15. But now I shall produce the Egyptians as witnesses to the antiquity
of our nation. I shall therefore here bring in Manetho again, and what
he writes as to the order of the times in this case; and thus he speaks:
"When this people or shepherds were gone out of Egypt to Jerusalem,
Tethtoosis the king of Egypt, who drove them out, reigned afterward
twenty-five years and four months, and then died; after him his son
Chebron took the kingdom for thirteen years; after whom came Amenophis,
for twenty years and seven months; then came his sister Amesses, for
twenty-one years and nine months; after her came Mephres, for twelve
years and nine months; after him was Mephramuthosis, for twenty-five
years and ten months; after him was Thmosis, for nine years and eight
months; after him came Amenophis, for thirty years and ten months;
after him came Orus, for thirty-six years and five months; then came his
daughter Acenchres, for twelve years and one month; then was her brother
Rathotis, for nine years; then was Acencheres, for twelve years and five
months; then came another Acencheres, for twelve years and three months;
after him Armais, for four years and one month; after him was Ramesses,
for one year and four months; after him came Armesses Miammoun, for
sixty-six years and two months; after him Amenophis, for nineteen years
and six months; after him came Sethosis, and Ramesses, who had an army
of horse, and a naval force. This king appointed his brother, Armais,
to be his deputy over Egypt." [In another copy it stood thus: "After
him came Sethosis, and Ramesses, two brethren, the former of whom had a
naval force, and in a hostile manner destroyed those that met him
upon the sea; but as he slew Ramesses in no long time afterward, so he
appointed another of his brethren to be his deputy over Egypt.] He
also gave him all the other authority of a king, but with these only
injunctions, that he should not wear the diadem, nor be injurious to the
queen, the mother of his children, and that he should not meddle with
the other concubines of the king; while he made an expedition against
Cyprus, and Phoenicia, and besides against the Assyrians and the Medes.
He then subdued them all, some by his arms, some without fighting, and
some by the terror of his great army; and being puffed up by the great
successes he had had, he went on still the more boldly, and overthrew
the cities and countries that lay in the eastern parts. But after some
considerable time, Armais, who was left in Egypt, did all those very
things, by way of opposition, which his brother had forbid him to do,
without fear; for he used violence to the queen, and continued to make
use of the rest of the concubines, without sparing any of them; nay, at
the persuasion of his friends he put on the diadem, and set up to oppose
his brother. But then he who was set over the priests of Egypt wrote
letters to Sethosis, and informed him of all that had happened, and
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