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nature_n	cold_a	hot_a	moist_a	5,424	5	10.2024	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A36034	The historical library of Diodorus the Sicilian in fifteen books : the first five contain the antiquities of Egypt, Asia, Africa, Greece, the islands, and Europe : the last ten an historical account of the affairs of the Persians, Grecians, Macedonians and other parts of the world : to which are added the fragments of Diodorus that are found in the Bibliotheca of Photius : together with those publish'd by H. Valesius, L. Rhodomannus, and F. Ursinus / made English by G. Booth ..., Esq.; Bibliotheca historica. English	Diodorus, Siculus.; Booth, George, 17th/18th cent.; Valois, Henri de, 1603-1676.; Rhodoman, Lorenz, 1546-1606.; Photius, Saint, Patriarch of Constantinople, ca. 820-ca. 891. Bibliotheca.; Orsini, Fulvio, 1529-1600.	1700 (1700)	Wing D1512; ESTC R15327	1,369,223	858

they know for it 's not possible that the Account given of Affairs should be so ancient as to be contemporary with the first Kings and if any should admit any such thing yet it 's apparent that all the Historians extant liv'd long after those Times For the Greeks themselves are not only in the dark concerning the Antiquity of Nations but many of the Barbarians also who call themselves Natural Inhabitants and boast themselves to be the first of all other Men who have found out things beneficial to Mankind and to have committed to writing things done among them many Ages before And as for us we determine nothing certainly of the Antiquity of particular Nations nor which Nation is antienter than another or how many Years one was before another But that we may attain the Scope and End we have before design'd we shall distinctly set forth in these Chapters what is reported concerning things done in the several Nations and the Antiquity of them We shall first speak of the Barbarians not that we judge them more ancient than the Grecians as Ephorus affirms but that we are willing in the First place to relate many considerable things of them that when we come afterwards to the History of the Greeks we may not confound their Antiquity with the other which are of a foreign nature to them And because the Gods are fabulously reported to be born in Egypt and the first Observation of the Motion of the Stars is attributed to them and that there are many remarkable and famous Actions of renown'd Men recorded to be done amongst them we shall begin with the Affairs of Egypt The Egyptians report that at the beginning of the World the first Men were The first Men in Egypt created in Egypt both by reason of the happy Climate of the Country and the nature of the River Nile For this River being very Fruitful and apt to bring forth many Animals yields of it self likewise Food and Nourishment for the things produc'd For it yields the Roots of Canes the Fruit of the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Tree yielding most sweet and delicious Fruit. See Plin. Nat. Hist lib. 13. c. 17. Lote-Tree the Egyptian Bean that which they call † Corchorum Plin. Nat. Hist lib. 21. c. 〈◊〉 Cors●on and such like Rarities for Man's Food always ready at hand And that all living Creatures were first produc'd among them they use this Argument that even at this day about Thebes at certain Times such vast Mice are bred that it causes admiration to the Beholders some of which to the Breast and Fore-feet are animated and begin to move and the rest of the Body which yet retains the nature of the Soyl appears without Form Whence it 's manifest that in the beginning of the World through the Fertileness of the Soyl the first Men were form'd in Egypt being that in no other parts of the World any of these Creatures are produc'd only in Egypt these supernatural Births may be seen And that we may sum up all in a word If in the time of Deucalion's Flood the greatest part only of all living Creatures were destroy'd then of such as were so preserv'd it s very probable that those in Egypt especially were of the number whose Inhabitants lye under the South Pole and the Country for the most part without Rain Or if all that had Life generally perisht as some affirm and that the Earth produc'd Animals anew yet they say that notwithstanding this the chief production of things animated is to be ascribed to this Country For they affirm that if the Showers which fall in any other Places were warm'd with the same Heat that is in Egypt the Air would be of that Temperature as that it would aptly conduce to the Generation of Animals as at first in the beginning of the World For even at this day such Births may be seen in the Waters that have lain long over all the water'd Country of Egypt For they affirm that when the River returns into its Channel and the Sun dries the Mud living Creatures are generated some perfect others half form'd even cleaving to the Soyl whence they are produc'd Osiris Isis Ceres Oceanus and Minerva the most antient Egyptian Gods The first Generation of Men in Egypt therefore contemplating the Beauty of the Superior World and admiring with astonishment the frame and order of the Universe judg'd there were Two chief Gods that were Eternal that is to say The Sun and the Moon the first of which they call'd Osiris and the other Isis both Names having proper Etymologies for Osiris in the Greek Language signifies a Thing with many Eyes which may be very properly apply'd to the Sun darting his Rays into every Corner and as it were with so many Eyes viewing and surveying the whole Land and Sea with which agrees the Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Odys 〈◊〉 Ver. 〈◊〉 The Sun from 's lofty Sphear all sees and hears Some also of the antient Greek Mythologists call Osiris Dionysus and sirname him Sirius amongst whom Eumolphus in his Bacchanal Verses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dionysus darts his Fiery Rays And Orpheus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He 's call'd Phanetes and Dionysus Some likewise set him forth cloath'd with the spotted Skin of a Fawn call'd Nebris from the variety of Stars that surround him Isis likewise being interpreted signifies Antient that Name being ascrib'd to the Moon from Eternal Generations They add likewise to her Horns because her Aspect is such in her Increase and in her Decrease representing a Sickle and because an Ox among the Egyptians is offer'd to her in Sacrifice They hold that these Gods govern the whole World cherishing and increasing all things and divide the Year into Three Parts that is to say Spring Summer and Autumn by an invisible Motion perfecting their constant Course in that time And though they are in their Natures very differing one from another yet they compleat the whole Year with a most excellent Harmony and Consent They say that these Gods in their Natures do contribute much to the Generation of all things the one being of a hot and active Nature the other moist and * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cold. cold but both having something of the Air and that by these all things are both brought forth and nourish'd And therefore that every particular Being in the Universe is perfected and compleated by the Sun and Moon whose Qualities as before declar'd are Five A Spirit or quickning Efficacy Heat or Fire Dryness or Earth Moisture or Water and Air of which the World does consist as a Man made up of Head Hands Feet and other parts These Five they reputed for Gods and the People of Egypt who were the first that spoke articulately gave Names proper to their several Natures according to the Language they then spake And therefore they call'd the Spirit Jupiter which is such by Interpretation because

hard Task to confute this Opinion since it 's apparent to all that by reason of the parching Heats there 's no Snow in Ethiopia at that time of the Year For in these Countries there 's not the least Sign either of Frost Cold or any other effects of Winter especially at the time of the overflowing of Nile And suppose there be abundance of Snow in the higher Parts of Ethiopia yet what is affirm'd is certainly false For every River that is swell'd with Snow fumes up in cold Fogs and thickens the Air but about Nile only above all other Rivers neither Mists gather nor are there any cold Breezes nor is the Air gross and thick Herodotus says that Nile is such in its own nature as it seems to be in the time of its Increase for that in * Our Winter Winter when the Sun moves to the South and runs its daily Course directly over Africa it exhales so much Water out of Nile that it decreases against Nature and in Summer when the Sun returns to the North the Rivers of Greece and the Rivers of all other Northern Countries fall and decrease and therefore that it is not so strange for Nile about Summer time to increase and in Winter to fall and grow lower But to this it may be answer'd that if the Sun exhale so much moisture out of Nile in Winter time it would do the like in other Rivers in Africa and so they must fall as well as Nile which no where happens throughout all Africa and therefore this Author's Reason is frivolous for the Rivers of Greece rise not in the Winter by reason of the remoteness of the Sun but by reason of the great Rains that fall at that time Democritus the Abderite says that the Northern Countries and not those towards Democritus the South as Anaxagoras and Euripides say are subject to Snow for that it 's clear and evident to every Body that in the Northern Parts Drifts and Heaps of Snow lye congeal'd at the time of the Winter Solstice but in Summer the Ice being melted by the heat of the Sun the Land becomes very wet which causes many thick Mists to appear upon the Hills from the Vapours rising from the Earth These Vapours he says are driven about by the Etesean Winds till they fall upon the highest Mountains which are as he affirms in Ethiopia and by the violent impression they make upon the Tops of these Mountains great Storms and Showers of Rain are occasion'd which about the time of the Etesean Winds cause the River to rise But if any will diligently observe the time and season of the Year when this falls out he may easily answer this Argument for Nile begins to swell at the time of the Summer Solstice when there are no Etesean Winds and after the Autumnal Equinox when those Winds are past it falls again Inasmuch therefore as certain Experience to the contrary answers all Arguments be they never so probable the Mans diligence and ingenuity is to be commended but his Affirmations and Opinions by no means to be rely'd upon And I wave this that it 's evident that the Etesean Winds come as often from the West as from the North. For not only the North-East Winds call'd Aparctie but those of the North-West Plin. Nat. His lib. 2. c. 47. call'd Argeste go under the name of the Etesean Winds And whereas he affirms that the greatest Mountains are in Ethiopia as it wants proof so likewise all grounds for credit and belief as is evident from the thing itself Ephorus who gives the last account of the thing endeavours to ascertain the Ephorus Reason but seems not to find out the Truth The whole Land of Egypt says he is cast up from the River and the Soyl is of a loose and spungy nature and has in it many large Clifts and hollow Places wherein are abundance of Water which in the Winter-time is frozen up and in the Summer issues out on every side like Sweat from the Pores which occasions the River Nile to rise This Writer does not only betray his own Ignorance of the nature of Places in Egypt that he never saw them himself but likewise that he never was rightly inform'd by any that was acquainted with them For if the overflowing of Nile should proceed from Egypt it self it could not flow above the Land of Egypt where it passes through Rocks and Mountainous Places For as it takes its Course through Ethiopia for above the space of Six Thousand Furlongs it is at its full height before ever it reach Egypt and therefore if the River Nile lye lower than the Caverns of congested Earth those Clefts and hollow Places must be above towards the Superficies of the Earth in which it is impossible so much Water should be contain'd And if the River lye higher than those spongy Caverns it is not possible that from hollow Places much lower than the River the Water should rise higher than the River Lastly who can imagin that Waters issuing out of Holes and hollow Parts of the Earth should raise the River to such a height as to overflow almost all the Land of Egypt But I let pass this vain Imagination of Casting up the Soyl and lodging of Waters in the Bowels of the Earth being so easily to be confuted The River Meander hath cast up a great Tract of Land in Asia whereas at the time of the Rising of Nile nothing of that kind in the least can be seen In the same manner the River Archelous in Arcadia and Cephesus in Beotia which runs down from Phocea have cast up great quantities of Earth by both which the Writer is convicted of falsity And indeed no Man is to expect any certainty from Ephorus who may be palpably discern'd not to make it his business in many things to declare the Truth The Philosophers indeed in Memphis have urg'd strong Reasons of the Increase of Nile which are hard to be confuted and though they are improbable yet many agree to them For they divide the Earth into Three Parts one of which is that wherein we inhabit another quite contrary to these Places in the Seasons of the Year the Third lying between these Two which they say is uninhabitable by reason of the scorching heat of the Sun and therefore if Nile should overflow in the Winter-time it would be clear and evident that its Source would arise out of our Zone because then we have the most Rain But on the contrary being that it rises in Summer it 's very probable that in the Country opposite to us it's Winter-time where then there 's much Rain and that those Floods of Water are brought down thence to us And therefore that none can ever find out the Head-Springs of Nile because the River has its Course through the opposite Zone which is uninhabited And the exceeding sweetness of the Water they say is the Confirmation of this Opinion for passing through

and Herbs Their first way of Living and Colewort Leaves which grew in the Fens and Bogs having first try'd the Taste of them But above all and most commonly they fed upon the Herb call'd Agrostis because it was sweeter than any other and was very nourishing to Mens Bodies And it 's very certain that the Cattel much covet it and grow very fat with it At this Day therefore Superstitious Persons in memory of its usefulness when they Sacrifice to the Gods they worship them with their Hands full of this Herb For they conceive Man from the frame of his Nature and * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from his lightness frothy Constitution to be a watery Creature something resembling the Fenny and Marish Ground and that he hath more need of moist than of dry Food They say the Egyptians afterwards fell to another Course of Diet and that was eating of Fish wherewith they were plentifully supply'd by the River especially after the Inundation when it was return'd within its former Bounds And they eat likewise the Flesh of some Cattel and cloath'd themselves with their Skins That they made their Houses of Reeds of which there are some Marks amongst the Shepherds of Egypt at this day who care for no other Houses but such like which they say serves their turn well enough Afterwards in process of time after many Ages they fell to those Fruits which were made more apt and fit for Mans Food amongst which was Bread made of Lotus which invention some attribute to Isis others to Menas one of the antient Kings The Priests indeed do make † Mercury Hermes the Inventer of all Arts and Sciences but say that their Kings found out all things necessary for the Support of Mens lives and therefore that Kingdoms antiently were not inheritable but given to such as had been most useful and serviceable to the People thereby either to induce their Kings to be kind and beneficial to all their Subjects or for that as most agreeable to the Truth it was a Law registred in their Sacred Records commanding them so to do At the first as some of them i. e. the Priests have fabulously reported the The Kings of Egypt Gods and * Heroes Demy-Gods reign'd in Egypt for the space almost of Eighteen Thousand Years the last of which was Orus the Son of Isis Afterwards they say that Men reign'd there for the space of Fifteen Thousand Years to the Hundred and Eightieth † Ant. Ch. 58. Olympiad at which time I my self came into Egypt in the Reign of * Ptolemy Dionysius the Younger before Christ 58 reign'd with Cleopatra the Year before Christ 49. Ptolemy who took upon him the Name of Dionysius the Younger Most of their Kings were Natives of the Country There were a few in the mean time that were Ethiopians Persians and Macedonians Four of them that were Ethiopians reign'd not in a continued Line but at several times for the space of Thirty Six Years or thereabouts From the time that Cambyses conquer'd the Nation the Persians reign'd for the space of a Hundred Thirty Five Years reckoning the Defections of the Egyptians within the time occasion'd by the intolerable Cruelty of the Governours and their Impiety against the Egyptian Gods Last of all the Macedonians tul'd there for the space of Two Hundred Seventy Six Years The rest of the Princes were Egyptians to the number of Four Hundred and Seventy Men and Five Women The Egyptian Priests keep Registers in their Temples of all their Kings successively from many Generations past to what Greatness and Majesty every one of them arriv'd what were their particular Tempers and Inclinations and their Actions in their several times To write particularly of every one of them as it would be tedious so it would be altogether superfluous inas much as many things concerning them are insignificant and of no use and therefore we have limited our selves to treat only of those Matters that are most remarkable and worthy remembrance After the Gods they say Menas was the First King of Egypt He taught the 1. Menas the First King after the Gods People the Adoration of the Gods and the manner of Divine Worship how to adorn their Beds and Tables with rich Cloaths and Coverings and was the first that brought in a delicate and sumptuous way of Living Many Ages after reign'd Gnephachthus Father of Bocchoris the Wise who leading 2. Gnephachthus an Army into Arabia through many barren and desert Places his Provision fail'd so that for the space of one day he was forc'd to take up with such mean Food as the common People among whom he happen'd then to be could supply him with which he eat so heartily and relisht with so much delight as for the future he forbad all Excess and Luxury and curs'd that King who first brought in that Sumptuous and Luxurious way of Living and this change and alteration of Meat and Drink and Bedding was so delightful to him that he order'd the Curse before mention'd to be enter'd in the Sacred Records in the Temple of Jupiter at Thebes which was the chief Reason why the Fame and Reputation of Menas became to be clouded in future Generations They say the Posterity of Gnephachthus to the number of Fifty Two reign'd for the space of Fourteen Hundred Years in which time there 's found nothing worthy of Remark Afterwards reign'd Busiris and Eight of his Posterity after him the last of 3. Busiris which of the same Name with the First built that great City which the Egyptians call * The City of the Sun Heliopolis the Greeks Thebes it was in Circuit a † About 20 Miles Thebes built Hundred and Forty Furlongs adorn'd with stately publick Buildings magnificent Temples and rich Donations and Revenues to Admiration and that he built all the Private Houses some Four and others Five Stories high And to sum up all in a word made it not only the most beautiful and stateliest City of Egypt but of all others in the World The Fame therefore of the Riches and Grandure of this City was so nois'd abroad in every Place that the Poet Homer takes notice of it in these Words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nor Thebes so much renown'd Hom. Illiad lib. 9. Whose Courts with unexhausted Wealth abound Where through a Hundred Gates with Marble Arch To Battel Twenty Thousand Chariots march Although there are some that say it had not a Hundred Gates but that there were many large Porches to the Temples whence the City was call'd Hecatompylus a Hundred Gates for many Gates Yet that it was certain they had in it Twenty Thousand Chariots of War for there were a Hundred Stables all along the River from Memphis to Thebes towards Lybia each of which were capable to hold Two Hundred Horses the Marks and Signs of which are