Note 606 — Chapter XX · EGYPTIANS.

Herodot. ii, 124-129. τὸν λέων τετρυμένον ἐς τὸ ἔσχατον κακοῦ. (Diodor. i, 63-64.)

Περὶ τῶν Πυραμίδων (Diodorus observes) οὐδὲν ὅλως οὐδὲ παρὰ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις, οὐδὲ παρὰ τοῖς συγγραφεῦσιν, συμφωνεῖται. He then alludes to some of the discrepant stories about the date of the Pyramids, and the names of their constructors. This confession, of the complete want of trustworthy information respecting the most remarkable edifices of lower Egypt, forms a striking contrast with the statement which Diodorus had given (c. 44), that the priests possessed records, “continually handed down from reign to reign respecting four hundred and seventy Egyptian kings.”