22 /24-2% THAL I A. XIX. As foon as Cambyfes had refolved on the measures he meant to purfue, with refpect to the Æthiopians, he sent to the city of Elephantine for fome of the Ichthyophagi who were skilled in their language. In the mean time he directed his naval forces to proceed against the Carthaginians; but the Phoenicians refufed to affift him in this purpofe, pleading the folemnity of their engagements with that people, and the impiety of committing acts of violence against their own defcendants.-Such was the conduct of the Phoenicians, and the other arma ments were not powerful enough to proceed. Thus, therefore, the Carthaginians efcaped being made tributary to Perfia, for Cambyfes did not choose to ufe compulfion with the Phoenicians, who had voJuntarily become his dependants, and who conftituted the most effential part of his naval power, The Cyprians had alfo fubmitted without contest to the Perfians, and had ferved in the Ægyptian expedition. XX. As foon as the Ichthyophagi arrived from / Elephantine, Cambyfes difpatched them to Æthio226 pia. They were commiffioned to deliver, with certain prefents, a particular meffage to the prince. The prefents confifted of a purple veft, a gold chain for the neck, bracelets, an alabafter box of perfumes 24, and a cafk of palm wine. The Ethiopians 24 Alabafter box of perfumes.]—It feems probable that perfumes in more ancient times were kept in fhells. Arabia is the fountry of perfumes, and the Red Sea throws upon the coast a number Æthiopians to whom Cambyfes fent, are reported to be fuperior to all other men in the perfections 134 of size and beauty: their manners and customs, which differ alfo from thofe of all other nations, 115 have befides this fingular diftinction; the fupreme 21 authority is given to him who excels all his fellow citizens 25 in fize and proportionable strength. 2 XXI. number of large and beautiful shells, very convenient for such a Funde capacibus Unguenta de conchis. That to make a prefent of perfumes was deemed a mark of reverence and honour in the remotest times amongst the Orientals, appears from the following paffage in Daniel. "Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they fhould offer an oblation and fweet odours to him." See alfo St. Mark, xiv. 3: "There came a woman having an alabafter box of ointment of spikenard, very precious; and the brake the box, and poured it on his head.” See alfo Matth. xxvi. 7. To fprinkle the apartments and the perfons of the guests with rofe-water, and other aromatics, ftill continues in the Eaft to be a mark of respectful attention. Alabastron did not properly fignify a veffel made of the stone now called alabafter, but one without handles, un exov rabas. Alabafter obtained its name from being frequently used for this purpofe; the ancient name for the ftone was alabastrites, and perfumes were thought to keep better in it than in any other fubftance. Pliny has informed us of the shape of thefe veffels, by comparing to them the pearls called elenchi, which are known to have been shaped like pears, or, as he expreffes it, 43faftigiatâ longitudine, alabastrorum figura, in pleniorem orbem definentes. lib. ix. cap. 35.-T. 25 Who excels all his fellow citizens, &c.]-That the quality of XXI. The Ichthyophagi on their arrival offered the prefents, and thus addreffed the king: "Cam"byfes, fovereign of Perfia, from his anxious defire "of becoming your friend and ally, has fent us to "communicate with you, and to defire your accep"tance of these presents, from the use of which he "himself derives the greatest pleasure." The Ethiopian prince, who was aware of the object they had in view, made them this anfwer:-" The king of "Perfia has not sent you with these presents, from any defire of obtaining my alliance; neither do you fpeak the truth, who, to facilitate the unjust designs of your mafter, are come to examine the ftate " of my dominions: if he were influenced by prin ciples of integrity, he would be fatisfied with his <c own, and not covet the poffeffions of another; nor "would he attempt to reduce thofe to fervitude from whom he has received no injury. Give him ❝ therefore this bow, and in my name speak to him "thus: The king of Ethiopia fends this counfel to "the king of Perfia-when his fubjects fhall be "able to bend this bow with the fame eafe that I "do, then with a fuperiority of numbers he may "venture to attack the Macrobian Ethiopians. In 2/ trength and accomplishments of perfon were in the first infli- Condere cæperunt urbeis, arcemque locare Fro facie cujufque, et viribus ingenioque T the "the mean time let him be thankful to the gods, that "the Ethiopians have not been infpired with the "fame ambitious views of extending their poffef"fions." XXII. When he had finished, he unbent the bow and placed it in their hands; after which, taking the purple veft, he enquired what it was, and how it was made: the Ichthyophagi properly explained to him the process by which the purple tincture was communicated; but he told them that they and their vefts were alike deceitful. He then made fimilar enquiries concerning the bracelets and the gold chain for the neck: upon their defcribing the nature of those ornaments, he laughed, and conceiving them to be chains 26, remarked, that the Ethiopians 26 Conceiving them to be chains.]-We learn from a paffage in Genefis, xxiv. 22, that the bracelets of the Orientals were remarkably heavy; which feems in fome measure to justify the fentiment of the Ethiopian prince, who thought them chains fimply because they were made of gold, which was used for that purpose in his country.-See chap. xxiii. "And it came to pafs as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden ear-ring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands, of ten fhekels weight of gold.” That the bracelet was formerly an enfign of royalty amongst the Orientals, Mr. Harmer, in his Obfervations on Paffages of Scripture, infers from the circumftance of the Amalekites bringing to David the bracelet which he found on Saul's arm, along with his crown. That it was a mark of dignity there can be little doubt; but it by no means follows that it was a mark of royalty, though the remark is certainly ingenious. If it was, there exifted a peculiar propriety in making it the part of a prefent from one prince to another. By the Roman generals they were given to their foldiers, as a reward of bravery. Small chains Æthiopians poffeffed much stronger. He proceed ed laftly to ask them the ufe of the perfumes; and when they informed him how they were made and applied, he made the fame obfervation as he had before done of the purple robe *7. When he came to the wine, and learned how it was made, hẹ chains were alfo in the remotest times worn round the neck, not only by women but by the men. That thefe were also worn by princes appears from Judges, viii. 26. "And the weight of the golden ear-rings that he requested, was a thousand and feven hundred fhekels of gold; befide ornaments, and collars, and purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian; and befide the chains that were about their camels necks." Which laft circumftance tends alfo to prove that they thus alfo decorated the animals they used, which fashion is to this day obferved by people of diftinction in Egypt.-T. 27 Purple robe.]-It is a circumftance well known at prefenta that on the coast of Guagaquil as well as on that of Guatima, are found those fnails which yield the purple dye fo celebrated by the ancients, and which the moderns have fuppofed to have been loft. The fhell that contains them is fixed to rocks that are watered by the fea; it is of the fize of a large nut. The juice may be extracted from the animal in two ways; fome perfons kill the animal after they have taken it out of the fhell, they then prefs it from the head to the tail with a knife, and feparating from the body that part in which the liquor is collected, they throw away the reft. When this operation, repeated upon feveral of the fnails, hath yicided a certain quantity of the juice, the thread that is to be dyed is dipped in it, and the bufinefs is done, The colour, which is at firft as white as milk, becomes afterwards green, and does not turn purple till the thread is dry. We know of no colour that can be compared to the one we have been fpeaking of, either in luftre or in permanency. Raynal. Pliny defcribes the purpura as a turbinated fhell like the buccinum, but with spines upon it; which may lead us to suspect the Abbé's account of the frails of a little inaccuracy.-7. drank |