CHAP. XIII. BOOKS OF HERMES. AO. 15 



in number, were treated by the Egyptians with 

 the most profound respect, and carried in their 

 religious processions. First came the singer, 

 .... holding two in his hand, one containing 

 hymns in honour of the Gods, the other certain 

 rules for the conduct of the monarch. Next to 

 him the horoscope, .... whose duty was to recite 

 the four books of astrology, one of which treated 

 of the fixed stars, another of solar and lunar 

 eclipses, and the remaining two of the rising of 

 the sun and moon. Ten books contained those 

 things which related to the Gods and the religion 

 of Egypt, as sacrifices, first fruits, hymns, prayers, 

 processions, holy days, and the like. Last of all 

 came the prophet with ten other books, called 

 sacerdotal, relating to the laws, the Gods, and 

 rules of the priesthood. Thus, then, of the forty- 

 two most useful * books of Hermes, thirty-six con- 

 tained all the philosophy of Egypt, and the six 

 last treated of medicine, anatomy, and the cure of 

 diseases." 



Ao, lo. 



I had supposed this Deity to be the " material 

 or visible body of the moon,'* which in Egyptian 

 was called loh. This is, however, very doubtful, 

 and the absence of the figure of the moon in the 

 name of the Deity greatly militates against my 

 conjecture. He bears on his head a single ostrich 

 plume, or a cluster of four feathers, and is always 



* " Avo fxiif ow Kai TiffffapciKOVTa at iravv uvayKcaai ry Epjup ye-yovacfi 



