CHAP. XV. VICTIMS. RED-HAIRED MEN. 3'il 



belonged. According to Plutarch *, red oxen 

 were alone selected for the purpose, and so scru- 

 pulous," he adds, ** were they on this point, that a 

 single black or white hair rendered them unfit for 

 sacrifice, in consequence of the notion that Ty- 

 pho was of that colour. For in their opinion sa- 

 crifices ought not to be made of such things as are 

 in themselves agreeable to the Gods, but rather of 

 those creatures into which the souls of wicked 

 men have been confined, during the course of their 

 transmigration . ' ' 



The same remark is made by Diodorus t ; who 

 not only states that it was lawful to oflfer red 

 oxen, because Typho was supposed to be of that 

 colour, but that red (or red-haired) 7uen were 

 formerly sacrificed by the Egyptian Kings at the 

 altar of Osiris. This story is repeated by Athe- 

 ngeus, and by Plutarch 1:, who states, on the au- 

 thority of Manetho, that '* formerly in the city of 

 Idithya (Eilethya?), they were wont to burn even 

 men alive, giving them the name of Typhos, and 

 winnowing their ashes through a sieve to scatter 

 and disperse them in the air ; which human 

 sacrifices were performed in public, at a stated 

 season of the year, during the dog-days.'* But 

 from its being directly contrary to the usages of 

 the Egyptians, and totally inconsistent with the 

 feelings of a civilised people, it is scarcely neces- 

 sary to attempt a refutation of so improbable a 



* Pint. s. 31. t Diodor. i. 88. 



I Pint. s. 73. Athen. iv. p. 172. 



z 3 



