The Osceola times., 1882-09-02
It's Wonderful History and
Recuperative Powers.
AGES LOOKED DOWN UPON 1T BEFORE
CHRIST WAS BORN.
81. Louis Republican.

something more than mere military abil-
ity when he selected the canopic mouth
of the Nile, between the sea and Lake
Mareotis, as the site of the new city,
which was begun 33l-32 B. C., under
the superintendent of Dinocrates, a
celebrated architect of that day. The
original plan was simple and regular, the
main feature being two streets about 100
feet in width, running respectively from
north to south and from east to west A
splendid harbor, to which man coDtribu-
ted as much as nature, and magnificent
lighthouse probably the first ever built
Attracted foreign commerce and insured
from the outset high degree of CONNER
cial prosperity and its accompanying
wealth. 1t is doubtful whether Alexan-
der ever saw his namcsake except in its
very earliest stages, but by his own di-
rection his body was embalmed after
death at Babylon and conveyed to the
fair Egyptian city where it was deposited
in temple worthy of his fame. The time
and manner of its removal or destruction
are unknown, but il is mentioned by sew
eral ancient travellers, and presumably
disappeared during the first invasion of
the Arabs. Under the Ptolemies, 43 b. c.,
Alexandria attained the summit of its
greatness and glory. Its population at
hat period is estimated at 100000 exclu-
we of slaves. Including these it must
ave been largely over half million.
The trade of Europe and the farther East
centred there, and there Greek, Roman
and Oriental culture met and mingled to
an extent which has profoundly affected
every department of later civilization.
Much of our philosophy, and no incon-
siderable portion of our religion, we owe
to the subtle intcllects of the scholars
and thinkers who walked the streets of
Alexandria 1000 years ago, frequented
her schools and libraries, which then had
no equal, and drew around them disciples
who carried their teachings to the ends
of the earth. The great library, to which
allusion is so frequently made, was form
ed by Ptolemy |. and Ptolemy H., it is
said, at the suggestion of Demetrius Pha-
lerens, then a fugitive at the Egyptian
court He was chosen librarian and gem
eral manager and collected rich store
of Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Persian Chal-
dee, Jewish and Ethiopian manuscripts.
According to Eusebius, there were 100000
volumes, or rolls, at the death of Ptolemy
Philadelphius, and the number was after
wards increased to 100000. When Caesar
was besieged there large part if not the
whole of this library was burned. Its
successor-the origin of which is due to
Mark Antony and Oeopatra-was not
inferior to it, and lasted for 400 years,
when pious Theophilus, patriarch of Al
exandria, scattered its contents far and
wide The third library survived until
the conquest of the city by the Arabs in
$40. Then, so says not very reliable ira
dition, Caliph Omar sealed its fate in
the following words "If these writings
agree with the book of God (the Koran)
they are useless and need not be preserv-
ed; if they disagree they are pernicious
and ought to be destroyed" DESTROYED
they were, heating 200 baths six months
in the process of burning In Alexandra
Of the Scriptures was prepared and pub
lished, and here was found, in the seven
teenth century, the Alexandrian Codex
of the Old and New testaments, now in
.he British Museum-one of the three
Oldest manuscript editions of the Bible
now in existence.
In ALAG B. c., Rome, in the person of
Julius Caesar, interfered vigorously in
Egyptian affairs, ostensibly to settle a
quarrel between Ptolemy and Cleopatra,
and it was in Alexandria, so goes the sto-
ry, that the beautiful queen conquered
the conqueror with her charms, and be-
came the mother Of the luckless Cesarian
During the siege of the city Cesar was
more than once on the verge of fatal defeat.
and on one occasion had to leap over
board from vessel in the harbor and
swim for his life, holding aloft the man
uscript of the immortal Commentaries.
A year or two later Mark Antony surren-
dered to Cleopatra, and together they
held court in Alexandria-in an age of
scandal scandalizing the world by their
wild and reckless revels. After defeating
Antony at the battle of Actium, Octavius
Caesar followed him TO Egypt, and being
able to resist the destinations of his frail
partner, destroyed their joint sovereignty,
provoked them to suicide, and made their
kingdom Roman province. Christianity
established itself in Alexandria at an
early date, and some suppose that the
fourth gospel was written there. This,
however, is uncertain, but the book-now
the fighting ground of Biblical critics
bears iduqitable marks of the Greek phi
losophy which had its headquarters there.
When, by the conversion of the Emperor
Constantine, Christianity became the
state religion of the empire, the CITY was
the scene of the fiercest theological strug-
giles; first, between the devotees of the
old faith and those of the new, and then
between the orthodox and heterodox
Christians. The most distinguished hero
in this unholy warfare was saint" Cyril,
who succeeded Theophilus as patriarch
of Alexandria in 4l2. He prosecuted the
Novatians, expelled the Jews, stirred up
his followers to murder Hypatia, the tea
cher and priestess of the Platonist school,
and finished his belligerent career by
long quarrel with Nestorius. He kept
the city in continual turmoil, and directly
and indirectly caused tenfold more blood
shed than the recent massacre and bonn
bardment For graphic and instructive
picture Of his methods and times we COM
mend the reader to Kingsley's brilliant
novel of "Hypatia" In $40 Christianity
was swept out of Alexandria by Caliph
Omar, and Mohammedanism took its
place and has remained master Of the