The death of Azimun proved to her father a shock from which he never recovered; he reproached himself deeply for being duped by such a villain, and for allowing his daughter to return to her house. Time in no way seemed to lighten his woes, and to talk of his daughter was the only pleasure, however melancholy a one, that this world still held for him; and though he could have no doubt as to the nature and the author of her death, he would often try to unravel it from the mystery in which it was involved. But this was impossible-Feroz had been summoned to his account. I do not say, she told her love, Each night her sidelong eye would rove, "Tis true, of late, she turns away, When asked to dance, she answered nay, But this, perhap, was but some feint, 'Tis true that when I humbly wrote, 'Tis true, whene'er I seek her gate, From forth the wicket pops his pate, "Tis true, my friends have called me fool, I tell them, lo! beside my heart In vain advise, my fingers feel Throbs to my heart again that thrill! Again our glances join! Then hence with doubt,-away with fear, That all her hate is feign'd 'twas clear And naught my hopes shall sever! JUWAUB CRITICAL RESEARCHES RELATIVE TO THE EGYPTIAN LANGUAGE, FROM THE FRENCH. It was neither to great exploits in the field, nor to the achievement of extensive conquests, that Egypt was indebted for its celebrity. The antiquity of its political and religious institutions, the wisdom of its laws, the cultivation of the sciences and fine arts, are the causes which, from the most distant period, deservedly procured for the inhabitants of Egypt such a distinguished reputation, for wisdom and learning, and invited among them, individuals from distant nations, ambitious of acquiring knowledge, and animated with the noble desire of imparting to their native land, the great benefit arising from civilization and refinement. (a) We must not imagine, that the hieroglyphic inscriptions engraved on monuments, were the sole historical productions in the possession of the Egyptians, and the only archives of those sciences, which are the result of meditation, or experience; in a word, of all knowledge, both sacred, and profane. Antiquity not only attests, that the Egyptians were in possession of nu nerous literary works, composed in their own language, and that the study of these works formed the occupation of the ministers of religion, to whose charge they were confided. We can moreover conclude from testimony of great weight, and from the inspection of many fragments of this antient literature, which have descended to us, notwithstanding the veil of obscurity which still envelopes them, that the character employed in these compositions, was not the hieroglyphic reserved for monuments, but a character enjoying an alphabetical form. As a cursory remark, we adduce a circumstance, which explains the reason, why the Egyptians were not, like the Chinese, (b) doomed to that continued mental imbecility, and non-improvement, to that stationary state, which does not admit of any advancement in the speculative or ordinary sciences, any amelioration of system, any developement of those incipient endeavours, which conduce to the most happy results; the reason we assign is, that the Egyptians were not confined to the hieroglyphic character, the application of which becomes more difficult, in proportion as the signs multiply; and as its multiformity renders it incapable of achieving the end for which it is destined, and which, in place of facilitating the efforts of the human mind, (a) It is to Egypt that Pythagoras owed his favourite doctrine of the Metempsychosis or transmigration of souls. Πρῶτοι δὲ καὶ τόνδε τόν λογον Αἰγύπτιοι εἰδὶ εἰπόντες, ὡς ἀνθρώπε ψυχὴ ἀθάνατός ἐςι. Τα σώματος δὲ καταφθίνοντος, ἐς ἄλλο ζῶον αἰεὶ γινόμενον ἐσδύεταί ἐπεὰν δε περιέλθῃ ωάντα τὰ χερσαῖα, καὶ τὰ θαλάσσια, και τὰ πληνὰ, αῦτις ἐς ἀνθρώπε σῶμα γινόμενον ἐσδύνειν. Τὴν περιείλησιν δὲ αὐτῆ γίνεσθαι ἐν τρισχιλίοισι ἔτεσι. Herodotus. (b) Quêique leur empire ait peutêtne quatre mille ans, ils demeurent toujours au même point de connaissances imparfaites. absorbs all its faculties, employs all its flexibility, and paralyses all its energy. We cannot be persuaded, that the infuriated Cambyses(c) destroyed every vestige of this Egyptian literature; yet much less shall we believe, that this devastating but transient torrent annihilated the language and graphic characters of a country renowned during so many ages antecedent for its polity and civilization(d). The influence of the Mace donian domination, produced certainly greater, and more durable effects, with respect to the language, alphabetical character, and literature of Egypt. This latter kingdom no longer produced any work of genius, at least such works must have been of very rare occurrence. The great distance from the new capital, situated at the extremity of Egypt, the supreme power exercised by aliens, the difference in religion and manners, the protection and favor accorded, almost exclusively, to Greeks, all conspired to impart a death-blow to Egyptian literature, but could affect only very remotely, and by slow degress, the language and its character. It is also certain that the Egyptian language and characters were preserved under the Ptolemies; and admitting the Greek alone was employed at court, and in the city of Alexandria, the Egyptian continued to be understood, and spoken in the cities of the interior, and especially in Thebes, and the circumjacent country. This fact, attested by the Rosetta inscription, is likewise proved from a passage in Plutarch. This writer relates, that the famous Cleopatra(e) gave audience in person, and without the aid of an interpreter, to the ambassadors of many barbarian nations, such as the Ethiopians, the Troglodytes, the Hebrews, Arabs, Syrians, Medes, and Parthians; he moreover asserts, that she was acquainted with the languages of several other states; whereas her royal predecessors had devoted very little attention, to the acquirement of the Egyptian tongue, and many had been ignorant of the Macedonian. In fine, that a barbarous people may adopt, without difficulty, the laws and language of its conqueror, admits of easy conception; but we cannot induce ourselves to believe, that a nation so civilized as Egypt, was, at the epoch of which we speak, and especially so attached and so tenacious of its ancient customs, should have abandoned, or changed (c) Cambydes rendered himself execrable by his excesses, more especially in killing their ox Apis, and demolishing their temples. For the Persians thought it impious or foolish to employ any complicated structures in the service of the Deity. Their places of worship were circles of stones, in the centre of which they kindled the sacred fire, the only symbol of their god: for they abhorred statues as well as temples and altars, thinking it unworthy of the majesty of the Deity to be represented by any particular form, or to be circumscribed in any determinate space, the universe being considered his temple, and the all pervading element of fire, his only representative. (d) Scytharum gens antiquissima semper habita: quanquam inter Scythas et Ægyptios diu contentio de generis vetustate fuerit. Vid Justinum initio lib. 2. Οἱ δὲ Αἰγύπτιοι, πρὶν μὲν ἤ Ψαμμήτιχον σφέων βασιλευσαι, ἐνόμιζον ἑαυτὸς πρώτες γενέσθαι ωάντων ἀνθρώπων. Herod. (e) This celebrated woman is said to have understood thirty different languages. the principles of its maternal speech, when there existed, as we have al ready mentioned, numerous works in this language, which ought to impress it with the stamp of immortality. If during a certain period, we receive very little guidance from history, corroborative of the existence, and actual state of the Egyptian language, it is not a matter of astonishment, since we are aware, that the history of Egypt, in reference to that period, is very obscure; and as we have lost the major part of those authors, who might have furnished us with facts, illustrative of the reign of the Prolemies(f). Egypt, on being subjected to the Roman power, reduced to the grade of a province of the empire, must have consequently been deprived of much of its splendour and importance. If Rome attached a great value to the retention of Egypt, it was with a view of keeping it as a granary for the capital(g), and probably for the advantage and extension of commerce; but the Romans acknowledged no superiors in literature, except the Greeks; neither did they repair to the Egyptians, in order to collect the elements of philosophy and the sciences. The religion and customs of that people were to them a subject of laughter; and if credulous and superstitious minds united the ceremonies observed in the adoration of Isis to those practised by their ancestors, the well-informed turned them into ridicule, and policy frequently took umbrage at them, and proscribed them. Under such circumstances, what must have been the fate of Egyptian literature? Must not its declension have been accelerated, and its descent into oblivion the more rapid? Another important event occurring, in a short time after that Egypt had been brought under the dominion of the Caesars, must necessarily have inflicted a final blow on this literature. I speak of the introduction of the Christian religion, which rapidly extended from Alexandria to Syene. I do not mean to say, that the preachers of this holy religion, exercised their zeal, to the destruction of the monuments of this literature, a circumstance however not improbable; yet if we reflect, that on one side the Christian religion contributed to diffuse a general usage of the Greek tongue, and that on the other hand, the Egyptian literature, closely connected with the antient religion, no longer afforded any interest for the new Christian community, we will not feel surprised, that it should have become extinct, and all traces of it indiscernible. Moreover, should a doubt be entertained, that the ministers of the Christian religion, exercised a proscription little creditable, against the written monuments of the erudition of this country, two facts appear in evidence to show, that the policy of the Emperors neglected not this means of annihilating the relics of patriotism, and the national spirit. The first of these facts appertain to the reign of the emperor Severus, who divested the Egyptian temples, of every document relative to the mysteries, (f) L'histoire d' Egypte ne s' eclaircit un peu qu' environ l' an 670 avant Jesus Christ. Alors le roi Psammaticus ouvrit ses ports aux etrangers, et la nation entra en commerce avec les Grecs. (g) Superbiebat ventosa et insolens natio, quod victorem quidem populum pasceret tamen, quodque in suo flumine, in suis mauibas, vel abundantia nostuta, rel fames esset. Plin. lib. 21. |