cannot possibly know it, in return for a past benefit, carries along with it a testimony of sincerity so totally devoid of the least colour of dissimulation, that every one must admire the sentiments which dictate its performance." Nor did it consist in mere outward show: the mourning continued for seventy-two days, during which time every one abstained from the comforts as well as the luxuries of life. Meat, wheat bread, wine, and all delicacies were voluntarily renounced; and they neither anointed themselves, nor indulged in the bath, nor in any kind of pleasure.

UNIFORMITY OF THEIR LAWS.

Another remarkable feature of the Egyptian laws was the sanctity with which old edicts were upheld. They were closely interwoven with the religion of the country*, and said to be derived from the Gods themselves; whence it was considered both useless and impious to alter such sacred institutions. Few innovations were introduced by their monarchs, unless loudly called for by circumstances; and we neither read of any attempts on the part of the people to alter or resist the laws, nor on that of their rulers to introduce a more arbitrary mode of government.†

*As the Jewish and Moslem laws.

+ Herodotus' account of the tyranny of Cheops in building the pyramid cannot be received with any degree of credit.

DIFFERENT LAWGIVERS.

As society advances, it must, however, necessarily happen that some alterations are requisite, either in the reformation of an existing code, or in the introduction of additional laws; and among the different legislators of the Egyptians, are particularly noticed the names of Mnevis, Sasyches, Sesostris, Bocchoris, Asychis, Amasis, and even the Persian Darius. The great merit of the first of these seems to have consisted in inducing the people to conform to those institutions, which he pretended to have received from Hermes, the Egyptian Mercury *; "an idea," says Diodorus, "which has been adopted with success by many other ancient lawgivers, who have inculcated a respect for their institutions, through the awe that is naturally felt for the majesty of the Gods." The additions made by Sasyches chiefly related to matters of religious worship; and Sesostris, in addition to numerous regulations of a military nature, is said to have introduced some changes into the agricultural system; and having divided all the land of Egypt, with the exception of that which belonged to the priests and soldiers, into squares of equal areas †, he assigned to each peasant his peculiar

*Diod. i. 94.

+ Herodot. ii. 109. Vide suprà, p. 73. and 104. In this instance, Sesostris could not be Remeses II.; and, indeed, the division of land is evidently of older date than the arrival of Joseph or the reign of Osirtasen I. Perhaps, as I have observed in p. 74. note 4., this refers to the crown lands.

portion*, or a certain number of these arouras †, for which he annually paid a fixed rent; and having instituted a yearly survey of the lands, any deficiency, resulting from a fall of the bank during the inundation, or other accidental causes, was stated in the returns, and deducted for in the government demands. Of the laws of Bocchoris and Asychis respecting debt, I have already spoken ‡; and the former is said to have introduced many others relating to the kings, as well as to civil contracts and commerce §, and to have established several important precedents in Egyptian jurisprudence.

Amasis was particularly eminent for his wisdom, and for the many salutary additions he made to the laws of his country. He remodelled the system of provincial government, and defined the duties of the monarchs with peculiar precision; and, though not of royal extraction I, his conduct in the management of affairs was so highly approved by the people, that their respect for him was scarcely inferior to that shown to his most glorious predecessors. Nor was Darius, though a Persian, and of a nation justly abhorred by the Egyptians, denied

* The land may still have belonged to the king. The aroura was a square of 100 cubits, containing, therefore, 10,000 cubits. The Egyptian "er," or ert," "ploughing," or "tilla plough :” « arvum" a field:" and the Arabic 39 66 hart," ploughing," are related to it. + Vide suprà, p. 130. and 131.

age:""aratrum,"

66

Diod. i. 79.

39 66

Herodotus says he was of plebeian origin; but Diodorus, while he allows him not to have been of royal extraction, affirms that he was a person of rank, which is much more consonant, as I have already observed, with the fact of his being of the military caste, and with the evidence of the hieroglyphics, in which he is stated to have married the daughter of a king. Herodot. ii. 172. Diod. i. 68.

those eulogiums which the mildness of his government, and the introduction of laws tending to benefit the country, claimed for him; and they even granted him the title of Divus, making him partaker of the same honours which were bestowed on their native princes.* But the Ptolemies in after times abrogated some of the favourite laws of the country; and though much was done by them, in repairing the temples, and in executing very grand and useful works, and though several of these sovereigns pretended to court the good will of the Egyptians, yet their name became odious, and Macrobius has stigmatised their sway with the title of tyranny.t

GOVERNORS OF PROVINCES.

After the king and council ‡, the judges or magistrates of the capital held the most distinguished post; and next to them may be considered the nomarchs, or governors, of districts.

The whole of Egypt was divided into nomes, or districts, the total of which, in the time of Sesostris §, amounted to thirty-six, but which afterwards was increased to the number, according to D'Anville, of fifty-three.

The limits of Egypt || were the Mediterranean

* Diod. i. 95. This is confirmed by the mode of writing his name in hieroglyphics, which is preceded by the title Divus bonus, and is enclosed in two ovals, as that of the native Egyptian kings.

+ Macrob. Sat. i. c. 4. Vide suprà, vol. ii. p. 58.

Isaiah, xix. 11. Diod. i. 73.

Diod. i. 54.

The oracle of Ammon pronounced all those who lived to the north of Elephantine, and drank the waters of the Nile, to be Egyptians. (Herodot. ii. 18.)

to the north, and Syene, or the Cataracts, to the south; and the cultivated land east and west of the Nile, contained within this space, or between latitude 31° 37′ and 24° 3', was all that constituted the original territory of the Pharaohs: though the Mareotis, the Oases, and Nitriotis, were attached to their dominions, and were considered as part of the country. *

The main divisions of Egypt were "the Upper and Lower regions;" and this distinction, which had been maintained from the earliest times, was also indicated by a difference in the dialects of the language. Thebes and Memphis enjoyed equal rank as capitals of Egypt; and every monarch at his coronation assumed the title of "lord of the two regions ‡," or "the two worlds." But a change afterwards took place in the division of the country, and the northern portion was subdivided into the two provinces of Heptanomis and Lower Egypt. The latter extended from the sea to the head of the Delta, and advancing to the natural boundary of the low lands, which is so strongly marked by the abrupt ridge of the modern Mokuttum, it included the city of Heliopolis within its limits.

Heptanomis, or Middle Egypt, extended thence

* Libya was probably attached to Egypt at one period of its history, as Ammianus Marcellinus (lib. xxii.) directly states, but without forming part of Egypt Proper.

According to Herodotus, the people of Marea and Apis, on the Libyan side of the lake Mareotis, spoke a different language from the Egyptians. (ii. 18.)

The similarity of this and the "rob el álemayn," "lord of the