10 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII. 



authorised them to inscribe their own commentaries 

 with the name of Hermes. He may also be con- 

 sidered analogous to the " septenary intellectual 

 agents" of modern philosophers. " These are called 

 by Hesiod guardians of mankind, bestowers of 

 wealth, and royal demons; are described by Plato as 

 a middle order of beings between the Gods and men, 

 ministering to their wants, carrying the prayers of 

 mortals to heaven, and bringing down in return 

 oracles and all other blessings of life."* 



According to the fabulous account of the Egyp- 

 tian Mercury, " he was reported to have invented 

 letters t, regulated the language, given names to 

 many things, and taught men the proper mode 

 of approaching the Deity with prayers and sacri- 

 fice. He instructed them in the system of the 

 stars, and the harmony and nature of voices. He 

 was the inventor of the palcestra, and of the lyre, 

 to which he gave three strings, in accordance with 

 the three seasons of the Egyptian year ; the treble 

 to correspond to summer, the bass to winter, the 

 tenor to spring. He was the patron of elocution, 

 whence called Hermes, ' the interpreter,' by the 

 Greeks. In the sacred rites of Osiris he was 

 represented as the scribe of the Deity, and his 

 counsellor ; and it was to him that the Egyptians 

 supposed mankind indebted for the olive, and not 

 to Minerva, as is the oj)inion of the Greeks." t 

 He was distinct from the Mercury, who ushered 

 the souls of the dead into the region of Hades, 

 answering to the Anubis of Egypt, as already stated ; 



* Pint. s. 2G.; supra. Vol. I. (2tl Scries) p. 222. 



t Conf. Plato, Phileb. p. .374. J Diodor. i. HJ. 



