, kuI (apto-To- 
 »fpaTi>coi/) TO Tav 6iVas viro Tuiv dpx^iwv SiKa^strdai iracra^, Kui fiii aXXa^ vir aXXwv, Kadot- 
 vtp iu AaKidainovi. The meaning of the latter of these passages (as to which the author 
 expresses some doubt") is the same as of the former, viz. that at Carthage some one separate 
 court (though doubtless sitting in distinct tribunals) decided all lawsuits, whether in the 
 nature of civil causes, or cases of homicide, which in the ancient states were commonly left 
 to be prosecuted by the kinsmen of the deceased ; whereas at Sparta different species of law- 
 suits were distributed among different courts; cases of homicide being heard by the coun- 
 cillors, civil suits being apportioned in classes to particular ephors, cases of adoption and the 
 marriage of heiresses belonging to the kings, etc. In Carthage every court had an universal 
 jurisdiction : at Sparta the jurisdiction of each magistrate was limited to particular kinds of 
 suits. The meaning of the former part of the passage translated in the text is, that in some 
 states there is no large body of free citizens, (i. e. the commons are in the power either of a 
 narrow hereditary oligarchy, or of the public magistrates,) nor is there a regular popular 
 assembly, but the magistrates have the power of convening the people when they please, and 
 lawsuits are decided not by the whole body of the people judging in rotation, (as at Athens,) 
 but bv a certain class or order of the community, Kara fitpo^. See Arnold on Thucyd. ii. 
 37. Note added to this translation.] * Aristot. ii. 11. 
 
64 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 of the hundred^ with which it is often confounded, although 
 the difference is accurately marked. He compares it with the 
 ephors of Sparta, and points out only this difference, that the 
 latter were chosen from all classes of the people, while the 
 hundred and four were selected from among the more powerful 
 citizens. That this also was an aristocratic principle requires 
 no proof; nor that the great dissimilarity in their number 
 must have arisen from the great difference in the populous- 
 ness of the two cities. From its being compared with the 
 ephors, it is also plain that this board was a superior court for 
 the decision of civil suits. As to its other powers, we can offer 
 little more than conjecture. It is probable that this board con- 
 tained several subdivisions or sections, to which the examin- 
 ation of certain classes of lawsuits was intrusted, and that the 
 sentence was afterwards pronounced in full assembly {Inpleno). 
 Whether, however, to this full assembly, besides the hundred 
 and four, all the remaining magistrates of Carthage belonged, 
 admits of doubt.^ Livy certainly says in one place, that the 
 suffetes sat in judgment ;2 but I understand this as referring 
 to the high tribunal of the hundred, or the gerusia, in which 
 we know that they presided, and which took cognizance of 
 treason, as did also the gerusia of Sparta, as we learn from the 
 comparison of Aristotle, which is confirmed by history. That 
 besides the board of the hundred and four, there were other 
 courts of justice at Carthage not mentioned by Aristotle, can 
 scarcely be doubted ; but they are not known to us. 
 
 Such is the sum of our information respecting the consti- 
 tution of Carthage during its flourishing period. The great 
 rock upon which it split was the too powerful influence of 
 wealth in procuring the highest offices of state, and, what was 
 closely connected with it, the accumulation of many offices in 
 one person.' The ties however by which the whole state was 
 knit together were too strong for the effects of these evils to be 
 immediately felt, — religion was one of the most important of 
 them, and must not be left unnoticed. 
 
 The religion of the Carthaginians was the same as that of 
 their forefathers the Phoenicians.* It appears, however, to 
 
 » Kluge, ad Aristot. Polit. p. 168. » Livy, xxxiv 61 
 
 » Both are remarked by Aristot. Polit. ii. 11. 
 
 *^^%}^V^^}^y^^^'^ the learned treatise of my friend : fBishop D. Munter : The Religion 
 oj the Larthagtmam, the second and much improved edition, Copenhageti, 1822, to which I 
 refer for everythmg relating to religion, which does not come within the scope of the present 
 work. But though we here speak of the religion of the southern nations, it must not be 
 lorgotten, that it here was always connected with fanaticism. How much this prevailed 
 among the Carthajjimans may be seen from the statement of Diodonis, i. p. 701, that three 
 Hundred men willingly devoted themselves to death as sacrifices. 
 
 CHAP. III."] 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 65 
 
 have undergone many changes on the coast of Africa ; as the 
 Carthaginians were not at all averse to the introduction of fo- 
 reign gods.^ But that it continued substantially the same is 
 proved by the great veneration paid by the Carthaginians to 
 the Tyrian Hercules, to whom they sent yearly embassies and 
 offerings, and by their adherence to ancient and sometimes 
 cruel rites, though greatly softened by the spirit of the age.^ 
 The Greek and Roman writers commonly give the names of 
 their own gods to those of the Carthaginians ; and Hercules, 
 Saturn, and Neptune were the first among them. The Car- 
 thaginian name of Hercules was Melcart, the tutelar deity of 
 the city both in Carthage and Tyre ; that of Saturn or Cronos, 
 Moloch or Bel, already spoken of under the head of Babylon ; 
 but neither that of Poseidon or Neptune, nor that of Triton, 
 both originally Libyan deities, are preserved. Besides these 
 gods there was the goddess Astarte, frequently confounded 
 with Aphrodite, or Venus, likewise of Phoenician origin. What 
 objects or powers of nature were originally represented by 
 these beings, and received the adoration of man, may be left 
 to the learned in religious history to determine. The only 
 question to be considered here is, whether, and how far, their 
 religion was interwoven with the constitution and became a 
 part of the government ? Many passages show that this was 
 the case to a considerable degree. There was, however, no 
 distinct order of priests, or religious caste, in Carthage as there 
 was in Egypt. Neither do we find traces of any particular 
 sacerdotal functions being hereditary in certain families. Nor 
 have we any information as to the degrees of dignity in the 
 hierarchy. But the oflSces of the priesthood were filled by the 
 highest persons in the state, and had outward marks of honour 
 
 1 Thus the Carthaginians introduced the worship of Ceres from Sicily. Diodorus, i. p. 
 701. They sent ambassadors to the Delphic oracle, ii. p. 318. 
 
 * We know that the offering of human sacrifices was a native custom in Phoenicia and 
 Carthage. According to Diodorus, ii. p. 415, it had gradually grown so much out of use, 
 that only the children of slaves were clandestinely sacrificed ; and it was only had recourse 
 to in times of peculiar distress. The Romans, and other civilized nations of antiquity, prac- 
 tised it, and therefore it affords us no rule by which we can judge of their civilization. It 
 is true that the number of human sacrifices was greater among the Carthaginians than 
 among these nations ; but what was it compared with the thousands destroyed by the Span- 
 ish Inquisition ! and these not merely children, not merely offered in the times of pressing 
 calamity, as among the Carthaginians, when man in his despair sought and hoped to find 
 deliverance ! No one I hope will consider this remark as an endeavour to defend the practice 
 of sacrificing human beings. I only wish to show that it requires but a modification of the 
 same idea, to bring back in different ages, and even among civilized nations, the same hor- 
 rors. The further particulars upon this custom among the Carthaginians may be found col- 
 lected by Munter, p. 17, etc. I place but little reliance upon later Roman writers with re- 
 gard to what they relate of the more early periods. But as we read in Bowdich and others, 
 that the custom of offering human sacrifices even now prevails in Africa to a fearful extent, 
 must not its origin lie still deeper ? May not this custom originally be in some way connected 
 with the slave trade } 
 
66 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. IV. 
 
 CHAP. IV.] 
 
 PUBLIC REVENUE. 
 
 67 
 
 attached to them; so that some of the most important of them 
 were not deemed unworthy the sons of their kings/ Among 
 these was doubtless the priesthood of Melcart, with which the 
 religious missions, or Theorice, to the temple of the national 
 god at Tyre were connected.^ Indeed the most important 
 public affairs were so intermingled with religious ceremonies, 
 that it seems probable that the magistrates were also priests, 
 or at least might become so. The generals were obliged to 
 offer sacrifices even during the time of battle.^ Prophets ac- 
 companied the armies, without whose advice nothing could be 
 undertaken.* Public monuments of the greatest enterprises 
 were placed in the principal temples of Carthage ;^ and the 
 foundation of sanctuaries^ was also connected with the plant- 
 ing of their foreign settlements, where care was taken, as has 
 been shown in its proper place, to introduce the religion and 
 form of worship of the mother country. 
 
 Imperfect as this account of the Carthaginian constitution 
 is, and must remain, it is nevertheless sufficient to show its ge- 
 neral character. In a commercial state, depending upon a 
 single city, little else could be expected than that the more 
 opulent families would seize the government and form an aris- 
 tocracy, of which the mainspring was the senate, which derived 
 dignity from the splendour of its wealth and conquests, and 
 which found its support in the mutual jealousy of its members, 
 and the rehgion of the people. It was thus for a succession of 
 centuries preserved unshaken, until after the first peace with 
 Rome new circumstances and relations were introduced, which 
 loosened the bands that had hitherto held the government to- 
 gether. How this change came to pass, and what were its 
 consequences, will be explained in the last chapter of our in- 
 quiries respecting this republic. 
 
 CHAP. IV. Public Revenue of Carthage. 
 
 The greatness and power of a conquering commercial state 
 naturally depend in a great measure upon its finances. Of its 
 
 > See the account of Cartalo the son of Malchus, in Jnstin, lib. xvii. 7. When the worship 
 of Ceres and Proserpine was introduced at Carthage, the principal men of the city were ap- 
 pointed as their priests. Diodorus, i. 171. * Justin, 1. c. 
 
 » As Hamilcar did in Sicily. Diodorus, i. 699. And again, Herod, vii. 167. 
 
 * Diodorus, 1. c. * Like the voyage of Hanno which was inscribed in the temple of 
 
 Saturn ; and also the monuments which Hamilcar, the son of Mago, erected in the colonies, 
 and particularly in the capital. Herod. 1. c. « As was the sanctuary of Neptune on 
 
 the west coast of Africa by Hanno ; and that of Hercules at New Carthage in Spain by 
 AsdrubaL 
 
 most splendid undertakings many are altogether different from 
 those of merely warlike nations ; even its wars are carried on 
 rather by its riches than its armies. What immense trea- 
 sures Carthage must have expended in the foundation of 
 her many colonies ! And how much it must have cost her 
 to maintain her numerous armies, almost entirely composed 
 of mercenaries ! 
 
 It would therefore be highly desirable to know whence these 
 vast treasures flowed, the way in which they were managed, 
 and how they were expended ? But unfortunately upon these 
 subjects we are left almost wholly in the dark. Scarcely one 
 of the ancient writers has given us more than a few scattered 
 hints respecting them. 
 
 Before, however, we discuss the revenue of a state, it is 
 necessary to define accurately in what its wealth consisted, and 
 what were its most important expenses. Gold and silver were 
 certainly the standard of value at Carthage ; money, probably 
 of both metals, was also coined there.^ that the possession of 
 the rich niines which they obtained brought a considerable 
 quantity of the precious metals into their country is certain ; 
 but their wealth consisted quite as much in the produce of their 
 industry. It has already been shown how diligently agriculture 
 was followed among them ; and in countries so highly favoured 
 labour must have been abundantly rewarded. Not less im- 
 portant was the produce of their manufacturers and artisans. 
 Many and indeed the most important expenses of the state 
 were of a kind that never require to be paid in the precious 
 metals. The expenses of the government in Carthage were 
 probably light. There, as well as in Rome, the oflSces of state 
 were regarded as appointments of honour, and filled without 
 pay. The chief expense of the nation was undoubtedly the 
 maintenance of its fleets and armies ; the latter, however, might 
 be, and indeed, as will be shown, was effected in a great mea- 
 sure by payment in kind. Neither was their foreign trade 
 
 * Whether the Carthaginians stamped gold and silver coins is a question still doubtful. See 
 Eckhel, Doctrina Numm. Vet. iv. p. 136. We are not without coins with Punic inscriptions, 
 some of which were coined in the Sicilian cities, Panormus for instance, under the dominion 
 of Carthage. Yet it still remains uncertain whether any coins are extant issued by the city 
 of Carthapfe herself. But that in Carthage a gold coinage was current is clear from Poly- 
 bius, vol. i. p. 164, who mentions that the mercenaries should be paid with it. There is also 
 the example of Hanno, who, after the loss of Agrigentum, was fined about six thousand 
 pieces of gold. Diodorus, vol. ii. p. 503. But it is not probable, that a commercial city 
 like Carthage, whose colonies coined money, should not have had any coinage herself. It 
 may, however, be believed that the Carthaginians learned the art of coining from the Sici- 
 han Greeks, who had brought it to the highest perfection. The Punic money extant was 
 mostly coined in Sicilian cities. This in some degree explains, how the art might remain 
 confined to these cities, without being exercised in the capital. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. IV. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 1 
 
 PUBLIC REVENUE. 
 
 69 
 
 carried on entirely by means of gold and silver ; but to a con- 
 siderable extent, perhaps the greater part, by barter. 
 
 Up to the time of the great conquests made in Spain by 
 Hamilcar Barca and his successors, the quantity of gold and 
 silver, and also of coin at Carthage, was probably much less 
 than might at first sight be supposed. These conquests were 
 the means of increasing to a large amount the revenues and 
 treasure of Carthage. The first peace with Rome, and the war 
 with the mercenaries which followed, were both occasioned by 
 want of money ; a want which is never perceived after the con- 
 quests in Spain. Another circumstance also in the early history 
 0f Carthage clearly shows, if not the absolute, yet the relative 
 want of a circulating medium composed of the precious metals. 
 
 Although the Carthaginians had in reality no paper money, 
 or bank-notes, they had nevertheless a contrivance answering 
 nearly the same purpose, and which existed also in some of the 
 Greek commercial cities, as well as in some modern states, — 
 namely, tokens. They are, indeed, in many places mentioned 
 as a money of leather ; but it is no where so clearly described 
 as in the dialogue upon riches, attributed to iEschines the 
 Socratic philosopher.^ " We must look, however," says he, in 
 the passage quoted, '* to the sort of money. The Carthaginians 
 make use of the following kind : in a small piece of leather a 
 substance is wrapped of the size of a piece of four-drachmse ; 
 but what this substance is no one knows except the maker. 
 After this it is sealed and issued for circulation ; and he who 
 possesses the most of this is regarded as having the most money, 
 and as being the wealthiest man. But if any one among us 
 had ever so much, he would be no richer than if he possessed 
 a quantity of pebbles." It follows from this description, that 
 this money (which therefore by others is improperly called 
 leather-money) was not, like the small coins, composed of cop- 
 per or bronze, which would pass only for their intrinsic worth ; 
 but rather a representative of specie, upon which a fictitious 
 value was bestowed in circulation, and which therefore out of 
 Carthage was of no value. Another fact may be gathered from 
 this description, namely, that it was only under the authority 
 of the state that this money was stamped and issued. The seal 
 was evidently a peculiar mark impressed by the state, and which 
 probably showed at the same time its current value. Finally, 
 
 » See JEschincs Dialogi c. Fischeri, p. 78, ed. 3, where the other passages of Plato, 
 Aristides, etc. are collected. 
 
 it is clear from the same account that they had found means to 
 prevent its being imitated, since the manner of preparing it 
 remained a secret. The words, " what was contained within 
 the leather was unknown to all except the maker," cannot rea- 
 sonably be supposed to mean that they had not a general know- 
 ledge of what it was, but rather that they were ignorant of its 
 exact material. If it were, as may be supposed, a composition 
 of metals, their proportions remained a state secret. The great 
 disadvantages arising from the forgery of representative money 
 are too obvious not to call forth immediately the exercise of 
 ingenuity as far as possible to prevent it. 
 
 The revenues of Carthage flowed from various sources, and 
 were of various kinds ; to gain, therefore, a complete know- 
 ledge of them, we must divide them into classes, and examine 
 them in detail. 
 
 In a conquering state, with such extensive possessions, the 
 tribute paid by dependent nations must necessarily have been 
 a most important branch of the public revenue. They were 
 not, however, in all parts the same ; and in Africa itself the 
 contributions paid by the cities were widely different from those 
 of the country.^ These towns were situated along the coast, 
 and were mostly opulent places of trade ; it is therefore natural 
 to suppose that they paid their taxes either in money or in the 
 precious metals. The territory of Carthage had its coast co- 
 vered with a succession of towns whose number alone must 
 have given them importance. But the largest contributions 
 were drawn from the towns around the Lesser Syrtis, in the 
 district of Emporia : a specimen of their value is shown in the 
 quota of Little-Leptis,^ that town alone paying a talent daily 
 to the capital.^ The amount of these taxes seem in general to 
 have been fixed and certain ; but in time of war they were so 
 much increased, as easily to account for the disaffection of some 
 of those towns towards Carthage.* 
 
 Very different was the tribute collected in the open country, 
 and the settlements founded therein. The tribes which in- 
 habited these regions were, as we have seen above, employed 
 in husbandry, and, as was very natural, paid their tribute in 
 the produce of their industry.^ And this was also the case 
 with the foreign provinces, especially Sardinia. Many passages 
 prove that the tribute here was paid in kind ;^ and that a part 
 
 » This distinction is clearly pointed out by Polybius, vol. i. p. 179. « An important 
 
 passage upon this will be found in Polyb. vol. iv. p. 547. =* Livy, xxxiv. 62.. 
 
 ♦ An example of it is mentioned in Polyb. vol. i. p. 179. 
 ' See the foregoing section upon Sardinia. 
 
 6 Polyb. 1. c. 
 
70 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. IV. 
 
 was stored up in the country for the use of the army, part sent 
 to Carthage, where it was stowed in large magazines for the 
 same purpose.^ To what extent this tribute was levied in 
 peaceable times is unknown, but examples are not wanting to 
 prove that, in cases of need, they were raised sometimes even 
 to half the produce.^ Can we wonder then that the seeds of 
 discontent should take root here ; or that every insurrection 
 and foreign invasion of the territory of Carthage should teem 
 with so much danger to that republic ? 
 
 Another principal source of the Carthaginian revenue seems 
 to have been the customs, which were collected as well in the 
 ports of the colonies as in those of the capital itself In the 
 commercial treaties between Carthage and Rome^ still extant, 
 the conditions under which foreigners could enter some of the 
 Carthaginian ports are defined with great precision. We are 
 informed by Aristotle, that in their treaties with the Etrurians, 
 it was accurately stipulated what commodities might or might 
 mot be imported. That these duties were very heavy is proved 
 by the contraband trade ; which was very considerable between 
 Cyrenaica and the commercial towns of Carthage.* Indeed, 
 in the last period of the republic, the customs seem to have 
 been the most important branch of the revenue. The thorough 
 reformation of the finances which Hannibal effected at the 
 conclusion of the second Roman war, when he was placed at 
 the head of the government, consisted chiefly in his regulating 
 the sea and land customs, which became so important, that 
 without the imposition of any new tax upon individuals, they 
 supplied all the wants of the state.^ 
 
 A third, and perhaps in later times the most fruitful, source 
 of the public revenue, was its mines. The Carthaginians in- 
 herited from their forefathers a propensity to seek for the pre- 
 cious metals ; and as they succeeded them in the possession of 
 the countries which contained them, it was natural that they 
 should again work the mines which they there found already 
 opened. Spain, the country in which they chiefly, if not ex- 
 clusively abounded, is mentioned in our inquiries respecting 
 the Phoenicians, and has already been spoken of in the present 
 work. Its chain of mountains, stretching across the southern 
 part of that kingdom, seems to have been particularly rich in 
 metals ; in gold and iron, but especially in silver. We learn 
 
 » Polyb. vol. i. p. 178. Appian, i. p. 485. » Polyb. vol. i. p. 179. ^ Aristot. 
 
 Polit. iu. 9. pp. ii. p. 261. * Strabo, p. 1193. * Livy, xxxiii. 47. Annibal 
 
 postquam vectigalia quanta terrestria maritimaque essent, et in quas res erogarentur, ani- 
 madvertit, etc The words plainly show, that the vectigalia were the real customs. 
 
 CHAP. IV.] 
 
 PUBLIC REVENUE. 
 
 71 
 
 also from Diodorus,' that the invention and ingenuity of man 
 was brought to aid his industry in working the mines. That 
 it was carried to a vast extent we may be assured from the 
 statement of the same writer, that *' all the mines which were 
 known in his times were opened by the Carthaginians."^ There 
 must, however, have been a great ditt'erence in this respect in 
 the period before and after the great accession of territory ob- 
 tained by the victories of the family of Barca. The mines 
 which they possessed in the infancy of their power, were pro- 
 bably limited to Bcetica, or the country near the Guadalquiver, 
 the ancient colony of the Phoenicians ; the mountains in the 
 territory of Castulo, not far from Cordua, the present Sierra 
 Morena, are celebrated for their riches;^ but the conquests of 
 Hamilcar Barca having been undertaken principally with a 
 view to extend these establishments, we find, after his victories, 
 that the richest mines lay in the neighbourhood of New Car- 
 thage, (Carthagena,) the new capital built by the Carthagini- 
 ans in this European Peru. They were situated, according to 
 the accounts of Polybius,* about three miles from the city, and 
 were in his time, when the Romans had become masters of it, 
 so considerable as to employ forty thousand slaves, and to give 
 a daily produce estimated at twenty-five thousand drachmas.^ 
 A certain Aletes is said to have discovered them, and met with 
 more gratitude from the Carthaginians than the discoverer of 
 the mines of Potosi did from the Spaniards. A temple, next 
 to those of ^sculapius and Vulcan, was erected to him in 
 New Carthage, in which he was venerated as a demigod by a 
 grateful posterity.^ 
 
 Whom the Carthaginians employed to work these mines we 
 are not told : whether they sent slaves there for that purpose, 
 as the Romans did afterwards, or employed the natives who 
 were themselves miners.^ Probably, as the number of slaves 
 among them was so great, tliey did"^ both. Nor are we better 
 informed to whom the mines belonged— whether to private in- 
 dividuals or to the state. The fact that the Carthaginians 
 were enabled by them to pay their numerous armies and to 
 carry on their great wars, renders it indeed probable that, to a 
 certain degree, they were the property of the state. In oppo- 
 
 I Diodorus, i. p. 359, etc. « Ibid. i. p. 360. . 'Polyb. vol. iii. p. .277. It is 
 
 nevertheless remarkable, that Diodorus places the most ancient mmes of bpain in tlie 1 y- 
 renees Or is this only the general name for the mountains in that place ? 
 
 * Polyb. vol iii. p. 208. * About £2000. « Polyb. 1. c . 
 
 ' Diodorus, 1. c. What Diodorus says of the slaves there who worked them, is not to be 
 understood of the time previous to the Roman, 
 
72 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. IV. 
 
 CHAP, v.] 
 
 NAVIGATION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 73 
 
 sition to this, however, we find examples of some of them be- 
 ing in the possession of the great families, who worked them 
 for their own profit.' 
 
 The foregoing were the ordinary revenues of the state ; but 
 in pressing circumstances other means were resorted to. Thus 
 we find the republic during her first war with Rome, endea- 
 vourino* to procure a foreign loan ; for which purpose an em- 
 bassy was sent to Ptolemy Philadelphus, but failed in its 
 object.^ Privateering was another means which the Cartha- 
 ginians sometimes had recourse to, and of which Aristotle 
 gives us a remarkable example. " The Carthaginians having 
 numerous mercenaries in their city, whose pay they were un- 
 able to discharge, devised the following measure : they gave 
 notice that if any citizen or resident alien had, or wished to 
 have, a licence to make reprisals on any foreign state or indi- 
 vidual, he should register his name. In consequence of this, 
 many persons having registered, they plundered with a fair 
 pretext all ships sailing into the open sea, a time being ap- 
 pointed for giving an account of the prizes. A large sum of 
 money having been thus collected, the soldiers were paid and 
 dismissed, and a judicial inquiry was made respecting the 
 prizes, after which a satisfaction was made from the public re- 
 venue to those who had been unjustly plundered."^ A re- 
 markable instance of the Carthaginian maritime law. Under 
 the mask of reprisals a piracy was carried on, in which the 
 state made itself the accuser, the judge, and the executioner. 
 Might we not almost take this for the model of a prize court 
 in modern Europe ? 
 
 From this enumeration of the known sources of the reve- 
 nues of Carthage, and from the little that we do know re- 
 specting this state, it may clearly be seen of how much we still 
 remain ignorant ! With regard to all that concerns the admin- 
 istration of the revenue, we are unfortunately left in the dark. 
 From what we have said above of the gerusia, it appears to 
 
 * This is very certain so far as regards the Barcine family, from the use which they made of 
 the Spanish treasures as bribes. Pliny, H. N. xxxiii. 6, remarks, that Hannibal derived a 
 large income from one of his mines. " Appian, i. p. 92. They requested two thou- 
 
 sand talents (about £400,000) ; Ptolemy refused it, but offered his mediation. He stood in 
 a friendly relation with Rome as well as with Carthage, and a loan to either of the states 
 would probably have been regarded as a breach of his neutrality. * Aristot. Op. vol. 
 
 ii. p. 384. [In the passage of the (Economics referred to, (ii. 2, 10,) the author has been de- 
 ceived by the reading of the common editions lliapxr)^oviot., instead of the right reading KoX- 
 j(Tj5ov«ot, which Schneider has restored from the Leipsig manuscript- The words, which 
 after the German have been rendered *• into the open sea," evidently signify " into the 
 Euxine sea," {ih t6v TIoi/toi;,) at the mouth of which Chalcedon was situated. The whole 
 narration is therefore inapplicable. See Schneider's notes on the passage, and Gaisford on 
 Aristot. Rhet, i. 12, 18. Note added to this translation.^ 
 
 have had the general direction of the public revenue ; we may 
 also venture to regard it as more than probable that one of the 
 pentarchies, with a magistrate at its head, whom the Romans 
 called qucEstor^ formed a board for its immediate management. 
 But how many questions still remain which we either cannot 
 answer at all, or at best only by conjecture ! Before whom did 
 the managers lay their accounts ? Who fixed the taxes ; was 
 it the people, or, as seems most probable, the senate ? But it 
 is better to confess our ignorance than to advance empty con- 
 jectures. Even the little that might be deduced from the pas- 
 sage of Livy already mentioned^ would only perhaps lead us 
 to false conclusions; since he only speaks of abuses^ from 
 which we cannot infer the state of things during the flourishing 
 period of the republic. 
 
 CHAP. V. Of the Navigation and Maritime Commerce of 
 
 Carthage. 
 
 The situation of Carthage appears to have determined both 
 the general course and extent of her commerce. It consisted 
 of a land and sea trade. The following chapter will be de- 
 dicated to the former ; the present will be devoted to the dis- 
 cussion of the latter. 
 
 The groundwork for our researches on this subject has al- 
 ready been laid in the accounts which we have given of the 
 foreign possessions and settlements of the Carthaginians. If 
 it be true, as we have shown it to be in treating of the Phoe- 
 nicians, that it is the genius of all great maritime nations to 
 make their colonies the principal seats of their trade, the same 
 might naturally be expected to hold of the Carthaginians. 
 The peculiarities, however, in the relations of Carthage with 
 her colonies, which have already been developed, will explain 
 some deviations from this general principle, which would 
 otherwise seem extraordinary. Every individual who has dis- 
 covered a profitable branch of industry, endeavours as much 
 as possible to keep his discovery secret ; it seems then natural 
 that states, with so much greater means in their power, should 
 have a similar feeling. That jealousy, therefore, which exists 
 in trading communities, is not the effect of a refinement in 
 general politics, but springs up with the first efforts of com- 
 
 * Livy, xxxiii. 45, 46. 
 
74 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. v. 
 
 CHAP, v.] 
 
 NAVIGATION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 75 
 
 merce ; hence we may expect to find that the ancient states 
 devised various plans for securing a monopoly of trade. By 
 no other trading people of antiquity do we find this policy 
 carried to a greater length than by the Carthaginians ; no 
 other, indeed, could maintain its colonies in such strict de- 
 pendence ; an advantage which enabled her to keep her trade 
 so entirely to herself, and to preserve it for so long a time. 
 
 If we still possessed copies of that succession of alliances and 
 treaties which Carthage concluded with foreign powers, we 
 should be able still more distinctly to trace the principles of 
 her commercial policy. From the fragments, however, which 
 are left, we clearly see that she was too selfish to allow of fo- 
 reign participation where it could be avoided, although she 
 was at times suflBciently yielding to give up a part rather than 
 risk the whole. 
 
 The city of Carthage was the capital and mistress of the 
 state, and the people or citizens of Carthage the ruling body. 
 The colonies, on the contrary, served merely as staples for 
 trade, planted on foreign coasts. Hence the maxim naturally 
 arose to make the capital the centre of commerce, and to pro- 
 hibit its colonies from trading further than was consistent with 
 the interest of the capital. This will at once show the motive 
 which led Carthage to those jealous restrictions imposed upon 
 her colonies ; and will account for the remarkable fact, that no 
 instance occurs of one of them ever becoming a great com- 
 mercial city. Had the parent city allowed these the exercise 
 of a free trade, it would have been impossible for her to have 
 prevented their rise, or to have maintained her authority over 
 them. 
 
 The harbours of the capital were open to the vessels and 
 merchants of foreign nations, according to the treaties entered 
 into respecting them ; to all the remaining ports in the terri- 
 tory of the republic in Africa admission was either altogether 
 forbidden, or rendered extremely diflScult. To those places, 
 alone where a competition in trade could not be prevented, as 
 in Sicily, was access permitted to foreigners ; but in such 
 cases only under very severe restrictions. Foreign trade was 
 carried on under the inspection of the government ; oflficers 
 were appointed to superintend it, and the money due to the 
 seller was guaranteed by the state.^ 
 
 ' Proofs of this remark are contained in the first two treaties with Rome, already often 
 mentioned. From them it is evident that the gulf in which Carthage lay, as well as all the 
 rich and fertile eastern coast helonging to it, was altogether prohibited to the Romans. 
 
 However selfish this policy may appear, it is not unexam- 
 pled in modern times ; but among the Carthaginians there ex- 
 isted special reasons for adopting it. 
 
 First, the greater part of their trade being carried on with 
 barbarous nations, consisted in barter ; and here competition 
 is most to be dreaded. So long as the savage is kept in ignor- 
 ance, he is ready to exchange his goods for the merest trifles, 
 because he knows not their true value ; but every rival opens 
 his eyes by offering him double, nay, sometimes tenfold, for his 
 commodities. To allow free trade to their colonies, and open 
 their ports to foreigners, was, in other words, to destroy their 
 own market. 
 
 Again, Africa and Sardinia were the granaries whence Car- 
 thage drew food for her numerous armies. The less, therefore, 
 the other countries on the Mediterranean cultivated their lands, 
 the greater must have been the disadvantage to the republic 
 of a free trade, and of course a free exportation of corn. 
 
 We may then fairly conclude, that the policy of Carthage, 
 however paltry and selfish it may seem in a general point of 
 view, was imposed upon her by circumstances. I shall now 
 take a survey of the principal branches of her maritime com- 
 merce; premising only a few remarks upon the manner in 
 which it was carried on. 
 
 The Poenulus of Plautus shows^ how usual it was among 
 the maritime nations of antiquity, when commerce by com- 
 mission was yet in its infancy or altogether unknown, for the 
 merchant not only to trade in his own vessels, but even to carry 
 his wares from place to place. This seems to have been the 
 case with the Carthaginians, and in some degree proves, that 
 their ruling families could scarcely apply themselves to com- 
 merce. These voyages of the merchant rendered some arrange- 
 ment necessary for his reception among strangers ; and this led 
 the Carthaginians to adopt a law or alliance of hospitality in 
 use among the Greeks, as the form of that people was most 
 current among the Greek cities. This was sometimes practised 
 by individuals towards individuals, and sometimes by whole 
 cities towards individuals. It was customary for men to ex- 
 change certain tokens, the production of which secured them 
 the rights of hospitality ; and it is in this manner that the 
 Carthaginian merchant in Plautus shows his token of hospitality 
 
 * Act V. Sc. 2, V. 54, etc. The patriotism and national pride which Plautus, judging 
 from the translation of Bellermans, attributes to the Carthaginian merchant should not 
 pass unnoticed. 
 
76 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. v. 
 
 CH 
 
 AP. v.] 
 
 NAVIGATION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 77 
 
 at Calydon in iEtolia.* This was also frequently the case in 
 many other Greek cities of the mother-country, but more 
 especially in the colonies. 
 
 Notwithstanding Carthage preserved a close correspondence 
 with her parent state, and notwithstanding the intercourse 
 which she maintained with Greece, with Egypt— especially in 
 the time of the Ptolemies, — and with Gyrene, she seems never 
 to have had much share in the commerce of the eastern part 
 of the Mediterranean : the competition here was perhaps too 
 great, or perhaps she had not a sufficient number of colonies 
 in this quarter ; though her trade with the parent state, so long 
 as that maintained its splendour, could not have been incon- 
 siderable. To counterbalance this, Carthage coveted the ex- 
 clusive possession of the commerce of the western Mediterra- 
 nean ; and although the jealousy of many powerful rivals in 
 Massilia, Italy, and Sicily, prevented her obtaining it, she 
 nevertheless bent the whole force of her policy to preserve her 
 station among them; and probably obtained more by this 
 means than by outward force her decided superiority over them. 
 
 Sicily and Southern Italy were the first points to which her 
 navigation was directed. Carthaginian merchants had settled 
 in Syracuse, as well as in other Greek cities, whose harbours 
 were always full of their ships.^ These fertile countries found 
 Carthage the best market for their commodities, especially for 
 their oil and wine, both of which they produced of an excellent 
 quality;^ and this the rather because the Carthaginians could 
 advantageously dispose of the wine in Cyrene, where they ex- 
 changed it for silphium, a contraband article.* Vineyards are 
 mentioned as having been cultivated in some parts of ancient 
 Africa,^ and olives flourished, at least in the Carthaginian ter- 
 ritory ; they were not however sufficiently abundant to supply 
 the great consumption, especially of the armies, though they 
 might perhaps have sufficed for the wants of the capital. Had 
 Carthage ever obtained the entire possession of Sicily, this 
 trade alone would have indemnified her for all her expenses ; 
 the immense wealth which it gave to the towns of Sicily and 
 Italy is sufficiently known. 
 
 » L e. V. 85. 
 
 -Si ita est, tesseram 
 
 Conferre si vis hospitalem : eccam attuli. 
 
 The words of the Carthaginian merchant. The tessera hospitalis of Malta, still extant, 
 does not bear upon our subject, as it was sent by the Greek city in this island, to a Greek in 
 Syracuse. See the explanation in Bres, Malta yintica, p. 192, etc. 
 
 • Diodorus, i. p. 678. * Diodorus, i. p. 606. * Strabo, p. 1193. 
 
 » Diodorus, 1. xx. ii. p. 411. Scylax, Peripl. p. 65, ed. Huds. 
 
 That an active commerce existed between Carthage and the 
 other nations of Italy, the Etrurians and Romans, is shown by 
 the many commercial treaties contracted by them.^ A great 
 part of these related to the suppression o( piracy, at that time 
 carried on by all maritime nations, but particularly by the Ro- 
 mans and Etrurians. This not only increased the kidnapping 
 of slaves, then in general use, but was so little thought of, that 
 unless express treaties to the contrary had been made, it was 
 not even regarded as an act of hostility. The Romans ex- 
 pressly engaged in their commercial treaties not to plunder on 
 the coast of Carthage ; and the Carthaginians engaged to spare 
 the coast of Italy belonging to the Romans and Latins : they 
 were not to retain the towns there not subject to the Romans, 
 although they had taken and pillaged them ; and prisoners 
 captured could not be brought into Roman sea-ports for sale, 
 as every free Roman had the privilege of reclaiming them as 
 free persons.- So variously are modified the principles of 
 national law in different ages. 
 
 The Etrurians appear to have been in general rather pirates 
 than merchants. But when their maritime cities are mentioned, 
 it is not so much the cities of Etruria Proper as their colonies 
 in the south of Italy that are meant. Etruria Proper never 
 possessed any known harbour except Populonum ; all its great 
 cities were in the interior, consequently, navigation could 
 never have been its principal pursuit. This nation, however, 
 had not only extended itself over the south of Italy, but also 
 over the smaller islands in the Mediterranean. All their great 
 expeditions, if we believe the express testimony of Polybius, 
 were fitted out from their cities in Southern Italy;' and the 
 little islands, especially those of Liparae, served as stations for 
 privateering squadrons. 
 
 The articles of commerce which the Carthaginians gave in 
 exchange, were black slaves from the interior of Africa, who, 
 from the earliest times, were highly esteemed in Italy and 
 Greece,* precious stones, gold, and Carthaginian manufactures. 
 The inhabitants of Italy bartered for these the product of their 
 soil and industry, which have been already mentioned. 
 
 Malta, even in the times of Scylax, as well as the neighbour- 
 ing islands of Gaulos and Lampedusa, was inhabited by Car- 
 thaginians,^ and had, even thus early, risen to distinction by its 
 
 * Aristot. Polit. iii. cap. 6. 
 
 * Terent. Eumwh. i, 2. 
 
 ' Polyb. vol. i. p. 438. ' Ibid. i. p. 260. 
 
 * Scylax, p. 50. Gaulos is the present Gozzo. 
 
78 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. v. 
 
 CHAP, v.] 
 
 NAVIGATION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 79 
 
 trade and manufactures. It was celebrated in antiquity for 
 the beautiful cloths which it produced, equally distinguished 
 for their fineness and their softness.^ As the cotton-tree is a 
 native of this island^ it can scarcely be doubted that this was 
 the material of which these fabrics were composed. They 
 formed an important article in the trade with the African tribes. 
 
 Lipara and the adjoining islands were also soon brought 
 under the Carthaginian yoke, and their produce also helped 
 to enrich their conquerors. Its most valuable article of com- 
 merce was resin, which was exported to many parts : upon 
 this and the well-frequented hot-baths the prosperity of these 
 islands chiefly depended. Diodorus informs us that on one 
 of the smaller islands the Carthaginians, during the war with 
 Syracuse, exposed a number of mutinous mercenaries to per- 
 ish with hunger.' 
 
 Corsica produced an abundance of wax and honey; its 
 slaves were esteemed superior to all others.* 
 
 The small island of iEthalia, the present Elba, was very 
 early celebrated for its inexhaustible stores of iron, whence the 
 fable arose that the ores grew again.^ It was refined upon the 
 island in large furnaces, and in that state exported by the mer- 
 chants, or manufactured into various implements.^ 
 
 The Balearic Islands, Majorca and Minorca, although their 
 inhabitants were perhaps not entirely dependent upon Car- 
 thage, were yet of great importance to her commerce. The 
 uncivilized natives, probably taught by the example of the 
 neighbouring countries, refused absolutely to permit either 
 gold or silver among them ; this, however, offered no obstacle 
 to a profitable traffic being carried on by barter. Their in- 
 dulgence in sensual pleasures made wine and female slaves 
 always saleable among them; so that even the mercenary 
 troops who served in the Carthaginian armies were ready at 
 any time to exchange their pay for these articles.^ Fruit "and 
 beasts of burden, especially mules, of which a very beautiful 
 kind was bred here, were their native product. The neigh- 
 
 * Diodonis, i. p. 339. 
 
 * Three sorts of cotton are now cultivated at Malta : that of Siam, that of the Antilles, 
 and the native. They are manufactured on the island, especially at Gozzo. Modem Picture 
 of Malta, vol. iii. p. 9. The old capital of Melita, the present Citta Vecchia, is in the centre 
 of the island. The woven goods of Carthage were in general very celebrated. Polemon, a 
 Greek, wrote a separate treatise on the subject : irepl twv h Kooytj^oVi TrtirXtov, Athen. 
 xii. p. 541. 3 Diodorus, 1. c. * Ibid. 
 
 * Aristot. Mirab. p. 194, ed. Beckm. • Diodorus, i. p. 340. 
 
 ' Diodorus, i. p. 343, 344. He estimates the number of inhabitants at thirty thousand. 
 The demand for female slaves was such, that the price of a woman was three or four times 
 greater than that of a man. 
 
 bourhood of Spain, only one day's sail distant, made these 
 islands the best station for carrying on a commerce with that 
 country, and of course increased their value. 
 
 That Spain, so rich in natural productions, was always one 
 of the most profitable places to which Carthaginian vessels 
 traded, that its mines formed one of the principal sources of 
 the Carthaginian revenue, and that the intercourse maintained 
 with the tribes of Spain, as well Phoenician as native, was of 
 great importance to the republic of Carthage, has already been 
 shown. The inhabitants of this country had attained just that 
 degree of civilization which made them acquainted with foreign 
 commodities, and led them to covet their possession, without 
 having taught them the art of manufacturing for themselves. 
 The Carthaginians must therefore have found here a ready 
 sale for their manufactures; especially as their connexions, 
 proved by the number of Spanish troops in their pay, ex- 
 tended over all the peninsula. Besides this, Carthage seems 
 to have carried on, across Spain, a trade with the ruder Gauls ; 
 and in this way because she had not a single colony on their 
 coast, and the Massilians would scarcely permit their vessels, 
 except under heavy restrictions, to enter their harbours. The 
 early intercourse of Carthage with Gaul is proved by the great 
 number of mercenary troops which she had from that country, 
 who, in the very earliest period, fought in her armies ; and 
 likewise by her jealousy of Massilia, which she so much wished 
 
 to destroy. 
 
 Their ancestors, the Phoenicians, had already opened the 
 way for them beyond the Pillars of Hercules ; and they con- 
 tinued and extended the trade begun by these navigators. Re- 
 specting the boundaries of the Phoenician and Carthaginian 
 trade so much has been written, conjectured, and fabled, that 
 not only the judicious historical inquirer, but even the boldest 
 lover of hypothesis, could scarcely add anything new. If in- 
 deed all the geographical obscurities could be completely clear- 
 ed up, it would still be impossible to separate the enterprises 
 of the proper Phoenicians from those of the Carthaginians, 
 beyond what a general determination of the time will allow ; 
 since neither of these nations were distinguished in ancient 
 times by their proper names. This particularly applies to 
 their navigation along the European coast ; the accounts re- 
 specting their exertions in the west of Africa are much more 
 accurately determined. 
 
80 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. v. 
 
 CHAP. V.J 
 
 NAVIGATION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 81 
 
 The republic had a number of colonies on the western coast 
 of Spain, and maintained an intimate connexion with Gades.^ 
 This circumstance alone would show that their ships were wont 
 to visit the western coast of Europe, even if the tin and amber 
 trade, in which they took a part, did not prove it beyond con- 
 tradiction. What I have to say on the subject is thrown to- 
 gether in the following remarks, in which I neither seek to 
 contradict nor defend the opinions of others. 
 
 First, when we speak of tin we mean by it that metal, which 
 among the Greeks was called cassUeros, That this metal was 
 the same as our tin is a fact, which, according to the judgment 
 of mineralogists, cannot indeed be denied, although it cannot 
 be proved with scientific accuracy, as is also the case with many 
 other productions of the ancient world, of which the classical 
 writers have not given us technical definitions. When, how- 
 ever, we consider that the same countries which produced 
 cassiteros produce tin, but no other metal of similar value or 
 quality, and that the little said of it by ancient writers does 
 not at all contradict the supposition of its identity with that 
 metal, there seems every probability that it really was such. 
 The further investigation, however, of this question, does not 
 belong to my subject, and I willingly refer the reader to an- 
 other writer who has examined it with all the accuracy which 
 the scanty accounts will permit.^ 
 
 Further, this metal, which I may now be permitted to call 
 tin, was, according to the express evidence of antiquity, found 
 in various countries of western Europe : first, in the north of 
 Spain;' secondly, in Britain; and again, in the islands called 
 from it Cassiterides, which, though all the circumstances men- 
 tioned by the ancients do not agree, can be no other than the 
 Scilly Islands.^ I am ignorant whether tin is still found there ; 
 but in former times they produced not only tin but also lead,^ 
 though they derived their name from the former, of which they 
 were the principal market; for the tin which was raised in 
 Britain was carried to the small islands lying off the Land's 
 End, accessible to wagons at the time of ebb tide.^ That such 
 
 ' See above, chap. ii. p. 44. 
 
 * Beckmann's History of Inventions. It is here first shown, that the Latin stannum may 
 be ditterent from the Kaaairepo^. The former is what in the German smelting houses is 
 tailed werk, the latter is the plumbum album of the Romans. PUny, xxxiv. 17; etc. The 
 writer thmks it probable that cassiteros was tin, without attempting strictly to prove it. 
 ^5"® *^^^""cal inquiry upon ancient works of art, it is to be hoped, wiU lead us to certainty. 
 
 » Strabo, p. 219. * Mannert, vol. i. p. 412. * Strabo, 265. 
 
 Diodorus, 1. p. 347. He here mentions the island Irtica ; probably now become a part 
 01 tne mainland, or may it not perhaps be Bresan f 
 
 small islands were the usual emporiums and marts of the Car- 
 thaginians will be presently confirmed by another example. 
 
 Finally, with respect to the course of this trade, we are told 
 by Strabo, that in early times it was carried on from Gades by 
 the Phoenicians.' It seems therefore that the part which the 
 Carthaginians at first took in it, was only that of carriers; 
 though, from their usual manner of trade, and the extent of 
 their navigation, it is probable that they sailed directly to the 
 countries which produced this metal. Upon this particular, 
 however, we can fortunately speak with certainty, as Avienus 
 has preserved an account of it from Himilcon's voyage.^ . The 
 Mstrymnian islands (as he calls the Cassiterides by their earli- 
 est, probably Phoenician, name) abound in tin and lead. Their 
 numerous inhabitants are proud and ingenious, and devote 
 themselves entirely to commerce, gliding over the sea in their 
 frail canoes, formed not of wood but of hides. In two days' 
 sail from them is the sacred island^ inhabited by the nation of 
 Hibernians ; but the island of the Albiones is close at hand. 
 The Tartessians were the first traders to the iEstrymnian islands, 
 though the colonies and the people of Carthage about the Pil- 
 lars of Hercules navigate these seas : the voyage, as Himilcon 
 informs us, taking four months ; he himself having attempted 
 and proved it. This passage throws much light upon the ex- 
 tent and manner of this trade. It was principally the Tartes- 
 sians, that is, the Phoenician colonists in Spain, and above all 
 in Gades, who performed these voyages. Carthage, however, 
 and her settlements also, took an active part, and Himilcon 
 himself had stretched his course, whether for trade or disco- 
 very, to the same place. It is easy to account for its taking 
 four months, as we learn from his own narrative that it was a 
 coasting voyage, and that the progress of the vessel was often 
 obstructed by sea weeds, no one daring to stretch out into the 
 open main. The Cassiterides, or Scilly Islands, were certainly 
 the object ; but the intercourse with them comprised also the 
 neighbouring Hibernia and Albion, the inhabitants of the Cas- 
 siterides frequenting those islands in their canoes. It is not, 
 however, probable that the Phoenicians and Carthaginians failed 
 to visit them. From what Strabo says, it may be inferred that 
 an active commerce existed on the British coast, as he informs 
 us that the manners of its native tribes were rendered milder 
 
 * Strabo, p. 265. By Phoenicians we must here understand, as is shown by the context, 
 Carthaginians and Gaditani. « Festus Avienus, Ora MaritimUf v. 95 — 125 and 
 
 375, etc. See a translation in the Appendix. 
 
82 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. v. 
 
 CHAP, v.] 
 
 NAVIGATION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 83 
 
 by their long and frequent intercourse with strangers ; from 
 which statement it is probable that the Carthaginians had set- 
 tlements on the British coast, without which a long stay there 
 would have been scarcely possible. The commerce here, as 
 well as in the Scilly Islands, was carried on by barter. Earth- 
 enware, salt, and iron tools, were the commodities with which 
 the merchants supplied them:^ the trade, however, till the 
 time of the Romans, was kept by the Carthaginians as secret 
 as possible ; although they were not successful in keeping away 
 all competitors. The way which the Phoenicians found out by 
 sea the Massilians found out by land, along the shore as far as the 
 British Channel ; and conveyed this metal, so much in request, 
 across Gaul to their own city on the mouth of the Rhone, a 
 journey of thirty days.^ 
 
 The geographical statements of the ancients thus far, are so 
 precise, that I really see no well-grounded objection to the 
 above remarks. The case, however, is widely different when 
 we approach the amber trade (electrum). A detailed inquiry 
 into this subject would require a distinct treatise, which will 
 scarcely be expected here ; and even that could only end in 
 mere conjecture. Every circumstance respecting it was so 
 mystified by fable, that the whole has become enveloped in an 
 obscurity which was never completely penetrated, even at the 
 time when the clearest information was obtained respecting 
 the tin islands. This fact alone shows that the country in 
 which amber abounded, was more remote than that which pro- 
 duced tin. It is, however, incorrect to confine this trade to a 
 single place ; as from the accounts of Pliny it plainly appears 
 that amber was a native of many countries or islands (for the 
 whole Scandinavian region was formerly thought to consist of 
 islands) in the north of Europe.^ I see no reason then, always 
 bearing in mind that we are still confining ourselves to a coast- 
 ing navigation, why that daring nation, which doubled the Cape 
 of Good Hope, and sailed from Tyre to Britain, might not also 
 have reached the Samlandic coast, the native country of amber, 
 as many traces, though certainly of a dubious nature, seem to 
 attest. But let no one, whilst exploring this field, attempt to 
 affix a determinate application to, and explain every obscure 
 hint in the ancient writers. He who endeavours to elicit rigid 
 historical truth out of fabulous geography, pursues a phantom 
 which will always elude his grasp. The ancient river Eridanus 
 
 » Strabo, I. c. « Diodorus, i. p. 348. ' Pliny, iv. 13. Compare Diod. i. p. 348. 
 
 was entirely fictitious, and existed only in the tradition of the 
 vulgar, and the imagination of poets. I see not what can be 
 gained whether we take it for the Rhine or the Raduna. Its 
 name may signify either one or the other. 
 
 The navigation of Carthage on the western coast of Africa 
 has already been proved in the account of the colonies found- 
 ed there. We have only now to consider its course, and in 
 what manner the Carthaginians turned these colonies to ad- 
 vantage. 
 
 The colonies of the republic known to us, reaching as far as 
 the island of Cerne, were all planted on the coast of Morocco 
 and Fez. A commercial intercourse with the neighbouring 
 African tribes was the purpose for which they were all found- 
 ed ; but the great mart was the island of Cerne. The mer- 
 chant vessels of Carthage here anchored to unlade their goods ; 
 tents were pitched upon the island ; and light vessels conveyed 
 their wares to the continent. The inhabitants of this part of 
 the coast were a dark pastoral race, with long hair ; remark- 
 able for the beautiful symmetry of their figure ; the tallest 
 among them they elected as king. They delighted in finery, 
 and were all expert riders and bowmen. The trade was car- 
 ried on by barter. The Carthaginians brought various kinds 
 of finery for the women, and harness for the horses, cups, large 
 earthen vessels, wine, and Egyptian linen. They received in 
 exchange elephants' teeth, and hides of tame and savage beasts. 
 There is even a town of this people mentioned ; from which 
 we may conclude that at least a part of them had forsaken the 
 nomad life.^ 
 
 To these branches of commerce may be added, as we learn 
 from another source, a profitable fishery.^ The fish was salted 
 and conveyed to Carthage, where it became so highly esteemed, 
 that its exportation was prohibited. 
 
 Beyond this, said the Carthaginians, it was impossible to 
 sail. The sea becomes so full of shallows, and so covered with 
 floating weeds, that navigation is obstructed.^ Can it however 
 be believed, that the Carthaginians stopped short on this poor 
 coast, and discovered not the way to the rich gold countries 
 which are found about the Senegal ? They could hardly in- 
 
 See 
 
 * Scylax, p. 54. Were these Taurics ? Every particular agrees with them. 
 
 • The species of fish was called thynnus, in the present system scomber thynnus 
 Aristot. de Mirab. cap. 148, with Beckmann's note. 
 
 ' Scylax, 1. c. These floating weeds, fucm natans, or sargossa, are still found, in the 
 manner described by the ancients, about the Canary Islands ; and among them there are 
 usually a great number of fish. See Beckmann, as before cited. 
 
 G 2 
 
84 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. v. 
 
 CHAF. v.] 
 
 NAVIGATION AND COMMERCE. 
 
 85 
 
 deed be blamed if their jealousy had been successful in keep- 
 ing this secret from the world : it has, however, been betrayed. 
 
 Even Hanno's voyage of discovery, as has been already 
 shown, extended to the Senegal and Gambia. But it was a 
 mere voyage of discovery. The rudeness of the inhabitants 
 prevented hiiji from entering into trade. Bift that deep in- 
 quirer, Herodotus, whose thirst of information led him to dis- 
 cover so much, discovered the secret of the gold trade. 
 
 " The Carthaginians state," says he,* ** that they are wont to 
 sail to a nation beyond the Pillars of Hercules on the Libyan 
 coast. When they come there, they transport their wares on 
 shore, where they leave them, and after kindling a fire go back 
 to their ships. Upon this signal the natives come down to the 
 sea, and placing gold against the wares, again retire. The 
 Carthaginians then again approach, and see whether what they 
 have left be sufficient. If it be, they take it and depart ; 
 should it, however, not be enough for their wares, they again 
 go back to their ships and wait ; and the other party bring 
 more gold until the strangers are satisfied. But neither party 
 deals unfairly by the other ; for the one touches not the gold 
 till the value of the wares be brought, nor the other the wares 
 until the gold be taken away." 
 
 Herodotus has frequently been accused of credulity till suc- 
 cessive centuries have established his authenticity, and such is 
 the case here. We certainly knew not till now his perfect ac- 
 curacy respecting this dumb trade ; which is proved to be 
 carried on in the gold countries about the Niger. 
 
 " The inhabitants of Morocco," says Hoest,*^ " send usually, 
 once a year, a caravan to the frontiers of Guinea, namely, to 
 Tombuctoo, where they exchange tobacco, salt, raw wool, 
 woollen cloths, silk stuffs, and linen of all sorts, for gold dust, 
 negroes, and ostrich feathers. This caravan is composed of 
 some hundreds of camels, the greater part of which carry no- 
 thing but water, as on that side of Suz not a drop is to be 
 found for twenty days' journey.^ They report that the Moors 
 enter not into the negro country, but only go to a certain place 
 on the frontiers, where one of each party exhibits and exchanges 
 
 * Herod, iv. cap. 196. 
 
 • Hoest, p. 279. A mutual ignorance of the language of the other nation is the natural 
 cause of a trade such as this. But a dumb trade, carried on merely by signs, is not very un- 
 common in the East, as we learn from the account of the great fairs in Arabia Felix. 
 
 ' It is that most terrible of all the caravan routes, which passes over that most dreadful of 
 all the African deserts, Zuenziga. The Carthaginians seem not to have ventured across it, 
 but to have preferred the dangers of the sea. 
 
 the goods, without scarcely opening their lips." Captain 
 Lyon, again, the latest traveller in this quarter, brings an ac- 
 count from the very heart of Africa in almost the very words 
 of Herodotus. In Soudan, beyond the desert, in the countries 
 abounding in gold, there dwells, as Lyon was told, an invisible 
 nation, who are said to trade only by night. Those who come 
 to traffic for their gold, lay their merchandise in heaps, and re- 
 tire. In the morning they find a certain quantity of gold dust 
 placed against every heap, which if they think sufficient, they 
 leave the goods ; if not, they let both remain until more of the 
 precious ore is added. ^ 
 
 The slight variation in these circumstances may be account- 
 ed for from the places not being exactly the same ; as the Car- 
 thaginians did not go by land, as the inhabitants of Morocco 
 and Fez do, but by water. Can, however, proofs more con- 
 clusive be offered of the connexion of Carthage with those gold 
 countries, her trade with which was perhaps much more im- 
 portant and profitable to her than might be inferred from the 
 passage of Herodotus. To seek out and to keep secret the 
 discovery of countries abundant in metal was also quite agree- 
 able to the genius of Phoenician policy. The danger of rivals 
 and the desire of concealment being always proportioned to 
 the richness of the country. 
 
 The port of Gades must be regarded as the chief place, and 
 as the new starting-point for all these distant voyages. Gades 
 was adapted for the navigation of the ocean, whose boundless 
 expanse seemed to dare the hardy adventurer to the discovery 
 of what lay beyond. Whether Phoenician or Carthaginian ever 
 reached that point, whether one of their ships was ever driven 
 to America, are questions which curiosity has often asked, and 
 which it has answered according to its own fancy. But he who 
 fairly surveys the character of ancient navigation, which, how- 
 ever extended, was always confined to the coasts, will believe 
 in no intentional voyage across the trackless ocean : should 
 however a doubt still remain, we have the evidence of a Car- 
 thaginian mariner and adventurer ;^ that 
 
 Beyond the pillars lies an open sea ; 
 
 It stretches far, as Himilcon has said; 
 
 Yet no one saw it, or guided his ship thereto ; 
 
 ' Narrative, p. 149. 
 
 ' Festus Avienus, Ora Maritima, v. 380 — 384. 
 
 Ah his coluninis gurgitem esse interminum, 
 
 Late patere pelagus, extendi salum, 
 
 Himilco tradit. Nullus hsec adiit freta 
 
 Nullus carinas sequor illud intulit. 
 
86 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. VI. 
 
 CHAP. VI.] 
 
 LAND TRADE. 
 
 87 
 
 but that they navigated the coasts to a very wide extent can- 
 not, after the foregoing inquiries, be doubtful. 
 
 CHAP. VI. TJie Land Trade of Carthage, 
 
 The navigation and maritime commerce of Carthage have 
 hitherto alone occupied the attention of historians. But that 
 this opulent republic carried on an extensive trade by land, 
 and kept up an intercourse with the inner nations of Africa, 
 seems not to have been suspected ; and yet it would have been 
 a remarkable phenomenon if the active spirit of speculation 
 which prevailed in this commercial state, had in this point 
 alone been blind to the advantages of its situation. 
 
 Here, however, we advance into a region over which every 
 thing conspires to throw a veil of the deepest mystery. Africa, 
 in its interior, is the least known of any quarter of the globe, 
 and, perhaps, fortunately for its inhabitants, will long remain 
 so. Of the great empires which it contains, we know scarce- 
 ly even the names ; and the numerous caravans which yearly 
 traverse it have added little to our stock of information. 
 
 The caravan trade of Carthage seems, besides, to have been 
 one of its state secrets. The jealous merchants were so silent, 
 that it remained concealed even from the historians who wrote 
 upon Carthage. We cannot, therefore, venture to hope for 
 more than scanty and obscure information : indeed, we must 
 have been satisfied with bare conjecture if Herodotus had not 
 discovered and betrayed the secret. He alone conducts us 
 across the deserts of Libya, from the Nile to the Niger, and 
 thence to the dominions of Carthage. Before, however, we 
 set out upon these journeys through the deserts, let me be al- 
 lowed to premise a few remarks upon the internal trade of 
 Africa in general, without which what follows could scarcely 
 be understood. 
 
 The commerce of inner Africa is confined in a great mea- 
 sure to commodities either belonging to the first wants of life, 
 or else to those upon which men place so much store, in con- 
 sequence of their serving as the standard of value, that they 
 readily bid defiance to the greatest dangers in order to obtain 
 them. To the first belong dates, salt, and what from the con- 
 stitution of society in the ancient world was one of its principal 
 necessaries, — slaves. To the latter, gold in grains or dust. 
 
 The slave trade, over which true philosophy in the present 
 day has gained her latest and most glorious victory, is as old 
 in Africa as history reaches back. Among the ruling natioiis 
 on the north coast, the Egyptians, Cyrenians, and Carthagi- 
 nians, slavery was not only established, but they imported 
 whole armies of slaves, proofs of which will presently be given, 
 partly for home use, and partly, at least by the latter, to be 
 shipped off* to foreign markets. These wretched beings were 
 chiefly drawn from the interior, where kidnapping was just as 
 much carried on then as it is at present. Black male and fe- 
 male slaves were even an article of luxury, not only among the 
 above-mentioned nations, but even in Greece and Italy ; and 
 as the allurement to this traffic was on this account so great, 
 the unfortunate negro race had, even thus early, the wretched 
 fate to be dragged into distant lands under the galling yoke 
 
 of bondage. 
 
 Salt is another commodity of the trade of inner Africa ; and 
 perhaps, as it is the most indispensable, it may be deemed the 
 most important. Salt-pits, it is true, are found on the northern 
 coasts, but it is otherwise with the fertile and thickly-peopled 
 districts beyond the great desert, about the Niger, and to the 
 south of that river. These are entirely destitute of salt either 
 in mines or springs,^ while nature has established immense 
 magazines of this useful mineral in the great barren waste. 
 These are sometimes in salt-lakes, which, dried up by the sum- 
 mer heat, leave behind a vast quantity of salt, covering exten- 
 sive patches of the earth ; sometimes in large beds or layers, 
 which frequently extend for many miles and rise in hills ; and 
 sometimes, where these are covered by the earth, pits and 
 mines are formed both of white and coloured salt.- The 
 swarthy race, therefore, dwelling about the Niger, are obliged 
 either to fetch this commodity themselves in numerous cara- 
 vans, or it is brought them by foreign merchants, who take 
 gold-dust or other wares in exchange. A scarcity of salt often 
 arises in Kashna and Tombuctoo, as a famine does in Europe. 
 The price of salt at these times increases to such a pitch, that 
 Leo Africanus saw an ass s load sold at Tombuctoo for eighty 
 ducats.^ Thus nature compels mankind to a mutual inter- 
 course, by endowing even the desert with articles necessary 
 for human existence. 
 
 1 Leo, p. 260. Dapper, p. 320 Procj^rfm^.. etc. p. 237. ' ^^'^^'^^Tjio ^p ^4^^ 
 
 Leo Afric. p. 224. Lyon, Travels in Northern Africa, p. 205, 211. l«o, p. ZOU. 
 
 !•' 
 
88 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. VI. 
 
 CHAP. VI.] 
 
 LAND TRADE. 
 
 89 
 
 A third great article in the interior trade of Africa is dates. 
 The tree which bears this fruit is one of the family of palms, 
 and is well known as the date-palm. The fruit, which contains 
 one single large kernel, has a sweetish taste, and is mealy. As 
 we are acquainted with the bread tree, and its great use in the 
 South-Sea Islands, we are the better able to comprehend the 
 value of the date-palm : what the former is for those islands 
 the latter is for a great part of Africa. Its fruit serves the in- 
 habitants in general for food ; in the ancient world as well as 
 in the modern, it underwent a preparation by which it might 
 be preserved for some time ; out of its sap is made a liquor 
 whose intoxicating power supplies the place of wine ; it 
 serves also as food for cattle, and goats are fattened with its 
 bruised kernels.^ 
 
 Dates, however, are not to be found in every part of Africa. 
 The same bountiful Nature which gives hertreasures to the sandy 
 wilderness, has planted the date-palm in the midst of those ha- 
 bitable regions, where the barrenness of the soil prevents the 
 growth of corn. All those countries bordering on the north side 
 of the great desert between 29 and 26' north latitude, which 
 the Arabians comprise under the name of Biledulgerid, as well 
 as many fertile patches in the great waste itself, are the native 
 districts of the date tree. In other places they are found less 
 plentifully, or not at all. Here, however, they are the necessary 
 substitute for grain. Every year, in October, the great harvest 
 begins, whose productiveness creates as much anxious attention 
 as we feel a few months earlier for the corn harvest.*^ 
 
 From these districts this fruit is carried over the greater part 
 of Africa, even as far as the Negro countries about the Niger, 
 and the lands beyond that river. But above all to the in- 
 habitants of the desert, where it is indispensable. These tribes 
 form numerous caravans which journey to Biledulgerid, where 
 they exchange the produce of their flocks for this necessary 
 of life ; while the agricultural Arab barters for it the super- 
 fluity of his com. 
 
 The last great article of the inner trade of Africa is gold, 
 and particularly gold dust, or rather gold grains. It is not, 
 however, according to the common notion, collected in the 
 
 * Leo, p. 31, 235. According to more recent travellers, the palm wine is not made of 
 the sap of the tree, but of its fruit. Rennel, Expedition of Cyrus, p. 120. Perhaps pre- 
 parations of both exist. 
 
 * Leo, p. 31, who is also my authority for the following statements. His accounts are 
 confirmed by the latest travellers, Homemann, Lyon, etc. The date harvest, however, falls 
 at very different times in different years. MinutoU's Travels, p. 39. 
 
 sandy desert. Gold is only found in Africa, as in all other 
 places, in the bosom of mountains. From these it is some- 
 times dug, though we do not know that any artificial mine- 
 works are made use of; sometimes it is washed down by the 
 violence of the mountain torrents during the rainy season, and 
 when these have passed away it is separated from the sand by 
 a very simple process.* 
 
 In the north of Africa, on this side the desert, little or no gold 
 is to be found. It is the countries beyond it, and especially the 
 districts to the south of the Niger, upon which this perilous gift 
 is bestowed. And although common report may have exagger- 
 ated the truth, the riches of the earth must here be immense. 
 
 The gold countries with which we are at present acquainted, 
 and of which Bambuk is the most considerable, lie in the Kong 
 mountains, a chain which stretches itself right across Africa. 
 It appears highly probable that this chain abounds every where 
 in gold ; as we can see no reason why its riches should be 
 limited to one small district. But even in these countries, as 
 in Bambuk, no artificial means have been adopted for working 
 the mines.^ The inhabitants understand no method beyond 
 the simple one of digging pits, which, without danger of falling 
 in, cannot be carried lower than forty feet ; and although the 
 treasures of the soil begin to appear at this depth, the principal 
 veins must certainly He deeper. Nevertheless, the produce is 
 considerable ; and the quantity of this metal is so great among 
 many of the inland negro nations, that the common utensils 
 of their kings are made of it.^ The early accounts respecting 
 them, which it has been usual to regard as exaggerated, have 
 been completely confirmed by the latest travellers in their de- 
 scription of the Ashantees, their capital, and the court of their 
 monarch. 
 
 Gold dust, therefore, is the common payment which the 
 Moorish merchants receive for their goods. This has always 
 
 » Description de la Niaritie, p. 140, 141. ' Respecting Bambuk, compare Gol- 
 
 berry's Fragments of a Voyage in Africa, vol. i. chap. 10, 11, where also the attempts made, 
 some time ago, in France, to procure these treasures, are described and exammed. 
 
 =» " A hundred miles inland from fort Mina is found a negro nation, the Argentais, among 
 whom gold is so plentiful that the doors of the king's house are covered with it, and in the 
 market the merest trifle is bought for gold." Descrip. de la Nigr. p. 142. These Argentais, 
 from the place of their abode, could be no other than the Ashantees, (whose name is only- 
 mistaken,) with whom we are become better acquainted since Bowdich's Mission, llis 
 account completely confirms that of the French work just quoted. Compare the bnlhant 
 spectacle which the king and his court formed at his presentation ; where the sight is almost 
 overpowered by the splendour and quantity of the gold, of which not merely the ornaments 
 but the greater part of the utensils were composed. Bowdich's Mission to Ashantee. Bow- 
 dich also expressly confirms the fact, that in the market of the capital, Kumassi, the usual 
 payments are made in gold dust. p. 330. 
 
m 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. VI. 
 
 been the loadstone which drew them from the north of Africa ; 
 — this alone inspired them with sufficient courage to brave the 
 terrors of the desert ; — and the great attraction of this metal 
 accounts for the high antiquity of this commercial intercourse. 
 Nature having thus, by the distribution of her bounties, in- 
 vited the nations of Africa to a mutual intercourse, has also, 
 to a certain degree, prescribed the way by which it should be 
 carried on. The great distance which the countries lie apart, 
 the vast deserts and the hordes of robbers wandering about 
 them, render travelling here altogether impracticable to single 
 traders ; it is only in numerous companies that these perils can 
 be overcome ; consequently the inner trade of Africa must al- 
 ways have been a caravan trade. But among the many conse- 
 quences resulting from this particular mode of trading, there 
 is one to which it necessarily leads. I mean that of rendering 
 it the affair of whole nations to an extent beyond what could 
 take place in European commerce. The nomad life, and the 
 possession of the camel, an animal so particularly adapted for 
 it, seem to have induced certain nations to devote themselves 
 almost entirely to this trade, which they carry on partly on 
 their own account, and partly as mere carriers. Great caravans 
 are thus formed by them, in which whole tribes, or the greater 
 portion of them, often take part. The civilization of these 
 nations, and with them that of inner Africa in general, has 
 therefore, in a great measure, depended upon this trade, the 
 importance of which, in this respect, will be more clearly 
 pointed out in the portion of this work devoted to the Ethi- 
 opians and Egyptians. Its great staples, and the routes by 
 which it has been carried on, cannot, from the nature of the 
 country, have been subject to many changes. It is reasonable 
 to suppose that where the course of a trade lies through im- 
 mense deserts, the commodities to be transported will naturally 
 .be collected in the countries on the borders, and the business 
 connected with it will there centre and accumulate. This suf- 
 ficiently accounts for the fact that particular districts in Africa, 
 in spite of violent or gradual revolutions, have always remained 
 places of commerce. The routes through the deserts are also 
 unchangeably fixed by Nature. Had she not interposed in the 
 midst of them fertile oases to refresh with their springs and 
 their palms the wearied traveller, the difficulties of the way 
 would have been insurmountable. How could a journey of 
 several months have been performed when encumbered with 
 
 CHAP. VI.] 
 
 LAND TRADE. 
 
 91 
 
 a necessary supply of water ; and where could be found beasts 
 of burden strong enough to support this tedious journey? 
 Nature, however, has so dotted the sandy wastes with these 
 islands, as at once to determine the resting-places of the travel- 
 ler, and to point out the routes by which this intercourse of 
 nations shall be carried on. However surprising, therefore, it 
 may appear, it will no longer seem strange that the caravans 
 of Africa are still seen moving along the very same route that 
 they have been in the habit of following for more than two 
 thousand years. 
 
 The information which Herodotus obtained, and transmitted 
 to posterity, respecting the interior of Africa, shows both the 
 great extent of its trade, even at that early period, and the 
 nations by whom it was carried on. Herodotus collected the 
 materials for this part of his history in Egypt, the only country 
 of Africa that he is known to have visited. The circumstance 
 of his computing the distances and days' journeys from thence, 
 is a sufficient proof of this fact. That ancient country has in 
 all ages been the rendezvous of the caravans from the western 
 and southern nations ; so that he could not here fail of oppor- 
 tunities of consulting those Ammonians, Carthaginians, Nasa- 
 monians, and other nations of Libya, whom he often quotes as 
 authorities for his statements.' His general knowledge of Africa 
 embraced the greater part of the northern division. He gives 
 us an accurate enumeration of all the small tribes dwelling on 
 the coast as far as the territory of Carthage." To the western 
 part, afterwards called Numidia, or Mauritania, his information 
 did not extend ; although he was acquainted by name with the 
 promontoiy Soloes, on the western coast of Africa.^ But his 
 knowledge of the interior is most deserving of our admiration. 
 It comprises not only whatever is most remarkable in the de- 
 sert, the oases, and the tribes inhabiting them ; but it extends 
 to that mysterious stream beyond the desert flowing from east 
 to west, which, under the name of the Joliba, has been again 
 brought into notice in the present age. The account of the 
 first discovery of this river is of too much importance to the 
 commerce of inner- Africa for any part of it to be omitted here. 
 "What I have hitherto related," says Herodotus,* who has 
 just given a minute description of the course of the Nile above 
 Egypt, " I have heard from men of Gyrene, who told me they 
 
 I Herod, ii. 28, 32 ; iv. 43, 173, 187, 195, 196. ..'Herod, iv. 168, sqq. 
 
 !» Herod, iv. 43. * Herod, u. 32. 
 
92 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. VI. 
 
 had been to the temple of Jupiter Ammon, and had a convers- 
 ation with Etearchus, king of the Ammonians. Among other 
 matters they fell into a discourse upon the Nile, and upon no 
 one's knowing its sources. Whereupon Etearchus observed, 
 that certain Nasamones had visited him, (these Nasamones are 
 a Libyan race, dwelling on the [Greater] Syrtis, and a small 
 territory to the east,) and that when he asked them if they had 
 any thing to tell him respecting the desert, they gave him the 
 following relation : ' that there had been among them some 
 hardy youths, belonging to the most powerful families, who, 
 having reached to man s estate, imagined various extravagant 
 projects ; and, among others, elected by lot five among them 
 who were to visit the deserts of Libya, and endeavour to see 
 more than any who had gone before them. The Nasamones 
 went on to state, that the young men who were sent on this 
 expedition by their comrades, having well provided themselves 
 with water and provision, first traversed the inhabited country ; 
 after which they proceeded to the region of wild beasts, whence 
 they marched across the desert, traveUing westward ; that after 
 passing through a large sandy region, and travelhng many 
 days, they at last beheld some trees growing in a plain ; that 
 going up to them, they tasted of the fruits hanging on the 
 branches ; but while they were eating, some pigmies came up 
 to them, smaller than men of middle stature, who seized and 
 carried them off. That the Nasamones did not understand the 
 language of these people, neither did they who were carrying 
 them off understand that of the Nasamones. These people 
 accordingly took them across some vast marshes, after passing 
 which they came to a city, wherein all the inhabitants were of 
 the san^e size as those who had seized them, and black in co- 
 lour ; near the city flowed a wide river, the stream of which 
 run from west to east ; and in that river were crocodiles.' So 
 far accordingly I have reported the words of Etearchus, ex- 
 cepting that he said, according to the account of the Cyrenians, 
 * that the Nasamones had returned, and that the people to 
 whom they reached were all enchanters.' The stream flowing 
 by the city, Etearchus conjectured to be the Nile, which seems 
 indeed the most probable." 
 
 The nation of the Nasamones, to which the adventurers who 
 made this discovery belonged, was one of the tribes dwelling 
 in the districts about the Syrtes, by whom, as has already been 
 stated, the trade with inner Africa was chiefly carried on. 
 
 CHAP. VI.] 
 
 LAND TRADE. 
 
 93 
 
 This enterprise, therefore, is not represented as an expedition 
 into a land altogether unknown. " They had," says the his- 
 torian, " already undertaken many hardy adventures. But 
 they still wished to see if they could not go farther than any 
 one had hitherto gone." It appears, moreover, evident, that 
 although the number of real adventurers were only five, yet 
 their attendants must have been more numerous, so as alto- 
 gether to form a small caravan. In no other way is travelling 
 possible in these regions. They are, besides, represented as 
 being of the highest rank in their nation ; and took, says the 
 writer, a plentiful supply of water and food. 
 
 Their route lay through the inhabited and wild-beast dis- 
 tricts of Africa, which brought them to the desert. Travers- 
 ing this in a south-westerly direction,^ they came, after many 
 days' journey, to a cultivated land, inhabited by black men of 
 diminutive stature, under the usual size,^ who received them 
 kindly, and became their guides. They conducted them 
 through large marshy districts, to a city whose inhabitants 
 were of the same form as their guides, and were much given 
 to magic. Near this city was a large river, certainly flowing 
 from west to east. 
 
 It is evident from this account, that the Nasamones reached 
 the negro lands beyond the desert, and came to a negro peo- 
 ple, who received them with that hospitality which still forms 
 such an honourable distinction between these nations and their 
 neighbours, the Moors, Their swarthy complexion, and their 
 whole exterior, which so strongly mark them as altogether a 
 different race of men from the northern Africans, clearly prove 
 this. We know from Mungo Park, that a belief in magic and 
 amulets generally prevails among the negro nations ; and even 
 the account of their diminutive stature is confirmed by a be- 
 lief still prevalent in Africa. The sultan of Darfur's brother 
 told Denon, the latest French traveller, that the inhabitants of 
 Tombuctoo are a very small and gentle people,^ living on the 
 banks of a large river ; and he was likely to be well acquaint- 
 
 » The expression -tt/oos X,i(pvpov, which Herodotus uses, means a westerly direction. But 
 that it must be understood south-west here is evident, as otherwise they would not have en- 
 tered at all into the interior of the great desert. Perhaps there is still something particular 
 in the expression. The great caravan road into the interior, from the country of the Nasa- 
 mones, lies, as we shall presently sec, directly south. It seems, therefore, that they wished 
 expressly to take another, namely, a more westerly direction, that so they might explore the 
 great western desert of Africa. * Not dwarfs, the writer does not say so much. 
 
 ^ Fort petits et doux. Denon, Voyage en Egypte, i. p. 309. The addition that the river 
 flows towards the west is a mistake. The small stature of the Ethiopians is noticed by Stra- 
 bo, p. 1176. It probably gave rise to the fable of the pigmies. 
 
94 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. VI. 
 
 CHAP. VI.] 
 
 LAND TRADE. 
 
 95 
 
 ed with the fact, as there is a brisk intercourse between this 
 nation and the inhabitants of that city, as they exchange with 
 them the wares they receive from Egypt for gold dust and 
 ivory. Mungo Park, as he approached the JoHba, found the 
 inhabitants under their fruit trees, — butter trees. The whole 
 description presents the picture of a genuine African country. 
 
 But the river flowing near their city in an easterly direction 
 is certainly the most remarkable circumstance in the whole re- 
 lation. Was it the Joliba ? and were the Nasamones the first 
 discoverers of it? And could a rumour of this mysterious 
 stream, although its name still remained confined to the desert, 
 have reached the ears of Herodotus, who noted it down, and 
 he thus again becomes understood by modern discoveries ? 
 
 Herodotus does not mention this river by name, but merely 
 calls it a large stream. We know now that there is no other 
 such stream in northern Africa running from west to east ; the 
 Joliba is often called the great stream.^ It is the first that a 
 traveller would come to after crossing the desert ; and the 
 direction which the Nasamones took must have brought them 
 to it. Herodotus's further description of it confirms this con- 
 jecture. A swampy district must be passed over before reach- 
 ing it ; on its banks was a city ; and in its waters are croco- 
 diles. The Joliba flows through a deep valley formed by the 
 elevation of the desert on the north, and the chain of the Kong 
 mountains on the south. Like all other tropical rivers, it 
 yearly overflows, and then covers the rich valley through which 
 it holds its course with its waters. Hence it might form mo- 
 rasses and lakes, in which it is said to lose itself at Wangara. 
 That the large towns of central Africa are built upon its banks 
 is likewise certain ; it was therefore natural to suppose that the 
 Nasamones would be conducted to one of them. The fact 
 that it contains crocodiles is also confirmed by Mungo Park, 
 the modern discoverer of this river, who says they are frequent- 
 ly found in it, but are harmless." 
 
 This account of Herodotus, in connexion with other still 
 more precise information, which he collected respecting inner 
 Africa, not only shows the existence of a commerce between 
 its inhabitants, but likewise points out the nations by whom it 
 was chiefly carried on. These were the nomad tribes between 
 the two Syrtes ; and even now the inhabitants of these dis- 
 tricts chiefly form the caravans which traverse all Africa, as the 
 
 ' Mungo Park, Travehy etc., p. 194. 
 
 « Ibid. p. 219. 
 
 accounts of the latest travellers inform us.' However, this did 
 not prevent the Carthaginians from taking an active part in it ; 
 indeed it was carried on principally for them, and on their ac- 
 count. Even the number of slaves^ which they bought, partly 
 for their own use, and partly for exportation, is a striking 
 proof of their great share in this trade. These not only per- 
 formed the laborious parts of agriculture, and of the public 
 works, but also manned their fleets ; and where could the 
 Carthaginians so well procure them as from the very place 
 whence the inhabitants of the coasts of Tripoli and Tunis for 
 the most part procure them at the present moment ? They like- 
 wise obtained the precious stones which bore the name of their 
 city, from the countries lying in the interior :^ and that they 
 themselves took part in the journeys through the desert is 
 proved by the fact of a certain Mago having three times jour- 
 neyed across it with no other sustenance than dry meal.* 
 
 But the national intercourse of Africa can only be seen in 
 its proper light by an acquaintance with the routes by which 
 it was carried on. We now know, from some of the latest 
 writers and travellers,^ the routes of the principal caravans 
 which yearly traverse Africa. We know that the northern 
 half of this continent is crossed in its whole length and breadth : 
 from Tripoli to the Niger, to Kashna and Bornou ; and from 
 Tombuctoo and Morocco to Cairo. Even the western Sahara, 
 the most dreadful desert on the face of our globe, which swal- 
 lows up nearly half the caravans, and for three hundred miles 
 contains not a drop of water, has not proved a barrier to the 
 courage of man stimulated by avarice.^ 
 
 Just so was it in ancient times. What I have thus far said 
 will serve as a preparation to my readers for a journey, in 
 which, conducted by Herodotus, we shall now accompany an 
 
 » Hornemann, p. 78. » Appian, vol. i. p. 378. The reader need only be reminded 
 
 of the history of their ser\'ile wars. 
 
 » Viz. through the Garamantes, beyond Fezzan. Strabo, p. liyi. 
 
 ♦ Athen. p. 44. Meal mixed with water is one of the most common articles of food upon 
 
 these journeys. Hornemann, p. 7. ,.„.,,. ^ ^ ^v -i * irt.^ r>«.« 
 
 ^ For our knowledge of the subject we are chiefly indebted to the compiler of The Pro- 
 ceedings, etc., with Bruce, Browne, Mungo Park, Hornemann, and the recent British 
 
 travellers, Lyon, Denham, etc. , ,„ /. ^ x^. • i 
 
 « A description of it may be seen in Leo, p. 28, who himself performed this journey ; and 
 a more modem account in Gray Jackson's Account of the Lnipire of Morocco 1809. From 
 Fez to Tombuctoo is reckoned a tiijtv-four days' journey, exclusive of halting days. In 
 the year 1806 a whole caravan from fombuctoo to Tafilit, consisting of 2000 men and 1800 
 camils, perished for want of water. I cannot refrain from gmng the ^110™?^^?;^;^^ 
 legend from Leo. " In the midst of the desert are two marble monuments, to which tra- 
 dition gives the following origin. A rich merchant met here a camel-dnver, and beeged him 
 to sell Sa cup of water. ^They agreed upon the price, 10,000 ducats. Now, !iowever, 
 the seller wanted it himself, and both perished of thirst." 
 
96 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. VI. 
 
 CHAP. VI.] 
 
 LAND TRADE. 
 
 97 
 
 African caravan ; a journey of more than thirteen or fourteen 
 hundred miles, through parched sandy plains and everlasting 
 deserts. I insert here the whole of the remarkable passage of 
 Herodotus, only rendered intelligible by recent discoveries, 
 because every line is of importance. It is found in the fourth 
 book of his history, chap. 181 to 185. 
 
 " The above tribes that have been mentioned are those of 
 the Libyan nomades, (which Herodotus has just before enu- 
 merated,) dwelling on the sea-side. Above these, inland, lies 
 Wild-beast Libya (Biledulgerid) ; above Wild-beast Libya is 
 a sandy ridge stretching from Thebes of the Egyptians to the 
 Pillars of Hercules ; in this ridge, at the distance of about ten 
 days' journey the one from the other, are seen on the hills 
 masses of salt in large lumps ; and at the summit of each hill a 
 stream of cold and soft water gushes forth in the midst of the 
 salt. About those springs dwell the last tribes towards the 
 desert, and above Wild-beast Libya. First : ten days' journey 
 from Thebes are the Ammonians, who have the temple of the 
 Theban Jove; for at Thebes likewise, as I have before ob- 
 served, the image of Jove is with a ram's head. They have 
 another stream of spring water, which, early in the morning, 
 is lukewarm ; more cool in the middle of the forenoon ; and 
 when it is mid-day, becomes exceedingly cold ; at which time, 
 accordingly, they water their gardens : as the day wears, it 
 loses its coolness till such time as the sun sets, when the water 
 becomes lukewarm, and continues to increase in heat till mid- 
 night draws near, at which time it boils violently ; when mid- 
 night is gone by, the water becomes cooler towards dawn. 
 This spring is called the fountain of the Sun. — Next to the 
 Ammonians, after ten days' journey along the ridge of sand, 
 there is another hill of salt, like the Ammonian one, with a 
 spring, and men dwelling around ; the name of this country is 
 Augila ; and to this quarter the Nasamonians go to gather the 
 dates. From the Augili, after another ten days' journey, there 
 is another salt-hill, with water, and abundance of fruit-bearing 
 palms, as on the other hills. In this quarter dwell a nation of 
 men, who are called Garamantes, a very large tribe. These 
 people throw mould upon the salt, and then sow their seeds. 
 From these to the Lotophagi, by the shortest cut, is a thirty 
 days' journey. Among the Garamantes are found the kine 
 that graze backwards ; they are obliged to graze in this man- 
 ner, because they have horns bending forward, on account of 
 
 which they walk backwards as they graze ; not being able to 
 step forwards, as their horns would stick in the ground. These 
 kine are, in no other respect, different from the rest of oxen, 
 except in this and in the thickness and closeness of their skin. 
 The Garamantes go in chase of the Ethiopian Troglodytae in 
 four-horse chariots ; for the Troglodytae are the swiftest on foot 
 of all men that we have ever heard mentioned. The Troglo- 
 dytae eat serpents and efts, and such like crawling things. 
 They use a language similar to none other, for they shriek 
 like bats. 
 
 ''At ten days' journey from the Garamantes is another salt- 
 hill and water ; around which dwells a nation who are called 
 the Atarantes ; these are the only men that we know of who 
 have no proper names ; for their name, as a body, is Atarantes, 
 but there is no separate name given to individuals ; they curse 
 the sun when he is right over their heads, and use all kinds of 
 injurious language, because he scorches and harasses both the 
 country and its inhabitants. 
 
 " After these, at the distance of another ten days' journey 
 is another salt-hill and spring; and men dwelling round. 
 Adjoining this salt-hill is a mountain, the name of which is 
 Atlas ; it is steep, and round on every side ; it is said to be so 
 lofty, that it is not possible to see its top ; for the clouds never 
 disperse from about the summit, whether in summer or winter. 
 This mountain, the natives say, is the pillar of heaven : and 
 from it those people take their name ; they are, in fact, called 
 Atlantes. They are represented as eating nothing that has 
 life, and as having no dreams. As far, therefore, as these At- 
 lantes, I am enabled to give the names of the nations residing 
 on the ridge, but not of any beyond them : although it extends 
 as far as the Pillars of Hercules, and even beyond them. 
 
 " Every ten days' journey is found a salt mine, (aXo? /teToWoi/,) 
 and a settlement of men. With all these people the houses 
 are built of blocks of salt, for rain never falls in any of these 
 parts of Libya ; and, indeed, if it were to rain, the walls, being 
 of salt, could not stand : the salt dug up there is both of a white 
 and a purple colour. Higher up, beyond this ridge, towards 
 the south and midland of Libya, the country is desert, without 
 water, without beasts, without wood, and without dew." 
 
 Thus far Herodotus. — It is almost impossible not to see in 
 this narrative the description of a caravan road, although none 
 of his commentators has hitherto remarked it. I am convinced 
 
98 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. vt. 
 
 CHAP. VI.] 
 
 LAND TRADE. 
 
 99 
 
 that the greater part of my readers will assent without further 
 proof, when they consider our former remarks on the trade of 
 inner Africa, and the manner of travelling there. But to those 
 who still require further proofs, I offer the following arguments. 
 In the first place : The route passes in its whole length 
 across deserts which can only be travelled over by caravans, 
 as in this manner only are they passable. It was by them alone 
 that accounts could be brought to Egypt, where Herodotus 
 
 collected them. 
 
 Again : The definitions of the route are all such as are 
 usually given of caravan roads : the distances are measured by 
 days' journeys ; the resting-places mentioned are those in which 
 fresh water is to be found. 
 
 Nor indeed does Herodotus conceal the sources whence he 
 drew his information. He repeatedly appeals to the testimony 
 of the Libyans, whom he met with in Egypt, and from whom 
 he collected his accounts respecting the interior of Africa:^ 
 that is, from the very persons themselves who performed these 
 caravan journeys, and who, without doubt, had at that time 
 come to Egypt in company with som.e of these caravans. 
 
 And lastly : The route pointed out by Herodotus is the 
 same, with very slight deviations, which may be easily account- 
 ed for, as that now in use ; a striking proof to those who are 
 acquainted with the little variation which takes place in these 
 commercial roads. 
 
 Should it, nevertheless, be asked, how it happens that He- 
 rodotus no where mentions these caravans, I have no other an- 
 swer to give than because he considered it as having nothing 
 to do with his object, which was only to give geographical in- 
 formation. Moreover, to persons who have travelled much 
 and seen much, many ideas and facts become so familiar, that 
 they are apt to presuppose a knowledge of them in others. 
 
 Taking it for granted, then, that this is a description of a 
 caravan road running through Africa, we have next to inquire 
 into its nature and direction. 
 
 It is plain, that the account of Herodotus contains the de- 
 scription of the commercial road between Upper Egypt and 
 Fezzan ; likewise between Carthage and these countries, and 
 probably still farther, even to the countries near the Niger. 
 Its course is traced from Egypt by the desert of Thebais to 
 the temple of Ammon ; thence by part of the desert of Barca, 
 
 • Herod, iv. 173, 187. 
 
 and the deserts of the Harutsh mountains to Fezzan ; and 
 finally seems to be lost in the present kingdoms of Kashna and 
 Bornou. 
 
 The first of these routes Herodotus describes from station to 
 station ; but notwithstanding the great certainty with which 
 we can determine upon the whole, there yet remains some dif- 
 ficulties as to the distance of one or two of the stations from 
 one another, which cannot be completely removed. They will, 
 as the explanation of the separate stations almost immediately 
 show, excite a suspicion that two of the intermediate places 
 have been left out, although probably not by the carelessness of 
 the writer, but rather by that of the travellers from whom he 
 received his information. These persons endeavoured, as it 
 seems, to give such a regularity to the whole journey, that ex- 
 actly at the end of every ten days a resting-place should be 
 found, with something remarkable belonging to it. But it is 
 only by minute commentary on the w^ords of Herodotus that 
 these assertions can be proved ; and this can be given the more 
 easily, as one of the latest travellers in this part of Africa has 
 minutely described the very same route which is here described 
 by the father of history.^ 
 
 The place from which we set out is Thebes, the capital of 
 Upper Egypt. This is the point from which Herodotus reck- 
 ons all distances, as well here as in other parts of his work, re- 
 lating to places and nations in inner Africa. A decided proof 
 that he collected his information respecting Africa in Upper 
 
 EgJ'^pt. 
 
 Thebes, in ancient Egypt, was therefore the rendezvous of 
 caravans, just the same as the new capital, Cairo, is at present. 
 This change has necessarily occasioned some variation in the 
 direction of the road through the desert, which now runs a 
 little more to the north, in order to reach the latter city. 
 
 The first station is the temple of Jupiter Ammon. And now 
 becomes explained the intention of this great oracle, and the 
 cause of its mysterious situation in the midst of a sandy waste, 
 the terrors of which must have frightened the most hardy ad- 
 venturer. The interests of these priests would have taught 
 them that the single adventurers who might haply arrive at 
 their temple, would not afford a sufficient compensation for the 
 
 » The journey of Homemann, the only one who has hitherto travelled the whole oi the 
 way, only deviates a little from this route in consequence of his having started from the pre- 
 sent capital, Cairo, instead of Thebes ; and, therefore, as far as Ammomum, he diverged more 
 to the north. The latest travellers, who went part of this route, Lyon, Caillaud, Edmon- 
 ston, and Minutoli. will be mentioned in their proper place 
 
 H 2 
 
100 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. VI. 
 
 loss of the crowds of votaries whom the dangers of the desert 
 deterred from such a journey. Now these difficulties vanish 
 at once ! The temple of Jupiter Ammon was not only a sanc- 
 tuary but a resting-place for caravans ; and its situation was 
 equally convenient for those coming from the negro countries 
 as from northern Africa to Egypt. How many valuable pre- 
 sents must here have been offered ! now by the curious who 
 came to consult the oracle ; and now by the pious gratitude of 
 the rich merchant, who had either just commenced a fearful 
 expedition through the desert, or coming from Africa, here 
 saw himself near the end of a fortunate and tedious journey ! 
 
 The re-discovery of this place, in several respects so remark- 
 able, has been the favourite undertaking of several modern tra- 
 vellers ; and their labours have not been in vain. Two of the 
 latest have succeeded in reaching it. The first traveller who 
 discovered the ruins of the temple of Ammon was Mr. Browne, 
 and his accounts have been both confirmed and extended by 
 Hornemann.* Although accidents and the jealousy of the na- 
 tives prevented both travellers from taking an accurate ex- 
 amination, they both agree in considering the present Siwah as 
 the ancient Ammonium. The place accords in every respect 
 with the ancient accounts, several of which also agree as to its 
 situation." The reports of the latest traveller, who has not 
 only been able to inquire, but also to make drawings and mo- 
 dels, have put an end to all uncertainty. 
 
 Ancient Ammonium is described not as a mere temple, but 
 as a small state founded in common by the Egyptians and 
 Ethiopians, and having its own chief or king.^ Its origin and 
 large population are shown by the number of catacombs and 
 the remains of mummies with which the neighbouring hills 
 abound.* The oasis itself is of moderate extent. The fertile 
 soil, according to the survey of Minutoli, extends about ten 
 miles in length, but is no where more than three in breadth.^ 
 The present Siwah, consisting of four or five towns, the chief 
 of which is called Kebir, is governed by its own sheiks or 
 chiefs. It is only lately that the present pasha of Egypt, who 
 led an expedition against it, has forced it to pay tribute.^ The 
 castle of the ancient princes is still remaining. Its present 
 
 ' See Browne's Travels, p. 23, etc., and Homemann's Journey, p. 18. 
 
 • I here draw from the copious and accurate researches of Rennel, Geography o/" Herodo- 
 tus, p. 576. » Herod, ii. 32, 42. ♦ Minutoli's Journey, p. 171. Their number 
 is much greater than has been supposed. Many are painted and covered with hieroglyphics. 
 They bear entirely an Egyptian character. ^ Minutoli, p. 88. * In the year 
 1820. Minutoli, p. 93. 
 
 CHAP. VI. J 
 
 LAND TRADE. 
 
 101 
 
 name is Shargieh ; and a description and drawing of it will be 
 found in Minutoli.^ From the entrance of the ancient tem- 
 ple, in a direct line, it is only three hundred and twenty paces 
 distant ; and its principal gate is exactly opposite. 
 
 The ruins of the ancient temple the inhabitants sometimes 
 call Birbc, (temple,) but usually Umebeda.'^ They lie about 
 three miles from Kebir ; between the village of Shargieh and 
 a mountain in which the stone quarries are still to be seen 
 whence the building materials were taken. The remains of the 
 temple itself consists of two parts ; one, a sort of •pronaos^ or 
 antechamber, and the other an inner chamber, the proper sanc- 
 tuary. The back south wall is entirely gone ; it is therefore 
 impossible now to give the original dimensions of the temple. 
 Large it never could have been, though evidently larger than 
 it is at present.^ The construction, as well as the whole form 
 of the building, agrees completely with the ancient Egyptian. 
 The walls are entirely composed of hewn stones. The whole 
 temple within and without was covered with sculpture and 
 hieroglyphics ; all of which, however, are not in an equally 
 good state of preservation.* The interstices between the hiero- 
 glyphics on the walls and on the ceiling were painted; the green 
 and blue colours are still bright. In every part of the sculp- 
 ture traces of the worship of Ammon are to be found, similar 
 to that of Thebes ; even the procession with the sacred ark. 
 The rest of the temple, according to the Egyptian custom, was 
 surrounded by a wall, which separated the holy precinct fron> 
 that which was less sacred. It was of considerable thickness 
 and formed of freestone ; it has now, however, almost entirely 
 disappeared, though its direction may still be clearly traced. 
 It is only in the corners that the largest of the stones have 
 preserved unmoved their original situation, and show the ex- 
 tent of the whole enclosure. Its length amounts to seventy 
 paces and its breadth to sixty-six, and the sides are pretty 
 accurately placed according to the points of the compass.* 
 Within this wall vestiges of a second are found, which render 
 it probable that certain other partitions were formed, of which^ 
 however, nothing further can be determined. 
 
 ^ Minutoli, p. 165, 167. And the drawing, Tab. xi. fig. a. « MinutoU, p. 165, 167. 
 
 What follows is also borrowed from him. See the annexed plan. '♦ That the ancient 
 
 temple of Ammon was only of a moderate size is shown by Professor Toelken, the publisher 
 of Minutoli, from ancient authors. Minutoli, p. 169. See the ground plan and plates, vi. — x. 
 
 * Minutoli has favoured us with accurate copies of them ; we are also indebted to his 
 learned publisher for copious explanations of them, to which he has devoted the whole ofi 
 the sixth chapter of his work, p. 100—162. * Minutoli, p. 166. 
 
102 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. VI. 
 
 CMAP. VI. 1 
 
 LAND TRADE. 
 
 103 
 
 On the south of the temple, at the distance of a full quarter 
 of an hour 8 walk, rises, in a delightful grove of dates, the foun- 
 tain of the Sun, formerly sacred to Ammon. It forms a small 
 pooP about thirty paces in length and twenty wide. It is said 
 to be six fathoms deep; but it is so clear that the bottom is 
 seen from which bubbles continually arise like those of a boil- 
 ing caldron. The temperature of the water varies, it is warmer 
 at night than in the day, and about day-break is wont to smoke. 
 It is probably a hot spring, the warmth of which is not ob- 
 served during the heat of the day. A small brook, which runs 
 from the pool, unites itself soon after to another spring, (He- 
 rodotus says that there are other wells of fresh water,) which 
 likewise arises in the palm grove, and runs towards the ruin, 
 near to which it forms a swamp, probably because its ancient 
 outlets are stopped up. The early and high cultivation of the 
 oasis is still shown by its rich produce of dates, pomegranates, 
 and other fruits. The date is the most cultivated, and is ob- 
 tained in vast quantities and of very fine flavour. In favour- 
 able seasons, say the inhabitants, the whole place is covered 
 with this fruit ; and the yearly produce amounts to from five 
 to nine thousand camel loads of three hundred pounds each. 
 The annual tribute is now also paid in dates." There is no 
 want of cattle, though the camel does not thrive here, which 
 is probablv owing to the dampness of the soil. The inhabit- 
 ants, therefore, do not export the produce of their land them- 
 selves ; it is fetched from them by strangers," and their exist- 
 ence depends now, as it always has done, upon the passage of 
 caravans. Near this oasis Nature has placed a large magazine 
 of salt,^ which rises in considerable masses above the ground ; 
 there are patches, above a mile long, so covered with this sub- 
 stance as to have the appearance of a field of snow ; out of the 
 midst of these, springs of fresh water sometimes gush forth. 
 The salt is excellent, and was much valued in antiquity on 
 account of its purity. Every year on the very same day, 
 namely, that on which the great caravan departs for Mecca, 
 the inhabitants begin their salt harvest. A chemical analysis 
 of some of it, which has been brought to Europe, confirms its 
 
 superior quality.* 
 
 Though from all these circumstances Siwah seems to be 
 identified with the ancient Ammonium, yet a difficulty still 
 
 ^^; MinutoH, p. 96, 1^^ ^^^: ]^^ P'^,,,, ,. ^.^.^^U. th. i^J^ 
 pound of gypsum, with from ten to twenty per cent, of rock salt. 
 
 remains ; the distance of ten days' journey which Herodotus 
 places between Thebes and Ammonium.^ As the situation 
 both of Thebes and Siwah is known with certainty, the dis- 
 tance between the two has been determined, and is computed 
 at four hundred geographical miles. Now as a day s journey 
 of a caravan can only be reckoned at sixteen, or, at the most, 
 at twenty of these miles, it is clear that not ten but twenty 
 days, or double the time stated, is required for this journey. 
 Should it however be still supposed that Siwah is not the 
 ancient Ammonium, and that the latter must be sought for 
 nearer to Thebes,^ nothing will be gained ; as the distance of 
 the following station in that case will not agree, which now, 
 as we shall presently see, tallies exactly. Under these circum- 
 stances the conjecture almost forces itself upon us, that a sta- 
 tion often days' journey has here been left out, by which every 
 difficulty would at once be cleared up. This station too may, 
 with great probability, be precisely determined ; for the road 
 from Thebes to Ammonium must necessarily lead towards the 
 great oasis. El Wall, where Nature has formed a station fit for 
 caravans. That the usual way to Ammonium passes through 
 this is also clear from another passage of Herodotus," where 
 he likewise fixes its distance from Thebes at seven days' journey. 
 The great oasis, with its formerly unknown monuments, is 
 now rescued from obscurity, since Caillaud* and Edmonstone^ 
 have visited and described it. It is formed of two parts, an 
 eastern and western, which are in fact two different oases, as 
 a sandy tract of thirty hours lies between them. They are 
 distinguished by the names of their principal towns; that of 
 the eastern, or properly the great oasis, being El Kargeh, 
 and of the western. El DakeL In antiquity they seem both 
 to have been taken for one oasis,^ the western at least is never 
 mentioned as a separate one, whilst traces of habitation, and 
 even remains of a temple, near El Amur, are still found between 
 the two. Both are rich in ancient monuments. In the east- 
 
 I Rennel, Geography of Herod, p. 577, gets over this ^^f ^^^^^J^i;;^' ^^^^ But't^'thc 
 onlv savs to theterritory of the Ammonians, and not to the temple of Ammon liut as the 
 Am'mXn; ac^^^^^ all the information we have, only occupied he ^^^^^^^ 
 temple, or the oasis, of very moderate extent I see not what can be ^^^ed by this fact 
 
 « Bekoni thought that he had found it in the lesser oasis, first visited by him. ^J^rratite 
 p 408 An hypothesis which since Minutoli's journey requires no refutation. Belzom was 
 aboldandsuccessfultrav^^^^^^^^^ , ^aiUaud, Voyage a V Oasis de 
 
 toLs FarTmt ' ^ 'a journey to two of the Oases of Upper Egypt, by 
 
 ''• sS'p fenirspeaW tS oases in Libya, the great, the lesser, and that of 
 Ammon %risthe;ef^e^ that he considered what.is called the westerly one as belong- 
 ing to the great oasis. No other ancient writer has disjoined them. 
 
104 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. VIk 
 
 CHAP. VI.] 
 
 LAND TRADE. 
 
 105 
 
 ern is the great temple El Kargeh, for a ground plan and 
 drawing of which we are indebted to Caillaud.* In the western 
 is that of El Hadjur, besides some other smaller ones. The 
 distance from Thebes specified by Herodotus, which is con- 
 firmed by Strabo, agrees exactly ; it likewise shows that the 
 former reckoned according to the days' journey of the cara- 
 vans. There were two roads which led from Thebes to the 
 oasis ; one bearing to the north and something shorter, by 
 Abydus, the other southerly by Latopolis.- By the first 
 Caillaud reckoned it to be forty-two, and by the other fifty -two 
 hours to the principal place, El Kargeh, which is without 
 doubt the city oasis in Herodotus. The latter road appears to 
 have been that mostly in use in antiquity, as from seven to 
 eight hours seem to have been a usual day's journey for cara- 
 vans ;^ so that if we add one day's journey for the length of the 
 oasis — and greater accuracy cannot well in this case be ex- 
 pected — the distance from Thebes to Siwah will amount to 
 twenty days' journey, or twice the number mentioned by 
 Herodotus. The great oasis therefore lay in the midst of the 
 way; it still continues a station for caravans, not only for 
 those bound to Siwah, but also for those pursuing a more 
 southerly direction and going to Soudan and Darfur.* And if 
 in its temples the worship of Ammon was established, as we 
 have every reason to conjecture it was, perhaps that may ac- 
 count for this station not being reckoned ; or it might have been 
 omitted because it was considered a part of Thebes, for the 
 great journey through the desert commenced from this place ; 
 or, perhaps, because no strata of salt were found here as in the 
 other stations. 
 
 But in whatever way this omission may have arisen, there 
 can be no doubt as to the fact ; and we may conclude that 
 Siwah is the place where stood the temple of Ammon, at which 
 our caravan is arrived, in order, after a short refreshment, to 
 proceed on its journey through the desert. 
 
 Leaving then the lofty palms and the sacred groves of 
 Jupiter Ammon, the last traces of vegetation and animated 
 nature soon disappear. The southern desert of Barca opens 
 its arid plains,^ only interrupted by parched barren hills. For 
 ten days this continues, till at length the date groves of Augila 
 
 1 Caillaud, plate xv.— xviii. ; and Edmonstone, plate vi., who also gives views of the other 
 temple. * Caillaud, plate x. and p. 46. ^ Hornemann, p. 150. 
 
 ♦ Caillaud, p. 50. Edmonstone, p. 126. 
 
 * Hornemann gives a description of the route, p. 36, etc 
 
 appear, and the wearied caravan again lands on one of those 
 fertile islands, which Nature has sprinkled with so sparing a 
 hand over the sandy ocean of Africa. 
 
 Augila is a well-known name both in ancient and modern 
 geography. It is at present the capital of a district which 
 comprises two other villages.^ Hornemann reached it from 
 Siwah after nine long days' journey,^ which, if we reckon 
 them as ten common ones, confirms what Herodotus states to 
 be the distance between the two stations. Augila owes nothing 
 to its size, nor is there any thing remarkable about it ; but it 
 is principally known as being the great thoroughfare for cara- 
 vans, which still touch at it in their route from western Africa 
 to Cairo.^ Even in the present day a portion of the inhabit- 
 ants devote themselves to the caravan trade.* Besides this, 
 Augila is a principal mart for dates, which have always been 
 found here of an excellent quahty and in great abundance.^ 
 Herodotus expressly remarks, that the Nasamones in the Regio- 
 Syrtica annually made a journey to this place in order to pur- 
 chase a supply of this fruit.^ In like manner the Arabians of 
 Bengasi now carry, yearly, their wheat and barley to the same 
 
 regions for sale.^ 
 
 All this is confirmed by the accounts which Mmutoli col- 
 lected from some Augilians who had fled to Siwah.« According 
 to them Augila is ten days' journey from Siwah ; and between 
 three and four miles long, and two broad. It contains only 
 two villages. The inhabitants carry on a trade with the cara- 
 vans which pass through, and frequently take a part therein 
 as camel drivers or merchants, as they possess many camels. 
 Augila produces nearly double the quantity of dates that 
 Siwah does. In this manner is the testimony of Herodotus 
 again confirmed. 
 
 But who will now direct us to where the Garamantes dwell ; 
 whose territory, rich in springs of fresh water, becomes the 
 next point of our journey ? What direction shall we take with- 
 out the fear of losing ourselves in the desert ? , . ,. 
 
 The name of Garamantes alone does not sufficiently indicate 
 
 « Mojabra and Meledila. Hornemann, p. 46. 
 
 * Hornemann, p. 46. The caravan travelled during two whole nights , "^^n f nd beaste 
 were q^te^xhaisted. p. 45. The Arabian geographers estimate the dis^nee at Ways 
 journey, p. 154. Herodotus's statement, therefore, is the one usually current in Atrica. 
 
 " Leo I 246 Proceedings, etc. p. 289. * Hornemann, p. 44 ^ ^^"''lio*^' 
 
 i.eo, p. z*o. f'^'^^"'*' *y \ Herod iv 182 " Hornemann, p. 48. See also p. 1/9. 
 
 "mIS^ fled in order to esW tbc tribute which 
 
 the govei^meSi of Tn>U wished to impose upon them, and had set up their dweUmgs in 
 the catacombs of Siwah. 
 
106 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. VI. 
 
 CHAP. VI.] 
 
 LAND TRADE. 
 
 107 
 
 their abode. It is one of the most comprehensive of ancient 
 geography, and signifies a widely-extended people of inner 
 Africa, from the Land of Dates to the Niger, and eastward as 
 far as Ethiopia/ Herodotus is therefore perfectly right in 
 calling them a very large nation. But it still remains to be 
 determined where his Garamantes were situated, and the 
 father of history has given us sufficient particulars to do it 
 satisfactorily. 
 
 The Garamantes, he tells us, dwell towards the south, above 
 the Psylli ; and from them to the Lotophagi, by the shortest 
 route, is thirty days' journey.^ 
 
 These two particulars point out with sufficient accuracy the 
 country which we must make our next resting-place. The 
 Psylli, according to the precise statement of Herodotus,** dwelt 
 in the midst of the Syrtes' territory, about the present Mesu- 
 rate, between the Lotophagi and the Nasamones : this latter 
 nation took possession of their country, after they, or, what is 
 more likely, only a part of them, had been destroyed in an 
 expedition which they undertook to procure water. This par- 
 ticular specification of the route leads us to the present Fezzan, 
 the ancient Phazania, the first inhabited country which is found 
 southwards beyond that district ; but the second statement, that 
 it lies thirty days' journey from the Lotophagi, leaves us with- 
 out the shadow of a doubt upon the subject. The seat of the 
 Lotophagi, as we have shown above,* was to the west of the 
 Psylli, extending from Tripolis to the Lesser Syrtis. Now, by 
 taking the centre of their country and Zuila, the usual station 
 of the caravans coming from Egypt, (not far from Germa, the 
 capital of the ancient Phazania,) as the two probable extremes 
 of the journey, we have at once the number of days' journey 
 required, as will be very clearly shown presently, when it will 
 be necessary to give a more accurate description of this route. 
 
 Upon Fezzan, the ancient country of the Garamantes, much 
 light has been thrown within these last few years. Hornemann, 
 indeed, resided there for half a year, but his Narrative does 
 not extend to the southern part of the country, which he did 
 not see till afterwards. This part, which is of most importance 
 to us, was first visited and described by Captain Lyon. Fezzan 
 is not to be regarded as a small oasis, but rather as a district 
 of considerable magnitude, being in length about four hundred 
 
 miles from north to south, and from about two hundred to two 
 hundred and fifty in breadth. The question then arises, where 
 are we to seek for the station of which Herodotus speaks, and 
 where are the features he describes to be found ? 
 
 In this case we again find, that the station of the ancients 
 was the same as that of the caravans arriving from Egypt and 
 Soudan in the present day, namely, as we learn from Horne- 
 mann and Lyon, the city and territory of Zuila, not far trom 
 the eastern boundary of the country, and therefore the natural 
 place to rest at. The latitude of Zuila is settled by Lyon (who 
 took the sun's altitude) to be 26° 1 V 48^' north. The longitude, 
 according to Rennel, is W 50', Greenwich.^ Not far from 
 Zuila, near Trahan, springs of sweet water are met with, the 
 only ones, as Lyon assures us, to be found in Fezzan ; m other 
 parts it is only found at from twelve to twenty feet below the 
 surface : and in the neighbourhood of Mafen there is a curious 
 plain of salt earth extending above twenty miles from east to 
 west.^ Zuila lies at two good days' journey from Mourzouk, 
 the present capital ; and at scarcely one, according to Kennel s 
 map, from Germa, the ancient one.^ Thus every thing here 
 agrees with the situation mentioned by Herodotus The dis- 
 trict of Zuila and Germa, moreover, was formerly the chiet 
 seat of the trade which has now moved to Mourzouk ;. and in- 
 deed so much so, that even yet the trade of Fezzan is called 
 in central Africa the trade of Zuila.^ 
 
 But a difficulty arises here in Herodotus s statement similar 
 to the one already remarked between Thebes and Ammonium. 
 The distance from Augila to Fezzan is too great for the journey 
 to be performed in ten days. The caravan with which Horne- 
 mann travelled, notwithstanding their day s journeys must have 
 surpassed the ordinary measure, took sixteen days m going to 
 Temissa, the first village in Fezzan ; and still one more before 
 it reached Zuila. But the Arabian geographers reckon it 
 twenty days' journey from Augila to Fezzan, which seems to 
 correspond with the usual course of the ^.^^^^^-^ ^e^^^^^ 
 then, the case is exactly the same as in the distance between 
 Ammonium and Thebes ; that is, it amounts to double what 
 
 * Cellar. Geogr. Ant. ii. p. 944. 
 
 « Herod, iv. 174 and 183. 
 ♦ See above, p. 15. 
 
 » Ibid. iv. 173. 
 
 t tJarrative, p. 219. Rennel has placed it upon his map almost a 
 north * There are three of them ; Narrative, p. 270. 
 
 U Resembles the rough and irregular lava of V--us A po^r ^^^^^^ 
 
 culty been cut and worn through it. „ ^ tTp Hirl not visit 
 
 north-east on his map, but without any foundation^ H^^^^^^^ visit 
 
 in his Geography of Uerodotuf, p. 615, has stated his reasons. 
 • Hartmann, Geogr. Edrisii, p. 158. Proceedings, p. 197. 
 
 degree farther to the 
 3 Narrative, p. 257. 
 has vrith much diffi- 
 much farther to the 
 it himself. Rennel, 
 Hornemann, p. 69 
 
108 
 
 CHAP. VI.] 
 
 LAND TRADE. 
 
 109 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. VI. 
 
 Herodotus states it at. As, however, there can exist no doubt 
 respecting the position of the two extremes, Augila and Fez- 
 zan, recourse must again be had to the conjecture, by which 
 alone the difficuHy can be cleared up, that a station may be 
 found between them ; and this is rendered more probable, by 
 the existence of Zala, a station which the Arabian geographers 
 place midway between Augila and Zuila, at ten days' journey 
 from each.^ Hornemann reached the watered and fertile valley 
 in which he reposed on the ninth day of his strained journey ; 
 but the course which the caravans pursue, lies through the 
 southern part of the valley y so that the town, or at least the 
 place where it lay, for the name itself seems to be lost, was 
 perhaps half a day's journey to the north.^ 
 
 But whether this or some other solution may be adopted, 
 the route which our caravan must follow, in neither case re- 
 mains doubtful ; we are certain respecting the object of the 
 journey. Our progress hitherto has been almost entirely in a 
 westerly direction, it now becomes, as we penetrate deeper 
 into central Africa, more southerly, still, however, with a bear- 
 ing towards the west. 
 
 With renewed courage and strength we now quit Augila. 
 Its groves of palms are soon left behind, and the vault of hea- 
 ven, and the plains of burning sand, are the only objects which 
 the eye can reach.* No sound of animated nature, nor the 
 rustle of a leaf, breaks the everlasting death-silence of the 
 dreary waste. Suffocated birds point out the path of the fiery 
 simoon, and perhaps only yesterday fell its victims ; the heavens 
 seem to glow, and volumes of sand, whirling upwards into 
 spiral columns, are chased by the wind, Hke clouds of mist, 
 athwart the dreadful desert.^ And though the fruitful valley 
 of Zala seem to promise a more smiling region to the weary 
 traveller, hope is soon turned to disappointment : the most 
 desolate of all wastes, the Harutsh mountains, still lies before 
 him, and demands another ten days' journey ere these terrors 
 
 * Edrisi, 1. c. Compare Rennel's map, Homemann's route ; upon which the situation of 
 Zala and its distance from both stations is accurately given. ^ The fertile valley 
 which he describes, p. 65, is undoubtedly the valley of Zala, though he has not named it. 
 
 * Not only Hornemann, but even Haagee AbdaUah, was ignorant of it. See Proceedings^ 
 p. 197. * Hornemann, p. 51. 
 
 * Those who would wish to see a more particular account of this dreadful phenomenon of 
 the desert, may compare Bruce, iv. p. 584, and Proceedings^ p. 195. Lyon gives us, from 
 his own experience, the picture of a caravan surprised by a simoon. Travels in Northern 
 Africa, p. 85, 94, plate vii. The death-silence of the desert also appeared most dreadful to 
 him, '• Nothing can be more awful than the stillness which prevails. I have often walked so 
 fer from the caravans in the night as to be beyond the noise made by the camels or horses, 
 and have experienced a sensation I am unable to describe, as I felt the wind blow past me, 
 and heard the sound which my figure caused it to make, by arresting its progress." p. 347. 
 
 can be overcome.^ Then the gigantic ostrich reappears, troops 
 of playful antelopes disport before him, and announce the vi- 
 cinity of more hospitable regions." 
 
 Thus we reach Fezzan, or the country of the Garamantes, of 
 whose inhabitants Herodotus has told us several remarkable 
 particulars. They practise agriculture ; he tells us they put 
 soil upon the salt. The soil of Fezzan, according to Lyon, is 
 in general sandy and barren. It is only by the help of manure 
 that a forced produce is raised.^ That salt, therefore, may an- 
 swer the purpose equally well, must no doubt be admitted ; 
 and the great salt plain of Mafer proves that there is plenty of 
 it. Nothing, therefore, hinders Herodotus's account from be- 
 ing taken in its most literal sense. Should this, however, be 
 doubted, the Narrative of Lyon offers still another, and per- 
 haps more probable, explanation: for Fezzan, according to 
 him, is in some parts very abundant in white clay.* In order 
 to render the soil more productive this is mixed with sand, as 
 it is with marl in many parts of Europe. It is unnecessary to 
 observe how easily ignorance or carelessness might confound 
 this white clay with salt. 
 
 Respecting the kine with horns bending forward, I have in 
 vain sought for some explanation in our writers on natural his- 
 tory. Fezzan contains, according to Lyon, three different 
 species of the buffalo;^ the wadaii, an animal of the size of an 
 ass, having very large horns ; the bogra el weish, which is a 
 red buffalo with large horns, and about the size of an ordinary 
 cow ; and the white buffalo, of a lighter make ; but of horns 
 bending forward he makes no mention. They were better 
 known, however, in antiquity. Alexander of Myndus, a cele- 
 brated naturalist, has minutely described them in his works ;^ 
 but I doubt, nevertheless, their having formed a distinct spe- 
 cies. The neatherds of Africa frequently amuse themselves in 
 giving an artificial form to the horns of their cattle by continu- 
 ally bending them.^ This was probably the case here ; and 
 this, an early conjecture of mine, has been since confirmed by 
 a monument. In the procession upon the great bas-relief of 
 Kalabshe, for an accurate drawing of which we are indebted 
 
 » The desolate mountains, in which nature appears entirely lifeless are divided m^ the 
 black and white, and were first described by Hornemann The black were ^^^^^^ ^o rti^ 
 
 Romans by the name of r,ions ater. Pliny, v 5. . * ^.T't'^'ll'^-y, ?t Zuld be 
 p. 55. » Narrative, p. 271. * Narrative, p. 272. Even though it should be 
 
 the grey, and not the completely white clay, the mistake might occur veryeaMly. 
 
 * Narrative, p. 76. « Athen. p. 221. ' Like the CafFres. Barrow, Bescnpt. 
 
 of the Cape, etc., p. 130. 
 
110 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [CHAr. VI. 
 
 CHAP. VI.] 
 
 LAND TRADE. 
 
 Ill 
 
 to Gau, among the presents brought to the king appear two 
 yoke of steers, with horns, not of a natural, but evidently of 
 an artificial shape :^ one being bent straight forwards, the 
 other backwards. Whether this was done in mere wantonness, 
 or whether, like the Caffres, before elephants were tamed, they 
 made use of them in war, and in that state found them more 
 adapted to the purpose of attack, I cannot determine.^ The 
 extraordinary thickness and hardness of their hided, mentioned 
 by Herodotus, is also noticed by modern travellers in their de- 
 scription of African cattle.^ 
 
 The hunting of men, in which the Garamantes are said to 
 have taken delight, scarcely requires an explanation. '* They 
 are wont," says Herodotus, " to hunt the Troglodyte Ethio- 
 pians in four-horsed chariots." These Ethiopians seem to have 
 been a wild negro race, dwelling in caves in the neighbouring 
 mountains, who were kidnapped by the Garamantes to be sold 
 for slaves. And the latest accounts respecting Africa throw, 
 even upon these statements of Herodotus, a really astonishing 
 though melancholy light.* 
 
 The mountains, of whose inhabitants we are now speaking, 
 belong to the Tibesti range, found at some days' journey to the 
 south of Fezzan, in the deserts of Borgoo. These are in the 
 present day inhabited by the Tibboos, most probably a branch 
 of the ancient Libyan race. The Tibboo Raschade, or Rock 
 Tibboos, still dwell in caves. But the old inhabitants of this 
 country, among whom the Tibboos have settled themselves by 
 force, were negroes ; and even at present the inhabitants of 
 Bilma are mostly negroes, or of a black colour ; and the histo- 
 rian, therefore, is fully justified in describing them as such. 
 
 The hunting of the human race is indeed so little out of use. 
 that the sultan of Fezzan still carries it on annually, substitut- 
 ing, however, for four-horse chariots, a body of cavalry and 
 infantry. While Captain Lyon was there, an expedition of 
 this kind took place under the command of one of the sultan's 
 sons, and the father wept tears of joy when he returned from 
 the Grazzie, for so is this expedition called,^ with one thou- 
 sand eight hundred prisoners, composed of old and young men, 
 women, and children. In this respect, then, Africa has always 
 remained the same. Beside this, a trifling circumstance men- 
 tioned by Herodotus, respecting the language of these people, 
 
 » Gau, Monuments ofKvbia, plate xv. « Marmol, Afrique, i. p. 52. 
 
 ^ Horaemann, p. 127. ♦ Narrative, p. 281. * Narrative, p. 2oO, etc. 
 
 is confirmed in a manner we could hardly have expected. 
 " They have no language like other'men," says he, "but shriek 
 like bats." " When the Augilians speak of these tribes," says 
 Hornemann, " they say their language is similar to the whist- 
 Hng of birds." ^ 
 
 In another place, and upon another occasion, Herodotus 
 says of these Garamantes, that they fly the society of men, and 
 shun all intercourse with them : they are entirely without war- 
 like weapons, and know not how to defend themselves.^ It is 
 plain that this can only be understood of a single tribe, who 
 dwelt in some out of the way corner of the desert, lying at a 
 distance from the route of the caravans. It is almost impos- 
 sible to picture more briefly and accurately the timidity of 
 these poor creatures, who take every stranger for a robber, 
 than is here done by Herodotus. A similar picture, but drawn 
 in still more lively colours, is given us by Leo of Africa, in his 
 Narrative, of a company of merchants, who, missing their way, 
 unexpectedly fell in with a horde of this description.^ Should 
 we seek for another in the present Fezzan, it may be found in 
 what Captain Lyon states respecting the poor inhabitants of the 
 village of Terboo.* 
 
 Thus have we traced with certainty the route which led 
 from Upper Egypt to Fezzan, and identified it with that now 
 in use. But in doing this we have almost forgotten Carthage. 
 It is apparent, however, that these caravans were almost entirely 
 composed of her subjects ; Herodotus, moreover, has given us 
 a hint, which at once leads us to turn back, and plainly points 
 out the road by which they journeyed from the territory of 
 the republic to Fezzan. I therefore claim the indulgence of 
 the reader to say a few words on this, before I attempt to trace 
 the two still more distant stations of the Atarantes and 
 
 Atlantes. 
 
 When Herodotus mentions the Garamantes, he states that 
 " from them to the Lotophagi, by the shortest way, is thirty 
 days' journey."^ This remark contains suflScient information. 
 
 The seat of the Lotophagi has been ascertained to lie in the 
 neighbourhood of the present Tripoli ; between it and the 
 Lesser Syrtis. A journey, therefore, southwards, into the in- 
 terior to the Garamantes, would lead us, according to the latest 
 
 » Le^p.^'m' Ho^cmann's account'oftrpooTiihahi^ of the villlige of TJmmcsogei^ 
 who, heing peaceable and weak, chose rather to trust to the protection of their sanctuary 
 than to take up arms, may serve as an example Hornemann, p. lb. 
 
 ♦ Narrative, p. 220. [Or the Modern Traveller, Africa, u. p. 190.] Herod, n. 1»&. 
 
lis 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. VI. 
 
 CHAP. VI.] 
 
 LAND TRADE. 
 
 113 
 
 English accounts, exactly along the same line of road by which 
 the caravans now go from Tripoli to Fezzan, and from this 
 city still farther into the negro countries. Hornemann per 
 formed this journey, though not with a caravan, and deviated 
 from the usual direction. Thanks, however, to Captain Lyon, 
 we have a complete description of the route.^ 
 
 The usual route from Tripoli runs at first along the coast 
 beyond Lebida, the ancient Leptis Magna, not far from Me- 
 surata. From this point it turns directly towards the south. 
 Great Leptis, therefore, was the staple town for the caravan 
 trade ; its extensive remains still bear witness of its ancient 
 splendour.'^ It is here that persons arriving from the interior 
 catch a first glimpse of the sea ; and those who journey to- 
 wards central Africa take their leave of it, as it is no farther 
 visible. The first place on the road is Bonjem, on the northern 
 boundary of Fezzan, 30i° N. Lat. ; the next is Sockna, 29° 5' ; 
 farther on is Sebha, 27° 2'; and next is Mourzouk, or Zuila, the 
 distance being the same to each. The road lies partly through 
 the desert ; but travellers never provide water for more than 
 five days, as there are several fertile districts on the way. This 
 route, therefore, seems appointed by nature, for on both sides, 
 to the east and west, are uninterrupted wastes. It was also the 
 ancient route. Should any one question it, the exact agree- 
 ment of the time stated by Herodotus, with that of Captain 
 Lyon, will convince him. He departed from Mourzouk the 
 10th of February, with rather a small caravan, consisting of 
 loaded camels and slaves, which were joined by others on the 
 way. His day's journeys were, therefore, of the usual length 
 of the caravans. On the 17th of March he came in sight of 
 the Mediterranean, between Lebida and Mesurata, in the 
 country of the ancient Lotophagi. His journey therefore took 
 up thirty-six days, six of which he halted at Sockna, and which 
 being deducted from the whole amount leave thirty, exactly 
 the number stated by Herodotus.^ 
 
 We have therefore now shown that the route from the 
 country of the Lotophagi, and likewise from Carthage, to 
 Fezzan in the interior of Africa, was a common and well-known 
 
 > Narrative, chap. viii. ix, p. 290 — 334. 
 
 * The remains of the walls, pillars, etc., are in the gigantic style. Narrative, p. 337. 
 
 ' Hornemann performed the whole of the journey from Mourzouk to Tripoli in fifty-one 
 days. His statement, however, cannot be taken as a rule ; as he himself remarks that he 
 journeyed very leisurely ; and the number of halting days, which he has not mentioned, are 
 included. Hornemann, p. 119. His way led byjWadan, which was situate some distance to 
 the left of Lyon's route. 
 
 route, respecting which, and that from Upper Egypt to the 
 same place, no doubt can remain. The routes, however, de- 
 scribed by Herodotus, do not end in the country of the Gara- 
 mantes, though they meet there. He carries us still twenty 
 days' journey farther, to the seat of the Atarantes, and finally 
 to the Atlantes, where, as he himself confesses, his knowledge 
 ends. Thus far we have been able to follow him, conducted 
 by modern travellers who have trod exactly in his footsteps. 
 Now, however, these guides gradually, though not altogether, 
 leave us. The Narrative of Lyon, in connexion with that of 
 the latest adventurers, which has already found its way to Eu- 
 rope,' will direct us a little farther on the road. The reader, 
 however, will be aware, that probability is all that can be now 
 expected. I hope, however, to render this more than empty 
 
 conjecture. 
 
 Recent discoveries have changed, in one important feature, 
 the geography of the interior of Africa. They show that the 
 great empire of Bornou, which is placed in our maps to the 
 south-west of Fezzan, lies almost directly south. Mourzouk, 
 the capital of Fezzan, and Lari, the boundary city, together 
 with Angornou, the most considerable town of the Bornou 
 empire, according to these accounts, lie almost exactly under the 
 same meridian.^ These accounts, resting upon accurate in- 
 formation, and not upon hearsay statements, throw a light 
 upon the direction in which were situated the series of tribes 
 enumerated by Herodotus. 
 
 Herodotus has no further determined this direction than by 
 saying that it stretches along the border of the great desert. 
 Probably he thought it enough to say it here run along to the 
 west, without stating anything particular respecting it. Ihat 
 it did not, however, continue full west, but swerved to the 
 south, the previous inquiry and Herodotus's statement re- 
 specting the abode of the Garamantes, have already shown. 
 It will not therefore be straining the meaning of his words to 
 give it a more southerly direction. By taking this course it 
 also runs along the border of the desert, which is here occa- 
 sionally relieved by fertile patches; while, on the contrary a 
 full westerly direction from Fezzan would lead into the midst 
 of the great desert, which he himself held to be impenetrable 
 and inaccessible. 
 
 1 Seeabove,p.xxxi. [Heeren adds in thh note that ^le made use of Den^^^^^^^ 
 
 and Oudeny's Narratives, as given n the ^^i^^^^^-^y J^'''''/'\^'':^^^^^^ Nar^tWe of their 
 des Voyagk 1824, etc. It scarcely needs be mentioned that the fjl^^^J^tiv^gf* *^"^' 
 Travels and Researches has been since published.] N, Annates, p. i^/. 
 
 I 
 
114 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. VI. 
 
 CHAP. ▼!•] 
 
 LAND TRADE. 
 
 115 
 
 Without attempting, however, to bias the judgment of the 
 reader, or to pass that for more than probable which is still 
 doubtful, let me be yet allowed to explain the reasons which 
 induce me to believe that those two tribes must be sought for 
 in a direction south of the Garamantes. 
 
 The country of the Garamantes, or Fezzan, has always been 
 a principal seat of the trade of inner Africa and the negro 
 countries. This appears from the statements of the Arabian 
 geographers, and from those of the latest travellers.^ It is here 
 that the caravans assemble which go to Bornou, and to the 
 southern countries, comprised under the name of Soudan, or 
 Nigritia. It is not, however, a country rich in natural pro- 
 ductions ; but is merely, from its position, the great mart of 
 the trade carried on between the countries on both sides of 
 the desert. 
 
 Surely, then, when we find this place mentioned in an- 
 tiquity as the point where the commercial roads from Egypt 
 and from the Carthaginian territory joined, without, however, 
 ending here, we must admit that the conjecture thereby ob- 
 tains great force, that it was at that time what it has been 
 since ; and that the continuation of the route would run to- 
 wards the south. This opinion will acquire additional force 
 if we remember the permanency, of which we have already 
 spoken, of the commercial intercourse in this quarter of the 
 world. 
 
 To this it may be added, that the articles of commerce ob- 
 tained here, show that such an intercourse existed. The slaves 
 and precious stones obtained by the Carthaginians from the 
 country of the Garamantes, necessarily presuppose an inter- 
 course with the most distant countries where both these articles 
 were to be procured. 
 
 Let us see, then, who these Atarantes are, to whom a new 
 journey of ten days would bring us, and where they are to be 
 found. What direction must the caravans now take, so as not 
 to miss them ? Since we have determined to follow the great 
 road towards Bornou and Soudan, we discover them in the 
 territory of Tegerry, the most southern place reached by 
 Captain Lyon. 
 
 Tegerry is the frontier town of Fezzan towards the south, in 
 24° 4' N. Lat. According to Lyon it is the usual halting 
 place for the caravans which come through the desert from 
 
 i 
 
 • Homcmann, p. 186. 
 
 Bornou, and frequently of those which come from Soudan.* 
 The inhabitants sell, at a high price, the necessaries of life to 
 the half-famished merchants. Dates are the only things to be 
 had cheap and of any quantity. The cultivation of the date- 
 palm, however, ends here. On the south of the city the de- 
 sert immediately begins. The springs contain brackish water ; 
 salt cannot, therefore, be wanted, although this is not express- 
 ly remarked. The exact distance from Zuila, as marked on 
 Captain Lyon s chart, is one hundred and sixty miles ; which, 
 according to the usual course of the caravans, certainly 
 amounts to no more than eight days' journey.- I must leave 
 my readers to choose whether they will take the day's journey 
 at something shorter, or include the last two in the following 
 station, which, as we shall presently see, amounts to something 
 more than ten days' journey. 
 
 Although Tegerry belongs to Fezzan, yet it is here, accord- 
 ing to Captain Lyon, that the Arabian language ends and the 
 Bornou begins. And it is certainly a very extraordinary fact, 
 that here, likewise, a report handed down to us by Herodotus, 
 should be confirmed by a late account of Bornou, written too 
 by a traveller who knew nothing of his history, and who lived 
 almost two thousand years after him.^ 
 
 " The Atarantes," says Herodotus, " have among them no 
 proper names for individuals, and are the only people of this 
 sort." This is certainly a most extraordinary fact, as not one 
 of our modern travellers has met with anything of a similar 
 kind, even among the rudest nations. Notwithstanding this, 
 Leo of Africa relates exactly the same thing of the inhabitants 
 of Bornou, to the south of Fezzan ; and gives us at the same 
 time a clew to this difficult question. " A merchant," says 
 he, " who came from the empire of Bornou, and had lived for 
 a considerable period among its people, informed me that there 
 were no proper names whatever among them. All are called 
 after their height, thickness, or some other accidental quality, 
 and have, therefore, merely nicknames." How far this ac- 
 count may be worthy of credit, is a matter of no importance ; 
 
 > Narrative^ p. 240, 241. ' This is the time it took Capt. Lyon, (Narrative, p. 219 
 
 —238,) although he did not travel with a laden caravan, for which ten days would scarcely 
 seem too much. A difference of one or two days' journey in ten almost always happens to 
 single travellers from accidental causes. ^ Leo, p. 255. He also says of this same 
 
 e 
 
 (oplclh 247^*that they inVoke, with great vehemence, the rising sun. Does this expMn 
 erodotus's account of the imprecations which they utter against it ? It 
 
 must, besides, be 
 particularly remarked, that Leo had not read Herodotus. He knew nothmg but Arabic, 
 and a little Italian, which he only learned in his old age. But if he had read it, it would not 
 have lessened the force of his evidence. 
 
 I 2 
 
116 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. VI. 
 
 it proves in either case the existence of a tradition in Africa 
 which confirms the fact mentioned by Herodotus respecting 
 his Atarantes, in the time of Leo ; and certainly, respecting a 
 people who dwelt within the boundaries of the very extensive 
 empire of Bornou. We also find another example in the Nar- 
 rative of Captain Lyon^ which further confirms it: a black 
 wife of Mukni, sultan of Fezzan, who came from that country, 
 was named Zaitoon, (olive-tree,) probably from her shape. 
 
 We have now only to fix the last station mentioned by He- 
 rodotus; that of the Atlantes, which closes his account of the 
 Libyan tribes. At this point Captain Lyon leaves us as an 
 eye-witness ; nevertheless the information he collected, in con- 
 nexion with the narrative of later British travellers, throws a 
 light upon the statement of Herodotus which is truly surpris- 
 ing. The route holds the same direction ; and is a continua- 
 tion of the great commercial road to Bornou. It leads to Bil- 
 ma, the principal seat of the Tibboos; just midway between 
 Mourzouk and Lari, the frontier town of Bornou, we find the 
 Atlantes of Herodotus. The distance from Tegerry is stated 
 by Captain Lyon to be eighteen days' journey, but only of 
 eight hours each ;- others reckon it no more than seventeen,^ 
 which, according to the usual manner of reckoning, amount to 
 somewhere about twelve or thirteen days' journey. Greater 
 accuracy than this can scarcely be expected. If, however, we 
 add the two day's journeys which are over, to the distance from 
 Zuila to Tegerry, we have exactly the number of twenty days' 
 journey, which, to agree with Herodotus, is required from the 
 Garamantes to the Atlantes ; and there only remains the dis- 
 crepancy, that the intervening station of the Atarantes does 
 not lie exactly in the midst. 
 
 The Atlantes, according to Herodotus, dwelt on a very high 
 mountain, steep and round on every side. It is so lofty that 
 the inhabitants call it the pillar of heaven ; a salt-hill lies in its 
 neighbourhood.* The district of Bilma, we are told by Lyon, 
 is very mountainous, having large rocky tracts of perfectly 
 black stone.^ Some of these rocks are so high and steep that 
 their tops are scarcely visible ; or, as the Arabians express it 
 in their figurative language, " you cannot see their top without 
 losing your cap." According to the latest travellers, it is upon 
 these rocks that are situated, in order that they may be secure 
 
 1 Narrative, p. 59. 
 
 * See p. 97. 
 
 " Ibid. p. 244. » Ibid. p. 265. 
 
 ^ Narrative^ p. 266. 
 
 CHAP. VI.] 
 
 LAND TRADE. 
 
 117 
 
 from the attacks of the Tauriks, the four towns of the Tibboos, 
 of which Bilma is the most important.* How well does He- 
 rodotus's description apply to this neighbourhood ! Another 
 circumstance is still to be noticed. Bilma is the great salt 
 mart for the negro countries : thirty thousand camel loads are 
 yearly carried from its salt-lakes by the Tauriks to Soudan.^ 
 Nature herself prescribes this commerce, as no salt is to be 
 found farther south.^ Does not this offer us a very natural 
 reason, why Herodotus's information respecting these tribes 
 should end here ? It was the great market where the tribes 
 exchanged their commodities with one another. A similar 
 circumstance occurs in the steppes of central Asia, among the 
 Argippaei.* 
 
 The reader is still at liberty to adopt or reject the observ- 
 ations I have here made ; but before taking leave of the nar- 
 rative of Herodotus, let us cast a glance at the last wonder he 
 mentions relating to inner Africa.^ " Ten days' journey into 
 the great desert is a salt mine {aXh'i fii-raWov). The inhabitants 
 there build their huts with blocks of salt, because no rain of 
 any kind ever falls there. The salt which they di^' is partly 
 white and partly coloured ; beyond these places a completely 
 barren desert follows." 
 
 The same account is given almost verbatim in Leo Afri- 
 can us's description of the large salt mines of Tegaza, in the 
 heart of the desert, where he himself was detained for three 
 days. According to his account^ they are situated on the 
 south-east border of the desert of Zanhaga/ and are about 
 twenty days' journey from Tombuctoo. They were worked by 
 people sent there for that purpose, who dwell in miserable huts 
 about the entrance of the mines. Their food is brought them ; 
 and they not unfrequently perish of hunger, or become blind 
 
 * N. Annates des Voyages, p. 137. They are named Kiskbi, Aschanuma, Dirki, and 
 Bilma. * N. Annates, 1. c. 
 
 3 Proceedings, p. 252, 253. " The merchants of Kashna and Aprades," it is here said, 
 " go every year in numerous caravans to Bihna, to fetch salt, which they cannot procure at 
 a shorter distance." The reader who will take the trouble to compare this now settled 
 question with the former editions of this work, will find that the results arc the same : only 
 the proofs — thanks to extended discoveries — are new. * See Researches on Asia. 
 
 * Herod, iv. 185. The connexion of the passage in Herodotus shows plainly that this is 
 neither the continuation of his description of the^ caravan route, nor a repetition of what he 
 had said before ; but only the account of a remarkable particular of which he had been in- 
 formed. He therefore says : ten days' journey into the desert, not on the borders, as he him- 
 self thought the others. The preciscncss of Herodotus in his choice of expressions is one of 
 his greatest merits. He always says exactly what he should. How carefully he has here 
 distinguished by the expressions aXov /xtVaWov these satt mines from the satt hitls. 
 
 * Leo, p. 224, 946. ' Zanhaga, according to Leo, is the name of the western part 
 of the desert between Morocco and Tombuctoo, it joins the often-mentioned desert of Zuen- 
 ziga. The sandy region is here the broadest and the most dangerous to travellers 
 
118 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. VI. 
 
 CHAP. VI.J 
 
 LAND TRADE. 
 
 119 
 
 by the fiery heat. From these mines of white and coloured 
 salt it is that the negro countries on the Niger, belonging to 
 the empire of Tombuctoo, are supplied with this necessary 
 article. Large caravans of merchants travel there to procure it. 
 
 Let the reader judge for himself how far these two accounts 
 agree ; the statement of neither writer is sufficiently precise 
 to enable us to determine exactly the situation of the salt 
 mines spoken of. Whether, however, they are the same or 
 different, (for many such may perhaps be found in this vast 
 desert,) they at least convince us how well Herodotus was ac- 
 quainted with everything remarkable in the desert, and how 
 true his statements are. Short-sighted critics have often 
 calumniated his manes ; but the silence of the desert remains, 
 in awful grandeur, an eternal witness of his credibility ! 
 
 The regions of antiquity, which distance has so long mysti- 
 fied, and which have been buried, as it were, in a night of 
 centuries, again begin to dawn. It is time, however, that we 
 should draw to a close ; let us, therefore, first collect, as well 
 as we can, into general views, the great variety of circum- 
 stances which have come before us. 
 
 Respecting the commercial intercourse in general of the 
 nations of interior Africa, no doubt can now remain ; the 
 vestiges that are left prove how active it must once have been. 
 it has been shown that the places and districts which were its 
 principal seats in antiquity have continued so to the present 
 day. But how inferior its actual state, compared with what 
 it was formerly, is amply proved by the monuments which still 
 remain. What is the present Siwah opposed to ancient 
 Ammonium ; what even Cairo itself opposed to the royal 
 Thebes ? And yet it was the commerce of which we have 
 been speaking, knit perhaps by certain religious ties, (now 
 transplanted to Mecca,) to which they were indebted for their 
 magnificence and splendour. If we may, or rather if we must, 
 measure the trade of those days by this standard, how much 
 greater and more important must it have been then ! when 
 the north coast of Africa, instead of being overrun by bar- 
 barians, was occupied by mighty civilized nations ; by nations 
 in whom commerce, if not the only, was at least the ruling 
 passion. 
 
 Further : the principal articles of commerce were then the 
 same as they are now ; salt, dates, slaves, and gold. The 
 caravans had a profitable motive for passing through districts 
 
 where salt was plentiful. Here they could load their camels 
 free of expense with this commodity, which in the negro 
 countries met with a sure and ready sale for slaves and gold 
 dust. Respecting the traffic in the human species, its extent, 
 and its arrangements, we have seen, as well in the interior of 
 Africa as in Carthage and its foreign possessions, so many ex- 
 amples that further observations are quite unnecessary. I shall 
 only add this single remark, that the slave trade of Africa at 
 that time, as well as now, was mainly directed to females, who 
 in the Balearian islands were sold for three times as much as 
 the men.* Gold dust was always an article much sought for 
 in the negro countries ; and how well the Carthaginians under- 
 stood the trade in this precious metal, has been already shown 
 in the narrative of Herodotus given above. In addition to 
 these commodities, there was in antiquity the equally important 
 one of precious stones ; particularly of that species called cal- 
 cedonius, and which derived its name from Carthage.^ The 
 Carthaginians obtained them, as I have already shown, from 
 the country of the Garamantes, whither they could only be 
 brought from the mountainous districts of central Africa.' 
 The calcedonius, or, as it is also called, the carbuncle, holds 
 the first rank among the onyxes ; it was made use of for drink- 
 ing and other vessels ; and from the extravagance shown in this 
 respect, we may form some idea of the extent of this trade. 
 
 Again : the nations by whom this commerce was chiefly car- 
 ried on, were the inhabitants of the districts between the two 
 Syrtes ; and particularly the Nasamones.* The expeditions 
 and hardy journeys of discovery made by this people, are cele- 
 brated upon more than one occasion by Herodotus ; they in- 
 deed imparted to him this information. These tribes and their 
 neighbours still carry on an active trade. The bold inhabitants 
 of Fezzan venture from the borders of the negro lands to the 
 centre of India.^ 
 
 The Carthaginians, then, by having these tribes under their 
 dominion, held the caravan trade in their own hands ; and the 
 
 » Diodorus, i. p. 344. That the caravans still continue to export more female than male 
 slaves, is evident from the statements of Lyon, Burkhardt, and others. 
 
 * Kapx^doi/iov \ido9. 
 
 ^ Plin. xxxvii. 7. It is known that among the cut stones of antiquity there are many of 
 whose native country we are entirely ignorant. Might not many of these be from central 
 Africa ? A remark, which I heard from a learned naturalist, that almost all these unknown 
 stones are of Roman, and not of Greek workmanship, perhaps confirms this conjecture. 
 A better acquaintance with the inner regions of Africa can alone render it certain. 
 
 * But that they did not all remain merely carriers, but took also a part in the trade, 
 scarcely requires a proof. They became, in consequence, a very rich people, though they 
 still continued nomades. Scylax, p. 49. * Proceedings^ p. 192. 
 
120 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. VII. 
 
 otherwise barren districts of the Syrtes became, on that ac- 
 count, one of their most important possessions ; and the acqui- 
 sition of which tradition continued to celebrate, as having been 
 procured by the voluntary sacrifice of the ambassadors.^ The 
 Emporia, or cities of Byzacium, on the borders of this terri- 
 tory, were, by their situation, the natural staple places of this 
 trade, of the possession of which Carthage had truly reason to 
 be jealous, and therefore remained completely silent respecting 
 all that concerned it. The commercial intercourse with inner 
 Africa was also the more easily hid from the world, because 
 Carthage itself was not the place to which the caravans re- 
 sorted ; they were formed in districts scarcely known, and the 
 towns nearest to the borders of the desert were the great 
 staples for their wares. 
 
 CHAP. VII. War Forces, 
 
 Although the history of the Carthaginian wars does not come 
 within the scope of the present work, yet the information re- 
 specting this republic would be incomplete, without some notice 
 of its fleet and armies. After a glance at these, we shall be 
 better able to judge of the might of Carthage ; and neither 
 the history of her aggrandizement or her fall could be well 
 understood without it. 
 
 Carthage was powerful by sea and by land, limiting, in both 
 cases, the force of this expression to the sense in which it may 
 be used with regard to the states of that period, when the ocean 
 had not yet been brought under the dominion of man ; nor 
 large standing armies, even in times of peace, kept in pay. 
 
 The idea, however, of maritime dominion must naturally 
 have presented itself to the Carthaginians,^ as soon as they 
 obtained possession of foreign colonies, to which their fleets 
 alone could carry them, and with which the maintenance of a 
 continual and peaceful intercourse was highly necessary, even 
 if the security of their own dominions had not depended upon 
 it. The extent of their navy, and their whole maritime sys- 
 tem, was formed to answer this particular purpose. 
 
 The operations of their navy were principally confined to 
 the Mediterranean, or rather to its western half, and, perhaps, 
 a small portion of the ocean lying just without the Pillars of 
 
 ' See above, p. 18. 
 
 « Diodorus, ii. p. 134, 412. 
 
 CHAP. VII.] 
 
 WAR FORCES. 
 
 121 
 
 Hercules. In this part lay the islands which the Carthaginians 
 had partially or completely conquered ; the coasts were here 
 covered with their colonies ; and we may therefrom form some 
 idea of their maritime forces, which naturally arose with the 
 necessity of maintaining these in subjection, and consequently 
 of preserving a free communication with them, besides securing 
 a passage over for their troops, and of defending their settle- 
 ments from the approach of foreign enemies. To effect all 
 this it required no more than an uninterrupted navigation of 
 the seas, and secure stations for their fleets. When engage- 
 ments took place in the open sea, naval tactics were not much 
 wanted ; distant voyages of warlike squadrons were at this 
 period wholly unnecessary, and therefore unknown. 
 
 But even this dominion of the sea, limited as it was, had to 
 be won from powerful rivals, and was not obtained without 
 many struggles. They had the Etrurians in Italy, the Greeks 
 in Syracuse and Massilia to contend with ; and when at last 
 they might have flattered themselves with having wrested the 
 prize from these, the most formidable of all their rivals started 
 up in Rome, where it was soon felt, that without the dominion 
 of the sea, it was impossible to humble the pride of Carthage. 
 There is no doubt but it was a continual jealousy of these 
 powers which gradually developed the strength of the repub- 
 hc ; and a due consideration of the long series of victories and 
 defeats, even for centuries, which it cost it to maintain its pre- 
 ponderance, will give us the best means of estimating the 
 powerful resources which it must have possessed. 
 
 Upon the nature and strength of the Carthaginian navy we 
 are better informed than upon most other matters relating to 
 that republic. Writers had so frequent occasion to speak of 
 it, that they could not well avoid leaving us many particulars 
 
 respecting it. i • /. 
 
 The principal harbour of the republic for its ships of war, 
 was in the capital itself.' This had a double harbour, an out- 
 ward and an inner one, so arranged that vessels were obliged 
 to sail through the first to arrive at the other. An entrance, 
 seventy feet wide, which might be barred with a cham, led to 
 the outer, appropriated solely to merchant vessels, which could 
 here safely ride at anchor. On one side of this a broad bank, 
 or quay, ran along, upon which the merchandise was unladen, 
 
 1 For the following particulars we are indebted to Appian, i. p. 435-438 and 482 Other 
 Carthaginian cities, however, had harbours and docks for vessels of war, as Hippo, tor ex- 
 ample. Appian, i. p. 459. 
 
122 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. VII. 
 
 CHAP. VII.] 
 
 WAR FORCES. 
 
 m 
 
 and delivered to purchasers ; and a gate opened from it into 
 the city, without passing through the inner harbour. This 
 latter was separated from the outward one by a double wall, 
 and was destined to receive only vessels of war. In its centre 
 arose a lofty island from which the open sea could be plainly 
 seen. The station of the commander of the fleet was upon this 
 isle, where signals were made, and watches kept, and from 
 which could be seen all that was going forward at sea without 
 those at sea being able to look into the interior of the harbour. 
 The island as well as the harbour was strongly fortified, and 
 surrounded with high banks, along which the docks, or depots 
 for the war-galleys, two hundred and twenty in number, were 
 situated. Above these, in an equal number of divisions, were 
 the magazines, containing everything necessary for the outfit of 
 the ships.^ At the entrance of each dock stood two Ionic co- 
 lumns, which, as they were ranged round the island and har- 
 bour, gave the whole the appearance of a magnificent portico. 
 
 The war-ships of the Carthaginians, previous to the time of 
 the Roman wars, seem to have been triremes ; of which the 
 history of their wars with Syracuse gives several proofs.* But 
 the custom of building larger vessels, which had been much 
 followed since the time of Alexander the Great, particularly 
 by Demetrius the town-taker, seems also to have been adopted 
 by the Carthaginians ; and even in their first war with Rome 
 their fleets consisted of quinqueremes ;^ a vessel indeed with 
 seven banks of oars is mentioned, though only as one captured 
 from their enemies.* 
 
 The navigation of the Carthaginians was under the protec- 
 tion of their gods, of whom the sea-deities, their Poseidon, 
 Triton, and the Cabiri, formed a separate class.^ Images of 
 these deities were placed upon the stern of their ships, (espe- 
 cially of their ships of war,) some of which bore, if we may re- 
 ly upon the evidence of a poet, their names.^ 
 
 * Without doubt, therefore, eyery ship had its storehouse, as they also have in our modem 
 harbours. It seems likely that these magazines were of wood ; for under Dionysius I. a re- 
 port was spread that they were burnt, whereupon he built a vain hope that their fleet had 
 suffered the same fate. JDiodorus, ii. p. 60. * As, for example, in Diodorus, ii. p. 9, 
 and in other places where he speaks of the Carthaginian fleets. There seems, in general, no 
 doubt but that the Carthaginians, in their naval architecture, followed the Grecian school, 
 especially that of Syracuse. Necessity must have led them to it. ' This is clear from 
 Polybius, i. p. 158, 159. * Polyb. i. p. 58. It was built by Pyrrhus. 
 
 * Munter, Reliaion of the Carthaginians y p. 97, etc. ' Silius Italicus, lib. xiv. In 
 the description of the sea-fight and the burning of the fleet ; especially v. 572. 
 
 Uritur undivagus Python, et comiger Ammon, 
 £t quae Sidonios vultus portabat Elissae ; 
 Et Triton captivus, et ardua rupibus ^tne, etc. 
 It certainly is not improbable that this was the case. 
 
 The usual number of their ships of war, or galleys, seems 
 almost determined by the arrangement of the harbour, which 
 affrees very well with what other information we have as to 
 the strength of their fleets.' The number of vessels of war 
 mentioned in the Syracusan war, by creditable writers, vanes 
 from a hundred and fifty to two hundred. It was greater m 
 the first war with Rome, when their maritime force in general 
 seems to have attained its highest pitch. In the fatal naval 
 enffagement by which Regulus opened for himself a way to 
 Africa the Carthaginian fleet consisted of three hundred and 
 fifty ealleys with one hundred and fifty thousand men, and that 
 of the Romans of three hundred and thirty galleys with one 
 hundred and forty thousand men,'' ,,-,,,. 
 
 The navy of Carthage was manned partly by fighting men 
 fcV.fl<iT.«) and partly by rowers ; so that a qumquereme con- 
 tained one hundred and twenty of the former and three hun- 
 dred of the latter.' The number of rowers contributed in a 
 great measure to that velocity in their movements, for which 
 The Carthaginian vessels are expressly stated to have been dis- 
 tinffuished." These rowers were composed of slaves bought 
 by the state for this particular purpose,* and who, as they re- 
 quired practice, formed without doubt a standing body, Jat 
 was in part, or altogether, kept up in time of peace. Ihe 
 quickness with which they manned their squadrons would 
 
 otherwise be inexplicable. • , j ^ *!,«=„ 
 
 The commanders of their fleet were distinguished from those 
 of their land forces, to whom they were subordinate in those 
 undertakings in which they acted in concert « At other times 
 they received their orders from the senate, which were not un- 
 frequently sealed, and could not be broken open till the bearer 
 arrived at a certain destination.' The y.ctories of their fleete 
 were celebrated by public rejoicings, and their defeat by public 
 
 . Diodorus. i. p. 685, 691 ; «. 134. Though the s^me^^^r '^"^fJ-^t^^^^Sit; 
 
 guished from vessels of war among ^^^ Carthagmians. ^^^ 
 
 ^ « Polyb. i. p. 66. The description of t^;%^»g^X!fof^th? Romans bJok^ through that 
 tactics of that period. The wedge-shaped formed fleet of the Ko^^^^^ g 
 
 of the Carthaginians, who had tf en ^ P««^t»«?j;*^*]iy^^ capS bv the Romans, 
 fifty ships weTe sunk in the l>attle, and si^ty-^^^^^^ ^y^ ^^^ ^.^^ 
 
 Abbve thirty thousand men perished ^ccordmg to these^^^^^^^ , ^ ^ » 
 
 sea batUes mere skirmLshes co^^P^'-Sf-^^J^^J^^f ^^409 ^^^ Romans, Polyb. i. p. 130. 
 
 ♦ As superior to the Syracusans, ^^''^'>''l\'\J-J{^;'^^^ the second war with Rome, 
 
 * According to Appian, i p. 315, Asdruba^ W^^^^^^ Carthaginiail 
 
 ' Diodorus, i. p. 685; cf. Polyaen. v. x. 2. 
 
124 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. vn. 
 
 CHAP. Vll.] 
 
 WAR FORCES. 
 
 125 
 
 mourning. In the latter case the walls of the city were hung 
 with black, and the fore part of the vessels were spread over 
 with skins. ^ 
 
 The situation of the republic, and the whole course of its 
 affairs, must naturally have led the Carthaginians to consider 
 their navy as their main strength. This accounts for their 
 paying so much attention to it, and its obtaining a degree of 
 perfection, to which, as Polybius expressly remarks, their land 
 forces would bear no comparison.^ The many wars, however, 
 in which the republic was engaged, and the maintenance of its 
 large possessions, obliged it to keep large armies almost con- 
 tinually in the field. Here again, however, Carthage had regu- 
 lations and designs peculiar to herself. Here we again recog- 
 nise the policy of a commercial state, which chose rather to 
 pay others to fight her battles, than to engage in them herself; 
 and made even this policy the foundation of a commerce with 
 distant nations. 
 
 It is evident, that in a state like Carthage not more than a 
 small proportion of the citizens could devote themselves to the 
 profession of arms ; it is also clear that this more especially 
 comprised the higher classes and nobles of the republic.^ This 
 explains Polybius's remark, that the land forces of the Car- 
 thaginians were neglected, with the exception of the cavalry;* 
 the expense of which, as it made the service costly, endeared 
 it in the eyes of these classes;^ to whom it was further en- 
 hanced by the outward marks of dignity, the rings, which be- 
 longed to it. One of these was allowed to be worn for every 
 campaign which had been made.^ In the large Carthaginian 
 armies we always find the number of proper Carthaginians 
 small in proportion to the whole.^ They formed, either alto- 
 gether or in part, a separate corps, dignified with the title of 
 the sacred legion, which seems to have been a sort of body 
 guard of the general, not less distinguished by its valour than 
 by its splendour, which was equally conspicuous in the equip- 
 ments and drinking-vessels of its members.® 
 
 > Diodorus, i. p. 422 ; ii. p. 399, 412. The meaning in the last custom is doubtful. Were 
 ,5; 'lot V^r^^^^ black sheep skins ? * Polyb. ii. p. ,564. a gpc Diodorus, ii. 
 
 p. 144, 399, 414. * Polyb. ii. p. 565. * But that in times of necessity the others 
 
 also armed themselves will easily be understood. In one case of this sort the city of Car- 
 thage furnished forty thousand foot and one thousand horse. Diodorus, ii. p. 413, 450. 
 
 « Anstot. Polit. vii. 2. Does not this explain why Hannibal, after the battle of Cannjp, 
 sent the rings of the Roman knights that were slain to Carthage, with the remark, that only 
 kmghts durst wear them among the Romans ? Livj-, xxiii. 12. ' In an anny of 
 
 ^r?»*^i^""^''^"^ ™^" ^^^^^ ^^^''^ ''"^y ^^^^^ thousand five hundred. Diodorus, ii. p. 143, 414. 
 Diodorus, 1. c. It seems, however, from this passage, that this saci'ed legion did not 
 consist of cavalry, but heavy-armed infantry. 
 
 The great armies which Carthage brought into the field, 
 consisted, then, almost entirely of foreigners, whom they hired. 
 Conquering commercial states, at all times, fall, to a certain 
 degree, into some such custom, which is only changed in form 
 by temporary circumstances. What, indeed, are the subsidies 
 granted in the present day, but a modification of the same 
 system ? Scarcely any state, however, carried it so far as the 
 Carthaginian : almost half Africa and Europe were in the pay 
 of that rich republic. 
 
 A Carthaginian army, therefore, would have been a more 
 interesting spectacle for one who desired to study the human 
 species than for any information it afforded respecting military^ 
 tactics. It was an assemblage of the most opposite races of 
 the human species, from the most dissimilar parts of the globe. 
 Hordes of half-naked Gauls were ranged next to companies of 
 white-clothed Iberians, and savage Ligurians next to the far- 
 travelled Nasamones and Lotophagi ; Carthaginians and Phoe- 
 nici-Africans formed the centre ; while innumerable troops of 
 Numidian horsemen, taken from all the tribes of the desert, 
 swarmed around upon unsaddled horses, and formed the wings; 
 the van was composed of Balearic slingers, and a line of 
 colossal elephants, with their Ethiopian guides, formed as it 
 were a chain of moving fortresses before the whole army. 
 
 The Carthaginians formed their armies designedly, as Po- 
 lybius remarks,' of these various nations, that the difference in 
 their languages might prevent them plotting conspiracies and 
 
 tumults. 1 • 1 • 
 
 In respect to the mixed and heterogeneous mass of which it 
 was composed, the army of Carthage bore a resemblance to that 
 of the Persians. The latter united in itself the nations of the 
 east, as did the former the tribes of the west. At one time only 
 were these two states allied,— in the expedition of Xerxes into 
 Greece, and the enterprise of the Carthaginians against Sicily. 
 Had circumstances permitted these two armies, at that time, to 
 unite, what a remarkable exhibition they would have presented, 
 —a muster of nearly all the varieties of the human species at 
 
 that time known ! 
 
 But even the Carthaginian army alone, when fully assenibled, 
 offers a considerable variety ; and it comes exactly within the 
 scope of my plan to examine, in detail, this interesting spectacle. 
 
 The number of Carthaginian citizens in their armies was 
 
 I Polyb. i. p. 167. 
 
126 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [OHAP. VII. 
 
 CHAP. VII.] 
 
 WAR FORCES. 
 
 127 
 
 not, as has been already said, very considerable, although the 
 corps itself was the most splendid of the whole. Their African 
 subjects, which are always mentioned by Polybius under the 
 name of Libyans,^ constituted the sinews of their armies. They 
 served both on horse and foot ; and composed as well a part 
 of the heavy cavalry as of the heavy-armed infantry.* Their 
 weapons consisted of long lances, which Hannibal after the 
 battle of Thrasymene exchanged for Roman arms.^ 
 
 Next to these stood bodies of Spanish and Gallic or Celtic 
 troops. Spanish soldiers were among the best disciplined of 
 the Carthaginian armies, and generally served as heavy-armed 
 infantry. Their uniform consisted of white linen vests bordered 
 with red ; and a large sword, with which they could either cut 
 or thrust, was their principal weapon.* 
 
 Tribes of Gauls fought at an early period in the armies of 
 Carthage. I can discover no where the least hint respecting 
 what part of Gaul they were hired from ; but I conjecture, 
 from that lying nearest the Mediterranean. It seems, however, 
 that the rudest and most savage tribes were chosen. They 
 went entirely naked except a girdle, and fought with a sword 
 only adapted for striking.* 
 
 Italy also supplied the Carthaginians with soldiers of several 
 tribes. Ligurians appeared in their armies at the commence- 
 ment of the wars with Rome,^ and the Campanians even in 
 those of Syracuse ;^ Greeks also were in their pay, but pro- 
 bably not before the Roman wars.® 
 
 The Balearic slingers were a kind of light troops peculiar to 
 the Carthaginian army. They usually formed a corps of about 
 a thousand men ; and their powerful hurl had nearly the effect 
 of our small muskets. Their stones dashed to pieces buckler 
 and armour, and in a battle against the Syracusans they gained 
 the victory for the Carthaginians.^ 
 
 But the main strength of the Carthaginian armies consisted 
 
 » Polyb. i. p. 161, 196, 458, etc. ; iii. p. 359. « Ibid. i. 647. 
 
 ' Ibid. i. p. 584. * The most accurate account of the anns and clothing of the 
 
 various troops will be found in Polybius, i. p. 648. 
 
 * They cast away their clothes in battle, Folyb. i. p. 287. The same writer also mentions 
 them (i. p. 39) as in the Carthaginian pay before the time of the Roman wars. 
 
 • Polyb. i. p. 39. Compare Herodotus's list (vii. 165) of the nations of which Hamilear's 
 army was composed at the invasion of Sicily, B. C. 480, there were Phoenicians, Libyans, 
 Iberians, Lygians, Sardinians, and Corsicans, together, three hundred thousand men. We 
 likewise learn, from the same passage, that the death of this Hamilcar was regarded as a sa- 
 crifice, that he was worshipped as a hero with offerings, and that monuments were erected to 
 him in all their colonial cities, (voXio-t rwv aTroiKiBtoVf) Herod, vii. 167. 
 
 * Diodorus, i. 605. 
 
 " Polyb. i. p. 82. Perhaps the Sicilian wars against Pyrrhus, which had a great influence 
 upon the military affairs in general of Carthage, gave them the first idea of so doing. 
 
 • Diodorus, ii. p. 399, 401 ; cf. Polyb. i. 647. 
 
 in general of their light cavalry, of which they found an 
 abundant supply in the nomad races on both sides of their 
 territory. These hordes have always possessed, and do even 
 now, an excellent breed of horses. They are in a manner born 
 horsemen, being accustomed from their youth to exercise 
 themselves and their fleet steeds in skirmishes and battles. All 
 these tribes, from the neighbouring Massyli to the more distant 
 Maurusii, who dwelt on the western ocean, in the present Fez 
 and Morocco, were wont to fight in the Carthaginian armies, 
 and to remain in Carthaginian pay :^ from the east of their 
 state, as far as Cyrene, the Carthaginians also drew levies, both 
 in Africa and Europe, which were managed by senators de- 
 puted for that purpose.^ Bands of these Numidian horsemen 
 fought on small horses without saddles. A halter of twisted 
 rushes served them for bridle, and even for that they scarcely 
 had occasion, so well were their steeds disciplined. The skin 
 of a lion or tiger served both for their dress and their nightly 
 couch, and when they fought on foot a piece of elephant's 
 hide was their shield. Their onset was rendered dreadful by 
 the fleetness and cunning of their horses. Flight was no dis- 
 grace to soldiers who only fled to prepare for a new attack.' 
 They were to the Carthaginians what the Cossacks are to the 
 Russians. The heavy cavalry {equi frcenati) consisted, in 
 addition to the Carthaginians themselves, of Libyan, Spanish, 
 and afterwards of Gallic horsemen. All these are often men- 
 tioned by Polybius.* 
 
 The Carthaginian military establishment partook of ail the 
 advantages and disadvantages to which great armies, composed 
 of light troops, are generally subject. Among the former were, 
 security from sudden attacks, facility of movement, capabihty 
 of making forced marches and devastating routes, with the con- 
 sequent impossibility of retreat ; among the latter, want of dis- 
 cipline, pestilential disorders, difficulty of transportmg horses 
 and elephants by sea,' and almost certain defeat in regular 
 
 ' Polvb i p 458. This author enumerates four different tribes of t^f^e J^omades from 
 the ter^U of Cakhage to the ocean; the JVIassyli, the MassaBsyh, the M^^J^C^^ 
 whose name^ritics disagree,) and the Maurusii, the most distant f them AU Jj^se tnbes 
 had their princes, chiefs, orWgs, (J^t as writers choose t^^fj^ *^^"\')j^i;"J *^^^ 
 ginians always had for allies, and whose friendship they ^^^eav^ured by everv me^^^ 
 
 rre^rve, especially by -rriag-^^^^^ 
 
 l?fe4lrtLrctr/ml': c Jtrl?! wUh^Lm respe^g the troops to be taken 
 
 into pay. The tribes then followed their leaders. Diodorus, i p. SSI. 
 
 » Aodorus, i. p. 635. An important passage, which g^^^\^^« J* ^^^^i^^L^^^Si 5^^ 
 tensive levies What great preparations must have been »^<^^««^7 .^/^^.'^t ^ * 
 
 s «if,oV« « nai Anni'in i n 317 « As for example, 1. p. 0.5Z, M:/. 
 
 > The^emU^m gIS bi^found true, that the Carthaginian, wherever it was pos- 
 
128 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. VII. 
 
 CHAP. VII.J 
 
 WAR FORCES. 
 
 129 
 
 engagements against well-disciplined troops. It required the 
 power and genius of a Hannibal to tame these savage hordes, 
 and to discipline them into an army capable of defeating even 
 the legions of Rome ! 
 
 The way in which the Carthaginians collected their armies, 
 sufficiently accounts for their being so numerous, although we 
 have reasonable grounds to mistrust the large round numbers 
 frequently specified. Even the reduced statements of Timaeus,^ 
 make the amount of their armies much greater in the Syra- 
 cusan than in the Roman wars, when the numbers could be 
 more exactly ascertained.'^ That the republic, however, with 
 her numerous resources, could easily raise an army of a hundred 
 thousand men, requires no further proof 
 
 Carthage only required armies of this magnitude in time of 
 war; there is, however, no doubt but that a certain force was 
 kept embodied during peace.^ The numerous garrisons of the 
 provinces were mostly composed of mercenaries,* as was also 
 that of the capital.^ The triple walls of the city contained 
 both quarters for the troops and magazines for military stores. 
 Each of these, on the inner side, had a double row of vaulted 
 chambers. The lower ones contained stalls for three hundred 
 elephants, and repositories for their food. In the upper were 
 formed stables for four thousand horses, together with the ne- 
 cessary storehouses ; and quarters for twenty thousand infantry 
 and four thousand cavalry.^ These troops were under the 
 command of a particular governor of the city.'^ 
 
 These accounts naturally lead us to reflections, which enable 
 us to estimate fairly the real strength of the republic. 
 
 sible, preferred marching their troops by land, to transporting them by sea. Hamilcar went 
 by land as far as the Straits on his expedition to Spain, (Polyb. i. p. 222,) Hannibal went by 
 land to Italy. They do not seem to have found out the method of transporting elephants 
 by sea previous to tne Roman wars (Diodorus, ii. p. 502) ; at least we have no example of 
 it in the earlier wars with Syracuse. They most probably learnt the use of elephants in 
 warfare from Pyrrhus, and adopted them because Africa supplied them with these animals. 
 The hunting of them must have been carried on upon a large scale, as even their first ge- 
 nerals were sent out for that purpose, as Asdrubal, Giscor's son. Appian, i. p. 314. In the 
 earlier times they made use of war-chariots instead. It is uncertain whether they imported 
 this invention from Phcenicia ; — we know from the wars of Joshua that they were not un- 
 known there ; — or whether they adopted them from the African tribes, with whom they 
 were native, as among the Garamantes and the Zaueces. Herod, iv. 183, 193. The con- 
 tagious disease in their armies deserves a separate inquirj'. Was it really the plague ? I 
 doubt. See Diodorus, i. p. 697. ' See above, p. 2. 
 
 * According to the accurate statements of Hannibal, copied by Polybius from the monu- 
 ments which he left behind at Lacinium, his army did not amount upon its arrival in Italy 
 (where it certainly was soon reinforced by Gauls) to above twenty-six thousand men ; and 
 the African troops left behind in Spain, under his brother Asdrubal, to thirteen thousand 
 four hundred. Polyb. i. p. 459, 511. ^ Diodorus, ii. p. 457, gives a clear proof that 
 such troops were kept always in pay. ♦ As in Sardinia. Polyb. i. p. 195, 203. 
 
 * Compare the accounts of the garrison which Hannibal placed here, Polyb. i. p. 459. 
 
 * Appian, i. p. 436. ' Polyb. i. 163, 6 iirl xTys iroXtan o-TpaTij-yds. 
 
 Armies of hired troops can at no time completely supply 
 tlie place of native warriors fighting for their home and their 
 country. The moral excitement is wanting. The overpower- 
 ino- genius of a great man, joined to long exercise, as was the 
 case in the two wars with Rome, may make such an army for 
 some time formidable, but such a leader cannot always be 
 found. In the war carried on against the ruler of Syracuse, 
 mercenaries were mostly opposed to mercenaries, and here the 
 balance was equally poised ; in the wars against Rome they 
 had to contend with Romans, and Carthage could not fail in 
 the end to be subdued. 
 
 On the other hand, this system was so far of advantage to 
 the republic, that foreign defeats caused but little harm : it was 
 only the head of the hydra, which grew again as often as it was 
 cut off. What did it matter to Carthage, whether a hundred 
 thousand barbarians, more or less, remained in the world, so 
 long as she had the power to replace them, and the money to 
 pay them with?' To cut off these supplies was to paralyse 
 the sinews of the state ; and Roman policy did not fail to turn 
 its attention to this point. Scipio forbade them to enhst troops 
 in Europe ;^ and Massinissa improved the nomades of Africa 
 into agriculturists.' 
 
 Finally, it will be easily seen that this system of war was 
 closely connected with their commercial policy. National in- 
 tercourse and national alliances could not be better promoted 
 than in this way. By this a number of distant nations learned 
 to know one another as comrades in arms ; and all considered 
 themselves as allies of Carthage, for whose interest they fought. 
 How easy must the Carthaginian merchants have found access 
 to these nations, when they every where found friends and old 
 acquaintance? This must also have paved the way to the 
 extension of their dominion. It is only by this that we can 
 account for the otherwise inconceivably rapid conquest of 
 Spain, which Carthage, after the first Roman war, completed 
 in a few years, and which, nevertheless, occupied Rome after- 
 wards for above a century. 
 
 Upon the whole, however, this system could afford the re- 
 public but little internal security. The impossibility of calling 
 an army like this together in a short time, must have made 
 
 » How Hffht the Carthaginians made of these troops is shown by two striking examples 
 A band of them, which had begun to mutiny, was left upon one of the<Lipanan islands to 
 fimish. Diodor;is, i. p. 339. And Himilco eft a whole army of them to shift ^r them- 
 selves; when he merely bought the retieat of the Carthaginians Diodorus, i. p. /OO. 
 
 ' Appian, i. p. 370. ' Appian, i. p. 4.>2 ; Strabo, p. 1190. 
 
130 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. Vlll. 
 
 CHAP. VIII.] 
 
 DECLINE AND FALL. 
 
 131 
 
 every sudden attack dreadful. Their enemies soon found this 
 out ; and repeated examples have shown that their fleets were 
 not always sufficient to repel invasion. As often as this hap- 
 pened, a struggle for life or death must have ensued ; and 
 although they might easily make good the loss of a foreign 
 defeat, yet, in every war upon their own ground, their all 
 rested upon the cast of a die. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. Decline and Fall. 
 
 To portray the causes of the decline and fall of mighty states, 
 necessarily requires long and profound meditation. Where 
 does history instruct us, if not here? These inquiries, how- 
 ever, certainly possess a much higher interest when applied to 
 the history of free states, than when applied to monarchies : 
 for though in the latter the talents and characters of the rulers 
 are more accurately determined, both the prosperity and de- 
 cline of the former must be traced to the operation of more 
 deeply-seated causes. But among all the republics of the an- 
 cient world, there is, perhaps, no one which unites in itself so 
 much to make a detail of the causes of its fall interesting to 
 every age, as that of Carthage. It does not, however, seem 
 that any one has yet thrown that light upon it, which, from 
 the foregoing accounts, might reasonably be expected. The 
 decay of Carthage has been supposed sufficiently accounted 
 for by the increasing preponderance of Rome ; and if any one 
 has cast a glance into the interior of the republic, it is only to 
 speak of a faction headed by Hanno, which endeavoured to 
 oppose the family of Barca from the hereditary hate they bore 
 it, in consequence of its having formerly prevented supplies 
 from being sent to Hannibal in Italy. Every reader* must 
 feel how unsatisfactory such remarks are ; let me, then, venture 
 to hope that the following discussion will lead to a more intel- 
 ligible and accurate, though somewhat different view. 
 
 We have already pointed out, in the inquiry on the govern- 
 
 » The cause of all these incorrect views may doubtless be attributed to Livy's having been 
 considered the chief authority. I think, however, that I have shown how careless he was 
 of every thing respecting the internal state of Carthage ; and I am not the least afraid that 
 any reader, who has a proper sense of criticism, will contradict me upon this head. Poly- 
 bius, in this respect, certainly ranks far above him ; but in the period which is here decisive, 
 namely, from the end of the mercenary to the beginning of the second Roman war, he is so 
 unpardonably short, (his narrative, i. p. 222, does not fill a single octavo page,) that he can 
 scarcely be quoted as an authority. The basis of my opinion, on the contrary, are the state- 
 ments in the fragments of Diodorus, especially the twenty-fifth book, Op. ii. p. 510, 511, and 
 567 ; and Appian, i. 105 — 110. 
 
 ment of Carthage, the epoch from which we must date its in- 
 ternal decay : namely, the first peace with Rome.^ The seeds 
 of the evils, however, must have been sown much earlier, as 
 two abuses in particular had already taken deep root ; namely, 
 the sale of the highest places, which also presupposes bribery 
 at elections, and the accumulation of several high offices in the 
 same person.^ Nevertheless, the history of Rome, as well as 
 that of some modern states, teaches us, that the sale of the 
 higher offices is not quite so quick, and so necessarily an abso- 
 lute evil, as might at the first glance be supposed.^ It is com- 
 monly known how the parliamentary votes are managed in 
 England ; and formerly in France the sale of almost every place 
 was lawful. How far such arrangements are likely to become 
 pernicious, will depend in general upon the morals and patri- 
 otic feeling of the nation. In an aristocratic free government, 
 like Carthage, it is perhaps the least hurtful ; because the rich, 
 who outbid their competitors for places of honour, must, from 
 their having the greatest stake in the country, have the most 
 interest in maintaining the constitution and internal tranquil- 
 lity : experience has at least sufficiently confirmed this with 
 regard to Carthage. Enough of the history of that republic 
 is known to make it certain, that, up to the time of the war 
 with Rome, the spirit of the constitution, taken altogether, had 
 not degenerated. This is sufficiently proved by the evidence 
 of Aristotle* down to the time he flourished. The two at- 
 tempts, which had been made by two very powerful men, to 
 subvert the government, had both been frustrated, without 
 further consequences.^ The dominion of the senate continued 
 undisturbed ; and, what of itself is a decisive proof, we hear 
 nothing, down to this time, of factions in the republic. 
 
 During, however, the first war with Rome, the seeds of cor- 
 ruption were sown ; and the man who sowed them was Hamil- 
 car Barca. Thus it was the fate of the republic, that the very 
 house which became the support of the tottering fabric of the 
 state, should be the same which first undermined its foundation. 
 
 It is generally known how gloriously this wonderful man 
 opened his career, when only a youth, in the first war with 
 Rome. Even at that time he appeared, by maintaining him- 
 self during six years in Sicily, as one of those superior geniuses, 
 
 » See above, p. 66. B. C. 241. ' Aristot. ii. p. 280. 
 
 > I need scarcely mention that this is no unconditional defence of such abuses. On the 
 contrary, I am perfectly convinced that they must necessarily become dangerous in the end, 
 if not so at first. * Aristot Op. ii. p. 251. ^ See above, p. 50. 
 
 K 2 
 
132 
 
 . CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. vhi. 
 
 CHAP, viii.] 
 
 DECLINE AND FALL. 
 
 133 
 
 who, leaving the footsteps of their predecessors, form new 
 systems of their own. Unconquered, and indignant, he at 
 last signed that treaty which for ever deprived the republic of 
 its bulwark, Sicily/ 
 
 Immediately after this peace, Africa itself became unex- 
 pectedly the theatre of a contention of a still more formidable 
 nature, in which Hamilcar acted a principal part. Immedi- 
 ately after the close of the war the republic wished to disband 
 the mercenaries, whom they could now clo without ; and they 
 had the imprudence to admit an army of thirty thousand men 
 into Africa, at a time when the treasury was so exhausted that 
 it was altogether unable to satisfy their demands. A mutiny 
 was the consequence, which gave rise to a contest that soon 
 assumed all the horrors of a formal civil war, as the rebels 
 were soon joined by many or most of the Carthaginian sub- 
 jects, among whom they found a couple of the most daring and 
 enterprising leaders. It was not till after a struggle for life 
 and death, and which lasted for four years, that the republic 
 was able to gain the upper hand.^ Notwithstanding the for- 
 tunate termination of this war, it must always be regarded as 
 having laid the foundation for the future calamities of Car- 
 thage. During its continuance it gave rise to a private feud 
 between two great men, which was followed by greater con- 
 sequences than perhaps either of them expected ; Hanno, 
 surnamed the Great,^ and Hamilcar Barca. Hanno, before 
 this war, had been governor of one of the African provinces, 
 and had there lately had an opportunity of extending the 
 dominions of the republic by the conquest of the great city of 
 Hecatompylus and its territory.* Upon the breaking out of 
 the African war, he was at first appointed general, but so 
 greatly did he disappoint the expectations which had been 
 formed of him, that he brought the republic to the brink of 
 ruin.* The blame of this war had been hitherto thrown by 
 the magistrates upon Hamilcar Barca, from his having made 
 such large promises to the mercenaries in Sicily ; notwith- 
 standing this, they now saw it necessary to have recourse to 
 him, and accordingly appointed him commander with Hanno. 
 
 » Polyb. i. p. 406. 
 =» Appian, i. p. 106. 
 
 ' Polybius gives the particulars of it in his first book. 
 He is the same whose party afterwards appears as the party in oppo- 
 sition to that of Hannibal. It seems from Appian, i. 348, that he was still alive at the close 
 of the second Roman war, and therefore must have reached a great age. This also accounts 
 for his party having attained so much strength. ^ , r r ««a 
 
 ♦ Polyb. 1. p. 180, 181. Diodorus, ii. p. 565. He is here called a man fond of fame and 
 extravagant enterprises. * Polyb. i. p. 182, 184, 204. 
 
 His glorious deeds, however, excited, in a short time, so much 
 the jealousy of his colleague, that the senate soon became sens- 
 ible, that the command must be left with one alone ; and that 
 it might give no offence, it left the choice to the army, who 
 decided in favour of Hamilcar. In consequence of this, 
 Hanno, for the present, was dismissed ; but when Fortune 
 again turned her back upon the Carthaginians — when Utica 
 and Hippo had declared for the rebels, and one of the Cartha- 
 ginian generals had been defeated and taken prisoner — they 
 found it impossible to do without him. A particular deputa- 
 tion, therefore, consisting of thirty of its members, was sent by 
 the senate to promote a reconciliation between those two 
 powerful men,^ and this being for the moment effected, a suc- 
 cessful termination of the war was the happy consequence. 
 
 But the spirit of faction, once raised, did not again die. 
 The enemies of Hamilcar, who not only threw upon him the 
 blame of the war, but also the loss of Sardinia, occasioned by 
 it, attacked him formally, by commencing an impeachment. 
 In this danger Hamilcar sought the support of the people. 
 He gained one of the firmest and most popular among them — 
 his future son-in-law, Asdrubal ; he flattered the lower orders, 
 and assembled round him a band of depraved and seditious 
 men.^ While he was in this manner forming for himself a 
 party among the people, it happened that he was not only ac- 
 quitted, but obtained moreover a command in Africa, (where 
 about this time some commotions had broken out among the 
 Numidians,) at first conjointly with Hanno, but afterwards, on 
 the restoration of tranquillity and recall of Hanno, he remained 
 
 sole general.^ 
 
 The appearance of the first general of the republic on the 
 stage as a leader of the people, must necessarily have given a 
 violent shock to the whole fabric of government. Tbe au- 
 thority of the senate, hitherto unimpaired, and through it the 
 whole existing aristocracy, received a blow which made it 
 totter, and from which it never completely recovered. Ha- 
 milcar was, or threatened to become, the Marius of Carthage. 
 
 In this manner there became formed an aristocratic and a 
 democratic party in the republic : the former that of the sen- 
 
 » Polyb. p. 215. * Diodorus, ii. p. 567- An important passage. ^ , ^, __ ., 
 
 »At)Dian i t> 105. The passage of Appian leaves it still undetermined whether Hamil- 
 
 car'sfCacimU during th^e waf of the Mercenaries happened before he oh^neAt^ecov.. 
 
 niand, b c. 216, or two fears later, at its close. By comparing the passages of Diodorus the 
 
 latter seems toie most probable, though I am uncertain. With regard to the fact itself, the 
 
 difference is of little consequence. 
 
134 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. VIII. 
 
 CHAP 
 
 . VIII.] 
 
 DECLINE AND FALL. 
 
 135 
 
 ate and optimates, or higher families, the latter that of the 
 people. It was by the latter that the house of Barca' was at 
 first raised. Perhaps, however, this schism might not have 
 been without remedy, or at least might not have produced the 
 effects it did, if it had not given birth to a new project, the 
 final consequences of which to the republic it was impossible 
 to foresee. 
 
 This project was the conquest of Spain ; and if history had 
 not named Hamilcar as the first mover of it, his situation, at 
 the time it originated, would have pointed the finger of conjec- 
 ture towards him. There is, however, no contemporary cir- 
 cumstance where so little uncertainty prevails. Indeed, ac- 
 cording to the clearest evidence, he undertook the expedition 
 into Spain without the permission of the senate, and was only 
 exculpated by its fortunate results.*^ From this time the con- 
 quest of Spain became the hereditary project of his family, 
 and was the true foundation of its greatness. 
 
 It is easy to trace how the situation of Hamilcar s affairs, at 
 that time, might have directed his attention to this enterprise. 
 He had the twofold character of general and demagogue to sup- 
 port at the same time ; and he must have soon discovered that 
 great treasures, as well as glorious deeds, would be required to 
 maintain his place at the head of his party. To the republic 
 itself this important aggrandization must at the first glance 
 have appeared highly desirable — perhaps even necessary. With 
 its previous political state it could not be satisfied. A new 
 maritime power, not having trade but conquest for its object, 
 had established itself in the Mediterranean, and displaced 
 theirs. Their dominion over the islands was overthrown; 
 Sicily and Sardinia, their best provinces, were lost. Where 
 could they hope to find a better compensation for all these 
 than in Spain, a country in which they had already formed 
 many connexions by their trade and their levies ? If it be, 
 moreover, true, — and as we have the express testimony of se- 
 
 1 1 use this name becatise Roman writers have used it before me, although it is improper. 
 The name of Barca (fulmen) was the personal surname of Hamilcar, and not that of a fa- 
 mily, which were not at all in use in Carthage ; but surnames, derived from particular at- 
 tributes, or even from the resemblance to certain animals, were there very common. This 
 also shows that there was no proper family nobility at Carthage, which without family names 
 cannot easily take root. =* The greatest proof of this is a passage in Appian, i. p. 229. 
 
 " Hamilcar," he says, " being accused by his enemies for his bad management of the first 
 war with Rome, contrived to procure a command against the nomades in Africa, before an- 
 swering for his former conduct. In this war, by his good fortune, by booty, and gifts, he so 
 won over the army, that he led it by way of Gades into Spain, without leave of the Cartha- 
 ginians, whence he sent great treasures to Carthage, in order to gain the people. Thus he 
 drew the Carthaginians on by his conquests and glory to desire the possession of all Spam. 
 
 veral writers, it scarcely admits of a doubt, — that Hamilcar 
 already believed he here saw the means of triumphantly re- 
 newing the struggle with Rome, then we see how his private 
 interest coincided with that of the republic. 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, it is evident that the prosecution 
 of this project shook the entire fabric of the republic to its 
 foundation. Spain was the richest country of the then known 
 world. How great must the power of that house have become 
 which made this ancient Peru in a manner its province ! What 
 interest might it not obtain whenever it chose to cause its 
 treasures to flow to Carthage ! Could there be much difficulty 
 for it even to mount above the rabble and form itself a party 
 in the senate itself, and in this manner to rule the republic, 
 while it undermined the constitution without formally over- 
 throwing it ? And what would have been able to hinder these 
 generals from effectually overthrowing it, as soon as they had 
 formed for themselves there,— as Caesar did in Gaul,— an army 
 entirely dependent upon them. 
 
 That these apprehensions were by no means groundless, his- 
 tory proves by the clearest evidence. As long as the Barcas 
 ruled in Spain, so long did they rule the distant Carthage. 
 During the nine years that Hamilcar had the command there, 
 he found means, either by negociations or force, to subjugate 
 nearly the whole country. By its treasures he supported his 
 influence ; partly by enriching the state-treasury ; but mostly 
 by purchasing the affections of the army, and keeping alive the 
 spirit of his faction.^ While thus the silver of Spam conti- 
 nued to flow towards Carthage, nothing less could be expected 
 than that the possession of this country would be of the high- 
 est consequence in the eyes of the people. Hamilcar did not 
 live to see the execution of his final project ; but when he died, 
 and his son-in-law Asdrubal succeeded him," the formidable 
 power of the Barcine faction began to exhibit itself in an alarm- 
 ing manner. Asdrubal continued the faithful follower of his fa- 
 ther-in-law's system in letting the wealth of Spain flow towards 
 Carthage ;' but his plans in Spain were much more extensive. 
 He built a new capital with regal splendour,* which received 
 the name of New Carthage ; the richest silver mines were 
 opened in its neighbourhood. 
 
 He subdued the Spaniards rather by kindness than by force; 
 
 I Appian, i. p. 106. « b. c. 228 ; ten years from the commencement of the second 
 
 war with Rome. » Appian, i. p. 106. * Diodorus, lu p. 511 ; cf. Polyb. m. 
 
 p. 206. Strabo, p. 220. The present Carthagena. 
 
I. 
 
 is 
 
 136 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. VIII. 
 
 CHAP VIII.] 
 
 DECLINE AND FALL. 
 
 137 
 
 he married the daughter of one of their kings. And being by 
 all the Spaniards acknowledged as their general-in-chief, he 
 endeavoured, according to the account of a contemporary 
 writer/ to lay the foundation of an independent dominion in 
 Spain, having previously made an unsuccessful attempt to 
 cause a revolution in Carthage itself. After having governed 
 Spain for eight years, he fell under the stroke of an assassin ; 
 and Hannibal, whom he had himself formed, was named as his 
 successor, first by the army and afterwards by the senate. The 
 opposite faction in Carthage, however, having found means to 
 gain over the people, were desirous of bringing those persons 
 to an account whom the bribes of Hamilcar and Asdrubal had 
 80 much enriched ;* upon which Hannibal, in order to main- 
 tain himself and his party, commenced with more haste the war 
 against Rome, upon which he had already resolved. 
 
 It is only from a due consideration of ail these circumstances 
 that we can judge of the rise and progress of the Barcine fac- 
 tion, and of the changes which it produced. At its origin it 
 espoused the cause of the people ; but the wealth of Spain was 
 sufficient to corrupt even many of the great, and with them a 
 strong party in the senate, where, at the commencement of the 
 second war with Rome, the Barcas evidently had a decided 
 preponderance. The more, however, the partisans of that 
 house were enriched, the more easy it was for envy to stir up 
 the people for a time against it, till the heroic valour of Han- 
 nibal again put them to silence. 
 
 This flexible disposition of the party is precisely the most 
 striking proof of the truth of the narrative ; for it is one of the 
 grossest mistakes into which history can fall, to consider poli- 
 tical parties, especially in republics, as constant and unchanging 
 bodies ; though there is no more diflScult task for the histo- 
 rian than to trace out their variations. 
 
 From all this the truth and meaning of Polybius's remark, 
 that the Carthaginian government had degenerated before the 
 commencement of the second war with Rome, by an increase 
 of the power of the people, will be set in a just light.^ The 
 senate at that time appears indeed as the ruling body ; but the 
 
 » Namely, of Fabius, in Polyb. i. p. 403. Fabius, as Polybius states it, says Asdnibal 
 "went to Carthage after he had obtained the command in Spain, in order to effect a revolution 
 which should place him at the head of the state. The leading men, however, saw his inten- 
 tion, and united together to prevent it ; whereupon he returned to Spain, and there, without 
 troubling himself about the senate, made himself sole master. The account of Fabius is per- 
 haps exaggerated, though there can be little doubt but it contains much that is true, not- 
 withstanding the severe, but to me very unsatisfactory, criticism of Polybius, which in fact 
 does not refer to this point but to another. We at least see by it what confidence was placed 
 in Asdrubal. * Appian, i. p. 109. » Polyb. ii. p. 563, 564. 
 
 senate itself was ruled by a faction, which relied upon its great 
 favour with the people, though another party was always op- 
 posed to it, of which Hannibal the Great, till the end of the 
 second war, seems to have been the leader. 
 
 But the views and transactions of these two parties require 
 a further development as often as we change the point of view 
 in which we consider them, since no other motive was given to 
 the opponents of the, Barcas, but mere envy at their greatness. 
 
 According to the statements of all writers, the renewing of 
 the struggle with Rome was the sole act and favourite project 
 of the Barcas ; and was connected in the closest manner with 
 their other enterprise — the conquest of Spain, which they pro- 
 secuted with so much good fortune. Hence it was that the ex- 
 pedition came to be undertaken from this country, whence they 
 drew their chief supplies, and led by a general who had been 
 trained to arms in this same country. Its great results are ge- 
 nerally known. The glorious days of Thrasymene and Cannae 
 seem to have surpassed the boldest hopes that could have been 
 formed at Carthage. 
 
 The natural fruits of these victories would have been a 
 peace with Rome upon fair and moderate terms, which would 
 have restored to the republic its lost possessions in Sicily and 
 Sardinia. And in the eyes of such patriots of Carthage as did 
 not desire a war of extermination, this wish appeared the more 
 excusable, as the republic, with all its efforts, could expect to 
 obtain no immediate advantage beyond it. Every victory, 
 however, instead of leading to peace, seems to have driven it 
 to a greater distance. The more the fame of the Barcas was 
 exalted by the war^ the less did they wish for its conclusion ; 
 and this is fully proved by the fact, that in the whole course of 
 the war, previous to Scipio's invasion of Africa, there is not a 
 single word said about any negotiations whatever.^ 
 
 How far this line of policy might be true or false, whether 
 it was possible for Carthage and Rome to exist together or 
 not, it is now unnecessary to discuss. But to those who would 
 not regard the aggrandizement of the Barcas as the object of 
 the war, the reflection will spontaneously arise, that the oppo- 
 site party, from the manner in which they viewed affairs, might 
 also be right, and might not act altogether from dishonourable 
 motives, although they desired peace.* 
 
 ' Polyb. iii. p. 502. , , i. .V ^ ^ ' n 
 
 " There will be found no closer resemblance to the struggle of these two parties in Lar- 
 thage, than that of the Whigs and Tories during the war of the Spanish succession in 
 
138 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. vm. 
 
 CHAP 
 
 . VIII.] 
 
 DECLINE AND FALL. 
 
 1S9 
 
 That it is in this way that the contest between these two 
 parties must be viewed, namely, one as clamorous for peace, 
 the other desirous above all things to continue the war, is clear 
 from what is said by Livy.^ A detailed history of this party- 
 contention cannot be given for want of information. Never- 
 theless we see that towards the end of the war, the party at 
 that time for peace, and which indeed Hannibal joined on his 
 return to Africa, gained the upper hand in the senate ; while a 
 democratic party made use of, on the contrary, all the influence 
 it possessed, to frustrate the pending negotiations.^ 
 
 But whatever change might have taken place in the cha- 
 racter of these parties within themselves, it is at least certain 
 that the Barcine faction maintained a preponderance in the 
 senate during the last years of the war ; the usual opinion, 
 therefore, that the opposition of Hanno crippled the progress 
 of Hannibal by his having sufficient influence to prevent his 
 being supported in Italy, requires at least a good deal of con- 
 firmation to make it consistent. 
 
 Reinforcements and supplies directly from Africa did not at 
 all enter into the immediate plan of the Carthaginian general. 
 It was more particularly one of his great ideas, from the com- 
 mencement of the war to the time he left; Italy, that these 
 should be supplied from another quarter, namely from Spain ; 
 and the whole history of the war is taken in a wrong point of 
 view if this be not duly considered. 
 
 The reasons why he expected to draw what assistance he 
 should require from thence, may be detailed in a few words. 
 Spain was the principal seat of the power and the resources 
 of his house ;^ but, above all, it was the field in which his 
 troops were trained to arms. As the war with Rome had 
 
 England. Were not the latter justified in wishing for pence, although Marlborough, at the 
 head of the Whigs, was against it ? This comparison might be carried still further, and could 
 not fail to be instructive if it were in place here. Perhaps there is not in history a finer 
 parallel than might be draMn between Hannibal and Marlborough, if a Plutarch could be 
 found to do it justice. Their both contending for ten years upon a foreign soil without being 
 subdued would alone be sufficient to justify the comparison. But much more striking 
 similarities are found in their general circumstances ; in their bold enterprises ; in the form- 
 ation of their heterogeneous armies ; in their murderous battles, planned for annihilation ; 
 in their comprehensive political activity ; in their dominion over the men by whom they 
 were surrounded; in their unfortimate fates; and, indeed, even in their perhaps unique 
 weakness, for both were unable to withstand the influence of gold. The proper and au- 
 thentic key to Hannibal's character is found in Polybius, iii. p. 14 i, as the writer obtained it 
 from the mouth of Massinissa, at one time the friend and fellow -warrior of the great 
 Carthaginian. i See the discourse of Hanno, Liv. xxiii. 12. * Appian. i. p. 345, 
 
 ' Some estimate may be formed of the immense income which the Barca family drew from 
 Spain, from what Pliny relates of the produce of the mine Bebulo, (so named from its dis- 
 coverer,) situate near New Carthage, and belonging to Hannibal. Plin. xxxiii. 6. '* Ex 
 quibus Bebulo puteus appcUatur hodieque, qui ccc pondo Hannibali subministravit in dies." 
 That is, three hundred lioman pounds of silver, making about one hundred thousand 
 pounds a year. 
 
 never relaxed here, armies were here formed that were already 
 accustomed to stand before the legions; consequently they 
 must have been infinitely superior to the raw, newly-raised 
 
 levies from Africa. ^ , r. i • • 
 
 Hence, therefore, the great design of the Carthaginian 
 creneral, (to effect which he unceasingly laboured from the 
 commencement of the war,) that his brother Asdrubal should 
 reinforce him with a second army from Spain, whose place 
 should be supplied by a body of troops from Africa, in order 
 still to maintain a preponderance there against Rome.^ 
 
 The truth of this remark appears evident, as well from the 
 history of the war, as from the continual preponderance of the 
 Barcas in the Carthaginian senate. The order to march to- 
 wards Italy was sent to Asdrubal from Carthage, immediately 
 after the account had been received of the great victory of 
 Cannae and a new army to act in Spain was sent there under 
 the command of Hamilco.^ The Romans, however, were aware 
 of this design, and it was therefore the task of the two Scipios 
 in Spain to hinder its execution. They did this at first by the 
 victory near the Ebro,^ whereupon Mago, the other brother ot 
 Hannibal, was sent into Spain by the Carthaginians even in 
 the very same year, b. c. 215, with a strong reinforcement 
 But the double victory of the Scipios near Illiturgi, purchased 
 them a continuance of the superiority.^ The Carthaginians 
 nevertheless, sent over a third army, under the command ot 
 Asdrubal the son of Gisco ;' while, just about the same time, 
 another must have been sent, together with a fleet, to the 
 assistance of the besieged Syracuse.^ The treble victory ot 
 Munda, however, b. c. 214, enabled Scipio to maintain his 
 ground.^ After these bold and active operations, the struggle 
 rather slumbered here for two years,^ when the Romans tell 
 into the trap the Carthaginians had set for them and the two 
 Scipios were slain- (212). The victory gained by Marcius 
 over the Carthaginians, and the still more important entrance 
 
 » Doctor Becker, of Razeburg, to whom we are indebted ^^^^.^^X^^f^ti'^^^^^^ 
 tory to a history of the second Punic war, diSers from me in this and so^^^^^ 
 coniss that his'arguments do not comince me. I tl^^^l^vt^^^;,;^',^^^^^^^^^ but ^^e 
 to the reader's judgment, as the question here is ««* ^^r^noe ofoninLTmay b^tL m^^^ 
 opinion formed respecting them ; and here, perhaps, ^f erence ot «P J "^ °^^^^ importance 
 instructive. Concerning the main object in the eyes of t^^^^^f^,*^^^^^^^^ 
 ofthe Spanish war, (although perhaps originally begun ^^^^.^trSt tXht in t^^^^ 
 servation of that country, which I believe to have been hrst Wght to hght n th^sjo^^, 
 there is no difference of opinion between us. • il* S^mnnibS Polvb i p. 608. 
 
 They feared the execution of this plan from the ^rst .ic^oiroj Hannibal. Po^yb i^ p^^ ^^^ 
 
140 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. VIII. 
 
 CHAP 
 
 . viii.J 
 
 DECLINE AND FALL. 
 
 141 
 
 of the younger Scipio into Spain in the next year, still delayed 
 the execution of the plan ; but as the Carthaginians founded 
 their only hopes of success upon its completion, they prose- 
 cuted it with the more zeal for these hinderances,^ and made 
 the greatest preparations to reinforce the army of Spain. The 
 victory of Scipio, and all his efforts, could not prevent its ac- 
 complishment ;^ Asdrubal crossed the Pyrenees and Alps with 
 a numerous army ; and had he not lost his life in Umbria, the 
 fame of the deified Scipio might have been placed in a critical 
 situation. 
 
 Probably, from the course of this war, we may in some de- 
 gree account for that decline of the maritime forces of the re- 
 public during it, which even ancient writers have considered 
 as one of the main causes of its fall,^ and which no where ap- 
 pears more evident than in Scipio's crossing over to Africa 
 without a fleet being sent out to oppose him. In the prosecu- 
 tion of their design the Barcas had but little occasion for a 
 navy, it had held therefore only a secondaiy place ; and the 
 powerful exertions which the land service cost, perhaps ren- 
 dered it impossible to maintain the other upon an equal 
 footing. 
 
 However this may have been, what we have above said will 
 sufficiently answer the question how this party-spirit first arose. 
 And it is, properly, upon this question that the fall of every 
 republic usually depends. A nation united in itself is un- 
 
 ' Liv. xxvii. 5. • An obscurity hovers over this point of history, both in Polybius 
 
 and Livy, which cannot but surprise every attentive reader. It must be allowed that Scipio 
 committed one of the greatest militarj' faults in permitting this expedition of Asdrubal if it 
 were in his power to prevent it. Although he gained, according to Polybius, iii. p. 2S0, a 
 victorv over Asdrubal, he did not consider it prudent to follow him to the Pyrenees, whither 
 he had fled with the remains of his army, and Asdrubal appears a few months later, and after 
 a rapid harassing march, with fifty-six thousand men in Italy. Is not this enough to awaken 
 some suspicion respecting this victor)- ? Can we help suspecting that the writer desired to 
 touch upon this subject as lightly as possible, which he knew would not be agreeable to the 
 family of Scipio ? He certainly states, as a reason for Scipio's not following him, that he 
 feared the two other Carthaginian generals ; but does this free him from the reproach of 
 having suffered himself to be outreached by Asdrubal ? But even in the account of Livy, the 
 fact bears a somewhat different appearance. He mentions, it is true, the victory of Scipio 
 near Beecula (xxvii. 18, 19) ; but he states at the same time, that Asdrubal had made pre- 
 parations before the battle to march towards the Pyrenees ; and that Scipio, although he was 
 advised to follow him, thought it sufficient to occupy the mountain passes with a body of 
 troops (xxvii. 20). Appian, however, (i. p. 135,) places these events in a much clearer light. 
 According to his account, Scipio, before the said battle, was in a very perilous situation. The 
 battle, the issue of which long remained doubtful, but finally decided for Scipio, helped him 
 out of this (Polybius, therefore, certainly might, without being false to history, ascribe the 
 victory to Scipio). But Asdrubal had, before this, caused numerous levies to be raised on 
 the northern coasts ; and, deceiving Scipio, he suddenly turned thitherward, and, with the 
 troops there assembled, crossed the Pyrenees. To none of the generals of that period has 
 lees justice been done than to Asdrubal. A fair character of him mav be found in Diodorus, 
 u. p. 669 ; where he is said to be, without dispute, the first general after his brother Hanni- 
 bal. He is ranked, moreover, next to him as well as Mago, Hannibal's younger brother, by 
 Polybius, iii. p. 138. History rarely exhibits a similar race of heroes ! Thev are mighty men. 
 They rank too high to be obscured by centuries. » Appian, i. p. 310. 
 
 conquerable; but the most mighty people become an easy 
 prey to their enemies when the spirit of faction prevails over 
 
 ^ How violent this spirit must have been, during the second 
 struggle with Rome, is plainly shown by the deep degeneration 
 of the government at its close. The relation of Livy, notwith- 
 standing the Roman colouring he has given to it, leaves no 
 doubt on this head.' According to him, a powerful body of 
 the republic, which he calls the order of knights, had usurped 
 a tyrannical authority, and exercised a despotic power over the 
 goods and persons of the citizens.' Its members held their 
 places for life, and as they appointed the ministers of the trea- 
 sury, they had that in their interest. From what we know of 
 the Carthaginian constitution, this order of knights was most 
 probably the council of the hundred, which in this stormy 
 period found the best opportunity of founding a reign of ter- 
 rors,— the fruit usually brought forth by the not of faction. 
 When Hannibal became head of the commonwealth, he an- 
 nihilated these abuses by a twofold reform ; as he made the 
 offices of the centumvirate annual instead of for life, and re- 
 gulated the management of the treasury. But even these 
 reforms nourished the spirit of faction, as Hannibal thereby 
 made all those his enemies who had fed upon the public ; and 
 
 ^ Ory>JLm: In explaining this passage of Livy, much i^^^^^^^^^X^iv^lTo^^^^ 
 use of Roman appellations, must be left to conjecture. I ^l^erefore be^^^^^^^ of i^ 
 
 may be taken in this light. Two things are certam. First : the ordo judwuni was a tuga 
 state and police tribunal. Secondly : Hannibal was at the head of it iVJ^^l'^'^'l ^f : 
 judicum factus). I take it, therefore, to be the centumvirate, or 9eruSl^;^^l^^^^\l^ ^^l 
 Vhich arose out of the anarchy, and usurped a tyrannical power. In the ^mma the^^u^^ 
 fetes enjoyed the presidency. The expression prcetor, therefore, fj^f j.^^J^f ^^"5^ 
 or we must suppose it to mean an extraordinary magistrate, a sort "^l^Xy^^lf^othe ^^l 
 warrior kind, which, under the extraordinary circumstances ^f ^^^P^Xf Zren^^^^ As 
 prising. At all evcAts, Hannibal stood as chief magistrate at the head ^l^^^J^"^"^^^^ 
 such he cited the qucestor before him, who could be «« /tl^^r t]f^.f„^^£f,* ^^^^^^ 
 finance. He did not, however, obey him. as he was «f t^^"' ^^?^,„^^^^^^ 
 brought into the ordo j^idicum, the centumvirate. According to fnstotle (see above p 0»^ 
 when they left the pentarchies, they became members of the ^^.^^^^^^^^ J* 'J'J.^^ ^ff^^ 
 fore, highly probable that the quaestor was chief of the pentarchy ^^^^^h ^^^f^^^ ^^^ f^^^ 
 of the tris^ry. This agrees with what we learn from Aristotle, (^^f^«^^«Jf.; P;^^^ 'eon- 
 when persons 'left the pentarchies they entered into t^^^^ ?J™Xp S"Te membe^^ 
 sisted of two objects. First, in making the duration of the «^f «^^f/„J"^^^ 
 centumvirate vearly instead of for life, which broke the «l'S^''fj^P?^^f ^^^^^^^^ 
 and secondly, by reforming the abuses of the treasury ; partly ^J "^^^L w t^^^ This 
 ment of the arrears, and partly by restoring to the state that ^J^f ^^^^t Ilso with all 
 interpretation seems to me to igree best, not only with the '^''^^.^'^J^^'^^^ Sity 
 
 we kSow of the Carthaginian government in the better days of thej^^^hc 1 he ^d^nty 
 of the gerusia and centSmvirate as a high state trjbunal,^^^^^^^^^ "f.^th^u^teTli?e S 
 confirmed by a passage in Livy, xxxiv. 61. ^hen, says J^. 7'l^'^ • . ^t who 
 in order to administer justice, {ad Jus dicendum,)the note «^,^"s*« ^*^^^ 
 had fled, of Hannibal) was found posted up m their ^^^t^' ;^f\",^ *^.^^^^^^^ 
 not to private persons, but ad seniores, (ita senatum ^^f"'*^') J^^^^^^^^^^^^wLfe e^^^^^ 
 which the suffetes, in order to administer justice, were the presidente.^ For where, excepi 
 in that assembly, could the note mentioned be more properly tixed up . 
 
142 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS. 
 
 [chap. VIII. 
 
 CHAP. VIII.] 
 
 DECLINE AND FALL. 
 
 143 
 
 the stipulations of the last peace with Rome were not suffered 
 to die away. 
 
 In the decline of free states every misfortune becomes dou- 
 bled, as it scarcely ever fails to re-animate the fury of parties. 
 Mortified pride seeks for revenge ; and the guilt of unsuccess- 
 ful war, and humiliating peace, is hurled from one party to the 
 other. Their mutual hate is thus not only increased, but be- 
 comes greater than their hate to the most haughty foe ; and 
 thus becomes explained the melancholy, though in history 
 constantly recurring phenomenon, that it becomes easy to the 
 latter, in such states, to form itself a party, which enables it 
 to accomplish its designs. 
 
 This melancholy phenomenon showed itself at Carthage, in 
 its fullest extent, after the second peace with Rome. A Ro- 
 man party, first formed by the opponents of Hannibal, per- 
 formed the office of continual spies for that republic.^ The 
 expulsion of that great man, who in the afflictions of his coun- 
 try showed himself above all party-spirit, was their work, and 
 is the best proof of their strength and their blindness. Who 
 was to fill up the void caused by his absence ? 
 
 But the last peace with Rome contained, by the relation in 
 which it placed Massinissa with Carthage, a condition, which 
 seems not less to have contributed to the internal disorder. 
 In him the republic clearly saw a neighbour and overseer, who, 
 by the help of the Romans, sought to aggrandize himself at 
 its expense, and who at last snatched away the best portion 
 of its territory, the rich district of Emporia.^ He also found 
 means to buy himself a party in Carthage, which at last be- 
 came so daring, that they were driven from the city,' and 
 thereby gave occasion to that unfortunate war which led to 
 the f^ll of Carthage. 
 
 There certainly stood opposed to these factions, as might 
 be expected, a party of patriots,* who, by bringing to remem- 
 brance the happy days of the time gone by, strove to recall 
 them. It seems never, however, to have found a leader worthy 
 of that rank;^ and plain traces show, that it suffered itself to 
 be provoked by its opponents into a precipitate and incautious 
 
 » Liv. xxxiii. 47. « Polyb. iv. p. 547. 
 
 * Appian, i. p. 394. No other writer has so accurately described the outrages which 
 Carthage had to endure from Massinissa. 
 
 * These three factions are distinguished and described by Appian, i. p. 390. The im- 
 mense population of the city, which, even in its latest periods, is estimated at seven hundred 
 thousand, must have made the contention of these factions dreadful. 
 
 * Compare Polybius's portraiture of the last Carthaginian general, Asdrubal, iv. p. 701. 
 
 line of conduct, which was rather hurtful than conducive to 
 
 ^^ tSs viXnce of factions, the accurate detail of which must 
 he left to a proper history of Carthage, continued with little 
 interruption from Hanmbal's exile to the overthrow of the 
 reoublic. The life of Massinissa seemed as if it would never 
 Mose • and his pretensions increased with his years. In the 
 Roman senate a party ^as formed, principally by Ae offended 
 purTty and hateful passions of the elder Cato whose watch- 
 word was the annihilation of Carthage, which led to the speedy 
 
 renewal of hostilities. 
 
 The last struggle of the unfortunate republic requires no 
 commentary. It was the struggle of a giant in despair, who, 
 ceS of destruction, would not fall ingloriously How many 
 and what causes had long been working together to render 
 this fall at last unavoidable, it has been the object of the fore- 
 go ng work to develop; and the close of t i.s grea tragedy 
 Lfirms the observation, that Rome trusted to itself and is 
 sword-Carthage to its gold and its mercenaries Jl'^ great- 
 ness of Rome was founded upon a rock ; that of Carthage 
 upon sand and gold-dust. 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 Chap. I. Geographical Survey of the Ethiopian Nations. 
 
 ^ ^^^Tr^^ ox. THP EARTH, WHOSE INHABITANTS ARE THE 
 
 Until we can obtain fuller and better information respecting 
 the nations of inner Africa, there must necessarily remain 
 several wide gaps in the history of our race, whose number and 
 grrness it Sill perhaps be impossible to f -«^ ^^^^^^ 
 until these shall have been filled up. This observation may be 
 applied indifferently to the moral and physical state of man^ 
 Africa, from its situation, natura ly contains the greatest vanety 
 of the human race, in a physical point of view ; and it may be 
 fair to conjecture, from that very circumstance, that the moral 
 differences are equally numerous. 
 
 . Compare what Livy says of G«co. the son of HamUcar. Epitom. 1. Mu. 
 
144 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. I. 
 
 CHAP. 1.] 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 
 
 145 
 
 I He who wishes to examine the influences of climate on na- 
 ture, and particularly on the outward figure and colour of man, 
 will find Africa the only quarter of the world which offers him 
 an unbroken chain from almost the highest to the lowest grade 
 of physical organization. Neither Europe nor Asia contain 
 continents which reach to the equator; in America various 
 causes concur to weaken the influence of climate;^ besides 
 which European policy has taken so much pains since its dis- 
 covery, to exterminate and corrupt the aboriginal tribes, par- 
 ticularly the better and more cultivated, that the philosopher is 
 deprived of the materials most worthy of, and which would 
 best repay, his attention. Australasia, and the newly-dis- 
 covered islands of the South Sea, are only so many links of a 
 chain every where torn asunder. Africa, on the contrary, forms 
 of itself one immense whole ; one continent, which, arisino- 
 under the temperate zone, stretches, without losing much of 
 its width, across the line, and finally tapers off almost to a 
 point, in the temperate zone of the southern hemisphere. This 
 vast tract is every where sown with nations, which, like the 
 various kinds of corn before the introduction of husbandry, 
 have sprung up in various shapes, under the fostering hand of 
 nature alone, and are ripening towards civilization. 
 
 The inhabitants of the northern coast differ but little in 
 colour and form from the Europeans; but the difference 
 gradually becomes more striking ; as we approach the equator, 
 the colour darkens, the hair becomes more woolly, the profile 
 undergoes a remarkable change, and man at last becomes alto- 
 gether a negro. Beyond the equator, the figure and swarthy 
 colour of this unhappy race are again lost in successive grada- 
 tions. The Caffres and Hottentots seem to have, from what 
 we know of them, much of the negro nature, without however 
 being completely negroes.^ 
 
 All the innumerable varieties of form therefore found in the 
 human species, and every shade of colour from the white to 
 the negro, are exhibited before us on the vast scene of Africa, 
 and certainly there only in an uninterrupted series. How dif- 
 ferent then will this important branch of natural history ap- 
 pear, when the labours of capable travellers shall have given 
 us, by their drawings, descriptions, and researches, such an 
 accurate and scientific detail of these variations, as shall enable 
 
 * Zimraermann, Geographical History of Mankind^ i. p. 78. 
 * Blumenbach's Natural History, i. p. 66. 
 
 us to form a true idea of these successive and gradual changes, 
 of which, up to the present time, taking into our account even 
 the latest discoveries, we know scarcely anythmg more, than 
 that they justify us in drawing the above general mferences. 
 
 The additions likely to be made from these sources to our 
 knowledge of the great families of mankind, both in a moral 
 and psychological point of view, are perhaps yet more con- 
 siderable. But we still require better information of what 
 man is, and may become, in those regions. For which shall 
 we take as our standard ? Not, I hope, those unfortunate 
 beings who, torn from their country, their friends, and from all 
 those associations which affect the heart of a negro, groan be- 
 yond the ocean under the tyranny of the European whose lash 
 would soon suppress every development of mind, which, in 
 spite of his cruelty, might show itself.-Or shall we take it 
 from the report of travellers? Our circle of information has 
 certainly been enlarged by them during the last ten years, and 
 adventurers have pressed forward from the north, from the 
 west, and from the south, yet the most persevering of them 
 have been unable to reach Tombuctoo, or any other large in- 
 land town where the civilization of these nations has reached a 
 higher point ; or if they have reached it, we still lack anything 
 like accurate information respecting it.; What, however, we 
 have learned from Leo Africanus, and from Mungo Park and 
 his successors, justly excites our admiration, though it is tar 
 from satisfying our curiosity. What a picture of rising cultw 
 vation did Pjrk catch a glance of in the neighbourhood of 
 Seego, on the banks of the Joliba ! The great question re- 
 Sg the rise and first formation of states, which hitherto 
 has been little more than an object of specu ation, seem«here 
 likely to become historically answered. Religion, eg ^ ">n 
 national law, all appear here in their infancy, but still in a 
 great variety of changing shapes, and show in as many ways 
 
 . The latest known travellers, Denhan> ^l^V^^^'.^'^'^ttf^^^n^^'s'"^'- 
 have penetrated as far as 10« N lat. ; from *J ^ape on the soum ^^^^^^^ 
 
 pusheS into the neighbourhood of the «°"*^™ *"£"*! fr^r?h^^^ of Africa in the 
 where the advance of a mighty nomad people, *^™»°n?' „^^ a long period. The 
 year 1823, wiU probably prevent the ^^h I^kaTjmrnSJ^lM JanlaJy 1824, pnb- 
 
 7ke^rhfp=Sn^^f«f^^^^ 
 S'm^"e^;a-d^5.be^rrA:t»^ 
 
 ^'j^^dn^etw^i^-LrSvSj^fXV'^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 in Appendix, ix. Translator.\ 
 
146 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [CHA-P. I. 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 
 
 147 
 
 their influence upon these still uncultivated people.^ The 
 great machinery, such as general emigrations, vast conquests, 
 either by rude or civilized nations, suddenly-arising and far- 
 spreading systems of religion, which have at one time acceler- 
 ated, and at others abruptly retarded, the progress of civilization 
 in other quarters of the globe, seem to have had much less 
 efiect in the interior of Africa. The propagation of the Ma- 
 hometan religion, which has penetrated as far as the countries 
 on the Niger, is perhaps the only external shock that these na- 
 tions have received, and this, though it certainly has had some 
 effect, has produced no rapid or remarkable consequences. AH 
 here is left to itself, and moves along in the slow, but certain 
 
 course of nature. 
 
 Except the Egyptians, there is no aboriginal people of 
 Africa with so many claims upon our attention as the Ethi- 
 opians ; from the remotest times to the present, one of the 
 most celebrated and yet most mysterious of nations. In the 
 earliest traditions of nearly all the more civilized nations of 
 antiquity, the name of this distant people is found. The an- 
 nals of the Egyptian priests were full of them ; the nations of 
 inner Asia, on the Euphrates and Tigris, have interwoven the 
 fictions of the Ethiopian with their own traditions of the con- 
 quests and wars of their heroes ; and, at a period equally re- 
 mote, they glimmer in Greek mythology. When the Greeks 
 scarcely knew Italy and Sicily by name, the Ethiopians were 
 celebrated in the verses of their poets ; " they are the remotest 
 nation, the most just of men ; the favourites of the gods. The 
 lofty inhabitants of Olympus journey to them, and take part m 
 their feasts ; their sacrifices are the most agreeable of all that 
 mortals can offer them."' And when the faint gleam of tra- 
 dition and fable gives way to the clear light of history, the 
 lustre of the Ethiopians is not diminished. They still con- 
 tinue the object of curiosity and admiration ; and the pen of 
 cautious, clear-sighted historians often places them in the 
 highest rank of knowledge and civilization. 
 
 To what shall we attribute this early renown of one of the 
 most distant nations of the earth ? How did the fame of its 
 name penetrate the terrible desert which surrounds it, and, 
 
 1 Those, for example, who would learn the origin of repiiblics, or ^^^^^ wish to sec the 
 ffrowth of mysteries and secret tribiamh, may consult Golbcrry's account of the institution 
 Sf the Purrah among the Foulahs. [The author here alludes to the/ ehmgerichte, ^^^^f' 
 tution peculiar to Westphaha, and made use of by Sir Walter Scott in Anne of Geierstein J 
 
 « See all the passages where Homerspeaks of the Ethiopians, for example, Odyss. i. v. J.6, eic. 
 
 even still, forms an almost insuperable bar to all who would 
 approach it ? To suppose all the above particulars the mere 
 offspring of the poet's imagination, will scarcely be allowed by 
 any at all acquainted with the nature of early traditions. But 
 if they were more than this, if the reports respecting this peo- 
 ple were founded in truth, then the above questions become 
 of the greatest importance to ancient history, and have the 
 stronger claim to our attention ; as no one yet, within the circle 
 of my knowledge, has at all satisfactorily answered them. 
 
 A great many nations, different and distant from one an- 
 other, are comprised under the name of Ethiopian. It would 
 be taking a distorted view of the subject to consider them as 
 one nation, or even as one race. The study of the natural 
 history of man was but little cultivated in antiquity ; nations 
 were distinguished according to the most remarkable differ- 
 ence in their appearance, namely, their colour ; and thus all 
 those who were strikingly distinguished from Europeans by a 
 very dark, or completely black skin, received the general ap- 
 pellation of Ethiopians. 
 
 After these remarks it will not seem strange that we find 
 Ethiopian nations scattered over a great part of the ancient 
 world. Africa certainly contained the greatest number of 
 them, yet they were not the only inhabitants of this part of the 
 world, nor were they confined to it alone. A considerable 
 tract of Asia was occupied by an Ethiopian race; and as 
 India was often made to comprise southern Africa, so, in like 
 manner, Ethiopia is frequently made to include southern India. 
 It is of great importance to the general scope of this inquiry, 
 that we should show somewhat more accurately the extent 
 and variety of the seats of these nations. It is, however, 
 scarcely necessary to notice, that, of the ancient writers, only 
 the more eminent historians and geographers can find a place 
 here ; as what we attempt will be rather a general geographi- 
 cal outline, and a detail of particulars. 
 
 They agree, for the most part, in dividing the native tribes 
 of Africa into two distinct classes, the Libyans and the Ethi- 
 opians. 
 
 " Thus much I know," says Herodotus,^ " four nations oc- 
 cupy Africa, and no more ; two of these nations are aboriginal, 
 and two not. The Libyans and Ethiopians are aboriginal ; the 
 former lying northward, and the latter southward, in Libya ; 
 
 « Herod, iv. 197. 
 L 2 
 
148 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. I. 
 
 the foreign settlers are Phoenicians and Greeks." This division 
 will be found exactly followed by succeeding writers ; although 
 they are not very accurate in the use of names. And, not- 
 withstanding we should grant that no essential distinction of 
 races is here pointed at, yet it is at least evident, that the in- 
 habitants of the north and the southern parts of northern 
 Africa, are so distinguished from one another, and particularly 
 by the colour of their skin, that they considered them as en- 
 tirely different races. 
 
 The father of history, therefore, as well as the other Greek 
 writers, comprised under the name of Libyans^ all the nations 
 which they knew in northern Africa without the territory of 
 the Carthaginians and Greeks, as well as the separate tribes, 
 which, as far as the Lesser Syrtis, Herodotus has so carefully 
 enumerated;^ and the nomad tribes of western north Africa, 
 which later writers have rescued from obscurity, equally be- 
 long to them.^ The first important question, therefore, that 
 presents itself, is, who were these nations, and are any of their 
 descendants now to be found ? 
 
 Since the migratory invasions of the Arabs north Africa has 
 been so much changed, with regard to its inhabitants, that this 
 question cannot be answered without great difficulty. These 
 conquerors have, by partly living in towns, and by the pastoral 
 life of the far greater number, spread themselves over every 
 part of northern Africa, where they are now comprised under 
 the name of Moors.* Their tribes wander over the vast tracts 
 between the Mediterranean Sea and the Senegal and Joliba ; 
 and are notorious as a nation for their savage barbarity and 
 religious fanaticism. It has, however, for a long time been 
 ascertained that they certainly are not the only inhabitants of 
 these extensive regions. Even early travellers^ distinguished 
 from them a race known by the name of Berbers, who dwell 
 in the southern provinces of Barbary and Morocco, and espe- 
 cially in the Atlas mountains, whither they have been pressed 
 back by the progress of the conquering Arabs, as they had 
 previously been by the Vandals.^ But the recent discoveries 
 
 » The Egyptians, of course, are not included in this remark, as their country was not 
 usually considered as forming part of Libya. This also applies to the Arab tribes, who, as 
 -will hereafter be shown, migrated to the east coast of Africa and Ethiopia at a very eariy 
 period. * See above, p. 7, 10. * See above, p. 127. 
 
 ♦ This name is often improperly applied to all the inhabitants of northern Afnca, to ais- 
 tinguish them from the negroes ; but it can only correctly be used to distmguish the Arao 
 tribes in Africa, from the north coast to Sahara, who are likewise known by their language. 
 
 * See the narratives of Hoest, Shaw, etc. . , 
 
 • We learn from Procopius, De Bello Vandalico, that they attempted, m the time oi wit 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 
 
 149 
 
 in Africa have thrown a new light upon this circumstance, or 
 at least changed the thick darkness in which it was enveloped 
 into a glimmering twilight. Without, then, attempting to 
 prove their common descent, or relationship, I shall comprise 
 under the name of Berbers all the aboriginal tribes of northern 
 Africa beyond Egypt, from the Atlantic Sea to the Arabian 
 Gulf, in opposition to the Moors and negroes. This survey 
 will be facilitated by our separating the western half from 
 
 the eastern. 
 
 The narratives of Hornemann^ and Lyon have now made 
 us acquainted with two nations in the western countries alto- 
 gether different from the Arabs and negroes : we mean the 
 Tibboos and Tuaricks, both of whom, from their widely-ex- 
 tended places of abode, and especially the latter, demand our 
 consideration. They dwell, says Hornemann, to the south and 
 west of Fezzan ; their territory being bounded on the south- 
 east by Bornou, on the south by the negro countries, and on 
 the west by Fez and Morocco. Settlements of them, however, 
 are to be met with in Fezzan itself, in Augila and Siwali, in 
 which places the language of the Tuaricks is the proper lan- 
 guage of the inhabitants. They are, indeed, divided into many 
 tribes, but all speak the same language, which is entirely dif- 
 ferent from the Arabic. The proofs of this which have been 
 sent to England have led to a very important consequence, as 
 it has been found by comparison to be exactly the same as that 
 spoken by the above-mentioned Berbers in the Atlas moun- 
 tains;^ so that no doubt can remain but that these and the 
 Tuaricks are one and the same people. With regard to their 
 colour, though it certainly is not exactly the same in some of 
 the tribes, yet the difference seems in a great measure to de- 
 pend upon their place of abode and their manner of living ; 
 and, properly speaking, they are but mere variations of the 
 tint, which, owing to these causes, is sometimes lighter and 
 sometimes darker. The western branch of this race are white, 
 so far as the climate and their habits will allow it. Others are 
 of a yellow cast, like the Arabs ; others again swarthy ; and 
 in the neighbourhood of Soudan there is said to be a tribe 
 
 Vandals to retrain possession of their lost territories. To seek for a Carthaginian or Vandal 
 i;rnoSow!ver,^^^^^^^^^^ of Africa, would be as fruitless an undertakn^ as it would 
 
 be rash to deny tliat Phoenician or German blood has not ^^^^dj^tj^^*,^^^,^^*^^ *^^^^ 
 which, perhaps, has even had some influence upon their colour. The account we shall pre- 
 sently give of the Tuaricks may probably confirm this conjecture. 
 
 1 Hornemann, p. 129 — 132. ^oc 
 
 ' See the comparison made by Marsden. Hornemann, p. J^, 
 
150 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. 1. 
 
 CHAP. !•] 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 
 
 151 
 
 completely black. Their lineaments, nevertheless, have no- 
 thing in them of the negro kind. The Mahometan religion 
 has been introduced among them, but has not been very ge- 
 nerally adopted : paganism mostly prevails. They usually 
 lead a nomad life, though some have fixed abodes ; they are 
 slimly made, and rather above than under the common height. 
 Their moral character is favourably spoken of, and they would 
 probably become, if their natural talents were better cultivated 
 and enlightened, one of the first nations of the world. Com- 
 merce is their principal occupation ; their caravans ply between 
 the negro countries and Fezzan ; and the principal city of the 
 latter country, otherwise desolate and lonely, becomes enlivened 
 at their arrival. 
 
 These particulars are confirmed and extended by Captain 
 Lyon, who observed the Tuaricks^ at Fezzan. He says they 
 are the finest race of men he ever saw ; tall, straight, and hand- 
 some, with a certain air of independence and pride, which is 
 very imposing. They are generally white ; the dark brown of 
 their complexions only being occasioned by the heat of the 
 climate. Their arms and bodies are as fair as many Europeans. 
 They certainly are whites, though somewhat tanned. Their 
 costume is composed of cotton ; and they are very partial to 
 blue and striking colours, especially the merchants, who gener- 
 ally dress very gaudily while in the towns. They all wear a 
 whip, hanging from a belt passed over the left shoulder. 
 Their weapons are a long sword and a dagger, without which 
 no Tuarick is ever seen, and a long elegant spear, highly orna- 
 mented, and sometimes made entirely of iron. Their language 
 is the Breber, or original African tongue, still spoken in the 
 mountains behind Tunis, in some parts of Morocco, and at 
 Sockna, where it is called Ertana. They are very proud of 
 its antiquity. They are Moslems; but their knowledge of 
 religion very often consists in a mere form of prayer. They 
 inhabit that immense tract found in our maps under the name 
 of Sahara, or the great desert, and are of numerous tribes, some 
 of whom wander like the Arabs, and subsist by plunder. 
 They travel on the maherri, or dromedary, with which they 
 perform incredibly swift journeys. Many of their tribes are 
 in perpetual war with the Soudan states, from whom they 
 carry off an immense number of slaves, the principal article 
 
 » Narrative, p. 108—112. Compare his plates, ten and eleven, where they are represented 
 in their costume and finery. The custom of covering the lower part of the countenance, 
 from the nose downwards, serves as a protection from the sand and hot wind. 
 
 of their trade. The nearest place of the Tuaricks is ten days' 
 iourney to the south of Morzouk. 
 
 It is therefore evident that even still an extensive people, 
 quite distinct from the Arabs and the negroes, is scattered 
 over the G;reater part of northern Africa, and that the chief 
 part of the commerce of inner Africa is in their hands. His- 
 tory is silent respecting the migration of any such nation into 
 Africa ; and everything tends to prove them aboriginal. Their 
 habits and their business bear a striking resemblance to that of 
 the Libyans of old : and their seat would still have been the 
 same, if powerful conquerors had not driven them from the 
 sea-coasts, and compelled them to purchase their liberty and 
 independence by a retreat into the innermost parts of the de- 
 sert. Can any one doubt after this that these Tuaricks are 
 the descendants of the ancient Libyans ? Perhaps it only re- 
 quires a more accurate knowledge of them than it has yet been 
 possible to obtain, to confirm many of the little traits which 
 Herodotus relates concerning them, and, among others, the 
 reason of his regarding them as more healthy than the rest of 
 
 the world.^ 
 
 The Tibboos, frequently mentioned, are, m every respect, a 
 different people from the Tuaricks, in their appearance, their 
 manner of living, and their language. Their colour is of the 
 brightest black ; but their profile has nothing of the negro 
 character:^ they have aquiline noses, fine teeth, and lips 
 formed like those of Europeans. In the matter of civilization 
 they are below the Tuaricks, living partly in caves, and partly 
 in villages upon barren rocks or hills, in order to escape being 
 plundered by the Tuaricks and Fezzanese, who carry them off 
 as slaves. They follow the slave trade, however, themselves, 
 but do not trade to Soudan. The female sex are well made, 
 and, like the negroes, love dancing.— By thus comparing the 
 Tuaricks and Tibboos I am almost led to conjecture that the 
 population of the former has spread from north to south, and 
 the latter from south to north. To draw an accurate line 
 between the ancient Libyans and Ethiopians would be as 
 difficult a task as it would be between the present negro tribes 
 and the Moors and Tuaricks. It is certainly very probable 
 that the southern boundaries of the great desert may m general 
 be taken as the limits of the negro countries ; yet it is equally 
 certain, that separate black tribes, either completely negro or 
 
 » Herod, iv. 187. ' Ly«>». Narrative, p. 225, etc. 
 
152 
 
 ETHIOPUNS. 
 
 [chap. I, 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 
 
 153 
 
 not, have penetrated, both in ancient and modem times, a con- 
 siderable way into the great desert. According to the state- 
 ment upon Lyon's map, the black population begins under the 
 28° N. Lat. The fact mentioned by Herodotus, of the Ethi- 
 opians being hunted by the Garamantes in four-horse chariots,^ 
 and the separate tribes of them, dwelling along the Atlantic 
 coast, almost as far as Cerne,^ prove it to have been the same 
 in early times ; and it has already been remarked, from the nar- 
 ratives of modern travellers, that in the Tibesti mountains, the 
 very same territory where the Garamantes hunted the Ethiopi- 
 ans, black people were, or even still are, to be found.^ If the 
 numerous interminglings of the various tribes, which here 
 must necessarily have taken place, be taken into consideration, 
 the impossibility of placing an accurate boundary line between 
 the Libyans and Ethiopians will easily be perceived. 
 
 I shall now turn from the western nations of north Africa, 
 to the eastern ; to the inhabitants of the banks of the Nile above 
 Egypt, and the adjacent countries, as far as the Arabian Gulf; 
 in order to throw some light upon what the ancients have said 
 concerning them. As their country in general is comprised 
 under the name of Ethiopia, the name has been transferred to 
 its inhabitants ; and they are called Ethiopians, because their 
 colour happens to be dark, without respect to their descent. 
 But all writers have not expressed themselves with equal ac- 
 curacy. 
 
 Herodotus is the first who fairly claims our attention. His 
 accounts here, as well as every where else, show the deep in- 
 quirer and the keen observer. He distinguishes the Ethiopians 
 according to the growth of their hair, and particularly the pro- 
 per negroes* from the other swarthy tribes. " The eastern 
 Ethiopians in Asia," he says, " have straight hair ; while the 
 African Ethiopians have the most curly hair of all men."^ 
 The father of history, however, is mistaken in speaking thus of 
 all the black tribes of Africa. All these are not negroes ; a 
 considerable number is found there, who, like those of Asia, 
 have straight hair, notwithstanding the black hue of their 
 skins. We have already had some proofs of this assertion, and 
 shall see more as we proceed ; but Herodotus decided accord- 
 ing to what he saw of them in Upper Egypt, the most south- 
 em point of his travels. 
 
 » Herod, iv. 183. " Scylax, p. 54. « Hornemann, p. 126, and Lyon, 1. c. 
 
 * By proper negroes I understand the black people with woolly hair and the well-known 
 negro profile. * Herod, vii. 70. 
 
 Herodotus has not distinguished the separate tribes of these 
 nations, according to their geographical situation, with so 
 much accuracy as later geographers ; he describes them in a 
 general way as the inhabitants of southern Africa. He only 
 distinguishes the Macrobians, and the inhabitants of Meroe, to 
 whom we shall by and by return. We are left without more 
 minute information till we come to the writers who flourished 
 during the period of the Ptolemies, when we have some frag- 
 ments of Eratosthenes and Agatharchides, which Diodorus, 
 Strabo, and others have preserved to us. 
 
 We are indebted, however, to Herodotus for one important 
 piece of information, which, notwithstanding the many changes 
 that have taken place, suits as well in the present day as in his 
 
 time. IT-. p 
 
 The eastern districts of North Africa, above Egypt, from 
 
 the Nile to the Arabian Gulf, which we now comprise under 
 the names of Nubia and Sennaar, were even then occupied by 
 two different races ; one aboriginal, which he includes under 
 the general appellation of Ethiopians, and the other an immi- 
 gratory Arabian race, leading for the most part a wandering, 
 roving life. That such was the case in the Persian period, and 
 certainly as far back as the Pharaohs, is evident from what we 
 are told of the army of Xerxes, whom they were compelled to 
 attend in his expedition into Greece. Here we find the Ethi- 
 opians and Arabians above Egypt associated under the same 
 commander.' But to what extent this spreading of the Arabi- 
 ans went on in later times we learn from a passage which Pliny 
 has preserved us, of the Description of Africa by Juba, the Nu- 
 midian king, and contemporary of Augustus. Accordmg to 
 his account, the banks of the Nile, from Philae to Meroe, were 
 occupied by Arab tribes, differing from the Ethiopians.^ We 
 shall soon see how exactly this statement tallies with that of 
 thp Ifttpst trfiveiiers 
 
 It would, however, be equally difficult to draw a precise 
 line between the Arabian and aboriginal nations here, as it 
 would be between the negroes and Berbers in western Africa. 
 The Arabian tribes have not only dwelt in the country above 
 two thousand years, and therefore long before the introduction 
 of Mahometanism, (although Islamism, if propagated by force, 
 might probably have given them the preponderancy,) but 
 
 1 Herod, vii. 69. * PW» ^-34. 
 
 3 Quatremere, Memoires sur Egypte, u. p. 14b. 
 
 ( 
 
154 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. I. 
 
 CHAP. !•] 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 
 
 155 
 
 many of them have intermingled with the older stock.* The 
 latter likewise lay claim to an Arabian descent, (especially 
 when they would show that they are different from the ne- 
 groes,-) although we have well-grounded reasons for believing 
 the contrary. The language, however, on this point seems 
 quite decisive ; though caution must still be used even in this 
 respect ; for, as Arabian descent is considered the more hon- 
 ourable, there are tribes who lay claim to it, and yet speak a 
 completely different language ; travellers, therefore, may easily 
 be deceived, when they hear individuals of such tribes speak- 
 ing Arabic, and from that judge respecting the whole tribe. 
 But, after all, the character of the language still remains in mv 
 opinion the most certain test. It does not appear likely that 
 Arabians, who pride themselves upon their language,^ should 
 have relinquished it in order to adopt that of a barbarous or 
 conquered people ; unless they had become lost among them 
 from being so few in number. I therefore consider myself 
 justified in ranking all those nations as aboriginal who do not 
 speak Arabic, whether they in their traditions give themselves 
 an Arabian descent or not ; and I shall venture to include them 
 all under the general appellation of Berbers (Barabras,) the 
 rather because this name in the same sense is still given them 
 in Egypt.* 
 
 Among these nations we must first mention the Nubians. 
 This name does not occur till the period of the Ptolemies, and 
 is I believe first mentioned by Eratosthenes ;^ but it soon came 
 into use, sometimes as the general name for all the tribes dwell- 
 ing on both sides of the Nile,^ from Egypt to Sennaar and 
 the ancient Meroe, and sometimes, in a more limited sense, 
 for the present Dongola. Their chief mark of distinction is 
 that their dwellings are in the valley of the Nile. Within 
 these last few years we have obtained from the graphic pencil 
 of Burkhardt, a description of this nation, the first accurate ac- 
 counts we have had, but which have already been confirmed, 
 honourably for him, by his successors.^ 
 
 They live in a land of monuments, perhaps erected by their 
 forefathers ; and on that account have the greater claim to our 
 attention. Their language, of which Burkhardt has given us 
 
 * Quatremere, Memoires sur Egypte, ii. p. 144. ' Burkhardt's Travels in Nubia, 
 
 p. 216. =* Legh, Narrative of a Journey in Egypt, and the Countries beyond the Ca- 
 
 taracts, p. 55. * I.egh, p. 56. * Strabo, p. 1135. • The tribes on the 
 
 west bank of the Nile are expressly reckoned among them by Strabo, 1. c., and distinguished 
 from the Ethiopians. ' Especially by the Travels of Waddington and Hanbury. 
 
 specimens,* is entirely different from the Arabian ; and neither 
 that nor their exterior appearance will allow us to give them 
 an Arabian origin. They are of a dark brown colour, with hair 
 either naturally curly, or artificially arranged by the women, 
 but not at all woolly. It often forms an elevated ornament, 
 like those on the monuments. Their visage has nothing at all 
 of the negro physiognomy. The men are well formed, strong, 
 and muscular, with delicate features. They are something 
 shorter than the Egyptians. They have only a little beard 
 growing under the chin, as upon the Egyptian statues. They 
 are very thinly clad, almost naked ; but are all armed with a 
 spear, five feet long, a dagger, and a large shield, formed of 
 the skin of the hippopotamus. The women are well made, 
 with pleasing features. The men buy them of their parents ; 
 but frequently also intermarry with the Arabs.^ The Nubian, 
 says another eye-witness, is thin and slender, but beautifully 
 formed ; and his beauty is as unchangeable as that of a statue. 
 He has more courage and daring than the Arabian. When 
 he demands a present he poises his spear upon his breast. All 
 go armed with spear, sword, and shield. Forty of them sitting 
 in a circle had each their spear stuck in the ground near them.^ 
 According to the express testimony of the latest travellers, the 
 Nubian language is spoken at Dongola, where the Arabian is 
 spoken but badly .^ To the south of Dongola is the country 
 of the Scheygias, a very remarkable race. They are of a very 
 dark brown, or rather black colour, but by no means negroes.^ 
 Till lately they were completely independent, and defended 
 their liberty against the army of the pasha of Egypt with an 
 heroic courage worthy a better fate, for they were almost ex- 
 tirpated. They speak Arabic, but whether they are of Arabian 
 or mixed origin I cannot venture to determine. They are 
 divided, almost in the manner of castes, into three classes : the 
 learned, who have books and schools, the warrior, and the 
 merchant class. The warriors are horsemen ; each is armed 
 with a double-pointed spear, a sword, and a large shield. In 
 their country the pyramid monuments which adorned the an- 
 cient Meroe are first met with ; and even its name has been 
 preserved in that of their chief place, Meraive, though the 
 ancient capital of this name must be sought for farther south. 
 
 • Burkhardt, p. 153, and indeed of the two dialects into w hich it is divided. 
 
 « Burkhardt, p. 144. =♦ Hennicke's Notes during a visit to Egypt and Nubia, p. 104. 
 
 ♦ Waddington and Hanbury, p. 59, note. -- ^ 
 
 * See Burkhardt, p. 68, etc., and Waddington and Hanbury, p. 77, etc. 
 
156 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. I. 
 
 CHAP. I ] 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 
 
 157 
 
 Its territory borders on the country of the Berbers. The in- 
 habitants, in the strictest sense Berbers, call themselves Ara- 
 bians, that they may not be confounded with the negroes ; but 
 from Burkhardt's description, I have no doubt of their belong- 
 ing to the Nubian race, although the Arabic has been intro- 
 duced among them. " The people of Berber," says Burk- 
 hardt,' " are a very handsome race. The native colour seems 
 to be a dark red-brown. Their features are not at all those of 
 the negro ; the face being oval, the nose often perfectly Gre- 
 cian, the upper lip however is generally somewhat thicker than 
 is considered beautiful among northern nations, though it is 
 still far from the negro lip. They are tall and thin, even more 
 so than the Egyptians, veiy healthy, sick persons being scarcely 
 ever found among them." ^ 
 
 Above these regions, beyond the Astaboras or Tacazze, espe- 
 cially in Shendy, and from thence to Sennaar, along the Nile, 
 the Arabic entirely prevails ; and the great mass of the in- 
 habitants, though sometimes with a mixture of other blood, may 
 be regarded as of Arabian descent. It is not difficult to ac- 
 count for this. These parts always have been, and still are, 
 great places of trade ; and the trade has always been princi- 
 pally in the hands of the Arabians. Can we therefore wonder 
 that m their marts their language should prevail ? It extends, 
 therefore, above Sennaar as far as the confines of Abyssinia ; 
 where, as we learn from Bruce and others, the Abyssinian 
 languages, the Amhara and other dialects, first begin to be 
 spoken. 
 
 The Arabic, however, is much less general among the scat- 
 tered races wandering between the valley of the Nile and the 
 Arabian Gulf. The ancient writers notice here the Blemmies, 
 and Megabari, a savage warlike race, who lived in the forests 
 or groves upon what they could procure by hunting ; and 
 those m the mountains and on the coast, who from their habit- 
 ation and food bore the name of Troglodytce, or cave-dwellers, 
 and Icthyophagi, or fish-eaters. Among the modern travel- 
 lers we are particularly indebted to Bruce for some valuable 
 information respecting them; he did not himself, however, 
 visit their country. Burkhardt was the first who ventured 
 upon this ; and he passed right across it as he journeyed from 
 fehendy to Suakin on the Arabian Gulf We shall compare 
 the account they give with that of the ancients, and particular- 
 
 » Burkhardt, p. 216, 233. 
 
 ly with that of Agatharchides, of whose work upon the Red, - 
 that is, the Southern Sea, unfortunately only a few fragments 
 
 remain.^ . 
 
 Agatharchides again divides the tribes in these parts accord- 
 ing to their mode of life : there were some who knew a little 
 of agriculture, as they sowed millet, or dhourra ; the greater 
 part however were herdsmen ; and others savages, who sub- 
 sisted by hunting. It is just the same in the present day. The 
 principal race is that to which Bruce and Niebuhr have given 
 the name of Bischaries ; the same which more early writers 
 call Bejas, or Bedjas ; except that the latter name rather ap- 
 plied to the inhabitants of the plain. A learned Frenchman 
 has already demonstrated, in a very satisfactory manner, that 
 this tribe is the same as the ancient Blemmies.^ They live in 
 the same territory ; their habits are in no respect changed; 
 they have nothing of the Arab about them, but are an abori- 
 ginal people ; and they therefore belong to the class of nations 
 which we comprise under the general name of Berbers. 
 
 The seat of the Bischaries begins in the north, where that of 
 the Ababdes ends ; and this latter extends from Cosseir in 
 Egypt to some where about 23° N. Lat. The Ababdes speak 
 Arabic, and are a commercial people ; the breeding of camels 
 has at all times been their principal employment, and the cara- 
 van life their principal business.^ From their language they 
 are called Arabs, but some take them to be merely a branch 
 of the Bischaries. The seat of the Bischaries, from where it 
 joins the Ababdes southwards to the neighbourhood of Suakin, 
 is principally a mountain ridge, which here rises and runs 
 along the eastern coast of Africa. This mountain chain, from 
 the earliest times downward, has been the abode of tribes who 
 dwell in holes and caves formed by nature, and fashioned and 
 improved by the inhabitants themselves, whence they have 
 been comprised under the name of Troglodytes.* It is a difli- 
 cult matter in a northern climate to form a just notion of the 
 manners and habits of these nations. He who would wish to 
 see a picture of it in Europe, must visit the Catacombs of Na- 
 ples,^ which, from their appearance and history, seem once to 
 
 1 Agatharchides, de Rtibro Mari, in Geographis Mn Hudson, i. jf; 37- I)i«^«^^ 
 
 191, has borrowed from him word for word. ^^^^ir'^'X^tlTrXS^^^ 
 
 vol. ii. p. 127, etc. The accounts given of the Blemmies by the ancients are here all brought 
 
 together and compared with the Makri^e -<i ^^^^ .^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^ 1. e. p. 
 
 45:a^nrDrdr^sri.p'i9r ^^^"^^Js^uUfofK-hichw^^^ 
 another purpose. 
 
158 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. I. 
 
 CHAP. I-l 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 
 
 159 
 
 have been made use of for a similar purpose. In these majes- 
 tic vaults, which resemble a row of Gothic churches, hewn out 
 by the labour of Polyphemi, some conception may be formed 
 of the mode of life of a people who found here, in the wet sea- 
 son, a secure shelter for themselves and their herds from the 
 rain, and in summer a protection from the scorching rays of 
 the sun.* 
 
 The Troglodytes of Ethiopia, according- to the accounts of 
 Agatharchides, were herdsmen, with their separate chiefs, or 
 princes of tribes. A community of women existed among 
 them, probably the result of their manner of life, which would 
 scarcely allow of domestic relations. In the wet season, when 
 incessant rains deluged the country, they retired with their 
 herds into the caves, and lived upon clotted milk and blood ; 
 but immediately the weather became favourable, they hastened 
 with their cattle into the valleys which aftbrded them pastur- 
 age, often a subject of contention among them. 
 
 "The Bischaries, who rarely descend from their moun- 
 tains," says Burkhardt. '' are a very savage people. Their only 
 cattle are camels and sheep, and they live entirely upon flesh 
 and milk, eating the former raw. According to the relation 
 of several Nubians, they are very fond of the hot blood of 
 slaughtered sheep ; but' their great luxury is said to be the 
 raw marrow of camels. Their language is different from the 
 Arabic, and approaches the Abyssinian. They are divided 
 into four tribes, which are often at war with one another for 
 the possession of the pasturages. Their colour is a dark brown. 
 Their women are handsomely formed, with very fine eyes and 
 teeth, and are very familiar in their manners and address. 
 They are a genuine aboriginal people of Africa." Burkhardt 
 and Bruce have mentioned some of their tribes by name, the 
 Shiho, and their neighbours the Hazorta, who, according to 
 the latter, are said to be of a copper colour, still live in their 
 caves, still clothe themselves in goat skins, and still rove with 
 their herds from one part of the mountain to another.^ Some 
 of these tribes spread themselves over the plains of Atbara,' 
 
 » There are so many traces of this in the south of Italy and Sicily, in the interior of which 
 a whole city is found hewn out of the rocks, (see Bartel's Letters on Calabria and Sicily, 
 111. p. 441,) that this, coupled with the ancient traditions respecting the inhabitants of these 
 countries, the Cyclops and Cimmerians, makes me feel no hesitation in expressing my opi- 
 nion, that Troglodytic pastoral tribes formerly inhabited these places 
 
 » Bruce, iii. p. 69, 72. 
 
 ^ J'Jj"^ ^^ named the district bordering on the lower Astaboras, or Atbara. According to 
 Burkhardt, the place called Atbara is properly only an encampment. The name of Taka, in 
 Bruce and Burkhardt, is evidently given to this province from the other name of the same 
 river, Tacazze. 
 
 between the Lower Tacazze and the mountains ; those nearest 
 the river, where the soil is very fertile, sow a little dhourra, 
 but without any artificial cultivation of their lands. They are 
 likewise herdsmen, and possess a very fine breed of cattle.' The 
 peculiarities of the climate compel these tribes to a yearly mi- 
 gration. The Astaboras, swelled out, overflows the neigh- 
 bouring plains, and drives the inhabitants to seek fresh pas- 
 turage. According to the narrative of Bruce,^ another cause 
 of their wanderings is that dreadful insect which he has de- 
 scribed under the name of gadfly, and which abounds from the 
 beginning of the rainy season on the rich lands adjoining the 
 Astaboras, and kill the cattle if they are not immediately driven 
 off to the higher, sandy regions, where they do not follow 
 them. This circumstance was not unknown to Agatharchides, 
 and his accounts agree very well with that of the British tra- 
 veller. " An extensive country," says he,' " borders on that 
 of the water-locusts, with excellent pastures ; it is nevertheless 
 forsaken, and uninhabitable. It was formerly inhabited, but is 
 now swarming with scorpions and gadflies, which are reported 
 to have four teeth. The inhabitants, finding themselves with- 
 out remedy, took to flight, and left the country waste." The 
 Greek was only is:norant that this plague came yearly, and be- 
 gan and ended with the wet season. " These gadflies," says 
 Bruce, "are only found in those places where the soil is fat; 
 as soon as the cattle hear their buzzing they run wildly about 
 till they at last fall down exhausted. The herdsmen, in this 
 case have no other resource but to leave the rich soil and flee 
 to tiie sandy regions of Atbara, and remain there during the 
 rainy season, where the cruel enemy never ventures to follow 
 them. A later traveller,* though he did not visit this country 
 himself, has raised some doubt respecting the statement of 
 Bruce, because, upon questioning a native of it, he found him 
 unacquainted with this insect. This, however, is by no means 
 sufficient to establish a charge against Bruce of having himselt 
 invented this story ; this could only be substantiated by the re- 
 suits of actual observation, which the traveller in question had 
 no opportunity of furnishing. As for the silence ot Burkhardt, 
 
 » Burkhardt, p. 334, etc. 
 » Agatharchides, 1. c. p. 43 
 
 « Bruce, iv. 443, etc. « , ., . 
 
 To the same district must also be referred the account, p. 
 
 37 oTttSs or RaVi^s, t^^^ from the banks of the Astaboras, these 
 
 ll;^I on^Tte^XunaUo to Lar their noisy buzz. ^^Br^c-^^^^^^^^^^^ elephants 
 and rhinoceroses can sc^cely protect themselves from the attacks of these insects. 
 ♦ Lord Valentia, Travels, ii. p. 394. 
 
160 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. I. 
 
 it proves nothing against Bruce ; it might have arisen from his 
 mere torgetfulness to make inquiries respecting it. 
 
 The southern part of the territory of Taka, or Atbara, on the 
 upper Tacazze, is the seat of the hunting tribes. The luxurious 
 soil IS here covered with thick forests, overrun with savage 
 beasts, lions as well as panthers, elephants, and rhinoceroses 
 Agatharchides has also given us a description of the tribes who 
 inhabit this region. " On the banks of the Astaboras, which 
 flows on one side of the island of Meroe, dwells," he tells us ^ 
 "a people who live upon the roots of reeds, or canes, which 
 grow in a neighbouring pool. After shredding it with stones 
 they reduce it to a glutinous pulp, and dry it in the sun iri 
 pieces about the breadth of one's hand. Near to this is the 
 tribe of the Hylophagae, whose nourishment is the fruit that 
 drop from the trees, herbs that grow in the valleys, and even 
 the soil ends of twigs. They consequently possess an extra- 
 ordinary facility for climbing trees. To these follow, in a 
 westerly direction, the hunting tribes, who live upon the wild 
 beasts, which they kill with their arrows. There is also another 
 race, whose food is the flesh of elephants and ostriches ; besides 
 these there is still another less numerous tribe, who feed upon 
 the locusts, which come in numerous swarms from the un- 
 known regions to the south." 
 
 The seats of these tribes are too accurately laid down by 
 Agatharchides for any mistake to occur respecting them. 
 They dwell on the banks of the Astaboras, which river separ- 
 ates them from Meroe. We thus find ourselves in the country 
 of the Shangallas. No modern traveller has yet visited the 
 interior of this district. Bruce journeyed along its southern, 
 and Burkhardt, in his route to Suakin through Taka, alon^ 
 Its northern boundaries ; its forests and wild beasts seem to 
 render It inaccessible. "Every night," says Burkhardt, "I 
 heard their howlmgs, during which no one dares stir out of the 
 mtrenchment.^ The fiercest animals, however," he adds, 
 that inhabit these woods, are the Bedjawy, or inhabitants of 
 Bedja, themselves.' He does not mention the name of Shan- 
 galla though it is inserted in his map ; perhaps it may be his 
 ^egollo; whose seat is in this region, together with their neigh- 
 bours the Hallenga and Hadendoa, alike infamous for their 
 complete want of hospitality.* The accounts collected by 
 
 4 ft v? ?;' P" ?2l* rr,.. Burkhardt, p. 387. 
 
 uurjcnardt, p. 395. The Hadendoas, says the same traveUer, p. 392, ai-e beyond a doubt 
 
 CHAP. 1.] 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 
 
 161 
 
 Bruce' completely confirm that of Agatharchides. The habits 
 of these tribes have remained the same for two thousand years ; 
 they are still the same rude savages they then were. They 
 are still distinguished, as they then were, by their food, though, 
 as will naturally be supposed, this must not be considered their 
 only difference. The Hylophagae still dwell under the branches 
 of their trees, which they fix in the earth to make themselves 
 tents. The accounts of the dough or paste made from roots 
 is probably a mistake. It is composed of the dhourra, ground 
 with stones, and is dressed with a broth of roots and vegeta- 
 bles.^ The Dobenatis, the most powerful race among the 
 Shangallas, still live upon elephants and rhinoceroses, whose 
 flesh they preserve by drying it in the sun, and cutting it into 
 strips as they do the camels'. The Baasa subsist upon the flesh 
 of lions, and even snakes, which are found of an enormous size. 
 Farther to the west still dwell a tribe who feed on locusts 
 during the summer, which they preserve by first roasting and 
 then drying them in baskets. "This country," says Burk- 
 hardt,' is the true breeding-place of locusts. He himself saw 
 how greedily the slaves with the caravan devoured them.* In 
 the extreme east dwelt the Struthiophagi, or ostrich-eaters. 
 They must inhabit plains where alone ostriches are to be found. 
 We have here therefore a new proof of the great influence 
 which the natural circumstances of country and climate have 
 upon the destiny of the human race. The tribes of Shangallas, 
 which we have above described, still remain hunters and com- 
 pletely savage, because their soil is unfit either for agriculture 
 or pasturage ; the Bischaries and others follow a pastoral life, 
 because their mountains afford food for their cattle. But a 
 higher degree of cultivation can never be obtained in their 
 country, because its nature compels them to a nomad life. 
 . Before quitting Ethiopia above Egypt, there still remains an 
 Ethiopian nation to be noticed, highly celebrated in antiquity, 
 and which Herodotus has copiously described, the Macrobians.^ 
 The expedition of Cambyses was directed against them, by 
 which circumstance they have obtained a place in history. 
 
 A rumour of the vast quantity of gold which they possessed 
 determined Cambyses to this expedition ; he sent, however, 
 
 a branch of the Bischaries, as are all the eastern Nubians, having the same shape, language, 
 and customs. i Bruce, ii. p. 539, etc. * Burkhardt, p. 417. 
 
 =* Burkhardt, p. 391. * Burkhardt, p. 424. They take out the entrails and roast 
 
 them over the fire. These slaves probably belonged to the race of ^Eridopha^es. 
 
 * Herod, iii. 17—25. 
 
162 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. 
 
 CHAP. I.J 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 
 
 163 
 
 before-hand some spies into their country ; and these were 
 Ichthyophagi, whom he sent for from the city of Elephantis, 
 as they understood their language. Cambyses furnished them 
 with presents for the king of the Macrobians, a purple robe, 
 golden necklace, bracelets, perfumes, and a cask of palm wine. 
 These Macrobians, according to the statement of the Ichthy- 
 ophagi, were a tall and beautiful race, had their own laws and 
 institutions, and elected the tallest among them to the dignity 
 of king. This monarch soon discovered that these ambassa- 
 dors were spies. He looked at their presents, with the use of 
 which he was unacquainted. The robe, the perfumes, and the 
 necklace, which he took for fetters, he returned ; the wine 
 was the only thing which he found agreeable. He demanded 
 how long the Persians lived, and what their king was accus- 
 tomed to eat. They informed him, bread, describing at the 
 same time the nature of corn, and that the greatest age to 
 w^hich the Persians attained was eighty years. He answered, 
 that he did not wonder at their living no longer, who fed upon 
 such rubbish ; and that probably they would not live even so 
 long if it were not for their drink, namely, their wine, in which 
 the Macrobians alone excelled them. Upon being then asked 
 by the ambassadors how long the Macrobians lived, and upon 
 what they subsisted ; he replied, an hundred and twenty years, 
 and sometimes longer ; that their food was boiled flesh and 
 milk. He sent to the Persian king, in return for his present, 
 a great bow, and told the ambassadors to inform him, tliat 
 when he could bend this bow as easily as a Persian one, he 
 might undertake an expedition against the Macrobians. 
 
 The ambassadors were shown, as most remarkable, what was 
 called the table of the sun ; this was a meadow in the skirts of 
 the city, in which much boiled flesh was laid, placed there 
 by the magistrates every night, upon which all who chose 
 might eat in the day. The inhabitants report that the earth 
 brings it forth. — The ambassadors were next led to the prison, 
 where the captives were bound in golden fetters ; brass among 
 the Ethiopians being one of the greatest rarities. Finally, 
 they were shown the sepulchres, which were made of glass 
 (va\o9), in the following manner. The corpse, after being 
 emboweled, as in Egypt, is covered over with plaster. Upon 
 this is painted the portrait of the deceased, as like as possible. 
 It is then placed in a case of glass, (probably crystal,) which 
 they dig up in great abundance. The dead body remains in 
 
 this case without any disgusting appearance or smell for a 
 whole year ; the nearest relation keeps it in his house, offering 
 it sacrifices, after which it is taken into the city and placed 
 with the others. 
 
 I have purposely been somewhat copious in describing this 
 nation ; the account being in more than one respect instructive. 
 The Macrobians must have been a nation already living in a 
 city that possessed laws and a prison ; that understood work- 
 ing in metals; and among whom considerable traces were 
 found of a progress in the cultivation of one of the fine arts. 
 Yet they were ignorant of agriculture, as they knew nothing 
 of bread but by report ; a great proof that our rule forjudging 
 of civilization will not at all apply to the African nations, who, 
 proceeding from other points, and advancing in other direc- 
 tions, must necessarily arrive at a different end from that at- 
 tained by Europeans. 
 
 Further, it is evident that this nation must have inhabited 
 the richest gold country of Africa : gold was the metal in 
 commonest use among them, even for the fetters of their 
 
 prisoners. 
 
 Bruce^ takes the Macrobians for a tribe of the Shangallas, 
 dwelling in the lower parts of the gold countries, Cuba and 
 Nuba, on both sides of the Nile to the north of Fazukla. He 
 appeals particularly to the bow which the king of the Macro- 
 bians sent to Cambyses, with a challenge for him to bend it. 
 He says that it is the custom of this race to bind round their 
 bows ferrules of the hides of the wild beast they slay, whereby 
 they are continually becoming stiffer, and at last become alto- 
 gether inflexible. They then hang them on a tree as trophies 
 of their prowess ; such a bow he describes it to have been 
 which the Ethiopian king sent the Persian. 
 
 But, however probable this proof may appear, I cannot 
 adopt the opinion started by this traveller ; I feel rather in- 
 clined to believe, that the Macrobians must be sought for 
 farther south, in another region. None of the Shangallas, that 
 we know of, dwell in cities, or have reached that degree of 
 civilization imputed to the Macrobians. 
 
 Herodotus mentions three particulars which may help us to 
 discover the seat of this nation : they dwell, he says, on the 
 Southern Sea,= at the farthest corner of the earth ; and Cam- 
 
 ^ Vol. ii. 554, etc. . , ... ^ ,/. ^v t j- 
 
 « iirl rv vorir, QaXAcrrr^u that is, beyond the entrance of the Arabian Gulf on the Indian 
 Sea. Therefore, not in the interior, where the Shangallas dwell. 
 
 M 2 
 
164 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. I. 
 
 CHAP. 1-] 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 
 
 165 
 
 byses, when he turned back, had not reached the fifth part of 
 the way to their abode. 
 
 If we should take these statements, especially the latter, ac- 
 cording to the letter, then the Macrobians must be sought for 
 not only on the Indian Sea, but very far to the south. ^ But 
 the way in which the story is related by Herodotus plainly 
 shows that it partakes of the marvellous ; and we shall be at no 
 loss to account for this, if we consider that he derived his in- 
 formation from the Egyptian priests, from whom we derive 
 nearly the whole history of Cambyses, of which this story 
 forms a part. Now, besides the usual causes which lead to the 
 bedizening and distorting of all narratives of this kind, another 
 may be mentioned, which probably had a considerable influ- 
 ence in this case : namely, its relating to a rich gold country, 
 whose true situation perhaps the priests felt no desire to reveal 
 to a prying, curious foreigner: and therefore they merely 
 gave him the common report. To extract the pure truth from 
 this must therefore be a puzzling and difficult task ; and al- 
 though I may give the truth for no more than probability, I 
 shall thereby at least screen myself from the reproach of wish- 
 ing to pass my conjectures for facts. 
 
 The very story that there was in that hot, and by no means 
 healthy climate, a people whose age exceeded the usual term 
 allotted to man, which the appellation Macrobians implies, 
 "will scarcely obtain belief; though there must have been some 
 foundation for this opinion. We learn from Bruce, that a 
 custom prevails among many of the pastoral tribes in these 
 regions, of putting to death their old people when they are no 
 longer capable of being removed from place to place;* let it 
 be granted, therefore, that the Macrobians were not guilty of 
 this cruelty (and that may easily be supposed of a nation so far 
 refined) ; would not that circumstance, and the old persons 
 that would be found among them, be sufficient to have given 
 rise to this popular tradition ? 
 
 With regard to their abode, it seems to me, that that can 
 only be determined from the two statements of Herodotus, 
 that it lay on the Indian Sea, — and that they dwelt in a country 
 abounding in gold, which it either produced., or was the great 
 
 * How fax south Cambyses reached in his expedition cannot be determined from Herod- 
 otus. From what is said by others he must have gone as far as Meroe, perhaps to its bound- 
 aries. Diodorus, i. p. 38. « Vol. ii. 556. Herodotus mentions besides a wonderful 
 spring, by bathing in which they prolonged their lives. If they dwelt in a mountainous 
 mstrict, mineral springs would be nothing extraordinary. 
 
 mart for. In either case we are carried to some sea-port be- 
 yond the Arabian Gulf, although we may never be able to say 
 with certainty which. It is only known that a district is spoken 
 of where agriculture was not in use, as its inhabitants did not 
 live upon bread, but flesh.' 
 
 The account of what is called the table of the sun, is in itself 
 so marvellous, that every reader will acknowledge it cannot 
 be taken literally. It seems to be a figurative description, 
 and was no where more likely to be the case than among 
 Egyptian priests ; a key to it may probably be found in a 
 later writer." 
 
 Cosmas,^ who bore the surname of the Indian, and though 
 perhaps never in India, was at least in Ethiopia, has preserved 
 us the following account of a remarkable trade, which was 
 carried on with the rich gold country on the confines of the 
 land of Frankincense. 
 
 " The land of Frankincense," he says, " lies at the farthest 
 end of Ethiopia,* fifty days' journey beyond Axum, at no great 
 distance from the ocean, though it does not touch it. The 
 inhabitants of the neighbouring Barbaria,^ or the country of 
 Sasu, fetch from thence frankincense and other costly spices, 
 which they transport by water to Arabia Felix, and India. 
 This country of Sasu is very rich in gold mines. Every other 
 year the king of Axum^ sends some of his people to this 
 place for gold. These are joined by many other merchants, 
 so that altogether they form a caravan of about five hundred 
 persons. They take with them oxen, salt, and iron."^ When 
 they arrive upon the frontiers of the country, they take up 
 their quarters and make a large barrier of thorns.^ In the 
 
 * The contempt of bread must have been applied to that made of dhourra, and baked, 
 which becomes spoiled and unfit to be eaten in a very short time. Lobo's Voyage to 
 Abyssinia, ii. p. 33. 
 
 « See for what follows the Essay of H. Bothe upon the Macrobians, Deutsch. Monatschrifty 
 July, 1799, to which the first edition of my work gave rise. The author seems to me, only 
 to have erred, in placing the Macrobians in the pnjpcr country of Frankincense, which was 
 a midland district, instead of at Sasu, which bounds it on the sea-coast, and where gold is 
 plentiful. It is clear however from the words of Cosmas, that the trade of which he speaks 
 was carried on at Sasu ; and only thus will there be a perfect agreement with Herodotus, 
 who makes the Macrobians dwell on the sea-coast. But, at all events, these districts lie close 
 to one another, and the land of Frankincense is not far from the coast. 
 
 ' He wrote about the year 535. The best edition of his Topographia Christiana, is in 
 Montfau^on, Coll. Nova Patrum, torn. ii. p. 113, etc., to which I now refer. 
 
 * Cosmas, p. 138, 139. 
 
 * Barbaria is the general name of the east of Africa beyond the Arabian Gulf; Sasu, on 
 the contrary, is the name of a certain countrj^ or district. But we shall presently see that 
 Barbaria here signifies some particular place in the territory of Sasu. 
 
 * That is, of Abyssinia, of which Axum was the capital. 
 
 ' The Agows still reckon their tribute for the most part in oxen ; Bruce, iii. p. 773. In 
 this region the camel is no longer found, and oxen are the usual beasts of burden. 
 
 " Every thing agrees with the place. Thorn hedges, especially of the shrub kantuffa, are 
 here the impenetrable boundaries. Bruce, ii. p. 443. 
 
166 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. 1. 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 
 
 167 
 
 mean time, having slain and cut up their oxen, they lay the 
 pieces of flesh, as well as the iron and salt, upon the thorns. 
 Then come the inhabitants, and place one or more parcels of 
 gold upon the wares, and wait without the enclosure. The 
 owners of the flesh and other wares then examine whether this 
 is equal to the price or not. If the former be the case, they 
 take the gold, and the others the wares ; if not, the others still 
 add more gold, or take what they have put down back again. 
 The trade is carried on in this manner because the languages 
 are different, and they have no interpreter ; it takes about five 
 days to dispose of the goods which they bring with them." 
 
 The truth of this statement is so much confirmed by internal 
 evidence, that no one will hesitate to believe it. But in order 
 to apply it to the account of Herodotus, two questions remain 
 to be determined ; where does the land of Sasu lie ? and how 
 far are we authorized to apply what Cosmas relates of it, in the 
 times in which he lived, to those of Herodotus? 
 
 With regard to the situation of Sasu, it is suflSciently pointed 
 out by the description given of it. The African land of 
 Frankincense, according to Bruce,^ begins at Babelmandel, 
 and stretches eastward almost to Cape Guardefui, taking a 
 part of Adel or Zeyla. The fifty days' journey given by Cos- 
 mas, as the distance from Axum, agree very well with this.- 
 Now as the land of Frankincense joined Sasu, and Sasu lay 
 near the sea, it is evident that the latter formed part of the 
 coast, and also comprised one or even several sea-ports, from 
 which the sea trade was carried on. 
 
 But it not only was carried on from thence, but is even at 
 the present time. Lord Valentia, who entered this country 
 from Mocha,"* has given us some interesting information on 
 this head, upon which we may rely, and which besides has 
 the merit of being as new and accurate as it is authentic. The 
 coast from Babelmandel to Guardefui is inhabited by the 
 Somaulies, a very dark race, with woolly hair, neither com- 
 pletely negroes nor Arabians. They are not savages, as Bruce 
 has pictured them, but a friendly, well-disposed race. Their 
 country is the natural staple for the commerce between Africa 
 and Arabia, in it the greatest marts are found. Gums, myrrh 
 
 ' Vol. i. p. 356. See his map. 
 
 * If we take with Cosmas, 1. c., the distance from Alexandria to Axum at sixty days' jour- 
 ney, we shall find, even at this rate, that from Axum to Guardefui will be some where about 
 fifty. ' Valentia's Travels, vol. ii. p. 370—378. The author saw many of the 
 
 Somaulies at Mocha. According to his opinion, it would be the easiest to penetrate mto the 
 interior of Africa from the eastern part of their country. 
 
 and frankincense, cattle and slaves, are the commodities ex- 
 ported, in exchange for which, and for gold and ivory, they 
 receive the productions of Arabia and India,^ more particular- 
 ly the latter. The princes of the interior, and especially the 
 ruler of Hanim, twenty days' journey to the west, send numer- 
 ous caravans to this place to purchase these wares. The great 
 fair for them is Berbora,^ which lasts from October till April. 
 The frankincense grows chiefly in the neighbourhood of Cape 
 Guardefui, and the principal port for exportation is Bunder 
 Kassin, near Cape Felix. The Somaulies send in their own 
 vessels (for they have a sort of navigation act to carry for them- 
 selves, and to lade no Arabian vessels) to Aden. The situa- 
 tion of Aden, on the other side of the straits, which enables 
 them to take advantage of both monsoons, renders this very 
 easy. The profits of this trade, although the merchants only 
 state it at fifty per cent., is accordingly very great. The com- 
 merce is only restricted by the customs, and other obstacles 
 which the rulers throw in its way ; without this it would be 
 immense ; and may there not have been a time when it really 
 
 was so f 
 
 This trade, therefore, has continued full a thousand years, 
 notwithstanding all the religious and political changes which 
 have taken place, simply because the nature of the country it- 
 self points it out as the most proper staple for the productions 
 of the two quarters of the world. But what is it that justifies 
 our applying the narration of Cosmas to the period of Herod- 
 otus ? Nothing decidedly but the conjecture, that as this trade 
 in the time of Cosmas was already very old, it was very likely 
 to have existed a thousand years before. This conjecture, be- 
 sides, will not seem at all improbable to those who are ac- 
 quainted with the unchanging nature of the commercial routes 
 of Africa. The probability, however, becomes strengthened, 
 because, in the first place, the trade in frankincense and spices 
 is, as we may conclude from the vicinity of Arabia Felix, one 
 of the oldest branches of commerce ; and secondly, because 
 only two hundred years after Herodotus, the name of the 
 country of Sasu appears as a well-known and remarkable name, 
 for in the celebrated inscription of Adule, which this same 
 Cosmas has copied and preserved, Sasu is mentioned as the 
 
 1 Lord Valentia has even added tables of prices, and its yearly exports and imports. 
 * Borbora on Kennel's Map ; upon that of Sossman it is improperly made an island. 
 
168 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. I. 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 
 
 169 
 
 most easterly point of Ethiopia to which the king had extend- 
 ed his conquests.^ 
 
 If we may venture then to consider it as probable that the 
 Macrobians of Herodotus should be sought for in this region, 
 on the coast, or in one of the ports of Adel, in the vicinity of 
 Cape Guardefui, this would place them in the country of the 
 Somaulies, perhaps their descendants. If we may also ven- 
 ture to apply this description of Cosmas to the same people, 
 then almost every obscurity in the account of them may be 
 cleared up, and every thing appears in a natural light. 
 
 The altar of the sun is the market-place in which the trade 
 with the strangers was transacted. When we consider that 
 even now, almost all the commerce of Africa is carried on un- 
 der the protection of sanctuaries and temples, we can scarcely 
 wonder that religious notions should be connected with this 
 seat of the trade, upon which perhaps the subsistence of the 
 inhabitants depended. 
 
 This kind of dumb trade will not appear strange : we have 
 already seen its counterpart on the western coast of Africa.^ 
 The same causes produce here the same effect. When it is 
 said " that the chiefs of the people laid the flesh down at night, 
 and that in the day any might eat of it who would ; but that 
 the inhabitants reported that it sprung from the earth ;" the 
 fact explains itself This important trade was carried on under 
 the care and inspection of the public magistrates ; every one 
 took what he chose, without doubt for payment ; and as the 
 merchants came from a very distant country, and were not 
 themselves seen in the transaction, a vulgar error, like the one 
 mentioned, might very naturally arise. 
 
 By the boiled flesh of Herodotus, must probably be under- 
 stood dried flesh, as this is the usual way in which it is pre- 
 served in these regions.^ 
 
 The vast quantity of gold is easily accounted for ; it was 
 either a natural production of the country, or the inhabitants 
 had accumulated it by commerce.* The presents of the Per- 
 
 * The inscription is well known as a monument placed by Ptolemey III. at Adulc, as a me- 
 morial of his conquests in Ethiopia. In this inscription Ptolemey is stated to have advanced 
 OTTO ^woreco? fitXP'' '''"'*' '*"^* Aidtoiria9 Kal Ydtrov Toirutv. Instead of fitvpi twv, I read, ^t- 
 YDi €or)^oTftii/, " to the farthcrmost regions of Ethiopia and Sasu." The opinion of Salt, 
 Valentid's Travels, vol. iii. p. 192, that only half the inscription belongs to Ptolemey, still 
 
 requires a separate inquiry. ' See above, p. 85. 
 
 * We learn from Bruce and other travellers, that dried camel's flesh is one of the dainties 
 of a caravan journey. 
 
 * Cosmas mentions this expressly in explaining the Adule inscription. The gold of that 
 place, he adds, is called Tamcharus 
 
 sian king, therefore, composed of golden ornaments and myrrh, 
 and consequently of exactly those very commodities which 
 they had in the greatest abundance, seemed to them a mock- 
 ery, which the king of the Macrobians was fully justified in 
 takino- as an insult, and, therefore, returned it by another. 
 The custom of hanging up the bows, mentioned by Bruce, can 
 scarcely be altogether peculiar to the Shangallas,^but has pro- 
 bably spread itself among their neighbours. 
 
 The story of the golden fetters is likely enough to be a fa- 
 ble ; but the rarity of iron and brass in these countries is a fact 
 very well known. It is confirmed by Cosmas, who states that 
 iron was one of the commodities carried there by the caravans 
 and exchanged for gold. 
 
 Should my attempts to explain these difficulties still be con- 
 sidered as little more than conjecture, they will at least give 
 us an example of the instruction which history may afford, 
 even when tinctured with fable ; and how the mist in which 
 it is enveloped disperses of itself, when considered in the spirit 
 of the country and people from which it proceeds.^ It is how- 
 ever a very remarkable circumstance, and demands our parti- 
 cular attention, that Cambyses should have taken his spies from 
 the Egyptian Ichthyophagi, because they could speak the lan- 
 guage of these Ethiopians. 
 
 The Ichthyophagi derive their name from their food, which 
 consists of fish, and therefore we cannot wonder at finding 
 that, besides the tribes in Africa, some also on the coasts of 
 Persia and Arabia receive the same appellation. Of the 
 African Ichthyophagi, scattered along the coasts of the Arabian 
 Gulf, Diodorus has preserved a few particulars. They belong 
 properly to the Troglodytae, or cave-dwellers, and are only 
 distinguished from the others by their food and manner of 
 life, which has many peculiarities, that may be regarded as 
 true additions to our knowledge of physiology.^ Taken alto- 
 gether, however, they strengthen the remark, which applies to 
 the whole history of the human race, that the nations subsist- 
 
 » Let me be allowed to add one conjecture upon another ^f "™^*^"^^/ *^^, ^f ^^^^^^^^^ 
 as well as other Ethiopian people, seem to be highly esteemed on account o^ their s^e^d 
 beauty. Might not this tradition have proceeded from slave dealers, who are wont to prize 
 
 '"^Sorura!,?"^^^ only drink every fourth day; when they go m horde^ to ^he 
 springs, and drink to such an excess that at first they lie down unab e to f o^^' Jf « ^ar 
 of enemies perhaps occasioned this custom. He relates of others that they ^re qui^ msen - 
 ible to all threats or entreaties, Diodorus, i. p. 184-186; Bruce ^^ ^he same ai^ng^his 
 savages, iii. 73. Still more surprising facts are recorded by Azara of the tribes on the nver 
 de la Plata. 
 
170 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. I. 
 
 CHAP. II'] 
 
 STATE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 ITl 
 
 ing on fish are the very lowest in the scale of civilization. They 
 appear to be complete savages, destitute of all domestic ties ; 
 with no dwellings except clefts and holes ; and without even 
 any fishing implements, as they only feed on those fish which 
 are left behind by the retiring floods, which they prepare by 
 pounding, and mixing them with certain seeds, by which they 
 make them into a kind of broth. Although we have no late 
 accounts of their manners and customs, yet, what Bruce says 
 shows, that the inhabitants of these districts still remain 
 wretched, miserable, and naked savages. 
 
 If this is a fair description of what these people were in an- 
 tiquity, then indeed it becomes difficult to conceive how Cam- 
 byses came to choose them for spies ; there is, however, in the 
 narrative of Herodotus itself, a circumstance mentioned, which 
 leads us to take a different view of tlie subject. Cambyses, he 
 says, caused the Ichthyophagi to come from Elephantis in 
 Upper Egypt. There must have lived, consequently, a party 
 of them in Upper Egypt ; the whole business, too, to which 
 Cambyses appointed them, and their acquaintance with the 
 country and language of the Ethiopians, make it more than 
 probable that they belonged to the roving tribes, who carried 
 on the trade between Egypt and Ethiopia, and formed the 
 caravans which travelled from one country to the other.^ 
 There is certainly no other way of passing from Egypt to the 
 Macrobians but by a caravan, and these people must have been 
 there once or more, as they understood their language. The 
 name, besides, might have been continued to them, though they 
 had adopted a new mode of life, of which many other instances 
 are to be met with. It is not very likely that they belonged 
 to the Ababdes, whose country stretches to the neighbourhood 
 of these regions, and who have been, as is shown above, from 
 the most remote periods, carriers of merchandise ? I shall ab- 
 stain from making any further remark upon this circumstance ; 
 though it affords, at least, a passing proof, not only that a re- 
 port of the rich gold countries had penetrated into Egypt, but 
 that a rather active commercial intercourse really existed be- 
 tween the two countries at a very early period. 
 
 I cannot close these remarks without comparing the narra- 
 tive of Herodotus with the prophecy of the most sublime of 
 the Hebrew poets. They mutually explain each other. When 
 
 ' Herodotus does not say how great the number of the Ichthyophagi was who were sent 
 on this embassy ; they may therefore Tery well have formed a small caravan. 
 
 Isaiah promises his people the trade of Egypt and Ethiopia, 
 he adds, and of the Sabeans, men of stature} I cannot hold 
 these latter to be any other than the Macrobians of Herodotus 
 
 the nation who enjoyed the trade in frankincense. Herodotus 
 
 also mentions their high stature. He not only says they are 
 the longest lived, but also the tallest people ; and upon the 
 latter they place so high a value, that they elect the tallest 
 among them for king. Saba lies on the African coast, at the 
 entrance of the Arabian Gulf;- consequently, in the very spot 
 that we consider to have been the seat of the Macrobians. The 
 prophet expressly mentions trading nations ; the Ethiopians, 
 the inhabitants of Meroe, and the African Sabeans, who en- 
 joyed the trade in frankincense. The proofs and illustrations 
 which these inquiries have already so often lent to the sacred 
 writings, will give them, as I hope, a more extended interest 
 than they might perhaps otherwise have hoped to enjoy. 
 
 Chap. II. The State of Meroe and its Monuments, 
 
 LET THE MIGHTY MEN COME FORTH ; THE ETHIOPIANS THAT HANDLE THE SHIELD ! 
 
 JER. XLVI. 9. 
 
 The Ethiopian nations, with which we have become acquainted 
 in the foregoing chapter, must altogether be ranked in the 
 lowest grade of civilization. There still, however, exists an 
 evident difference of improvement among them. We have 
 already seen all the various gradations, from the complete 
 savage, as described by Hanno, whose rank might have been 
 disputed by the ourang-outang, to the hunting and fishing 
 tribes ; and again, from the latter to the nomad herdsman ; 
 yet we do not any where discover a single nation, that, united 
 in a settled abode, formed itself into a great and well-organized 
 state. Nevertheless there certainly did exist a better cultivated, 
 and, to a certain degree, a civilized Ethiopian people, who 
 dwelt in cities ; who erected temples and other edifices ; who, 
 though without letters, had hieroglyphics ; who had govern- 
 ment and laws; and the fame of whose progress in knowledge 
 and the social arts, spread in the earliest ages over a consider- 
 able part of the earth ; — that state was Mer^oe. 
 
 Meroe has been celebrated for upwards of two thousand 
 
 > Isaiah xlv. U. « The Azab of Bnice. Compare Gesenius's Commentary in 
 
 Isaiah, " The opulence of the Sabeans, high of stature," are the words of his translation. 
 
172 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [CIIAP. II. 
 
 CHAP. I1-] 
 
 STATE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 ITS 
 
 years, but its distant situation has always involved it in mystery 
 and obscurity. It is only within this last ten years that the 
 dark cloud, under which it has so long been hid, has been 
 dispersed by the hardy enterprises of Burkhardt and Caillaud 
 more particularly the latter. Meroe, however, did not appear 
 alone ; a new world of antiquities, whose existence had not 
 even been imagined, were laid open to the view of the aston- 
 ished spectator. The southern boundary of Egypt, and the 
 last cataract of the Nile, had hitherto been considered as the 
 utmost verge of ancient civilization and science. More dis- 
 tant regions, however, were now explored. The more early 
 travellers, Bruce and his forerunners, first led the way by 
 crossing the Nubian desert; others soon followed who pene- 
 trated up the Nile, keeping near its banks, where they dis- 
 covered that succession of monuments, which has excited so 
 much astonishment among all lovers of antiquity, as well by 
 their number as their magnitude. Temple after temple ap- 
 peared, sometimes erected upon, at others excavated in the 
 rocks and the earth ; scarcely had the travellers left one than 
 another arose to their view. Colossal figures, buried up to 
 their shoulders in sand, still towered above all these, and indi- 
 cated the gigantic structures which lay concealed behind them. 
 As the travellers continued their journey, an immense number 
 of pyramids appeared, with temples and ruins of cities close by, 
 or intermingled with them ; and at last the distant Meroe it- 
 self; and, what realized the earlier hopes of the author, the 
 ancient temple of Jupiter Ammon was discovered, still erect, 
 and majestic in its ruins. 
 
 I shall now endeavour to give the reader a clear and con- 
 cise account of these monuments. I do not indeed intend to 
 go through them one by one, but shall take a survey of the 
 most important, and particularly of those which are found in 
 the works of Gau and Caillaud. Fortunately in these we have 
 not to examine sketches hastily made, the drawings are free 
 from all attempts at embellishment, and the ground plans and 
 delineations are executed with critical accuracy. It will be 
 necessary, however, to premise a few geographical remarks. 
 
 All the monuments that I shall describe in this section are 
 found withm the valley of the Nile; either close to the river, 
 or at a moderate distance from it. The course of the Nile 
 above Egypt, before its conflux with the Astaboras, lies 
 through a valley enclosed on both sides by a chain of moun- 
 
 tains, or rather hills, which sometimes retire, and sometimes 
 advance till they almost approach the banks of the river. These, 
 therefore, render impossible any great variation in the direc- 
 tion of the stream, though they offer no obstruction to the lesser 
 windings within the valley. It can scarcely be doubted, but that 
 the soil of the valley was as fertile at one time in these regions 
 as it is in Egypt itself; for where it could remain in that state 
 it is still found so.' Thus it becomes evident that this valley 
 may once have been a highly cultivated country, with a numer- 
 ous population, dwelling in a long series of cities. But these 
 mountain chains being succeeded on both sides of the river by 
 sandy deserts, (on the east the Nubian, and on the west the 
 great sandy waste, which stretches right across Africa,) the 
 sand has proved a still more formidable foe here than in Egypt. 
 The lower mountain chain affording but a slight defence, this 
 deadly enemy of all civilization not only penetrated into the 
 valley, but has frequently, in part or altogether, buried the 
 monuments. It cannot, therefore, seem at all surprising that 
 the same cause should have occasioned some alterations m the 
 river itself, many arms of which may, perhaps, have been 
 forced into one, and small islands joined to the mainland. The 
 valley of the Nile, at all events, was certainly very different 
 from what it is now ; traces are every where visible of old 
 canals, formed for extending its periodical overflow ; and these 
 changes alone would have been sufficient to cause the inhabit- 
 ants to sink and degenerate, if other untoward events had not 
 happened. The river, deviating from its usually straight 
 course, forms a bow from 19° to 23*^ by running to the west, 
 deeper into Libya ; and the inner part of this bow is occupied 
 by the Nubian desert ; soon, however, it winds again to the 
 east, and reassumes a northern direction, which it preserves 
 through Nubia and Egypt. 
 
 We are again indebted to Herodotus for the first accounts 
 of the course of the Nile above Egypt.^ He collected them in 
 Egypt, probably in Thebes, or Elephantis, beyond which he 
 never travelled. We are not to consider him here, therefore, 
 as an eye-witness, but, as he himself informs us, as reporting 
 what he heard from others. And here, again, we have to ad- 
 mire the keen and accurate inquirer, although some slight de- 
 viations from the present state of the stream seem to confirm 
 the remarks we have just made upon its variations. " Beyond 
 
 ' Burkhardt, Travels, p. 14. 
 
 « Herod, ii. 29. 
 
174 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 ICIIAP. II. 
 
 Elephantis, the boundary of Egypt," says Herodotus, '* the 
 country becomes higher ; and in that part they drag on the 
 boat, fastening a cord on either side, as you would to an ox. 
 Should the hawser break, the boat is forced back by the vio- 
 lence of the current. This navigation continues four days ; 
 the Nile winding like the Meander ; and it is a space of twelve 
 schoeni, seventy-two geographical miles, over which you must 
 navigate in this manner. Next you come to a smooth plain, 
 where the Nile flows round an island named Tachompso. The 
 parts above Elephantis are inhabited by Ethiopians, as well as 
 one half of the island ; the other half of which is held by the 
 Egyptians. Close to the island is a vast lake, on the shores of 
 which dwell Ethiopian nomades. Crossing this lake, you fall 
 again into the stream of the Nile, which runs through it. Then, 
 disembarking, you will perform a journey of forty days on the 
 bank of the river ; for in this part of the Nile sharp rocks rise 
 above the water, and many shoals are met with, among which 
 it is impossible to navigate. Having passed through this 
 country, you will again embark in another boat, and navigate 
 for twelve days, after which you will come to an extensive city, 
 the name of which is Meroe." 
 
 Let us compare this statement of Herodotus with those of 
 the latest travellers, and we shall find that what in their nature 
 are not liable to change, such as the clilTs and rocks, still an- 
 swer to his description ; while, on the contrary, in other mat- 
 ters, (supposing Herodotus rightly informed,) some changes 
 seem to have taken place. Among the moderns, Norden, a 
 Dane, was the first who attempted to navigate the Nile above 
 Egypt ; and to draw maps of its course, which, after all that 
 has since been done, are still the fullest in particulars, though 
 they only reach to Derri, Derar, or Deir, the end of his jour- 
 ney.^ Within the lapse of ten years, Burkhardt, in his first 
 journey, in which he kept near the banks of the river, pene- 
 trated as far as the frontiers of Dongola ; in his second jour- 
 ney he traversed the Nubian desert.^ The journey and map 
 of Legh extend no farther than the second cataract ; ^ and the 
 magnificent work of Gau only reaches to the same place.* The 
 statements of the Pole, Senkowsky, up to the same point, are 
 
 » Voyage d'Egypte et de Nubte, par Fr. L. Norden ; uouvelle ed. par. Langles. Paris, 
 1795. The first edition appeared in 1752. 
 
 * Travels in Nulna, by Fr. L. Burkhardt. London, 1819. 
 
 ' Narrative of a Journey in Egypt, and the Cmmtries beyond the Cataracts, by Th. Legh, 
 Esq. London, 1816. 
 
 * Antiquit6s de la Nubie, par F. C. Gau. Paris, 1824, en xii. livraisons. 
 
 CHAP. 11.] 
 
 STATE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 175 
 
 very accurate.' Above the second cataract, from Wady Haifa 
 to the boundaries of Sennaar, or the ancient Meroe, two Brit- 
 ish travellers, Waddington and Hanbury, have given a map 
 of the course of the Nile y for the more distant regions, the 
 authorities are Bruce, Burkhardt, and, above all, Caillaud.^ 
 
 The winding of the stream above Syene is shown in Nor- 
 den's twenty-fourth chart. It here holds a serpentine course, 
 without, however, any considerable curves. Its current is so 
 strong, that Norden was often obliged to quit his bark ;* Legh 
 mentions the same fact;^ and the stream becomes so violent 
 in the territory of Kalabshe, where the width of the stream is 
 compressed to about thirty paces, as to render navigation very 
 difficult. The voyage to the island Tachompso is stated by 
 Herodotus to be twelve schceni, or seventy-two geographical 
 miles, which were made in four days : navigation against the 
 current of course admitting but of a short distance each day. 
 The island Tachompso might therefore be the island Kalabshe, 
 or another about twenty miles farther, opposite Ghyrshe. 
 
 The river contains many islands, of which a more accurate 
 statement is wanting, but the lake through which it is said to 
 flow is the great difficulty. The river, it is true, sometimes 
 spreads out to a greater or lesser breadth, but a lake is no 
 where to be found. Was Herodotus then falsely informed ? 
 Or has the features of this region changed, and what was once 
 a lake been choked up by sand ? It is difficult here to decide. 
 At the time, however, of the yearly floods, it is certain that the 
 Nile in many parts, where the mountain chains run back and 
 suffer its waters to cover the whole valley, presents the appear- 
 ance of a lake. The navigation up the stream continues, then, 
 unobstructed as far as the second cataracts, which all agree in 
 placing near Wady Haifa, 2Y 50^ They are not higher than 
 those near Es-Souan ; Gau gives views of both of them ;^ and 
 Hanbury a description.^ Above this cataract the bed of the 
 river is often interrupted by rocky shoals, which cause rapids. 
 Senkowsky enumerates five of these ;« a third near Wady 
 Attyr ; a fourth near Wady Ambigo ; a fifth under 21°, near 
 Wady Lamule, beyond which Burkhardt met with two others, 
 
 » Fragments from the Diary, not yet printed, of a Journey through Nubia and Northern 
 Ethiopia, in the year 1819, by Joh. von Senkowsky, given m Neue Ally. Geogr. Ephemeri- 
 
 den, B. xi. 1822. ,„ , ,. t^ i t> n v 
 
 « Travels in various Countries of Ethiopia, by S. Waddington, Esq., and 15. Hanbury. 
 
 * Caillaud, Voyage a Meroe, au Fleuve Blanc, etc. ^ , ., 
 
 ♦Norden,tom. iii.p. 47. ^^f^j^' ?• ^^-^ , 
 
 « Gau, plate L ' Hanbury, etc. p. 6. » Senkowsky, 1. c. 
 
1 
 
 176 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 the farthest on the north boundary of the kingdom of Dono-o- 
 la, 1 9° 30'. Thus far he states the navigation of the river to 
 be obstructed ; while Caillaud continues the interruption to 
 Merawe, forty-five leagues farther, where the great falls begin. ^ 
 The Arabian geographers^ place the first cataract in Nubia, 
 near Bakin, ten days' journey above Es-Souan, which is the 
 same as that of Wady Haifa ; the second near the island Sai, 
 20j° ; and the last near the fortress of Astenum. Exact uni- 
 formity cannot be expected in these enumerations, as the bed 
 of the river is generally rocky, and two cataracts may easily be 
 reckoned for one. Above the north boundary of Dongola the 
 features of the country become much changed ; the mountain 
 chains retire farther back ; the Nile, hitherto frequently pressed 
 into a narrow channel, here spreads out into many branches, 
 which enclose a number of fruitful isles, adorned with palm 
 groves, vineyards, and meadows covered with numerous herds, 
 especially of camels.' Similar accounts are given by the 
 latest travellers. Every thing might here, says one, be found 
 in abundance.* The hopes this gave rise to were certainly dis- 
 appointed ; but the devastation of contemporary warfare, by 
 the army of Ismael, pasha from Egypt, seems alone to have 
 been the cause. 
 
 The foregoing researches bring us into the immediate vici- 
 nity of the junction of the Astaboras, or Tacazze, and the 
 Nile ; that is, as will be presently shown, to the beginning of 
 the ancient island of Meroe. It is time here to make a stand, 
 and, before entering Meroe, to form an acquaintance with the 
 monuments of the Nile valley thus far, to which I shall give 
 the name of Nubian. The nature of the monuments, more- 
 over, requires this division : for the region of the Pyramids 
 begins in Meroe, as there has not yet been discovered any 
 trace of them in Nubia. 
 
 The valley of the Nile was once covered on both sides of the 
 river with towns or villages, of which Pliny has left us the 
 names, and only the names, of twenty on each side ; in his 
 time they no longer existed,^ and he informs us that they were 
 not destroyed by Roman wars, but by the earlier contentions 
 between Ethiopia and Egypt. These places must then neces- 
 
 * See his map. 
 
 * Quatremere, Mtmoires sur VEgypte, ii. p. 7, etc., in the M^moire sur la Nubie, from 
 Arabic manxiscripts. The Arabian writers seem to reckon as one all the cataracts enumer- 
 ated by Senkowsky. 
 
 ^ These are the numerous islands spoken of by Diodonis, i, p. 38. 
 
 * Hanbury, p. 4. * PHn. H. ]ff . vi. 35. 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 STATE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 177 
 
 sarily have been veiy ancient ; and the great population of the 
 upper valley of the Nile favours our carrying them back to the 
 time of the Pharaohs. We have no right to suppose that any 
 of these places were flourishing cities. The great works in 
 architecture here, as well as in Egypt, were confined to public 
 edifices ; the Nubian, during the day, lived almost entirely in 
 the open air ; his dwelling was little more than a resting-place 
 for the night. No wonder therefore that these slight-built 
 places, consisting merely of huts, should be swept from the 
 earth, or become mere villages. Notwithstanding this, the 
 ancient Parembole is still found in the present Debut, or 
 Debod ; the name of Taphis is preserved in Tafa ; Kalabshe 
 is the ancient Talmis ; Pselcis is the present Dakke ; Meta- 
 compso the modern Kobban ; farther south is Primis, now 
 Abrim ; all these are on this side of the first Nubian cataract. 
 But though the dwellings of man have vanished, those of 
 the gods remain. The series of temples begin again on both 
 sides of the Nile, almost immediately above the Egyptian 
 cataracts. The first is that of Debod, twelve miles beyond 
 Philae, on the left bank of the Nile. At nearly the same dis- 
 tance, that of Kardassy ; and at only five miles farther that 
 of Tafa. Again, at nearly the same distance, the two temples 
 of Kalabshe, one built from the ground, the other hewn in the 
 rocks. At about ten miles more the temple of Dandour ; and 
 again, at a like distance, the temple of Ghyrshe, partly above 
 ground, partly hewn out of a rock. In ten miles the temple 
 of Dakke ; at the same distance that of Maharraka, and sixteen 
 miles from thence that of Seboa, half built above, and half cut 
 into the earth. Thirty miles farther stands the temple of Derar 
 on the right side ; and sixty mile^ farther the temple in the 
 rocks of Ipsambul, with its colossi, forty-eight miles below the 
 second or first Nubian cataracts of Wady Haifa, near to which 
 stands another temple. Beyond this the chain is broken, and 
 does not recommence till about one hundred and fifty miles 
 farther, below the isle of Sai, where we meet with a larger 
 temple; and then, thirty miles onward, is discovered the 
 temple of Soleb, which Burkhardt takes for the most southern 
 Egyptian temple. The first chain certainly ends here, but a 
 new one begins on the frontiers of the ancient Meroe ; for, 
 about two hundred miles farther, near Merawe, and the moun- 
 tain Berkal lying close by, the temples appear accompanied 
 with groups of pyramids. About two hundred and forty miles 
 
 N 
 
178 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. J 
 
 STATE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 179 
 
 beyond we come to the junction of the Nile and Astaboras, 
 immediately across which we enter the island Mero'e, and pro- 
 ceeding about ninety miles, arrive at the temples and pyramidic 
 ruins of the ancient city of Meroe, whose situation will pre- 
 sently be more accurately determined. 
 
 Though I now intend to enter more fully into particulars, 
 and to make some observations upon the most important of 
 these monuments, as they are represented to us by engravings, 
 yet the reader must not expect that I shall go into any minute 
 detail, which, indeed, without the plates before him, would 
 rarely be understood. My principal object is, by a glance at 
 some of them, to collect materials for a few general observations, 
 which I shall afterwards bring forward. In prosecuting this 
 plan a geographical arrangement will be most convenient, and 
 I shall accordingly proceed up the banks of the Nile, from the 
 boundaries of Egypt. 
 
 The monument at the village of Debod, on the left bank of 
 the Nile, and the first above the cataracts, is a temple, built 
 and ornamented entirely in the Egyptian style.^ It is not one 
 of the largest, nor most ancient, and apparently was never 
 finished. In the sanctuary stand two granite monolithic with 
 niches cut in them, probably as recesses for the reception of 
 the sacred animals. The sculptures on the walls leave no 
 doubt of the temple's having been dedicated to Ammon. 
 They contain libations and presents offered to him and the 
 kindred deities. 
 
 Of the temples of Kardassy^ and Tafa,' too little is left for 
 much to be said respecting them. They also are completely 
 in the Egyptian style, and must be ranked with the smaller. 
 When that of Kardassy was perfect it must have afforded one 
 of the richest views ; Gau has attempted to restore it from the 
 yet existing remains. 
 
 The monuments at Kalabshe rank among the most precious 
 remains of antiquity. "* There are two of them, one an edifice 
 cut out of the rock, the other beneath it. The first is a tem- 
 ple on the left bank of the Nile belonging to the middle size, 
 and is wholly in the Egyptian style of architecture. The en- 
 trance is through a high portico into a colonnade, where many 
 columns are still standing, of which Gau has given plates ;^ this 
 leads into a covered hall of columns, then through two smaller 
 
 » Gau, plate i.— v. « Ibid, plate vii. viii. ix. ' Ibid, plate x. xi. 
 
 * Ibid, plate xii.— xxi. * Ibid, plate xix. 
 
 saloons into the sanctuary. This monument is highly interest- 
 ing from the bas-reliefs which ornament its walls. They are 
 painted, and a copy of one of them is given in colours.^ They 
 are offerings probably presented by the kings (as his head- 
 dress is adorned with the ureus^ the little projecting serpent, 
 the symbol of sovereignty) to Ammon and his subordinate gods. 
 The colouring is very remarkable. Those who present the 
 offerings are always painted red, as they are elsewhere ; but 
 the deities are green, blue, grey, violet, and yellow. Upon all 
 the monuments in the Egyptian style with which I am ac- 
 quainted, the colour of the men is red ; that of the women yel- 
 low. We are therefore justified by our present knowledge, 
 in considering the other various colours as appropriated solely 
 to the gods. The second relief, however, is still more import- 
 ant. Like the other, it represents offerings to the gods ; but 
 then there follow in addition, the purification and consecration 
 of the person who makes the offering, the whole in four com- 
 partments,^ which I consider a series of pictures relating to one 
 subject. In the first compartment is offered a gift in a vessel, 
 probably dates, to Ammon, (without the ram's head, but with 
 the horns on the head-dress,) behind him Isis and the deity with 
 the sparrow-hawk's head. The second gift, offered to the god- 
 dess alone, seems to consist of ostrich-feathers. The third, of 
 frankincense in a vessel, again to Ammon ; the fourth is very 
 singular, it is a vessel upon which lies a utensil bearing the 
 form of an eye. To these offerings follows, in the fifth com- 
 partment, the purification. Two priests sprinkle the candidate 
 for consecration with water ; in the sixth he stands with the 
 priestly head-dress on, between two priestesses, who rest one 
 hand upon his shoulder and with the other seem to consecrate 
 him. Finally, he stands in the last between two priests, (one 
 with the sparrow-hawk's mask,) who, laying hold of him, sur- 
 render to him the key, the emblem of consecration. 
 
 The second monument of Kalabshe, though smaller, and of 
 quite a different kind, is still more remarkable. It is not 
 raised from the ground, but cut below its surface, being en- 
 tirely hewn out of the rock. Its walls contain a series of bas 
 reliefs.^ It is very simple, and ninety feet long by nearly sixty 
 wide. Through a corridor of sixty feet is an entrance to an 
 antechamber, and again, out of this, into an inner chamber. I 
 do not consider it to be a temple, but take it for a sepulchre. 
 
 * Gau, plate xxi. 
 
 ' Ibid, plate xxii. 
 N 2 
 
 Ibid, plate xii. xiii. xiv. 
 
180 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 STATE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 181 
 
 On the back wall of the inner apartment are two groups, each 
 of three persons, sitting on benches.* The middle one is the 
 figure of a man, with a female sitting at his side embracing 
 him. The figure on the other side is much mutilated ; it 
 seems to have had the sparrow-hawk's head. The man in the 
 centre has the lituus ; the woman on the side has the modius 
 on her head ; everything about them seems to prove that they 
 are priests and priestesses. In stating my opinion that the 
 whole is a sepulchre, or rather a family vault, I must observe 
 that I do not come to this conclusion so much from the appear- 
 ance of the building itself, as because there are family vauhs 
 very similar at Eleuthias in Egypt. But the most important 
 part of this monument are the reliefs, of which I must premise 
 that they seem to have nothing in common with the groups 
 just mentioned. The latter are wrought in a ruder style, the 
 figures being short and crowded, whereas the reliefs bear alto- 
 gether the character of the perfected Egyptian art. The re- 
 liefs on one of the walls of the rock represent warlike transac- 
 tions in four compartments, again forming a single series. In 
 the first the king or chief is standing in his war-chariot, driving 
 among his flying enemies, who are the eastern pastoral tribes 
 so often exhibited in similar circumstances. In the second, 
 the king takes the hostile leader captive, as he gripes him by 
 his hair. He is known as leader by his great size. In the 
 third the king is seated, and the captives pass before him. 
 They are three in number ; the first two almost naked, the 
 third in a long garment, all with their hands bound. In u 
 lower compartment is represented the expedition of the vic- 
 torious army by a group of Egyptian warriors. In the fourth 
 the king sacrifices the captive leader, who is cringing im- 
 ploringly at his feet : he is represented as about to kill him 
 with a crooked sword or dagger. Cycles of representations 
 of this kind frequently occur in the Egyptian reliefs. 
 
 The relief on the other wall of the rock is still more remark- 
 able ; not only because there is no other of the same kind at 
 present known, but because its meaning is so obvious. It fills 
 two long compartments, one over the other; both, as is at 
 once seen, forming but one subject.^ It is neither a proces- 
 sion of priests, nor an offering of tribute as at Persepolis. It 
 represents a king, after a victorious expedition, reviewing the 
 booty. The king, known by his tall figure, is seated on a 
 
 ' Gau, plate xiii. 
 
 • Ibid, plate xiv. 
 
 throne in full regal costume. He seems, though out of battle, 
 as priest-king. In his right hand he holds the sceptre and 
 the key of consecration, the left is raised ; he appears to be 
 speaking ; on his head is the sacerdotal bonnet, with the em- 
 blem of sovereignty, and the globe. An herald presents a 
 woman to him ; she is without ornament, and imploring him 
 with upraised hands. Two grown-up boys are clinging to her. 
 Can we here see a captive queen and her two sons, perhaps 
 doomed as sacrifices ? She cannot be a common prisoner, as 
 she is placed before all the rest, as the most important of the 
 booty. We have here, however, more than mere conjecture. 
 History, as well as the monuments, confirm this view ; as we 
 soon shall see near Meroe. Behind the queen follows the 
 booty; weapons, utensils, as chairs, fruits, clothes, skins, 
 flagons, bread, etc., set out upon tables. Then follow wild 
 beasts, with their leaders ; a lion and a goat ; then cattle, a pair 
 of steers with horns artificially bent ; next drivers, and men 
 bearing skins and ebony. This is in the first piece. The 
 second begins with some Egyptian warriors ; a parcel of flowers 
 and fruits ; captives, the first with a halter round his neck, 
 the other bound, both led by Egyptians, (always known by 
 their head-dress,) the prisoners are girded with skins ; again 
 come the beasts, a hound, a man, with apes and ebony : after 
 these come a girafle, led by a halter, a gazelle, another pair of 
 steers with artificially bent horns, and their leaders. Women 
 with their children next follow ; one is leading an ape ; two 
 others are borne in a basket ; a gazelle, an ostrich, a hound, 
 with a leader to each, who sometimes are likewise laden with 
 ebony. — If there is no doubt respecting the nature of this pro- 
 cession, neither is there respecting the countries represented. 
 Every thing shows them to be of Ethiopia, Meroe, and of 
 central Africa. First the captive queen. History informs us 
 that Meroe was often governed by queens ; and we moreover 
 find them portrayed as heroines and victors upon the monu- 
 ments. That the captives, especially princes, were frequently 
 sacrificed is shown by many of the sculptures. It is not, there- 
 fore, without reason that she implores for the lives of herself 
 and terrified sons. The costly furniture, tables, stools, clothes, 
 weapons, etc., show that a rich and civilized people had been 
 conquered. Kine, with their horns artificially bent, are still 
 found on the east coast of Africa, among the Kaffers. The 
 prisoners being girded with skins is explained by Herodotus. 
 
182 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. n. 
 
 " The Ethiopians in Xerxes' army," he tells us, " were girded 
 about with skins of panthers and lions."* But the wild beasts 
 are particularly remarkable ; the apes, the ostriches, and the 
 giraffe, could only be found at a great distance from Meroe, in 
 the deserts of central Africa. Yet we find neither the powerful 
 rhinoceros, nor the mighty elephant ; a certain proof of its not 
 yet being tamed. And before whom was this procession ex- 
 hibited ? Before an Egyptian ruler ; but who, his deciphered 
 name may perhaps some time explain. If we question his- 
 tory, its answer will be Sesostris (also called Ramesses) the 
 Ethiopian conqueror ; who so often appears on the monu- 
 ments ; and certainly upon those which, like the present, be- 
 long to the flourishing period of Egyptian art. What this 
 monument represents can no longer be doubtful, — the conquest 
 of Ethiopia and Meroe by the Pharaohs. 
 
 That this monument was hewn out beyond the boundaries 
 of Egypt, in Nubia, the conquered country, is not at all 
 strange : and that the side of a rock should be chosen for the 
 purpose is quite conformable to the custom of the primitive 
 ages. Whether it stood in any particular relation with the 
 sepulchre or not, I cannot decide. It will scarcely be taken 
 for the tomb of the Egyptian chief, whose glory the relief per- 
 petuates. In its interior is represented the consecration or 
 purification and sprinkling of the Egyptian ruler, just the same 
 as it is in the sculpture of the temple above ground.^ Some 
 religious motives seem therefore to have determined the choice 
 of this particular spot. Four heads on the relief portrayed in 
 a larger size, and two portraits of Nubians placed opposite, 
 induced Mr. Gau to call our attention to the similarity between 
 the present features of many of the African nations and those 
 almost always found represented upon the monuments.^ 
 
 The temple of Dandour, however important in itself, only 
 offers us a repetition of the scenes which we have already no- 
 ticed.* This is not the case with that at Ghyrshe, which next 
 follows in ascending the stream. We here, for the first time, 
 find the grotto and temple architecture combined in the erec- 
 tion of a monument. The original foundation is a grotto hewn 
 out of the solid rock, before which, at a later period, a portico 
 has been erected. 
 
 The plan of the grotto is very simple.^ Through a porch 
 
 • Herod, vii. 69. * Gau, table xiii. 
 
 * Ibid, table xxiiL — ^xxvi. 
 
 3 Ibid, table xvi. 
 * Ibid, table xxvii. 
 
 CHAP. 11-] 
 
 STATE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 183 
 
 we enter a saloon ; and beyond this is an inner apartment. It 
 was evidently intended originally as a sepulchre for several 
 families, as is proved by the five groups found in the back- 
 ground.^ The upper or principal group consists of four figures, 
 sitting on a bench ; the four lower groups, each of three 
 figures standing. In each is a man, and a woman embracing 
 him, and a subordinate figure. They bear emblems of the priest- 
 hood ; I therefore doubt not but they are families of priests. 
 The vestibule consists of an open colonnade, in which, as well 
 as in the hall of columns, stand gigantic figures of priests .of 
 Osiris as caryatides, on the pilasters.^ " On these," says Bel- 
 zoni, " may be distinguished the very ancient from the later 
 sculptures. The artist was merely able to show that he in- 
 tended them for human figures, which figures are so bad that 
 they could only have been formed after an Ethiopian model."^ 
 The temple at Dakka is one of the best preserved.* The 
 entrance, separated from the temple, still remains, as well as 
 the temple itself with its propyla. It is very remarkable that 
 over the entrance is a Greek inscription, certainly of one of the 
 Ptolemies;^ either the first or second Evergetes. By com- 
 paring it, however, with the Rosetta inscription, it appears to 
 be the first of this name, or the third in the succession of Pto- 
 lemies ; and it therefore affords us a proof, that he extended 
 his conquests and dominion into these regions, whether the 
 monument of Adule be in part or altogether ascribed to him. 
 The sculpture on the walls represent gifts offered to Ammon 
 and his temple companions. They are remarkable as pictur- 
 ing not only the king but his consort presenting offerings.^ 
 They are, moreover, in the purest and most perfect style of 
 
 Egyptian art. 
 
 the following temple at Maharraka still shows traces of Gre- 
 cian art.^ Over the entrance is a half-reclining female figure, 
 partly Egyptian and partly Greek ; near this a Greek inscrip- 
 tion, attesting the adoration of a whole family, of which a boy 
 
 » Gau, table xxx. « Ibid, plate xxix. 
 
 » Bclzoni, Nan-ative of the Operations in Egypt and IS tibia, p. 71. 
 
 ' Cjti\i TjlstG xxxiv X xxvii 
 
 * Ibid! plate xxxv.' 'Ei/t'p /SotrtX Oeoi £ts leave no doubt of the fact, notwith- 
 standing the mutilated state of the inscription. . ^ , , 1. 3 /J' 
 
 « See m particular the large lower relief in plate xxxvin. Both the king and queen (dis- 
 tinguished by the xireus) are offering gifts ; he a large dish, with vessels, and she a wreath 
 of flowers. Behind them are two of their followers, also husband and wife, (without the 
 emblem of dominion,) with cattle and poultry. The same relief is twice repeated on each 
 side, in every particular. Can we forbear, then, to consider it as Ptolemy III. and his consort 
 Berenice ? 
 
 ' Gau, vignette, livr. viiL 
 
184 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 CHAP 
 
 . 11.] 
 
 STATE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 185 
 
 is represented as offering the gift. " No where," says Bel- 
 zoni, " did I see Egyptian and Grecian rites more evidently 
 united."^ 
 
 The monument of Asseboa, or Sebu, which next follows, is 
 still far more important.' It is not one of the largest, but one 
 of the most finished temples. First, a magnificent portico, fol- 
 lowed by an alley of sphinxes ; leading to the first pylon, be- 
 fore which sit two colossal figures. Through this we pass into 
 an open colonnade, and out of this into a covered hall of co- 
 lumns, with priests of Osiris instead of caryatides on the pillars. 
 Next follows the sanctuary with the representation of the holy 
 ark. All this is above ground ; but there are several rooms 
 joining thereto hewn in the rock. Thus we find the case here 
 to be the reverse of what it is in the temple at Ghyrshe. For 
 there the temple is hewn in the rock, and only the vestibule 
 stands free ; while here we have the temple free, and only the 
 subordinate building hewn in the rock. The greatest part of 
 the temple, however, is covered with sand. The sphinxes are of 
 one peculiar shape ; they bear the high priest's bonnet, which 
 I do not remember to be the case any where else. The reliefs 
 in the interior, with their colours, are in fine preservation ; re- 
 presenting gifts offered to Ammon and his kindred gods. They 
 must be ranked, according to the plates of Gau, among those 
 of the perfected Egyptian art ; although, according to Legh, 
 they are, at least the hieroglyphics, of a ruder character. 
 " Probably," says he, " this monument is more ancient than 
 the Egyptian."^ 
 
 The temple of Amada, half buried in sand, bears a cupola, 
 a proof of its having been adapted to the Christian worship.* 
 Champollion, nevertheless, has demonstrated its high antiquity, 
 by discovering upon it the name of Pharaoh Thutmosis, the 
 expeller of the Hyksos.^ 
 
 The monument of Derar, notwithstanding its small size, is 
 still remarkable.^ It is altogether cut in the rock, without any 
 building before it. The plan is exceedingly simple. It was 
 a temple of Ammon. The procession of the holy ark is repre- 
 sented in the sanctuary.^ The king comes forward kneeling, 
 and presents an offering ; but upon another wall he kills a cap- 
 tive, evidently intended as a sacrifice. The god with the fal- 
 con's head advances, and brings to the king the sword or 
 
 • Belzoni, Narrative, p. 73. ' Gau, table xlii. — xlvii. ' Legh, p. 66. 
 
 • Gau, table xlviii. ' Champollion, Systcme Hierogfyphique, p, 241. 
 
 • Gau, table 1. li. lii. » Ibid, table U. 
 
 dagger. A similar subject is portrayed in the temples of 
 
 Thebes. 
 
 We now approach those stupendous monuments which, 
 
 principally by the exertions of Belzoni, have been rescued 
 from the sand and restored to day, and are celebrated under 
 the probably corrupted name of Ipsambul throughout Europe.^ 
 They are two rock monuments, a smaller and a larger. The 
 first, nearest the Nile, shows itself to the passing vessels, by six 
 gigantic figures, which seem, as it were, to keep watch before 
 it. Burkhardt and other travellers had already mentioned 
 this : but behind it, and still almost entirely covered with sand, 
 out of which only the heads of two vast colossal figures project, 
 is the great temple itself; these two figures standing like 
 sentinels before its entrance. Belzoni not only discovered it, 
 but with astonishing perseverance cleared away the sand, and 
 laid it open to view. And what sensations he must have ex- 
 perienced as the light broke in and gradually revealed, by its 
 solemn glimmer, these gigantic forms ! Before the entrance 
 four colossal figures sit as guards, the largest yet known, being 
 sixty-five feet high : — in the interior, first the colonnade, with 
 gigantic figures of Osiris on the pilasters, nearly thirty feet 
 high : the walls full of sculptures representing battles and tri- 
 umphs. Out of this we step into a hall of columns, with similar 
 gigantic figures ; next to this an ante-chamber, which is fol- 
 lowed by the sanctuary, with many side chambers. In the 
 back-ground is a colossal figure sitting upon a bench ; and 
 similar ones are in the side chambers. In the midst of the 
 sanctuary stands a pedestal.^ This monument is usually called 
 a temple, yet I will venture to maintain that it was no temple, 
 but intended for a sepulchre. The object in the sanctuary 
 proves the truth of my opinion. An object like this is never 
 seen so situated in any Egyptian temple, though it is common 
 enough in the sepulchres. We have already seen proofs of 
 this at Kalabshe. But still it was a family tomb, perhaps of 
 priests ; but here it seems highly probable that we have the 
 sepulchre of a king. If the monument had been originally a 
 temple, a monoUthus would have stood in the sanctuary. In- 
 stead of that we have here a pedestal, upon which probably a 
 sarcophagus once stood. What ruler it was who has here 
 taken up his last abode I dare not venture to decide. If it 
 
 I In Gau, Abusamhul, table Iv. 
 « In Belzoni the two last plates but one ; in Gau, the fiftj'-fourth and fifty-fifth. 
 
186 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 CHAP. II-] 
 
 STATE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 187 
 
 were an Ethiopian king, then have we here again the archetype 
 of the kings' tombs at Thebes, but the latter, although certainly 
 not larger, were far superior in magnificence. 
 
 What is here said of the larger monument applies also to 
 the smaller ; and is still further confirmed by Gau s having 
 given a plate of the inner sanctuary, as well as a view of the 
 facade. Six colossal, though smaller figures, stand here as 
 sentinels ; three on each side, each middle figure being that of a 
 female. They are priests and priestesses, as is shown not only 
 by the head-dress, but also by the key, the emblem of consecra- 
 tion, which even the females retain : in the men the upper 
 part seems to be broken off. The subjects on the walls of the 
 colonnade are of the same kind as in the large monument ; 
 scenes of war and triumphs. But the most important are the 
 painted reliefs in the sanctuary.^ Four figures are portrayed, 
 all sitting on a bench. They are not however of one family. 
 The red, principal figure I take to be the king, placed between 
 two deities, which they appear to be, the one on the right from 
 his bluish colour, the one on the left from his falcon-head. 
 The fourth figure on the side, of a yellow colour, I cannot 
 explain. 
 
 The monuments hitherto spoken of lie altogether on this 
 side the second cataract, which is about forty-five miles distant 
 from Ipsambul. But as beyond this the monuments become 
 rarer, the temple of Soleb, 20° 20', which Waddington has 
 described and Caillaud delineated, must not be passed by." 
 According to the first it is among the lightest built temples ; 
 but nevertheless interesting to us from the sculptures, of which 
 Caillaud has given engravings. Among them are prisoners 
 with their arms bound behind them, one a negro, with a com- 
 plete negro profile.^ Everything about this temple however 
 is entirely in the Egyptian style ; Burkhardt therefore is per- 
 fectly right in marking it on his map as the most southern 
 monument of this kind, wishing to keep it distinct from those 
 of Meroe, at which we shall presently arrive. 
 
 J^t us now consider the obsei^vations to which this acquaint- 
 ance with the monuments gives rise ; and inquire what certain 
 and what probable results may be deduced therefrom. And 
 first it is certain that the religion, rites, and arts of Egypt were 
 not confined to its proper territory, but extended to the upper 
 
 Gau, table liv. 
 
 * Waddington, p. 178. Caillaud, plate xii. xiv. 
 ^ Caillaud, plate xiv. 
 
 valley of the Nile. We see the same deities worshipped here 
 as in Egypt ; though the number is somewhat less. The rites 
 of Ammon every where predominate ; and after his, those of his 
 temple companions and kindred. He himself occasionally 
 appears with the ram's head, and sometimes in a human shape ; 
 but still with the attributes which distinguish him as Ammon. 
 Next to him comes his son Osiris, known by the scourge and 
 sceptre. A female form always accompanies both these where 
 the space will allow it : Ammon, with the ram's head, by his 
 wife Satis. He, however, as well as Osiris, is often accom- 
 panied by Isis, known by the cow's horns in her head-dress, 
 between which is placed a globe of the world or sun. The 
 other deities bear the heads of animals, especially those of the 
 falcon and dog. I leave the further particulars respecting 
 them to mythologists ; all that is required here is to determine 
 in a general way the prevailing religion. 
 
 In speaking of the monuments it is necessary to distinguish 
 between the architecture itself, and the ornaments which they 
 have received from the hand of the sculptor.' 
 
 The character of the architecture is upon the whole de- 
 cidedly the same ; but still there is a progress in it, which, in 
 my opinion, is not to be mistaken. In the monuments of 
 Eevpt we find this art in its greatest perfection, and perhaps, 
 at times, even in its decline ; but here we see it m its rise and 
 procrress. The small grottos, especially those of Derar, appear 
 to me to exhibit the earliest attempts of the art ; these were 
 afterwards improved ; but how many shades of improvement 
 must the art have undergone before it attained that sublime 
 magnitude in which it exists at Ipsambul ! I thmk, however, 
 that I have proved that these grottos, at least originally, were 
 not temples, but sepulchres. That this was the case with all 
 I cannot venture to determine ; as I am now only speaking ot 
 those in which the above-mentioned objects are depicted in 
 the sanctuary, and that these, viz. Kalabshe, Ghyrshe, and 
 Ipsambul, were such, I hesitate not to affirm. Respecting the 
 monument at Derar I have some doubts, from there being no 
 accurate delineation of the sanctuary. , • . ^ 
 
 The science of architecture therefore commenced with grot- 
 tos and the tombs within them, and became perfected by de- 
 grees. And is not this a proof that this architecture was indi- 
 ienous and not of foreign origin ? Do we not see that its first 
 
 » Champollion, Syst. des Hieroglypkes, p. 99. 
 
188 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 attempt was the construction of tombs, and is not that a striking 
 proof that it was not of Indian origin ? For though we are 
 acquainted with mighty grotto-works in India, yet have we 
 no where the least trace of their having been sepulchres. 
 The disciples of Brama, in fact, do not bury their dead ; they 
 burn them. 
 
 The rock-monuments determined very naturally the princi- 
 pal character of the Nubian-Egyptian architecture to the co- 
 Io5;sal form which it assumed. In those caverns, already partly 
 prepared by nature, the eye was accustomed to dwell on huge 
 shapes and masses ; so that when art came here to the assist- 
 ance of nature, it could not move on a small scale without 
 degrading itself. What would statues of the usual size, or 
 neat porches and wings, have been, associated with those 
 gigantic halls, before which only colossi could sit as watch- 
 men, or lean on the pillars of the interior ? 
 
 From the grottos this architecture trod forth into the open 
 air. And is it not sufficiently evident how the monuments of 
 Nubia underwent this change ? We have seen them, like that 
 of Ghyrshe, half in the rock and half in the open air. This 
 union is still important on another account, it proves as clearly 
 as possible, that the grotto monuments are the most ancient. 
 For no rational being will believe that the porticos are older 
 than the grottos. 
 
 But, notwithstanding I maintain that these grotto buildings, 
 in their origin, were sepulchres, I do not deny but that they 
 might afterwards have become temples. Religious ideas easily 
 associate themselves with repositories of the dead : and if a 
 certain veneration was shown to the deceased kings, — which 
 we now know, from the Rosetta inscription, to have been the 
 case with regard to the Ptolemies, who indeed were but the 
 successors of the Pharaohs, — then, indeed, their sepulchres 
 must likewise have been temples, where they were not made 
 expressly inaccessible. 
 
 Architecture, however, quitted its junction with the grottos, 
 and mounted a third step; by erecting monuments uncon- 
 nected with these excavations. 
 
 All these edifices, without exception, so far as they are yet 
 known, are temples ; we find none beyond, which we can hold 
 ourselves justified in calling sepulchres, or, as in Thebes, 
 palaces. I have already remarked, and their appearance tes- 
 tifies to its truth, that they bear throughout the character of 
 
 CHAP. n«] 
 
 STATE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 189 
 
 FffVPtian architecture. How far the earlier or later Egyptian 
 ^^vle can be distinguished in them, I must leave to the judg- 
 rnent of architects. One difference I cannot pass over m 
 Sence Notwithstanding the Nubian temples, like the Egyp- 
 tian exhibit pylones, colossi, colonnades, column-halls, and 
 sanctuaries, yet there is no where to be found among them 
 an obelisk, or the least trace of one. The magnificence which 
 these proud monuments imparted was confined to ^gypt ; 
 and this alone is a proof that they were first erected m that 
 country, where the architecture of the valley of the Nile was 
 improved and carried to its highest perfection. 
 
 From the architecture let us turn to the sculpture or reliefs 
 with which the walls and columns of these monuments, as well 
 below as above ground, are so profusely ornamented. And 
 here at once a question presses itself upon our attention, name- 
 Iv in what relation did these stand to the monuments ? Did 
 they form a part of them originally, or were they added at a 
 later period? Are they by the same artists, or by others? 
 Who would not at once decide in favour of the first, and con- 
 sider the monuments and decorations as forming one whole, it 
 a great difficulty did not, at the first glance, present itself. In 
 the architecture, and even in the colossal statues, we have 
 traced a progress, from the first attempts almost to their per- 
 fection ; while in the reliefs nothing of the kind is discernible : 
 they all belong to the perfected Egyptian art. How then can 
 we account for sculpture having already attained this perfec- 
 tion, while architecture was gradually progressive in its im- 
 provement ? I can only explain this extraordinary circumstance, 
 connected with the rock-monuments, by supposmg that their 
 walls were not ornamented with reliefs till a later period ; and 
 that the sculpture has no connexion with their on gmal destina- 
 tion as sepulchres. Whoever will compare the sitting figures, 
 which represent family groups of the deceased, with those on 
 the wall, will find no resemblance whatever between them 
 either in countenance or shape. In the reliefs these are inva- 
 riably long and slender; but in the sitting figures, short and 
 thick. These observations apply particularly to the monu- 
 ments of Kalabshe and Ipsambul ; in those built from the 
 ground there is no such disproportion between architecture 
 and sculpture. Until the deciphering of the hierog yphic 
 writing, therefore, shall give us better information, I shall con- 
 
 » That of Axum, which will be hereafter spoken of, does not belong to Nubia. 
 
190 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. n. 
 
 sider it probable that the Egyptian rulers, who invaded Nubia, 
 made use of the ancient rock-monuments, which they found 
 already existing, and endeavoured to perpetuate their fame as 
 victors and conquerors, by pictorial representations on the 
 walls, of their pious and heroic deeds. The latest discoveries 
 of Champollion confirm this view of the subject.^ Ramasses 
 the Great, otherwise called Sesostris, was the hero thus hon- 
 oured ; every part of the great monuments of Ipsambul, Ka- 
 labshe, Derar, Ghyrshe, and Seboa, bear records of his fame. 
 
 The subjects portrayed on these monuments may be mostly 
 comprised under three classes ; adorations, processions, and 
 military triumphs. It is necessary, however, before entering 
 upon them in detail, to premise a few general observations. 
 
 All accounts agree in attributing these temple buildings to 
 the kings. — But for what purpose were they erected ? They 
 are described to us as memorials, by which the remembrance 
 of the kings was preserved by the priesthood ; for the Egyp- 
 tian priests confessed to Herodotus, that of those kings who had 
 left no monuments they could relate nothing more than a ca- 
 talogue of names.^ But in what sense were these buildings 
 memorials of their founders ? Were they merely such that at 
 the most they did but preserve the remembrance of a ruler ; 
 or rather might not the representations on the walls, — those 
 numerous reliefs with which they are covered, — have had a 
 further object ; namely, that of exhibiting the history of the 
 king's reign ? The nature of things seems to require our assent 
 to this view of the subject, which is further confirmed by the 
 historical pictures, those military triumphs, which we find por- 
 trayed upon them. This matter, however, will appear in a 
 clearer light, if we fairly consider what the histoiy of the reigns 
 of these kings would comprise. 
 
 They are priest-kings ; that is, kings who, if they did not 
 by law belong to the priest-caste, were yet held in great de- 
 pendence by that body ; a dependence not consisting in mere 
 words, but in an active expression of their reverence by sacri- 
 fices and offerings, which, nevertheless, were not without re- 
 compence ; but, on the part of the priesthood, were returned 
 in favours to the rulers, to them of importance ; among which 
 reception into the caste, and promotion, were perhaps deemed 
 — as among the Indians — the highest. 
 
 The history of such kings was therefore necessarily twofold. 
 
 » Champollion, Pricis du Systime Hieroglyphique, 220. « Herod, ii. 101. 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 STATE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 191 
 
 One ecclesiastical, which comprised the homages offered to the 
 priests, and the recompences received for them ; the other po- 
 litical, which contained the enterprises of the kings, and, above 
 all, their military exploits. 
 
 I scarcely need state which of these two the priests would 
 consider most deserving their attention. Though the political 
 ranks highest with us, the other certainly had the highest 
 claims to their regard. 
 
 Now if the temples of the kings were erected for the pre- 
 servation of their memory, would they not have desired, above 
 all things, to perpetuate their history by them in the way just 
 explained ? The contrary is almost inconceivable ; but a more 
 accurate view of the monuments, and the information lately 
 obtained, leads to the result we should have anticipated. 
 
 We have another proof that political or military history 
 ranked below the ecclesiastical ; not only the disproportion in 
 the numbers of the two show this, (that of the historical reliefs 
 being very insignificant compared with the others,) but also 
 the places assigned them ; the representation of political affairs 
 being confined to the outside of the pylones, and perhaps the 
 partition-walls of the open hall of pillars, and even not exclu- 
 sively to these. The battle-pieces extend no further. The 
 triumphal processions, which, from their offerings to the gods, 
 pertain to the ecclesiastical character, obtain at best only a 
 place in the covered column-hall ; consequently in the place 
 where the people assembled and worshipped, but never in the 
 inner sanctuary. This is sacred to religious affairs ; although 
 these previously occupy almost the whole of the walls and 
 columns of the vestibule and halls ; indeed even the facade of 
 the pylones. Every thing, in short, proves that religion was 
 here predominant, and that what we should regard as most 
 important was thrown here into the back-ground. 
 
 These ecclesiastical pictures, then, claim our first attention ; 
 and who indeed could help asking, even at a cursory glance, 
 for what they were intended ? Were they merely decorations 
 of the walls ? or, if their general object was the promotion of 
 religion, had they not particular and special objects as well ? 
 What can we make of them, and especially of the numerous 
 repetitions of the same circumstance, unless we adopt some 
 such notion as this ? 
 
 It appears to me, that the late discoveries, especially the 
 Greek inscriptions, for copies of which we are indebted to Gau 
 
im 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 and Caillaud, lead to a further solution, by being compared 
 with what we find exhibited upon the most ancient monu- 
 ments. These Greek inscriptions give us important inform- 
 ation respecting the solemn adoration* of the Egyptian deities, 
 upon the ceremonial with which they were performed, and 
 their relation to the temple, and the views with which they 
 were made and received. 
 
 These adorations were solemn acts which a man performed, 
 with the approbation of the priests, for himself, or even for his 
 family. They were not, however, celebrated empty-handed, 
 but accompanied with gifts and offerings ; and for these the 
 donor obtained that the remembrance thereof, and the honours 
 conferred on account of them, should be preserved by an in- 
 scription on the walls of the temple. To this class belong the 
 numerous Greek, and, in part, the Egyptian inscriptions, wliicli 
 the travellers I have so oflen mentioned copied.^ " This is 
 the adoration of such a one," sometimes with the addition of 
 the sum which he had paid to the temple. A kind of tax, in- 
 deed, became formed, which a man paid once or more, accord- 
 ing as he desired honours or grants from the temple. These 
 consisted of priestly titles, and of privileges connected with 
 them ; perhaps something like those which a pilgrimage to the 
 holy cities now gives to the disciples of Islam. The persons 
 who came to worship were often pilgrims from distant lands; 
 (the reader may bear in mind the customs of the East, and the 
 example from holy writ of the chamberlain of queen Candace, 
 who came to worship at Jerusalem ;) though it was not re- 
 ligion and piety alone which induced many to undertake the 
 distant journey. 
 
 It appears from the inscriptions, that it was mostly persons 
 of the higher ranks, such as statesmen, commanders, governors, 
 and the like, that procured these titles for their adorations; 
 as might indeed be expected from the expense with which 
 they were attended ; though it is not likely that the gifts of 
 the inferior classes were disdained. But, what is of particular 
 
 * The Greek expression is vpovKvynnaTa. 
 
 * See in particular the inscription ofCartasche given by Gau. The title of priest was the 
 honour obtained ; and this dignity was many times repeated, and raised the rank of the 
 persons on whom it was conferred, till they obtained the title of chief-priest (apx"/"^')' 
 and father of the priests {irarnp tSdv iipStv). It is certain that it was procured for money; 
 there are examples of fifteen, twenty, and even thirty pieces of gold being paid for it. A 
 certain Makrinus paid one hundred and ten for two titles ; another gave a talent and up- 
 wards. In the inscription, number xxiv., the price of the title of under-priest is estimated at 
 thirtjr pieces of gold, and that of chief-priest at sixty. Compare the observations of Niebuhr, 
 im Dissertation^ p. 13. 
 
 OHAF. II.] 
 
 STATE OF MERGE, ETC. 
 
 193 
 
 consequence to us, even the kings of the house of Ptolemy were 
 followers of this custom. The temples of Philae contain many 
 inscriptions of kings who had celebrated such adorations, and 
 perpetuated the remembrance thereof by inscriptions.' And 
 if the explanation I have above given concerning Ptolemy 
 Evergetes and his consort be correct, whether it be the first or 
 second of that name, it becomes clear that it was done not 
 merely by inscriptions, but also by pictorial representations on 
 the walls, which, probably, in the latter period of these mon- 
 archs, fell into disuse, as the Greek language became usual 
 for inscriptions ; which was not so well adapted as hieroglyphics 
 to accompany pictorial representations : other causes which 
 occurred under the latter Ptolemies may also have operated. 
 
 Let us apply these observations to the period of the Pha- 
 raohs, and its monuments, and with what increased interest 
 shall we then regard the work of the sculptor, whose appear- 
 ance testifies that they for the most part relate to such ador- 
 ations. Whether these were only offered by kings, or by 
 others as well, I will not venture to determine ; but that the 
 greatest proportion of them are royal oblations is shown by 
 the ensigns of dominion with which the offerings are so fre- 
 quently adorned. To explain the whole, it would be neces- 
 sary to have the ritual of the priests, which, unfortunately, we 
 are without. From that we might learn how this or that obla- 
 tion was connected with its attendant ceremony ; how it gave 
 the right to wear this or that ornament on the head, or this or 
 that ensign of the priesthood ; how they led to washings and 
 purifications, and at last even to admission into the priestly 
 order ; as this is many times represented in a manner not to be 
 mistaken. Add to this, that Ammon was the deity of an ora- 
 cle, and that many of these adorations could have no other 
 object than that of obtaining favourable oracles from him, 
 which none could require more than kings in their enterprises. 
 The difference, therefore, between the earlier and later usage 
 consisted in this, in the later period the matter was merely 
 recorded by an inscription, while in the more ancient it was 
 perpetuated by a pictorial representation of the act itself, ac- 
 companied, however, with hieroglyphic writing, a further key 
 for the solution of which may perhaps be soon afforded us. 
 What, however, was represented could naturally be no more 
 
 1 See the proofs in the Dissertation already quoted, p. 21. The kings were some of the 
 last of the house of Ptolemy. 
 
 o 
 
194 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. n. 
 
 than the prescribed ceremony; the more trifling offerings 
 must certainly have been very different from the sums paid for 
 admission into the priesthood. 
 
 I cannot, therefore, consider these pictorial representations 
 as mere ornaments, or the fanciful creations of art ; I regard 
 them as historical. They set forth the ecclesiastical life of 
 these priest-kings. And if it be remembered, that the com- 
 pletion of one of these stupendous monuments required cen- 
 turies, and this is a fact beyond all doubt, it may then be con- 
 ceived how one of them might contain the church annals of an 
 empire. 
 
 And do not these ideas completely harmonize with what 
 Champollion, the most acute inquirer into these subjects,^ has 
 said upon the origin of these monuments? "The study of 
 them shows," he says, " that the Egyptians in general first 
 erected the great masses of these edifices; covered them 
 with large plain surfaces, and only completed at first the orna- 
 mental part of the architecture, when they polished and pre- 
 pared all the smooth surfaces of the monument. After these 
 labours the reliefs were set about, and ornamented with in- 
 numerable hieroglyphic characters, which covered the pillars 
 and walls. This was the decoration of the monument, and 
 proved the longest operation, and required tlie most care. 
 Many reigns might pass by, many dynasties might succeed 
 each other, ere the decoration of one of these stupendous 
 monuments was completed." In all this I agree with the 
 learned writer; the works left unfinished prove its truth. I 
 cannot, however, believe that these were mere decorations. 
 The foregoing remarks place these phenomena not only in a 
 clearer, but in a more natural light. 
 
 In addition, however, to the ecclesiastical history of these 
 priest-kings, their political is also portrayed upon the walls of 
 their monuments ; their military expeditions, their battles, their 
 triumphs. These representations, however, are evidently co- 
 pies of those in Thebes ; they display the deeds of Egyptian 
 conquerors, who wished to perpetuate their remembrance in 
 the conquered countries, on the monuments they found there, 
 of which I have already given proofs. In my researches upon 
 Egypt I shall examine this subject more particularly, and shall, 
 therefore, confine myself here to one remark respecting Nubia. 
 
 It is an important circumstance, that Egyptian art should 
 
 * NouvcUes Annales des Voyages, torn. xiii. p. 416. 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 STATE OF MERGE, ETC. 
 
 195 
 
 always have been so careful to distinguish the conquered na- 
 tions in these pictures by their colour, features, clothing, and 
 arms. Their variety, however, is not so great upon the Nubian 
 monuments as upon those of Thebes.* Negroes, known by 
 their profile, only occur once or twice as captives.^ The re- 
 mainder, throughout, have the same colour, physiognomy, 
 beard, and clothing : the colour is yellow, the clothing long, 
 the beard short but projecting, the hair black, and on the 
 females hanging down in ties.^ Though it may appear strange 
 that we here see the same nations warred upon by the Egyp- 
 tian rulers, who indeed often governed Nubia, that we so often 
 see in Egypt itself, yet is this not to be wondered at, because 
 the inhabitants of both countries had the same enemies. Nu- 
 bia, like Egypt, was surrounded by pastoral nations, of whom 
 the most formidable were those towards the Arabian Gulf. 
 The conquering of herdsmen, which is so common a circum- 
 stance in the history of Egypt, is not less so in that of Nubia. 
 The greatest and longest wars were carried on against them, 
 and are, therefore, represented upon the monuments. There 
 can be no doubt of their being pastoral nations ; for they are 
 not only accompanied by women and children, as nomades 
 usually are, but even the flying herds are portrayed.* Whether 
 Arabian or Libyan nomades I will not venture to decide ; it is 
 easier shown that both had their seat in these regions : the 
 yellow colour, the clothing and hair, seem to argue for their 
 being Arabs, The fruitful valley of the Nile, with its treasures 
 and temples, could not but often allure them to plunder and 
 inroads. 
 
 The most interesting of the processions belonging to this 
 part of my subject have now been explained ;^ at another op- 
 portunity I shall discuss the sacerdotal. We have thus far 
 become acquainted with the monuments of Nubia. There are 
 others besides these to which I shall now proceed, — those 
 upon the island of Meroe. 
 
 But where is Meroe to be found ? This is the first and most 
 important question that demands our attention. The whole 
 of the following inquiry can only become creditable and deter- 
 minate by an accurate settlement of the locality. 
 
 If we first question Herodotus, we shall find that he has 
 
 * See especially the reliefs upon the tombs of the kings in Belzoni, plate vii. viii., where 
 the people of white, red, and black colour are distinguished likewise by their clothing and 
 physiognomy. « See above, p. 186. 
 
 ' See Gau, table xiv. and Ixi. * Gau, 1. c. * See above, p. 1 7S sqq. 
 
 o 2 
 
196 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 CHAP 
 
 . II.] 
 
 STATE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 197 
 
 given us some important hints in what he has told us of the 
 course of the Nile above Egypt. He recommends us to leave 
 the vessel near the island Tachompso, in order to avoid the 
 cataracts, and to make a forty days' journey by land near the 
 banks of the river, after which a new voyage of twelve days 
 will bring us to the city of Meroe. The fixing the journey 
 near the banks of the river is here of great consequence ; as 
 by this course the Nubian desert is avoided, and by following 
 the various bendings of the stream the way is much lengthen- 
 ed. There is still, however, much vagueness in these state- 
 ments, as the windings of the river are not accurately pointed 
 out. According to Waddington's map, the distance from the 
 cataract of Wady Haifa to the influx of the Tacazze is six hun- 
 dred geographical miles, to which must be added one hundred 
 and twenty miles from Kalabshe, where we suppose the island 
 Tachompso to be, to Wady Haifa. However uncertain, there- 
 fore, the reckoning may remain, the forty days journey will, 
 nevertheless, carry us into the territory of Atbara, between the 
 Nile and the Astaboras, to the northern part of the empire of 
 Sennaar. It remains to be seen whether what other writers 
 have said will fix its situation more accurately. 
 
 Herodotus only mentions the city of Meroe. All other 
 writers describe Meroe as an island, with a city of the same 
 name.^ They therefore do not contradict Herodotus ; the fol- 
 lowing will tend to show that the situation of the city, as laid 
 down by Herodotus, agrees with their statements. 
 
 " The Astaboras," says Agatharchides, " which flows through 
 Ethiopia, unites its stream with the greater Nile, and thereby 
 forms the island of Meroe, by flowing round it."^ Strabo is 
 still more precise.^ " The Nile," says he, " receives two great 
 rivers which run from the east out of some lakes, and encom- 
 pass the great island of Meroe. One is called the Astaboras, 
 which flows on the eastern side ; the other the Astapus. Some 
 mention instead the Astosabas, and distinguish therefrom the 
 Astapus, which runs in a course very nearly parallel with the 
 Nile. Seven hundred stadia above the junction of the Nile 
 and the Astaboras is the city of Meroe, bearing the same name 
 as the island." — To these statements, which are quite sufiicient 
 to settle the situation of Meroe, I must add, even at the risk 
 of being tedious, the testimony of Pliny. " In the midst of 
 
 » Diodonis, i. p. 38. Strabo, p. 1134. Plin. vi. 29. 
 « In Huds. Geogr, Min. i. p. 37. ' Strabo, p. 1134. 
 
 Ethiopia," he says, " the Nile bears the name of Astapus.* It 
 here forms great islands, which it scarcely flows round in five 
 days, especially the island of Meroe, where its left branch is 
 called the Astaboras, and the right Astaspes. It first takes 
 the name of the Nile where all these branches unite." 
 
 A glance at the map will immediately show where the an- 
 cient Meroe may be found. The Astaboras, which flows round 
 it on the eastern side, is the present Atbar, or Tacazze ; the As- 
 tapus, which bounds it on the left, and runs parallel with the 
 Nile, is the Bahar el Abiad, or white river, which, perhaps, 
 should properly be called the Nile. I do not stop to deter- 
 mine other small streams, which have nothing to do with my 
 
 subject.^ 
 
 The accounts of the Arabian geographers throw a still 
 clearer light upon this matter." The Nile they say divides 
 itself into seven streams, three of which are large, and the 
 others smaller. One of the former runs from the east, and, 
 therefore, without doubt is the Astaboras, or Tacazze, called 
 also the blue stream. The second of the larger streams is the 
 white Nile, which runs from the west, therefore the Astapus, 
 whose water is as white as milk. The third is the green Nile, 
 running from the south-east, therefore the proper Nile of the 
 moderns ; its water is so clear that the fish are visible at the 
 bottom of it. The four smaller streams likewise come from 
 the south-east, and run into the green Nile. They may be 
 seen in Bruce s map. The country between these streams is 
 the empire of Alua, which begins where the first of them, the 
 Tacazze, joins the Nile. The capital of the empire, called 
 Sujah, a handsome, well-built town, is situated at the junction 
 of the white and green Nile.* Between these rivers is an island 
 whose extent is unknown. It is therefore evident that this 
 island, or the empire of Alua, is the ancient island of Meroe. 
 
 Diodorus has accurately stated the size of the island Meroe. 
 It is three thousand stadia, he tells us, that is, three hundred 
 and forty English miles in length, and one thousand stadia, or 
 one hundred and fifteen miles in breadth.^ 
 
 And finally, Pliny determines its distance in miles from 
 Syene in Egypt. Eratosthenes, he says, computed it at six 
 hundred and twenty-five, and Artemidorus at six hundred 
 
 » Pliny, V. 9. He confounds the Astaspes ap^ Astapus. 
 « For that consult Bruce, ii. p. 253, etc., and m. 646. Edit. 17aO. 
 
 4eeQuatremere.l.c.u:p.7-2i; ^ ^^ * Bruce ha. placed here upon his map a 
 town, Halfaia, whose name perhaps comes from Alua. uioaorus, i. c. 
 
 / 
 
198 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. 1 
 
 STATE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 199 
 
 Roman miles. Shortly before his time, however, under 
 Nero, the distance was measured, and found to be eight hun- 
 dred and seventy-three Roman miles to the nearest part of 
 the island.^ All these measures may have been right, accord- 
 ing to the roads taken. The Roman ambassadors chose the 
 longest way, as they followed in the whole course the direc- 
 tion of the Nile ; the Greek geographers reckon according to 
 the shorter caravan route, which leaves the Nile, and strikes 
 across the desert of Bahiuda. The celebrated British traveller 
 went by a still shorter way from Mero'e to Syene, as he ven- 
 tured to pass directly across the great Nubian desert : the same 
 route that Burkhardt took upon his return. 
 
 From the foregoing statements taken together, we may 
 safely draw the following conclusions : 
 
 First : that the ancient island of Meroe is the present pro- 
 vince of Atbar, between the river of the same name, or the Ta- 
 cazze, on the right, and the white stream and Nile on the left. 
 The point where the island begins is at the junction of the 
 Tacazze and the Nile ; in the south it is enclosed by a branch 
 of the above-mentioned river, the Waldubba, and a branch of 
 the Nile, the Bahad, whose sources are nearly in the same 
 district, although they flow in different directions.^ It lies 
 between 13° and 18** N. Lat. In recent times it has formed a 
 great part of the kingdom of Sennaar, and the southern part 
 belongs to Abyssinia. 
 
 Secondly : Meroe was therefore an extensive district, sur- 
 rounded by rivers, whose superficial contents exceeded those 
 of Sicily rather more than one half. It cannot be called an 
 island in the strict sense of the word, because, although it is 
 very nearly, it is not completely enclosed by rivers ; but it was 
 taken for an island of the Nile, because, as Pliny expressly ob- 
 serves, the various rivers which flow round it were all con- 
 sidered as branches of that stream.^ It becomes, moreover, 
 as we are told by Bruce, a complete island in the rainy season, 
 in consequence of the overflowing of the rivers. 
 
 Thirdly : upon this island stood the city of the same name. 
 It is impossible from the statements of Herodotus to determine 
 precisely its site. Fortunately other writers give us more as- 
 sistance. According to Eratosthenes* it lay seven hundred 
 
 » Pliny, vi. 29. * See the large map of Bruce ; where will be found all the small 
 
 streams and their branches, whose names are not given in our maps. 
 
 » Pliny, V. 9. Herodotus is here again the only ancient writer who speaks determmately. 
 He mentions only the city of Meroe, without calling the country in which it lay an island 
 
 * Strabo, p. 1134. 
 
 stadia (about eighty English miles) above the junction of the 
 Tacazze or Astaboras, and the Nile. Pliny, following the 
 statements of those whom Nero had sent to explore it, reckons 
 seventy niilliaria (sixty-three English miles) ; and adds the 
 important fact, that near it, in the river on the right side, going 
 up stream, is the small island Tadu, which serves the city as a 
 port.^ From this it may be concluded with certainty, that 
 the city of Meroe was not on the Tacazze, as might otherwise 
 be conjectured from the names of those rivers being so un- 
 settled, but on the proper Nile ; and its situation, notwithstand- 
 ing the little difference between Pliny and Eratosthenes, may 
 be determined with the nicest accuracy, by the small island 
 just mentioned, which Bruce has not omitted to note upon 
 
 his map. 
 
 The ancient city of Meroe stood a little below the present 
 Shendy, under 17^ N. Lat. 52i° E. Long. Bruce saw its 
 ruins at a distance, and only ventured to conjecture what I, 
 from the testimony of the ancients, think I have completely 
 proved. Every one of my readers will certainly read here with 
 pleasure what that remarkable traveller says : I give it in his 
 own words."^ " On the 20th of October, in the evening," says 
 he, " we left Shendy, and rested two miles from the town, and 
 about a mile from the river; the next day, the 21st, we con- 
 tinued our journey; at nine we alighted to feed our camels 
 under some trees, having gone about ten miles. At this place 
 begins a large island, in the Nile, several miles long, full of 
 villages, trees, and corn; it is called Kurgos. Opposite to 
 this Ts the mountain Gibbainy, where is the first scene of ruins 
 I have met with since that of Axum in Abyssinia. We saw 
 here heaps of broken pedestals, like those of Axum, all plainly 
 designed for the statues of the dog ; some pieces of obehsk, 
 likewise with hieroglyphics, almost totally obliterated. The 
 Arabs told us these ruins were very extensive ; and that many 
 pieces of statues, both of men and animals, had been dug up 
 there. The statues of the men were mostly of black stone. 
 It is impossible to avoid risking a guess," he adds, " that this 
 is the ancient city Meroe." 
 
 What Bruce and Burkhardt' only saw at a distance, and 
 
 » Pliny, ^a. cap. 29. ' Bruce, iv. p. 541. 
 
 3 Burkhardt himself gives us a reason why he examined so few antiquities, p. IIH. As ne 
 travelled under the character of a poor merchant, he could not leave the caravan any dis- 
 tance without exciting suspicion. " Had even the stately Thebes lam close at hand, I could 
 not have stopped to examine it." He did not go beyond Shendy ; and therefore could not 
 have seen the monuments south of that place. 
 
 ; 
 
200 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 hastily, has now been carefully examined by later travellers, 
 and placed before our eyes by their drawings. These inquiries 
 have however shown, that the antiquities of Mero'e are not 
 confined to a single spot, but are found in many places. The 
 whole strip of land from Shendy to Gherri teems with them, 
 and must be considered as classic ground. On the north of 
 the island we also find a group, those of mount Berkal, which 
 we may securely affirm to have belonged to Meroe. I will 
 return to these by and by, and for the present direct my atten- 
 tion to those in the island of Meroe itself. 
 
 So far as our present information extends, these may be in- 
 cluded under three principal groups ; with the names of Assur, 
 Naga, and Messura. That of Assur ^ lies a little to the north 
 of Shendy, about two miles from the Nile ; the two others run 
 southward, more towards the desert, and are at some leagues' 
 distance from the Nile. The monuments still found consist 
 of temples and pyramids ; all private dwellings have been long 
 ago destroyed. According to Strabo,^ they vrere only built of 
 split palm trees and tiles ; the earth, however, is, in many parts, 
 so covered with bricks, that a city must formerly have stood 
 here. The site of the ancient Meroe, after the above state- 
 ments, can no longer be doubtful, even if there were no re- 
 mains to confirm them. It stood near the present Assur, 
 about twenty miles north of the present Shendy, exactly under 
 17° N. Lat. The site of the ancient city, which lay on the 
 Nile between the present villages of Assur and Tenetbey, is 
 still discovered by the remains of a few temples, and of many 
 other edifices of sandstone. The whole extent amounts, ac- 
 cording to Caillaud, to nearly four thousand feet.^ The plain 
 allowed sufficient room for a much larger city. 
 
 But if the habitations of the living are destroyed, those of 
 the dead still remain. To the east of Assur is the great church- 
 yard of pyramids — I cannot more appropriately denote them, 
 — which likewise proves that a considerable city was in its 
 neighbourhood. It is impossible to behold the number of 
 these monuments without astonishment, eighty are mentioned 
 in the plan of Caillaud;* but the number cannot be well as- 
 certained, as the ruins of many are doubtful. But there is 
 reason to suppose that their number is considerably greater 
 
 » Tlie name of Assur is only found in Caillaud. In Bruce and Burkhardt this district is 
 called Djebail, from the mountains. Assur is the name of a village on the Nile ; m the neigh- 
 bourhood of which are the villages of Danqueil and Tenetbey. * Strabo, p. 1177. 
 
 * One thousand three htindred metres, that is, the extent of the ruins still remammg. 
 That the city must have been larger cannot be doubted. * Caillaud, plate xxxi. 
 
MeererL'S Jteflrcti'oris on ^ JfrdcL Fa^e 2O0 . 
 
 N.W. Temple 
 
 Soiitli Kas^lfin !'• i>>|Ji 
 
 ■■■ 
 
 ■■■■■liiiiiiii 
 
 1. Central Temple. 
 
 %. Large Temple buikling 
 
 ' ' ' i—l — L. 
 
 100 
 
 _J 
 
 sooy^^lre^. 
 
 •'■i.-'I'tf;!!'///-^ 
 
 IF sc. 
 
 A, PLA;N of the TKMPLKS of MBROR at NACA N'KAK SHE1«rB^, 
 
 TEMri.ES AT EIj-ME.SSOOmAH< 
 
CHAP. 11.] 
 
 STATE OF MERGE. ETC. 
 
 201 
 
 than he states. They are divided into three groups, one due 
 east from the city ; the two others a league from the river, one 
 north and the other south. The most northern one is the 
 largest and best preserved. They certainly appear small in 
 comparison with the monuments of a similar kind in middle 
 Egypt, the height of the largest not being more than eighty feet ;* 
 but they are more wonderful from their number. They are built 
 of granite like the Egyptian, but do not seem so massive in the 
 interior. The highest of them was ascended, and, as its top 
 was thrown off, the interior seemed nothing beyond a heap of 
 shapeless masses. As no one, however, examined the interior, 
 it might be premature to decide anything respecting it. Most 
 of the largest of them have a temple-like fore-building in the 
 Egyptian style ; a pylone and a door which leads into a por- 
 tico, and this again through a sanctuary into the pyramid. It 
 does not appear therefore that they desired here, as was the 
 case in Egypt, to conceal the entrance, unless the real en- 
 trance was some where else. Until an interior has been ex- 
 amined, it will not be known whether sarcophagi and mum- 
 mies are to be found within ; I am not aware of any having 
 been found beyond Egypt, south of Philae and the cataracts. 
 According to Strabo the Ethiopians did not embalm their 
 dead, but buried them in a different manner ; in earthen ves- 
 sels, near the sanctuary .^ The corners of the pyramids are 
 partly ornamented ; and the walls of the pylones are decorated 
 with sculpture. That on the largest pyramid, drawn by Cail- 
 laud, represents an offering for the dead.^ In one compart- 
 ment a female warrior, with the royal ensigns on her head, 
 and richly attired, drags forward a number of captives as offer- 
 ings to the gods ; upon the other she is in a warlike habit, 
 about to destroy the same group, whose heads are fastened 
 together by the top hair, as we shall see again upon the rums 
 of Naga. On a third relief in the sanctuary she is making an 
 offering of frankincense to the goddess. Upon a fourth field 
 appears Anubis with a burning light in his hand, accompanied 
 by the Jackal, the guardian of the lower world. This repre- 
 sentation, together with the magnitude of the pyramid, renders 
 it probable that it is the sepulchre of a king. That all pyra- 
 mids here were not monuments of kings is evmced by their 
 great number. Other grandees of the empire, especially priests 
 of high rank, or such as had obtained the sacerdotal dignity, 
 
 » CaiUaud, plate xlv » Strabo, p. 1178. ' Caillaud, plate xlvi. 
 
 ; 
 
m2 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 might have found in them their final resting-phice. In Ethi- 
 opia, and consequently in Meroe, the pyramid architecture 
 was native from the earhest ages. But if we compare this 
 pyramid architecture with the Egyptian, we shall see another 
 proof of what has already been partly established ; namely, 
 that what had its rise in Ethiopia was perfected in Egypt, of 
 which we shall still see further proofs. 
 
 The statements of Caillaud have been confirmed by the 
 narrative of Riippel of Frankfort,* who likewise visited Meroe. 
 His account extends beyond that of the French traveller, as 
 he informs us of the existence of similar groups of pyramids 
 in the land of Kurgos. " After having for some time been 
 within sight of the ruins of Kurgos, which are also mentioned 
 by Bruce, I was at last able to go and examine them under a 
 guard. On the other side of the Nile my way lay for fifty- 
 seven minutes across a plain of Nile slime or mud. Traces 
 were visible of ancient canals running parallel with the bed of 
 the Nile, a proof that this territory was once highly cultivated. 
 Ten minutes after I came to a great heap of hewn and burnt 
 stones. Time, however, had destroyed everything. With 
 difficulty were some shafts of columns discovered, whose capi- 
 tals were ornamented with the heads of animals. Proofs that 
 this was the site of ancient temples." 
 
 " Twelve minutes farther a group of pyramidic mausolea. 
 There were thirteen, all of hewn stone, forty feet high, without 
 an entrance. Near them was a lion's head in black granite ; 
 evidently a sitting sphinx. Thirty minutes farther, eastward, 
 a group, far more considerable than the former, of twenty-one 
 tombs. Some were of the pyramid form with indented bor- 
 ders ; others had pointed angles, with borders of plainer work- 
 manship. One of these monuments, the most southerly, 
 differs from all the others. A prismatic steeple stands upon a 
 socle twenty feet square. It has, like the rest, an eastern en- 
 trance, leading to the hall or gallery, as in the sepulchres of 
 Meroe (Assur). The walls are ornamented with beautiful 
 sculpture ; the reliefs like those at Meroe, but in greater per- 
 fection ; they invariably represent the apotheosis of the dead. 
 Among these pyramids there is one, as among those at Meroe, 
 peculiar on account of its entrance. On both sides of this are 
 two female figures, holding lances in their hands, and in the 
 
 > Writings by Edward Riippel, from the camp near Kurgos, 29th Feb. 1824, in EuropcF- 
 ische Bketter, Oct. 1824, p. 131—134. 
 
 CHAP, n.l 
 
 STATE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 203 
 
 act of piercing with them a band of prisoners. The drapery, 
 grouping, and keeping of this surpasses every thing of the kind 
 I have seen in Nubia and Egypt, not even excepting the tem- 
 ple of Tentyris. They are free from the stiffness which is 
 found in the Briareus of that place. These monuments, from 
 their preservation, seem of later date than those of Meroe." 
 
 " A third group is met with five minutes south-east of the 
 foregoing. It consists of nine pyramids, each with its en- 
 trance towards the east, the inner walls of which are covered 
 with sculpture. The reliefs represent apotheoses of female 
 figures only ; while in all others they represent heroes, to 
 whom offerings are brought. These southern sepulchres are 
 also less than the others, the highest not being above forty 
 feet. In the group of twenty-one pyramids there are some 
 which measure ninety feet. AH these monuments are built of 
 hewn stone without mortar." Thus much beforehand of the 
 German traveller s information, whose more extensive and ac- 
 curate narrative may be expected at his return. 
 
 The antiquities of Naga and Messura, to the south of Shendy, 
 are of another kind ; they are temples. The city of Meroe, 
 however, was not without temples ; two, a larger and smaller, 
 are laid down in the plan of Caillaud ; though neither of them 
 seem to have been of any importance. The most recent tra- 
 veller has ascertained, that the larger temples were not in the 
 city, but at a few miles' distance. 
 
 The monuments of Naga, or Naka, lie about six leagues 
 south-east of Shendy, and about the same distance east of the 
 Nile.^ They consist of numerous temples, of which a larger 
 one lies in the centre, and various smaller ones are scattered 
 around in every direction. The ruins show that a considerable 
 city at one time stood here.— The remains of the principal 
 temple clearly prove to what god it was dedicated. An avenue 
 of statues, rams couchant, on pedestals, leads into an open 
 portico of ten columns, out of which, after passing through a 
 second similar gallery, we arrive at the pylone. Adjommg this 
 is a colonnade consisting of eight columns ; then a hall, and 
 through a third door is the sanctuary. The door, the pillars, 
 and the walls of the sanctuary are of hewn stone ; the rest of 
 bricks, with a coating, upon which traces of painting are visi- 
 ble. The pylones and pillars are ornamented with sculpture, 
 very highly finished. Those on the first pylone, on each side 
 
 » Caillaud, Voyage a Meroe, plate xi.— xxi. 
 
 ; 
 
204 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 STATE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 205 
 
 of the 'entrance, are particularly remarkable.^ A king and 
 queen (bearing the emblems of dominion) are kindly welcomed 
 by the deities. The latter by Ammon with the ram's head, 
 and the former by the same in human shape, but without any 
 further mark of distinction. Above, in the frieze, oblations 
 are offered by both to the same deities; below, at the bottom, 
 are handmaids with vessels, out of which they are pouring 
 water. The building is in the Egyptian style ; and of a vast 
 size. The whole, from the first pylone to the end, is about 
 eighty feet long. There is also something peculiar in the en- 
 trance. The duplicate gallery of rams before and after the 
 portico, is not common elsewhere ; and the plan of the whole 
 seems to show that architecture had not yet attained to that 
 perfection which it afterwards exhibits in the great temples of 
 Egypt. — The western temple is less, but more richly embel- 
 lished with sculpture. On the pylones the same scenes are 
 again represented as we have already seen in the pyramids of 
 Assur. A male warrior on one side, and a female warrior on 
 the other, destroy a number of captives whom they have bound 
 together by the hair.^ They are king and queen, as they both 
 have the emblem of dominion, the ureus, on the head-dress ; 
 over each is a spread eagle, with a globe ; both are magnifi- 
 cently dressed. The sculpture below contains a string of single 
 captives with their hands tied behind them. The reliefs on the 
 interior represent the sacrifice of prisoners to the gods. The 
 upper row contains the five male deities, Ammon, with his fol- 
 lowers ; first, the god with the lion's head, and the ornament 
 with the ram's horns; behind him Ammon himself; Re, the 
 god of the sun ; his son Phthge ; and then again Ammon with 
 the ram's head. The under row contains the females in an 
 equal number ; first Isis, who has already seized and holds fast 
 the group of captives offered to her. The offerings are over 
 the king followed by men, and under the queen by women.^ 
 The following subject is still more remarkable. It represents 
 the same god, with the lion's head and the ram's horns on the 
 head-dress ; but with a double head and four arms.* It is the 
 only subject of this sort I am acquainted with among all the 
 known sculptures from the sources of the Nile to its mouth. 
 It is likewise the only one which can be considered as bor- 
 rowed from the Indian theology. The king comes from one 
 
 side, and the queen from the other, both with tablets m their 
 hands, probably containing lists of their gifts and offerings. 
 
 It is evident, then, that these representations possess many 
 peculiarities, and that they are not pure Egyptian. Certainly 
 not, however, in respect to rohgious rites. There appears no- 
 thing here in the worship of Ammon, with his kindred and 
 associate gods, essentially differing from that of Upper Egypt. 
 The relief already mentioned, with the male and female deities, 
 contains this family of gods almost complete. But the most 
 remarkable difference appears in the persons offering. The 
 queens appear with the kings ; and not merely as presenting 
 offerings, but as heroines and conquerors. Nothing of this 
 kind has been yet discovered in the Egyptian reliefs, either in 
 Egypt or Nubia. It may, therefore, with certainty be con- 
 cluded, that they are subjects peculiar to Ethiopia ; i. e. such 
 as relate to the ancient rulers, male and female, of Meroe, and 
 are devoted to the preservation of their deeds. If we look 
 into history, we shall there find some little help towards a 
 general explanation. " Among the Ethiopians," says Strabo, 
 speaking of Meroe, "the women are also armed." ^ We also 
 know that they sometimes mounted the throne. Herodotus 
 mentions a Nitocris among the ancient queens of Ethiopia, 
 who ruled over Egypt.^ Upon the relief already described, 
 representing the conquest of Ethiopia by Sesostris, there is a 
 queen with her sons, who appears before him as a captive.* A 
 long succession of queens under the title of Candace must 
 have reigned here;* and when at last the seat of empire was 
 removed from Meroe to Napata, near mount Berkal, there 
 was also there a queen who ruled under the title of Candace.* 
 It is not therefore strange, but quite agreeable to Ethiopian 
 usages, to see a queen in a warlike habit near her consort ; 
 although history has preserved nothing particular on the 
 
 subject. 
 
 The perfection to which sculpture had been brought here 
 is very striking. There is nothing superior to it on the Egyp- 
 tian monuments ; and in boldness of outline it seems almost to 
 surpass them. " These colossal figures," (they are ten feet 
 high,) says Caillaud, " are remarkable for the richness of their 
 drapery, and the character of the drawing ; their feet and arms 
 are stouter than the Egyptian : yet are they altogether in the 
 
 > Caillaud, plate xix. ix. 
 
 * Ibid, plate xiv. xvi. 
 * Ibid, plate xviii. 
 
 • Ibid, plate xvii. 
 
 » Strabo, p. 1177. 
 ♦ Plin. vi. 35. 
 
 « Herod, ii. 100. ^ See above, p. 181. 
 
 * Strabo, p. 820. Acts viii. 28. 
 
 } 
 
206 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 STATE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 207 
 
 Egyptian style." ^ Riippel notices a similar perfection on the 
 pyramids of Kurgos. Are we to suppose that Ethiopian 
 artists became thus accomplished? Or do not these monu- 
 ments rather belong to that brilliant period of the empire of 
 Meroe (the eighth century before our era) when the dynasty 
 of Tarhako and Sabako ruled over Upper Egypt, and to whom 
 jt would have been easy to send Egyptian artists to Meroe, to 
 perpetuate their fame by their workmanship ? Futurity may 
 perhaps solve these problems.* 
 
 The second station, now called El Messura, for a descrip- 
 tion and drawing of which we are indebted to Caillaud,^ is 
 equally interesting. " In an extensive valley in the desert," 
 says he, "eight hours' journey from Shendy to the south-east, 
 and six leagues from the Nile, are very considerable ruins. 
 They consist of eight small temples, all connected by galleries 
 upon terraces. It is an immense building, formed by the join- 
 ing together of a number of chambers, courts, temples, and 
 galleries; surrounded by a double enclosure. From the 
 temple in the midst, the way to the others is through galleries, 
 or terraces, one hundred and eighty-five feet in length. Each 
 temple has its particular chambers. These buildings are placed 
 in an exact order ; and consist of eight temples, thirty-nine 
 chambers, twenty-six courts, twelve flights of steps, etc. The 
 ruins cover a plot of land two thousand five hundred feet in 
 circumference." 
 
 "But in this immensity of ruins every thing is upon a 
 smaller scale, the monuments as well as the materials employed. 
 The largest temple is only thirty-four feet long ; upon the pil- 
 lars are figures in the Egyptian style ; others in the same 
 portico are fluted, like the Grecian ; upon the basis of one I 
 thought I discovered the remains of a zodiac. Time and the 
 elements, which have destroyed the ancient Saba, seem to have 
 been willing to spare us the observatory of Meroe ; but until 
 the rubbish be cleared away, a complete plan of it cannot be 
 expected. It excites our wonder to find so few hieroglyphics 
 in all these ruins ; the six pillars which form the portico of the 
 middle temple are the only ones containing any, all the other 
 walls are without sculpture." 
 
 » Caillaud, plate xvii. Explication. 
 
 * It is very remarkable, that here, in the neighbourhood of the most ancient monuments, 
 is found a portico in the Greek style. Caillaud, plate xiii. Certainly a decided proof of the 
 high antiquity of the others. » In his letters in Nouvelles Annalea dea Voyages, 
 
 tom. xvi. p. 128. For the engravings see plate xxii. — xxx. 
 
 " Some hundred paces from the ruins are the remains of two 
 other small temples ; and the traces of a great reservoir of 
 water, surrounded by little hills, which protect it from the 
 sand. There is here, however, no trace of a city ; no heap of 
 rubbish ; no sepulchre. If the city of Meroe had stood here, 
 the pyramids would not have been built two days' journey 
 off. I believe that the public offices of Meroe were situated 
 here ; the form and the architecture prove it. The city was 
 in the neighbourhood of the sepulchres, where the pyra- 
 mids are." 
 
 So far M. Caillaud. I wish circumstances would permit me 
 to lay the ground-plan of it in full before the reader ; ^ yet I 
 hope the accompanying small plan will give an idea of the 
 whole." It forms an outline of the whole enclosure. In the 
 centre is the principal temple ; on the different sides are the 
 inferior temples ; if they are not rather other buildings. The 
 many corridors, chambers, and courts, cannot now be altogether 
 completely restored. The two inferior temples, with the re- 
 servoir, lie at some distance from the enclosure. 
 
 May I be allowed to express my opinion freely and openly? 
 It is THE ANCIENT ORACLE OF JupiTER Ammon. A mere 
 glance at the ground-plan leads to this idea. It is only thus 
 that the singularity of the foundation can be accounted for ; 
 of that labyrinth of passages and courts which must be wan- 
 dered through, before arriving at the entirely secret temple in 
 the midst. Scarcely could there be a better introduction con- 
 trived for reaching the sanctuary. 
 
 But we need not rest upon mere conjecture. A passage of 
 Diodorus settles more accurately the site of the ancient tem- 
 ple, and strikingly confirms the above notion. It informs us 
 that this temple did not stand in the city of Meroe, but at some 
 distance from it in the desert, as it is here situated. When, in 
 the period of the Ptolemies, (as will be shown hereafter,) the 
 then ruler of Meroe overthrew the dominion of the priests, he 
 went with an armed company to the retired spot, where the 
 sanctuary with the golden temple stood, surprised the priests, 
 and killed them.' Can clearer proofs be required,— situation, 
 building, and locality all agree ? 
 
 » CaiUaud, table xxii. « See the ground-plan The labyrinth of Egypt comes, 
 
 almost involuntarily, into the mind upon vie>ving it. Who can at present determine whe- 
 ther there are not also here subterraneous apartments ? „ , , .^ 
 
 =» See Diodorus, i. p. 178. 'O jSa^nXef/s irap^Xde fx^ra to,./ ^JP^;;;''^'^^^.^.'^ ^ T"'^'';;'. 
 oZ <TvviQa,vtv tluai t6v xpvcrovv vaov t^j; XlQi6Tru>v. And in Strabo, p. 1178, tiria)i; ^atJ 
 o^\«„ i-Ki t6 Upby oirovb xpvTod^ ./eci. tVri.-But what is said here : lu the sanctuary 
 
 / 
 
203 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 The smallness of the principal temple is not surprising, the 
 same thing has been observed at Ammonium in the Libyan de- 
 sert/ It was probably a place merely for the preservation of the 
 sacred ship, which stood between the pillars of the sanctuary. 
 
 Its situation in the desert also follows the example already 
 adduced, and will appear still less extraordinary when it is 
 shown, that one of the great trading routes runs just by it. 
 
 As the principal temple was so small, the others, which are 
 called temples, may merely be considered as chapels : it re- 
 mains very uncertain for w^liat use they were destined. Hence, 
 Caillaud very properly designates them, in the explanations to 
 his plates, " constructions r The separate members were small, 
 but the whole was great. 
 
 The rarity of sculpture and hieroglyphics is very remark- 
 able ; no trace of that Egyptian art has been discovered here. 
 The few figures on the pillars, now scarcely legible, have no- 
 thing in common with it. One of them has evidently the hair 
 done up in the broad Nubian fashion.^ 
 
 In what relation the foundations of Messura stood to those 
 of Naga we can only conjecture. If Messura was the oracle- 
 temple, then that body of the priesthood who had the care of 
 the oracle would naturally reside here. The number of these 
 in proportion to the whole order could be but small, perhaps 
 only the highest class of ministers. On the other hand, I feel 
 inclined to consider Naga as the proper metropolis of the 
 caste. Here stood a number of temples, not only dedicated 
 to Ammon, but to the kindred gods ;^ here are found the re- 
 mains of a city that would afford convenient dwellings to the 
 priesthood, no traces of which are found in Messura. 
 
 Thus we stand on that remarkable spot which antiquity fre- 
 quently regarded as the cradle of the arts and sciences ; where 
 hieroglyphic writing was discovered ; where temples and pyra- 
 mids had already sprung up, while Egypt still remained igno- 
 rant of their existence. Who then can avoid asking, what 
 was here formerly ? what took place here ? 
 
 Although it is impossible to answer these questions so com- 
 pletely as the reader might wish, yet there are many circum- 
 
 where the golden temple is found ? If the reading be correct, a small portable temple must 
 be meant, which belonged to the sacred vessels. I scarcely, however, have a doubt that we 
 should read i/aus instead of i/oos, as found in Diodonis ; and the same in Strabo ; and then 
 translate it the golden ship. It will be shown hereafter that this could not fail to be in all 
 the oracle temples of Ammon. As this corrupt reading might very easily have crept in, it 
 very probably existed in the common source into which both these writers dipped. 
 
 * See above, p. 100. ' Caillaud, plate xxx. Herodotus mentions that to 
 
 Dionysos, or Osiris ; Strabo, 1. c. Hercules, or Pan. 
 
 ; 
 
(i 
 
 I 
 
 Mre-yr-n.i- ^it'ricrt Fotff 'iop' 
 
 CHAP. II. J 
 
 STATE OF MERGE, ETC. 
 
 209 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 -•■'WW 
 
 ^!i^ 
 
 
 ^^^/ 1/ „i**.;-i i%ii f-^f -35L 
 
 
 'tP 4Sl 7 f ^^^; ^ " ■' jin. ■•ifr- ,j|^ jdM 
 
 
 A PLAN Of 
 
 Ammonifm 
 
 OK 
 
 SlWAH. 
 
 a /iw/ts of thf Titnple of j'tmmcn . 
 n. Ttttrr-s of f/ir- yjnaeft/ /f^a/fs /'ormuig- 
 
 tJtr e nr /< '.svv rt' . 
 C. /*///• Ft'untiun f'f the Sim. 
 AJnrtfn? //Wl. 
 e. (j'rrvr tf J)(tfe-p<jl ffts. 
 1. J'/ti .inricnt Town cft/ie Kin^', 
 
 now Sfhtrv-fe . 
 
 
 
 X iMHiill 
 
 aiBii i M ii i iii ii ii Hiiiiiiii i i iiii iiilili i i 
 
 si i niii i jii aiiii i i Ill i ll 
 
 
 ir - 
 
 stances whicn supply materials towards it. Let us select from 
 them such as may be regarded as certain facts; and then add 
 those that are more or less probable. 
 
 It stands as an incontrovertible fact, that besides the pastoral 
 and hunting tribes, which led a nomad life to the west of the 
 Nile, and still more to the east, as far as the Arabian Gulf, 
 there existed a cultivated people near this stream, in the valley 
 through which it flows, who had fixed abodes, built cities, 
 temples, and sepulchres, and whose remains, even now, after 
 the lapse of so many centuries, still excite our astonishment. 
 
 It may further be stated, as a certainty, that the civilization 
 of this people was, in an especial manner, connected with 
 their religion : that is, with the worship of certain deities. 
 The remains of their foundation prove this too clearly for any 
 doubt to be entertained on the subject. 
 
 This religion, upon the whole, is not uncertain. It was the 
 worship of Ammon, and his kindred gods. The circle of these 
 deities was very nearly of the same extent as that of Olympus 
 among the Greeks ; it might, possibly, be somewhat larger. 
 It became enlarged by the appearance of the same deity, in 
 different relations, and consequently with changed attributes, 
 especially with different head-ornaments, and also under various 
 forms. But the rites of Ammon so much prevailed, that his 
 emblem, the ram's horns, are seen every where ; and it seldom 
 happens but that the kindred deities exhibit, in some part or 
 other, something which refers to him. 
 
 Without digressing into a detailed description of particular 
 deities, which I leave to mythologists, I think I may yet ven- 
 ture a step farther without fear of contradiction, and assert that 
 this worship had its origin in natural religion connected with 
 agriculture. The great works of nature were revered, accord- 
 ingly as they promoted, or retarded and hindered this. It 
 seems natural that the sun and moon, so far as they deter- 
 mined the seasons and the year, the Nile and the earth as 
 sources of fruitfulness, the sandy deserts as the opposers of it, 
 should be personified ; one thing is remarkable, namely, that of 
 all the representations of Nubia yet known, there is not one, 
 which, according to our notions, is offensive to decency. 
 
 But this worship had besides, as we know with certainty, a 
 second element : oracles. Ammon was the original oracle god 
 of Africa : if afterwards, as was the case in Egypt, other 
 deities delivered oracles, yet they were of his race, of his 
 
 ; 
 
210 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 kindred. Even beyond Egypt we hear of the oracles of 
 Ammon. " The only gods worshipped in Mero'e," says 
 Herodotus,^ " are Zeus and Dionysos (which he himself ex- 
 plains to be Ammon and Osiris). They also have an oracle 
 of Ammon, and undertake their expeditions when and how the 
 god commands." How these oracles were delivered we learn 
 partly from history, partly from representations on the monu- 
 ments. In the sanctuary stands a ship. Upon it many holy 
 vessels; but, above all, in the midst a portable tabernacle, 
 surrounded with curtains, which may be drawn back. In this 
 is an image of the god, set, according to Diodorus, in precious 
 stones;^ nevertheless, according to one account, it could have 
 no human shape.^ The ship in the great temples seems to 
 have been very magnificent; Sesostris presented one to the 
 temple of Ammon at Thebes, made of cedar, the inside covered 
 with silver, and the outside with gold.* The same was hung 
 about with silver paterae.^ When the oracle was to be con- 
 sulted, it was carried around by a body of priests in procession, 
 and from certain movements, either of the god or of the ship, 
 both of which the priests had well under their command, the 
 omens were gathered, according to which the high-priest then 
 delivered the oracle.^ This ship is often represented, both 
 upon the Nubian and Egyptian monuments, sometimes stand- 
 ing still, and sometimes carried in procession ; but never any 
 where except in the innermost sanctuary, which was its rest- 
 ing-place. Upon the Nubian monuments hitherto made known, 
 we discover this in two places ; at Asseboa and Derar, and on 
 each twice. Those of Asseboa are both standing. In one the 
 tabernacle is veiled, but upon the other it is without a curtain ; ' 
 Ammon appears in the same, sitting on a couch ; before him 
 an altar with gifts.^ Upon one the king is kneeling before 
 the ship at his devotions, in the other he is coming towards it 
 with an offering of frankincense (is it in order to consult the 
 oracle ?). In the sanctuary of the rock-monument at Derar 
 we also discover it twice. Once in procession, borne by a 
 number of priests ;^ the tabernacle is veiled, the king meets it, 
 
 ' Herod, ii. 29. » Diodorus, ii. 199. 
 
 » Curtius, iv. 7, umhilico similis. I doubt this statement, not only on account of the 
 passage just quoted from Diodorus, but because "we see on one of the common monuments a 
 complete portrait of Ammon. * Diodorus, i. 67. 
 
 » So in Ammonium ; Curtius, I.e. « Compare especially the account of Alexander s 
 
 visit to Ammonium, in Diodorus, ii, 199, and Curtius, 1. c. 
 
 ' Gau, plate xlv. B. In this the relief is represented as coloured. 
 
 * Ibid, plate xlv. A. Ammon appears here with the ram's head. 
 
 » Ibid, plate Ii. C. 
 
 cMAP. n.] 
 
 STATE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 211 
 
 bringing frankincense ; the other time at rest.^ These pro- 
 cessions are not only seen upon the great Egyptian temples at 
 Philse, Elephantis, and Thebes, but also upon the great Oasis.^ 
 The sacred ship was therefore the oracle ship ; and wherever 
 we discover it we may conclude that an oracle of Ammon was, 
 or should be there. — But it is naturally asked, how came this 
 idea of ships ? The answer seems almost as naturally to pre- 
 sent itself For as we have already seen, and shall still further 
 see, how the worship of Ammon spread along the Nile by the 
 foundation of temples and colonies, can we in these ships and 
 these processions see anything plainer than the allegorical pro- 
 pagation of this worship in this manner ? Does not this ex- 
 plain the representation both as a whole and in detail ? Does 
 not this explain also the frequent repetition, as this propaga- 
 tion happened according to the prescription of the oracle, and 
 was regarded as a sacred duty ? 
 
 These oracles were certainly the main support of this reli- 
 gion ; and, if we connect with them the local features of the 
 country, it will at once throw a strong light upon its origin. 
 Fertility is here, as well as in Egypt, confined to the borders 
 of the Nile. At a very short distance from it the desert begins. 
 How could it then be otherwise than that crowds of men 
 should congregate on the borders of the stream where the 
 dhourra, almost the only corn here cultivated, would grow. 
 And if they could satisfy their first cravings with the produce 
 of this scanty space, was not the rise of a religion having for 
 its object the adoration of nature, referring to it, just what 
 might be expected ? Add to all this, however, another circum- 
 stance highly important. Meroe was besides, as will be proved 
 in the following chapter, the chief mart for the trade of these 
 regions. It was the grand emporium of the caravan trade be- 
 tween Ethiopia, the north of Africa, and Egypt, as well as of 
 Arabia Felix, and even India. But before proceeding to these 
 circumstances, let us take an accurate survey of the express and 
 authentic information given us by the ancients respecting the 
 history and condition of Meroe. 
 
 Meroe, according to their account, was a city which had its 
 settled constitution and laws, its ruler and government. But 
 the form of this state was one which we too often find among 
 the kingdoms of these southern regions ; it was a hierarchy ; 
 the government was in the hands of a race or caste of priests, 
 
 ; 
 
 * Gau. plate Ui 
 
 * Description d'Egypte, plate xiii. xxxvii. Ixix. 
 p 2 
 
010 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 CUAP* II.] 
 
 STATE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 213 
 
 who chose from among themselves a king. I shall translate 
 here Diodorus's account of them, which is the most extensive 
 and accurate that we have. 
 
 " The laws of the Ethiopians,"* he says, " differ in many re- 
 spects from those of other nations, but in none so much as in 
 the election of their kings ; which is thus managed. The 
 priests select the most distinguished of their own order, and 
 upon whichever of these the god (Jupiter Ammon) fixes, as he 
 is carried in procession, he is acknowledged king by the peo- 
 ple; who then fall down and adore him as a god, because he 
 is placed over the government by the choice of the gods. The 
 person thus selected immediately enjoys all the prerogatives, 
 which are conceded to him by the laws, in respect to his mode 
 of life ; but he can neither reward or punish any one, beyond 
 what the usages of their forefathers and the laws allow. It is 
 a custom among them to inflict upon no subject the sentence 
 of death, even though he should be legally condemned to that 
 punishment ; but they send to the malefactor one of the serv- 
 ants of justice, who bears the symbol of death. When the 
 criminal sees this he goes immediately to his own house and 
 deprives himself of life. The Greek custom of escaping pun- 
 ishment by flight into a neighbouring country is not there per- 
 mitted. It is said that the mother of one who would liave 
 attempted this, strangled him with her own girdle, in order to 
 save her family from that greater ignominy. But the most re- 
 markable of all their institutions is that which relates to the 
 death of the king. The priests at Meroe, for example, who at- 
 tend to the service of the gods, and hold the highest ranks, 
 send a messenger to the king, with an order to die. They 
 make known to him that the gods command this, and that 
 mortals should not withdraw from their decrees ; and perhaps 
 added such reasons as could not be controverted by weak un- 
 derstandings, prejudiced by custom, and unable to oppose any- 
 thing thereto." 
 
 The government continued in this original state till the pe- 
 riod of the second Ptolemy, and its catastrophe is not less 
 remarkable than its formation. By its increased intercourse 
 with Egypt, the light of Grecian philosophy penetrated into 
 Ethiopia. Ergamenes, at that time king, tired of being priest- 
 ridden, fell upon the priests in their sanctuary, put them to 
 death, and became effectually a sovereign.^ A consequence 
 
 * Diodorus, i. p. 177i etc. He is speaking of Meroe. 
 
 * Ibid. i. p. 178. 
 
 of Greek illumination— or rather of the lust of power in kings 
 —which could hardly be expected in this distant region. 
 
 Of the history of this state previous to the revolution just 
 mentioned, but very scanty information has been preserved ; 
 but yet enough to show its high antiquity and its early aggrand- 
 izement. PHny' tells us, " that Ethiopia was ruined by its 
 wars with Egypt, which it sometimes subdued and sometimes 
 served ; it was powerful and illustrious even as far back as the 
 Trojan war, when Memnon reigned. At the time of his so- 
 vereic:nty," he continues, " Meroe is said to have contained 
 two hundred and fifty thousand soldiers, and four hundred 
 thousand artificers (artifices). They still reckon there forty- 
 five kings." Though these accounts lose themselves in the 
 darkness of tradition, yet we may, by tracing history upwards, 
 discover some certain chronological data. In the Persian pe- 
 riod Meroe was certainly free and independent, and an im- 
 portant state ; otherwise Cambyses would hardly have made 
 such great preparations for his unfortunate expedition.^ Dur- 
 ing the last dynasty of the Pharaohs at Sais, under Psammeti- 
 chus and his successors, the kingdom of Meroe not only re- 
 sisted his yoke, although his son Psammis undertook an 
 expedition against Ethiopia, but we have an important fact, 
 which gives us a clew to the extent of the empire at that time 
 towards the south ; the emigration of the Egyptian warrior 
 caste. These migrated towards Meroe, whose ruler assigned 
 them dwellings about the sources of the Nile, in the province 
 of Gojam, (as I shall hereafter show,) whose restless inhabitants 
 were expelled their country.^ The dominions of the ruler of 
 Meroe therefore certainly reached so far at that time, though 
 his authority on the borders fluctuated, in consequence of the 
 pastoral hordes roving thereabout, and could only be fixed by 
 colonies. Let us go a century farther back, between 800 and 
 700 B. c, and we shall mount to the flourishing period of 
 this empire, contemporary with the divided kingdoms of Israel 
 and Judah, especially with the reign of Hezekiah, and the time 
 of Isaiah, 750, 700, where we shall consequently have a light 
 from the Jewish annals and the oracles of the prophets, in con- 
 nexion with Herodotus.* This is the period in which the three 
 
 > Plinius vi 35 * Herod, ii. 25. The statements of Strabo 1139, etc., according 
 
 to which Cambyses reached Meroe, may perhaps be brought to accord with those of Herod- 
 otus, if we understand him to mean northern Meroe, near mount 15erkal. 
 
 * Geseniui; on Isaiah xix. 1, proposes to remove the difficulties -l^^^^^^^^^^Ifve'^l 
 Egyptian and Jewish chronology, by making the reign of Pharaoh Neco sixteen years. 
 
 ) 
 
214 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. 11. 
 
 CHAP. 11-] 
 
 STATE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 £15 
 
 mighty rulers, Sabaco, Seuechus, and Tarhaco, started up as 
 conquerors, and directed their weapons against Egypt, which, 
 at least Upper Egypt, became an easy prey, from the unfor- 
 tunate troubles of the dodecarchy having just taken place. 
 According to Eusebius^ Sabaco reigned twelve, Seuechus also 
 twelve, and Tarhaco twenty years ; but by Herodotus, who 
 only mentions Sabaco, to whom he gives a reign of fifty years, 
 this name seems to designate the whole dynasty, which not 
 unfrequently follows that of its founder. Herodotus expressly 
 says that he had quitted Egypt at the command of his oracle 
 in Ethiopia.* It may therefore be seen by the example of this 
 conqueror, how great their dependence must have been in 
 their native country upon the oracle of Ammon ; when even 
 the absent, as ruler of a conquered state, yielded obedience to 
 it. Sabaco, however, is not represented by him as a barbarian 
 or tyrant, but as a benefactor to the community by the con- 
 struction of dams. The chronology of Seuechus and Tarhaco 
 is determined by the Jewish history. Seuechus was the con- 
 temporary of Hoshea, king of Israel, whose reign ended in 
 722, and of Salmanassar.^ Tarhaco was the contemporary of 
 his successor, Sennacherib, and deterred him, in the year 714 
 B. c, from the invasion of Egypt, merely by the rumour of 
 his advance against him.* His name, however, does not seem 
 to have been unknown to the Greeks. Eratosthenes, in Strabo,^ 
 mentions him as a conqueror who had penetrated into Europe, 
 and as far as the Pillars of Hercules — that is, as a great conqueror. 
 Certainly, therefore, the kingdom of Mero'e must have ranked 
 about this time as an important state. And we shall find this 
 to be the case if we go about two hundred years farther back, 
 to the time of Asa, the great-grandson of Solomon, but who, 
 nevertheless, mounted the throne of Judah within twenty years 
 after his grandsire's death, 955. Against him, it is said in the 
 . Jewish annals, went out Zerah the Ethiopian, with a host of a 
 thousand thousand men, and three hundred chariots.^ Al- 
 
 instcad of forty-six, by which the period of Psammetichus and the dodecarchy would be 
 carried so much farther back. We may hope that the new deciphering of the Egyptian 
 monuments will throw some light upon this subject; but, at all events, the flourishing period 
 of Meroe must be placed between 800 and 700. 
 
 * Chronic, tom. ii. 181, cf. Marsham's Chronicon, p. 435. • Herod, ii. 137 — 139. 
 
 * 2 Kings xvii. 4. He is called So in our translation, but the name may also be read Seven. 
 See Michaelis. He is also mentioned here as king of Egypt. [See Dr. Gill's Comment, on 
 the verse referred to. There can be little doubt that Seuechus is the So, (the Sua,) to whom 
 Hoshea sent an embassy, 2 Kin^ xix. 9. Tarhaco is without doubt the Tirhakah, the Ethi- 
 opian, who came out to fi^ht agamst Sennacherib. Quarterly Review, vol. xliii. p. 154. Trans- 
 lator.] ♦ 2 Kmgs xix. 9. [See the note on the seventh verse of the same chapter 
 in Mant's Bible. Translator.] * Strabo, p. 1007. 
 
 * 2 Chron. xiv. 9. See the remarks of Michaelis. He translates it Cushite, which appel- 
 
 though this number signifies nothing more than a niighty army, 
 it yet affords a proof of the mightiness of the empire, which at 
 that time probably comprised Arabia Felix ; but the chariots 
 of war, which never were in use in Arabia, prove that the pas- 
 sage refers to Ethiopia. Zerah's expedition took place in the 
 early part of Asa s reign, consequently about nine hundred and 
 fifty years before Christ ; and as such an empire could not be 
 quite a new one, we are led by undoubted historical statements 
 up to the period of Solomon, about 1000, b. c. ; and as this 
 comes near to the Trojan period, Pliny s statements, though 
 only resting on mythi, obtain historical weight. Farther back 
 than this the annals of history are silent ; but the monuments 
 now begin to speak, and confirm that high antiquity, which 
 general opinion and the traditions of Meroe attribute to this 
 state. The name of Ramasses, or Sesostris, has already been 
 found upon many of the Nubian monuments ; and that he was 
 the conqueror of Ethiopia is known from history.^ The pe- 
 riod in which he flourished cannot be placed later than fifteen 
 hundred years before the Christian era. But the name of 
 Thutmosis, belonging to the preceding dynasty, has also been 
 found in Nubia,^ and that assuredly upon one of the most an- 
 cient monuments of Armada. But in this sculpture, as well 
 as in the procession representing the victory over Ethiopia in 
 the offering of the booty, there appears a degree of civiliza- 
 tion, which shows an acquaintance with the peaceful arts ; they 
 must consequently be attributed to a nation that had long been 
 formed. We thus approach the Mosaic period, in which the 
 Jewish traditions ascribe the conquest of Meroe to no less a 
 pei^on than Moses himself' The traditions of the Egyptian 
 priesthood also agree in this, that Meroe in Ethiopia laid the 
 foundation of the most ancient states of Egypt. Who can ex- 
 pect here more critical certainty than this ? History itself, 
 however, has carried us back to those ages in which the forma- 
 tion of the most ancient states took place, and has thus far 
 shown that Mero'e was one of them. 
 
 lation comprises both the inhabitants of Arabia FeUx and Ethiopia, remarking expressly, 
 however, by comparing 2 Chron. xvi. 8, that he must have been king of Ethiopia ; and pro- 
 bablv of Arabia Felix as well. [See also Gill's Commentary on the same passage.] 
 
 . Herod T 110 ; Strabo, 1140. That the Pharaohs should have carried their conquests 
 into EtMopia,* could in no period seem less strange than in ours, m which the same scene has 
 been acTeT Scarcely was the present ruler of Egypt firmly possessed of that kingdom, than 
 hL son Ismael Pash J undertook the same conquest, and not only penetrated to Meroe, but 
 even at one time as far as Sitiffue, 10° N. Lat. 
 
 » S^ ?he I^counftf his expedition against Meroe, in Josephus, Ant. Jud. ii. 10, which has 
 the air of a romance. 
 
 ) 
 
216 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 In a state whose government differed so widely from any 
 thing that we have been accustomed to, it is reasonable to sup- 
 pose that the same would happen with regard to the people or 
 subjects. We cannot expect a picture here that will bear any 
 similitude to the civilized nations of Europe. Meroe rather 
 resembled in appearance the larger states of interior Africa at 
 the present day ; a number of small nations, of the most oppo- 
 site habits and manners, some with, and some without, settled 
 abodes, form there what is called an empire ; although the ge- 
 neral political band which holds them together appears loose, 
 and is often scarcely perceptible.* In Meroe this band was of 
 a twofold nature ; religion, that is, a certain worship, princi- 
 pally resting upon oracles and commerce : unquestionably the 
 strongest chains by which barbarians could be fettered, except 
 forcible subjugation. The rites of that religion, connected 
 with oracles, satisfied the curious and superstitious, as did trade 
 the cravings of their sensual appetites. Eratosthenes has hand- 
 ed us down an accurate picture of the inhabitants of Meroe in 
 his time.^ According to his account the island comprised a 
 variety of people, of whom some followed agriculture, some a 
 nomad, pastoral life, and others hunting : all of them choosing 
 that which was best adapted to the district in which they lived. 
 
 The nomad tribes dwelling to the north of Meroe in Nubia, 
 were no longer subject to that state.^ The dominion over 
 roving hordes, however, can seldom have fixed boundaries, and 
 it would be rash to apply what Eratosthenes says of his times 
 to all the preceding centuries, while, on the other hand, we 
 learn from the monuments, that the rulers of Meroe lived in 
 almost continual warfare with these nomad tribes. To the 
 west, Meroe was bounded by sandy deserts which separated it 
 from Darfour, unknown in antiquity ; and to the east, it had 
 for neighbours in the mountains, the rude Shangallas, the Trog- 
 lodytes, or the race of Bischaries, at about ten or eleven days' 
 journey distant from the city of Meroe.* These do not appear 
 to have been subjects of Meroe, as they, according to what is 
 stated above, had their own kings or chiefs. 
 
 To the south of Meroe, on the other hand, was a province, 
 which, by an extraordinary circumstance, came into the pos- 
 session of a very numerous race of Egyptian colonists. At the 
 time Psammetichus obtained, by the aid of foreign mercenaries, 
 
 » See the description of the empire of Bornou, in the Proceedings of the African Associa- 
 tion, p. 189, etc. » Strabo, p. 1177. ^ This is expressly stated by Eratosthenes 
 
 in Strabo, p. 1194. ♦ Eratosthenes, ap. Strabo, 1. c. p. 1134. 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 STATE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 217 
 
 the sole government in Egypt, the numerous Egyptian war- 
 rior-caste rebelled against him ; they had indeed already in the 
 foregoing troubles, when the priest-caste played for the mas- 
 tery, and in fact for a long time played a winning game, been 
 deeply injured. These Egyptian warriors, — who might be 
 called, as belonging to the highest rank in the nation, the 
 Egyptian nobility, if false notions of a subordinate nature did 
 not too easily attach themselves to that appellation, — these 
 Egyptian warriors, I say, chose rather to leave the land of 
 their birth, than comply with the new order of things, which 
 began with Psammetichus's reign in Egypt. The king in 
 vain attempted to restrain them, they derided his attempt, and 
 left the country, two hundred and forty thousand men in num- 
 ber. This took place about six hundred and fifty years 
 before Christ. They emigrated into Ethiopia, and obtained a 
 new settlement from the king of Meroe. He willingly received 
 them, and appointed them a province, whose inhabitants having 
 been lately rebellious were expelled, in order to make way 
 for these new comers. This land, according to the best au- 
 thority, was the present Gojam, an island formed by a deep 
 curve of the Nile, which it makes immediately after its rise, and 
 then returns, almost in a complete circle, nearly back to its 
 sources. 
 
 Here this numerous Egyptian colony settled, and formed a 
 separate state dependent upon Meroe, but governed by its own 
 subordinate kings, or rather, at least at a later period, by its 
 queens. They introduced, according to Herodotus, civiliza- 
 tion among the Ethiopian tribes dwelling in these regions; 
 and built cities, the most considerable of which was Sem- 
 bobytis ; there was also another called Esar. This state, which 
 lasted for many centuries, extended itself on the east as far as 
 the mountains, and very clear traces of it are visible in the 
 histories of these countries at later periods.^ 
 
 The state of Meroe, therefore, comprised a number of very 
 different races or tribes, united together by one common form 
 of worship, which was in the hands of the priesthood, the most 
 cultivated, and consequently the dominant caste. But a ques- 
 tion remains unanswered, which has probably before this oc- 
 
 ' I must beseech the reader to accept these remarks as the results of a carefnl historical 
 research, which on another occasion I have laid before the public in its full extent with the 
 proofs. Commentat. Societ. Sclent. Goetting. torn. xii. p. 48, etc. The passages of the an- 
 cients which I have principally quoted are Herod, ii. 30 ; Pliny, vi. 29, 30 ; and Strabo, p. 
 1134. See f Historical Works j iii. p. 323. 
 
218 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [CIIAP. II. 
 
 curred to my readers : namely, to what nation belonged this 
 ruling priest-caste ? Were they natives of the country, or did 
 they emigrate into it ? The origin and descent of this race it 
 is impossible to prove by express historical evidence. The 
 peopling of these distant regions, and many of the early emi- 
 grations, occurred so long before the period of legitimate his- 
 tory, that more than conjecture cannot be here expected. We 
 know, however, that they did not consider themselves as a race 
 who had emigrated into the land, but as a primitive aboriginal 
 people, and the same belief prevailed among the Egyptian 
 priest-caste.^ Nothing more can be determined respecting 
 them from historic evidence. What therefore now remains to 
 be done, is to examine whether the information we have re- 
 specting this race will warrant us to consider them as having 
 emigrated into this region ? and whether we can discover in 
 the tribes still existing there the descendants of that race ? Our 
 knowledge of it can only be derived from the monuments it has 
 left behind ; but from these innumerable pictures we are 
 placed in a situation of judging of its external character. In 
 these we always discover the same formation of countenance, 
 the same shape,^ the same colour, and although with many 
 variations, yet, upon the whole, the same rich costume. The 
 countenance has nothing at all of the negro variety, it is a 
 handsome profile, the body is tall and slender, the hair straight 
 or curled, the colour a reddish brown. That the colour in the 
 painted reliefs was certainly that of the people represented, no 
 one can entertain a doubt who has seen Belzoni's plates of the 
 royal sepulchre, which has been opened.^ I would not, how- 
 ever, be understood to mean that the colour in nature was ex- 
 actly the same ; the artists in this respect were constrained by 
 their materials ; but I maintain with confidence that this race 
 was neither fair nor dark, but of a brown colour between the 
 two. I believe I recognise them in the Nubian race. Though 
 the colour, by frequent intermixture with female negro slaves, 
 is become something darker, yet the same shape, the same pro- 
 file, and the same moral characteristics are still to be found, as 
 far as this can possibly be expected, in their present degenerate 
 state.* They were once, according to Strabo, a mighty nation, 
 spreading on both sides of the Nile.^ They are now pressed 
 
 > Diodorus, i. p. 174. * Only among the few figures in the rock-sepulchres are 
 
 they somewhat different, but these in general betray the infancy of the art. 
 
 ' See above, p. 185. ♦ Compare what is said above, p. 155, upon the accounts im- 
 
 parted by Burkhardt and others * Strabo, p. 1134, 1135. 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 STATE OF MERGE, ETC. 
 
 219 
 
 back into its valley, scarcely more than the ruins of a nation ; 
 but it has been impossible altogether to suppress them. Their 
 ancient civilization was knit to their religion, and naturally 
 declined with it ; intermixture with foreigners, wars, and op- 
 pressions, did the rest : what then can be expected beyond a 
 faint shadow of what they once were V But whoever will take 
 the trouble to compare the descriptions and representations of 
 them given by modern travellers, with those upon the reliefs, 
 will recognise the same shape, and the same countenance.^ 
 They even still carry the same weapons ; the long, often two- 
 edged spear, the great shield of hippopotamus-skin, with which 
 they so often appear on the monuments, and by which even 
 the prophet characterizes them ;^ and if the splendour of their 
 dress is exchanged for lighter habiliments, yet then the nature 
 of the climate renders them ornaments rather than necessary 
 clothing. All these distinguishing marks, I grant, are mere 
 probabilities, and not founded upon historical evidence. It is 
 not difficult to bring forward arguments against them. I shall 
 however consider my views as just, until replaced by others 
 more probable. 
 
 * And yet, remarkable as it may appear, the remains of a hierarchy still exists in those 
 regions ; it seems then occasioned by something in the locality. We read in Burkhardt's 
 Travels in Nubia, p. 236, etc., of a priestly establishment at Darner, a town of five hundred 
 houses seated on the south shore of the Tacazze or Mogrew, just before its junction with the 
 Nile, consequently in the isleof Meroe, In this small but independent state the authority is 
 in the hands of a high pontiff, called El Faky el Kebir, who is their real chief and oracle- 
 giver. The office is hereditary in one family. The Faky el Kebir (or great Faky) leads the 
 fife of a hermit, shut up in his chamber all the morning till about three o'clock in the after- 
 noon, after which he transacts business till long after sun-set. He occupies a small building, 
 one part of which is a chapel, and the other a room about twelve feet square, in which he 
 constantly resides day and night. He is a venerable looking figure, clothed in a long white 
 robe. There are many fakys under him of various rank, who enjoy more or less a reputation 
 for sanctity. At Damer are several schools, to which young men repair from Darfour, Sen- 
 naar, Kordofan, and other parts of Soudan, in order to acquire a proficiency in the law, and 
 in the reading of the Koran. The schools are in an open place adjoininpr the great mosque. 
 Imagine instead of this a temple dedicated to Ammon, and instead of the Koran and law, the 
 books of Hermes and the priest-ritual, and there will be but little difficulty in believing it 
 one of the ancient priestly establishments. " The affairs of this little hierarchical state," 
 continues Burkhardt, *♦ appear to be conducted with great prudence. All its neighbours 
 testify much respect for the fakys ; the treacherous Bischarcin, even, are so completely kept 
 in awe by them, that they have never been known to hurt any of the people of Damer, when 
 travelling from thence across the mountains to Souakin. They particularly fear the power 
 of the fakys to deprive them of rain, and thus to cause the death of their flocks. It is also 
 a trading state. Caravans pass occasionally from Damer to Dongola, Shendy, Souakin, and 
 the Arabian Gulf; for many of the fakys are traders. Caravans generally make a short stay 
 at this place, as the land is well cultivated, and common necessaries easily obtained. Two 
 fakys accompanied the caravan as guards as far as the limits of the country of Shendy. The 
 road is dangerous, and the inhabitants upon it robbers ; but such is the fear entertained of the 
 fakj's of Damer, that the mere sight of them marching unarmed at the head of the caravan, was 
 sufficient to inspire the country people with the greatest respect. It would require an armed 
 force to pass here without the aid of some of these religious men." Could there be a better 
 voucher for the truth of our picture of the ancient priest and trade state, and their rise and 
 progress ? It wUl now be easily understood how settlements of priests might influence the 
 coarse of trade. 
 
 • See them in Legh and others. ^ Jer. xlvi. 9. 
 
220 
 
 EtHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 CHAP. II. ] 
 
 STATE OF MERGE, ETC. 
 
 221 
 
 III 
 
 This question is naturally followed by another, to which 
 various and contradictory answers have hitherto been given ; 
 though I venture to hope that what I have already said will go 
 a great way towards setting it at rest. This question is, 
 whether Ethiopia, and particularly Meroe, was the parent of 
 civiHzation, which descended thence into Egypt ; or whether 
 civilization ascended the Nile from Egypt into Ethiopia ? I 
 should not think this, considering our present acquaintance 
 with the monuments, and the helps history affords, a problem 
 difficult to solve, if a prevailing mistake attending it be first 
 laid aside. It is a very general error to suppose — that those, 
 who are of opinion that the original point of civiHzation, or 
 what is nearly tantamount to it, the worship of Ammon with 
 its dependencies, was at Mero'e, and that it spread thence down 
 the Nile into Egypt, and certainly first to Upper Egypt, where 
 it attained in Thebes its full perfection — must necessarily 
 affirm that this happened in the exact order and succession be- 
 held in the monuments with which we are acquainted. Such 
 " an assertion would not only be in direct opposition to the monu- 
 ments, as we have above explained them — but also to history. 
 We have historical evidence that rulers of Mero'e were, at cer- 
 tain periods, likewise rulers of Egypt, and at least of Upper 
 Egypt ; and, on the other hand, that many of the Pharaohs 
 extended their dominion over Ethiopia. What, therefore, 
 could be more natural than that countries should be mutually 
 aflected by being thus brought into close contact with each 
 other ; and, as the erection of monuments, temples, and their 
 appurtenances, formed so essential a part of the rites of Ammon, 
 that the Pharaohs, when they ruled over Ethiopia, should en- 
 deavour to perpetuate their memory there, as well as in Egypt, 
 by the building of monuments ? I think this already settled 
 by the reliefs which decorated the walls of the Nubian temples ; 
 and that I have proved, as well by the high perfection of the 
 art as by the objects they represent, that they must be ascribed 
 to the flourishing period of the dominion of the Pharaohs. 
 And who would presume to assert that some of these temples 
 themselves were not their work ? 
 
 Those, therefore, who derive the civilization of Egypt from 
 Ethiopia, and particularly from Mero'e, will not go further than 
 to affirm that certain colonies of the priest-caste spread from 
 Mero'e into Egypt. This happened according to the oracle ot 
 Ammon. " They undertook their expeditions at the time and 
 
 to the place appointed by the god."^ The fact is too well 
 known that the foundation of colonies in the ancient world 
 generally took place under the authority of the oracles, for it 
 to be necessary to stop here to prove it. But these oracles 
 were under the guidance of a higher power, that of the high 
 priests, or perhaps the kings, or both ; consequently we may 
 safely conclude that these settlements were not left to blind 
 chance, but selected and appointed for particular objects. And 
 this is confirmed by history and the monuments. 
 
 One of these settlements, the nearest to Meroe on the north, 
 is only lately become known to us. I speak of that near 
 mount Berkal.^ Here evidently stood a sort of second Mero'e ; 
 indeed, even the very name obtained here, the village being 
 still called Merawe. At this place are found the remains of 
 two temples, dedicated to Osiris and Ammon. The larger, 
 with an alley of sphinxes and all the sections of the great tem- 
 ples of Eo;ypt, surpasses in extent and finishing those of the 
 parent state.^ The smaller, called by Caillaud a Typhoiiium,'^ 
 exhibits in its sanctuary Ammon with his whole train.^ But, 
 besides the name, another thing indubitably proves this place 
 to have been a colony from Mero'e ; I mean the pyramidic 
 buildings for the dead, with nearly the very same number of 
 pyramids as at Assur, though of a larger size.^ These are the 
 only ones which are found between the island of Mero'e and 
 Egypt. The reliefs on the temples relate to the worship of 
 Ammon. A hero, or king, is offering to him a number of 
 captives on tlie pylone.^ In the interior decorations, richer 
 gifts of fruit, cattle, and other articles. In the front building 
 of the pyramids Osiris, as king of the lower world, to whom 
 likewise gifts are presented.*^ This place, at a later period,-- 
 probably after the period of the Ptolemies,— became the capi 
 tal, which bore the name of Napata ; and which, as late as the 
 time of Nero, when the Romans captured and destroyed it, was 
 the residence of the queens who reigned here under the title 
 
 ofCandace.^ 
 
 Ammonium, in the Libyan desert, was, according to the ex- 
 
 ' Herod, ii. 29. 2TpaTEuoin-ai is his expression. The foundation of such colonies, in the 
 midst of barbarous nations, would very likely be often attended with wars. But the warlike 
 expeditions of a priestly state would naturally have for their object the spread of its worship, 
 because without this no conquests could be preserved. m • . 
 
 » This mountain lies on the west bank of the Nile ; the monument at its foot. 1 his is now 
 made known to us by the plates and ground-plan of Caillaud, plate xlix.— Ixxiy. 
 
 > Caillaud, plate lxiv.-lx>d. * Ibid, plate Ixvii. ^ Ibid, plate Ixxi. 
 
 « Caillaud, plate h-i. Ivii. Also opposite, on the western bank of the NUe, near JNuri, is a 
 group of pyramids. Caillaud, plate xlvii. ' Caillaud, plate Ixi. 
 
 "■"i. pla 
 
 Ibid, plate liii. — Iv. 
 
 9 Plin. vi. 35. Compare Mannert, x. p. 220. 
 
222 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 CilAF. XI.] 
 
 STATE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 223 
 
 i 
 
 press testimony of Herodotus/ another of these colonies, which, 
 as we have already shown, did not consist merely of a temple 
 and oracle, but rather formed a small state where the priest- 
 caste was, as at Mero'e, the ruling body, and chose a king from 
 among themselves. And, certainly, according to his account, 
 this colony was founded in common from Thebes and Mero'e. 
 A very remarkable fact, which not only proves the foundation 
 of such colonies, and the objects for which they were intended, 
 but also places beyond a doubt the continuance of a connexion 
 and a common interest between Mero'e and Thebes. 
 
 The kingly Thebes itself was a third, and by far the most 
 important settlement of this priest-caste ; it formed a sort of 
 central point, from which they spread over the rest of Egypt 
 and the Oases. The priestly tradition of Ethiopia and Egypt 
 asserted the worship of Ammon and Osiris, with its feasts and 
 processions, to be first settled at Mero'e the metropolis.^ From 
 this city did Osiris, the great symbol of Egyptian civilization, 
 carry it into Egypt. The worship of Ammon and his temple 
 associates, the same priestly dominion, the same oracles, con- 
 firmed it in antiquity ; and do we not see the same truth still 
 established by the monuments, when we discover in the tem- 
 ples of Upper and in the pyramids of Middle Egypt the same 
 designs carried to the highest perfection, of which the monu- 
 ments of Nubia and Meroe furnished the first rude models ? 
 But that Mero'e was a colony of Thebes there is not the slight- 
 est proof. And if the question turns upon the rise of civiliza- 
 tion, — what is gained by this opinion ? On what account was 
 it less likely to arise in Meroe than in the Thebais? No doubt 
 in both countries certain external causes promoted it ; but that 
 these are to be found as well, indeed rather sooner, in Mero'e 
 than in the Thebais, will be seen in the next chapter. 
 
 It is no slight proof of the conclusions to which I came, in 
 the early editions of these Researches, by the study of history, 
 to find that the pursuits of others, in a different path, — I mean 
 the study of monuments and inscriptions, — lead exactly to the 
 same inferences. I cannot, therefore, refrain from giving here 
 the opinions to which the labours of Gau and Champollion 
 
 1 Herod, ii. 42. , , ^ .. , 
 
 « Diodorus, i. p. 175. As the credibility of the statements of Diodorus depends entirely 
 upon the sources from which he obtained them, it is necessary that these should be brought 
 under notice. He cites them himself. At one time as written, namely, the narrative of Aga- 
 tharchides in his work on the Red Sea, and the history of Artemidorus : at others as oral ; 
 namely, the assertions of the priests in the Thebais ; and of the ambassadors from Meroe, 
 whom he there had an opportunity of conversing with ; all these agree very well together 
 Diodorus, i. p. 181. 
 
 have led, although these as yet are only prematurely made 
 known : 
 
 " The observation of Gau," it is said,* " seems especially in- 
 teresting, on account of the results to which it will lead ; we 
 mean his remark, that he hopes by his work to prove, that the 
 original models of Egyptian architecture may be found in the 
 Nubian monuments, from the rudest rock-excavation to the 
 highest point of perfection ; and that specimens are met with 
 in Nubia of the three different epochs of architecture. Of the 
 first attempts, the excavations from the sides of rocks, which 
 were not till a later period ornamented with sculpture, the 
 temples of Derar, Ipsambul, and Ghyrshe afford examples. 
 From them Egyptian art proceeded to perfection, as we know 
 from the monuments of Kalabshe, Dekar, etc. ; and again re- 
 trograded, as is shown by the small buildings of Dandour, etc." 
 
 " History," it is said, in the letters upon Champollion's latest 
 discoveries,^ " is extended and authenticated. Champollion 
 reads the names of the mighty Egyptian Pharaohs upon the 
 edifices which they erected ; and arrives at certainty respect- 
 ing the deeds of a Thutmosis, Amenophis II., Ramasses Mia- 
 mun, Ramasses the Great, or Sesostris, and others, which our 
 modern sceptical critics would tear from the volume of authen- 
 tic history, and place among the fabulous.^ But a powerful 
 voice is raised in their favour by the irrefragable evidence of 
 the venerable reliefs, the innumerable inscriptions on the py- 
 lones and long walls of the Theban palaces. Nearly thirty 
 royal dynasties are enumerated, of which from seventeen up- 
 wards, uninterrupted monuments have been discovered." 
 
 '' The most flourishing period of the Egyptian state, and its 
 highest point of civilization, Champollion places under the 
 eighteenth dynasty ; the first of whose kings expelled the shep- 
 herd race, or hyksos, from Lower Egypt, under whom this 
 part of Egypt had groaned for centuries. It was also the Pha- 
 raohs of this dynasty who so aggrandized Thebes ; who built 
 the vast palaces of Karnac, Luxor, Medinet Abou, Kornu, and 
 Memnonium. What a high pitch of cultivation ! What an 
 astonishing era of art ; two complete thousand years before the 
 Augustan age of Rome ! The magnificent palace of Karnac 
 
 ' From the German journals, the ffe«perM«, etc. • , r>^../ o «♦ iqo/i «^ 
 
 « From the Lettres de Turin, or in German, in the Europatscke BTutter, Sept. 18i4, p. 
 224. In some later accounts it is said, that among the Papyrus-rolls a whole archive has been 
 found, with the names of the Pharaohs, and annals of their reign. 
 
 » That these opinions never formed the basis of my criticism may be seen by the early edi- 
 tions of this work, and my Manual of Ancient History. 
 
^24 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. 11. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 COMMERCE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 225 
 
 
 records by its hieroglyphics, that it was built during the eleven 
 hundred years which elapsed from the time of Amenophis I. 
 to that of Nekao II. Amenophis I. was the third, Amenophis 
 II. (whom the Greeks call Memnon) the eighth, and Ameno- 
 phis III. the sixteenth of this glorious dynasty. But the most 
 exalted hero among the Pharaohs was Ramasses the Great, or 
 Sesostris, as he is called by Herodotus. He is the first Pha- 
 raoh of the nineteenth dynasty, and flourished fifteen hundred 
 
 years before Christ."* ... 
 
 " But this advantage of the researches, so interestmg m 
 their consequences, is not merely confined to the antiquities 
 of Egypt : it stretches away to the south— it opens up an his- 
 torical view of countries, whose names have not yet been en- 
 rolled in the eternal tablets of history. In Nubia and Ethio- 
 pia, stupendous, numerous, and primeval monuments proclaim 
 so loudly a civilization contemporary, ay, earlier than that of 
 Egypt, that it may be conjectured with the greatest confidence 
 that the arts, sciences, and religion descended from Nubia to 
 the lower country of Mizraim ; that civilization descended the 
 Nile, built Memphis, and finally, something later, wrested by 
 colonization the Delta from the sea. From Meroe and Axum, 
 downwards, with the Nile, to the Mediterranean, there arose, 
 as is testified by Diodorus, cultivated and powerful states, 
 which, though independent of each other, were connected by 
 the same language, the same writing, and the same religion." 
 
 " ChampoUion, by comparing the manners and customs, the 
 political institutions and physical organization of the Egyp- 
 tians with those of other nations, regards it as certain that they 
 are a genuine African-descended race ; undoubted aboriginals 
 of this^ quarter of the world, as they resemble the western-Asi- 
 utic nations, their neighbours, in but a very few unimportant 
 particulars. Their language contains as few analogies with 
 the Sanscrit and Zend, the Chinese and the Arabic, as their 
 writing with that of the rest of the known world. Everythmg 
 tends to prove them a great, a self-cultivated, and an exclusive 
 family of nations, possessii|g the north-east of Afi-ica, Nubia, 
 
 the Oases, and Egypt." 
 
 How well these conclusions accord with my own, the earlier 
 editions of this work will show. Should there still be some- 
 thing problematical in the manner in which the priest-caste 
 
 » The Pharaohs of the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties arc those which I have com- 
 prised under the name of Sesostrides. Manual of Amwnt Hutory. 
 
 extended itself, it will be solved by my recalling the attention 
 of the reader to a remark already made ; it is, that those very 
 places formed the principal stations of the caravan trade. I 
 have already proved this with regard to two of them. Ammo- 
 nium and Thebes;^ and the following inquiry will leave no 
 doubt respecting Meroe itself. 
 
 If I do not err, a stream of light is breaking upon the night 
 of Egyptian and Ethiopian antiquities, which opens to us new 
 and unexpected prospects. Who can help perceiving here a 
 close connexion between religion and commerce, which was, 
 perhaps, as natural to those countries as it is opposed to our 
 institutions? Though this priesthood was not itself a trading 
 body, (which I by no means maintain,) did it not guide the 
 southern commercial intercourse by its establishments ? Were 
 they the builders of those proud temples and palaces along the 
 banks of the Nile and on the great inland trading highways, 
 which served as sanctuaries for their gods, as dwellings for 
 themselves, and as stations and marts for the caravans ? Were 
 they, indeed, the founders of those states which bore so close 
 a resemblance to each other in Egypt and Ethiopia ? — These 
 are questions which perhaps many of my readers have already 
 proposed to themselves. But if we would not answer them 
 with partiality, we must take a higher point of view, and trace 
 out, in its whole extent, the ancient and so frequently men- 
 tioned Ethiopian commerce, as far as the darkness of antiquity 
 will permit us. 
 
 Chap. III. Commerce of Meroe and Ethiopia, 
 
 THE LABOUK OF EGYPT AND THE MERCHANDISE OF ETHIOPIA SHALL COME OYER 
 
 UNTO THEE. ISAIAH XLY. 14. 
 
 When it is considered that the Ethiopians were one of the 
 most distant and least known nations of antiquity, and that 
 only vague and disfigured reports had reached the West re- 
 specting them, can it be a matter of surprise that so little 
 should be known of their commerce ? There are many cir- 
 cumstances, however, in ancient history, which cannot be 
 satisfactorily proved and described from the direct testimony 
 of ancient writers, which, nevertheless, appear certain and 
 consistent to the critical historian. To this class belongs the 
 
 » See above, p. 99, 100. 
 Q 
 
226 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. hi. 
 
 early commercial intercourse among; the southern nations, in 
 which the Ethiopians took so considerable a part. 
 
 Nature has, in a remarkable manner, ordained the commerce 
 of these nations, by conferring treasures on one portion of the 
 southern districts which the others have not, and yet cannot 
 well do without. This need of a commercial intercourse cer- 
 tainly does not prove its actual existence ; but, as it evidently 
 eives an additional force to every historical argument brought 
 to its support, it is on that account necessary to go somewhat 
 
 further into its detail. j . j .1 
 
 By the countries of the south I here understand the western 
 coast of the peninsula of India, together with Ceylon on one 
 side and Ethiopia and Arabia Felix on the other. India, as 
 I have shown elsewhere,' is one of the richest countries ot the 
 world in natural productions, and on that account has always 
 been a country of the greatest importance in the commerce of 
 the world. Besides wares for clothing, which it possesses in 
 common with other countries, nature has bestowed upon it 
 exclusively, cinnamon and pepper, the two spices most m re- 
 quest In colder regions these are become articles of luxury; 
 but under the burning and damp climate of the southern zone, 
 they are indispensably necessary, as antidotes to putrefaction ; 
 and none of the nations in these regions can ever do witliout 
 them after having once experienced their value. 
 
 Yeman, or Arabia the Blest, though separated from India 
 bv an open sea, is yet connected with it by nature in an ex- 
 traordinary manner. One half of the year, from spring to 
 autumn, the wind' regularly sets in and wafts the vessels from 
 Arabia to India ; the other half, from autumn to spring, it as 
 reo-ularly carries them back from India to Arabia.' A sky, 
 almost always serene, offei-s them the stars as guides and 
 spares them the pain of creeping round the coasts. hough 
 nature has conferred no spices upon Arabia, she has amply made 
 up for that deficiency by other valuable gifts. It not exclu- 
 sively, Arabia is above all others the native country of frank- 
 incense, of myrrh, and other aromatic perfumes. It the puri- 
 fication of the air by sweet-smelling savours was not as 
 necessary in these warm climates, as spices are for the pre- 
 servation of the health, yet the value of these productions was 
 
 : ^L7a "Xd*theZ'^t!":^i* mtt'not be confounded ,ith the almost unchange- 
 able trade winds of other seas between the tropiw. 
 • The foraer ia a south-west, the latter a north-east wind. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 COMMERCE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 227 
 
 doubled by religion. There was scarcely one of the half- 
 civilized nations of the ancient world, that would have dared 
 to offer a gift to the gods without frankincense. 
 
 As eastern Africa likewise produced frankincense, it divided, 
 in some degree, this treasure with Yeman ; but it possessed 
 another besides, in its gold, of which neither this country nor 
 India could boast, and without which their traffic must have 
 been much cramped. Though the western coast of the Indian 
 peninsula did not produce this metal, and Arabia, if at all, but 
 very sparingly,' eastern Africa contained those districts abound- 
 ing in gold, which are still numbered among the richest of 
 the world. 
 
 Taking all these circumstances together, it may easily be 
 perceived, that there are probably no other extensive regions 
 of the world, where so many causes excite to a mutual com- 
 merce ; and if any such should be found, trade could scarcely 
 any where be more profitable than here. Let us now follow the 
 historical traces which have been preserved respecting it. 
 
 The early appearance of Indian produce in the western 
 world claims our first attention. Indian spices, especially cin- 
 namon, cpme before us as early as the Mosaic records ; and, 
 indeed, in such quantities as plainly show them to have formed 
 an important article of trade.^ Should, however, any objec- 
 tion be made to the translation of the terms^ or the uncertain 
 antiquity of the Mosaic writings, the explicit accounts of the 
 early trade of Arabia Felix will be sufficient to obviate it. 
 
 Both Hebrew and Greek writers always speak of this coun- 
 try as one of the richest of the earth. It has ah-eady been 
 shown in my researches upon the commerce of the Phoeni- 
 cians, how well that enterprising people, and even the Jews, 
 were acquainted with it.* The Hebrew poets cite the names 
 of its various cities and harbours, and are full of the treasures 
 which were imported from them.^ No sooner had the Greeks 
 obtained some knowledge of these regions, than they almost 
 exhausted their language in crying up the boundless riches 
 concealed in Arabia Felix. " Its inhabitants, the Sabians," 
 says Agatharchides as quoted by Diodorus,^ " not only surpass 
 
 ^ Ancient writers give gold to Arabia Felix as a natural production. It is not found 
 there at present, which leaves the fact in doubt. 
 
 ^ * See m Exodus xxx. 23, the enumeration and quantity of spices to be used in compound- 
 ing the holy oil of the sanctuary. =♦ I do not know that this has been questioned. 
 
 * See the chapter on the land-trade of the Phanicians* 
 
 * Compare Ezek. xxvii. 21 — 24, and the commentaries. 
 
 * Diodorus, i. p. 215. See note. 
 
 q2 
 
228 
 
 ETHIOPIANS, 
 
 [chap. hi. 
 
 CHAP. HI.] 
 
 COMMERCE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 229 
 
 I 
 
 i> 
 
 I 
 
 the neighbouring barbarians in wealth and magnificence, but 
 all other nations whatsoever. In bringing and selling their 
 wares they obtain, among all nations, the highest prices for the 
 smallest quantities. As their distant situation protects them 
 from all foreign plunderers, immense stores of precious metals 
 have accumulated among them, especially in the capital. Cu- 
 riously-wrought gold and silver drinking vessels in great 
 variety ; couches, tripods with silver feet, and an incredible 
 profusion of costly furniture in general. Porticos with large 
 columns partly gilt, with capitals ornamented with wrought- 
 silver figures. The roofs and doors are ornamented with gold 
 fretwork, set with precious stones ; besides which, an extra- 
 ordinary magnificence reigns in the decoration of their houses, 
 in which they use silver and gold, ivory, and the most precious 
 stones, and all other things that men deem most valuable. 
 These' people have enjoyed their good fortune from the earhest 
 times undisturbed ; being suflSciently remote from all those 
 who strove to feed their avarice with the treasures of others." 
 The inhabitants of this country, then, had obtained by their 
 commerce not only immense wealth, but had arrived at a high 
 degree of cultivation ; as even architecture and the plastic arts 
 had made a considerable progress among them. It was not, 
 however, from the mere produce of their soil that they obtamed 
 this opulence ; much of it, as we learn from Herodotus's ac- 
 count of the cinnamon which came through their country,' 
 was derived from the merchandise of India, for which their 
 country was the great mart ; and his statement is fully con- 
 firmed by the testimony of another well-informed writer.' 
 '* Before merchants," he says, " sailed from India to Egypt, 
 and from Egypt to India, (that is, as the context shows, before 
 the period of the Ptolemies,) Arabia Felix was the staple both 
 for Egyptian and Indian goods, much as Alexandria is now 
 for the commodities of Egypt and foreign merchandise." 
 If the explicit testimony here brought forward proves a 
 
 ' Herod, iii. 3. See the chapter on the land-trade of the Phcenicians. 
 
 « An-ian. Peripl. Mar. Eryth. in Hudson's Geog. Mm. i. p. 15. Since the fir«t appear 
 ance of these Researches this valuable document, so important in the history of geograpn) 
 and commerce, has been illustrated by the well-known and excellent commentaries ot Dean 
 Vincent. It appeared to this careful and acute critic, as it must indeed to every one, >. no 
 without prejudice, and with some knowledge of the East, goes mto the ^"[^M^' X 'nt 
 high antiquity and extent of an active commerce between the countries of the south is .o 
 Te?y clear that no doubt can remain respecting it. The results of the earned dean, ^ ho 
 laboured independently of the author,-though he shorUy before hi5 death tcstifaed to hin 
 by letter, his participation and approbation of hs labours and sent to the ^hraj pf Goet^ 
 tingen a copy of the last edition of his work, enriched with ^is own autograph additions 
 are quite in unison with his own upon these particulars. See Vincent, Perij^lus oj the t^ry 
 threan Sea^ in the Preliminary Disquisitions ^ p. 67, etc. 
 
 commercial intercourse between India and Arabia, it proves 
 at the same time its high antiquity, and that it must have been 
 in active operation for many centuries.^ And although we 
 have not sufficient information to point out with absolute 
 certainty by what nation and by what way the navigation be- 
 tween these two countries was carried on, yet everything 
 connected with the subject seems to point the finger so plainly 
 to the Arabians, that we can scarcely err in attributing it to 
 them. The Indians no where appear as navigators;^ the 
 Arabians always. They not only possessed the navigation of 
 the Indian Ocean during the whole of the middle ages, but 
 undoubtedly enjoyed during the period of the Ptolemies, and 
 immediately afterwards, the advantage of a direct intercourse 
 with India. When therefore we hear that their country even 
 thus early was the market for Indian goods, it is surely highly 
 probable that they, at this time as well as afterwards, possessed 
 the carrying trade of the Indian Ocean. Whether this was 
 confined to coasting, or whether advantage was taken of the 
 monsoons, and vessels stretched across the sea, must be left to 
 conjecture ; though we can scarcely suppose it possible that 
 the benefit of this wind should have remained unknown, dur- 
 ing the lapse of centuries, to a people dwelling in the very 
 regions whence it blew.^ Every other passage across the open 
 sea, in the infancy of time, may excite suspicion ; nothing, how- 
 ever, can be opposed to the shortness and facility of this. A 
 great part of the way along the Arabian coast, moreover, 
 might be navigated by the monsoons ; the rest of the voyage 
 was in itself inconsiderable, and the great number of islands, 
 with which the ocean is here dotted, would serve as land- 
 marks and harbours. At all events it is a remarkable circum- 
 stance to every reflecting mind, that the direct transit from 
 
 * Although its commencement is beyond the reach of history, it is nevertheless very evi- 
 dent that it was yet in its zenith during the times of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel ; in the 
 eighth and seventh centuries before the Christian era, and consequently in the flourishing 
 period (as is shown in the preceding section) of the kingdom of Mcroe. The overthrow of 
 the throne of the Pharaohs seems to have led to its decay ; though the more early great Asiatic 
 wars of the Assyrians and Babylonians had, no doubt, considerably affected it. 
 
 * See Vincent's Periplus, p. 61, and my Researches on the Indians. 
 
 =» The well-known account in Arrian. Peripl. p. 32, that the use of the monsoons was first 
 introduced by the Greek, Hippalus, forms no objection. It refers only to the Greeks at 
 Alexandria, and not to the earlier periods. In these primitive times the use of the monsoons 
 was not required in the same manner as in the Alexandrine period, when vessels sailed from 
 Myos, Hormos, and Berenice. At that time Aden, lying w ithout the straits of Babclmandel, 
 was the principal port, as it seemed destined to be by its position. This distinction is of 
 great importance. The voyage from Aden to Malabar and back is the easiest in the world, 
 because one sails thither with one wind and returns with another ; but the voyage out of the 
 Arabian Gulf is far more difficult, for two different winds are required both for the naviga- 
 tion to and fro. See on this head Valentia's Travels, ii. p. 380. 
 
230 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 CHAP. 111.] 
 
 COMMERCE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 231 
 
 Yeman to India leads straight to that very district of all this 
 vast country, in which (at Elephanta and Salsette) some of 
 the most ancient and remarkable monuments that are to be 
 found within it still exist. 
 
 The intercourse between Arabia and Ethiopia is not subject 
 even to one of these little difficulties. They are neighbour- 
 ing countries, only separated by a narrow strait. Just across 
 this lies the Ethiopian land of frankincense, known to Herod- 
 otus,* and, near to that, the gold countries, of which so much 
 has already been said. That Egypt and the rest of northern 
 Africa abounded in the home produce of Ethiopia, as well as in 
 those of the countries we have just mentioned, is evident from 
 so many circumstances, that no doubt can remain upon the 
 
 subject. 
 
 In proportion as we ascend into the primeval ages, the 
 closer seems the connexion between Egypt and Ethiopia. The 
 Hebrew poets seldom mention the former without the latter; 
 the inhabitants of both are drawn as commercial nations. 
 When Isaiah, or rather a later poet in his name, celebrates the 
 victories of Cyrus, their submission is spoken of as his most 
 magnificent reward. " The trade of the Egyptians, and the 
 merchandise of the Ethiopians, and of the tall men of Saba, will . 
 come over to thee and become thine own."^ When Jeremiah^ 
 extols the great victory of Nebuchadnezzar over Pharaoh Neco 
 near Carchemish, the Ethiopians are allied to the Egyptians. 
 When Ezekiel threatens the downfal of Egypt, the remotest 
 parts of Ethiopia tremble at the denunciation.* Every page, 
 indeed, of Egyptian history exhibits proofs of the close inti- 
 macy in which they stood. The primitive states of Egypt, as 
 we have already seen, derived their origin from these remote 
 regions : Thebes and Meroe founded in common a colony in 
 Libya ; Ethiopian conquerors more than once invaded Egypt ; 
 Egyptian kings in return forced their way into Ethiopia ; the 
 same worship, the same manners and customs, the same mode 
 of writing are found in both countries ; and under Psammeti- 
 chus, as is shown above, the noble and numerous party of mal- 
 contents retired into Ethiopia. Does not this intimate con- 
 nexion presuppose a permanent alliance, which could only have 
 been formed and maintained by a long, peaceable, and friendly 
 intercourse ? 
 
 » Herod, ii. 8. • Isaiah xlv. 14. * Jerem. xlvi. 9. 
 
 * Ezek. XXX. 5» and the Comment, of Michaclis. 
 
 Egypt also, as far as history reaches back, abounded in all 
 the commodities of the southern regions. Whence did she 
 obtain the spices and drugs with which so many thousands of 
 her dead were embalmed ? Whence the incense which burned 
 on her altars ? Whence that immense quantity of cotton in 
 which her inhabitants were clad, and which her own soil so 
 sparingly produced?^ 
 
 Further, whence came into Egypt that early rumour of the 
 Ethiopian gold countries, which Cambyses set out to discover, 
 and lost half his army in the attempt ? Whence that profusion 
 of ivory and ebony which the ancient artists of Greece and 
 Palestine embellished?^ Whence that general and early spread 
 of the name of Ethiopia which glimmers in the traditional his- 
 tory of so many nations, and which is celebrated as well by the 
 Jewish poets as the earliest Grecian bards ? Whence all this, 
 if the deserts which surrounded that people, had formed an im- 
 passable barrier between them and the inhabitants of the north- 
 ern districts ? 
 
 Yet why should I invoke the traditions which have so long 
 slept ? Let the remains of those proud monuments, which ex- 
 tend in one unbroken series from Elephantis and Philae be- 
 yond the desert to Meroe, now speak for themselves. How- 
 ever short and monosyllabic their language, they plainly enough 
 evince that a close connexion must have prevailed between the 
 nations that erected them. 
 
 I think I have now placed the reader in a situation to judge 
 both of the certainty and extent of this international commerce 
 of the southern regions in that very remote period. It was 
 just a connexion between the richest and most productive re- 
 gions of the earth : the gold countries of eastern Africa, the 
 spice regions of India, and the native land of frankincense, of 
 precious stones and drugs, in southern Arabia. Another inter- 
 esting research still demands our attention, and that is, to trace 
 the course of this trade through the distant countries of Africa. 
 The more original and unexpected the views have been which 
 have already, in more than one place, opened before us, the 
 greater claim I hope to have to the indulgence of the reader 
 while I yet detain him somewhat longer on this part of my 
 subject. 
 
 ' See Beckmann's Corhereitung zur Waarenkunde, v. p. 19. 
 
 * Herod iii 114 Ethiopia, the most distant region of the earth, brings forth gold m 
 plenty, and ivory, and ebony and various other woods, and the taUest and most loug-lived 
 of men. 
 
2S2 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. hi. 
 
 This research necessarily presupposes another inquiry, upon 
 which indeed I have already touched, but which still requires 
 to be carried a little further, because it is a subject which does 
 not readily fall in with our ideas, I allude to the exact relation 
 in which commerce stood in these regions tvith religion. 
 
 Commerce and religion have always been indissolubly con- 
 nected in the East. All trade and commercial intercourse re- 
 quires peaceable and secure places in which it may be trans- 
 acted. In the hmited countries of Europe, inhabited by 
 nations partly or altogether civilized, every city, indeed almost 
 every hamlet, affords this. How totally different is the case 
 in the immeasurable tracts of the East ! The rich caravans here 
 have often to perform journeys of hundreds of miles through 
 nations of nomad robbers. The mart is not where they might 
 choose, but on the boundaries of the desert, where nature her- 
 self fixes it, in the midst, or in the neighbourhood of these rov- 
 ing hordes. What can protect commerce here but the sanc- 
 tity of the place ? Where are their asylums except under the 
 walls of the temple ? 
 
 Besides, a profitable and ready sale of merchandise requires 
 a resorting together of men ; and where does this take place so 
 frequently and to such an extent as in the vicinity of the na- 
 tional sanctuaries, where whole nations celebrate their feasts ? 
 Here, where men give themselves up to good living, the ne- 
 cessaries of life will be plentiful, and here the merchant will 
 obtain the best profits. Now, however, the East affords a 
 striking example of the extent to which the trade by sea has 
 diminished that by land. Mecca remains still, through its 
 holy sanctuary, the chief mart for the commerce of Arabia ; 
 and what are the great caravans of pilgrims which journey 
 thither from Asia and Africa but trading caravans ? Are not 
 the fairs which depend upon their arrival the greatest in Asia ? 
 The rapidity with which a place rises in the East, when once 
 it has obtained a sanctuary that becomes the object of pilgrim- 
 age, and by that means becomes a place of trade, almost sur- 
 passes belief/ The whole organization of social life in these 
 
 » The single example drawn from the present times of a place in Egypt, which Europeans 
 gcarcely know by name, may serve as a sufficient proof. Tenta, a city of the Delta, is cele- 
 brated as containing the sepulchre of a Mahometan saint, Seyd Achmed. The veneration 
 in which this is held brings an incredible number of pil^ms, who come at the time of the 
 spring-equinox and summer-solstice from Egypt, Abyssmia, Arabia, and Darfour. Their 
 number is stated at one hundred and fifty thousand. These periodical assemblies, besides the 
 worship of the saint, are devoted to commerce ; and each of them is the period of a cele- 
 brated fair, which lasts for many days, and at which the produce of Upper Egypt, the coast 
 of Barbar>', and the whole of the East, is exchanged for the cattle of the Delta and the hnen 
 there manufactured. Mtmoires sur VEgyptCy torn. ii. p. 357. 
 
 CHAP. Ill] 
 
 COMMERCE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 ^33 
 
 parts contributes towards it. In Europe the richest market 
 can only become the resort of a less or greater number of in- 
 dividuals ; but in the East, where the greater part of the in- 
 habitants consist of nomades, who though their wants be few 
 have still some, or easily acquire them, which can only be gra- 
 tified by commerce, it is not merely individuals, but whole 
 tribes, or portions of tribes, who appear as merchants. How 
 well frequented, how important must a trading place of this 
 kind become under such circumstances ! How widely must 
 the fame of such a sanctuary become spread ; and if once trade 
 becomes connected with it, how natural it seems, that, by the 
 establishment of similar sanctuaries, with the same form of wor- 
 ship in other distant places, the same order of things should 
 
 follow ! 
 
 Upon the religion of these nations I have endeavoured to 
 be as explicit as the nature of these researches requires. It 
 was the worship of Ammon and the deities allied to him, 
 whose rites were propagated by the foundation of colonies of 
 the same caste of priests along the banks of the Nile, from the 
 vicinity of its sources till its divided streams lose themselves 
 in the sea. And the same places which are most celebrated 
 for the worship of these deities, are also famous as the great 
 marts for the commerce of these regions. 
 
 These statements, therefore, furnish us with so many data 
 for determining the most ancient trading route from Ethiopia 
 to Egypt and northern Africa. It is unnecessary to prove 
 that this was a caravan trade; the situation and nature of the 
 country will allow of no other. The Nile, if we believe 
 Herodotus, was not navigable above Egypt but with great 
 labour (although commerce in this way seems very early to 
 have been carried on); and single merchants could travel 
 with as little safety in antiquity, as they can at present, over 
 these sandy deserts without a secure convoy. 
 
 I have already, in my researches upon the land trade of the 
 Carthaginians, pointed out the caravan roads from the north 
 of Africa and the negro countries to Upper Egypt, where 
 Thebes was the place of rendezvous. It therefore only now 
 remains to trace out the route from thence to Ethiopia, and its 
 
 chief place, Meroe. 
 
 Nubia from its situation is the natural, and has therefore 
 always been the great point of communication for the caravan 
 trade between Ethiopia and the countries on this side the Nu- 
 
234 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. hi. 
 
 bian desert. There are still three principal caravans which go 
 from inner Africa to Egypt ; one from Fezzan or Barbary, 
 another from Darfour, and a third from Sennaar and Atbar, 
 the ancient Meroe.^ In coming from Egypt this is the first 
 fertile spot that relieves the wearied eye of the traveller over 
 the dreary desert, the crossing of which is so often attended 
 with toil and pain, and frequently with peril. Nature there- 
 fore seems to have destined this as the resting-place for the 
 caravans from Egypt ; it is likewise the natural staple for such 
 productions of inner Africa, as are wont to be transported to 
 the north. It is indeed the extreme point of the gold coun- 
 tries towards Egypt ;^ and possesses an easy communication 
 with the southern regions, by the many navigable streams 
 with which it is surrounded. Its moderate distance from 
 Arabia Felix facilitates its intercourse with that rich country, 
 which again rendered it, as long as it possessed the trade of 
 Arabia and India, the natural market of Africa for Arabian 
 and Indian goods. 
 
 But though Sennaar, or the country of Meroe, appears as a 
 great commercial country, yet the territory about the city of 
 Meroe seems always to have been the principal market. 
 
 " Shendy," (now the nearest place to the ancient Meroe,) 
 says Bruce,' who does not speak here as illustrating any point 
 of history, but as simply relating his adventures, " was once a 
 town of great resort. The caravans of Sennaar, Egypt, Suakin, 
 and Kordofan, all were accustomed to rendezvous here, espe- 
 cially after the Arabs had cut off the road by Dongola." 
 
 Still more copious particulars have been given us by another 
 well-known traveller, no way inferior to Bruce ; I mean the 
 celebrated Maillet, who wrote at the beginning of the last cen- 
 tury.* At that time the caravan from Sennaar arrived twice 
 every year, bringing gold dust, ebony, ivory, balsam, and 
 between two and three thousand black slaves: — all wares 
 equally known and valued in antiquity.* It assembled at 
 Gherri, a place lying a few miles above Shendy and the ancient 
 
 * This is generally acknowledged. See however M^moires sur VEgypte, torn. iv. p. 81. 
 
 * Meroe w enumerated as one of the countries which produce gold, Diodorus, i. p. 38 ; 
 Strabo, p. 1177. This is particularly to be understood of the districts adjoining it on the 
 south-west, Cuba and Nuba, which abound in gold. It is however very probable that the 
 rivers in Meroe brought some gold with them, as they partly flowed from those mountainous 
 provinces. Meroe moreover had mines of iron and metal, Diodorus, i. p. 38 ; Strabo, p. 1177. 
 Certainly not an unimportant circumstance in estimating the degree of civilization to which 
 that country had attained. 
 
 * Bruce, iv. p. 532. * Maillet, Description de VEgypte, p. 197, 216, etc. 
 
 * Exactly tiie same that Herodotus mentions as the produce of Ethiopia, see lib. iii. 114. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 COMMERCE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 ^Zb 
 
 Meroe. The merchants from Sennaar and Gondar, the two 
 chief cities of Abyssinia, and many other districts, here met to- 
 gether to begin their journey. The caravans leave the Nile to 
 the east, and stretch across Libya, where, after a seventeen days' 
 journey, they come to a fertile valley planted with palms; 
 then, continuing their route, which leads over mountainous 
 districts, they again reach the Nile at Monfelut, a city of 
 Upper Egypt. 
 
 The information brought to Europe by the French expedi- 
 tion not only confirms this statement, but discloses many other 
 particulars respecting the commercial importance of these 
 places.^ Shendy, or the ancient Meroe, we are told, is the 
 place where the caravan road to the north, or Egypt, and to the 
 east, or the Arabian Gulf and Suakin, separate. It must 
 therefore on this account have become long ago a place of 
 great trade, and it still remains the next city to Sennaar. 
 
 It bore also this character in the middle ages, to the flourish- 
 ing period of Arabian commerce. The trading road extended 
 at that time from Alua to Suakin, to Massuah, and to the 
 islands on the Arabian Sea.^ 
 
 Burkhardt, who remained an entire month at Shendy,^ not 
 only confirms all this, but gives such copious details respecting 
 the trade of that town, that I refer the reader to his work in 
 preference to giving extracts. " Commerce," he says, " is 
 the very life of society in these countries. There is not a 
 single family which is not connected more or less with some 
 branch of traffic, either wholesale or retail, and the people of 
 Berber and Shendy appear to be a nation of traders in the 
 strictest sense of the word.* Among the articles of commerce 
 which he particularly specifies, are black male and female 
 slaves, dhourra, gold, ivory, ebony, monkeys, and ostrich fea- 
 thers.^ The land does not produce suflficient dhourra for the 
 consumption of the population, but requires a supply to be 
 imported. The many other articles of commerce, which he 
 mentions, are chiefly brought from Sennaar, whence a caravan 
 arrives every six weeks; almost as often from Suakin; and 
 the traffic with Yeman, Hadramaut, and Malabar, is repre- 
 
 ' Mtmoires sur VEgypte, torn. iv. p. 119. 
 
 « From Makrizi in Quatremere de Quincy, Mtmoires, ii. p. 16. 
 
 » From the 17th of April to the 17th of May, 1814. Travels, p. 277, etc. 
 
 * Burkhardt, p. 234. ^ r^ ^x. 
 
 * That there was a considerable trade in ostrich feathers m antiqmty, is evident from the 
 frequency of their appearance in the head-dress of the Egyptian priests. Monkeys we have 
 seen above among the booty, p. 181, as well as in the trade of Ophir, 1 Chron. ix. 21 
 
236 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. in. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 COMMERCE OF MERGE, ETC. 
 
 237 
 
 8 
 
 sented as very active.* To these must be added the salt trade, 
 so important in ancient times.' The great salt-works are but 
 at a few miles' distance from Shendy, which supply all Abys- 
 sinia with this useful commodity ; Strabo also mentions this, 
 to whom I must refer for further particulars.' I shall only 
 notice one other circumstance, which I think of too much 
 consequence to be passed over in silence. 
 
 Although the intercourse between Egypt, Arabia, and Sen- 
 naar is so brisk, that to the west, with Soudan,* is altogether 
 as inactive and insignificant. The principal commerce of the 
 interior of Africa is chiefly carried on in two directions ; one 
 follows the valley of the Nile from Egypt to Sennaar, the 
 other is that of Soudan, from the Joliba to the Mediterranean. 
 The empire of Bomou forms a separation between them. 
 Thus it is now. And a glance at the trading routes laid 
 down upon my map will show that it was just the same in 
 antiquity. All here perfectly agrees. 
 
 It appears, therefore, that the districts of Gherri and 
 Shendy, that is, of the ancient Meroe, was, and still continues 
 to be, the place where the caravans are formed, which trade 
 between Egypt and Ethiopia, or the point at which they touch 
 in passing to and fro. But a commercial connexion between 
 Egypt and Meroe being established, it scarcely needs be men- 
 tioned, that the trade of the latter must necessarily have 
 stretched much farther into the south of Africa. Meroe was 
 the emporium, where the produce of the distant southern lands 
 were collected together in order to be transported, either on 
 the Nile or by caravans, into north Africa. The great end 
 of this commerce was the rich gold countries, much farther to 
 the south. What is said of the Macrobians, whose seat I have 
 already proved to be at a much greater distance in this direc- 
 tion, shows that such was the case. If Cambyses, however, 
 could settle the plan of an expedition to this nation, and could 
 find Egyptian Ichthyophagi who knew the road and could 
 speak their language, to send there as spies, a connexion be- 
 tween them and Egypt must already have existed for some 
 time. The only obstruction to the communication between 
 north and south Africa is the desert ; the countries beyond 
 that maintain, as we learn both from ancient writers and the 
 
 » ^^"276.^* It ii perfectly white. The Sennaar merchants huy it in great quantities, 
 for the Ahyssinian market Its importance in all ages requires no proof. 
 =» Strabo, p. 1177. * Burkhardt, p. 322. 
 
 more modern accounts of the British society, a constant inter- 
 course.^ 
 
 Thus numerous and manifold are the traces of a connexion 
 between Egypt and Ethiopia ! We have only now to deter- 
 mine accurately the routes by which it was carried on. The 
 usual route of the caravans in the present day runs to the east 
 of the Nile, where that river makes its great bend towards the 
 west, through the midst of the Nubian desert ; the same that 
 Bruce followed from Sennaar to Egypt, and Burkhardt from 
 Egypt to Sennaar.^ From the northern boundaries of Sen- 
 naar, and the beginning of the desert, to Assur on the Egyp- 
 tian frontier, the distance amounts to twenty days' journey.' 
 Another road, which almost constantly follows the course of 
 the Nile, is, in consequence of its great westerly bend, much 
 farther about.* Whether the first, that is, the shorter or more 
 diflicult, was frequented in antiquity, cannot be determined 
 from express historical evidence; but as Eratosthenes and 
 Artemidorus state the distance from Syene to the city of 
 Meroe, the former at 625 and the latter at 600 miles,^ and 
 these distances are undoubtedly reckoned according to this 
 route,^ we may safely conclude that it was known. Accord- 
 ing to Burkhardt, it is the only route from Shendy to Egypt/ 
 and the one generally pursued by the Sennaar caravans. 
 Though not without its perils, it did not appear so dangerous to 
 him as the great Syrian desert. Springs are met with, and these 
 naturally confine the path to one direction. A description of 
 the longer way on the banks of the Nile, and, indeed, as far as 
 the nature of the stream will allow, upon that river, has already 
 been given from Herodotus, whose forty days' journey is ex- 
 plained by the context, that the course of the river is almost in- 
 variably followed.^ The succession of places along the river 
 renders it probable that in these times it was the common way, 
 especially for those who dreaded the dangers of the desert. 
 These places continue to Me?^awe where the last cataracts 
 begin ; and a very natural cause is found in this situation for 
 the establishment of these settlements. Pliny was not only 
 
 * Proceedings, etc. p. 259, etc. » The different stations and the distances, are 
 accurately stated in the Mtmoires stir VEgypte, torn. iv. 118. 
 
 * Which is the time it took Burkhardt, who travelled with a caravan. It took Bruce 
 less hecause he did not journey with a numerous caravan. 
 
 * It is traced out in Bruce's map. * See ahove, p. 197. 
 
 * Reckoning the day's journey at twenty-five miles, it will require twenty-four days for 
 the whole distance, which agrees very well with the ahove statements, if we add to the twenty 
 days' journey the distance from Shendy to the beginning of the desert. 
 
 ' Burkhardt, p. 207. * See above, p. 195. 
 
238 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. hi. 
 
 CHAF. HI.] 
 
 COMMERCE OF MEROE, ETC. 
 
 239 
 
 acquainted with them, but describes the manner of the voyage 
 up the Nile. " Syene," says he, " is the rendezvous of the 
 Ethiopian vessels. The sailors fold them together, and carry 
 them on their shoulders as often as they come to the cataracts."* 
 This custom is still continued. " Notwithstanding the number 
 of falls and cataracts," says Maillet,^ " which render the navi- 
 gation difficult, they do not altogether impede it. The boats 
 are brought as near as possible to the cataracts ; the movable 
 wares are then all taken out, and a number of men take the 
 boat, which is built very light for this purpose, upon their 
 shoulders, and carry it past the cataracts, while others trans- 
 port the merchandise to the same place. The boat is then re- 
 launched on the Nile, and so they go on, from cataract to ca- 
 taract, until they have passed them all." But the nature of 
 the journey itself shows veiy well that this could hardly have 
 been the usual caravan road. And, besides, the account of 
 Herodotus expressly states, that people, in order to avoid the 
 cataracts, would rather go a journey of about forty days. The 
 number of places show that this route lay through inhabited 
 districts, which perhaps rendered it possible for single tra- 
 vellers to go it without danger. 
 
 The route which led, in ancient times, from Meroe to the 
 Arabian Gulf and Yeman, is not pointed out by any historian. 
 Nevertheless, traces are still extant of the intercourse of those 
 nations, which time has been unable to obliterate. Just in the 
 midst of the way are found the ruins of Axum, and, at its end, on 
 the coast opposite Arabia Felix, the remains of Adule and Azab. 
 The antiquity of Axum, the ancient capital of Ethiopia, en- 
 titles it to a particular notice. Its name is not mentioned, so 
 far as I can discover, by any writers previous to the first cen- 
 tury. It was unknown both to Herodotus and Strabo. It is 
 first mentioned by the author of the Periplus of the Red Sea,' 
 who probably flourished under Nero ; and afterwards by Pto- 
 lemy. Some time later, in the sixth century, when Justinian 
 closed an alliance with Ethiopia, Axum was highly celebrated. 
 At this time it was the residence of the Ethiopian monarchs ; 
 Cosmas, Nonnosus, Procopius, and others have a good deal to 
 say concerning it.* 
 
 » Plicatiles, Plin. t. 9, they were, therefore, probably made of skins. 
 
 • Maillet, p. 215. ^ Arrian. PeripL Mar. Erythr. in Hudson's Geog. Mtn. vol. 
 i. p. 3. Axnm is here called a capital, (metropolis,) and was at that time the chief mart for 
 the ivory trade. It was about seven or eight days' journey from the Red Sea. 
 
 * See Ludolf, Hist, Mthiop. iL cap. 11, and commentaries, etc. p. 60, et 251. 
 
 The silence of early writers, however, proves nothing against 
 a higher antiquity ; and that Axum, in fact, was more ancient 
 would be proved by an inscription which Bruce states he found 
 there, if the existence of the inscription itself had not since 
 been disputed. But, notwithstanding the silence of the early 
 writers, the ruins of Axum are still left, and their evidence is 
 still suflicient to establish the fact. 
 
 These remarkable monuments soon attracted the attention 
 of travellers. The first account we have of them was given by 
 two Portuguese, Alvarez and Tellez;^ to this succeeded the 
 narrative of Bruce, which has been sharply criticised, and in 
 many places corrected, by Salt, a later traveller, and the com- 
 panion of Lord Valentia. 
 
 The accounts given by the Portuguese, especially by Alva- 
 rez, are copious, but not critical. The remains of Axum be- 
 long to different ages ; partly to a very high antiquity, partly 
 to the first centuries of the Christian era, and partly to a still 
 later period. Alvarez and Tellez had not sufficient knowledge 
 to distinguish these accurately ; but their information is still 
 very valuable, because it shows that in their time many monu- 
 ments were extant which are no longer to be found. Besides 
 the obelisks, sometimes standing and sometimes thrown down, 
 which were in part covered with inscriptions, Alvarez men- 
 tions many pedestals and statues of lions jetting out water. 
 Tellez not only speaks of obelisks and pyramids, whose resem- 
 blance to the Egyptian cannot be mistaken, but also saw, as he 
 relates, an inscription in Greek and Latin letters, most likely 
 the same which Salt has since given to the world. — The nar- 
 rative of Bruce I give in his own words.^ 
 
 " On the eighteenth of January (1770) we came into the 
 plain wherein stood Axum, once the capital of Abyssinia, at 
 least as it is supposed. For my part, I beheve it to have been 
 the magnificent metropolis of the trading people, or Troglodyte 
 Ethiopians, for the reason I have already given, as the Abys- 
 sinians never built any city, nor do the ruins of any exist at 
 this day in the whole country. But the black or Troglodyte 
 part of it,^ have in many places buildings of great strength, 
 magnitude, and expense, especially at Azab,* worthy the mag- 
 
 » See Alvarez, Viaggio della Etiopia, cap. 38, and Tellez, Hiatoria General da Ethiopia, 
 lib. i. cap. 22. * Bruce, iii. p. 130, etc. , ^ ^ m i ^ 
 
 » [That is, according to Heeren's translation, in the parts inhabited by the Troglodytae, or 
 
 negroes. Trans.] ^ , , , , •, .i 
 
 ♦ Azab lies on the African coast, near the straits of Babelmandel, and exactly opposite 
 Arabia Felix. It is a great pity that neither Bruce nor any other traveller has yet examined 
 these ruins. 
 
«40 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [OUAP. III. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 COMMERCE OF MERGE, ETC. 
 
 Ul 
 
 I 
 
 nificence and riches of a state which was from the earliest ages 
 the emporium of the Indian and African trade." 
 
 " The ruins of Axum are very extensive ; but entirely con- 
 sist of public buildings. In one square, which I apprehend to 
 have been the centre of the town, there are forty obelisks, none 
 of which have any hieroglyphics upon them. They are all of 
 one piece of granite ; and on the top of that which is standing 
 there is a patera exceedingly well carved in the Greek taste." 
 
 " We proceeded southwards by a road cut in a mountain of 
 red marble, having on the left a parapet-wall about five feet 
 high, solid, and of the same materials. At equal distances 
 there are hewn in this wall solid pedestals, upon the tops of 
 which we see the marks where stood the colossal statues of Sy- 
 rius, the Latrator Anubis, or Dog-star. One hundred and 
 thirty-three of these pedestals, with the marks of the statues I 
 just mentioned, are still in their places ; but only two figures 
 of the dog remained when I was there, much mutilated, but a 
 taste easily distinguished to be Egyptian."^ 
 
 " There are likewise pedestals, whereon the figures of the 
 sphinx have been placed. Two magnificent flights of steps, 
 several hundred feet long, all of granite, exceedingly well fa- 
 shioned, and still in their places, are the only remains of a mag- 
 nificent temple." 
 
 These accounts of Bruce are in part contradicted and m 
 part confirmed by Salt, the companion of Lord Valentia, but 
 who went alone into Abyssinia.^ He denies the existence of a 
 parapet of red marble, and the traces of one hundred and thir- 
 ty-three pedestals upon it; as what Bruce took for a work of 
 art, he regards as a natural production. The remains of an- 
 cient art found by Salt are two groups of obelisks, a consider- 
 able distance apart, each composed of fourteen or fifteen pieces. 
 Only one of each group is now standing. The largest, formed 
 of one piece of granite, is eighty feet high, and some of those 
 thrown down are still more ; the smaller one is twenty feet. 
 Many of them, and the first one standing upright is among the 
 number, are ornamented with sculptures, which seem, how- 
 ever, rather embellishments than hieroglyphics ; some are plain. 
 The proportions and workmanship are admirable ; the plates 
 
 . » Miffht not these mutilated figures of dogs have been intended for sphinxes, or even Egyp- 
 tian lions, somewhat like those of the Fantana Felice at Rome ? Bruce led away by hi« hy- 
 pothesis of the worship of the dog-star, saw every where monuments of it. Though Stdtcou^ 
 not find these two figures, that proves nothing agamst their existence ; as Alvarez menUons 
 many similar statues of the Hons, which in his time served as fountains. , , . ^/. ♦>,« 
 
 « Valentia's Travels, vol. iii. p. 87, so. 181. Among the plates are a ground-plot of tne 
 territory, a representation of the great obelisk, and of the modem church. 
 
 of Salt give a very just idea of fhem, and contradict the strange 
 fancies of Bruce respecting the Greek paterce, etc. The sculp- 
 tures represent architectural ornaments, somewhat similar to 
 those in the Indian rock-pagodas — a door below, and apertures 
 or windows above. The ecclesiastics stated the original num- 
 ber of the obelisks to have been fifty-five. Several pedestals 
 and altars lay scattered around ; fallen from their former places, 
 the two magnificent flights of steps are included in the plan of 
 Mr. Salt, as well as two others hewn in the rock. The Greek 
 inscription, which he has transcribed and explained, belongs 
 to the remains of a later period — the fourth century of the 
 Christian era. 
 
 The ancient monuments of Axum were laid waste by the 
 violence of fanaticism. According to the statement of the 
 ecclesiastics of the place, by a queen of Amhara, named Gadit, 
 about the year 1070; or, according to an inscription found 
 there, by a conqueror named Abun David ; perhaps by both. 
 As Axum was something more than eleven hundred years the 
 seat of a Christian church, (the present one was built in 1657,) 
 many of the old materials were probably used in the construc- 
 tion of the new buildings ; and only such remain as could not 
 be readily removed or put to use. This, however, is sufficient 
 to clear up every doubt respecting the high antiquity of Axum. 
 Though the plan of the principal building can no longer be 
 accurately laid down, yet Mr. Salt expressly remarks, that all 
 the antiquities in the district of the new church now form one 
 group, and formerly belonged to one great fabric. But who 
 does not perceive in its separate members, as well as in the 
 whole, a most striking resemblance to the Egyptian monu- 
 ments. Do not the rows of obelisks, which here again form 
 an avenue ; the pedestals, which at one time bore statues, 
 perhaps of a gigantic size ; and the vast magnitude of the 
 whole, show the same architecture, the same art in the arrange- 
 ment of the great masses of stone, and the same taste as the 
 ruins of Thebes, of Elephantis, and Meroe, with which Bruce 
 himself in another place compares them.^ Remarkable differ- 
 ences, however, still occur ; for, as I have already observed, 
 no traces of obelisks appear in Nubia and Meroe,^ while here 
 we find them in groups; and while, on the contrary, the 
 
 ' Bruce, iv. p. 542. . 
 
 • What Bruce took for the fragment of an obelisk near Kurgos (see above, p. 199) wa« 
 
 not seen by his successor. 
 
 R 
 
«42 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 OHAP. III.] 
 
 COMMERCE OF MERGE, ETC. 
 
 243 
 
 Egyptian obelisks are covered with hieroglyphics, there are 
 none on those of Axum, which are merely ornamented. 
 
 These circumstances have lately led a learned historian to 
 conjecture that Axum was originally one of the cities founded 
 by the emigrant warrior-caste from Egypt. And there is 
 much, certainly, which appears to favour this opinion.^ It lay 
 within the territory possessed by them, which we know ex- 
 tended easterly towards the Arabian Gulf. And, if this opinion 
 should be correct, it would account for the absence of hiero- 
 glyphics, as there was no caste of priests among them. This 
 would make Axum mount up to the last period of the Pha- 
 raohs, and it is known, from the Periplus of Arrian, to have 
 been, some centuries later, a principal mart for the interior 
 trade ; whether it was so even still earlier, remains indeed open 
 
 to conjecture. 
 
 The end of this route, according to Bruce, was Azab, at the 
 entrance of the Arabian Gulf, whence the passage to Arabia 
 FeUx requires but a few hours. Ruins, similar to those de- 
 scribed in the passage above cited from Bruce, are said still 
 to point out the site of this remarkable place, which was at one 
 time the great staple of Indian and Arabian goods for the vast 
 
 regions of Africa.* 
 
 But besides Azab there is yet another ancient sea-port on 
 the Arabian Gulf, of which we can speak with more certainty, 
 I mean Adule. This lay at a small distance from the present 
 Arkeeko, IS** N. Lat. " Adule," says Pliny,' "according to 
 an ancient writer, is the greatest emporium of the Troglodytae 
 and Ethiopians. They bring here ivory, rhinoceros-horn, 
 hippopotamus-hides, tortoise-shell, and slaves." Adule was 
 certainly an Egyptian colony. " Egyptian bondsmen, who 
 ran away from their masters, founded it.'' Must not this be a 
 version of the emigration of the warriors ? Unfortunately, no 
 modern traveller has reached Adule ; Stuart, whom Salt sent 
 there, was obliged to return, having been prevented from pro- 
 ceeding. The Arabians, however, are uniform in their assur- 
 
 I Mannert Geoaraphv of the Greeks and Romans, part x. 166. He considers Axum to 
 1,6 ide^tied VitSS; wSch was one of the cities founded by them. Compare my treatise 
 
 in Comment. Soc. Goetting. vol. xii. p. 64. ^ ,«« •♦ :„ „««„ i,^„ ,i«««,Wp it 
 
 3 From the accounts already given of the Somauhes, at p. 166, it is seen how desirable it 
 is that the coa^tTlfrica about the straits of Babelmandel should ^« .'"^^^/^J,^^?,^^.^^; 
 Sored. If we were even to set aside the authority of Bnice with regard to Azab (which « 
 Se^e as Saba Tit would be very astonishing if the long intercourse between Arabia and 
 • %^LTnTdAZisome\Sgesettlemelt. But if not to be found exactly in^^^^^ 
 Xre Azab is placed upon our charts, it may perhaps with more probability be sought for 
 without the strSto, as from that part a connexion with Aden would be so much easier. 
 » Plin.Ti. 34. 
 
 ances, that the ruins of a city exist there ; and a column brought 
 to Arkeeko gives evident proofs of the Egyptian style.* The 
 successful adventurer who reaches this place will most likely 
 make some interesting discoveries, and perhaps will find there, 
 still in its place, the well-known monument of Adule, for the 
 preservation of whose inscription we are indebted to Cosmas.'^ 
 
 It is an important circumstance, and more than once men- 
 tioned by Bruce, that in all Abyssinia there are only three 
 places, namely, Azab, Axum, and Meroe, (to which we may 
 now add Adule,) where ruins of those great establishments are 
 found, whose form as well as high antiquity shows them to have 
 sprung from a common origin. All these are ruins of large 
 public edifices ; everything about them is colossal ; while of 
 private habitations there is not the slightest trace. These, per- 
 haps, from their being less durable, may have long been crum- 
 bled with the dust ; though it must always remain very doubt- 
 ful whether, and how far, we ought to extend our notion of 
 cities to any of those places. The greater portion of the in- 
 habitants of Ethiopia were nomades, as they are in the present 
 day, and as from the nature of their country they must always 
 remain. Who, therefore, can venture to determine that those 
 places called cities, really were so in point of fact ? Is it not 
 possible that these places, adorned with temples and obelisks, 
 were merely extensive places of trade, where caravans from 
 remote regions of the world gathered together, and to which 
 distant nations, under the protection of the deities who inhabit- 
 ed these temples, brought the treasures of their country, in 
 order to barter them for others? Does not this notion seem 
 most agreeable to the physical geography of Ethiopia, and does 
 it not best accord with the magnificence of these monuments ? 
 It cannot be too often repeated, that in those distant countries 
 everything sprung from completely diflferent causes, and there- 
 fore must have been completely different from what they are 
 in the regions in which we live. 
 
 Let us now take a review of what we have thus far advanced, 
 and we shall find that we may with certainty deduce from it 
 the following conclusions : 
 
 1st, It appears, that in the earlier ages a commercial in- 
 tercourse existed here, between the countries of southern Asia 
 and Africa — between India and Arabia, Ethiopia, Libya, and 
 
 * Salt, Voyage to Abyssinia, p. 452. The name is now pronounced Zulla. 
 
 * See above, p. 167. 
 
 R 2 
 
S44 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. Ill, 
 
 CBA?. III.] 
 
 COMMERCE OF MERGE, ETC. 
 
 245 
 
 Effvpt • which was founded upon their mutual necessities, and 
 became the parent of the civihzation of these people. 
 
 2dlv The principal seat of this national mtercourse tor 
 Africa was Meroe ; and its principal route is still pointed out 
 by a chain of ruins, extending from the shores of the Indian 
 Sea to the Mediterranean. Adule, Azab, and Axum are links 
 of this chain between Arabia Felix and Meroe ; Thebes and 
 Ammonium between Meroe, Egypt, and Carthage.' 
 
 3dlv The chief places of this trade were likewise establisli- 
 ments of the priest-caste, who, as a dominant race, had their 
 principal seat at Meroe, whence they sent out colonies, which 
 in their turn became builders of cities and temples, and like- 
 wise the founders of states. _ 
 
 No doubt, therefore, can exist respecting the close con- 
 nexion between trade and religion here, nor respecting the 
 manner in which more than one state became formed, in the 
 interior of Africa, in very high antiquity. But though this 
 <»ste, by sending out colonies, guided the course of trade, it 
 did not on that Account keep it to itself, nor did it, m general 
 even directly participate in it. I have already remarked, that 
 
 ge^Uy known, from the ArgonauUc «lf^^'"°"' «»' ^,7'^^^^^ travelkd 
 
 way into Greece, but that an attempt was »f "f ^Xj^^^^^^^^^^ 'l refer to his 
 
 S^ir^^XTJlP^fTafe^^i^^^ 
 
 -^"o?4TSr«ow^n[rJfr^^e^^^ 
 
 uncertain tradition. So far ^^'-jX^'^Xs'aTd Me^^tt is \herefo« exceedingly na- 
 that this oracle was a colony founded by i hebcs »»" ™?™* • ," „„„,„„ ^ merely represent- 
 tnral to conjecture the same of Dodona -md^^ n^er *^f 7™f,h"», S ^per^nages. 
 inu these settlements, because they, as prophetesses, ««™"'J « . ,^ oracle at Dodona 
 
 ^„s then becomes explained «»«««»»»' °f?"°'l°'"''"f ^7^^^^^^ 
 commanded the Pelasgians to adopt the Egypt'an mmes of the dem«,^w^^^ ^ ^ 
 
 time passed through them to the HeUenes I scarecly need repeat^ th^ti^^^^ 
 conJMturc; but yet I know "O "ore natural w^ of cxplai^^ 
 
 gJT w^'Sfog^hel'a r^e^ wo^lt IZ'^^^Z GrSS idopte/from foreigners 
 they always stamped as their own property. 
 
 the tribe of priests by no means became a tribe of merchants. 
 It would, indeed, have been altogether contrary to the man- 
 ners of the East; nevertheless, without properly following 
 trade, they found means to obtain a share of its benefits, and 
 the consideration which this caste obtained through it was very 
 great ; partly from the oracles ; partly from the security and 
 protection which they afforded ; and partly from the number^ 
 and variety of the merchants.^ 
 
 The nature of the caravan trade imposes upon it the neces- 
 sity of employing a great number of hands ; to perform these 
 long journeys in safety, numerous bodies are requisite as a 
 guard; besides which, the whole internal organization of ca- 
 ravans, the care of the camels and other beasts of burden, the 
 lading and unlading of the wares, etc., require a great number 
 of assistants, who not unfrequently, from mere carriers, become 
 merchants themselves. 
 
 Men who are accustomed to a settled abode, and dwell in 
 cities, are not at all fit for a caravan life, constantly upon the 
 move. In Arabia, therefore, as well as in Africa, these trading 
 comrtiunities are formed by the nomad pastoral tribes, of which 
 the greater part of those distant countries are full.^ Thes6 
 by their mode of life are not only best adapted to it, but pos- 
 sess in their herds, their camels, and other beasts of burden, 
 the only means of carrying it on. It was thus that the mer- 
 chandise of the Sabeans was conveyed to Arabia Felix by the- 
 Nabatii and the Midianites ; it was thus that the Carthaginian^ 
 caravans were formed by Lotophagi and Nasamones ; and thus 
 it is, in the present day, that those from Tripoli to Cairo are 
 formed by the inhabitants of Fezzan. It is not then a mere 
 fanciful, fleeting hypothesis, but is founded on the nature of 
 things, that this must also have been the case in Ethiopia : we 
 already know that these regions were also occupied by vast 
 numbers of wandering pastoral tribes, and we find some faint 
 traces in antiquity, which makes the matter still clearer. 
 
 The nations who dwelt to the west of Meroe along the banks 
 of the Astaspus, tribes of Agows and Bejahs, could not be un- 
 known in Egypt, which they must have frequented. They 
 occasionally spoke there of the river on which they dwelt, and 
 maintained it to be the proper Nile. Diodorus obtained this 
 information from their own mouths ;' and they could not well 
 
 * Let the reader here bear in mind what is said of the present Darner. See above, p. 219. 
 ' See above, p. 90. ^ Diodorus, i. p. 45. The Agows appear on the monument of Adule. 
 
246 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. hi. 
 
 CHAP. 111.] 
 
 COMMERCE OF MERGE, ETC. 
 
 247 
 
 have made this long journey except in the train of a caravan. 
 There is still more evidence to prove that the inhabitants of 
 the eastern mountains, the Troglodytae, and their neighbours 
 the Ichthyophagi, were engaged in this calling ; they were m- 
 deed so well acquainted with the route to the most distant parts 
 of Africa, that Cambyses chose them for the spies, which he 
 sent under the form of an embassy to the Macrobians. This 
 could scarcely be the first time of their journeying to this na- 
 tion, as they were already able to speak their language. 
 
 This eastern ridge, its inhabitants, and its productions, 
 have been for a long time known in Egypt. Even Herodotus 
 could describe them as far as the straits of Babelmandel ; for 
 he not only points out very accurately its direction, but also 
 knew, that where it ended on the south the land of frankincense 
 begun.^ This is the region extending from Azab to Cape 
 Guardefui ; consequently, the country of the Somaulies. And 
 here again the statements of the Greeks are confirmed by the 
 accounts of recent British travellers.* This accurate know- 
 ledge presupposes mutual intercourse, and the conjecture there- 
 fore is highly probable, that the nomad inhabitants of these 
 regions, composed for the most part the caravans, which jour- 
 neyed from Egypt to Ethiopia, and again from Ethiopia to 
 northern Africa and Arabia Felix. This is exactly the case 
 in the present day. The caravans which trade between Egypt 
 and Abyssinia are now, and have been from time immemorial, 
 composed of the Bejahs and Ababdes, who at this time occupy 
 the mountains and part of Nubia.^ 
 
 These nomades, however, were scarcely ever anything more 
 than mere carriers of merchandise ; no wealthy tribes being 
 found among them. They appear in this character in the 
 pageants, which Ptolemy Philadelphus gave at his accession 
 to the throne, when, among other shows, the procession of an 
 Arabic-Ethiopian caravan was exhibited.* "There came a 
 train of camels, carrying three hundred pounds of frankincense, 
 crocus, cassia, and cinnamon, together with two hundred 
 pounds of other costly spices and drugs. These were followed 
 by a host of Ethiopians armed with lances ; one band of these 
 bore six hundred elephants teeth, another two thousand pieces 
 
 • Herod, ii. 8. « See above, p. 166. ' Mimoires sur VEgypte, torn. iii. p. 269. 
 
 « Athen. p. 201. Bruce, i. p. 432, etc., gives an ample account of these anned herdsmen. 
 It is known that the caravans of the nomad tribes, as now from the Ababdes, take escorts. 
 According, however, to another reading of Athemeus, {impo<p6poi instead of ^pvfpopoi,) 
 tjiey were present-bearing Ethiopians. 
 
 of ebony, and another sixty vessels of gold, silver, and gold 
 dust." Notwithstanding the part which these nomades took 
 in conducting it, the trade itself still remained in the hands of 
 the inhabitants of Meroe and Axum, who carried it on by their 
 foreign settlements ; and these places still remain, what nature 
 herself has appointed them, the great marts for the southern 
 commerce. 
 
 Thus the great conclusion, so interesting and important for 
 human nature and its history, becomes in a manner forced upon 
 
 us: THE FIRST SEATS OF COMMERCE WERE ALSO THE FIRST 
 
 SEATS OF CIVILIZATION. Exchange of merchandise led to 
 exchange of ideas, and by this mutual friction was first kindled 
 the sacred flame of moral and intellectual culture. 
 
 That this civilization of the Ethiopians, — that is, of the 
 ruling priest-caste, — was bound to their religion is easily shown. 
 Some scientific knowledge must indisputably have been con- 
 nected with it, else the erection of those monuments would 
 have been impossible. But the high attainments in science 
 which some would bestow upon them rests upon no solid 
 foundation.^ None of the ancients has made them philoso- 
 phers or astronomers ; although the latter science could not 
 have remained altogether concealed to a nation, who were 
 wont to spend the greater part of their lives in journeys across 
 the deserts, where the stars of the firmament could be their 
 only guide, and whose climate brought a more regular change 
 of weather and seasons than we are accustomed to. Diodorus 
 certainly derives the civilization of the Egyptians in general 
 from Ethiopia,^ but I cannot perceive how this can be true^ 
 unless in a very limited sense; and though its first germ 
 might perhaps have shot forth there, the fruit did not ripen till 
 transplanted into Egypt. 
 
 From the express testimony of this writer, we learn that the 
 Ethiopians possessed the art of writing;^ not, however, alpha- 
 betical characters, but merely picture-writing, a proof of which 
 is still preserved upon the ruins of Meroe ;* and from this 
 passage the first invention of it has been attributed to them. 
 Criticism may fairly dispute this point, the truth or falsehood 
 of which it is equally impossible to prove. The invention of 
 
 ' See Plessing, Memnonium, i. p. 341, etc. 
 
 " Diodorus, i. p. 174, 175. ' Ibid. i. p. 176. ., , ^ ^ -^ ^ » 
 
 ♦ Hieroglyphic inscriptions are found as well in the vestibnle of the pyramids at Assur^ 
 
 especially in the sanctuary, Caillaud, plate xli. xliii., as in the principal temple at Naga, Cail- 
 
 laud, plate xx. Explications ; they cannot howcTer be copied. 
 
248 
 
 ETHIOPIANS. 
 
 [chap. hi. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 249 
 
 this kind of writing would be no where more easy than among 
 a people with so decided a bias for the pictorial arts ; nor the 
 use and perfectioning of it more natural, than in a state whose 
 government, next to religion, was founded upon trade. 
 
 A very interesting fact however is recorded by Diodorus ; 
 namely, that the knowledge of picture-writing in^ Ethiopia was 
 not a privilege confined solely to the caste of priests as in 
 Egypt, but that every one might attain it, as freely as they 
 might in Egypt the writing in common use. Ought not this 
 general use of it to be regarded as a powerful proof of its being 
 applied to the purposes of trade ? A great commercial nation 
 altogether without writing surely could never exist ; and how- 
 ever deficient hieroglyphics might be for the multifarious wants 
 of our trade, yet it seems quite adequate for all the purposes 
 of the caravan trade, whose regular course and simple mer- 
 chandise demanded but few accounts. 
 
 The piety and justice of the Ethiopians, the fame of which 
 spread to the most distant regions, even to the Greeks, re- 
 quires little explanation ! They are the first virtues which 
 would be cultivated in a nation whose government was estab- 
 lished by religion and commerce, and not by violence and 
 
 oppression. 
 
 The progress this nation had made in architecture, and, to 
 a certain degree, in the pictorial arts, is still one of the greatest 
 problems, though one of the greatest certainties. The ruins 
 of those colossal monuments, more or less preserved, still lie 
 there, and will remain the everlasting proofs of the awful mag- 
 nificence of their architecture. 
 
 It is however one of the worst errors, into which we but too 
 frequently fall, to, consider ourselves as the standard of what is 
 or can be done by other nations, in other countries, and under 
 other circumstances. Is it necessary that the band between 
 science, architecture, and the plastic arts, should every where 
 be as closely knit together as it is with us ? Might not me- 
 chanical dexterity and handicraft be carried to a high degree of 
 perfection on their own account alone ? Is it not possible then 
 that the powerful vigour of a nation might be drawn by circum- 
 stances to concentrate itself upon one point ; and in that way 
 might here have produced works which to us seem super- 
 natural ? Was not indeed the connexion between scientific 
 and artificial improvement, in our own country, very different 
 from what it was in the middle ages, when our forefathers 
 
 erected those lofty domes which we still gaze at but cannot 
 imitate ? 
 
 But with all these changes in particulars, how little, taken 
 as a whole, do the nations of Africa differ from what they were. 
 Temples and sanctuaries seem always to have been the object 
 of their trading journeys, as they are in the present day. 
 About those obelisks lodged at one time the caravans, pilgrim- 
 izing to the temples of Ammon, which now journey to the 
 Caaba of the prophet at Mecca. The hand of time has altered 
 the nature of the tie between trade and religion in these re- 
 gions, but has never been able to dissolve it. 
 
 And thus then we leave the ruins of Nubia and Meroe, the 
 sacred monuments of the earliest civilization ! Under their 
 shade its fruit once ripened, a fruit indeed only such as this 
 soil could bear, but which in a more congenial climate mellow- 
 ed into a softer and fairer form. It prospered better trans- 
 planted into the more fertile plains of Egypt. Bend we then 
 from these sterile sands, that we may there survey it amehor- 
 ated and improved, again sprouting forth from a similar germ. 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The history of ancient Egypt is in a particular manner con- 
 nected with its monuments. It is only since these have be- 
 come better known, and have been more closely examined, 
 that a clearer light has begun to spread over the nation that 
 erected them. A history, however, founded upon monuments, 
 or rather blended with them, must in many respects assume a 
 different character from those compiled from written authori- 
 ties. Now, although I do not profess to give in the following 
 researches a proper history of Egypt, yet as they are wholly 
 upon historical subjects, and are in the most intimate manner 
 connected with history, a further exposition of the peculiarity 
 of such a history can be no where more in place than here ; 
 where indeed it seems required for the information of those 
 whose notions are not very clear upon the subject 
 
250 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 251 
 
 The monuments which hero come under consideration are 
 principally monuments of architecture, to which sculptures and 
 inscriptions, though they more or less ornament them, only 
 appear as subordinate. We shall not leave these unexamined ; 
 but must first be allowed to consider the monuments them- 
 selves, unconnected with any other object, as sources of history. 
 That they in a certain sense possess this character cannot 
 be denied. A monument bears witness of a fact more clearly 
 and certainly than could be done by the statement of a writer. 
 This fact is, that the people who erected this monument, had 
 attained to a certain degree of civilization, without which they 
 could not have erected it. But this degree of civilization we 
 do not learn from a description ; it is set forth in the monu- 
 ment, placed as it were before our eyes. It is true the monu- 
 ment does not display the whole of their civilization ; but, if 
 it be of any magnitude, it relates much respecting it, as it ex- 
 hibits not merely a specimen of mechanical skill, but also of 
 the taste, of the manner of life, of religion, etc. It supplies 
 MS with a certain rule by which to judge of the civilization of 
 the nation that erected it. , • r 
 
 A single monument may do all this. But where a series ot 
 them exists they do much more. We observe in them the 
 progress and decline of art among the people, as well as of 
 everything connected with it ; they may therefore, to a cer- 
 tain extent, become authorities for the history of the civiliza- 
 tion of a nation. To what extent ? This depends upon their 
 difference at different periods, upon their number and nature. 
 Monuments moreover become in another manner, and in 
 another respect, the authorities for the history of a nation. 
 Every monument, which is important from its magnitude and 
 nature, is usually accompanied by a tradition, a mythus. As 
 soon as it attracts attention, the beholder naturally desires and 
 endeavours to learn its origin, its builder, its destination. And 
 those are never wanting who believe themselves able, from 
 whatever source they may have obtained their accounts, to give 
 information respecting these matters. If the monuments are 
 of a religious kind, temples or sanctuaries, (and these form by 
 far the most numerous class,) there are specially attached to 
 them appointed servants, the priests who preserve and com- 
 municate these traditions, which then become interwoven with 
 the history of the nation. Even a part of the earliest Roman 
 history rested upon such a temple-tradition ; such as that of 
 
 Coriolanus upon the story of the temple of Fortuna Muliebris, 
 These are preserved in the memory of the vulgar : they may 
 be varied and embellished ; but nothing can justify us, with- 
 out further examination, to consider them as mere fables. He 
 who maintains this, must deny the possibility of a true ac- 
 count respecting the founder of a monument being ever pre- 
 served. And who will take this task upon himself? That, 
 however, in making use of them the rules of sound criticism 
 must be kept in view, I need scarcely add. 
 
 In the sense thus far given, monuments are to be considered 
 as sources of history only so far as they are mere pieces of 
 architecture. But they become so in a higher degree if they 
 are likewise furnished with works of sculpture, — with repre- 
 sentations of remarkable events ; and still more so if they con- 
 tain inscriptions. The works of sculpture are certainly of 
 themselves intelligible, so far as to make known the nature of 
 the subject which they represent, — warlike transactions, ob- 
 jects of worship, sacrifices, processions, etc. ; but not the par- 
 ticular circumstances, unless these are clearly pointed out by 
 some special token. This is done by the inscriptions, when 
 they designate the persons, the place, and the time : how far 
 they do this depends upon the paucity or copiousness of their 
 details, and the whole upon their intelligibility. 
 
 From the principles here laid down, it is evident that the 
 history of a nation may be so closely connected with its mo- 
 numents, that these may become the chief source of it. But 
 if we imagine a history resting entirely upon them, it will as- 
 sume a peculiar character. Together with the monuments 
 will naturally arise a series of traditions referring to them. The 
 monuments speak by themselves, their language is strong, but 
 vague and laconic. Tradition becomes their interpreter ; but 
 it goes no further than to the founders of the monuments, 
 and the explanation of them where they contain pictorial re- 
 presentations. The monuments, however, only belong to in- 
 dividual rulers, the events only to single points of time. Even 
 though a series of events or transactions be represented, as is 
 found to be the case upon certain monuments, each recounts 
 its own particular history. It therefore follows, that one of 
 the chief characteristics of a history resting upon monuments^, 
 must be its being almost entirely made up of fragments. A 
 tolerably continuous or complete narrative must not be expect- 
 ed here. To this is to be added, that tradition, although pro- 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 £53 
 
 . £52 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 ! 
 
 • • • 
 
 bably more communicative in earlier times, continually con- 
 centrates itself more upon the monuments ; since in them it 
 finds its chief support, and refers to the same hero or ruler 
 what belongs to many. Hence it happens that we have a his- 
 tory of those rulers only who have left monuments, or are said 
 
 to have left them. 
 
 We have laid it down as the first principal characteristic of 
 a history founded on monuments, that it must, from its nature, 
 be composed of fragments. Let us now add the second ; which 
 is, that (unless where the dates are expressly stated upon them) 
 it cannot be strictly chronological. No doubt a certain order 
 of time may be perceived in the progress and decline of art, in 
 the events represented, and even in the greater or less pre- 
 servation of the monuments ; but a history founded upon mo- 
 numents can at the best only reckon according to centuries— 
 to attempt to bring it within one or even twenty years would 
 be a fruitless undertaking, and only lead to error. 
 
 A third characteristic, finally, of a history resting on monu- 
 ments, is, that it always borders on the marvellous. The mo- 
 numents themselves, and this in proportion as they are larger 
 and more extraordinaiy, lend it this character ; and who can 
 be ignorant of the inclination of mankind to exaggerate and 
 embellish the facts comprised in the traditions of a nation ? 
 This is certainly closely connected with, and partly dependent 
 upon, the poetry of a people ; it will, therefore, of course, be 
 less where this is confined to hymns and songs, as was the case, 
 so far as we know, among the Egyptians. 
 
 This is the sum of what monuments may fulfil, without any 
 other aid, as sources of history. Of this we have an example 
 in the Mexican and Peruvian monuments ; although here the 
 destruction of the ancient priesthood has deprived us of their 
 traditions. But the case is very different where the monu- 
 ments can be compared with historians, even though these 
 45hould be of no higher character than mere annalists. Here 
 it is that these monuments appear to the greatest advantage, 
 since they give, as it were, a reality to the narration. In how 
 much clearer a light would the monuments of those American 
 nations appear, and what light would they again have spread 
 over those people, had their annals been preserved ! 
 
 It was necessary to lay before the reader these remarks pre- 
 vious to the application of them to Egyptian history. This is 
 also a history resting upon monuments ; and although certain 
 
 writei's in this case come to our assistance, it preserves, never- 
 theless, the peculiar character, that it is chiefly, and in the 
 closest manner, connected with monuments, because even the 
 statements made by historians almost entirely flow from this 
 very source. Those of Herodotus do so altogether, those of 
 Diodorus for the most part ; and of the work of Manetho, 
 drawn from the temple archives, only scanty extracts have been 
 preserved. It follows, therefore, of necessity, that the history 
 of ancient Egypt can only be fragmentary : and in this point 
 of view it must be considered and treated. The truth of this 
 remark will become so apparent in these researches, that I con- 
 sider it would be superfluous to say anything more respect- 
 ing it. 
 
 Moreover, a strictly chronological history cannot, with the 
 means we now possess, be hoped for. Herodotus here gives 
 us no determinate continuous series of dates ; Diodorus 
 reckons, indeed, according to generations ; but we meet with 
 many indefinite chasms; and in Manetho we have besides 
 to contend with the numerous errors of transcribers in the 
 numbers. And although upon the monuments certain repre- 
 sentations have been preserved, bearing some reference to 
 chronology, yet no continued train of dates has been discover- 
 ed. Our only reso^irce, therefore, is, to ascertain, as nearly 
 as possible, by comparison, some of the principal events ; and 
 to arrange the order of others, preceding or following them, 
 in a general way ; not by years or by decades, but by centuries. 
 Where there are no corresponding annals of other nations, 
 this is all that is required ; and history is not falsified by a 
 variation of a half-century or a century in the date of particu- 
 lar events. 
 
 But, although they afford no determinate chronology, those 
 vast monuments, which for centuries have stood forth as the 
 dumb, yet convincing witnesses of the grandeur of the ancient 
 Pharaohs have, as it were, now begun to speak, since the at- 
 tempts to decipher the inscriptions have not been altogether 
 ineffectual. The nature of this work demands that I should 
 give my opinion upon the success of these attempts ; and this 
 is done in my preliminary discourse. The reader will there 
 find the reasons which induce me to give my assent to the 
 method of M. Champollion, and how far I agree with him, 
 without pledging myself to the correctness of each of his in- 
 terpretations ; but at the same time I beseech the reader not 
 
254 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 255 
 
 to pass unnoticed the great precaution with which I have 
 made use of his decipherings. I have confined myself to the 
 adoption of some royal titles or names in the second part of 
 the chapter on Thebes, which in themselves are already known 
 from Manetho; but which, as they are now read upon the 
 monuments, give some clew for ascertaining the builders of 
 them. For this purpose I have had recourse to the great 
 work of ChampoUion, his Precis, and not to the scattered in- 
 formation in periodicals. Since this work appeared, the same 
 learned writer has commenced the publication of a Panthhn 
 Egyptien; which contains engravings with the descriptions of 
 Egyptian deities. But I have already upon another occasion 
 explained that these researches are foreign to my purpose. 
 The accuracy or inaccuracy of the legend of the names of the 
 Pharaohs, of which alone I have made use, is not connected 
 with this subject. Even the opponents, therefore, of the in- 
 terpretations of M. ChampoUion cannot charge me with having 
 built my researches upon a method of interpretation not yet 
 proved. Nothing is built upon it. Some of the results are 
 brought forward merely as confirmations of points already as- 
 certained ; but from attempts at deciphering particular words 
 and names I have altogether abstained. 
 
 The promised work {Rudimenta Hierbglyphices) of a Ger- 
 man scholar, Prof. Seiffarth of Leipsic, without which it 
 would be rash to criticise any of his interpretations, has not 
 yet appeared. But from what is stated above it is evident, 
 that neither these nor any similar attempt can have the slight- 
 est bearing upon these researches, further than as regards the 
 reading of the names of the Pharaohs. The Adversaria, 
 published by the same scholar from the papers of my deceased 
 friend Spohn, relate only to the deciphering of the demotic 
 and hieratic methods of writing ; and therefore have no con- 
 nexion with the subjects upon which I have treated. 
 
 No other part of my works has, in the present new edition, 
 (the fourth,) undergone so much alteration as this : nearly one 
 half of it has been re-written. Every effort has been made, 
 so far as my means and skill would allow, to improve it ; and 
 abundance of materials have been afforded me by the splendid 
 works and travels which have appeared during the ten years 
 which have elapsed since the publication of the last edition. 
 1 hope my readers will therein find the best, and — as by al- 
 ways quoting my authorities I have given them an opportunity 
 
 of judging for themselves — the most satisfactory answer to 
 the violent attacks which have been made, and continue to be 
 made, even by men whom one would expect, from their situa- 
 tion, to be interested in the promotion of science. 
 
 The appended ground-plan of ancient Thebes, as well as 
 the map of Egypt and Nubia, as far as the second cataract 
 near Wadi Haifa, (the remainder will be found in the map of 
 ancient Africa,) are from the skilful hand of my friend Prof. 
 C. Otfr. Miiller. I need scarcely add, that these maps are 
 constructed expressly for this work. 
 
 March 12, 1826. 
 
 No nation in the world has taken so much pains to transmit 
 its memory to posterity as the Egyptians. In its marvellous 
 and stupendous monuments, whether erected on the earth or 
 excavated from its bowels, it has left behind not merely proofs 
 of its greatness, but has endeavoured, by covering them with 
 sculptured representations of its religion, its public affairs, and 
 even of private life with its numerous occupations, to hand 
 down the remembrance of them to the latest generations. Its 
 endeavours have not been in vain. The attention of the pre- 
 sent age has been strongly drawn towards it, and it is now, as 
 it were, resuscitated from the grave, and lives before us. Not- 
 withstanding this, the antiquities of no nation are wrapped in 
 deeper obscurity. Even its emblematical representations are, 
 in a great measure, to us so many problems. A more inter- 
 esting matter, however, than even this, is the method by which 
 that people expressed and committed their ideas to writing ; 
 and before we can venture upon the history and antiquity of 
 the Egyptians, it is necessary we should throw some light upon 
 this obscure subject, and explain what has hitherto been done, 
 towards dispersing the mist in which it has so long been 
 enveloped. 
 
 From what is said by ancient writers, and from the monu- 
 ments themselves, no doubt can remain but that there was more 
 than one kind of writing in use among the Egyptians. Herod- 
 otus distinguishes between the sacred writing and the popular.^ 
 
 * Herod, ii. 36. Between ypdnfiaTu UpS. and SiifioTiKa. An attempt was made, some 
 time ago, by Zoega, to prove that the first included hieroglyphics, but not the hieratic 
 uniting : De ObehsciSy p. 428. 
 
 4 
 
^6 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 EGYPTIANS, 
 
 257 
 
 iHl 
 
 It would be sufficiently clear, that, by the first, the hierogly- 
 phic or picture-writing must be understood ; even if it were 
 not established by that celebrated relic of antiquity the Rosetta 
 stone, which exhibits both methods of writing. It must also 
 be sufficiently evident that, if both kinds of writing were 
 already in common use, in the time of Herodotus they must 
 both have belonged to an age much anterior ; and that, there- 
 fore, the popular writing was even then a writing dating up to 
 4he period of the Pharaohs. Hieroglyphic writing is of the 
 greatest importance in an inquiry into Egyptian antiquities, 
 because, in the time of the Pharaohs, it was certainly used in 
 preference, and, as far as we know, exclusively for public 
 monuments ; not a single trace having yet been discovered of 
 any other sort of writing, upon any monument belonging to 
 
 that period. . , . 
 
 Now, as the most interesting part of Egyptian history is 
 closely connected with its public monuments, it becomes the 
 more important, that we should be well informed respecting 
 the writing found upon them ; that we should clearly compre- 
 hend its nature, and the relation it bears to other kinds of 
 writing. From the time of Kircher, Jablonsky, and others, 
 there certainly has been no lack of attempts to decipher hiero- 
 glyphic writing. How little has been'done by them is suffi- 
 ciently shown by the confession of one, who devoted no small 
 portion of his life to its study, the fruits of which are honour- 
 ably preserved in more than one work, and particularly m his 
 celebrated treatise on obelisks.^ Yet he frankly and undis- 
 guisedly confesses, that in the interpretation of hieroglyphics, 
 very little progress has been made. However different the 
 means pursued, by which those men endeavoured to obtain this 
 object, they all ended in one common supposition ; namely, 
 that hieroglyphical writing is merely an allegorical picture- 
 writing, whose characters, not representing sounds, but merely 
 ideas, are altogether of a different nature from our alphabetical 
 letters. Could, however, a writing of this kind be imagined— 
 which at best could only be very limited and incomplete— a 
 key would be required for understanding it, which, if once lost, 
 we cannot see where and how it could be recovered ; for the 
 little resemblance between the allegoric signs and the objects 
 would by no means be sufficient. I do not, therefore, seem 
 to have been wrong in the early opinion I gave, that if this be 
 
 * Zo€ga, De Obeliscis, p. 464. 
 
 admitted, though perhaps some hieroglyphics might, yet no 
 general hieroglyphical writing could ever be deciphered.^ 
 
 Does it, however, follow that the figures, composing hiero- 
 glyphics, are only and exclusively signs of ideas? May 
 they not also, at least in part, as well represent sounds, and 
 consequently letters ? This cannot be contradicted ; for there 
 is no reason why a figure, say a hand, or a beast, may not re- 
 present a sound quite as well as a simple or complex line. It 
 is solely upon the solving of this question, that the present study 
 of hieroglyphics hinges. Should the conjecture be realized, 
 should further researches lead to the discovery of an alphabet, 
 we shall be able to read; and if we may venture to assume, that 
 the language in which the hieroglyphics are composed is not 
 entirely lost — that the ancient Egyptian language is, at least to 
 a certain degree, preserved in the Coptic — we shall be en- 
 abled to translate, and consequently, to understand. 
 
 Although by these investigations the object of the inquiry 
 may be rendered clear, yet we are naturally led to ask, in what 
 way it first came to be conjectured, and then to be believed, 
 that hieroglyphics are not merely allegorical picture-writings, 
 but contain as well alphabetical characters? To those who 
 would adopt the first system a difficulty opposes itself at the 
 first step, which cannot be surmounted. The application of 
 the hieroglyphic writing to monumental inscriptions would be 
 impossible without the frequent occurrence of proper names, 
 whether of deities, kings, or private persons. Now, what 
 method is there by which proper names can be expressed by 
 allegorical writing, when they happen to be void of significa- 
 tion ? Such names as Lion, Wolf, and the like, may be repre- 
 sented by pictures, but how can those of Henry, Lewis, and 
 such like?' But supposing, nevertheless, that names are to be 
 sought for upon monuments, where are they to be looked for ? 
 How could it be demonstrated that exactly this or that group 
 of hieroglyphic figures contains proper names ? 
 
 Nothing but a most fortunate concurrence of circumstances 
 could have led to a step beyond this. The famous Rosetta 
 stone, now in the British Museum, contains a trilinguar (or 
 
 * Ideetif ii. p. 477, the earlier (German) editions. 
 
 [• The Quarterly Review, vol. xliii. p. 119, says, " Heeren, as far as we know, was the 
 first who observed the impossibility of representing proper names by symbolic figures. Here, 
 as ebewhere, necessity was probably the mother of invention. Signs may represent genera, 
 and classes, and orders, but can scarcely discriminate individuals. The symbols of royalty, 
 added to the sign of the man, designate the king. The victorious, or the wise, or the religi- 
 ous king may be distinguished from the weak or tyrannical ; but what adjunct will show 
 that we mean king George or king William, rather than king Henry or king Edward ? "] 
 
 8 
 
258 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 259 
 
 rather bilins^uar) inscription in hieroglyphics, in the popular 
 writing of the Egyptians, and in Greek. In this many proper 
 names are found in the Greek character, of which, untor- 
 tunatelv, from the mutilated state of the stone, only one, that 
 of Ptolemy, remains in hieroglyphics. Had the other names 
 been preserved, a comparison of the signs of which they were 
 composed would at once have led to a certain conclusion. 
 Happily the basis of an obehsk was discovered at Phi lae con- 
 taining likewise an inscription in hieroglyphics and some Greek 
 writing, probably the translation of, or somethmg relating to, 
 what precedes it. This important relic was purchased by the 
 late Sir Joseph Banks, and sent to England by the unfortunate 
 Belzoni. Besides the name of Ptolemaus, expressed in the 
 same signs as it is upon the Rosetta stone, there is upon this 
 the name of Cleopatra.^ These two names contain six letters 
 in common ; and by comparison it is found that the consonants 
 PTL and the vowels AEG are represented in both by the same 
 pictures. Hence these are concluded to have been signs ot 
 sound, and consequently letters ; the sigmfication of the re- 
 maining characters of the two names, after this, becomes easy ; 
 and a part of the hieroglyphic alphabet is of course deciphered. 
 These signs are called phonetic. . 
 
 But another very remarkable circumstance remains to be 
 noticed. The two names we have just mentioned were, upon 
 both the monuments, separated from the rest of the inscrip- 
 tion by being enclosed in an oval border, or, as Champolhon 
 calls it, a cartouche. It is, therefore, evident, that the names 
 of kings and queens were usually distinguished m this manner. 
 Oval enclosures of a similar kind frequently occur upon Egyp- 
 tian monuments. It certainly was not made out that they 
 always contained royal names, and no others; yet it must be 
 allowed, that it seemed to afford strong grounds for the opinion, 
 that such at least was often the case. The next step, therefore, 
 was to apply the alphabetical key, thus far discovered, to these 
 cartouches ; and a succession of names, borne by rulers ot 
 various periods, by Csesars, Ptolemies, Persians, and even by 
 Pharaohs, were speedily deciphered. Each of these cartouches 
 was usually accompanied by a second, in which was soon dis- 
 covered the title and surname of the kings, as they were adopted 
 after known deities. This led to the conclusion, not only that 
 this kind of writing must have remained m use, unchanged, 
 
 » See upon this subject the works of ChampoUion, hereafter quoted. 
 
 throughout the different periods of the Egyptian empire, but 
 also, that some of those monuments which had heretofore been 
 attributed solely to the Pharaohs, did not belong to them, but 
 to the Ptolemies and Csesars. It likewise established the most 
 magnificent and ancient of the works to be due to the Pha- 
 raohs, whose names were legible upon them. A light has thus 
 been thrown upon the history of those distant ages, and many 
 parts of it verified in such a way as could hardly have been 
 expected ; the opinions of those who had ejected the Pharaohs 
 from the page of history, and merely considered them as fabul- 
 ous or symbolical beings, fell therefore at once to the ground ; 
 their monuments, with their names sculptured thereon, stand 
 ready to confute them ! 
 
 Every lover of Egyptian antiquities must be aware, that the 
 first steps which led to this important and interesting dis- 
 covery were made by the learned Dr. Young of Cambridge, 
 who first seized the idea of /^Ao/ze^ic hieroglyphics, and applied 
 it to the names of Ptolemy and Berenice.^ It is, however, to 
 the exertions of a learned Frenchman, ChampoUion, that we 
 are mainly indebted for its further progress, and for the results 
 
 ' What share in the merit of the discovery must he ascribed to Dr. Young, as compared 
 M-ith his o>vn, M. ChampoUion has attempted to show at the beginning of his work. To that 
 and to the treatise of Dr. Young I must refer my readers, as the rising dispute upon this 
 head has nothing to do with these researches. 
 
 [The translator cannot let pass this opportunity of stating, that, as far as he can judge, 
 after a fair examination of the subject, there does not seem the slightest evidence to set aside 
 Dr. Young's claim to the entire discovery of the phonetic system of hieroglyphics, " The 
 method adopted by him for deciphering the enchorial and hieroglyphic texts of the Rosetta 
 inscription is a masterpiece of ingenious contrivance ; and he has the honour of having been 
 the^rs^ to demonstrate, that in the latter as well as in the former, certain characters, what- 
 ever may have been their original import, were employed to represent sounds" This opinion 
 of the Edinburgh reviewer, which is merely just to the fame of Dr. Young, has been echoed 
 by the learned of nearly all Europe. M. Klaproth, one of the first scholars in Europe, says, 
 " Le docteur Young, Anglais, est sans contredit le premier auteur de cette decouverte. Le 
 c^lebre Zo^ga avait d6ja soupconne qu'une partie des signes hieroglyphiques pouvoit ^tre 
 employee alphabetiquement, mais I'honneur d'avoir demontre ce fait appartient au docteur 
 Young ..... Disputer a ce savant la priorite de cette decouverte serait aussi absurde que 
 de vouloir soutenir, que celui qui le premier mela du saltpetre avec du souffre et du charbon 
 n'a pas 6t6 Tinventeur du poudre, mais bien celui qui s'est servi pour la premiere fois de ce 
 melange comme moteur pour les projectiles." Klaproth, Prefaces Collection des Monu- 
 mens Egyptiens de M. Palin. 
 
 That the fame of the first discovery indisputably belongs to Dr. Young, is fiilly made out 
 in the Quarterly Review, vol. xliii. p. 114, etc. : Edinb. Review, vol. xlv. p. 120, etc. ; and 
 Encyclop. Metrqp. article Hieroglyphics, etc. The following circumstances seem to set this 
 matter at rest. In the first place, there is the direct testimony of Dr. Young himself as to his 
 claim, both in regard to priority of publication and originality of discovery, which M. 
 ChampoUion has not yet answered. See Edinb. Review, 1. c, where this is clearly shown. 
 In the second place, there is the following proof equally unanswered. In the year 1821, 
 after the discovery of Dr. Young had been made known, ChampoUion published, at Grenoble, 
 a volume, De PEcrifure Hitratique des Anciens Egyptiens, in which he distinctly states his 
 conviction, that the hieroglyphics are not phonetic, " que les signes hieroglyphiques sont des 
 signes de ckoses, et non des signes de sons." This volume has been withdrawn from circu- 
 lation on the pretext that the author was actuated by " le crainte de blesser les scrupules de 
 quelques personnes pieuses." M. Klaproth asserts, that there is positively nothing in the 
 volume which could produce that impression ; and that the real motive for its suppression 
 was the unfortunate avowal which decides at once the controversy.] 
 
 S 2 
 
260 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 261 
 
 II 
 
 to which it has led.' M. Champollion was well prepared for 
 this, as he had ardently pursued the stxidy of the Coptic lan- 
 guage and literature almost from h.s mfancy ; one of his early 
 works was the Restoration of the Geography /Egypt under 
 the Pharaohs, with its ancient names, compiled trom Mbb. in 
 the royal library at Paris,^ a work which must have increased 
 his knowledge of the Coptic language, and laid a foundation 
 
 for new researches. a ,i 
 
 An important question here naturally occurs : Are the.se 
 phonetic pictures, or hieroglyphics chosen arbitrarrly or are 
 they subject to some general law ? In the first case it could 
 scarcely be hoped to apply them further than to the decipher- 
 ing of names ; the discovery of a general law led to the idea 
 of a more general application. A knowledge, however, of the 
 language would necessarily be the first step; as in this must 
 be louiht the origin of their signification ; and it is only by tl.e 
 help of the Coptic that this can be attained. By this it was 
 soon perceived, that it might be regarded as a confirmed con- 
 ventional rule : that signs, used as letters, representing certain 
 sounds, are always the image of an external object the name 
 of which, in the old Egyptian language, begins tvithjhe letter 
 which it represents. Thus, for example, if we wished in our 
 language to introduce a writing of this kind, a hand might re- 
 present the sound h, a dog the sound d, a staff the sound s, etc. 
 This rule, therefore, certainly fiirnishes us with a key tor 
 the further deciphering the hieroglyphic alphabet, to whatever 
 extent we may be able to unlock it. As the explications of 
 M Champollion, however, may be known but to few readers, 
 I judge it necessary, before proceeding any further, accurately 
 to unfold them. I shall do this in a series of single proposi- 
 tions, as nearly as I can in the words of the author. 
 
 " The writing of the Egyptians consists of three distinct 
 kinds ; the hieroglyphic, or sacred writing ; the hieratic, or 
 writing of the priests ; and the demotic, in common use. 
 
 " A 1. The hieroglyphic writing consists in the simulta- 
 neous use of three ve*^ distinct species of signs :— (a) of pic- 
 
 lu^desA,^ Egyptim,, Pari,, 1821; second and improTcd ed.hon Fans, 1829, 2«K 
 ^™!ld« volume ofjftes, which foms the W of the followmg mqu.ry. 
 
 : tf^'irp^fctS-riaJt ^JaltiLTf r|;r^cL\''f ?SLpomo„. and madesv.ch 
 alterations as I deemed necessary. Trans. J 
 
 tare signs, or representations of the objects themselves, which 
 they serve to represent : (b) of symbolical, typical, or enigma- 
 tical signs, representing ideas by physical objects, always bear- 
 ing some analogy to the idea represented : (c) phonetic cha- 
 racters, representing sounds by pictures of physical objects." 
 
 " A. 2. The picture and symbolical signs, are employed in 
 all the texts in a much less proportion than the phonetic cha- 
 racters." 
 
 " A. 3. The phonetic characters are real alphabetical signs, 
 letters, which express the sounds of the Egyptian words." 
 
 " A. 4. Every phonetic hieroglyphic is the picture of a phy- 
 sical object, the name of which object begins, in the Egyptian 
 language, with the vowel or consonant {voix ou articulation) 
 which the sign itself is intended to represent." 
 
 " A. 5. The phonetic characters combine to form words in 
 the same manner as any other alphabet, but they are often 
 placed one over the other, and in various directions^ according 
 to the disposition of the text, either in perpendicular columns 
 or horizontal lines." 
 
 " A. 6. The intermediate vowels of words written in hiero- 
 glyphics are often left out, as in the Hebrew, Phoenician, and 
 modern Arabic." 
 
 " A. 7. Every vowel and consonant may, according to the 
 principle laid down in A. 4, be represented by several differ- 
 ent phonetic signs, all, however, representing exactly the same 
 sound."* 
 
 '* A. 8. The use of one phonetic character rather than ano- 
 ther, representing the same sound, was often regulated by the 
 material form of the character made use of, or by the nature 
 of the idea expressed by the word to be written in phonetic 
 characters." 
 
 " A. 9. The various hieroglyphic phonetic vowel signs had 
 no more settled sound than the Hebrew aleph (k), the yodh 
 0), and the vav (i), or the elif (J) and the waw ()) of the 
 Arabians." 
 
 "A. 10. Abbreviations of phonetic groups are often met 
 with in the hieroglyphic text." 
 
 "A. 11. Phonetic characters, the necessary and inseparable 
 elements of Egyptian hieroglyphic writing, exist in the most 
 ancient Egyptian texts, as well as in the more recent." 
 
 "A. 12. I have already determined the sound {fire la 
 
 » [This is questioned by Heeren hereafter. Tratis.l 
 
262 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 263 
 
 valeur) of above a hundred hieroglyphic phonetic characters, 
 among which are those that most frequently occur m the texts 
 « 11 " 
 
 "A 13 All hieroglyphic inscriptions found upon Egyp- 
 tian monuments belong to one single and same kind of wntmg 
 composed, as we have said, (A. \.a,b, c,) of three kinds ot 
 signs simultaneously employed." . ^ , ,. ^ 
 
 " A 14. It is proved, by a series of public monuments 
 that the sacred writing, combining the picture, symbolical, and 
 phonetic signs, was in use, without interruption, from the 
 nineteenth century before our era to the entire conversion of 
 the Egyptians to Christianity, under the dominion ot the Ko- 
 mans, when the different Egyptian kinds of writing were chs- 
 placed by the Coptic, that is to say, by the Greek alphabet 
 increased by a certain number of consonants, taken irom the 
 old demotic writing of the Egyptians." . , • .t, 
 
 " A 15 The same ideas are sometimes represented m the 
 same hieroglyphic text, at one time by picture signs, at ano- 
 ther by smbolic, and finally by a group of phonetic charac- 
 ters, expressing a word significant of the same idea m the 
 
 language spoken." , . , , 
 
 "A 16 Other ideas are represented, either by a group 
 formed of a picture and a symbolic sign, or by uniting a pic- 
 ture or symbolic sign with phonetic characters. 
 
 "A 17. Certain Egyptian bas-reliefs, or compositions 
 formed of figures of physical beings, and particularly ot re- 
 presentations of monsters, grouped and connected, do not 
 belong to the proper hieroglyphic writing These are purely 
 allegorical or symbolical scenes, to which the ancients gave the 
 n&me o{ anagli/phs." 
 
 " A 18 A number of figures are, however, common to 
 the proper hieroglyphic writing, and to this system of paint- 
 ing, or, if it must be so called, of writing, which produced 
 
 anaglyphs,'' , /. .i ^ ^^ 
 
 "A 19. These anaglyphs seem to be pages of that secret 
 writincr, which the ancient Greek and Latin writers tell us 
 was known only to the priests, and to those whom they miti- 
 ated in their mysteries. The hieroglyphic writing on the 
 contrary, was never secret, but known to all the inhabitants 
 of Earpt at all educated." . 
 
 " A. 20. Two new systems of writing sprung m time trom 
 the hieroglyphic writing, the hieratic and demotic ; these were 
 
 invented to facilitate the art of writing, and bring it more into 
 common use." 
 
 "B. 21. The hieratic or sacerdotal writing, was merely a 
 kind of short-hand way of writing the sacred, from which it 
 was immediately derived. In this second system the form of 
 the signs is considerably abridged." 
 
 " B. 22. It consists, properly, of pictural, symbolical^ and 
 phonetic signs ; but the first two are often replaced either by 
 groups of phonetic characters, or by arbitrary characters, 
 which no longer preserve the form of their correspondent sign 
 in the hieroglyphic system." 
 
 " B. 23. AH the hieratic manuscripts extant, and we possess 
 some belonging to the epoch of the Pharaohs, of the Greeks, 
 and of the Romans, belong to one single system, however dif- 
 ferent the shape of the characters may appear at the first in- 
 spection." 
 
 " B. 24. The use of the hieratic writing appears to have been 
 restricted to the transcription of texts relating to sacred or 
 scientific matters, and to a few, but always religious, in- 
 scriptions." 
 
 " C. 25. The demotic, epistolary, or enchorial writing, is a 
 system quite distinct from the hieroglyphic and the hieratic, 
 from which it is immediately derived." 
 
 "C. 26. The characters used m deniotic WTiimg are merely 
 simple characters borrowed from the hieratic writing." 
 
 " C. 27. It excludes almost all pictured signs." 
 
 " C. 28. It admits, nevertheless, a certain number of sym- 
 bolical signs, but only to express some ideas essentially con- 
 nected with the religious system." 
 
 " C. 29. The greater part of every demotic text consists of 
 phonetic characters, or signs of sounds,'' 
 
 " C. 30. The number of characters used in demotic writing 
 are much fewer than in either of the other systems." 
 
 " C. 31. In demotic writing the intermedial vowels are often 
 suppressed both in Egyptian and foreign words." 
 
 " C. 32. The demotic, like the writings from which it is 
 derived, may express every consonant or vowel by several 
 signs, very different in form but entirely alike in sound. Ne- 
 vertheless the number of these demotic same-sounding cha- 
 racters is not nearly so great as in the sacred and sacerdotal 
 writing." 
 
 "C. 33. The demotic, hieratic, and hieroglyphic writing 
 
264 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 265 
 
 have been simultaneously in use during a long series of ages 
 
 in every part of Egypt." • r a/t 
 
 These propositions, according to the discoveries ot M. 
 Champollion, form the basis upon which the Egyptian system 
 of writing rests. The latter assertions, however, upon the 
 derivation of the hieratic and demotic writing from the hiero- 
 glyphic, may be dismissed as not bearing upon the present 
 subject. It may easily be perceived that this can only be de- 
 cided by comparing and by giving specimens of the characters 
 used in the different methods of writing. This has been done 
 in the work to which I have above referred ; and so far as I 
 can judge from that, the author's opinion is fairly estabhshed. 
 This, however, was not an original idea of his own ; but it had, 
 as he admits, been previously acted upon by a native of Ger- 
 many, the learned Aulic Counsellor Tychsen.^ It certainly 
 seems the natural way in which the common writing would 
 proceed from hieroglyphics, as soon as the latter contained 
 phonetic signs ; some such operation would indeed seem de- 
 manded by necessity, as writing ceased to consist of mere 
 sculpture and came into common use. The fact, however, 
 becomes clearly established thereby, that hieroglyphics could 
 not be merely a secret writing of the priesthood, at least not in 
 its whole extent ; for the way to its comprehension must have 
 been open in the demotic characters. This, however, might be, 
 and no doubt was, subject to many limitations. But let this 
 be as it may, the hieroglyphic writing is the only one for our 
 consideration in the present inquiry ; the key to which is the 
 key to Egyptian antiquities. 
 
 In order to form a proper judgment upon this attempt to 
 decipher hieroglyphic writing, the following questions seem 
 to require consideration : How far does this method of writing 
 correspond with the advances which man in general is enabled 
 to make in the art of writing ? Secondly, how far does it agree 
 with the information which has been given us by the ancients, 
 upon the Egyptian methods of writing ? Thirdly, how far do 
 the results already obtained by deciphering agree with history ? 
 —that is, in a general way, with what in the nature of things 
 might reasonably be expected, and with what is known of 
 ancient Egypt from monuments and writers still extant ? 
 It will at the first glance be seen that this method of writing 
 
 » Precis, p. 20. Namely, in the Bibl. der altem Litteratur und Kunst, St. vi., in the trea- 
 tise upon tiie alphabetical writing of the ancient Egyptians. 
 
 possesses peculiarities which essentially distinguish it from the 
 merely alphabetical ; namely, the mixture of symbolical with 
 alphabetical signs. The course therefore which the nation 
 took in the improvement of their system of writing was conse- 
 quently somewhat pecuhar ; it is not, however, in our power to 
 trace this course by historic documents ; for, as upon even the 
 most ancient monuments which remain, this writing seems 
 completely formed, we can only raise such conjectures respect- 
 ing it as the nature of things suggests. One of the first of these 
 is, that the formation of this writing must certainly have taken 
 place g?^aduallij. Its natural course could be no other : its 
 first step was the mere representation of objects ; and this ex- 
 plains how physical objects came to be adopted as signs in this 
 writing. It must soon have been perceived that every object 
 could not be represented by its proper resemblance, and this 
 naturally led to the second mode of writing ; people began to 
 employ these signs from certain similarities, real or merely 
 fanciful, in an allegorical sense ; and in this way symbolical 
 writing had its origin. But the most important step still re- 
 mains, the representation of individual sounds by pictures, — 
 that is, the adoption of phonetic hieroglyphics. The way in 
 which this was attained, is a problem which can only be solved 
 by conjectures. These phonetic signs, though, as being 
 representations of natural objects, they belong to the same 
 class with those which represent ideas, are yet, in their nature, 
 inasmuch as they are signs of sounds, essentially different, and 
 could not proceed from them. Zoega, an early, profound, and 
 skilful inquirer into the antiquities of Egypt, and who thought 
 to find there the origin of letters, believed, indeed, he had dis- 
 covered such a change to have taken place in a species of hie- 
 roglyphics, to which he at this time gave the name of phonetic; 
 these were such as were not taken for the likeness of the ob- 
 ject, but the sound of the word ;' as, for example, if we should 
 signify our word hearty by a heart and an eye. It must how- 
 ever be seen in a moment that these phonetic hieroglyphics 
 are entirely different from those now under consideration, as 
 they denote the sound of the whole word, and not the com- 
 ponent sounds, as letters do. It therefore still remained un- 
 settled how this step was got over. The most probable con- 
 jecture seems to be, that the want, which must naturally have 
 been felt, of some means of expressing proper nameSj when 
 
 » Zoega, Dc Obeliscie, p. 454. 
 
266 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 267 
 
 these did not happen to have some signification, and which 
 could in no other way be supplied, must have led to it. And 
 if we take into consideration that the hieroglyphics were prin- 
 cipally used for monumental inscriptions, in which the names 
 of kins-s formed an essential part, it will add great weight to 
 this conjecture. This want, especially if it led to phonetic 
 siens in Zoegas sense, might very well go on till the sound of 
 the whole should be dissolved into its component sounds, and 
 these with the same or like signs be denoted, as those which 
 had already been in use in the picture-writing. Tns is all 
 that can now be said upon the matter. The particular pains 
 taken to point out the royal names, by enclosing them in a 
 cartouche, or border, goes a great way towards proving, that 
 the signs so enclosed were not symbolic, but rather ot the pho- 
 netic kind, and to be read as letters. 
 
 The adoption of phonetic hieroglyphics, or making them re- 
 present sounds, would certainly overcome, in a great degree 
 the inconveniences which must render a writing composed of 
 merely pictures or symbolic signs almost useless. For though 
 by these a series of separate ideas might be represented, yet it 
 is difficult to conceive how the connexion of these ideas such 
 as the modification of nouns and verbs by declension and con- 
 iuffation, could be expressed. It seems impossible to write 
 connectedly with such signs. And it therefore seems a very 
 natural conjecture, that hieroglyphic writing was never much 
 more than a formal writing for public monuments, on which, 
 besides names and titles, short historical or religious sentences 
 miffht be expressed.^ The adoption of hieroglyphics of sound 
 clearly indicates how, by them, the lesser parts of speech 
 miffht be represented ; and eventually even the variations ot 
 nouns In fact, Champollion shows us, that the gender some- 
 times is denoted by means of articles,^ and the case by means 
 of suites. But how the verb, through all its moods, tenses, 
 and numbers, is to be represented, it is indeed almost impos- 
 sible to imagine, even if we were able to translate the greater 
 number of the signs ; and even up to the present time M. 
 Champollion has only succeeded in discovering a representa- 
 tion of the three principal tenses, and the third person. 1 he 
 proposition therefore still may hold good, even after the adop- 
 tion of hieroglyphics of sound, that this writing yvas mostly 
 
 » /(feen, ii. p. 476, former edition , 
 
 « [First discovered by Dr. Young : see Edtn. Rev. No. Ixxxix. p. 1-M.J 
 
 destined for set forms. All that is yet deciphered is strictly 
 limited to such ; and it must be still further explained, before 
 we can judge of how much or how little was or could be writ- 
 ten in it. p , T-. • 
 
 It seems therefore to lie in the nature of the Egyptian system 
 
 of writing, that it must always have remained very imperfect. 
 It never ripened to a complete alphabetical system. Human 
 genius evidently made great efforts to reach so far ; it attained 
 not, however, its object, but seemed to have stopped half way. 
 Why such was the case we can only conjecture ; but the rea- 
 son generally given is the bigotry and narrow-mindedness of 
 the priest caste, and the immutability of any system they had 
 once adopted. As the matter now stands, two great obstacles 
 come in the way, and render the reading very difficult. 
 
 The first is, that the same images were sometimes used as 
 pictorial, sometimes as alphabetical signs, without there being 
 any certain means of determining to which they belong : this, 
 to be sure, in the deciphering of names, has hitherto occasion- 
 ed but little embarrassment, as they are composed almost en- 
 tirely, or altogether, of phonetic hieroglyphics. But whether, 
 hereafter, in reading the larger hieroglyphic texts, greater dif- 
 ficulties will not occur, time and experience alone can show. 
 
 But another and a still greater impediment seems to lie 
 in the manner of representing these phonetic hieroglyphics. 
 This consists, as above, (A. 4,) in taking always for the sign of 
 the sound which it is wished to represent, the image of some 
 word, which in the common language of the people begins 
 with the same sound. Thus, for example, if we wished in the 
 English language to write London, we might take the picture 
 of a lion to represent the sound of /, an oak for o, a net for w, 
 a dog for d, and a nail for ?i, the initial sounds of which would 
 spell the name of the British capital. The Egyptians, how- 
 ever, did not confine themselves to one sign for each sound, 
 but made use of many ; all that was necessary was, that the 
 sign should be the image of some object, whose name, in the 
 language spoken, should begin with the sound wished to be 
 exp'ressed ; as for example the sound of b might be represented 
 by a bird, a book, etc., ;w by a mouth, a man, etc., ;? by a 
 pen, a pail, etc. The number of phonetic hieroglyphics there- 
 fore must have been very considerable ; and certainly, accord- 
 ing to my view, were increased without sufficient reason. This 
 could not but embarrass the reader, and especially if we con- 
 
568 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 269 
 
 
 sider that the signification or value of an image might easily 
 become uncertain, when several words, not beginning with the 
 same sound, might be applied to the same object ; thus for 
 example, in our language, the image of a horse might be 
 taken for an h or an s, just as one might happen to think ot 
 steed or horse. As the Egyptians spoke the language, they 
 certainly would much more readily master this difficulty than 
 the moderns, who have but a very imperfect knowledge ot it ; 
 to read it, nevertheless, must still have been embarrassing even 
 to them. One thing, however, may easily be supposed, and 
 indeed, seems highly probable, I mean, that the number of 
 pictures thus made use of as letters were gradually dimimshed 
 by custom, and that they could not be arbitrarily mcreased. 
 The amount of these phonetic hieroglyphics, according to M. 
 ChampoUions discoveries, thus far, does not much exceed a 
 hundred. Where everything was so firmly and unchangeab y 
 settled as among the Egyptians, the art of writing could 
 scarcely form an exception. 
 
 The suppression of the vowels, whenever they were not 
 the initial sound of the words from which the image was taken, 
 cannot be surprising ; it is the case in other Oriental languages, 
 although, from custom, it may render the reading more dith- 
 cult to us. It arises from the unsettled state of the sounds ot 
 the vowel-signs in use, the clearer and deeper of which are 
 not so distinctly marked as in the European languages. 
 
 But admitting, after all that has been said, that writing was 
 very imperfect, yet that will not warrant us to consider it as 
 useless ; and we shall be still less justified in rejecting the 
 whole system, because we meet with a few difficulties or even 
 apparent contradictions. We do not yet know the whole 
 alphabet of the nation. We shall perhaps find by and by that 
 many signs, which M. Champollion in his alphabet has given 
 to the same sound, may be found to represent different ones. 
 What, indeed, do we know of their gutturals, their breathings 
 and their dentals ? From our knowledge of the Coptic, it 
 seems highly probable that the Egyptians had many sounds 
 in their language which we have not m ours^ Was it no 
 found necessary: on the first application of the Greek alphab t 
 to the Coptic, to add to it eight new characters? W^ scarce y 
 know our letters, and can we expect already to read ? It wouia 
 be most unreasonable to demand so much, even from the ais- 
 coverer himself. Here is a writing hitherto unknown (and sucti 
 
 a writing !); a language with which we are but very imperfectly 
 acquainted. Of the orthography of the Egyptians we know 
 still less; and in which many mistakes must have been made, 
 notwithstanding the greatest care in the copyists ; — how then 
 can we hope not to meet here and there with a contradiction ; 
 how can it be expected that every letter should agree ? This 
 indeed would be the very thing to excite suspicion. 
 
 But another consequence incontestably results from this ; 
 and that is, that the Egyptians themselves were the inventors 
 of this art, which in their mythus of Thot, or Hermes, they 
 ascribe to him. A system of writing connected, in this pecu- 
 liar manner, with the proper language of a nation could only 
 be invented by the people who spoke it. This leads imme- 
 diately to a second remark : this system of writing could not 
 reach farther than the language was spoken ; it neither was 
 nor could be adopted by any foreign nation. 
 
 The second question to be examined, and a favourable 
 answer to which is necessary to establish the theory of M. 
 Champollion, is, does it, or not, agree with the information 
 the ancients have left us on the Egyptian system of writing ? 
 Should it be confirmed by what they say, a great weight is 
 at once thrown into the scale in its favour. 
 
 The Greek writers have said but little, that has descended 
 to us, on the Egyptian method of writing, with which they 
 certainly were but very imperfectly acquainted. The little 
 that Herodotus, Plato, and a few others say upon it, gives us 
 no information whatever.* Clemens Alexandrinus, a Chris- 
 tian Father, is the only writer, and he quite incidentally, who 
 has explained himself somewhat more copiously. All who 
 consider the matter, agree that his account is not only the 
 most important, but that there is no other in which are pre- 
 cisely enumerated the different kinds of writing in use among 
 the Egyptians. This, therefore, next deserves our attention. 
 I shall only premise, that what this Father says, carries with 
 it an additional authority from his having himself lived in 
 Egypt, where it would be easy for him to obtain a clear 
 knowledge of that which, to those at a distance, would still 
 seem very obscure. 
 
 "Those who are educated among the Egyptians," says 
 
 • Zoega, De Obeliscis, p. 426, has coUected all these passages together. They all speak of 
 only two kinds of writing, that of the priesthood, and that in common nse. Only one be- 
 sides Clement mentions three ; PorphjT. De Vita Pythag. 11, 12, but without properly dis- 
 tinguishing them. See Zoega, 1. c. 
 
270 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 271 
 
 '• 
 
 I 
 
 he,' "learn first of all the method of Egyptian writing, called 
 EPiSTOLOGRAPHic ; sccondlj, the hieratic, which is employed 
 by the sacred scribes ; and finally, to complete all, the hiero- 
 glyphic, which is partly kyriologic,^ by means of the first ele- 
 ments ; partly symbolic. The symbolic expresses them either 
 by imitation ; represents them by tropes ; or by certain enig- 
 matic allegories. Thus, for example, if they wished to indicate 
 the sun and moon, by the representing method, (by imitation,) 
 they draw a circle for the former, and a luniform figure, or 
 crescent, for the latter ; but in the tropical method they repre- 
 sent objects by certain similarities, (or analogies,) which they 
 alter, exchange, or completely transform. Thus, when they 
 transmit the praises of their kings in their religious mythi, they 
 describe them by means of anaglyphs (that is, by transposi- 
 tions, or transformations of the hieroglyphs). Of the third 
 sort, by enigmas, let this serve as an example : the oblique 
 course of the other stars they represent by a serpent ; but that 
 of the sun by a beetle." 
 
 From this passage it is evident that St. Clement was ac- 
 quainted with three different methods of writing, the epistolo- 
 graphic, or demotic, which was the one in general use for 
 common affairs ; the hieratic, employed by the sacred scribes, 
 and which probably on that account came to be used in all 
 their writings by the priests ; and the hieroglyphic. I need 
 not speak of the two first, as no doubt exists respecting them. 
 But, with regard to hieroglyphics, he again subdivides them 
 into the kyriologic, composed of first elements, and the tropi- 
 cal; which latter again is partly representative, partly sym- 
 bolic, partly enigmatic. That the first was that which is usu- 
 ally termed hieroglyphic, or allegorical picture-writing, no one 
 can well doubt, of which the enigmatic is only a higher descrip- 
 tion. The main question that remains for our consideration, 
 is, what did Clement understand by hieroglyphic writing by 
 means of the first elements ? . 
 
 The Greek expression is, ^^ tuji/ TrptcjMv aroixeit^v, which is 
 literally translated per prima elementa. The early comment- 
 ators, who by hieroglyphics only thought of symboHc signs, 
 found this passage embarrassing, as the second sort is expressly 
 distinguished from the others by being symboHc. We may, 
 for this reason, conclude with certainty, that the former, which 
 
 I aemens Alex. Stromata, vol. iv. p. 565, Sylb. 1 only give a translation. The passage, 
 withacommentary, will be found in Appendix I. , . , i 
 
 * [Or expressive of objects in a proper, not figurative or metaphoneal manner.J 
 
 was composed of first elements, differed from this, or was not 
 of a symbolical kind. Now the Greek word oioix^la^ as well as 
 the Latin, does also signify letters (elementa Utterarum). 
 Why should we not therefore at once conclude, that it should 
 be so understood here, which would at once prove the ex- 
 istence of phonetic hieroglyphs, or hieroglyphic signs of sound ? 
 The expression is thus understood by the learned French- 
 man. But what does the adjective mean : by the first letters ? 
 Upon this point M. ChampoUion, wishing to have the opinion 
 of a Greek scholar, applied to M. Letronne, who in a very 
 learned manner explained it to mean the earliest letters, 
 namely, the sixteen which Cadmus carried into Greece.^ I 
 cannot, however, see what end so far-fetched an explanation 
 could answer ; and much wonder, that two learned men should 
 overlook what seems so obvious, and by which the method 
 of explaining phonetic hieroglyphs is likewise so manifestly 
 confirmed. Why should we not translate the expression by 
 the first letters: by the initial letters?^ Every one knows 
 that the Greek word -Trp^ja denotes as well the first in order of 
 place as in order of time ; just as it does in the inscription on 
 the obelisk explained by Hermapion, where tt/jwto? err/xos is 
 translated the first row, or initial lines ; and in a passage of 
 Plutarch, easy to be turned to, Trpwrov rwv ^(pafifiayuyv^ the first let- 
 ter. No grammatical difficulty, therefore, stands in the way ; 
 and the expression, otherwise so obscure, by this means be- 
 comes perfectly clear. According to this explanation, then, 
 hieroglyphic writing consists of three sorts of characters : the 
 first is composed of initial letters, that is, phonetic hieroglyphs, 
 which are always taken from the initial sounds of the word, 
 which the picture in the common language denotes ; in 
 scientific language, kyriologic. The second, the symbolic. 
 This again represents either the object itself, by its picture, 
 (/cora fiifirjaiu, imitation or copy,) or in a symbolic picture ; it is 
 therefore called the ti^opical, where a certain relation between 
 the object and the picture is always found ; or, finally, the 
 enigmatical, where such a relation does not exist at all, or is 
 no longer evident ; and which, therefore, as it is the most dif- 
 ficult to comprehend, is very justly named. 
 
 * See his Letters at the end of the Precis, p. 405. 
 
 * I did not see till after I had written this, that it is shown in the reprint of the Pr6ciSy 
 by the learned proofs brought forward, though only cursorily, that the same opinion has 
 been there adopted. I thought it necessary to mention this, lest my explanation should be 
 considered as taken from that. 
 
272 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 27S 
 
 I 
 
 cH: 
 
 Now if this interpretation of the first method of writing, per 
 prima elementa, by initial letters, is just, then it follows 
 that the manner of deciphering the phonetic hieroglyphs be- 
 comes confirmed by the testimony of a writer; and certainly 
 of the writer who was the most intimately acquainted with it, 
 and who has spoken the most accurately upon the subject. 
 
 I do not see what objection can be made to this interpreta- 
 tion of St. Clement, except, perhaps, that he has spoken some- 
 what too briefly and obscurely to warrant it. This we will 
 willingly grant to be true in reference to us. But, first, he 
 only touches upon this subject on its coming incidentally in 
 his way ; he by no means intended to give a commentary 
 upon the Egyptian method of writing. Secondly, from the 
 manner in which he speaks of it, we must conclude, that it was 
 at that time a thing still well known in Alexandria, as the 
 knowledge of hieroglyphic writing was open, at least to every 
 educated individual. And, lastly, the apparently obscure ex- 
 pressions, the kyriologic, the tropical, the enigmatical methods 
 of writing, are not to be taken as terms invented by Clement 
 himself; they are evidently the common scientific expressions, 
 or technical terms, which were made use of in the Greek lan- 
 guage, to denote these particular methods of writing ; and 
 which, in the eyes of the Father of the church, seemed to re- 
 quire no prolix commentary. 
 
 To these general proofs may be added one of a more direct 
 nature, which, though it has escaped M. Champollion, appears 
 to me to carry great weight, since it not only affords us the 
 example of a particular phonetic hieroglyphic, but also evi- 
 dently proves the accuracy of the interpretation itself, by the 
 testimony of a writer of very great authority. Plutarch, in his 
 Symposion, where speaking of the arrangement or succession 
 of letters in the alphabet, makes Hermias say : * Hermes is 
 said in Egypt to havejirst invented letters. The Egyptians 
 therefore consecrate to the ibis, as belonging to him, the Jirst 
 place in the alphabet. That alphabetical letters are here spoken 
 of, the context places beyond contradiction, as it speaks ex- 
 pressly of the arrangement and order of letters in the alphabet. 
 Two propositions evidently follow from this; first, a hiero- 
 glyphic, the ibis, denotes a letter ; secondly, this letter was the 
 
 » 'Epun« \iytrai efwvkv'XiyinrTOf ypanfiaTairpihTOi tvptiv. Aco kuI twv ypafifiaTwv 
 *Kiy{nrrioi TrpS^Tov'lftiv ypa<povaiv, cis ^Ep^il irpoariKovtrau. Hermes primus Deorum in 
 iEgypto dieitur invenisse litteras. Itaque Ibin ^gyptii signum faciunt primae htterte, ut- 
 pote Hermeti conaccratam. Op. ii. p. 738. 
 
 first in the alphabet, consequently the A ; for that is the object 
 just before spoken of Now, independenf of this passage, 
 Champollion, by his method, had arrived at the same result ; 
 that fepervier, Vibis, et trois autres especes d'oiseau semploient 
 constamment pour A, is what he states in his letter to M. Da- 
 cier ; and he gives representations of them in a plate.^ If, 
 then, the existence of one phonetic hieroglyphic, with its sig- 
 nification, is proved by the testimony of Plutarch, can there be 
 any doubt left respecting the existence of others, — respecting 
 the existence of a hieroglyphic alphabet ? If the Egyptians 
 called one of their letters the first, does it not stand to reason 
 that they must have had a second, a third, etc. 
 
 The third question now demands our attention : how much 
 has yet been deciphered by this method, and how does what 
 has been done agree with history ? Before this question can 
 be properly answered, it is necessary to make some inquiries 
 respecting the language in which the Egyptian writings are 
 composed. It is certainly conceivable, that when the signs 
 representing sound are discovered, a writing, by the rules of 
 artificial deciphering, may be read, without even a knowledge 
 of the language ; but it is impossible to conceive that it could 
 without this be understood, where the writing is altogether, or 
 even the greater part, composed of alphabetical letters.^ 
 
 It is generally agreed, that the Egyptian inscriptions are 
 composed in the language of the country — the ancient Egyp- 
 tian. But what do we know of this language ? Those who 
 have most studied the subject are of opinion, that the key to 
 it must be sought for in the Coptic. The next question that 
 arises then, is, in what relation does this language (the Coptic) 
 stand to the ancient Egyptian ?^ A question which has the 
 greater claim to our attention, as it has lately been asserted, that 
 the Coptic can give us no help in this matter. 
 
 The Coptic is no longer a living language, although the 
 Copts still continue to form a distinct class of inhabitants in 
 ^gypt* Their former language (for they now speak Arabic 
 
 > Lettre, p. 38, plate iv. 
 
 * It is altogether different with Chinese writing, whose signs do not represent sounds but 
 ideas, which every one, without even knowing the Chinese words, may read and understand 
 in his language, as soon as he knows the signification of the signs. 
 
 ' We already possess a full answer to tms question in Etienne Quatremere, Recherchea 
 cnttques et historiqries sur la Langue et la Litttrature de VEgypte, Paris, 1808, in which 
 the identity of the Coptic with the ancient Egyptian, in the sense explained in the text, is 
 ^ ;^^ proved. A still more important authority is given to it, in Notice de Vouvrage inti- 
 ttUe Recherches, etc. , par Silvestre de Sacy, 1808. The work of Quatremere carries the proofs 
 principally through the various periods, by a number of testimonies from contemporary 
 wnters ; it also gives a history of the study of the Coptic in Europe. 
 
274 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 275 
 
 i 
 
 1 1 
 
 like the rest of the Egyptians) is only to be found in writings. 
 We still know of three different dialects in which these are 
 composed ; the Saidic or Thebaic, which prevailed m Upper 
 Eervpt • the Bahiric or Memphitic, that of Middle Egypt ; 
 and the Bashmuric, upon which some uncertainty rests, 
 whether it was spoken in Lower Egypt, or in the Oases, or in 
 both.' AH the Coptic literature with which we are yet ac- 
 quainted, is entirely theological ; it consists of translations of 
 the Bible, homilies, lives of saints and martyrs, and the like ; 
 nothing has yet been found in geography or history ; one 
 single medical tract is said to have been discovered The 
 Coptic alphabet is borrowed from the Greek, with the addi- 
 tion, however, of eight signs, to represent sounds which could 
 not be represented with the Greek letters. . ,. , 
 
 We gather, therefore, from the Coptic literature itself, two 
 distinct propositions; first, that it ceased during the time 
 Christianity was professed in Egypt, consequently, before the 
 Arabian conquest, and the introduction of Islamism ; and 
 secondly, that the Coptic, up to that time, was certainly the 
 language of the country, because these writings were composed 
 
 for the people. . , , , , 
 
 We have only therefore to ascertain, whether the language 
 at that time spoken by the people was the ancient language ot 
 the country ? But here we may ask, what else could it have 
 been "> It is true that the Greeks, and after them the Romans, 
 conquered Egypt. But neither of these caused, or wished to 
 cause, their language to be spoken beyond Alexandria which, 
 from the beginning, was a Greek city any more than the 
 English do theirs in Bengal. How, indeed would this have 
 been practicable, among a people remarkable for preserving 
 their customs and habits, and whose language was already re- 
 fined bv a literature P Neither would this have been possible 
 
 1 See Quatremere, Recherches, etc. p. 147, etc. manuscripts so far as known. 
 
 it ig not mentioned in Zoega's Catalogue. Vatican are Bome as late as 
 
 * Zoega finds a Coptic manuscript of the year mi , »«<! i" tne 
 
 the beeinninff of the tenth century. Zoega s Catalogue^ p. l n • . y^ v^^^ by a 
 
 * That this^did not happen unrfer the f tplemies or R^^^^t^^^^^^'^^^.rieS 
 great number of proofs in section i. By the introduction f^^hnstian y, the a^^^^^^^ 
 
 of an accurate settlement of the time. Quatremere, p. 1». 
 
 to the Arabs, had they not fixed themselves permanently in the 
 country/ It cannot certainly be denied but that the dominion 
 of the Greeks and Romans had some influence upon this lan- 
 guage. Many Greek words must have been adopted to ex- 
 press ideas for which this language had no terms. The intro- 
 duction of Christianity and Greek characters must also have 
 wrought a considerable change. But still all this did not form 
 a new language. All learned in the Coptic agree, that it con- 
 tinued to form a distinct language. The proportion of Greek 
 words was very small ; and of the Latin, which was rendered 
 unnecessary by the spread of the Greek, no words at all were 
 adopted. The Coptic, therefore, probably bears about the 
 same relation to the ancient Egyptian as the modern Greek 
 does to the ancient. And will any one hesitate to admit, that 
 we might understand ancient Greek, even if we had no other 
 way of obtaining a knowledge of it but through the modern ? 
 Surely, then, as this is a case in point, we may consider the 
 Coptic as the key to the ancient Egyptian. Its very name, 
 indeed, tends to confirm it, for Coptic is, by almost general 
 agreement, regarded as merely a corruption of Egyptic 
 
 Let us now return to the main question : how far do the 
 results of what has been done agree with history ; and how 
 much has been thus far deciphered ? Taking the first of these 
 questions in its widest sense, it is equivalent to asking whether 
 the interpretations already made, give us such information as 
 might reasonably be expected from the nature of things in 
 general ? 
 
 What has been hitherto deciphered consists almost entirely 
 of inscriptions upon public monuments, temples, palaces, and 
 obelisks ; together with a few upon mummies. We know, 
 for a certainty, that these monuments were built by kings, in 
 order to hand down their memory to posterity, and to obtain 
 from the priest caste such advantages and concessions as their 
 situation might make desirable.* We should therefore natur- 
 ally be prepared to find the names of kings upon these monu- 
 ments ; and, appended to their names, the honorary titles con- 
 ferred upon them. In the theocracy these honorary distinctions 
 
 * Quatremere, p. 29, etc., shows us how the Coptic gradually ceased to be a living lau- 
 gyage under the Arabian dominion. Till the year 718 (the 96th of the Hegira) the register 
 of the divan at Cairo was made in Coptic, p. 32. From that time, at the command of the 
 then governor, it has been entered in Arabic. 
 
 ' The proofs are collected by Quatremere, p. 31. ' See p. 190. 
 
 T 2 
 
276 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 277 
 
 
 could scarcely be other than such as had a reference to religion; 
 thev would express some relation to the deities to whose ser- 
 vice they had devoted themselves, to which occasionally might 
 be added some family connexion or occurrence, names of an- 
 cestrv that of the father or wives, etc. This is what might 
 reasonably have been expected; and this is what has been 
 found The discoveries hitherto made go little beyond this 
 The presumption, that the names of rulers would be found 
 upon these monuments, is not to be regarded as a foncitu ly 
 conceived hypothesis. It is a supposition arising from the 
 nature of things; and when such a one is confarmed, it can 
 only excite a favourable opinion. 
 
 It was a great advantage that the names of kings were dis- 
 tinsruished by being enclosed in an oval border {cartouche). 
 For when this became manifest by the Rosetta stone with the 
 Greek translation, a great advance was made towards the de- 
 ciphering of pubhc monuments; especially, as it was soon 
 established, that this border was conferred exclusively upon 
 kings, and not granted to any other persons or even to deities. 
 It gave rise to the hope, that if no further light should be 
 thrown upon the inscription, the names of the kings alone 
 would at least clear up many parts of the early history of 
 
 ^hat these oval enclosures, therefore, contain nothing but 
 the names and titles of kings, cannot be denied, ^ven by those 
 who feel inclined to question the other discoveries ot M. Cham- 
 pollion. Let us next examine how the names and titles de- 
 ciphered agree with history. ,.*♦!. ,^. 
 With regard to the titles, they refer throughout to the wor- 
 ship of, and relation to, the native deities. " The well-beloved 
 of Ammon, of Helios (Rhe) ; The approved of Ammon ; The 
 approved of Helios ; The Ammon loving, etc. ^ . ^ , 
 We need not attempt to prove that these titles are just such 
 as might be expected from our knowledge of the national re- 
 ligion, and the close intimacy of the kings with it But a 
 more direct proof still remains. The translation of the in- 
 scription on the obelisk of Hermapion, which has been pre- 
 served by Ammianus Marcellinus, contains a title of the king 
 to whom it was erected, partly in the same words, and, even 
 where it differs, it is quite in the style.* 
 
 And, finally, come the names of the Pharaohs themselves. 
 
 . ChampoUion, Pricis, p. 131, etc. ' Ammian. Marcellin. xvii. 4. 
 
 The greatest part and most important of these are preserved 
 to us in the fragments of Manetho on the dynasties. What 
 has been deciphered agrees as well with these as can be ex- 
 pected from the omission of the vowels according to the Egyp- 
 tian orthography, and the Greek terminations. 
 
 To this may still be added another confirmation. The de- 
 ciphered names upon public monuments mostly belong to the 
 eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties of Manetho ; none yet 
 reach beyond the eighteenth, except one inscription, discover- 
 ed at Abydos, which is said to contain some from the sixteenth.^ 
 With this eighteenth dynasty, however, commences the flour- 
 ishing period of Egypt. It is the epoch at which Egypt, after 
 the expulsion of the nomad conquerors, the Hyksos, became 
 united into one empire ; and which I have named after the 
 most celebrated of its rulers, Sesostris.' We read the names 
 of more than one Ramasses, (which Sesostris also bore,) though 
 distinguished by different surnames ; of more than one Ameno- 
 phis, of a Thutmosis, a Sesonchis, and some others. None 
 have yet appeared which are not confirmed by Manetho. 
 
 From what has been now stated, I think we are fairly justi- 
 fied in holding the method adopted by M. ChampoUion for 
 the right one, till a better shall be discovered. It does not 
 rest upon merely fanciful, arbitrary data, but upon reasonable 
 and well-founded propositions. I say, however, his method ; 
 and by no means intend to assert that every one of his inter- 
 pretations is established beyond a doubt. That indeed would 
 be next to a miracle. We stand but on the threshold. Be- 
 yond names and titles (indubitably the easiest, because in the 
 former there is no difficulty, and in the latter only little, occa- 
 sioned by a few Coptic words which sometimes occur) scarcely 
 anything has been yet attempted. What may be hereafter 
 done by this method, in the interpretation of longer Egyptian 
 compositions, it is impossible to determine ; we shall be better 
 able to judge when we have seen what changes the ancient 
 Egyptian has undergone in the Coptic. But even if the course 
 which has been pursued should lead to no such result, that 
 would prove nothing against the validity of the given inter- 
 pretations. The names and the titles, with the exception of a 
 few words, are entirely independent of the language. Justice 
 warns us not to require more than the means made use of will 
 
 , ' Champollion, Prtcis, p. 246. We are indebted to Caillaud for the transcript of this 
 important relief. « Manual of Ancient History, p. 50, London, 1846. 
 
878 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 279 
 
 fairly entitle us to expect. I have experienced, in giving an 
 account of the deciphering of the arrow-headed writings what 
 unreasonable expectations are formed by some would-be cri- 
 tics,'— nothing less than what would be demanded in the inter- 
 pretation of a Greek or Roman inscription. 
 
 After all this there yet remains the examination ot the separ- 
 ate phonetic hieroglyphics, in order to see how far these are 
 the initial sounds of the Egyptian words, whose sounds they 
 are said to represent. This however presupposes a familiar ac- 
 quaintance with the Coptic language, with which I cannot 
 flatter myself, and must therefore leave it to those who have 
 made that language their study. That M. Champolhon ap- 
 plied himself with great ardour, even from his earliest years, 
 to the study of that language, is proved by his early work on 
 the Geography of Egypt under the Pharaohs, which has been 
 
 * Th J discoveries of a celebrated German traveller afford us 
 an opportunity of comparing these hieroglyphics of Egypt 
 with those of a very distant country, and separated irom it by 
 an immense ocean : 1 mean the Mexican.' Such a comparison 
 cannot fail to be instructive, even though it should fiirnish no- 
 thing towards the interpretation of Egyptian hieroglyphics, it 
 is the common failing of the lovers of antiquity, where they 
 perceive certain similarities, to go back so far upon derivation 
 and common origin, as seldom fails to lead to rash, and often 
 specious hypotheses. A close inspection, however, of the 
 Mexican and Egyptian hieroglyphics will prove that their 
 oriffin was not the same, and that there is no similanty in their 
 progress and use. The origin of the Mexican and Egyptian 
 hieroo-lyphics was evidently in both cases local. There is no- 
 thingln the signs of the Mexican which points towards a foreign 
 origin ; the far greater part of the Egyptian are plainly stamped 
 of native growth ; and though this cannot possibly be the case 
 with all, as among the members of the human body, yet 1 do 
 not know of one that might not be of Egyptian origin, tie- 
 
 I Althoneh mtici«m upon single deciphered names may be ill-placed here, yet I camot 
 
 rs^^fxl^S/Svoiarr^t^ 
 
 Sfercf^lTu^it^eltlSpt'i^y^r^T^rJ^^^^^^ 
 
 '" '5^'^boldt, Vue,_de C^dittin, et Mommen. de VAmeriqu,. LiTiai«m i. «. 12- «■ 
 and particularly v. and tL 
 
 sides, the pictures of the Mexican hieroglyphics are, for the 
 most part, whole human figures ; figures of beasts ; or the heads 
 of beasts, so portrayed, that the species is immediately recog- 
 nised; — while the Egyptian hieroglyphics consist, with few 
 exceptions, of merely separate parts of objects, limbs, imple- 
 ments, etc. Again : the hieroglyphics of Mexico evidently 
 sprung from painting ; they still closely resemble them ; those 
 of Egypt from sculpture. The Mexican hieroglyphics, with 
 which I am acquainted, in the manuscripts at Rome, Vienna, 
 Velletri, and those which Mr. Humboldt has deposited at 
 Berlin, consist entirely of paintings ; only one in relief was 
 found and copied by the latter, and it is still doubtful how far 
 that can be called a hieroglyphic.^ The great influence which 
 this difference had upon the whole character of the hiero- 
 glyphics need scarcely be pointed out. The greater part of 
 the Mexican hieroglyphics were such as could not be repre- 
 sented at all, or only very imperfectly, in sculpture. Fourthly: 
 the number and variety of Mexican hieroglyphics, provided 
 we may venture to judge from the few monuments yet known, 
 are much more limited than those of the Egyptians. When 
 the signs are' formed of whole figures, or outlines of whole 
 figures, this must almost necessarily be the case. Hence there- 
 fore we deduce, that, upon the whole, the Mexican hieroglyphics 
 had not attained near that perfection which the Egyptian had. 
 It remained generally much nearer the mere image, their re- 
 presentations being usually half such images ; while the Egyp- 
 tian are evidently much farther removed from mere images, 
 and become allegorical. Finally : let us add to all this the 
 discovery of the phonetic hieroglyphics, altogether unknown to 
 the Mexicans, and all appearance of similarity in the hiero- 
 glyphics of the two nations will almost entirely vanish. 
 
 A very important, and, as regards the hieroglyphics, very 
 beneficial restriction, was imposed upon those of Egypt, from 
 the use to which they were applied. All that remains to us 
 of Egyptian antiquities, very plainly tells us that they were 
 especially made use of for public monuments, buildings, and 
 statues. I have already remarked, that upon all these monu- 
 ments hieroglyphics alone are to be found, there is no where 
 the least trace of alphabetical characters.^ Notwithstanding, 
 
 * Part i. plate 21. Bas-relief Azteque de la Pierre des Sacrifices. 
 
 • A single exception is found in a short inscription of one line at Phike, plate xv. fig. 16, 
 of the great work on Egypt. It is still, however, yery doubtful whether these are letters ; 
 
^0 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 therefore, that hieroglyphics may likewise be met with upon 
 mummies, and that it should be granted that they are con- 
 tained in some of the earliest sacred books of the priests, still 
 it does not remain the less certain, that the principal use for 
 which they were designed was inscriptions on public monu- 
 ments ; and accordingly we find, in the flourishing period of 
 Effvpt, (of which alone we can here speak,) but very few made 
 use of in the writings upon papyrus, while they abound in 
 sculpture There is no doubt but it was this circumstance 
 which preserved to them their proper form, and prevented 
 their transformation into a mere arbitrary figure. 1 his is al- 
 ways the case in writing, where contraction, combinations, 
 and so forth, unavoidably lead to it. Sculpture upon durable 
 bodies, demands a more careful formation of the separate 
 members,— the figures must be fully expressed ; moreover, 
 their destination, as public monuments, would naturally awaken 
 the emulation and industry of the artisan. The latest re- 
 searches give proofs of this. The hieroglyphics are found 
 much more carefully and highly finished upon public monu- 
 ments, where they are sculptured, than upon mummies, etc., 
 where they are merely painted ; Champollion, therefore, has 
 divided them into two classes, according to the character ot 
 the workmanship, one of which he names the pure, and the 
 other the linear.^ The hieroglyphics, also, were the better 
 preserved on another account ; as they were sculptured on the 
 ancient monuments of the nation, and belonged to its flourish- 
 ing period, the epoch of its splendour and glory, they became 
 sacred in the eyes of posterity, and continued unchanged and 
 
 uninjured. , , • * ♦ 
 
 But this very fact leads again to another very important 
 conclusion : the archeology of this nation was by themselves 
 immediately linked to their public monuments. It was by 
 these that was preserved the remembrance of former times,— 
 the remembrance of their kings, their heroes, and legislators. 
 This is the description which antiquity itself gives ot the 
 sources whence the priests derived their information, since 
 they traced back, on those sacred pillars covered with hiero- 
 glyphics, all that Thot or Hermes, the symbol of human in- 
 telligence, as inventor of hieroglyphic writing, and, therefore, 
 
 and besides, the latest inquirers place the greater part of the monuments at Philffi in the 
 
 Greek and Roman period. -, rr- 7 j;^» ;.«^/,.v*« 
 
 » Prtcis, p. 357. Hieroglyphes purs, and Hteroglyphes hneaires. 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 281 
 
 likewise the protecting deity of the priest caste, had established. 
 But these pillars, obelisks, temples, etc., were covered with 
 hieroglyphics, and only with hieroglyphics. The more ancient 
 history of Egypt, therefore, as related by the priests themselves, 
 must necessarily have been a hieroglyphic traditional history, 
 connected with these monuments, and extracted from them. 
 The Egyptian history of Herodotus, as found in the latter half 
 of the second book of his work, gives the most striking and 
 irrefutable proofs of this fact. The father of history there re- 
 lates to us those accounts which he collected from the mouths 
 of the Egyptian priests ; we may, therefore, flatter ourselves 
 that he has preserved to us what they in his time knew, — 
 before yet their country had passed under the dominion of the 
 Greeks, not much above half a century after the fall of the 
 throne of the Pharaohs, — of their ancient history, and the 
 deeds of their kings, whose names he has rescued from obli- 
 vion. A single glance at this history, however, is sufficient to 
 prove that it is a hieroglyphic history exclusively collected 
 from public monuments. The nature of the matters related 
 sufficiently evinces the truth of the latter, as they can only be 
 understood allegorically, if they are to have a rational meaning 
 at all.^ The first is suflBciently obvious from the fact, that the 
 monuments were instituted by eve7y king, without exception, 
 whose name they bear ; but in order that no doubt should rest 
 upon the subject, the writer adds, that the priests, besides, 
 enumerated to him, from a papyrus roll, the mere names of three 
 hundred and thirty kings, of whom they could relate nothing 
 further, because they had left no monuments behind.* 
 
 * The passage quoted from Clemens Alexandrinus accords exactly with this. As a second 
 sort of symbolical writing he mentions the tropic, which consisted of pictures that no longer 
 were taken in a proper sense, and remarks, that therein were concealed, enveloped in sacred 
 mythi, the narratives of the exploits of their kings. (He calls them anaglypJis; which ex- 
 pression is improperly referred by Champollion to the third kind, the enigmatic ; Precis, p. 
 383.) These representations, therefore, were the principal sources of the sacred traditions 
 (Xoyoi lapoi) of the Egyptian priests, which are nothing more than picture relations of what 
 we read in Herodotus, Plutarch, and other writers, partly of the gods, as of Osiris, Isis, Am- 
 mon, and numerous others, partly of their kings, as in Herodotus, of Pheron, Rampsis, and 
 80 on. These relations, however, contain anything rather than what we should caU inter- 
 pretations of these representations ; no unfolding of the true sense which lies locked up 
 within them ; these remained the secret of the priest caste, so long as they chose, and the 
 key thereto was not lost by them. And thus becomes explained why they could feel no 
 great hesitation in imparting them to strangers, who succeeded in gaining their confidence. 
 Many of them, indeed, became popular reports ; namely, those which bore relation to the 
 public feasts. 
 
 * Herod, ii. 101. Judging merely from this writer, should we not be fully justified in as- 
 suming, that historical written documents, besides the catalogues of kings, existed among 
 the priests ; and yet Herodotus inquired for them among the best informed at Thebes, Mem- 
 phis, and Heliopolis. It may however be, that the priests did not wish to give him any 
 further information ; and, therefore, I will not altogether deny the existence of such writ- 
 ings ; others quote them, and Manetho drew from them, whose sources (as I and Zoega 
 
EGYPTIANS. 
 
 But if the knowledge which the priests had of the principal 
 events depended on public monuments, on temples obelisks, 
 and colossi, what a striking effect this must have had upon 
 what we call the history of Egypt ! How defective it must be; 
 of what mere fragments composed ! Was it possible to pre- 
 vent what was known from being connected with certam 
 names' and then how would the deeds of certam kings, as is 
 evidently the case with regard to Sesostris, become exagger- 
 ated » Will it still be attempted to prove that the series ot 
 those kings was uninterrupted, even allowing the priests to 
 
 have represented it as such ? i • i i 
 
 The names of numerous Ptolemies and Caesars which have 
 been found upon the Egyptian monuments in hieroglyphic 
 inscriptions, confirmed what was previously known from the 
 Greek inscriptions; namely, that many of those monuments 
 must date their origin in a later period than that of the Pha- 
 raohs. It becomes so much the more necessary to explain 
 this, because there seems a desire-if only for the sake ot 
 novelty— to bring down the age of most, if not all oi those 
 
 monuments to a later period. - ., . , r v^rr. 
 
 It evidently was a great advantage for the study ot i.gyp- 
 tian antiquities, that those, who took an interest therein, began 
 by carefiiUy transcribing and collecting the Greek inscriptions 
 which were there found on many of the monuments, and which 
 had previously been almost entirely neglected. We are in- 
 debted to them for the important work of M. Letronne upon 
 the state of Egypt under the dominion of the Oreeks and 
 Romans, drawn from inscriptions.' There are two ways of 
 determining the age of monuments; one from the style ot the 
 architecture, the other from the inscriptions. Only proficients 
 in the art can decide it by the first ; and it is no where more 
 difficult than in the monuments of Egypt, because their sty e, 
 altogether, has been subject to the least change. Besides, the 
 aee in this way can only be fixed to certain periods, not to 
 years ; nor can it be done from drawings or engravmgs, but 
 the object must be actually seen, and carefully examined, be- 
 
 f„ tm helicve and as the latest inquiries confirm) could not be so inconsiderate ?nd des- 
 
 no proper Worical work in his classed catalogue of the ^"^^^^ ^^^^'-.^^ ^es Grecs et 
 ^^slcherches pour servir a V Histoire de V Effvpte pendant la ??J»J"«J^^* ^^,^1^ 
 des iLains, ti^s des Inscriptions Grecqueset Lattnes, '"^^J^T.^nne fe 1823 
 ^ Arts, aui usoffes CiviU, et aux Reliffions de ce pays ; par M. Letronne. Fans, 1»^. 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 ^8S 
 
 fore any judgment of its age can be given. By this means 
 two celebrated architects, Gau and Hujot, came to the con- 
 clusion, that Egyptian architecture should be divided into 
 three different periods : the earliest, to which belong many of 
 the monuments of Nubia and Upper Egypt ; the period of its 
 complete splendour in the flourishing ages of the Pharaohs ; 
 and a third which reached down to the times of the Ptolemies 
 and Romans.^ This view, with regard to the last period, is 
 completely confirmed by the Greek inscriptions, while it com- 
 pletely overthrows the opinion, which previously prevailed, 
 that all the monuments built in the Egyptian style date earlier 
 than the period of the Ptolemies, and belong to that of the 
 Pharaohs. And if we fairly consider what we know of the 
 state of Egypt under the Ptolemies and under the Romans, we 
 shall hardly be able to conceive that the whole ancient temple 
 architecture of Egypt could have ceased all at once. The re- 
 ligion continued ; the priest caste continued ; (policy, indeed, 
 required that these should be favoured ;) means could not be 
 wanting in a country so rich, and which at that time was the em- 
 porium of the world ; can we then believe that the two ancient 
 arts of architecture and sculpture could suddenly fall into disuse? 
 Before, however, we attempt to decide, from the Greek in- 
 scriptions, (for, as their evidence is the safest, we shall only 
 judge from them,) how far the monuments of Egypt belong to 
 the Greek and Roman periods, we must take a glance at the 
 plan and architecture of those stupendous monuments, which 
 ancient Egypt, principally in temples, has left behind. Not 
 merely the extent, but the plan also, of these gigantic build- 
 ings clearly shows, that every part of them was not raised at 
 the same time ; but that a long period, perhaps a succession 
 of centuries, elapsed before they stood in their full magnitude 
 and perfection. The proper interior sanctuary is but of small 
 extent, but gradually widens, as the new buildings, the colon- 
 nades, saloons of pillars, the pylones, are added to it. In front 
 of these sit the colossi ; again, before these are placed the 
 obelisks. An avenue of sphinxes, rams, or other animals, of a 
 gigantic size, lead to these ; and again, in front of all this stands 
 a magnificent entrance ; and, perhaps, even before this another 
 alley of colossal beasts ; and these leading to various sides. It 
 might therefore be said, that such a vast structure could 
 scarcely ever be completed ; art could always find place for 
 
 * Letronne, Recherehesj etc. Introduction, p. xxr. 
 
284 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 improvements or additions, without even oflFence to good taste. 
 It was by these additional buildings, that monarchs endea- 
 voured to preserve the glory of their deeds, to obtam a higher 
 consecration, and to give splendour to their reign It quite 
 beloncced, therefore, to the character of these buildings, and 
 the purposes for which they were appointed, that continual 
 additions should be made to them. Should there still be a 
 doubt on this subject, so clearly proved by appearances we 
 have an historical proof of it in Herodotus, who tells us ot the 
 additions made to the principal temple at Memphis, and to that 
 of Phtha, by a succession of Pharaohs. 
 
 The repeated researches that have been made leave scarcely 
 a single Greek inscription on the Egyptian and Nubian tem- 
 ples, with which we are unacquainted ; but their number is 
 certainly not very considerable. Those that are known seldom 
 extend to the whole building, but only to the particular parts, 
 or additions, upon which they stand. These additions were 
 mostly erected by the inhabitants of the nome, or by the troops 
 as votive offerings for the welfare of the king, or Caesar ; ' and 
 but few by these rulers themselves. To these belong the great 
 eastern entrance of the small temple at Tentyris, as well as the 
 vestibule (pronaos) of the great temple at the same place, as 
 the inscriptions expressly state ; and besides these, the propylon, 
 or entrance, of the temple of Pan at Chemmis ; and also that of 
 the temple of Ammon on the great oasis. All these belong to the 
 Roman period. From that of the Ptolemies we have the propy- 
 lon of the temple of Isis and Serapis at Parembole, the station 
 beyond Syene ; the pronaos at Antaopolis, which was after- 
 wards restored by the Antonines ; the propylon at Little Apol- 
 linopolis ; part of the great temple at Ombos : as a set-off to 
 which the small temple at Philae, dedicated to the Aphrodite, 
 seems to have been entirely built by the second Ptolemy 
 Evergetes. These are the monuments which, according to the 
 Greek inscriptions, certainly belong to the later periods. By 
 means of deciphering hieroglyphic legends, M. Champollion 
 still adds to these the temple of Bahbeit ; the great temple and 
 the Typhonium of Tentyris ; the portico of Esneh, and the 
 temple to the north of this city ; the temple of Ombos ; the 
 temple and the Typhonium of Edfu ; and the great temple ot 
 Philae.' But whether, allowing the deciphering to be accu- 
 
 1 Namely aU those beginning with irwlp tou BaaCKU^ or ILaifrapo^ ; as is shown by 
 
 _^ "^ « 'Prints. Ti. 387. 
 
 lietTonne. 
 
 Precis, p. 387 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 2S5 
 
 rate, the whole of these monuments, or only parts of them, be- 
 long to the later period, can only be settled by a further ex- 
 amination, which cannot be well made except upon the spot. 
 
 Be this as it may, it is very evident that the discovery of 
 later buildings under the Ptolemies and Romans, in no way 
 opposes the representations, which have thus far been made, 
 of the state of the nation under the Pharaohs. The vast mo- 
 numents of higher antiquity, the ruins of the kingly Thebes, 
 of the royal sepulchre, the temples and obelisks of Elephantis, 
 Heliopolis, and others, are become more striking and certain 
 evidences than ever of that wonderful period, now that we read 
 upon their walls the names of the Pharaohs who erected them.^ 
 
 From what has been said, a tolerably correct notion may be 
 formed, of the point to which our knowledge of ancient Egypt 
 has already attained, and of that to which it may yet be car- 
 ried. That wonderful nation seems still to speak to us through 
 its monuments ; in a language, it is true, in which we have 
 made but little progress, and which, indeed, we can scarcely 
 ever hope completely to master. How little, indeed, do we 
 know of those pictural representations upon its monuments ! 
 Our information has, indeed, been somewhat extended within 
 a very late period, but only just sufficiently to open our eyes 
 to the nothingness of what we know, compared with what still 
 remains hidden. A long tranquil period would be necessary, 
 and a host of artists to copy the inscriptions and bas-reliets, 
 which cover the walls of the temples, and the still more in- 
 structive paintings which decorate the partitions of countless 
 sepulchres. All that we yet possess of them taken together, 
 are but paltry patterns ! ^ 
 
 It is not the object of the present work to explain Egyptian 
 antiquities in their whole extent. I shall be satisfied if I can 
 place before my reader a general view of the country and 
 people, of their political institutions, and of their literature and 
 science, so far as connected with them, especially in the king- 
 ly Thebes ; and, finally, of the share which they took in the 
 commerce of the world. 
 
 * Champollion, Precis, 1. c. 
 
 ' [Considerable information, however, of a most interesting nature, is likely to be obtained 
 by the exertions of Champollion. He has caused several hundred drawings to be taken of the 
 most curious paintings in the sepulchral excavations of Beni Hassan. Most of these relate to 
 the domestic manners of the ancient Egyptians. They are arranged by Champollion under 
 various heads, as £^riculture, the farm-yard, arts and handicrafts, singing, music, dancing, 
 games and diversions, navigation, zoology ; besides the higher classes of religious and histo- 
 rical subjects. See ChampoUion's Letters from Egypt j particularly the fifth and sixth. 
 Trans.] 
 
wo 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [CHilP. I. 
 
 'I 
 
 Chap. I. General View of the Country and its Inhabitants, 
 
 BQYPT 18 A LANP OF MARVELS, AND EXCELS ALL OTHERS IN MIGHTY WORKS. 
 
 HEROD. II. 35. 
 
 If it be still possible to throw any general light upon the ob- 
 scurity of Egyptian antiquities ; the torch must be first kindled 
 by a knowledge of the country. Had we been born and passed 
 our lives on the banks of the Nile, many things would be evi- 
 dent and easy to comprehend, which are now doubtful and un- 
 solved problems. There is no other people of the ancient 
 world whose form and fashion bears so strongly the impress of 
 locality as the Egyptian ; or who is bound to his country by 
 so many ties, or who so identified it with himself. As this 
 country, then, differed in so many remarkable peculiarities 
 from all others that we know of, ought we to be astonished if 
 the nation differed also ? 
 
 Egypt, taken in its widest extent, must be ranked among the 
 countries of moderate size. If we compute its superficial con- 
 tents at about 6000 square miles, it will not much exceed Eng- 
 land.^ There is scarcely, however, any other country so limited, in 
 which appears so much internal variety, or so wide and marked 
 a diflference in its separate parts. The highest fertility imme- 
 diately borders on the completely sterile and solitary desert ; 
 rich plains stretch between the barren hills of sand, and barren 
 and rugged mountains. The image of life and of death con- 
 tinually float before the eyes of the Egyptian in his country ; 
 what we have to say will show how much they influence the 
 whole range of his ideas. 
 
 From the eariiest antiquity Egypt has been called a gift of 
 the Nile ; and whatever hypothesis may be adopted, with re- 
 gard to the formation and growth of its territory, it justly de- 
 serves to be considered as such, in reference to the fertility of 
 its soil. Although Lower Egypt is not altogether without 
 rain, yet this so rarely happens, as we retire from the sea, that, 
 under the constantly serene sky of Thebes, the whole period of 
 man's life may pass away without the earth being refreshed 
 from above with more than a moist dew. The irrigation and 
 fertility of the soil, therefore, entirely depend upon the river, 
 without which Egypt would have shared the fate of the rest of 
 
 I [Enc^lop. Metropol. An exact computation is impossible, from tlit nnsettlfed state of the 
 western boundaries. Trans,'] 
 
REDUCTION 
 
 RATIO 
 
 CHANGE(S) 
 
 WITHIN 
 TITLE 
 
"• ~ -i " ' 1 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 "S ■'. 
 
 1 
 
 
 ■ >. 
 
 «fi* III 
 
 1^ 
 
 ■a a 
 
 \ iL ; 
 
 V 
 
 "O 'V\ \ ].■ 
 
 
 ■■ '%..^l "'■•"■ 
 
 
 ■tj. ^'^JiJ! ^'" 
 
 
 ''-^ /S**t/'' 
 
 M 
 
 \ "-•> ^ \^ 
 
 2" ^ 
 
 S. V .#^_ Jiiik 
 
 ^ -y 
 
 \. 
 
 vjr.^ 
 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 THE LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 287 
 
 Africa, and have been partly a sandy waste, and partly a stony 
 desert. 
 
 The Nile flows in one undivided stream through Egypt, in 
 almost an exact northern direction, till it reaches the city of 
 Cercasorus, about sixty geographical miles from its mouth. It 
 here divides itself into several arms, which enclose the Del- 
 ta, or fruitful part of Lower Egypt. It is generally known 
 that this river bears along a fat slime, which it deposits 
 on the lands it waters with its flood, and thereby gives them 
 a greater fertility than could be procured by the richest 
 manure. 
 
 These yearly inundations of the Nile have not only improved 
 the cultivation of the soil, but have had such a vast influence 
 upon the life and manners, knowledge and religion, and indeed 
 upon the general organization of the nation, that it will be of 
 service, on more than one occasion, for the further progress of 
 these researches, to stop here and take a glance at this inter- 
 esting object. 
 
 The cause of this phenomenon was an object of much re- 
 search even in ancient times. Herodotus formed many con- 
 jectures respecting it, and decided for the most reasonable of 
 them ; ^ Agatharchides, however, seems to have been the first 
 to discover the truth.^ The constant rains, to which the dis- 
 tricts of Upper Ethiopia are subject during the wet season from 
 May to September, swell all the rivers thereabouts, the whole 
 of which pour their floods into the Nile, which consequently 
 becomes the reservoir of this prodigious body of water. In 
 the middle of June, about the time of the summer solstice, these 
 first begin to enter Egypt, and the river there begins to rise. 
 It continues to increase till the end of July, though still con- 
 fined within its channel ; but in the first half of August it over- 
 flows its banks, inundates the neighbouring territory,^ and its 
 waters continue, without intermission, to extend themselves till 
 September. About this time, the torrents of rain in Ethiopia 
 having ceased, the Nile begins gradually to fall, but so slowly, 
 that the greater part of the territory of Egypt remains covered 
 with its waters till the commencement of October ; and it is 
 not till towards the end of this month that they completely re- 
 turn into their bed. 
 
 The period of inundation, therefore, continues from the midst 
 
 » Herod, ii. 20, etc. « Agatharchid. ap. Diod. i. p. 50. 
 
 ^ It is usual to cut through the dams and open the canals on the 9th of Auguit. 
 
288 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. X, 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 THE LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 289 
 
 of August to the end of October ; and during this time all the 
 fertile valley of Egypt has the appearance of one vast lake, m 
 which its cities jut up like so many islands. Ancient writers, 
 indeed, are wont to compare it to the JEgaean Sea ; where the 
 Cyclades and Sporades offer a similar appearance on a larger 
 
 scale* 
 
 The soil of Egypt, therefore, is fruitful as far as this inunda- 
 tion reaches, or can be made to reach by artificial means. The 
 well-soaked earth, manured by a fat mud, or slime, requires 
 only to be sowed, digging or ploughing being alike unneces- 
 sary.* Corn and pulse shoot up so quickly, that in some parts 
 a double crop is grown every year. 
 
 The Nile, from the southern frontiers of Egypt to where the 
 stream becomes divided, runs in one uninterrupted course 
 through a valley, bounded on each side by a chain of moun- 
 tains, which, though they sometimes approach nearer and 
 sometimes retire farther from its banks, usually leave from nine 
 to twelve miles between them and the river. This valley forms 
 the chief part of the cultivated land of Egypt ; it formed 
 originally the bed of this river, from which it has in a great 
 measure been rescued by art. This same valley was also the 
 ancient seat of Egyptian civilization ; in it were organized the 
 first Egyptian states, and in it arose, one after another, that 
 line of cities, temples, and colossal works of art, which orna- 
 mented both banks of the river. 
 
 Where this valley ends the stream divides, and forms, by its 
 arms, the fertile part of Lower Egypt, which is called the Del- 
 ta. Ancient naturalists rightly explained this territory to be 
 a gift of the Nile, which, by the mud and slime that it bears 
 along and deposits, gradually raises the soil, and when, in a 
 long course of centuries, it had, by its annual accumulations, 
 formed land where before only water existed, it still kept open 
 for itself several entrances into the sea, which afterwards under- 
 went various changes both of nature and art.^ 
 
 These large plains of the Delta, every where intersected by 
 canals, and the valley I have just described, constitute the whole 
 of Egypt which admits of cultivation ; it scarcely amounts to 
 a sixth part of the whole territory, according to its estimated 
 
 » The use of the plough, howeyer, in the cultivation of the soU, has not remained unknown 
 
 in Ejrvnt : it is met witn on the monuments. , . i. ^. -o i •«« ^oo ♦iio 
 
 «S^n mouths of the Nile were known to the ancients, of which t^^ ^elusiac w^ the 
 mosrea^em and the Canopic the most western ; hut even at that Ume they jre^^ect^^ 
 many changes. The Nile at present has only two pnncipal mouths, that of Bosetta ana 
 that of Damietta. 
 
 superficial contents.* However, the more the importance of 
 the country concentrates in these districts, the more necessary 
 it becomes that we should consider them somewhat in detail. 
 
 Although the narrow plain forming the valley of the Nile 
 is reckoned to the fertile land, it is not equally so throughout. 
 The stony mountain-chain which encloses it on the western 
 side, presses in some places, especially in Upper Egypt, so 
 close to the river, that the inundation reaches to its base. For 
 the most part, however, and particularly in Middle Egypt, 
 where the valley begins to widen, there is a barren sandy 
 strip, from about a mile to two and a half broad, which inter- 
 venes between the foot of the chain and the land adapted to 
 husbandry. This western chain serves in general to protect 
 the valley of the Nile from the invasion of the sand of the 
 desert, which whirled up, and impelled forward by the wind, 
 would long since, without this barrier, have filled it up. An- 
 cient Egyptian edifices, as well as single pyramids and colos- 
 sal sphinxes, which are sometimes found buried to their middle 
 m sand, plainly evince that this protection has not, at all points, 
 prevented its entrance ; but the more accurate information^ 
 which we have recently had the good fortune to obtain, re- 
 specting these regions, gives us proofs that this has only par- 
 tially been the case, and that the valley of the Nile in general 
 &eems to have suflfered but little from this destructive enemy. 
 The cultivated lands are also highest close to the river, where 
 the Nile deposits its riches in the largest quantity, and sink as 
 they stretch towards the waste. The banks of the river in 
 Upper Egypt are usually from thirty to thirty-five feet above 
 the level of the water. The lower and more distant lands, 
 therefore, by means of numerous canals, are flooded sooner 
 than the higher and nearer ; on which account the latter, fi-om 
 the quantity of water drawn off* to inundate the former, run the 
 risk of getting none at all ; a misfortune, the more distant can 
 scarcely fear.^ Recent researches also prove beyond a doubt, 
 (if indeed any proof was before wanting,) that this fertile soil 
 has all been formed by the mud or slime deposited by the Nile, 
 and is therefore entirely a gift of that river.' But, however 
 nature may here be aided by canals and machinery, she herself 
 
 hpIiS«*^'^^ ^Vf"^* "^- P' ^^- . ^^- Gerard, estimates the mean width of the TaUey. 
 of f 1^! 1 ♦ ^T® *n ^ ^^' I* ^^"^^ "^^ ™^^» *"*^ *^e whole area of cultivable soil, exclusive 
 of the lateral valleys and the Oases, at about 11,000 square miles. Trans.] 
 
 ^ee proofs of this in Reynier, sur V Agriculture d^VEgypte, in Mimoires, torn. iv. p. 6. 
 
 •**eymcF| i. c. 
 
 u 
 
g90 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. 1. 
 
 has fixed a boundary which cannot be passed. Even in the 
 valley itself, the separation of the fruitful soil from the solitary 
 v^aste is distinctly marked ; the empire of life borders on the 
 empire of death ; the habitations of the living, which cover the 
 fertile plains through which the Nile pours its waters, are fol- 
 lowed by the abodes of the dead, the sandy plain and the hills 
 being filled with countless graves and sepulchres; and this 
 seems to have contributed more than anything else to give that 
 peculiar tone of mind and feeling to the nation, that peculiar 
 character, which distinguishes it from all others. 
 
 The western mountain-chain, which bounds the valley of 
 the Nile, consists for the most part of a stony ridge, covered 
 with sand, whose western side descends into the great desert.' 
 In this waste there are still two fruitful spots within the boun- 
 daries of Egypt, the Oases, so celebrated in antiquity, which 
 are fertile, and possess water springs. In the researches upon 
 the commercial routes of the Carthaginians, it has already been 
 shown that such islands are not unfrequent in the great sandy 
 oceans of Africa. Of the two Egyptian oases (only two were 
 known to the ancients 2) the larger, lying to the south, which 
 has been visited by several travellers, is now called El Wah;'' 
 we have accounts of its monuments, consisting of many tem- 
 ples of which we have descriptions and plates. The name of 
 the 'smaller is now El Gkerbi The fertility for which the 
 greater oasis was celebrated in antiquity appears to have been 
 considerably diminished by the sand that has been driven mto 
 it from the desert ; as large districts of sand are found between 
 the few villages now scattered over it. Ancient geographers 
 reckon all this part of Egypt to Libya ; and indeed m these 
 barren wastes there is no more a political than a physical de- 
 finite boundary. , n r i. ati 
 The eastern part of the country, from the valley ot the JNUe 
 to the Arabian Gulf, is quite of a different nature. It consists 
 of a stony mountainous tract, unfit for agriculture, though m 
 many districts suitable for pasturage. These mountains, com- 
 
 » A deacriDtion of thi8 will be found in Browne's Travels, p. 253. 
 
 « Stmbo ?vSi p 168 I have already remarked, p. 104, that very -probably the oa^s 
 of J Xar^r^dV ]5aA./, which are now considered as two, only together formed the 
 
 *^''Fi«rby Br'^w^^S'iiisjonrneyto Darfonr. Since by Caillaud, Edmonstone and othe^. 
 See C^laud, Voyage a V Oasis de Thebes Y^ri., 1813, with the plates ^^- ^^'J^^^^J^g 
 monstone's JourLi to two of the Oases of Upper Egypt Lond 1823^ J^ilt whlchTavc 
 out monuments, was visited by Belzoni. That of ^arafre, and a few s^^^^^^r TJuf^^^^^^^^^ 
 bSen mentioned by modem t4vellers, seem to have been unknown, and mconsiderable m 
 antiquity. They are enumerated in f Ukert, Geography of Africa, p. 116, 
 
 CHAP. I'] 
 
 THE LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 £91 
 
 posed of marble of the greatest variety of colours, of granite, 
 porphyry, and similar species of stone, formed the inexhaustible 
 magazines for the colossal architectural monuments of ancient 
 Egypt, and in the granite quarries even now are sometimes 
 found the forms whence obelisks and colossi have been 
 hewn out. 
 
 The French expedition has thrown a clearer light upon this 
 part of Egypt, which was before almost entirely unknown. The 
 nature of these mountains has been examined by geologists, 
 and the long prevailing error, that the large masses which the 
 Egyptians made use of in the erection of their public monu- 
 ments, were obtained from a long distance from the Nile, has 
 been corrected. The mountains bordering on the valley of 
 the Nile may be divided, according to their geological con- 
 tents, into three districts.^ In the south-east, near Philae and 
 the cataracts, rocks of Syenite or oriental granite prevail, from 
 which the ancient Egyptians drew the stupendous masses re- 
 quired for their monuments of one piece, {monoliths^) obelisks, 
 colossi, etc. The most northern district, reaching beyond 
 Thebes, consists of mountain-chains both on the eastern and 
 western side, composed of calcareous stone, of which therefore 
 the pyramids were constructed. The middle district, extend- 
 ing from Syene to within a day's journey south of Latapolis or 
 Esneh, forms the connecting link between the chalk and 
 granite mountains, and consists entirely of sandstone. This 
 sandstone — of which all the temples in Upper Egypt are built 
 — is of various colours; grey, yellowish, pure white; veins 
 also of bright pink, or rose colour, occasionally occur. The 
 buildings, however, generally appear white or grey. The 
 stone is not very hard, and therefore the immense quantity of 
 sculpture upon the walls of the temples were the more easily 
 executed. The stone quarries in these districts are largest and 
 most frequent where the mountain-chain approaches nearest 
 to the river; especially near Silsilis, the present Selseleh, 
 which shows clearly enough the care that was taken to make 
 the transport to the river as short as possible. It is particu- 
 larly necessary to notice, in this geographical sketch, that these 
 mountain-chains are intersected by many valleys, running from 
 west to east, and stretching as far as the Red Sea. Some of 
 
 ' For what follows see the essay of H. ^oziere, Description rf' Omhos et des Environs , sect, 
 ii. in the Description de VEgypte, tom. i. chap. iv. in the great work on Egypt. [The 
 English reader will find a detailed account of the geology of Egypt in the Encyclop. 
 Metropol. article Egypt, which seems to have been taken from the above source. Tram.] 
 
 V 2 
 
292 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. 1. 
 
 these widen into plains, while others contract themselves into 
 narrow ravines; the most northerly of them, the Valley of 
 Wandering,^ commences with an opening in the neighbour- 
 hood of Cairo, and extends to the most northern point of the 
 Arabian Gulf near Suez. But the best known is the one 
 through which the road passes from Upper Egypt to Cosseir.- 
 Recent discoveries have shown that there were many similar 
 ways, though at present they are but very imperfectly known.^ 
 To these belongs, in particular, one that leads southerly from 
 Edfu to the emerald mines near Mount Zabara ;* where is still 
 found the remnant of an ancient city, and many mines. Closely 
 connected with this subject is the still obscure inquiry re- 
 specting the situation and number of the ports on the Red Sea, 
 in the period of the Ptolemies. 
 
 The rain, which not unfrequently falls in this stony moun- 
 tain-region, gives it in places a degree of fertility. It is indeed 
 incapable of agriculture ; but the quantity of herbage which 
 shoots up at certain periods in the valleys and plains fits them 
 for pasturage ; and the nomad hordes who wander over them 
 find a necessary supply of water in wells and pits ; while the 
 strange shapes and various colours of the steep, naked, rugged 
 mountains, give to the whole picture an appearance of com- 
 plete sterility. 
 
 The valley of the Nile in its whole course (the upper part of 
 which, down to Chemmis, contains the ancient Thebais or 
 Upper Egypt ; and the lower or northern, from Chemmis to 
 Cercasorus, where the Nile divides. Middle Egypt) was covered 
 with a succession of cities and monuments, which must have 
 formed, with scarcely any interruption, one continuous chain ; 
 there is now, however, with regard to the remains of antiquity, 
 a striking difference between the two. They increase both in 
 number and importance the higher we ascend the river, those 
 of Upper Egypt being by far the most numerous and interest- 
 ing. In the whole of Middle Egypt, except a few quite de- 
 cayed ruins,^ and the antiquities of Arsinoe or Fayoum, not yet 
 
 > An accurate description of this valley will be found in Mtmoires sur rEgypte.Xam. iii. 
 p. 360, etc. It derives its name from a tradition, that the Israelites wandered therein at 
 Sieir Exodus from Egrypt. « Of this also the Mtmoires sur VEgypte, tom. u. p. 
 
 227, give an excellent account, which confirms that of Bruce. 
 
 » It is become very evident from these, that the ancient caravan road from Coptos to tne 
 Arabian Gulf, which may still be traced by ruins and ancient buildings, differed from the 
 present. Mtmoires sur VEgypte, iu. p. 264. f Ukert, in his Geography of Afrxca, i. p. 
 242, has noted down the course, and described the valleys which intersect the western 
 mountain-ridge. * Belzoni, Narrative, p. 314. He did not find the ancient 
 
 city here seen by Caillaud ; probably because his guide lost his way. 
 
 * In the porticoes of Hermopolis. Denon, plate xxxiiL 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 THE LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 293 
 
 sufficiently examined, the Pyramids are the only architectural 
 monuments which now remain ; while Upper Egypt on the 
 contrary contains all those temples, which, however unintel- 
 ligible the numerous inscriptions and representations on their 
 walls, are far better calculated by their awful magnitude, their 
 magnificence, and their altogether peculiar style, to give us 
 some idea of what this nation formerly was. This series of 
 monuments commences at Tentyris,^ on the western side of the 
 stream, where the temple, so celebrated for its zodiac, at once 
 mspires the beholder with the idea of a gigantic and massive 
 architecture, differing from what any other country on the 
 globe has produced. A glance at this, however, only prepares 
 the astonished traveller for the more magnificent wonders, 
 which await him about twenty miles farther to the south in 
 the monuments of Thebes, the majestic capital of Jupiter' or 
 the city of Ammon. The whole width of the valley, on both 
 banks of the stream, forming an area of about nine miles from 
 west to east, is covered with the ruins of the most ancient 
 royal city of the world ; and where the habitations of the living 
 end, there begin the dwellings of the dead, which extendi 
 considerable way into the western mountains. Temples, 
 whose huge masses tower up like mountains, surrounded by 
 colossi, sphinxes, and obelisks, whose magnitude insures their 
 continuance, are scattered over the plain. Thousands of 
 years have already passed over them ; yet neither the hand 
 of time, nor the destroying ravages of barbarians, have been 
 able to overthrow them. The great temple of Jupiter yet ex- 
 ists at Karnac ; the stately palaces of the Pharaohs are still 
 standing at Luxor and Medinet Abou ; the colossus of Mem- 
 non, one of the wonders of the ancient world ; the other temples 
 and colossi, whose number cannot yet be told,^ and the royal 
 sepulchres, with their paintings as fresh and uninjured as 
 though they had received the last stroke of the pencil but 
 yesterday, still remain. From this place to the southern 
 boundary of Egypt, link after link of this chain of monuments 
 follow m rapid succession. Thebes is scarcely quitted before the 
 remains of the ancient Hermonthis^ present themselves ; about 
 
 this nrm,5T-?i- ^^^^^i;?' 1^^^? f^^ost cxactly undcr 26° N. Lat. For a representation of 
 this proud building see Denon, plates xxxviii.-xl. Modem researches bring it down to the 
 Fncrl^h "'?'' P.r'l- Champollion, Precis, p. 387. [It may be worth observing to thi 
 Enghsh reader that he will find a very interesting account of this and the other mofument^ 
 
 tc//er^^&^^^^^^ "^^ i^ the Modem Tra. 
 
 teuer, Egypt yolii. Trans.] * Denon, plates xlv.-L 
 
 »rri!if!^'i' ?.^*^ \ ^'.*^ ?^^^^^^is ends the first livraison of the splendid work. De- 
 »cnptum de VEgypte, which begins with Phil^ on the southern boundaries. See pkte td. 
 
£94 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. I. 
 
 eighteen miles farther is the beautiful temple of Esneh the 
 ancient Latopolis ; ' and on the opposite eastern bank ot the 
 Nile is what is left of the former Chnubis^ At nearly the 
 same distance, still farther to the south, follows Edfu, the 
 ApoU'mopolis Magna of former times, with the most perfect and 
 magnificent of all the temples except that of Thebes ; 'and to 
 this immediately follow the monuments of Eliethya," bilsiUs, 
 and Ombos,^ all on the eastern bank of the river. At a short 
 distance, scarce twenty-five miles farther, we come to the an- 
 cient confines of Egypt. It is here in particular that the na- 
 tion seems almost to have outdone itself in the erection of 
 monuments, as though it would impress strangers, at their first 
 step into their territory, with an idea of their greatness and 
 splendour. Still farther, on the north side of the cataracts, 
 immediately following Syene, or Assouan, the ancient frontier 
 town of Egypt, lies, in the midst of the stream, the island of 
 Elephantis ; and just beyond the rapids, about six miles to the 
 south of Syene, is that of PhilcB. Both, and especially the 
 latter, are full of the proudest monuments of architecture ;^ 
 
 -xcTiii. At Hermonthis, now Erment, is a temple of Typhonius ; the exterior is much de- 
 fac^ut ^e interior is in good preservation. On one of the ceilings are the 8i«is of the zc 
 ^ sJetiie SSe^f ivf. Jomard, Description, Antiquitcs,ch^v viii. ; anS compare my 
 
 critique in the Gott. gel Am. 1811, pp. 94—98. r\r^\.^ ««-««j«oi t^mnlA 
 
 » Denon plates liiiliv. At Esneh there are also many temples. Of the principal temple 
 the p^SS ^i^.is alone risihle. This portico is said to belong to the Greek-Rom^ 
 ^riSd ChLpollion, Precis, p. 387- In order to restore the t^^^PlVl^fCiU nninS 
 EnWv iiist as well nreserved, many houses must be pulled down which are built upon and 
 iffii? S TonFy wXci^derable toil that the portico can he entered, as the entrance 
 L through a very narrow passage ; the view of it however is sufficiently imposing to com- 
 S^^rlpl7fc^ thrtToubler^nd shows what the whole building must be. See the Pc 
 I^^LTMs. JoUois et DeviiUers, Antiquitts, chap, vii., and compare the plates Ixxu.-xc. 
 
 3 l"^^:f^el"^:^hivin. in the Description, Antiguitis, plates .^l^-T-J^l-'^it^*};! 
 treaSe of M^omard. Modem researches bring down tins temple to the Penod «f th^^^^^ 
 mies • ChampolUon, Precis, p. 388. Not however from the inscnptions, but from the style ol 
 Ae a^chiSSre The flat roJf of the great temple has borne for a W ^ime ^^ ^jf/^^^^^^^ 
 ^^, of miserable mud hovels ; and the windows or «Pe»^^n|s intended to admit the li^^^^ 
 Me now made use of as sinks. The temple, therefore, is made the receptacle of every kind 
 S S Td isTow nearlv filled up. tL magnificent saloons are m this way become g- 
 Terns • and of the colossal columns the capitals alone jut out above the rubbish. Notwith- 
 ISng all this the building is still so well preserved, that only the P«t;^??fr"^de (one 
 columnlof the portico, and the upper border of the pylones of the external ^cade, (one 
 hun^dEUid ten feet Mgh !) have suffered to any extent. Not a stone m any other part is 
 o^S oXr ; aSdThe^^^^^^^ work is as free from injury as the architecture. Adjoining 
 the CTeat tcmpk is a smaller, whose ornaments leave no doubt of its havmg been dedicated 
 S T&i^. Ne^ to the temples of the benevolent deities it was customary among the 
 
 Etrvptians to build that of the evil principle. - j ^v •4U ^«,-«*;«m. ronrp- 
 
 ?^ighly interesting from the two sepulchral grottoes found there, ^.P^f ^i^f? '^'•^ 
 
 ientSg thi domestic fife of the Egyptians. Deacriptum, plates lxvm.-lxxi. I shall again 
 
 '"^Deno^ plate Iv. The present SeheUh. In this district ^re the quarries aW-men. 
 tionedTp 291 ) from which the material were drawn for the construction of those immense 
 IZL^: See tii^Tatise of M. ^oziere, Description, Antiqmtes,ch^v. iv sec^^- plate -l-i^ 
 
 • DeSon, plate Ixxv. The temples of Ombos (the remains of two are found) are near^ 
 destroyed. A view of the ruins, as they now ex«t, ^.K^;^^^^*?^^,'^^^^,*^ i^cr^f^. 
 
 ' Denon, plates lxiii.-lxxiL See upon EfepWw the ^'^f ^«« ^^ i^onna h?r7^^^ 
 chap. iii. aka plates xxx.-xxxTiii. The remains of two temples are still found here of tne 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 THE LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 295 
 
 some of which, however, according to the latest discoveries, are 
 said to belong to the Ptolemeian period. But certainly not all. 
 For Philae was one of the holy places where, in a remote sacred 
 spot, is shown the tomb of Osiris/ The high antiquity of the 
 monuments of Elephantis cannot be doubted. Greeks, Ro- 
 mans, and Arabs, have here erected buildings, which are all 
 scattered in the dust ; the monuments of ancient Egypt, some 
 probably a thousand years older than the oldest among them, 
 alone defy destruction ; these stand prominent amidst the palm 
 groves which surround them, eternal as nature ! 
 
 It was absolutely necessary for the prosecution of these re- 
 searches, to give a clear sketch of this land of marvels, of archi- 
 tecture, and sculpture ; although a whole life might be spent 
 over the delineations of these monuments, which now place 
 them, as it were, before us, and over the accurate description 
 of the most ancient and noble among them, — the monuments 
 of Thebes, which we have reserved for a future chapter. A 
 mere glance, however, at the sublime and majestic monuments — 
 and how many others must have been levelled with the dust — 
 contained within the confined strip of the narrow valley of the 
 Nile, must at least produce a conviction, that there did exist a 
 time when this classic ground was the central point of the 
 civilization of the world, and when its inhabitants must have 
 possessed all that constitutes an opulent and mighty, a refined 
 and cultivated nation. 
 
 Middle Egypt also was like Upper Egypt, in having its fer- 
 tility confined to the banks of the Nile ; the valley, therefore, 
 through which it flows, was exclusively the seat of culture. 
 But this valley, which in Upper Egypt is always so contracted, 
 begins here gradually to expand ; though its whole breadth as 
 far as Arsinoe, the present Fayoum, scarcely any where exceeds 
 twelve or fifteen miles. A large canal, drawn from, and run- 
 ning parallel with the Nile, on its western side, for nearly one 
 hundred and fifty miles, — well known by the name of Joseph's 
 
 smaller size ; but there is strong reason for believing that a third, much larger, formerly 
 stood here. In the island of Philjc also there were two temples, which are distinguished in 
 the treatise of the deceased Lancret, Description des Antiquitts, chap. i. plates i. — xxix., by 
 the names of the great, and the western temple. According, however, to late accounts, the 
 island contains the remains of no less than five temples. Letronne, Rechercfies, p. 89. They 
 do not rank among the largest temples, but are in fine preservation, and of the highest finish 
 with regard to workmanship. According to the latest information, judging alone from the 
 style, the largest belongs to the period of the Ptolemies ; ChampolUon, p. 388. A Greek 
 inscription has been discovered upon the smallest of the temples. Letronne, 1. c. 
 
 * Upon a small island, which therefore bears the name of Abatos (a/Saros) ; a name con- 
 veying the idea of a retired situation, and likewise that of prohibition to enter it, as it was a 
 sacred place. Conf. Letronne, Recherches, p. 304. Creuzer, Commentationes Herodotete, p. 
 187. So also the ancient temple of Ammon at Meroe, p. 207. 
 
«96 
 
 Egyptians. 
 
 tcHAP. I. 
 
 canalj-^serves, as far as it goes, to extend the overflowing of 
 the river. Near Fayoum, however, the valley opens (as the 
 Libyan chain of mountains retires towards the west) and forms 
 a very fruitful province, which is watered by a branch of Jo- 
 seph's canal/ This part of Egypt, in distant ages, was cele- 
 brated for its stupendous works of art, the most considerable 
 of which was lake Moeris, said, as a reservoir of the Nile, to 
 have secured the fruitfulness of the province. A part of this 
 remarkable lake still exists under the name of lake Kerun.^ 
 Modern research has here, however, confirmed the opinion 
 previously entertained, that this lake cannot be regarded as 
 entirely the work of man's hand, but that art here only assisted 
 and brought into use the work of nature. A greater part of 
 the province of Arsinoe formed a valley, that, by the yearly 
 overflowing of the Nile, w^as of itself placed under water, 
 which, on the fall of the river, again found a natural passage 
 out, through a gorge on the south-west part of the valley. In 
 this state of things it only required the construction of a few 
 dams and canals, which are more or less still visible, in order 
 to regulate these inundations. Not far from this lake stands 
 one of the greatest edifices of ancient Egypt : the celebrated 
 labyrinth, of which Herodotus has given a description.^ We 
 learn, from more recent accounts, that many remains of ancient 
 Egyptian building and art are still to be found here ; even the 
 pyramid of brick, mentioned by Herodotus, may still be dis- 
 cerned ; but the whole of the buildings are now not only a 
 heap of ruins, but seem, for the most part, to be buried in sand, 
 which has been driven from the desert by the wind.* 
 
 To the north of Arsinoe the Libyan chain again returns to 
 its former distance from the Nile, and, following the course of 
 the river through the remainder of Middle Egypt, leaves the 
 breadth of the valley, in most places, some where about nine 
 miles. No buildings are found here as in Upper Egypt, al- 
 though the city of Memphis, the more modem capital of the 
 kingdom, which seems, indeed, to have emulated Thebes, and 
 
 » The ancient district of Arsinoe. . - 
 
 « We are indebted to Girard for the first accurate description of this remarkable part oX 
 the land in Memoires 8ur I'Egypte, torn. iii. p. 329, etc. 
 
 3 Herod ii. 148. He is the only writer who saw it entire. " All the buddings of the 
 Greeks put together," says this far-travelled historian, " could not have cost so much. 
 
 « The ruins have been examined and described by Jomard ; nothing is to be seen but im- 
 mense heaps of rubbish. Description de VEgypte, Antiquitts, vol. u. chap. xvu. sect ly. 
 Belzoni has since visited it, but found nothinc but stones strewed about. He crossed the 
 lake, and seems to have sought the remains of the Labynnth in the wrong place. JSarratvoe, 
 p. 378, 379. 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 THE LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 ^97 
 
 is not less celebrated for its temples and palaces, formerly stood 
 here.* But if the monuments of the living have passed away, 
 those of the dead still remain. The whole mountain-chain, as 
 well as the sandy desert which runs within the valley at its base, 
 is full of tombs, similar to those which are found in Upper 
 Egypt. This district, however, is particularly distinguished 
 by another species of monuments, which, by their prodigious 
 massiveness, must for ever excite the astonishment of mankind 
 — the Pyramids. These are situated sometimes singly, and 
 sometimes in groups, on a strip about five-and-thirty miles 
 long, reaching from Ghizeh, or Djizeh, opposite, in a slanting 
 direction, the present capital, Cairo, to beyond Meidun. Many 
 of these are so gone to decay that only uncertain traces of them 
 can now be discovered, while others continue to defy the de- 
 stroying hand of time, whence it seems evident that their num- 
 ber could at no time be stated with certainty. They all stand 
 upon that great field of death — upon that sterile plain covered 
 with sand and filled with sepulchres, at the foot of the Libyan 
 mountain-chain. Those of Djizeh, opposite Cairo, which are 
 generally understood when the Pyramids are spoken of, are the 
 first and the highest ; they are followed, about nine miles to- 
 wards the south, by those of Sakkara, near the ancient Mem- 
 phis, whose magnitude is evinced by the numerous sepulchres 
 which are found in the waste. Farther on are discovered 
 those of Dashour and others, all, however, more injured than 
 those just mentioned, as far as Meidun.^ However uncertain 
 it may be whether they reached beyond this or not, it seems 
 pretty evident that pyramids were never built in Upper Egypt, 
 as there is no reason why they should have gone to ruin soon- 
 er than the large temples.^ From recent discoveries it now 
 appears that pyramid-architecture was by no means peculiar 
 to Egypt ; they still exist more numerously, though of a less 
 magnitude, in what was the ancient Meroe.* 
 
 At the point where the Nile divides into two branches be-* 
 
 » The name still exists in the village Menf, about twelve or fourteen miles to the south of 
 Cairo, but it lies on the west bank of the river, while Cairo stands on the eastern. The lat- 
 ter, it is well known, was built by the Arabs. . . 
 
 » The number of pyramids is estimated at about forty ; but they vary very much m size. 
 The second pyramid of Djizeh was opened by Belzoni, and one of those at Sakkara by Mmu- 
 oli I see their TvdvelSm 
 
 * Or is the reason to be found in the difference of the stone which Upper and Middle 
 Egypt produces ? Does not the limestone, of which the pyramids are constructed, exist in 
 Upper Egypt, where the sandstone and, farther on, granite prevails ? See above, p. 291. 
 
 * See p. 200. They differ from the Egyptian by their vestibules, which the latter now 
 have not. Nevertheless, the pyramid opened by Belzoni certainly had a temple before it. 
 HarrativCf p. 261. 
 
298 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. I. 
 
 gins Lower Egypt. The extension of its waters extends like- 
 wise fertility, which, before confined in Upper and Middle 
 Egypt to the narrow valley, here takes a wider range, and 
 stretches over the plains enclosed by the arms of the river. 
 The western chain, which has hitherto narrowed it, here makes 
 a bend into Libya ; the eastern chain ends altogether just be- 
 low Cairo with the mountain Mokattam. There is a tradition 
 of ancient Egypt, which is mentioned by Herodotus, that the 
 Nile at one time had a different course, and turned towards the 
 Libyan desert. Now if this tradition should be rejected in its 
 fiillest extent, and it should not be believed that the whole 
 stream took this direction, and that no branch of it penetrated 
 through Lower Egypt to the Mediterranean, yet modern re- 
 searches have placed it beyond a doubt, that at least a part of 
 the stream formerly flowed towards Libya. The valley near 
 the Natron lakes, (from which it is only divided by a ridge,) 
 which, in the western side of Lower Egypt, is known by the 
 name of the waterless sea, {Bahr Bilama,) gives very evident 
 traces that it once formed, — though certainly long before the 
 period to which credible history reaches, — the bed of the river.* 
 The stupendous dam, by which the water was forced to take a 
 more easterly direction, was ascribed by tradition to Menes, 
 the first king of Egypt, and founder of Memphis ;^ and gave 
 thereby at once a proof of the high antiquity and importance 
 of this undertaking. In fact, it is easily seen that it was by 
 this that the channels of the Nile were first driven into their 
 present course, and the Delta rendered capable of being cul- 
 tivated. 
 
 Although the fruitful land becomes much widened in Lower 
 Egypt, yet it must not be taken for granted that all this part 
 of the country possesses the advantage of fertility. It again 
 fails towards the centre, or in what was called by the Greeks 
 the Delta ; and in the districts on both sides of it ; in that of 
 the east, which is now comprised under the name of Bahareh, 
 and in that of the west, called Sharkeyeh. It is true that the 
 western part enjoys the benefit of having on its coast the later 
 capital, Alexandria ; but even this city can only obtain its 
 water by a canal from the Nile ; and just before its gates opens 
 
 » See the admirable description of this valley and of the whole district, for which we are 
 indebted to General Andreossi. Mtmoires sur VEgypte, i. 223, etc. , j ^ j- 
 
 « Herod, ii. 99. According to his account, the damming was made one hundred stadia 
 (eleyen or twelve miles) above Memphis. Andreossi's conjecture, that there was a commu- 
 nication between the Nile and the Wateriess Valley, through the valley of Fayoum, is o^f- 
 posed to this ; it must have been through a more northern opening in the mountain-cham. 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 THE LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 299 
 
 the desert, which swallows up the remainder of the province. 
 The eastern part, which includes the cities of Heliopolis, or On, 
 and Parbaethus, the modem Belbeis, fares something better ; 
 but here again the fertile soil ceases at a short distance from 
 the river, and the isthmus of Suez follows, a barren and wa- 
 terless waste. Only the country, therefore, between the two 
 extreme arms of the Nile, that of Canopus and of Pelusium, or 
 the Delta, can here come under consideration ; and this still 
 shows, in its present almost desolate state, what it must once 
 have been. There can scarcely be a greater contrast than that 
 which the short voyage from Alexandria to Rosetta affords the 
 traveller.* Though he saw about that city only the silent de- 
 sert, he now suddenly discovers, as he approaches Rosetta and 
 the Nile, nature in her most luxurious abundance, and begins 
 to comprehend how this country might once have been the 
 foremost of the earth. 
 
 The numerous cities with which the plains of the Delta were 
 once covered, of which it is enough for our purpose to mention 
 Sais and Naucratis, sufficiently prove the high state of cultiva- 
 tion in which this portion of the country formerly existed. This, 
 however, did not begin till long after Upper Egypt had been 
 in a flourishing condition ; and, perhaps, did not increase, to 
 any extent, till the latter period of the Pharaohs ; when Sais 
 was the usual residence of the kings, and the foundation of 
 Alexandria gave, and preserved to Lower Egypt, that superi- 
 ority which Upper Egypt had previously enjoyed. But the 
 vestiges of this splendour and greatness, except in the few mo- 
 numents of ancient Alexandria, are all nearly obliterated ; and 
 even the land itself, along the coast, has undergone many 
 changes.^ Considerable portions of firm land, especially the 
 districts so oflen mentioned under the name of fens, and inha- 
 bited by tribes who lived by tending cattle, are now become 
 lakes, that are either supplied or enlarged by the stoppage of 
 certain branches of the river.' The ancient lake Sirbonis, on 
 
 > A picture of it is drawn in Browne's Travels, etc. I purposely mention this writer here, 
 because no one can less deserve the reproach of an embellishing imagination. 
 
 « A somewhat more accurate account of the interior of Lower Egypt was first given by 
 the French expedition. The usual route of travelling has been from Alexandria up the 
 canal to Rosetta, and thence up the Nile to Cairo. Scarcely any one saw the interior of the 
 
 country. . • x./^ 
 
 » The most interesting illustrations of this part are contained in the classic treatise of Ge- 
 neral Andreossi, upon the lake Menzale, in Mtmoires sur VEgypte, i. p. 165. It also decided- 
 ly and fully supports the opinion of Herodotus, that the Delta is a gift of the NUe. It is well 
 known that lately this has been contradicted, not only by closet-writers, but even by travel- 
 lers. The reasons of Andreossi, who was in a situation, from his knowledge of physics and 
 hydrostatics, to go fully into the subject, places it beyond dispute, that the Delta was formed 
 
300 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. I. 
 
 CHAP. 1.] 
 
 THE LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 501 
 
 the eastern boundary of Egypt, seems to be completely choked 
 up with sand ; on the other hand, the lake of Tanis, or present 
 Menzaleh, into which three branches of the Nile — that of Pe- 
 lusium, of Tanis, and Mendes— empty themselves, is now so 
 much enlarged that it swallows up a fourth part of the whole 
 northern coast ; and the remains of the cities, which formerly 
 stood on dry land, must now be sought for amidst its waters. 
 The lake of Butos, or the present Bourlos, seems in a similar 
 manner, by the flowing of the Sebennytic branch into it, to 
 have much increased in size ; but the land between it and the 
 foregoing, where the ancient Bucolic mouth, under the name 
 of Damietta, still discharges a principal branch of the river, 
 preserves its ancient features. The coast to the west of the 
 Delta, on the contrary, has been subject to the greatest changes. 
 On the other side of the Bolbitine branch, or the present Ro- 
 setta mouth, the ancient branch of Canopus, which no longer 
 reaches the sea, has formed the lake of Edco, This is only se- 
 parated by a narrow strip of land from lake Madieh behind 
 Aboukir, which again is divided from lake Mareotis by a still 
 narrower isthmus ; this latter lake, however, has not at present 
 anything near the extent it had in antiquity. Lower Egypt 
 thus gives us a striking example of the great changes which 
 may be made in the features and shape of a country, not only 
 by sudden and great physical convulsions, but by the mere de- 
 cay of its culture. Where, indeed, was this more likely to 
 happen than here, where the neglect of the canals and dams 
 alone would be sufficient to cause such changes ? 
 
 This general survey of the situation and features of the land, 
 its gradual formation and cultivation, the great difference and 
 completely opposite nature of its component parts, altogether, 
 must naturally lead us to suppose, that the condition of its in- 
 habitants must not only have been subject to great changes, 
 but also that great dissimilarity must have continually existed 
 among them. I shall now turn from the country, and take a 
 glance at the nation itself; begging the reader s indulgence 
 while I make a few preliminary inquiries concerning them. 
 
 The first object of inquiry is the colour, the figure, in short 
 the whole exterior of the inhabitants, so far as it may enable us 
 to unravel the intricate question respecting the race of man- 
 kind to which the ancient Egyptians belonged. A problem, 
 
 by the sediment of the river, with some assistance from art. The ancient therefore here, aa 
 usual, is right. 
 
 indeed, much more difficult to solve than the reader at first 
 sight could possibly imagine. 
 
 There are two sources from which we may draw in our en- 
 deavour to determine it: ancient writers, and native monu- 
 ments. Among the first, the testimony of Herodotus alone 
 would seem sufficient to decide it. He, speaking as an eye- 
 witness, expressly declares the Egyptians to be a black race, 
 with woolly hair.^ It easily appears, however, that these as- 
 sertions must be limited in two ways ; first, they apply only to 
 the great body of the people, and not to the upper classes ; 
 secondly, the expression does not exactly signify a completely 
 black, but rather a dark brown, nor the hair completely woolly 
 (but rather curly). Another ancient writer upon the colour of 
 the Egyptians determines this, where he calls them brown.^ 
 To me the Egyptians seem to have been exactly what the Copts, 
 their descendants, now appear to the stranger who visits them. 
 " I believe," says a modern, who has seen them,^ " the ancient 
 race of the Egyptians to exist in the present Copts ; a kind of 
 dark-coloured Nubians {basarmes), much as they are seen on 
 the ancient monuments ; flat foreheads, half woolly hair, the 
 eyes rather staring, high hips, the nose rather short than flat, a 
 large mouth with thick lips, placed rather distant from the nose, 
 a thin and poor beard, few graces of body," etc. " The colour 
 of the skin," says a later traveller, " is nearly the natural colour, 
 if we assume that the Egyptians were of the same colour as 
 their descendants, the present Copts, of whom some are as fair 
 as Europeans."* However true, therefore, the statement of 
 Herodotus may be, the reader must guard against giving it a 
 meaning which it will not bear. Besides, few countries are 
 so much exposed to the invasion of foreigners, and therefore to 
 so many intermixtures, as Egypt, which is surrounded on three 
 sides by nomad hordes ; nor so much visited by strangers, as it 
 has always been a principal place of trade. To this it may be 
 added, that the question here respects a period comprising 
 above a thousand years, (for so long certainly had Egypt been 
 civilized before the time of Herodotus,) during which many 
 changes must naturally have taken place. 
 
 The truth of this remark will be best confirmed by the 
 
 * Herod, ii. 104. He mentions this incidentally, in order to prove that the Colchians, 
 who had this colour and hair, were truly Egyptian colonists. 
 
 * Ammianus Marcellinus, xxii. 16. Homines Egyptii plerique subjtisculi sunt, et atrati, 
 magisque mocstiores, gracilenti et aridi. 
 
 3 Denon, i. 136. * Belzoni, Narrative, p. 239. 
 
sm 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. I. 
 
 monuments of ancient Egypt which still exist ; especially by 
 those which have been lately discovered. A number of vari- 
 ously sized idols has hitherto been generally referred to, from 
 which we should judge of the physiognomy of the people. I 
 confess, that in the least of these I find something of the negro 
 kind ;^ but then it must be considered, that we can neither fix 
 the time when, nor the part of the land where, they were 
 made ; a question of the highest importance, because, as will 
 be seen hereafter, every part of the country had not always the 
 same fate with the rest. It is most agreeable to the rules of 
 sound criticism, first to have recourse to those monuments — the 
 temples and obelisks— of which we can with certainty pro- 
 nounce, that they belong to the flourishing period of the Pha- 
 raohs. These are nearly all covered with works of art, which 
 contain a great number of human figures, either of deities or 
 men, and on that account deserve first to be examined. They 
 acquire, moreover, a great additional value, from their clearly 
 indicating an endeavour in the artists to copy nature, and from 
 their faithfully representing the peculiarities of the different 
 people, their features, nature of their hair, and so forth. The 
 same proofs that this was the case are found here, upon the 
 temples of the Thebais, as upon the ruins of Persepolis in Asia; 
 necessity must have led to it, if the historical meanings were 
 wished to be readily understood, and from this it probably be- 
 came a rule of ancient art. It is impossible, however, to com- 
 pare these monuments, as they are now delineated, and to con- 
 sider the people who erected them to have been negroes, or 
 anything like negroes. I appeal here to the great historical 
 bas-reliefs upon the temples at Thebes, with which Denon has 
 first made us acquainted.* The figure of the king comes be- 
 fore us at different times, and upon different occasions. It is 
 always the same head ; so that, according to the writer him- 
 self, it seems to be a portrait — or rather an ideahsed portrait. 
 But it is so far from having the least appearance of African 
 lineaments, that it seems rather to approach the Grecian pro- 
 file.' Just as little resemblance is there to be seen of the ne- 
 
 > I refer here to the engravings in Caylus, Rectteil V. plates i.— xxv. ; as-well as to Win- 
 kelmann, Storia delle Arti, etc. i. tab. iv. v. ed. Fea. Many of these, and other heads, no 
 doubt represent the common Egyptian features, and are anything but beautiful, according 
 to our ideas. In the ideal portraits, the sphinx's head comes the nearest, in my opinion, to 
 the E^tian profile ; but I do not remember more than one of these which has anything ot 
 the negro cast, and that is, the colossal head at the pyramid of Ghizeh. 
 
 « Denon, plates cxxxiii. cxxxiv. ; and after him, in numerous copper-plates m the great 
 work on Egypt. ' The correctness of the drawing is here so much the less siibject to 
 
 doubt because the artist has evidently enlarged the head of the king. Plate cxxxiv. No. 42. 
 
 CHAP. I. j 
 
 THE LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 303 
 
 gro in more than a hundred heads of his attendants, as well 
 warriors as priests. I appeal as well to the other reliefs upon 
 all the temples above Thebes, so far as they are made known 
 to us in the great work upon Egypt. I appeal, finally, to the 
 very accurately finished plate of the representations upon the 
 obelisks, for which we are indebted to Zoega.^ Compare also 
 the heads of the sphinxes and deities upon the top of the obe- 
 lisk on Mount Citatorio, and the similar fragment of another in 
 the museum of Cardinal Borgia, and see if there be anything 
 to be found of a negro character ! 
 
 Should even these proofs fail, the Egyptians have left us 
 still another, in the pictures on the walls in their chambers of 
 the dead. The colours in these are still so fresh and perfect, 
 as to excite the astonishment of every one who examines them. 
 The subjects mostly relate to the domestic life of the Egyp- 
 tians ; the human figure is consequently very frequent. Every 
 thing else is faithfully copied from nature, and therefore it is 
 fair to conclude that these are also. Bruce had already called 
 the attention of the world to these pictures in the royal sepul- 
 chres of Thebes ;^ but it was the French expedition that first 
 gave us a clear notion of them, by the labours of the learned 
 who took the pains to examine them. The first striking speci- 
 men of them is given in the sepulchres of Eluthias in the 
 Thebais, the true school for Egyptian antiquities, because they 
 represent their whole manner of living, and almost every part 
 of their domestic economy.^ Women as well as men are here 
 portrayed ; " the men are red ; the women yellow ; the clothes 
 white : the hair of the men is very dark, curled^ but notjh orf ^ 
 as am ong^ the negro es.""* Still clearer proofs are found in the 
 royal sepulchres at Thebes, and, above all, in that most magni- 
 ficent one which was opened by Belzoni. In these the light 
 and dark men are expressly distinguished ; and, indeed, in 
 such a manner, that the former are represented as the victors, 
 or rulers, and the latter as the conquered, or prisoners. " I 
 remarked," says Denon,^ " many decapitated figures ; these 
 were all dark, while those who had struck off their heads, and 
 still stood sword in hand, were red." But the most decisive 
 
 * Zoega, table ii. iv. * Bruce, Travels^ i. plate iii. iv. 
 
 * See the coloured engravings in the great work of Denon, Description de VEgypte^ plates 
 Ixviii. — ^Ixxi. ; and compare the excellent treatise of Costaz, (containing more information 
 than many a thick volume,) in the Memoires sur VEgypte, p. 134 — 158. 
 
 * Costaz, 1. c. p. 156. The Egyptians had, as is there remarked, only six colours, but un- 
 derstood nothing of mixing these together. We need not wonder, then, at their not being 
 able to paint exactly the colour of the skin. 
 
 * Denon, Voyage, ii. 278. 
 
304 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. I. 
 
 It 
 
 proof is in that of Belzoni, where not merely the light and 
 dark, but in the ambassadors and plenipotentiaries, the three 
 principal colours, white, brown, and black, are distinguished 
 from one another with the nicest accuracy.^ Indeed, when 
 Denon descended one of the openings which lead to these 
 subterraneous abodes, he found art in a still more certain man- 
 ner confirmed by nature. A number of mummies, which were 
 not banded up, showed plainly that the hair was long and lank, 
 and the shape of the head itself approximating to the beauti- 
 ful.^ There is no need, however, to journey to Egypt to be 
 convinced of this ; the descriptions, and the mummies pre- 
 served at Munich, are quite sufficient to insure conviction.^ 
 
 To this body of evidence there are still documentary proofs 
 to be added : two commercial contracts, of which the fac-simile 
 of one is at Berlin, and the original of the other at Paris. We 
 are indebted for their interpretation to Professor Boeckh,* and 
 H. S. Martin.^ They certainly both belong to the period of 
 the Ptolemies, but the names which occur show that the per- 
 sons were Egyptians. These, in both, are described according 
 to their external appearance, and, of course, their colour. In 
 the Berlin document, the seller, Pamenthes, is called of a 
 darkish brown co\o\iv \^ and the buyer, honey -coloured or yel- 
 lowish ; the same epithet is conferred on the buyer, Osarreres, 
 in the Parisian one. The shape of the nose and face is also 
 stated, but so as not to raise the least idea of a negro physi- 
 ognomy. 
 
 Two facts may be deduced from all this, as historically de- 
 monstrated : one, that even among the Egyptians themselves 
 there was a difference of colour ; as individuals are expressly 
 distinguished from one another by being of a darker or lighter 
 complexion. The other, that the higher castes of warriors and 
 priests, according to the representations on all the monuments 
 
 > Belzoni plate vi.— viii. No doubt whatever can be opposed to the question, whether the 
 Ejryptians wished to give the proper colour of the skin in their paintings— as far as their 
 colours would allow. Hence it is clear that they not merely endeavoured to represent the 
 colour, but also the physiognomy of the nations in the truest manner possible. Who can 
 mistake the Je^-ish physiognomy among the captives in plate vu. ? - , , ^ 
 
 * Denon ii p. 314. Compare with all this, in particular, the sculptures from the tombs ot 
 Sihilis, in Upper Egypt, in Denon, plate Ixxvi. No. '2—4. These are evidently renrescnta- 
 tions of the deceased ; and certainly No. 2 and 4 of whole famiUes. They are, therefore, 
 the best adapted to enable us to form a judgment of the national physiognomy. 
 
 » See the exact description of them in the treatise of H. D. Waagen, p. 14. 
 
 ♦ Explanation of an Egyptian document upon papyrus, in the Greek cursive writing, of the 
 year 900 b. c, by A. Boeckh, Berlin, 1821.— The fac-simile was sent to Berhn by Mmutoh. 
 
 * In the Journal des Savants, Sept. 1822. , , tt j j • 
 
 • MeXdyvpois and utXi'vpov. The word /uwXayxpw" " also used by Herodotus ; and is. 
 therefore, properly translated, where he uses it, by ticarthy, or dark-coloured, and not by 
 black. 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 THE LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 S05 
 
 executed in colours, belonged to the fairer class. Their colour 
 is brownish, something between the white and black, or swarthy* 
 It cannot, indeed, be maintained that the colour was exactly 
 the same as that appropriated to them on the monuments; 
 but it was become a fixed and settled type, and how could it 
 have be come so if it had not followed nature, when there w as 
 no wai iFof means to represent white and bla c k colours. In 
 like manner the yellow or yellowish complexion became the 
 standing type for women. The deities, on the contrary, both 
 male and female, had no general distinctive colour, but the 
 individuals among them differ. 
 
 These proofs, which seem to me irrefragable, will unques- 
 tionably acquire still greater force, when these monuments 
 shall have been more carefully examined and more com- 
 pletely copied. As it is, we may conclude, that, though it be 
 allowed that there was a dark-coloured race in Egypt, it cer- 
 tainly was not the only one; but a tribe of fairer, though per- 
 haps not completely white, (for with the limited number of 
 colours of which the Egyptians made use, and these without 
 intermixing them, it was nearly impossible for them to give 
 very exactly the colour of the skin,) had, at least for a certain 
 period, spread themselves over Upper Egypt. We m ay, more - 
 over, conclude, that this jwas^ the rulin g tribe, to which the 
 king, the priests, and warriors beIongec[T_ and that the mag- 
 nifice nt"monuments~bf ^Egyptian ar t, in this distr ict, were_ 
 erected TTy them . ""^" 
 
 The case is very different, notwithstanding its connexion 
 with the foregoing subject, when we come to examine into the 
 descent of this fairer race, and to inquire whether it was of 
 African origin or not. I have observed, upon another occa- 
 sion, that this question cannot be determined from history. 
 Can we, indeed, trace the origin of other nations, the Greeks, 
 for example, or even our own, from public records ? Recourse, 
 therefore, can only be had to such arguments as may be drawn 
 from the nature of the people themselves, both as regards their 
 external appearance and their civilization. 
 
 While little or nothing was known of the valley through 
 which the Nile holds its course, above the confines of Egypt, 
 with its monuments and inhabitants, it was impossible to an- 
 swer this question with any satisfaction. But since the ob- 
 scurity which hung over this region has been cleared up, the 
 matter has assumed altogether a different appearance. The 
 
800; 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. 1. 
 
 CHAP. I.J 
 
 THE LAND AND PEOPLE. 
 
 807 
 
 II 
 
 \l 
 
 Is 
 
 southern frontiers of proper Egypt form merely a political 
 boundary ; the whole strip of land from the distant Meroe to 
 where the Nile pours its flood into the Mediterranean, appears 
 like a world by itself, cut off from the rest of the globe.' Nei- 
 ther in their speech, their writing, nor their religion, have the 
 inhabitants of this strip of land any thing in common with the 
 rest of the world. The same deities which were worshipped in 
 Meroe were worshipped down to this nethermost boundary. 
 We recognise the same art in their buildings, their sculptures, and 
 their paintings. We recognise just the same writing ; just the 
 same hieroglyphics upon the monuments of Meroe as upon those 
 of Thebes ; and if, as I have remarked, this writing could only 
 be taken from the language which was spoken by the people, it 
 may thence be concluded, that the same language was spread 
 over this whole district."- To all this may be added, that the 
 best informed travellers and most accurate observers recognise 
 the same colour, the same features, and mostly the same lash- 
 ions and weapons in the inhabitants of the upper part ot the 
 valley, as they find portrayed on the Egyptian monuments. It 
 was upon these grounds that I was induced, in the foregomg 
 volume, to express my opinion, that it was the race, of which 
 we now discover the remains in the Nubian— though by loss 
 of liberty and religion much degenerated— which once was the 
 
 ruling race in Egypt. . i i • i 
 
 How could this culture, bearing, as it does, in a much higher 
 degree than the Greek the stamp of locality, have been intro- 
 duced from some other quarter? Here we do know its pro- 
 gress, though we can form but a very confused notion ot its 
 origin. But can we comprehend how this valley of the Nile, 
 every where surrounded by the desert,— this strip, which alone 
 allowed the soil its produce, almost without toil, the father-land 
 of agriculture, and of a religion every where referring to it,— 
 how here a condensed population came pressed together, and 
 with it a rising commerce, for which the stream, the only one 
 in north Africa which deserves the name, offers its assistance ? 
 This race did not come from Arabia ; their colour, language, 
 and manner of life were different, and continued different, 
 though Arabian tribes became native in Africa. The Indians, 
 
 t See the discussion upon Meroe in the former part of this ^o^H^^- . i^.^^ire of the 
 * It is true, that we We no conclusive evidence respecting the ancient jf^f^a^^ oi tnc 
 EthTopians in Meroe. and its relation to the Eg^yptian. But t^eir c ose affi^^^^^^^ iSJa^is 
 a very remarkable passage in Herodotus. In trying to demonstrate that the Ammomans 
 were a colony of Egyptians and Ethiopians, he says, «/>a,./»,y fi^-raft ^f^^'^'"'''^^^.''''^'^^^^ 
 Herod, ii. 42; Would this have any sense at all, if the languageshad been wholly diherent . 
 
 then, are now the only nation known to us, that is left, whence 
 the Egyptians could have descended. But though it cannot 
 be denied that some Indians found their way thither, of which 
 indeed there is an historical proof ;^ yet, as this could not take 
 place otherwise than by sea, single colonies at the most — the 
 Indians themselves never had a navy — could cross over ; but 
 we see not how a whole nation could. And would not such 
 colonies, instead of penetrating so far into the interior, even to 
 the banks of the river, have established themselves, or been 
 obliged to establish themselves, on the coast ? 
 
 I shall not repeat, but refer to what is said upon this subject 
 in the former part of this volume. It would be rash to deny that 
 no political or religious shoot could have been transplanted from 
 India to Ethiopia ; but certainly nothing more than shoots, in 
 which every foreign trace was soon lost by their being grafted 
 in a forei2:n soil and climate. 
 
 From what has been already said, it must appear very evi- 
 dent that the manners and habits of the people of Egypt could 
 not every where be the same. Local circumstances rendered 
 this impossible ; for many districts of Egypt permitted only 
 this or that particular sort of life, and would allow of no other. 
 The inhabitants of the eastern mountainous regions necessarily 
 followed a pastoral life, as did also the tribes in the fenny dis- 
 tricts of the Delta ; their soil was unfit for agriculture. Other 
 tribes, close to the Nile, were fishermen and mariners, as the 
 nature of their situation made it more profitable than handi- 
 craft. But it is very apparent, that the civilized part of the 
 nation, dwelling in the plains of the valley, carried on all the 
 chief branches of domestic business, in all of which they ar- 
 rived at great perfection, which is ascertained from the pictures 
 in the grottoes so often mentioned, where they are all found 
 portrayed. Agricultural occupations — ploughing, sowing, 
 digging, harrowing, reaping, binding, treading out the com by 
 oxen, and storing it; fishing, with the angle as well as nets, 
 and salting the fish ; hunting ; the vintage and its various la- 
 bours ; cattle-breeding, and herds of kine, horses, asses, sheep ; 
 the navigation of the Nile, as well with sails as oars ; the 
 weighing of living beasts for sale — all this is here represented. 
 
 > Syncellus, p. 120, ed. Venet. AWtoirti diro rov 'Ii/5oD irorafiov dvaaatn-B^ nrpbv n-^ 
 Alyvirrw &Kriaav. JEthiopes, ab Indofluvio profecti, supra ^gyptum sedem sibi eUgerunt. 
 This migration, however, did not happen before the reign of Amenophis or Memnon, be- 
 longing to the eighteenth dynasty ; consequently in the flourishing period of the kingdom 
 of Thebes. Neither the origin of the nation, therefore, nor its cultivation can be derived 
 from that. The expression supra jEgyptum must be taken in a wider sense. 
 
 X 2 
 
308 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. 1. 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 S09 
 
 i 
 
 lii 
 
 This diflference in descent and manner of life likewise 
 sheds a light upon that celebrated institution, which this na- 
 tion had in common with the Hindoos, with whom they seem 
 thus early to have had some connexion :— the division into 
 castes, or hereditary ranks, of which, according to the most 
 creditable accounts, there were seven in Egypt. The two 
 most honourable were the priests and warriors ; the next, mer- 
 chants and shopkeepers, and mariners ; then two castes of 
 herdsmen ; to which must be added— but not till the latter 
 period of the Pharaohs— the interpreters or brokers.' Although 
 the origin of castes among these nations extends beyond the 
 period of history, and strict historical evidence cannot, there- 
 fore, be deduced, yet it is exceedingly probable that the dit- 
 ference of descent, connected with the modes of life, hrst laid 
 the foundation of it, and that the various castes at first were 
 various tribes."- There is no doubt but policy, in the infancy 
 of civil society, expected to find this rigid separation ot protes- 
 sions a security for their preservation and perfection, and tor 
 their further extension ; neither is there any doubt but that 
 accidental causes might, and indeed did, give rise to new castes ; 
 the only question here is, from what cause did this institution 
 
 spring originally ? , i n • 
 
 This general view of the country and people will in some 
 measure clear the way for the following discussions. But it 
 will be necessary to mention, previously to taking a single step 
 on our journey, that we are venturing into a region where the 
 clear torch of history is gone out, and only a dim glimmering 
 is left It is only general masses that the most caretul ex- 
 amine'r can hope to discover ; he who should attempt to point 
 out clearly particular objects, will give us an illusory igms- 
 fatms instead of the steady Hght of truth. 
 
 ■ Herod ii 164 He here calLs the castes yivui, as he Rencrally c^s the various tribes of 
 ana^.T^|r«a»\^atof^Med«i^^ 
 
 r^T:tt^or/oC>^^s«riL\Tntti^^^ 
 
 t/riCen and tL hanmcr^enj as the^do -» »^ -,*t'^t^heKl^d^^^ 
 
 ment. Soc. Scient. G'dtting. vol. x.p. 184, etc of PsammetichuB 
 
 » As to that of the interpreters m Egypt, in the reig:n of f sammeucnns. 
 
 Chap. II. Political State of the Ancient Egyptians. 
 
 AND I WILL SET THE EGYPTIANS AGAINST THE EGYPTIANS, CITY AGAINST CITY 
 KINGDOM AGAINST KINGDOM. ISAIAH XIX. 2'. 
 
 A FULL inquiry into the political state of ancient Egypt ne- 
 cessarily comprises two questions : first, what general revolu- 
 tions the country or nation had passed through, in a political 
 point of view, previously to the decline of the throne of the 
 Pharaohs ? Secondly, what was the state of things, with regard 
 to the organization of the government, and the internal rela- 
 tions of the state, in the flourishing period of the Egyptian 
 empire ? 
 
 The origin of states usually takes place long before the 
 period of authentic history ; how much more then is this to be 
 expected in a country, which, if not the first, was certainly one 
 of the first in which states became formed. No more, there- 
 fore, can be here expected than that we should follow the ob- 
 scure traces which history has left of its origin. 
 
 According to its own traditions, Egypt was originally in- 
 habited by savage tribes, without tillage or government, who 
 lived upon such fruits as the earth spontaneously brought forth, 
 and upon fish, with which the Nile plentifully supplied them ; 
 while its buildings merely consisted of a few huts made of reeds ! 
 The mode of life of a part of its inhabitants, the shepherd and 
 fishing tribes, in later times, evidences the truth of this ac- 
 count.^ The history of the political growth of Egypt, how- 
 ever, does not depend upon the history of these tribes ; but, as 
 the still existing monuments evince, upon a race of different 
 descent and colour ; who, settling among these barbarians, in 
 the fertile part of the land, especially in the valley of the Nile, 
 became the builders of cities, the constructors of those proud 
 monuments, and the founders of states ; joining those ruder 
 tribes more or less to themselves, or bringing them under their 
 subjection. Thus they established a dominion, not so much 
 by force as by superior knowledge and civilization connected 
 with religion. The Egyptians themselves express this, when 
 they ascribe the foundation of their civilization to their gods, 
 particularly to Osiris, Isis, and Ammon.^ 
 
 But if in the whole range of Egyptian antiquities there is io 
 be found one proposition less open to contradiction than an- 
 
 « Diodorus, i. p. 62. Isaiah xix. 8 — 10. 
 
 Ibid. i. p. 55. 
 
310 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 CH 
 
 AP. II.] 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 Sll 
 
 II f 
 
 other, it is, that civihzation in general, and therefore mor.^ 
 espec ally political improvement, did not spread from the sea 
 Snd, but rather from south to north^ Accordmg to the 
 propel accounts of the nation, Upper Egj'pt was more early 
 civilized than Middle Egypt: and there was at, me when the 
 name of Thebais was generally synonymous with the civilized 
 ^rtion of Egypt.' It is equally certain that Lower Egypt 
 Tas not cultivated till after both those portions : this observa- 
 tion is of more importance, because it marks a *MCce**/re pro- 
 cress in the civilization of Egypt, and confutes an opinion 
 which long prevailed in history. There was a time when 
 Ecrvpt was considered, even from its origin, as one great king- 
 dom, which, through a long series of centuries, had endured 
 without revolution, or at least without division. The tone in 
 which many ancient writers, in other respects very worthy of 
 belief especially Herodotus, speak of Egypt, seems to justify 
 this opin; and although the fragments of Manetho, and 
 later writers who borrowed from him, would seem, by contain- 
 ing catalogues of Egyptian princes in various states, to con- 
 tradict this, yet the learned are rather inclined to consider 
 
 ; ^^itih't^^^ of these »,uxoe,, I fz'^^^,-:^r^„:^^:^^^izi^ 
 
 riled in Egypt, die study of Aejurtoj rf the c„u^^ Ao^^^^^^^ ^ M,„,jho. 
 
 rf learning wWh they V'^'">'"^^f-J^^yl^^^''^{'^pt. anf ^the execution of this 
 to compile, from the archives »f '^« JJ^'^^^^ture for ft to be possible for them to have 
 task he has been accused of frauds, of ^^P^Tfaat wS^though slight mistakes might have 
 been committed in so enlightened an »?« ^ '»«?.^' Xerei ^ho arranged the sSccession 
 crept in. His work received »°»i,«ddit.ons fromEra^menes,^^ time, made similar at- 
 of the «°««°t Theban fan^ Oto G^^^^^ ^ ^^; ^^ ^ l„„g i„d 
 
 tempts; b«»*t^'°l^'''^'?!""^^r^cd iTy Josephus in his Discourse against Ap.on. 
 lost. Fragments, ho.vever, were prescnca o, f j^^^^^^_ 
 
 These writings, however, were made particular use ol ^ tne i^^™ ^^ hypothesis. 
 
 deavours to »r°g» ^^'^^f ""^ff^J^^,'*^'^ S^?^7composed L the third century ; 
 This is first observable m J-^"' ^facanus, in Im ^"'^^^ ' j^ ^ „f j^;^ Africanus 
 
 and by Euscbius, who again made ?^« ""ii?^2 '^we have oiJy some fragments ; but of a 
 is Ukewise lost ; of the Greek original of ^"f^"^ ?« **™ X^,^^^ chronicles of 
 
 Latin translation by St, J«ome, we have *« /g^d^^rt, j *e Can^om ^^^^ 
 
 both however were »f «■" "^^^^^jf *VSi iT this nLner became the principal source. 
 Syncellus, a monk, in his V^"' _v" .,." ,^.d us vcrv unexpectedly, with a great trea- 
 But in this matter, the U^ t*".?'"" wST'^aL weU mX tot book, oV the /.W. »" 
 gure. The Chronicle of Eusebius, complete, as ^1"^^?^ T. The first editioi of this, 
 again discovered in an Atmmtan "^^'J^Mi^XTth "genuine edition, with a Uteral 
 ^interpolated, <^Vf^j}J^'^'J^^^^J%t^'^trc^i^n^Xion required, bv the 
 Utin translation, cnueJ nous %^lVJ^'^^e^i,%, hipartitlm. nuncprimum ex A<m>- 
 learned monk, Aucher, IMXOu ^""J"''' . . m, „uctum Graeis fraamentu exornatum, 
 nice textumLatinum^ersum^^^ 4to 
 
 cpera P. Joanms Baptistae Aucner, ^"^[^^^^^^^^^^ of Manetho at best only at second 
 & edition is what I used, ^c fhere have^he sm^^ ^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^. 
 
 or third hand and, without doubt^ often ^^^^^l^^J^^ ,^ .^^ Qe from these sources a 
 count, upon the whole. Jbefirat modem wh^^^^ flourished in Egypt at the same 
 
 chronological history of the different s^*^®«' ^{^"^^^Vfi-o . « work which diplays as much 
 time, waTMarshcan, -, ^^an^CW^^^^^^ 
 
 ISSTnra^ol^T^oU^eerS ;^^^::i 
 
 nology in particular*. 
 
 these as spurious or uncertain, than to give up the commonly 
 received opinion. 
 
 These ideas require now no further confutation. The re- 
 searches of more modern writers have placed it beyond a doubt, 
 that Egypt in its earlier period contained mariT/ contemporary 
 kingdoms or states, but which, nevertheless, became united, 
 somewhat later, into one great empire. And if a single doubt 
 had remained upon this head, it has been entirely done away 
 with, from the time we have possessed the complete Chroni- 
 cle of Eusebius, by his single testimony, that many dynasties 
 must be considered as contemporary, and distinct from one 
 another.^ But further : this is proved, by a passage in Jo- 
 sephus, to have been also the opinion of Manetho himself; for, 
 according to his own account, the Hyksos were expelled by 
 the king of Thebes, and the other kings of Egypt.* The 
 question here, however, extends over a period of at least 
 eighteen centuries, during which, previous to the Persian in- 
 vasion, Egypt was governed, for the most part, by native kings 
 alone. How many changes might have come to pass in this 
 long period ! How many states might have arisen and fallen 
 in this long lapse of ages, without history having preserved 
 even the remembrance of their name ! How many, indeed, 
 must have sprung up and declined, unless we give to their in- 
 stitutions a firmness and durability, which is no longer the lot 
 of human things ! 
 
 The dynasties of Manetho, unfortunately, contain but little 
 beyond mere catalogues of kings, but they are, notwithstand- 
 ing this, of the greatest importance for Egyptian antiquity ; 
 not only because they lead us to correct notions respecting 
 that, but, more particularly, because they likewise make known 
 to us the names of the cities in which these kings reigned ; 
 and, consequently, point out the places where the most ancient 
 Egyptian states were founded. In a nation, whose whole be- 
 ing, government, and civilization were so much formed ac- 
 cording to the locality, these give the first ideas, the founda- 
 tion, upon which all further inquiry must be built. The most 
 
 * Porro si quoque valde auctus temporum numerus reperiatur, tamen et illius diligenter 
 rationem scrutari oporteat ; forte enim iisdem temporibus muUos reges ^gyptiorum simul 
 fuisse contigerit, Siquidem Thinitas aiunt et MemphitaSj Saitasque et jEthicpes regnasae^ 
 ac interim alios quoque ; et sicut mihi videtur alios alibi ; minime autem alterum alteri 
 Buccessisse ; sed alios hic^ aliosque illic regnare qportutsse. Eusebii, Chronicon, p. 
 
 Merd TauTo 6e. tUv Ik t^s QriPaXSos, Kal t^s dWijs AlyiiTTov PaariKitov yivtaBai <f>fi<ri9 
 (o Mai/t0a>i/) iiravaoTTatriv iiri tows iroifxtva^. Reges Thebaidos et reliquee jEgypti inva- 
 iionemfecisse dicit Manetho contra pastor es. Joseph, c. Apion, i. p. 1040. 
 
I 
 
 3U 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 CHAr. II.] 
 
 FOLITICAL STATE. 
 
 813 
 
 ancient Egyptian states, according to the unanimous tradition 
 
 of Manetho and others, were altogether in the valley of the 
 
 Nile on both sides the river. The nature of things determines 
 
 this,'because, in Lower Egypt, or the Delta, the soil itself was 
 
 Bot formed till afterwards. The kingdoms of Upper and Mid- 
 
 41e Egypt, mentioned by Manetho, are, beginning froni the 
 
 southern frontiers, the state of Elephantis, of Thebes or Dios- 
 
 polis, of This, afterwards called Abydos, of Heracleopolis, and 
 
 of Memphis, not far from the place where the Nile divides. 
 
 States in Lower Egypt, or the Delta, are not mentioned till 
 
 towards the end of his dynasties, namely, the states of Tanis, 
 
 Bubastus, Mendes, Sebennytus, and Sais. 
 
 None of these states appear, according to his account, to 
 have continued without interruptions; the successions of their 
 kings are broken off and renewed ; revolutions, of which we 
 know nothing, destroyed and suppressed them, till, under more 
 favourable circumstances, they again arose and flourished. 
 Yet, however little our information may be respecting the 
 vicissitudes to which these states were subject, they cannot ap- 
 pear extraordinary, if we bear in mind that the narrow valley 
 of the Nile, as well as the Delta, in which these states were 
 situated, was every where surrounded by barbarous nomad 
 hordes, whose inroads and wars must have occasioned many 
 revolutions. An accurate chronology, showing how far they 
 were contemporary, or followed one another, — were interrupt- 
 ed, and again continued,— lies beyond the scope of these re- 
 searches ; all that could be said upon the subject, with any 
 show of probability, has long been published;' it appears, 
 however, from the whole, as most evident, that Thebes and 
 Memphis were the mightiest and most durable among them. 
 
 The way in which those earliest states of Egypt were formed, 
 and to whom they were indebted for their origin and civiliza- 
 tion, will become the first objects of my attention. 
 
 I venture, however, to hope that the groundwork for the 
 settlement of these points has been already laid, in Ethiopians, 
 chap. iii. It has there been shown how one religion, that of 
 Ammon and his kindred gods, connected with their temples, 
 spread over the whole valley of the Nile. We have there be- 
 come acquainted with an extensive commercial intercourse, 
 comprising the southern portion of the globe, from India to 
 Africa ; we have there pointed out certain places, which were, 
 
 » Gatterer'8 Synchronistische Universalhistorie, p. 301, etc., and also hia later LeAr6u<?A«r. 
 
 at the same time, the chief seats of religion and trade ; we have 
 already seen examples in Meroe and Ammonium, that the 
 sanctuaries which were erected at these places became like- 
 wise the central points of states, where, very naturally, from 
 this very cause, a priest caste became the ruling order ; finally, 
 we have seen that the extension of religion and trade, by the 
 foundation of new sanctuaries in distant, but suitable and con- . 
 venient districts, was no uncommon circumstance.* ; 
 
 A general glance at ancient Egypt will suffice to convince 
 the reader that these ideas are equally applicable to it, and that 
 much happened there in just the same manner. Did not the 
 whole civilization of the people also there depend upon a ruling 
 caste of priests ? And are not traces of this at all times visible, 
 notwithstanding the numerous revolutions which have taken 
 place ? Does not Egypt exhibit, in the period of her highest 
 civilization, the form of a complete hierarchy ; in which every 
 germ, that in a less fortunate soil must have perished, by fa- 
 vourable circumstances, in various ways shot forth ? 
 
 History also adds its mites, which evidently extend and ex- 
 plain this view of the subject. Thebes, as well as the states in 
 general of Upper Egypt, are called, in the proper annals of the 
 priests, colonies from Meroe in Ethiopia ;' and at Thebes the 
 service of Jupiter Ammon, whose temple was the common 
 centre of the state, gives of itself a striking proof that such was 
 the case. Elephantis most likely owed its origin to the navi- 
 gation of the Nile. It lay just at the point where the river be- 
 came navigable without interruption ; and where navigation 
 must have assumed a new shape, " as portable vessels were no 
 longer required."^ Memphis, whose situation was so remark- 
 able from the dams and embankments, is called a colony ot 
 Thebes * The other cities of Egypt, likewise, derive their de- 
 scent— directly or indirectly— from Ethiopia, of which they 
 
 1 1 trust 'I shall be excused for referring here to the ^^^ 'Xu^^f 'andT^^^^^^ lot 
 
 ^^£^^^ri^:^''& rrr«er^^rtr:nt?Tp^n 
 antiquity ? 
 
 : ?±7ecL^; Ifi i'Jnall an inland -^l^P^f^^re T^itZ^^n th/-^ 
 verr casUy removed ; as it w only said here, that it Became "J ™ " , ^ statements 
 
 poSt, to which manf of the '^<^^?^^^'^"%^"'^^'t'XluXitthe name Wntis 
 was only a translation of rnuae, as rit, or x-ntb, »" ^ ^—J{^ iaUnA^ in ireneral which 
 
 PhiUe. ♦ Diodorus, i. p. 60. 
 
i 
 
 su 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. 11. 
 
 CHAP. «.] 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 315 
 
 l| 
 
 considered themselves as colonies, and of which their religion 
 and institutions ftimish abundant proof/ 
 
 From this body of evidence, then, we come to the conclu- 
 sion, that the same race which ruled in Ethiopia and Meroe, 
 spread themselves by colonies, in the first instance, to Upper 
 Egypt ; that these latter colonies, in consequence of their great 
 prosperity, became, in their turn, the parents of others ; and, 
 as in all this they followed the course of the river, there gra- 
 dually became founded a succession of colonies in the valley 
 of the Nile, which, according to the usual custom of the an- 
 cient world, were, probably, at first, independent of each other 
 and therefore formed just so many little states.'^ Though with 
 the promulgation of their religion, either that of Ammon him- 
 self, or of his kindred deities and temple companions, after 
 whom even the settlements were named, the extension of trade 
 was the principal motive which tempted colonists from Meroe 
 to the countries beyond the desert ; yet there were many other 
 causes, such as the fertility of the land, and the facility of mak- 
 ing the rude native tribes subservient to themselves, which, in 
 a period of tranquillity, must have promoted the prosperity, 
 and accelerated the gradual progress, of this colonization. The 
 advantages which large streams offer, by facilitating the means 
 of communication, are so great, that it is a common occurrence 
 in the history of the world, to see civilization spreading on their 
 banks. The shores of the Euphrates and Tigris, of the Indus 
 and Ganges, of the Kiangh and Hoangho, afford us as plain 
 proofs of this as the banks of the Nile. 
 
 This view of the subject is not only consonant to the nature 
 of things in general, but there are other proofs, derived from 
 the political division of the land, under the later government 
 of Egypt, which confirm it. i • j i • 
 
 The fertile portion of Egypt, for example, was divided into 
 certain nomes or districts, which are found mentioned, upon 
 various occasions, even under the Ptolemies. It was, how- 
 ever, a primeval institution, which had descended from the 
 times of the Pharaohs,— for the Egyptians themselves imputed 
 it to Sesostris;' and this division continued both during the 
 time of the Ptolemies and the Romans. 
 
 It requires, however, but a passing glance at the history of 
 
 « Tliis^^tepreadinff,' nevertheless, must not be understood to have taken place, step by 
 step, in exact geographical order. That there was not, indeed even » ^"^^^ual moyemont. 
 or reaction from Egypt upon Ethiopia, is by no moans denied, 1 have already stated above, 
 p. 220, to which I now refer * Diodorus, i. p. 64. 
 
 Egypt, to perceive, that although this continued as a whole, it 
 was yet subject to numerous alterations in particulars. Scarcely 
 any two writers agree respecting the number of nomes ; and 
 the confusion becomes still greater when we attempt to com- 
 pare their separate names with one another. D'AnviUe has 
 collected together, upon his map, fifty-three of them, and yet 
 this does not include all that are mentioned by Herodotus. 
 Strabo' enumerates thirty-six; Pliny, and others, various 
 numbers : differences which cannot astonish us when we con- 
 sider the number of political changes which Egypt had ex- 
 perienced with regard to its boundaries. 
 
 I shall leave it to some future historian to trace out the 
 extent of these changes. For the present discussion, the only 
 material question is, how did this division arise, and what was 
 
 its original form ? i i • 4. • 
 
 On these points Herodotus again becomes the only historian 
 from whom we can expect any information. When he visited 
 Effypt, many lesser parts of this system might very possibly 
 have been changed ; but it had not yet given way to a Greek 
 or Roman division into provinces. Traces of what it had 
 originally been must have been preserved, or were at least too 
 easy to be obtained, to have escaped the observation of so 
 minute an inquirer as Herodotus. ^ 
 
 One fact, which a little attention to the subject alone places 
 before us, and which necessarily leads to still further conjecture, 
 is, that this division into nomes was, in a certain degree, con- 
 nected with the objects and form of worship in various parts ot 
 Ecrypt. In this nome, he says, was this or that deity rever- 
 enced, were these or those animals held sacred; while in an- 
 other it was otherwise. This remark at once leads us to adopt 
 the idea, that in this, as well as in almost every institutKm, 
 rehffion and state-policy were most intimately united. lUe 
 foUowincr passage from Herodotus, conjoined with what has 
 already been said upon the formation of the Egyptian states, 
 will, I think, place the obscure question respecting the origin 
 of nomes, which D'AnviUe held it impossible to solve, in its 
 
 fullest liffht.^ , o 1 1 1 i. «-, 
 
 " Those," says Herodotus, " who have founded the sanctuary 
 
 of the Theban Jupiter, or belong to the Theban nomes, abstain 
 
 from sheep, and slaughter goats ; but those who have estab- 
 
 > Strabo, p. 1154. See also Diodorus, 1. c. ; cf. Plin. v. 9. 
 « B'Anville, Mtmoire 9ur VEgypte, p. 34. 
 
 \ 
 
 t 
 r 
 
 i 
 
316 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. II 
 
 CUAP. II.] 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 SIT 
 
 lished the sanctuary of Mendes, or belong to the Mendean 
 nomes, abstain from goats and slaughter sheep instead." 
 
 This testimony of the historian seems to me so clear, pre- 
 cise, and certain, that I think no further doubt can remain upon 
 the origin and earliest form of the Egyptian nomes. They 
 evidently, at their origin, were appended to the temples. Every 
 new settlement of the priest caste, with the territory that 
 formed it, constituted one of these nomes. And every such 
 nome was distinguished from the others by the form of worship 
 introduced into it, which was every where modelled according 
 to local circumstances. 
 
 At their first origin, therefore, these Egyptian nomes were 
 just so many independent states of the priest caste ; and this 
 division into nomes could never become the general division 
 of the country, till the whole of Egypt, or the separate states 
 of which it was composed, should be united into one large 
 kingdom. It is, therefore, in this sense that the Egyptian 
 tradition ascribes this division to Sesostris ; because he was sole 
 monarch of all Egypt. 
 
 Thus, therefore, we here arrive, by another, and assuredly 
 by a more certain way, according to history, at the same con- 
 clusion to which our foregoing researches have already brought 
 us, namely, that " The most ancient states of this country were 
 originally settlements of the priest caste, who, by accustoming 
 the inhabitants to fixed dwellings, and to agriculture, by the 
 introduction of a religious worship formed according to the 
 locality, and supported by local circumstances, wove a politi- 
 cal band by which they connected these rude tribes with 
 themselves." 
 
 The central point of such a state, therefore, was always, in 
 the first place, a temple, about which a city became formed. 
 "A nome," says an Egyptian Father of the Church, "is a 
 name given by the Egyptians to a city, with its surrounding 
 territory, and the villages lying therein."^ Even the names of 
 the Egyptian cities afford a proof of this ; as we know, from 
 many examples, that such cities had two names, one sacred, 
 which was given it by the priests, and taken from their protect- 
 ing deity, the other profane, adopted from some accidental 
 cause. Thus Thebes was also called the City of Ammon ; 
 Memphis, the City of Phtha ; Heliopolis, the Cijy of Rhe, or 
 
 * Cjrrill. ad Jea. 19, IL No/xos it Xiytrai Trapi toIs Alyuirrtois €»cd<rrq iroXts, Kal al 
 wtpioiKiSit avTf7«, Kai al v-w' ai/r-^ Kwfiai. 
 
 Helios of On, etc.^ Nevertheless, these double names, so far 
 as I have been able to discover, were never conferred upon 
 imy cities, except the capitals of the nomes containing the 
 chief temple, and consequently forming the metropolis of the 
 
 state. 
 
 The particular fortunes of these little states, their rise and 
 their fall, are quite unknown. In the common course of 
 affairs, some would flourish while others declined, and the more 
 powerful obtain a dominion over the weak ; so that it is nothing 
 extraordinary to find two of them, Thebes and Memphis, ele- 
 vating themselves above the rest, and swallowing them up^ 
 It happened in Egypt as in Phoenicia, where the various cities, 
 likewise colonies of one another, formed at the beginning so 
 many small independent states ; but the mighty Tyre, gaining 
 at last a predominance, maintained, to a certain degree, an 
 authority over them : without, however, suppressing entirely 
 the other kings, whom she only held in dependence. But not- 
 withstanding all this, some states must still have remained 
 weak in proportion to the others, and this explains another 
 circumstance connected with the highest events of Egyptian 
 history: the tedious and often repeated struggle with the 
 neighbouring nornades, by whose conquest the flourishing 
 period of the Pharaohs was brought about. 
 
 The countries in the vicinity of Egypt were almost entirely 
 inhabited by nomad hordes, and certainly, for the most part, by 
 very powerful nations. Besides the African tribes of Libyan 
 and Ethiopian descent, there were the Arabians close at hand, 
 to whom the rich grazing districts of Lower Egypt must have 
 been particularly attractive. Thus, as the civilization of the 
 Nile valley extended farther north, an encounter with these 
 nations became unavoidable, who, for their part, felt just so 
 much more inclined for war as the opulence of the valley in- 
 creased. It follows, from the nature and habits of these nations, 
 who only flee to recruit their strength and renew their attacks, 
 that these wars must have been very frequent and tedious. 
 The more ancient Egyptian history, in which they are com- 
 prised under the name of Hyhsos,^ is, even in its fragments, 
 
 » ChampolUon, Tr&cis, p. 337. The Greek names of these cities, therefore, were trans- 
 lations of those given them by the priests, according to the comparison of the Egyptian 
 
 gods with theirs. , , -, i • • ^.-u • „* 
 
 « The name Hyksosis explained by Manetho to mean shepherd-kmgs ; as m the ancient 
 Egyptian language Hyk signified king, and Sos shepherd ; accordmp to which it would not 
 be the name of the people, but only of their rulers. After another mterpretaUon, it is said 
 to mean captives. Joseph, p. 1038. 
 
318 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 full of accounts respecting them ; and from these it is evident, 
 that although Egypt was assaulted on various sides by these 
 tribes yet, those coming from the east, the Arabs, were by far 
 the most formidable among them/ . They overran Lower 
 Egypt, and pressed forwards into Middle Egypt, where they 
 took Memphis ; they overthrew cities and temples, and built a 
 strong place surrounded with walls, at Avaris, near Pelusium, 
 at the entrance of Egypt, as a place of retreat in case of neces- 
 sity They thus founded a kingdom, which comprised the 
 greatest part of Egypt, and which, governed by a succession 
 of monarchs, whose names will be found m Manetho, con- 
 tinned for a considerable period. The victors, as is almost 
 always the case with nomad conquerors,' appear to have 
 adopted many of the customs of the conquered. They estab- 
 lished themselves in Lower and Middle Egypt ; Memphis was 
 the capital of their empire ; it is not, therefore, to be wondered 
 at, that their kings should be enumerated in the series ot 
 Egyptian dynasties. From the little that is said of them by 
 Herodotus,* it is not altogether an improbable conjecture, that 
 they were the builders of the pyramids, a sort of monument 
 peculiar to Middle Egypt, where they ruled, and which, from 
 their huge size, seem to betray the taste of a semi-barbarous 
 people, who found, among the conquered mechanics and la- 
 bourers, the means of prosecuting such stupendous undertak- 
 
 1 The foUowing accounts are taken from Josephus, contra Apion. Op. p. 1036, etc., who 
 
 ^^^s/hrme^Vorr^^^^ 
 
 w^nSSTuSTce ofthe Hyksos in E^ypt, he states at live hundred and eleven years ; but 
 ^ thlrstet^^Tt be adop^^^^ there is no doibt but it must be understood to mclude the long 
 and^^eSerwarrwWeCreceded, as well as those which followed their actual dominion. 
 ¥he nro^r d^mSion of the Hyksis in Egypt, from the seventeenth dyn^ty of Manetho, 
 con^iSS aicSg to his statement, only one hundred and three years Euseb. Chran^V- 
 Si2 SS DlSes the elevation of Joseph within this period ; and the favourable recep- 
 tion of Kmify>^^^^ Me. -m be certainly most expUcable dunng the sway 
 
 of a shepherd dynasty. • r-v » 
 
 s A« fnrGxamnle the Mongols and Mantchuesm China. 
 * The Wd^ of the pyram^ represented by the Egyptians themselves as oppress- 
 
 S^is d^s nofaTall wcKthe other reasons for tfiis opinion. Various reports, however, 
 were c^nt ^E^ptTtself respecting the antiquity and builders of the pyramids ; Diodon^, 
 were currem m ■c^KyP'' hcintr then very ancient. Since we have become acquainted 
 
 'JtiihVp'SSincht t^e in K^s^cTwe observe there in miniature what was car 
 riedtSsuS^wonS^^ extent in Eg^t, can anything be more probable than hat the 
 F^^nW nvramids were also the work of Ethiopian conquerors, of whom, indeed, merod. 
 f YR^ler hl^ eT^^^^ are said to have nUed in Egypt, long previous to the ^ounsh- 
 iio time^of EevDt under the Sesostrid«. I shall leave it to others to do justice to this con- 
 teftSre -^d i^ oXnow add, that, according to the passages cited from Diodorus, there 
 ^aTstiU ^^ot^rlr^SJLn in Egypt which referred the buil^ng J^ ^he ^yramid^^>^^^^^^^ 
 of a king Amaais, or Ammosis, who is described as a tyrant, but was overtnrown ny u 
 Ethicpian conqueror, Actisanes. 
 
 CtlAF* ii*J 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 Sl'i. 
 
 ings. However this may have been, the power of the con- 
 querors began to decline, probably from the same causes that 
 have usually operated upon other empires of the same kind in 
 the East ; and, as they seem never to have been completely 
 masters of Upper Egypt, where at least the kingdom of Thebes 
 maintained itself during their dominion, though perhaps some- 
 times dependent, they became at last expelled by the rulers of 
 that state ; and Egypt delivered from their oppression. The 
 glory of being the restorer of Egyptian independence, is attri- 
 buted toThutmosis, king of Thebes ; the first who, in alliance 
 with the other kings of Egypt,* attempted to shake off the yoke 
 of the Hyksos. After a long struggle, the latter were at last 
 driven to their strong-hold at Avaris ; and, as this could not be 
 taken by force, they were reduced to a capitulation by the 
 second king after Thutmosis, by which they agreed to evacu- 
 ate this and all Egypt. 
 
 This expulsion of the Hyksos became, by its consequences, 
 one of the greatest events of Egyptian history.^ As it brought 
 the nation again to depend upon itself, it laid the foundation 
 for the consolidation of the various petty states under one ruler, 
 which, though perhaps not immediately, followed soon after, 
 and led to the commencement of the brilliant period of the 
 empire. How deeply the remembrance of these victories was 
 impressed upon the nation, is plainly evinced in the remains of 
 their annals ; and scarcely anything was to be expected, from 
 the nature of their monuments, but that these glorious deeds 
 should be immortalized upon them. The few specimens, which 
 
 » This is the expression of Manetho in Josephus. That many small states existed during 
 the dominion of the Hyksos cannot be strange : the victors, as is usual, might be satisfied 
 with making them tributary. 
 
 « Although chronological disquisitions lie beyond the scope of this work, yet clearness re- 
 quires that the principal epochs should be determined, so far as this is possible in a history 
 where we are compelled to reckon by centuries instead of years. We shaU distinguish four 
 periods. The Jirst, from before the year 2000 to 1800 b. c. : period of the colonization of the 
 Nile valley and of Lower Egypt, where numerous small states were formed m the manner 
 above described, and Thebes and Memphis already attained to considerable importance. 
 Abraham, about 2000 b. c, found a kingdom in Lower Egypt ; and, two ccntunes later, m 
 Joseph's time, 1800 b. c, the state in which he acted so great a part, probably Memphis, 
 was so powerful, that it comprised Middle and Lower Egypt. The second, from 1800—1700 
 «. c. : period of the Hyksos, who subjugated Middle Egypt. The native states, however, 
 still continue to exist, (though more or less tributary,) especially the kingdom of Jhebes. 
 The victors mostly adopt the manners of the conquered, but gradually lose thereby their 
 warlike character. Period of Moses.— TAe third, from 1700-700 b. c. : period of Scsos- 
 tris and of the Sesostridse, who, after the expulsion of the Hyksos ruled over aU Egypt. 
 Hence this formed the brilliant period of the kingdom, in which the greater part ot its 
 mighty monuments were erected. Towards the close of this period, however, from about 
 800 B. c, the kingdom began to decline, partly through the conquests of the kings of Ethio- 
 pia and ISIeroe, and partly from intestine troubles ; so that a dodecarchy became the conse- 
 quence, till Psammetichus established himself at Sais as sole monarch of Egypt. 1 hejourth, 
 700—528 B. c, from the reign of Psammetichus to the Persian conquest. The chronology 
 of Egypt chiefly depends upon fixing the period of Sesostris; upon which I shall say more 
 in the next chapter. 
 
to 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 CHAP, n.] 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 321 
 
 we have now obtained, of the historical representations upon 
 the walls of their temples, seem, as I shall make manifest in the 
 next chapter, to leave no doubt of this fact. Indeed, it is 
 easily perceived that the reliefs upon one of the great temples 
 at Thebes, namely, that of Karnac, are devoted to the history 
 of this war ; for the whole circle of events, from the moment 
 in which the king obtains his weapons from the deity, m order 
 to march against the enemy, till he again, as conqueror, de- 
 livers them back to the deity, is placed before us. The pecu- 
 liarities of the people warred against, as well as the designation 
 of the locality, and the manner of the fight, are all so many 
 proofs of this fact. The hostile nation have a peculiar physi- 
 ognomy, altogether different from that of the Egyptian. All 
 belonging to it have long beards and long garments ; every 
 thing, indeed, pointing them out as Arabs. Still clearer proofs 
 are given in the representation of the battle and flight. Ihe 
 slain and flying enemy is here portrayed as a nation, whose 
 riches consist in its herds of cattle and horses, which are seen 
 taking to flight with their armies. The circumstance of place 
 is pointed out by a lotus flower and bush, a proof that it was 
 a marshy region. In the back-ground is observed a long, 
 strong-posted wall or fortification ; which, in connexion with 
 the other circumstances, obviously brings to our mind the 
 strong-hold of Avaris, the point to which the shepherds had 
 reached in this very district of Lower Egypt. 
 
 Although this important event laid the foundation ot that 
 national power and greatness which seemed immediately to 
 follow, yet it also seems explained by the foregoing narrative, 
 how these revolutions came to have so little eflect in changing 
 the national character, and the principal features of govern- 
 ment. We know explicitly, that the state of Thebes continued 
 during the foreign dynasty, as did probably many of the others, 
 by paying tribute. The form of this state, therefore, remained 
 the same ; the dominion of the priest caste was shaken, but 
 not overthrown ; and if the sanctuaries, as the priest informed 
 Herodotus, were closed for a hundred years, they were never- 
 theless reopened ; the foreign dynasty was chased from Upper 
 Egypt; independence was here re-established, the national 
 spirit revived, and the various states were consolidated into one 
 kingdom. Can we then be surprised to see in Egypt, thus united, 
 the same principal form continued, and the kingdom in its most 
 flourishing period assume the appearance of a vast hierarchy . 
 
 This brilliant period began, according to the most probable 
 settlement of the chronology, between the years 1600 and 
 1500 B. c. ; at a time when we have as yet heard of no great 
 empire in Asia ; when, as yet, Phoenicia possessed no Tyre, nor 
 the commerce of the world ; when the Jews, after the death of 
 Joshua, remained without a leader, weak and inconsiderable ; 
 and when the obscure traditions of the Greeks represent that 
 nation as but little removed from barbarism. There can be no 
 doubt, therefore, but Egypt ranked, at this time, as the most 
 civilized country of the known world, at least as far as the In- 
 dus ; and for succeeding centuries no one could enter the lists 
 with her, or cause her any dread ; and thus, through a long 
 period of tranquillity, she continually increased and prospered, 
 till she attained that pitch of greatness, which is not only set 
 forth in the narratives of antiquity, but displayed in her own 
 monuments. The first symptoms of decay are discernible to- 
 wards the beginning of the eighth century before the Christian 
 era, the period at which a little light breaks into her history ; 
 and we therefore may conclude, with much probability, that 
 this golden period lasted from seven to eight centuries. What 
 I have to say respecting it will be reserved for the following 
 chapter. 
 
 Egyptian tradition makes the departure of some of the fo- 
 reign colonies, as, for example, that of Danaus for the Pelopon- 
 nesus, to have happened during the revolutions, to which the 
 expulsion of the Hyksos gave rise. How much the founda- 
 tion of colonies, not only within, but also beyond the bound- 
 aries of Egypt, was in accordance with the notions of the 
 Egyptian priests, may be gathered from the statements of Dio- 
 dorus. According to their own traditions, Egyptian colonies 
 were founded in the most opposite regions of the world : in 
 Greece, Colchis, Babylon, and even India. But, in the founda- 
 tion of these colonies out of Egypt, there was always a view to 
 the extension of Egyptian civilization. Even the whole mythus 
 of the expedition of Osiris, as found in Diodorus,^ is nothing 
 more than a figurative representation of the spread of Egyptian 
 religion and civilization, by the planting of colonies ; as was 
 that of Hercules, as I have shown in its place, among the Phoe- 
 nicians. It is the highly figurative language of eastern anti- 
 quity. No one will think of finding in it strict historical truth ; 
 nevertheless, it will plainly evince, that this extension by colo- 
 
 » Diodorus, i. p. 22. 
 
 T 
 
822 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 CHAP. I1-] 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 323 
 
 nies of priests, as we have laid it down, was by no means a 
 strange idea to the Egyptians themselves, but a well-known 
 common circumstance. 
 
 It also seems pretty certain, that m this flourishing period, 
 the division into castes, as a political institution, received its 
 complete formation ; and those strict boundary l^es w 
 fixed to which difference of descent and manner of life had 
 already laid the foundation. So long as the country remained 
 divided into numerous small states, this institution, though cer- 
 tainly existing, could scarcely come to maturity. The priest 
 caste was without doubt distributed through all the states, 
 which were excellently formed and governed by them ; but m 
 each of these states there could hardly be found some of all the 
 other castes. Thus a warrior caste could not possib y become 
 important in small states, if they had already existed in some 
 of the larger for any length of time. But after the consolida- 
 tln^\l^one king^dom, institutions of this land the ground 
 having been laid for them before, must naturally have become 
 extended The more, therefore, this regulation formed the 
 foundation of the whole government, the more necessary it 
 seems that we should take a glance at the separate castes ; as 
 well the noble, (the priest and warrior castes,) as the others 
 enumerated by Herodotus. • .1 • . ^o^.a^a 
 
 The difficulties of the inquiry respecting the priest caste ^re 
 increased, because the writers, to whose testimony we must 
 have recourse, did not live till a later age, when it must already 
 have under^ne great and essential internal changes, bvery 
 revolution must have reacted upon this body or rather struck 
 it first ; as already that of Psammetichus who by foreign aid 
 had won the sole dominion of Egypt. This event, though 1 
 did not destroy, must have greatly diminished their poh ical 
 influence. By the changes which ensued m Egyptian policy, 
 it is probable, that, without violent concussion, they became 
 gradually reduced to what they appeared in the time ot He- 
 rodotus, when little more seemed left of their former dominion 
 and power than their documents. These changes were still 
 further increased by the Persian yoke. These foreign con- 
 querors were the natural enemies of the ruling caste and it be- 
 comes a matter of surprise, that the repeated shocks which it 
 had to endure did not entirely destroy it. 
 
 Herodotus, therefore, and still more the writers^ from whom 
 Diodorus borrowed, saw only the shadow of their former glory. 
 
 Still, however, there were left many manifest traces of what had 
 formerly been, and sufficient may be collected from what these 
 writers tell us, to enable us to form, with tolerable certainty, 
 some conclusions respecting the earlier state of this caste. 
 
 It was completely in accordance with Egyptian institutions, 
 that branches of this great priest stock should be spread over 
 all Egypt. In every Egyptian city this caste seems to have 
 been native ; but the great cities, which formerly had been 
 the capitals of the Egyptian kingdoms, Memphis, Thebes, 
 Heliopolis, and Sais, still continued their principal seats ; it 
 was likewise at these places that the great temples were found, 
 which are so often mentioned in the narratives of Herodotus 
 
 and others.^ 
 
 Every Egyptian priest was obliged to enter into the service 
 of some particular god ; that is to say, he was obliged to belong 
 to some particular temple. The number of priests for the 
 service of any deity was never fixed ; according to the whole 
 system, it must have been a matter of chance, for, as the priest- 
 hood descended in families, its number must have varied. It 
 was not, for example, merely the priest caste generally that 
 was hereditary in Egypt ; but again, especially the priesthood 
 of this or that deity. The son of a priest of Vulcan at Mem- 
 phis, could not enter, as member, into the college of priests 
 at Heliopolis ; nor could a son of one of the latter enter into 
 
 the former. 
 
 However strange this regulation may appear to us, it is 
 quite natural. Every temple had large estates, tlie revenues 
 of which were drawn by the priests belonging to the same, 
 whose forefathers had formerly built this temple, had formed 
 the neighbouring tribes into subjects, and had made these fields 
 arable. It was therefore a natural inheritance, which might 
 become so much the more unalienable, as it not only referred 
 to the income, but also to the territory of every priest colony. 
 
 The priesthood belonging to each temple, were again, 
 among themselves, strictly organized. They had a high priest, 
 whose office was likewise hereditary, and the disposition of the 
 rest was made according to the state of affairs. 
 
 It scarcely needs to be mentioned, that these offices of high 
 priest, in the metropolitan temples of Egypt, were the first and 
 highest in the state. To a certain degree they were hereditary 
 
 > The proofs of what next follow will be found in Herod, ii. 36, 37, 42, compared with 
 Diodorus, i. p. 48. 
 
 Y 2 
 
324 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 325 
 
 princes, who ranked next to the kings, and enjoyed nearly 
 equal advantages. Both Memphis and Thebes had, at the 
 same time, high priests and kings, so long as they flourished as 
 separate and independent states. The Egyptian title was 
 pyromis, which, according to Herodotus's interpretation, is 
 equivalent in signification to fioble and good ' {ica\h. Ka^aOh.) ; 
 but which, perhaps, did not refer to the moral character, but 
 to nobleness of descent.^ Their statues were erected m the 
 temple. Whenever they are mentioned in history, even in the 
 Mosaic period, they are represented as the highest persons m 
 the state. When Joseph became elevated in Egypt, the hrst 
 step he took was to connect himself by marriage with the priest 
 caste : he married the daughter of the high priest ot Un, or 
 
 Heliopolis,^ . , i u ac 
 
 The oro-anization of the inferior priesthood was perhaps dit- 
 ferent in diff'erent cities, according to the size and wants of the 
 locality. They did not continue the ruling race, merely be- 
 cause from them were chosen the servants of the state, but 
 much rather because they monopolised every branch ot scien- 
 tific knowledge, which was entirely formed by the locality, and 
 had immediate reference to the wants of the people. Ihe 
 reader must banish the idea, that their sole, or even their most 
 usual employment, was the service of the gods, an idea which 
 the few following callings of priests will much tend to expe . 
 Thev were judges, physicians, soothsayers, architects, m short, 
 everything in which any species of scientific knowledge was 
 
 ^^^U is evident from the whole course of Egyptian history, that 
 everv great city in this country had originally one principal 
 temple of this kind, which, in succeeding times, always re- 
 mained the high temple, and the deity who was worshipped 
 therein the chief god, or protecting deity of the place. Hie 
 priests of Memphis were always called (according to the Greek 
 way of naming them) the priests of Vulcan ; those at Thebes, 
 priests of the Theban Jupiter ; those at Sais, priests of Minerva ; 
 Those at On, priests of the sun, etc. These temples were the 
 earliest settlements of the priesthood at each place, and to each 
 of these likewise was knit the whole dominion ot the state, 
 which grew up and increased around it ; it scarcely needs to 
 
 i TK!:?1i.il'ity be the sense of .a\6. Kay«0o., is shortly set forth by Welker, in his in- 
 troduction to Theognidis licliquUt, p. 24. Oenesis xli. 4^. 
 
 be mentioned, that this in no wise prevented the priesth( od 
 from founding numerous temples to other deities, in propor- 
 tion as their body increased, and changes of time and circum- 
 stances wrought occasion for them. The number of deities, 
 however, to whom temples were dedicated, seems, at least in 
 Upper Egypt, always to have been very limited. We have only 
 yet heard of temples here to Ammon, Osiris, Isis, and Typhon. 
 In Middle and Lower Egypt this circle seems afterwards to 
 have been extended ; it was still, however, confined to deities 
 of the family of Ammon. 
 
 It will now also be easier to answer another question not less 
 important ; that touching the inco?ne of the Egyptian priests. 
 The erroneous idea has been long entertained, that these were 
 a class of men paid by the king or state ; an idea which even 
 those writers who have most raised themselves above the com- 
 mon notions respecting this remarkable caste seem still in- 
 clined to favour. 
 
 From what has already been said upon the colonies of these 
 priests, it naturally follows, that they must have been the first 
 proprietors of lands within their territory. It surely cannot, 
 therefore, seem strange, that they are represented by Herodo- 
 tus as being the prmcipal landed proprietors in Egypt, a pri- 
 vilege which, according to Diodorus, was only possessed besides 
 by the kings, in respect to their domains, and, though only 
 under certain restrictions, by the warrior caste. It is, how- 
 ever, contrary to probability and to history to represent this 
 latter regulation as uniformly and uninterruptedly existing in 
 all the states of Egypt ; to probability, because it would be 
 difficult to conceive that the priest caste, where a state became 
 greatly augmented, could preserve in its full extent, and ex- 
 clusively, the proprietorship of land ; to history, because as 
 early as the time of Joseph, there appear to have been pro- 
 prietors of land in the state over which he was governor, be- 
 sides the priest caste and king, who, when compelled by the 
 famine which then distressed them, could part with it to the 
 king for corn.^ 
 
 But whatever changes may have taken place, it is still cer- 
 tain that a considerable, perhaps the largest and fairest, portion 
 of the land always remained the property of the priests. Ac- 
 
 * Genesis xlvii. 18 — 26. A very remarkable passage, which, besides showing us the power 
 of the priests at that time, likewise gives us an example of the increase of the royal power in 
 an Egyptian state ! 
 
SS6 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. II, 
 
 CHAP. II-] 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 327 
 
 cording to Herodotus and Diodorus, it was managed in the 
 
 ^""t^ eaKmpU or to every settlement of priests, were at- 
 tached extensive etates : these formed the ongmal terntoryof 
 tachea extenbi ^. f ^e belonged to the whole body m 
 
 the settlement and therdoi^t^e ^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^^^ 
 
 Srand tKveZ: w^h thJyVoduced formed the com- 
 ^n Casurv of the temple, which was under he charge of a 
 
 lioc hplonffinff to each temple , tney anu lucn 
 
 ; !i,T^f nriasts (fcp it need scarcely be remarked that they 
 " ^f^ iCSd .l» or "nigkt posse's, their pmate means, 
 married,) P<»»^,'^'r"' " ,| would be sufficiently evident, 
 "f„TE "E""«P-i; said a. much iJthe p,^ 
 
 even it neruuutu r„^:i;es of priests were in reality the 
 
 t^t \he Seft and hSit in'the countiy ! The priests 
 I A Sppd^Susrvely the transacting of all state affairs ; and 
 S:i fon beS mLy of the most profitable branches of 
 Eess They formed, in fact, to a certam extent, a highly 
 
 ^"S?hfiuLee of cleanliness in their person and cloth- 
 inJ wasfvery%^^ trait in the character of the Epfan 
 '^S'Z The7el no doubt but the nature of the country and 
 Ce h J(: great mfluence m this respect, . well .^^^^^^ 
 
 reT;L*n%:^' w iVt dtideS^ that external 
 
 always wearing clean linen clothes. 
 
 «««a thP Steward of the college of priests at Sais, ii. 28. 
 1 Herodotus expressly mentions the stewara oi wi« c b 
 
 The other classes throw woollen garments over these ; the 
 priests, on the contrary, clothe themselves entirely in clean 
 linen,^ and wear shoes of byblos. They shaved carefully their 
 head, in order to secure themselves from vermin, and bathed 
 twice a day. Could the higher classes in any country easily 
 distinguish themselves by their clothing in a more simple and 
 judicious manner ? 
 
 Among the writers and Fathers of the Church who flour- 
 ished in the first centuries, many accounts are still to be met 
 with concerning the Egyptian priests ; mostly, however, relat- 
 ing to the internal regulations of this caste.^ They are there 
 divided mio prophets, pastophori, neocori, etc. These divisions 
 are certainly confirmed by what is found upon the monuments, 
 and by the Rosetta inscription ; in other respects but little 
 critical value can be placed upon these later accounts, where 
 the question refers to the government of the ancient Egyptian 
 priests. This class of men, once so respectable, and so active 
 in the cultivation of the nation, had degenerated into charla- 
 tans ; they nevertheless still continued to live upon the income 
 derived from the temple property, and had become proportion- 
 ately pompous in external dignities, as their power and influ- 
 ence had decreased. 
 
 Next in rank to the priest caste, was, according to the 
 unanimous testimony of historians, the soldier caste, ^ or the 
 race of Egyptian warriors. An object of inquiry not at all less 
 interesting, but respecting which the difficulties are still more 
 appalling. 
 
 It seems reasonable to suppose, that, in the political changes 
 which took place in Egypt, and more particularly in its trans- 
 formation into one kingdom, the effiects upon the internal or- 
 ganization of this caste must have been as great, or greater, 
 than upon the priests. The question naturally presents itself, 
 whether in the earlier periods each state, or the greater part of 
 the separate states, had their warrior caste, and if they had, 
 
 ' Under which, however, it seems probable that cotton is to be understood as included. 
 Conf. De Schmidt de Sacerdotibus jEgypt. p, 26. This fashion in dress seems to me also to 
 argue for a southern descent. But, not to dwell upon this, the account given of them is 
 completely confirmed by the representations of the priests upon the monuments. They al- 
 ways are portrayed here in long garments, and with heads closely shaved, where they have 
 not a particular head-dress on. This head-dress seems to mark the distinction of ranks, but 
 probably had as well some other religious reference. A more accurate study of the clothing 
 and ornaments of the head would perhaps give a key to the great variety of representations 
 of them in Egyptian antiquity. . -r^ c. v • j 
 
 * The most complete collection of them will be found in the learned treatise, De Schmidt 
 de Sacrificiia et Sacerdotibus 2E(jyptorum. Compare with them Zoega de Obeliscis, p. 
 513, etc. 3 Herod, ii. 164, 166. Diodorus, 1. c. 
 
328 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. 11. 
 
 cuAr. II.] 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 329 
 
 how they afterwards became transformed ? Here agam, un- 
 fortunately, our accounts only reach to the later periods. I 
 will sketch a picture of them as accurately and fully as I can 
 from Herodotus and Diodorus ; and afterwards add what I 
 think I may call probable conjectures. 
 
 The Egyptian warriors, according to Herodotus, were a 
 race, and, certainly, as well as the priest caste, one of the most 
 distinguished races of the nation. They were subdivided into 
 the Hermotybi and the Calasiri; and both these possessed 
 certain nomes or districts, which are mentioned by name in 
 Herodotus. The Hermotybi, at the time of their greatest 
 power, were 160,000 men strong; the Calasiri 250,000. 
 Neither one nor the other durst carry on any trade ; they were 
 destined to war alone, and this destination descended from 
 father to son. Their pay consisted of the produce of their 
 estates ; for they, as well as the kings and priests, were large 
 landed proprietors. Each man had twelve acres of land, the 
 acre being reckoned at one hundred Egyptian ells.' One 
 thousand of the Calasiri and one thousand of the Hermotybi, 
 were appointed every year for the king s body-guard ; and 
 these obtained, in addition to their estates, a certain allowance 
 of meat, bread, and wine. They are made landed proprietors, 
 adds Diodorus, in order to induce them to marry, and thereby 
 to insure an increase of their number, and to give them a greater 
 interest in the protection of their country. 
 
 According to these accounts of Herodotus, therefore, the 
 Egyptian warriors were a native Egyptian tribe, settled in a 
 particular province, and to whom, by an accurate admeasure- 
 ment of the soil, a certain portion of landed property was given. 
 This is evidently the notion which, from the whole, must be 
 
 formed of them. , ^^ i • • i a 
 
 Respecting how far the two classes, the Calasiri and the 
 Hermotybi, differed from one another, and in what relations 
 they stood, history is silent ; the answering of this question is 
 a matter of mere conjecture. It seems, indeed, most probable 
 that they were originally different tribes. Had they still in 
 different provinces of Egypt their separate dwellings ? 
 
 Herodotus has expressly named the Egyptian nomes m 
 which both of them were quartered. It is evident, from his 
 statement, that nearly the whole of the Egyptian forces were 
 
 » The Egyptian ell, according to D'Anville, makes twenty-one and a half Paris inches. 
 M6moires sur VEgypte, p. 27. 
 
 concentrated in Lower Egypt : four nomes and a half were 
 possessed by the Hermotybi within the Delta, and twelve others 
 by the Calasiri ; while each of them had only one single one 
 in all Middle and Upper Egypt; namely, the districts of 
 Chemmis and Thebes. 
 
 This striking fact is easily explained by Egyptian history. 
 From the time of Psammetichus downward, Egypt was in al- 
 most continual dread of powerful attacks from Asia, and from 
 that quarter alone ; thence, indeed, she was several times in- 
 vaded. Probably, therefore, this settlement of the Egyptian 
 warrior caste was the work of later monarchs, who had abso- 
 lute power, though the earlier wars with the shepherds might 
 also have occasioned it. 
 
 Should the reader, however, prefer the other way in which 
 this is accounted for, and rather consider these tribes as ori- 
 ginally native in the nomes in which they dwelt in the time ot 
 Herodotus, there is no want of probability in this view of the 
 subject. In the Mosaic period the warrior caste first appears 
 in Lower Egypt. The rapidity with which the Pharaoli there 
 mentioned, probably a ruler of Memphis, could assemble the 
 army with which he pursued the fugitive Israelites, evinces 
 clearly enough that the Egyptian warriors of that epoch must 
 have been quartered in just the same district in which Hero- 
 dotus places them. 
 
 Of their internal organization, of their officers, of their mi- 
 litary tactics and discipline, and so forth, we know but little. 
 Something is said upon these matters in the following chapter. 
 They must have undergone great changes in consequence 
 of the number of canals made in Egypt.^ The Egyptian forces 
 consisted principally, in early times, (as in the period of Mo- 
 ses, for example,) of cavalry and war-chariots f but these 
 could be but of little service when the country was every where 
 intersected by canals. 
 
 Further, it scarcely need be noticed that they were by no 
 means the o?ili/ inhabitants of the districts in which they re- 
 sided . It is equally erroneous to suppose that they durst trans- 
 act no other business whatever except military. Handicraft 
 trades were forbidden them, because they were considered de- 
 basing ; but there is no proof that they were interdicted agri- 
 culture, and particularly the cultivation of their own estates ; 
 although, according to the statements of Diodorus, these were 
 
 • Herod, ii 108 ; Diodorus, i. p. 67. 
 
 « Exodus xiv. 9. 
 
330 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. 11. 
 
 CHAP 
 
 . II.] 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 $31 
 
 certainly, in general, as well as those of the kings and priests, 
 
 farmed out.* . 
 
 They must, however, have been called upon duty m the in- 
 terior of the country at a distance from their places of abode. 
 There were establishments of them at the places upon the 
 frontiers, as at Syene and others, which were from time to time 
 reheved. They formed, moreover, as we are told by Herodo- 
 tus, the body-guard of the king ; every year, a thousand from 
 each class — the Calasiri and Hermotybi — went to court, and 
 there enjoyed free quarters.^ The neglect to relieve these as 
 usual, was, according to Herodotus, one of the causes which 
 led to their migration into Ethiopia.^ 
 
 According to the opinion of a modem writer,* there could 
 have been no soldier caste at all in Egypt, after the time of 
 Psammetichus ; for he believes that at that period the whole 
 caste migrated into Ethiopia. This view of the subject is not 
 only entirely destitute of proof, but is very easily contradicted. 
 Herodotus speaks of them as a caste still ei'isting, during his 
 abode in Egypt ; though he at the same time gives us to un- 
 derstand, that they were not then nearly so numerous as they 
 had been ; and in the wars of the later Pharaohs they are ex- 
 pressly spoken of ^ 
 
 All writers agree, then, in making the priest and warrior 
 castes the two highest in rank ; in the enumeration of the others 
 there is no particular order observed by Herodotus ; it is not 
 indeed known whether there was any or not ; except that the 
 shepherds, or herdsmen, were placed in the lowest rank. It 
 is, therefore, quite indifferent how we range the remainder. 
 
 Let the first, then, be the caste of trading citizens ; for so I 
 translate the Greek expression of Herodotus, KaTtniXot, a word to 
 which lexicographers have already given the same meaning. 
 It must, therefore, have been one of the most numerous castes, 
 comprising the mechanics, (handicraftsmen,) artists, chapmen, 
 and merchants ; and in this way Herodotus himself seems to 
 explain it in another passage.^ It lies in the nature of things, 
 that this caste could only be formed by increasing cultivation ; 
 the tribe, or tribes, which belonged to it, could not have a ca- 
 pacity for these affairs till after they had made a manifest pro- 
 gress in civilization. 
 
 » Diodorus, i. p. 85. « Herod, ii. 168. >Ibid.ii.30. 
 
 ♦ De Pauw, Recherches sur les Egypttem,\i. p. 331. ^;,^f;nr, into 
 
 * Herod, ii. 169. Also Zoega, p. 570, thinks it yery probable that the migration into 
 Ethiopia is much exaggerated ; nevertheless it must, from the ciUes they founded there, 
 have been very considerable. * Herod, u. 141. 
 
 It is a doubtful and obscure question whether these separate 
 trades were again hereditary, and thus this caste included a 
 great number of subdivisions ; or whether each individual was 
 It Uberty to follow any one that might be considered a citizen s 
 business, or handicraft. Although I have elsewhere declared 
 myself in favour of the latter opinion, yet there certainly 
 seems to me now many reasons to strengthen and confirm the , 
 former. The statements of Diodorus, whether the result of his 
 own inspection, or copied from earlier accounts, can in no 
 other way be understood. He states expressly, that the son 
 was bound to carry on the trade of his father, and that one 
 alone.' It must, therefore, be assumed, that the trade caste 
 contained a great number of subdivisions, which is also the 
 case in India, and that each under-caste had its particular 
 branch of trade. The Egyptian documents, which have lately 
 been discovered in Upper Egypt, and published, seem to con- 
 firm this opinion ; as the guild, or company, of curriers or 
 leather-dressers is found therein.^ The Egyptians considered 
 this regulation the cause of the high perfection to which the 
 different branches of trade had attained among them ; whether 
 they were right or not we cannot pretend to decide. 
 
 The most important difference between Herodotus and 
 Diodorus in the division of the castes, consists in the latter 
 making a separate caste of the husbandmen, which the other 
 does not mention. Must we suppose that he comprised them 
 under the trading caste? This is a very difficult question 
 and is connected with the inquiry respecting the manner ot 
 holding landed property in Egypt. According to Diodorus, 
 all landed property was in the hands of the king, the priests 
 and the warriors.' According to Herodotus, Sesostris is said 
 to have divided all Egypt, giving to each individual an equal 
 quadrangular portion, determined by lot, and from these allot, 
 ments his own revenue proceeded.* The idea of landed 
 proprietorship, however, is very ambiguous. 1 here is tuU 
 proprietorship, and there is, as in the case of vassalage, a 
 conditional proprietorship. In the East the kings are usually 
 regarded as the lords paramount of the land. In the state 
 where Joseph lived, it became the king's by his management. 
 Previous to that time, the possessors seem to have been lull 
 
 • Diodorus, i. p. 86. So also Plato, 0;).ix. 294. Bipont 
 
 » Boeckh, Ex/umatumofan, Egyptian document «po» Papyrm. Berlin, 1821, p. a. 
 
 ' Diodonis, i p. 84. ' Herod, u. 109. 
 
S32 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 proprietors/ If indeed Sesostris, at a later period, divided all 
 the lands of Egypt, according to a strict measurement, it fol- 
 lows, as a matter of course, that he considered himself as chief 
 proprietor. It is certain that Sesostris miglit have had the 
 distribution of a good deal of land, because he completely ex- 
 pelled the Hyksos who had appropriated it to themselves. And 
 that the account which the priests imparted to Herodotus was 
 limited to this, seems most agreeable to the nature of the thing 
 altogether. It seems also evident, that he left or restored 
 again to the temples and priests, the land belonging to them. 
 Diodorus's account, that all the land was the property of the 
 kings, priests, and warriors, cannot well be taken in the strict- 
 est sense,^ as from tlie merchants' contracts, lately discovered, 
 (certainly, however, not older than the period of the Ptolemies,) 
 it appears that the cities had their land-marks.^ All then that 
 we can conclude with certainty is, that if not all, yet at least 
 the best and largest portion of the land, did belong to the three 
 proprietors above mentioned. It is, moreover, certain that 
 these estates were cultivated by farmers ; but by what tenure 
 these held their lands, whether as copyholders, leaseholders, or 
 yearly tenants, it is impossible to determine. Their condition 
 may perhaps have been similar to that of the present Fellahs,* 
 who are by no means independent landed proprietors. There 
 can, however, be no doubt but that the cultivation of the soil, 
 if not altogether, yet principally, was carried on by farmers. 
 These consequently formed the Egyptian peasantry, of whose 
 manner of life Herodotus has furnished us with an accurate 
 description, to which I shall presently return. Many of the 
 other classes of the trade caste, however, might cultivate land ; 
 and the husbandmen in general could not form a distinct caste, 
 because, according to the ruling maxim of the priests, this em- 
 ployment was, as far as possible, to be common to all the citi- 
 zens. They, therefore, in general belonged to the caste of 
 tradesmen. 
 
 * Genesis xlvii. 18 — 26. 
 
 ' A remarkable account of the landed property in Egypt is preserved in Stoba?\is from 
 Aristotle {Eclog. Phys. et Eth. ii. 1, p. 332, my edition). It is there stated, that among the 
 Egyptians the lands of private persons (twi/ I^luotwv) were so distributed, 'that every one 
 had one portion of his property in the neighbourhood of the city, the other at a distance 
 from it. This shows that every city had a certain extent of territory belonging to it, which 
 was distributed among the citizens according to the principle described above. The state- 
 ment is borrowed from Aristot. Polit. vii. 10. It is only doubtful, then, whether it likewise 
 refers to the Egyptians alluded to before ; but from the context it appears very probable. 
 
 ' Boeckh, 1. c. 27. Compare St. Martin, Notice sur quelques Manuscrits Grecs, apportts 
 (TEgi/pte, in Journal des Savants, 1822, Sept. 
 
 * Compare the charming account of them in Reynier, Mtmoires sur VEgypte, tom. iv. p. 
 21. And in the same Economie politique et rurale des Egyptiens et des CarthaginoiSy p. 97. 
 
 \ 
 
 CHAP. II- ] 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 233 
 
 A caste of navigators has greatly embarrassed some writers, 
 because it is generally known, that in ancient Egypt, previous 
 to the time of Psammetichus, there was no navigation ; for what 
 is said respecting the fleet of Sesostris cannot be brought into 
 consideration, when the question relates to a constant, lasting- 
 division of the people. These doubts arise, however, merely 
 from an ignorance of Egypt ; for if this country in these early 
 periods had scarcely any sea, it had, for that very reason, the 
 greater river navigation. It will be our object to speak of 
 this more fully, and of its extent and its importance to Egypt, 
 in our inquiries into the internal trade of this country. This 
 caste was not composed of seamen, but of the navigators of 
 the Nile. Herodotus gives us no particular account of the 
 tribes belonging to it; but it is very probable that they were 
 the primitive inhabitants of the banks of that river, who, ac- 
 cording to the traditions of the Egyptians themselves, had 
 formerly, before the formation of any states in Egypt, lived 
 there upon fish. The innumerable quantity of passage-boats, 
 and ships of burden, which covered the Nile from Syene to 
 the Mediterranean, may give us some idea of the number of 
 this caste.^ There were certain feasts, at which nearly every 
 inhabitant of Egypt was upon the river.- When Amasis 
 wished to remove the rock-temple of Minerva (a single ex- 
 cavated rock, one and twenty yards long, fourteen high, and 
 eight broad) from Elephantis to Sais, two thousand of these 
 sailors were employed in the transport, which Herodotus states 
 to have occupied three years ; ^ a distance which would other- 
 wise be performed, with a common passage, in less than twelve 
 days. It will, however, be easily perceived that this caste 
 also owed its existence to local necessity. During the peri- 
 odical flood, navigation is the only means of communication ;* 
 and besides, at this time the connexion with the interior of the 
 land is rendered easy by the numerous canals. 
 
 The caste of interpreters {epfiye^^) is, in several respects, 
 remarkable. It arose in the period of Psammetichus, and is 
 the only one of whose origin we have any accurate historical 
 account. Psammetichus, wishing the nation to adopt the 
 Greek manners, left a considerable number of Egyptian chil- 
 dren in Greece to have them instructed in the Greek language 
 and manners. Their posterity, according to Herodotus, form- 
 ed the caste of interpreters.^ 
 
 ' Diodorus, i. p. 52. 
 
 * Ibid. ii. 97. 
 
 * Herod, ii. 96. ^ Ibid. ii. 175. 
 
 ^ Ibid. ii. 154. 
 
334 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 ' [chap. II. 
 
 All that is extraordinary in this event becomes immediately 
 accounted for when the national dislike to these innovations is 
 considered, and especially that of the higher castes, one of 
 whom almost entirely emigrated in consequence of them. The 
 children who thus received a Greek education were no longer 
 regarded as forming part of the nation. No one afterwards 
 would reckon them to any native caste ; and thus nothing was 
 left for them but to form a separate caste of themselves, to 
 which the name of the business that they usually followed be- 
 came attached. After this period Egypt swarmed with Greeks ; 
 not merely with strangers who came to satisfy their curiosity, 
 but with merchants who settled in Naucratis and other places.* 
 A class of men therefore, who, like these, understood both lan- 
 guages, who managed the affairs of the Greeks, and who might 
 effectually serve strangers as interpreters, became indispensa- 
 ble, and must have grown very numerous. These interpreters 
 were all this, and probably many of them brokers, and even 
 merchants ; nevertheless, having been once excluded the na- 
 tion, they could never find admittance again into one of the 
 
 other castes. 
 
 The herdsmen still remain to be noticed ; Diodorus reckons 
 them one caste, while Herodotus divides them into two, which 
 may perhaps be considered a subdivision of the former. 
 
 In this way Herodotus and Diodorus will be made to agree, 
 especially if the classes of agriculturists and artificers of the 
 latter may be considered the same as Herodotus s class of trades- 
 men. Though Diodorus will always be subject to the re- 
 proach of omitting altogether the castes of navigators and 
 
 interpreters. 
 
 However this may be, Herodotus is our guide ; but he un- 
 fortunately is extremely short and unsatisfactory respecting 
 these castes. The neatherds, the most numerous among them, 
 he scarcely mentions ; and upon the others we cannot but per- 
 ceive the want of accurate information. 
 
 I have already frequently remarked, that a portion of the 
 inhabitants of Egypt must always remain nomades ; those who 
 dwell, for example, in the mountains and marshes, where the 
 land is unfit for tillage. But even of those who had subject- 
 ed themselves to fixed abodes, many still made the tending 
 and breeding of cattle their principal, or perhaps their sole 
 business. This was the case with those dwelling on the 
 
 » Herod, ii. 178, 179. 
 
 CHAP, n.] 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 335 
 
 east border of the Nile valley, at the foot of the Arabian moun- 
 tains, which regions still abound in excellent pasturage, and 
 are now covered with villages and numerous herds of cattle. 
 1 here present the reader with a picture which a modern tra- 
 veller has drawn, as well of the country as of its inhabitants ; 
 a picture to which I am the more desirous of engaging his at- 
 tention because it is evidently applicable to ancient times. 
 
 " From the banks of the Nile to the mountains," he says,^ 
 " which bound the fruitful plains of Egypt, one often meets 
 with nothing, for many days' journey together, but green mea- 
 dows. These plains are every where covered with large town- 
 ships and villages, most of which are adorned with public 
 buildings, and do not contain less than from two to three thou- 
 sand inhabitants." 
 
 " Besides these Egyptian inhabitants, with settled abodes, 
 there are, on the plains bordering the desert, wandering tribes, 
 dwelling in tents, who change their station according to the 
 seasons and the supply of pasturage. Some abide in the 
 mountains, far from villages and cities, but always in places 
 where they can conveniently obtain a supply of water ; others 
 pitch their tents in the vicinity of inhabited districts, where, 
 for a trifling tribute, they obtain permission to graze their cat- 
 tle. The inhabitants even give them a little land to cultivate 
 for their own use, in order to remain at peace with them. For, 
 in fact, they have only to march a day's journey into the wil- 
 derness to secure themselves from all retaliation ; where, by 
 frugality and their knowledge of the springs, they find no dif- 
 ficulty in Hving for some months. There can be no finer pro- 
 spect than to see, in the months of November, December, and 
 January, these vast meadows, — in which the grass grows nearly 
 as tall as a man, and so thick that an ox can lie down the whole 
 day and graze without rising,— covered with villages, tents, 
 and herds. About this time the nomad hordes advance a few 
 hundred miles, in order to let their herds of camels and horses 
 graze, for which they pay a trifling tribute in wool, or a few 
 sheep, or young camels. After some time they retire again 
 into the desert, where they journey, by ways known to them, 
 towards other districts." 
 
 This distinction of the Egyptian husbandmen, who dwelt in 
 villages and open places, and made the tending of cattle and 
 agriculture their business, and the nomad herdsmeii, was the 
 
 » MaiUet, p. 54. 
 
SS6 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 same in antiquity. Herodotus describes the manner of life, 
 and the state of each of them ;* according to his account, they 
 were a strong, healthy people, who observed that mode of lite 
 which had been prescribed to them by the priests. They lived 
 upon the flesh of those animals not considered sacred, on fish, 
 on bread made of bran and beer. — The nomad herdsmen are 
 merely mentioned by Herodotus incidentally ;^ but Diodorus 
 assures us that they continued, in his time, unchanged, the same 
 kind of life which they had always led from the earliest ages.^ 
 
 The caste of neatherds naturally included those Egyptian 
 tribes who possessed landed property, and made the breeding 
 and tending of cattle their principal business. Whether the 
 nomad herdsmen were also reckoned among them is a question 
 which can scarcely be answered in the affirmative. They did 
 not in general belong to the Egyptian nation, as they were of 
 Arabian or Libyan descent. The extensive table lands, which 
 they inhabited, were seldom subject to the Pharaohs, probably 
 never ; and the dominion over nomad hordes, from their very 
 nature, must at all times be very uncertain and variable. 
 
 From their whole manner of life, they can scarcely be con- 
 sidered otherwise than as natural enemies, which must be borne 
 with, because they cannot be got rid of To this, therefore, 
 we may attribute the hate and scorn in which they were at all 
 times held, and which the ruling priest caste carefully strove 
 to nourish. " The neatherds are to the Egyptians an abomin- 
 ation," was said in the Mosaic period,* and traces of the con- 
 tempt with which they were regarded are found in Herodotus.^ 
 There is no proof, however, that this disgrace attached to those 
 cultivators, who, being proprietors of land, made the tending 
 and breeding of cattle their business. Black cattle were by 
 no means unclean in Egypt ; the cow was sacred to Isis, and 
 oxen generally served for food and sacrifice ; it is not, there- 
 fore, likely that the management of them should have caused 
 defilement. It was not so much the keeping of cattle, — which 
 in fact was equally indispensable with agriculture, — as the no- 
 mad life, which was directly opposed to the views and policy 
 of the ruling caste. 
 
 Besides, to this caste seems to have belonged the tribes 
 which had taken up their abode in the marshy plains of the 
 Delta. According to Strabo,^ these were especially assigned 
 
 CHAP. II.] POLITICAL STATE. 837 
 
 by the ancient Pharaohs for the abode of the neatherds. The 
 tribes which dwelt there had nevertheless, as we are told by 
 Herodotus, adopted Egyptian manners ; * but they still re- 
 mained half barbarians, and eveu robbers, for the thickets of 
 reeds not only supplied them with the materials for their huts, 
 but likewise protected them from the approach of strangers.^ 
 Heliodorus draws a similar picture of them.^ 
 
 On the other hand, the caste of swineherds^ which Herodotus 
 expressly distinguishes from the neatherds, were despised, and 
 held as unclean.* They consisted, according to his account, 
 of a native tribe, who were strictly interdicted all communica- 
 tion with the others, and against whom even the doors of the 
 temples were closed. Swine were not less an abomination in 
 the eyes of the Egyptians, than they were to the Jews ; a su- 
 perstition which no doubt had its rise in some local circum- 
 stance with which we are unacquainted, or at least cannot 
 account for with certainty. An ancient custom, however, 
 followed from it, which was, that at a certain feast a hog was 
 offered up in every house to Osiris ;^ the Egyptians, moreover, 
 were accustomed, when they sowed their lands, already soaked 
 by the Nile, to drive a herd of swine over the fields, in order 
 to tread the corn into the earth.^ This race, therefore, how- 
 ever despised, was indispensable to the Egyptians ; but must 
 have lived in a state of degradation, not very unlike that of the 
 Farias in India. 
 
 Such were the castes into which the Egyptian nation was 
 divided. It is often objected to this complete classification of 
 the people, that it obstructs the progress of those among whom 
 it is introduced, and must make it impossible for them to ad- 
 vance beyond a certain point. For the founders of an institu- 
 tion, which evidently was formed in the infancy of policy and 
 civilization, this is not a very grave charge ; but an impartial 
 development of its advantages and disadvantages, can perhaps 
 only be made by one, who has fairly considered its conse- 
 quences upon a people among whom it still exists, as among 
 the Hindoos. So long as the learned sciences are made exclu- 
 sively the property of a certain caste, scientific information can- 
 not so easily be spread among the great body of the nation as 
 elsewhere ; this extension, however, must always be limited ; 
 and in the caste itself, the scientific cultivation which has once 
 
 * Herod, ii. 77. 
 
 * Genesis xlvi. 34. 
 
 « Ibid. ii. 128. 
 » Herod, ii. 128. 
 
 ' Diodorus, i. p. 52. 
 •Strabo, p. 1142. 
 
 » Herod, u. 92. 
 ♦ Herod, ii. 47. 
 
 * Diodorus, i. 52. 
 •*• Ibid. ii. 48. 
 
 ' Heliod. jEthiop. i. 5. 
 • Ibid ii. 14. 
 
338 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [crap. II. 
 
 CHAr. II.] 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 339 
 
 been admitted, can scarcely ever decline, or be altogether lost, 
 as is seen by the Bramins and Parses. But it may seem more 
 nroblematical how far such an institution could promote the 
 improvement of all mechanic skill, as in handicraft, trades, and 
 arts where all these callings are hereditary ; although the 
 Eevptians, according to Diodorus, securely referred to it as the 
 cause of their perfection.^ However this may be, there can 
 remain no doubt, that the handicraft and mechanic arts were 
 broueht to a degree of perfection by the ancient Egyptians, 
 which was never surpassed, perhaps never equalled, by any 
 nation of antiquity. They themselves have transmitted us the 
 proofs of it in the paintings in their sepulchres, m which are 
 represented all their household utensils, their couches and 
 chairs their vases, their cupboards, their musical instruments, 
 etc - ' In elegance of form these are like the Greek : in many 
 there is much display of talent in the design, and a high degree 
 of luxury ; we are assured by Denon, that Indian wood can 
 be plainly perceived in the seats and wooden furniture.' How 
 much reason then is there to be cautious in judging o the 
 effects of an institution which we only know so imperfectly ! 
 
 But the most important consequence of this organization ot 
 society, was, beyond dispute, the limitation of the kingly power 
 by the priest caste. The relation in which these stood to one 
 another; the portion which the priest caste had m the govern- 
 ment, the manner in which they exercised it, furnish the 
 groundwork of the Egyptian government, and demand, above 
 all, an ample and circumstantial inquiry. 
 
 It is evident that the kings of Egypt for the most part did 
 not belong to the priestly caste,* any more than are the Kajahs 
 from the caste of Bramins. Probably the royal race, in which 
 the dignity seems always to have been hereditary, belonged 
 originally to the warrior caste ; for what could be more na- 
 tural, than that the leader of the army, to whom was confided 
 the defence of the land, should be taken out of it? That the 
 command of the armies was a royal privilege, is evident trom 
 the testimony of all historians, as well as from the scenes por- 
 trayed upon the public monuments. And froin this it again 
 becomes clear, that the power of the kings, however detCTmined 
 by custom and law, could not be always the same. 1 he va- 
 
 • Diodorus i 86 ' Sec Dcnon, Tab. 135, and numerous engravings in the 
 
 '^%Sl^^t;,tJ%L, who obtained thl tZZ'. wasTonsidered an usurper. 
 
 liant and fortunate conqueror, the active and ambitious ruler, 
 will always become more powerful than a quiet sluggish prince, 
 even though they change nothing in the form of the constitu- 
 tion. But only thus far, more or less, was subject to varia- 
 tion ; the power of the priests was established upon impressions 
 far too deep to be erased ; and even upon necessities too much 
 felt to be done without. 
 
 The priests were the proprietors of all learning and science, 
 for they were in possession of the writings and sacred books 
 which contained them ; they were the best informed and cul- 
 tivated part of the nation. Considered in this point of view, 
 they were indisputably best fitted to govern ; for it is right and 
 just that the more experienced should rule over the ignorant, 
 and not that the strong should domineer over the weak. Let 
 it be admitted, that a portion of their knowledge consisted of 
 error and superstition, and it would still be unreasonable to 
 contend that the whole mass contained nothing better ; for it 
 is impossible that the whole civilization of a nation should be 
 founded in error ; at least where everything, as in this case, is 
 conformable to the locality, and so well adapted to it. There 
 is nothing wanting but a little knowledge of the East, in order 
 to see the whole in its true and proper light. 
 
 Religion is here, universally, the mainspring of scientific 
 education, and it was the same in Egypt. Philosophic sys- 
 tems are also systems of theology ; laws, and the administra- 
 tion of justice, are preserved by its sanction ; astronomy and 
 mathematics, in general, are closely connected with it ; medi- 
 cal science springs immediately from religion. All these, as 
 well as many other branches of knowledge, bear an immediate 
 apphcation to practical life, either in the affairs of state, or pri- 
 vate ranks ; it follows therefore, of course, that those who pos- 
 sessed this knowledge, and who, consequently, were anything 
 rather than a mere speculative literati, must have exercised an 
 influence over both, not easily to be shaken, and which made 
 them indispensable. 
 
 The religion of the Egyptians consisted in the rites of cer- 
 tain deities, who, with the exception of Osiris and Isis, were 
 only local gods, and were worshipped in the high temples of 
 the cities and districts.' Notwithstanding a difference observ- 
 able in particulars, there is a uniformity in the whole which 
 cannot be mistaken. If they were not the same deities, they 
 
 » Herod, ii. 42. 
 z 2 
 
/ 
 
 340 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 were yet very similar, probably mere modifications of the same 
 principal gods ; and the religion of Egypt preserved a certain 
 general impress, which was very naturally stamped upon it by 
 the general spread of the priest caste. But this worship was 
 every where connected with a number of ceremonies, which 
 not only the priests, but the kings likewise, had to perform, 
 mi which are partly represented upon the walls of their tem- 
 ples. By this means the priests held the kings almost entirely 
 in dependence ; as a strict ceremonial was formed, by which 
 were prescribed daily regulations (accurately described by Di- 
 odorusO for their whole life. None but the sons of the chief 
 priests, according to his account, could be about the king's per- 
 son. The time for the affairs of state, for sacrifice, the regula- 
 tion of the royal table, and other matters of private hfe, were 
 all precisely fixed. But they were especially careful m limit- 
 ing the judicial authority of the monarch ; as he could not sen- 
 tence to punishment according to his own will and pleasure, 
 but only according to law. What is to be gathered from all 
 this, but the early struggle of the people to oppose a barrier to 
 despotism ? If this barrier was not exactly of that kind which 
 matured judgment would desire, can we cast that as a reproach 
 
 to so early an age ? , i .i,- 
 
 The inquiry respecting the religion of Egypt has by nothing 
 been so much entangled and rendered difhcult, as by the not 
 making a distinction between the religion of the priests and 
 that of the people. Although common sense seems to tell us, 
 and especially judging from the manner in which the forma- 
 tion and progress of the Egyptian nation took place, that, 
 without denying the reaction of one upon the other, such a 
 difference must have existed. If this nation, as it appears in 
 its flourishing period, had grown up by the union of rude ami 
 civilized tribes, does it not stand to reason, that these rude 
 tribes must have retained a portion of their original supersti- 
 tions, of their deities, of their opinions and customs, which by 
 this union, though certainly much modified, could not be an- 
 nihilated ? I shall return again to this subject ; let me here be 
 allowed to dwell a little longer upon the religion of. the priests : 
 
 »Diodor«s, i. p. 81,82. Early in the morning state affah^we^^^^^^ The^dng 
 
 then attended the sacritices and the public prayers A*^,^'^*^^^ *^ JX'm but in o^er. in 
 
 ^:S^::^^^o^^^^e, books. Th/re|^nin,^^^^^^^^ 
 
 was so settled, with regard to amusements, meats, and dnnks, that nearly tne wnoie 
 
 prescribed. 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 341 
 
 that is, upon the extent of the knowledge they acquired by 
 education, which, by its immediate application to practical life, 
 was the foundation of their dominion. 
 
 Astronomy has been by many considered, and with some 
 justice, as the most important part of their learning ; some, 
 indeed, have carried this notion so far as to believe, that their 
 whole system of theology was nothing more than a symbol of 
 this science. What advance they had really made in a know- 
 ledge of the stars, is a question I must leave to astronomers ; 
 but its importance is evident from the application which was 
 made of it, both to astrology and to the formation of a calendar 
 for the regulation of agriculture. Astronomy and astrology 
 were likewise inseparably connected by the other eastern na- 
 tions ; but it would be exceedingly difficult to find another 
 nation upon whom it exercised so great an influence in prac- 
 tical life.^ Upon the birth of a child, its horoscope was im- 
 mediately taken ; it was then foretold what its fate would be ; 
 when and how it would die ; and what would be its temper and 
 disposition.^ No public affairs, therefore, nor even private 
 undertakings, could be begun until the stars had been first 
 consulted. Conceive, then, the amazing influence which a 
 caste must possess under such circumstances ; and observe that 
 at the outset they thereby secured themselves the direction of 
 affairs? Whether this belief in astrology was, in the eyes of 
 those who delivered the oracles, mere superstition or not, is a 
 matter of no importance ; the political object, — the limiting 
 the power of the king, and insuring the dependence of the 
 people, was, in either case, equally attained. 
 
 Still greater advantages indisputably accrued from the ap- 
 plication of astronomy to the settlement of the seasons, and to 
 the regulation of agriculture, so far as it depended upon them. 
 Nothing seems more evident, from the whole tenor of Egyp- 
 tian antiquity, than that it was perceived here in very early 
 times, that agriculture was the foundation of all political cul- 
 ture, and that the ruling caste had, therefore, made it the lead- 
 ing principle of their policy ; this is discovered, again and 
 again, in almost every one of their institutions,— in every part 
 of their religion and mythology. How could it be otherwise 
 
 » From what is said by Gatterer, Commentat. Sod. Gott. vol. ix. p. 60, etc., it appears 
 probable, that the Labyrinth, with its twelve palaces, was nothing more than a symbolic re- 
 presentation of the yearly course of the sun through the twelve signs of the zodiac, and wholly 
 appropriated to astroloffical observations. 
 
 * Herod, ii. 82 ; Diodorus, i, p. 91, 92. 
 
342 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. 11. 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 343 
 
 in a country where nature, in the features ot every part of it, so 
 loudly called it to their attention !— in a land where the high- 
 est desrree of fertility was immediately followed by complete 
 sterility '—where, in the fruitful valley of the Nile, states were 
 seen to rise and prosper, while, only just beyond lawless hordes 
 were wandering about the desert ! The first founders of the 
 EeVPtian states, therefore, must soon have perceived, that it 
 was only in this way that a lasting dominion could be estab- 
 lished ; hence they left no means untried that religion and 
 policy afforded them, to stamp the love of agriculture as deeply 
 as possible upon the national cliaracter. 
 
 There is scarcely a single Egyptian deity who bears not 
 some relation to this object. The sun, the moon, the earth 
 and the Nile, which, as so many various parts and powers o 
 nature, became, under the veil of divers symbols, objects ot 
 worship, became so scarcely at all on their own account^ but 
 only so far as they promoted increase and fruitfulness. Usiris 
 is a representation of the Nile, when he steps forth and manures 
 the earth ; in like manner, the representation of the sun so tar 
 as he returns yearly to bring back fecundity to the land ,• and 
 becomes thus, in general, the symbol of civilization so far as 
 it is founded upon agriculture ; Isis was the image of the truit- 
 ful earth ; and it would be easy to enumerate a series ot other 
 symbols, if their further explanation and unveiling did not he 
 beyond the scope of my subject. 
 
 This design is no less visible in the ruhng political notion 
 of the people. How deeply rooted was their national anti- 
 pathy to the pastoral life, which, even in the time of Jacob is 
 exhibited in its whole strength,' and still, when Herodotus 
 lived, continued in equal force, at least with regard to the 
 swineherds " They were considered unclean ; no intermixture 
 with them by marriage could take place ; they were constrained 
 to remain a distinct race, and were held in about the same 
 state of degradation as the lower castes now are in Hindostan. 
 A very natural, and, to a certain degree, necessary policy, it 
 the founders of the Egyptian states wished to remain true to 
 
 * TrSsXhisarenot unfrequentin the history of the Egyp- 
 tians We have only to remember the adventures ot the Is- 
 raelites in Egypt. They had entered Egypt by.a speml 
 licence, and obtained, not without difficulty, permission to live 
 
 ' . _. ,... Oft « Wprrwi. ii. 47. 
 
 » Genesia xlvi. 34 ; compare xliii. 32. 
 
 there as nomad herdsmen. But after the very first change of 
 ruler, the Egyptians wished to retract this permission, and to 
 compel them to build cities, whereupon their natural antipathy 
 to this change of life made them resolve upon emigration. 
 
 The promotion of agriculture, then, and the accustoming the 
 nomad hordes to fixed dwellings, was the natural object which 
 the founders of the Egyptian states had at heart. This object 
 was greatly promoted by the fact, that nature had here, more 
 than in any other part of the world, relieved them of the labour 
 and pains it required to attain it. However diflScult it may be 
 to explain the passing from the nomad life to the agricultural 
 in other parts, it could at least be no where more easy than in 
 Egypt, where the labours of the field are scarcely required, 
 and man has little more to do than to scatter the seed in order 
 to obtain a harvest.^ 
 
 Again : In a country where the fertility of the soil depended 
 upon the periodical overflow of a river ; where it therefore was 
 of consequence to know the exact epochs at which this would 
 take place, in order to prepare for it beforehand ; where in ge- 
 neral the business of agriculture mostly turned upon the know- 
 ledge of the seasons, and the correct determination of the year 
 and its parts, the construction of a correct calendar must have 
 been of the greatest importance. It was the foundation of 
 husbandry, and, with that, of political civilization and the do- 
 minion of the priest caste. The extraordinary assiduity which 
 they bestowed upon it ; their efforts to determine precisely the 
 solar year ; all the observations and research which this led to ; 
 indeed, even the foundation of many of the largest and most 
 costly buildings, which, there is reason to suppose, were nothing 
 more than figurative representations of certain astronomical 
 cycles, and are said to have been a means of preserving the 
 knowledge of them," cannot therefore excite any astonishment. 
 In this way their astronomy became intimately connected with 
 
 ' Upon the management of agricultural aflfairs in Eg>'pt, some most interesting particulars 
 have been obtained by the French expedition into Egypt. See m particular the treatise of 
 Girard, in Menwires sur VEgypte, iii. p. 13, etc. The ancient manner of scattenn^ the 
 corn over the irrigated soU, and then causing it to be trodden m by catUe, stdl exists in the 
 province of Siouth, p. 37. It is quite certain, however, that m ancient Egypt the state and 
 manner of husbandry was not every where the same. The plmgh and other farmmg imple- 
 ments are found clearly exhibited in their pictures. Denon, plate cxxxv. It seems extraor- 
 dinary to me, that, upon the Egyptian monuments, the sower should walk along before th? 
 plough, instead of behind it. See Descript. d'Egypte Antiquttts, xol.i. plates Ixix. Ixxi. 
 It seems, therefore, that the use of the plough here was the same ^ that of the harrow is 
 with us, namely , ti cover the strewed seeds ; as is still the custom m Egypt, by under ploug?^ 
 ing (a way of covering with earth by ploughing). Minutoh, Travels, p. 242. 
 
 « As in particular the Labyrinth and the Memnomum. The golden circle of Osmandyas, 
 Diodorus, i. p. 59, was evidently nothing more than a calendar, representing the solar year of 
 three hundred and sixty-five days. 
 
344 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [CUAF. II. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 11.] 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 345 
 
 the physical history of their country ; and very naturally occa- 
 sioned the names even of the deities to indicate the original 
 parts and powers of nature, as symbols of astronomical divisions 
 of time. Modern writers/ to whom I must here refer, have 
 further developed this subject with much acuteness and learn- 
 ing, and have shown that the names of the Egyptian deities 
 were made use of to denote the years, months, weeks, etc. 
 From this they wish to draw the general conclusion, that the 
 whole Egyptian mythology was nothing more than the Egyp- 
 tian calendar. But however undeniable it may be that such 
 an application of the names of Egyptian deities has been found, 
 and that the Egyptian mythology was adopted to denote the 
 signs in the calendar, it is equally certain that it does not 
 thence follow that it was only used for that. Since Heyne has 
 taught us to take deeper views of mythology, every interpreta- 
 tion which would limit it to one object, will appear, if not ab- 
 solutely false, always very partial. Did not the mythology of 
 a nation comprise the whole mass of knowledge which it pos- 
 sessed in its infancy ; though, from poverty of speech and writ- 
 ing, it could only set it forth in figurative language, probably 
 only in pictorial writing, and perhaps not always even in that ? 
 Is it conceivable that this mass of knowledge was strictly con- 
 fined to astronomy ? is this, in particular, conceivable of the 
 Egyptian priest caste, who we positively know prosecuted the 
 study of other sciences ? Had they not also their systems ; did 
 they not require a separate terminology ? Surely, then, the 
 names of these deities, which were adopted into astronomy to 
 signify astronomical objects, might have served a similar pur- 
 pose in other sciences. If it be granted, therefore, that in the 
 astronomical system of the Egyptians, Osiris signified the year, 
 Mendes the week, Theut the first month, it does not necessarily 
 follow, that, out of this system, they might not signify some- 
 thing else quite different. This, in fact, is indisputably mam- . 
 fest of several of them. Can it be doubted that this same 
 Theut is, in another sense, the symbol of human understanding, 
 as the discoverer of writing ; that this very Me7ides is the sym- 
 bol of the universe ; and this very Osiris the symbol of agri- 
 culture and civilization ? 
 
 I See, above all, Domedden, Introduction to a new theory, according to which Eqyptian 
 science and mythology may he satisfactorily explained; in his new Explanation of Uree/6 
 Mythology, p. 70, etc. As I think I have explained myself sufficiently clear in the text.—! 
 regard this treatise as one of the most acute, and sensible, and learned, upon EgypUan anU- 
 quity, but can only conditionally agree with the author. 
 
 Geometry was the daughter of husbandry, and born in 
 Egypt, where the overflowing of the Nile frequently made 
 new measurements of the land necessary.^ This study, there- 
 fore, arose from the nature of the country ; and while, on one 
 hand, it induced the priests to extend their mathematical know- 
 ledge, it was, on the other, the indispensable arbitrator of dis- 
 putes^ which must frequently have occurred respecting the pos- 
 session of lands. 
 
 The medical science of the Egyptians, which was likewise 
 in the hands of the priests, was closely connected with their 
 astrology ; because they believed that the different parts of the 
 body had a reference to the astronomical deities, and to each of 
 them a particular member was dedicated. In this way, pro- 
 bably, the regulation took its rise, which also affords us another 
 proof how rigidly the subdivisions in the castes were kept 
 separate, that there should be physicians for particular mem- 
 bers of the body, and for the diseases to which these were lia- 
 ble.^ However, their medical practice consisted generally 
 rather in dietetics than in medicine. Even among the lower 
 classes, especially the peasantry, a certain prescribed form was 
 observed in eating and drinking, and m the use of purifica- 
 tion,^ of which, without a most accurate knowledge of the 
 place and climate, it is impossible to say how much arose from 
 mere prejudice, or was founded on actual experience. 1 hat 
 the whole, however, answered well the end desired, is plain 
 from Herodotus's assertion, that the Egyptians, next to the Li- 
 byans, were the most healthy of the nations that he had seen. 
 
 It may be readily inferred, from what has been previously 
 said, that the study of the law, and the possession of all the 
 offices connected with it, was entirely confined to the priest 
 caste. Where religion and legislation were so inseparably 
 interwoven, where the latter derived its authority froni the 
 sanction of the first, and where the former, in its whole torm 
 is a ceremonial law, what could be expected but that it should 
 be found in the hands of the priests ; that they should become 
 the administrators of justice, and occupy the chair of the judge t 
 The joining together the judicial and executive power in the 
 person of the king, was one of the earliest sources of despotism, 
 which, after a little reflection, would scarcely be tolerated ; 
 hence it seemed almost a necessary consequence, that attempts 
 should be made either to separate them entirely, or at least to 
 
 » Herod, ii. 109. 
 
 « Ihid. ii. 84. 
 
 » Ibid, ii 77. 
 
346 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 CIUP. "•] 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 847 
 
 limit one of them. From everything we know of Egyptian 
 antiquity, there can remain no doubt but that the principal 
 branches of legislation had attained a high point of perfection 
 in Egypt, perhaps higher than in any other country of the East. 
 There requires no further proof of this, than the fact that the 
 Mosaic legislation, which took place prior to the flourishing 
 period of the Pharaohs, was (without questioning how much 
 or how little might have been taken therefrom) formed upon 
 the Egyptian model. Some of their kings, Bocchoris in par- 
 ticular, are celebrated as great legislators;^ and though it may 
 have happened that the work of many centuries and many 
 philosophers was unjustly ascribed to individuals, it does not 
 the less prove that it existed. I shall return to this subject in 
 the following chapter. 
 
 Finally, the historical learning of the priests was, as I think 
 I have already sufficiently proved, principally founded upon 
 public monuments, and it must on that account have been 
 esteemed. It depended therefore upon art ; and this leads to 
 another very interesting question in the political antiquity of 
 Egypt, which requires at least a few observations — What was 
 the state of the arts ? 
 
 Even a mere glance at the various kinds of artificial labour 
 which they have left behind, leads to the conjecture, that art 
 with them was of a different nature from what it was witli the 
 rest of mankind. The same glance almost leads to the general 
 conclusion, that art here stood in a much closer relation to 
 practical life ; and that though it often assumes a massive and 
 majestic character, representations of the bean ideal were not, 
 or could not be, its aim. This, indeed, could not be possible 
 in a nation that made art, from its origin to its highest perfec- 
 tion, the foundation of their pohcy and learning ; among whom, 
 therefore, it must have attained a high importance ; such an 
 importance, that if we were in a condition to write their his- 
 tory, with it must be given, to a certain degree, the history of 
 the higher cultivation of the nation, which, in a great measure, 
 was founded upon it ; but which, on this very account, could 
 not have the same scope as among other nations, where it re- 
 mained entirely unfettered, because it was candied on for itself 
 alone.^ 
 
 * Diodorus, i. p. 90. To Bocchoris, in particular, are ascribed the laws relating to trade 
 and commerce. 
 
 ' I say nothing here of Music ; though, as among the representations, musical instru- 
 ments, especially the harp and guitar, are conspicuous, Descript. d'Egypte, planches ii. 44, 
 
 There were only two great branches of art in Egypt, Archi- 
 tecture and Sculpture. These were not only branches of the 
 same stem, but were so intimately connected, that it would be 
 scarcely possible to speak of one without the other ; and it re- 
 mains doubtful whether sculpture was the mistress or hand- 
 maiden of architecture. The whole sum of the history of 
 Effvptian art may be compressed into a simple sentence : " The 
 pictorial arts in Egypt depended upon hieroglyphics ; these 
 were portrayed by sculpture ; but again, sculpture required 
 the public monuments as a fitting place for its representations ; 
 and these public monuments, partly in themselves, and partly 
 by the labours of the sculptor, formed the basis upon which 
 the fabric of religion and the state equally rested." 
 
 I believe that the foregoing researches do not tall sliort ot 
 proving, that the Egyptian architecture, from its beginning to 
 its completion, on its own account, without any reference to the 
 sculpture which covered its walls, stood in the closest con- 
 nexion with the state. If the earliest states which were formed 
 in Eevpt were priest states, whose central point was a temple 
 or sanctuary ; if they preserved this character not only dunng 
 their growth, but also after their union into one great empire, 
 —braving all previous revolutions ;— must not these edihces, by 
 this alone, have obtained a great importance ? The existence 
 of the state, in a great measure, depended upon them ; because 
 everything within it referred to them, and to the religion to 
 which they were dedicated. If even the Jew knits the idea of 
 the continuance, the decline, and the restoration of his state, 
 with that of the stability, overthrow, and rebuilding of his tem- 
 ple, how much more must this have been the case with the 
 Egyptians, where the priest caste had even still greater influ- 
 ence than it had among the Jews ! Ought we then to wonder 
 that the building and preservation of these monuments were so 
 much attended to ? Besides, let it be borne in mind that the 
 whole architecture of the nation must, to a certain extent, have 
 been concentrated in their erection and enlargement ; as the 
 climate, particularly in Upper Egypt, left but little neces^ry 
 with regard to private dwellings. Architecture as a fine art 
 could scarcely be applied to these in Egypt where they were 
 built far too lightly for any part of them to be pre^^^d 
 hence its application only to public edifices, temples, and pa- 
 
 91. a, well as flutos, and even a double flute, i. 70, it is certain the Egyptians did not neglect 
 it. See the treatise in Descript. vol. i. 
 
348 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 CHAP 
 
 . II.] 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 849 
 
 laces. They were destined for very numerous purposes ; and 
 even the temples, from their whole arrangement, could not 
 well have been intended, exclusively, for religious worship. 
 The proper sanctuary is only a kind of chapel of moderate ex- 
 tent;^ but this chapel is surrounded by stupendous buildings 
 of different sorts, colonnades, courts, saloons, etc. Upon their 
 use history affords us no precise information ; yet who can 
 doubt, but that in them the assemblies of the priests and state 
 officers took place ; that they formed the palaces, though not 
 the mere dwellings, of the kings ; the places also for the recep- 
 tion of the people bringing tribute, for the audience of ambas- 
 sadors, for the tribunals of justice, for the holding of banquets 
 given by the kings, etc. etc. ? Can there be any doubt that the 
 whole public life of the Egyptians was connected with these 
 state buildings and temples ?'^ 
 
 Formerly these Egyptian monuments were known by little 
 more than dry descriptions; since the appearance of the great 
 French work upon Egypt, however, they are placed as it were 
 before our eyes. In great works on architecture, it pre-emi- 
 nently happens that the impression they excite depends very 
 materially upon the size of the plates in which they are por- 
 trayed ; the colossal, therefore, to be effective, must appear in 
 colossal representations. How much our ideas are raised by 
 these engravings respecting the opulence, means, knowledge, 
 and taste of the nation who could erect such monuments, — 
 just as highly finished as they are stupendous ! To what infer- 
 ences will they not lead upon the early history of the world ; 
 upon the splendour and might of ancient nations ; and the re- 
 lations and connexions of states ! According to these should the 
 nation be judged of by posterity ; and however numerous the 
 problems (perhaps unsolvable problems) which may still re- 
 main, we cannot easily err very widely respecting the whole : 
 too many inlets are open, by which we may penetrate into the 
 interior of their character, of their knowledge, and of their 
 whole existence. 
 
 The architecture itself has undergone a close examination, 
 both with regard to its mechanical and aesthetic qualities, by 
 many who are capable of criticising it, and of forming a cor- 
 rect judgment respecting it ; and certainly by such as from 
 their early education were rather prejudiced against it than 
 
 » Denon, ii. p. 164. 
 
 * Compare the statements of Denon, ii. p. 255, upon the great temple of Kamac. 
 
 prepossessed in its favour. It has not only stood this test as a 
 whole, but appears more correct, and richer, and more perfect, 
 in proportion as the examination is carried into its details. 
 
 That a theory, whose rules were invariably followed, must 
 have formed the groundwork of this architecture is manifest. 
 How else shall we account for everything about it being so 
 well adjusted, so nicely adapted to the end proposed ? The 
 plan once laid down at the foundation, seems to have been in- 
 variably followed in every temple, for each forms a finished 
 whole, though the building of it perhaps took up centuries. 
 By this means this architecture always preserved the same 
 character, and perhaps underwent less change in the course of 
 a thousand years than that of the Greeks in a century. 
 
 The plan and the regulation of these sanctuaries seem, not- 
 withstanding the differences in their size, and some lesser mat- 
 ters, to have been in their main points so much alike, that the 
 general rules are easily recognised in them, by which public 
 architecture in Egypt was indissolubly bound. The first en- 
 trance was to be composed of masses, filling the mind with 
 awe and veneration by their magnitude; hence those im- 
 mense pylones, or blunted pyramids, peculiar to Egyptian 
 architecture, between which the entrance was placed.^ Through 
 this they passed into an open court surrounded with columns, 
 which had partition walls, half or two-thirds of their height. 
 These courts, with columns, seem to have been intended for 
 the congregation of the people, in order that they might see the 
 holy ceremonies and processions from a certain distance. 
 Everything, therefore, was so regulated and calculated, that 
 this might be done conveniently. To this court followed the 
 great portico, supported by three or four rows of immense 
 columns, to which a second portico very often succeeded. 
 From these was a way into the saloons, of which there were 
 three or four behind one another, probably intended for pro- 
 cessions, as they are often portrayed on the walls, and other 
 ceremonies; the last of these saloons formed the proper 
 sanctuary. This consisted of a niche of granite, or porphyry, 
 in one piece, which contained the sacred animal, or even the 
 statue of the deity, who was here worshipped. On both sides 
 of the saloons, as well as behind, were corridors, which led into 
 chambers and apartments, the dwellings or abode of the priests. 
 The whole was again surrounded by an enclosure ; so that the 
 
 > See above, p. 283, sqq. 
 
350 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 351 
 
 number of walls effectually prevented the entrance to the sanc- 
 tuary from being violated by the profane. All here was of 
 stone, without cement ; everything, therefore, was estimated 
 to endure by its own massiveness, so that even time could do 
 but little against these edifices. What still remains standing, 
 stands fixed and immovable ; man and fire have here and 
 there expended their fury upon them ; the shock of earth- 
 quakes is unknown in Egypt. 
 
 The most imposing of the separate members of this archi- 
 tecture, are those huge entrances, and the prodigious masses 
 which help to form them. They have been examined within 
 as well as without ; and seem to have served not only to in- 
 crease the general magnificence, but to have had a particular 
 end ; and a very probable conjecture has been started, that their 
 terraces were made use of for astronomical and astrological ob- 
 servations.^ 
 
 But above all, it is the pillars and their capitals which most 
 excite astonishment. It is in these that the great magnificence 
 of the Egyptian architecture displays itself, notwithstanding its 
 simplicity, in so wonderful and admirable a manner. The 
 ornaments of the capitals are evidently borrowed from a few 
 native plants, — the lotus, the palm, and some others. Who 
 would have believed that fancy could have found a sufficient 
 field in these for the production of such an astonishing and 
 endless variety ? The Egyptian pillars are in this respect un- 
 like the Grecian, as the capital of every pillar has its own pe- 
 culiar ornament ; though not without reference to the dimen- 
 sions of the other parts, so that the effect of the whole is not 
 thereby injured. The monuments, moreover, lead to enlarged 
 views respecting the history and antiquity of the architecture. 
 The cursory inspection of the temples of Thebes, Philae, and 
 others, by Denon, enabled him to mark the progress, and to 
 trace the gradations of architectural science;* and his views 
 have been confirmed by the minute examinations of Gau and 
 others. Though some of the temples at Thebes may betray 
 even the infancy of the science, yet those of ApoUinopolis 
 Magna and Tentyra display it in the highest perfection which 
 it ever obtained in Egypt. It might perhaps have taken cen- 
 turies to bring it to this maturity ; and even the few fragments, 
 
 * This seems confirmed by the modern discovery, that the windows in the pyloncs are so 
 arranged that a person can only look upwards and view the heavens, they do not allow one 
 to look upon the earth. Minutoli, p. 44. 
 
 * Denon, ii. p. 91, 107, and particularly 161. 
 
 which may be gleaned of Egyptian history? strengthen the 
 belief, that the erection of one of those stupendous monuments 
 was not the work of one but of many generations. How many 
 kings were there, according to Herodotus, who added to the 
 temple of Phtha at Memphis before it was fully completed ? 
 But what will be our ideas of the antiquity of this art, when 
 we are informed of the discovery made at Elephantis, Edfu, 
 and other places, that even these ancient monuments were, in 
 part, built of the materials of other monuments, which were 
 then just as ancient?^ What a long succession of centuries 
 must have passed away, during which Upper Egypt remained 
 the central point of the civilized world ! 
 
 But in Egypt, the sister art, sculpture, is almost inseparably 
 connected with architecture, a science which, though naturally 
 dumb, speaks with the tongue of her sister ! A passing glance 
 at the Egyptian monuments teaches, beyond contradiction, 
 that the principal application of sculpture was to portray hiero- 
 glyphics and the subjects to which they refer, was the repre- 
 sentation of sacred rites, adorations, offerings, and processions. 
 But as it is undeniable that hieroglyphics continued the prin- 
 cipal support of sculpture, and with it of all the pictorial arts 
 of Egypt, this explains, in my opinion, in a great measure, the 
 course which the art took in this country. 
 
 Hieroglyphic writing borrowed its characters from the ob- 
 jects of nature and art which it portrayed. If in these repre- 
 sentations the artists aimed to attain merely perspicuity, it was 
 necessary that the objects they represented should be immedi- 
 ately recognised. Accuracy and precision of outline, and 
 mechanical skill in the detail, would effect this ; and in these 
 respects the pictorial arts of Egypt excelled, even when not ap- 
 plied to hieroglyphics. They portrayed subjects at rest rather 
 than in motion,^military pieces excepted ; — expression of the 
 passions was completely beyond their sphere. If, however, the 
 representations of objects at rest rather than in motion be ac- 
 knowledged to be the proper end of sculpture, then it will ap- 
 pear that it remained in Egypt true to its character ; but as it 
 was so little anxious to give expression to the beau ideal, it 
 must, upon that account alone, notwithstanding the great per- 
 fection it attained to in other respects, be ranked a grade below 
 the highest efforts of the art. 
 
 The immense number of sculptures with which the partitions 
 
 » Description d'Egypte, cap. L p. 59, 
 
852 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 and walls are decorated, is the first thing to excite the aston- 
 ishment of the beholder. After all that the united industry of 
 the French artists have given us in their engravings, they still 
 remain no more than so many specimens. It formed part of 
 the completion of an Egyptian temple, that its walls, its columns, 
 as well as the ceilings, should be wholly covered with sculpture; 
 the long narrow reliefs of the cornices alone excepted, which 
 always remained clear. They were so disposed, however, ac- 
 cording to settled rules, as not to interfere with the general ap- 
 pearance of the building, neither were they allowed to interrupt 
 the massive forms of the architecture. According to these 
 rules were regulated the size and order of the reliefs ; and, 
 ■ consequently, nothing here seems overcharged, thougli all is 
 ^ covered with sculpture. But when it becomes manifest, by 
 the more accurate examination of the stone, that the facility of 
 working upon it with the chisel was very great, this opulence 
 becomes in some degree accounted for. — What a number of 
 artists, therefore, must ancient Egypt have contained, in order 
 to perform all this labour ! 
 
 Upon the subjects of these sculptures a tolerably clear light 
 has lately been shed ; so much so, that we can at least now 
 judge of them in a general way, although but little advance 
 has been made in the explanation of particulars. Proper hiero- 
 glyphics form but a small part of them; the principal are the 
 great reliefs, or pictures, which represent religious rites, the 
 deities, and their worship. These consist, in a great measure, 
 of offerings of various kinds ; sometimes also sacrifices, among 
 which ,human victims are scarcely to be mistaken. I have 
 stated, in the preceding part of this volume, that I do not by 
 any means consider these works of art as merely ornamental, 
 but that I believe them to have an historical sense, as repre- 
 sentations of offerings made by the Pharaohs in homage to the 
 priests, who, in return, conferred upon these monarchs hon- 
 ourable distinctions and privileges.^ But as similar, or even 
 the same, pictures are so often repeated, one would suppose 
 the pictorial art to have been limited by law to certain subjects. 
 Besides these, there are representations of processions, among 
 which those of the sacred ark, already described, are most fre- 
 quent, though with many variations.* In the following chap- 
 ter it will be seen, that sculpture was by no means confined to 
 
 * See p. 193, sqq. 
 
 • See m particular the one portrayed upon the temple of Karnac at Thebes, Antiquttts, 
 Tol. iii. plates xxxii. xxxvi. 
 
 CHAP. 11.] 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 353 
 
 these religious subjects, but that the chisel was sometimes em- 
 ployed, at least on the palace walls of Thebes, to portray and 
 perpetuate pages of history. Near the religious representa- 
 tions are found inscriptions, wholly composed in hieroglyphics, 
 which evidently refer to them ; but nothing similar has yet 
 been discovered near the historical reliefs.* 
 
 But what must have heightened in a wonderful manner the 
 effect of these sculptures, and the general appearance of these 
 temples, was, that all these sculptures were likewise paintings. 
 Probably all those on the outside were painted as well as those 
 of the interior.^ In this operation only four, or, reckoning the 
 white, only five colours were made use of, that is, yellow, red, 
 blue, green, and the white, but no intermixture of them. The 
 application of these colours to the various objects was subject 
 to fixed rules. The same gods were represented in the same 
 colours ; as, for example, Ammon usually blue. It is difficult 
 to imagine the impression made upon the beholder, by this 
 display of colours upon these huge buildings ; eye-witnesses 
 affirm, that what they have seen of it completely harmonizes 
 with the general character of the whole.' But we can easily 
 conceive, that this use of colours might have a striking effect 
 upon the great mass of the people. Besides this, these paint- 
 ings were made use of for embellishing the walls of the rock- 
 sepulchres ; and these representations are, as near as possible, 
 exact copies of the objects and affairs of common life, and are 
 highly finished. Precision and correctness of outline seem to 
 have been duly observed ; but what they are most distinguished 
 
 * Besides the accounts which have heen published by the French literati and artists, the 
 narrative of the British Captain Burr, who was attached to the Indian division that was sent 
 to Egypt, is deserving of attention ; it will be found in Bibl. Britannica, vol. xxxviii. Liter- 
 ature, p. 208 — 221. He certainly visited only the temple of Denderah ; but it cannot be un- 
 interesting to hear the observations of a British traveller, more especially when just come 
 from India, upon the same object which had just been examined by the French, as it will, 
 at least, serve to convince us of the credit due to the statements and observations of the 
 former. In the drapery of the figures he recognises the costume which still prevails in 
 India. "Often," says he, "have I conjectured, and this conjecture was never so much 
 strengthened as by the view of this temple, and the sculpture with which it is ornamented, 
 that a greater resemblance in manners, and consequently a closer friendly connexion, must 
 formerly have existed among the nations of the East, when they were yet united by the same 
 worship." It is, therefore, onli/ a resemblance, and not an exact likeness ; it is not of mutual 
 descent, but of mutual intercourse, of which he here speaks. " The Indians who accom- 
 panied us," he adds, " regarded these ruins with a mixture of wonder and veneration ; the 
 effect of a resemblance which many of the figures they saw here bore to their own deities ; 
 and still more of the opinion that this temple was the work of a Rakschah who had visited 
 the earth." In confirmation of what is stated (p. 239) from Alvarez respecting the statues 
 of lions, as fountains, at Axum, I see that Burr mentions the same at Denderah ; namely, 
 couchant lions, whose jaws serve for water-spouts. This therefore is ancient Egyptian 
 taste ; and confirms what is said upon the antiquity of Axum, if indeed that requires any 
 confirmation. 
 
 ' The illuminated leaf, with the temple of Karnac, affords a lively impression of this re- 
 markable sight. AntiquittSy vol. iii. plate xxxiv. 
 
 ^ Description d'Egypte, cap. v. p. 18. 
 
 2 A 
 
354 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 CHAP. II- ] 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 355 
 
 by, is the freshness and durability of the colours; in this re- 
 spect the Egyptians seem to have surpassed all other people ; 
 but of the intermixing of colours they do not seem to have had 
 the slightest idea/ 
 
 If under these circumstances the application of painting be- 
 came necessarily limited, that of sculpture was, in an equal 
 proportion, extended. As by this, especially, hieroglyphics 
 vi^ere portrayed, it consequently occupied, to a certain degree, 
 the place of writing ; at least in all those affairs which would 
 have been written down for posterity ; and since this was done 
 upon the public monuments, architecture and sculpture became 
 here so closely connected, that it may be doubted which of the 
 two was formed for the other. There was scarcely any where 
 in ancient Egypt, a temple whose walls were not covered with 
 inscriptions and reliefs ; and if it should not be absolutely 
 established, that these buildings w^ere erected to receive these 
 inscriptions, that certainly formed one of their principal objects. 
 However difficult our situation may make it for us to explain 
 these inscriptions and representations, yet it is clearly manifest, 
 that they relate in part to astronomical, historical, strictly re- 
 ligious, and perhaps moral subjects. Since architecture and 
 sculpture, in this manner, walked hand in hand among the 
 Egyptians, their public monuments and edifices preserved 
 thereby a new and important consideration, greater than what 
 .they ever could have done among any other people. " An Egyp- 
 tian temple," says a modern traveller,^ " is, as it were, an open 
 book, where science unfolds, where morality teaches, where 
 the useful arts are set forth. Everything seems to speak, all 
 seems animated ; and all in the same spirit.' The door-posts, 
 the most secret corners, give a lesson or a rule ; and the whole 
 in most wonderful harmony." Thus, then, these majestic 
 buildings became, in a manner, living archives of the science 
 and knowledge of the nation ; after this, can we be at all sur- 
 prised at the great importance which they had in the eyes of 
 the Egyptians? 
 
 The arts in general, perhaps, with the exception of the 
 
 » [It is Tery difficult to believe this ; for it seems almost impossible that a painter could bo 
 long in the habit of usino; colours without accident making him acquainted with the effect 
 of compounding them. Ought we not rather to suppose that its practice was on some ac- 
 count forbidden rather than unknown ? Trans.] * Denon, ii. p. 16. 
 
 ' [I cannot withhold the following similar animated description by one of our own coun- 
 trymen : *• Evei-ything seems to speti and move around you, and is so different from what a 
 person meets with in any part of Europe, that the mind is astonished, and feels as if abso- 
 lutely introduced to beings of olden time, to converse with them, and to witness the cere- 
 monies with which they delighted to honour their god." Dr. Richardson's Travels. Trans.] 
 
 mere laborious part, formed in Egypt a portion of the learn- 
 ing of the priests. What a large portion of mechanical and 
 mathematical knowledge, which only the priests possessed, was 
 required for this architecture, even allowing them to have 
 availed themselves of the assistance of artists and overseers in 
 their erection ! ^ and scarcely could it have been otherwise with 
 sculpture, as by this their knowledge was preserved. 
 
 Having thus taken a brief survey of the whole circle of 
 priestly literature and science, or priestly religion, let us now 
 proceed to the popular religion, which must necessarily be dis- 
 tinguished from it. It is unquestionably true that a close con- 
 nexion existed between the religion of the people and that of 
 the priests, namely, in the worship of the same deities ; but it 
 is equally certain, that, though in particular points they may 
 be found to agree, they could not throughout be the same. 
 The learning of the priests neither could nor should be made 
 the business of the people ; it belonged, indeed, exclusively to 
 the higher castes. The popular religion consisted, in Egypt 
 as well as elsewhere, in the worship of the gods ; in the feasts 
 connected with it ; and in certain religious opinions, which, in 
 part, had an important influence upon practical life. 
 
 Notwithstanding, however, that the same deities which were 
 the object of the priestly religion were worshipped by the peo- 
 ple, let it not be supposed that their names had the same ideas 
 attached to them in the popular belief that they had in the 
 learned system of the priests. It is certain, that the notions of 
 the vulgar respecting the gods were as rude among the great 
 mass of the Egyptians as among any other nation ; perhaps 
 even ruder, as their worship of animals seems to render pro- 
 bable : a phenomenon which has caused the learned in Egyp- 
 tian antiquities an amazing deal of trouble. Among the 
 Egyptians, for example, there were not only various kinds of 
 animals held sacred, and which a man durst not kill without 
 incurring the penalty of death ; but there were particular indi- 
 viduals of them housed in the temple, where they were tended 
 with the greatest care ; offerings were made to them, and the 
 honours of divine worship paid them ; indeed, even at their 
 death they were embalmed, and laid in a sacred sepul- 
 
 * The highly interesting representation of the removal of a colossus, for which we are in- 
 debted to Minutoli, plate xiii., certainly proves that human strength was the moving power ; 
 but though this might be the case in the transport of the colossus, yet the labour of man 
 would be quite unequal to the task of rearing it up, as well as for the upraising of the im- 
 mense blocks of stone which formed the ceilings of the halls of columns. Mechanical aid, 
 in these cases, intist have been brought into operation. 
 
 2 A 2 
 
356 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. 11. 
 
 CHAP. II.] 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 357 
 
 chre.* General as this animal idolatry was among the Egyptians, 
 it varied in different districts. There were only a few kinds of 
 animals to which all the Egyptians paid divine honours. Of 
 the rest, some were in one place holy, and in another unholy ; 
 in one nome a man might kill and eat that, which in another 
 he would himself be put to death for injuring.^ 
 
 From all that we know of the history of the human race, 
 animal idolatry had its origin in the first and rudest periods of 
 nations. It flowed, without doubt, from the same source as the 
 worship of other natural objects ; but I hold it to be very dif- 
 ficult, if not impossible, to explain its origin beyond this : and 
 the insufficiency of all hypotheses, ancient and modern, which 
 have been adopted, sometimes on account of the rarity of the 
 animals, at others from their utility, or their noxiousness to 
 man, sufficiently prove it. Man must become himself a savage 
 before he can be able to judge of the relation in which a savage 
 feels himself towards the brute creation. He will not till then 
 be able to point out the course of perceptions, by which he was 
 brought to regard animals as objects of adoration. The causes 
 before mentioned confer, in my opinion, a power of reasoning 
 upon the savage of which he is not possessed. A mere child- 
 ish delight in this or that particular kind of animal was most 
 probably the cause, though I by no means hold it for the only 
 one.' 
 
 Let the reader take a rapid survey of the vast regions of Af- 
 rica, and almost in every part, from the Ethiopian coast to the 
 Senegal, he will find animal idolatry introduced ;* he can 
 hardly then doubt that it also existed among their brethren, 
 the Egyptians, in the infancy of society. If, therefore, we 
 reason from the analogy of other nations, we must conclude 
 that it was also the religion of the earliest rude inhabitants of 
 Egypt, which in the progress of civilization underwent, design- 
 edly or accidentally, certain modifications ; but certainly could 
 not then have been first introduced. 
 
 The great variety in the animal worship seems most natural- 
 ly explained by the great number of different tribes which in- 
 
 » See the disquisition of Meiners, upon the animal idolatry of the Egyptians, in his Ver- 
 miachten Schrtften, b. i. p. 204—224. « Herod, ii. 65, etc. . . 
 
 ' See especially what Bossman relates of the worship of serpents at Fida in Guinea (p. 
 446, etc.). It is not there merely the species of the serpent that is sacred and inviolable, but 
 some of tiiem are in a particular building preserved and honoured as gods ; exactly as among 
 the Egyptians. . 
 
 ♦ Some very learned remarks are made upon this subject in Bowdich : An Essay on tne 
 Superstitious Cmtoms and Arts common to the ancient Egyptians^ Abyssinians, and the 
 Ashantees, Lond. 1821 ; especially upon animal idolatry. 
 
 habited Egypt. A similar alteration is found among the na- 
 tions of the rest of Africa. What animals were held for holy 
 or unholy, seems, in the infancy of the nation, to have depend- 
 ed upon such very trifling and unimportant circumstances, 
 that it is impossible now to ascertain exactly which they were. 
 Why, therefore, the crocodile was holy in one part of Egypt, 
 and the hippopotamus in another, it is now impossible to de- 
 termine any further than that it was the primeval religion of 
 this or that race. 
 
 But in looking to the nature and variety of the animal wor- 
 ship of Egypt in later times, it appears evidently to have stood 
 in a closer relation to the political formation of the people ; 
 and to have been made the means in the hands of the ruling 
 priest caste, at the foundation of their colonies, of alluring the 
 neighbouring savage tribes, and of bringing them into a po- 
 litical connexion with themselves. The animal idolatry of 
 Egypt differed, as is evident from many passages of Herodotus^ 
 according to the nomes. Is it not fair, therefore, to conjecture 
 from this, that it was a custom of the Egyptian priests, in the 
 places where they founded colonies, to gain over the rude 
 inhabitants by the adoption of their worship ; and by the 
 appointment of apartments in their temples for the animals 
 which these held sacred, to make these temples the common 
 sanctuary of the tribe ? 
 
 It is probable, however, that this worship became much 
 changed by political revolutions. For example, the sacred 
 steer of Memphis became the national god of all Egypt, and 
 may we not suppose this to be owing to Memphis having 
 been the capital of all Egypt ? 
 
 But let us turn now from this animal idolatry, considered as 
 the popular religion, to the very different application which 
 the priests made in their literature, of the animals held sacred 
 by the vulgar. In the first place, they borrowed many of their 
 written characters from them. As hieroglyphics in general 
 were pictures of objects of nature and art, it cannot appear 
 strange that pictures of animals should form a large proportion 
 of these characters. Further, as these animals were held sacred 
 by the popular superstition, they became pre-eminently adopt- 
 .\^y ^ ^^'y natural association of ideas, as representatives of 
 divinity. Thus, for example, the sparrow-hawk, whose form 
 »s seen upon the entrance of the temples, and in so many other 
 situations, signified in general divine, sacred, consecrated. 
 
 it 
 
 l^J 
 
358 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [CHAr. II. 
 
 CHAF. U.J 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 359 
 
 Thus the beetle signified the universe ; and so on. But since 
 these people likewise expressed certain attributes of the gods 
 by certain animals, it seems very probable that in this way 
 aLe the custom, to us so absurd, of representing the deities, 
 which in other respects are imagined to have the human form 
 witli the heads of animals ; specimens of which are so frequent 
 upon all the Egyptian monuments. And when we discover 
 Z constant endeavour of the priest caste to copy, to a certain 
 decree, the deities whom they serve, in their bearing and in 
 their whole exterior deportment, it becomes very apparent 
 why the priests are so often portrayed with animals head, or 
 malks ; although without knowing the ritual of the priesthood 
 which we do not possess, the explication of particulars must 
 always remain dubious and obscure. 
 
 The sacred rites and popular feasts of the Egyptians are so 
 accurately described by Herodotus,' that a very just notion 
 mTbe formed of them' without any distrust ; and his descnp- 
 2s are so much the more valuable, because they no only 
 bring us acquainted with the priest caste, but also with the 
 char! cter and manner of thinking of the lower classes. From 
 all that Herodotus says upon this subject, it is impossible to 
 come to any other conclusion, than that the latter notwith- 
 standing the teaching of the ruhng caste, and notwithstanding 
 le influence which the use of agriculture and the arts of peac 
 must have had upon them, still constantly preserved in heir 
 character features of their earhest rude state, above which n 
 a moral point of view, they seem to have been but very httle 
 raised. How could this be otherwise in a country where ^very 
 branch of scientific knowledge, and every higher P^rt f edu- 
 cation, was confined, exclusively, to the upper classes ? 1 har 
 feasts and holy rites were nearly, without exception made up 
 of supeS^tition and enthusiasm, in which they gave themselves 
 up to savage pleasure, or extravagant penitence and atonement 
 for their rial or imaginary sins. The latter were much more 
 
 i Ku;Uceo''dr,'tfihe re^arlc n.ade m the ;"tjtri^'»MP;.Serr;tSJ -! 
 
 derstand them. That the priest caste, as J^^ =« «»« B'^^;,"^^^^^^^ «Uich 
 
 nation, in order to preserve m their own body the f "i"?"™ P*^^'™? i,, proof, because it 
 
 :-?sferfr^ttws5» 
 
 Ss^t^-a^^'rJSBX^rre^^erd'S^^^ ^ ^ "^'^-^ '' '" 
 
 great body of the people. 
 
 frequent and excessive among the Egyptians than the former : 
 few of their feasts were without penances ; and most of their 
 offerings to the gods were expiatory sacrifices. Otliers, on the 
 contrary, were accompanied by violent expressions of joy, 
 particularly their processions, which always bore the stamp of 
 that rude age, in which moral sentiments, and refined notions 
 of decency and good manners, were but slightly developed/ 
 
 Among a people, that from the earliest times had been go- 
 verned by priests, oracles are the first things that would be 
 expected ; the strongest band by which rude nations, in the 
 infancy of society, can be chained to a certain degree of civil- 
 ization ! In the cases of Meroe and Ammonium, examples 
 have already been offered of states, in which oracles were the 
 mainspring that regulated all their movements ; and from what 
 is known of Egypt in later times, they do not seem to have 
 exercised less influence in the formation of the earlier Egyp- 
 tian states. Whether each settlement of priests had an oracle 
 originally connected with it, is not known ; but in the time of 
 Herodotus, they are found, though not in all, yet certainly in 
 many of the principal cities and temples of Egypt. Thus the 
 oracle of Ammon at Thebes, of Hercules, of Orus, or Apollo, 
 of Bubastis, or Artemis, of Mars and Minerva, each in the city 
 in which they had their seat, are expressly mentioned by him ; 
 but the most famous of all, from some cause now unknown, 
 was the oracle of Latona in the city Buto.^ The way in which 
 the oracles were delivered was not every where the same ; that 
 of the oracle of Ammon by the sacred ship, has been already 
 explained in the former part of the volume.^ According to 
 the direct testimony of Herodotus, they were only given by the 
 gods, and only by certain of these to whom it was appointed : a 
 regulation by which the priest caste kept them more se- 
 curely in their own hands. 
 
 Of all the religious opinions of the Egyptians, there was no 
 one that exercised so great an influence upon their private life 
 and public deportment, as their belief in an existence after 
 death ; which, therefore, in a description of the political state 
 
 I Herod, ii. 48. Proofs of this might also have been expected to be found in the sculp- 
 ture, which so often portray ofi'erings and sacred rites. But the art here again seems to have 
 had its fixed prescriptions, since it keeps itself so closely within certain boundaries. Fre- 
 quently is the offering of the king, known by his head-dress, with his suite represented : 
 when the people appear, they are represented by single figures placed exactly in a line, one 
 after the other, in respectful order. The greater number of figures, however, are priests, 
 shown by their clothing and head-dress. * Herod, ii. 83, 154. 
 
 ' Page 211. It will be found again represented in the temple of Kamac ; Descript. 
 d'Egypte, Antiqxiitts, vol. xiv. plates xxxii. xxxvi. ; also at Elephantis, vol. i. plate xxxyii. 
 
360 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. II. 
 
 CHAP, n.] 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 361 
 
 of the nation, it would be unpardonable to pass over in silence. 
 That this belief prevailed in Egypt all writers agree ; it is only 
 when we ask how it was formed, that the difficulty begins ; as 
 upon this point there reigns a diversity of opinion, which can- 
 not be easily reconciled. The plainest and most credible ac- 
 count seems that preserved by Herodotus, when he says : ' 
 "According to the opinion of the Egyptians, Bacchus and 
 Ceres are the rulers of the lower world. But the Egyptians 
 are the first who have asserted that the soul of man is immor- 
 tal ; for when the body perishes, it enters the body of a newly- 
 born animal ; but when it has passed through all the land 
 animals, sea animals, and fowls, it again returns to a human 
 body. This transmigration is completely performed in three 
 thousand years." From this passage it is evident that the 
 Egyptians believed in the transmigration of souls, so that the 
 soul in a destined cycle wandered through the bodies of every 
 species of animals, till it again returned to a human body : not 
 to the one it had formerly occupied, but to a new one. But 
 another question naturally arises here, how do the regulations 
 which were made in Egypt, as well with regard to the pre- 
 servation of the corpse by embalming, as the secure lodgment 
 of it in an elaborately built tomb, agree with this description ? 
 How can the notions respecting the lower world, Hades, or, as 
 it was here called, the Amentkes, which, from certain evidence, 
 even from that of Herodotus, are known to have prevailed in 
 the nation, be made to agree with this ? These two ideas are 
 so directly opposed to each other, that the impossibility of re- 
 conciling them must be allowed by all.* 
 
 This difficulty can only be accounted for, in my opinion, from 
 the difference between the vulgar religion and the learned re- 
 ligion of the priests. The doctrine of the transmigration of 
 souls, in the way it is imputed to the Egyptians by Herodotus, 
 could not possibly be the popular belief: it bears about it too 
 clearly the marks of having been formed according to a scien- 
 tific system. Is not this evidently betrayed, in the opinion that 
 the soul must pass through all species of animals, till it again 
 becomes united to a human body ; and again more especially 
 by the belief, that this happened in a fixed cycle of time, which 
 
 i zS^: who has discussed with much learning the notions of the Egyptians '•esp^^^ 
 the lower world, (de Obeliscis, p. 294, 310,) unde^tands Herodotus as fo»«^« ; ^^^^^.f°^^^ f^', 
 scends with the hody into the fower worli and first commences its ^^^^fenngs ^.hen the 
 latter is decayed. But we yer>- naturally demand, how could this opmion prevail among a 
 people who so embalmed the corpses, that they never decayed at ail r 
 
 was without doubt, determined upon from astronomical and 
 astrological observations ?^ I think myself therefore justified 
 in considering; the doctrine of the transmigration of souls as a 
 philosophicafsystem of the priests, and by no means the re- 
 ligion of the vulgar. ,_ r-.u J .• f 
 Completely different from this were the faith and notions ol 
 the people, as they are clearly and concisely described to us by 
 Diodorus." " The Egyptians," he says, " consider this life as of 
 very trifling consequence, and they therefore value in propor- 
 tion a quiet repose after death. This leads them to consider 
 the habitations of the living as mere lodgings, in which, as tra- 
 vellers, they put up for a short time ; while they call the sepul- 
 chres of the dead everlasting dwellings, because the dead con- 
 tinue in the grave such an immeasurable length of time. They 
 therefore pay but little attention to the building of their houses, 
 but bestow a cost and care, scarcely credible, upon their se- 
 pulchres." Although these words may require some further 
 explanation, yet it is evident, at the first glance, that they offer 
 the key to the most interesting part of Egyptian antiquity. 
 
 According to this authority, the belief in a continuance after 
 death was not only entertained by the people, but had also 
 an important influence upon practical life. What the ideas of 
 the Egyptians were respecting this continuance Diodorus does 
 not exactly inform us ; but if we consider their whole proceed- 
 ings with regard to their dead, a doubt can scarcely remain 
 upon the subject. It was closely connected by them with the 
 continuance of the body, and was therefore, for the most part, 
 a coarse, sensual kind of notion. The identity of the body was 
 never laid aside ; upon its preservation depended the con- 
 tinuance of existence. It is possible that certain philosophical 
 ideas may afterwards have been joined to this notion, but they 
 can be no further developed, because it was a rude, vulgar su- 
 perstition ; and, besides, we should infallibly be led to impute 
 ideas to the Egyptians which they never had. But if this be 
 taken as the foundation, and the peculiarities of the countiy 
 and climate are duly taken into consideration, every custom ot 
 the Egyptians with regard to the treatment of their corpses 
 will be easily accounted for. 
 
 It is at once evident from this why the preparation ot mum- 
 mies was so carefully attended to and became so general in 
 
 i Respecting this cycle see what Gatterer says, p. 160, of the treatise already quoted. 
 ^ ^ ^ % Diodorus, i. p. 60, 61. 
 
362 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [CIIAP. 11. 
 
 Egypt. The three different methods, more or less costly, are 
 described by Herodotus/ Who can help seeing that every 
 thing depended upon this preservation ? — A preservation which 
 not merely secured the continuance of the body for a time, 
 but, supposing it to have escaped violent destruction, preserved 
 it for ever. 
 
 Hence, immediately may be inferred, the necessity for a 
 convenient and secure place in which to bestow the dead 
 bodies. Graves such as we have, where the corpse is subject 
 to decay, would be quite unfit for the purpose ; and still more 
 so the urns, preserving only the ashes, of the Greeks and Ro- 
 mans. In fact, real habitations for the dead were required, in 
 which their continuance and quiet might be as secure as possi- 
 ble. The fertile plains of Egypt, besides that its confined 
 space scarcely afforded room for the living, was totally unfit, 
 on account of tlie inundations of the Nile ; nature herself, how- 
 ever, seems as it were to have appointed a place for them. The 
 rocky strip at the foot of the western mountain-chain, and the 
 mountain itself, was not only beyond the reach of the floods, 
 but afforded, by its caves and its general character, just the 
 situation required ; since, where there were no natural caves, 
 vaults in the rocks might be easily made, which completely 
 answered the purpose. This rocky strip of Egypt gives proofs 
 of this in every part. A countless number of sepulchres of 
 this kind, sometimes in the mountain, and at others in large 
 subterranean caverns under the rocky soil, to which the descent 
 is by openings or pits, are found both in Middle and Lower 
 Egypt along the Libyan chain. Every Egyptian city required 
 a resting-place of this kind for its dead, in proportion to the 
 extent of that of the capital. The sepulchres of Thebes, as 
 well the royal tombs, which lie apart in the retired stony 
 valley, as the other numerous vaults,^ have hitherto more par- 
 ticularly engaged the attention of travellers, although there are 
 others which equally deserve to be explored.^ 
 
 We are told by Diodorus, that it was upon adorning these 
 everlasting abodes that the Egyptians bestowed their greatest 
 care. The idea that the future life is a continuation of the 
 present, appears to be too natural to man not to be generally 
 adopted. Hence, therefore, the custom that the sepulchres 
 
 • Herod, ii. 86—88. • See the engraTings in Denon, plate xlii., and many 
 excellent statements and remarks, ii. 108, 271, 287. 
 
 • Like that of Eilethyia. Memoires sur VEgyple, iii. 141, etc. 
 
 CHAP. II*] 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 363 
 
 were mostly family sepulchres ;' hence, also, the kind of paint- 
 inff and ornaments with which they were adorned. Thus, as 
 the present life of the Egyptians was divided between the obh- 
 gations of religion and domestic affairs, they represented both 
 these in the gloomy caverns of the dead. The walls, there- 
 fore, were partly covered with hieroglyphics and religious sub- 
 iects, and parti v with matters of every-day life,— of agriculture, 
 of arts, etc., by which, as I have elsewhere remarked, the se- 
 pulchres are the true schools of Egyptian antiquities. 
 
 As many of these sepulchres, to which the descent is made 
 by pits, were under the rocky soil, covered with sand, there 
 arose a necessity for the erection of some monument over them, 
 if it were wished to preserve the whole distinct, or to prevent 
 the entrance from being choked up. It is highly probable 
 that the pyramids were raised for this purpose. Their shape 
 was best adapted to answer the end described, and it was only 
 by degrees that they became formed into such huge masses ; 
 this seems to be evinced by the still existing shorter pyramids, 
 more especially if the conjecture be true, that the great pyra- 
 mids were the work of the most ancient Ethiopian race of Pha- 
 raohs, mentioned by Herodotus, and copies of the pyramids 
 at Meroe.^ Herodotus remarks, that the subterraneous ca- 
 verns, under the great pyramid, were most highly deserving of 
 
 • Denon, plate ixxvi. ii. 313. . „ .. •, r^i i- o-rn «+« 
 
 « See what is said upon this suhject m Zoega, de Obehscis, 379, etc. •K„:i.lor« 
 
 » See above p 318. It is there mentioned that Herodotus's account of the builders 
 of the nvramWs was bv no means the only one. It was the account of the pnests of Mem- 
 SwXSrktwled^e was confined to the builders of their own temple and the monu. 
 Sts near it Td fhey know nothing of the pyramids of Saccar^' ^-^ ^^^^^^^^ ^i^^'^f^ 
 EffVPt > Their relation shows, however, that the d>-nasty under whom they ^^ ere built must 
 W reianeZdrrincr a long period : as a comparison with the royal sepulchres at Thebes 
 does tSk wa" no Theban dynasty. They are altogether in a different style ; they contain 
 ndthfrlu^V;^^^^^^^^^ reLfs.^tis cLtain, from the latest dsven-^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 architecture, though upon a smaller scale was qui e common at Meroe T^^^^^^^J^^an^^^^^^ 
 sons which induct me to believe, that the Egyptian Py^JJ^^ds^^^J^^f^^^^^ 
 monuments, and that they were built by those eighteen ^^Ijiopian Pharaohs, who, a^^^^^^ 
 to Herodotis, reigned long before Sesostris, and FV^^^^^^P^^^^^^Jl" *^^^ 
 thirty kings whose names were read over by the pnests. Th^^^^^^^ff "I^^-^ 
 nothing more-at least explains the whole ; and I venture to ^"^g ^^J^,^^^'^^^-^^^^^^^ 
 thing further is founded upon it. My opinion however, '%^^^^^^^^^J inXefo^^h 
 places the building of the great pyramid, w-hich Herodotus ^f J ^^^^rexira^o^^ W its 
 dvnastv This was one of the dynasties of Memphis, though of foreign extraction, ana its 
 
 i?irfk^ng,^M^. a contemner 'of the gods, but f^^v-^XilthluLTyram^^^^^^ 
 it. Euseb Chron. 207. I think it may be concluded from all ^^^J' *^fXb y^^E^^^^^^ 
 to the most ancient monuments of Egypt, and that t^.^y flJ^^y P^^^^^L^^^ 
 origin. At the instigation of Count Mhiutoh, a pyramid f ^ac^^^ h^^^^^^^^ 'xSe 
 
 mentions the similarity which its formation bears to those of ^eroe^ io"^^^^^^^^ jne 
 
 hieroglvphics found therein, on the posts of a side door, seem ^^^Jj^'^^y *« S«f ^^^^^^^ 
 nion hitherto entertained, that there are no hieroglyphics ^^^^jy/^^^^^^Vthe ^^^^ 
 however, upon further inquiry, be found to be the only ones, it "^^S^*/^^^^^^^^^ 
 admissible, that they were not cut in till afterwards as, ^^J? ^^"^^f^^f.^"^^^^^^^ 
 dra^^1l with black paint, which certainly do not belong to the ongmal foundatioi^ In the 
 pyramids of Mero^ a few hieroglyphics have been ^^^^^^^.^^^^^'.f/.^^S^f ^|^^^^^^^ 
 vestibule ; as hitherto no one has been able to penetrate into the mtenor. bee above, p. 
 
 201, and Caillaud, plate xlv. xlvi. 
 
364 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. 11. 
 
 admiration ;* and the openings, or pits, which are found as 
 well in this as in the pyramids at Saccara, could scarcely have 
 been intended for any other purpose but the entrance" to those 
 subterranean chambers of the dead, a more accurate examina- 
 tion of which is still reserved for future travellers. 
 
 The situation of all these sepulchres and tombs completely 
 harmonizes with the sombre ideas of death. It was at the en- 
 trance of the desert, where nature herself seemed to die; 
 where all vegetation ceased ; and where measureless plains suc- 
 ceeded, whose boundaries the eye could not reach ! What was 
 more natural, tlian that under such circumstances the idea of 
 an empire of the dead, a lower world, an Amefitfies, should be 
 formed among the Egyptians ? And since they contemplated 
 even the abode, as a continuance of the present life, it will be 
 evident from that, how many ideas might become interwoven 
 with it, which otherwise would appear strange. The lower 
 world had its deities, its inhabitants, even its animals. Dionysos 
 and Ceres, that is, according to Herodotus's own interpretation, 
 Osiris and Isis, governed the lower world, where the former 
 bore the surname of Serapis.^ The latter, indeed, has his own 
 proper temple, in the midst of the Egyptian empire of death.* 
 Wolves are the animals of the lower world, the guardians of 
 Amenthes.^ Hence, therefore, they appear so frequently, as 
 well as the deities just mentioned, upon the monuments of the 
 
 dead. 
 
 Thus becomes explained why the Egyptians paid so much 
 attention to their funerals. Until deposited in the tomb, the 
 deceased could not enter the empire of death ; nor would the 
 tranquil continuance of his existence be secured, until here he 
 had taken up his fixed abode. The mummies of their ances- 
 tors and families, therefore, might well be the surest pledges 
 among the Egyptians ;^ for there was no duty more sacred, 
 according to their notions, than that of redeeming them, and 
 giving them a secure resting-place. 
 
 These are, as I believe, the principal points of the opinion 
 of the Egyptians respecting a hereafter, so far as believed by 
 the people. But, as the picture of the empire of death became 
 gradually filled up by them, and the whole representation ex- 
 tended, many other ideas were by degrees knit to them, and of 
 
 ' Herod, ii. 124. He expressly adds, that their founder, Cheops, intended them for se- 
 pulchres. « Zoega, 1. c. =» Ibid. p. 302, 310. 
 
 * The ancient Serapeum (different from the later one in Alexandria) is said by Strabo, 
 p. 1161, to have been situated in the sand. 
 
 * Herod, ii. 122; Zoega, p. 307, etc. * Diodorus, i. p. 104. 
 
 CHAP 
 
 .11.] 
 
 POLITICAL STATE. 
 
 S65 
 
 these there are none more deserving our attention than that of 
 the rewards and punishments administered by the judges of 
 the lower world. 
 
 How little soever this notion may seem to agree, at the first 
 glance, with that of the Egyptian empire of death, yet it may 
 easily be seen how this belief might arise, when once the idea 
 of an empire like that of the upper world, by a dominion of 
 deities, had been transferred to it. But it was, as is clearly 
 seen from Diodorus's statement, quite of a different nature from 
 what it is among us, and was quite in unison with the other 
 opinions of the nation respecting the lower world. Ere yet 
 the ceremonies of the funeral began,* as we are informed by 
 the same writer, a tribunal of death was assembled, consisting 
 of forty members ; this inquired into the conduct of the de- 
 ceased, and determined whether he was worthy of burial or 
 not. Every one was at liberty to appear in this court as ac- 
 cuser, but he was heavily punished who was found to have 
 brought forward a false accusation. If the deceased was ad- 
 judged worthy of burial, the deities of the lower \^orld were 
 then invoked to receive him as an inhabitant among the just. 
 
 From this account it is very plain that the idea of rewards 
 and punishments after death was closely connected with the 
 granting or not granting of the rites of sepulchre.^ Indeed, 
 accordingly as the deceased obtained this or not was the en- 
 trance to the empire of death opened or closed, and with that 
 his secure and quiet existence. But when this tribunal of 
 death had once become familiar to the people, when, more- 
 over, they had given to the lower world a ruler and judge, it is 
 not at all surprising that we should find this institution still 
 further extended to the lower world, and see Serapis intro- 
 duced there as judge of the dead. A tribunal of the dead, of 
 this kind, is portrayed upon a coffin in the British Museum, 
 of which Zoega has given an admirable explanation.^ A scene 
 resembling this is portrayed upon the upper end of a papyrus 
 roll, which was found in the coffin of a mummy, and brought 
 
 * Diodorus, i. p. 102, 103. Among the Egyptian funeral customs, Diodorus mentions in 
 this place, that of the passage of the dead bodies over a lake in a bark, from which the Greek 
 fable of the Styx is said to have arisen. This bark is frequently seen represented, sometimes 
 in temples, sometimes on papyrus rolls, as well as in the work, which I shall presently quote, 
 of H. Fontana. Care must be taken not to confound this with the oracle ship of Ammon, 
 described in p. 211, which is easily distinguished by the insignia of Ammon, and the port- 
 able sanctuary always found upon it. 
 
 " The celebrated death tribunal over the kings had, therefore, in my opmion, exactly the 
 same sense ; and were only distinguished from those over private persons by being more 
 solemn. » Zoega, de Oheliscis^ p. 308. 
 
$66 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. hi. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 867 
 
 by the French expedition into Europe:' Osiris is here dis- 
 covered sitting as judge, with his usual attributes. Before him 
 is a lotus flower, as an emblem of the present life, and a lion, 
 probably as keeper of the lower world. A small human figure 
 is being weighed in a large scale, by two figures, or genii, with 
 animals' heads ; one with that of a dog, as symbolical of great 
 sensuality ; the other with that of the sparrow-hawk, the usual 
 symbol of the divine nature. Both lay hold of the scales and 
 seem to address Osiris. Hermes, with the ibis head, stands 
 before the latter, with writing tablets in his hand, wherein he 
 notes the faults and virtues of the deceased.^ One would, 
 therefore, conjecture from the above, that this tribunal was 
 about to decide, whether the new comer might remain in the 
 empire of death or not. Probably, however, these notions be- 
 came still further developed, and in the progress of time com- 
 pletely new ones might become knit to the old ones, which 
 approached much nearer to our ideas of rewards and pun- 
 ishments. 
 
 I have thus far endeavoured to set forth the state and go- 
 vernment of Egypt in general under the Pharaohs. Let me 
 hope that many things will become still clearer and more 
 readily perceptible in the next chapter, in which I shall en- 
 deavour to picture the principal state of ancient Egypt— the 
 hundred-gated Thebes. 
 
 Chap. III. Tliehes and its Monuments, 
 
 ETHIOPIA AND EGYPT WERE HER STRENGTH, AND IT WAS INFINITE; PUT AND 
 
 LUBIM WERE THY HELPERS. NAHUM III. 9. 
 
 However great the obscurity in which the history of Egypt is 
 involved, there can be no doubt but that the state of Thebes 
 was one of the earliest and most powerful. It is to this state, 
 more particularly, that the efforts of the moderns have been 
 directed ; efforts, which have been eminently successful in 
 rescuing its most interesting antiquities from oblivion, which 
 have restored it, as it were, from its ancient ruins«; and are still 
 
 t The engraving in Denon, plate cxH. He explains it altogether wrong to he an initiation 
 
 into the mysteries. . , . , ▼ _x •« t «.iiat 
 
 « The explanation of some suhordinate figures, respectmg which I am uncertain, 1 musi 
 leave to a future commentator. We have since ohtained many copies of similar represent- 
 ations, which are partly explained; and ^v^d^Wy Copie fgxir^e (Tun Rouleau dePapyri^^ 
 trouveenEgypte,par M. Fontana, expliqutparU. De Hammer, a Vienna, 1822. A^^e pnn 
 cipal figures; Osiiis, or Serapis, as judge of the dead, Theut, or Hermes, as writer, a figure 
 with the scales, are the same ; but m the subordinate figures there is much variety. 
 
 prosecuted with much vigour and good fortune. Its history, 
 therefore, undoubtedly is one of great importance ; not merely 
 for Egypt alone, but as regards the general history of the 
 world. Its monuments testify to us of a time when it was the 
 centre of the civilization of the human race ; a civilization, it 
 is true, which has not endured, but which, nevertheless, forms 
 one of the steps by which mankind has attained to a higher 
 perfection. Who, then, would not like to see an accurate and 
 complete narrative of its origin, rise, and fall ? But who can 
 now expect or require such a history ? We pass at once from 
 the regions of light into an obscure twilight which has scarcely 
 dawned, and which we can scarcely hope ever to see expand 
 into the fulness of day. Lest, therefore, expectation should 
 become too sanguine, let us take a glance at the materials left 
 for a history of ancient Thebes : they consist of writers and 
 the viojiuments. 
 
 If Herodotus had left us as much upon the history of Thebes 
 as he might have done, how satisfactory would have been our 
 information ! It is extraordinary that he, who according to his 
 own account was in Thebes,^ should have scarcely said a word 
 of its monuments, and but little more of its history. If the 
 latter is to be ascribed to his predecessor, Hecataeus of Miletus, 
 having recently visited and described it, how much reason have 
 we to wish that the latter had not written at all. And as for 
 its history, all we have from Herodotus is a few particulars 
 which he collected in conversation with the priests there ; for 
 what he says elsewhere upon Egypt, from the accounts related 
 to him by the priests, he seems to have obtained from the priests 
 of Memphis and Heliopolis, cities which he visited before he 
 went to Thebes.^ 
 
 Diodorus of Sicily is our principal authority. We are in- 
 debted to him for the most accurate accounts of the monu- 
 ments of Thebes, and of its history and government. The 
 credibility of his statements mainly depends upon the sources 
 whence he drew them ; and these are of three kinds : personal 
 inspection ; the information he obtained from the priests at 
 Thebes ; the accounts of preceding Greek writers, who had 
 visited and described Thebes before him. 
 
 » Herod, ii. 143. ^ ,, v.. . .v . *• 
 
 « From the passage, ii. 3, it is clear that Herodotus went first to Memphis, at that time 
 the capital, and obtained there his information from the priests ; and then went to Hehopohs 
 and Thebes for the sake of comparing it with theirs. The historical accounts, cap. 99—142, 
 he noted down as he received them from the mouths of the priests. He generally menUons 
 what he received from the priests at Thebes, as, for instance, cap. 143. 
 
368 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 Diodorus was himself in Thebes. According to his own 
 account, he visited Egypt in the 108th Olympiad, that is, be- 
 tween 60 and 56 years before Christ, during the dominion of 
 Ptolemy Auletes.^ He speaks, therefore, in his descriptions 
 as an eye-witness, and there is no reason here to suspect him 
 of falsehood or exaggeration ; the less, indeed, because he re- 
 fers to the agreement of his statements with those of other 
 writers.^ Some of his descriptions, nevertheless, seem to have 
 been borrowed ; either because he had not noted down the 
 circumstances, or for some other unknown reason. It does 
 not, however, follow from this that he had not himself seen 
 the objects which he describes. 
 
 A second source open to him was the accounts possessed 
 by the priests of Thebes ; and these were certainly written as 
 well as oral. Upon this point he thus expresses himself: 
 " What is found in the writings of the Egyptian priests I shall 
 note down, after having carefully examined it."^ This testi- 
 mony is so decisive, that it only leaves one alternative, namely, 
 that Diodorus either had access to the writings of the Egyp- 
 tian priests, or stands convicted of a falsehood. There appear 
 no grounds for the latter supposition. He may occasionally 
 have erred in chronology, and other matters, but no one has 
 yet accused him of intentional misstatements. A very natural 
 objection, however, and which almost forces itself upon our 
 attention, is, that Diodorus was unacquainted with the Egyp- 
 tian language, and could not understand hieroglyphic writing. 
 — But does it not seem very probable that there were Greek 
 translations, or extracts, prepared by the priests for the use of 
 Greek travellers who visited their country ? When, indeed, 
 we consider the number of Greeks who visited Egypt, this 
 appears the more necessary ; and should any one still think it 
 unlikely, let him call to mind that this had actually been done, 
 two centuries previous to the time of Diodorus, at Heliopolis, 
 by the high priest Manetho, who had drawn up in Greek, from 
 the archives of the priests, not a mere abstract, but a continu- 
 ous history of Egypt.* This conjecture is strengthened by the 
 
 » Diodorus, i. p. 56. * Diodorus, 1. c. ' , . , 
 
 3 Diodorus, i. p. 80. aurA ik to. irapa toU uptvov rots fcaxa AlyvwTov tvTaiiayaypa- 
 fpaU ytypafifiiva <^iXoTi/ua>« i^tjxaicoTES tK(Jtjo-o/a*0a. QiUB a 8(u:erdotibus ^gypti tn com- 
 mentarios relata penseculate examinavimus, ea nunc exponemus, according to Wesseling s 
 translation. Compare i. p. 36, where he, in stating the number of population and towns, 
 expressly quotes the numbers of the commentaries of the priests. 
 
 ♦ The Greek translation of the inscriptions on the obelisk of Heliopolis, afterwards at 
 Home in the Circits Maximus, may serve as another example ; Ammianus Marcellinus, 
 xvii. 4, has preserved it from a manuscript of Hermapion. 
 
 CHAP. lii.l 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 369 
 
 expression of Diodorus, who does not call the writings of the 
 priests here mentioned, their sacred writings, as he is accus- 
 tomed to do elsewhere,* but simply their writings. I considered 
 it a duty to quote this passage, but with regard to the ques- 
 tion itself, I must leave it, as it is so totally a matter of con- 
 jecture, to the judgment of the reader. We may decide, how- 
 ever, upon satisfactory evidence, that Diodorus made use of the 
 annals of the priests in compiling his account, and certainly of 
 those of Thebes. 
 
 The third source whence Diodorus drew his materials was 
 the writings of the Greeks who had visited Egypt before him : 
 and he has not left us in doubt respecting the writers of whose 
 works he chiefly availed himself. Herodotus was not one of 
 them. He only mentions him with disapprobation,^ on account 
 of the fables with which he has diversified his narration. The 
 authors by whom he most profited were the elder and younger 
 Hecatseus, Cadmus, and Hellanicus. The elder Hecataeus is 
 the same person whose affair with the priests of Thebes is 
 mentioned by Herodotus.^ He had been in Egypt but a short 
 time before him, in the reign of Darius Hystaspes ; and had, 
 either in his geography, or in a separate work, treated of the 
 Egyptians. He was a native of Miletus; and is evidently 
 meant in that passage in which he, with his two countrymen 
 and contemporaries, who had also written upon Egypt, is 
 mentioned as one of the early writers.* Of the younger He- 
 cataeus, of Abdera, Diodorus speaks in another passage.^ He 
 lived about two hundred years later than the elder one, under 
 Ptolemy Lagus, in Egypt, and assuredly at Thebes. He wrote 
 JEgyptiaca^ of which Diodorus seems to have made free use. 
 — But the accounts of these writers themselves were also drawn 
 from the statements of the priests of Thebes. One great and 
 general result is, therefore, deducible from this : namely, that 
 the facts recorded by Diodorus relating to Egypt are drawn, 
 either directly or indirectly, from the statements of the jyriests 
 of Thebes, 
 
 The dynasties of Manetho of Sebennytus, drawn from the 
 archives of the priests above mentioned, have obtained a higher 
 authority within the last ten years than was willingly allowed 
 them previously. The possession of the entire Chronicle of 
 Eusebius in the Armenian version,^ gives us the Fragments of 
 
 * As, for instance, i. p. 63, and often 
 
 * Diodorus, 1. c. Compare Voss. de 
 ' Diodorus, i. p. 56. 
 
 * Diodorus, i. p. 44. 
 Hist. Gr. p. 441. 
 
 * See above, p. 310, note. 
 
 2 B 
 
 3 Herod, ii. 143. 
 
370 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [CHAr. III. 
 
 CHAP. III.J 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 371 
 
 Manetho, found therein, in a more complete and accurate form. 
 They have, however, lately been unexpectedly conhrmed by 
 the deciphering of the royal names and titles on the monu- 
 ments, through the discovery of phonetic hieroglyphics ; as a 
 series of the names of the Pharaohs are here traced out, as they 
 are found in the catalogues of Manetho ; particularly in his 
 eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties, which are highly im- 
 portant in the present inquiry. 
 
 By comparing together these three great writers, we are 
 driven to a conclusion which I think worthy of high consider- 
 ation in the study of Egyptian antiquities. As Herodotus made 
 use of the priestly traditions at Memphis, Diodorus of those at 
 Thebes, and Manetho of those at Heliopolis, it follows that we 
 have, in these three writers, the priestly traditions (under 
 which I also comprise their written accounts) as preserved by 
 that body at the three principal seats of learning in iigypt. It 
 is not therefore extraordinary that some discrepancies should 
 be found amongst them, for which this explanation will satis- 
 factorily account. i • i • j ■ j 
 These, then, are the written sources from which is derived 
 our knowledge of Egyptian Thebes. And after all, what are 
 they '> Poor, indeed, would be the information respecting this 
 state, if their defects were not in some measure supplied by 
 the monuments. It is only through these that we can form a 
 just conception of the magnificence of this ancient royal city; 
 or a general notion of the degree of civilization to. which the 
 people had attained who erected them.— These certainly give us 
 no continuous history, in the proper sense of the word ; but m 
 connexion with the written accounts, to which they form, as it 
 were, a living commentary, they give us an historical view ot 
 this ancient state, in its most flourishing period ; and to tins 
 the present inquiry will be confined. A clear and concise de- 
 scription of these venerable remains, copied from the repre- 
 sentations of the French expedition, and the accounts of later 
 travellers, must necessarily form the groundwork of this his- 
 tory ;' and this I shall intersperse with such historical observ- 
 
 . Some twenty year, ago o« knowledge of the J^fl^^'^y^^lZZTvl^r ^^pt 
 
 ations as they may give rise to, or as may be drawn from a 
 comparison of them with such of the above-mentioned mate- 
 rials as still exist. 
 
 I. The Monuments* 
 
 The locality of ancient Thebes has been so accurately mea- 
 sured and portrayed on so large a scale by the French, as to 
 leave nothing to be desired on this head.^ The whole valley 
 of the Nile in Upper Egypt, offers no spot so fit for the found- 
 ation of a large capital. The mountain-chains, the Libyan, 
 on the western, and the other, usually called the Arabian, on 
 the eastern side, retire here to such a distance on either side 
 of the river, that they leave a spacious plain on both banks, 
 whose breadth from west to east amounts to about three leagues 
 and a half, (the leagues of two thousand toises,) and the length 
 from north to south is about the same. Its extent is reckoned 
 by Strabo at eighty stadia, or eight geographical miles,^ and 
 by Diodorus to one hundred and fifty stadia, or about sixteen 
 miles and a half Towards the north this plain is again closed 
 in by the near approach of the two mountain-chains to the 
 river : towards the south, on the contrary, where the western 
 chain continues distant from the rivers, it remains open. The 
 
 This soon drew attention to this country, and the discoveries to be made there could no longer 
 be doubted. Even what, however, Denon has given us was only a foretaste. The immense 
 store of works of art permitted him only to give drawings of a few, and the means of a 
 private individual, although favoured by the court, must have limited the number and mag- 
 mficence of these. 
 
 But already had the French government determined to give, by employing the united 
 efforts of artists and men of learning and science, a more complete description and repre- 
 sentation both of ancient and modem Egypt, of its monuments, productions, inhabitants, 
 and of Its nature in general, than had hitherto been attempted. The first livraison of this 
 p-eat work. Description de VEgypte, appeared in 1811. It comprises Upper Egypt, from 
 the southern boundary to Thebes, and is divided (like the following) into three parts : An- 
 tiquitts, Histoire naturelle^ and Etat modeme. The Antiquitts, which alone come under 
 our notice, are chiefly the monuments of PhilcBy Blepharitis, Essouan, Esn£, Edfu, Eile- 
 JJy*^» and some others of less importance. This was followed, in 1815, by the second and 
 third livraison, exclusively devoted to the monuments of ancient Thebes. The engraver has 
 here summoned all his efforts, and endeavoured, as it were, to surpass himself; we have 
 now on 161 sheets, (part ii. 92 plates, part iii. 69 plates, some of them larger than ever be- 
 tore passed under a press,) the picture of the most ancient royal city of the world. And if 
 the present world must confess that it could no longer execute such works as are here repre- 
 sented, the architects of the ancient world would not behold these representations of their 
 monuments without surprise. About the same time with the great work of the French, 
 appeared the work of my friend and former pupil, William Hamilton, {Remarks on several 
 V « ''•^ l^urkey, vol. i. ^gyptiaca, Lond. 1809,) the first part of which, with plates, is 
 chiefly dedicated to Upper Egypt and Thebes. Many of the principal plates of the great 
 ■t rench work are also given here, though only in outline. It may at once be seen what a 
 great advantage is derived from our being able to compare the descriptions, opinions, and 
 drawings of various travellers of two different nations ; and to rectify one by the other. To 
 these may now be added Belzoni's Narrative of the Operations and recent Discoveries in 
 tfypt and Nubia, Lond. 1821, with a splendid atlas of plates ; likewise The Travels of Count 
 Minutoli, Berlin, 1824 ; a work highly instructive for the antiquities of Thebes, from the 
 "^TVP^lo^s accuracy of the plates which accompany it, especially of the obelisks of Luxor 
 With their inscriptions. The many smaller travels without plates, I shall not mention. 
 Compare the small plan at the end. * Strabo, p. 1170 ; Diodorus, i. p. 36. 
 
 2 B 2 
 
37S 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. hi. 
 
 plain therefore, on which Thebes was bu.lt though lim. ed m 
 exTent was yet sufficient to contain one of the largest cities of 
 the eartT ^According to Strabo, there is no doubt but the 
 ancient city covered^he whole pl^n. Since however, the 
 test bank of the Nile, as far as the foot of the Libyan moun- 
 S is wholly occupied by monuments above ground (here 
 the subterraneous monuments begin,) many private houses 
 couirnot possibly have been built there. This, however, was 
 not the case on the eastern bank. Here the great monuments 
 Te found near the river, and the whole plain to the Arabian 
 "ountahi chain is left for the town, which, according to Strabo, 
 
 'ISeflrefore, was built on the two banks of the Nile, 
 vyithout being connected, as far as we know, by means of a 
 b dge A piple, whose knowledge of architecture had not 
 aSned to fhe formation of arches, could hardly have con- 
 Sucted a bridge over a river, the breadth of which would even 
 now oppose grL obstacles to such an undertaking.^ A survey 
 ^fUie monuments still extant will be made - the easiest man- 
 ner bv our taking them on the different sides ot the river. 
 S greater part, and most considerable of these monuments, 
 are nfw denominated according to the villages, which are situ- 
 ated in the plain, on both sides of the stream Thus, on he 
 west sWe the v Uages Medinet Abou and Gornou ; on the 
 Tast to and KaTnac ; and quite at the north-east end of 
 the vaUey Med Armuth, which is the extreme point of the 
 ru^ns t2 now remain. They are, however, so similar in ex- 
 eTand gJandeur, that it is 'difficult to decide whether those 
 on the west or east side should have the precedence. 
 
 1. Monuments on the western side. 
 The monuments on the western bank are of various descrip- 
 tions They form an almost uninterrupted series from soutli 
 to north a/indeed in the neighbourhood of the Libyan moun- 
 tain-ridge, so that a large plain extends between it and the 
 
 . A remarkable fact respecting ancient 'I^^^^Vr^l^^^i'ttmZIo Cat UW 
 
 ,oX.,. Before it was d^-^^t o^^'i^h^Ua^ It w^°?oTh»^^^ ^ I'-^A""* 
 
 rtrceta(«<i;»«0»nd%™»"'l^?"'if.St\°whorCatocomM to be mentioned here; 
 occupied 3700 acres of land. It is "'%"'"'' '"^"0'' p.jhans the name may be corrupted 
 S.ce'^Stephanus no where else quotes a R»Xn f ^;;jXhKesoribcd Xiebes. In the 
 ftom ■E«T„.o,, who is often quoted ^yJ''P'^^JJ"Jj,^'¥h^bl with Thebes ; for others state 
 
 r.lSmtJ'^f'^nprnfat^^m^^^^^^^^ 
 ^^^^^l^:^ZTJ^^^oZZ^Z..U, and^bably of later origm. 
 
A 1 ij^Vili 
 
 EGYPTIAN riii:Bi:s 
 
 l.WVstmi Side 
 
 ft K n/ ttf iff 
 
 r 
 
 ff P(//ffrr 
 
 At' uf // ' /'f 'I 
 
 / /-'/////A ' , ■ ■^ '/■' 
 
 //rrrrfis .J/f'f'<f Ta^e373. 
 
CHAP. III.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 373 
 
 river, which probably was once filled up with private dwelling- 
 houses. In proceeding from south to north we find : 
 
 1. The race-course} The first object that here catches the 
 eye, is the remains of a large race-course, at the southern ex- 
 tremity of which stands a small temple ; there is, however, just 
 by, a gate of such vast dimensions, that a much larger building 
 must once have stood here. The race-course is upwards of six 
 thousand Parisian feet in length, and three thousand in breadth ; 
 its area amounting, according to the French calculation, to 
 seven times as much as the Champ de Mars, near Paris 
 (624,380 square toises) ; and consequently afforded ample 
 space for the exercise and review of a large army. The whole 
 was surrounded by an enclosure which forms at present no- 
 thing more than a series of hills, among which the gates or in- 
 lets may still be distinguished, of which there are reckoned 
 thirty-nine, though their number perhaps altogether amounted 
 to fifty. The principal entrance, where a large opening is left, 
 faces the east, and the general appearance of the enclosure 
 shows that at one time it was embellished with stately edifices, 
 composed of triumphal monuments. Probably this spacious 
 plain was situated just without the city; a similar one, of 
 smaller dimensions, is found on the east side, nearly opposite 
 to this ; and, if both were situated without the city, we may 
 with great probability determine the southern boundary of the 
 city. These places were most likely intended for prize con- 
 tentions, particularly chariot courses, and also for assembling 
 and exercising the troops, who, under a Sesostris and other 
 conquerors, started from this place on their route, and returned 
 here in triumph after a victory had been gained. 
 
 2. The race-course is followed towards the north by the an- 
 tiquities of Medinet Abou running along the border of a small 
 sandy tract, which blends with the Libyan mountain-chain. 
 Proceeding from south to north, I comprise under this divi- 
 sion : a. a palace and temple directly at the northern end of 
 the race-course : b, the colossus of Memnon, together with 
 others near it ; and the remains of a building which appears to 
 
 Hamilton denies the existence of this race-coursei He regards it only as the bed of an old 
 cftannel (which is also mentioned by the French) ; but denies that it could be a race-course 
 since in this case it would only be forty yards in breadth and two thousand in length. But 
 trie accurate examinations and measurements of the French leave no doubt of its really hav- 
 ing existed as such, and the mistake of Hamilton possibly arose from his being unable, on 
 account of the inundations, to examine the locality with accuracy. Is it not probable that 
 namilton mistook the double enclosures on the west side, which are about forty yards distant 
 n-om each other, for the enclosure on the tico sides ? He might have been led into this error 
 more easily because only fragments of that on the eastern side is now left. 
 
 4 
 
374 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 be the Memnonium of Strabo : c. the palace and tomb of Osy- 
 mandyas, frequently called Memnonium. All these monu- 
 ments lie nearly at the foot of the Libyan ridge, about one 
 thousand five hundred toises from the Nile. 
 
 First, the palace, ^pavilion connected with it, and the tern- 
 pie. It is highly interesting to meet in this place with build- 
 ings, whose structure clearly shows that they were not proper 
 temples, but merely dwellings most probably occupied by the 
 king. The paviUon is a building of two stories, containing 
 many saloons and apartments, and numerous windows. The 
 situation is so well chosen, that it commands a view not only 
 of all the monuments of Medinet Abou, but also of those on 
 the other side of the Nile, and of the whole plain m which 
 Thebes was built. Everything, even the decorations which 
 cover the walls, seem to indicate that this was the usual resi- 
 dence of the king. The subjects represented differ from those 
 in the temples, as they are intermingled with scenes of domes- 
 tic life. This edifice is unfortunately a good deal injured, but 
 the upper story is the part best preserved. 
 
 About two hundred and fifty feet north-west of this pavilion 
 is situated the great palace of Medinet Abou. Its entrance is 
 formed by one of those mighty superstructures, which, unknown 
 to our architecture, are comprised by the French under the 
 name of pylones ; the Greeks call them propylcea. They con- 
 sist of two obtuse pyramids, (in this instance sixty-six feet 
 high,) which enclose between them the principal gate, forming 
 the grand entrance. This leads into a large court, which is 
 surrounded by galleries formed on one side by eight great pil- 
 lars, and on the other by pilasters, to which colossal statues of 
 Osiris are fixed as caryatides, but not so as to give any support. 
 The sight of these colossal pilaster-caryatides excites m the be- 
 holder, as we are assured by eye-witnesses, an indescribable 
 feeling of awe and veneration. 
 
 Opposite to the principal entrance stands a second pylone, 
 though on a somewhat smaller scale. It leads into a second 
 court of pillars, or peristyle, the galleries of which are lil^ewise 
 formed by pilasters, with caryatides and columns. " Of all 
 the parts of this building, this peristyle is, we are told by an 
 eye-witness, the most imposing, by its tremendous massiveness 
 and solemn grandeur. We are convinced that its founders 
 wished to make it imperishable, and that the Egyptian archi- 
 tects who were intrusted with its structure, did their utmost to 
 
 CHAP. III. J 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 375 
 
 make it endure to the latest posterity. The pillars are certain- 
 ly not remarkably elegant, but they are colossal ; their diame- 
 ter near the base is nearly seven feet and a half, and they are 
 nearly twenty feet high, yet they do not seem too large to sup- 
 port the immense stone blocks which form the architraves and 
 roof Nothing is more astonishing than the beauty of these 
 tall columns. The effect, however, of this peristyle is greatly 
 increased by the pilaster-caryatides, which add so greatly to its 
 magnificence. It was impossible for the Egyptian not to sink 
 into a religious awe at the sight of this assembly of gods, who 
 seem to dictate the laws of wisdom, of justice, which are every 
 where written on the walls. When the Egyptian artists aflSxed 
 the images of these gods to these pilasters, which support the 
 splendid roof, covered with golden stars on blue ground, do 
 they not seem to have intended to represent the deity himself 
 under the arch of heaven, expanding in his space ? And if we, 
 unacquainted with the religion and manners of the Egyptians, 
 could not enter these halls, in which every pillar is a deity, 
 without emotion, what a powerful impression must the sight of 
 them have produced upon those who saw a religious mystery 
 in every part." I have quoted this passage, because the ex- 
 pression of feeling which these monuments produced on the 
 traveller, is more likely to inspire the imagination of the reader 
 with a correct notion of them, than a simple account of lifeless 
 masses. The back or northern part of the palace lies chiefly 
 in ruins ; but many apartments are still to be seen that seem 
 to have served as habitations, of which, however, any further 
 description would be unintelligible without a plan. 
 
 A still more remarkable object is the sculpture of this palacei 
 both within and without. That without is of an historical kind ; 
 scenes of war, and battles by land and sea. There are several 
 representations of land engagements, in which the Egyptians 
 are victorious. The chief or king always appears on his war- 
 chariot, of a colossal size, armed with a lance, bow, and arrows ; 
 and his missiles carry death into the ranks of his enemies. The 
 Egyptians are partly engaged in fighting, and partly in array- 
 ing their forces, sometimes two and sometimes four men deep. 
 The same figure of the king again appears, now driving slowly 
 along, now stopping, and now forcing his way into the midst 
 of the enemy. Another piece represents a lion hunt. He 
 pursues, still standing in his chariot, two lions through the 
 thicket ; one of them is already killed ; the other is flying, 
 
376 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 pierced by four arrows. But the most remarkable of these 
 pictures is the naval engagement. It represents the enemy 
 repulsed in endeavouring to effect a landmg; and the victory 
 seems decided for the Egyptians. The kmg is standing on 
 the shore, discharging missiles at the enemy, many of whom 
 lie slain under his feet, and others before him. Two squad- 
 rons are contending near the coast. The construction ot the 
 Eevptian vessels is quite different from that of the Nile-boats, 
 as they have always a lion's head at the prow ; they are very 
 properly called long ships. Those of the enemy are nearly of 
 the same construction. The battle still continues, though ap- 
 parently decided. The ships of the enemy are evidently m 
 confusion ; partly taken or sunk, and partly ready to strike 
 Even the traces of naval tactics are visible. The hostile fleet 
 is surrounded by the Egyptians, and there is no chance of a 
 single ship escaping. In all these warlike subjects the several 
 nations are most accurately distinguished by their costume, 
 head-dress, and accoutrements. In the land battles the soldiers 
 of the hostile army are invariably portrayed with beards and 
 long garments. In the naval engagements, on the contrary, 
 their clothing is short and light, the head-covering of one por- 
 tion consists of a sort of round turban, ornamented at the top 
 with a wreath of feathers, the others wear a helmet, seemingly 
 made of the skin of a wild beast.^ It is not to be denied, that 
 they are a southern people, and the inhabitants of a hot cli- 
 mate ; the French artists recognised them at once as Indians. 
 This difference of costume is also very accurately observed in 
 the succeeding representations. Since, however, a great part 
 of the building is in ruins, those representations can be but 
 partly preserved, and our drawings of them are consequently 
 
 very imperfect.^ • u i 
 
 Of a different, though somewhat similar nature, is the sculp- 
 ture in the interior of the palace. The subjects represented 
 are triumphs, closely connected however with religion, for the 
 procession is not only directed to the gods, but the deities 
 themselves take part in it. The most considerable of these 
 reliefs are found in the peristyle above described. On one wall 
 the victorious king (distinguishable as such by the serpent in 
 his head-dress) sits in his chariot. The steeds, decorated with 
 
 : ^iSsteSW/^^^^ en^on^ents onland, and, what 
 
 is mluo beT^^^^^^^^^^ -arrio^. --^o axe present inihehunUng.p.ece, who«e .ery 
 
 different accoutrements and dress are only described. Descnpt. \. p. 04. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 377 
 
 splendid trappings, are held and managed by his attendants ; 
 he himself is standing in a commanding attitude ; the prisoners 
 of war are led before him. They advance four rows deep, 
 every third or fourth being led by an Egyptian. They are 
 dressed in blue and green cloaks, under which they wear a 
 short covering round the middle. The Egyptians wear white 
 garments with red stripes ; all the colours are in high preserv- 
 ation. The prisoners are unarmed ; their weapons are tied 
 above their heads. In the forepart of the chariot of the con- 
 queror a heap of amputated hands are lying, seemingly of the 
 persons killed in battle ; the prisoners are not mutilated.^ 
 
 On the northern wall of this same peristyle is portrayed a 
 triumphal procession. The king, seated on his throne, is borne 
 on a rich palanquin by eight soldiers. They are decorated 
 with feathers, the emblem of victory. The throne is covered 
 with splendid carpets ; the feet of the conqueror rest on a 
 cushion. He carries in his hand the cross and keys, the attri- 
 butes of consecration ; two genii stand behind and shadow him 
 with their wings. The lion, the sparrow-hawk, the serpent, 
 and the sphinx, emblems of greatness, are on his side. The 
 procession consists partly of warriors ornamented with palms 
 and feathers, partly of priests who offer incense. Another 
 seems to recite from a roll the deeds of the victor. The pro- 
 cession moves towards the temple of Osiris, whose statue is 
 visible. Four priests come to meet and receive the hero, and 
 to lead him into the temple, where he presents his offerings. 
 
 The train then proceeds, and the god himself, leaving his 
 holy habitation, accompanies the king, surrounded by every 
 species of festive pomp ; twenty-four priests bear him on a 
 kind of carriage. They are enrobed in long stately cloaks. 
 At the head is the conqueror, in a different habit and head- 
 dress. The sparrow-hawk hovers over him ; the sacred bull 
 follows in the train. Seventeen priests, bearing the attributes 
 of the deity, march first in the procession, the whole of which 
 is now evidently changed into a religious pageant. It is not 
 the warriors but the priests who perform the principal cha- 
 racters. The scene again changes ; the king appears present- 
 ing an offering to the gods. It is worthy of remark, that this 
 scene apparently relates to agriculture. A priest presents a 
 handful of corn to the king, which he cuts through with a 
 sickle ; and afterwards he offers his gifts to the god. It is not 
 
 * See part iL plate XTiii. 
 
 i-^f^JiS^ 
 
376 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap, hi. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 377 
 
 pierced by four arrows. But the most remarkable of these 
 pictures is the naval engagement. It represents the enemy 
 repulsed in endeavouring to effect a landing ; and the victory 
 seems decided for the Egyptians. The king is standmg on 
 the shore, discharging missiles at the enemy, many of whom 
 lie slain under his feet, and others before him. Two squad- 
 rons are contending near the coast. The construction of the 
 Egyptian vessels is quite different from that of the Nile-boats, 
 as they have always a lion s head at the prow ; they are very 
 properly called long ships. Those of the enemy are nearly of 
 the same construction. The battle still continues, though ap- 
 parently decided. The ships of the enemy are evidently m 
 confusion ; partly taken or sunk, and partly ready to strike. 
 Even the traces of naval tactics are visible. The hostile fleet 
 is surrounded by the Egyptians, and there is no chance of a 
 single ship escaping. In all these warlike subjects the several 
 nations are most accurately distinguished by their costume, 
 head-dress, and accoutrements. In the land battles the soldiers 
 of the hostile army are invariably portrayed with beards and 
 long garments. In the naval engagements, on the contrary, 
 their clothing is short and light, the head-covering of one por- 
 tion consists of a sort of round turban, ornamented at the top 
 with a wreath of feathers, the others wear a helmet, seemingly 
 made of the skin of a wild beast.' It is not to be denied, that 
 they are a southern people, and the inhabitants of a hot cli- 
 mate ; the French artists recognised them at once as Indians. 
 This difference of costume is also very accurately observed in 
 the succeeding representations. Since, however, a great part 
 of the building is in ruins, those representations can be but 
 partly preserved, and our drawings of them are consequently 
 
 very imperfect.^ 
 
 Of a different, though somewhat similar nature, is the sculp- 
 ture in the interior of the palace. The subjects represented 
 are triumphs, closely connected however with religion, for the 
 procession is not only directed to the gods, but the deities 
 themselves take part in it. The most considerable of these 
 reliefs are found in the peristyle above described. On one wall 
 the victorious king (distinguishable as such by the serpent in 
 his head-dress) sits in his chariot. The steeds, decorated with 
 
 » Seethe engravings of these battles, part ii.j)latex. a ^h-^t 
 
 « This is especially the case with the greatest part of the engagements on land, and, wnax 
 is most to be lamented, with the warriors, who are present in the huntmg-piece, whose \ery 
 different accoutrements and dress are only described. Descnpt. i. p. 64. 
 
 splendid trappings, are held and managed by his attendants ; 
 he himself is standing in a commanding attitude ; the prisoners 
 of war are led before him. They advance four rows deep, 
 every third or fourth being led by an Egyptian. They are 
 dressed in blue and green cloaks, under which they wear a 
 short covering round the middle. The Egyptians wear white 
 garments with red stripes ; all the colours are in high preserv- 
 ation. The prisoners are unarmed ; their weapons are tied 
 above their heads. In the forepart of the chariot of the con- 
 queror a heap of amputated hands are lying, seemingly of the 
 persons killed in battle ; the prisoners are not mutilated.' 
 
 On the northern wall of this same peristyle is portrayed a 
 triumphal procession. The king, seated on his throne, is borne 
 on a rich palanquin by eight soldiers. They are decorated 
 with feathers, the emblem of victory. The throne is covered 
 with splendid carpets ; the feet of the conqueror rest on a 
 cushion. He carries in his hand the cross and keys, the attri- 
 butes of consecration ; two genii stand behind and shadow him 
 with their wings. The lion, the sparrow-hawk, the serpent, 
 and the sphinx, emblems of greatness, are on his side. The 
 procession consists partly of warriors ornamented with palms 
 and feathers, partly of priests who offer incense. Another 
 seems to recite from a roll the deeds of the victor. The pro- 
 cession moves towards the temple of Osiris, whose statue is 
 visible. Four priests come to meet and receive the hero, and 
 to lead him into the temple, where he presents his offerings. 
 
 The train then proceeds, and the god himself, leaving his 
 holy habitation, accompanies the king, surrounded by every 
 species of festive pomp; twenty-four priests bear him on a 
 kind of carriage. They are enrobed in long stately cloaks. 
 At the head is the conqueror, in a different habit and head- 
 dress. The sparrow-hawk hovers over him ; the sacred bull 
 follows in the train. Seventeen priests, bearing the attributes 
 of the deity, march first in the procession, the whole of which 
 is now evidently changed into a religious pageant. It is not 
 the warriors but the priests who perform the principal cha- 
 racters. The scene again changes ; the king appears present- 
 ing an offering to the gods. It is worthy of remark, that this 
 scene apparently relates to agriculture. A priest presents a 
 handful of corn to the king, which he cuts through with a 
 sickle ; and afterwards he offers his gifts to the god. It is not 
 
 * See part ii. plate xviii. 
 
378 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. hi. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 379 
 
 probable that this scene should be separated altogether from 
 the former ; and does it not seem to represent the kmg pro- 
 tecting the arts of peace, as the former portray him in the 
 splendour of warlike achievements ? If these pictures had 
 been perfectly preserved, probably everything would have 
 appeared clear and intelligible. 
 
 The sculpture in one of the side rooms is equally desei-ymg 
 of our attention. It represents, in three divisions, the initia- 
 tion of the king into the priestly mysteries. He is first puri- 
 fied by some of the priests ; others then take him by the hand, 
 and lead him into the sanctuary. All here is mysterious. The 
 priests nearly all appear in masks of beasts.^ 
 
 The French literati believed that all this represented the 
 deeds of Sesostris, and they certainly were right, if we may 
 judge from the result of their researches. I shall agam return 
 
 to this subject. 
 
 At some distance to the north-west of this palace stands the 
 temple of Medinet Abou. It faces the Nile, and has propylcea, 
 in an unfinished state, which are also of later date than the 
 chief temple. It lies for the most part in ruins, but its con- 
 struction is similar to that of the other temples. 
 
 North-west of this temple follows a plain, partly covered 
 with a mimosa-wood, which may be called the f eld of Colossi 
 Seventeen of these are counted upon this spot, some of which 
 are still standing, while others are in part or altogether thrown 
 down. Among them is the celebrated colossus of Memnon, 
 famous for the sounds issuing from it at the rising of the sun. 
 
 The first objects that strike the attention are two colossi 
 close together ; the northern one is now called Damy, and the 
 southern Shamy ; they both face the Nile. They are of sand- 
 stone, about fifty-two feet high, or sixty with the pedestal. The 
 weight of each when entire is calculated at 2,612,000 lbs. 
 The one to the south is formed of one entire piece ; the upper 
 half of the other is now composed of five pieces. As colossi 
 were formerly monoliths among the Egyptians, it can hardly 
 be doubted but that this was originally the case here. This 
 statue, as we learn from the many inscriptions with which it is 
 covered, (chiefly of the first two centuries,) was regarded as 
 that of Memnon, as these inscriptions testify that their authors 
 had heard the voice of the statue.* Doubts, nevertheless, have 
 
 1 See part ii. plate xiii. ..x. e ,.„«• /•;; « 101) 
 
 » Pococke and Norden differ respecting the statue of Memnon ; the former ("• P; ";'/ 
 
 takes it to be the colossus here described i Norden (vol. u. p. 128, ed. Langles) anotner, 
 
 been raised against this, originating partly frt)m the quality and 
 colour of the stone, and partly from the circumstance men- 
 tioned by Strabo,' that the colossus was broken through in the 
 middle, as it is also described by Pausanias;* and because the 
 time of its restoration is unknown. But these objections are 
 of no great weight. The stone has been proved, by the ex- 
 amination of the French, to be sandstone, though now become 
 black from the effect of the atmosphere ; and though the re- 
 storer of the statue is unknown to us, nothing can be argued 
 from that, because the fact itself shows that it has been restored. 
 As a matter of conjecture, we may suppose this restoration to 
 have taken place in the time of Septimius Severus, who re- 
 stored and repaired various things in Egypt. 
 
 At a moderate distance to the north-west of this colossus 
 are found two immense stone blocks, covered with the most 
 beautiful hieroglyphics, which probably were nothing more 
 than the pedestals of two other colossi. A little north of these, 
 close to a triple row of pillars, is a large fragment of a colos- 
 sal statue in a walking attitude, above thirty feet high ; and a 
 little farther, the trunk of another of black granite. Still far- 
 ther, we come to the remnant of a colossus of yellow marble, 
 represented as if walking, and a little in advance the remains 
 of two sitting colossi of red granite ; and, beyond them, two 
 others, forty feet high, in a walking position. And since it 
 has been proved that the level of the earth has been raised, 
 at least fifteen or twenty feet, since the commencement of our 
 era, how many others may still lie thrown down, or broken, 
 beneath the surface of the earth ! 
 
 It will naturally be asked, how this number of colossi came 
 here together in this seeming disorder ? The nature of the 
 spot, the various fragments of pillars, etc., lead at once to the 
 conjecture, that at some time an immense building must have 
 stood here, which, with its pylones and courts, colonnades and 
 saloons, could have been nothing short of eighteen hundred 
 feet in length. The colossal statues may have stood before the 
 pylones, before the entrances to the courts and portico, as is 
 still the case in the palace of Osymandyas and others. It was, 
 
 which is broken in the middle, and standing before the temple of Osymandyas. The late 
 ^ount Veltheim has endeavoured to defend the opinion of Norden, see Antiquarische Auf- 
 idtze^ Th. ii. p. 69, but in my opinion upon insufficient grounds. The inscriptions on the 
 colossus mentioned by Pococke clearly prove, that it was considered at that time as the 
 colossus of Memnon. And is it probable that tradition, without any necessity, should have 
 y!*'^s*erred it from one to the other } Pococke's opinion is confirmed also by Langles, in 
 JJtssertation sur la Statue de Memnon, an appendix to his edition of Norden. 
 * Strabo, p. 1170. « Pausan. i. p. 101. 
 
380 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 381 
 
 as far as we can judge, contrary to the general custom of the 
 Egyptians, to place them any where except before, or in the 
 interior of their edifices. With regard to sphinxes, which 
 formed avenues, it is different. This opinion is, moreover, 
 confirmed by the fact, that both Strabo and Pliny place the 
 colossus of Memnon in a building, called by the former the 
 Memnonium,^ and by Pliny the Serapeum.^ Philostratus, also, 
 in his Life of Apollonius,^ compares the sanctuary (to Tt/iei/o?) 
 of Memnon with a forum, decorated with pillars, walls, seats, 
 and statues, which remind us of the great colonnades and halls 
 of columns of the temples. If, however, on the one hand, the 
 enormous dimensions of an edifice that would contain such 
 colossi inspire us with wonder, it seems, on the other, not less 
 surprising, that so few remains of it are now left. This diffi- 
 culty, however, disappears, if we suppose it to have been buih 
 of lime-stone ; for the old materials of such have always been 
 used for lime. The number of these buildings in Egypt must 
 have been very great, as the immense excavations in the lime- 
 stone rocks very plainly show. In the neighbourhood of these 
 colossi, the remains of an old structure, built of this stone, are 
 still preserved. 
 
 Belzoni has lately confirmed this assertion. " I found," he 
 says,* " a great many fragments of colossal statues of granite, 
 breccia, and calcareous stones ; and from the great number of 
 fragments of smaller dimensions, and of standing and sitting 
 lion-headed statues, I can boldly state, that these ruins appear 
 to me to have belonged to the most magnificent temple of any 
 on the western side of Thebes." 
 
 Still farther north of the field of colossi is a building, which 
 modern travellers, particularly Norden, commonly called the 
 Memnonium,^ — more correctly, however, the palace and tomb 
 of Osymandyas. The ruins of this building, facing the Nile, 
 are the most picturesque of ancient Thebes. The building is 
 composed of sandstone. Many pylones, columns, and pillars 
 with caryatides, are yet standing, whilst ruins of others, and 
 of colossi, form large heaps around. After passing through a 
 majestic pylone, is a quadrangle, above one hundred and forty 
 
 > strabo, p. 1170. « PUn. xxxiv. 8. ' Philostr. Op. p. 773. 
 
 * Narrative, p. 292, 293. Belzoni is not learned, but very minute and accurate. 
 
 * To prevent confusion in the topography of Thebes, it must be observed, t*^^* J^JJJJ. ° 
 and other travellers give the name Memnonium, or palace of Memnon, to that buiiamg 
 which is more correctly called the palace of Osymandyas. Pococke applied it to the palace 
 of Medinet-Abou. Hamilton did the same, p. 137. The ruined building to which the statue 
 of Memnon belonged, and which is called the Memnonium by Strabo, lay between the twov 
 The plan will explain all difficulties. 
 
 feet in length, and one hundred and sixty-one in breadth. It 
 is all in ruins except two pillars, but the area is so filled up with 
 blocks of granite, that a person might fancy himself in a stone 
 quarry ; nevertheless, on a closer inspection, they are found to 
 be merely the ruins of one immense colossus. It has been de- 
 stroyed by violence, but the head, foot, and hand still remain. 
 The fore-finger is nearly four feet in length ; the breadth from 
 one shoulder to the other, in a straight line, is twenty-one 
 feet. The height of the whole could not have been less than 
 fifty-four feet. The pedestal, eighteen feet high, is still stand- 
 ing close to the pylone opposite. Both pedestal and colossus 
 were of the most beautiful rose-coloured granite of Syene. 
 The pit from which it was cut out is clearly seen, near that 
 city, and thence it must have been transported forty-five 
 leagues, notwithstanding it weighed nearly nine hundred tons. 
 Inquiries made on the spot have proved that this building con- 
 tained four such colossi, of which one of granite seems to have 
 stood near the one described. 
 
 A second pylone, somewhat lower, forms the entrance to a 
 peristyle, which is also one hundred and forty feet in length, 
 and one hundred and sixty in breadth. It was surrounded by 
 galleries, formed in the north and south by a double row of 
 pillars, in the east by a single row of pilaster-caryatides, and 
 in the west by one row of pillars, and another of pilaster-cary- 
 atides. The southern part is decayed, but the northern is 
 sufficiently preserved to enable us to form a correct notion of 
 the whole. This peristyle contained two colossal statues, each 
 about twenty-three feet. One is entirely of black granite, the 
 body of the other is also black, but the head of rose-coloured 
 granite. This head is well preserved. " It possesses that grace- 
 ful calmness, that happy physiognomy, which pleases more than 
 beauty. It would be impossible to represent the deity with 
 features which could make him more beloved and revered. 
 The execution is admirable, and it might be taken for the pro- 
 duction of the best age of Grecian art did it not bear so evi- 
 dently the Egyptian character." ^ 
 
 Out of the peristyle three gates of black granite open into a 
 spacious saloon, the roof of which was supported by sixty pil- 
 lars in ten rows, each six pillars deep; four of these rows are 
 still standing. The saloon was divided into three compart- 
 ments, and we may form some idea of the awful extent of the 
 
 * Description, i. p. 129. 
 
382 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 S8S 
 
 whole by knowing, that the pillars of the middle division (the 
 others are a little smaller) are thirty-five feet high, and above 
 six feet in diameter. Out of this large saloon there is an en- 
 trance into a second, and afterwards into a third. In each are 
 eight pillars of the same size still standing. 
 
 Such are the remains of this immense building, which, 
 nevertheless, from the traces still visible, must have been much 
 larger. But however it may excite our astonishment as a 
 monument of architecture, it is not less admirable on account 
 of the sculpture with which its walls are covered. These con- 
 sist partly of sacred pictures with hieroglyphics, partly of his- 
 torical reliefs. The former, as usual, represent deities, with 
 sacrifices and oflTerings made to them ; but the latter deserve 
 and demand a more accurate description. What reason we 
 have to regret that so small a part of them, as well as of the 
 whole building, should have been preserved ! 
 
 The first of these reliefs is found on the inner side of the first 
 of the two great pylones. It is a battle-piece.^ The infantry, 
 in close columns, advance with their leader, of a larger size, in 
 his chariot, at their head. The heat of the battle is next por- 
 trayed : the leaders, in their chariots, driving into the midst of 
 the enemy ; the slain, the wounded, and the flying with their 
 steeds. In the centre of the field of strife is a river, into which 
 those making their escape leap, whilst their party stand on 
 the opposite shore ready to receive them. 
 
 On the left side of the pylone, the chief hero sits on a beau- 
 tifully decorated chair, resting his feet on a stool, on which 
 prisoners are represented. The cushions of the seat and stool 
 are covered with the finest stuff, dotted with stars. A column 
 of twenty-one figures in long garments approach him with sup- 
 plication and reverence. These are closely followed by cha- 
 riots and warriors, with large shields. The army to which they 
 belong is in the rear, consisting of infantry, and chariots with 
 one soldier in each. Next follows the baggage, which, though 
 attacked by the enemy, is bravely defended." 
 
 Scenes equally remarkable are portrayed on the walls of 
 the peristyle. Here is another battle-piece. It seems like a 
 hostile invasion, which is repelled. A river, with its many 
 windings, traverses the field. Remains of the blue colour with 
 which it was painted are still seen in many places. It flows 
 
 • See Description d'Eaypte, p. 129, and plate xxxii. vol. ii. 
 * The last reliefe are only described, Description, p. 122, 123, but not engraved. 
 
 round a castle, the object of contention on both its banks. The 
 possessors of the castle are crossing the river. They have long 
 beards and garments, and war-chariots with three men in 
 each. The Egyptians, on the opposite side, partly on foot, and 
 partly in chariots, are led on by their king; they are divided 
 into different bodies, each with a separate commander, known 
 by being taller, at their head. They beat down all before them, 
 and trample on the dead and wounded. Many of the enemy 
 in their retreat are drowned in attempting to recross the river ; 
 they are pursued by the victors.^ 
 
 On the walls of the large hall is represented the storming 
 and taking of a fortress. (Probably a continuation of the fore- 
 going subject.) At the foot of the walls is a kind of testudo 
 formed of large shields. Behind, or under it, are the warriors, 
 of whom only the feet are visible. A scaling-ladder is fixed,' 
 which soldiers are climbing up. Of the four stories of the fort' 
 the first is already scaled. The struggle is hotly continued : 
 the besieged hurl down stones and burning substances. The 
 issue, however, is no longer doubtful; and the banner hoisted 
 up, pierced through with arrows, is probably the signal of sur- 
 render.2 If the remaining part of the palace were still stand- 
 ing, it is most likely that there would still be found the tri- 
 umphal procession of the victor ; and if this palace be that of 
 Osymandyas, described by Diodorus, the yet more interesting 
 scene, the high court of justice of Egypt, with the chief judge 
 presiding, with the symbol of truth upon his breast. More of 
 this hereafter. 
 
 The French think they have recovered this monument, in 
 these buildings, which have by others — misled by a false read- 
 ing in the text of Diodorus^ — been frequently taken for that of 
 Memnonium. The view of the former is supported by the 
 statement of Diodorus, thatten stadia distant were the tombscon- 
 taining the bodies of the virgins devoted to Ammon. Tombs, 
 in fact, are found at this distance, which agree very well with this 
 statement, and have not the appearance of private buildings.* 
 
 I A few chariots only have been given in the drawing of this relief. Plate xxxii. vol. ii. 
 A part of this relief is given in plate xxxi. The action of one of these warriors is ve 
 expressive ; he himself breaks his arrow across his knees. 
 
 ^ The passage in which it is said, there stood three colossi at the entrance: «f ivos tovv 
 ^oin-as \idov Mt/ij/ovos rod Sut/j/vtov. Wesseling has shown that Memnon must not stand 
 here, and, according to him, the passage is thus : i^ hd<: tous irdi/ras Xidov Titivvfxivovi tov 
 2ut)«tTou. — " Three colossi, each hewn out of one piece of stone of Syene." It therefore is 
 unquestionable that Diodorus took this building for the Memnonium. 
 
 i|l Respecting the women sacrificed to Ammon, the principal passage is found in Strabo, 
 1171. They were Hierodulcs, who were however afterwards allowed to marry. 
 
 very 
 
384 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. Ill, 
 
 CHAP. III. J 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 385 
 
 The proofs which are deduced from the plan and dimensions 
 of the edifice have still more weight, if the reader is not so un- 
 reasonable as to expect geometrical accuracy. The measure of 
 the pylones, the courts and halls of columns, agree pretty well, 
 though not exactly, with the statements of Diodorus. The 
 plan of the building, also, so far as it can be traced from what 
 is still remaining, answers very nearly to the description of 
 Diodorus ; nevertheless, it must not be forgotten that the other 
 half, which consisted precisely of the most interesting parts,— 
 of the hall of justice, the library, (either a collection of the 
 sacred writings, or an archive in the Egyptian sense of the 
 word,) and of the tomb itself, — is either completely scattered, 
 or in ruins. There is also the further coincidence, that this 
 colossus is in effect what Diodorus calls it, namely, the largest 
 of all the Egyptian statues. Finally, the reliefs, which Dio- 
 dorus describes, (to which I shall again refer,) seem also to 
 confirm this opinion ; as they certainly agree very well upon 
 the whole with Diodorus's description, though discrepancies 
 arise here and there in particulars. 
 
 A modern French critic, M. Letronne,^ would set aside the 
 evidence, brought forward by M. Jollois and Devilliers," to 
 prove the identity of the palace yet partly existing, and that 
 described by Diodorus, chiefly because some of the measure- 
 ments do not agree with his statements ; and because the stone 
 of the pylones is not of the same kind. But the latter is not 
 technically defined by Diodorus ; and, with regard to the mea- 
 sure, how can such accuracy be expected in a building lying 
 in ruins ? Besides, did Diodorus himself measure it ? Or did 
 he not rather give the measurements from what he was told, 
 or from what he had read in earlier descriptions, especially that 
 of Hecataeus ? M. Letronne, however, goes still further, and 
 takes the building altogether, described by Diodorus, for a 
 fiction of the poets ; because Diodorus had not seen it him- 
 self, but borrowed his description from the statements of priests 
 and earlier Greek writers. It is very true, that Diodorus re- 
 fers to the accounts of the priests, and certainly to written ac- 
 counts, but he no where hints that he had not seen the monu- 
 ment himself; on the contrary, he says that these accounts 
 
 I In the Journal des Savans, Juillet, 1822. But it has been contradicted by Gail, in the 
 Philologue, toI. xiii. To invent monuments would indeed have been a very superfluous 
 occupation for the Egyptian priests. 
 
 * Description d'Egypte, i. p. 121, etc., in Description gtn6r ale de Thebes. 
 
 agree with his relation :' he cites them, therefore, as confirm- 
 ing his own statements. 
 
 No king Osymandyas is mentioned either by Herodotus or 
 Manetho, neither has the name been yet discovered in any in- 
 scription ; but the royal legend of Sesostris, or Ramasses the 
 Great, is every where displayed on the monuments ascribed to 
 him. The subjects, likewise, of all the reliefs— the battles, tri- 
 umphs, etc. — constantly refer to him. Even the lion, which 
 is said to have attended him, is seen on his war-chariot as an 
 ornament. And to whom will the inscription quoted by Dio- 
 dorus, " I am Osymandyas, the king of kings. He who wishes 
 to know how great I was, and where I rest, let him surpass 
 my works" — so well apply as to the greatest architect of Egypt ? 
 It is, therefore, diflScult to suppress the conjecture, that this 
 great monument, or at least its principal parts, was the work 
 of Sesostris. Perhaps Osymandyas was a surname of the great 
 Ramasses, as the name of Sesostris was ; or it might be his 
 name as a hero. It would not be difficult to offer many other 
 conjectures upon the subject, but I leave them to future com- 
 nientators. But that his deeds are represented here is in the 
 highest degree probable, even though a part of the building 
 should belong to a period prior to his. The proofs, however, 
 f) that might arise from going into a minute comparison' of 
 the sculptures with the description of Diodorus, it is impos- 
 sible to give at present, because very few sculptures are en- 
 graved in the great work on Egypt ; and we have nothing ex- 
 cept the accounts of the French that will here avail us. 
 
 The space between these immense edifices and the Libyan 
 mountain-chain is not destitute of monuments. The temple of 
 his stands between them, and, though much smaller, it is 
 highly deserving of attention, from its fine preservation. In 
 this may be seen, in its fullest splendour, the effect of the 
 colours with which the reliefs are washed over. The more 
 confined dimensions of the building, likewise, enable the be- 
 holder to see the whole at one glance, by which he is better 
 able to judge of the impression made by these embellishments. 
 " We may here be convinced, that this alliance of sculpture 
 and painting, which perhaps may seem ridiculous, has nothing 
 repugnant at the first glance. The eye rather dwells upon the 
 effects they produce, and looks for them.- All the reliefs refer 
 to religious subjects. The most remarkable among them is a 
 
 ' Diodorus, i. p. 56. 
 
 2 C 
 
 Descript. p. 164. 
 
386 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. 111. 
 
 cH.vr. 111. J 
 
 judgment upon the dead, exactly as it is painted upon the mum- 
 mies, which I have already explained.* It seems, therefore, 
 very probable that this temple likewise served as a sepulchre. 
 
 In quitting this monument, and the palace of Osymandyas, 
 and going towards the north, the traveller finds himself in the 
 midst of an alley of pedestals, sometimes interrupted, but im- 
 mediately afterwards renewed. A more accurate examination 
 has shown that this was formerly an alley of sphinxes, two 
 hundred in number, and all of a colossal size, the pedestals be- 
 ing six feet wide and twelve feet long. The breadth of the 
 alley runs to forty feet ; the distance of the statues from each 
 other is seven feet. What must the building have been to 
 which such an alley could lead ! Immense ruins of pylones, of 
 walls, and of steps, are met with ; but nothing entire." There 
 IS a remarkable stone vault, in the form of an arch, without, as 
 has been proved by a close examination, being one : it further 
 confirms the fact, that the Egyptians were wholly unacquainted 
 with the principles of the arch. 
 
 There still remains an edifice on this side of the Nile belong- 
 ing to Thebes ; it lies at the extreme north-west, near the vil- 
 lage of Gornou, after which it is named. The palace of Gornou^ 
 is not one of the largest or most splendid of this old royal city ; 
 nevertheless, it is by far too large to suffer the idea to be enter- 
 tained that it was the dwelling of a private individual. It has 
 a higher claim to our attention, because, being certainly no 
 temple, it seems, as it were, to stand half way between those 
 imperial palaces and private dwellings. Neither sphinxes nor 
 obelisks, neither stupendous pylones nor colonnades, are here 
 met with. The whole seems calculated for habitation. Though 
 not colossal, it must still be considered as large. A portico, 
 one hundred and fifty feet long, supported by ten columns, 
 forms the principal entrance, and is still almost entire. From 
 the portico three doors lead into the interior of the building. 
 The more central and principal door opens into a vestibule, 
 supported by six pillars, and from this passages run off into 
 many chambers and offices. The door to the left, in the por- 
 tico, leads likewise into a saloon, and this again into many 
 chambers, with courts and cabinets on the side. The same 
 seems to have been the case in passing through the door to the 
 right, but everything here is much dilapidated ; so that the 
 
 * See above, p. 365. ' Descript. p. 175. 
 
 =» El Gornou is in Hamilton, p. 175, the name of the district ; the village is called by him 
 El Ebek 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 387 
 
 whole building appears to have consisted of three independent 
 divisions, which were nevertheless connected by opening into 
 the great portico in front. This building is, besides, remark- 
 able from having neither religious nor historical scenes pictured 
 on Its walls.^ It seems, upon the whole, very likely that if it 
 were not the residence of a king, it was that of some orandee 
 of the kino;dom. ^ 
 
 2. Monuments on the eastern side of the Nile. 
 
 From the western bank of the river, let us now cross over 
 to the eastern, which will be found equally rich in these stupen- 
 dous monuments. On this side, however, they are situated 
 partly close to the Nile, and partly at some though less distance 
 from It than on the western bank ; so that between the river 
 and the eastern mountain-chain a wide, almost wholly unculti- 
 vated, plain extends, nearly five miles square, which, accord- 
 ing to a conjecture already given, was probably once covered 
 with private habitations, and formed a part of the ancient city. 
 The monuments which are still left are named after the villages 
 Luxor (the El Aqseir of the French, and the El Qhussr of 
 Hamilton) and Karnac ; the former to the south and the latter 
 to the north : I shall, as before, begin with the southern. 
 
 The ruins of Luxor are situated, as well as the other monu- 
 ments, upon an artificial elevation, fenced with brick-work, 
 from nine to ten feet high, immediately upon the Nile ; it is 
 upwards of two thousand feet in length, and above a thousand 
 m breadth. The more northern portion is partly covered with 
 the village of Luxor ; the southern part is more open ; never- 
 theless it is on the northern side that the great entrance to the 
 principal buildings is found. The front of this is adorned 
 with two of the most beautiful obelisks in the world ; they are 
 of red granite, and above eighty feet high. Their upper sur- 
 face is not completely flat, but a little convex, evidently formed 
 so designedly, and probably on account of the effect of light : 
 because it is a principle in optics, that a completely flat surface 
 does not appear such. Upon other obelisks this is not found 
 to have been considered ; and probably from this might be de- 
 duced their relative ages. 
 
 Jl/oXL?T''* T^ ^'f reconcile this with what is said by Dr. Richardson, as quoted in the 
 S? J^^f^^^*-' ^«'' ^'»- P- «6, '' Hence this building has by some travellers been caUed a 
 paiace; but it is ornamented icith sculpture and hieroglyphics in the same manner as the 
 amon JT^ ( V"^ ^'■''"J ^^^ frequent occurrence of the ram's head upon the walls, both 
 dSoI K-*"" J"^ r'*''^ T? ^^"^ hieroglyphics, it would appear that Jupiter Ammon w!is the 
 Ffiacipai object of worship m this as well as in the great temples." Trans 1 
 
 2 C 2 
 
388 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 389 
 
 Behind the obeHsks are discovered two sitting colossal sta- 
 tues, each upon a block of black and red granite of Syene. 
 They are half buried, and have been broken by violence. They 
 are each forty feet high. Their head-dress has many peculi- 
 arities. They also have collars. Hamilton conjectures them 
 to be male and female. It is highly probable that two similar 
 colossi stood in the interior ; as the head of one has been dis- 
 covered. 
 
 Close behind these two statues is one of those immense py- 
 lones, with its two pyramidic masses, two and fifty feet in 
 height, enclosing the principal gate. This pylone is highly 
 deserving of attention, both on account of its size, and its orna- 
 ments. Both wings are covered with sculpture, representing 
 scenes of war. On the eastern is seen a number of warriors 
 in their chariots, each drawn by two horses. They rush over 
 a river or canal, in pursuit of the flying enemy. The king, 
 mounted in his car, is at their head, with a bow in his hand. 
 Higher up is discovered a camp and tents. Upon the left 
 wing the king is seen seated in his car, mustering the bound 
 captives. Near to this is portrayed a triumphal procession, 
 with offerings and gifts presented to the gods. 
 
 Of all the great historical reliefs there is perhaps no one so 
 much deserving attention as this, on account of the expression 
 and execution.^ " The moment chosen for the representation 
 of the battle is that when the troops of the enemy are driven 
 back upon their fortress, and the Egyptians in the full career 
 of victory will soon be masters of the citadel." 
 
 " The conqueror, behind whom is borne aloft the royal 
 standard, is of a colossal size, that is, far larger than all the other 
 warriors, standing up in a car drawn by two horses. He is in 
 the act of shooting an arrow from a bow, which is full stretched. 
 There is a great deal of life and spirit in the form and attitude 
 of the horses, which are in full gallop, feathers waving over 
 their heads, and the reins lashed round the body of the con- 
 queror. Under the wheels of the car, and under the horses 
 hoofs and bellies, are crowds of dying and slain ; some stretched 
 on the ground, others falling. On the enemy's side, horses in 
 full speed with empty cars ; others heedless of the rein ; and all 
 at last rushing headlong down a precipice, into a broad and 
 deep river, which washes the walls of the town. The expres- 
 sion is exceedingly good, and no where has the artist shown 
 
 ^ Hamilton, p. 115, sqq. 
 
 more skill than in two groups ; in one of which the horses, 
 arrived at the verge of the precipice, instantly fall down ; and 
 the driver, clinging with one hand to the car, the reins and 
 whip falling from the other, his body, trembling with despair, 
 is about to be hurled over the backs of the horses. In the 
 other, the horses still find a footing on the side of the hill, and 
 are hurrying forward their drivers to inevitable destruction. 
 Behind this scene of strife, the two lines of the enemy join 
 their forces, and attack, in a body, the army of the Egyptians, 
 which advances to meet them in a regular line. Besides the 
 peculiarities of the incidents recorded in this interesting piece 
 of sculpture, we evidently traced a distinction between the 
 short dresses of the Egyptians and the long robes of their Ori- 
 ental enemies ; the uncovered and covered heads ; the different 
 forms of the cars, of which the Egyptian contain two, the 
 others three warriors ; and above all, the difference of the 
 arms, the Egyptian shield being square at one end and round 
 at the other, their arms a bow and arrows. The enemy's 
 shield, on the contrary, is round ; their infantry are armed with 
 spears, their charioteers with short javelins." 
 
 "At one extremity of the west wing of the gateway, the 
 beginning of this engagement appears to be represented ; the 
 same monarch being seen at the head of his troops advancing 
 against the double line of the enemy ; and first breaking their 
 ranks. At the other extremity of the same wing, the con- 
 queror is seated on his throne after the victory, holding a sceptre 
 m his left hand, and enjoying the cruel spectacle of eleven of 
 the principal chieftains among his captives, lashed together in 
 a row, with a rope about their necks ; the foremost stretches 
 out his arms for pity ; close to him is the twelfth on his knees, 
 just going to be put to death by the hands of two executioners. 
 Above them is the captive sovereign," tied, with his hands be- 
 hind him, to a car, to which two horses are harnessed ; these 
 are checked from rushing onward by an attendant, till the 
 monarch shall mount and drag behind him the unfortunate 
 victim of his triumphs. There is then the conquerors camp, 
 round which are placed his treasures, and where the servants 
 are preparing a banquet to celebrate his victory." 
 
 Through the grand entrance the traveller enters an im- 
 mense colonnade surrounded with galleries. This is now oc- 
 cupied by the village of Luxor ; and the earth is so raised, that 
 the columns and a colossal statue do but just jut out above it^ 
 
390 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. Ill 
 
 CUAP. 111.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 391 
 
 A second pylone leads into a second colonnade, and this into 
 many saloons and apartments, which cannot be understood 
 without a plan. Some idea of the magnitude of this edifice 
 may be formed from the fact, that each of the forty columns in 
 the second colonnade is five and forty feet high. It will be 
 more interesting than a dry description of particulars, to ob- 
 serve that the great palace of Luxor is not built after one single 
 plan. The whole of this immense pile is divided into three 
 parts, which have different sites. The hinder part of the fabric 
 (the great hall of granite and the buildings which surround it) 
 was perhaps built first. At a later period some one erected 
 the second colonnade. A still more magnificent monarch 
 added the first great colonnade with the pylones, obelisks, and 
 colossal statues ; if these latter were not the work of a fourth. 
 It is only remarkable why the site of these parts of the build- 
 ing should have been changed without necessity. It seems, 
 however, to be explained by the situation of the buildings of 
 Luxor opposite those of Karnac, with which they were placed 
 in connexion. 
 
 About six thousand one hundred feet south of these ruins 
 are discovered the traces of the smaller race-course, already 
 mentioned, so that the eastern part of the city possessed one 
 as well as the western, though probably both were without its 
 
 boundaries. 
 
 But we still have to contemplate the largest, and, in the 
 judgment of connoisseurs, the most remarkable monuments of 
 ancient Thebes,* those of Karnac. These lie at about a mile and 
 a half or two miles north of Luxor ; and about a mile from the 
 Nile. Like the others, they are built upon an artificial eleva- 
 tion, fenced by a wall of brick-work. The walls of Karnac are 
 nearly two thousand five hundred toises in extent ; it takes an 
 hour and a half to walk' round them. The monuments of 
 Karnac consist of numerous massive piles of various kinds ; 
 among which, on arriving from Luxor, the immense palace of 
 Karnac first presents itself." The facade of this prodigious 
 fabric looks towards the river, from which there is an avenue 
 of colossal crio-sphinxes (that is, with a ram's head and lions 
 body) leading to it. Some of these colossi still remain ; they 
 lie with their fore-legs stretched out before them. This mag- 
 
 > Of this opinion are the French. But according to Hamilton, p. 133, those on the west 
 
 ^ Hamilton, p. 114, calls this building a temple ; namely, the great temple of Jupiter at 
 Karnac. But the nature and disposition of the building shows it to have been a palace. 
 
 nificent avenue leads to the great pylone with the principal 
 entrance, the length of which is fifty-six toises, and the height 
 three and twenty, but which seems never to have been fully 
 completed. The great principal entrance was above ten toises 
 high, and had formerly bronze doors in each wing. This py- 
 lone forms one side of the great open colonnade, into which 
 the traveller enters through it. The columns which border 
 this on the north and south sides are forty-two feet high ; the 
 series on the north, consisting of eighteen of these columns, 
 still remains. The southern series is broken by a temple, 
 (which leans, as a subordinate building, against the palace,) 
 whose principal entrance is out of this colonnade. This open 
 colonnade is, however, only a kind of ante-place to the grand 
 hall of columns, or covered saloon, which, of all that now re- 
 mains of Egyptian architecture, is represented as the most stu- 
 pendous and sublime.' A flight of twenty-seven steps leads 
 into it, through an ante-chamber and another pylone. Every- 
 thing here is colossal. So spacious is this saloon, that the 
 largest church of Paris might stand whole within it ; its area 
 being no less than forty-seven thousand square feet. The ceil- 
 ing, consisting of unhewn blocks of stone, is supported by one 
 hundred and thirty-four columns. Each column of the two 
 central rows, which are a little higher than the others, measures 
 sixty-five feet in height, and ten feet in diameter, and thirty 
 feet in circumference. The whole, from top to bottom, is or- 
 namented with sculpture relating to religious affairs. The pro- 
 cession of the holy ark is many times repeated, particularly on 
 the walls. So great, however, is the number of these sculp- 
 tures, that no one has yet been able to count them, much less 
 to copy them. '' No description," says an eye-witness, " can 
 adequately express the sensations inspired by this astonishing, 
 sight, in which the magnificence and might of the ancient 
 rulers of Egypt are made perceptible to the eye. Of what 
 deeds, of what events, now lost to the history of the world, of 
 what scenes have these columns formerly been the witnesses ! 
 Can it be doubted that this was the spot where those rulers of 
 the world, of the nations of the east and of the west, exhibited 
 themselves in their glory and power ; that this was the spot to 
 which those nations brought their presents and their tribute ?" 
 From this stupendous saloon, a new pylone leads into a se- 
 cond open colonnade, adorned with two magnificent obelisks ; 
 
 * See the plan. 
 
392 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. hi. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 393 
 
 and behind this come the buildings which seem intended for 
 the proper dwelling. Saloons and a number of apartments 
 are found here formed entirely of granite.^ Domestic scenes 
 are sometimes portrayed on the walls, as in the vaults of the 
 dead, and at others religious matters, among which, initiation of 
 the kings by the priests is not to be mistaken. In many of 
 these reliefs the colours are still as fresh and splendid as ever. 
 This palace is, besides, adorned with great historical reliefs, 
 which it would be unjust to pass over in silence. They are 
 found on the exterior of the palace walls, and represent skir- 
 mishes, battles, and military expeditions. These are the sub- 
 jects of which Denon has already published engravings, and 
 which I have formerly spoken of.^ They are divided into four 
 compartments : in the first is the Egyptian hero, when he kills 
 the hostile leader : in the second is the flight and the retreat of 
 the defeated towards the strong-hold : in the third the triumph 
 of the king with the prisoners before him : and in the fourth 
 the king, when he again delivers up his weapons to Osiris, and 
 presents to him the captives. The interpretation of this, there 
 stated, namely, that it represents the delive7^ance of Egypt from 
 the Hyksos, is likewise adopted by the French literati. As a 
 great portion of the building now lies in ruins, some of the 
 scenes are of course destroyed, but sufficient are left to evince 
 that they formed one series. The king is seen on his car in 
 pursuit of the enemy, who flees with his herds to the woods 
 and marshes. The river is depicted, as well as the fortress, 
 which is captured. The conquered come out of the woods 
 and surrender to the king. The latter is portrayed in many 
 engagements, so that the whole history of the war was proba- 
 bly pictured, and afterwards the triumphs, the captives, and 
 offerings made to the gods. But as many of these are now 
 decayed, and many of those which still exist are not copied, 
 it would be a fruitless undertaking to attempt to arrange them. 
 The particular figures are full of expression and life ; yet the 
 whole has a strange appearance, and seems to betray the in- 
 fancy of the art. The drapery of the two armies is every where 
 accurately distinguished. The invaders have all beards and 
 
 ' In these granite apartments (the French artists vouch for the truth of this fact by signing 
 their names, p. 234) was heard at sun-rise, quite unexpectedly, a sound like that of a stretched 
 chord, and such as the statue of Memnon is said to have given. It seemed to proceed from 
 the huge granite blocks which form the roof, and was probably produced by the effect of a 
 sudden change in the temperature of the air on this mass of stones. At the statue of Mem- 
 non it was not heard every day, but only occasionally. 
 
 * See above, p. 320. Denon, plate cxxxiii. For this reason they have been omitted in the 
 French work. 
 
 long garments, the form of their shields also differs from that 
 of the Egyptians. The costume of the enemy here is very 
 different from that of the defeated, as represented at Medinet 
 Abou ; they must, therefore, have been different nations. 
 
 Immediately connected with this palace is a temple, which, 
 though it must be ranked with the smaller ones, is yet remark- 
 able from the place it occupies ; for it is so built in the great 
 colonnade of the palace, that the fore-part of it stands therein, 
 and its principal entrance is out of it. It is arranged in the 
 same order, and has much the same ornaments as the other 
 temples, but all in a smaller proportion. It may, therefore, be 
 considered, with much probability, as the household chapel of 
 the monarch who resided in the palace, who might therein 
 render his daily prayers, and perform the holy ceremonies of 
 his religion, without quitting his dwelling. 
 
 Very different from this, as well as from the palace, is the 
 great temple, lying in a southerly direction from the latter. 
 Egyptian architecture has here done its utmost to appear in 
 its most sublime magnitude near the palace. Four of those 
 frequently-described pylones here form the entrance, which 
 contains the same number of immense open colonnades. In 
 these are still standing twelve colossal statues, each formed of 
 one piece ; their number must have been far greater, as the 
 remains of nineteen may still be traced. The great temple it- 
 self is one of the best preserved monuments of Karnac. Its 
 chief entrance is towards the south, so that it almost exactly 
 faces the entrance of the palace at Luxor. The southern gate- 
 way of this temple is one of the most lofty and magnificent ; 
 but it is not, as is usually the case, attended by a pylone, but 
 stands free and alone. The extreme height of this gateway 
 is rather more than sixty-two feet. It is built of sandstone, 
 and adorned in the richest manner with sculpture. This gate- 
 way does not lead at once into the temple, which is still a hun- 
 dred and thirty feet distant, but into a gallery of colossal rams, 
 twenty-two in number, which indicated to the pilgrim that he 
 was drawing nigh to the ancient sanctuary of Ammon. The 
 completely isolated gateway was probably a later building ; be- 
 cause the entrance to the temple itself again forms one of those 
 pylones so often described, before which are seen the remains of 
 colossal statues, and which again leads into an open colonnade, 
 and this again into a saloon of columns. Behind this follows, 
 as usual, the Adytum^ and then other saloons and apartments. 
 
394 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. hi. 
 
 CHAP, in.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 S95 
 
 This temple is, without doubt, one of the most ancient that 
 now exists in Egypt ; and yet it offers a further confirmation 
 of the opinion, to which the examination of the palace gives 
 rise, that both were partly built of the materials of more 
 ancient edifices, which were ornamented with tlie same hiero- 
 glyphics, the same colours, and just as well finished sculptures 
 as the present temples. To what profound contemplations 
 upon the antiquity of the arts, and upon civilization so closely 
 connected therewith, do these observations lead ! 
 
 This large temple of Karnac is not the only one here re- 
 maining. Exactly opposite to it is another of smaller dimen- 
 sions, but whose sculptures must be classed with the most highly 
 finished : it seems to be of later origin than the larger one. 
 
 The antiquities of Karnac form a group at the distance of 
 a thousand and twenty-six toises from those of Luxor ; for such 
 is the space between the northern entrance of the palace at 
 Luxor and the great gateway of the high temple at Karnac. 
 Egyptian art, however, has connected these groups with one 
 another, by an avenue of colossal sphinxes, which leads from 
 one to the other, and which, as it approaches Karnac, again 
 divides into numerous alleys. All these sphinxes are from 
 twelve to eighteen feet long ; they are partly lions couchant, 
 with rams' heads (and these are the largest) ; partly with wo- 
 men's heads, and partly with rams couchant. No alley, how- 
 ever, consists of more than one kind of sphinx. Many of them 
 still remain entire ; of others only half, and of many only the 
 pedestals are left ; but the nearer they are to Karnac, the more 
 perfect they seem to be, while the fragments scattered about 
 still prove suflSciently their whole extent. The largest and 
 principal avenue alone must have contained above six hundred 
 of these colossal figures ; and the whole probably amounted 
 to far above double this number. Those which still exist are 
 of excellent workmanship. The stately repose expressed by 
 their posture, was well calculated to excite feelings of venera- 
 tion and awe in the pilgrims, who proceeded through this vast 
 avenue from one sanctuary to the other, or took a part in the 
 grand processions of the priests, as they are represented on 
 the walls ; they must also have tended to inspire that calm and 
 holy meditation, which every one must still feel who beholds 
 the remains of these marvellous works. 
 
 Beyond these monuments there are traces of many more. 
 The whole chain of them extends to Medamoud, north of the 
 
 ancient city, at the foot of the eastern mountain-ridge, where 
 are likewise found the remains of an ancient smaller temple or 
 palace, of smaller dimensions. '' One is fatigued," says an 
 eye-witness, " with writing, one is fatigued with reading, one 
 is frightened at the idea of so vast a conception ; and even after 
 having seen, it is diflScult to believe in the existence of such a 
 vast pile of buildings united to one point." 
 
 3. Catacombs, 
 
 From the monuments above ground let us now turn to those 
 beneath its surface ; and these will be found not only equally 
 remarkable and interesting, but in some respects more instruc- 
 tive. I designate them by the general name of caverns ; but 
 must premise that I do not herein include any that were formed 
 by nature, but only such as were effected by human industry ; 
 no others seem to have existed in this quarter. All these 
 subterraneous works are on the western side of the river, and 
 consequently in the Libyan mountain-chain. This seems to 
 be accounted for from the quality of the stone ; the western 
 ridge consisting here of limestone, while that of the east is 
 composed of a much harder kind. The softer nature of the 
 former renders it much fitter to be employed both for the 
 formation and the ornamenting of caverns. 
 
 The mountain-ridge is nearly three hundred feet high ; and 
 rises here so steep that there is diflRculty, and even danger, in 
 ascending it. The caverns are of three kinds : L Grottoes for 
 the living. 2. Catacombs for the burial of the people. 3. The 
 royal sepulchres. I must speak of each separately. 
 
 L Grottoes for the living. Ancient Thebes affords only one 
 cavern of this kind, and it is highly probable that this was not 
 made use of as a place of burial. This grotto is situated at 
 about a hundred and fifty toises north-east of the palace of 
 Osymandyas, not in the mountain-ridge, but rather in a hill 
 before it. Its front faces the Nile ; before it is an open area, 
 hewn out of the rock, from which the traveller passes into a 
 court, likewise uncovered. All the rest is subterraneous. With- 
 in are found saloons and chambers of various dimensions, upon 
 three stories. A staircase of fifty-six steps leads from the top 
 to the bottom. The walls are every where covered with sculp- 
 ture, which must be ranked with the best and most highly 
 finished, notwithstanding the light of day could never have 
 fallen upon them. In the pits of this grotto, as well as in those 
 
396 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. in. 
 
 of the catacombs, some remains of mummies are certainly to 
 be found ; but the arrangement of the whole building renders 
 it very unlikely that it should have been intended merely for 
 a place of burial. That the Egyptian nobles, however, had 
 within their dwellings the storehouse in which should after- 
 wards be preserved their bones, has already been seen in the 
 palace of Osymandyas. This grotto also might have served 
 for the initiation of the kings into the mysteries, or as a cool 
 retreat for them from the summer heat. It was situated in the 
 way to the catacombs and royal graves ; and it would be diffi- 
 cult to find a place better adapted to promote a solemn and 
 contemplative frame of mind. 
 
 2. Catacombs. The catacombs are not peculiar to Thebes ; 
 every Egyptian city had its own : those of Memphis are found 
 at Saccara. But as the kingly capital of Egypt did not excel 
 more in her temples and palaces above ground than she did in 
 these subterranean caverns and tombs for her people and kings, 
 they are found in no other part of Egypt so numerous, nor ex- 
 ecuted with the same degree of care, skill, and attention. They 
 bear testimony, as well as the architectural wonders, to the fact, 
 that the ancient Thebais was the country where civilization, 
 and every branch of learning and science, were carried to the 
 highest perfection. 
 
 These catacombs are situated in the Libyan mountain-chain, 
 where it approaches the nearest to Medinet-Abou and Gor- 
 nou, and extend about four or five miles in length. The steep 
 ridge, which is nearly three hundred feet high, affords ample 
 space for these burial-places. They rise in tiers one above the 
 other. The lowest, in which the rich sought to find their long 
 resting-place, are the largest and most beautiful ; the higher 
 we ascend the poorer they become. The more spacious and 
 splendid have an open vestibule before the entrance, but the 
 greater number merely doors. The lower passages to which 
 they lead run sometimes horizontally, sometimes downwards, 
 sometimes straight, and sometimes winding. They lead at one 
 time into saloons and apartments, and at others into pits, of 
 which the traveller must be on his guard. Many are connect- 
 ed together, and form a labyrinth, from which it is often dif- 
 ficult to find the way out. In the large caverns are found 
 saloons twelve and fifteen feet high, supported by rows of pil- 
 lars ; and behind them is a smaller apartment, with a sort of 
 platform up four steps. In the back-ground is a sitting human 
 
 CHAP. 111. J 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 397 
 
 figure, hewn in high relief, and frequently accompanied by 
 two females. Upon the side of the hall are galleries ; and in 
 these are the mummy pits, from nine to twelve feet wide, and 
 from forty to fifty deep. There has been no where discovered 
 the least trace of steps descending into them. Some of the 
 caverns are more, others less regularly formed. The earth is 
 strewed over with mummies and pieces of mummies, which 
 have been turned out of their cases, so that the traveller has to 
 wade, as it were, through them. Among them are found 
 amulets, idols, and other antiquities. These caverns are now 
 the habitation of bats and Arabs, equally to be feared by the 
 wanderer ; the former, because their flight may extinguish the 
 light, the latter as robbers. Another danger equally great 
 menaces the traveller from the inflammability of the mummies ; 
 it is only with torches and lights that these gloomy abodes can 
 be penetrated ; and a spark would in a moment ignite a brand, 
 which would doom the wanderer to the crudest death. 
 
 The Egyptians, who were entirely ignorant of the arch in 
 their architecture, often adopted this form in their vaults. The 
 ceilings at the entrance, and in the front corridors, are usually 
 arched ; this is particularly striking in the royal graves, at 
 which we shall presently arrive. 
 
 The catacombs are without pillars, and in general bear but 
 little resemblance to the buildings above ground. The walls, 
 however, are not less richly ornamented. These ornaments 
 are composed partly of painted reliefs, and partly of mere 
 paintings in fresco. The representations on the walls are 
 always pictures enclosed by straight lines, in which the reliefs 
 are finished with astonishing skill. In many of them complete 
 figures are only two inches high ; and the hieroglyphics which 
 accompany them only four lines. The subjects consist of 
 various affairs of common life : sometimes proper in-door busi- 
 ness ; such as the weighing of goods ; a feast, at which is seen 
 the master of the house, his wife and guests, with a richly 
 spread table ; a dance ; — there are also hunting-pieces ; the la- 
 bours of the husbandman, the vintage ; the navigation of the 
 Nile ; musical instruments, the harp, the lute, flutes ; wild and 
 domestic animals, etc. The ceilings have no ornaments in 
 sculpture, but are merely painted in fresco : they are the more 
 worthy of attention, as the Egyptian artist here abandoned 
 himself entirely to his fancy, as the moderns do in arabesque 
 work. All this splendid workmanship must have been exe- 
 
S06 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. 111. 
 
 «f llie catacombs, some remains of mummies are certainly to 
 lie found ; but the arrangement of the whole building renders 
 it very unlikely that it should have been intended merely for 
 a place of burial. That the Egyptian nobles, however, had 
 within their dwellings the storehouse in which should after- 
 words be preserved their bones, has already been seen in the 
 palace of Osymandyas. This grotto also might have served 
 for the initiation of the kings into the mysteries, or as a cool 
 retreat for them from the summer heat. It was situated in the 
 way to the catacombs and royal graves ; and it would be diffi- 
 cult to find a place better adapted to promote a solemn and 
 contemplative frame of mind. 
 
 2. Catacombs. The catacombs are not pecuhar to Thebes ; 
 every Egyptian city had its own : those of Memphis are found 
 at Saccara. But as the kingly capital of Egypt did not excel 
 more in her temples and palaces above ground than she did in 
 these subterranean caverns and tombs for her people and kings, 
 they are found in no other part of Egypt so numerous, nor ex- 
 ecuted with the same degree of care, skill, and attention. They 
 bear testimony, as well as the architectural wonders, to the fact, 
 that the ancient Thebais was the country where civilization, 
 and every branch of learning and science, were carried to the 
 highest perfection. 
 
 These catacombs are situated in the Libyan mountain-chain, 
 where it approaches the nearest to Medinet-Abou and Gor- 
 nou, and extend about four or five miles in length. The steep 
 ridge, which is nearly three hundred feet high, affords ample 
 space for these burial-places. They rise in tiers one above the 
 other. The lowest, in which the rich sought to find their long 
 resting-place, are the largest and most beautiful ; the higher 
 we ascend the poorer they become. The more spacious and 
 splendid have an open vestibule before the entrance, but the 
 greater number merely doors. The lower passages to which 
 they lead run sometimes horizontally, sometimes downwards, 
 sometimes straight, and sometimes winding. They lead at one 
 time into saloons and apartments, and at others into pits, of 
 which the traveller must be on his guard. Many are connect- 
 ed together, and form a labyrinth, from which it is often dif- 
 ficult to find the way out. In the large caverns are found 
 saloons twelve and fifteen feet high, supported by rows of pil- 
 lars ; and behind them is a smaller apartment, with a sort of 
 platform up four steps. In the back-ground is a sitting human 
 
 CHAP. HI. J 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 397 
 
 figure, hewn in high relief, and frequently accompanied by 
 two females. Upon the side of the hall are galleries ; and in 
 these are the mummy pits, from nine to twelve feet wide, and 
 from forty to fifty deep. There has been no where discovered 
 the least trace of steps descending into them. Some of the 
 caverns are more, others less regularly formed. The earth is 
 strewed over with mummies and pieces of mummies, which 
 have been turned out of their cases, so that the traveller has to 
 wade, as it were, through them. Among them are found 
 amulets, idols, and other antiquities. These caverns are now 
 the habitation of bats and Arabs, equally to be feared by the 
 wanderer ; the former, because their flight may extinguish the 
 light, the latter as robbers. Another danger equally great 
 menaces the traveller from the inflammability of the mummies ; 
 it is only with torches and lights that these gloomy abodes can 
 be penetrated ; and a spark would in a moment ignite a brand, 
 which would doom the wanderer to the crudest death. 
 
 The Egyptians, who were entirely ignorant of the arch in 
 their architecture, often adopted this form in their vaults. The 
 ceilings at the entrance, and in the front corridors, are usually 
 arched; this is particularly striking in the royal graves, at 
 which we shall presently arrive. 
 
 The catacombs are without pillars, and in general bear but 
 little resemblance to the buildings above ground. The walls, 
 however, are not less richly ornamented. These ornaments 
 are composed partly of painted reliefs, and partly of mere 
 paintings in fresco. The representations on the walls are 
 always pictures enclosed by straight lines, in which the reliefs 
 are finished with astonishing skill. In many of them complete 
 figures are only two inches high ; and the hieroglyphics which 
 accompany them only four lines. The subjects consist of 
 various affairs of common life : sometimes proper in-door busi- 
 ness ; such as the weighing of goods ; a feast, at which is seen 
 the master of the house,' his wife and guests, with a richly 
 spread table ; a dance ;— there are also hunting-pieces ; the la- 
 bours of the husbandman, the vintage ; the navigation of the 
 Nil^ ; musical instruments, the harp, the lute, flutes ; wild and 
 domestic animals, etc. The ceilings have no ornaments in 
 sculpture, but are merely painted in fresco : they are the more 
 worthy of attention, as the Egyptian artist here abandoned 
 himself entirely to his fancy, as the nioderns do in arabesque 
 work. All this splendid workmanship must have been exe- 
 
398 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 cuted with an artificial light, and could only have been seen 
 by the same means. 
 
 But besides these pictures of domestic and social life, these 
 sepulchral chambers also contain the remains of ancient Egyp- 
 tian literature. In the mummies have been found many rolls 
 of papyrus, and, above all, one great roll, which, when drawn 
 out, measures twenty-eight feet in length. This relic contains 
 upwards of thirty thousand characters, in five hundred and fif- 
 teen columns, and is written partly in hieroglyphic and partly 
 in alphabetical characters. An accurate copy of it is now 
 spread before me, and offers a wide, a new, and an interesting 
 field for some enterprising genius. Bricks, with impressed 
 inscriptions, have likewise been found here, as well as in Ba- 
 bylon. The characters upon them, however, are not letters, 
 but hieroglyphics, which seem to have been stamped with a 
 wooden block. 
 
 What a fine school, then, here offers itself for the study of 
 Egyptian antiquities, and by a path hitherto untrodden ? What 
 has been copied seems considerable, and yet — even with all 
 that has since been brought into Europe — it is but a mite 
 compared with what remains. Many rock-caverns have not 
 yet been opened at all ! Let us hope that barbarians will still 
 spare the bulk of them, till some new fortunate concurrence of 
 circumstances shall present copies of them to the anxious and 
 curious of Europe ! 
 
 3. The royal sepulchres. The situation and disposition of 
 these tombs are very different from those of the sepulchres of 
 the people. They are placed in the interior of the Libyan 
 mountains ; and, in visiting them from Gornou, the traveller 
 has to go a distance of about three miles, through a narrow 
 mountain pass, to the entrance of the valley containing them. 
 They are called the royal sepulchres, (and they were thus 
 named in antiquity,) because from their magnitude and splen- 
 dour, as well as from the objects pictured on their walls, there 
 is every reason to believe that they were such. The defile 
 which leads to them had, originally, no outlet : this must have 
 •been first opened from the back-ground by manual labour. A 
 way hewn in the rocks leads to a narrow pass, which forms 
 the entrance to the valley containing these royal caves. The 
 valley here spreads out into two branches, one south-east and 
 the other south-west. It was, therefore, originally entirely in- 
 accessible ; and this, in the eyes of the Egyptian, was certainly 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 399 
 
 its greatest recommendation. No sign of vegetation is here to 
 be seen ; steep rugged rocks enclose it on every side ; all 
 around bears the image of death. The heat, softened by no 
 refreshing breeze, and increased by the reflection of the scorch- 
 ing rays of the sun from the rocks and sand, becomes so in- 
 tense, that no flesh could abide it without danger, if it were 
 not for the shelter afforded by the catacombs. Two of the 
 companions of General Desaix were suffocated by its violence. 
 
 Twelve of these tombs are now known ^ (the twelfth was 
 first discovered by the French ~) ; in Strabo's time there were 
 about forty ; but the entrances to many are now blocked up, 
 by fragments of rock which have fallen down ;^ and thus their 
 contents will be preserved, probably uninjured, for future ages. 
 The general appearance of those that have been opened is 
 similar, though they are not exactly alike ; they differ in size 
 and in their embellishments. The depth varies from fifty to 
 three hundred and sixty feet. Some are entirely covered with 
 ornaments, and these are completely finished ; in others they 
 are scarcely begun. 
 
 Each of these caverns forms a suite of corridors, chambers, 
 and apartments, in which there is generally one principal 
 saloon. This usually contains an elevation, upon which stood 
 the sarcophagus containing the body of the king. Out of the 
 twelve tombs six still preserve the sarcophagi, or some part of 
 them ; in others they have wholly disappeared. That found 
 in the largest cavern, called by the French the harp-tomh, 
 (from two harp-players being represented therein,) is twelve 
 feet long, and formed of red granite ; upon being struck with a 
 hammer it sounds like a bell. The principal apartment in this 
 tomb is vaulted, and supported by eight pillars. The traveller 
 has to push through at least ten doors before he comes to this 
 sarcophagus ; but however securely the king who here rests 
 may have imagined he had provided for the quiet repose of his 
 remains, they have not withstood the human lust of plunder. 
 
 In the chamber next to the principal door, are found the 
 remains of several mummies. It seems therefore certain that, 
 besides the king, those who had been about his person while 
 living, again became his companions here after his death. 
 
 » Hamilton, p. 154, found but ten accessible, instead of the eighteen which were so in the 
 time of Strabo. Strabo, p. 1170. 
 
 * [" Before Mr. Belzoni began his operations in Thebes, only eleven of these tombs were 
 known to the public. From the great success that crowned his exertions, the number of 
 them now discovered is nearly double." Note added by the translator from Richardson's 
 Travels, as cited in the Modern Traveller.] ^ Hamilton, 1. c. 
 
400 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. in. 
 
 The walls are every where covered with sculpture and paint- 
 ings. Owing to the nature of the stone, these could not be 
 wrought here, as in the palaces, upon the rock itself; but the 
 walls are plastered over with a kind of mortar, upon which 
 the sculpture and paintings are executed. 
 
 The embellishments of this tomb are highly interesting, and 
 afford much various information. Many of the subjects are 
 religious offerings and sacrifices. Among the latter, human 
 victims cannot be mistaken. Those who are sacrificed are all 
 negroes.^ But besides religious rites, there are also found here, 
 just where they would have been least expected, representa- 
 tions of battles, both on water and on land ; the slaughtering 
 of captives, etc. Although it must excite astonishment to find 
 these scenes of blood and turmoil portrayed in the sanctity 
 and stillness of the grave ; yet they, nevertheless, prove to the 
 searcher into antiquity, that these tombs could be intended for 
 none but kings. There is, however, besides this, so much re- 
 represented here belonging to every-day life, such as vessels, 
 seats, implements and tools, musical instruments, etc., as can- 
 not fail to give us some idea of the luxury of this nation, and 
 the high degree of perfection to which the arts had attained 
 among them. A proper notion of them, however, cannot be 
 conveyed by verbal description alone — the aid of the artist is 
 required to make them understood. 
 
 The hope that the tombs still closed up might preserve, un- 
 injured, their treasures for future ages, is not likely to be dis- 
 appointed. Belzoni, with much labour, opened the entrance 
 to one of them, and discovered what far surpassed his expect- 
 ation. What had been executed two, and perhaps three thou- 
 sand years ago, was as fresh and uninjured as though just turned 
 out of the hands of the artist. Corridor after corridor, cham- 
 ber after chamber, were found. The sculptures and paintings 
 are as fresh as if done but yesterday ; and when at last the 
 principal apartment was opened to the traveller, he discovered 
 that wonderful piece of art, nothing like which has hitherto 
 been found, a sarcophagus of the purest Oriental alabaster, 
 nine feet five inches in length, and five feet seven broad. It 
 is semi-transparent, and covered both within and without with 
 hundreds of figures, which seem to relate to funeral rites. It 
 
 * It is clear that executions are represented, though it does not thence follow that thev 
 are sacrifices. Hamilton, p. 157, very ingeniously conjectures that the Egyptians intended, 
 by these representations, to designate the king as a tyrant. But then, how comes it that 
 the persons executed are all black people ? 
 
 CHAr. III.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 401 
 
 is incorrectly supposed that it once contained the bones of 
 Pharaoh Psammis :^ it now adorns the British Museum. But 
 even the few painted reliefs which have been copied from the 
 walls, and now lie before me, convey much more information, 
 both of a physiological and historical nature, than this splendid 
 relic. We here see nations of three different races of men, the 
 tawny, the black, and the white, who are distinguished by 
 their colour and features. The scene represented is not of a 
 warlike, but of a peaceable nature. The king appears in regal 
 pomp ; the ambassadors of tributary nations come to render 
 homage to him. They do not appear as captives, but as per- 
 forming a stately ceremony, in their national dress and splen- 
 dour. In the first plate^ we discover the king on his throne, 
 with the regal ornaments,^ the sceptre in his hand, a golden 
 chain about his neck, and a votive tablet. In the two follow- 
 ing plates,* and particularly in the third, are given, in two ovals, 
 his name and title, surrounded by protecting deities. Each of 
 the embassies consists of four men. First, the tawny, or brown 
 red, appear, led by a priest, with the sparrowhawk's head.^ 
 They are called Egyptians, because they have the usual colour 
 of the Egyptians on the monuments. I cannot consider them 
 as such, but suppose them to be Nubians. First, on account of 
 their dress. They are naked,^ except round the middle, 
 where they have a white fine garment ; the Nubians still fre- 
 quently wear a similar one. Secondly, because of their head- 
 dress, as they have the thick Nubian hair. Neither of these 
 is Egyptian : neither in the priesthood, nor in the warrior 
 caste^ is this dress ever found ; nor, as far as I know, even 
 
 » Belzoni, Narrative, p. 242. Namely of Psammis the second, or Psammuthis, the son 
 and successor of Necho. This was the opinion of Mr. Young, which is said to be confirmed 
 by the reliefs, as Necho had warred against the Jews, and Psammis against the Ethiopians. 
 From this time this grave and the sarcophagus have been called the grave and sarcophagus 
 of Psammuthis. This explanation, nevertheless, is evidently false. This Psammuthis, hke 
 his father Necho, belonged to the dynasty of Sais, which was overthrown by the Persians. 
 Besides, the tohole of the princes of this dynasty were buried at Sais m the Delta, and not 
 at Thebes in Upper Egypt. Herod, ii. 169. expressly states this : " When Apries (the son 
 and successor of Psammuthis) was put to death, he was buried in the tombs of his fathers. 
 But these tombs are in the temple of Minerva, close to the sacred edifice, on the left hand 
 as one goes in. For the inhabitants of Sais bury all the kings of that nome within this sanc- 
 tuary. Even the tomb of Amasis is there, though placed a little farther from the temple 
 than that of Apries and his ancestors." The grave and the sarcophagus, therefore, which 
 are in London, are not those of Psammis. Whose they are I cannot decide. Among the 
 names deciphered by ChampoUion, that of Amenophis II. comes nearest to it. 1 he lowest 
 sign only is a Uttle different (a bason or basket instead of a box). Champolhon, JNo. 111. 
 The difference of the title in the second oval forms no proof against it, since this often ditters. 
 Until something better shall be offered, I shall consider the grave and sarcophagus as belong- 
 ing to Amenophis II., without, however, attaching much weight to my opinion. ^ 
 
 * Belzoni plate i ' On the plates of Belzoni the uranis, or the smaU serpent, m 
 the royal head-dress, which constitutes an essential part of it, is very plainly represented. 
 And from this it is clear, that it is the aspick (Coluber Haja). 
 
 * Plates ii. iii * Plate vi. ^ Strabo, p. 1176. 
 
 2 D 
 
40S 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. hi. 
 
 among the lower castes, who cannot be imagined to have had 
 a place in this pageant. Finally, the last scene clearly shows 
 that they are altogether foreign nations, who are here paying 
 their homage. We are not surprised to see the priest intro- 
 ducing them, as we know that the Egyptian religion prevailed 
 in Nubia.' Four white men next appear, ;^ and at a single 
 glance the Jewish physiognomy is recognised in them. " Their 
 national features," we are told by a late traveller,^ '' are thrown 
 together with so much comic humour, that it would be diffi- 
 cuit for a modern artist to do anything more perfectly." 
 They may be considered as representing the Syrians and Phoe- 
 nicians in general ; whose physiognomy probably differed but 
 slightly from that of the Jews. The black ambassadors come 
 next ;* and are likewise four in number. They are also lightly 
 clad, but evidently for a stately occasion. A curiously wrought 
 ornament hangs over the left shoulder, which serves to keep 
 up the fine white garment which goes round the waist. Gold 
 or silver dust seems to be strewed in their thick woolly hair. 
 The fourth embassy, from a white nation, is still more remark- 
 able by the magnificence of their dress and decorations.^ They 
 are distinguished by a head-dress of feathers, with a lock of hair 
 hanging down ; and by long white flowered garments of the 
 finest texture. If we here call to mind what Herodotus says 
 of the dresses of the Babylonians,^ we shall be induced to con- 
 sider these ambassadors as such ; the more so, as their physi- 
 ognomy and their beards are evidently Asiatic. It is certain 
 that the Pharaoh who rested here had dominion over foreign 
 nations. It is my confirmed opinion that it is Amenophis the 
 second, and the following chapter will show that this character 
 perfectly suits him. 
 
 In the few remarks which I shall make upon these monu- 
 ments, it is not my intention to go over the whole of the wide 
 field they offer ; a field, in fact, so extensive, that a long-con- 
 tinued study, and a separate work, would be necessary to do it 
 justice ; it is withal so rich, that the knowledge of one man 
 might scarcely suffice. No one but a skilful architect could 
 fairly discuss the merits of the buildings: mathematical, astro- 
 nomical, and musical knowledge would be nearly equally re- 
 
 » I leave the further examination of these reasons to the judgment of my readers. If they 
 agree with me, the identity between the Egyptian and Nubian tribe, which I have mam- 
 tained, would also be proved. But I mention expressly, that the assertion in the text is by 
 no means made on account of this opinion. • Plate vii. , . ,«c 
 
 ' MinutoU, Travels, p. 271. * Plate viii. * Ibid. « Herod. 1. 195. 
 
 CHAP, in.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 403 
 
 nuisite. I shall confine myself chiefly to those objects of 
 which the present work professes to treat ; but these are some- 
 times so closely interwoven with others, that it will often be- 
 come difficult to avoid touching upon them. 
 
 The question now to be discussed is, to what extent are we 
 acquainted with the monuments of ancient Thebes, after all the 
 new sources which have been opened to us. The French art- 
 ists have given us a positive answer on this head. " We have 
 been," they say,' " thrice at Thebes, and remained at our se- 
 cond and third visits full two months among its ruins. During 
 that time no monument was left unexamined. When our 
 plans and sketches were quite finished, they were again com- 
 pared with those of the architect Le Pere and his assistants ; 
 and what are contained in our publication are the result of 
 these mutual communications. Future travellers may rest as- 
 sured, that so far as architectural remains are concerned, and 
 drawings and copies of them, nothing is left to be done. A 
 wide field, however, is still left open to them, if they will ex- 
 plore in detail the numerous sculptures with which the build- 
 ings are covered, particularly the historical bas-reliefs, relating 
 to the conquests of the ancient rulers of Egypt ; or if they 
 choose to examine the catacombs, and copy the remarkable 
 bas-reliefs descriptive of the manners and domestic habits of 
 the ancient Egyptians." We are, therefore, well acquainted 
 with the buildings which remain of ancient Thebes, but only 
 very partially with the sculptures and paintings which decorate 
 them and the subterranean vaults of the dead. If we are ques- 
 tioned as to the fidelity of the sketches, our best answer would 
 be derived from the passage just quoted, and from a compari- 
 son with the engravings of Hamilton. For any one to expect 
 here an exact agreement in the minutest detad, would only 
 show him to be unacquainted with the circumstances under 
 which the drawings were made. They agree in the principal 
 points ; and their descriptions alike abound m expressions of 
 wonder and astonishment, which these monuments excited m 
 proportion as they became more accurately known. The tes- 
 timony of a late impartial traveller has also rescued the brench 
 artists from the suspicion of having heightened the beauty ot 
 the originals. Minutoli says, in his account of the temple at 
 Denderah,^ " that they may be charged with incorrectness and 
 
 > Desnipt. p. 207. 
 
 Minutoli's Travels, p. 247. 
 
 2 D 2 
 
404 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. hi. 
 
 omissions, but we should be unjust in thinking their copies 
 beautified. Justice, on the contrary, has not been done to 
 the correctness of outline, to the elegance of the decorations, to 
 the soft delicacy of the features, to the mildness of expression, 
 nor to that lofty repose which seems to reign in every part, 
 and in which Egyptian art seems to vie with the Grecian." 
 What a faint picture, however, must all this give of ancient 
 Thebes ! What a splendid scene must have burst on the vision 
 of the wanderer, who, emerging from the desert, after having 
 toiled up the steep of the Libyan mountain-chain, suddenly 
 beheld the fruitful valley of the Nile, with its numerous towns, 
 and in its centre royal Thebes, with her temples, colossi, and 
 obelisks ! 
 
 We must therefore acknowledge that much yet remains to 
 be examined of infinite importance for our plan. Though the 
 architect or artist may in general be satisfied, though the reli- 
 gious inquirer may need little more than what he sees repre- 
 sented in the works of sculpture, the historian finds himself very 
 differently situated. His principal demand must be for histo- 
 rical and ethnographical reliefs, and for those representing the 
 domestic life of the nation and its rulers ; and here least has 
 been done. Even the little, however, that we do possess, is 
 sufficient to open a new field, or, if I may be allowed the ex- 
 pression, a new world of antiquities for examination. But 
 before entering upon a detailed inquiry, we may remark, that 
 the whole indisputably discloses to us views of antiquity alto- 
 gether different from those we formerly entertained. To what 
 a high degree of civilization must that nation have arrived, 
 which could plan such marvels ! If we were only acquainted 
 with the Pyramids, we could easily imagine, that despotic 
 monarchs might compel their slavish subjects to pile up these 
 immense masses of stone. Since our acquaintance with these 
 wonders, wrought in the highest style of perfection, we feel 
 convinced that so just and noble a taste could never have been 
 formed under the rod of tyrants ; but that there must have been 
 a period, and indeed a long one, however different the form of 
 government might have been from ours, during which the 
 mind could unfold its faculties freely and undisturbed, and 
 could soar to a height, in certain points, never attained by any 
 other. And as it is clear that Religion was the chief lever 
 which put these immense powers into motion, how different 
 should our ideas of this Religion be, from those which the bar- 
 
 ClIAP. HI.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 405 
 
 barous superstition into which it afterwards degenerated, has 
 given rise to ! 
 
 The first idea which presents itself from a view of these 
 monuments must be, that Thebes was once the capital of a 
 mighty empire, whose boundaries extended far beyond Egypt, 
 which, at some distant period, comprised a great part of Africa, 
 and an equally large portion of Asia. Her kings are repre- 
 sented as victors and conquerors ; and the scene of their glory 
 is not confined to Egypt, but often carried into remote regions. 
 Prisoners of distant nations bend the knee before these con- 
 querors, and count themselves happy if they can obtain their 
 pardon. 
 
 This idea immediately produces a conviction that a much 
 closer connexion, and a more accurate knowledge, of the na- 
 tions of the southern world, must have existed in those two 
 quarters of the globe, than is generally supposed. This must 
 have been a natural consequence of the wars and conquests, 
 particularly as by these a lasting dominion and a large empire 
 were soon formed. This is further confirmed by the many 
 examples which evince the refinement of domestic life, and the 
 degree of luxury to which the people had arrived. The nar- 
 row valley of the Nile could not supply all the articles, such as 
 costly garments, perfumes, etc., which we find here represented. 
 An extensive commerce was requisite, not only to obtain all 
 this, but also to produce that opulence, and that interchange 
 of ideas, which constitute its foundation. 
 
 If we question history, we shall find its testimony by no 
 means contradictory to what the monuments would lead us to 
 conclude. Xenophon speaks, in his Cyropsedia, of the exist- 
 ence of such an intercourse between the nations and states 
 from the banks of the Nile to the Axus, the Indus, and the 
 Ganges ; which, how much soever of his work may be attri- 
 buted to imagination, could hardly be devoid of historical 
 foundation. And if, in the history of the middle ages and of 
 modern times, we find repeated proofs, that conquering na- 
 tions extended their dominion not only beyond those territories, 
 but eveh as far as China and the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, 
 why might not the same have happened two thousand years 
 ago? It may at least be concluded from this, that ancient his- 
 tory, in speaking of the great conquering expeditions of the 
 Egyptian rulers, of Sesostris, Osymandyas, and others, contains 
 by no means any internal improbability ; although I would not 
 
406 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 407 
 
 deprive criticism of its right to examine the testimonies on 
 which these events are founded. r rp, , 
 
 A more accurate examination of the monuments of 1 hebes 
 has made it clear, that they were not merely temples, but that 
 some of them were the abodes of princes, or, to speak more 
 correctly, imperial palaces.* All the public buildings of Egypt 
 might in some measure be called temples, since all of them in 
 their sculptures and decorations bear traces of the close con- 
 nexion between politics and religion ; but there is certainly 
 this diiference, that some were onli) temples in the proper sense 
 of the word ; while others, though perhaps dedicated to di- 
 vinities, were principally intended for another purpose. This 
 difference is partly perceived by the disposition of the interior, 
 partly by the style of the architecture itself. 
 
 Indeed the arrangement of the interior of the temples and 
 palaces appears, at the first glance, to bear a great resemblance 
 to each other. Both have the splendid pylones as entrances, 
 open colonnades, and saloons of columns ; pillar courts, and 
 pillar halls ; even rooms, intended for habitations : those in the 
 temples probably for the priests. But in the temples these 
 usually surround the interior sanctuary ; in the palaces, where 
 there was no such adytum, they occupy its place, and usually 
 consist of saloons and chambers, built of granite, and not of 
 sandstone like the rest. As regards the palaces it niust not be 
 forgotten, that they were not merely the habitations of the 
 rulers, but were also adapted for public use. In their splendid 
 halls of columns, justice was probably administered, ambassa- 
 dors received, tributes paid, etc. These buildings are there- 
 fore very justly called imperial palaces, and are distinguished 
 by that name from those smaller edifices, from the pavilion, for 
 instance, which seems to have served merely as a dwelling or 
 summer residence for the monarch. Thebes alone— as there 
 are no monuments left at Memphis— contains buildings of this 
 kind, and is thereby distinguished as the residence of the rulers. 
 Another characteristic difference is found in the decora- 
 tions. The temples and palaces certainly resemble each other 
 in one respect, namely, that the walls and pillars of both are 
 
 1 Even Diodorus makes a distinction, when he first mentions Thebes: <*}'''>^°ttt^l^\ 
 u.ya\a, Kai vaoi thirptirti,, Kal al to,.; I5ioT«i. olictai, i. p. 54 In assigning .^^^J P"""^^^^ 
 temples to Thebes, be seems to have used this expression ^\t\^«e"?« « ^^^j,ff ,^^^^^^^^ 
 the neighbouring palaces, and the whole group of buildings which he in Karnac, Lux^^' '^"" 
 Medinet Abou. Whether he means bv the fourth the no logger extant Memnonium^or 
 the palace of Osymandyas, I will not decide. He probabiy meant the Memnonium, smce 
 he caUs the other a tomb. 
 
 covered with sculptures ; but they differ with regard to the 
 subjects represented : those on the walls of the temples always 
 relate to religious matters, but not so those on the palaces. 
 Not that the latter are entirely destitute of religious subjects ; 
 but those which are almost exclusively peculiar to them, are, 
 first, the historical reliefs found in the palaces of Medinet 
 About Luxor, and Karnac ; and secondly, the martial expe- 
 ditions and triumphs above described. This explains why 
 they are only, as far as we know, found in Thebes : out of 
 Thebes there are temples, but no palaces known. ^ It is more- 
 over remarkable, that these warlike scenes are mostly found 
 on the exterior walls, pylones, etc. ; on the side walls of the 
 great open colonnades, and halls of columns, which were un- 
 doubtedly intended for public use, assemblies of the people, 
 triumphs, etc. And no where could representations of this 
 kind have been more appropriately placed. Others, on the 
 contrary, are found in the apartments and saloons, which must 
 have served as the habitations of the rulers. The scenes here 
 represented are for the most part of a peaceful and domestic 
 nature," though continually interspersed with religious rites, 
 such as sacrifices, initiation into the mysteries, etc. This was 
 very natural, considering how much the private life of the 
 kings, according to Diodorus's account, was regulated by a 
 ritual, and that he was attended by youths of the priest caste.^ 
 The remark, however, which I made, in speaking of the scenes 
 portrayed at Persepolis, is also applicable here, namely, that 
 the subjects represented on the walls bear a close relation to 
 the use of the apartments in which they are found, and thus 
 the pictures enable us to infer for what use these apartments 
 were intended : the Egyptians, however, do not seem to have 
 adhered so strictly to this rule as the Persians. 
 
 Finally : The third diflference observable between the tem- 
 ples and palaces is in the style of their architecture ;* the style 
 of the palaces being most pleasing and simple, though yet re- 
 taining a character of grandeur and majesty. The pavilion, as 
 it is called by the French, aflfords us an example of a building 
 two stories high, which is never the case in the temples. But 
 the further prosecution of this subject I must leave to architects. 
 
 » But we know from the former part of this work that in Nubia this difference was not 
 observed, and that here also on the walls, though only on the exterior waUs, of the temples, 
 
 historical reliefs are found. ^ -, ^ -n, ' j. 
 
 « See the drawings of Medinet Abou, plate xvii. vol. ii. Compare particularly Descrtpt. 
 '>4.'J 3 Diodorus, p. 81, 82 ; see p. 156. ♦ Descript. p. 30. 
 
 p. 245. 
 
408 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 CHAP. Ill-] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 409 
 
 According to Diodorus, Thebes had four principal temples, 
 the largest of which was at least thirty stadia in circumference. 
 Now, as among all these that of Ammon was the most cele- 
 brated in antiquity, the question naturally arises, which of the 
 temples of Thebes is the old temple of Ammon ?^ In my 
 opinion it is the great temple of Karnac, called by the French 
 the great southern temple ; and I shall here state the reasons 
 upon which my opinion is founded. 
 
 First : The old temple must have been situated on the east- 
 ern side of the Nile ; because on this side, according to Strabo, 
 the old town was built, which derived its name from this very 
 temple. The decision, therefore, is confined to the monuments 
 of Luxor and Karnac. Luxor, however, affords nothing which 
 will bear any reference to the temple of Ammon. The great 
 building of Luxor is a palace and not a temple, as is shown 
 by the description already given. 
 
 Secondly : At Karnac the case is quite reversed. Every- 
 thing here relates to Jupiter Ammon and his service. The 
 great avenues of colossal rams refer to it. Ornaments taken 
 from rams present themselves on every side.^ The holy ship 
 with the attributes of Ammon appears, and once in a very re- 
 markable representation ; it is portrayed as being drawn along 
 by a profane vessel which precedes it:^ a clear proof, there- 
 fore, that it must not be considered here as borne in proces- 
 sion, but as merely voyaging on the Nile. 
 
 Finally : According to the testimony of Diodorus, the tem- 
 ple of Ammon was the oldest and at the same time the largest 
 of all the temples of Thebes :* a fact which would have been 
 evident, even if he had not mentioned it ; as it was the chief 
 temple of the city, and bore the name of the deity. Now the 
 temple of Karnac appears, at this time, in the opinion of the 
 French visitors,^ both in its architecture and in its decorations 
 and reliefs, as the oldest of the Theban temples ; so much so 
 as to form quite a contrast with the small temple near it, not- 
 
 » Strabo, p. 1170. Strabo speaks here of the side on which the old town was built, as 
 different from the western side, v trepaia, where the Memnonium stood. 
 
 * How much the French were surprised at this, may be seen in Descript. p. 258. Osms 
 also appears very frequently. But he is the son and usual companion of Ammon ; and this 
 appears the stronger as the tradition of the priests usually ascribed to the two the foundation 
 of the temple. ^ Plates iii. xxxiii. ♦ Diodorus, i. p. 55, where he also 
 ffives the measurement of the building. The French have found his statements to agree, 
 & we take in the whole pile of buildings. Descript. p. 282. 
 
 * Descript. p. 269. There is, perhaps, no buildine in all Egypt which bears such strong 
 marks of high antiquity as the great southern temple at Karnac. The powerful and mas- 
 culine character of its architecture, seems to place the epoch of its construction in the very 
 earliest period at which the arts were cultivated in Egypt. 
 
 withstanding it is partly built of the remains of a still more 
 ancient temple, which had the same kind of ornaments. Thus 
 the present temple is probably only the successor of one still 
 older, which stood here many thousand years ago ; and who 
 can offer anything hke a proof that even this had no prede- 
 cessor ? 
 
 The great palace of Medinet Abou is called by the French 
 the palace of Sesostris, because the historical reliefs upon it 
 seem to represent the exploits and military expeditions of that 
 monarch, as they are described by Diodorus.^ In the lion- 
 chase we see the youthful exercises in which he indulged in 
 Arabia, during the life of his father ; in the naval engagement, 
 the fleet which he built on the Red Sea, etc. All this is very 
 probable ; but it is impossible to judge of them with certainty, 
 without possessing copies of all the reliefs upon that temple. 
 If, however, and this can hardly be doubted, Sesostris was the 
 great hero of the narratives of the Egyptian priests, it is na- 
 tural that his exploits should be the subjects of the historical 
 pictures which decorate the walls of the temples and palace. 
 
 Before I proceed any further, however, with these pictures, 
 let me be allowed to add a few more observations on these 
 architectural monuments in general. 
 
 First : It continually becomes more evident how much the 
 style of Egyptian architecture depended upon the climate and 
 natural features of the land. In a climate where the sky is 
 constantly serene, and the sun almost vertical, protection from 
 its intense rays, shade and coolness, would be first sought for. 
 The life of the Egyptians, even of the higher ranks, was in a 
 great measure a public one : it was made so by religion and 
 politics. Porticoes, colonnades, and temples were therefore 
 required, which would not only ward off the piercing beams of 
 the sun, but whose walls and thick stone roofs should afford a 
 protection from heat in general. Those immense piles, though 
 not produced by mere necessity, yet were ready at its call. 
 
 Further : The idea that this architecture was in a certain 
 degree an imitation of the catacombs, and proceeded from 
 them, must be adopted with some caution. The caverns at 
 Thebes, so far as we are acquainted with them, seem to have^ 
 been formed by art, and not by nature. The architecture of 
 these caverns (if I may be allowed this expression) certainly 
 agrees, in some respects, with that of the temples and palaces, 
 
 ' Diodorus, i. p. 64. 
 
1\ 
 
 410 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 particularly in the decorations of the walls ; but we cannot 
 strictly call one a copy of the other. The roofs of the caverns 
 are partly arched, while in their architecture the Egyptians 
 seem to have had no notion of the principles by which arches are 
 constructed. The cavern roofs are often supported by pillars, 
 but they are by no means the prototypes of the pillars which 
 are found in the temples and palaces. It seems probable that 
 a part of these subterranean chambers were at first quarries, 
 which were afterwards converted by the help of art into sepul- 
 chres, and that others were originally excavated for this express 
 object. According to the observations of the French artists, 
 it appears that they must not be ascribed to the early periods 
 of Egyptian art, as the pictures on their walls no where betray 
 its infancy, but rather its mature age.^ However this may be, 
 the idea that they formed models of the temples falls to the 
 ground, directly it is proved that there were no natural caves 
 in those mountains, which, however, has not yet been fully 
 established. But, notwithstanding all this, the Egyptian archi- 
 tecture so much resembles the catacombs, and the idea that it 
 was copied from them returns at every view of the monuments 
 so forcibly, that it can hardly be banished. The obscurity 
 which hovers over this subject is dispelled, if we assume that 
 this architecture was not originally Egyptian, but introduced 
 from Ethiopia, the country of the Troglodytes. And I say 
 originally, because nothing is more certain than that it was 
 quite Egyptian in its progression, since nearly all its ornaments, 
 especially those of the capitals, are evidently copies of natural 
 objects of Egypt. 
 
 From the buildings let us turn to the sculptures, particular- 
 ly to the great historical reliefs. Herodotus, Diodorus, and 
 Strabo unanimously agree that some of the ancient kings of 
 Egypt were great warriors and conquerors, who extended their 
 expeditions in the east as far as Bactria and India, in the north 
 and south as far as the Caucasus and Ethiopia. They further 
 inform us that some of them built fleets on the Indian Sea, 
 and were as powerful on this element as they were on land.* 
 Let us therefore examine how far the reliefs confirm the state- 
 ments of these writers. 
 
 That the traditions of the priests celebrated many old kings 
 as heroes and conquerors, and that the latter are represented 
 
 ^ Descript. p. 336. 
 • Herod, ii. 102; Diodorus, i. p. 64; Strabo, i. xvii. p. 816 ; cf. xvi. p. 769. 
 
 CHAP. HI.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 411 
 
 as such on the walls of the palaces, is evident from a single 
 glance at them. The inquiry becomes more interesting and 
 satisfactory by our finding that the artists, in their delineations 
 and representations, have carefully and faithfully distinguished 
 the different nations by their costume, arms, and some other 
 tokens, as far as this was possible. The first inquiry will pro- 
 bably and very justly be, how was the colour of the skin re- 
 presented? Here a very remarkable circumstance presents 
 itself Egyptian art certainly well knew how to designate black 
 people, they are particularly distinguished in the tombs of 
 the kings,' usually in such positions as show that they have 
 just been, or are on the point of being, executed ; and the re- 
 membrance that it was customary to sacrifice black people im- 
 mediately occurs. They also appear as ambassadors, or repre- 
 sentatives of black nations ; but it is worthy of notice, that they 
 have never yet been found in battles. The colours of the 
 fighting nations are brown and red among the Egyptians, and 
 yellow among their enemies. It would be rash to assert that 
 the colour of these nations was exactly painted after life, as 
 this might be impossible with the limited variety of colours to 
 which the Egyptian artists were restricted ; but we may con- 
 clude with certainty, that negroes would have been presented 
 as such, if they had been employed in war. ., ,. • 
 
 The Egyptians and their enemies are also easily distin- 
 guished from one another without attending to these particular 
 marks, as the former are always represented as victors, the lat- 
 ter either as having been defeated, or as on the point of being 
 so These works of art were intended as memorials ot the tame 
 and bravery both of the nation and its kings ; can it then be 
 expected that they would perpetuate any events but those 
 which were crowned with success? These battle-pieces are 
 partly naval engagements, and partly battles on land. Both 
 must be more accurately examined. Representations of naval 
 battles are found on the walls of the palace of Medinet Abou, 
 and on those of Karnac;^ but the former only can here come 
 under consideration, as they alone have been copied and 
 
 described. /. i • i i „ 
 
 It cannot be doubted but the engagement, of which only a 
 part could be copied, took place at sea, and not on the river. 
 The structure of the ships is quite diff-erent from that of the 
 vessels on the Nile. They are impelled both by sails and oars, 
 
 • Plate ixxxvi. vol. ii. 
 
 « Plate X. vol. ii. 
 
41^ 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. hi. 
 
 and have a long form resembling galleys. Although the ves- 
 sels of the Egyptians and their enemies have the same form, 
 yet those of the former are easily distinguished by the head 
 of a lion or ram on the prow, vv^hich the hostile vessels never 
 carry. The question therefore is, whether the naval engage- 
 ment took place on the coast of the Mediterranean, or, which 
 is most likely, in the Arabian or Indian Sea? In the first 
 case the enemies might be Phoenicians; in the other, some 
 southern nation. 
 
 The first supposition is neither confirmed by history, nor 
 by the representation of the nations themselves. That the 
 early kings of Thebes carried on wars at sea against the Phoe- 
 nicians, and had squadrons on the Mediterranean, (as might 
 afterwards happen, when Middle and Lower Egypt was the 
 seat of Egyptian power,) we find no where mentioned in his- 
 tory, that is to say, in the traditions of the priests ; and we 
 cannot expect here the mention of any circumstances not cele- 
 brated in them. Neither does the costume suit the Phoeni- 
 cians, who, being a branch of the Arabian stock, and neigh- 
 bours of the Jews, undoubtedly wore beards and long garments, 
 according to the custom of those nations ; but the reverse of 
 all this is found here. 
 
 On the other hand, everything here seems to point to an 
 engagement with some nation on the Arabian Gulf or Indian 
 Sea. The traditions of the Egyptian priests celebrated the 
 expeditions of the old Pharaohs on this sea, as is stated in 
 Diodorus and Herodotus. " Sesostris," Diodorus tells us,^ 
 " conquered first the Ethiopians of the south, and made them 
 tributary. He then sent a fleet of four hundred ships to the 
 Red (Indian) Sea, and was the first in these countries who 
 built long vessels. With this fleet he took possession of the 
 islands and the coasts of the countries as far as India." Hero- 
 dotus^ mentions the same facts. " The priests," he says, " re- 
 late of Sesostris, that he sailed out of the Arabian Gulf with 
 long vessels, and conquered the countries lying on the Indian 
 Sea, and continued to advance till he came to a sea which 
 could not be navigated because of its shallows." The naval 
 engagement pictured on the walls of Medinet Abou, appears 
 certainly to represent the defeat of an enemy attempting to 
 land, and consequently rather a successful defence than an at- 
 tack. But this forms only one scene of these naval expeditions, 
 
 I Diodorus, i. p. 64. 
 
 « Herod, ii. 102. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 413 
 
 of which we have no minute history ; who, therefore, can say 
 what else might have happened in them ? The long ships, 
 however, mentioned by both writers, cannot be mistaken. That 
 these, beyond all doubt, were built for the sea, that their con- 
 struction differed entirely from that of the vessels on the Nile, 
 has been already mentioned by the French, and is evinced by 
 their appearance. The Egyptians and their allies wear the 
 same dress, but their weapons are different. The Egyptians 
 are armed with bows and arrows, while their allies carry clubs, 
 such as Herodotus ascribes to the Ethiopians above Egypt.^ 
 The costume of their enemies is totally different. Two distinct 
 though kindred nations are here clearly perceived. They have 
 neither long garments nor beards, consequently cannot be 
 Arabs. They both wear short clothes, which seem to be 
 fastened with bands or girdles. They are armed with swoi-ds 
 and round shields, but differ in their head-dress ; one constantly 
 wearing a kind of helmet, decorated with a bunch of upright 
 feathers, the other a cap made of the skin of some beast, with 
 its ears left prominent. If these are not Arabs, they must be 
 inhabitants of the coasts of the Indian Sea, either of the islands 
 or the continent. The French at once recognise in the first of 
 these two nations the inhabitants of India ; and what other na- 
 tion will the light fantastical clothing, the head-dress with fea- 
 thers, suit so well ? Respecting the other nation, they have 
 not ventured to give an opinion ; but Herodotus seems to ex- 
 plain who they are. If the first are Indians, the others are 
 their neighbours, the Asiatic Ethiopians, that is to say, the 
 inhabitants of the coasts of Gedrosia and Carmania. "The 
 Asiatic Ethiopians," says Herodotus," "were dressed much 
 like the Indians ; but they wore on their head the skin from 
 the forehead of the horse, with the ears left on : the ears of the 
 horse are left standing quite upright; but as defensive armour 
 they had cranes' skins instead of shields." 
 
 I leave my readers to judge of the correctness of this inter- 
 pretation, it is not of so much importance to know exactly 
 who these nations were, as to know that they were inhabitants 
 of southern countries on the Indian Sea. And since the pro- 
 babilities are so strong and so many in favour of this opinion, 
 we can scarcely any longer consider the traditions of the 
 Egyptian priests respecting the naval expeditions of the ancient 
 
 at 
 
 ' Herod. vJi. 69. According to Hamilton, p. 45, the Ethiopians appear on a battle-piece 
 Medinet Abou as the allies of the Egyptians. Herod, vii. /U. 
 
414 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. hi. 
 
 Egyptian rulers, whether led by Sesostris alone or by others 
 into these seas, as fables; and that primeval connexion between 
 the lands about the Indian Ocean, especially between India and 
 Egypt, receives thereby a confirmation, which a short time ago 
 we should scarcely have been justified in hoping for. 
 
 But the representation of the land battles give a still more 
 magnificent idea of the extensive warlike expeditions and wide 
 dominions of the rulers of ancient Thebes. They seem more 
 frequent than the naval engagements ; they are found on all 
 the buildings, which we have designated as imperial palaces ; 
 as well on those at Karnac and Luxor as of Medinet Abou, on 
 the palace of Osymandyas, and even in the tomb of the kings. 
 But they every where confirm the remark which I have made 
 above ;^ that there is in every palace a series of representations 
 depicted on the walls, as we discover the departure of the 
 king, the battle, the victory, the triumphs, always ending in 
 religious processions. Neither does there seem any room to 
 doubt, but that the scenes in the various palaces again form a 
 general mythological cycle ; as art among the Egyptians availed 
 itself of a series of traditions, relative to the early heroic deeds 
 of the nation and its rulers. Our information on this point 
 would be more accurate if we had more complete copies of 
 these war-scenes. As it is, we must confine our attention to 
 what we see in the engravings before us, and learn from the 
 descriptions. 
 
 And although limited to this, it will be perceived that the 
 war-scenes portrayed are of very diiferent kinds, and repre- 
 sent very ditferent nations. 
 
 With regard to the latter, it is impossible to be mistaken in 
 considering them as Asiatic nations. Everything reminds us 
 that both Egyptian art and mythology sought their favourite 
 subjects rather in Asiatic than in African history. The figure 
 and dress of the conquered nations are Asiatic. Although the 
 Egyptians are always represented without beards, their ene- 
 mies have them, and usually long garments. The latter, how- 
 ever, are variously fashioned. They have, for the most part, 
 those full tunics so general in the East ; but in the triumphal 
 pageant on the walls of Medinet Abou, the prisoners wear a 
 kind of surtout" of blue and green stripes, covering only the 
 back, and under it another shorter garment. Their accoutre- 
 ra^atsand weapons are not less characteristic than their dress. 
 
 » See above, p. 377, sqq. * Plate xii. vol. ii. 
 
 CHAF. HI.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 415 
 
 In this respect the most striking difference is in the shields. 
 Those of the Egyptians are larger, and usually of a square 
 form, rounded on one side : indeed, in the attack of a fortress, 
 they made use of such immense shields as nearly covered the 
 whole body ;^ exactly such as Xenophon describes in his times.^ 
 The shields of the enemies, on the other hand, are sometimes 
 round and sometimes square ; but always of a small size (7W«). 
 In the armament on the reliefs of Luxor, Hamilton recognises 
 the coats ofmail^ which always were common in Middle Asia ; 
 and occasionally, in the head-dress, the Persian tiara.* The 
 weapons for attack are of so many kinds and forms, that it is 
 difficult to come to any precise conclusion respecting them. 
 Let us, however, compare the variously-shaped swords of the 
 Egyptians with those of their foes. They are sometimes long 
 and sometimes short ; now straight, and now in the form of a 
 scimitar. The darts, missiles, and arrows are also of various 
 descriptions. The warriors sometimes appear with only a 
 single javelin, and at other times with several. 
 
 But a still more particular attention is due to the war-cha- 
 riots which were in use both among the Egyptians and their 
 enemies. They have but two wheels, and are drawn by two 
 horses. Those of the Egyptians usually carry only one man 
 each (though there may be exceptions) ; among the Asiatics 
 they generally carry two, or even three, as the driver is dis- 
 tinguished from the warriors. In these may be recognised the 
 ancient form of the war-chariots as described by Homer, and 
 which, according to Xenophon, were common among the 
 Medes, Syrians, and Arabians ; until Cyrus made an improve- 
 ment by introducing, instead of them, chariots with scythes and 
 
 four wheels.^ 
 
 It would be a rash and fruitless undertaking to attempt to 
 point out more accurately the particular tribes or nations by 
 their arms and clothing.^ We shall gain more by terminating 
 the inquiry by a few general remarks. 
 
 The scene of the wars and conquests of the Egyptian rulers 
 
 1 Plate xxxi. vol. ii. ' Xenoph. Cyrop.l. vi. Op p. 158. 
 
 » Hamilton, p. 125. * Ibid. p. 147. ; Xenoph. Cyropl. vi ; Op. p. 152. 
 
 ^ The reader will easily perceive that I have not neglected to compare the nations mentioned 
 by Herodotus, i. 6, with the figures of Persepolis. But the results are too uncertain for them to 
 hive a place here. It is however certain, that the nations represented niustbe, for the most 
 part, from the south, as their dress is too light for a northern climate None of them wear 
 trowsers, (dvalvpiU^, or capotes,) as many northern nations do, whom Herodotus has de- 
 scribed. But who can determine whether the coloured coats designate Mede^ or Bactnans ? 
 (according to Herodotus, both these nations wore such ) The same may be said of the weapons 
 and accoutrements, and even of the head-dress. They often differ, and the latter is fre- 
 quently indistinctly represented. 
 
416 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. Ill, 
 
 is laid, T)y their national traditions, chiefly in Assyria, (which 
 also included Babylon,) in Bactria, and India, consequently in 
 those countries of Asia most famous for their commerce, and, 
 therefore, for possessing that opulence which usually most ex- 
 cites the cupidity of conquest. These countries, besides, are 
 situated on the great rivers, the Ganges and the Indus, the Ox- 
 11S, Tigris, and Euphrates. It is certainly worthy of remark, 
 that the scene of the battles and victories on tliose reliefs is 
 usually near a river, which is clearly portrayed.^ Which of 
 those streams is meant upon every occasion, it may be impos- 
 sible to decide ; but it can hardly be doubted but it is one of 
 them, most likely the Euphrates ; and Egyptian art here ao-ain 
 accords with Egyptian tradition. Xenophon, moreover, informs 
 us, that it was customary for the Assyrians to surround their 
 camps with fosses.^ Is there not here, where we see the tents 
 on the other side, one of these?' 
 
 One representation which frequently occurs, is the storming 
 of a fortress.* Where this may have each time taken place we 
 will not attempt to decide, but this also transports us into Asia. 
 We know from the history of Alexanders expedition, how 
 much Bactria, as well as India, abounded in such mountain 
 fortresses.^ 
 
 Egyptian art seems to have paid much attention to variety in 
 representing these scenes of war. If we collect the accounts of 
 the French and those of Hamilton, there scarcely remains any 
 great warlike scene which is not here represented. Sometimes 
 it is the commencement of the contest in an open plain, some- 
 times the near approach, sometimes the victory obtained on 
 one side, and flight on the other ; now the struggle of the 
 armies, now of the leaders in single combat, and of these some- 
 times in their chariots, and sometimes on foot. Now the scene 
 changes to the storming of a fortress, then the taking of a town 
 by assault, with a representation of all the horrors which usu- 
 ally accompany it ; sometimes the chariots alone are engaged, 
 and at others the main bodies advance against each other on 
 foot. All this undoubtedly presupposes a great abundance of 
 traditions ; and perhaps also of poetry, to which these tradi- 
 tions furnished plenty of materials, if not epic, at least of 
 ballads. 
 
 » Hamilton, p. 116 ; Descript. p. 61, 139. 
 
 • Xenoph. Cyrop lib. iii. ; Op. p. 80. In the palace of Osymandyas, Bescript. plate ii. 31. 
 \ Hamilton, p. 45. * So in Luxor, Hamilton, p. 115. 
 
 • Itemeraber the castle Clornus and others. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 417 
 
 On the walls of the imperial palaces, therefore, the Egyptians 
 read the early history of their nation and its rulers. They are 
 hitherto the only nation known to us that have ventured to re- 
 present such great historical subjects in sculptures, and this 
 with a success surpassing all expectation. Although unac- 
 quainted with the rules of perspective, they make up for this 
 defect, as we are told by an eye-witness, by the boldness and 
 strength of their drawings, and force of expression. Hamilton 
 speaks in raptures of the above-mentioned representation of the 
 surprise and capture of a town on the walls of the palace of 
 Osymandyas : ^ some of the women rush forward and beg for 
 quarter, whilst others try to escape with their property. The 
 father of a family lifts up his hands to petition for the life of 
 his wives and children, but in vain ! a blood-thirsty soldier 
 has already slaughtered the eldest son ! How different are our 
 ideas of Egyptian art now from what they were when we 
 formed our judgment of it from a few idols ! Are they not, in 
 fact, enlarged almost in the same proportion as our notions re- 
 specting the ancient rulers of Egypt, and the extent of their 
 dominions ? 
 
 The historical reliefs, however, comprise only a small part 
 of the sculptures on the walls : most of them relate to religious 
 rites ; all those in the temples, for example, and many in the 
 palaces and catacombs. Of these I shall only notice here such 
 as refer to the immediate objects of our attention. If further 
 proofs were still wanted of the close and indissoluble connexion 
 between religion and politics, they might be found here in 
 abundance. The interior and exterior walls are covered with 
 sculpture, which represent processions, or the offering of sacri- 
 fices and gifts. The conjecture that the circle of divinities to 
 whose honour temples were erected, was of less extent in the 
 Thebaid than it afterwards became in Middle and Lower Egypt, 
 is completely confirmed. This circle is composed of Ammon, 
 Osiris, (often with the symbol of virility,) Isis, and Florus.- 
 The first two, most probably the same in their origin, and only 
 separated by the further development of the religion of the 
 priests, are the ruling divinities : although some others occur 
 in the paintings, they only appear as inferior subordinate deities. 
 Osiris seems at the same time to be the prototype of the king. 
 The same emblems which decorate the gods, are not unfre- 
 
 > Hamilton, p. 135, 136. _a; i i 
 
 ' Thus as an emblem of fruitfulness, a representation so often prcvailmg : see particularly 
 
 plate iii. 4 — 6, and plate xlvii. 
 
 2 E 
 
EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 quently conferred upon the monarch ; not only the same head- 
 dress, with the serpent, but also the same attributes, the rod, 
 and what is called the key, the sign of initiation into the mys- 
 teries, which must have been its original meaning,' and, indeed, 
 even the royal banner. The priests pay the same honours to 
 the king as the latter pays again to the gods. This is not the 
 case with any other deity. 
 
 Every part of these representations shows us the dependence 
 in which the kings stood to the priests. Their caste evidently 
 appears as the highest ; and there is no doubt but that, at tlie 
 periods in which these temples were erected, the caste of the 
 priests was esteemed higher than that of the warrior caste, which 
 nevertheless forms so distinguished a feature in these pictures.^ 
 The priest caste consider the king, as it were, their property ; 
 he is initiated into their mysteries. This scene is repeated 
 more than once.^ In it he receives the priestly head-dress, the 
 high cap with which Osiris himself is decorated, and appears 
 in solemn processions. Whenever the king shows himself in 
 public, (martial expeditions and battles excepted,) he is con- 
 stantly accompanied and surrounded by priests. They are 
 usually known by their shaven heads and long robes. Differ- 
 ent grades, however, exist amongst them, which are mostly in- 
 dicated by the head-dress and the shape of their garments. 
 Both are very striking. The head-dresses* not only show the 
 rank, but some seem peculiar to certain ceremonies, and change 
 accordingly. Among the head-dresses must be reckoned the 
 masks of animals, in which the priests appear on certain occa- 
 sions, particularly at initiations.^ They are undoubtedly masks 
 taken from the sacred animals. The manner of dressing the 
 hair is equally various. It is very remarkable that, according 
 to Hamilton's account, some are still in use among the Ababdes.^ 
 Others are so artificial, that even our ablest hair-dressers would 
 be puzzled to imitate them ; and in some cases there can be 
 no doubt but that false hair or wigs^ are seen here, as well as 
 in the most ancient Indian monuments at Elephantis, but much 
 more artificial and elegant. 
 
 Another field opens itself here for divines, if they would like 
 
 ' The French maintain it to be the hoe, and the plough made thereof, Descript. p. 27. 
 I take it to be the sign of consecration, since all gotls, priests, kings consecrated as priests, 
 wear it, and they exclusively. 
 
 * This superiority of the priest caste was, I believe, effected by religion. Some have spoken 
 of a struggle between the two castes, in which the caste of priests were the conquerors ; but 
 I find no sure authority for it. 
 
 =» Plate xiii. vol. ii. ; xxxiv. iii. * Compare plate xxxvii. vol. iii. 
 
 * Plate xiii. vol. ii. ^ Hamilton, p. 27. ' Plate iii. 67, No. 6. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 419 
 
 to compare the religious notions of ancient Thebes with the 
 descriptions given by the Jews of their sanctuaries, the taber- 
 nacle, the temple, and the sacred utensils. 
 
 This is not the place for a comparison of this kind ; but how 
 many things described in the Scriptures do we find in these 
 engravings ! the ark of the covenant, (here carried in pro- 
 cession,) the cherubim with their extended wings, the holy 
 candlesticks, the shewbread, and many parts of the sacrifices.^ 
 In the architecture itself a certain similarity is instantly recog- 
 nised, although among the Jews everything was on a smaller 
 scale ; besides which there was this important difference, that 
 the building was as much of wood as stone. Egypt had no 
 Lebanon with cedars. Wood nevertheless was used in Egyp- 
 tian temples for ornaments, as is proved by the masts with their 
 pennants flying before them on the great pylones,^ and by 
 Herodotus's account of the wooden colossal statues of the chief 
 priests in the sanctuary of Thebes * (probably colossal pilaster- 
 caryatides). Then what works of art in brass must have de- 
 corated these colossal temples of the Egyptians, if we estimate 
 them in proportion to what was contained in the smaller tem- 
 ples of the Jews, beginning with the tremendous gates of the 
 pylones to the innermost sanctuary ! We should here have a 
 view of new wonders, if time and the avarice of crowned and 
 uncrowned robbers had not left this to be altogether supplied 
 by imagination. 
 
 II. Fragments of the history of Tliehes, 
 
 All who are acquainted with the materials that are left for a 
 history of the Pharaohs,* with their nature and the use that has 
 been made of them, must be fully aware that no continuous 
 history, with any claim to authenticity, can be compiled of any 
 single state of Egypt, previously to the time of Psammetichus ; 
 and this includes even the largest and most splendid among 
 them, the kingdom of Thebes. The dynasties of Manetho, it 
 is true, are not to be put on a footing with the dynasties of the 
 Indians. The Egyptian priests at least endeavoured to obtain 
 an accurate chronology; and there is no reason to suppose 
 their historical accounts are at all derived from poets. Epic 
 poetry was never native or common in Egypt ; or was at most 
 confined to a few historic songs drawn from their holy writings. 
 
 ' See, for instance, plate xliv. vol. ii. 
 
 * See the title plate according to plate Ivii. vol. iii. 
 
 * See p. 370, and Appendix iii. 
 
 2 E 2 
 
 ' Herod, ii. 143. 
 
420 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 We must not therefore, as in the case of the Indians, give up 
 all hopes of arriving at a further historical certainty, if the de- 
 ciphering of the inscriptions on the monuments should suc- 
 cessfully ^proceed. If the work of Manetho had reached us 
 complete, it might serve as a foundation ; but in the scanty 
 extracts that are left of it so many discrepancies occur in the 
 dates, from the mistakes of copiers, that no continued history 
 can be founded upon them. No attempts therefore at a fresh 
 arrangement of these dynasties must be expected here (all that 
 could be said with any probability upon the subject has been 
 said by Marsham and Gatterer). I shall confine myself solely 
 to the bringing together what we know of the brilliant period 
 of this state as set forth on its monuments. 
 
 Notwithstanding it would be hopeless to attempt a con- 
 tinued chronology of the history of this state, yet a general 
 settlement of the times in which its flourishing period happened 
 cannot be dispensed with. This cannot be taken from the 
 monuments, because they in general are destitute of dates ; but 
 must be gathered from the statements of ancient writers, in 
 connexion with the monuments, so far as the architecture and 
 the names of their founders sculptured thereon will give us any 
 assistance. The more exact chronology, however, depends 
 upon fixing the time of two rulers, of Sesostris, or, as he was 
 called, according to Manetho's testimony, Rameses or Ha- 
 rnesses, which name he always bears on the monuments ; and 
 of Shishak, the contemporary of Rehoboam, mentioned in the 
 annals of the Jews ; of whom I shall again have occasion to 
 speak. The confounding of these two, for which there was no 
 other reason but that of endeavouring to find the name of Se- 
 sostris in the Jewish history, has occasioned great confusion. 
 All the Greek writers agree in placing the age of Sesostris pre- 
 viously to the Trojan war,^ thus before 1200 b. c. But we 
 may go back a step farther. We have authentic testimony, 
 that Sesostris not only lived previously to that time, but pre- 
 viously to the age of Minos. This is found in Aristotle,^ who^ 
 calls him much more ancient than Minos ; and as the age of 
 the latter cannot be placed later than 1400 b. c, it follows, 
 that we may suppose Sesostris to have lived 1500 b. c. To 
 fix his reign to a year, or even to a dozen years, cannot be 
 expected. This Sesostris, or Rameses, was the first king in 
 
 » The passages in Diodorus, i. 66, 71; Strabo, 1115, 1138, as coUcctcd by Zoega, de 
 Oheliscia, p. 678, note 15 ; cf. p. 600, etc. , , -, ' 
 
 * Aristot. Pol. vii. 10. iroXw inrepreivii Toi« x/>c«'o« t^v MtJ/w ^aaiXnav n 2f <rw<rTpiOS. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 421 
 
 the nineteenth dynasty;^ and the preceding, the eighteenth, 
 consisting of fourteen kings, contains in the latter part some 
 princes whose reigns were very glorious, such as Thutmosis, 
 Amenophis, etc., comprising altogether above a century. 
 Taking this into account, we should place the beginning of the 
 splendid period of the empire of Thebes, when its rulers after 
 the expulsion of the shepherd kings were sole monarchs of 
 Egypt, about 1700 B. c. ; and, supposing the expeditions 
 and conquests of the Ethiopian rulers, Sabaco and Tarhaco, 
 to have happened between 100 and 700 b. c, as we have 
 placed them above," from a comparison with the Jewish his- 
 tory, we have a period of almost one thousand years given 
 us for the erection of these stupendous monuments, a space of 
 time nearly about what we considered, in their description, 
 necessary for that purpose ; and during which the Egyptian 
 Thebes, according to the Jewish annals, and the songs of the 
 Ionian bard, was the capital of the mightiest empire, and the 
 centre of the civilized world. But, according to Manetho, 
 the whole period, from the beginning of the eighteenth to the 
 end of the twenty-fourth dynasty, which was overthrown by 
 the above-mentioned Ethiopian conquerors, amounts to nine 
 hundred and eighty-eight years, of which the eighteenth, nine- 
 teenth, and twentieth dynasties comprise seven hundred and 
 twelve years of Thebes alone. So that if we throw out of our 
 computation the two following dynasties of Bubartus and Tanis, 
 whose connexion with Thebes cannot be determined, there 
 will still remain seven or eight hundred years for the dynasties 
 of Thebes ; and the erection of the earliest of these monu- 
 ments, between 1600 and 800 b. c, is confirmed both by 
 history and the names of the Pharaohs sculptured upon them. 
 Thus they approach very nearly the period of history, and 
 blend with it. And although no minuter details be here ven- 
 
 » Here seems to be a contradiction, since Manetho places one Sesostris in the twelfth 
 dynasty, and, indeed, with an addition, which evidently applies to the^ Sesostris of Dio- 
 dorus and Herodotus, from which it would follow, that he could not be the Sesostris of the 
 nineteenth dv-nasty. The passage is this: " Sesostris annis XLVIII. quern quatuor cubi- 
 torum et palmarum trium duorumque digitorum procerum fuisse dicunt. [Hic annis novem 
 totam Asiam subegit, Europaeque partes usque ad Thraciam, atque ubique monumenta, 
 quarumcunque gentium potitus est, erexit ; fortium quidem virorum formas vinli specie, 
 Srnavorum vero muUebribus membris in cippis insculpsit ; adeo ut ab ^gyptus post Osinm 
 habitus sit. 1 Euseb. Chron. p. 211. The whole twelfth dynasty, therefore, was said to be 
 interpolated. But such violent means are not wanted. It cannot be denied but the words 
 which I have enclosed in [], are an addition from Herodotus and Diodorus, which were in- 
 serted into the text from the margin. We dare maintain this with more certainty, since we 
 know from Joscphus, p. 1039, that Manetho profited not by Herodotus, but rather contra- 
 dicted him whenever he could. But that a Sesostns should occur in the twelfth dynasty, 
 ouffht not to surprise us, since the name of other Egyptian kings are often found more 
 than once. * ^^S^ 214. 
 
422 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 423 
 
 tured upon, and it be even admitted that this statement may- 
 go back a century too much or too little, the first hypothesis, 
 founded on the explanation of the zodiacs, and which assigns 
 to those monuments an antiquity of several thousand years 
 more, is completely overthrown ; and this alone, I think, will 
 be allowed to be a great advantage. We confine our observ- 
 ations here to the period during which all the Egyptian states 
 were united into one empire, under the dominion of the Pha- 
 raohs at Thebes, and afterwards at Memphis. That these 
 several states had existed separately long before this, is proved 
 both by the seventeen preceding dynasties of Manetho, and the 
 Jewish annals ; for these latter not only make mention of this 
 nation, but also relate that their ancestor, Abraham, had visited 
 it almost two thousand years before our era, and met with an 
 empire in Lower Egypt, although it appears not to have been 
 so highly civilized then as it was afterwards in the time of 
 Joseph. If these states owed their existence to temples, as 
 above stated, architecture must undoubtedly have been much 
 older in Egypt ; an observation strikingly confirmed by the 
 fact, that among the materials of the present monuments, some 
 have been found taken from earlier monuments, and exhibiting 
 the same art. 
 
 I need not repeat what has been said upon another occasion 
 respecting the origin of Thebes as a colony of Meroe. In con- 
 firmation of it I may however observe, that this origin was 
 celebrated by an annual procession of the priests with the 
 statue of Ammon. " Every year," says Diodorus,' " the sanc- 
 tuary of Ammon is taken over the river to the Libyan side, 
 consequently from the temple of Karnac, whence it is brought 
 back after a few days, as though the god returned from Ethi- 
 opia." This tour I take to be represented on one of the great 
 reliefs in the temple of Karnac :- the holy ark of Ammon is 
 here seen on the river fully equipped, and being towed along 
 by another. It is thus performing a voyage. This festival 
 must have been highly celebrated, as even Homer (which was 
 not doubted by antiquity) alluded to it, when he mentions the 
 voyage of Zeus to the Ethiopians, and his absence for twelve 
 days.^ That it was common for the colonial gods to pay such 
 visits to those of the parent states, (which surely proved their 
 origin,) la me]i known from antiquity in general. The forms, 
 
 1 Diodorus, i. p. 110. 
 
 « lUad, i. 423. 
 
 ^ Dcsci'ipt. table iii. 33. 
 
 nevertheless, varied ; as they were sometimes paid in such 
 processions as these, and sometimes by solemn embassies. 
 
 To fix the time of the foundation of Thebes is utterly im- 
 possible, but there are abundant proofs of its high antiquity. 
 If in the time of Abraham the cultivation of Egypt had spread 
 as far as the Delta, that of Upper Egypt must have long pre- 
 viously been advancing. According to Diodorus's narrative, 
 the foundation of the chief temple of Ammon took place be- 
 fore the building of the city ;* and similar but older materials 
 are discovered to have been used in raising the walls of the 
 very ancient temple at Karnac.'~ The antiquity of this state, 
 therefore, must certainly be carried back many centuries pre- 
 viously to the time of Abraham ; and this is confirmed both 
 by the accounts of Manetho, and the number of royal sepul- 
 chres, amounting, according to Strabo, to forty-seven. These 
 give, if each reign be averaged at twenty years, nearly one 
 thousand years.^ Manetho, previously to the eighteenth dy- 
 nasty, the beginning of which falls between 1700 and 1600 
 B. c, has five other Theban dynasties, the eleventh, the twelfth, 
 thirteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth, whose duration will not 
 amount to less than one thousand two hundred years; we 
 have, therefore, in the w^hole about two thousand eight hun- 
 dred years before the commencement of our era. We must 
 rest satisfied with this chronology until some new decipher- 
 ings of the monumental inscriptions shall substitute a more 
 correct and certain one. 
 
 Conformably to the plan laid down, I shall confine my at- 
 tention to the eighteenth and following dynasties of Manetho,* 
 and to those Pharaohs who immortalized themselves by their 
 deeds and their monuments, in the period preceding the sub- 
 jugation of Egypt by Sabaco the Ethiopian. The inscription 
 at Abydus, copied by Caillaud, certainly mounts up to the 
 sixteenth dynasty ; but it gives only the titles, and not the 
 names of the kings.^ 
 
 \ Diodorus, i. p. 54. * Descript. p. 269. ^ In France there have been 
 
 thirty-five kings in eight hundred and forty years, beginning with Hugh Capet. 
 
 * The eighteenth dynasty in Manetho comprises (according to Eusebius, p. 215) fourteen 
 rulers : Amosis, twenty-five years ; Chebron, thirteen years ; Amenophis, twenty-one years ; 
 Memphres, twelve years; Misphatumosis, twenty-five years ; Thutmosis, nine years; Ame- 
 nophis II., thirty-one years ; Orus, twenty-eight years ; Achencheres, sixteen years. Under 
 him is placed the departure of Moses. Acherres, eight years; Cherres, fifteen years; Ar- 
 mais, (Danaus,) five years; Ramesses, (^gyptus,) sixty-eight years; Amenophis III., forty 
 years. The nineteenth dynasty comprised eight kings : Sethos, (Sesostns,) fifty-five years ; 
 Rampses, sixty-six years ; Ameneptes, eight years ; Amneraenes, twenty-six years ; Thu- 
 oris, (Homer's Polybus,) seven years : under him the destruction of Troy. 
 
 * Champollion, Precis^ p. 245. 
 
424 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 425 
 
 Manetho begins his eighteenth dynasty with Amossis or 
 Thutmosis ; the first, however, whose name has yet been found 
 on the monuments, is the third of this dynasty, namely, Ame- 
 nophis I. As, however, there were many who bore this name, 
 it remains merely a probable conjecture, whether he was really 
 the third, or some other of the same name. Champollion, how- 
 ever, thinks it possible to prove it witli certainty from the 
 legends of the other kings.^ His name is found on the great 
 temple at Karnac ; but his dominion must already have ex- 
 tended beyond the boundaries of Egypt, for his name and title 
 have been discovered on the Nubian monuments, in the sanc- 
 tuary of the temple at Amada, above Syene.- 
 
 The fourth king of this dynasty in Manetho, is Misphra- 
 muthosis, or rather Misphra-Thutmosis.^ Josephus, following 
 Manetho,'* recounts that he succeeded in driving back the 
 Hyksos to the confines of Egypt, shutting them up in their 
 fortress Avaris, and besieging it. Neither his name nor title 
 have yet been discovered on the monuments. 
 
 He was succeeded by his son Thutmosis, who entirely de- 
 livered the country from the Hyksos, by extorting an agree- 
 ment from them in their fortress, the condition of which was, 
 that they should leave Egypt and withdraw to Syria.^ His 
 name and title are found in the temple of Amada, which he 
 must have completed.^ Under his reign, therefore, Nubia, 
 at least the lower part of it, must have been included in the 
 empire. 
 
 His successor, Amenophis II., the seventh king of the eigh- 
 teenth dynasty, was still more celebrated : his reign, according 
 to Manetho, lasted thirty-one years. He was the same with 
 the Memnon of the Greeks, from whose statue a sound is said 
 to have issued. The truth of this statement is confirmed by 
 such respectable evidence, that it cannot be doubted. " The 
 Thebans maintain," says Pausanias,^ " that the colossus does 
 not represent Memnon, but Phamenophis, one of their native 
 kings." This is again proved by an inscription still extant 
 upon the statue : " I, P. Balbinus, have heard the divine voice 
 of Memnon, or Phamenophis."^ The reign of this Amenophis, 
 therefore, falls immediately after the expulsion of the Hyksos ; 
 
 * Champollion, Precis, p. 240. * Ibid. 1. c. 
 
 * Josephus, p. 1040. * Ibid. p. 1040. 
 
 » Ibid. 246. 
 
 ^ ^. ^ • Champollion, p. 241. 
 
 ' 'AXXd yap ov Mifiuoua oi Grj^aloi \iyov<Ti' ^afiivuxpa ok tluai twv iyxtopiov, oS 
 TovTo dyaXfia ijv. Pausan. p. 101. 
 
 * "EicXuow av^n<TavT(K iyut IloupXtos BdXj3ij;oe ^fni/dc rds Qda^ Mifivovoi h ^afituo<p. 
 Ph is the Coptic article. 
 
 when Egypt was restored to her former state and laws. The 
 old national religion, the worship of Ammon and his temple, 
 was re-established in its pristine splendour soon after the coun- 
 try was rid of these troublesome strangers. The long reign 
 of this monarch was favourable to it. In his title he is there- 
 fore called beloved of Ammon ;^ and his name itself probably 
 expresses something similar,- for it was a common custom in 
 Egypt, not only with kings, but with private individuals, to 
 derive their name from deities, or to form compounds taken 
 from them.' It therefore seems very natural that in this reign 
 should have been commenced the building of those great tem- 
 ples and the works connected with them. A number of in- 
 scriptions, with his name and title, clearly attest such to have 
 been the case ; and these are found not only in Thebes, but at 
 a considerable distance in Nubia, which, therefore, must have 
 bowed to his sceptre. We learn from these inscriptions that 
 he founded the great sanctuary, and the most ancient portion 
 of the palace of Luxor in Thebes.* His name often occurs, 
 as may be easily imagined, on the ruins of the Memnonium, 
 even upon a statue found there by Belzoni. This monarch 
 was also the founder of the temple of Ammon-Chnubis, in 
 Elephantis, and is called there " beloved by Chneph or Chnu- 
 bi."^ His name is again found in one of the royal vauhs, the 
 only one lying to the west ; which certainly tends to prove 
 that this tomb belonged ; to him. He must also have been a 
 conqueror, and extended his territory to the southern bound- 
 aries of Nubia ; for the temple at Soleb, the most southern 
 of this country, bears his royal legend, with reliefs of prisoners 
 from various nations.^ 
 
 Among his successors the name of Ramesses is the most 
 conspicuous. This name, however, was borne by four Pha- 
 raohs, of whom the first two belonged to the eighteenth, and 
 the third and fourth to the nineteenth dynasty. The first of this 
 name^ was expelled by his brother, after having reigned five 
 years, and is said to be identified with Danaus, the leader of 
 the colony to Argos in Peloponnesus. 
 
 He was succeeded by his brother Ramesses II., whose long 
 reign of sixty-eight years is one of the most remarkable. He 
 bears the surname of Miammon, " he who loves Ammon," to 
 
 Armias and Armes. 
 
 » Ibid. p. 238. 
 IS, etc. Champ 
 Ibid. p. 239. See p. 187. 
 
 ^ Champollion, p. 237. x * tu-^ oq7 
 
 ■which are similar to our Theophilns, etc. Champollion, p. 109. Ibid. p. 161. 
 
 * Ibid. p. 238. ' TKiH n ^.-^Q. Sfce n. 187. ' 
 
 ' As Petammon, Retosiris, etc., 
 ♦ Ibid. p. 237. 
 His name is corrupted into 
 
426 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. in. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 427 
 
 distinguish him from the legend, " the beloved of Amnion." 
 He was the founder of the palace of Medinet Abou at Thebes ;* 
 and the battles which are the subject of the reliefs upon it, 
 leave us no room to doubt that he was a warrior and con- 
 queror. The fifth of the royal vaults belongs to him : in it 
 the sarcophagus of red granite was found, the cover of which, 
 with the picture and legend of the king, is now in the museum 
 at Cambridge.* 
 
 He was succeeded by Amenophis, the last ruler of the eigh- 
 teenth dynasty, to whom Manetho ascribes a reign of forty 
 years. It will be seen from what we have said above, that he 
 was the third of this name. His reign, however, was not so 
 fortunate or glorious as that of his predecessors. The Hyksos 
 ventured to renew their attacks upon Egypt. Amenophis, 
 not thinking himself able to withstand them, confided his son 
 Ramesses, aged five years, to a friend, and withdrew into 
 Ethiopia, the king of which was his tributary, and friendly 
 towards him. Here he assembled his forces, marched back 
 to Egypt, and, assisted by his son and successor, expelled the 
 conquering shepherds.^ This laid the foundation of the 
 splendid period which commenced under his successor ; and 
 this is probably the reason why Manetho concludes his eigh- 
 teenth dynasty with him. 
 
 At the head of the nineteenth dynasty stands the name of 
 the most celebrated of all the Pharaohs. He is called Setho- 
 sts, Sesorsis, or Sesostris ; and the pages of Manetho, Hero- 
 dotus, and Diodorus bear equal testimony of his fame. On 
 the monuments, however, he is no where mentioned by either 
 of these names, on them he is called Ramesses : but that he 
 bore both these names, Manetho himself informs us;* and 
 other writers likewise assert that the son of Amenophis was 
 called Ramesses.^ Sesostris means, by way of eminence, the 
 great great king of the Egyptians. 
 
 We learn from Diodorus,^ that the traditions respecting liim 
 were adorned and exaggerated by verse ; we therefore must 
 consider what is stated respecting him as nothing more than a 
 poetical history, highly ornamented by the traditions of the 
 priests. But Sesostris, or Ramesses the Great, (as we may 
 very properly call him, to distinguish him from his namesakes,) 
 
 » Champollion, p. 227. « Ibid. p. 228. » Josephus, p. 1041. ♦ Ibid, 
 
 p. 1053. Tdi; U v\6v ^iQuiv, tov koI Panitraitv wvofiavfitvov. Champollion, p. 227 ; cf. 
 Tacit. Annal. ii. 61. * Especially Chacremon in his history of Egypt; cf. Josephus, 
 
 p. 1057. • Diodorus, i. p. 62. 
 
 is not to be considered as a mere creature of the imagination : 
 that he is not simply a symbolical being, but historically a 
 monarch of Egypt, is so obvious, as to render it almost un- 
 necessary to mention it. But if it be desired to ascertain how 
 much related of him is matter of history, and how much not, 
 the best information will be derived from the monuments, as 
 well from those within Egypt as those which he erected in fo- 
 reio*n countries in commemoration of his exploits, and which we 
 can authenticate as relating to him, partly from credible his- 
 torians, and partly from intrinsic evidence. There is a perfect 
 agreement here between the monuments and history, as the 
 latest discoveries convince us, that the name of no Pharaoh so 
 often appears upon them, or with so much splendour, as tlie 
 name and title of Ramesses the Great. " Beloved and con- 
 firmed of Ammon, — son of the god of the sun, — ruler of the obe- 
 dient people," are the titles here frequently bestowed upon him. 
 Herodotus, who derived his information from the priests at 
 Memphis, enumerated, in speaking of Sesostris and the other 
 Pharaohs mentioned by him, only the presents they gave to the 
 temple of Phtha in this capital : which in this instance consist- 
 ed of six tremendous colossal statues ; two of himself and wife, 
 each thirty yards high ; and four of his children, each twenty.^ 
 According to Diodorus, he founded many great buildings ; 
 erecting in the towns of Egypt temples for the principal gods 
 they honoured. Thebes in particular enjoyed his favours. Two 
 obelisks, one hundred and twenty yards high, containing an 
 account of his treasures and the nations he had conquered, 
 were placed before the temple of Ammon ; and a new and 
 splendid ark for the oracle of cedar,^ gilded outside and sil- 
 vered within, was bestowed on the interior. All these glories 
 are vanished ; but his name still lives on many of the monu- 
 ments of Thebes. It has been discovered in many parts of the 
 great palace of Karnac ; particularly on those massive pillars 
 in the immense saloon above described, which seems almost 
 entirely to have been his work.^ It is again found on the great 
 pylones and pillars in the first court of the palace of Luxor, as 
 likewise on one side of the obelisks at the same place (the other 
 bears the legend of Thutmosis) ; finally, almost in every part 
 of what is called the tomb of Osymandyas, the greater part of 
 which, if not the whole, must certainly be attributed to him ;* 
 
 > Herod, ii. 108. * Diodorus, i. p. 67. ^ Champollion, p. 220. 
 
 * Sec above, p. 384. Neither Manetho nor Herodotus has the name of Osymandyas. 
 
428 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. hi. 
 
 CHAP. HI.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 429 
 
 and without Thebes, on the palace of Abydus, the Flaminian 
 obeUsk in Rome ; and on many other monuments. Nubia in 
 particular is full of them : nearly on every section of the great 
 temple of Ipsambul, of Kalabshe, Derri, and Seboa, his name 
 occurs, and pictures of his exploits.^ What a gigantic mind 
 must his have been, that could execute so many and such mar- 
 vellous works ! 
 
 The expeditions and conquests of Ramesses the Great are 
 partly certain, and partly more or less probable. Among the 
 former I class those upon which monuments and writers agree ; 
 among the latter, those only mentioned by historians. There 
 is no question but that he erected monuments to himself in the 
 countries he conquered, or engraved his deeds on those which 
 he found there already built. 
 
 After Arabia, that is to say, the eastern mountainous country 
 of Egypt, was subdued,- a naval expedition on the Arabian 
 Gulf and the Indian Sea is mentioned as his next undertaking.^ 
 Herodotus, having his accounts from the priests, represents 
 him as the first who ventured with a fleet of war-galleys on 
 the Arabian Gulf and Indian Sea. The truth of this narrative 
 can scarcely be doubted ; especially since we learn from the 
 monuments, that the Pharaohs maintained a naval power in 
 these quarters. Their conquests were confined to the coasts, 
 as appears from the expressions of Herodotus. Those who 
 know the narrow extent and the nature of the Indian Sea, with 
 its numerous islands and variable winds, will find nothing im- 
 probable in the statement that those expeditions extended to 
 the western coasts of the peninsula: this, indeed, is plainly as- 
 serted by Diodorus,^ and confirmed by the costumes of the 
 enemies in the sculptures. 
 
 That he subjup;ated Ethiopia there can be no doubt : it ap- 
 pears, moreover, from what has been said above, that a part of 
 it was very early reduced under the sway of the Pharaohs, or 
 was at least dependent upon them ; and when Herodotus says 
 that he was the only king of Egypt who ruled over Ethiopia, 
 this is undoubtedly to be understood of all Ethiopia, as well as 
 the most southern part of it, or Meroe. He conquered, Dio- 
 dorus informs us, the Ethiopians who dwelt towards the south, 
 and compelled them to pay him a tribute of ebony, gold, and 
 elephants' teeth ^ — this is confirmed by the monuments. The 
 
 ' ChampoUion, Precis, p. 220. • Diodonis, i. p. 63. 
 
 • See above, p. 412, the description of a naval battle. 
 
 » Herod, ii. 102. 
 ^ Diodorus, i. p. 64. 
 
 very remarkable scenes sculptured at Kalabshe, for a copy of 
 which we are indebted to Gau, and which I have described and 
 explained above,^ would prove this most satisfactorily, even if 
 M. ChampoUion had not since discovered the legend of this 
 king. Not only the battle and victory are here represented, 
 but also the offering of the booty and tributes. The captive 
 queen, deprived of her trinkets,^ is beseeching (accompanied 
 by her two sons) the conqueror for mercy. The tribute men- 
 tioned by Diodorus is seen to consist of ivory, gold, and quan- 
 tities of ebony ; tame and wild animals ; apes and birds of 
 various kinds ; even the giraffe from the heart of Africa is in- 
 troduced. How was it possible to characterize the extent of 
 conquests in a more striking manner ? We have another re- 
 markable witness, proving at once that an expedition was made 
 by land and by sea, as well as its extent, given in Strabo.^ 
 " At the narrow entrance of the Arabian Gulf," he says, " is 
 situated the little town of Derar, inhabited by Ichthyophagi. 
 Monuments of the Egyptian Sesostris, who first subdued the 
 country of the Troglodytes, are said to stand here with sacred 
 inscriptions, setting forth his voyage to Arabia." And in an- 
 other passage,^ he "traversed Ethiopia as far as the land of 
 cinnamon, where even now monumental columns with inscrip- 
 tions are visible." We entertain hopes, if a modern traveller 
 should succeed in reaching this place, or the old Egyptian port 
 of Adule, that those monuments would still be found. 
 
 It is difficult to say anything certain respecting the cam- 
 paigns of the Egyptian conqueror in Asia and Europe. He- 
 rodotus here also is our safest guide. He saw and noticed the 
 monuments erected by him, with Egyptian sacred writing upon 
 them. Although it should be denied that these were the work 
 of Sesostris, still they were certainly erected by some Egyptian 
 conqueror ; for Herodotus could not be mistaken with regard 
 to the writing. We know, however, of no other of the Pha- 
 raohs to whom such expeditions can be ascribed. Herodotus 
 saw and describes these monuments first in Palestine,^ and af- 
 terwards two rock-monuments in Asia Minor, the situation of 
 whic^ he minutely particularizes ; the statue of an armed man 
 
 « FnTfo^er part of this work I have explained the captive queen from the circumstance 
 that in Meroe queens could sit on the throne. But we need not have recourse to that On 
 the preceding relief the captive king is represented as murdered by the conqueror. It ^> as 
 therefore natural that she appeared as a widow. ,.i » 4.„„4.:c,^„„ 
 
 3 Strabo, p. 1114. His information is probably derived from Agatharchidcs s treatise on 
 the Red Seat * Page 1138. ' Herod, u. 106. 
 
430 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 CHAP. Ill»j 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS, 
 
 4S1 
 
 in Egyptian and Ethiopian accoutrements, with an inscription 
 in hieroglyphics on the breast, signifying, " I have occupied this 
 country." Further, his monuments were seen in Thrace,^ but not 
 beyond ; for here he turned back. He is also said to have reached 
 the river Phasis, and to have founded on this occasion an Egyp- 
 tian colony at Colchis. We may therefore conclude with cer- 
 tainty, from these accounts, that his expedition took in Syria 
 and Asia Minor, and extended to Thrace. During this period 
 we know of no great empire in western Asia ; the origin of 
 the Assyrian is laid by Herodotus two or three centuries later.- 
 What, therefore, could have arrested the progiess of the con- 
 queror on this side ? 
 
 The campaigns in eastern Asia, which were said to have ex- 
 tended to Bactria and India, are perhaps in general fictitious. 
 Some historical foundation for them, however, is contained on 
 the monuments. One of the scenes often repeated, is the pas- 
 sage of a river winding through a plain, and a fortress which 
 the Egyptians take by assault.^ Now this cannot be the Nile ; 
 because the scenery is evidently not Egyptian. The next river 
 that presents itself to our mind is the Euphrates : its serpen- 
 tine course through the valley agrees very well with the river 
 here represented. The country invaded is proved by the dress 
 and beards of the inhabitants to be in Asia. Is it the proud 
 Babylon that is here assaulted, or was there a Median-Bac- 
 trian empire which extended as far as this ? I know of none 
 such ; but the passage over the river was evidently one of 
 those great achievements, whose remembrance was worthy to 
 be preserved by monuments. The opulent Babylon was cer- 
 tainly likely to attract a conqueror. These conquests, at all 
 events, could hardly have been lasting, otherwise posterity 
 would have found Egyptian monuments in these places as well 
 as in Nubia. 
 
 The son and successor of Ramesses the Great, according to 
 Herodotus, was called Pheron : Diodorus, however, expressly 
 informs us of his having adopted the name of his father ; and 
 this is confirmed by Manetho, who calls him Ramesses, and 
 gives him a reign of sixty years. His reign was a peaceable 
 one, for according to Diodorus he did not inherit the warlike 
 spirit^ of his father; though, as his legend has also been found 
 on the monuments, he was certainly partial to building. He is 
 
 » Herod, ii. 103, 104. 
 ' See above, p. 416. 
 
 » About 1230, B. c. 
 ♦ Diodorus, i. p. 69. 
 
 called " the confirmed of Ammon," not the one confirmed by 
 Re the god of the Sun, as his father was. Champollion reads 
 his name and title on the smaller pillars of the gigantic saloon 
 at Karnac, which he seems to have completed.^ It was quite 
 agreeable to the spirit of the age, that the reign of so powerful 
 a conqueror should be followed by such a one as this of his 
 son : so David was succeeded by Solomon. 
 
 The most splendid period of Thebes, therefore, mast have 
 occurred between 1800 and 1300 b. c. Of the two succeed- 
 ing kings Manetho gives only the names ; and when he says of 
 the third, namely Thuoris, whom Homer calls Polybus, that he 
 was contemporary with the Trojan war, it corresponds with our 
 chronology, which places this war immediately after 1200. 
 The nineteenth dynasty ends with this Thuoris. Of the 
 twentieth dynasty, which included twelve kings and lasted one 
 hundred and seventy-two years, the fragments of Manetho do 
 not even give the names ; and of the kings- of the twenty-first, 
 which lasted one hundred and thirty years, nothing but the 
 
 names. 
 
 The first ruler of the twenty-second dynasty, Sesonchosis, 
 becomes more interesting to us, as Champollion recognises in 
 him the Shishak of the Jewish annals.^ His name, Sches- 
 chonk, together with his title, " the confirmed of Ammon," is 
 found on one of the columns of the first great court of columns 
 in the palace of Karnac ; and the correctness of this reading is 
 confirmed by the name (according to Manetho) of his son and 
 successor, Osorthon, being found close by it. The identity of 
 the name Scheschak and Shishak is very important, because it 
 enables us to determine the chronology. Shishak was the 
 contemporary of Rehoboam, the son and successor of Solomon. 
 In the fifth year of the reign of Rehoboam, 970 b. c, he made 
 war against Palestine, took Jerusalem,* and pillaged it. Ac- 
 cording to the Jewish accounts the Egyptian state must have 
 been very powerful at that time; for it is said of Shishak 
 that he came with twelve hundred chariots of war, sixty thou- 
 sand cavalry, and an innumerable body of infantry, consisting 
 of Egyptians, Libyans, Troglodytes, and Ethiopians. His em- 
 pire therefore must have extended over all these countries, and 
 far beyond the boundaries of Egypt. In the century after 
 
 • Champollion, p. 232. ^ -vt v i. 
 
 • They are named : Smerdis, twenty-six years; Psusennus, forty-one years ; Nephercheg, 
 four years ; Psinnaches, nine years ; Psonincs, thirty-live years. Euseb. p. 217. 
 
 • Champollion, p. 205. * 2 Chronicles xii. 2. 
 
432 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. Ill, 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 433 
 
 him, this greatness must have declined, and the power of the 
 rulers of Meroe, under the dynasty of Sabaco, (who reigned 
 between 800 and 700 b. c, not only over Ethiopia, but also 
 Thebes,) must have prevailed ; as, according to Manetho, the 
 Pharaoh Bochoris, who alone occupies the twenty-fourth dy- 
 nasty, was defeated, taken prisoner, and burnt alive by Sabaco.^ 
 
 About this time therefore, 800 b. c, ends the period of 
 Theban might and grandeur, after having endured nearly 
 eight centuries. The period of the great expeditions, particu- 
 larly in Asia, does not seem to reach lower than the first two 
 or three centuries after the expulsion of the Hyksos ; for we 
 have no information that extends beyond the expedition of 
 Shishak into the neighbouring Palestine. The dominion over 
 Ethiopia, at least the northern part, or the present Nubia, 
 bears the only traces of a lasting conquest. We may tliere- 
 fore determine pretty accurately the extent and the boundaries 
 of the empire of Thebes, with the exception of these tran- 
 sitory conquests. 
 
 Notwithstanding the extent of Sesostris's expeditions, there 
 is no proof that the dominion of the Pharaohs in Asia was of 
 long duration. That it occasionally comprised Syria, perhaps 
 also Babylonia, and the coasts of Southern Arabia, cannot be 
 denied. Had there, however, been any permanent conquest 
 over the interior of Asia, some accounts of it would have been 
 given in the annals of the Jews. Of Arabia, the stony region, 
 at least, must in some degree have belonged to Egypt ; for this 
 is proved by certain monuments, covered with hieroglyphics, 
 which Niebuhr found here and copied : they may have been 
 tombs, as he indeed considers them ; but I think it more pro- 
 bable that they were remnants of a temple.^ Any lasting 
 conquests in Europe are still less to be expected. 
 
 The principal country therefore, the nucleus of the empire, 
 was Egypt itself. That this was entirely subject to the Pha- 
 raohs of Thebes cannot be doubted : there was once a time, 
 says Herodotus,^ when the whole of Egypt was called Thebes, 
 not only the fruitful valley of the Nile, but also the eastern and 
 western borders. The eastern side, usually spoken of under 
 the name of Arabia, was subdued by Sesostris, without which, 
 indeed, he could not have fitted out a fleet on the Arabian 
 
 * Manetho, apud Euseb. p. 218. 
 
 * Niebuhr's Travels^ i. p. 237, etc. Tab. xxx. — xlii. He found them at El Mocatcl, 
 (mountain of inscriptions,) probably Mount Hor, in the neighbourhood of SinaL 
 
 ' Herodotus, ii. 15. 
 
 Gulf; but how far the dominion of the Pharaohs extended to 
 the west is uncertain. It undoubtedly comprised the two 
 Oases, as is proved by the monuments upon them ; it must 
 likewise have extended beyond the limits of Egypt, because 
 Libyans are enumerated among their subjects. That the in- 
 habitants of Marea and Apis were still Egyptians, was formerly 
 decided by a sentence of the Ammonian oracle,^ when they 
 wished to be considered as Libyans. It cannot be stated ex- 
 actly in what political relation Ammonium stood with Thebes ; 
 nevertheless, as it was a colony of Thebes, and the service of 
 Ammon prevailed there, it may at least be assumed, that the 
 relation which commonly subsisted between parent states and 
 their colonies, when they held the same religious opinions, was 
 in force here, although it might not amount to a complete de- 
 pendence. Ammonium, so far as our present information goes, 
 is the western boundary of the Egyptian monuments, and 
 therefore of the Egyptian dominions. By possessing this they 
 became neighbours of the Carthaginians. A peaceable com- 
 mercial intercourse with that nation has been pointed out in 
 the former part of the volume ; but that hostilities sometimes 
 broke out between them, may be inferred from a remarkable 
 passage in Ammianus Marcellinus.* From this we learn, that 
 when the power of the Carthaginians extended itself in Africa, 
 even before the time of the great Persian empire, Carthaginian 
 generals had surprised and pillaged Thebes; a shock from 
 which this city had scarcely recovered at the time of its being 
 invaded by Cambyses. 
 
 Ethiopia, however, was the main point to which the rulers 
 of Thebes directed their conquests. Monuments of their vic- 
 tories are still to be seen there, which render this fact unques- 
 tionable. Here there were many things to attract them. The 
 valley of the Nile above Syene was neither less fruitful nor 
 less populous than in Egypt. The mountain-chain along the 
 
 ' Herodotus, ii. 18. The oracle was, " All that is watered by the Nile, is Egypt ; and 
 all who, from the city of Elephantis downwards, drink its water, are Egyptians." Accord- 
 ing to this, the eastern mountainous district did not belong to Egypt, nor its inhabitants to 
 the Egyptian nation. 
 
 * Am. Marcel, xvii. 4. " Urbem, priscis seculis conditam, portarum centum quondam 
 aditibus celebiem, hecatompylas Thebas— banc inter exordia pandentis se late Carthaginis 
 iraproviso excursu duces oppressere Pocnorum ; posteaque reparatam Persarum ille rex 
 Carabvses aggressus est." The attack of the Carthaginians upon Thebes happened, there- 
 fore, before the time of Cambyses, in the period when Carthage was extendmg her domi- 
 nions ; probably between 600 and 550 B. c, when the powerful house of Mago stood at the 
 head of the republic. See Appendix viii. at the end of this volume. When Ammianus 
 speaks of Libya and Carthage, he quotes from the works of king Juba, who drew from 
 Carthaginian -wTiters who treated upon inner Africa and the sources of the Nile ; xxii. 4. 
 This account, perhaps, is also drawn from them. 
 
 2 F 
 
434 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 CHAP. HI.) 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 435 
 
 Arabian Gulf contained, scarcely 130 or 140 miles above Sy- 
 ene, the most ancient gold mines in the world ; and these had 
 already been worked in the time of the Pharaolis. The rav- 
 ages of the Nubian hordes, who inhabited these districts, might 
 also become a frequent source of the wars which we sometimes 
 see portrayed on the Nubian monuments. And, finally, the 
 commercial connexions existing between Egypt and Ethiopia, 
 and exhibiting the wealth of the southern countries, were 
 equally calculated to attract the eye of the conquerors. They 
 do not seem, however, to have established a lasting dominion 
 beyond the boundarie of Nubia ; but that it continued here 
 for a considerable period, and particularly in the valley of the 
 Nile, is proved by the series of monuments, with their inscrip- 
 tions and reliefs, which have come under our notice in the 
 former part of the volume. Although some of those monu- 
 ments might not have been their work, but had been erected 
 before their time ; yet the inscriptions and reliefs must be at- 
 tributed to them, as they bear the impress of perfected Egyp- 
 tian workmanship. Many of these edifices are too mighty to 
 have been quickly or suddenly raised : a long period must 
 have been spent in their completion. This series of monu- 
 ments, which we ascribe to the Pharaohs, does not, however, 
 extend beyond Nubia. The temple at Soleb, a little above 
 the second cataract, is, as far as we know, the last that can be 
 attributed to them. Egyptian dominion could not be perma- 
 nently established without Egyptian religion, nor Egyptian 
 religion without Egyptian monuments. 
 
 The dominion of the Pharaohs, then, extended only to the 
 northern boundaries of the empire of Meroe. And notwith- 
 standingthat this empire was onceoverrun by the great Sesostris, 
 its subjugation cannot have been of long duration. Both monu- 
 ments and history prove this. That the former are not histori- 
 cal representations relating to the Pharaohs, although executed 
 by Egyptian artists, has been shown in the former part of the 
 volume.' And the remains of the history of Meroe there col- 
 lected, show that this empire never lost its independence for 
 any length of time ; nay, that in the eighteenth century b. c. 
 it even subdued Egypt, or at least Upper Egypt, although it 
 was voluntarily, or at the command of the oracle, relinquished 
 by the conqueror.^ Thus we see on the banks of the Nile, 
 from its sources till its waters are lost in the Mediterranean, 
 
 » Page 213. 
 
 « Herodotus, ii. 139. 
 
 the two powerful empires of Thebes and Meroe existing to- 
 gether during many centuries, under mutual relations, various 
 and changeable, without either of them attaining an extent 
 equal to the great empires of Asia.^ The extent of the empire 
 of the Pharaohs, exclusive of the mere transitory conquests, 
 was nearly the same as that of the present ruler of Egypt. His 
 dominion towards the south does not reach beyond Dongola, 
 above Soleb ; Siwah, the ancient Ammonium, pays him tri- 
 bute ; and his conquests on the Arabian coast are perhaps 
 about equal to those of the Pharaohs. How different, how- 
 ever, was the state of these provinces then to what it is at 
 present ! 
 
 The population of Egypt, amounting in the time of Diodo- 
 rus to no more than three millions, is stated by the same author, 
 we know not upon what authority, to have been seven millions 
 in the time of the Pharaohs.^ If the latter is meant to include 
 all Egypt, the statement cannot seem exaggerated, and would 
 even be moderate if we were to limit it to the Thebaid, which 
 indeed was at one time called Egypt. But in the first case the 
 statement is only to be understood of the inhabitants settled in 
 the fruitful part of Egypt, the valley of the Nile, and the Del- 
 ta ; we have already stated that the wandering tribes in the 
 mountains were not reckoned among the Egyptians. 
 
 That Thebes was the usual seat of government, is shown more 
 plainly by the ruins of its palaces, than by the testimony of 
 historians. Although some change afterwards took place, reli- 
 gious notions seem to have been in such a way connected with 
 the residence of the monarchs in this capital, that we dare not 
 leave it unnoticed. They were closely connected with the 
 ideas they entertained of a life after death. The Pharaohs 
 lived in the neighbourhood of their tombs, for these, according 
 to the belief of the Egyptians, were their proper habitations ; 
 and the construction of these engrossed the attention of these 
 rulers quite as much as the decoration of their palaces, of which 
 we have a proof in the tomb of Osymandyas, near his palace, 
 and in the caverns near Thebes. Besides, it was not a matter 
 of indifference where a person was buried. Certain spots were 
 held sacred, and preferred to all others ; because, according to 
 the tradition of the priests, they were the spots in which Osiris, 
 
 * If the accounts of the Newspapers arc true, that in the district of Cordofan are found 
 ruins with hieroglyphics, they must have belonged to the empire of Meroe, and not to Thebes. 
 In the empire of Darfour nothing of the kind has been discovered. 
 
 - Diodorus, i. p. 36. 
 
 2 F 2 
 
436 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. hi. 
 
 ruler both in the upper and under world, was buried. And who 
 wished not to rest near him ? These places were numerous. 
 In the Thebaid, besides Thebes itself, there was a small island 
 near Philse and Elephantis ; and also Abydos, formerly called 
 This. In Middle Egypt there was Memphis ; and in the Del- 
 ta, Busiris. A modern critic, therefore, very justly considers 
 these burial-places of Osiris to be the seats of the Egyptian 
 monarchs.^ What a new light does this strike out, when com- 
 pared with the dynasties of Manetho ! How strongly does this 
 confirm the opinion given above, that these places were the 
 earliest states of Egypt, before it was consolidated into one 
 empire ! The dynasties in Upper and Middle Egypt, of Ele- 
 phantis, Thebes, This, and Memphis, are all burial-places of 
 Osiris : those in the Delta, Mendes, Sebennytns, Tanis, and 
 Bubastus, all lay within a few miles of Busiris ; that of Sais 
 had this sanctuary in the town itself. Let us return, however, 
 to Thebes. That this city was the residence of the kings for 
 centuries, is proved both by their palaces and the number of 
 their tombs, of which, according to Strabo, there were upwards 
 of forty. Memphis at a later period certainly became the seat 
 ©f government, for we are told by Manetho of a king Athotis, 
 and by Diodorus of a king Urchoreus," who built a palace 
 there, which however never equalled those at Thebes. Its age 
 is uncertain ; but Diodorus further remarks, that it was the 
 removal of his successors to Memphis which caused Thebes to 
 decline. It is shown, however, in our inquiries respecting the 
 Persians, that it was a common thing for the monarchs of the 
 East to have more than one residence ; and although the kings 
 of the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasty might make Mem- 
 phis for some time their capital, their names on the monuments 
 of Thebes sufficiently evince that this was the proper seat of 
 government. As their elevation and consecration necessarily 
 took place at Thebes, as we shall presently see, this city could 
 not so soon have lost its right to be considered the capital of 
 the empire. 
 
 » Creuzer in Commenfafiones ad Herod, p. 88, etc., where the proofs are collected of what 
 we have stated. I think this will be further proved by my showing, that at Sais, where the 
 last dynasty previous to the Persian conquest ruled, there was a tomb of Osiris. Herod., 
 after saying (ii. 169) that the tombs of the kings of this dynasty were at Sais in the sanctuary 
 of Minerva, adds, cap. 170, 171, etc. : " In this sanctuary, behind the temple, is the tomb of 
 him whose name I do not consider myself at liberty to mention. But in the sanctuary stand 
 some large obelisks, and a pond with a stone enclosure ; and here are celebrated the mys- 
 teries in which the sufferings of the afore-mentioned deity are represented." That this re- 
 fers to Osiris nobody will doubt who is acquainted with his mythology. 
 
 * Diodorus, i. p. 60. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 437 
 
 With regard to the government, there can be no doubt 
 but that upon the whole it always remained a hierarchy, under 
 the dominion of the priests ; but the relation of the kings to 
 the priesthood requires some further explanation. Was the 
 throne hereditary or was it elective ? As we read so often 
 that the father was succeeded by the son, we must conclude 
 that it was hereditary, although a later writer describes the 
 election of a king to the throne.^ According to his account, 
 candidates waited during the election on the Libyan moun- 
 tains, near the tombs. The royal tent was here set up ; and 
 the priests who elected assembled. The gods were then con- 
 sulted, and the election concluded ; the newly-elected king 
 was then led with a numerous train, in a magnificent pro- 
 cession of gods, priests, and people, to the Nile, where the 
 royal barge waited, in which he proceeded to the other side, 
 to take possession of the royal palace, (probably that of Kar- 
 nac,) where stood the original high temple of Ammon. It is 
 not known from what ancient writer Synesius borrowed this 
 relation, we have no reason, however, to suppose it fictitious ; 
 for hereditary succession, when not very strict, is compatible 
 with the ceremony of election, as the history of Germany 
 clearly proves. I doubt, however, whether the king was taken 
 from the priest caste. If such had been the case, there would 
 have been no occasion for him to enter into it after his elec- 
 tion, and that he did so is shown by its being represented again 
 and again on the walls of the palaces of Medinet Abou and 
 Karnac. 
 
 It followed, as a matter of course, that the person elected, 
 or nominated by the priests, would be very much under their 
 control ; hence it happened that nothing of importance could 
 be undertaken till the oracle had been first consulted. In 
 many of the processions of the oracle-ship, pictured on the 
 walls of the temples and palaces, the king is seen coming to 
 meet the holy ark, borne by priests, in such positions, as prove 
 beyond a doubt, that he comes to obtain a favourable decision 
 from the oracle.^ 
 
 But there was another circumstance, which was still more 
 effectual than even the oracle in holding the monarchs depend- 
 ent upon the priests. I mean the strict ceremonies by which 
 their every-day life was regulated ; an example of which is also 
 found in the power exercised in a similar manner over the 
 
 * Synesius, Op. p. 94. * Description, plates xxxii. xxxvi. vol. iii. and after.. 
 
438 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. hi. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 439 
 
 monarclis of Persia by the Magi. Early in the morning, (as 
 was natural in so hot a climate,) says Diodorus,^ the affairs of 
 state were settled. The sacred ceremonies next followed. The 
 king went to sacrifice and prayer; he was then obliged to 
 listen while he was reminded from the sacred writings of his 
 duties, in which the greatest possible moderation in all enjoy- 
 ments was strictly inculcated. It seems probable that the per- 
 sonal character of the rulers had great influence with regard 
 to the measure of this dependence ; but the scenes so often 
 recurring on the walls of the temples and palaces, leave us no 
 room to question but that even the most powerful of the 
 monarchs were obliged to conform to these prescriptions. The 
 regulation of the court of the Pharaohs assisted the priests very 
 much in the maintenance of this authority over the prince. It 
 is well known that it was composed of the sons of the most 
 exalted priests. No slave dared to approach the king : he was 
 served by the courtiers just mentioned.^ The wives of the 
 king were equal in rank and title with himself; queens even 
 ruled in Egypt. The custom which was in use long before 
 the Ptolemies, that the kings should marry their sisters, per- 
 haps arose from a desire to prevent strangers from succeeding 
 to the throne.^ 
 
 With regard to the division of the empire, it is certain that 
 the principal country, Egypt itself, was divided into nomes, 
 upon the origin of which I have already stated my opinion in 
 a former chapter of this work. As Herodotus ascribes them 
 to Sesostris, it is plain that they were instituted by the Pha- 
 raohs, though they could not be completely established till 
 these monarchs became sole rulers over Egypt. The whole 
 government of Egypt was naturally knit together by this in- 
 stitution.* Ten nomes are enumerated in Upper Egypt, six- 
 teen in Middle Egypt, and ten in Lower Egypt.^ We hear of 
 nomarchi and toparchi,^ as they are called by the Greeks : 
 the former were intrusted with the government of the separate 
 nomes, and the latter with districts and villages.^ 
 
 The revenue of the Pharaohs was derived from various 
 
 » Diodonis, i. p. 81. ' Ibid. i. p. 80. » Ibid. i. p. 31. 
 
 ♦ Champollion, in Egypte sous les PharaonSy part i. 11, has collected the Egj-ptian names 
 of the Nomes. The Egyptian name of Nome is Ptosch. 
 
 » Diodonis, i. p. 84. ** Strabo, xA-ii. p. 1136. 
 
 '' Herod, ii. 177. From this passage it is clear that they officiated as police, since all were 
 obliged to render a yearly account to them of their several trades or professions. Idleness 
 was discountenanced or punished. The caste of the trades being subdivided, and each din- 
 sion having its own president, who of course was acquainted with each member, this task was 
 less difficidt than it would otherwise have been. 
 
 sources ; the most important of them, however, were its landed 
 possessions, as is clear from what has been already said re- 
 specting the division and proprietorship of lands in Egypt. It 
 has also been proved, that lands belonging to kings and priests 
 were cultivated by persons who paid interest or rent for them. 
 Diodorus^ expressly tells us, that the lands of the priests and 
 soldiers were free from taxes or rent, which certainly was not 
 the case with the rest. But in speaking of this ground-rent, 
 we ought to bear in mind that the quality of the soil did not 
 admit of its being so accurately settled as in European states. 
 This tax was regulated in Egypt according to the produce of 
 the soil, and this depended upon the overflowing of the river. 
 It was determined by a measurement of the Nile ; and from 
 this we may conclude, that the same method was preserved in 
 ancient as in modern times, namely, the ground or produce 
 rent was fixed annually. In the present day they wait until 
 the flood has reached its highest point ; and according to its 
 height the taxes are immediately imposed. Diodorus informs 
 us, that it was the same in antiquity.^ " The kings, to prevent 
 any inconvenience that might happen from the rising of the 
 flood, have constructed a Nilometer at Memphis. Those who 
 manage it can measure exactly, in yards and inches, tlie rising 
 and falling of the river, of which they send immediate advice 
 to the several towns. The people by this are enabled to judge 
 beforehand of the produce they may expect. Accounts of the 
 yearly rise and fall of the river have been preserved among the 
 Egyptians from the earliest times." The taxes in the present 
 day, however, are not imposed upon individuals, but upon en- 
 tire towns or villages, which are obliged to answer for them. 
 A whole township possesses the land in common, cultivates it 
 in common, and every one whose name is inscribed in the vil- 
 lage book is a partner, and shares the produce, as it is almost 
 impossible that individuals should have private landed property, 
 on account of the continual overflowings which destroy the 
 boundaries.^ It is highly probable that this was also the case 
 in antiquity, as nature herself seems to determine that it should 
 
 ' Di6dorus, i. 85 ; Herod, ii. 168. 
 
 » Diodorus, i. p. 44. The Nilometer discovered and described by the French, Descrip- 
 tion, vol. i., does not appear to have been constructed previous to the age of the Ptolemies, 
 as the numbers upon it are Grecian : they may, however, have been inscribed upon it at a 
 later period. 
 
 =* RejTiier, VEconomie Politique des Egyptiens, p. 200, etc. This assessment of the taxes 
 upon a whole district seems to be represented at Eilethyia. Descript. plates i. Ixiii. iii. 
 Even now each village has a coptus, or secretary' ; these secretaries are closely united, and 
 distinct from the inhabitants, forming still a kind of caste, and probably descendants from 
 the old caste of priests. 
 
440 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 CHAP, in.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 441 
 
 be so ; and when Herodotus ascribes the origin of geometry 
 to these mensurations, it can scarcely be understood otherwise 
 than of the mensuration of the areas of whole townships, though 
 he might derive his conjecture from private possessions. These 
 mensurations were undoubtedly connected with their canal 
 system, for the construction and preservation of which con- 
 siderable mathematical knowledge was required ; and upon the 
 good order in which these were maintained, the fruitfulness of 
 the land chiefly depended. An intimate connexion between 
 these seems evident, from the canal system and the division of 
 districts by measurements being ascribed to the same ruler, Se- 
 sostris.^ Both were therefore under the management of the 
 government, and were indeed its particular care and interest. 
 And as Sesostris is called the great king of the Egyptians, it is 
 to be supposed that he brought this system to its full perfec- 
 tion ; for it lies in the nature of things that it existed to a cer- 
 tain degree before his time. 
 
 The gold mines of Nubia were a second source of the reve- 
 nues of the Pharaohs : they were reckoned amongst the most 
 ancient and most productive in the world, and account for the 
 abundance of gold often spoken of in Egyptian history. Aga- 
 tharchides,^ who visited them during the reign of Ptolemy IV., 
 has given an accurate, and even scientific, description of them. 
 According to his account, they were situated near the present 
 mountain Alaky, 22° N. Lat., 51° E. Long., not far from the 
 ancient Berenice Panchrysos, as it was called in the time of 
 the Ptolemies.^ They were worked by a great number of 
 prisoners, men, women, and children, among whom the labour 
 was divided according to their strength. This writer describes 
 very minutely the manner in which this labour was performed. 
 *' These mines," he adds, " have already been worked for a 
 very long time, and were discovered by the first kings of these 
 countries. The working of them, however, was interrupted, 
 when the Ethiopians, who are said to have founded Memno- 
 nium, overran Egypt, and kept possession during a long pe- 
 riod of its towns:* and again, under the dominion of the 
 
 1 Herod, ii. 108; Diodonis, i. 66. • ion t, 
 
 « Agatharchides, de Rtihro Mari, in Geograph. Minor, i, p. 22. Diodonis, i. p. 182, bor- 
 rowed his account from him. 
 
 =* Agatharchides has removed all doubt as to their situation. See D' Anville, Mtmoire stir 
 VEgypte, p. 274. I have also indicated their relative positions on the map. 
 
 * Under Sabaco and Tarhaco, between 800 and 700 b. c. The Memnonium was Meroe, 
 which was said to be Memnon's principal residence ; unless we are to understand by it that 
 of Abydus, where those conouerors probably took up their abode. Strabo, p. 1167 ; consult 
 also Jacobs on the Graves of Memnon. 
 
 Medes and Persians. In the shafts made at that time brass 
 implements are still found, the use of iron being then unknown. 
 Bones also are found in great quantities, of people who were 
 smothered in them by the falling in of the earth. The extent 
 of these mines was such, that the subterranean passages reached 
 to the sea." 
 
 The later accounts of the Arabian writers^ give us further 
 information respecting these mines. We learn from them that 
 they are situated in the country of the Bejahs, the ancient 
 Blemmies,- between Eidub and Suakin ; that they abound in 
 silver, copper, iron, and precious stones ; but gold is chiefly 
 sought for. The Pharaohs themselves made war against this 
 country for the sake of these mines. The Greeks did the same 
 when they were masters of Egypt ; evident traces of which 
 are still met with. " The gold mines are at Alaky,^ a place 
 fifteen days' journey from the Nile ; the nearest town is Es- 
 souan." It would seem probable from this, that these mines 
 were turned to account during the sway of the Arabs : that 
 they belonged to the empire of the Pharaohs (they were about 
 fifty miles distant from Thebes) is clear from what we have 
 said respecting its extent, which comprised Soleb, above the 
 second cataract. 
 
 The Egyptian tradition which ascribed its discovery and 
 first opening, as well as the working in metals, to the inhabit- 
 ants of Thebes,* obtains by this a new confirmation. 
 
 I scarcely know how far we may reckon in the income de- 
 rived from the mines, the precious stones known under the 
 name of emeralds. Through Belzoni's researches these mines 
 have been again found : they are situated in the Arabian 
 mountain-chain, in the mountain Zubaca, (24i° N. Lat.,) be- 
 tween twenty and thirty miles from the Arabian GuH? They 
 are of considerable extent, and must have been worked for 
 many ages, certainly as far back as the Egyptian period, as 
 remnants of Egyptian architecture are still met with on the 
 road leading to them ; and if, as we find in Theophrastus,^ the 
 commentaries of the Egyptians spoke of them, it is evident 
 
 ' In Quatremere de Quinzi, Mtmoires sur VEgypte, vol. ii. p. 143 and 155, also Mafrizi. 
 
 » TlTese' m?counts are perfectly correct. Alaky is the Salaka in D' AnviUe's map, which 
 he also affirms to be Berenice Panchr>sos. The Greek name signihes " aboundmg m gold. 
 Its distance from the Nile is about three hundred and fifty miles ; or, for caravans, htteen 
 days' journey. Essouan is called the next town, not on account of its proximity to the 
 former, the distance being two hundred and forty miles, but because no other intervenes. 
 
 ♦ Diodonis, i. p. 19. * Belzoni, Narrative, p. 315. 
 
 * Theoph. De Lapidibus, Op. p. 394 ; cf. Plin. xxxvii. 19. 
 
U2 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. hi. 
 
 CHAP. HI.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 443 
 
 they must have been worked under the Pharaohs ; and if so, 
 it is probable that their produce was considered as belonging 
 to the king, as the present pacha has attempted to make them, 
 although hitherto without success. We know, from what is 
 said by the Arabian writers, that they were worked till the end 
 of the fourteenth century.* Masudi calls the place Kharbat, 
 (in which may easily be recognised the present name, Zubara,) 
 and very correctly describes it as a mountainous desert in the 
 country of the Bejahs, eight days' journey from the Nile. The 
 emeralds, of which he enumerates four species, found at that 
 time a ready sale in India and China. 
 
 The fisheries, in so far as they belonged to the king, must 
 be considered as a third source of the revenues of the Pha- 
 raohs. The Nile contains abundance of fish, particularly at 
 the time of its flood.^ As fish formed a principal article of 
 food, fishing was a very lucrative employment. Of what im- 
 portance the fisheries were may best be learned from the words 
 of the prophet, when he threatens Egypt with approaching 
 misery : ^ " The waters shall fail from the sea, and the river 
 shall be wasted and dried up; the fishers also shall mourn, 
 and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and 
 they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish." The 
 fishery of the Nile itself did not belong to the crown ; but 
 that of the canals which connected the Nile with the lake 
 Moeris certainly did. Herodotus informs us* that this fishery 
 supplied a talent daily to the royal treasury, during the six 
 months in which the water flowed through the canal into the 
 lake, and during the other six months twenty mines a day; 
 which income, according to Diodorus's account,^ was appro- 
 priated to the queens as pin-money. The fish, of which there 
 were twenty-two different kinds, were salted, which shows the 
 importance of these fisheries ; and the quantity was so great, 
 that the persons employed to preserve them could seldom 
 complete their labour. 
 
 In addition to all this, there was the tribute paid by the 
 conquered nations, the Ethiopians and others, which was more 
 or less in proportion as the Pharaohs extended their domi- 
 nions. ^ Whether caravans paid a duty on entering the king- 
 
 » Quatremere, Mimoires sur VEgypte, vol. ii. 175, etc. ; Sur la Mine des Emeraudes, 
 from Arabian MSS. in the Royal library. « Herod, ii. 93. =* Isaiah xix. 5—9. 
 
 According to Herod, ii. 77, the fish were partly dried in the sun, partly salted. He enu- 
 merates tribes who lived entirely on fish, ii. 92. * Herod, ii. 149. * Diod. i. p. 62. 
 
 * Schol. ad Homer. II. ix. 'Eu 0»}j3ais 6k fjv irpoTtpov to. ^aviXtia rf/s kiyv-rrrov, tU 
 & iroXXoi^s l<^tpov (popov^ At/3ue?, AtyoirTioi, AiQioTm. Nui/ 6k AioaTroXi^ KaXtixat. 
 
 dom, and whether an impost was paid for irrigating the lands 
 towards the maintenance of the canals, which seems very pro- 
 bable, must still be left to conjecture. 
 
 But how were these taxes paid ? Was there any coined 
 money in Egypt ? That the precious metals served as repre- 
 sentatives of value cannot be doubted ; but were they only 
 measured by weight, or were they coined ? No coin of the 
 Pharaohs has yet been discovered, nor has anything yet been 
 found on the monuments relating to money. Nevertheless we 
 aiust conclude, from the transactions between Joseph and his 
 brethren, that accounts were kept in Egypt in money. " And 
 he commanded the steward to put every man's money in his 
 sack's mouth : to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of 
 silver."* Against coining there was a particular law,*^ as well 
 as against usury. Was it Phoenician, and afterwards Cyre- 
 nian money, that was current in Egypt ?^ We cannot an- 
 swer. Possibly payments may usually have been made by 
 weight, as scales very often occur in the reliefs. 
 
 From the accounts of Diodorus, it is clear that the Egyp- 
 tians had a written body of laws in eight books : * specimens 
 of these are preserved by the same historian ; and from what I 
 have already said I think it certain, that he extracted these 
 from translations which he found ready to his hands. These 
 laws, which the Egyptians ascribed to their earliest kings,^ re- 
 late to crimes and matters of police (with which the legisla- 
 tion of all nations begins, because they are first wanted) ; and 
 they betray mostly their early origin by their severe punish- 
 ments. Others, nevertheless, show us a people that had al- 
 ready made considerable progress in civilization.^ Security of 
 person and property (the creditor could only attach the pro- 
 perty, not the person) ; the sanctity of oaths (which was con- 
 sidered as the foundation of the state) ; and of marriages 
 (among the priests monogamy was ordained, but not among 
 the other classes, and the father gave his rank to his children, 
 even if their mothers were slaves) ; the permission, and yet 
 the limitation of usury (the capital could only be doubled by 
 the interest) ; the punishments of treachery and cowardice in 
 a soldier, of coining base metals, using false measures, weights, 
 
 1 Genesis xliv. 1 ; xlv. 22. * Diodorus, i. p. 89, 93. 
 
 ' The Cyrenians sent a present of five hundred mities in their money to Cambyses, who 
 thought tliis sum too small. Herod, iii. 13. * Diodorus, i. p. 87, etc. 
 
 ' To Mneves, Asychis, Sesostris, Bochoris. Diodorus, i. 106. 
 • Diodorus, ii. p. 88, sqq. 
 
444 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. in. 
 
 CHAP. III.] 
 
 THEBES AND ITS MONUMENTS. 
 
 445 
 
 seals, and forging legal documents, are proofs of this assertion. 
 The single law, which inflicted the same punishment for the 
 murder of a freeman and a slave, gives a proof of an advance 
 in moral civilization which is seldom met with in the nations 
 of antiquity.^ 
 
 This is shown still further by their legal institutions, re- 
 specting which Diodorus has preserved many valuable par- 
 ticulars. The kings themselves did not sit as judges, but the 
 administration of justice was left to its proper tribunals, whose 
 sentences were strictly limited by the laws. No counsel were 
 permitted, but every one pleaded his own cause. The ac- 
 counts of Diodorus^ are confined to the regulations of the 
 highest court of justice ; of the lower courts, of which many 
 must have existed, we know nothing. This tribunal consisted 
 of thirty judges, who were chosen from the principal inhabit- 
 ants of the three cities of Thebes, Memphis, and Heliopolis ; 
 and were paid by the king. That they were taken from the 
 priest caste will scarcely be doubted, if we remember that these 
 three cities were the chief seats of the priesthood, and of their 
 wisdom and learning. These thirty elected from among them- 
 selves a president, (the king therefore did not appoint him,) 
 whose place was filled up by another from the city to which he 
 belonged. The proceedings in this high court of justice were 
 all transacted in writing, as their great object was to avoid 
 everything that could excite the passions. The prosecutor 
 first sent a copy of his accusation, and specified at the same 
 time the damages he demanded ; to which the defendant an- 
 swered in a similar manner. The prosecutor was at liberty to 
 reply to this in writing, and the defendant might again an- 
 swer ; and after this the court was obliged to pronounce sen- 
 tence. This likewise was given in writing, and sealed by the 
 president. He, as an emblem of his dignity, wore round his 
 neck a golden chain,^ to which was attached an image set in 
 precious stones, with a hieroglyphic (fwafoi/); it was called 
 Truth. He was obliged to hang this about him at the begin- 
 ning of every session. This image, as we are expressly in- 
 
 » What most surprises us is, that the robbers had also their chief, to whom they gave an 
 accurate account of their depredations ; and, upon applying to him, the injured person re- 
 ceived back three-fourths of his property. Diod. i. 91. The prostitutes, in like manner, 
 formed a corporation which had a chief; and both these regulations resulted from the strict 
 division into castes. The thieves in Cairo, according to Keynier, etc., have still their prin- 
 cipals, who are applied to for the recovery of stolen property. Reynier, Ecotwmie Politique 
 et Rurale des Egyptiens, p. 99. 
 
 ' Diodorus, i. 86, 87. ^ As our Master of the Treasury. 
 
 formed by Diodorus,^ was the seal which was affixed to the 
 sentence. In all this there is nothing surprising or impro- 
 bable. A golden chain was given even to Joseph as a sign of 
 honour ; and it is often found sculptured on the monuments 
 with some ornament attached to it.^ 
 
 To the observations made in explaining the martial reliefs, 
 there is little to be added respecting the military tactics of the 
 Pharaohs. That the kings themselves commanded their armies, 
 that they appeared in person as brave warriors, has already 
 been remarked. The military art of the Egyptians was similar 
 in many particulars to that of the Greeks, as described in Ho- 
 mer. Neither nation made use of cavalry ;^ their armies con- 
 sisted of war-chariots and infantry. The war-chariots seem to 
 have borne by far the largest proportion — even to judge from 
 Homer* — as whole battles are described in which only chariots 
 are engaged. The greater or smaller figure of the heroes de- 
 termines their rank. The king, elevated above all, is some- 
 times designated by the hawk hovering over him ; at others, by 
 the serpent, the tirceus, in his helmet, and sometimes by both. 
 He is also known by having a standard usually carried behind 
 him, which represents the leaf of the Palma Thebaica. The 
 splendour of the horses, as well as of their trappings and well- 
 arranged harness, is astonishing ; as is also that of their beau- 
 tifully-formed chariots, seemingly all of metal.^ Not less re- 
 markable are the close columns and skilful positions of their 
 infantry, just as Xenophon describes them.^ These positions 
 
 * 'E^Ht Tov dpxi^i'^(i<^'rht' TO ^(iiSiov t^s aXijOtt'as nrpoaTidtaQai ti] trtpa twv afi<i>L(T^i]» 
 'dri(Tiu}v. On the walls of one of the large halls in the palace of Osymandyas this is sculptured 
 in relief; from which it appears to have been used as a place of meeting for these tribunals. 
 Diodorus, i. p. 58. 
 
 « As in Belzoni's royal vault, plate i., and particularly in Elephantis, Descnpt. plate 
 xxxvii. vol. i., where Amnion is represented in full dress, with a golden chain, as receiving 
 the chief-justice. The ornament is alone represented, plate xxxvi, 6. It is the god of the 
 sun (Phre) between two animals with women's heads. 
 
 ^ Cavalry certainly occurs among their Asiatic enemies, etc. Hamilton, p. 125. Descrip- 
 tion^ plate iii. 39. 
 
 ♦ II. ix. 382, 383, " Thebes with its hundred gates, sending forth from each two hundred 
 men with chariots and horses." There is great uncertainty with respect to these hundred 
 gates. As Thebes had no walls, it could not have had gates. It may however refer to the 
 gates of the large pylones, to the outlets of the great race-course, or even to the place of re- 
 view ; but the French think the latter impossible, there being but fifty instead of a hundred. 
 The poet nevertheless cannot be censured here on account of the number, as it might be 
 equally difficult to point out the hundred pvlones. According to Diodorus, i. p. 55, in the 
 valley 0^ the Nile, between Memphis and Thebes, there were a hundred royal stables, each 
 containing two hundred horses ; but this is far from affording a satisfactory explanation, as 
 they were not in the town. Whether we are to consider them as the pylones or gates of 
 palaces, or the entrances to the race-course, must still be left undecided. If, however, we 
 admit that before any great expeditions the army assembled within the city and in the cir- 
 cus, and from its gates issued forth, the poet's description appears justified. 
 
 ^ See plate xii. vol. ii. ; xxxviii. xxxix. vol. iii. 
 
 ^ Xenoph. Ci/rop. vi. p. 166; vii. p. 177, 179 ; and compare Hamilton s remarks upon the 
 regularity of the movements in the lines of the Egyptian infantry, (p. 146,) such as is only 
 possible with well-trained troops. 
 
446 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. IV. 
 
 CIIAP. IV.] 
 
 COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES. 
 
 447 
 
 presuppose long and constant training, and therefore could 
 only be introduced in standing armies, or, according to Egyp- 
 tian custom, in the warrior caste. The manner of attack, of 
 surrounding and outflanking,^ give evident proofs of advanced 
 skill in tactics. The same skill is also observed in the naval 
 engagements, which proves beyond contradiction that there 
 existed, at least in some periods, a naval power under the 
 Pharaohs. 
 
 We have thus endeavoured to sketch a picture of one of the 
 most ancient and powerful states of the world. Our next task 
 is to develop the causes of its splendour, so far as it was built 
 on its industry and trade. This will be attempted in the next 
 chapter ; in which our view will be extended over the whole of 
 
 Egypt. 
 
 Chap. IV. Commerce and Manufactures, 
 
 IN THAT DAY THERE SHALL BE A HIGHWAY OUT OF EGYPT TO ASSYRIA ; AND THE 
 ASSYRIAN SHALL COME INTO EGYPT, AND THE EGYPTIANS INTO ASSYRIA. ISAIAH 
 XIX. 23. 
 
 The attempts made by the Egyptians to hand down to poste- 
 rity a picture of their arts and manufactures, will be of mani- 
 fold service in this part of our labour. The tombs at Eilethyia 
 are on this account one of the most interesting discoveries 
 made by the French in Egypt.^ The painted reliefs on the 
 walls of what is usually called the Sultan's tomb, represent the 
 occupations of daily life, the various branches of husbandry, of 
 fishing, hunting, navigation, and of the business of their mar- 
 kets. We have now made visible to our eyes what we could 
 before but very imperfectly conceive from mere verbal descrip- 
 tions. We cannot of course expect very detailed pictures ; 
 nor must we conclude that they were ignorant of such domes- 
 tic occupations as we do not happen to find among them. The 
 industry of so civilized a nation is distributed over too many 
 different objects for them all to be represented here. But how 
 various soever the occupations of this people might be, there 
 is no question but that the cultivation of the earth held the 
 highest rank, for husbandry and agriculture were considered 
 the foundation of civihzation. 
 
 Their agriculture, from the nature of the country, exhibits 
 many peculiarities. It depended on irrigation ; and it was 
 
 * Xenophon, Cyrop. y\\. Op. p. 17-i. 
 ' Description de VEgypte, plates Ixi. — Ixx. vol. i. 
 
 therefore not only limited to certain tracts, but its labours were 
 also confined to a veiy short proportion of the year : they 
 could not be performed till after the flood, because the soil 
 previous to that is every where parched up and full of chasms 
 from the heat of the sun.^ When the overflowing of the stream 
 takes place, the water soaks into the ground, softens it, and 
 makes it fruitful. When the water has run off, sowing must 
 immediately follow ; because the soil, which is now similar to 
 a drained marsh, soon gets hardened. The seed sown on the 
 moist earth, (for no manure is wanted,) either sinks into it of 
 itself, or is trodden in by cattle driven over it. Neither the 
 plough nor the spade is made use of, except when the soil gets 
 too hard. The plough is often represented : very simple, with- 
 out wheels, and drawn by oxen, and sometimes by men;^ and 
 seems to have been used rather for harrowing than turning up 
 the soil. Between sowing and reaping no labour is required. 
 There are very few weeds in Egypt. When they sow in No- 
 vember, the harvest begins in April. The corn is cut with 
 the sickle ; often merely the ears, as the straw is of but little 
 value."* It is carried from the field in baskets ; trodden out 
 by oxen ; and the chaff separated from the grain on the floor 
 by sifting. When this is done, the husbandman is at leisure 
 until the'^next flood. This relief from labour must have pro- 
 duced, in a few years, an incalculable influence on the cha- 
 racter of the inhabitants, by enabling them to devote so long 
 a time to their improvement and religious feasts. 
 
 We are told of the various kinds of corn they cultivated 
 even before the departure of the Israelites, when it was de- 
 stroyed by a hail-storm : " And the flax and the barley was 
 smitten ; for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was boiled : 
 but the wheat and the rye were not smitten, for they were not 
 grown up."* The wheat and barley harvests are met with on 
 the monuments ;^ that of rye is not easily to be distinguished.^ 
 As to the flax, we have not only its harvest, but the further 
 process it underwent represented.^ 
 
 The cultivation of cotton was, as we learn from Pliny ,« 
 
 1 Se6 for this and the foUowing statement, Reynier, Ecommie Politique et Rurale des 
 Egyptiens, p. 192, etc. * Descript. plates Ixviii. Ixix. vol. i. ; xc. vol. u. 
 
 =* See above, p. 343, note. * Exodns ix. 31, 32. -^ ^ t, w „^„j a.* 
 
 * Descript. plate xc. vol. ii. The yellow colour of the ears shows it to be ^fte^d^^^^^^ 
 wheat. 6 See vol. iii. plate xxvi. ; the sheaves which are offered are either barley 
 
 or rve. ' Plate Ixviii. vol. i. . .^ /. ^- v 
 
 « Plin. xix. 2. Superior pars ^gypti in Arabian! vergens gignit fruticera, quern alu 
 gossipium vocant, plures xylina, et ideo lina inde facta xylina, nee uUa sunt candore moUi- 
 tiave pneferenda. Vestes inde saccrdotibus ^gypti gratissimae. 
 
448 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. IV. 
 
 quite naturalized in Upper Egypt ; though we cannot exactly 
 determine when it was first introduced. But, since we find 
 that the dress of the mummies was chiefly composed of cotton, 
 we are justified in assigning a very early date to its cultiva- 
 tion in Egypt. Whether any traces of it exist on the monu- 
 ments, particularly in the decorations, I must leave for botan- 
 ists to decide. 
 
 The situation of the valley of the Nile and Delta, which 
 were so abundantly supplied with water, and exposed besides 
 to the yearly overflowing of the Nile, was highly favourable 
 to the cultivation of aquatic plants, which constituted an im- 
 portant part of agriculture, particularly in Lower Egypt. 
 There is a passage respecting this in Herodotus,* which is the 
 foundation of all that is now known on the subject : " Those 
 who dwell in the marshes have the same customs as the rest 
 of the Egyptians; but to procure themselves easily the means 
 of sustenance, they have devised the following inventions : 
 when the river is full, and the plains are become as a sea, there 
 springs up in the water a quantity of lilies, which the Egyp- 
 tians call ' lotus.' After they have gathered these, they dry 
 them in the sun ; and then, squeezing out what is contained 
 within the lotus, resembling the poppy, they make it into 
 loaves, which they bake witli fire : the root also of this lotus, 
 which is round, and of the size of an apple, is edible, and 
 imparts a sweet flavour. There are also other lilies, similar to 
 roses, likewise produced in the river ; the fruit of which grows 
 on a separate stem,- arising from the side of the root, in shape 
 very like a wasp's comb;^ in this are found many kernels of 
 the size of an olive-stone ; these are eaten green and dried. 
 Of the byblus, which is an annual plant, after they have 
 plucked it from the marshes, they cut off the top part, and 
 employ it for various purposes ; the lower part that remains, 
 about a cubit in length, they eat, and offer it for sale ; but 
 such as wish to make a very delicate mess of the byblus, stew 
 it in a hot pan, and so eat it." 
 
 Herodotus distinguished here two kinds of lilies {icplvea) as 
 he calls them, or lotuses. There is no doubt about them ; and 
 both are found on the monuments. The one first mentioned 
 is the Nymphea Lotus ; the other the Nyjnpliea Nelumbo, 
 
 * Herod, ii. 92. * 'Ev dWy koXvki irapa<bvofiivri ik t^s pt^^v ylvtTai. Larcher 
 
 in his notes proves that this is a second stem, which springs from the root together with 
 another. ' Kij/^tco a<f>r)Kunf. The wasps are probably the wild bees. Their combs 
 
 have holes for the honey, as these lotuses have for the seeds or kernels. 
 
 CHAP. IV.] 
 
 COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES. 
 
 449 
 
 Linn., or Nelumbium Speciosum, They are both water-plants : 
 the former is found in abundance in the neighbourhood of 
 Damietta ; its stalk grows about five feet above the water, and 
 is still used, as we are assured by Savary, as an article of food 
 by the inhabitants.* The other plant, equally celebrated in 
 India, is, or at least was, found in Egypt. Its fruit, of which 
 not only a drawing, but the original itself,^ now lies before me, 
 cannot be more clearly and truly described than it has been 
 done by Herodotus. The kernels, similar to those of the olive, 
 lie in the calyx, each in a cavity or cell. Both plants had re- 
 ligious allusions, among others, to the empire of the dead, and 
 therefore we find them portrayed in the catacombs. A most 
 beautiful representation of them is .found in the royal vault 
 opened by Belzoni, both in their natural colours, with their 
 stalks and fruits.' On the left of the spectator is the Nymphea 
 Lotus, and on his right the Nelumbium, They often occur 
 in this tomb, and are always represented with two stalks of 
 each broken and hanging down : certainly not without some 
 meaning. Their leaves and calyxes are to be seen in every 
 part as ornaments. According to Herodotus, both seem to 
 grow wild. But the Nelumbium must also have been culti- 
 vated ; for in one of the royal sepulchres the harvest of a 
 nelumbo-field, as we are assured by well-informed botanists, is 
 represented.* The assertion of Herodotus, that the fruit grows 
 upon a separate stem or stalk, is also confirmed ; as two stalks 
 always grow together, one of which bears the fruit. The third 
 plant mentioned by Herodotus is the byblus, from which the 
 papyrus was made, and which also served as food. As He- 
 rodotus is speaking here of plants of the latter kind, he only 
 alludes to the other uses to which they might be put in a 
 general manner. The byblus is certainly a water-plant, though, 
 according to Theophrastus, it does not grow in deep water.* 
 He also mentions its being used for food, as the stalk was 
 chewed for its juice. From Herodotus however we learn that 
 it was also prepared for food in another manner. Botanists 
 must decide whether it occurs on the monuments. That it 
 was -manufactured very early in Egypt into papyrus, cannot be 
 doubted, since many papyrus rolls have been found in the 
 catacombs of Thebes ; but to fix exactly the time of its inven- 
 tion is now impossible. These rolls prove beyond a doubt, 
 
 * Savary, Lettres sur VEgypte, p. 8, note 9. 
 ' From the Collection of Blumenbach. 
 
 * Deacripiionf plate xc. vol. ii. 
 
 ^a 6 
 
 * Belzoni, plate ii. 
 * Theophrast. De Plantity iv. 9. 
 
450 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. IV. 
 
 that the literature of Egypt was much richer than could other- 
 wise have been supposed. Besides the religious writings, the 
 custom (so often represented) of drawing up public documents 
 of all public transactions, must have given rise to the form- 
 ation of archives ; and it follows, as a matter of course, that in 
 the imperial palaces, such as that of Osymandyas, there must 
 have been a library, or saloon, set apart for the preservation of 
 the public writings, both religious and political. It is well 
 known that the byblus plant grows also in Europe, though 
 only in one spot, namely, in the rivulet Cyane, near Syracuse, 
 and certainly there in great abundance. It was this circum- 
 stance that induced the late Chevalier Landolina to use the 
 pith or pulp of this shrub for the preparation of papyrus,^ in 
 which undertaking he perfectly succeeded.^ All the state- 
 ments of Herodotus have been confirmed by the experiments 
 and researches of this gentleman. 
 
 The climate of ancient Egypt did not suit for the growth of 
 the olive ; but they cultivated a kind of sesaniunu which He- 
 rodotus calls sifUicyprium,^ and the Egyptian kiki, from which 
 they extracted oil. The wine-press, according to Herodotus, 
 was unknown in Egypt,* though the use of wine was permitted 
 to the priests, and at certain festivals to the people,^ who at 
 other times drank a kind of beer made of barley.^ The grape 
 vine, however, was not totally unknown in Egypt ; branches of 
 it, with ripe grapes growing thereon, are found among the 
 architectural ornaments.^ Both the vintage and the process of 
 pressing the grapes are represented in the paintings of Eile- 
 thyia.^ But the vine at all events could only have been cul- 
 tivated in a few high-lying districts. Belzoni found it in abund- 
 ance in Fayoume, about the lake Moeris.^ 
 
 Egypt was destitute both of woods and forests. Except the 
 date-palm and the sycamore, of which the cases of the mum- 
 mies are made, it had no lofty trees ; unless we may include 
 the sacred tree, the persea, which I think sometimes occurs on 
 the monuments.^® 
 
 The breeding and tending of cattle constitute a second pnn- 
 
 1 The most accurate accounts of this are found in Barters Letters upon Calabria and 
 Sicily, vol. iii. p. 50, etc., where also the statements of Theophrastus as to the sweetness 
 and flavour of the sap are confirmed. ^ , .v p^i, - *. ,..\ 
 
 * Upon this 1 can give a decided judgment, as I possess specmiens both of the ancient ana 
 modem papyrus. That prepared hy Landolina is rather clearer than the Egyptian. 
 
 » Herodotus, ii. 94. * Ibid. ii. 77. ' Ibid. ii. 60. . * Ibid. ii. 77. 
 
 ' Descript plate ii 9. ' Ibid, plate Ixxviu. vol. i. 
 
 » Belzom,' Narrative, p. 381. »» MinutoH's Travels, tab. xxx. 
 
 CHAP. IV.] 
 
 COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES. 
 
 451 
 
 cipal branch of Egyptian husbandry ; but it depended partly 
 on religion, and partly on the situation of the lands. 
 
 The influence of religion on the breeding of cattle, seems 
 to have been less than might be expected, where animal 
 idolatry formed so essential a part of the religion of the people. 
 But of the larger domestic animals, the cow is the only one that 
 was considered sacred : ^ the worship of the bull Apis applied 
 only to a single beast. The bull, when clean, was a common 
 sacrifice, and is often represented as such on the reliefs.^ Of 
 the domestic animals, the sheep was sacred in some nomes, and 
 the goat in others.^ Swine were altogether unclean ; though 
 at one festival they were offered to Osiris.'* 
 
 That black cattle formed a principal branch of this occupa- 
 tion, requires no proof, as a whole caste was named from it. 
 They were kept in herds, and appear in this manner on the 
 monuments.^ The ox was used both for food and agricultural 
 labour ; the ploughs are usually represented as drawn by oxen.^ 
 The buffalo does not occur on the monuments. 
 
 That the breeding of horses was not less common in Egypt, 
 is evinced by the monuments. I find no proof that the horse 
 was made use of in husbandry ; but it certainly was for car- 
 riages, both in peace and war, as it often appears on the mo- 
 numents ; never for riding. To judge from these represent- 
 ations, a most noble breed of horses must have been found in 
 Egypt, as there is even now in the valley of the Nile above 
 Egypt, in Dongola. The breeding of horses was so consider- 
 able, that a trade with foreign countries was carried on with 
 them. Solomon obtained the horses for his numerous cavalry 
 from Egypt.^ How much fancy and splendour prevailed in the 
 harness and trappings, is manifest from the reliefs.® 
 
 The breeding of asses and mules was always common in 
 Egypt ;^ and from the fragments of the work of Mago, it is 
 clear that the Carthaginians also bred them, consequently they 
 were found over all North Africa.^® 
 
 It has been asserted, that the camel does not occur on the 
 monuments ; and thence it has been concluded, that it was not 
 a native either of Egypt or Africa till after the conquest of the 
 
 ' They were sacred to Isis, and never sacrificed. 
 
 2 What was requisite to make them so, is shown by Herod, ii. 38. ^^, 
 
 » Herodotus, ii. 42. * Ibid. iL 47, 48. =• Descnpt. plate Ixvui. vol. i. 
 
 • Descript. plate Ixix. vol. i. .. ' 2 Chron. ix. 28. 
 
 ' Compare especially Descript. plate xii. vol. ii. ^ t* rr 
 
 « Genesis iv. 23: xlvii. 17. Mules occur also on the monuments, etc., Denon, Voyage^ 
 plate cxxiv. '» Vol. i. p. 505, 508. 
 
 2 G 2 
 
452 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. IV. 
 
 Arabs.^ But admitting the first assertion to be true, is the 
 latter a necessary consequence ? The ass does not appear on 
 the monuments ; but are these a manual of zoology ? Even 
 the first objection however is contradicted. On the obelisks 
 of Luxor the long necks of camels are often perceived ;'^ and 
 that they are heads and necks of camels beyond all question 
 is confirmed by the latest modern traveller.^ I have remarked 
 in another place, that camel-breeding to a great extent is not 
 to be expected among agricultural, but nomad people ; for the 
 camel prospers best by being constantly in the open air. The 
 valley of the Nile, continually exposed to floods, was but little 
 adapted to the rearing of camels ; and therefore we need not 
 be surprised at not discovering the camel on the reliefs that 
 represent the husbandry of that valley. Notwithstanding this, 
 it was still known and employed in Egypt. Scarcely any one 
 can be ignorant of the fact, that the tribes of the adjacent 
 Arabia, that the Midianites in particular, made the breeding of 
 camels their chief occupation ; that even in the time of Joseph 
 their merchants travelled with their camels into Egypt. Again, 
 in Africa itself the camel was native from the earliest times. 
 Camel-breeding is at this time the chief employment of the 
 Ababdes in the eastern mountain-chain : thence they are 
 brought to the Egyptian markets ;* and the case was the sanie 
 in antiquity. The Arabian tribes above Egypt bred them in 
 great numbers ; for they sent their cavalry of camels to the 
 army of Xerxes.^ How then could this useful and necessary 
 animal remain a stranger to the valley of Egypt, when it was 
 bred by the nations that surrounded it ? 
 
 The nature of the country would not allow the breeding of 
 sheep to be carried on to any great degree in the valley of the 
 Nile. Some were nevertheless bred here : Jacob, at a very 
 early period, drove his flocks into Egypt.^ On the monu- 
 ments both single sheep and flocks appear ;^ and it would be 
 superfluous to point out the importance of the ram in the 
 Egyptian worship. But if Egypt herself did not produce all 
 the wool required for her manufactures, she had nations of 
 
 > So H. Walkenaer, Eecherches Gtographiques sur VInt6rieur de VAfrique ; Journal 
 dea Savants, Ftvrier, 1822, p. 106. Camels nevertheless occur in Egypt, according to 
 Genesis xii. 16. 
 
 • Descript. plate xxxiii. vol. iii. Minutoli, tab. xvi. fig. 1. 
 
 ' Minutoli, Journey,^. 293. * Particularly to Esneh. Minutoli's Travels, p. 276. 
 
 • Herod, ii. 62, 86, 87. It is evident that this refers to the Arabs above Egypt ; for they 
 served under the same commander with the Ethiopians, and Herodotus assures us that the 
 inhabitants of Arabia were not subject to Xerxes. 
 
 • Genesis xlvii. 1, 17. ' Descript. plate Ixviii. vol. i. 
 
 CHAP. IV.] 
 
 COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES. 
 
 453 
 
 shepherds for her neighbours, particularly in Syria and Arabia, 
 who produced it of the very finest quahty. 
 
 Frequent representations on the monuments show that all 
 kinds of poultry were kept in abundance. The catching of 
 water-birds with nets is also often portrayed.^ 
 
 The monuments of ancient Egypt are, if anything, richer 
 in information respecting the manufactures than respecting the 
 productions of the husbandman. Previously to our obtaining 
 copies of these pictures, nobody could have supposed that the 
 nation had carried them to so high a degree of perfection. 
 The mechanic, by an accurate inspection, may find here an 
 extensive field for new discoveries. We, however, must con- 
 tent ourselves with enumerating and describing the principal 
 branches of their industry. Egypt herself produced the rough 
 materials for many of them; but not for all, nor in such 
 abundance as was required. A considerable portion must 
 have been imported. 
 
 Of the different branches, weaving claims our first attention, 
 as it undoubtedly employed a great part of the population. 
 When the prophet wishes to paint the misery that was to be- 
 fall Egypt and the labouring classes of the people, he mentions 
 the weavers next to the fishermen : " Moreover they that work 
 in fine flax, and they that weave networks, shall be confounded. 
 And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make 
 sluices and ponds for fish."* According to Herodotus, weaving 
 was the business of men,' and therefore not merely a domestic 
 affair, but carried on in large manufactories.* It is often re- 
 presented : the most beautiful specimen of it is given by Minu- 
 toli from the tomb of Beni Hassan.^ " The weaver s loom is 
 fastened to four pegs rammed into the ground ; and the work- 
 man sits on that part of the web already finished, which is a 
 small chequered pattern of yellow and green. It is observable 
 in many colours of the early Egyptian cloths, that the byssus 
 was dyed in the wool before being weaved." These manufac- 
 tures had attained a wonderful perfection in Egypt even in the 
 time of Moses, of which, among many others, the covers and 
 
 • Descript. plate Ixxiv. vol. i. * Isaiah xix. 9, 10. According to Gesenius's 
 translation. * Herod, ii. 35. 
 
 ♦ The inscription at Rosetta, line 17, 18, where it is said " that the king had remitted 
 two-thirds of the cotton stuffs ((Svcralixau oQoviutv) which were paid by the temples to the 
 treasury," makes it probable that these manufactures belonged to the temples or the priest- 
 hood. Ameilhon, Inscription de Rosette, sect. 12, 20, conjectures, with some probability, 
 that the temples had a monopoly of the stuffs which were used for the mummies. 
 
 ^ Minutoli, plate xxiv. vol. ii. He also represents the twisting of nets. Compare 
 Isaiah xix. 8. 
 
w#9 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. IV. 
 
 carpets of the tabernacle aflTord a striking example. They 
 were sometimes made a hundred yards long ; and many of 
 them were embroidered with coloured thread or gold wn^e, by 
 way of ornament.^ In the time of Joseph costly garments 
 were the most honourable presents that could be made.* We 
 need not in this case, however, appeal to dead authorities 
 alone ; the monuments speak. Both in the engravings of the 
 work upon Egypt, of the royal tombs of Belzoni, and m those 
 of Minutoli, we see these garments in their splendid colours, 
 as fresh as ever. They are so different and various, that a 
 difference in the stuffs cannot be questioned. Many of them 
 are so fine, that the limbs shine through ;' others, on the con- 
 trary, are coarser. The finer seem rather to be made of cotton 
 than of linen ; though a positive decision is impossible from a 
 mere engraving. For the same reason I dare not venture to 
 assert that silk is found amongst them. Both the king and 
 the soldiers are usually dressed in short tunics ; but the latter 
 form an exception in the processions ; husbandmen and labour- 
 ers wear merely a white apron ; the priests, long garments, 
 often thrown round their shoulders in a fantastical manner. 
 Many of these are white ; and many white and red striped ; 
 others are starred or flowered ; and many exhibit the most 
 splendid colours of the East. The fine garments involuntarily 
 remind us of the Indian muslins ; in the dazzling glitter of 
 others silk stuffs seem to be represented. As descriptions, 
 however, can convey but a very imperfect idea of them,. I 
 must refer the readers to the last ten plates of the second part 
 of the great work upon Egypt, and to the first five of the 
 Atlas of Belzoni ; where the garments of the king and others 
 afford the best specimens. 
 
 It is clear from what has been said, that the art of dyeing 
 had made as great progress as that of weaving. The various 
 colours, white, yellow, red, blue, green, and black, are met 
 with in beautiful perfection, but without mixture. Upon the 
 materials used for dyeing, and whether found in Egypt itself, 
 or imported from Babylon and India, I dare not decide. That 
 the Tyrians took part in it is very probable, as it will be pre- 
 sently shown that they had an active establishment at Mem- 
 phis. From what we have said, then, it is certain that two or 
 three thousand years ago the art of weaving and dyeing was 
 
 » See Goguet, u. 86, sqq. ; and Gatterer's Weltgeschichte in ihrem ganzm ^^M9Jj 
 p. 65, sqq. « G^ne^ xlv. 22. ' See in parUcular the robe of the kings, 
 
 Descript. plate xxxi. vol. ii., and the copper-plates of Belzoni. 
 
 CHAP. IV.] 
 
 COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES. 
 
 455 
 
 brought to an equally high, or even higher, degree of perfec- 
 tion in the East than at present. And from this it naturally 
 follows, that the intercourse and commerce of these nations 
 must have been as great, or greater, than it is now. For is it 
 to be supposed that the arts could have proceeded so far among 
 an isolated people ? Did their country alone produce the raw 
 materials and dyes which were necessary to carry them on ? 
 
 The works in metal rank next to weaving. They carry us 
 back to an age when the use of iron was yet unknown ; for so 
 far as we can judge from the colour, which is always green, all 
 implements not of gold or silver were formed of bronze. It 
 has already been remarked, that the war-chariots seem to be 
 entirely made of bronze. Their green colour, their form, the 
 lightness and neatness of the wheels, and their very beautiful 
 ornaments, all prove this very satisfactorily. A p;reat portion 
 of their weapons were likewise of bronze ; not only the swords, 
 but also the bows and quivers. Both these and the cutlery 
 represented among the hieroglyphics are always green. Whence 
 did Egypt procure this great quantity of bronze ? There were 
 no mines in Egypt from which metal could be obtained. Was 
 it supplied from the Nubian gold mines ? Diodorus at least 
 tells us that all the instruments used in them were made of 
 
 metal. 
 
 These, as well as all other instruments and furniture, whether 
 of wood or metal, were formed with so much elegance, and in 
 such ereat variety, that the Egyptians in this respect rivalled 
 every "other nation of antiquity, the Greeks not excepted. 
 Their beds and couches may even now be taken as models.^ 
 The silver tripods and basins, the neat baskets and spindles of 
 the ladies, as now seen on the monuments, were celebrated in 
 the time of Homer, and are praised by him." Their musical 
 instruments, particularly their harps, surpass our modern ones 
 in the elegance of their shape.' The richness and variety 
 which prevail in all these matters, cannot fail to give a high 
 notion of the refinement of their daily and domestic hfe. 
 
 Finally, their earthenware composed an important branch 
 of their manufactures." Egypt produces an excellent clay, 
 which possesses the peculiar quality of giving an agreeable 
 coolness to the water kept in vessels made of it. This earth- 
 enware was not only in common use, but was also used m the 
 
 » Descrint ulato Ixxxix vol ii ' Odi/ss. iv. 128. ' Plate xci. vol. ii. 
 
 * KeS SfolnSX %upt. V- 274. Coptoi is said to have been formerly the pnna- 
 pal place for its fabrication, as Kuft in its vicinity is at present. 
 
456 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. IV. 
 
 CHAP. IV.] 
 
 COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES. 
 
 457 
 
 tombs, for the preservation of the mummies of the sacred ani- 
 mals ; such as the ibis and others. The variety and beauty of 
 the shapes into which it was moulded, may be compared with 
 the Grecian : they are also found painted of the most beauti- 
 ful colours.^ 
 
 The foregoing inquiry respecting the agriculture and manu- 
 factures of the ancient Egyptians will serve as the groundwork 
 for an inquiry into their commerce. 
 
 Nature seems, by the advantages she has conferred upon 
 Egypt, in its productiveness and geographical situation, to have 
 destined it for one of the most important trading countries ot 
 the world. Neither the despotism under which it groaned for 
 centuries, and still groans, nor the continual sanguinary broils 
 and wars of which it was the scene, have ever been able to 
 deprive it altogether of the benefit of these advantages : the 
 decrees of nature may be partially impeded, as regards their 
 execution, but cannot be totally frustrated. 
 
 An extensive and lively commerce would most easily, and 
 therefore the soonest, be formed on the banks of large rivers 
 running through countries rich in natural productions. Such 
 streams facilitate the intercourse of the inhabitants ; and a 
 lively trade at home, which promotes national industry, is al- 
 ways the surest foundation of national wealth, and consequently 
 of foreign trade. The course of the latter depends, in a great 
 measure, upon exterior circumstances and relations, which can- 
 not always be controlled ; but internal commerce, being the 
 sole work of the nation, only declines with the nation itself. 
 The Egyptians dwelt on a river such as here described ; the 
 Nile afforded them all these advantages, and history proves 
 that they profited by them. From Elephantis it is navigable 
 without interruption, even during the dry season, through the 
 whole of Egypt ; and the navigation against the stream is ren- 
 dered easy by the north winds which prevail during certain 
 periods of the year. 
 
 The ships or boats which they used (they were called baris) 
 were built entirely of native materials. They cut boards two 
 yards long from the root of the papyrus, a low tree. The mast 
 was of the same wood, and the ropes of byblus. Herodotus 
 describes the structure of these vessels, and assures us that there 
 were some of them of many thousand pounds burthen.^ 
 
 ' See Descript. plate Ixxxvii. vol. ii. and many other plates. 
 
 * We know them now from the pictures preserved in the tomhs of Eilethyia. Descript, 
 d' Egypt, plates Ixviii.— Ixxi. It is here seen that they were impelled both by sails and oars 
 
 The Egyptians very early profited by the advantages which 
 their country offered them. Even in the Mosaic age the ships 
 of the Nile were known and common.^ But when afterwards 
 the country became every where, particularly on the western 
 side, intersected with canals, navigation remained almost the 
 only convenient way for mutual communication, and was in- 
 deed the only one during the floods. The establishment of 
 canals, ascribed to Sesostris, was not, according to the express 
 testimony of Diodorus,^ designed merely for the extension of 
 the inundation, but for the promotion of the national trade 
 and intercourse. Sailors formed, as has been remarked above, 
 one of the most numerous castes. 
 
 The inundation happens during the hot months, when the 
 coolness of the water makes a residence on the river agreeable.^ 
 According to Herodotus,* the Egyptians celebrated every year 
 six general national festivals, all in the cities of Lower Egypt ; 
 and it seems that at least one of them, that of Diana or Arte- 
 mis in Bubastus, fell in this season. The people on this occa- 
 sion sailed from city to city ; and the inhabitants of each suc- 
 cessively joining the throng, their number at least increased to 
 700,000. It could not well be otherwise than that these fes- 
 tivals, during which the people indulged in all kinds of luxury, 
 (for in this single festival of Artemis, according to Herodotus, 
 more wine was consumed than in all the year besides,) should 
 become so many fairs and markets ; and these must have very 
 much promoted the internal commerce of Egypt,^ as has been 
 found to be the case among other nations. 
 
 This internal commerce, to which the government paid 
 particular attention,^ partly by prescribing the forms for the 
 security of loans, partly by regulating the rate of interest, and 
 partly by permitting the creditor to indemnify himself by the 
 property, and not the person, of the debtor ; this intercourse, 
 I say, became the parent of foreign trade, by increasing the 
 wealth of the nation. An opinion, however, has been fre- 
 quently entertained, that the Egyptians were an isolated na- 
 tion ; that carefully shunning all communication with foreign- 
 ers, and confining themselves within their own countiy, they 
 were indebted to themselves alone for their civilization. 
 
 > Exod. ii. 3. According to MichaeHs's translation. * Diodonis, i. 66. 
 
 3 Maillet, 1. c. * Herod, ii. 60. ^ -dm *i. • • *.\. 
 
 * A picture, or at least a sketch of marketing affairs, may be seen at Eilethyia m tne 
 purchase of a beast, which is being weighed. DescHpt. ii. p. 64. The same manner of 
 weighing is still in use in Egypt. * Diodorus, i. 90. 
 
458 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. IV. 
 
 CHAP. IV.J 
 
 1 
 
 COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES. 
 
 459 
 
 Though there is some truth in this notion, I yet venture to 
 hope it has been modified and corrected in various instances 
 by the present inquiries. 
 
 This notion seems to have arisen from the contempt which 
 the Egyptians (in common with other nations who observed a 
 certain diet and mode of life prescribed by religion') had for 
 foreigners ; and in addition to this, because they not only had 
 no navigation on the sea themselves, but sought, previously to 
 the time of Psammetichus, to prevent all foreigners from com- 
 ing by sea to their country.^ The causes of these peculiarities, 
 however, seem very evident, and they may be easily accounted 
 for, without having recourse to religious prejudices. 
 
 Neither Egypt nor any contiguous part of Africa produces 
 wood fit for building vessels for the sea. We are ignorant 
 where the early Pharaohs built the squadrons which they had 
 on the Arabian Gulf and Indian Sea ; probably on the coasts 
 of the latter. The later Pharaohs, who succeeded Psamme- 
 tichus, and the Ptolemies, could not fit out fleets till they had 
 the command of the Phoenician forests ; and it is well known 
 what bloody wars were carried on between the Ptolemies and 
 the Seleucidffi for the possession of those countries. But we 
 easily perceive, that the Tyrians and Sidonians felt little in- 
 clination to make the Egyptians a maritime people, however 
 the latter might have wished it. 
 
 One cause why the ancient Egyptians prohibited all access 
 to their country by sea, may be found in the early state of 
 maritime commerce. All the nations who traded on the Medi- 
 terranean, were at the same time pirates, whose particular 
 business it was to kidnap men from the coasts. It was there- 
 fore natural, that a people who had no vessels with which they 
 could retaliate or oppose them, should allow them on no pre- 
 tence to land on their coasts. 
 
 There are, however, some traces of facts which would lead 
 us to suppose there were occasional deviations from this rule. 
 According to Homer, Menelaus sailed into Egypt ; and Dio- 
 dorus^ mentions a sea-port, Thonis, to which he assigns a high 
 antiquity. Even the colonies that went from Egypt into 
 Greece, such as that of Danaus and Cecrops, for example, 
 presuppose an acquaintance with navigation; although we 
 
 » Herod, u. 77. " Diodorus, i. p. 80. . <• .„ 
 
 =» Diodorus, i. p. 23. It is doubtful, however, whether this tradition did not arise IroJi 
 confounding the name in Herodotus. See Herod, ii. 113. 
 
 should admit, what indeed seems probable, that they were 
 carried over by Phcenicians. 
 
 However this may be, we know, that among the ancients 
 the proportion of trade which a nation possessed could not be 
 estimated from the extent of its navigation and tonnage, as 
 land trade was the most important ; and the geographical situ- 
 ation of Egypt afforded it great advantages as soon as a con- 
 nexion between Africa and Asia, or even between Ethiopia 
 and Northern Africa, became established. Egypt was des- 
 tined by nature to be the central point of the caravan trade ; 
 and such she has continued till the present day, notwithstand- 
 ing navigation has so much diminished the great extent of 
 over-land trade. 
 
 These advantages were certainly peculiar to Egypt, but more 
 particularly to Upper Egypt, or the Thebaid. This country 
 was so situated as to form, at a very early period, one of the 
 most considerable marts for general trade.^ Placed at the 
 northern extremity of the desert, it became the emporium for 
 the produce of the interior of Africa and the countries be- 
 yond the desert ; and, in addition to this, some of the most 
 ancient and productive gold mines in the world existed close 
 in its neighbourhood.^ 
 
 Thus Egypt enjoyed at the same time the advantage of 
 possessing the commodities most in request, and the greatest 
 facilities for disposing of them. We cannot therefore be sur- 
 prised that these regions, in which agriculture and commerce 
 flourished for so many centuries, should become the most opu- 
 lent and powerful in the world— that here should be erected 
 those proud temples under the protection of which this trade 
 was carried on;^ — and that here should have been built the 
 
 I The situation of Upper Egypt, in the midst of rich commercial countries, leads us, as 
 Denon truly and elegantly remarks, to imagine them all, as it were, close together. When 
 we reckon the number of days required for each journey, when we see the means before us 
 of accomplishing those journeys, the distance no longer appears so great, the length ot the 
 way seems to vanish. Gidda and Mecca on the Red Sea," continues he, were neighbour- 
 ing to>vns to that in which he resided. India seemed to unite with them. On the other 
 side, the Oases were but three days' journey from us ; they were no longer as unknown 
 lands. From oasis to oasis, which are two days' journey distant from each other, we ap- 
 proach Sennaar, the capital of Nubia ; and Darfour, which lies on the road, and trades with 
 Tombt^ctoo. After a forty days' journey to Darfour, it requires but another one hundred to 
 Tombuctoo." Denon, ii. p. 195. These remarks, by a man weU acquainted with the East, 
 throw a much clearer light upon the facility of intercourse among the Oriental nations than 
 the most learned commentary could have done. « See above, p. 440. 
 
 » The great importance of this trade of the southern worid to those countries by which 
 it was cabled on, when favoured by exterior circumstances, as weU as its great extent, is 
 shown by an Arabian writer, of the middle ages : " For two centunes from 1074 to 1280, 
 says Mairizi, (Quatremere, Memoires stir VEgypte, u. p. 162,) the road from Egypt 
 and Asia to Mecca passed through the desert of ^idab From anther quarter cajne the 
 merchants of Indiaf Yemen, and Abyssinia, by sea to the port of -^idab, (on the Arabian 
 
460 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. IV. 
 
 CBAP. IV.] 
 
 COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES. 
 
 461 
 
 royal Thebes, the great storehouse and market of the world, 
 and which Homer celebrates as the most flourishing city of 
 his day.* 
 
 The preceding inquiries make us acquainted with those 
 countries with which Egypt was thus connected ; and the 
 roads by which that connexion was kept up with the negro 
 countries and Carthage, as well as with Ethiopia. By this 
 connexion Egypt obtained an immense quantity of the most 
 valuable foreign commodities r from Ethiopia she procured 
 gold, ivory, and slaves;' from Arabia incense, and from 
 India spices ; Greece and Phoenicia supplied her with wine ; * 
 and fine salt she procured in abundance from the African 
 deserts.^ In exchange for these Egypt could give the first 
 and most indispensable necessary of life ; her fertility made 
 her the oldest granary for corn; and in the weaving both 
 of linen and cotton she attained very early to a high degree 
 of perfection. 
 
 These useful productions of Egyptian industry must have 
 had a very extensive sale, as they are frequently mentioned 
 both by Jewish and Greek writers. In the time of Herodotus, 
 Egyptian linen was greatly esteemed by the Greeks;^ and, 
 according to Scylax, it was one of the articles of the Cartha- 
 o-inian trade on the remotest coasts of Western Africa.^ 
 
 Gulf, 22i° N. Lat.,) and thence traversed the desert to Egypt. The desert was, at this time, 
 always covered with caravans of pilgrims and merchants, journeying to and fro : whole 
 loads of pepper and other spices were often left by the way-side until the return of their 
 owners ; and although so many were continually passing, none thought of removing or in- 
 juring them. The harbour of ^idab was at that time the most frequented in the world, as 
 well by the vessels of India and Yemen as by the barks which ferried over the pilgiims. Its 
 inhabitants derived immense sums from these sources ; they imposed a duty upon every load 
 of meal, and let vessels to the pilgrims which carried them to Gidda and back again ; but, 
 after the time above mentioned, its commerce declined, and was finally shifted to Aden and 
 Ormus. iEidab became again a desert, but Ormus, although situated on a waterless island^ 
 became one of the richest, most splendid, and luxurious towns in the world. 
 
 » Iliad, ix. 381. * See above, page 236. 
 
 ' Herod, iii. 114. A proof of the connexion between Upper Egypt and Nubia is preserved 
 in a remnant of the ancient road, leading from one country to the other. Denon relates : 
 *• We advanced to Philte on a road through the desert. This road is worthy remark, as we 
 saw that it was formerly constructed as a highway elevated, and much used. This district 
 was the only one in Egypt where a great high road was necessary ; for as the Nile is not 
 navigable on account of its waterfalls, all merchandise from Ethiopia, going to Phila?, must 
 have been brought by land to Syene, where it was again embarked. The blocks of stone 
 on this road are covered with hieroglj-phics ; and seem to have been placed there for the 
 gratification of travellers (plate Ixvii. 1 ; Ixviii. 1,2). Another remarkable appearance on 
 this route is the remnant of fortifications, which are built of brick stones, dried by the sun. 
 The base is from fifteen to twenty feet broad ; the wall was carried along the valley which 
 borders the road, and ends in rocks and fortresses about three leagues from Syene. The 
 great cost of such a building is a proof of the importance attached to the defence of this 
 spot." Denon, ii. 79. Lancret, Mtmoire I. in Description d'Egypte, gives a still more 
 accurate description of this road. It seems originally to have been founded for the pilgrims 
 to Philae ; but where in the East do these pilgrimages exist without trade ? 
 
 ♦ Herod, iii. 6. * Arrian, De Expedit. Al. iii. 4. • Herod, ii. 105. The 
 
 \ivov here mentioned must be Hnen, and not cotton stuff, as it is opposed to the \lvov of 
 tiie Colchians, where no cotton coidd be expected. ' Scylax, p. 129. 
 
 It is probable that the Tyrian dyes first gave the full value 
 to these articles : proofs at least are found, that carpets and 
 garments were the principal goods imported by the Tyrians 
 from Egypt.^ 
 
 We have already observed that the Tyrians had a settle- 
 ment at Memphis ; Herodotus places it near the sanctuary 
 (tc/ici/ov) of Proteus, within which stood a temple dedicated to 
 the hospitable Aphrodite.^ It was called the camp of the Ty- 
 rians, and was an establishment for trade under the protection 
 of a sanctuary, similar to one which will presently come under 
 our notice, formed by the Greeks at Naucratis. 
 
 The corn trade was of no less importance to Egypt than her 
 manufactures. This country, even in its infancy, appears to 
 have been the granary of all the adjacent countries, which, by 
 the nature of their soil, were ill adapted for agriculture. An 
 unproductive harvest in Egypt caused, in Jacob's time, a 
 scarcity of corn in Syria ; and as soon as it was known that the 
 Egyptians had stored up corn from former harvests, caravans 
 were sent thither to supply the deficiency.^ Arabia, also, had 
 its corn from Egypt ; and it was on this account that the 
 Egyptians endeavoured to connect the Nile with the Arabian 
 Gulf, by means of a canal. This trade must have become still 
 more regular and extensive, when Egypt had secured its fruit- 
 fulness by digging the lake Moeris ; a failure, at least in Lower 
 Egypt, being rendered thereby physically impossible. It 
 ought not to be thought surprising, that less notice is taken of 
 this in the more early periods than in the times of the Ptole- 
 mies and Romans : the exportation was at that time by land ; 
 and it is in the nature of land trade to be less conspicuous than 
 that by sea, and indeed the less so the more regular it is in its 
 course. May not our knowledge of the African caravan trade 
 be considered, to a certain extent, as a discovery of modern 
 times ? and yet it stands incontrovertible, that it has continued, 
 with but few alterations, for many centuries. How important 
 and necessary this trade must have been for Egypt, may be 
 proved from an example quoted by Aristotle, in which an at- 
 tempt to interdict the exportation of corn rendered the payment 
 of the public taxes impossible.* There is scarcely another 
 
 ' ' Ezek. xxvii. 7. See the translation of MichaeHs. ..... 
 
 « Herod, ii. 112. ^elvrtis 'A<^po5tTtj9. See also at Cythera, i. 105. Was it Astartc or 
 another Phoenician goddess ? -,,. , ,. 
 
 ' Genesis xlii. 5. See the translation and remarks of Michaelis. 
 
 * Aristot. De Re FamiL, Op. ii. 395. 
 
462 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. IV. 
 
 CHAP. IV. J 
 
 COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES. 
 
 463 
 
 country in the world where the fertility of the soil, the little 
 labour required, the certainty of produce, and the profit de- 
 rived from exportation, concur in so great a degree to stimulate 
 the inhabitants to agriculture ; and where its promotion and 
 protection were so evidently the best policy of the ruling class. 
 Notwithstanding this extensive trade, both in foreign and 
 native commodities, it does not appear that the Egyptians ever 
 themselves exported their wares. Local circumstances were 
 the cause of this. The geographical situation of Egypt ren- 
 dered it the great thoroughfare of commerce, as the great trad- 
 ing routes from South Africa and Asia ran through it ; and its 
 own native productions, moreover, were of such a kind, that 
 they were not compelled to carry them to a foreign market, 
 but might quietly wait till necessity drove purchasers to fetch 
 them. I must here likewise call the reader's attention to a re- 
 mark I have elsewhere made,' that the African caravans were 
 chiefly composed of nomadic shepherds, who were employed 
 as carriers, and not of the inhabitants of cities, or of people 
 who had fixed habitations. It is known that Egypt still re- 
 mains the principal seat of the caravan trade ; yet but very 
 few of its inhabitants form part of those travelling communities, 
 which are chiefly composed of the nomad tribes of interior 
 
 This was the state of Egyptian trade, so far as we can dis- 
 cover, and the state in which it continued during the flourish- 
 ing period, without any great changes, down to the time of 
 Psammetichus. He, however, began them even during the 
 dodecarchy, and while he resided at Sais, by throwing open 
 Lower Egypt to the Phoenician and Greek merchants : the 
 products of the latter countries were advantageously exchanged 
 for the manufactures of Phoenicia and Greece, whereby he 
 could not fail to obtain both treasures and friends in foreign 
 countries.^ The conquests of the Egyptians, however, and 
 particularly their almost uninterrupted wars with the com- 
 mercial cities of Phoenicia, must have been rather disadvan- 
 tageous than otherwise : history, however, is entirely silent on 
 
 the subject. 
 
 The whole internal commerce of Egypt, however, under- 
 went an entire change in the reign of Amasis. This prince, 
 who was a great admirer of the Greeks, and much given to 
 luxury and rioting,^ opened at last to foreign merchants the 
 
 » See above, p. 88. 
 
 • Diodonis, i. p. 77. 
 
 » Herod, ii 173, 178. 
 
 mouths of the Nile, which had so long been barred against 
 them : a concession which led to important changes in the 
 moral and political character of the nation. 
 
 Naucratis, a city of Lower Egypt, situated on the Canopian 
 arm of the Nile, near whose mouth Alexandria was afterwards 
 erected, was assigned to such Greek merchants as wished to 
 settle in Egypt.^ The commercial states of Greece were, at 
 the same time, permitted to found temples in certain places 
 for the accommodation of their travelling merchants, and which 
 might also serve as staples and marts for the merchandise which 
 they should send into Egypt. 
 
 The endeavours of the Greeks, particularly those of Asia 
 Minor, to profit by this privilege, and their competition, give 
 the surest proof of its importance. The principal and largest 
 of these sanctuaries, which was called Hellenium, was founded 
 in common by nine Greek colonial cities of Asia Minor; 
 namely, by the Ionian colonies of Chios, Teos, Phocsea, and 
 Clazomense ; by the Doric colonies of Rhodes, Cnidus, Hali- 
 earnassus, and Phaselis ; and by the iEolian colony of Mity- 
 lene.^ Many other towns afterwards claimed the credit of hav- 
 ing taken a 'share in it, but Herodotus expressly assures us, 
 that these claims were without foundation. The ^gmetae 
 erected besides a particular temple for themselves and their 
 trade, which they dedicated to Jupiter ; the Samians another, 
 consecrated to Juno;^ and the Milesians another, consecrated 
 
 to Apollo. 
 
 Amasis at first only granted this permission to the Greeks, 
 under such restrictions as prudence seemed to require. Their 
 vessels were only allowed to enter the Canopian arm, and they 
 were obliged to land at Naucratis. If a ship happened to en- 
 ter another mouth, it was detained ; and the captain was not 
 set at liberty, unless he could swear that he had been compelled 
 to do so by necessity. He was then obliged to sail to Naucra- 
 tis ; or, if "^ continual north winds made this impossible, he had 
 to send his freight in small Egyptian vessels round the Delta 
 (more inland) to Naucratis.* However rigidly these restric- 
 tions were originally enforced, they must soon have fallen into 
 disuse, as the mouths of the Nile were open to any one after 
 the conquest of the Persians. 
 
 > Herod, ii. p. 179. * Ibid. ii.p. 178. ,^ ^ . , , ,, f Ar«n«o 
 
 ^ Samos was at that time under the dominion of Polycrates, the fnend and ally of Amasis, 
 and one of the richest states. Herod, iii. 39. We have also here an example of another 
 sort, of how usual the custom was in antiquity to make sanctuaries the privileged repositories 
 of commerce. * Herod, ii. 179. 
 
464 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. IV. 
 
 CHAP. IV.] 
 
 COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES. 
 
 465 
 
 The Egyptians soon felt the good effects of this liberality. 
 Every part of Egypt enjoyed more prosperity than it ever had 
 done before ; and the reign of Amasis w^s regarded as one of 
 the happiest which had blessed the land. The dead capital, 
 which must have accumulated by a long trade vtrith the gold 
 countries, was now put in motion ; the new wares imported by 
 the Greeks gave rise to new wants ; and as a new market was 
 now opened, new branches of industry naturally sprung up. 
 This change in their trade, however, had the most striking ef- 
 fect in the extension and improvement of agriculture. " The 
 Egyptians," we are told by Herodotus,* " had never before 
 turned to so good account the produce of their fields :" a na- 
 tural consequence of the quick and certain sale which they 
 now found for their corn in the different countries of Europe 
 and Asia. Amasis himself promoted this activity by wise re- 
 gulations ; by one of which he obliged every citizen under a 
 heavy penalty to give yearly an account to the chief of his dis- 
 trict, of the means by which he obtained his livelihood.^ 
 
 Egypt certainly, in some measure, purchased this prospenty 
 by the sacrifice of her national character. The Greek mer- 
 chants and their agents, who now formed a separate and re- 
 spectable caste, under the name of interpreters, whose origin 
 I have already explained,' now spread over every part of 
 Egypt ; and introduced, with their Greek wares, Greek man- 
 ners and ideas. A change of this sort, however, in the com- 
 mon course of affairs, must soon have taken place even with- 
 out the intervention of Amasis : the Egyptians could scarcely 
 have preserved their former government and manners after 
 they had begun, by conquests and treaties, to come into po- 
 litical contact with foreign nations. But though the com- 
 parison of the Egyptian and Greek deities might cause some 
 chano-e in religious notions, the deeply rooted institutions of 
 castes was a strong barrier against the introduction of no- 
 velties. 
 
 The Persian invasion must necessarily at first have had an 
 unfavourable influence on Egyptian commerce, particularly 
 that carried on over land. Cambyses directed his arms ex- 
 actly against those places which we know to have been the 
 principal seats of the caravan trade, against Ammonium and 
 Ethiopia ; and though his bad success made this interruption 
 
 » Herod, ii. 177. 
 
 * Ibid. 1. c. It was the revival of a more ancient law : see above, p. 439. 
 
 ' See above, p. 334. 
 
 only temporary, yet the re-establishment of the ancient course 
 became difficult in proportion as it had been regular before. 
 
 As soon, however, as the first storms had subsided, Egypt 
 seems to have revived very rapidly; particularly under the 
 mild government of Darius. The yearly tribute which he im- 
 posed on this country, and towards the payment of which the 
 neighbouring Libya, Barca, and Cyrene contributed, amounted 
 to no more than seven hundred talents.* To this must be 
 added the corn required for the maintenance of the Persian 
 garrison at Memphis,^ and the fishing of the lake Moeris, which 
 produced, during the six months that the waters of the Nile 
 receded, a talent a day, and during the other six about one 
 third of that sum.' The Egyptians always bore a grateful re- 
 membrance of this prince, notwithstanding their frequent 
 revolts against the Persians.* 
 
 When Herodotus visited Egypt, about thirty years after the 
 death of Darius, the trade with the interior of Africa and with 
 Ethiopia had again revived. Any one at this time could 
 acquaint him with the commercial roads which led through 
 Libya and to Meroe. He moreover enumerates the chief 
 articles of trade which were imported at this period from the 
 southern countries, as well as the productions of Ethiopia.^ 
 Egypt found a full equivalent for any loss she might have sus- 
 tained in this land trade : it was fully made up to her by her 
 maritime trade with the Greeks ; which was less exposed to 
 interruption, and must have increased in activity in proportion 
 as the hatred felt by both nations against the Persians brought 
 them more frequently into contact, and strengthened their 
 connexion. 
 
 The Persian dominion, taken altogether, was not hurtful to 
 commerce, though it occasioned some few deviations from its 
 usual course in Asia.^ The Phoenician towns lost nothing of 
 their splendour under its sway ; it made the people of Asia 
 better acquainted with one another ; and the lively intercourse 
 to which it gave rise must, in consequence of the constant 
 
 • About 24,000?. of our money. 
 
 " He^od. iii, 91. 120,000 men were quartered in Memphis: Herod. 1. c. Garrisons 
 were besides placed in the fortified places on the frontiers, at Syene, Marea, and Daphne, 
 (Herod, ii. 30,) whose strength we do not know; and, besides, Herodotus does not say 
 whether they were maintained by the Egyptian or not. ' Herodotus, ii. 149. 
 
 • But after the first revolt of the Egyptians under Xerxes, they were treated much more 
 harshly than the Persians, Herod, vii. 7, which occasioned the rebellion of Inarus. It is 
 much to be regretted that Herodotus has left us so little upon the latter relations of the 
 Persian government in Egypt. * Herodotus, iii. 114. 
 
 • See upon this subject my second disquisition upon ancient India, De Viis Mercatur<e 
 Indica, Comment. Soc. Gott. vol. xi. 
 
 2 H 
 
466 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. v. 
 
 connexion between Egypt and Asia, have benefited the trade 
 of that country. But the downfal of the Persian empire 
 affected Egypt far beyond this : it gave rise tx) an entirely new 
 order of things, the exposition of which must be reserved for 
 the ensuing chapter. 
 
 Chap. V. Decline and Fall of the Empire of the Pharaohs. 
 
 EGYPT IS LIKE A VERY FAIR HEIFER; BUT DESTRUCTION COMETH ; IT COMETH 
 
 OUT OF THE NORTH. JEREMIAH XLVI. 20. 
 
 It may seem surprising that Egypt, which we have represented 
 as enjoying, in some respects, its greatest happiness under its 
 last, or last king but one, Amasis, should at the same time be 
 so fast approaching its fall. But the happy period of a nation, 
 so far as it depends on the wealth and well-being of the people, 
 is not always the period of its courage and vigour. The throne 
 of the Pharaohs had been long tottering ; and had been 
 brought into this state by a series of causes very different in 
 their nature and operation. p i nu 
 
 We have placed the end of the splendid period of the Pha- 
 raohs at about 800 b. c. ; and must return to those times in 
 order to trace out these causes. Some time during the next 
 century, probably about halfway between 800 and 700 b. c, 
 the conquest of Ecypt by Sabaco the Ethiopian, and his two 
 successors, Seuechus and Tirhaco, took place, in which Thebes 
 and Upper Egypt were included, if not the whole of Egypt ; 
 though the two contemporary dynasties of Tanis and Bubastus 
 continued in Lower Egypt.* 
 
 The Ethiopian dominion, which endured fifty years, seems 
 to have laid the foundation of that general change in the afli'airs 
 of Egypt which soon after took place under Psammetichus. 
 For although, according to the tradition of the priests, the pre- 
 ceding king, who is said to have concealed himself for fifty 
 years in the marshes, regained the throne ; yet Sethos, a priest 
 of Vulcan, soon afterwards usurped the government ; and, by 
 uniting in himself the dignity of high priest and king, mate- 
 rially changed the former constitution. He moreover exas- 
 perated the warrior caste by seizing their lands ; and as they 
 refused to serve him, he would have been unable to repel the 
 
 » The twenty-second and twenty-third of Manetho. The numerous nilers at that time 
 in Eg>T>t is confirmed by Isaiah xix. 13. The Zoau mentioned there is lanis ; the JNopn, 
 Memphis of Gesenius's Comment. 
 
 CHAP, v.] 
 
 DECLINE AND FALL. 
 
 467 
 
 expedition marching against him under the victorious banners 
 of the Assyrian conqueror, Sanherib, or Sennacherib, which is 
 mentioned by Jewish annalists, had not a pestilence, which 
 broke out in the army of the Assyrians, obliged them to retreat.^ 
 
 That at this period the affairs of Egypt were in a very 
 troubled and stormy state, we may conclude with certainty 
 from the oracles of the first of the Jewish prophets. The pre- 
 dictions of Isaiah against Egypt, which form the subject of the 
 whole of the nineteenth chapter, were delivered about this 
 period, whether a few years later or earlier be fixed upon as the 
 date.^ Egypt is threatened both with physical and political 
 miseries, with war, and the rod of tyrants. 
 
 Powerful convulsions, therefore, must have distracted Egypt 
 at this period, of which history only mentions the result : name- 
 ly, that the Egyptians shook off the yoke of Sethos, and insti- 
 tuted a government of twelve princes, to each of whom a par- 
 ticular part of Egypt was allotted. It is very probable that 
 this division was made according to the former division of the 
 land into nomes ; although we cannot adopt the opinion of a 
 modern critic, who says that this was the exact number of 
 nomes which existed at that time.^ According to the few and 
 obscure accounts of the priests, given by Herodotus, it seems 
 that these dodecarchi were taken from the warrior caste ; it was 
 evidently intended, however, that they should be subservient 
 to the authority of the sacerdotal college, and the chief priest 
 at its liead. This plan was soon afterwards abolished by Psam- 
 metichus, to whom the dominion over Sais in Lower Egypt 
 had been given ; for by the assistance of Greek mercenaries he 
 expelled the other rulers, and made himself sole master of 
 Egypt. 
 
 Psammetichus thus re-established the fallen throne of the 
 Pharaohs, and his reign forms an epoch in Egyptian history. 
 From the time he obtained the sole dominion to the Persian 
 invasion under Cambyses, Herodotus reckons one hundred and 
 thirty years.* Egypt, during the whole of this period, con- 
 tinued without interruption one empire, and kept up a constant 
 
 » Herodotus, ii. 141, 142. 
 
 * Respecting the chronological difficulties, see the researches of Gesenius upon this chapter, 
 already quoted. ' De Pauw, RechercJies sur les Egyptiens, torn. ii. p. 324. 
 
 * The succession of kings in Herodotus is as follows : Psammetichus ; he reigned after the 
 fifteen years of the dodecarchy, thirty-nine years (f 617 b. c.) ; NecJio sixteen years ; Psam- 
 mis six years ; Apries twenty-five years ; Amasis forty-four years ; Psammenit a year and 
 a half. Necho and Apries (Pharaoh Hophra) are also mentioned in the Chronicles and Pro- 
 phets ; cf. 2 Kings xiii. 29, etc. ; Jeremiah xliv. 30. Diodorus, i. p. 106, according to his 
 usual custom, only names individual kings, Psammetichus, Apries, (whom he places four ge- 
 nerations after Psammetichus,) and Amasis. 
 
 2 H 2 
 
468 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. v. 
 
 connexion with foreign nations, both Greek and Asiatic. It 
 numbered among its rulers some mighty princes, who became 
 both warriors and conquerors, and even with very happy con- 
 sequences formed Egypt into a maritime power. The ob- 
 scurity, therefore, which hovers over the early history of this 
 country becomes gradually dispelled ; and the accounts of He- 
 rodotus, who himself tells us that they only here begin to pos- 
 sess a higher degree of historical credibility,^ become the more 
 authentic, because we can compare them with those of the 
 Jewish annalists, who in their chronicles frequently refer to 
 Egypt and its kings, with whom that people was by various 
 relations closely connected. 
 
 But though the throne was re-established, and the unity of 
 the empire restored, it no longer retained its former power. 
 The manner of its restoration by foreigners gave birth to a 
 series of events which decided the subsequent fate of the em- 
 pire. The very elements which ought to have constituted its 
 strength, brought on its weakness and overthrow. 
 
 Psammetichus, having acquired the sole dominion by the aid 
 of Phoenician, Greek, and Carian mercenaries, but more par- 
 ticularly the latter two, was naturally considered as an usurper 
 by a great part of the nation : he had consequently to struggle 
 with a powerful party, and was obliged to keep those foreign- 
 ers in pay to maintain the authority which he had acquired by 
 their assistance. The Greek soldiers were presented with lands 
 in Egypt, and formed a colony near Bubastus, in one of the 
 nomes in which the Egyptian warrior caste had resided.* 
 This Greek settlement was one of the chief causes of the great 
 change which now took place in Egypt. The Egyptian war- 
 rior caste, who were most injured by these foreigners, were 
 naturally their bitterest enemies : their lands had been already 
 taken from them by Sethos ; and they were now exasperated 
 by seeing foreigners preferred to, or placed on an equal foot- 
 ing with them.' 
 
 They preferred emigration to subjection. Psammetichus 
 vainly endeavoured to stop them ; the greater part expatriated 
 themselves from Egypt and settled in Ethiopia.* It is scarcely 
 necessary to remark, that this must have greatly diminished 
 the strength of the nation, whose whole armed force had con- 
 sisted of this caste alone. 
 
 » Herod, ii. 147, 152. He refers to the agreement between Egyptians and foreigners. 
 • Herod, ii. 152, 154 ; Diodorus, i. p. 77. 
 
 3 Herod, ii. 80 ; of. Diodorus, i. p. 78. 
 
 * See above, p. 329. 
 
 CHA.P. v.] 
 
 DECLINE AND FALL. 
 
 469 
 
 The Greek auxiliaries were from this time considered as the 
 sinews of the Egyptian armies ; they formed indeed the body- 
 guard of the king. They retained their settlement in Bubas- 
 tus (where the remains of their dwellings existed in the time of 
 Herodotus) until the reign of Amasis, who caused them to re- 
 move, for the protection of his person, to Memphis.^ It is 
 probable, as they formed the principal support of the royal 
 power, that they had a decided influence in the affairs of 
 Egypt. ^ 
 
 Both Psammetichus and his successor usually lived at Sais. 
 Psammetichus was deeply indebted to the inhabitants of this 
 town, who had restored him from exile,^ before the institution 
 of the dodecarchy ; and he probably resided here for security, 
 as the Greek mercenaries were not far distant. His successors 
 moved nearer the sea, as that situation better suited their po- 
 litical views. 
 
 Notwithstanding this change Memphis was always considered 
 as the capital of Egypt, and appears in that character at the 
 Persian conquest, and even under the Ptolemies, as is shown 
 by the inscription at Rosetta. Psammetichus seems to have 
 paid much court to the priesthood, after the emigration of the 
 warrior caste ; and testified his friendship by resuming the 
 building of the temple of Phtha, which had been neglected by 
 his predecessors.^ He built at Memphis the southern propy- 
 lea, and opposite this a splendid aula and portico for the habit- 
 ation of Apis. 
 
 The ambition of conquest displayed by the Egyptian kings 
 throughout this period is remarkable : it formed at other times 
 no part of the general character of the nation, but seems to 
 have been called forth by the valour of the Greek mercenaries, 
 and the success of their arms. Psammetichus and all his suc- 
 cessors seem to have been animated with this feeling, which 
 prepared the way for the destruction of their dynasty. 
 
 Both from the narrative of Herodotus and the Jewish an- 
 nalists it is clear, that one leading object was hereditary, as it 
 were, among them : the conquest of Syria and Phoenicia. The 
 rich, commercial cities of these countries, where for centuries 
 the treasures of the world had been heaped together, proved 
 too great a temptation to be resisted. They in some measure 
 effected their object; but their mania for conquest was punished 
 m the usual manner, by other enemies equally ambitious and 
 
 * Herod. I.e. 
 
 « Ibid. ii. 152. 
 
 » Ibid. ii. 153. 
 
470 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. v. 
 
 CHAP, v.] 
 
 DECLINE AND FALL. 
 
 471 
 
 more powerful than themselves. The traditions of the expe- 
 ditions and victories of the ancient Pharaohs, which they saw 
 represented on the walls of their temples and palaces, probably 
 stimulated them to these undertakings. But the situation ot 
 affairs was no longer the same. When the former undertook 
 their expeditions, there was no powerful empire m the west of 
 Asia ; but victorious nations now dwelt here, ready to repel ^ 
 
 every invader. ... i i • • 
 
 Psammetichus himself made a begmning by besieging 
 Azotus, a frontier town of Syria. He conquered it at last ; 
 but not till after many unsuccessful attempts, which occupied 
 altogether twenty-nine years ; for we cannot well imagine one 
 siege, though turned to a blockade, to have lasted so long.^ 
 His son and successor, Necho, made a more rapid and more 
 successful progress. He defeated the Syrians at Magdolus, 
 captured Jerusalem, and overran Syria as far as the Euphrates.* 
 He lost all these conquests, however, as rapidly as he had 
 gained them. After the fall of the Assyrian power, a new 
 conquering empire, the Chaldsean-Babylonian, arose m Central 
 Asia, and, under its ruler Nebuchadnezzar, arrived at a high, 
 though transitory pitch of greatness. The Egyptian and Ba- 
 bylonian conquerors met at Circesium, where a single battle not 
 only deprived the Egyptians of all their conquests, but laid 
 open their country to the danger of a hostile invasion.^ 
 
 One of the first and most important consequences of these 
 foreign conquests was the establishment of a navy. The Phoe- 
 nician commercial towns were sea-ports, and the Egyptian 
 kings must have soon discovered that these could not be over- 
 come without fleets. Necho, therefore, resolved to have one ; 
 and prosecuted the formation of it with so much vigour, that 
 greater results might have been expected from it. He built a 
 fleet in the Mediterranean and in the Red Sea, and these he 
 intended to join by means of a canal from one sea to the 
 
 other #* 
 
 This undertaking, which at the first glance we should sup- 
 pose would necessarily alter the general course of trade, was 
 only half executed by Necho ; but seventy years later it was 
 completed by Darius the son of Hystaspes. Herodotus, who 
 
 « 2 Ki^^"xim: 33. Herodotus (ii. 159) mentions also the conquest of Jerusalem, which 
 
 H'Sm^:l^te description of this battle as given by Jemniah xlvi., and the remarks of 
 Michaelis. It seems that it led to an invasion of Egypt by the victors. 
 * Herod, u. 158, 169. 
 
 saw this canal after it was finished, and who has described its 
 direction, proves, by his statement, the incorrectness of all later 
 writers, who assert that Darius abandoned the undertaking be- 
 cause he heard the Red Sea was higher than the Mediterranean, 
 and that it was completed by Ptolemy the Second.' 
 
 The purpose for which it was cut, as well as other circum- 
 stances, show that it was originally intended for vessels of war 
 rather than trade ; for it was made sufficiently broad for two 
 triremes to sail abreast.^ It began immediately above the town 
 Bubastus, and winding southwards till beyond Memphis, took 
 its course thence near the great stone quarries, and joined the 
 Red Sea. Natural obstacles, particularly the dangerous navi- 
 cration of the upper parts of the Red Sea, were probably the 
 chief reasons why it had so little influence upon commerce ; 
 for even in the period of the Ptolemies, when it must have 
 been navigable, a caravan road was made a little more to the 
 south from Coptos to the Red Sea, and the vessels coming from 
 the southern seas went no farther than Myos Hormos. 
 
 The maritime power of the Egyptians ceased with their 
 possessions in Asia. Apries employed a fleet in his war 
 acrainst the Phoenicians, and conquered Sidon;^ but it after- 
 wlirds fell into decay, and in Herodotus's time only some rem- 
 nants of the vessels were left.* 
 
 The rebellion of the Egyptians against Apries, after his un- 
 successful expedition against Cyrene, which raised Amasis to 
 the throne, sufficiently evinces that the extravagant projects ot 
 their kings were but little in unison with the feelings of the 
 people. The consequence of this rebellion was a war between 
 the Egvptians and the mercenaries,^ in which the latter were 
 defeated, and Apries soon after lost his life. Amasis, under 
 whom Egypt is said to have enjoyed its greatest happiness, pre- 
 ferred peace to the splendour of conquests, and died just in time 
 to escape being a witness to the capture of Egypt by Cambyses. 
 The causes, therefore, which led to the downfal of the Pha- 
 raohs will be immediately understood from what we have said. 
 After the Ethiopian conquest and the usurpation ot bettios, 
 their throne, which had been founded on the unity of the priest 
 and warrior castes, never recovered its former stability. Alter 
 
 t Strabo p 1157 where will be found collected, in the notes, the tf «°^S!».y ^f J*^^ 
 writeS. 'Ve ^IcI; Tf many can^s running from the eastern ^^-^^J^^^^^^^/^,^^^^^ 
 visible ; they unite, however, together near Bclbeis ^^ ^'Z^'^Zf^^^ov^ ^e c^ri^, 
 first operations of the Arabs, after the conquest of Egypt by Omar, was to open tne canais, 
 that Arabia might be supplied with com from Egypt. 
 
 * Herod, u. 158, 159. ' Ibid. u. 161. 
 
 Ibid. ii. 159. 
 
 s Ibid. ii. 169. 
 
472 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 [chap. v. 
 
 CHAP* v.] 
 
 DECLINE AND FALL. 
 
 473 
 
 i 
 
 the defection and emigration of the latter, the nation was left 
 without succour. Foreigners, whom she hated, were called in 
 to protect her. These strangers were employed in foreign wars 
 and conquests, which the nation disliked ; and these wars and 
 conquests miscarried. Dislike broke out into open rebellion ; 
 the ruling dynasty was overthrown : a bold adventurer seized 
 the crown ; he favoured foreigners, and enriched Egypt there- 
 by ; but he at the same time excited the rapacity of conquer- 
 ors. What had Egypt to oppose them with but an undis- 
 ciplined mob ? 
 
 Various causes are assigned for the Persian invasion ; but 
 whatever its pretext, the true cause was a hankering after the 
 riches and good things of Egypt. A single battle and a ten 
 days' siege of the capital, Memphis, decided the fate of the 
 whole country.^ 
 
 It is well known that excessive cruelty towards the priests, 
 and the destruction and pillage of the temples, are imputed 
 to Cambyses. The difference between the rehgious worship 
 of the Persians and Egyptians is not often considered as the 
 cause of this proceeding, and of the national hatred of the 
 Egyptians against the Persians, and their frequent revolts, 
 which do not seem to accord with their general character, 
 if we may judge of it from their conduct towards the 
 Ptolemies. 
 
 A more correct notion may be formed of all this by con- 
 sidering the whole conduct of the Persians in Egypt as a 
 struggle, not so immediately directed against religious opi- 
 nions and usages, as against the aristocratic body of the 
 Egyptian priests; although it is impossible to separate one 
 entirely from the other. Under the reigns of the latter Pha- 
 raohs, the Egyptian priest caste was certainly no longer what it 
 had been ; but its political influence, though weakened, was 
 not destroyed. Both Psammetichus, and more particularly 
 Amasis, had treated them with the greatest consideration, and 
 testified their veneration by the building of new temples, or 
 by extending and decorating those already erected.^ They 
 still formed the noble class of the nation ; and they still con- 
 tinued to possess the learned sciences, and the same high 
 ofiices of state which they had held formerly. The interests, 
 therefore, of the ruling caste and of the foreign conquerors 
 must have clashed ; and the profanation of the temples and 
 
 deities was a consequence of this political animosity. But 
 the accounts respecting this are probably exaggerated, as all 
 we know of Cambyses' character is drawn entirely from the 
 statements of the Egyptian priests, who were his enemies. 
 We are but imperfectly acquainted with the history of the 
 succeeding revolts of the Egyptians against the Persians; 
 and of their origin, and of the means by which the people 
 were stirred up, we know nothing whatever. But that the 
 priests were the principal movers seems evident from the fact, 
 that after the re-establishment of the Persian monarchy in 
 Egypt they were punished for it.^ 
 
 A theocracy in itself bears the seeds of its own destruction, 
 if the authority of the priesthood declines, and the troops 
 withhold their obedience. Both happened in Egypt ; and 
 neither the swords of the mercenaries, nor the treasures of the 
 people, were able to uphold the throne of the Pharaohs. 
 
 1 Diodorus ii. p. 112. When Artaxerxes had driven away Nectanebus, and brought 
 Effvpt again under his authority, the persecution of the priests began. Their temples were 
 Dillacedfand even their sacred books taken from them; these, however, accordmg to Dio- 
 donS's iccount, they got permission through Bagoas to redeem by the payment of a large 
 sum of money. 
 
 » Herod, iii. 11, 13. 
 
 ■ Ibid. ii. 175, 176. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 475 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 I. Aristotle upon the Carthaginian Government, 
 
 (Aristot. Politica, ii. 11.) 
 
 The government of the Carthaginians seems to have been admirably adjusted, 
 and in many things superior to others. This is especially the case in those mat- 
 ters in which it agrees with the Spartan. For these three governments, the 
 Spartan, Cretan, and Carthaginian, bear a resemblance to one another, and are 
 Very different from all others : many of their institutions are excellent. But a 
 proof of this being a well-con^ituted government is, that the people continued 
 within the limits assigned them, without any act of sedition worth notice, nor 
 did the government become tyrannical. The Carthaginian government also had, 
 like the Spartan, common tables for the associates : it also resembled it in having 
 its council of one hundred and four, similar to the Ephori at Sparta, but superior 
 to it; for every one might attain to this dignity at Sparta, but at Carthage only 
 the most worthy were elected. Again, the kings and the gerusia resembled those 
 of Sparta, but were again superior ; as the kings are not chosen from one family, 
 neither from every one. But distinguished merit is preferred (and justly) to age 
 and every other claim. For as the kings have the management of the most im- 
 
 gortant affairs, it cannot fail to be hurtful to choose men to that dignity who 
 ave not the capacity fitted for it ; the state of Sparta has already suffered from 
 this cause. Most of the faults common to the above-mentioned governments 
 have sprung from deviations (from the legal forms). With respect, however, to 
 those principles which pertain to an aristocracy or repubhc, some of them incHne 
 towards a democracy, but others to an oligarchy. For the king and the senators 
 have the power to determine respecting those matters upon which they are una- 
 nimous, whether they shall be brought before the people or not ; but where they 
 do not agree the matter is referred to the people. And upon what is thus brought 
 before the people, they have the power not only to decide, but every one is free 
 to speak against it, which is not allowed in other governments. But the pent- 
 archies^ who many and great affairs have to transact, choose one another, and 
 also the council of the hundred, who form the highest magistracy ; they also 
 continue longer in office than any others, (for it commences before they enter 
 into that office, and continues after they leave it,) and in this the government is 
 oligarchic. As, however, they serve without pay, and are not elected by lot, and 
 whatever else may be of this kind, is aristocratic. So also is the determining 
 of all causes by the same magistrates, and not different causes before different 
 tribunals, as is the case at Lacedaemon. 
 
 The Carthaginian government also leans, as many believe, in one respect to- 
 wards an oligarchy ; because it is there conceived that the magistrates should 
 not be chosen merely on account of their personal merit, but also according to 
 their property; for they say it is impossible for the needy to govern well and 
 find sufficient leisure. Now because the choice according to property is oligar- 
 chic, and that according to personal merit aristocratic, there arises among the 
 Carthaginians a third (middle) class of government ; for they look to both these 
 points m their choice, especially of the highest magistrates, their kings and 
 generals. This degeneration of the aristocracy must be considered as a defect 
 m the legislation ; for it is highly necessary to see at the first, that the most 
 worthy have leisure (for the affairs) ; and may do nothing indecorous either as 
 
 mamstrates, or as private persons. If, on the other hand, it be necessary to look 
 Ta^ffluTSfor the sake of obtaining leisure, it is (still) a fault, as the highest 
 offices! the dignity of king and general, are venal. For this custom raises wealth 
 ab^ve personal merit, and males the whole commonwealth given to avance. 
 For that which the ruling classes hold to be honourable, will necessanly be so 
 in the opinion of the other citizens. Where, however merit is not especially 
 honoured, it is impossible for an aristocracy to be firmly estabhshed. It is to 
 be expectW that t^hose who purchase the magistracy will endeavour to ennch 
 themselves by it; for it is absurd to suppose, that if a man, who is poor and 
 worthy be willing to enrich himself, that a depraved man, after the expenses he 
 has incurred, shoSld not be willing to do the same. Hence it is necessary that 
 ?hose should rule who are able ^S govern aristocratically. But it would have 
 ten better if the legislator had passed over the poverty of worthy men, and 
 had paS attention to the leisure of those who hold offices It would also seem 
 to ™ad thing that one and the same person should hold several offices which 
 bv the Carthaginians is held honourable ; for one business is best performed by 
 one nerson The legislator, therefore, should have a care to this, and not ap- 
 SSKe same ™ to be a piper and cobbler. Where, then, the common- 
 Clth is norsmSl, it is more politic and more popular to permit many persons 
 To have a share in he government ; for it is better and more usual, as has been 
 dreadv said, that one tling should be done by one person ; it is also executed 
 more Sy. This is also evident in many things pertaining to the army and 
 navv in which every one, as I may say, is commander, and, in his turn, under 
 command As the government of the Carthaginians inchnes to the ohgarchical 
 tC avoid Sie bad effects of it, as they always ennch a portion of the people 
 whom they appdnt to the government of the cities. For they thereby escape 
 The e" anV^^^ their govfmment lasting. This is certamly a c^^^^^^^^ mean ; 
 but states should by the laws be secure from seditions ; but now, if an adverse 
 fortunf takes X^^ and the people revolt from their rulers, the law affords no 
 [emedv l^fwhi^h peace may be restored. In this manner, therefore, the celebrated 
 govemmeW tL Cretans, Spartans, and Carthaginians are earned on. 
 
 XL Commercial Treaty between Rome and Carthage, concluded in the year 509 B. c.» 
 
 (From PoLYB. i. p. 434.) 
 
 Between the Romans and their allies, and the C^^^^^g^"^^^?,^"^^ 
 
 there shall be peace and alliance upon these conditions. Neither the Homans 
 
 norVeii allies s^hall sail beyond the>air Fromoniory,^ unless compelled by bad 
 
 1 I subjoin the following e.tracts.-which we ^^g^* f 11 CJf,^^^^^^^^^ T^^i^Zy Sstlt^S 
 I have si often referred to them in these 'Pq"^"««' ^^^'^^^^^^ The first two are also highly 
 
 better the spirit of Carthage, than a lo"f 77^^!^/°"^'^^"^^^^^^ ere this city had even subju- 
 
 important in Roman history. They relate to the younger ^^J^ «* j;"™^^,'^ expulsion of the kings, and 
 gated the whole of Latium ; the first treaty ^as concluded ? /^^^^^^^ Vs Rome in a somewhat different 
 the other one hundred and sixty-one years later They botl) show u^ ^^ 
 
 character from what Livy and other historians are ^J^p^^^.^STimse f to be the promontory lying north 
 « The Fair Promontory is accurately pointed out by ^^^yj'^^^^i"^^^^^^^ therefore, well be any 
 
 of Carthage, (to .poKe.uevo. alrn^-rh^ "^""t^fT: Pr^S^^t^rilmHert^^ (Compare the treatise of 
 other than that which is elsewhere called ^^fj^"^^^^!?^^}^^^^ some wished to decide 
 
 Heyne, in Oputc. ii. p. 47, where the other Passages are col ected^^ Ts^certainly superior to later writers, 
 upon anothTsituation.) The authority of P°ly^ "!„^" ^^^^' ^K^^f tK along the coast of 
 
 The sense therefore is, " The ^^5."%'^*" "SlT, '"w^ere a number of cm and the most beautiful 
 the Carthaginian territory, towards the I^««fJ,f /T^^l^^^SSS wer?si^^^^^^ It is thus explained by 
 and fertile part of their possessions, especially H^Bj^^J'^L^Sfie "if ^hat has been already said be 
 PolybiUs. and this explanation will seem.so much ^1}^ ™«J« PJ^^^^^^^^ i„„er Africa. The only 
 
 borfie in mind, that just in these ^f nets were the staples ^r tne ^^^^ .^ ^^^ ^^^^^ 
 
 difficulty in this passage arises from the "V.f "^ .^^7f"-S»rare knm the territory of Carthage, but 
 
 together with this promontory. Now " ^ r^^.,^L IseriteSi d? Urb. under T«p<rniov and Maaxm.) 
 oSy in the south-west of Spain, "«« Tartessus (See Steph^^ ^^^ ^^.^ Promontory wa. 
 
 But supposing that these cities are here ™eant ^t does "«* tnen w . ^ ^^^ ^^^p^^j 
 
 situated hear them, and to be sought for m Spam , .^f J^f ^ kuX^ ^^pornp.V Macrr.a Kal lapat^ioy, inust 
 remarked, that the words of Polybms. 7rpo.rK«Tai i« ko. t^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^ .. ^^ t^e Fair 
 
 not be translated, •• but near the Fair ?'^o"™opt°^,\'" Jl^g^^^^^^ be. " beyond the Fair Promon- 
 
 Promontory uodoWMastia and Tme,^^^ ^^ Mastia and Tarseium on the 
 
 tory, on the one side, namely, towards the east, ana ueyuuu 
 
476 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 477 
 
 weather or an enemy. And in case that they are forced beyond it, they shall 
 not be allowed to take or purchase anything, except what is barely necessary 
 for refitting their vessels, or for sacrifice. They shall depart within five days. 
 The merchants that shall offer any goods to sale in Sardinia, or any part of 
 Libya, shall pay no customs, but only the usual fees to the scribe and crier; 
 and the pubhc faith shall be a security to the merchant for whatever he shall 
 sell in the presence of these officers. If a Roman lands in that part of Sicily 
 which belongs to the Carthaginians, he shall suflTer no wrong or violence in any- 
 thing. The Carthaginians shall not offer any injury to the people of Ardea^ 
 Anhum, Laurentium, Circeu, Terracina, or any other people of the Latins that 
 have submitted to the Roman jurisdiction. Nor shall they possess themselves 
 of any city of the Latins that is not subject to the Romans. If any one of these 
 be taken, it shall be delivered to the Romans in its entire state. The Cartha- 
 ginians shall not build any fortress in the Latin territory ; and if they land there 
 armed they shall not remain there a night. 
 
 in. Second commercial Treaty concluded between Borne and Carthage^ in the year 
 
 (From PoLt B. i. p. 437.) 
 
 Between the Romans and their allies, and the Carthaginians, Tyrians,* Uti- 
 ceans, and their alhes, there shall be peace and alliance upon these conditions. 
 The Romans shall not sail in search of plunder, nor carry on any traffic, nor 
 build any city, beyond the Fair Promontory, Mastia, and Tarseium. If the Car- 
 thaginians take any city of the Latins, not subjected to the Romans, they may 
 reserve to themselves the prisoners, with the rest of the booty, but shall restore 
 the city. If the Carthaginians shall make any captives, from a people that is 
 allied, by a written treaty, with the Romans, though they are not the subjects of 
 their empire, they shall not bring them into the Roman ports ; in case they do 
 BO, the Romans shall be allowed to claim and set them free. The same condi- 
 tion shall also be observed by the Romans; and if a Roman lands, in search of 
 water or provisions, upon any country that is subject to the Carthaginians, they 
 shall be supplied with what is necessary, and then depart, without offering any 
 violence to the allies and friends of Carthage. The breach of these conditions 
 shall not be resented as a private injury, but be prosecuted as the public cause of 
 either people. The Romans shall not carry on any trade, or build any city, in 
 Sardinia or Libya : nor shall they even visit those countries, unless for the sake 
 of getting provisions, or refitting their ships. If they are driven upon them by a 
 storm, they shall depart within five days. In those parts of Sicily which belong 
 to the Carthaginians, and in the city of Carthage, the Romans may expose their 
 goods to sale, and do everything that is permitted to the citizens of the repubhc. 
 The same indulgence shall be yielded to the Carthaginians at Rome. 
 
 other, namely, towards the vrest, in the Atlantic Ocean, the Romans shall not sail," etc. This explana- 
 tion must still gain in probability, if the great value be remembered which the Carthaginians placed 
 upon their western possessions without the Pillars of Hercules, and the great secret they made of them. 
 The objection, that the Romans at the time of this treaty did not navigate so far, seems to me to have 
 but very little weight ; for how do we know that ? And then, it was about the period that this alliance 
 was concluded, that the Carthaginians had stretched out the farthest, and it seems that they had ex- 
 tended their colonies beyond the Pillars, exactly in the interval between the first and second treaty, 
 which explains why these cities came to be mentioned as the boundaries in the second treaty, and not 
 in the first. On the other hand, it certainly may be objected, that this sense is not expressed with suf- 
 ficient clearness in the words of the treaty ; and it might consequently be asserted, that it is more pro- 
 bable that there were two, to us unknown, cities of this name in the Carthaginian territory, near the 
 Fair Promontory, where there certainly were a much greater number of cities than is generally sup- 
 posed. It may still, however, be, that the translation of the treaty by Polybius might not be so "terally 
 exact, but that a mere trifling variation might render the reference to the cities of Spain probable. 
 Nothing, therefore, can be here concluded with certainty ; and by mere verdicts without evidence 
 nothing would be done. ^ . . 
 
 » It is not probable that the Tyre in Asia should here be understood. Either there must have been 
 a Tyre in Africa, or Tysdrus must be meant. See above, p. 13. If, notwithstanding this, some will 
 still contend that the Phoenician Tyre must be understood ; then, perhaps, the mutual piety which 
 mother states and their colonies observe towards one another, may be given as Che reason why Tyre was 
 included in the treaty. 
 
 IV. Treaty concluded between Hannibal^ general of the CarthaginianSj and Philipf 
 king of Macedonia, in the fourth year of the second Punic war, 215 b. c* 
 
 (From PoLTB. ii. p. 598.) 
 
 This is the treaty which Hannibal the general, Mago, Myrcan, Barmocar, and 
 all the senators of Carthage that were with him, and all the Cartha^nians that 
 are in the army with him, have sworn with Xenophanes, the son of Cleomachus, 
 the ambassador deputed by king Phihp, the son of Demetrius, in his own name, 
 and in the name of the Macedonians and their allies. 
 
 In the presence of Jupiter, Juno, and Apollo ; in the presence of the deity of 
 the Carthaginians, and of Hercules and lolaus ; in the presence of Mars, Triton, 
 and Poseidon ; in the presence of all the gods who are with us in the camp, and 
 of the sun, the moon, and the earth ; in the presence of the rivers, the lakes, and 
 the waters ; in the presence of all the gods who preside over the state of Car- 
 thage ; in the presence of all the gods who preside over the Macedonian empire, 
 and the rest of Greece ; in the presence of all the gods who direct the afiairs of 
 war, and who are witnesses of this faith ! , . :> 
 
 Hannibal the general, and all the senators of Carthage that are with hun, and 
 all the Carthaginians that are in the army with him, have said ; with the consent 
 of you and of us, this treaty of amity and of concord shall connect us together, 
 as friends, as kindred, and as brothers, upon the following conditions : 
 
 King Phihp and the Macedonians, together with the rest of the Greeks that 
 are in aUiance with them, shall protect and help the people of Carthage, Hanni- 
 bal the general, and those that are with him; the governors in every place m 
 which the laws of Carthage are observed ; the people of Utica, and all the cities 
 and nations that are subject to the Carthaginian sway, together with their armies 
 and their alhes ; the cities likewise, and all the people with whom we are alhed, 
 in Italy, in Gaul, and in Liguria; and all those that shall hereafter enter into 
 friendship and alliance with us in those countries. 
 
 The Carthaginians, on the other hand, the people of Utica, and all the other 
 cities and states that are subject to the Carthaginians, with their alhes and 
 armies ; the cities also, and all the people of Italy, of Gaul, and of Liguna, that 
 are at this time in alUance with us; and all others hkewise that shall hereafter 
 be received into our aUiance in any of those parts of Italy ; shall protect and de- 
 fend king Philip and the Macedonians, together with the rest of the Greeks that 
 are in alliance with them. We will not engage in any ill designs, or employ 
 any kind of treachery the one against the other. But with all alacnty and will- 
 ingness, without any deceit or fraud, you, the Macedonians, shall declare your- 
 selves the enemies of those that are enemies of the Carthaginians ; those kings 
 alone excepted, and those ports and cities, with which you are connected by any 
 treaty. And we also, on the other hand, will be the enemies of those that are 
 enemies of king Phihp ; those kings, and cities, and nations alone excepted, to 
 which we are already bound by treaty. You shall be partners also mth us m 
 the war in which we are now engaged against the Romans ; till the gods give to 
 you and to us a happy peace. You shall supply us with the assistance that is 
 requisite, and in the manner that shall be stipulated between us. And if the 
 gods, refusing success to our endeavours in the war against the Romans and 
 their alhes, should dispose us to enter into treaty with them, we shall insist, that 
 you also be included in the treaty, and that the peace be made upon these ex- 
 pressed conditions: that the Romans shall at no time make war against us : 
 that they shall not remain masters of Corcyra, Apollonia, Epidamnus, Pharos, 
 Dimalle, and Atintania. And that they shall restore also to Demetnus of Pha- 
 ros all the persons of his kindred who are now detained m pubhc custody at 
 Rome. If the Romans shall afterwards make war either against you or us, we 
 will mutually send such assistance as shall be requisite to either party, ihe 
 same thing also will we perform, if any other power shall declare war against 
 
 ' • Hannibal was at this time in Lower Italy, and hoped by this union with Philip, who was to invade 
 Italy by crossing the Adriatic Sea, to annihUate Rome. . 
 
 I ] 
 
478 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 479 
 
 f 
 
 US • those cities and states alone excepted, with which we are allied by treaty. If 
 at any time it should be judged expedient to add to the present treaty, or to de- 
 tract from it, it shall be done with mutual consent 
 
 V The Voyage of Hanno, commander of the Carthaginians, round the parts of 
 Libya beyond tlie Pillars of Hercules, which he deposited in the temple of Saturn. 
 
 It was decreed by the Carthaginians, that Hanno should undertake a voyage 
 beyond the Pillars of Hercules, and found Liby-Phoenician cities. He sailed 
 accordingly with sixty ships of fifty oars each, and a body of men and women 
 to the number of thirty thousand, and provisions and other necessaries. 
 
 When we had passed the Pillars on our voyage, and had sailed beyond them 
 for two days, we founded the first city, which we named Thymiatenum. Below 
 it lay an extensive plain. Proceeding thence towards the west, we came to bo- 
 loeis, a promontoiy of Libya, a place tliickly covered with trees, where we erected 
 a temple to Neptune ; and again proceeded for the space of half a daj towards 
 the east, until we arrived at a lake lying not far from the sea, and filled wi h 
 abundance of large reeds. Here elephants, and a great number of other wild 
 
 beasts were feedinfir. i 
 
 Having passed the lake about a day's sail, we founded cities near the sea, 
 called Cariconticos, and Gytte, and Acra, and Mehtta, and Arambys Thence 
 we came to the great river Lixus, which flows from Libya. On its banks the 
 Lixitae, a shepherd tribe, were feeding flocks, amongst whom we continued some 
 time oA friendly terms. Beyond the Lixitffi dwelt the inhospitable Ethiopians, 
 who pasture a wild country intersected bv large mountains, from which they say 
 the nver Lixus flows. In the neighbourhood of the mountains lived the Trog- 
 lodytfiB, men of various appearances, whom the Lixitse described as switter m 
 
 running than horses. , , j _x * 
 
 Having procured interpreters from them, we coasted alone a desert country 
 towards the south two days. Thence we proceeded towards the east the course 
 of a day. Here we found in a recess of a certain bay a small island, containing 
 a circle of five stadia, where we settled a colony, and called it Ceme. We judged 
 from our voyage that this place lay in a direct Hne with Carthage ; for the length 
 of our voyage from Carthage to the Pillars was equal to that from the Pillars 
 
 We then came to a lake, which we reached by sailing up a large river called 
 Chretes. This lake had three islands, larger than Ceme ; from which proceed- 
 inff a day's sail, we came to the extremity of the lake, that was overhung by large 
 mountains, inhabited by savage men, clothed in skins of wild beasts, who drove 
 us away by throwing stones, and hindered us from landing. Sailing thence we 
 came to another river, that was large and broad, and full of crocodiles and nver 
 horses ; whence returning back we came again to Ceme. ^.1,1 
 
 Thence we sailed towards the south twelve days, coasting the shore, the whole 
 of which is inhabited by Ethiopians, who would not wait our approach, but tied 
 from us. Their language was not inteUigible even to the Lixitse, who were wi h 
 MS. Towards the last day we approached some large mountains covered with 
 trees, the wood of which was sweet-scented and variegated. Having sailed by 
 these mountains for two days, we came to an immense opening of the sea ; on 
 each side of which, towards the continent, was a plain ; from which we saw by 
 night fire arising at intervals in all directions, either more or less. 
 
 Having taken in water there, we sailed forwards five days near the land, until 
 we came to a large bay, which our interpreters informed us was called the West- 
 era Horn. In this was a large island, and in the island a salt-water lake, and 
 in this another island, where, when we had landed, we could discover nothing m 
 the day-time except trees ; but in the night we saw many fires burning, and 
 heard the sound of pipes, cymbals, drums, and confused shouts. We were then 
 afraid, and our diviners ordered us to abandon the island. Saihng quickly away 
 thence we passed a country burning with fires and perfumes ; and streams 01 
 fire supplied from it fell into the sea. The country was impassable on account 
 
 of the heat. We sailed quickly thence, being much temfied ; and passing on for 
 four days, we discovered at night a country full of fire. In the middle was a 
 oftv fire, larger than the rest, which seemed to touch the stars. When day came 
 we discovered it to be a large hill, called the Chariot of the Gods On the third 
 dav after our departure thence, having sailed by those streams of fire, we amyed 
 at a bay called the Southern Horn ; at the bottom of which lay an island like the 
 former having a lake, and in this lake another island, full of savage people, the 
 m-eater part of whom were women, whose bodies were hairy, and whom our in- 
 ternreters called GoriUae. Though we pursued the men we could not seize any 
 of them : but all fled from us, escaping over the precipices, and defending them- 
 Relves with stones. Three women were however taken ; but they attacked their 
 conductors with their teeth and hands, and could not be prevailed upon to accom- 
 pany us. Having killed them, we flayed them, and brought their skins with U3 
 to Carthage. We did not sail farther on, our provisions faihng us. 
 
 Observation. The opinions respecting the Periplus of Hanno differ very ^l^^^ly ^J^^^^^^ 
 another, both as regards its authenticity and the circumstances attending it I ca^^o*; ^«;;: 
 ever; believe that any critic will, in the present day, doubt its authenticity in the whole; 
 JhouXthev may its completeness. Its shortness has led many to suppose that it is only 
 Srabridgment of a larger work ; and this opinion is favoured by Rennel, and seems con- 
 fimed bl the passage in Pliny, Hist. Nat. ii. 67, where he says, Hanno sailed from Gades 
 rn W Africa to Arabia, and hi given a description of the voyage. But another wnter has 
 TeAXXo^^rU that PUny had not hiiself read the Periplus but depended on the 
 ^ncSn testimony of another; and that the passage of Pomp. Mela, m 9, clearly shows 
 St »re?a had Sowr Perip us. Gosselin, RecJierches, i. p. 64 The Periplus was not 
 l^rLnlv tWescn^^^^^^ of a voyage, in our sense of the phrase, but a pubhc memonal of 
 J^e exnediti^^^^^^^ ^P i^ ^^^ of the principal temples of Carthage 
 
 Thi«tf evident S from its being a general custom of the Carthaginian commanders to 
 
 kavetw tLScrpu^^^^ - fZ Pe^l'sS" 
 
 pie of Hannibal, see above, p. 128 ; and, secondly, by the^superscription of the Pf^^Pl^;^^^^ 
 It is there caUed " A^i/coi/os n.piTrXous oy dvi^^Ktv IutcStov KpouovTEfitvsL. The voyage 
 of Hanno which he has posted up in the temple of Kronos." For so must «;;f ;{;«''^e 
 
 be attributed, in my opinion, any irregularities in its form and contents, iney canu , 
 ?n the Mtmoires de VAcadtmie des hiscriptions, torn xxvi. xxvm., ^«^ J^^^^ ^^^celJ! 
 of these so shortens the voyage of Hanno, as to make tneisianav.^^ 
 
 Lat., while Rennel extends it to Sierra Leone, Tl^hm eight dcgree^^^^^^^^ 
 
 fereice of reckoning, which is the r'Vv.'^'^nXIf.tfon^rGLd^^^^ founded 
 
 according to the number of days' sail. The cdculation of Gosselin, nowe . 
 
 upon.hj^otheses to which but few cntics will be inclined to ^^?f^^°*- .f ^^^^^ the 
 
 itrthdt the expression, untMutthe ^«^"'r*^Tf.nTAbvla at thTi^nS eitm^rof the 
 
 Columns of Hercules signify the two rocks ^alpe and -Abyla at the 11^^^ 
 
 strait. In accordance with this he computes ^om this pomt and no^^^^^^ 
 
 of Thymiaterium within the strait, near the present .^^^ta, but a^sonoias^in^^^^ / 
 
 Soloe, which it cost Hanno two days' navigation without the Colmnns to re^^ 
 
 Spartel, forming the outward part of the strait on the African Jjf ' f^" J ^^l^^S and 
 
 tlie Columns, is not usually meant so much of the IJ^^^' ^, ^^^ ,^^^^^^ 
 
 the national resolution of the Carthagimans, t^^* Hanno should found c^^^^ 
 
 the Columns," certainly could bear no other sense than ^^f J^.^^^^ff XefSding to 
 the western coast of Aica, in the Atlantic Ocean ; nay, the followmg cities, accoromg ui 
 
480 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 481 
 
 M. Gosgelin's own statements, lay there. Secondly, M. Gossclin proposes a computation, 
 by following which, a day's sail will amount to no more than five great leagues, or sea miles 
 (20=1»). For as when Cooke sailed along the eastern coast of New Holland he could not 
 make more than seventeen leagues in twenty-four hours, we ought not to allow to Hanno, 
 who lay by during the night, and had a whole fleet in company, more than five such leagues 
 a day. This comparison, however, is very little to the purpose. Cooke sailed along a coast 
 of which he "wished to draw an accurate map, while his progress was interrupted by the 
 numerous coral reefe with which it was beset, and which compelled him to have constant 
 recourse to the plumb-line. Hanno had no such hinderances, and sailed in a climate where 
 the trade- winds and currents, both known to come from the north, were in his favour. 
 M. Gosselin stands also opposed to the express authority of the most credible ancient writers, 
 who state the day's navigation to be much greater ; namelv, Herodotus (iv. 86) at seven 
 hundred stadia, sixty-eight geographical miles, and Scylax (p. 30) at five hundred stadia, 
 fifty geographical miles. These hypotheses then of M. Gosselin being erroneous, his par- 
 ticular statements drawn from them of course lose their credit. Major Rennel, on the 
 other hand, in my opinion, makes Hanno's voyage extend somewhat too far. I will not, 
 however, here dispute his statements in detail, nor attempt a proper commentary upon the 
 Periplus, which, without maps drawn expressly for the purpose, would not be \mderstood. 
 I shall, instead of these, make a few remarks, which I think will serve as general principles 
 to explain it. Therefore, 
 
 1. It must not be expected that every point can be determined with certainty, as the au- 
 thor himself has not always stated the number of days' navigation, and consequently not 
 the distance. Besides this, we have not yet, in my opinion, any sufficiently accurate de- 
 scription of the coast of this part of Africa, that can serve us for a guide. The reader will 
 therefore necessarily be satisfied with some of the principal particulars. 
 
 2. In order to obtain these, we must separate the two great parts of the voyage, which 
 had a double object ; first, that of founding colonies, and these, as is apparent from the fact, 
 not far beyond the straits ; and secondly, that of exploring the more distant coast of Africa. 
 According to this, therefore, the length of the day's voyage in the first and latter part of the 
 expedition, though similar in all other respects, might not be the same ; for the first part 
 was performed with a whole heavy-laden fleet ; the second, without doubt, with one or two 
 vessels. The first part of the voyage extends to the island of Ceme, the second to the gulf 
 called South Horn. 
 
 3. In the first half we come to a. the city of Thymiaterium, two days' voyage from the 
 end of the strait, or Cape Spartel. Let us take the day's navigation here with the whole 
 fleet at about ten sea mOes — according to the above remarks a very moderate distance — then 
 must this city be near El Haratch, or between El Haratch and Marmora ; this cannot be far 
 from their true situation, b. The promontory Soloe ; Hanno does not say how far this was 
 from Thymiaterium ; but it is evident from his narrative that it must have been the first 
 western promontory he came to. Herodotus also clears up this, who not only knew it, but 
 quotes it as the most western point of Africa, Herod, ii. 32. From this I have no doubt of 
 its being Cape Blanco, near Azimur, 33° N. Lat., (not to be confounded with the southern 
 Cape Btonco, 20»N. Lat.,) which they would reach, according to the above calculation, in 
 two days' voyage from Thymiaterium : and I prefer this on the above grounds to Cape Can- 
 tin, which is one day farther to the south, and therefore adopted by Rennel. c. The succes- 
 sive settlements of Acra, Gytte, Cariconticos, Melitta, and Arambys, lay at about a day and 
 half s sail from the promontory ; they must therefore have stood in the districts of Safy, or 
 Asafy, just beyond Cape Cantin, about 32° N. Lat. The ^eat river Lexitae, at which thev 
 next arrived, would then be the river Morocco, (on which is built the city of the same name,) 
 or, as it is called, the Tersif. From this point to the island of Ceme, the last of the settle- 
 ments, the number of days' navigation is not stated ; hence the conclusion that the voyage 
 from the Columns to Ceme may have been just as long as that from Carthage to the Columns. 
 If the distances be judged equal, then the island of Ceme must be sought for beyond Cape 
 Bojador, where it is placed bv Major Rennel, under 20° N. Lat. I cannot, however, believe 
 that in the same length of time they would make the same way, as from Carthage to the 
 Pillars they navigated a well-known sea, where they had no obstmctions, and might sail as 
 well by night as by day ; but beyond the Pillars, in a sea of which they were entirely igno- 
 rant, much more circumspection was necessary. I think it therefore more probable that the 
 island or islands of Ceme must be sought for either near Mogador, 314°, or near Santa Cruz, 
 30J°. But though the situation of this place remains rather uncertain, there cannot be any 
 great error in determining that of the others. 
 
 4. The second part of the expedition, starting from Ceme, is simply a voyage of disco^ry, 
 and must as such be considered. This was, however, a double voyage. The first time, Han- 
 no proceeded southwards, and came to a great river, full of crocodiles and hippopotamuses. 
 The number of days this occupied is not mentioned, but as no such river is found short of 
 the Senegal, I hold that to be the one meant. From this point the expedition returned, from 
 causes not stated, back to the island of Ceme ; but it commenced from this place the second 
 voyage, in which the number of days' navigation is mostly, though not always, noted ; 
 namely, ftrst twelve days' voyage along the coast till they came to high mountains ; then two 
 days' voyage to a bay, where they took in water ; then five days' navigation farther, till they 
 came to another bay, which was named the West Horn ; together nineteen days' voyage. 
 After this the expedition proceeded along the hot region of Thyiniamata, without detennm- 
 
 ing the number of days' navigation. Then four days' voyage to the high mountain called 
 God's Chariot ; and then again three days' more to the bay called South Horn, whenct 
 they turned back. If we now allow four days for the voyage along the country of Thymia- 
 mata, the whole will make a voyage of thirty-one days from Ceme. Now, as in this whole 
 voyage the current as well as the wind was always favourable to the navigators, as will be 
 found noted upon Rennel's maps, it certainly is a very moderate computation to estimate a 
 day's navigation at forty geographical miles=124 sea miles, which makes the whole distance 
 from Cerne amount to 1200 geographical miles. Taking the island of Ceme to be near San- 
 ta Cruz, this will bring us to the mouth of the Gambia, and it seems a fair conjecture that 
 the bay called South Horn was in fact the mouth of this river, and the "West Horn that of 
 the Senegal. It is well known that the Greeks called the mouths of rivers their horns. If 
 this be granted, then the computed distance leads at once to the coast of Senegambia, which 
 I take for the hot country of Thymiamata, and Major Rennel has already so validly shown, 
 that all the particulars related exactly correspond with this conjecture, that it would be su- 
 perfluous thereupon to dwell any longer. Against M. Gosselin, to whom this voyage ap- 
 pears much too long, I will only oppose the single fact which I have already set forth at page 
 84, but which has escaped his observation, that in the time of Herodotus the Carthaginians 
 had a regular intercourse by sea with the Gold Coast, to which Hanno's voyage of discovery 
 probably first paved the way. 
 
 VI. Fragments of the Account given hy the Carthaginian commander Himiko^ of 
 the Countries of Europe beyond the Pillars of Hercules. 
 
 (Taken from Rufus Festus Avienus, Ora Maritima, ed. Wernsdorf, Poetee Latini Minores, 
 
 torn. V. p. 3.) 
 
 Besides the expedition of Hanno, another was fitted out at the same time, and 
 sent, for the same purpose, to the western coast of Europe. A narrative also of 
 this voyage, similar to that of Hanno's, was extant in antiquity,' but unfortun- 
 ately has not descended to us. Festus Avienus, however, made use of it in the 
 above-mentioned metrical composition, which was drawn up by him for the in- 
 struction of his relation Probus. The poem is only valuable from its bringing 
 us acquainted with many ancient geographers, but is come down to us in a very 
 imperfect state ; and almost seems to have been rather a collection of materials 
 than a finished poem. It is deficient in order, contains many repetitions, and 
 the author does not appear to have had a clear notion of the coast which he 
 describes. See the notice of it by Professor Ukert, (which is rendered more 
 valuable by a map,) in \ Geographic der Griechen imd Homer ^ Th. ii. Abth, i. the 
 second Appendix. I have extracted only those passages which relate to the 
 document of Hanno and Carthage. 
 
 I. Ora Maritima, v. 80 — 130. 
 
 Terra? patentis orbis efiuse jacet, 
 Orbique rursus unda circumfunditur, 
 Sed qua profundum semet insinuat salum 
 Oceano ab usque, ut gurges hie nostri maris 
 Longe explicetur, est Atlanticus sinus. 
 Hie Gaddir urbs est, dicta Tartessus prius : 
 Hie sunt Columnte pertinacis Herculis, 
 Abila atque Calpe : * « * ♦ 
 
 ♦ •♦*♦*♦ 
 
 Et prominentis hie jugi surgit caput, 
 (CEstrymnin istud dixit aevum antiquius) 
 
 I. Ora Maritima, v. 80 — 130. 
 
 "Where the ocean flood presses in, and spreads wide the Mediterranean waters, lies the 
 Atlantic bay;* here stands Gadira, of old called Tartessus; here the Pillars of Hercules, 
 Abylrf, left of Libya, and Calpe.* ***** Here rises the head of the promontory, in 
 olden times named CEstrymnon,* and below, the like-named bay and isles;* wide they 
 
 1 Pliny, ii. 67. Et Hanno, Carthapinis potentia florente, circumvectus a Gadibus ad finem Arabia, 
 navipationem earn prodidit scripto : sicut ad extera Europae noscenda missus eodem tempore Himilcon. 
 ''' The bay between Cape Vincent and Trafalgar. 
 > Something is here probably left out, as he likewise mentions a second bay. 
 
 * The promontory of (Ettrymnon must be sought for on the north coast of Spam. We may take it 
 for Cap Finit Terrce, or some other ; for how can an accurate statement be expected, where the poet 
 himself seems to have had but a very confused idea of the subject. 
 
 * Sinus (Estrymnicus, et Insula (Estrymnides. 
 
 2 I 
 
48^ 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Molcsquc celsa saxei fastigii 
 Tota in tepentem maxime vergit notum. 
 Sub hujus autem prominentis vertice 
 Sinus dehiscit incolis CEstrymnicus, 
 In quo insulae sese exserunt (Estrimnides, 
 Laxe jacentes, et metallo divites 
 Stanni atque plumbi, muta vis hie gentis est, 
 Superbus animus, efficax soUertia 
 Negotiandi cura jugis omnibus : 
 Notisque cymbis turbidum late fretum, 
 Et belluosi gurgitem oceani secant. 
 Non hi carinas quippe pinu texere, 
 Acereve norunt, non abiete, ut usus est, 
 Curvant faselos : sed rei ad miraculum 
 Navigia junctis semper aptant pellibus, 
 Corioque vastum saepe percurrunt salura. 
 Ast hinc duobus in sacram (sic insulam 
 Dixere prisci) solibus cursus rati est. 
 Haec inter undas multam cespitem jacet, 
 Eamque late gens Hibeniorum colit. 
 Propmqua rursus insula Albionum patet. 
 Tartessiisque in terminos CEistrymnidum 
 Negotiandi mos erat : Carthaginis 
 Etiam coloni, et vulgus, inter Herculis 
 Agitans columnas, hajc adibant sequora : 
 Qua? Himiico Poenus mensibus vix quatuor, 
 Ut ipse semet re probasse retulit 
 Enavigantem, posse transmitti adsorit. 
 Sic nulla late flabra propellunt ratcm, 
 Sic segnis humor ajquoris pigri stupet, 
 Adjicit et illud, pluriraum inter gui^tcs 
 Exstare fucum, et saepe vir^ulti vice 
 Retinere puppim. Dicit hic nihilominus, 
 Non in profundum terga demitti maris, 
 Parvoque aquarum vix supertexi solum ; 
 Obire semper hue et hue ponti feras, 
 Navigia lenta et languide repentia 
 Intematare belluas. 
 
 II. V. 263—274. 
 
 Namque ex ea 
 
 Geryona quondam nuncupatum accepimus. 
 Hic ora late sunt sinus Tartessii ; 
 Bictoque ab amni in ha;c locorum puppibus 
 Via est diei ; Gaddir hic est oppidum : 
 Nam Punicorum lingua conceptum locum 
 Gaddir vocabat, ipsa Tartessus prius 
 Cognominata est ; multa et opulens civitas 
 JEvo vetusto, nunc egena, nunc brevis, 
 Nunc destituta, nunc ruinarum agger est. 
 Nos hoc locorum, prajter Herculaneam 
 Sollennitatem, vidimus miri nihil. 
 
 stretch and are rich in metals, tin, and lead. There a numerous race of men dwell, en- 
 dowed with spirit, and no slight industry, busied all in the cares of trade alone. They 
 navigate the sea on their barks, built not of pines or oak, but wondrous ! made of skins 
 and leather. Two days' long is the voyage thence to the Holy Island, once so called, wliich 
 lies expanded on the sea, the dwelling of the Hibernian race : at hand lies the isle of Al- 
 bion.' Of yore the trading voyages from Tartessus reached to the OEstrjmnides ; but the 
 Carthaginians and their colonies near the Pillars of Hercules, navigated on this sea, which 
 Himiico, by his own account, was upon during four months ; for here no wind wafted the 
 bark, so motionless stood the indolent wave. Sea-weed abounds in this sea, he says, and 
 retards the vessel in her course ; while the monsters of the deep swarm around. 
 
 II. V. 263—274. 
 
 Far oflP is seen Geryon's hold; here wide expands the bay of Tartessus, and from 
 
 the river thither is one day's voyage ; here lies the town of Gadira, of yore called Tartessus ; 
 then great and rich, now poor and fallen ; where I saw nought great but Hercules' festival. 
 
 ^ These statements clearly show, that the CEtirymmds islands were situate in the neighbourhood of 
 Hibemia and Mbivn; they only agree with the SciUy islands, which are eighty miles from the Irish 
 coast. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 483 
 
 III. V. 304—317. 
 
 Gerontis arcem et prominens fani, ut supra 
 Sumus elocuti distinct medium Salum ; 
 Interque celsa cautium cedit sinus. 
 Jugum ad secundum flumen amplum evolvitur : 
 Tartessionim mons dehinc attollitur 
 Silvis opacus, hinc Erythca est insula 
 Diffusa glebam, et juris olim Punici : 
 Habuere primo quippe earn Carthaginis 
 PriscaB coloni : interflusque scinditur 
 Ad continentem quinque per stadia modo 
 Erythea ab arce, qua diei occasus est, 
 Veneri marinae consecrata est insula, 
 Templumque in ilia Veneris et penetral cavum, 
 Oraculumque. 
 
 IV. V. 375—412. 
 
 Ultra has Columnas, propter Europae latus, 
 Vicos et urbes incolae Carthaginis 
 Tenuere quondam : mos at illis hic erat, 
 Ut planiore texerent fundo rates. 
 Quo cymba tergum fusior brevius maris 
 Praelaberetur, porro in occiduam plagam 
 Ab his columnis gurgitem esse interminum, 
 Late patere pelagus, extendi salum, 
 Himiico tradit. NuUus haec adiit freta, 
 Nullus carinas aequor illud intulit, 
 Desint quod alto flabra propellentia, 
 Nullusque puppim spiritus coeli juvet ; 
 Dehinc quod aethram quodam amictu vestiat 
 Cadigo, semper nebula condat gurgitem, 
 Et crassiore nubilum praestet die. 
 Oceanus iste est, orbis effusi procul 
 Circum latrator, iste pontus maximus. 
 Hic gurges oras ambiens, hic intimi 
 Salis inrigator, hic parens nostri maris. 
 Plerosque quippe extrinsecus curvat sinus, 
 Nostrumque in orbem vis profundi illabitur, 
 Sed nos loquemur maximos tibi quattuor. 
 Prima hujus ergo in cespitem insinuatio est 
 Hesperius aestus, atque Atlanticum salum ; 
 Hyrcana rursus unda, Caspium mare ;^ 
 Salum Indicorum, terga fluctus Persici ; 
 Arabsque gurges sub tepente jam Noto. 
 Hunc usus olim dixit Oceanum vetus, 
 Alterque dixit mos Atlanticum mare. 
 Longo explicatur gurges hujus Ambitu, 
 Produciturque latere prolixe vago, 
 Plerumque porro tenue tenditur salum, 
 Ut vix arenas subjacentes occulat. 
 Exsuperat autem gurgitem fucus frequens, 
 Atque impeditur aestus hic uligine ; 
 Vis belluarum pelagus omne intematat, 
 Multusque terror ex feris habitat freta. 
 
 III. V. 304-317. 
 
 Geryon's fort and temple overtops the sea ; a line of rocks crowns the bay : near the 
 second rock disembogues the river. Close by rises the Tartessus' mount bedecked with 
 wood. Next follows the island Erythea, ruled by the Carthaginians, for m early days the 
 Carthaginians had there planted a colony. The arm of the sea, which divides it from the 
 continent and from the fort, is but five stadia broad. ' The island is sacred to Marme Venus, 
 it contains her temple and oracle.* 
 
 IV. V. 375—412. 
 
 Beyond the Pillars, on Europe's coast, Carthage's people of yore possessed many towns 
 and places. Their practice was to build flat-bottomed barks, for the convenience of navi- 
 gating shallows ; but westward, as Himiico tells us, is open sea ; no ship has yet ventured 
 on this sea, where the windy gales do not waft her, and thick fogs rest on the waters. It is 
 the ocean which far roars around the land ; the unbounded sea.— This the Larthagmian 
 Himiico saw himself; and from the Punic records I have taken what I tell thee. 
 
 » Therefore a small inlet near Tartessus, like the opposite coast ; perhaps St. Pedro, opposite Chick- 
 "» « Probably Astarte : see above, p. 65. 
 
 2 1 2 
 
 lana. 
 
 I 
 
484 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 485 
 
 To the Carthaginian documents also belongs a Punic inscription, which Pro- 
 fessor Hamacker of Leyden, Diatribe aliquot monumentorum nuper in Africa 
 repertorum interpretatimem exhibens, Lugd. Bat. 1822, refers to the vintage ; but 
 privy-councillor G. Kopp, (Heidelberg Year-book, 1824,) on the contrary, takes 
 It I think rightly, for an epitaph, and translates it: Deploravit famtlia traditum 
 /positumj dum operata est (intulit) ad lapidetn nostrum, Baal Haman (Beus 
 Soils) vos suhecit succidendo tempora. Lex (fatum) Hassad Jilium Ahamel sub- 
 fecit The inscription should be compared with that of Bres, published m Malta 
 Antica. Another epitaph, given by Bishop Munster, is so uncertain, that Pro- 
 fessor Kopp could form no judgment respecting it. It makes mention of a col- 
 lege of priests. 
 
 VII. Fragments of the Works of Mago on Husbandry, 
 
 (See above, p. 48.) 
 
 n deem it advisable, on many accounts, to give here a collection of the frag- 
 ments of the only works of Carthaginian literature of which any remains are 
 extant. The information which may be deduced from them is very interesting. 
 They plainly evince that agriculture was considered in Carthage as the most 
 honourable employment, and was followed by the first men in the state. It 
 further appears that every branch of husbandry, and certainly with such helps 
 to human industry as were then known, was cultivated. It is also evident that 
 the work of Mago was not the only one of this kind, as Hamilcar and the Car- 
 thaginian writers in general are mentioned with him (No. 17). How much 
 indeed must have been written previously, to complete a work like that of Mago s 
 in twenty-eight books! Its value is sufficiently evident from the testimony of 
 Columella, who calls Mago the fatJier of Husbandry. Should some of his rules 
 not seem convincing to our agriculturists, it must be remembered that he wrote 
 in Africa, and that therefore they cannot fairiy judge of his works, without some 
 
 knowledge of the soil and climate. , .-• i. • • 
 
 The name of Mago and Hamilcar were very common among the Carthaginians. 
 Which Mago and Hamilcar are in this case to be understood, we are not in- 
 formed; thus much, however, we know, they were both renowned generals, who 
 devoted the leisure which their profession of arms left them, to agriculture. But 
 that this Hamilcar was not the father of Hannibal, will be readily acknowledged 
 by every one, who remembers that the latter must have passed the greater part 
 of his life out of his native country. I think I do not err in taking this Mago to 
 be the same with the general who first established the dominion of Carthage, 
 (Justin, xix. 2,) who was contemporary with Cyrus, and the founder of that 
 house which for above a century stood at the head of the republic, and whose 
 cenealogv I have given in the next appendix. Hamilcar, then, would be his 
 son, and the same who fell in battle, 480 b. c, against Gelon in Sicily. And be- 
 sides, if my conjecture, which I think highly probable, be admitted, that Hanno 
 and Himilco, who founded colonies in Africa and Europe, and explored their 
 coasts, were his sons, it will throw a stream of light upon the most bnlhant 
 period of Carthaginian history; and account for the aggrandizement of a state, 
 with a family of heroes at its head, which, during three generations, gave it 
 chiefs, illustrious for their deeds as generals, writers, and adventurers ; and who, 
 with the noble simplicity of the truly great, and therein only faithful to their 
 nature, returned to the ploughshare when their country no longer needed their 
 services.] 
 
 I. From Varko de Re Rustica. 
 
 1 The worth {nobilitas) of the writers hitherto quoted, is eclipsed by Mago 
 the Carthaginian, in the Punic language, as he comprised the subject in its vari- 
 ous branches in twenty-eight books, which Cassius Dionysius of Utica trans- 
 lated into Greek in twenty books, and sent to the praetor Sextius, whereto tie 
 
 added many things from the above-mentioned Greek writers, and omitted eight of 
 the books of Mago. Diophanes brought these from Bithynia, in six books, and 
 sent them to king Dejotarus. Varro, i. 1, 10. 
 
 2. Mago and Dionysius wrote, that mares and female mules do not bring forth 
 till twelve months after they have been impregnated, Varro, i. 1, 27. 
 
 3. Upon the health of black cattle I have borrowed a good deal from the books 
 of Mago, which I make my herdsmen carefully read. Varro, ii. 5, 18. 
 
 4. There are two sorts of feeding ; one upon the lands for black cattle, the 
 other in the farm-yard for poultry, doves, bees, etc. Of these Mago of Carthage 
 and Cassius Dionysius have treated in several parts of their works. Sejus of 
 Sicily seems to have read these, and, in consequence of it, to have raised more 
 produce on a single farm, than others upon their whole estate. Varro, iii. 2, 13. 
 
 II. From Columella de Re Rustica. 
 
 5. Diophanes from Bithynia has collected together, in six books, the whole of 
 Dionysius of Utica, the translator of the Carthaginian Mago, whose works fill 
 many volumes. Col. i. 1,10. 
 
 6. But, in addition to those mentioned, we would honour above all, Mago 
 the Carthaginian, the father of husbandry, whose twenty-eight well-known 
 books, in consequence of a senatus consultum, have been rendered into Latin. 
 
 Col. i. 1, 13. V 1 ■ 
 
 7. This I believe is what Mago the Carthaginian would express, who begins 
 his work with the following sentence : " Who would buy an estate, let him sell 
 his house, that he may no longer be encumbered with his town-house, but give 
 himself up entirely to that upon his land. He to whom an abode in the eity hes 
 close at heart, has no need of a country estate." 
 
 8. Democritus and Mago praise a north aspect for the vine ; because they be- 
 lieve it bears most in this situation. But in goodness it will not surpass others. 
 
 Col. iv. 12, 5. . , ,. ^ .V 
 
 9. In the planting of vines, let the sides of the trenches every now and then 
 be lined with stones, which should not, however, be above five pounds' weight. 
 For these, says Mago, keep out the wet in winter, and in the summer the moist 
 and damp from the roots.— Even so this writer is of opinion, that the pressed- 
 out grapes, mixed with dung, strengthens the seed laid in the earth, because it 
 draws new roots ; but this in wet and cold weather warms at the Proper time, 
 and in summer nourishes the young vines, and makes them fruitful. If, however, 
 the soil in which the vine is set be poor, then must rich earth be found and put 
 in the trenches. Col. iii. 15, 4, 5. . 
 
 10. For the pruning of the vine once every two years suits very well. Ihe 
 best time, however, as Mago says, is the spring, before the shoots become long, 
 because, being still full of sap, they may be easiest and most evenly cut, and they 
 do not oppose the sickle. Col. iv. 10. . ,, • ^v. ^ ^x, 
 
 1 1. Mago the Carthaginian adds also to the rule for setting the vine : that the 
 seed being planted, the trench should not be immediately filled up, but half ot it 
 left to the following year; by which, he says, the root of the plant is forced to 
 
 strike downward. Col. v. 5, 4. ^ e ^x. 
 
 12. In the purchase of cattle for the plough, there are certain rules for the 
 farmer to attend to, which Mago the Carthaginian has thus laid down for his 
 instruction. The steer should be young, strong, with large joints ; long, black- 
 ish, and stiff horns ; broad and curied forehead, rough ears, black eyes and lips 
 white and distended nostrils, long and bowed neck, white dewlap, which should 
 hang down to the knees, a broad chest, large haunches, a spacious belly, extended 
 sides, broad loins, exact and even pace, round buttocks, straight legs, not far 
 asunder, and rather short than long, stifFknees, long and hairy tail, a short and 
 thick head, red or brown colour, and soft to the touch. Col. vi. I, A 6. 
 
 13. The castration of calves should be performed, according to Mago, while 
 they are young, and not with an iron, but with a spit rod, with which the testis 
 cles should be pressed together and gradually squashed. See further in Col. vi. 
 26, 1, sqq. 
 
486 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 14. Some writers, not to be passed by, as Cato, and before him Mago and 
 Dionysius, mention, that the foaling of she-mules was so far from being con- 
 sidered a prodigy in Africa, that it was almost as common as that of mares. 
 
 °15 Mago, as well as Democritus and Virgil, asserts, that at certain times bees 
 proceed from the belly of a slaughtered young cow. Mago asserts that it also 
 happens in the paunch of oxen. Col. ix. 15, 3. j i. i j v 
 
 16. Some are of opinion, that among bees the ancient brood should be en- 
 tirely destroyed, which I, referring to Mago, do not maintain. Col. ix. 15, 3. 
 
 17. History informs us that neither the Carthaginian nor Greek writers (upon 
 farming), nor even the Roman, have neglected to attend to small matters. For 
 Mago the Carthaginian, and Hamilcar, held it not beneath their dignity, when 
 they were unoccupied by war, to contribute thereby their quota towards human 
 
 life. Col. xii. 4, 2. ^ , i. . , i- 
 
 18 Maffo gives directions for making the very best sort of wme, {passum opti- 
 mum,) as 1 myself have done. Take bunches of grapes, quite ripe, and well 
 boiled- take away the dry or faulty parts; form a frame of stakes or forks, 
 spreading thereon a layer of reeds ; spread the grapes upon these, and place 
 them in the sun, covering them at night from the dew. When they are dry, 
 pluck off the berries, throw them in a cask, and make of them the first must. 
 If they have well drained, put them the sixth day in a vessel, press them, and 
 take the (first) wine. After adding thereto must, quite cold, the berries must be 
 again pounded and pressed. The second wine may then be placed in a pitched 
 vessel lest it become sour. After twenty or thirty days, when it has fermented, 
 clear it off into another vessel, whose cover must be immediately stopped close, 
 and covered with a skin. Col. xii. 39, 1, 2. , , , , j. -, • 
 
 19 Mago the Carthaginian directs, that the pomegranate should be dipped in 
 hot sea-water, then rubbed with flax or tow till they lose their colour; they are 
 next to be dried in the sun for three days, and afterwards hungup in a cool place. 
 Before being used they must be soaked in cold fresh water for a night or day. 
 He also recommends that they should be smeared over, when fresh, with thick 
 chalk, and hung up in a cool place ; before using, steep them in water to get off 
 the chalk. He also gives another method, which is to lay them by layers m a 
 new earthen vessel, strewing saw-dust between every layer, till the vessel be full, 
 then place on the cover, which must be carefully smeared over with thick glue. 
 
 Col. xii. 44 5 6. 
 20. Mago recommends that the olive-tree should be planted in a dry soil, soon 
 ter the autumnal equinox, before the shortest day. Col. de Arh. 17, I. 
 
 after 
 
 III. From PALLADirs de Re Rustica, 
 
 21 Mago advises that the trench in which vines are planted, should not be 
 filled up at once, but gradually, which causes the roots to strike the deeper. 
 
 Pallad. Feb. x. 3. . .. , ^ /o i 
 
 22. Mago gives instructions for the castration of calves, etc. (bee above. 
 
 No. 13.) PaUad. Maj. vii. 1. 
 
 rV. From the 'inHIA'TPIKA, Basil, 1538. 
 
 23. When a horse suffers from violent asthma (limrvoiif) he draws in one side, 
 his eyes are dull, if not both, at least the right one, his mouth is hot, and he 
 stumbles in his gait. This disease, if taken at the beginning, may with proper 
 care be easily cured. Examine, therefore, closely the shape of >he horse ; it lie 
 draws in his right side he will be soon healed, but if he draws in the left it is a 
 chance if he gets over it One of his veins must be opened, and a draught aa- 
 ministered composed of crocus, myrrh, nard, white pepper, pure honey, old oil, 
 resin oU (IXoiot; poiivw), seetiied together in honey water. Medicma Veterimn, 
 lib. iL p. 95. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 487 
 
 V. From Plinii Hist. Natural. 
 
 24. Among the trees which are raised from kernels, Mago is particularly 
 copious upon nuts. Almonds should be planted in soft loam, towards the south. 
 They thrive best in hard, warm soils ; in rich and damper ones they become un- 
 fruitful or die. The best sort to plant are the sickle-formed, after they have been 
 three days soaked in muddy water. They should be set with the top downwards ; 
 the sharp side towards the north : they are planted in triangles, a palm from 
 each other ; and should be watered every ten days till they become of a good 
 size. Phn. xvii. 11. 
 
 25. Mago recommends that poplars should be planted in trenches, which have 
 been prepared a year before, whereby they imbibe the sun and rain. If this 
 direction is not followed, let a fire be made therein two months before planting, 
 which must only be done after rain. Plin. xvii. 16. 
 
 26. Mago says of olive trees, that they should be planted seventy-five feet from 
 each other; or, in hard soil, exposed to the wind, at least forty-five feet. Phn. 
 
 xvii. 19. . ./Y. 
 
 27. Mago says that the olive tree should be planted upon hills, in dry and stiff 
 soil, between autumn and winter. In rich and damp soil, between harvest and 
 winter. It may easily be seen that these directions were intended for Africa. 
 Plin. xvii. 30. 
 
 28. Even kings have written upon agriculture, as Hiero, Attalus Philometor, 
 and Archelaus ; also generals, as Xenophon, and Mago the Carthaginian, whose 
 work was so honoured by the senate, that when, after the conquest of Carthage, 
 it sent the libraries of that city to the king's there, it caused his work in twenty- 
 eight books to be translated into Latin, by persons well acquainted with the 
 Punic language, among whom D. Silanus, belonging to one of the first families, 
 surpassed all others. Plin. xviii. 7. 
 
 29. Mago goes rather beyond the mark, and not according to what is evidently 
 best, when he desires, that he who would take a farm should sell his house. As 
 he, however, thus opens his preface, he shows, at least, that it requires great 
 industry and attention. Plin. xviii. 7- 
 
 30. Concerning the manner of grinding or pounding, Mago says, that maize 
 should be first sprinkled with water, then cleaned, then dried in the sun, and 
 pounded in a mortar. Barley the same. Twenty measures thereof should be 
 moistened with two measures of water. Lentils should be first dried, then 
 lightly pounded with the bran ; vetches just the same. Sesame must be firet 
 soaked in warm water, then rubbed and thrown into cold, when the chaff will 
 float on the top ; it must then be dried in the sun upon Hnen cloths. Plin. 
 
 xviii. 23. .1. . 1 n 1. J 
 
 31. Mago directs that the albucum should be mown, if it has blown, at the end 
 of March or beginning of April. He also says, the Greeks named /^wfano, (what 
 we call adder's-tongue,) arrow-head, among the Sagittaria. PUn. xxi. 68, 69. 
 The further translation of the passage, which shows how accurately Mago 
 treated of the various sorts of rushes, requires botanical explanations. The 
 above shows that he was not unacquainted with Greek hterature. 
 
 VIII. On the Genealogy of the ruling Houses of Carthage. 
 
 w 
 
 \ 
 
 The whole tenor of Carthaginian history and government is much easier a^^^^^^ 
 hended by our observing, that, even in the most flounshmg times of the repubhc, 
 before the commencement of the Roman wars, single families, throughout many 
 generations, stood at its head. Among these, as is «ie^t^«^^^,^V]^!.^f^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 first and most important is that of Mago, which for one hundred and ^ty years 
 gave generals to the repubhc. The genealogy of these houses is mterwoven 
 with ^eat difiiculties, because in Carthage there were no family names, and the 
 
488 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 descent of each member can only be known by the fatber^s name hemg stated. 
 It mav, however, and especially of that of the house of Mago, be collected from 
 Justin and Diodorus, as the following attempt will show, in which I have set 
 down the authority for every statement. r *i, n *i, 
 
 1. Mago, the founder of the house, became also the founder of tne Cartna- 
 ginian predominancy, by the introduction of military discipline and tactics m 
 the army. Justin, xix. 1. As his sons were contemporary with Danus Hystas- 
 pes he must have been the contemporary of Cambyses and Cyrus, between 550 
 —MX) B. c. He left behind him two sons, Hasdrubal and Hamilcar, who in- 
 herited at the same time his power and greatness. They were engaged in the 
 African and Sicilian wars. Justin, xix. 1. The first of them, 
 
 2. Hasdrubal, was eleven times general, and four times enjoyed triumphs. 
 Justin, xix. 1. He fell, sorely wounded, in Sardinia, when the command de- 
 scended to his brother, , . «. -i j • i,- i, 
 
 a Hamilcar. This general carried on extensive wars m Sicily, durmg which 
 
 ambassadors came to Carthage from Darius. He was killed in the Sicilian wars 
 (Justin, xix. 2) while contending with Gelon of Syracuse, 480 b. c. Herod, vu. 
 
 165. Diod. i. p. 420. T . . o rru c 
 
 Each of these brothers left behind three sons. Justin, xix. 2. Ihose ot 
 
 T^Asdrubal were 
 
 4. Hannibal! 5. Hasdrubal. 6. Sappho. All three generals, probably 
 in Africa, against the native tribes, by which Carthage was freed from paying 
 tribute. Justin, xix. 2. . 
 
 The three sons of Hamilcar were, Himilco, Hanno, and Gisco. Justin, xix. 2. 
 
 7. Himilco, succeeded to his father in the command in Sicily; lost his army 
 by a pestilence ; and killed himself. Justin, xix. 2, 3. (Other histonans relate 
 the latter as happening to the younger Himilco, the grandson. No. 11. It is 
 therefore very probable that Justin has here made a mistake.) 
 
 8. Hanno, the second son of Hamilcar, has nothing mentioned respecting 
 him by Justin except his name. According to a conjecture, not improbable, he 
 is held to be the author of the celebrated Periplus, in which case, his brother 
 Himilco would be the author of the other Periplus, (now lost,) along the coast 
 of Spain. See above, p. 43. He must not be confounded with the Hanno men- 
 tioned by Justin, xx. 5, and xxi. 4 ; but it is very probable that he is the father 
 of Himilco spoken of under No. 11. . i. .. 
 
 9. Gisco, the third son of Hamilcar, is known with certainty from history ; 
 as well as from Justin, xix. 2, and Diod. i. p. 574, 588. Through the defeat of 
 his father, he was unfortunately doomed to exile, and closed his hfe at Selmus. 
 
 Diod. 1. c. He had a son named , , o- -i- 
 
 10. Hannibal, Diod. i. p. 590. A successful commander in the Sicihan wars, 
 410 b. c. He was again elected general, 406, in the first war against Dionysius I., 
 and chose as. his colleague, on account of his own great age, his cousin. 
 
 11. Himilco, (or, as he is oflener called, Hamilcar,) the son of Hanno, of the 
 same family. Diod. i. p. 603. It seems therefore very likely that he was the 
 son of Hannibars father's brother, Hanno ; but at all events of the house of 
 Mago. He prosecuted the war with success, and brought it to a close m 405. 
 It can scarce^ be doubted but it was this same Himilco who, in the second war 
 with Dionysius I., 398, obtained, as king, the command of the Carthaginians, 
 Diod. i. 681, but who, in the year 396, losing his army by the plague, secured a 
 safe retreat for the Carthaginians that still survived, and left the hired troops to 
 shift for themselves. After his return to Carthage he made away with himself. 
 
 Diod. i. p. 700, 701. ^ „ . 
 
 It seems very probable that with this Himilco his house fell into decay, at 
 least there is no proof that the later generals belonged to it. His successor in 
 the command was Mago, Diod. i. p. 71 1 , whose father is not named. He closed 
 the war, 392, by a treaty. Diod. ib. In the third war against Dionysius, ^ 
 B. c, he again obtained the command as king; but was beaten and slain. His 
 son, of the same name, quite a youth, was his successor, Diod. li, p. 15, who 
 successfully ended the war in the same year, by a treaty. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 489 
 
 So far as can be gathered from the fragments that are left of the history of 
 Carthage for the succeeding periods, there does not seem to be any single ruling 
 house previous to the time of Hamilcar Barca, that maintained itself so long at 
 the head of the government as that of Mago. What Uttle is left to be said re- 
 specting the consanguinity of the chiefs and generals of the republic is as 
 
 follows : 
 
 In the war against Timoleon we read of, as generals, Mago, who lost the com- 
 mand through a defeat, and killed himself, 341 b. c. ; Plutarch. Op. i. p. 244. It 
 is uncertain whether this be the same Mago who put an end to the war in the 
 vear 383. He was succeeded by Hasdrubal and Hamilcar, slain by Timoleon, 
 340 b. c. Plutarch, i. p. 248. Their family is unknown. 
 
 Another house now raised itself, and became so powerful as to endanger the 
 pubUc liberty ; that of Hanno, who had one son, Gisco, and he again two sons, 
 Hamilcar, and one whose name is not stated, who was the father of Bomilcar. 
 
 1, Of Hanno, the founder of this family, nothing is known, if we do not take 
 him for the Hanno whose unsuccessful attempt at a revolution, 340 b. c, is de- 
 scribed by Justin, xxi. 4. We must, to be sure, in that case, change what Justin 
 says, namely, that all his sons were executed with him, to a sentence of banish- 
 ment, from which his son Gisco might then be recalled in the same year, 340. 
 Perhaps this opinion will be strengthened by the reproach which Bomilcar cast 
 upon the Carthaginians for their injustice, Justin, xxii. 7, when he takes the ex- 
 amples from his own family, and among them Hanno. However this may be, 
 Hanno had a son named 
 
 2 Gisco, who was recalled from exile in order to take command, 340 b. c. 
 Diodorus, ii. p. 144 ; Plutarch, in Timol. Op. i. p. 248. One of his sons, 
 
 3. Hamilcar, (Justin, xxii. 23,) a Carthaginian of the highest rank, Diodorus, 
 ii. p. 399, was general against Agathocles in Sicily, but being made prisoner by 
 the Syracusans, he was by them put to death. Diod. ii. p. 426. Justin, xxii. 7, 
 confounds him with another Hamilcar, who chiefly supported Agathocles, but 
 who is carefully distinguished from him by Diodorus. . ■, ^ 
 
 4. His brother (whose name is not any where mentioned) is only known by 
 
 being the father of ^ , .. ,^ . , . . j ^ * a 
 
 5. Bomilcar, who, according to Justin, xxn. 7, wishing to desert to Aga- 
 thocles, was, on that account, put to death by the Carthaginians, 308 b. c. But, 
 according to Diod. ii. p. 473, this happened because he wished to obtain the 
 chief authority by force. 
 
490 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
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 For the next sixty years after this, when the house of Barca attained the 
 lead, from 247 b. c, there was no ruling family in Carthage. The genealogy of 
 this house, consisting of Hamilcar Barca, the son of Hannibal, (of whom we 
 know nothing further,) his son-in-law Hasdrubal, and his three sons, Hannibal, 
 Hasdrubal, and Mago, is generally known. While of the family of Hanno the 
 Great, which so long maintained a preponderance, history has preserved no 
 account 
 
 IX. See page 145. 
 
 Since the year 1825, when the last German edition of this work appeared, con- 
 siderable advances have been made in the exploration of the interior of Africa. 
 By the travels of Denham and Clapperton, not only (as was remarked at p. 113) 
 has the position of the kingdom of Bornou, formerly placed eight degrees too 
 far eastward, been corrected, so that its western frontier town, Lari, and Angor- 
 now, Ue under the same meridian as Mourzouk in Fezzan, thus the continuation 
 of the road by Bilma, the seat of the Atlantes, brings us directly upon it, but 
 also the kingdom of CufTa and the Fellatahs, to which, however, no information 
 of the ancients extend, are by their means freed from obscurity. 
 
 The question, too, respecting the mouth of the Joliba, is, according to the 
 public Journals, now decided by the journey of Lander, the former servant of 
 Clapperton, in such a way that this river, changing its eastward course, and 
 turning westward, discharges itself into the Atlantic Ocean in the Bight of Be- 
 nin • for that traveller, sailing down this stream, reached the sea in that bay, 
 and'thus ascertained that the mouths of the Benin river are those of the Joliba : 
 we still, however, hope for more exact information on this matter. 
 
 But even now the general course of the rivers of Northern Africa or Soudan 
 is very imperfectly known, and the question, how it came to be believed by the 
 ancients (a belief which still exists) that the Nile flows from the west, and that 
 it communicates with the Joliba, remains unanswered. It has been remarked 
 already, that this opinion prevailed as early as Herodotus, and that he or his in- 
 formants founded upon it their idea, that the stream which he knew of, and which 
 the Nasamones had discovered, was the Nile. As long as the size of the large 
 lake Tsaad, discovered by Denham and Clapperton, is unknown, and the course 
 of the White River remains unexplored to its source, so long is there still a pos- 
 sibility that, at least during the annual inundations, such a connexion of their 
 
 waters may still exist. , ,• . . ^^. j c 
 
 A recent historian, the late B. G. Niebuhr, has given a sense to the words of 
 Herodotus, by which a completely erroneous idea of the geography of the in- 
 terior of Africa is attributed to him.> He assumes that, according to Herodotus, 
 the course of the Nile immediatehj above Egypt or Elephardis must be considered 
 as flowing from the west. To agree with this, all that Herodotus places to the 
 south of Egypt up to Meroe and the country of the Automoh (the emigrants of 
 the Egyptian warrior caste) falls to the westward: so that on his map Meroe is 
 placed on the southern frontier of Fezzan, the land of the Garamantes ; and the 
 Automoli near Bilma. This view of the subject is one of those paradoxes which 
 are so abundant in this writer, though we willingly do justice to his acuteness 
 and learning in other respects. But though Herodotus brings the Nile from the 
 west, and founds upon this notion the conjecture, (for only as such does he give 
 it, ii. 33,) that the Kile in Libya runs parallel with the Danube m Europe ; he 
 hks no where stated that this is its direction immediately above Egypt and Ele- 
 phantis. He rather asserts the contrary, since he makes it first run by the Au- 
 tomoli ; and according to his notion the stream which the Nasamones discovered 
 Hrobably the Nile (ii. 32, 33). But they did not reach ^^l^^'"^^' :^\f^J 1^^^ 
 crossed the desert, consequently it lay much deeper m Africa. Besides how 
 could Herodotus have formed such an opinion, when he not only clearly drew 
 htknSge from prsons who had followed the course of t^he stream above 
 Egypt to Meroe, but had also-he himself havmg been at Elephantis (ii. 31)- 
 
 '^Thf foSSated Tombuctoo also.has been at last reached by the French 
 traveller clillie, and described by him in his Voyage ^ I'^^^^^^J^l^^}'^^^^ 
 true, that in spkndour and size it is far from answenng the ^^^P^f f ^lon p^^^^^^ 
 entertained respecting it. Nevertheless, it stil appears ^^ an important ^^^ 
 of trade, especially as a staple for salt, so considerable an article of commerce 
 even in ancient times. 
 
 • » A Diuertation on the Geography of Herodotus tmth oMap; J^^^Jff «4t^?8^^ 
 
 &y/Waiw, Ge<«, and &»rwa<iai«, translated from the German of B.G.Niebubr, in svo. uxio , 
 
49^ 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 493 
 
 How old the present Tombuctoo may be we do not know ; the name does not 
 occur in Edrisi, who wrote about the middle of the twelfth century; but is found 
 in Leo Africanus in the fifteenth. But Ptolemy {Geograph. iv. 6) places his 
 Niger-Metropolis on the north side of the Niger, in lat. 17° 40' and long. 25% 
 which, after the reduction of the degrees of longitude necessary with him, gives 
 IS** long, from Ferro, which suits the spot on which Tombuctoo stands in our 
 latest maps. This then shows at least thus much, that in his age a considerable 
 town existed in the neighbourhood of the modern Tombuctoo ; whether such 
 was the case in that of Herodotus we are unable to determine. 
 
 [ADDITIONAL APPENDIX.] 
 X. The Travels of Mr, Hoshins into Ethiopia, 
 
 Travels in Ethiopia, above the second cataract of the Nile, exhihitina the state of that 
 country, and its various inhabitants, under the dominion of Mohamed Ah, and illustrat- 
 ing the Antiquities, Arts, and History of the ancient Kingdom of Merot, by G.A.Hos- 
 kins, Esq., with a map, and ninety illustrations of the temples, pyramids, etc. oj Merot, 
 Gibel el Birkel, Solib, etc., from drawings finished on the spot, by the author, and an 
 artist whom he employed. Large 4to, xvi and 367 pp. 1835. Longman and Co. 
 
 This is the most extensive work that has been yet published upon ancient Ethi- 
 opia, and especially upon Meroe, which was the great object of the author's 
 journey, and for which he prepared himself not only by a long abode in Greece 
 and Italy, in order to study the monuments of these countries, but also in Egypt, 
 where he resided a whole year, for the same purpose. He set out from Thebes 
 in Upper Ec^ypt, February 1st, 1833, penetrated as far as the ancient city of 
 Meroe, and arrived, on his return, at Wadi Alfa, the second cataract of the Nile, 
 on the 16th of June, when his account closes, so that his journey into Ethiopia 
 lasted four months and a half. His retinue consisted of twelve persons whom 
 he hired to accompany him; among them was an expert Italian painter named 
 Baldoni, to whom we are mainly indebted for the beautiful drawings by which 
 the descriptions are illustrated. The work is cast in the form of a journal ; to 
 which are added four chapters on the history and affairs of ancient Meroe. 
 
 It will be unnecessary, however, for us to follow the author step by step ; it 
 will be sufficient for our purpose to select such parts of his work as may serve 
 to extend our knowledge of these remote regions. He obtained from the Abab- 
 des, after some delav, eleven camels, the number he required. From Phil®, he 
 at first followed the' course of the river, but left it to cross the Nubian deserts to 
 Korosko, which are already known by the Travels of Bruce and Burkhardt, whom 
 this author always meiitions with great respect. The party only in one place 
 met with water, which was salt ; the skeletons of famished travellers and dead 
 camels were lying in heaps along the way. Near Macharif, the present capital 
 of Nubia, they again reached the Nile, and henceforward continued their journey 
 along the river; and thus, after passing the conflux of the Astaboras and the 
 Nile, they amved on the 4th of March at Meroe, the ancient capital of Ethiopia. 
 The town has entirely disappeared ; the Necropolis with its pyramids alone re- 
 mains. With these we are already acquainted from the accounts of CaiUaud ; 
 but the descriptions and drawings here given us are much more complete and 
 accurate. " Never," says he, " were my feeUngs more ardently excited than in 
 approaching, after so tedious a journey, to this magnificent Necropolis. The 
 appearance of the pyramids in the distance announced their importance ; but 1 
 was gratified beyond my most sanguine expectations when I found myself in 
 the midst of them. The pyramids of Geezah are magnificent, but for picturesque 
 effect and elegance of architectural design, I infinitely prefer those of Meroe. 
 1 expected to find few such remains here, and certainly nothing so imposing, so 
 interesting as these sepulchres, doubtless of the kings and queens of Ethiopia. 
 I stood for awhile lost in admiration. From every point of view I saw mag- 
 nificent groups, pyramid rising behind pyramid, whilst the dilapidated state ot 
 
 manv did not render them less interesting, though less beautiful, as works of art. 
 I easily restored them in my imagination, and these effects of the ravages of time 
 carried back my thoughts to more distant ages." The author first gives the 
 uosition of the single pyramids in a general plan, in which we reniark twenty- 
 one in greater or less preservation, as well as the traces of several others. These, 
 however, are only the pyramids of the principal group, which the author first 
 reached, on the west side of the river. But he mentions three groups, m which 
 eighty pyramids may be counted. The principal group is situate on a hill, two 
 miles and a half from the river. Drawings of some of them are given m the fol- 
 lowing part of his work, with their dimensions. The largest is sixty feet high, 
 and the same in diameter. Most of them may be ascended, but others are with- 
 out steps One has a window, but it is only an architectural ornament, and not 
 for the purpose of admitting light. All have a portico with an entrance, which 
 always faces the west. The principal group contains thirty-one pyramids, and 
 the plan of twenty-three of them may be distinctly traced. Another group con- 
 tains thirteen ; two out of three other groups consist each of two ; a third, of six. 
 At the distance of 6500 feet from the chief group towards the west may be dis- 
 cerned the remains of twenty-six pyramids, all of them, however, in ruins. 1 he 
 Dorticoes generally contain a room from six to twelve feet in length and as many 
 in breadth, the facades of which are much ornamented. We may cleariy recog- 
 nise in them, says the author, the origin of the Egyptian propylons. At the end 
 of most of these porticoes, opposite to the entrance, there is the representation 
 of a monolithic temple, with sculptures, which are, however, much defaced. It 
 is evident that attempts have been made, either from curiosity or rapacity, to 
 break open several of these temples. No where is there the slightest vestige of 
 their having contained corridors ; probably they were erected over wells, m which 
 the bodies were deposited. The entrance of one of these porticoes was arched, 
 from which the author infers that the Egyptians were acquainted with the arch, 
 which he considers to have originated in Ethiopia. But the example of a single 
 one, which may possibly have been built at a later penod, is by no means con- 
 clusive. And even had the arch been known in Egypt, it could not have been 
 introduced in the temples, where everything was done in conformity to the 
 strict rules laid down by the priests, from which no departure was allowed. 
 
 The walls of the portico are adorned with sculptures, of which fac-similes are 
 here riven. They consist of processions with libations and sacrifices, in honour 
 of a goddess, or, as the author supposes, a queen represented as a goddess. 1 he 
 principal figure which is in a sitting posture, is covered with a long close robe, 
 wSs not usual with Egyptian fiiures. The whole figure is unlike the Egyp- 
 tians. It is also distinguished by marked corpulency, which, as is well known, 
 i^ considered one of the principal beauties in the East Two other sheets contain 
 a representation of a second nrocession of the same kind, m which, Wver it 
 is impossible to determine t^e sex of the pnncipal figure, or to distmgui^^^^ 
 whether it is a king or a queen. From the work of C^llaud we know that there 
 are also representations of miUtary subjects, such as the execution of pnsoners, 
 but none of these are here repeated. And whenever discrepancies are found be- 
 tween the drawings given here and those of Caillaud, the author vouches for the 
 correctness of Mr^laldoni's and of his own, the latter of which were executed 
 partly with the assistance of the camera lucida. The pyramids are of sandstone 
 The quarries from which they were built are still to be seen m the mountains 
 Time, and the effects of a tropical sun, have g^ven them a brownish almost a 
 black tinge. The climate is,1iowever, favourable to the Presewat^^ ^n^^^^^^^ 
 monuments. Hence the dilapidated condition of many of them is the most con- 
 
 ^^terfnf rfS^^^^^ city of Meroe, except some masonry an^^^ 
 
 some of the bricks of which, according to Strabo, the houses were built As at 
 Memphis, there is scarcely a vestige of a temple or palace : the City of the Dead 
 alone^emains! Gazelles now fearlessly pasture upon the P^am which sur- 
 rounded it ; the neighbouring hills abound in wolves and hyaenas. But the name 
 Meroe still lives in that of\ neighbouring village. From thence the author 
 went to Shendy, which is sufficiently known from the accounts of Burkhardt 
 
 I 
 
494 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 495 
 
 The town now only contains from 3000 to 3500 inhabitants, and from six to 
 seven hundred houses. The bazaar is chiefly appropriated to the sale of slaves 
 and camels ; sheep and goats are also sold there. The coloured portraits of its 
 inhabitants, of both sexes, show that their complexion was brown, but not black. 
 Before their subjection to the pacha of Egypt, Shendy, Dongolah, and other 
 towns, had their own chiefs, (meleks,) who were more or less subject to the great 
 melek of Sennaar ; these were so many petty tyrants, who, with their families, 
 constituted the aristocracy of the country. Now they are all subject to H urschid 
 Bey, the governor of Sennaar, who sends from five hundred to three thousand 
 slaves annually to Cairo to the pacha. 
 
 From Shendy the author went, on the 9th of March, through the desert to the 
 ruins of Mezara or Wadi Owataib, which are already known from Caillaud, and 
 drawings of which are again given here ; and reached them on the following day, 
 the 103i of March. "I was surprised to find such extensive remains of an- 
 tiquity in such a situation, as it were, in the interior of the desert. They con- 
 sist of a building containing temples, courts, corridors, etc., which were not only 
 destined for religious, but also for civil and domestic purposes, and upon the 
 whole measured 2854 feet in circumference. In the centre there is a small 
 temple, forty-seven feet long and forty wide, which is evidently the principal 
 temple. It is surrounded by a colonnade, which on the north side is double. 
 The interior contains four columns. The temple is approached by a long cor- 
 ridor. At each side of the gate to which the corridor leads, there is a colossal 
 image hewn in the wall ; but it is mutilated, the head and arras being wanting. 
 The style of the one is tolerably good ; that of the other far inferior. An ac- 
 curate notion of the buildings which surround the central temnle cannot be con- 
 veyed by description ; they must be referred to in the plan. This is the building 
 in which the reviewer in his inquiries respecting Meroe thought he recognised 
 the old temple of the oracle of Ammon. He considered himself borne out in this 
 assumption partly by its situation in the desert, according to the statement of 
 Diodorus, and partly by the enigmatic plan of the building itself, whilst the four 
 columns in the interior immediately suggest the idea that they were destined to 
 support the sacred ship, by means of which, as is well known, the oracles of 
 Ammon were delivered, and a representation of which may be seen on many of 
 his temples in Thebes. This, however, was limited expressly to the central tem- 
 ple, as it is obvious that the surrounding buildings were not erected all at once, 
 but gradually, as occasion required, and especially as residences for the priests. 
 But the author, who elsewhere generally coincides in the opinions of the reviewer, 
 here objects that the temple would have had hieroglyphs upon it. He cannot 
 form any more definite conjecture as to its purpose than that the whole was per- 
 haps a pleasure-castle of the king's, or that it may have served as a hospital. 
 The reviewer is far from being bigoted to his own opinion, but no one can deny 
 that its destination was of a religious nature, as the principal building was a 
 temple, the smallness of which will not excite surprise when it is considered that 
 it was intended for the reception of the ship of the oracle ; and as for the want of 
 hieroglyphs, the six columns of the portico, according to Caillaud, certainly ap- 
 pear to be furnished with them. We willingly leave this to the judgment of the 
 readers, especially as the reviewer has not made this assumption the basis of 
 further hypotheses ; and the above remark, that the whole building only arose 
 gradually, also serves to explain the traces of Grecian architecture, as we know 
 from Diodorus that the temple was still standing uninjured in the Ptolemaic 
 age, in which king Ergamenes overthrew the priestly aristocracy. 
 
 From this monument the author went to the ruins of the temple of Abu-naga, 
 of which nothing more than the area is given, and a drawing representing two , 
 pillars, which are also without hieroglyphs. The author considers these from ; 
 their style to be the oldest monuments of ancient Meroe, "for," he observes, 
 " the absence of hieroglyphs is either a proof of the highest or of a later an- 
 tiquity. From hence he intended to go to the ruins of Mezaurat, eleven miles 
 distant, for the first accounts of which we are indebted to Caillaud ; this plan, 
 however, he was obliged to relinquish. Even at the ruins of Maga they had 
 been disturbed by lions, whose vicinity was announced by their traces and their 
 
 roar ; it was only by kindling fires at night that they could scare them away. 
 The danger to be apprehended from these unbidden guests in case they pene- 
 trated farther into the desert, was depicted as so great that his companions re- 
 fused to follow him, and thus he saw himself reluctantly obliged to return. To 
 ascend the White River to its source the author considered at present impractica- 
 ble, on account of the feeUngs which the inhabitants of its banks entertained 
 towards the pacha of Egypt. , „, -. ., •. tv/t 
 
 On the 14th of March the author set out from Shendy, on the opposite Me- 
 tammah, on his return. He determined to return by another route, namely, to 
 the west of the Nile, through the desert Bajoudah, his description of which is a 
 valuable addition to our geographical knowledge. This desert is not destitute of 
 trees and springs ; the sand is not very deep, and in many places there was a 
 pleasing prospect. The immediate object of his journey was Gibel el Birkel, 
 with its monuments, and the place called Meraweh, in which the ancient name 
 itself has been preserved, and in which, even without this, may be recognised a 
 colony from ancient Meroe. They reached it on the 22nd of March. The plan 
 and the drawings differ in many respects from those of Caillaud, but he assures 
 us that he took the greatest pains to attain the utmost possible exactness, m 
 which respect generally the author's work may claim the preference, as he had 
 taken a skilful artist into his service for the purpose. The monuments here 
 divide themselves into two classes, temples and pyramids. The temples stand 
 at the foot of an isolated hill, 350 feet in height. Two of them are entirely in 
 ruins in consequence of the fall of a mountain; two are excavated in the rock; 
 the others, eight in number, the remains of which may still be perceived, are 
 above CTOund. They are built in the Egj^tian style, and upon them are inscribed 
 the names of the three Pharaohs of the Egyptian dynasty, Sabaco, Senachus, 
 Tirhako, who also reigned in Egypt, and whose reigns fall between 800 and JW 
 B c, to which period must also be referred the erection of these monuments. 
 The author has not only given an exact architectural descnption of them, with 
 ground-plans and drawings, but also of the ornaments on their walls, represent- 
 ing processions and military scenes, which are already known from Caillaud, but 
 are here drawn more minutely, for which we must refer the reader to the work 
 itself. The Necropolis, consisting of pyramids, is divided into two parts ; ttie 
 one on the west side of the river, by Gibel el Birkel, the other on the east side 
 near Nuri. They are in better preservation than those of ancient Meroe, and 
 also have porticoes ; the highest, near Nuri, is eighty-eight feet high. They are 
 also of sandstone, and the reliefs around, and in the porticoes likewise, represent 
 rehmous processions and miUtary subjects. The spectacle of all these ru^ns pro- 
 duced a grand impression. " I felt," says the author, " that I was indubitably 
 in the vicinity of a once rich and nourishing country." The pyramids may be 
 ascended, but not without great trouble. The height of most of them is between 
 thirtv and sixty feet. The plan exhibits fourteen pyramids near Gibel el Birkel 
 Those at Nuri, on the east side of the river, are more dilapidated ; the author 
 reckons them among the most ancient monuments ; the number of those at 
 Nuri is thirty-five, Snly fourteen of which are in any degree of preservation 
 The subjects described on the walls leave no doubt that they are mausolea of 
 
 ^'On The^sTof April the author embarked at Meraweh on his return, descended 
 the Nile, and on the 10th arrived at Dongolah. Dongolah is a 1^^/^^ ^own f"d 
 carries on a considerable trade with various parts The bazaars were abund- 
 antly stocked, as were the slave markets, of which there were sev^!^!' ^™ 
 according to the difference of age and sex. The s aves «^^^f ^ ^J^^^^^?"', ^^^^^ 
 sinia;' the greater part of them are sent to Egypt. Dongolah ^jmeriy h^^ 
 own Chiefs or melets, but it is now under the supremacy of the PJ^^^^^^^^^ 
 who has a governor Ihere. Much interesting mformation ^^. given concerning 
 the inhabitants, and their manners and customs He continued his journey 
 upon the river, which he descended as far as the island Argo, m order to see and 
 describe its antiquities. These consist of two prostrate colossal statues of gr^^^^^ 
 granite. The faces are Egyptian, but the sculpture ^thioinan. They^^^^ 
 never to have been entirely finished. The author was here mformed that a re- 
 
496 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 497 
 
 I 
 
 volt had broken out in the province of Mahas, which it was necessary that he 
 should traverse. As it was impossible to continue his journey in that direction, 
 he was compelled to return to Dongolah. It was not until the reduction of the 
 insurgents had been effected that the journey could be continued, which was 
 performed partly upon the Nile itself, but chiefly along its left bank. It has 
 already been mentioned that his diary ends with his arrival at the second catar- 
 act of the Nile, at Wadi Haifa. ^^r ■ .x. 
 
 Four more chapters follow : the first two on the history of Meroe, the next on 
 its trade, and the last on its art. The history of Meroe is founded upon those 
 passages in sacred as well as profane writers, which mention that city; with the 
 assistance, however, of the inscriptions in the temples, (as the names and titles 
 of the Pharaohs in the hieroglyphic writing, which the author saw and carefully 
 copied, are uniformly added,) whilst especial use has been made of the accounts 
 of Rosellini, to whom the author does full justice. A field for investigation is 
 here opened upon various points, (e. g. when the author identifies the Sethos of 
 Herodotus with Tirhako,) but into which we cannot follow him without exceed- 
 ing our Umits. It may, however, be here remarked, that the author in these 
 four chapters concurs upon the whole in the opinions of the reviewer, to which 
 he often refers, and according to which Meroe was the mother-country of the 
 worship of Ammon, which extended itself from thence, by means of colonics, into 
 Egypt, and may consequently in so far be called the mother-country of civiliza- 
 tion, which stood in the closest connexion with this worship ; a connexion, how- 
 ever, which was first extended and matured in Egypt. It would be superfluous 
 to enlarge upon this. subject here, as the reviewer must naturally refer to his 
 writings. Thus much, however, he must observe, that gratified as he must be 
 once more to see the results of those investigations confirmed by the testimony of 
 an eye-witness, he must still protest against its being supposed (as has already 
 been asserted in an English journal) that he subscribes to all the author's con- 
 clusions. , , . .X -.u 
 
 We have already alluded to the valuable copper-plates and vignettes with 
 which the work is furnished, and which are in various respects highly instructive. 
 This may especially be asserted of the coloured portraits of the races of those 
 regions whose complexion may here be distinctly recognised. The vignettes 
 represent, for the most part, landscapes, and are chiefly executed with the camera 
 lucida. The larger sheets, which exhibit drawings of the monuments, give 
 partly the general plans, partly the ruins in their present, and some of them in 
 their former state, as far as this can still be recognised. At the end of the work 
 there is a drawing on four large sheets, representing a grand procession in one of 
 the royal sepulchres of Thebes, (according to the author, Thutmosis III., c. 1500 
 B. c) on which are dehneated the three races, namely, the red or brown, the 
 black, and the white ; besides which it exhibits various species of animals, even 
 the giraffe and the elephant, and many varieties of monkeys; other objects of 
 trade, as described in Hal. III. 97 and 114, are also represented, concerning 
 which the author has treated, and given an explanatory commentary. The 
 large map annexed comprehends the whole region of the Nile with its rivers 
 from 15^0 N. Lat to its mouths. 
 
 XI. A comparison of the ideas put forth by the author ujmi the high antiquity of 
 Egypt, with those of Champollion and Rosellini. 
 
 The progressive development of ethnographical science, and the more accurate 
 examination and study of ancient monuments, have been of the utmost service to 
 these researches ; and in the various editions and translations of this work, which 
 have been called for since its first appearance, (in a very imperfect form, m the 
 year 1793,) it has been mv earnest endeavour to keep pace with the age, and to 
 take advantage of every new light which time and increasing information have 
 brought to bear upon this subject. Egypt in this respect has been more highly 
 favoured than any other country without the limits of Europe. Military and 
 
 scientific expeditions have greatly extended our information respecting its 
 monuments and history. One of the most important of these, so far as science 
 is concerned, was undertaken in 1828 and 1829, at the expense of the govern- 
 ments of France and Tuscany, and placed under the direction of Champollion 
 and RoseUini. To whom, indeed, could more properly have been confided such 
 a charge than to the learned OrientaUst to whom we are indebted for the learned 
 essay upon the interpretation of hieroglyphics ? To him was committed the 
 task of examining and developing his own system upon the very spot to which 
 it referred. A cruel destiny, however, did not allow him to put together the 
 materials which he had collected ; scarcely had he returned to his native country 
 when a premature death tore him from his literaiy labours, just as he was pre- 
 paring a grammar of hieroglyphics, the publication of which is still anxiously 
 
 pxoec ted. 
 
 It is some consolation to know, that those exertions which Mr. Chanipollion 
 began, in conjunction with a friend every way fitted for the task, Rosellini, pro- 
 fessor of the Oriental languages at Pisa, are still continued by that gentleman. 
 This great work, so far as we can judge from the parts already finished, and 
 now lying before us, could scarcely have been confided to abler hands. The 
 plan on which the collection is made is deserving of much praise ; it is divided 
 into several sections, the subjects being arranged under separate heads ; the first 
 contains the historical part, the Hves of the kings ; the others treat of public 
 and private Hfe, arts and sciences, and the religion of the Egyptians. The 
 author, who is much opposed to all hypotheses, and who has well studied the 
 language and writings of this nation, strictly confines himself to the explanation 
 
 of its monuments.' - j -n ^ ±- 
 
 Of the entire work, I monumenti deV Egitto e delta Nubia, desi^nati ed illustratt 
 dal dottore Ippolito RoseUini, the first part, in two volumes, / monumenti storici, 
 has only as yet appeared. It is accompanied by a superb atlas, containing por- 
 traits of the Pharaohs, and the inscriptions belonging to them. 
 
 It is hardly necessary, I think, for me to mention that I do not purpose to 
 enter upon a detailed criticism of this work, for which, indeed, I do not possess 
 the means. My object is simply to point out in what particulars, and how far, 
 the principal results of these investigations confirm or contradict the opinions 
 I have adopted in my works. It must not, however, be forgotten that the two 
 volumes published by M. Rosellini only treat of the chronological history of the 
 kings and various dynasties of Egypt ; and say nothing, as yet, upon politics or 
 commerce, the objects to which I have more particulariy turned my attention. 
 But before I enter upon this subject, there is one point to which I feel bound to 
 direct the attention of the reader, even though I should therebv incur the charge 
 of presumption for calUng in question the opinions of men who have seen the 
 country and examined its monuments upon the spot. 
 
 The history of Egypt, arranged according to the thirty-one incomplete dynas- 
 ties of Manetho, is divided, as regards its sources, into two parts or penods ; one 
 comprising the seventeen first dynasties, the other the eighteenth to the thirty- 
 first. It is only of this latter period, about eighteen hundred years before the 
 Christian era, that any monuments remain, or, if any, they are mere fragmentaiy 
 morsels of very trifling importance. It consequently follows, that, for this period, 
 ChampolHon and Rosellini are scarcely more advanced than other historians 
 who have not visited Egypt ; and this dispenses me from dwelhng upon those 
 few points in this portion of history in which I do not altogether agree with those 
 learned OrientaUsts. In the second period, in which they find monuments and 
 inscriptions to consult and interpret, the case is altogether different, 
 t 
 
 I. On the origin of the Egyptian nation. 
 
 I have represented the Egyptians as an aboriginal People of Afri^, and as 
 descended from the same race as the present inhabitants of Nubia. Ihis race 
 insensibly spread itself by colonies along the valley of the Nile into Lov^ei 
 Egypt. 1 have confined this assertion, however, to the supenor castes of priests 
 
 « Introduzione, p. x. 
 2 K 
 
498 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 and wamore; since it appears, according to the relations of the Egyptians 
 themrives, that it was a sacerdotal caste, emigrated from Meroe, which, by the 
 ailTits religion and superior intelligence, founded a dominion over the nomad 
 rtbTs theTrimitive inhabitants of Egypt. Such is also the opinion of Bosel- 
 toi ^though he does not mention keroe, but only cites the generic name of 
 E°hioiria' I shall show, a little further on. that ChampoUion also held the 
 same opinion, which is still further strengthened by the statemenU of other 
 travellers quoted in my work. 
 
 2. Foundation of t/ie Jint States of Egypt. 
 
 These were formed, according to mv representations, bv colonies transported 
 from Mereg into Up^r Egypt and along the valley of the Nile My grounds 
 fOT th^^inion are the ordinary propagation of nations in high antiquity 
 ™,upM w^th what Herodotus' tells us of this custom among t!ie pnests of 
 MereTaiid of some of those colonies to which oracles were attached, as Thebes 
 ta Ef^p^^Ammonium in the Libyan desert, and even Dodona in Greece which 
 Se fhetein priests claimed to have founded. I have shown a so that there is 
 still found u^n the site of ancient Meroe, a little sacerdotal state, that of Da- 
 rner, devoted at once to commerce and oracles.' . ., ■ j 
 Eve^ one, moreover, must pereeive, as I have frequently proved as regar.^ 
 E^pl that it is in the natm-e of these colonies that the central point of each 
 of them should consist of a sanctuary or temple. . , . ^ , ,. , 
 ChaS^Uion has laid down his notions respecting the first population and 
 ciS^ of Egypt, in a memoir addressed to the viceroy, before his departure 
 fOTF^ce.' AcS^fd^ng to this, first, Egypt was peopled by colonies from Abys- 
 sinia Md Sennaar (Meroe), secondly, the Egyptians derive their ongin from 
 ?hl race of Berbers, or Nubians ; thirdly, these Berbers amved in figypt as 
 nomrdes. entirely igiorant of the arts and sciences ; four hly, in aking to agn- 
 cuUure and a settfed form of life, they laid the foundation of ci les w_hich in 
 cou^of time became great and powerful; fifthly, the most ancient of which 
 "were Thebes, Edfou, and othe«; Middle and Lower Egypt were not in- 
 haWted till a later ^riod i sixthly, in the beginning, the Egyptians were governed 
 W prieste, each caiuon having its pontiff, who had other pnests under his com- 
 mand, and who reigned in the name of some deity. u- r • j 
 The sacerdotal c^te was overthrown by the miUtary caste, whose chiefs raised 
 themselves to the rank of kings about 2200 years b c, the epoch at which the 
 reeular estabhshment of roval power took place in i-gypt. 
 
 Yhe points upon which ChampolUon and myself agree and differ may now 
 yeiT easily be se^n. I cannot think that the first tribes which came into Egypt, 
 fo^Zg colonies and building temples, could be nomades altogether so barbar- 
 ous But fullv believing that the germs of civilization were brought from Meroe 
 Zo E^t wUhlhe wofship of Ammon, I am still willing to adm.t, that it did 
 not grSw and flourish until it was brought into this latter country. 
 
 With re<mrd to the victory gained by the warriors over the priests, not only is 
 thirfact destitute of proof, but it is refuted by all the following history, m which 
 he s^ertta cite & holds the highest place. If. at the commeneement, 
 Aese^ntife reigned in the various disti?cts of Egypt in the name of some deity, 
 w^d nSTof Tkinfthey were themselves naturally princes or kings, even tho.^h 
 Jhey M not bear that title. Hence also it follows that their authority was con- 
 necWwith the temples. It will consequently be seen, that with Me ^.re thaj 
 the difference of titfe, this agrees with my assertions ; for these cantons placed 
 with their capitals and temples under the dominion of independent pontiffs, 
 formed in reXty. so many little states. ChampolUon himself would undoubt- 
 emy ht "co^ ^' tWs co/clusion. if he had been permitted t« examine leisurely 
 and seriously, the notions which he only hastily put together in the shape oi 
 a memoir. 
 
 > Ro«Uim, U. p. m. ' Herodotu.il. 29 .„ ' »« "'»"• "• '"■ 
 
 « Leltres iciites d'Egypte et de NuMe, p. 43S-44*. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 3. Of the seventeen Jirst Dynasties of Manetho. 
 
 499 
 
 I must here refer my readers to the comparison made in my fourteenth 
 Appendix, of the dynasties of Herodotus, Diodorus, and Manetho. Neither 
 Herodotus nor Diodorus distinguishes these dynasties; one merely observes 
 that, according to a list given him by the priests, (probably of Memphis,) 
 the first king, Menes, had three hundred and thirty successors, of which they 
 knew only the names, because they had left no monuments. It is only in setting 
 out from Moeris and Sesostris that he gives the names of some few kings, but 
 certainly not a consecutive list, although the priests might have given it to him 
 as such. Diodorus, it is true, mentions some other kings, but he does not de- 
 termine the number. It follows, therefore, that it is quite impossible to found 
 upon the dynasties of these two authors any exact chronology. But Manetho, 
 in his work, of which we possess only a few incomplete extracts, classes in 
 chronological order the thirty-one dynasties preceding the conquest of Alexander. 
 The question, then, which here presents itself, is, whether the first sixteen or 
 seventeen dynasties succeeded each other regularly, or, whether several of them 
 reigned over various states at the same time in different parts of Egypt, in the 
 cities whose names they bear ? ... 
 
 This question has been solved in various ways by historians ; the majonty, 
 however, have declared for the latter opinion, and I have enlisted into their ranks 
 for the reasons which I have set forth in the body of this work, without, how- 
 ever, meaning to assert that all these dynasties taken separately were contempor- 
 aneous with one another. 
 
 It is known that in very early times sacerdotal colonies did, aided by oracles 
 and a common worship, spread civilization among the natives of Egypt. An- 
 tiquity, moreover, offers us several examples of this same kind of civilization 
 among other nations, and particularly among the Phoenicians and Greeks. But 
 I by no means intend to maintain that these various little states of Egypt re- 
 mained independent of each other ; on the contrary, it appears to me very pro- 
 bable that they were obliged to acknowledge the supremacy of Thebes and 
 Memphis. Thus it may have happened, that the Pharaoh who assigned dwell- 
 ings to Jacob and his family in Lower Eg>^pt, and who himself probably held 
 his court at Memphis, was also master of Upper Egypt. It may have happened 
 even, that before the invasion of the Hyksos, the Pharaohs of the seventeenth 
 dynasty might have reigned over all the valley of the Nile. Possessmg, how- 
 ever, no historical documents of this period, it is quite impossible for us to decide 
 this question. It is only upon the expulsion of the Hyksos, and with the eigh- 
 teenth dynasty, that all these Egyptian states became re-united into one single 
 empire. Independent of all the reasons already brought forward, it seems be- 
 yond the limits of probability, that more than three hundred kings of divers 
 families should have regularly succeeded during a long course of ages. It is 
 also difficult to conceive that Egypt was all at once formed into a large empire, 
 especially as the occupation of the southern parts was not effected by conquest, 
 but by a succession of migrations. 
 
 The contrary opinion, namely, that the list of the kings of Egypt from Menes 
 downwards, the pretended founder of the first dynasty, suffered no interrupfaon, 
 is adopted by M. Rosellini, who has devoted a separate chapter of his work to 
 the consideration and establishment of this notion.' His chief support is the 
 authority of Manetho, who, he asserts, must be understood m this sense. 
 This, however, is debateable ground, as Eusebius lets drop, at least under the 
 form^of a conjecture,=^ the opposite opinion, and as the passage cited from Ma- 
 netho may be made to help the proof of the contrary. But even admitting that 
 such was really Manetho's opinion, still there is the question to be considered, 
 how did he arrive at this opinion ? The Egyptian priests, anxious to give to 
 their state a high antiquity, had already cited to Herodotus and Diodorus cata- 
 logues of kings, certainly not following one another in chronological order. 
 Might not, then, the same thing have taken place with regard to the hsts tur- 
 nishedto Manetho?' 
 
 'I 
 
 i 
 
 » Rosellini, vol. i. p. 98—111. 
 
 9 See above, p. 310, note 2. 
 
 2 K 2 
 
 3 Ibid. p. 311, note 1. 
 
500 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Among the Hindoos the names of kings are often thus mentioned as sove- 
 reigns of all India, when the great epics prove that this country contamed 
 
 I must leave the reader to judge between the opinion defended by M. Rosellini 
 and mine, founded upon incontestable proofs deduced from historical inquiries. 
 Fortunately all this has no bearing upon the question respecting the brilliant 
 period of Egypt, to which the monuments direct us. Here M. Rosellini and my- 
 self do not differ except in a few particulars of little importance. With regard 
 to the question whether the Sesostris of Herodotus is the Ramesses of the 
 eighteenth dynasty, as M. RoseUini believes,* or Ramesses IV., Sethos, the first 
 of the nineteenth, as M. Champolhon supposes, I will not attempt to decide, for 
 in all these sacerdotal traditions Sesostris is always mentioned as the great king 
 of the Egyptians, to whom is necessarily atU-ibuted the exploits of sundry 
 
 Not having attempted a history of Egypt, and chronological investigations, in 
 the strict sense of the word, forming no part of my plan, I shall not enter upon a 
 discussion of this subject with M. RoselHni. I have strictly confined myself to 
 the estabhshing of certain general epochs, so as to determine pretty nearly the 
 period in which the great monuments were built under the Pliaraohs ot the 
 eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties. This period I have placed between 1700 
 and 1200 b. c. According to M. Rosellini, the eighteenth dynasty began in the 
 year b. c. 1822, and ended in 14/4; but the nineteenth reaches down to b.c. 
 1270. I will admit wilhngly that the eighteenth dynasty goes back a century 
 earlier than what I have placed it at, since we are both agreed that the most 
 brilliant period of these two dynasties fell between 1800 and 1200. With regard 
 to the great uncertainty which prevails in the chronological classification ot the 
 fifteen or sixteen first dynasties, M. RoseUini has allowed himself such an ample 
 latitude in his explanation of them, that the subject seems to me exhausted.' 
 
 4. On the origin of the Hyksos. 
 
 The Hyksos, who inundated a great part of Egypt in the .time of the sixteenth 
 and seventeenth dynasty, and who established themselves in Middle and Lower 
 Egypt, were nomades. In this fact M. Rosellini agrees with me, which, moreover, 
 is placed beyond a doubt by their being represented on the monuments with 
 their flocks and herds. All are very naturally led to consider theni as being he 
 nomad tribes dwelling on the borders of Eg>Tt. I have believed that I could 
 recognise in them the Arab race,- characterized by their beards, their long gar- 
 ments, and clear complexion ; an opinion strongly corroborated by the tes imony 
 of Josephus :* M. Rosellini, on the contrary, takes them for Scythians ; althouga 
 we cannot comprise under this vague denomination any but the nomad tribes ot 
 the Mongol race of Central Asia. But none of the given statements will apply 
 to any of these tribes ; besides which there is nothing whatever to show that they 
 had ever thus early undertaken any expeditions for conquest so far distant. M. 
 Rosellini founds his assertion upon no other proof than upon an etymology, ac- 
 cording to which he makes the name these tnbes went by in Egypt to have been 
 Scios, which appears to him the same as Scythes, and which signifies destroyers 
 I dare not enter upon this question, but I must confess that I cannot renounce 
 my own explanation. 
 
 1 See Heeren's Researches. India, p. 164, sqq. * Rosellini, vol. i. p. 266. 
 
 4 fj^pius! l'!mo; rt^c X^,-.. alroi, -Ap«/3a. .l.a. Syncellus calls them Phoenicians, a denomin- 
 ation which is applied to the neighbouring tribes of Syria and Arabia. 
 » RoseUini, voL i. p. 172—177. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 501 
 
 'S.ll. The passage o/" Clemens Alexandrinus respecting the Egyptian characters. 
 
 These passages from St. Clement will be found in Stromata, v. 4, p. 555, Sylb. 
 In the original it is as follows : khriKa ol irapl' klyvirrioiQ iraihvofiivoi, npCiTOv fxev 
 iravTiiiV TY}v AiyviTTtiov ypafifidrtjjv n'tdoSov iK^avBavovm, rijv liriaroXoypaipiKi^v' SevApav 
 Si, TTiv upaTiKTiv, y xpuivrat ol ifpoypa/i/iaretg" varuTTjv Sk rat rtXtwalav, rrjv Upo- 
 ■yXi;0t(Cj)v* TJQ ri fi'f^v tori did tCjv 'rrpiortov aroixtiojv, KvpioXoyucrj' ^ Sk avfi^oXiKT}. Trig 
 ii fft;/i/3oXnc»jC V f^^v KvpioXoyfirai Kara, fiintimv' i) dk iltffirtp rpoTrirwc ypatperai' t) Sk 
 dvTiKpvQ dX\i?yop€irai Kard tivolq atviyfjiovg, "HXtov y ovv ypiixj/ai (iovXofisvoi, kvkXov 
 T'oiovffi' fftXrivriv ik, ffxvua ^rtvottieQ, kutoL to KvpioXoyovfitvov tidog. TpoiriKOjg Sk, kot^ 
 oiKtiornra fitrdyovrfg xai utrariQ'fVTtg, to, 5' ^^aXXarovrcc, rd Sk TroXXaxwc fieraaxri- 
 uauKovTeg, xapdrTovoC rovg y ovv rdv ^amXkojv kiraivovg OtoXoyov^kvoig fivOotg irapa- 
 iidovrtg, iivaypd<^ov»Ji Sid tiov dvayXv<pu)v. Toy Sk Kard rovg aiviyfiovg, rpirov sidovg, 
 hlyua taru) rodi' rd fikv ydp rtSv dXXiov darpatv, Sid ri^v iropiiav ti)v Xo^^v, 6<psu)V 
 aiiffiaffiv dirtiKaKov, rbv U"W<iov rt^ rov KavBdpov. Jam vera qui docentur ab 
 ^gyptiis, primum quidem discunt iEgyptiarum Utterarum viam ac rationem, quae 
 vocatur epistolographica ; secundo autem hieraticam, qua utuntur hierogramr 
 mates; ultimam autem hieroglyphicam, cujus una quidem species est perprimas 
 htteras, cyriologica dicta, altera vero symbolica. Symbohcae autem una quidem 
 proprie loquitur per imitationem ; alia vere scribitur velut tropice ; aho vero fere 
 significat per quaedam aenigmata. Qui solem itaque volunt scribere, faciunt 
 circulum ; lunam autem, figuram lunae cornuum formam prae se ferentem, con- 
 venienter ei formae quae proprie loquitur. Tropice auteni per convenientiam 
 traducentes et transferentes, et alia quidem immutantes, alia vero multis modis 
 transfigurantes, imprimunt. Regum itaque laudes fabulis de diis immiscentes, 
 anaglyphicis describunt. Tertii autem generis, quod fit per aenigmata, hoc sit 
 indicium : alia quidem astra propter obhquam conversionem assimilabant cop- 
 poribus serpentum, solem vero scarabaeo. ^ 
 
 The principal diflSculty found in this passage is the giving the correct signifi- 
 cation of KvpioXoyiKrj and KvpioXoydrai, But that this refers to a phonetic system 
 seems pretty evident from its being opposed to the tropical ; and from the fact 
 that all the other varieties or applications of picture writing are distinctly 
 enumerated and exhausted in the succeeding parts of the description. It is, 
 therefore, expressive of objects in a proper (and not figurative) manner. Now 
 this may be done in two ways, either by letters, or by proper pictures. If we 
 therefore proceed bearing this in mind, the whole will be very intelligible. Cle- 
 ment first distinguishes the three sorts of writing in use among the Egyptians, 
 the epistolographic, which is by others called the demotic, as it is found upon 
 the Rosetta stone ; the hieratic or sacerdotal writing, which was used by the 
 hierogrammatists, or sacred scribes ; it was, therefore, probable that in this the 
 holy writings were written ; finally, the hieroglyphic, whose proper destination 
 was to be sculptured or engraved, as is afterwards shown by the word xa^f^TTovm. 
 The first of these then is the alphabetical, by initial letters. It is called the 
 kyriologic, because it expresses the objects properly, and not tropically The 
 other is the symbohc, which makes no use of letters, but only pictures. But the 
 symbolic has again, first, a proper method, KvpioXoytlrai, by imitation ; that is, by 
 a proper picture without allegory : secondly, tropic, because it makes use of pic- 
 tures, from a certain similarity which they bear to the object they are intended 
 to signify ; therefore what we usually call hieroglyphic writing: thirdly, properly 
 allegoric by riddles, where no such similarity exists, or is too distant to be per- 
 ceived. This is further explained by examples ; and these confirm the correct- 
 ness' of our interpretation. The example of the proper method by representation 
 is the picture of the sun and the moon. The example of the tropic is the sacred 
 traditions in praise of the kings, of which many are found in Herodotus, which 
 cannot be understood in their proper signification. The example of the enig- 
 matic is the indication of the course of the stars by a serpent, the sun by a heetle, 
 etc. In this way every obscurity seems to me to be cleared up ; and the dis- 
 coverv of the phonetic hieroglyphics furnishes a key to the proper meamng of 
 the passage above quoted from Clemens Alexandrinus. 
 
502 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 503 
 
 XIII. Inscription on an Obelisk at Heliopolis ; extracted from Ammianus Mar- 
 CELLiNUS, lib. xvii. 4 J and some remarks on the sacred dialect, Upd did\tKTOQ,in 
 Syncellus. 
 
 Marcellinus has preserved to us, from the writings of a certain Hermapion, 
 the Greek translation of a hieroglyphic inscription on an obelisk, which stood 
 originally at Heliopolis in Lower Egypt, but which was transported to Rome by 
 Caesar Augustus, and placed in the Circus Maximus. The following are the 
 words of Ammianus: "Qui notarum textus obehsco incisus est veteri, quern 
 videmus in Circo, Hermapionis librum secuti, interpretatum litteris subjecimus 
 Graecis." Of this Hermapion we only know what Ammianus says, that he had 
 written a book containing translations of hieroglyphics into Greek. He there- 
 fore must have understood hieroglyphic writing and language. It is very pro- 
 bable that he was an Egyptian priest, who, in the period of the Ptolemies or 
 Romans, had written a book of this kind for the use of the Greeks. (See 
 
 page 368.) 
 
 I give a translation of this inscription here for two reasons ; first, to prove the 
 correctness of my assertion, that the hieroglyphic inscriptions on the monu- 
 ments contain phrases in praise of the deities and kings, with their names and 
 titles (see page 277.) Secondly, to prove that the titles deciphered by Cham- 
 poUion are pure Egyptian, without however vouching for the correctness of 
 every interpretation. A commentary upon the inscription would require a se- 
 parate treatise, and would contain but little that has not already been said by 
 Zoega {de Oheliscis, p. 26, etc.) and ChampoUion {Precis, p. 146, etc.). 
 
 I shall only further remark, that as the obelisk was erected at Heliopolis, it 
 was natural that the deities worshipped there should be more especially men- 
 tioned on it, as the protecting deities of the king. 
 
 These names are expressed in Greek ; the following are Egyptian : Helios, 
 the god of the Sun, Phre. All the Pharaohs, according to ChampoUion, p. 166, 
 were called sons of the sun. Apollo, in Egyptian Arveris ; Ares, in Egyptian 
 Srnn ; (?) finally, Hephaistos, in Egyptian Phtha, 
 
 The king to whose honour the obelisk was erected is called Ramesses; but 
 we have seen that there were several of this name. From his history we only 
 know that he conquered the foreigners (aXXot0v£Tc). This applies to Ramesses 
 the Great, or Sesostris, the expeller of the Hyksos (see p. 424). The titles here 
 given also agree very well with him. The expulsion of the foreigners must have 
 been of great importance to Heliopolis in Lower Egypt, which had been most 
 oppressed by them. 
 
 INSCRIPTION. 
 
 « Thus says Helios to the king Ramesses : I have given to thee with joy to rule 
 over the world ; whom HeUos loves, and Apollo the powerful the true son of 
 Heron, the son of the gods, the ruler of the world, chosen by Hehos the brave, 
 son of Ares, king Ramesses, to whom all the earth is subject by valour and 
 boldness ; the king Ramesses, the son of Helios, the everlasting." • 
 
 " Apollo the powerful, the true lord of the diadem,'^ of whom Egypt boasts; 
 who has glorified the city of HeHos ; who rules over the earth; and who honours 
 the gods dweUing in the city of Helios ; whom Helios loves." 
 
 " Apollo the powerful, the beaming son of HeUos, chosen of Helios, and who 
 was gifted by Ares the brave ; whose benefits never fail, whom Ammon loves ; 
 who fills the temple of Phoenix with blessings ;' to whom the gods presented 
 length of life; Apollo the powerful, the son of Heron, Ramesses to the king of 
 the world ; who has protected Egypt, by conquering the strangers ; whom Hehos 
 
 « The separate phrases otixon form just so many vertical columns on the obelisk. ChampoUion, 
 Precis, p. 146. 
 « Here there seems to be an omission of, to the Ramesses. As in the fourth paragraph. 
 * Or, according to another reading, tcith the blessings oj' the Fhanix. 
 
 loves, to whom the gods have given long life, the lord of the world, Ramesses 
 the ever-living." 
 
 " HeHos, the great god, the lord of heaven, I have to thee given life free from 
 care, Apollo the powerful, the lord of the diadem, the incomparable, the statue 
 has placed in this royal city of the lord of Egypt, and has adorned the city of 
 Helios, and Helios himself the lord of heaven. He has completed the glorious 
 work, the son of Helios, the immortal king." 
 
 " Helios the lord of heaven ; to king Ramesses have I given might and power ; 
 whom Apollo loves, the lord of time, and the chosen of Hephaistos, the father of 
 the gods through Ares, the glorious king : the son of Helios beloved of HeUos." 
 
 "The great god of the city of HeUos, the heavenly, Apollo the mighty, the 
 son of Heron, whom Helios loves, whom the gods honour, who governs aU the 
 earth, whom Helios has chosen, the powerful king through Ares, whom Ammon 
 loves ; and the beaming one destined to be king for ever." 
 
 The translation of this inscription, moreover, seems to me important, because 
 it brings us acquainted both with the contents and forms of these documents ; 
 because it acquaints us, to use a modern expression, with the style and language 
 of the chancer)^ of the Egyptians. It is in the nature of things, that this should 
 differ from the language in common use. And I perfectly agree with Professor 
 Seyffarth of Leipsic, in making a difference between the Coptic as the language 
 of the people, and what is caUed the sacred language, ttpd MUktoq. But if this 
 difference is so great, that the key for the deciphering of the hieroglyphic texts 
 is not to be found in the Coptic, I do not know where else it is to be sought for. 
 It seems very doubtful to me, whether we ought, from the single passage in 
 Syncellus,' in which a t«pd haXtKrog is mentioned, to understand a sacred dialect, 
 altogether different from the vulgar ; because this Upd SidXtKraQ is here by no 
 means opposed to the Coptic, or language of the nation, but to the Grecian. At 
 all events this difference can have no influence on the deciphering of the names 
 of the Pharaohs, and certainly but very Uttle, if any, on that of their titles, of 
 which alone use has been made in the present work. 
 
 XII. A comparison of the Egyptian kings, as given by Herodotus, Diodorus, 
 
 and Manetho. 
 
 In attempting here a comparison of the series of the Egyptian kings, it is not 
 my intention to make them agree where they do not, but rather to show the re- 
 lation in which they stand to one another in these writers. I flatter myself that 
 even this attempt may lead to important results. ^ . ,, . n- i, ^ • 
 
 1 shall proceed upon the principle, which I think sufficiently established in 
 this work, that all the three writers drew from the tradition of the Egyptian 
 priests, oral and written ; but with this difference, that Herodotus used, m his 
 succession of kings, the tradition of the priests at Memphis; Diodorus that of 
 Thebes ; and Manetho that of HeliopoUs. From this variety of sources, the 
 difference in their statements may be best accounted for. tt j ^ ^ 
 
 I place first in one table the succession of kings according to Herodotus and 
 
 Diodorus. 
 
 Herodotus, ii. 99—182. 
 
 He was followed by 330 kings belonging 
 to tlifi previous period, concerning whom no- 
 thing was known but their names, because 
 they had left no monuments behind ; among 
 
 Diodorus, i. p. 54—82. 
 
 J^Tsnes 
 
 Followed by 52 successors, ranging over a 
 period of more than 1400 years. 
 
 Busiris I. and 8 successors ; the last of 
 whom was 
 
 « Georg. Syncellus, in Chrom^raphia, p. 40. ed. Paris, Ma.efli XPnaar.^or Jk t«,^. e^T^ l^^^tuUl 
 
 evident from these last ^.ords ? Is an opposition made in them to ^^e "ative angua?^ of the pe^^^^^ 
 I think not. Before the passage can have any weight as a proof, the r^ew readmg P^oj^ by Zo^ga, 
 de Obeliscis, p. 36. note, must be adopted, who, instead of elf rhv 'EWfj^da ^u,.r,v, would read eit -rnv 
 Koii/rjv diaXsKTov. This, however, admits of a doubt. 
 
504 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 505 
 
 Herodotus. 
 
 DiODORUS. 
 
 those sovereigns were 18 Ethiopians, and 1 
 queen, namea Nitocris. 
 
 Mceris. 
 
 Sesostris. 
 
 PheroUf the son of Sesostris. 
 
 Busiris II., the foiinder of Thehcs. 
 
 Osymandyas and 8 successors ; the last of 
 whom was 
 
 UcJioreus, the founder of Memphis. 
 
 jEgyptus, grandson of the foregoing. 
 After the lapse of 12 generations of men, 
 
 Mceris. 
 
 7 generations of men. 
 
 Sesostris or Sesoosis. 
 
 Sesostris II., son of the foregoing : he as- 
 sumed his father's name. 
 
 Interval comprising several generations 
 of men. 
 
 Amasis, and the Ethiopian. 
 
 Actisanes. 
 
 Mendes, or Manes, the builder of the 
 labyrinth. 
 
 Anarchy which lasted 5 generations of 
 
 men. i. -. m 
 
 Proteiis, or Cetes, in the time of the Tro- 
 jan war. 
 
 Remphis, son of the foregoing. 
 
 7 generations of men, in the course of 
 which flourished Mleus, from whom the Nile 
 took its name. 
 
 Chemmis or Chembes, from Memphis, 
 builder of the great pyramid. 
 
 Cephren, brother to the foregoing, builder 
 of one pyramid. 
 
 MycerinUrS, son of Chemmis, builder of 
 one pyramid. 
 
 Bochoris the legislator. 
 
 Interval of several generations of men. 
 
 Sabaco, the Ethiopian. 
 
 Dodecarchy. 
 
 Psammetichus, from Sais, sole ruler. 
 
 4 generations of men. 
 
 Apries. 
 
 Amasis i defeated and taken by Cambyscs. 
 
 Proteusy in the time of the Trojan war. 
 Bhampsinitus. 
 
 CheopSy builder of the great pyramid. 
 
 CA^Ares, brother to the foregoing, builder 
 
 of one pyramid. 
 
 Mycerinus, son of Cheops, builder of one 
 pyramid. 
 
 Asyckis the legislator. 
 
 Anvsis, who was blind. 
 
 Sabaco, the Ethiopian. 
 
 Anysis, kin§ for the second time. 
 
 Sethos, a priest of Vulcan. 
 
 Dodecarchy. 
 
 Psammetichus, from Sais, sole ruler. 
 
 Nechos, his son, conqueror in Syria. 
 
 Psammis, 
 
 Apries, with whom the house of Psam- 
 metichus becomes extinct. 
 
 Amasis of Sais. 
 
 Psammenit, conquered by Cambyses. 
 
 In order to judge of the statements of the two writers, it is necessary that we 
 should consider them each separately in their true light. ... 
 
 As to Diodorus, we perceive clearly that it was not his mtention to give a 
 complete and connected succession of Egyptian kings. He only mentioned such 
 as were most remarkable, either because the accounts of the Theban priests con- 
 tained no others, or because— which seems the more probable of the two— his 
 intention was only to give extracts from them. He does not, however, totally 
 neglect chronology ; but endeavours, by stating the number of generations which 
 Uved between the kings he mentions, to fill up the chasms. But that it is im- 
 possible to settle the chronology by these, is clear from the fact, that two chasms 
 of many generations occur, without the number being stated. 
 
 The tradition of the priests of Memphis, which was followed by Herodotus, 
 was still more deficient ; it consisted of only two elements. Previous to Sesos- 
 tris, or his predecessor Mceris, it comprised merely the names of three hundrea 
 and thirty kings, " because they had left us no monuments behind ; and trom 
 Sesostris down to Psammetichus, only of such kings as had made additions to 
 the great temple of Memphis, that of Phtha, and the neighbouring pyramids, 
 no matter whether they had resided in Memphis or in Thebes, or in both. It is 
 therefore a history dependent upon monuments. But the priests gave it to him, 
 from Sesostris downwards, as an uninterrupted succession, in which the lather 
 was always followed by the son ; and as such he gives it to us. 
 
 But that such was not really the case, is clearly evinced by comparing it with 
 Diodorus's account. We therefore can only consider them as separate kings ; 
 and by so doing, Herodotus, except in the correct spelling of a few names, is 
 brought to agree with Diodorus. There is no contradiction between them. 
 
 But if Herodotus's succession of kings is not a continuous one, it is impossible to 
 build upon it a continuous chronology ; as would also have been the case even if the 
 length of each reign had been stated ; which has not been done previous to the 
 time of Psammetichus. Nevertheless Herodotus has left us an important help for 
 determining the chronology, when he says, " Mceris, the predecessor of Sesostris, 
 died nine hundred years before the time that I was in Egypt." And since, from 
 his own reckoning, he was in Egypt about the year 450, the death of Moeris must, 
 according to his calculation, have taken place about 1350 before the commence- 
 ment of our era. And from this two important consequences result. 
 
 First : the ag« of Sesostris, a successor of Moeris, falls, according to Herodo- 
 tus, in the midst of the fourteenth century before Christ. He certainly, therefore, 
 places Sesostris a century later than we believe he should be. I am not able to 
 give any further explanation, since Herodotus has withheld from us the data for 
 his chronology. This discrepancy, however, does not affect the general state- 
 ment respecting the chronology of the splendid period of Thebes. 
 
 Secondly : the three hundred and thirty kings previous to Moeris extend over 
 this period. 
 
 Now let us inquire how the accounts of these two writers agree with those of 
 Manetho. If we had his work entire, it would be the great authority for this 
 history. The priesthood at Heliopolis was the most learned in Eg>'pt (Herod, 
 ii. 3). He was superintendent of this body, and wrote, moreover, by command 
 of Ptolemy. Their archives were open to him. " I have made use," he says, 
 "of the writings in the adytum of the temple; which Agathodaemon has copied 
 and translated from the hieroglyphic inscriptions on the monuments (obelisks) 
 ofThos."' 
 
 But even in the scanty extracts which have come down to us of the dynasties, 
 however defective and corrupt the errors of transcribers may have made them 
 with regard to dates, he must still be considered the principal authority. I make 
 use of uie Armenian edition of Eusebius, cited at page 311, containing a Greek 
 and Latin translation, as being the most critical. I shall have no recourse to 
 alteration or expunging of names, much less of whole dynasties. The single 
 remark, however, must be borne in mind, that the Sesostris mentioned in the 
 twelfth dynasty, is not Sesostris the Great ; and that the facts mentioned of him 
 have been taken into the text, from a marginal gloss ; which is the less to be 
 doubted from Manetho himself having declared, that Sethos or Sesostris of the 
 nineteenth dynasty was the same as Ramesses. This being admitted, the great 
 masses of history are easily arranged. 
 
 A comparison with Herodotus cannot begin before the time of Sesostris, and 
 the period of the Sesostridse ; because previous to this he has given no names of 
 kings. But the priests read to him the names of three hundred and thirty 
 monarchs. But who are these? They are the first seventeen dynasties of 
 Manetho. For, first, the number of kings coincides. Eusebius certainly 
 enumerates only two hundred and seventy-six ; but of two dynasties, the sixth, 
 lasting two hundred and three years, and the tenth, lasting one hundred and 
 eighty-five years, the number of kings is not given. It therefore may have 
 amounted to the number mentioned by Herodotus. Secondly, according to 
 Herodotus, there was, among these three hundred and thirty sovereigns, one 
 queei?, whose name was Nitocris; she is also named by Manetho, in his sixth 
 dynasty. Thirdly, according to Herodotus eighteen of them were Ethiopians. 
 According to Manetho the fourth dynasty, consisting of seventeen kings, was a 
 foreign one; and one of them, Suphis, who built the great pyramid ascribed by 
 Herodotus to Cheops, was in the beginning a calumniator of the gods, which 
 was also related of Cheops by the priests of Memphis. Fourthly, according to 
 
 » Syncellus, 1. c. It seems therefore from this passage of Manetho, that the historical documents in 
 the temples were commentaries and translations of the inscriptions upon the monuments ; or were 
 esteemed as such. Compare Zo6ga, De Obeliscis, p. 36, 
 
506 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 507 
 
 Herodotus these three hundred and thirty sovereigns had not immortahzed them- 
 selves by any monuments. The same applies, with the exception of Suphis, to 
 the kings of the first seventeen dynasties of Manetho. This fact, then, cannot 
 be doubted : the question is, how the names of Manetho's kings, from the nme- 
 teenth dynasty, agree with those of Herodotus and Diodorus. A general agree- 
 ment is found'here, but not without discrepancies. In Manetho they begin with 
 Sethos or Sesostris, who was succeeded by his son, who, according to Diodorus, 
 adopted the name of his father. In Manetho he is called Rhamasses or Ra- 
 messes, and then, as according to him the father was called so too, there can be 
 no contradiction. The following names differ down to Bochoris,' who is men- 
 tioned also by Diodorus, and who was overthrown by the Ethiopian Sabaco. 
 The difference in the other names may be accounted for, in my opinion, from 
 the circumstance, that the kings of the twenty-first, twenty-second, and twenty- 
 third dynasties, were kings of Tanis and Bubastus ; whose names therefore can 
 scarcely be expected to be found in the tradition of the Theban priests. That 
 the dynasties of Tanis and Bubastus ruled in these cities, has been shown m the 
 last chapter. The only difliculty that remains therefore is, why the names of the 
 kings mentioned by Diodorus between Menes and Moeris, Busiris, Osymandyas, 
 Uchoreus, and iE^^ptus, do not occur in Manetho. Upon this I have nothing 
 certain to offer. They might, however, have belonged to the sixth and tenth 
 dynasties, of which Manetho has left out the number and names of the kings. 
 
 XV. Upon the Belation between Theocracy and the Monarchical form of 
 
 Government. 
 
 The study of the early government of Egypt naturally leads us to reflections 
 upon theocracy, as this form of government arrived in no state at so high a point 
 of perfection as in Egypt. The question is, what relation does this form of 
 government bear to monarchy? And this will be best answered by taking a 
 rapid survey of governments in general. 
 
 We make a distinction between republics and monarchies. One might expect 
 that, after so many inquiries and so much experience, the nature of them would 
 he understood, if our modern constitutions, which are considered as the ripest 
 fruit of political wisdom, did not convince us to the contrary. I refer the reader 
 to my treatise on the influence of political theories and the preservation of the 
 monarchical principle in Europe, in which I have fully explained my opinions 
 on this subject. I have there shown, that it is impossible to draw a line be- 
 tween monarchies and republics, so long as we apply popular sovereignty to 
 monarchies ; for it is the essence of monarchies that the ruler should be absolute 
 (supremus) ; that is to say, that he alone should represent the state in foreign 
 relations, and that in the interior nothing should be transacted but in accordance 
 ^^dth his will : he thus stands over the people. The essence of republics, on the 
 contrary, is, that the sovereign power is in the hands of the people, or a part of 
 them ; consequently, all magistrates, whatever title they may bear, are subordith 
 
 ate to them. 
 
 The monarchical forms of government, for these only come here under con- 
 sideration, are determined by the relation in which the monarch stands with the 
 people ; which, without detriment to his sovereignty, may be of three kinds. 
 
 The despotic government consists in that relation between the monarch and 
 the people, which places in the hands of the monarch not only the legislative and 
 executive power, but also a power over the property and persons of mdividuals, 
 of which he may dispose according to his will. For all despotism consists in the 
 arbitrary encroachments of the higher upon the rights of the lower order. The 
 monarch therefore, in this case, is proprietor of the persons and goods of his 
 
 > See above, p. 423, note. The attempt there (namely, in Manetho) to identify Thorns ^th the 
 Polybus of Homer, is a bad proof of the learning of the Greek interpreters in Egypt Polypus, vrho wim 
 his consort Alcandra made such splendid presents to Menelaus and Helen, is not called kmg by nomer, 
 Odtfssetf, iv. 125 — 130, but expressly an inhabitant of Thebes. 
 
 subjects : they are, in name and in fact, slaves or serfs, as in the negro empire 
 of Dahomey and others. 
 
 The autocratic government consists in that relation between the monarch and 
 the people, which confers upon the ruler the legislative and executive authority, 
 but gives him no power over the private will of individuals. It is therefore 
 perfectly consistent with personal liberty, but excludes pohtical liberty, since it 
 gives to the governed no share in the legislation. The people are no longer 
 slaves, but subjects. 
 
 The constitutional government consists in that relation between the monarch 
 and the people, in which the former certainly exercises the executive, but not 
 solely the legislative power. The people have a share in this, either in popular 
 assemblies, or by standing or chosen representatives ; but still with this essential 
 restriction, that without the consent of the monarch no law can be passed. 
 Under this form of government the people enjoy both personal and poUtical 
 liberty — they are not only subjects, but citizens. 
 
 Let us now inquire in what relation theocracy stands with these various forms 
 of monarchical government. 
 
 I understand by theocracy, that form of government in which the state is 
 governed after the prescriptive laws of one or more deities. If the deity resided 
 amongst us, he might govern immediately, and would thus be sovereign, and no 
 other could stand near him ; as this, however, is not the case, it follows, of course, 
 that at least the executive power must be delegated to a monarch. Though the 
 deity may prescribe laws for particular cases, it is not possible that they should 
 contain directions for every case that might happen ; hence the authority of the 
 deities becomes principally hmited to this, that nothing can be transacted with- 
 out their consent. . rr i. ^ 
 
 Their will therefore must be consulted, their oracles interrogated. It the ruler 
 did this himself, he found it no difficult matter to make them speak as he wished ; 
 he then stood, as it were, in the place of the deity himself, and instead of his 
 power being hmited thereby, it was rather extended. In consequence of this, 
 It was usual in theocratic states to consider the usurpation of this power by the 
 king as unlawful. Samuel broke with Saul as soon as he took upon himself to 
 consult Jehovah. This right the priests reserved to themselves, and this was 
 the foundation of their political power. . 
 
 Theocracy, therefore, determines nothing with respect to the relation in whicii 
 the ruler stands towards the people ; it determines only the relation m which he 
 stands towards the deity. It is compatible with the despotic and the autocratic 
 form of government ; only, however, with the essential restnction, that the re- 
 lation of the priesthood to the monarchs differs from that of the rest of the 
 people. With a representative government it seems to be incompatible ; because 
 the delegation of such a power would be superfluous here, where it seems already 
 
 usurped by the priesthood. • -c «. 
 
 But a theocracy may very well be composed of laws, as was the case in i^gypt 
 and other places. These laws, however, necessarily reqmred a higher sanction 
 —that of the deity— and therefore not only appeared to have, but had in reality, 
 the efficacy of divine legislation. It follows as a consequence, that in ail the 
 Oriental countries legislation bears this character ; government there having 
 always been in a certain degree theocratic. , *i, • 
 
 In a strict theocracy the ruler cannot possess absolute power because there is 
 a higher vdW in the state than his. Gradations, however, become naturally 
 formed in theocracies ; as monarchs cannot, or will not, question the deity upon 
 every occasion : they also vary with the personal character of the rulers, ine 
 power of the ruler must, nevertheless, always be in a vacillatory state in a the- 
 ocracy; because, from its very nature, it is impossible to determine precisely its 
 
 relation With the deity. , ,. i. „j *« ^v^o* 
 
 That theocracy is also compatible with republican government, and to what 
 extent, will appear from what has now been said. It would happen when the 
 people in general obtained power, as in a democracy, or only a part ot them, as 
 in an aristocracy. Did not the auspices, so influential m the Roman govern- 
 ment, give it a tinge of theocracy ? 
 
508 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 509 
 
 XV. Upon the Cotnmercial Routes of Ancient Africa. 
 
 As I have annexed an Appendix to my Researches upon Asia respecting the 
 trading routes of that quarter of the world, I shall now do the same for Africa. 
 It is true that I have scattered much information respecting them over the whole 
 work, and that 1 have scarcely anything new to add. My object, however, now 
 is, to point out each route to the reader, with the bare ouotations which prove 
 their existence, so that he may be in a situation to form his own judgment re- 
 specting them. In this I shall likewise carefully distinguish the certain from 
 the merely probable, as I have already done in the body of the work. In doing 
 this I hope I shall have sufficiently fulfilled the duties of a fair critic. To faci- 
 litate the survey, I have distinguished the trading highways of the Carthaginians 
 and the Egyptians, although they are connected, from one another. 
 
 I. THE CARTHAGINIAN ROUTES. 
 
 Under the Carthaginian trading routes I comprise those which led from the 
 Carthaginian dominions or ended there, including that between Egypt and 
 Fezzan, or Phazania, because that leading thence to the Syrtes districts was 
 only a continuation of it. 
 
 1. Route from Egypt to the country of the Garamanies, or Fezzan. 
 
 It goes from Thebes in Upper Egypt to the borders of the land of the Gara- 
 mantes near Zuila. It is certain, because Herodotus, iv. 181—185, describes it 
 by stations and distances, across Ammonium and Augila. The omission of two 
 stations, the great Oasis and Zala, (whether chargeable upon Herodotus or upon 
 those from whom he obtained his information, the first of which, however, He- 
 rodotus himself refers to, iii. 26,) forms no objection, because, where the begin- 
 ning and end of the journey are known, the intermediate stations are easily 
 suppUed, though they should not be all named. 
 
 2. Rotite from the Garamantes to the Lotophaai in the two Syrtes, and thei-efore into the 
 
 territory of Carthage. 
 
 It is certain from Herodotus, iv. 183, who states the number of the days* 
 journeys, and this is most accurately confirmed by modern travellers. See above, 
 p. 106, sqq. Both these routes are the ones now in use. 
 
 3. The route from the land of the Garamantes to that of the Atlantes. 
 
 This is a continuation of the two preceding routes ; and it runs in a southern 
 direction into the interior of Africa. It depends upon the determination ot tiie 
 abode of the Atarantes and Atlantes. These are not given as historically cer- 
 tain, but as possessing a high degree of probabihty ; because— 1. Mo otlier 
 direction can be reasonably adopted ; and nothing in Herodotus contradicts it. 
 Because— 2. The distances agree ; and-^. Not less the particulars respecting 
 it. And, finally— 4. It still continues the great trading route of interior Alrica, 
 
 as well to Bornou as Soudan. , . , r *u • 
 
 A single apparent objection against this is, that the Atlantes, from their name, 
 must be sought for in the Atlas mountain. That this, however, is not a neces- 
 sary consequence must be plain to every one. But the difficulty is without any 
 weicrht ; for the name of the Atlas mountain is not a native African one, but is 
 one bestowed upon it by the Greeks. According to the testimony of Strabo, 
 the mountain in Africa itself is called the Dyris mountain ; and this name bears 
 no affinity to the native proper name of the Atlantes. Why the trading route 
 was directed to the Atlantes, is hkewise in a very satisfactory mariner proved by 
 modem travellers. The Garamantes, Nasamones, and Carthaginians could give 
 Herodotus no further information, because their trading journey ended here. 
 
 • strabo, lib. xvi. p. 1181. 
 
 That the trade of Inner Africa could only be carried on by caravans, is evinced 
 by the nature of the country and of its inhabitants. It is proved that it w^as 
 principally in the hands of the inhabitants of the Syrtes and the Garamantes ; 
 because — 1. The people from their nomad Ufe were best adapted to it, and were 
 in possession of the necessary beasts of burden for carrying it on. Scylax, in 
 Geograph. Min. i. p. 48. 2. Because Herodotus, as he says himself, could have 
 obtuincd his information respecting it from them in Thebes. Herod, ii. 28, 32, 
 173 3. Because they made regular journeys to Augila, Herod, iv. 172, and 
 visited Ammonium, Herod, ii. 32. 4. Because there can be no doubt but that 
 their voyage of discovery, Herod, ii. 32, reached to the banks of the Niger, or 
 Joliba ; as the accounts of Herodotus can be referred to no other stream. And 
 this a. Because it was a large stream beyond the desert, and we know of no 
 other there, h. It flowed towards the east. There is no other that does. 
 c Crocodiles were found in it. We know of no other in which they are found. 
 d On its banks was a city inhabited by negroes. This will agree with no 
 other. According to the rules of criticism, unless this can be altogether denied, 
 I must consider the discovery of the Joliba by the Nasamones as certain. And 
 admitting that the seat of the Atlantes is correctly determined to be the place of 
 barter for the Libyans and the inhabitants of Soudan, how natural does all this 
 appear! The Nasamones wished them to advance beyond the usual termina- 
 tion of their journey ; and by doing so they naturally came to the Niger, because 
 thev were upon the high road to it.' That also beasts of burden, namely, the 
 camel (it has been attempted to render this doubtful, and what is there of which 
 man has not doubted?) and mules were at that time naturalized m Africa, has 
 already been proved in the last chapter upon the trade and manufactures of the 
 Egyptians. 
 
 II. THE EGYPTIAN COMMERCIAL ROUTES. 
 
 Under this head I comprise such roads as led from Egypt, or ended there. ' In 
 the time of Herodotus all these went from Thebes ; as at that place he obtained 
 all his information respecting the interior of Africa, and from that place all his 
 distances are reckoned. 
 
 1 Trading route from Thehes to the land of the Garamantes and the Carthaginian 
 
 territory. 
 
 This has just been described. 
 
 2. Trading route from Thebes to Ethiopia and Merot. 
 
 It was twofold: a. That along the banks of the Nile, and partly on the Nile. 
 It is certain from Herod, ii. 29, who has described it in days journeys. 
 
 h. That from Thebes to Merawe, the colony of Meroe, across the Nubian 
 desert. It can scarcely be doubted, although not stnctly proved from history. 
 
 ^^c! ThlF^endf have given it as their opinion, that a trading road went on the 
 left of the Nile, from Merawe to Abydos in Upper Egypt, then the later prin- 
 cipal seat of the Ethiopian slave trade.^ ^s Abydos was one «[ the mos im- 
 portant cities of Egypt, and only second to Thebes, Strabo, p. 1 167 ^^^^ as t^^ 
 Ethiopian conquerors%eemed to have fixed their residence there, I cannot con- 
 sider this opinion otherwise than as very probable, although I can give no othei 
 historical proofs in its favour. 
 
 3. Trading route from Edfu in Upper Egypt to the Arahian Gulf and Berenice. 
 
 This was discovered to be an Egyptian trading ^^^^e by Belzoni ; ' a^^^ 
 the remains of Egyptian buildings being found upon it, its high antiqmty is cer- 
 
 1 Upon the map of course only the direct road can be giv^^^ 
 « DescripL Antiquiies, liv. iii. p. 18. ^ ^arrat^ve, p. 304, etc. 
 
510 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 tainly very probable ; though I can give no strict proof of it. According to 
 another account,' a broad trading route runs from Thebes to Cosseir^ the ancient 
 Myos Hormos ; which for two-thirds of the distance winds between rocky hills. 
 Whether it existed in the time of the Pharaohs, I cannot determine ; but if these 
 maintained fleets upon the Arabian Gulf, there certainly must have been well- 
 frequented roads leading to it ; and the direction from Thebes makes its high 
 antiquity very probable. 
 
 4. Trading route from Mero't to the Arabian Gulf. 
 It is pointed out by the ruins of Axum and Adule. Cf. Plin. vi. 34. 
 
 6. Trading route from Memphis to Phcenicia. 
 
 The proofs of this have already been given in my researches upon the Asiatic 
 Phoenician trading routes. 
 
 Thus much of the trading roads, and their proofs in detail. A still stronger 
 proof may be given of them in general : as the nature of the country admitted 
 no other kind of trade, and no other roads, we are driven to this alternative ; 
 either there was a period in which the coasts of Africa were the seats of a com- 
 mercial population without the existence of any commerce in the interior, (whose 
 productions nevertheless appeared in it in large quantities,) or, it was carried on 
 in this way and upon these routes, because it was indissolubly connected with 
 nature. 
 
 » From Scenes and Impressions in Egypt and Italy, by the author of Sketches of India, Lond. 1824. 
 
 INDE X. 
 
 Abu-naga, temple of, 494. 
 
 Abyssinia, ruins of ancient towns in, 243. 
 
 Aden, ancient commercial importance of, 
 
 229, n. 
 Adule, an Egyptian colony, 242. 
 iEstrymnian islands, commerce of the, 81. 
 iEthalia, early manufactures of, 78. 
 Africa, the grand emporium of ancient 
 commerce, x., xvii,, 86 et seq. modern 
 exploration of, xix., 491. the mysterious 
 obscurity of its early history, xxiii. an- 
 cient circumnavigation of, ib. causes of 
 its early civilization, xxiv. description of 
 the northern part of, xxvi. et seq. causes 
 of the rarity of large rivers, xxix., xxx. 
 the Nile, ib. the want of navigable rivers 
 an impediment to her civilization, xxxi. 
 gold and salt abundant in, ib. on the 
 celebrated nations of, xxxii. formation 
 and condition of the Carthaginian do- 
 minions in, 3 et seq. contains the 
 greatest variety of the human race, 143. 
 divided into two distinct classes, the 
 Libyans and Ethiopians, 147. north of, 
 materially changed, 148. observations on 
 the north-eastern districts of, 153. ancient 
 commercial routes of, 508. 
 Agriculture, encouragement of, in Egypt, 
 
 343, 446—453. 
 Alaky, in Nubia, gold mines at, 441. 
 Aletes, the discoverer of the mines of New 
 Carthage, 71. venerated as a demigod, ib. 
 Alua, empire of, 197. 
 Amada, temple of, on the banks of the Nile, 
 
 184. 
 Amasis, ruler of Egypt, enters into com- 
 mercial relations with the Greeks, 463. 
 Amber, ancient commerce in, 82. 
 Araenophis II., king of Egypt, 424. his- 
 torical notices of, 425. foimds the palace 
 of Luxor, ib. 
 
 III., king of Egypt, 426. 
 
 Amenthes, the ancient belief in, 360, 364. 
 America, discovery of, ix. commercial im- 
 pulse derived from, x. 
 Ammianus Marcelliuus, on the wars of the 
 
 Thebans, 433. 
 Amraon, temple of, 99, 101. rites of, 187. 
 Ethiopian temple dedicated to, 203 — 205. 
 on the worship of, 209, 210. oracles of, 
 207, 210, 244 w., 359. the temple of 
 Kamac dedicated to the worship of, 
 
 408. celebration of the annual festival of, 
 422. antiquity of his temple, 423. 
 Ammon-Chnubis, temple of, 425. 
 Ammonians, account of the, 96. 
 Ammonium, a city of Egypt, account of, 
 100, 103, 104, 443. ruins of the ancient 
 temple of, 101. an Ethiopian colony in the 
 Libyan desert, 222, 223. oracles of, 359. 
 Animal worship, its early origin, 356, 357. 
 Apis, worship of, 451. 
 Apries, of Egypt, built a fleet, 471. 
 Arabia Felix, ancient commerce of, 226 
 
 et seq. 
 Arabs, race of the, 156. known as the 
 Hyicsos, and enemies of the Egyptians, 
 318. See Hyksos. 
 Arae Phileenorum, Carthaginian landmarks, 
 
 19. 
 Architecture, diflferent periods of, in Egypt, 
 283. cultivation of, 347. of the temples 
 and palaces of Egypt, 409. 
 Argentais, account of the, 89, n. 
 Aristotle on the Carthaginian government, 
 
 474. 
 Army. See Soldiers and War. 
 Arts, state of the, in Egypt, 346. two 
 branches of, architecture and sculpture, 
 347. a portion of the learning of the 
 priests, 355. 
 Asdrubal, the governor of Spain, 135. as- 
 sassinated, 136. 
 Asia, the grand emporium of ancient com- 
 merce, X. 
 Asseboa, temple of, on the banks of the 
 
 Nile, 184, 210. 
 Asses, breeding of, in Egypt, 451, 452. 
 Assur, monuments of, 200. 
 Assyria, the scene of the battles repre 
 sented on the Egyptian sculptures, 416. 
 Astaboras, its junction with the Nile, 19C 
 
 modem name of, 197. 
 Astapus, its junction with the Nile, 196. 
 
 modem name of, 197. 
 Astorabas, a river of Ethiopia, 159. in. 
 
 habitants on the banks of the, 160. 
 Astronomy of the Egyptians, 341. con- 
 nected with the physical history of the 
 country, 343, 344. 
 Atarantes, account of the, 97. inquiry re- 
 specting the, 114. 
 Atlantes, account of the, 97, 116. 
 Atlas, Mount, the loftiest in Africa, xxvi. 
 
512 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 513 
 
 Augila, account of, 105. 
 
 Ausenses, African tribe of, 15. 
 
 Axum, the ancient capital of Ethiopia, 
 
 general account of, 238 et seq. ruins of, 
 
 »6. Bruce's account of, 239, 240. Salt's 
 
 observations on, 240, 241. 
 Azab, ruins of, 240, 242. 
 Azotus, a town of Syria, besieged by 
 
 Psammetichus, 470. 
 
 Babylon, ancient commerce of, xvi. 
 
 Bahr Bilama of Egypt, 298. 
 
 Baleares, the, taken possession of by the 
 Carthaginians, 32. fought as slingers in 
 the Carthaginian armies, 33, 126. com- 
 mercial importance of, 78. 
 
 Barbaria, general name of the east of 
 Africa, 65, n. 
 
 Barca, the Carthaginian House of, 490. 
 
 Baris, the name of the Egyptian boat, 456. 
 
 Battles, naval and military, represented in 
 the sculptures of Egypt, 412 — 415. 
 
 Belzoni, his interesting discoveries in 
 Thebes, 380. 
 
 Berbers, the aboriginal tribes of Africa, 
 148. description of, 156. 
 
 Bilma, natives of, 110. salt trade of, 117. 
 
 Bischaries, tribe of the, notices of, 157, 
 158, 161, 216. 
 
 Blemmies, race of the, 157. 
 
 Bocchoris, the Egyptian legislator, 346. 
 
 Bomilcar, biographical notices of, 489. 
 
 Bonjem, situation of, 112. 
 
 Bornou, a great empire, 113. 
 
 Bruce's account of the ruins of ancient 
 Axum, 239, 240. 
 
 Bubastus, a burial-place of Osiris, 436. 
 Egyptian festival of, 457. 
 
 Buffaloes, different species of, in Africa, 
 109. 
 
 Burial-places of Osiris, 436. 
 
 Butos, ancient lake of, 300. 
 
 Byblus, cultivation of the, 448, 449. 
 
 Byrsa, the citadel of Carthage, 5. 
 
 Byzantes, an African tribe, account of, 9. 
 
 Byzazium, a southern province of Car- 
 thage, 20. 
 
 Caillaud, his discoveries in Ethiopia, xx. 
 
 Calasiri, a soldier caste of Egypt, 328, 
 329. 
 
 Calcedonius, an article of ancient com- 
 merce, 119. 
 
 Cambyses, his invasion of Egypt, 464. 
 
 Candace, a queen of Ethiopia, 205. 
 
 Cannae, battle of, 139. 
 
 Caravans, ancient routes of, x. — xii. com- 
 merce carried on by, 245. 
 
 Carthage, extensive commerce of, xvi. 
 her native historians lost, 1. Herodotus 
 her chief historian, 2. briefly noticed by 
 other historians, »&. a colony established 
 by Tyre, 3. chronology of, t6., n. mutual 
 regard for Tyre, 4. situation of, 5. her 
 citadel of Byrsa, on the local situation 
 
 of, 5, n. account of the surrounding 
 tribes, 15. boundaries, 18. extent of the 
 fertile provinces, 20. her attention di- 
 rected towards Italy, 42. the govern- 
 ment of, 46. attempts to overthrow the 
 government of, 50. how the magistrates 
 were chosen, 51. her government similar 
 to that of Sparta, 52. the senate the 
 highest political body of the state, 53. 
 divided into two councils, 54. origin of 
 the council, 55. elected by the pentar- 
 chies, 57. the duties of the senate similar 
 to the Roman, 58. the Syssitia, and their 
 duties, 59. secret assemblies, ib. the Suf- 
 fetes at the head of the state, 60. the 
 rank of general next to that of king, 61. 
 the military and civil power distinct, ih. 
 election of generals, ib. office of quaestor, 
 62. administration of justice, 63. the re- 
 ligion of, 64. their gods, ib. offices of 
 priesthood filled by the highest person- 
 ages, 65, 66. public revenue of, 66, 67. 
 gold and silver the standard of value, 67. 
 tokens used instead of money, 68. differ- 
 ent sources of revenue, 69. amount paid 
 by Little Leptis, ib. revenue of the cus- 
 toms regulated by Hannibal, 70. gold and 
 silver mines, ib. Carthagena, wealth of 
 its mines and where situated, 71 . attempt 
 to procure a foreign loan, 72. privateer- 
 ing resorted to, ib. the navigation and 
 maritime commerce of, 73. commercial 
 restrictions on the colonies of, 74. law of 
 hospitality, 75. trade with Sicily and 
 southern Italy, 76. articles of commerce 
 given in exchange, 77. commercial inter- 
 course with Spain and Gaul, 79. their 
 trade in tin, 80. in amber, 82. naviga- 
 tion on the western coast of Africa, 83. 
 the land trade of, 86 et seq. decline and 
 fall of, 130. the causes of, 131. private 
 feud between Hamilcar and Hanno, 132. 
 evil consequences of, 133. second war 
 with Rome, 137. struggles and fall of the 
 empire, 143. Aristotle's disquisition on 
 the government of, 474. commercial 
 treaties with Rome, 475, 476. treaty with 
 Macedonia, 477. Periplus of Hanno, 478 
 —48 1 . genealogy of the ml ing houses of, 
 487. on the trading routes of, from Egypt 
 to the Atlantes, 508. 
 Carthaginians, the, formation and condi- 
 tion of their dominions in Africa, 3. their 
 policy with the nomad hordes, 7. princi- 
 pal sources of their revenue, 11. treaties 
 with the neighbouring states, 12. alliance 
 with Numidia and Mauritania, 19. foreign 
 possessions, 22. limited chiefly to islands, 
 24. conquest of Sicily, i6. Mago and his 
 descendants, ib. wars with the Greeks, 
 30. extent of possessions in Sicily, 32. 
 settlements in Spain, 34. government of 
 the provinces, 37. foreign colonies, ib. 
 religion closely connected with the plant- 
 ing of colonies, 38. expedition of Hanno, 
 
 39. dependence of the colonies upon 
 Carthage, 40. the Mediterranean the 
 chief seat of their settlements, 41. extent 
 of their colonies, 43. towers built by 
 Hanno, 44. settlement at Ceme, its ex- 
 tent, ib. colonies on the coast of Moroc- 
 co and Fez, 83. purpose in founding 
 them, ib. description of the inhabitants, 
 ib. articles of trade, ib. gold trade with 
 Senegal and Gambia, ib. land trade, 86. 
 information respecting it very scanty, ih. 
 account of a caravan journey, 95. di- 
 rection of the route, 98. general survey 
 of the commerce, 118. war forces, 120. 
 the navy confined chiefly to the Mediter- 
 ranean, ib. the principal town, 121. num- 
 ber of war galleys, 122. sea deities, ib. 
 number of vessels of war, 123. great at- 
 tention paid to the cavalry, 124. tribes 
 forming the army, 126. bad effects of 
 hired troops, 129. 
 Cassiterides, islands of the, 80, 81. 
 Castes of Egypt, the priests, 323. the 
 soldiers, 327. the trading citizens, 330. 
 of husbandmen, 331. of navigators, 
 333. of interpreters, ib. of herdsmen, 
 .334. the neat-herds, 336. the swine- 
 herds, 337. 
 Catacombs, of Thebes, description of, 395 
 et seq. peculiar to various parts of Egypt, 
 396. 
 Cattle, on the breeding of, in Egypt, 451. 
 Ceme, colony of, 478, 480, 481. 
 ChampoUion, his discoveries in Egypt, xxi., 
 496. great work on Egyptian remains, 
 254. his explanations of phonetic hiero- 
 glyphics, 259, 260 et seq. 
 Chnubis, remains of, 294. 
 Chretes, the river, 478. 
 Chronicles of Egypt, by various authors, 
 
 310, n., 319, n. 
 Cities, first establishment of, v. founded by 
 
 Hanno the Carthaginian, 478. 
 Civilization, was Ethiopia or Egypt the 
 original seat of? 220, 224, 230 et seq. 
 the seats of, the first seats of com- 
 merce, 247. of the Ethiopians, 247 et 
 seq. 
 Clemens Alexandrinus on the Eg>'ptian 
 
 hieroglyphics, 281, w., 501. 
 Coinage of Carthage, 67. 
 Colonies, of the Carthaginians, 37, 83. of 
 Ethiopia, 220 — 222. of Egypt, when 
 founded, 321. 
 Colossi, " the field of," at Thebes, 378 et 
 
 seq. 
 Commerce, early origin and progress of, 
 ix.— xvi. Asia and Africa the grand em- 
 poria of, x. the Mediterranean the 
 principal scene of, xiii. epochs of the 
 Roman and Macedonian empires, xvi. of 
 Carthage, xvi., 73 et seq. of Meroe and 
 Ethiopia, 225 et seq. carried on by 
 caravans, 245. the seats of, the first scats 
 
 2 L 
 
 of civilization, 247. of the Egyptians, ge- 
 neral treatise on, 446 — 466. 
 
 Coptic, the ancient language of the Egypt- 
 ians, 273. not a living language, ih. en- 
 tirely theological, 274. borrowed from 
 the Greeks, 274, 275. 
 
 Copts, the ancient race of the Egyptians 
 similar to the, 301 . 
 
 Corn, an important article of commerce, 
 XV. cultivation of, in Egypt, 447. Egypt 
 the granary of, 461. 
 
 Corsica, early history of, 27. a Cartha- 
 ginian province, 28. 
 
 Cotton, cultivation of, in Egypt, 447, 448. 
 
 Cow, considered sacred by the Egyptians, 
 451. 
 
 Customs, Carthaginian revenue derived 
 from the, 70. 
 
 Cyrenaica, contraband trade of, 70. 
 
 Cyrene, the commercial rival of Carthage, 
 xvi. ancient state of, 18. 
 
 Dakke, temple of, on the banks of the Nile, 
 
 177, 183. 
 Darner, priestly establishment at, 219, n. 
 Damy, colossal statue of, 378. 
 Dandour, temple of, on the banks of the 
 
 Nile, 177, 182. 
 Dashour, pyramids of, 297. 
 Dates, an important article of trade in 
 
 Africa, 88. 
 Death, existence after, Eg3rptian belief in, 
 
 359, 361, et seq. 
 Debod, temple of, on the banks of the Nile, 
 
 177, 178. 
 Delta of the Nile, numerous cities of, 299. 
 Demotic writing of the Egyptians, 260, 
 
 261. 
 Denderah, temple of, 353, n. 
 Denon, his description of the Theban mo- 
 numents, 370. 
 Derar, temple of, on the banks of the Nile, 
 
 177, 184, 210. 
 Diodorus, his account of Phcenician colo- 
 nization. 45. on the government and laws 
 of Meroic, 212. his description of Thebes 
 and its ruins, 367 — 369, 384. 
 Djizeh, pyramids of, 297. 
 Dodona, oracle of, 244, n. 
 Dongolah, Mr. Hoskins' visit to, 495. 
 Dyeing, art of, among the Egyptians, 454. 
 Dynasties, of the Egyptian kings, remarks 
 on, 420 et seq. of Manetho, 499, 500. 
 
 Earthenware, manufacture of, among the 
 Egyptians, 455. 
 
 East, commercial productions of the, xv. 
 
 Edco, lake of, 300. 
 
 Edfu, temple of, 294. trading route from, to 
 the Arabian Gulf, 509. 
 
 Egypt, on the ancient commerce of, xvi. 
 reign of Psammetichus, 216, 217. its 
 most flourishing period, 223, 321. history 
 of, connected with its monuments, 249 
 
514 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 515 
 
 et seq., 255. ancient authors who have 
 written on, 253. general view of, 286. its 
 extent, ib. situation, 287. a gift of the 
 Nile, ib. its fertility dependent on the 
 Nile, ib. Upper, 291. Middle, 295. 
 Lower, 298. pyramids of, 297. its origi- 
 nal inhabitants, 309. their manners and 
 mode of life, ib. by whom civilized, 310. 
 divided into several states, 311. their 
 number and situation, 312. originally 
 colonies from Meroe and Ethiopia, 313. 
 nomes or districts, 314. their origin 
 proved by Herodotus, 315. chronology of, 
 319, n. various castes of, 32.3—337. cause 
 of the perfection of trade, 331. peasants, 
 334. their food, 336. kings of, 338. de- 
 pendent upon the priests, 310. intermar- 
 riage with, forbidden, 342. subject to the 
 Theban kings, 432. population, 435. 
 queens allowed to govern, 438. the laws, 
 443. inquiry into the commerce, 456. 
 ships or boats, how built, ib. establish- 
 ment of canals, 457. central point of the 
 caravan trade, 459. emporium of the 
 produce of Africa, ib. commodities of 
 trade, 460. linen of Egypt greatly 
 esteemed, ib, Tyrian dye, 461. com trade, 
 ib. changes in commerce by Psamme- 
 tichus, 462. further changes under Ama- 
 sis, ib. her commercial intercourse with 
 the Phcenician and Greek merchants, 
 ib. prosperity by increase of commerce, 
 464. on the foundation of the states of, 
 498. on the seventeen first dynasties of 
 Manetho, 499, 500. a comparison of the 
 kings of, from Herodotus, Diodorus, 
 and Manetho, 503—506. the various 
 trading routes of, 508, 509. 
 Egyptians, numerous colony of, settled 
 in Ethiopia, 216, 217. obscurity of their 
 origin, 255. their language, 257. its re- 
 semblance to the Coptic, ib. how many 
 dialects known, 274. the Saidic, or The- 
 baic, where used, tb. the Bahiric, ib. the 
 Bashmuric, iA. its antiquity, »6. influence 
 of the Greek and Roman upon the lan- 
 guage, 275. their monuments, 280. their 
 antiquity determined, 282. general ap- 
 pearance described by Herodotus, 301. 
 colour of the, 304, 305. manners and 
 habits, 307. divisions into castes, 308, 
 322. ancient political state, 309, 366. 
 priests the ruling caste, 313. their office 
 hereditary, 323. religion and state 
 policy united, 315. wars with the neigh- 
 bouring tribes, 317. the government as- 
 sumes the form of an hierarchy, 320. 
 dress, 326. household furniture, 338. an- 
 cient antipathy to pastoral life, 342. 
 origin of mythology, 344. belief in an 
 after state, 359. transmigration of souls, 
 360. sepulchres,.362. description of their 
 funerals, 365. castes of thieves and pros- 
 titutes among the, 444, «. commerce and 
 
 manufactures, 446. agriculture, ib. man- 
 ner of sowing and reaping, 447. various 
 sorts of, in use, ib. cultivation of cotton, 
 ib. aquatic plants, 448. usual drink of 
 the Egyptians, 450. breeding of cattle, ib, 
 the cow sacred, horses common in Egypt, 
 451. mules and asses in general use, ib. 
 sheep and camels not much known, 452. 
 poultry abundant, 453. weaving carried 
 on to a great extent, ib. art of dyeing in 
 great perfection, 454. working in metal, 
 455. manufacture of earthenware, t&. 
 great commercial advantages of the, 459, 
 460. unfavourable consequences of the 
 Persian invasion, 464. decline of the em- 
 pire of the Pharaohs, 465. conquest by 
 Sabaco, 466. throne usurped by Sethos, 
 ib. government of the twelve princes, 
 467. overthrown by Psammetichus, who 
 assumes the chief power, ib. lands grant- 
 ed to the Greek soldiers, 47 1 . emigration 
 of the warrior caste, 469. Greek soldiers 
 form the king's body-guard, ih. a navy 
 established, 470. canal between the Me- 
 diterranean and Red Sea, ib. object in 
 making it, ib. rebellion against Apries, 
 
 471. invasion and cruelty of Cambyses, 
 
 472. their hieroglyphics, 501. on the 
 origin of the, 497. commercial routes of 
 the, 509. 
 
 Elephantis, island of, 294, 314, n. menu- 
 ments of, 295. a burial-place of Osiris, 43G. 
 
 Eliethya, remains of, 294. 
 
 Emporia of Africa, fertility of the country 
 so called, 20, 21. situation of, 120. 
 
 Epic poetry, never common in Egypt, 419. 
 
 Epistolographic writing of the Egyptians, 
 
 270. 
 
 Equality, political, impossibility of, vi. 
 
 Ergamenes, king of Ethiopia, overturns the 
 domination of the priesthood, 212. 
 
 Esneh, temple of, 294. 
 
 Ethiopia, ancient commerce of, xvii. mo- 
 dem exploration of, xx. geographical 
 survey of the various nations of, 143 et 
 seq. one of the most mysterious nations 
 of antiquity, 146. early renown of, i6. the 
 aborigines of Africa, 147. hunted by the 
 Garamantes,l52. Herodotus's description 
 of the, ib. various tribes of, 156, 157. 
 state of Meroe and its monuments, 173. 
 ancient towns of, on the banks of the 
 Nile, 176, 177. a numerous colony of 
 Egyptians settled in, 216, 217. its do- 
 minion over Egypt, 466. Mr. Hoskins' 
 travels in, 492— 496. 
 Ethiopian nations, general survey of the, 
 143 et seq. celebrated by the Grecian 
 poets, 146. one of the two great aboriginal 
 regions of Africa, 147. colour of the in- 
 habitants, 149. Herodotus's account of, 
 152, 353. the Troglodytes, 157. the Ma- 
 crobians, 161 et seq. land of frankm- 
 
 I cense, 165 et seq. gold a natural pro- 
 
 duction of the country, 168, 169. a 
 portion of them highly civilized, 171. 
 state and city of Meroe, ib. et seq. (see 
 Meroe.) towns and villages, 176 et seq. 
 monuments and temples of, 178 et seq. 
 religion and rites of, 187. the worship of 
 Ammon every where predominant, 187, 
 207 et seq. priest-kings of, 190, 194. 
 ancient queens of, 205. Diodorus's ac- 
 count of the government and laws of, 
 212. the priesthood destroyed by king 
 Ergamenes, ib. powerful at the time of 
 the Trojan war, 213. subdued Upper 
 Egypt, 214. the mighty host sent against 
 the Jews, ib. the primeval monuments of, 
 more ancient than those of Egypt, 224. 
 commerce of, 225 et seq. Axum the an- 
 cient capital of, 238 et seq. known as a 
 civilized people in the time of Homer, 
 244, n. the civilization of the Egyptians 
 derived from, 247. possessed the art of 
 writing, 247, 248. 
 Etmrians, early history of the, 77. 
 
 Factions at Carthage, 137, 143. 
 
 " Fair Promontory," account of, by Polybi- 
 us, 476, n. 
 
 Feasts, popular, of the Egyptians, 358. 
 
 Festivals of the Egyptians, 457. 
 
 Festus Avienus, fragments from, contain- 
 ing Himilco's account of the countries of 
 Europe, 481—483. 
 
 Fezzan, the country of the ancient Gara- 
 mantes, 106 et seq. once a great seat of 
 trade, 114. 
 
 Fisheries, a source of revenue in Egypt, 
 442. 
 
 Foreign possessions of the Carthaginians, 
 
 22 et seq. 
 Frankincense, land of the, 165. situation 
 
 of, 166. 
 Funerals of the Egyptians, 364, 365. 
 
 Gades, ancient navigation of, xvi. an im- 
 portant place of trade, 85. 
 
 Garamantes, account of the, 96, 105 et 
 seq. the country of, a great seat of trade, 
 1 14. trading route from, to the Atlantes, 
 508. 
 
 Gaul, her commercial intercourse with 
 Carthage, 79. soldiers of, in the Cartha- 
 ginian armies, 126. 
 
 General, of the highest rank in the Car- 
 thaginian republic, 61. 
 
 Geometry, study of, in Egypt, 345. 
 
 Gerusia, a name given to the Carthaginian 
 senate, 54, 55, 62, 63. 
 
 Ghizeh, pyramids of, 297. 
 
 Ghyrshe, temple of, on the banks of the 
 Nile, 177, 182. 
 
 Gindanes, African tribe of, 15. 
 
 Cisco, the Carthaginian, notices of, 488, 
 489. 
 
 Gold, an important article of trade in Africa, 
 
 84,88,89,119. 
 
 2 L 2 
 
 Gold mines in Nubia, productions of the, 
 440. where situated, 441. 
 
 Gorillae, tribe of the, 479. 
 
 Gornou, palace of, 386. 
 
 Government, of Carthage, 46 et seq. on the 
 relation between theocracy and the mon- 
 archical form of, 506. 
 
 Greece, ancient commerce of, xvi. re- 
 ceived the early civilization of Ethiopia, 
 244, n. 
 
 Greek inscriptions sometimes found on 
 Egyptian monuments, 258, 275, 282. 
 
 Greek soldiers established in Egypt, 468, 
 469. 
 
 Greeks, their writings of some authority in 
 Egyptian history, 369. their trade with 
 the Egyptians, 463. 
 
 Grottoes for the living, at Thebes, 395. 
 Gyzantes, an African tribe, account of, 9. 
 
 Hades, ancient belief in, 360. 
 
 Hamilcar, the Carthaginian, biographical 
 notices of, 484, 488, 489. 
 
 Hamilcar Barca, faction of, 131. his feud 
 with Hanno the ruin of Carthage, 132 
 et seq. 
 
 Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, suc- 
 cessor of Asdrubal, 136. the leader of a 
 faction, 137. his political reforms, 141. 
 treaty of, with Philip of Macedonia, 477. 
 notices of, 488 bis. 
 
 Hanno, the Carthaginian navigator, ex- 
 pedition of, 39. colonization of, 40, 45. 
 towns built by, 44. account of his voyage 
 beyond the Pillars of Hercules, 478, 479. 
 various opinions on, 479—481. biographi- 
 cal notices of, 488, 489. 
 
 senator of Carthage, faction headed 
 
 by, 130. his feud with Hamilcar Barca 
 eventually the min of Carthage, 132 et 
 
 seq. 
 
 pedigree of the House of, 490. 
 
 Hasdrubal, the Carthaginian, biographical 
 
 notices of, 488. 
 Head-dresses of the Egyptians represented 
 
 on the ancient sculptures, 418. 
 Hecataeus, writings of, 369. 
 Heliopolis, inscription on an obelisk at, 
 
 502, 503. 
 Hellenium, a Greek commercial depot in 
 
 Egypt, 463. 
 Herdsmen, a caste of, in Egypt, 334, 335. 
 Hermapion, inscription on the obelisk of, 
 
 276. 
 Hermes, the alleged inventor of letters in 
 
 Egypt, 372. 
 Hermonthis, remains of, 293. 
 Hermotybi, a soldier caste of Egypt, 328, 
 
 329. 
 Herodotus, his description of Northern 
 Africa, xxvi. the great historian of Car- 
 thage, 7. his account of Africa, 91. his 
 story respecting the Nasamones, 92. his 
 accounts confirmed by modem travel- 
 lers, 115 et seq. 
 
516 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 517 
 
 Hieratic writing of the Egyptians, 260 et 
 
 seq. 
 Hieroglyphics of Egypt, general disquisi- 
 tion on the, 256 et seq. used in the 
 sacred writings of the Egyptians, ib, 
 ■ the Rosetta stone illustrative of, 257, 
 258. phonetic characters used in, 259 et 
 seq. deciphered and explained by Dr. 
 Young and Champollion, 259, 260 et 
 seq. distinct kinds of, 260, 261, 270. not 
 confined to the hierarchy, 264. always 
 imperfect as a system of writing, 267. 
 used to inscribe the names of kings, 276, 
 277. of the Mexicans, 278. compared 
 -with those of the Egyptians, 279. the in- 
 vention attributed to Thot or Hermes, 
 280. explained by Clemens Alexandri- 
 nus,281, n., 501 . the characters borrowed 
 from nature and art, 351. not understood 
 by the people, 358, n. inscription at He- 
 liopolis from Ammianus Marcellinus, 
 502, 503. 
 
 Himilco, the Carthaginian, expedition of, 
 43. fragment of his History of Europe 
 from Festus Avienus, 481 — 483. bio- 
 graphical notices of, 488 bis. 
 
 History, ancient, its advantages over mo- 
 dem history, iii. its objects, iv. held in 
 estimation by the Egyptians, 346. of 
 Thebes, chiefly derived from its monu- 
 ments, 366 et seq. of Egypt, represented 
 on their ancient sculpture, 417. frag- 
 ments illustrative of the history of 
 Thebes, 419. 
 
 Horses, breed of, cultivated in Egypt, 451. 
 
 Hoskins, G. A., his travels in Ethiopia, 
 492—496. 
 
 Human sacrifices, custom of, in Phoenicia 
 and Carthage, 65, n. 
 
 Hunting of men in Africa, 110. 
 
 Husbandmen, a caste of Egypt, 331, 332, 
 
 335. 
 
 Husbandry, remarks on, from the Works of 
 Mago the Carthaginian, 484. 
 
 Hyksos, expelled by the kings of Egypt, 
 311, 319, 423, 499. dynasty of the, 317, 
 318. the shepherd kings of Egypt, ib. de- 
 livery of Egypt from the, sculptured on 
 the ruins of Kamac, 392. on their origin, 
 
 500. 
 Hylophagse, tribe of the, 160, 161. 
 
 Ichthyophagi, race of the, 156. account of, 
 166, 170. their commerce, 246. 
 
 Idolatry, animal, its early origin, 356. 
 general treatise on, 357 et seq. 
 
 India, ancient commerce of, 227 — 229. 
 
 Indian Ocean, the scene of ancient naviga- 
 tion, xiii. 
 
 Inscriptions, on the Egyptian monuments, 
 284. on the obelisk of Heliopolis, 502. 
 
 Interpreters, a caste of Egypt, 333. 
 
 Ipsambul, temple of, on the banks of the 
 Nile, 177. monuments of, 185. 
 
 Isis, temple of, in Thebes, 385. 
 
 Italy, ancient fertility and opulence of, 42. 
 early navigation directed to, 76. soldiers 
 of, in the Carthaginian armies, 126. Car- 
 thaginian invasion of, 139, 140. 
 
 Joliba, a river of Africa noticed by He- 
 rodotus, 94. the course of, discovered by 
 modem travellers, 491. 
 
 Joseph's canal connected with the Nile, 
 295, 296. 
 
 Jupiter Ammon, temple of, 99, 101. ruins 
 of the ancient oracle of, 207. See Am- 
 mon. 
 
 Justice, administration of, in Carthage, 63. 
 
 Kalabsh^, temple of, on the banks of the 
 Nile, 177. monuments of, 178, 179. 
 scenes sculptured at, 420, 429. 
 
 Kardassy, temple of, on the banks of the 
 Nile, 177,178. 
 
 Kamac (Thebes), magnificent temple of, 
 224, 393. built of the materials of a more 
 ancient edifice, 349. stupendous mins of, 
 390. bas-reliefs of, described, 392. its 
 sculptures symbolic of the worship of 
 Ammon, 408. 
 
 Kings, Egyptian, the names of, how writ- 
 ten, 276. 
 
 Knights, order of, despotic power of, at 
 Carthage, 141. 
 
 Kurgos, island of, 199. ruins of, 202, 204. 
 
 Labyrinth of Egypt, 296. 
 
 Land, division of, in Egypt, 331, 332. reve- 
 nue derived from, 439. 
 
 Land trade of Carthage, 86 et seq. 
 
 Latona, oracle of, 359. 
 
 Laws of the Egyptians, study of, 345. 
 synopsis of, 443, 444. 
 
 Leptis, Great, colony of, 21, 112. 
 
 Letters, represented by phonetic characters, 
 
 261. 
 
 Libyans, general character of, 6, 8. He- 
 rodotus's account of the, 96. the abori- 
 ginals of Africa, 147. 
 
 Linen, of the Egyptians, 460. 
 
 Lipara, ancient commerce of, 78. 
 
 Lixita3, tribe of the, 478, 480. 
 
 Lotophagi, African tribe of, 15. ancient 
 seat of the. 111, 112. 
 
 Lotus, described, 15. cultivation of the, 
 in Egypt, 448, 449. . , 0.7 
 
 Luxor (Thebes), stupendous ruins ot, 38/. 
 bas-reliefs described, 388. the temple, 
 the remains of a more ancient edifice, 
 394. 
 
 Macedonia, commercial epoch of the em- 
 pire of, xvi. treaty with Carthage, 477. 
 
 Macrobians, account of the, 161 et seq. 
 visit of the Persian ambassadors to the, 
 162. a tribe of the Shangallas, 163. seat 
 
 of the, 171. 
 Magistratesof Carthage, 51. 
 Mago, family of, the founders of Car- 
 
 thage, 24. pedigree of the House of, 
 490. 
 Mago, the grandfather of Hannibal, biogra- 
 phical notices of, 488. 
 
 the brother of Hannibal, 139. 
 
 .. the writer on Husbandry, works of, 
 
 translated into Latin, 48, n. fragments of, 
 from various Latin authorities, 484—487. 
 
 Maharraka, temple of, on the banks of tlie 
 Nile, 177, 183. 
 
 Manetho, his History of Egypt, 310, n. 
 writings of, 369. on the dynasties of 
 Egypt, 311, 318, 423, 424, 499, 500. 
 
 Manufactures of the Egyptians, treatise on, 
 446, 453—456. 
 
 Marcellinus, his translation of an inscrip- 
 tion at Heliopolis, 502, 503. 
 
 Mareotis, lake of, 300. 
 
 Massilia, ancient commerce of, xvi. 
 
 Massyli, nomad tribe of the, 127, n. 
 
 Maxyes, an African tribe, account of, 8, 
 15. 
 
 Medical science, study of, in Egypt, 345. 
 
 Medinet Abou, great palace of, 374, 409. 
 sculptures of, 375, 376. temple of, 378. 
 
 Mediterranean, the principal scene of an- 
 cient commerce and navigation, xiii. 
 
 Megabari, race of the, 157. 
 
 Memnon, colossal statue of, 378 — 380. 
 
 Memnonium, palace of, 380. 
 
 Memphis, the city of, 296. the capital of 
 Egypt and the shepherd kings, 318, 469. 
 a burial-place of Osiris, 436. trading 
 route from, to Phoenicia, 510. 
 
 Mendes, a symbolic representation, 344. 
 a burial-place of Osiris, 436. 
 
 Menes, the first king of Egypt, 298. 
 
 Meroe, general inquiry into the state of, 
 and its monuments, 171 et seq. its his- 
 tory involved in obscurity, 172. temples 
 and pyramids of, 178. island of, where 
 situated, 195, 198. size of, 197. city, 
 where situated, 196, 198, 199. Bmce's 
 account of, 199. ruins of, 200. not con- 
 fined to one spot, ib. government in the 
 hands of priests, who chose a king from 
 their own body, 211. overthrown by Er- 
 gamenes, who kills the priests, 212. state 
 of the empire at the Trojan war, and 
 during the Persian period, 213. migra- 
 tion of the Egyptian warrior caste, ib. 
 date of the flourishing period, ib. Saba- 
 co, Senechus, and Tarhaco, kings of, 
 conquer Egypt, 214. boundaries, 216. 
 description of the priest caste, 218. set- 
 tlement near Mount Berkal, 221. pyra- 
 mids found there, ib. called Napata, ib. 
 colony planted at Thebes, 222. observa- 
 tions on civilization of Meroe, ib. the 
 market-place of Africa, 234. route from, 
 to the Arabian Gulf and Yemen, 238. 
 oracles of, 359. Mr. Hoskins' explora- 
 tions of, 492 — 496. trading route from, to 
 the Arabian Gulf, 510. 
 
 Messura, monuments of, 200, 203. Cail- 
 
 laud's description of, 206. conjectures 
 respecting, 207. 
 
 MetagonitsB urbes, ancient towns of Car- 
 thage, 17. 
 
 Metals, the art of working, among the 
 Egyptians, 455. 
 
 Mexico, hieroglyphics of, 278, 279. 
 
 Military art of the Egyptians, 445. 
 
 Minerva, temple of, in Egypt, 333. 
 
 Mines, Carthaginian revenues derived from, 
 70. 
 
 Misphramuthosis, king of Egypt, expels the 
 Hyksos, 424. 
 
 Moeris, the great reservoir of the Nile, 296. 
 
 Monarchies, great, origin and formation of^ 
 vii. 
 
 Monarchy, treatise on, 506. 
 
 Money, trade of, never established among 
 the ancients, xiv. on the money of Car- 
 thage, 68. of Egypt, 443. 
 
 Monuments of Egypt, illustrative of its 
 history, 249 et seq., 255. ancient authors 
 who have written on, 253. Champollion's 
 great work on, 254. phonetic hierogly- 
 phics explained, 260 et seq. two ways of 
 determining the age of, 282. on the va- 
 rious remains of the, 293 et seq. illus- 
 trative of Egyptian manufactures, 453. 
 
 of Meroe on the banks of the Nile, 171 
 
 et seq. observation on the, 186. architec- 
 ture of, 187. sculptures of, 189. origin 
 and object of, 190. groups of, 200. 
 
 of Thebes, general dissertation on the, 
 
 366 et seq. described by Denon and 
 others, 370. enumeration of the, 371 et 
 seq., 378. on the eastern side of the Nile, 
 387 et seq. historical disquisition on, 
 405 et seq. their style of architecture, 
 407, 408. 
 Mummies, careful preparation of, 361, 362. 
 Munich, mummies preserved at, 304. 
 
 Naga, monuments of, 200, 203, conjec- 
 tures respecting, 208. 
 
 Napata, a city of Ethiopia, 221. 
 
 Nasamones, of Africa, race of the, 16. ac- 
 count of, 92. 
 
 Nations, on the rise and progress of, iv. 
 
 Natron lakes, valley of the, 298. 
 
 Naucratis, a city of Egypt, 299, 463. 
 
 Naval engagement represented in Egyptian, 
 sculpture, 376, 412, 413. 
 
 Navigation and commerce of the ancients, 
 xii. et seq. of Carthage, 73 et seq., 86. 
 
 Navigators, a caste of Egypt, 333. 
 
 Navy of Carthage, general inquiry respect- 
 ing, 120 et seq. 
 
 Neatherds, caste of, in Egypt, 336. 
 
 Necho, king of Egypt, builds a navy, 470. 
 cuts a canal from the Red Sea to the 
 Mediterranean, 470, 471. 
 
 Nile, ancient and modern explorations of 
 the, xxix. XXX. monuments on the banks 
 of the, 172. its course, 173, 287. its an- 
 cient course different from what it is 
 
INDEX. 
 
 619 
 
 518 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 now, 1 73. Herodotiis's description of the, 
 174. its cataracts, 175,176. temples on 
 the banks of the, 177 et seq. Strabo and 
 Pliny's description of the, 196. bore the 
 name of Astapus, ih, commercial voyagmg 
 np the, 238. utility of its inundations, 
 287, 288. the valley of the, 288, 289, 292. 
 rich deposits of, 289. Theban monuments 
 on the eastern side of, 387 et seq. fish- 
 eries of, a source of revenue, 442. the 
 valley favourable to agriculture, 448. 
 navigation and commercial advantages 
 of the, 456. 
 
 Kilometer, use of, in Egypt, 439. 
 
 Nitocris, an ancient queen of Ethiopia, 
 
 205. „ .... 
 
 Nomades, of Northern Africa, 8. of Atnca 
 in the Carthaginian armies, 127. of Ethi- 
 opia, 243, 246. 
 
 Nomarchi, local governors of Egypt, 4^. 
 
 Nome, a name given to an Egyptian city 
 with its surrounding territory, 31b, 317. 
 Egypt divided into nomes, 314, 315, 438. 
 
 Nubia, account of the inhabitants, 154. 
 their language, 155. monuments in,2i3. 
 early civilization of, 224. historical no- 
 tices of, 434. gold mines in, 440. 
 
 CEa, a town of Carthage, 21. 
 
 Oil, an important article of commerce 
 among the ancients, xv. 
 
 Olive, cultivation of the, in Egypt, 45U. 
 
 Ombos, remains of, 294. 
 
 Oracles, delivered in the temples of Am- 
 mon, 209 et seq. of Ammon and Dodona, 
 244, n. established in the cities and tem- 
 ples of Egypt, 359. of the Thebans, 437. 
 
 Osiris, a symbolic representation, 342, 344. 
 burial-places of, 436. 
 
 Osorthon, king of Egypt, 431. 
 
 Osymandias, tlie palace and tomb ot, <x>\) 
 et seq. 
 
 Picture signs of the Egyptians, 260, 261. 
 Picture writing of Ethiopia, 248. 
 Pigmies of Africa, 92. 
 Pillars of the Egyptian temples, arcMec- 
 tural magnificence of the, 350, 374, ^7o. 
 Plautus, Psenulus, information derived 
 
 from, 75. 
 Pliny, fragments of Mago extracted trom, 
 
 4B7. . ^ , 
 
 Polybius, the commercial treaties between 
 Rome and Carthage extracted from, 475, 
 
 Posts necessary for commercial inter- 
 course, xiv. 
 Poultry, breeding of, in Egypt, 453. 
 Priests, no distinct order of, m Carthage, 65. 
 title of priest obtained by purchase 
 among the Ethiopians, 192, n. the abso- 
 lute rulers of Ethiopia, 212. their power 
 annihilated by Ergamenes, ib. of Egypt, 
 account of the, 323 et seq. the proprie- 
 tors of all learning, 3.39. caste of, supe- 
 rior to the warrior caste, 418. 
 Priest-kings of Meroe, 190, 193, 194. 
 Processions, religious, represented in the 
 
 temples of Egypt and Nubia, 210, 211. 
 Psammetichus, obtains the sole govern- 
 ment of Egypt, 217, 322. reign of, 466--- 
 468. employs the Greek soldiers, 469. 
 invades Syria, 470. 
 Psammis, tomb of, at Thebes, 401. 
 Psylli, an ancient nation buried by the 
 
 Libyan sands, 16. 
 Ptolemies, reign of the, 310, n. 
 Punic inscription noticed, 484. 
 Pylones of Egyptian architecture, 374. 
 Pyramids, of Meroe, 200 et seq. of Egypt, 
 situation of, 297. on the builders of the, 
 318, n., 363, n. 
 
 Quffistor, duties of his office at Carthage, 
 62. 
 
 Papyrus, manufacture of, in Egypt, 450. 
 Periplus of Hanno, 478, 479. various opin- 
 ions on the, 479— 481. 
 Peristyles of Egyptian architecture, 374, 
 
 375. 
 
 Persia, dominion of, in Egypt and Phoenicia, 
 
 not injurious to commerce, 465. 
 Pharaohs, period of the, 193. dynasty of 
 the, 223, 224. of Egypt, historical notices 
 of 426 et seq. extent of their dominion, 
 434. revenues of the, 438—443. on the 
 decline and faU of the empire of the, 
 466—473. 
 Pheron, king of Egypt, 430. 
 Philae, inscriptions in the temples of, 193. 
 
 island of, 294. ancient road of, 460. 
 PhcBnicians, their early establishment of 
 colonies, 3, 4, 12, 30. the government of, 
 republican, 22. j i_ v 
 
 Phonetic hieroglyphics explained by the 
 
 Rosetta stone, 259 et seq. 
 Phtha, temple of, 427. 
 
 Race-course of Thebes, 373. 
 
 Rameses, the conqueror of EUuopia, Z14, 
 224. historical fragments of, 420, 421, 
 425, 426 et seq. . . 
 
 Red Sea, a canal cut from, to join the 
 Mediterranean, 471. 
 
 Religion, influence of, in ancient states, viu 
 abend of political union, viii. of the Car- 
 thaginians, 64. of Meroe, 187, 209 et seq. 
 indissolubly connected with commerce, 
 232, 233. of Egypt, view of the, 339, 34U. 
 the popular religion, 355 et seq. Egyptian 
 rites and popular feasts of, 358. See 
 Oracles, and Priests. 
 
 Representative system scarcely known to 
 
 the ancients, vi. . . r r.( 
 
 Republican constitutions, origm ol, v. oi 
 
 Rome and Carthage, vi. ^ . . 
 
 Revenues, of the Carthaginian dominions, 
 
 11. whence derived, 66, 67 etseq. ot the 
 
 Pharaohs of Egypt, 438—443. 
 Rhamnus lotus, the ancient lotus tree, lo. 
 
 Rites, sacred, of the Egyptians, 358. 
 
 Rome, commercial epoch of the empire of, 
 xvi. Carthaginian invasion of the terri- 
 tories of, 139, 140. commercial treaties 
 with Carthage, 475, 476. 
 
 Rosellini, remarks on his discoveries, 496, 
 499, 500. 
 
 Rosetta stone, discovery of tlie, 257. in- 
 scription on the, 258. the alphabetical 
 key of Egypt, writing obtained from, 258, 
 259. 
 
 Saba, situation of, 171. 
 
 Sabaco, the powerful king of Ethiopia, con- 
 quers Upper Egypt, 214, 432. 
 
 Sabians, wealth and commerce of the, 227, 
 228. 
 
 Sahara, of Northern Africa, xxvii. 
 
 Sais, city of, 299. a burial-place of Osiris, 
 436. 
 
 Sakkara, pyramids of, 297. 
 
 Salt, an important article of commerce in 
 Africa, 87. 
 
 Sanctuaries of Egyptian temples described, 
 349. 
 
 Sandstone, the chief material for building, 
 
 291. 
 Sappho, the Carthaginian, notices of, 488. 
 Sardinia, a granary for food, 75. a province 
 of Carthage, 25. formerly little known, 
 26. historical notices of, 27. conquest 
 of, ib, 
 Scheygias, the race of, 155. 
 Scilly Islands, ancient commerce of the, 81. 
 Scipio, his contests with the Carthaginians, 
 
 139, 140. 
 Sculptures, on the temples of Meroe, 189 et 
 seq. cultivation of the art in Egypt, 347, 
 351 et seq., 375. of Thebes, 378 et seq. 
 of the temples and palaces of Egypt, 410 
 et seq. representative of a naval engage- 
 ment, 412, 413. of a land battle, 414. 
 the early history of the Egyptians repre- 
 sented by, 417 et seq. 
 Sebennytus, a burial-place of Osiris, 436. 
 Sebha, situation of, 112. 
 Seboa, temple of, on the banks of the Nile, 
 
 177. 
 Senate of Carthage, duties of the, 58. ruled 
 by a faction, 137, 143. two contending 
 parties in the, 138. 
 Sennaar, ancient commerce of, 234 et seq. 
 Sepulchres, of Egypt, 362, 363. of Thebes, 
 
 398. 
 
 Sesonchosis, king of Egypt, the Shishak of 
 
 Jewish history, 431. besieges Jerusa- 
 
 lem^ ib. 
 
 Sesostris, the conqueror of Ethiopia, 215, 
 
 224. Medinet Abou, the palace of, 409. 
 
 conquests of, 412. historical fragments 
 
 of, 420, 421, 426 et seq. 
 
 Sethos, tlie Egyptian priest, tyranny of, 
 
 466. 
 Seuechus, king of Ethiopia, conquers 
 
 Upper Egypt, 214. 
 Shamy, colossal sculpture of, 378. 
 
 Shangallas, tribe of the, 161. 
 
 Sheep, breed of, in Egypt, 452. 
 
 Shendy, ancient commerce of, 234, 235. 
 
 Shepherd -kings of Egypt, 318. 
 
 Ship, a religious symbol in the worship of 
 
 Ammon, 210. 
 Ships, represented in Egyptian sculpture, 
 376, 413. of the Egyptians, how built, 
 456. 
 Sicily, early history of, 29 — 31. a Phceni- 
 • cian colony, 30. partly possessed by the 
 Greeks, t6. early navigation directed to, 
 76. 
 Silsilis, remains of, 294. sculptures on the 
 
 tombs of, 304, n. 
 Sirbonis, ancient lake of, 299. 
 Siwah, identified with Ammonium, 103. 
 Slave trade of Africa, of remote antiquity, 
 
 87. 
 Sochna, situation of, 112. 
 Soldier caste of Egypt, next to the priest- 
 hood, 327. general account of the, 328 
 et seq. 
 Soleb, temple of, on the banks of the Nile, 
 
 177, 186, 434. 
 Somaulies, race of the, 166, 167. 
 Souls, transmigration of, 366. 
 Spain, settlements in, possessed by the Car- 
 thaginians, 34. mineral wealth of, 36. 
 ancient commercial importance of, 79. 
 soldiers of, in the Carthaginian armies, 
 126. formerly the richest country in the 
 world, 135. the great resource of Car- 
 thage, 138, 139. 
 Sparta, government of, similar to that of 
 
 Carthage, 52. 
 States, on the rise and progress of, iv. et 
 seq. domestic ties the first bond of, ib* 
 republican, v. monarchical, vii. 
 Stones, precious, ancient trade in, 119. 
 Struthiophagi, tribe of the, 161. 
 Suffetes, the heads of the Carthaginian 
 
 senate, 60, 64. 
 Sujah, empire of, 197. 
 Susa, country of, rich in gold mines, 165. 
 
 situation of, 166. 
 Syene, the ancient rendezvous of Egyptian 
 
 vessels, 238. 
 Symbolical characters of the Egyptians, 
 
 261. 
 Syria, invaded by Psammetichus, 470. 
 Syrtica Regie, situated between the two 
 
 Syrtes, 21. 
 Syrtis, of Africa, remarks on the, 7, n. 
 
 fertility of the country around, 20. 
 Syssitia, the clubs of Carthage, 59. 
 
 Tacazze, its junction with the Nile, 198. 
 Tafa, temple of, on the banks of the Nile, 
 
 178. 
 Tanis, ancient lake of, 300. a burial-place 
 
 of Osiris, 436. 
 Tarhaco, the king of Ethiopia, conquers 
 
 Upper Egypt, 214. 
 Tegaza, salt mines of, 117. 
 Tegerry, a town of Fezzan, 114. 
 
62Q 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 ( 
 
 Temples, of Egypt, hieroglyphic inscrip- 
 tions on, deciphered, 284. of Thebes, 
 293, 294. 
 
 — of Meroe, 177 et seq.,' 186. architec- 
 ture of, 187. sculptures of, 189 et seq. 
 origin and object of, 190. groups of, 200. 
 of Naga and Messura, 203 et seq. ruins 
 of the temples of Jupiter Ammon, 207. 
 
 Tentyris, monuments at, 293. 
 
 Thebes, the commercial rendezvous of cara- 
 vans, 99. an ancient Ethiopian settle- 
 ment, 222. early importance of, 244, n. 
 monuments at, 293, 294. bas-reliefs on 
 the temples of, 302, 303. general disser- 
 tation on the monuments, 366 et seq. 
 materials for its history, 367. Diodorus 
 the principal historian of, ib. monu- 
 ments of, described by Denon and others, 
 370, 371. its situation, 372. its monu- 
 ments on the western side, ib. the race- 
 course, 373. its extent, ib. antiquities of 
 Medinet Abou, ib. ptdsice of, 374. sculp- 
 ture of, 375. description of that without, 
 ib. description of that within, 376. 
 mysteries, initiation into, 378. the colos- 
 si, Dami and Shami, ib. Memnon, ib. 
 account of, ib. tomb of Osymandyas, 
 380. sculpture of, 382. temple of Isis, 
 385. palace of Gomou, 386. monuments 
 on the eastern side, 387. ruins of Luxor, 
 ib. description of the sculpture, 388. 
 monuments of Kamac, 390. deliverance 
 from the Hyksos, 392. the great temple, 
 393. catacombs, 395. grottoes for the 
 living, ib. the royal sepulchres, 398. 
 the harp tomb, 399. the temple of Am- 
 mon, 408. observations on the monu- 
 ments, 409. their architecture, ib. the 
 sculptures, 410. history of, 419. chro- 
 nology of, not to be settled, 420. founda- 
 tion of, unknown, 423. some account of 
 its kings, ib. Nubia annexed to the em- 
 pire of, by Thutmosis, 424. the most 
 splendid period of, 431. decline of the 
 Theban power, 432. extent of the em- 
 pire, ib. political relation to Ammonium, 
 
 433. Ethiopia the object of conquest, 
 ib. gold mines in the time of Pharaoh, 
 
 434, Thebes the usual seat of govern- 
 ment, 435. a burial-place of Osiris, 436. 
 government and hierarchy of, hereditary, 
 437. division of the empire, 438. the 
 revenue of the Pharaohs, ib. et seq. its 
 hundred gates, remarks on, 445, n. Mr. 
 Hoskins' travels in, 492. trading route 
 from, to the Garamantes, 509. 
 
 Theocracy, treatise on, 506. 
 Theut, a symbolic representation, 344, 
 This, a burial-place of Osiris, 436. 
 Thonis, an ancient sea-port, 458. 
 Thuoris, king of Egypt, contemporary with 
 
 the Trojan war, 431. 
 Thutmosis, king of Thebes, the dynasty 
 
 of, 215. expels the Hyksos from Egypt, 
 
 319, 424. 
 
 Thyamiaterium, city of, founded by Hanno, 
 478. 
 
 Thyraiamata, the region of, 481. 
 
 Tibboos, ancient race of, 110. account of, 
 151. 
 
 Tin, early use of, 80. 
 
 Tombs of Meroe, 188, 202. of Egypt, 302, 
 363. of Thebes, 399 et seq. 
 
 Tombuctoo, recent visit to, 491, 492. 
 
 Toparchi, local governors of Egypt, 438. 
 
 Trade of Carthage by land, 86 et seq. 
 
 Trading citizens, a caste of Egypt, 330. 
 
 Transmigration, ancient belief in, 360. 
 
 Treaties, between Rome and Carthage, 475, 
 476. between Hannibal and Philip of 
 Macedon, 477. 
 
 Tribes, the first commencements of states, 
 iv., V. 
 
 Triton, the lake, situation of, 7, n., 15. fer- 
 tility of the neighbouring country, 20, 
 
 Triumphal procession, represented in Egyp- 
 tian sculpture, 377. 
 
 Troglodytes, the inhabitants of the Baleares, 
 33. notices of the, 97, 157, 158. hunted 
 by the Garamantes, 110. their com- 
 merce, 246. noticed by Hanno, 478. 
 
 Tuaricks, account of the, 150, 
 
 Turris Euprantus, a town of Carthage, 19. 
 
 Tyre, ancient commerce of, xvi. founded 
 by the Phcenicians, 13. 
 
 Utica, an independent state established by 
 the Phoenicians, 12, 13. 
 
 Varro, fragment of Mago's extracted from, 
 
 484. 
 Vine, cultivation of the, in Egypt, 450. 
 
 War-chariots of the Egyptians, 445. 
 
 War-forces of Carthage, general inquiry re- 
 specting, 120 et seq. chiefly consisted of 
 foreigners and nomad tribes, 125, 127. 
 
 Warrior castes of Egypt, 328 et seq. 
 
 Weaving, art of, among the Egyptians, 453. 
 
 Wine, on the transport of, among the an- 
 cients, XV. 
 
 Women, armed, among the Ethiopians, 205. 
 
 Writing, art of, possessed by the Ethiopi- 
 ans, 247. various kinds of, possessed by 
 the Egyptians, 256 et seq., 260. always 
 very imperfect, 267. 
 
 Yemen, the ancient name of Arabia the 
 Blest, 226. 
 
 Young, Dr., his discovery of phonetic hiero- 
 glyphics, 259. 
 
 Zabara, emerald mines of, 292.' 
 Zaueces, an African tribe, account of, 8. 
 Zerah, the Ethiopian, his expedition against 
 
 Judea, 214, 215. 
 Zeugitana, a northern province of Carthage, 
 
 20. 
 Zuila, the city of, 107. route of caravans, 
 
 112, 
 
 JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PKINTERS. 
 
 
COLUMBIA UNIVEF ITY 
 
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 VA^t>:5 
 
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 LIBRARY 
 
 GIVEN BY 
 
 ^«<a 
 
 ^ 
 
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ANCIENT GEEECE 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF 
 
 ARNOLD H. L. HEEREN, 
 
 BT 
 
 GEORGE BANCROFT. 
 
 V 
 
 
 l^ 
 
 »r 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. »AO» 
 
 General Preliminary Remarks vii 
 
 I. Geographical View of Greece 1 
 
 n. Earliest Condition of the Nation ; and its Branches ... 21 
 
 III. Original Sources of the Culture of the Greeks .... 26 
 
 IV. The Heroic Age. The Trojan War 50 
 
 V. The Period following the Heroic Age. Migrations. Origin 
 of Republican Forms of Government, and their Cha- 
 racter 62 
 
 VI. Homer. The Epic Poets 67 
 
 Vn. Means of Preserving the National Character 80 
 
 Vin. The Persian Wars and their Consequences ..... 93 
 
 IX. Constitutions of the Grecian States 104 
 
 X. ThePoliticalEconomy of the Greeks 123 
 
 XI. The Judicial Institutions 146 
 
 XIL The Army and Navy 154 
 
 Xm. Statesmen and Orators 173 
 
 XIV. The Sciences in Connexion with the State 191 
 
 XV. Poetry and the Arts in Connexion with the State . . .217 
 XVI. Causes of the FaU of Greece 235 
 
 ^v 
 
 
 ^ ' 
 
 v,/i 
 
 (, 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 ;i 
 
 1 
 
 Jl 
 
 ;i. 
 
 ANCIENT GEBBCE. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF 
 
 ARNOLD H. L. HEEREN, 
 
 BY GEORGE BANCROFT. 
 
 ALSO 
 
 THREE HISTORICAL TREATISES, 
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 4 
 
 I.— POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 II.— THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND PRACTICAL INFLUENCE OF 
 
 POLITICAL THEORIES. 
 
 III.— THE RISE AND GROWTH OF THE CONTINENTAL INTERESTS 
 
 OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 NEW AND IMPROVED EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 Y G. BOHN,^ YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 
 
 MDCCCXLVII. 
 
THE TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE 
 
 
 V I 
 
 Oft 
 Dr. JAMES PECI- 
 
 JOHN GUILDS AKD SON, BVNGAV 
 
 TO THE FIEST EDITION. 
 
 The volume of which a translation is here offered to the public, forms in 
 thJoririnaH portion of an extensive work .e„«tled. " Befleehons "n the 
 Politicf Intercourse, and Commerce of the chief Nations of Antiqmty. Mr. 
 HeerenC accomplished his desien only with respect to the nations of Asm 
 and Africa. On tfiose of Europe le has published no hing further than the 
 present series of essays, which relate solely to subjecU connected with the 
 rolitical institutions of the Greeks, and may be regarded as an independent 
 nnllprtion of historical sketches. . ->, tt 
 
 It is on that larger work that the literary repntation of Mn Heeren pnma- 
 rilv dlwnds. Wifti respect to the Asiatic and African nations he has dis- 
 ci ssedWubiect in its full extent, and furnishes a more distinct account of 
 ?he,>andent condition than has perhaps been given by any other ,mten 
 Earivin ife he was led to consider the history of the world as mfluenced by 
 SaUstlblishments and commerce , and the results of his jnvesti^hons^ 
 in a department of science to which he is enthusiastically attached, and to 
 whtchK uninterruptedly devoted the most precious years of a long Ufe. 
 Tre communicated in the elaborate production wtich we have named. 
 
 In thSportion which relates to Asia, after considering the character of 
 the continent itself, he first treate of the Persians, giving a geographical and 
 sterisnraLuntoftheirancientempire,therformofgoveniment,ther.ghte 
 
 Ind authority of their kings, the administration of their provinces, and their 
 
 •" TrpScians neKt pass in review , and a sketch is given of their inter- 
 nal condition and government, their colonies and foreign possession*, thmr^^ 
 commerce, their manufactures and inland trade. c t\.^ 
 
 The country and nation of the Babylonians, and their commerce, form the 
 
 "'TVe"&aLTA''th"n°d;Uneated, and a. geographical survey of thdr 
 several tribesTs naturally followed by an inq»i-T jnto the commerce and m- 
 tercoSrse of the nations which inhabited the middle of Asia. 
 
 In Seating of India, it was necessary to consider with careful cnticism, 
 the knriedle which still remains to us of that distant country, and to collect 
 such fragments of information as can be found respecting its earliest histor;^, 
 ™liticS constitution, and commerce. The Indians are the most remote Asi- 
 SSc Zion wwXhad an influence on the higher culture.of the ancient world, 
 and with them the division which treats of Asia is terminated. 
 
 To the lover of studies connected with antiquity the history of the African 
 nations nosle^es the deepest interest. Beside the physical peculiarities of 
 fttsi^EX pSt of the globe, the Carthaginians present the "lost remark- 
 S,\e eSle of the wea4 and power wlSch a state may acqmre by com- 
 merceXnel Ind at the same time, it shows most forcibly the changes to 
 which s^ch a state is ^exposed, when the uncertainty of Us resources is 
 ^ci^Ld bv a w^tof the higher virtues, of valour, faith, and rehgion. In 
 E^oron tL oAer hand! thi vast antiqiity of its political institutions he 
 velfofCcerUinty which hangs over ils^ early condition, connected with the 
 
 ( 
 
VI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 magnificence of its monuments, that have, as it were, been discovered within 
 the recollection of our contemporaries, all serve to render that country a most 
 interesting subject of speculation and critical study. 
 
 The volume on Africa first introduces the Carthaginians, who had the me- 
 lancholy fate of becoming famous only by their ruin. Mr. Heeren discusses 
 the condition of their Afncan territory, their foreign provinces and colonies, 
 their form of government, their revenue, their commerce by land and by sea, 
 their military force, and lastly the decline and fall of their state. 
 
 Before entering upon the consideration of the E^j^ptians, Mr. Heeren 
 ascends the Nile, and presents us with a geographical sketch of the Ethiopian 
 nations, an account of the state of Meroe, and of the commerce of Meroe and 
 Ethiopia. 
 
 The Egyptians are then considered. A general view of their country and 
 its inhabitants, its political condition and its commerce, — these are the topics, 
 under which he treats of that most ancient people. The whole is concluded 
 by an analysis of the monuments which yet remain of Egyptian Thebes. 
 
 These are the subjects which are discussed in the " Reflections of Heeren," 
 a work which deservedly holds a high rank among the best historical pro- 
 ductions of our age. Mr. Heeren*s style is uniformly clear, and there are few 
 of his countrymen whose works so readily admit of being translated. We 
 may add, there are few so uniformly distinguished for sound sense and a ra- 
 tional and Uberal method of studying the monuments of antiquity. He is 
 entirely free from any undue fondness for philosophical speculations, but re- 
 commends himself by his |)erspicuity, moderation, and flowing style. 
 
 The business of translating is but a humble one ; and yet it may be the 
 surest method of increasing the number of good books which are in the hands 
 of our countrymen. None can be oflTered more directly interesting to them, 
 than those which relate to political institutions. Holding as we do our des- 
 tinies and our national character and prosperity in our own hands, it becomes 
 us to contemplate the revolutions of governments ; to study human nature, 
 as exhibited in its grandest features in the changes of nations ; to consider 
 not only the politics of the present age, but gaining some firm ground, such as 
 history points out, to observe with careful attention the wrecks of other in- 
 stitutions and other times. The present volume may perhaps do something 
 to call pubUc attention to the merits and true character of the ancient Greeks. 
 The admirers of Grecian eloquence will find in one of the chapters, an out- 
 line of the political career of Demosthenes. His reputation is there vindicated 
 from the calumnies that have so long been heaped upon one of the noblest, 
 most persevering, most disinterested advocates ofthe cause of suffering liberty. 
 
 The Translator hopes the work will prove acceptable to scholars and those 
 who have leisure for the stud^ of history ; and that it will be received by 
 them as an earnest of his desire to do something, however little it may be, 
 for the advancement of learning in our common country. 
 
 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 This translation, of which two or three editions have l)een published in 
 England, has recently been adopted as a text-book in Harvard College. 
 Hence it became necessary to repnnt it ; and the opportunity has been seized 
 to revise it, and to adopt tne few changes and adcWtions, which were made by 
 Mr. Heeren in the latest edition of his works. 
 
 Boiton, February 12, 1842. 
 
 GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 To the student of the history of man, there is hardly a pheno- 
 menon more important in itself, or more difficult of explana- 
 tion than the superiority of Europe over the other parts of our 
 earth Whatever justice may be rendered to other lands and 
 nations, it cannot be denied that the noblest and best of every 
 thine, which humanity has produced, sprung up, or at least 
 ripened, on European soil. In the multitude, variety, and beauty 
 of their natural productions, Asia and Africa far surpass Europe ; 
 but in every thing which is the work of man, the nations ot Eu- 
 rope stand far above those of the other continents. It was among 
 them, that, by making marriage the union of !>"' <f «^^»*y "f' 
 domestic society obtained that form, without which the higher 
 culture of so many parts of our nature could never have been at- 
 tained ; and if slavery and bondage were established among them, 
 thev alone, recognising their injustice, abolished them. It was 
 chiefly and almost exclusively among them, that such constitutions 
 were framed, as are suited to nations who have become conscious 
 of their rights. If Asia, during all the changes m its extensive 
 empires, does but show the continued reproduction of despotism 
 it was on European soil that the germ of pohtical freedom unfolded 
 itself, and under the most various forms, in so many places, bore 
 the noblest fruits ; which again were transplanted to other parts 
 of the worid. The simplest inventions of the mechanic arts may 
 perhaps belong in part to the East; but how have they all been 
 Wected by Europeans! What progress from the loom of the 
 Hindoo to the power-looms driven by steam ; from the sun-dial to 
 the chronometer, which guides the mariner over the ocean; from 
 the bark canoe of the Mohawk to the British man-of-war ! And 
 if we direct our attention to those nobler arts, which, as it were, 
 raise human nature above itself, what a distance between the Ju- 
 piter of Phidias and an Indian idol ; between t^i^ Transfiguration 
 of Raphael and the works of a Chinese painter! The Eas had te 
 annalists, but never produced a Tacitus, or a Gibbon ; it had its 
 poets, but never advanced to criticism ; it had its sages, who not 
 unfre^uentlyproduced-.a powerful effect on their nations by means 
 of their doctrines ; but a Plato or a Kant never npened on the 
 banks of the Ganges and the Hoangho. 
 

 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 Ut 
 
 
 Nor can we less admire that political superiority, which the 
 nations of this small region, just emerging from savage life, im- 
 mediately established over the extensive countries of the large 
 continents. The East has seen powerful conquerors ; but it was 
 only in Europe that generals appeared, who invented a science of 
 war really worthy of the name. Hardly had a kingdom in Mace- 
 donia of limited extent out-grown its childhood, before Macedo- 
 nians ruled on the Indus as on the Nile. The imperial city was 
 the heiress of the imperial nation ; Asia and Africa adored the 
 Caesars. Even in the centuries of the middle age, when the intel- 
 lectual superiority of the Europeans seemed to have sunk, the 
 nations of the East attempted to subjugate them in vain. The 
 Mongolians advanced into Silesia; nothing but the wastes of 
 Russia long remained in their power : the Arabs desired to over- 
 run the West ; the sword of Charles Martel compelled them to 
 rest contented with a part of Spain ; and the chivalrous Frank, 
 under the banner of the cross, soon bade them defiance in their 
 own home. And how did the fame of Europeans beam over the 
 earth, when, through Columbus and Vasco de Gama, the morning 
 of its fairer day began to dawn ! The new world at once became 
 their prey, that it might receive their culture, and become their 
 rival ; more than a third part of Asia submitted to the Russian 
 sceptre ; merchants on the Thames and the Zuyder See seized on 
 the government of India ; and if the Turks have thus far been 
 successful in preserving the country which they have robbed from 
 Europe, will it remain to them for ever ? will it remain to them 
 long ? The career of conquest may have been marked with seve- 
 rity and blood ; the Europeans became not the tyrants only, but 
 also the instructers of the world. The civilization of mankind 
 seems to be more and more closely connected with their progress ; 
 and if, in these times of universal revolution, any consoling pros- 
 pect for the future is opened, is it not the triumph of European 
 culture beyond the limits of Europe ? 
 
 From whence proceeds this superiority, this universal sove- 
 reignty of so small a region as Europe ? An important truth pre- 
 sents itself at once. Not undisciplined strength, not the mere 
 physical force of the mass, — it was intelligence which produced it ; 
 and if the military science of Europeans founded their sovereignty, 
 it was their superior political science which maintained it. But 
 the question which was proposed remains still unanswered ; for 
 we desire to know the causes of this intellectual superiority ; and 
 why it was in Europe that the faculties of human nature were so 
 much more beautifully unfolded ? 
 
 To such a question no perfectly satisfactory answer can be given. 
 The phenomenon is in itself much too rich, much too vast for that. 
 It will be readily conceded, that it could only be the conse- 
 quence of many co-operating causes ; of these several can be enu- 
 merated, and thus afford some partial solution. But to enumerate 
 
 them all separately, and in their united influences, could only he 
 don™ hy a mind, to which it should be granted, from a higher point 
 of view than any to which a mortal can attain, to contemplate the 
 whole web of the history of our race, and follow the course and 
 the interweaving of the various threads. » „ ^ 
 
 Here attention is drawn to one important circumstance, of 
 which the cautious inquirer almost fears to estimate the value. 
 Whilst we see the surface of the other continents covered with na- . 
 tions of different, and almost always of dark colour, (and, in so far 
 as this determines the race, of different races,) the inhabitants of 
 Europe belong only to one race. It has not, and it never had 
 any other native inhabitants than white nation^' Is the white 
 mantstinguished by greater nf"«l ^f "*« ^ ^as he by means 
 of them precedence over his coloured brethren ? This is a que^ 
 tion which physiology cannot answer at all, and which history 
 Zst answer with timidity. Who will absolutely deny thathe 
 differences of organization, which attend on the difference in colour^ 
 can have an influence on the more rapid or more difficult unfold- 
 ing of the mind? But, on the other hand, who can demonstrate 
 this influence, without first raising that secret veil, which conceals 
 from us the reciprocal connexion between body and mind? And 
 yrwe must esteem it probable ; and how much does this proba- 
 bility increase in strength, if we make inqmnes of l»f "^ ? Jhe 
 great superiority which the white nations in all ages and parte of 
 L world have possessed, is a matter of fact, which cannot be 
 done away with ^by denials. It may be said, this was the co^- 
 quence of external circumstances, which favoured them more. 
 But has this always been so? And why has it been so? And^ 
 further, why did those darker nations, which rose above the savage 
 state attain only to a degree of culture of their own ; a degree 
 wWch was passed neither by the Egyptian nor by the Mongolian 
 neither by the Chinese nor the Hindoo ? And among the coloured 
 races, why did the black remain behind the brown a^d the yeUow ? 
 If these observations cannot but make us inclined to attribute dif- 
 ferences of capacity to the several branches of our race they do 
 not on that account prove an absolute want of capacitjr m our 
 darker fellow-men, nor must they be urged ^ contamm^ the 
 whole explanation of European supenonty. This, only, is in- 
 tended ; experience thus far seems to prove, that a g?^eater facility 
 in developing the powers of mind belongs to the nations of a clear 
 colour; but we will welcome the age which shall contradict this 
 experience, and exhibit cultivated nations of ne^oes. 
 
 But however high or low this natural precedency of the Eu- 
 ropeans may be estimated, no one can fail to ol>serve. that the 
 physical qualities of this continent offer peculiar adv^^it^^^' ^^»* 
 may serve not a little to explain the above-mentioned phenomenon. 
 
 • The Gipsies are foreigners ; and it may seem doubtful whether the Laplanders 
 are to be reckoned to the white or yellow race. 
 
i 
 
 « 
 
 u 
 
 ) 
 
 X PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 Europe belongs almost entirely to the northern temperate zone. 
 Its most important lands lie between the fortieth and sixtieth de- 
 gree of north latitude. Further to the north nature gradually dies 
 away. Thus our continent has in no part the luxuriant fruitful- 
 ness of tropic regions ; but also no such ungrateful climate, as to 
 make the care for the mere preservation of life exhaust the whole 
 strength of its inhabitants. Europe, except where local causes put 
 obstacles in the way, is throughout susceptible of agriculture. To 
 this it invites, or rather compels ; for it is as little adapted to the 
 life of hunters as of herdsmen. Although its inhabitants have at 
 various periods changed their places of abode, they were never 
 nomadic tribes. They emigrated to conquer ; to make other estab- 
 lishments where booty or better lands attracted them. No Eu- 
 ropean nation ever lived in tents ; the well-wooded plains offered in 
 abundance the materials for constructing those huts which the 
 inclement skies required. Its soil and climate were peculiarly fit- 
 ted to accustom men to that regular industry, which is the source 
 of all prosperity. If Europe could boast of but few distinguished 
 products, perhaps of no one which was exclusively its own, the 
 transplantation of the choicest from distant regions made it 
 necessary to cherish and to rear them. Thus art joined with 
 nature, and this union is the mother of the gradual improvement 
 of our race. Without exertion man can never enlarge the circle 
 of his ideas ; but at the same time his mere preservation must not 
 claim the exercise of all his faculties. A fruitfulness, sufficient to 
 reward the pains of culture, is spread almost equally over Europe ; 
 there are no vast tracts of perfect barrenness ; no deserts like those 
 of Arabia and Africa ; and the steppes, which themselves are well 
 watered, begin towards the east. Mountains of a moderate eleva- 
 tion usually interrupt the plains ; in every direction there is an 
 agreeable interchange of hill and valley ; and if nature does not 
 exhibit the luxurious pomp of the tomd zone, her awakening in 
 spring has charms which are wanting to the splendid uniformity 
 of tropic climes. 
 
 It is true, that a similar climate is shared by a large portion of 
 middle Asia ; and it may be asked, why, then, opposite results 
 should be exhibited, where the shepherd nations of Tartary and 
 Mongolia, so long as they roamed in their own countries, seem to 
 have been compelled to remain for ever stationary ? But by the 
 character of its soil, by the interchange of mountains and valleys, 
 by the number of its navigable rivers, and above all, by its coasts 
 on the Mediterranean, Europe distinguishes itself from those re- 
 gions so remarkably, that this similar temperature of the air, (which 
 is moreover not perfectly equal under equal degrees of latitude, 
 since Asia is colder,) can afford no foundation for a comparison. 
 . But can we derive from this physical difference, those moral ad- 
 vantages, which were produced by the better regulation of domes- 
 tic society ? With this begins in some measure the history of the 
 
 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 
 first culture of our continent ; tradition has not forgotten to tell, 
 how the founder of the oldest colony among the savage inhabitants 
 of Attica was also the founder of regular marriages ; and who has 
 not learned of Tacitus the holy usage of our German ancestors ? 
 Is it merely the character of the climate which causes both sexes 
 to ripen more gradually, and at the same time more nearly siniul- 
 taneously, and a cooler blood to flow in the veins of man ; or is a 
 more delicate sentiment impressed upon the European, a higher 
 moral nobility, which determines the relation of the two sexes ? 
 Be this as it may, who does not perceive the decisive importance 
 of the fact ? Does not the wall of division which separates the in- 
 habitants of the East from those of the West, repose chiefly on this 
 basis ^ And can it be doubted, that this better domestic institution 
 was essential to the progress of our political institutions ? For we 
 say confidently, no nation, where polygamy was estabhshed, has 
 ever obtained a free and well-ordered constitution. 
 
 Whether these causes alone, or whether others beside them, (for 
 who will deny that there may have been others ?) procured for the 
 Europeans their superiority, thus much is certain, that all Europe 
 may now boast of this superiority. If the nations of the South 
 preceded those of the North,— if these were still wandering in their 
 forests when those had already obtained their npeness,— they 
 finally made up for their dilatoriness. Their time also came ; the 
 time when they could look down on their southern brethren with 
 a just consciousness of their own worth. This leads us to the im- 
 portant differences, which are peculiar to the North and the bouth 
 
 of this continent. 
 
 A chain of mountains, which, though many arms extend to the 
 north and south, runs in its chief direction from west to east, 
 the chain of the Alps, connected in the west with the Pyrenees 
 by the mountains of Sevennes, extending to the Carpathian and 
 the Balkan towards the east as far as the shores of the Black Sea, 
 divides this continent into two very unequal parts, the Southern 
 and the Northern. It separates the three peninsulas which run 
 to the south, those of the Pyrenees, Italy, and Greece, together 
 with the southern coast of France and Germany, from the great 
 continent of Europe, which stretches to the north beyond the polar 
 circle. This last, which is by far the larger half, contains almost 
 all the chief streams of this continent ; the Ebro, the Rhone, and 
 the Po, of all that flow into the Mediterranean, are alone important 
 for navigation. No other chain of mountains of our earth has had 
 such an influence on the history of our race, as the chain of the 
 Alps. During a long succession of ages, it parted, as it were, two 
 worids from each other ; the fairest buds of civilization had already 
 opened under the Grecian and Hesperian skies, whilst scattered 
 tribes of barbarians were yet wandering in the forests of the North. 
 How different would have been the whole history of Europe, had 
 the wall of the Alps, instead of being near the Mediterranean, 
 
xu 
 
 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 hi 
 
 been removed to the shores of the North Sea ? This boundary, it 
 is true, seems of less moment in our time ; when the enterprising 
 spirit of the European has built for itself a road across the Alps, 
 just as it has found a path over the ocean ; but it was of decisive 
 importance for the age of which we are speaking, for antiquity. 
 The North and South were then physically, morally, and politically 
 divided ; that chain long remained the protecting bulwark of the 
 one against the other; and if Caesar, finally breaking over these 
 boundaries, removed in some measure the political landmarks, the 
 distinction still continues apparent between the Roman part of 
 Europe, and that which never yielded to the Romans. 
 
 It is therefore only the southern part of our hemisphere, which 
 can employ us in our present inquiries. Its limited extent, which 
 seemed to afford no room for powerful nations, was amply com- 
 pensated by its climate and situation. What traveller from the 
 North ever descended the southern side of the Alps without being 
 excited by the view of the novel scenery that surrounded him I 
 The more beautiful blue of the Italian and Grecian sky, the 
 milder air, the more graceful forms of the mountains, the pomp of 
 the rocky shores and the islands, the dark tints of the forests glit- 
 tering with golden fruits — do these exist merely in the songs of 
 the poets ? Although the tropic climes are still distant, a feeling 
 of their existence is awakened even here. The aloe grows wild 
 in Lower Italy ; the sugar-cane thrives in Sicily ; from the top of 
 jEtna the eye can discern the rocks of Malta, where the fruit of 
 the palm-tree ripens, and in the azure distance, even the coasts of 
 neighbouring Africa.* Here nature never partakes of the uni- 
 formity, which so long repressed the spirit of the natives in the 
 forests and plains of the North. In all these countries there is a 
 constant interchange of moderately elevated mountains with 
 pleasant valleys and level lands, over which Pomona has scattered 
 her choicest blessings. The limited extent of the countries allows 
 no large navigable rivers ; but what an indemnification for this is 
 found in its extensive and richly indented coasts ! The Mediter- 
 ranean Sea belongs to the South of Europe ; and it was by means 
 of that sea, that the nations of the West were formed. Let an 
 extensive heath occupy its place, and we should yet be wandering 
 Tartars and Mongolians, like the nomades of middle Asia. 
 
 Of the nations of the South, only three can engage our atten- 
 tion ; the Greeks, Macedonians, and Romans, the masters of Italy 
 and then of the world. We have named them in the order in 
 which history presents them as prominent, although distinguished 
 in different ways. We shall follow the same order in treating of 
 them. 
 
 » Bartel*8 Reise durch Sicilien. B. II. p. 338—340. 
 
 GREECE. 
 
 (I 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL VIEW OF GREECE. 
 
 Were any one, who is entirely unacquainted with the 
 history of the Greeks, to examine the map with attentive 
 eye, he could hardly remain in doubt that their country, in 
 point of situation, is favoured by nature beyond any other 
 in Europe. It is the most southern of that continent. 
 The promontory of Taenarium, in which it terminates, lies 
 under almost the same degree of latitude with the celebrated 
 rock of Calpe; and its northern boundary falls somewhat to 
 the south of Madrid. In this manner it extends from that 
 promontory to Olympus and the Cambunian mountains, 
 which divide it from Macedonia, about two hundred and 
 twenty-five miles from south to north.^ Its eastern point is 
 the promontory of Sunium in Attica; from thence its 
 greatest breadth, to the promontory of Leucas in the west, 
 is about one hundred and sixty miles. The greatness of 
 the nation and the abundance of its achievements easily 
 lead to the error of believing the country an extensive one. 
 But even if we add all the islands, its square contents are a 
 third less than those of Portugal. But what advantages 
 of situation does it not possess over the Iberian peninsula. 
 If this, according to the ideas of the ancients, was the 
 western extremity of the world, as the distant Serica was 
 the eastern, Greece was as it were in the centre of the 
 most cultivated countries of three continents. A short 
 passage by sea divided it from Italy; and the voyage to 
 Egypt, Asia Minor, and Phoenicia, though somewhat 
 longer, seemed hardly more dangerous. 
 
 • From 36i to 40 degrees north latitude. 
 
 B 
 
ANCIENT GREECE, 
 
 [chap. I. 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL VIEW OF GREECE. 
 
 8 
 
 Nature herself, in this land of such moderate extent, 
 established the geographical divisions, separating the penin- 
 sula of the Peloponnesus from the main land; and dividing 
 the latter into nearly equal parts, northern and southern, by 
 the chain of QEta, which traverses it obliquely. In every di- 
 rection hills interchange with valleys and fruitful plains; and 
 though in its narrow compass no large rivers are found, (the 
 Peneus and Achelous are the only considerable ones,) its 
 extensive coasts, abundantly provided with bays, landing- 
 places, and natural harbours, afford more than an equivalent. 
 
 The peninsula of Pelops, so called in honour of Pelops, 
 who, according to the tradition, introduced, not war, but the 
 gifts of peace from Asia Minor, is about equal in extent to 
 Sicily, and forms the southernmost district.^ It consists of a 
 central high ridge of hills, which sends out several branches, 
 and some as far as the sea; but between these branches there 
 are fruitful plains well watered by an abundance of streams, 
 which pour from the mountains in every direction. This 
 high inland district, no where touching the sea, is the far- 
 famed Arcadia of poetical tradition. Its highest ridge. Mount 
 Cyllene, rises, according to Strabo, from fifteen to twenty 
 stadia above the sea.* Nature has destined this country for 
 pastoral life. " The pastures and meadows in summer are 
 always green and unscorched ; for the shade and moisture 
 preserve them. The country has an appearance similar to 
 that of Switzerland, and the Arcadians in some measure 
 resemble the inhabitants of the Alps. They possessed a love 
 of freedom and yet a love of money; for wherever there was 
 money, you might see Arcadian hirelings. But it is chiefly 
 the western part of Arcadia (where Pan invented the shep- 
 herd's flute) which deserves the name of a pastoral country. 
 Innumerable brooks, one more delightful than the other, 
 sometimes rushing impetuously and sometimes gently mur- 
 muring, pour themselves down the mountains. Vegetation 
 is rich and magnificent; every where freshness and coolness 
 are found. One flock of sheep succeeds another, till the 
 rugged Taygetus is approached; where numerous herds of 
 
 * See the map of the Peloponnesus by Professor C. O. Miiller, on which the 
 mountains as well as the different districts arc given with critical exactness. 
 
 ■ Strabo, 1. viii. p. 595, ed. Casaub. 170/. The indefinite nature of the ac- 
 count shows how uncertain it is. 
 
 goats interchange with them.'' ^ The inhabitants of Arcadia, 
 devoted to the pastoral life, preferred therefore for a long 
 time to dwell in the open country rather than in cities; and 
 when some of these, particularly Tegea and Mantinea, be- 
 came considerable, the contests between them destroyed the 
 peace and liberties of the people. The shepherd life among 
 the Greeks, although much ornamented by the poets, betrays 
 its origin in this; that it arose among a people, who did not 
 wander like nomades, but had fixed abodes. 
 
 Round Arcadia lay seven districts, almost all of which 
 were well watered by streams, that descended from its high- 
 lands. In the south lay the land of heroes, Laconia, rough 
 and mountainous, but thickly settled ; so that it is said, at 
 one time, to have contained nearly a hundred towns or 
 villages.^ It was watered by the Eurotas, the clearest and 
 purest of all the Grecian rivers,^ which, rising in Arcadia^ 
 was increased by several smaller streams. Sparta was built 
 upon its banks, the mistress of the country, without walls, 
 without gates; defended only by its citizens. It was one of 
 the larger cities of Greece; but, notwithstanding the mar- 
 ket-place, the theatre, and the various temples which 
 Pausanias enumerates,* it was not one of the more splendid. 
 The monuments of fallen heroes ^ constituted the principal 
 ornament of the banks of the Eurotas, which were then, and 
 still are, covered with laurel.^ But all these monuments have 
 perished; there is a doubt even as to the spot where ancient 
 Sparta was situated. It was formerly thought to be the 
 modem Misitra; this opinion has been given up; a more 
 recent traveller believes, that about three miles to the south- 
 east of Misitra, he has discovered, in the ruins of Mogula, 
 the traces of the ancient theatre and some temples.^ At the 
 
 * Bartholdy. Bruchstiicke zur nahern Kenntniss Griechenlands, s. 239—241. 
 
 * Manso has enumerated sixty-seven : Sparta, i. 2, p. 15. And yet Laconia 
 was not much more extensive than the territory of Nuremberg, when a free 
 city. 
 
 * Bartholdjr. Bruchstiicke, &c. p. 228. 
 
 * Pausan. lii. p. 240, ed. Kuhn. 
 
 » See the long list of them in Pausanias, p. 240, 243, &c. 
 
 * Pouqueville. Voyage i. p. 189. 
 
 ' See Chateaubriand. Itin^raire de Paris k Jerusalem, i. p. 25. This 
 traveller was but one hour in going from Misitra to Mogula, by way of Palaio- 
 choros, on horseback and in a, gallop. Those discoveries belong to M. Cha- 
 teaubriand ; he remarks, however, that others before him had supposed Palaio- 
 choros to be the site of ancient Sparta. The great insecurity of travelling in 
 
 B 2 
 
ANCIENT GREECE, 
 
 [chap. I. 
 
 u 
 
 distance of four miles layAmyclae, celebrated for the oracle of 
 Apollo, of whose sanctuary not a trace is now visible ; and a 
 road of twenty miles led from Sparta to Gythium, its harbour 
 in that period of its history, when, mistaking its true policy, 
 it built a fleet. On the west and north, Laconia was sur- 
 rounded by the lofty Taygetus, which separated it from the 
 fruitful plains of Messenia. This country was soon over- 
 powered by Sparta,' which, having thus doubled its territory, 
 easily became the largest of all the Grecian cities. But after 
 a long and quiet possession, Messenia was finally avenged ; 
 when Epaminondas, its restorer, crushed the power of 
 humbled Sparta. 
 
 A neck of land, called Argolis, from its capital city 
 Argos, extends in a south-easterly direction from Arcadia 
 forty-eight miles into the sea, where it terminates in the 
 promontory of Scillaeum. Many and great recollections 
 recall this country to memory from the heroic age ; and the 
 remains of the most ancient style of architecture, the Cy^ 
 clopic walls, which are still standing on the sites of the west 
 towns, make that age present even now. Here lay Tiryns, 
 whence Hercules departed to enter on his labours; here was 
 Mycense, the country of Agamemnon, the most powerful 
 and most unhappy of kings ; here was Nemea, celebrated 
 for its games instituted in honour of Neptune. But the glory 
 of its earliest times does not seem to have animated Argos. 
 No Themistocles, no Agesilaus was ever counted among its 
 citizens ; and, though it possessed a territory of no inconsi^ 
 derable extent, holding in subjection the larger western 
 moiety of the district, while Epidaurus and Trsezene re-, 
 mained independent ; — still it never assumed a rank among 
 the first of the Grecian states, but was rather the sport of 
 foreign policy. 
 
 In the west of the Peloponnesus lay Elis, the holy land. 
 Its length from south to north, if the small southern district 
 
 the Peloponnesus increases the difficulty of the investi^tion ; yet hy the work 
 of Sir William Gell in his Itinerary of the Morea, being a description of the 
 Routes of that peninsula, London, 1817, with a map, the topography of the 
 peninsula has received sufficient illustrations. The distances given in the 
 text rest on his authority. He makes the distance from Misitra or Mistra to 
 Sparta to be 52 minutes. The city lay on hills, and appears to have been 
 about a mile long. — Gell, p. 222. 
 * In the second Messenian war, which ended 668 years before Christ. 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL VIEW OF GREECE. 
 
 s 
 
 of Triphylia be reckoned, amounted to forty-eight miles ; its 
 breadth in the broadest part was not more than half as much. 
 Several rivers, which had their rise in the Arcadian moun- 
 tains, watered its fruitful plains. Among them the Alpheus 
 was the largest and the most famous ; for the Olympic games 
 were celebrated on its banks. Its fountains were not far 
 distant from those of the Eurotas ; and as the latter, taking 
 a southerly direction, flowed through the land of war, the 
 former, in a westerly one, passed through the land of peace. 
 For here, in the country sacred to Jove, where the nation of 
 the Hellenes, assembling in festive pomp, saluted each other 
 as one people, no bloody feuds were suffered to prolane the 
 soil. Armies were indeed permitted to pass through the 
 consecrated land ; but they were first deprived of their arms, 
 which they did not again receive till they left it.* This ge- 
 neral rule was afterwards limited in its application to the 
 time of the Olympian games ; but even during the followmg 
 wars, the treasures of art in the sanctuaries of Elis remained 
 uninjured ; and under their protection it long enjoyed a 
 
 beneficent peace. ,. . . mi_ j 
 
 The country of Elis embraced three divisions. The woody 
 Triphylia was in the south, and contained that Pylus, which, 
 according to the judgment of Strabo, could lay a better claim 
 than either of the other two towns of the same name, to 
 have been the country ruled by Nestor.^ The northern di- 
 vision was Elis, a plain enclosed by the rough mountains 
 Pholoe and ScoUis, both spurs from the Arcadian Eryman- 
 thus, and watered by the Selleis and the Elian Peneus, on 
 whose banks lay the city that gave a name to the whole re- 
 gion, over which it also exercised supreme authority ; tor 
 the district of the Elians, embracing both Pisatis and Iri- 
 phylia, extended to the borders of Messenia.^ The middle 
 
 » Strabo, viii. p. 24/. Phidon of Argos was the first who violated this 
 sanctity b^ an inv^ion, to appropriate^^ the holding of the Olympic 
 
 games (about 900 ye «;« before fchrist); Y^t this occupation my^tha^^^^^ 
 transient, for when Elis was built, (about 447 yea^ before Christ,) that city, 
 even then reiving on this sanctity, was surrounded by no walls.-Strabo, Lc. 
 n^ no^^^^^^^ war, that this and so many other reh- 
 
 ^"^tX ^fp'-'m '^^^^^^ towns were situated, one in northern 
 
 Elis, the other in Messenia. . ,. i .. «^^«fn hp pxti»nded 
 
 3 Strabo, viii. p. 247, relates the manner in which it came to be extended 
 thus far by the assistance of the Spartans m the Messenian war. 
 
1 
 
 I! 
 
 
 I 
 
 III! 
 
 ■ \ 
 
 i 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [CHAF. I. 
 
 territory, Pisatis, so called from the city Pisa, was the most 
 important of all, for it contained Olympia, Two roads from 
 Elis led thither, one nearer the sea through the plain, another 
 through the mountains ; the distance was from twenty-eight 
 to thirty-two miles.* The name Olympia designated the 
 country near the city Pisa,^ (which even in Strabo's time 
 was no longer in existence,) where every five years those 
 games were celebrated, which the Elians established after 
 the subjugation of the Pisans, and at which they presided. 
 If this privilege gave to them, as it were, all their import- 
 ance in the eyes of the Greeks ; if their country thus became 
 the common centre ; if it was the first in Greece with respect 
 to works of art and perhaps to wealth ; if their safety, their 
 prosperity, their fame, and in some measure their existence 
 as an independent state, were connected with the temple of 
 Jupiter Olympius and its festivals ; — need we be astonished, 
 if no sacrifice seemed to them too great, by which the glory 
 of Olympia was to be increased ? Here on the banks of the 
 Alpheus stood the sacred grove, called Altis, of olive and 
 plane trees, surrounded by an enclosure ; a sanctuary of the 
 arts, such as the world has never since beheld. For what 
 are all our cabinets and museums, compared with this one 
 spot ? Its centre was occupied by the national temple of 
 the Hellenes, the temple of Olympian Jove,' in which was 
 the colossal statue of that god, the masterpiece of Phidias. 
 No other work of art in antiquity was so generally acknow- 
 ledged to have been the first, even whilst all other inventions 
 of Grecian genius were still uninjured ; and need we hesitate 
 to regard it as the first of all the works of art, of which we 
 have any knowledge ? Besides this temple, the grove con- 
 tained that of Juno Lucina, the theatre and the prytaneum ; 
 in front of it, or perhaps within its precincts,* was the stadium 
 
 > According to Strabo, L c. 300 stadia. 
 
 * Barthelemy is not strictly accurate, when he calls (iv. p. 207) Pisa and 
 Olympia one city. Pisa wasbut six stadia (not quite a mile) from the temple ; 
 Schol. Pind. ad 01. x. 55. I have never met with any mention of a city 
 
 Olympia. . , r-n • a 
 
 * The temple of Jupiter Olympius, built by the Elians m the age of Pencles, 
 had nearly the same dimensions as the Parthenon at Athens ; 230 feet m 
 length, 95 in breadth, and 68 in height. The colossal statue of Jupiter, re- 
 presented as seated, neariy touched the roof of the temple, as Strabo relates ; 
 and is said to have been sixty feet high. Compare : Volkel uber den grossen 
 Tempel und die Statue des Jupiters in Olympia, 1 794. 
 
 * According to Strabo, in the Altis : Barthelemy says, in front of it. We 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL VIEW OF GREECE. 1 
 
 together with the race-ground, or hippodromus. The whole 
 forest was filled with monuments and statues, erected in 
 honour of gods, heroes, and conquerors. Pausanias men- 
 tions more than two hundred and thirty statues ; of Jupiter 
 alonp he describes twenty-three,' and these were, for the most 
 part, works of the first artists; for how could inferiority gain 
 admittance, where even mediocrity became despicable? 
 Pliny estimates the whole number of these statues in his 
 time, at three thousand.'^ To this must be added the trea- 
 suries {^ffaavpoi), which the piety or the vanity of so many 
 cities, enumerated by Pausanias," had established by their 
 votive presents. It was with a just pride, that the Grecian 
 departed from Olympia. He could say to himself with truth, 
 that he had seen the noblest objects on earth, and that these 
 were not the works of foreigners, nor the pillage of foreign 
 lands, but at once the creation and the property of his own 
 
 nation. 
 
 The territory of Elis was indebted for its repose to the 
 protection of the gods ; Achaia, the country which bounded 
 it on the north, to the wisdom of men. Having once been 
 inhabited by lonians, this maritime country had borne the 
 name of Ionia ; which was afterwards applied exclusively to 
 the neighbouring sea on the west side of Greece. But in 
 the confusion produced by the general emigration of the 
 Dorians, it exchanged its ancient inhabitants for Achaeans.* 
 Achaia, watered by a multitude of mountain streams, which 
 descended from the high ridges of Arcadia, belonged, with 
 respect to its extent, fruitfulness, and population, to the 
 middling countries of Greece. The character of its inhabit- 
 ants was analogous. They never aspired after aggrandize- 
 ment, or influence abroad. They were not made illustrious 
 
 are still much in the dark respecting the situation of ancient Olympia. What 
 Chandler says is unimportant. The only modern traveller, who has made 
 accurate investigations, is M. Fauvel. But I am acquainted with his commu- 
 nication to the National Institute, Precis de ses voyages dam le continent de la 
 Grece, etc., only from the short notice contained in Milhn, Magazm Encydop, 
 1802, T. U. He found, it is there said, not only the remains of the temple 
 of Jupiter, but also of the hippodromus. ., j .i. x i «. 
 
 » Pausanias, v. p. 434, etc. has enumerated and descnbed that number. 
 Among them there was a colossus of bronze, 27 feet high. ^^ i u- ««j 
 
 » Phny, Hist. Nat xxxiv. 17. There were as many at Athens, Delphi, and 
 Rhodes. 
 
 » Paus. vi. p. 497, etc. '. 
 
 * As early as 11 00 before Christ. 
 
€ 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [CUAF. I. 
 
 I 
 
 r 
 
 by great generals or great poets. But they possessed good 
 laws. Twelve cities,^ each with a small territory, independ- 
 ent of each other in the management of their internal 
 affairs, formed a confederacy, which, under the name of the 
 Achaean league, could trace its origin to remote antiqyity. 
 A perfect equality was its fundamental principle; no prece- 
 dence of rank or power was to be usurped by any single 
 city. What an example for the other parts of Greece, if 
 they bad been able or willing to understand it ! In this 
 manner the Achaeans continued for a long time in the enjoy- 
 ment of happy tranquillity, having no share in the wars of 
 their neighbours. Their country was in no one's way, and 
 attracted no one ; even during the Peloponnesian war, they 
 remained neutral.^ The Macedonian supremacy finally dis- 
 solved the confederacy, and favoured individual tyrants, to 
 use them as its instruments. But the times were to come, 
 when Nemesis should rule. The Achaean league was re- 
 newed, and enlarged, and it became most dangerous to the 
 Macedonian rulers. 
 
 The small territory of the city Sicyon (which afterwards 
 belonged to the Achaean league) divided Achaia from that 
 of Corinth. In point of extent, this state was one of the 
 smallest in Greece ; but the importance of a commercial 
 state does not depend on the extent of its territory. Venice 
 was never more flourishing or more powerful, than at a time 
 when it did not possess a square mile on the continent. 
 Wealthy Corinth, more than four miles in extent, lay at the 
 foot of a steep and elevated hill, on which its citadel was 
 built. There was hardly a stronger fortress in all Greece, 
 and perhaps no spot afforded a more splendid prospect than 
 Acrocorinthus.^ Beneath it might be seen the busy city and 
 
 * Djrme and Patr© were the most important ; Helice was swallowed up by 
 the sea. 
 
 . «.Thucyd. ii. 9. 
 
 • See Strabo, p. 261. Of modem travellers, Spon and Wheler ascended it 
 in 1676. Chateaubriand, i. 36, says, that the prospect at the foot of the citadel 
 is enchanting. If it is so now, what must it formerly have been ? Clarke 
 (Travels, vol. ii. § 5, p. 745, etc.) describes the few remaining ruins, and the 
 whole country round Corinth ; especially the isthmus. He too, and his com- 
 panions, were refused admittance to the citadel, yet they obtained leave to 
 climb the cliff on which it stands ; and which might be made as strong as 
 Gibraltar. They gained the smnmit just at sunset : " a more splendid pros- 
 pect cannot be found in Eiurope." It extended even to the Acropolis at 
 Athens. Travels, ii. p. 749. . 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL VIEW OF GREECE. 
 
 d 
 
 its territory, with its temples, its theatres, and its aqueducts.' 
 Its two harbours, Lechaeum on the western bay, Cenchreae 
 on the eastern, filled with ships, and the two bays themselves, 
 with the isthmus between them, were all in sight. Ihe 
 peaks of Helicon, and of Parnassus itself, were seen at a 
 distance; and a strong eye could distinguish on the eastern 
 side the Acropolis of Athens. What images and emotions 
 
 are excited by this prospect! i.- i. ,i,^ n.^ 
 
 Bevond the isthmus of the Peloponnesus, which the Cjre- 
 cians, acquainted for a long time with no other, were accus- 
 tomed to call simply the Isthmus, lay the tract of Hellas. 
 Its southern half, stretching as far as the chain of (Eta, was 
 divided into eight, or, if Locris, of which there were two 
 parts, be twice counted, into mne distncts; of these, the ex- 
 tent was but small, as their number indicates. Next to the 
 isthmus, on which may still be seen the ruins of a stadium 
 and a theatre,^ and that temple of Neptune, m the grove of 
 fir trees where all Greece assembled to celebrate the isthmian 
 games, 'the small but fruitfiil territory of Megara' began; 
 and through this, along the high rocky shore, where the 
 robber Sciron is said to have exercised his profession the 
 road conducted to the favourite land of the gods, to Attica. 
 A neck of land or peninsula, opposite to that of Argolis, 
 extends in a south-easterly direction about fifty-six miles into 
 the TEgean Sea, and forms this country. Where it is con- 
 nected with the main land, its greatest breadth may be 
 twenty-four miles; but it tapers more and more to a point, 
 till it ends in the high cape of Sunium, on the summit of 
 which the temple of Minerva announced to the traveller, as 
 he arrived from sea, the land which was protected by the 
 goddess of courage and wisdom. It was not endowed with 
 luxuriant fruitfiilness ; it never produced so much corn as 
 would supply its own inhabitants; and for this, neither the 
 honey of Hymettus, nor the marble of the Pentehc moun- 
 tains, nor even the silver mines of Launum, could have 
 
 » Corinth is famous, even with the poets, for being ^^^^ «"Pf f .f ^^^ 
 , compare Euripides in Strabo, 1. c. Pausanias enumerates, I. u. 117, its many 
 
 ''?&ke's '^rSli. P. 752. Even the sacred ™ve of firs still exists, 
 Clarke s travels, up. / g^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ 
 

 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. I. 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL VIEW OF GREECE. 
 
 11 
 
 
 . 'p 
 
 
 afforded a compensation. But the culture of the olive, 
 mechanic industry, and the advantageous use made of the 
 situation of the country for the purposes of commerce, gave 
 to the frugal people all that they needed, and something 
 more; for the activity of commerce was shackled by no 
 restrictive laws. Almost the whole country is mountainous; 
 the mountains are indeed of a moderate height, and covered 
 with aromatic plants, but they are stony and without forests. 
 Their outlines are, however, wonderfully beautiful ; the 
 waters of the Ilissus, the Cephissus, and of other rivers, or 
 to speak more accurately, of other brooks, which stream 
 from them, are clear as crystal, and delicious to the taste ; 
 and the almost constant clearness of the atmosphere, which 
 lends very peculiar tints to the buildings, no less than to the 
 mountains,^ opens a prospect which distance can hardly 
 bound. " For, without doubt," (says a modern traveller,') 
 "this is the most salubrious, the purest, and the mildest 
 climate of Greece; as Euripides* has said, * Our air is soft 
 and mild ; the frost of winter is never severe, nor the beams 
 of Phoebus oppressive ; so that for us there are no attractions 
 in the choicest delights which are offered by the fields of 
 Asia, or the wealth of Hellas.' " 
 
 But where the mountains open, and leave room for plains 
 of a moderate extent, the soil is still covered by forests of 
 olive trees, of which the eye can perceive no termination. 
 " More beautiful are no where to be seen. Those of Palermo 
 or on the Riviera of Genoa are hardly to be compared with 
 these, which seem as it were immortal, and century after 
 century send forth new branches and new shoots with reno- 
 vated vigour."* Formerly they overshadowed the sacred 
 road, and the gardens of the academy; and if the goddess 
 herself, like her scholars, has deserted the soil, she has at 
 least left behind her for posterity, the first of the presents, 
 which she made to her darling nation. 
 
 The traveller from Corinth and Megara, passing the 
 isthmus to Attica, reached the sacred city of Eleusis at the 
 
 ' See the remarks of Chateaubriand on this subject. ItinSraire dJentsalemf 
 i p. 191. 
 ^ Bartholdy, Bruchstiicke, etc. p. 214. 
 
 • Euripides in Erechtheo, fr. i. v. 15, etc. 
 
 * Bartholdy, Bruchstiicke, etc. p. 220. This account is confirmed by Clarke, 
 ii. p. 783, who was told that the olive trees were 40,000 in number. 
 
 distance of about eight miles from Megara. When the in- 
 habitants of that place submitted to Athens, they reserved 
 for themselves nothing but their sanctuaries;^ and hence 
 the mysterious festivals of Ceres continued to be celebrated 
 in their temple. From this place, the sacred road, of almost 
 unvarying breadth, led to the city which Pallas protected. 
 
 Athens lay in a plain, which on the south-west extended 
 for about four miles towards the sea and the harbours, but 
 on the other side was enclosed by mountains. The plain 
 itself was interrupted by several rocky hills. The largest 
 and highest of these supported the Citadel or Acropolis, 
 which took its name from its founder Cecrops; round this, 
 the city was spread out, especially in the direction of the 
 sea. The summit of the hill contained a level space, about 
 eight hundred feet long, and half as broad; which seemed^ 
 as it were, prepared by nature to support those master- 
 pieces of architecture, which announced at a great distance 
 the splendour of Athens. The only road which led to it, 
 conducted to the Propylaea,^ with its two wings, the temple 
 of Victory, and another temple, ornamented with the pic- 
 tures of Polygnotus. That superb edifice, the most splen- 
 did monument which was erected under the administration 
 of Pericles, the work of Mnesicles, was decorated by the 
 admirable sculptures of Phidias.^ They formed the proud 
 entrance to the level summit of the hill, on which were the 
 temples of the guardian deities of Athens. On the left was 
 the temple of Pallas, the protectress of cities, with the column 
 which fell from heaven, and the sacred olive tree; and that 
 of Neptune.'* But on the right, the Parthenon, the pride of 
 Athens, rose above every thing else, possessing the colossal 
 statue of Minerva by Phidias, next to the Olympian Jupiter, 
 
 * Pausan. i. p. 92. - • - j, j t 
 
 * Compare the sketches and drawings in Stuart's Antiquities of Athem, ^ 
 
 * A part of these master-pieces has perished. By robbing the Acropolis, 
 Lord Elgin has gained a name, which no other will wash to share with him. 
 The sea has swallowed up his plunder. The devastation made by this modern 
 Herostratus, is described not by Chateaubriand only, Itiner. i. p. 202, but 
 also, and with just indignation, by his own countryman, Clarke, Travels, ii. 
 p. 483, an eye-witness. . . 
 
 * The two, forming one w^hole, were only divided by a partition. Consult 
 on the details of the building: Minervae Poliadis Sacrce et aedes in arce Athe- 
 narum ; illustrata ab C. Odofredo Muller. Gottingae, 1820. And the plan of 
 the city by the same author, who, in his essay, followed a still extant Attic 
 inscription j and in his plan of Athens differs widely from Barthelemy. 
 

 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [CHAF. !• 
 
 I 
 
 the noblest of his works. At the foot of the h.ll on the one 
 Bide was the Odeon, and the theatre of Bacchus where the 
 tragic contests were celebrated on the festivals of the god, 
 and those immortal master-pieces were represented, which, 
 having remained to us, double our regret for those that are 
 lost- on the other side was the Piytaneum, where the chief 
 mamstrates and most meritorious citizens were honoured by 
 a table, provided at the pubhc expense. A moderate valley, 
 Coele was interposed between the Acropolis and the hill on 
 which the Areop'agus held its sessions; and between this and 
 the hill of the Pnyx, where the collected people vvas accus- 
 tomed to decide on the affairs of the republic. Here may 
 still be seen the tribune, from which Pericles and Demos- 
 thenes spoke; (it is imperishable, since it was hewn m the 
 rock ;) not long ago it was cleared from rubbish, together 
 with the four steps which led to it.' ... , 
 
 If any desire a more copious enumeration of the temples, 
 the halls, and the works of art, which decorated the city ot 
 Pallas, they may find it in Pausanias. Even in his time, 
 how much, if not the larger part, yet the best, had been re- 
 moved ; how much had been injured and destroyed in the 
 wars • and yet when we read what was still there, we natu- 
 rally ^k with respect to Athens, (as with respect to «) many 
 other Grecian cities,) where could all this have found room j 
 The whole country round Athens, particularly the long road 
 to the Piraeeus, was ornamented with monuments ot ail kinds 
 especially with the tombs of great poets, warriors, and 
 statesmen, who did not often remain after death with- 
 out expressions of public gratitude, which were given so 
 much the less frequently during their lives. A double wall, 
 called the Northern and Southern, enclosed the road, which 
 was nearly four miles long, on both sides, and embraced the 
 two harbours of Piraeeus and Phalereus. This wall, designed 
 and executed by Themistocles, was one of the most import- 
 ant works of the Athenians. It was forty Grecian ells in 
 height, built entirely of freestone, and so broad, that two 
 baggage-waggons could pass each other. The Piraeeus, to 
 wMch it led! formed (as did Phalerae) a city by itself, with 
 its own public squares, temples, market-places, and its en- 
 
 ■ CJiateaubriand, Itineraire. vol. i. p. 184 , and Clarke, Travels, ii. 2, p. 450. 
 
 i 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL VIEW OF GREECE. 
 
 13 
 
 livening commercial crowd ; arid it seemed perhaps even 
 more animated than Athens.^ Its harbour, well provided 
 with docks and magazines, was spacious enough to hold in 
 its three divisions four hundred triremes ; whilst the Phale-^ 
 reus and Munychius could each accommodate only about 
 fifty.* All three were formed naturally by the bays of the 
 coast ; but the Piraeeus excelled the others not only in extent, 
 but also in security. 
 
 The plain of Athens was surrounded on three sides by 
 mountains, which formed its limits within no very great 
 distance of the city. The prospect from the Acropolis and 
 the Parthenon commanded on the east the two peaks of Hy- 
 mettus ; on the north, Pentelicus with its quarries of marble ; 
 to the north-west, the Cithaeron was seen at a great distance, 
 rising above the smaller mountains ; and Laurium, rich in 
 silver mines, lay to the south-east almost at the end of the 
 peninsula ; but towards the south-west, the eye could freely 
 range over the harbours and the Saronic bay, with the is- 
 lands of Salamis and iEgina, as far as the lofty citadel of 
 Corinth.' Many of the chief places of the cantons (Brifioi) 
 into which Attica was divided, (and of these there were more 
 than one hundred and seventy,) might also be seen ; and the 
 situation was distinct even of the towns, which the mountains 
 covered. No one of these was important as a city, and yet 
 there were few which had not something worthy of observa- 
 tion, statues, altars, and temples; for to whatever part of his 
 country the Athenian strayed, he needed to behold something 
 which might remind him that he was in Attica. There 
 were many, of which the name alone awakened proud re- 
 collections ; and no one was farther than a day's journey 
 from Athens. It required but about five hours to reach 
 the long but narrow plain* of Marathon, on the opposite 
 coast of Attica. It was twenty-four miles to Sunium, which 
 
 * The Pirgeeus was sometimes reckoned as a part of Athens ; and this ex- 
 plains how it was possible to say, that the city was two hundred stadia, or 
 twenty miles, in circumference. Dio Chrysost. Or. vi. 
 
 ■ The rich compilations of Meursius on the Piraeeus, no less than on 
 Athens, the Acropolis, the Ceramicus, etc. (Gronov. Thes. Ant. Gr. vol ii. 
 iii.) contain almost all the passages of the ancients respecting them. 
 
 ' Chateaubriand, Itineraire, etc. i. p. 206. ^, . ^ . * 
 
 * Chandler's Travels, p. 163. Clarke, Plates u. 2. PI. 4. 5., gives not 
 only a description, but a map and view of the country. 
 
r 
 
 ■( 
 
 III 
 
 )i 
 
 Vi 
 
 
 14 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. I. 
 
 lay at the southern extremity of the peninsula, and about 
 twenty to the borders of Boeotia. 
 
 This country, so frequently enveloped in mists, lay to the 
 north-west of Attica, and exhibited, in almost every respect, 
 a different character. Boeotia was shut in by the chain of 
 Helicon, Cithaeron, Parnassus, and, towards the sea, Ptoiis ; 
 these enclosed a large plain, constituting the chief part of 
 the country. Numerous rivers, of which the Cephissus was 
 the most important,^ descending from the heights, had pro- 
 bably stagnated for a long time, and had formed lakes, of 
 which Cop'ais is the largest. This lake must have subterra- 
 neous outlets ; for while the canals, through which its 
 waters were anciently distributed, have fallen into decay, it 
 has so far decreased in modern times, that it is now almost 
 dried to a swamp.^ But these same rivers appear to have 
 formed the soil of Boeotia, which is among the most fruitful 
 in Greece. Boeotia was also perhaps the most thickly set- 
 tled part of Greece; for no other could show an equal 
 number of important cities. The names of almost all of 
 them are frequently mentioned in history ; for it was the 
 will of destiny, that the fate of Greece should often be de- 
 cided in Boeotia. Its freedom w^as won at Plataeae, and lost 
 at Chseronea ; the Spartans conquered at Tanagra, and at 
 Leuctra their power was crushed for ever. Thebes with its 
 seven gates, (more distinguished for its extent than its 
 buildings,) esteemed itself the head of the Boeotian cities, 
 although it was not acknowledged as such by all. This 
 usurpation by Thebes of a supremacy over Boeotia, was of 
 decisive importance in several periods of Grecian history. 
 
 Boeotia was divided by Mount Cithaeron from Attica, and 
 by Parnassus from Phocis. This district, of moderate size 
 and irregular shape, extended to the south along the bay of 
 Corinth ; and was bounded on the north by the chain of 
 GEta. Here are the passes which lead from Boeotia to 
 Attica. Of these the most important is near the city Elatea, 
 
 ' Distinct from the Cephissus in Attica. 
 
 • Bartholdy, Bruchstiicke, etc. p. 230. On the ancient subterraneous 
 outlets of this lake, which form some of the most curious remains of the ear- 
 liest hydrauUc works, and on the geography and earliest history of BcBOtia, 
 a clearer light is spread in C. O. Muller*8 histories of the Hellenic Tribes and 
 Cities, published in 1820, with a map. 
 
 i 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL VIEW OF GREECE. 
 
 15 
 
 and on that account was early occupied by Philip on his se- 
 cond invasion of Greece. The desolate mountain of Parnassus, 
 once associated with the fame of Phocis, presents to the tra- 
 veller of our times nothing but recollections. Delphi lay 
 on the south side of it, overshadowed by its double peak ; 
 and not far above the city was the temple, the oracle of 
 Apollo. Here the masterpieces of art were displayed in 
 countless abundance under the protection of the god ; to- 
 gether with the costly and consecrated offerings of nations, 
 cities,' and kings. Here, in the Amphictyonic council, still 
 more costly treasures, the first maxims of the laws of na- 
 tions, were matured by the Greeks. Hither on the festival 
 days, when the great games of the Pythian deity recurred, 
 (games surpassed only by those of Olympia,) pilgrims and 
 spectators poured in throngs ; here at the Castalian fountain 
 the songs of the poets resounded in solemn rivalship ; and, 
 more exciting than all, the acclamations of the multitude. 
 
 Of all this not a vestige remains. Not even ruins have 
 been spared to us by time. Only one monument of doubtful 
 character seems to designate the spot, where (Edipus slew 
 his father Laius ; and whilst every vestige of greatness and 
 glory has vanished, nothing but the memory of a crime is 
 
 perpetuated.* 
 
 Phocis and Mount Parnassus separate the two parts of 
 Locris. The eastern part, inhabited by the two tribes which 
 took their names from the city Opus and Mount Cnemis,' 
 lies along the Euripus, or the long strait, which divides the 
 island Euboea fi-om Boeotia ; and would have almost nothing 
 to show, that is worthy of commemoration, were it not that 
 the inseparable names of Thermopylae and Leonidas pro- 
 duce an emotion in every noble mind. " Here the long 
 heroic file of three hundred Spartans takes precedence of 
 others, as it moves through the gate of eternity." * " At 
 Thermopylae," says Herodotus,^ "a steep and inacessible 
 
 ' Many of them had, as at Olympia, storehouses of their own. PHny, xxxiv, 
 17, estimates the number of statues at Delphi, as at Olympia and Athens, to 
 
 have been even in his time 3000. . . r^^ -i -m * - 
 
 * Bartholdy, Bruchstucke, p. 251. Compare the view in Clarke, Flateft 
 
 ii.2. PI. 10, 11. 
 
 * Loeri, Opuntii, and Epicnemidu. :, , .^ * -^ 
 
 * This grave is still shown. See the view of it and of the country, m 
 Clarke, pi. 13. * Herod, vii. 176. 
 
u 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. I. 
 
 mountain rises on the west side in the direction of CEta ; 
 but on the east side of the road are the sea and marshes. In 
 the pass there are warm fountains, near which stands an 
 altar to Hercules. On going from Trachin to Hellas, the 
 road is but half a plethrum (fifty feet) wide, yet the narrow- 
 est place is not there ; but just in front and back of Ther- 
 mopylee, where there is room for but one carriage." Thus 
 Thermopylae was considered as the only road, by which an 
 army could pass from Thessaly into Hellas, for nothing more 
 than a footpath ran across the mountains ; and Thermopylae, 
 not only during the wars with Persia, but also in the age of 
 Philip, was considered the gate of Greece. 
 
 The western part of Locris, on the bay of Corinth, inha- 
 bited by the Ozolae, was greater in extent, but possessed 
 fewer remarkable objects. Yet its harbour Naupactus has 
 preserved its importance, while so many of the most cele- 
 brated cities have become insignificant. It is now called 
 Lepanto, and is perhaps the only town of which the modern 
 name is more harmonious than the ancient. 
 
 The western parts of Hellas, rough iEtolia and woody 
 Acamania, are indeed among the largest districts, but are 
 so inferior to the rest in fame, that the historian can do little 
 more than name them. Nature was here neither less sub- 
 lime nor less munificent ; both were situated on the largest 
 of the Grecian rivers, the Achelous, which flowed between 
 them ; both were inhabited by descendants of the Hellenes ; 
 both were once celebrated for heroes ; and yet the iEtolians 
 and the Acarnanians remained barbarians, after the Athe- 
 nians had become the instructors of the world. — How diffi-^ 
 cult it is to comprehend the history of the culture of nations ! 
 
 The chain of (Eta, which farther west receives the name 
 of Othrys, and at last of Pindus, and taking a northerly 
 direction, is connected with the mountains of Macedonia, 
 divides the central part of Greece from the northern. 
 Thessaly, the largest of all the Grecian provinces, (though 
 its extent cannot be given with accuracy, for its boundary 
 on the north was never defined,) forms the eastern, and 
 Epirus the western part of ihis district. There is hardly 
 any other in Greece, for which nature seems to have done 
 80 much aa for Thessaly. The movmtains which have been 
 mentioned, surrounded it on three sides; while the peaks 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL VIEW OF GREECE. 
 
 17 
 
 of Ossa and of Olympus rose above them on the east along 
 the coasts of the Mgean Sea. Thessaly can with justice be 
 called the land of the Peneus ; which, descending from 
 Pindus, flowed through it from west to east. A multitude 
 of tributary streams poured from the north and the south 
 into this river. The traditions of the ancients related,^ that 
 it had stagnated for centuries, till an earthquake divided 
 Olympus and Ossa,^ and opened for it a passage to the 
 ^gean Sea through the delicious vale of Tempe.' Thus 
 the plain of Thessaly arose from the floods, possessed of a 
 soil which they had long been fertilizing. No other district 
 had so extensive an internal navigation ; which, with a little 
 assistance from art, might have been carried to all its parts. 
 Its fruitful soil was fitted alike for pasturing and the culti- 
 vation of corn ; its coasts, especially the bay of Pagasa,* 
 afforded the best harbours for shipping; nature seemed 
 hardly to have left a wish ungratified. It was in Thessaly, 
 that the tribe of the Hellenes, according to the tradition, 
 first applied themselves to agriculture ; and thence its se- 
 veral branches spread over the more southern lands. Al- 
 most all the names of its towns, as Pelasgiotis and Thessa- 
 liotis, recall some association connected with the primitive 
 history and heroic age of the nation. The Doric tribe found 
 in Estiaeotis its oldest dwelling-places ; and who has ever 
 heard the name of Phthiotis, without remembering the hero 
 of the Iliad, the great Pelides ? Thessaly was always well 
 inhabited and rich in cities. In the interior the most cele- 
 brated were Larissa, situated in the midst of the noble plain, 
 and Pherae ; lolcos, whence the Argonauts embarked, and 
 Magnesia, were on the sea-coast. But it was perhaps the 
 very fertility of the soil, which ruined the Thessalians. 
 They rioted in sensual enjoyments ; they were celebrated 
 for banquets, and not for works of genius ; and although 
 
 * Herod, viii. 6. Strab. ix. p. 296. , 
 
 ■ To commemorate the event, a festival was instituted in Thessaly, called 
 the Peloria, which festival seems to have been continued in a Chiistian one. 
 Bartholdy, p. 137- 
 
 ■ " Tempe forms, as it were, a triple valley, which is broad at the entrance 
 and at the end, but very narrow in tne middle." These are the words of Bar- 
 tholdy, who, of all modem travellers, has given us the most accurate account 
 of Tempe, from his own observation. Bruchstiicke, etc., p. 112, etc. 
 
 * Pagasa itself, (afterwards called Demetrias,) lolcos, and Magnesia. 
 
 c 
 
18 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. I. 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL VIEW OF GREECE. 
 
 19 
 
 m 
 
 Olympus, the mountain of the gods, was on the boundary of 
 their land, nothing god-like was ever unfolded within its 
 precincts. Is it strange that in the midst of such gross 
 sensuality, the love of self overpowered the love of country ; 
 that neither heroes nor poets were created among them by 
 the inspirations of patriotism ? Anarchy and tyranny com- 
 monly followed each other in regular succession ; and thus 
 Thessaly, always ripe for foreign subjugation, cowered of 
 itself beneath the yoke of the Persians, and afterwards 
 under that of Philip. 
 
 On the opposite side of the Peneus, the pure race and 
 language of the Hellenes were not to be found. Other 
 nations, probably of Illyrian descent, dwelt there ; the Per- 
 rhaebians, the Athamanes, and others ; who, as Strabo re- 
 lates, sometimes claimed to belong to the Thessalians, and 
 sometimes to the Macedonians.* The case was not different 
 in Epirus, which lay to the west. The house of the iEacidae, 
 a Grecian family, the descendants of Achilles, were indeed 
 the rulers over the Molossians ; and the oracle of the Jupiter 
 of the Hellenes was heard in the sacred grove of Dodona ; 
 but still the larger portion of the inhabitants seems hardly 
 to have been of the Grecian race. 
 
 The main land of Hellas was surrounded by a coronet of 
 islands, which were gradually occupied by the Hellenes, and 
 came to be considered as parts of their country. They rose 
 above the sea with beautiful verdure, and were surmounted 
 by rocky hills. We can hardly doubt, that we see in them 
 the remains of an earlier world; when the waters which 
 covered the middle parts of Asia, and the deserts of northern 
 Africa, retired, leaving behind them the Euxine and the 
 Mediterranean Sea, as two vast reservoirs. Each of those 
 islands commonly bore the name of the chief town, of 
 which it formed the territory; with the exception of the 
 three large islands, Euboea, Crete, and Cyprus, each of 
 which contained several cities. Almost every one of them 
 contained its own remarkable objects, and its own claims 
 to fame. Fruitful Corcyra^ boasted then, as it does 
 now, of its harbour and its ships. Ithaca, small as it is, 
 
 * Strabo, vii. p. 494. Others esteem them of Pelasgic origin. Compare 
 C. O. Miiller's Dorians, i. p. 25. * Now Corfu. 
 
 shares the immortality of Ulysses and Homer. Cythera, in 
 the south, was the residence of the Paphian goddess, ^gi- 
 na, unimportant as it seems, long disputed with Athens the 
 sovereignty of the sea. What Greek could hear Salamis 
 named, without feeling a superiority over the barbarians ? 
 Euboea was celebrated for its fruitfulness ; Thasos, for its 
 gold mines; Samothrace, for its mysteries; and in the laby- 
 rinth of the Cyclades and Sporades, now called the Ar- 
 chipelago, what island had not afforded the poets the sub- 
 ject of a hymn ? ^ Delos and Naxus had their gods ; Paros, 
 its marble; Melos, its misfortunes.*^ If so many of them are 
 now desolate ; if the alluring Cythera has become a naked 
 rock ; if Samos is poisoned by its swamps ; if nature herself 
 seems here to have grown old ; shall we conclude that these 
 things were so in ancient times ? The Etesian winds blow 
 certainly with more piercing roughness, now that the tops 
 of the mountains are naked; the brooks stagnate in the 
 desolate plains; but the change of seasons still produces 
 varying visions; and the traveller, who atone time finds the 
 Archipelago melancholy and waste, a few months later may 
 contemplate a smiUng prospect. " In spring, these islands 
 are covered with green turf, with anemones and flowers of 
 all colours. But in the month of August, when the north- 
 erly winds prevail, every thing is burnt and dried up, and 
 the parched fields produce no more herbage till autumn." ' 
 This view of Greece, though it cannot claim to be con- 
 sidered a regular description, leads us to several remarks, 
 which may perhaps throw some light on the history of the 
 nation. 
 
 ■ First : Greece was naturally so divided and cut in pieces 
 in a geographical point of view, that it could not have been 
 easy for any one district to gain the supremacy over the rest. 
 Thessaly could not well control the lands which lay to the 
 south of (Eta; and still less could Hellas sway the Pelopon- 
 nesus, or the Peloponnesus, Hellas. Nature herself had erect- 
 ed breastworks for those, who desired and who knew how to 
 
 * Need we mention the hymns of Callimachus ? 
 
 • See Thucydides, v. 1 16. 
 
 •Bartholdy, Bruchstiicke, etc., p. 194. The whole description of the 
 Archipelago, by this traveller, should be consulted. 
 
 c 2 
 
f 
 
 m 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [OHAP. I. 
 
 EARLIEST CONDITION OF THE NATION. 
 
 21: 
 
 be free. It was easy to defend Thermopylae, or the Isthmus. 
 We do not here take into consideration the superior power 
 of a foreign conqueror ; but even that could have effected 
 little, so long as the nation refused to forge its own chains. 
 
 Again : If Greece was excelled by many countries in fer- 
 tility, it would yet be difficult, and, at least in Europe, im- 
 possible, to find aland of such limited extent, where nature 
 had done so much to prepare the way for the various 
 branches of industry. Greece was not merely an agricul- 
 tural, or a commercial country, or a land fitted for pastur- 
 ing ; it was all, at once ; but different parts of it had differ- 
 ent degrees of aptitude for the one or the other. The 
 fruitful Messenia was fit for the growth of corn ; Arcadia, for 
 the nurture of cattle. Attica was proud of its oil, and the 
 honey of Hymettus; Thessaly, of its horses. Of mines, 
 there were not many; still they were not unknown in 
 Laurium and Thasos. The maritime towns were suited for 
 trade and commerce; and the coasts, indented with bays, 
 and the islands, invited to navigation. This variety of pur- 
 suits in active life may have been the cause of an extensive 
 intellectual culture, which was directed to many objects, and 
 periiaps laid the foundation for the further improvement of 
 the nation. 
 
 Lastly : No other country in Europe was so favourably 
 situated for holding commerce with the oldest cultivated 
 nations of the western world. On the way to Asia Minor 
 and Phoenicia, one island almost touched upon another. It 
 was easy to cross into Italy ; and the coasts of Egypt were 
 not far distant. Even in the times of fable, a path was dis- 
 covered from the shores of Thessaly to those of Colchis; 
 and how much earlier, and with how much greater facility, 
 to those countries, where no rocks, like the Symplegades, 
 opposed the passage of the daring Argo ? 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ft 
 
 EARLIEST CONDITION OP THE NATION ; AND ITS 
 
 BRANCHES. 
 
 The nation of the Hellenes, as they called themselves after an 
 ancient leader, (for they received the name of Greeks from 
 foreigners,) preserved many a tradition respecting their 
 earliest state, representing them to have been nearly on a 
 level with the savage tribes which now wander in the forests 
 of North America,* From these traditions, it would seem, 
 that there was once a time when they had no agriculture, 
 but lived on the spontaneous produce of the woods ; and 
 when even fire could not be appropriated to the service of 
 man, till it had first been stolen from heaven. Yet, in the 
 mean while, they gradually spread over the country, which 
 they afterwards possessed ; and all foreign tribes were either 
 driven from the soil, or were mingled with them. Much 
 is told of the emigration of individual tribes, from the south- 
 ern districts to the northern, and from these back again into 
 the southern ; but the peculiar habits of nomades, as seen in 
 the nations of middle Asia, belonged to the Greeks as little 
 as to the Germanic race. The moderate extent and the 
 hilly character of their country, which afforded pasture only 
 for less numerous herds, did not admit of that kind of life. 
 
 As far as we can judge from the very indefinite accounts 
 of this early period, it seems, especially in the fourteenth 
 and thirteenth centuries before the Christian era, that the 
 race of the Hellenes was already so far extended over Hellas, 
 as to be every where predominant. For it appears as such 
 even then, before the Trojan war. The nation of the 
 Pelasgi, which, no less than that of the Hellenes, belonged 
 to the first inhabitants of the country, and which must be 
 considered as having had a different origin, since their lan- 
 guage was different,^ may at an early period have been the 
 
 ' ^schyl. Prom, vinct. v. 442, etc. 
 
 " Herod, i. 57. The relation of the Pelasgi to the Hellenes is of difficult 
 solution. But the judgment of Herodotus in the passage now cited, rests on 
 the comparison of the language of Pelasgi, of whom some were found even 
 in his times, in the city Cruston, and Placise, and Scylace, the two last on the 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 S2 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. If. 
 
 most powerfiil, but was constantly reduced within narrower 
 limits, and either emigrated to Italy and other countries ; 
 or, where it preserved its residence, as in Arcadia and 
 Attica, was gradually mingled with the Hellenes, of whom 
 the power was constantly increasing, until every vestige of 
 it, as a separate race, was entirely lost. Whilst the Hellenes 
 were thus spreading through Greece, the several chief tribes 
 of them became more and more distinctly marked ; and this 
 division was so lasting and so full of consequences, that the 
 internal history of the nation for the most part depended on 
 it. Of the four most important branches, the lonians, 
 Dorians, ^olians, and Acheeans, the two first (for the 
 -Solians were chiefly mingled with the Dorians) ^ and the 
 Achaeans were so eminent, that they deserve to be regarded 
 as the chief component parts of the nation. It is important, 
 in order to become acquainted with the people, to know in 
 what parts of Greece these several tribes had their places of 
 residence. But these places did not remain unchanged ; 
 the event which had the greatest influence on them for the 
 succeeding time, happened shortly after the termination of 
 the Trojan war. Till then the tribe of the Achaeans had 
 been so powerful, that Homer, who, as Thucydides has al- 
 ready observed,^ had no general name for the whole nation, 
 commonly distinguishes that tribe from the others ; which 
 he sometimes designates collectively by the name of Pan- 
 hellenes.^ It possessed at that time almost all the Pelopon- 
 nesus, with the exception of the very district which after- 
 wards was occupied by it and bore its name, but which was 
 then still called Ionia ; and as the territories of Agamemnon 
 
 Hellespont This was so different from the language of the Hellenes, as in 
 his opinion to prove a nation of a different stock. True, this is at variance 
 with his previous remarks, that the Dorians are of Hellenic, the lonians of 
 Pelasgic origin. But the lonians whom he had in view, are the Athenians, 
 who had become Hellenes, by the immigrations and intermarriage of lonians 
 with the native Pelasgi. Compare viii. 44. If difference of language proves 
 difference of origin, we must discriminate between the Pelasgi and Hellenes. 
 For to affirm that the Pelasgi of the cities above named, had exchanged their 
 own language for another, would be a wholly gratuitous supposition. 
 
 * Euripides, enumerating in Ion, v. 1581, etc., the tribes of the Hellenes, 
 makes no mention of the ^olians. 
 
 » Thucyd. i. 3. 
 
 * navfiXAi}vec ««« 'Axmoi, as Iliad ii. 530. The Hellenes of Homer are par- 
 ticularly the inhabitants of Thessaly ; but the expression Panhellenes proves 
 that even then, or soon after, when the catalogue of the ships was written, the 
 name had begun to receive a general application. 
 
 EARLIEST CONDITION OF THE NATION. 
 
 2S 
 
 and Menelaus, the most powerful of the Grecian princes, both 
 lay in that peninsula, the first rank was clearly due to the 
 Achaeans. But soon afler this war, it was the lot of that 
 tribe to be in part subjugated and reduced to the severest 
 bondage,^ and in part to be expelled from the lands where 
 it had resided, and confined to a small district, which from 
 that time was called Achaia. This was a consequence of 
 the immigration of the Dorians, under the direction of the 
 descendants of Hercules ; of which immigration the chief 
 object was the conquest of the Peloponnesus ; but it also 
 occasioned a change in the places occupied by most of the 
 other tribes of the Hellenes. From this time almost the 
 whole of the Peloponnesus was occupied by the Dorians, and 
 the kindred tribes of the JEtolians, who possessed Elis ; the 
 district of Achaia alone became the property of the 
 Achaeans, who, being in quest of refuge, drove from it the 
 lonians. But besides this, a large part of the rest of Hellas 
 was occupied by tribes, which, though not expressly called 
 Dorians, betrayed by their dialects their Doric origin; 
 Boeotians, Locrians, Thessalians, and even the Macedonian 
 Hellenes belonged to this class; and although the inhabitants 
 of the western maritime tracts and islands were at first called 
 JEolians, their dialects were so similar, that they soon ceased 
 to be distinguished from the Dorians. This powerful tribe 
 was also extended towards the east and west by means of its 
 colonies. Several of the islands of the Archipelago were 
 occupied by them ; and they flourished on the coast of Asia 
 Minor, and still more in Lower Italy and Sicily, and their 
 colonies bloomed even in Africa in Gyrene. The Ionic 
 branch, as far as we know, kept possession of no part of the 
 main land of Greece, excepting Attica.^ But Attica alone 
 outweighed in glory and power all the rest of Greece. 
 Most of the large island of Eubcea also belonged to the 
 lonians; many of the small islands of the Archipelago were 
 
 * The Helots of the Spartans were, for the most part, descendants of the 
 conquered Achaeans. Theopomp. ap. Athen. vi. p. 265. 
 
 ' The other lonians and even tne Athenians laid aside the name ; and none 
 formally preserved it except those of Asia Minor. Herod, i. 143. Hence 
 the extent of this tribe cannot be accurately given ; and indeed no attempt 
 should be made to trace every little Grecian tribe to its origin, and form a tree 
 of descent for them all. This the Greeks themselves were never able to do ; 
 hut the chief tribes remained distinct. 
 
S4 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. If. 
 
 I 1 
 
 entirely occupied by them ; and while their colonies in Asia 
 Minor were decidedly superior, their colonies on the coasts 
 of Italy and Sicily were but little inferior to those of other 
 Grecian tribes. 
 
 From the earliest times, these two tribes were distin- 
 guished from each other by striking characteristics, which 
 were not removed by the cultivation which was becoming 
 universal. On the Doric tribe, the character of severity is 
 imprinted, which is observable in the full tones of its dialect, 
 in its songs, its dances, the simplicity of its style of living, 
 and in its constitutions. It was most strongly attached to 
 ancient usage.* From this its regulations for private and 
 public life took their origin, which were fixed by the prescrip- 
 tive rules of its lawgivers. It respected the superiority of 
 family and age. The governments of the Doric cities were 
 originally more or less the government of rich and noble 
 families ; and this is one cause of the greater solidity of their 
 political institutions. Good counsel was drawn from the 
 experience of age; wherever an old man appeared, the 
 young rose from their seats. Religion among the Dorians 
 was less a matter of luxury ; but it was more an object of 
 which they felt the need. What important transaction did 
 they ever begin, without first consulting the oracle ? — All 
 this is true from the earliest times. When once the rever- 
 ence for ancient usage was overcome, the Dorians knew no 
 bounds ; and Tarentum exceeded all cities in luxury, just 
 as Syracuse did in internal feuds. After this tribe had once 
 emigrated to the Peloponnesus, not only the greater part of 
 that peninsula, but also of the neighbouring main land of 
 Hellas was occupied by it. 
 
 The lonians were on the contrary more distinguished for 
 vivacity and a proneness to excitement. Ancient usage 
 restrained them much less than it did the Dorians. They 
 were easily induced to change, if pleasure could be gained 
 by the change. They were bent on enjoyment, and seem 
 to have been equally susceptible of refined gratifications of 
 the mind and those of the senses. They lived amidst 
 holidays ; and nothing was pleasant to them without ^ong 
 
 ' The character of the Doric tribe, as well as its history, has been amply 
 illustrated by C. O. Miiller, in his History of Grecian Tribes and Cities, 
 Tol. ii. 
 
 m 
 
 EARLIEST CONDITION OF THE NATION. 
 
 is 
 
 and dance. Their soft dialect brings to mind the languages 
 of the South Sea ; but in both cases the remark is found to 
 be true, that a soft language is by no means a proof of 
 deficiency in warlike spirit. In the constitutions of their 
 states, hereditary privileges were either rejected at once, or 
 borne with only for a short time. The supreme authority 
 rested with the people, and although it was limited by many 
 institutions, the people still decided the character of the 
 government. Any thing could be expected of these states, 
 rather than domestic tranquillity. Nothing was so great 
 that they did not believe they could attain it ; and for that 
 very reason they often attained greatness. 
 
 These differences in the natural character of the most im- 
 portant tribes, needed to be mentioned at the beginning. 
 There are few subjects in history which have been so little 
 illustrated, especially with reference to their consequences, 
 as the characters of nations and their branches. And yet it 
 is these peculiarities, which, in a certain degree, form the 
 guiding thread in the web of the history of nations. From 
 whatever they may proceed, whether from original descent, 
 or the earliest institutions, or from both, experience teaches 
 that they are almost indelible. The difference between the 
 Doric and Ionic tribes, runs through the whole of Grecian 
 history. This produced the deep-rooted hatred between 
 Sparta and Athens, though that hatred may have been 
 nourished by other causes ; and who needs to be told, that 
 the history of all Greece is connected with the history of 
 those leading states. 
 
 The difference of tribes and their dispositions was also 
 one of the chief causes of the subsequent political partitions 
 of the soil. There probably was never a land of similar ex- 
 tent, in which so large a number of states subsisted together. 
 They lived, both the large and the small ones, (if indeed we 
 may call these large, which were only proportionally so,) 
 each after its own customs ; and hence Greece was saved 
 from the torpor of large empires, and was able to preserve 
 so much life and activity within itself. 
 
 Of the earliest history of the nation, we can expect only 
 fragments. We leave it to the historian to collect them 
 and to judge of their value.' But we must direct attention 
 
 ' On this subject I refer to the work of Professor C. O. Miiller: 
 
 ii 
 
 1 
 
26 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE* 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 to those general circumstances, which had a decisive in- 
 fluence on the earliest progress of national culture, if we 
 would form correct opinions with respect to it. Before we 
 can describe the heroic age, we must explain the influence 
 of religion, of early poetry, and of foreign emigrations, and 
 show how they served to introduce that age. 
 
 If 
 
 1 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ORIGINAL SOURCES OP THE CULTURE OF THE GREEKS. 
 
 RELIGION. 
 
 It is not easy to decide, whether the culture of a nation pro- 
 ceeds originally from their sacred or their civil institutions. 
 The character of the domestic relations, the proper appli- 
 cation of the means provided for the easier and more regular 
 support of life, agriculture, and husbandry, constitute the 
 first foundation of national culture; but even these can 
 make but little progress without the assistance of religion. 
 Without the fear of the gods, marriage loses its sanctity, and 
 property its security. The earthly and the divine are so 
 mmgled in our natures, that nothing but a continued har- 
 mony between them both, can elevate us above the mere 
 animal creation. But it has been wisely ordained by the 
 Author of our being, that the feelings of religion can be 
 unfolded, and thus the character of our existence ennobled, 
 even before a high degree of knowledge has been attained. 
 It would be difficult, and perhaps impossible, to find a na- 
 tion, which can show no vestiges of religion ; and there 
 never yet has been, nor can there be a nation, in which the 
 reverence for a superior being was but the fruit of refined 
 philosophy. 
 
 The foundation of all religion is the belief in higher 
 existences, (however differently these may be represented to 
 the mind,) which have an influence on our destinies. The 
 
 Geschichte Hellenischer Stamme und Stadte, B. i. Orchomenos und die 
 Minyer J B. u. ui. die Durier. Mailer's Orchomenos and the Dorians. 
 
 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF CULTURE. 
 
 27 
 
 natural consequences of this belief are certain rites of wor- 
 ship ; invocations, sacrifices, and offerings. All this is so 
 connected with the feelings of man, that it springs from 
 within him, and exists independent of all research or know- 
 ledge. And this is the religion of the people. But so soon 
 as the intelligent spirit of man was somewhat awakened, a 
 higher principle was separated (though in very different 
 ways) from this simple faith ; and that remained in the pos- 
 session of a small circle of priests, of the initiated, of the 
 enlightened. If the religion of the people reposed only on 
 belief and indistinct conceptions, certain doctrines, on the 
 contrary, belonged to those higher circles, although they 
 were often represented b)r images, and exhibited to the 
 senses by outward ceremonies. These two kinds of religion 
 commonly remained distinct from each other; and the 
 difference was the most clearly marked in such nations as 
 had a caste of priests. But still there were some points, in 
 which they both were united. Even a caste of priests, with 
 whatever secrecy they guarded their doctrines, could in- 
 fluence the people only by means of external forms. But 
 the less the order of priests is separated by a nice line of 
 division from the mass of the people, the more faint becomes 
 the distinction between the religion of the people and the 
 doctrine of the priests. How far the two differed from each 
 other, and remained different, must ever be an object of 
 learned inquiry ; to have confounded them, has been one of 
 the chief sources of error with regard to the religion of the 
 ancients. 
 
 Among the Greeks there never was a distinct caste of 
 priests, nor even, as we shall hereafter observe, a separate 
 order of priesthood. And yet, beside the popular religion, 
 they had a religion of the initiated ; and their mysteries were 
 almost as ancient as the faith of the people. Each of these 
 must be considered by itself, before we can draw any general 
 conclusion respecting the influence of religion on their 
 
 character. 
 
 The popular religion of the Greeks rested on a belief in 
 certain superhuman beings, and in the influence exercised 
 by them over the destinies of mortals; on the fear of 
 offending them, resulting from this belief; and on the cus- 
 tom of worshipping them. Yet according to the account of 
 
1 ;'. 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. hi. 
 
 f/f 
 
 the dirliest and most credible witnesses, these divinities 
 were not of Grecian origin ; and the learned investigations 
 of modem writers on the origin of them individually, 
 establish the fact beyond a doubt.^ " The Hellenes," says 
 Herodotus,* " have received their gods of the Pelasgi ; but 
 the Pelasgi, who at first honoured their gods without giving 
 them particular names, took the names of their divinities 
 from the Egyptians." This account of the historian has 
 difficulties, which cannot be entirely cleared away. If it be 
 granted, that certain divinities and the manner in which 
 they were worshipped came from Egypt, we may still ask, 
 how could the names have been of Egyptian origin, since 
 the names of the Egyptian gods are almost all known to us, 
 and are very different from those of the Greeks. We learn 
 of Herodotus himself, that it was common for the Egyptian 
 priests, even in his age, to institute comparisons between 
 their gods and those of the Greeks, and to transfer the 
 names of the latter to their own divinities. And this 
 enables us, at least, to explain how the historian, who was 
 accustomed to hear a Jupiter, a Bacchus, a Diana, men- 
 tioned in Egypt, could have thought the matter very pro- 
 bable. But the question is still by no means answered. 
 For if the Egyptian priests, in the time of Herodotus, 
 applied the Grecian names to their gods, how can we ex- 
 plain the alleged fact, that the Greeks first borrowed those 
 names from them ? There are, however, two circumstances, 
 which we may infer from the words of Herodotus himself, 
 and which throw some light on the subject. The historiaa 
 has not concealed the source of his information. These 
 assertions were made to him at Dodona ; he heard, then, a 
 tradition of the priests of that place. But the oracle of 
 Dodona traced its origin to Egypt ; can we wonder, then, 
 that its priests should derive the gods of the Greeks from 
 die same source ? Again : it is clear from Herodotus, that 
 the Hellenes did not receive them directly from the Egyp- 
 tians, but through the Pelasgi ; that is, they received them 
 at second hand. We shall hereafter remark, that they came 
 chiefly by way of Crete and Samothrace. Could such cir- 
 
 * Compare, above all, Creuzer. Symbolik, b. ii. s. 376, etc., and Bottiger, 
 Kunstmythologie, Abschn. i. uber Zeus; Abschn. ii. iiber Juno. 
 » Herod, ii. 50, 52. 
 
 {f 
 
 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF CULTURE. 
 
 89 
 
 ;< 
 
 cuitous routes have left them unchanged ? And is it not 
 probable, that the Pelasgi essentially altered them in their 
 own way, before delivering them to the Hellenes ? Ques- 
 tions of this kind cannot now be answered with certainty ; 
 but, however many of the Egyptian gods may have been 
 introduced into Greece, it is certain that not all were of that 
 origin. The father of history has not forgotten to remark,' 
 that Neptune, Juno, Bacchus, and others were not of 
 Egyptian origin, and this has been fully substantiated by 
 the acute investigations of the modern inquirers whom we 
 
 have just cited. 
 
 But to whatever country the gods of the Hellenes may 
 have originally belonged, they certainly did not remain, in 
 Greece, what they had been before. We need but throw a 
 glance on the Grecian religion to convince ourselves, that 
 the gods of the Greeks became entirely their property, if 
 they were not so originally ; that is, the representations 
 which they made of them, were entirely different from the 
 conceptions of those nations, of whom they may have bor- 
 rowed them. Wherever Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, and 
 Phoebus Apollo, may have first been worshipped, no country 
 but Hellas adored the Olympian ruler of the world, the 
 queen of heaven, the power which encompassed the world, 
 the far-darting god of light. And it was the same with the 
 r^st. What the Grecian touched, became gold, though be- 
 fore it had been but a baser metal. 
 
 But if the popular religion of the Greeks was formed by 
 changing the character of foreign gods, in what did the 
 change consist ? What were the characteristics of the Gre- 
 cian assembly of divinities ? This question is important, 
 not for the history of the Grecian religion alone, but for the 
 general history of religion itself. For the problem is no- 
 thing less, than to fix on tlie essential difference between 
 the religion of the ancient eastern and western world. 
 
 This characteristic difference may yet be easily discovered, 
 and may be reduced, we think, to a single head. 
 - AH inquiries relative to the divinities of the East, even 
 though the explanations of individual ones may be various, 
 lead to the general result, that objects and powers of nature 
 
 » Herod, u. 50. 
 
 a 
 
ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [CHA?. in. 
 
 i" 
 
 m< 
 
 « 
 
 V 
 
 i; 
 
 ii 
 
 lay at their foundation. These may have been, first, cor- 
 poreal objects, the sun, the moon, the stars, the earth, the 
 river which watered the country ; or they may have been 
 powers of nature, a creating, a preserving, a destroying 
 power ; or, which was more usual, both these may have 
 been combined ; and visible objects became objects of 
 adoration, in so far as they were the expressions of a creating 
 or destroying power. When the gods of the Egyptians, the 
 Indians, the Persians, the Phrygians, the Phoenicians, and 
 others, are analyzed, even in cases where the interpretation 
 remains imperfect, it cannot be doubted, that some idea of 
 this kind lay at the bottom, and was the predominant one. 
 They had but one signification, as far as this idea was 
 connected with it ; and the sacred traditions and mytholo- 
 gical tales respecting them, seem to us without meaning, 
 because we have so often lost the key to their interpretation. 
 " The Egyptians," Herodotus relates,^ " had a sacred tradi- 
 tion, that Hercules once appeared before Ammon, and desired 
 to see his face. Ammon refused, and Hercules continued 
 his entreaties ; upon this, Ammon slew a ram, veiled himself 
 in its skin, put on its head, and in this plight showed him- 
 self to Hercules. From that time the Thebans ceased to 
 sacrifice rams ; only once a year, on the festival of Ammon, 
 they kill a single one, hang its skin round the picture of the 
 god, and show at the same time the picture of Hercules." 
 Who understands this story and this festival from the mere 
 relation? But when we learn that the ram, opening the 
 Egyptian year, is the symbol of the approaching spring, 
 that Hercules is the sun of that season in its full power, the 
 story, as well as the festival, is explained as descriptive of 
 the spring, and as a figurative representation of the season 
 that is beginning. In this, as in similar cases, the object or 
 power of nature was exhibited under a human form ; for 
 the tendency to copy that form, is too deeply fixed in our 
 natures ; or rather it results immediately from the limitations 
 of the same. But in all such cases in the East, where the 
 human form was attributed to the gods, it was but a secon- 
 dary affair, the indispensable means of presenting them to 
 the senses. It was never any thing more. And this is the 
 
 » Herod, ii. 42. 
 
 I> 
 
 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF CULTURE. 
 
 $1 
 
 reason, why no hesitation was made among those nations to 
 depart from this human form, and to disfigure it whenever 
 it seemed possible to give, by that means, a greater degree 
 of distinctness to the symbolic representation ; or if any 
 other object could thus be more successfiilly accomplished. 
 This is the source of all those singular shapes, under which 
 the gods of the East appear. The Indian makes no scruple 
 of giving his gods twenty arms ; the Phrygian represents 
 his Diana with as many breasts ; the Egyptian gave them 
 the heads of beasts. Different as these disfigurations are, they 
 all have their origin in this ; the human form was but a 
 subordinate object ; the chief aim was the distinct represent- 
 ation of the symbol, under a form suited to their modes of 
 comprehension. 
 
 As the Grecians received most if not all of their gods 
 from abroad, they of course received them as symbols of 
 those natural objects and powers ; and the farther we look 
 back in the Grecian theogony, the more clearly do their 
 gods appear as such beings. He who reads with tolerable 
 attention the earlier systems as contained in Hesiod, cannot 
 mistake this for a moment ; and it cannot be denied, that 
 there are traces of this origin in the gods of Homer. That his 
 Jupiter designates the ether, his Juno the atmosphere, his 
 Phcebus Apollo the sun, is obvious in many of his narra- 
 tions. But it is equally obvious, that the prevailing repre- 
 sentation with him is not the ancient symbolical one, that 
 rather his Jupiter is already the ruler of gods and men, his 
 Juno the queen of Olympus. 
 
 This then is the essential peculiarity of the popular reli- 
 gion of the Greeks ; they gradually dismissed those sym- 
 bolical representations, and not only dismissed them, but 
 adopted something more human and more sublime in their 
 stead. The gods of the Greeks were moral persons. 
 
 When we call them moral persons, we do not mean to 
 say, that a higher degree of moral purity was attributed to 
 them than humanity can attain ; (the reverse is well enough 
 known ;) but rather, that the whole moral nature of man, 
 with its defects and its excellencies, was considered as be- 
 longing to them, only with the additional notions of superior 
 physical force, a more delicately organized system, and a 
 more exalted, if not always a more beautifiil form. But 
 
 
■i-J 
 
 <l\ 
 
 :•' 
 
 It 
 
 M' 
 
 /' I 
 
 iiil 
 
 II 
 
 32 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 U'> 
 
 these views became the prevailing ones, the views of the 
 -people ; and thus an indestructible wall of division was 
 placed between Grecian and foreign gods. The former 
 were moral beings ; this was their leading character, or 
 rather all their character ; they would have been mere names, 
 if this had been taken from them ; but with the barbarians 
 their gods remained only personifications of certain objects 
 and powers of nature ; and hence neither a moral nature 
 nor character belonged to them, although the human shape 
 and certain actions and powers were attributed to them. 
 
 Having thus illustrated the essential difference between 
 the Grecian and foreign gods, and shown in what the trans- 
 formation of the foreign gods, adopted by the Grecians, 
 consisted, the question arises, how and by what means did 
 that transformation take place ? 
 
 By means of poetry and the arts. Poetry was the creat- 
 ing power; the arts confirmed the representations which 
 •she had called into being, by conferring on them visible 
 forms. And here we come to the decisive point, fi*om which 
 we must proceed in continuing our inquiry. 
 
 "Whence each of the gods is descended, whether they 
 have always existed," says the father of history,^ " and how 
 they were formed, all this the Grecians have but recently 
 known. Hesiod and Homer, whom I do not esteem more 
 than four hundred years older than I am, are the poets who 
 invented for the Grecians their theogony ; gave the gods 
 their epithets ; fixed their rank and occupations ; and de- 
 scribed their forms. The poets who are said to have lived 
 before these men, lived, as I believe, after them." 
 - This remarkable account deserves more careful attention. 
 The historian expressly remarks, that this is his own pre- 
 sumption, not the assertion of others. He may certainly 
 have been mistaken ; but he would hardly express himself 
 so explicitly, unless he had believed himself warranted to 
 do so. We must receive his opinion therefore as the result 
 of such an investigation as could in his age be carried on ; 
 and can we do more than he ? 
 
 « He names Homer and Hesiod ; and naturally understands 
 by them the authors of the poems which already bore their 
 
 1 
 
 J: 
 
 Herod, ii. 53. 
 
 X t_ 
 
 I 
 
 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF CULTURE. 
 
 S3 
 
 names; the two great epic poems of Homer, and at least 
 the Theogony of Hesiod. The case does not become 
 changed, even if those productions are, agreeably to a mo- 
 dern opinion, the works of several authors. It would only 
 be necessary to say, it was the ancient epic poets of the 
 schools of Homer and of Hesiod, who formed the divine 
 world of the Greeks ; and perhaps this manner of expression 
 is at all events the more correct. For it would be difficult 
 to doubt that the successors of those poets contributed their 
 share. 
 
 According to the assurances of Herodotus, these poets 
 were the first to designate the forms of the gods ; that is, 
 they attributed to them, not merely the human figure, but 
 the human figure in a definite shape. They distinguished, 
 moreover, their kindred, their descent, their occupations ; 
 they also defined the personal relations of each individual ; 
 and therefore gave them the epithets which were borrowed 
 from all this. But if we collect these observations into one, 
 they signify nothing less, than that the poets were the au- 
 thors of the popular religion, in so far as this was grounded 
 on definite representations of the several divinities. 
 
 This is not intended to imply, that Homer made it his 
 object to be the creator of a national religion. He did but 
 make a poetic use of the previous popular belief But that 
 poetic spirit, which left nothing indistinctly delineated in 
 the heroes whose deeds he celebrated, bringing before our 
 eyes the persons and their characters, effects the same with 
 the gods. He invented his divine personages as little as 
 he did his heroes ; but he gave their character to the one 
 and the other. The circle of his gods is limited to a small 
 number. They are inhabitants of Olympus, and if they do 
 not all belong to the same family, they yet belong to the 
 same place ; and they usually live together, at least, when 
 that is required by the purposes of the poet. Under such 
 circumstances, an inferior poet might have felt the necessity 
 of giving them individuaHty. And how much more a 
 Homer? But that he executed this in so perfect a manner, 
 is to be ascribed to the superiority of his genius. 
 
 Thus the popular notions entertained of the gods were 
 first established by Homer, and established never to be 
 changed. His songs continued to live in the mouth of the 
 
 I 
 
S4 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 nation ; and how would it have been possible to efface images, 
 which were painted with such strokes and colours? Hesiod 
 is, indeed, named with him ; but what are his catalogues of 
 names compared with the living pictures of Maeonides ? 
 
 In this manner, by means of the epic poets, that is, al- 
 most exclusively by means of Homer, the gods of the Greeks 
 were raised to the rank of moral beings, possessed of dehnite 
 characters. As such they gained life in the conceptions ot 
 the people ; and however much may have been invented 
 respecting them in the poetry of a later age, no one was 
 permitted to represent them under a figure, or with attri- 
 butes inconsistent with the popular belief We soon per- 
 ceive the various consequences, which this must have had 
 on the culture and improvement of the nation. 
 
 The more a nation conceives its gods to be like men, the 
 nearer does it approach them, and the more intimately does 
 it live with them. According to the earliest views ot the 
 Greeks, the gods often wandered among them, shared m 
 their business, requited them with good or ill, m conformity 
 to their reception, and especially to the number of presents 
 and sacrifices with which they were honoured. Those 
 views decided the character of religious worship, which re- 
 ceived from them, not merely its forms, but also its lite and 
 meaning. How could this worship have received any other 
 than a cheerful, friendly character? The gods were grati- 
 fied with the same pleasures as mortals ; their delights were 
 the same ; the gifts which were offered them were the same 
 which please men ; there was a common, a correspondent 
 enjoyment. With such conceptions, how could their holi- 
 days have been otherwise than joyous ones ? And as their 
 joy was expressed by dance and song, both of these neces- 
 sarily became constituent parts of their religious festivals. 
 
 It is another question : What influence must such a re- 
 ligion have had on the morals of the nation ? The gods 
 were by no means represented as pure moral beings, but 
 as beings possessed of all human passions and weaknesses. 
 But at the same time the Greeks never entertained the idea, 
 that their divinities were to be held up as models of virtue ; 
 and hence the injury done to morality by such a religion, 
 however warmly the philosophers afterwards spoke against 
 it, could hardly have been so great as we, with our pre- 
 
 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF CULTURE. 
 
 35 
 
 possessions, should have at first imagined. If it was not 
 declared a duty to become like the gods, no excuse for the 
 imitation could be drawn from the faults and crimes attri- 
 buted to them. Besides, these stories were esteemed, even 
 by the vulgar, only as poetic inventions, and there was little 
 concern about their truth, or their want of truth. There 
 existed, independent of those tales, the fear of the gods as 
 higher beings, who on the whole desired excellence, and 
 abhorred and sometimes punished crime. This punishment 
 was inflicted in this world ; for the poets and the people 
 of Greece for a long time adopted a belief in no punishment 
 beyond the grave, except of those who had been guilty of i; 
 direct blasphemy against the gods.^ The system of morals 
 was on the whole deduced from that fear of the gods, but 
 that fear especially produced the observance of certain 
 duties, which were of great practical importance, as, for ex- 
 ample, the inviolable character of suppliants, (supplices,) 
 who stood under the particular protection of the gods ; the 
 sanctity of oaths, and the like ; of which the violation was 
 also considered as a direct crime against the gods. Thus 
 the popular religion of the Greeks was no doubt a support 
 of morality ; though never in the same degree as with us. 
 That its importance was felt as a means of bridling the 
 licentiousness of the people, is sufficiently clear from the 
 care which the state took during its better days to preserve 
 the popular religion, and from the punishments inflicted on 
 those who corrupted it or denied its gods. When we may 
 name the popular religion of the Greeks in one sense a re- 
 ligion of the poets, we by no means indulge merely in a 
 play of fancy. But if the influence of the popular reHgion 
 on the moral character of the nation should be differently 
 estimated, there is less room to doubt as to its influence on 
 taste ; for that was formed entirely by the popular religion, 
 and continued indissolubly united with it. 
 
 By the transformation of the Grecian divinities into mo- 
 ral agents, an infinite field was opened for poetic invention. 
 By becoming human, the gods became peculiarly beings for 
 the poets. The muse of the moderns has attempted to re- 
 
 * The reader may here compare an essay of Heeren on the notions enter- 
 tained by the Greeks of rewards and punishments after death. Heeren ; His- 
 torische Werke, Th. iii. s. 214. 
 
 D 2 
 
36 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. hi. 
 
 present the Supreme Being in action ; she could do so only 
 by Civin<r him as far as possible the attributes of men ; with 
 vfhit sue' ess this has been attended, is known. It was in 
 vain to endeavour to deceive us with respect to the chasm 
 which lay between our more sublime ideas of the divinity, 
 and the image under which he was represented. But the 
 case was altogether different in ancient Greece. 1 he poet 
 was not only allowed, but compelled to introduce the gods 
 in a manner consistent with popular belief, if he would not 
 fail of producing the desired effect. The great character- 
 istics of human nature were expressed in them ; they were 
 exhibited as so many definite archetypes. The poet might 
 relate of them whatever he pleased, but he was never per- 
 mitted to alter the original characters ; whether he cele- 
 brated their own actions, or introduced them as participating 
 in the exploits of mortals. Although themselves immortal, 
 thev always preserved the human character, and excited a 
 corresponding interest ; with their weaknesses and fau Us 
 they slood nearer to man, than if they had been represented 
 as possessing the perfection of moral excellence. 
 
 Thus the popular religion of the Greeks was thoroughly 
 poetical. There is no need of a long argument to show, 
 that it also decided the character of Grecian art, by aflord- 
 ine an inexhaustible supply of subjects. 
 
 On this point a single remark only needs here be made. 
 Among the nations of the East, the plastic art not only 
 never created forms of ideal beauty, but was rather exercised 
 in producing hideous ones. The monstrous figures of their 
 cods, which we have already mentioned, are proofs oi it. 
 The Grecian artist was secure against any thing similar to 
 this, now that their gods had become not merely physical 
 but human, moral biings. He never could have thought 
 of representing a Jupiter or a Juno with ten arms; he 
 would have destroyed his own work, by offending the po- 
 pular religious notions. Hence he was forced to remain 
 true to the pure human figure, and was thus brought very 
 n^VAe ste?, which was to raise him still higher, and give 
 S beauty to his images. That step he would probably 
 have taken without assistance ; but the previous labours of 
 the poets made it more natural and more easy, fhidias 
 foundin Homer the idea of his Olympian Jupiter, and the 
 
 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF CULTURE. 
 
 37 
 
 most sublime image in human shape, which time has spared 
 us, the Apollo of the Vatican, may be traced to the same 
 
 origin. 
 
 Beside the popular religion, Greece possessed also a reli- 
 gion of the initiated, preserved in the mysteries. Whatever 
 we may think of these institutions, and whatever idea we 
 may form of them, no one can doubt that they were religious 
 ones. They must then have necessarily stood in a certain 
 relation to the religion of the people ; but we shall not be 
 able to explain, with any degree of probability, the nature 
 of that relation, until we trace them to their origin. 
 
 We must preface this inquiry with a general remark. All 
 the mysteries of the Greeks, as far as we are acquainted 
 with them, were introduced from abroad ; and we can still 
 point out the origin of most of them. Ceres had long wan- 
 dered over the earth, before she was received at Eleusis, and 
 erected there her sanctuary.* Her secret service in the 
 Thesmophoria, according to the account of Herodotus,^ was 
 first introduced by Danaus, who brought it from Egypt to 
 the Peloponnesus. Whether the sacred rites of Orpheus 
 and Bacchus originally belonged to the Thracians or the 
 Egyptians, they certainly came from abroad. Those of the 
 Curetes and the Dactyli had their home in Crete. 
 
 It has often been said, that these institutions in Greece 
 suffered, in the progress of time, many and great alterations, 
 that they commonly degenerated, or to speak more correctly, 
 that the Grecians accommodated them to themselves. It 
 was not possible for them to preserve among the Greeks the 
 same character which they had among other nations. And 
 here we are induced to ask : What were they originally ? 
 How were they introduced and preserved in Greece ? And 
 what relation did they bear to the popular religion ? 
 
 The answer to these questions is contained in the remarks 
 which we have already made on the transformation and ap- 
 propriation of foreign gods by the Hellenes. Most of those 
 gods, if not all of them, were received as symbolical, phy- 
 sical beings ; the poets made of them moral agents ; and 
 as such they appear in the religion of the people. 
 
 » Isocrat. Paneg. op. p. 46. ed. Steph., and many other places in Meqreii 
 Eleusin. cap. i. 
 » Herod, iv. 172. 
 
 J. iWWI 
 
SB 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF CULTURE. 
 
 S9 
 
 The symbolical meaning would have been lost, if no 
 means had been provided to insure its preservation. The 
 mysteries, it seems, afforded such means. Their great end 
 therefore was, to preserve the knowledge of the peculiar 
 attributes of those divinities, which had been incorporated 
 into the popular religion under new forms ; what powers 
 and objects of nature they represented ; how these, and how 
 the universe came into being ; in a word, cosmogonies, Hke 
 those contained in the Orphic instructions. But this know- 
 ledge, though it was preserved by oral instruction, was per- 
 petuated no less by symbolic representations and usages ; 
 which, at least in part, consisted of those sacred traditions or 
 fables, of which we have already made mention. '' In the 
 sanctuary of Sais," says Herodotus, " representations are 
 given by night of the adventures of the goddess ; and these 
 are called by the Egyptians mysteries ; of which, however, I 
 will relate no more. It was from thence that these myste- 
 ries were introduced into Greece." ^ If we find in this the 
 chief design of the mysteries, we would by no means assert, 
 that this was the only one. For who does not perceive how 
 much more could be connected with it ? With the progress 
 of time a greater variety of representations may have arisen 
 in the mysteries ; their original meaning might perhaps be 
 gradually and entirely lost ; and another be introduced in 
 its stead.* 
 
 I TTd*od 1 c 
 
 • The investigation respecting the mysteries is a most extensive one, and 
 yet very little has thus far been ascertained, as may be seen from the highly 
 valuable work of St. Croix, especially in the German translation : Vereuch 
 iiber die alten Mysterien, translated by Lenz, 1790. I refer to this book for 
 the necessary proofs. There has also appeared an excellent work by V. 
 Ouwaroff: Essai sur les mysteres d'Eleusis : Troisi^me Ed. -k Pans, 1816. 
 • The learned author, p. 65, says : " Nous avons essay^ de prouver, que les 
 mysteres religieux de la Grece, loin d'etre de vaines ceremonies, enfermoient 
 efFectivement quelques restes de traditions antitjues, et formoient la veritable 
 doctrine esoterique du polytheisme." With this we agree; at the same time 
 we Umit the esoteric doctrine originally to the meaning which the divinities 
 of the Greeks, transformed as they were into poetic beings, still possessed as 
 representing powers of nature ; yet without excluding the inferences made 
 above in the text. It does not belong to the political historian to pursue 
 this investigation any farther; he must leave it to the student of the history 
 of religions. Yet two remarks may here be permitted. First : Homer and 
 Hesiod say nothing of mysteries ; which may very possibly have been older 
 than those poets, but are thus proved to have had in their time less import- 
 ance than they afterwards gained. And this is immediately explained, so 
 soon as the proper object of the mysteries is discovered, by making the differ- 
 ence between the popular religion, as modified by the poets, and the more 
 
 Those passages may therefore be very easily explained, 
 which import that the mysteries, as has been particularly 
 asserted of those of Eleusis, illustrated the superiority of 
 civilized over savage life ; the invention and value of agri- 
 culture, to which the worship of physical deities had imme- 
 diate reference ; and gave instructions respecting a future 
 life and its nature. For what was this more than an intei?- 
 pretation of the sacred traditions, which were told of the 
 goddess as the instructress in agriculture, of the forced 
 descent of her daughter to the lower world, etc. ? And we 
 need not be more astonished, if in some of their sacred 
 rites we perceive an excitement carried to a degree of en- 
 thusiastic madness, which belonged peculiarly to the East, 
 but which the Hellenes were very willing to receive. For 
 we must not neglect to bear in mind that they shared the 
 spirit of the East; and did they not live on the very 
 boundary line between the East and the West ? As those 
 institutions were propagated farther to the West, they lost 
 their original character. We know what the Bacchanalian 
 rites became at Rome ; and had they been introduced north 
 of the Alps, what form would they have there assumed ? 
 But to those countries it was possible to transplant the vine, 
 not the service of the god to whom the vine was sacred. 
 The oro-ies of Bacchus suited the cold soil and inclement 
 forests of the north, as little as the character of its in- 
 habitants. 
 
 The secret doctrines which were taught in the mysteries, 
 may have finally degenerated into mere forms and an un- 
 meaning ritual. And yet the mysteries exercised a great 
 influence on the spirit of the nation, not of the initiated 
 only, but also of the great mass of the people ; and perhaps 
 they influenced the latter still more than the former. 
 They preserved the reverence for sacred things ; and this 
 gave them their political importance. They produced that 
 effect better than any modern secret societies. The myste- 
 ries had their secrets, but not every thing connected with 
 
 ancient physical religion of the East. Secondly : Diodor. I. p. 393. The 
 mysteries introduced from Crete, are said to have constituted the public 
 worship of the Cretans. It was in Greece, then, that they first came to be 
 mysteries. This, too, can hardly be more naturally explained, than by the 
 departure of the popular religion, as established by the poets, from the other 
 more ancient one. 
 
 Hit ■Itli l ll I ll " II P l ll l i l " 
 
 ' '■■■ 
 
I 
 
 40 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. Ill* 
 
 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF CULTURE. 
 
 41 
 
 them was secret. They had, like those of Eleusis, their 
 public festivals, processions, and pilgrimages; in which 
 none but the initiated took a part, but of which no one was 
 prohibited from being a spectator. Whilst the multitude 
 was permitted to gaze at them, it learned to believe, that 
 there was something sublimer than any thing with which it 
 was acquainted, revealed only to the initiated ; and while the 
 worth of that sublimer knowledge did not consist in secrecy 
 alone, it did not lose any of its value by being concealed. 
 
 Thus the popular religion and the secret doctrines, al- 
 though always distinguished from each other, united in 
 serving to curb the people. The condition, and the in- 
 fluence of religion on a nation, are always closely connected 
 with the situation of those persons, who are particularly 
 appointed for the service of the gods, the priests. The 
 regulations of the Greeks concerning them, deserve the 
 more attention, since many unimportant subjects of Grecian 
 antiquity have been treated with an almost disproportionate 
 expense of industry and erudition ; but with respect to the 
 priesthood of the nation, we are as yet left without any in- 
 vestigation, corresponding to the importance of the subject.^ 
 The very abundance of matter renders it the more difficult, 
 for very little can be expressed in general terms ; and many 
 changes were brought about by time. 
 
 During the heroic age, we learn of Homer, that there 
 were priests, who seem to have devoted themselves exclu- 
 sively to that vocation. We readily call to mind a Calchas, 
 a Chryses, and others. But even in that age, such priests 
 appear but individually; no longer in colleges or societies, 
 as the colonies of priests may have been, when in earlier 
 times they migrated into Greece ; and it does not appear 
 that their influence over the rest of the people was very 
 great and important. The sacred rites in honour of the 
 gods were not performed by them alone; they were not 
 even needed at the public solemnities. The leaders and 
 commanders themselves offer their sacri6ces,^ perform the 
 prayers, and observe the signs which indicated the result of 
 
 • The Prolegomena to a Scientific Mythology, by C. O. Miiller, p. 249, etc., 
 contain the outUnes for the inquiry, and agree with the remarks made 
 
 ahove 
 
 * Instead of all other passages, see the description of the sacrifices which 
 
 Nestor makes to Pallas. Od. iii, 430, etc. 
 
 / 
 
 an undertaking. In a word, kings and leaders were at the 
 same time priests. 
 
 Traces of these very ancient regulations were preserved 
 for a long time among the Greeks. The second Archon at 
 Athens, who presided at the public ceremonies of worship, 
 was called the king, because he had to prepare the sacred 
 rites, which were formerly regulated by the kings. He had 
 his assistants ; and it was necessary for his spouse to be of 
 irreproachable character, as she also had secret religious 
 services to perform. He was, however, like the other Ar- 
 chons, annually appointed, and the election was made by 
 lot.^ The priests and priestesses of the several divinities 
 were for the most part chosen. But the priestesses could 
 be married, and the priests seem by no means to have been 
 excluded by their station from participating in the offices 
 and occupations of citizens. There were some sacerdotal 
 offices, which were hereditary in certain families. But 
 the number of them seem to have been inconsiderable. 
 In Athens, the Eumolpidae possessed the privilege, that the 
 hierophant, or first director of the Eleusinian rites, as well 
 as the other three,^ should be taken from their family. 
 But the place of hierophant could not be obtained except 
 by a person of advanced years ; and those other offices 
 were probably not occupied during life, but frequently 
 assigned anew.' How far the same was true in other cases, 
 is but seldom related. At Delphi, the first of the oracles of 
 the Hellenes, the Pythian priestess was chosen from among 
 the women of the city ; * and was obliged to have no inter- 
 course with men. It is hardly probable from the extreme 
 exertions connected with the delivery of oracles, that the 
 same person could long fill the place. Here, as else- 
 where, people were appointed for the service without the 
 temple, some of whom, like Ion in Euripides, belonged to 
 the god or the temple, and were even educated within its 
 limits. But the service within the temple was performed 
 by the most considerable citizens of Delphi, who were 
 
 * See the important passage in Demosthenes, in Neaer. Op. ii. p. 1370, ed. 
 Reisk. 
 
 * The Daduchus, or torch-bearer ; the Hieroceryx, or sacred herald j and 
 the Epibomius, who served at the altar. 
 
 . ■ St. Croix has collected examples in his Essay on the Ancient Mysteries. 
 
 * Euripid. Ion, v. 1320. 
 
< 
 
 42 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. III. 
 
 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF CULTURE. 
 
 4S 
 
 chosen by lot.* The sanctuary of Dodona, where the re- 
 sponses of the oracle were made, as at Delphi and in other 
 temples, by priestesses, seems to have belonged to the family 
 of the Selli, of which Homer had heard ; ^ but we have no 
 particular accounts respecting the situation of that family. 
 
 The regulations respecting priests, proposed by Plato in 
 his books on laws,' show most clearly, that the ideas of the 
 Greeks required, that the offices of priests should not long 
 be filled by the same persons. " Let the election of the 
 priests," says he, " be committed to the god, by referring 
 the appointment to lot ; those on whom the lot falls, must 
 submit to an examination. But each priesthood shall be 
 tilled for one year only, and no longer, by the same person ; 
 he who fills it, may not be less than sixty years old. The 
 same rule shall apply to the priestesses." 
 
 We infer from all this, that, though the regulations re- 
 specting the priesthood were not the same in all parts of 
 Greece, that oSice was commonly filled for a limited time 
 only, was regarded as a place of honour, to which, as to the 
 other mysteries, appointments were made by lot, with an 
 examination, and was subjected to the same rotation with 
 the rest. They to whom it was intrusted, were taken from 
 the class of active citizens, to which they again returned ; 
 and even whilst they were priests, they were by no means 
 withdrawn from the regular business of civil life.* The 
 priesthood did not gain even that degree of firmness which 
 it had at Rome ; where the priests, though they were not 
 separated from secular pursuits, formed separate colleges, 
 like those of the Pontifices and Augurs ; and the members 
 of whom were chosen for life. Since the priesthood then, 
 among the Hellenes in general, and in the several states, 
 never formed a distinct order, it could not possess the spirit 
 of a party, and it was quite impossible for any thing like 
 priestcraft to prevail. Religion and public acts of worship 
 were so far considered holy and inviolable, that they were 
 
 * See the important passage in Euripid. Ion, 414 : " I/* says Ion, speaking 
 to the foreigner on the service of the temple, " I have charge only of the outer 
 part ; the interior belongs to them who sit near the tripod, tne first of the 
 Delphians whom the lot selected." 
 
 . * 11. XV. 235. • Plato, de Leg. 1. vi. Op. viii. p. 266. Bip. 
 
 * Not even from the duties of war. The Daduchus Callias fought at the 
 battle of Marathon in his costume as a priest Plutarch in Aristid. Op. ii. 
 p. 491, ed. Reiske. 
 
 protected by the state ; and that a degree of intolerance 
 was produced, which led even to injustice and cruelty. 
 But we do not find that the priests were peculiarly active 
 in such cases. It was the people which believed itself 
 injured; or a political party; or individual demagogues, 
 who had some particular object in view.^ 
 
 As the priests of the Greeks formed no distinct class in 
 society, it is evident, that they could have no such secret 
 system of instructions, as was possessed by those of Egypt. 
 No such system can therefore be contrasted with the 
 popular religion ; instead of it there were the mysteries ; 
 but the initiated were not all of them priests, nor was it 
 necessary for every priest to be initiated into the mysteries. 
 Any could be admitted to them, whose condition in life, 
 and behaviour, were found to deserve the distinction. 
 
 These regulations led to important consequences. There 
 was in the nation no separate class, which claimed an ex- 
 clusive right to certain branches of scientific and intellectual 
 culture; and preserved that exclusive right by means of 
 written characters, intelligible only to themselves. That 
 which should be the common property, and is the noblest 
 common property of humanity, was such among the Greeks. 
 And this made it possible to unfold with freedom the spirit of 
 philosophy. The oldest philosophy of the Greeks, as it ap- 
 peared at first in the Ionic school, may have originally stood 
 in close union with religion, and may indeed have proceeded 
 from it ; for who does not perceive the near connexion be- 
 tween speculations on the elements of things, and those an- 
 cient representations of the gods as powers or objects of 
 nature. But religion could not long hold philosophy in 
 chains. It could not prevent the spirit of free inquiry from 
 awakening and gaining strength ; and hence it was possible 
 for all those sciences, which are promoted by that spirit, to 
 assume among the Greeks a decided and peculiar character. 
 In the intellectual culture of the East, all scientific know- 
 ledge is connected with religion ; but as these were kept 
 
 * Consult above every thing else, the oration of Andocides on the Profana- 
 tion of the Mysteries, delivered on occasion of the well-known accusation of 
 Alcibiades and his friends. Did we not know that a political party was ac- 
 tive in that affitir, it would hardly seem intelligible to us. It gives a remark- 
 able proof of the ease with which the passions of the Athenians might be 
 aroused, when any attack was made on the things they deemed sacred. 
 
 ii 
 
 aiBiiiiW»|iii!i"^r>«%)^pr--^ 
 
44 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. Ill* 
 
 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF CULTURE. 
 
 45 
 
 separate by the Greeks, science gained among them that in- 
 dependent character, which distinguishes the West, and 
 which was communicated to the nations of whom the Greeks 
 were the instructors. j n 
 
 As the priests never formed a distinct order, and still 
 less a caste, in Greece, the religion never became a reli- 
 gion of state to such a degree as in other countries. It was 
 sometimes subservient to public policy, but never became a 
 slave to it. The dry, prosaic religion of the Romans could 
 be used or abused to such purposes ; but that of the Greeks 
 was much too poetical. The former seems to have existed 
 only for the sake of the state ; and the latter, even when it 
 was useful to the state, appears to have rendered none but 
 voluntary services. The Patricians confined the popular 
 religion of Rome within the strict limits of a system ; but in 
 Greece, religion preserved its freedom of character. 
 
 COLONISTS FROM ABROAD. 
 
 The race of the Hellenes was always the prevalent one in 
 Greece ; but it was by no means unmixed. The superior 
 advantages of the country invited foreign emigrations, 
 and its situation facilitated them. Many nations of Thra- 
 cian, Carian, and lUyrian origin, descended at different 
 times from the North by land.' These colonists, at least 
 such as remained in the country, may by degrees have been 
 amalgamated with the Hellenes ; but, being themselves bar- 
 barians, they could not have contributed much towards 
 softening the manners of the nation; although the poets of 
 Thrace, an Orpheus and his school of bards, and Linus and 
 others, were not without influence on them. The case was 
 far different with those who came by sea. Greece, as we 
 observed in a former chapter,^ was surrounded at no great 
 distance by the most cultivated nations of the western world, 
 which nations were more or less devoted to commerce and 
 the founding of colonies. This is well known to have been 
 the character of the Phcenicians, and it is equally certain 
 that it was so of the inhabitants of Asia Minor ; and traces of 
 Egyptian colonies are found no less in Europe than in Asia. 
 
 » Their names are for the most part mentioned by Strabo, 1. vii. p. 494. 
 * Compare the close of chapter first. 
 
 If no accounts had been preserved of colonies of those na- 
 tions, emigrating to Greece, they would of themselves have 
 seemed highly probable. But we are so far from being 
 without accounts of this kind, that they have been much 
 more accurately preserved, than the remoteness of time 
 and the condition of the nation would have authorized 
 us to expect. The memory of them could not become 
 extinct, for their consequences were too lasting; and if 
 events which for so long a time were preserved by nothing 
 but tradition, are differently related and sometimes highly 
 coloured, the critical student of history can hardly make any 
 valid objections against their general truth, if the narratives 
 are interpreted as the mythical language of extreme an- 
 tiquity requires. The first of the foreign colonies, which 
 are mentioned as having arrived by sea, is that which, under 
 the direction of Cecrops, came from Sais in Lower Egypt 
 to Attica ; ^ fifty years later, Danaus led his colony from 
 Chemmis in Upper Egypt, to Argos in the Peloponnesus. 
 These emigrations took place at the period in which, ac- 
 cording to the most probable chronological reckoning, the 
 great revolutions in Egypt were effected by the expulsion of 
 the Arabian nomades ; and the kingdom was restored to its 
 liberty and independence ; a period, in which emigrations 
 were at least not improbable. The colony which, as Hero- 
 dotus relates, was brought by Cadmus, together with the 
 alphabet, from Phoenicia to Greece,^ needs no further proof, 
 when we learn how extensive were the colonies of that na- 
 tion ; we are only astonished, that we hear of but one such 
 in Greece ; since the common course of things would rather 
 lead us to expect a continued immigration, such as took 
 
 * This is supposed to have taken place about 1550 years before Christ. 
 The immigration by Cecrops from E^pt, is questioned by the investigations 
 of C. O. Miiller, in the History of the Hellenic Tribes and Cities, i. p. 106, etc., 
 inasmuch as Theopompus is the earUest writer who mentions it. But Theo- 
 pompus must have had before him an earUer authority. That a belief in a 
 relationship with the Egyptians is as old as the age of Solon, appears to me 
 certain, from the narration of Plato in Timaeus (Op. ix. p. 293, etc., ed. Bip.). 
 Further inquiries respecting the influence of Egypt on Greece, on which 
 opinions are now so divided, will probably lead to the conclusion, that the 
 truth is in the middle. Want of land, excessive population, and revolutions, 
 which are the chief causes of emigration, existed no where in the old world in 
 more force than in Egypt, and particularly at the time assigned for the 
 emigration of Cecrops, during the dominion and after the expulsion of the 
 Hycsos from Lower Egypt. ' Herod, v. 58. 
 
46 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [CHAr. 111. 
 
 11 
 
 l|» 
 
 H 
 
 place in the islands, which became almost entirely Phoeni- 
 cian. Even this doubt vanishes, when we regard Cadmus, 
 not as a person, but as the symbol of the Phoenician colonies 
 in Greece ; although the early and distinct notices of Cad- 
 mus in Herodotus, render it difficult to give up the usual 
 representation. Nor should we forget the establishment 
 made by Pelops of Lydia in the peninsula which bears his 
 name.* That also was occasioned by the events of war. 
 Tantalus, the father of Pelops, having been driven from Ly- 
 dia by Ilus, king of Troy, sought and found in Argos a place 
 of refuge for himself and his treasures. 
 
 Yet very different answers have been given to the question, 
 What influence had the emigration of those foreign colonists 
 on the culture of the Greeks ? And more have denied than 
 have conceded, that such an influence was exerted. Where 
 cultivated nations make establishments in the vicinity of 
 barbarians, it would be wrong to infer directly the civiliza- 
 tion of the latter, unless it be confirmed by distinct evidence. 
 The aborigines of America have been for more than two 
 centuries the immediate neighbours of civilized Europeans, 
 and yet how little have they adopted from them ! And if 
 doubts were entertained in the case of the Greeks, it was 
 chiefly because their whole national culture was so remark- 
 ably different firom that of those Eastern nations, that the 
 former could hardly seem much indebted to the latter. 
 
 Yet the testimony of the Greeks themselves proves such 
 an influence too clearly to be doubted. Cecrops is expressly 
 mentioned, as having first established domestic union among 
 the inhabitants of Attica, by the introduction of regular 
 marriages ; and as having built the citadel which afterwards 
 bore his name. The same is true of the citadel which Cad- 
 mus built in Thebes; and if we interpret the account of 
 Herodotus respecting the introduction of the alphabet by 
 him, to mean only, that the Hellenes were indebted for it to 
 the Phoenicians, (which on the whole can hardly be doubted,) 
 the case would not be changed. And if Pelops not only 
 emigrated to Argos with his treasures, but gave his name to 
 the peninsula, the facts admit of no other interpretation 
 than that his emigration was productive of the most import- 
 ant consequences. 
 
 » Strabo, p. 222. 
 
 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF CULTURE. 
 
 47 
 
 But further. These foreigners not only became princes 
 themselves, but made the royal power hereditary in their fa- 
 milies. The earliest kings of Attica, Pandion, iEgeus, 
 Theseus, were all descended from the house of Cecrops, al- 
 though only by the female side. Perseus and his heroic 
 family sprung in like manner from the family of Danaus. 
 When we name Cadmus, we remember at the same time his 
 descendants, the favourites of the tragic muse, Laius, (Edi- 
 pus, Eteocles, and Polynices, the rulers of Thebes. But the 
 posterity of Pelops, the house of Atrides, excelled all the rest 
 in fame as in misfortunes. In this manner the traditional his- 
 tory of the nation is principally dependent on these families 
 from abroad ; they were not only the oldest rulers, but the 
 memory of them continued to live in the mouth of the people 
 from age to age ; till the tragic poets conferred on them im- 
 mortality. It is impossible that such a continued dominion 
 of those families should have had no influence on the nation. 
 To assert it would be to assert what is inconsistent with the 
 natural course of things. 
 
 If these immigrations seem to have been occasioned by 
 political causes, others had their origin in religion. In mo- 
 dem times the savage nature of barbarians has been tamed 
 by missions; but although antiquity knew and could know 
 none such, the early part of our present inquiries proves, 
 that political and mercantile ends were none the less con- 
 nected with sanctuaries and oracles. Greece received its 
 colonies of priests ; by which we mean the establishments of 
 sanctuaries by foreigners, who brought with them their own 
 peculiar forms of worship. The Homeric hymn to Apollo 
 affords a remarkable proof, that such institutions were en- 
 tirely in the spirit of the ancient Grecian world. When the 
 Pythian god was establishing his oracle at Delphi, he beheld 
 on the sea a merchant-ship from Crete ; this he directs to 
 Crissa, and appoints the foreigners the servants of his newly- 
 established sanctuary, near which they settled and abode.^ 
 When this story, which we would not affirm to be historically 
 true, is stripped of the language of poetry, it can only mean, 
 that a Cretan colony founded the temple and oracle of 
 Delphi. And the account given by Herodotus of the Egyp- 
 tian origin of the oracle of Dodona, ceases to surprise us,' 
 
 » Homer. Hymn, in Apoll. 390, etc. * Herod, ii. 54. 
 
 Hi 
 
48 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. Ill* 
 
 i 
 
 I! 
 
 although that oracle owes its establishment to another cause, 
 the Phoenician slave-trade, by means of which two conse- 
 crated women were carried, the one to Ammonmm m Li- 
 bya, the other to Dodona. If we knew more certainly who 
 the Selli were, who are thought to have been a branch ot 
 the Pelasgi, and are said by Homer ' to have been the 
 servants of the god, and in possession of the oracle, we 
 should probably be able to say more than we now can re- 
 specting its history. That it was of Egyptian origin, is ac- 
 knowledged not only by the sacred traditions of Dodona, 
 but also by those of Egypt. It was impossible for these set- 
 tlements to assume in Greece the aspect which they took in 
 Africa. The character of the country and the spint ot the 
 people were alike opposed to it ; for though the popular re- 
 ligion in Greece was not wholly unconnected with politics, 
 the state had never, as in Egypt, been founded entirely up- 
 on religion. But those settlements became the central point 
 of societies of nations; they subsisted as oracles; of which 
 the Greek stood in need both in pubhc and private lite. 
 
 Similar sacred institutions arose very early on several 
 of the islands round Greece, and were transplanted trom 
 them to the continent. Those of Crete and Samothrace 
 were the most important. The first of these islands occupies, 
 in many points of view, a very important place in the most 
 ancient history of Grecian culture; but the culture, which 
 sprung up in Crete, seems rather to have produced early 
 blossoms than later fruits. All that we know of the glory 
 of Crete, belongs to the age of Homer and the preceding 
 times.'' The period in which they cleared the sea ot rob- 
 bers ; exercised supremacy over the islands, and a part of 
 the country on the shore, even of Attica ; and received their 
 laws from Minos, the familiar friend of Jove, belongs to so 
 remote an age, that it affords less room for certainty than lor 
 conjecture. But Crete still appears in Homer so flourishing, 
 that hardly a country on the continent could be compared 
 with it.* The situation of this large island can alone serve 
 to explain how it came to precede Hellas in culture. It 
 
 « See the rich compilation of Meursius ; Crete, Cyprus, Rhodes, 1675. 
 • Crete awes the circHng waves, a fruitful soil, 
 And ninety cities crown the sea-bom isle. ,rw. *« 
 
 ■^ Od. xix. 1/2, etc. ; in Pope, 196, etc. 
 
 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF CULTURE. 
 
 49 
 
 lay at almost equal distances from Egypt, Phcenicia, and 
 Greece. If it was, as we are told, the country of brass and 
 iron, and if these metals were first manufactured there,^ the 
 obscurity which covered the oldest tradition is at once re- 
 nioved. Late investigations have, however, led to more 
 discriminating views ; for they have shown, that by con- 
 founding the Ida of Phrygia or Asia Minor, with the Ida of 
 Crete, many things have been applied to the latter, which 
 should have been restricted to the former.^ The prevailing 
 minerals in Crete do not contain brass and iron f and Crete 
 has, therefore, been improperly regarded as the country of 
 these metals. But they are found in the Ida of Phrygian 
 Lydia ; and that there was also the home of the fabulous 
 personages, the Dactyli and Curetes, to whom tradition at- 
 tributes the first acquisition and working of iron, is apparent 
 even from the account in Strabo.* Yet they and their wor- 
 ship were transplanted to Crete ; and with them the working 
 of iron, which, though not originating in Crete, could easily 
 have been introduced from Asia Minor and Cyprus. Nor 
 can any one, who is familiar with the origin of the ancient 
 religions of nature, be surprised to find this earliest metal- 
 lurgy connecting itself with a worship, which generated 
 sacred usages and mysteries.^ As far as we can judge, the 
 immigration of the Dactyli and Curetes into Crete belongs 
 to the age before Minos f and if manufactures of iron and 
 brass were established there, the immigration into the island 
 from various quarters, by the Pelasgi, Hellenes, and Phoe- 
 nicians, are easily explained.*^ 
 
 ' The most important passage in Diodor. v. p. 381. 
 
 ■ Hoeck's Kreta, I. Band. 
 
 ■ Hoeck, I. 42, and the appendix by Hausmann on the character of the 
 geological formations of Crete, p. 443, 
 
 * Strabo, p. 725, and Hoeck, 284. 
 
 * Diod. I. p. 381. So too the workmen in the mines of Germany abound 
 in superstitions. 
 
 * Hoeck, I. 359, first appendix. 
 
 ' They are enumerated chronologically by Diodorus, I. p. 382. Hoeck, I. 
 52, proves that no evidence exists of immigrations from Egypt 
 
 ;': 'J 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [CHAP. IV. 
 
 ill 
 
 1 
 
 ft 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE HEROIC AGE-THE TROJAN WAR. 
 
 Although the history of the progress of the Greek nation 
 during the early period of its culture, is imperfect and 
 fragmentary, the progress itself is certain. In the age which 
 we best designate in the spirit of the nation by the name of 
 the Heroic Age, and which extends from about the thir- 
 teenth to the eleventh century before the Christian era we 
 find them advanced to a far higher degree of civilization 
 than that of which by their own accounts they were possessed 
 before The poet who delineates them m that stage is never 
 untrue to the poetic character ; and yet Homer was regarded 
 even by the ancients as of historical authority ; and, to a 
 SainVint, deserved to be so regarded. Truth was his 
 object in his accounts and descriptions, as far as it can be 
 the object of a poet, and even in a greater degree han was 
 necessiry, when he distinguishes the earlier and later ti^^^^^ 
 or aees. He is the best source of mformation respecting 
 the heroic age ; and since that source is so copious, there is 
 no need of drawing from any other. 
 
 When we compare the Greeks of Homer with those of 
 later ages, we immediately perceive a remarkable difference 
 to whi!h we must at once direct our attention. His Greeks, 
 to whatever tribe they belong, are all equal in point of cul- 
 ture. With him, the Thessalian differs in nothing from he 
 inhabitant of the Peloponnesus, nor the Etolian from he 
 Boeotian and Athenian ; the sole points of difference wh ch 
 he marks, are merely personal ; or, at most, result from the 
 greater or smaller extent of the several territones. Hence 
 we infer, that the causes which afterwards gave the inhabit- 
 ants of the eastern part of Hellas so great an advantage over 
 those of the west, had not then begun to operate. There 
 must rather have been some causes of general influence, 
 to produce that early progress ; and therefore we have 
 less reason to fear that we were mistaken in assigning the 
 first place among them to rehgion. 
 
 Yet religion had no influence m exciting and developing 
 
 ri 
 
 THE HEROIC AGE—THE TROJAN WAR. 
 
 51 
 
 that heroic spirit, which is the characteristic of the age. In 
 those later centuries of the middle age which embrace the 
 Christian heroic age, a devotional spirit formed a prominent 
 feature in the character of a knight ; but nothing like this 
 is to be found among the Greeks. The Grecian heroes al- 
 ways preserve a belief in the gods ; are intimately and di- 
 rectly united with them; are sometimes persecuted and 
 sometimes protected by them ; but they do not fight for 
 their religion, like the Christian knights. Such an idea 
 could never occur to them ; for their representations of their 
 gods did not admit of it. And here we remark one great 
 point of difference between the Grecian and Christian heroic 
 character. A second, to which we shall return directly, re- 
 sults from the different condition of the other sex. But ano- 
 ther prominent trait is common to both ; the propensity to 
 extraordinary and bold undertakings, not only at home, but 
 in foreign lands, in countries beyond the sea, and of which 
 tradition had, for the most part, spread none but indistinct 
 accounts. This propensity was first awakened by the early 
 immigrations of the Hellenes. But the exploits of the oldest 
 heroes among the Greeks, Meleager, Tydeus, and others, 
 before Hercules and Jason, were performed at home ; and 
 even those which are said to have been performed by Her- 
 cules out of Greece, are probably a later fiction, invented at 
 the time when his name was first added to the number of the 
 Argonauts, and the Grecian Hercules was confounded with 
 the Phoenician. Adventures in foreign regions begin with 
 Jason and the Argonautic expedition ; and those adventures 
 were destined soon to end in a general union of the nation 
 for the purpose of carrying on a war beyond the sea. 
 
 As far as we can judge amidst the uncertainty of the 
 chronology of that period, this adventurous spirit appears to 
 have been awakened in the century immediately preceding 
 the Trojan war. According to all possible chronological 
 combinations, we must refer to this period the expedi- 
 tion of the Argonauts and the undertaking of Theseus 
 against Crete ; which events happened soon afler the do- 
 minion of the sea had been gained for that island by Minos. 
 The general condition of Greece in that period explains, in 
 some measure, why the limits of that country began to grow 
 too narrow, and a new theatre for the display of enterprise 
 
 E 2 
 
'.] 
 
 52 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. it. 
 
 THE HEROIC AGE— THE TROJAN WAR. 
 
 93 
 
 I 
 
 i;^ 
 
 m 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 \is 
 
 to be sought for. The whole of Greece previous to the 
 Troian war, appears to have enjoyed perfect tranqu>lhty 
 within its own boundaries. The limits of the small districts 
 into which Greece was divided, seem already to have been 
 definitively established. We hear of no contention respecting 
 them on the part of the princes ; and Homer was able to 
 enumerate the several possessions with precision. Ihe war 
 of the seven against Thebes had its origin in family discord ; 
 and the claims of the exiled Heraclidae were not made valid 
 till a more recent age. It was on the whole an age ot in- 
 ternal peace, notwithstanding some interruptions. In such 
 an aee there was little opportunity for heroic exploits at 
 home ; and what was more natural than that the warlike 
 spirit, which was once roused, should go in quest ot them 
 
 But such was the situation of the country that this could 
 take place only by sea. There was in the North nothing 
 which could invite the spirit of enterprise ; and the country 
 in that direction was possessed by warlike nations. Un the 
 other hand, the reports which came to the Greeks respecting 
 the land beyond the sea, were numerous ; even though they 
 may have been brought by none but the Phoenicians. The 
 countries and nations which were the chief objects of the 
 vovacres of that commercial people, the Cimmerians m the 
 North, the Lotophagi, and the gardens of the Hespendes 
 on the coast of Libya ; Sicily with its wonders, the Cyclops, 
 and Scylla and Charybdis ; and even Spam with the mighty 
 Geryon and the pillars of Hercules, are dimly seen m the 
 earliest Grecian mythology. These traditions did much 
 towards awakening the spirit of adventure, and thus occa- 
 sioned the Argonautic expedition. 
 
 These early voyages, by which so much activity was awa- 
 kened, and so much energy called into action, were the chiet 
 means by which the circle of ideas in the nation was en- 
 larged. This is obvious from those ancient mythological tales, 
 which were thus introduced, and which were the fruit of the 
 increased intercourse with foreign countries The geography 
 of Homer, limited as it is, not only extends far beyond the 
 bounds of his native land ; but shows a manifest desire ot 
 discovering the farthest hmits of the earth The ocean 
 stream which flowed round it, is mentioned ; the regions 
 
 are named, in which the sun has the gates of its rising and 
 setting ; even the entrance to the lower world is known. 
 The obscurity in which all this was veiled, served but to 
 excite the adventurous spirit, when once aroused, to new 
 undertakings. 
 
 The internal political condition of Greece in the heroic 
 age was in one respect similar to that of a later period ; and 
 in another essentially different. It was similar in the divi- 
 sion into small territories ; but it was altogether different in 
 the constitutions of the states. 
 
 The division into territories, a result of the variety of the 
 tribes, was in those times as great, or perhaps greater than 
 in more recent ones. The district of Thessaly alone con- 
 tained, in Homer s time, no less than ten small states, each 
 of which had its prince or leader. In the central part of 
 Greece, the Boeotians had five principalities ;^ the Minyes, 
 whose capital was Orchomenus, the Locrians,^ the Athenians, 
 the Phocians, had each their own ruler. In the Pelopon- 
 nesus, there existed, independent of each other, the king- 
 doms of Argos, of Mycenae, of Sparta, of Pylus, that of the 
 Elians, divided under four heads, and Arcadia. Many of 
 the islands also had their own princes. On the west side, 
 the government of Ulysses embraced, beside Ithaca, the is- 
 lands Zacynthus and Cephallene, and Epirus which lies 
 over against it. The flourishing island of Crete was swayed 
 by Idomeneus ; Salamis, by Ajax ; Euboea, inhabited by the 
 Abantes, Rhodes, and Cos had their own rulers ; ^gina, 
 and probably others of the small islands, belonged to the 
 neighbouring princes. 
 
 This political division was therefore from the earliest times 
 a peculiarity of Greece ; and it never ceased to be so. And 
 here it is natural to ask, how it could have continued so 
 long ? How happened it, that amidst the early civil wars, 
 and especially the later superiority of the Doric tribe, the 
 supremacy of an individual state was never established ? One 
 principal cause of this is to be found in the natural geogra- 
 phical divisions of the country, which we have described in 
 a former chapter ; another, no less important, seems to lie 
 
 • n. ii., catalog, nav. 1, etc., where also the passages may be found, which 
 serve as proofs of the following statements. ^ e x. n % 
 
 * The Opuntii and Epicnemidii. Homer makes no mention of the Uzolae. 
 
i 
 
 54 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 f CHAP. IV. 
 
 THE HEROIC AGE— THE TROJAN WAR. 
 
 55 
 
 
 m 
 
 in the internal division of the several tribes. Even where 
 those of the same tribe made their settlements, they were 
 immediately split into separate townships. According to 
 these, the troops of soldiers are distinguished in Homer. 
 Proofs of it are found in all parts of his poems, especially in 
 the catalogue of the ships. If these townships stood under 
 one common head, they were still united only by a feeble 
 bond. The germ of division was deeply fixed, even in those 
 eariier times ; and as it unfolded, it was destined to mature 
 the whole subsequent political condition of Greece. 
 
 Yet though the divisions of the country were then as nu- 
 merous, the forms of government in those early times were 
 entirely different from the later ones. We meet with no 
 governments but those of princes or kings ; there were then 
 no republics ; and yet republicanism was eventually to de- 
 cide the political character of Greece. These monarchical 
 constitutions, if that name may be applied to them, were 
 rather the outlines of constitutions than regular, finished 
 forms of government. They were a consequence of the 
 most ancient condition of the nation, when either ruling 
 families sprung up in the several tribes, or the leaders of 
 foreign colonies had known how to secure to themselves and 
 their posterity the government over the natives. The families 
 of Peleus, Cadmus, Pelops, and others, have already been 
 mentioned. It was a great recommendation of the later rulers, 
 to be able to trace their lineage to one of the ancient heroes 
 or gods ; and Alexander himself sought the confirmation of 
 his own descent from the temple of Ammon. But though 
 much depended on descent, we learn from observing those 
 ancient families, that it was not only necessary that the found- 
 er of the family should be a hero, but, if its elevation was to 
 be preserved, that many heroes like him should arise among 
 his posterity. For this the houses of Pelops and Cadmus 
 were the most illustrious. But only certain branches of the 
 family of Hercules, the first of Grecian heroes, were remem- 
 bered by the nation, while others passed into oblivion. The 
 Greeks paid respect to birth, yet they never attributed every 
 thing to it ; and if in those republican times, the noble fa- 
 milies were preserved distinct from the rest, their superiority 
 depended seldom on birth alone ; and no line was drawn 
 between them and the rest of the people, such as divided the 
 
 i>i 
 
 Patricians from the Plebeians in the early period of Roman 
 history. The correct feeling of the Greeks is observable in 
 this, as in so many other things. The respect for their illus- 
 trious families was continued in the recollection of their 
 actions ; but the descendants were not long permitted to 
 live on the fame of their forefathers. 
 
 The constitutions of the heroic age were the result of cir- 
 cumstances, and wants which were felt. Esteem for the 
 ruling families secured to them the government ; but their 
 power was not strictly hereditary. Princes were not much 
 more than the first amongst their peers; even the latter 
 were sometimes denominated princes.' The son had com- 
 monly the precedence over others in the succession ; but 
 his claim was measured by his personal qualifications for the 
 station." It was his first duty to lead in war ; and he could 
 not do this, unless he was himself distinguished for courage 
 and strength. His privileges in peace were not great. He 
 called together the popular assembly, which was chiefly, if 
 not exclusively, composed of the older and more distinguished 
 citizens." Here the king had his own seat ; the ensign of 
 his dignity was a sceptre or staff. He had the right of ad- 
 dressing the assembly, which was done standing. In all 
 important events he was bound to consult the people. In 
 addition to this he sometimes acted as judge ;* but not al- 
 ways ; for the administration of justice was often committed 
 to an assembly of the elders.^ Nothing was known of par- 
 ticular taxes paid to the king. His superiority consisted m 
 a piece of land, and a larger part of the booty. Excepting 
 this he derived his support from his own possessions and 
 the ' produce of his fields and herds. The preservation 
 of his dignity required an almost unbounded hospitality. 
 His house was the place of assembly for persons of the 
 upper class, who almost always sat at table with him; 
 to turn away strangers, who asked for shelter, or only 
 
 » As in Od. viii. 41, the (ncij^rroOxoc jSacnX^tc of Ithaca. , . ^. 
 
 « Observe the description of the situation of Telemachus m this respect. 
 
 ^"^^Compa^the 'description of the assembly of Phaeacians. Odyss. viii. ^ 
 « Aristot. PoUt. iii. 14. Srpanjydc yap vv Kai SuaaTrJQ o ^aiXti/f, icai r«j/ 
 
 ''^^ See e! gf the representation on the shield of Achilles. II. xviii. 504. 
 
56 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [CHAF. IT, 
 
 THE HEROIC AGE— THE TROJAN WAR. 
 
 57 
 
 II 
 
 'I 
 
 9 
 
 seemed to stand in need of it, would have been an un- 
 exampled outrage/ 
 
 Greece, even in those times, was a thickly peopled and 
 well cultivated country. What a crowd of cities is enu- 
 merated by the poet ! And we must not imagine these to 
 have been open towns with scattered habitations. The 
 epithets applied to them frequently prove the reverse. They 
 are in part surrounded with walls ; have gates and regular 
 streets.* Yet the houses stand by themselves; having in 
 front a court, and in the rear a garden.^ Such at least were 
 the houses of the most respectable. Others appear to stand 
 directly on the street without any court in front. In the 
 middle of the city there is a public square or market-place; 
 the common place of assembly for the citizens, whether on 
 solemn occasions, or for deliberation, or courts of justice, or 
 any other purpose. It is surrounded with seats of stone, on 
 which the distinguished men are wont on such occasions to 
 take their places.* No trace is to be found of any pavement 
 in the streets. 
 
 The different branches of agriculture were already well 
 advanced. Property in lands was universal ; of which the 
 boundaries were fixed by measurement, and often designated 
 by stones.^ The poet describes to us the various labours of 
 farming, ploughing, whether with oxen or mules, sowing, 
 reaping, binding the sheaves, and treading out the corn by 
 oxen on the threshing floor. Nor does he omit to mention 
 the culture of the grape, the tilling of gardens, and the va- 
 rious duties of the herdsman.^ It may be doubted whether 
 the soil was much better cultivated in the most flourishing 
 period of Grecian history. 
 
 - The houses of the heroes were large and spacious, and at 
 the same time suited to the climate. The court was sur- 
 roHuded by a gallery, about which the bedchambers were 
 
 ' How warmly Menelaus reproaches Eteoneus for proposing to send the 
 strangers some where else. Oa. iv. 31. 
 
 * E. g. Athens with broad streets {lifpvdyvia). Od. vii. 8. Gortys with firm 
 walls {reixtdiaaa) ; and others. 
 
 • Thus the palace of Menelaus, Od. ii. ; and of Alcinous, Od. vii. Others 
 on the street. II. xviii. 496. 
 
 * The city of the Phaeacians, Od.vii., gives proof of all this. 
 »I1. xii. 421,xxi.405. 
 
 • I need only call to mind the representations on the shield of Achilles. 
 II. xviii. 540, etc. 
 
 built. There was a direct entrance from the court to the 
 hall, which was the common place of resort.' Movable 
 seats {0p6voi) stood along the sides of the walls. Eveiy thing 
 distened with brass. On one side was a place of deposit, 
 where the arms were kept. In the back-ground was the 
 hearth, and the seat for the lady of the mansion, when she 
 made her appearance below. Several steps conducted from 
 thence to a higher gallery, near which were the chambers 
 of the women, where they were employed in household la- 
 bours, especially in weaving. Several outhouses for the 
 purpose of grinding and baking were connected with the 
 house ; others for the common habitations of the male and 
 female slaves; and also stables for the horses.^ The stalls 
 for cattle were commonly in the fields. 
 
 Astonishment is excited by the abundance of metals, both 
 of the precious and baser ones, with which the mansions 
 were adorned, and of which the household utensils were 
 made.' The walls glittered with them ; the seats were made 
 of them. Water for washing was presented in golden ewers 
 on silver salvers ; the benches, arms, utensils were orna- 
 mented with them. Even if we suppose that much, called 
 golden, was only gilded, we still have reason to ask, whence 
 this wealth in precious metals ? Homer gives us a hint re- 
 specting the silver, when he speaks of it as belonging to 
 Alybe, in the land of the Halizones.* Most of the gold pro- 
 bably came from Lydia, where this metal in later times was 
 so abundant, that the Greeks were for the most part supphed 
 with all they used from that country. As there was no 
 coined money ,^ and as the metals were in consequence used 
 in commerce as means of exchange, the manufacturing ot 
 them seems to have been one of the chief branches ot me- 
 chanic industry. Proofs of this are found in the preparation 
 of arms and utensils. We need but call to mind the shield 
 of Achilles, the torch-bearing statues in the house of Alcinous, 
 
 » The above-mentioned mansions of Menelaus and Alcinous J>est illustrate 
 this style of architecture ; although the descnption of the mansion of Ulysses 
 is in some parts more minute. 
 
 * Thus with Menelaus, Od. iv. 40. 
 
 » Above all in the mansion of Menelaus. . , ^ . , . ^f ^^„„ 
 
 * II ii Catalog, v. 364. Without doubt in the Caucasian chain of moun- 
 tains ;* even if the Halizones and the Chalybes were not the same 
 
 * This was probably one of the chief reasons why so much of it was ma- 
 nufactured. * Od. vu. 100. 
 
58 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. IV. 
 
 THE HEROIC AGE— THE TROJAN WAR. 
 
 59 
 
 II' 
 
 ]■ 
 
 i; 
 
 «t 
 
 the enamelled figures on the clasp of Ulysses' mantle/ etc. 
 But it is difficult to say, how far these manufactures were 
 made by the Greeks, or gained by exchange from abroad. 
 As the poet commonly describes them to be the works of 
 Vulcan, it is at least clear, that manufactures of this kind 
 were somewhat rare, and in part foreign.^ Gold was after- 
 wards wrought in Asia Minor, especially in Lydia ; all la- 
 bour in brass and iron seems, as we remarked above, to 
 have been first brought to perfection among the Hellenes in 
 Crete. 
 
 These labours in metal appear to have limited the early 
 progress of the plastic arts. We find no traces of painting, 
 and none of marble statues. But those efforts in metal im- 
 ply practice in drawing ; for we hear not only of figures, 
 but also of expression in their positions and motions.^ 
 
 The art of weaving, the chief occupation of the women, 
 was even then carried to a high degree of perfection. The 
 stuff's were of wool and linen ; it is hard to decide how far 
 cotton was in those times manufactured in Greece.* Yet 
 garments of foreign manufacture, those of Egypt and Sidon, 
 were esteemed the most beautiful.* The dress was decent 
 but free. The female sex were by no means accustomed to 
 conceal the countenance, but were clad in long robes ; both 
 sexes wore a tight under garment, over which the broad 
 upper garment was thrown.^ 
 
 The internal regulations of families were simple, but not 
 without those peculiarities, which are a natural consequence 
 of the introduction of slavery. Polygamy was not directly 
 authorized ; but the sanctity of marriage was not considered 
 as violated by the intercourse of the husband with female 
 slaves. The noble chamcters of Andromache and of Pene- 
 lope exhibit, each in its own way, models of elevated con- 
 
 • Od. xix. 225, etc. 
 
 • As e. g. the silver goblet received by Menelaus from the king of Sidon. 
 Od. iv. 615. 
 
 ' Besides the description of the shield of Achilles, note especially Od. xix. 
 228, etc. 
 
 • Compare, above all, the description of Achilles' clothing. Od. xix. 225, 
 etc. The mantle, (xXaiva,) rough to the touch, was without doubt of wool; 
 but the under garment (xtrwv) can hardly pass for either woollen or linen. 
 
 Fine as a filmy web beneath it shone 
 A vest, that dazzled like a cloudless sun. 
 
 • As e. g. II. vi. 290. 
 
 • The passages are collected in Feithii Ant Homer, iii. cap. 7. 
 
 jugal affection. It is more difficult for us, with our feelings, 
 to understand the seduced and returning Helen ; and yet if 
 we compare Helen, the beloved of Paris in the Iliad,^ with 
 Helen, the spouse of Menelaus in the Odyssey,^ we find truth 
 and much internal harmony in the character which could 
 err, but not become wholly untrue to nobleness of feeling. 
 It is a woman, who, having become in youth the victim of 
 sensuality, (and never without emotions of regret,) returned 
 afterwards to reason ; before she was compelled to do so by 
 age. Even after her return from Troy, she was still exceed- 
 ingly beautiful f (and who can think of counting her years?) 
 And yet even then the two sexes stood to each other in the 
 same relation, which continued in later times. The wife is 
 housewife, and nothing more. Even the sublime Andro- 
 mache, after that parting, which will draw tears as long as 
 there are eyes which can weep and hearts which can feel, is 
 sent back to the apartments of the women, to superintend 
 the labours of the maid-servants.* Still we observe in her 
 conjugal love of an elevated character. In other instances 
 love has reference, both with mortals and with immortals, to 
 sensual enjoyment ; although in the noble and uncorrupted 
 virgin characters, as in the amiable Nausicaa, it was united 
 with that bashfulness, which accompanies maiden youth. 
 But we meet with no trace of those elevated feelings, that 
 romantic love, as it is very improperly termed, which results 
 from a higher regard for the female sex. That love and 
 that regard are traits peculiar to the Germanic nations, a 
 result of the spirit of gallantry which was a leading feature 
 in the character of chivalry, but which we vainly look for in 
 Greece. Yet here the Greek stands between the East and 
 the West. Although he was never wont to revere woman 
 as a being of a higher order, he did not, like the Asiatic, 
 imprison her by troops in a haram. . , ,.^ . . ., , 
 
 The progress which had been made in social hie, is visible 
 in nothing, except the relative situation of the sexes, more 
 distinctly, than in the tone of conversation among men. A 
 solemn dignity belonged to it even in common intercourse ; 
 the style of salutation and address is connected with certain 
 forms ; the epithets with which the heroes honoured each 
 
 * In the third book. 
 
 • Odyss. iv. 121. 
 
 Odyss. iv. and xv. 
 II. vi. 490. 
 
 
60 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [OHAP. IV. 
 
 THE HEROIC AGE— THE TROJAN WAR. 
 
 61 
 
 .\ 
 
 I 
 
 I I 
 
 Other, were so adopted into the language of intercourse, that 
 they are not unfrequently applied, even where the language of 
 reproach is used. Let it not be said, that this is merely the 
 language of epic poetry. The poet never could have em- 
 ployed it, if its original, and a taste for it, had not already 
 existed. If the tone of intercourse is a measure of the social 
 and, in a certain degree, of the moral improvement of a 
 nation, the Greeks of the heroic age were already vastly ele- 
 vated beyond their earlier savage state. 
 
 To complete the picture of those times, it is necessary to 
 speak of war and the art of war. The heroic age of the 
 Greeks, considered from this point of view, exhibits a niix- 
 ture of savageness and magnanimity, and the first outlines 
 of the laws of nations. The enemy who has been slain, is 
 not secure against outrage, and yet the corpse is not always 
 abused.* The conquered party oifers a ransom ; and it de- 
 pends on the victor to accept or refuse it. The arms, both 
 of attack and defence, are of iron or brass. No hero ap- 
 peared, like Hercules of old, with a club and lion's skin for 
 spear and shield. The art of war, as far as it relates to the 
 position and erecting of fortified camps, seems to have been 
 first invented in the siege of Troy.^ In other respects, 
 every thing depended on the more or less perfect equip- 
 ments, together with personal courage and strength. As the 
 great multitude was, for the most part, without defensive 
 armour, and as only a few were completely accoutred, one 
 of these last outweighed a host of the rest. But only the 
 leaders were thus armed ; and they, standing on their cha- 
 riots of war, (for cavalry was still unknown,) fought with each 
 other in the space between the armies. If they were victo- 
 rious, they spread panic before them ; and it became easy 
 for them to break through the ranks. But we will pursue 
 no farther the description of scenes, which every one pre- 
 fers to read in the poet himself. 
 
 As the crusades were the fruit of the revolution in the 
 social condition of the West, the Trojan war resulted from 
 the same causes in Greece. It was necessary that a fond- 
 ness for adventures in foreign lands should be awakened ; 
 
 * An example, II. vi. 417. 
 
 * See on this subject, on which we believe we may be brief, the Excursus 
 of Heyne to the vi. vii. and viii. books of the Iliad. 
 
 expeditions by sea, like that of the Argonauts, be attended 
 with success ; and a union of the heroes, as in that and the 
 march against Thebes, be first established ; before such an 
 undertaking could become practicable. But now it resulted 
 so naturally from the whole condition of things, that, though 
 its object might have been a different one, it must have 
 taken place even without a Helen. 
 
 The expedition against Troy, like the crusades, was a 
 voluntary undertaking on the part of those who joined in it ; 
 and this circumstance had an influence on all the internal 
 regulations. The leaders of the several bands were volun- 
 tary followers of the Atridae, and could therefore depart from 
 the army at their own pleasure. Agamemnon was but the 
 first among the first. It is more difficult to ascertain the 
 relation between the leaders and their people ; and he who 
 should undertake to describe every thing minutely, would 
 be most sure of making mistakes. There were certainly 
 control and obedience. The troops follow their leaders, and 
 leave the battle with them. But much even of this seems 
 to have been voluntary ; and the spirit of the age allowed 
 no such severe discipline as exists in modern armies. None 
 but a Thersites could have received the treatment of Ther- 
 
 sites. 
 
 This undertaking, begun and successfully terminated by 
 united exertions, kindled the national spirit of the Hellenes. 
 On the fields of Asia, the tribes had for the first time been 
 assembled, for the first time had saluted each other as 
 brethren. They had fought and had conquered in company. 
 Yet something of a higher character was still wanting to 
 preserve the flame, which was just blazing up. The assist- 
 ance of the muse was needed, to commemorate in words 
 those events of which the echo will never die away. By 
 preserving the memory of them for ever, the most beautiful 
 fruits which they bore were saved from perishing. 
 
 rl 
 
6S 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. v. 
 
 THE PERIOD FOLLOWING THE HEROIC AGE. 
 
 63 
 
 ul 
 
 i) 
 
 l«t 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE PERIOD FOLLOWING THE HEROIC AGE. MIGRATIONS. 
 ORIGIN OF REPUBLICAN FORMS OF GOVERNMENT, 
 AND THEIR CHARACTER. 
 
 Like the age of chivalry in western Europe, the heroic age 
 of the Greeks began and ended without our being able to 
 define either period by an exact date. Such a phenomenon 
 is the fruit of causes which are rooted deeply and of con- 
 tinuing influence, and it neither suddenly ripens nor sud- 
 denly decays. The heroic age was not immediately termi- 
 nated by the Trojan war ; yet it was during that period in 
 its greatest glory.^ It was closely united with the political 
 constitution of the times ; the princes of the tribes were the 
 first of the heroes. When the constitution of the tribes was 
 changed, the ancient heroic world could not continue. No 
 new undertaking was begun, which was so splendidly exe- 
 cuted and closed. Although, therefore, heroic characters 
 may still have arisen, as in the times of Achilles and Aga- 
 memnon, no similar career of honour was opened to them ; 
 they were not celebrated in song like the Atridae and their 
 companions ; and though they may have gained the praise 
 of their contemporaries, they did not live, like the latter, in 
 the memory of succeeding generations. 
 
 In the age succeeding the Trojan war, several events took 
 place, which prepared and introduced an entire revolution 
 in the domestic and still more in the public life of the 
 Greeks. The result of these revolutions was the origin and 
 general prevalence of republican forms of government among 
 them ; and this decided the whole future character of their 
 public life as a nation. 
 
 It is still possible for us to show the general causes of this 
 great change; but when we remember that these events 
 took place before Greece had produced an historian, and when 
 tradition was the only authority, we give up all expectation 
 of gaining perfect and unbroken historical accounts ; and 
 
 ' Hesiod limits his fourth age, the age of heroes, to the times immediately 
 before and after the Trojan war. Op. et Dies, 156, etc. 
 
 acknowledge that we can hardly know more of them than 
 Thucydides. 
 
 " The emigration of the tribes," says this historian,^ "was 
 by no means at an end with the Trojan war. The continu- 
 ance of the war produced many changes ; in many cities 
 disturbances were excited, which occasioned the banished 
 parties to found new cities. The Boeotians, driven from 
 Ame in Thessaly, took possession of their country in the 
 sixtieth year after the fall of Troy ; in the eightieth, the 
 Dorians, led on by the Heraclidae, conquered the Pelopon- 
 nesus." And we have already observed, what great revolu- 
 tions were produced by this last event. A new tribe, till 
 then the weaker, was extended and became the more power- 
 ful. But still greater changes were to come ; the race of 
 the Hellenes were destined to extend on the east and west, 
 far beyond the limits of their ancient country. " When 
 Greece," continues Thucydides, " after a long interval, at 
 length became composed, and assumed a firmer appearance, 
 it sent out colonies ; Athens, to Ionia in Asia Minor, and to 
 a great part of the islands of the Archipelago ; the Pelopon- 
 nesians, chiefly to Italy and Sicily ; all which settlements 
 were not made till after the Trojan times." 
 
 The views of the nation could not but be enlarged by the 
 Trojan war. It had become acquainted with the coasts of 
 Asia, those lands so highly favoured by nature ; and the re- 
 collection of them never died away. When the new internal 
 storms followed, and almost all the tribes of the Hellenes 
 were driven from their places of abode, it is not remarkable 
 that the coasts of Asia should have attracted the emigrating 
 parties. Since the downfal of Troy, no new dominion had 
 been established there ; no nation of the country was strong 
 enough to prohibit the settlement of the foreigners. Thus, in 
 the course of not more than a century,^ the western coast of 
 Asia Minor was occupied by a chain of Grecian cities, ex- 
 tending from the Hellespont to the boundary of Cilicia. 
 iEolians, conducted by the descendants of the fallen house 
 of the Atridae, established their residence in the vicinity of 
 the ruins of Troy, on the coast of Mysia, in the most fruit- 
 ful region known to those times,^ and on the opposite island 
 
 » Thucyd. i. 12. * In a period subsequent to the year 1 130 before Christ, 
 • Herod, i. 149. 
 
5t^ 
 
 U. 
 
 ' 
 
 64 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. v. 
 
 of Lesbos ; on the continent they built twelve cities, and on 
 Lesbos Mitylene, which now gives a name to the whole is- 
 land. Smyrna, the only one which has preserved a part ot 
 its splendour, and Cyme, exceeded all the rest on the main 
 land. MoWs was bounded on the south by Ionia, a region 
 so called from the twelve Ionian cities, which were built by 
 the lonians, who had been expelled from their ancient coun- 
 try They also occupied the neighbouring islands Chios 
 and Samos. If ^ohs could boast of superior fertility, the 
 Ionian sky was celebrated with the Greeks as the mildest 
 and most delightful.' Of these cities, Miletus, Ephesus, 
 and Phocaea became flourishing commercial towns ; the 
 mothers of many daughters, extending from the shores ot 
 the Black Sea and Lake Maeotis, to the coasts of Oaul and 
 Iberia. Neither were the Dorians content with their con- 
 quest of the Peloponnesus; troops of them thronged to Asia; 
 Cos, and the wealthy Rhodes, as well as the cities Halicar- 
 nassus and Cnidus, were peopled by them. In this manner, 
 as the series of cities planted by the Grecians ascended the 
 Macedonian and Thracian coast to Byzantium, the Agean 
 Sea was encircled with Grecian colonies, and its islands were 
 covered with them. But the mother country seems soon to 
 have been filled again ; and as the east offered no more room, 
 the emigrants wandered to the west. At a somewhat later pe- 
 riod, but with hardly less success, the coasts of Lower Italy, 
 which soon took the name of Magna Grfficia, and those ot 
 Sicily, were occupied by Dorians, Achseans, and lonians. 
 On the gulf of Tarentum, not only the city of that name, 
 but Croton and Sybaris soon rose to a degree of population 
 and wealth, bordering on the fabulous ; whilst the chain ot 
 towns extended by way of Rhegium and Paestum as far as 
 Cumae and Naples, These colonial towns were still more 
 frequent on the coasts of Sicily, from Messana and the un- 
 rivalled Syracuse to the proud Agrigentum. And in the 
 now desolate Barca, on the coast of Libya, Cyrene flourished 
 with the towns of which it was the metropolis, and proved 
 that Greeks remained true to their origin even in Africa. 
 We reserve for another chapter the consideration of the 
 
 • Es^li/^tween the years 800 and 700 before the Christian era. Yet 
 single colonies were earlier established. 
 
 !» 
 
 THE PERIOD FOLLOWING THE HEROIC AGE. 
 
 65 
 
 flourishing condition and various consequences of their co- 
 lonies. But whilst the world of the Greeks and their circle 
 of vision were thus enlarged, it was not possible for their 
 political condition to remain unchanged. Freedom ripens 
 in colonies. Beyond the sea, ancient usage cannot be pre- 
 served, cannot altogether be renewed, as at home. The for- 
 mer bonds of attachment to the soil and ancient customs, 
 were broken by emigration ; the spirit felt itself to be more 
 free in the new country ; new strength was required for the 
 necessaiy exertions ; and those exertions were animated by 
 success. Where every man lives by the labour of his hands, 
 equality arises, even if it did not exist before. Each day 
 is fraught with new experience ; the necessity of common 
 defence is more felt in lands where the new settlers find an- 
 cient inhabitants desirous of being free from them. Need 
 we wonder, then, if the authority of the founders, even where 
 it had originally subsisted, soon gave way to liberty ? 
 
 Similar phenomena are observable in the mother country. 
 The annihilation of so many of the ruling houses in the 
 Trojan war and its immediate consequences would have 
 produced them even without internal storms. How then 
 could the ancient order of things be restored, after so great 
 revolutions and such changes in the residence of nearly all 
 the tribes ? The heroic age disappeared ; and with it the 
 supremacy of the princes ; and when heroes came forward, 
 like Aristomenes, they resemble adventurers rather than the 
 sublime figures of Homer. On the other hand, the inter- 
 course and trade with the colonies were continued on all 
 sides; for, according to the Grecian custom, the mother 
 country and her colonies were never strangers to each other; 
 and the former soon had a lesson to learn of the latter. 
 
 A new order of things was the necessary consequence. 
 The ancient ruling families died away of themselves, or lost 
 their power. But this did not take place in all or most of 
 the Grecian cities at one time, but very gradually ; and he 
 who should speak of a general political revolution in the 
 modern phrase, would excite altogether erroneous concep- 
 tions. As far as we can judge from the imperfect accounts 
 which remain of the history of the individual states, more 
 than a century elapsed before the change was complete. 
 We cannot fix the period of it in all of them ; it happened 
 
 H 
 
 vr: 
 
66 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. v. 
 
 k 
 
 in most of them between the years 900 and 700 before 
 Christ ; in others, in the two centuries immediately after the 
 Doric emigration. In several, as in Athens, it was brought 
 about by degrees. In that city, when the royal dignity was 
 abolished at the death of Codrus,' archons, differing little 
 from kings, were appointed from his family for life ; these 
 were followed by archons chosen for ten years ; * and these 
 last continued for seventy years, till the yearly election of a 
 college of archons set the seal to democracy. 
 
 The fruit of these changes was the establishment of free 
 constitutions for the cities ; which constitutions could pros- 
 per only with the increasing prosperity of the towns. Thu- 
 cydides has described to us in an admirable manner how 
 this happened. " In those times," says he,' " no important 
 war, which could give a great ascendency to individual 
 states, was carried on ; the wars which chanced to arise, 
 were only with the nearest neighbours." Though tran- 
 quillity may thus have sometimes been interrupted, the in- 
 crease of the cities could not be retarded. " But since 
 colonies were established beyond the sea, several of the cities 
 began to apply themselves to navigation and commerce; and 
 the intercourse kept up with them afforded mutual ad- 
 vantages.* The cities," continues Thucydides, "became 
 more powerful and more wealthy ; but then usurpers arose 
 in most of them, who sought only to confirm their own 
 power, and enrich their own families ; but performed no 
 great exploits ; until they were overthrown, not long before 
 the Persian wars, by the Spartans (who, amidst all those 
 storms, were never subjected to tyrants) and the Athe- 
 
 " 5 
 
 mans. 
 
 The essential character of the new political form assumed 
 by Greece, consisted therefore in the circumstance, that the 
 free states which were formed, were nothing but cities with 
 their districts, and their constitutions were consequently 
 only forms of city government. This point of view must 
 never be lost sight of The districts into which Greece was 
 divided, did not form, as such, so many states ; but the same 
 
 * In the year 752 before Christ. 
 *Thucyd,i. 13. 
 • For the counterpart to the narration of Thucydides, we need only call 
 to mind the history of the Italian cities, towards the end of the middle age. 
 
 • In the year 1068 before Christ. 
 
 • Thucyd. i. 15. 
 
 THE PERIOD FOLLOWING THE HEROIC AGE. 
 
 67 
 
 often contained many states, if it possessed several inde- 
 pendent cities; though a whole district sometimes formed the 
 territory of but one city, as Attica of Athens, Laconia of 
 Sparta, etc., and in such a case formed of course but one 
 state. But it might easily happen, that the cities of one 
 district, especially if their inhabitants were of kindred tribes, 
 formed alliances for mutual safety ; as the twelve Achaean 
 cities had done. But these alliances had reference only to 
 foreign relations ; and thus they formed a confederation of 
 cities, but not one state ; for each individual city had its own 
 internal constitution, and managed its own concerns. It 
 might also happen, that some one of the cities, on becoming 
 powerfiil, should claim the sovereignty over the rest; as 
 Thebes over the Boeotian cities. But however far such a 
 superior rank might lead ; it was intended by the Greeks, 
 not only that each state should preserve its internal liberty; 
 but that its submission should be voluntary ; although the 
 claims of a supreme city occasionally led to compulsory 
 measures. When Thebes usurped the first rank in Boeotia, 
 Plataeae would never acknowledge its sovereignty. The 
 consequences of it are known from history. 
 
 The whole political life of the nation was thus connected 
 with cities and their constitutions ; and no one can judge of 
 Grecian history with accuracy, unless he comprehends the 
 spirit of them. The strength of such cities seems to be very 
 limited ; but the history of the world abounds in examples, 
 which show how far beyond expectation they can rise. 
 They are animated by public spirit, resulting from civil 
 prosperity ; and the force of that spirit can be expressed in 
 no statistical tables. 
 
 ,f 
 
 \ 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HOMER. THE EPIC POETS. 
 
 The heroic age was past, before the poets, who cele- 
 brated it, arose. It produced some contemporary with it- 
 self; but their fame was eclipsed by those who came after 
 
 F 2 
 
66 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. v. 
 
 in most of them between the years 900 and 700 before 
 Christ ; in others, in the two centuries immediately after the 
 Doric emigration. In several, as in Athens, it was brought 
 about by degrees. In that city, when the royal dignity was 
 abolished at the death of Codrus,^ archons, differing little 
 from kings, were appointed from his family for life ; these 
 were followed by archons chosen for ten years ; ^ and these 
 last continued for seventy years, till the yearly election of a 
 college of archons set the seal to democracy. 
 
 The fruit of these changes was the establishment of free 
 constitutions for the cities ; which constitutions could pros- 
 per only with the increasing prosperity of the towns. Thu- 
 cydides has described to us in an admirable manner how 
 this happened. " In those times," says he,' " no important 
 war, which could give a great ascendency to individual 
 states, was carried on ; the wars which chanced to arise, 
 were only with the nearest neighbours." Though tran- 
 quillity may thus have sometimes been interrupted, the in- 
 crease of the cities could not be retarded. " But since 
 colonies were established beyond the sea, several of the cities 
 began to apply themselves to navigation and commerce; and 
 the intercourse kept up with them afforded mutual ad- 
 vantages.* The cities," continues Thucydides, "became 
 more powerful and more wealthy ; but then usurpers arose 
 in most of them, who sought only to confirm their own 
 power, and enrich their own families; but performed no 
 great exploits ; until they were overthrown, not long before 
 the Persian wars, by the Spartans (who, amidst all those 
 storms, were never subjected to tyrants) and the Athe- 
 nians." * 
 
 The essential character of the new political form assumed 
 by Greece, consisted therefore in the circumstance, that the 
 free states which were formed, were nothing but cities with 
 their districts, and their constitutions were consequently 
 only forms of city government. This point of view must 
 never be lost sight of. The districts into which Greece was 
 divided, did not form, as such, so many states ; but the same 
 
 * In the year 1068 before Christ. 
 » Thucyd. i. 15. 
 
 * For the counterpart to the narration of Thucydides, we need only call 
 to mind the history of the ItaUan cities, towards the end of the middle age. 
 
 * In the year 752 before Christ. 
 
 * Thucyd. i. 13. 
 
 '.I 
 
 51 
 
 • •^ ^ l -X ■.tfc.VO. - W 
 
 , 
 
 " 
 
 - J' 
 
 
 I 
 
 THE PERIOD FOLLOWING THE HEROIC AGE. 67 
 
 often contained many states, if it possessed several inde- 
 pendent cities; though a whole district sometimes formed the 
 territory of but one city, as Attica of Athens, Laconia of 
 Sparta, etc., and in such a case formed of course but one 
 state. But it might easily happen, that the cities of one 
 district, especially if their inhabitants were of kindred tribes, 
 formed alliances for mutual safety ; as the twelve Achaean 
 cities had done. But these alliances had reference only to 
 foreign relations ; and thus they formed a confederation of 
 cities, but not one state ; for each individual city had its own 
 internal constitution, and managed its own concerns. It 
 might also happen, that some one of the cities, on becoming 
 powerful, should claim the sovereignty over the rest; as 
 Thebes over the Boeotian cities. But however far such a 
 superior rank might lead ; it was intended by the Greeks, 
 not only that each state should preserve its internal liberty; 
 but that its submission should be voluntary ; although the 
 claims of a supreme city occasionally led to compulsory 
 measures. When Thebes usurped the first rank in Boeotia, 
 Plataeae would never acknowledge its sovereignty. The 
 consequences of it are known from history. 
 
 The whole political life of the nation was thus connected 
 with cities and their constitutions ; and no one can judge of 
 Grecian history with accuracy, unless he comprehends the 
 spirit of them. The strength of such cities seems to be very 
 limited ; but the history of the world abounds in examples, 
 which show how far beyond expectation they can rise. 
 They are animated by public spirit, resulting from civil 
 prosperity ; and the force of that spirit can be expressed in 
 no statistical tables. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HOMER. THE EPIC POETS. 
 
 The heroic age was past, before the poets, who cele- 
 brated it, arose. It produced some contemporary with it- 
 self; but their fame was eclipsed by those who came after 
 
 F 2 
 
 \ 
 
 K' 
 
 /J 
 
68 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. VI. 
 
 HOMER. THE EPIC POETS. 
 
 69 
 
 them, and were it not for Homer, the names of Demodocus 
 and Phemius had never become immortal. 
 
 With the Greeks, epic poetry had an importance, which 
 it possessed among no other people ; it was the source of 
 their national education in poetry and the arts. It became 
 so by means of the Homeric poems. But boundless as was 
 the genius of the Ionian bard, a concurrence of favourable 
 circumstances was still needed, to prepare for his appear- 
 ance, and to make it possible. 
 
 Epic poetry was of itself a fruit of the heroic age ; just 
 as the poetry of chivalry was the result of the age of chi- 
 valry. The picture drawn for us by Homer of the heroic 
 times, leaves no room to doubt of it. The feasts of the 
 heroes, like the banquets of the knights, were ornamented 
 with song. But the more copious the stream is to which 
 It swelled, the more does it deserve to be traced, as far as 
 possible, to its origin. 
 
 Even before the heroic age, we hear of several poets, of 
 Orpheus, Linus, and a few others. But if their hymns were 
 merely invocations and eulogies of the gods, as we must 
 infer from the accounts which are handed down to us re- 
 specting them,^ no similarity seems to have existed between 
 them and the subsequent heroic poetry ; although a trans- 
 ition not only became possible, but actually took place, when 
 the actions of the gods were made the subjects of hymns.- 
 The heroic poetry, according to all that we know of it, pre- 
 served the character of narration ; whether those narrations 
 contained accounts of the gods or of heroes ; ^ "the actions 
 of gods and heroes, who were celebrated in song." In the 
 songs of Demodocus and Phemius, the subject is taken from 
 the one and from the other ; he celebrates the loves of Mars 
 and Venus,* no less than the adventures which took place 
 before Troy. The latter class of subjects cannot be more 
 ancient than the heroic age, even though we should esteem 
 the former as much older. But that age produced the class 
 of bards, who were employed in celebrating the actions of 
 
 » Our present Orphic hymns have this character. The more ancient ones, 
 It there were such, were nothing else. See Pausanias ix. p. 770; and the 
 very ancient hymn, preserved by Stobaeus. Stob. Eclog. i. p. 40, in Heeren's 
 edition. '^ 
 
 * The proof of this is found in the hymns attributed to Homer. 
 Odyss. i. 33a * Odyss. viii. 26G, etc. 
 
 ^•l rv 
 
 '.' 
 
 the heroes. They formed a separate class in society ; but 
 they stood on an equal footing with the heroes, and are con- 
 sidered as belonging to them.^ The gift of song came to 
 them from the gods ; it is the Muse, or Jove himself, who 
 inspires them and teaches them what they should sing.^ 
 As this representation continually recurs, it is probable that 
 their poetic effusions were often extemporaneous. At least 
 this seems in many cases hardly to admit of a doubt. Ulys- 
 ses proposes to Demodocus the subject of his song ; ^ and 
 the bard, like the modern improvisatori, commences his 
 strains under the influence of the sudden inspiration. We 
 would by no means be understood to assert, that there were 
 none but extemporaneous productions. Certain songs very 
 naturally became favourites, and were kept alive in the 
 mouths of the poets; whilst an infinite number, which were 
 but the offspring of the moment, died away at their birth. 
 But an abundance of songs was needed ; a variety was re- 
 quired, and the charm of novelty even then enforced its 
 claims.* 
 
 For novel lays attract our ravished ears ; 
 But old the mind with inattention hears. 
 
 The voice was always accompanied by some instrument. 
 The bard was provided with a harp, on which he played a 
 prelude,^ to elevate and inspire his mind, and with which 
 he accompanied the song when begun. His voice probably 
 preserved a medium between singing and recitation; the 
 words, and not the melody, were regarded by the listeners ; 
 hence it was necessary for him to remain intelligible to all. 
 In countries where nothing similar is found, it is difficult to 
 represent such scenes to the mind ; but whoever has had an 
 opportunity of listening to the improvisatori of Italy, can 
 easily form an idea of Demodocus and Phemius. 
 
 However imperfect our ideas of the earliest heroic songs 
 may remain after all which the poet has told us, the fol- 
 lowing positions may be inferred from it. First : The 
 singers were at the same time poets ; they sang their own 
 works ; there is no trace of their having sung those of others. 
 Farther : their songs were poured forth from the inspiration 
 
 * Od. viii. 483. Demodocus himself is here called a Hero. 
 
 ^ Od. viii. 73, i. 348. » Od. viii. 492, etc.. a leading passage. 
 
 * Od. i. 352. * &va(idkXi(T0ai, Od. viii. 266, etc. 
 
 A 
 
/ 
 I i 
 
 70 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. Tl. 
 
 . 
 
 of the moment ; or only reposed in their memory. In the 
 former case, they were, in the full sense of the word, im- 
 provisatori ; and, in the latter, they must necessarily have 
 remained in some measure improvisatori, for they lived in 
 an age, which, even if it possessed the alphabet, seems never 
 to have thought of committing poems to writing. The epic 
 poetry of the Greeks did not continue to be mere extempo- 
 raneous effusions; but it seems to us very probable, that 
 such was its origin. Lastly : Although the song was some- 
 times accompanied by a dance illustrative of its subject, 
 imitative gestures are never attributed to the bard himself. 
 There are dancers for that. Epic poetry and the ballet can 
 thus be united ; but the union was not essential, and pro- 
 bably took place only in the histories concerning the gods.' 
 This union was very natural. Under the southern skies of 
 Europe, no proper melody is required for the imitative 
 dance ; it is only necessary that the time should be distinctly 
 marked. When the bard did this with his lyre, the dancers, 
 as well as himself, had all that they required. 
 
 This heroic poetry, which was so closely interwoven with 
 social life, that it could be spared at no cheering banquet, 
 was common, no doubt, throughout all Hellas. We hear its 
 strains in the island of the Phaeacians, no less than in the 
 dwellings of Ulysses and Menelaus. The poet does not bring 
 before us strict contests in song; but we may learn, that 
 the spirit of emulation was strong, and that some believed 
 themselves already perfect in their art, from the story of the 
 Thracian Thamyris, who wished to contend with the muses, 
 and was punished for his daring by the loss of the light of 
 his eyes, and the art of song.^ 
 
 Epic poetry emigrated with the colonies to the shores of 
 Asia. When we remember, that those settlements were 
 made during the heroic age, and that in part the sons and 
 posterity of the princes, in whose halls at Argos and My- 
 cenae its echoes had formerly been heard, were the leaders 
 of those expeditions,^ this will hardly seem doubtful, and still 
 less improbable. 
 . But that epic poetry should have first displayed its full 
 
 * As in the story of the amour of Mars and Venus. Od. viii. 
 
 * II. Cat. Nav. 102. 
 
 * As Orestes and his descendants. 
 
 HOMER. THE EPIC POETS. 
 
 71 
 
 i. 
 
 
 glory in those regions, and should have raised itself to the 
 sublimity and extent which it obtained; was more than 
 could have been expected. 
 
 And yet it was so. Homer appeared. The history of the 
 poet and his works is lost in doubtful obscurity ; as is the 
 history of many of the first minds who have done honour to 
 humanity, because they arose amidst darkness. The ma- 
 jestic stream of his song, blessing and fertilizing, flows, like 
 the Nile, through many lands and nations ; like the sources 
 of the Nile, its fountains will remain concealed. 
 
 It cannot be the object of these essays, to enter anew 
 into these investigations, which probably have already been 
 carried as far as the present state of criticism and learning 
 will admit.' The modern inquirers can hardly be reproached 
 with credulity, for nothing, which could be doubted, not 
 even the existence of Homer himself, has been left un- 
 questioned. When once the rotten fabric of ancient belief 
 was examined, no one of the pillars, on which it rested, 
 could escape inspection. The general result was, that the 
 whole building rested far more on the foundation of tradi- 
 tion, than of credible history ; but how far this foundation 
 is secure, is a question, respecting which, the voices will 
 hardly be able to unite. 
 
 It seems of chief importance to expect no more than the 
 nature of things makes possible. If the period of tradition 
 in history is the region of twilight, we should not expect 
 in it perfect light. The creations of genius remain always 
 half miracles, because they are, for the most part, created 
 far from the reach of observation. If we were in possession 
 of all the historic testimonies, we never could wholly explain 
 the origin of the Iliad and the Odyssey ; for their origin, m 
 all essential points, must have remained the secret of the 
 poet. But we can, to a certain extent, explain how, under 
 the circumstances of those times, an epic poet could arise ; 
 how he could elevate his mind ; and how he could become 
 of such importance to his nation and to posterity. This is 
 all to which our inquiry should be directed. 
 
 The age of Homer, according to all probability, was that 
 in which the Ionian colonies flourished in the vigour of 
 
 • It is hardly necessary to refer to the Excursus of Heyne on the last book 
 of the Iliad ; and the Prolegomena of Wolf. 
 
n 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. VI. 
 
 If 
 
 il 
 
 if B 
 11 
 •if 
 
 youth.^ Their subsequent condition shows that this must 
 have been so ; although history has not preserved for us any 
 particular account on the subject. It is easy to conceive, 
 that in a country highly favoured by nature ; external cir- 
 cumstances could afford the poet many facilities, by means 
 of the forms of social life, of which song was the companion. 
 But the circumstances of the times afforded many greater 
 advantages to poetic genius. 
 
 The glimmerings of tradition were not yet departed. The 
 expedition against Troy, and the efforts of the earlier poets, 
 had rather contributed so to mature the traditions, that 
 they offered the noblest subjects for national poems. Before 
 that time, the heroes of the several tribes had been of im- 
 portance to none but their tribe ; but those who were dis- 
 tinguished in the common undertaking against Troy, became 
 heroes of the nation. Their actions and their sufferings 
 awakened a general interest. Add to this, that these actions 
 and adventures had already been celebrated by many of 
 the early bards ; and that they had even then imparted to 
 the whole of history the poetic character, which distinguished 
 it. Time is always needed to mature tradition for the epic 
 poet. The songs of a Phemius and a Demodocus, though 
 the subjects of them were taken from that war, were but the 
 first essays, which died away, as the ancient songs have done, 
 which commemorated the exploits of the crusaders. It was 
 not till three hundred years after the loss of the Holy Land, 
 that the poet appeared who was to celebrate the glory of 
 Godfrey in a manner worthy of the hero ; more time had 
 perhaps passed afler Achilles and Hector fell in battle, be- 
 fore the Grecian poet secured to them their immortality. 
 
 The language no less than the subject had been improved in 
 this age. Although neither all its words nor its phrases were 
 limited in their use by strict grammatical rules, it was by no 
 means awkward or rough. It had for centuries been im- 
 proved by the poets, and had now become a poetic language. 
 It almost seemed more easy to make use of it in verse than 
 in prose ; and the forms of the hexameter, of which alone 
 
 » The age of Homer is usually set about a century after the foundation of 
 those colonies, about the year 950 before Christ If it be true, that Lycurgus, 
 whose laws were given about the year 880, introduced his poems into Sparta, 
 he cannot be much younger. We must leave to others the prosecution of 
 these inquiries. 
 
 HOMER. THE EPIC POETS. 
 
 n 
 
 1 
 
 J 
 
 t 
 
 the epic poet made use, are extremely simple.* The lan- 
 guage voluntarily submitted to the poet ; and there never 
 was a tongue, in which inspiration could have poured itself 
 forth with more readiness and ease. 
 
 Under such circumstances it is intelligible, that when a 
 sublime poetic genius arose among a people so fond of 
 poetry and song as the lonians always were, the age was fa- 
 vourable to him; although the elevated creations of his 
 mind must continue to appear wonderful. There are two 
 things, which in modern times appear most remarkable and 
 difficult of explanation ; how a poet could have first con- 
 ceived the idea of so extensive a whole, as the Iliad and the 
 Odyssey ; and how works of such extent could have been 
 finished and preserved, without the aid of writing. 
 
 With regard to the first point, criticism has endeavoured 
 to show, and has succeeded in showing, that these poems, 
 especially the Iliad, have by no means that perfect unity 
 which they were formerly believed to possess ; that rather 
 many whole pieces have been interpolated or annexed to 
 them ; and there hardly exists at present an inquiring scho- 
 lar, who can persuade himself, that we possess them both in 
 the same state in which they came from the hands of the 
 poet. But notwithstanding the more or less frequent inter- 
 polations, each has but one primary action ; which, although 
 it is interrupted by frequent episodes, could hardly have 
 been introduced by any but the original author ; and which 
 does not permit us to consider either of these poems as a 
 mere collection of scattered rhapsodies. It is certainly a 
 gigantic step, to raise epic poetry to the unity of the chief 
 action ; but the idea springs from the very nature of a nar- 
 ration ; and therefore it did not stand in need of a theory, 
 which was foreign to the age ; genius was able of itself to 
 take this step.* Herodotus did something similar in the 
 department of history. 
 
 * How much easier it must have been to make extemporaneous verses in 
 that measure, than in the ottava rima of the Italians. And yet the Italian 
 wears its shackles with the greatest ease. 
 
 * A more plausible objection is this : that even if it be conceded, that it was 
 possible to invent and execute such large poems, they would have answered 
 no end, as they were too long to admit of being recited at once. But a reply 
 may be made to this. The Iliad and Odyssey could not be recited at a ban- 
 quet. But there were public festivals and assemblies which lasted many days, 
 and Herodotus read aloud the nine books of his history, in a succession of 
 
 I 1. 
 
 
 < ^ 
 
^ ^i» -*iiiii.=..-^ 
 
 I f 
 
 f '(I 
 
 </ 
 
 « 
 
 I 
 
 74 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. VI. 
 
 We find it still more difficult to comprehend how works 
 of this extent could have been planned and executed without 
 the aid of letters, and preserved, probably for a long time, 
 till they were finally saved from perishing by being com- 
 mitted to writing. We will not here repeat at large, what 
 has already been said by others ; that a class of singers, de- 
 voted exclusively to this business, could easily preserve in 
 memory much more ; that the poems were recited in parts, 
 and therefore needed to be remembered only in parts ; and 
 that even in a later age, when the Homeric poems had al- 
 ready been intrusted to writing, the rhapsodists still knew 
 them so perfectly, (as we must infer from the Ion of Plato,) 
 that they could readily recite any passage which was desired. 
 But let us be permitted to call to mind a fact, which has 
 come to light since the modem inquiries respecting Homer, 
 and which proves, that poems of even greater extent than 
 the Iliad and the Odyssey can live in the memory and 
 mouths of a nation. The Dschangariade of the Calmucks is 
 said to surpass the poems of Homer in length, as much as 
 it stands beneath them in merit ; ^ and yet it exists only in 
 the memory of a people, which is not unacquainted with 
 writing. But the songs of a nation are probably the last 
 things which are committed to writing, for the very reason 
 that they are remembered. 
 
 But whatever opinions may be entertained on the origin 
 of these poems, and whether we ascribe them to one author 
 or to several, it will hardly be doubted that they all belong, 
 on the whole, to one age, which we call, in a larger sense, 
 
 days, at Olympia. The Iliad and Odyssey, which when free from interpola- 
 tions were perhaps much shorter than they now are, may have been recited 
 in the course of several days. And if we may be permitted to indulge in 
 conjecture, why may they not have been designed for such occasions ? That 
 the Greeks were accustomed to intellectual enjoyments, interrupted and after- 
 wards continued, a{)pears from the Tetralogies of the Dramatists in a later age. 
 This is characteristic of a nation, which even in its pleasures desired some- 
 thing more than pastime, and always aimed at ^ndeur and beauty. 
 
 * See on this subject B. Bergmann, Nomadische, Streifereyen unter den 
 Kalmycken, B. 2, S. 213, etc. This Calmuck Homer flourished in the last 
 century. He is said to have sune three hundred and sixty cantos ; but this 
 number may be exaggerated. Of the singers, called Dschangartschi, it is not 
 easy to find one, who knows more than twenty by heart. In the fourth part 
 of his work, Mr. Bergmann has given us a translation of one of them, which 
 is about equal in length to a rhapsody of Homer. It thus appears to be no 
 uncommon thing for the CalmucK singers to retain in memory a poem quite 
 as long as the Iliad or Odyssey. 
 
 HOMER. THE EPIC POETS. 
 
 75 
 
 the age of Homer. The important fact is, that we possess 
 them. Whatever hypothesis we may adopt on their origin 
 and formation, their influence on the Grecian nation and on 
 posterity remains the same. And these are the topics which 
 claim our regard. 
 
 It was Homer who formed the character of the Greek 
 nation. No poet has ever, as a poet, exercised a similar in- 
 fluence over his countrymen. Prophets, lawgivers, and 
 sages have formed the character of other nations ; it was re- 
 served to a poet to form that of the Greeks. This is a trait 
 in their character, which could not be wholly erased even in 
 the period of their degeneracy. When lawgivers and sages 
 appeared in Greece, the work of the poet had already been 
 accomplished ; and they paid homage to his superior genius. 
 . He held up before his nation the mirror, in which they 
 were to behold the world of gods and heroes no less than of 
 feeble mortals, and to behold them reflected with purity and 
 truth. His poems are founded on the first feelings of hu- 
 man nature ; on the love of children, wife, and country ; on 
 that passion which outweighs all others, the love of glory. 
 His songs were poured forth from a breast, which sympa- 
 thized with all the feelings of man; and therefore they 
 enter, and will continue to enter, every breast, which cher- 
 ishes the same sympathies. If it is granted to his immortal 
 spirit, from another heaven than any of which he dreamed 
 on earth, to look down on his race, to see the nations from 
 the fields of Asia to the forests of Hercynia, performing 
 pilgrimages to the fountain, which his magic wand caused 
 to flow ; if it is permitted him to overlook the whole harvest 
 of grand, of elevated, of glorious productions, which have 
 been called into being by means of his songs ; wherever his 
 immortal spirit may reside, nothing more can be required to 
 complete his happiness. 
 
 Wherever writing is known, where it is used for the pur- 
 pose of preserving poems, and thus a poetic literature is 
 formed, the muse loses her youthful freshness. Works of 
 the greatest merit may still be produced ; but poetry exerts 
 its full influence only so long as it is considered inseparable 
 from recitation. The Homeric poems were therefore so far 
 from having produced a less considerable effect, because 
 they for a long time were not written down, that the source 
 
— 11 1 ■— iii m;,...>n'i '»— p« 
 
 f 
 
 « 
 
 I 
 
 
 76 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. VI. 
 
 of their power lay in this very circumstance. They entered 
 the memory and the soul of the nation. If we were better 
 acquainted with the forms of social life, which were preva- 
 lent in the cities of Ionia, and with which poetry necessarily 
 stood in the closest union, we should be able to judge more 
 definitely of its effects. The nature of things seems to show, 
 that there, as in the mother country, they must have been 
 sung at festivals and assemblies, whether public or private. 
 This custom was so deeply fixed in the nation, that it con- 
 tinued long after these poems were committed to writing, 
 and were thus accessible to a reader, and in fact, that it was 
 declamation which continued to give them their full effect. 
 We need but call to mind the remark, which Ion, the rhap- 
 sodist, makes to Socrates;^ " I see the hearers now weep 
 and now rise in passion, and appear as if deprived of sensa- 
 tion." If the rhapsodists, in an age when all that was divine 
 in their art had passed away, and when they sung only for 
 money, could produce such effects, how great must have 
 been their influence in the period of their greatest glory ! 
 
 Since the time of Homer, and chiefly through him, 
 great changes in the relations of the class of bards neces- 
 sarily took place ; and the traces of such changes are still 
 distinct. Originally they sang only their own compositions, 
 but now it became the custom to sing those of others, which 
 they had committed to memory. In that part of Asia which 
 was inhabited by Greeks, and especially at Chios, where 
 Homer is said to have lived,^ a particular school of bards 
 was formed which, even among the ancients, were known 
 by the name of the Homeridae. Whether these consisted 
 originally of the family relations of the poet, is a question of 
 no interest ; it became the name of those rhapsodists, who 
 sang the poems of Homer, or those attributed to him. They 
 are therefore distinguished from the earlier rhapsodists by 
 this, that they sang not their own works, but those of an- 
 
 • Plat. Op. iv. p. 190. 
 
 ' According to the well-known passage in the hymn to Apollo, cited by 
 Thucydides, lii. 104. "A Wind man ; he dwells on the rocky Chios ; and his 
 songs are the first among men." Even if this hymn be not by Homer, (the age 
 of Thucydides esteemed it certainly his,) it must have been composed in an 
 age which approached that of Homer. That Homer was an inhabitant of 
 Chios, is an account, for the truth of which we have no guaranty but tradition. 
 But that tradition is a very ancient one, and the account contains nothing 
 which is in itself improbable, or which should induce us to doubt its accuracy. 
 
 > 
 
 HOMER. THE EPIC POETS. 
 
 77 
 
 Other ; and this appears to have been the first change, which 
 was effected, though without design, by Homer. But we 
 may find, in the gradual progress of the cities, and the modes 
 of living in them, a chief cause of a change in the rhapso- 
 dists, which could not be very advantageous for them. In 
 these cities, there may have been houses of the opulent, and 
 public halls,^ in which they could recite ; but they found 
 no longer the dwellings of heroes and kings. Little confi- 
 dence as we may place in the life of Homer attributed to 
 Herodotus, and several other writings ; it is still remarkable, 
 that all unite in describing the fortunes of the poet during 
 his lifetime, as by no means splendid. But his songs con- 
 tinued to live, and, probably in the very first century after 
 the poet, were carried by Lycurgus into the Peloponnesus ; 
 and from the same school, other epic poets also started up, 
 whose works have been overwhelmed by the stream of time.^ 
 A happy accident has preserved for us the general contents 
 of a few of them; ^ but, though these accounts are meagre, 
 we may still infer from them, that even among the ancients, 
 they were chiefly of interest to the professed student of liter- 
 ature, and that they never gained any claim to be called 
 national poems. But the works of these, and so many 
 others, of whom we know only the names, show how gener- 
 
 The Xkffxat. We are almost involuntarily reminded of similar appearances, 
 which marked the decline of the poetry of chivalry, in the age of those whom 
 we commonly call our master singers. The inquiry might be made, whether 
 the relations of city life had an equal influence on the school or fraternity of 
 rhapsodists, who separated themselves still more observably from the rest of 
 society ? 
 
 * The Cyclic poets, as they are called, who treated subjects of mythological 
 tradition, or the cyclus of traditions respecting the Trojan expedition. See 
 on this subject, Excurs. i.adiEneid. L. ii. ed. Heynii. 
 
 • In the selections of Proclus, in Bibl. d. alten Litt. und Kunst. St. i. In- 
 edita, p. I, etc. These are, 1. The Cyprian poem, probably by Stasinus of 
 Cyprus. It contained, in eleven books, the earlier events of the Trojan war 
 before the action of the Iliad. 2. The iEthiopis of Arctinus the Melesian ; con- 
 taining, in five books, the expedition and death of Memnon. 3. The small 
 Iliad of Lesches of Mitylene ; embracing, in four books, the contention of 
 Ajax and Ulysses, till the preparation of the Trojan horse. 4. The destruc- 
 tion of Troy ('iXiov Tripffig) of Arctinus, in two books. 5. The return of the 
 heroes {vootoi) of Augias, in five books. 6. The Telegoniad, or fates of 
 Ulysses after his return, by Eugammon, in two books. The contents of these 
 poems, as here given, show, that no one of them can be compared, in point of 
 
 Elan, with the epopees of Homer. But these poems must also for a long time 
 ave been preserved by son^ alone ; for their authors, although somewhat 
 younger than Homer, still lived in times, when, according to all that we 
 know, letters were but htte used, or perhaps entirely unknown. 
 
 ^» 
 
78 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. VI. 
 
 HOMER. THE EPIC POETS. 
 
 79 
 
 
 ally epic poetry was extended among the nation. After the 
 epic language had once been perfected by Homer, it re- 
 mained peculiar to this kind of poetry ; and when we read 
 the works of much later poets, of Quintus, or of Nonnus, 
 we might believe ourselves employed on authors many cen- 
 turies older than they, had we not other evidence beside their 
 language to fix the period in which they lived. That the 
 dialect of Homer remained the principal one for this class of 
 poetry, had an important influence on Grecian literature 
 Amidst all the changes and improvements in language, it 
 prevented the ancient from becoming antiquated, and se- 
 cured it a place among the later modes of expression. This 
 was a gain for the language and for the nation. With the 
 dialect of Homer, his spirit continued in some measure to 
 live among the epic poets. Language cannot of itself make 
 a poet ; but yet how much depends on language ! If in 
 those later poets we occasionally hear echoes of Homer, is 
 it not sometimes his spirit which addresses us ? 
 
 But his influence on the spirit of his countrymen was 
 much more important than his influence on their language. 
 He had delineated the world of heroes in colours which can 
 never fade. He had made it present to posterity ; and thus 
 the artist and the tragic poet found a sphere opened for the 
 employment of their powers of representation. And the 
 scenes from which they drew their subjects, could not have 
 remained foreign to their countrymen. We do but touch 
 on this subject, in order to say something on the point 
 which lies particularly within the circle of our inquiries • 
 the influence which Homer and the epic poets exercised on 
 the political character of their countrymen. 
 
 When we compare the scanty fragments which are still 
 extant, respecting the circulation and preservation of the 
 poems of Homer, it is remarkable that in Hellas itself, the 
 lawgivers and rulers were the most active in making them 
 known and m saving them from perishing. Lycurgus, we 
 are told, was the first who introduced them into the Pelo- 
 ponnesus by means of the rhapsodists ; Solon esteemed the 
 subject so important, that in his code of laws, he formed 
 distinct regulations, in conformity to which it seems probable 
 that the several rhapsodies were recited, not as before with- 
 out method, but in their natural order, by several rhapsodists, 
 
 \ . \ 
 
 who relieved each other. All this prepared for the un- 
 dertaking of Pisistratus ; who, according to the accounts of 
 the ancients, not only arranged the poems of Homer, but 
 gained a claim to the eternal gratitude of posterity, by com- 
 mitting them to writing.* 
 
 This care in those illustrious men did not result from a 
 mere admiration of poetry. That it was connected with 
 political views, if such confirmation were needed, appears 
 from the circumstance, that Solon took notice of it in his 
 laws. Were we to form a judgment on this subject from 
 the narrow views of our own times, it would seem strange, 
 that they who founded or confirmed the government of a 
 number, even a democracy, should have laboured to extend 
 the productions of a bard, who was opposed to their princi- 
 ples, and declares his political creed without disguise ;^ "no 
 good comes of the government of the many ; let one be ruler, 
 and one be king ; " and in whose works, as we have already 
 remarked, republicanism finds no support. But their views 
 were not so limited. Their object was not to confirm, by 
 means of the poet, their own institutions and their own laws. 
 They desired to animate their nation with a love for excel- 
 lence and sublimity. Poetry and song, indissolubly united, 
 seemed to them the fittest means of gaining that end. These 
 had the greatest influence on the intellectual culture of the 
 people. And if that culture lay within the sphere of the 
 Grecian lawgivers, (and it always did, though in different 
 degrees,) of what importance in their eyes must that poet 
 have been, whose poems, above all others, were recited by 
 the class of rhapsodists, that lent a glory to the national fes- 
 tivals and assemblies ? Solon, himself one of the first of moral 
 poets, could not but perceive, how much experience and 
 knowledge of the world are contained in those books, with 
 which youth is begun, and to which age returns. No fear 
 was entertained, lest the narrations respecting the gods 
 should be injurious to morals ; although that fear afterwards 
 induced Plato to banish them from his republic ; the philo- 
 sopher, who but for Homer never could have become 
 Plato. For, as we have already remarked, the gods were 
 not held up as models for imitation. But whilst the people 
 
 > The passages in proof of this are collected and duly weighed in the Prole- 
 gomena of Wolf, p. 139, etc. ' II. ii. 204. 
 
 1 ' 
 
 »> 
 
 '•i ^ 
 
 (_ 
 
80 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. VII. 
 
 was enriching itself with that infinite treasure of practical 
 wisdom, it continued at the same time to live in a world of 
 heroes, and to preserve living sensibility to the great and 
 the noble. Of this it is impossible to estimate the conse- 
 quences, the gain of the nation as a nation, by the encour- 
 agement of its warlike spirit, by the preservation of its love 
 of liberty and independence. In one respect, those law- 
 givers were unquestionably in the right ; a nation, of which 
 the culture rested on the Iliad and Odyssey, could not easily 
 be reduced to a nation of slaves. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 MEANS OF PRESERVING THE NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 The Greeks, though divided at home, and extended widely 
 in foreign countries, always considered themselves as form- 
 ing but one nation. The character of the Hellenes was 
 no where obliterated ; the citizen of Massilia and Byzan- 
 tium retained it no less than the Spartan and Athenian. 
 The name barbarian, although it was applied to all who 
 were not Greeks, conveyed a secondary idea, which was 
 closely interwoven with the Grecian character; that they 
 esteemed themselves more cultivated than the rest of the 
 world. It was not that gross kind of national pride, which 
 despises all foreigners because they are foreigners; even 
 where it was in itself unjust, its origin was a just one. 
 
 But this higher culture could never have remained a bond 
 of national union, the different tribes of the Hellenes pos- 
 sessed it in such different degrees. External marks were 
 therefore needed. These were afforded by two things ; by 
 language, and certain institutions sanctioned by religion. 
 
 Various and different as were the dialects of the Hellenes,' 
 —-and these differences existed not only among the various 
 
 tribes, but even among the several neighbouring cities, 
 
 they yet acknowledged in their language, that they formed 
 but one nation, were but branches of the same family. 
 
 * See what Herodotus says of the dialects of the Grecian cities in Asia, i. 142. 
 
 I 
 
 PRESERVATION OF THE NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 81 
 
 Those who were not Greeks, were described even by Homer,^ 
 as "men of other tongues ;" and yet Homer had no general 
 name for the nation. But though the bond of a common 
 language may be a natural and an indissoluble one, some- 
 thing more is required to make it serve as the bond of 
 national union. The language must be not merely the in- 
 strument of communicating thoughts ; for it is that to every 
 savage ; something must exist in it, which may be regarded 
 as the common property of the nation, because it is precious 
 and dear to them ; the works of poets, and next to them, of 
 prose writers, which are admired, listened to, and read by 
 all. It is such productions which make a language pecu- 
 liarly valuable to a nation. The national spirit and manner 
 of thinking and feeling, are expressed in them ; the nation 
 beholds in them its own portrait ; and sees the continuance 
 of its spirit among future generations secured. They form 
 not only its common property, in which, according to the 
 fullest meaning of the phrase, each tribe has its undisputed 
 share ; they form its most sublime, its noblest, its least 
 perishable property.^ In what a light, therefore, do Homer 
 and those who trod in his footsteps appear, when they are 
 considered from this point of view. Their poems, listened to 
 and admired by all who used the Greek language, reminded 
 the inhabitants of Hellas, of Ionia, and of Sicily, in the 
 liveliest manner, that they were brothers. When we con- 
 sider the long series of ages, during which the poems of 
 Homer and the Homeridae were the only common possession 
 of the Hellenes, it may even be made a question, whether 
 without them they would have remained a nation.^ National 
 poetry was therefore the bond, which held them together ; 
 but this bond was strengthened by another, by that of 
 
 reUgion. 
 
 Unlike the religions of the East, the religion of the 
 Hellenes was supported by no sacred books, was connected 
 with no peculiar doctrines ; it could not therefore serve, like 
 the former, to unite a nation by means of a common re- 
 ligious creed ; but it was fitted for gaining that end, in so 
 
 * BapPapoibwvou II. ii. 867* . i- * 
 
 * See Heeren's Essay on the means of preserving the nationahty of a con- 
 quered people. Historische Werke, B. ii. 1. 1, etc. ^ j 
 
 * And how would the Greeks constitute a nation but for thcur poetry ana 
 
 literature ? 
 
 o 
 
 J, 
 
'^■^i^WI L.j,t.l 
 
 82 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. VII. 
 
 far as the external rites of religion afforded opportunities. 
 But as the nation had no caste of priests, nor even a united 
 order of priesthood, it naturally followed, that though indi- 
 vidual temples could in a certain degree become national 
 temples, this must depend, for the most part, on accidental 
 circumstances ; and where every thing was voluntary, no- 
 thing could be settled by established forms like those which 
 prevailed in other countries. The temples at Olympia, 
 Delos, and Delphi, may justly be denominated national 
 temples, although not in the same sense in which we call 
 those of the Jews and the Egyptians national ; but their ef- 
 fects were perhaps only more considerable and more secure, 
 because every thing connected with them was voluntary. 
 The fruits of civilization came forth, and were matured, un- 
 der the protection of these sanctuaries also ; though not m 
 the same manner as in Egypt and Ethiopia ; * and when we 
 hear of national festivals,^ oracles, and Amphictyonic assem- 
 blies, other ideas are connected with them, than were 
 awakened by the temples in the countries just named. But 
 let it not be forgotten, that all these fruits, of which we must 
 make mention separately, ripened on one and the same 
 branch; that they, therefore, closely united, could ripen 
 only together; that by this very means they gained a higher 
 value in the eyes of the nation ; and that this value must be 
 estimated by their influence, rather than by what they were 
 in themselves. 
 
 We shall hardly be mistaken, if we consider those sanc- 
 tuaries the most ancient, which were celebrated for their 
 oracles. Those of Dodona and Delphi were declared to be 
 so by the voice of the nation ; and both of them, especially 
 that of Delphi, were so far superior to the rest, that they are 
 in some measure to be esteemed as the only national oracles.' 
 
 * Heeren. Ideen. etc. Th. ii. 487, etc. 
 
 * The Greek word for them, is iravijyvpcic. 
 
 * The number of Grecian oracles, constantly increasing, became, as is well 
 known, exceedingly numerous. With the exception of that of Dodona, which 
 ^as of Egyptio-Pelasgic origin, the oracles of the Greeks were almost exclu- 
 sively connected with the worship of ApoUo. We know of more than fifty of 
 his oracles (see Bulenger de oraculis et vatibus, in Thes. Ant. Gr. vol. vii.) • 
 of the few others, the more celebrated owed their origin to the same god as 
 
 PRESERVATION OF THE NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 88 
 
 Olympia, it is true, had originally an oracle also ; ^ but from 
 unknown causes, it became hushed, probably just after the 
 distinguished success of the oracles of Apollo. We leave to 
 others all further investigation of these institutions; the 
 question which claims our attention, is, how far they contri- 
 buted to preserve the spirit and the union of the nation. 
 They did not effect this by being regarded as intended only 
 for the Hellenes. Foreigners also were permitted to consult 
 the oracles ; and to recompense the answers which they re- 
 ceived by consecrated presents. But this took place only in 
 individual cases ; and was done probably by none but rulers 
 and kings, from the time when Alyattes first made applica- 
 tion at Delphi.^ In other cases, the difference of language 
 was alone sufficient to keep foreigners away, as the Pythian 
 priestess spoke always in Greek. These institutions belong- 
 ed, if not exclusively, yet principally to the Hellenes ; of 
 whom both individuals and cities could always have access 
 to them. They formed the connecting link between politics 
 and the popular religion. Their great political influence, 
 especially in the states of the Doric race, is too well known 
 from history to make it necessary for us to adduce proofs 
 of it. That influence doubtless became less after the Per- 
 sian wars. Whether this diminution of influence was injuri- 
 ous or advantageous cannot easily be decided. When the 
 reciprocal hatred of the Athenians and Spartans excited 
 them to the fiiry of civil war, how much suffering would 
 have been spared to Greece, if the voice of the gods had 
 been able to avert the storm. But the affairs of the Delphic 
 temple were still considered as the concern of the Grecian 
 nation ; and even after infidelity had usurped the place of 
 the ancient superstition, the violation of the sanctuary gave 
 the politicians a pretence, sufficient to kindle a civil war, 
 which was destined to cost Greece its liberties. 
 
 Among the numerous festivals which the several Grecian 
 cities were accustomed to celebrate, there were some, which, 
 from causes that are no longer well known, or were perhaps 
 quite accidental, soon became really national. At these, 
 foreigners could be spectators ; but the Hellenes alone were 
 permitted to contend for the prizes. The right to do so be- 
 longed to the inhabitant of the farthest colony, as well as of 
 
 * Strabo, viii. p. 542. 
 
 * Herod, i. 9. 
 
 G 2 
 
84 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. vii. 
 
 the mother country, and was esteemed inalienable and in- 
 valuable. Even princes were proud of the privilege, for 
 which the Persian king himself would have sued in vain, of 
 sending their chariots to the races of Olympia. Every one 
 has learned from the hymns of Pindar, that, beside the 
 Olympic contests, the Pythian games at Delphi, the Ne- 
 mean at Argos, and the Isthmian at Corinth, belong to the 
 same class. As to the origin of these games. Homer does 
 not make mention of them, which he would hardly have 
 neglected to do, if they had existed or been famous in his 
 day. Yet the foundation of them was laid in so remote a 
 period of antiquity, that it is attributed to gods and heroes. 
 Uncertain as are these traditions, it is remarkable, that a 
 different origin is attributed to each one of them. Those of 
 Olympia were instituted by Hercules, on his victorious re- 
 turn, and were designed as contests in bodily strength ; 
 those of Delphi were in their origin nothing but musical 
 exercises ; although others were afterwards added to them. 
 Those of Nemea were originally funeral games ; respecting 
 the occasion of instituting those of the Isthmus, there are 
 different accounts/ 
 
 But whatever may have been the origin of the games, 
 they became national ones. This did not certainly take 
 place at once ; and we should err, if we should apply the 
 accounts given us of the Olympic games in the flourishing- 
 periods of Greece, to the earlier ages. On the contrary, 
 from the accurate registers which were kept by the judges, 
 we learn most distinctly, with respect to these games, that 
 they gained their importance and character by degrees.* 
 They have not forgotten to mention, when the different 
 kinds of contests (for at first there were none but in racing) 
 were permitted and adopted. But still these games gained 
 importance, although it was only by degrees ; and the time 
 came, when they merited to be celebrated by a Pindar. 
 
 In this manner, therefore, these festivals, and the games 
 connected with them, received a national character. They 
 were peculiar to the Grecians ; and on that account also 
 
 * All the passaffes on the origin and the arrangements of the games, may 
 be found collected in Schmidtii Prolegomenis ad Pindarum ; Potter's Archae- 
 ologia ; and Corsini Dissertationes agonistic® ; and others. 
 
 ' See Piiusanias in Eliacis, 1. v. 9. 
 
 ■ i JI' ii' lJ.jHW W j pi'iil f ' I J JB 
 
 PRESERVATION OF THE NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 85 
 
 were of great utility. " Those are justly praised," Isocrates^ 
 very happily observes, " who instituted these famous assem- 
 blies, and thus made it customary for us to come together 
 as allies, having set aside our hostilities ; to increase our 
 friendship by recalling our relationship in our common 
 vows and sacrifices; to renew our ancient family friend- 
 ships, and to form new ones. They have provided, that nei- 
 ther the unpolished nor the well educated should leave the 
 games without profit; but that in this assembly of the Hel- 
 lenes in one place, some may display their wealth, and 
 others observe the contests, and none be present without a 
 purpose, but each have something of which to boast ; the 
 one part, while they see those engaged in the contests mak- 
 ing exertions on their account ; the other, when they con- 
 sider that all this concourse of people has assembled to be 
 spectators of their contests." 
 
 The accounts which we read of the splendour of these 
 games, especially of the Olympic, where the nation of the 
 Hellenes appeared in its glory, give a high idea of them. 
 And yet it was public opinion, far more than the reality, 
 which gave to the crown of victory its value. The glory of 
 being conqueror in them, was the highest with which the 
 Grecian was acquainted; it conferred honour, not only on him 
 who won the palm, but on his family and on his native city. 
 He was not honoured in Olympia alone ; his victory was the 
 victory of his native place ; here he was solemnly received ; 
 new festivals were instituted on his account ; he had after- 
 wards a right of living at the public charge in the prytanea. 
 A victory at Olympia, says Cicero with truth,^ rendered 
 the victor illustrious, no less than his consulate the Roman 
 consul. The tournaments of the middle age were something 
 similar ; or might have become something similar, if the re- 
 lations of society had not prevented. But as a distinct line 
 of division was drawn between the classes, they became in- 
 teresting to but one class. Birth decided who could take a 
 part in them, and who were excluded. There was nothing 
 of that among the Hellenes. The lowest of the people could 
 join at Olympia in the contest for the branch of the sacred 
 olive tree, as well as Alcibiades, or even the ruler of Syra- 
 cuse with all the splendour of his equipage. 
 
 * Isocrates. Panegyr. Op. p. 49, Steph. * Cicero. Quaest Tusc. ii. 17. 
 
86 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. vn. 
 
 The influence on the political relations of the Grecian 
 states, was perhaps not so great as Isocrates represents. A 
 solemnity of a few days could hardly be sufficient to cool 
 the passions and still the mutual enmities of the several 
 tribes. History mentions no peace, which was ever negoti- 
 ated, and still less which was ever concluded at Olympia. 
 But so much the greater was the influence exercised over 
 the culture of the nation ; and if the culture of a nation de- 
 cides its character, our plan requires of us to pause and 
 consider it. 
 
 In all their institutions, when they are considered in the 
 light in which the Greeks regarded them, we shall com- 
 monly find proofs of the noble dispositions of the Hellenes. 
 And these are to be observed in the games, where every 
 thmg which was in itself beautiful and glorious ; bodily 
 strength and skill in boxing ; wrestling, and running ; the 
 splendour of opulence, as displayed in the equipages for the 
 chariot races ; excellence in poetry, and soon also in other 
 mtellectual productions, were here rewarded, each with its 
 prize. But the degree of importance assigned to the pro- 
 ductions of mind was not every where the same. Musical 
 contests,* m which the Greeks united poetry, song, and 
 music, were common in those larger games, as well as in 
 those hardly less splendid ones, which were instituted in the 
 several cities. But there was a diflerence in their relative 
 importance. At Olympia, though they were not entirely ex- 
 cluded, they were yet less essential ; ' they formed from the 
 beginning the primary object in the Pythian games. They 
 held the same rank in several festivals of the smaller cities, 
 m the Panathensea at Athens, in Delos,^ at Epidaurus, 
 
 ' The Greeks made a distinction between dymvic yvfxviKoi and uov<TiKoi The 
 
 that is, to poetry, and whatever was connected with it. At these fesdva s it 
 never entered the mmd of the Greeks to institute prizes for compeS^^^ 
 the arts of design ; at least not in the plastic art. (Pliny, however, mentTois 
 a competition of painters, xxxv. 35.) ^The cause of this may in parr"t 
 those arts were not so soon brought to perfection as the former ones • but the 
 cause was rather that the Greeks conceived it proper to institute coi^i^t on 
 only in those arts, of which the results were temporary; ^nZot inXse of 
 which the productions are exhibited in public, and are I S for n them 
 
 c^rnT&it ^^^™^^^' ^'^- ^^ ^ '-^^^- exhibitio:;,'^ald'?LTetra 
 The musical contests in Delos, with which gymnastic exercises soincl^e 
 
 PRESERVATION OF THE NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 87 
 
 '' 
 
 Ephesus, and other places. But even where no actual com- 
 petition took place, every one who felt possessed of suflS- 
 cient talents, was permitted to come forward with the 
 productions of art. The rhapsodist and the performer on 
 the flute, the lyric poet, the historian, and the orator, had 
 each his place. The hyinns of Pindar were chanted in 
 honour of the victors, not in emulation of others ; and 
 Herodotus had no rival when he read the books of his his- 
 tory at Olympia. The Hellenes made room for every thing 
 which was glorious and beautiful, and it was especially at 
 Olympia and Delphi, that the observer of the character of 
 the Greeks could justly break forth in exclamations of ad- 
 miring astonishment. 
 
 The Amphictyonic assemblies, as they were called by the 
 Grecians, appear to have exercised a still greater influence 
 on political union.^ Under that name the assemblies are 
 signified, that were held in some common temple by several 
 tribes which occupied the territory round it, or by neigh- 
 bouring cities, in order to consult on the afiairs connected 
 with the sanctuary, and on others of a more general nature. 
 It was therefore characteristic of these assemblies, first, that 
 a temple or sanctuary formed their central point ; further, 
 that several tribes or cities participated in them ; thirdly, 
 that assemblies of the people, festivals, and, of course, 
 games were connected with them; and fourthly, that be- 
 sides these popular assemblies and festivals, deputies under 
 various names, (Theori, Pylagorae,) were sent by the several 
 states which participated in them, to deliberate on subjects 
 of common interest. We shall be able to see these institu- 
 tions in their true light, after taking a view of the origin of 
 temples in Greece. 
 
 As soon as the manners of cities were distinctly formed 
 with the Greeks, and the individual cities in the mother 
 country, no less than in the colonies, had for the most part 
 
 to be connected, were the most ancient Ionic national games ; as Thucydides, 
 iii. 104, has already proved from the Homeric hymn to Apollo. They were 
 originally connected with the sei^rice of that god, and were communicated 
 with it by the lonians to the Dorians. Hence they were not regarded at 
 Olympia, Nemea, and on the Isthmus, as forming an essential part of the 
 
 solemnity. , i. j n j 
 
 ' The Greek word is sometimes spelt a>^«cn'ovec, those who dweU round 
 about, sometimes d/i0*icr«oi/6c, from the hero Amphictyon, called by tradition 
 the founder of the same. 
 
-r^mt^ ^ j «i m ' ii '_rwn |w 
 
 mr-a^ 
 
 t I 
 
 I 
 
 \ 
 
 m. 
 
 88 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. VII. 
 
 become rich by means of commerce and industry in the 
 arts, temples were built by single towns. Beside this, as we 
 shall show more fully in another place, the luxury of the 
 public was connected almost exclusively with these temples, 
 and they were to serve as the measure of the splendour and 
 wealth of the respective cities. The building of temples, 
 therefore, became, especially after the Persian wars, and 
 even a century before them, a matter, in which the honour 
 of the cities was concerned, and their public spirit was ex- 
 hibited. In this manner that multitude of temples arose, 
 which still present, in their numerous ruins, master-pieces 
 of architecture. But it was not and could not have been so 
 in the earliest times. The building of a temple was then 
 commonly a joint undertaking ; partly because these tem- 
 ples, however they may have been inferior to the later ones,* 
 were still too costly to be erected by the separate commu- 
 nities ; and partly and chiefly because such common sanctu- 
 aries were needed for celebrating the common festivals of 
 each tribe. 
 
 Such a sanctuary formed in some measure a point of 
 union. It was an object of common care ; it became ne- 
 cessary to watch over the temple itself, its estates, and its 
 possessions ; and as this could not be done by the several 
 communities at large, what was more natural, than to depute 
 envoys for the purpose ? But in a nation where every thing 
 was freely developed, and so little was fixed by established 
 forms. It could not but happen, that other affairs of general 
 interest should occasionally be discussed ; either at the po- 
 pular festivals, or in the assemblies of the delegates ; and 
 that IS the most probable, as the allies considered themselves 
 for the most part, as branches of the same nation. They 
 became therefore the points of political union ; the idea of 
 a formal alliance was not yet connected with them, but 
 might be expected from their maturity. 
 
 We find traces of such Amphictyonic assemblies in Greece 
 Itself, and m the colonies.^ Their origin, especially in the 
 
 sivdl'b^^^^^^^ ^- P- '''^ ^^y^ ^' ^^^ ^-Pl-' -h-^ were succes- 
 
 Sf ' Crnt^^^^^ '"^ ""^^^^ "^'^^^ P^'^^P^ ^^ enlarged, has been given by 
 ff J^l T^' ^««««^« Oouvemementsfederatffs, p. 115, etc. We follow^him L 
 
 Kn^ in r^ w ^^^ ' -""^ ^'^'' 1^"°^^^ °^ what his been said above. There ^^ 
 such an Amphictyonia m Boeotia, at Orchestus, in a temple of Neptune fn 
 
 
 PRESERVATION OF THE NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 89 
 
 mother country, is very ancient ; and we may in most cases 
 assert, and with justice, that it belongs to the period, when 
 the republican forms of government were not yet introduced, 
 and the constitutions of the tribes were in vigour. For we 
 find that those who shared in them, were much more fre- 
 quently influenced to assemble by tribes than by cities. 
 And this affords an obvious reason, why they lost their in- 
 fluence as the nation advanced in culture, except where pe- 
 culiar causes operated to preserve them. In the flourishing 
 period of Greece, most of them had become mere antiqui- 
 ties, which were only occasionally mentioned ; or, if they 
 continued in the popular festivals which were connected 
 with them, (and popular festivals are always longest pre- 
 served,) they were but bodies without soul. This result 
 was a necessary one, since, on the downfal of the constitu- 
 tions of the tribes, the whole political life of the nation was 
 connected with the cities, the spirit of the tribes had become 
 annihilated by the spirit of the cities, and each of the cities 
 had erected its own temples. 
 
 Yet of these Amphictyonic councils, one rose to a higher 
 degree of importance, and always preserved a certain mea- 
 sure of dignity ; so that it was called, by way of eminence, 
 the Amphictyonic council. This was the one held at Delphi 
 and Thermopylae.^ When we bear in mind the ideas which 
 have just been illustrated, we shall hardly be led to expect, 
 that the nation, in its whole extent, would ever have been unit- 
 ed by any common bond ; and still less that this bond should 
 have been more closely drawn with the progress of time, 
 and finally have united all the Grecian states in one political 
 
 Attica, in a temple, of which the name is not mentioned; at Corinth, on the 
 isthmus, in the temple of Neptune ; in the island Caluria, near Argolis, also in 
 a temple of Neptune ; another in Argolis, in the celebrated temple of Juno 
 ('Hpriov) ; in Elis, in a temple of Neptune ; also on the Grecian islands ; in 
 Euboea, in the temple of Diana Amaurusia ; in Delos, in the temple of Apollo, 
 the Panegyris, of which we have already made mention, and which served for 
 all the neighbouring islands ; in Asia, the Panioniura at Mycale, afterwards 
 at Ephesus, for the lonians ; the temple of Apollo Triopius for the Dorians ; 
 for tne Cohans, the temple of Apollo Grynaeus. Even the neighbouring 
 Asiatic tribes, the Carians and the Lycians, had similar institutions, either 
 peculiar, or adopted of the Greeks. The proofs of these accounts may^ be 
 lound collected in the above mentioned author. 
 
 * According to Strabo, ix. p. 289, it does not appear that the assembly was 
 held alternately at Delphi and Thermopylae ; but the deputies first came to- 
 gether at Thermopylae to sacrifice to Ceres j and then proceeded to Delphi, 
 where business was transacted. 
 
 -jiaxiem, lie 
 
 Biii ! eg" ' S"S 
 
90 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. VII. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 body. But this Amphictyonic assembly contributed much 
 to the preserving of national feeling and national unity, and 
 as such deserves to be considered by us with more at- 
 tention. 
 
 Strabo concedes/ that even in his time it was impossible 
 to ascertain the origin of the Amphictyonic assembly ; this 
 however was certain, that it belonged to remote antiquity. 
 We must here remark, that Homer does not make any men- 
 tion of it ; and yet Homer speaks of the wealthy Delphi ; ^ 
 and although his silence affords no proof that it did not 
 exist, we may at least infer, that the council was not then so 
 important as at a later day. The causes which made this 
 Amphictyonia so much superior to all the rest, are not ex- 
 pressly given ; but should we err, if we were to look for 
 them in the ever-increasing dignity and influence of the 
 Delphic oracle ? When we call to mind the great import- 
 ance attached to the liberty of consulting this oracle, 
 scarcely a doubt on the subject can remain. The states 
 which were members of this Amphictyonia, had no exclu- 
 sive right to that privilege ; but had the care of the tem- 
 ple, and therefore of the oracle, in their hands.^ No ancient 
 writer has preserved for us so accurate an account of the 
 regulations of that institution, that all important questions 
 respecting them can be answered ; and those who speak of 
 them do not agree with each other. But from a comparison 
 of their statements, we may infer, that though this Amphic- 
 tyonia did not by any means embrace the whole of the 
 Hellenes, yet the most considerable states of the mother 
 country and of Asia Minor took part in it. According to 
 iEschines,* there were twelve of them (although he enume- 
 rates but eleven) ; Thessalians, Boeotians, (not the Thebans 
 only, he expressly remarks,) Dorians, lonians, Perrhsebians, 
 
 » Strabo, 1. c. The special inquiries on this subject may be found discuss- 
 2 n . ^H^ Sf ^ ofTittman on the Amphictyonic League. Beriin, 1812. 
 II. IX. 404, 405. Homer calls it Pytho. 
 
 » Individual states obtained the ri^ht of being the first to consult the ora- 
 cle, wpofiavTiutj and this nght was valued very highly 
 
 *jEschines de FalsA Legatione, iii. p. 285, ed. Reisk. This is the most im- 
 portant passage. St. Croix, p. 27, has compared the discrepant accounts of 
 Pausanias, x. p 815,^and Harpocration, v. A^^dcr^ov.f. The authority of 
 Aschmes respecting his own times, seems to me of more weight than all the 
 others, and therefore I follow him alone. No man had better means of in- 
 formation than he. But many changes in the regulations were subsequently 
 made by the Macedonians and the Romans. ^ j 
 
 
 PRESERVATION OF THE NATIONAL CHARACTER. 91 
 
 Magnesians, Phthiotians, Maleans,^ Phocians, (Etaeans, Lo- 
 crians; the twelfth state was probably the Dolopians* 
 Every city belonging to these tribes, had the right of send- 
 ing deputies; the smallest had an equal right with the 
 largest ; and the votes of all were equal ; of the lonians, 
 says ^schines, the deputies from Eretria in Euboea and 
 from Priene in Asia Minor,^ were equal to those from 
 Athens ; of the Dorians, those from Dorium in Laconia, and 
 from Cytinium on Parnassus, had as much weight as those 
 from Lacedaemon. But the votes were not counted by 
 cities, but by tribes; each tribe had two votes, and the 
 majority decided.* 
 
 And how large was the sphere of action, in which this 
 assembly was accustomed to exert its influence ? Its first 
 duty was to take charge of the temple ; its property ; its 
 presents, the offerings of piety ; its sanctity. From this it 
 naturally follows, that the assembly possessed judiciary pow- 
 ers. Persons who had committed sacrilege on the temple, 
 were summoned before its tribunal, where judgment was 
 passed and the acts of penance and punishment decreed.^ 
 But to these, political objects were added at a very early 
 period ; such as the preservation of peace among the con- 
 federates, and the accommodating of contentions, which 
 had arisen We have, it is true, no proof, that those who 
 participated m the assembly considered themselves as nearly 
 allied to each other ; but it is as little doubtful, that under 
 the protection of this sanctuary, certain ideas arose and were 
 diffused, which might be considered as forming, in some 
 
 H- J J-^K ^Tl ^^'^?^^^e a" 'I" Thessaly. The reason of their being thus dis- 
 tinguished from the rest of the Thessalians is probably to be found in the 
 privilege, which they had preserved, of a separate vote. Herodotus, vii. 132. 
 divides them m the same manner. '^vitua, vu. lo-a, 
 
 * Heeren, p. 39. 
 
 » It is therefore certain, that the individual colonies in Asia Minor partici- 
 pa ed m the assembly We might suggest the question, whether aU the 
 Asiatic colonies, and whether colonies in other regions, did the same 
 
 *or all further knowledge which we have of the regulations of the Am- 
 phictyonic council, we are indebted to Strabo, ix. p. 289. According to him 
 ^ch cit^ sent a deputy These assembled twice a year, at the equinoxes. 
 We are ignorant nf thp Ipncrfh #^f fVi^ o^oo;»»o ^e ♦u^ "_„__' i-i_ . ■>^.^. 
 
 We are ignorant of the length of the sessions of 'the as^embVT whether"anp 
 
 them, or not; and of many other things respecting 
 
 definite time was fixed for 
 them. 
 
 * As for instance, against the Phocians at the beginning of the last sacred 
 war; and afterwards against the Locrians. Demosthenes has preserved for 
 us two of these decrees, (doyfiara,) Op. i. p. 2/8. Reisk. From them we learn 
 the forms m which they were written. 
 
'f 
 
 92 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. vu. 
 
 V 
 
 If . 
 
 measure, the foundation of a system of national law, al- 
 though it was never brought to maturity. Of this we have 
 indisputable proof in the ancient oaths, which were taken 
 by all the members of the assembly, and which have been 
 preserved by iEschines.' " I read," says the orator, " in the 
 assembly the oaths, to which the heaviest imprecations were 
 attached ; and by which our ancestors ^ were obliged to 
 promise never to destroy any one of the Amphictyonic cities,' 
 nor to cut off their streams,* whether in war or in peace ; 
 should any city dare, notwithstanding, to do so, to take up 
 arms against it and lay it waste ; and if any one should sin 
 against the god, or form any scheme against the sanctuary, 
 to oppose him with hand and foot, and word and deed." 
 This form of oath, it cannot be doubted, was very ancient, 
 and expresses with sufficient clearness the original objects 
 of the confederation. But it shows equally distinctly, that 
 the attainment of these ends depended much more on the 
 circumstances and condition of the age, than on the mem- 
 bers of the council themselves. 
 
 To him who measures the value of this assembly only by 
 the influence which it had in preventing wars among the 
 tribes that took part in it, its utility may seem very doubt- 
 ful ; as history has preserved no proofs of such influence. 
 But even if it had existed in the earliest ages, it must have 
 ceased of itself, when individual states of Greece became so 
 powerful, as to assume a supremacy over the rest. Sparta 
 and Athens referred the decision of their quarrels to Delphi, 
 as little as Prussia and Austria to Ratisbon. But it would 
 be wrong to impute the blame of this to the members of the 
 council. They had no strong arm, except when the god 
 extended his to protect them ; or some other power took 
 arms in their behalf. But it is a high degree of merit to 
 preserve principles in the memory of the nations, even 
 when it is impossible to prevent their violation. And when 
 we observe that several ideas relating to the law of nations, 
 were indelibly imprinted on the character of the Greeks ; if 
 in the midst of all their civil wars, they never laid waste 
 any Grecian city, even when it was subdued ; ought we not 
 
 • ^schines, 1. c. p. 284. « ol Apxaiou 
 
 AvdffTarov irotrjirai, to render uninhabitable, by removing its inhabitants. 
 By means of which they would have become uninhabitable. 
 
 THE PERSIAN WARS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 
 
 93 
 
 attribute this in some measure to the Amphictyonic assem- 
 bly ? They had it not in their power to preserve peace ; but 
 they contributed to prevent the Grecians from forgetting, 
 even in war, that they still were Grecians. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE PERSIAN WARS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 
 
 Since the Trojan war, no opportunity had been presented 
 to the Greek nation, of acting as one people in any equal 
 and common undertaking. The institutions which we have 
 just described, preserved, in a certain degree, the national 
 spirit ; but they were by no means sufficient to produce 
 political union ; any tendency to which was counteracted by 
 the whole condition and internal relations of the nation. 
 Even the colonies were unfavourable to it ; not only by their 
 distance, but still more by the independence which they 
 enjoyed. In our days, how soon do colonies which become 
 independent, grow estranged from the mother countries, 
 after having long stood in the closest connexion with her. 
 
 In the century which preceded the Persian war,^ the 
 Grecian states, excepting the Asiatic cities, which languished 
 under the Persian yoke, had in many respects made advances 
 in culture. Freedom had been triumphantly established 
 in almost every part ^ of the mother country. The tyrants 
 who had usurped power in the cities, had been overthrown 
 in part by the Spartans, in part by the citizens themselves ; 
 and popular governments had been introduced in their stead. 
 Above all, Athens had shaken off the Pisistratidae ; and it 
 came off victorious from the contest which it had been 
 obliged to sustain for its liberty. It enjoyed the full con- 
 sciousness of its youthful energies; "Athens," Herodotus 
 says,' " which before was great, when freed from its usurpers 
 
 > Between the years 600 and 500 before the Christian era. 
 
 * Thessaly was an exception, where the government of the Aleuadae still con- 
 tinued, although it was tottering; for which reason they, like the Pisistratidae, 
 invited the Persians into Greece. Herod, vii. 6. » Herod, v. 66. 
 
■4 
 
 Hi 
 
 94 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. VIII. 
 
 became still greater." At the expulsion of the Pisistratid^, 
 Sparta had, for the first time, undertaken to exert an in- 
 fluence beyond the Peloponnesus; Corinth also had, for 
 eighty-four years,^ been in possession of freedom ; and a 
 similar advantage had been gained by several of the less 
 powerful cities, by Sicyon " and Epidaurus. The islands, no 
 less than the continent, were in a flourishing condition ; their 
 independence stood at that time in no danger from the Per- 
 sians or the Athenians. Samos never saw an age like that 
 of Polycrates, who trembled at his own prosperity ; ^ the 
 small island of Naxus could muster eight thousand heavy- 
 armed men ; ** the inconsiderable Siphnus, very much en- 
 riched by its gold mines, deemed it expedient to consult the 
 Pythian oracle on the duration of its fortunes.^ The cities 
 of Magna Graecia, Tarentum, Croton, and Sybaris,^ had 
 attained the period of their splendour; in Sicily, Syracuse, 
 although disturbed by internal dissensions, was yet so power- 
 ful that Gelon, its ruler, claimed in the Persian wars the chief 
 command of all the Grecian forces ; Marseilles arose on the 
 shores of Gaul ; Gyrene was established on the coast of 
 Libya. 
 
 But some grand object of common interest still was want- 
 ing ; and as the Spartans were already jealous of Athens, it 
 was the more to be feared, that the consciousness of increas- 
 ing strength would lead to nothing but the mutual ruin of 
 the cities in civil wars. The Persian wars supplied the object 
 which was needed. Although they by no means resulted 
 m the establishment of that general union of the whole 
 nation of the Hellenes, of which a great man had formed the 
 idea without believing in the possibility of realizing it ; the 
 whole condition of Greece in succeeding ages, its foreign 
 and for the most part its domestic relations, were all a con- 
 sequence of them ; and we do not say too much, when we 
 assert, that the political character of Greece was formed bv 
 them. ^ 
 
 There never was any general union of the Greeks against 
 the Persians ; but the idea of such a confederation had been 
 
 ' The year 584 before Christ. 
 
 * From about the year 600 B. C. Epidaurus at the same time. 
 
 . ^ A '"• Ih V . o V^?'°^- ^- ^- " Pa^san. Phoc. p. 628. 
 
 Herod. VI. 127. Yet Sybans was destroyed just before the Persian wars 
 by the Crotoniatae, in the year 510 before Christ. ' 
 
 THE PERSIAN WARS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 
 
 95 
 
 called up ; and was, if not entirely, yet in a great measure, 
 carried into effect. What is more arduous, than in times of 
 great difficulty, when every one fears for himself, and is 
 chiefly concerned for self-preservation, to preserve among a 
 multitude of small states, that public spirit and union, in 
 which all strength consists. The Athenians were left almost 
 alone to repel the first invasion of Darius Hystaspes ; but 
 the glory won at Marathon was not sufficient to awaken 
 general enthusiasm, when greater danger threatened from 
 the invasion of Xerxes. All the Thessalians, the Locrians, 
 and Boeotians, except the cities of Thespise and Plateae, sent 
 earth and water to the Persian king at the first call to sub- 
 mit ; although these tokens of subjection were attended by 
 the curses of the rest of the Greeks, and the vow that a tithe 
 of their estates should be devoted to the deity of Delphi.^ 
 Yet of the rest of the Greeks, who did not favour Persia, 
 some were willing to assist only on condition of being ap- 
 pointed to conduct and command the whole ;^ others, if 
 their country could be the first to be protected ;^ others sent 
 a squadron, which was ordered to wait till it was certain 
 which side would gain the victory ;* and others pretended 
 they were held back by the declarations of an oracle." So 
 true IS the remark of Herodotus, that, however ill it might 
 be taken by others, he was constrained to declare, that 
 Greece was indebted for its freedom to Athens.^ Athens, 
 with Themistocles for its leader, gave life to the courage of 
 the other states ; induced them to lay aside their quarrels ; 
 yielded, where it was duty to yield ;^ and always relied on 
 
 * Herod, vii. 132. 
 
 * Gelon of Syracuse; Herod, vii. 158. On this condition, he promised to 
 produce an army of 28,000 men, well equipped ; a fleet of 200 triremes, and as 
 niuch gram as was desired. « Of truth," answered the Lacedemonian ambas- 
 ador, Agamemnon, the descendant of Pelops, would remonstrate loudly, were 
 he to hear that the chief command had been taken from the Spartans, by 
 Irelon the Syracusan." And when Gelon declared, that he would be content 
 with the command by sea, the Athenian envoy quickly repUed,"King of 
 Syracuse, Hellas has sent us to you, not because it needs a general, but be- 
 cause it needs an army." 
 
 ! J?® Thessalians, who had however already surrendered. Herod, vii. 172. 
 
 The Corcyraeans ; Herod, vii. 168. 
 I The Cretans ; Herod, vii. 169. 
 
 * Herod, ^i. 139. A noble testimony in favour of Athens, and at the same 
 time, of the free spirit and impartiality of Herodotus. '* I must here,'* says this 
 lover of truth, " express to all Greece, an opinion, which to most men is odi^ 
 OU8 ; but yet that, which to me seems the truth, I will not conceal." 
 
 Asat Artemisiumj Herod.viii. 3. 
 
ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. viir. 
 
 f 
 
 its own strength, while it seemed to expect safety from all. 
 Hope was not disappointed in the result; the battle of 
 Salamis gave a new impulse to the spirit of the Greeks; 
 and when in the following year * the battle of Plateae gave a 
 decision to the contest, the greater part of Hellas was 
 assembled in the field of battle.* 
 
 We would give no description of those glorious days, but 
 only of the consequences which they had for Greece. In 
 the actions of men, greatness is seldom or never quite un- 
 mixed with meanness ; and he who investigates the actions 
 of those times with care, will find many and various proofs 
 of it. And yet in the whole compass of history, we can find 
 no series of events, which deserve to be compared with the 
 grand spectacle then exhibited ; and with all the exaggera- 
 tions of the orators and poets, the feeling of pride with 
 which the Greek reflected on his achievements was a just 
 one. A small country had withstood the attack of half a 
 continent ; it had not only saved the most costly possessions, 
 which were endangered, its freedom, its independence ; it 
 felt itself strong enough to continue the contest, and did not 
 lay aside its arms, till it was permitted to prescribe the con- 
 ditions of peace. 
 
 The price of that peace, was the emancipation of the 
 Greek colonies in Asia from Persian supremacy. Twenty 
 years before the invasion of Xerxes, when those cities had 
 attempted to throw off* the Persian yoke, the Athenians had 
 boldly ventured to send a squadron with troops to reinforce 
 them ; and that expedition occasioned the burning of Sardis, 
 which was the capital of the Persian dominions in Asia 
 Minor. " These ships," says Herodotus,' " were the origin 
 of the wars between the Hellenes and the barbarians." This 
 interference was deeply resented by the Persians ; and their 
 resentment would have been reasonable, if they had possess- 
 ed the right of reducing free cities to a state of dependence. 
 Herodotus has given a copious narration of the ill success 
 of the revolt, and of the manner in which Miletus suffered 
 for it. Even in the subsequent expeditions of the Persians 
 against Europe, the ruling idea was the desire of taking re- 
 venge on Athens ; and when Xerxes reduced that city to 
 ashes, he may have found in it no small degree of satisfac- 
 
 > In the year 479 B. C. « Herod, ix. 28. • Herod, v. 97. 
 
 THE PERSIAN WARS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 97 
 
 tion.* But when the victory remained in the hands of the 
 Greeks, they continued with spirit a war, which for them 
 was no longer a dangerous one ; and if the emancipation of 
 their countrymen became from that time nothing more than 
 an ostensible reason,^ it was still a proof of the reviving na- 
 tional spirit. When the war after fifty-one years was termi- 
 nated by the first peace with the Persians,^ it was done 
 under the conditions, that the Grecian cities in Asia should 
 be free ; that the troops of the Persians should keep two 
 days' march distant from them ; and that their squadron 
 should leave the iEgean sea.* In a similar manner, after a 
 long and similar contest, emancipated Holland, in a more 
 recent age, prescribed the conditions of peace to the ruler 
 of both the Indies, and blockaded the mouths of his rivers, 
 while it preserved the ocean open to itself. 
 
 Thus the people of Hellas, by means of this war, appeared 
 among the nations in the splendour of victory. They were 
 now permitted to look around in tranquil security ; for who 
 would venture to attack them. The Eastern world obeyed 
 the humbled Persian ; in the North, the kingdom of Mace- 
 donia had not yet begun its career of conquest ; and Italy, 
 still divided into small states, did not as yet contain a victo- 
 rious republic. The period was therefore come, in which 
 Greece could unfold all its youthful vigour ; poetry and the 
 fine arts put forth their blossoms ; the philosophic mind 
 contemplates itself in tranquillity ; and in public spirit, the 
 several cities vie with each other in generous competition. 
 A nation does not need peace and tranquillity to become 
 great ; but it needs the consciousness that it is possessed of 
 strength, to gain peace and tranquillity. 
 
 The Persian wars gave a character, not only to the rela- 
 tions of Greece with foreign countries, but also to its inter- 
 nal condition ; and were of hardly less importance to the 
 nation by means of the latter, than of the former. During 
 
 ' Herod, viii. 54. 
 
 ' The Asiatic Greeks, however, during the expedition of Xef xes, in which 
 they were compelled to take a part with their ships, had entreated the Spartans 
 and Athenians to free them. Herod, viii. 132. 
 
 • In the year 449 B. C, reckoning from the participation of the Persians in 
 the insurrection of the Asiatic Greeks, under Aristagoras, in the year 500 B. C. 
 
 * Plutarch in Cimon. Op. iii. p. 202, quotes the decree of the people, con- 
 taining the conditions. Tne formal treaty has in later days been questioned. 
 Dahlman's Historical Inquiries, I. Yet war certainly ceased. 
 
 < 
 
 ^ 
 
P5* 
 
 98 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. viu. 
 
 that contest, the idea of a supremacy, or yrfe^iovta, as the 
 Greeks termed it, intrusted to one state over the rest, or 
 usurped by that state, became current throughout Greece. 
 
 Even before the Persian w^ar, the idea had been faintly 
 expressed; Sparta had aWays, as the strongest of the Dorian 
 tribes, asserted a sort of supremacy over the Peloponnesus ; 
 and had in some measure deserved it, by banishing the 
 tyrants from the cities of that peninsula.^ 
 
 In the common opposition, made by so many of the 
 Grecian cities, to the attack of Xerxes, the want of a general 
 leader was felt; but according to the Grecian rules, this 
 command could not so well be. committed to one man, as to 
 one state. We have already observed, that several laid claims 
 to it ; those of Syracuse were at once rejected ; and Athens 
 was at once prudent and generous enough to yield. At that 
 time, therefore, the honour was nominally conferred on 
 Sparta ; it was actually possessed by the state, of which the 
 talents merited it ; and Sparta had no Themistocles. But 
 Athens soon gained it nominally also ; when the haughtiness 
 of Pausanias exasperated the confederates ; and Sparta was 
 deprived by his fall of the only man, who in those days could 
 have reflected any lustre upon the state.^ 
 
 In this manner, Athens was placed at the head of a large 
 part of Greece, confederated against Persia ; and from this 
 moment its supremacy begins to have a practical importance 
 for Greece. The circumstances under which this chief 
 command was conferred on Athens, showed that nothing 
 
 » Thucyd. i. 18, 76. 
 
 * Of this we have accurate accounts in Thucydides, i. 95. The Spartans, 
 Athenians, and many of the confederates, had undertaken a naval expedition 
 against Cyprus and Byzantium, 470 years before Christ. Offended with Pau- 
 sanias, (who about this time was recalled by Sparta herself,) the allies, 
 especially the lonians, entreated the Athenians, as being of a kindred tribe, 
 to assume the supreme command. Those who were of the Peloponnesus, 
 took no part in this act. The Athenians were very willing to comply with the 
 request; and the confederates never received another Spartan general. From 
 this account, the following points are to be inferred: 1. The Athenians ob- 
 tained the same chief command, which had been exercised by the Spartans. 
 2. The states which conferred that command on Athens, must have been is- 
 lands and maritime towns, as the whole expedition was a naval one. 3. Al- 
 though not all who shared in it were lonians, yet the relationship of tribes 
 had a great influence on the choice. 4. The command conferred on the 
 Athenians, embraced therefore by no means all the Grecian cities, nor even 
 all which had been united against Persia ; as the Peloponnesians expressly 
 withdrew from it, and the other states of the interior took no part in the 
 matter. 
 
 
 THE PERSIAN WARS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 
 
 99 
 
 more was intended to be given, than the conduct of the war 
 that was still to be continued with united efforts ajrainst the 
 Persians. No government of the allied states, no inter- 
 ference in their internal affairs, was intended. But how 
 much was included in the conduct of a war against a very- 
 powerful enemy from the very nature of the office; and how 
 much more for them who knew how to profit by it ! As long 
 as the w^ar against the Persian king was continued, could it 
 be much less than the guidance of all external affairs ? For 
 in a period like that, what other relations could have em- 
 ployed the practical politics of the Greeks. Or if any others 
 existed, were they not at least intimately connected with 
 that war? And as for the grand questions respecting the 
 duration of the war and the conditions of peace, did they not 
 depend on those who stood at the head of the undertaking ? 
 
 The first use which Athens made of this superior com- 
 mand, was the establishment of a general treasury, as well 
 as a common fleet, for the carrying on of the war ; while it 
 was fixed, which of the allies should contribute money and 
 ships, and in what proportion. The Athenians, says Thucy- 
 dides,^ now first established the office of treasurers^ of 
 Greece ; who were to collect the tribute, as the sums which 
 were raised were denominated (and names are not matters 
 of indifference in politics); the amount of which was then 
 fixed at four hundred and sixty talents.^ Yet to avoid every 
 thing which could seem odious, the treasury was not directly 
 fixed at Athens, but at Delos, in the temple of Apollo; 
 where the assemblies also were held. But the most import- 
 ant circumstance was, that the most just of the Grecians, 
 Aristides, was appointed treasurer ; and the office of assign- 
 ing to each state its proportion of the general contribution, 
 was intrusted to him.* No one in those days made any 
 complaint ; and Aristides died as poor as he had lived. 
 
 Two remarks are here so naturally suggested, that they 
 hardly need any proof; the first is, that Athens, by means 
 of this regulation, laid the foundation of its greatness ; the 
 second is, that hardly any government, and how much less 
 a popular government, could long withstand the temptation 
 to abuse this power. But a third remark must be made in 
 
 • Thucyd. i. 96. 
 ' Full £72,700. 
 
 * *E\\r]voTafiiai. 
 
 * Plutarch. Aristid. Op. ii. p. 535. 
 n 2 
 
rf 
 
 II 
 
 100 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. viii. 
 
 it 
 
 III 1 1 
 
 connexion with the preceding obsen^ation ; Athens gained 
 the importance which she had for the world, by means of 
 her supremacy over the other states. It was that which 
 made her conspicuous in the history of mankind. The im- 
 portance which she gained was immediately of a political 
 nature ; but every thing of a vast and noble character, for 
 which Athens was distinguished, was inseparably connected 
 with her political greatness. We will disguise no one of the 
 abuses, of which the consequences were finally most fatal 
 to Athens herself; but we cannot limit our view to the 
 narrow range adopted by those, who make the abuses the 
 criterion of their judgment. 
 
 The allies, by committing the conduct of the war to 
 Athens, expressly acknowledged that city to be the first in 
 Greece, and this was silently acknowledged by the other 
 states; for Sparta, which alone was able to rival it in 
 strength, voluntarily withdrew into the background.^ Athens 
 had the consciousness of deserving this rank ; for the free- 
 dom of Greece had had its origin there. But it was desirous 
 of preserving its high station, not by force alone, but by 
 showing itself to be the first in every thing, which according 
 to the views of the Greeks could render a city illustrious. 
 Its temples were now to be the most splendid ; its works of 
 art the noblest ; its festivals and its theatres the most beau- 
 tiful and the most costly. But for the supremacy of Athens, 
 Pericles never could have found there a sphere of action 
 worthy of himself; no Phidias, no Polygnotus, no Sophocles 
 could have flourished. For the public spirit of the Athenian 
 proceeded from the consciousness, that he was the first 
 among the Grecians; and nothing but that public spirit 
 could have encouraged and rewarded the genius, which was 
 capable of producing works like theirs. Perhaps their very 
 greatness prepared the fall of Athens ; but if they were 
 doomed to suffer for it, the gratitude due to them from 
 mankind, is not on that account diminished. 
 
 The supremacy of Athens was, as the nature of the whole 
 confederation makes apparent, immediately connected with 
 its naval superiority ; for the allied states were all islands or 
 maritime cities. Thus the expressions of supreme command 
 Qj^cfiovia) and dominion of the sea,^ that is, the dominion of 
 
 » Thucyd. i. 95. 
 
 * QaXaffffOKparia* 
 
 THE PERSIAN WARS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. lOl 
 
 the JEgeQ.n and Ionian seas, (for the ambition of the Athe- 
 nians extended no fiarther,) came to signify the same thing. 
 This dominion of the sea was therefore, in its origin, not 
 only not blamabl^, but absolutely essential to the attainment 
 of the object proposed. The security of the Greeks against 
 the attacks of the Persians depended on it ; and so too did 
 the continuance of the confederacy. We cannot acquit 
 Athens of the charge of having afterwards abused her naval 
 superiority ; but he who considers the nature of such alli- 
 ances and the difficulty of holding them together, will con- 
 cede, that in practice it would be almost impossible to avoid 
 the appearance of abusing such a supremacy ; since the 
 same things which to one party seem an abuse, in the eyes 
 of the other are only the necessary means to secure the end. 
 When the sea was made secure, and no attack was further 
 to be feared from the Persians, — how could it be otherwise, 
 than that the continuance of the war, and consequently the 
 contributions made for that purpose, should be to many of 
 them unnecessarily oppressive ? And how could it be avoid- 
 ed, that some should feel themselves injured, or be actually 
 injured in the contributions exacted of them. The conse- 
 quences of all this were, on the one side a refusal to pay the 
 contributions, and on the other, severity in collecting them;^ 
 and as they continued to be refused, this was considered as 
 a revolt, and wars followed with several of the allies ; at first 
 with the island Naxos;^ then with Thasus,^ with Samos,* 
 and others.* But those who had been overcome, were no 
 longer treated as allies, but as subjects ; and thus the rela- 
 tion of Athens to the several states was different ; for a dis- 
 tinction was made between the voluntary confederates and 
 
 » " The Athenians," says Thucydides, i. 99, " exacted the contributions with 
 severity ; and were the more oppressive to the aUies, as these were unaccus- 
 tomed to oppression." But if the Athenians had not insisted on the payment 
 of them with severity, how soon would the whole confederacy have fallen 
 into ruin. ^ ^ ^ 
 
 * Thucyd. i. 98. « Thucyd. i. 100, 101. * Thucyd. i. 1 16. 
 
 * The difference of the allies, and also the view taken by the Athenians of 
 their supremacy, and of the oppression with which they were charged, 
 are no where more clearly developed, than in the speech of the Athe- 
 nian ambassador in Camarina. Thucyd. vi. 83, etc. "The Chians," says he, 
 " and Methymnaeans (in Lesbos) need only furnish ships. From most of the 
 others, we exact the tribute with severity. Others, though inhabitants of is- 
 lands, and easy to be taken, are yet entirely voluntary aUies, on account of 
 the situation of their islands round the Peloponnesus." 
 
 ^ 
 

 m 
 
 
 102 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. VIII. 
 
 the subjects.* The latter were obliged to pay in money ati 
 equivalent for the ships, which they were bound to furnish; 
 for Athens found it more advantageous to have its ships 
 built in this manner, by itself But the matter did not rest 
 here. The sum of the yearly tribute, fixed under Pericles 
 at four hundred and sixty talents, was raised by Alcibiades^ 
 to six hundred. When, during the Peloponnesian war, 
 Athens suffered from the want of money, the tribute was 
 changed into duties of five per centum on the value of all 
 imported articles, collected by the Athenians in the har- 
 bours of the allies.^ But the most oppressive of all was per- 
 haps the judiciary power, which Athens usurped over the 
 allies ; not merely in the differences, which arose between 
 the states, but also in private suits."* Individuals were obliged 
 to go to Athens to transact their business, and in conse- 
 quence, to the great advantage of the Athenian householders, 
 inn-keepers, and the like, a multitude of foreigners were con- 
 stantly in that city, in order to bring their affairs to an issue. 
 It is therefore obvious, that the nature of the Athenian 
 supremacy was changed. It had been at first a voluntary 
 association, and now it had become, for far the larger num- 
 ber of the states that shared in it, a forced one. That several 
 of the confederates were continually striving to break free 
 from the alliance, has been shown by the examples cited 
 above; but it is easy to perceive, how difficult, or rather 
 how impossible it was, to effect a general union between 
 them against Athens. If they had been desirous of attempting 
 it, how great were the means possessed by Athens, of antici- 
 pating them. Yet there was one moment, when, but for their 
 almost inconceivable want of forethought, an attempt might 
 have justly been expected from them ; and that period was 
 the close of the war with Persia.^ The Greeks framed their 
 articles in the treaty of peace ; and had nothing further to 
 
 ' The avTovofioi and the inrriKooi, both of whom were still bound to pay the 
 taxes (vTroreXeif;:). Manso, in his acute illustration of the Ilerfemonia, Sparta 
 B. iii. Beylage 12, 13, distinguishes three classes ; those who contributed 
 ships, but no money ; those who contributed nothing but money ; and those 
 who were at once subject and tributary. The nature of things seems to re- 
 quire, that it should have been so ; yet Thucydides, vi. 69, makes no difference 
 between the two last. 
 
 ^ Plutarch. Op. ii. p. 535. » Thucyd. vii. 28. 
 
 * See, upon this subject, Xenoph. de Rep. Athen. Op. G94. ed. Leunclav. 
 
 * In the year 449 before Christ j be it that peace was formally concluded 
 
 THE PERSIAN WARS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 
 
 103 
 
 fear from the Persians. The whole object of the confederacy 
 was therefore at an end. And yet we do not hear that any 
 voices were then raised against Athens. On the other side, it 
 may with propriety be asked, if justice did not require of 
 the Athenians, voluntarily to restore to the allies their liberty. 
 But this question will hardly be put by a practical statesman. 
 To free the allies from their subordination would have been 
 to deprive Athens of its splendour ; to dry up a chief source 
 of the revenues of the republic ; perhaps to pave the way to 
 its ruin. What Athenian statesman would have dared to 
 make such a proposition ? Had he made it, could he have 
 carried it through ? Would he not rather have insured his 
 own downfal? There are examples where single rulers, 
 weary of power, have freely resigned it ; but a people never 
 yet voluntarily gave up authority over subject nations. 
 
 Perhaps these remarks may contribute to rectify the 
 judgments of Isocrates,^ in his celebrated accusation of the 
 dominion of the sea;^ which he considered as the source of 
 all the misery of Athens and of Greece. The views which 
 he entertained were certainly just ; but the evils proceeded 
 from the abuses ; and it were just as easy to show, that his 
 celebrated Athens, but for that dominion, never would have 
 afforded him a subject for his panegyrics. 
 
 But how those evils could result from that abuse ; how 
 they prepared the downfal of Athens, when Sparta appeared 
 as the deliverer of Greece ; how the rule of these deliverers, 
 much worse than that of the first oppressors, inflicted on 
 Greece wounds, which were not only deep, but incurable ; 
 in general, the causes which produced the ruin of that 
 country, remain for investigation in one of the later chap- 
 ters, to which we must make our way through some previous 
 researches. 
 
 ' We shall be obliged to recur frequently to Isocrates. It is impossible to 
 read the venerable and aged orator, who was filled with the purest patriotism 
 which a Grecian could feel, without respecting and loving him. But he was 
 a political writer, without being a practical statesman ; and, like St. Pien-e 
 and other excellent men of the same class, he beheved much to be possible 
 which was not so. The historian must consult him with caution. This 
 
 Eanegyrist of antiquity often regarded it in too advantageous a light, and is, 
 esides, little concerned about the accuracy of his historical delineations. 
 * Isocrat. Op. p. 172. ed. Steph. 
 
 or not. 
 
104 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. IX, 
 
 If 
 
 ii 
 
 i|J 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CONSTITUTIONS OF THE GRECIAN STATES. 
 
 In the present chapter, we do not undertake to give an out- 
 line of the several Grecian states ; but rather to delineate 
 the general characteristics of the Grecian forms of govern- 
 ment. Such a general investigation seems the more essen- 
 tial, as, in the obvious impossibility of analyzing each one 
 of them, it will throw light on those, which may hereafter 
 be selected for particular description. 
 
 With respect to a nation, in which every thing that could 
 be done in public, was public ; where every thing great and 
 glorious was especially the result of this public life ; where 
 even private life was identified with that of the public ; 
 where the individual did but live with and for the state' 
 this investigation must have a much higher degree of in- 
 terest, than if it related to any other, in which the line of 
 division is distinctly drawn between public and private life. 
 He who will judge of the Grecians, must be acquainted with 
 the constitutions of their states ; and he must not only con- 
 sider the inanimate forms, as they are taught us by the 
 learned compilers and writers on what are called Grecian 
 antiquities ; but regard them as they were regarded by the 
 Greeks themselves. 
 
 If the remark, which we made above,* that the Grecian 
 states, with few exceptions, were cities with their districts, 
 and their constitutions, therefore, the constitutions of cities ' 
 if this remark needed to be further confirmed, it could be 
 done by referring to the fact, that the Greeks designate the 
 ideas of state and of city, by the same word.^ We must 
 therefore always bear in mind the idea of city constitutions 
 and never forget that those of which we are treating, not 
 only had nothing in common with those of the large em- 
 
 1. *^"w ^^'^P**^ *^°«.^^ ^"^ arrange the separate accounts has been made 
 by K W. Tittman. His work on the Grecian Constitutions proves his in- 
 dustry, and the paucity of the accounts that have come down to us 
 
 * noXif, civitas. Respecting the meaning of irAif, and the difference be- 
 tween voXiq and tQvoQj state and nation^ consult Aristot. PoHt. On ii n 235 
 ed. Cjisaub. * * ' ^' * 
 
 CONSTITUTIONS OF THE GRECIAN STATES. 
 
 105 
 
 / 
 
 pires of modern times, but not even with those of the smaller 
 principalities. If for the sake of giving a distinct represent- 
 ation, we were to compare them with any thing in modern 
 history, we could best compare them, as the character of the 
 Italian cities of the middle age is hardly more familiar than 
 that of the Grecian, with the imperial towns in Germany, 
 especially in the days of their prosperity, previous to the 
 thirty years' war, before they were limited in the freedom 
 of their movements by the vicinity of more powerful mon- 
 archical states ; were it not that the influence of the differ- 
 ence of religion created a dissimilarity. 
 
 And yet this comparison may throw some light on the 
 great variety, which is observed in those states, in spite of 
 the apparent uniformity which existed among the Grecian 
 states, (as all were necessarily similar in some respects,) and 
 which equally existed in those German cities. And the 
 comparison will be still more justified, if we add, that the 
 extent of territory was as different among the Grecian cities, 
 and yet on the whole was nearly the same. There were 
 few, which possessed a larger territory, than formerly be- 
 longed to Ulm or Nuremberg ; but in Greece, as in Ger- 
 many, the prosperity of the city did not depend on the 
 extent of its territory. Corinth hardly possessed a larger 
 district than that of Augsburg; and yet both rose to an 
 eminent degree of opulence and culture. 
 
 But great as this variety in the constitutions may have 
 been, (and we shall illustrate this subject more fully here- 
 after,) they all coincided in one grand point. They all were 
 free constitutions ; that is, they allowed of no rulers, whom 
 the people as a body, or certain classes of the people, could 
 not call to account;^ he, who usurped such authority, was, 
 in the language of the Greeks, a tyrant. In this the idea 
 is contained, that the state shall govern itself; and not be 
 governed by an individual ; and of course a very different 
 view of the state was taken from the modern European no- 
 tion. The view of the Greeks was entirely opposed to that 
 of those modern politicians, who conceive of the state as a 
 mere machine ; and of those also, who would make of it 
 nothing but an institution of police. The Greeks regarded 
 
 » Aristot. Polit. Op. ii. p. 251, 282. The magistrates must be responsible 
 for their administration, virtiewoif as the Greeks expressed it. 
 
M 
 11 
 
 109 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. IX. 
 
 X 
 
 the state, no less than each individual, as a moral person. 
 Moral powers have influence in it, and decide its plans of 
 operation. Hence it becomes the great object of him who 
 would manage a state, to secure to reason the superiority 
 over passion and desire; and the attainment of virtue and 
 morality, is in this sense an object of the state, just as it 
 should be of the individual. 
 
 If with these previous reflections we proceed to investi- 
 gate the laws of the Greeks, they will present themselves to 
 our view in their true light. The constitutions of their 
 cities, like those of the moderns, were framed by necessity, 
 and developed by circumstances. But as abuses are much 
 sooner felt in small states and towns, than in large ones, the 
 necessity of reforms was early felt in many of them ; and 
 this necessity occasioned lawgivers to make their appear- 
 ance, much before the spirit of speculation had been occu- 
 . pied on the subject of politics. The objects therefore of 
 those lawgivers were altogether practical ; and, without the 
 knowledge of any philosophical system, they endeavoured 
 to accomplish them by means of reflection and experience. 
 A commonwealth could never have been conceived of by 
 them, except as governing itself; and on this foundation 
 they rested their codes. It never occurred to them, to look 
 for the means of that self-government, to nothing but the 
 forms of government ; and although those forms were not 
 left unnoticed in their codes, yet they were noticed only to 
 a certain degree. No Grecian lawgiver ever thouglit of 
 abolishing entirely the ancient usage, and becoming, ac- 
 cording to the phrase now in vogue, the framers of a new 
 constitution. In giving laws, they only reformed. Lycur- 
 gus, Solon, and the rest, so far from abolishing what usage 
 had established, endeavoured to preserve every thing which 
 could be preserved ; and only added, in part, several new 
 institutions, and in part made for the existing ones better 
 regulations. If we possessed therefore the whole of the laws 
 of Solon, we should by no means find them to contain a 
 perfect constitution. But to compensate for that, they em- 
 braced, not only the rights of individuals, but also morals, 
 in a much higher degree, than the latter can be embraced 
 in the view of any modern lawgiver. The organization of 
 
 CONSTITUTIONS OF THE GRECIAN STATES. 
 
 107 
 
 private life, and hence the education of youth,^ on which the 
 prevalence and continuance of good morals depend, formed 
 one of their leading objects. They w^ere deeply convinced, 
 that that moral person, the state, would otherwise be in- 
 capable of governing itself. To this it must be added, that 
 in these small commonwealths, in these towns with their 
 territories, many regulations could be made and executed, 
 which could not be put into operation in a powerful and 
 widely extended nation. Whether these regulations were 
 always good, and always well adapted to their purpose, is 
 quite another question ; it is our duty at present to show, 
 from what point of view those lawgivers were accustomed to 
 regard the art of regulating the state, and the means of pre- 
 serving and directing it." 
 
 Whenever a commonwealth or city governs itself, it is a 
 fundamental idea, that the supreme power resides with its 
 members, with the citizens. But it may rest with the citi- 
 zens collectively, or only with certain classes, or perhaps 
 only with certain families. Thus there naturally arose 
 among the Greeks that difference, which they designated by 
 the names of Aristocracies and Democracies ; and to one of 
 these two classes, they referred all their constitutions. But 
 it is not easy to draw a distinct line between the two. When 
 we are speaking of the meaning which they bore in practi- 
 cal politics, we must beware of taking them in that signifi- 
 cation, which was afterwards given them by the speculative 
 politicians, by Aristotle^ and others. In their practical 
 politics, the Greeks no doubt connected certain ideas with 
 those denominations ; but the ideas were not very distinctly 
 defined ; and the surest way of erring would be, to desire 
 to define them more accurately than was done by the Greeks 
 themselves. The fundamental idea of the democratic con- 
 stitution was, that all citizens, as such, should enjoy equal 
 
 » Aristot. Polit. Op. ii. p. 301, 336. - 
 
 ^ This taken together, forms what the Greeks called political science — 
 
 ' If here, in investigating the practical meaning of those words, we can 
 make no use of the theoretical definitions of Aristotle in his Politics, we 
 would not by any means give up the right of citing him as of authority in the 
 history of the Greek constitutions, in so far as he himself speaks of them. 
 And whose testimony on these subjects deserves more weight than that of 
 the man, who, in a work which has unfortunately been lost, described and 
 analyzed all the known forms of government of his time, two hundred and 
 fifty-five in number. 
 
m ■ "i^ii'ijiiiiiliii^^ 
 
 u 
 
 I 1 
 
 108 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. iz. 
 
 rights in the administration of the state ; and yet a perfect 
 equality existed in very few of the cities. This equality 
 was commonly limited to a participation in the popular as- 
 semblies and the courts.^ A government did not cease to be 
 a democracy, though the poorer class were entirely excluded 
 from all magistracies, and their votes of less weight in the 
 popular assemblies. On the other hand, an aristocracy al- 
 ways pre-supposed exclusive privileges of individual classes 
 or families. But these were very different and various. 
 There were hereditary aristocracies, where, as in Sparta, the 
 highest dignities continued in a few families. But this was 
 seldom the case. It was commonly the richer and more 
 distinguished class, which obtained the sole administration 
 of the state ; and it was either wealth, or birth, or both to- 
 gether, that decided.- But wealth consisted not so much 
 in money, as in land ; and it was estimated by real estate. 
 This wealth was chiefly exhibited, in ancient times, in the 
 sums expended on horses. Those whose means were suffi- 
 cient, constituted the cavalry of the citizens; and these 
 formed the richer part of the soldiery, which consisted only 
 of citizens or militia. It is therefore easy to understand, how 
 it was possible that the circumstance, whether the district 
 of a city possessed much pasture land, could have had so 
 much influence, in practical politics, on the formation of the 
 constitution.^ It was therefore these nobles, the Eupatrida? 
 and Optimates, who, though they did not wholly exclude 
 the people from a share in the legislation, endeavoured to 
 secure to themselves the magistracies, and the seats in the 
 courts of justice ; and wherever this was the case, there was 
 what the Greeks termed an aristocracy.* 
 
 In cities, where wealth is for the most part measured by 
 possessions in lands, it is almost unavoidable that not only a 
 class of great proprietors should rise up ; but that this in- 
 equality should constantly increase; and landed estates 
 
 ' Aristot. Polit iii. I. 
 
 * Aristot. Polit. iv. 5. 
 
 » Aristotle cites examples of it in Eretria, Chalcis, and other cities. Polit. 
 iv. 3. 
 
 * Oligarchy was distinguished from this. But though both words were in 
 use, no other line can be drawn between them, than the greater or smaller 
 number of Optimates, who had the government in their hands. That this 
 remark is a true one appears from the definitions, to which Aristotle, Polit. 
 iii. 7» is obliged to have recourse, in order to distinguish them. 
 
 CONSTITUTIONS OF THE GRECIAN STATES. 
 
 109 
 
 come finally into the hands of a few families.* In an age 
 when there were much fewer mechanic professions, and 
 when those few were carried on chiefly by slaves, the con- 
 sequences of this inequality were much more oppressive ; 
 and it was therefore one of the chief objects of the lawgivers, 
 either to prevent this evil, or, where it already existed, to 
 remedy it ; as otherwise a revolution of the state would 
 sooner or later have inevitably followed. In this manner 
 we may understand why a new and equal division of the 
 land among the citizens was made;^ why the acquisition 
 of lands by purchase or gift was forbidden, and only per- 
 mitted in the way of inheritance and of marriage;^ why a 
 limit was fixed to the amount of land, which a single citizen 
 could possess.* But with all these and other similar pre- 
 cautions, it was not possible to hinder entirely the evil, 
 against which they were intended to guard; and hence were 
 prepared the causes of those numerous and violent commo- 
 tions, to which all the Grecian states were more or less 
 exposed. 
 
 In the constitutions of cities, however they may be form- 
 ed, the right of citizenship is the first and most important. 
 He who does not possess it, may perhaps live in the city 
 under certain conditions, and enjoy the protection of its 
 laws ; ^ but he is not, properly speaking, a member of the 
 state ; and can enjoy neither the same rights, nor the same 
 respect, as the citizen. The regulations, therefore, respecting 
 sharing in the right of citizenship, were necessarily strict ; 
 but they were very different in the several Grecian cities. 
 In some, the full privileges of citizenship were secured, if 
 both the parents had been citizens;^ in others, it was ne- 
 cessary to trace such a descent through two or three gener- 
 ations ;^ whilst in others, no respect was had, except to the 
 descent from the mother.® There were some cities which 
 very rarely and with diflSculty could be induced to confer 
 
 ' This was the case in Thurii, Aristot. Polit. v. 7. 
 
 * As in Sparta, by the laws of Lycurgus. 
 
 ■ As in Sparta, and also among the Locrians, Aristot. Polit. ii. 7- 
 
 * Aristot. 1. c. 
 
 * These furoiKoit inquilini, were formed in almost all the Grecian cities. It 
 was common for them to pay for protection, and to bear other civil burdens. 
 
 * As, for example, at Athens. 
 
 ' As in Larissa, Aristot. Polit. iii. 2. So too in Massilia. 
 " Aristot. Polit. iii. 5. 
 
no 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. IX. 
 
 the right of citizenship ; whilst in others foreigners were ad- 
 mitted to it with readiness. In these cases, accidental cir- 
 cumstances not unfrequently decided ; and the same city 
 was sometimes compelled to exchange its early and severe 
 principles, for milder ones, if the number of the ancient citi- 
 zens came to be too small.^ In colonies, the milder principles 
 were of necessity followed ; since there might arrive from 
 the mother country a whole company of new emigrants, 
 whom it would either be impossible or inexpedient to reject. 
 And hence we may explam what is so frequently observable 
 in the colonies, that the wards of the citizens were divided 
 according to their arrival from the different mother coun- 
 tries; one of the most fruitful sources of internal commotions, 
 and even of the most violent political revolutions.^ 
 
 In free cities, the constitution and the administration are 
 always connected in an equally eminent degree with the di- 
 vision of the citizens. But here again we find a vast differ- 
 ence among the Greeks. We first notice those states, which 
 made a distinction in the privileges of the inhabitants of the 
 chief town, and of the villages and country. There were 
 some Grecian states, where the inhabitants of the city en- 
 joyed great privileges ; and the rest of their countrymen 
 stood in a subordinate relation to them ;^ whilst in others 
 there was no distinction of rights between the one and the 
 other.* The other divisions of the citizens were settled 
 partly by birth, according to the ward to which a man hap- 
 pened to belong;^ partly from his place of residence, 
 according to the district in which he resided f and partly 
 from property or the census, according to the class in which 
 he was reckoned. Though not in all, yet in many states, 
 the ward, and the place of residence, were attached to the 
 name of each individual ; which was absolutely necessary in 
 a nation that had no family names, or where they at least 
 were not generally introduced. There is no need of men- 
 
 ' Thus at Athens, Clisthenes received a large number of foreigners into the 
 class of citizens. Aristot. iii. 2. 
 
 * Examples of it at Sybaris, Thurium, Byzantium, and other places are 
 cited, Aristotle, Polit. v. 3. 
 
 ' Hence in Laconia, the difference between Spartans and Lacedsemonians 
 (TrtpiMKoi). So also in Crete and in Argos. 
 
 * As at Athens. 
 
 * According to the <f>if\ai (or wards). 
 
 * According to the Srjfioi (or cantons). 
 
 CONSTITUTIONS OF THE GRECIAN STATES. 
 
 Ill 
 
 tioning how important was the difference in fortune; as 
 the proportion of the public burden to be borne by each 
 one was decided according to his wealth ; and the kind of 
 service to be required in war, whether in the cavaliy or the 
 infantry, and whether in heavy or light armour, was regu- 
 lated by the same criterion ; as will ever be the case in coun- 
 tries, where there is no other armed force than the militia 
 formed of the citizens. 
 
 On these divisions of the citizens, the organization of 
 their assemblies (eKK\ri(Ti'ai) was founded. These assemblies, 
 which were a natural result of city governments, were, ac- 
 cording to the views of the Greeks, so essential an institu- 
 tion, that they probably existed in every Grecian city, 
 though not always under the same regulations. Yet the 
 manner in which they were held in every city except Athens 
 and Sparta, is almost wholly unknown to us. The nature of 
 the case required, that the manner in which they were to be 
 held, should every where be established by rule. It was the 
 custom to give to but one magistrate the right of convoking 
 and opening them.* But we do not know in what manner 
 the votes were taken in the several cities, whether merely by 
 polls, or by the wards and other divisions of the people. 
 And in this, too, there was a great difference, whether all 
 citizens had the right of voting, or whether a certain census 
 was first requisite.^ In most of the cities, regular assemblies 
 on fixed days, and extraordinary meetings also, appear to 
 have been held.^ To attend was regarded as the duty of 
 every citizen ; and as the better part were apt to remain 
 away, especially in stormy times, absence was often made a 
 punishable offence.* It may easily be supposed, that the 
 decisions were expressed in an established form, written 
 down and preserved, and sometimes engraved on tables. 
 But although the forms were fixed, the subjects which might 
 come before the assembly were by no means so clearly de» 
 fined. The principle which was acted upon was, that sub- 
 
 ' In the heroic age, it was the privilege of the kings to convoke the 
 assembly. See above, in the fourth chapter. 
 
 ^ That a great variety prevailed in this respect, is clear from Aristot. Polit, 
 iv. 13. 
 
 This was the case in Athens and Sparta. 
 
 * This is the case, says Aristotle, Polit. iv. 13, in the oligarchic, or aristo- 
 cratical cities ; while on the contrary, in the democratic, the poor were well 
 paid for appearing in the assemblies. 
 
Ills 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. IX. 
 
 jects which were important for the community, were to be 
 brought before it. But how uncertain is the very idea of 
 what is or is not important. How much, too, depends on 
 the form which the constitution has taken at a certain period; 
 whether the power of the senate, or of certain magistrates 
 preponderates. We find even in the history of Rome, that 
 questions of the utmost interest to the people, questions of 
 war and peace, were sometimes submitted to the people, and 
 sometimes not. No less considerable difference prevailed in 
 the Grecian cities. Yet writers are accustomed to compre- 
 hend the subjects belonging to the common assemblies in 
 three grand classes.^ The first embraces legislation; for 
 what the Greeks called a law, (v6fio9,) was always a decree 
 passed or confirmed by the commons; although it isdiflScult, 
 we should rather say impossible, to define with accuracy 
 the extent of this legislation. The second embraces the 
 choice of magistrates. This right, although not all magis- 
 trates were appointed by election, was regarded, and justly 
 regarded, as one of the most important privileges. For the 
 power of the commons is preserved by nothing more effec- 
 tually, than by making it necessary for those who would 
 obtain a place, to apply for it to them. The third class was 
 formed by the popular courts of justice, which, as we shall 
 hereafter take occasion to show, were of the highest import- 
 ance as a support of the democracy. 
 
 The consequences which the discussion and the decision 
 of the most important concerns in the assemblies of the 
 whole commons must inevitably have had, are so naturally 
 suggested, that they hardly need to be illustrated at large. 
 How could it have escaped those lawgivers, that to intrust 
 this unlimited power to the commons, was not much less 
 than to pave the way for the rule of the populace, if we in- 
 clude under that name the mass of indigent citizens ? 
 
 The most natural means of guarding against this evil, 
 would without doubt have been the choice of persons, pos- 
 sessed of plenary powers, to represent the citizens. But it 
 is obvious, that the system of representation has the least 
 opportunity of coming to perfection in city governments. 
 It is the fruit of the enlarged extent of states ; where it is 
 
 ' The chief passage on this subject is in Aristot. Polit. iv. 14. 
 
 i 
 
 , 
 
 CONSTITUTIONS OF THE GRECIAN STATES. 
 
 118 
 
 impossible for all to meet in the assemblies. But in cities 
 with a narrow territory, what could lead to such a form ; 
 since neither distance nor numbers made it diflScult for the 
 citizens to appear personally in the assemblies. It is true, 
 that the alliances of several cities, as of the Boeotian or the 
 Achaean, led to the idea of sending deputies to the assem- 
 blies ; but in those meetings, the internal affairs of the con- 
 federates were never discussed ; they were reserved for the 
 consideration of each city ; and the deliberations of the 
 whole body related only to general affairs with respect to 
 foreign relations. But a true system of representation can 
 never be formed in that manner ; the true sphere of action 
 of a legislative body, is to be found in the internal affairs of 
 the nation. 
 
 It was therefore necessary to think of other means of 
 meeting the danger apprehended from the rule of the popu- 
 lace; and those means were various. Aristotle expressly 
 remarks,' that there were cities, in which no general assem- 
 blies of the citizens were held ; and only such citizens ap- 
 peared, as had been expressly convoked or invited. These 
 obviously formed a class of aristocratic governments. But 
 even in the democracies, means ^ were taken, partly to have 
 the important business transacted in smaller divisions, before 
 the commons came to vote upon it ; partly to limit the sub- 
 jects which were to be brought before them; partly to 
 reserve the revision, if not of all, yet of some of the decrees, 
 to another peculiar board ; and partly, and most frequently, 
 to name another deliberate assembly, whose duty it was to 
 consider every thing which was to come before the com- 
 mons, and so far to prepare the business, that nothing re- 
 mained for the commons, but to accept or reject the 
 measures proposed. 
 
 This assembly was called by the Greeks, a council (fiovXy). 
 We are acquainted with its internal regulations only at 
 Athens; but there is no reason to doubt that in several Grecian 
 states, a similar assembly existed under the same name.^ If 
 
 * Aristot. Polit. iii. J. A similar regulation existed in several Gennan im- 
 perial towns ; as, for example, in Bremen, where the most distinguished 
 citizens were invited by the senate to attend the convention of citizens ; and 
 of course no uninvited person made his appearance. It is to be regretted, 
 that Aristotle has cited no Grecian city as an example. 
 
 * See in proof what follows, Aristot. Polit. iv. 14, Op. ii. p. 286. 
 
 * As at Argos and Mantinea, Thucyd. v. 47, So too in Chios, Thucyd. viii. 14. 
 
Ul 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. IX. 
 
 CONSTITUTIONS OF THE GRECIAN STATES. 
 
 115r 
 
 we may draw inferences respecting its nature in other states 
 from what it was at Athens, it consisted of a numerous com- 
 mittee of the citizens annually chosen ; its members, taken 
 after a fixed rule from each of the corporations, were chosen 
 by lot ; but they could not become actual members without 
 a previous examination. For in no case was it of so much 
 importance as here, to effect the exclusion of all but honest 
 men ; who, being themselves interested in the preservation 
 of the state and its constitution, might decide on the busi- 
 ness presented to them, with prudence and moderation. In 
 Athens, at least, the greatest pains were taken with the in- 
 ternal oi^anization of this body ; so that it seems to us, as 
 will appear from the investigations respecting this state, to 
 have been almost too artificial. Regulations, similar in 
 kind, though not exactly the same, were probably established 
 in the other cities, where similar wants and circumstances 
 prevailed. It is easy to perceive, that the preservation of 
 the internal liberties of such a body against the encroach- 
 ments of parties and too powerful individuals, made such 
 regulations essential. It was probably to promote this end, 
 that the appointments to the council were made only for the 
 year.^ It prevented the committee from becoming a faction, 
 and thus assuming the whole administration of the state. 
 But beside this, another great advantage was gained ; for in 
 this manner, by far the larger number of distinguished and 
 upright citizens, became acquainted with the affairs and the 
 government of the state. 
 
 In other cities, instead of this annual council, there was 
 a senate (yepova/a), which had no periodical change of its 
 members, but formed a permanent board. Its very name 
 expresses that it was composed of the elders ; and what was 
 more natural, than to look for good counsel to the experi- 
 ence of maturity ? The rule respecting age may have been 
 very different in the several cities, and perhaps in many no 
 rule on the subject existed. But in others, it was enforced 
 with rigorous accuracy. The immediate object was to have 
 in it a board of counsel ; but its sphere of action was by no 
 means so limited. In Sparta, the assembly of elders had its 
 place by the side of the kings. The senate of Corinth is 
 
 * This explains why Aristotle, Polit. iv. 15, calls the /3ovXi; an institution 
 favourable to the fonn of government. 
 
 mentioned under the same name ; * that of Massilia^ under 
 a different one, but its members held their places for life ; 
 and in how many other cities may there have been a coun- 
 cil of elders, of which history makes no mention, just as it 
 is silent respecting the internal regulations in those just 
 enumerated.^ Even in cities which usually had no such 
 senate, an extraordinary one was sometimes appointed in 
 extraordinary cases, where good advice was needed. This 
 took place in Athens after the great overthrow in Sicily.* 
 
 Besides an assembly of citizens, or town meeting, and a 
 senate, a Grecian city had its magistrates. Even the ancient 
 politicians were perplexed to express with accuracy the 
 idea of magistrates.^ For not all to whom public business 
 was committed by the citizens, could be called magistrates ; 
 for otherwise the ambassadors and priests would have be- 
 longed to that class. In modern constitutions, it is not sel- 
 dom difficult to decide, who ought to be reckoned in the 
 number of magistrates, as will be apparent from calling to 
 mind the inferior officers. But no important misunder- 
 standing can arise, if we are careful to affix to the word the 
 double idea of possessing a part of the executive power ; 
 and of gaining, in consequence of the importance of the 
 business intrusted to them, a higher degree of considera- 
 tion than belonged to the common citizen. 
 
 In the republican constitutions of the Greeks a second 
 idea was attached to that of a magistracy ; it was necessary 
 to call every magistrate to account respecting the affairs of 
 his office.^ He who went beyond this rule, ceased to be a 
 magistrate and became a tyrant. The magistrate was there- 
 
 * Plutarch. Op. ii. p. 177. ' Strabo, iii. p. 124. 
 
 ■ There was perhaps no one Grecian city, in which such a council did not 
 exist, for the nature of things made it almost indispensable. They were most 
 commonly called /3ovXi) and yipovaia, and these words may often have been 
 confounded. For although the ^v\n in Athens was a body chosen from the 
 citizens but for a year, and the yepovaia of Sparta was a permanent council, 
 we cannot safely infer, that the terms, when used, always implied such a dif- 
 ference. In Crete, e. g. the council of elders was called /3ot;Xi|, according to 
 Aristot. Polit. ii. 10, though in its organization it resembled the y&povaia of 
 Sparta. 
 
 * Thucyd. viii. i. 
 
 * See, on this subject, Aristot. Polit. iv. 15. The practical politicians, no 
 less than the theorists, were perplexed in defining the word. An important 
 passage may be found in ^Eschin. in Ctesiphont. iii. p. 397, etc., ReisK. 
 
 * They were of necessity vrnvOwct. Aristot. Polit. ii. 12. 
 
 I 2 
 
 ** 
 
116 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. IX. 
 
 fore compelled to recognise the sovereignty of the people. 
 This certainly implied, that an account was to be given to 
 the commons ; but as in such constitutions not every thing 
 was systematically established, there were some states, in 
 which separate boards, as that of the Ephori in Sparta, 
 usurped the right of calling the magistrates to account/ 
 
 In the inquiry respecting magistrates, says Aristotle,* 
 several questions are to be considered : How many magis- 
 trates there are, and how great is their authority? How 
 long they continue in office, and whether they ought to 
 continue long ? Further, — Who ought to be appointed ? 
 and by whom ? and how ? These are questions, which of 
 themselves show, that republican states are had in view ; 
 and which lead us to anticipate that great variety, which 
 prevailed on these points in the Grecian constitutions. 
 We desire to treat first of the last questions. 
 
 According to the whole spirit of the Grecian constitu- 
 tions, it cannot be doubted, that their leading principle 
 was, that all magistrates must be appointed by the people. 
 The right of choosing the magistrates was always regarded, 
 and justly regarded, as an important part of the freedom of 
 a citizen.' But although this principle was predominant, 
 it still had its exceptions. There were states, in which the 
 first offices were hereditary in certain families.* But as we 
 have already taken occasion to observe, this was a rare case ; 
 and where one magistracy was hereditary, all the rest were 
 elective ; at Sparta, though the royal dignity was heredi- 
 tary, the Ephori were chosen. But beside the appointment 
 by election, the custom very commonly prevailed of ap- 
 pointing by lot. And our astonishment is very justly excited 
 by this method, which not unfrequently commits to chance 
 the appointment to the first and most weighty employments 
 in the state. But even in several of the German imperial 
 towns, the lot had an important share in the appointment 
 to offices. It is uninfluenced by favour, birth, and wealth. 
 And therefore the nomination of magistrates by lot, was 
 
 ' There were magistrates appointed on purpose, called (vOvvoXoyiarai. Aris- 
 tot. Polit. vi. 8. 
 
 * Aristot. Polit. iv. 15. 
 
 * Aristot. Polit. ii. 12. Mij^i yAp tovtoVj tcv rdc apyl/Ag aipttcOat Kai tifOivnVf 
 Kvptog uv 6 ^^/jo;, SovXoQ av ctq koI TroXI/iiog. 
 
 * As the kings in Sparta. 
 
 CONSTITUTIONS OF THE GRECIAN STATES. 
 
 117 
 
 considered by the Grecian politicians, as the surest charac- 
 teristic of a democracy.^ But where the appointment was left 
 to be decided by that method, the decision was not always 
 made solely by it. He on whom the lot fell, could still be 
 subjected to a severe examination, and very frequently was 
 so. And where some places were filled in this way, it was 
 by no means pursued in the appointment to all. 
 
 But in the election, also, the greatest differences prevailed ; 
 since sometimes all classes, and sometimes only particular 
 ones, took part in them.^ To admit all citizens to vote, is 
 one of the chief characteristics of a democracy ; and we 
 know this was done not only in Athens, but in many other 
 cities. But when the aristocratic and democratic party had 
 once become distinct, endeavours were almost inevitably 
 made to exclude the mass of the people from any share in 
 the elections. For the aristocrat found nothing more hu- 
 miliating, than to approach the common citizen as a suppli- 
 ant, before he could arrive at places of honour. Where the 
 first step succeeded, the second soon followed ; and the 
 magistrates themselves supplied any vacant places in their 
 board. This, says Aristotle,^ is the peculiar mark of oli- 
 garchy, and leads almost always to revolutions in the states. 
 
 And who was eligible to office ? This question is still 
 more important than that respecting the electors ; and an 
 equally great difference prevailed on this point in the vari- 
 ous states. The maxim, that men, to whom the control of 
 the public affairs should be committed, must not only pos- 
 sess sufficient capacity, but must also be interested in the 
 support of existing forms, is so obvious, that the principle 
 of excluding the lower orders of the people from participat- 
 ing in the magistracies, could hardly seem otherwise than 
 judicious and necessary.* But when it was adopted, it 
 could seldom be preserved. When a state became flourish- 
 ing and powerful, the people felt itself to be of more im- 
 portance ;^ and it was not always flattery of the populace, 
 which in such times induced its leaders to abolish those 
 restrictive laws, but a conviction of the impossibility of 
 
 ' Aristot. Polit. iv. 15. 
 
 * Aristotle, 1. c, classifies these varieties. ' Aristot. 1. c. 
 
 * That not only Solon, but other lawgivers, had adopted this regulation, is 
 remarked by Aristotle, Polit. iii. 1 1 . 
 
 * See, on this subject also, Aristot. 1. c. 
 
 m 
 
 /: 
 
116 
 
 ANCIENT OinCE. 
 
 [chap. IX. 
 
 CONSTITUTIONS OF THE GRECIAN STATES. 
 
 117 
 
 fore compelled to recognise the sovereignty of the people. 
 This certainly implied, that an account was to be given to 
 the commons; but as in such constitutions not every thmg 
 WM systematically established, there were some states, m 
 which separate boards, as that of the Ephori m Sparta, 
 usurped tbe right of calling the magistrates to account. ^ 
 
 In the inquiry respecting magistrates, says Aristotle, 
 several questions are to be considered : How many magis- 
 trates there are, and how great is their authority ? How 
 lonff they continue in office, and whether they ought to 
 continue long ? Further,-Who ought to be appointed ? 
 and by whom ? and how ? These are questions, which of 
 themselves show, that republican states are had m view ; 
 and which lead us to anticipate that great variety, which 
 prevailed on these points in the Grecian constitutions. 
 We desire to treat first of the last questions. 
 
 According to the whole spirit of the Grecian constitu- 
 tions, it cannot be doubted, that their leading principle 
 was, that all magistrates must be appointed by the people. 
 The right of choosing the magistrates was always regarded, 
 and justly regarded, as an important part of the freedom of 
 a citizen.' But although this principle was predominant, 
 it still had its exceptions. There were states, m which the 
 first offices were hereditary in certain families.* But as we 
 have already taken occasion to observe, this was a rare case ; 
 and where one magistracy was hereditary, all the rest were 
 elective ; at Sparta, though the royal dignity was heredi- 
 tary, the Ephori were chosen. But beside the appointment 
 by election, the custom very commonly prevailed of ap- 
 pointing by lot. And our astonishment is very justly excited 
 by this method, which not unfrequently commits to chance 
 the appointment to the first and most weighty employments 
 in the state. But even in several of the German imperial 
 towns, the lot had an important share in the appointment 
 to offices. It is uninfluenced by favour, birth, and wealth. 
 And therefore the nomination of magistrates by lot, was 
 
 * There were magistrates appointed on purpose, called (v9wo\oyi(rrm. Aris- 
 tot. Polit. vi. 8. 
 
 * Aristot. Polit. iv. 15. , ^ . ,^^ 
 
 * Aristot. Polit. ii. 12. Mn^i yAp rovrov, tov tAq ap>l/AQ ai^iicOai Kai tvevviiv, 
 gOptOi Mv 6 iriftoCi dovXoQ &v f ci} rat "KoXifiiOQ, 
 
 * As the kings in Sparta. 
 
 considered by the Grecian politicians, as the surest charac- 
 teristic of a democracy.^ But where the appointment was left 
 to be decided by that method, the decision was not always 
 made solely by it. He on whom the lot fell, could still be 
 subjected to a severe examination, and very frequently was 
 so. And where some places were filled in this way, it was 
 by no means pursued in the appointment to all. 
 
 But in the election, also, the greatest differences prevailed ; 
 since sometimes all classes, and sometimes only particular 
 ones, took part in them.^ To admit all citizens to vote, is 
 one of the chief characteristics of a democracy ; and we 
 know this was done not only in Athens, but in many other 
 cities. But when the aristocratic and democratic party had 
 once become distinct, endeavours were almost inevitably 
 made to exclude the mass of the people from any share in 
 the elections. For the aristocrat found nothing more hu- 
 miliating, than to approach the common citizen as a suppli- 
 ant, before he could arrive at places of honour. Where the 
 first step succeeded, the second soon followed ; and the 
 magistrates themselves supplied any vacant places in their 
 board. This, says Aristotle,^ is the peculiar mark of oli- 
 garchy, and leads almost always to revolutions in the states. 
 
 And who was eligible to office ? This question is still 
 more important than that respecting the electors ; and an 
 equally great difference prevailed on this point in the vari- 
 ous states. The maxim, that men, to whom the control of 
 the public affairs should be committed, must not only pos- 
 sess sufficient capacity, but must also be interested in the 
 support of existing forms, is so obvious, that the principle 
 of excluding the lower orders of the people from participat- 
 ing in the magistracies, could hardly seem otherwise than 
 judicious and necessary.* But when it was adopted, it 
 could seldom be preserved. When a state became flourish- 
 ing and powerful, the people felt itself to be of more im- 
 portance ;* and it was not always flattery of the populace, 
 which in such times induced its leaders to abolish those 
 restrictive laws, but a conviction of the impossibility of 
 
 ' Aristot. Polit. iv. 15. 
 
 * Aristotle, 1. c., classifies these varieties. ■ Aristot. 1. c. 
 
 * That not only Solon, but other lawgivers, had adopted this regulation, is 
 remarked by Aristotle, Polit. iii. 11. 
 
 * See, on this subject also, Aristot. 1. c. 
 
 i ij-ti 
 
 X 
 
118 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. IX. 
 
 maintaining them. In an individual case, such an unlimited 
 freedom of choice can become very injurious ; but it is, on 
 the whole, much less so than it appears to be ; and the re- 
 strictions are apt to become pernicious. If it be birth 
 which forms the limiting principle, if a man must belong to 
 certain families in order to gain an office, it would be made 
 directly impossible for men of talents to obtain them ; and 
 this has often produced the most violent revolutions. If for- 
 tune be made the qualification,^ this is in itself no criterion 
 of desert. If it be age, want of energy is too often con- 
 nected with riper experience. 
 
 In most of the Grecian cities, there certainly existed a 
 reason, why regard should be had to wealth ; because that 
 consisted almost always in real estate. But where the poor 
 were excluded by no restrictive laws, they were obliged of 
 their own accord to retire from most of the magistracies. 
 These offices were not lucrative ; on the contrary, consider- 
 able expenses were often connected with them.^ There 
 were no fixed salaries, as in our states ; and the prospect 
 which in Rome in a later period was so inviting to the ma- 
 gistrates, the administration of a province, did not exist in 
 Greece. It was therefore impossible for the poorer class to 
 press forward with e^erness to these oflSces ; in many cities 
 there even existed a necessity of imposing a punishment, if 
 the person elected would not accept the office committed to 
 him.* It was far more the honour and the glory, than the 
 gain, which gave a value to the magistracies. But the hon- 
 our of being the first, or one of the first, among his fellow citi- 
 zens, is for many a more powerful excitement, than that 
 which can be derived from emolument. 
 
 In small republics, no other fear needs be entertained re- 
 specting the offices of magistrates, than lest certain families 
 ^ould gain the exclusive possession of them. This is what 
 the Greeks meant by an oligarchy,* when the number of 
 such families remained small. These were with justice re- 
 garded as a corruption of the constitutions. There may 
 
 * Many places in Aristotle show, that this was the case in a large number 
 of cities ; and under the most various regulations; e. g. iv. 11. 
 
 ' As for banquets, public buildings, festivals, etc. Aristot. Polit. vi. 8. 
 
 * Aristot. Polit. iv. 9. 
 
 * Not only Aristot. iv. 6, but many passages in Thucydides ; as, c. g., 
 viii. 82. 
 
 CONSTITUTIONS OF THE GRECIAN STATES. 
 
 119 
 
 have been exceptions, and we find in history examples, both 
 within and without Greece, where such states have been 
 administered with moderation and wisdom. But more fre- 
 quently experience has shown the contrary result. The 
 precautions taken against this evil by the Grecians, were 
 the same with those adopted in many of the German impe- 
 rial towns ; persons connected by blood, as father and son, 
 or several brothers, could not at the same time be magis- 
 trates.^ Connexions by marriage are no where said to have 
 excluded from oflftce ; on the contrary, it would be easier to 
 find examples of brothers-in-law filling magistracies at the 
 same time.* 
 
 Most of the magistrates were chosen annually ; many for 
 but half a year.^ This frequent renewal had its advan- 
 tages, and also its evils. It is the strongest pillar of the rule 
 of the people ; which is by nothing so much confirmed, as 
 by the frequent exercise of the right of election. This was 
 the point of view taken by the politicians of Greece, when 
 they considered the authority of the people to reside in the 
 elections.* That these frequent elections did not tend to 
 preserve internal tranquillity, is easy to be perceived. But 
 on the other side, the philosopher of Stagira has not failed 
 to remark, that the permanent possession of magistracies 
 might have led to discontent.^ 
 
 An enumeration of the different mao'istracies usual amonsr 
 the (jreeks, is not required by our purpose ; neither would 
 it be possible, as our acquaintance with the several constitu- 
 tions of the cities is incredibly limited.^ The little that wo 
 know of the regulations in the individual states, especially 
 in Athens, proves that the number of such oflices was very 
 considerable ; and the same appears from the classification, 
 which Aristotle has attempted to make of them.^ Their du- 
 ties are commonly indicated by their names ; but these 
 again were entirely different in the various cities, even in 
 cases where the duties were the same. The Cosmi were in 
 Crete what the Ephori were in Sparta. Most of the cities 
 
 ' It was 80 in Massilia and in Cnidus. Aristot. Polit. v. 6. 
 
 ' As Agesilaus and Pisander in Sparta. 
 
 •» Aristot, Polit. iv. 15. * Thucyd. viii. 89. • Aristot. PoUt. ii. 5. 
 
 • See Tittman on the Grecian Constitutions. 
 
 ' See the instructive passage, PoHt. iv. 15. 
 
r^ 
 
 ,J 
 
 I 
 
 1^ 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. IX. 
 
 must have had a magistrate like the Archons in Athens; 
 and yet it would not be easy to find the name in any other. 
 The numerous encroachments made by the lawgivers on 
 domestic life, contributed much to multiply the offices of 
 magistrates and extend their sphere of action. The Grecians 
 had formed no idea of a police, as a general branch of the 
 administration of the state ; but they were acquainted with 
 several of its branches ; and although they had no general 
 board of police, the circumstances just mentioned led them 
 to establish several particular branches; and even some, 
 which are not usual in our times. The superintendence of 
 women, the superintendence of children, was in many cities 
 intrusted to particular magistrates ; * and as the Areopagus 
 of Athens had in general the care of morals, there were un- 
 doubtedly similar tribunals in other Grecian cities. 
 
 Thus then it appears, that amidst an almost infinite variety 
 of forms, assemblies of the citizens, senates, and magistracies, 
 are the institutions which belonged to every Grecian com- 
 monwealth. The preservation of freedom and equality 
 among the commons * formed their chief object. It was not 
 considered unjust to take from any one, of whom it was only 
 feared that he might become dangerous to this freedom, the 
 power of doing injury, by a temporary banishment from the 
 city ; and this took place at Athens and Argos' by ostracism, 
 and by petalism in Syracuse. Nothing can be more jealous 
 than the love of liberty ; and unfortunately for mankind, 
 experience shows but too clearly that it has reason to be so. 
 
 Nevertheless, neither these nor other precautions were 
 able to save the Grecian cities from the usurpations of 
 tyrants, as they were termed. Few cities, in the mother 
 country, and in the colonies, escaped this fate. The Gre- 
 cians connected with this word the idea of an illegitimate, 
 but not necessarily of a cruel government. It was illegiti- 
 mate, because it was not conferred by the commons ; but 
 usurped without, or even against their will. A demagogue, 
 however great his power may have been, was never, as such, 
 denominated a tyrant ; but he received the name, if he set 
 himself above the people ; that is, if he refused to lay before 
 
 ' The yvvaucovofioi and the vaiiovoiiot. Aristot. 1. c. 
 
 ' The avrovofiia and iffovofiia. " Aristot. Polit. v. 3. 
 
 CONSTITUTIONS OF THE GRECIAN STATES. 
 
 121 
 
 the people the account which was due to them.^ The usual 
 support of such an authority, is an armed power, composed 
 of foreigners and hirelings ; which was therefore always re- 
 garded as the sure mark of a tyrant.^ Such a government 
 by no means necessarily implied, that the existing regulations 
 and laws would be entirely set aside. They could continue ; 
 even a usurper needs an administration ; only he raises 
 himself above the laws. The natural aim of these tyrants 
 usually was, to make their power hereditary in their families. 
 But though this happened in many cities, the supreme 
 power was seldom retained for a long time by the same 
 family. It continued longest, says Aristotle,^ in the house 
 of Orthagoras in Sicyon, for as it was very moderate and 
 even popular, it lasted a century ; and for the same causes 
 it was preserved about as long in the house of Cypselus in 
 Corinth. But if it could not be maintained by such means, 
 how could it have been kept up by mere violence and 
 terror ? Where the love of freedom is once so deeply fixed, 
 as it was in the character of the Grecians, the attempts to 
 oppress it only give a new impulse to its defenders. 
 
 And by what criterion shall the historian, who investigates 
 the history of humanity, form his judgment of the worth of 
 these constitutions ? By that, which a modern school, placing 
 the object of the state in the security of person and of pro- 
 perty, desires to see adopted ? We may observe in Greece 
 exertions made to gain that security ; but it is equally clear, 
 that it was, and, with such constitutions, could have been, 
 but imperfectly attained. In the midst of the frequent 
 storms, to which those states were exposed, that tranquillity 
 could not long be preserved, in which men limit their active 
 powers to the improvement of their domestic condition. It 
 does not belong to us to institute inquiries into the correct- 
 ness of those principles ; but experience does not admit of 
 its being denied, that in these, to all appearances, so imper- 
 fect constitutions, every thing, which forms the glory of man, 
 flourished in its highest perfection. It was those very storms, 
 which called forth master spirits, by opening to them a 
 sphere of action. There was no place here for indolence 
 and inactivity of mind; where each individual felt most 
 
 * By desiring to become dwinvOvvoQ. Aristot. Polit. iv. 10. See above, p. xxx. 
 * Aristot. Polit. iil 14. • Aristot, Polit. v. 12. 
 
i 
 
 U2 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [CUAP. IX. 
 
 sensibly, that he existed only through the state and with 
 the state; where every revolution of the state in some 
 measure inevitably affected him ; and the security of per- 
 son and property was necessarily much less firmly estab- 
 lished, than in well-regulated monarchies. We leave to 
 every one to form his own judgment, and select his own 
 criterion ; but we will draw from the whole one general in- 
 ference, that the forms under which the character of the 
 human race can be unfolded, have not been so limited by 
 the hand of the Eternal, as the wisdom of the schools would 
 lead us to believe. 
 
 But whatever may be thought of the value of these con- 
 stitutions, the reflection is forced upon us, that they sur- 
 passed all others in internal variety ; and therefore in no 
 other nation could so great an abundance of political ideas 
 have been awakened, and preserved in practical circulation. 
 Of the hundreds of Grecian cities, perhaps there were no 
 two, of which the constitutions were perfectly alike ; and 
 none, of which the internal relations had not changed their 
 form. How much had been tried in each one of them, and 
 how often had the experiments been repeated ! And did not 
 each of these experiments enrich the science of politics with 
 new results ? Where then could there have been so much 
 political animation, so large an amount of practical know- 
 ledge, as among the Greeks ? If uniformity is, in the political 
 world, as in the regions of taste and letters, the parent of 
 narrowness, and if variety, on the contrary, promotes culti- 
 vation, no nation ever moved in better paths than the 
 Greeks. Although some cities became pre-eminent, no single 
 city engrossed every thing ; the splendour of Athens could 
 as little eclipse Corinth and Sparta, as Miletus and Syracuse. 
 Each city had a life of its own, its own manner of existence 
 and action ; and it was because each one had a conscious- 
 ness of its own value, that each came to possess an inde- 
 pendent worth. 
 
 <J 
 
 POLITICAJL ECONOMY OF THE GREEKS. 
 
 1^3 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE GREEKS. 
 
 The increasing wants of modem states have not only em- 
 ployed practical statesmen, but have led to the formation of 
 many theories, of which the truth and utility are still sub- 
 jects of discussion. Among the ancients, the finances of the 
 nation were not regarded from so high a point of view, and 
 therefore could not have been, in the same degree, an object 
 of speculation. Whether the world has lost by this, or not, 
 is a question which we prefer to leave unanswered. If the 
 ancients knew less of the importance of the division of 
 labour, they were also less acquainted with the doctrine of 
 the modern schools, which transforms nations into productive 
 herds. The Greeks were aware, that men must have pro- 
 ductive arts, if they would live ; but that it is the end of 
 life to be employed in them, never entered their minds. 
 
 But the modern should not look with absolute contempt 
 on the state of political science among the ancients. The 
 chief question now agitated between tneorists and practical 
 statesmen, whether the mere gain in money decides on the 
 wealth of a nation, and should form the object of its industry, 
 was correctly understood and answered by the illustrious 
 Stagirite. " Many," says he,^ "suppose wealth to consist in 
 the abundance of coined money, because it is the object of 
 usury and commerce. Money is of itself without value, and 
 gains its utility only by the law; when it ceases to be current, 
 it loses its value,^ and cannot be employed in the acquisition 
 of necessaries ; and therefore he who is rich in money, may 
 yet be destitute of a necessary support. But it is ridiculous 
 to say, that wealth consists in any thing, of which a man 
 may be possessed, and yet die of hunger ; as the fable relates 
 of Midas, at whose touch every thing became gold."' 
 
 t» 
 
 Aristot. Polit. i. 9. 
 On 
 
 u 
 
 'I rt litTaBifiiviov riHv ^p(i>/iEva)v oifdivh^ d^iov Kal xgiimuov irpbc ovSkv rwv 
 avayKai(ov lari. I refer ypw/iet/fov to cities or states. "Ifthe cities which 
 hitherto made use of it, change it." 
 
 ' Aristotle found in the traditions of Greece, a more suitable example, than 
 that which the French government usually cited respecting the man, who 
 had abundance of gold on a desert island. 
 
124 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. X. 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE GREEKS. 
 
 125 
 
 In a nation, in which private existence was subordinate 
 to that of the pubhc, the industry employed in the increase 
 of wealth, could not gain the exclusive importance which it 
 has with the moderns. With the ancients, the citizen was 
 first anxious for the state, and only next for himself. As 
 long as there is any higher object than the acquisition of 
 money, the love of self cannot manifest itself so fully, as 
 where every more elevated pursuit is wanting. While reli- 
 gion in modern Europe primarily engaged the attention of 
 states, as of individuals, the science of finances could not be 
 fully developed, although pecuniary embarrassment was 
 often very sensibly felt. Men learned to tread under foot 
 the most glorious productions of mind, to trample upon the 
 monuments of moral and intellectual greatness, before they 
 received those theories which assign to the great instructors 
 of mankind in philosophy and in religion, a place in the un- 
 productive class. In the states of Greece, each individual 
 was obliged of himself to say, that his own welfare was con- 
 nected with the welfare of the state ; that his private welfare 
 would be ruined by a revolution in the existing order of 
 things, by the rule of the populace, or by subjection to a 
 foreign power ; that all his industry was of advantage to him 
 only while the state should continue to subsist. Although 
 the patriotism, thus produced, proceeded frequently from 
 selfishness, it had as a consequence, that the exertions of the 
 individual were directed to something besides his private 
 advantage, and that his private welfare was less regarded 
 than that of the public. The times arrived, in which this 
 too was changed ; but they were the precursors of the ruin 
 of liberty. 
 
 There was still another reason, which contributed to make 
 the Greeks regard the arts of industry in general, and some 
 of them in particular, in a very different light from that in 
 which they are now considered. And this was slavery, which 
 was generally prevalent, either under the form of domestic 
 servitude, or, in some states, of villanage. 
 
 To be convinced of this, we need only look at the variety 
 of employments, which were carried on by slaves and vil- 
 lains. Such were all those household duties, which with us 
 are committed to footmen ; and besides them, several other 
 charges, as the superintendence, and, in part, the early edu- 
 
 cation and instruction of children. Vanity, still more than 
 necessity, increased the number of those who were held in 
 bondage, after it became the custom to be served by a nu- 
 merous retinue of beautiful slaves. In the same manner all 
 labours were performed, which are now done by journeymen 
 and lacqueys. Some of the rich Grecians made a business 
 of keeping slaves to let for such services. All kinds of 
 labour in the mines were performed by slaves ; who, as well 
 as the mines, were the property of individual citizens.^ The 
 sailors on board of the galleys consisted, at least in part, of 
 slaves. Most if not all trades were carried^ on by slaves ; 
 who were universally employed in the manufacturing estab- 
 lishments. In these, not only the labourers, but also the 
 overseers were slaves ; for the owners did not even trouble 
 themselves with the care of superintending ; but they farmed 
 the whole to persons, who were perhaps often the overseers 
 also, and from whom they received a certain rent, according 
 to the number of slaves, which they were obliged to keep 
 undiminished.^ In those states where there were slaves 
 attached to the soil, as in Laconia, Messenia, Crete, and 
 Thessaly, agriculture was conducted exclusively by them. 
 In the others, the masters may have bestowed more attention 
 on the subject ; but as the Strepsiades of the comedian 
 shows, they did little more than superintend ; and the work 
 
 was left to the slaves. 
 
 If we put all this together, we shall see how limited 
 were the branches of industry which remained for the 
 free. But the most unavoidable, and at the same time the 
 most important consequence of it was, that all those em- 
 ployments which were committed to slaves, were regarded 
 as mean and degrading ;^ and this view of them was not only 
 confirmed by prevailing prejudices, but expressly sanctioned 
 by the laws. To this class belonged especially the me- 
 chanics, and even the retailers. For although all mechanic 
 employments were by no means conducted by slaves, a shade 
 was thrown on them all. " In well-regulated states," says 
 Aristotle,* " the lower order of mechanics are not even ad- 
 mitted to the rights of citizens ; " and now we cease to 
 
 » Xenoph. de Redit. speaks of this at large. ' See Petit, de Leg. Att. ii. 6. 
 
 * Bavavffoi, artes iUiberales, We have no word which exactly expresses this 
 idea, because we have not the thing itself. 
 
 • Aristot. Polit. iii. 5. 'H St ^ikriarn kSKiq oh irot^ff" ^vavcov iroXiri|v. 
 
 <-* ■ *■ 
 
I 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. X. 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE GREEKS. 
 
 127 
 
 wonder at the proposition of another statesman/ who would 
 commit all mechanic labours to public slaves. This was not 
 merely a theory ; it was once actually put in practice at 
 Epidamnus.*^ In the cities which were democratically 
 governed, the condition of the mechanics was somewhat 
 more favourable. They could become citizens and magis- 
 trates, as at Athens during the period of the democracy.* 
 The inferior branches of trade were not looked upon with 
 much more favour. In Thebes, there was a law, that no one, 
 who within ten years had been engaged in retail dealings, 
 could be elected to a magistracy.* 
 
 As the Grecian cities were very different in character, the 
 ideas which prevailed on this subject could not be the same. 
 In those states where agriculture was the chief employment, 
 the other means of gaining a livelihood may have been des- 
 pised. In maritime and commercial towns, of which the 
 number was very considerable, the business of commerce 
 must have been esteemed. But those who were employed 
 in manufacturing and selling goods, were never able to gain 
 that degree of respectability which they enjoy among 
 modern nations.^ Even in Athens, says Xenophon,^ much 
 would be gained by treating more respectfully and more 
 hospitably the foreign merchants, brought by their business 
 to that city. The income derived from landed estate, was 
 most esteemed by the Greeks. " The best nation," says 
 Aristotle,^ " is a nation of farmers." 
 
 From the little esteem in which the other means of gain- 
 ing a livelihood were held, it followed that a wealthy mid- 
 dling class could not be formed in the Grecian states ; and 
 this is censured by those who have criticised their constitu- 
 tions, as the chief cause of their unsettled condition. But this 
 censure rests, for the most part, on an erroneous representa- 
 tion. It was degrading for a Grecian to carry on any of 
 those kinds of employment with his own hands ; but it by no 
 means lessened his consideration to have them conducted on 
 his account. Workshops and manufactures, as well as mines 
 and lands, could be possessed by the first men in the country. 
 
 ' Phaneas of Chalcedon. Aristot. Polit. ii. 7. 
 
 • Aristot. Polit. 1. c. ' Aristot. Polit. iii. 4. * Aristot. 1. c. 
 
 ' Compare on this subject, first of all, Aristot. Polit. i. 11, where he analyzes 
 and treats of the several branches of industry. 
 
 • Xen. de Redit. Op. p. 922, Leunclav. * Aristot. Polit, vi. 4. 
 
 The father of Demosthenes, a rich and respectable man, lefl 
 at his death a manufactory of swords ; which was kept up 
 by his son ; ^ and examples could be easily multiplied, from 
 the orators and the comedian. When this circumstance is 
 kept in view, the blame attached to the Grecian constitutions 
 is in a great measure, though not entirely removed. The 
 impediments which public opinion put in the way of indus- 
 try, did not so much injure those concerned in any large 
 enterprise, as those engaged in the smaller occupations. 
 The latter did really feel the evil, and we are not disposed 
 to represent it as inconsiderable. 
 
 But we must return once more to the remark which ex- 
 plains the true cause of this regulation ; that in the Grecian 
 states, public life was placed above private life. "All agree," 
 says Aristotle,^ "that in every well-regulated state, sufficient 
 leisure must be preserved from the wants of life for the 
 public business ; but a difference of opinion exists as to the 
 manner in which this can be done. It is effected by means 
 of slaves ; who are not, however, treated in all places alike." 
 Here we have the point of view, from which the politician 
 should consider slavery in Greece. It served to raise the class 
 of citizens to a sort of nobility, especially where they consisted 
 almost entirely of landed proprietors. It is true, that this 
 class lived by the labours of the other ; and every thing, 
 which in modern times has been said respecting and against 
 slavery, may therefore so far be applied to the Grecians. 
 But their fame does not rest on the circumstance of their 
 obtaining that leisure at the expense of the lower order ; but 
 in the application which the noblest of them made of that 
 leisure. No one will deny, that without their slaves, the 
 character of the culture of the upper class in Greece could 
 in no respects have become what it did ; and if the fruits 
 which were borne possess a value for every cultivated mind, 
 we may at least be permitted to doubt, whether they were 
 too dearly purchased by the introduction of slavery.^ 
 
 * Demosth. adv. Aphob. Op. ii. p. 816. ' Aristotle ii. 9. 
 
 ' This may be the more, safely asserted, because it is hardly possible to say 
 any thing in general on the condition of slaves in Greece ; so different was it 
 at different times ; in different countries ; and even in the same country. On 
 this subject I would refer to the following instructive work ; Geschichte und 
 Zustand der Sclaverey und Leibeigcnschaft in Griechenland, von J. F. Reite-. 
 meyer. Berhn, 1789. History and Condition of Slavery and Villanage in 
 Greece, by J. F, Reitemeyer. 
 
t 
 
 
 
 128 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. X. 
 
 The free exertions of industry were in some measure 
 limited by the regulations of which we have spoken ; but in 
 a very different manner from any usual in our times. They 
 were the result of public opinion ; and if they were con- 
 firmed by the laws, this was done in conformity to that 
 opinion. In other respects, the interference of government 
 in the matter was inconsiderable. No efforts were made to 
 preserve the mass of specie undiminished, or to increase it ; 
 nothing was known of the balance of trade ; and conse- 
 quently, all the violent measures resulting from it were 
 never devised by the Greeks. They had duties, as well as 
 the modems; but those duties were exacted only for the 
 sake of increasing the public revenue, not to direct the 
 efforts of domestic industry, by the prohibition of certain 
 wares. There was no prohibition of the exportation of raw 
 materials by way of protection ; * no encouragement of manu- 
 factures at the expense of the agriculturists. In this respect, 
 therefore, there existed freedom of occupations, commerce, 
 and trade. And such was the general custom. As every 
 thing was decided by circumstances, and not by theories, 
 there may have been single exceptions ; and perhaps single 
 examples,^ where the state for a season usurped a monopoly. 
 But how far was this from the mercantile and restrictive 
 system of the moderns ! 
 
 The reciprocal influence between national economy and 
 that of the state, is so great and so natural, that it was ne- 
 cessary to premise a few observations respecting the former. 
 Before we treat of the latter, it will be useful to say a few 
 words on a subject, which is equally important to both ; the 
 money of the Greeks. 
 
 National economy can exist without money, but finances 
 cannot. It would be important to fix the time, when coined 
 money first became current in Greece, and when money 
 was first coined in the country itself. But it is difficult to 
 give an exact answer to either of these questions, especially 
 to the first. Homer never speaks of money ; and his silence 
 
 ' The exportation of articles of food, especially of corn, may have been pro- 
 hibited at Athens and elsewhere, when a scarcity was apprehended. Such 
 prohibitions were natural, and could not well fail of being made. The re- 
 mark in the text refers to prohibitions to favour domestic industry; as of the 
 export of unmanufactured wool. This explanation is in answer to the 
 remarks of Professor Boeckh in his work on the Public Economy of the 
 Athenians, i. 56. * Aristot. de Re FamiL 1. ii. 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE GREEKS. 
 
 129 
 
 ^\ 
 
 is in this case valid as evidence ; for in more than one pas- 
 sage where he speaks of a barter,^ he must necessarily have 
 mentioned it, if he had been acquainted with it. On the 
 other hand, we may confidently aflSrm on the authority of 
 Demosthenes, that in the age of Solon,* coined silver money 
 was not only known in the cities of Greece, but had been 
 in circulation for a length of time;^ for the punishment of 
 death had already been set upon the crime of counterfeiting 
 it ; Solon mentioned it as in general use throughout the 
 Grecian cities ; and many of them had already supplied its 
 place with the baser metals. The Grecian coins, which are 
 still extant, can afford us no accurate dates, as the time of 
 their coinage is not marked upon them ; but several of them 
 are certainly as ancient as the age of Solon ; and perhaps 
 are even older. The coins of Sybaris, for example, must be 
 at least of the sixth century before the Christian era ; as that 
 city was totally destroyed in the year 510 B.C. The most 
 ancient coins of Rhegium, Croton, and Syracuse, seem from 
 the letters in the superscriptions to be of far higher anti- 
 quity.* If the account that Lycurgus prohibited in Sparta 
 the use of money of the precious metals, is well supported,* 
 we should be able to trace the history of Grecian coins to a 
 still more remote age ; and this opinion is corroborated at 
 least by the narration of the Parian chronicle,^ that Phidon 
 
 » As for example, II. vi. 472. Od. i. 430. 
 
 • About 600 years before the Christian era. 
 
 • ** I wUl relate to you," says the orator, while opposing a bill brought in 
 by Timocrates, " what Solon once said against a man who proposed a bad law. 
 The cities, said he to the judges, have a Taw, that he who counterfeits money, 
 shall be put to death. He thought this law was made for the protection of 
 private persons, and their private intercourse ; but the laws he esteemed the 
 coin of the state. They, therefore, who corrupt the laws, must be much 
 more heavily punished, than they who adulterate the coinage or introduce 
 false money. Yea, many cities exist and flourish, although they debase their 
 silver money with brass and lead ; but those which have bad laws, will cer- 
 tainly be ruined." Demosth. in Timocrat. Op. i. p. 763, 764. Compare with 
 this what Herod, iii. 56, remarks of the counterfeit money, with which Poly- 
 crates is said to have cheated the Spartans. 
 
 • Ekhel. Doctrina Nummorum Veterum, i. p. 170—177,242. 
 
 • Plutarch, in Lycurg. Op. i. p. 177- His code is computed to have been 
 given about 880 years B. C. 
 
 • Marmor Parium. Ep. xxxi. cf. Strabo viii. p. 563. This was about 15 
 years before the legislation of Lycurgus. It might, therefore, not without 
 probability be supposed, that Lycurgus wished and was able to prohibit 
 money of the precious metaU, because it at that time was just beginning to 
 circulate in Greece. 
 
 Wi ( 
 
'1 
 
 ISO 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [CIUP. X. 
 
 of Argos in the year 631 (i. e. 895 years B. C.) first began 
 to coin silver in the island of ^gma. 
 
 But although we cannot at present trace the history of 
 coined money in Greece any further/ we may from he 
 Drecedinff observations infer one general conclusion ; the 
 foundino; of colonies and the intercourse kept up with 
 them, caused coined money to be introduced and exten- 
 sivelv used in Greece. Before their foundation, the Greeks 
 knew nothing of coined money. When money was first 
 coined in ^gina, the colonies of Asia Minor and of Magna 
 Gr^cia^ were already established and flourishing ; and we 
 are expressly informed, that money was coined in that is- 
 land, in order to carry on commerce beyond the sea. It 
 cannot be proved with certainty, that money was coined m 
 the Asiatic colonies sooner than in the mother country. 
 But when we call to mind the well-known relation of Hero- 
 dotus,* that the Lydians were the inventors of money coined 
 of gold and silver, (a thing in itself not improbable, as it is 
 known that Lydia abounded in gold,^ and that the most 
 flourishing Grecian colonies were situated />^^/*^e ,^y^|^^ 
 coasts, we cannot but find it highly probable, that the 
 Greeks received the art of coining, like so many other in- 
 ventions, from Asia ; and here too the remark is valid, that 
 in their hands every thing received a ^ew form and a new 
 beauty. For no nation has ever yet had corns, of which the 
 stamp equalled in beauty those of the Grecian, and espe- 
 cially of the Sicilian cities. , . - r^ ♦u^ 
 The right of minting gold was regarded in Greece as the 
 privilege of the state, which superintended it Hence arose 
 That variety and multitude of city coins, which are easily 
 distinguished by their peculiar stamps. Coins were also 
 struck by several of the tribes, the Thessalians, the Boeotians 
 and others, as they formed by their alliances one political 
 
 /hough the Grecian coins were of both precious and base 
 
 » Compare Wachteri Archseologia Nummaria, Lips. 1740; an^ the intro- 
 ductory inquiries in Ekhel. D. N. V. 
 
 ' As e. e. Cumae. . _- j • oyi 
 
 » Strabo viii. p. 577. He refers to Ephorus. * Herod, i- »4. 
 
 »Nor is there any other nation which disputes this honour with the Ly- 
 dians. For the Egyptians, e. g., are named without any reason. See Wacnter, 
 4. c. cap. iv. 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE GREEKS. 
 
 131 
 
 metals, they were originally struck of precious metal only, 
 and probably at first of nothing but silver. So few of the 
 gold coins have been preserved, that we cannot certainly 
 say, whether they are altogether as ancient ; but those of 
 base metal are certainly of a later period. That, even before 
 the time of Solon, silver money had in many cities a lai^e 
 proportion of alloy, appears from the passage which we cited 
 from Demosthenes.^ In Hellas itself, we know of no silver 
 mines except those of Laurium, which were very ancient;^ 
 but the gold mines of Thrace and the neighbouring island 
 Thasos were quite as ancient, for they were wrought by the 
 Phoenicians. Yet the Greeks received most of their gold 
 from Lydia. And still there was not specie enough in cir- 
 culation, especially in the commercial towns ; and although 
 the Greeks knew nothing of paper money, several cities 
 made use of the same resource, which had been introduced 
 at Carthage,^ the use of nominal coins, which possessed a 
 current value, not corresponding to their intrinsic one.* 
 Such was the iron money (if my view is a just one) which 
 was adopted in Byzantium, Clazomene,^ and perhaps in 
 some other cities.^ It is certain, therefore, that the Greeks 
 had money which was current only in the state, and out of 
 it was of no value ; as we learn also from a passage in Plato.^ 
 It is much to be regretted, that we do not know by what 
 means its value was kept from falling. 
 
 The inquiry into the economy of a nation, intricate as it 
 may be, can be reduced to the following points: What 
 were the wants of the state? What means were adopted to 
 
 * Yet the ancient gold coins which we still possess, have almost no alloy, 
 
 and the silver ones very httle. , , ti 3. rx 
 
 « So old, that it was impossible to fix their age. Xenoph. de Kedit. Op. 
 
 P- 924. . ^ „ . ^« 
 
 » Heeren's Ideen ii. S. 164. * Pollux ix. 78. 
 
 * Aristot. (Econ. ii. Op. ii. p. 383. A decisive passage. 
 
 * Most of the cities, says Xenophon, Op. p. 922, have money, which is not 
 current except in their own territory ; hence merchants are obliged to barter 
 their own wares for other wares. Athens makes a solitary exception ; its 
 silver drachmas had universal currency. It was therefore quite common for 
 cities to have two kinds of money, coins of nominal value, current only in 
 the city which struck them ; and metallic money, of which the value de- 
 pended on its intrinsic worth, and which circulated in other places. Hence 
 Plato, de Legg. v. p. 742, permits this in his state. . 
 
 ' Plato 1. c. The current silver money consisted in drachmas, and pieces 
 of money were struck of as much as four drachmas. Ekhel. i. p. l^xxy. 
 thinks it probable, that the other cities, in their silver coin, followed the 
 Attic standard. 
 
 K 2 
 
U2 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. X. 
 
 i 
 
 supply them? How were those means brought together? 
 How administered ? The inquiry respecting the economy 
 of the Grecian states will be conducted with reference to 
 
 these questions. . ^ , , . xi. £ ^ 
 
 The small republics of that people appear at the hrst 
 view according to the modern criterion, to have hardly had 
 any wants, which could make a financial system necessary ; 
 and in fact there were some states, as Sparta during a long 
 period, without any finances. The magistrates were re- 
 ^rded with honour, not with a salary. The soldiers were 
 citizens, and not hirelings ; and many of those public insti- 
 tutions, which are now supported by the governments for 
 the most various purposes, and in part at very great expense, 
 were then entirely unknown, because they were not felt to 
 
 be necessary. i . • 
 
 And yet we find that the burdens which the citizens of 
 those republics had to support, continued gradually to in- 
 crease ; especially at the epochs of the Persian wars, and 
 the Peloponnesian, and in the later period of Grecian li- 
 berty, they became very oppressive. States can create 
 wants, no less than individuals. Even in Greece, experi- 
 ence shows that necessities are multiplied with the increase 
 of power and splendour. But when we call them oppressive, 
 we must not forget, that the heaviness of the contributions 
 paid to the state, is not to be estimated by their absolute 
 amount; nor yet by the proportion alone, which that 
 amount bears to the income. In our present investigations, 
 it is more important to bear in mind, what our modern 
 economists have entirely overlooked, that in republican 
 states (or at least more especially in them) there exists, be- 
 side the criterion of money, a moral criterion, by which a 
 judgment on the greater or less degree of oppression is to 
 be formed. Where the citizen exists only with and for the 
 state ; where the preservation of the commonwealth is every 
 thing to the individual ; many a tax is easily paid, which 
 under other circumstances would have been highly oppres- 
 sive. But in the theories of our modern political artists, 
 there is no chapter, which treats of the important influence 
 of patriotism and public spirit on the financial system ; pro- 
 bably because the statistical tables have no rubric for them 
 as sources of produce. 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE GREEKS. 
 
 133 
 
 fK^ 
 
 The wants of states are partly established by their nature ; 
 but still more by opinion. That is a real want, which is 
 believed to be such. The explanation of the management 
 of the affairs of any nation would necessarily be very im- 
 perfect, if we should pay no regard to the ideas which it 
 entertained respecting its necessities. On this point the 
 Greeks had very different notions from ours. Many things 
 seemed essential to them, which do not appear so to us ; 
 many things are needed by us, of which they did not feel 
 
 the necessity. , 
 
 The first object with the Greek was the honour and 
 splendour of his city. In that world of small republics, each 
 wished to make itself remarkable ; each to be distinguished 
 for something. Now there were two things which, in the 
 eyes of the Greeks, rendered a city illustrious ; its public 
 monuments and its festivals. These objects were therefore 
 politically necessary, in a different sense from that in which 
 they can be called so in modern states. Among these the 
 first place belongs to the temples. No Grecian city was 
 without gods, of whom it honoured some as its guardian 
 deities. How could these gods be left without dwelling- 
 places ? The art of sculpture was very naturally exerted in 
 connexion with that of architecture ; for the statues of the 
 ffods did not merely adorn the temples, but were indispens- 
 ably necessary as objects of adoration. The same may be 
 said of the festivals. Life without hohdays would have 
 ceased to be life to a Greek. But these holidays were not 
 passed exclusively in prayers, or at banquets. Processions, 
 music, and public shows, were an essential part of them. 
 These were not merely the diversions of the people during 
 the festival, they constituted the festival itself. 
 
 All this was intimately connected with religion. Ihe 
 Greeks had almost no public festivals except religious ones. 
 They were celebrated in honour of some god, some hero ; 
 above all, in honour of the patron deities of the place. 
 By this means, many things which we are accustomed to 
 regard as objects of amusement, received a much more ele- 
 vated character. They became duties enjoined by religion ; 
 which could not be neglected without injury to the honour 
 
 » Meursii Graecia Feriata, in Gronov. Thes. Ant. Grac. vol. vii., is one of 
 the richest compilations on the subject of the Grecian festivals. 
 
» . * ' 
 
 lii^ .IWi 
 
 lU 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. X. 
 
 \\ 
 
 and reputation, and even to the welfare of the city. The 
 gods would have been incensed ; and the accidental evils, 
 which might have fallen on the city, would infallibly have 
 been regarded as punishments inflicted by the gods. We 
 need not therefore be astonished, when we hear that a city 
 could be very seriously embarrassed for want of sufficient 
 means to celebrate its festivals with due solemnity.^ 
 
 Thus an almost immeasurable field was opened for public 
 expenses of a kind hardly known to modern states. Even 
 in cases where the governments believe it necessary to ex- 
 pend something on public festivals, little is done except in 
 the capital ; and this expenditure has never, to our know- 
 ledge, made an article in a budget. It would have made 
 the very first in Grecian cities, at least in times of peace. 
 And he who can vividly present those states to his mind, 
 will easily perceive how many things must have combined 
 to increase these expenditures. They were prompted not 
 by a mere regard for the honour of the state ; jealousy and 
 envy of the other cities were of influence also. And still 
 more is to be attributed to the emulation and the vanity of 
 those, who were appointed to the charge of the expendi- 
 tures. One desired to surpass another. This was the most 
 reputable manner of displaying wealth. And although, as 
 far as we know, public shows were not, in the Grecian 
 cities, so indispensably the means of gaining the favour of 
 the people as at Rome, (probably because what in Rome 
 was originally voluntary, had ever been considered in 
 Greece as one of the duties and burdens of a citizen, which 
 did not merit even thanks,) political ends may have often 
 been of influence with individuals. 
 
 The Grecian temples had, for the most part, possessions 
 of their own, with which they met the expenses incurred in 
 the service of the god. Their possessions consisted partly in 
 votive presents, which, especially where the divinities of 
 health and prophecy were adored, had been offered by the 
 hopes or the gratitude of the suppliants for aid and counsel. 
 We know from several examples, especially from that of 
 the Delphic temple, that treasures were there accumulated, 
 of more value probably than those of Loretto, or any other 
 
 » Consult what Aristotle relates of Antissaeus, Op. ii. p. 390. 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE GREEKS. 
 
 185 
 
 f 
 
 shrine in Europe.^ ut as they were sacred to the gods, 
 and did not come into circulation, they were, for the most 
 part but unproductive treasures, possessing no other value 
 than what they received from the artist. We could desire 
 more accurate information respecting the administration of 
 the treasures of the temples ; for it seems hardly credible, 
 that the great stores of gold and silver, which were not 
 wrought, should have been left entirely unemployed. But 
 besides these treasures, the temples drew a large part of 
 their revenue from lands;' which were not unfrequently 
 consecrated to their service. When a new colonial city was 
 built, it was usual to devote at once a part of its temtory 
 to the gods.' But although these resources were sufficient 
 for the support of the temple, the priests, the various per- 
 sons employed in the service of the temple, and perhaps the 
 daily sacrifices, yet the incense and other expenses, the cele- 
 bration of the festivals with all the costs connected with it, 
 still continued a burden to be borne by the public. 
 
 Beside the expenses which were required by religion and 
 the honour of the city, there were others which the admm- 
 istration made necessary. The magistrates, in the proper 
 sense of the word, were without salaries ; but the state 
 needed many inferior servants for the taxes, the police, etc. ; 
 and these must certainly have been paid.^* Add to this, 
 that several of the duties of citizens were of such a nature that 
 
 « The consequences with which the profanation of the Bdphic tre^^^^ 
 in the Sacred war, was fraught for Greece, may be learned from Athen. n. 
 
 ^^^Notonly single fields, but whole districts were consecrated to the gods. 
 BesMe the fi^eMslf Cirrha, it was desired to consecrate the whole ^^^^ 
 to Apollo of Delphi. Diod. xvi. p. 245. B/^^^as devoted to Pallas 
 ritorv of Lecvthus, which he had conquered. Thucyd. iv. cap. 116. it is a 
 SLe tSve that the consecrated land must have -m-ned u-^^^^^^ 
 That of Cirrha remained so, because a curse rested on it. rf"^^"* ^^^ 
 In other cases it was used sometimes for P^^ture land especi^ly for the sa- 
 cred herds • Thucyd. v. 53; sometimes it was tilled ; Thucyd. m. 68; but for 
 t^e niost pkrt Kr a rent. Whoever did not pay the rent, ;xo<t0ju*t«, r«v 
 tS^v w^a'ln^^^^^^^^ destitute of honour. Demosth. in Macart Op. i^ p 
 1069. In another oassage, the orator complains of the "'^^^^her of enennes 
 
 he had made by cofiecting these rents when he was ^^^ZlfiJn^r^^^^ 
 lid Op, ii. p. 1318. Two contracts for similar rents have been preservea, 
 M^ochi Tabb. Heracleens, p. 145, etc., and 257, etc, 
 
 : llrthtgh^fhrm^^SLtes were not paid, there w- certain offi^^ 
 (especially sach as were connected with the care "f any funds) **> «h cou W 
 be made very productive to those who held them. An example of this kina 
 is found in Demosth. in Mid, Op. i. p. 570. 
 
,/' 
 
 / 
 
 136 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. X. 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE GREEKS. 
 
 137 
 
 it subsequently became necessary to pay for the perform- 
 ance of them, though it had not been done at an earlier 
 period. To this class belongs the duty of attending in the 
 courts ; and the investigation of the Attic state will prove 
 to us, that the number of those who were to be paid, caused 
 this expense to be one of the heaviest. 
 
 But as the states increased in power, the greatest expen- 
 ditures were occasioned by the military and naval establish- 
 ments. These expenditures were, for the most part, 
 extraordinary ; since the state in times of peace had no 
 standing army, and no mariners to pay. But even in times 
 of peace, large appropriations were needed for the support 
 of the magazines and the ships ; and unfortunately for 
 Greece, the common condition of the more powerful states 
 came at last to be that of war rather than of peace. If wars 
 under any circumstances are costly, two causes contributed 
 to make them especially so in Greece. The first was the cus- 
 tom which arose of employing hired troops. As long as 
 wars were carried on by the militia of the country, which 
 required no pay, the costs of them were not very consider- 
 able, as each one served at his own expense. But when hired 
 troops began to be used, every thing was changed. We 
 shall take another opportunity of showing how this custom, 
 by which the whole political condition of Greece was most 
 deeply and incurably disordered, continued to gain ground 
 from the first moment of its introduction. Hence proceeded 
 the pecuniary embarrassment of so many Grecian cities 
 during the Peloponnesian war. The second leading cause 
 is to be found in the progress of naval forces, and their in- 
 creasing importance to the ruling states. The building, 
 support, and fitting out of squadrons, which are always so 
 expensive, must have been doubly so to the Greeks, who 
 were obliged to import their timber and many other articles 
 from a distance. The expense became still greater, when the 
 cities began to outbid each other in the pay of their mari- 
 ners ; which they did, as soon as the Spartans were enabled 
 by the Persian supplies to cope in this matter with their 
 rivals.^ Need we be astonished, then, at finding under such 
 
 * This is known to have been done during the Peloponnesian war as* well 
 by the Corinthians, Thucyd. i. 31, as by Sparta, which state received of 
 the Persians more than 5000 talents (nearly five million dollars) for that 
 purpose. Isocrat. de Pace, Op. p. 179. 
 
 1 1 
 
 circumstances, that the trierarchies, or contributions of the 
 rich towards the fitting out of the galleys, were the most 
 oppressive of all the public burdens?^ 
 
 Different, therefore, as was the list of public expenses 
 from that of modern states, we still find points of agree- 
 ment. We have now to inquire. What were the sources of 
 the public revenue ? What in particular was the system of 
 taxation ? 
 
 There is but one state in Greece, that of Athens, respect- 
 ing which any accurate information on this subject has 
 been preserved. It would be too hasty an inference to say, 
 that what was usual in that city was usual in the others. 
 But though the particular regulations may have been very 
 different, a great general similarity must certainly have pre- 
 vailed ; and it is that which we are now to consider. Such 
 a resemblance was a natural consequence of the great pre- 
 ponderating power and political influence of Athens. In 
 the states which were its allies, how much must necessarily 
 have been reo-ulated by its example ! And the little inform- 
 ation which we are able to collect respecting their reve- 
 nues, appears to prove the general resemblance beyond a 
 doubt. Special differences certainly existed. 
 
 It is to Aristotle, once more, that we owe a general view 
 of this subject.^ After classifying the sources of revenue in 
 monarchies, with respect to the general no less than the 
 provincial administration,^ he continues ; " The third kind 
 of administration, is that of free states. For them, the prin- 
 cipal source of revenue is from the produce of their own 
 soil ; the second from merchandise and the markets ; the 
 third from the contributions paid by the citizens in turn."* 
 
 * We do not find it mentioned, that the trierarchies, which were common 
 in Athens, were usual in the other maritime cities ; but the rich doubtless 
 bore the burden of fitting out the ships. See, respecting Corinth, Thucyd. 1. c. 
 
 * Aristot. de Re Familiari, ii. 1. This Uttle work is, probably, not by the 
 Stagirite. It is a collection of examples or excerpta, wnere less depends on 
 the author than on the age in which it was written. Even its editor, Schnei- 
 der, concedes that it bears marks of belonging to the period of the Persian 
 empire, being at least as old as Aristotle or Alexander. And yet Aristotle 
 himself may have made such collections ; of which one may have reached us* 
 
 ■ 'H /3a(«Xir^ and r) aarpamKrj. When the Greeks spoke of an empire, they 
 always h£id in mind the empire of Persia. 
 
 * TpiTijv Si TTfv iroXiTiKTiv. TavTTic Sk Kpariffrri fiiv TrpotroSoc, »/ arrb rwv iiiuv Iv 
 ry xoitpq. yivofiiv(i)Vf eZra airb ifiiropi(i)V Kai Si oywi/wv, tZra ^ dirb rStv^ iyt.vK\nav, 
 It is known from the orators, that these last are the burdens borne in turn by 
 the rich, XuTovpy'iai. Demosth. in Leptin. Op. i. p. 463. If the words hC 
 
 
»p^-' pj yrr 
 
 138 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. X. 
 
 When we learn, that these last were a sort of property tax 
 for the richer class, and that the second could have been 
 nothing but duties on articles of consumption, we perceive 
 at once, what we are soon to prove, that in the Grecian 
 states, our direct and indirect taxes were known and intro- 
 duced, though in technical language the distinction was 
 differently made. The subject deserves to be treated with 
 closer attention. 
 
 - In the political economy of the modems, the taxes on 
 lands and houses are considered the most important of all 
 direct taxes. How far had the Greeks the one and the 
 other? They certainly were acquainted with both. " In 
 Menda," says Aristotle, " the common expenses of the ad- 
 ministration are paid from the revenue derived from the 
 harbours and duties ; the taxes, on the contrary, on lands 
 and houses are regularly assessed ; but they are collected 
 from those who are bound to pay them, only in times of a 
 great want of money." ^ This example shows very clearly, 
 that the Greeks knew the practical difference between direct 
 and indirect taxes; but it still remains doubtful, whether 
 the tax on the soil was a land tax in the modern sense, ac- 
 cording to its square contents and quality ; or whether it 
 was a tax on the raw produce. The first is not probable. 
 We hear nothing of a register of landed estates in Greece ; 
 though there existed such a one in the great empire of 
 Persia. Where the taxes are treated of, the expressions ap- 
 pear rather to indicate, that a proportion of the produce 
 was paid. It was commonly tithes, which were taken of 
 fruits and of cattle; as Aristotle expressly mentions in the 
 passages first cited.* In what degree these taxes were usual 
 in the Grecian cities, is no where expressly related ; nor do 
 we know whether they were levied on certain estates, or on 
 all lands. That they were very common, is hardly doubtful, 
 since the remark of Aristotle is a general one. 
 
 Poll taxes were less frequently levied on the citizens 
 (though we would not assert, that they did not in any 
 
 aywvbtv are correct, the public games and assemblies are intended, with which 
 fairs were commonly connected ; otherwise it would be natural to conjecture 
 ayopwf instead of ay wvwv. The sense remains the same. 
 
 * Aristot. de Re Famil. Op. ii. 393. Menda was a Grecian city on the 
 coast of Macedonia, not far from Potidaea. 
 
 ' Compare de Re Famil. ii. 1. . , 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE GREEKS. 
 
 139 
 
 j 
 
 degree exist with respect to them) than on the inquilini or 
 resident foreigners. These formed in most of the Grecian 
 cities a numerous class of inhabitants, and were obliged to 
 pay for protection, a sum^ which was sometimes a poll tax, 
 and sometimes an impost on property. We know with cer- 
 tainty, that such sums were paid by the foreigners at Athens. 
 However much the practical politician may be excited by 
 increasing wants to exert his inventive powers, the charac- 
 ter of the state settles in a certain measure the kinds of 
 taxes. Where a community imposes its own taxes, the di- 
 rect taxes, and among them those on property, will have the 
 first rank. That each citizen, or rather, that the richer 
 citizens (for the rule does not of course apply to the poorer 
 classes) should share in the public burdens in proportion to 
 their means, is so natural an idea, that it cannot but occur 
 of itself. But when we consider the taxes on property as 
 forming the chief division, we must premise two observa- 
 tions in connexion with that remark. 
 
 First : The taxes on property were not so regular, that 
 they were paid from year to year according to the same 
 fixed measure. The necessary sums were rather voted as 
 circumstances required ; which also decided the degree of 
 rigour with which they were collected. Of this we have 
 proof in very many examples in Demosthenes and others.^ 
 In times of peace, whole years might pass away, in which 
 no such taxes were required to be paid ; while in others 
 they increased so much, that Isocrates could say, it was al- 
 most better to be a poor man than a rich one ; because the 
 poor were not exposed to them.^ 
 
 Secondly : There were certain kinds of expenses, which 
 were not estimated at a fixed amount, but were too consi- 
 derable to be borne by any but the opulent ; we mean those 
 offices which each citizen was obliged to perform in his 
 turn, and at his own expense (Xenovpyiai).^ To this class 
 
 * To furoiKiov. The regulations respecting this, and its amount, may be 
 found in Harpocration, h. v. 
 
 * They were called in Athens the il<r<f>opal ; not known, at least by that name 
 in Athens, before the Peloponnesian war. Boeckh ii. 4. No one will doubt 
 that they were introduced into other cities, though under different names. 
 
 " Isocrat. de Pace. Op. p. 185. , 
 
 * In the broadest sense ; in so far as the word comprehends not only the 
 fitting out of the ships (rpii/papxiat), but also the charge of the chorus 
 (x*V*?y**")» *^^ ^^^ gymneistic games (yv/tva(Tiapx*«*)* 
 
140 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. X. 
 
 belonged partly the charge of the public festivals and shows, 
 banquets and bands of music connected with them ; and 
 partly, at least in Athens, and probably in other maritime 
 towns, the fitting out of the galleys. The first class of these 
 expenses, was by its nature a permanent one ; and the other 
 was almost, though not perfectly so. They were borne by 
 the citizens in rotation ; and those who were free one year, 
 were obliged to defray them the next. But they, especially 
 the first, were the more oppressive, as they were not fixed 
 at any certain amount ; but depended not merely on the 
 wants of the state, but the pride of him who supplied them. 
 Taxes on property are attended with one great diflSculty, 
 that they cannot be apportioned out without a knowledge 
 of the fortunes of each contributor. But they depend also 
 more than any other on correctness of moral sentiment and 
 on public spirit. Where these exist, (and they can no where 
 more prevail than in such civil communities as the Grecian 
 states,) there is no need of returns on the part of those who 
 are to be taxed, nor of any inquisition on the part of the 
 state. Confidence is reposed in the conscience of the con- 
 tributor ; and examples may be found in history, of states 
 in which even a suspicion of any insincerity was almost un- 
 heard of ^ In the Grecian cities, at least in Athens, very 
 severe measures were in the later periods made use of 
 against those, who were suspected of concealing the true 
 state of their fortunes, or whom it was desired to vex in 
 that manner. They could be compelled to exchange their 
 property for the sum at which they had estimated it.^ But 
 in better times, such measures, though perhaps permitted, 
 seem never to have been usual. A division was made into 
 classes according to the income ; such as had been estab- 
 lished in Athens, by the regulations of Solon. These classes 
 presupposed an estimate of property;' but whether this 
 was made in the Grecian cities as accurately as the census of 
 the Romans, is a question which we must leave undecided.* 
 
 ,* As in several of the late Gennan imperial towns. The author is ac- 
 quainted with one, in which the contributions were thrown into a box, unex- 
 amined; and yet the amount of the whole was previously known, with 
 almost perfect exactness. 
 
 * The avTiSwrtig. See, on this subject, the speech of Isocrates, Op. p. 312, etc, 
 ■ riiitjftaf Demosth. in Aphob. Orat. i. Op. ii. p. 3, etc. 
 
 * In some of the cities, great accuracy sterns to have prevailed in this 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE GREEKS. 
 
 141 
 
 The indirect taxes, by which we mean the duties paid on 
 the importation and exportation of articles, as also on their 
 consumption, were probably as common in the Grecian 
 cities, as those above mentioned. The instance of the city 
 Menda, which we have already cited, shows that they were 
 preferred, at least in some instances, to the direct taxes. 
 Much that related to them, was decided by the situation 
 and chief employment of the cities. The duties were natu- 
 rally a much more productive source of revenue to the 
 maritime and commercial towns, than to the cities of the 
 interior. But where these taxes were introduced, they were 
 a constant source of income ; while the taxes on property 
 were each time imposed anew. From this it naturally re- 
 sulted, that they were chiefly destined to meet the usual 
 expenditures. 
 
 Our knowledge of the organization of the Grecian cus- 
 toms, is very imperfect. Yet we cannot doubt, that duties 
 were almost universally common. But they were most 
 probably limited to the sea-ports and harbours ; in connexion 
 with these, they are almost always mentioned;^ 1 know of 
 no instance of customs in the interior. They were, ac- 
 cording to Aristotle, levied on imported and exported ar- 
 ticles.* In Athens, the customs are frequently mentioned 
 by the orators ; in Thessaly they formed the chief source of 
 the revenue ;^ and they were not of less moment in Mace- 
 donia.* When the Athenians became the masters of the 
 ^gean Sea, they appropriated to themselves, in all subject 
 islands, the collecting of the customs, instead of the tribute 
 which had before been usual.* The same was done with the 
 very productive customs of Byzantium, which all the com-' 
 merce to the Black Sea was obliged to discharge,^ just as 
 
 l)usiness. Thus in Chios, all private debts were entered in a public book, so 
 that it might be known, what capital was lent out. Aristot. Op. ii. p. 390. 
 In the Athenian colony Potidaea, in a time of war, when money was wanting, 
 every citizen was obliged to specify his property with exactness, and the con- 
 tributions (ti(T<j>opai) were apportioned out accordingly. He who possessed no 
 property, rrij/*a oifBkvy paid a poll tax ; his person being reckoned as a capital 
 of two mine, (about thirty dollars,) he paid the tax due on such a sum. 
 Aristot. 1. c. * Hence the phrase \iftf.vag KapirovffOat, to collect 
 
 the customs in the harhours, Demosthen. i. 15. 
 
 * Aristot. 1. c. rd iurayiayifia Kot to, l^ayutyiftcu * Demosth. 1. C. 
 *They were commonly rented out in that country for twenty talents; 
 
 which sum Callistratus knew how to double. Aristot. Op. ii. p. 393. 
 
 • Thucyd. iv. ^. * Demosth. Op. i. p. 475. 
 
MM 
 
 ut 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. X. 
 
 the commerce to the East sea has hitherto been obliged to 
 pay a tribute in the Sound. This comparison is the more 
 just, as the duties of Byzantium, no less than those in the 
 Sound, have been the occasion even of a war.^ 
 
 These examples, of which the number could easily be in- 
 creased, are quite sufficient to prove, that duties were very 
 generally exacted in the sea-ports. The principle according 
 to which the customs were regulated, had nothing in view 
 but the increase of the public revenue ; and no design was 
 connected with them, of encouraging and directing domestic 
 industry. At least we have never been able to find any 
 hint to that effect. But the tariff seems to have been very 
 different in the several cities, and for the different articles of 
 merchandise. At Byzantium, the duty was ten per cent, on 
 the value of the wares.^ The Athenians, on the contrary, 
 when they imposed duties in the harbours of their allies 
 during the Peloponnesian war, exacted only five per cent.^ 
 In Athens itself, there were, at least in the time of Demos- 
 thenes, several articles which paid a duty of but two per 
 cent.* To this class belonged all com introduced into 
 Athens;^ and several other objects, such as fine woollen 
 garments and vessels of silver.^ 
 
 We distinguish in our system of finances between duties 
 on importation and exportation, and taxes on domestic 
 consumption.^ It may be asked, if this was also the case 
 in Greece ? I do not doubt that it was ; but in the Grecian 
 cities, as in Rome and perhaps in the whole of the ancient 
 world, these taxes were imposed in but one very simple form. 
 They were connected with the markets. Whatever was there 
 offered for sale, paid a duty ; and hence this duty is men- 
 tioned only with reference to the markets.® And I find no 
 proof, that the system of taxing consumption was carried so 
 far in any ancient state, as it has been in several modern 
 countries.^ 
 
 * Namely, between Byzantium and Rhodes. 
 
 ' Demosth. Op. i. p. 475. 
 
 • Thucyd. vii. 28. 
 
 • This is the irtVTiiKoaro\6yog airoypa^i), the tariff of the fiftieth penny, 
 Demosth. in Mid. Op. i. p. 558. * Demosth. in Neaer. Op. ii. p. 1353. 
 
 . • Demosth. in Mid. Op. i. p. 568, enumerates several. 
 ' Such as the excise, licences, etc. 
 
 • In Aristot ii. p. 388. ») dvb rHv Kard yriv n rat dyopaitov rtXAv irp^<To^oj,\ 
 Hence the expression ; rdg d-^op^ KapirovaOai, to collect the revenue from the 
 markets. Demosth. Olynth. i. Op. i. p. 15. 
 
 • in Babylon, there existed an antiquated law which was renewed by {he 
 
 ^ 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE GREEKS. 
 
 143 
 
 Beside the taxes already enumerated, there were other 
 particular ones on various articles of luxury. Thus in Lycia 
 a tax was paid for wearing false hair;^ in Ephesus, orna- 
 ments of gold were prohibited, and the women ordered to 
 give them up to the state. Examples are preserved by 
 Aristotle, where in cases of necessity, single cities adopted 
 various extraordinary measures, such as the sale of the public 
 estates,^ the sale of the privilege of citizenship, taxes on 
 several professions and employments,^ as of soothsayers and 
 quacks, and monopolies, of which the state possessed itself 
 for a season. 
 
 In all the Grecian cities, the indirect taxes, especially the 
 duties, were most probably farmed. The custom of farming 
 the revenue prevailed in a much greater degree in several 
 of the monarchical states of antiquity ; in the Grecian re- 
 publics, it seems to have been restricted to the indirect 
 taxes. It is generally known, that in Athens the duties were 
 farmed ; but the same was the case in Byzantium, in Mace- 
 donia, and in other places.* Demosthenes distinguishes 
 three classes of persons who were interested in this transac- 
 tion ; those who rented this branch of the revenue ; their 
 bondsmen ; and the inspectors and the receivers.^ It would 
 be superfluous to speak of the great evils of this arrange- 
 ment ; but has it not been preserved by much larger states 
 in modern Europe ? 
 
 One important question still remains : In the Grecian ci- 
 ties, who had the right of fixing the taxes ? The pohtical 
 science of the moderns has regarded it as one of the most 
 important points, as the peculiar characteristic of a free con- 
 stitution, that the government should not be permitted to 
 impose taxes without the consent of the peqple, given di- 
 
 governor appointed by Alexander, and which required that a tithe should be 
 paid of every thing brought into the city. Aristot. Op. ii. p. 395. 
 
 * Aristot. (Econ. ii. Op. ii. p. 385. . ^ 
 
 * By the Byzantians. Aristot. 1. c. p. 389. That which follows is also re- 
 lated by him in the same place. , . j , i • 
 
 ■ A general income tax of 10 per cent, on all employments, was laid bv king 
 Tachus in Egypt, at the instance of Chabrias. Aristot L c. p. 394. Though 
 executed in Egypt, the idea was that of a Greek ; and Pitt must resign his 
 claim to the invention of the Income tax. 
 
 * See the passages cited above, which prove this. ^ ^ ^ 
 
 * Demosth. Op, i. p. 745. rlXoc n vpiifuvoQ, r/ lyyviifffuvdocy n ^KXtytav. 
 Those who rented the taxes of the state, were of course obliged to procure 
 safe bondsmen. 
 
ji 
 
 144 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. X. 
 
 rectly, or by consent of its deputies. In most of the ancient 
 republics, the same custom probably prevailed ; yet it is 
 remarkable that no particular value was ever set upon this 
 privilege ; and much less was it considered a criterion of 
 political liberty. The whole system of taxation, we have 
 already remarked, was not viewed from the same elevated 
 point which is now taken ; nor can this principle be fully 
 developed, except where the representative system is intro- 
 duced. But properly speaking, the whole subject was con- 
 sidered by the Greeks from a very different side. Their 
 magistrates were bound to acknowledge the obligation of 
 laying their accounts before the people. This was the charac- 
 teristic of freedom.^ Where this right is preserved by the 
 people, it is of much less importance by whom the taxes 
 are imposed. ' 
 
 But this question hardly admits of a general answer in 
 the Grecian cities. It cannot be doubted that the difference 
 of constitutions produced differences in this matter; but 
 if from the want of documents this is only a conjecture, 
 it is on the other hand certain, that the difference of the 
 taxes must have produced such a variety. 
 
 The regular and abiding taxes were fixed by laws ; which 
 m part were expressly called ancient laws.^ The sum which 
 was allotted in Athens for the annual expense of the public 
 sacrifices, was fixed by the laws of Solon at six talents.' 
 For this purpose, no other appropriations were needed. 
 The tariffs of the duties and taxes on consumption were in 
 like manner permanent laws, which, as their very names in- 
 dicate,* were doubtless granted by the people ; who of 
 course had the right of making alterations in them. Those 
 public chai^ea, which were borne in turn, the trierarchies 
 and the providing of the chorus, were also established by 
 ancient laws;* although these offices, especially the first, 
 were, from their very nature, much influenced by the cir- 
 cumstances of the times ; and hence they underwent greater 
 and more frequent changes than any other imposts. That 
 these regulations and their changes could not be made with- 
 out the consent of the people, will not be doubted by any 
 
 * See above, p. 115. * Demosth. Op. i. p. 462. 
 
 * See Lysias in Nicomach. Or. Gr. v. p. 856. 
 
 * Voftoi r«A«vt«oi. Demosth. i. p. 732. • Demosth. i. p. 462. 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE GREEKS. 
 
 145 
 
 ^ 
 
 one, who knows that every thing which the Greeks called a 
 law, i/o>o9, could proceed from no other fountain. 
 
 But what were the regulations respecting those extraordi- 
 nary imposts, which were hardly less than permanent, those 
 taxes on property, which we comprehend under the name of 
 tribute {elactyopai) ? That these should have been fixed ex- 
 clusively by the people, seems so natural in states where the 
 highest authority is possessed by a popular assembly, that it 
 may be thought superfluous to suggest this question. Yet we 
 know that it was not so in Rome; where the taxes were fixed, 
 not by the people, but solely by the senate. But in Athens' 
 as we may learn from any one of the political orations of 
 Demosthenes, the taxes needed always to be confirmed by 
 the people. It would be too hasty to infer from Athens, 
 that the same was true of all the other Grecian states. But 
 wherever the financial regulations of the other states are 
 mentioned, (unless they were in subjection to a tyrant,^) it 
 is always done in expressions which authorize the conclusion, 
 that the consent of the people or the assembly of the citizens 
 was necessary.^ 
 
 So much the greater variety seems to have prevailed in 
 the administration of the public revenue, not only in the 
 several states, but also at different periods in the same state. 
 Those places and offices which were connected with that 
 administration, were naturally the objects of the greatest 
 competition ; and this alone would be sufficient to explain 
 the changes which were made. But must not the difference 
 of the constitutions have exercised its influence ? In states, 
 of which certain families, distinguished for their wealth and 
 descent, had made themselves the leaders, what could be ex- 
 pected, but that they should obtain the management of the 
 public money ? In the two principal cities of Greece, the 
 most remarkable difference is perceptible. At Athens, the 
 
 * Where tyrants had possessed themselves of the government, they imposed 
 taxes at their own pleasure, as they were not vmv9vvoi\ they also adopted 
 various artifices to increase their revenue, such as debasing the coin, etc!, of 
 wnich Aristotle, (Econ. L. ii., has preserved various examples. But where 
 tney desired to preserve an appearance of decency, as Dionysius I. in Syra- 
 cusj, who m other respects took so many liberties, this matter was laid 
 by them before the UKXnala. Aristot. 1. c. 
 
 In the examples which Aristot. 1. c. cites of Clazomene, Potidsea, and other 
 places, his phrase is iy\,Ti<f>i<tavro, or sometimes vdnov lOevro, which, it is well 
 Known, can be understood only of the decrees of the people. 
 
146 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XI. 
 
 JUDICIAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 147 
 
 council of five hundred had the care of the public money ; 
 in Sparta, this had been secured by the Ephori. A great 
 difference may be supposed to have prevailed m the other 
 Grecian cities ; certainly with respect to the persons who 
 held the offices of collectors and accountants. But we have 
 almost no historical information respecting any place but 
 
 Athens. 
 
 Of all forms of government, those of free cities are per- 
 haps the least adapted to the developing of an artificial 
 system of finances. For in them the wants, and the means of 
 satisfying those wants, are commonly very simple. Changes 
 are difficult ; for they presuppose the consent of the com- 
 monalty. They who propose them, can hardly expect 
 thanks ; but rather hatred, and even persecution. Hence 
 ancient usage is preserved as much as possible ; and when 
 extraordinary wants occur, recourse is had to extraordinary 
 measures, concerted for the moment, rather than to any 
 change in the existing institutions. It is different in exten- 
 sive monarchies, where every thing moves more firmly and 
 more regularly ; and though their practice is not so much 
 founded on scientific views as on certain maxims, still it is 
 in them that an artificial system of finances can be formed. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE JUDICIAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 Unlike the regulations of our modern states, the judiciary 
 department did not form in Greece a distinct, independent 
 branch of the constitution. On the contrary, it was so in- 
 timately connected with the rest, that it can with difficulty 
 be made a separate object of investigation. Hardly any 
 subject in Grecian antiquities is so intricate, or so difficult 
 of explanation ; and yet without a knowledge of it, no cor- 
 rect view of the ancient states can possibly be formed. Our 
 present object is, to develope the general character of the 
 judicial institutions, without entering into particulars re- 
 
 / 
 
 r\ 
 
 specting the organization of the Attic courts. All that we 
 have to say upon this subject, will find a place in our in- 
 quiries concerning that state. 
 
 The want of accounts is the chief but not the only source 
 of the difficulty, which attends this investigation with respect 
 to every state but Athens. From the want of uniformity, 
 as well as the foreign character of many of the regulations, 
 it would be arduous to take a general survey of the subject, 
 even if the historical documents were abundant. To gain a 
 correct view of it, some attention must be paid to its history. 
 
 The judicial institutions of the Greeks were the creation 
 of time and circumstances. The fonn, therefore, which 
 they eventually assumed, could not well correspond to the 
 requisitions of a theory. We are forced to content ourselves 
 on many points with saying that it was so ; without being 
 able to give any satisfactory reasons why it was so. 
 
 The judicial institutions of a nation proceed from very 
 simple beginnings. Where they are left to be developed by 
 circumstances and the necessities of the times, they cannot 
 but become more and more intricate ; since with the pro- 
 gress of culture, new relations arise, both at home and with 
 foreign countries. In the heroic age, kings sat on the tri- 
 bunals of justice, though even then arbitrators were not 
 unusual. There existed at that time no written laws ; ques- 
 tions were decided by prescription, and good common 
 sense, directed by a love of justice. 
 
 When nations begin to emerge from the rude condition 
 of savages, the first necessity which is felt, is that of personal 
 security, and next, the security of property. National legis- 
 lation has always commenced with the criminal code and the 
 police laws ; the rights of citizens were defined more slowly, 
 and at a later period ; because it was not sooner necessary. 
 The oldest courts of justice were established very early, 
 probably in the times of the kings. Their immediate object 
 was to pass judgment on the crime of murder, and other 
 heinous offences. This was the case with the Areopagus, 
 the most ancient court with which the Greeks were ac- 
 quainted ; and others were of almost as great an age. 
 
 The royal governments passed away; and the popular as- 
 semblies took their place. The existing courts of justice were 
 then by no means abolished ; although in the progress of 
 
 L 2 
 
<Mi 
 
 ■«i*l 
 
 »J, i U'.. ' iJl^' 
 
 t>. JU ' 
 
 14a 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XI. 
 
 time, and amidst the revolutions in the forms of government, 
 I lue, ttuu „„Apr(ro various modifications. 
 
 ^'YnTe stat^l of m^olTElirope, the form of the judicial 
 insthutions was in a great measure the result of the form of 
 trfeSl ?n the latter there v.ere different degrees of 
 fealtv and submission ; and hence arose the principle that 
 'o In can be tried by any but his peers. Th- a differ- 
 ence in the courts was necessarily produced. The immediate 
 vSof the crown recognised only those for his judges, who 
 ItoS in he same rank with himself, and owed fealty to the 
 ^e master. The freeman and the villain could not stand 
 
 before the same tribunal. , • . v u- „«»,«■ 
 
 The same principle, that a man must be tned by his peers, 
 prevailed among the Greeks. . But its application must have 
 produced very different results. The community consisted of 
 Citizens, who either were or claimed to be equal. It discussed 
 all affairs relating to itself, and hence actions at law ^ong 
 the rest. Thus the common assembly performed the ofhce ot 
 iudges ; and the foundation of the popu ar courts of justice 
 was laid. A political notion now prevailed, a notion never 
 adopted in our modern constitutions ; that it was essential 
 for a citizen to take a part in the administration of justice. 
 Even in those of our modern states which m so many things 
 resemble the Grecian, the German imperial cities, this idea 
 could never have been suggested and applied. Ihey had 
 adopted the laws of an ancient nation, written in an ancient 
 language ; and to understand them, much learning was re- 
 quired; of which not every one could be possessed. It was 
 not so in Greece. The laws were in the language of the 
 country ; and although their number gradually increased, 
 they were still accessible to all. Neither was it necessaiy to 
 retain them in memory, and have them always present to 
 the mind. The orator during his speech had a reader at 
 his side with a copy of them. Whenever he referred to any 
 law, it was read aloud ; as is proved by a multitude ot ex- 
 amples in Demosthenes and others. Every thing was, 
 however, transacted orally. The judges were not obliged 
 to peruse written documents ; they listened, and gave m 
 
 their votes. i_ j » j 
 
 All this appears very simple, and easy to be underetood. 
 And yet the judicial institutions of Greece, if we should form 
 
 :^ 
 
 JUDICIAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 149 
 
 our opinion from one state, were so confused, that it is dif- 
 ficult for the most learned antiquarians to find their way out 
 of the labyrinth. The greatest errors are made by those, 
 who forgetting that the institutions in question were not 
 formed systematically, but practically with the progress of 
 time, endeavour to find the means of explanation in specu- 
 
 * The first and most important difficulty is presented when 
 we attempt to fix the characteristic difference between the 
 public and private courts. This difference was not only 
 general in the existing states, but was adopted by Plato 
 himself in his sketch of a perfect colony.' These two classes 
 were so distinctly separated, that different expressions were 
 appropriated, not only for the general, but even the par- 
 ticular relations of the one and the other.^ . , „, , , 
 
 Certain general ideas, according to which Plato makes 
 the distinction, lay at the bottom of this division. " One 
 class of judicial processes," says he,' « is formed of the suits 
 which one private man, complaining of injustice, brings 
 a<rainst another. The second class, on the contrary, is, when 
 the state believes itself injured by one of the citizens, or when 
 a citizen comes forward to its assistance. According to this 
 explanation, nothing would seem simpler, than the difference 
 between public and private processes. But if we compare 
 the objects comprehended under each of the two classes, we 
 shall find many things enumerated as affairs of the state, 
 which to us do not seem to belong to this class.* Ut this, 
 two causes may be mentioned. . j <• .i 
 
 The first is the view which the Greeks entertained ot the 
 relation of the individual citizen to the state. The person 
 of the citizen was highly valued ; and could not but be highly 
 valued because the whole personal condition was affected by 
 the possession of citizenship. An injury done to a private 
 
 • Plato de Legg. L. vi. vol. iv. p. 282. 
 
 » A Dublic accusation was called ypa^v and rar,yo(««, to accuse any one 
 «.i.r«v, to be accused 0.«r«v r^v yfa<pi,v. A private suit was called «.r,, to 
 bring an action ihdyt.v and ihi^puv r.i-i ^''J". to be defendant «0tiX«v r.v. 
 ii«i|v. Such were the expressions at least in Athens. 
 
 •Ti Tthens, e. g., there belonged to this class, besides several other offenc^, 
 murder, intenlional wounds, adultery, etc. The puUic and Pn™te processes 
 are enumerated in Sigonius de Repub. Athen. L. m., and may be found also 
 in Potter's Archil. Grsc. The subject is investigated by Otto : De Athe- 
 niensium Actionibus forensibus; Specimen 1. ch. u. Leipsise, l»M. 
 
150 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [CUAF. XI. 
 
 JUDICIAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 151 
 
 citizen, was therefore in some measure an mjury mflicted on 
 the state ; and so far, almost every injustice suffered by the 
 individual, was a public concern. Yet a difference existed 
 even here, according to the degree of the injury ; nor was 
 it indifferent, whether the rights of person, or only those ot 
 property, had been violated. , . . ^ 
 
 A second circumstance also had its influence ; prescrip- 
 tion for the most part determined what was a crime against 
 the public, and what was but a private concern. But what 
 had once been established by prescription, was ever after 
 valid as a law. Yet who can discover all the causes, perhaps 
 frequently accidental, by which various suits came to be con- 
 sidered, in one age or another, as affairs of the public ? 
 
 It would be ineffectual to attempt to draw very accurately 
 the hue of division according to the subjects. The most nu- 
 merous and the most important, but not all criminal cases, 
 were regarded as public concerns. This class embraced not 
 merely offences against the state ; though this idea lay at 
 the foundation. We must rather be content with saying, 
 that prescription had caused certain offences to be regarded 
 as public, and others as private matters. The regulations 
 respecting them were, however, in the Attic law very 
 exact ; and it was firmly established, which processes be- 
 longed to the state, and which to individuals. 
 
 The character of the two classes was essentially distin- 
 guished by this ; that in the public affairs, a complaint might 
 be made by any citizen ; and in the private, it could be 
 made only by the injured person, or his nearest relation ; ' 
 for in the one case, the state or the whole community was 
 regarded as the injured party ; in the other, only the in- 
 dividual. 
 
 But whoever brought the suit, it was necessary in private 
 and public concerns for the complainant to enter his com- 
 plaint before a magistrate, and definitely state the offence 
 which he charged against the accused. The magistrate, be- 
 fore whom the suit was thus commenced, was now obliged 
 to prepare the action, so that it could be submitted to the 
 judges. These judges were either the whole community, or 
 some particular courts, which may perhaps be best denom- 
 inated, committees of the people. For the tribunals consisted 
 
 * See the proofs in Sigonius, 1. c. 
 
 1 
 
 for the most part of very numerous assemblies the members 
 of which were selected from the citizens by lot and were 
 required to be thirty years old, of a good reputation and 
 not ndebted to the state. They were sworn to do their 
 duty ; they listened to the orators, both the accu^rs and the 
 defendants, to whom a limited time was appointed ; the wit- 
 nesses wer; examined, and the affair so far brought to a close 
 that the court could pronounce its sentence of guilty or not 
 euilty.' In the first case, the nature of the punishment re- 
 mained to be settled. Where this was fixed bylaw sen- 
 tence was immediately passed ; did the nature of the offence 
 render that impossible, the defendant was permitted to esU- 
 mate the punishment, of which he beheved himself deserv- 
 ine- • and the court then decided. 
 
 ^Those courts were therefore similar both in their organ- 
 ization and design to our juries ; with this d^f f °7' /^^J 
 the latter are with us but twelve in number while the former 
 were not unfrequently composed of several hundreds. And 
 this is not astonishing, for they occupied the pl^ce of the 
 whole community, or might be regarded as committees of 
 the same ; for when suits began to grow frequent, the com- 
 munity could not always be assembled. But where the 
 members that constituted the tribunal were so numerous as 
 in the Helisea at Athens, it is hardly credible, that every ac- 
 tion was tried before the whole assembly. It'tw fi^!!! 
 probable, especially when suits were multipled, that the same 
 court of judicature had several divisions, m which the trial 
 of several causes could proceed simultaneously. 
 
 As a difference was made between pnvate and public ac- 
 tions, we might expect to find different tribunals for the onj 
 and the other. Yet this was not the case ; suits of both 
 kinds could be entered in the same courts The difference 
 must therefore have lain in the methods of tria and the legal 
 remedies.^- which the two parties could employ. W^ are 
 astonished to find, that the rules respecting what suits should 
 
 • This was done in Athens partly by votes written on small tablets, and 
 
 ^^n:rnofs5ta^:SVls were necessarily b^^^^^^^ 
 
 courts. In Athens the police officers had a J»"^'i'«''°? °^XX» 
 affairs belonging to their department appear to have been immediately Qcciac 
 
 ''^^ Are. g:,the .apaypafn, the i^.^cia, and others, in the public trials. 
 Sigon. 1. c. iii. c. 4. 
 
■»•■■ 
 
 152 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XI. 
 
 JUDICIAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 153 
 
 come before each particular court were so uncertain, that it 
 would be vain for us to attempt to settle any general prin- 
 ciples on the subject. But at this moment we have in 
 England an example, which shows how vain it is to expect 
 exact regulations, where courts of justice have been formed 
 and enlarged by circumstances. Criminal cases, it is true, 
 belong exclusively to the court of the King s Bench ; but it 
 shares civil actions with the court of Common Pleas, and the 
 court of Exchequer, in such a manner, that, with few ex- 
 ceptions, certain classes of suits cannot be said to belong 
 exclusively to either of these tribunals. 
 
 Our remarks thus far on the organization of the courts 
 apply immediately to Athens ; but they will, without doubt, 
 admit of a much wider application to the other Grecian 
 cities. Yet on one point there existed a remarkable differ- 
 ence. Though the popular tribunals were generally intro- 
 duced, they did not prevail in every state. For if I under- 
 stand Aristotle rightly, there were no popular tribunals in 
 Sparta, but all processes were there, as in Carthage, decided 
 by magistrates.' If Sparta had had such courts, would they 
 not have been mentioned? But when Aristotle says in 
 o-eneral, that it is the leading characteristic of a democracy, 
 that the citizens should be the judges of one another,'^ may 
 we not infer, and is it not evident from the nature of things, 
 that popular tribunals disappeared, wherever the sway of the 
 few was established ? 
 
 The example of Athens shows in a remarkable manner, 
 how the institution of these popular tribunals could affect 
 the whole character of a state. Such could be the case in 
 Athens, where the greatest extent was given to the public 
 trials, by permitting any who desired, to appear as accusers. 
 The whole organization of the Grecian city governments 
 leads us to believe, that most of the other cities had popular 
 tribunals, which, without having exactly the same form, 
 must have been similar to those of Athens. Such tribunals 
 must have existed in Argos, before the introduction of ostra- 
 cism, and in Syracuse before the similar method of banish- 
 
 * Aristot. Polit. ii. II. cat rac Ukuq vv6 tuv apx^^^^v SiKoZeffOat trdaagj Kal ftrj 
 aXKac vTc* oXXwv, OairiQ Iv AaKiSalftovt. Is diKaQ in this passage to be under- 
 stood of all suits at law, or, according to the more strict use of the word, only 
 of private suits ? 
 
 ^Aristot. Polit. vi. 2. 
 
 ment by petalism came into vogue. But whether the public 
 processes embraced elsewhere as many subjects as at Athens, 
 and as many things, which to us seem to regard the private 
 citizen alone, is a question which we cannot decide, for 
 
 want of information. , , . , i i 
 
 This point has been entirely overlooked by those who 
 have written on the judicial institutions of Greece ; for they 
 had Athens only in view, and treated the subject more as one 
 of jurisprudence than of politics. And yet it is of all the most 
 important. The more limited was the number of public 
 suits, the smaller was the possibility of instituting them, un- 
 less some personal injury had previously been sustained. 
 In the list of public offences at Athens, there were many, 
 which, by their very nature, were indefinite. Hence it was 
 easy to bring a public action against almost any one. We 
 need but think of an age of corruption, to understand how 
 Athens, after the Peloponnesian war, could teem with the 
 brood of sycophants, against whom the orators are so loud 
 in their complaints ; and whom all the measures, first adopt- 
 ed in consequence of the magnitude of the evil, all the 
 danger and punishments to which false accusers were ex- 
 posed, were never sufficient to restrain. 
 
 Were other cities, at least the democratic ones, in as bad 
 a condition as Athens? Here we are deserted by history; 
 which has preserved for us almost nothing respecting the 
 extent of the public processes and the popular tribunals. 
 But if in Athens several adventitious causes, lying partly in 
 the national character, and partly in the political power of 
 Athens, (for the importance of state trials increases with the 
 importance of the state,) contributed to multiply this class 
 of processes ; it by no means follows, that the number was 
 much smaller in most of the other Grecian cities. Popular 
 tribunals are the sources of pohtical revolutions ; and what 
 states abounded in them more than the Grecian ? The man 
 of influence, always an object of envy, was the most exposed 
 to accusations, where it was so easy to find a ground of ac- 
 CMsation ; but the man of influence had the greatest resources 
 without the precincts of the court. He with his party, if he 
 is conscious of possessing suflftcient strength, has recourse to 
 arms, and instead of suffering himself to be banished from 
 the city, prefers to terminate the action by driving away his 
 
1 > 
 
 154 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [CUAP. XU. 
 
 THE ARMY AND NAVY. 
 
 155 
 
 enemies. Were we more intimately acquainted with the 
 history of the numberless political revolutions in Greece, 
 how often would this same succession of events recur ? But 
 though we are not always able to establish them by histori- 
 cal evidence, they cannot on the whole be doubted ; and 
 they distinctly exhibit the close connexion which existed 
 between the states and their judicial institutions. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE ARMY AND NAVY. 
 
 Though wars were so frequent in Greece, the art of war 
 did not make any considerable advances. The constitutions 
 and the whole political condition opposed too many obsta- 
 cles ; and war never became a science, in the full sense of 
 the word, till standing armies were introduced. This has 
 already been satisfactorily proved by history. There were 
 some individual commanders of great merit, who did all 
 that talents could do ; but all that they effected was per- 
 sonal. Besides, the extent of states sets limits to improve- 
 ment. These bounds cannot be accurately marked, where 
 genius and circumstances exercise so much influence ; but 
 the absolute strength must also necessarily be considered. 
 The advancement and perfecting of the art of war require 
 experiments on so large a scale, that small states cannot 
 perform them. 
 
 After the republican constitutions of the Greeks were 
 established, their armies consisted chiefly of militia. Every 
 citizen was obliged to serve in it, unless the state itself made 
 particular exceptions. In Athens, the obligation continued 
 from the eighteenth to the fifty-eighth year ; we do not 
 know whether it was elsewhere the same ; but a great dif- 
 ference could hardly have existed. Each citizen was there- 
 fore a soldier; even the inquilini, the resident strangers, 
 were not always spared;^ and there were times of distress, 
 
 * They were at least obliged sometimes to do naval service. Demosth. 
 Phil. i. Op. i. p. 50. 
 
 \ 
 
 when the very slaves were armed usually under the promise 
 of their freedom, if they should do their duty. 
 
 ThT militia of a country may, under certam circum- 
 stances very nearly resemble a standmg army. Yet the 
 SlesTn which the two are founded, are very different 
 E cRizen who serves as a soldier, has for his object he 
 defence of his family and his property ; and hence the 
 maxim in states, where the army is composed of citizens, that 
 Twho has the most to lose, will make the best soldier. In 
 Rome the poorer class, (capite censi,) .till the times of 
 Marius, was excluded from military service; and it seems 
 to hTe been hardly otherwise in Athens.^ Yet this poorer 
 class was or grew to be the most numerous ; accu^tjmed to 
 privations, those who composed it were Per^s Jor th^t 
 reason the best fitted for the duties of war. When, on the 
 contrary, standing armies are formed, property ceases to be 
 Zlrdld ; and the greatest number of enlistments is made 
 fSn the needy part of the commumty. What a contrast 
 between this and the Grecian institutions ! . 
 
 Considering therefore the moderate extent of the Grecian 
 states, it was The less to be expected that any of them could 
 assemble a large army, if the slaves were not enrolled. Even 
 where every one was put in motion, the number remained 
 limited ; not more than ten thousand Athenians fought on 
 the plain of Marathon. Large armies could be collected 
 only by the union of many states ; the most numerous ever 
 
 collected in Greece, during its i«d«rt^°«=«,v''^.J wlrp 
 battle of Plat^Je.' But these considerable alliances were 
 commonly of a temporal^ nature; and fo'i tl'f *);«»«'" ^ 
 art of war could not be much advanced by them. From 
 the battle of Platffise till the age of Epaminondas, that is 
 during the most flourishing period of Greece, a Grec an 
 army of thirty thousand men was probably never assembled 
 
 '° The PeSian wars seem to have been suited to promote 
 the improvement of military science. B"tff ^^^^S 
 of Plat^ae, it was the navy and not the land forces which 
 
 ' HSritlon in eiinc Yet it is evident from the passage, that the case 
 
 -?a£u*, W^^eT °K*» were heavi^-e^-"^ of the 
 light-armed triops, 37,000 were Spartan Helots. Herod, ix. 2y, JU. 
 
 i 
 
156 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XII. 
 
 THE ARMY AND NAVY. 
 
 157 
 
 j 
 
 became of decisive influence. After that battle, no consi- 
 derable one was fought by land ; no large Grecian army 
 was again brought together. By maintainmg the ascend- 
 ency in the iEgean Sea, Greece was protected. 
 
 The petty wars which, after the victories over the Per- 
 sians, were carried on between the several states, could not 
 contribute much to the advancement of the art. They were 
 nothing but single expeditions, decided by single insignifi- 
 cant engagements. 
 
 No such advancement could therefore be expected till 
 the time of the Peloponnesian war, which involved all 
 Greece. But this war soon came to be carried on more by 
 sea than by land; and the military operations consisted 
 principally in sieges. No single great battle was fought on 
 land during its whole course ; besides naval science, there- 
 fore, the art of besieging may have made some progress, 
 especially in the expedition against Syracuse. But as this 
 expedition terminated in the total destruction of the army, 
 it could have no abiding consequences. 
 
 Till the age of Epaminondas, Sparta and Athens are the 
 only states which attract our attention. In Sparta, where 
 the militia resembled a standing army, it would seem that 
 the art of war might have made advances. But two causes 
 prevented. The one was the obstinate attachment to an- 
 cient usage, which rendered changes and improvements 
 difficult. The other was the remarkable scarcity of great 
 commanders, a scarcity to have been least expected in a 
 warlike state ; but which may have proceeded from the for- 
 mer cause. If we possessed a history of Pausanias, written 
 by himself, it would perhaps show us how his talents, li- 
 mited in their exercise by the regulations of his native city, 
 proved ruinous to himself, as in the case of the German 
 Wallenstein, by making him a traitor. Leonidas has our 
 admiration for his greatness as a man, not as a general ; and 
 the fiery Brasidas, well fitted to be the hero of a revolution- 
 ary war, like the Peloponnesian, fell in the very beginning 
 of his career,* and no worthy successors appeared till Ly- 
 sander and Agesilaus. And of the first of these two, it is 
 
 * Thucyd. v. 10. When we read his proclamation, addressed to the Acan- 
 thians, Thucyd. iv. 85, we believe ourselves brought down to the years 17^3 
 and 1794. 
 
 known that he trusted rather in the Persian subsidies than 
 
 in himself. 
 
 More could then have been expected from Athens. Kut 
 here, as our preceding remarks have made apparent, the 
 army was subordinate to the navy. From the commence- 
 ment of the splendid period of that republic, its poli- 
 tical greatness rested on the latter. This preserved to it 
 the ascendency ; its allies were maritime cities, and assisted 
 with ships rather than with troops ; and the destiny of Athens 
 was decided on the sea, gloriously at Salamis, and tragically 
 on the Hellespont.^ In Athens, therefore, no strong motive 
 could exist, to perfect the art of war by land. 
 
 Such were the obstacles in general ; others lay m the 
 manner in which the military affairs of the Grecians were 
 organized. We mention first the situation of the coin- 
 manders ; at least in Athens and in several other cities f in 
 which not one, but several generals shared the chief com- 
 mand with one another, and even that usually for a short 
 
 period of time. 
 
 Where a militia exists, the political divisions are usually 
 military in their origin. Such was the case with the tribes 
 in Rome and in Athens." The ten wards of this last city 
 had each its own leader ; and these together were the gene- 
 rals.* So it was in the Persian, so in the Peloponnesian 
 war.^ That a similar regulation existed in Bceotia, is evident 
 from the number of their commanders ; and we learn the 
 same respecting Syracuse, as well from the history of its war 
 with Athens,^ as from the elevation of Dionysius. In 
 Athens, a kind of destiny secured in the decisive moment 
 the preponderance to a superior mind, a Miltiades ; but 
 where the command was shared by so many, it is obvious 
 that existing institutions could receive but little improve- 
 ment. 
 
 Another still greater obstacle lay in the circumstance, 
 that the troops were not paid. Before the Peloponnesian 
 war, or at least before the administration of Pericles, no pay 
 
 > * In the year 406 B. C, near ^gospotamos, 
 ' As, e. g., in Thebes and in Syracuse. 
 
 * These were called tribm in Rome, ^vXai in Athens. 
 
 * The (rrparnyoi, of whom ten were annually appointed. 
 
 * Compare the instructive narration in Herod, vi. 109, respectm^ the con- 
 sultation previous to the battle of Marathon. ' Thucyd. vi..63. 
 
i 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 158 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. xii. 
 
 was given in Athens or in any Grecian city, except, perhaps, 
 Corinth. Military service was the duty of a citizen ; and 
 he who served, was obhged to provide for himself But he 
 who receives nothing from the state, will the less submit to 
 its commands. From that period, the custom of paying 
 was so far introduced, that those who had actually taken the 
 field, received a very small compensation.* With such a 
 constitution, moral causes must have outweighed commands. 
 Courage and patriotism can animate an army of citizens, 
 but can hardly make a machine of them ; and what fruits 
 would have been gathered by him, who should have suc- 
 ceeded in the attempt ? 
 
 Beside these difficulties, there existed in many states 
 another, arising from the weakness of their cavalry, or a to- 
 tal want of it. Homer knows nothing of cavalry. It does 
 not seem to have been introduced into the Grecian states 
 till after the establishment of republican forms of govern- 
 ment; since, according to the remark of Aristotle, the 
 opulent citizens found in it at once a support of their power 
 and a gratification of their vanity.* But whether a city 
 could have cavalry, depended on the nature of its territory, 
 and the quantity of pasture which it possessed. Where the 
 territory was not favourable, the cavalry was not strong. 
 Athens, where so much attention was paid to this subject, 
 never had more than a thousand men ; Sparta appears, be- 
 fore Agesilaus, to have had few, or perhaps originally none 
 at all ; the Peloponnesus was little adapted to it ; and Thes- 
 saly, the only state of the mother country which possessed 
 any considerable body of it, was not remarkably skilful in 
 making use of it.' Where it existed, none but wealthy 
 citizens could serve in it, for the service was expensive. 
 This was the case in Athens ;* and yet here the state pro- 
 vided for the support of the horses even in time of peace ; 
 and the weak but splendid cavalry formed no inconsiderable 
 article in the sum of the yearly expenditures.* 
 
 • The Athenians paid from two to four oboli daily. 
 
 • On Sparta, consult Xenoph. Op. p. 596. 
 
 • See the account of their war with the Phocians. Pausan. p. 798. The 
 forces of Thessaly seem to have consisted chiefly in cavalry ; at feast nothing 
 else is mentioned. The surest proof of their little progress in the art of war. 
 
 • The knights, cinrilf, formed the second class according to property. 
 
 • According to Xenoph. de Magist. Equit. Op. p. 956, it cost forty talents 
 annually. 
 
 THE ARMY AND NAVY. 
 
 159 
 
 Previous to the Macedonian' times, the distinction be- 
 tween heavy and light horse seems to have been unknown 
 in Greece ; though it would be too much to assert that a 
 difference in the equipments no where prevailed. The 
 Athenian horsemen were equipped much like a modem 
 cuirassier, with breastplate, helmet, and greaves ; and even 
 the horses were partly covered.^ From the exercises which 
 Xenophon prescribes, to leap over ditches and walls, we 
 must not conceive the armour as too cumbersome.* I find 
 no accounts of that of the Thessalian cavalry ; but from 
 what Pausanias says, it could not have been very light.^ 
 
 With respect to the infantry, the difference between 
 heavy and light-armed troops* prevailed throughout all 
 Greece. The former were armed for the attack and close 
 conflict. They wore a coat of mail and helmet ; the rest of 
 the body was protected by the shield. For the attack they 
 had both spear and sword. The light troops, unencumbered 
 with that heavy armour, carried the javelin, with bow and 
 
 arrows.^ 
 
 The weapons continued, therefore, the same as those 
 which we find used in the Homeric age. But many inqui- 
 ries and many attempts were made to improve them in 
 various respects. Whether a straight or curved sword was 
 the best;^ whether a longer or shorter shield deserved the 
 preference ;^ above all, how the weight of the coat of mail 
 could be diminished, and whether it should be made of 
 metal or of some lighter substance,® were questions of no 
 little importance. Yet previous to the Macedonian age, we 
 hear of no changes which could give a new character to the 
 whole ; and therefore we must leave to the antiquarian all 
 further particular researches. 
 
 > Xenoph. de Re Equestri, Op. p. 951, has described them minutely. 
 
 • Xenoph. Op. p. 944. 
 
 • Pausan. p. 797. The horsemen who had been thrown down, bemg un- 
 able to rise, were slain by the Phocians. 
 
 • 'OirXXrai and ^/tXoi. See Potter's Archaeolog. 
 
 • Bow and arrows do not seem to have been favourite weapons ; they are 
 seldom mentioned, and only in connexion with certain tribes, as the Cretans. 
 Javelins were preferred. These were carried by the cavalry, as appears from 
 Xenoph. 11. cc. 
 
 • Xenoph. Op. p. 953, i.. u . . j 
 ' Hence the different names 9vpibs and auKog, the large shield, aanc and 
 
 iriXriy, the small one, etc. , ^^ • x n ^ 
 
 • The invention of the lighter coat of mail distinguishes Iphicrates. Cornel. 
 
 Nep. in Iphic. c. 1. 
 
 I 
 
160 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XII. 
 
 On the other hand, we ask leave, so far as one who has 
 not been initiated into the art of war may venture his opi- 
 nions, to offer some remarks respecting the progress made 
 by the Greeks in the art which relates to the positions and 
 evolutions of armies, all which we comprehend under the 
 word tactics. We the more desire to do this, because it 
 will afford us a favourable opportunity of expressing an opi- 
 nion on some of their most distinguished generals. It can 
 with truth be said, that the art of tactics is in some respects 
 independent of the progress of the other branches of mili- 
 tary science; and in others is necessarily dependent on 
 them. It is independent, so far as we speak of taking ad- 
 vantage of situation and the ground. The leader of a savage 
 horde may profit by his position, no less than the com- 
 mander of the best-disciplined army. Each will do it in his 
 own way. It is an affair of genius, and rules cannot be 
 given on the subject. He can do it, to whom nature has 
 given the necessary keenness and quickness of view. This 
 art is therefore always the property of individuals ; it can- 
 not be propagated or preserved by instructions. Entirely 
 the reverse is true of the drawing up of an army and the 
 evolutions dependent thereupon. They rest upon rules and 
 knowledge, which are lasting ; though we readily concede 
 that this is but as it were the inanimate body of the art, 
 into which genius must breathe life. Modern history has 
 shown by a great example, how those forms may continue 
 in the most courageous and best- disciplined army, and yet 
 produce no effect when the spirit of them has passed away. 
 But here a subject is proposed to the historian, of which he 
 can treat. Can this be done better than by comparing to- 
 gether several of the principal engagements, of which 
 detailed accounts have been preserved ? Inferences which 
 may thus be drawn respecting the progress of tactics, can 
 hardly be exposed to any considerable errors. 
 
 In the Persian wars, the victory of Marathon was the first 
 splendid military action of the Greeks, or rather of the 
 Athenians. Athens owed it to the heroic spirit of her 
 Miltiades. It was he who turned the scale, when it was 
 still a question, whether a battle should be ventured or not. 
 The voices of the ten leaders, of whom Miltiades was one, 
 were divided ; the eleventh vote of the Polemarch was to 
 
 THE ARMY AND NAVY. 
 
 161 
 
 m 
 
 1/ 
 
 I 
 
 decide. At this moment Miltiades arose and addressed the 
 Polemarch Callimachus.^ " It now rests with you to reduce 
 Athens to slavery, or, setting it free, to leave a reputation 
 among men, such as neither Harmodius nor Aristogiton has 
 left ; for long as the city of Athens has existed, it has never 
 been in any danger like the present. If it should submit to 
 the Persians, it is already determined what it will suffer 
 under its tyrants; should it be saved, it can become the first 
 of Grecian cities. If we do not join battle, I fear a faction 
 will confuse the minds of the Athenians, and make them 
 Persian ; if we fight, victory will be ours with the gods." 
 History can relate of a great man nothing more important 
 than his conduct in the most decisive moment of his life. 
 Miltiades himself could not have foreboded how much de- 
 pended on that moment ; yet he gained his end, and Calli- 
 machus adopted his opinion. But besides the talent of the 
 general, who knew how to avail himself of his position to 
 cover his wings, the victory was not less decided by the 
 discipline of the Athenian militia, accustomed to preserve 
 their ranks even while advancing with rapidity. They ran 
 to the encounter;'' the first of the Greeks, who did so. The 
 wings of the enemy were discomfited ; and the name of 
 Marathon became immortal among men. 
 
 The battle of Plataeae, which happened eleven years later,' 
 is one of those, respecting which we have the most accurate 
 accounts.* The motions of the army on the preceding days, 
 give it an importance for the student of tactics. In his 
 evolutions the Persian general seems to have been superior 
 to the Grecian ; for he cut off all communication with them, 
 and all supplies of water, and compelled them to change 
 their encampment. But the want of cavalry in the face of 
 an army which abounded in it, made every motion of the 
 Greeks difllicult ; and when we remember the internal or- 
 ganization of the army, and the little power possessed by 
 
 ^ Herod, vi. 109. 
 
 J Iv ipSjii^, Herod, vi. 112. Herodotus says expressly, that they made the 
 attack with closed ranks, iOpSoi; we must not therefore think of a wild 
 onset. Ihey had neither cavalry nor archers; just as the Swiss at Novara 
 m lol'i were without cavalry and artillery; in each case the result was the 
 same. When enthusiasm attacks, computation fails. 
 
 • In the year 479 B. C. 
 
 * Herod, ix. 28, etc. Plutarch, in Aristide, Op. ii. p. 510, etc., has made 
 use of Herodotus. r i f j 
 
162 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XII. 
 
 THE ARMY AND NAVY. 
 
 16S 
 
 the commander, not only over the allies, but even over his 
 own Spartans,^ we shall discover still greater difficulties, 
 with which Pausanias had to contend. And yet the Gre- 
 cians obtained a splendid victory ; but it was far more the 
 result of the desperate attack made by the Tegeans and the 
 Spartans, than of artful evolutions. In the days which pre- 
 ceded the battle, Pausanias appears as a general of prudence 
 and sound judgment ; he owed the victory not to himself, 
 but to a part of his army and to fortune. 
 
 Of the battles which the able and successful Cimon won 
 of the Persians, history has preserved no details ; but yet 
 enough to show, that the science of tactics was not advanced 
 by them. They were for the most part naval engagements ; 
 those which took place on land, were only unexpected at- 
 tacks. After his death, Plutarch tells us expressly, nothing 
 great or considerable was executed.' 
 
 The first campaigns of the Peloponnesian war show be- 
 yond dispute, that the art of war, in a higher sense, had 
 made but little progress. They were only inroads followed 
 by nothing decisive. We have already remarked, why, in the 
 progress of that long and weary war, tactics gained so little. 
 The case was changed, when, after this war, Sparta, con- 
 tending for the rank she had won, found her Agesilaus, and 
 was yet obliged to yield the ascendency to Thebes. Here 
 the decision was made by armies and not by navies. In the 
 view of those states, therefore, armies rose in importance. 
 
 We will not refuse to Agesilaus any of the praises which 
 Xenophon has lavished on him. He was a model not only 
 of a Spartan, but of a Grecian general. In the Spartan 
 method of war, he made one change ; in his wars against 
 the Persians in Asia, he was the first to form a numerous 
 cavalry ; and to show that he knew the use of it.^ Except 
 this he made no essential alteration in tactics. The proof of 
 this is found in the description which Xenophon has given* 
 of the battle of Coronea. The same usual position was taken ; 
 
 > See in Herodotus, and Plutarch 11. cc. p. 517» the relation of the disobe- 
 dience of Amompharetus, in confirmation of the remark which we made above, 
 p. 233, on Pausanias. 
 
 ' Plutarch, in Cimone, Op. iii. p. 217. 
 
 * But that too was only temporary. The battle of Leuctra shows how bad 
 the Spartan cavalry was at a subsequent period. See Xenoph. Op. p. 696. 
 
 * Xenoph. in Agesil. Op. p. 659. 
 
 \ 
 
 the usual method of attack, by opposing a straight line to a 
 straight line ; without any artificial evolutions, either before 
 or during the battle. 
 
 If it should appear from all this, that the higher branches 
 of the art of war, including tactics, had not made so con- 
 siderable progress as might have been expected, from the 
 greatest of commanders, we would not in any degree di- 
 minish the fame of those distinguished men. Their glory 
 rests on something independent of the mere evolutions of 
 their armies. The Grecian leader was more closely united 
 to his soldiers ; he was obliged to know how to gain the 
 confidence of his fellow-soldiers, who at the same time were 
 his fellow-citizens. This could not be done by commands ; 
 rank and birth were here of no avail ; every thing depended 
 on personal character ; and to be esteemed a great man it 
 was necessary to give proofs of greatness. 
 
 It is the gloiy of the Greek nation, that it produced in 
 almost every science and art the man, who first clearly re- 
 cognised the eternal principles on which it rests, and by the 
 application of them, unconsciously became the instructer of 
 posterity. In the art of war, such a man appeared in 
 Epaminondas. His fame as a warrior is his least glory ; the 
 world should behold in him the noblest character of his na- 
 tion. He was for his age, what Gustavus Adolphus was for 
 a later one. If we take from each of these great men, the 
 peculiarities of their times, it will be difficult to find two 
 more congenial spirits, two characters more nearly resembling 
 each other. The parallel we leave for others to draw ; of both 
 we never can hear too much ; it is Epaminondas, the skilfiil 
 soldier, whom we are now to consider. The idea on which 
 his change in the method of war was founded, was as simple 
 as the man himself; and we can hardly fail of observing, 
 that it proceeded from his peculiar situation. With an in- 
 ferior force he had to cope with a more powerful adversary ; * 
 and this is the true criterion of military genius. It did not 
 escape him, that he could not succeed with the former order 
 of battle, according to which one line was drawn up in front 
 of the other. Hence he determined to concentrate the at- 
 tack in one point with a part of his army, whilst he with- 
 
 The Spartan forces in the battle of Leuctra were thrice as numerous as 
 the Theban ; and besides, till that time, had been reckoned invincible. 
 
 M 2 
 
164 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XII. 
 
 THE ARMY AND NAVY. 
 
 165 
 
 drew the rest ; and his object was, in that one point to break 
 through the hostile hne. In this manner he was triumphant 
 at Leuctra, where he fell upon the right wing of the Spar- 
 tans. But at Leuctra, the success of the Theban cavalry 
 had led the way to a successful issue; it is at Mantinea, that 
 we see for the first time the full application of the new 
 tactics, which are described to us by one profoundly ac- 
 quainted with the subject. " Epaminondas," says Xenophon/ 
 "advanced with his army like a galley with threatening 
 prow ; sure that if he could once break through the line of 
 his adversaries, a general flight would ensue. He therefore 
 determined to make the attack with the flower of his army, 
 while he drew back the weaker part of it." Thus the illus- 
 trious Theban solved the great problem in tactics, by means 
 of its position, to use the several parts of an army at will ; 
 the art of war which was thus invented deserved the name, 
 and was the same which insured to Alexander the victory 
 on the Granicus, as well as to Frederic at Leuthen. It is 
 easy to be perceived, that the execution of the plan was a still 
 greater efibrt than its invention. Troops far better trained 
 than the usual armies of the Greeks, were needed. And 
 it is in this very circumstance, that Xenophon, himself 
 an experienced officer, places the great merit of Epami- 
 nondas.^ 
 
 We may therefore say with truth, that the higher branches 
 of the art of war began with Epaminondas to be understood. 
 But even before him, a change had gradually taken place in 
 the whole military regulations ; a change of the most de- 
 cisive importance. 
 
 We allude to the custom of paying the troops. In states 
 which originally made exclusive use of militia, the form and 
 the spirit of their military institutions must have been changed 
 by the introduction of mercenary troops. These could not 
 have the internal regulations of the militia; which were 
 founded on the division of the citizens ; and although the 
 Swiss mercenaries of the sixteenth century have proved that 
 battles can be gained even with hired soldiers, yet the ex- 
 
 » Xenoph. H. Gr. vi. Op. p. 596. We learn from the same passage how 
 much the excellent Theban cavalry (formed by Pelopidas) surpassed the 
 Spartan. 
 
 ^ Xenoph. Op. p. 645. 
 
 amples of those times have also proved that evils are 
 inseparable from the custom. 
 
 The use of mercenaries in Greece, may be traced to a very 
 remote period. The tyrants, those usurpers who made their 
 appearance in the cities at so early a date, were doubtless the 
 first to introduce it ; because they needed an armed force to 
 protect their usurped authority. But this force did not 
 always consist of foreigners; but rather, especially in the 
 early times, of an armed party of the citizens, or was selected 
 from among the partisans of the tyrant ;^ and further, an in- 
 stitution which was regarded as unjust, could not continue, 
 still less be adopted and regularly established. 
 
 Hired troops, of which we would here treat, began to be 
 employed in the Grecian cities at a later period. In the 
 beginning of the Persian war, at Marathon and at Plataeae 
 we hear nothing of them. In the Peloponnesian war, they 
 were commonly,^ and after these times, almost universally 
 employed. Several causes operated to produce this effect. 
 
 The first was the whole condition of private life. When 
 luxury and the comforts of life were introduced afi;er the 
 Persians were known, it is not astonishing that the rich de- 
 sired to be free from military service. On the other hand, 
 the Peloponnesian war and the almost universal revolutions 
 produced by it, had no increased the number of the poor, that 
 there was a numerous class who made a profession of war, 
 and were ready to serve any one who would pay them. But 
 still more important was the fact, that with the Persians no 
 less than the Greeks, the same change in domestic life pro- 
 duced the same consequences. The subsidies of the former 
 first enabled the Spartans to hire troops. But they soon 
 hired in their turn, and in greater numbers than the Greeks ; 
 and no mercenaries were so acceptable, none so indispensa- 
 ble to them as the Grecian. The high wages which they 
 gave, like those of the British in modern times, allured nu- 
 
 * This was done by Pisistratus on his first usurpation ; Herod, i. 59. In 
 later times, (let the history of Syracuse be called to mind,) the hired troops 
 of the tyrants were wholly or chiefly composed of foreigners. 
 ; ' The hired troops of the Spartans, from the Peloponnesus, are mentioned as 
 early as the times of Brasidas ; Thucyd. L. iv. 80 ; those of Athens from 
 Thrace, about the same time ; Thucyd. L.v.G; those of the Corinthians and 
 others we find constantly mentioned. In the Peloponnesus, it was chiefly 
 the Arcadians who served as mercenaries ; hence the proverb among the 
 poets ; 15 'ApxaSiag imKovpoi, A then. i. p. 27, for they did not serve for nothing. 
 
166 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [CUAP. XII. 
 
 THE ARMY AND NAVY. 
 
 167 
 
 merous troops across the sea ; and we need but call to mind 
 the ten thousand whom Clearchus led to Cyrus the younger, 
 and with whom Xenophon made his retreat,^ to be con- 
 vinced that great multitudes followed this kind of life. The 
 subsequent Phocian war^ was conducted by the Phocians, 
 who were aided by the treasures of Delphi, almost exclu- 
 sively with hired troops ; and Demosthenes is loud in his 
 complaints and censure of a custom, which all his eloquence 
 was not able to change.^ 
 
 Of all writers, Isocrates has spoken the most distinctly on 
 this subject. His long life continued almost through the 
 whole period in which this custom arose; and the conse- 
 quences were so distinctly visible in his old age, his patriot- 
 ism could not but break forth in lamentations. Those very 
 troops of Clearchus and Xenophon, troops which made the 
 Persians tremble, — who were they? Men, says Isocrates,* 
 of such reputation, that they could not reside in their native 
 cities. " Formerly," says he in another place,^ " there was no 
 such thing as mercenaries ; now the situation of Greece is 
 such, that it would be far easier to raise an army of vagabonds 
 than of citizens." The natural consequences of this state of 
 things was, that he who had the most money, had also the 
 most power. He could raise an army at will. But on how 
 uncertain a foundation did this power repose ! The rich man 
 can be outbid by the rich ; and Greece learned, what Car- 
 thage learned also with a more melancholy certainty,^ that a 
 state which trusts to mercenary troops, must finally tremble 
 before them. " Unless," says Isocrates to Philip,^ " to pro- 
 vide for the support of these people by establishing colonies 
 of them, they will soon collect in vast troops, and be more 
 formidable to the Hellenes, than the barbarians." ® 
 
 We have already remarked, that in the eyes of the Greeks, 
 the navy was more important than the army. They very 
 early distinguished ships of war from merchant vessels ; of 
 which the consequence was, that, as the former belonged to 
 
 » In the year 400 B. C. 
 
 * Called also the Sacred war, from 357 till 347 B. C. 
 
 * See his Philippic and Olynthiac orations. 
 
 * Isocrat. Panegyr. Op. p. 71. * Isocrat. Or. ad Phil. Op. p. 101, 
 
 * In the wars with the mercenaries, 240 — 237 B. C. 
 
 * Isocrat. ad Philip. Op. p. 106. 
 
 ■ We learn from Xenophon's retreat, that they were formidable to their 
 own commanders; just as were the Swiss at Milan. 
 
 \ 
 
 the state, to build and fit out fleets was entirely a public 
 concern. Yet to judge correctly of the condition and pro- 
 gress of naval science among the Greeks, we must not forget, 
 that the scene of action for their squadrons was, and con- 
 tinued to be, limited to the uEgean and Ionian Seas. The 
 expedition of Athens against Syracuse, is the most distant 
 which was ever undertaken by any Grecian fleet of the 
 mother country ; with what success is known. Even the 
 Black Sea, though open to their vessels of commerce, was 
 hardly visited by their galleys of war, because no occasion 
 ever required it. The seas which they navigated were full 
 of islands ; it was never difficult to find landing-places and 
 harbours ; and the naval expeditions were not much more 
 than passages by sea. Further ; Greece, especially the most 
 cultivated eastern part of it, did not abound in wood ; and 
 though some of the western or inland districts^ were better 
 provided with it, the rivers, which were hardly more than 
 mountain streams, afforded little opportunity for the trans- 
 portation of timber. The cities, therefore, which built 
 fleets, were obliged to seek their timber at a distance; 
 we know of Athens, that it imported what it needed from 
 Thrace.^ The expense was therefore necessarily great ; none 
 but the richest cities were able to bear them ; and hence it 
 is easy to see, that limitations were produced, which make 
 the exertions of several states for their navy, appear to us in 
 a very extraordinary light. Finally ; the manning of the 
 fleets was attended with peculiar difficulties. Two kinds of 
 men, mariners and soldiers, were employed. The latter were * 
 citizens, and belonged to the militia ; but according to the 
 earlier regulations, the citizens were not obliged to do ser- 
 vice on board of the ships. Slaves were used in part, 
 especially for the oars ; and in part foreigners were hired. 
 Such is the description given by Isocrates. " Formerly," 
 says he,^ " in the better times of Athens, foreigners and 
 slaves were used for the management of the vessels ; but 
 citizens performed service in arms. Now the case is re- 
 versed ; those of the city are compelled to serve as mariners,* 
 \yhile the soldiers consist of mercenaries." The manning of 
 
 ' As Acamania and Arcadia. * Thucyd. iv. 108. 
 
 • Isocrat. de Pace, Op. p. 169, See Scheffer de Milit. Naut. ii. 3. 
 
 * Especially the Inquilini. 
 
 ^! 
 
168 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XII. 
 
 THE ARMY AND NAVY. 
 
 169 
 
 the fleets was therefore attended with great expense ; and it 
 is known respecting them from the Peloponnesian war, that 
 Sparta could not have borne them but for the alliance and 
 subsidies of Persia. 
 
 These causes are sufficient to limit our expectations of the 
 naval affairs of the Grecians. Yet here, also, the different 
 epochs must be distinguished. 
 
 We learn of Homer and of the Argonautic poets, that the 
 Greeks even in the heroic age had ships which were fitted 
 out for distant voyages. The piracy, which before that pe- 
 riod had been so common, must have made it necessary for 
 ships to be prepared, not only for carrying freight, but for 
 fighting. These vessels were called long, by way of dis- 
 tinguishing them from the more ancient round ones, which 
 were fit only for the transportation of merchandise ; though 
 we would by no means deny, that the former were also used 
 for the purposes of commerce. It was characteristic of 
 them, that all the rowera sat in one line. In such times of 
 insecurity, fast sailing is the chief merit of a vessel ; be it 
 for the attack or for flight. This must have been promoted 
 in the lengthened vessels both by the form itself, and the 
 increased number of rowers ; which gradually rose from 
 twenty to fifty, and even more. Hence there was a parti- 
 cular class of ships, which derived their name from that 
 circumstance.^ 
 
 But the incident which made a real and the only epoch 
 in the histoiy of Grecian naval architecture, is the invention 
 of the triremes. They were distinguished by the triple order 
 of benches for rowing, placed one above the other.^ It thus 
 became necessary to build them much higher ; and though 
 swiftness may have been carefully regarded, strength and 
 firmness must have been viewed as of equal importance. 
 But even before the Macedonian times, and always after them, 
 the chief strength of the Grecian fleet lay in the triremes, 
 just as that of modern fleets in ships of the line of the second 
 and third rate. 
 
 * The srevnjKovropuc. See Scheffer de Varietate Nav. in Gronov. Thes. xi. 
 p. 752. 
 
 * Scheffer de Milit. Naval, ii. 2. I believe this point, once so much con- 
 tested, is now no longer doubted; although uncertainty still exists respecting 
 the order of the rows. Compare the prints and illustrations in Antichita 
 d'Ercolano, T. v. at the end. 
 
 i 
 
 \ 
 
 The structure of the triremes would alone warrant the in- 
 ference, that a naval force, that is, a squadron destined solely 
 for war, and possessed by the state, did not exist in Greece 
 till after these were invented. But there is in Thucydides* 
 a passage, which in my opinion settles this point beyond a 
 doubt. *' When, after the abolition of monarchies, the cities 
 became more wealthy, the Greeks began to build fleets, and 
 to pay more attention to the sea. The Corinthians were the 
 first to change the ships according to our present form ; for 
 in Greece the first triremes were built at Corinth ; and it was 
 the ship-builder Aminocles of Corinth, who built for the 
 Samians four (such) vessels. But it was about three hun- 
 dred years before the end of this war,^ that Aminocles came 
 to the Samians. The oldest naval battle with which we are 
 acquainted, was fought between the Corinthians and the 
 Corcyraeans ; since that time, two hundred and sixty years 
 have elapsed." ^ 
 
 This testimony, more important than all the accounts of 
 later grammarians and compilers, proves that it was in the 
 seventh century that the Grecian cities began to support 
 fleets. The account of the great historian is made much 
 clearer by the inquiries respecting Grecian commerce, which 
 show that the same period beheld the seeds of Grecian cities, 
 planted on the sea-coast from Asia to Sicily, spring up and 
 flourish in the genial beams of liberty. The year, it is true, 
 is not mentioned, in which the first triremes were built in 
 Corinth ; but the whole connexion shows, that the invention 
 was still recent in the age of Aminocles ; and as the first naval 
 battle between the Greeks was fought forty years later, it is 
 obvious, tliat they were then but beginning to support fleets. 
 
 But at the same time we must confess that naval archi- 
 tecture, after this first great step, made no further consider- 
 able advances before the Macedonian age. Thucydides says 
 this expressly ; for he observes, that the Corinthians gave 
 the ships the form which they continued to have in his time. 
 Neither did it at once become a general custom to build 
 triremes. Till the Persian wars, the use of the long ships 
 and those of fifty oars was the most usual ; the Syracusans 
 and Corcyraeans were, about this time, the first to have 
 
 > Thucyd. i. 13. 
 
 ■ About 640 years B. C. 
 
 • About 700 years B. C. 
 
170 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XII. 
 
 THE ARMY AND NAVY. 
 
 171 
 
 whole fleets consisting of triremes.* In these, many im- 
 provements may have been made ; but as no essential change 
 took place, we leave this subject, and many others relating to 
 naval matters, to the industry of the antiquarian. 
 
 We would only add a few remarks on the naval tactics of 
 the Greeks. Did they receive a scientific form earlier than 
 the military ? And if so, through whom, and by what means ? 
 And here the reader must not forget, that we are treating of 
 the times previous to the dominion of Macedonia. 
 
 It is apparent from the preceding observations, that the 
 Greeks had more reason to improve their naval than their 
 military tactics. They were often obliged to contend with 
 fleets, not only superior to theirs in number, but also in the 
 excellence of the vessels; for in the Persian wars, the 
 squadrons of the Phoenicians were arrayed against them. 
 Even when the victory had been gained, the safety of Greece 
 still depended on its maritime force. This formed the found- 
 ation of the greatness of the first of the Grecian cities. 
 Naval actions, more than battles by land, decided the destiny 
 of the states. What circumstances and relations could be 
 more favourable to the display of great talents ? And where 
 may we indulge greater expectations, especially when we 
 look through the lists of the men to whom Athens and 
 Sparta intrusted the command of their squadrons ? 
 
 We can best commence the history of the naval tactics of 
 Greece, at the period in which we have descriptions of their 
 engagements at sea. The earliest account which we possess, 
 is of the battle which took place near the island Lada, off 
 Miletus, between the Ionian fleet and that of the Phoenicians 
 in the service of Persia. The navy of the lonians had then 
 reached its best state ; it consisted of not less than three 
 hundred and fifty triremes, while that of the Phoenicians was 
 almost twice as large. We find that a premeditated position 
 was taken in the days before the battle. In the divisions of 
 the first line, there were intervals, through which those of 
 the second could sail* But the battle itself is not instructive, 
 as the Persians previously succeeded in dividing the fleet of 
 the alHes. 
 
 When Xerxes invaded Greece, Themistocles gained the 
 
 * Thucyd. i. 14. » Herod, vi. 12, etc. Here too we have an 
 
 instance of how little could be effected by the commander. 
 
 glory of being his country's preserver by sea. But it must 
 not be forgotten, that though he was the commander of 
 the Athenians, he had not the general command of the 
 allies. This post he had the prudence and moderation to 
 yield, at least nominally, to Eurybiades the Spartan.^ Still 
 it was Themistocles who directed the whole, not by com- 
 mands, but by persuasion ; and in this art who was equal to 
 him ? Twice he ventured to meet the much superior navy 
 of the Persians ; first at Artemisium, then at Salamis. But 
 in both instances he remedied his inferiority, not so much 
 by artful manoeuvres, as by choosing his situation. He would 
 not meet the immense Persian fleet in the open sea, where 
 the wings of the enemy would have unavoidably extended 
 beyond his own. Hence he chose his first position at the 
 northern entrance of the Strait of Euboea,^ and after the in- 
 decisive engagements of Artemisium, retreated through those 
 straits to the Saronic bay ; where the nook between Attica 
 and the island of Salamis offered a station still more secure. 
 In such a position, where the enemy is expected in close array, 
 manoeuvres are not further needed; but the relation of Hero- 
 dotus leaves us in doubt, whether most to admire the dis- 
 cernment, or the prudence and adroitness of the commander. 
 
 Of the later naval engagements which took place in the 
 course of those wars, we have only general accounts. The 
 Greeks beat the Persians too easily. Where an enemy is 
 despised, the art of war cannot make much progress. 
 
 We have particular accounts^ of the naval fight, which, at 
 the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, took place between 
 the Corcyraeans and Corinthians; and after which, both 
 nations erected a trophy. The fleet of the Corinthians form- 
 ed one line ; that of the Corcyreeans, on the contrary, was 
 drawn up in three divisions. But the historian remarks, 
 that no manoeuvres took place ; they grappled at once, and 
 ship fought singly with ship. All that we read of the fleet of 
 the Corcyraeans, gives us no high opinion of their skill in 
 naval tactics. In a second naval engagement with the 
 
 . ' On this and what follows, consult the interesting narrative of Herodotus, 
 
 viii. 2. . ■ - 
 
 ^ The Euripus, as it was called. The Persians sent a part of their squadron 
 round the is&nd, to block up the southern entrance, and thus cut off" the re- 
 treat of the Greeks ; but their squadron was destroyed by a storm. Herod. 1. c. 
 • Thucyd. i. 47, etc. 
 
in 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XII. 
 
 STATESMEN AND ORATORS. 
 
 173 
 
 Peloponnesians, they showed still less adroitness, and would 
 have been ruined, had not the division of the Athenians 
 covered their retreat.^ 
 
 The naval tactics which were now known to the Greeks, 
 consisted chiefly in sailing round, and sailing through the 
 enemy's line.^ The object of the first was, to extend the 
 line beyond the opposite wings ; of the second, to break 
 through the hostile line. To prevent this, the other fleet 
 was drawn up in two lines, both with intervals, so that the 
 divisions of the second line could pass through the intervals 
 in the first, and thus assist them, when assistance was needed. 
 This order was particularly understood by the Athenians, who 
 also adopted another method of attack, not with the prow, but 
 obhquely from the side ; so that the oars of the enemy's ship 
 were broken, and the ships thus made unmanageable. In 
 those matters, the Athenians were superior not only to the 
 Spartans, but even to the Syracusans.^ 
 
 The two last years of the Peloponnesian war were par- 
 ticularly remarkable for naval encounters ; but for a know- 
 ledge of tactics, the engagement between the Spartans under 
 Callicratidas, and the Athenians, near Lesbos, alone deserves 
 notice ; for it gives us an example of the management of a 
 squadron in a double row. The Athenian fleet was drawn 
 up in two lines, both on the right and the left wing. Each 
 wing consisted of two divisions, each division of fifteen ships; 
 and was supported by equal divisions in the second line ; 
 the centre was composed of one line. This order, says 
 Xenophon,* was chosen, that the fleet might not be broken 
 through. The Spartan fleet, on the contrary, formed but 
 one line; prepared for sailing round or breaking through 
 the enemy. The battle was obstinate ; it was long before 
 the Athenians gained the victory, as Callicratidas fell. His 
 steersman, before the battle, had advised him to retreat, on 
 account of the greatly superior force of the Athenians. 
 "Were I to fall, Sparta could exist as well," was his answer. 
 
 The naval tactics of the ancients were further improved 
 in the wars between the Romans and Carthaginians, and 
 under the Ptolemies. In forming an opinion respecting 
 
 » Thucyd. iii. 77. 78. 
 Xenoph. H. Gr. i. Op. p. 446. 
 fight m Thucyd. 1. c. 
 
 ' ITipiTrXiTv and SuKTrXtiv. Thucyd. vii. 36. 
 • See the description of the 
 * Xenoph. Op. p. 446. 
 
 I 
 
 them, two things should not be forgotten. First ; less de- 
 pended on the winds than in modern tactics ; for the tri- 
 remes were moved rather by oars than sails. Secondly ; 
 where battles were always fought near at hand, and the ships 
 always ran alongside of each other, the manoeuvres of the 
 fleets could not be so various or so important, as where the 
 ships remain at a certain distance, and manoeuvres are per- 
 formed during the whole action. But though the naval 
 tactics of the moderns are more difficult and intricate, we 
 must not infer that the naval battles of the ancients were 
 comparatively insignificant. They decided wars in ancient 
 times much more frequently than in modern ; and if the loss 
 of men is to be taken into consideration, it might easily be 
 shown, that one naval battle of the ancients often swept away 
 more men, than three or even more in our age. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 STATESMEN AND ORATORS. 
 
 The character of the statesmen in republics like the Grecian 
 must, in many respects, differ from the statesmen of the 
 modern European monarchies ; and can be sketched with 
 diflBculty. Yet it is necessary to form a distinct conception 
 of the sphere of action in which those men exerted them- 
 selves, who justly form the pride of antiquity. But it may 
 seem the less superfluous to enter into this subject, since 
 we shall thus gain an opportunity of forming more correct 
 opinions respecting several of those men. Though Athens 
 was their home and the theatre of their actions, they were 
 the property of Greece ; and are here to be held up as the 
 representatives of so many others, of whom history has pre- 
 served for us less information, because they made their ap- 
 pearance in cities of less renown. 
 
 The different character of the Grecian states necessarily 
 exercised an influence on the character of the statesmen, 
 who appeared in them. Where the law exercised unlimited 
 power, as it did in Sparta, there was no room for dema- 
 gogues like those of Athens. But difference of time was as 
 
 
 11 
 
 M 
 
174 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 fcHAr. XIII. 
 
 STATESMEN AND ORATORS. 
 
 175 
 
 ii 
 
 f 
 
 i 
 
 influential as the difference of constitutions. How then 
 could it be otherwise expected, than that with the increas- 
 ing culture of the nation, there should be a change in the 
 influence and the conduct of those who were at its head. 
 
 In the age of Solon, men first appeared in the mother 
 country, who were worthy of the name of statesmen. Many 
 had before that period been in possession of power, and not 
 unfrequently had become tyrants ; but none can be called 
 statesmen, as the word itself denotes, except those who as 
 freemen conduct the affairs of cultivated nations. 
 
 In Solon's age,^ the relations of tlie Grecian states had 
 not yet become intricate. No one of them exercised sway 
 over the rest ; and no one endeavoured to do so ; even the 
 importance of Sparta in the Peloponnesus was founded on 
 her attempts to liberate the cities from tlie yoke of the 
 tyrants. In such a period, when the individual states were 
 chiefly occupied with their own concerns and those of their 
 nearest neighbours, the statesman's sphere of action could 
 not for any length of time be extended beyond the internal 
 government and administration. The seven wise men, from 
 whom the Greeks date the age in which politics began to 
 be a science, were not speculative philosophers, but rulers, 
 presidents, and counsellors of states ; rulers, as Periander of 
 Corintli and Pittacus of Mitylene ; presidents, as Solon of 
 Athens, Chilo of Sparta, Cleobulus of Lindus ; counsellors, 
 as Bias and Thales, of princes and cities.- Of these, Solon 
 is the only one with whom we are much acquainted ; he is 
 known as a lawgiver, and also as a soldier and poet. But it 
 was not till after the wars with Persia, that tlie men ap- 
 peared whom we can call statesmen in the modern sense 
 of the word. For it was tlien for the first time, wlien a 
 contest arose with a nation to all appearances infinitely su- 
 perior in power, and the question of existence was at issue, 
 and when good counsel was not less important than action, 
 that a greater political interest was excited, which employed 
 the strongest minds. And this interest was not and could 
 not be transitory. For it gave birth in Greece to the idea 
 of supremacy, which a single state obtained and preserved 
 
 * Between 600 and 550 years B. C. 
 
 'See Diog. Laert. i. c. 1—5. The passages which relate to them, have 
 already been collected and illustrated by Meiners and other writers on the 
 history of philosophy. Meiners's Geschichte der Wissenschaften, i. p. 43. 
 
 for nearly seventy years ; and which, as we have already re- 
 marked, became the foundation of its greatness and its 
 splendour. Political affairs and negotiations were now to 
 be judged of by a new criterion. The foreign relations 
 were now the most important; and it was in conducting 
 them, that the first statesmen were employed. But their 
 sphere of action was by no means limited to Athens alone ; 
 it was in some measure extended over the whole of Greece. 
 The object of these men was, and could not but be, to 
 gain influence in a community, in which some inequality 
 was produced by birth, (as certain families, like those of the 
 Eupatridse, were held superior to the rest, forming a sort of 
 nobility, and even a political party,) yet in which birth had 
 very little influence on future consequence. In Athens, as 
 in England, certain families or classes of families advocated 
 certain political ideas and principles, by means of which the 
 democratic and aristocratic parties were formed, and kept 
 up amidst a variety of changes. But the history of Athens 
 still abounds in proofs, that the influence possessed over the 
 people by no means depended on birth. Here, as in the 
 other similar states, there were two methods of gaining such 
 influence ; by deeds in war, and in peace by counsel. In 
 some periods, military glory was the most esteemed ; in 
 others, influence could be gained without it. In the early 
 period, during the war with the Persians, the commanders 
 of the armies were also statesmen ; and how could it be 
 otherwise ? But when the affairs of peace grew more import- 
 ant, a new course was opened to the man of genius. Yet 
 it was long before the statesman, as such, could rise in 
 Athens ; the qualifications of a general long remained es- 
 sential to his influence ; though the age finally came, in 
 which the former began to be of more consequence than the 
 latter. We shall not therefore expose ourselves to the dan- 
 ger of being misapprehended, if we distinguish the three 
 periods from one another ; the first, in which the states- 
 man was subordinate to the general ; the next, in which the 
 general was subordinate to the statesman ; and the third, in 
 which the statesman acted independently of the general. 
 Without any elaborate argument, the reader will imme- 
 diately perceive, that here a certain relation exists to the 
 increasing culture of the nation ; the mere military com- 
 

 in 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [CIIAP. XIII. 
 
 tn-nder mav rule a nation of barbarians ; but the statesman 
 "Jo hL no pretensions to the qualifications of a general 
 Ss no p"ace^xcept among a cultivated people, to mark 
 more dLkictly the limits of the three periods we will call the 
 S that of Themistocles, the second that of Pericles, and 
 thp third that of Demosthenes. 
 
 In he first age it is easy to perceive, that the qualities of 
 
 a commander Sere of more ™P«r 'Vi^anM':,^^^^^^ 
 ^tfttesman The state was to be saved on the field ot battle , 
 anTverprudence was needed for its safety no less than 
 coura-e. Themistocles himself may be regarded as the re- 
 nrStative of this period. Destined by nature to become 
 HemSigue mther than a geneml, he was still forced by 
 ?he chamcter and the spirit of his age to bui d his political 
 nfluence on his military fame. He owed his greatness to 
 the Persian war and Salamis. But as a general, he is per- 
 haps the most perfect model of a popular leader, who effects 
 less by commands than by persuasion and knowledge of 
 men ^His nation recognised in him the most prudent of its 
 dtizens • and he understood his nation better than any one 
 "omerdy collectively, but individually, Hence proceeded 
 his influence. " He was most distinguished, says Thucy- 
 dides ' " for the strength of his natural powers ; and for this 
 Set the most admirable of men. His understanding made 
 him the most acute observer of every unexpected incident^ 
 without any previous or subsequent inquiries ; and gave him 
 The mos? Ic^urate foresight of the future. Whatever he 
 undertook, he was able to execute ; and to form a true 
 Judgment on whatever was new to him. In/o^^tful mat- 
 iersT he could best tell what was to be Jone o-" *« "j 
 avoided ; and, in a word, he was the fii^t for strength of 
 natural powers, and for promptness of decision Hap^y 
 the state which is favoured with such a citizen ! .^-ven in 
 great dangers it has no need to fear. He who consider^ the 
 whole history of Themistocles, will admire him less for his 
 deeds of heroism, than for the manner in which he pre- 
 served the courage of his nation, and in the decisive mo- 
 ment brought them to the decisive measure, rather to enter 
 their ships and desert their native city, than subject them- 
 selves to the Persian yoke. Such things can be done only 
 
 ' Thncyd. i. 138. 
 
 STATESMEN AND ORATORS. 
 
 177 
 
 k 
 
 by a man of superior genius. It is true that his great 
 talents were united to a character, which was not entirely 
 free from selfishness.^ But the interests of his country were 
 never sacrificed to his private advantage. And in judging 
 of Themistocles, it must never be forgotten, that he was the 
 first who, without family, rose to eminence in Athens, and 
 destroyed the power of the nobility.^ This could never be 
 forgiven him ; and it is not strange, that, persecuted as he 
 was by Sparta, he should have been overwhelmed by his 
 foreign and domestic enemies. But when he quitted un- 
 grateful Athens, his object was already accomplished. He 
 had practically demonstrated that he understood the art 
 which he vaunted, of making of a small state a large one. 
 The reception with which he met in Persia, does no less 
 honour to him than to Artaxerxes ; and although it is 
 doubtful whether he did not escape serving against his 
 country by a voluntaiy death,^ it is certain that he did no- 
 thing which could sully his fame. 
 
 If Themistocles shows how talents could rise in a state 
 like Athens, Aristides is an example of the influence of 
 character. His influence and his share in public business 
 were grounded on the conviction of his honesty and disin- 
 terestedness ; although he also needed the support of mili- 
 tary glory. As early as at Marathon, he, as one of the ten 
 generals, stood by the side of Miltiades ; and had himself 
 the magnanimity to yield to him the supreme command.* 
 At Plataeae, he was the leader of the Athenians ; and after 
 the liberties of Greece had been rescued by this victory, 
 and Athens had established its supremacy in the alliance 
 against Persia, he was appointed, at the request of the allies, 
 to superintend the general exchequer, and performed the 
 most diflScult office of fixing for each of them its proportion 
 of the annual tribute.^ Thus Athens owed to him not much 
 
 * See in particular the relation of the corruption of the Grecian generals by 
 the EubcEans. Herod, viii. 5. 
 
 ^ Plutarch, in Themistoc. Op. 1. p. 438. 
 
 ' " He died," says Thucydides, " of disease. Some say he died of poison, 
 which he took because he could not perform all that he had promised the 
 king." Thucyd. i. 138. Thucydides says nothing of the tradition, that he 
 destroyed himself by drinking bull's blood. Plutarch. Op. i. p. 498. The 
 story seems therefore to have received additions ; Thucydides speaks so de- 
 cisively, that he could hardly have doubted the natural death of Themistocles. 
 
 * Plutarch. Op. i. p. 489. 
 
 ■ " Aristides,' says Plutarch, " made inquiries respecting the territory and 
 
 N 
 
178 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XIII. 
 
 STATESMEN AND ORATORS. 
 
 179 
 
 less than to Themistocles, who had been liis rival from 
 youth. If pohtical and moral principles rendered the union 
 of the two impossible, (nothing but the urgent necessities of 
 the country effected it for a short time,) it must not be for- 
 gotten, that Aristides, though probably of no opulent family,* 
 belonged by his birth to the class of the Eupatridae. 
 
 Cimon, the son of Miltiades, the third whom we should 
 name in this first period, connects it, as it were, with the 
 succeeding. He too was more of a general than a states- 
 man. His policy had but one object, continual war against 
 the Persians, as the means of preserving the unity of the 
 Greeks. This he pursued through his whole life, from the 
 battle of Salamis, (and he had been the first to give the ex- 
 ample of deserting the city and entering the ships,^) till 
 shortly before the glorious peace which he had promoted, 
 but did not live to see concluded.' He seems, therefore, to 
 have taken no further share in the internal affairs, than he 
 was forced to do by his situation. For descended from a 
 noble family, and a pupil of Aristides, possessing the prin- 
 ciples of his political instructer, he desired the favour of the 
 people, only as the means of preserving his character as a 
 military commander; and yet he did not escape the lot 
 which had fallen to Themistocles and Aristides. But his 
 military fame procured his speedy return; and confirmed 
 him, as it increased, in the possession of his place. It was 
 by the means which Cimon used to preserve the favour of the 
 people, that he held a place, as we have observed, between 
 the first and second period. His liberality was not confined 
 to citizens alone; even he began to attract attention by 
 pubHc improvements, made for the most part at his own ex- 
 pense. Themistocles had fortified the city and the Pirseeus ; 
 and Cimon began to ornament them. With the Persian 
 spoils he built a part of the walls of the citadel.* He caused 
 the marshy ground at its side^ to be dried and paved; he 
 
 revenue of the several states ; and fixed accordingly the tribute of each state 
 to general satisfaction." Plutarch. Op. ii. p. 535. « But even before that 
 time It was his character, which had gained for Athens the supremacy For 
 the allies desired a president like him ; and even invited him to assume the 
 supreme command." Plutarch, ii. p. 532. He was at that time general of the 
 Athenians with Cimon. 
 ' How uncertain this was, appears from Plutarch, iii. p. 478 
 « Plutarch. Op. iii. p. 181. ^ He died in the year 449 B. C. 
 
 * Plutarch. Op. iii. p. 202. * Called a\ Xi'/ivai. 
 
 prepared an abode for Plato and his philosophy, by convertr 
 ing the barren field, which occupied the site of the Aca- 
 demy, into a lovely, well-watered grove ; and for the Athe- 
 nians, he made the market-place their most favourite place 
 of resort, by planting it with plane-trees.^ He was intimately 
 acquainted with the artists of his time, especially with the 
 painter Polygnotus; to whose art and patriotism, the 
 Athenians were indebted for the paintings which decorated 
 the most celebrated of their public halls.^ 
 
 Cimon may therefore justly be styled the precursor of 
 Pericles, whose name we use to designate the second period. 
 The time was arrived, when the arts of peace were to flourish 
 no less than those of war ; when almost every branch of the 
 arts and of literature was to put forth its most beautiful and 
 most imperishable blossoms. 
 
 Under such circumstances, and in a republic, of which 
 no one could possess the direction without understanding 
 the means of winning and preserving the respect and admir- 
 ation of his fellow-citizens, it is obvious, that new qualities 
 were necessary in the statesman, and new requisitions made 
 of him. The reciprocal influence which exists between 
 men of genius and their age, is perhaps one of the most in- 
 teresting inquiries for which history presents us the mate- 
 rials. When we survey the several periods in which, at a 
 greater or less distance, the remarkable changes of indivi- 
 dual nations, and even of a large part of mankind, have 
 taken place, we shall always find in them individual men, 
 who may in some measure be regarded as the representa- 
 tives of their age ; and who frequently and justly lend their 
 names to it. They can in a certain degree rise above their 
 age ; but they do not the less remain children of the time in 
 which they live ; and a history of mankind, as contained in 
 the history of these leading minds, would perhaps be the 
 most faithful that can be given. He who has truly deli- 
 neated Herrman and Caesar, or Gregory, or Luther, or 
 Frederic, has sketched the chief traits of their respective^ 
 ages. To be in advance of one's age, as is the usual mode 
 of expression, means but to understand one's age correctly 
 
 ' Plutarch. 1. c. 
 ' Plutarch. Op. ii. p. 178. 
 adjoining to the forum. 
 
 Hence called the variegated, iroiKiXri. It was 
 N 2 
 
 M 
 
180 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XIII. 
 
 in all its bearings ; and to act on the principles which re- 
 sult from such knowledge. In this lies the secret of great 
 men, that no one can betray them, because no one shares 
 their penetration, or rather in many cases their presaging 
 insight into the future. On hearing the age of Pericles 
 mentioned, a crowd of glorious associations is called up ; he 
 who becomes more profoundly acquainted with it, soon finds 
 that no pure ideal of perfection then existed. To behold 
 the mere citizen of a republic, raising his nation, and by 
 means of his nation all mankind, to a higher position, is a 
 spectacle which history has never but once been able, under 
 similar circumstances, to repeat, in Lorenzo the Magnificent. 
 Enviable men, around whose brows the unfading laurel 
 twines its verdure ! If fame in succeeding generations, if 
 the grateful remembrance of posterity, is no vain felicity, 
 who would not willingly exchange his claims for yours ? 
 
 In his political course, Pericles was guided by a simple 
 principle ; to be the first in his own city, whilst he secured 
 to it the first place among cities. Its political preponder- 
 ance depended on the preservation of its supremacy over 
 Greece ; and this was to be preserved, not by force alone ; 
 but by every thing w^hich, according to Grecian ideas, could 
 render a city illustrious. Hence he felt himself the neces- 
 sity of improving his mind more variously than had hitherto 
 been common in Athens ; and he availed himself for that 
 end of all the means which his age afforded him. He was 
 the first statesman, who felt that a certain degree of acquaint- 
 ance with philosophy was requisite ; not in order to involve 
 his mind in the intricacies of a system, but to exercise him- 
 self in thinking with freedom ; and he became the pupil of 
 Anaxagoras.^ If before no orators, except those appointed 
 by the state, had spoken in the popular assemblies, he was 
 the first who came forward as a voluntary orator ; ^ and the 
 study of eloquence was necessary for him, although he never 
 made the duties of an active statesman subordinate to those 
 of a public speaker. Whilst he ornamented Athens by 
 those master-pieces of architecture and the arts of design, he 
 was not the patron, but the personal friend of a Phidias and 
 
 * In proof of this and the following account, consult Plutarch in the bio- 
 graphy of Pericles. Op. T. ii. 
 
 'Plutarch makes a distinction between him and the orators appointed by 
 the state j 1. c. p. 601. See Petit, de Leg. Att. iii. 3. 
 
 STATESMEN AND ORATORS. 
 
 181 
 
 similar men ; and who does not know, that his intimacy with 
 Aspasia, his friend, his mistress, and at last his wife, impart- 
 ed to his mind that finer culture, which he would have 
 looked for in vain among the women of Athens. But all 
 this he made subservient to his public career. He desired 
 to be altogether a statesman, and he was so. " There was 
 in the whole city," says Plutarch,^ " but one street in which 
 he was ever seen ; the street which led to the market-place 
 and the council-house. He declined all invitations to 
 banquets, and all gay assemblies and company. During 
 the whole period of his administration, he never dined at 
 the table of a friend ; he did but just make his appearance 
 at the nuptials of his nephew Euryptolemus ; but immedi- 
 ately after the libation ^ he arose. He did not always ap- 
 pear even in the popular assemblies ; but only when im- 
 portant business was to be transacted ; smaller concerns he 
 intrusted to his friends and the orators." Thus Pericles ex- 
 hibited the model of a statesman, such as Greece had never 
 yet seen, and was not to see again. His history shows, that 
 he became great amidst the collision of parties ; all of which 
 he finally annihilated ; and we need not therefore be aston- 
 ished, if the opinions of his contemporaries were not united 
 in his favour. We learn of Plutarch,^ how zealously the 
 comic poets attacked him. But he has gained the voice of 
 one man, whose authority surpasses that of all the rest, the 
 voice of Thucydides. " So long as he presided over the 
 state in peace," says the historian,* " he did it with modera- 
 tion; the state was preserved in its integrity, and was even 
 advanced under him to its highest degree of greatness. When 
 the war broke out, he showed that he had made a just cal- 
 culation of his strength. The first in dignity and prudence, 
 he was superior to all suspicion of corruption ; he therefore 
 swayed the people almost at will ; he guided them, and was 
 not guided by them ; for he did not speak according to their 
 humour, but often opposed them with dignity and even with 
 vehemence. If they were inclined to do any thing unreason- 
 
 \ * Plutarch. Op. ii. p. 601. 
 
 » That is, at the beginning of the repast. These little traits seem to me to 
 designate the man, who never forgave himself any thing. What nobler ob- 
 ject can be contemplated, than a great statesman, who, living entirely for his 
 high calling, and hving worthily of it, spares only moments for himself. 
 
 » As, e. g.. Op. ii. p. 592. * Thucyd. ii. 65. 
 
 II 
 
 lii 
 
 i< 
 
182 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. Xlll. 
 
 STATESMEN AND ORATORS. 
 
 183 
 
 ably, he knew how to restrain them ; if they suffered their 
 courage to sink without reason, he could renew their confi- 
 dence. His administration was therefore nominally the 
 government of the people, but in reality the government of 
 the first man." To a character described by such a master, 
 no additions need be made ; but we cannot omit to observe, 
 that Pericles, though so great as a statesman, was not un- 
 mindful of the fame of military command. In this the rule 
 of his conduct seems to have been, great prudence, and to 
 undertake nothing without the greatest probability of suc- 
 cess ; and such was the confidence reposed in him, that, in 
 the last fifteen years of his administration, he seems to have 
 held the place of general without interruption.^ 
 
 While we render to Pericles the tribute of just admir- 
 ation, we ought not to forget that he was favoured by the 
 circumstances of his times. A man like him is capable of 
 effecting much when the state, of which he is the head, is 
 flourishing, and the people itself is constantly unfolding ta- 
 lents and powers, of which he must be able to take advan- 
 tage. Pericles himself never could have played his part a 
 second time ; how much less those who were his successors ! 
 Of these history has but one to mention, of whom we must 
 take notice, because he belonged, in a certain sense, not 
 merely to Athens, but to Greece; we mean Alcibiades. 
 The age in which he appeared was altogether warlike ; and 
 of this he merits the blame. He needed, therefore, the qua- 
 lifications of a general more than those of a statesman. Still 
 it may be said with confidence, that even in better times he 
 would not have become a Pericles, although he seemed 
 destined by birth, talents, and fortune to play a similar part. 
 Pericles regarded, in every thing, first the state and then 
 himself; Alcibiades, on the contrary, first himself and then 
 the state. Is more needed to delineate his character as a 
 statesman ? Vanity was his leading trait. He is thus de- 
 scribed by the same great historian, who has drawn for us 
 the picture of Pericles. " Although Alcibiades," says he,^ 
 " was distinguished among his fellow-citizens for his wealth 
 and consequence, his desires were always greater than his 
 
 ' Namely, after his victory over his antagonist, the elder Thucydides, who 
 was supported by the party of the Optimates. Plutarch. On. ii. p. 626, 627. 
 » Thucyd. vi. 15. 
 
 fortune; particularly of keeping splendid equipages, and 
 supporting other extravagances ; which contributed not a 
 little to the downfal of the Athenians." His history is so 
 well known, that it is not necessary to establish these re- 
 marks by any particular references ; his whole life from be- 
 mnning to end is a confirmation of them. ^ 
 
 The men who have thus far been named, united, though 
 in different degrees, the characters of the statesman and the 
 general. By what means was such an entire separation of 
 the two produced, as may be observed in the third period, 
 which we have named from Demosthenes ? The name alone 
 explains to us distinctly enough, that the reason is to be 
 looked for in the dominion of eloquence ; but the question 
 remains still to be answered. Why and from what causes did 
 eloquence obtain so late its ascendency in politics ? 
 
 We do not read that Themistocles and Aristides were 
 skilled in oratory as an art. It is certain, that of all practi- 
 cal statesmen, Pericles was the first who deserved that praise ; 
 although it is uncertain whether he took advantage of the 
 instructions which then began to be given by the teachers 
 of eloquence.' But though the orations of Pericles were 
 artfully composed, they cannot be called works of art in the 
 same sense with those of Demosthenes and his contempora- 
 ries. As Pericles left no writings, it must remain undecided 
 whether he wrote out his speeches word for word. A cir- 
 cumstance, of which the memory is preserved by Plutarch, 
 appears to make this very uncertain. " He was accustomed," 
 says the biographer,^ " whenever he was to speak in public, 
 previously to entreat the gods, that he might not utter, 
 against his will, any word which should not belong to the sub- 
 ject." Does not this seem to show, that he was not accus- 
 tomed to write his orations, and deliver them from memory, 
 but that he rather left much to be filled up by the impulse 
 of the moment ? The speech which Thucydides represents 
 him to have delivered,^ is the work of the historian ; but 
 
 ' According to Plutarch, i. p. 594, the sophist Damon was his instmcter ; 
 but, as it appears, rather his political counsellor, than his regular instructer 
 in eloquence. He made use of the pretext, says Plutarch, of teaching him 
 music. Gorgias of Leontium, who is commonly mentioned as beginning the 
 class of sophists, can hardly have been his master. Sec the fragment from 
 the Schol. ad Hermog. ap. Keisk. Or. Gr. viii. p. 195. 
 
 « Plut. Op. ii. p. 604. ' Thucyd. u. 60. 
 
 Ml 
 
 m 
 
184 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XIII. 
 
 
 we can judge from that and other similar discourses con- 
 tained in the same author, of the character of public elo- 
 quence before and during the Peloponnesian war; since 
 they could not but be composed in the taste and after the 
 manner of the times. But how do they differ in style from 
 those of the age of Demosthenes ! How much less can 
 those orations, great as are their various merits, be consi- 
 dered as classic models in the art of eloquence ! We find 
 in them little or nothing of an artificial plan ; little of that 
 rhetorical amplification and those figures and artifices, by 
 which the later orators produced an eifect on their hearers. 
 We justly admire in them the strength of many of their 
 thoughts, and single expressions and passages. But they 
 seem to prove beyond a question, that the rhetorical style 
 was not then formed at Athens. They have far more the 
 character of martial addresses ; they bear the impress of an 
 age, in which the orator in the popular assemblies was at 
 the same time the commander in war.^ 
 
 And by what means did Grecian eloquence in public 
 speaking gain that peculiar character, which it possessed in 
 the age of Demosthenes ? The origin and progress of pub- 
 lic speaking always depends in a certain degree on external 
 circumstances. It is not enough that the constitution leaves 
 room for it ; for then it would have come to perfection in 
 other Grecian cities, and in Athens at a much earlier period 
 than it did. Neither can we assume the artificial disposition 
 of the parts of a discourse and the instruction given in 
 rhetoric, as the standard by which to judge of the actual ap- 
 pearance of great political orators. External circumstances 
 must also be such as to make the want of orators per- 
 ceptible. And when can this take place in free republics, 
 except in times — not of war, for there arms must decide ; 
 but rather in times of impending dangers, which may yet 
 be averted by prudence and courageous resolutions ? In 
 such times the public speaker is in his place ; he beholds 
 the field of glory opened before him ; and if no other 
 motive than patriotism should lead him to ascend the stage 
 from which the people was addressed, where could his 
 bosom be warmed by a nobler inspiration ? 
 
 ' III the masterly sketch which is given by Cicero, in Bruto,cap. 7 — 13, of the 
 succession of Greek orators, much instruction on these subjects may be found. 
 
 STATESMEN AND ORATORS. 
 
 185 
 
 This was the case in Greece, and especially in Athens, 
 during the age of Philip ; for it was Philip who called forth 
 a Demosthenes. Every thing which was needed to produce 
 such an orator, had already been prepared. The form of 
 government had long since made pubHc speaking custom- 
 ary, and had opened a place for its influence. Eloquence 
 was no longer regarded as merely a gift of nature, but as 
 the fruit of study ; and the orator spoke to a people, which 
 was suflSciently well informed, to understand and estimate his 
 merits. To this were added those external causes, the diflS- 
 cult relations of the times. Where could there have been 
 a better field for great public speakers? Where would 
 their appearance have been more easily accounted for? 
 Where was it more natural, that the practical statesman 
 should more and more apply himself to the study of 
 eloquence, and thus the third period distinguished by us be 
 introduced, in which the mere orator, without the talents of 
 a military commander, could direct the affairs of the state. 
 
 But when we investigate the history of practical eloquence 
 in Greece, (for we speak of that, and not of the theory,) we 
 are soon led to remark, what deserves to be carefiilly con- 
 sidered ; that in this last period of time, political eloquence 
 and that of the bar became much more closely connected than 
 before. The men who in the earlier times had stood at the 
 head of the state, Pericles, Alcibiades, and the rest, did not 
 make their way to eminence through the business of advo- 
 cates. Though in individual cases, as Pericles in that of 
 Cimon,* they appeared as accusers in public trials, they 
 never made a profession of pleading in the courts of justice, 
 as did the orators of the age of Demosthenes. This gives 
 rise to an important question in the history of practical 
 politics no less than of oratory. When did the advocates in 
 Greece become statesmen; and by what means did they 
 become so ? 
 
 If I do not err, it is not diflGicult to prove, that during, 
 and by means of the Peloponnesian war, the labours of the 
 advocate and the statesman first came to be united. The 
 state trials, as is apparent from our remarks in a preceding 
 chapter respecting the judicial institutions, produced this 
 
 ' Plutarch. Op. i. p. 610. And even then, as the writer remarks, he was 
 rather apparently than really an accuser. 
 
 ^ , 1 
 
 
 I 
 
 .^.; 
 
186 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. Xlll. 
 
 k 
 
 result. But these began to be numerous during and imme- 
 diately after that war ; and they could not have become 
 very frequent, though individual ones occurred, before the 
 spirit of faction, which supported them, had taken root too 
 deeply to be extirpated. Of the orators with whom we are 
 acquainted, Antiphon is the earliest who must here be men- 
 tioned. The sketch drawn of him by Thucydides, represents 
 a man, who, properly an advocate, was drawn into public 
 affairs against his inclination ; and at last was obliged to 
 defend his life for it.^ Of his contemporaries, Andocides 
 and Lysias, the first would probably have long played a 
 conspicuous part in politics but for his restless spirit and his 
 want of morals.^ His rival Lysias, to judge from those of 
 his orations which are still extant, was entirely an advocate ; 
 but these were chiefly delivered on such matters, as were 
 considered at Athens to belong to public questions at law ; 
 and the eloquence of the bar naturally rose to a higher de- 
 gree of consideration, as trials not only were multiplied, 
 but also increased in importance. In this manner, by the 
 multitude of public processes, the path was opened to the 
 advocates to a share in the business of the state ; and the 
 ideas of orator and statesman became inseparable. This is 
 no where more distinctly perceived, than in the writings 
 of Isocrates, which are so often instructive on these subjects. 
 He, who was only a teacher of eloquence, (for he was con- 
 scious of being too timid to speak in public,) esteemed 
 himself no less a teacher of political science ; and as he 
 never delivered discourses concerning public affairs, he 
 wrote respecting them.' Several of his essays are of the 
 class which we call memorials, directed by him to rulers 
 and kings ; although his friends had warned him, how dan- 
 gerous this kind of writing might prove for him.* They 
 produced no greater effect than such writings commonly 
 do, where they are not supported by personal connexions ; 
 but no one will deny, that his instructions contributed 
 much towards the education of many orators and statesmen.* 
 Nothing would be more superfluous, than the desire of 
 
 * Thucyd. viii, 68. ' Hauptmann de Andocide, ap. Reisk. vol. viii. p. 535. 
 
 * See in particular the introduction to the Panathenaicus. Op. p. 234, etc. 
 
 * Orat. ad. Philip. Op. p. 85. 
 
 * Cic. Brut. c. 8. Isocrates, cujus domus cunctae Graeci® quasi ludus qui- 
 dam patuit, atque officina dicendi ; magnus orator et perfectus magister. 
 
 STATESMEN AND ORATORS. 
 
 187 
 
 becoming the eulogist of that master in his art, whom the 
 united voice of so many centuries has declared to be the 
 first ; and whose worth the only rival whom antiquity placed 
 by his side, has described in a manner at once exact, and 
 equally honourable to both.^ We would not here speak of 
 Demosthenes the orator, but of Demosthenes the statesman; 
 and of him only as far as the man, the orator, and the states- 
 man were most intimately connected in him. His political 
 principles came from the depths of his soul ; he remained 
 true to his feelings and his convictions, amidst all changes 
 of circumstances and all threatening dangers. Hence he 
 was the most powerful of orators ; because with him there was 
 no surrender of his convictions, no partial compromise, in 
 a word, no trace of weakness. This is the real essence of 
 his art ; every thing else was but secondary. And in this 
 how much does he rise above Cicero ! And yet who ever 
 suffered more severely than he for his greatness? Of all 
 political characters, Demosthenes is the most sublime and 
 purest^ tragic character, with which history is acquainted. 
 When, still trembling with the vehement force of his lan- 
 guage, we read his life in Plutarch ; when we transfer our- 
 selves into his times and his situation ; we are carried away 
 by a deeper interest, than can be excited by any hero of the 
 epic muse or of tragedy. From his first appearance till the 
 moment when he swallows poison in the temple, we see him 
 contending against destiny, which seems to mock him with 
 malignant cruelty. It throws him to the ground, but never 
 subdues him. What a flood of emotions must have poured 
 through his manly breast amidst this interchange of reviving 
 and expiring hopes. How natural was it, that the lines of 
 melancholy^ and of indignation, such as we behold in his 
 bust,* should have been imprinted on his severe countenance ! 
 Hardly had he passed the years of youth, when he appeared 
 
 * Cicero in Bruto, c. 9. 
 
 * He was naturally calumniated beyond any other. And yet they could 
 bring no charge against him but his silence in the affair of Harpalus, (see be- 
 low,) and that he was in Persian pay ; which was the common charge against 
 all who did not side with PhiHp. Could they have proved it, is it probable 
 that they would have kept back their proofs ? 
 
 " His adversary, when he insultingly said that Demosthenes " could weep 
 more easily than other men could laugh," ^schin. in Ctesiph. Op. iii. p. 597. 
 Reisk., uttered a deeper truth than he himself was aware of. 
 
 * Visconti, Iconographie, PI. xxx. 
 
 1 
 
 ^! 
 
 It 
 
 ti 
 
 J . 
 
 ii 
 
188 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. Xlll. 
 
 I ^ 
 
 n 
 
 /. 
 
 in his own behalf as the accuser of his faithless guardians ;* 
 from whom, however, he was able to rescue only a small 
 part of his patrimony." In his next attempts, insulted by 
 the multitude, though encouraged by a few who anticipated 
 his future greatness, he supported an obstinate contest with 
 himself, till he gained the victory over his own nature.' 
 He now appeared once more as an accuser in public pro- 
 secutions,^ before he ventured to speak on the affairs of the 
 state. But in the very first of his public speeches^ we see 
 the independent statesman, who not dazzled by a splendid 
 project, opposes a vast undertaking. When Philip soon after 
 displayed his designs against Greece by his interference in 
 the Phocian war, he for the first time appeared against that 
 monarch in his first Philippic oration.^ From this period 
 he had found the great business of his life. Sometimes as 
 counsellor, sometimes as accuser, sometimes as ambassador, 
 he protected the independence of his country against the 
 Macedonian policy. Splendid success seemed at first to 
 reward his exertions. He had already won a number of 
 states for Athens;^ when Philip invaded Greece, he had 
 already succeeded not only in gaining over the Thebans, 
 but in kindling their enthusiasm ;« when the day of Chaero- 
 nea dashed his hopes to the earth. » But he courageously 
 declares in the assembly of the people, that he still does not 
 repent of the counsels which he had given.^*^ An unexpected 
 incident changes the whole aspect of things. Philip falls the 
 
 * In the orations a^nst Aphobus, Op. ii. Reisk. 
 
 « Plutarch, iv. p. 700. . 
 
 * Many stories came subsequently to be told about it ; but the story of the 
 pebble-stones which he put in his mouth, rests on the testimony of Demetrius 
 Phalereus, who had heard it from the orator himself. Plut. iv. p. 709. The 
 same is true of various other particulars. 
 
 * Against Androtion, Timocrates, and others. He was then 27 years old. 
 
 Plut. p. 717. , . , OKA 
 
 * In the oration of the trvtifiopiah or classes, pronounced in the year JM 
 B. C. He opposed an offensive war against the Persians, for which the 
 Athenians were ready, in the hope of effecting a general union of the Greeks. 
 Here we already find the maxim, which formed the theme of his subsequent 
 orations, as of the speeches of Chatham; To stand on one's own feet. 
 
 * Pronounced in the year 352. 
 
 ' Achaia, Corinth, Megara, and others. Plut iv. p. 720. 
 
 * Plut. iv. p. 722. A leading passage respecting his poUtical activity. 
 
 * In the year 338 B. C. , v.. 1 . 
 . •• Plut. iv. p. 726. His enemies even then endeavoured to attack mm, but 
 in vain. The people assigned to him the funeral oration on those who fell 
 at Chaeronea; and oy this did honour to him and to themselves 
 
 STATESMEN AND ORATORS. 
 
 189 
 
 victim of assassination;^ and a youth, who as yet is but 
 little known, is his successor. Immediately Demosthenes 
 institutes a second alliance of the Greeks ; but Alexander 
 suddenly appears before Thebes; the terrible vengeance 
 which he here takes, instantly destroys the league ; Demos- 
 thenes, Lycurgus, and several of their supporters, are re- 
 quired to be delivered up ; but Demades is at that time able 
 to settle the difficulty and to appease the king.^ His strength 
 was therefore enfeebled, as Alexander departed for Asia ; he 
 begins to raise his head once more, when Sparta attempts to 
 throw off the yoke ;^ but under Antipater he is overpowered. 
 Yet it was about this very time that by the most celebrated 
 of his discourses he gained the victory over the most elo- 
 quent of his adversaries ; and iEschines was forced to depart 
 from Athens.* But this seems only to have the more em- 
 bittered his enemies, the leaders of the Macedonian party ; 
 and they soon found an opportunity of preparing his down- 
 fal. When Harpalus, a fugitive from the army of Alex- 
 ander, came with his treasures to Athens, and the question 
 arose, whether he could be permitted to remain there, De- 
 mosthenes was accused of having been corrupted by his 
 money, at least to be silent.* This was sufficient to procure 
 the imposition of a fine ;^ and as this was not paid, he was 
 thrown into prison. From thence he succeeded in escaping ; 
 but to the man who lived only for his country, exile was no 
 less an evil than imprisonment. He resided for the most 
 part in iEgina and at Troezen, from whence he looked with 
 moist eyes towards the neighbouring Attica.^ Suddenly 
 and unexpectedly a new ray of light broke through the 
 clouds. Tidings were brought, that Alexander was dead.® 
 The moment of deliverance seemed at hand ; the excitement 
 pervaded every Grecian state ; the ambassadors of the 
 Athenians passed through the cities ; Demosthenes joined 
 himself to the number, and exerted all his eloquence and 
 power to unite them against Macedonia.^ In requital for 
 
 ' In the year 336 B. C. * Plutarch, iv. p. 731. 
 
 ' In the year 330 B. C. 
 
 * The oration for the Crown. The trial took place in the year 330 B. C. 
 
 ^ Plutarch, iv. p. 733. I leave it to the reader to form an opinion respect- 
 ing the anecdotes which are there related. His accuser was Dinarchus, 
 whose calumnious oration we still possess. Or. Gr. vol. iv. Reisk. 
 
 • Of 50 talents (not far from 45,000 dollars) ; Plut iv. p. 735. 
 
 ' Plut iv. 736. • In the year 323. • Plut iv. p. 737* 
 
 i 
 
190 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XIII. 
 
 i 
 
 Iff I 
 
 such services, the people decreed his return ; and years of 
 sufferings were at last followed by a day of exalted com- 
 pensation. A galley was sent to ^gina to bring back the 
 advocate of liberty. All Athens was in motion ; no magis- 
 trate, no priest remained in the city, when it was reported 
 that Demosthenes was advancing from the Pirseeus.^ Over- 
 powered by his feelings, he extended his arms and declared 
 himself happier than Alcibiades;^ for his countrymen had 
 recalled him, not by compulsion, but from choice. It was 
 a momentary glimpse of the sun, which still darker clouds 
 were soon to conceal. Antipater and Craterus were victori- 
 ous; and with them the Macedonian party in Athens; 
 Demosthenes and his friends were numbered among the ac- 
 cused, and at the instigation of Demades were condemned 
 to die. They had already withdrawn in secret from the 
 city ; but where could they find a place of refuge ? Hyper- 
 ides with two others took refuge in iEgina in the temple of 
 Ajax. In vain ! they were torn away, dragged before Anti- 
 pater, and executed. Demosthenes had escaped to the island 
 Calauria in the vicinity of Troezen ; and took refuge in the 
 temple of Neptune.^ It was to no purpose that Archias, 
 the satellite of Antipater, urged him to surrender himself 
 under promise of pardon. He pretended he wished to write 
 something; bit the quill, and swallowed the poison con- 
 tained in it. He then veiled himself, reclining his head 
 backwards, till he felt the operation of the poison. " 
 Neptune!" he exclaimed, "they have defiled thy temple; 
 but honouring thee, I will leave it while yet living." But 
 he sank before the altar,* and a sudden death separated him 
 from a world, which, after the fall of his country, contained 
 no happiness for him. Where shall we find a character of 
 more grandeur and purity than that of Demosthenes ? 
 
 It seemed by no means superfluous to exhibit a picture 
 of Grecian statesmen during that period, by sketching the 
 history of him, who holds the first rank among them. We 
 learn from it, that the sphere of action of such men, though 
 they are called orators, extended far beyond their orations. 
 
 » Plut. iv. p. 73a 
 
 * Who saw a similar day of return. 
 
 ' See, for tne following, Plut iv. p. 741. 
 
 * What a subject for the art of sculpture ! and yet one, which has never, to 
 my knowledge, been made use of. The artist would only need to draw after 
 Plutarch. 
 
 STATESMEN AND ORATORS. 
 
 191 
 
 From these, it is true, we chiefly derive our knowledge of 
 them. But how differently would Demosthenes appear to 
 us, if we were particularly acquainted with the details of his 
 political career!^ How much must have been needed to 
 effect such an alliance, as he was repeatedly able to form ! 
 What journeys, what connexions, what skill in winning per- 
 sons of influence, and in managing mankind ! 
 
 And what were the means which these statesmen of anti- 
 quity could command, when we compare them with those 
 of modern times ? They had no orders from the cabinet to 
 execute. They had not the disposal of the wealth of na- 
 tions ; they could not obtain by force, what others would 
 not voluntarily yield. Even the comparison which might 
 be made between them and the British statesmen, is true 
 only as far as the latter also stood in need of eloquence to 
 confirm their influence. But the other means which Pitt 
 could employ to form a party, were not possessed by De- 
 mosthenes. He had no presents to offer, no places to give 
 away, no ribbons and titles to promise. On the contrary, 
 he was opposed by men, who could control every thing by 
 which covetousness or ambition can be tempted. What 
 could he oppose to them, but his talents, his activity, and 
 his courage ? Provided with no other arms, he supported 
 the contest against the superiority of foreign strength, and 
 the still more dangerous contest with the corruptions of his 
 own nation. It was his high calling, to be the pillar of a 
 sinking state. Thirty years he remained true to it, and he 
 did not yield till he was buried beneath its ruins. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE SCIENCES IN CONNEXION WITH THE STATE. 
 
 The relation which exists between science and political 
 institutions, is of a twofold nature. It may be asked, What 
 
 * If the voice of history on this subject were not loud enough, this might 
 be inferred from the calumnies of Dinarchus. It is not inconsistent with it, 
 that Demosthenes may sometimes, in his negotiations, have been too much 
 carried away by the liveliness of his feelings. 
 
 ,i(' 
 
192 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap, xir 
 
 1.1 
 
 
 
 N 
 
 has the state done for the promotion of the sciences ? And 
 also, What influence in return have the sciences, or any 
 particular branch of them, exerted on the state ? Both ques- 
 tions deserve to be considered in the case of the Greeks. 
 
 Where the government is actively engaged in promoting 
 the sciences, their previous existence may be inferred. To 
 create them neither is, nor can be a concern of the state. 
 Even where they are beginning to flourish, it cannot at once 
 be expected, that they should receive public support ; be- 
 cause they do not stand in immediate relation with the 
 general government. They are the fruit of the investiga- 
 tions of individual eminent men ; who have a right to ex- 
 pect nothing, but that no hinderances should be laid in the 
 way of their inquiries and labours. Such was the situation 
 of things in the Grecian states, at the time when scientific 
 pursuits began to gain life. What inducement could the 
 state have had to interfere at once for their encouragement. 
 In Greece the motive which was of influence in the East, 
 did not exist. Religion had no secret doctrines. She re- 
 quired no institutions for their dissemination. There cer- 
 tainly were public schools for instruction in reading, writing, 
 and in music (poetry and song) ; over which teachers were 
 appointed in all the principal cities ; and the laws provided 
 that no abuses dangerous to youth should find entrance to 
 them.^ But in most of them the masters were probably not 
 paid by the state ;* they received a compensation from their 
 pupils. The same is true of the more advanced instruction 
 delivered by the sophists ; some of whom amassed wealth 
 from their occupation ; yet not at the expense of the state, 
 but of their pupils. 
 
 Thus it appears, that excepting the gymnasia, which were 
 destined for bodily exercises, and of which the support was 
 one of the duties incumbent oa citizens,^ no higher institu- 
 tions for instruction existed previous to the Macedonian age. 
 
 * See the laws of Solon on this point. Petit. Leg. Att. L. ii. Tit. iv. p. 239. 
 
 * I limit the proposition on purpose, for it would be altogether false to as- 
 sert generally, that this never took place. Charonidas, in his laws at Catana, 
 which were afterwards adopted in Thurium, had expressly enacted, that the 
 school-masters should be paid by the state, Diod. xii. p. 80, as an affair of the 
 utmost importance. Since the schools were so carefully watched over, may 
 not the same have taken place in many other cities ? This however is true 
 only of the inferior or popular schools. 
 
 ■ The yvfAvavtapxai ; see Petit, iii. Tit. iv. p. 355. 
 
 1^^ 
 
 V.I 
 
 SCIENCES IN CONNEXION WITH THE STATE. 
 
 19S 
 
 But when the mass of scientific knowledge had accumulat- 
 ed ; when it was felt how valuable that knowledge was to 
 the state ; when the monarchical constitutions were intro- 
 duced after the age of Alexander ; provision was made for 
 such institutions ; the museum of Alexandria and that of 
 Pergamus were established ; and it still remains for a more 
 thorough investigation to decide, whether the state remained 
 wholly inactive, while the schools of philosophy and of rhe- 
 toric were forming. Shall the Grecian republics, then, still 
 continue to be cited, as has been done by the celebrated 
 founder of a new school of political economy, in proof that 
 the state should leave the sciences to provide for themselves ? 
 Should it not rather encourage and provide for them in 
 countries, where the culture of most of them is in several 
 relations necessary for its welfare ? where the teacher of 
 religion as well as the judge, where the physician as well as 
 the statesman, stands in need of various kinds of knowledge ? 
 
 But when that assertion is understood as implying that 
 the state among the Greeks was wholly unconcerned about 
 intellectual culture and improvement, but left these subjects 
 to themselves, a monstrous error lies at the bottom of it. 
 No states in the whole course of history have proportionally 
 done more for them than the Grecian ; but they did it in a 
 different manner from the moderns. We measure intel- 
 lectual culture by the state of science ; for which our modern 
 states, as is well known, have at times done so much and so 
 little ; the Greeks, on the contrary, were accustomed to find 
 their standard in the arts. The state among the Greeks did 
 little for the sciences, because it did every thing for the arts. 
 The latter, as we shall more fully explain hereafter, were of 
 more immediate importance to it than the former; while 
 the reverse is true among the moderns. How then can we 
 be astonished that the arts were the chief object of interest 
 to the Grecian states ? 
 
 The answer to the other question embraces a wider field : 
 Among the Greeks, what consequences had the sciences for 
 the state ? And here we would in the first place treat of 
 philosophy, and then annex to the inquiry on that subject, 
 some remarks respecting history. 
 
 After so many acute and copious explanations of the Gre- 
 cian philosophy, no one will here expect a new analysis of 
 
 ii 
 
 i;t 
 
h 
 
 I 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 * 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 H 
 
 f 
 
 I 
 
 |!| 
 
 194 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XIV. 
 
 their systems. It is our object to show how the connexion 
 between philosophy and politics originated among the 
 Greeks, how it was continued and increased, and what was 
 
 its influence ? 
 
 The philosophy of the Greeks, as of other nations, began 
 with inquiries into the origin of things. The opinions of 
 the Ionian school respecting it are generally known. If, as 
 a modern historical critic has made to appear very probable,^ 
 they were at first connected with religious representations, 
 as we find them in the Orphic precepts, they did not long 
 remain thus united, for they were stript of their mythological 
 garb ; and in this manner the philosophy of the Greeks 
 gained its independence, while in the East it always re- 
 mained connected with religion. Still it is no where men- 
 tioned, that the philosophers who belonged to this school 
 had made the state the object of their inquiries ; yet if we 
 consider Anaxagoras as of the number, his connexion with 
 Pericles, and the influence which by means of his instruc- 
 tions he exercised over that statesman, are remarkable. 
 But, as we observed in a former chapter, no instruction in 
 a philosophic system was given ; but in the application of 
 some propositions in natural philosophy to practical politics. 
 Plutarch has preserved for us the true object. " He freed 
 Pericles," says the biographer," " from that superstition, 
 which proceeds from false judgments respecting auguries 
 and prodigies, by explaining to him their natural causes." 
 He who bears in mind the great influence exercised by this 
 belief or superstition on the undertakings of the statesmen 
 of antiquity, will not mistake the importance of such instruc- 
 tion ; and he will also understand the consequences, which 
 could follow this diminution of respect for the popular re- 
 ligion in the eyes of the multitude. The persecution of 
 Anaxagoras for denying the gods, and exercising his reason 
 respecting celestial things,^ could not be averted by Pericles 
 himself; who was obliged to consent to the banishment of 
 the philosopher. And this was the commencement of the 
 contest between philosophy and the popular religion ; a con- 
 test, which was afterwards repeatedly renewed, and was at- 
 
 * Bouterweck. Commentatio de primis philosophorum Graecorum decretis 
 physicis. See Gott. Gel. Anzeig. 1812. St. 11. 
 » Plut. i. p. 597. ' Plut. i. p. 654, 655. 
 
 SCIENCES IN CONNEXION WITH THE STATE. 
 
 195 
 
 tended by further consequences, that we must not omit to 
 
 observe. 
 
 Pythagoras, though somewhat younger than the founder 
 
 of the Ionian school, was himself an Ionian of the island of 
 Samos. Nevertheless he found his sphere of action not 
 there, but in Croton in Lower Italy. Of no one of the 
 Grecian sages is the history so involved in the obscurities of 
 tradition and the marvellous ; and yet no other became of 
 such political importance.^ If we desire to estimate the in- 
 fluence of his philosophy on the state, we must by all means 
 distinguish the influence of the Pythagorean league on the 
 cities of Magna Graecia, from the influence of his philosophy 
 on Greece itself, after that league had come to an end. 
 
 If we subject to a critical investigation, that which anti- 
 quity relates in a credible manner of his society and their 
 objects, we observe a phenomenon, which is in many re- 
 spects without a parallel. And yet I believe this is most 
 intimately connected with the aristocratic and democratic 
 factions which may be remarked so frequently in the Grecian 
 states. Pythagoras had deserted Samos, to escape from the 
 government of Polycrates ; and whatever scruples may be 
 raised respecting his other journeys, no one has denied his 
 residence in Egypt. At the time when he visited this coun- 
 try, probably under Amasis, who made it accessible to the 
 Greeks, the throne of the Pharaohs was still standing, and 
 the influence of the caste of priests unimpaired. From them 
 it is certain that he adopted much, both in respect to dress 
 and manner of living ; and could it have escaped a man of 
 his penetration, how much can be effiected in a state by the 
 union of men of influence ; although he must have seen, that 
 a caste of priests could never thrive among the Greeks ? Ac- 
 cording to all which we hear respecting him, he was master 
 of the art of exciting, not attention only, but enthusiasm. 
 His dignity, his dress, the purity of his morals, his elo- 
 quence, were of such a kind, that men were inclined to ex- 
 
 > We cannot exactly fix the year of the birth or of the death of Pythagoras. 
 It is most probable that he came to Croton about the year 540; he was cer- 
 tainly there at the period of the destruction of Sybaris, in the year 510 B. C. 
 His league, which existed at that time, was afterwards, about the year 5U0 
 B. C, dissolved by Cylon and his faction. Little would remam to be added 
 to the critical inquiries of Meiners respecting the Pythagorean Philosophy, if 
 he had not almost wholly neglected to treat of the pohtical doctrines ot 
 Pythagoras. 
 
 o 2 
 
 1*1 
 
 f 
 
196 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XIT. 
 
 SCIENCES IN CONNEXION WITH THE STATE. 
 
 197 
 
 1 
 
 '\'' 
 
 I 
 
 alt him above the class of common mortals.* A comparison 
 of the history of the several cities in Magna Grsecia, at the 
 time of his appearing in them, distinctly shows, that the go- 
 vernment, in the most flourishing of them, was possessed by 
 the higher class. Against this order a popular party began 
 about this time to be formed ; and the controversies of the 
 two soon occasioned the destruction of Sybaris.* Pythago- 
 ras, who was any thing rather than a friend to the mob, join- 
 ed the party of the higher order ; which in its turn found 
 support in his splendid talents. But this was the period in 
 which luxury had risen in those cities, and especially in the 
 rich families, to a degree never before known. It could not 
 escape a man like him, that this corruption of manners must 
 be followed by the downfal of his party ; and hence it was 
 natural for him to resolve to found his political reform on a 
 moral one.^ Being intimately connected with the higher 
 order, he united them in a narrower circle ; and necessity 
 soon occasioned a distinction to be made between the class 
 of those who were on probation, and those who were already 
 admitted.'* Self-government was the grand object of his 
 moral reform. For this end he found it necessary to pre- 
 scribe a certain manner of life, which was distinguished by 
 a most cleanly but not luxurious clothing, a regular diet, a 
 methodical division of time, part of which was to be appro- 
 priated to the individual himself and part to the state. And 
 this may have contributed not a little to form those firm 
 friendships, without which not much influence on public af- 
 fairs can be exercised in republics. His acquaintance with 
 speculative and mathematical science need not here be men- 
 tioned, since it is altogether unknown to us, how far he ap- 
 plied it to political purposes. 
 
 When we consider, that his society, of which he himself 
 formed the central point, but which had its branches in the 
 
 * See the passages in proof of this in Meiners, B. i. s. 405, etc. They are 
 chiefly taken from Aristoxenus, one of the most credible witnesses. 
 
 The party of the nobles, 500 in number, fled after their banishment from 
 
 ners, i. 396. 
 
 • See the passages in evidence of this, and the incredible sensation pro- 
 duced by him, in Meiners, i. p. 396. 
 
 * Therefore in Herod, ii. 81, the Pythagorean sect is enumerated among the 
 mysteries. 
 
 other cities of Magna Graecia, and according to some accounts 
 even in Carthage and Cyrene, continued to exist for at least 
 thirty years, we can realize that it may have borne not only 
 blossoms, but fruits. His disciples came by degrees to fill 
 the most important posts, not only in Croton, but also in the 
 other Grecian cities ; and yet at the time of the destruction 
 of Sybaris, the sect must have existed in its full force ; since 
 Pythagoras advised the reception of the banished ; ^ and 
 in the war against Sybaris, one of his most distinguished 
 scholars, the wrestler Milo,^ held the supreme command. 
 But when a secret society pursues political ends, it naturally 
 follows, that an opposing party increases in the same degree 
 in which the preponderating influence of such a society be- 
 comes more felt." But in this case, the opposition existed 
 already in the popular party.* It therefore only needed a 
 daring leader, like Cylon, to scatter the society by violence ; 
 the assembly was surprised, and most of them cut down, 
 while a few only, and with them their master, escaped. 
 After such a victory of the adverse faction, the expulsion of 
 the rest of the Pythagoreans who remained alive, from their 
 offices, was a natural consequence ; and the political import- 
 ance of the society was at an end. It was never able to 
 raise its head again. 
 
 With the political doctrines of the Pythagoreans, we are 
 acquainted only from later writers, who are yet worthy of 
 credit, and of whom accounts and fragments have been pre- 
 served, especially in the collections of Stobaeus. " They 
 regarded anarchy," says Aristoxenus,^ "as the greatest evil; 
 because man cannot exist without social order. They held 
 that every thing depended on the relation between the go- 
 verning and the governed ; that the former should be not 
 only prudent, but mild ; and that the latter should not only 
 
 * Diod. 1. c. _ ,,,..,. i? T» ii. 
 
 « Violent bodily exercises formed ajpart of the disciplme of Pythagoras. 
 Six times in one Olympiad, prizes at Olympia were gained m those days by 
 inhabitants of Croton. Must not this too have contributed to increase the 
 fame of Pythagoras ? 
 
 •Need! cite the example of the lUuminati? , , , r *i, 
 
 * Cylon, the author of that commotion, is descnbed as the leader ot tne 
 ' democratic party ; and this is proved by the anarchy which ensued after the 
 
 catastrophe, and continued till order was restored by the mother cities in 
 
 » Stoi). Serm. xH.p.243. This evidence is taken either from Aristoxenus, or 
 from Aristotle himself, and therefore, according to Meiners, not to be rejected. 
 
198 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XIV. 
 
 i^ 
 
 
 II 
 
 I 
 
 r 
 
 li 
 
 
 obey, but love their magistrates ; that it was necessary to 
 grow accustomed even in boyhood to regard order and har- 
 mony as beautiful and useful, disorder and confusion as 
 hateful and injurious." From the fragments of the writings 
 of the early Pythagoreans, as of Archytas, Diotogenes, and 
 Hippodamus,* we perceive that they were not blindly at- 
 tached to a single form of government ; but only insisted 
 that there should be no unlawful tyranny. Where a royal 
 government existed, kings should be subject to the laws, 
 and act only as the chief magistrates.^ They regarded a 
 mixed constitution as the best ; and although they were far 
 from desiring unlimited democracies, they desired quite as 
 little unlimited aristocracies ; but even where the adminis- 
 tration resided principally in the hands of the upper class, 
 they reserved a share of it for the people.' 
 
 Though the political agency of the society terminated with 
 its dissolution, the Pythagorean lessons by no means became 
 extinct. They were extended through Greece with the writ- 
 ings of the Pythagoreans, who were paid with high prices ; but 
 in that country they gained political importance, only so far 
 as they contributed to the education of individual distinguish- 
 ed men. Of these, we need only to mention Epaminondas. 
 In Greece, the sophists are generally considered to have 
 been the first, who applied philosophy to political science, 
 which then became a subject of scientific instruction. Yet 
 Plutarch, in a remarkable passage,* speaks of a political 
 school which had been kept up in Athens, from the time of 
 Solon. " Themistocles," says he, " could not have been a 
 pupil of Anaxagoras, as some contend. He was a disciple 
 of Mnesiphilus, who was neither an orator, nor one of the 
 physical philosophers ;^ but who was employed on that kind 
 of wisdom, which consists in political skill and practical 
 sagacity, and which, from the time of Solon, had been pre- 
 served as in a school." That a man like Solon should have 
 gathered around himself a circle which he made acquainted 
 with his thoughts and maxims, was not only natural, but 
 
 ' Meiners considers all these writings as not genuine. His reasoning how- 
 ever does not apply to the political fragments, which are to be found in cap. 
 
 xli. and xliii. 
 ' See in particular the fragments of Archytas. Serm. xliv. p. 314. 
 ■ Compare the fragment of Diotogenes, cap. xlvi. p. 329. 
 * In Themistocles, Op. i. p. 440. * The Ionian and Eleatic sages. 
 
 SCIENCES IN CONNEXION WITH THE STATE. 
 
 199 
 
 \ 
 
 was necessary for the preservation of his code of laws ; and 
 it was not less natural that his younger friends should in 
 turn deliver to theirs the principles of that venerable sage. 
 But the words of the biographer himself show clearly enough, 
 that no methodical instruction was given ; but principles of 
 practical wisdom, consisting in maxims for the conducting 
 of public affairs, and drawn from experience ; maxims of 
 which the few remaining poetical fragments of the lawgiver 
 contain so valuable a store. 
 
 From this practical direction, the Grecian philosophers 
 after the times of Pythagoras entirely withdrew ; and de- 
 voted themselves altogether to metaphysical speculations. 
 They were employed in inquiries respecting the elements, 
 and the nature of things ; and came necessarily upon the 
 question, which has so often been repeated, and which never 
 can be answered, respecting the truth or falsehood of the 
 perceptions of our senses. We know with what zeal these 
 inquiries were made in the Eleatic school. They employed 
 in a great measure Xenophanes, Parmenides, Heraclitus, 
 Empedocles, and others. If therefore we read of individuals 
 among these men, that they attained to political eminence,* 
 their philosophy was connected with their political station 
 only so far as they thus became conspicuous ; and because 
 wise men were selected for counsellors. In one point a 
 nearer relation existed between their philosophy and the 
 state; we mean in their diminishing or attempting to di- 
 minish the respect for the popular religion. In a country 
 where the religion was a poetical one, and where philoso- 
 phy had become entirely distinct from religion, the spirit of 
 free, unlimited speculation, on its awakening, could not but 
 scrutinize the popular faith, and soon detect its weaknesses. 
 This we hear was done by Xenophanes, who with equal 
 boldness used bitter expressions respecting the gods, and the 
 epic poets who have invented about the gods such indecent 
 fables.^ This contradiction between philosophy and the 
 popular religion, is on the one side the most certain proof of 
 the independence of the former ; but it was also the point, in 
 which the state and philosophy came in contact, not without 
 
 ' As Empedocles in Agrigentum ; who is said to have refused the diadem^ 
 and confirmed the liberties of the people. Diog. Laert. viii. ii. 9. 
 ' Diog. Laert. ix. ii. 3. 
 

 w 
 
 rr '< 
 
 i 
 
 ; 
 
 
 i 
 
 s 
 
 \: 
 
 i 
 
 200 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. xit. 
 
 danger to the state, and if not to philosophy itself, yet to the 
 philosophers. 
 
 . Yet however far the speculations of those reasoners were 
 removed from the state and from politics, the spirit of the 
 times and necessity created many points of contact ; which 
 serve to explain the appearance of the sophists, and the 
 part which they acted. Without regarding their doctrines, 
 we may find their external character designated by the cir- 
 cumstance, that they were the first who gave instruction for 
 pay. This presupposes that the want of scientific instruc- 
 tion began to be felt ; and this again implies, that independ- 
 ent of such instruction, the nation had made progress in 
 intellectual culture. In other words ; he who desired to 
 become distinguished in the state, felt the necessity of im- 
 proving his mind by instruction. He was obliged to learn 
 to speak, and therefore to think ; and exercises in these two 
 things constituted the whole instruction of the sophists. 
 But it was of great importance, that the minds of men had 
 been employed and continued to be employed so much 
 with those metaphysical questions, which, as they from their 
 very nature can never be answered with certainty, are well 
 suited for disputation, and admit so various answers. 
 
 From the copious inquiries which have been made re- 
 specting the sophists by modern writers of the history of 
 philosophy,* and from the preceding remarks, it is sufli- 
 ciently evident that they were a fruit of the age. It is 
 
 * Yet even after all that has here been done by Meiners, Tenneman, and 
 others, many things remain obscure; for the explanation of which, the 
 foundation must be laid in a more accurate chronology of the sophists. The 
 learned dissertation of Geel Historia Critica Sophistarum^ qui Socratis aetate 
 Athenis Jlomerunt in Nova Acta literaria Societatis Kheno Trajectbue 1823, 
 treats only of the a^e of Socrates; yet it explains the difference between 
 rhetoricians and sophists ; and the causes of the origin of the sophists. Even 
 the sophists before the Macedonian times (of a later period we here make no 
 mention) did not continue the same ; and we should do Gorgias and Prota- 
 goras great injustice, were we to place them in the same rank with those, 
 against whom the aged Isocrates in his Panathenaicus, Op. p. 236, and De 
 Sophistis, p. 293, makes such bitter complaints. Gorgias, Protagoras, and 
 Hippias, were commonly called the elder sophists ; of whom Gorgias is said 
 to nave come to Athens in the year 42/ as ambassador, although this is not 
 mentioned by Thucydides. But it is evident from Aristophanes, who brought 
 his Clouds upon the sta^e, for the first time, 424 years B. C, that at that 
 epoch the sophists had already been long established at Athens. It appears 
 that the great celebrity and wealth of the sophists commenced in the times 
 of Gorgias and the following. In the Cloui, Socrates and his pupils are 
 represented, so far from bein? rich, as poor wretches, who do not know how 
 they are to subsist from one day to another. 
 
 SCIENCES IN CONNEXION WITH THE STATE. 
 
 ^1 
 
 worthy of remark, that the most celebrated of them came 
 from the most various parts of the Grecian world ; Gorgias, 
 who begins the series, from Leontium in Sicily ; Protagoras 
 from Abdera on the coast of Thrace ; Hippias from Colo- 
 phon in Asia Minor ; not to mention a multitude of those 
 who were less famous. This is a remarkable proof, how 
 generally, since the Persian wars, a literary spirit had begun 
 to animate the nation. Most of those men, it is true, re- 
 moved to Athens; to which place Gorgias was sent as 
 ambassador during the Peloponnesian war ; because this 
 city, so long as it held the first rank, opened the widest 
 and most profitable theatre for their exertions ; but they 
 also often travelled through the cities of Greece in the 
 train of their pupils ; met with the kindest reception ; and 
 were employed as counsellors in public affairs, and not un- 
 frequently as ambassadors. They gave instruction at a high 
 price to all young men who joined them, in every branch 
 of knowledge deemed essential to their education. This 
 undoubtedly occasioned that boasting of universal know- 
 ledge, which has been laid to their charge ; but it must also 
 be remembered, that in those days the extent of the sciences 
 was still very limited. 
 
 The sophists at first embraced in their course of instruc- 
 tion, philosophy as well as rhetoric. But that which they 
 called philosophy was, as with the scholastic philosophers, 
 the art of confounding an opponent by syllogisms and 
 sophisms; and the subjects about which they were niost 
 fond of speculating, were some of those metaphysical ques- 
 tions, respecting which we ought finally to learn, that we 
 never can know any thing. This kind of reasoning, since 
 disputation and speaking were taught, was very closely con- 
 nected with rhetoric. Subsequently the sophists and rhe- 
 toricians formed distinct classes ; but the different classes 
 which Isocrates distinguished in his old age,^ could hardly 
 have been so decidedly marked in his youth. 
 
 The precepts and the very name of the sophists became 
 
 odious among the ancients ; and it would be in vain to 
 
 » attempt to free them entirely from the reproaches, which 
 
 were cast on them by sages and by the comic writers. But 
 
 yet they cannot be deprived of the glory of having made 
 
 » Isocrates, Op. p. 293, etc. 
 
£02 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XIV. 
 
 SCIENCES IN CONNEXION WITH THE STATE. 
 
 £03 
 
 Ml 
 
 i * 
 
 <>'i 
 
 1 . 
 
 the higher class of their nation sensible of the necessity of 
 a liberal education. They rose rapidly and extraordinarily, 
 because they were deeply connected with the wants of the 
 times. In states, where every thing was discussed orally, 
 and where every thing was just beginning to bloom, the in- 
 structers in logic and rhetoric could not but be acceptable. 
 But in two respects, they soon became injurious and even 
 dangerous to the state ; by reducing eloquence to the mere 
 art of disputing, and by degrading or ridiculing the popular 
 religion. 
 
 The first seems to have been a very natural consequence 
 of the condition of the sciences at that time. The more 
 limited is the knowledge of men, the more bold are they in 
 their assertions ; the less they know, the more they believe 
 they do and can know. Man persuades himself of nothing 
 more readily, than that he has arrived at the bounds of hu- 
 man knowledge. This belief creates in him a dogmatical 
 spirit ; because he believes he can prove every thing. But 
 where it is believed that every thing can be proved, there 
 naturally arises the art of proving the contrary proposition ; 
 and the art of disputing among the sophists degenerated to 
 this. The art of confounding right and wrong, objected to 
 them by the comic poets, may have had a very i'njurious 
 influence on social life ; but a greater evil resulting from it 
 was the destroying of a nice sense of truth ; for even truth 
 itself becomes contemptible, when it is believed, that it can 
 as well be refuted, as estabUshed, by an argument. 
 . That the popular religion was held in less esteem, was 
 probably a consequence of the more intimate connexion, 
 which existed between the elder sophists and their prede- 
 cessors and contemporaries of the Eleatic school. In these 
 accusations injustice has perhaps been done to some of 
 them ; for it may be doubted whether Protagoras deserved 
 the name of atheist ; ^ yet no circumstance probably contri- 
 buted so much to make them odious in the eyes of the 
 people. 
 
 If to these things we add their lax moral principles, 
 which consisted in lessons of prudence, how life could be 
 
 * He had only said he knew not whether the gods existed or not ; yet for 
 this he was banished from Athens, and his writings were burnt. Sext. £mp. 
 ix. 57. That the atheism of Prodicus is uncertain, has been already observed 
 by Tenneman. Gesch. d, Phil. i. S. 377. 
 
 made easy and be enjoyed, but which doubtless assisted in 
 procuring for them pupils and followers, we can survey all 
 the evil influence which they exercised. And yet these 
 very aberrations of the human understanding may have 
 been necessary, to awaken the minds which were to point 
 out better paths. 
 
 The son of Sophroniscus is the first among these. He 
 began the opposition to the sophists. Just as Philip called 
 forth a Demosthenes, the sophists produced a Socrates. 
 After all that antiquity has left us concerning him, and all 
 the observations of modern historians, he is one of the cha- 
 racters most difficult to be understood, and stands by him- 
 self, not only in his own nation, but in the whole history of 
 the culture of our race. For what sage, who was neither a 
 public teacher, nor a writer, nor a religious reformer, has 
 had such an influence on his own age and on posterity, as 
 he ? We willingly concede, that his sphere of action has far 
 exceeded his own expectations and designs. These hardly 
 had reference to posterity. Every thing seems to indicate, 
 that they were calculated for his contemporaries alone. But 
 it may with justice be remarked, that this only increases the 
 difficulty of an explanation. For who will not ask ; How 
 could this man, without intending it, have had an influence 
 on all centuries after his time ? The chief reason is to be 
 found in the nature of his philosophy ; yet external causes 
 came to his assistance. 
 
 After so many have written upon his philosophy, it would 
 be superfluous to delineate it anew. It made its way, be- 
 cause it immediately related to the higher matters of interest 
 to man. While the sophists were brooding over mere 
 speculations, and their contests were but contests of words, 
 Socrates taught those who came near him, to look into 
 themselves ; man and his relations with the world were the 
 objects of his investigations. That we may not repeat what 
 has already been so well remarked by others, we will here 
 allow ourselves only some general observations respecting 
 the philosopher himself and his career. 
 
 His influence was most closely connected with the forms 
 of social life in Athens ; in a country where these are not the 
 same, a second Socrates could never exercise the influence 
 of the first. He gave instruction neither in his house, nor 
 

 I * I 
 
 
 204 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XIV. 
 
 in any fixed place ; the public squares and halls were the 
 fevourite scenes of his conversations. For such instruction 
 a proper audience can be found only in a nation, in which 
 private life is in a very high degree public in its nature. 
 This was the case with the Athenians. Such a method of 
 teaching could be effectual among them, because they were 
 not only accustomed to pass a large portion of the day in 
 places of public resort, but also to speak of almost every 
 subject which could occur. It was here that the sophists 
 passed much of their time, not to give formal instruction, 
 which, as it was paid for, was given in a definite place, but, 
 as Plato reproaches them, in order to gain rich young men 
 as pupils. The war which Socrates had once for all declared 
 against them, made him from choice, and most frequently, 
 pass his time where he could expect to find his adversaries, 
 as well as his friends and followers.^ 
 
 The manner in which he taught, was not less important. 
 It was by conversation, not by continued discourse. He 
 bad therefore adopted the very manner which is most 
 suitable to public places. But in two respects, his convers- 
 ation, apart from the matter it contained, was distinguished 
 from the common intercourse of life. The one was the 
 irony which he knew how to introduce, especially in his 
 attacks on the sophists ; the other and more important, was 
 the conviction which he oflen expressed, that he spoke from 
 the impulse of divine power. Socrates differs from the 
 whole class of men, whom we embrace under the name of 
 prophets ; for, while these appear as the immediate envoys 
 and messengers of the divinity, he did but occasionally in- 
 sinuate his claim to this character, although he never 
 denied it. He neither desired to found a new religion, nor 
 to improve the existing one ; which was necessarily the 
 object of the prophets. The appearance of a Socrates was 
 therefore the noblest result of the separation of philosophy 
 from religion, a merit belonging solely to the Greeks ; in 
 
 * From this point of resemblance, I think we may explain how Aristo- 
 phanes could confound Socrates with the sophists. He represents him as 
 giving instruction for money, and in a house of his own, appropriated to 
 study {<f>povTi<TTtjpiov) ; and these two circumstances are true of the sophists, 
 but not of Socrates. I can therefore discover in his Socrates nothing but the 
 representative of the sophists. To be sure the comic poet would have better 
 provided for his reputation with posterity, if he liad brought a Prodicus or 
 Gorgias upon the stage instead of Socrates. 
 
 SCIENCES IN CONNEXION WITH THE STATE. 
 
 205 
 
 no Eastern nation could a Socrates have found his sphere. 
 But he became a martyr to his doctrines. It would be 
 superfluous to prove anew, the groundlessness of the 
 charges, that he denied the popular religion, and was a 
 corrupter of the youth.* But we will not neglect to ob- 
 serve, that by his death he produced even more important 
 consequences than by his life. If he had been snatched 
 away by sickness, who knows whether he would have been 
 remembered more than other meritorious instructers? His 
 friends and pupils would have spoken of him with respect, 
 but hardly with enthusiasm. But the poisoned cup insured 
 him immortality. By his death, in connexion with his doc- 
 trines, he exhibited in reality one of those sublime ideal 
 conceptions, of which the Grecian nation alone is so fertile ; 
 he presented what till then had been wanting, the image of 
 a sage who dies for his convictions. 
 
 The philosophy of Socrates had no immediate relations 
 with politics. Its object was man, considered as a moral 
 being, not as a citizen. Hence it was indirectly of the more 
 importance to the state ; since it was nothing less than an 
 attempt to meet the ruin, with which the state was threat- 
 ened by a false kind of philosophy. This object was not 
 fully attained ; but must the blame of the failure be attri- 
 buted to Socrates ? 
 
 From his school, or rather, from his circle, a number of 
 distinguished minds were produced, who in part differed 
 from each other in their opinions and systems, as opposite 
 poles. This could not have happened, but because Socrates 
 had no system, and hence laid no chains on the spirit of 
 inquiry. He would but excite the minds of others ; and 
 hence we perceive how there could have been among his 
 associates, an Antisthenes, who made self-denial, and an 
 Aristippus, who made enjoyment, the basis of ethics ; a 
 Pyrrho, whose object it was to doubt, and a Euclid, who 
 was eager to demonstrate. As the philosophy of these men 
 was in no manner connected with politics, we pass over 
 them, that we may not leave unmentioned the greatest of 
 ' all the pupils of Socrates. 
 
 To comprehend the character of Plato, a genius would be 
 
 ' See, beside the works on the history of philosophy, the Essay of Tychsen, 
 Ueber den Process des Socrates, in Bibl. d. alten Litt. u. Kunst. St. 1.2. 
 
? 
 
 206 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 LciIAP. XIV. 
 
 !' 
 
 required, hardly inferior to his. Common or even uncom- 
 mon philosophic acumen, industry, and learning in this case 
 are not sufficient. The mind of Plato rose above visible 
 objects, and entered on the higher regions, where exist the 
 eternal first forms of things. To these his eye was undevi- 
 atingly directed, as the only regions where knowledge can 
 be found, — since there is nothing beyond opinion in the 
 world of the senses, — and where real beauty, goodness, and 
 justice dwell eternal and unchangeable as the Divinity, and 
 yet distinct from the Divinity. He who cannot follow Plato 
 to those regions, and feel with him, in the veil of mytholo- 
 gical fables, what he himself felt rather than knew, may 
 make many valuable and correct remarks respecting that 
 philosopher, but is not capable of presenting a perfect and 
 adequate image of him. The attempt to give a body to 
 that which is ethereal, is vain; for it then ceases to be 
 ethereal. But the relation in which he stood to his nation 
 can be very distinctly delineated. In him the poetic charac- 
 ter of the Greeks expressed itself philosophically. It was 
 only in a nation so thoroughly poetical, that a Plato could 
 be produced. 
 
 Socrates had contemplated man as a moral being ; Pla- 
 to's philosophy embraced the social union. Long before 
 him, the state had so far become an object of speculation, 
 that writers had endeavoured to sketch the model of a per- 
 fect constitution. No more immediate occasion for such 
 exercise could be found than in the Grecian cities, which 
 formed as it were the model of a chart of free states ; which, 
 by means of their wants and changes, almost necessarily con- 
 ducted the reflecting mind to such objects of thought. The 
 first distinct attempt of this kind, as we expressly learn from 
 Aristotle,* was made by Hippodamus of Miletus, who must 
 have been a contemporary of Themistocles.^ The marked 
 separation of the three classes of artists, agriculturists, and 
 Soldiers, and the division which he makes of land into sa- 
 cred, public, and private land, remind us of the Egyptian 
 institutions. Not only his plan, but that of Phaneas of Chal- 
 cedon, is discussed at large by Aristotle. Investigations of 
 
 ' Aristot. Polit. ii. cap. 8. 
 
 ' According to Aristotle, he was employed in the construction of the 
 Pirceus, which was the work of Themistocles. 
 
 SCIENCES IN CONNEXION WITH THE STATE. 
 
 207 
 
 constitutions and codes of laws now became subjects fre- 
 quently treated of; they could hardly have much practical 
 influence, since the days were past in which new lawgivers 
 could have appeared in Greece. Of many works composed 
 in those times, none have come down to us but the two 
 treatises of Plato. These, especially that of the republic, are 
 intelligible only to those who comprehend and bear always 
 in mind, that the Greeks regarded a state as a moral person, 
 which governs itself, and cannot be swayed by any impulse 
 from a higher power, ^ nor be governed by another. Then 
 it is no longer difficult to explain the close and indissoluble 
 union between morals and politics, a union which modern 
 writers have so frequently called in question. 
 
 During the days of the freedom of Greece, almost every 
 grand question connected with theoretical or practical phi- 
 losophy, was made the object of inquiry and discussion. 
 The later writers may perhaps have answered them differ- 
 ently and with greater acuteness ; but to the earliest belongs 
 the great merit of having presented to the reflecting mind, 
 the objects after which they should strive. The relations of 
 the later systems of Grecian philosophy to the earlier ones, 
 show how far the Stoic system was allied to the Cynic, the 
 Epicurean to the Cyrenaic, that of the later sceptics to that 
 of Pyrrho and the Eleatic school, — these subjects we leave 
 to be explained by some writer, who is capable of giving, not 
 a voluminous, but succinct and spirited account of the ef- 
 forts made among the Greeks by the understanding, as em- 
 ployed on subjects of philosophy. 
 
 If the relations of philosophy to the political institutions 
 must be estimated by its reaction on them, the reverse is in 
 some measure true of the science of histoiy. This stands in 
 connexion with the state, inasmuch as it is the result of the 
 changes and destinies of the state. It is true, that history 
 was not long limited among the Greeks to their own nation. 
 As there was free intercourse with foreigners, accounts and 
 traditions respecting their origin, manners, and revolutions 
 became common. But every thing proceeded from the 
 '' history of their native country ; this always remained the 
 
 * We would here especially refer to the following excellent treatise. J. L. 
 G. de Geer. Diatribe in ^oUtices Platonicae Principia. Trajecti ad Rhenum, 
 1810. 
 
208 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XIV. 
 
 SCIENCES IN CONNEXION WITH THE STATE. 
 
 209 
 
 central point. And here again we perceive the just views 
 of the Greeks. Is not each nation the nearest object to 
 itself? And next to the present moment, what can interest 
 it more than its own previous condition ? 
 
 This was early and very generally felt ; and if historical 
 accounts have been preserved but scantily or not at all, the 
 fiiult is to be attributed, not to the want of exertions to in- 
 sure that end, but to the imperfection of the means which 
 the nations could control ; that is, not merely to the want 
 of an alphabet, but of the materials which are used in writ- 
 ing. Persepolis, Thebes, Mexico, — do not all these furnish 
 distinct proofs of the truth of our remark ? 
 
 But not less depended on the circumstance, whether any 
 persons, a peculiar class or caste in the nation, were com- 
 missioned to record the events as they passed. Where a 
 priesthood existed, the preparing of the calendar, however 
 imperfect or perfect it might be, was their business ; and to 
 this it was easy to add the writing of annals. 
 
 The Greeks had no such separate order of priests; 
 and hence we hear nothing of any annals which they pos- 
 sessed.^ Yet religion still did something for history. A 
 multitude of relations, preserving the memory of early events, 
 were associated with the consecrated offerings in the tem- 
 ples. How often are these referred to by Herodotus ! and 
 the historical remarks of Pausanias are almost always made 
 in connexion with them. But they could neither fix a suc- 
 cession of time, nor do more than confirm single facts. 
 
 The history, therefore, of the Greeks emanated from an 
 entirely different source, from tradition ; and since this sup- 
 plied poetry with its subjects, the poets remained for centu- 
 ries the sole preservers of traditional accounts. But it does 
 not follow, that Grecian history was an invention, because 
 it was originally poetical. Indeed, it never entirely lost that 
 character. The subjects of history, as presented by tradition, 
 were only interwoven with fictions. But it is obvious of it- 
 self, that the character of the Grecian traditions must have 
 had a great or even a decisive influence on the character of 
 their history. 
 
 * Where a sort of hereditary priesthood existed, as in Sicyon, from the 
 earliest times, a sort of annals was connected with it. They seem, however, 
 to have consisted chiefly in an enumeration of the succession of priests, and 
 therefore hardly deserve the name. 
 
 m 
 
 By means of the original and continued division of the 
 nation into many tribes, the traditions were very much en- 
 riched. Each tribe had its heroes and its deeds of valour 
 to employ the bard. To convince ourselves of this, we need 
 but cast a glance on the tales of the Grecian heroes. Indi- 
 viduals among them, who were more distinguished than the 
 rest, as Hercules and Jason, became the heroes of the nation, 
 and therefore the favourites of the poets. And after the 
 first great national enterprise, after Troy had fallen, need 
 we be astonished that the historic muse preferred this to all 
 other subjects ? 
 
 All this is too well known to need any more copious ex- 
 position. ^ But much as Homer and the cyclic poets eclipsed 
 the succeeding ones, historic poetry kept pace with the po- 
 litical culture of the nation. This union we must not leave 
 unobserved. 
 
 That advancement in political culture was, as we observed 
 above, connected with the rising prosperity of the cities in 
 Greece and of the colonies. The founding of cities (*:T«'<r€t?) 
 therefore formed an essential part of the earlier history. But 
 cities were founded by heroes ; and the traditions respecting 
 these things were therefore intimately connected with the 
 rest. Who does not see, how wide a field was here opened 
 for historic poetry ? Such narrations had always a lasting 
 interest for the inhabitants ; they were, by their very nature, 
 of a kind to be exaggerated till they became marvellous ; 
 and were connected with accounts of the most ancient voy- 
 ages ; stories of the wonders of foreign and distant countries; 
 the island of the Cyclops, the garden of the Hesperides, the 
 rich Iberia, and others. What could afford more agreeable 
 nourishment to the imagination of a youthful people ? What 
 could be more attractive to the poets ? 
 
 Hence there arose among the Greeks a particular class of 
 historic poems, which, though in subject and form most in- 
 timately connected with other poems, were yet specially 
 commemorative of the founding of the several cities. The 
 class embraced, it is true, cities of the mother country;* 
 
 • See Heyne, Historiae scribendae inter Graecos primordia. Comment. Soc. 
 Sc. Grotting. vol. xiv. 
 
 * Especially Athens. Here is the source of the lake Atthides. So too Eu- 
 melus nas celebrated in song the oldest history of Corinth. Bibliothek d. 
 alten Litt. und Kunst. ii. 94. Of narratives respecting colonies, we would 
 
210 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [CUAP. XIV. 
 
 but chiefly related to the colonies ; for their establishment, 
 intimately intei-woven with the history of heroes, offered the 
 
 richest materials. 
 
 History continued to be treated m a poetical manner, till 
 near the time of the Persian wars. How deeply, therefore, 
 must the poetic character have been imprinted upon Grecian 
 history? Experience has taught that it was indelibly so. 
 When the first writers appeared who made use of prose, this 
 character was changed only with respect to the form, but by 
 no means to the matter. They related in prose what the 
 poets had told in verse. This is expressly stated by Strabo.^ 
 *' The earliest writers," says he, " Cadmus of Miletus, Phe- 
 recydes, Hecatseus, preserved the poetic character, though 
 not the measure of verse. Those who came after them, 
 were the first to descend from that height to the present 
 style of writing." The opinion of Cicero seems therefore to 
 have been ill founded, when he compares the oldest histori- 
 ans, and particularly Pherecydes, with the earliest annalists 
 of the Romans, Fabius Pictor and Cato,^ whose style was 
 
 certainly not poetical. 
 
 The larger number and the earliest of the narrators ot 
 traditions," as Herodotus styles them in distinction from the 
 epic poets, were lonians. Epic poetry was followed by 
 narrations in prose, in the very countries where it had been 
 cultivated most successfully. History has left us in uncer- 
 tainty respecting the more immediate causes of this change ; 
 but has not the East always been the land of fables ? Here, 
 where the crowd of colonial cities was springing up, which 
 were founded toward the end of the heroic age, that class of 
 narrations which relate to these subjects found the most ap- 
 propriate themes. In explaining therefore the origin of his- 
 toric science among the Greeks, it may perhaps be proper 
 to remember, that they participated in the character of the 
 oriental nations ; although they merit the glory of having 
 subsequently given to that science its true and peculiar 
 
 character. 
 
 But in the period in which the prose style of narration 
 was thus forming, the improvement of historic science ap- 
 
 cite that of Herodotus on the origin of Cyrene ; of which the poetic source 
 seems unquestionable. How many similar relations m Pausanias betray the 
 same onmn ' * Strabo, i. p. 34. 
 
 » Cicero de Oratore, u. 12. * The Xoyoypa^i, as Hecatseus and others. 
 
 i 
 
 SCIENCES IN CONNEXION WITH THE STATE. 
 
 211 
 
 pears to have been promoted by several very natural causes. 
 The larger number and the most celebrated of those mytho- 
 logical historians lived and flourished in the latter half of the 
 sixth century before the Christian era; that is, not long be- 
 fore the commencement of the Persian wars.^ Of these the 
 earliest are said to have been Cadmus of Miletus, and He- 
 cataeus of the same place, Acusilaus of Argos, Pherecydes of 
 Syros, Charon of Lampsacus, and several others whom Dio- 
 nysius of Halicarnassus enumerates. They belong to the 
 age in which the nation was rising in youthful energy ; 
 when it was already extended to the west and the east, and 
 its flourishing cities were engaged in various commerce ; 
 when it had become acquainted with many nations, and 
 travelling had begun to be common. From the title of the 
 works of these narrators of traditions, it is evident that they 
 were not careful to limit themselves to the accounts, which 
 they found in the ancient epic poets ; but that they took a 
 wider range, embracing the history of cities and nations, 
 and also the description of the coasts of the countries. A 
 proof of this is found in the catalogue of the writings of 
 Hellanicus the Lesbian, one of the latest of them.^ 
 
 These remarks, when considered in connexion, will serve 
 to show us the character of history before Herodotus. It 
 was in its origin entirely Grecian ; and even when the sphere 
 of observation was extended to foreign countries, kept pace 
 with the political advancement of the nation. It preserved 
 its poetical character, and therefore did not become critical ; 
 but it was developed with perfect freedom ; and was never 
 held by the priests in bondage to religion. As poetry had 
 for a long time been the means of its preservation, it became 
 in some measure the play of fancy (although epic poetry 
 was much more restricted than the subsequent lyric and 
 tragic) ; but in return, as it was propagated by no hiero- 
 glyphics, it could never, as in Egypt, degenerate into mere 
 symbolical narration. When it came to be transferred from 
 poetry to prose, it was necessarily connected with improve- 
 ments in the art of writing ; and the deficiency of our ac- 
 counts on this subject^ is one of the chief reasons why we 
 
 » Between the 60th and 70th Olympiad, or 540—500 years B. C. 
 ' See Creuzer's Historic Art among the Greeks in its Origin and Progress. 
 Compare Dahlmann's Historical Inquiries, in the Life of Herodotus, p. 108, 
 
 especially on Hecatseus. 
 
 " See Wolfii Prolegom. p. xl. etc. 
 p 2 
 
212 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [CHAF. XIV. 
 
 II 
 
 are so little able to mark the progress of its particular 
 branches. But whatever influences these causes may have 
 exercised, the great reason which retarded historic science 
 before Herodotus lay in the want of subjects.* 
 
 Before the Persian wars, there was no subject capable of 
 inspiring the historian. The Trojan war, the Argonautic 
 expedition, all great undertakings, belonged to tradition, 
 and hence belonged more than half to poetry. The narra- 
 tions of the origin of the individual cities, accounts of dis- 
 tant nations and countries, might gratify curiosity, might 
 afford amusement; but nothing more. There existed no 
 great national subject of universal interest. 
 
 At length came the Persian wars. The victory at Mara- 
 thon first awakened a spirit of valour ; whether this was 
 more inflamed by the defeat at Thermopylae, or the victory 
 at Salamis, it is difficult to say ; with the battle of Plataeae, 
 freedom was saved. What a subject for the historic Muse ! 
 The subject, from its very nature, belonged exclusively 
 to history ; and poetry had no share in it. It was no sub- 
 ject of hoary antiquity, nor yet of the present moment ; but 
 of a period which had but recently passed away. And yet it 
 came so variously in contact with tradition, that an historian 
 in a critical age would often have been compelled to take 
 his walks into the regions of mythology. How much more, 
 then, at a time, when the bounds between history and tra- 
 dition had not yet been in the slightest degree marked out ! 
 Herodotus employed himself on this subject, and managed 
 it in a manner which surpassed all expectation.^ Many 
 
 ' Dahlmann in 1823 published his careful criticism on the life of the father 
 of History, in the second volume of his Historical Inquiries. Herodot. ; aus 
 seinem Buche sein Leben. The critic recognises the value of the great his- 
 torian, to whose just fame I hope by this work to have contributed something ; 
 yet he proves, that on many points an uncertainty prevails, sufficient to war- 
 rant a difference of opinion. I count among them, the time of the compo- 
 sition and pubUcation of the work of Herodotus. Certainly, in its present 
 form, it is not the production of his youth ; and it is qmte as improbable that it 
 could have been written after his seventy-seventh year. The mention by Dalh- 
 mann of several events as late as 408 B. C, warrants an inference only as 
 to the time when Herodotus pubUshed his work, not as to the time when he 
 wrote it. The death of AmyrtsBus of Syncellus, as Dahlmann remarks, and as 
 the new Armenian edition of Eusebius confirms, happened eight years earlier, 
 that is, 416 B. C. ; and if the Darius, mentioned i. 130, is Darius Nothus, it 
 is surprising that he is not more precisely designated. The most natural in- 
 ference is, tliat Herodotus, as a young man, collected his materials on his 
 travels wrote it at Thurium in the maturity of manhood, about 444 B. C, 
 but did not publish it till his old age. That he formed his design eariy and 
 
 SCIENCES IN CONNEXION WITH THE STATE. 
 
 ^13 
 
 i 
 
 things, it is true, served to facilitate his labour. Many at- 
 tempts had been made to explain the earliest history of cities 
 and nations ; travelling had been rendered easy by the exten- 
 sive commerce of the Grecian cities, and several of his pre- 
 decessors are known to have visited many countries ; ^ the 
 mythological writers (\o^o^pa(t>oi) had already formed the lan- 
 guage for prosaic narration ; and the nation for which he wrote 
 was already awake to the beauties of historic composition. 
 Still he was the first who undertook to treat of a purely histo- 
 rical subject ; and thus to take the decisive step, which gave 
 to history its rank as an independent science. Yet he did not 
 limit himself to his chief subject, but gave it such an extent, 
 that his work, notwithstanding its epic unity, became in a 
 certain sense a universal history.* Continuing the thread 
 of his story from the times when controversies first arose be- 
 tween the Hellenes and the barbarians, till those when at 
 Plataeae the war was terminated so gloriously for the Greeks, 
 Hellas, attacked but liberated, became the great subject of 
 his narration ; opportunities were constantly presenting them- 
 selves, or were introduced, of interweaving the description 
 and history of the countries and nations, which required to 
 be mentioned, without ever losing sight of his chief object, 
 to which he returns from every episode. He had himself 
 visited the greater part of these countries and nations ; had 
 seen them with his own eyes; had collected information 
 from the most credible sources. But when he enters upon 
 the antiquities of the nations, especially of his own, he makes 
 use of the means afforded him by his age ; and here his 
 work borders on those of the earlier historians (the \o7O7^a0o<). 
 It is no longer necessary to appear as his defender ; posterity 
 has not continued unjust towards him. No writer has re- 
 ceived more frequent confirmation by the advances which, 
 within the last thirty years, have been made in the know- 
 ledge of nations and countries, than Herodotus, who was 
 formerly so often the object of ridicule. But our sole pur- 
 pose was to show in what manner the science of history had 
 been elevated by his choice of a subject ; and how this 
 
 travelled to further it, cannot be doubted. How many an additional inquiry 
 was necessary as he composed it ! It was a work fit to employ a long life. 
 ' As Hecataeus and Pherecydes. • 1 0,1 
 
 2 Only the history of the Assyrians he reserved for a separate work; 1. 184. 
 This he probaljly never wrote. Dahlmann, p. 227- 
 
ei4 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 ,\ 
 
 •■ 
 
 [CUAP. XIV. 
 
 choice was intimately connected with the impulse given to 
 the political character of his nation. 
 
 The first great step had thus been taken. A purely his- 
 torical subject, relating to the past, but to no distant period, 
 and no longer belonging to tradition, had been treated by a 
 master, who had devoted the largest part of his life to a plan, 
 framed with deliberation and executed with enthusiasm. 
 The nation possessed an historical work, which first showed 
 what history is ; and which was particularly well fitted to 
 awaken a taste for it. As Herodotus read his work to all 
 Greece assembled at Olympia, a youth, according to the 
 tradition, was incited by it to become, not his imitator, but 
 his successor.^ 
 
 Thucydides appeared. His predecessor had written a his- 
 tory of the past. He became the historian of his own time. 
 He was the first who seized on this idea, on which the whole 
 character of his work depends ; though others, especially the 
 ancient cities, looked for it in his style, his eloquence, and 
 other secondary matters. By this means he advanced the 
 science of history in a higher degree than he himself was 
 aware of. His subject made him necessarily a critic. 
 
 The storm of the Persian wars had been terrific, but tran- 
 sitory. During its continuance, no historian could appear. 
 It was not till after its fury had for some time abated, and 
 men had regained their composure of mind, that Herodotus 
 could find a place. Amidst the splendour of the victories 
 which had been gained, under the shade of security won by 
 valour, — with what emotions did the Greek look back upon 
 those years ! Who could be more welcome to him than the 
 
 * That Thucydides was not present as a hearer of Herodotus, is clearly 
 proved by Dahlmann, p. 20 and 216. Had he, as a youth of sixteen in the 
 year 456 B. C, listened to Herodotus, he must have formed his purpose of be- 
 coming an historian at least two-and-thirty years before he earned it into 
 effect, and before he had chosen a subject ; for his biographer, Marcellinus, 
 informs us, that he did not write his history till after his exile, that is, after 
 the year 424 B. C. The narrative of Lucian, that Herodotus read his history 
 aloud at Olympia, contains no date ; the assumption that it was in 456 B. C, 
 rests on the anecdote about Thucydides, which Lucian does not mention. 
 Why then may it not have taken place at a later day ? Lucian may have co- 
 loured the narrative, but hardly invented it. That such readings took place, 
 not before the whole people, but only before those interested, follows of 
 course ; and if Herodotus read not his whole work, but only a part of it, (and 
 his work was probably finished by portions,) the difficulties suggested bv 
 Dahlmann disappear. These remarks are designed not to prove the tnitn 
 of the narrative, but to show that it does not involve improbabilities. 
 
 SCIENCES IN CONNEXION WITH THE STATE. 
 
 215 
 
 historian, who painted for him this picture of his own glory, 
 not only as a whole, but in its parts ! The age of Thucydides, 
 on the contrary, was full of grandeur, but of difficulties. 
 In the long and obstinate war with one another, the Gre- 
 cian states sought to overturn each other from their very 
 foundations. It was not the age of wars only, but of revo- 
 lutions with all their horrors. Whether a man were an aris- 
 tocrat or democrat, a friend of Athens or of Sparta, was the 
 question on which depended fortune, liberty, and life. A 
 beneficent reverse rescued Thucydides from the whirlpool ; 
 and gave him that immortality, which the capture of Am- 
 phipolis never could have conferred on him.' The fruit of 
 his leisure was the history of his age ; a work he himself pro- 
 posed to write, and actually wrote, for eternity." 
 
 This is not the place to eulogize the man, who remamed 
 calm amidst all the turbulence of the passions, the only exile 
 that has written an impartial history. His acquaintance with 
 states and business, his deep political acuteness, his style, 
 nervous, though occasionally uncouth, — have all been illus- 
 trated by others. We will only allow ourselves to show, by 
 a few remarks, how much historic science was advanced by 
 the nature of his subject. 
 
 The undertaking of the man who was the first to form the 
 idea of writing the history of his own times, and of events 
 in which he himself had a share, must not be compared with 
 that of the modern writer, who compiles it from many writ- 
 ten documents. He was compelled to investigate every 
 thing by personal inquiry ; and that, too, in a period when 
 every thing was misrepresented by passion and party spirit. 
 But antiquity had not inwrapped his subject in the veil of 
 tradition, nor had it in its nature any epic interest. The 
 subject was thoroughly prosaic ; setting before the writer no 
 other aim, than that of exhibiting the truth. In this lay the 
 sole interest ; and to ascertain and repeat the truth, is all 
 which we can fairly demand of the historian. We honour 
 and respect him, because, penetrated with the consciousness 
 of his dignity, he never for a moment becomes untrue to it. 
 
 » After AmphipoUs had been taken by Brasidas, Thucydides was accused 
 of having come too late to the assistance of that city, and was banished by 
 the Athenian people; he actually passed twenty years in exile m Thrace, 
 where he possessed valuable mines. Let Thucydides himself be heard on 
 this subject, iv. 104, and v. 26. ^ Krijua dg dd. Thucyd. i. 22. 
 
216 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XIV. 
 
 SCIENCES IN CONNEXION WITH THE STATE. 
 
 217 
 
 A sentiment of reverence accompanies us from the first to 
 the last leaf of his work. Not the historian, History herself 
 
 seems to address us. , i j u • u 
 
 But to what new views must he have been led, when, with 
 the desire of arriving at truth, he turned his eyes to the form 
 under which history had thus far appeared ! It was his im- 
 mediate aim to relate the events of his own times ; but the 
 preceding age could not remain wholly excluded from the 
 sphere of his observation. It appeared to him clothed in 
 the mantle of tradition ; and he who scrutinized every thing 
 with care, was not caught by its delusive splendour. He 
 endeavoured to contemplate antiquity as it was, to take from 
 it this false glare, leaving nothing but the light of truth ; and 
 thus was produced that invaluable introduction which pre- 
 cedes his work. 
 
 By such means Thucydides was the inventor of an art, 
 which before him had been almost unknown, the art of his- 
 toric criticism ; without being conscious of the infinite value 
 of his invention. For he did not apply it to all branches of 
 knowledge, but only to his subject, because it was a natural 
 consequence of that subject. The historic Muse had made 
 him acquainted with her most secret nature ; no one before 
 or after him has drawn the line more clearly between history 
 and tradition. And what is this, but to draw the distinction 
 between the historic culture of the East and West ? and— if 
 we recognise how much depended on this historic culture — 
 between the whole scientific culture of the East and West ? 
 For to repeat a remark, which has already been cursorily 
 made, the great difference between the two consists in this ; 
 in the West, the free spirit of criticism was developed, and 
 
 in the East never. 
 
 It is therefore just to say, that Thucydides advanced a 
 giant's step. It is just to say, that he rose above his age ; 
 neither his own nor the following could reach him. Poetic 
 tradition was too deeply interwoven with Grecian history, to 
 admit of an entire separation. A Theopompus and Ephorus, 
 whenever the heroic age was to be discussed, drew their ma- 
 terials with as little concern from the writers of mythological 
 fables and the poets, as if Thucydides never had written. 
 
 A third step yet remained to be taken ; and it was in 
 some respects the most dangerous of all ; to become the his- 
 
 torian of one's own exploits. This step was taken by Xeno- 
 phon. For when we speak of his historic writings, his 
 Anabasis so far surpasses the rest, that it alone deserves to 
 be mentioned. But this new step may with propriety be 
 called one of the most important. Would that he who ven- 
 tured to take it, had found many successors ! By the mild- 
 ness and modesty of his personal character, Xenophon was 
 secured from the faults, into which men are so apt to fall, 
 when they describe their own actions ; although these vir- 
 tues and the nature of his subject could not give his work 
 those superior qualities, which the genius of Caesar knew 
 how to impart to his Commentaries. 
 
 Thus, in the period of their freedom, all the principal kinds 
 of history were developed among the Greeks. What was 
 done afterwards, can hardly be called progress, although the 
 subjects of history gTCW more various and more extensive 
 with the enlarged sphere of pohtics in the Macedonian and 
 Roman age ; and the idea of a universal history was more 
 distinctly entertained. But after the downfal of liberty, 
 when rhetoric became prevalent and was applied to history, 
 the higher kind of criticism ceased to be employed in it. 
 The style, the manner in which a subject was treated, was re- 
 garded ; not the subject itself. The essence was forgotten in 
 disputes about the form. We have abundant proofs of this in 
 the judgments of Dionysius of Halicamassus, who has never- 
 theless been usually mentioned as the first of these critics. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 POETRY AND THE ARTS IN CONNEXION WITH THE STATE. 
 
 Whether in our inquiries on the political institutions of 
 Greece, their poetry and arts must be considered, — will 
 hardly be made a question by any of my readers. Almost 
 every one of the preceding chapters has served to show how 
 closely they were connected with the state. Yet our 
 remarks must be limited to the question : What was the 
 nature, and what were the consequences of this connexion ? 
 
 • * 
 
 
 Ii 
 
218 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XV, 
 
 POETRY IN CONNEXION WITH THE STATE. 
 
 219 
 
 
 But even in answering this we might be carried very far, 
 if we were to pass the bounds which the character of this 
 work prescribes. In speaking of poetry, we would princi- 
 pally consider the dramatic ; since we have already spoken 
 of the epic. But the drama can hardly be discussed, sepa- 
 rate from lyric poetry. We place the arts in immediate 
 connexion with poetry, because nature herself had united 
 them among the Greeks ; among whom the arts are as it 
 were the key to poetry. The remark of a modern critic^ is 
 perfectly true, that the masterpieces of the plastic art fur- 
 nish the best commentary on the tragedians. Although it 
 is not always the same persons whom the poets and the 
 sculptors bring before us, we yet derive from them our 
 conceptions of the ideal forms. He who has seen the sub- 
 lime figures of Niobe and Laocoon, can easily represent to 
 his mind an Electra or an (Edipus in the forms under 
 which they floated in the mind of the poet. 
 
 With the advancing culture of Greece, the connexion be- 
 tween poetry and arts and the state increased ; and was 
 most intimate in its flourishing age. Even the earliest law- 
 givers of the Greeks regarded poetry as the chief means of 
 forming the character of youth ; and of exercising an influ- 
 ence on their riper years. But in an age when there was 
 as yet no literature, poetry could not be separate from song ; 
 and was commonly accompanied with an instrument. Hence 
 came the meaning of the word music, which embraced all 
 this together. Yet this is chiefly true of lyric poetry, which, 
 as the immediate expression of the feelings of the poet, was 
 much more intimately connected with song than the epic. 
 If we do but bear constantly in mind the leading idea which 
 the Greek had framed of a state, as a moral person that was 
 to govern itself, we can comprehend the whole importance, 
 which music, in the wider sense of the word, possessed in 
 the eyes of the Grecian lawgivers. It seemed to them in 
 that age, when there was as yet no philosophic culture, 
 when the feelings and the management of the feelings were 
 of the greatest moment, the best means of influencing them ; 
 and we need not be astonished, when we read in Plutarch' 
 
 ' A. W. Schlegel, Uber dramatische Kunst und Litteratur, Th. i. s. 67. A. 
 W. Schlegel, on Dramatic Literature. 
 * In his essay De Musica. Op. ii. p. 1131. 
 
 and other writers, of the great severity with which the laws, 
 especially in Sparta, insisted on the preservation of the an- 
 cient music, and the established tunes. It may be difficult in 
 our days, when music is no longer considered the lever of na- 
 tional force,^ to form any distinct idea of those institutions 
 of the ancients. But as human nature is never untrue to 
 itself, institutions which are founded on it are always pre- 
 served to a certain extent and under certain forms. In the 
 nineteenth century, in which there is no longer any danger 
 of corrupting a nation by changes in music, (although it 
 would be very presumptuous to give a hasty opinion on its 
 influence and effects,) no regiment is raised without its 
 band ; and the commander, who instead of a warlike march 
 should order a dirge to be played, would justly incur the 
 same reproaches with him, who in ancient days made an 
 unseasonable use of the Lydian instead of the Dorian 
 measure. 
 
 Lyric poetry was moreover intimately connected with the 
 popular religion ; or was in fact a result of it ; for hymns in 
 praise of the gods are mentioned as its first fruits.* It was 
 therefore important to the state as a support of the popular 
 religion, particularly by contributing to the splendour of 
 the festivals. For when was a festival celebrated by the 
 Greeks, and the songs of the poets not heard ? But they 
 received their greatest importance from the institution of 
 choral songs. These choruses, even independent of the 
 drama, were the chief ornament of the festivals ; and were 
 composed of persons of various ages. There were those of 
 youths, of men, and of the aged ; which responded to each 
 other alternately in song.^ As the festivals were a public 
 concern, so too were the choruses ; and we have no cause 
 to be astonished, that the preparation of them formed a part 
 of the civil burdens. 
 
 The choral song at the festivals was as ancient as the 
 
 ' That in his times, when music was used only in the theatres, it had lost its 
 ancient ai)plication, is the complaint of Plutarch, ii. 1140. 
 
 * " Music," says Plutarch, ii. p. 1 140, " was first made use of in the temples 
 and sacred places in praise of the gods, and for the instruction of youth ; 
 long before it was introduced into the theatres, which at that time were not 
 in existence." 
 
 • See in particular the whole oration of Demosthenes against Midias, who 
 had abused Demosthenes as choragus, or leader of the chorus. 
 
220 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XV. 
 
 heroic age, or at least as the times of Homer.* Although it 
 was capable of receiving great ornaments, and did actually 
 receive them, it did not necessarily require any great pre- 
 parations. The similar spectacles which modern travellers 
 have witnessed in the islands of the South Sea, especially 
 the Society Islands, carry us back to the earlier world of 
 Greece. The drama was the result of those choruses ; but 
 from its nature it could only be a later fruit of the poetic 
 spirit of the nation. 
 
 The drama interests us here only in its connexion with 
 the state. But this inquiry goes very deeply into its nature. 
 A question arises of a twofold character : What did the state 
 do for the drama, and in what respects was the drama, by 
 its nature and organization, connected with and of import- 
 ance to the state ? 
 
 Dramatic poetry, whose object is to give a distinct and 
 lively representation of an action, always requires decora- 
 tions, however splendid or paltry they may be ; and an as- 
 sembly, before which the representation may be made. 
 Dramatic poetry is therefore essentially more public than 
 that of any other description. Of all kinds of verse, this 
 concerns the state the most nearly. Among the Greeks we 
 may add, that it was an affair of religion, and therefore an 
 essential part of their festivals. But these festivals were en- 
 tirely an affair of the state ; they belonged, as has been 
 observed above, to the most urgent political wants. Here 
 then we find a reason why the state should not only have 
 so much encouraged dramatic exhibitions, but have even 
 considered them no less essential than the popular assem- 
 blies and popular tribunals. A Grecian state could not 
 exist without festivals, nor festivals without choruses and 
 plays. 
 
 In what manner the state encouraged the drama, we 
 know only with respect to Athens. But that the other 
 Grecian cities in the naother country, and also in the colo- 
 nies, had their theatres no less than Athens, is apparent 
 from the remains of them, which are almost always to be 
 found wherever there are traces of a Grecian city. The 
 theatres were built and decorated at the public expense ; 
 
 * See the Hymn, in Apoll. v. 147, etc. respecting the choruses at the 
 Ionian festivals in Delos. 
 
 POETRY IN CONNEXION WITH THE STATE. 
 
 221 
 
 we find in Grecian cities no instance, as far as my know- 
 ledge extends, where private persons erected them, as was 
 usual in Rome. Their structure was always the same, such 
 as may still be seen in Herculaneum ; and we must therefore 
 infer, that all the external means of representation remained 
 the same ; although the wealth and taste of individual cities 
 introduced higher degrees of splendour ; which in our times 
 we may observe in our larger cities, compared with the 
 smaller or provincial towns. But from the remains of the 
 Grecian theatres, the size and extent of these buildings are 
 apparent, and their great dissimilarity in this respect to 
 modern ones. If they had not been regarded as a real 
 want, and if the emulation of the cities had not also exerted 
 its influence, we might doubt whether sufficient means 
 could have been found for erecting them. 
 
 The bringing forward of the single plays belonged to the 
 civil burdens, (Xecrov^^/a*,) which the opulent were obliged 
 to bear in rotation, or which they voluntarily assumed. We 
 can hardly doubt, that these regulations in other cities re- 
 sembled those in Athens, though on this subject we have 
 no distinct testimony. Thus the state threw these expenses 
 in part upon private persons ; but the matter was not the 
 less a public concern, for this expense was considered as a 
 contribution due to the state. But another regulation may 
 astonish us still more than this ; the regulation by which 
 money was granted from the public treasury to the poorer 
 citizens, that they might be able to visit the theatres. This 
 was the case in Athens, though not till the times in which 
 the state began to sink under the moral corruption of its 
 citizens. The desire of pleasure may in such periods dege- 
 nerate into a sort of phrensy ; and the preservation of tran- 
 quillity may demand sacrifices, which are reluctantly made 
 even by those who consent. 
 
 Though the oldest dramatic essays among the Greeks may 
 be of a more remote age, there is no doubt that iEschylus 
 was the father, not only of the finished drama, but also of 
 the Grecian stage. It was not, therefore, till after the vic- 
 ' tories over the Persians (he himself fought in the battle of 
 Salamis) that a theatre of stone was erected in Athens ; ^ 
 
 » The occasion is related by Suidas in nparlvac. At the representation of aplay 
 of ^schylus, the wooden scaffold, on which the spectators stood, gave way. 
 
 fti 
 
 ■( 
 
222 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XV. 
 
 POETRY IN CONNEXION WITH THE STATE. 
 
 22S 
 
 I J* 
 
 M 
 
 
 
 r 
 
 
 ' \ 
 
 and all that concerns the drama began to be developed in 
 that city. The contests of the poets, which were introduced 
 there at the festivals of Bacchus, and which, though they 
 cost the state only a crown, rewarded the poet more than 
 gold could have done, contributed much to excite emula- 
 tion. It was about this time that Athens began to be the 
 seat of literature, and in the scale of political importance the 
 first state in Greece. Hence we can explain the remark- 
 able fact, that the dramatic art seemed in that city as at 
 home. Athens directed the taste of the other cities ; and 
 without being the capital in the same degree as Paris and 
 London, her great superiority in intellectual culture secured 
 to her that supremacy, which was the more glorious, as it 
 rested not on violence, but on the voluntary concession of 
 her pre-eminence. 
 
 I am acquainted with no investigation of the question, in 
 what manner, after the erection of a stage at Athens, the- 
 atrical amusements were extended throughout the other 
 Grecian cities. The ruins which remain in them leave it 
 still uncertain when they were built ; and where can we 
 find dates to settle this point ? But so many vestiges make 
 it highly probable, that the drama was introduced into the 
 other cities before the Macedonian age. Neither tragic nor 
 comic poets were at home in Athens exclusively ; but start- 
 ed up in the most various regions of the Grecian world. ^ 
 Athenian poets were invited to resort to the courts of foreign 
 princes.^ A king of Syracuse was himself a tragic poet.^ In 
 the same city, Athenian captives regained their liberty by 
 fragments from the tragedies of Euripides. The inhabitants of 
 Abdera, when their fellow-citizen Archelaus played the part 
 of Andromeda, were seized with a theatric passion bordering 
 on madness.* Other proofs, if necessary, might be found. 
 It may seem doubtful, whether the same may be said of the 
 comic drama ; which in Athens was of so local a character, 
 that it could hardly have been understood in the other cities ; 
 or at least much of its wit must have been lost. But is it 
 
 " Abundant proof may be found in Fabricii Bibl. Gr. T. i. in the Catalog. 
 Traricorum et Comicorum deperditorum. 
 
 ■Euripides was invited to repair to the court of Archelaus, king of Mace- 
 donia. 
 
 • Dionysius the elder. A fragment of his has been preserved in Stob. 
 
 Eclog. i. iv. 19. 
 
 * Lucian. de conscrib. histor. Op. iv. p. 159, Bip. 
 
 safe from the few remaining pieces of a single comic poet to 
 judge of the hundreds produced by a multitude of others, 
 and no longer extant ? 
 
 To answer the other question. In what relation the theatre 
 among the Greeks, from its very nature, stood to the state, 
 we must distinguish its two chief divisions. Before the 
 Macedonian age, while comedy was still permitted to pre- 
 serve its republican character,' tragedy and comedy, as there 
 were no intermediate kinds,^ remained as different from each 
 other as seriousness and mirth. They had no points of contact. 
 Tragedy, introducing upon the stage the heroes of Greece, 
 was the representation of great events of the elder days, ac- 
 cording to the ideal conceptions of the Greeks ;^ comedy, on 
 the contrary, was the parody of the present ; as we shall here- 
 after illustrate more fully. In these explanations, the whole 
 difference of the two has been expressed. 
 
 Tragedy was in certain respects a result of epic poetry. 
 For this had always preserved the recollection of the heroic 
 age; without which the tragic poets would have had to 
 contend with no less difficulties, than the moderns, when 
 they have borrowed subjects from the fables of the North. 
 It was only necessary to mention the name of the chief per- 
 son, and the whole story of his adventures was recalled to 
 every mind. Hence the artificial weaving of a plot, was only 
 so far a duty of the poet as the nature of the drama requires ; 
 grandeur and liveliness of manner were, on the contrary, far 
 more in the spirit of the heroic world. Not the event, but 
 the character of the action, was important. Whether the 
 issue was fortunate or unfortunate, was a matter of indiffer- 
 ence ; but it was necessary that the action should be in it- 
 self sublime ; should be the result of the play of the passions ; 
 
 * The old comedy, as it was called. 
 
 » The satiric drama, as it was called, was not an intermediate class, but a 
 corruption of tragedy. . 
 
 " Two plays, the Persians of ^schylus, and the Destruction of Miletus of 
 Phrynichus, formed exceptions. But they had no imitators ; and the last-men- 
 tioned poet was even punished for it by the Athenians. Herod, vi. 21. Here 
 too we observe the correct judgment of the nation, which desired, in the tragic 
 drama, an excitement of the passions ; but purely of the passions, without 
 any personal allusions. This was possible only in subjects taken from early 
 ' times. But still a certain regard for historic truth, as contained in the tradi- 
 tions, was required by the Grecian taste. Subjects altogether fictitious were 
 unknown. The consequences of this deserve to be illustrated at large. If 
 the tragic drama was thus limited to the traditions respecting the heroes, it 
 at the same time obtained a certain solemn support which gave it dignity. 
 
224 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XV. 
 
 i) 
 
 ■ I 
 
 i 'I 
 
 M 
 
 and should never depart from the gravity, which is as it 
 were the colouring of the world of heroes. In this consists 
 the tragic part of the drama. But though the final event 
 was in itself indifferent, the poets naturally preferred subjects 
 in which it was unfortunate for the chief personages. In such 
 the tragic interest was the greatest ; the catastrophe the most 
 fearful ; the effect least uncertain. A tragic issue suited best 
 the whole character of the kind of poetry. 
 
 The tragic drama could have but few points of relation 
 with the state. The political world which was here exhibited, 
 was entirely different from the actual one of the times ; the 
 forms of monarchy alone were introduced on the stage. 
 The same remark, therefore, which has been made respecting 
 the epic, is true also of the tragic poetry of the Greeks. 
 The violent commotions in the ancient royal families, and 
 their extinction, were not represented to make them objects 
 of contempt or hatred, and to quicken the spirit of republic- 
 anism ; but solely because no other actions equally possessed 
 the sublimity of the tragic character. But the moral effects 
 which were produced by these representations may have 
 been politically important. Whilst the Grecian continued 
 to live in the heroic world, that elevation of mind could not so 
 well disappear, which is seen so frequently in the acts of the 
 nation. If Homer and the epic poets first raised its spirit 
 to the sublimity belonging to it, the tragic poets did much 
 to preserve that elevated tone. And if this elevated spirit 
 formed the strength of the state, they have as strong a claim 
 to immortality, as the military commanders and the leaders 
 
 of the people. 
 
 Comedy was more closely allied to the state ; as we may 
 presuppose from the circumstance, that it had relation to the 
 present and not to the past. We have explained it above to 
 be the parody of the present,* that is, of the contemporary 
 public condition, in the sense in which the Greeks under- 
 stand this expression. Private life, as such, was never the 
 
 * A. W. Schlegel, in his work on Dramatic Literature and Art, i. p. 2/1, con- 
 siders the characteristic of comedy to have been, that it was a parody of tra- 
 gedy. It certainly was so very frequently, and thus far his remark is correct. 
 Tragedy was a part of the pubhc life ; the parody of tragedy was therefore a 
 fit subject for the comic stage ; and the relation between the tragic and comic 
 poets was such, that the latter were naturally fond of ridiculing the former. 
 The readers of Aristophanes know this. Yet we must be very careful how 
 we thus confine the range of comedy. It was not essentially a parody. 
 
 POETRY IN CONNEXION WITH THE STATE. 
 
 225 
 
 ■| 
 
 subject of comedy, except so far as it was connected with 
 the public. But these points of contact were so many and 
 so various, that the comic poet could not but frequently pre- 
 sent views of private life. The relation of comedy was 
 therefore altogether political, so far as we comprehend every 
 thing public under this word. But the scenes which were 
 exhibited were not represented with fidelity, but were cari- 
 catured. This seems to have been agreed upon by a silent 
 convention; and therefore such representations could not 
 injure those against whom they were directed, much more 
 than the caricature prints of our times. We would not be 
 understood to justify unconditionally the incredible impu- 
 dence of the Grecian comic poets, in whose eyes neither 
 men, nor morals, nor the gods were sacred. But a public 
 tribunal of character is an actual necessity, where a popular 
 government exists ; and in those times what other such tri- 
 bunal could have existed than the theatre ? Whatever excited 
 public attention, whether in persons or in things, it might 
 be expected, would be brought upon the stage. The most 
 powerful demagogue, in the height of his power, did not 
 escape this fate ; nay, the people of Athens itself had the satis- 
 fection of seeing itself personified, and brought upon the 
 stage, where it could laugh at itself, till it was satisfied with 
 mirth ; ^ and — crowned the poet for having done it. What 
 is our freedom of the press, our licentiousness of the press, 
 compared with this dramatic freedom and licentiousness ? 
 
 But though the ridicule of the comic poets could not 
 much injure the individual against whom it chanced to be 
 directed, the question is still by no means answered, What 
 consequences had the comic drama for the state, and for 
 morals, which with the Greeks were inseparably connected 
 with the state ? Those judgments passed on public charac- 
 ters may have had some influence, but not a great deal ; 
 unless perhaps to make men more cautious ; and this was no 
 small consideration. When we see that Pericles, notwith- 
 standing all the attacks of the comic poets,^ was not to be 
 deposed, and that even Cleon, when he had been made a 
 public jest in the person of the Paphlagonian, lost nothing 
 of his influence, we cannot make a very high estimate of 
 
 ' As in the Knights of Aristophanes. 
 
 * Specimens of them may be seen in Plutarch. Op. i. p. 620. 
 
226 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XV. 
 
 THE ARTS IN CONNEXION WITH THE STATE. 
 
 227 
 
 J I 
 
 r 
 
 < 
 
 M 
 
 that advantage. So far as morals are concerned, it is true, 
 that the ideas of propriety are conventional ; and that it 
 would be wrong to infer from a violation of them in lan- 
 guage, a corresponding violation in action. The inhabitant 
 of the North, who has not grown accustomed to the much 
 greater licence given to the tongue by the southern nations, 
 may here easily be mistaken. The jokes of Harlequin, espe- 
 cially in his extemporaneous performances, are often hardly 
 less unrestrained than those of Aristophanes ; and the south- 
 em countries are not on that account on the whole more 
 corrupt than the northern, although some offences are more 
 common in the former. But the incredible levity with 
 which the rules of modesty were transgressed, could not re- 
 main without consequences. Another important point is 
 the influence of comedy on the religion of the people. The 
 comic poets were careful never to appear as atheists ; that 
 would have led to exile ; they rather defended the popular 
 religion. But the manner in which this was done, was often 
 worse than a direct attack. Who could appear with reverent 
 devotion at the altar of Jove, after growing weary with 
 laughing at him in the Clouds, or after having seen him pay 
 court to earthly beauties ? Even on the minds of the most 
 frivolous nation in the world, indelible impressions must 
 have been made. 
 
 The ancient comedy has commonly been called a political 
 farce; and the expression is just, if we interpret the word 
 political in the wide sense in which we have explained it. 
 It is sufficiently known, that, after the downfal of the popu- 
 lar rule, there was no longer any field for this ancient 
 comedy, that it lost its sting in the middle comedy as it is 
 termed, and that the new was of an entirely different charac- 
 ter.^ As this new kind lost its local character with the per- 
 sonal allusions, the old obstacles to its diffusion throughout 
 the Grecian world no longer existed. And though we may 
 doubt whether the plays of Cratinus and Aristophanes were 
 ever acted out of Athens, no question can certainly be raised 
 with respect to those of Menander and Diphilus. But as 
 this new species of theatrical composition was not introduced 
 
 ■ The difference of these kinds is best explained in the excellent work of 
 Schlegel, i. p. 326. 
 
 
 and perfected till the Macedonian age, the subject does not 
 fall within the sphere of our observations. 
 
 With our notions we should think the connexion of the 
 arts with politics much less than of the theatre ; and yet it 
 was among the Greeks even closer and more various. The 
 encouragement of the arts is in our times left chiefly to pri- 
 vate taste ; and is greater or smaller according to the num- 
 ber of amateurs. The state takes an interest in them only 
 to prevent their total decay, or for the sake of some parti- 
 cular design. 
 
 The case was entirely different in the period when they 
 flourished among the Greeks. The arts with them were ex- 
 clusively public, and not at all an affair of individuals. They 
 afterwards became so, yet never in the same degree as with 
 us ; nor even as with the Romans. These positions require 
 to be further developed and more accurately proved. 
 
 By the arts we mean the three great branches of them, 
 architecture, sculpture, and painting. On each of these we 
 Jiave some remarks to offer. 
 
 Architecture is distinguished from the two others by the 
 circumstance, that its object is use no less than beauty. Not 
 only the moderns, but the Romans of the later ages, endea- 
 voured to unite them both; and in this manner private 
 buildings became objects of art. Among the Greeks, a tend- 
 ency to this seems to have existed in the heroic age. In a 
 former chapter, we remarked that in the dwellings and halls 
 of the kings, there prevailed a certain grandeur and splen- 
 dour, which, however, we shall hardly be willing to desig- 
 nate by the name of scientific architecture. When the 
 monarchical forms disappeared, and living in cities, and with 
 it republican equality, gained ground, those differences in 
 the dwellings disappeared of themselves ; and every thing 
 which we read respecting private houses in every subsequent 
 age, confirms us in the idea, that they could make no preten- 
 sions to elegance of construction.^ It would be diflicult to 
 produce a single example of such a building. But we find 
 express evidence to the contrary. Athens was by no means 
 a fine city like some of our modern ones, in which there are 
 
 * It follows of course, that the testimony of writers of the Macedonian, or 
 the Roman a^e, are not here taken into consideration, since we are not treat- 
 ing of those times. 
 
 Q 2 
 
 
/ 
 
 228 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [CUAP. XT. 
 
 whole streets of palaces occupied as the dwellings of private 
 persons. A stranger could have been in Athens without 
 imagining himself to be in the city which contained the 
 greatest masterpieces of architecture. The splendour of the 
 city was not perceived till the public squares and the Acro- 
 polis were approached. ^ The small dwellings of Themisto- 
 cles and of Aristides were long pointed out ; and the build- 
 ing of large houses was regarded as a proof of pride. ^ But 
 when luxury increased, the houses were built on a larger 
 scale ; several chambers for the accommodation of strangers 
 and for other purposes were built round the court, which 
 commonly formed the centre ; but all this might take place, 
 and yet the building could lay no claims to beauty. If a 
 town, which was, it is true, but a provincial town, may be 
 cited to corroborate this, we have one still before our eyes. 
 A walk through the excavated streets of Pompeii will be 
 sufficient to estabUsh our remark. Where the pomp and 
 splendour of the public edifices were so great as among 
 the Greeks, it was not possible for private buildings to 
 rival them. 
 
 Architecture, as applied to public purposes, began with 
 the construction of temples ; and till the time of the Persian 
 wars, or just before, we hear of no other considerable public 
 edifices. The number of temples remarkable for their archi- 
 tecture, was till that time a limited one ; although, in the 
 age just preceding the war with Persia, this art had already 
 produced some of its first works among the Greeks. In 
 Greece itself the temple of Delphi was the most celebrated, 
 after it had been rebuilt by the Alcmaeonidae.^ There was also 
 the temple of Apollo in Delos. But it was about this time, 
 that the invention of the Ionic order by the Asiatic Greeks 
 in addition to the Doric, which had been used till then, con- 
 stituted a new epoch in the history of architecture. The 
 splendid temple of Diana at Ephesus, erected by the joint 
 exertions of the cities and princes of Grecian Asia, was the 
 first building in this new style.* About the same time Po- 
 lycrates built the temple of Juno in Samos. The temples 
 
 ' Dicaearchus de Statu Graeciee, cap. 8. Huds. 
 
 ■ Demosthenes reproaches the wealthy Midias with his large house at Eleu- 
 sis, which intercepted the light of others. Op. i. p. 565. ' Herod, v. 62. 
 
 * See the instructive disquisition ; Der Tempel der Diana zu Ephesus, von 
 A. Hirt. Berlin, 1809. 
 
 THE ARTS IN CONNEXION WITH THE STATE, 
 
 229 
 
 I 
 
 
 which afterwards formed the glory of Greece, those of Athens 
 on the Acropolis and elsewhere, were all erected after the 
 Persian war. So too was the temple of Jupiter at Olympia. 
 As to the temples in Lower Italy and Sicily, we can fix the 
 epoch in which, if not all, yet the largest and most splendid 
 of them, the chief temples of Agrigentum, were erected; 
 and that epoch is also subsequent to the Persian war. And 
 if those of the ancient Doric order, at Paestum and begestus, 
 belong to an earlier period, they cannot to one much earlier ; 
 as these cities themselves were founded so much later than 
 those in Asia Minor. Just before and after the Persian war, 
 arose that prodigious emulation of the cities, to make them- 
 selves famous for their temples; and this produced those mas- 
 terpieces of architecture. 
 
 The other principal kinds of public buildings, which were 
 conspicuous for their splendour, were the theatres, the places 
 for musical exhibitions, the porticos, and the gymnasia. Ut 
 the theatres it has already been observed, that they were 
 erected subsequently to the Persian wars. The same is true 
 of the halls for music. The porticos, those favourite places 
 of resort to a people who Hved so much in public, belonged 
 in part to the temples,^ and in part surrounded the public 
 squares. Of those in Athens, which by their works of art 
 eventually eclipsed the rest, we know that they were not 
 built till after the victory over the barbarians. Ut ail the 
 public edifices, the gymnasia are those respecting which we 
 have the fewest accounts.' They were probably erected at 
 a distance in the rear of the temples ; though many ot them 
 were distinguished by excellent works of art. 
 
 This line of division, carefully drawn between domestic 
 and public architecture by the Greeks, who regarded only 
 the latter as possessing the rank of one of the fine arts gives 
 a new proof of their correct views of things. In buildings 
 destined for dwellings, necessity and the art are in constant 
 opposition. The latter desires in its works to execute some 
 grand idea independent of the common wants ot hie ; but 
 
 . A more accurate enumeration of the chi£temples of t^^^ Greeks and the 
 
 • A more accurate enumerauou ui tuc ^.ix^,. ^^.^.^^^^ y- n^^nhlnhtt- Hpr 
 periods in which they were built, is to be found in Steightz, Geschichte der 
 
 Baukunst der Alten. Leipzig, 1792. xjxffi^orni hia Gpsrhichte 
 
 « As, e. g., the XIaxn at3^Inpi^ respecting which Bottigerjn his besclucnte 
 
 der Mahlerey, B. i. s. 296, etc, has given us a learned essay. 
 » On those at Athens, consult Stieglitz in loc. cit. p. £M' 
 
/ 
 
 230 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XV. 
 
 a dwelling is intended to meet those very wants, and is in 
 no respect founded on an idea connected with beauty. The 
 temples are dwellings also, but the dweUings of the gods ; 
 and as these have no wants in their places of abode, the art 
 finds here no obstacle to its inventions. 
 
 The plastic art* and painting bore to each other, among 
 the Greeks, the opposite relation to that which they have 
 borne in modern times. The first was the most cultivated ; 
 and though the latter attained the rank of an independent 
 art, it never was able to gain the superiority. It is not for 
 us here to explain the causes of this ; we need only mention 
 one, which to us is the most interesting. The more public 
 the arts are among any people, the more naturally will the 
 plastic art surpass that of painting. The works of both may 
 be public, and were so among the Greeks, but those of the 
 former are far better suited for public monuments than 
 those of the latter. The works of painting find their place 
 only on walls ; those of the plastic art, existing entirely by 
 themselves, wherever there is room for them. 
 
 The works of the plastic art, statues and busts, were, in 
 the times of which we speak, (and among the Greeks, with 
 a few limitations, even in subsequent times,) only public 
 works, that is, designed to be set up, not in private dwell- 
 ings, but in public places, temples, halls, market-places, 
 gymnasia, and theatres. I know of no one instance of a 
 statue that belonged to a private man ; and if there exists 
 any example, it is an exception which confirms the general 
 rule.^ It may be said, that it is only accidental that we 
 know of no such instances. But if any taste of that kind 
 had prevailed at Athens, we should find traces of it in the 
 comedians and orators. If these are consulted in vain for 
 such indications, we are justified in concluding that no such 
 private tastes existed. 
 
 Phidias and his successors, till the Macedonian age, did 
 not therefore labour to supply with their works the houses 
 and collections of individuals. This by no means implies, 
 
 ' The phrase plastic art is used, because there is no other which embraces 
 at once tne works of stone and of bronze. 
 
 * Or can the anecdote be cited, which Pausanias relates, p. i. 46, of the 
 cunning of Phryne to gain possession of the god of love made by her lover 
 Praxiteles ? Even if it be true, the fact is in our favour ; for she consecrated 
 it immediately as a pubUc work of art in Thespise, A then. p. 591 ; in which 
 city alone it was from that time to be seen. Cic. in Ver. ii. iv. 2. 
 
 ! 
 
 V 
 
 '. / 
 
 / 
 
 I' 
 
 THE AETS IN CONNEXION WITH THE STATE. 
 
 231 
 
 that they did not receive applications from private persons. 
 If they had not, the incredible multitude of statues, which 
 we have already mentioned, could never have been made.^ 
 This subject is so important, that it demands to be treated 
 
 of more at lai^e. . . „ i j r ^i. 
 
 The great masters were principally employed tor the 
 cities. Tiiese, or the men who were at their head, (as the 
 example of Pericles informs us,) bespoke works of art, or 
 bought them ready made, to ornament the city and the 
 public buildings. We have distinct evidence, that the great 
 masterpieces of Phidias, Praxiteles, and Lysippus, owed 
 their origin to this. Thus were produced the Jupiter at 
 Olympia; the Minerva Polias at Athens, by the first ; the 
 Venus at Cnidus, as well as at Cos, by the second ; the 
 Colossus of Rhodes, by the third. Yet numerous as were 
 the applications of cities, the immense multitude of statues 
 could not be accounted for, unless the piety and the vanity 
 of individuals had come to their assistance. 
 
 The first assisted by the votive offerings ; of which all 
 the celebrated temples were full. These were by no means 
 always works of art, but quite as often mere costly presents. 
 Yet the collections of statues and pictures which belonged 
 to those temples, consisted, for the most part of votive 
 offerings.* But these were as often the tribute of gratitude 
 from whole cities, as from individuals.' 
 
 The vanity of individuals contributed to the same end, by 
 the custom of erecting statues, commonly of bronze, to the 
 victors in the games.* When we remember the multitude 
 of these games in Greece, the number of statues will be- 
 come intelligible ; especially of those of bronze, of which 
 
 ■ The infinite wealth of Greece in treasures of this kind, has been so clearly 
 pvhihitfid in a late discourse of Jacobs, that it has now become easy to form 
 I diS?dta of fhem. Jacobs, Uber den Reichthum Griechenlands an 
 nlastischen Kunstwerken und die Ursachen desselben. , , . , . . 
 ■^^ Not to mention Olympia and Delphi again, we refer to the temple of 
 Juno ta Samos, Strab. I xiv. p. 438, ofBacc!>us at A*ens, Paus^ . ^^^^^^ 
 temnle of Diana at Ephesus was so nch in works of art, that according to 
 pSf Ixxvi. 14, a description of them would have filled several volumes. 
 
 • The temoles received such presents not only during the lifetime of the 
 donore K fegades A remakable instance of this is found in the w.U of 
 Conon; wholeft^SOOO pieces of gold Kari}p.c) for that purpose. Lys. Or. 
 
 ^'i L^h^^^sage in Pliny, xxxiv. 9.. His remark that a statue w^ erected 
 in honour of evtry victor at Olympia, seems hardly credible. Cf. Paus. 
 vi. p. 452. 
 
2S2 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XT. 
 
 in many instances more than one cast was made ; as the 
 native cities of the victors would hardly fail in this manner 
 to appropriate to themselves the fame of their citizens, 
 which formed so much a subject of pride. 
 
 Painting, from its very nature, seems to have been more 
 designed for private use. Yet in the age of Pericles, when 
 the great masters in this art appeared in Athens, it was 
 hardly less publicly applied than the art of sculpture. It 
 was in the public porticos and temples, that those masters, 
 Polygnotus, Micon, and others, exhibited the productions 
 of their genius.^ No trace is to be found of celebrated 
 private pictures in those times. ^ 
 
 Yet portrait painting seems peculiarly to belong to pri- 
 vate life. This branch of the art was certainly cultivated 
 among the Greeks ; but not till the Macedonian age. The 
 likenesses of celebrated men were placed in the pictures 
 which commemorated their actions ; as that of Miltiades in 
 the painting of the battle in the Pcecile, or pictured hall in 
 Athens ; or the artists found a place for themselves or their 
 mistresses in such public works.' But, properly speaking, 
 portrait painting, as such, did not flourish till the times 
 of Philip and Alexander; and was first practised in the 
 school of Apelles.* When powerful princes arose, curiosity 
 or flattery desired to possess their likeness ; the artists were 
 most sure of receiving compensation for such labours ; and 
 private statues as well as pictures began to grow common ; 
 although in most cases something of ideal beauty was added 
 to the resemblance. ^ 
 
 * See Bottiger. Ideen zur Archaeologie der Mahlerey. B. i. s. 274, etc. 
 
 * It is true, Andocides reproached Alcibiades, in his oration against him, 
 of having shut up a painter, who was painting his house ; Or. Gr. iv. p. 119. 
 But this was not the way to obtain a fine specimen of the art. Allusion is 
 there made to the painting of the whole house, not of an isolated work of art; 
 and we are not disposed to deny, that in the times of Alcibiades, it was usual 
 to decorate the walls with paintings. On the contrary, this was then very 
 common ; for the very painter Archagathus gives as his excuse, that he had 
 already contracted to work for several others. But these common paintings 
 are not to be compared with those in the temples and porticos ; which, as 
 Bottiger has proved, Ideen, &c., s. 282, were painted, not on the walls, but 
 on wood. 
 
 " Polygnotus, e. g., introduced the beautiful Elpinice, the daughter of Mil- 
 tiades, as Laodice. Plut. iii. p. 178. 
 
 * This appears from the accounts in Plin. xxxv. xxxvi. 12, &c. 
 
 * A confirmation, perhaps a more correct statement of these remarks, is 
 expected by every fnend of the arts of antiquity in the continuation of Bot- 
 tiger's Ideen zur Geschichte der Mahlerey. That in this period busts of in- 
 
 THE ARTS IN CONNEXION WITH THE STATE. 
 
 2SS 
 
 We have ventured directly to assert, that the arts in their 
 flourishing period belonged exclusively to public life ; and 
 were not, according to the general opinion, which seems to 
 have been silently adopted, divided between that and pri- 
 vate life. Be it remembered, this is to be understood only 
 of works of art, in the proper sense of the expression ; that 
 is, of those which had no other object but to be works of 
 art ; of statues, therefore, and pictures ; not of all kinds of 
 sculpture and painting. That the arts connected with pri- 
 vate wants were applied to objects of domestic life, to arti- 
 cles of household fiimiture, to candelabra, vases, tapestry, 
 and garments, will be denied by no one, who is acquainted 
 with antiquity. 
 
 It was not till a Lucullus, a Verres, and others among the 
 Romans, had gratified their taste as amateurs, that the arts 
 were introduced into private life ; and yet even in Rome an 
 Agrippa could propose to restore to the public all the trea- 
 sures of the arts, which lay buried in the villas.^ We should 
 not therefore be astonished, if under such circumstances the 
 ancient destination of arts among the Greeks should have 
 been changed, and they should have so far degenerated as 
 to become the means of gratifying the luxury of individuals. 
 And yet this never took place. This can be proved as well 
 of the mother country, as of the richest of the colonies. 
 
 Pausanias, in the second century after the Christian era, 
 travelled through all Greece, and saw and described all the 
 works of art which existed there. And yet I know of no 
 one instance in all Pausanias of a work of art belonging to 
 a private man ; much less of whole collections. Every thing 
 was in his day, as before, public in the temples, porticos, and 
 squares. If private persons had possessed works of art, who 
 would have prevented his describing them ? 
 
 Verres plundered Sicily of its treasures in the arts, wher- 
 ever he could find them ; and his accusers will hardly be 
 suspected of having concealed any thing. But in this ac- 
 cusation, with one single exception,- none but public works 
 
 dividuals became for the same reason so much more numerous, has been illus- 
 trated by the same scholar in his Andeutungen, s. 183, etc. 
 
 * Plin. xxxv. cap. ix. 
 
 * Namely, the four statues which he took from Heius. Cic. in Verrem ii. 
 iv. 2. Yet they stood in a chapel (sacrarium), and were therefore in a cer- 
 tain measure public. The name of Heius seems, however, to betray that the 
 
ftU 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XV. 
 
 THE ARTS IN CONNEXION WITH THE STATE. 
 
 23$ 
 
 of art are mentioned. What shall we infer from this, but 
 that no considerable productions of the fine arts were pos- 
 sessed by private persons in Sicily ? 
 
 So deeply therefore was the idea fixed among the Greeks, 
 that the works of the artists were public, that it could not 
 be eradicated even by the profanations of the Romans. And 
 this is the chief cause of their flourishing. They thus fulfilled 
 their destiny ; belonging, not to individuals, but to cultivated 
 humanity. They should constitute a common property. 
 Even in our times, when individuals are permitted to possess 
 them, censure is incurred if others are not allowed to enjoy 
 them. But even where this privilege is conceded, it is not 
 a matter of indifference, whether an individual or the nation 
 is the possessor. The respect shown to the arts by the na- 
 tion in possessing their productions, confers a higher value 
 on their labours. How much more honoured does the artist 
 feel, how much more freely does he breathe, when he knows 
 that he is exerting himself for a nation, which will esteem 
 its glory increased by his works, instead of toiling for the 
 money and the caprices of individuals ! 
 
 Such was the condition of the arts in Greece. When 
 emulation arose among the cities to be distinguished by pos- 
 sessing works of art, a field was opened for a Phidias and 
 Polygnotus, for a Praxiteles and Parrhasius. They were 
 better rewarded by glory than by money ; some of them 
 never worked for pay.^ Need we then add any further re- 
 marks to explain why the fine arts declined with liberty ? 
 Philip and Alexander still saw a Lysippus and an Apelles ; 
 but with them ends the series of creative minds, such as no 
 other nation has ever produced. 
 
 But the taste of the nation for the arts and their produc- 
 
 family was not of Grecian origin. But what does one such exception, and in 
 such an age, prove respecting an earlier period? 
 
 • Polygnotus painted the Pcecile for nothing; Zeuxis, in the last part of his 
 life, would receive no pay for his pictures, but gave them away. Piin. xxxv. 
 36. Thus a partial answer is riven to the question, how the cities could sup- 
 port the great expense for works of art. Besides, in Greece as in Italy, the 
 works of the great masters did not become dear till after their death. The 
 litUe which we know of their personal condition and circumstances, represents 
 them for the most part as men of fine feelings and good fellowship, who, like 
 the divine Raphael and Correggio, in the moments sacred to mental exertion, 
 raised themselves above human nature, but otherwise enjoyed life without 
 troubling themselves much about money. Phidias for all his masterpieces 
 did not receive a third part as much as Gorgias for his declamations. 
 
 
 tions, did not end with those artists. They had taken too 
 good care to perpetuate that fondness. When the Grecians 
 had lost almost every thing else, they were still proud of 
 their works of art. This excited even in the Romans re- 
 spect and admiration. " These works of art, these statues, 
 these pictures," says Cicero,^ " delight the Greeks beyond 
 every thing. From their complaints^ you may learn, that 
 that is most bitter to them, which to us appears perhaps tri- 
 vial and easy to be borne. Of all acts of oppression and in- 
 justice, which foreigners and allies in these times have been 
 obliged to endure, nothing has been more hard for the Gre- 
 cians to bear, than this plundering of their temples and cities ! " 
 We have thus far endeavoured to consider Greece from 
 all the points, in which she made herself glorious as a nation. 
 Who is it, we may finally ask, that conferred upon her im- 
 mortality ? Was it her generals and men of power alone ; 
 or was it equally her sages, her poets, and her artists ? The 
 voice of ages has decided ; and posterity justly places the 
 images of these heroes of peace by the side of those of 
 warriors and kings.^ 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 CAUSES OF THE FALL OF GREECE." 
 
 The melancholy task of explaining the causes which led to 
 the fall of Greece, has been facilitated by the preceding in- 
 vestigations. Most of them will occur to the reader ; we 
 have only to illustrate them somewhat more at large, and 
 arrange them in a manner to admit of being distinctly com- 
 prehended at a single view.* 
 
 If the constitutions of the individual Grecian states were 
 defective, the constitution of the whole Grecian system was 
 
 ' Cicero in Verrem, ii. iv. 59. ' Of the robberies of Verres. 
 
 • See Visconti, Iconographie ancienne. Paris, 1811. 
 
 * See Drumann's carefully written History of the Decline of the Grecian 
 States. Berlin, 1815. To have occasioned such works is the highest pleasure 
 for the author. So too in reference to the thirteenth chapter I may cite, 
 Bekker's Demosthenes as a Statesman and Orator. 2 vols. 1815. The best 
 historical and critical introduction to the study of Demosthenes. 
 
^ 
 
 236 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XVI. 
 
 still more so. Though geographically united, they cannot 
 be said to have formed one political system. A lasting union 
 was never established between the Grecian states; and a 
 transitory and very imperfect one was effected only in times 
 of danger, as in the Persian wars. 
 
 But even this imperfect union was productive of important 
 results. The league which was then established, produced 
 the idea of the supremacy of an individual state. It has al- 
 ready been shown, in what manner Athens managed to ac- 
 quire this rank, and in what manner that city turned it to 
 advantage ; but we have also shown, that a partial supremacy 
 alone existed, embracing only the seaports and the islands, 
 and therefore necessarily resting for its support on the do- 
 minion of the seas on each side of Greece, and consequently 
 
 on a navy. 
 
 This was a result of the political relations and the nature 
 of the league. But the consciousness of superiority excited 
 those who were possessed of it to abuse it ; and the allies 
 began to be oppressed. Athens, having once established its 
 greatness on this supremacy, would not renounce it when 
 the ancient motives had ceased to operate after the peace 
 with the Persians. Individual states attempted to reclaim 
 by force the independence, which was not voluntarily con- 
 ceded to them. This led to wars with them ; and hence 
 the dominion of the sea was followed by all the other evils, 
 of which even Isocrates complains.^ 
 
 The chief reason of this internal division did not lie 
 merely in vacillating political relations, but more deeply in 
 the difference of tribes. There was a gulf between the Do- 
 rian and Ionian, which never could be filled up ; a voluntary 
 union of the two for any length of time was impossible. 
 Several causes may be mentioned, as having contributed to 
 render this division incurable. The tribes were divided 
 geographically. In the mother country, the Dorian had the 
 ascendency in the Peloponnesus, the Ionian in Attica, 
 Euboea, and many of the islands. Their dialects were dif- 
 ferent ; a few words were sufficient to show to which tribe 
 a man belonged. The difference in manners was hardly less 
 considerable, especially with relation to the female sex, which 
 among the Dorians participated in public life ; while amongst 
 
 ' Isocrat. de Pace, Op. p. 176. 
 
 I" 
 
 CAUSES OF THE FALL OF GREECE. 
 
 237 
 
 ki' 
 
 the lonians it was limited to the women's apartments within 
 the houses. And the common people were very much in- 
 fluenced by the circumstance, that the festivals celebrated 
 by the two were not the same. 
 
 But the division was made politically incurable by the 
 circumstance, that Sparta was, or at least desired to be, con- 
 sidered the head of the whole Doric tribe. This state, both 
 in its public and private constitution, was in almost every 
 respect the opposite of Athens. As the laws of Lycurgus 
 alone were valid in it, the other Dorian cities did by no 
 means resemble it ; but as it was ambitious of being their 
 head, its influence prevailed, at least in the mother country. 
 But that influence was often extended to the colonies ; and 
 though the Persian authority may have repressed the hatred 
 of the tribes in Asia Minor, it continued with the greatest 
 acrimony in Sicily. In the war of the Syracusans against 
 the Leontini, the Dorian cities were on the side of the former; 
 the Ionian on that of the latter ; and the cities of Lower 
 Italy in their choice of sides were influenced by the same 
 circumstance.^ 
 
 This hatred, preserved and inflamed by the ambition, 
 common to both, of obtaining the supremacy over Greece, 
 was finally followed by that great civil war, which we are 
 accustomed to call the Peloponnesian. Of nearly equal 
 duration, it was to Greece what the thirty years' war was to 
 Germany;^ without having been terminated by a similar 
 peace. As it was a revolutionary war in the true sense of the 
 expression, it had all the consequences attendant on such a 
 war. The spirit of faction was enabled to strike such deep 
 root, that it never more could be eradicated ; and the abuse 
 which Sparta made of her forced supremacy, was fitted to 
 supply it with continual nourishment. Who has described 
 this with more truth or accuracy than Thucydides ? " By 
 this war," says he,^ " all Hellas was set in motion ; for on 
 all sides dissensions prevailed between the popular party 
 and the nobles. The former desired to invite the Athe- 
 nians; the latter, the Lacedemonians. The cities were 
 shaken by sedition ; and where this broke out at a less early 
 
 ' Thucyd. iii. 86. * It lasted from the year 431 till the year 404, 
 
 when it was terminated by the taking of Athens. 
 
 • Thucyd. iii. 82. We have selected only a few remarks from a passage 
 written for all succeeding centuries. 
 
tss 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XVI. 
 
 CAUSES OF THE FALL OF GREECE. 
 
 839 
 
 period, greater excesses were attempted than any which 
 had elsewhere taken place. Even the significations of 
 words were changed. Mad rashness was called disinterested 
 courage ; prudent delay, timidity. Whoever was violent, 
 was held worthy of confidence ; whoever opposed violence, 
 was suspected. The crafty was called intelligent ; the more 
 crafty, still more intelligent. In short, praise was given to 
 him who anticipated another in injustice ; and to him who 
 encouraged to crime one who himself had never thought 
 
 of it." . m /.I. 
 
 From the words of the historian, the ettect of these re- 
 volutions on morals is apparent ; and yet no states rested 
 so much on morals as the Grecian. For were they not 
 communities which governed themselves ? Did not the laws 
 enter most deeply into private life ? and was not anarchy a 
 necessary consequence of the moral corruption ? This was 
 soon felt in Athens. Throughout the whole of Aristophanes, 
 we see the contrast between the better times that were gone 
 by, and the new, in all parts of public and domestic life ; in 
 poetry, in eloquence, in education, in the courts of justice, 
 etc. ; and finally in a celebrated dialogue, the ancient and 
 the modem customs are introduced, disputing upon the 
 stage.^ And who can read the orators without being as- 
 tonished at the incredible corruption of morals ? 
 
 This leads us to a kindred topic, the desecration of the 
 popular religion. The careful student of the history of the 
 Grecian nation will observe this increase, as he approaches 
 the age of Philip ; and though other causes may have had 
 some influence, we can only thus explain the origin of a re- 
 ligious war like the Phocian. The causes which produced 
 the decay of the popular jeligion, may for the most part be 
 found in a former chapter. It would be useless to attempt 
 to deny, that the speculations of the philosophers had a 
 great share in it ; although the better part of them were 
 strenuous to prevent such a result. Aristophanes was cer- 
 tainly unjust in attributing such designs to Socrates, but he 
 was right in attributing it to philosophy in general. The 
 question now arises : On which side lies the blame ? On 
 that of philosophy, or of the popular religion ? It is not 
 difficult to answer this question after what we have already 
 
 » The Aoyoc SUatoi and diuco^ in the Clouds. 
 
 r. 
 
 remarked of the latter. A nation with a religion like that 
 of the Greeks, must either refrain from philosophical inqui- 
 ries, or learn from philosophy that its religion is unfounded. 
 This result cannot be urged against the philosophers as a 
 crime, but only a want of prudence, of which they were 
 guilty in promulgating their positions. The care taken by 
 the best of them in this respect, has already been nientioned ; 
 and that the state was not indifferent to the practice of the 
 rest, is proved by the punishments which were inflicted on 
 many of them. But though the systems of the philosophers 
 were restricted to the schools, a multitude of philosophic 
 views were extended, which to a certain degree were adopt- 
 ed by the common people. In Athens, the comedians con- 
 tributed to this end ; for whether with or without design, 
 they extended the doctrines which they ridiculed. 
 
 The most melancholy proof of the decay of religious 
 feeling, is found in the Phocian war and the manner in 
 which that war was conducted. In the time of Thucydides, 
 Delphi and its oracle were still revered;* although the 
 Spartans began even then to doubt its claims to confidence.^ 
 When all the former relations of the states were dissolved 
 by the Peloponnesian war and its consequences, those to- 
 ward the gods were also destroyed ; and the crimes com- 
 mitted against them, brought on their own punishment in a 
 new civil war and the downfal of liberty. The treasures 
 stolen from Delphi, with which the war was carried on, 
 suddenly increased the mass of specie current in Greece to 
 an unheard of degree ; but increased in an equal degree 
 luxury, and the wants of life.^ And if any portion of the 
 ancient spirit remained, it was destroyed by the custom of 
 employing mercenary soldiers, a custom which became 
 every day more common, and gave a deadly chill to valour 
 and patriotism. 
 
 Thus the evils of which the superior policy of a neigh- 
 bour knew how to take advantage, were the result of de- 
 fects in the political constitution ; in that very constitution, 
 but for which the glorious fruits of Grecian liberty never 
 could have ripened. But amidst all the disorder, and all the 
 losses, not every thing perished. The national spirit, though 
 
 ' Thucyd. v. 32. / Thucyd. v. 16. 
 
 • See a leading passage on this topic, in Athen. iv. p. 231. 
 
-r^ 
 
 W '• 
 
 £40 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 [chap. XVI. 
 
 it could hardly have been expected, still remained, and with 
 it the hope of better times. Amidst all their wars with one 
 another, the Greeks never ceased to consider themselves as 
 one nation. The idea of one day assuming that character 
 animated the best of them. It is an idea which is expressed 
 in almost every one of the writings of the pure Isocrates ;* 
 and which he could not survive, when after the battle of 
 Chseronea, the spirit of the eloquent old man voluntarily 
 escaped from its earthly veil, beneath which it had passed a 
 hundred years. Yet the echo of his wishes, his prayers, and 
 his instructions did not die away. The last of the Greeks 
 had not yet appeared ; and the times were to come, when, 
 in the Achaean league, the splendid day of the greatness of 
 Hellas was to be followed by a still more splendid evening. 
 So certain is it, that a nation is never deserted by destiny, 
 so long as it does not desert itself. 
 
 * See especially Panathen. Op. 235. 
 
 HISTORICAL TREATISES; 
 
 THE POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND PRACTICAL INFLUENCE 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES. 
 
 THE RISE AND GROWTH OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 M 
 
 TBAN8LATED FROM THE GERMAN OF 
 
 A. H. L. HEEREN, 
 
 KNIOHT or THl GDELPHIC ORDER. COONCItLOR AND PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN TBI 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OOBTTINOEN. 
 
 /'i 
 
AN INQUIRY INTO 
 
 THE POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 OF 
 
 THE REFORMATION, 
 
 BEING A PRELIMINARY ATTEMPT AT AN ANSWER TO 
 THE QUESTION PROPOSED BY THE FRENCH NATIONAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 WRITTEN IN THE YEAR 1802. 
 
 Il\ 
 
 TO THE READER. 
 
 The following treatise was written in answer to a question 
 proposed by the National Institute of France, as the subject 
 of a prize essay for July, 1803,— viz. "What has been the 
 influence of the Reformation on the political position of the 
 different states of Europe, and upon the difi*usion of know- 
 ledge?* This question, in itself so interesting, attracted my 
 attention the more because the whole course of my studies 
 have been directed towards it. I resolved therefore to attempt 
 an answer to it ; but when I had nearly finished the first 
 part, which regards the political consequences of the Re- 
 formation, I learned from my late friend Von Villers that I 
 should have him for a competitor. Upon this I withdrew 
 myself, and his essay, which proved the successful one, and 
 of which several editions have been published, is universally 
 known. In the mean time I committed my work to the 
 press, even before the day appointed for sending in the 
 essays, but confined it to the political part of the question. 
 The sheets were forwarded as soon as printed to my friend, 
 and he has himself remarked in his preface, that he made 
 use of them in working out this portion of his subject. Any 
 
 » Quelle a M Tinfluence de la Reformation sur la situation politique des 
 differens Etats de I'Europe, et sur le progr^a.des Inmi^res ? 
 
 B 2 
 
244 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 service which I may thus have rendered him, he amply re- 
 paid me four years after by undertaking the translation of 
 my essay upon the Influence of the Crusades, which then 
 obtained the prize at Paris. I have thought it right to pre- 
 face these remarks ; partly, in order to show the relation in 
 which my essay stands to that of my late friend ; partly, to 
 excuse the style of the treatise, which could not from the 
 circumstances assume the character of a scholastical and 
 learned dissertation. 
 
 It does not pretend to afford the learned historian any 
 thing new in the detail, but aims at presenting a variety 
 and abundance of general views, which appear to me to be 
 far from superfluous, inasmuch as a clearer light may thus 
 perhaps be thrown upon the history of modern Europe. 
 
 The great political changes by which the destinies of man- 
 kind are permanently affected, and which we are accustomed 
 to call by the general name of revolutions, may be divided, 
 as regards their origin, into two classes. The first includes 
 those which are the work of single individuals, the slaves of 
 passion, who have devoted their lives to conquest, and found- 
 ed their greatness upon the ruins of the states which fortune 
 has enabled them to overthrow. These may be termed 
 purely warlike revolutions, as they assume that character 
 from the first, and war is their immediate aim. 
 
 Such were the exploits of Cyrus and of Timur, and of many 
 other celebrated heroes, who, though at the head of civilized 
 nations, have made conquest at once the first and last ob- 
 ject of their career. Phenomena of this class may be highly 
 interesting from their results, but in their origin they are 
 less so, as they usually flow from one source, and that for 
 the most part an unhallowed one — ambition. 
 
 The second class is of a very different character, and may 
 be best expressed under the joint name of moral and poli- 
 tical, as its foundation is laid in the moral nature of man; 
 Under this we range those revolutions which have been pre- 
 pared by popular ideas, slowly spread, but finally become 
 prevalent ; and which, by the direct contrast in which they 
 
 J 
 
 ) 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 245 
 
 stood to the existing order of things, could not but cause 
 violent struggles and great changes in their passage from 
 theory into practice. Like the stream which loses itself in 
 the earth but a short way from its source, as if to accumu- 
 late its strength in secret, and breaks forth again a great 
 river, these revolutions arise at moments when they are 
 least thought of, and exhibit signs of strength which the 
 most accurate observer could not have foreseen. These dif- 
 fer therefore from the former by being in the highest degree 
 interesting, as well in their origin as in their consequences. 
 Their general characteristic is that they are prepared long 
 beforehand, and by a process which can hardly ever be dis- 
 cerned. — They thus afford the practised observer abundant 
 employment from the very first ; as it is not easy to discover 
 their true origin, even though the immediate cause of their 
 breaking out should be evident to the eye. They differ 
 from the former also in this, that they seldom arise from one, 
 but usually from many and different sources, and these, be- 
 coming united, form a torrent which finally bursts through 
 every bulwark, and sweeps away whatever attempts to stem 
 its course. 
 
 In order that ideas should become generally adopted and 
 effective, they must be such as can be readily appreciated by 
 the great mass of the people, and of sufficient interest to in- 
 duce action as well as belief. Religion and politics are the 
 only topics of this nature. Knowledge in its more difficult 
 branches must always be confined to a limited number ; nor 
 do we ever read of wars caused between different nations 
 by different systems of philosophy, although it may have 
 chanced that some particular doctrines, by passing into 
 popular opinions, have exercised an influence over their 
 dealings with each other. On the other hand, the ideas of 
 God and of our country are too deeply interwoven with our 
 moral nature to allow of their being entertained merely as 
 objects of reason, and not of the affections also. In fact, the 
 less defined they are, the greater influence do they appear 
 to exercise ; and hence it is that they possess the power of 
 acting like electricity, even upon the most uninformed 
 minds, and impart energies to them which assume with ease 
 the character of enthusiasm, or even fanaticism. 
 
 Religious notions, it is true, do not seem to have a very 
 
246 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 near connexion with political, but, even if the union of the 
 state with its acknowledged forms of worship were less 
 strict, these could seldom be overthrown without entaiHng 
 the M of more than can be originally foreseen. 
 
 Who shall define the channel of the torrent which has 
 burst its bed ? or who sets limits to the earthquake ? 
 
 But however awful these shocks may be, it is by them 
 more especially that the fortunes of our race are deter- 
 niined.— The moral, like the physical world, owes its purifi- 
 cation and its maintenance to the storms which sweep over 
 it. — But centuries and their generations must pass away, be- 
 fore the operation of them is so fully developed as to allow 
 the dim eye of human intelligence to embrace and give 
 judgment upon the full extent of their results. And when 
 this time at length arrives, when the inquirer at last may 
 fairly enter upon his task, what occasion could he select, on 
 which it would be more becoming to feel diffident of his own 
 powers, and to bear continually in mind that his horizon is 
 at best but of scanty extent, and that to review the unlimited 
 universe of the history of man belongs only to a Being him- 
 self illimitable ? 
 
 Since the fall of the Roman empire made way for the 
 erection of the states of modern Europe, this portion of the 
 world has witnessed three revolutions such as we have de* 
 scribed. The deep degradation of its inhabitants during the 
 middle ages is chiefly attributable to the want, for many cen- 
 turies, of an impulse which might call the minds of men, 
 and not merely their bodies, into activity. Hence that over- 
 whelming barbarism which in the tenth and eleventh centu- 
 ries threatened to extinguish the last gleams of civilization, 
 till at the close of the latter the Crusades were set on foot, 
 and awakened the decaying spirit of mankind from the 
 slumber which threatened to be its last. These expeditions, 
 although fruitless in their immediate event, laid the found- 
 ation of a new order of things in Europe. Owing to them 
 the peasantry was freed, although neither quickly nor uni- 
 versally, from the bondage of the feudal law ; and while the 
 young Muse of the Knighthood was gathering boldness 
 to utter its conceits in castle and hall, they gradually, by 
 the commerce which they brought to Europe, were the 
 means of establishing in her towns that class of free citi- 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 247 
 
 il> 
 
 zens, on whose prosperity the future fate of nations was to 
 depend. 
 
 After a lapse of four centuries Europe sustained a second 
 and still greater change in the Reformation. And as this 
 agreed with the former in the point of their common and 
 immediate origin from religion, although both were un- 
 doubtedly of great political importance, it was reserved for 
 our own age to witness a third species of revolution, which, 
 springing immediately from political ideas, obtained an im- 
 mediate political tendency ; and which, when its results are 
 fully developed, will perhaps furnish the historian of future 
 times with even richer materials than either of those which 
 have preceded it. 
 
 The National Institute, in requiring a development of the 
 consequences which resulted to the political progress and 
 general illumination of Europe from the Reformation, has 
 chosen a subject worthy of itself It is a proposition which 
 has never been satisfactorily answered, but which is now 
 ripe for discussion. — Near three centuries have elapsed since 
 that mighty change began to operate ; its consequences have 
 developed themselves in all their principal features; the 
 clouds of prejudice and passion, which at first float over an 
 age of great revolutions, and deny a clear view to the ob- 
 server of the time, have now been long dispersed ; and the 
 historian must be content that his own feeble vision should 
 bear the blame, if it cannot embrace the wide prospect be- 
 fore him. 
 
 The present inquiry is not directed to the consequences 
 of the Reformation, as it affected the intelligence and civi- 
 lization of mankind — this subject is left to others. We shall 
 simply investigate the political results of that event as they 
 affected Europe — and these we shall class under two heads : 
 the 1st, comprising the changes in particular states. The 
 2nd, those which were wrought in the social and political 
 system of Europe. 
 
 In an undertaking of this sort it is evident that the author 
 must be prepared to lay aside the prejudices which his edu- 
 cation, his country, and his religion, throw in his way — that 
 he must resolve moreover not to sacrifice the truth, although 
 known and acknowledged, to the brilliancy which invests 
 what is new and paradoxical. — These, I say, are necessary 
 
248 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 ft 
 
 i 
 
 and evident conditions.— It is only as to the sense in which 
 the term " Consequences of the Reformation" may be fairly 
 used that any observation need be made. On this, how- 
 ever, the full attention of the reader is required, as it must 
 necessarily determine the main features of our inquiry. 
 The consequences of every event are partly immediate, 
 
 partly mediate. • i u 
 
 The character of immediate consequences is that they 
 must result of themselves from the very nature of a given 
 event, and therefore be of the same stamp with it. The im- 
 mediate consequences of a religious revolution can be con- 
 cerned only with religion ; and therefore as regards the re- 
 volution we are here speaking of, they include nothing but 
 the changes in doctrine or worship of particular portions of 
 the Christian Church. 
 
 The mediate consequences of an event differ from the 
 former in not flowing from the essence of that event, but in 
 being produced by accidental relations, connexions, and 
 changes of circumstance, in such a way, however, as that 
 without the existence of that event they would not them- 
 selves have existed. 
 
 It is at once evident that the sphere of the immediate con- 
 sequences of every event must be comparatively much 
 smaller than that of the mediate. But on this account a 
 view which should be confined only to the former would be 
 very partial ; and although it may be urged that the chain 
 of mediate consequences is endless, and therefore incompre- 
 hensible by the eye, since each operation gives an impulse 
 to another and a new one, we must remember that the im- 
 perfection of our nature imposes a limit, and by subjecting 
 us to the thraldom of time, restrains our view to that which 
 is already determined. 
 
 Moreover we have a standard of easy application by 
 which the degrees of distance may be judged. Are all the 
 circles which we form by throwing a stone into the water to 
 be held uncertainly defined, because those on the verge 
 gradually escape the eye ? 
 
 The influence of the Reformation on the politics and in- 
 telligence of Europe belongs to the class of mediate conse- 
 quences, and the National Institute, by proposing such a 
 question, has shown the extent over which it is intended that 
 
 I 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 249 
 
 our inquiries should spread. It could not escape the pro- 
 posers of the question that its chief interest lay in this very 
 point — that on this very account it must needs be a propo- 
 sition, the answer to which would bring a special ray of 
 hope to the age in which we live. The distant results of 
 every great revolution have deceived the expectations of the 
 actors ; and there is perhaps no higher gratification to the 
 historian than to follow out the wonderful perplexities of the 
 thread of events on which the fortunes of our kind depend. 
 Submitting to its guidance he wanders on as in a labyrinth, 
 which, amidst rocks and precipices, often opens to his view a 
 landscape of surpassing beauty ; and wrapped in wonder he 
 catches amid the storm of ages the voice of Him who tells 
 us, ^' that His ways are not our ways !" 
 
 Lift up your eyes then, ye whom in your turn Fate has ap- 
 pointed to be the witnesses, the actors, the victims, of a Re- 
 volution ! Ye who have lost a father, a brother, a friend, alas ! 
 perhaps your all ! On the funeral piles of the Inquisition, on 
 the battle-fields of Miihlberg, of Nordlingen and Liitzen, 
 innocent blood flowed as freely as our own age has seen it 
 flow ! and yet the clouds at length dispersed, and the day-star 
 shone down upon a peaceful and a better world. The hori- 
 zon clears up now faster than then, and perhaps we ourselves 
 may yet witness those better times which it was in that case 
 the lot only of later generations to enjoy. 
 
 Although the original tendency of the Reformation was 
 very far from political, the intimate connexion which in 
 those days subsisted between Church and State rendered it 
 unavoidable, that, as its influence widened, such a tendency 
 should rapidly be acquired. It is true that at the commence- 
 ment of the sixteenth century those relations were no longer 
 in their full force, which during the preceding period had knit 
 the whole of Western Europe as it were into one empire, 
 composed of a number of princes whom the pope either 
 held or claimed to hold, as vassals to the spiritual supremacy 
 of his office. The temporal authority which had been estab- 
 lished by Gregory the Seventh was already broken down, 
 not only by the disobedience and boldness of many of these 
 spiritual sons of the Church, but, and that perhaps in a still 
 greater degree, by the errors of the Roman see itself A 
 
»50 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 schism of seventy years, (1378 — 1449), at one period of which 
 two popes, at another three, were busied in excommunicat- 
 ing each other, had rendered the Christian world disaffected, 
 and had caused the assemblage of those general councils 
 which asserted the fatal doctrine of their authority even over 
 the head of the Church. But notwithstanding this, Church 
 and State were far too closely interwoven throughout the 
 Christian world, to allow of any change being wrought in 
 the former which should not recoil on the latter. Although 
 continual opposition was made to the claims of the pope to 
 be recognised as arbitrator in secular matters, still by the spi- 
 ritual jurisdiction of his office, and in several other ways, he 
 exercised many most important rights, without denying which 
 a Reformation could hardly even be imagined. As soon 
 therefore as a measure of this kind were set afoot and began 
 its necessary interference, the princes could not remain un- 
 moved — neutrality was out of the question — and they were 
 compelled to declare themselves either for or against it. In 
 the latter case they set themselves in opposition to a party 
 within their own dominions, to which oppression would un- 
 avoidably give a political character ; in the former they be- 
 came the direct adversaries of the pope, and in this, as in the 
 other, the political tendency of the Reformation was soon 
 decided. 
 
 The moment at which it assumed this form necessarily 
 doubled its importance. When the Reformation broke out 
 there was no longer any great moral interest which could 
 influence politics and breathe into them a spirit of life. 
 Italy, it is true, had been taught a more refined policy by 
 the necessity of maintaining the balance among her states, 
 and this had spread even beyond the Alps, but under the 
 hands of Ferdinand the Catholic it had assumed the form of 
 mere systematical deceit. The influence which the nations 
 of Europe had up to that time exercised by their represent- 
 atives, upon their own affairs, began either to disappear 
 entirely, or to become weak and unimportant. What shall 
 we say of the Spanish Cortes under Ferdinand and Isabella, 
 and still more under their successors ? What of the English 
 Parliament under Henry the Eighth ? What of the assembly 
 of the States-general in France under Lewis the Twelfth ? 
 All the threads of political power were in the hands of some 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 251 
 
 few potentates who only abused their trust by spinning them 
 mto a web of wretched intrigue for the gratification of their 
 own passions.— Whoever wishes for a proof of this need 
 only glance into the history of what passed in Italy at that 
 time ; and especially at the senseless league of Cambray and 
 its romantic consequences. 
 
 The nations of Europe looked on unmoved while this 
 game of vice and folly was played at their expense : and 
 this apathy was seasonably timed for their own more easy 
 subjection to despotism, as it accorded with the increased 
 means of tyranny which the treasures of the New World 
 then first discovered, put at the disposal of their masters. ' 
 In order to awaken Europe from this moral slumber 
 there was wanted a fiew and mighty interest which should 
 exercise a common influence over both people and princes • 
 and m contemplating which the meaner spirit of cabal till 
 then most honoured, should be forgotten. Such an interest 
 both as to novelty and greatness, the Reformation created • 
 and we thus obtain the proper point of view from which to 
 estimate its political importance. Instead of the vulgar im- 
 pulses of selfishness, Religion became the mainspring of 
 pohtics ; and we soon find hardly any political interest 
 which was not more or less a religious interest, hardly any 
 political party which was not more or less a religious one 
 nay, hardly any war which was not in a greater or less de- 
 gree a war of religion. It matters not how far philosophers 
 may hold the doctrines for which men struggled to be right 
 or wrong— the destinies of mankind depended upon their 
 acquiring an interest in what was great and exalted ; and 
 that religion is in practical eflTect both great and exalted, 
 even the atheist, who scorns it in theory, must confess. It 
 may be that, with the new interest which was here awakened 
 a host of prejudices and passions, which in partial instances 
 led to error, was awakened also.— But this hindered not the 
 progress of the whole ! 
 
 To require that the human race should advance without 
 interruption to its more perfect state, by the path which 
 reason points out, is to mistake our nature, and to forget 
 that we are not creatures of pure reason, but of reason mix- 
 ed and alloyed with passion. It is difficult for individual 
 man to tread that path, but for the crowd, which only ap- 
 proaches Its object by circuitous ways, it is impossible. 
 
26^ 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 FIRST PART. 
 
 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLITICAL INFLUENCE OF THE REFOR- 
 UATIO^VFO^ THE INTERNAL RELATIONS OF THE DIFFERENT 
 STATES OF EUROPE. 
 
 GERMANY. 
 
 It was natural that the state in which the Reformation com- 
 menced should be the first to feel its consequences ; but 
 besides this, the internal condition of Germany was such as 
 to make these consequences more violent here than else- 
 where The adherence of several of its princes to the Re- 
 formed doctrines facilitated the organization of a powerful 
 party, which watched over their infancy, and prevented 
 them from being crushed or set aside, in a manner which 
 would have been impossible in any country less divided 
 within itself It is well known that the elector, Frederic 
 the Wise, of Saxony, the ruler of the state in which Luther 
 came forward, was the first who did the Reformation this 
 service, although he was soon followed by others. It was 
 thus at once made an affair of state; and by bemg soon 
 after formally and openly treated as such, and brought, in 
 1521 before the diet of Worms for decision, it became so 
 highly important in a political point of view, that its very 
 condemnation could only serve to make it still more so. 
 
 At the time of Luther's appearance, Germany, as a state, 
 was httle more than a cipher in the political system of Eu- 
 rope Full of strength within, it was yet unable to apply 
 its power.— Its constitution, formed upon prescription, w^s 
 scarcely better than a chaos. Even though the Golden bull 
 (1356) had sufficiently determined the relations between the 
 head of the empire and the chief of its princes, who could 
 say what the mutual rights of the emperor and the remaining 
 states truly were ? The degree of authority which he should 
 possess was thus commonly dependent upon the character 
 and personal power of the emperor. Under the long reign 
 of Frederic III., who slumbered away above half a century 
 upon the throne, (1440—1492,) this authority was nearly 
 annihilated; and under that of Maximilian I., notwith- 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 253 
 
 standing the new institutions, it was, as regarded its own 
 interests, but little augmented. 
 
 On the other hand, there was not one of the remaining 
 princes of Germany whose power was sufficient to command 
 respect. They lived more like patriarchs than princes; the 
 ruler of a country appeared to be Uttle more than the chief 
 proprietor in it. Moreover, there was scarcely a prospect 
 that any house would be able to raise itself to sudden emi- 
 mence. The undivided transmission of property was ob- 
 served only in the electoral states : in the others, according 
 to custom, the lands of the father were divided among his 
 sons ; and, as their marriages were often blessed with even 
 too rich an abundance, it was difficult for a single family to 
 amass any great and secure possessions in land. This weak- 
 ness of individuals necessarily rendered the power of the 
 whole body inconsiderable. It is true the princes met at 
 the diets to discuss their common interests ; but Frederic 
 III. had not even been at the trouble of once attending 
 these meetings in person ; and his son, whose numerous 
 projects required proportionate funds, came, for the most 
 part, only to harass the states for supplies. In fact, if the 
 impetuous advance of the hereditary foes of Christendom, 
 who had for fifty years been securely settled in the east of 
 Europe, had not frequently compelled the Germans to make 
 common cause against them, there seems to be no reason 
 why the bands of the empire should not have been wholly 
 
 dissolved. 
 
 It was the Reformation, and the Reformation alone, which 
 suddenly breathed new life into this decaying body, and 
 gave it the political importance which it has since possessed. 
 Many of the German princes soon declared in its favour 
 (whether from conviction or on other grounds it matters 
 not) ; while, on the other hand, the new sovereign of the 
 empire found it in accordance with his interests to condemn 
 it. Charles V. soon discovered that in the advocates of the 
 Reformation he had to deal with a party which was forming 
 against himself; and although his original repugnance to 
 the Protestant doctrines, as they now began to be termed, 
 may perhaps have been founded upon religious conviction, 
 yet the hatred which he entertained towards them soon be- 
 came purely political. Charles V., however, was not the 
 
254 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 man to allow himself to be blinded by passion ; it was to 
 him only the groundwork of a project which soon occupied 
 his whole attention, as far as it was directed to the govern- 
 ment of Germany, and the design of which was to maintain 
 and increase the imperial power by the suppression of the 
 party opposed to him. As soon, however, as this party per- 
 ceived their danger, a closer alliance, among the Protestant 
 princes and states, w^as the natural consequence. 
 
 Thus, after the league of Smalcald, (1530,) both parties 
 stood, prepared for war, awaiting the contest ; nor would 
 this have been so long delayed, had not the emperor been 
 engaged upon some other of his numerous undertakings. 
 When, at length, a lapse of sixteen years had brought mat- 
 ters to the point he wished, and he fairly took the field, 
 (1546,) the result showed that the courage of his opponents 
 was not equalled by their abilities ; while the issue of the 
 battle of Miihlberg (1547) seemed to exceed even his boldest 
 hopes. He had scarce, however, begun to enjoy the fruits 
 of his victory, when the daring hand of a stripling tore from 
 his grey head the laurels which a few days sufficed to lose, 
 but which it had taken a life of labour to collect; and 
 Maurice, by the treaty of Passau,(1552,) dispelled all the 
 dreams of ambition in which Charles had so long revelled. 
 
 Such, in a few words, was the progress of events which 
 occurred in the German empire at this momentous crisis, 
 and which determined its future fate. But even then Ger- 
 many had ceased to be the Germany of olden times. The 
 new and mighty interest which had been awakened, pro- 
 duced a corresponding change in the politics of the empire. 
 Its princes had learnt to estimate their power; they had 
 found themselves in a position which obliged them to call it 
 into action ; and, although the preliminary treaty of Passau, 
 confirmed as it was by the subsequent peace, concluded, 
 1555, at Augsburgh, had secured equal constitutional rights 
 to both the new and the old party, it was impossible that 
 they should relapse into their former indolence, and with it, 
 into their former political nonentity. Although the words 
 of peace were on men's lips, they had not put away resent- 
 ment and distrust from their hearts ; the new energy which 
 the Reformation had imparted to politics remained in full 
 force ; the two parties watched each other ready armed for 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 255 
 
 a struggle ; or if they laid aside their weapons for a moment, 
 it was only to resume them upon the first appearance of 
 danger. 
 
 Besides this, the previous peace had been procured too 
 cheaply to allow of its being durable. Great revolutions 
 are not to be decided by the struggle of a moment ; and 
 more than this the fortunate attempt of Maurice can hardly 
 be considered. Notwithstanding the peace, Germany re- 
 sembled the sea while still heaving from the effects of a 
 storm, and for a long time it remained under the influence 
 of revolutionary feelings, which promised a new explosion at 
 every moment ; indeed, were it not for the explanation, 
 which is afforded by the personal characters of the three im- 
 mediate successors of Charles V., history could scarcely pre- 
 sent a more extraordinary phenomenon than the continuance 
 of this state of things down to the year 1618, when the 
 thirty years' war at length broke out. The treaty of West- 
 phalia, which concluded it, finally and fully decided the 
 strife between the two parties, and gave to the German em- 
 pire that constitution, which, down to our own times, has 
 been considered the palladium of its existence. 
 
 Thus to the Reformation and its consequences the Ger- 
 man body owes the form which it has since assumed, and 
 the vital spirit by which it is animated. It was scarcely 
 conceivable that such a political body, comprising as it did 
 so many and such different states, should for a length of 
 time be kept in activity by any one common interest. For 
 such a purpose what point of union should we have been in- 
 clined to select ? A desire of aggrandizement, or at least of 
 a powerful influence over the affairs of foreign nations? 
 Such a desire could not exist in a state which, although am- 
 ply endowed with means of resistance, possessed scarce any 
 of attack. — Perhaps a common commercial interest ? Ger- 
 many had no such interest, nor could have, owing to its 
 geographical position and its division into small states. 
 There remains therefore but one — that which depended upon 
 the necessity of a common resistance to attacks from with- 
 out. History however shows, by abundant instances, that 
 such causes are transitory, and that with them the interest 
 they call up must pass away also ; and the history of Ger- 
 many in particular has shown how easy the enemies of the 
 
OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 257 
 
 25e 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 Vi 
 
 empire found it to acquire friends in a state so composed, 
 and to make war upon Germans by the assistance of Ger- 
 mans. The internal union of this body of states was, there- 
 fore, nothing but a slow and lingering disease ; which, while 
 it maintained a show of health in its subject, was on that ac- 
 count preparing it the more surely, either for total dissolu- 
 tion, or for subjection — it matters not whether to its own supe- 
 rior, or to a foreigner — but in both cases for its destruction. 
 It was only by a Spirit of Disunion that it could be 
 fairly roused into life ; and this the Reformation produced 
 by giving separate and peculiar interests to the Protestant 
 and Catholic parties. It cannot be denied that it was im- 
 possible accurately to foretell what the consequences of these 
 divisions might be. The interference of foreign powers in 
 the contest appeared, as in fact it was, inevitable ; a con- 
 currence of fortunate circumstances, however, averted the 
 consequences which were thus threatened, and that often 
 more successfully than could have been expected. More- 
 over, if the separate interests of the two parties had been of 
 such a nature as to render it impossible that they should be- 
 come subservient to the interests of the empire, or, still 
 worse, if they had been opposed to it, a total dismember- 
 ment might have been the result. Luckily, however, this 
 was not the case ; neither interest contained in itself any 
 thing contrary to the rights of the head of the empire, or of 
 the individual states : they centred upon the subject of re- 
 ligion and the rights connected with it ; and, after abund- 
 ance of feud and warfare, it was sufficiently ascertained by 
 experience, that the establishment of the Corpus Evangelico- 
 rum — which did not receive its definite form till long after 
 the thing itself had existed (1653)— tended to no irremedi- 
 able division between the diet and the empire. On the con- 
 trary, the mutual watch which the two parties kept upon 
 each other, and the constant attentiveness which they showed, 
 often with good reason, sometimes in a degree almost ridi- 
 culous, to the slightest advances of their antagonists, afforded 
 a warrant for the maintenance of the German Constitution, 
 at least in its principal parts, which could certainly not have 
 been furnished in any other way. From this more elevated 
 point of view, all those dissensions, debates, and wars, which 
 the Reformation produced in the interior of this body, ap- 
 
 
 pear in a more gentle light ; they are reckoned only as the 
 means to an end ; and if it was the Reformation which at 
 its commencement breathed new life into the empire, it was 
 the Reformation also which for a long time maintained thi« 
 life and assured its political existence. 
 
 AUSTRIA. 
 
 The house of Austria — which of all the dynasties of modern 
 times has lost and won the most — was the first to found its 
 political schemes upon the disturbances of the Reformation. 
 Fate presented it at this crisis with a prince who was superior 
 to all his contemporaries in political talent, and at least equal 
 to any of them in power. It requires abiUties of a rare kind 
 to make their possessor feel at home in a new order of 
 things such as a revolution is apt to produce. A great 
 genius alone is capable of rising above the routine of pre- 
 vious experience and custom, and of calculating the combin- 
 ations by which its measures are to be directed. But how- 
 ever willing we may be to do justice to the political talents 
 of Charles V., it was impossible that he should from the first 
 be able to foresee the course which these violent revolutions 
 would take, at least by any direct process of calculation. 
 
 The relation in which he stood to the pope, as Protector 
 of the Church, made him from the beginning an opponent 
 of the Reformation ; but his political designs in Germany 
 were not formed till he found in the league of Smalcald 
 (1530) a party armed in direct opposition to himself The 
 maintenance of the respect due to the majesty of the empire 
 required that this should be suppressed ; but then its sup- 
 pression, even though the existing forms of the constitution 
 should be observed, could hardly be effected without the in- 
 troduction of absolute power into Germany. That this plan 
 was frustrated, and in a way which no previous calculations 
 could have determined, has been already observed ; but still 
 the new doctrines were not the less important as regarded 
 the organization of the Austrian monarchy, even though it 
 did not play a prominent part in the game. 
 
 We may remark here, that in the hereditary duchy of 
 Austria, the power of the reigning house became nearly 
 absolute — ^while that of the states was reduced to a mere 
 shadow — by the suppression of the Protestant party under 
 
 s 
 
258 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 Ferdinand II. It derived also the greatest possible advantage 
 from the use which it made of the religious disturbances m 
 Hungary and Bohemia. The house of Hapsburg may thank 
 the Reformation for the opportunities which it afforded them 
 of converting both these states from electoral into hereditary 
 dominions; and of rearing in the latter an absolute sove- 
 reignty on the ruins of their ancient national freedom. 
 When the battle of Prague (1620) left the rebellious nation 
 a prey to the tyranny of its conqueror, the moment was not let 
 slip. It was robbed of its privileges, and Bohemia became 
 in FACT an hereditary kingdom, although politicians were still 
 left to dispute whether it should be called electoral or not. 
 
 The fate of Hungary, although not so immediately de- 
 cided, was not less owing to the religious disputes of the 
 Reformation. The new doctrines found so ready an admit- 
 tance here, that the supporters of them soon formed a coun- 
 terpoise to those of the older creed, and at length, by the 
 peace of Vienna (in 1606) and the capitulation of king 
 Matthias (1608), obtained not only the free exercise of their 
 religion, but, by the latter event, equal political rights with 
 them. The history of Hungary, however, has made it suf- 
 ficiently known how little the collisions of party were put an 
 end to by these concessions ; how little the promises made 
 to the Protestants were observed ; how advantage was taken 
 of the excitement which prevailed to introduce foreign troops, 
 and, notwithstanding all remonstrance, to maintain them in 
 the country ; and, lastly, how systematically the most cry- 
 ing oppression was practised, till at length (1670) produced 
 conspiracies, the extinction of which necessarily augmented 
 the power of the government. The web of strife, however, 
 was not yet broken off, and its meshes had so thoroughly 
 entangled the Protestant contests with those of Transylvania 
 and the Porte, that it is almost impossible to follow out the 
 separate threads. The dealings with the Protestants, how- 
 ever, evidently formed the groundwork of the tissue. Pre- 
 parations were thus gradually made for the step which was 
 at length (1687) successfully taken, and the electoral king- 
 dom became hereditary. Nor were the advantages which 
 Austria thus obtained the less important because Hungary has 
 hitherto resisted, with tolerable success, all the attempts which 
 have been made to overturn its remaining rights as a nation. 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 259 
 
 r 
 
 However little cohesion, then, there may be between the 
 different parts, in themselves so powerful, which compose this 
 monarchy, it chiefly owes to the Reformation, and to the 
 manner in which its consequences were applied, whatever 
 unity and internal stability it possesses. The late changes 
 in Europe have increased its power, both by extending its 
 dominions, and by teaching it how to apply its resources. 
 It has now^ no distant territory to protect ; but placed as it 
 is in continual opposition to powerful adversaries, and de- 
 prived of the outworks which formerly guarded it, it must 
 make the best use of those advantages to which the Reform- 
 ation prepared the way, in order to maintain the proud sta- 
 tion which it at present occupies. 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 The foundation of the Prussian monarchy was one of the 
 earliest works of the Reformation. It was doubtless beyond 
 mortal power to foresee that so noble a structure should ever 
 be raised upon it. Such a result required a concurrence of 
 fortunate circumstances, and a taskmaster to guide the work, 
 such as hardly any state could show within the annals of a 
 like period of time. And yet the thing is so — without the 
 Reformation, Europe would have had an elector of Bran- 
 denburgh, but no king of Prussia. In the beginning of the 
 sixteenth century, Prussia was still under priestly dominion, 
 being attached to the Teutonic order which had conquered 
 it ; and which, with its grand master, continued to govern 
 it. But scarcely had the new doctrines spread themselves, 
 . and pointed out a way by which spiritual princes might 
 render their power hereditary, than Albert, grand master of 
 the Teutonic order in Prussia, and a scion of the house of 
 Brandenburgh, made the first successful attempt of this kind. 
 As early as the year 1525 he secularized his dominions, 
 and formed them into an hereditary duchy, though as a fief 
 of Poland, and became by his marriage the founder of a 
 line, of which the last female descendant, Anne, espoused 
 John Sigismond, then electoral prince of Brandenburgh, 
 and afterwards elector. When Prussia came into the pos- 
 session of the electoral house of Brandenburgh, it was still 
 a fief; but by the treaty of Wehlau, (1657,) and more fully 
 
 • It must be remembered that this was written in 1802. Tr. 
 
 8 2 
 
 1^ 
 
260 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 by the peace of Oliva, (1660,) it was declared a sovereign 
 principality, and its feudal tenure was done away ; in 1701 
 it was raised to a kingdom, and stepped, or at least gradu- 
 ally advanced, into the first rank of European powers. 
 
 Although the Reformation, however, was the means, as 
 we have shown, of laying the first stone of the Prussian 
 monarchy, it cannot be said that it conduced greatly to its 
 further erection, unless we are prepared to consider the ac- 
 quisitions, which it made at the peace of Westphalia, as re- 
 sulting from that event. 
 
 The Reformation has, in fact, exercised a much smaller 
 influence on the double part which Prussia has played in 
 foreign policy, both as one of the powers of Europe, and 
 as one of the first states in the German empire, than is com- 
 monly supposed. The causes of this may be sufficiently 
 gathered from the short chronological sketch which we have 
 just given. During the whole period throughout which the 
 interests of religion continued to act as a mainspring in Eu- 
 ropean politics — that is, down to the peace of Westphalia, 
 and the time of Lewis XIV., the house of Brandenburgh 
 was still too weak to exercise any decisive influence upon the 
 German body, to say nothing of Europe at large. As it 
 gradually after this acquired strength under the great elector 
 and its two first kings, the Reformation, as we shall here- 
 after have to observe, lost all political power, and a new 
 interest took its place. The second, and minor game, which 
 Prussia had to play in the empire, was to maintain the balance 
 against Austria. But Prussia did not fairly become the rival 
 of Austria till the conquest of Silesia by Frederic 11., and 
 their relative position was wholly uninfluenced by religion. 
 Besides, although Prussia or Brandenburgh was one of the 
 most powerful, and finally the most powerful, of the Protest- 
 ant states, it cannot be considered as the head of that party. 
 This pre-eminence belonged, as is well known, from the 
 first, to Saxony ; and when Prussia became the more power- 
 ful of the two, the matter was no longer of consequence, 
 since this party, although it retained the forms of one, was 
 fast losing its essential character as such. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 It was chiefly from Switzerland that France derived its 
 share of the Reformation ; and although it was thus influ- 
 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 261 
 
 enced rather by the doctrines of Zwingle than those of Lu- 
 ther, yet the political sphere of these two reformers was so 
 nearly the same, that it would be impossible to define that 
 of the one without ascertaining that of the other also. In no 
 other country of Europe, not even in Germany, had the 
 Reformation been so speedily advanced as in Switzerland. 
 The energetic character of these mountaineers leads them 
 to a rapid decision ; and the more confined the ideas of a 
 race of herdsmen may be, the more earnestly do they cling 
 to those which they have once adopted. While in Germany 
 the two parties were still engaged with capitulations, the 
 civil war broke out in the cantons, (1530,) and seemed to 
 threaten a total dissolution of the confederacy. Fortunately, 
 however, a short struggle sufficed to produce a lasting peace ; 
 and although the mutual hatred of the parties did not imme- 
 diately pass away, it was not again thought necessary to shed 
 blood for its satisfaction. Bitter feelings gradually subsided ; 
 public attention became directed to other subjects ; and the 
 enviable fate of this country, which general opinion seemed 
 to agree in considering holy and inviolable, removed it from 
 a participation in the affairs of the rest of Europe, which 
 might easily have lit up the flame of discord anew. 
 
 The numerous relations which existed between Switzer- 
 land and France, afforded peculiar facilities of access to the 
 Reformation from this quarter ; could it have been expect- 
 ed then that a nation, which perhaps may be said to exceed 
 all others in the quick perception of ideas, should long re- 
 main indifferent to it ? Francis I., however, knew too well 
 how much the kingly power had to fear from a party whose 
 church principles were almost purely democratic, to allow 
 of his encouraging it; the oppression and persecutions of 
 his son gave it consistency, and prepared it for resistance ; 
 and when under his weak descendants it lent itself to the 
 ambitious purposes of men in power, it assumed the charac- 
 ter of a formidable opposition. The history of the bloody 
 wars which were thus prepared, and which occupied the 
 latter half of the sixteenth century, down to the edict of 
 Nantes, (1562 — 1598,) is so well known that we need not 
 do more than allude to them; the permanent influence 
 which they exercised upon the political condition of France, 
 is, however, too important to be passed over. This influence 
 
 I 
 
 •.( 
 
2m 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 \ 
 
 may be considered under two points of view, and these in 
 apparent opposition to each other. It prepared the way on 
 the one hand for the absolute power of the king, and yet on 
 the other it seems, even after the fall of its party, to have 
 maintained a spirit of resistance in the nation. 
 
 It is a common phenomenon in great monarchies, that 
 the power of the government does not become firmly estab- 
 lished, and either wholly, or in great part, absolute, till it 
 has undergone a struggle with some strong party in opposi- 
 tion to it. At the moment when such a party has been sup- 
 pressed or disarmed, every thing is open to the sovereign ; 
 and even the remaining props of national liberty may be 
 easily put aside. In France the government found such an 
 opposition as we describe, in the party of the Hugonots. It 
 is true that it was the government itself, which by its perse- 
 cutions, its duplicity, and utter cruelty, converted a friendly 
 sect into a parti/ of political opponents. This cannot be 
 denied — the cry of death which was raised on St. Bartholo- 
 mew's night, and echoes to all ages, is too strong an evi- 
 dence of this ; but still an unprejudiced observer must con- 
 fess, that the foundation of any stable government in France 
 must needs have remained impossible, as long as this party 
 continued to hold arms in its hands. 
 
 The edict of Nantes had undoubtedly softened down their 
 violence : — on such fearful storms as had here raged, a 
 period of calm must at any rate follow — ; but the events 
 which occurred after the murder of Henry IV. served to 
 show how formidable the Hugonots still were. 
 
 It was difficult for any great and effectual measures of 
 government to be carried through without coming in con- 
 tact with them ; for such a party cannot for any time exist 
 without involving its own interests with the interests of the 
 state, in such a multiplicity of ways as to afford abundance 
 of real, or, what is in effect the same, imaginary points of 
 excitement. The struggle which Richelieu maintained 
 against the Hugonots was, therefore, a necessary struggle, 
 if any permanent order of things was to be established 
 in France : he wished to disarm but not to extirpate them ; 
 and the condition in which they were left by the peace 
 of Rochelle, (1629,) was such as, in accordance with law, 
 they ought to have been placed in ; although, at the same 
 
 r-^^MVai 
 
 ■*"«*i 
 
 'z.'xy: 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 268 
 
 time, no one will pretend to extenuate the persecutions in 
 which the intolerance of subsequent governments led them 
 to indulge, down to the revocation of the edict of Nantes. 
 
 But in proportion as we find it easy to show the truth of 
 our first remark, do we find it difficult to adduce historical 
 proof of the other, its apparent contradiction, viz. that the 
 maintenance of a spirit of resistance in the people was owing 
 to the Hugonot party. It is not however the less true on 
 this account : for in the first place, we cannot doubt that 
 such fearful disturbances as those which were caused by the 
 religious disputes in France, must have lefl traces in the 
 national character which could not easily be effaced. But, 
 besides this, history has not left us without proofs. It is 
 well known that, after the time of Richelieu, the spirit of 
 opposition which had been raised, passed into the parlia- 
 ment of France. The degree of influence which the Re- 
 formation exercised in this case cannot be clearly determined 
 without lengthened details. But it would be difficult to 
 deny such an influence altogether, since by the edict of 
 Nantes the Protestants were allowed a share in the counsels 
 of this body— -although their admittance is neither the only 
 nor the principal source, to which we should seek to refer it. 
 Of this, as of their other rights, the Protestants were again 
 deprived by the revocation of the edict ; but the spirit of 
 the party was not destroyed by its suppression ; it acquired 
 new life, with such modifications only as the change of times 
 rendered necessary, under the garb of Jansenism. A full 
 development of its progress is beyond the limits of this trea- 
 tise; but we may observe, that the history of literature 
 shows plainly enough that this party derived warmth and 
 vigour from the flame, which the learned disputes of the 
 Protestants and their opponents had kindled in the theology 
 of France. These debates were succeeded by others which 
 produced the great catastrophe of our own day, and by 
 which the Reformation and its political consequences were 
 thrown into the background ; but on that account became, 
 in the full sense of the word, more peculiarly the property 
 of history. 
 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 The Reformation was of still more importance to England 
 than to France ; the new doctrines were triumphant here, 
 
 \ 
 
264 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 \| 
 
 H 
 
 as they were, and continued to be, suppressed there ; and 
 these two nations — the antipodes of each other in so many 
 respects — were destined to a still wider difference by dis- 
 agreeing on this point. The important consequences which 
 resulted to the two countries, in their relation to each other 
 and to Europe in general, from this circumstance, belong to 
 the second division of our subject ; we have here only to 
 consider the effects thereby produced upon England itself 
 The progress of the Reformation was of a peculiar kind in 
 this country, as we might expect from its insular character. 
 Henry VIII. viewed it only as a means of gratifying his 
 passions and serving his personal interest, and as such, in 
 fact, he used it ; but a tyrant, who was guided by the whim 
 of the moment, and incapable of forming any permanent 
 scheme, could not employ it with the ability of Charles V. ; 
 while by his supremacy he exercised a more violent despot- 
 ism over the conscience and opinions of his subjects than 
 the pope would ever have dared to attempt. During the 
 
 short reign of his son and successor, Edward VI., (1547 
 
 1553,) the Reformation was really introduced ; but as the 
 bigoted intolerance of his sister Mary (1553 — 1558) again 
 overturned the feeble and scarce completed edifice, it was 
 reserved for the long and well-conducted reign of Elizabeth 
 (1558 — 1603) to lay its foundation anew, and upon more 
 secure ground. 
 
 The Articles of belief in England were changed ; the 
 supremacy of the Roman see was shaken off ; but in other 
 respects the framework of the hierarchy was left untouched. 
 By the act of supremacy, renewed under Elizabeth as it had 
 first been passed under Henry, the king stepped into the place 
 of the pope ; and this supremacy was probably the chief 
 advantage which accrued to the crown from the Reforma- 
 tion. In times when religion was so inseparably connected 
 with politics, such unlimited spiritual dominion necessarily 
 tended, in substance if not in form, to render the temporal 
 power unlimited also ; and the " High Commission " of Eli- 
 zabeth gives a sufficient example of the uses to which it 
 might be applied. Again, as the Head of the Church re- 
 quired instruments by which it might act as such, the 
 existent hierarchy was lefl almost unaltered in its ancient 
 form. The Episcopal Church was thus established ; which 
 received its definite rule of faith for the first time under 
 
 w* 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 265 
 
 Elizabeth (1571). The English Church, therefore, was dis- 
 tinguished by the peculiarity of its organization in retainino- 
 the higher spiritual orders — the archbishops and bishops— 
 with seats and voices in the Upper House. In this manner 
 the hierarchy remained interwoven with the constitution; 
 and the question which we are interested in answering here, 
 regards the value and consequences of this institution to 
 the state. 
 
 It was the belief, very naturally resulting from the king's 
 supremacy, that the hierarchy would prove a firm support 
 to the throne at its head, which preserved that body ; a be- 
 lief which afterwards furnished the Stuarts with their favourite 
 maxim : " No bishop, no king." Nevertheless, the connexion 
 asserted in this sentence is by no means so directly evident 
 as to make it unreasonable to inquire whether it had any truth 
 at bottom, or was merely the product of fanaticism. 
 
 The political power of the bishops, and their direct in- 
 fluence upon the state through the House of Lords, is too in- 
 significant to have been much relied on. If we are, there- 
 fore, to attribute any meaning to the above expression, it 
 must be this: that by uniting the interests of the heads of 
 the church with those of the crown, it was designed, that 
 not only their support, but that of the people itself, should 
 be secured. The political importance of the bishops, there- 
 fore, depended upon their influence with the people. And 
 consequently, as soon as the schismatics had acquired 
 strength, and formed themselves into a religious, and as such, 
 into a political party, experience showed that the bishops, 
 although nominally the props of the throne, were but a fee- 
 ble support. They fell with it, and they were restored with it. 
 
 As regards the general question, how far the hierarchy of 
 a state may be called the safeguard of the throne, this must 
 depend chiefly upon the spirit of the times ; since by it their 
 influence over the minds of the people is determined. In 
 times of religious fanaticism this may be very great, and the 
 permanence of the throne may be inseparably linked with 
 that of the hierarchy. The progress of events, however, gra- 
 dually dissolves these ties ; and the throne of Great Britain 
 at present rests upon very different support from that of the 
 hierarchy, which is neither important, nor inviolable, except 
 as forming an integral part of the constitution. 
 
i«« 
 
 266 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 267- 
 
 But if the Reformation on the one hand laid the found- 
 ation of an increase of the kingly power in England, it did 
 not do this without creating a disaffected party on the other ; 
 which, when the helm of state passed into a less experienced 
 grasp, was the means of raising a storm under the violence 
 of which the throne gave way, and for a long time remained 
 
 prostrate. i • t^ i j 
 
 In times like those such a Reformation as that in England, 
 which was in a certain sense only half a Reformation, was 
 necessarily a dangerous undertaking. A period of revolu- 
 tion will not submit to partial measures, because it is a pe- 
 riod of fanaticism. What else then could be expected, than 
 that, in the eyes of the pure reformers, the remaining frame- 
 work of the hierarchy should be deemed an abomination ? 
 that Episcopalians and Catholics should be held to differ in 
 little except in name ? And when the Church of England 
 was finally guarded about by limits which excluded all other 
 communions from a participation, not only in it, but in the 
 most important political rights, how could it be otherwise 
 than that a contest should ensue ? Then, as the religious 
 principles of the insurgents were purely democratic, what 
 was more natural than that the fate of the hierarchy should 
 include that of the throne ? 
 
 Considered from this point of view, the events of the 
 English revolution, which are too well known to require any 
 further notice, appear in their proper light, as one con- 
 nected whole. With the restoration of the throne the domi- 
 nant church was restored also; but when, by the famous 
 Toleration Act of William III., (1688,) the penal laws against 
 the Dissenters were removed, they could no longer form a 
 political party. With the Catholics it was no doubt differ- 
 ent ; but their number in England was too small to cause 
 apprehension. There may certainly be times, and there 
 have been in England, when the introduction of a Test Act 
 may be necessary ; but whether its continuance conduces 
 most to security or danger, is a question which I shall leave 
 others to answer. However this may be, the general inter- 
 ests of Great Britain remained inseparably connected with 
 the Reformation ; and by it, after one of the most wonderful 
 revolutions of destiny, the throne was opened to that family 
 under whose glorious dominion England witnessed the ap- 
 
 pearance of what may, in every sense of the word, be termed 
 her golden age. 
 
 But while speaking of the mistress of the sea, let me be 
 allowed to throw a glance upon that neighbouring island, 
 which having been subject to her for centuries, has been 
 deluged with blood, whenever it has dared to shake the fet- 
 ters which bound it. While the Reformation spread its 
 blessings, sooner or later, over other lands, Ireland appears 
 to have been destined only to feel its curse. The wounds 
 which it dealt here, were too deep to be scarred over ; and 
 even since the efforts of a more liberal policy have been 
 directed to their cure, it must be left to time to decide whe- 
 ther the means applied will be sufficient. 
 
 Long before the Reformation, the inhabitants of Ireland 
 had been expelled from part of their possessions by English 
 colonists ; and a hatred of their conquerors had been engen- 
 dered, to which the Reformation gave new vigour. The 
 Irish remained Catholic, if for no other cause than that their 
 oppressors were Protestant. 
 
 Being again plundered of a considerable portion of their 
 lands, when James I. sent over a new host of colonists, their 
 disaffection was increased ; and during the civil wars under 
 the hapless Charles, a fearful insurrection broke out, (1641,) 
 which cost above a hundred thousand of the Protestants in 
 Ireland their lives, and went near to exterminate them 
 altogether. 
 
 The civil war now raged for ten years without interruption, 
 till it gave Cromwell a pretext for new acts of injustice, the 
 real object of which was to reward his soldiers. Maltreated, 
 plundered, and hunted into a corner of the island, the Irish 
 saw three parts of their country in the hands of strangers. 
 But even thus the measure of their unhappiness was not yet 
 full. The same revolution which restored, and improved, 
 the English constitution, and secured the national freedom, 
 was to the ill-fated Irish a source of new persecutions, and of 
 final subjection. When William III. had estabHshed his 
 authority here with the sword, (1691,) the miserable remnant 
 of their lands was torn from them by proscription; and 
 what was even worse than this, a legal despotism was soon 
 after established, such as no other country of Europe has 
 ever witnessed. By the statutes of Anne, (1703,) the Catho- 
 
OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 ^69 
 
 268 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 '/ 
 
 lies, as long as they adhered to their religion, were incapable 
 of holding land either in freehold or lease, and were denied 
 the means of public education. 
 
 In other countries where the subject was the bondsman 
 of his master, care at least was taken of him, and sustenance 
 supplied. Personal freedom was left to the Irish, that it 
 might become a burden and a curse to them. By an organ- 
 ized system of oppression, the people were reduced to a 
 horde of brutal paupers ; and the consequences were such 
 as might have been expected. The Irish revenged them- 
 selves whenever they could, and their revenge was that of 
 barbarians, because they had been made such. It was in 
 vain that under George III. a less inhuman system of go- 
 vernment began to improve whatever still admitted of im- 
 provement; in vain that the independence of America 
 released Ireland from her commercial fetters (1782) ; a feel- 
 ing of misery so long endured is not to be forgotten within 
 a few years ; the traces of such deeply-impressed barbarism 
 are not wont to disappear in a single generation. 
 
 The revolution of our own day found Ireland in that con- 
 vulsive state into which it had been thrown by those of 
 former times, and while still under this influence it was ex- 
 posed to a new and bloody crisis, which was followed by 
 the Union, in 1800. 
 
 By this measure the two countries were formed into one 
 state, and the Irish parliament incorporated with that of 
 Great Britain. It does not appear, however, that its beneficial 
 results will be fully developed till the political equality of the 
 Catholics and Protestants of Ireland shall have been finally 
 established, by the admission of the former into parliament.* 
 
 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS. 
 
 While other states were either shaken or new-modelled by 
 the Reformation, there was one which was created by it. 
 
 * It is now six years since the emancipation of the Catholics — thus spoken 
 of by Prof. Heeren twenty-seven years before it took place— was resorted to 
 as a preferable alternative to civil war. Had it been the free gift of the legis- 
 lature, instead of being extorted by the threat of rebellion, the merits of the 
 measure might have been more fairly tried. As it is, however, the Catholics 
 of Ireland appear to have forgotten the measure itself in their triumph at the 
 mode in which it was obtained, and instead of developing, as our author 
 hoped, the beneficial effects of the Union, the passing of the Catholic Relief 
 bill is likely to prove the means of defeating it altogether. Tr. 
 
 From the midst of its disturbances the republic of the 
 United Netherlands came forth like a bright star between 
 the pauses of the storm ; while, by the mode of its origin, 
 its fate became inseparably connected with the Reformation ; 
 and its fall or maintenance dependent upon the fall or main- 
 tenance of Protestantism. By the course of events, this re- 
 public was almost immediately involved in the most intricate 
 windings of the general politics of Europe ; nay, it was so 
 placed as gradually to give them a new direction. Under 
 this most interesting point of view we shall consider it in 
 the next division of our treatise ; here we must be allowed 
 to cast a glance upon the influence of the Reformation on 
 its internal constitution. 
 
 The founders of this state had, at first, no thoughts of 
 forming a republic. In fact, how could such a project have 
 arisen in an age when there were no republican ideas abroad 
 in Europe ? Their views were of far narrower compass ; 
 they only sought the maintenance of their old rights and 
 privileges, which were threatened by the despotism of Phi- 
 lip II., and especially by the introduction of the Inquisition. 
 Fifteen years were thus allowed to elapse from the be- 
 ginning of the disturbances in 1566, before the Nether- 
 landers formally shook off* their allegiance to Philip II., and 
 put it beyond his power to end the quarrel by concession. 
 Even then, however, they had become so little accustomed 
 to the idea of a republic, that they seemed to think it their 
 immediate duty to look about them for a foreign master, re- 
 quiring only that he should respect their ancient rights and 
 privileges. First they applied to France, then to England 
 — and it was only when Francis of Alen^on had clearly 
 proved his incapacity for such an oflSce, and Elizabeth had 
 on grounds of higher policy declined it, that they became 
 republicans — merely because they had no other resource. 
 Their old notions, however, appear still to have been their 
 only guides ; and in pursuance of them they established that 
 shapeless confederacy, in which they did not themselves 
 clearly know who was the sovereign. The maintenance of 
 the rights of the states in the several provinces was considered 
 the most important object to be attained ; the central go- 
 vernment formed itself as circumstances allowed or required; 
 and the republic would have gained but little firmness from 
 it, if amidst many and great deficiencies it had not possessed 
 
^1 
 
 I ! 
 
 270 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 the one advantage of allowing free scope to the individual 
 activity and genius of her great men. 
 
 In such a state of things, the Reformed religion, although 
 it was the main cause of the insurrection, and, when estab- 
 lished as the national mode of worship, the foundation of 
 the republic, could exercise no direct influence upon its 
 further organization. But as the whole existence of this 
 state was grounded on the Reformation, and as it was to 
 religious enthusiasm that its citizens owed their heroic 
 spirit, we must not be astonished that the bigotry of Pro- 
 testantism was no where else carried so far, or so deeply 
 rooted, as here. The consequence of this was, that the Pro- 
 testant clergy had much more easy access to the springs of 
 public opinion in this than in any other country ; and thus 
 acquired the means of exercising a considerable influence 
 upon the affairs of the state ; — an influence of which the 
 history of the republic affords but too many traces. The 
 twelve years' truce of 1609 had no sooner afforded a short 
 period of repose, than the clergy were busy in lighting up 
 the flames of party violence ; and Arminians and Gomarists 
 persecuted each other with the same animosity as the Pro- 
 testants and CathoHcs had in former times displayed. It is 
 well known by what ties these religious differences became 
 connected with politics, and thus produced the first and 
 bloody struggle between the party of the states and the Or- 
 angists. No sooner was it apparent that the doctrines of 
 Artninius found their chief supporters in the higher and 
 more educated classes, and among the members of the states, 
 than Maurice of Orange declared himself for the opposite 
 and orthodox party, and at the head of the majority of the 
 nation dared to bring Oldenbarneveld to the block (1619). 
 Although it was religion, however, which gave a pretext 
 to the parties for a commencement of the feud, with which 
 the subsequent history of this state is almost exclusively con- 
 cerned, the true cause must be sought elsewhere. It lay in 
 the very groundwork of their constitution, and it is only by 
 a full explanation of this— a task beyond our limits — that it 
 can be clearly pointed out. 
 
 SWEDEN. 
 
 In the four kingdoms which, as long as Poland existed, 
 formed the north of Europe, the political consequences of 
 
 \ 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 211 
 
 the Reformation displayed themselves in a very different 
 manner. The most remote of these, by its situation, its re- 
 ligion, and, more than all, by the barbarous condition in 
 which it was, lay beyond the influence of the storm. Of the 
 other three, one owed its existence and its greatness — al- 
 though transient — to the Reformation ; another, its prospe- 
 rity and its constitution ; the third, dates its downfal from 
 the same source. And thus we see that, in the moral as in 
 the physical world, what is deadly poison to one often proves 
 the means of saving life in another ! 
 
 At precisely this epoch, while the Reformation was 
 spreading in Germany with a rapidity which nothing could 
 check, the north of Europe had arrived at the political crisis 
 which determined its future fate. The Union of Calmar, 
 the parent of so much discord and warfare, was dissolved ; 
 and Gustavus Vasa restored (1521) the throne of Sweden to 
 its former independence. But notwithstanding his courage 
 and the progress which he made, and in spite of the favour- 
 able position in which he was placed by the insurrection in 
 Denmark and the expulsion of his rival, king Christian II., 
 he yet found himself in a situation which secured to him 
 rather the name than the power of a king. It cannot be 
 denied, however, that Gustavus Vasa ranks among the 
 greatest princes of all ages. He was not simply acquainted 
 with the common turns of policy by which mere intriguers 
 attain their end ; but rising, as great men are wont to do, 
 beyond the age in which he lived, he seems to have em- 
 braced ideas of public economy which may well excite our 
 admiration, since, as they were then unknown to the rest of 
 the world, they must have been the product of his own 
 acuteness and ability. Even Gustavus Vasa, however, 
 would scarce have found the resources with which his genius 
 furnished him sufficient, had not the Reformation brought 
 others to his assistance, upon which the foundations of his 
 greatness may, in fact, be said to have rested. What, in 
 truth, could the most talented prince have effected on a 
 throne, the income of which did not supply a third part of 
 its necessary expenditure, and in a country where a power- 
 ful nobility stood side by side with a still more powerful 
 body of clergy, whose possessions had swallowed up the 
 lands of the crown, and which was likely to find that a 
 
272 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 273 
 
 '/ 
 
 native sovereign would not prove the best instrument for 
 securing and extending its usurpations? Under such cir- 
 cumstances, a mind of even moderate capacity would have 
 perceived that the Reformation afforded the best means of 
 securing the stability of the government ; but the difficulty 
 in this, as in all other cases, lay in the execution ; and here 
 it was that the superior genius of Gustavus displayed itself. 
 Too weak in himself, he succeeded in gaining over the no- 
 bility by the prospect of large acquisitions from the forfeited 
 estates of the clergy ; and with this support he was enabled 
 to meet the decisive crisis which was brought on at the 
 diet of Westeras, (1527,) and which terminated in the sub- 
 mission of the clergy and the resignation of their estates 
 into the hands of the king, to be disposed of as he thought 
 fit. Conspiracies and tumults, set afoot in distant parts of 
 the kingdom, remained the only, and impotent means, by 
 which they sought to avenge themselves. 
 
 Thus the Reformation also established a new order of 
 things in Sweden, though without taking from the clergy 
 their rights as an estate of the realm ; and exercised a de- 
 cisive influence upon the fate of this kingdom, and through 
 it upon that of the North, and even for a considerable time 
 upon Europe in general. There now wanted only the he- 
 reditary succession of the crown, which Gustavus Vasa like- 
 wise introduced, to put means at the disposal of the kings 
 of Sweden, by which they might attain to a supremacy of 
 the North, which would in turn affect the rest of Europe. 
 The Reformation, while it made them masters in the North, 
 opened the way to them, as its champions, of acquiring the 
 supremacy of Europe, Supported by their own genius, 
 they played this exaggerated part for a longer time than the 
 state of their resources would have led us to expect. The con- 
 sequences, which resulted from this, will be more fully deve- 
 loped in the part of our work which treats of the influence 
 of the Reformation upon the political balance of Europe. 
 
 DENMARK. 
 
 The internal condition of Denmark bore, at this period, a 
 great resemblance to that of Sweden. The nobles and 
 priests were here also the ruling party, and gave to what 
 was then an electoral kingdom, more the appearance of an 
 
 aristocracy than of a monarchy. The dissolution of the 
 Union of Calmar, and the restoration of the Swedish throne, 
 although considered as losses by Denmark, were yet, as 
 soon as the possession of Norway was secured to it, perhaps 
 as great advantages to this country as to Sweden itself 
 
 The kings of Denmark had hitherto exhausted themselves 
 in struggles, for the most part fruitless, to secure their do- 
 minion over Sweden ; and the disadvantages of these wars 
 were naturally, on that account, much greater to Denmark than 
 to Sweden. By the dissolution of the Union of Calmar, the 
 former was restrained within its true sphere ; and after a few 
 ineffectual attempts to extend itself beyond this, it was taught 
 to prize that golden mediocrity, the maintenance of which 
 has ever since proved the palladium of Danish prosperity. 
 
 The Reformation acquired its political importance in Den- 
 mark nearly in the same way as in Sweden. It was intro- 
 duced very early, and by the confiscation of the estates of 
 the clergy gave the first opportunity of extending the power 
 of the crown. But although Christian III. accomplished 
 this important object, the aristocracy was much less broken 
 down in Denmark by the propagation of the new doctrines 
 than it had been in Sweden, because it was here accom- 
 plished without the aid of a revolution. Moreover, the king 
 was not only obliged to divide the estates of the clergy with 
 the nobility, but to share them very unequally. He received 
 for his share only the lesser half, the demesnes of the bishops; 
 and even from this a considerable portion was deducted for 
 the purpose of pious foundations. The project of convert- 
 ing the electoral into an hereditary succession was not in 
 those days to be for a moment entertained ; on the contrary, 
 every change of government produced the exaction of harder 
 conditions from the king. Denmark remained, therefore, 
 even by its constitution, much behind Sweden. That which 
 was rapidly effected in Sweden by a revolution, was slowly 
 prepared here by the spirit of the times. 
 
 It required the enterprising reign of Christian IV., and 
 the decisive superiority of the middle orders over the nobi- 
 lity, to obtain the adoption of that constitution which Fre- 
 deric III. (1660) introduced, under a rare combination of 
 fortunate circumstances, and with still rarer success in the 
 result. The only fundamental articles of it, were the here- 
 
274 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 ditary succession of the crown, and the maintenance of the 
 Lutheran rehgion as that of the state. 
 
 POLAND. 
 
 The difference between the language of Poland and that of 
 the other countries of western Europe, appeared to offer an 
 obstacle to the progress of the Reformation, which could not 
 easily be overcome. The Latin language, however, then 
 almost universally adopted in writing, assisted the Reforma- 
 tion in this, as it did in many other difficulties ; and, dur- 
 ing the latter half of the fifteenth century, although somewhat 
 later than in the other countries which we have mentioned, 
 the new doctrines made steady and even bold advances here. 
 Besides the evangelical communion, another, viz. that of the 
 Socinians, was formally established in Poland, which, al- 
 though it proceeded from the former, was not acknowledged 
 by it, and was not openly tolerated even in Germany. The 
 majority of the nation thus separated itself, under the com- 
 mon title of Dissenters, from the ancient Church, which was 
 not, however, thereby deprived of its political rights, in the 
 undisputed possession and exercise of which it was allowed 
 for a considerable time to remain. 
 
 We might perhaps expect to find, that the introduction 
 of this new body of ideas had assisted the march of national 
 improvement, and that the rather, because the difference of 
 opinion between the Socinians and the other Protestants ap- 
 peared to call for the exercise of faculties, which would na- 
 turally tend to the enlargement of the mind. But as the 
 new sects here neither were, nor had, in the beginning, any 
 occasion to become, political parties, they were wanting m 
 that principle of activity which gave them life elsewhere : 
 and the Reformation stood for nothing more in Poland, than 
 a change of some few abstract doctrines, which might be 
 amply debated upon without making the debaters either 
 wiser or more enlightened. There was here therefore a total 
 absence of that wholesome ferment which the Reformation 
 caused in other countries; and which, finally, after the 
 grosser parts had been worked off, produced an aggregate 
 of pure truths and enlarged views. The great body of the 
 people was thus much less enlightened by the Reformation 
 in Poland than elsewhere ; and it was on that account a 
 
 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 275 
 
 very dangerous gift. The two parties hated while they tole- 
 rated each other ; and there only wanted a spark to set 
 men's passion on fire, and kindle such a flame as could be 
 extinguished only under the ruins of the state. 
 
 This spark fell amongst them when Charles XIL, a 
 monarch of the Lutheran persuasion, invaded Poland as a 
 conqueror, and formed a party in the country for the ad- 
 vancement of his own ambitious designs. Although this 
 faction consisted in a small part only of Dissenters, it was 
 sufficient that any of them supported it, to make their op- 
 ponents consider the name of Dissenter synonymous with 
 that of a partisan of Sweden ; and the more confined their 
 views, the more violent became the mutual hatred of the 
 parties, which naturally pressed with greater force upon the 
 supporters of Charles XIL, as soon as he became incapable 
 of defending them. 
 
 After the diet in the year 1717, when the Dissenters were 
 first subjected to a spoliation of their public rights, the pre- 
 cedent was never left unemployed, even when there could 
 be no longer question of a Swedish party in the state. The 
 oppression of the Dissenters now became a political maxim ; 
 and, under the skilful direction of the Jesuits, it was pursued 
 so far as to leave them nothing besides the memory of 
 their former advantages, except fruitless petitions and 
 complaints. 
 
 Thus the storm was prepared here only after it had sub- 
 sided in other quarters ; and the consequences were easily 
 to be foreseen. In a country, the constitution and internal 
 feuds of which had for a long time opened the way to 
 foreign interference, these religious contests could not fail 
 to be of fatal effect as soon as any neighbouring power 
 learnt how to employ them. Catharine IL soon perceived 
 the advantages which she might derive from them; and 
 under the pretext of protecting the Dissenters laid the 
 foundation (1766) of the Russian power in Poland. 
 
 Shall I describe the fiirther series of events, the consecu- 
 tive scenes of that national tragedy? Shall I recall the 
 madness of the civil war, the insolence of the oppressor, the 
 violation of the rights of the people, the persecutions, such 
 as no nation has endured since the fall of Carthage ? The 
 cabinets of Europe have already too sore a testimony against 
 
 T 2 
 
276 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 them, in the cries of the victim which they offered up in 
 Prague as a sacrifice to their unhallowed policy. 
 
 The reader will rather turn his eyes in sorrow from that 
 desolating scene, and let them rest upon the cheering 
 prospect which is presented by the restoration, even though 
 partial, of this shattered state, and its establishment under a 
 better constitution. 
 
 THE OTHER COUNTRIES OF EUROPE. 
 
 The countries which we have hitherto mentioned complete 
 the sphere over which the revolution of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury extended its influence. Bursting forth in Germany, 
 the central point of Europe, it shook all around it with the 
 violence of an earthquake. Still, however, there were coun- 
 tries in this quarter of the world in which its impulse could 
 not be felt ; and it is the more interesting to examine these, 
 because the Reformation, if not positively important, was 
 negatively so to several of them. 
 
 While Russia, for the reasons which we have stated above, 
 was uninfluenced by it in the east of Europe, Spain and 
 Portugal were equally so in the west, and Italy in the south. 
 The geographical situation of these countries will not aflbrd 
 a sufficient explanation of this phenomenon ; mountains and 
 plains are no barriers to the progress of opinion. 
 
 It is true, the strict vigilance of the Spanish government 
 made it difficult for the new doctrines to gain admittance 
 there ; but in Italy the Inquisition held out no such terrors 
 as in Spain ; and who, moreover, will, in these days, doubt 
 that all the bulwarks of spiritual and worldly policy are too 
 feeble to restrain the current of ideas ? The causes of it lie 
 deeper, and can only be explained by the individual charac- 
 ters of these nations. The old religion was one evidently 
 designed rather for the feelings than the reason of its follow- 
 ers ; the new, while it rested every thing upon a change in 
 doctrinal points, and withdrew all that might affect the 
 senses from its form of worship, appealed for its influence to 
 the understanding, and despoiled both fancy and feeling 
 almost wholly of their idols. It was suited to the North, but 
 not to the South. The calm and investigating spirit of the 
 German nations found in it the nourishment which it re- 
 quired and sought for; and hence the geographical limits 
 
 -■•■ 
 
 
 9 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 217 
 
 of these, from the coasts of Scotland and Norway to the 
 Helvetian Alps, formed in their chief extent the limits of the 
 Reformation. The more vivid imagination and sensitive 
 feelings of the people of the South, especially of the softer 
 sex, found little to please them in its tenets. Who would 
 seek to deprive the women of Spain and Italy of their Ma- 
 donna and their saints ? The attempt would be a vain one, 
 or, if successful, with these accessories of religion, their 
 consolation and their peace would vanish also : 
 
 Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise.' 
 
 It was not, therefore, owing to the prohibitions of the 
 government, but to the character of the nations themselves, 
 that the Reformation found no support among them. Whe- 
 ther this was their gain or their loss can hardly now be a 
 question. By their almost total exclusion from that great 
 ferment of ideas, which in other countries of civilized 
 Europe gave activity and life to the human intellect, they 
 were thrown behind the general progress of this quarter of 
 the world ; and thus, while the example of Poland affords 
 from amidst its ruins a warning, that patriotism and the 
 most heroic spirit are but feeble supports to a nation, unless 
 guided by national improvement, these countries teach the 
 not less important truth, that it may not in the end prove 
 so advantageous to a state to have escaped the storms of a 
 revolution, as those who are the witnesses of it commouly 
 believe. 
 
 SECOND PART. 
 
 DEVELOPMENT OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE REFORMATION UPON 
 
 THE GENERAL POLITICS OF EUROPE. 
 
 The view which we have presented of the influence exer- 
 cised by the Reformation upon the individual condition and 
 constitution of nearly all the countries of Europe, will assist 
 us in the more general consideration of its effects upon the 
 politics of Europe as a body, 
 
 * (Ein wahn der uns begliickt 
 1st eine wahrheit werth, die uns zu boden driickt.) 
 
278 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 The interests which it called into life continued for a cen- 
 tury and a half to act as the mainspring of European poli- 
 tics ; and when, in the age of Lewis XIV., these gave way 
 to others — those of commerce — their impulse was weakened 
 only by degrees, and carried its operations even into the 
 eighteenth centuiy. 
 
 I propose to consider this extensive subject, in its main 
 features at least, under three points of view. 1st, As to the 
 organization of society in general. 2ndly, With regard to 
 the political balance or mutual relations of the states. 3rdly, 
 As to commerce and the colonial system. 
 
 I. The effects of the Reformation upon the organization 
 of society. 
 
 It is impossible that an event of such great practical im- 
 portance as the Reformation, should have taken place with- 
 out causing considerable changes in the constitution of civil 
 society. The fall of the papal hierarchy was of itself suffi- 
 cient for this in the countries which adopted the new doc- 
 trines. But there were other and more distant consequences, 
 which were at first perhaps beyond the reach of calculation. 
 
 The first and almost inevitable effect of the Reformation 
 upon civil society in general, was, that Religion became a 
 part of the constitutional basis of all governments. In the 
 middle ages the Catholic religion was universally dominant, 
 but the constitution was no where expressly founded upon it; 
 there was no where a direct law that it should be the religion 
 of the state; that its rulers should acknowledge no other. 
 Although Dissenters were not tolerated, and heretics, as they 
 were termed, were persecuted, this was no immediate affair 
 of the state, but of the Church and its superior ; if the state 
 concerned itself in it, as in the case of the Waldenses in 
 France, it was only at the desire of the latter. But when by 
 the Reformation the interests of politics and religion became 
 mutually involved, this condition of things was altered. 
 
 In the countries which had embraced Protestantism, the 
 new religion was almost universally declared to be that of 
 the state ; not only were its professors alone allowed the free 
 exercise of their rites, but many offices unconnected with 
 religion, as well as the right of sitting in the assemblies of 
 the nation, were confined to them ; in many it was made a 
 necessary condition of accession to the throne. 
 
 ' 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 279 
 
 The same thing took place in the Catholic states ; and 
 wherever the question was doubtful it was formally deter- 
 mined by treaties and articles of peace, which were often 
 dearly purchased. 
 
 It is true that the Christian religion is, by its doctrines, 
 totally unconnected with politics. It merely inculcates sub- 
 mission to existing authority, and decides nothing, as to the 
 constitution of states, with preference of any particular form. 
 Nor did any of the parties into which its advocates were se- 
 parated by the Reformation, introduce the subject into their 
 doctrinal canons; and although the more democratical church 
 government of the Lutherans, and especially of the stricter 
 sects, appeared to be favourable to republicanism, this had 
 no necessary connexion with the affairs of the state, nor 
 could have, except under temporary circumstances. 
 
 Experience has, in fact, abundantly shown, that the most 
 absolute monarchy, as well as the freest republic, are alike 
 compatible either with Catholicism or Protestantism. The 
 more unphilosophical, therefore, must that policy appear 
 which required that one or other of these should form the 
 basis of government, and thus breathed a spirit of intoler- 
 ance into the nations of Europe, for which they have been 
 obliged, even in our days, dearly to atone. Although heretics 
 were no longer brought to the stake, was it not sufficiently 
 degrading to be reduced into an inferior caste by the mere 
 tenure of a few opinions ? Was it not in the eye of reason 
 more than strange that a man might or might not hold the 
 lowest constable's office, in this place or that, according as 
 he believed, or disbelieved, the doctrine of transubstanti- 
 ation? An impartial observer, however, will attach less 
 blame to those who established such institutions, than to 
 those who allowed them to continue without any necessity. 
 It is easy to perceive, that at the time of their origin they 
 were the result of unavoidable circumstances. As soon and 
 as long as religious parties combine a political character 
 with their other and more peculiar one, it is under this cha- 
 racter that the state must contemplate them ; and the exclu- 
 sion of religious Dissenters, if not from the state altogether, 
 at least from all active share in its administration, may be a 
 requisite security. But what was absolutely necessary at 
 one time does not continue so for ever; and we might 
 
1 
 
 mmmn0m 
 
 280 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 therefore expect that the severity of these laws should have 
 been gradually diminished, even though there might have 
 been some hesitation in doing them away at once and alto- 
 gether. 
 
 And yet it needed a new revolution to induce the adop- 
 tion of these views by several of the first nations of Europe, 
 and among them, by our own. And can any one acquaint- 
 ed with the progress of events expect that even now this 
 example will be followed by all ; even the new constitution 
 of Spain strictly forbids the exercise of every form of wor- 
 ship except the Catholic. There certainly exists no truth 
 more simple, than, that every one is justly entitled to adore 
 his God after his own manner ; and, that the state requires 
 a religion, but not that it should be established as that of 
 the state.| The simplest truths, however, are those of which 
 men are in general least easily convinced, because they are 
 usually opposed to prejudices, and still more because they 
 clash with interests. But obstinately to refuse conviction 
 even after they have become the prevalent ideas of the day, 
 can be termed nothing else than to begin a contest with the 
 spirit of the age, the issue of which will in all probability 
 be fatal. 
 
 A s€co?id and not less general political consequence of 
 the Reformation was. The extension and increase of the 
 power of the princes of Europe. 
 
 , We include this among the most general consequences, 
 because it displayed itself not only in those countries which 
 adopted, but also in those which rejected, the Protestant 
 doctrines. 
 
 In the former this increase of power was derived from 
 several sources. In the first place, the revenues of the princes 
 were undoubtedly augmented by the confiscation of church 
 property. But, with the exception of Sweden, this aug- 
 mentation could hardly exercise any considerable influence 
 upon the great states of Europe. This was partly owing to 
 the character of the princes themselves ; and partly to the 
 absence of all those general ideas on political economy by 
 
 * It is here that the real question arises— If the state requires a religion, 
 can this be better secured than by an estabHshed church ? Professor Heeren 
 seems to think that it can, but he has here treated the subject too vaguely to 
 admit of our judging upon what grounds his opinion is formed. Tr. 
 
 281 
 
 which it might have been turned to advantage. Henry 
 VIII., who was the chief gainer, dissipated his large reve- 
 nues without aim or method. In Denmark the kings were 
 obliged to resign the better portion to their nobility ; and 
 the majority of the German princes were noble-minded 
 enough to apply the forfeited property of the Church to the 
 foundation of useful establishments, especially of those for 
 public education. 
 
 The fall of the hierarchy, however, was of itself suflficient 
 to make way for an increase of power in the princes. From 
 this time forth no exemptions could be claimed, no papal or 
 episcopal jurisdiction exercised within their dominions, un- 
 less by their permission. Foreign interference, which had 
 been so especially formidable to the weaker princes, now 
 ceased altogether, and they were left sole masters over their 
 own people. But the chief cause of their increase of power 
 lay still deeper, and was common alike to the Catholic and 
 the Protestant princes. The increased activity which the 
 religious and political interests of the Reformation had called 
 forth, necessarily tended to enlarge their sphere of action, 
 even though there was no express provision to that eflPect 
 introduced into the constitution. The influence of the Re- 
 formation in this respect upon the German princes, and 
 upon the empire, has been noticed above. No previous 
 sovereign of England had possessed such absolute power as 
 Elizabeth ; we have seen that the autocracy of the French 
 monarchs was grounded upon the fall of the Hugonots; 
 while the national freedom of Spain may be fairly said to 
 have owed its ruin to the continual wars in which its kings 
 were engaged, as defenders of the ancient faith, and to the 
 royal Inquisition which they established. 
 
 In this way the Reformation created a new order of things 
 in Europe. Its princes, by becoming masters of their own 
 dominions, through the cessation of the feuds in which they 
 had previously been engaged, found themselves in a situation 
 to extend their views to other countries, and upon this 
 foundation the subsequent structure of European politics 
 was raised. 
 
 A third change, of great importance to the condition of 
 civil society, was brought about, in the Protestant states at 
 least, by the altered position of the clergy. It is true, that 
 
 \/^ 
 
282 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 283 
 
 even in these countries they had by no means wholly lost 
 their political influence. The Reformation being in its fun- 
 damental character a doctrinal revolution, and the first ques- 
 tion, in the half political, half theological, disputes to which 
 it gave rise, being as to the admission or rejection of particu- 
 lar articles of belief, the divines became indispensable to the 
 princes, and were frequently adopted as their counsellors, 
 and even ministers, although with no direct title as such. 
 It requires but a slight acquaintance with the history of the 
 sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, to be aware of the per- 
 nicious consequences which resulted, in many instances, 
 from the blind enthusiasm of these zealots, who were too 
 frequently wont to consult their passions in the counsels 
 which they gave. Still, however, an impartial judge will 
 not deny that, on the whole, the clergy were brought nearer 
 to their proper character of teachers of the people, by the 
 Reformation ; and even in Catholic states it can hardly now 
 be doubted, that by the expulsion of the spiritual orders, 
 especially of that of the mendicant-friars, a very considerable 
 evil was removed. 
 
 It is true that another order took the place of these im- 
 mediately on their destruction, which, like the growth of the 
 ivy upon the oak, gradually wound itself round almost every 
 branch of the European system, and was even powerful 
 enough to bend many of them to its purpose ; the society 
 of the Jesuits, however, although it might not have arisen 
 had the Reformation not taken place, yet owed its first pro- 
 gress to the missions in which it was concerned. Any at- 
 tempt to point out the advantage which it afterwards derived 
 from these, would be as vain as the expectation of those who 
 believe that with the restoration of the order its former in- 
 fluence would be restored. The great law of the material 
 world — that " bodies once moved do not return to the same 
 place under the same conditions" — is equally binding upon 
 the political. But, besides these, there were other effects of 
 the Reformation upon society, which although more distant 
 were also far more important ; their visible connexion with 
 religion being, however, slight, it must be judged of only by 
 the results. 
 
 As it was the Reformation which first breathed a spirit 
 of activity into men's minds, it was natural that this should 
 
 \\ 
 
 be directed to subjects in immediate connexion with it, and 
 religion thus became the favourite topic of debate. But as 
 with activity a feeling of independence and a fondness for 
 inquiry were also produced, the powers which had been 
 called into existence were soon engaged upon other pursuits ; 
 the horizon had been expanded in every direction ; and 
 amidst the freedom of opinion thus created, whatever bore 
 upon civil society, its constitution, and perfection, became 
 the subject of universal attention. In this. Protestantism 
 was undeniably far advanced beyond Catholicism. 
 
 The great question, as to the relations in which the go- 
 vernment and the people should stand to each other, re- 
 ceived its first practical answer in the Protestant countries 
 of Europe ; and amidst all the modifications which the forms 
 of their constitutions assumed, it was in them for the first 
 time plainly perceived that the interests of the rulers and 
 the subjects are one and the same. Up to the Reformation 
 these had been formally distinct in all the great states of 
 Europe ; the people appeared to exist only that they might 
 furnish taxes ; the government, that it might indulge its ca- 
 prices; even the internal policy of Lewis XII., although 
 justly appreciated, was directed rather by his heart than his 
 head, and remained in those times without imitators. But 
 the Reformation, by restoring the freedom of men's minds, 
 imparted to them a loftier character ; and laid the found- 
 ations of that nobler political freedom, which may be as per- 
 fectly coexistent with the most absolute monarchy as with a 
 republic ; because it depends not upon the form of the con- 
 stitution, but upon the spirit of the government and of the 
 nation. The rejection of the maxim, that the people were 
 to be considered merely as instruments, and the open ac- 
 knowledgment on the part of the chief Protestant princes, 
 that they enjoyed their dignity solely for the advantage of 
 the people, gave rise to that more perfect system of political 
 economy, by which, as a general feature, the majority of the 
 Protestant states have been distinguished above the Catholic. 
 However absurd it would be to attempt to point out in 
 the Protestant religion, the causes of the erection of such 
 governments as those of Great Britian and of Prussia, it is 
 equally certain that, without Protestantism, such constitutions 
 and such modes of administration could never have been 
 
284 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 285 
 
 formed. To it, in fact, belongs the first vigorous exertions 
 of which the human intellect became capable, when it had 
 shaken off the fetters which had so long crippled and re- 
 strained it. It is true, that these examples were not lost 
 upon several of the Catholic states ; but we may fairly say, 
 that, when they discovered the need they had of such insti- 
 tutions, they resorted to their Protestant neighbours as pos- 
 sessing the models which they should imitate. Did not the 
 immortal Colbert form his views upon the policy which he 
 saw pursued in the Netherlands ? Did not Joseph II. aim at 
 rivalling the example set before him by Frederic the Great ? 
 Was not the progress of civil society among the small states 
 of Protestant Germany far beyond that of Catholic Italy ? 
 Was there, before the time of Leopold II., — who, by his 
 institutions in Tuscany, opened a path which the character 
 of the nation has prevented it from pursuing, — was there, I 
 say, a single state in Italy of which it could be said, that its 
 mode of government had become sensibly improved ? It is 
 in vain to seek an explanation of these phenomena in 
 chance, or in the character of the princes. The means of 
 acquiring knowledge and experience were too ample, the 
 succession of princes too long, to allow of such solutions of 
 the problem. 
 
 It was Protestantism which, although slowly, yet surely, 
 shed these blessings over the human race. And if Great 
 Britian has prevented the love of constitutional liberty from 
 becoming wholly extinct ; and, by its victory over the ad- 
 verse elements of society, has become the model upon which, 
 with certain varieties, the states of the continent are at this 
 moment forming their governments, has not all this been 
 produced by the same cause ? Would Spain, even that Spain 
 which most rigidly excludes Protestantism, ever have re- 
 ceived her new constitution without it ? And would not this 
 very constitution have been, in all human probability, more 
 usefully and excellently framed, had the light of Protestant- 
 ism shone down undimmed upon her people ? 
 
 II. Effects of the Reformation upon the mutual relations 
 of the states of Europe. 
 
 All other changes which the Reformation may have pro- 
 duced in the social condition of the nations of Europe, have 
 reference to the extension of their ideas, and are, therefore. 
 
 beyond the limits of this treatise. We proceed, then, to the 
 examination of our second question : viz. In what manner 
 did it acquire an influence upon the mutual relations of the 
 states of Europe ; or, in other words, upon the system of a 
 political balance of power ? 
 
 As this influence, however, was not always of the same 
 importance, nor of the same kind, it is requisite to a clear 
 view of the subject, that we should divide it into several 
 periods. And we shall hereafter see, that, in almost everj- 
 case, the middle and the end of the century afford data for 
 our division ; not merely in point of time, but according to 
 distinctions in the subject itself We shall thus have five 
 periods, of which the first will embrace the times of Charles 
 V. and Francis I., or the first half of the sixteenth century ; 
 the second, those of Philip II. and Elizabeth, or the latter 
 half of the same century ;--the third, those of Richelieu and 
 Gustavus Adolphus, being that of the thirty years' war, or 
 the first half of the seventeenth ;— the fourth, those of Lewis 
 XIV. and William III., or the second half of that century ; 
 while the last, in which there is no need of accurate divi- 
 sion, will take in the eighteenth century generally. 
 
 FIRST PERIOD, 1517-1556. 
 
 After the commencement of the sixteenth century, the 
 states of Europe, by interweaving their interests, and by the 
 alliances and counter-alliances which were thus caused, 
 formed a political system in a much higher sense of the word 
 than had been the case during the middle ages. The in- 
 crease of civilization, by creating so many new sources of 
 excitement, necessarily causes a greater complication of re- 
 lations among the states which it affects, and is of itself suf- 
 ficient to produce that character of unity, which gives an 
 interest to the histoiy of modern Europe. In an aggregate 
 of states, too, such as the European, the principle of a 
 balance of power became the more speedily developed, on 
 account of the great differences of strength which existed 
 amongst them. It was the immediate interest of all to pre- 
 vent any single state from acquiring such a pre-eminence 
 as would enable it to prescribe laws to the rest ; and in such 
 a case, the more unequal the power of the individual mem- 
 bers, the more frequent are the alliances ; and, consequently, 
 
286 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 287 
 
 the more complicated and firmer the mutual connexion of 
 the states. In a system of this kind, the most powerful is 
 taught, that the oppression or annihilation of a weaker state, 
 but one which it finds a useful ally, is far from being a 
 matter of indifference ; and thus states of the second, or 
 even of the third order, become elevated to a degree of 
 political importance which they could not otherwise attain ; 
 and which is the security upon which their very existence 
 depends. Mere selfishness must thus yield to policy ; and 
 since the most gifted men of our own times have recognised 
 the necessity of restoring, as far as possible, the shattered 
 edifice which the storms of the revolution shook to the earth, 
 the author who treats of it can hardly venture to doubt that 
 it is the only one worthy of an enlightened age. 
 
 The Reformation, for a considerable time, exercised the 
 principal influence upon the workings of this system, al- 
 though it cannot be said to have been the original cause of 
 its existence. The idea of a balance of power was spread 
 over Europe, with other political notions, by the Italians, 
 among whose states — perfectly independent as they were 
 up to the end of the fifteenth century — it had been planted, 
 watched over, and brought to maturity, and then again suf- 
 fered to decay and become useless ; but the almost incredi- 
 ble vacillation, which the general policy of the first fifteen 
 years of the sixteenth century shows to have prevailed, is an 
 evidence that the science was as yet without sure founda- 
 tions, and that the main principles of the practical pohtics 
 of Europe were still undermined. The history of no other 
 era presents such a web of projects and counter-projects, of 
 alliances and counter-alliances; but it is not improbable that 
 this very abundance was a token that the want of more se- 
 cure principles was felt, while these were the only remedies 
 which could be applied ; and thus the political system of 
 that day may be likened to an unwieldy mass, whose centre 
 of gravity has not yet been ascertained. The sudden rise of 
 the house of Hapsburg, by the union of the imperial throne 
 and the most important Austrian possessions with the 
 Spanish monarchy, put an end to this vacillation. The 
 character which France was destined to support in the ge- 
 neral scheme of European politics, was now at once deter- 
 mined ; the rivaliy of Francis I. and Charles V. laid the 
 
 I 
 
 foundation-stone of the system of the balance of power ; 
 while the policy of Henry VIIL, whose vanity was busied 
 with the idea that he should be able to decide the strife be- 
 tween the rivals, and the much more permanently important 
 aUiance made by Francis I., as early as 1530, with the Porte, 
 gave it an extent which embraced Europe from one end to 
 the other. Thus the emulation of the two chief powers of 
 the continent lent the first impulse to general politics, and 
 has continued to influence them, although with occasional 
 interruptions of its force. 
 
 Down to the middle of the sixteenth century, the Reform- 
 ation cannot be said to have interfered materially in de- 
 termining the relative position of these great powers, or m 
 advancing the political system of which we speak. The in- 
 effectual efforts of Francis I. to draw the members of the 
 league of Smalcald over to his interest, hardly deserve to be 
 noticed. But still, as even during that period the Reforma- 
 tion, in a certain degree, founded two new powers— Sweden 
 and Prussia— which were destined afterwards to rank among 
 the most important members of the European body of states, 
 it thus prepared the way for a future development of the 
 system. The new life which it breathed into the German 
 empire was of much more immediate importance : for as the 
 Protestant princes were obliged to unite in opposition to the 
 emperor and his supporters, a political balance was estab- 
 lished, which, as we have before said, remained for a long 
 time the principle of life upon which that body depended, 
 while it exercised a most decisive influence upon the politi- 
 cal system of Europe in general. Statesmen of enlightened 
 views soon came to the conclusion, that the disturbance of 
 the balance of power in Germany, by the suppression of the 
 Protestant party, would afford the house of Austria an op- 
 portunity of acquiring the supremacy in that country, and 
 thus entail the disturbance of the political balance of Europe 
 itself; this is amply proved by the share taken by Sweden 
 and France in the thirty years war, and, at a still earlier 
 period, by the alliance between Henry II. and Maurice of 
 Saxony. 
 
 The reason why the Reformation did not, and could not, 
 acquire any immediate influence over the politics of Europe 
 was evidently this, that neither of the great powers before 
 
 ■\ 
 
288 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 mentioned espoused its cause. Had Francis I. allowed it a 
 free entrance into France, had the Protestant doctrines be- 
 come prevalent in that kingdom, then the limits of the reli- 
 gious differences throughout Europe would have decided 
 those of the political. But as this was not the case, the 
 rivalry between France and the house of Hapsburg afforded 
 the Reformation no opportunity of acquiring influence from 
 the struggle. In order to make it the mainspring of Euro- 
 pean politics other circumstances were necessary ; and these 
 the latter half of the sixteenth century produced. These 
 may be easily seen in the Revolution of the Netherlands^ 
 and the Introduction of a new Rule of Faith into England, 
 Both of these, however, as well in point of time as of their 
 reaction upon the rest of Europe, are so closely connected 
 that they do not admit of a separate consideration. 
 
 SECOND PERIOD, 1556—1603. 
 
 No other event of this period acquired so rapid, so great, 
 and at the same time so durable, an influence upon the ge- 
 neral politics of Europe, as the Revolution of the United 
 Netherlands. 
 
 Its origin may be reckoned among the consequences of 
 the Reformation. 
 
 The limited abilities of Philip II. would not allow of his 
 raising himself above the prejudices of his education and his 
 age ; his pride and tyranny would not be satisfied with the 
 use of any but violent means ; while his unwearied activity 
 served only to fan the flame which it sought to extinguish. 
 
 Thus he was himself the founder of the new republic, 
 and here, as elsewhere, freedom was the child of despotism. 
 
 From the very first this revolution acquired, not merely 
 a political tendency, but one which was directed towards 
 the general politics of Europe. The insurgents had to sus- 
 tain a contest with one of the first powers of Europe ; and 
 although an impartial historian cannot deny them the credit 
 of having made good their own cause by their own strength, 
 yet they were themselves very far from being convinced of 
 the possibility of so doing, and believed themselves obliged 
 to look around for assistance from without. By their deal- 
 ings with France and England — and in neither case were 
 these dealings without results, (though more effectual in the 
 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 289 
 
 latter than in the former) — the interests of the scarce-formed 
 republic became interwoven with those of the chief powers 
 of Europe ; and born, like Minerva, with arms in its hand, 
 like Minerva, too, it at once took its seat in the council of 
 the gods. 
 
 By the intervention of foreign powers in the Netherlands, 
 a new political system was formed in the vrest of Europe. 
 Had not France been occupied by its religious wars at 
 home, which made it impossible for her kings, of themselves 
 too weak, to take an effectual share in the disputes of other 
 states, she would have found no difficulty in uniting the new 
 republic with herself by secure ties ; as this, however, was 
 not done, Elizabeth reaped the advantage of the situation in 
 which her neighbours were placed. 
 
 As she had herself restored the Protestant religion in Eng- 
 land, and had founded her power upon its maintenance, 
 her interests accorded with those of the Netherlands on this 
 important point; and an alliance between the two states 
 might, under these circumstances, be naturally expected. 
 But however much we may admire the prudence and mo- 
 deration which Elizabeth displayed in this most brilliant 
 portion of her reign, it was yet impossible for her fully to 
 determine the ultimate consequences of her acts. As the 
 most powerful of the Protestant princes of Europe, she was 
 universally considered the champion of that religion ; while 
 Philip 11. was, on the other hand, acknowledged as the de- 
 fender of the Catholic faith. Thus religion and politics 
 became more closely united, and the doctrine, that Catho- 
 licism was a support of absolute power, while Protestantism 
 favoured the freedom of the people, although but partially 
 true and not formally acknowledged, became gradually de- 
 veloped, and was adopted as the favourite maxim of more 
 than one cabinet ; nay, finally, cost the Stuarts their throne. 
 The former of the two propositions it would be difficult to 
 prove, while the latter is true only inasmuch as a Protestant 
 party under a Catholic government might, by oppression, 
 be rendered rebellious, and thus become dangerous to it. 
 
 Thus, in the last half of the sixteenth century, the poli- 
 tical system of Europe assumed a different form from that 
 which distinguished it in the first. France and Austria were 
 then the chief states of Europe, and the balance of power 
 
290 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 291 
 
 depended upon their emulation ; but as France was now 
 occupied with its own internal dissensions, and Austria, its 
 strength much diminished by the separation from Spain, 
 was kept inactive by the incapacity of Rudolf II., Spain 
 and England stepped forward in their stead. In the rivalry 
 between the two former powers, religion had little to do ; 
 in that of the latter, religion and politics were inseparably 
 united. In the one case, every thing depended upon the 
 forces by land ; in the other, the navy was of great import- 
 ance, the army of hardly any : while from the defeat of the 
 invincible armada, Europe dates the use of the term "Na- 
 val Powers," which, till then, the science of politics either 
 did not admit at all, or understood but partially. 
 
 Such were the elements of the new system of which the 
 republic of the Netherlands became every year a more dis- 
 tinguished constituent. It soon attained to a separation 
 from Spain, though such an act was far from its original 
 design ; and quickly reached a degree of importance which 
 rendered the assistance of any foreign power superfluous. 
 But the path of fame upon which it entered was new to the 
 ambition of Europe, whose nations gazed in wonder upon 
 the goal to which it led. Even while its existence as a state 
 was yet uncertain, this upstart power grasped the whole 
 commerce of the world as its portion, and thus supplied 
 itself with resources for a struggle which was longer and 
 more desperate than that of Greece with Persia. 
 
 Thus, in the midst of the monarchies of Europe, arose a 
 republic which first presented this quarter of the globe with 
 the example of a commercial state supported by naval power; 
 and if, as we have shown, its rise may be attributed to the 
 Reformation, to the Reformation also belongs the principle 
 of life which commerce served to breathe into politics, after 
 the direct influence of religion had expired. 
 
 THIRD PERIOD, 1603—1648. 
 
 In the first half of the seventeenth century the sy:tem of 
 a balance of power in Europe was both altered and extended ; 
 the influence of the Reformation, however, far from being 
 diminished during that period, showed itself in its greatest 
 force. The death of PhiHp II., (1598,) and of Elizabeth, 
 (1603,) put an end to the rivalry of Spain and England, 
 
 which had, in fact, been mainly founded upon the personal 
 dislike which these crowned heads entertained towards each 
 other; and England, falling into the indolent hands of 
 James I., was soon in a situation which precluded any effec- 
 tual participation in the affairs of other countries ; while 
 amidst the troubles which attended the reign of his unfor- 
 tunate son, it was totally shut out from them. 
 
 On the other hand, France had recovered her internal 
 security since the accession of the Bourbons ; and the ju- 
 dicious government of Henry IV. and Sully, had in a won- 
 derfully short time healed up the wounds inflicted by the 
 civil war. France then resumed her proper station in the 
 political system of Europe ; her old jealousy of the Spanish- 
 Austrian house revived of itself; but in the schemes of 
 Henry IV. it was considered only as the means to an end, 
 only as the foundation of a new system by which Europe 
 was to be remodelled. 
 
 It is needless to dwell upon the celebrated project of a 
 European repubHc ; the prosecution of which would either 
 have wholly spared this quarter of the world a war of thirty 
 years, or, which is more probable, have accelerated its com- 
 mencement. With the death of its author (1610) not only 
 did this scheme pass away, but instead of rivalry with Spain 
 a friendly connexion was established ; and France, falling a 
 prey to the petty factions of the court, sank back into a 
 state of weakness and vacillation, which ended only when 
 Richelieu (1624) laid his firm grasp upon the helm of state. 
 But though the murder of Henry IV. prevented France 
 from taking the first part in the great tragedy of which Eu- 
 rope was to be the stage, it yet delayed, although it could 
 not wholly avert, the tragedy itself The scene of it was 
 already chosen, and as Germany during the thirty years 
 war obtained this melancholy preference, its fate became 
 connected with the destinies of Europe. 
 
 The general point of view from which the origin of this 
 war must be considered, has been given above. After the 
 religious peace of Augsburg — a peace far too easily ob- 
 tained — the maintenance of a balance between the two par- 
 ties had become the constant object of German politics. 
 But, if we throw a glance over the internal affairs of the em- 
 pire, from the date of that peace till the commencement of 
 
 VJ 
 
 u 2 
 
292 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 293 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 the great war, (1556 — 1618,) we shall see, at once, how 
 feebly order was maintained. Among the articles of the 
 peace itself, the reservatum ecclesiasticum,^ which the Pro- 
 testants did not acknowledge, had laid a train to light up 
 future wars. But, besides this, there were ample opportu- 
 nities for mutual complaint ; the old party could, with diffi- 
 culty, bring itself to consider the new as possessed of equal 
 rights with its own ; and, without tracing the proofs of it 
 historically, we may feel morally convinced that the Protest- 
 ants were usually wrong. Hence religious grievances formed 
 a standing article of discussion in the diets of the time ; and, 
 had not the Turkish war occasionally compelled a temporary 
 union, and directed public attention to other matters, peace 
 could hardly have been so long maintained. The personal 
 qualities of Ferdinand I., and still more of his worthy suc- 
 cessor, Maximilian II., were of great effect in preserving 
 quiet for a time ; but under the protracted and sluggish reign 
 of Rudolph II., the materials of discontent accumulated so 
 rapidly that the two parties stood, even then, in arms against 
 each other. In 1608 the Protestant union was formed, 
 which caused, in turn, the organization of the Catholic 
 
 league. 
 
 In the mean time, however, the Protestant party was so 
 unfortunate as to be divided against itself The religious 
 separation of the Lutherans from the Calvinists had had its 
 political influence in Germany as elsewhere ; and the jea- 
 lousy, which existed between the electoral houses of Saxony 
 and the Palatinate, especially after the latter had put itself 
 at the head of the union, estranged the former from the com- 
 mon cause. If any balance of power, therefore, had before 
 existed between the two parties, it was now at an end. But 
 the greatest evil by which the Protestants were oppressed, 
 was the want of a leader of sufficient power and ability 
 to give firmness to their confederation; for without this 
 the first active measures of a party lead to its own disso- 
 lution. 
 
 After the death of Maurice of Saxony, the Protestants 
 were not fortunate enough to reckon among their princes — 
 
 * The reservatum ecclesiasticum respected the question, Whether the future 
 freedom of religion should be extended only to the secular orders, or also to 
 the ecclesiastic^.— V. Heeren's Manual, p. 47. 
 
 certainly not among those who formed the union— a single 
 man who joined the requisite talents with the requisite in- 
 fluence, even in a moderate degree ; while the league was 
 admirably provided with a leader in Prince Maximilian of 
 
 Bavaria. j ^ i 
 
 Thus the elements of disorder were scattered, not only 
 throughout Germany, but in other countries, and especially 
 in the chief of those which constituted the Austrian mon- 
 archy ; and when Ferdinand II. was named as successor to the 
 throne, (1617,) it became evident from his known impatience 
 of temper, that the crisis would be immediately brought on. 
 No one could determine, however, where the first blow 
 would be struck ;— as it chanced, this was in Bohemia— but 
 the war would probably have been the same in all material 
 points had it occurred elsewhere. The fire of dissension 
 now spread with fearful rapidity, and wrapped half Europe 
 in its flames, which, after raging thirty years, were only par- 
 tially got under; their total extinction being delayed till 
 
 eleven years later (1659). . , ,, 
 
 Although any thing like detail relative to this war is wholly 
 beyond our present limits, we must yet trace out the chief 
 epochs in it, that we may thus show the extensive changes 
 in the political system of Europe, of which, by means of it, 
 the Reformation became the cause. 
 
 We are by no means to imagine that the thirty years war 
 was, from beginning to end, conducted upon one plan, or 
 even directed to one object. No one, in fact, could at its 
 commencement have anticipated either its duration or extent. 
 The saying of Cato the elder, that, " war feeds itself," proved 
 here, as elsewhere, unfortunately, too true. From time to 
 time, and just as the flames appeared on the point of being 
 extinguished, some new interest would be called into action 
 and revive them with fresh fuel. Nevertheless, amidst all 
 changes of affairs, and intermixture of political interests, 
 religion formed the groundwork of the whole ; and the thirty 
 years' war must, therefore, in a general view, be considered 
 as an eff*ect of the Reformation. 
 
 In its origin, it was merely a civil war, confined to the 
 Austrian monarchy, and having for its object the subjection 
 of the Bohemian insurgents. This object was fully attained 
 by the battle of Prague ; the war therefore might have ap- 
 
■^^-^ ,•■», 
 
 294 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 peared to be at an end. But the ease with which success 
 had been obtained, led to new projects. 
 
 The conquered party in Bohemia was in connexion with 
 the Protestants of the empire, and had chosen a king in the 
 person of the unfortunate Frederic of the Palatinate, who 
 was chief of the Protestant union. This prince, deprived of 
 his hereditary possessions, and under the ban of the empire, 
 was now wandering as an exile, attended by two adven- 
 turers, and a handftil of troops. His territory lay open for 
 attack, and seemed to promise a secure booty. Not only 
 his own incapacity, but also that of the other members of 
 the union, had been so clearly proved, that it did not seem 
 to require even another battle such as that of Prague, to anni- 
 hilate the Protestant party — especially as it had already been 
 weak enough to allow itself to be disarmed without opposition. 
 
 It is probable, however, that the latter object may not 
 have entered directly into the views of the emperor at that 
 time ; but the more it could be brought forward the greater 
 was his temptation : and the more speedily he was opposed, 
 the more confident became the opinion that the supremacy 
 of Germany was at stake. 
 
 But about this time (1621) war broke out again in an- 
 other country. After a twelve years' truce between Spain 
 and the Netherlands, Philip IV., although but lately come 
 to the throne, began the contest afresh. And this new war 
 almost necessarily fed, as it was in turn fed by, the troubles 
 in Germany. 
 
 In this case, as in the other, religion was the cause of 
 difference ; while the houses of Spain and Austria, which 
 had long been estranged, had at the accession of Ferdinand 
 II. become again so closely united that the interests of the 
 two were now the same. The war, then, was carried on 
 here and in Germany at the same time : but with its change 
 of object it had acquired a higher degree of importance — 
 the subjection of Bohemia was a matter which touched 
 Austria alone ; that of Germany and the Netherlands was a 
 subject of interest to all Europe. 
 
 The interference of foreign powers in the German war, 
 was naturally to be expected under these circumstances; 
 and France, above all, must have found in its ancient rivalry 
 with Austria abundant reasons for preventing the supe- 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 295 
 
 riority, which the conquest of Germany would have given 
 to that power. But then, France, until the ministry of 
 Richelieu, (1624,) was under a divided government, and 
 euided by no steady system of policy ; and even he was at 
 first too much occupied with the internal affairs of the 
 kingdom to take an active part. Still, however, he in- 
 trigued in the north of Europe : and it was he who animated 
 Gustavus Adolphus to come forth as the avenger of the 
 Protestant cause, after the battle of Lutter (1626) had 
 checked the attempt of Christian IV. of Denmark to inter- 
 fere in the affairs of Germany. . , • 
 
 This first participation of the north of Europe m the in- 
 terests of the south and west, formed an entirely new feature 
 in the European system, and was as important in its conse- 
 quences as it was new. Up to this time the northern pow- 
 ers had formed a system of their own, which, partly owing 
 to the Polish and Swedish wars— these being also caused 
 by religious interests, which had become mixed with family 
 feuds— had for forty years been firmly kept together ; be- 
 tween it and the rest of Europe, however, there had as yet 
 been no permanent causes of contact. 
 
 These the Reformation produced ; and by its means was 
 Europe for the first time framed into one political system. 
 At a time when it was deeply felt that the maintenance of 
 the balance in Germany was extremely uncertain, the want 
 of a northern power sufficiently formidable to oppose Aus- 
 tria became evident. This part Sweden undertook, and 
 thus arose a new order of things in European politics. 
 
 There can be no doubt that Sweden was the state best 
 qualified by its superior organization, and especially by its 
 possession of such valuable lands, as it in those days held, 
 upon the Baltic or gulf of Finland, for the task which it 
 undertook; nor is this less certain because the sequel 
 showed that the extraordinary abilities of its king were of 
 more consequence than its internal resources. The splendid 
 career of Gustavus Adolphus ended early by his death at 
 Lutzen ; and yet late enough to secure to Sweden its influ- 
 ence in the affairs of Germany, and at the same time in 
 those of Europe. Even the changes caused by the fortune 
 of war, had little effect upon the position thus gained ; espe- 
 cially when even Richelieu, after the defeat at Nordlmgen, 
 
 tl 
 
 if] 
 
 
296 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 (1634,) ceased to be a mere spectator. From this time 
 Sweden ranked among the first powers of Europe, and the 
 famous treaty of Westphalia appeared to secure it in this 
 place, by the important possessions in Germany which were 
 by it assigned to the Swedes. 
 
 It has been often questioned whether Gustavus Adol- 
 phus, had he lived, would not have been fully as dangerous 
 an enemy to the freedom of Germany as Austria was. The 
 answer to this will be easy, if we suppose — what, in the case 
 of such a prince, we surely may — viz. that he would have 
 obeyed the dictates of sound policy. There was only one 
 character by adhering to which Sweden could maintain 
 itself in the superiority which it had attained— that of the 
 head of the Protestant party in Germany. As head of this 
 party, it had obtained the most decided influence over the 
 affairs of Germany. As such it still stood forth as the state 
 which opposed Austria. As such it was the natural ally of 
 France; and, as such — a consequence of all these advan- 
 tages — it maintained its rank among the first powers of 
 Europe. If such a supremacy as this — which might doubt- 
 less be oppressive to more than one state of the German 
 empire, since every thing depended upon the mode in which 
 it was exercised— if this, I say, is to be termed the annihil- 
 ation of the freedom of Germany, it must necessarily have 
 been included in the scheme of Gustavus Adolphus. But 
 if he aimed at more than this, he himself marred the glorious 
 character he had undertaken, and sought that which he could 
 not long have held. The dominion of the weaker over the 
 stronger, which temporary causes produce, may last for a 
 while, but it is against nature that it should be of long dur- 
 ation. It was impossible that Germany should have been 
 reduced into a province by Sweden. 
 
 The peace of Westphalia put an end to both the German 
 war and that in the Netherlands. This peace was prized 
 more than any ever was before, and that often beyond its 
 deserts. It caused, undoubtedly, three important results ; 
 since, in the first place, it secured the constitution of Ger- 
 many, and with it the existence and the rights of both par- 
 ties. In the second, it produced a recognition of the inde- 
 pendence of the republic of the United Netherlands. And 
 in the third, it determined the relation in which Sweden 
 
 apv 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 897 
 
 and France should severally stand to Germany. Neverthe- 
 less, however important these points may be, and with how- 
 ever much justice we may consider this treaty as the basis 
 of the German constitution, such as it was up to the revolu- 
 tions of our own day ; too much is undoubtedly ascribed to 
 it, when, as often is the case, it is also considered as the 
 origin of the balance of power in Europe. It never occurred 
 to the negotiators of the peace to regulate the general prin- 
 ciples of European policy, nor indeed could it, since they 
 had no commission so to do. The most important and in- 
 tricate relations existing between the chief powers of Europe 
 were, therefore, naturally left unexamined, nay, in part 
 wholly unmentioned. The war between Spain and France 
 lasted full ten years more, down to the Pyrenean peace ; the 
 question whether Portugal should maintain its independence 
 of Spain, was still longer doubtful. Not a thought even was 
 bestowed upon the continental relations of England, because 
 in those days such relations were not in existence ; while 
 those of the east of Europe remained undetermined in their 
 main features till the peace of Oliva, which was twelve years 
 later (1660). Although, therefore, we find the Westphalian 
 peace treated in historical works as the origin of the balance 
 of power in Europe, this is only one of the many instances 
 which occur, of historians dealing with that as a general prin- 
 ciple, which can be truly affirmed only in a narrower sense. 
 
 The first half, therefore, of the seventeenth century was the 
 period during which the political influence of the Reformation 
 upon almost every part of the European political system was 
 at its height, especially since England was also involved, at 
 this very time, in civil wars, caused by religious sects, and 
 leading to the establishment of a national church ; and the 
 party of the Hugonots was forcibly disarmed in France. 
 
 But the springs of action in morals and in politics gra- 
 dually lose their strength, like those in material mechanism : 
 and this was the case with the Reformation. The proof of 
 it we shall presently find in the history of the second part 
 of the seventeenth century. 
 
 FOURTH PERIOD, 1648—1702. 
 
 The government of France is entitled to the credit of 
 having been the first to raise itself above the narrow views 
 
(i 
 
 •'1^— -•■%-! ---I I ■ 
 
 «98 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 to which the bigotry of the other powers confined them. 
 Richelieu, by leaguing himself with Gustavus Adolphus — a 
 cardinal with a Protestant king — was the means of pointing 
 out to Europe that political and religious interests might be 
 separately considered. 
 
 The age of Lewis XIV. caused the gradual spread of 
 this opinion. His political schemes had little to do with 
 religion, and the latter interest would at that time have 
 wholly lost its influence upon the political progress of Eu- 
 rope, had not one of its chief states, viz. England, been still 
 powerfully affected by it. The conflict of factions, in whose 
 causes of strife religion mingled with politics, had been too 
 fierce in that country to allow the ferment to be stilled at 
 once, even by the Restoration (1660) ; and the mad policy 
 of the last Stuarts gave it too good cause for continuance. 
 For whilst the introduction of Catholicism appeared to them 
 to promise that of absolute power, and was on that account 
 their object, the nation, on the other hand, came to the firm 
 conviction that the national freedom depended upon the 
 maintenance of the Protestant faith. The state of constant 
 alliance in which Lewis XIV. stood with both Charles 11. 
 and James II., gave this maxim a practical influence over 
 the rest of Europe ; and thus Lewis XIV. was forced, wholly 
 against his will, to assist in raising William III., his most 
 zealous opponent, to the throne of England, upon the fall of 
 the Stuarts. 
 
 If this occurrence may be considered as a consequence 
 of the Reformation, it must also, to a certain degree, be 
 considered the last by which it exercised a general influence 
 upon the politics of Europe. This important change laid 
 the foundation of the antipathy which has since existed be- 
 tween England and France. But, although the Pretender 
 was occasionally used as a bugbear to England, it was fed 
 by means very different from those supplied by religion, 
 whose place was now occupied by commerce. And as the 
 republic of the United Netherlands has ever since attached 
 itself to England, the naval powers formed, in the scales of 
 Europe, the principal counter-balance to the great influence 
 of France. 
 
 Even in the German empire, where the influence of reli- 
 gion upon politics might have been chiefly expected to 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 299 
 
 remain in force, it now died away ;. and a very different 
 result was in preparation, from what the most prescient 
 soothsayer could have foretold at the time of the Westpha- 
 lian peace. The schemes of conquest nourished by Lewis 
 XIV., and the renewed aggression of the Turks, (who, for- 
 tunately, had been engaged against the Persians in Asia 
 during the thirty years' war,) put Germany in such a posi- 
 tion as to oblige the two religious parties to lay aside their 
 quarrel, although they retained their hatred to each other. 
 Thus the pressure of circumstances caused alliances in 
 which religion had no share ; and some of the most power- 
 ful Protestant princes might be seen uniting their arms with 
 those of the emperor, in order to oppose themselves, at one 
 time, in the west, at another, in the east, to the enemy who 
 pressed in upon them. The just apprehensions which had 
 been caused by the superiority of Sweden, began to fade 
 away of themselves, after the battle of FehrbeUin (1675). 
 The profusion of Christina, and the wild projects of her 
 successors, had exhausted the kingdom ; and although the 
 wonderful abilities and extraordinary undertakings of 
 Charles XII. enabled him, for a season, to raise the spirit of 
 the nation even above its natural pitch, and to fit it for un- 
 heard-of exertions, yet, even at that time, it was suflSciently 
 evident that a country so little favoured by nature, must 
 needs be left behind amidst the growing prosperity of the 
 rest of Europe. But though Sweden was thus on the de- 
 cline, there was another state in the north of Germany 
 which was destined to supply, ay, and more than supply, 
 its place in the politics of Europe. 
 
 It has been pointed out above in what degree the Prus- 
 sian monarchy owed its origin to the Reformation ; but, 
 though this power may in a certain sense be said to have 
 succeeded to the influence of Sweden, yet there was a 
 marked difference in the mode in which this influence was 
 exercised upon the pohtical system of Europe. While the 
 latter kingdom, owing to its unfavourable geographical posi- 
 tion, and the scantiness of its resources, could not possess 
 any great influence over that system, except under a con- 
 fluence of fortunate circumstances, the influence of Prussia, 
 as soon as the kingdom attained a certain degree of strength, 
 necessarily became far more firm and lasting. 
 
300 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 sot 
 
 I 
 
 Up to this time, there had been wanting in tlie machinery 
 of Europe, a state which might keep the North and South 
 securely together. This was supphed by Sweden for a time, 
 but owing to the causes above remarked, it could not long 
 maintain such a position. Prussia, since its accession to the 
 first rank of European powers, has been enabled, by its situ- 
 ation as a country, extending alike to the east and the west, 
 to supply this want. And the spread of its dominions in both 
 those quarters makes it probable that it will continue to do so. 
 
 FIFTH PERIOD, 1800. 
 
 The causes, owing to which the Reformation had begun, 
 even in the last century, to lose its political influence, are 
 evident from what we have already said ; and the same 
 causes, joined to others still more powerful, operated in a 
 still stronger degree during the period which we are now to 
 consider. As we are taught, generally, by the nature of 
 things, that springs of moral action retain their vigour for a 
 certain time, and then begin to relax, so we learn from his- 
 tory that, once lost, such energies can never be restored. 
 They operate by means of the immediate relation in which 
 they stand to the prevalent opinions of the day; and as 
 these, according to the laws of our nature, are subject to 
 constant although gradual changes, the energies dependent 
 upon them must be so likewise. 
 
 The age of Lewis XIV., especially the first half of it, down 
 to the peace of Nimeguen, had so much to attract the eye, 
 that amidst the crowd of new and important occurrences, 
 which presented itself to the attention and the admiration of 
 the French, the views of that nation could not but be greatly 
 extended. And although the estimation in which matters 
 of religion were held cannot, on the whole, be said to have 
 decreased, yet, as art and literature became more flourish- 
 ing, their productions divided public attention. 
 
 What occurred in France, occurred gradually in the rest 
 of civilized Europe; and it became every day better under- 
 stood that there were other objects, besides those of religious 
 controversy, upon which men's minds might be engaged. 
 We must be careful, however, not to push this assertion too 
 fiir. The spirit of intolerance had, owing to the causes 
 above explained, become too deeply impressed upon tlie 
 
 minds of the European nations; and, for a long time to 
 come, not only maintained its influence upon private life, 
 but showed itself without disguise in the administration of 
 their internal affairs. The revocation of the edict of Nantes 
 (by which Lewis XIV., in spreading the industry and skill 
 of French artisans over the rest of Europe, unintentionally 
 repaid it, in some degree, for the evils which his wars had 
 caused) gave proof of what we say, in France ; while by the 
 famous clause which was added to the fourth article of the 
 treaty of Ryswick, Lewis XIV. also provided a new cause of 
 dissension between the Catholics and Protestants in Ger- 
 many, the operation of which was for a long time percepti- 
 ble. But, powerful as might still be the influence of this 
 destructive spirit, in the manner which we have now de- 
 scribed, it as undoubtedly ceased to interfere with the mutual 
 relations of the different states, and the higher system of 
 politics upon which these depend. It was from the higher 
 regions that the clouds of prejudice first disappeared, but a 
 long interval elapsed before the sun of knowledge was strong 
 enough to drive them out from those beneath. In the mean 
 time it was chiefly from individual circumstances, as they 
 arose, that politics received their direction. 
 
 While the enterprises of Lewis XIV., and the wealth 
 amassed by the successful trade and manufactures of the 
 Dutch, had, during the last period, assigned different spheres 
 to religion and to politics, the vacant succession to the throne 
 of Spain gave rise, at the close of the century, to a new 
 source of interest ; and one so great and important, that the 
 whole of Western Europe was occupied by it for nearly fif- 
 teen years. During the same, and even a longer period, a 
 war of equal fiiry was carried on in the East, by which that 
 quarter of Europe was subjected to a complete revolution of 
 affairs. A power of the first rank was forming itself here, 
 which could have nothing to do with either the Catholic or 
 the Protestant interest, since it belonged to neither of the 
 two parties — and the glorious career of Eugene and Marl- 
 borough, of Charles and Peter, presented a scene so different 
 from any that Europe had hitherto beheld — the duration of 
 it Was so long, and the impression which remained from it 
 so deep, that it was impossible to return to the opinions by 
 which politics had previously been governed. The position 
 
sw 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 of almost all the powers of Europe was thereby wholly al- 
 tered ; and this change, joined to the mediocrity of talent 
 displayed by most of the regents and ministers who immedi- 
 ately succeeded, caused an uncertainty in general politics 
 which, from 1720 to 1740, was not unlike that which cha- 
 racterized the first sixteen years of the sixteenth century. 
 There was the same abundance, and the same change of al- 
 liances and counter-alliances— France united itself with 
 England, and Austria made the recognition of the Pragmatic 
 sanction the chief object of her policy ! But in all this re- 
 ligion had no share; the hereditary enmity of France and 
 England seemed to be lost in their alliance ; and a trading 
 company to the East Indies was considered of far higher im- 
 portance than any theological dispute. To put an end to 
 these continual changes in the politics of Europe there was 
 wanted the genius of some great man, who should possess 
 sufficient independence to act for himself, and sufficient 
 strength to make his plans effective. This want was supplied 
 by Frederic 11. The treaty of Breslau (1742) laid the 
 foundation of a new system for the maintenance of the 
 balance of political power in Europe, of which Prussia and 
 Austria were the chief members, while France, by sidmg 
 first with the one and then with the other, degraded herself 
 to the rank of a second-rate power. 
 
 The difierence in religion between the two monarchies 
 had, however, no influence in this; even in the German 
 empire, where the irritation of the two parties was most 
 likely to continue, it gradually disappeared ; and every thing 
 went to prove that religion had lost its power as a spring of 
 action in politics, and could be misapplied for the purposes 
 of faction at utmost only in a nation which, like that of the 
 Poles, had taken no real share in the beneficial progress of 
 political knowledge. 
 
 It thus became possible that Europe should be shaken by 
 a new and mighty revolution, in which religion had no fur- 
 ther share than that the necessity of its existence in the dif- 
 ferent states became the more evident, the greater the efforts 
 which were made to destroy it. And finally, that very 
 country, among the foremost of whose ancient constitutional 
 principles was that of the greatest possible maintenance of 
 religious equality among its classes, when it was lately en- 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 303 
 
 gi^ed in changing its form of government, seems to have 
 thought that an incidental notice at the close of the discus- 
 sion was sufficient for matters the consideration of which 
 would formerly have been its first care ; nay, it is possible 
 that they might not have been alluded to at all, had they 
 not been connected with other questions which still retained 
 their importance. 
 
 III. Effects of the Reformation upon Commerce and the 
 Colonial System. 
 
 The third point of view in which we have to consider the 
 political effects of the Reformation, is that which regards the 
 influence exercised by it upon trade and the colonies. Per- 
 haps, at first sight, this influence may appear so distant, as 
 hardly to be considered within the circle of our inquiry; 
 but we shall easily succeed in showing how imperfect it 
 would be should we pay no attention to this subject. 
 
 The Reformation created the republic of the United 
 Netherlands, and, through it, the trade of Europe with the 
 whole world. But, however clear this truth is, it may per- 
 haps be objected to it, that commerce would have spread 
 without the assistance of the Reformation, since the passage 
 to both Indies had been previously discovered, and both 
 Spain and Portugal had already set the example. But, put- 
 ting aside the fact, that what might perhaps hoy e happened 
 cannot enter into our estimate, thus much still appears cer- 
 tain, viz. that without the Reformation trade would have 
 made much slower progress, and might perhaps never have 
 been brought to that height which it has really attained. It 
 needed that bold and enterprising nation which sprang 
 from the necessity of the circumstances in which it was 
 placed, and which, regarding commerce only as the source 
 of its freedom and its existence, devoted itself to the pursuit 
 with all the energy which it could command. 
 
 After the year 1595 the Dutch speedily, and in all quar- 
 ters, surpassed those who till now had governed the Indies. 
 The prosperity of Portugal was already checked by its un- 
 fortunate union with Spain (1580—1640) ; and the narrow 
 policy upon which the colonial trade of Spain itself was con- 
 ducted, rendered it impossible that any general system of 
 commerce should spring from it. On the other hand, how 
 rapid was the progress of this trade in the hands of the 
 
S04 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES 
 
 OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 305 
 
 Dutch ; and how much more rapid even might it have been 
 had it been freed at the right moment from the fetters of 
 monopoly ! May not this, however, which must be allowed 
 as regards the Dutch, be also fairly alleged, although in a 
 less degree, of the English? Was it not during the reign of 
 Elizabeth that the Drakes and Howards of England unfurled 
 her flag upon the most distant seas? Was it not the spirit of 
 Protestantism which gave them the victory over the invin- 
 cible armada, and thus enabled them to lay the foundations 
 of that dominion of the seas, and that system of universal 
 commerce, to which no previous ages ever offered a parallel? 
 Finally, was it not this spirit which animated the free mari- 
 time towns of Germany, and raised them to an eminence, 
 which even in the times of general revolution secured to 
 them the respect of the first powers of Europe ? We may 
 reason, therefore, as we choose upon the progress which 
 commerce would have made ivithout the Reformation, but 
 this much must always be admitted, viz. that to the Reform- 
 ation it owes the speed of its growth, and the form which it 
 subsequently assumed. 
 
 The Colonies are so closely connected with commerce — 
 having been founded with a view to its convenience — that 
 they appear hardly to require any separate mention. If we 
 have shown that without the Reformation there would have 
 been no Dutch East India trade, there would without it have 
 been no colony at the Cape or at Batavia. I am the more 
 willing, however, to leave all further prosecution of this in- 
 quiry to the writers of commercial history, because it might 
 easily lead me to the consideration of questions foreign to 
 my present purpose, and even expose me to the imputation 
 of wishing to attribute to the Reformation consequences too 
 remote to be traced. Nevertheless, the Reformation had so 
 immediate an influence, in another way, and in another quar- 
 ter of the globe, upon the origin and progress of a colonial 
 state, now flourishing and mighty, and which appears des- 
 tined in future centuries to guide the commerce of the 
 world, that I cannot pass over this circumstance in silence. 
 Who were those exiles who set themselves down upon the 
 coasts of a new world, in the forests of North America, be- 
 cause in that older land from which they came they were 
 not suffered to worship their God after their own fashion ? 
 
 Were they not, to the amount perhaps of four-fifths of their 
 number, men banished across the ocean by the disturbances 
 caused by the Reformation in England ? It is true that these 
 plantations were founded during the reign of Elizabeth, but 
 it is a notorious fact in history that the stormy period of the 
 Stuarts was also the period of their first prosperity. 
 
 But with their religious freedom the colonists brought 
 also the seeds of their political independence, which, once 
 planted in the soil of America, must have sprung up, and 
 sooner or later borne fruit — and this, perhaps, even without 
 such advantages as were thus afforded it. It is of the na- 
 ture of colonies — and in this consists their immense import- 
 ance to mankind — to set in motion a new mass of political 
 ideas. In a new country, beyond the sea, all cannot be as 
 it was in the old. In the case of America, therefore, even 
 had its connexion with the mother country been more close 
 than it was, the ultimate result would probably have been 
 the same--we know, however, that its dependence upon 
 England did not long continue firm ; we know that each of 
 the provinces had already formed its internal constitution 
 upon principles so purely republican, that when they threw 
 off their common allegiance, they possessed the inestimable 
 advantage of having no further revolution to undergo, and 
 scarce any, except the central government, to form. 
 
 Thus the political consequences of the Reformation spread 
 themselves even beyond the ocean : and thus it is an un- 
 doubted truth, that without the Reformation there would 
 have been no free states of North America ! Reader, look 
 beyond the Atlantic, to that new world where Europe is re- 
 presented in its young and vigorous offspring ! then look 
 back to Luther and Tetzel— and then attempt, if thou darest, 
 to foretell the effect of revolutions ! 
 
 A SKETCH OF 
 
 THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE REFORMATION AS IT 
 
 AFFECTED PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 A LECTURE DELIVERED AT THE JUBILEE OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 [The following lecture was delivered in Latin by the 
 author, when acting as Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, 
 
 •I 
 it 
 
306 
 
 CONSEQUENCES OF THE REFORMATION 
 
 at the Jubilee of the Reformation, on the second of Novem- 
 ber, 1817. At the desire of his friends, however, it was 
 translated by himself and published in the " Reformations 
 Almanac" of 1819. The place and occasion of its deHvery 
 prevented a fuller development of the subject ; it is, there- 
 fore, given only as a supplement to the above treatise.] 
 
 If it should appear strange or incongruous to any present, 
 that the Faculty of Philosophy should not only claim a so- 
 lemn interest in the celebration of this day — a day conse- 
 crated to the recollection of that reformation of our faith 
 which was begun three hundred years ago — but should fur- 
 ther demonstrate it by a public act ; they will cease from 
 their astonishment when they more fully consider the many 
 and great benefits which are owed to it, not only by theo- 
 logy, but by all those sciences which tend to develope the 
 faculties of mankind. For the principle which we are ac- 
 customed to admit as true, in all great revolutions, whether 
 of our own or of earlier times, viz. " that their progress and 
 operations have proved much more extensive than the ori- 
 ginators of them proposed, and that they could by no means 
 be confined within the limits which these prescribed to them," 
 — ^this principle may with equal certainty be applied to the 
 Reformation. — It is true, indeed, that, even with regard to 
 single events, it is often difficult for the historian to ascer- 
 tain the causes from which they proceed : but now, after 
 the lapse of three centuries, our position has become such, 
 that we may, with confidence, give judgment upon those 
 general consequences which have resulted from so great a 
 change. These, however, have been so well explained by 
 several distinguished writers that it would be thought su- 
 perfluous to trace them out anew ; we shall, therefore, con- 
 fine ourselves to a slight consideration of that part of its in- 
 fluence which was exercised upon philosophy. 
 
 It cannot be supposed that it would enter into the plan 
 of the Reformers — men occupied more with things apper- 
 taining to God than to man — to found new systems of phi- 
 losophy. Still, however, they perceived that philosophy 
 stood in no less need than theology of being purified from 
 the subtleties of the schoolmen; and the man most impressed 
 with this, was one whose memory is immortal, and whom we 
 
 \ 
 
 AS IT AFFECTED PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 307 
 
 justly place next after Luther — Melancthon. " I desire," 
 says he in his discourses, " a sound philosophy ; not those 
 empty words to which nothing real corresponds. For only 
 one system of philosophy can be allowed, and that must be 
 the least sophistic, and must pursue the true method." 
 These are, in truth, golden words of thine, Melancthon, and 
 of which one might well say, that they had been written for 
 our times! But the papal authority once shattered and 
 broken, the tie once dissolved which had bound philosophy 
 so closely to the doctrines of the church — how could it be 
 otherwise than that its progress, like that of religion, should 
 be more free and unconstrained? To endeavour fully to 
 trace this out would require too much digression and be 
 alien to this place and occasion ; but we may be allowed to 
 point out that which the annals of philosophy most clearly 
 show, viz. that it has shed a new light upon those countries 
 alone, in which religion was cleared of its errors by the Re- 
 formers. Among the Spaniards, and in other nations to 
 whom these were denied all access, the doctors of the schools 
 still reign triumphant ; and we in vain look among them 
 for a Leibnitz, a Hume, a Locke, or Kant, and others, who 
 hke these opened out the fountains of a purer philosophy. 
 Can this be a mere accident ? Or must we not rather admit 
 that it resulted from the nature of the Reformation ? Lest, 
 however, any one should still doubt, we will endeavour in a 
 few words to show more plainly the advantages which phi- 
 losophy owes to the Reformation. 
 
 We may fairly begin by laying it down that the Reformers 
 caused it to be thought allowable to speculate freely as to 
 Gody and what appertains to Him. We are willing to ad- 
 mit that questions touching the Divine nature and substance 
 (as the phrase ran) were frequently proposed by the school- 
 men, and answered in a variety of ways ; but whoever reads 
 their works must allow, that they sought much more fre- 
 quently to exercise their ingenuity in subtle and often im- 
 pertinent questions, than to propose any thing worthy of the 
 majesty of the Godhead. For as they were oblige^d to keep 
 themselves within the limits prescribed by the Church, in 
 order to avoid the charge of heresy, what else could be ex- 
 pected than that they should lose themselves in curious and 
 idle investigations ? On the other hand, the propagators of 
 
 X 2 
 
 >J 
 
308 
 
 CONSEQUENCES OF THE REFORMATION 
 
 N 
 
 the Reformed faith, although they took, and rightly took, the 
 Holy Scriptures as the foundation of theology, yet by no 
 means required that philosophy should rest upon the same 
 grounds. A wide field was, therefore, opened to its in- 
 quiries; and thus it became possible for that system of 
 knowledge to be founded and to be developed by the genius 
 of great men, to which we rightly give the first place among 
 philosophical systems — viz. that of natural theology , which, 
 setting out from the idea of a Supreme Being, undertakes 
 to prove that there is a God : that he exists independently 
 of the world : and that he is the cause of the existence of 
 the world. How excellently Melancthon has treated this 
 subject will be acknowledged by those who consult his work 
 on physics, in which the proofs of God's being and of his 
 government of the world, (which have been more fully illus- 
 trated by philosophers of later days,) are to be found clearly 
 and evidently set forth. And though amongst more mo- 
 dern inquirers there may be some, who have not only used, 
 but abused the freedom procured them by the heroes of the 
 Reformation, and thus either lost themselves in atheism or 
 advanced far towards it, yet it is an acknowledged truth, that 
 the abuse should not vitiate the use ; while the writings of 
 those men, to whom not only their own but subsequent 
 times have assigned the first rank among philosophers, afford 
 proofs that their speculations upon the nature of the God- 
 head were pursued in a modest and reverent spirit. 
 
 In the company, or at least in the train, of this better 
 method of thinking and speaking of God and religion, came 
 that improved philosophy of human lifCy which forms the 
 subject of our second assertion. That the schools of the 
 sophists of those days should, by their undivided attention 
 to logic, have wholly excluded practical philosophy, was 
 naturally to be expected. This practical philosophy rests 
 upon inquiries into the nature of man ; it must be shown 
 what the disposition of our nature and its powers are : what 
 suits, what is repugnant to it, and consequently, what is to 
 be desired, and what shunned. It must be inquired what 
 seeds of virtue or vice are implanted in us ; what is the na-^ 
 ture of our passions, what the method of controlling them ? 
 Finally, in what consists true happiness, what the object of 
 our life should be, and how we may best attain it ? Now, 
 
 \ 
 
 AS IT AFFECTED PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 309 
 
 although thie princes of Greek philosophy had reasoned ad- 
 mirably upon all these topics, although they had been treated 
 of by Aristotle, whose name was for ever in their mouths, 
 yet the schoolmen cared little for them, and sought their 
 reputation only in useless disputes. 
 
 There can be no doubt, therefore, that it was not till the 
 light of the Reformation had arisen, that a system of prac- 
 tical philosophy, really deserving of the name, could be 
 formed ; especially as regards that branch of it, which is 
 rightly considered the most important — the philosophy of 
 moral conduct. Here, too, Melancthon first broke the ground 
 in his " Elements of Ethics," which appeared at Wittenberg 
 in the year 1550 ; and in which he forsakes his usual adher- 
 ence to Aristotle, and after refuting the doctrines of Epi- 
 curus and the Stoics, defines virtue to be the obedience of 
 the will to such rules of action as are in practical accord- 
 ance with the commands of God. It is hardly necessary to 
 remark, that no other branch of philosophy has been culti- 
 vated with greater diligence or success among the more 
 enlightened nations — the Germans, the French, and the 
 English ; a point upon which we may justly pride ourselves, 
 since none is more adapted to the nature and wants of men. 
 Time and place forbid the enumeration of the writings of 
 those immortal authors, especially those of Great Britain, 
 who have treated of it ; of whom we may say, as the Greeks 
 did of Socrates, that by their means philosophy has been 
 called down from heaven to walk upon the earth. 
 
 The Reformation may, therefore, justly claim the credit 
 of having applied philosophy to the improvement of moral- 
 ity ; and, generally, of having brought it back to the com- 
 mon purposes of life. It was no longer wasted upon the 
 solution of problems, which required acuteness perhaps, but 
 which, to use Melancthon's expression, had no correspondent 
 realities. It t!id not, however, confine itself within the limits 
 of private life, but having once emerged from the gloom of 
 the schools into the light of day, undertook the improvement 
 of public life. The example was set in Great Britain, and 
 speedily followed elsewhere, of discussing those most import- 
 ant questions which relate to the constitutions of states, their 
 administration and government; and out of this we have 
 seen a new and improved order of things proceed, not only 
 
 • 
 
 V 
 
 ^ 
 ■•(' 
 
 V 
 
310 
 
 ON THE RISE, PROGRESS, ETC. 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES. 
 
 811 
 
 in Europe, as in Great Britain, the Netherlands, and else- 
 where, but even beyond the ocean, in America, where the 
 seeds of new constitutions were sown, and are now in the 
 perfection of their growth. To trace this out, however, is 
 the province of history ; for my part, I conceive that I have 
 sufficiently proved the proposition from which I set out, 
 and to which I return : viz. That by those who follow the 
 banners of philosophy, the day, which we are now celebrat- 
 ing, must be accounted a festival — a festival dedicated to 
 events which have procured us that without which there can 
 be no philosophy, and no true enjoyment of life — " The 
 right of thinking as we will, and of speaking as we thinks 
 
 ON THB 
 
 RISE, PROGRESS, AND PRACTICAL INFLUENCE 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES, 
 
 AND ON THB 
 
 PRESERVATION OF MONARCHICAL PRINCIPLES 
 
 IN MODERN EUROPE. 
 
 If we except the last ten years of the past century from our 
 review, we shall find that the states which composed the 
 political system of modern Europe, were constituted without 
 any reference to general theory ; they arose for the most 
 part out of the feudal system, and gradually accommodated 
 themselves to the circumstances which new times and new 
 events produced. It would therefore be idle to expect that 
 any, even the most perfect of them, should correspond with 
 an abstract theory of government. The spread of intellec- 
 tual acquirements, however, produced in several of these 
 states an attention to political reasonings, and these in turn 
 led to speculative systems, and schemes of new constitutions. 
 The influence of the latter began, long before the disturb- 
 ances of our own day, to exercise a political influence, and 
 this at last became so great that it has been customary to 
 
 J. 
 
 • 
 
 attribute those violent revolutions which caused the ruin 
 of more than one existing government, to these very spe- 
 culations. 
 
 The questions which I propose to examine are, " How the 
 spirit of inquiry with regard to distinctions in the forms of 
 government first arose in modern Europe?" "How this 
 became the source of political reasoning ?" " How this again 
 formed the base of abstract theories ? " " What practical 
 influence the latter exerted generally ; and what in parti- 
 cular upon the late revolutions ? " With these another, and 
 that of the highest practical importance, becomes naturally 
 associated, viz. " What is requisite for the maintenance of 
 the monarchical principle in constitutional governments?" 
 In this case the inquiry will be directed only to the " consti- 
 tution," not to the administration, of" power in the different 
 states " — no thinking man, however, can regard this subject 
 with indifference : I only hope that the mode in which it is 
 treated may be equal to its importance ! 
 
 It might at first sight appear as though a reference to 
 actual history would be a superfluous labour ; speculation, it 
 may be urged, arose of itself; and was independent of reality. 
 Why then turn to it for assistance ? We shall soon, how- 
 ever, perceive that this was not the case; and that, if the 
 spirit of political speculation did rise above the politics of 
 the day, it was from the latter that it derived its origin, and 
 that it never became wholly independent of them. These 
 questions, therefore, will admit of no other solution than 
 what may be obtained by connecting them with history, 
 and drawing our answers, in part at least, from it. 
 
 In order to create a spirit of political speculation it is ne- 
 cessary that there should be some outward stimulant, as well 
 as a considerable degree of philosophical education in the 
 people among whom it is to arise. 
 
 The external causes which induce thought and argument 
 on these subjects, are struggles, when such take place, with 
 regard to the forms of the constitution. The neighbourhood 
 of various states governed in various manners, with the re- 
 lations and contrasts between them — and above all, the form- 
 ation of new states by colonization. 
 
 If to these qualifications, habits of philosophical inquiry 
 
 
 V 
 
 ■«£!LJfe-:=. » 
 
 i 
 
■ mjj 
 
 S12 
 
 ON THE RISE, PROGRESS^ ETC. 
 
 I 
 
 of a higher order be added, should men have taught them- 
 selves to rise from the particular to the general, from facts 
 to principles, the path is opened for political speculation. 
 
 It was thus that it arose and perfected itself among the 
 Greeks, where external causes were so many and so various. 
 —And m support of this view its opposite was sufficiently 
 proved during the middle ages, throughout which it w^ 
 impossible that any traces of such speculations should ap- 
 pear.— The feudal systems, strictly so called, admitted of no 
 iree citizenships, and allowed no varieties of government — 
 I hat which was dignified by the name of freedom, was in 
 general nothing but a contest of the nobility against their 
 princes, which if it failed, begot a despotism ; if it succeeded, 
 was the signal of club-law and anarchy. 
 
 Amid such scenes as these, there was little room for poli- 
 tical speculation, even if the total absence of philosophical 
 Ideas had not rendered it impossible. 
 
 Among those countries in which it might have been ex- 
 
 ^T^i ^''/'''^ ^n^ f ^'"^f ''Sns of life, Italy was undoubt- 
 edly the first ; all the ordinary causes appear to have united 
 here— a number of small states arose near each other— re- 
 publican constitutions were established— political parties 
 were every where at work and at variance ; and with all 
 this, the arts and sciences were in the full splendour of their 
 revival. r ^ i 
 
 The appearance of Italy in the fifteenth century recalls 
 most fully the picture of ancient Greece. And yet in Italy 
 political theories were as few, as in Greece they had been 
 many a result both unexpected and difficult to explain. 
 
 btill, however, I think that this phenomenon may be in a 
 great part accounted for, if we remember that there never 
 was a philosophical system of character or influence which 
 prospered under the sky of Italy. No nation of civilized 
 iiurope has given birth to so few theories as the Italian— 
 none has had less genius for such pursuits.-The history of 
 the Roman philosophy, a mere echo of the Grecian, proves 
 this of Its earlier ages, nor was it otherwise in its later 
 
 .K- r A T'^^^ -^^ '''^T^ P^^*^ ^"^ ^^istotle were the 
 chief and only guides, and even when the trammels of this 
 
 ZTnll r ^ K ''"i ^^^? '^T^^^ ^'^^y P^'^duced no 
 origmal minds whose life and works formed an era in phi- 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES, 
 
 ns 
 
 I 
 
 losophy. — If, then, speculative science in general made no 
 great advance here, we cannot reasonably expect that that 
 part of it which has reference to politics should have made 
 any, since, from its very nature, it must be one of the last 
 branches which are put forth from that stock. 
 
 This incapacity for theory, however, had the effect of di- 
 recting the Italians more immediately to practice, and they 
 were considered the deepest and most accomplished poli- 
 ticians of Europe.— But as they held diplomacy to be an 
 empty name, unless it included cunning and intrigue, they 
 by this view offered another impediment to a right cultiva- 
 tion of the subject. 
 
 Their highest principles of policy were nothing better 
 than a collection of maxims, and these never ripened, nor 
 could ripen, into a science. The only writer of that period 
 who need be mentioned here, is Machiavel ; and his works 
 afford the strongest confirmation of what we advance. — His 
 " Principe," and his " Discorsi sopra Livio,"' are full of 
 reasoning such as we have described, the result partly of 
 his historical studies, partly of his own experience ; and 
 they contain sufficient evidence that a practical attention to 
 history was in force at this period, and that the Italians were 
 likely enough to prove good historians, but not great 
 theorists. 
 
 The first quarter of the sixteenth century witnessed the 
 breaking out of the Reformation. I have endeavoured in a 
 former treatise to prove the fact, and point out the manner 
 of its acquiring a political tendency ; I have also followed 
 up its practical results. That, by its influence on Germany, 
 on the Netherlands, on England, and for a considerable 
 period on France, it became the origin of political freedom 
 in Europe, can be a matter of doubt only to those who 
 "haying eyes, see not;" and this once admitted, it will not 
 be difficult to show that the same causes led to its being the 
 origin of political speculation also. 
 
 Meantime, however, we must remember, that the very 
 essence of the Reformation, and the first direction of its 
 power, rendered it impossible that this should be the case, 
 
 * [This critique appears to have escaped M. Artaud in his laborious trea- 
 tise on the life and works of the Florentine secretary. But to judge from 
 the manner in which he has met some similar observations of Raumer, it is 
 one to which Machiavel's most ardent admirers can hardly object. See Ma- 
 chiavel, son Genie et ses Erreurs, par M. Artaud, vol. U. p. 490. Tr.] 
 
 r 
 
 (: 
 
 vi 
 
314 
 
 ON THE RISE, PROGRESS, ETC. 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES. 
 
 315 
 
 > 
 
 either immediately, or even mediately, without some interval 
 of time — the activity to which it aroused the human intellect 
 was exerted then, and long after, upon subjects wholly un- 
 connected with political speculation. It is not necessary to 
 dwell upon this point here, for who can be ignorant, that 
 for a considerable time religious controversies, and those 
 alone, were capable of exciting general interest ? Still, how- 
 ever, all this being admitted, it cannot but seem strange, that 
 the great practical influence which the Reformation exercised 
 upon the constitution of the various states, should have been 
 so partially and so slowly followed by any attempt at theory 
 on the principles of their formation. 
 
 I do not speak of Germany — here the point in dispute 
 was the relation which should exist between the states and 
 the emperor, and, as immediately connected with it, that 
 between the Protestant and the Catholic parties— and this 
 the sword decided. 
 
 But the state in which such views might have been first 
 
 expected, was the republic of the United Netherlands. The 
 
 Reformation called that state into existence— the banner of 
 liberty was there formally displayed— republican maxims 
 were those chiefly adopted and cherished — the state itself 
 became deeply involved in the general politics of the day, 
 and knowledge was at the same time busy among its mem- 
 bers ; and yet the speculative part of government was left 
 almost wholly untouched ! 
 
 The causes of this, however, will soon become evident if 
 we look to the main object of the revolution by whose means 
 that state was formed : innovations in the constitution were 
 the last things it had in view— it struggled rather to main- 
 tain and assert the old rights and privileges of the states; 
 necessity alone induced the Netherlands to shake off* their 
 allegiance to the king of Spain ; that accomplished, they 
 turned to seek other masters, and the states finally became re- 
 publican, merely because they could find none. Was it likely, 
 then, that political theories should spring up here, where no 
 new schemes of government called for their interference ? 
 
 In the mean time, however, the republic had a long struo-- 
 gle for independence to maintain. — It came in various con- 
 tact with foreign powers, and was more or less connected 
 with the great wars of the time. 
 
 Though no questions, therefore, were raised as to the dif- 
 
 
 ferent forms of the constitution, yet it was impossible but 
 that some should arise as to the mutual rights and relations 
 
 of states. 
 
 This subject received the attention of one of the repub- 
 lic's greatest citizens, and produced the famous work of 
 Hugo Grotius " De Jure Belli et Pacis." 
 
 It is true that this treatise led its author into some re- 
 searches, respecting the natural rights of man, and the prin- 
 ciples on which they are founded, without which he thought 
 he could not attain to a just view of his subject. But the 
 theory of civil government could gain little from a work de- 
 voted to another and separate inquiry ; while the manner in 
 which this inquiry itself is conducted, is by no means at- 
 tractive to readers of our own time. 
 
 Grotius was more a man of learning than a philosopher, 
 and he has encumbered his work with a mass of historical 
 and philological research, which could not possibly turn to 
 its advantage. — Still, however, it must rank among the high- 
 est efforts, not only of his own, but of all subsequent times ; 
 for it was no mean advantage to point out that there is, or 
 at least that there ought to be, a law of nations. Moreover, 
 the great name which Grotius had acquired, and which as- 
 sociated him, not only with the most distinguished men of 
 learning, but, as a statesman, with the princes and courts of 
 his day, secured his principles an admittance into the circle 
 in which they were most likely to obtain a ready practical 
 influence.^ 
 
 * [The following defence of Grotius is interesting, as coming from the pen 
 of the late Sir James Mackintosh : and it will be the more appreciated as the 
 pamphlet from which it is taken is now rarely to be met with. 
 
 " Few works were more celebrated than that of Grotius in his own days, 
 and the age which succeeded. It has, however, been the fashion of the last 
 half century to depreciate his work as a shapeless compilation, in which 
 reason Hes buried under a mass of authorities and quotations. This fashion 
 originated among French wits and declaimers, and it has been, I know not 
 for what reason, adopted, though with far greater moderation and decency, 
 by some respectable writers among ourselves. As to those who first used this 
 language, the most candid supposition that we can make with respect to them, 
 is, that they never read the work ; for if they had not been deterred from the 
 perusal of it by such a formidable display of Greek characters, they must 
 soon have discovered that Grotius never quotes on any subject till he has first 
 appealed to some principles; and often, in my humble opinion, though not 
 always, to the soundest and most rational principles. • • • j 
 
 But another sort of answer is due to some of those who* have cnticized 
 
 ♦ Paley, pref to Moral and Political Philosophy (to whom we may add Prof. 
 Heeren, in tne passage of the text). 
 
316 
 
 ON THE RISE, PROGRESS, ETC. 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES. 
 
 317 
 
 
 The treatise " De Jure Belli et Pacis" may, on the whole, 
 be considered as a fair earnest of what the spreading intelli- 
 gence of the day might eventually produce. 
 
 The religious disturbances and wars of the Hugonots in 
 France took place at the same time as the establishment of the 
 republic of the Netherlands, and appear to have been much 
 more calculated to excite a spirit of political speculation. 
 
 It was question here not only of preserving what was old, 
 but of forming what was new. The Hugonot party, if it 
 never actually established a republic, was yet much more 
 inclined to republicanism than the insurgents of the Nether- 
 lands. — But then the times of civil war are not the times of 
 quiet contemplation, and of theory ; and as the tumult be- 
 came more wild, the pursuits of literature gave way wholly 
 to violence and bloodshed, or, if they still attracted atten- 
 tion, it was only for purposes of theological debate. 
 
 Still, amidst these disturbances, one writer made his ap- 
 pearance, who attracted too much notice to be lightly passed 
 over. — This was John Bodin,* the author of a work " De 
 Republica;" he was not only a man of learning, but took a 
 share in the transactions of the time, and spoke in favour of 
 the Hugonots, whose religion he had from the first embraced, 
 at the diet of Blois. — This did not, however, prevent him 
 
 Grotius, and that answer might be given in the words of Grotius himself. 
 He was not of such a stupid and servile cast of mind, as to quote the opinions 
 of poets or orators, of historians and philosophers, as those of judges from 
 whose decision there was no appeal. He quotes them, as he tells us himself, 
 as witnesses, whose conspiring testimony, mightily strengthened by their dis- 
 cordance on almost every other subject, is a conclusive proof of the unanimity 
 of the whole human race on the great rules of duty, and the fundamental 
 principles of morals. On such matters poets and orators are the most unex- 
 ceptionable of all witnesses ; for thev address themselves to the general feel- 
 ing and sympathies of mankind; they are neither warped by system, nor 
 perverted by sophistry ; they can attain none of their objects ; they can nei- 
 ther please nor persuade if they dwell on moral sentiments not in unison with 
 those of their reader : no system of moral philosophy can surely disregard the 
 general feelings of human nature, and the according judgments of all ages 
 and nations. But where are those feelings and that judgment recorded and 
 observed ? In those very writings which Grotius is gravely blamed for having 
 quoted. The usages and laws of nations, the events of history, the opinions 
 of philosophers, the sentiments of orators and poets, as well as the observ- 
 ation of common life, are, in truth, the materials out of which the science of 
 morality is formed ; and those who neglect them are justly chargeable with a 
 vain attempt to philosophize, without regard to fact and experience, the sole 
 foundations of all true philosophy." — A Discourse on the Study of the Law of 
 Nature and Nations^ etc., p. 17* Tr.] 
 
 ' JoHANNis BoDiNi, De Rep. lib. vi., first published in French, 1576, but 
 revised, enlarged, and translated into Latin by himself, 1584. Bodin was 
 bom 1529, and died 1596. 
 
 from being much esteemed by Henry III., with whose brother, 
 Francis of Alen^on, he was still more intimately connected. 
 
 As a political writer he claims a distinguished place ; in- 
 deed, few have surpassed him in philosophical distinctness 
 of ideas, or in a general, and at the same time accurate, ac- 
 quaintance with the constitutions both of ancient and mo- 
 dern times. The whole course of his inquiry bears a certain 
 resemblance to that pursued by Aristotle, but he is far from 
 being a servile imitator, and it is undeniable that he materi- 
 ally advanced the science of government. 
 
 Some of its most important principles he was the first to 
 embrace and define. He begins from a conception of the 
 state as " a number of families, whose common concerns are 
 directed by a supreme power, justly exercised." The su- 
 preme power consists in "the right of making laws, and 
 seeing that these are executed."^ We here find the germ 
 of that principle of the distinction between the two powers 
 (the legislative and the executive) which owes its fiill and 
 careful development to later writers. He was the first who 
 asserted the '' Indivisibility* of the supreme power or sove- 
 reignty," (Majestas,) from which he argued that the common 
 opinions with respect to mixed governments, rested upon 
 entirely false grounds, since these are impossible without a 
 separation of the sovereignty. He has defined more accu- 
 rately the limits of what we term " absolute monarchy, 
 (regia potestas,)" of " despotism," and of " tyranny," than 
 any' subsequent wTiters. He has the great merit of having 
 put in a clear light one of the most important truths of 
 government, and one to which he was himself much attach- 
 ed, (viz.) " That the form of the constitution will not afford 
 any direct argument as to the spirit in which a state is go- 
 verned, and that the latter may be very republican in a state 
 which is properly monarchical,* as well as despotic under 
 the forms of a republic." Finally, he was the first who, 
 carefully avoiding to set up any perfect ideal constitution, 
 which he would every where apply, gave a full explanation 
 of all the circumstances of climate and of national peculiari- 
 ties, whether mental or bodily, which ought to be consi- 
 dered in framing the constitution of a state.^ ^ 
 
 » De RepuUka, Hb. ii. p. 275. * lb. Hb. ii. p. 275. * lb. lib. ii. p. 313, sq. 
 
 * lb. lib. ii. p. 305, sq. ^ lb. lib. v. p. 7^7, sq. 
 
 • [Although Bodin may be deservedly praised for the adoption of the twa 
 
318 
 
 ON THE RISE, PROGRESS, ETC. 
 
 
 \ I 
 
 f 
 
 This division of his work would do no discredit to Mon- 
 tesquieu himself, whose precursor, and that no unworthy 
 one, he was. 
 
 Notwithstanding these and other undeniable merits, and 
 in spite of the approbation which it drew from the best of 
 his contemporaries,^ Bodin's work did not attain to that 
 practical influence which it deserved. 
 
 The seed which he scattered fell upon a soil as yet too 
 little prepared to receive it, and the observation before made, 
 that political speculation can never support itself except in 
 connexion with philosophy, is here remarkably established. 
 The nation was not yet ripe. 
 
 The state of France, during the seventeenth century, was 
 not such as to lead us to expect the requisite maturity. As 
 soon as the Hugonots were suppressed, or at least disarmed, 
 Richelieu laid the foundation of the absolute power of the 
 crown, and Lewis XIV. confirmed it without any further re- 
 sistance from the people. Even if a spirit of political in- 
 quiry had by chance arisen among individuals, where was 
 it to find means of increase ? Surely not among a people 
 who not only submitted without a murmur to the fetters 
 which were imposed upon them, but who went so far in 
 their greediness for fame rather than freedom, as to be 
 proud of the chains they wore. 
 
 We must, therefore, turn to another land, to one in 
 which, by the concurrence of more fortunate circumstances, 
 the theory of civil government became fully developed, and 
 acquired a great practical influence — an influence moreover 
 exerted rather to preserve than to destroy — I mean, to 
 England. 
 
 It might be mentioned here almost without a rival, were 
 it not that Geneva, the smallest state in Europe, makes its 
 pre-eminence in this respect somewhat doubtful. 
 
 The progress which the theory of government made in 
 England is mainly attributable to the circumstances of that 
 
 last points, and for the expansion of the former of them, he is indebted to 
 Aristotle's Politics for the sound philosophy by which they are distinguish- 
 ed. Aristotle, it is true, has drawn a picture of the government under whicli 
 he imagines the greatest happiness may be obtained, but he has expressly 
 stated what previous conditions are necessary to its formation, and how unfit 
 it would be for a society in which these were wanting. Tr.] 
 
 * [The testimony of De Thou and others may be found under the article 
 Bodin, in Bayle. Tr,] 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES. 
 
 ai9 
 
 country, and to understand these we must give a cursory 
 glance at the history of its constitution. This was at first a 
 branch of the great feudal system, which was the origin of 
 most of the European governments, and which had been in- 
 troduced in its full rigour by William the Conqueror in 
 1066, when he took possession of England. The feudal 
 customs fell into disuse here, as elsewhere, for the vassals 
 were not slow in taking advantage of the circumstances of 
 the times, and even under the immediate successors of the 
 Conqueror obtained considerable privileges, which, by de- 
 grees, ripened into a formal warrant of their liberties, and 
 were embodied in Magna Charta (1215). 
 
 It was not, however, the armed opposition which the no- 
 bles offered to their sovereign, for this was of much more 
 frequent occurrence in other countries : nor was it the 
 growth of a middle order : nor yet the representation of this 
 order in parliament, which gave to the British constitution 
 its peculiar character ; for all these phenomena are to be 
 found alike in the French and Spanish histories. The causes 
 of it lay in the different shape which rank assumed in Eng^ 
 land, compared with other countries, in the variety of re- 
 lations which existed between the nobles and commons, and 
 by means of which it became possible to constitute the Lower 
 House in such a form as it afterwards assumed. 
 
 We might expect that a subject, which has received so 
 much attention from the best writers, should be clearly un- 
 derstood, but it neither is, nor indeed ever will be. 
 
 The early history of the British parliament, especially 
 during the thirteenth century, when its limits were first de- 
 fined, is more scantily supplied from original documents 
 than can well be believed. And yet this ought not to aston- 
 ish us if we remember that in England, as in other coun- 
 tries of Europe, during the middle ages, no institution of any 
 note arose at once and from a preconcerted scheme, but 
 that they were all of gradual formation, and dependent on 
 the changes of men's wants and circumstances. Thus many 
 things which afterwards became of the highest importance 
 were very far from being, or, at least, from appearing so, at 
 first : and it was consequently impossible for the chroniclers 
 of the day to perceive the advantage of recording them. 
 We must be content, therefore, to receive such accounts of 
 
 6j 
 
S2a 
 
 ON THE RISE, PROGRESS, ETC. 
 
 the British parliament as we have of the other institutions of 
 the middle ages. 
 
 The separation of the higher from the lower nobiHty took 
 place in other countries of Europe as well as in England, 
 but in no other country did the latter so entirely unite with 
 the middle orders, as to rank with them in one house, and 
 become thus wholly distinct from the peers. But if the 
 question be proposed, as to How the separation of the upper 
 and lower nobles actually took place ? if it be asked How it 
 happened that the inferior nobles sent deputies chosen from 
 the counties instead of appearing in person ? When this first 
 became customary ? When the towns first returned mem- 
 bers ? (not when they are first noticed by the chroniclers as 
 having done so.) — And, lastly, When and how the deputies 
 from the counties became united in one body with those 
 from the towns? — We can only say that the most careful 
 inquirers into British history can give nothing but probable 
 surmises on the subject, and are totally unable to support 
 their opinions by any historical references. This general 
 uncertainty will be at once evident to any one who will ex- 
 amine the various and very different accounts which are 
 given by English historians of the origin of their constitu- 
 tion. Some, and those of the first rank, have not scrupled 
 seriously to assert, that the early Britons brought their 
 liberties with them from the forests in which they dwelt ! 
 
 Without going more deeply into these questions, which 
 would be here misplaced, it is sufficient to remark, that the 
 British constitution had received the impress of its most im- 
 portant characters long before England could boast of any 
 degree of political liberty superior to that enjoyed by other 
 states. It had its Upper House composed of the lords spiri- 
 tual and temporal, and its Lower House composed of members 
 for the towns and counties; but what was this great parlia- 
 ment, not only before the time of the Tudors, but even 
 under their dominion, except an instrument of command, 
 which Henry VH. and VHL, and their successor Elizabeth, 
 knew most excellently how to apply to the furtherance of 
 their own designs ? 
 
 Here, again, we have a palpable example how little we 
 may argue from the form to the spirit of a government ; 
 meantime, however, this form was more perfect than could 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES. 
 
 3^1 
 
 be found elsewhere, and it needed only a confluence of for- 
 tunate events to give it life, and breathe sentiments of free- 
 dom into the people. 
 
 This the Reformation effected. — Not only by it was the 
 religion of the land altered, but its political greatness, under 
 the reign and guidance of EHzabeth, securely founded. By 
 this greatness^ the spirit of the people became awakened; 
 but as it did not proceed immediately from the constitution, 
 it was necessary that the latter should receive a shock, nay, 
 for a time, a total overthrow, before it could be fully appre- 
 ciated, and by being restored, and at the same time indisso- 
 lubly connected with religion, could be looked up to as the 
 palladium of British freedom. 
 
 The history of the troubles which produced the civil war, 
 which overturned the throne, and which terminated with the 
 restoration, are suflSciently known, and require barely to be 
 alluded to. The only question in connexion with which they 
 have any interest here, refers to the probable causes of their 
 having been more favourable to the development of political 
 speculation than the disturbances of any other country, and 
 that in such a degree as to have produced and matured some 
 of its noblest fruits. 
 
 The obvious reason of this, in my opinion, is, that the 
 troubles and wars in England were not brought about, as in 
 other countries, merely by practical grievances, but that 
 they depended, from the first, upon theoretical points of dis- 
 pute, which necessarily led to more extended inquiries. 
 
 Thus, when the Stuarts mounted the British throne, (1603,) 
 they brought with them a maxim which was preserved and 
 passed from father to son as an heirloom, and which James L 
 was imprudent enough to assert upon every occasion, even 
 in open parliament, viz. " That the kingly power emanated 
 for God — that it was therefore absolute, or if not actually 
 so, that it ought of right to be so — that what were termed 
 the " rights" of the people and the parliament, were not pro- 
 perly so called, but merely grants and privileges, which had 
 been allowed to them by the crown, and which the crown 
 might therefore resume as easily as it had bestowed them." 
 These principles, however, were in direct opposition to the 
 ideas which the Reformation had rendered current, and 
 
 ' See the treatise On the Political Consequences of the Reformation. 
 
 Y 
 
 , 
 
UiUJi 
 
 . >\ 
 
 $22 
 
 ON THE RISE, PROGHESS, ETC. 
 
 which had more particularly obtained with the Presbyterian 
 and Puritanic parties, then rapidly spreading in England, 
 and which from the form of their religious government were 
 inclined to carry republican, and even democratic, principles 
 into the government of the state. Elizabeth had entertained 
 no less exalted an idea of her power than the two first 
 Stuarts, in fact she had exercised it with more freedom than 
 they : but then she had avoided what the pedantic folly of 
 James I. led him to indulge in, and had not brought her 
 maxims before the public, and thus made a common talk of 
 matters, which the interest of princes should teach them to 
 conceal as the mysteries of their craft, the " Arcana domi- 
 nationis." 
 
 These principles, and the collisions between the king and 
 the parliament, which resulted from them, formed the train 
 which lighted up England with the flames of civil war. They 
 brought Charles to the scaffold, and overturned the throne. 
 But even when the restoration had caused a seeming tran- 
 quillity, the fire still smouldered in its ashes. The restor- 
 ation was rather the work of party spirit, and of a passing 
 change in public opinion, effected by the experience of 
 anarchy and the despotism of the sword, than of calm and 
 well-exercised reason. 
 
 The opportunity which then presented itself of amending 
 the defects of the constitution passed by unemployed. And 
 Charles II. received the crown on the same doubtful under- 
 standing of its authority, as that on which it had been held 
 by his ancestors. Would that he had been as worthy of it 
 even as his unfortunate father ! As it was, he adopted the 
 very principles which cost the latter his life, while he en- 
 hanced their tendency to despotism by his own disposition 
 to enforce them. The attempt of his brother to introduce 
 tyranny and priestcraft, and the consequences of his folly, 
 need hardly be alluded to. 
 
 Every circumstance of the time — the continued disturb- 
 ances — the party distinction of Whigs and Tories in which 
 they ended — ^the rapid growth of literature under Charles II., 
 all conspired to advance political speculations to the utmost. 
 — But as these speculations proceeded immediately from the 
 practical affairs of life, it was unavoidable that they should 
 carry some traces of their origin along with them. The 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES. 
 
 S^S 
 
 questions chiefly debated were those to which the transac- 
 tions of the day naturally led, and the decision of which was 
 invested with a direct practical importance. All these ques- 
 tions may be reduced under one head, viz. Whether the 
 kingly power should be absolute or not ? or, what was con- 
 sidered equivalent. Whether the sovereignty belonged to the 
 king or to the people ? On such a subject as this, no one, 
 who bore the least affection to his country, could remain 
 wholly without interest : we must not therefore be astonished 
 at the earnestness with which the dispute was carried on. 
 
 It would appear almost incredible to any one unversed in 
 the writings of the time, to what an extent the assessors of 
 the kingly power proceeded, and on what grounds they 
 sought to rest their claim. One of these must be here men- 
 tioned, who, it is true, has long sunk into the oblivion which 
 he deserved, but who must not be passed over in this place, 
 as his treatise entitled " Patriarcha, or the Natural Power of 
 Kings," ^ served as a whetstone on which the great writers 
 of the opposite side sharpened and improved their wits. It 
 was to the extravagant, and in some degree ludicrous tenets 
 of Filmer and his school, that the cause which they advo- 
 cated chiefly owed its fall. For, as they derived the kingly 
 power immediately from God, they were forced into his- 
 torical deductions for their proof. They had recourse, there- 
 fore, to the sacred annals : but as, unfortunately, the kingly 
 power does not there date beyond a particular era, they fell 
 back upon the patriarchs, and asserted boldly that Abraham 
 and Noah, and lastly, that Adam himself had been kings. 
 In order to make this good they endeavoured to show that 
 the kingly power proceeded from the paternal, and that, ac- 
 cordingly, kings, being the fathers of their people, might 
 exercise as unrestricted an authority over them as fathers 
 over their children. But as all children, by the very fact of 
 their birth, become subjected to the government of their 
 father, it follows of course that no man can be born free : 
 and again, as the paternal authority has been transferred to 
 the kings of the earth, all men come by their birth under 
 this absolute power, and are in fact born as a sort of pro- 
 perty and appendage to it. By these steps Filmer arrived 
 
 * It forms part of The Political Discourses of Robert Filmer, Bart. Lon- 
 don, 1682. 
 
 T 2 
 
324 
 
 ON THE RISE, PROGRESS, ETC. 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES. 
 
 325 
 
 at the cdnclusion that the most absolute despotism is fairly 
 founded, and as such he defended it, asserting that both the 
 persons and goods of the subjects are nothing more than the 
 property of the prince, with which he may do as he pleases ; 
 that on this account every opposition of the subjects is open 
 rebellion, and that in no possible case can a king be de- 
 posed from his authority. 
 
 The absurdity of these propositions, which became inevit- 
 able as soon as the attempt was made to deduce the kingly 
 power historically from God, would probably have decided 
 the fate of the theories to which they belonged, even without 
 any attack from without. But amongst the supporters of 
 absolute power, another writer appeared, who may claim his 
 rank with the first thinkers of all ages, and who defended 
 his opinion with very different weapons from those of 
 Filmer — that writer was Thomas Hobbes. Of his philo- 
 sophical works those which are here referred to are his 
 treatise " De Give" and his " Leviathan."* 
 
 External causes may, to a certain degree, have induced 
 Hobbes to come forward as the champion of absolute power. 
 He not only belonged to the royal party, but was tutor to 
 Gharles H. when an exile in France. Nevertheless, this 
 influence most assuredly did not extend further than to give 
 his mind a turn of thought natural to the events of the time, 
 and to his own peculiar circumstances. We should do him 
 great injustice, were we to suspect him of fawning or hy- 
 pocrisy. His character is much more that of a logical and 
 consistent reasoner of the highest order, who never advanced 
 a proposition which he for a moment doubted that he could 
 establish in its fullest sense. 
 
 Hobbes is remarkable for having been4;he first who sought 
 to ground the theory of government upon natural right, and 
 what is termed " the state of nature." This notion of a 
 " state of nature," from which men are supposed to have ad- 
 vanced into civil society, (however differently it may have 
 been entertained,) has formed the basis of all subsequent 
 
 ' The **I)e Cfive** fonns the third division of his Elementa Philos. The 
 ^ Leviathanf** sive de materia form A et potestate civitatis, is only a further de- 
 
 Telopment of it. 
 
 Hobbes was bom 1588, and died 1679. His Elementa appeared first m 
 1650, and the Leviathan 1651, in the time of Cromwell. His works were first 
 published in 1668 in a perfect form. 
 
 7 
 
 
 speculations, down to the time of Rousseau ; and from the 
 indefiniteness of the idea which it introduced, has contributed 
 not a little to perplex the theory of government. 
 
 If by "the state of nature"^ we are to understand the 
 condition of men who are not formed into one community, 
 and who do not acknowledge the relations of civil life, it 
 cannot be denied that nations have existed, and still exist, in 
 this condition. But in order to determine the limits be- 
 tween the state of nature here understood, and the civil 
 community to which it is opposed, we must have a clear 
 idea of what that civil community implies. 
 
 Now, theorists usually define the latter as constituted by 
 the possession of sovereignty, whether exercised by the 
 whole body, or by a few, or by one of its members. This 
 definition, however, is of little practical use in the study of 
 history, for there are many nations to which it would apply, 
 and yet of whom it would be hard to say that they form a 
 state, and live in civil society. All the great pastoral tribes 
 are, or at least were, in possession of sovereignty as inde- 
 pendent nations; and this sovereignty was exercised by the 
 heads of particular families among themselves; and yet no 
 one would argue that the Galmucs, or the Kirgisian and 
 Arabian Bedouins, form what is properly termed a state 
 {Civitas). This, in fact, if we use the word in its common 
 historical sense, can only be constituted by a people, whe- 
 ther great or small, which possesses and permanently in- 
 habits one particular country ; or in other words, fixed 
 places of abode and possessions in land form the second 
 7iecessary qualification of every state, in the practical sense 
 of the word. The reason of this is, that the whole institu- 
 tion, or assembly of institutions, which we term a state, at- 
 tains its development and application only by property in 
 land. The first, though not the only object of a state, is the 
 security of property : now, although moveables are just as 
 much property as land, yet it is only where the latter has 
 been appropriated that the right of property attains to its 
 full importance : and not only this, but the necessity of der 
 
 » [For a further examination of this juggling phrase I cannot do better than 
 refer the reader to Mr. Lewis's Remarks on the Use and Abuse of some PoMical 
 Terms. London, 1832. Doctor Ferguson's Essay on the History of Ctml 
 Society, contains many beautiful and just observations on the true meanmg 
 of the words. Tr.] 
 
826 
 
 OF THE RISE, PROGRESS, ETC. 
 
 fining its different forms by laws is then for the first time 
 perceived, because land is, from its nature, the only perma- 
 nent object of this right.* 
 
 Although a state, then, may be conceived in theory to 
 exist without property in land, yet in reality the one can 
 never exist without the other; and it is the neglect with 
 which this fact has been passed over, that has mainly con- 
 tributed to give to political systems that character of vi- 
 sionary speculation, which must in all theories attend the 
 omission of such points as are necessary to their practical 
 application. 
 
 A sufficient proof of this is furnished by the notion of a 
 " state of nature," and the uses to which it has been put. 
 
 For if this imaginary condition be opposed to civil so- 
 ciety, and the latter can only exist where there are fixed 
 abodes and landed property, we must conclude that all na- 
 tions unprovided with these are living in a state of nature. 
 From this it follows, that "the state of nature" embraces 
 under it all those conditions which may be imagined to 
 exist before the institution of civil society. But as among 
 these there are marked gradations, gradations which cannot 
 escape the merest tyro in history, the only conception of" the 
 state of nature" at which we arrive, is negative; that is, 
 it excludes what does not belong to it, without defining 
 what does : it excludes " civil society," but it does not de- 
 fine the positive condition which the term " state of nature" 
 is intended to denote. 
 
 This consideration, however, did not once enter the 
 minds of our theorists. Each contemplated his own state 
 of nature as something positive, and gave such a descrip- 
 tion of it as best pleased himself No wonder, then, that 
 there should be a little variety in the picture ! — Hobbes 
 conceived the first design. 
 
 ' [Thus, in early times, the law of England seems to have taken no cog- 
 nizance of moveable property, but to have confined itself to ** things that are 
 in their nature more permanent and immoveable, as lands and houses, and 
 the profits issuing thereout." And although commerce, by the vast increase 
 of moveable property which it has caused, has naturally induced great 
 changes in the legal contemplation of it, yet the distinction even in name be- 
 tween " real " and " personal " property, the different laws of descent which 
 they follow, and the greater solemnities requisite to the transfer and devise 
 of the former, compared to what are imposed by law upon the latter, show 
 the secondary place which moveables still occupy. See Blackstone, Com, 
 B. II. c. xxiv. Tr.] 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES. 
 
 327 
 
 l| 
 
 f 
 
 ••^ 
 
 According to him, men in the state of nature live in con- 
 tinued hostility to each other. When in this condition, they 
 are all equal, since they have a mutual right to make war 
 upon, and even to kill each other. They all have the will to 
 commit injuries, and therefore scruple not to do so— a war 
 thus arises of all against all, and the danger becomes univer^ 
 sal, as the weaker must ever yield to the stronger.— It is 
 natural, meantime, that some protection should be sought 
 against these dangers ; nay, it is evident that neither indi- 
 viduals, nor even the whole race of man, could suflice to 
 keep up a war at once universal, and in all probabihty eter- 
 nal—men perceived this, and on this account forsook the 
 state of nature, and formed themselves into civil society, 
 which is therefore the offspring of fear. 
 
 On this hypothesis, the instability of which is apparent 
 from what we have before said, Hobbes constructed his po- 
 litical theory. The second step he took led him into a new 
 hypothesis.— Out of this state of nature it would have been 
 impossible to advance without some specific agreement: 
 and hence arose the principle, since considered so import- 
 ant, that " the state is founded upon a compact.'' ' ^ 
 
 This compact consisted in a general agreement of all 
 to submit their private will to the will of one— it matters 
 not whether this be one individual, or one assemblage ot 
 persons— whose will should thus become the will of all. 
 Whoever procures his will to be thus respected, possesses 
 the sovereign power and majesty : he is the prince, the 
 others are his subjects.— As soon, therefore, as the sove- 
 
 > rThe idea that the state is founded upon a compact, cannot be sMd to 
 have W Urinated by Hobbes, although'^he was perhaps the frst who m 
 m^em^TiMS made this the only and necessary commencement of society 
 H^kCT who died half a century before the LevMhan was pubUshed, (but 
 KX/ p5%, although constantly referred to by Locke, appears to have 
 Sdthe notice of Prof Heeren, )holds very express lan^age to that effect. 
 ^So that in a word, all pubUc regiment, of what kind soever, seemeth 
 e^dently to have arisen from deliberlte advice, consultation, and composition 
 between men, judging it convenient and behoveful; *«« bemg no imposs i- 
 WUbr in STture, considered by itself, but that men might have Jived without 
 anyVubhc rel^ment." WPoW.}: He also spe^s of Umes^he^m 
 thwe was as yet no manner of public regiment." lb. It is also <u?nncuy 
 laird*.^ hi the ParUamentary Declaration of 1648; " They (the parliament) 
 suDMsrS will not be denied that the first institution of the office of a king 
 inEation was by agreement of the peorfe, who chose "netoirtmt^ffice 
 for the protection and good of them wfio chose h""- ^"^„^?' 3^ ^^'' 
 wvernment, according to such laws as they did consent ""to- J"-] 
 ^DeCwey.6. sAmissio voluntatum ommum unius voluntati. 
 
..dl 
 
 
 d£8 
 
 ON THE RISE, PROGRESS, ETC. 
 
 reignty is thus intrusted to the ruler, all private will is at 
 once submitted to him. — He is in no wise bound by the 
 laws which the others may prescribe — he unites in himself 
 the supreme executive and legislative authority/ and is 
 therefore in every way absolute, inviolable, and irresponsible. 
 — Moreover, the power which has been granted to him cannot 
 ever be revoked, for as the nation has transferred this, it no 
 longer constitutes what, morally speaking, may be termed 
 one person, but exists only as an aggregate of individuals. 
 
 It is true that the original act may have settled the 
 sovereignty either upon one man, or upon a certain number, 
 or even on the greater part of the people. And thus 
 Hobbes would not by his theory exclude either an aristo- 
 cracy or a democracy, provided either of these forms were 
 pure and absolute. But then he wished also to prove that 
 a monarchy is far preferable to the other two, and thus he 
 became its advocate, not only generally, but in its most un- 
 limited character of despotism. Mixed constitutions he 
 held to be ipso facto absurd, since they imply the division 
 of the sovereignty, which, according to him, is a contra- 
 diction of terms. 
 
 These are the principal opinions of Hobbes, who may 
 without doubt claim to be considered as the founder of po- 
 litical speculation in modern times — none of his prede- 
 cessors had treated the subject with so much acuteness and 
 power of reasoning. He rose above common experience, 
 and having once established his theory of a state, he guarded 
 it well about. His system rested upon these three positions : 
 1st, The supreme power is indivisible : 2nd, The supreme 
 power may be transferred : 3rd, When transferred its unity 
 must be maintained. 
 
 The converse of the second of these (viz.) that the 
 supreme power is intransferable, was at a later period 
 advanced by Rousseau, who was thus unavoidably led to 
 consider a democracy as the only just form of government. 
 Hobbes, on the other hand, attained by his view to the 
 most unlimited monarchy and aristocracy, without, as we 
 have said, wholly excluding democracy. The only condi- 
 
 ' Imperium absolutum, De Civey vi. 13. Hobbes has no general term for 
 the executive power, he characterizes it according to particular acts of tie 
 government. 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES; 
 
 329 
 
 tion on which he insisted, was that the form, whatever that 
 might be, should be simple and unrestricted. 
 
 The high character which belongs to Hobbes among the 
 political writers of his day, might lead us to expect that he 
 should have acquired great practical influence. This, how- 
 ever, was not the case ; and it may partly be accounted for 
 by the fact, that the constitution of his own country was 
 formed upon wholly different principles from those which 
 he advocated. But even among the supporters of absolute 
 kingly power, he was not usually appealed to as their best 
 defence. Filmer, whom we have before spoken of, although 
 immeasurably inferior to Hobbes, yet attained to much 
 greater authority ; in fact, he was singled out by the best 
 champions of the opposite party as the worthier enemy of 
 the two. The reason of this appears to be, that Filmer's 
 work was in much better accordance with the prevailing 
 spirit of the time than that of Hobbes. The latter so far 
 excelled his age in method and power of abstract reasoning, 
 as to stand alone and unappreciated. Again, Filmer had 
 interwoven religion with his politics, and quoted the Bible 
 for examples and authority ; and as this was then the pre- 
 valent tone, we can understand how his solemn trifling 
 came to attract more attention than the philosophical argu- 
 ments of Hobbes. 
 
 It would be superfluous to dwell upon other and less 
 known writers, who came forward in support of absolute 
 power, as the theory of politics was very little advanced by 
 them ; and it is far from my intention to give a literary his- 
 tory of the science. I prefer passing at once to the advo- 
 cates of free constitutions who appeared at this time in 
 England ; and among these more especially to Algernon 
 Sidney, and John Locke. Both had for their immediate 
 object a reply to Filmer, but neither was content with his 
 discomfiture. Algernon Sidney^ was one of those charac- 
 ters which the disturbances of a revolution are so apt to 
 produce. From his earliest youth he was an enthusiastic 
 adorer of republican freedom ; and the circumstances amidst 
 which he lived, served amply to encourage a spirit which 
 
 ' He was born 1622, and beheaded 1683, on a charge of high treason, 
 which could not be substantiated. Under William III. this judgment was 
 reversed, and his innocence solemnly acknowledged. 
 
330 
 
 ON THE RISE, PROGRESS, ETC. 
 
 persecution only confirmed. For many years he wandered 
 in exile, and when at length he returned to his native 
 country, it was to be condemned without cause, and die 
 upon the scaffold. His own often rehearsed motto, 
 
 Manus base inimica tyrannis 
 
 Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem ; 
 
 gives a truer history of his opinions and character than any 
 longer story could tell. 
 
 Sidney wrote his famous "Discourses on Government" 
 in answer to Filmer, and this polemical design teaches us at 
 once that we are not to expect from them a regular system 
 of politics. Moreover, he had no natural turn for specula- 
 tive pursuits ; and his philosophy of government consisted 
 in a few favourite maxims, which he sought to prove altern- 
 ately by abstract reasoning and reference to history. The 
 first position of Filmer's which he attacked, was that in 
 which he deduced the kingly power from God. He argued 
 that so far from this, God had committed the choice of their 
 government entirely to mankind. It is, therefore, in strict 
 accordance with nature, that nations should rule themselves, 
 or at least choose their own rulers. 
 
 All " magistratical power" then, if rightly derived, must 
 be derived from the people; and the government must be 
 instituted with a view to the advantage of the governed, and 
 not of the governors. The amount of power which is in- 
 trusted to the magistracy, depends upon the people who 
 make that trust : and as every nation has a right to establish 
 its own form of government, so every nation has a right to 
 alter or do it away at will. It is clear that these principles 
 would admit of a monarchy as well as of a constitution ; but 
 although their author does not wholly reject the monarchical 
 form, he takes no trouble to conceal his preference of re- 
 publicanism, the advantages of which he endeavours, often 
 feebly enough, to prove. It is evident from this short ab- 
 stract, that the theory of government gained very little at 
 the hands of Sidney. He ranks, however, among the most 
 spirited defenders of liberty, and his unjust fate has rendered 
 his memory sacred. With regard to his work, which could 
 only be published after his death, in the reign of William HI., 
 we may fairly say that his name has done more for it thau 
 it has done for his name i it never has been forgotten, but 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES. 
 
 331 
 
 it has never taken a place among the classics of his country. 
 This, indeed, the form of it would not permit, for while its 
 polemical interest necessarily expired with the short-lived 
 reputation of Filmer, there was nothing in the vagueness 
 and unphilosophical arrangement of its parts which could 
 supply the deficiency. 
 
 If Algernon Sidney then did contribute, and assuredly he 
 did, to awaken a spirit of freedom among his countrymen, 
 it was rather by his life and death than by any thing that 
 ever came from his pen. 
 
 John Locke,^ of whom we have now to speak, requires a 
 very different notice. He is to be reckoned among those 
 who have acquired, and still continue to exercise, a great 
 national influence ; for whatever opinion we may entertain 
 of his powers of thought, it is undeniable that to him Eng- 
 land chiefly owes the direction of its philosophical pursuits. 
 
 Those of his writings with which we have here to do, ar6 
 his two treatises of government.^ The first of these, as its 
 title denotes, was in answer to Filmer ; but the second goes 
 further, and being an attempt to establish the general theory 
 of government, bears more directly upon our subject. 
 
 In it Locke proceeds, as Hobbes had done, from "the 
 state of nature ;" but the vagueness which we before attri- 
 buted to the idea of such a state, is at once shown by the 
 very different picture which he gives of it from that sketched 
 by Hobbes. The latter had asserted that, in " the state of 
 nature" eveiy man was in continual warfare with his neigh- 
 bour. Locke, on the other hand, imposes upon men in this 
 state a natural law, by which they are bound alike to pro- 
 vide for their own safety, and to abstain from injuring that 
 of others. By the same law, persons who may have suffered 
 injury are permitted to exert themselves in self-defence, and 
 to retaliate so far as at once to procure reparation to them- 
 selves, and to prevent the aggressors from any renewal of 
 their attacks. In spite, therefore, of his own doctrine, with 
 which he combats Filmer and Hobbes, that all men in the 
 
 * He was bom 1632, spent a portion of his life abroad, especially in France, 
 and died 1704. . • i j 
 
 * The two treatises of government. In the former, the false pnnciples and 
 foundation of Sir Robert Filmer, Bart., and his followers, are detected and 
 overthrown. The latter is an essay concerning the true original extent and 
 end of civil government. 
 
3S2 
 
 ON THE RISE, PROGRESS, ETC. 
 
 state of nature are free and equal, he allots to every one iei 
 degree of power over his neighbour sufficient to punish the 
 transgressors of the natural law, and thus to maintain its au- 
 thority. 
 
 This view of the state of nature reduces it to a condition 
 in which men are under no government but that of reason. 
 Such a condition may certainly be imagined, but until men 
 learn to shake off the passions, which at present hold a di- 
 vided sway with reason, and become wholly devoted to the 
 latter, it can never be realized. While if it were, we may 
 ask what necessity there would then be for any government 
 at all ? That it would be necessary, however, Locke declares, 
 and that because where every man is judge in his own cause, 
 it is impossible that he should act without being prejudiced 
 by his own interest. 
 
 The most important advantage which resulted from the 
 inquiries of Locke, was the assertion of universal freedom 
 and equality as the birthright of mankind, in opposition to 
 the tenets of Filmer and his followers with respect to the 
 dependence, and even slavery, which they held to emanate 
 from the paternal authority. Locke therefore was the first 
 who advanced the doctrine of the natural rights of man, in 
 as far as these are maintained by personal freedom, and the 
 security of property, which he was at much more pains to 
 define and establish than any of his predecessors had been. 
 
 As Locke made the state of civil society to proceed from 
 that of nature, by the act of surrender, according to which 
 every man resigned his individual right of punishing the 
 violators of the natural law into the hands of a public and 
 acknowledged officer ; it follows, of course, that the consti- 
 tuents of a state should be all free men, and that personal 
 freedom should be an essential condition of the union. 
 Locke, however, was not content with this, for the whole 
 tenor of his work is directed to show that the British con- 
 stitution is strictly in conformity with the general principles 
 of government, and therefore a just and reasonable form. 
 He thus introduces, beyond the personal freedom on which 
 he openly insists, the condition of political freedom, or par- 
 ticipation in the legislature. The origin of a state presup- 
 poses the voluntary agreement of all those who are to be- 
 come members of it ; these, by uniting themselves, form a 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES. 
 
 33S 
 
 political body ; and this body must be directed by the will 
 of the majority, or else remain inefficient. As each indi- 
 vidual, therefore, must submit his own opinion to that of 
 the majority, which thus becomes the legislative power, this 
 power is supreme, whether the constitution be of one kind 
 or another, whether the power be transferred into the hands 
 of many or of a few. It must, however, be distinguished 
 from the executive, which is subordinate to the other, and 
 has for its object the observance and fulfilment of the laws. 
 In pursuing this scheme Locke was led to inquire more 
 particularly into the distinction between the legislative and 
 executive powers, and the principles which he thus estab- 
 lished form another and essential cause of gratitude to him 
 as a political theorist. No writer before him had so dis- 
 tinctly separated these elements of a constitution from each 
 other, or ascertained so closely both their several characters 
 and mutual relation. But whilst he was busied in claiming 
 a superiority for the legislative over the executive, and in 
 securing the exercise of it either wholly, or in part at least, 
 to the people or their representatives, he was thus gradually 
 preparing his way to the maxim, that no constitution is to 
 be considered a right one in which the legislative and the 
 executive powers are not lodged in different hands. In an 
 unlimited monarchy, therefore, where the two powers are 
 united in the ruler without control, the proper relations can- 
 not be established, and the prince is to be regarded as occu- 
 pying the same position towards his subjects as that which 
 every man held towards his neighbour in the state of nature. 
 This development of the doctrine of a distinction of 
 powers in the state, was absolutely necessary to complete 
 the theory of government, and Locke cannot be denied great 
 merit for accomplishing it, as well as for pointing out the 
 advantages of a free constitution. He thus prepared the 
 ground which subsequent writers, however little they other- 
 wise agreed with him in principle, yet made use of to estab- 
 lish their own. But then, on the other hand, he did not fore- 
 see the consequences to which his doctrines might lead ; for 
 although there can be no doubt that the legislative and exe- 
 cutive powers ought to be considered as separate in theory, 
 yet how far they ought to be separated in practice, is a 
 wholly different question. 
 
SM 
 
 ON THE RISE, PROGRESS, ETC. 
 
 An entire separation of the two in practical politics can 
 never be accomplished — nor indeed did Locke ever intend 
 it — he assigned the prince a share in the legislative, and thus 
 differed from Hobbes by admitting a mixed constitution, 
 while the latter rejected all division of the sovereignty, and 
 admitted only the pure forms. Notwithstanding this, how- 
 ever, the theoretical distinction of these elements led to the 
 maxim that they ought to be separated as much as possible 
 in practice ; and thus the way was opened to most serious 
 errors. Subsequent experience has unfortunately shown 
 that anxiety on this point is any thing but unfounded, and 
 if we examine the evils which have resulted from it, we 
 shall be obliged to confess, that no theory ever produced so 
 much mischief by being misunderstood as this. 
 
 As far as England was concerned, however, the principles 
 of Locke needed no qualification, and we can easily under- 
 stand how they should become the text book of the nation. 
 That separation of the executive and legislative powers 
 which he required, was here in force, for although the king 
 had a share of the latter, it was yet essentially in the hands 
 of the parliament. Those maxims which were considered 
 by the people as most sacred and most important, viz. that 
 no taxes should be imposed except with the consent of their 
 representatives, that all men's rights were equal in the eye 
 of the law, and the like, were definitely expressed by I^ocke ; 
 and thus his theory corresponded in all its essential points 
 with what actually existed. This accordance alone would 
 have secured Locke a very great authority ; but besides this, 
 he was acknowledged as the first philosopher, and one of 
 the most classical writers which the nation possessed ; and 
 his work thus became current, if not among the mass of the 
 people, at least among the well-informed and educated part 
 of it. There were other circumstances also which tended 
 to spread his influence, and especially the fact that several 
 of the most eminent practical statesman of Great Britain, 
 we need only mention Chatham as one — recognised his 
 principles upon every occasion in parliament ; and thus 
 added to his character for abstract philosophy that of the 
 surest practical discernment. 
 
 The general consent of a great and intelligent nation, 
 which has produced so many of the most profound philo- 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES. 
 
 335 
 
 sophers and ablest statesmen, is always entitled to our at- 
 tention ; nor have we the remotest wish to take from the 
 undoubted merits of Locke : but we may observe, that the 
 almost blind respect which was paid to him, has been one 
 of the causes of that abatement in the study of political 
 science, which to a certain degree still continues. — To argue 
 against Locke has been considered as an infallible proof of 
 disaffection to the constitution. 
 
 Nevertheless, England has since his time had many po- 
 litical writers, and those of the first order, but their pursuits 
 have received a different direction, and have been changed 
 from inquiries as to the rights and forms of government, 
 into questions of political economy. — Men's opinions on 
 constitutional points, as far as these are practically con- 
 cerned, have become settled, partly by the constitution under 
 which they live, and partly by the writings of Locke. On 
 the other hand, the more evident relations of government 
 and the new wants which have been continually arising, were 
 calculated to draw general attention to political economy. 
 And as under the Stuarts the theory of government owed 
 its rise to the revolutionary times immediately preceding, so 
 the circumstances of later days naturally led to the theories 
 of political economy. It does not belong to our plan to 
 mention the great writers who have appeared in this depart- 
 ment. From them Europe has gained its whole knowledge 
 of the science, and their influence, far from diminishing, 
 must continue to increase. 
 
 However highly we may estimate the services which 
 Locke rendered to the science of civil government, it was 
 unavoidable that a theory which had reference only to one 
 particular state, should be partial and incornplete. This 
 will be at once evident if we apply his principles to other 
 countries, which we are, to a certain degree, accustomed to 
 consider among the best governed of Europe. 
 
 According to him, none of those states in which the 
 power of the prince is unlimited, i. e. in which the legislative 
 and executive powers are united in his person — admit of 
 any approach to civil society, properly so called— in fact, 
 they present nothing but slavery. These expressions must 
 of course be taken with some degree of latitude, but the 
 theory which seeks to confine the idea of a state within such 
 narrow limits, cannot be reconciled with actual history. 
 
336 
 
 ON THE RISE, PBOGBESS, ETC. 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES. 
 
 337 
 
 If states, such as Denmark and Prussia, are not even to 
 deserve the name of states, if their constitutions are not for 
 a moment to be considered rightful constitutions, we niust 
 be allowed to suspect, that the fault lies rather in the the- 
 orists than in the states themselves. And so m truth it 
 does ; Locke, like all his predecessors, and his successors 
 down to Kant, adopted for his foundation the division into 
 monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. But as long as this 
 division prevails, no theory which is fo"n<Jf upon it can 
 be secure And one of the chief reasons of this is, that the 
 important distinction between unlimited monarchy, as far as 
 this results from the union of the two powers, or as it is bet- 
 ter termed, autocracy, and despotism, cannot be drawn 
 Hence these two forms, although essentially different, are 
 continually mistaken for each other.' •„♦!,« 
 
 While outward circumstances were thus advancing the 
 theory of politics in England, Geneva presented a similar, 
 and Tet a very different appearance. This small state de- 
 serves to be reckoned among the most remarkable in Europe, 
 and from its immense influence upon the practice of politics 
 attracts the attention of the historian more than many other 
 states which far exceed it in size. From a curious assern- 
 blaee of circumstances, speculation on the science ot go- 
 vernment attained to a degree of vigour here, which was not 
 equalled in any other part of Europe, and which at once 
 produced its consequences— some cheering and beneficial, 
 others, alas! dangerous and destructive. 
 
 The names of Calvin, and Servetus, of Voltaire, of Rous- 
 seau and Necker, bring a throng of recollections to the 
 3 ; but in order to obtain a full view of the subject with 
 which they are connected, we must bestow a passing glance 
 upon the position and history of Geneva itself. 
 
 The geographical situation of this town undoubtedly con- 
 tributed to produce a collision of ideas, such as could not 
 easily take place elsewhere. Placed upon the borders of 
 France, Italy, and Switzerland it enjoyed a degree of intel- 
 lectual prosperity to which each of the neighbouring sta es 
 contributed its share. Still, however, the peculiar character 
 of Geneva was determined by the development of its inter- 
 
 IV. p. 413, of the English translaUon. 
 
 nal relations. To this the Reformation mainly contributed 
 
 for on their conversion to its principles, the Genevese 
 
 (1533) expelled the bishops, who had till then been, in a 
 certain degree, their rulers ; although, as in other places, a 
 municipal constitution had gradually been formed to restrain 
 them. From that time Geneva maintained its independence, 
 notwithstanding the attempts of the princes of Savoy : and 
 the goods of the clergy, which had been confiscated, were 
 applied to the foundation of that university, which has since 
 reckoned so many distinguished men among its members. 
 In the mean time, it was reserved for John Calvin, who 
 established himself here as a Reformer, to enable Geneva, by 
 his single efforts, to turn the Reformation to such account, 
 as regarded its political importance, as could never have 
 been hoped for without his assistance. 
 
 This extraordinary personage, a Frenchman by birth, and 
 as much endowed with vigour and activity as he was fur- 
 nished with learning, was chosen to fill the professor s chair ; 
 and not only acquired great political importance by the in- 
 fluence which the rigid church discipline, established by 
 him at the Reformation, secured to himself and to the 
 clergy, but became, as a general reformer, the head of that 
 party which took its name from him. 
 
 Of this party Geneva naturally became the chief resort, 
 and from it they spread themselves in all directions, and 
 especially towards France, where, under the name of Hugo- 
 nots, they caused disturbances from which the most san- 
 guinary civil wars took their rise. But, besides the presence 
 of Calvin, there. was another reason for the religious im- 
 portance of Geneva, and one of a more enduring character. 
 The new doctrines were no where else taught in the 
 French tongue ; and thus Geneva necessarily became the 
 school of the French reformed clergy, and, by extending its 
 sphere, involved itself more deeply in general politics. 
 
 To these circumstances Geneva was considerably indebted 
 for the features which so peculiarly distinguished it — but 
 not to these alone. — The manner in which its internal re- 
 lations were established was of no less influence. In the 
 same year as that in which Calvin settled at Geneva, (1536,) 
 a change was wrought in the constitution of this state upon 
 which its future character depended. The municipal con- 
 
338 
 
 ON THE RISE. PROGRESS, ETC. 
 
 stitution, as far as it had been formed under the bishops, was 
 purely democratical. The citizens' assembly, (Conseil ge- 
 neral,) which included every householder who enjoyed the 
 rightsof citizenship, deliberated upon all important matters, 
 and elected annually, from its own members, four chief of- 
 ficers, or syndics, who were obliged to give an account of 
 their proceedings to the assembly. To those syndics it had, 
 for a considerable time, become customary to join assessors, 
 whose number had gradually been increased to twenty-five, 
 and the body thus formed was called the smaller council 
 (Petit conseil). Causes which will not admit of being his- 
 torically proved had induced the addition of other assessors 
 to the smaller council. The number of these was (in 1526) 
 fixed at two hundred, but afterwards amounted to two 
 hundred and fifty; and thus the great council (Grand ^ 
 conseil) was formed, in which the smaller council had seats 
 and voices, and of which it formed the select committee. 
 
 It was naturally to be expected, that when the bishops 
 were expelled, and the state thus became wholly free, these 
 institutions should not only be preserved, but should acquire 
 a much greater importance than before. Up to that time, 
 however, the members of both councils, as well as the 
 syndics, were annually chosen by the citizens' assembly, and 
 could, therefore, be only considered as delegates of the latter. 
 
 But in the year 1536, at a moment when general atten- 
 tion was fully occupied by matters of religion, it was carried, 
 that the two councils, the great and the small, should re- 
 elect themselves annually, subject, however, to an inquiry 
 into the conduct of their members. 
 
 It was very difficult at that time for the citizens to per- 
 ceive the consequences of such changes : they could not, how- 
 ever, but show themselves. In the midst of a democracy 
 the seeds of an aristocracy had been sown, the growth and 
 prosperity of which there was scarce any thing left to control. 
 
 The two councils had a common interest ; they naturally 
 became permanent bodies — naturally I say, for what could 
 be more natural than that the annual election should, when 
 it was thus left to themselves, become an empty form ? A 
 slight acquaintance with the course of affairs in small states 
 
 ' We must not confound the great council (Grand conseil) with the Conseil 
 general, or citizens* assembly. 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES. 
 
 839 
 
 will tell us, moreover, that this aristocracy could not avoid 
 becoming an aristocracy of particular families. Meanwhile, 
 however, it lasted for a considerable time without becoming 
 a cause of dissension ; and for that reason was able to estab- 
 lish itself the more firmly. The continued attempts of the 
 dukes of Savoy to subdue Geneva also contributed to divert 
 the attention of the citizens, and at the same time to create a 
 spirit of unity, which the last ineffectual effort in 1602, the 
 well-known escalade, served greatly to confirm. 
 
 While there was yet no great disparity of possessions, 
 while strangers were freely admitted to the full rights of 
 citizenship, and while those connexions were kept up be- 
 tween the upper and lower classes which were established 
 by sponsorship, (a tie which may not unaptly be compared 
 to the patronage of the Romans,) disturbances were not 
 much to be feared. But all this became changed, when at 
 the revocation of the edict of Nantes, (1685,) a host of Hu- 
 gonots fled from France to Geneva. From that time the 
 rights of citizenship began to be more sparingly imparted, 
 and the Genevese formed themselves into distinct classes 
 by the separation, among the citizens themselves, of the 
 '' Citoyens,'' or elder citizens, (whose family had possessed 
 that right for four generations,) from the new citizens, or 
 ''Bourgeois,'' and among the mere inhabitants, of the 
 " Habitans" from the after settlers or " Natifir and with 
 this distinction of classes arose also a distinction of rights. 
 The new trades which the refugees imported with them, 
 produced a great increase of wealth ; and men's minds be- 
 came more at leisure for the consideration of political 
 questions. In 1707 the contest between the aristocracy 
 and the democracy fairly commenced, and was from time 
 to time renewed in a manner which furnishes the most m- 
 structive commentary on the struggles of the patricians and 
 plebeians in Rome, with which it agreed as well m other 
 points, as in the fate of its martyrs— its Fatio, Micheli, and 
 others. The historical details of these events do not belong 
 to our plan, but it is well worthy of attention that they fre- 
 quently arose upon questions closely connected with the 
 theory of politics, which was then assuming a new form. 
 
 In none of the other and larger states of Europe were 
 those difficult points, regarding the sovereignty of the 
 
 z 2 
 
340 
 
 ON THE RISE, PROGRESS. ETC. 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES. 
 
 341 
 
 people, the limits between the legislative and the executive, 
 and SO forth, discussed so practically as in Geneva. — It pre- 
 sented the curious spectacle of a small, almost the smallest 
 free state of Europe, preserving in the midst of the great 
 monarchies by which it was surrounded, so striking a re- 
 semblance to the republics of antiquity, as to furnish a 
 commentary on them, such as the whole continent besides 
 could not supply. But there is another point on account 
 of which it is still more remarkable, viz. the interference of 
 several of the greater states, especially of France, with its 
 internal affairs, and the manner in which that interference 
 was conducted. Almost all the ministers who had charge 
 of the foreign affairs of France— Fleury and Choiseul under 
 Lewis XV. — Vergennes and Necker under Lewis XVL — 
 took a very great and active interest in the politics of 
 Geneva; but notwithstanding the immense disparity of 
 strength, their interference was always cautious and respect- 
 ful, to a degree which could have been necessary only 
 towards a much more important state. And even when, in 
 extreme cases, it became unavoidable for the support of one 
 or other of the parties, that troops should be advanced upon 
 Geneva, still its independence was never violated. Indeed 
 the eighteenth century may claim as a phenomenon pecu- 
 liarly its own, the instance of an army furnished by three 
 powers, France, Sardinia, and Switzerland, and assembled 
 before the gates of a town, not for the purposes of conquest, 
 but solely with a view of restoring by its presence the tran- 
 quillity of the town itself No political system which has 
 not for its foundation a sacred respect for property and a de- 
 sire to maintain the balance of power can present such scenes ! 
 Whilst these repeated disturbances, and the cautious in- 
 terference of the great powers which they produced, gave 
 to Geneva an importance in the eyes of Europe which no 
 other state of the same rank could boast, they were also the 
 cause of its becoming the central point of speculations on 
 the theory of government. It affords a striking example of 
 the power which the freedom of a republican constitution 
 possesses to awaken a spirit of general inquiry, while it at 
 the same time shows that the spirit thus roused will natu- 
 rally attach itself to the subject of politics, should these lie 
 more immediately within its reach. 
 
 I 
 
 
 But besides its form of government, Geneva had another 
 advantage in the identity of its language with that of France. 
 By this means it derived full benefit from every step which 
 the latter made : all the new ideas which arose in France 
 obtained immediate circulation there. And thus, before we 
 come to " the citizen of Geneva," whose influence on the 
 theory of politics was so extensive, we must first cast a 
 glance upon the progress which speculations of this nature 
 had made in France. 
 
 The age of Lewis XIV. had not been by any means fa- 
 vourable to them, but under his successors they had fairer 
 scope. The spirit of the nation received a sudden impulse 
 from the hand of one, who in respect of the attention which 
 he excited, became to the French what Locke was to the 
 English. He and Locke, however, held such different views 
 with regard to the existing constitutions of their own coun- 
 tries that this is the only point on which a comparison will 
 hold. 
 
 Before Montesquieu, the French nation possessed no 
 writer on political subjects whom they esteemed sufficiently 
 to consider an authority ; but no sooner had the " Esprit 
 des Loix"^ appeared, than it obtained so great an influence 
 as to render all attacks upon it ineffectual, except in further- 
 ing its success. In these days, however, we may ask what the 
 real worth of this book is, and what has been effected by it ? 
 
 The whole of Montesquieu's work emanated from the 
 study of history. It is true that he does not deserve the 
 praise of having earned by these studies the name of a ge- 
 neral historian : they were too confined for that. He had 
 studied the history of Rome deeply, that of Greece with 
 much less attention ; of that of the other nations of antiquity 
 he knew hardly any thing. His acquaintance with the East, 
 a quarter full of importance to his inquiries, was confined to 
 what a few books of travels could supply. Of the histories 
 of the middle and modern ages, those of France had inter- 
 ested him most, those of Germany and England next. The 
 limits of his historical studies were therefore extremely nar- 
 row ; but yet they embraced that diversity which was requi- 
 site for his purpose ; and, moreover, he had pursued these 
 studies in a spirit such as none of his predecessors could 
 
 ' It was first published in 1748, 
 
S42 
 
 ON THE RISE, PROGRESS, ETC. 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES. 
 
 343 
 
 boast, not even Machiavel, who, as the founder of practical 
 history among the moderns, might otherwise claim a place 
 
 beside him. 
 
 The object of Montesquieu was to attain by the study of 
 history to a knowledge of the very essence of states and poli- 
 tical constitutions— to distinguish the peculiarities of each 
 form ; and thus to deduce maxims for the administration of 
 the diftbrent branches of legislature under different consti- 
 tutions. 
 
 His field was therefore of boundless extent and propor- 
 tionate abundance ; but then the subjects which it embraced 
 possessed of themselves the highest practical interest, and 
 had they been treated with only moderate ability, the first 
 attempt on so large a scale could not have failed to attract 
 the reader. How much more, then, when they were in the 
 hands of a man so gifted as Montesquieu ! Indeed, inter- 
 esting as we have declared the subjects to be of which he 
 treats, it was not to them, but to his maimer of treating of 
 them, that his work owes the great and permanent sensation 
 wliich it produced. The method which he adopted of giving 
 no finished descriptions, but of only hinting as it were by 
 outline ; of never exhausting his subject, and yet of saying 
 so much on it in so few words ; of busying not only the rea- 
 son, by philosophical argument and definition, but the ima- 
 gination, by the pictures which he often substituted in their 
 room — above all, those lightning flashes of genius which, 
 perhaps, blind as often as they illustrate — all this was ad- 
 mirably calculated to secure him assent and admiration 
 among a people such as his own. 
 
 His work contained inexhaustible matter of thought for 
 those who wished to think ; whilst those who were too in- 
 dolent for such exertions might console themselves with the 
 belief that they had gathered from it an abundance of ready- 
 made thoughts, and these of the brightest description. 
 
 This exuberance of genius, however, was unaccompanied 
 by a tf^ue philosophical spirit. The mind of Montesquieu 
 was well adapted for deriving shrewd remarks from expe- 
 rience ; but for all matters of speculation, as far as that con- 
 sists in the definition and distinction of abstract ideas, he was 
 almost totally unfit — nay, he does not even seem to have once 
 felt the want of it ! The very first pages of his work show, 
 
 what has before been justly objected to him, that the author 
 of the Spirit of the Laws was incapable of defining rightly 
 what laws are ; and it is evident throughout that he had not 
 a clear notion of the first principles of the science of govern- 
 ment. If any one should think these expressions unjust, 
 he had better attempt to derive from Montesquieu's own 
 words an idea of the essential character of the different 
 kinds of government, of despotism, aristocracy, democracy, 
 etc. This formed the very foundation of his scheme, and 
 yet if we examine it, we shall not wonder at any uncertainty 
 or weakness which we meet with in the superstructure.^ 
 
 But although the general theory of government gained so 
 little from Montesquieu, although his whole work could pre- 
 tend to be nothing more than an assemblage of maxims, the 
 justness and applicability of which it was left to the reader 
 
 » It was not without due consideration that I first pubUshed my opinion of 
 a writer of such high authority, and one whose real merits I fully acknow- 
 ledge I repeat it now with greater confidence, as his last French Reviewer 
 has fully confirmed it, in his admirable work, Commentaire Critique sur 
 r Esprit de Loix,par Le Comte Destuth De Tracy, 1812; translated, with 
 notes, by Professor Morstadt, Heidelberg , 1820. ^r- . • n • 
 
 The French translator of thij treatise, in my Melanges Htstortques, Tans, 
 1820 has endeavoured to soften down this criticism, by stating m his note, 
 what I am most ready to admit, viz. That I have only considered the state of 
 science, and not the circumstances of the time. These, however, do not appear 
 to me to have much to do with an opinion as to the progress of the theory. 
 
 [The following passage is the first sentence in Montesquieu's * Spint of 
 Laws-'— "Les loix dans la signification la plus etendue, sont les rapports 
 necessaires qui derivent de la nature des choses: et dans ce sens tous les 
 ^tres ont leur loix ; la Divinite a ses loix, le monde matenel a ses loix, les 
 inteUigences superieures k Vhomme ont leurs loix, les betes ont leur loix, 
 I'homme a ses loix." Now, objects widely different, though bearing a com- 
 mon name, are here blended and confounded. Of the laws which govern the 
 conduct of intelligent and rational animals, some are laws imperatwe and 
 proper, and others are closely analogous to laws of that descnption. But the 
 so called laws which govern the material world, with the so called laws which 
 govern the lower animals, are merely laws by a metaphor. And the so called 
 laws which govern or determine the Deity, are clearly in the same i)redica- 
 ment. If his notions were governed and determined by laws imperative and 
 proper, he would be in a state of dependence on another and superior being. 
 When we say that the actions of the Deity are governed or determined by 
 laws, we mean that they conform to intentions which the Deity himself has 
 conceived, and which he pursues or observes with inflexible steadiness or 
 constancy. To mix these figurative laws with laws imperative and proper, is 
 to obscure, and not to elucidate, the nature or essence of the latter. Ihe be- 
 ginning of the passage is worthy of the sequel. We are told that laws are 
 the necessary relations which flow from the nature of things. But what, 1 
 would crave, are relations ? What, I would also crave, is the nature of 
 things? And how do the necessary relations which flow from the nature ot 
 things differ from those relations which originate in other sources ? 1 he 
 terms of the definition are incomparably more obscure than the term which 
 it affects to expound." AvsTiy, on Jurisprudence, i>. idl- iR.J 
 
344 
 
 ON THE RISE, PROGRESS, ETC. 
 
 to determine, it did not on that account work less effect- 
 ually. It contained, in the first place, an inexhaustible 
 treasure for the practical study of history ; and although 
 there are many single opinions and assertions in which we 
 may not agree with Montesquieu, yet his labours served suf- 
 ficiently to point out the advantages which might be de- 
 rived from the study of history, as well as the manner in 
 which these pursuits should be directed in order to attain 
 them. Besides this, it derived great influence upon the 
 spirit and way of thinking of the people of France, from the 
 occurrences of the time at which it appeared. During the 
 regency of the Duke of Orleans, as well as after the succes- 
 sion of Lewis XV., the most shameless corruption pervaded 
 the whole government ; the main cause of this was usually 
 held to be the systematic suppression of the national free- 
 dom, the remains of which were occasionally perceptible in 
 the struggles with the parliament ; while it ought, with 
 much more truth, to have been attributed to the state of 
 morality, especially among the higher orders, to which no 
 constitutional forms could have offered an impediment. 
 The favourite maxims of Montesquieu were thus readily ap- 
 preciated by the spirit of the day — his unrestrained attach- 
 ment to mixed constitutions, especially that of Great Britain, 
 could not fail to procure him a host of supporters. He met 
 public opinion half way — was it astonishing then that he 
 should be received with so much applause ? 
 
 The spirit of political discussion was fairly awakened by 
 him among his countrymen, never again to be lulled to rest, 
 and from that time forth legislation, and the best modes of 
 adapting it to the end proposed, became one of the subjects 
 to which thinking men chiefly turned their attention. Mon- 
 tesquieu, therefore, contributed largely towards including it 
 in the subject-matter of philosophy, although his own in- 
 quiries proceeded from the study of history, and not from 
 the philosophy of the day. 
 
 In fact, of all those men who were at first distinguished, as 
 they are now branded, with the name of philosophers, not one 
 had attained to any eminence in France till long after Mon- 
 tesquieu had began to busy himself on his ' Spirit of Laws.'* 
 
 With all the imperfections and deficiencies of his work, 
 
 * According to his own account, Montesquieu was occupied for twenty years 
 on that work. See the end of his preface. 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES. 
 
 345 
 
 ^i 
 
 I 
 
 / 
 
 Montesquieu has the merit then of having directed men's 
 inquiries into the paths of ejcperience. From the diffusion 
 of his principles reform indeed might have been expected, 
 but not revolution ; for although he was the enlightened 
 supporter of a limited monarchical constitution, he had not 
 on that account endeavoured — even in France — to shake 
 the foundation upon which the existing order of things had 
 for so long rested. He was far from desiring general po- 
 litical equality ; on the contrary, he maintained that under 
 a monarchy, the leading principle of which ought, according 
 to him, to be honour, the existence of a nobility is requisite, 
 to prevent despotism on the one hand, and the tyranny of 
 the people on the other ; nor did he ever reject the clergy 
 as an estate of the realm, although he wished some restric- 
 tion of their privileges, especially with regard to their ju- 
 risdiction} If, therefore, the idea of a 7nonarchy limited by 
 7'epresentation of the people, became cherished by the greater 
 part of the people of France, as the result of the first na- 
 tional assembly proved to be the case, this must be mainly 
 attributed, next to the example supplied by England, to the 
 work of Montesquieu. That this very national assembly, 
 however, far outwent the intentions of Montesquieu, by lay- 
 ing down the principle of universal political equality, need 
 not, after what we have said, be any further insisted upon. 
 
 And this brings us back to the point from whence we 
 started, viz. a review of the theorists of Geneva, and espe- 
 cially of him whose work became the text book of revolution. 
 How far it was adapted to this purpose, how far the princi- 
 ples practically applied were really contained in it, is a point 
 well worth our determining. But in order to gain a just 
 view of the " Contrat Social," we must first bestow a glance 
 upon its origin. 
 
 The " Contrat Social" originated in a manner directly 
 contrary to the " Esprit des Loix" — the latter was the result 
 of experience, supplied by the study of history ; the former 
 was the product of pure speculation, which Rousseau had 
 been led to apply to politics from his earlier inquiries as to 
 the origin of a disparity among mankind. Nevertheless, 
 however abstract the studies of Rousseau may have been, it 
 is very certain that the theory of government which he en- 
 
 * Esprit des LoiXf ii. cap. 4. 
 
346 
 
 ON THE RISE, PROGRESS, ETC. 
 
 tertained, could have been entertained by none but " the 
 citizen of Geneva;'' not that the principles which he advo- 
 cated were those which obtained a practical influence in 
 Geneva, but if any speculative thinker had set himself to 
 mould the opinions favoured by the democratical and op- 
 position party into a political system, and to establish them 
 upon philosophical grounds, such a work as the " Contrat 
 Social" must inevitably have been the result. It requires a 
 very slight acquaintance with this treatise to perceive that 
 Rousseau had continually before his eyes a small and free 
 state, as being, in fact, the only one in which his principles 
 could, to their full extent, become applicable. We may 
 therefore justly say, that had it not been for the political 
 progress of Geneva, the " Contrat Social" would never have 
 been written. While, on the other hand, the already great, 
 ahhough indirect, influence of this little republic upon the 
 practical politics of Europe, became by it immense. 
 
 It was not Rousseau's design, as it was Montesquieu's, to 
 produce a rich collection of political rules and maxims, 
 scientifically arranged — he sought rather to establish the 
 general principles of government upon a philosophical 
 foundation. In accordance with the object of our present 
 work, it must be shown how he accomplished this, and more 
 especially, how, in so doing, he diverged from the paths of 
 his predecessors, and was thus led off* to a different conclusion. 
 . Rousseau, although he differs from both Hobbes and Locke 
 in his description of it, proceeds, like them, from a " state of 
 nature," out of which he supposes men to have advanced into 
 civil society by a voluntary contract. This contract, how- 
 ever, is not concluded between the people and their rulers, 
 but between the different members of the community itself, 
 and must, as no man has a natural right over his fellow, be 
 the result of unanimous agreement. This " pacte social" 
 has no other object than to procure social institutions, under 
 which the power of all may be exercised for the protection 
 of the persons and property of each. Each individual, 
 while he thus associates himself with all, being yet under 
 the authority of none but himself, and thus as free as before. 
 All the articles of the contract may be reduced to this one : 
 that every man resigns himself and his rights, without re- 
 serve, to the society ; or, in other words, that he puts him- 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES. 
 
 847 
 
 self and his person under the direction of the will of the 
 community. In this manner the society forms itself into a 
 moi^al persofiage, or a body which, as such, is intrusted with 
 sovereignty, and becomes the sovereign. This sovereignty, 
 however, is nothing but the exercise of the will of the com- 
 munity, and, as such, is not only intransferable, but also, as 
 a natural consequence, indivisible. 
 
 But as the exercise of the will of the community is ef- 
 fected by legislation, the legislative power must of necessity 
 be lodged with the people — the people, then, is sovereign; 
 and, as its sovereignty is intransferable, can never cease to 
 be so. This power cannot be exercised in any other way 
 than by assemblies of the people, in which every man gives 
 his vote, and the vote of every man is as good as that of his 
 fellows. The idea of popular representatives, as exercising 
 the sovereignty of the people, is an absurdity, since that so- 
 vereignty cannot be transferred. Representatives, so called, 
 can be nothing more than agents, whose resolutions must be 
 submitted to the people for ratification. When this social 
 contract was established, all who took a part in it were free, 
 and of equal rights. And the maintenance of this freedom, 
 and this equality, is necessarily the object of all legislation, 
 as without it society could not exist. 
 
 The equality here meant, however, does not require that 
 all power, and all property, should be absolutely equal ; but 
 only that the power of no man shall be sufficient to commit 
 violence ; and tliat the wealth of none shall be so great as 
 to enable them to buy others ; the poverty of none such as 
 to induce them to sulDmit to being bought. 
 
 But as the state, in its corporate capacity, not only wills, 
 but acts, there must be an executive as well as a legislative 
 power. This requires a government, i. e. a body interposed 
 between the sovereign and the subject.^ This government, 
 however, is nothing more than a committee appointed by the 
 sovereign people, the establishment of which does not re- 
 quire, or even admit of, a mutual contract, inasmuch as it 
 is in perpetual dependence on the sovereign power. As re- 
 gards its constitution, it may consist of one, or more, or all; 
 
 > That is, the people may be considered both as sovereign (inf^much as 
 they make laws), and as subject (inasmuch as they obey them). Sovereign 
 and subject here apply to the same persons in two different relations. 
 
348 
 
 ON THE RISE, PROGRESS, ETC. 
 
 from which variety the three forms of monarchy, aristocracy, 
 and democracy have arisen* — although the last of these, con- 
 sidered as an executive government, is an absurdity. On the 
 whole, it appears to be best that this power should be lodged 
 in the hands of one ; but then it is impossible that great mon- 
 archies should be well governed— and besides, an hereditary 
 monarchy has very great disadvantages. 
 
 These are, according to Rousseau, the general grounds of 
 all government. We shall now find little difficulty in re- 
 marking the points on which he differed from his predeces- 
 sors, Hobbes and Locke. 
 
 With Hobbes, Rousseau agreed in founding political so- 
 ciety upon a contract ; but then Hobbes supposed this con- 
 tract to be between the community and its own constituted 
 authorities, and that it was a contract of absolute suhnission, 
 W which it transferred the sovereignty without reserve. 
 The original contract of Rousseau, on the other hand, was 
 only between the individuals who by that act established 
 civil society; between these, again, and the government 
 there was not, nor could there be, any agreement, as it 
 consists only of commissioners, deputed by the sovereign 
 people. Thus the several routes of Hobbes and Rousseau 
 separated at the first step, and that with no prospect of re- 
 uniting, as they were directed towards two opposite marks ; 
 that of Hobbes to unlimited monarchy, that of Rousseau to 
 the absolute power of the people. The two are alike only in 
 this point, that both tended to despotism, although Rousseau 
 has the advantage in phrase, for the despotism of a mob, 
 blinded by its own passions, may still retain the honourable 
 title of liberty, while it is denied to the single tyranny ad- 
 vocated by Hobbes. It would be useless to pursue further 
 our comparison between them, as their points of difference 
 are sufficiently perceptible. 
 
 With Locke, Rousseau proceeded a few steps further be- 
 fore he separated from him. He asserted with him the ori- 
 
 ' Rousseau was, as far as I know, the first writer who felt, although he did 
 not fully explain, the double meaning of the word democracy ; viz. as signify- 
 ing cither a form of constitution^ or afortn of government, 
 
 I must refer, on this subject, to my treatise already mentioned. See above, 
 p. 336, note *. 
 
 As Si form of government Rousseau considered, and rightly, that a democracy 
 is absurd. 
 
 As a/orm of constitution it was precisely what he sought to establish. 
 
 ■ jse --.??-■■*— arT.-:-T. jt 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES. 
 
 349 
 
 ginal freedom and equality which the defenders of unlimited 
 monarchy denied. And consequently he agreed with him 
 also in making the social state to proceed from a contract 
 among freemen. 
 
 Security of person and property was held by both to be 
 the chief object of civil union. And they both agreed in 
 considering the legislative power as peculiarly belonging to 
 sovereignty — that sovereignty being by either ascribed to 
 the people, or bulk of the society. But then, according to 
 Locke, the sovereignty might be transferred — according to 
 Rousseau it is wholly intransferable : according to Locke it 
 might be rf/rir/erf among different parties — accordingto Rous- 
 seau it must remain undivided in the hands of the people. 
 At this point, then, the two paths separate, and it is easy 
 to see the conclusion to which that of either necessarily led — 
 Locke arrived at the Represejitative System and a limited 
 Monarchy, by the union of which the legislative power, 
 although partially shared by the prince, is mainly in the 
 hands of the representatives of the people : Rousseau could 
 not, according to his principles, admit any form but pure 
 Democracy, as far as that consists in the legislative functions 
 being exercised by the whole body of the people without 
 any transfer to representatives, or any participation of other 
 powers in the government. 
 
 I trust that these observations will suffice to explain the 
 chief points which characterize the several political systems 
 which we have examined, and to distinguish them from each 
 other. All that can be accomplished by pure speculation 
 towards laying the foundations of civil society, and determin- 
 ing the best methods for its constitution, appears to have 
 been achieved by these three authors. Hobbes and Rous- 
 seau take their place at either extreme — the one in support 
 of the total transfer of the sovereignty into the hands of the 
 regent — the other to assert that the sovereignty is wholly in- 
 transferable by the people whose right it is ; whilst Locke 
 holds a middle course between the two. # 
 
 It remains that we should consider these systems, espe- 
 cially that of Rousseau, with regard to their practical ap- 
 plication. 
 
 They all three proceed from a contract, which, as founded 
 on the supposition that it was framed by a people who never, 
 
350 
 
 ON THE RISE, PROGRESS, ETC. 
 
 till then, had constituted a state, neither has, nor ever could 
 have taken place. All the three, then, thus at once forsook 
 reality, and struck into paths which threatened new dangers 
 at every step which carried them away from it. The poli- 
 tical principles of Hobbes were, however, less exposed than 
 those of the other two, because the absolute power which 
 he sought to establish upon rightful grounds, cares little for 
 such support, and can maintain itself without it. Moreover, 
 the course of events in his own country deprived them 
 alike of authority and of practical adoption there. 
 
 The doctrines of Locke, on the contrary, had for the most 
 part been already applied in England, and only had the 
 effect of supplying other countries with philosophical rea- 
 sons for that attachment to the British constitution which 
 had become almost universal throughout Europe previous 
 to the late revolutions. As a contrast to this, the system of 
 Rousseau floated like Aristophanes' City of the Birds, free 
 and without support in the air. For while Rousseau asserts 
 that the ivill of the community is always just, and has for its 
 object the general good of the community, he is undoubtedly 
 right that the common will, as far as it is the result of pure 
 reason, will be directed towards that which is best for the 
 community. But then, this common will must remain to 
 all practical purposes an empty vision, unless it has some 
 organ by which it may be clearly and surely expressed. 
 This Rousseau would have done by the voice of the assem- 
 bled people itself, but he neither can, nor does deny that 
 this method is often fallacious, or, to use his own words, 
 that the will of all does not always express the common 
 will. The people may be often deceived and led astray, and 
 Rousseau knows no expedient against it, except — that we 
 ought to be on our guard.^ 
 
 None, then, of these metaphysical speculations on govern- 
 ment can be said to have done much for the practical appli- 
 cation of the science. But even if we were disposed to agree 
 with Rousseau as to the organ by which the common will is 
 to be expressed, no great harm would be done, for his sys- 
 tem could not possibly take effect in a state of any consider- 
 able size. By denying all transfer of the sovereign will to 
 representatives, he requires, at the outset, that there should 
 
 This important chapter is to be found in the Contrat Social^ ii. 3. 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES. 
 
 35 i 
 
 be general assemblies of the people which must be convened 
 upon every occasion ; and it is easy to see that, however 
 readily this might be accomplished in small towns and their 
 adjacent territory, it would be wholly out of the question in 
 larger states — nay, Rousseau himself declares that these can 
 only be formed by federations of the smaller. If, therefore, 
 that party in France, which looked upon his writings as their 
 Standard, had wished to act consistently, there can be no 
 doubt of what his fate would have been had he been then 
 alive. As an opponent of the representative system, which 
 they established to its full extent, and as a supporter of fe- 
 derative republics, which according to their principles was 
 a capital crime, he would have been doubly destined to the 
 
 guillotine ! 
 
 Nevertheless, Rousseau's influence upon the revolution 
 was incalculably great ; not in the sense of his being the 
 originator of it, for that would be a short-sighted view, but 
 inasmuch as the direction which the revolution took was in 
 a great measure determined by him. Some great name, 
 some high authority was required ; several of his ideas were, 
 therefore, taken up — that of the sovereignty of the people — 
 of general freedom and equality — and that of the greatest 
 possible separation of the legislative and executive powers 
 — and were made the foundations of the new system. It 
 was no doubt Rousseau, who first expanded and perfected 
 these notions, although he did not originally propose them ; 
 but even if he had desired the total overthrow of existing 
 things in order to establish his own system, (and there is no 
 reason to accuse him of such a wish,) he would never have 
 tolerated a partial application of it. This was to abuse, not 
 to use, and it would be unjust therefore to make him an- 
 swerable for it. 
 
 Nevertheless, however willing we may be to acquit Rous- 
 seau of any design of causing revolutions, yet it cannot be 
 denied that not only those which Europe has experienced 
 since his time, but those which threaten it still, may be 
 traced to the principal maxim upon which his system rests. 
 
 This maxim is the sovereignty of the people. The dan- 
 ger with which it threatened the practice of politics did not, 
 however, consist in the maxim itself, for the sovereigiity 
 may doubtless be in the hands of the people. It was rather 
 
S5S 
 
 ON THE RISE. PROGRESS, ETC. 
 
 
 Pl 
 
 in Rousseau's belief that this sovereignty may be associated 
 with monarchy. The boundary line between monarchy and 
 republicanism was thus wholly effaced, and the way prepared 
 to errors for which Europe has already in part atoned, and 
 still atones most dearly. It might surely have been thought, 
 that after the science of government had been treated of 
 for centuries, after it had been laid down upon every occa- 
 sion, that monarchy and republicanism are forms of govern- 
 ment in direct opposition to each other, it might have been 
 thought, I say, that the peculiar character of each would 
 have been fully understood, and their limits distinctly mark- 
 ed : but when a philosopher, such as Rousseau, either does 
 not know, or pays no attention to this ; when the practical 
 policy of whole nations, and of their representatives, is car- 
 ried on without any respect to it, — we have a right to con- 
 <5lude that either these lines have never been clearly drawn, 
 or (which amounts to the same thing in practice) that they 
 have in time become forgotten. And yet there could not 
 be a moment at which such an error would be more fatal 
 than the present. We have no longer to consider mere 
 speculation and theory, the question which concerns us is 
 one of fearful practical importance. 
 
 Europe, after having apparently escaped from the dan- 
 gers of democracy, is on the verge of seeing either monarch- 
 ical republics, or republics under the name of monarchies, 
 occupying the chief places among her states. I hold these 
 to be more formidable dangers even than those from which 
 she has escaped. Of the comparative advantages of mon- 
 archies and republics nothing general can be asserted. It 
 is possible to live happily or unhappily in either, according 
 to the turn which events may take. But we may be sure 
 that a nation (with individuals we have nothing to do) can 
 never be happy in a pseudo-monarchy or a pseudo-repub- 
 lic, because such a form of government is contradictory to 
 itself — The history of Poland, as it was, affords at once a 
 warning and an example ! 
 
 We wish, therefore, either for actual monarchies, or ac"> 
 tual republics. Now the European political system has been 
 for centuries monarchical. All the chief states received the 
 name of monarchies, and were so in reality. 
 
 The free states belonging to it were of the second or third 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES. 
 
 353 
 
 li 
 
 rank. Nothing, therefore, short of the most violent revolu- 
 tions could be supposed capable of changing this character 
 into its opposite. 
 
 What, then, is the boundary between the two ? We know 
 only one, and that must be determined by the possession of 
 the sovereignty or chief power. The essential distinction of 
 monarchy consists in this being held by the prince — that of 
 a republic in its being possessed by the people, or a certain 
 portion of them. A republic, as well as a monarchy, has 
 but one chief officer, but then the relation in which this 
 officer stands to the people is very different in the two — in 
 a monarchy he is above, in a republic he is below, the 
 people. In the former he is^ prince, or sovereign (whatever 
 title he, may bear) ; in the latter he is magistrate. Common 
 parlance, which is generally the echo of sound reason, has 
 long drawn this distinction ; it is only by the sophisms of 
 theorists that it became confused. The kings of France and 
 England have the name of sovereigns, and are so. The 
 President of America and the Landammann of Switzerland 
 neither receive the title, nor are they sovereigns. 
 
 But this " holding of power over the people,'' this sove- 
 reignty of monarchs, what does it, and what does it not, 
 essentially imply ? For it is only by an accurate answer to 
 this question that we can determine what is essentially ne- 
 cessary to the support of the monarchical principle in 
 existing states. 
 
 It implies, in the first place, that the prince should 
 possess his dignity independently of the people : in other 
 words, that the crown should be hereditary and inviolable. 
 Elective kingdoms, where the election is only in favour of 
 the individual, and not of his heirs, are not true monarchies. 
 Whoever is chosen merely as regards his own person, is by 
 the very act of his election subjected to the people, what- 
 
 • It would appear, however, that we have authority against us on this 
 point in Frederick the Great, who called himself " a Servant of the State, 
 who had his duty to perform like others. "—Nevertheless, Frederick was 
 undoubtedly master in his dominion, and it is impossible to be at once 
 master and servant Had he chosen to follow out this idea, the truth, and 
 the falsehood contained in it, would have been easily shown. 
 
 He was no doubt a servant in a moral sense of the word, since, as a man, 
 he was subject to the law of conscience, which obliges alike princes and 
 servants to do their duty ; but in a political sense he was not so, as he did 
 not serve the state but rule it. For the rest, Frederick knew very well the 
 distinction between himself as king, and Washington as President. 
 
 2 a 
 
SM 
 
 ON THE RISE, PROGRESS, ETC. 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES. 
 
 355 
 
 ever prerogatives may be formally assigned to him. — 
 Whoever is chosen merely as regards his own person, may 
 also be deposed by his electors, however differently it may 
 stand upon paper. 
 
 It is otherwise with those who are elected to an heredi- 
 tary crown. 
 
 Such cases may occur by the actual extinction of the 
 reigning house, by abdication, and so forth, where there is 
 no one who has an hereditary claim. There are accidents 
 which no human power or wisdom can prevent, and on the 
 occurrence of which, the best means which present them- 
 selves must be adopted, and thus election is often the only, 
 or at least the most reasonable, expedient. But then, if the 
 power bestowed by election be made hereditary, the. person 
 who receives it is at once raised above the people or the 
 electors, as the possession of the throne is then no longer a 
 prerogative of the person but of the dynasty. The name of 
 elective monarchies has therefore been very justly restricted 
 to those in which every vacancy of the throne is filled up 
 by election. That such states are the most unhappily con- 
 stituted, both as regards themselves and the other states 
 with winch they unite in forming a political system, the 
 history of all times will show. Fortunately for Europe, 
 elective monarchies have — with the exception of the papal 
 government, the mode of election to which hardly entitles 
 it to the name — entirely disappeared from its system ; and 
 with them the danger of those general wars with which the 
 vacancy of the kingly throne of Poland, or the imperial one 
 of Germany, was wont to threaten the continent. 
 
 The inviolability of the sovereign, i. e. the principle that 
 he is not in person accountable, and cannot, therefore, be 
 brought to punishment, is implied, as a matter of course, in 
 true monarchies : for who in such monarchies is able to call 
 him to account? But if this should be included as an article 
 in any of our new constitutions, it would be either super- 
 fluous or absurd ; superfluous in a true monarchy — absurd 
 in a fictitious one, where the sovereignty is reserved to the 
 people, for it would be a contradiction to exempt a delegate 
 from being accountable to his superiors. Nor is it any secret 
 that, notwithstanding all written declarations and assurances, 
 there is always in such states a way open for the deposition, 
 imprisonment, and even execution of the prince. 
 
 The idea of sovereignty further implies, and that neces- 
 sarily. That in all affairs of the state, nothing shall be done 
 either without or contrary to the will of the sovereign. 
 Where this is not the case, he ceases to be sovereign 
 (supremus). 
 
 By this essential condition, which, indeed, results from 
 the nature of the thing, we ascertain the relation in which, 
 under constitutional monarchies, the sovereign must stand 
 towards the people or their representatives ; and we are 
 enabled to draw the line of demarcation which must not be 
 passed if the sovereign is to remain such. 
 
 Constitutional monarchies are those in which there is a 
 popular power, generally called the Chambers, which re- 
 present, the interests of the people in the councils of the 
 prince, without, however, opposing his interests, as it is 
 too customary to imagine they do — the interests of both 
 being the same — viz. the prosperity of the state. 
 
 This power not only advises, but joins with the prince in 
 deciding ; still, however, it must be in some manner de- 
 pendent upon him if he is to remain sovereign, and be a 
 prince not in name only but in reality. Upon the relation, 
 then, in which the prince stands to the chambers, the main- 
 tenance of the monarchical principle chiefly depends, and 
 we must, therefore, consider what rights ought in this respect 
 to be secured to him. 
 
 In speaking of the Chambers we here understand that 
 both, or at least one of them, is to consist of deputies chosen 
 by the people. It is doubtless more in favour of the throne that 
 the assembly should consist of two chambers, one of which 
 should be composed of members not chosen by the people, 
 but possessing their seats either by right of birth or by ap- 
 pointment of the sovereign ; but it cannot be shown that 
 this is generally necessary. Sometimes, indeed, chambers 
 of peers are neither necessary to the throne, nor any support 
 to it ; nay, France has lately shown by example that a pow- 
 erful opposition may be formed in them. 
 
 The division into two chambers affords greater security, 
 however, against party decisions, and makes it more diflficult 
 for factions to be formed, and their interests preferred to 
 those of the state. It is necessary, however, that the two 
 chambers should not have two interests, and that the mem- 
 
 2a2 
 
356 
 
 ON THE RISE, PROGRESS, ETC. 
 
 bers of the one should not possess any privileges which are 
 burdensome to the other, for without this, unanimity cannot 
 be expected between them. 
 
 The rights of the prince in his relation with the chambers, 
 as far as these proceed from the definition of sovereignty, 
 may be reduced into three classes, viz. Those which have 
 reference to outward form — those which have reference to 
 the subject matter on which his power is to be exerted — 
 and those which regard the share which the prince is to 
 take in the councils of the nation, and the influence which 
 he is to exercise over them. 
 
 As regards the outward forms^ the idea of sovereignty 
 requires that the chambers should be in strict subjection to 
 the prince. These outward forms are the barriers which 
 are to protect the crown from the inroads of the chambers. 
 They should be determined by the charter of the constitu- 
 tion, and it should be incumbent on the prince to maintain 
 them in full force. 
 
 The chambers are not to assemble without, or in opposi- 
 tion to, the will of the sovereign. They are to be opened 
 by him, to be prorogued, and to be closed by him ; and he 
 must at all times possess the right of dissolving the existing 
 chamber, and of calling for a new election of its members. 
 When chambers assemble, prorogue, adjourn, and dissolve 
 of their own authority, the assembly takes place at once 
 without the will of the prince, and will very soon be held in 
 opposition to it. Again, a chamber which cannot be dis- 
 solved by the prince is independent, and superior to him. 
 He has no means of escaping from its tyranny if it should 
 form itself into a faction, and no opportunity of discovering 
 whether it represents the wishes of its constituents, or stands 
 in direct opposition to them. It is only by a new election 
 that this can be certainly determined. It is requisite, there- 
 fore, not only for the interests of the prince, but for those of 
 the people also, that he should have the power of dissolving 
 the chamber of representatives. 
 
 In regard to the subjects which are to be discussed by the 
 chambers, we may remark at once that all the foreign 
 affairs of the state are to be beyond their jurisdiction, and 
 appropriated to the prince. In treating with other states 
 the prince must be considered as the representative of his 
 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES. 
 
 357 
 
 own, otherwise they cannot deal with him with any safety ; 
 should it be done only " sub spe rati," they will no longer 
 consider him as sovereign, but as the delegate of a superior 
 power. The maintenance of the monarchical principle re- 
 quires, therefore, according to our views, that not only all 
 treaties of commerce and alliance, but that all declarations 
 of war and conclusions of peace, should be absolutely in the 
 hands of the prince. This, however, does not by any means 
 exclude the chambers from debating upon foreign policy, 
 and from giving their opinion either in praise or blame of 
 the measures which the government may have adopted. 
 
 How far such proceedings may be advisable is a question 
 with which we have nothing to do, as it does not bear upon 
 the maintenance of the monarchical principle. 
 
 The sphere of the chambers, then, as a body, sharing the 
 power of ultimate decision with the prince, is confined to 
 the internal affairs of legislation and taxation. In these there 
 is no third party concerned : but in the dealings between the 
 two the monarchical principle is sustained by the veto, which 
 must be allowed unconditionally to the prince. In compli- 
 ance with the favourite notion of the sovereignty of the 
 people, frequent attempts have of late been made to restrict 
 the veto, by determining that the prince may refuse his ap- 
 proval once, or even twice, but that after this the law shall 
 be valid without it. 
 
 It is evident that this arrangement is wholly incompati- 
 ble with the principle of monarchy, and, moreover, absurd 
 in itself It is incompatible with monarchy, because it 
 assumes that a law may pass without the will of the sove- 
 reign. It is absurd, because there can be no reason why 
 the monarchical principle should not rather be done away 
 with at once, than after the lapse of two or three years. 
 
 There is no doubt that the use of the veto is an evil in 
 each case to which it is applied, because it presumes that 
 there is a difference between the prince and the chambers : 
 but even though it should become, as in England, a mere 
 form, it is yet important that the prince should possess the 
 right, since circumstances may render it valuable. 
 
 It remains that we should consider the relations in which 
 
 the prince stands to the chambers with respect to the m^ 
 
 Jluence which he should exercise over them. The monarch- 
 
S5S 
 
 ON THE RISE, PROGRESS, ETC. 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES. 
 
 359 
 
 ical principle requires that the prince should have the right 
 of introducing measures into the chambers ; he is to possess, 
 in technical language, the right of the initiative. But the 
 question which arises is, whether this right is to be confined 
 to him alone, whether he is to be the only source of legisla- 
 tion, or whether the members of the chambers are to be 
 allowed a share in it ? 
 
 Under the stipulation that the prince is to retain the 
 power of approval or rejection, it does not appear necessary 
 that the initiative should be wholly reserved to him ; while 
 to refuse it to the chambers would entail the contradiction 
 of denying the representatives of the people all opportunity 
 of expressing its wants. This object, however, may be 
 obtained by requiring that the chambers should be obliged 
 to sue the government under certain forms, for permission 
 to introduce a measure, so that the latter only would retain 
 the formal right. And this institution would possess the 
 further advantage of throwing great obstacles in the way, if 
 not of wholly preventing, all dissensions between the prince 
 and the chambers. It is not, however, the object of this in- 
 quiry to ascertain what may best suit the peculiar circum- 
 stances of different nations. 
 
 If the monarchical principle requires that the prince 
 should have the power of introducing measures into the 
 chambers, it follows of course that he must also possess the 
 means of convincing the chambers of the expediency and 
 necessity of his proposals, and of inducing the adoption of 
 them. He must, therefore, possess an influence in the 
 chambers, since motions must be made in favour of these 
 measures, and they must be supported in debate. This 
 cannot be better done than by the ministers who are the 
 natural organ of the prince. The ministers, therefore, must 
 have seats and voices in the chambers, whether as ministers 
 or as elected members does not matter. Nothing is more 
 mistaken than the restriction of the ministers in the cham- 
 bers, or their exclusion from them, in order, as it is said, to 
 prevent the government influence from becoming too great. 
 It is only from a false belief that the government and the 
 chambers are in natural hostility to each other, that such 
 regulations could proceed : but if the prince and the cham- 
 bers are to communicate with each other, through whom can 
 
 it be better effected than the ministers who originate the 
 proposals, and must, therefore, best understand their in- 
 tention ? 
 
 We need hardly mention that the monarchical principle 
 requires that the prince should have the power which every 
 private person has, of choosing his own servants and ad- 
 visers, and of dismissing them at will. It appears, in fact, 
 almost incredible that this right should ever have been dis- 
 puted. Chambers which claim the dictation of the servants 
 and counsellors of a prince, not only invade the province of 
 government, but by that act declare their prince for ever in- 
 capable, and range themselves in a faction, whose object is 
 to silence every voice but their own. 
 
 We have thus, according to our plan, traced out the rela- 
 tions which should exist between princes and their chambers, 
 if the monarchical principle is to be maintained. The fur- 
 ther development of them we leave to politicians. But if 
 any one should think that too much is here allowed to the 
 sovereign, I would refer him to Great Britain,^ as a proof 
 that all these conditions may be fulfilled, and the rights of 
 the prince maintained, without infringing the liberties of the 
 nation.^ This will be an answer, at least to those who desire a 
 true monarchy and not a republic. In that state a fortunate 
 concurrence of circumstances has for ages been at work in 
 forming the constitution. It is not, therefore, in the situation 
 of the continental states, which have to provide themselves 
 with a constitution for the first time, and the question can- 
 
 * [How far recent events may have changed the constitution of Great Bri- 
 tain, and made it inconsistent with the conditions prescribed by Professor 
 Heeren, the reader may himself determine. One point appears to be gener- 
 ally admitted, if not so generally lamented, viz. that by the destruction of the 
 government boroughs, the crown must henceforth be limited in its choice of 
 ministers to such men as the constituent bodies of the countir may, for the 
 moment, be willing to retiwn to parliament. And yet perfect freedom in this 
 respect is, by Professor Heeren, considered so essential to the idea of mon- 
 archy, as scarcely to call for remark. See above. Tr.] 
 
 * The author trusts that he will not, on this account, be supposed to wish 
 for the introduction of the entire British constitution into the states of the 
 continent. He is well aware of the impossibility of this. And even if it were 
 possible, he is by no means inclined to think it desirable. A diversity and 
 multiplicity of constitutions is the inseparable condition of our political, and 
 with It of our general, improvement. But this should not prevent us from de- 
 riving some practical hints from so great and prominent an example ; due 
 regard being of course had to the situation in which we are placed. To deny 
 that any thing from thence is applicable here, would be as absurd as to assert 
 that every thing is so. 
 
360 
 
 ON THE RISE, PROGRESS, ETC. 
 
 not be there asked which has been asked here, viz. From 
 whom is this constitution to cornel The answer to the ques- 
 tion itself is simple. From the sovereign power. In mon- 
 archies, therefore, from the princes. In republics, from the 
 people or their representatives. The only difficulty which 
 attends it has arisen from an attempt to apply the notions 
 which the writers above-named entertained on the origin of 
 states, to the present time. An application of which they 
 will by no means admit. All those writers suppose a "state 
 of nature," out of which men advanced into civil society ; 
 but in none of the countries which desire the establishment 
 of a constitution, does such a state exist. In every one of 
 them there is an existent sovereign : from whom but him 
 ought these new institutions to proceed ? It is only by as- 
 suming, with Rousseau, that even in monarchies there is a 
 dormant sovereignty of the people, which may upon any 
 occasion be awakened and become active, that this rioht 
 can be denied. ° 
 
 But although, according to our views, both expediency 
 and justice require that these new institutions should pro- 
 ceed from the existing authority, yet this by no means im- 
 plies that the prince may not be assisted in planning them 
 by a body of advisers, even though that body should be 
 popularly constituted. This much, however, I believe to be 
 necessary for the maintenance of the monarchical principle 
 VIZ. that such a body should have the power of advising and 
 that only. °' 
 
 Experience of recent date has shown the consequences of 
 greater concessions ; the universal acceptance of a constitu- 
 tion by the voice of the people can never be any thing but 
 an empty form, and the regular establishment of it by the 
 states may be easily shown to bring greater dangers than a 
 concession of it by the sovereign. 
 
 Were it possible, within the German confederation alone 
 to come to an agreement on the boundary line which should 
 be drawn, under the new constitutions, between the rights of 
 the prince and of the states, were the points which we have 
 stipulated for above assumed as matters of course the rest 
 would consist chiefly of local modifications, which could 
 easily be determined by common consent.^ 
 
 ' [At the congress of Vienna it was provided that representative constitu- 
 
 OF POLITICAL THEORIES. 
 
 361 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 The voice of those who demand constitutional govern- 
 ments is become too loud to be silenced without danger. 
 But at the same time there is no doubt but that expectations 
 are entertained which no change in the forms of the states 
 themselves can satisfy. 
 
 .Those who have speculated upon the forms of constitu- 
 tional government, and set up new maxims of their own, 
 ought at the same time to have learnt to estimate those 
 forms at their true value. They should have shown what 
 they admit of being, and of producing. But in rejecting 
 this course, in giving themselves up without reserve to their 
 metaphysical speculations, they have originated and con- 
 stantly kept up the error, that every thing depends upon 
 these forms ; and that from them, and not from the spirit of 
 the government and of the administration, the welfare or 
 ruin of states must proceed. And thus it has become more 
 and more customary to consider the state as a machine; 
 and whilst men speak of the machine of state, they have 
 fallen into the dangerous mistake of supposing that this 
 7nachine may, like any other, be taken to pieces and put 
 together again at will. 
 
 They forget that not only mechanical but moral powers 
 are at work in it ! What are state forms themselves beyond 
 any other empty forms ? What more are they — if I may be 
 
 tions should be adopted by the federate states of Germany. But the article 
 (the 13th of the Act of Confederation) was so vaguely worded as to admit of 
 almost any latitude of meaning ; and accordingly different expositions of it 
 were made and supported by different princes j many of which, as may be 
 believed, tended to the continuance of their own authority. See Russel's 
 Germany J i. 106. The list, however, of those states whose rulers have either 
 adopted or had thrust upon them the liberal meaning of the article, is now 
 pretty large, and embraces Bavaria, Wirtemberg, Hanover, Baden, the Grand 
 Duchy of Hesse, Brunswick, Nassau, Mecklenburg, Saxe Weimar, etc. Of 
 these, Saxe Weimar was the first to receive the boon, although from Russers 
 amusing description its value does not appear to have been very fully appre- 
 ciated by the people. 
 
 All these constitutions, (to quote the words of Heeren himself, in the new 
 edition of his Manual,) " Notwithstanding many modifications, in respect 
 both of the organization and the greater or less publicity of their transactions, 
 have hitherto coincided in the following points : 1st, The monarchical prin- 
 ciple has every where been upheld, in the mode of conferring constitutions 
 by the rulers, and by a just determination of their rights in relation to the 
 states. 2ndly, The assembly of the states consists of two chambers. 3rdly, 
 To these is allotted their proper part in the legislation, especially with regard 
 to taxation." 
 
 The 13th article, therefore, does not appear to have been wholly inopera- 
 tive ; but it must be remembered that the act which contains it, also contains 
 provisions for the Diet of Frankfort. Tr.] 
 
se2 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 M 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 363 
 
 allowed a simile, not perhaps sufficiently exalted, but yet 
 most applicable — than the track in which the chariot wheels 
 are to run ? It certainly is not a matter of indifference how 
 this track is formed, for if it be even and easy, the motion 
 will be so also — if it be uneven and rough, the checks will 
 be more frequent, and some improvements will be required. 
 If it be wholly useless, it must be given up ; but be it ever 
 so good, are we thereby assured that the chariot will con- 
 tinue in the track ? Will the track alone be sufficient to re- 
 strain it ? This depends rather upon the steeds who draw, 
 and the charioteer who guides. 
 
 But to drop all metaphor — no forms will benefit a state, 
 unless the government and people be moral and enlightened. 
 And as to devising any which shall contain the warrant of 
 its own stability, this would be even more absurd than to 
 endeavour the discovery of a perpetuum mobile which 
 should maintain its own impulse for ever. 
 
 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT 
 
 OF 
 
 THE RISE AND GROWTH 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CONTINENTAL INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 The political system of Europe is greatly and beneficially 
 modified by containing within it an insular state, which by 
 its extent, and the use to which it applies its domestic 
 resources, maintains its rank among the leading powers. 
 However great the resemblance which may exist amongst 
 the cultivated nations of Europe in points of civilization, 
 religion, and language, the insular character of such a state 
 necessarily gives rise to certain peculiarities, which cannot 
 be effaced. The barriers which nature has interposed be- 
 tween it and the rest of the world, almost certainly produce 
 a feeling of independence among its inhabitants, which may 
 
 not only be in the highest degree usefiil to themselves, but 
 may also serve as an example to others ; and that in our 
 quarter of the world it has done so, is sufficiently proved by 
 the history of modern Europe. Moreover, the existence of 
 such a power gives greater security to the political system 
 to which it belongs, against the occurrence of a revolution, 
 which would at one blow annihilate the whole : since the 
 situation of such a state will either altogether exempt it, or 
 at least enable it more easily to escape the shock. But the 
 peculiar importance of such a state to the whole system, 
 consists in the necessity which its own maintenance imposes, 
 of becoming a naval power ; and thus rendering it impos- 
 sible that land forces alone should decide the supremacy. In 
 every system of states, the pre-eminence of one over the 
 rest must eventually ensue, (especially when there is a con- 
 siderable difference of power among the members,) if the 
 preponderance depend upon land forces alone. Even the 
 expedient of the balance of power, however carefully 
 planned, will prove but a weak security against the occur- 
 rence of some favourable opportunity by which the state 
 whose resources, or the talent of its leaders, or both, have 
 rendered it the strongest, may be enabled to take that power 
 into its own hands which in the common course of affairs 
 will at some time or other lead to oppression and tyranny, 
 although it may not at first assume so decisive a character. 
 The rise, therefore, of one or more naval powers, by pro- 
 viding that in the political balance no single interest shall 
 have the preponderance, is of itself most beneficial to the 
 whole ; and the more so, because from the very nature of 
 such a power it cannot itself become dangerous to the inde- 
 pendence of the rest. But to the reflecting observer, the 
 existence of naval powers acquires its chief interest from the 
 consideration that they can only result from an advanced 
 state of civilization. Barbarians, it is true, will fit out ships 
 for piracy ; or if they are sufficiently powerful, for the pur- 
 pose of conveying their armies into foreign countries and 
 subduing them ; but a naval power, in the true sense of the 
 word, arises only from a participation in the commerce of 
 the world, and has for its proper object the protection of its 
 shipping and its colonies in distant seas. This presupposes, 
 therefore, that both shipping and colonies are already in 
 existence; and as they cannot exist except under a high 
 
364 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 365 
 
 state of civilization, it follows that without such there can- 
 not be a naval power. The history of modern Europe 
 affords an indisputable proof of this; for it demonstrates 
 clearly and decidedly that the advance of political civiliza- 
 tion, and the decrease of ambitious dreams and plans of 
 universal monarchy, correspond with the gradual formation 
 of naval powers, and the growth of their influence upon the 
 political balance. 
 
 The policy of a naval power as such, must necessarily 
 have some peculiarities; but much more so, when this 
 power occupies, like England, an insular position. We 
 should undoubtedly be taking a very partial view, were we 
 to found upon this peculiarity in its geographical situation 
 a system of politics, the rules of which such a state should 
 be supposed invariably to follow ; for as long as it stands in 
 various relations to other states — as long as their fortunes 
 are an object of interest to it, and more especially as long 
 as it is a member of a political system, it will be compelled, 
 according to the variation in these circumstances, to vary 
 its own maxims of policy. But the relations in which an 
 insular state stands to those of the continent, may neverthe- 
 less be reduced to certain general classes, which have refer- 
 ence to as many distinct interests ; and this arrangement 
 seems here to be the more important, since in an historical 
 development of the British continental interests, each of 
 these classes comes, at certain periods, under consideration. 
 
 We may distinguish four distinct interests by which, not- 
 withstanding its geographical separation, an insular state 
 may become politically bound, as it were, to the continent. 
 1st, The interest of independence and security. 2nd, The 
 interest of trade and commerce. 3rd, The interest of 
 aggrandizement, by conquest on the continent. 4th, The 
 personal and family interest of the rulers. 
 
 With regard to the two last of these classes, I have no- 
 thing general to say ; for they are in themselves sufficiently 
 intelligible ; and in the case of England, the former does 
 not* exist ; while as to the latter, no one doubts that the 
 agreement or disagreement of the family with the national 
 interest, is the only rule by which its value can be detei:- 
 mined. But the two first classes require a more minute 
 examination, not only separately, but also in their mutual 
 relation to each other. 
 
 It is most ungrounded to suppose that because an insular 
 state is supported by a navy, it is therefore to take no share 
 in the political transactions of other states. It is certainly 
 by its navy rendered more secure, but by no means per- 
 fectly so. Even with numerous fleets it is not always pos- 
 sible to cover widely-extended coasts ; and when it is besides 
 necessary for such a power to defend many and distant pos- 
 sessions, on the preservation of which its existence, or at 
 least its wealth, depends, the difficulty is greatly increased. 
 It is true, an insular power has not much to fear from the 
 growth of one which is powerful only by land ; but on the 
 other hand, the danger is doubly increased when this power 
 is also a naval power, and as such copes with it. In this 
 relation stood France and England to each other. Ihe 
 proximity of their situations, the contiguity of their foreign 
 possessions, the national hatred which for centuries had re- 
 ceived constant nourishment, necessarily produced a rivalry 
 such as does not and could not exist elsewhere. 
 
 But when such an insular power is at the same time a 
 commercial state, there becomes connected with the political 
 interest a commercial one, which will not permit conti- 
 nental relations to be neglected. This commercial interest 
 can have no other object than keeping open, and as much 
 as possible enlarging, the market for the disposal of its mer- 
 chandise ; and from this necessarily follows a closer alliance 
 with those nations who will encourage or promote such dis- 
 posal. Prudence forbids indiff'erence to the fortunes of these 
 allies ; and thus arises of itself the connexion between po- 
 litical and commercial interests. But notwithstanding the 
 truth of this, it cannot be denied that this connexion has m 
 modern politics been frequently considered as more binding 
 than it really is. It is sufficiently proved by experience, 
 that the progress of commerce depends immediately on the 
 wants of the buyer and the interest of the seller. Political 
 relations may impede or promote, but they can neither cre- 
 ate or destroy it. In countries where the means ot com- 
 munication are, as in Europe, so various and so easy, com- 
 merce will find a channel even in the hottest wars, and 
 under the severest restrictions. Where demand exists on 
 one side, and the love of gain on the other, they easily over- 
 come or evade the impediments thrown m their way by go- 
 
 -'-^^^ 
 
S66 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 S67 
 
 vernments. The experience of modern times has thrown 
 much light upon the connexion of political and mercantile 
 interests; it has shown, that if they cannot be wholly separ- 
 ated, neither are they so closely related as they were held to 
 be in times when it was thought that the course which com- 
 merce should take, might be prescribed by mercantile trea- 
 ties, or mercantile interdictions. 
 
 Independently of these causes, there is yet another ground 
 which renders it impossible for an insular power, which oc- 
 cupies a prominent place in a political system, to be indif- 
 ferent to the proceedings of other states ; a ground which, 
 in the eyes of a practical politician, is certainly far from un- 
 important — the maintenance of its station and dignity as a 
 member of that system. In a political body like that of 
 modern Europe, where such unwearied activity prevails, 
 where so many energies are constantly at work, any seclu- 
 sion from the common affairs, even when of no immediate 
 importance to it, would, to a powerful and leading state, be 
 the unavoidable commencement of its decline. In propor- 
 tion as such a state contracts its sphere, that of its rival must 
 necessarily expand ; while the one loses, the other gains ; 
 and how desirable soever the maintenance of peace may be, 
 the remark is not without its value, that power increases only 
 through a struggle, and that a long peace purchased by such 
 politics as these, often proves a very dangerous blessing. 
 
 The history of Europe has furnished many useful examples 
 in this respect ; but none more so than that of the United 
 Netherlands. Its active interference in the politics of Europe 
 cost this state many heavy sacrifices, and even reduced it to 
 the brink of destruction. After the peace of Utrecht, it em- 
 braced the opposite principle, and has maintained it as 
 steadily as it has been able. But from that period began 
 its decline, and the internal causes of its fall worked thence- 
 forth with a certainty proportionate to their undisturbed de- 
 velopment. An absolute monarchy, which chiefly depends 
 upon the genius of the ruler, is much more calculated to 
 outlast a long period of peace ; although even here symptoms 
 of decline are usually visible. But in a state with a repub- 
 lican constitution, whether combined with monarchy or no^, 
 other causes step in, which, under such circumstances, must 
 almost necessarily prove detrimental. The times of peace 
 
 are here generally the times of factions ; which, although 
 thev may not directly bring on a civil war, do not the less 
 enaw at the very heart of the state. An active participation 
 in foreign affairs, on the other hand, is well calculated to 
 avert the internal fermentation; it affords a subject of com- 
 mon interest to all; whereas mens political opinions in- 
 variably become divided when they turn only upon their 
 
 domestic relations. i . j 
 
 This, however, will not, it is hoped, be understood as a 
 defence of rash and general interference in foreign politics 
 and wars. Between such thoughtless interference and in- 
 dolent apathy, there is a medium which is fixed by the inter- 
 est and the strength of the power concerned ; and it is ot 
 the observance of this medium that we are now speaking. 
 In order not to exceed it, the statesman must have not only 
 clear and fixed notions respecting the real interests, but also 
 respecting the extent of influence which the state possesses, 
 of which he guides the helm ; and the latter of these seems 
 no less difficult to attain to than the former ; for the delu- 
 sions of pride and self-conceit are to the full as dangerous 
 as those of ambition and self-interest. 
 
 These considerations may serve as an introduction to the 
 followino- inquiry, which has for its aim, an historical deye- 
 lopment^of the continental interests of Great Britain, during 
 the last three centuries. The task which I propose to my- 
 self, is to give, in chronological arrangement, a review ot 
 the links by which the political and mercantile interests ot 
 England were bound up with those of the continent ; and 
 to examine how they became united, and how loosened. 
 Unconnected and transient relations, such as sometimes arose 
 in the course of great wars, do not come under our con- 
 sideration ; those only which were lasting deserve our at- 
 tention. The history of the continental interests of Britain 
 can be clearly viewed only, by considering it according to 
 the periods in which it was subject to its principal changes. 
 We must therefore take the following :— 1. The period from 
 Henry VII. to Elizabeth. 2. That of Elizabeth. 3. A ^^^ 
 of the Stewarts, down to William III. 4. That of William 
 III. and Anne. 5. That of the house of Hanovel^ down to 
 the commencement of the French Revolution. 6. 1 he pe- 
 riod from this, down to the restoration of the political sys- 
 tem of Europe, which the revolution had destroyed. 
 
-=ir««ai^ 
 
 368 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 FIRST PERIOD. 
 FROM HENRY VII. TO ELIZABETH, 1484—1558. 
 
 Even during the middle ages, England had taken a very 
 active part in the affairs of the continent, by her wars with 
 France, and her endeavours to conquer that kingdom. The 
 marriage of Isabella, daughter of Philip the Handsome, with 
 Edward II., — a marriage in so many respects unfortunate, — 
 had laid the foundation of these contests, since Edward III., 
 the offspring of this union, grounded his claims to the French 
 throne, in opposition to those of the house of Valois, upon 
 his maternal descent. A series of wars ensued, which for a 
 long time were as fortunate for England, as their conse- 
 quences in the middle of the 15th century were fatal. The 
 political interest which connected England with the conti- 
 nent, was therefore at this period only one of conquest. In 
 times when the principles by which politics were directed 
 were as yet coarse and unrefined, and when the love of con- 
 quest was the sole spring of action, such plans were possible, 
 although even then there were evident indications, that a 
 lasting subjection of France to England was nothing but a 
 dream. Since the year 1450, the English had been ex- 
 cluded from France, but the bare title of king of France was 
 not all which England retained. Political ideas, so deeply 
 rooted as these were, are not easily got rid of; and the re- 
 sult shows, that they were active in England throughout the 
 whole of this period, since every opportunity was eagerly 
 seized, which held out the least chance of carrying them into 
 execution. Brittany was at that time under the rule of its 
 own dukes, in whom, as they were almost constantly em- 
 broiled with the kings of France, England found allies within 
 France itself; and had not this position of affairs been al- 
 tered, by the extinction of the male line (1488) and the 
 subsequent union of the heiress Anna with Charles VIII., 
 the consequences of it would probably have been long felt. 
 Besides, whilst Calais remained in the hands of the English, 
 it was imagined that they possessed as it were the gate of 
 France, by which they might enter as often as they thought fit. .^ 
 
 But even in the reign of Henry VII., England obtained 
 by family connexion an interest in the continent. Arthur, 
 son of Henry VII., married Catharine, daughter of Ferdi- 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 S69 
 
 
 I 
 
 nand the Catholic ; and upon his death, while still a youth, 
 she became the wife of his brother, afterwards Henry VIII.' 
 During the reign of Henry VII., these relations could 
 not have any important consequences, because he purposely 
 avoided, as much as possible, all interference in foreign 
 transactions, in order to secure his own throne. Once only 
 he crossed over to Calais with an army, to please Maximi- 
 lian I., when he was deprived of his betrothed bride, Anna, 
 the heiress of Brittany, by Charles VIII., who thus laid 
 the foundation for this important acquisition ; but although 
 the English interest was, by this circumstance, exposed to 
 imminent danger, it was more a financial than a military 
 expedition. For 600,000 crowns Charles VIII. purchased 
 the treaty of Estaples (1492); in a few weeks Henry re- 
 turned home, and the alliance between England and Brit- 
 tany was for ever dissolved. 
 
 But during the reign of his son and successor, Henry 
 VIIL, (1509 — 1547,) the consequences became, on this ac- 
 count, the more striking. When he ascended the throne, 
 Italy had, by the league of Cambray, become the centre of 
 European politics. England, from her position and other 
 circumstances, could derive no benefit whatever from taking 
 a share in the proceedings in Italy ; nay, her neutrality must 
 have given her the advantage over France, while this state 
 was fruitlessly expending its strength in attempts at con- 
 quests. But the family connexion with Spain was now em- 
 ployed by his father-in-law, Ferdinand the Catholic, for the 
 purpose of involving Henry in these transactions. 
 
 When the league of Cambray fell to pieces, and out of it 
 arose the holy league against France, Ferdinand joined him- 
 self to it, in order to find an opportunity of seizing Navarre. 
 He fiilly estimated the advantages which would probably 
 result to him from the interference of Henry, whom he flat- 
 tered with the hope of being able to enforce his old claims 
 to Guienne. He obtained his object ; Henry VIIL quar- 
 relled with France, and when he had done so, his father-in- 
 law and his other allies forsook him, and after a fruitless 
 invasion of Picardy, he put an end to this war, which had 
 exhausted the crown treasures left him by his father, by a 
 peace (1514) intended to be confirmed by the marriage of 
 his sister to Lewis XII. 
 
 2b 
 
370 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 An interest so entirely misunderstood as this had been, 
 and only raised by the craftiness of a false friend, could not 
 be otherwise than transient. But the times soon changed ; 
 and when Lewis XII. and . Ferdinand (1516) left the stage, 
 at nearly the same time, and Francis I. and Charles V. step- 
 ped into their places, new relations arose, which became, or 
 at least seemed to become, much more important to the con- 
 tinental interests of Great Britain. The new rivalry between 
 the French and Austrian-Spanish houses, first laid the found- 
 ation of the system of a balance of power, and four bloody 
 wars between Charles and Francis were the result. 
 
 Under these circumstances, it was very natural that the 
 idea should arise in England, that she was able to turn the 
 scale in these wars. And what can we conceive so well 
 calculated to flatter the vanity of Henry VIII., as to con- 
 sider himself the umpire of Europe ? And indeed he seemed 
 to have many means in his power for accomplishing this 
 object. If he embraced the side of Charles, he could easily 
 injure France, since the possession of Calais made it easy for 
 him to land troops on the French coast ; and if he joined 
 the party of Francis, he could, in the same manner, make 
 an incursion into the Flemish possessions of Charles V. We 
 cannot, therefore, be surprised, that he really assumed this 
 character ; but he acted it so badly, that it led to no results ; 
 and by casting a single glance into history, we shall easily 
 discover why it did not. When the contest between Fran- 
 cis I. and Charles V. first began, in the year 1521, and 
 both monarchs strove for the friendship of Henry, it was for 
 a time uncertain which side he would join, until at length 
 Charles succeeded in winning over Cardinal Wolsey, by 
 promises and flattery. Through him the king was also 
 gained. But still the war in Picardy was only a subordinate 
 transaction, and its results could be of no great importance. 
 The melancholy fate of Francis I. at Pavia (1525) brought 
 Henry to his senses. He now began to fear that his ally 
 might become too strong; he therefore forsook him, and 
 after the peace of Madrid, by which Francis bought his free- 
 dom at the expense of conditions which he had no intention 
 of fulfilling, (1527,) he even went so far as to unite himself •, 
 with his former enemy. But at the commencement of the 
 second war, he voluntarily disabled himself; since he was 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 371 
 
 induced, by commercial considerations, to concede to the 
 emperor the neutrality of the Netherlands, the only point in 
 which he was capable of doing him any injury. The conse- 
 quence was, that he gave his ally no assistance, and as his 
 attention was engaged during the war, by religious matters, 
 and the question of his own marriage, he appeared v\^holly 
 to have forgotten the important part which he was to play, 
 and took no share in the third w^ar between those two 
 monarchs, which was concluded by the ten years' annistice 
 of Nice (1538). But when the fourth broke out, (1541,) he 
 formed a close alliance with Charles, not because he then 
 feared the power of France, but because he wished to gratify 
 his own capricious humours. The compact which he con- 
 cluded with Charles V., is a striking example of the politics 
 of that time ; the conditions show that there was no intention 
 they should be observed, because their observance was im- 
 possible. Henry VIII. desired nothing less than the French 
 crown, and, in order to conquer the whole of France, he 
 went to Calais with an insignificant force, while Charles in- 
 vaded Champagne. But the allies fell out amongst them- 
 selves; Charles concluded a separate treaty at Cressy, (1544,) 
 and left his ally to get out of his diflSculties as he best could ; 
 Henry was content with the promise of an annual payment, 
 which, on the other side, there was no intention of dis- 
 charging, although Boulogne,* which he had taken, was left 
 in his hands as a pledge for eight years. 
 
 From all this it is clear, that the pretended maintenance 
 of the balance between the two great powers of the con- 
 tinent, in these times, existed only in name. A monarch, 
 who was ever the slave of his inclination, and the tool of 
 those by whom he was surrounded, was incapable of adher- 
 ing to a firm line of politics ; and this remark applies with 
 equal truth to his minister, Cardinal Wolsey, who was not 
 less guided by his passions than his master. It might have 
 been expected, that the new interest created under Henry 
 VIII. by the Reformation, might have caused a connexion 
 between England and the continent; but the conduct of 
 Henry rendered this impossible, notwithstanding the share 
 which he took in these transactions. As long as he claimed 
 
 ' This, during the reign of his son, was recovered by France, on the pay- 
 ment of a much smaller sum than had been originally stipulated. 
 
 2b2 
 
N.J ft-1 L_' 
 
 t 
 
 Six 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 373 
 
 the supremacy, and only exchanged the power of the pope 
 in England for his own, without tolerating the Protestant 
 doctrine, the adherents of which he persecuted, there could 
 be no union between him and the Protestant princes of 
 Germany ; and the attempts which he made to attain this 
 object were necessarily fruitless. 
 
 Under the government of his son and successor, Edward 
 VI., the political connexion with the continent was not in 
 any way strengthened ; it was, on the contrary, made ap- 
 parent, that the ties by which, under Henry VIII., England 
 had been united to the continent, had arisen, not from any 
 national interest, but from the caprices of that king. Al- 
 though, during this reign, the Reformation was introduced 
 into England, that country was not involved in the great 
 crisis, by which the condition of the Protestants of Germany 
 was determined, although so fair an opportunity of its be- 
 coming so was offered by the alliance of Henry II. of France 
 and Maurice, against Charles V. But upon the premature 
 death of Edward, and the succession of his sister Mary, 
 England was brought into a new connexion with the con- 
 tinent, and one which might have had the most fatal conse- 
 quences, by the union of Mary and Philip 11. of Spain 
 (1554). It is true, the parliament took all possible precau- 
 tions, but had there been any children of the marriage, 
 Philip's unwearied activity might easily have overcome these 
 difficulties. Even as it was, the political relations of England 
 were affected by it. When Philip II., soon after his succes- 
 sion, saw himself compelled (1557) to a war with France, 
 he contrived, by his personal influence with his wife, to make 
 her a party to it. The result was the loss of Calais, the only 
 remains of the old conquests of Britain in continental France.' 
 Calais was taken by the French in 1558, and at the time 
 was considered a most serious loss ; but in reality it was a 
 gain to England. It was this that chiefly tended to dispel 
 the old visions of conquest in France, which had so often 
 been the occasion of undertakings against that country, al- 
 though the impracticability of the design might long have 
 been discovered. 
 
 From what has been said, it is clear that, although Eng- 
 land during this period occasionally interfered in the affairs 
 
 ' The islands of Guernsey and Jersey she still retains. 
 
 of the continent, the British continental interests were not 
 as yet become national interests ; they existed only in the 
 family connexions of the reigning houses, or in the old 
 claims of the kings of England upon France : that is to say, 
 in an idea which had already outlived its own strength. For 
 her independence, England had then little to fear from either 
 France or Spain, since Italy was the prize for which these 
 powers were contending ; and if there had been any appre- 
 hension that they might hereafter become dangerous, it 
 would have been most natural to permit them to wear out 
 their strength against each other. It remains therefore only 
 to inquire, how far the interests of England, during this 
 period, may have been involved in those of the continent by 
 its commercial transactions. 
 
 As England was then wholly without colonies, which 
 might give her the produce of distant parts of the world to 
 convey to other markets, and as her domestic industry was 
 too confined to produce any considerable means of com- 
 merce, it is easy to see that her trading interest at this time 
 could not enter into the most remote comparison with that 
 which arose in the subsequent periods of her history. The 
 great commercial revolution for which the ground was laid 
 by the discovery of America and the East Indies, in the be- 
 ginning of this period, — the only one which furnishes an 
 epoch in the general history of trade, — was not entirely 
 without its influence upon England ; for as early as 1497, 
 John Cabot sailed on a voyage of discovery to North America, 
 and others followed him ; but those discoveries, although 
 made with the consent were without the support of the go- 
 vernment ; and during this period led to no advantageous 
 
 results. 
 
 But, in the mean time, the wool which England produced, 
 and which was exported partly in a raw and partly in a 
 manufactured state, was of so much importance that it was 
 not entirely without influence upon her continental policy. 
 From the twelfth century, the breeding of sheep (which was 
 afterwards greatly improved by the introduction of the 
 Spanish breed, in the reign of Edward IV.) had been the 
 principal employment of the English farmer; and after con- 
 tinuing to export it raw for a considerable period, cloth 
 manufactures were at length introduced. The nearest mar- 
 
374 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 375 
 
 ket, and that to which English wool was first carried, was 
 in the Netherlands, the manufacturers of which depended 
 for their prosperity upon the trade ; and hence arose a con- 
 nexion which existed not merely in the caprice of the sove- 
 reign or the minister, but in the real interests of the nation. 
 Even in this period it had some political consequences ; for 
 when Henry VIII. declared war against Charles V. in 1527, 
 the discontent of those engaged in this business, compelled 
 the king to make a separate treaty for the neutrality of the 
 Netherlands. The sequel of this inquiry will show, that as 
 the connexion with this country was one of the oldest, so it 
 has always remained one of the firmest links of the British 
 continental interests. Besides the trade with the Nether- 
 lands, England found a market for her wool in the north- 
 eastern countries of Europe, in Prussia, Denmark, Sweden, 
 and Norway, and even in Russia. This trade was for some 
 time carried on only by the vessels belonging to the Han- 
 seatic league ; which, as it is well known, had one of its 
 commercial establishments in London. But the English 
 began to try all means in order to bring it into their own 
 hands, and thus differences arose ; which, however, ended 
 rather in piracy, and that of the most cruel kind, than in 
 formal wars. If the power of this league, however, had not 
 been already so much on the decline, that Elizabeth was 
 enabled to deprive it of its commercial privileges in England, 
 these circumstances might have had a much greater influence 
 upon the continental politics of this country, than actually 
 was the case. 
 
 These are the ties which, under the first four Tudors, con- 
 nected England with the continent of Europe. They were 
 all of the most delicate and frail nature ; and for the most 
 part detrimental to England. But it was reserved for the 
 last monarch of this house to create a firmer and better con- 
 nexion ; and in the history of the continental interests of 
 England, her reign undoubtedly constitutes a distinct and 
 very important period. 
 
 SECOND PERIOD. 
 
 PERIOD OF ELIZABETH, 1558—1603. 
 
 In the whole history of the British continental interests 
 there are, properly speaking, only two periods which form 
 
 general epochs — that of EHzabeth, and that of William III. 
 However great may have been the claims advanced by her 
 arrogant father, it was only under Elizabeth that England 
 raised itself to the first rank among nations. During this 
 reign it first learnt its power and the proper sphere of its ac- 
 tion ; the old visions of continental conquests vanished away ; 
 all the family connexions by which England had been united 
 with the continent were dissolved ; and in their place arose 
 relations of a very different character, produced by neither 
 private interest nor vain projects of aggrandizement. Eli- 
 zabeth has the merit of having made her private interest 
 subservient to that of her nation, or at least of having united 
 the two, whilst her predecessors were guided solely by the 
 former ; and this, notwithstanding the cunning and deceit- 
 fulness sometimes displayed in it, forms the principal fea- 
 ture of her glorious reign. 
 
 Her first undertaking was the introduction of Protestantism 
 into England ; and this determined not only the internal re- 
 lations of her kingdom, but became for a long time the true 
 foundation of the foreign interests of Britain. 
 
 A change of religion was in itself an affair of the people, 
 and not of the government alone. Elizabeth, in yielding to 
 the wishes of a large majority of the nation, founded a real 
 and universal national interest ; but at the same time one 
 which affected the government. And as the Reformation 
 implicated England in the politics of the continent, it is at 
 once evident that this connexion must have been closer than 
 any could have been before. It now for the first time be- 
 came possible, that a real continental interest should arise, at 
 least if we understand by this one which is not merely the 
 personal interest of the ruler, but also that of the people. 
 Such a connexion was now, by many circumstances, render- 
 ed unavoidable. 
 
 About the time when the Reformation was introduced 
 into England, the religious interest^ was also in a great de- 
 gree a political one. The maintenance of the constitution 
 rested directly on Protestantism ; and it could not escape 
 the observation of the queen, that the fall of that religion 
 would have involved her own. She was forced, therefore, 
 
 ' See above, Political Consequences of the Jtefonnation, second period ; 
 page 289. 
 
I ^y I P 
 
 t 
 
 376 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 to become its defender, but circumstances made it impossible 
 that she should confine herself to playing that part at home. 
 England (for Sweden had not yet taken a decided part) was 
 the first leading power which had declared for the Protest- 
 ants ; and Elizabeth was therefore considered as the general 
 supporter, if not the head, of the party ; a character which 
 she could not refuse without endangering her own interests. 
 Then as Spain was at this time governed by Philip II., the 
 most determined of the defenders of the old doctrine, a man 
 too whose pride Elizabeth had wounded by the refusal of his 
 hand, the antipathy which sprung up between these two 
 powers became an almost necessary consequence. But 
 again, it was this very antipathy which laid the foundation 
 of the greatness of England. The religious interest now in- 
 volved that of independence and political existence ; and 
 England, in entering the lists against the first power of the 
 time, was under the necessity of either raising herself to emi- 
 nence, or abjectly submitting to be crushed ; the choice lay 
 between victory and destruction. 
 
 That this relation between England and Spain could last 
 thirty years (1558—1588) without breaking into open war, 
 while at the same time Elizabeth never, during this long 
 period, made a single sacrifice of her real interests, is un- 
 doubtedly the most splendid proof of her superior political 
 abihty. But in the mean time, other circumstances arose 
 on the continent, which very much strengthened the con- 
 nexion with England ; namely, the war of the Hugonots in 
 trance, and the revolution in the Netherlands. And al- 
 though one of these ties was broken off even during the 
 reign of EHzabeth, the other seemed to be permanently 
 established. ^ ^ 
 
 When the disturbances began in the Netherlands, there 
 were three reasons why England should take part with the 
 insurgents. It has been mentioned, that the Flemish pro- 
 vmces were the principal market for the disposal of British 
 produce,^ and even on this account England could not be in- 
 
 ' Ejen at the beginning of the troubles in 1564, an attempt to prevent the 
 importation of English cloths, occasioned disputes which were temTnated 
 only by a provisional arran^ment. See Rapin, in whose work may also be 
 found an account of the trade between En/and and the Netherland^ Its 
 whole value IS put at twe ve millions in gol3, (quere, what dollar?) of ^hich 
 
 liirp ^ rS ^"^^^''^ ^""^""""^ ^ ^^' mill ons Vol 
 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 877 
 
 different to their fate. This, then, was one reason for inter- 
 ference. The second regarded the religious interests which 
 they had in common. The struggle which was here begin- 
 ning, was one against religious tyranny ; if the Protestant 
 creed was victorious in the Netherlands, its maintenance in 
 Germany and England was also secured; but in both 
 countries this was more than doubtful, if Spain succeeded 
 in stifling it there. The third reason was, that the loss of 
 the Netherlands would be a blow to the Spanish power, 
 which must eventually prove fatal to it, and insure success 
 to England in the rivalry which had now commenced. 
 
 For these reasons Elizabeth took a share in the Flemish 
 disturbances ; and this share was advantageous not only to 
 her, but to the nation. She did not do more however than 
 give them scanty subsidies, and permit her subjects to serve 
 as volunteers in their army. She wished, as it appears, to 
 avoid, if possible, a war with Spain ; and she well knew, 
 that the scanty assistance she gave, was best calculated to 
 develope their powers, and thus to obtain her principal object. 
 
 It was only in 1585, that she made a formal treaty with 
 them, by which, in consideration of the money which she 
 had advanced, and the troops which she supplied, three of 
 their ports were pledged to her, and a place in the council 
 of war, then existing, was promised to her ambassador ; at 
 the same time, however, she declined the proffered sove- 
 reignty over these provinces. These and other well-known 
 circumstances led to a formal quarrel with Spain, and the 
 interests of England and the Netherlands, in respect to this 
 power, became inseparably united. The destruction of the 
 invincible armada (1588) freed England at once from all 
 apprehension of the Spanish power ; and now Elizabeth had 
 no longer any wish to put a stop to a war, the circumstances 
 of which were favourable not only to the security, but also 
 to the greatness of her empire. 
 
 If we consider the whole conduct of Elizabeth towards 
 the Netherlands, we shall plainly discover what her inten- 
 tions were. That this infant state, just liberating itself from 
 thraldom, would advance with such gigantic strides towards 
 the greatness which awaited it : that it would not only out- 
 strip Spain, but, by engrossing the commerce of the world, 
 would even surpass England itself, and oblige that state to 
 
 sa^E 
 
w»- 
 
 S78 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 879 
 
 strain every nerve, in order to supplant its rival : all this did 
 not occur to her, nor was it probable that it should. She 
 fancied that she was raising up a state, which could exist 
 only under the protection of England, and would therefore 
 never be able to act in opposition to the British influence. 
 She wished to establish her supremacy here, as she had done 
 in Scotland, and would gladly have done in France. This 
 manner of extending her power, was as much studied by 
 Elizabeth as it was by Philip II. ; but she knew how to play 
 her game more secretly, and calculated the chances better. 
 It could not be otherwise, however, than that the mutual 
 rivalry between England and Spain, (on which now de- 
 pended the balance of Europe,) should produce these strug- 
 gles : the territory which one side gained, was lost by the 
 other ; and each therefore was compelled to endeavour, not 
 only to maintain, but also to add to its possessions. 
 
 The turn which the affairs of the Netheriands took during 
 this reign, must have tended still more to strengthen the ties 
 between them and England. The Belgic provinces, it is 
 true, were restored during the war to the Spanish dominion, 
 and the Batavian alone maintained their independence ; but 
 even while the war was raging, all manufactures and trade 
 had been transferred from the former, which were the con- 
 stant scene of action, to the latter, which suffered infinitely 
 less; and since in these Protestantism finally triumphed, 
 they became connected with England by religious as well 
 as mercantile interests, and common enmity to Spain re- 
 mained the watchword of both nations. 
 
 The relations in which Elizabeth stood towards France, 
 were much more complicated ; and she could hardly herself 
 have been aware, how far they would lead her. The pro* 
 tracted hopes of marriage which she held out to Francis of 
 Alen^on, the presumptive heir to the crown, and which, 
 even allowing for the feelings of her sex to the degree which 
 her history requires, it could never have entered into her 
 plans to fulfil, were the veil under which she concealed her 
 true designs. The religious wars, which commenced in 
 1562, had lasted but a short time, when she began to sup- 
 port the Hugonots by intercession, by money, and by vo-' 
 lunteers ; and this she continued to do, without openly 
 breaking off* her amicable relations with the government. 
 
 It would be difficult to find a parallel to the political game 
 which she played here, and which surpassed in subtlety even 
 that carried on by her in the Netherlands. It was impos- 
 sible to know how these wars might terminate, but here too 
 her rivalry with Spain formed her chief inducement to act 
 as she did. As Philip II. supported the league in order to 
 further his own views, she opposed him by sidmg with 
 Henry of Navarre ; and when this prince came into quiet 
 possession of his throne, she joined him in the war agamst 
 Spain, which, as concerned France, was terminated by the 
 peace of Vervins (1598). But the pacification of the Hugo- 
 nots by the edict of Nantes, and the death of Philip, which 
 happened in the same year, were of themselves sufficient to 
 destroy this interest, the very nature of which was but 
 
 transient. 
 
 These were the principal supports on which rested the 
 continental interests of England during this reign ; but the 
 great and manifold development of the powers of the nation 
 during the same period, had also an influence upon them 
 which must be the less neglected in proportion to its greater 
 
 '^^it^Tas" during the time of Elizabeth that England first 
 learnt for what she was destined, and became acquainted 
 with her proper sphere of action, since it was then that she 
 laid the foundation of her universal commerce and naviga- 
 tion, although it was not till a later period that the structure 
 was brought to perfection. The rivalry with Spain chietly 
 conduced to this ; and as the possessions of that nation ex- 
 tended over the most remote parts of the earth, England 
 was not wanting in the courage requisite to seek and en- 
 counter its enemies on the most distant seas. In this man- 
 ner were the seeds of many branches of British commerce, 
 which attained their perfection long afterwards, sown, since 
 England now sought to appropriate to herself her own car- 
 rying trade, which hitherto had been chiefly in the hands ot 
 foreigners. While she was seeking a north-eastern passage 
 to India, arose her commerce by way of Archangel with 
 Moscow, and even Persia. Thus originated the share which 
 she took in the Newfoundland fisheries, which afterwards 
 became of such immeasurable importance. Thus, too, the 
 first trial of the African slave trade. It was thus that the 
 
 J 
 
1. 
 
 380 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN, 
 
 381 
 
 Hanseatic league was deprived of its privileges in England, 
 and British ship-owners got the continental trade into their 
 hands. Thus, too, were made the first, although ineffectual 
 attempts, to colonize North America. Thus was England 
 even then induced to turn her attention to the commerce 
 with India by the way of the Cape of Good Hope ; and as 
 early as the end of this reign (1600) the old East India 
 Company was established, although as yet there were no 
 important possessions in those parts. Thus many disco- 
 veries were made, and to this it is owing that Drake made 
 his successful voyage round the world. 
 
 Most of these new branches of commerce were, it is true, 
 so inconsiderable at that time, that they could not be fairly 
 regarded as possessing direct political influence. Commer- 
 cial wars, strictly speaking, had not as yet arisen ; but the im- 
 portance of trade in general began to be more sensibly felt. 
 To this it must be added, that with the commerce and the 
 navigation of England, her naval power was also extended. 
 As yet England had not been, in the present sense of the 
 word, a naval power — it was only in the reign of Henry 
 yin. that a slight foundation was laid for that ''Royal Navy"' 
 in which was to consist the future strength of the country. 
 The rivalry with Spain rendered an increase of naval power 
 necessary, and therefore it was augmented under Elizabeth ; 
 but some great trial of strength was wanting to prove its 
 whole importance to England. This was afforded by the 
 invincible armada ; and from that time the conviction be- 
 came deeply rooted that the security and independence of 
 Britain depends upon her wooden walls. From that moment 
 she suddenly became conscious of her power, and the defen- 
 sive war was changed into an offensive one ; from it too we 
 must date the rise of her designs upon the sovereignty of 
 the seas, which, cleared as they now were of the Spanish 
 fleets, seemed only to await a new mistress. 
 
 The conclusion at which we arrive therefore is, that, 1. 
 The interest of religion under Elizabeth was also that of in- 
 dependence, and of the connexion between England and 
 the continent ; 2. That during her time the foundation was 
 laid for a commercial interest, the whole power of which 
 however was not to be developed till a later period. 
 
 THIRD PERIOD. 
 
 PERIOD OF THE STUARTS, 1603-1689. 
 
 At the time when the Stuarts ascended the throne of Eng- 
 land, the religious interest formed, as is evident from the 
 preceding part of this inquiry, the pivot on which turned the 
 whole politics, both foreign and domestic, at once of Eng- 
 land and the rest of Europe. On Protestantism Elizabeth 
 had founded her throne and her greatness, and a firmer 
 basis they could not have had ; because she thus united her 
 interest with that of the people. Her successor appeared 
 therefore to have his way marked out for him ; he thought 
 fit, however, to choose another, and thus prepared the tall 
 
 of his dynasty. , , , , , • i • 
 
 The house of the Stuarts is probably the only one in his- 
 tory which brought on its fall, not so much by practical as 
 by theoretical principles. These principles were, however, 
 at direct variance with the interests of England generally ; 
 and more especially with her continental interests. Since 
 Elizabeth, by the defence of Protestantism, had attained the 
 supremacy of Protestant Europe, it was evident that to main- 
 tain it her successor must assume the same character. But 
 James I. was rendered incapable of doing so, by the strange 
 mixture of political and religious sentiments in which he 
 loved to indulge, and which remained the hereditary and 
 deep-rooted sentiments of his family. His theory respect- 
 incr the high dignity and unlimited power of royalty deter- 
 mined his religious creed, which was confirmed by the teel- 
 incrs which in his youth had been roused m him by the fate 
 of his mother. He hated the puritans from the bottom of his 
 heart, because he scarce considered them in any light but 
 that of rebels. He professed that he belonged to the epis- 
 copal church, because to be king of England it was neces- 
 sary that he should do so, but his very first speech in par- 
 liament declares in such plain words that Catholicism, 
 (excepting the doctrine of the papal supremacy, which was 
 detestable to him from its limiting the regal power,) was the 
 religion of his heart, that it could not but destroy once and 
 for ever the confidence of the nation in their king. 
 
 » This speech, like the rest of those composed by the king himself, forms a 
 curiouL dorumei? illustrative of English Ltory. It contams the seeds of 
 
 ii 
 
382 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 An immediate reaction upon the continental policy of 
 England could not but ensue, and even at the commence- 
 ment of the reign of James I. it showed itself in two ways ; 
 in the peace with Spain, and in the transactions between 
 that power and the Netherlands. In 1604 James concluded 
 the war with Spain which Elizabeth had so determinately 
 carried on, by a peace with Philip III. ; in which no single 
 advantage was gained for England, and the Netherlands 
 were left to their fate. How far the conditions of that treaty 
 were favourable or unfavourable to England, made but little 
 difference ; with this peace expired that rivalry with Spain, 
 which under Elizabeth had been the soul of British politics. 
 On this rivalry was founded the greatness of the nation ; 
 through it her naval power had developed itself; and it sup- 
 ported the confidence of the other Protestant states of Eu- 
 rope and the supremacy of England. It is clear also, that 
 the change in these relations produced a corresponding one 
 in the whole course of foreign policy pursued by England, 
 and the firmest, and under existing circumstances the most 
 natural, connexion between her and the continent was broken. 
 
 The second occasion, when the change in the political 
 system of England became apparent, was the negotiation 
 which the Netherlands entered into with Spain, respecting 
 the recognition of their independence in the year 1607. 
 This period was of incalculable importance to England, 
 which had so long fought the same battle as themselves. 
 With what activity would not Elizabeth have applied the 
 negotiation to her own advantage, so as to take the whole 
 credit to herself, and to attach the new state to England, by 
 unstrained but yet secure ties ! But thoughts like these did 
 not enter a head like that of James I. According to his 
 sentiments, the Netherlands were nothing more than rebels 
 to their sovereign, and thus even in the midst of the negotia- 
 tion, he acted in so contradictory a manner, that no one knew 
 what his designs were, because he did now know himself 
 The consequence was, that at length no one noticed him, 
 and Henry IV. obtained the influence which Elizabeth 
 would have secured to herself. 
 
 that harvest of misfortunes which the Stuarts afterwards reaped. One might 
 almost say that the evil genius of this family, which drove it blindly from 
 one fault to another, had inspired the king with it. j 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 383 
 
 This apathy and indolence, which James I. concealed un- 
 der the name of love of peace, would have completely broken 
 up the relations between England and the continent, had 
 they not been renewed by family circumstances. The care 
 of making a suitable marriage for his son, which, according 
 to his notions, could only be with the daughter of a king, 
 carried him into negotiations, which characterize more per- 
 haps than any thing else the perverseness of this eccentric 
 kino- A Spanish princess was to be the wife of his son and 
 future successor ; a Catholic, therefore, a descendant of that 
 family and of that nation, who, both by religious and po- 
 litical interest, were the hereditary foes of England. I bus 
 James I. was indifferent to risking his own interest, that ot 
 his son, and of his country, for the sake of gratifying a ca- 
 price, which found a ready support in his prejudices. Ihis 
 is not the place for reviewing this extraordmary negotiation, 
 in which Spain had the advantage during seven years 
 (1617—1624) of leading the weak monarch according to 
 her own views, and which, when at length it failed, was the 
 occasion of a war, by engaging in which the luckless Charles 
 took the first step towards his ruin. But during the pro- 
 gress of these negotiations, the marriage of Elizabeth, only 
 dauo-hter of James I., had created new continental relations, 
 which had a considerable influence. In 1612 she was mar- 
 ried to Frederic V., Elector of the Palatinate, who, m 1518, 
 assumed the crown of Bohemia, which, as well as his own 
 family possessions, he lost by the battle of Prague and its 
 results. If James I. had taken an active part m the Ger- 
 man war, it would never have been laid to his charge, that 
 he bartered the interest of the empire for that of his daughr 
 ter. For the first was here concerned as well as the latter ^ 
 the interest of Protestantism was at stake, and this more 
 especially, because in 1621, the war between Spain and the 
 Netherlands was renewed. But here too James I. played a 
 double part. He did not approve of the undertaking ot his 
 son-in-law, because he considered the Bohemians as rebels, 
 and yet he would willingly have seen his daughter a queen. 
 But the close connexion between Spain and Austria made 
 the policy of interference still more questionable ; for it he 
 had decided on coming forward, a threat from bpam ot 
 breaking off the negotiations for the marriage of his sow 
 
 a 
 
 1 
 »' 
 
>ip>oniPi 
 
 aapHV 
 
 384 
 
 BISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 385 
 
 hi t 
 
 would have made him as undecided as ever. Hence the 
 melancholy part which he took in this eventful period. An 
 idle show of assistance was all that his son-in-law received 
 
 from him. 
 
 But if James I. thus betrayed the continental interests of 
 England, this neglect brought its own punishment, and that 
 a severe one. The power which, under his predecessor, 
 had turned the scales in the political balance of Europe, 
 now sank into such insignificance as almost to become the 
 ridicule of Europe. Our inquiry thus far has shown, that 
 the relations between England and the continent were as yet 
 very simple, when compared to those of later times ; and yet 
 her history, even under James I., clearly shows that a neglect 
 of her continental interests is with her the signal of decline. 
 
 It is true, that the reign of his ill-fated son began with a 
 twofold war, with Spain and with France ; but the first arose 
 from the failure of the scheme of marriage, and was founded 
 only on family interests ; the other aimed at the defence of 
 the Hugonots in France, who had been disarmed by Riche- 
 lieu, and therefore the support of religion might be supposed 
 to be involved in it ; but the real cause was hatred of that 
 minister ; while both were carried on in so weak and spirit- 
 less a manner, that they only served to embroil Charles I. 
 with his parliament. Although Charles took some share in 
 the affairs of Germany and of the Palatine family, it was so 
 inconsiderable, that it led to no results ; and it was very 
 evident that he was induced to it, not so much by religious 
 or national, as by family interests. The true continental in- 
 terest of England was left out of sight ; and when the storm 
 in his own country began to gather, he had no time to give 
 any attention to foreign affairs, and England remained as it 
 were isolated in the European system, until Cromwell (1649) 
 had possessed himself of the helm of state. The govern- 
 ment of that bold usurper is distinguished, not only by a 
 more active interest in the transient affairs of the continent, 
 but also for the lasting consequences which resulted from 
 it. The stormy times of the revolution had roused a power 
 in England hitherto unknown ; almost every one who was 
 capable of it had carried arms, and the spirit of faction had 
 created moral energies, which can be brought into action 
 only at such periods. To this must be added the fact, that, 
 
 notwithstanding the troubles of the times, the navy had not 
 been neglected either by Charles I. or his father. He had 
 most scrupulously applied the sums granted for its support, 
 and England, as a republic, stood both by land and sea in d 
 more formidable attitude than she had done as a monarchy. . 
 
 The private interest of the Protector made it, no doubt, 
 requisite that he should take an active part in foreign affairs, 
 as well to afford vent to the excitement at home, as to give 
 splendour to his reign ; but, independently of this, a new 
 interest had been springing up, which, in progress of time, 
 rapidly increased, and gradually gained a greater influence 
 upon the relations between England and the great powers of 
 the continent, namely, the colonial interest. 
 
 With the East Indies, England had, it is true, for some 
 time carried on a considerable trade, but as yet it had no 
 territorial possessions, and was confined to a few scattered 
 factories. But even these already furnished occasions of 
 quarrel with Holland and Spain, whose jealousy would suf- 
 fer no strangers to gain a footing there.^ But, properly 
 speaking, the first colonies of the English were on the coasts 
 of North America, and the West Indies; and they owed 
 their origin chiefly to political and religious interests. Bands 
 of malcontents wandered across the ocean, and sought be- 
 yond its waters a freedom or security, which they either did 
 not, or imagined they did not, find at home. Thus arose 
 the numerous settlements in several of what are the United 
 States, and in 1623, and 1624, in Barbadoes, St. Christo- 
 pher's, and some of the smaller islands, which the Spaniards 
 had not thought it worth their while to occupy. 
 
 These foreign possessions always continued in a certain 
 state of dependence on the mother country, although this re- 
 lation received different modifications. The mother country 
 was therefore under the obligation of defending them, and 
 as this was especially necessary against the continental 
 powers, the colonial interest naturally became a mainspring 
 in the continental politics of England. This state of things 
 was at first caused by the absurd pretensions of the Spaniards, 
 who, as the first discoverers of the new world, claimed the 
 
 ' Particularly in the year 1623, at Amboina, where the Dutch massacred 
 the English colonists in a horrid manner, under pretence that they were en- 
 gaged in a conspiracy; and also took the small island of Poleroon from England. 
 
 2 c 
 
!»•« 
 
 386 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 exclusive possession of it, and the sole right of trading in its 
 seas. These claims were not relinquished even in time of 
 peace ; and although after the treaty of 1604 these settle- 
 ments obtained a little more peace, and therefore prospered 
 better, the Spaniards exercised occasional acts of violence 
 and cruelty, which sufficiently proved that they had no in- 
 tention of resigning their claims, and afforded at least one of 
 the grounds which determined Cromwell to chastise them, 
 when he declared war against them in 1655. 
 
 The whole system which the Protector adopted in regard 
 to continental politics, is very comprehensive and compli- 
 cated, and therefore not easy to include in one view.^ His 
 whole government show how important he considered it; 
 and although we cannot deny that private feelings and ob- 
 jects influenced his measures, still it is clear that his main 
 object was to make it a means of increasing the commercial 
 navigation of England. The consequences of it were, the 
 two foreign wars which he carried on ; viz. that with Hol- 
 land (1652—1654), and that with Spain (1655—1657). 
 
 Whatever other circumstances may have had their influ- 
 ence in the former of these, it was in reality a commercial 
 war, and the first in which England had engaged. The re- 
 lation in which she stood to the West Indian colonies, where 
 the Dutch were in possession of nearly all the commerce of 
 the British islands, and more especially that of Barbadoes, 
 led to the passing of that famous Navigation Act, which not 
 only secured to the mother country the whole trade of the 
 colonies, but also forbade the introduction of European pro- 
 duce in any ships but those of the country from which it 
 came ; and thus gave the death-blow to the extensive car- 
 rying trade of Holland. This Act was therefore little less 
 than a declaration of war. The relations between the two 
 states, however, had undergone a great change. Holland 
 had all but secured the monopoly of the commerce of the 
 world, and England if she wished to have any share of it, 
 could not avoid entering into a contest such as Cromwell 
 engaged in. The dispute which arose respecting the rights 
 of the flag, unimportant as it may appear, displays in a re- 
 
 ' This is the part of Crotnweirs history in which Hume has been the least 
 successful. He omits the mention of all those leading principles of his po- 
 licy, which the slightest glance at it will display. 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 387 
 
 markable manner the rivalry of the two nations ; but that 
 England, by persisting in the Navigation Act, laid the found- 
 ation of her naval power, requires no proof. 
 
 The war with Spain, with the assistance of France, exer- 
 cised a twofold influence upon the interests of Britain. In 
 the first place, the conquest of Jamaica (1655) secured for 
 ever the colonial interest in the West Indies. Until that time 
 England possessed only a few of the smaller Carib islands, 
 and that by suffierance rather than by any power of her own. 
 It was the intention of Cromwell to wrest St. Domingo from 
 the Spaniards, and thus to make England mistress of the 
 West Indies. In this he did not succeed ; but the conquest 
 of Jamaica, which, although at that time of no moment, became 
 in a few years a flourishing English colony, compensated for 
 the disappointment ; and as the demand for their produce 
 increased, the West Indian colonies gradually became of 
 such importance to England as necessarily to influence, and 
 that in a material degree, her relations with other nations 
 which already had established, or were on the point of 
 establishing, settlements in those islands. A second result of 
 this war was the renewal of the scheme of conquests on the 
 continent. It was the intention of the Protector to gain pos- 
 session of the sea-port towns, and perhaps of the whole coast 
 of the Spanish Netherlands; and France was obliged to 
 pledge herself beforehand to resign to England the places 
 which it was proposed should be taken, viz. Dunkirk, 
 Mardyk, and Gravelines; and in this manner the two 
 former really came into the possession of the English. But 
 his views were yet more extensive. He wished to gain also 
 the principal ports in the North Sea and the Baltic ; and the 
 treaty with Sweden (1657) was intended to prepare the way 
 for this.* At this period Charles X., the warlike successor 
 of Christina, was planning the formation of a great North- 
 ern monarchy, by the conquest of Poland and Denmark. 
 The Protector promised him support, and expected in re- 
 turn the possession of Bremen, of Elsinore, and Dantzic. 
 But a longer life would have been requisite to carry out 
 
 ' According to Hume, he entered into this aUiance with Sweden from mere 
 zeal in the Protestant cause. Nevertheless, according to the seventeenth article 
 of the treaty, he retained the right of disposing of all fortresses taken from 
 the Danes ; which surely cannot have been wholly dictated by zeal for the 
 Protestant cause. 
 
 ' . )i 
 
 i»^' 
 
 2c2 
 
iJUJiJi|i|l.lil.»P 
 
 ■PPP 
 
 388 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 389 
 
 these plans than fell to the lot of Cromwell ; the possession 
 of Jamaica and the Navigation Act, (Dunkirk being sold to 
 the French in 1662,) remained the only permanent memo- 
 rials of his protectorate. 
 
 However extensive therefore were his views of continental 
 policy, it is clear that but few of them were carried into exe- 
 cution. But when the Stuarts were restored to the throne 
 (1660) the old prejudices of their family came back with 
 them, and under the existing circumstances became still 
 more dangerous to England than they had been in the 
 reigns of James I. and his son. It was at this period that 
 Lewis XIV. raised his power in so sudden and formidable a 
 manner as to disturb the peace and independence of all his 
 neighbours. In order to carry out his plans, the concurrence 
 of England was indispensable ; and although at his first at- 
 tempt England took part in the alliance which brought 
 about, or seemed to bring about, the peace of Aix-la-Cha- 
 pelle, (1668,) it is well known from history that Charles II. 
 and his venal ministers soon became so wound up with the 
 interests of France, that they even took part in the war for 
 the subjection of Flanders to France, although that event 
 was evidently opposed to the interests of Britain. The hope 
 that, with the aid of France, he should be able to overturn 
 the constitution and the established religion, and thus attain 
 unlimited power, was the talisman by which Lewis led this 
 abandoned monarch to embrace his interests,* and induced 
 him, as well as his brother and successor, to continue in 
 them. It would be in vain, during the reign of princes 
 who were guided only by their passions and their prejudices, 
 to look for fixed principles of policy; a revolution was ne- 
 cessary to establish these upon a new foundation. 
 
 FOURTH PERIOD. 
 WILLIAM in. AND ANNE (1689—1714). 
 
 We now come to the period which is undoubtedly the 
 most important in the history of the modern continental 
 politics of England, namely, the period of William III. The 
 merit of having laid the foundation of those continental in- 
 terests which have lasted to our time, belongs undoubtedly 
 
 * The conditions of the secret alliance with France (1670) as quoted by 
 Home, put this point beyond dispute. 
 
 k 
 
 to him. In the time of Elizabeth, as we have shown, it was 
 Protestantism which determined the relations between Eng- 
 land and the continent. It is true that this spring of action 
 operated more powerfully, and for a greater length of time, 
 here, than in any other European state ; so much so, that it 
 displayed considerable strength even under William III. ; 
 but as it began about this time to relax in other states, the 
 same necessarily became the case before long in England ; 
 and here as elsewhere it could only be maintained for a short 
 additional period by the local or family circumstances of the 
 reigning house. Some other powerful inducement was 
 therefore requisite, in order that the participation of Eng- 
 land in the affairs of the continent should rest upon higher 
 grounds than the personal connexions and inclinations of the 
 monarch. This new spring of action, which has continued 
 down to the latest times the soul of British policy, was the 
 rivalry with France, a principle which was then established 
 for ever. England since that time has scarcely ever entered 
 into any political connexions with the continent which have 
 not either mediately or immediately proceeded from this 
 source. This rivalry has been one of the mainsprings of 
 European politics, and the more partial the view which is 
 oflen taken of this circumstance, the more necessary it is 
 that we should consider it in its real bearings. 
 
 The rivalry of these two great powers was undoubtedly 
 the cause, partly of the origin, partly of the extension and 
 of the prolongation of several of the great wars which have 
 desolated not only Europe, but even the most remote parts 
 of the earth. Considered in this light, we may well excuse 
 the opinion which refers to this rivalry, as to one of their 
 chief causes, the manifold evils which in these times have 
 happened to mankind; but it is undoubtedly a false esti- 
 mate which would assert that these evils, undeniable as they 
 are, outweigh the advantages which have sprung from the 
 same source. A more extensive view of history in general 
 will lead us to a very different result. 
 
 What is the rivalry of nations but the spur, ay, and the 
 most effectual one, to prompt them to the development of 
 their powers ? What else therefore than the mainspring by 
 which they are urged to the attainment of that state of civil- 
 ization for which they are by their capacities and eircum- 
 
 4 
 
 u 
 
 ¥M 
 
390 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 stances fitted? The progress of whole nations is in this 
 respect the same as that of individuals ; nor can it be other- 
 wise, since it is of such that they are composed. As amongst 
 individuals it is emulation which ripens youth into man- 
 hood, so it is also amongst nations ; and it would probably 
 be in vain to search in history for an example of a nation 
 which became great without the impulse of rivalry. The 
 Greeks would never have been the first nation of their time, 
 had it not been for their victory over the Persians ! Never 
 would Rome have been mistress of the world, had it not 
 been for the struggle with Carthage ; and Carthage would 
 have been without a Hamilcar and a Hannibal, had she not 
 been the rival of Rome. Nay, even when she was mistress 
 of the world, and seemed to stand without a rival, Rome 
 would scarcely have outlived the first century of our era, 
 had not the contest with the Germanic nations, which finally 
 subdued her, then upheld her in her place. And does not 
 the history of modern Europe present an equal number of 
 examples ? Have not Spain, France, and the Netherlands 
 raised themselves since the sixteenth century by their mu- 
 tual rivalry ? Was not the rivalry between the Catholic and 
 Protestant parties the life of the German confederation? 
 Would Peter the Great, would Frederic H., have reached 
 their height of power, if the one had not had Swedes, the 
 other Austrians to engage with ? And yet in none of these 
 instances has national rivalry done so much as in the con- 
 test between England and France. It was this which drew 
 out the noblest qualities of both nations — it was this which 
 preserved that love of freedom and independence which is 
 founded on patriotism — it was this which kept alive the most 
 lofty feelings of the human race — it was this which not only 
 brought to perfection the civilization of these nations, but 
 also planted the seeds of European refinement in the most 
 distant parts of the globe ; and thus what in the eyes of 
 short-sighted mortals was frequently considered the source 
 of misery and calamity, became in the hands of Providence 
 the means of producing and diffusing the perfection of 
 our race. 
 
 And thus, by taking this view, we escape that partiality 
 which in any less exalted one is unavoidable. If we place 
 ourselves in the position of either of the two nations, we 
 
 .W'L^ 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 391 
 
 shall never be able to form a judgment which will not be 
 accused of partiality by the other ; but if we take this higher 
 ground we shall easily escape the reproach. It is not ne- 
 cessary to deny that errors have been committed, or to gloss 
 over past acts of injustice. We grant that from that rivalry 
 have sprung many evils; but in this we only recognise a 
 confirmation of the universal law, that beings so imperfect 
 as we are can never attain to the great and good without 
 alloy, because we require the impulse of our passions before 
 we can put forth the whole of that power with which nature 
 has endowed us. 
 
 When WiUiam III. was placed on the throne of England, 
 this rivalry was already existing between the nations, although 
 not between the governments ; and even the animosity be- 
 tween the nation and the government affords proof of this. 
 The religious influence was still in full force in England, 
 because the nation was convinced of its connexion with 
 liberty and independence. But other causes were added to 
 strengthen this rivalry by the spirit of the government of 
 Lewis. His conquests must have excited the attention of 
 England the more from their being directed against both the 
 Spanish and the United Netherlands. The independence of 
 the latter depended immediately upon the fate of the former, 
 and we know that the connexion between the United Pro- 
 vinces and England was so close, that even the wars of 
 Cromwell and Charles II. had interrupted it only for a time. 
 But France was becoming a more dangerous neighbour to 
 England, as she now took a place among the leading naval 
 powers ; and the rivalry was yet more inflamed by the com- 
 mercial and colonial system created by Colbert. During 
 the reigns of the two last Stuarts the commerce of England 
 had advanced simultaneously with the extension of her co- 
 lonies ;^ its importance was now fully felt ; and a neighbour- 
 ing nation which in this point sought to equal, if not to excel 
 her, could not be regarded with indifference. But the 
 colonial system of France now received as great, if not a 
 greater extension than that of England ; and hence resulted 
 that unfortunate confusion of the colonies of the two nations,* 
 
 * By the peace of Breda, 1667, she obtained the province of New York ; and 
 in 1680 WiUiam Penn founded his settlement in Pennsylvania. 
 
 ^ We may add, of the European colonies generally. If there were any step 
 
392 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 in their geographical situations, which has cost so much 
 blood, and will probably cost yet more. In the West and 
 East Indies, and in North America, the French and the 
 English now became neighbours. Their interests therefore 
 crossed each other more and more ; they came in contact 
 no longer only in Europe ; they found each other in every 
 comer of the world. Even under the Stuarts this rivalry 
 had displayed itself notwithstanding the unanimity of the 
 sovereigns. England in 1668 had joined the triple alliance 
 against France, in opposition to the wishes of Charles II. ; 
 and although in the next war (1672) Charles united with 
 Lewis against Holland, after two years the voice of the 
 nation forced him to break the alliance. We find, then, that 
 at the time of the revolution, the foundation had already 
 been laid of a national rivalry ; it did not therefore owe its 
 origin entirely to the policy of William III. 
 
 It does not however admit of a doubt that the personal 
 inclinations, and the position in which this monarch was 
 placed, tended greatly to increase this rivalry, since he made 
 its maintenance a principal maxim of his policy. Even in 
 his youth (1672) he stood opposed, as the champion of the 
 Netherlands, to the great king of France,^ to whom he bore 
 a personal hatred, which was in turn cherished against him 
 by that monarch ; and from that moment he seemed to live 
 for the sole purpose of thwarting Lewis, and became the 
 life and soul of all the alliances which were formed against 
 him. When raised to the throne of England he had to de- 
 fend it against Lewis, who took his rival under his protection. 
 The war, hastened as it was besides by many other causes, 
 became thus unavoidable, and it wrapped nearly all Europe 
 in flames, (1689 — 1697,) until at the peace of Ryswick 
 Lewis found it convenient to acknowledge William as king 
 of England. 
 
 which would lead, if not to interminable, at least to lasting peace in Europe, 
 it would be the geographical separation of the colonies. This has been in 
 great part although not wholly accomplished, by the last treaty of peace, 
 which we shall consider hereafter ; the fortunes of the Spanish colonies will 
 perhaps bring about the rest. 
 
 ' It is well known from the Memoirs of St. Simon, that this personal hatred 
 arose from the refusal of V^ilHam, when only Prince of Orange, to accept the 
 hand of one of Lewis's natural daughters, which was offered him by her 
 father. We should be careful, however, not to lay too much stress upon such 
 anecdotes, even when true. The result would have been the same had this 
 circumstance never occurred. 
 
 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 393 
 
 There is probably no other example of a rivalry between 
 two civilized nations in which so many causes of jealousy 
 are to be found, as those upon which that between England 
 and France was founded. The interests of independence, 
 of religion, and of commerce, were involved in an extraor- 
 dinary manner with those of the sovereigns themselves. Is 
 it then to be wondered at, that such a rivalry should become 
 at the same time both violent and lasting ? But it is time to 
 follow out the consequences which it had on the subsequent 
 continental interests of Britain; we shall thus trace the 
 formation of many of the threads on which was wrought the 
 whole web of the subsequent politics of Europe. 
 
 Alliances on the continent were, under the existing cir- 
 cumstances, absolutely necessary to England. It was a 
 struggle with a power which at sea was about equal to her 
 in strength, but which on land was infinitely superior ; and 
 which necessarily remained superior until it was discovered 
 that an addition to the standing army was not at the same 
 time a diminution of national freedom. England therefore 
 dared not enter into a contest with France alone ; and when 
 this idea had once gained ground, it continued even in 
 times when its justice might well have been disputed, and 
 thus became the governing principle of the continental 
 policy of Great Britain. 
 
 An alliance therefore with that state which as a military 
 power maintained the next rank to France, was an unavoid- 
 able consequence; and hence arose the close connexion 
 between England and Austria, a connexion which may be 
 considered as the true foundation of the British continental 
 interests, and which, although for a time dissolved, was soon 
 again renewed, and will probably be from time to time re- 
 newed as long as the rivalry between England and France 
 continues to exist. As long as a branch of the house of 
 Hapsburg reigned in Spain, this connexion could not but 
 lead to an alliance with that country, and this the rather as 
 the plans of Lewis were constantly directed against the 
 Spanish Netherlands. But yet more important was the in- 
 fluence of the British policy upon the United Netherlands, 
 now that their hereditary stadtholder was at the same time 
 king of England; and hence arose the great alliance of 
 Vienna, (1689,) in which England for the first time dis- 
 
394 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 played in full force her vast influence upon the affairs of the 
 continent. This alliance, and the ensuing war down to the 
 treaty of Ryswick in 1697, gave to the politics of western 
 Europe that character by which they were afterwards pecu- 
 liarly distinguished. The alliance of the naval powers 
 (England and Holland) with Austria, against that power 
 which had become equally formidable on land and sea, 
 forms the groundwork of the system, and the interests of 
 these states so clearly demands such an alliance, that po- 
 litical sophistry will scarcely be able to prevail against it. 
 All the states of the continent, which had learned by expe- 
 rience that Lewis was desirous of increasing his power at 
 their expense, if not of destroying them entirely, could not 
 but see that this was the most natural means of defence ; 
 and it is clear from what we have above said, that the same 
 applied to England. 
 
 Under these circumstances it resulted from the geogra- 
 phical situation of these states that the Spanish, afterwards 
 Austrian Netherlands, became the centre of this alliance. 
 They were, in the first place, the chief aim of the policy of 
 France : in the next, they were the connecting link between 
 England and her continental allies. They formed the pas- 
 sage into Germany, the means of junction with the allied 
 armies, and the conductor, so to say, by which the war 
 might be drawn off" from the principal countries of the Aus- 
 trian monarchy ; on their independence rested that of the 
 United Provinces as well as of the German empire ; and 
 with all these points was connected the balance of political 
 power in Europe. The maintenance of the Belgian pro- 
 vinces was therefore necessarily one of the leading maxims 
 of the continental policy of England — a maxim in the sup- 
 port of which she has repeatedly and wisely exerted her 
 best energies. While England was thus connecting herself 
 on every side with the continent, it could not but follow 
 that several smaller states should be drawn into these ar- 
 rangements. But those only will require mention which were 
 permanently involved in them, and amongst these the first is 
 Savoy. In 1689 the fatal activity of Lou vois first compelled 
 the duke Victor Amadeus IL to take part in those tragic 
 scenes which were now repeatedly acted in Europe; and 
 the situation and condition of his territory, which was at 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 395 
 
 once the gate and the bulwark of Italy, necessarily, when 
 that country became the scene of action, gave this family a 
 degree of importance which the political talents of its lead- 
 ers turned with extraordinary dexterity, and still more 
 extraordinary good fortune, to their own advantage. Of the 
 remaining states of Italy, Naples being still a province, 
 none was of sufficient importance to make an alliance with 
 them possible ; and with the individual princes of Germany 
 it was not necessary to be at any pains, as the whole body 
 generally followed its chief, and each of the great Austrian 
 wars became a war of the empire. 
 
 By means of the war of 1689 therefore the relations in 
 which England stood to the continent were first organized ; 
 and in her subsequent policy she merely continued to build 
 on the foundation which was here laid. A proof of this is 
 to be found in the Spanish war of succession, which followed 
 only four years afterwards. By the negotiations which pre- 
 ceded it, England had become deeply involved in conti- 
 nental politics, and even if Lewis XIV. had not forced her 
 to war by recognising the pretender, contrary to the provi- 
 sions of the treaty of Ryswick, she would scarcely have been 
 able to preserve her neutrality. A contest was pending, 
 upon the result of which, according to the principles of the 
 policy of that time, whether just or not, depended the main- 
 tenance of the political balance in Europe. 
 
 The connexions of England with the continent continued 
 then during this war the same as during the last, with the 
 exception of the altered circumstances of Spain ; although 
 their author did not live to see its commencement.^ But 
 the unaltered policy of his successor, Anne, notwithstanding 
 the change which took place in the influential persons at 
 court, affords the clearest proof that, in spite of the clamour 
 of parties during the reign of William III., the interests 
 which he had pursued were not merely his own, but those 
 of the nation. The alliance with Austria was the great link 
 on which all the others depended, since not only the repub- 
 lic of the United Netherlands, although it had abolished the 
 dignity of stadtholder, persevered in its previous policy, but 
 the Germanic empire also took an active part in the war, 
 and the duke of Savoy, although at first on the side of 
 
 » William III. died March 19th, 1702. 
 
I 
 
 S96 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 397 
 
 France, was soon won over by the allies. But still the war 
 of succession in Spain modified the British continental po- 
 licy in more than one respect, and at the same time in- 
 creased its strength and its sphere of action ; and it is 
 necessary that these points should be more closely examined. 
 
 1st, The old connexions, especially that with Austria, 
 were greatly strengthened. The confederacy found (what 
 alone can render any alliance formidable) chiefs who were 
 capable of holding it together and infusing life and spirit 
 into it. Where can history produce a duumvirate like that 
 of Eugene and Marlborough ? And when did any thing but 
 success stamp such an alliance with durability? It is true 
 the alliance fell to pieces towards the end of the war, but 
 still it is an example without parallel that it should have 
 lasted so long ; and even that the dissolution was but tem- 
 porary, and the tie was renewed as soon as circumstances 
 demanded it. 
 
 2nd, One lasting consequence of that war was the close 
 connexion with Portugal : while this state trembled, and not 
 without cause, for its independence, when a Bourbon as- 
 cended the throne of Spain, and therefore sought to unite 
 itself with the allies, they on the other hand required its as- 
 sistance in order to play their game with a probability of 
 success, and to drive Philip of Anjou from his throne. This 
 connexion, however, springing as it did from the circum- 
 stances of the moment, would have been but transitory, had 
 it not been strengthened by other ties. This was done by 
 means of the commercial treaty of the British minister, 
 Methuen, (1705,) which granted a free entrance into Por- 
 tugal for British manufactures, especially woollens ; and for 
 Portuguese wines into England. It is well known that 
 scarcely any other treaty has been so advantageous to 
 England, owing to the extraordinary wealth which this mar- 
 ket had derived at that period from the newly-discovered 
 gold mines of Brazil. Thus by the interweaving of political 
 with commercial interests, arose that connexion between 
 England and Portugal which has not been broken by the 
 most violent storms of revolution. 
 
 3rd, In the war of the Spanish succession, England first 
 employed the granting of subsidies. The wealth of England 
 and the financial system founded by the creation of the 
 
 national debt, and the means thus afforded of obtainmg un- 
 limited credit under William III., must sooner or later have 
 given rise to this, even were it not the character of great 
 commercial nations to carry on their military enterprises, if 
 they should be engaged in such to any extent, more or less 
 with the aid of foreign troops received into their pay. Whe- 
 ther this be done by subsidies or by fairly taking troops into 
 pay, the system remains in its principal features the same, and 
 the consequences must be the same also. The Spanish war, 
 continued as it unnecessarily was by the breaking off of the 
 negotiations in 1709, gave a dangerous example of the facility^ 
 with which such wars may be protracted if the interest ot 
 the party at the helm of state demands it ; but experience 
 has also shown that the injury must necessarily recoil upon 
 
 England itself. ^ tt i i 
 
 4th, The conditions of the peace of Utrecht necessarily 
 strengthened the continental relations of England, without 
 however, except in the case of Spain, materially altering 
 them. This was occasioned partly by the resignation by 
 Spain of her European provinces, partly by the acquisitions 
 which England made in America. The Spanish Nether- 
 lands now became the property of Austria, which thus be- 
 came the natural ally of England ; and when the Italian 
 possessions were given up, partly to Austria, partly to bar- 
 dinia, new points of connexion arose between these states 
 and England, who had already by the possession of Gibraltar 
 and Minorca gained a firm footing in the Mediterranean. 
 On the other hand, the conditions of the treaty of Assiento 
 with Spain, and the acquisition of Nova Scotia in JNorth 
 America, scattered the seeds of future wars ; which however 
 did not spring up until the following period. 
 
 From what has preceded, then, we conclude that, when 
 the house of Hanover ascended the British throne, the con- 
 tinental interests of England were, in their leading features, 
 already fixed. The rivalry with France was the foundation 
 on which they were built ; and as long as this lasts it will 
 remain essentially the same, whatever temporary changes 
 may take place. The friendly connexion which was formed 
 under George I., seemed for a time to put an end to the 
 rivalry ; but it was only the consequence of a family dispute 
 of the Bourbons, and with the dispute itself it ceased ; as 
 will appear in the consideration of the next period. 
 
 •JSb. 
 
398 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 FIFTH PERIOD. 
 
 FROM THE ACCESSION OF THE HOUSE OF HANOVER TO 
 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, 1714— 1789. 
 
 The continental relations of England under the house of 
 Hanover became still closer and more complicated than they 
 had previously been. Our inquiry will therefore lead us 
 more deeply into the general system of Europe, and becomes 
 proportionally more difficult, although at the same time more 
 instructive; nay, perhaps we may add, more meritorious 
 also, since this whole period of British history, however rich 
 in materials, has not as yet found an historian worthy of it. 
 Although therefore what may here be offered can only serve 
 as a brief introduction to such a work, we shall still find it 
 worth while to follow the history of this nation in one of its 
 most important aspects, during this its most prosperous pe- 
 riod ; and perhaps at the same time to combat some preju- 
 dices which have arisen from partial views of the subject. 
 
 I believe that I have sufficiently established in the first 
 half of this inquiry, that when George I. ascended (1714) 
 the British throne, the principal ties between England and 
 the continent were already in existence. These however 
 were now strengthened and some new ones added to them. 
 The first and most important of these is generally considered 
 to be the circumstance, that the family which ascended the 
 throne of England was possessed of hereditary dominions on 
 the continent. That it is a totally false opinion which attri- 
 butes to this the main foundation of the foreign policy of 
 England, is clear from what has preceded ; it certainly had 
 its influence, exaggerated as this has been at particular 
 periods by British authors, but an impartial estimate of its 
 extent requires a more minute consideration of the political 
 situation of George I. at his succession, as well in reference 
 to his position at home, as in his relations to the remainder 
 of Europe. The internal position of England must at that 
 period have given rise to closer connexions with the conti- 
 nent, even had not external circumstances led to the same 
 result. Although the house of Hanover was called to the 
 succession by the voice of the nation, it is well known how 
 divided within itself the nation was — how thoroughly the 
 parties of whig and tory became political factions, and 
 what fierce convulsions were the consequence. There was 
 
 f 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 399 
 
 a pretender, with ntimerous adherents at home and powerful 
 friends abroad. As long as he found foreign support, or 
 there was even a probability that he would do so, it was 
 necessary to oppose his endeavours; and this opposition 
 brought on a long chain of political connexions with the 
 continent. The existence, and what is more, the lengthened 
 existence of such a pretender, who at least might obtain po- 
 litical influence, and at particular periods did actually obtain 
 it, was a piece of signal good fortune to England itself as 
 well as to the new government. The continued danger kept 
 the government, as well as the nation, continually on their 
 guard, and became one of the strongest ties between them. 
 However deeply the conviction might be impressed upon 
 the latter that the maintenance of their constitution depended 
 upon the Protestant succession, the great mass of the people 
 were still in need of something to remind them of it ; and 
 what could be better calculated to secure this object, than 
 the unceasing claims of a Catholic pretender ? And how- 
 ever great may have been the personal qualities, however 
 pure the intentions, and however strong the attachment to 
 the constitution, in the members of the new reigning family, 
 still nothing would serve better than those very claims, to 
 keep it constantly in their minds, that it was through the 
 constitution, and for the constitution, that they were invest- 
 ed with their high dignity. Thus the king and the nation 
 could not but agree in considering the constitution the pal- 
 ladium of their freedom to the latter, and of his throne to 
 the former ; thus the conviction naturally grew upon them, 
 that the interests of the king and the nation were insepar- 
 ably the same ; thus in a word the constitution escaped be- 
 ing considered a dead letter, and was impressed upon the 
 hearts of the people and their rulers. But external cir- 
 cumstances were of yet more influence in strengthening 
 the continental policy of England, by which it became 
 deeply involved in the affairs both of eastern and western 
 
 Europe. ^ 
 
 The west of Europe had just emerged from a contest of 
 thirteen years, in which the Spanish monarchy was the stake. 
 This war had been sustained by an alliance, the soul of 
 which was England, and which drooped and ended soon 
 after England retired. The peace, in which she had secured 
 
I ! 
 
 I I 
 
 400 
 
 I 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 to herself important advantages, however trifling they may 
 have appeared in the eyes of the whigs, had been her work, 
 and its maintenance was no less her interest. But hardly ever 
 was there a more insecure peace than that of Utrecht ; for 
 between the two principal parties — Spain and Austria — 
 there was no stipulation of peace, even though the distance 
 between their dominions and the position of the remainder 
 of Europe had really caused a cessation of hostilities. The 
 loss of her European dependences in Italy and the Nether- 
 lands to Austria and Savoy, was not forgotten by Spain, 
 and she was only waiting for an opportunity of seizing them 
 again. The interests therefore of England and Austria coin- 
 cided in the maintenance of peace ; and the connexion be- 
 tween them consequently continued and was strengthened. 
 But the circumstances which then took place in the house 
 of Bourbon, procured for England another ally on the con- 
 tinent, and that in a nation against which all her powers had 
 been but a short time before exerted, namely, France. Since 
 the death of Lewis XIV. (1715) affairs under the regency 
 of the duke of Orleans took a very different turn from what 
 had been expected. Instead of the close connexion between 
 the Bourbons of France and those of Spain which had been 
 looked for, rivalry and strife arose which ultimately led to 
 war. The weak health of the youthful king of France ex- 
 cited the expectation of a speedy vacancy of the throne of 
 France. Who in this case was to be his successor ? the re- 
 gent, or the king of Spain, who had resigned for himself 
 and his descendants all claims upon the French throne ? The 
 example of Lewis XIV. however had shown how far such a 
 resignation was binding. But it did not appear probable 
 that the regent would suffer the sceptre to be wrested from 
 him if the attempt was delayed till the death of the young 
 king. It seemed much easier at once to deprive him of the 
 regency ; and this idea suggested itself the more readily to 
 the Spanish minister Alberoni, since it agreed with his other 
 plans for recovering the provinces which had been yielded 
 to Austria and Savoy, (especially those in Italy,) and even 
 for overthrowing the whole political system of Europe, by 
 the elevation of the pretender to the throne of England. 
 But the attempt to raise a conspiracy against their regent 
 was betrayed and failed, and the recommencement of hosti-, 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 ^1 
 
 lities between Spain and France (1719) was the conse- 
 quence of its discovery. 
 
 Under these circumstances it was natural that a con- 
 nexion should be formed between England and the regent; 
 his interest and that of England were alike involved in the 
 maintenance of the established order of things in Europe, as 
 settled at the peace of Utrecht. He was compelled, in order 
 to provide for his own security, to oppose the plans of Spain. 
 On the other hand, however extraordinary it might seem 
 that England and France should be allied, it is easy to per- 
 ceive that no material alteration had taken place in the 
 policy of England. Spain, under Alberoni, wished to rule 
 as France had done under Lewis XIV. ; England was 
 therefore guided by the same interest in offering a strong 
 opposition to the plans of Spain, as that which had formerly 
 engaged her in war with France. But other causes were 
 added in reference to Spain, founded upon commercial ad- 
 vantages, which induced England to oppose that country, 
 and (for it amounted to the same thing) to make the observ- 
 ance of the conditions of the peace of Utrecht the aim of 
 her policy ; and these were the great concessions made by 
 Spain in the treaty of Assiento. By the provisions of this 
 treaty, England obtained the right of furnishing Spanish 
 America with negro slaves for thirty years, and of sending 
 annually a vessel of 500 tons to the great commercial fair 
 of Portobello.^ 
 
 These privileges could not fail, on account of the smug- 
 gling to which they gave rise, of securing to England the 
 greater part of the trade of Spanish America ; and in pro- 
 portion to the increase of profit, the British government 
 became more anxious to insure the continuance of them, by 
 maintaining the peace. It would be superfluous to describe 
 the events, which after the year 1714 caused the fall of Al- 
 beroni, and upon it the accession of Spain to the quadruple 
 alliance, and thus led to the attainment of this object. . 
 
 Thus it becomes evident that the participation of Englana 
 in the affairs of western Europe during the first half of the 
 reign of George I., arose not merely from the personal in- 
 
 ' The fair of Portobello was at that time one of the most important in the 
 world, as at it the European goods required bv the South American provinces 
 of Spain were exchanged for the gold and silver of Peru. 
 
 2 D 
 
402 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 terests of the monarch, but also from those of the nation. 
 At that time there were as yet no designs upon the domi- 
 nion of the sea ; the only objects aimed at were the security 
 of the balance of power — the confirmation of the advantages 
 which had been gained by England — and the maintenance 
 of the peace of Europe. The colonies however now began 
 to exert an influence upon continental politics, which must 
 not hereafter remain unnoticed. 
 
 But while the British cabinet was thus active in the west, 
 new connexions arose in the east. The great war which 
 had laid waste the northern part of this quarter of the globe 
 for one-and-twenty years (1700 — 1721) was not without its 
 influence on England. George I. has been represented in 
 almost all the histories of England, as having upon this oc- 
 casion exchanged the king for the elector ; and for the sake 
 of his German territories permitted himself to be mixed up, 
 as king of England, in the strife which took place. We 
 ought therefore to attempt what there is no longer any 
 reason to prevent, viz. an impartial consideration of the 
 question, how far the interests of the English nation required 
 this interference of the king ? how far the interests of the 
 nation were the same as those of the electorate ? and how 
 far the consequences were advantageous or the reverse to 
 Great Britain? 
 
 It has already been shown that England had long been 
 no indifferent spectator of the proceedings of the northern 
 powers. The trade in the Baltic was the cause of this ; and 
 after it became considerable, the English could remain as 
 little indifferent upon the subject as the Dutch, with whom 
 they shared it, though at that time very unequally. Besides, 
 the geographical situation of the Baltic, which can only be 
 reached by narrow straits, one only of which, the Sound, is 
 perfectly navigable, made it by no means a matter of indif- 
 ference in whose possession this passage, and with it the 
 means of entering this sea, should be. 
 
 If any single power obtained the dominion, if, as had 
 more than once happened in the times of the Swedish mon- 
 archy, any single state arose with such power as either ac- 
 tually to close that entrance, or by the imposition of heavy 
 tolls virtually to effect the same object, that bmnch of thte 
 commerce and navigation of both England and Holland 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 403 
 
 could not but become in the highest degree precarious. The 
 active interference of England in the affairs of the North 
 commenced therefore during the period of the Swedish 
 dominion, when that state began to menace Denmark ; and 
 the maintenance of a certain balance, or at least the preserv- 
 ation of both powers, was the object which this interference 
 had in view. It is true that, besides negotiation, England, 
 owing to her situation, had no means of giving succour ex- 
 cept by her fleets ; but the position of the two states, which 
 made it necessary that a war between them, if undertaken in 
 earnest, should be carried on by sea as well as land, ren- 
 dered this kind of assistance very important, and might even 
 do what in naval expeditions very rarely is the case, viz. 
 make it decide the event. The internal disturbances which 
 distracted England towards the close of the thirty years' 
 war, rendered an active intervention in favour of Denmark, 
 then menaced by Sweden, impossible. Denmark however 
 was relieved by the peace of Bromsebroe (1645). It was in 
 Cromwell's time however that attention was first directed to 
 these affairs : nay, as we have previously shown, his designs 
 went even to the acquisition by England of possessions on 
 the shores of the Baltic. When Charles Gustavus of Sweden 
 threatened the total annihilation of Denmark (1657) Eng- 
 land strenuously took her part, and procured the peace of 
 Roschild (Feb. 26, 1658) ; and when that monarch sud- 
 denly broke the conditions and besieged Copenhagen, not 
 only did England join the confederacy at the Hague, but 
 English vessels accompanied the Dutch fleet to the Baltic, 
 and by a victory over the Swedish fleet contributed much to 
 the relief of Copenhagen (1659). The trade with the Baltic 
 and the maintenance of the previous tolls at the Sound, are 
 the causes assigned for this interference in the treaty which 
 was then made.* 
 
 The change which shortly afterwards was effected in 
 England by the restoration of the king, not only did not 
 diminish, but even increased the share which England had 
 taken in these affairs. The trade with the Baltic was con- 
 sidered to be of such importance, that it was regulated by 
 new conditions with Sweden as well as Denmark, and these 
 continue to this day to be the groundwork of the mutual 
 
 • Vide ScHMAUSS Einleitung zu der Staatswissenschaft, vol. ii. p. 129. 
 
 2d2 
 
404 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 commerce of these countries. The treaty with Sweden was 
 concluded by Charles II. (1661) with the regency during 
 the minority of Charles XL, and altered in some particulars 
 in the year 1666 ; that with Denmark not till the year 1671.* 
 In both these treaties it was especially provided what arti- 
 cles should be considered contraband, in order to avoid any 
 interruption to tlie trade during times of war. But the at- 
 tention of England was now especially engaged by the con- 
 stant endeavours of Holland to obtain the whole of the trade ; 
 and owing to this, the relations in which the two states 
 stood to each other, usually had their influence upon the 
 North. A clear proof of this is afforded by the negotiations 
 which took place during the war, (1665—1667,) which was 
 ended by the treaty of Breda. Holland then gained over 
 Denmark as well as Sweden, and the entrance into the 
 Baltic was to have been entirely forbidden to England.* 
 But the peace of Breda (1667) which soon ensued, and the 
 new and more important occurrences in western Europe, 
 when Lewis XIV. commenced his wars in the Netherlands, 
 altered these political relations and prevented any conse- 
 quences which the above negotiations might have had. 
 
 The ambitious designs of Lewis extended themselves even 
 to the North ; and when France succeeded in winning over 
 Sweden, Denmark also followed ; but the war did not be- 
 come a naval one, and had no reference to commerce. It 
 will only be necessary to bear in mind the internal affairs 
 of England under Charles IL, James IL, and WiUiam HI., 
 in order to account for the circumstance that her policy was 
 less frequently directed towardsthe North during these reigns. 
 But the great northern war, which, after continuing 
 twenty years, entirely changed the relations of northern Eu- 
 rope, could not fail of engaging the attention of England. 
 The proof of this is found in the peace of Travendal, (1700,) 
 which was concluded between Sweden and Denmark through 
 the mediation of England, and guaranteed by her. The 
 war of the Spanish succession, which immediately afterwards 
 set the whole of western Europe in flames, and which Eng- 
 land carried on by land with a degree of vigour and good 
 
 * They are to be found in Schmauss Corpus Juris Gentium^ vol. ii. pp. 7^ 
 and232S. 
 
 ■ Result of the treaty concluded at the Hague between Holland and Den- 
 mark, Feb. 11, 1666.— Schmauss, Staatsivissenschaft, vol. ii. p. 178. 
 
 r-J 
 
 
 INTEllESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 405 
 
 fortune never before witnessed, made it impossible that she 
 could interfere with energy in the affairs of the North. She 
 contented herself with watching the proceedings of the 
 Swedish hero, and was only anxious lest it should enter into 
 his head to become the ally of France, and strike in with 
 the sword in her behalf. But when by the peace of Utrecht 
 (1713) she was released from this contest, it could not but 
 be expected that she should again become active in that 
 
 quarter. 
 
 But it was no easy question for England to determine 
 what side she should put herself on. All the former rela- 
 tions had been changed ; Sweden was exhausted, and while 
 Russia was rapidly developing her strength, the balance be- 
 tween Sweden and Denmark was no longer the only thing 
 to be considered. But in what point of view was England 
 to regard this growth of Russia in reference to her own in- 
 terests ? On the one side it could not be a matter of indiffer- 
 ence to British policy, that a power should be forming itself 
 in the North, which not only threatened the independence 
 and existence of all the other states, but was even directly 
 bent upon becoming a great naval force, and thus grasping 
 the dominion of the Baltic. On the other hand it required 
 no great foresight to perceive, more or less clearly, the ad- 
 vantages which would result to England from the civiliza- 
 tion of Russia. An acquaintance with the arts and the wants 
 of luxury in a state of such immense extent, laid open an in- 
 exhaustible market to the manufacturing and trading nations 
 of Europe ; and although it could not then be foreseen what 
 a preponderance England would afterwards obtain by the 
 decay of Dutch commerce, it was very clear that she could 
 not be wholly shut out from these advantages. But the 
 measures adopted did not, as it appears, proceed from such 
 general considerations. No care was taken of the future, 
 and temporary relations only were looked to. Single oppor- 
 tunities were seized as they presented themselves, and thus 
 England became involved in the question without having 
 any fixed system to guide herself by. The extension ot the 
 northern war into Germany, in which George I. became 
 concerned, as elector of Hanover, gave the first occasion ot 
 
 interference. 
 
 Sweden had been deprived by her enemies of almost all 
 
406 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 her German possessions, and of these more particularly, the 
 duchies of Bremen and Verden, which she had obtained by 
 the peace of Westphalia, had fallen into the hands of the 
 Danes. Denmark sold these territories to Hanover, in a 
 treaty which was signed June 26th, 1715. As Sweden 
 would not recognise this sale, nay more, as Charles Ail. 
 made it no secret that his whole efforts were directed to- 
 wards regaining as far as possible the supremacy in northern 
 Germany, the implication of Hanover in the northern war 
 would have been a natural consequence, even if it had not 
 been expressly stipulated in the treaty that George I. should 
 declare war against Sweden.' This he did in his character 
 of elector of Hanover, and it was only in this character that 
 he carried it on by land ; but at the same time a squadron 
 of eight English men of war was sent to the Sound, which 
 joined the Danish fleet.^ It was not without cause that 
 Charles XII, complained of this last step, which led however 
 to no important results ; nor did he, in the bitter hatred 
 which he bore to George L, distinguish between the king 
 and the elector, but sought his revenge by no less formid- 
 able means that a revolution in England in favour of the 
 pretender ; and this his minister. Baron Gorz, actually plan- 
 ned, but was unable to execute. 
 
 In the mean while the great impediments which arose to 
 the commerce of the Baltic during the war, afforded Eng- 
 land opportunities for complaint. No power ever earned 
 commercial restrictions against his enemies so far as Charles 
 XII. did in his regulations.^ It is true he had extraordinary 
 inducements to such a course. It was according to the ex- 
 isting regulations his chief interest by all means to prevent 
 Russia from excelling him as a naval force ; and yet it was 
 to this that Peter especially devoted himself; and he was 
 able as early as 1716 to make his appearance in the Baltic 
 with a fleet superior to that of Sweden. The neutral pow- 
 ers, and especially Holland, assisted him in many ways. 
 The great advantage to be gained by it induced them not 
 only to furnish him with all other necessaries which he re- 
 
 » The state papers are to be found in MSmoires de Lamberti, vol. ix. P- 229. 
 « The British admiral put himself in those days under the orders of the 
 Danish commander. Such are the changes which occur ! 
 « See his edicte of Feb. 8, and Dec, 19, 1715. Lamberti, voL ix, p. 228, 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 407 
 
 I 
 
 quired, but even to supply vessels completely equipped, and 
 which could be used as ships of war. On this were founded 
 the severe measures of Charles, which were directed in the 
 first place against the Dutch, but which fell also upon the 
 English, and would almost have annihilated their commerce 
 with the Baltic had they not protected it by armed vessels. 
 The interest of George I. as elector of Hanover, was there- 
 fore not the only cause which induced him to adopt 
 measures against Charles, for he had grounds of complaint 
 also in his character of king of England. Nevertheless it is 
 the constant reproach of all English writers, that he did not 
 distinguish between these two interests ; but that the wish 
 to preserve the duchies of Bremen and Verden, by which 
 a communication was opened between his new kingdom and 
 his German territories, led him to implicate England in the 
 contests of the northern states. 
 
 It would not be difficult, from what has been already said, 
 to find grounds of defence for George I.; but allowing 
 every one to form his own judgment upon this point, there 
 remains another ground which has not been taken by any 
 EngUsh historian with whom I am acquainted, and which is 
 the most important of all in the determination of the con- 
 troversy — I refer to the question whether the interests of 
 England or Hanover were most nearly concerned in the 
 acquisition of Bremen and Verden ? And I believe it will 
 not be difficult to prove that the former were chiefly in- 
 volved in it. 
 
 Hanover certainly gained at a sufficiently cheap rate two 
 provinces, one of little importance, the other more so, yet 
 neither remarkably fertile, except in those parts which bor- 
 der on the rivers. But then, the latter of the two commands 
 the entrance into the two principal rivers, and consequently 
 the chief commercial approaches of northern Germany; 
 and thus by its geographical situation becomes of very great 
 importance. By the electorate, a country which has not 
 one sea- port nor any commercial town of moment, which 
 exports comparatively little, and the exports of which, as 
 they are objects which are not generally classed among con- 
 traband commodities, there could not easily be found causes 
 to interfere with, little was gained ; but this made the ad- 
 vantages to England all the greater. From the time that the 
 
408 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 province which commands the mouths of those streams, and 
 with them the two principal sea-ports of Germany, became 
 annexed to the dominions of her king, these roads of com- 
 merce were permanently open to England ; the communi- 
 cation with Germany no longer depended on political 
 circumstances ; she had no longer any cause to fear that 
 her exports would be either excluded from the continent or 
 admitted under the disadvantages of increased duties ; and 
 a fair prospect was opened to her of securing the commerce 
 of the whole of northern Germany. 
 
 In order to comprehend the truth of this, we must view 
 the case not according to present circumstances, but those 
 of that time. In the state of alienation which then existed 
 between England and Sweden, it was but too certain that 
 Charles would seize the first opportunity of vengeance. Let 
 us suppose he had succeeded in recovering himself, — and 
 this, considering the reconciliation which he was on the 
 point of effecting with Russia, was far from impossible, — 
 and had regained possession of his German territories, would 
 not these rivers, as well as the entrance into the Baltic, have 
 been closed, either immediately or on every future quarrel, 
 and privateers have been fitted out for the purpose of in- 
 festing that as well as the northern sea ? 
 
 But these advantages must have appeared the more im- 
 portant to England at that time, in proportion to the power 
 of the rivals with whom she had to cope. England was then 
 far from having the greatest share in the commerce of Ger- 
 many, especially upon the Weser and Elbe. The Dutch un- 
 questionably still retained the superiority. In order therefore 
 to be able to compete with them with a hope of equalling or 
 surpassing them, that acquisition was of the greatest import- 
 ance: It would be easy to point out other advantages, such 
 as the power of sending troops to and from Germany unim- 
 peded, and the like, which were secured to England, the 
 importance of which depended upon political circumstances 
 
 as they arose. 
 
 From all this I think it has been made clear, — and more 
 was not intended, — that those British authors who make the 
 share which George I. took in the affairs of the North an 
 occasion of reproach, embrace a very narrow view of th6 
 subject. Still it remains true, that he did not act on fi^^ed 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 409 
 
 
 political principles, but that his conduct was the result of 
 circumstances with the changes of which he changed also. 
 Charles XII. fell in the trenches ;^ his minister, his friend 
 and counsellor, was compelled to ascend the scaffold ; and 
 with them was destroyed the whole fabric of their policy, at 
 the very time when it was upon the point of completion. It 
 is known that this was founded upon a reconciliation with 
 Russia, the equivalent of which was to be obtained at the 
 expense of other enemies, especially of Denmark. The new 
 party who came into power would not prosecute this plan, 
 because it had been formed by Gorz, whom they hated; but 
 if Charles XII. with his iron arm and iron determination 
 was not able to maintain himself alone, what could be ex- 
 pected from the government which succeeded him ? Nothing 
 therefore remained upon the rupture with Russia, but to 
 seek assistance from those powers against whom it had been 
 intended to turn their whole forces ; and the first of these 
 was England. The treaty formed with George I. as elector 
 of Hanover, in which Sweden for a sum of money yielded 
 up Bremen and Verden, led the way to this; and was 
 shortly succeeded by a treaty of alliance' with England, ex- 
 pressly directed against Russia, and in which assistance by 
 land as well as by sea was stipulated for, in order to set 
 bounds to the devastating inroads of the Czar. 
 
 If the consequences of their political errors proved so 
 disastrous to the Swedes, the change in the policy of Eng- 
 land admitted perhaps of some palliation, on the ground 
 that she wished to repress the fearful aggrandizement of 
 Russia, and to uphold the balance of power m the North. 
 
 But if this was her object, she embarked in an under- 
 taking which she could not accomplish, and even at that 
 early period exhibited a proof how little she was able at any 
 time to form a correct estimate of her own power, or to de- 
 termine the precise sphere of her influence. The only way 
 in which she could injure Russia was by obstructing for a 
 time the navigation of the Baltic. But this was surely not 
 sufficient to retard the growth of its power. And as to 
 maintaining the political balance in the North, it was now, 
 
 » Dec. llth, 1718 ; and as soon after as Feb. 28, 1719, Gorz was judicially 
 
 '"^ Pelce was concluded with Hanover, Nov. 20, 1719; and on Jan. 21, 1720, 
 followed the alliance with England. 
 
410 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 generally speaking, too late. Besides, when Russia at the 
 peace of Nystadt had effected the separation of the finest 
 lands on the Baltic from Sweden, viz. Livonia, Esthonia, 
 Ingria, and a part of Courland, what support, however pow- 
 erful, could have sustained Sweden in a position to preserve 
 the balance of power against Russia ? 
 
 By the peace of Nystadt then nothing, it is true, was de- 
 finitively settled respecting England; it was nevertheless 
 the foundation of her continental policy in the North. As 
 the consequences of this peace developed themselves slowly, 
 but on this account the more surely, in the growing pros- 
 perity of Russia ; as not only her exports increased in con- 
 sequence of her possessing the principal port in the Baltic, 
 but from the spread of European luxury, her internal con- 
 sumption was also augmented, so the conviction that this 
 was by no means a questionable but in the highest degree 
 an advantageous result to England, developed itself more 
 and more in that country ; the market for British manufac- 
 tures becoming thereby so much the more extensive, and 
 the trade to the Baltic daily more important. On the other 
 hand, the augmentation of the British navy caused in turn 
 a proportionate demand abroad for the materials requisite in 
 ship-building, especially timber and hemp, both of which 
 the immense territory of Russia offered in the greatest pro- 
 fusion. In a word, both countries were becoming every day 
 more and more indispensable to each other ; not in prose- 
 cuting a common war, but in supplying each other's wants ; 
 a bond of union far more durable than any treaties of 
 
 alliance. 
 
 Under these relations the British continental policy in the 
 North necessarily assumed more of a passive than an active 
 character. The good understanding between England and 
 Russia was indispensable to both parties ; and there was 
 nothing at that time which seemed likely to disturb this 
 amicable connexion. Even when the occasional re-action 
 upon the north of Europe of the political events of the west 
 might have excited such apprehensions, they passed away 
 without any important consequences. This state of things 
 lasted till Russia took a direct and vigorous part, not only in 
 the affairs of the north and east, but also in those of the west 
 and south of Europe. This intervention necessarily gave 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 411 
 
 birth to some new features in the British continental policy 
 in the North, as will be seen in the sequel of this inquiry. 
 
 The happy influence which the formation of the quadruple 
 alliance produced on the west of Europe, had not only im- 
 plicated England as closely as possible in the political re- 
 lations to which it gave rise, but one might even say that 
 she became and continued the moving power in them. The 
 attempt to force upon Spain the acceptance of the conditions 
 prescribed by this alliance did not, it is true, after the fall of 
 Alberoni, re-establish any permanent peace, but still it re- 
 stored tranquillity (Jan. 26, 1720); the points still in dispute 
 were to be decided at a general congress. Under these 
 circumstances it might be expected that England should 
 take a most lively interest in the affairs of the continent ; 
 but yet she did not do so to the extent anticipated. 
 
 Political activity and negotiation had become a necessary 
 resource to George I. It is possible that he was at first led 
 by the ambition of showing that it was not merely the go- 
 vernment of a small but of a large state to which he had 
 succeeded, and that his growing power enabled him to 
 participate in the direction of the common interests of 
 Europe; but once deeply involved in these interests, he 
 could not easily have drawn back without compromising 
 both himself and his kingdom, even though his inclination 
 might have prompted him to do so. But in addition to this, 
 at that very juncture (April, 1721) the reins of govemnient 
 were held, and retained for twenty-one years in succession, 
 by a minister, whose disposition, in this respect, coincided 
 with that of his master, not it is true in evading the war, but 
 in employing every method which negotiations and demon- 
 strations could supply to avoid it. Such a course of policy 
 might have been expected from the long and almost uni- 
 formly peaceful administration of Robert Walpole. 
 
 The continental relations of England always require to be 
 considered in two points of view : first, as regards their adi 
 vantageous or pernicious influence on England itself; and, 
 secondly, in relation to the whole system of European po- 
 licy. In the British cabinet the first question had of course 
 at all times a preponderating weight. We shall therefore 
 contemplate our subject-matter first of all in this aspect ; 
 but nothing shall on that account prevent us from surveying 
 
412 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 it likewise in the other, and from noting the points of agree- 
 ment and difference which they respectively present. 
 
 It cannot be denied, that if we examine the British policy 
 in the last years of George I., we are unable to trace any 
 fixed plan of proceeding. An insular state which takes an 
 interest in the affairs of continental powers, can only do so 
 by virtue of a federative system established on sound princi- 
 ples of policy, and followed up with firmness. We have 
 seen how the links of this connexion have hitherto been con- 
 centrated in England. But at the period of which we are 
 speaking, those links were so wonderfully complicated, that 
 the principles on which they were founded seemed to be 
 forgotten. The connexion with France was renewed, that 
 with Austria dissolved, while the confederacies in the North 
 were determined by the influence of the combinations formed 
 in the West. The ignorance of the real designs of the 
 foreign states, which we so often see occasion to impute to 
 the British cabinet, manifested itself at this time in a re- 
 markable manner. Justice, however, requires us also to ob- 
 serve, that the relations of the continental powers to each 
 other were not the less variable and uncertain, because they 
 were for the most part determined by the excitement of a 
 personal and angry hatred. 
 
 To this cause we must ascribe the wavering policy which 
 characterized those times, and which could not possibly con- 
 tinue without exercising some influence upon England. 
 Nevertheless, in all the activity of the British cabinet at that 
 period, we discover one dominant principle, which was in 
 the highest degree beneficial, not only to England, but to 
 Europe at large. This principle was the maintenance of 
 peace. The only question is whether it always adopted the 
 right method to secure this object. 
 
 One result of this policy was the congress at Cambray, 
 which began to assemble under the arbitration of England 
 and France, in order to separate again, after long delays and 
 fruitless negotiations, without any decisive issue. Here the 
 old dispute between Austria and Spain should have termin- 
 ated ; the recent feuds also, especially that about the play- 
 thing of Charles VI., the Indian company at Ostend, which 
 became the object of a general outcry to the other com- 
 mercial states, as soon as their highest interests became 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 413 
 
 affected by it, ought to have been here laid aside ; in a 
 word, the whole evil should have been now rooted out. 
 
 But history no where affords a more striking instance of 
 the truth, that large conventions are generally fruitless, nay, 
 often in the highest^ degree prejudicial, unless they are di- 
 rected by great men, who know how to raise themselves 
 above petty passions, and to view and treat every question, 
 whether great or small, with strict regard to its merits and 
 proportions. The voices of the arbitrators swelled the note 
 of discord which was raised about the most trivial circum- 
 stance ; the passions were not calmed, but excited from the 
 first ; and the congress could scarcely have terminated other- 
 wise than it did, even if other circumstances had not inter- 
 vened to dissolve it. 
 
 It is melancholy to observe how much the politics of 
 almost the whole of Europe were, at that time, determined 
 by the proposed, though ineffectually proposed, marriage of 
 a child ; and how little was wanting to renew the flames 
 of a general war. A Spanish princess, then just twelve 
 months old, was fixed upon by the quadruple alliance, for 
 the consort of Lewis XV., and had been sent to Paris, where 
 she was brought up. The Duke of Bourbon, the minister of 
 France, had, however, private grounds for wishing a speedy 
 consummation of the marriage of the young prince, which, 
 owing to the age of the princess, could scarcely have been 
 brought about in less than ten years. He was, therefore, 
 anxious to procure for Lewis a consort of a marriageable 
 age, which he found in the daughter of the ex-king of Po- 
 land, Stanislaus Lescinsky ; and the Spanish princess was 
 sent back. This event, which could, under no circumstances, 
 be otherwise than mortifying, produced the highest degree 
 of rancour and resentment in the haughty mind of Elizabeth, 
 who felt herself insulted, both as a mother and a queen.' 
 Yet, owing to the friendly connexion between France and 
 
 England, it would have been the height of rashness to hazard 
 
 I 
 
 ' Elizabeth of Parma was, as is well known, the second consort of king 
 Philip v., having become so in 1715, and the legitimate heiress of the bpanish 
 throne. Her first object was to secure the succession, which properly be- 
 longed to the sons of the first marriage, to her own children ; in consequence 
 of which Spain was precipitated into more than one war. The prospect of 
 seeing her daughter on the French throne was a principal part of her plan, 
 which was now frustrated. 
 
414 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 a rupture with France, especially since a reconciliation with 
 Austria had not yet been completely effected by the congress 
 at Cambray. Indeed, it was hardly to be expected, from 
 the state in which men's minds then were, that such a re- 
 conciliation should have been accomplished at a congress. 
 The consequence was, that a resolution was speedily formed 
 in Spain, of establishing a direct connexion with Austria. 
 
 This attempt was by no means exceptionable in itself; it 
 could hardly fail of success, since a clear understanding had 
 been arrived at long before, during the peace, on some of 
 the main points of difference, namely, the concessions which 
 were mutually demanded, and no collision of interest had 
 occured in other points ; but still, neither in the choice of a 
 mediator, nor in the general conduct of the proceeding, was 
 a sufficient degree of caution resorted to. Never, since their 
 difference with Austria was virtually arranged by the treaty 
 of Vienna, on April 30th, 1725, and the treaty of commerce, 
 which immediately followed it, could it have been more essen- 
 tially necessary by a provident and careful policy to tran- 
 quilHze the fears which must have arisen among the foreign 
 powers in consequence of this unexpected result. But the 
 business of pacification was committed to the duke of Rip- 
 perda, one of the vainest braggarts that ever existed ;* who, 
 intoxicated by his unexpected good fortune, knew so little 
 how to conduct himself in such a change of circumstances, 
 that he very soon brought about his own ruin. The sense- 
 less behaviour of this man, who now considered himself the 
 first statesman in Europe, his arrogance and haughty bearing 
 towards the ambassadors of foreign powers, caused a crisis 
 in the affairs of Spain, the issue of which promised much 
 more of war than peace. 
 
 This reconciliation of Spain and Austria roused all the 
 political energies of George I. into activity. Almost the 
 only provision of special interest contained in it was that 
 which it had always been the policy of England to promote, 
 viz. the complete ratification of the peace of Utrecht and a 
 defensive alliance. But the opinion prevailed that it con- 
 tained much more than it really did. The public mind was 
 anxious for information about secret stipulations, which were 
 
 * He was in fact a native of Holland, whom Alberoni had brought as a manu- ' 
 facturer to Spain. After his fall he wandered about as an adventurer in Turkey. 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 415 
 
 said to be especially directed against England, so as not 
 only to secure Gibraltar to Spain ^ and the establishment of 
 his Ostend company to Charles VI., but even to place the 
 pretender on the British throne ; for in which of the poli- 
 tical negotiations of that period could this bugbear be dis- 
 pensed with ? The sequel showed that it was a mere phan- 
 tom which caused the alarm ; the British cabinet had not 
 informed itself with accuracy as to the true state of things, 
 it gave credit to rumours and hearsays; but the consequences 
 of its conduct were serious in the extreme. 
 
 The supposed new offensive alliance was to be met by a 
 counter-alliance, which George I., during his residence in 
 his German territories, concluded with France and Prussia 
 at Herren-haus (Sept. 3rd, 1725). Yes ! these political 
 convulsions extended even to the remotest regions of the 
 North. Austria succeeded in attaching to itself Russia, and 
 at first Sweden also. In order to have a counterpoise here 
 likewise, the allies of Herren-haus obtained Denmark ; and 
 Sweden, also, was soon induced, by the promise of subsidies, 
 to join their confederation. This was truly an era of con- 
 federacies ! But far from erecting them on the basis of 
 mutual and well-defined interests, they founded them on re- 
 lations which could not possibly be durable. England sepa- 
 rated itself from Austria, the only continental power in the 
 south of Europe with which it could be connected by any per- 
 manent interests. It leagued itself with France and Prussia. 
 The consequences could not be long restrained. Frederic 
 William I. immediately afterwards entered into various nego- 
 tiations with Austria ; from the prospect of private advantage 
 which he saw, or imagined he saw, in the opening of the duke- 
 doms of Berg and Julich, which might soon be expected, 
 with the view of procuring these possessions for himself. 
 
 In the event, however, war, on an extensive scale, seemed 
 likely to be the result of this confederation of Herren-haus. 
 England fitted out three fleets, of which one was sent to the 
 West Indies, another to Gibraltar, and the third to the Bal- 
 tic. The first two were, therefore, directed against Spain, 
 which, on her part, already began to lay siege to Gibraltar; 
 the third was designed for the support of Denmark and 
 
 * Spain certainly made claims upon Gibraltar, but Charles VI. had only 
 promised his mediation. 
 
416 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 417 
 
 Sweden, in the event of any movement on the part of Russia. 
 But these hostile demonstrations produced no very serious 
 consequences, since some good genius still stifled the flame 
 of war just as it seemed on the point of breaking out. 
 
 Europe was indebted for this in a great measure to the 
 ministerial change which occurred in France, 1726. Car- 
 dinal Fleury became premier when the Duke of Bourbon 
 fell ; and introduced into the French ministry dispositions, 
 not less pacific than Walpole had infused into the British. 
 The negotiations which were more particularly directed by 
 papal nuncios, took a favourable turn ; and one of the main 
 stumbling-blocks was removed, when Charles VI. consented 
 to suspend for seven years his Ostend commercial company. 
 George I. lived just long enough to know that the prelimi- 
 naries of peace had been signed at Paris and Vienna, to 
 which Spain also acceded after some difficulty : and in con- 
 sequence of which, England recalled her fleets, but on con- 
 dition that Spain should consent to raise the siege of Gib- 
 raltar ;^ and by the treaty at Pardo, (a palace near Madrid,) 
 they were presently ratified by both powers.^ But a few 
 days after the conclusion of those preliminaries, viz. on 
 June 22nd, 1727, George I. died, during a tour in his Ger- 
 man territories. 
 
 The foregoing examination will, it is hoped, suffice for 
 forming a general opinion of the continental pohcy of Eng- 
 land under George I., and for determining with greater 
 precision the effect which it produced, as well upon the 
 political fabric of Europe in general, as upon England in 
 particular. The interference of England under George I., 
 was manifestly attended with beneficial results to the whole 
 political system of Europe. The preservation of peace was 
 its object, and peace was either maintained or restored. To 
 what protracted and sanguinary wars must the execution of 
 Alberoni's project in all probability have led, if England had 
 not mediated a peace, and maintained it by means of the 
 quadruple alliance, which it was mainly instrumental in 
 constructing ! The execution of those projects, inasmuch as 
 they involved the reconquest of lost provinces, would have 
 been as little a subject of congratulation to Europe as it 
 would probably have been to Spain itself; which had so 
 
 » June i3th, 1727. * March 6th, 1728. a 
 
 ,.fl 
 
 repeatedly learned by dear-bought experience the cost of 
 distant provinces. The war in the North had been termin- 
 ated through the intervention of England ; and though it 
 was impossible for England to re-establish a counter-ba- 
 lancing power in this quarter, Sweden was at all events 
 maintained in the rank of independent states, from which, 
 without assistance, it would probably have disappeared. 
 
 It must be allowed that England itself did not acquire any 
 new possessions by its continental relations, (though I think 
 it has been clearly proved that the acquisition of Bremen 
 and Verden were important to it,) but it gained advantages 
 of another description which were by no means incon- 
 siderable. 
 
 In the first place it secured the succession of the house of 
 Hanover on the British throne. The voice of the nation has 
 proclaimed this too loudly and unanimously as the most im- 
 portant feature of its returning prosperity to require any 
 detailed proof; the only question which can possibly arise, 
 is whether this was a consequence of its continental relations. 
 It may perhaps be objected on the other hand, that the at- 
 tempts to re-establish the pretender on the throne originated 
 in the interference of England in the affairs of the continent. 
 But as long as the Stuarts had or might have powerful 
 friends abroad, could the new dynasty safely dispense with 
 such aid ? The throne of the Hanoverian house was by no 
 means so secure as to supersede the necessity of accepting 
 every available offer of support. But it was more peculiarly 
 the good understanding which existed for so long a period 
 with France, which was of such infinite service to them in 
 this emergency. France was the principal, perhaps the only 
 power which by supporting the pretender could in any ma- 
 terial degree endanger the security of the new dynasty. And 
 surely the favourable opportunity which was thus presented 
 to the new family, of negotiating its private interests by 
 means of this connexion without compromising those of the 
 nation at large, was a piece of good fortune not to be neg- 
 lected. Further than this — By the active share which Eng- 
 land took on this occasion she maintained that high consi- 
 deration in the political system of Europe, which she had 
 acquired during the reign of William and Anne. It does 
 not require much sagacity to perceive of how much influence 
 
 2e 
 
 w 
 
 .A 4» 
 
'^ 
 
 418 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 the public estimation of a state must be in such a system as 
 that of Europe. The conduct of others is regulated by it, 
 just as we see it among individuals in private life. Even 
 fallen states have often for a considerable time experienced 
 the benefits of its support ; as for example, Venice and the 
 Porte; but even a state which is but on the rise cannot 
 afford 'to be indifferent to it. Even though no positive ad- 
 vantage should be gained by this public estimation, yet the 
 negative effect is invaluable, since no measure of importance 
 is undertaken without the knowledge of such a state, and 
 therefore none can be easily undertaken which is opposed to 
 it and its interests. We cannot adduce a better illustration of 
 this truth than by comparing the republic of the United 
 Netherlands with England, at the period of which we 
 are treating and still propose to treat. The latter state laid 
 it down as a fundamental principle of her policy after the 
 peace of Utrecht, to keep herself as much aloof as possible 
 from all foreign transactions, or only to take part in them 
 when absolutely compelled. She continued to maintain for 
 some time longer her position in public estimation among 
 the states of the first order. By degrees, however, she 
 began to sink lower and lower in the scale, and experience 
 has shown the result to which this eventually led. 
 
 Lastly, the continuance of peace was another result to 
 England of her continental policy, and assuredly not the 
 least considerable. It not only secured to her the quiet en- 
 joyment of the advantages derived from her Spanish com- 
 merce, but also those arising from intercourse with her colo- 
 nies in America and the West Indies, which at that very time 
 were becoming prosperous in the extreme, and to which the 
 annually increasing consumption of West Indian produce, 
 particularly of coffee, began to impart a value which no one 
 could have anticipated. Still the times had not then arrived 
 (as they since have) for such an increase in the power of 
 England as to enable her to carry on her trade, even during 
 war, comparatively without molestation. 
 
 But though all this may demonstrate the soundness of the 
 British continental policy in general during the reign of 
 George I., it will not by any means vindicate every single 
 measure which was resorted to in pursuance of it. It .can- 
 not be denied, that, particularly in the last six years of this 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 419 
 
 monarch's reign, the interference of the British cabinet in 
 the affairs of the continent, assumed the character of over- 
 activity without at the same time maintaining that stability 
 which is the indispensable condition of all durable alliances. 
 It cannot be denied, that precipitate measures were some- 
 times adopted, particularly those occasioned by the league of 
 Herren-haus, which, without a concurrence of fortunate cir- 
 cumstances, which were beyond the control of England, 
 would in all probability have caused disastrous conse- 
 quences. To this period we may perhaps ascribe the illu- 
 sion that she was able by her fleets to accomplish more than 
 the nature of things permits; so likewise the notion of 
 deriving great advantages from the subsidies which she 
 furnished, was then at least entertained, though it had not 
 as yet any serious consequences. 
 
 Important changes in the ministry were expected on the 
 death of the king (1727). These anticipations, however, 
 were not realized; Walpole, supported by the credit of 
 Queen Caroline, continued prime minister. It could scarcely 
 have been expected therefore, that the spirit of the British 
 continental policy should be materially altered during the 
 first years of George II.'s reign. But though no immediate 
 changes ensued, the alteration which took place in the 
 political relations of the continent, caused a corresponding 
 alteration in those of England, which ought not to pass un- 
 observed. 
 
 When George II. ascended the throne, the amicable re- 
 lations subsisting between England and France remained in 
 all their force. The character of the two premiers, Fleury 
 and Walpole, were too well suited to each other to admit 
 readily of a change. Both were intent upon the preserva- 
 tion of peace, and their union was still more strongly 
 cemented by the brother of the British minister, Horatio 
 Walpole, in the character of ambassador at Paris. Prussia, 
 the other ally of Herren-haus, had, as we have before re- 
 marked, already entered into separate negotiations with Aus- 
 tria ; the republic of the United Netherlands stood on a most 
 friendly footing with England and France ; accustomed as 
 Europe was to see the republic take part in all her great 
 confederations, it was now taken for granted that no associ- 
 ation could be formed without its concurrence ; while the 
 
 2e2 
 
420 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 421 
 
 republic itself, intent upon the preservation of peace, 
 thought it could never employ sufficient precaution in pur- 
 suit of this object. With regard to the confederate powers, 
 Spain and Austria, negotiations had been opened with the 
 former of them, which though at first they appeared to take 
 an unfavourable turn, owing to the death of the king, were 
 soon restored to their former course, by the continuance m 
 office of the Walpole administration, and were brought to a 
 successful issue by the treaty at Pardo. Since the scheme 
 of the Ostend company had been suspended, it appeared as 
 though friendly relations might be renewed with Austria 
 likewise ; but new events intervening, this was prevented, 
 
 or at least delayed. 
 
 The British cabinet at that time evidently set a much 
 higher value upon the friendship of Spain than on that of 
 Austria. The temporary advantages derivable from the se- 
 cure possession of Gibraltar and Minorca, the profitable trade 
 with Spain itself, and, above all, with its American posses- 
 sions, guaranteed as it was by existing treaties, seemed to 
 claim a paramount importance. But this friendship could 
 not well be maintained without entering into the interested 
 plans of the queen of Spain for the advancement of her 
 children, and thus hazarding giving offence to Austria. 
 However, the prospect of advantage derivable to England 
 from a separation of the two powers, Austria and Spain, 
 overcame this consideration. By the conditions of the 
 quadruple alliance, Tuscany, with Parma and Placentia, 
 were secured to the queen of Spain for her elder son Don 
 Carlos, as soon as their projected opening should be com- 
 pleted—till which time they were to remain in the occupa- 
 tion of neutral troops. But apprehensive that obstacles 
 might be thrown in her way, she wished to secure the im- 
 mediate possession of them, and Spanish troops were sent 
 into them as a garrison. England entered into these plans, and 
 although they were an infraction of the quadruple alliance, 
 without consulting or apprizing Austria, joined with France 
 in concluding a treaty with Spain at Seville,' in which it 
 was not only permitted to Spain thus to act, but even Eng- 
 land rendered itself liable to contribute towards sending 
 Don Carlos into those provinces with 6000 Spanish troops. 
 
 » Nov. 9, 1729. 
 
 ' ' 
 
 The most violent indignation on the part of Austria was the 
 natural result of these proceedings. But, however much in- 
 censed Austria may have felt, however loudly she protested 
 that she would not tolerate any foreign troops in this 
 quarter, Walpole nevertheless succeeded in calming her re- 
 sentment. His plan was to endeavour to steer his way clear 
 between two rocks, and he succeeded. When the more dan- 
 gerous alternative of the two, viz. a breach with Spain, had 
 been eluded — his next point was to avoid the other. But 
 Walpole knew the talisman by which the opposition of 
 Charles VI. might be charmed away. Whoever recognised 
 his order of succession in favour of his daughter, his Prag- 
 matic Sanction, might always calculate upon gaining him 
 over, and even inducing him to make a sacrifice of his own 
 interest. At this price Walpole, by quietly negotiating with 
 Austria as he had just before done with Spain, obtained the 
 formal abolition of the Ostend company for England, and 
 the promise of the investiture of Tuscany and Parma, with 
 permission to send Spanish troops thither for Spain ; and 
 the treaty of Vienna was concluded on the 16th of March, 
 1731. 
 
 In any continental state Walpole would, with such a 
 policy as this, in all probability have failed. England was 
 now in friendship with all the world, without possessing a 
 single true friend in the political sense of the term. The 
 friendship of Spain could not be permanent, since a grow- 
 ing cause of differences lay hid in their commercial relations ; 
 the friendship of France was now growing cold in conse- 
 quence of the treaty of Vienna, which had been concluded 
 without her participation ; to counteract which Fleury not 
 only re-established the good understanding with Spain, but 
 likewise showed his skill in strengthening it. The renewed 
 friendship with Austria required under such relations to be 
 severely tried before its sincerity could be depended upon. 
 England had engaged herself in a tissue of treaties, out of 
 which it seemed scarcely possible she should extricate her- 
 self. Had she been prepared to fulfil all her engagements, 
 scarcely a war could have arisen in any quarter of Europe 
 in which she would not have been implicated, nay, in which 
 she would not have been obliged to furnish auxiliaries in 
 several quarters at once. But an insular state has certainly 
 
i^.ni|,i;Milii;ilki!tl!|»#^^ 
 
 422 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 423 
 
 in such cases great advantages over every other. Its posi- 
 tion gives it in every case the best chance of keeping clear 
 of the struggle ; and hov^ many resources may not be dis- 
 covered when time is allowed, by which we may extricate 
 ourselves from difficulties, without being directly unfaithful 
 to our engagements ! It is a sure rule, that an insular state, 
 in its connexions with continental powers, always stakes less 
 upon the game than is staked by them in their connexions 
 with it. Probably, however, Walpole was not influenced 
 by such considerations as these. He was not a man who 
 built his policy on general grounds, or who looked very far 
 into futurity. His object was the preservation of peace ; 
 and he cared not through what obstacles he had to steal his 
 way towards the attainment of this object, provided he was 
 only so fortunate as to avoid each as it occurred. 
 
 The truth of these observations is strikingly corroborated 
 by the events which occurred in Europe in the following 
 years. The throne of Poland, which had been vacated by 
 the death of Augustus H.,* plunged the greater part of the 
 continent of Europe into a war, in which the occupation of 
 this throne was to the majority of those engaged but the 
 pretext of their interference. Charles VI. was guilty of 
 the folly of taking part with Russia and Prussia, in favour 
 of Augustus III., in order to obtain from Saxony the 
 recognition of his Pragmatic Sanction, and thus armed 
 the Bourbon powers with weapons which they might 
 wield against himself. Attacked by France, Spain, and 
 Savoy, Charles VI. saw himself stripped within the space of 
 a year of all his Italian possessions, while at the same time 
 the banks of the Rhine became the scene of the war in 
 Germany. 
 
 After so many previous negotiations and so many con- 
 nexions contracted in every quarter, who could have ex- 
 pected that England at such a crisis, when her most recent 
 allies were the objects of attack, would have remained neu- 
 tral. There was no backwardness on the part of Austria in 
 demanding assistance ; but as the treaty with this power was 
 only a defensive treaty there was not much difficulty in 
 evading it. England, in connexion with Holland, confined 
 herself therefore to that which touched her most nearly; the 
 
 • Feb. I, 1733. 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 maintenance of the neutrality^ of the Austrian Netherlands, 
 and generally to making proposals of peace which however 
 were not accepted. The issue is well known. France con- 
 cluded the preliminaries of the treaty of Vienna with Austria 
 without any interruption from England.^ It acquired for 
 itself in return for the bare promise of recognising the Prag- 
 matic Sanction, the dukedom of Lorraine ; and the queen of 
 Spain was eventually contented to accept the kingdom of 
 Naples and Sicily, in lieu of Parma and Tuscany, for her 
 son Don Carlos, in hope of recovering also at the first op- 
 portunity the other Italian territories for her second son. 
 
 The course pursued by Walpole during the progress of 
 these events, was perhaps most consistent with the moment- 
 ary advantages of England, but it was not consistent. The 
 very minister whose whole energies were roused into action 
 the moment that a single twig of the poHtical tree was set in 
 motion, now looked on with indifference while the whole 
 stem was shaken ! How could he any longer hope to find a 
 faithful ally — he, who was so deeply interested in such con- 
 nexions — if he saw his most recent and almost his only ally 
 despoiled of his most valuable territories, without tendering 
 him the least assistance ? It might certainly be a matter of 
 indifference to England who continued to sit on the Polish 
 throne, but after all that she had hitherto done, was it pos- 
 sible that the fate of Italy and the aggrandizement of France 
 could be so likewise ? We are far from meaning to assert 
 that England ought to have taken up arms in every such 
 emergency. The presumption of being able to decide such 
 points has already cost the world enough ! But still I repeat 
 that this conduct in comparison with his former policy was 
 not consistent. History never presumes to determine what 
 would have happened in any given case, but the supposition 
 is at all events not without foundation, that if Austria had 
 been at that time vigorously supported, Europe might have 
 been spared the whole war of succession. , 
 
 Meanwhile the times were approaching in which all the 
 anxiety of the minister to maintain peace was unavaiHng, 
 since the nation was unable any longer to endure the bless- 
 ings of tranquillity. England was plunged into two wars at 
 
 ' By a treaty with France at the Hague, Nov. 24, 1733. 
 'Octobers, 1735. 
 
 ! 
 
 M 
 
 ::||-J 
 
 m 
 
424 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 425 
 
 the same time, the Spanish and the Austrian wars of succes- 
 sion, both of which became at last blended into one. But they 
 constituted an epoch in the British continental policy ; and 
 it is in this point of view that they must here be considered. 
 
 The war which broke out with Spain in the year 1739, 
 can only be regarded as a remote consequence of the conti- 
 nental relations ; so far, namely, as the commercial conces- 
 sions made at the peace of Utrecht, by means of the treaty 
 of Assiento, laid the ground for it. But considered in an- 
 other point of view, it is nevertheless always of extreme im- 
 portance, as a phenomenon arising out of the development 
 of the British commercial policy, so far as this had always a 
 considerable influence on her foreign relations. It was the 
 first war which England carried on under the house of Han- 
 over, or indeed it would not be too much to assert that it 
 was the first which she carried on at all, barely for the sake 
 of commerce ; and then it must be allowed the voice of the 
 nation imperatively demanded it. And although the treaty 
 of Assiento and some other disputes, as about cutting log- 
 wood and others, gave occasion to it, yet the cause, properly 
 speaking, lay more deep. The spread of British power in 
 the West Indies, and the flourishing commerce of her colo- 
 nial possessions there, could not possibly consist with the 
 claims which Spain still made to the dominion of these seas ; 
 and the war was from the very first not merely a war for the 
 protection of the smuggling trade, but for the free navigation 
 of the West Indian seas. The point in dispute could not be, 
 and of course was not, whether England should carry on its 
 smuggling trade with the Spanish colonies, but the question 
 was from the first, whether British ships trading to the West 
 Indies should in the high seas be subjected to Spanish 
 search ? The Spaniards had hitherto exercised this right as 
 consequent on their dominion of the sea, and regarded it as 
 the only means of restraining the smuggling trade. The 
 English on the other hand refused to submit to that search. 
 Viewed in this light, the importance of this war with respect 
 to its consequences will not require any further notice. 
 
 Meanwhile the exertions of the minister were wholly and 
 sincerely directed to the means of averting the war, if it 
 could only be effected without trenching too closely on the 
 interests of the nation. He accordingly entered into nego- 
 
 tiations ; and as he well knew that the demand relative to 
 the right of search would never be explicitly and unreserv- 
 edly given up by Spain, he sought as much as possible to 
 evade it; and eventually succeeded, on Jan. 15, 1739, in 
 bringing about a treaty with Spain, which was signed at 
 Madrid. It contained, however, only a few preliminaries, 
 while the further arrangements respecting the fiiture security 
 of British navigation in the West Indies was referred to 
 commissioners appointed on both sides for the investigation. 
 However much sagacity the minister had shown in these 
 negotiations, his whole project nevertheless now miscarried. 
 The opposite party prevailed, and he saw himself compelled 
 to declare war against Spain. Would it not have been bet- 
 ter to have let this be done by another, and to have tendered 
 his resignation at once, rather than to have submitted after a 
 fruitless struggle to be driven from power by his opponents ? 
 The scene of this war was, as might be expected, in the 
 West Indies. It was the first time that a British fleet had 
 sailed to those regions of the world ; where only single ships, 
 or at most small squadrons, had formerly been seen. The 
 growing importance of the colonies in connexion with their 
 commercial jealousy, led subsequently to the result that even 
 their colonies became the scene of war between the European 
 powers. 
 
 But this war did not long remain the only one. The year 
 1740, in which Maria Theresa and Frederic II. mounted 
 the throne, constituted an era in the general history of 
 Europe ; and likewise in the history of the British conti- 
 nental relations. We have seen the fluctuations which took 
 place in the latter during the last fifteen years ; we have 
 seen that, although at certain periods greater stability of 
 purpose might have been expected from the British ministry, 
 yet the main cause lay in the fluctuating politics of the con- 
 tinental powers themselves, and in their mutual relations. 
 But the Austrian war of succession, which broke out at the 
 instigation of France, and had no less considerable an object 
 than the dismemberment of the Austrian monarchy, excited 
 a general interest among the powers which leagued them- 
 selves with France for this purpose, viz. Spain, Sardinia, 
 and Bavaria, and though only for a short time and for de- 
 finite objects, Prussia also. The old enmity which subsisted 
 
4^6 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 427 
 
 between Austria and France, revived therefore in all its vi- 
 gour; and had the object which the league had in view 
 been attained, France would have reigned without a rival 
 over the whole continent of Europe. 
 
 That the dismemberment of the Austrian monarchy would 
 be in two respects detrimental to England, as neither the 
 destiny of the Austrian Netherlands nor the balance of power 
 on the continent could be matters of indifference to her, was 
 generally agreed upon in England. Besides, England had 
 not only guaranteed the Pragmatic Sanction in general, but 
 had also entered into peculiar responsibilities for sending 
 twelve thousand auxiliaries against Austria.^ The honour 
 and interest of England seemed to render it imperative upon 
 her to make a vigorous effort to save Austria. But how 
 this might be effectually done, was another question. 
 
 The relations of Austria and the continental relations in 
 general, had been materially changed since the accession of 
 George I. to the British throne by the growing power of 
 Prussia, which even now, in a military point of view, stood 
 in the first rank of powers. England herself had few points 
 of contact with Prussia ; but it could not be a matter of in- 
 difference to England, that Prussia should join her enemies, 
 and besides, so long as the interest of Hanover was not con- 
 sidered altogether detached from that of England, a point of 
 contact of more than ordinary importance was here presented. 
 The alliance of Herren-haus seems also to have laid the 
 foundation for it. But the desertion of this alliance by 
 Prussia, and still more a personal aversion which subsisted 
 between George II. and Frederic William I. notwithstanding 
 their near relationship, had frustrated these views, and had 
 even neutralized every attempt to re-establish amicable re- 
 lations ; yet the British cabinet did not lose sight of this 
 measure ; and even in the very next year after the death of 
 Charles VI. it became the favourite project of Walpole to 
 consummate a grand confederation with Austria, Russia, 
 and Prussia, which should maintain the balance of power 
 against the Bourbon courts. But as this was frustrated and 
 the Austrian war of succession broke out, hopes were never- 
 theless at first entertained of realizing this idea in part, 
 since a separate treaty between Austria and Prussia was 
 
 . » By the treaty of 1731. 
 
 
 effected, which was to have a defensive alliance for its 
 sequel. But Maria Theresa, who would consent to no sacri- 
 fice, rejected this proposal of reconciliation, chiefly influenced 
 by the visionary hopes so absurdly excited in her by the nego- 
 tiations in London.^ Considered merely in a political view, 
 Walpole's plan would have been excellent; but ministers 
 too often forget that political plans are morally impractica- 
 ble, so long as political motives are subject to the influence 
 of the passions. How could it have been possible to effect 
 a solid union between two powers, when the principles on 
 which it was based demanded the compulsory surrender of 
 considerable provinces from the one to the other ? 
 
 England had therefore no alternative remaining, but 
 either to leave Austria to her fate, or to interpose for her 
 deliverance ; and, notwithstanding the unfortunate issue of 
 the Spanish war, she chose the latter, which the voice of 
 the nation loudly demanded. Walpole, however, while he 
 held the reins of government, would not renounce his old 
 policy ; he wished to administer succour without involving 
 himself in the war ; he furnished subsidies and took German 
 troops into pay. 
 
 Both these phenomena, subsidies and mercenary troops, 
 especially characterize the continental policy of England 
 from this period. It is requisite therefore that we should 
 examine them somewhat more minutely with regard to their 
 nature and their effects ; and indeed the more attentively 
 we view them, the more unfair and partial will the employ- 
 ment of them often be considered, especially in later times. 
 
 The granting of subsidies to foreign states was not, as 
 we have already shown above, p. 396, first introduced by 
 the kings of the house of Hanover, but had prevailed as 
 early as the reign of William III., and more especially in 
 that of Anne, during the war of the Spanish succession. 
 Upon a general view, it appears a consequence of the un- 
 
 ' The most credible and satisfactory explanation which we have received of 
 all the diplomatic relations and negotiations of the British cabinet, at that 
 period, derived entirely from public documents, and supported by them, first 
 appeared in the two works of W. Coxe. " Memoirs of Robert Walpole," 1798, 
 3 vols., and ** Memoirs of Horace Walpole," 4to, 1802. I refer particularly to 
 the last, pp. 211, 224, et seq. What valuable materials of every kind, historical 
 and moral, do these works present to the future historian of Great Britain, 
 under the house of Hanover ! They have been the first to render such a his- 
 tory of the whole period of the two Walpoles feasible. 
 
428 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 equal distribution of wealth in the countries which formed 
 the complicated political system of Europe ; and for that 
 reason necessarily extended itself more and more in pro- 
 portion as this inequality increased. Since the western 
 countries of this part of the globe, by the advantage of their 
 position, drew to themselves the most extensive commerce, 
 wealth became accumulated in specie, and enabled these 
 countries to furnish the subsidies of which the others stood 
 in need. Not only England, but France and Holland fol- 
 lowed this system. But England, by reason of her position 
 and her relations, was manifestly most frequently placed in 
 a condition to adopt it. 
 
 The granting of subsidies may prove a great gain, or a 
 great evil, as well to the state which furnishes them as to 
 that which receives them, accordingly as it may be directed 
 by a sound policy, by despicable passions, or by mere poli- 
 tical caprice : its eifects, if pernicious, may even extend to 
 the whole political system. 
 
 Independence and security are more valuable than money, 
 and if both of them can be purchased or maintained for a 
 state itself and its confederates by money, such an expen- 
 diture certainly cannot be without advantage. In a system 
 composed of such different elements as the political system 
 of Europe, that nicely-adjusted balance of power which can 
 afford the only security for the perpetuity of the whole, can- 
 not possibly be maintained without reciprocal support. It is 
 clear, however, from the preceding observations, that those 
 states which had been accustomed to receive supplies of 
 money rather than of men, must unavoidably be subsidised 
 as soon as they themselves experience a greater deficiency 
 in money than in men. To rich states, therefore, who 
 spared their own subjects, which they might otherwise 
 have been compelled to sacrifice, the granting of subsidies 
 became under such circumstances an almost necessary 
 condition for the maintenance of this balance. But con- 
 sidered in another point of view, it is unquestionable that 
 such a resource is likely to be scandalously abused, when- 
 ever blind passion resorts to it for satiating its animosity, 
 or even that execrable policy is followed which sees its own 
 interest in the protraction of war amongst others, and does 
 not shrink from making considerable sacrifices in order 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 429 
 
 to compass its object. The maxims which sound policy 
 would dictate in granting subsidies, have never, so far as I am 
 aware, been made the subject of a distinct inquiry. They may, 
 perhaps, be most correctly deduced from the expression 
 itself Subsidies are succours furnished in money by one 
 state to another, principally for the purpose of defending 
 the interests of that state, which are indirectly identified 
 with its own. This appears to be the main point for con- 
 sideration, but which immediately becomes changed when 
 the defence of our own interests becomes the direct motive 
 of our actions. It is only in the first case that any reason- 
 able prospect of advantage can be expected ; and a detailed 
 history of subsidies would probably lead to the conclusion 
 that great statesmen have pretty closely adhered to that fun- 
 damental maxim ; and that those who violate it do so to 
 their own cost. In an isolated case it might certainly be 
 sometimes difficult to determine whose interests predomin- 
 ated ; whether those of the state that furnished the subsidies, 
 or those of the state that received them. This, however, 
 could never be less doubtful than in the case of the subsi- 
 dies afforded by England at this period to Austria. Even 
 the enemies of England did not venture to cast any imput- 
 ation upon her for her conduct. 
 
 The taking foreign troops into pay in order to prosecute 
 our own wars, is an expedient closely allied to that of subsidies. 
 This phenomenon, as we learn from history, is an immediate 
 consequence of the nature of great maritime and commercial 
 states ; where there is neither a large population, which can 
 be employed in land service without considerable injury to. 
 commerce, nor indeed is land service usually considered so 
 honourable as in those which are peculiarly territorial states.^ 
 But England had besides an especial reason for having re- 
 course to this expedient, which, in her case, could not pos- 
 sibly have been avoided, viz. the objection of the nation to 
 any increase of its standing army, from a fear that it would 
 prove dangerous to its liberties. We need only retrace the 
 parliamentary history of the past century, commencing 
 with the last quarter of it, in order to know how often, 
 whenever an opportunity occurred, this object became the 
 
 ' I have already shown this at large in the instance of an ancient people, 
 the Carthaginians, Historical Researches, African Nations, 
 
4S0 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 bone of contention between the opposition and the minis- 
 terial party. Although this distrust was not altogether 
 groundless, yet there can be no question that it was carried 
 too far, and that it might have led to very detrimental conse- 
 quences. While the other states of Europe continued to 
 augment their standing forces almost every year, even an in- 
 sular state could not entirely avoid doing so, where it was 
 not merely an active member of the general state system of 
 Europe, but was likewise threatened, and not idly so, with 
 an invasion from without. From such exigencies and obsta- 
 cles, the system of nations supporting themselves as much as 
 possible by taking foreign troops into pay, naturally had its 
 rise. Even this might have its good and evil consequences, 
 according as it was proceeded in with moderation, or abused 
 and carried to excess. England might by that means spare 
 her men ; but on the other hand it might prove a very per- 
 nicious expedient, if it weakened the confidence which she 
 ought to repose in her own strength, and damped the mili- 
 tary spirit of the nation. The evil appeared to attach for the 
 most part to those nations who furnished troops for money. 
 But in the first place, and this is a very important circum- 
 stance, according to the recognised principles of interna- 
 tional law in those times, the people who furnished mercenary 
 troops were not on that account regarded as enemies of those 
 i^inst whom these troops were employed ; and if we do 
 not take narrow and confined views of the subject, it is not 
 difficult to show how one side of the question alone was 
 considered by those persons whose declamations were solely 
 directed against a market of the human species, where slaves 
 are exposed for sale. God forbid that these expressions 
 should be supposed to recommend the hiring out one's own 
 troops for foreign pay as a universally excellent maxim of 
 policy. But if countries which groan under the burden of 
 a heavy national debt, are not only relieved from it by this 
 expedient, but are restored to a state of public prosperity, 
 and who can be ignorant that such is the case ? may it not 
 be truly asserted, that the troops which enter into a foreign 
 service promote the good of their country in a more eminent 
 degree than they could do on the field of battle in any cause 
 of their own. Here too it is the relations under which the 
 circumstance occurred, and the objects which might be, and 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 431 
 
 indeed were attained thereby, which form the true criterion 
 of approbation or censure. Besides, how often has it hap- 
 pened, indeed almost invariably in continental wars, that the 
 countries which furnish troops for pay, were themselves in- 
 terested in the war ! What an advantage it was in such a 
 case, not only to devolve upon others the expenses of a war, 
 in which they could not have avoided taking a part, but also 
 to contribute towards keeping it at a distance from their own 
 frontiers ; for which object scarcely any sacrifice is too great 
 for small and weak states to make. 
 
 England had already, before the breaking out of the war, 
 concluded some negotiations with Hesse and Denmark for 
 auxiliary troops. But as an active participation in the con- 
 tinental war was decided upon when Carteret succeeded 
 Walpole in office, and as Denmark also renewed her treaty, 
 a Hanoverian corps of 16,000 men was taken into British 
 pay. How much it contributed to the successful issue of 
 the war, particularly at the battle of Dettingen, is well 
 known. Yet never have the measures of government during 
 the whole period of the house of Hanover excited a more 
 violent opposition than at that time, when the quiet specta- 
 tor would certainly least have expected it. Never were the 
 old objections more vehemently and unbecomingly re-echoed 
 than at that juncture. 
 
 We shall be disappointed if we expect to find in any Brit- 
 ish historian, so far as I am aware, a dispassionate and im- 
 partial examination of this opposition. The positions from 
 which they set out render this impossible. They have the 
 interests of England alone in view, and perhaps not merely 
 is a disregard of them, of which they themselves cannot quote 
 any well-grounded proof, an offence in their eyes, but even 
 the attempt to identify the interests of England and Hanover. 
 
 But, naturally asks the impartial inquirer, had your kings 
 then ceased to be electors of Hanover ? Is it to be supposed 
 that England had demanded this from them ? Had they in 
 that capacity no duties towards their German subjects, for 
 which they were responsible ? Did they owe them no pro- 
 tection, as far as negotiation and continental connexions 
 could afford it ? It is scarcely credible how far and in what 
 tone such claims have been urged in England. A person 
 must have read the parliamentary speeches of those times, 
 
432 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 433 
 
 n 
 
 li 
 
 I 
 
 particularly in the Upper House/in oixlertoform a con- 
 ception of the furious diatribes, full of ebullitions of the 
 coarsest national pride, and of the grossest insults, against a 
 people which stand connected with them by so many ties. 
 Time itself has given perhaps too complete a refutation to 
 those fictions of projects formed for the extension of the 
 electorate, which, whenever the slightest step was taken, or 
 only presumed to be taken, for the advantage of Hanover, 
 
 were again revived. ,.-,.• 
 
 But in order to estimate duly those objections it is neces- 
 sary to trace them to their genuine sources. They origin- 
 ated much less in conviction than in party spirit It was 
 the cry of the opposition which succeeded at that time, after 
 having put down Walpole, in gaining over to itself the great 
 mass of the nation. Where could they more readily find 
 materials for their speeches than here, where they never 
 failed, as soon as they set out on mere selfish principles 
 It is not the design of this dissertation to give an account o 
 that opposition in detail. Otherwise readers who are no 
 conversant with the history of those times would behold 
 with amazement the degree of bhndness and fatuity to which 
 
 the rage of faction can lead. . , „ , , . • . 
 
 The history of England during the 18th century is as rich 
 as any other, and perhaps richer, in instances of great virtues 
 and great achievements ; but there is one aspect in which a 
 man of right feeling cannot contemplate it for the most part 
 without abhorrence. It is not the opposition itself without 
 which no political liberty can exist ; neither is it the ebul- 
 lition of party spirit, which at certain periods is inseparable 
 from it, with which I find fault. Even that disgust which 
 arises from the reiterated and incessant clamour frequently 
 raised on the most trivial occasions about the impending 
 ruin of the state, which never ensued, may be overcome. 
 But it is that melancholy and so often recurring spectacle, 
 of men, themselves of the highest talents and character, who, 
 
 . In the years 1742 and ir^^f f nn? *e^^^^^^^ 
 
 ?iUf ^pfrerThS "eot^^^^^^^^^ time almost the Uot the a^- 
 
 hSamfand the consequences of their dismissal may easily be calculated. 
 1 nuts whether the whole range of history has produced a sinular ex- 
 ample ofXmastery of passion over sound reason amongst people who called 
 themselves statesmen. 
 
 calling their selfishness patriotism, speak in despite of their 
 better conviction ; who censure every measure of the minis- 
 ter, because it is his measure ; whilst in every instance their 
 object is not to promote the interests of the state, but to 
 force themselves into power. The conduct of the first Wil- 
 liam Pitt, whom England still regards, with justice, as the 
 first of her statesmen, while he was in opposition against 
 Walpole, a circumstance on which he himself afterwards 
 always looked back with self-reproach, may be mentioned 
 as an example. The true character of the opposition is 
 said to be a continual censure of the minister. But a cen- 
 sure which only finds fault, and is always finding fault, loses 
 its power, and does not attain its object. This perverse 
 spirit of the opposition is mainly instrumental in giving to 
 the government such excessive and increasing power. The 
 opposition had often prevailed in England, and forced the 
 minister from his ground, when the evil was already past ; 
 but was seldom or never able to prevent the execution of 
 perverse measures at the right time. 
 
 The history of the Austrian war of succession interests us 
 here only on account of the consequences resulting from it 
 to the British continental policy. As soon as the old en- 
 mity between France and Austria revived, not only was the 
 ancient connexion between this power and England renewed, 
 but similar connexions were likewise formed on the conti- 
 nent, as in the reign of William and Anne. The king of 
 Sardinia was by the treaty of Worms the ally of England in 
 Italy, on condition of receiving subsidies ; the republic of 
 the United Netherlands was likewise drawn into the war, 
 and since the peace of Dresden, in 1745, England herself 
 also entered into a friendly connexion with Frederic II. 
 
 The course of the inquiry demands from us something 
 more than a passing notice of the conduct pursued by that 
 great prince in this eventful period. Properly speaking it 
 was he, who in this war constructed a new political system, 
 since the conquest of Silesia laid the foundation of that ri- 
 valry which subsisted between Austria and Prussia, and 
 which became, subsequently, for more than ten years, the 
 hinge, as it were, on which the politics of Europe turned. 
 The later history of Frederic may perhaps afford more valu- 
 able lessons in the arts of war and of government ; but in 
 
 2 F 
 
434 
 
 BISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 4S5 
 
 politics, provided that his claims to Silesia, which we cannot 
 here undertake to estimate, shall be considered justifiable, 
 this earlier period will be found most replete with instruc- 
 tion. His conduct, if we consider, how in 1740 he at first 
 single-handed took up arms, how he allied himself with 
 France, and yet so early as 1742 concluded a treaty for him- 
 self alone ; how two years later he again took up arms ; 
 again allied himself with France, and yet after only sixteen 
 months again abandoned her ; affords a novel, one may say a 
 startling, exhibition. But we must take a complete survey of 
 the order of his external relations at that time, and above all 
 of those with France, whose design of effecting the annihila- 
 tion of the Austrian monarchy by no means coincided with 
 his own, in order to understand and admire him. The art, 
 till then unknown in Europe, of concluding alliances without 
 committing one's self, of remaining unfettered while appar- 
 ently bound, of seceding when the proper moment is arrived, 
 can be learnt from him and only from him. Indeed this seems 
 to have become lost to posterity ; yet it could scarcely be 
 otherwise ; for his whole policy was, in the first place, not a 
 consequence of the superiority of his genius, but of the in- 
 dependence of his character, which certainly could not be 
 transmitted by hereditary succession. Hence that intrepidity 
 of conduct ; that freedom which characterized every move- 
 ment ; that straightforwardness, which was not on that ac- 
 count unaccompanied by cunning ; in a word, that supe- 
 riority over his contemporaries, which displayed itself not 
 less in the cabinet than in the field of action. Hence no 
 trace of that base womanish policy which cringes before a 
 more puissant adversary, in order occasionally to defy a 
 weaker, which has no higher object than to thread its path 
 through the relative circumstances of the day, and which 
 would be ready on the morrow to solemnize a thanksgiving, 
 if it has but escaped to-day unscathed by them. The im- 
 mutable truth, that independence of character is of more 
 value in negotiation than brilliant talents, and rises in im- 
 portance proportionately to the eminence of the station in 
 which the possessor is placed, no one has more strikingly 
 attested by his own example than Frederic at that period. 
 
 He understood precisely the nature of his own wishes, 
 and retired from the theatre of war as soon as (by the treaty 
 
 of Dresden, Dec. 25, 1745) his objects were attained. The 
 war was continued three years longer by the other leading 
 powers, with what view it is difficult to say, unless we take 
 into account the passions which were excited by events 
 which occurred in the interval. France had as Httle rea- 
 son to flatter herself with the prospect of annihilating the 
 Austrian monarchy, as of snatching away the imperial crown 
 from Francis I. after he had once been elected, and recog- 
 nised also by Frederic. And however brilliant her victories 
 in the Netherlands were, experience nevertheless showed 
 that she could not calculate upon achieving any permanent 
 conquests here. All parties eventually concurred in a peace,^ 
 because all were exhausted. What were the results of this 
 to England? It is notorious that England gained no in- 
 crease of territory by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. But it 
 would be great perverseness to seek materials for blame in 
 this fact. The war was not commenced with a view to con- 
 quest, but to support Austria against France. This object 
 was attained ; and any peace may well be termed a good 
 peace, by which the object which has induced a person to 
 undertake a war is attained. It is true that this is not the 
 general opinion, which estimates the advantages solely by 
 the conquests achieved. The more rare the virtue of inde- 
 pendence is, the more frequently do we experience that 
 schemes of ambitious projects are first excited during wars; 
 and these, by their prolongation, then become the scourge 
 of nations. This war, however, had attached to it other 
 consequences of greater moment to the policy of England, 
 
 The first of these was the more intricate complication of 
 the colonial interest with the political relations of Europe. 
 No war which England ever carried on, had so extensively 
 affected the colonies as this. The war with Spain naturally 
 made the West Indies and the American sea the scene of 
 her enterprises ; but the East Indies hkewise became now 
 for the first time the theatre of action for the British and 
 French. Two of the most extraordinary men, Labourcton- 
 nais and Dupleix\ had already prepared the way for acquir- 
 ing a dominion there, which, if it had depended upon herself 
 alone, would probably have secured to France the possession 
 of India. The jealousy of the British was aroused ; hostili- 
 
 » At Aix-la-Chapelle, April 30, 1748. 
 2 F 2 
 
4S6 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 437 
 
 ties broke out there likewise ; and although the conquests 
 which had been made were resigned on both sides at the 
 peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, the spark of discord remained 
 nevertheless unextinguished, and in each of the subsequent 
 wars, India, as well as the new world, became the cause as 
 well as the scene of contest. 
 
 In close connexion with this, was the superiority of the 
 navy of England, which afterwards became so firmly estab- 
 lished. In no previous war had this ever risen to any pre- 
 eminence above that of her enemies ; but at the time this war 
 broke out the French navy had been reduced to the lowest 
 state of decay, by the parsimony and supineness of Fleury, 
 and during the war was almost annihilated. This superi- 
 ority having been once established, gave rise in every new 
 war to similar plans, which ultimately led to that exclusive 
 dominion of the sea, which became an object of envy to 
 other powers, and the source of so many calamities to 
 
 Europe. 
 
 In the next place, the relations of England with the con- 
 tinental states seemed now for a considerable time to be 
 determinately settled. Her newly-revived rivalry with 
 France had given rise to the connexion with Austria ; and 
 the duration of the latter seemed likely to be commensurate 
 with the former. The sources of dispute with Spain were 
 not only stopped,^ but the personally favourable inclination 
 of Ferdinand VI., the successor of Philip V., since 1743, gave 
 England power, if not as an ally, at least as a friend, in 
 Spain. On a similar footing were the relations with Prussia 
 placed. With the republic of the Netherlands, however, 
 they had not merely continued the same, but had become 
 more close. If the reciprocal connexion of both powers was 
 before founded on their rivalry with France, the revolution 
 in the constitution (which took place during this war) gave 
 rise to new ties. It is well known that in the year 1747, on 
 the advance of the French army into the Austrian Nether- 
 lands, the hereditary dignity of Stadtholder in the United 
 Provinces was revived in favour of William IV., the son-in- 
 law of George II. ; and the powerful influence, or rather 
 the sovereignty, of the house of Orange was again firmly 
 established. After a war which had been carried on and 
 
 * By the treaty at Buenretiro, October 5, 1750. 
 
 terminated in common, the continuance of the existing con- 
 nexion was in itself quite natural, but that which was now 
 derived from family connexions added a new link. Lastly, 
 this war had besides strengthened the connexion with 
 Russia. Maria Theresa had succeeded in winning over 
 Russia to her side ; and Germany was for the first time 
 visited by a Russian army in the year 1748, in consequence 
 of a subsidy treaty which had been concluded with England 
 and Holland. Nevertheless this first interference of Russia 
 in the affairs of Western Europe, was of short duration ; the 
 age had not yet arrived when the maintenance of the 
 balance of power was in her hands. 
 
 In the years immediately subsequent to the war, especially 
 after definitive arrangements had been entered into with Spain, 
 England was more engrossed with domestic and financial 
 affairs than with the transactions of foreign countries ; and 
 by the reduction of the interest of the national debt, to three 
 per cent, Pelham^ erected a more glorious monument to his 
 ministry than any victories in the field could have raised. 
 Meanwhile, the consequences of the system established by 
 Frederic II., by which the maintenance of the balance in the 
 German empire between Austria and Prussia was regarded 
 as the foundation-stone of the balance of Europe, began also 
 to develope themselves. It might naturally be expected 
 that England would adhere to its ally Austria ; and it seemed 
 the more natural as the occupation of East Friesland, which 
 had been evacuated about this time, and the disputes about 
 the Embden East India Company soon after, had produced 
 a great coolness between George II. and Frederic. But the 
 mode of proceeding then adopted by the British cabinet, 
 put arms into the hands of the opposition which they knew 
 how to wield with great dexterity. Maria Theresa had al- 
 ready conceived the wish of preserving the regal diadem of 
 Rome for her son Joseph, who was yet a minor ; and Eng- 
 land not only supported this scheme, but also dispensed her 
 subsidies with a lavish hand among the electors, in order to 
 accomplish it. With the elector of Bavaria, the Palatinate, 
 Saxony, and Cologne, treaties were either actually concluded 
 
 * Pelham, and his brother the Duke of Newcastle, next or subordinate to 
 him, stood at the head of the administration when Carteret went out of office, 
 1744, till the death of Pelham, 1754. 
 
438 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 or subsidies promised them, for the purpose of gaining their 
 votes. It is surprising to hear even Pitt himself speak in 
 favour of the treaty with Bavaria/ because, as he expresses 
 it, that state would thereby be drawn away from the French 
 interest. Whether England had any reason at all for em- 
 broiling herself so deeply in the affairs of Germany is a ques- 
 tion which we need not here determine ; the principle that 
 it should, certainly prevailed in the British cabinet. But 
 these subsidies, (as Horace Walpole so bitterly complains,^) 
 not only failed in their object, for Frederic II. knew how to 
 frustrate all these plans, but kept open the breach with 
 Prussia at a moment when there was the strongest reason 
 for avoiding one. It was a striking instance of the abuse of 
 subsidies. 
 
 But that great change which was so extensively prepar- 
 ing at this time in the political relations of the continent, 
 and which soon actually ensued, quickly diverted attention 
 from the election of a king of the Romans to more import- 
 ant objects, nor could it fail to effect a change in the policy 
 of England. 
 
 The approximation and close connexion which imme- 
 diately ensued between France and Austria, was an occur- 
 rence which seemed to mock all the calculations of the 
 politician. No step of the French cabinet has been more 
 frequently and severely censured ; and if we take into con- 
 sideration her next object, the making war upon and anni- 
 hilating Frederic II., none was ever more justly censured. 
 But the German writers and journalists, who have so often 
 repeated these strictures, ought not to forget that they, at 
 least, have had the greatest cause to be thankful for it. Was 
 not indeed that prosperous period of almost thirty years 
 which occurred, even though Frederic II. had come off vic- 
 torious in the struggle, and which, upon the whole, was the 
 most prosperous and flourishing that Germany had ever en- 
 
 ' Life of William Pitt, i. p. 1 14. 
 
 * An admirable exposition of the British continental relations at that pe- 
 riod, particularly in respect to these points, will be found in the memoir which 
 Horace Walpole at that time, 1/51, caused to be laid before the Cabinet. 
 Coxe^i Memoirs of Horace Walpole^ p. 386, sq. Both before and after the 
 treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, he was most zealous in an alliance with Frederic 
 II., but to no purpose. He was certainly right so far, that it was uhwise to 
 exasperate him. 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 439 
 
 joyed, to be attributed to the good understanding between 
 France and Austria ? 
 
 This connexion between France and Austria, not only 
 robbed England of her first ally, but by reason of the great 
 differences °which had already arisen with France herself, 
 respecting the boundaries of Nova Scotia, the forts in the 
 back settlements of the North American colonies, and the 
 possession of the neutral islands in the West Indies, rendered 
 the probability of war a matter of almost absolute certainty ; 
 the object of which, as a continental war, would necessarily be 
 the abolition of the newly-established balance in Germany, 
 by the overthrow of Prussia ; and the most important thea- 
 tre of which, now that the Austrian Netherlands could no 
 longer serve as a diversion, must necessarily be Germany. 
 George II. would have to consider this connexion in two 
 points of view, as king of England, and as elector of Han- 
 over. It would naturally be expected then that, under this 
 coincidence of relations, the affairs of his German states 
 would be first arranged; it could only be considered as a 
 fulfilment of his duties as regent, if he first bestowed his at- 
 tention upon them. But how could the interests of Eng- 
 land and Hanover be more identical than at this time ? It 
 was the only state that could now afford to England a 
 powerful ally on the continent, Frederic II.; and what 
 would have been her situation after the subjugation of Han- 
 over? This truth, however, though clear as the noonday 
 sun, was far from being generally recognised in England. 
 The old cry about the Hanoverian interest was again set up. 
 Alas ! even the man who, as minister, afterwards maintained 
 the position that America must be conquered in Germany, 
 at this time arraigned the connexion which George 11. sought 
 to establish on the continent by means of the subsidy treaty.' 
 
 ' Pitt, however, did not speak in general terms. He only censured the 
 connexion which George II. at that time sought to estabhsh between Russia 
 and Hesse. But who would not wish himself to read the ve^ words of such 
 a man on such an occasion : " It is impossible," said he, « to defend Hano^^er by 
 subsidies. An open country cannot be protected agamst a neighbour who is 
 able to fall upon it with one hundred thousand men, and to send as many 
 more after them. If Hanover, in consequence of her connexion with breat 
 Britain, shall become the object of attack, then is it obligatory upon us when 
 peace is restored to provide her full indemnification for all the losses she has 
 sustained. But the Idea of defending Hanover by subsidies is ridic^ous and 
 impracticable." Life of W. Pitt, i. p. 136. The exaggeration of the state- 
 ment is best refuted by the event. 
 
440 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 The first thoughts of the king were directed to Russia. 
 In consequence of the subsidies furnished to Russia in the 
 last war, the presence of Russian troops in Germany was no 
 strange spectacle, and a treaty was concluded with Eliza- 
 beth to cover the electorate against the invasion of the 
 French/ It may well be doubted whether in the relations 
 of Russia, as they soon developed themselves, this object 
 would be attained, since the French-Austrian party pre- 
 vailed also in Russia. But Frederic II., who understood 
 these relations too well to admit Russian troops into Han- 
 over, and was also too well aware of the consequences which 
 might result from the occupation of that country by a 
 foreign power, would not allow himself to be influenced by 
 distrust or petty feelings of any kind. He engaged himself 
 to protect the neutrality of Hanover ; George II. abandoned 
 Russia and united with him,^ as well as with several of the 
 neighbouring princes of Northern Germany. 
 
 The history of the ever memorable war which now broke 
 out belongs not to this place. The glorious days of the 
 Frederics and Ferdinands are past, and the memory of them 
 is all that is left to us. Followed by almost all their heroic 
 comrades, they have long descended to the shades, in order 
 to make room for a later generation, whose history will be 
 more easily learnt, from its containing fewer names worth 
 remembrance. 
 
 But to return to England. The administration of this 
 kingdom now devolved upon a man, William Pitt, after- 
 wards Lord Chatham,^ whom the nation has never ceased to 
 remember, and whom we, if for no other reason, must not 
 omit to notice, as he was the main stay of the continental 
 relations of England. 
 
 He had entered parliament as early as 1735, and had 
 taken office, under the Pelham administration, as pay- 
 master of the forces, which he resigned in 1755.* He had 
 long been a member of the opposition against Walpole ; but 
 his influence was now become so great, that not only could 
 no adrninistration hold together without him, but even the 
 formation of one was intrusted to him, because on no other 
 terms would he himself accept of place. Accordingly a 
 
 * In the spring of 1755. * By the treaty at Whitehall, Jan. 15, 1756. 
 
 He was born on 17 Nov. 1708, was made Earl of Chatham 1766. and 
 died May 11, 1778. * Nov. 20. 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 441 
 
 year had not elapsed before he was called upon to form an 
 administration (Oct. 20, 1756) as secretary of state when 
 the king approved his proposals for fillmg up the other ap- 
 pointments, which exalted post he retained till Oct. 5, 1761, 
 when he resigned upon finding that his measures were not 
 supported. The five years of his administration was the 
 most brilliant period which Great Britain had yet seen. 
 His panegyrists have not omitted to enumerate the many 
 battles which were won, the ships which were captured, 
 the conquests which were made during his admmistration ;^ 
 for although he was not the immediate agent in these victo- 
 ries it was through him that they were achieved. His real 
 merit may be comprised in two lines. By the greatness of 
 his individual character he called up, as by magic, the spirit 
 of his 7iation, He was a man in the fullest sense of the 
 word. Integrity and independence formed the centre of his 
 whole moral system, from which the rays of his genius and 
 of his often admired eloquence emanated no less than from 
 his sound political maxims. In proportion as he rehed upon 
 himself, the nation learned to trust to its own strength and 
 energies. Thus England became familiar with, and accus- 
 tomed to, the most daring enterprises ; thus became im- 
 proved the discipline of the army and navy ; and thus, above 
 all, became roused the spirit of the nation : the niinister 
 meanwhile preserving its confidence, by showing himself 
 anxious on every occasion to appear as the champion ot the 
 rights and power of the people, in the constitutional sense 
 of the word, rather than as one who wished to court the 
 favour of the prince, by taking every opportunity to extend 
 the rights and power of the crown. It was therefore an 
 essential element in the character of Pitt, that he should in 
 his general policy show little inclination towards the system 
 of subsidies and mercenary troops, inasmuch as it niight 
 paralyse the self-confidence and independent energy ot the 
 nation. But he exhibited also a proof that great minds do 
 not blindly bind themselves to any particular maxims. As 
 soon as he could resort to that system without prejudice to 
 those higher interests, he adopted it ; and the prudence with 
 which he exercised it was as great as its consequences were 
 fortunate. 
 
 » A list of them will be found in the Life of Pitt, vol. i. p. 198. 
 
442 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 443 
 
 Never were auxiliaries more judiciously employed than 
 those of the allies at this period. Never were subsidies more 
 judiciously furnished than those which were granted by Pitt 
 to Frederic 11. It is a singularly interesting spectacle to 
 see these two great men united together, each trusting in 
 the first place to himself and acting for himself, without on 
 that account overlooking the advantages which might be 
 derived from their connexion with each other. 
 
 The British continental policy during the seven years' 
 war, as long as Pitt held the reins of government, may, ac- 
 cording to my idea, be regarded as the most perfect model 
 from which the British cabinet could have drawn (at any 
 time) its fundamental maxims in this respect, — I speak not 
 of the choice of allies ; this can only in part depend upon 
 the cabinet, as the relations between the powers of the con- 
 tinent are variable, — but of its whole course and method of 
 proceeding. It adhered very properly to the true notion of 
 subsidies. It afforded them to those, who under the exist- 
 ing relations were the most natural allies of Great Britain, 
 and with whom it had in general a community of interest ; 
 not to every one who asked for them. They were afforded 
 with the view that those who received them might first of 
 all assist themselves ; and hence it was expected that advan- 
 tage would be indirectly derived to England, but not that 
 they should forget themselves and first succour England. 
 More was not promised than was intended to be given, but 
 what was promised was faithfully performed. They made 
 the weak strong, while they placed them on a secure foot- 
 ing, and supported them there by uniting themselves to 
 them. Thus might Pitt and Frederic, both equally inde- 
 pendent, each pursue his own course, without, by so doing, 
 destroying the perfect harmony which subsisted between 
 them. Pitt has himself, in one of his later speeches, so clearly 
 defined the principles on which he acted, and the policy 
 which he pursued at this period, that the reader would not 
 willingly forego the satisfaction of seeing it here introduced.* 
 " I have been much abused, my Lords, for supporting a 
 war, which it has been the fashion to call my German war. 
 But I can affirm, with a clear conscience, that that abuse 
 
 * Life of Pitt, vol. ii. p. 221. The speech was first delivered in the year 
 1770, in the Upper House. 
 
 has been thrown upon me by men, who were either unac- 
 quainted with facts, or had an interest in misrepresenting 
 them. I shall speak plainly and frankly to your Lordships 
 upon this, as I do upon every occasion. That I did in Par- 
 liament oppose, to the utmost of my power, our engaging 
 in a German war, is most true ; and if the same circumstance 
 were to recur, I would act the same part, and oppose it again. 
 But when I was called upon to take a share in the adminis- 
 tration, that measure was already decided. Before I was 
 appointed secretary of state, the first treaty with the king of 
 Prussia was signed, and not only ratified by the crown, but 
 approved of and confirmed by a resolution of both Houses 
 
 of Parliament." 
 
 " It was a weight fastened upon my neck. By that treaty, 
 the honour of the crown and the honour of our nation were 
 equally engaged. How I could recede from such an en- 
 gagement ; how I could advise the crown to desert a great 
 prince in the midst of those difficulties, in which a reliance 
 upon the good faith of this country had contributed to in- 
 volve him, are questions I willingly submit to your Lord- 
 ships' candour. That wonderful man might, perhaps, have 
 extricated himself from his difficulties without our assistance. 
 He has talents, which, in every thing that touches the hu- 
 man capacity, do honour to the human mind. But how 
 would England have supported that reputation of credit and 
 good faith, by which we have been distinguished in Europe ? 
 What other foreign power would have sought our friend- 
 ship ? What other foreign power would have accepted of an 
 alliance with us ? But, my Lords, though I wholly condemn 
 our entering into any engagements which tend to involve us 
 in a continental war, I do not admit that alliances with some 
 of the German princes are either detrimental or useless. 
 They may be, my Lords, not only useful, but necessary." 
 Not, as he further observes, to introduce foreign auxiliaries 
 into England, which is strong enough to protect itself, but 
 into Ireland to defend it from invasion. 
 
 The connexion with Prussia and her allies was not, how- 
 ever, the only new feature which the seven years' war pro- 
 duced in respect to the British continental relations. One 
 other was this, that the republic of the United Netherlands, 
 notwithstanding its intimate relations with England, had the 
 
 M 
 
[' 
 
 1/ 
 
 444 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 445 
 
 IE 
 
 option of remaining neutral in this war, which it had not in 
 any preceding one. But the connexion between France 
 and Austria would necessarily affect in some degree the con- 
 duct of this republic, and weaken its connexion with England. 
 In the revolutions of the continent it had only one para- 
 mount interest, the continuance of the existing condition of 
 the Austrian Netherlands. As long as these provinces con- 
 tinued in the possession of a distant power, they served them 
 as a bulwark with or without fortified places. Under the 
 existing relations these could not become, as formerly, the 
 scene of hostilities ; France had by her connexion with Aus- 
 tria discarded all designs upon them ; and therefore for the 
 republic this connexion, viewed in this light, must have been 
 a most felicitous occurrence. But the advantageous effects 
 of this neutrality upon its commerce, which even excited the 
 envy of England, are well known. What an era might this 
 have been for the republic, if it had not been long afflicted 
 with disorders which no remedial measures could now coun- 
 
 teract 
 
 These changes in her relations with other powers, rendered 
 it unnecessary for England to establish any federal connexions 
 in Italy, such as it had formed with Sardinia during previous 
 wars. It was during the negotiations for peace in 1762, 
 that recourse was first had to this country as mediator, 
 and that not in vain. But England had still remaining 
 another ancient ally who was drawn with her into the vortex 
 and required assistance — Portugal. 
 
 It has been already shown, in its proper place, when and 
 how the connexion with this state arose, and became estab- 
 lished. Since the treaty of Utrecht it had kept up a highly 
 advantageous connexion, in a commercial point of view, for 
 England, without any important political consequences re- 
 sulting from it during the long period of peace which Por- 
 tugal enjoyed. Even the plans of Pombal could not have 
 dissolved or materially affected it. But the closer connexion 
 which through the family compact drew Spain into the war, 
 was also instrumental in involving Portugal in it, and in 
 causing her now to look for assistance to her ancient ally. 
 
 The celebrated family compact of the Bourbons appeared 
 in the result to confirm the fears which had been entertained 
 during the war of the Spanish succession, and at the peace 
 
 of Utrecht. Although the crowns of France and Spain re- 
 mained separate, yet the interests of both powers were inti- 
 mately united. How little, however, hitherto, had the fears, 
 which were cherished on that account, been justified by the 
 event ; Spain would have been unavoidably obliged to take 
 part with France in the war, but this had as yet only served 
 to enable England to support herself at the cost of Spain, 
 and to keep her sailors in good humour by the rich prizes 
 which they captured. This last was perhaps the most im- 
 portant advantage which she gained. By privateering and 
 plunder, individuals enriched themselves ; but no nation has 
 ever acquired by such means a single permanent advantage. 
 The effects of the family compact' then were even already 
 apparent ; England became unavoidably involved in a war 
 with Spain, and since Portugal was now threatened with an 
 attack from the same quarter, not only were British aux- 
 iliaries sent to Spain, but also a German commander. Count 
 William of Lippe Biickeburg, one of the heroes of the seven 
 years' war. Although it was not in his power to recast the 
 nation in a new mould, he nevertheless stamped the recol- 
 lection of himself indelibly upon it. Who is there even now 
 in Portugal who has not heard of the great Count. The 
 country escaped from the war uninjured ; and the connexion 
 with England had become strengthened. 
 
 But one consequence of the family compact, though ac- 
 cidental, yet much more momentous as regards the conti- 
 nental policy of England, was the secession of Pitt from the 
 ministry. However secret the conclusion of that treaty had 
 been kept in Spain, with the view of gaining time, in order 
 to secure to themselves the treasures from America, Pitt had 
 nevertheless been able to procure intelligence of their pro- 
 ceedings. His anxious wish was, as might have been expected 
 from a man of his character, to anticipate Spain, and imme- 
 diately to declare war upon her, which he saw to be inevit- 
 able. But he was not believed, and was in consequence 
 outvoted. Not accustomed to capitulate when convinced 
 he was right, he turned his back and retired.^ 
 
 His prediction was fulfilled, and England soon saw her- 
 
 » Signed on Aug. 10, 1761, but still kept secret. The very first two articles 
 of the treaty contained an offensive and defensive alliance, and a reciprocal 
 guarantee for all possessions. ^ October 5, 1761. 
 
"'-^JSiBiiSttUi 
 
 ■ai oi i - . a'* 
 
 .1 
 
 446 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 
 V 
 
 IV, 
 
 II 
 
 Mi 
 
 self obliged to declare war. But although even now the 
 short war with Spain had been prosecuted with the greatest 
 success, the retirement of Pitt had such an effect on the 
 measures of the British cabinet, that the whole of his system 
 of continental policy, as yet scarcely matured, necessarily tell 
 to the ground. It ceased, however, to take an active part 
 in the continental war, the subsidies to Frederic II. were 
 discontinued, and England concluded a peace for herself 
 without paying that regard to her ally which he might with 
 justice have demanded. 
 
 Viewed in the light of a mere temporary advantage, this 
 conduct of the British cabinet may admit of some vindica- 
 tion ; but on the principles of a higher policy it cannot pos- 
 sibly be defended. It cannot be denied that the assertion 
 of Pitt, that Frederic II., if left entirely alone, would be able 
 to extricate himself from all embarrassment, was now veri- 
 fied ; but if this be granted, would it not have been more 
 consonant to the principles of sound policy, for England to 
 have allowed her connexions with Prussia to continue as 
 long as the intimate relation between Austria and France 
 should exist. Would England have obtained a peace on 
 less favourable terms if she had concluded it in conjunction 
 with Frederic ? It was only owing to a fortunate combination 
 of circumstances that no new relations occurred to render 
 his assistance necessary for England. His aversion to this 
 state was afterwards perhaps too deeply rooted to admit of 
 being ever again eradicated. 
 
 England, therefore, after the seven years' war stood alone 
 without allies, or at least without powerful ones ; and had, 
 after the prostration of that power which opposed and rival- 
 led her, no immediate cause for seeking new connexions. 
 During the profound peace which the west of Europe so 
 long enjoyed, no such exigence arose. The activity of the 
 nation was confined at first to its own domestic affairs; 
 since the well-known disputes with Wilkes brought questions 
 into agitation which seriously affected the rights of the Up- 
 per House. The contest with Spain about the Falkland 
 Islands (1770) produced only threats, but no hostilities ; the 
 disputes which commenced with the colonies in North 
 America soon engrossed universal attention. The particu- 
 lars of the dispute as well as the war which ensued is foreign 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 447 
 
 to the present inquiry, except so far as continental relations 
 are concerned. The effects which it had upon these were 
 manifold. The first was the restoration of the subsidy sys- 
 tem. From the moment it was decided to send an army 
 over to America, the need of foreign assistance was sensibly 
 felt. The assertion of Lord Chatham, " that cases may occur 
 in which connexion with German princes could not be dis- 
 pensed with," is again applicable here. He certainly had 
 not anticipated such a case as the present, and could not 
 have alluded to the contest which broke out with America 
 on the subject of exemption from taxation.^ Once admit- 
 ting however (which I am very far from maintaining) that 
 it was politic to attempt the subjugation of America by 
 force, there can be little doubt that mercenary aid was the 
 best resource which could be adopted. The lives of their 
 own men were thereby spared — lives which a state like 
 England could least of all afford to lose. 
 
 Further, although this war did not give rise to a conti- 
 nental war in Europe, yet it did to one amongst the Euro- 
 pean powers, as France took part with America, and Spain, 
 by virtue of the family compact, was also necessarily drawn 
 into it. America was merely a secondary stage for these 
 powers, the war between them was almost entirely a colo- 
 nial one, for which new materials had been accumulating 
 ever since the treaty of Paris. One of the greatest evils 
 that disturbs the European system is that intermixture of its 
 colonies, naturally occasioned by their geographical position. 
 This was the principal cause of the seven years' war, and, 
 although the peace which put an end to it, and by which 
 France was completely dispossessed of its continental pos- 
 sessions in North America,^ was in some measure a remedy 
 for this evil, it nevertheless contributed in other respects 
 
 ' The opinions of Chatham respecting America may be gathered from the 
 bill which he proposed to the Upper House, but without success, Feb. 1, 1775, 
 after the disturbances had broken out. It will be found in Life of Pitt, ii. 
 p. 129. The colonies were to remain dependent, but to have the privilege of 
 taxing themselves by their provincial assemblies. The congress at Philadel- 
 phia, which had already assembled, was to settle the division of the taxes 
 among the provinces, and to determine the sum which each was to contribute 
 towards the liquidation of the national debt in England. Even Chatham 
 could not rise sufficiently high to take an enlarged view of the immeasur- 
 able advantage which would result to England from the complete liberation 
 of America. 
 
 ^ After that it ceded Louisiana also to Spain, 1765. 
 
 'I ir "■"■■" ■^'■-'*""- 
 
448 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 1^ 
 
 ' 
 
 h 
 
 m 
 
 rather to aggravate it. The power of the British and the 
 French wasnow nearly equally balanced m the West Indies 
 but in the East from the time England estabhshed herself at 
 Bengal (1763,) the preponderance was clearly m her lavour. 
 France nevertheless still retained hopes of being able to re- 
 store the balance, as she had found an ally in one ot the 
 chiefs of the interior, who, from personal interest, was ne- 
 cessarily hostile to England, and had already discovered the 
 means of setting her at defiance. The East Indies thus be- 
 came the principal theatre of the war, and in spite of every 
 effort they would have been lost to England if a better 
 arrangement in the organization of the East India Company, 
 bv the concentration of the four presidencies under one 
 o-ovemor-general, and the bill of Pitt, had not rendered 
 them politically independent of the government. 
 
 The colonial war, moreover, cost England a po itical 
 friend on the continent, by the republic of the United Ne- 
 therlands becoming impHcated in it England cer^inly lost 
 nothing by this war ; she conquered St. Eustace, Trincono- 
 male, Negapatuam ; the last of which she retained to the 
 peace But this rupture with the republic was connected 
 with another event, which was necessarily of critical im- 
 portance to England. . , , • ^ * %u 
 England by this war became involved in a contest with 
 all the maritime powers of Europe, and was singly a match 
 for them all. It was indeed a signal proof of the rapid ad- 
 vance she had made since the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle that 
 she was now mistress of the seas, although as yet she was tar 
 from asserting a dominion over them. But when once her 
 energies were directed to this object, circumstances naturally 
 arose out of her attempt, which exposed England to the 
 dano-er of being involved more extensively with the greatest 
 part%f the continent. It was not enough to cripple, or even 
 to destroy the enemies' fleets, unless she effectually prevented 
 them from refitting and building new ones. Their capa- 
 bilities of doing this however depended, for the most part, 
 on their interference with neutral powers, from which France 
 would be obliged to procure the necessary materials. Ihis 
 was one reason for her oppression of neutrals and the ob- 
 structing of their navigation ; but these arbitrary proceed- 
 in<^s necessarily became extended beyond all bounds as soon 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 449 
 
 as the annihilation of the enemy's commerce and the endea- 
 vour to appropriate it to themselves (two facts inseparable 
 from the sovereignty of the sea) became their avowed object. 
 In wars of earlier times, the commerce of belligerent powers 
 had escaped under the protection of neutral flags, and al- 
 though the celebrated maxim, free ship, free cargo, had 
 always been but doubtfully maintained, the dispute could 
 never become of much practical importance until some one 
 maritime power felt itself sufficiently strong to maintain the 
 contrary. But this unjust oppression, for such the conduct 
 of England was felt to be, was not submitted to without re- 
 sistance; Catharine II. set on foot the armed neutrality,^ 
 which the northern powers, and even Portugal, joined ; and 
 Holland herself would have acceded to it, if England had 
 not anticipated her doing so by a declaration of war. 
 
 The armed neutrality was a phenomenon from which 
 England might have derived important lessons ; but she did 
 not. Submission then was absolutely necessary, unless she 
 was willing to incur the danger of being involved in a war 
 with the whole of Europe; this submission, however, was 
 made in silence, unaccompanied by any formal recognition 
 of the principles which had been set up. All, therefore, 
 that remained was an association which could only be of 
 practical utility during the continuance of the war. The 
 indispensable need of a maritime law of nations was more 
 sensibly felt than ever ; and Catharine had loudly proclaimed 
 it by that association ; but here, as usual, the policy adopted 
 was merely to serve a temporary purpose ; and of what use 
 could a maritime law of nations on paper be when the want 
 of it, in time of peace, should cease to be felt, and which, it 
 was obvious, in time of war would be made subservient to 
 the convenience of individual states ? 
 
 But another effect of this war upon the continental policy 
 of England was her altered relations with the Netherlands. 
 Internal tranquillity was by no means restored in that coun- 
 try by the peace, and England even found an opportunity 
 thereby of maintaining her influence over it. 
 
 It is a remarkable circumstance in the history of the con- 
 tinental policy of England, that although she was so deeply 
 involved in the affairs of foreign countries, yet during the 
 
 » In the year 1781. 
 2 o 
 
 i 
 
450 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 h 
 
 f 
 
 u 
 
 whole period of the house of Hanover, (it may be said too 
 even of the Stuarts,) in no one of them was the spirit of 
 party either fostered or excited thereby. What a different 
 spirit had France excited in Sweden, and Russia in Poland ! 
 This consequence may indisputably be ascribed to the fact 
 that England required no party aid for the attainment of her 
 object, but merely the support of the administration ; and in 
 some measure to the existing relations of that period, which 
 gave little encouragement to party spirit in the countries 
 with which England stood connected. I have no wish, 
 therefore, to pass any encomium on the more exalted moral- 
 ity of the British minister on that ground ; but I am prepared 
 to prove that the interference of England in the affairs of 
 foreign powers, was hitherto much less dangerous to their 
 object than the influence of the continental powers upon 
 
 one another. , xt i i i 
 
 The events which occurred in the United JNetherlands 
 formed at the time we speak of an exception. As during 
 the last war this state had leagued itself with France, and as 
 that power found an opportunity to do her some essential 
 services during her quarrel with Joseph II., it could not be 
 difficult for the French ministry to maintain for itself a party 
 here ; and this party, under the name of the patriotic party, 
 stepped forward as an antagonist of the house of Orange, 
 without knowing, as far as could be discerned, any thing 
 more determinate as to its real object. 
 
 The moment at which England might probably have at- 
 tached to herself the republic, with less galling, but cer- 
 tainly more lasting bonds, as afterwards happened, would 
 have been the moment of the peace. But this moment was 
 neglected ! When could generosity towards an old friend, 
 with whom she had only occasionally fallen out, have been 
 more properly evinced than here ? Yet so far was she from 
 acting in this spirit, that she forcibly dispossessed Holland 
 of one of her colonies, Negapatuam ;' a colony of no incon- 
 siderable importance; and was only with difficulty prevented 
 from depriving her of another, Trinconomale. By this im- 
 politic harshness the republic was driven to conclude a 
 peace through the mediation of France ; and it was made 
 abundantly evident that, as colonial aggrandizement became 
 
 * In the treaty of peace of May 20, 1784. 
 
 'J 
 
 :i 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 451 
 
 the point at issue, no compunction would be shown by 
 England in despoiling, even with her own hands, her ancient 
 ally ; and that she only waited for an opportunity to extend 
 further her rapacity. Thus, then, she deprived herself for 
 ever of the confidence of a nation with which she had so 
 long been in close and amicable connexion, in a manner 
 which made its renewal impossible; — what was the equivalent? 
 The ferment at home, however, certainly made it neces- 
 sary for the Orange party to attach itself to England, since, 
 during the life of Frederic II., it found no other support. 
 But even this support was of little help to it. The British 
 cabinet did not find it advisable to afford any eflScient assist- 
 ance, when the prerogatives of the hereditary stadtholder 
 were one after another infringed and contracted ; and it be- 
 came highly probable that he would have been entirely dis- 
 possessed of his dignity, if Prussia had not adopted a change 
 in her policy. 
 
 It is well known under what circumstances, and with what 
 result, in the autumn of the year 1787, the commotions in 
 Holland were suppressed by the entrance of a Prussian 
 corps, and the stadtholder reinstated and confirmed in the 
 full exercise of his power. 
 
 England, up to the present time, had remained without 
 any considerable ally on the continent. But the change 
 which we have just mentioned gave rise to another alliance, 
 which was not without important consequences to Europe. 
 England and Prussia both united themselves with Holland ; 
 they had the same common object in view, that of supporting 
 her newly given or restored constitution, and this common 
 point of contact soon brought on an alliance between these 
 two powers.^ 
 
 The connexion of Prussia with Holland was a conse- 
 quence of family interest, the further consideration of which 
 would be irrelevant to this inquiry. With regard to England, 
 the affinity with her was not sufficiently close to allow us to 
 attribute to this source the interest which she took in the 
 affairs of this country. Although the reigning houses were 
 connected, the motive by which she was more immediately 
 actuated in the part she took, was the desire of counteract- 
 ing French influence by the depression of the patriotic party. 
 
 ' By the treaty of the I3th of August, 1788. 
 
 2 o 2 
 
.i 
 
 .' 
 
 r 
 
 i 
 
 
 452 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 But surely the moment at which the peace was concluded 
 would have been more favourable for th.s Purpose th^ the 
 Dresent England certainly could not view the fate ot the 
 S c wfth^indifference. She necessarily wished to see 
 EXendence maintained ; but the compulsory re-estab- 
 fisUent^^^^^^ form of government, to which a great, perhaps 
 he greater, part of the nation were vehemently opposed, 
 could nTpo^^^^^^ be considered as a firm foundation of her 
 ind^endence. She united herself in this way with the go- 
 vemment which she restored, but not with the nation^ Expe- 
 rience has shown the dangerous consequences of such po icy. 
 Bv this triple alliance, however, the connexion of Lngland 
 with Prussia was renewed, though the basis on which it 
 rested was not formed on so extended a community ot m- 
 Ses? aT^nder Frederic II. The maintenance of the stadt- 
 holdership in the Netherlands could not possibly become of 
 sufficient importance to both these P^^^^^'J^/^™J. Pf' 
 manent bond of union between them. Chatham, with his 
 principles, would never have concluded the alliance wh ch 
 his son concluded ; still less would he have approved the 
 consequences which followed it. x^- n , - .u^ 
 
 These consequences displayed themselves chiefly in- the 
 east of Europe. The representation which we have already 
 eiven has shown the little share England had taken in the 
 Ivents of those parts since the peace of Nystadt. Her com- 
 merce was carried on there without molestation ; the grow- 
 inff prosperity of Russia had favoured it, without becommg 
 formidable to England. In the mean time the most decisive 
 changes had taken place in these quarters, such as the 
 foundation of the independence of the Crimea,^ the appear- 
 ance of Russian fleets in the Mediterranean,^ and even the 
 first partition of Poland,' without any active manifestation 
 of opposition on the part of England. The British cabine 
 felt itself too little interested in them ; it had no political 
 connexion either with Poland or with Turkey, and had no 
 engagements to perform to either ; the trade with the Baltic, 
 and that with the Levant, by no means considerable was 
 not affected ; and those countries in general lay beyond the 
 circuit of its political sphere of action. Whether therefore 
 her policy in this respect was exceptionable or not may 
 
 » In the year 1771. ' In the year 1770. « In the year 1772. 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 453 
 
 admit of doubt, although an action which set at nought the 
 hitherto recognised law of nations could not be a matter of 
 indifference even to England. Her policy can only be ex- 
 cused on the ground that she connived at what she could 
 not hinder. But after the triple alliance her former maxims 
 of policy were evidently changed, and England sought not 
 only to obtain an influence over the affairs of those countries, 
 but even assumed a tone of dictation. If we may credit 
 French authors,* she was actuated by a jealousy of the 
 treaty of commerce, which Russia had concluded with 
 France, 1787, by which France had been greatly favoured ; 
 in consequence of this, England herself felt an inclination 
 to do every thing to involve Russia in a war with Turkey, 
 which it is well known broke out 1788. The truth of this 
 unauthenticated assertion may reasonably admit of doubt ; 
 but that the British policy here stepped beyond its proper 
 sphere, that England had thought herself able to dictate 
 where dictation was not to be dreamt of— of this the minis- 
 try were soon to experience a painful conviction. 
 
 The mediation of England at the congress of Reichen- 
 bach, 1788, was not without advantage ; but when the Brit- 
 ish cabinet wished likewise to dictate to Catherine II. the 
 conditions of peace with Turkey, she declared that she con- 
 cluded peaces only for herself; nor was she alarmed at the 
 demonstration made by the equipment of a fleet; she 
 actually concluded the peace at Jassy^ for herself, and on 
 the terms she wished, and the British cabinet gained no 
 more from its threats than the knowledge that it had threat- 
 ened to no purpose. 
 
 The first object to which the exertions of every cabinet 
 should be directed would seem to be, to comprehend clearly, 
 and to determine precisely, the proper course of action 
 which its position and strength point out to it ; and thence 
 to deduce the fundamental maxims of its foreign policy. 
 This assertion will not be supposed to imply that such a 
 theory should be openly paraded, as it were, and be laid 
 down in public declarations ; but the fact that every state, 
 
 \ £TP^^^ ^^^"^' Histoire de Frederic Guillaume, vol. ii. 
 The 29th of December, 1790. The empress retained m it the district on 
 the Neister, instead of the old boundary which England had wished to 
 prescribe. 
 
 ^•i! 
 
454 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL, 
 
 ) 
 
 I: 
 
 n 
 
 i< 
 
 however powerful, has certain definite limits to which its 
 sphere of action should be confined, is an immutable truth ; 
 and he who would deny the conclusions drawn from it, 
 would be guilty of an absurdity. Yet if we look into his- 
 tory, how seldom do we find this truth kept in view ! How 
 many unsuccessful plans and undertakings do we discover, 
 which it were easy to see beforehand could not succeed ! 
 Indeed it would seem to require nothing more than sound 
 common sense, and a moderate degree of intelligence, to 
 determine the sphere of action to which a nation should 
 confine itself But still we must not forget to take in 
 account the great influence of the passions upon politics, 
 and, above all, the exaggerated conception, which every 
 minister is prone to form, of the importance of the state at 
 the head of which he is placed, in order to explain the many 
 disastrous errors firom which scarcely any state has kept 
 itself wholly exempt. Even England did not exhibit at this 
 period the only example of this kind. Justice, however, 
 assuredly demands of us to remark, that it is much more 
 difficult for a maritime and commercial state to determine 
 the boundaries of its interests and its sphere of action, than 
 it is for a continental one. Not only the direct, but, still 
 more, the indirect points of contact are here so numerous, 
 the calculation of how much damage may be inflicted on 
 other powers by its fleets, is made on no determinate data, 
 and is on that account in the highest degree indeterminate. 
 The indirect damage is greater than the direct; and the 
 state is so much misled by an exalted opinion of its own 
 power, as to think itself still greater, and its own influence 
 more decisive than it really is, and from its nature can be. 
 
 We have thus far traced the continental policy of Eng- 
 land up to the period at which, by the great revolutions of 
 Europe, not only the triple alliance last concluded was 
 dissevered, but all political relations were at once violently 
 rent asunder, and then forcibly joined together again by 
 new ties, which, after such sanguinary conflicts, could not 
 keep together the contracting parties for any length of time. 
 How, under such circumstances, could the former rela- 
 tions of England be maintained? It was not, however, 
 merely a change in individual instances which they under- 
 went, but the whole system of her continental policy 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 455 
 
 assumed a different form. On this account then it is ne- 
 cessary to pause here awhile in order to review some 
 general results, for which the previous investigations will 
 afford materials. 
 
 Our statements have shown that England was certainly 
 involved in the affairs of the continent, sometimes more and 
 sometimes less, without ever being entirely disengaged from 
 them. But if we make some allowance for the period of 
 the quadruple alliance under George I., England was very 
 far from having ever been, or having ever claimed to be, 
 the dominant power in the political system of Europe. The 
 internal relations of this system were not in general deter- 
 mined by England, but England rather determined her own 
 conduct by them. This was precisely the reason why the 
 continental policy of England so seldom proceeded on solid 
 principles. How far, however, this should be made a matter 
 of reproach to the British cabinet, requires a close investiga- 
 tion. To settle permanently the reciprocal relations of the 
 continental powers was throughout beyond the capacity of 
 England. It would have been a foolish and vain presump- 
 tion to attempt it. For this veiy reason then she could dis- 
 cover no durable and solid basis for her federative system, 
 in respect to the choice of her allies. England was not, Uke 
 France and Prussia, and other countries, surrounded by 
 weaker states, which she might attach to herself by means 
 of her preponderating influence ; she was obliged to seek 
 out allies for herself; and could not even make the ties 
 whifch bound her to the most powerful of all, to Austria, in- 
 dissoluble. England, from her position, can only have 
 allies which are separated from her by the sea. If they are 
 among the weaker states, such as Holland, Portugal, and 
 Sardinia, they are from their very nature more likely to be 
 under the influence of their immediate neighbours than hers; 
 if they are among the more powerful, as Austria and Prussia, 
 the connexion will only subsist so long as it afford some 
 point of common interest. England therefore has not the 
 power to construct a federative system as the powers of the 
 continent have. 
 
 But though we cannot with justice cast any imputation 
 on England for the change which she made in the choice of 
 her allies, (if she erred in that, she committed political 
 
 m 
 
456 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN 
 
 457 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 m 
 
 I 
 
 errors, for which she would have to atone,) — the non-per- 
 formance of engagements for which she had made herself 
 responsible certainly exposes her to merited censure. In 
 the three great continental wars in which England took 
 part, the Spanish, the Austrian war of succession, and the 
 seven years' war, she concluded every time a peace for her- 
 self, or only in connexion with Holland, and deserted her 
 principal confederates. This conduct did not originate in 
 any refined policy, systematically taken up, nor in a dere- 
 liction of public faith and confidence ; but in the change of 
 pohtical principles, which, according to the general spirit 
 of the British constitution, is almost inseparably connected 
 with a change of ministry. In none of these cases did the 
 minister who begun the war bring it to a close ; his suc- 
 cessor generally belonged to the opposite party, and there- 
 fore brought with him the opposite principles. The influ- 
 ence and power of the premier in England does not trench 
 at all upon the personal character of the regent, as it does 
 in unlimited monarchies ; but emanates immediately from 
 the spirit of the constitution, from the relation between the 
 king and his parliament, between whom the minister is the 
 connecting link. Without him therefore nothing of import- 
 ance can be done. Hence arises what is certainly a most 
 pernicious consequence in respect to foreign powers, that 
 the British government cannot guarantee, with the same 
 assurance as others, the performance of its obligation. The 
 periods of Marlborough and Chatham exhibit a proof of 
 this. But then, again, on the part of continental powers, 
 physical impossibilities may occur, from extreme distress or 
 total subjugation, to prevent the fulfilment of their engage- 
 ments, a case which qan scarcely be supposed to occur with 
 respect to England. 
 
 Notwithstanding this one real defect, which attaches to 
 the policy of England, her continental influence seems upon 
 the whole, throughout this period, to have been highly bene- 
 ficial in a twofold point of view. In the first place, Europe 
 was indebted to it, during a considerable period, for the 
 maintenance of peace. That this was the object of the Brit- 
 ish policy under George I., and continued to be so, as long 
 as circumstances permitted, under George II., has been 
 already shown. It was therefore any thing but a hostile 
 
 influence. In the second place, in the great wars in which 
 England took part, she uniformly supported the weaker 
 against the more powerful. She connected herself with 
 Austria in the early wars, and in the later with Prussia, as 
 these monarchies, one after the other, seemed threatened to 
 be destroyed by confederated Europe. Both might possibly 
 have saved themselves without the co-operation of England ; 
 but the merit of England must not, on that account, be de- 
 preciated. She materially contributed, perhaps in a greater 
 degree than any other European power, to uphold the poli- 
 tical balance of Europe. 
 
 SIXTH PERIOD. 
 PERIOD OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, 1788—1815. 
 
 We have still to consider the last period of the British 
 continental policy, which, though not the most extensive, 
 is unquestionably the most interesting, both as respects 
 England herself, and the continent of Europe. In respect 
 to England herself, because it is distinguished by the most 
 remarkable development of her energies ; in respect to the 
 continent, because England became in it the centre and the 
 only unshaken support of the still existing political system 
 of Europe ; and because she determined and influenced the 
 politics of other cabinets much more decisively than she 
 had ever done in any former period. Never has the truth 
 of the observation with which we commenced this inquiry, 
 "that it is a highly advantageous circumstance for the 
 maintenance of the liberty and independence of a stiites- 
 system, that one of its principal members should be an in- 
 sular state and in possession of a naval force," been more 
 strikingly demonstrated than in this period. If a bridge had 
 been thrown across the Channel how totally different might 
 have been the fate of England and of Europe ! We cer- 
 tainly do not entertain the slightest doubt that England, 
 even in this case, would have remained unconquered, or 
 that the invasion of a French army would eventually have 
 ended in its destruction ; and simply because the warlike 
 energies of the nation would in that case have been more 
 generally roused and concentrated, and more resolutely dis- 
 played. But the destiny of the British state, at least, if not 
 of the British people, is now so entirely identified with the 
 
if 
 
 f 
 
 458 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 4e59 
 
 m 
 
 security of the capital, that the consequences of its capture, 
 or even of its being exposed to any imminent danger of 
 capture, are incalculable ; and who will venture to assert, 
 that in such a case its security would have remained unen- 
 dangered, or that even a conquest, though perhaps only 
 momentary, could have been averted, especially as to this 
 point all the powers of the foe would have been undoubt- 
 edly directed. 
 
 The relations of England with the continent at the 
 period of which we speak, were determined by a man, who, 
 in the double capacity of first lord of the treasury and 
 chancellor of the exchequer, directed the helm of the state 
 as premier, and who enjoyed the full confidence of his 
 sovereign — William Pitt} When scarcely arrived at man- 
 hood — when only twenty-four years of age — he was raised 
 to this exalted post, and had already held it six years when 
 the French revolution broke out, which soon placed even 
 England in a position that would not allow her to be a 
 mere spectator. At this early period of his life this extra- 
 ordinary man displayed not only wonderful talents and 
 intelligence, but what was of much greater consequence, a 
 maturity of understanding and judgment which seemed far 
 beyond his years ; and these qualifications were combined 
 with an energy of character equally remarkable. Several 
 of his contemporaries, his opponents and rivals, might pos- 
 sess more brilliant talents, but none could vie with him in 
 clearness of intellect, in decision of purpose, and devotion to 
 his country. He was a perfect statesman, in the noblest 
 sense of the word ; and what Plutarch says of Pericles, that 
 
 ' William Pitt, the younger son of the Earl of Chatham, was bom on the 
 28th of May, 1759. He was indebted for his early education to his father, 
 and the subsequently appointed bishop of Winchester ; and for his further 
 tuition, especially in classical literature, philosophy, and eloquence, to Eton 
 School and Cambridge. He entered the Lower House as early as his 22nd 
 year, on the 23rd of Jan. 1781, as member for Appleby; and delivered his 
 first speech on the 26th of February, on the better regulations of the civil 
 list, by which he immediately excited general attention. He entered the 
 ministry for the first time as early as July, 1782, under the Earl of Shelburne, 
 as chancellor of the exchequer ; but upon his retirement from office, March 
 14, 1783, he also resigned ; until, after the dismissal of Lord North and Fox, 
 Dec. 23, 1783, he was placed at the head of the administration, as first lord 
 of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer, which distinguished post 
 he retained till his voluntary resignation on tne 9th of February, 1801 ; and 
 resumed the second time from the 25th of May, 1804, until his death, 23rd 
 of January, 1806. 
 
 he was only to be seen when going to the Senate House or 
 returning from it, may with the strictest justice be applied 
 to him. His policy it will be the object of the following 
 inquiry to set forth. According to our professed design we 
 are certainly principally concerned with his foreign policy ; 
 but this nevertheless stands so closely — so almost inseparably 
 connected with his domestic administration, that we must be 
 permitted at least to cast an occasional glance at that. Here, 
 however, alas ! we have too much occasion to regret the 
 scantiness of our materials.^ Of his public parliamentary 
 career our information is sufficiently ample, but for all that 
 relates to the whole internal mechanism of his financial ad- 
 ministration, for all that relates to the manner in which Pitt 
 conducted this, and especially for all that relates to the ex- 
 traordinary simplification of the business of the treasury, his 
 eminent services in which respect have acquired for him 
 such imperishable fame, where can we find any accurate in- 
 formation? The account of his foreign policy, however, 
 must be prefaced by one general observation. His conduct 
 throughout was uniformly in accordance with his own con- 
 viction, and this is expressed in every one of his speeches in 
 a manner not to be mistaken. According to this conviction 
 the summum honum for England was the maintenance of 
 her co72stitution. This is therefore the hinge on which his 
 whole domestic policy during that most eventful period re- 
 volves. But, in the maintenance of this constitution, which 
 involved the condition of his whole sphere of action, he had 
 in view merely the means for carrying on his foreign policy ; 
 and thus both stand in the closest reciprocal connexion. 
 
 When, in the year 1789, the opening of the assembly of 
 the states-general ushered in the revolution, the attention 
 of the minister was more engrossed with domestic than with 
 foreign affairs. The relations of England with the continent 
 
 * Would it be believed, that in a country so rich in biography, the first of 
 its statesmen has not yet met with a biographer in any degree worthy of him ? 
 According to the public organs of intelligence we may expect to have this 
 desideratum supplied by his tutor and friend the aged bishop of Winchester ; 
 by which also it is hoped a clearer light will be diffused over the simplicity of 
 his private life. The genuine portrait of this great man, in which the clear- 
 ness, composure, and energy of this master spirit are so majestically expressed, 
 is rarely to be met with on the continent ; whilst most of our readers have 
 perhaps seen it a hundred times in miserable caricatures. Even the collection 
 of the speeches of the Right Hon. William Pitt, in 3 vols. London, 1808, is by 
 no means complete ; still it is one of our principal sources for what follows. 
 
 ! 
 ) 
 
460 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 461 
 
 m 
 In 
 
 i 
 >♦ 
 
 
 were decisively influenced by the affairs of Holland, which, 
 as we have shown above, by the restoration of the stadthold- 
 ership, occasioned a close connexion not only with the house 
 of Orange, but also with Prussia, who had effected this ob- 
 ject by open force. The interference of England in the 
 affairs of the North, which was a consequence of this, though 
 a fruitless one, and the rupture with Russia which thereupon 
 ensued, have been noticed above. In his domestic adminis- 
 tration, after completing the new arrangements for the 
 management of the affairs of the East India Company, in 
 accordance with the bill passed in reference to them, tlie 
 minister was chiefly occupied with his financial measures 
 for the diminution of the national debt, and for the reduction 
 of the interest of the 4 per cent, annuities to 3 per cent. 
 Convinced that the regular payment of the interest upon the 
 national debt was not sufficient for the maintenance of the 
 national credit, but that it was necessary to think of paying 
 off* the principal, he had, three years before, by the institution 
 of a sinking fund, thrown out an anchor which has since 
 given assumed stability to its credit.^ This great institution 
 could scarcely begin to operate at that time ; the contraction 
 of new debts, which a new war rendered inevitable, could 
 not therefore enter into the plan of the minister. The ob- 
 servation of a strict neutrality was consequently the policy 
 adopted by the minister during the first and second so called 
 Constituent and Legislative Assemblies ; for however imper- 
 fect and exceptionable, in many respects, the first constitu- 
 tion might be, which Lewis XVI. accepted and pledged 
 himself to, the British cabinet, nevertheless, abstained from 
 any interference in the affairs of France. But when, indeed, 
 during the session of the second national assembly, political 
 principles of a totally different character were set forth, the 
 throne subverted, the king with his family cast into prison ; 
 when, moreover, the National Convention, which next fol- 
 lowed, abolished monarchy and sent the king to the scaffold, 
 the relations of the two nations were disturbed ; yet still no 
 war ensued, though considerations arose which rendered 
 other proceedings necessary. 
 
 The question now became one of intervention in the do- 
 mestic affairs of a foreign state : a question which has always 
 
 ' 26th of May, 1786. 
 
 had its difficulties, and was perhaps never embarrassed with 
 greater than in the present instance. It was to be decided 
 whether this intervention should be general, or to what ex- 
 tent it might be carried. It was a favourite assertion of the 
 popular leader and popular writer of that time, that no fo- 
 reign state ought to interfere in the domestic affairs of an- 
 other state ; and even now we hear it asserted, that such an 
 interference is to be regarded as an attack upon its inde- 
 pendence and self-existence. That assertion holds good, so 
 long as it is applied to states which, by their geographical 
 position and political relations, stand separated. When re- 
 volutions occur in China and North America, it would be 
 preposterous to assert that France or Austria are authorized 
 
 to interfere. 
 
 The case, however, is altogether different where states are 
 intimately related to each other by geographical or political 
 contact, by a common union, a confederacy, or a states- 
 system, as is the case with the states of Europe. Here the 
 domestic concerns of the one are by no means always indif- 
 ferent to the other ; and cases may occur in which interfer- 
 ence may be inevitable. If we begin by taking a survey of 
 the constitution of the different states, we shall find that with 
 all their individual varieties, yet in the system, taken as a 
 whole, either the monarchical or the republican principle is 
 predominant. The transition from the one to the other in 
 any of the leading members of the system, must necessarily, 
 by its unavoidable influence upon the whole, excite just ap- 
 prehensions among the others. Thus an interest is awakened 
 which may certainly still remain unaccompanied by any ac- 
 tive intervention. How intense, however, and how lively 
 must this interest be, and how just the apprehension, when 
 the principles promulgated in the other states are diametri- 
 cally opposed to those which were formerly received, and 
 altogether irreconcilable with them ! Does no common in- 
 terest here find a place? Would not therefore an active 
 interference in such a case become just ? Would not nego- 
 tiations here be allowed ? Would not the revolutionary state 
 feel at liberty to reject these, with the contemptuous answer, 
 that it would not allow of any foreign intervention ? Then 
 again, what if these principles are not only in their nature 
 opposed to others, but at the same time their prop^ation 
 
 
 ■<^--^J- - 
 
f; 
 
 462 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 ni 
 
 I,, 
 
 I I 
 
 I 
 
 and practical introduction into other states shall be expressly 
 determined upon, and loudly proclaimed? Does not the 
 duty of self-preservation then step in ? Will it not then be 
 requisite even to take up arms in self-defence, and to com- 
 bat those principles ? 
 
 These cases occurred as soon as the French revolution 
 took its proper direction. This was founded upon the sove- 
 reignty of the people ; but the sovereignty of the people 
 stands in direct opposition to the monarchical prmciple. 
 Now only one sovereign can exist in a state, not two. Either 
 the people are the sovereign, and then is the state a republic, 
 or the monarch, whatever may be his title. If he ceases to 
 be so, then he sinks directly to the level of a mere magis- 
 trate ; whether he preserve the title of king or not. " It is," 
 says Pitt, in one of those powerful speeches, from which I 
 shall have frequent occasion to quote, (and what higher au- 
 thority can be cited than that of such a statesman at the 
 head of the freest of all monarchies ?) " It is a gross perver- 
 sion of the principles of all political society, to suppose that 
 there exists continually, in every government, a sovereignty 
 in abeyance (as it were) on the part of the people, ready to 
 be called forth on every occasion, or rather, on every pre- 
 tence, when it may suit the purposes of the party or faction 
 who are the advocates of this doctrine, to suppose an occa- 
 sion for its exertion. It is in those false principles that are 
 contained the seeds of all the misery, desolation, and ruin, 
 which in the present day have spread themselves over so 
 large a portion of the habitable globe. I have said more 
 upon this subject than I should have thought necessary, if 
 I had not felt that this false and dangerous mockery of the 
 sovereignty of the people is in truth one of the chief ele- 
 ments of Jacobinism, one of the favourite impostures to mis- 
 lead the understanding, and to flatter and inflame the passions 
 of the mass of mankind, who have not the opportunity of 
 examining and exposing it, and that, as such, on every oc- 
 casion and in every shape in which it appears, it ought to 
 be combated and resisted by every friend to common order, 
 and to the peace and happiness of mankind."^ 
 
 But if this principle were directly opposed to the British 
 constitution, a constitution which is a pre-eminent example 
 
 * Speeches^ iii. p. 58, etc. 
 
 \\ 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 463 
 
 of a free monarchy, how much more was it incompatible 
 with the constitutions of the principal states of the continent, 
 which are either in the class of absolute monarchies without 
 democratic influence, or at most belong to those in which 
 the higher classes exercise in the state assembly only a cer- 
 tain, and for the most part very limited, share in the legis- 
 lation. If in the case of the British state a reform in the 
 constitution might possibly have been sufficient, (though 
 even this is scarcely probable,) an entire change in the con- 
 stitution of those other states must unavoidably have ensued, 
 if the French principle prevailed. How just, therefore, 
 were the apprehensions which every where arose ! Who 
 could determine how far a doctrine would spread, which at 
 the same time flattered the people, and was set forth by its 
 originators as that which alone was productive of happiness ? 
 But these apprehensions received a new and formidable in- 
 crease by the decree of the Convention, 19th Nov. 1792, 
 which offered assistance from France to all people, who, for the 
 establishment of liberty, i. e. democracy, should rebel against 
 their constituted authorities. Such a summons to a general 
 insurrection is unparalleled in history, and if any indulged 
 the flattering hope that such a decree would never be exe- 
 cuted, it was crushed by the new decree of 17th Dec, which 
 enjoined all the generals of the new republic to establish in 
 those countries into which they should carry their arms, a 
 democracy in place of the pre-existing constitutions. 
 
 Thus by this decree was the most sacred prerogative 
 which nations possess, that by virtue of which they form a 
 state, their constitution, threatened with annihilation. In 
 their constitution was at the same time involved their inde- 
 pendence, because the new constitution was prescribed to 
 them. Can any thing more be required to justify the ruling 
 authorities, if they refused what was attempted to be forced 
 upon them ; if they defended their rights ; if they even took 
 up arms in their defence ? 
 
 The foregoing remarks apply to all governments ; we 
 now return to England, to whose policy our researches are 
 confined. 
 
 Among the states which formed the first great confederacy 
 against France, England was one of the last, and cannot 
 therefore be regarded as the originator of that confederacy. 
 
464 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 • i' 
 
 iM 
 
 
 As long as Lewis XVI. sat on the throne, all interference 
 in the French affairs was carefully avoided by the British 
 government. The French ambassador, Chauvelin, remained 
 as representative of his sovereign in London, and was re- 
 cognised as such, as was also the British ambassador in Paris. 
 Indeed, even when the unfortunate Lewis was torn from the 
 throne and plunged with his family into prison, the sympa- 
 thy of England confined itself to the private demands of her 
 ambassador, whether he could contribute any thing to re- 
 lieve the wants of the unfortunate prince. The public rela- 
 tions were not changed till after the execution of the royal 
 martyr, and then without a war. The British ambassador 
 was recalled, and the recognition of Baron Chauvelin, to 
 whom the Convention had sent credentials, was withheld ; 
 he soon afterwards received orders to quit England. 
 
 These measures certainly not only expressed a just ab- 
 horrence, which the execution of the unfortunate monarch 
 had excited, but they implied likewise a refusal to recognise 
 the newly-constituted republic, and with it the avowal that 
 England would not enter into political relations with it. 
 Although the prospects were in consequence clouded, no 
 hostilities immediately ensued. It is of great importance 
 for the practical purposes of politics, to have a clear under- 
 standing, that the provisional breaking off of relations be- 
 tween states does not amount to a declaration of war. Nego- 
 tiations between two states presuppose in both a regular 
 system of government. How can a government negotiate 
 with a state which itself acknowledges that it is occupied in 
 effecting a revolution, and wishes first to give itself a new 
 constitution, and at the same time a different government. 
 Other causes, however, soon concurred to render the par- 
 ticipation of England in the war unavoidable. Notwith- 
 standing their disavowal of any intention of aggrandizement, 
 the new republic not only assumed the character of a con- 
 queror, but even scoffed at the laws of nations, which had 
 been hitherto recognised, by immediately appropriating to 
 herself the provinces of Avignon and Savoy, which had been 
 taken from the pope and king of Sardinia. But that which 
 more nearly concerned England was the invasion of the 
 Austrian Netherlands, which followed in the autumn, 1792. 
 These provinces formed, as we observed above, the bridge 
 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 465 
 
 which connected England with the continent, and above all 
 with Austria. The partial suspension of the embargo upon 
 the navigation of the Scheldt, which rested on the faith of 
 treaties, was a new specimen of the republican code of in- 
 ternational law. But that which must have most disturbed 
 the tranquillity of England under the circumstances of those 
 times, was the danger with which the Republic menaced the 
 United Netherlands. At the head of this state stood the 
 house of Orange, which had been for five years past rein- 
 stated in its privileges ; with this house England, in con- 
 junction with Prussia, had concluded the triple alliance, 
 and in the same had guaranteed to it its prerogatives. It 
 was precisely gainst this very house, that the attacks of 
 France, in her desire to conciliate or maintain the support 
 of the popular party, were directed. Could a war under 
 such circumstances be avoided ? Yet the war was not de- 
 clared by England, but by France. The 1st Feb., 1793, 
 was the day on which a declaration of war was issued at the 
 same time against England and the stadtholder. 
 
 " What was," says Pitt, in one of his early speeches, "the 
 state of this country with respect to France, previous to the 
 declaration of war on her part ? We then contended, first, 
 that she had broken a treaty with our allies, which we were 
 bound to support: secondly. That she had engaged in 
 schemes of ambition and aggrandizement, inconsistent with 
 the interests of this country and the general security of 
 Europe : thirdly. That she had entertained principles hos- 
 tile to all governments, and more particularly to our own. 
 In consequence of all these circumstances, you then de- 
 clared, in addresses to his Majesty, that if proper satisfaction 
 was not obtained, a war must be the consequence. But 
 while this was in agitation, they had themselves declared 
 war, and been guilty of a sudden and unprovoked aggres- 
 sion upon this country." 
 
 " Acts of hostility," says the minister, upon a later occa- 
 sion, " had been openly threatened against our allies ; an 
 hostility founded upon the assumption of a right which 
 would at once supersede the whole law of nations : a de- 
 mand was made by France upon Holland, to open the 
 navigation of the Scheldt, on the ground of a general and 
 national right, in violation of positive treaty ; this claim we 
 
 2 H 
 
u 
 
 466 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 « 
 
 IJ 
 
 U / 
 
 discussed, at the time, not so much on account of its imme- 
 diate importance, (though it was important both in a man- 
 time and commercial view,) as on account of the general 
 principle on which it was founded. On the same arbitrary 
 notion they soon afterwards discovered that sacred law ot 
 nature, which made the Rhine and the Alps the legitimate 
 boundaries of France, and assumed the power which they 
 have affected to exercise through the whole of the revolu- 
 tion, of superseding, by a new code of their own, all the 
 recognised principles of the law of nations They were 
 actually advancing towards the republic of Holland by rapid 
 strides, after the victory of Jemappe ; they had ordered their 
 generals to pursue the Austrian troops into any neutral 
 country ; thereby explicitly avowing an intention of invading 
 Holland. They had already shown their moderation and 
 self-denial, by incorporating Belgium with the French re- 
 public. These lovers of peace, who set out with a sworn 
 aversion to conquest, and professions of respect for the 
 independence of other nations ; who pretend that they 
 departed from this system only in consequence of your ag- 
 gression, themselves in time of peace, while you were still 
 confessedly neutral, without the pretence or shadow of pro- 
 vocation, wrested Savoy from the king of Sardinia, and had 
 proceeded to incorporate it likewise with trance. Ihese 
 were their aggressions at this period ; and more than these. 
 They had issued a universal declaration of war against all 
 the thrones of Europe ; and they had by their conduct, ap- 
 plied it particularly and specifically to you ; they had passed 
 the decree of the 19th February, 1792, proclaiming the 
 promise of French succour to all nations who should mani- 
 fest a wish to become free : they had by all their language, 
 as well as their example, shown what they understood to be 
 freedom ; they had sealed their principles by the deposition 
 of their sovereign ; they had applied them to England by 
 inviting and encouraging the addresses of those seditious 
 and traitorous societies, who, from the beginning, favoured 
 their views, and who, encouraged by your forbearance, were 
 even then publicly avowing French doctrines, and antici- 
 pating their success in this country ; who were hailing the 
 progress of those proceedings in France, which led to the 
 munJer of its king : they were even then looking to the day 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 467 
 
 when they should behold a National Convention in England 
 formed upon similar principles."^ ' 
 
 After this, the frequently contested question, who was the 
 originator of the war, requires no further investigation.^ 
 Even if France had not first declared it, she would notwith- 
 standing have been the aggressor ; for this charge attaches 
 to those who desire war without provocation.^ Thus then 
 England enrolled herself amongst the belligerent powers. 
 It is necessary to cast a glance at her position at that time 
 with regard to the continent. 
 
 Austria, Prussia, Sardinia, and some of the German states, 
 and soon after the whole empire, were already, at this 
 period, in a state of war with France. It was easy at the 
 same time to foresee that other states would take up arms, 
 partly in self-defence, partly, as was the case with Spain] 
 from indignation at the execution of the king. But at this 
 critical juncture, the system of standing armies had been 
 carried on by the principal states of the continent to a degree 
 which was no longer consistent with their resources. These 
 scarcely sufficed to keep the great mass of stipendiary forces 
 from mutiny. The extraordinary expenses of the war ex- 
 ceeded the resources of the states, and rendered it impossible 
 to employ the whole force which they had under arms. 
 England, in respect to naval power, might with good reason 
 calculate upon vanquishing and possibly annihilating the 
 fleets of France ; and thus pave the way for the conquest of 
 her colonies. But, however alluring these prospects might 
 be, she could not flatter herself with the hope of thus bring- 
 ing the war to a termination. Those conquests, however well 
 they might have succeeded, could only, as Pitt himself ex- 
 presses it,* have a collateral influence. France at that period, 
 besides having been already by her own fault deprived of her 
 most valuable colony, St. Domingo, did not attach so much 
 importance to the rest, as would have been the case in earlier 
 
 ' Pitt's Speeches, iii. p. 97. ' 
 
 * A m)rk, expressly on this subject, appeared from the pen of an English- 
 man, Herbert Marsh, upon the causes of the war between England and 
 France. Leipsig, 1796. 
 
 * Which party, whether the Girondists, as is asserted, or the violent Ja- 
 cobin party, made the declaration of war, is of no importance in the solution 
 of this question. And can it be supposed that the last were deterred by any 
 other motive than because the time did not seem opportune ? 
 
 * Speeches, 1. c. 
 
 2 H 2 
 
 ,1. 
 
 Ill 
 
468 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 469 
 
 'u ) 
 
 I,- 
 
 
 
 
 • I 
 
 
 h ) 
 
 times. The contest must be decided by a land, and not by 
 a naval force, and the formation of a league with the con- 
 tinental powers was the natural consequence. A series ot 
 alliances, from Portugal to Russia, followed in the same year, 
 1793 In order to estimate these, and to form an opinion 
 of the general conduct of Pitt, we must place ourselves in 
 his position. England certainly was in a certain sense the 
 centre of the first league against France ; but this league 
 remained to a certain degree ineffectual : it was not in the 
 power of the British minister to direct the energies ot the 
 allies at his discretion. It was ineffectual with respect to a 
 leading power, Russia. Although Catharine II., as early as 
 March 25, 1793, surpassed all the others in her eagerness 
 to conclude an alliance with England ; although she declared 
 herself in a state of war with France ; although her voice 
 predominated above all, she still, in spite of all this, did least 
 of any. Her views were directed to other objects ; hrst, to 
 the renewal of the advantageous commercial treaty with 
 England of the year 1766 ; secondly, and above all, to the 
 carrying into execution her new and unjust design ot a 
 partition of the too unhappy Poland, which was effected 
 in this veiy summer. Thus the certainty of not havmg 
 Russia for an antagonist was the only advantage which 
 England derived from this connexion. Among the other 
 continental powers, Austria and Prussia were naturally those 
 with which the first and strongest connexions were formed ; 
 after these, came Spain, Sardinia, Portugal, and some smaller 
 states. Most of these states were in the situation which we 
 have already alluded to, their finances were greatly dispro- 
 portioned to their military force. The natural consequence 
 was that they sought assistance, where alone they could find 
 it, in Great Britain. Thus not only was the subsidy- system 
 of eariier times renewed, but carried to a much greater ex- 
 tent than it had been before. The war was for the most 
 part carried on at the expense of England. During the 
 eight years which elapsed between 1793 and Pitt's retire- 
 ment from the ministry, loans to the amount of twenty-three 
 millions sterling had been on the average yearly advanced 
 by the minister. The British ministry was certainly, on this 
 account, allowed to exercise a great influence in the conduct 
 of the war; yet never so decisive a one as to have the 
 
 direction of it entirely in their own hands. The plan of 
 every campaign had to be jointly concerted ; the continental 
 powers moreover had each naturally their several interests 
 to be regarded. A mere minister of state is not capable, as 
 such, of being unconditionally the soul of a large confederacy. 
 It is only when the statesman and general are combined, as 
 in Marlborough and William III., that this can occur. The 
 wish of the minister was to arm, if possible, all Europe 
 against France. But it was not in his power to accomplish 
 this on a systematic plan, much less to give a permanent 
 and systematic direction to the confederacy. 
 
 We must bear this in mind while considering the cam- 
 paigns of 1793 and 1794. The first was successful. In 
 consequence of the battle of Neerwinden, the French armies 
 were compelled to evacuate Belgium. This gave England 
 an opportunity of taking an active part in the war on the 
 continent. An English-Hanoverian army united itself with 
 the Austrian in the Netherlands, and these provinces be- 
 came again what they had often been before, the bridge be- 
 tween two allied powers. Even the republic of the United 
 Netherlands, now covered by the allied armies, appeared as 
 a participator in the common field of battle. But the pos- 
 ture of affairs underwent a change in the following year. 
 The system of terrorism established in France, which left 
 security only in the armies, drove every one to arms capable 
 of bearing them. Her preponderating power, and the new 
 system of warfare which spared no men, decided the ques- 
 tion : in the autumn of 1794, Belgium was again in the 
 hands of the French. More severe reverses were soon to 
 follow. An intense frost covered the rivers, the natural 
 bulwarks of Holland, with a sheet of ice. The defence of 
 the republic was impossible. The house of Orange fled to 
 England ; and the patriot party in expectation of a golden 
 futurity received their new friends with open arms.^ 
 
 This conquest of the republic had a double effect on the 
 continental policy of England. In the first place it put an 
 end to the direct participation of England in the war on the 
 continent, inasmuch as she had now no field of action on 
 which her armies could enter. Henceforward therefore she 
 was obliged to confine her participation in the continental 
 
 * In January, 1795. 
 
 :>! 
 
470 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 war to the advice and support which she gave her confeder- 
 ates. A second consequence was the commencement of a 
 dissolution of the league, since one of its members had not 
 only seceded from it, but had even gone over to the enemy. 
 But this first separation was only the precursor of one still 
 greater, to which, in some measure, it contributed. By the 
 summer of 1795, England had lost two of her principal 
 
 allies, Prussia and Spain. , , t^ i . n .. • 
 
 The secession of Prussia must no doubt be cbietly attri- 
 buted to financial embarrassments, which the subsidies of 
 England could not relieve, as the main cause lay in the pro- 
 digality of its financial administration. But it is no less 
 certain that false political principles had also a material in- 
 fluence upon her. An idea had existed from the early part 
 of the reign of Frederic II., that Prussia and France were 
 natural allies, an idea which France upon every opportunity 
 endeavoured to revive. This idea, however, was manifestly 
 grounded on the earlier relations in which France and Aus- 
 tria at one time, and Prussia and Austria at another, re- 
 spectively stood towards each other. So long as the rivalry 
 lasted between France and Austria, Prussia was for France 
 the most advantageous ally ; and after Prussia, by the con- 
 quest of Silesia, had entered the field as the antagonist of 
 Austria, France was certainly so for Prussia. How Frederic 
 II. availed himself of this has been shown above. This con- 
 nexion rested solely on political relations, which were in 
 their very nature mutable, and which had actually changed, 
 since Austria and Prussia had become friends, and even 
 allies ; from the time that Austria had ceased to be annoyed 
 at the loss of Silesia, Prussia could no longer be called the 
 natural friend of France. But it is a phenomenon of fre- 
 quent occurrence in politics, that political feelings are fre- 
 quently called into play, even after the circumstances which 
 gave them birth have ceased. Again, by the conquest of 
 Holland, the position of Prussia in respect to the war was 
 geographically changed. Her western provinces, protected 
 by few fortresses, lay open to every assault. But that which 
 operated most powerfully was, the brilliant prospects which 
 France displayed before her, of future aggrandizement, in 
 the shape of indemnifications ; as the limited possessions of 
 Prussia on this side the Rhine remained, from the peace of 
 
 ■Mf H ilBI Bi llM iliM 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 471 
 
 • 
 
 Basle till the conclusion of the general peace, in the hands 
 of France. Thus England lost one of her principal aUies 
 on the continent, though not by any fault of her own ; for 
 Pitt still continued to advance subsidies, even when a zeal- 
 ous co-operation in the war could no longer be expected. 
 Prussia now adopted a system of neutrality ; to which Han- 
 over and the other provinces of Northern Germany acceded. 
 
 In the course of the summer, Spain also withdrew from 
 the league ; the peace which she concluded at Basle placing 
 her in the condition of a neutral state. Her participa- 
 tion in the war had been founded less on political than on 
 family motives. The Bourbons who were seated on the 
 Spanish throne, regarded the ignominious fate of their house 
 as an insult offered to themselves. But their animosity had 
 gradually subsided, or they thought they had been sufficiently 
 avenged ; greater facilities too were here offered for peace, 
 inasmuch as, at least in Europe, no claim had been made to 
 conquest on either side. The cession of her share of St. 
 Domingo to France was, properly, only the fulfilment of an 
 ancient treaty, in which Spain had engaged to resign this 
 possession in return for another held by France — Louisiana. 
 
 Thus was the first great confederacy, or as it was then 
 usually expressed, the first coalition against France dissolved. 
 Its dissolution cannot be considered otherwise than calamit- 
 ous, because the object of the war had not been as yet 
 attained. The articles of the peace of Basle were even con- 
 cluded with the National Convention, which, in spite of all 
 its protestations, could not be supposed to have renounced 
 its revolutionary principles. Thus, too, was exhibited the 
 first example, that England was by no means capable of 
 holding together the league which she had formed. Still, 
 after all, the league was not altogether broken asunder; 
 Austria, the most powerful ally of England on the continent, 
 still remained, and by her successful operations on the Rhine, 
 reanimated her courage. Besides Austria she had also re- 
 maining South Germany, Bavaria and its other states: In 
 Italy she had also remaining Sardinia, which from the for- 
 tresses of Piedmont was the key of that country. She had 
 also Naples, valuable for her sea-ports. In the west of Eu- 
 rope, she had still left Portugal, whose political relations 
 were determined by her commercial connexions. So long, 
 
47« 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 therefore, as the war lasted, it might naturally be expected 
 she would earnestly exert herself to draw more closely toge- 
 ther the ties which connected her with the other allies. As 
 early as the 18th Feb. of this year, 1795, a new defensive 
 alliance was concluded with Catharine II., with reciprocal 
 guarantees of possessions held by either party, which, like 
 the first, was unproductive of any material consequences ; 
 on the 20th May, a contract with Austria : these two were 
 the foundations of the triple alliance, concluded on the 28th 
 September ; the conditions of which have not been made 
 known to the public. A new loan was granted to Austria 
 
 in the same year. 
 
 The renewal of the connexion with Russia happened in 
 the same year in which Catharine consummated her designs 
 against Poland, by a third and final partition. England 
 abstained from any active interference in these proceedings. 
 Pitt, in his negotiations respecting the treaty of Russia with 
 Turkey, had experienced how hazardous it was to interfere 
 with the designs of Catharine. Whether the British cabinet 
 would have manifested this passive spirit in more tranquil 
 times, may admit of doubt ; that resistance, under the exist- 
 ing circumstances, would have disturbed the good under- 
 standing with her aUies, and perhaps, if it had been energe- 
 tic, would have led to a war with Russia, is as evident, as it 
 is improbable that any resistance could have prevented the 
 dismemberment. Nevertheless, the opposition in parliament 
 did not neglect to avail themselves of this ground for assailing 
 the minister. He answered them briefly in his speech of May 
 10, 1796, in reply to Mr. Fox.* " Are ministers to be 
 blamed," said he, " for not doing what it would be hazard- 
 ous in them to attempt ? and would it not be hazardous to 
 propose a mediation where both parties were not ready to 
 agree ? To have erected ourselves into arbiters, could only 
 expose us to difficulties and disputes, if we were determined, 
 as we ought to be, to enforce that mediation on the parties 
 who refused to admit it. And what is the great use which 
 the honourable gentleman seems to be so eager to derive 
 
 ' Speeches, vol. ii. p. 169. It is a part of the ordinary tactics of the oppo- 
 sition to embarrass ministers by reproaches for having suffered this or that 
 to happen in Europe. The most recent events of history afford evidence of 
 this. The reproaches would have been without doubt much more violent in 
 the opposite case. 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 473 
 
 from that peace, if so procured ? Is it fit that we should go 
 to war in order to prevent the partition of Poland ? In gene- 
 ral policy I am ready to confess that this partition is unjust ; 
 but it does not go, as is said, to overturn the balance of 
 power in Europe, for which the right honourable gentleman, 
 as it suits his argument, expresses greater or less solicitude ; 
 for that country being nearly divided equally between three 
 great powers, it can little contribute to the undue aggrand- 
 izement of either." 
 
 It was not compatible with the plan of the minister at 
 this time to take up this subject on the different and higher 
 grounds, which easily and spontaneously suggest them- 
 selves. 
 
 The whole energies of England were thus left to be di- 
 rected against France, who in this same year obtained a 
 great accession of power by drawing Spain from her neutral 
 position to become her active ally. This she effected by the 
 alliance-compact of August 10, 1796, by which the weaker 
 state completely identified her fortunes with the more pow- 
 erful, and which necessarily paved the way for its subsequent 
 fate. This connexion became immediately of importance to 
 France, inasmuch as it drew into her interest a naval power 
 whose fleet she might expect in some measure would repair 
 the loss of her own. Experience has shown how vain this 
 hope was. The war with Spain necessarily became a mari- 
 time one ; and, as formerly happened on the invasion of the 
 United Netherlands, materially contributed to procure for 
 England that sovereign command of the sea, which became 
 afterwards the subject of so many complaints and reproaches. 
 A war with Spain was besides generally very popular in 
 England, and particularly wished for by the British navy, 
 since it promised a rich booty to privateers as well as to 
 ships of the line. 
 
 As long therefore as Russia remained inactive, Austria 
 continued to be the principal ally of England, and at the 
 same time the principal foe which France had to encouhter 
 on the continent. If Austria were conquered or forced to 
 make peace, the weaker allies must follow of course. The 
 great object of the French government, which had been for 
 a short time in the hands of the Directory,' was to accom- 
 
 • In October, 1 795, after the completion of the new constitution and the 
 
474 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 plish this object. Three armies were to make an attempt 
 on three different points to force a way into the heart of this 
 monarchy in the summer of 1796, in order, if possible, to 
 dictate peace in the capital itself One proceeding from the 
 Lower Rhine under General Jourdan, was to penetrate 
 through Franconia; a second under General Moreau, 
 through Swabia and Bavaria ; while another under the new 
 general-in-chief, Buonaparte, drove back the Austrian force 
 in Lombardy. The unsuccessful issue of this plan is well 
 known. Austria found in her own imperial house (a dis- 
 covery of inestimable importance for her cause) the general 
 and hero who held her enemies at bay. Jourdan, defeated 
 at Amberg and Wiirsburg, hastened back across the Rhine 
 with the relics of his army ; Moreau was also obliged to make 
 a retreat. These victories, however, had no effect on Italy. 
 There the commander-in-chief, relying solely upon himself, 
 pursued his own course undisturbed. While those events 
 were taking place in Germany, he completely established 
 the influence of France in Italy ; and this country, which 
 had been hitherto only a subordinate seat of the war, was 
 made by him the theatre of its great operations. Here 
 Austria, and with her, England, had a train of allies, among 
 whom Sardinia was in every respect pre-eminent. Her 
 territories are, by their position and their fortresses, the key 
 of Italy. The first object, therefore, of the new generalis- 
 simo was to dissever this connexion, and to force Sardinia 
 into a separate treaty. A few weeks sufficed for the execu- 
 tion of this project. By the 17th May, 1796, Victor Amadeus 
 saw himself compelled to sign a peace, by which he not only 
 renounced Savoy and Nice, but even received French gar- 
 risons into his principal fortresses. Thus England lost one 
 of her allies, who had formed for the last hundred years an 
 important link in the chain of her continental relations, and 
 Austria a friend who had never been of greater importance 
 to her than at the present crisis. They were now both obliged 
 " to depend on their own resources, for no dependence could 
 any longer be placed on the other states of Italy, which were 
 well satisfied if they could obtain by negotiation or purchase 
 an armistice or a peace. Austria might now expect to be 
 
 dissolution of the National Convention, the Directory, consisting of five 
 members, was established. 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 475 
 
 attacked in a new quarter, and to see, in the event of her 
 main fortress, Mantua, falling, the French armies in her 
 southern provinces, that being the only impediment to the 
 advance of the enemy. It was invested in July, and no 
 wonder she strained every nerve to save it. Three armies 
 were raised, vanquished, again raised, and after all to no 
 purpose ! Mantua, on the 2nd of Feb. of the ensuing year, 
 opened her gates to the conqueror; the rest of Italy had 
 already obtained peace either by submission or negotiation, 
 and an entrance was opened into Carinthia and Carniola, as 
 well as into the south of the Tyrol ; it seemed indeed ques- 
 tionable whether the progress of the warrior, who had pene- 
 trated into the heart of the state, could be arrested. Napo- 
 leon himself was not insensible to the hazard of his situation ; 
 but the new system of politics afforded him a resource, by 
 making an amicable arrangement at the expense of a neu- 
 tral state. The preliminaries at Leoben on the 18th April, 
 which were afterwards transformed with some important 
 alterations into a definitive treaty on the 17th October, at 
 Campo Formio, restored peace to the continent — the re- 
 public of Venice being made the sacrifice. 
 
 We shall only consider this peace in relation to England. 
 There was certainly nothing concluded in it which imme- 
 diately affected this country, but as the English coalition 
 now ceased of itself, the renewal of it was evidently rendered 
 more difficult in future, as Austria, by this peace, in con- 
 sideration of the indemnification which she obtained, in a 
 large share in the Venetian territory, resigned her portion 
 of the Netherlands in favour of France ; the great import- 
 ance of which, in the mutual relation of both powers, has 
 been clearly demonstrated above. The occupation of the 
 Graeco-Venetian islands, which those treaties ceded to France, 
 was another, by no means unimportant, consequence of that 
 peace to England, since they were likely to affect her rela- 
 tions in the Mediterranean and with the Porte. 
 
 Thus the great confederation against France was cbm- 
 pletely dissolved, and at the end of the year 1797, England 
 stood alone, unsupported by any allies on the continent 
 (with the exception perhaps of Portugal^) against France 
 and her allies. It now became a great and important ques- 
 
 * With Portugal also France had concluded a peace on the 20th of August ; 
 
 ■^kHi^M^M^^^H| 
 

 •J 
 ll 
 
 476 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 477 
 
 tion, whether she should continue the war or conclude a 
 peace'! The opposition lost no opportunity of inveighing 
 against the ministers on account of the continuance of the 
 
 war. " That it was a war without an object. That they 
 
 combated principles which ought not to be combated with 
 arms. That they were willing to make no peace with the 
 republic of France ; that they aimed at the restoration of 
 the monarchy, or even of the ancient regime, which could 
 not be effected. What had been hitherto achieved by the 
 war ? France was now much more powerful than before the 
 conflict, and there was no hope of being able to reduce her 
 to her ancient boundaries." Such was the language deli- 
 vered on every opportunity by Fox, by Sheridan, and other 
 leaders of the opposition. 
 
 That the British cabinet was not decidedly indisposed to 
 peace, its proceedings had already evinced. In October, 
 1795, a new government had been established in France, 
 that of the Directory. It must be allowed that nothing 
 could then be done till experience had determined by what 
 spirit this new body was animated — whether the revolution- 
 ary principles of the conventional government, which had 
 made way for it, had descended upon it, or whether neigh- 
 bouring states might now dwell near it in security and peace. 
 But, however this might be, it was still a government, and as 
 such, whatever well-grounded apprehensions might at first be 
 entertained, it was the highest and only recognised authority 
 with which the British ministers could treat. However 
 faint might be their hopes respecting the final result, a door 
 of communication seemed now opened, and they might, at 
 least, ascertain at what price peace could be purchased. 
 England had already made two attempts at negotiation, and 
 she now made a third by sending over Lord Malmsbury as 
 ambassador. His first attempt, made at Paris, (Sept. — 
 Dec. 1796,) failed ; what hopes could be entertained from 
 the beginning of the final result, where the parties, instead 
 of proceeding heartily and with good faith, began by insist- 
 ing upon an ultimatum ? It was, nevertheless, renewed at 
 lalle, (July— Sept. 1797, during the negotiations for peace 
 between France and Austria,) at first with a better prospect 
 
 which, however, after the suspension of negotiations ^th England, had 
 been again formally retracted on the 26th October, 
 
 of success, as a party of the Directory anxiously wished for 
 peace ; but this party being overpowered by the majority 
 and forcibly driven from office, it again fell to the ground ; 
 and, just as the negotiations with Austria were approaching 
 a pacific termination, the British ambassador received orders 
 to quit France, and England was left alone to struggle with 
 the enemy. 
 
 Now again the reiterated attacks of the opposition, the 
 loud demands Why he still continued the war ? When he 
 hoped to conclude a peace ? again compelled Pitt to explain 
 his views of the subject. He spoke them boldly and dis- 
 tinctly. However desirable the restoration of the monarchy 
 in France might be, (no one at this time ventured even to 
 think of the reinstatement of the Bourbons,) it was not in- 
 sisted upon as an absolute condition ; much less the entire 
 restoration of the ancient form of government. Even with 
 France as a republic peace might possibly be concluded, 
 provided that it could be a secure peace. But since the 
 politics of the Directory clearly showed that it had adopted 
 the revolutionary principles in all their force, Pitt resolutely 
 adhered to his principle : better no peace than an insecure 
 one ! " I have never believed," said he,^ " that we could not 
 treat with France as a republic. Whatever I may, in the 
 abstract, think of the kind of government called a republic, 
 whatever may be its fitness to the nation where it prevails, 
 there may be times when it would not be dangerous to 
 exist in its vicinity. But while the spirit of France remains 
 what at present it is, its government despotic, vindictive, 
 unjust, with a temper untamed, a character unchanged, if 
 its power to do wrong at all remains, there does not exist 
 any security for this country or Europe. In my view of se- 
 curity, every object of ambition and aggrandizement is 
 abandoned. Our simple object is security, just security, 
 with a little mixture of indemnification. These are the le- 
 gitimate objects of war at all times; and when we have 
 attained that end, we are in a condition to derive from 
 peace its beneficent advantages ; but until then, our duty 
 and our interest require that we should persevere unap- 
 palled in the struggle to which we were provoked. We 
 shall not be satisfied with a false security. War with all its 
 
 ' Speeches, iii. p. 85. 
 
 i 
 
f ' 
 
 i ^ 
 
 478 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 I! 
 
 
 
 U' 
 
 evils IS better than a peace in which there is nothing to be 
 seen but usurpation and injustice, dwelling with savage de- 
 light on the humble, prostrate condition of some timid, 
 suppliant people. We are not in arms against the opinions 
 of the closet, nor the speculations of the schools. We are at 
 war with armed opinions ; we are at war with those opinions 
 which the sword of audacious, unprincipled, and impious 
 innovation seeks to propagate amidst the ruin of empires, 
 the demolition of the altars of all religion, the destruction 
 of every venerable, and good, and liberal institution, under 
 whatever form of polity they have been raised ; and this, in 
 spite of the dissenting reason of men, in contempt of that 
 lawful authority which, in the settled order, superior talents 
 and superior virtues attain, crying out to them not to enter 
 on holy ground, nor to pollute the stream of eternal justice. 
 If it be asked whether I am determined to continue the war 
 till the republic be overthrown ? I answer, I do not confine 
 my views to the territorial limits of France ; I contemplate 
 the principles, character, and conduct of France ; I consider 
 what these are ; I see in them the issues of distraction, of infa- 
 my, and ruin, to every state in her alliance ; and therefore 1 
 say, that until the aspect of that mighty mass of iniquity and 
 folly is entirely changed ; until the character of the govern- 
 ment is totally reversed ; until, by the common consent of 
 the general voice of all men, I can with truth tell parlia- 
 ment, France is no longer terrible for her contempt of the 
 rights of every other nation — she no longer avows schemes 
 of universal empire — she has settled into a state whose 
 government can maintain those relations in their integrity, 
 in which alone civilized communities are to find their secu- 
 rity, and from which they are to derive their distinction and 
 their glory ; — until in the situation of France we have exhi- 
 bited to us those features of a wise, a just, and a liberal 
 policy, I cannot treat with her." 
 
 The Directory itself soon realized the views of the British 
 minister. The scandalous proceedings at the congress of 
 Rastadt ; the contumacious bearing of the French ambassa- 
 dors ; the seizure of Ehrenbreitstein in the midst of the 
 peace ; above all, the surreptitious attack upon Switzerland, 
 and the treatment she received, afforded stronger evidence 
 than the case required. Meanwhile England stood alone on 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 479 
 
 the field of battle ; the question was, how and where she 
 should be assailed ? The earlier attempts on the West Indies 
 and Ireland had failed ; — tke Egyptian e.vpedition followed. 
 
 We propose to consider this extraordinary and remarkable 
 enterprise only in one aspect, as to the influence which it 
 had and must have upon the British continental policy. It 
 soon assumed a greater and more comprehensive form than 
 might have been expected from the nature of the expedition. 
 
 The object of this enterprise being the colonization of the 
 fertile plains of Egypt, the result which France expected 
 from it was, properly speaking, the acquisition of an important 
 colonial possession, which might not only compensate the 
 loss of the West Indian islands, but by the altered direction 
 which it gave to the whole colonial system, might injure the 
 British colonies in the West Indies ; and perhaps even oper- 
 ate upon the relations in the East Indies. How far these 
 projects were feasible or not, may be reserved for a distinct 
 inquiry. It is enough that the apprehensions which they ex- 
 cited took such deep root in England, that the principle was 
 firmly embraced not to lay down the sword until that plan 
 was frustrated, — until Egypt was wrested from the French. 
 
 Certainly this war appeared, by the distance of its scene 
 from Europe, to have no connexion with the British conti- 
 nental policy ; indeed from its engaging so entirely the at- 
 tention and energies of Great Britain in a different part of 
 the world, it rather seemed to produce a relaxation in the 
 continental relations. The contrary, however, was the re- 
 sult. The Egyptian expedition became one of the principal 
 means of bringing about the second great confederacy or 
 coalition against France, which was directed by England — 
 and of which it remained the centre in an equal if not in a 
 still higher degree than it had been in that confederacy 
 which had been dissolved. 
 
 The expedition to Egypt thus became so pregnant with 
 consequences and so momentous in relation to the British 
 continental policy, that not only were the ancient cords for 
 the most part re-knit together again, but new ones were 
 likewise added. Amongst these must be enumerated as 
 more particularly important, the connexion with the Porte. 
 The storm which raged in the west of Europe had not yet 
 reached this state. Its position, its relations, and its often 
 
 ' fi 
 
M- 
 
 480 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 I.': 
 
 O: 
 
 blissful ignorance, had allowed it to remain neutral It had 
 been for two centuries and a half the ally of France, without 
 however taking part in her wars. England had had little 
 connexion with it. She had wished perhaps, though in vain, 
 to take an interest in its affairs before the conclusion of the 
 last peace ; but in this she was not actuated so much by a 
 tender solicitude for the Porte, as by jealousy on account of 
 the oTowing power of Russia. But now relations had 
 changed ;— Egypt belonged to the Porte ; which now also 
 discovered by experience that no public law afforded any 
 protection against the political code of the revolution. Its 
 oldest friend despoiled it, without any provocation, of one of 
 its best provinces ; and though this proceeding might be in- 
 explicable to them, they were quite sensible that an insult 
 had been offered them, which a semibarbarous people is of 
 all others usually least disposed to brook. The means for 
 gaining the divan failed ; their voice was raised for war ; 
 and under these circumstances it could not be difficult for 
 the British cabinet, when war was declared, to find in her 
 an ally. Both expectations proceeded rapidly to their ful- 
 filment. As early as the 12th Sept. the Porte issued a de- 
 claration of war against France, and by the 5th of January, 
 1799, a league was concluded, by which was stipulated mu- 
 tual assistance, their harbours were closed against the French 
 vessels, and they engaged not to make peace except with 
 mutual consent, and guaranteed to each other their posses- 
 sions. The alliance of the Porte differed only in one respect 
 from that of the other powers with England. The Porte 
 was the only power which received no subsidies, nor even 
 desired them. This connexion was for England, not only 
 of the highest importance in regard to her immediate object 
 and the present war, but it opened to her a new and daz- 
 zling prospect of the fortresses in the Mediterranean and the 
 trade in the Levant, which had been hitherto in the hands 
 of the French and Dutch ; but if it once passed into hers, it 
 would not be so easy to wrest it back from her. The sequel 
 has shown how these expectations were realized; it was 
 written in the book of fate that the fruits of the expedition 
 to Egypt, if we except its literary advantages, should not be 
 reaped by France, but by England. The importance of 
 this new continental connexion is sufficiently obvious. 
 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 481 
 
 But the expedition to Egypt was of service to the British 
 continental policy in another respect. At the time it was 
 set on foot, the spirit and courage of the continental powers 
 were at a low ebb. The haughty tone assumed by the 
 French plenipotentiaries at Rastadt had dispirited and hu- 
 miliated, as well as exasperated them. A new war was con- 
 sidered inevitable ; but all seemed afraid to strike the first 
 blow. Exactly at this crisis, and in this disposition of affairs, 
 the glorious victory of the Nile was achieved by Nelson.' 
 This however did not immediately affect the relations of the 
 continental powers, though it had an indirect influence upon 
 them. This humiliation of the haughty raised the courage 
 of the oppressed ; their confidence in England was revived ; 
 her exhortations and offers were listened to with more at- 
 tention, and what perhaps is almost without a parallel in 
 history, the effects of this victory were much greater in a 
 moral than in a military point of view. The relations of 
 France with Austria were already greatly disturbed. A new 
 war was felt at Vienna to be inevitable. That country was 
 only looking about for allies ; negotiations with Russia had 
 already been quietly going on during the interval of repose ; 
 it could not therefore be difficult for England to find an 
 opening. It was still more easy at Naples, where the per- 
 sonal influence of the ambassador, or rather of his consort, 
 Lady Hamilton, determined the queen, and through her the 
 court, and even excited them to a precipitate rupture, the 
 consequences of which were the occupation of Naples and 
 the flight of the king and the court to Sicily. 
 
 But a new connecting hnk in the chain of British conti- 
 nental policy was formed in Russia. The connexions with 
 Catharine, as well as their inefficacy, have been noticed 
 above. She had retired from the stage,^ and had made room 
 for her son and successor Paul. This period is not only 
 highly interesting as respects the British continental policy, 
 but to the whole state-system of Europe. With it com- 
 mences the active participation of Russia in the affairs of 
 the West, which Catharine had always studiously avoided. 
 And it might be foreseen that this could not easily be again 
 withdrawn, whatever change might take place in the cha- 
 racter and policy of the reigning prince. A power of the 
 
 * August 1st, 1798. « Nov. 16th, 1/96. 
 
 2 I 
 
 \ii 
 
 I 
 

 
 ^i 
 
 432 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 fi,«t order, having once adopted »^f ^'T^ Pf'f ?!" -^ 
 cannot eas Iv stand aloof, for any considerable time even it 
 r wished it, which it is almost absurd to suppose she could 
 she ^Jjhe^^^' ^^ ^diti,„ however had an essential in- 
 
 fluence in Sing about the co-operation of Russia. The 
 capture of Mafta by the French, having wrested this island 
 from its ancient possessors, the knights of the order of St 
 jX and^hreatened their order with extermination, imposed 
 in them the necessity of seeking a powerful protector 
 This thTy hoped to find in the emperor Paul, whom they 
 lteSi\^l gnind master, and thus drew over to ^e.r 
 interests one of the most powerful princes «f Europe who 
 flattered by the compliment, accepted their offer. 1 he per 
 S character of t^is prince, who always prosecuted his 
 Tshes with vehemence,\nd the desire ^e now showed^^^^ 
 draw into a league the whole of Europe, and who incleea 
 eroded alliances with Austria, England (who con^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 to subsidies ^ Naples, Portugal, and even w th the old here 
 dita^ W of Russia, theWe, removed every obstacle 
 Sese w^?e the elements of the great confederacy against 
 FrancT If we measure it solely by the extent and popula- 
 tion of the allied states, it was more powerful than the farst 
 But the neutrality which Pr«*«a maintained, and with her 
 Northern Germany, left a great chasm -l"«J could not b^ 
 filled up. It was not merely the want of the m»l tary torce 
 of PruL which caused this chasm to be sensibly felt but 
 rather the geographical position of this state. The halt ot 
 F^ncethe^whole northern half of it, according to its line 
 TfWier at that time, was covered ^Y t^s £-% ;^a^^^ 
 when after the successful progress of the allied armies, an 
 lack upon the southern half was "Ot ;mp«ssible 't w^,^^ 
 vious how difficult this must be rendered if France could 
 concentrate all her forces here for resistance. , 
 
 England thus again united the links of her continental 
 policy% this second confederacy, as fer«s circumstances 
 S^mittei She concluded an alliance with Austria, Russia, 
 ?faX and with the Porte. Circumstances did not admit 
 of its being extended to Prussia, or to Sardinia; since im- 
 mediately on the breaking out of the war wj^^h Naples, t^^^^ 
 Directory availed itself of that crisis for robbing its proper 
 iltyrwSout the least pretext, of all its possessions on the 
 
 \ 
 
 * 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 483 
 
 continent, and for banishing it to Sardinia. England was, 
 it is true, by her subsidies, in a certain sense the centre of 
 this second confederacy ; but yet in a less degree than of 
 the first. She was less capable of keeping it together. The 
 Porte received no subsidies. It might be foreseen that its 
 object went no further than the recovery of Egypt. Russia, 
 though she received subsidies, was yet by her position and 
 power virtually independent. But the greatest apprehen- 
 sions were founded upon the personal character of its sove- 
 reign ; whose policy was rather influenced by caprice and 
 momentary impressions, than built on any firm principles. 
 But all these things lay beyond the control of the British 
 minister. Whatever expectations he might have formed of 
 this confederacy, he could not conceal from himself the fact 
 that it was but feebly held together. The first result, how- 
 ever, seemed almost to surpass their expectations. They 
 had the good fortune to find great generals ; in Southern 
 Germany the Archduke Charles was victorious, in Italy the 
 redoubted Suwarrow, Still further, in the course of the 
 summer the French armies were driven back across the 
 Rhine and the Alps ; Switzerland was left only half occu- 
 pied by their troops. 
 
 But the year was not to end without the sky which had 
 thus brightened up becoming again overcast ; and the germs 
 of dissolution already developed themselves in the confe- 
 deracy. The apprehensions which the capricious policy of 
 the Russian sovereign necessarily excited were too soon to 
 be realized. What it was which disturbed the relations 
 with Austria, whether the disasters in Switzerland, or the 
 occupation of Piedmont, without its being immediately re- 
 stored to its legitimate king, has not been cleared up ; those 
 with England were deranged by the ill-combined and ill- 
 conducted enterprise against the north of Holland ;^ which 
 afforded the strongest proof that without the co-operation of 
 Prussia no effective attack upon France could be made from 
 the north. Paul I. withdrew from the confederacy, and it 
 was not long before there were reasons to apprehend that 
 he would go over to the other side. 
 
 The great alteration of affairs in consequence of the over- 
 throw of the Directorial government and the elevation of 
 
 » Aug. and Sept. 1799. 
 2 I 2 
 
 f 
 
ij 
 
 484 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 General Buonaparte, after his return from Egypt, to the 
 ^ToTfi^t conLl, or regent oj the Fren'.h state co^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 ImmpHiatelv exercise any considerable influence on the con 
 r«tSr of England The P««e»" «,°*„^ 
 to Endand in a letter to the king, altogether at variance 
 with the customary forms of diplomacy, clearly could not 
 S broue^^^^^^ this reason, because it was scarcely 
 
 Prpdiblef hat the proposal made in this manner was serious y 
 mea^^^^^^ E^g'^^^ with Russia were virtual y 
 
 Sved those with the^orte had only reference to 
 K those with Austria and the states of Southern 
 Sany were all, as far as regards the continent of Europe, 
 fh:To7d reckon'upon. But even th- -re^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^ 
 be torn from her by the campaign of 1800 .^^f.^if ^he 
 Marengo restored the ascendency of France m Italy , the 
 advance of Moreau through Suabia and Bavaria, and ast of 
 JSTs victory at Hohenlinden, opened a passage to the 
 AustL provinces. Austria saw herself driven to negotia- 
 tions, which brought on the peace at Luneville, and the 
 breaking off of her connexions with England, which, with- 
 out S would have naturally followed, was made a pre- 
 
 liminary condition of this treaty.^ j r» * i .i,;. 
 
 ThuTwith the exception of the Porte and Por ugal, his 
 second confederacy against France was also d^^^^lved^ 
 Eno-land for the second time stood almost alone . uncon- 
 queued to be sure as formerly, as inaccessible to assault as 
 ?ver, and with the confident expectation that the liberation 
 of Egypt would sooner or later be effected, of which, indeed 
 the capture of Malta, compelled by famine to surrender 
 seemed to afford her a pledge But the implacable hatred and 
 indefatigable policy of her adversary found means to set new 
 Enemies upon her? and to raise a new storm, of which the 
 altered relations with Russia formed the materials. A league 
 of the northern powers against England was now effected 
 
 The notion of the armed neutrality, which Catharine had 
 originated, was not extinct. It was in the nature of things 
 that so long as peace continued, during which there were 
 no enemies? and therefore no neutrals, it should slumber, 
 
 » Endand exempted Austria herself from her engagements JDec. 31, 1800 ; 
 whict t or^nrtS the l^t subsidy and amance- treaty, June 2«, 1^, would 
 have continued to the end of February, 1801. bept. 1^1. 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 485 
 
 because it admitted of no practical application. But it was 
 obvious that it would not be neglected in new wars, in 
 which circumstances should favour a revival of the scheme. 
 England had certainly given occasion for its restoration : 
 not only were the old subjects of controversy renewed, they 
 were even multiplied and augmented. The meaning of con- 
 traband was extended to a degree unheard of before ; even 
 corn and provisions were reckoned as such, in the vain 
 hope that France might be reduced to submission by 
 famine. One of the favourite ideas of Pitt was to ruin the 
 commerce, and above all, the maritime commerce, of France, 
 because he fancied he had discovered the means thereby of 
 forcing her to a peace. The allied powers readily con- 
 curred in his views; it was a standing article in the leagues 
 which were formed to close their harbours against the 
 French shipping. The only alternative, therefore, that 
 France had left, was to carry on its trade in the ships of neu- 
 tral nations ; but never was England less disposed to tolerate 
 this than at the present time. The pressure, therefore, ne- 
 cessarily fell on those neutrals which had a traffic of their 
 own, in which class only the northern powers of Europe 
 could be reckoned. No sooner was the principle once ad- 
 mitted, that an enemy's goods in neutral ships was fair 
 booty, than the claim to search neutral ships became a 
 direct consequence of this admission ; and who could fail to 
 perceive what disputes and altercation such searches must 
 lead to, whether the property of an enemy should be disco- 
 vered or not. 
 
 The assertion, that the neutrality of the flag protected 
 the cargo, even though the property of an enemy, cannot 
 be proved from the law of nature, but rests upon conven- 
 tional principles of international law, founded either on 
 mere custom or positive compact.* The idea of neutrality, 
 according to our conception of it, extends only to the notion 
 that every neutral ought to be at liberty to offer for saJe, to 
 belligerent parties the products of its own country, (so far as 
 they are not acknowledged to be contraband,) as its own 
 
 * In order not to interrupt the thread of the inquiry, I have thought it 
 better to investigate the claims of the armed neutrality, considered in this 
 point of view, in an appendix to the present treatise ; the more so because, 
 with the majority of readers, the ideas on this subject can hardly be suffi- 
 ciently accurate. 
 
 f 
 
'f 
 
 1, 
 
 w 
 
 486 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 property ; as well again as to fetch, as its o^" P^^Frty, the 
 goods which he has bought of these and pa,d for, but not o 
 offer them for sale to others as the property of the people 
 engaged in the war. As far as practical policy is concerned, 
 it is most important to observe, that the whole question may 
 be of greater or less importance according to the ditterent 
 relations and the position of the belligerent nations ; and 
 that it is therefore scarcely to be expected, that the conven- 
 tional policy on the question should be always consistent 
 and universally agreed upon. Let us consider for example, 
 the case of a people whose wealth and power chiefly depends 
 upon its maritime commerce, and, above all, upon an active 
 trade with its colonies; can it be supposed for a moment, 
 that its opponent, in case it be powerful enough to hinder 
 it, will quietly suffer that commerce now to be carried on 
 in forei^ ships instead of in its own ? And, above al , will 
 it quietty suff-er this trade not only to be carried on to the 
 extent which was customary in time of peace, but even to a 
 still greater, from the ports of the colonies, which were for- 
 merly closed against foreigners, being now thrown open by 
 the colonists for the conveyance of their products ; their own 
 ships being excluded from trafficking.' Would a naval 
 power at war with Spain, allow foreign ships to convey to 
 her stores from Peru and Mexico, without which perhaps 
 she would be obliged to give up the contest ? We are here 
 speaking only of the general principle and the consequences 
 which flow from it ; far be it from us to vindicate the abu^ 
 to which the rejection of it has ed. Far be it from us to 
 justify it, if more than the goods which upon search have 
 been found to belong to the enemy, if perhaps even the 
 ship itself has been confiscated, with all ite cargo. 
 
 The revival of the project of an armed neutrality was a 
 consequence of the perfect unanimity into which the regent 
 
 • On the British side, the question is best elucidated by Pitt in his speech 
 S^Cif convenience, because theVatness and P-^P^^dejaUng we.gh^^^^^ 
 
 Sy. on the ground of positive compacts which are opposed to it. See 
 below in the Appendix. 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 487 
 
 of France had succeeded in drawing the then sovereign of 
 the Russian empire. The revival of this measure might 
 seem the more surprising since it was a measure of Catha- 
 rine II., which Paul I. was otherwise certainly not disposed 
 to revive. It was now followed up with all the impetuosity 
 which marked his character : not only Denmark and Sweden, 
 but Prussia also was obliged to accede to it, or to run the 
 risk of being treated as an enemy. The claims were the 
 same as under Catharine, only in consequence of a remark- 
 able incident, a new one had been annexed. A Danish con- 
 voy, accompanied by a frigate,^ was compelled to undergo a 
 search ; whereas according to the maritime laws in force up 
 to that time, the convoy of a man of war furnished security, 
 that the vessels under her protection had no contraband 
 goods on board. 
 
 By the institution of this league England was placed in a 
 state of hostility towards this half of Europe. The deter- 
 mination of the question, whether the claims of the armed 
 neutrality are, on a general view, compatible with the law of 
 nations or not, we will leave to theorists ; that England, un- 
 der existing circumstances, could not suffer the commerce 
 of its enemy to be freely carried on under neutral flags, we 
 believe no practical statesman, whose judgment is unbiassed 
 by party prejudice, will deny. Indeed we have no hesita- 
 tion in asserting that an international maritime law will 
 never be established further than on paper, so long as that 
 principle shall be maintained in its full extent ; the present 
 vast importance of maritime commerce to many of the states 
 will not permit more. The just censure to which England 
 was amenable in those times does not lie, in our opinion, in 
 her refusal to recognise that principle, but in the unjust ex- 
 tension which she gave to her claims and to her proceedings 
 respecting prizes. If she had only confined her claims to 
 the seizure of the enemy's goods ; if she had exercised strict 
 justice in everything else, and treated neutrals as neutrals, 
 the whole contest might perhaps have been superseded. 
 
 Be that as it may, it was no longer possible for England 
 to avoid the conflict. The measure which Paul I. em- 
 pl6yed in seizing upon all English ships in his ports, was 
 equivalent to an act of hostility ; and in politics as well as 
 
 ' The frigate Freja j she was taken and brought to England. 
 
488 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 l<f 
 
 1 
 
 in private life it is an acknowledged principle, that a state 
 cannot submit to an affront without degrading itself. A 
 British fleet passed through the Sound ; the attack upon 
 Copenhagen followed ; ' and perhaps no blood would have 
 been spilt if it had been known on the 2nd April at Copen- 
 hagen what had transpired on the 24th of March at 
 Petersburg. 
 
 The succession of Alexander to the Russian throne had 
 the happiest efiects on the continental relations of England. 
 The northern league dissolved of itself (there had indeed 
 been only a partial acquiescence in its formation) immedi- 
 ately the new emperor offered the hand of friendship to 
 England. It fell to the ground without leaving behind any 
 permanent traces of its existence ; nothing was determined 
 respecting the principles of international maritime law; 
 even the claims of England were, to a certain extent, tacitly 
 recognised. She had, though not strictly allies, yet at least 
 friends, in the North. The armed neutrality now survives 
 only in history ; it is scarcely possible that it should again 
 exist in Europe ; though it may possibly be recalled into 
 being by America. 
 
 The British poHcy was directed to other objects. The 
 time approached when England was to retire from the con- 
 flict, which she had now carried on for nine years without 
 intermission. The deliverance of Egypt had removed out 
 of the way a main obstacle, and facilitated the negotiations ; 
 preliminaries of peace were signed in the autumn of the 
 same year,* and its final ratification at Amiens was only de- 
 layed by the determinations respecting Malta to the spring 
 of the following year.^ Even on this occasion the peace 
 was not concluded by the same minister who had conducted 
 the war. William Pitt had previously made way for his 
 successor Addington; though not by compulsion as formerly, 
 but voluntarily. In fiiU possession of power, and of a ma- 
 jority in parliament, he resigned his post, because his opinions 
 on Catholic Emancipation, which was to crown his great and 
 newly achieved work, the union of Ireland and England 
 into one kingdom, did not harmonize with those of his sove- 
 reign. And if George III. did not hesitate to accept the 
 resignation of his long-tried counsellor and friend, rather 
 
 » April 2, 1801. =* Oct 1, 1801. » March 25, 1802. 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 489 
 
 than wound his conscience, the minister showed no less ten- 
 derness for the dictates of his, by quitting office, when his 
 measures were no longer approved : ' though poor and in debt, 
 notwithstanding the treasures of the world had passed through 
 his hands, he preferred retiring from the glory of supreme 
 power into private life.^ The peace of Amiens, however, 
 may in some measure be considered as his peace, inasmuch 
 as it was not concluded without his approbation and advice. 
 His successor was not his opponent, but the friend of his 
 youth ; the ex-minister did not take his seat, as was usually 
 the case, on the opposition bench, but on the right-hand side, 
 on which for so long a series of years he had directed and 
 determined the destinies of Great Britain, and not unfre- 
 quently of Europe. 
 
 By virtue of the peace of Amiens, Great Britain ceded all 
 her conquests in the colonies, together with Malta, to their 
 former possessors, with the exception only of Trinidad and 
 Ceylon, which Spain and the Batavian republic were obliged 
 to cede to her ; very dear conquests in return for a debt of 
 300 millions steriing, which the war had cost!^ But who 
 will take so narrow a view of this peace ? We have already 
 on another occasion given our opinion of the criterion by 
 which the value of this peace should be estimated ; namely, 
 how far the object for which the war had been commenced 
 and carried on was attained by it. This was not merely the 
 conquest of a few islands ; but two objects of a much higher 
 character ; the maintenance of the constitution and inde- 
 pendence of Great Britain, and the freedom and independ- 
 ence of Europe against the encroachments of France. 
 
 ' That this was the real cause, there is not a shadow of doubt. The very 
 expressions of the great statesman on the subject, with the tenderest forbear- 
 ance to his sovereign, may be seen in the speech of May 13, 1805. Speeches, 
 iii. 420, sq. « teh. 9, 1801. 
 
 ' That portion of these sums which went abroad consisted partly of loans 
 which England guaranteed— capital as well as interest, and which, until their 
 reimbursement, make up a part of the national debt ; partly in subsidies, that 
 is, sums granted by virtue of compact for certain services, which caimot* 
 therefore be reclaimed. Only two loans were advanced during the two ad- 
 ministrations of Pitt to Austria, in 1795, to the amount of £4,600,000; and 
 in 1797, to the amount of £1,620,000. The loan to Portugal, amounting to 
 £600,000, was first made in 1809. HamiUon, National Debt, p. 133. The 
 whole amount of the subsidies and loans, which flowed to the continent on 
 account of the government, is computed at £45,800,000. Nehenius on Pvhlic 
 Credit, in German, sect. 13, note. I know not from what data ; and I ques- 
 tion whether the amount of the subsidies admits of being so accurately deter- 
 mined, since it cannot be known in what instalments they were really paid. 
 
 '* .«. 
 
 ■■ ■"""■ — ^--^—^ 
 
49a 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 It 
 
 ^i) 
 
 The first of these objects was accomplished ; but not the 
 other : the predominating power of France was so far from 
 being broken, that it was greater than ever ; considered in 
 this point of view, the peace of Amiens can only be consi- 
 dered as a disgraceful one. All that can be alleged in vin- 
 dication of it will be found in the speech which Pitt delivered 
 after the ratification of the preliminaries;^ his opinion on 
 this point is the more impartial because, being no longer 
 minister, he is not vindicating his own measures. 
 
 His main argument is ; " One object we must give up, 
 which is no longer attainable ; we are disappointed in our 
 hopes of being able to drive France within her ancient 
 limits ; but we have fulfilled our obligations towards our al- 
 lies ; the glory of the English arms has not been tarnished ; 
 and Great Britain possesses the means of opposing France 
 if she should further extend her ambitious views. Further : 
 the re-establishment of the French monarchy is equally im- 
 possible, but we have survived the violence of the revolu; 
 tionary fever, we have seen Jacobinism overthrown ; and its 
 new government is only a state of transition towards a 
 monarchy." • 
 
 But, with all that, it is difficult to palliate the impolicy of 
 neglecting to make some definitive arrangements in the 
 treaty respecting the relations of the continent ; and of at 
 once stipulating for the evacuation of the Batavian republic 
 by the French. England remained virtually excluded, in a 
 political sense, from the continent ; she could no longer in- 
 terfere in its affairs ; she could only look on in silence, while 
 France might lay down regulations at her pleasure, affecting 
 the continent from the Tagus to the Vistula. The moment 
 she attempted to raise her voice, she was met with the con- 
 temptuous answer, " The peace of Amiens, and nothing 
 
 » On Nov. 3, imi.—SpeecheSy iii. p. 270, sa. 
 
 ' Speeches^ iii. p. 270, sq. That this, and, if possible, the restoration of the 
 old monarchy, or at least, of the reigning family, had always been the object 
 *of his wishes, the minister does not dissemble. It was not without the most 
 painful struggle that he could abandon this hope : 
 
 Me si fata meis paterentur ducere vitam 
 Auspiciis, et sponte mea componere curas : 
 Urbem Trojanam primum dulcesque meorum 
 Reliquias colerem ; Priami tecta alta manerent ; 
 Et recidiva manu posuissem Pergama victis ! 
 
 he exclaims with ^neas. What would his great spirit have felt if fate had 
 permitted him to look for the space of ten years into the future ! 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 491 
 
 but the peace of Amiens." The question was, whether such 
 a state of things could last ? 
 
 The question soon became answered ; in the short space of 
 a year the war again broke out ; it was declared by England. 
 The first consul, occupied with the consolidation of his power, 
 and the re-conquest of St. Domingo, could hardly wish for 
 it at this moment ! and although some of his proceedings 
 might with justice be made the subject of complaint, they 
 could hardly be considered sufficient to furnish ground for 
 a new war. We certainly do not mean to deny that a war 
 might also have been wished for by him, while he was pre- 
 paring the steps on which he mounted to the great object of 
 his ambition — the imperial throne. But, notwithstanding 
 this, it still seems certain that he could not have wished it 
 to break out so soon. It indeed becomes a question, whe- 
 ther, according to the particular plans of the British minis- 
 try, the peace was intended to be any thing more than an 
 armistice, which they only wanted for the purpose of collect- 
 ing new forces ; and this question we could scarcely help 
 answering in the affirmative, if another and a much more 
 natural solution did not present itself It was not till 
 after the peace that the English discovered they had com- 
 mitted an error — an error which they now saw with all its 
 consequences. When the surrender of the conquered colo- 
 nies as stipulated for was made, only one condition remained 
 unfulfilled, the surrender of the rocky island of Malta. The 
 reasons why the evacuation of this was refused will scarcely 
 be regarded by an impartial posterity as any thing more than 
 so many subterfuges ; and the true ground can now only be 
 sought in the awakened consciousness that more had been 
 conceded than ought to have been. This was incontestably 
 a political blunder which we are not disposed to justify ; al- 
 though aware that the renewal of the war was the only pos- 
 sible means of repairing it ; the war, however, would never- 
 theless have been continued if this had never happened, t 
 
 England commenced this new contest without a single 
 ally on the continent ; and the terror of the overwhelming 
 power of France could aflford her but little hope of procur- 
 ing any, unless perhaps the haughty spirit of the French 
 ruler should produce them. The occupation of Hanover, a 
 neutral power, proved the complete nullity of the German 
 
 
492 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 ■ I 
 
 I 
 
 * * 
 
 . t 
 
 empire, but was also a proof how much the Prussian cabinet 
 of that time could submit to, in admitting without hesitation 
 the army of a conquering power into the heart of its states, 
 in order to maintain its precarious neutrality. 
 
 The first great effect of this war on the continent, was 
 the erection of the French imperial throne. The formal 
 restoration of an hereditary monarchy in France, could not, 
 considered in itself, be repugnant to the views of England ; 
 but the claims which were involved m this new title, were 
 of such a nature, that they defeated the prospect of peace, 
 and must have inspired England with hopes of soon being 
 able again to find allies on the continent ; and who, mdeed, 
 could doubt that every exertion would be made to effect this 
 object, when Pitt, for the second time, with the same prin- 
 ciples, the same powers of mind, though not of body, was 
 placed at the head of affairs/ The war itself bore altoge- 
 ther a peculiar character. Here were two hostile powers 
 determined to wreak on each other all the mischief they 
 could ; and vet. one being strong at sea, the other by land, 
 they could scarcely come at each other. In France, the 
 popular mind had been so accustomed, during the preced- 
 ing war, to the loss of colonies, which had scarcely been 
 restored, that the operations of the English m this respect 
 could hardly move it. No field of battle offered itself on which 
 the British troops could disembark. Great preparations, 
 however, were made for effecting a descent on England. A 
 numerous army was assembled on the opposite coast ; a 
 whole fleet of armed and unarmed transports were built to 
 carry it over. But that, without a fleet to keep open the 
 communication with France as well as to cover the passage 
 and landing, an invasion was impracticable, or, if indeed 
 effected, that it would end in the defeat and capture of the 
 invading army, was obvious to every one, as was, conse- 
 quently, that such a design could never have been seriously 
 planned ; still there were not wanting political, and even 
 military writers, who believed it ! But on the other side, it 
 was not less certain that the threatening attitude assumed 
 could not last for ever, nor even long ; that the interest of 
 the new ruler of France required a new war ; and experi- 
 ence has now shown, that the descent upon England was 
 
 » On 28th May, 1804. 
 
 % 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 493 
 
 only a mask, under which he might prepare for another 
 object. 
 
 Its effect upon England, however, was to drive the 
 whole nation to arms. The military spirit was not only 
 every where aroused, but it breathed a new power; a 
 different kind of enthusiasm was naturally kindled in the 
 breasts of troops who were to fight for their country, their 
 families, and their homes, to that felt by men enlisted for 
 foreign war and conquest. 
 
 The labours of Pitt were not in vain. He succeeded in 
 the summer of 1805, in bringing about a third confederacy 
 against France. The transfer of the left bank of the Rhine 
 to that country ; the distribution of all the ecclesiastical 
 states, on the German side, among those whom she wished 
 to favour ; the powerful movements upon Switzerland, and 
 above all, upon Italy, rendered it no longer problematical, 
 that with this predominating power of France and the use 
 she made of it, an independent European state-system could 
 not possibly exist. To the aid of these sound political con- 
 siderations, there came about this time an event, no less 
 powerful, which roused the moral indignation of nearly all 
 Europe — the arrest and murder of the Duke d'Enghien. 
 This was not only, as it has generally been admitted, a 
 crime, but unquestionably a great political error, which 
 cannot find an apolo^ in the design of renewing a conti- 
 nental war, as that might have been effected without it. 
 
 From this moment the sullen spirit of Prussia began to 
 work, and, much increased by the contumelious dismissal 
 and treatment of her ambassador, communicated itself to the 
 cabinets of Austria, Prussia, and, above all, to Sweden. The 
 more keen the sense of justice that prevailed in the disposi- 
 tions of those princes, the more deeply must they have felt 
 the wound thus given it ; and however undefined the plans 
 of these sovereigns, a party from this time soon became 
 formed, not only of men, but even among women of the 
 first rank, in the courts of Vienna and Berlin, as well as of 
 Petersburg, which preferred a renewal of the war to a dis- 
 honourable peace. Thus when Pitt re-entered the ministry 
 he found the national feeling and cabinets of the continent 
 favourable to his designs. How much was done by British 
 ambassadors to win over completely, posterity perhaps 
 
 m 
 
494 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 495 
 
 
 L^ 
 
 m 
 
 i 
 
 »! 
 
 ^ 
 
 will discover, when their official reports shall at some future 
 time be intrusted to a second Coxe.' England thus became, 
 in the fullest sense of the word, the centre of the third con- 
 federacy against the domination of France, as Russia, 
 Austria, and Sweden, entered into a treaty of alliance with 
 her, upon conditions of receiving certain subsidies ; unfor- 
 tunately, the wavering policy of Prussia placed the same 
 obstacles in the way as had occurred before. The disastrous 
 issue of the campaign of 1805, which, after the battle of 
 Austerlitz, was followed by the peace of Presburg,^ rent 
 asunder the alliance with Austria ; that with Russia was 
 prolonged in little more than in form ; that with Sweden 
 was rather more trouble than profit ; and new relations with 
 Prussia soon followed, which led to war, or at least to a 
 
 warlike attitude. 
 
 Pitt was destined to live just long enough to see his 
 hopes and his plans frustrated. Intelligence of all these 
 misfortunes, for which the recent victory at Trafalgar (21st 
 October) could not compensate, reached him while yet on 
 his death-bed." However deeply this may have distressed 
 him, he had still two grounds of consolation left. First— 
 The consciousness that his life had been devoted to a good 
 and just cause ; and next to that, the certainty that his prin- 
 ciples would survive in the school of statesmen which he 
 himself had formed.* But dismal as were the prospects 
 when his eye closed in death, they became still darker soon 
 after his departure ; and it became of the greater import- 
 ance that his principles died not with him. 
 
 A most striking proof of this was afforded by the adminis- 
 tration which succeeded, and which wished to follow a dif- 
 ferent line of policy. This was a coalition ministry ; that is 
 to say, one formed of men of opposite parties and professing 
 different principles ; a ministry which can hardly ever suc- 
 
 ' On the internal relations of the court of Vienna, at that time, and the 
 English ambassador, Lord Paget, some interesting information will be found 
 in the treatise. Die Franzosen in Wein, 1805, in Europeische Annalen, ISOU, 
 St. 6, the authenticity of which, however, we cannot vouch for, as we are un- 
 acquainted with the sources from which they are denved. 
 
 * December 26, 1805. ^ ^ . .x, ;, r *v 
 
 ■ His death, the 23rd January, 1806, happened on the same day of the 
 month as that on which he had taken his seat in the House of Commons 
 
 twenty-five years before. , ^ . t^ i n .i u 
 
 * A Portland, Liverpool, Sidmouth, Canning, Perceval, Castlereagh, 
 
 Vansittart, etc. 
 
 ceed for any length of time m England. At its head were 
 placed Lord Grenville, as first lord of the treasury, and Mr 
 Fox, as secretary of state for foreign affairs.^ By this ar- 
 rangement the foreign policy of England was intrusted to 
 one who, all his life, had been the distinguished antagonist 
 
 u ]•• . A^^"" '1?^^ ^^^ ^^^*^ ^f ^""^^^ P^bHc opinion has 
 been divided m England as to which has the higher claim 
 to praise ; a question the more difficult to settle, because 
 party spirit almost necessarily exercises an influence over all 
 who seek to answer it. With all his genius, with all his 
 brilliant talents as a speaker. Fox, nevertheless, wanted that 
 calmness of mind which is indispensable to the great man of 
 business m practical life. He saw through the medium of 
 his passions, and spoke under their influence ; while the 
 steady coolness of Pitt is displayed no less in the details of 
 business than in his speeches, which, never overcharged 
 seem only designed to convince. Which of the two took 
 the most correct view of the great objects which, in their 
 time, excited so much interest, is perhaps no longer a matter 
 of doubt. We may admire Fox as a speaker and as an his- 
 torian ; but who will now attempt to rank him beside his 
 great rival as a statesman ? Even great good nature in him 
 was dangerous, as it inclined him too much to iudo-e of 
 others by himself. ^ ^ 
 
 When Fox was placed at the helm of affairs, the conti- 
 nental relations of England, with the exception of those of 
 the North, were dissolved ; in Germany they could not be 
 easily renewed, as the southern states had leagued themselves 
 with France, and the confederation of the Rhine, which was 
 afterwards formed, rendered it altogether impossible. With 
 Spam the war was again renewed ; with Prussia the rela- 
 tions were doubtful.^ They soon, however, became de- 
 cidedly hostile, as Prussia, in compliance with the dictates 
 of France, took possession of Hanover. Fox rightly judged 
 
 * In February, 1806. ' 
 
 * After the capture of the Spanish gaUiots, (4th October,) the relations of 
 i!-ngland and bpam have been so diligently investigated by a celebrated 
 wnter, that I deem it only necessary to refer to them i—Fr. Genz auihen- 
 tische Barstellung der Verhdltnisse Zwischen England und Spanien, 1806. I 
 agree with the author, that England was justified in treating Spain as an 
 enemy at any time, yet not without a previous declaration of war. The more 
 strenuously England contended for the maintenance of international law. the 
 more important it became that she should observe its forms. 
 
496 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 that such an insult to his sovereign was not to be tolerated. 
 The declaration of war which ensued, was unanimously ap- 
 proved in parliament, in the address of thanks voted in re- 
 ply to the king's speech. A terrible blow to Prussian 
 
 commerce. i p i i j 
 
 Fox was scarcely settled in the ministry, before he showed 
 his desire to negotiate a peace ; and accordingly he availed 
 himself of the first opportunity of communicating his senti- 
 ments to the enemy. A plan having been formed for the 
 assassination of Napoleon, Fox sent information of it to him, 
 and thus had the opportunity he wished for of entering upon 
 negotiations with that potentate. Their many interruptions 
 and slow progress during the whole summer, only served to 
 evidence the weakness of the declining minister ; while, by 
 the overthrow of the German empire, the establishment of 
 the confederation of the Rhine, and the more and more war- 
 like attitudes assumed towards Pinissia, Napoleon clearly be- 
 trayed his ulterior designs. Fox continued to negotiate, 
 and suffered himself to be put off with one proposal after 
 another, which, from their very absurdity, ought to have 
 convinced the most short-sighted politician that they were 
 only meant to delude. A short time before the breaking 
 out of the war with Prussia, he expired.' His administra- 
 tion had merely served as a foil for that of Pitt. The war 
 against Prussia and Russia, which was terminated by the 
 peace of Tilsit, (July, 1807,) only falls within the sphere of 
 this inquiry, from the influence which it had upon the con- 
 tinental relations of England opening negotiations with that 
 potentate. The emperor of France succeeded in drawing 
 Russia over to his side ; and had not Gustavus Adolphus, 
 with untimely pertinacity, which soon cost him Finland, and 
 even his throne, adhered to his engagements, every tie by 
 which England was still connected with the continent, would 
 have been snapped asunder ; and even this last was soon 
 
 broken. 
 
 Of all the states of the North, Denmark alone— a power 
 both military and naval — had been able to maintain its neu- 
 trality ; but even this was destroyed by England's demand- 
 ing the surrender of her fleet, and enforcing this demand by 
 the bombardment of her capital.^ '^ 
 
 » On 16th September, 1806. ' September 7, 1807. 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 497 
 
 Whether or not this transaction was a breach of the law 
 of nations, still remains undecided, even among the English 
 
 themselves. If the British ministry had, as they alleged 
 
 and in all probability such must have been the case — positive 
 intelligence, that, by express stipulations in the late treaty, 
 Denmark was to be forced into the war, and that Copen- 
 hagen was to become the rendezvous of the naval and 
 mihtary forces of the North, could it be an infraction of the 
 law of nations to anticipate this event, especially as England 
 only required the surrender of the Danish fleet, on condition 
 that it should be restored at the end of the war, and did not 
 proceed to enforce its surrender till this had been refused ? 
 The course of events will always bring on cases respecting 
 which nothing has been determined in any code of inter- 
 national law. Those proofs, however, have not been made 
 public ; and even if they were, who could blame the Danish 
 government for refusing to comply with such a demand ? 
 Who, indeed, could blame that nation for regarding the at- 
 tack as a violation of the law of nations ? Be this, however, 
 as it may, it would have been more noble for England to 
 await the attack on the open sea, the theatre of her glory, 
 especially as there could be no possible doubt as to the issue! 
 Thus the celebrated continental system of Napoleon might 
 be said to be realized against England, who was now shut 
 out from every port of the continent, from Petersburg to 
 Cadiz. An armed neutrality was now no longer the ques- 
 tion, for, generally speaking, neutrality was no longer toler- 
 ated, but the great commercial war was set on foot against 
 England, which gave rise to a tissue of decrees, every where 
 characterized by passion and hatred. These, in the end, 
 had no other result beyond that of. warning politicians, that 
 if they listen to any voice, save that of reason and reflection, 
 they must expect the blow, intended for others, to fall at last, 
 with increased force, upon their own heads. Napoleon's 
 continental system, which was to exclude the English from 
 every port, had eventually the effect of re-opening them all 
 to her. 
 
 As in the physical, so in the political world, no unnatural 
 condition can last for ever ; and if Napoleon had not hasten- 
 ed the catastrophe by new deeds of violence, it must, in 
 some way or other, however tardily, have come to pass at 
 
 2 K 
 
 \! 
 
498 
 
 RISE OF THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 last. The designs upon the Spanish peninsula were the 
 first, and those against Russia the second step towards it. 
 In the former, England had, if not an ally, at least a friend, 
 in Portugal. Though it was impossible to save this state, 
 yet here, nevertheless, the British continental policy cele- 
 brated its first triumph by its success in persuading the court 
 to emigrate to Brazil,* and found a new kingdom on that side 
 the Atlantic. A greater triumph, however, awaited it. The 
 ill-treated Spain was roused by her injuries, and a new kind 
 of league was formed, not with a cabinet, but with a nation,* 
 which, notwithstanding the frequent vicissitudes of fortune, 
 could not be dissolved. In Spain, the first abyss opened 
 itself, which swallowed up the stores and the armies of Na- 
 poleon ; a second still more terrific he himself prepared in 
 Russia. It would be superfluous to recount the history of 
 those great events, which rendered it possible for armies ad- 
 vancing from the Tagus and the Volga to combine and 
 co-operate in the heart of France ; which hurled the despot 
 from the tottering but imperial throne, and brought about 
 that which Pitt had expressed as the object of his wishes, 
 though no longer of his hopes — the restoration of the ancient 
 dynasty to the newly-erected regal throne of France. I^t 
 us rather be permitted to conclude this treatise with some 
 general observations on the co-operation of England in the 
 re-establishment of the European state-system, and on its 
 present relations with the continent. 
 
 After the inquiry which we have instituted, no one will 
 dispute the title of England to the glory of having taken the 
 greatest and most effectual part in the liberation of Europe, 
 and the restoration of an independent state-system to our 
 part of the globe. Her share, however, has often been much 
 exaggerated, particularly by Englishmen. England certainly 
 achieved much ; but England did not, and, as repeated ex- 
 perience has shown, could not, achieve it alone. It was ut- 
 terly impossible for her to do so, without the co-operation 
 of continental allies, such as Spain and Portugal, Germany 
 and Russia. 
 
 After the catastrophe in Russia, which took place with- 
 out the participation of England, — when the oppressed be- 
 gan to burst their bands asunder,— it was perfectly natural 
 
 • November 30, 1807. ' January 14, 1809. 
 
 INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 499 
 
 that the old alhes of England should again rally around her- 
 and history will never forget the almost incredible exertions 
 which she made from the years 1813 to 1815,^ which plainlv 
 prove that she did not think the liberation of Europe could 
 be purchased too dearly. 
 
 Even Pitt, had he survived the glorious triumph of his 
 principles, could hardly have done more ! Yet, all this could 
 only succeed by a uniting of the various powers ; for what 
 could gold, however indispensable, do alone ; iron, after all 
 was to decide the contest. * 
 
 England certainly prides herself, with justice, on beinff 
 the only power that never bowed her neck during the whole 
 course of that tempestuous period. But England should 
 not forget that she is mainly indebted for this to her insular 
 position. During that political storm, which periodically 
 as It were, desolated the countries of the continent, she alone 
 could assure to herself that internal tranquillity, without 
 which those peaceful arts, from which alone she derives re- 
 sources for her great exertions, could not have been con- 
 tinued with such unexampled vigour and prosperity. Be- 
 sides this, it was undoubtedly of peculiar advantage to all 
 Europe, not only that the wooden walls of England rendered 
 her impregnable, but that she was precisely the state, above 
 all others, fitted by her constitution to keep alive those poli- 
 tical opinions, the decline of which could never have been 
 more injurious and lamentable than at this particular period. 
 By this, too, was prepared the amazing influence which 
 England has had, since the struggle for constitutional go- 
 vernments has become general in Europe. Her example 
 was held forth, not in order that her constitution should be 
 adopted as a general model, (which heaven forfend,) but as 
 one from which proper notions might be formed of liberal 
 institutions of this kind ; such were now introduced into 
 France, the Netherlands, and several German states. 
 
 England is now ranked as one of the five leading pow;ers 
 who determine the relations of the European state-system. 
 It has connected itself with them without any surrender on 
 its own part ; it has therefore reserved to itself the power of 
 
 • The aggregate of the loans advanced in the three years, amounted to no 
 less than £142,000,000 according to the real, and £222,000,000 according to 
 the nominal yalue.—Nebenius iiber den credit. Anhang, § 5. 
 
 2 K 2 
 
I 
 
 % 
 
 :l 
 
 600 
 
 CONTINENTAL INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 stepping forward as a mediator whenever it may be neces- 
 sary. A continental policy like the last, founded upon 
 loans and subsidies, can hardly ever occur again, at least 
 to the same extent ; but if this, as we think we have shown 
 it to be, was, on the whole, beneficial for Europe, are we 
 not thereby justified in hoping, that she will become still 
 more, in future, the mediating power. Thus, then, we 
 think we may conclude this treatise, without exposing our- 
 selves to the imputation of blind partiality, with a wish for 
 Britain, which is, at the same time, the best we can form 
 for the continent and for our native country. — Esto per- 
 
 PETUA ! 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 (p. 449.) 
 
 An Examination of the Questions respecting the claims of the Armed 
 
 Neutrality. 
 
 KepSite hI^ITt "'"^-f 'y ""^^'^^ f""' 1»««°"«' ''hich Bust 
 • ^Sl ^v ® „"»»'"><=*' 'f we wish to examine them properlv Thp first 
 « : Whether free ships make free cargoes ? The sLE The deS- 
 minahon of what are called contraband or forbidden wares ? Thirdly 
 Whether a convoy is a protection from search ? Fourthly When are 
 ports to be considered in a state of blockade ? We shaU priced to IZ 
 amine each separately. proteea to ei- 
 
 L Whether Free Ships tnahe Free Cargoest 
 
 n, J-^™!^^^™*^"^''^'"' ^^'"^ "^y ^ regarded as the basis of the new 
 mantime code, which the armed neutrahty wished to introduce, involves 
 two distinct propositions. First, that neutral ships may carrrtSwn 
 IS ^Tr^^ ^^^^ "'^ °?* «°°t^a'««'l. of which below,) to aU ports" 
 iW l^l „1 w^'t^^*" "T"'.""" ''«"ig«'«°t Parties, provided they a^e Tot 
 in a state of blockade. By virtue of this principle, therefore, the neutral 
 powers wished to have the free navigation and conveyance of the°r own 
 producte, (with the above restrictions,) not only to the ports of all neutral 
 States, but also to those of France, Spain, Holland, etc^ But what w^ 
 ot still greater consequence, they desired also, in the second place, free 
 permission, not only to carry to those countries their own wares, and to 
 bring away what they had purchased there, but also to convey' where 
 n^lw t^ Plf^ed. the goods of the belligerent parties ; thus, for ex- 
 ample, freely and at discretion to take in French wares and French pro- 
 perty, without let or hinderance from British ships or privateers : and 
 Bntish wares, without let or hinderance from the enemies of Engird. 
 
 The great practical importance of this question will become apparent at 
 once to all who bestow the slightest reflection upon it. Were it eenerallv 
 recognised by maritime powers, maritime wars would no longer exercise 
 any very considerable influence on the trade and commerce of nations 
 It IS true, a war might, perhaps, hinder the belligerent powers from con- 
 tinuing their trade in native vessels, unless, indeed, sufficiently strong at 
 sea to protect it ; but this evil would be easily remedied, as neutral ves- 
 sels would naturally hasten in sufficient numbers to their ports, in order 
 to transport their merchandise to whatever part of the world it might be 
 destined. Instead, therefore, of a maritime war being, as it is now. «x- 
 tremely prejudicial to neutrals, from the many annoyances it occasions 
 them. It would, m this case, be advantageous to them, as they could not 
 tail to be employed in the transport of merehandise, and consequently to 
 draw a large share of the carrying-trade to themselves. 
 • From this it wiU readily be perceived why England, in her present 
 position, was so deeply interested in withholding her assent to this prin- 
 ciple. England is powerful enough at sea to protect her own commerce 
 and to carry it on, even in the midst of war, without any considerable 
 
 ^ 
 
L. '4 
 
 i 
 
 1! 
 
 1^ 
 
 602 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 II 
 
 interruption. Her enemies are notoriously too weak to do the same, con- 
 sequently in war their trade is almost annihilated. Had England, then, 
 recognised this principle, the trade of France, Holland, etc., would have 
 immediately revived, which England, who naturally regards her com- 
 merce as the mainspring of her power, is, for that very reason, anxious 
 to repress. Those countries, it is true, would not have been able, had 
 Ent'land given way, to carry on their trade in their own bottoms ; but they 
 would have carried it on in the ships of neutrals, or under neutral flags. 
 
 The extent, as well as the importance of this principle, being then 
 suflaciently obvious, let us now see what may be determined respecting 
 it ; whether it is founded on the principles of natural law, upon the tacit 
 agreement of civilized nations, or finally, on express stipulations between 
 the now contending powers. 
 
 The law of nature, as applied to war, or pure military law, recognises 
 no further principle than " I injure my enemy wherever I can," and in 
 this is comprised, " I take from him his property wherever I can." The 
 principle of free ship, free cargo, in its full extent, that is, if it means an 
 enemy's goods are to be free in neutral ships, is, therefore, not recog- 
 nised by pure military law. It would be difficult, therefore, to prove 
 from the law of nature, that if Englishmen and Frenchmen wage war 
 with each other, they are, notwithstanding, obliged to spare each other's 
 property. This does not, however, imply, that if an Englishman finds 
 the goods of an enemy in a neutral ship, he is immediately justified in 
 taking possession of the ship, for the mere conveyance of an enemy's 
 wares, obviously involves no act of hostility towards him ; but it cannot, 
 with any truth, be asserted, on the principles of natural law, that he is 
 bound to let the property of an enemy escape free. 
 
 But why this appeal to the law of nature ? It is, happily, now uni- 
 versally understood, that this is no longer admitted as a rule in modern 
 warfare. It is one of the fairest fruits of civilization, that states only 
 war with states, not with private individuals, to which, unhappily, pri- 
 vateering (and that, viewed in the most favourable light, is nothing bet- 
 ter than piracy on a limited scale) still forms an exception. It is, there- 
 fore, evident, that in determining this question, we must not have recourse 
 to the law of nature, but to conventional law or express compacts. 
 
 The next question, therefore, is, whether the principle, **free ship, 
 free cargo," has ever been generally observed ? this ever being limited 
 to what has been introduced among the civilized nations of Europe in the 
 two last centuries. In order to determine this, we need only cast a 
 glance over the history of the wars since the treaty of Westphalia, and 
 we shall find this question answered in the negative thus far : Neutrals 
 have certainly generally laid claim to it, but belligerent powers, during 
 wary have never been willing to recognise it. 
 
 In the great war which Lewis XIV., in 1688, commenced with almost 
 the whole of western Europe, the right of neutral flags was expressly 
 denied on the side of England, while William III. went so far as at once 
 to forbid all communication with France. It was also in vain that the 
 Dutch, who were the greatest sufferers, made representations to him 
 respecting it. He gave the most suitable answer which could be given 
 to these representations — "Let this be the canon law." 
 
 In the eighteenth century, the question respecting the rights of neu- 
 tral flags was not agitated till after the close of the war of the Spanish 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 603 
 
 8ucc«!Sion It was first brought forward in the great northern war 
 which still continued. That it did not arise during the Spanish war 
 was owing to the peculiar situation of the parties ; in the west of Europe 
 there were no neutrals, and the eastern powers had enough to do amongst 
 themselves. Another and a stronger reason was, that Holland, durin*. 
 the war, though hostile to France and Spain, still carried on a tolerably 
 extensive trade with these two countries, which England either could 
 not, or would not, hinder. But the trade which the Dutch, as neutrals, 
 carried on m the Baltic, soon brought the matter to a crisis. Charies 
 All. refused to recognise the right of neutral flags; the Swedish priva- 
 teers captured indiscriminately all vessels bound to ports of the enemy, 
 so that Holland and England were obliged to send, 1715, a combined 
 fleet to the Baltic for the protection of their commerce. 
 
 On the breaking out of the war between Spain and England in 1739 
 and the war of the Austrian succession in 1740, in which Holland re* 
 mamed neutral as long as she could, the dispute was again revived. 
 1 he English having captured a great number of Dutch vessels on their 
 way to fcjpam, the latter complained, and appealed expressly to the com- 
 mercial treaty of 1674, in which England had recognised the principle 
 ot free ship, free cargo," in respect to them ; but nothing of any con- 
 sequence was settled. "^ 
 
 No further progress had been made, when, in 1743, the war between 
 Kussia and Sweden broke out. The latter power again refused to con- 
 cede to the Dutch the right of neutral flags, and the latter were once 
 more compelled to send a fleet to protect their trade in the Baltic 
 
 The seven years' war had scarcely broken out, in 1756, before the 
 IJ^utch renewed their old complaints against England. Desirous to turn 
 their neutral position to account, and that under the protection of the 
 neutral flag they might be allowed to carry on the trade between France 
 and her colonies, more especially the West Indies, the latter again ap- 
 pealed to the commercial treaty of 1674. But the English, admitting their 
 claims just as little as before, made prizes of their merchantmen whenever 
 they found them bound to an enemy's port, or laden with an enemy's goods. 
 Thus matters went on till the breaking out of the American war. 
 During Its course the complaints about the oppression of neutral ship- 
 
 ?l"o?. u ""l?!^ f^""?" ""^^^ ^''''^' ^" ^^™^<i neutrality was negotiated in 
 1780, by Catharine IL, the basis of which was the maxim, ''free ship 
 free cargo. ' England certainly did not formally recognise this prind- 
 ple ; but she tacitly submitted to it, as she felt herself obliged to suc- 
 cumb to the circumstances of the time. 
 
 This survey, we think, will make it quite clear that this principle was 
 very tar from having been ever generally recognised in the course of the 
 war by tacit agreement, though it certainly was, once and again, by 
 separate treaties between individual powers, but concluded, for the most 
 part, in time of peace. Busch, in his Geschichte der ZerrUtung des See- 
 hmde\3,(Htseori/ofthe Obstructions to Maritime Commerce,) has taken 
 the trouble to enumerate these singly, and has found thirty-six treaties 
 tor, and only fifteen against, this principle. But what remedies did these 
 treaties provide ? No sooner did a war break out than the nations who 
 had contracted them felt themselves at liberty to violate their obliga- 
 tions, and made such partial arrangements as suited their own interest. 
 Ihis was done, not only by England, but by most of the other states, 
 
504 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 whenever they felt themselves sufficiently strong to do so ; and who can 
 
 aay that the like will not happen again. ^i^^^w 
 
 Let us now address ourselves to the second question, which is closely 
 
 connected with this. 
 
 II. What is Contraband ? 
 
 When two states are at war with each other, it is scarcely possible for 
 any obligation to arise out of it affecting a third party in respect to its 
 commerce, so as to preclude it from selling certain articles, even though 
 they should be directly intended for carrying on the war, provided it 
 supplies them fairly to the highest bidder. But supposing the said state 
 should be willing to sell them to one state and refuse them to another, 
 this would expressly indicate a disposition to favour one at the expense 
 of the other ; and the state thus acting could no longer be regarded as 
 a neutral power. According to the principles of natural law, theretore, 
 nothing contraband, under the above-stated condition, can exist. 1 his, 
 however, is not the place for investigating this question further ; it is, 
 besides, a matter of perfect indifference what opinion maybe formed re- 
 spectinff it, as the conventional law of nations has long since decided 
 otherwise respecting it. In this, to wit, an important difference is estab- 
 lished between various articles : I. Those directly used in warfare, such 
 as ammunition, arms, and all kinds of ready-made weapons. 11. 1 hose 
 which only indirectly serve for that purpose, such as unwrough* >ron, 
 copper, ship-timber, etc., from which must be distinguished. III. Ihose 
 which have properly no reference to the war, such as provisions, fane 
 
 linen, cloths, etc. , . , i_ i. 
 
 All treaties of commerce, without exception, which have been con- 
 cluded during the last few centuries, between European states, and have 
 contained definitions of what is contraband, agree in this, that the arti- 
 cles. No. I., are interpreted as such. The agreement in this is so general, 
 that the more precise definition of it, or the enumeration of the several 
 articles, has become a standard formulary, which always recurs totidem 
 verbis, as may be seen in the various acts of neutrality which have been 
 published. Consequently it is a generally recognised principle of posi- 
 tive European international law, that all articles directly used in warfare, 
 attempted to be conveyed by neutrals to nations engaged in war, imme- 
 diately become contraband. 
 
 But however general the agreement may be, that these articles are 
 interdicted, it is by no means so generally agreed that they are exclu- 
 sively so. It has more frequently happened, indeed, that the European 
 powers, especially on the breaking out of a war, have interpreted as con- 
 traband whatever they thought proper, and have consequently made 
 No. II., and even No. III. so, just as it might happen to suit their con- 
 venience. The English, it must be confessed, were not behind-hand in 
 doing this ; but then it must not be supposed that they did it alone. 
 Others, as for example, Sweden, have gone as far, or even farther ; but, 
 as they had not the same power to enforce their views as the Enghsh 
 had, the inconvenience resulting therefrom was not so sensibly felt. 
 
 Several circumstances, and particularly the following, have contri- 
 buted to extend the meaning of the word contraband : First, It is quite 
 natural that a belligerent nation should feel sore in seeing articles con- 
 veyed to its enemies, which, though not yet wrought into arms and im- 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 505 
 
 plements of war, may soon become so, and in all probability are design- 
 ed for that purpose. Secondly : It is well known, that in the present 
 day, the western maritime powers obtain the greatest part of their ship 
 timbers from the northern and eastern countries of this part of the 
 world. In naval wars, the aim for a long period has been, and never 
 more so than at the present moment, not only to annihilate the enemy's 
 fleets, but to obstruct as much as possible the building of new ones. 
 The ardour with which England has pursued this object is known to 
 every one. For this reason, therefore, ship-timber is one of the articles 
 which England insists upon being included in the list of contraband 
 goods ; while, on the other hand, the northern powers are especially in- 
 terested in having it omitted, as it forms the bulk of their exports. If 
 to this we add (as was the case in the war of the Revolution) the en- 
 deavours made to embarrass the enemy by impeding the conveyance of 
 provisions, or generally to weaken him by the complete annihilation of 
 his commerce, without respect to the losses which neutrals may thereby 
 sustain, it will easily be perceived that, eventually, every thing will be 
 reckoned as contraband which is not ballast, and, consequently, that all 
 trade with an enemy's country will be virtually suspended. 
 
 Whatever opinions may be formed as to the legality and good policy 
 of this proceeding, the following points we think will now be clear : In 
 the first place, according to the generally recognised international law 
 of Europe, only the immediate necessaries of war can possibly be regard- 
 ed as contraband ; and if, in the second place, other articles should also 
 be interpreted as such, this must be settled, as an exception to the rule, 
 by express treaties between the several nations, unless mere force is to 
 supersede right. 
 
 ^ These principles appear to be at present actually recognised by both par- 
 ties. For not only is the restriction, which the existing special treaties of 
 individual powers exhibit, expressly recognised in the act of neutrality, in 
 the definition of contraband ; but, on the other hand, the minister in 
 the debates of the British parliament, appeals also expressly to the ex- 
 isting treaties of commerce with the northern powers.^ An analysis of 
 these, therefore, can alone afford us a deeper insight into the question. 
 
 The treaties of commerce quoted in parliament were that with Swe- 
 den of 1661 ; that with Denmark of 1670 ; and that with Russia of 
 1793. The continuance of these was expressly asserted ; whether it 
 was recognised on the other side or not, is irrelevant to the question, 
 which entirely turns upon the stipulations which the treaties contained. 
 
 In the treaty with Sweden,^ the following articles are those which re- 
 quire to be noticed : 
 
 Art. V. " The ships, goods, and ships' crews of either nation, shall, 
 under no pretence, either publicly or privately, either by general or 
 special command, be laid under arrest, detained, or in any way treated 
 with violence in the ports of either country." 
 
 Art. XI. "Although it has been settled between the two powers, 
 that neither shall succour the enemy of the other, this is not to be so 
 understood as that all commerce and traffic with the enemy of a bellige- 
 rent party shall be interdicted to a neutral ally. It shall only be de- 
 
 > Vide the speech of Pitt, February 2, 1801, in Speeches, iii. p. 229. 
 « It will bo found at length in Schmauss, Corpus Juris gentium Academicum, p. 2302, 
 and in the other well-known collections. 
 
 2 L 
 
 M 
 
 tM 
 
 J 
 
 1. 
 
506 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 507 
 
 cided that no wares which are contraband, and of course no gold, pro- 
 visions, arms, (here follows the usual form,) shaU be conveyed to the 
 enemy of the other ; otherwise, if they should be captured, they are to 
 be considered lawful booty. Neither of the contracting parties is to 
 support the enemy of the other, either by selUng or lending him ships ; 
 vet each of the parties shall be at liberty to trade with the enemy ot the 
 other and to convey to him wares of every description, with the excep- 
 tion of those above speciaed, without molestation, excepting to harbours 
 and places in a state of blockade." 
 
 Art XII " But in order that an enemy's goods may not be concealed 
 under neutral names, ships, as well as stage waggons, shall be Provided 
 with passports and certificates (the formula of which is inserted at length). 
 If in this case the ships of neutral powers shall fall in with the ships ot 
 war or privateers of the others, the first shall only be required to pro- 
 duce their papers, without being Uable to further search or molestation. 
 Should they not be provided with papers, or if other^ylse there should 
 be any urcrent cause for suspicion to waiTant the searching of the ship, 
 (which is only to be permitted in these cases,) then, if an enemy s goods 
 shall be discovered, these shall be lawful prize, but the rest shall be 
 
 immediately restored." ,,./.!. -^^ i 
 
 If then this treaty was recognised as the basis of the maritime law 
 between England and Sweden, by both these powers it will follow : 
 
 First That the principle, " free ship, free cargo, had not, between 
 Encrland and Sweden, the extent which was conceded to it in the armed 
 neutrality. It must be admitted, certainly, that Sweden is allowed to 
 carry on a free trade in neutral property (not contraband) to an enemy s 
 port, which is not blockaded ; yet not to convey an enemy's property. Swe- 
 den would not dare to convey French or Dutch merchandise under her flag. 
 
 Second The definition of contraband admits this further extension, 
 that besides the direct necessaries of war, money also and provisions are 
 included under it ; but not the indirect necessaries of war ; not the 
 principal products of Sweden, iron, copper, and ship-timber. Sweden 
 would certainly at the present time readily acquiesce in this extension, 
 because she wishes to check the export of specie, and is no longer in pos- 
 session of the rich corn-lands about the Baltic, which she had in 1661. 
 
 Such then, are the relations between England and Sweden, according 
 to those treaties : now follow those between England and Denmark. 
 They are founded, according to the speech of the minister in parhament, 
 
 on the treaty of 1670. , , , , . nx. ^ 
 
 In that, the commercial treaty which was concluded between Charles 
 II and Christian V., the articles X. XI. contain the definition of what 
 was contraband. But we need not go back even to that source, for by 
 a later convention, which was signed on 4th July, 1780, (a few days be- 
 fore Denmark acceded to the first armed neutrality,) an explanation ot 
 that article has been given, which here follows : » , . , , 
 
 « But in order to leave no doubt respecting what is understood by 
 contraband, it is agreed that this designation comprises nothing but 
 arms, as cannon, etc. etc., (here follows the usual formula,) as well as 
 timber, pitch, copper in plates, sails, hemp, cordage, and, in a word, 
 every thin"' which serves for the equipment of a ship ; yet with the ex- 
 ception of °unwrought iron and planks. As for the rest, it is expressly 
 
 3 Vide Marten's RecucU, etc. etc., ii. p. 102. 
 
 declared, that under the designation of contraband shall not be compre- 
 hended any kind of provisions, such as fish, flesh, corn, etc. etc the 
 conveyance of which to hostile ports, if not under blockade, is alwavs 
 to be allowed." ^ 
 
 Now, although Denmark, as early as 9th July, 1780, acceded to the 
 armed neutrality, yet this document was not abolished nor infringed 
 since m that convention the definition of contraband was expressly re- 
 ferred to the existing treaties between the several powers ; so again the 
 acceding to the second armed neutrality did not abolish it, since, not- 
 withstanding the general restriction of contraband to immediate neces- 
 saries of war, yet the annexation of this proviso, without infringing the 
 existing compacts between the several powers, leaves it in full force It 
 w obvious, therefore, that Denmark, by her commercial contracts with 
 England, was, with regard to contraband goods, so far bound more 
 strictly to consider every thing which has reference to the building and 
 equipment of ships as comprised in the definition ; but not, on the other 
 hand, provisions and money, which Sweden had recognised as such. 
 
 Lastly, as regards Russia, the British minister referred in his speech 
 to the convention of 1793. This convention is the treaty of alliance 
 which Catharine II. at that time concluded with England a<rainst 
 France.'* It contains. Art. XI., the definition : " That not onTy all 
 kinds of supplies and provisions are to be regarded as contraband, but 
 that they will also, on both sides, generally injure, in every possible 
 way, the French commerce," so that the idea of contraband is certainly 
 here taken in its widest extent. 
 
 After this investigation there still remain to be considered the two 
 other points which formed the subject of controversy, viz. : 
 
 in. Are Neutral Ships under Convoy liable to Search or not? 
 
 This question was, as is well known, afiirmatively answered on the 
 part of England, and negatively on the part of the other states ; and 
 although Denmark promised in the last contest not to allow her ships, 
 for the present, to convoy, she nevertheless refused, in any way, to re- 
 cognise the principle of search. The whole tone of the proceeding 
 rather showed that the Danish government regarded the assertion of the 
 opposite principle as a main point, on which not only the interests of 
 commerce, but also the honour of her flag, and, indeed, in some degree 
 even the independence of herself as a state, was concerned. 
 
 But in order to exhibit this subject in its true light, it is necessary to 
 explain first somewhat more distinctly what the idea of convoy involves 
 in maritime affairs and in maritime law. 
 
 A convoy is well known to be a guard of one or more men-of-war, 
 which the state grants to a number of merchant vessels for their pro- 
 tection. It is not, therefore, a private, but a public affair. But the 
 granting of a convoy according to the received maritime law, involves 
 the following : 
 
 I. When the state grants it, then only armed ships in the service of 
 the state can, be used for that purpose, in which case it is however of no 
 consequence to what class they belong. Therefore, privateers, which 
 perhaps are bought for the purpose, or even other armed vessels, which 
 private persons cause to be fitted out, would have no legitimate claim to 
 
 ♦ Politisches Journal, 1793. 
 
 ( 
 
 '\ 
 
 ii 
 
508 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 1\ 
 
 the privileges of a proper convoy. 11. When the neutral state grants a 
 convoy, it immediately gives security that the merchant vessels contain 
 no wares which, according to general maritime law, or specific treaties 
 with particular powers, are contraband. In short, the merchant vessels, 
 before they are taken under convoy, must be previously subjected to a 
 strict examination of their papers, which must be conducted by the 
 commanding officer of the convoy. In Denmark probably also in 
 Sweden and Russia, the commanding officer himself is even made re- 
 sponsible for it. III. It is not, therefore, every ship which can, at its 
 own discretion, obtain convoy even if its papers are in perfect order. 
 The state does not readily undertake the responsibility for foreign ships. 
 It is more usual for each state to allow only its own ships to convoy. 
 A<rreements, however, may easily be entered into, especially where se- 
 vel-al powers bind themselves to an armed neutrality, which may occa- 
 sion deviations from the rule. 
 
 Hence it will be cleariy seen why this disputed point is regarded, 
 especially by neutrals, as a question of honour. The search of a convoy 
 is tantamount to a refusal to accept the given security, and the pledged 
 word of honour of a state, and the denial of a right whicli has been 
 hitherto conceded to every independent state as such. The correspond- 
 ence which passed between the Danish government and the British 
 Charge d^Affidres at Copenhagen, perhaps exhausted every thing which 
 
 can be said on this subject. , . , ^ v. a^ 
 
 Some readers will perhaps ask whether something has not been de- 
 termined on this point in the commercial treaties. But m no single 
 known treaty, and not even once in the acts of the armed neutrality ot 
 1780 has there been the slightest mention made of it ; doubtless be- 
 cause in the European maritime law whicli existed before that time, the 
 freedom of a convoy was taken for granted. That is to say it is ob- 
 vious that the opposite claim could never be preferred by any European 
 power whicli is not possessed of a similar decisive preponderance at sea 
 to that which Great Britain has at present. 
 
 IV. fVhen are Harbours to be considered as Blockaded ? 
 In the earlier treaties nothing was decided on this point, because the 
 answer was self-evident : when they are really blockaded. But li.ng- 
 land gave to the phmse an extension of meaning which few will be pre- 
 pared to justify, that the bare declaration, Hhat a port is blockaded, at 
 Tee constitutes a blockade.' Indeed this was then extended even to 
 the whole line of coast. In consequence, the Act of Neutrality con - 
 tafns this just definition. Art. III. " That the name of a blockaded port 
 belon-s only to that which is blocked up by a number of ships of war 
 Ivinff'before it and stationed sufficiently near, that the entrance cannot 
 be hazarded without manifest danger ; and that the vessel which steers 
 iTs course in that direction shall not be regarded as acting in opposition 
 to the convention until it makes the attempt to effect an entrance, either 
 by force or stratagem, after it has been appnzed of the pondition of the 
 hirbour by the commander of the blockading squadron. 
 
 JOHN GUILDS AND SON, BUNGAY. 
 
 INDEX 
 
 TO 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 Acai'nania, geographical view, 16. 
 AchaanSf a tribe of the Hellenes, 22. 
 confined by the Heraclidae to Achaia, 23. 
 Acusilaus of Argos, 211. 
 ^gean SeOy circled with Grecian colo- 
 nies, 64. 
 JEgina, 19. money first coined here, 130. 
 jEoliana^ a tribe of the Hellenes, 22. 
 chiefly mingled with the Dorians, ib. 
 early established themselves near the 
 niins of Troy, 63. and in Lesbos, 64. 
 Machines, 189. 
 
 ^schylus, the father of the drama, 221. 
 jEtoUa, geographical view, 16, 
 AgesilauSy 156. the change he made in 
 Grecian tactics, 162. the first to form a 
 numerous cavalry, ib. 
 Agriculture, state of, in the heroic age, 56. 
 
 its estimation among the Greeks, 126. 
 Alcibiades, 102. his public character, 182. 
 Alexander the Great, 189. 
 Alps, The, their influence on the history of 
 
 our race, xi. 
 Alyattes, the first foreigner who made ap- 
 plication at Delphi, 83. 
 Amasis, probably king of Egypt when 
 
 Pythagoras visited it, 195. 
 Amphictyonic Assemblies, their influence 
 on the political union of the Greeks, 87. 
 their origin, 89. the Assembly of Del- 
 phi, ib. who took part in it, 90, its du- 
 ties, 91. its influence on the nation, 92. 
 Amycla, 4. 
 Anaxagoras, 194. 
 Andocides, 186. 
 Antiphon, 186. 
 Antisthenes, 205. 
 Apelles, 232. 
 
 Arcadia, 2. its inhabitants pastoral, 3. 
 Archelaus of Abdera, 222. 
 Architecture was confined to public build- 
 ings, 228. begun with the construction 
 of temples, ib. theatres, &c., 229. the 
 distinction of domestic and public archi- 
 tecture, 229. 
 Archons, The, at Atliens, 120, 
 
 2 M 
 
 Archytas, 198. 
 
 Areopagus, the most ancient Grecian 
 court, 147. 
 
 Argolis, geographical view, 4. 
 
 Argonauts, date of their expedition, 51. 
 
 Aristides, treasurer of the national treasu- 
 ry, 99. his character and influence, 177. 
 
 Aristippus, 205. 
 
 Aristocracies, among the Greeks, 107. 
 
 Aristophanes, 225, 226. 
 
 Arts, The, their connexion with the state, 
 227. were exclusively public amoner the 
 Greeks, 227, 233. 
 
 Asia Minor; the Dorians early flourished 
 on its coasts, 23. the people of this 
 country early devoted to commerce and 
 the founding of colonies, 44. within a cen- 
 tury after the Trojan war, its western 
 coast occupied by Grecian cities, 63. 
 
 Assemblies among the Greeks, 111. 
 
 AtJiens, geographical view, 11. gradual 
 change in its constitution, 66. shakes 
 off" the PisistratidaB, 93. alone repelled 
 the invasion of Darius Hystaspes, 95. 
 Greece was indebted for its freedom to 
 Athens, ib. burnt by Xerxes, 96. gains 
 the supremacy in the Persian wars, 98. 
 establishes a general treasury and 
 common fleet, 99. acknowledged to be 
 the first city of Greece, 100. how her 
 power was exercised, 101. change in 
 her relations with various states, ib, 
 the tribute fixed on the conquered 
 states, 102. her assumption of judiciary 
 power, ib. its sources of revenue and 
 taxation, 137. the army was subordinate 
 to the navy, 157. the political divisions 
 were military in their origin, ib. had 
 little cavalry, and that expensive, 158. 
 directed the taste of other cities, 222. 
 the architectural grandeur confined to 
 public buildings, 228. 
 
 Attica, geographical view, 9. 
 
 Bards. See Poets, 
 Bias, 174, 
 
 w 
 
510 
 
 INDEX TO ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 Bceotia, geographical view, 14. 
 BovXal, among the Greeks, 113. 
 BraaidaSf 156. 
 
 Cadmus^ his migration into Greece, 45. 
 
 Cadmus of Miletus, 211, 
 
 Callimachus, 161. 
 
 Cavalry, the Grecian states had little or 
 none, 159. their equipment, ib. a numer- 
 ous one first formed by Agesilaus, 162. 
 
 Cecrops, his migration into Greece, 45. 
 
 Charon of Lampsacus, 211. 
 
 Chilo, 174. 
 
 Chios, a school of bards, the Homeridae, 
 formed here, 76. 
 
 Choruses, were the chief ornament of the 
 festivals, 219. their antiquity, 220. 
 
 Cimon, 162. his character and influence, 
 178. 
 
 Citizenship, among the Greeks, 109. in 
 the colonies, 110. 
 
 ClearchuSt 166. 
 
 Cleobulus, 174. 
 
 Coining, the art probably received by the 
 Greeks from Lydia, 130. 
 
 Coins, Grecian, extant, 129. their exceed- 
 ing beauty, 130. at first were probably 
 of silver only, 131. alloyed in the time 
 of Solon, ib. 
 
 Colonies, in Greece, 44. that of Cecrops, 
 45. of Danaus, ih. of Cadmus, ib. that 
 of Pelops, 46. their influence on the 
 Greeks, ib. in Asia Minor, 63, 64, 94. 
 these delivered from Persian suprem- 
 acy, 96. 
 
 Columbus^ viii. 
 
 Comedy, among the Greeks, 224. its po- 
 litical influence, 225. its licentiousness, 
 ib. 
 
 Constitutions of the Grecian cities and 
 states, 104, et seq. their value, 121. 
 their great variety, 122. their essential 
 defects, 236. 
 
 Corcyra, 18. 
 
 Corinth, 8. the extent of its district, 105. 
 
 Cosmi, The, of Crete, 119. 
 
 Councils among the Greeks, 113. 
 
 Craiinus, his plays, 226. 
 
 Custom Duties among the Greeks, 141. 
 
 Cylon, 197. 
 
 Cyme founded by ^olians, 64. 
 
 Cythera, 19. 
 
 Danaus, his migration into Greece, 45. 
 
 Darius Hystaspes, his invasion of Greece, 
 95. 
 
 DeloSf 19. the temple at, a national tem- 
 ple, 82. the common treasury of Greece 
 fixed here, 99. 
 
 Delphi, the temple and oracle of, founded 
 by a Cretan colony, 47. a national tem- 
 ple, 82. the Pythian games at, 84. the 
 Amphictyonic council held here, 89. 
 its treasures, 134. 
 
 Democracies among the Greeks, 107. 
 
 Demodocus, 68. 
 
 Demosthenes, 127. his history and charac- 
 ter, 187. 
 
 Diotogenes, 198. 
 
 Diphilus, his plays, 226. 
 
 Divinities, of the Greeks not of native 
 origin, 28. but they altered them and 
 made them their property, 29. those of 
 the East represented the objects and 
 powers of nature, 30. those of the 
 Greeks moral persons, 31. they were 
 transformed by the poets, 32. their 
 symbolical meaning preserved in the 
 mysteries, 38. exercised a great influ- 
 ence on the spirit of the nation, 39. 
 
 Division, the political, from the earliest 
 times a peculiarity of Greece, 53. 
 causes of this division, ib. 
 
 Dodona, the oracle of, 82. 
 
 Dorians, a tribe of the Hellenes, 22. with 
 the ^tolians occupied nearly the 
 whole of the Peloponnesus, a large 
 part of the rest of Hellas, and several 
 islands in the Archipelago, and flour- 
 ished on the coast of Asia Minor, in 
 Lower Italy, and Sicily, 23, 64. their 
 general characteristics, 24. 
 
 Drama, The, was the result of the choruses 
 at the festivals, 220. how encouraged 
 at Athens, ib. iEschylus the father of 
 the drama, 221. 
 
 East, The, its inferiority to Europe, vii. 
 'Rye/iovia, came to signify the same as 
 
 dominion of the sea, 100. 
 'Eic>cXrj<rtot among the Greeks, 111. 
 Elis, geographical view, 4. 
 Empedocles, 199. 
 EpaminondaSy 163. 
 Ephesus founded, 64. 
 Ephori, The, 116. 
 Eubaea, 19. 
 Euclid, 205. 
 Eupatridee, 108. 
 Europe, her superiority over the other 
 
 parts of tlie earth, vii. always inhabited 
 
 by white men, ix. 
 EurotaSf The, 3. 
 
 Families, regulations of, in the heroic age, 
 58. 
 
 Festivals among the Greeks, 83. Hel- 
 lenes alone could contend for prizes at 
 them, ib. received a national character, 
 84. the honours paid to the victors, 85. 
 whatever was glorious and beautiful 
 was here produced, 87. their import- 
 ance in the estimation of the Greeks, 
 133. nearly all religious ones, ib. their 
 cost to the public, 134. 
 
 Finance, at first little known in the Gre- 
 cian cities, 132. the public cost of tem- 
 ples, 133. festivals, 134. and the magis- 
 tracy, 135. military and naval estab- 
 lishments, 136. accurate information 
 
 INDEX TO ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 511 
 
 on this subject respecting Athens only, 
 137. 
 
 Gama, Vasco de, viii. 
 
 Ttpovcria, in various Grecian cities, 115. 
 
 Gorgias, 201. 
 
 Greece, geographical view, 1, so divided 
 that one state could scarcely gain su- 
 premacy over the rest, 19. favoured by 
 nature and position, 20. 
 
 Gythium, 4. 
 
 Harpalus, 189. 
 
 Hecatcms of Miletus, 211. 
 
 Heli(Ba, at Athens, 151. 
 
 Hellanicus, the Lesbian, 211. 
 
 Hellas, geographical view, 9. 
 
 Helleiies, The, their earliest condition, 2 1 . 
 their power gradually increased, 22. the 
 tribes composing them, ib. received 
 their divinities from the Pelasgi, 28. 
 their character was no where obliterated 
 among the Greeks, 80. their unity as a 
 nation probably maintained by the 
 Homeric poems, 81. religion another 
 bond of union, ib. they alone could 
 contend for prizes at the festivals, 83. 
 
 Heraclittts, 199. 
 
 Herodotus alleges that the Grecian di- 
 vinities were of Egyptian origin, 28. 
 that Hesiod and Homer invented the 
 Grecian theogony, 32. and designated 
 the forms of the gods, 33. his history. 
 
 Heroic Age, The, 50. the dates of its com- 
 mencement and close not clearly de- 
 fined, 62. 
 
 Hesiod, alleged by Herodotus to have 
 formed, with Homer, the divine world of 
 the Greeks, 33. 
 
 Hippias, 201. 
 
 Hippodamus, 198. 
 
 History of the Greeks, its source and 
 progress, 208, 211. was originally 
 poetical, ib, Herodotus, 212. Thucy- 
 dides, 214. 
 
 Homer, alleged by Herodotus to have 
 formed, with Hesiod, the divine world 
 of the Greeks, 33. he established the 
 popular notions of the gods, ib. the best 
 source of information respecting the 
 heroic age, 50. the obscurity of his his- 
 tory, 71. conditions, character, and in- 
 fluence of his poems, 72. he formed the 
 character of the Greek nation, 75. his 
 songs carried by Lycurgus into the 
 Peloponnesus, 77. his influence on the 
 language, the spirit, and the political 
 character of the Greeks, 77, 78. his 
 poems arranged and committed to 
 writing by Pisistratus, 79. his poems 
 and those of the Homeridee probably 
 maintained the unity of the nation, 81. 
 
 Houses of tlie Grecian heroes, 56. | 
 
 Infantry among the Greeks, 159. thefr 
 accoutrement, ib. 
 
 lonians, a branch of the Hellenes, 22. re- 
 
 . tained possession of Attica, Euboea, and 
 several islands, 23. colonized parts of 
 Asia Minor, and the coasts of Italy and 
 Sicily, 24. their general characteristics, 
 t6. 
 
 Isocrates, 103. 
 
 Isthmian Games at Corinth, 84. 
 
 Ithaca, 18. 
 
 Judicature, not an independent branch of 
 the Grecian constitutions, 146. formed 
 by time and circumstances, 147. the 
 general form, 148. diff'erence of public 
 and private courts, 149. general process 
 of suits, 150. 
 
 Justice. In the free Grecian states the no- 
 tion prevailed that citizens must take 
 part in the administration of justice, 
 148. 
 
 Laconia, geographical view, 3. 
 
 Lada, naval battle of, 170. 
 
 Laurium, its silver mines, 131. 
 
 AeiTovpyiai, among the Greeks, 139. 
 
 Leonidas, great as a man, not as a general, 
 156. 
 
 Leuctra, battle of, 164. 
 
 Linus, 68. 
 
 Locris, geographical view, 15. 
 
 Lycurgus, carried the songs of Homer into 
 the Peloponnesus, 77, 78. did not at- 
 tempt to form a new constitution, 106. 
 
 Lysander, 156. 
 
 Lysias, 186. 
 
 Lysippus, 231. 
 
 Magistracy, The, in Grecian cities, 115. 
 eligibility to office, 118. the different 
 kinds of magistracy, 119. its cost to the 
 public, 135. 
 
 Mantinea, battle of, 164. 
 
 Marathon, battle of, 95. the Athenian 
 army did not exceed 10,000 men, 155. 
 the victory due to the heroic spirit of 
 Miltiades, 161. 
 
 Martel, Charles, viii. 
 
 Melos, 19. 
 
 Menander, his plays, 226. 
 
 Mercenaries, introduction among the 
 Greeks, 165. 
 
 Metals, abundance of, in ancient Greece, 
 57. , 
 
 Micon, 232. 
 
 Miletus founded, 64. 
 
 Militia in the Grecian states, 154. the 
 poorer classes nearly excluded from 
 military service, 155. that of Sparta re- 
 sembled a standing army, 156. where a 
 militia exists, the political divisions are 
 usually military in their origin, 157. 
 
 Milo, the wrestler, 197. 
 
 M: 
 
 
 i 
 
512 
 
 INDEX TO ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 l\ 
 
 Milttadea, 157. his heroic spirit, 180. 
 
 Mitylene built, 64. 
 
 MnesipMlus, 198. 
 
 Money, when first coined among the 
 Greeks, 128. silver coined money 
 known in the time of Solon, 129. its use 
 extended by colonies, 130. first coined 
 at iEgina, ib. 
 
 Monuments, their importance in the 
 estimation of the Greeks, 133. 
 
 Mysteries, Grecian, preserved the religion 
 of the initiated, 37. were introduced 
 from abroad, ib. preserved the symbol- 
 ical meaning of the gods, 38. 
 
 iVovy, its predominance over the army in 
 the Grecian states after the battle of 
 PlatEeae, 155, 166. naval science among 
 the Greeks, 167. the expense of build- 
 ing ships, ib. difiiculty of manning the 
 fleets, ib. operations limited to the 
 Ionian and iEgean Seas, ib. shape of 
 the most ancient ships, 168. invention 
 of triremes, ib. fleets first supported by 
 the Grecian cities in the 7th century, 
 169. naval architecture no further ad- 
 Tanced till the Macedonian age, ib. 
 naval tactics of the Greeks, 170. 
 
 Naxiis, 19. 
 
 Nemean Games at Argos, 84. 
 
 Nanus, 78. 
 
 Olympia, the temple at, a national temple, 
 82. the oracle hushed, 83. the games 
 of, 84. 
 
 Optimates, 108. 
 
 Oracles among the Greeks, 82. the con- 
 necting link between politics and the 
 popular religion, 83. 
 
 Orators in the Grecian states, their origin, 
 184. 
 
 Orpheus, 68. 
 
 Ostracism at Argos and Athens, 120. 
 
 Painting among the Greeks, 232. 
 
 Paper Money unknown in Greece, 131. 
 
 Parmenides, 199. 
 
 Paros, 19. 
 
 Pausanias, his fall, 98. the causes which 
 led to his treachery, 156. 
 
 Pelasgi, their earliest condition, 21. gra- 
 dually reduced and finally lost, 22. 
 
 Peloponnesus, The, geographical view, 2. 
 occupied chiefly by the Dorians and 
 ^tolians, 23. 
 
 Pelops, his migration into Greece, 46. 
 
 Periander, 174. 
 
 Pericles, 100, 179. the principle by which 
 he was actuated, 180. 
 
 Persian Wars, after the Trojan war the 
 first grand object of common interest 
 among the Grecian states, 94. their in- 
 fluence on the foreign relations and in- 
 ternal condition of Greece, 97. 
 
 Persians, their prevailing idea was to take 
 vengeance on Athens, 96. 
 
 Petalism at Sparta, 120. 
 
 Phemius, 68. 
 
 Pkerecydes of Syros, 211. 
 
 Phidias, 230. 
 
 Philip of Macedon. 188. 
 
 Philosophy, not enthralled by the religion 
 of the Greeks, 43. its connexion with 
 politics, 194. its conflict with the 
 popular religion, 194, 199. Anaxagoras, 
 194. Pythagoras, 195. first applied to 
 political science by the sophists, 198. 
 after the time of Pythagoras philosopliy 
 applied solely to metaphysical specula- 
 tions, 199. the philosophy of Socrates, 
 203, 204, 205. of Plato, 206. 
 
 Phoaea foimded, 64. 
 
 Phocis, geographical view, 14. 
 
 Phoenicians, The, early devoted to com- 
 merce and the founding of colonies, 44. 
 
 Pindar, 84. 
 
 Pisatis, a division of Elis, 6. 
 
 Pisistratus, arranged and committed to 
 writing the writings of Homer, 79. 
 
 Pittaeus, 174. 
 
 Plateeee, battle of, 96. the tactics of the 
 opposite forces, 161. 
 
 Plato, banished from his republic Homer's 
 narrations respecting the gods, 79. his 
 character and philosophy, 206. 
 
 Poetry, Epic, its importance among the 
 Greeks, 68. it emigrated with the 
 colonies to Asia, 70. its influence on 
 the state, 217. a chief means of forming 
 the character of youth, 218. connected 
 with music, ib. the connexion of lyric 
 poetry with religion, 219. dramatic 
 poetry concerns the state most nearly, 
 220. 
 
 Poets, The, created the special characters 
 of the Grecian divinities, 32. the proba- 
 ble character of those who preceded 
 Homer, 69. changes in their relations 
 after the time of Homer, 76. 
 
 Political Science, its condition among the 
 Greeks, 123. the influence of slavery, 
 125. the mercantile and restrictive 
 system unknown, 128. coinage, 129. 
 paper money unknown, 131. taxation, 
 138. customs, 141. farming the revenue, 
 143. who fixed the taxes, ib. the con- 
 nexion of philosophy with politics, 194, 
 198. 
 
 Polygamy, not directly authorized in the 
 heroic age, 58. 
 
 Polygnotus, 232. 
 
 Population of Greece in the heroic age, 56. 
 
 Praxiteles, 230. 
 
 Priests, no distinct caste of, among the 
 Greeks, 27, 82, 208. their situation and 
 character in the nation, 40. the office 
 not long filled by the same person, 42. 
 had no secret system of instruction, 43. 
 
 A_ 
 
 INDEX TO ANCIENT GREECE. 
 
 513 
 
 Protagoras, 201. 
 
 Pyrrho, 205. 
 
 Pythagoras, 195. his philosophy and 
 
 policy, 196—198. 
 Pythian Games at Delphi, 84. 
 
 Quintus, 78. 
 
 Religion, the foundation of, 26. the popu- 
 lar religion of the Greeks, 27, 82. its 
 character and its influence on the mo- 
 rals of the nation, 34, 82. it was tho- 
 roughly poetical, 36. never became in 
 any considerable degree a religion of 
 state, 44. its conflict with the philo- 
 sophers, 194, 199, 239. its desecration 
 in the later ages, 238. 
 
 Rowers, in the ancient Grecian ships, sat 
 in one line, 168. 
 
 Salamis, 19. battle of, 96. 
 Samothrace, 19. 
 
 Sanctuaries needed for celebrating the 
 common festivals among the Greeks, 88. 
 Sardis, burning of, 96. 
 Sciences, their influence on government, 
 192, 193. the public provision made for 
 their advancement, 193. 
 Sculptors, Grecian, represented their di- 
 vinities in human shapes, 36. 
 Sculpture among the Greeks, 230. 
 Senate, in various Grecian cities, 114. 
 Seven Wise Men^ The, were rulers, pre- 
 sidents, and counsellors of state, 174. 
 Sicyon, 8. 
 
 S/avcry, its prevalence among the Greeks, 
 
 124. its influence on their political 
 
 science, 125. and on the character of 
 
 the citizens, 127. 
 
 Smyrna, founded by JEolians, 64. 
 
 Socrates, 203. his philosophy, ib. his mode 
 
 of teaching, 204, 205. 
 Solon, established regulations for the re- 
 citation of Homer's rhapsodies, 78. did 
 not attempt to form a new constitution, 
 106. in his name statesmen first ap- 
 peared, 174. was a poet and soldier, as 
 well as law-giver, ib. 
 Sophists, The, first applied philosophy to 
 political science, 198. first gave in- 
 struction for pay, 200. their course of 
 instruction, 201. their lax moral princi- 
 ples, 202. 
 Sparta, built, 3. before the Persian wars 
 always asserted a kind of supremacy 
 over the Peloponnesus, 98. loses the 
 nominal supremacy in the Persian wars, 
 ib. her government that of an heredit- 
 ary aristocracy, 108. long without fi- 
 nances, 132. had no popular tribunals, 
 152. its militia resembled a standing 
 army, 156. scarcity of great command- 
 ers, ib. had little cavalry, 158. its rival- 
 ry with Athens, 237. 
 States, Grecian, with few exceptions were 
 
 cities with their districts, 66, 104 had 
 all free constitutions, 105. 
 
 Statesmen, Greek, the influences which 
 formed their character, 173. the first 
 who deserved the name appeared in the 
 age of Solon, 174. their objects and 
 influence, 175. their relations to mili- 
 tary commanders, ib. the age of 
 Themistocles, 176. that of Pericles, 179. 
 that of Demosthenes, 183. when advo- 
 cates became statesmen, 185. 
 
 Sybaris, its destruction, 196. 
 
 Syracuse claims to lead the Greeks in the 
 Persian wars, 98. 
 
 Tactics of the Greeks, military, 163. naval, 
 
 Tarentum founded, 64. 
 Taxes among the Greeks, 138. they under- 
 stood the difference between direct and 
 indirect, ib. poll-tax levied chiefly on 
 resident foreigners, 139. on property. 
 ib. indirect, 141. 
 
 Thales, 174. 
 
 Thasos, 19. its gold mines, 131. 
 
 Themistocles, 95, 98, 170. his character 
 and influence, 176. was a pupil of 
 Mnesiphilus, 198. 
 
 Theseus, date of his undertaking against 
 Crete, 51. 
 
 Thessaly, geographical view, 16. 
 
 Thrace, its gold mines, 131. 
 
 Thucydides, his history, 215. 
 
 Tragedy among the Greeks, 223. its in- 
 fluence, 224. 
 
 Triphylia, a division of Elis, 5. 
 
 Triremes, invention of, 168. formed the 
 principal strength of the Grecian 
 fleets, ib. 
 
 Troy, the effect on Greece of the Trojan 
 
 war, 61, 63, 65. 
 Tyrants, the name given by the Greeks 
 
 to all irresponsible rulers, 105, 120. 
 
 Voting, mode of, in the Grecian assem- 
 blies, HI. 
 
 War, the art of, in the heroic age, 60. 
 reasons for its slow advances, 1 54. mi- 
 litia, »6. the Grecian armies not nu- 
 merous, 155. after the battle of Platase, 
 wars were conducted chiefly by sea, 
 156. troops were not paid, 157. weak- 
 ness of the cavalry, or want of it, 158. 
 infantry, 159. tactics, 160. the chaaige 
 in the art of war effected by Epaminon- 
 das,J63. payment of troops introduced, 
 164. employment of mercenaries, 165. 
 the results of this, 166. 
 
 Weaving, the art of, in the heroic age of 
 Greece, 58. 
 
 Xerxes, his invasion of Greece, 95. bums 
 
 Athens, 96. 
 Xenophanes, 199. 
 Xenophon, 166. his Anabasis, 217. 
 
 i 
 
 n 
 
 I 
 
 \ 
 
 t 
 
INDEX 
 
 TO 
 
 HISTORICAL TREATISES. 
 
 It - 
 
 Addmgfon, 488. 
 
 Aix-la-Chapelley treaty of, 435. 
 
 Alberotii, 400. 
 
 Albert of Brandenburgh, 259. 
 
 Alexander of Russia, 488. 
 
 America, British colonies, war with, 417. 
 
 Amiens, peace of, 488. 
 
 Anne, queen of England, her policy and 
 continental relations, 395. 
 
 Armada^ The invincible, its destruction, 
 377. 
 
 Arminians, in the Netherlands, 270. 
 
 Assiento, treaty of, 401. 
 
 Attgsburffh, peace of, 254, 291. 
 
 Augustus II. of Poland, his death, 422. 
 
 Augttstus III., 422. 
 
 Austria, the house of, its aggrandizement 
 out of the disturbances of the Reform- 
 ation, 257. the influence of the Reform- 
 ation, ib. close alliance with England, 
 393. alliance witli Russia, 415. war of 
 succession, 425. her change in her rela- 
 tions with England, 426. war with re- 
 Tolutionary France, 467. peace of 
 Campo Formio, 475. negotiations with 
 Russia, 481. joins the great confederacy, 
 482. joins the third confederacy, 494. 
 peace of Presburg, ib. 
 
 Austerlitz, battle of, 494. 
 
 Balance of power, developement of the 
 principle in Europe, 285. originated in 
 Italy, 286. 
 
 Bartholomew, St., massacre of, 262. 
 
 Basle, peace of, 471. 
 
 Bengal, the English establish themselves 
 here, 448. 
 
 Bodin, John, his work De Republica, 316. 
 
 Bohemia, converted into an hereditary 
 state, 258. the Thirty Years* War com- 
 menced here, 293. 
 
 Boulogne taken by the English, 371. 
 
 Bremen, duchy of, sold to Hanovft, 406. 
 
 Breslau, treaty of, 302. 
 
 Britain, Great, its interests as a naval and 
 insular power, 363. 
 
 Bromsebroe, peace of, 403. 
 
 Bull, The Golden, 252. 
 
 Buonaparte, 474. conquers Italy, ib. em- 
 peror, 493. his designs on Russia and 
 Spain, 498. 
 
 Cabot, John, 373. 
 
 Calais, lost by England, 372. 
 
 Calmar, The Union of, 271, 273. 
 
 Calvin, John, 337. 
 
 Cambray, The League of, 251. its dissolu- 
 tion, 369. 
 
 Campo Formio, peace of, 475. 
 
 Carlos, Don, son of Philip V., 420. 
 
 Carteret succeeds Walpole, 431. 
 
 Catharine, her marriage with Arthur, son 
 of Henry VII., 368. and to Henry VIIL, 
 369. 
 
 Catharine II., her interposition in Po- 
 land, 276. institutes the Armed Neu- 
 trality, 449. defensive alliance with 
 England, 472. 
 
 Chambers, The, the organ of constitu- 
 tional government, 355. their func- 
 tions, ib. 
 
 Charles I. of England, 322. his accession 
 and policy, 384. 
 
 Charles II. of England, 298, 322. his sub- 
 serviency to France, 388. 
 
 Charles V., his opposition to the Reform- 
 ation, 253. his policy as head of the 
 house of Austria, 257. 
 
 Charles F/., 421, 422. 
 
 Charles XII., his invasion of Poland, 275. 
 his abilities and undertakings, 299. his 
 death, 409. 
 
 Charles, Archduke of Austria, 483. 
 
 Chatham, 334. 
 
 Chauvelin, 464. 
 
 Choiseul, 340. 
 
 Christian III. of Denmark, 273, 
 
 Christian IV. of Denmark, 273. 
 
 Christianity, in its doctrines, is uncon- 
 nected with politics, 279. 
 
 Christina, her profusion, 299. 
 
 Church, the condition of its union with 
 the State at the time of the Reform- 
 ation, 249, 250. 
 
 Clergy, change in their condition by the 
 Reformation, 2S1. 
 
 Cloth manufactures introduced into Eng- 
 land, 374. 
 
 Colbert, 284, 391. 
 
 Community, Civil, what it means, 325. 
 
 Compact, the theory that the state is 
 founded on, 327. 
 
 Compact, The Family, 445. 
 
 rsr 
 
 f: 
 
 INDEX TO HISTORICAL TREATISES. 
 
 " Contrat Social," 345. 
 
 Copmhagen attacked, 488. bombarded, 
 4yo. ' 
 
 Corpus Evangelicorum, 256. 
 Cressy, peace of, 371. 
 
 ^452''' ^^^' '^ independence founded, 
 Cromwell, his conquest of Ireland, 267 
 
 ^lhu!^^^T^ /2"^y' ^^4. his wa; 
 with Holland and Spain, 386. 
 
 Crusades, The, their effect in Europe 246 
 
 515 
 
 Hcv n?^- S ?^^^"'^ ^^^^i^' 409. po- 
 licy of Sir Robert Walpole 412 nil; 
 
 ance wiUi France and P?u sia;if5 t 
 
 Sr/i^ ^'"'^" "•' 419. policy of 
 England hereupon, ib. intricacy of Con- 
 tinental connexions, 422. war wISi 
 Spain, 424 change in relations w h 
 Austna, 426 peace of Aix-la-ChapIne 
 pI^'tIJ?.^^^^ 43^- Utilities i^he 
 
 Denmark, progress and influence of the 
 
 Reformation in, 272. 
 Dettingen, battle of, 431 
 Domingo, St., lost by Frknce, 467 
 Dresden, peace of, 433. 
 Dupleix, 435. 
 
 ^knd'^^0^'''"^'^''^ established in Eng- 
 
 ^€i^t '''' ""'' ^^^'^-^^^ -^- 
 
 Egypt, French expedition to, 479 
 ^^^^frejtstein seized by France, 478. 
 
 oflf N^.^'?' f^- ^^^^^"^« '^^ offers 
 fif /l''^^^"^^"^^'"' 269, 289. the ex- 
 tent of her power, 281. her death, 290. 
 
 «!. . f f' f''''"'/'' ^P«^^ in the conti- 
 ne^ital history of England, 375. takes a 
 share in the Flemish disturbances, 377. 
 
 J^;:r37r°--^-^--^--^^ 
 
 Elizabeth, daughter of James T.. 383 her 
 marriage, ib, 
 
 Elizabeth, queen of Philip V., 413 
 
 Enghien, Duke D', 493 
 
 England, progress and 'influence of the 
 Reformation, 264, 321. introduction of 
 a new rule of faith, 288. advance of 
 political mquiry, 318. the early history 
 of parliaments, 319. the causes of the 
 civil war, 321. her interference in con- 
 tmental affairs in the middle ages, 368 
 her continental relations in the reign of 
 Henry VII., ib. of Henry VIII.. 370 
 of Edward VI., 372. of Marv, ^6.1^: 
 portance of the wool she produced, 373 
 the reign of Elizabeth an epoch in the 
 contmental history of England, 375. the 
 accession principles,andpolicyofJames 
 -isiA \l *^y-. accession of Charles I., 
 
 wplf ^h ^T'"^^"^^ P^^i^y «^ Crom! 
 well, «d. colonies in North America 
 
 and the West Indies, 385. the N™ 
 
 tm Act, 386. accession of William III., 
 
 finn; Sjo^ /u^ ^"^ continental rela' 
 tions, 392 those of Anne, 395. con- 
 nexion with Portugal, 396.'first gran^ 
 
 Utrecht, 397. accession of the house of 
 Hanover, ib. its continental policy 398 
 connexion with the regent Orleans,' 
 401. parUcipation in the great war in 
 Germany, 402. treaty with Sweden, 
 
 na^v^ 4°3^1^f • P-^-iZce ^^f Z 
 navy, 436. state of continental relations, 
 
 tn 0" Pitt^rr ' ''^- ^^"^^i^^-- 
 
 uon ot Pitt td. close connexion with 
 Portugal, 444. conclusion of the war 
 446. disputes with Wilkes, ib. war with 
 
 hLtu^^'T "^^l^"^"'' 447- establishes 
 
 n,Tn?nn f .?'"^^^' "^^^^ ^««^^ ^he do- 
 minion of the seas, 449. Armed Neu- 
 tral ty ^b altered relations with the 
 
 ?52 .1?^?' f ^- '^' ^^"Pl« Allianre! 
 452. general character of her continent 
 tal po icy, 457. joins the confederacy 
 agams France, 464. war with France^ 
 
 unon iS?"'!,-^"^ negotiations there! 
 upon, 468. alliance with Russia 479 
 war with Spain, 473. refuUs of'the 
 Hon? ^viPlf P" ^«^™i«> 475. negotia! 
 SnT V'^'"' ^^6- French Lpe- 
 t^V- fP^'481. great confeder- 
 acy agamst France, 482. league of the 
 northern powers against England, 484. 
 Copenhagen taken, 488. peace of Ami- 
 ens lb. renewal of the war, 491 
 
 hstaples, peace of, 369. 
 
 Eugene, Prince, 301, 397 
 
 Euf^e, influence of the 'Reformation on 
 
 he general pontics of, 277. framed by 
 
 It into one political system, 295 the 
 
 states forming it were constituted witi! 
 
 out any general theory, 310 
 
 Eustace, St., conquered by England, 448. 
 
 Fatw, 339. 
 
 Fehrbellin, battle of, 299 
 
 ^wTf '^" "^""'^'^^^ 250. joins the 
 
 holy league against France, 369. 
 Ferdinand I., 2^2. 
 Ferdinand II., 258. 
 Ferdinand VI. of Spain, 436. 
 feudal kiw, the influence on it of the 
 
 Crusades, 246. ® 
 
 Filmer, Sir Robert, 323. 
 Flag, neutrality of, 485* I 
 
 Fleury, Cardinal, 340, 416 
 Fox, Charles, 476, 495 
 France, progress and' influence of the 
 
 Reformation, 261. the first to adopt ex! 
 
 tended views of policy, 298. foundation 
 
 liirf}^'^ "^T' ]^^ ^y l^iehelieu^ 
 318. reasons why political inquiry made 
 no progress m France, ib. rivalA. w^^ 
 France the soul of British polic?, 389 
 
 459 'ZTT'r:^' °^ ^« Revolution; 
 459. the Constituent and Legislative 
 
 i 
 
 H 
 
516 
 
 INDEX TO HISTORICAL TREATISES. 
 
 INDEX TO HISTORICAL TREATISES. 
 
 517 
 
 Assemblies, 460. the National Conven- 
 tion, ib. execution of Lewis XVI., 
 464. invades the Austrian Netherlands, 
 ib. war with England, 465. with Aus- 
 tria, Prussia, and Sardinia, 467. loses 
 St. Domingo, 468. conquest of Holland, 
 469. the Directory, 473, 476. conquers 
 Italy, 474. peace of Campo Formio, 
 475. expedition to Egypt, 479. capture 
 of Malta, 482. great confederacy against 
 France, ib. its dissolution, 484. peace 
 of Amiens, 488. renewal of the war, 
 491. the imperial throne erected, 493. 
 third confederacy against France, ib. 
 peace of Tilsit, 496. 
 
 Francis I., 261. his alliance with the 
 Forte, 287. his wars with Charles V., 
 370. his fate at Pavia, ib. 
 
 Francis of Alenfon, 269. 
 
 Frederic the Wise^ his adhesion to the 
 Reformation, 252. 
 
 Frederic IL of Prussia, 425. his conquest 
 of Silesia, 260. examination of his con- 
 duct after 1740, 433. 
 
 Frederic III., 252. 
 
 Frederic III. of Denmark, 273. 
 
 Frederic V. Elector, his marriage with 
 the daughter of James I., 383. 
 
 Geneva, 318. its influence on the practice 
 of politics in Europe, 336. the changes 
 in its constitution after the Reformation, 
 338, et seq. 
 
 George /., his continental policy, 398 — 419. 
 
 George II., his accession, 419. 
 
 Germany, the immediate consequences of 
 the Reformation, 252. its condition as a 
 state at that period, ib. subsequent 
 struggle, 253, &c. 
 
 Gibraltar obtained by England, 397. 
 
 GomarisU, in the Netherlands, 270. 
 
 Gorz, Baron, 406. 
 
 Gregory the Seventh, the temporal au- 
 thority established by him was broken 
 down before the Reformation, 249. 
 
 Grenvitte, Lord, 495. 
 
 Grotius, Hugo, his character and work, 
 315. 
 
 Gustavus Vasa, 271. 
 
 Guatavta Adolphus, induced by Richelieu 
 to take part in the Thirty Years* War, 
 295. his death, 296. 
 
 Hanover, accession of the House of, 397. 
 its continental policy, 398. 
 
 Hapsburg, House of, its sudden rise, 286. 
 
 Henry II., his alliance with Maurice of 
 Saxony, 287. 
 
 Henry IV. of France, 291. 
 
 Henry VII., his expedition into France, 
 369. 
 
 Henry VIII., 264. his marriage with 
 Catharine, 369. his war with France, 
 ib. his part in the wars between Fran- 
 cis I. and Charles V., 370. 
 
 Herren-haiia, alliance of, 415. 
 
 Hierarchy, how far it is a safe-guard to 
 the throne, 265. 
 
 '*High Commission*' of Elizabeth, 264. 
 
 Hobbes, Thomas, 324. 
 
 Hugonots, The, 262. forcibly disarmed, 
 297. 
 
 Hungary, converted into an hereditary 
 state, 258. influence of the Reforma- 
 tion, ib. 
 
 Indies, East, become the seat of British 
 and French hostilities, 435. increased 
 power of the British, 448. 
 
 Ireland, efiects of the Reformation in, 
 267. 
 
 Isabella, wife of Edward II., 368. 
 
 Italy, the state of its politics at the time 
 of the Reformation, 250. reasons for its 
 little progress therein, 276. political 
 speculation first developed here, 312. 
 defect of political theories, ib. 
 
 Jamaica conquered by England, 387. 
 
 James I. of England, 291, 321. his acces- 
 sion and principles, 381. his war with 
 Spain, 383. his part in the negotiation 
 for the independence of the Nether- 
 lands, 382. project of a Spanish match 
 for his son, 383. marriage of his daugh- 
 ter, ib. 
 
 James II. of England, 298. 
 
 Jansenism, 263. 
 
 Jassy, peace of, 453. 
 
 Jesuits, origin of the order, 282. 
 
 John Sigismond, 259. 
 
 Joseph II., 284. 
 
 Jourdan, General, 474. 
 
 Labour donnais, 435. 
 
 Latin language, its prevalence, for the 
 purpose of writing, assisted the progress 
 of the Reformation in Poland, 274. 
 
 League, The Catholic, 292. 
 
 Lewis XIV., his age, 298. his death, 400. 
 
 Lewis XV., his marriage, 413. 
 
 Lewis XVI., 460. 
 
 Lippe Buckeburg, Count William of, 445. 
 
 Locke, John^ 329. his writings and influ- 
 ence, 331. his differences with Rous- 
 seau, 349. 
 
 Louvois, 394. 
 
 Lutter, battle of, 295. 
 
 Lutzen, battle of, 295. 
 
 Machiavel, 313. 
 Malmsbury, Lord, 476. 
 Malta captured by France, 482. 
 Mantua taken by the French, 475. 
 Maria Teresa, 425, 437. 
 Marlborough, 301, 396. 
 Mary, queen of England, 264. her con- 
 tinental relations, 372. 
 Matthias, King, 258. 
 Maurice of Orangct 270. 
 
 Maurice of Saxony, his alliance with 
 
 Henry II., 287. 
 Maximilian I., 253. his war with Charles 
 
 VIII., 369. 
 Maximilian II., 292. 
 Melancthon, his desire for the purifying of 
 
 philosophy, 307. his work on physics, 
 
 308. his "Elements of Ethics," 309. 
 
 his definition of virtue, ib. 
 Methuen, 396. 
 Micheli, 339. 
 
 Minorca taken by England, 397. 
 Monarchy, in what it consists, 353. 
 Montesquieu, his influence on France, 341. 
 Moreau, General, 474. 
 M'uhlberg, battle of, 254. 
 
 Nantes, Edict of, 261. its revocation, 263, 
 
 "Nature, State of," theoretical foundation 
 
 of government, 325. 
 Navigation Act, 386. 
 Necker, 340. 
 
 Neerioinden, battle of, 469. 
 Negapatuam conquered by England, 448. 
 Nelson, 481. 
 
 Netherlands, The United, influence and 
 progress of the Reformation, 268. ac- 
 complish their independence, 269. 
 revolution in, 288. war renewed by 
 Philip IV., 294. their independence 
 recognised, 296. political inquiry made 
 no progress here after the Reformation, 
 314. the decline of the state owing to 
 its abstinence from interference in the 
 afiairs of other states, 366. differences 
 with England, 450. domestic ferments 
 and intervention of Prussia, 451. inva- 
 sion by France, 464. conquest, 469. 
 
 Neutrality, Armed, 449. 
 
 Nile, battle of the, 481. 
 
 Nimeguen, peace of, 300. 
 
 Nystadt, peace of, 410. 
 
 Oldenbameveld, 270. 
 
 Oliva, peace of, 260, 297. 
 
 Orleans, Duke of, regent of France, 400. 
 
 « 
 
 Pardo, treaty at, 416. 
 
 Parliament, British, its eariy history, 319. 
 
 Passau^ treaty of, 254. 
 
 Paul, emperor of Russia, 481. 
 
 Pavia, battle of, 370. 
 
 Pelham, 437. 
 
 People, Sovereignty of the, the basis of 
 Rousseau's system, 351. 
 
 Peter the Great, 301. 
 
 Philip II., the allegiance of the Nether- 
 lands shaken off", 269, 288. his marriage 
 with Mary, 372. his death, 290. 
 
 Philip IV. renews the contest with the 
 Netherlands, 294. 
 
 Philosophy, the Reformers did not intend 
 to found new systems of, 306. its need 
 of being purified, ib. applied by the 
 
 Reformation to the improvement of 
 morality, 309. 
 
 Pitt, William, the first, 432. his adminis- 
 tration, 440. 
 
 Pitt, William, the younger, his character 
 and administration, 458. his East In- 
 dia Bill, 460. his retirement, 488. ac 
 complishes a third confederacy against 
 France, 493. his death, 494. 
 
 Poland, progress and influence of the Re- 
 formation in, 274. invasion by Charies 
 XII., 275. interposition of Catharine 
 II., ib. fall of the state, 276. first par- 
 tition of, 452. last partition, 472. 
 
 Politics, with religion, the only subjects 
 readily appreciated by the great mass 
 of people, 245. the state of politics at 
 the time of the Reformation, 250. its 
 influence on the general politics of Eu- 
 rope, 277. 
 
 Pombal, 444. 
 
 Porte, The, alliance of Francis I. with, 
 
 287. 
 
 Portugal, reasons for the little progress of 
 the Reformation in, 276. close con- 
 nexion with England, 396, 444. in- 
 volved in war, ib. 
 
 Pragmatic Sanction, 302, 421. 
 
 Prague, battle of, (1620,) 258. 
 
 Presburg, peace of, 494. 
 
 Princes of Europe, increase of their power 
 by the Reformation, 280. 
 
 Property, Security of, the first object of a 
 state, 325. 
 
 Prussia, owes the foundation of its mon- 
 archy to the Reformation, 259, 299. 
 raised to a kingdom, 260. keeps securely 
 together the North and South of Eu- 
 rope, 300. alliance with England and 
 France, 415. war with revolutionary 
 France, 467. secedes from the alliance 
 against France, 470. her neutrality in 
 the great confederacy, 482. joins an 
 Araied Neutrality against England, 
 487. joins the third confederacy against 
 France, 493. occupies Hanover, 495. 
 renewed war with France, 496. 
 
 Rastadt, congress of, 478. 
 
 Reformation, The, the second great moral 
 revolution in modem Europe, 247. its 
 influence necessarily political in con- 
 sequence of the union of Church and 
 State, 249. it presented a new and 
 mighty interest, 251. its progress and 
 mfluence in Germany, 252, &c. in Aus- 
 tria, 257. Hungary and Bohemia, 258. 
 in Prussia, 259. in Switzeriand and 
 France, 261. in England, 263. in Ire- 
 land, 267. in the United Netheriands, 
 268. m Sweden, 270. in Denmark, 272. 
 m Poland, 274. in Russia, Spain, Por- 
 tugal, and Italy, 276. its influence on 
 the general politics of Europe, 277. on 
 the organization of society, 278. on the 
 
 a 
 
518 
 
 INDEX TO HISTORICAL TREATISES. 
 
 mutual relations of the European 
 states, 284. first formed Europe into 
 one political system, 295. raised Prus- 
 sia to a leading place in Europe, 299. 
 its effects on commerce and the co- 
 lonial system, 303. applied philosophy 
 to the improvement of morality, 309. was 
 the origin of political speculation, 313. 
 
 Reformers, did not propose to found new 
 systems of philosophy, 306. speculated 
 as to God, and what pertains to him, 309. 
 
 Reiehenbach, peace of, 453. 
 
 Religion, with politics, the only subjects 
 readily appreciated by the great mass of 
 peopte, 245. became at the Reformation 
 the mainspring of politics, 251. be- 
 comes a part of the constitutional basis 
 of all governments, 278. the pivot of 
 English and European politics when 
 the Stuarts ascended the throne, 380. 
 
 Republic, in what it consists, 353. 
 
 Restoration, The, in England, 298. 
 
 Revolutions, their different characters, 244. 
 determine the fortunes of our race, 246. 
 more extensive in their progress than 
 the originators of them proposed, 306. 
 
 Richelieu, 262, 291. lays the foundation of 
 absolute power in France, 318. 
 
 Ripperda, 9uke of, 414. 
 
 Rivalry of nations, a spur to the develop- 
 ment of their powers, 389. 
 
 Rochelht peace of, 262. 
 
 Roschild, peace of, 403. 
 
 Rousseau, 328. his *' Contrat social," 345. 
 
 iJudo//"//., 290, 292. 
 
 Russia, little progress made by the Re- 
 formation in, 276. development of her 
 power, 405. alliance with Austria, 415. 
 its fleets appear in the Mediterranean, 
 452. negotiations with Austria and with 
 England, 481. joins an Armed Neu- 
 trality against England, 487. accession 
 of Alexander, 488. joins the third con- 
 federacy against France, 494. 
 
 Rt/swick, treaty of, 301, 392. 
 
 Seville, treaty of, 420. 
 
 Sheep, breeding of, the principal employ- 
 ment of the English farmer in the 16th 
 century, 373. 
 
 Sheridan, R. B., 476. 
 
 Sidney, Algemont 329. 
 
 Silesia, conquest of, by Frederic II., 260. 
 
 Slave Trade, African, 379. 
 
 Smalcald, League of, 254. 
 
 Society, effects of the Reformation on its 
 organization, 278. 
 
 Socinians, formally established in Poland, 
 274. 
 
 Sovereignty, of what it consists, 353. 
 
 Spain, reasons for the little progress made 
 by the Reformation in, 276. vacant suc- 
 cession to its throne, 301. withdraws 
 from the alliance against revolutionary 
 France, 471. joins France, 473. 
 
 Speculation, political, the causes of its ex- 
 istence, 311. first developed in Italy ,312. 
 
 Stanislaus Lescinsky, 413. 
 
 State, The, condition of its union with the 
 Church at the time of the Reformation, 
 249, 250. 
 
 Stuarts, their accession to the English 
 throne, 381. 
 
 Subsidies first granted by England, 396. 
 operation of them, 428. 
 
 Sutty, 291. 
 
 Suwarrow, 483. 
 
 Sweden, progress and influence of the 
 Reformation in, 270. after the Thirty 
 Years* War ranked among the first 
 powers of Europe, 296. treaty with 
 England, 404. 
 
 Switzerland, progress of the Reformation 
 in, 261. attacked by France, 478. 
 
 Theology, Natural, 308. 
 Thirty Years' War, 255, 293. 
 Toleration Act, in England, 266. 
 Trafalgar, battle of, 494. 
 Travendal, peace of, 404. 
 Trinconomale, conquered by England, 448. 
 Turks, The, their aggressions on Ger- 
 many, 299. 
 Tuscany, secured to Don Carlos, 420. 
 
 Union, The Protestant^ 292. 
 United States of America^ their inde- 
 pendence, 268. 
 
 Verden, duchy of, sold to Hanover, 406. 
 
 Vergennes, 340. 
 
 Vervins, peace of, 379. 
 
 Victor Amadeus II., 394. 
 
 Vienna, peace of, 258, 393. 
 
 Virtue, Melancthon's definition of, 309. 
 
 Walpole, Sir Robert, his continental po- 
 licy, 411, 
 
 Walpole, Horatio, 419. 
 
 Wehlau, treaty of, 259. 
 
 Westerds, Diet of, 272. 
 
 Westphalia, treaty of, 255, 260, 296. 
 
 Wilkes, John, 446. 
 
 WUliam III. of England, 298. his policy, 
 392. 
 
 William IV. of the Netherlands, 436. 
 
 Wolsey, Cardinal, won over by Charles 
 v., 370. 
 
 Wool, produced by England, 373. 
 
 Worms, Diet of, 252. 
 
 JOHN CHILDS AND SON, BUNGAY. 
 
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