CHAP. Xrr, THEIR SUPERSTITIONS. l63 



from a Greek ; and, as Clemens justly remarks, that 

 people had little reason to criticise the religion of 

 the Egyptians j for into the Pantheon of Greece a 

 greater number of deified men were admitted, than 

 into that of any ancient people ; and the legendary 

 tales of the deities degraded their nature by attri- 

 buting to them the most inconsistent and disgust- 

 ing vices. 



On the superstition of the Egyptians in consider- 

 ing animals or herbs to be Gods, and in lament- 

 ing their death, Plutarch observes *, — *' Struck 

 with the manifest absurdity of these things, Xe- 

 nophanes the Colophonian, and other philosophers 

 who followed him, might not only have said to 

 the Egyptians, — 'if ye believe them to be Gods, 

 why do ye weep for them ? if they deserve your 

 lamentations, why do ye repute them Gods?' — - 

 but they might have added, that it was still more 

 ridiculous to weep for the fruits of the earth, and 

 at the same time to pray for them, that they would 

 appear again, and bring themselves to maturity, 

 to be again consumed, and again lamented : '* and 

 nothing could be more open to censure than the 

 folly of the Egyptians in paying divine honours to 

 the brute creation. For whatever may have been 

 their original motive, the natural consequence of 

 its introduction ought to have been foreseen : they 

 may have deified some to insure their preservation, 

 because they were useful to the country ; others 

 may have been called sacred, to prevent their un- 

 wholesome meat becoming an article of food ; and 



* Pint, tic Is. s. 71. 



ivi 2 



