CHAP. XI. THE INUNDATION. 9 



upon which occasion grand festivities were pro- 

 claimed throughout the country, in order that 

 every person might show his sense of the great 

 benefit vouchsafed by the Gods to the land of 

 Egypt. The introductions of the waters of the 

 Nile into the interior, by means of these canals, 

 was allegorically construed into the union of Osiris 

 and Isis ; the instant of cutting away the dam of 

 earth, which separated the bed of the canal from 

 the Nile, was looked forward to with the utmost 

 anxiety ; and it is reasonable to suppose that many 

 omens were consulted in order to ascertain the 

 auspicious moment for this important ceremony. 



Superstition added greatly to the zeal of a 

 credulous people. The Deity, or presiding Ge- 

 nius, of the river was propitiated by suitable ob- 

 lations, both during the inundation, and about the 

 period when it was expected ; and Seneca * tells us, 

 that on a particular fete the priests threw presents, 

 and offerings of gold into the river near Phila3, at a 

 place called the Veins of the Nile, where they first 

 perceived the rise of the inundation. Indeed, we 

 may reasonably suppose that the grand and won- 

 derful spectacle of the inundation excited in them 

 feelings of the deepest awe for the divine power. 



ejus decessu serere solitos, mox sues impellere vestigiis semina depri- 

 nientes in madido solo, et credo antiquitus factitatum. Nunc quoque 

 non multo graviore opera ; sed tamen inarari certum est, ahjecta priiis 

 semina in lime digressi amnis, hoc est, Novembri nienseincipiente, 

 postea pauci rnncant, qnod botanisnion vocant. Reliqiia pars non nisi 

 cum falce arva visit paulo ante Calend. Aprilis : peragitur autem messis 

 Maio, sti[)ula nunquam rubitali." Lib. xviii. 18. The canals are now 

 generally cut about the 10th of August. 

 * Seneca, Nat. Qucest. IV. ii. p. 886. 



