have been known, within a few centuries
from the time of Pharaoh, both to the Grecian colonies in Asia, and the
Grecian islands. Homer mentions Cyprus and AEgypt as the common markets
for slaves, about the times of the Trojan war. Thus Antinous, offended
with Ulysses, threatens to send him to one of these places, if he does
not instantly depart from his table.[025] The same poet also, in his
hymn to Bacchus[026], mentions them again, but in a more unequivocal
manner, as the common markets for slaves. He takes occasion, in that
hymn, to describe the pirates method of scouring the coast, from the
circumstance of their having kidnapped Bacchus, as a noble youth, for
whom they expected an immense ransom. The captain of the vessel, having
dragged him on board, is represented as addressing himself thus, to the
steersman:

"Haul in the tackle, hoist aloft the sail,
Then take your helm, and watch the doubtful gale!
To mind the captive prey, be our's the care,
While you to _AEgypt_ or to _Cyprus_ steer;
There shall he go, unless his friends he'll tell,
Whose ransom-gifts will pay us full as well."

It may not perhaps be considered as a digression, to mention in few
words, by itself, the wonderful concordance of the writings of Moses and
Homer with the case before us: not that the former, from their divine
authority, want additional support, but because it cannot be unpleasant
to see them confirmed by a person, who, being one of the earliest
writers, and living in a very remote age, was the first that could
afford us any additional proof of the circumstances above-mentioned.
AEgypt is represented, in the first book of the sacred writings, as a
market for slaves, and, in the [027]second, as famous for the severity
of its servitude. [028]The same line, which we have already cited from
Homer, conveys to us the same ideas. It points it out as a market for
the human species, and by the epithet of "_bitter_ AEgypt,"
([029]which epithet is peculiarly annexed to it on this occasion)
alludes in the strongest manner to that severity and rigour, of which
the sacred historian transmitted us the first account.

But, to return. Though AEgypt was the first market recorded for this
species of traffick; and though AEgypt, and Cyprus afterwards, were
particularly distinguished for it, in the times of the Trojan war; yet
they were not the only places, even at that period, where men were
bought and sold. The Odyssey of Homer shews that it w