406 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII. 



of those weak, incomplete notions, which we are apt 

 to form of the divine nature. For which reason, 

 we see him described with his finger pointing to 

 his mouth, — a proper emblem of that modest 

 and cautious silence we ought to observe in these 

 matters. So, when they offer him the first-fruits 

 of their lentils in the month Mesore, they at 

 the same time exclaim, ' The tongue is Fortune, 

 the tongue is God : ' and hence it is, that, of all 

 Egyptian plants, the peach tree is looked upon 

 peculiarly sacred to Harpocrates ; because of the 

 resemblance observed between its fruit and the 

 heart, and between its leaves and the human 

 tongue." There is, however, reason to believe that 

 this is one of the many errors with which the ac- 

 counts of Greek writers abound. The peach tree 

 (unless it be the same as Persea) was not sacred 

 to any Deity ; and it is evident that he had in view 

 the holy tree of Athor, whose fruit, as rej)resented 

 in the sculptures, so strongly resembles the heart.* 

 Harpocrates is represented as an infant nursed 

 by Isis, or with his finger to his mouth, having a 

 lock of hair falling from the side of his head. The 

 same figure is commonly employed by the Egyp- 

 tians to indicate a child. He is generally in a 

 sitting posture ; instances, however, occur of his 

 standing upright, and walking alone, or at the side 

 of his mother. The lock of hair, the distinguish- 

 ing mark of a child, though one of his principal 

 characteristics, is not confined to Harpocrates : it 



* Vide supid, p, 392. 



