as do not attend the ceremony think themselves. obliged to observe the evening of the festival, and in like manner burn lamps before their houses : thus on this night, not Sais only, but all Ægypt is illuminated. A religious motive is assigned for the festival itself, and for the illuminations by which it is distinguished.

LXIII. At Heliopolis and Butos 11°, sacrifices alone are offered, but at Papremis, as at other places, in addition to the offering of victims, other religious ceremonies are observed. At the close of the day, a small number of priests crowd round the statue of Mars; a greater number, armed with clubs, place themselves at the entrance of the temple; opposite to these, may be seen more than a thousand men tumultuously assembled, with clubs also in their hands, to perform their religious vows. The day before the festival they remove the statue of the god, which is kept in a small case decorated with gold, to a different apartment. The priests attendant upon the statue

place

In Egypt there is no rejoicing, no festival of any consideration at all, unaccompanied with illumination. For this purpose they make use of earthen lamps, which they put into very deep vessels of glass, in such a manner as that the glass is two thirds, or at least one half of its height, higher than the lamp, in order to preserve the light, and prevent its extinction by the wind. The Ægyptians have carried this art to the highest perfection, &c.-Maillet.

110 Butos.]-This is indifferently written Butos, Butis, and Buto.-T.

place it, together with its case, on a four-wheeled carriage*, and begin to draw it along. Those at the entrance of the temple endeavour to prevent its admission: but the votaries above mentioned come to the succour of the god, and a combat ensues between the two parties, in which many heads are broken, and I should suppose many lives lost, though this the Egyptians positively deny.

LXIV. The motive for this ceremony is thus explained by the natives of the country:-This temple, they say, was the residence of the mother

of

* Very much does this resemble what is now observed in Hindostan. See an engraving and description of this car and ceremony in Sonnerat. There is also a model of such a car preserved in the British Museum. I subjoin Sonnerat's description:

Ce chariot est une machine immense, sculptée sur laquelle les guerres, la vie et les metamorphoses du dieu, sont representées: il est orné de banderoles et de fleurs. Des lions de carton places aux quatre coins supportent tous ces ornemens: le devant est occupé par des chevaux de la meme matiere est l'idole est au milieu sur un piedestal : quantite des Brames l'eventent pour empecher les mouches de venir s'y reposer. Les Bayaderes et les musiciens sont assis al'en tour et font retentir l'air du son bruyant de leurs instrumens: on a vu des peres et des meres de famille tenant leurs enfans dans leurs bras, se jetter au travers pour se faire écraser et mourir, dans l'espoir que la divinité les feroit jouir d'un bonheur eternel dans l'autre vie. Ce spectacle n'arretoit point la marche du dieu, parce que les augures n'auroient point été favorable. Le cortege passoit sur le corps de ces malheureux sans aucune emotion et la machine achevoit de les broyer.p. 227.

of Mars: the god himself, who had been brought up at a distance from his parent, on his arrival at man's estate, came hither to visit his mother. The attendants, who had never seen him before, not only refused to admit him, but roughly drove him from the place. Obtaining proper assistance, he returned, severely chastised those who had opposed him, and obtained admission to his mother. From this circumstance the above mode of fighting was ever after practised on the festival of Mars and these people were also the first who made it a point of religion not to communicate carnally with a woman" in a temple, nor enter any consecrated place after the venereal act, without having first washed. Except the Ægyptians and the Greeks, all other nations without scruple connect

III Communicate carnally with a woman.]—Mention is made of the Mossyri, called by Apollonius Rhodius, Mossyræci, who copulated in the public streets. See Xenophon, Diodorus Siculus, and others.

Next by the sacred hill their oars impel
Firm Argo, where the Mossyræcians dwell,
Of manners strange, for they with care conceal
Those deeds which others openly reveal,
And actions that in secret should be done
Perform in public and before the sun;
For, like the monsters of the bristly drove,
In public they perform the feats of love.

Fawkes Apollonius Rhod Quid ego de Cynicis loquar, quibus in propatulo coire cum conjugibus mos fuit. Lactantius.-See also what Diogenes Laertius says of Crates and Hipparchia. See Bayle on the Adamites and Picards, and also "A Dialogue concerning Decency."-T. See also Herodotus, book i.

connect themselves with women in their temples, nor think it necessary to wash themselves after such connection, previous to their paying their, devotions. In this instance they rank man indiscriminately with other animals; for observing that birds as well as beasts copulate in shrines and temples, they conclude that it cannot be offensive to the deity. Such a mode of reasoning does not by any means obtain my approbation.

LXV. The superstition of the Egyptians is conspicuous in various instances, but in this more particularly notwithstanding the vicinity of their country to Libya, the number of beasts is comparatively small, but all of them, both those which are wild and those which are domestic, are regarded as sacred. If I were to explain the reason of this prejudice, I should be led to the discussion of those sacred subjects, which I particularly wish to avoid, and which but from necessity, I should not have discussed so fully as I have. Their laws compel them to cherish animals; a certain number of men and women are appointed to this

office,

112 Wish to avoid.]-The ancients were remarkably scrupulous in every thing which regarded religion; but in the time of Diodorus Siculus strangers did not pay the same reverence to the religious rites of the Egyptians. This historian was not afraid to acquaint us with the motives which induced the Ægyptians to pay divine honours to animals. Larcher.

See Diodorus Siculus, lib. i. 21.

office, which is esteemed so honourable", that it descends in succession from father to son. In the presence of these animals, the inhabitants of the cities perform their vows. They address themselves as supplicants to the divinity, who is supposed to be represented by the animal in whose presence they are; they then cut off their childrens' hair, sometimes the whole of it, sometimes half, at other times only a third part; this they weigh in a balance against a piece of silver; as soon as the silver preponderates, they give it to the woman who keeps the beast, she in return feeds the beast with pieces of fish, which is their constant food. It is a capital offence designedly to kill any one of these "4 animals; to destroy

one

113 Esteemed so honourable.]-So far from refusing this employ, or being ashamed publicly to exercise it, they make a vain display of it, as if they participated the greatest honours of the gods. When they travel through the cities, or the country, they make known, by certain marks which they exhibit, the particular animal of which they have the care. They who meet them, as they journey, respect and worship these.-Diodorus Siculus.

114 To kill any one of these.]-The cat was also held in the extremest veneration by the ancient Egyptians; and Diodorus Siculus relates, that a Roman having by accident killed a cat, the common people instantly surrounded his house with every demonstration of fury. The king's guards were instantly dispatched to rescue him from their rage, but in vain; his authority and the Roman name were equally ineffectual.-In the most extreme necessities of famine, they rather chose to feed on human flesh than on these animals.-T.