Il est six heures et demie du soir, écrivait-il, du soir, écrivait-il, à peine ai-je resté un quart d'heure pour diaer et depuis 6 heures du matin je ne suis pas sorti de la bibliothèque [du couvent]. Ainsi j'ai cherché, recherché, secoué de vieux papiers pendant huit bonnes heures ... Après avoir déplié plusieurs rouleaux et feuilleté plusieurs manuscrits peu importants, Adanson, mon drogman, en remarqua un que j'ai jugé très précieux. Ce sont les Hypotyposes de Clément d'Alexandrie écrites en lettres capitales dans le VIIe siècle avec des notes à la marge d'un autre caractère. Ce Clément d'Alexandrie vécut dans le second siècle de l'Eglise et fut catéchiste et prêtre d'Alexandrie. Il écrivit plusieurs ouvrages, quelques -uns se sont conservés, mais celui qu'on nomme les hypotyposes était perda. On nomme hypotyposes les descriptions d'objets quelconques faites avec tant de chaleur, peintes avec une si vive énergie qu'il semble au lecteur que les scènes qu'on lui trace se passent sous ses yeux au moment qu'il en lit le récit. ... Elles sont rassemblées dans un grand volume in-folio de parchemin couvert en bois et garni de plaques de bronze ; il contient 208 feuillets
Nous retrouvâmes un Polybe du IIIe siècle, mais il n'était point entier et vous savez que cet auteur célèbre ami de Scipion et de Laelius écrivit la guerre de Carthage jusques à la fin de celle de Macédoine. Le vertueux Brutus qui assassina César l'aimait et l'admirait ... Mais une découverte infiniment précieuse est un Diodore de Sicile entier que nous trouvâmes, écrit dans le milieu du IIIe siècle. Cetécrivain vivait du temps d'Auguste. Il écrivit après avoir beaucoup voyagé, ce qui le distingue de nos savants modernes. Son histoire universelle était contenu dans 40 livres. L'illustre Pline disait qu'il était le premier qui n'eût pas de bagatelles. Il ne nous restait que XV de ces livres, mais Saint-Macaire en possède une copia entière, au moins je le crois ; ne sachant pas le grec, je n'ai pu que compter les livres avec [mon drogman] qui l'entend parfaitement. Nous trouvâmes un Heraclius de VIIIe siecle et un Pausanias du VIIe assez beau.
Voilà quels ont été nos succès et la découverte du seul Diodore récompenserait les fatigues d'un long voyage. J'ai proposé aux moines deux cents sequins pour ce livre. Le chef m'a refusé en me disant que leur loi prohibait de rien vendre de ce qui était dans leur maison, que sa conscience lui permettait encore moins de se défaire de ces livres, qu'il savait que nous autres Francs étions adonnés à la magie, que ces livres étaient les vraies grammaires de cet art diabolique, qu'il aimerait mieux embraser la bibliothèque entière que de céder à mes désirs; il ne se démentit jamais de cette résolution, enfin il me pria à genoux de sortir de la bibliothèque en me disant qu'il était cruel de l'affliger, lui qui nous avait reçu le mieux qu'il avait pu, que je cédai à l'instant. [...] D'autres, je le sçais, auraient dérobé cet ouvrage, et je conviens que rien ne nous eut été plus facile, mais les tours d'un vil escroc ne peuvent me convenir. Les hommes de lettres se permettent en ce genre des bassesses indignes et je ne se permettent en ce genre des bassesses indignes et je ne manquerais pas de défenseurs et de panégiristes si je m'étais permis de ravir l'ouvrage que j'ai tant convoité, mais le cri de ma conscience me punirait cruellement de ce lâche abus de l'hospitalité.
Friday, May 24, 2013
D'Antraigues's Voyage to Egypt
He [D'Antraigues] was asked to see that nobody presented himself at their door, and to allow the Pacha's flag to be flown from the mast. D'Antraigues agreed, and expressed his hope that in return for good conduct the ship's company would receive the Pacha's protection in Egypt. D'Antraigues was given the captain's cabin, next to the large cabin which had been divided by canvas sheets into four small compartments, each providing sleeping accommodation for two women. D'Antraigues' thirst for empirical observation of human behaviour was not to be completely thwarted, however, for the captain revealed to him the existence of a spy-hole, three or four inches square, plugged with a piece of perfectly matching wood, and affording an excellent view of the compartment occupied by two women, one old and one young and pretty. The captain also warned that if he were caught peeping, he would turn the ship and go direct to Leghorn, as he did not intend either of them should go and get hanged in Egypt.
It was, therefore, with some trepidation that d'Antraigues removed the plug; the two women were asleep, so he merely took in the disposition of the room and its partitions. On the second occasion, just off Gallipoli, he made enough noise accidentally to attract the attention of the younger lady, who was alone, and who was startled to see an eye applied to the wall. He was transfixed, his mind already running ahead to the consequences of discovery. The girl went out... and came back with a cushion. To block the hole with? No — to stand on so that she could get a better view of her observer. D'Antraigues resisted the temptation to flee, and made her a bow a la turque, on his knees. She scrutinised him, his face, the room, very attentively, then put two fingers through the hole. She patiently allowed him to hold and kiss them, and his fears began to recede. Reassured of the good intentions of the female camp, however, he returned to the cabin to act as interpreter. This time, both women were there, each as inquisitive as the other and delighted to be able to converse.
A good deal of information about harem life was passed through the wall. So far as d'Antraigues could see, it closely resembled that of nuns, with the exception of the pacha, whose role, he comments, is sometimes fulfilled by the confessor! One detail that surprised him was the pacha's lack of interest in women. Then why keep so many women? Because a large harem was prestigious, like having numerous horses in one's stable, even if one does not ride. In the cramped conditions on board ship, relationships became close, with d'Antraigues and his dragoman greatly appreciating the female company and the daily striptease, and the women enjoying, for the one and only time of their lives no doubt, sympathetic and intelligent male attention.
When the time for them to separate came, at Alexandria, it was a sad occasion, since it was definitive; never could the women be exposed to the eyes of any man other than the Pacha's. The youngest began to weep in a display of unaffected emotion, and confessed she was annoyed about two things: first, that the young Frenchman was leaving them; and second, he was a Christian, and that meant they would not meet again. [Duckworth p. 115]
It was, therefore, with some trepidation that d'Antraigues removed the plug; the two women were asleep, so he merely took in the disposition of the room and its partitions. On the second occasion, just off Gallipoli, he made enough noise accidentally to attract the attention of the younger lady, who was alone, and who was startled to see an eye applied to the wall. He was transfixed, his mind already running ahead to the consequences of discovery. The girl went out... and came back with a cushion. To block the hole with? No — to stand on so that she could get a better view of her observer. D'Antraigues resisted the temptation to flee, and made her a bow a la turque, on his knees. She scrutinised him, his face, the room, very attentively, then put two fingers through the hole. She patiently allowed him to hold and kiss them, and his fears began to recede. Reassured of the good intentions of the female camp, however, he returned to the cabin to act as interpreter. This time, both women were there, each as inquisitive as the other and delighted to be able to converse.
A good deal of information about harem life was passed through the wall. So far as d'Antraigues could see, it closely resembled that of nuns, with the exception of the pacha, whose role, he comments, is sometimes fulfilled by the confessor! One detail that surprised him was the pacha's lack of interest in women. Then why keep so many women? Because a large harem was prestigious, like having numerous horses in one's stable, even if one does not ride. In the cramped conditions on board ship, relationships became close, with d'Antraigues and his dragoman greatly appreciating the female company and the daily striptease, and the women enjoying, for the one and only time of their lives no doubt, sympathetic and intelligent male attention.
When the time for them to separate came, at Alexandria, it was a sad occasion, since it was definitive; never could the women be exposed to the eyes of any man other than the Pacha's. The youngest began to weep in a display of unaffected emotion, and confessed she was annoyed about two things: first, that the young Frenchman was leaving them; and second, he was a Christian, and that meant they would not meet again. [Duckworth p. 115]
D'Antraigues's Witness to Sinaitic Inscriptions Confirmed
A curious fact is mentioned by Mr Forster with reference to these inscriptions. An artist in the train of Le Comte d'Antraigues, in 1779, made a fac simile of an inscription on Djebel Mokatteb. This was printed in the posthumous letters of the historian Miiller. No reading could be obtained of this print until Mr Forster discovered it had, from ignorance, been printed upside down. By restoring its position, it was found identical with No. 68 of Mr Grey's Collection, being the Title to the inscription recording the passage of the Red Sea.[Henry Barclay The Sinaitic inscriptions, the evidences of their Hebrew Origins p 68]
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Another Clement Hoax?
MONASTÈRE DE SAINT-MACAIRE Un manuscrit de Dijon nous a conservé le récit des voyages (1719) d'un certain comte d'Antraigues, qui raconte avoir vu à Saint-Macaire un Polybe du ine siècle, un Diodore complet, un Hérodien du VII sans parler des Hypotyposes de Clément d'Alexandrie. G. Lumbroso a exhumé ce passage (Bull. Soc. arch. Alex., XI, 1909, pp. 251-261) et l'a publié avec une note de S. de Ricci, indiquant que cette liste mirobolante avait été empruntée par d'Antraigues au Mercure de France de janvier 1742, mémoire de Montfaucon sur les manuscrits grecs à rechercher dans le Levant avec un soin particulier. De ces désirs de Montfaucon à la réalité, il y a, hélas! un abime. [Revue des etudes grecques - Volume 34 - Page 329]
Mar Saba 2
Le 2 février 1779 arrivait en Egypte le comte d'Entraigues, neveu de M. de St. Priest, ambassadeur de France à Constantinople. Son oncle l'avait envoyé en Egypte sous prétexte de lui faire examiner les résultats de la mission confiée à M. de Tott, inspecteur général des Echelles du Levant, en réalité pour arracher aux tentations de Constantinople ce jeune homme épicurien, jouisseur et amateur de jolies femmes. Dans ses souvenirs, extraits des lettres qu'il adressa à la dame de ses qu'il adressa à la dame de ses pensées, la princesse Ghika, Entraigues raconte sa traversée de la Méditerranée sur un bateau qui emmenait le sérail d'un pacha, puis le débarquement à Alexandrie.
De là il se rendit, en compagnie d'un drogman, qui était en même temps un bon dessinateur, de deux janissaires et d'une douzaine d'Arabes, au couvent de St. Macaire. Des moines hâves et déguenillés, abrutis par la prière et le jeûne, accueillirent le distingué visiteur. Entraigues prétend avoir découvert dans l'un des couvents des manuscrits rarissimes qu'il ne parvint d'ailleurs pas à arracher aux religieux: un Diodore de Sicile, complet; un Polybe du IIIc siècle, et surtout les Hypotyposes de St. Clément d'Alexandrie. [Oleg V. Volkoff À la recherche de manuscrits en Égypte p. 132]
De là il se rendit, en compagnie d'un drogman, qui était en même temps un bon dessinateur, de deux janissaires et d'une douzaine d'Arabes, au couvent de St. Macaire. Des moines hâves et déguenillés, abrutis par la prière et le jeûne, accueillirent le distingué visiteur. Entraigues prétend avoir découvert dans l'un des couvents des manuscrits rarissimes qu'il ne parvint d'ailleurs pas à arracher aux religieux: un Diodore de Sicile, complet; un Polybe du IIIc siècle, et surtout les Hypotyposes de St. Clément d'Alexandrie. [Oleg V. Volkoff À la recherche de manuscrits en Égypte p. 132]
The Comte d'Entraigues's Itinerary in Egypt
Despite the brevity of the Comte's stay, d'Entraigues' itinerary provides a list of at least some of the locations within Egypt at which Adanson was also certainly present. D'Entraigues' first excursion was to cross the desert from Alexandria to the monastery of St. Macarius, where he claimed to have found precious Greek manuscripts in the monks' library. Heading back into the Delta, they stopped at Rosetta to embark on the Nile. They then proceeded to Cairo by boat, where they stayed in the oquelle of the French merchants who had chosen to remain, despite the recent removal of the consulate and its protection. D'Entraigues' next excursion took them to Suez, from where they climbed Mt. Horeb and Mt. Sinai. Although d'Entraigues had intended to journey as far south as the cataracts, he was prevented from doing so by Hassan bey Djeddauoui, a local power who was encamped near Edfu. The Comte claimed to make it as far south as Thebes, but Auriant suggests it is more likely that he could not proceed further than Antinoe.' Disappointed with his trip, d'Entraigues returned to Constantinople at the end of February, carrying with him a portfolio of Adanson's drawings to supplement his own notebooks of observations. Beyond the bare facts of Adanson's travel within Egypt, d'Entraigues' account also reveals a certain amount of insight into Adanson's personal interests and skills. Despite the mediocre assessments that seemed to hound him from his school days and on into his career, Adanson was nevertheless designated as the guide for the ambassador's own nephew who, in his turn, was favorably impressed with Adanson's abilities. [Travellers in the East p. 85]
Is The Comte d'Antraigues a Reliable Paleographic Witness?
“Of all the Sinaitic records, the most extraordinary are the one last mentioned and another close to it,
both described by the Comte d’Antraigues, a French nobleman who travelled in the peninsula with his
suite in the year 1779. His account of them “was published originally in 1811, in the Posthumous
Letters of J. G. Von Müller, the historian of Switzerland, a name so eminent in literature, before, at the
call of Napoleon, he exchanged the path of ‘quiet and delightful studies’ for the cares of state.”
[Forster’s Voice of Israel from the Rocks of Sinai, p. 82.]
“The following is a translation of the Comte’s own words: — “At five o’clock in the morning, on the 14th May, 1779, I put my whole caravan in motion, and we repaired to the Dshebel el Moukatab. It consists of two very lofty rocks, cut perpendicular, separated one from the other by 50 paces. It appears that their base has been hollowed by the action of the waters. .... These rocks, covered with characters carved in relief, have none from their base up to the height of 14 feet 2 inches. The total length of the valley is 547 Paris toises. [1094 yards.] The rocks are covered with characters up to their summits: the lines are straight, but their extremities bend up to the junction of the line above, and form a writing in furrows. On the right hand rock, in coming from Tor, there are in all 67 lines; 41 on the rock to the left. The characters stand out one inch, and are one foot long. On the left side, on the highest part of the rock, are the characters which are called The Title. The reason of their having been called by this name is that the letters which compose it are 6 feet high, and stand out 3 inches. I caused them to be drawn with the greatest exactness. It would require six months of stubborn toil to draw the whole of these characters: it is a book unique, perhaps, under heaven, and the history of a people perhaps unknown.” [“Extract of a letter from M. le Comte d’Antraigues, ap. J. G. Müller, tom. vi. p. 330. — Von Müller saw no improbability in the assignment of an Israelitish origin to these monuments .... The writer whom Napoléon summoned to the offices, successively, of Secretary of State for Westphalia, and Minister of Public Instruction, will hardly, in our day, be taxed with credulity. At least, if he be, the charge will assuredly recoil upon the taxers.” — Forster’s Voice of Israel, p. 82]
Dated Inscription XI The Jebel Mukatteb inscription called “The Title” The inscription is reproduced from the Comte d’Antraigues in Forster, One Primeval Language, Plate V. Forster thought the Comte had inverted the inscription by mistake, and could only read it by his theoretical alphabet after turning it the other way. However, as the Comte published it, and as reproduced here, it makes perfect sense in Sinaitic.
“The following is a translation of the Comte’s own words: — “At five o’clock in the morning, on the 14th May, 1779, I put my whole caravan in motion, and we repaired to the Dshebel el Moukatab. It consists of two very lofty rocks, cut perpendicular, separated one from the other by 50 paces. It appears that their base has been hollowed by the action of the waters. .... These rocks, covered with characters carved in relief, have none from their base up to the height of 14 feet 2 inches. The total length of the valley is 547 Paris toises. [1094 yards.] The rocks are covered with characters up to their summits: the lines are straight, but their extremities bend up to the junction of the line above, and form a writing in furrows. On the right hand rock, in coming from Tor, there are in all 67 lines; 41 on the rock to the left. The characters stand out one inch, and are one foot long. On the left side, on the highest part of the rock, are the characters which are called The Title. The reason of their having been called by this name is that the letters which compose it are 6 feet high, and stand out 3 inches. I caused them to be drawn with the greatest exactness. It would require six months of stubborn toil to draw the whole of these characters: it is a book unique, perhaps, under heaven, and the history of a people perhaps unknown.” [“Extract of a letter from M. le Comte d’Antraigues, ap. J. G. Müller, tom. vi. p. 330. — Von Müller saw no improbability in the assignment of an Israelitish origin to these monuments .... The writer whom Napoléon summoned to the offices, successively, of Secretary of State for Westphalia, and Minister of Public Instruction, will hardly, in our day, be taxed with credulity. At least, if he be, the charge will assuredly recoil upon the taxers.” — Forster’s Voice of Israel, p. 82]
Dated Inscription XI The Jebel Mukatteb inscription called “The Title” The inscription is reproduced from the Comte d’Antraigues in Forster, One Primeval Language, Plate V. Forster thought the Comte had inverted the inscription by mistake, and could only read it by his theoretical alphabet after turning it the other way. However, as the Comte published it, and as reproduced here, it makes perfect sense in Sinaitic.
dating back to conversations with his grandfather, Gaston Frank. "He said we represent one of the last descendants of the Frankist Jewish faith in the world," he muses. "I grew up thinking that our family was something like the Last of the Mohicans."
