314 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII- 



honour of the son of Jupiter and Ceres, who ac- 

 companied his mother in her search for Proserpine; 

 but the fig tree of Athens does not appear to 

 have been borrowed from the sycomore of Egypt, 

 unless it were in consequence of its connection 

 with the mother of Isis and Osiris, whom they 

 supposed to correspond to Ceres and Bacchus. 



In one of the hieroglyphic legends* given in the 

 Plate, Netpe appears to be identified with' Lucina, 

 and to preside over births and nursing. Indeed, 

 it is probable that mothers looked to her for pro- 

 tection, being the fabled parent of their favourite 

 Deities Isis and Osiris, from which she derived the 

 title " Mother of the Gods." Of the Egyptian 

 Lucina, worshipped at Eilethyas, I shall have occa- 

 sion to speak hereafter. 



OsiRi, Osiris, Pluto, Bacchus. 



"Osiris, in his mysterious character, was the 

 greatest of all the Egyptian Deities ; but little is 

 known of those undivulged secrets, which the an- 

 cients took so much care to conceal. So cautious 

 indeed, were the initiated t, that they made a 

 scruple even of mentioning him;" and Herodo- 

 tus, whenever he relates any thing concerning this 

 Deity, excuses himself from uttering his name. 



His principal office, as an Egyptian Deity, was 

 to judge the dead, and to rule over that king- 

 dom where the souls of good men were admitted 



* Plate 32. Hierog. No. 2., from Dendera. 

 f Her odot. jmssm. Plut. de Is. s.21. &c. 



