ANCIENT HISTORY. PART FIRST. I. IT is a difficult task to delineate the state of mankind in the earliest ages of the world. We want information sufficient to give us positive ideas on the subject; but as man advances in civilization, and in proportion as history becomes useful and important, its certainty increases, and its materials are more abundant. Various notions have been formed with respect to the population of the antediluvian world and its physical appearance; but as these are rather matters of theory than of fact, they scarcely fall within the province of history and they are of the less consequence, since we are certain the state of those antediluvian ages could have had no material influence on the times which succeeded them. : The books of Moses afford the earliest authentic history of the ages immediately following the deluge. About one hundred and fifty years after that event, Nimrod (the Belus* of profane historians), [the son of Chus, grandson of Cham, and great-grandson of Noah], built Babylon, on the eastern side of the river Euphrates, and Ninevah, which became the capital of the Assyrian empire. [B.C. 2237.] Ninus the son of Nimrod] and his queen are said to have raised the empire of Assyria to so high a degree of splendour, as to be reputed [by most of the profane authors] the founders of it. * Belus or Baal, signifies Lord; under that appellation Nimrod after his death was worshipped as a god.-ED. From the death of Ninyas, the son of Ninus and Semiramis, down to the revolt of the Medes under Sardanapalus, a period of eight hundred years, there is a chasm in the history of Assyria and Babylon. This is to be supplied only from conjecture. The earliest periods of the Egyptian history are equally uncertain with those of the Assyrian.—Menes is accounted the first sovereign under the regal government, after the patriarchal regimen of the family of Misor, or Misraim of the Holy Scriptures, grandson of Noah. Some make him the Osiris of Egypt, the inventor of arts, and the civilizer of a great part of the Eastern world. After Menes or Osiris, Egypt appears to have been [divided into various states or dynasties, the four principal being Thebes, Thin, Memphis and Tanis], and the people to have attained a considerable degree of civilization. But a period of barbarism succeeded [after the invasion of the Hyksos, a body of marauders from Arabia or Phoenicia, who conquered a great part of the country, and established the dynasty known as] the Shepherd-kings,* consisting for the space of some centuries, down to the age of Sesostris,† [or Rhamses the Great, who] united the separate principalities into one kingdom, regulated his policy with admirable skill, and distinguished himself equally by his foreign conquests, and by his domestic administration. [B.C. 1722.] II.-Considerations on the Nature of the first Governments, and on the Laws, Customs, Arts and Sciences, of the Early Ages. SECT. 1.-The earliest government is the patriarchal, which subsists in the rudest periods of society. The patriarchal government leads by an easy progress to the monarchical. The first monarchies must have been very weak, and their territory extremely limited. The idea of security * Rollin informs us, that the Shepherd-kings governed Egypt, about 260 years, and that they were eventually expelled by Thethmosis or Amosis, King of Lower Egypt, B.C. 1825.-ED. + Sesostris was the most distinguished king of this race, he marched victoriously through Africa and Asia, penetrating to the countries beyond the Ganges, and enriched Egypt by the booty he acquired. Herodotus saw in Asia Minor, from one sea to the other, monuments of his victories. In several countries was read, the following inscription, engraved on pillars: Sesostris king of kings, and lord of lords, subdued this country by the power of his arms.-ED. precedes that of conquest. In forming our notions of the extent of the first monarchies, we are deceived by the word king, which, according to modern ideas, is con. nected with an extent of territory and a proportional power. The kings in Scripture are no more than the chiefs of tribes. There were five kings in the vale of Sodom. Joshua defeated in his wars thirty-one kings, and Adonizedek threescore and ten. The regal office was in all probability at first elective. The transmission of the sceptre to the heir of the last monarch arises in time from the experience of the mischiefs attending frequent elections, and the disorders occasioned by ambitious men aspiring to that dignity. The first ideas of conquest must have proceeded from a people in the state of shepherds, who necessarily changing their pastures, would probably make incursions on the appropriated territory of their neighbours. Such were the Arabian or Phoenician invaders, who under the name of Shepherd-kings, conquered Egypt. But kingdoms so founded could have little duration. Laws and good policy, essential to the stability of kingdoms, are the fruit of intellectual refinement, and arise only in a state of society considerably advanced in civilization. The progress from barbarism to civilization is slow; because every step in the progress is the result of necessity, after the experience of an error, or the strong feeling of a want. SECT. 2. Origin of Laws.-Certain political writers have supposed, that in the infancy of society penal laws must have been extremely mild. We presume the contrary to have been rather the case; as the more barbarous the people, the stronger must be the bonds to restrain them and history confirms the supposition, in the ancient laws of the Jews, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Gauls. Among the earliest laws of all states are those regarding marriage; for the institution of marriage is coeval with the formation of society. The first sovereigns of all states are said to have instituted marriage; and the earliest laws provided encouragements to matrimony. Among the ancient nations, the husband purchased bis wife by money or personal services. Among the Assyrians, the marriageable women were put up to auction and the price obtained for the more beautiful, was assigned as a dowry to the more homely. The laws of succession are next in order to those of marriage. The father had the absolute power in the division of his estate. But primogeniture was anderstood to confer certain rights. Laws arise necessarily and imperceptibly from the condition of society, and each particular law may be traced from the state of manners or the political emergency which gave it birth. Hence we perceive the intimate connexion between history and jurisprudence, and the light which they must necessarily throw upon each other. The laws of a country are best interpreted from its history; and its uncertain history is best elucidated by its ancient laws. SECT. 3. Earliest methods of authenticating contracts. Before the invention of writing, contracts, testaments, sales, marriages, and the like, were transacted in public. The Jewish and the Grecian histories furnish many examples. Some barbarous nations authenticate their bargains by exchanging symbols or tallies. The Peruvians accomplished most of the purposes of writing by knotted cords of various colours, termed Quipos.— The Mexicans communicated intelligente to a distance by painting. Other nations used an abridged mode of painting, or hieroglyphics. Before the use of writing, the Egyptians used hieroglyphics for transmitting and recording knowledge: after writing, they employed it for veiling or concealing it from the vulgar. SECT. 4. Methods for recording Historical Facts, and publishing Laws.-Poetry and song were the first vehicles of history, and the earliest mode of promulgating laws. The songs of the bards record a great deal of ancient history the laws of many of the ancient nations were composed in verse. Stones, rude and sculptured, tumuli and mounds of earth, are the monuments of history among a barbarous people; and columns, triumphal arches, coins, and medals, among the more refined. These likewise illustrate the progress of manners and of the arts. SECT 5. Religious Institutions.-Among the earliest institutions of all nations, are those which regard religi ous worship. The sentiment of religion is deeply rooted in the human mind. An uninstructed savage will infer the existence of a God and his attributes, from the general order and mechanism of nature; and even its temporary irregularities lead to religious veneration or dread of the unknown Power which conducts it. Before conceiving the idea of a Being utterly imperceptible to his senses, a savage would naturally seek that Being in the most striking objects of sense to which he owed his most apparent benefits. The sun, extending his beneficial influence over all nature, was among the earliest objects of worship. The fire presented a symbol of the sun. The other celestial bodies naturally attracted their share of veneration. The symbolical mode of writing led to many peculiarities of the idolatrous worship of the ancient nations. Animals, symbolical of the attributes of Deity, became gods themselves. The same god represented by different animals, was supposed to have changed himself into different forms. The gratitude and veneration for men whose lives had been eminently useful, joined to the belief of the soul's immortality, led to the apotheosis of heroes. Many excellent reflections on idolatry and polytheism are found in the apocryphal book called The Wisdom of Solomon. The priesthood was anciently exercised by the chief or monarch; but as an empire became extensive, the monarch exercised this office by his delegates; and hence an additional source of veneration for the priesthood. The priests were the framers. and the administrators of the laws. SECT. 6. Arts and Sciences of the Ancient Nations. The useful arts are the offspring of necessity; the sciences are the fruit of ease and leisure. The construction of huts, of weapons of war, and of hunting, are the earliest arts. Agriculture is not practised till the tribe becomes stationary, and property is defined and secured. The sciences arise in a cultivated society, where individuals enjoy that leisure which invites to study and speculation. The priests, maintained in that condition by the monarch, were the earliest cultivators of science. Egyptian science was confined to the priests. Astronomy, which is among the earliest of the sciences, owed its origin |