258 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII. 



ground, cutting the corn before him, or employed 

 in his presence tilling the land, and preparing it to 

 receive the generating influence of the Deity. It 

 was from this circumstance, that the Greeks and 

 Romans assigned to Priapus the office of presiding 

 over their gardens * ; and the idea of his frightening 

 away thieves with his right handt, was probably 

 derived from the flagellum placed over the uplifted 

 arm of the Egyptian Khem. 



It is also possible that the Hermes figures, placed 

 on the public roads, were borrowed from one of the 

 mummy-formed Gods of Egypt. All statues in 

 Greece, before the time of Daedalus, were similarly 

 rude imitations of the human figure, the legs being 

 iniited, and the arms attached to the body ; but we 

 may reasonably suppose that some other reason be- 

 yond the mere retention of ancient custom induced 

 them to give to these statues alone so remarkable a 

 form ; and it is evident that the Hermes figures bear 

 a stronger resemblance to the Egyptian mummy 

 than to a statue of the ancient Greek style. From 



* Hor. Epoil. ii. 17. 



" Vel, qiuim decorum niitibus pomis caput 

 Autumnus arvis extulit, 

 Ut gauclet insitiva decerpens pyra, 



Certantem et uvam purpuras, 

 Qua muneretur te, Priape, et te, pater 

 Silvane, tutor finium." 

 A figure of Priapus, engraved by Boissart, has this inscription, 

 " Hortorum custodi, vigili, conservatori propaginis villicoruni." Banier, 

 Myth. iv. p. 453. 



t Conf, Hor. Sat. I. viii. 3. 



" Deus inde ego, furium aviuinque 

 Maxima formido ; nam fures dextra coercet, 

 Ast importunas volucres in vertice arundo 

 Terret fixa, vetatque novis considere in hortis." 



