The Life of Sethos (Volume 1); Taken from Private Memoirs of the Ancient Egyptians. Tr. from a Greek Manuscript Into French (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ing. This hero had the ambition to fet the god Ofiris for his pattern, and like him, according to the Egyptian traditions, vifited a great part of the earth, teaching the inhabitants to cultivate it, and to form agreeable and uleful focicties; thus Sefoftris was the firft king, of the race of men, who bore arms in Afia, and there introduced and eftablifh'd the laws and fciences of Egypt. He even rul'd all the four kingdoms of Egypt, not indeed by a fovereign power, but by the fu- periority of his genius, his virtues and reputation. H i s firft fucccfibrs fupported for a time, efpecially with regard to foreign provinces, the fplendor of fo great an empire; and we find, about one hundred years after Sefoftris, Mendes or Memnon, king of Thebes, ruler of Sufa and Phrygia, chaftizing the revolted Bactrians, and re-eftabliming order among the people conquer'd by his anceftor. But RameiTes, who fucceeded Memnon, wanting both the courage and conduct of his forefathers, loft, by his weaknefs, all the conquer'd dominions, and, by his pride, a title which he had till then retain'd above the other kings of Egypt. His immediate predeceflbrs having need of all their cunning as well as force, to keep the diftant provinces under the yoke cf obedience, had treated thcfd kings with difcredon, and had notnot abus'd that right, which they perceived had in truth only devolv'd upon Selbftris, on account of his perfonal merit. But young Rameffes foon difcover'd his character by two obelisks, which he caus'd to be inlcrib'd with titles fo oftentatious and falie, with regard to him, that in latter ages they have been thought to relate to Selbftris. This young prince, whofe whole Itudy was to deck himfelf with, a vain and momentaneous glory, the ignominious confequences of which he never forefaw, to...