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13The priests also gave me a strong proof concerning this land as follows, namely that in the reign of king Moiris, whenever the river reached a height of at least eight cubits[20] it watered Egypt below Memphis; and not yet nine hundred years had gone by since the death of Moiris, when I heard these things from the priests: now however, unless the river rises to sixteen cubits, or fifteen at the least, it does not go over the land. I think too that those Egyptians who dwell below the lake of Moiris and especially in that region which is called the Delta, if that land continues to grow in height according to this proportion and to increase similarly in extent,[21] will suffer for all remaining time, from the Nile not overflowing their land, that same thing which they themselves said that the Hellenes would at some time suffer: for hearing that the whole land of the Hellenes has rain and is not watered by rivers as theirs is, they said that the Hellenes would at some time be disappointed of a great hope and would suffer the ills of famine. This saying means that if the god[22] shall not send them rain, but shall allow drought to prevail for a long time, the Hellenes will be destroyed by hunger; for they have in fact no other supply of water to save them except from Zeus alone.
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Notes
[20] We do not know whether these measurements are in the larger Egyptian cubit of 21 inches or the smaller (equal to the ordinary Hellenic cubit) of 18½ inches, cp. i. 178.
[21] {kai to omoion apodido es auxesin}, "and to yield the like return as regards increased extent." (Mr. Woods); but the clause may be only a repetition of the preceding one.
[22] i.e. Zeus.