rom 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][Greek: Ta pithanotata, kai tois uparchousin
eti kata ten choran semeiois ta malista sumphonounta dielthein.] 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 aera 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 executio