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lay down as a general rule, that in a civilised community the form of government and its liberal tendency depend on the state of society, not the state of society on the form of government.

STATE OF CIVILISATION AMONG THE

ANCIENTS.

CHAPTER I.

CIVILISATION IN ANCIENT EGYPT.

Obscurity of Egyptian Records. - Inaccuracy of Herodotus and Diodorus. — Early Arts and Sciences. Population divided into Castes. Priestly Surveyors of Land. - Privilege of the Priesthood, as demonstrated in Genesis.-Stupendous Designs of Egyptian Monarchs, executed by a slavish Population. — The Pyramids. — Ignorance and Idolatry of the Egyptians. -Prophetic Denunciation against Egypt. - Its Fall. Colossal Statue of Ozymandias. Civilisation not known in ancient Egypt.

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Or the degree of civilisation which existed in ancient Egypt, we are almost ignorant. Buried in the gulph of former ages, its language has become a mystery, and its few traditions are enigmas, sounding like the indistinct whisperings of a dream.

We know, however, that in the early days of the world, much of the knowledge possessed by nations was derived from Egypt. Its pyramids, ruined temples, tombs, colossal statues, and other relics, attest the ancient magnificence of the country; but not the slightest doubt can exist that its population, power, and civilisation have been much exaggerated. The account given by Diodorus Siculus was derived from the legends of Egyptian priests. Herodotus, copied by Pomponius Mela, talks of

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twenty thousand towns in the time of Amasis. A living writer* says, "The incorrect ideas concerning ancient Egypt and the Egyptians, which seem commonly to prevail, even among the learned, may partly be owing to our too great veneration for ancient authors, who would appear however to have fallen into many errors, misled by the priests, or, where their notes were deficient, by a lapse of memory to which we all are liable; for Diodorus insists that Herodotus relates many fables; and whoever shall be at the pains to examine the work of the Sicilian antiquarian, will find that he also has sinned in the same spirit." The accounts we have received of ancient Egypt from Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, and other Greek and Roman writers, of the state of Egypt many centuries before their days, must be received with great caution. Their information was only by tradition, and tradition is often fond of exaggeration. That some arts had been cultivated in Egypt cannot be doubted; that a slight knowledge of astronomy was handed down by the inscriptions on their monuments seems also certain; but that civilisation pervaded Egypt is not proved by any evidence whatever.

We are apt to entertain an exalted opinion of the state of society where great monuments have been raised by the work of man, and to infer that civilisation must then have existed. Does

* See Mr. St. John's learned work on Egypt, 1834.

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