ÆGYPTUS
ÆGYPTUS
ÆGYPTUS
Afterthe death of Cyrus, Cambyses succeeded to the kingdom. He was son of Cyrus, and Cassandane the daughter of Pharnaspes; she having died some time before, Cyrus deeply mourned for her himself, and commanded all his subjects to mourn. Cambyses then considered the Ionians and Æolians as his hereditary slaves, and when he made an expedition against Egypt, he took with him some of the Greeks over whom he bore rule.
The Egyptians, before the reign of Psammitichus, considered themselves to be the most ancient of mankind. But after Psammitichus came to the throne, he endeavored to ascertain who really were the most ancient, and from that time they have considered the Phrygians to have been an older race than themselves. When Psammitichus was unable, by inquiry, to discover any solution of the question, who were the most ancient of men, he devised this expedient. He gave two new-born children of poor parents to a shepherd, to be brought up among his flocks, with strict orders that no one should utter a word in their presence, that they should lie in a solitary room by themselves, and that the shepherd should bring goats' milk to them at certain times, and listen to discover what word the children would first articulate, after they had given over their insignificant mewlings. When the shepherd had pursued this plan for the space of two years, one day as he opened the door and went in, both the children fell upon him, and holding out their hands, cried "Becos." At first the shepherd said nothing; but asthis same word was repeated to him whenever he went and tended the children, he at length acquainted his master, and by his command brought the children into his presence. When Psammitichus heard it he inquired what people call any thing by the name of "Becos"; and discovered that the Phrygians call bread by that name. So the Egyptians, convinced by the experiment, allowed that the Phrygians were more ancient than themselves. This relation I had from the priests of Vulcan at Memphis. But the Greeks tell many other foolish things, among them, that Psammitichus, having had the tongues of some women cut out, had the children brought up by them.
The Egyptians were the first to discover the year, which they divided into twelve parts, making this discovery from the stars; and so, I think, they act more wisely than the Greeks, who insert an intercalary month every third year, on account of the seasons; while the Egyptians, reckoning twelve months of thirty days each, add five days each year above that number, so that the circle of the seasons comes round to the same point. They say also, that the Egyptians were the first who introduced the names of the twelve gods, and that the Greeks borrowed those names from them; that they were the first to assign altars, images, and temples to the gods, and to carve the figures of animals on stone. They add that Menes was the first mortal who reigned over Egypt, and that in his time all Egypt, except the district of Thebes, was a morass, and that no part of the land that now exists below Lake Myris was then above water; to this place from the sea is a seven-days' passage up the river. It is evident to a man of common understanding, who sees it, that the part of Egypt which the Greeks frequent with their shipping, is land reclaimed by the Egyptians, and a gift from the river; for when you are at the distance of a day's sail from land, if you cast the lead you will bring up mud, yet find yourself in eleven fathoms of water; showing the immense alluvial deposit.