422 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII. 



Sufficient proof exists of the possibility of the 

 same Deity being looked upon in two different cha- 

 racters ; and Plutarch has given * some of the various 

 theories respecting the two principles. *' Some," 

 he says, " assert that there are two Gods of two con- 

 trary offices, — one the cause of all that is good in 

 the world, the other of all that is evil. Others, 

 again, call the good principle only God, — giving 

 the name of Daemon to the Evil Being, — in which 

 number is Zoroaster the Mage, who is reported 

 to have lived 5000 years before the Trojan War. 

 That philosopher named the good principle Oro- 

 mazes (Ormusd), and the evil one Arimanius 

 (Ariman) ; between whom he supposed another 

 intermediate being, called Mithras, considered by 

 the Persians the Mediator. He also taught, that sa- 

 crifices for future or thanks for past benefits were 

 to be offered to the Good Being, as those for the 

 purpose of averting misfortunes to the evil one. 



" In the writings of Empedocles, the good prin- 

 ci])le is sometimes defined by the name of Love 

 and Friendship, and frequently by that of sweet- 

 looking Harmony ; the evil one being denominated 

 pernicious Enmity and Strife. By the Pytha- 

 goreans, the good one is called ' the Unit, the 

 Definite, the Fixed, the Straight, the Odd, the 

 Square, the Equal, the Dexterous, and the Lucid ;* 

 and the evil one, * the Duad, the Indefinite, the 

 Moveable, the Crooked, the Even, the Oblong, the 

 Unequal, the Sinistrous, the Dark.* Anaxagoras 



* Plut. de Is. s. 46. et seq. 



