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WHen Acherres had 〈◊〉〈◊〉 eight yeeres, Cherres succeeded, and held the Kingdome fifteene yeeres: then raigned Armeus fiue yeeres, and after him Ramesses, threescore and eight. Of Armeus and Ramesses is that Historie vnderstood by Eusebius, which is common among the [unspec 10] Greekes, vnder the names of Danaus and Aegyptus. For it is said that Danaus, being expelled out of Aegypt by his Brother, fled into Greece, where he ob∣tained the Kingdome of Argos: that he had fiftie Daughters, whom vpon seeming reconciliation, hee gaue in marriage to his Brothers fiftie Sonnes, but commanded euery one of them to kill her husband the first night; that onely Hypermnestra, one of his Daughters, did saue her husband Lynceus, and suffered him to escape; finally, That for this fact, all the bloudie sisters, when they died, were enioyned this foo∣lish punishment in Hell, to fill a leaking Vessell with water.
The raigne of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in Argos was indeed in this age; but that Armeus, was Da∣naus; and Ramesses, Aegyptus; is more then Reineccius beleeues: hee rather takes [unspec 20] Armeus to haue beene Myris, or Meris, who caused the great lake to be made which beares his name. For my owne part, as I can easily beleeue, that he which fled out of Aegypt into Greece, was a man of such qualitie as the Soldan Sanar, of whom we spake before; so doe I not finde how in so short a raigne, as fiue yeeres, a worke of that labour could be finished, which was required vnto the Lake of Myris, and the Monuments therein; whereof his owne Sepulchre and his 〈◊〉〈◊〉 being some part, it is manifest that he was not buried in Argos. Wherefore of Myris, and of all other Kings, whose age is vncertaine, and of whose raignes we haue no assurance, I may truly say, that their great workes are not enough to prooue them of the house of Pharaoh, seeing that greater deedes or more absolute, then were those of Ioseph, who [unspec 30] bought all the people of Aegypt as bond-men, and all their Land for bread; of 〈◊〉〈◊〉, who founded Cairo; and of Sanar, who made the Countrie Tributarie; were performed by none of them.
It shall therefore be enough to set downe the length of their raignes, whom we finde to haue followed one another in order of succession: but in rehearsing the great acts which were performed, I will not stand to examine, whether they that did them were Kings or no.
The Lake of Myris is, by the report of Diodore and Herodotus, three thousand sixe hundred furlongs in compasse, and fiftie fadomes deepe. It serued to receiue the waters of Nilus, when the ouer-flow, being too great, was harmefull to the Coun∣trie; [unspec 40] and to supply the defect, by letting out the waters of the Lake, when the Ri∣uer did not rise high enough. In opening the sluces of this Lake, for the letting in or out of waters, were spent fiftie talents; but the Lake it selfe defraied that cost; see∣ing the tribute imposed vpon Fish taken therein, was euery day one talent, which Myris gaue to his Wife to buy sweet ointments, and other ornaments for her bodie. In the middest of it was left an Iland, wherein were the Sepulchers of Myris and his Wife, and ouer each of them a Pyramis, that was a furlong, or (according to Hero∣dotus) fiftie paces high; hauing on the tops their statues, sitting in Thrones. I finde not the description of this Lake in Maps, answerable to the report of Historians: yet is it very great. The yeeres of Armeus are by Manethon diuided, by inserting one [unspec 50] Armesis (whom Eusebius omits) that should haue raigned one yeere and odde mo∣neths of the time; but I hold not this difference worthy of examination.
After Ramesses, his sonne Amenophis held the Kingdome fortie yeares. Some giue him only nineteene yeeres; and Mercator thinkes him to haue beene the