eir labour to prove that
they had come into being before all other men? They needed not to have
made trial of the children to see what language they would first utter.
However I am not of opinion that the Egyptians came into being at the
same time as that which is called by the Ionians the Delta, but that
they existed always ever since the human race came into being, and that
as their land advanced forwards, many of them were left in their first
abodes and many came down gradually to the lower parts. At least it is
certain that in old times Thebes had the name of Egypt, and of this 23
the circumference measures six thousand one hundred and twenty furlongs.

16. If then we judge aright of these matters, the opinion of the Ionians
about Egypt is not sound: but if the judgment of the Ionians is right, I
declare that neither the Hellenes nor the Ionians themselves know how
to reckon since they say that the whole earth is made up of three
divisions, Europe, Asia, and Libya: for they ought to count in addition
to these the Delta of Egypt, since it belongs neither to Asia nor to
Libya; for at least it cannot be the river Nile by this reckoning which
divides Asia from Libya, 24 but the Nile is cleft at the point of this
Delta so as to flow round it, and the result is that this land would
come between Asia and Libya. 25

17. We dismiss then the opinion of the Ionians, and express a judgment
of our own in this matter also, that Egypt is all that land which is
inhabited by Egyptians, just as Kilikia is that which is inhabited by
Kilikians and Assyria that which is inhabited by Assyrians, and we
know of no boundary properly speaking between Asia and Libya except
the borders of Egypt. If however we shall adopt the opinion which is
commonly held by the Hellenes, we shall suppose that the whole of Egypt,
beginning from the Cataract 26 and the city of Elephantine, is divided
into two parts and that it thus partakes of both the names, since one
side will thus belong to Libya and the other to Asia; for the Nile from
the Cataract onwards flows to the sea cutting Egypt through the midst;
and as far as the city of Kercasoros the Nile flows in one single
stream, but from this city onwards it is parted into three ways; and
one, which is called the Pelusian mouth, turns towards the East; the
second of the ways goes towards the West, and this is called the Canobic
mouth; but that one of the ways which is straight runs thus,--when the
river in