prince; and treated the Jews, who took the side of Cleopatra, as slaves. He punished small crimes as capital offences, and endeavoured to crush the spirit of his people. He divorced his queen, to marry her daughter, his niece; but the violence and wickedness of his conduct made him so obnoxious to his subjects, that he was compelled to abandon the throne. He fled to the island of Cyprus, taking with him the unhappy victim of his passion, and his son Memphitis, her mother's child.

On his flight, the Alexandrians gave the crown to the divorced but rightful queen. It sat not with ease upon her brow. In Cyprus, Physcon still held the idea of regaining the throne of Egypt. He sent for a son he had left in Alexandria, and fearing his accession to the throne, caused him to be put to death. His next step was to cause the lifeless, mangled corpse of his son Memphitis, to be sent as a present to the mother on her birthday, The horror and detestation awakened by these unparalleled cruelties, raised the spirit of vengeance among his people. An army was raised, and war was proclaimed. Physcon hired a numerous body of mercenaries, and sent them, under able command, against the Egyptians. A bloody contest ensued on the frontiers of Egypt, when victory declared in favour of this in human tyrant. Cleopatra, the divorced but reigning queen, appealed to Demetrius, king of Syria, for succour and support; but, after an unsuccessful struggle, Cleopatra was forced to flee to Ptolemais, and take up her abode with her own daughter, the queen of Syria. Physcon was restored to the throne of Egypt, and held the sceptre till the day of his death, which took place at Alexandria, in the 47th year of his age, and 29th of his reign. He left behind him two sons by his niece Cleopatra, Ptolemy Lathyrus, and Ptolemy Alexander.

Lathyrus ascended the throne about B.C. 116. Cleopatra en deavoured to secure the crown for her younger son Alexander, but without success. The Alexandrians favoured Lathyrus, but he was afterwards compelled to give up the government of Egypt

their revolt. Berenice, the daughter of Auletes, occupied the throne of Egypt, by the consent of the people. The accession and subsequent marriage of this daughter, increased the fears of Auletes. Through great influence, he contrived to get several of the more distinguished members of the embassy put to death; to procure an acquittal for those who did the deed, and to enlist the sympathies and the arms of the Romans on his behalf. After a series of low intrigues with the senate, Auletes regained his throne. He reigned only about three years, and died, leaving two sons and two daughters to the guardianship and tuition of the Roman people.

His daughter Cleopatra, having won the heart of Julius Cæsar by her charms, contrived, through him, to set aside the claims of her brothers and sister, and was proclaimed queen of Egypt. For a time she exercised the most powerful influence over the Roman warrior. After his death, she tried her consummate arts on Marc Antony, and overcame him as she had done Cæsar, by the force of her charms. In the battle of Actium, which decided the contest for power between her new lover and the heir of Cæsar, Antony was defeated. Soon afterwards he put an end to his existence. In the ruin which he thus brought upon himself, Cleopatra is considered to have been deeply involved. In the year following his defeat and death, she was taken prisoner by Augustus Cæsar. In order to avoid the disgrace of being yoked to his triumphal car, she poisoned herself, and died the victim of her own pride and passion, even before her charms had begun to fade. This event took place about 30 years before the Christian era; and from that day, Egypt, the land which had formed the cradle of the arts and sciences, and the birthplace of letters and philosophy, dwindled into a Roman province. For a considerable period afterwards Egypt maintained its pre-eminence, as the seat of wealth; and, in a commercial point of view, Alexandria continued to be the most busy and influential city of the world. But with the death of Cleopatra, the last of the Ptolemies, closes

GRIPPA

for that of Cyprus. Cleopatra then sought to associate her son Alexander with herself in the sovereignty of the kingdom. But he caused her to be murdered, and lost his throne. His subjects revolted and restored Lathyrus. On his restoration, Lathyrus turned his arms against Thebes. After a siege of three years, he reduced that city and stripped it of its glory. He passed the rest of his reign in comparative peace and tranquillity, and died, B.C. 81, leaving one daughter, and two illegitimate sons, Ptolemy of Cyprus, and Ptolemy Auletes.

After the death of Lathyrus, the son of his brother Alexander ascended the throne. He proved himself scarcely less a monster than his father. Having murdered his queen, and provoked the revolt of his subjects, he fled to Pompey the Great, who was then carrying on the war against Mithridates, king of Pontus, and shut himself up in the city of Tyre. On his death-bed, he bequeathed his kingdom to the Roman senate. Meanwhile, the Egyptians made AULETES king. In virtue of Alexander's will, the Romans contested with him the right of possession. The dispute ended in favour of Auletes, who surpassed all his predecessors in the weakness of his character, and in the effeminacy of his manners. Conscious of this, he sought an alliance with Rome. As this could only be purchased at an immense cost, Auletes imposed new and heavy taxes on his people, in order to raise the necessary sum. Against this imposition they rebelled, and the king had to make his escape. Leaving Alexandria, he set sail for Rome, and landed on the island of Rhodes. Here it is said that he had an interview with Cato, who advised him to return to his kingdom. Auletes not being in a position to take this counsel, left Rhodes for Rome. On his arrival, he found that Cæsar was in Gaul. He occupied his time in going from house to house, and soliciting the votes of the senators. While he was thus engaged, an embassy from Alexandria, consisting of a thousand citizens, came to acquaint the senate with the grounds of

the ancient history of a people whose life has impressed the world with the profoundest wonder and the deepest spirit of inquiry. The hieroglyphics of that people may yet be deciphered, their language read, their mysteries unveiled, and their whole historical life better understood and appreciated.

RUINS OF ANCIENT EGYPT.

In our first lesson, reference was made to THEBES with its sublime greatness of dimensions, and its finished magnificence of decorations, which made it the admiration of the world. We think of the hundred-gated city, occupying a site of one hundred and forty furlongs in circumference, and sending forth its twice ten thousand armed chariots. We think of its temples, and statues, and columns, and obelisks. We enter the temple of Luxor, through a magnificent gateway, which is two hundred feet in width, and fifty-seven above the present level of the soil; and as we enter we find the vestibule of this noble edifice filled with sculptures representing the triumphs of some of the Egyp tian kings, while the walls of the building exhibit in beautiful relief, battles, hunting-scenes, and other kindred subjects. But all this must give place to the grandeur in which the temple of Carnac rises before us. Its chief or western front is towards the Nile, from whose banks it stands at the distance of two thousand five hundred feet, with a splendid avenue leading down to the river. We walk slowly along between the majestic and calmlyreposing sphinxes up to the still more magnificent vestibule of the building. Passing through this colossal entrance, which is about three hundred feet long, and one hundred and ninety-eight feet high, we come into a large court full of lofty and imposing pillars, find ourselves in the presence of colossal statues, pass on and go through a second entrance, and after ascending a flight of seve-and-twenty steps, enter that gorgeous hail, whose area

measures 57,629 square feet, and at the foot of whose one hundred and forty-four columns, the imagination sinks abashed.

At the Persian conquest, Thebes was in great part destroyed by fire. Little was done under the Ptolemies to restore or embellish it;-her people lost all courage and soul; having rebelled in the reign of Lathyrus, the city, after a three years' siege, was taken and pillaged, and gradually declined, till under the Romans it lost the last semblance of wealth or power. And what is her present condition? «The whole of this great extent is more or strewed with ruins, broken columns, and avenues of sphinxes, colossal figures, obelisks, pyramidal gateways, porticoes, blocks of polished granite, and stones of extraordinary magnitude: while above them, in all the nakedness of desolation, the colossal skeletons of giants' temples are standing in the unwatered sands, in solitude and silence. They are neither gray, nor blackened:there is no lichen, no moss, no rank grass, or mantling ivy to robe them, and conceal their deformities. Like the bones of man, they seem to whiten under the sun of the desert. The sand of Africa has been their most fearful enemy:-blown upon them for more than three thousand years, it has buried the largest monuments, and, in some instances, almost entire temples." The rival of Thebes was Memphis, both as a regal residence and the seat of commerce. This magnificent city, whose foundation and erection have been ascribed to Menes, extended half a day's journey in every direction, and, with its splendid temple, is declared by no mean authority to offer to the spectator, even now in its ruins, "a union of things which confound him, and which the most eloquent man in vain would attempt to describe. As to the figures of idols found among these ruins, whether we consider their numbers or their prodigious size, the thing is beyond description. But the accuracy of their forms, the justness of their proportions, and their resemblance to nature, are most worthy of admiration." One which was measured by this traveller was, without its pedestal, "more than thirty cubits; its breadth from right to left was about ten cubits; and from front to back it was thick in proportion. This statue was formed of a single piece of red granite, and was covered with a red varnish, to which its antiquity seemed to give only a new freshness." Memphis was the centre of Egyptian idolatry. There the bull APIS was bred, nurtured, enshrined, and worshipped.

Of Heliopolis, or the City of the Sun, but little remains to awaken the impression of its former magnificence. It is situated north-east of Cairo, and is famous for the celebrated fountain of the sun, to which, if we may trust tradition, the Holy Family came on their flight from Herod. Near this is the pillar of On, or obelisk of Heliopolis, which is sixty-seven feet high and six feet square at the base, and which is formed of one entire block of reddish granite. This obelisk is one of the most ancient existing monuments of Egyptian art, and from the execution and arrangement of its hieroglyphics, which are the same on all sides, it may be inferred that Heliopolis had at an early period reached a high degree of social refinement and artistic skill. It is the same with the On or Aven of Scripture: and since we read that Joseph married a daughter of the priest or prince of On, it thus becomes associated with one of the most touching and life-like his tories that the world has ever produced. Some have conjectured that it was here the deeply-moving interview took place between Joseph and his brethren. Be that as it may, nothing remains but the solitary obelisk, which we have just described, and a few broken fragments of the temple in which the bull Mnevis was worshipped, to attest its previous existence. As in the case of Memphis, "the dream of idolatry has passed away; the grand, all-inwrapping mists of ungodliness have melted into air before the Sun of Truth, and the Christian traveller mingles pity with his wonder as he looks upon these splendid baubles of the old world-these playthings which Time and Truth have united in breaking."

The subject of Egypt's overthrow and ruin enters largely into the predictions of the inspired volume. With great elegance and force does Ezekiel describe the fall of that ancient kingdom and of all the allied powers. Under the image of a fair cedar of Lebanon, once tall, flourishing, and majestic, but now cut down and withered, with its broken branches strewed, he represents the fall of the king of Nineveh; applies the same to the monarch of Babylon, as a true picture of his impending fate; while the head of Egypt, like a beast of prey, is caught, slain, and his car cass left to be devoured by the beasts of the forest or the fowls of heaven.

QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION.

By what means did Physcon lift himself into the seat of supreme power Describe the character of this prince.-After his flight to Cyprus, how did he recover the crown from his divorced queen Relate the chief events which marked the reign of Lathyrus.-Who succeeded Lathyrus on the throne, and what was his character

To whom, on his deathbed, did he make over the kingdom and all his own rights ?-How, and through what agency, did Auletes secure an alliance with the Roman senate?-How long, after his restoration, did he enjoy the sovereignty of Egypt Were the claims of Auletes' sons justly set aside by his daughter Cleopatra ? Can you relate the conduct of Cleopatra, and what was her end ?— At what point does the ancient history of Egypt close?-What are the chief ruins of that celebrated nation?-What happened to Thebes at the time of the Persian conquest?-Was anything done by the Ptolemies to restore it; and what is its present condition?What city was the rival of Thebes, and in what did it seek to rival that first capital?-Describe its size and its ruins.-What converted Memphis into the centre of Egyptian idolatry?—Are there any remains to attest the former magnificence of Heliopolis, or City of the Sun ?-With what portion of Sacred History is Heliopolis associated ?-Does the fall of Egypt enter into any of the predictions of the inspired volume?-Under what figures does Ezekiel foretel the overthrow of the kings of Nineveh, Babylon, and Egypt?

[The ancient history of Egypt being concluded, we deem it advisable, in the present state of our progress, to postpone the Lessons in Ancient History, until we shall have finished some of the more important lessons now going on, especially those that are in the greatest demand among our subscribers and the public in general. These lessons will of course be resumed at the earliest possible period, in order to render our work a complete encyclopædia of instruction. We say this in the most decided manner, in order that no one may feel the slightest disappointment at their discontinuance. We find, indeed, from our numerous correspondents, that the present lessons in the languages and in the elementary sciences, are deemed by them of so much importance, that we cannot do our subscribers a greater service than to continue them regularly and fully as we have hitherto done. As to relief from the harder studies in the POPULAR EDUCATOR, we fact a species of ancient history, older than that of the Antedican most properly recommend the study of Geology, which is in luvians themselves, not to mention Egypt or Assyria, and one which is sure to interest the majority of our readers, and prove an excellent succedaneum (that which succeeds) for the present, to the lessons whose place they have now taken.]

cut off.

The burning heat which has produced these fissures will now apply its elevating force to the different wedge-shaped masses. The wedges B, D, F, present larger surfaces to the fire than the wedges A, C, E, do. The consequence is, that the elevating force of the heat below will have greater power upon B, D, F, and will therefore push them up.

closed, or it will form a fresh one. By means of this vent, formed through the entire crust, the expanding force will throw up the melted matter to the surface, where, upon cooling, it will form a hill or mountain. By the same elevating power, it will also fill up any of the crevices or fissures which the previous action of heat may have left in the crust. Fig. 4, will assist your conception of this eruptive process.

H

As these are pushed up, it may be that the wedges A, C, E, which have their smaller end downwards, will also sink a little, until they become jammed between the others; and that they would become so, before they would descend low enough for the heat to act on them to keep them up.

The consequence of such a process will be, that the wedgeshaped masses, whose broader sides are downwards, will be elevated above the other wedges A, C, E. The heaved-up surface will then appear uneven and rugged; that is, the crust of the earth will put on the appearance of mountains, table-lands, and valleys, as represented in fig. 3.

4

Here, in one case the vent A c is open from the matter in fusion, at H, through the entire crust a, a, up to the surface at A, and the melted rock is thrown up into a mountain at B. In the two other cases, at D and E, the fused matter is injected into fissures, and form what miners and geologists call "dikes."

As the melted matter was heaved up to the arched roof of the cavity, and as the roof above was cooler than the fused mass below, the fluid when it came into contact with the roof, would, while partly altering it, become, in the process of cooling, crystallised, or, perhaps, vitrified into a hardened rock, and would thus gradually form a new roof over the matter in fusion. It is probable that at this day there may be masses of fused matter in the process of cooling, at the depth of several miles, in some immense cavities around the

E

F

G

a

a

On the supposition that, by some means, the elevating power of heat be either withdrawn, or Pomewhat suspended, your eye, on looking at fig. 2, will tell you at once that the masses thus heaved up and cracked, will never again fall into their first position in reference to the fissures. The roof of the cavity will now be formed into a compact arch capable of supporting itself, if the abutments of the cavern be strong enough. As soon as the

85

H

vents of volcanoes, and that they are forming beds below beds which increase downwards as they cool These and crystallise. deep formations will remain invisible and unknown till either some mighty changes in the earth's crust, or elevating power from below shall snap the crust, and throw up the rocks into the open air as represented in fig. 5.

When you make further progress in the knowledge of geological phenomena, you will learn that our imaginary arch has not, in many instances, been able to support itself. It is possible that the body of the arch was so near the lake of fused matter as even to lie on its surface, to float on it, and to be kept up by it; or it is possible that certain parts of the arch as c or E, or even D or F, may sink down to the very bottom of H, H, and there form new support for it. The consequence of this breaking down of certain masses will be that, instead of one large lake, we shall now have a number of lakes formed, which will be connected with each other by narrow channels running between the masses that have fallen down. The facts represented in fig. 3 are important, as they will materially assist you when you come to examine what geologists call "faults" in the trata, or to account for

Let A A, fig.5, represent the first hardened crust of the earth, B B the nether-formed (hypogene) rock which first, in a fused state, was heaved against the roof, and a then by bursting the crust, forced the fissure c, and formed the mountain D above and the crystallised bed в below. After the cooling of the rock B,в the expansion of the heat below requires again an outlet to get rid of its materials accumulated by the constant fusion of the bottom and the sides, and perhaps of the new roof. And now another vent is formed, and other fissures are made in the crust; the melted matter is thrown up from F, F to form a new mountain at E, differing in lithological character from that at