24-0 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIV. 



^lian* relates many strange stories of the aspt, 

 and the respect paid to it by the Egyptians ; but 

 we may suppose that in his sixteen species t of asps 

 other snakes were included. He also speaks § 

 of a dragon ll, which was sacred in the Egyptian 

 Melite (Metelis?); and another kind of snake 

 called Parias, or Paruas, dedicated to ^sculapius. ^ 

 The serpent of Melite had priests and ministers, 

 a table and a bowl. It was kept in a tower, and 

 fed by the priests with cakes** made of flour 

 and honey, which they placed there in the bowl. 

 Having done this, they retired. The next day, on 

 returning to the apartment, the food was found to 

 be eaten ; and the same quantity was again put 

 into the bowl : for it was not lawful for any one 

 to see the sacred reptile. On one occasion a cer- 

 tain elder of the priests, being anxious to behold 

 it, went in alone ; and having deposited the cake 

 withdrew, until the moment when he supposed 

 the serpent had come forth to its repast. 1 1 He 

 then entered, throwing open the door with great 

 violence ; upon which, the serpent withdrew in 

 evident indignation, and the priest shortly after 



* ^lian, X. 31., xi. 32., and iv. 54. He even makes it in love, with- 

 out being complimentary to Egyptian beanty. 



t /7r/r also Plin. viii. '^3. t JE\ia.n, x.3I. 



§ TElian, xi. c.l7. 



11 It is evident from. Pausanias (Att. 21.) tliat the dragon of the 

 (ireeks was only a large kind of snake with, as he says, " scales like a 

 pine cone." 



1[ Lilian, viii. c. 10. 



** Cakes seem to have been usnally given to the snakes of antiquity ; 

 as to the dragon of the llespcrides. Virg. Mn. iv. 483. 



ff Conf. Ovid, lib. ii. Amor. Eleg. 13. to Isis. " Labatur circa do- 

 naria serpens." 



