Diodorus Siculus

“ But the builder of Memphis after he had finished the rampart and trench, built palaces not inferior to others built elsewhere; yet much below the state and grandeur of the former kings. For the inhabitants of this country little value the short time of this present life; but put an high esteem upon the name and reputation of a virtuous life after death; and they call the houses of the living, inns, because they stay in them but a little while; but the sepulchres of the dead they call everlasting habitations, because they abide in the graves to infinite generations. ”

“ For the Greeks themselves are not only in the dark concerning the antiquity of nations, but many of the barbarians also, who call themselves natural inhabitants, and boast themselves to be the first of all other men who have found out things beneficial to mankind, and to have committed to writing, things done among them many ages before. And as for us, we determine nothing certainly of the antiquity of particular nations, nor which nation is more ancient than another, or how many years one was before another. ”

“ At the entrance stand three statues, each of one entire stone, the workmanship of Memnon of Sienitas. One of these, made in a sitting posture, is the greatest in all Egypt, the measure of his foot exceeding seven cubits; the other two, much less than the former, reaching but to his knees; the one standing on the right, and the other on the left, being his daughter and mother. This piece is not only commendable for its greatness, but admirable for its cut and workmanship, and the excellency of the stone. In so great a work there is not to be discerned the least flaw, or any other blemish. ”

“ How comes it about that only the river Nile should come down to us from the other opposite zone? Have we not other rivers that this may be as well applied to? As to the causes alledged for the sweetness of the water, they are absurd: for if the water be boiled with the parching heat, and thereupon becomes sweet, it would have no productive quality, either of fish or other kinds of creatures and beasts: for all water whose nature is changed by fire, is altogether incapable to breed any living thing ”

“ A man may likewise judge of his extraordinary piety, from his dream, and his abdication of the government; for the tutelar god of Thebes, seemed to speak to him in his sleep, and told him, that he could not long reign happily and prosperously in Egypt, unless he cut all the priests in pieces, when he passed through the midst of them with his guards and servants ”

“ Here are divers sorts of trees, amongst which those called Persica, whose fruit is of wonderful sweetness: this plant was brought out of Ethiopia by the Persians, when Cambyses conquered these places. The sycamore (or Egyptian fig-tree) ; some of them bear mulberries, others a fruit like unto figs, and bear all the year long; so that a man may satisfy his hunger at any time. After the falling of the waters of the river, they gather the fruits called Bates, which, for their sweet and delightful taste, are at entertainments served up at last course as delicious desserts. ”

“ The opinion of Oenopides of Chios is this: the waters (says he) that are under the earth in summer time, are cold, and warm in the winter, as we see by experience in deep wells; for in a sharp winter they are the least cold, but in summer they are the coldest of any other time; and therefore, saith he, there is good reason that the Nile in the winter should grow low add contracted, because the heat in the bowels of the earth exhales much of the water, which cannot be supplied, in regard no rains fall in Egypt. ”

“ The whole land of Egypt (says he) is cast up from the river, and the soil is of a loose and spungy nature, and has in it many large cliffs and hollow places, wherein are abundance of water, which in the winter time is frozen up, and in the summer issues out on every side, like sweat from the pores, which occasions the river Nile to rise. This writer does not only betray his own ignorance of the nature of places in Egypt, that he never saw them himself, but likewise, that he never was rightly informed by any that was acquainted with them. ”

“ And that all living creatures were first produced among them, they use this argument—that even at this day, at Thebes, at certain times, such vast mice are bred, that it causes admiration to the beholders; some of which, to the breast and fore-feet, are animated, and begin to move, and the rest of the body (which yet retains the nature of the soil) appears without form. Whence it is manifest, that in the beginning of the world, through the fertileness of the soil, the first men were formed in Egypt, being that in no other part of the world any of these creatures are produced ”

“ In some cities also, when they celebrate the feast of Isis, in a pompous procession, they carry about vessels of wheat and barley, in memory of the first invention, by the care and industry of this goddess. They say, likewise, that Isis made many laws for the good of human society, whereby men were retrained from lawless force and violence one upon another, out of fear of punishment. And therefore Ceres was called by the ancient Greeks, Themophorus, that is, lawgiver, being the princess that first constituted laws for the better government of her people. ”

“ For he says, that in the mountainous parts of Ethiopia, there are yearly continual rains from the summer solstice to the equinox in autumn, and therefore there is just cause for the Nile to be low in the winter, which then flows only from its own natural spring-heads, and to overflow in summer through the abundance of rains. And though none hitherto have been able to give a reason for these inundations, yet he says his opinion is not altogether to be rejected; for there are many things that are contrary to the rules of nature, for which none are able to give any substantial reason. ”

“ This island has in it many dikes and sluices cut by art, and is the most sweet and pleasantest part of Egypt; for being enriched and watered by the river, it produces all sorts of grain and other fruits; and by the yearly overflowing of the river, the face of the ground is still continually renewed, and the inhabitants have an easy way to water it by means of a certain engine, invented by Archimedes the Syracusan, which from its form is called Choelia. And whereas the Nile flows gently over it, it brings along with it much soil, which resting in low and hollow grounds, makes very rich marshes. ”

“ This monster does not only devour men, but other creatures that come near the river. His bites are sharp and destructive, and with his claws he tears his prey cruelly in pieces, and what wounds he makes, no medicine or application can heal. ”

“ Thales, who is reckoned one of the seven wise men of Greece, is of opinion, that the Etesian winds that beat fiercely upon the mouth of the river, give a check and stop to the current, and so hinder it from falling into the sea, upon which the river swelling, and its channel filled with water, at length overflows the country of Egypt, which lies flat and low. ”

“ For he hoped that if he could civilize men, and take them off from their rude and beast-like course of lives, by such a public good and advantage, he should raise a foundation amongst all mankind, for his immorttal praise and honour, which happened accordingly. For not only that age, but posterity ever after honoured those among the chiefest of their gods, that first found out their proper and ordinary food. ”

“ But the reduction of the world to a more civil course of living, agrees best with the ancient Hercules, when men were as yet vexed and plagued with wild beasts; and especially in Egypt, whose upper part is a wilderness, and full of wild beasts at this very day. And it is but very reasonable to think that Hercules should mind the prosperity and welfare of Egypt, his own country, and free the land from beasts, and so deliver it into the hands of the husbandmen, to be improved by tillage ”

“ It is so very advantageous to the inhabitants, and done with so little pains, that most of the country people turn in their cattle into the sowed ground to eat, and tread down the corn, and four or five months after, they reap it. Some lightly run over the surface of the earth with a plow, after the water is fallen, and gain a mighty crop without any great cost or pains: but husbandry amongst all other nations, is very laborious and chargeable, only the Egyptians gather their fruits with little cost or labour. ”

“ But not knowing as yet how to house and lay up their food, they had no barns or granaries where to deposit the fruits of the earth; and therefore many, through hunger and cold, perished in the winter: but being at length taught by experience, they fled into caves in the winter, and laid up such fruits as were fit to keep; and coming by degrees to the knowledge of the usefulness of fire, and of other conveniences, they began to invent many arts and other things beneficial for man's life. ”

“ To Osiris they attribute the finding out of the ivy-tree, and dedicate it to him, as the Greeks do to Bacchus: and therefore in the Egyptian tongue, they call Ivy, Osiris's plant, which they prefer before the vine in all their sacrifices, because this loses its leaves, and the other always continues fresh and green: which rule the ancients have observed in other plants, that are always green, dedicating myrtle to Venus, laurel to Apollo, and the olive-tree to Pallas. ”

“ The king left a place in the middle of the lake, where be built a sepulchre and two pyramids, one for himself, and another for his queen, a furlong in height; upon the top of which he placed two marble statues seated in a throne, designing, by these monuments, to perpetuate the fame and glory of his name to all succeeding generations. The revenue arising from the fish taken in this lake, he gave to his wife to buy her dresses, which amounted to a talent of silver every day. ”

“ No writer hitherto has pretended that he himself ever saw, or heard of any one else that affirmed, he had seen the spring-heads of the Nile: all therefore, amounting to no more than opinion and conjecture, the priests of Egypt affirm that it comes from the ocean, which flows round the whole earth. But nothing that they say is upoin any solid grounds, and they resolve doubts by things that are more doubtful; and to prove what they say, they bring arguments that have need to be proved themselves. ”

“ Macedo, his son, he made king of Macedonia, so calling it after him. To Triptolemus he appointed the culture and tillage of the land in Attica. To conclude, Osiris having travelled through the whole world, by finding out food fit and convenient for man's body, was a benefactor to all mankind. Where vines would not grow, and be fruitful, he taught the inhabitants to make drink of barley, little inferior in strength and pleasant flavour to wine itself. He brought back with him into Egypt the most precious and richest things that every place did afford ”

“ In this island is a famous city of the same name, which Cambyses built, and called it after to name of his mother Meroe. This island is said to be of the shape of a shield, and for greatness exceeding all the rest of the islands in these parts, being three thousand furlongs in length, and a thousand in breadth, having in it many cities, of which Meroe is the noblest. The island is surrounded towards the coasts of Libya with vast heaps of sand, all along close to the river, and towards Arabia run along steep rocky mountains. ”

“ But such births are not used to live, either because it is not the pleasure of the Gods it should be so, or that the law of nature will not admit it. The matter coming to Cadmus's ear, being before warned by the oracle to protect the laws of his country, he wrapt the infant in gold, and instituted sacrifices to be offered to him, as if Osiris had appeared again in this shape; and caused it to be spread abroad, that it was begotten of Jupiter, thereby both to honour Osiris and to cover his daughter's shame. ”

“ There are some other mouths made by art, of which it is not material to write. At every of the mouths is a city built on either side of the river, defended with strong guards and bridges on each bank. From Pelusaicum as far as to the Arabian gulf, and the Red Sea, is a canal cut out. Necos the son of Psameticus, was the first that began this work, and after him Darius the Persian carried it on, but left it unfinished, being told by some that if he cut it though the isthmus, all Egypt would be drowned, for that the Red Sea lay higher than Egypt. ”

“ Amasis, having settled his affairs in Egypt, so as he judged most conducive to the public good, governed the Egyptians with all justice and moderation, and by this gained the good will of all the people. He conquered also the cities of Cyprus, and adorned the temples of the gods with many rich gifts and offerings. Having reigned fifty-five years, he died about the time Cambyses king of Persia first invaded Egypt, in the third year of the sixty-third olympiad, in which Parmenides of Camarina was victor*. ”

“ For Amasis, a nobleman of Egypt, being sent against them by the king, not only slighted the king's commands in endeavouring to make all whole again, but, on the contrary, incited the rebels to a higher degree of rage and indignation against him, and turned rebel himself, and was created king. ”

“ There is an infinite multitude of these creatures in the river and the neighbouring pools, in regard they are great breeders, and are seldom killed: for the crocodile is adored as a god by some of the inhabitants; and for strangers to hunt and destroy them is to no purpose, for their flesh is not eatable. But nature has provided relief against the increase of this destructive monster ”

“ There are many other plants which grown in Egypt of admirable use, which would be too tedious here to enumerate.
20The river Nile breeds many creatures of several forms and shapes, amongst which, two are especially remarkable, the crocodile and the horse, as they are called: amongst these, the crocodile of the least creature becomes the greatest; for it lays an egg much of the bigness of that of a goose, and after the young is hatched, it grows to the length of sixteen cubits, and lives to the age of a man: it wants a tongue, but has a body naturally armed in a wonderful manner. ”

“ And with these stories the mythologists and poets have filled all the theatres, and now it is generally received as a truth not in the least to be questioned. To conclude, the priests say, that the Grecians have arrogated to themselves both their Gods and demy-gods (or heroes) , and say that divers colonies were transported over to them out of Egypt: for Hercules was an Egyptian, and by his valour made his way into most parts of the world, and set up a pillar in Africa; and of this they endeavour to make proof from the Grecians themselves. ”