CHAPTER VIII. THE KINGDOM OF EGYPT. PERSIAN ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT. DARIUS OCHUS. It has been recorded, that during the previous occupation of Egypt by the Persian troops, the inbabitants had been exposed to much persecution. They were now doomed to severer sufferings. Darius, the king of Persia, as soon as he had conquered Egypt, commenced a fearful work of slaughter and destruction throughout the country. If Cambyses had committed unheard-of enormities-if he had derided the religion and insulted the various deities of Egypt-if, as Herodotus affirms, he had ordered their bull-god Apis to be brought before him, and had stabbed it with his dagger-if he had been guilty of every species of oppression; he was still surpassed in acts of barbarity by Ochus. Wanton injustice, murders, profanation of religious rites, and continual persecutions were his delight. One of the most flagrant insults which Darius put upon their established religion, towards which their minds were strongly affected, though it is not possible to conceive one more absurd and grossly idolatrous, was, not only that he caused the sacred Apis to be slaughtered, but also he caused it to be served up at a banquet, of which he and his friends partook. After these insults, Darius returned in triumph to Babylon, laden with the spoils of Egypt. He left the government of Egypt to Pherendates, a Persian of the first rank, who carried on the work of demolition his master had commenced. All Egypt groaned under the tyranny of Ochus. His reign, however, was not of long duration in two years the Egyp tians were relieved from his yoke by his death; and to show their hatred of him, they substituted for his reign the representation of a sword, the emblem of destruction, in their catalogue of kings. Ochus was succeeded in his empire, B. c. 348, by ARSES, in whose reign nothing transpired concerning Egypt worthy of notice. To Arses succeeded, B. c. 335, DARIUS CODOMANUS, who seems to have followed the line of policy upon which Ochus acted towards Egypt. But Egypt did not continue long under the Persian sway. Alexander the Great, having conquered the whole of Asia Minor, and Syria, resolved to invade Egypt also, and to wrest it out of the hands of Darius. Accordingly, he marched thither with an army flushed with successive victories, and hence almost irresistible. The Egyptians were at this time ripe for rebellion, and cared little who ruled over them, so that they were freed from the Persians. They were incensed by their continual oppressions to the utmost; and the knowledge of this combined with a circumstance here narrated, might have had the effect upon the mind of Alexander of bringing him to the resolve of invading Egypt. One Amyntas, a general in the service of Alexander, had deserted from him, and had joined the interest of Darius. But there was no bond in those days of paganism to bind men together in love and fealty. Amyntas had proved faithless to Alexander, and he rebelled against Darius also. He had commanded the Grecian forces in the service of the Persians at the battle of Issus, and having escaped into Syria by the way of Tripoli, with 4,000 men, had there seized upon as many vessels as he wanted, burned the rest, and set sail for Cyprus. He afterwards marched towards Pelusium, and upon feigning that he had a commission from Darius, appointing him governor in the room of Sabaces, who was killed in the battle of Issus, he took that city. This accomplished, he threw off the mask, claiming the crown of Egypt, and declaring that the motive of his coming was to expel the Persians. Upon this declaration, great numbers of the Egyp tians went over to him, and Amyntas having his forces thus augmented, marched directly for Memphis, the capital of the kingdom. Here he fought a battle with and defeated the Persians, shutting them up in Memphis; but after he had gained this victory, having neglected to keep his soldiers in a body, the Persians sallied forth, and destroyed them, with Amyntas their leader. If this circumstance did not give rise to Alexander's invasion of Egypt, it increased the aversion which the Egyptians entertained for the Persians, so that, when Alexander reached that country, he was hailed by the natives as their deliverer from bondage. His arrival, at the head of a powerful army, presented them with sure protection, which Amyntas could not offer them; and from this consideration, they unanimously declared in his favour; and Mazæus, who commanded in Memphis, finding that he could not resist so powerful a force, and that Darius was not able to succour him, set open the gates to the conqueror, and gave him all the treasures which Darius possessed in that city. Thus Alexander possessed himself of all Egypt without a single conflict. The period at which this event occurred is dated B. c. 332. CHAPTER IX. THE KINGDOM OF EGYPT. MACEDO-GRECIAN ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT. ALEXANDER. As soon as Alexander had conquered Egypt, he paid a visit to the temple of Amun, or Jupiter Ammon, which was situated in the midst of the sandy deserts of Libya. Plutarch attributes this to political motives; and he affirms that he neither believed nor was elated with the notion of his divinity as the son of Amun, but only made use of it to bring others into subjection, among the barbarians. To the Greeks, he was extremely cautious of avowing such pretensions; and when wounded once with an arrow, he exclaimed, "My friends, this is blood, and not the ichor shed by the immortal gods." His pretensions to divinity, therefore, must be looked upon as an imposition upon the vulgar, and as one of those means whereby he climbed to the height of his ambition, that of conquering the known world. As Alexander was going thither, he gave orders to build the city of Alexandria, between the sea and the Mareotic Lake which city afterwards became the capital of the kingdom. The erection of this city was proceeded with immediately, so that when he returned from Libya, on visiting the spot, he found that considerable progress had been made. To hasten the building of this city, he appointed Cleomenes inspector over it, with orders for him to levy the tribute which Arabia was to pay, an order which was executed with the utmost rigour. When it was completed, he adopted a wise plan to people it. He invited thither persons from all parts of the world, to whom he offered advantageous condi tions. Among others. he drew thither a great number of Jews, to whom he gave great privileges, leaving them the free exercise of their religion and laws, and assigning them equal civil rights with the Macedonians, whom he had settled there. On his return from Libya, Alexander wintered at Memphis, where he settled the affairs of Egypt. He directed that none but Macedonians should command the troops. He appointed separate and independent governors of the several garrisoned towns, in order to prevent the mischief so often experienced by the Persians, by entrusting too much power to a single governor. He separated the financial, judicial, and military functions, to prevent the oppression of the people by their union. Finally, he directed that Alexandria should be the common emporium of commerce for the eastern and western worlds, by its two adjacent seas, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. Egypt continued under the sway of Alexander till his death, which occurred B. c. 323, when it came into the possession of the Ptolemies. The first of these was PTOLEMY LAGUS, who was the natural brother of Alexander, and one of his generals. The reign of Ptolemy is dated in the Canon в. c. 305. This arises from the circumstance that he did not assume the title of king until after the extinction of Alexander's posterity by the murder of his natural son, Alexander Ægus, the year before, about which time other generals, also, among whom the Persian empire had been divided, as it is expressed, "put on crowns. 77 Besides Egypt, Ptolemy Lagus had for his share, Lybia and Cyrenaica, with that part of Arabia which borders on Egypt. But he does not seem to have been satisfied with his portion, though it was a widely extended one. His first noted act was to wrest the provinces of Colo-Syria, Phenicia and Judea, from Laomedon to whom they had been assigned. This he soon accomplished. Nicanor, whom he sent into Syria with a body of land forces, defeated Laomedon, and took him prisoner, by which means he soon conquered the inland country. The same success attended Ptolemy Lagus, who headed the fleet which attacked the coasts, so that he became absolute master of those provinces. The people who caused him the most trouble were the Jews. Regarding the |