160 THE ANCIEXT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII. 



animal, as the type of a beneficent Deity. This 

 remark applies equally to other sacred emblems, as 

 I shall have occasion to show in describing the sa- 

 cred animals. But if, in most instances, the motives 

 assigned for their choice appear capricious and un- 

 satisfactory, we frequently discover some plausible 

 pretext derived from a sanatory notion, as in the case 

 of their abstinence from the meat of swine, from 

 beans and *' most sorts of pulse *," and from certain 

 fish of the Nile ; or connected with some advantage 

 to mankind ; and in order to command the observ- 

 ance of these injunctions, and to prevent the pos- 

 sibility of their being disregarded, many forbidden 

 things were denominated sacred, or reputed to par- 

 take of the nature of the Gods. *' For," says Por- 

 phyry, " the Egyptians either considered animals to 

 be really Deities, or represented their (jods with the 

 heads of oxen, birds, and other creatures, in order 

 that the people might abstain from eating them, as 

 they did from using human flesh, or for some other 

 more mysterious reason ; " and religious prejudice 

 commanded respect for them as for " their melo- 

 dies, which were preserved through successive ages 

 as the actual poems of the Goddess Isis." t 



In process of time, the original motive was for- 

 gotten, and mere blind adoration took its place : 

 but Plutarch says t, " it is evident that the religious 

 rites and ceremonies of the Egyptians were never 

 instituted on irrational grounds, or built on mere 

 fable and superstition ; all being founded with a 



* These ami fish were forbidden to the priests. Jlde Plut. de Is. s. 5. 

 f Plato, Sd Book of Laws, p. 790. t Pint, de Iside, s. 8. 



