have been prime minister to a tributary prince of India, appointed by Alexander, in the room of one whom he had deposed. European History does not acknowledge any king of Persia till the revolt of Ardeshir in the year 202; but a dynasty exists in Oriental records, called the Ashkanian or Arsacidan, generally confounded with the Parthian race of kings. Gibbon and Mitford have both illustrated the national manners, as well as could be done from the scanty information afforded by Herodotus and Xenophon, and the historians of the Roman empire. Persia, indeed, appears to have possessed the elements of a good constitution; a religious establishment surpassed only by the Hebrew, an excellent system of education, and an ample revenue: but there is a weakness in Oriental governments, which, if it does not affect the centre, paralyses the extremities. The history of such kingdoms is on that account instructive, and, as we believe we have shown, materials for one are by no means deficient; besides, the warmest admirers of the Greeks cannot deny that Persia is too important to be treated merely as an appendage to European History. EMBALMING AMONG THE EGYPTIANS. THE Egyptians, of all nations of antiquity, are most deserving of our attention. To this wise and ingenious people, who made such advances in arts and sciences, in commerce and legislation, succeeding nations have been indebted for whatever institutions civilise mankind and embellish human life. The priesthood of this very religious people, to whom knowledge was exclusively confined, being wholly free from anxiety about secular matters, as they were provided for by the state,' devoted themselves to the service of the community. Their time was divided between the performance of their sacred duties and the improvement of Diodorus says, that a third of the lands of each province belonged to the priesthood. (Lib. i. p. 84. folio, Amster. 1745. the mind. Study was their business; the good of the people was their sole object; and whatever could contribute to the political or moral welfare of their country was pursued with a zeal worthy of imitation in Christian societies. It is not then surprising that they made such amazing progress in physic and husbandry, in astronomy, magic, and other occult sciences. And, though the art of embalming, as practised by them, is now obsolete, and the medicated herbs which they used may not now be ascertained, yet we may gather from the custom what study and attention they employed in discovering the virtues of simples, though the science of Medical Chymistry' was probably unknown at that early period. The art of embalming the dead was peculiar to the Egyptians.; they alone knew the secret of preserving the body from decay. In the Pentateuch we find that, when Abraham and Isaac died, they were simply buried; but Jacob, and afterwards Joseph, were embalmed; because these two patriarchs died in Egypt. This mysterious trade descended from father to son as an hereditary and sacred privilege; the embalmers were held in high repute, conversed with the priests, and were by them admitted into the inner parts of the temples. Embalming may have been practised in Asia; but there is not any authority for this presumption it may be inferred that the custom prevailed among the Chaldeans, on account of the proximity of their country to Egypt and the similarity of pursuits and doctrines; an intercourse, no doubt, subsisted between these two philosophical nations from the earliest ages. After the death of Alexander the Great, the Egyptians and Chaldeans were ordered to dress the body in their own way,2 (Curt. lib. x. sub fin.): but this event was many hundred years after the times when Egypt florished under the Pharaohs. The washing and dressing of the body alluded to by Greek and Roman writers, was merely an external application of unguents,3 performed with facility and despatch, not : 'The art of preparing drugs by fire for curative purposes is attributed to the Arabs. 2 Egyptii Chaldæique jussi corpus suo more curare-deinde purgavere corpus; repletumque est odoribus.-I know no other passage indicative of such a custom among the Asiatics. It does not appear that Plutarch or Arrian mention this ceremony; Curtius, therefore, may have been misinformed. Cyrus in Xenophon commands his body to be committed to the earth from whence it came (¡μópuλov), and in this he doubtless conformed to the custom of his country. 3 Corpusque lavant frigentis et ungunt. Virgil. Пpotéλλeiv, vexpóv—Kal naтdavoõõαv X2poìv EV TEPLOTEXITY. Eurip. Medea, 1035. The body of Christ for the purpose of preserving the corpse, but in honor of the deceased. The ceremony among the Egyptians was sacred and solemn, and the process tedious, intricate, and expensive. In the patriarchal history the sacred writer tells us, that forty days were employed in preparing the body of Jacob for sepulture. "And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father, and the physicians embalmed Israel," &c. Gen. ch. 1. v. 2. And here it is to be observed, that the officers, called physicians, did not profess the art of curing; for physic (as it is now called) was not at that time a professional pursuit; not a word is said of physicians being called in during Jacob's sickness. Besides, the Hebrew word is rendered in the Septuagint by evrapiaoral, those who prepared the body for burial. It is true the author of the Pentateuch does not particularise this ceremony, but Herodotus and Diodorus are clear and diffuse in every thing relative to this interesting country.' The Egyptians believed that the soul was immortal, or rather, that it was eternal; they imagined that it not only was not subject to death, but that it had existed from all eternity, having neither beginning nor end; they thought that as it was immaterial, it was increate, and as it was increate, that it was a part of the divine spirit, divinæ particula aura, and co-existent with that Being, from whom it emanated. In order to substantiate this doctrine, they asserted that the soul had been in a state of preexistence, and at the dissolution of the outward man, it passed into various states; and after a circuit of three thousand years, (Herod. l. ii. c. 123.) it returned to re-animate a human body. Pythagoras first transplanted this dogma from Egypt into Greece, and, though no works of that philosopher are now extant, yet we may gather from later writers the essential tenets of the Pythagorean sect.3 Plato, after the death of Socrates, inculcated the same principle, in order to validate the primary tenet of the Socratic school, the immortality of the soul. Virgil has shown him 'was anointed with myrrh and aloes, and wrapt in linen clothes. John, ch. xix. ver. 39, 40. 'Herod. lib. ii. c. 86, 87.-Diodor. lib. i. p. 102. 2 Humanus animus, ex diviná mente decerptus, cum alio nullo nisi cum ipso Deo comparari possit. Cic. Tusc. 6. n. 38. "God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." Gen. ii. 7. 3 Morte carent animæ ; semperque priore relicta Sede, novis domibus vivunt habitantque receptæ. Ovid. Sermo Pythag. Addison Spect. No. 343. 4 Πάντα τότε καὶ νῦν διαμείβεται τὰ ζῶα εἰς ἄλληλα, νοῦ καὶ ἀνοίας ἀποβολῇ καὶ xThou μeraßannóμy. Plato sub fin. Timæi. self very sedulous in propagating the same doctrine among the Romans. (Georg. Iv. 220-7; Æn. vi. 750.) These two nations were of opinion, that death separated the soul from the body; they were, therefore, no longer concerned about the perishable part of man; and being enlightened by the rays of rational philosophy through the mists of error and superstition, they looked forward to a future state, as a reward for the virtuous, and a punishment for the damned. The Egyptians, on the contrary, were more solicitous to preserve the material part from putrefaction and injury, conceiving that the soul was inseparable from its body so long as the latter was free from corruption. Inspired by this su perstition, they studied and put in practice every means of preserving the human frame: they applied to the study of natural history to discover the virtues of simples, and provided buildings of the greatest magnitude and durability as depositories for the dead, which still remain the most stupendous monuments of human labor in the world. That the pyramids were built as sepulchres for the Kings, there appears no reason to doubt; this is fully testified by modern travellers. Besides, Diodorus says expressly, that Chemmis aud Cephron constructed them for this purpose.3 The principal care of the Egyptians was turned to the preserving the dead; they looked upon their houses as temporary dwellings, but to their cemeteries they gave the name of the Eternal Mansions. (Diod. 1. i. p. 60.) 2 Among the three modes of embalming, that adopted by the rich was very tedious in its process, and expensive in its preparation. As soon as a man of any consideration died, the relations of the deceased, after the most violent expressions of grief, sent for the embalmer, who carried away the corpse. The first part of the operation was, to extract the brains through the nostrils with a crooked instrument of iron; for the more ready performance of which the medium septum of the nose was 'At cum frigida mors anima seduxerit artus. Virg. Επειδὰν (ἡ ψυχὴ) τοῦ σώματος δίχα γένηται. Xenoph. 2 It is remarkable that Homer does not mention the pyramids, although he celebrates Thebes and its hundred gates, and frequently alludes to Egypt. This is a presumption that they were built a little before or after the age in which this poet florished. Diodorus informs us, that these extraordinary works were built a thousand years before his time; this agrees very nearly with the age of Homer. 3 Pliny's words, pecuniæ otiosa ac stulta ostentatio, are more idle and foolish than the conduct which he condemns; for the motive of building these enormous works was political as well as religious. The cut away; the vacuities were then filled up with perfumes and aromatic compositions. After this, the body was opened with much ceremony. For this purpose the priest made a mark on the left side just above the hip, to show how far the incision was to be made.. A particular officer made an opening with a very sharp Ethiopian stone.' As soon as the people saw this, they pelted him with stones, and pursued him with maledictions; for the Egyptians looked with abhorrence upon any one who offered violence to a human body either dead or alive. The embalmer then inserted his hand, and drew out all the viscera except the heart and kidneys, while the bowels were washed with odours. (Diod. p. 102.) The entrails were not restored to the abdomen, but from a religious motive they were thrown into the Nile. (Plut. vol. ii. p. 159, fol. Paris, 1624.) Afterwards, the belly was filled with cinnamon, myrrh, and other odoriferous drugs ;3 and then the orifice of the wound was closed. body outwardly was anointed with the oil of cedars and other preservatives for 30 days. This length of time was necessary to administer the preparations for drying it and preventing its putrefaction. At the expiration of this term the corpse was again washed, and wrapped up in many folds of linen, painted with sacred characters, and seasoned with gums and other glutinous matter. This renders the cloth so durable, that it has preserved its consistence even to the present day, as many of the specimens, lately exhibited in this country, fully testify. These swathes of cere-cloth were so manifold, that there are seldom less than a thousand yards of filleting about one body; and so ingeniously were the wrappings managed, that the lineaments of the deceased were easily discernible, even though the face was covered with a kind of mask fitted with mastic. the breast was spread a broader piece of cere-cloth, on which was inscribed some memorable sentiment; but, for the most part, having the figure of a woman with expanded arms. The embalmer having done his duty, the mummy4 was sent back to On I Probably the same kind of stone used in circumcision. Exod. ch. iv. V. 25. 2 Mr. Belzoni assures us, that the vases or urns exhibited in London contained the bowels of mummies; but it is more probable that they are the reconditories of the ibis, or other sacred animals. ̓Αποθανόντας δὲ ταριχεύοντες, θάπτουσι ἐν ἱρῇσι θήκησι. Herod. 3 The spices, which the Ishmaelitish merchants were carrying into Egypt when Joseph was sold, were no doubt designed for embalming. Gen, ch. xxxvii. v. 25. + Momia or Mumia, quasi Amomia, i. e. cadaver amomo conditum: |