uld be said in favour of this
institution, the Eleans were asked, whether citizens and foreigners were
admitted indifferently to these games; to which answer was made, that they
were open to every one. To this the Egyptians replied, that the rules of
justice would have been more strictly observed, had foreigners only been
admitted to these combats; because it was very difficult for the judges,
in their award of the victory and the prize, not to be prejudiced in
favour of their fellow citizens.

(M92) APRIES. In Scripture he is called Pharaoh-Hophra. He succeeded his
father Psammis, and reigned twenty-five years.(475)

During the first years of his reign, he was as fortunate as any of his
predecessors. He turned his arms against the island of Cyprus; besieged
the city of Sidon by sea and land; took it, and made himself master of all
Phoenicia and Palestine.(476)

So rapid a success elated his heart to a prodigious degree, and, as
Herodotus informs us, swelled him with so much pride and infatuation, that
he boasted, it was not in the power of the gods themselves to dethrone
him; so great was the idea he had formed to himself of the firm
establishment of his own power. It was with a view to these arrogant
notions, that Ezekiel put the vain and impious words following into his
mouth: "My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself."(477) But the
true God proved to him afterwards that he had a master, and that he was a
mere man; and he had threatened him long before, by his prophets, with all
the calamities he was resolved to bring upon him, in order to punish him
for his pride.

Shortly after Hophra had ascended the throne, Zedekiah, king of Judah,
sent an embassy, and concluded an alliance with him; and the year
following, breaking the oath of fidelity which he had taken to the king of
Babylon, he rebelled openly against him.(478)

Notwithstanding God had so often forbidden his people to have recourse to
the Egyptians, or to put any confidence in that people; notwithstanding
the repeated calamities which had ensued upon the various attempts which
they had made to procure assistance from them; they still thought this
nation their most sure refuge in danger, and accordingly could not forbear
applying to it. This they had already done in the reign of the holy king
Hezekiah; which gave occasion to God's message to his people, by the mouth
of his prophet Isaiah: "Wo to them that go down to Egypt for help, and
stay on