320 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XV. 



norant. Indeed, the only means of forming* any 

 opinion respecting them are to be derived from 

 our imperfect acquaintance with those of Greece, 

 which were doubtless imitative of the rites practised 

 in Egypt. 



With the Egyptians great care was taken to 

 preserve them from the profanation, which some 

 secret rites underwent among the Greeks and Ro- 

 mans ; and they excluded all persons who were 

 considered unfit to participate in solemnities of so 

 sacred a nature. And " not only," says Clemens, 

 did they scruple to entrust their secrets to every 

 one, and prevent all unholy persons from becoming 

 acquainted with divine matters, but confined them 

 to those who were invested with the office of king, 

 and to such of the priesthood who, from their 

 worth, learning, and station, were deemed worthy 

 of so great a privilege." 



Many rites and ceremonies were borrowed by 

 Greece from Egypt; of which the next in import- 

 ance to the mysteries of Eleusis, and the institution 

 of oracles t, was the Thesmophoria, — a festival in 

 honour of Ceres, celebrated in many Greek cities, 

 and particularly at Athens. *' These rites," says 

 Herodotust, "were brought from Egypt into 

 Greece by the daughters of Danaus, who taught 

 them to the Pelasgic women ; but in the course 

 of time, the Dorians having driven out the ancient 



* Vide Vol. I. p. 207. ; siipivi, p. 78 ; and Vol. I, (2(1 Series) p. 189. 

 327. &c. 



f Vidr sirjird, Vol. I. (2(1 Scries) p. 150. ct rc(]. 



j Ilerodot. ii. 171. Such appears to be the meaning of the iiis- 

 torian. Vidf aiijn-d, Vol. I. (2(1 Series) p. 328. 



