journey, where they might perform the ceremony, without openly offending against the laws of Egypt. And when told by Pharaoh "to go and sacrifice," the answer of Moses was, "It is not meet so to do, for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God; lo, we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us? We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice unto the Lord our God as he shall command us."* It does not appear that, in this instance, they were ordered to offer a red heifer, as described in a subsequent ordinancet; and indeed victims of that peculiar description, according to Maimonides, were reserved for certain occasions, nine only having been sacrificed from the time of Moses to "the desolation of the second temple." At other times the Israelites made no distinction between those of different colours, and their apprehensions from the anger of the Egyptians proceeded solely from their infringing a law, which forbade the slaughter of any but male cattle. Though they were then § commanded to slay a heifer, it is evident that they * Exod. viii. 26, 27. † Numb. xix. 2. "Nine red heifers," says Maimonides, "have been sacrificed between the original delivery of this precept, and the desolation of the second temple. Our lord, Moses, sacrificed the first, Ezra offered the second, and seven more were offered up during the period which elapsed from the time of Ezra to the destruction of the temple; the tenth, King Messiah himself will sacrifice, by his speedy manifestation he will cause great joy." Maimon. de Vaccâ rufâ, c. 3. I do not however suppose this to be taken literally, and we trace in it that reference to numbers so common in ancient times. Vide suprà, p. 346., and Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 197. It was perhaps to break through, and prevent their being hereafter influenced by, this great Egyptian prejudice. too, on most occasions, were restricted to male victims *, a wise regulation for the preservation of the species, which the legislators of Eastern nations seldom overlooked. "In Egypt and Palestine," says St. Jerome †, "in consequence of the great scarcity of cattle, no one eats the meat of cows; and Porphyry asserts, that "the scruples of the Egyptians and Phoenicians were so strong on this point, that they would rather have lived on the flesh of man than of the cow." That the Egyptians abstained from the meat of heifers is attested by the authority of ancient authors, and by the sculptures themselves; but we find from these last, that the restriction to animals of a red colour, if really in force at any time, was not generally maintained, either in sacrifices or when required for the table. A black and white ox is represented at the altars of several gods, even of Osiris himself; and the butcher or the cook are frequently engaged in slaughtering spotted oxen, and preparing them for the use of the family.§ Nor did any colour exempt them from labour; and black, white, spotted, or red oxen were indiscriminately employed in the plough, and "all manner of service in the field." It is, therefore, evident, that if any restriction respecting colour actually existed, it was only attended to on certain occasions, or at peculiar ceremonies, in honour of * Vide Levit. i. 3. "Let him offer a male without blemish," et alib. † St. Jer. Hieron. adv. Jovin. ii. 7. Porphyr. de Abstin. ii. 11. Herodot. ii. 41. Vide Plate 12. Vol. II. (1st Series) p. 222. | Vide Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 48. some of the gods, and perhaps only when worshipped in a particular character. This is the more probable, as we find they did not scruple to offer a coloured victim before the altar of Osiris, to whom the red ox was said to be an offering peculiarly acceptable. Certain marks may have excluded an animal, and have rendered it unfit for the altar or the table, particularly if they bore any resemblance to those which characterised Apis ; and some oxen may have been forbidden, in consequence of their being thought to appertain to Mnevis, the sacred bull of Heliopolis. It was, perhaps, on the occasion of sacrificing the red ox, that the imprecations mentioned in Herodotus and Plutarch were uttered by the priest upon the head of the victim, which, as I have already observed, strongly reminds us of the scapegoat of the Jews t; and if so, this may serve to confirm my conjecture of that "important ceremony being confined to certain occasions, and to chosen animals, without extending to every victim which was slain." According to Herodotus, "they took the ox destined for sacrifice to the altar, and having lighted a fire, they poured a libation of wine upon the table and about the prostrate animal, and, invoking the Deity, slew it. They then cut off the head, and removed the skin from the body, and solemnly loading the former with imprecations, they prayed the gods to avert all the evils that might have happened to their country or them*Vide suprà, Vol. II. p. 378. + Levit. xiv. 21. selves, and to make them fall on that head. After which they either sold it to foreigners, or threw it into the Nile; for no Egyptian would taste the head of any species of animal." But, as I have already shown, the father of history is wrong in this assertion; the heads of ordinary victims being commonly offered on the altars of the gods t, and even taken with other joints to the kitchen. The head may not have been a fashionable dish at a Theban dinner; but this would not imply a prohibition; and it may be said, that few people, as refined as the Egyptians, are in the habit of giving it a place at their table. The ceremony of fixing upon a proper victim was probably very similar on all occasions. Herodotus and Plutarch state that it was done by a class of priests, called by the latter sphragistæ ("Sealers "), to whom this duty exclusively belonged. After having examined the animal, and ascertained that its appearance accorded with the prescribed rules, the priest put on a mark as a token of its acceptance, which was done in the following manner. Having tied a band made of the stalk of the papyrus round its horns, he applied a piece of fine clay to the knot, and stamped it with his seal, after which an inferior functionary con * Herodot. ii. 39. Elian says the Ombites gave the heads of their victims to the crocodiles. De Nat. Animal. x. 21. Plut. de Is. s. 31. There was a ceremony practised by the Jews, in which the head of a heifer was cut off for the expiation of murder by an unknown hand, the elders of the vicinity washing their hands over the body. Deut. xxi. 4. 6. Vide Vol. II. (1st Series) p. 222. 379. 383. The sculptures, passim. Clemens says the stolistes was required to know the pooyooppaYoTika, or those things relating to the rite of slaying victims. Strom. vi. ducted it to the altar. Herodotus fails to inform us respecting the nature of this seal *; but Plutarch, on the authority of Castor, says it bore the figure of a man on his knees, with his hands tied behind him, and a sword pointed at his throat." 風科 No. 475. Seal of the priests, signifying This figuratively symbo. lic group I have met with that the victim might be slaughtered. more than once, in the hieroglyphics of sculptures relating to the sacrifice of victims. The characters which refer to or explain similar ceremonies in the temples are generally phonetic, as in the commencement of the accompanying hieroglyphics, where the word "sat," (?) signifying to "slay," accords with the demonstrative sign following it, and recalls the Hebrew word ,"to kill," which it so closely resembles. But no oxen represented in the sculptures as victims about to be slaughtered have yet been found bearing this device, though they frequently occur decked with flowers for the occasion. The usual mode of slaying a victim was by cutting the throat t, as was the commandment of Moses to the Israelites, probably from one ear to the other; which is the custom of the Moslems at the present day. The officiating priest generally placed his hand upon its head‡, as he drew the knife across its throat, and if an ox or a goat he held it by the horns, the feet having been previously tied together, as it lay upon the ground. Birds were either * Of the seals of the Egyptians, vide infrà, chap. xvi. p. 395. Conf. Levit. i. 4. and iii. 8. &c. |