NATURAL HISTORY OF SOCIETY. CHAPTER I. EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION. THE Holy Scriptures not only contain the best and most consistent account of the origin of civilization, but they furnish the most authentic description of the country in which civilization first made a remarkable advancement. The Books of Genesis and Exodus contain incidental notices of the condition of Egypt, by which we are enabled to estimate pretty accurately the progress of humanity at a remote age in the valley of the Nile; and these notices have recently derived unexpected confirmation from modern discoveries—for the monuments brought to light in Egypt, confirm the accuracy of Scripture in every particular, and satisfactorily refute any counter-statements which had previously been allowed to rank as contradictory authorities. One remarkable instance of this new evidence for the accuracy of the Pentateuch, will serve fitly to introduce our examination of the Scriptural statements respecting the civilization of Egypt. In the last century, the Books of Moses were often attacked, and their authenticity impugned, because they mention the existence of vineyards, grapes, and consequently of wine, in Egypt; for Herodotus expressly declares that there were no vineyards in Egypt, and Plutarch avers VOL. II. 2 that the natives of that country abhorred wine, as being the blood of those who rebelled against the gods. This authority appeared conclusive, not merely to the skeptics who impugned the veracity of the Pentateuch, but even to the learned Michaelis, who concluded that the use of wine was enjoined in the sacrifices for the purpose of making a broad distinction between the religious usages of the Israelites and of the Egyptians. The monuments opened by modern research have decided the controversy in favour of the Jewish legislator. In the subterranean vaults at Eilithyia every part of the processes connected with the dressing and tending of the vine are faithfully delineated ;* the trellices on which the vines were trained, the care with which they were watered, the collection of the fruit, the treading of the wine-press, and the stowing of the wine in amphora, or vases, are there painted to the life; and additional processes of extracting the juice from the grape are represented, which seem to have been peculiar to the Egyptian people. Mr. Jomard adds, that the remains of amphoræ, or wine vessels, have been found in the ruins of old Egyptian cities, which are still encrusted with the tartar deposited by the wine. It is not necessary to account for the error into which Herodotus has fallen; he wrote long after Egypt had been distracted by civil wars, and then subdued by the Persians; calamities quite sufficient to account for the disappearance of such a highly artificial cultivation as that of the vine must have been in Egypt. His statement is most probably correct, if it be limited to the period when Herodotus wrote; and thus viewed, it becomes important evidence for the superior antiquity both of the Bible and the Egyptian monuments. * See the Bible Illustrated by the Monuments of Egypt, p. 50. The land of Egypt was visited by Abraham about four hundred years after the flood according to the computation of the present Hebrew text, or twelve hundred years according to the Septuagint. It had then an organized government, a king with the title of Pharaoh, a court, a nobility-" the princes of Pharaoh," and a system of domestic servitude; for we find male and female slaves enumerated among the presents bestowed by Pharaoh upon Abraham. Females had greater freedom than they usually enjoyed in the East, or in Egypt itself at a later age; they were not confined to the harem, they were permitted to go about unveiled, and their personal charms were made the subject of conversation. The next mention of Egypt is connected with the history of Joseph. He was sold to certain Midianites or Ishmaelites, who had established a regular caravan trade with Egypt, the articles of commerce being " spicery, and balm, and myrrh.” The precious metals had become a medium of exchange before this time, for Abraham purchased the cave of Machpelah with silver from the children of Heth; but the progress of commerce had probably introduced some mode of coining or stamping, by which the value of the bullion might be made known without the necessity of assaying and weighing it, for the price paid to Joseph's brethren was twenty pieces of silver. Joseph was sold by the merchants to Potiphar," an officer of Pharaoh's, and captain of the guard, or chief of the executioners;" for the punishment of criminals in Eastern countries is generally intrusted to the royal guards. Here, then, we have two additional proofs of progress-a regular foreign trade, and something like an established coinage. Domestic slavery appears to have been very mild at this time in Egypt, for Joseph enjoyed a considerable de gree of freedom; and that females were not yet deprived of their natural liberty is obvious from the history of Potiphar's wife. A more important element of civilization, however, is the existence of a legal system of imprisonment," Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were bound." It may appear whimsical to point out a prison as a sign of improvement, but unquestionably the existence of a system of legal punishment is evidence of advancement, for it shows that the regular empire of public law has superseded the blind impulses of private revenge. In a less civilized country than Egypt then was, Potiphar would have slain or mutilated Joseph on the spot. The reigning Pharaoh had a court and a royal establishment; for two of his officers, his cupbearer and the master of his household, were committed to the same prison as Joseph, and from their dreams it is evident that the arts of confectionary and of preparing grateful beverages had been at this time cultivated with success. Pharaoh's dreams add, that the Egyptians were acquainted with the artificial feeding of cattle, for it is said that the seven fat kine were fed on the achú, not "a meadow," as it is rendered in our version, but the succulent water-plants of the Nile.* When Joseph was summoned from the prison to attend the court, we find it recorded that "he shaved himself,”. a remarkable custom among the Egyptians, in which they differed from most other ancient nations of the East. It further appears that the Egyptian monarch had at his court a regular establishment of diviners or soothsayers, to whom he had applied for the interpretation of his dreams, from whence we may reasonably conclude that the sacer * See the Bible Illustrated by the Monuments of Egypt, p. 44. |