Φενέρων τη ημέρα ταύτη ειπαν. (9) Επειδη βασιλευς Πτολεμαίος αιωνόβιος, ηγαπημένος υπο το φθα, Θεος Επιφανης, ευχαρισος, ο εν βασιλεως Πτολεμαίο και βασιλίσσης Αρσινόης, Θεων φιλοπατόρων, κατα πολλά ευεργέτηκεν τα θ' ίερα, και (1) τους εν αυτοις οντας, και τας ύπο την καυλα βασίλειαν τασσομένους απανίας, υπάρχουν Θεος εκ θεου και θεας καθαπερ Ώρος ο της ίσιος και Οσίρίος υιός, ο επάμυνας του πατρι αυτό Οσίρει, τα προς θεός (1) ευεργετικώς διακείμενος, αναλέθεικεν είς τα ιερα αργυρίκας τε και σιλιχας προσόδες, και δαπάνας πολλάς υπομεμενηκεν, ενίκε το την Αιγυπτον εις ευδίαν αγαγειν και τα ιερα καταςήσαθαι, (12) ταις τε εαυτε δυνάμεσιν περιλανθρωπηκε πασαις και από των υπαρχέσων εν Αιγύπτω προσοδων και φορολογιών τινας μεν εις Τέλος αφήκεν, αλλως δε κεκέρικεν, όπως ο τε λαός και οι άλλοι πανίες εν (13) ευθηνία ωσιν επι της καυλα βασιλειας τα τε βασιλικα οφειλήματα & προσωφειλον οι εν Αιγύπτω και εν τη λοιπή βασιλεια αυτά οντα πολλά, τω πλήθει άφηκεν και τις εν ταις φυλακαις (14) απηγμένες, και τις εν αιτίαις οντας εκ πολλά χρόνια, απέλυσε των ενκεκλημένων προσείλαξε δε και τας προσόδες των ιερών, και τας διδομένας εις αυλα καλένιαυτον συνταξεις σιλικος (15) τε και αργυρίκας, ομοίως δε και τας καθη κασας απομοιρας τοις θεοις από τε τις αμπελιτιδος γης, και των παραδείσων, και των άλλων των υπαρξανίων τοις θεοίς επι τα πατρος αυτό, (16) μενειν επι χώρας προσέλαξεν δε και περί των ιερέων, όπως μηθεν πλείον δίδωσιν εις το τελεσ τίκον & ελασσονίο, έως το πρωίε είες επι το πωλος αυτε απέλυσεν δε και τις εκ των (17) ιερων εθνων τα κατενιαυλον εις Αλεξάνδρειαν καταπλα, προσέλαξεν δε και την συλληψιν των εις την ναυλείαν

μη ποιείθαι των τ' εις το βασιλικον συντελε μένων εν τοις ιεροις βυσσινων (18) οθονίων απέλυσεν τα δυο μέρη, τα τε εγλελειμμένα πανία εν τοις πρότερον χρόνοις αποκαλέσησεν εις την καθήκεσαν ταξιν, φροντίζων όπως τα ειθισμένα συνθέληται τοις θεοις καλα το (19) προσηκον ομοίως δε και το δικαιον πασιν απένειμεν, καθάπες Έρμης ομάδας και μέγας προσέταξεν δε και τις καταπορευο

μενος εκ τε των μαχιμων και των άλλων των

αλλοΐρια (10) φρονησανίων εν τοις κατά την ταραχην καιροίς κατελθόντας, μένειν επί των ιδίων κτήσεων προενοήθη δε και όπως εξαποςαλωσιν δυνάμεις ιππικαι τε και πεζίκαι και νηες επι της επελθονίας (71) επι την Αιγυπτον κατά τε την θάλασσαν και την ηπειρον, υπομείνας δαπάνας αργυρίκας τε και σιτικας μεγάλας, σπως τα θίερα, και οι εν αυλη τσανίας εν ασφαλεια ωσιν· παραγινόμε- (23) νος δε και εις Λυκωνπολιν την εν τη βασίλη, η ην και τειλημμένη και οχυρωμένη προς πολιορκίαν οπλων σε παραθέσει δαψίλεςερα και τη αλλη χάρηται τωση, ως αν εκ πολλα (13) χουν συνεζηκυίας την αλλοτριότητος τους επισυναχθεισιν εις αυτην ασέβεσιν, οι ήσαν εις τε τα ιερά και τας εν Αιγυπτα κατοικενίας τσολλα κακα συντετελεσμένοι, και ανα (24) τικαθισας χώμασιν τε και τάφροις και τείχεσιν αυτην αξιολογοις περιελαβεν του Νείλου την αναβασιν μεγάλην ποιησαμένες εν τω ογδρω έτει, και ειθισμένου κατακλύζειν τα (35) πεδία, κατέσχεν εκ πολλων τοπων, οχύρωσας τα δόματα των πολεμων, χορηγήσας εις αυτα χρησ μάτων πληθος εκ ολίγον, και καταςήσας ιππεις τε και πεζές προς τη φυλακη (26) αυτών εν ολίγω Χρόνων την τε πόλιν καλά κρατος είλεν, και τας εν αυλη ασεβείς παγίας διεφθειρεν, καθάπες

lected through the country to Memphis, to the king, to celebrate the affumption of the royal dignity by Ptolomy, the immortal, beloved of Phtha, the God Epiphanes, mort gra cious, which he received from his father: they being aflembled in the temple at Meme phis on that day, decree, that fince King Ptolomy, the immortal, beloved of Phtha, the God Epiphanes, moft gracious, defcended from King Ptolomy and Queen Arfhoe, Gods Philopateres, having done well to the temples and thofe who ferve in them, and to all placed under his dominion, being a God defcended from a God and Goddefs, as Horus the fon of Ifs and Ohris, the avenger of his father Ofiris, well difpofed toward the Gods, has granted large fupplies for the fervice of the temples, as well in Glver as in corn, fupported many expences to render the cli mate of Egypt wholefome, and effablifhed the facred rites, and rendered fervice to all to the utmost of his power; and of the existing reverfions and tributes, has remitted fome and lightened others, fo that both the peuple and all other perfons might live in plenty under his government; and the debts due to the king from the inhabitants of Egypt, and from other parts of his kingdom, which were numerous, he has forgiven

and has delivered thofe who the people;

were confined in law fuits, and has Confirmed the reverfions prifon, or who had been long engaged in of the prients, and the annual contributions to them both in corn and filver, and like wife the portions allotted to the Gods from the

year

vineyards and the gardens, and other things appropriated to the Gods by his father, and ordained them to remain established through the country; and that the priests fhould pay no more for their perfonal impofition, than his father's reign ; and relieved thofe of the what had been required in the first of facred order from making the annual voyage tribution to the voyage; and has remitted to Alexandria; and exempted them from contwo fhares of thore of the bylus linen, due to the government; and all other things neglected in preceding times has restored to their proper order, taking care that the offerings to the Gods should be properly per formed. He has alfo difpenfed juftice to all, as Hermes the great and great; and ordained that they who quitted the armed rebels, and thole who in the time of tumuit had held fentiments in oppofition to the government, and had returned, hould remain in quiet poffeffion of their property; and provided that forces, horfe and foot, and thips, fhould be fent against thofe who rebelled in Egypt, both by land and fea; having fuftained great expences both of corn and filver, that the temples and inhabitants of the country might be in fecurity; and approaching Lycopole, in the diftriat of Bufiris, which was circumvallated and fortified against a fiege with a plentiful fupply of arms, becaufe for a confiderable time preceding the fpirit of revolt had actuated thofe within it, and had caufed con3 H 2 fiderable

before thefe images, three times a day, and perform other rites appointed, fuch as

are

accustomed to be obferved towards other Gods at great folemnities; and that there shall be erected to King Ptolomy, the God Epiphanes, moit eracious, defcended from King Ptolomy and Queen Arfinoe, Gods Philopatores, a fmall image with a thrine of gold.. of the temples, to be placed in the fanduary with the other thrines, and in the great folemnities when it is customary to make the departure (or procefion) from the temples, that the fhrine of the God Epiphanes, moll gracious, fhall be carried out with the others; and that it may be more confpicuous both now and hereafter, there fhall be placed upon the thrine ten golden diadems, on each of which fhall be placed the afp .

of the afp-formed crowns on the other thrines; and in the middle fhall be that called XENT, wearing which he entered into the temple in Memphis, at the time when the accustomed ceremonies on the affumption of the crown were performed ; and that there be put upon the fquare space round the crowns, in the before-mentioned royal manner, phylacteries of gold. is of the king who made both the higher and the lower region illuftrious by bis fervices ; and that on the third day of the month Meforeh, on which the birthday of the king is celebrated, and in like

that in which he received the kingdom from his father, both of which were inferted in the facred calendar, and who were the beftowers of many bleflings upon all, a festival shall be celebrated; and monthly ceremonies fhall be performed throughout Egypt, and facrifices and libations, and other rites fimilar to thofe on other feftivals in the temples.....

...and that an annual folemnity fhall be held in honour of the immortal and beloved of Phtha, King Ptolomy,the God Epiphanes, most gracious, throughout the country both in the higher and the lower regions from the neomenia (or new moon) of the month Thouth, for five days, during which the priests fhall wear crowns upon their heads, performing facrifices and libations, and other appropriate rites

and they shall be privileged to add the name of the God Epiphanes, moft gracious, to the names of the other gods to whom they minifter, and to utter oracles, and perform other faci ed ceremonies neceffary to his adoration; and it fhall be allowed to other individuals to celebrate the festival, and erect a temple as before-mentioned, and to hold ceremonials among themfelves... times

a year. ...And that it may be known for what reafon the inhabitants of Egypt magnify and honour the God Epiphanes, most gracious king, as is ordained, the words of this Decree fhall be engraved upon tables of ftone diftinguished for its haranefs, in the Sacred, the Vernacular, and the Greek, characters, and fall be placed in each.....both of the firit and fecond ..

Οπ

On the HIEROGLYPHIC verfion of this Decree, little light can probably be thrown: in its prefent condition it is fadly mutilated; and apparently no less than nine or ten of the first lines have been broken away. The opening, had it been preferved, might poffibly have led the way to fome dilcovery; or convinced us, once for all, that the avenues to that knowledge which has been fo long perplexed, are at aft fhut against us for ever. Religious Emblemry has been a ftriking article among the many national peculiarities of Egypt, from a period probably antecedent even to the time of Mofes. It was at firit eltablished in a few of the more Emple and obvious analogies which were reprefented as the lively mirrors of divine perfection; was afterward extended to facts in nature or morals; and, in the lapfe of time, found by no means foreign to the prefervation of hiftoric documents. Yet fo abftrute and recondite were thefe allufive fvmbols, that they were intelligible even then to none but those who had access to the volumes of the facred fcribes.

By fome of the learned, the fymbolic writing, exhibited in the Rofetta Decree, is thought to have been but of a fecondary fpecies, for that there were more kinds than one in ufe among thofe who compofed the hierarchy of Egypt, is admitted by the oldeft and molt authentic writers. Herodotus, indeed, only specifies the facred and the vulgar kinds of writing: (Διφαισιοισι δε γραμμασι χρεωνται και τα μεν αυτών, ιρα, τα δε, δημοτικά mahera. Eaterpe xxxvi.) that ufed by the priests, and that by the inhabitants of the country at large and in this, Diodorus Siculus agrees with him, who obferves, Παιδεύεσι δι τες υιες οι μεν ιερείς γραμμαία δίπλα, τα τε ιερα καλόμενα και τα κοινοτέραν έχοντα την μαθησιν. Clemens Alexandrinus, and Porphyry, how ever, remark three forts of letters; the one (Stromata, lib. v.) fpeaks of the epiftolographic, the hieratic, and the bieoroglyphic; (auτina of Tag' AIYUTTIOIS waidevoμενοι πρωτον μεν πανίων την Αιγυπίίων reapμator μebodor expardavec, Thy ET50 λογραφικη καλεμενην. δευτέραν δε την μεξατικήν, η χρώνται οι ιερογραμματεις υτάτην δε και τελευταίαν, την ιερογλυφι

) and the other, in the Life of Pytha. goras, ftates, that the philofopher was inAtructed not only in the wifdom, but in the language, of the country; and enumerates, in a particular manner, the three fpecies of letters the knowledge of which Pythagoras obtained; the epiftolic, the hieroglyphic, and the fymbolic,

In the fixth line of thofe which remain of the hieroglyphic portion, is a human figure with the head of Apis; among the fymbols which follow is a hand and arm; and foon after a bird, and apparently two mummies: from their pofition on the ftone they appear to correfpond with the thirtyfirit and thirty-fecond lines of the Greck; where Ptolomy is reprefented as making many gifts to Apis, Mnevis, and the other facred animals, and fupplying every thing requifite for their funeral folemnities.

Detached conjectures, however, on the mere face of the inscription, without inveftigating the qualities and relations of the particular fymbols, would needlessly occupy the place of that which may be advanced on other parts of the infcription with fomething more like moral certainty. Thus much, however, seems certain, that they who have had their doubts whether the facred fculpture every formed a regu lar difcourfe, appear to have been miltaken.

The VERNACULAR, or Coptic part of the Decree, (as it was at first called,) has had two commentators: M. de Sacy, to whom the world has been long indebted on the score of oriental literature, and Mr. Akerblad, a learned Swede. De Sacy, in his letter to Citizen Chaptal, minifter of the interior, thought he had difcovered fifteen of the letters, and feveral of the proper names. In the fourth line of the Greek, and the third of the Egyptian, he found the name of Alexander, bearing a ftrong refemblance to the word Alexandria, in the feventeenth Greek line, and the tenth of the Vernacular. The name anfwering to Ptolomy he believed himself to have found in Afiuolma; Arhinol in Arfinioua; and a word very like the madern Coptic abnoudi or abnouda for god, between the Greek words Iroλapane ExQave, anfwering to sog. Where in the Greek, Orus is faid to be the son of Ifis and Ofiris, De Sacy found in the Egyptian Ifi oub Ofnih; but was unable to difcover correfponding names to Berenice, Pyrra, Philinus, Diogenes, and others, in the fourth and hfub lines of the Greek. Mr. Ake: blai, who took the fame method puriued by Barthélemy in the Palmyrenian difcoveries, endeavoured to confine himfelf to alphabetical analysis; and, though he coincides with De Sacy in the names themselves, effentially differs from him in the diftribution of the letters. The first of the three names already mentioned, he reads ptlomeos, and finds Arfinuë and Alexantros written, with the excep