124 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI. 



Equinox*," to commemorate the beginning of har- 

 vest. " Some," says Plutarch, " assimilate the 

 history of those Gods to the various changes which 

 happen in the air, during the several seasons of the 

 year, or to those accidents which are observed in 

 the production of corn, in its sowing and ripening ; 

 ' for,' they observe, * what can the burial of Osiris 

 more aptly signify, than the first covering the seed 

 in the ground after it is sown ? or his reviving and 

 reappearing, than its first beginning to shoot up ? 

 and why is Isis said, upon perceiving herself to be 

 with child, to have hung an amulet about her neck 

 on the 6th of the month Phaophi, soon after sowing 

 time, but in allusion to this allegory ? and who is 

 that Harpocrates, whom they tell us she brought 

 forth about the time of the winter tropic, but those 

 weak and slender shootings of the corn, which are 

 yet feeble and imperfect?' — for which reason it 

 is, that the firstfriuts of their lentils are dedicated 

 to this God, and they celebrate the feast of his 

 mother's delivery just after the vernal equinox." 

 From this it may be inferred that the festival of 

 the lentils was instituted when the month Mesore 

 coincided with the end of March ; for since they 

 were sown at the end of November, and ripened 

 in about 100 or 110 days, the firstfruits might be 

 gathered in three months and a half, or, as Plutarch 

 tells us, "just after the vernal equinox," or the last 

 week in March. It is not stated on what day of 

 Mesore this festival took place ; we can, therefore, 

 only arrive at an approximate calculation respect- 



* Plut. de Is. s. 65. 



