Various and conflicting are the opinions quoted by Bruce as to the situation of Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt. Dr. Pococke looked for Memphis at Metrahenni and Mohannen, because Pliny[12] says the pyramids were between Memphis and the Delta; and Mr. Niebuhr, the Danish traveller, agreed with Dr. Pococke. Dr. Shaw quoted a contrary sentiment from Pliny;[13] he cited also Diodorus Siculus,[14] who describes Memphis as being at the point of the Delta; Pliny,[15] again, who says it was fifteen miles from the Delta; and Herodotus,[16] who declares that Memphis lay under the sandy mountains of Libya. Dr. Shaw, therefore, warmly contended that Memphis was at Geeza. In this literary controversy, Bruce, with his usual warmth of character, vehemently opposes Dr. Shaw, and insists on placing Memphis at Metrahenni. He denies that the point of the Delta itself is a fixed and unalterable boundary; quotes Diodorus, who says that Memphis was placed in the straits, or narrowest part of Egypt; and to prove that the ruins of this city were not altogether destroyed in the time of the Ptolemies, he cites Strabo, who says, that when he was in Egypt Memphis was still called the capital[17] of that country; that there was entire a temple of Osiris; that the apis or sacred ox was worshipped and kept there; and that there was likewise "an apartment for the mother of that ox!" After the particulars mentioned in the above argument, it is scarcely necessary to remind the general reader that no vestige of Memphis exists! Among the super-scientific, its ancient situation still remains a subject of dispute; but considering how many real objects, points, and situations there are in the world of which we are totally ignorant, it might surely be said of Memphis, that "de non existantibus et de non apparentibus eadem est ratio."[18]