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And in thus speaking of the Greeks the Egyptians say nothing but what
is true. But now let me tell the Egyptians how the case stands with
themselves. If, as I said before, the country below Memphis,
which is the land that is always rising, continues to increase in
height at the rate at which it has risen in times gone by, how will it
be possible for the inhabitants of that region to avoid hunger, when
they will certainly have no rain, and the river will not be able to
overflow their cornlands? At present, it must be confessed, they
obtain the fruits of the field with less trouble than any other people
in the world, the rest of the Egyptians included, since they have no
need to break up the ground with the plough, nor to use the hoe, nor
to do any of the work which the rest of mankind find necessary if they
are to get a crop; but the husbandman waits till the river has of its
own accord spread itself over the fields and withdrawn again to its
bed, and then sows his plot of ground, and after sowing turns his
swine into it - the swine tread in the corn - after which he has only
to await the harvest. The swine serve him also to thrash the grain,
which is then carried to the garner.
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