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multiplicity of , the subjects with which his versatile mind was employed , laid nim open to the charge of superficiality , a charge which , however , it has long been seen , is not founded upon fact . * The Bruce , as it were , of antiquity , kis marvellous books , justly dedicated to the sacred nine , were the delight of Hellas ; audit is
difficult to understand , except on the natural self-preservative prejudice of the Hellenes against the outer barbarians , how it was that Egypt did not immediately receive a closer scrutiny from the Greeks . "We get a glimpse of the unchangeable Egyptian life in Herodotus ; and were it not for the scriptural testimony in the books of Grenesist and Exodus , our contemporary knowledge would end here .
But with this glimpse , all that we can gain for ourselves as to intrinsic Egyptian thought from the records of the Hellenes ceased . There is no brilliancy , life-like and fresh , in the later accounts of Egypt . Diodorus wrote , and wrote well ; his statements are valuable , his authorities good , bad , and indifferent ; but in / the true spirit of an ancient historian , we get all the stories he can give , and liberty to
choose what suits our fancy best . In ManethoV lists ( not to be pronounced upon with similar rapidity ) the few stray notices respecting the lives of the early kings give us an occasional glimpse of the state of life and the safety of limb and property in those ancient days ; but we have lost the reliable historian in Manetho , and Eratosthenes , whose learning probably exceeded that of all his
contemporaries , is scarcely more than a name . It is almost unnecessary to mention more than these four patriarchs of research into Egyptian matters . Eratosthenes was worthily succeeded by Apollodorus , and from that time to the time of Diodorcts , nothing was accomplished of any value . Ptolemy of Mendes , Anion , a shallow silly trifier ,
coafuted and ridiculed justly by Josephus , Chseremon , and Heroiskos , who fabricated a history for Egypt , bring up the rear ; thus ending the cycle of Greek research . The Romans did nothing , comparatively , and what little they did accomplish , remaining to our time , does not mark them as a philosophical people . The sole difference is , that the Greeks were intended to carry out research , and the Romans
* That inaccuracies do occasionally occur , that mistakes are made , is quite undoubted . I haye sometimes thought , and I stated as much in " Notes and Queries" ( vol . iii . p . 124 ) , that there is quite sufficient ground for believing that Herodotus published several editions of his hook . Aristotle in the " Ehetoric " ( ii . 9 , § 1 ) , mentions without comment the history of Herodotus of Thurium . I then added : — - " The date of the building of Thurium is B . C . 444 , and Herodotus
was there at its foundation , being then about forty years of age . Most likely be had published a smaller edition of this book before that time , bearing the original date from Halicarnassus , which he revised , enlarged , corrected , and partly rewrote at Thurium . " From the lapse of time , no doubt lie would forget some things , and therefore perforce be inconsistent . Modern writers are careless , and humanity never changes much .
f Viscount De E , onge ' s extraordinary discovery of an ancient Egyptian novel , containing much that is identical with the history of Joseph , will be mentioned in its proper place . I speak of it here , as the account in Genesis is so faithful a portraiture of life in Egypt , that to discover , in these latter days , a similar story , confirms the fidelity of the picture .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
multiplicity of , the subjects with which his versatile mind was employed , laid nim open to the charge of superficiality , a charge which , however , it has long been seen , is not founded upon fact . * The Bruce , as it were , of antiquity , kis marvellous books , justly dedicated to the sacred nine , were the delight of Hellas ; audit is
difficult to understand , except on the natural self-preservative prejudice of the Hellenes against the outer barbarians , how it was that Egypt did not immediately receive a closer scrutiny from the Greeks . "We get a glimpse of the unchangeable Egyptian life in Herodotus ; and were it not for the scriptural testimony in the books of Grenesist and Exodus , our contemporary knowledge would end here .
But with this glimpse , all that we can gain for ourselves as to intrinsic Egyptian thought from the records of the Hellenes ceased . There is no brilliancy , life-like and fresh , in the later accounts of Egypt . Diodorus wrote , and wrote well ; his statements are valuable , his authorities good , bad , and indifferent ; but in / the true spirit of an ancient historian , we get all the stories he can give , and liberty to
choose what suits our fancy best . In ManethoV lists ( not to be pronounced upon with similar rapidity ) the few stray notices respecting the lives of the early kings give us an occasional glimpse of the state of life and the safety of limb and property in those ancient days ; but we have lost the reliable historian in Manetho , and Eratosthenes , whose learning probably exceeded that of all his
contemporaries , is scarcely more than a name . It is almost unnecessary to mention more than these four patriarchs of research into Egyptian matters . Eratosthenes was worthily succeeded by Apollodorus , and from that time to the time of Diodorcts , nothing was accomplished of any value . Ptolemy of Mendes , Anion , a shallow silly trifier ,
coafuted and ridiculed justly by Josephus , Chseremon , and Heroiskos , who fabricated a history for Egypt , bring up the rear ; thus ending the cycle of Greek research . The Romans did nothing , comparatively , and what little they did accomplish , remaining to our time , does not mark them as a philosophical people . The sole difference is , that the Greeks were intended to carry out research , and the Romans
* That inaccuracies do occasionally occur , that mistakes are made , is quite undoubted . I haye sometimes thought , and I stated as much in " Notes and Queries" ( vol . iii . p . 124 ) , that there is quite sufficient ground for believing that Herodotus published several editions of his hook . Aristotle in the " Ehetoric " ( ii . 9 , § 1 ) , mentions without comment the history of Herodotus of Thurium . I then added : — - " The date of the building of Thurium is B . C . 444 , and Herodotus
was there at its foundation , being then about forty years of age . Most likely be had published a smaller edition of this book before that time , bearing the original date from Halicarnassus , which he revised , enlarged , corrected , and partly rewrote at Thurium . " From the lapse of time , no doubt lie would forget some things , and therefore perforce be inconsistent . Modern writers are careless , and humanity never changes much .
f Viscount De E , onge ' s extraordinary discovery of an ancient Egyptian novel , containing much that is identical with the history of Joseph , will be mentioned in its proper place . I speak of it here , as the account in Genesis is so faithful a portraiture of life in Egypt , that to discover , in these latter days , a similar story , confirms the fidelity of the picture .