CHAP. XIII. THE EVIL BEING PROPITIATED. 427 



tales related by the Greeks respecting the customs 

 of the Egyptians. 



The supposed birthday of Typho was, in like 

 manner, looked upon as inauspicious ; and "accord- 

 ingly, on the third day of the Epact, the Kings nei- 

 ther transacted any business, nor even suffered them- 

 selves to take any refreshment till the evening." * 



If it appears singular that this hatred of the 

 Evil Being did not prevent their propitiating him 

 on certain occasions, the custom is not confined to 

 the Egyptians ; far less speculative people have 

 adopted it even to the present day ; and philo- 

 sophers have offered many conflicting opinions on 

 the abstract theory of the good and bad, the origin 

 of sin, and the power, cause, and nature of evil. 



The fact of the figure of this Deity being so 

 generally erased, and the change in the name of 

 Amun, go far to prove that certain innovations 

 took place in the religious theories of the Egyptians ; 

 and if we could discover earlier monuments than 

 those which now remain, we might find the number 

 of Deities more limited than in the time even of 

 the 18th Dynasty. 



From what has been said it appears, 1°. That the 

 Evil Being was admitted, in early times, to divine 

 honours. 



2°. That these were discontinued from some 

 calamity befalling the country, or from the good 

 and bad being made entirely distinct. 



* Pint, de Is. s. 12. Jlde supra, p. 210. It is singular that tiic name 

 " Typlion " (Tiplioon) was applied to a '* siuklcn w liirlwinci " in former 

 times (Plin, ii. 48.), as at the present day ; and tliat Tuphun is the Arabic 

 name of the Deluge. 



