CHAP. XV. PENANCE. 335 



CONVOCATION OF THE PRIESTS AT THE CAPITAL. 



In the time of the Ptolemies the religious so- 

 cieties* were obliged to perform an annual voyage 

 to Alexandria, the royal residence at that period, 

 to present themselves at the palace. This was 

 doubtless in conformity with a custom established 

 in the olden times of the Pharaohs, when the seat 

 of government was at Thebes or Memphis 5 and 

 it continued to be observed until dispensed with 

 by Epiphanes. 



PRIVATE FASTS AND PENANCE. 



Besides the feasts and ceremonies of public re- 

 joicing, or of general abstinence, many fasts were 

 enjoined to each individual, either as occasional 

 voluntary expiations of secret offences, which were 

 dependent upon their own conscience, or in com- 

 pliance with certain regulations at fixed periods. 

 They were then required to abstain from the en- 

 joyment of luxuries, as of the bath, the table, and 

 perfumes ; and, above all, from the gratification 

 of the passions. Some of these, as Apuleius t in- 

 forms us, lasted ten days, during which time the 

 latter prohibition t was strictly enforced : a measure 

 which appears in Italy to have called forth great 

 complaints from the votaries of Isis, w^hen her wor- 



* Rosetta Stone, line 17. : " lepojv t9vMv." 



f Metam. ii. p. 1000. 



J Conf. Juven. Sat. vi. 535. 



