Note 12 — Chapter XIV · (continued 2)

Diodorus. History thus confirms the Scriptures: “From that time unto this day, in the whole land of Egypt, the fifth part is paid to the king, and it is become as a law, except the land of the priests, which was free from this covenant” (Gen. xlvii. 26). This privilege was not always preserved. The Rosetta inscription informs us that the sacred lands paid annually into the royal treasury an artabe for each aroure of land, and an amphora of wine for every aroure of vineyard.