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If then we choose to adopt the views of the Ionians concerning
Egypt, we must come to the conclusion that the Egyptians had formerly
no country at all. For the Ionians say that nothing is really Egypt
but the Delta, which extends along shore from the Watch-tower of
Perseus, as it is called, to the Pelusiac Salt-Pans, a distance
of forty schoenes, and stretches inland as far as the city of
Cercasorus, where the Nile divides into the two streams which reach
the sea at Pelusium and Canobus respectively. The rest of what is
accounted Egypt belongs, they say, either to Arabia or Libya. But
the Delta, as the Egyptians affirm, and as I myself am persuaded,
is formed of the deposits of the river, and has only recently, if I
may use the expression, come to light. If, then, they had formerly
no territory at all, how came they to be so extravagant as to fancy
themselves the most ancient race in the world? Surely there was no
need of their making the experiment with the children to see what
language they would first speak. But in truth I do not believe that
the Egyptians came into being at the same time with the Delta, as the
Ionians call it; I think they have always existed ever since the
human race began; as the land went on increasing, part of the
population came down into the new country, part remained in their old
settlements. In ancient times the Thebais bore the name of Egypt, a
district of which the entire circumference is but 6120 furlongs.
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