[157] Those who complain that in Europe this interval is still too great, may derive a species of satisfaction from studying the old extra-European civilizations.
[158] Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, vol. ii. pp. 8, 9. ‘Nor was any one permitted to meddle with political affairs, or to hold any civil office in the state.’ … ‘If any artizan meddled with political affairs, or engaged in any other employment than the one to which he had been brought up, a severe punishment was instantly inflicted upon him.’ Compare Diod. Sic. Bibliothec. Hist. book i. chap. lxxiv. vol. i. p. 223.
[159] Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. p. 263, vol. ii. p. 2; Sharpe's History of Egypt, vol. ii. p. 24.
[160] Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, vol. ii. pp. 41, 42, vol. iii. p. 69, vol. iv. p. 131. Compare Ammianus Marcellinus, in Hamilton's Ægyptiaca, p. 309.
[161] Vyse on the Pyramids, vol. i. p. 61, vol. ii. p. 92.
[162] ‘Ein König ahmte den andern nach, oder suchte ihn zu übertreffen; indess das gutmüthige Volk seine Lebenstage am Baue dieser Monumente verzehren musste. So entstanden wahrscheinlich die Pyramiden und Obelisken Aegyptens. Nur in den ältesten Zeiten wurden sie gebauet: denn die spätere Zeit und jede Nation, die ein nützliches Gewerbe treiben lernte, bauete keine Pyramiden mehr. Weit gefehlt also, dass Pyramiden ein Kennzeichen von der Glückseligkeit und Aufklärung des alten Aegyptens seyn sollten, sind sie ein unwidersprechliches Denkmal von dem Aberglauben und der Gedankenlosigkeit sowohl der Armen, die da baueten, als der Ehrgeizigen, die den Bau befahlen.’ Herder's Ideen zur Geschichte, vol. iii. pp. 103, 104: see also p. 293, and some admirable remarks in Volney's Voyage en Egypte, vol. i. pp. 240, 241. Even M. Bunsen, notwithstanding his admiration, says of one of the pyramids, ‘the misery of the people, already grievously oppressed, was aggravated by the construction of this gigantic building…. The bones of the oppressors of the people who for two whole generations harassed hundreds of thousands from day to day,’ &c. Bunsen's Egypt, vol. ii. p. 176, a learned and enthusiastic work.
[163] Καὶ τοῦτο ἐκόμιζον μὲν ἐπ᾽ ἔτεα τρία διοχίλιοι δὲ οἱ οσετετάχατο ᾰνδρες ἀγωγέες. Herodot. book ii. chap. clxxv. vol. i. p. 897. On the enormous weight of the stones which the Egyptians sometimes carried, see Bunsen's Egypt, vol. i. p. 379; and as to the machines employed, and the use of inclined roads for the transit, see Vyse on the Pyramids, vol. i. p. 197, vol. iii. pp. 14, 38.
[164] Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. p. 70: but this learned writer is unwilling to believe a statement so adverse to his favourite Egyptians. It is likely enough that there is some exaggeration; still no one can dispute the fact of an enormous and unprincipled waste of human life.
[165] Τριάκοντα μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἒξ μυριάδες ἀνὃρῶν, ὥς φασι, ταῖς τῶν ἔργων λειτουργίαισμα τέλος ἔσχε μόγις ἐτῶν εἴκοσι διελθόντων Diod. Sic. Bibliothec. Hist. book i. ch. lxiii. vol. i. p. 188.
[166] ‘When compared with other parts of the New World, Mexico and Peru may be considered as polished states.’ History of America, book vii. in Robertson's Works, p. 904. See, to the same effect, Journal of Geograph. Society, vol. v. p. 355.