It seems therefore not improbable that the principle of forming a written language by means of characters representing the sounds of which the words of the spoken language are composed, was of Egyptian origin; and that it was carried in very early times to the countries on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean sea, and there improved upon by the adoption of a class of characters more simple than the hieroglyphics of Egypt, and of a form more convenient for a regular linear arrangement in writing. Moses, who spent his early life in Egypt, and who was said to be learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, may have acquired the art of writing there. However this may be, and whatever may be the uncertainty which hangs over the early history of this art, one thing is certain, and that is, that the discovery of the art of writing, including that of printing, which is only the consummation and perfection of it,--the art by which man can record language, and give life and power to the record to speak to the eye permanently and forever--to go to every nation--to address itself simultaneously to millions of minds, and to endure through all time, is by far the greatest discovery, in respect to the enlargement which it makes of human powers, that has ever been made. CHAPTER III. THE STORY OF ÆNEAS. B.C. 1200 Story of Æneas remained long unwritten.--Mother of Æneas.--Her origin.--Early history of Venus.--Her magical powers.--Her children Eros and Anteros.--She goes to Olympus.--Aphrodite's love for Anchises.--The golden apple.--The award of Paris.--Venus's residence at Mt. Ida.--Aphrodite's assumed character.--She leaves Anchises.--Childhood of Æneas.--The Trojan war.--Achilles.--Æneas engages in the war.--Story of Pandarus.--Æneas rescued by his mother.--Her magic vail.--Venus is wounded.--Iris conveys her away.--Single combat between Æneas and Achilles.--The charmed life of Achilles.--His shield.--The meeting of Æneas and Achilles on the field.--The harangues of the combatants.--The battle begun.--Narrow escape.--Sudden termination of the combat.--The tales of the Æneid.