Notes on Miltojfs Nativity Ode. 359 



gilded cow with a black linen pall. Isis herself is dressed in black, 

 according to Plutarch, Is. et Osir. 52 ; Milton may have been think- 

 ing o{ uekayuaToAoi, the word here. Apule'ms, Metam., chap. 11, assigns 

 to her a mantle of deepest black. On the use of black as mourn- 

 ing among the ancients, see Mayor's notes on Juvenal 3. 213; 10. 

 245; Marquardt, Privatlcbcn (1879) 7. 346. 



worshiped ark. This was done by the naaroqioqoi (Diod. Sic. 

 1. 97. 9-10; cf. Herod. 2. 63). On this subject see Walter Otto, 

 Priesfer und Tempcl im Hellenistischen Aegypten, pp. 94 ff. See 

 Erman, Life in Ancient Egypt, p. 275 : ' In the Holy of Holies was 

 a shrine, the so-called jtaos, inside which was a richly adorned 

 little bark [an illustration given], containing the figure of the god. 

 The statue could therefore have been only about two feet high. 

 It probably resembled the little bronze figures of which we possess 

 such a number. . . . The pictures of the Holy of Holies show only 

 the divine bark adorned fore and aft with the head of the animal 

 sacred to the god, and manned with a crew of small bronze figures 

 of kings and gods ; in the centre is the little deck-cabin, like a little 

 temple, which for further protection is covered with a canopy of 

 some stuff material. This bark was carried round in procession 

 on great festivals, and to the outside world it was itself the image 



of the god It is, however, characteristic of Egypt that a 



boat should play this part in that country.' Cf. Plutarch, Is. et Osir. 

 39 (cf. Parthey, p. 284); Herod. 2. 63; Apuleius, Metam. 11. 11; 

 Tibullus 1. 7. 47; Claudian, Cons. 11^ Honor. 570-576; Diod. Sic. 

 1. 67; C.I.G. 4697 (Rosetta Stone 41, 42; Vol 3, p. 540); Petrie, 

 Hist. Egypt 4. 116, 157 ; Wiedemann, Herodots Zweites Buck, p. 265 ; 

 Daremberg and Saglio, Diet, des Antt. 2. 1207; Hermes 3 (1868). 

 317 ff. 



221—3. The downfall of the gods of Egypt was prophesied by 

 Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah. Thus Isa. 19. 1 : 'Behold, the Lord 

 rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt ; and the 

 idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence.' Cf. Ezek. 30. 13; 

 Jer. 43. 12, 13 ; 46. 25. Isa. 19. 1 is referred by various earty Christ- 

 ian writers to the journey of Christ as an infant into Egypt. Thvis 

 Athanasius, Orat. de Imam. Verbi 36-7 (Migne, Patr. Gr. 26. 157, 

 161); Ep. ad. Max. 4 {op. cit. 26. 1089); Eusebius, Dem. Evang., 

 Bk. 9 {op. cit. 22. 658-9); ib. 6. 20; Jerome {Patr. Lat. 24. 19). 

 But the greatest currenc}^ was doubtless given to the idea by the 

 detailed stor}^ in the Apocryphal Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, chaps. 

 22, 23, which relates that when Joseph and Mary, with the child, 

 had come into Egypt, they entered a temple containing many 



