The custom of bearing the emblems of the dif ferent sacred creatures, to whose service they were devoted, may still be traced in the banners borne by the guardians of the Shekhs' tombs, who travel throughout Egypt in quest of charitable donations *; and, though seldom differing from, or inferior to, each other, in the discordant and deafening noise of drums and clamorous instruments, they are as readily distinguished by the peculiar emblems of the Saint to whose service they belong. But the duty is not wholly gratuitous; being performed partly from a prospect of rewards in Paradise, and partly from the love of the tangible benefits they obtain on earth, by means of his useful name. Vows are also made, as in former times, by the credulous and the devout, for the recovery of health, or the accomplishment of a wish; but the accuracy of the balance is no longer required, to regulate the extent of the donor's piety, or to adjust the quantity of his gratitude to the nice precision of a hair.

The expense incurred by the curators, for the maintenance of the sacred animals, was immense. Not only were necessary provisions procured for them, but imaginary luxuries, which they could neither understand nor enjoy. They were treated with the same respect as human beings; warm baths were prepared for them; they were anointed with the choicest unguents, and perfumed with the most fragrant odours. Rich carpets and orna

* Vide Vol. III. (1st Series) p. 394.

+ Carpets are frequently mentioned by ancient writers, as I have already had occasion to observe.

Vide also Theocrit. Id. xv. 125.

mental furniture were provided for them, and every care was taken to consult their natural habits. Females of their own species were kept for them, and fed with the utmost delicacy and expense; those only being selected, which were remarkable for their beauty. When any died, the grief of the people could only be equalled by that felt at the loss of a child; and in so sumptuous a manner were their funeral rites performed, that they frequently cost more than the curators had the means of paying. The same respect was extended to those which died in foreign countries; and when engaged in distant wars, they did not neglect "the cats and hawks, or leave them behind, but, even when it was difficult to obtain the means of transport, they were brought to Egypt," that they might be deposited in holy ground.

Geese were kept for some of the sacred animals. Meat was cut into pieces and thrown to the hawks, who were invited by well-known cries to their repast; cats and ichneumons were fed on bread soaked in milk, and with certain kinds of fish caught on purpose for them; and every animal was provided with food suited to its habits.t Whenever any one of them died, it was wrapped up in linen, and carried to the embalmers, attended by a procession of persons of both sexes, beating their breasts in token of grief. The body was then prepared with oil of cedar, and such aromatic sub

Diodor. i. 84. and suprà, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 353. + Diodor. loc. cit.

tances as tended to preserve it, and was deposited in a sacred tomb.

The respect paid to the sacred animals was not confined to the outward ceremony of their funeral, nor to the external marks of grief the mourners voluntarily imposed upon themselves, by shaving their eye-brows on the death of a cat, and their whole body for the loss of a dog; all the provisions, which happened to be in the house at the time, were looked upon as unlawful food, and were forbidden to be applied to any use.* And so remarkable was the feeling of veneration in which they were held by the Egyptians, that, in time of severe famine, when hunger compelled them to eat human flesh, no one was ever known to touch the meat of any of them, even on the plea of preserving life. To destroy one voluntarily, subjected the offender to the penalty of death: but if any person even unintentionally killed an ibis or a cat t, it infallibly cost him his life; the multitude immediately collecting, and tearing him in pieces, often without any form of trial. For fear of such a calamity, if any person found one of those animals dead, he stood at a distance, and, calling out with a loud voice, made every demonstration of grief, and protested that it was found lifeless.

"This superstitious regard to the sacred animals," observes Diodorus, "is thoroughly rooted in their minds, and every Egyptian has his passions strongly bent upon their honour. For at the time when Ptolemy had not yet been called a King by the Romans, and the people were using every possible + Diodor. i. 83.

* Diodor. i. 84.

effort to flatter the Italians, who visited the country as strangers, and studious to avoid every thing that could excite disputes, or lead to war, a Roman having killed a cat, and a crowd being collected about his residence, neither the magistrates who were sent by the King to appease their rage, nor the general terror of the Roman name, were able to save the offender from vengeance, although he had done it unintentionally. And this we relate, not from the testimony of others, but from what we ourselves had an opportunity of seeing during our journey in Egypt." "Never," says Cicero, "did any one hear of a crocodile†, an ibis, or a cat having been killed by an Egyptian.” “Rather would they submit to suffer death than destroy an ibis, an asp, a cat, or a crocodile; and if any one accidentally injured one of those animals, he would object to no kind of punishment."‡

I have stated the reasons assigned by Diodorus for the worship of sacred animals, and have noticed the ridicule with which the Greeks delighted to treat this strange custom of the Egyptians. § We are not, indeed, surprised that it should have struck any people as absurd and inconsistent; and the Hebrew legislator felt the necessity of preventing the Jews from falling into this, the most gross practice of which idolatry was guilty. The

*Cic. de Nat. Deor. i. 29.

+ Cicero would have been more correct in substituting a hawk, or a cynocephalus, for a crocodile, which last was not sacred throughout Egypt. Vide infrà, p. 99. and 234.

Cic. Tusc. Disput. v. 27.

Infra, p. 104.; and suprà, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 158. et seq.

worship of the golden calf, a representation of the Mnevis of Heliopolis, was a proof how their minds had become imbued with the superstitions they had beheld in Egypt, which the "mixed multitude had practised there" and it frequently happened that the Egyptians were more attached to such emblems than to the Gods themselves. This was the natural result of idolatrous feelings, which have in all times forgotten the Deity in a blind respect paid to the type that chanced to represent him.

"In Egyptian temples," says Clemens*, "the porticos, vestibules, and groves, are constructed with great splendour; the halls are adorned with numerous columns; the walls are perfectly splendid with rare stones, and brilliancy of colour; the sanctuary + shines with gold, silver, and amber, and with a variety of glittering stones from India, or Æthiopia, and the adytum is hung with curtains of gold tissue. If you enter the circuit of the holy place, and hastening to behold what is most worthy of your search, you seek the statue of the Deity, one of the priests who perform the rites there steps forward to introduce you to the object of his worship, looking upwards with a grave and reverent face, as he chants the Paan hymn in his native tongue. But no sooner does he draw aside a portion of the veil, as if to show a God, than you find ample reason for smiling at the mysterious Deity. For the God you sought is not there; but a cat, or a crocodile, or a native serpent, or some

* Clem. Alex. Pædagog. iii. c. 2.

The body of the temple, or ædes, whither the profane did not penetrate, the adytum being the most holy part of the ædes.