Part 12

These footsteps there are of the first peopling of the earth by mankind, not long before the days of _Abraham_; and of the overspreading it with villages, towns and cities, and their growing into Kingdoms, first Smaller and then greater, until the rise of the Monarchies of _Egypt_, _Assyria_, _Babylon_, _Media_, _Persia_, _Greece_, and _Rome_, the first great Empires on this side _India_. _Abraham_ was the fifth from _Peleg_, and all mankind lived together in _Chaldea_ under the Government of _Noah_ and his sons, untill the days of _Peleg_: so long they were of one language, one society, and one religion: and then they divided the earth, being perhaps, disturbed by the rebellion of _Nimrod_, and forced to leave off building the tower of _Babel_: and from thence they spread themselves into the several countries which fell to their shares, carrying along with them the laws, customs and religion, under which they had 'till those days been educated and governed, by _Noah_, and his sons and grandsons: and these laws were handed down to _Abraham_, _Melchizedek_, and _Job_, and their contemporaries, and for some time were observed by the judges of the eastern countries: so _Job_ [232] tells us, that adultery was _an heinous crime, yea an iniquity to be punished by the judges_: and of idolatry he [233] saith, _If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness, and my heart hath been secretly inticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand, this also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above_: and there being no dispute between _Job_ and his friends about these matters, it may be presumed that they also with their countrymen were of the same religion. _Melchizedek_ was a Priest of the most high God, and _Abraham_ voluntarily paid tythes to him; which he would scarce have done had they not been of one and the same religion. The first inhabitants of the land of _Canaan_ seem also to have been originally of the same religion, and to have continued in it 'till the death of _Noah_, and the days of _Abraham_; for _Jerusalem_ was anciently [234] called _Jebus_, and its people _Jebusites_, and _Melchizedek_ was their Priest and King: these nations revolted therefore after the days of _Melchizedek_ to the worship of false Gods; as did also the posterity of _Ismael_, _Esau_, _Moab_, _Ammon_, and that of _Abraham_ by _Keturah_: and the _Israelites_ themselves were very apt to revolt: and one reason why _Terah_ went from _Ur_ of the _Chaldees_ to _Haran_ in his way to the land of _Canaan_; and why _Abraham_ afterward left _Haran_, and went into the land of _Canaan_, might be to avoid the worship of false Gods, which in their days began in _Chaldea_, and spread every way from thence; but did not yet reach into the land of _Canaan_. Several of the laws and precepts in which this primitive religion consisted are mentioned in the book of _Job_, chap. i. ver. 5, and chap, xxxi, _viz._ _not to blaspheme God, nor to worship the Sun or Moon, nor to kill, nor steal, nor to commit adultery, nor trust in riches, nor oppress the poor or fatherless, nor curse your enemies, nor rejoyce at their misfortunes: but to be friendly, and hospitable and merciful, and to relieve the poor and needy, and to set up Judges_. This was the morality and religion of the first ages, still called by the _Jews_, _The precepts of the sons of _Noah__: this was the religion of _Moses_ and the Prophets, comprehended in the two great commandments, of _loving the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and mind, and our neighbour as our selves_: this was the religion enjoyned by _Moses_ to the uncircumcised stranger within the gates of _Israel_, as well as to the _Israelites_: and this is the primitive religion of both _Jews_ and _Christians_, and ought to be the standing religion of all nations, it being for the honour of God, and good of mankind: and _Moses_ adds the precept of _being merciful even to brute beasts, so as not to suck out their blood, nor to cut off their flesh alive with the blood in it, nor to kill them for the sake of their blood, nor to strangle them; but in killing them for food, to let out their blood and spill it upon the ground_, _Gen._ ix. 4, and _Levit_. xvii. 12, 13. This law was ancienter than the days of _Moses_, being given to _Noah_ and his sons long before the days of _Abraham_: and therefore when the Apostles and Elders in the Council at _Jerusalem_ declared that the Gentiles were not obliged to be circumcised and keep the law of _Moses_, they excepted this law of _abstaining from blood, and things strangled_ as being an earlier law of God, imposed not on the sons of _Abraham_ only, but on all nations, while they lived together in _Shinar_ under the dominion of _Noah_: and of the same kind is the law of _abstaining from meats offered to Idols or false Gods, and from fornication_. So then, _the believing that the world was framed by one supreme God, and is governed by him; and the loving and worshipping him, and honouring our parents, and loving our neighbour as our selves, and being merciful even to brute beasts_, is the oldest of all religions: and the Original of letters, agriculture, navigation, music, arts and sciences, metals, smiths and carpenters, towns and houses, was not older in _Europe_ than the days of _Eli_, _Samuel_ and _David_; and before those days the earth was so thinly peopled, and so overgrown with woods, that mankind could not be much older than is represented in Scripture.

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CHAP. II

_Of the Empire of _Egypt_._

The _Egyptians_ anciently boasted of a very great and lasting Empire under their Kings _Ammon_, _Osiris_, _Bacchus_, _Sesostris_, _Hercules_, _Memnon_, &c. reaching eastward to the _Indies_, and westward to the _Atlantic Ocean_; and out of vanity have made this monarchy some thousands of years older than the world: let us now try to rectify the Chronology of _Egypt_; by comparing the affairs of _Egypt_ with the synchronizing affairs of the _Greeks_ and _Hebrews_.

_Bacchus_ the conqueror loved two women, _Venus_ and _Ariadne_: _Venus_ was the mistress of _Anchises_ and _Cinyras_, and mother of _Æneas_, who all lived 'till the destruction of _Troy_; and the sons of _Bacchus_ and _Ariadne_ were _Argonauts_; as above: and therefore the great _Bacchus_ flourished but one Generation before the _Argonautic_ expedition. This _Bacchus_ [235] was potent at sea, conquered eastward as far as _India_ returned in triumph, brought his army over the _Hellespont_; conquered _Thrace_, left music, dancing and poetry there; killed _Lycurgus_ King of _Thrace_, and _Pentheus_ the grandson of _Cadmus_; gave the Kingdom of _Lycurgus_ to _Tharops_; and one of his minstrells, called by the _Greeks_ _Calliope_, to _Oeagrus_ the son of _Tharops_; and of _Oeagrus_ and _Calliope_ was born _Orpheus_, who sailed with the _Argonauts_: this _Bacchus_ was therefore contemporary to _Sesostris_; and both being Kings of _Egypt_, and potent at sea, and great conquerors, and carrying on their conquests into _India_ and _Thrace_, they must be one and the same man.

The antient _Greeks_, who made the fables of the Gods, related that _Io_ the daughter of _Inachus_ was carried into _Egypt_; and there became the _Egyptian Isis_; and that _Apis_ the son of _Phoroneus_ after death became the God _Serapis_; and some said that _Epaphus_ was the son of _Io_: _Serapis_ and _Epaphus_ are _Osiris_, and therefore _Isis_ and _Osiris_, in the opinion of the ancient _Greeks_ who made the fables of the Gods, were not above two or three Generations older than the _Argonautic_ expedition. _Dicæarchus_, as he is cited by the scholiast upon _Apollonius_, [236] represents them two Generations older than _Sesostris_, saying that after _Orus_ the son of _Osiris_ and _Isis_, Reigned _Sesonchosis_. He seems to have followed the opinion of the people of _Naxus_, who made _Bacchus_ two Generations older than _Theseus_, and for that end feigned two _Minos's_ and two _Ariadnes_; for by the consent of all antiquity _Osiris_ and _Bacchus_ were one and the same King of _Egypt_: this is affirmed by the _Egyptians_, as well as by the _Greeks_; and some of the antient Mythologists, as _Eumolpus_ and _Orpheus_, [237] called _Osiris_ by the names of _Dionysus_ and _Sirius_. _Osiris_ was King of all _Egypt_, and a great conqueror, and came over the _Hellespont_ in the days of _Triptolemus_, and subdued _Thrace_, and there killed _Lycurgus_; and therefore his expedition falls in with that of the great _Bacchus_. _Osiris_, _Bacchus_ and _Sesostris_ lived about the same time, and by the relation of historians were all of them Kings of all _Egypt_, and Reigned at _Thebes_, and adorned that city, and were very potent by land and sea: all three were great conquerors, and carried on their conquests by land through _Asia_ as far as _India_: all three came over the _Hellespont_ and were there in danger of losing their army: all three conquered _Thrace_, and there put a stop to their victories, and returned back from thence into _Egypt_: all three left pillars with inscriptions in their conquests: and therefore all three must be one and the same King of _Egypt_; and this King can be no other than _Sesac_. All _Egypt_, including _Thebais_, _Ethiopia_ and _Libya_, had no common King before the expulsion of the Shepherds who Reigned in the lower _Egypt_; no Conqueror of _Syria_, _India_, _Asia minor_ and _Thrace_, before _Sesac_; and the sacred history admits of no _Egyptian_ conqueror of _Palestine_ before this King.

_Thymætes_ [238] who was contemporary to _Orpheus_, and wrote a poesy called _Phrygia_, of the actions of _Bacchus_ in very old language and character, said that _Bacchus_ had _Libyan_ women in his army, amongst whom was _Minerva_ a woman born in _Libya_, near the river _Triton,_ and that _Bacchus_ commanded the men and _Minerva_ the women. _Diodorus_ [239] calls her _Myrina_, and saith that she was Queen of the _Amazons_ in _Libya_, and there conquered the _Atlantides_ and _Gorgons_, and then made a league with _Orus_ the son of _Isis_, sent to her by his father _Osiris_ or _Bacchus_ for that purpose, and passing through _Egypt_ subdued the _Arabians_, and _Syria_ and _Cilicia_, and came through _Phrygia_, _viz._ in the army of _Bacchus_ to the _Mediterranean_; but palling over into _Europe_, was slain with many of her women by the _Thracians_ and _Scythians_, under the conduct of _Sipylus_ a _Scythian_, and _Mopsus_ a _Thracian_ whom _Lycurgus_ King of _Thrace_ had banished. This was that _Lycurgus_ who opposed the passage of _Bacchus_ over the _Hellespont_, and was soon after conquered by him, and slain: but afterwards _Bacchus_ met with a repulse from the _Greeks_, under the conduct of _Perseus_, who slew many of his women, as _Pausanias_ [240] relates, and was assisted by the _Scythians_ and _Thracians_ under the conduct of _Sipylus_ and _Mopsus_; which repulses, together with a revolt of his brother _Danaus_ in _Egypt_; put a stop to his victories: and in returning home he left part of his men in _Colchis_ and at _Mount Caucasus_, under _Æetes_ and _Prometheus_; and his women upon the river _Thermodon_ near _Colchis_, under their new Queens _Marthesia_ and _Lampeto_: for _Diodorus_ [241] speaking of the _Amazons_ who were seated at _Thermodon_, saith, that they dwelt originally in _Libya_, and there Reigned over the _Atlantides_, and invading their neighbours conquered as far as _Europe_: and _Ammianus_, [242] that the ancient _Amazons_ breaking through many nations, attack'd the _Athenians_, and there receiving a great slaughter retired to _Thermodon_: and _Justin_, [243] that these _Amazons_ had at first, he means at their first coming to _Thermodon_, two Queens who called themselves daughters of _Mars_; and that they conquered part of _Europe_, and some cities of _Asia_, _viz._ in the Reign of _Minerva_, and then sent back part of their army with a great booty, under their said new Queens; and that _Marthesia_ being afterwards slain, was succeeded by her daughter _Orithya_, and she by _Penthesilea_; and that _Theseus_ captivated and married _Antiope_ the sister of _Orithya_. _Hercules_ made war upon the _Amazons_, and in the Reign of _Orithya_ and _Penthesilea_ they came to the _Trojan_ war: whence the first wars of the _Amazons_ in _Europe_ and _Asia_, and their settling at _Thermodon_, were but one Generation before those actions of _Hercules_ and _Theseus_, and but two before the _Trojan_ war, and so fell in with the expedition of _Sesostris_: and since they warred in the days of _Isis_ and her son _Orus_, and were a part of the army of _Bacchus_ or _Osiris_, we have here a further argument for making _Osiris_ and _Bacchus_ contemporary to _Sesostris_, and all three one and the same King with _Sesac_.

The _Greeks_ reckon _Osiris_ and _Bacchus_ to be sons of _Jupiter_, and the _Egyptian_ name of _Jupiter_ is _Ammon_. _Manetho_ in his 11th and 12th _Dynasties_, as he is cited by _Africanus_ and _Eusebius_ names these four Kings of _Egypt_, as reigning in order; _Ammenemes_, _Gesongeses_ or _Sesonchoris_ the son of _Ammenemes_, _Ammenemes_ who was slain by his Eunuchs, and _Sesostris_ who subdued all _Asia_ and part of _Europe_. _Gesongeses_ and _Sesonchoris_ are corruptly written for _Sesonchosis_; and the two first of these four Kings, _Ammenemes_ and _Sesonchosis_, are the same with the two last, _Ammenemes_ and _Sesostris_, that is, with _Ammon_ and _Sesac_; for _Diodorus_ saith [244] that _Osiris_ built in _Thebes_ a magnificent temple to his parents _Jupiter_ and _Juno_, and two other temples to _Jupiter_, a larger to _Jupiter Uranius_, and a less to his father _Jupiter Ammon_ who reigned in that city: and [245] _Thymætes_ abovementioned, who was contemporary to _Orpheus_, wrote expresly that the father of _Bacchus_ was _Ammon_, a King Reigning over part of _Libya_, that is, a King of _Egypt_ Reigning over all that part of _Libya_, anciently called _Ammonia_. _Stephanus_ [246] saith Πασα ‛η Λιβυη ‛ουτως εκαλειτο απο Αμμωνος· _All _Libya_ was anciently called _Ammonia_ from _Ammon__: this is that King of _Egypt_ from whom _Thebes_ was called _No-Ammon_, and _Ammon-no_ the city of _Ammon_, and by the _Greeks Diospolis_, the city of _Jupiter Ammon_: _Sesostris_ built it sumptuously, and called it by his father's name, and from the same King the [247] River called _Ammon_, the people called _Ammonii_, and the [248] promontory _Ammonium_ in _Arabia fælix_ had their names.

The lower part of _Egypt_ being yearly overflowed by the _Nile_, was scarce inhabited before the invention of corn, which made it useful: and the King, who by this invention first peopled it and Reigned over it, perhaps the King of the city _Mesir_ where _Memphis_ was afterwards built, seems to have been worshipped by his subjects after death, in the ox or calf, for this benefaction: for this city stood in the most convenient place to people the lower _Egypt_, and from its being composed of two parts seated on each side of the river _Nile_, might give the name of _Mizraim_ to its founder and people; unless you had rather refer the word to the double people, those above the _Delta_, and those within it: and this I take to be the state of the lower _Egypt_, 'till the Shepherds or _Phœnicians_ who fled from _Joshuah_ conquered it, and being afterwards conquered by the _Ethiopians_, fled into _Afric_ and other places: for there was a tradition that some of them fled into _Afric_; and St. _Austin_ [249] confirms this, by telling us that the common people of _Afric_ being asked who they were, replied _Chanani_, that is, _Canaanites_. _Interrogati rustici nostri_, saith he, _quid sint, Punice respondentes Chanani, corrupta scilicet voce sicut in talibus solet, quid aliud respondent quam Chanaanæi?_ _Procopius_ also [250] tells us of two pillars in the west of _Afric_, with inscriptions signifying that the people were _Canaanites_ who fled from _Joshuah_: and _Eusebius_ [251] tells us, that these _Canaanites_ flying from the sons of _Israel_, built _Tripolis_ in _Afric_; and the _Jerusalem Gemara_, [252] that the _Gergesites_ fled from _Joshua_, going into _Afric_: and _Procopius_ relates their flight in this manner. Επει δε ‛ημας ‛ο της ‛ιστοριας λογος ενταυθ' ηγαγεν. επαναγκες ειπειν ανωθεν, ‛οθεν τε τα Μαυρουσιων εθνη ες Λιβυην ηλθε, και ‛οπως ωικησαντο. Επειδη ‛Εβραιοι εξ Αιγυπτου ανεχωρησαν, και αγχι των Παλαιστινης ‛οριων εγενοντο· Μωσης μεν σοφος ανηρ, ‛ος αυτος της ‛οδου ‛ηγησατο, θνησκει. διαδεχεται δε την ‛ηγεμονιαν Ιησους ‛ο του Ναυη παις· ‛ος ες τε την Παλαιστινην τον λεων τουτον εισηγαγε· και αρετην εν τωι πολεμωι κρεισσω ‛η κατα ανθρωπου φυσιν επιδειξαμενος, την χωραν εσχε· και τα εθνη ‛απαντα καταστρεψαμενος, τας πολεις ευπετως παρεστησατο, ανικητος τε πανταπασιν εδοξεν ειναι. τοτε δε ‛η επιθαλασσια χωρα, εκ Σιδωνος μεχρι των Αιγυπτου ‛οριων, Φοινικη ξυμπασα ωνομαζετο. βασιλευς δε εις το παλαιον εφεστηκει· ‛ωσπερ ‛απασιν ‛ωμολογηται, ‛οι Φοινικων τα αρχαιοτατα ανεγραψαντο. ενταυθ' ωκηντο εθνη πολυανθρωποτατα, Γεργεσαιοι τε και Ιεβουσαιοι, και αλλα αττα ονοματα εχοντα, ‛οις δη αυτα ‛η των ‛Εβραιων ‛ιστορια καλει. ‛ουτος ‛ο λαος επει αμαχον τι χρημα τον επηλυτην στρατηγον ειδον· εξ ηθων των πατριων εξανασταντες, επ' Αιγυπτον ‛ομορου ουσης εχωρησαν. ενθα χωρον ουδενα σφισιν ‛ικανον ενοικησασθαι ‛ευροντες, επει εν Αιγυπτω πολυανθρωπια εκ παλαιου ην· ες Λιβυην μεχρι στηλων των ‛Ηρακλεους εσχον· ενταυθα τε και ες εμε τηι Φοινικων φωνηι χρωμενοι ωικηνται. _Quando ad Mauros nos historia deduxit, congruens nos exponere unde orta gens in Africa sedes fixerit. Quo tempore egressi Ægypto Hebræi jam prope Palestinæ fines venerant, mortuus ibi Moses, vir sapiens, dux itineris. Successor imperii factus Jesus Navæ filius intra Palæstinam duxit popularium agmen; & virtute usus supra humanum modum, terram occupavit, gentibusque excisis urbes ditionis suæ fecit, & invicti famam tulit. Maritima ora quæ a Sidone ad Ægypti limitem extenditur, nomen habet Phœnices. Rex unus _[Hebræis]_ imperabat ut omnes qui res Phœnicias scripsere consentiunt. In eo tractatu numerosæ gentes erant, Gergesæi, Jebusæi, quosque aliis nominibus Hebræorum annales memorant. Hi homines ut impares se venienti imperatori videre, derelicto patriæ solo ad finitimam primum venere Ægyptum, sed ibi capacem tantæ multitudinis locum non reperientes, erat enim Ægyptus ab antiquo fœcunda populis, in Africam profecti, multis conditis urbibus, omnem eam Herculis columnas usque, obtinuerunt: ubi ad meam ætatem sermone Phœnicio utentes habitant_. By the language and extreme poverty of the _Moors_, described also by _Procopius_ and by their being unacquainted with merchandise and sea-affairs, you may know that they were _Canaanites_ originally, and peopled _Afric_ before the _Tyrian_ merchants came thither. These _Canaanites_ coming from the East, pitched their tents in great numbers in the lower _Egypt_, in the Reign of _Timaus_, as [253] _Manetho_ writes, and easily seized the country, and fortifying _Pelusium_, then called _Abaris_, they erected a Kingdom there, and Reigned long under their own Kings, _Salatis_, _Bœon_, _Apachnas_, _Apophis_, _Janias_, _Assis_, and others successively: and in the mean time the upper part of _Egypt_ called _Thebais_, and according to [254] _Herodotus_, _Ægyptus_, and in Scripture the land of _Pathros_, was under other Kings, Reigning perhaps at _Coptos_, and _Thebes_, and _This_, and _Syene_, and [255] _Pathros_, and _Elephantis_, and _Heracleopolis_, and _Mesir_, and other great cities, 'till they conquered one another, or were conquered by the _Ethiopians_: for cities grew great in those days, by being the seats of Kingdoms: but at length one of these Kingdoms conquered the rest, and made a lasting war upon the Shepherds, and in the Reign of its King _Misphragmuthosis_, and his son _Amosis_, called also _Tethmosis_, _Tuthmosis_, and _Thomosis_, drove them out of _Egypt_, and made them fly into _Afric_ and _Syria_, and other places, and united all _Egypt_ into one Monarchy; and under their next Kings, _Ammon_ and _Sesac_, enlarged it into a great Empire. This conquering people worshipped not the Kings of the Shepherds whom they conquered and expelled, but [256] abolished their religion of sacrificing men, and after the manner of those ages Deified their own Kings, who founded their new Dominion, beginning the history of their Empire with the Reign and great acts of their Gods and Heroes: whence their Gods _Ammon_ and _Rhea_, or _Uranus_ and _Titæa_; _Osiris_ and _Isis_; _Orus_ and _Bubaste_: and their Secretary _Thoth_, and Generals _Hercules_ and _Pan_; and Admiral _Japetus_, _Neptune_, or _Typhon_; were all of them _Thebans_, and flourished after the expulsion of the Shepherds. _Homer_ places _Thebes_ in _Ethiopia_, and the _Ethiopians_ reported that [257] the _Egyptians_ were a colony drawn out of them by _Osiris_, and that thence it came to pass that most of the laws of _Egypt_ were the same with those of _Ethiopia_, and that the _Egyptians_ learnt from the _Ethiopians_ the custom of Deifying their Kings.

When _Joseph_ entertained his brethren in _Egypt_, they did eat at a table by themselves, and he did eat at another table by himself; and the _Egyptians_ who did eat with him were at another table, _because the _Egyptians_ might not eat bread with the _Hebrews_; for that was an abomination to the _Egyptians__, _Gen._ xliii. 32. These _Egyptians_ who did eat with _Joseph_ were of the Court of _Pharaoh_; and therefore _Pharaoh_ and his Court were at this time not Shepherds but genuine _Egyptians_; and these _Egyptians_ abominated eating bread with the _Hebrews_, at one and the same table: and of these _Egyptians_ and their fellow-subjects, it is said a little after, that _every Shepherd is an abomination to the _Egyptians__: _Egypt_ at this time was therefore under the government of the genuine _Egyptians_, and not under that of the Shepherds.

After the descent of _Jacob_ and his sons into _Egypt_, _Joseph_ lived 70 years, and so long continued in favour with the Kings of _Egypt_: and 64 years after his death _Moses_ was born: and between the death of _Joseph_ and the birth of _Moses_, _there arose up a new King over _Egypt_, which knew not _Joseph__, _Exod._ i. 8. But this King of _Egypt_ was not one of the Shepherds; for he is called _Pharaoh_, _Exod._ i. 11, 22: and _Moses_ told his successor, that if the people of _Israel_ should sacrifice in the land of _Egypt_, _they should sacrifice the abomination of the _Egyptians_ before their eyes, and the _Egyptians_ would stone them_, _Exod._ viii. 26. that is, they should sacrifice sheep or oxen, contrary to the religion of _Egypt_. The Shepherds therefore did not Reign over _Egypt_ while _Israel_ was there, but either were driven out of _Egypt_ before _Israel_ went down thither, or did not enter into _Egypt_ 'till after _Moses_ had brought _Israel_ from thence: and the latter must be true, if they were driven out of _Egypt_ a little before the building of the temple of _Solomon_, as _Manetho_ affirms.