The history of Dionusus is closely connected with that of Bacchus, though they were two distinct persons. It is said of the former, that he was born at [[855]]Nusa in Arabia: but the people upon the Indus insisted, that he was a native of their [[856]]country; and that the city Nusa, near mount Meru, was the true place of his birth. There were, however, some among them, who allowed, that he came into their parts from the west; and that his arrival was in the most antient times. He taught the nations, whither he came, to build and to plant, and to enter into societies. To effect this, he collected the various families out of the villages in which they dwelt, and made them incorporate in towns and cities, which he built in the most commodious situations. After they were thus established, he gave them laws, and instructed them in the worship of the Gods. He also taught them to plant the Vine, and to extract the juice of the grape; together with much other salutary knowledge. This he did throughout all his [[857]]travels, till he had conquered every region in the East. Nor was it in these parts only, that he shewed himself so beneficent a conqueror; but over all the habitable [[858]]world. The account given by the Egyptians is consonant to that of the Indians: only they suppose him to have been of their own country; and to have set out by the way of Arabia and the Red Sea, till he arrived at the extremities of the East. He travelled also into [[859]]Lybia, quite to the Atlantic; of which performance Thymætes is said to have given an account in an antient Phrygian poem. After his Indian expedition, which took him up three years, he passed from Asia by the Hellespont into Thrace, where Lycurgus withstood him, and at last put him to flight. He came into Greece; and was there adopted by the people, and represented as a native of their country. He visited many places upon the Mediterranean; especially Campania, and the coast of Italy, where he was taken prisoner by the Hetrurian pirates. Others say, that he conquered all [[860]]Hetruria. He had many attendants; among whom were the Tityri, Satyri, Thyades, and Amazons. The whole of his history is very inconsistent in respect both to time and place. Writers therefore have tried to remedy this by introducing different people of the same name. Hence Dionusus is multiplied into as many [[861]]personages as Hercules. His history was looked upon as very interesting; and therefore was the chief theme of all the antient [[862]]bards. His flight, styled φυγη Διονυσου, was particularly [[863]]recorded. He was the same as Osiris; and many of the later mythologists acknowledged this truth. Αιγυπτιοι μεν γαρ τον παρ' αυτοις θεον Οσιριν ονομαζομενον φασιν ειναι τον παρ' Ἑλλησι Διονυσον τουτον δε μυθολογουσιν επελθειν πασαν την οικουμενην—Ὁμοιως δε και τους Ινδους τον θεον τουτον παρ' ἑαυτοις αποφανεσθαι γεγονεναι. The Egyptians, says [[864]]Diodorus, maintain that their God Osiris is no other than the Dionusus of Greece: And they farther mention, that he travelled over the face of the whole earth—In like manner the Indi assure us, that it is the same Deity, who wan conversant in their [[865]]country.
Dionusus, according to the Grecian mythology, is represented as having been twice born: and is said to have had two fathers and two mothers. He was also exposed in an [[866]]ark, and wonderfully preserved. The purport of which histories is plain. We must however for the most part consider the account given of Dionusus, as the history of the Dionusians. This is twofold. Part relates to their rites and religion; in which the great events of the infant world, and the preservation of mankind in general, were recorded. In the other part, which contains the expeditions and conquests of this personage, are enumerated the various colonies of the people, who were denominated from him. They were the same as the Osirians and Herculeans; all of one family, though under different appellations. I have shewn, that there were many places which claimed his birth; and as many, where was shewn the spot of his interment. Of these we may find samples in Egypt, Arabia, and India; as well as in Africa, Greece, and its islands. For the Grecians, wherever they met with a grot or a cavern sacred to him, took it for granted that he was born there: and wherever he had a taphos, or high altar, supposed that he was there [[867]]buried. The same is also observable in the history of all the Gods.
From what has been said we may perceive that the same history has been appropriated to different personages: and if we look farther into the annals of the first ages, we shall find more instances to the same purpose. It is said of [[868]]Cronus, and Astarte, that they went over the whole earth; disposing of the countries at their pleasure, and doing good wherever they came. Cronus in consequence of it is represented as an universal [[869]]benefactor; who reclaimed men from their savage way of life, and taught them to pass their days in innocence and truth. A like account is given of Ouranus, the great king of the [[870]]Atlantians, who observing mankind in an unsettled and barbarous state, set about building cities for their reception; and rendered them more humane and civilized by his institutions and laws. His influence was very extensive; as he is supposed to have had the greater part of the world under his rule. All this, and what was above done by Cronus and Astarte, the Grecians attributed to Apollo and Themis. Strabo mentions from the historian, Ephorus, that the oracle at Delphi was founded by these two [[871]]deities at the time, when Apollo was going over the world doing good to all mankind. He taught the nations, where he came, to be more [[872]]gentle and humane in their manners; and to abstain from their wild fruits, and foul banquets: affording them instructions how to improve themselves by cultivation.
Some of these persons are mentioned as proceeding in a pacific manner: but these peregrinations in general are represented as a process of war; and all that was effected, was supposed to have been by conquest. Thus Osiris, Hercules, Perseus, Dionusus, displayed their benevolence sword in hand: and laid every country under an obligation to the limits of the earth. The like is said of Zeuth, the Zeus of Greece, who was an universal conqueror and benefactor: [[873]]Τον Δια κυριον γενομενον τον ὁλων επελθειν ἁπασαν την οικουμενην, ευεργετουντα το γενος των ανθρωπων· διενεγκειν δε αυτον και σωματος ῥωμῃ και ταις αλλαις ἁπασαις αρεταις, και δια τουτο ταχυ κυριον γενεσθαι του συμπαντος κοσμου. Zeus (or Jupiter) having got the entire supremacy marched over the whole earth, benefiting mankind wherever he came. And as he was a person of great bodily strength, and at the same time had every princely quality, he very soon subdued the whole world.
No mention is made of any conquests achieved by Orus: and tho reason is, because he was the same as Osiris. Indeed they were all the same personage: but Orus was more particularly Osiris in his second state; and therefore represented by the antient Egyptians as a child. What is omitted by him, was made up by his immediate successor Thoules; who like those, who preceded, conquered every country which was inhabited. [[874]]Ειτα Οσιρις, μεθ' ὁν Ωρος, και μετα αυτον Θουλης, ὁς και ἑως του ωκεανου πασαν την γην παρειληφεν. After him (that is, Söus, or Sosis,) came Osiris; and then Orus: to whom succeeded Thoules, who conquered the whole earth quite to the ocean. The like history is given of him by [[875]]Suidas, and by the author of the [[876]]Chronicon Paschale.
These accounts I have collated, and brought in succession to one another; that we may at a view see the absurdity of the history, if taken in the common acceptation. And however numerous my instances may have been, I shall introduce other examples before I quit the subject. I must particularly speak of an Egyptian hero, equally ideal with those abovementioned; whose history, though the most romantic and improbable of any, has been admitted as credible and true. The person to whom I allude, is the celebrated Sesostris. Most of the antient historians speak of his great achievements; and the most learned of the modern chronologists have endeavoured to determine his æra, and point out the time of his reign. But their endeavours have been fruitless; and they vary about the time when he lived not less than a thousand years: nay, some differ even more than this in the æra, which they assign to him.
SESOSTRIS.
Among the writers who have written concerning this extraordinary personage, Diodorus Siculus is the most uniform and full; and with his evidence I will begin my account. He[[877]] informs us, that, when this prince was a youth, he was entrusted by his father with a great army. He upon this invaded Arabia: and though he was obliged to encounter hunger and thirst in the wilds, which he traversed; yet he subdued the whole of that large tract of country. He was afterwards sent far into the west; where he conquered all the legions of Lybia, and annexed great part of that country to the kingdom of Egypt. After the death of his father he formed a resolution to subdue all the nations upon earth. Accordingly, having settled everything at home, and appointed governors to each province, he set out with an army of six hundred thousand foot, and twenty-four thousand horse, and twenty-seven thousand armed chariots. With these he invaded the Ethiopians to the south; whom he defeated, and made tributaries to Egypt. He then built a fleet of ships upon the Red sea: and he is recorded as the first person who constructed vessels fit for distant navigation. With these, by means of his generals, he subdued all the sea-coast of Arabia, and all the coast upon the ocean as far as India. In the mean time he marched in person, with a puissant army, by land, and conquered the whole continent of Asia. He not only overran the countries, which Alexander afterwards invaded; but crossed both the Indus and the Ganges; and from thence penetrated to the eastern ocean. He then turned to the north, and attacked the nations of Scythia; till he at last arrived at the Tanäis, which divides Europe and Asia. Here he founded a colony; leaving behind him some of his people, as he had just before done at [[878]]Colchis. These nations are said to the last to have retained memorials of their original from Egypt. About the same time Asia Minor, and most of the islands near it, fell into his hands. He at last passed into [[879]]Thrace, where he is said to have been brought into some difficulties. He however persisted, and subdued all the regions of Europe. In most of these countries he erected pillars with hieroglyphical inscriptions; denoting that these parts of the world had been subdued by the great Sesostris, or, as [[880]]Diodorus expresses his name, Sesoosis. He likewise erected statues of himself, formed of stone, with a bow and a lance: which statues were in length four cubits and four palms, according to the dimensions of his own height and stature. Having thus finished his career of [[881]]victory, he returned laden with spoils to Egypt, after an absence of [[882]]nine years; which is one year less than was attributed to the expeditions of Hercules.
The detail given by this historian is very plain and precise: and we proceed very regularly and minutely in a geographical series from one conquest to another: so that the story is rendered in some degree plausible. But we may learn from Diodorus himself, that little credit is to be paid to this narration, after all the pains he may have taken to win upon our credulity. He ingenuously owns, that not only the Grecian writers, but even the priests of Egypt, and the bards of the same country varied in the accounts which they gave of this hero; and were guilty of great inconsistence. It was therefore his chief labour to collect what he thought most credible, and what appeared most consonant to the memorials in Egypt, which time had spared: [[883]]Τα πιθανωτατα, και τοις υπαρχουσιν ετι κατα την χωραν σημειοις τα μαλιστα συμφωνουντα διελθειν. But, as these memorials consisted chiefly in hieroglyphics, I do not see how it was possible for Diodorus to understand what the bards and priests could not decypher. The adjustment of this history, had it been practicable, should have been the work of a native Egyptian, and not of a person either from Greece or Sicily. This writer afterwards mentions the mighty [[884]]works of Sesostris upon his return into Egypt: the temples which he built, and the great entrenchments which he made to the east, to guard the country from the Arabians: and having enumerated the whole of his actions, he concludes with an ingenuous confession, that [[885]]little could be obtained that was precisely true. He has, without doubt, culled the most probable achievements of this hero; and coloured and arranged them to the best advantage: yet they still exceed belief. And if, after this care and disposition, they seem incredible, how would they appear in the garb, in which he found them? Yet the history of this personage has been admitted as credible by the most learned [[886]]writers and chronologists: though, as I before mentioned, they cannot determine the æra of his reign within a thousand years. Sir John Marsham and Sir Isaac Newton suppose him to have been the Sesac of the scriptures; and consequently bring his reign down to the time of Rehoboam king of Judah. But the only reason for this, as far as I can perceive, seems to be, that Sesostris is represented as a great conqueror; and Sesac is presumed, from his large [[887]]army, to have been so likewise. But there is nothing more said of Sesac, than that he formed a plan of conquering the king of Judah; and accordingly came with the army before mentioned, to put his design in execution. But the [[888]]capital being delivered into his hands without the least resistance, and the king intirely submitting himself to his will; he contented himself with the rich plunder, which he found, and which he carried away at his departure. We may also infer from the servitude, to which the people of Judah were reduced, that he imposed upon them some future contributions.
This is the whole of the history of Sesac, or Shishak; by whom no other expedition was undertaken that we know of: nor is there mention made upon record of a single battle which he fought. Yet from a notion that Sesac was a great warrior, he is made the same as Sesostris: and the age of the latter is brought down very many centuries beneath the æra, to which the best writers have adjudged it. When we differ from received tradition, we should not pass over in silence what is said on the contrary part; but give it at large, and then shew our reasons for our departure from it. I have taken notice of the supposed conquerors of the earth: and among them of the reputed deities of Egypt, who came under the names of Osiris, Perseus, Thoules, &c. These are supposed, if they ever existed, to have lived in the first ages of the world, when Egypt was in its infant state; and Sesostris is made one of their number. He is by some placed after Orus; by others after Thoules; but still referred to the first ages. He is represented under the name of Sethos, [[889]]Sethosis, Sesoosis, Sesonchosis, Sesostris; but the history, with which these names are accompanied, shews plainly the identity of the personage. Eusebius in reckoning up the dynasty of kings, who reigned after Hephaistus or Vulcan, mentions them in the following order: [[890]]Then succeeded his son Helius; after him Sosis, then Osiris, then Orus, then Thoules, who conquered the whole earth to the ocean; and last of all Sesostris. The [[891]]Scholiast upon Apollonius Rhodius calls him Sesonchosis; and places him immediately after Orus, and the third in succession from Osiris: giving at the same time an account of his conquests. He adds that he was the person whom Theopompus called Sesostris. The same Scholiast quotes a curious passage from Dicæarchus, in which Sesonchosis maintains the same rank, and was consequently of the highest antiquity. [[892]]Dicæarchus in the first book of his history mentions, that immediately after the reign of Orus, the son of Isis and Osiris, in Egypt, the government devolved to Sesonchosis: so that from the time of Sesonchosis to Nilus were two thousand years. Cedrenus [[893]]calls him Sesostris; and mentions him after Osiris, and Orus, and Thoules; which last was by the above writer omitted. Οσιρις. Ωρος. Θουλης. μετα δε τουτον Σεσωστρις. The author of the Chronicon Paschale makes Orus to have been succeeded by the same personage, as is mentioned above, whom he calls Thoulis; and next to him introduces Sesostris. He relates all his great conquests; and gives us this farther information, that this prince was the first of the line of Ham, who reigned in Egypt; in other words, he was the first king of the country. [[894]]Εν τουτοις μετα ταυτα χρονοις εβασιλευε των Αιγυπτιων πρωτος εκ τες φυλης ΤΟΥ ΧΑΜ [[895]]Σεσωστρις. Aristotle speaks of Sesostris; but does not determine the time of his reign on account of its great antiquity. He only says that it was long before the age of [[896]]Minos, who was supposed to have reigned in Crete. Apollonius Rhodius, who is thought to have been a native of Egypt, speaks of the great actions of this prince; but mentions no name: not knowing, I imagine, by which properly to distinguish him, as he was represented under so many. He however attributes to him every thing which is said of [[897]]Sesostris; particularly the settling a Colony at Colchis, and building innumerable cities in the countries which he traversed: