them with the most painful toils. This is
exactly agreeable to the account given by Diodorus of this prince, who
employed in his Egyptian works only foreigners; so that we may place the
memorable event of the passage of the Red-Sea, under his son Pheron;(417)
and the characteristic of impiety ascribed to him by Herodotus, greatly
strengthens the probability of this conjecture. The plan I have proposed
to follow in this history, excuses me from entering into chronological
discussions.

Diodorus, speaking of the Red-Sea,(418) has made one remark very worthy
our observation; a tradition (says that historian) has been transmitted
through the whole nation, from father to son, for many ages, that once an
extraordinary ebb dried up the sea, so that its bottom was seen; and that
a violent flow immediately after brought back the waters to their former
channel. It is evident, that the miraculous passage of Moses over the
Red-Sea is here hinted at; and I make this remark, purposely to admonish
young students, not to slip over, in their perusal of authors, these
precious remains of antiquity; especially when they bear, like this
passage, any relation to religion.

Archbishop Usher says, that Amenophis left two sons, one called Sesothis
or Sesostris, and the other Armais. The Greeks call him Belus, and his two
sons Egyptus and Danaus.

SESOSTRIS(419) was not only one of the most powerful kings of Egypt, but
one of the greatest conquerors that antiquity boasts of. His father,
whether by inspiration, caprice, or, as the Egyptians say, by the
authority of an oracle, formed a design of making his son a conqueror.
This he set about after the Egyptian manner, that is, in a great and noble
way. All the male children, born the same day with Sesostris, were, by the
king's order, brought to court. Here they were educated as if they had
been his own children, with the same care bestowed on Sesostris, with whom
they were brought up. He could not possibly have given him more faithful
ministers, nor officers who more zealously desired the success of his
arms. The chief part of their education was, the enuring them, from their
infancy, to a hard and laborious life, in order that they might one day be
capable of sustaining with ease the toils of war. They were never suffered
to eat, till they had run, on foot or horseback, a considerable race.
Hunting was their most common exercise.

AElian remarks(420) that Sesostris was taught by Mercury, who