indicates. Before I defcribe the ruins of this famous place, permit me to cite what Diodorus has written on the fubject. "Ten "ftadia from the tombs of the kings of

Thebes," (d) fays this hiftorian, "is the "admirable one of Ofymandyas. The en"trance to it is by a veftibule of various "coloured ftones, two hundred feet long, "and fixty-eight high. Leaving this, we "enter a fquare periftyle, each fide of which "is four hundred feet in length. Animals, twenty-four feet high, cut from blocks of granite, ferve as columns, and fupport the

cieling, which is compofed of marble flabs, "twenty-feven feet fquare, and embellished

66

throughout by golden ftars, glittering on "a ground of azure. Beyond this periftyle "is another entrance, and after that a veftibule, built like the firft, but containing more fculptures of all kinds. At the

(4) Diod. Siculus, lib. 1. The great caverns, where the tombs of the kings of Thebes may be feen, are only three quarters of a league from Medinet-Abou; therefore, Diodorus is tolerably exact, fince, at moft, he is not deceived above a quarter of a league. Pocock has committed a more confiderable error in placing the tomb of Olymandyas at Luxor, on the other fide the Nile.

entrance are three ftatues, formed from a fingle ftone, by Memnon Sycnite, the principal of which, reprefenting the king, "is feated, and is the largest in Egypt. One "of its feet, exactly measured, is above feven "cubits. The other two figures, fupported "on his knees, the one on the right, the "other on the left, are thofe of his mother "and daughter. The whole work is lefs "valuable for its enormous grandeur than "for the beauty of the fculpture, and the "choice of the granite, which, though fo "extenfive, has neither flaw, nor blemish, " on its furface. The coloffus bears this in

fcription, I am Ofymandyas, king of kings: "be who would comprehend my greatness, "and where I reft, let him deftroy fome one "of these works (e). Befides this is another "ftatue of his mother, cut from a fingle "block of granite, thirty feet high. Three queens are fculptured on her head, intimating that he was daughter, wife and "mother of a king.

(e) I believe this infcription was fatal to the coloffus, and occafioned Cambyfes to break it in two.

The French reads, que l'on detruife; the Greek, vindru qi 7 spor dryer, let him conquer, i. e. exceed, fome of my works. T.

E 3

"After

66

"After this portico is a periftyle, ftill more beautiful than the firft, on the ftones "of which is engraved the history of the

66

war of Ofymandyas, against the rebels of "Bactriana. The façade of the front wall "exhibits this prince attacking ramparts,

at the foot of which the river flows; he "is combating advanced troops, and by his "fide is a terrible lion, ardent in his defence. "On the right wall are captives in chains, "with their hands and genitals cut off, as

marks of reproach for their cowardice. "The wall on the left contains fymbolical "figures, of exceedingly good fculpture, defcriptive of the triumphs and facrifice of

66

Ofymandyas, returning from this war, "In the center of the periftyle, where the "roof is open, an altar was erected of a fingle ftone, of marvellous bulk, and exquifite workmanship; and, at the farther “wall are two coloffal figures, each hewn "from a fingle block of marble, forty feet

$6

high, feated on their pedestals. This "admirable periftyle has three gates, one between the two ftatues, and the others each fide. Thefe lead to an edifice two hundred feet fquare, the roof of which

on

"is fupported by high columns.

It refem

bles a magnificent theatre. Several figures, "carved in wood, represent a tribunal administering justice. Thirty judges are feen

on one of the walls, and in the midft of "them the chief juftice, with a pile of "books at his feet, and a figure of Truth, "with her eyes fhut, fufpended from his "" neck.

Beyond is a walk, furrounded by edi"fices of various forms, in which were "tables ftored with all kinds of most deli*cious viands. In one of these, Ofyman

dyas, cloathed in magnificent robes, offers "up the gold and filver which he annually "drew from the mines of Egypt to the

gods. Beneath, the amount of this reve

nue, which was thirty-two million minas "of filver, was inferibed. Another building

contained the facred library, at the entrance "of which these words were read, PHYSIC 64 FOR THE SOUL. A fourth contained all "the deities of Egypt, with the king, offer

ing fuitable prefents to each, and calling "Ofiris, and the furrounding divinities, to "witnefs he had exercifed piety toward the gods, and juftice toward men. Befide "the

E 4

.

"the library stood one of the finest of these "edifices, and in it twenty couches, to re"cline on, while feafting; alfo the ftatues "of Jupiter, Juno, and Ofymandyas, whofe

body, it is fuppofed, was depofited here. "Various adjoining apartments contained

reprefentations of all the confecrated ani"mals of Egypt. Hence was the ascent to "the fepulchre of the king, on the fummit "of which was placed a circle of gold, in "thickness one cubit, and three hundred " and fixty-five in circumference; - each "cubit corresponded to a day in the year, " and on it were engraved the rising and fetting of the ftars, for that day, with "fuch aftrological indications as the super"stition of the Egyptians had affixed to "them. Cambyfes is faid to have carried "off this circle, when he ravaged Egypt.

Such, according to hiftorians, was the "tomb of Ofymandyas, which furpaffed all "others, as well by its wealth as by the "workmanship of the fkilful artists employed." (*)

(*) Some very flight deviations from the French text have been made on the authority of Diodorus, T.