THE HINDU RELIGION. '73 



Plebs vetus, et nullis etiamnum tuta tribunis, 



Fugit ; and in sacri vertice montis abit. 

 Jam quoque, quern secum tulerant, defecerat illos 665 



Victus, et humanis usibus apta Ceres. 

 Orta suburbanis quaedam fiiit i\nua Bovillis 



Pauper, sed niunda; sedulitatis, anus. 

 Ilia, levi niitr^ canos ledimita capillos, 



Fingebat tremul^ rustica liba manu. 67O 



Atque ita per populum fumantia mane solebat 



Dividere. Heec populo copia grata fuit. 

 Pace domi facta signum posuere Perennae, 



Quod sibi defectis ilia tulisset opem. 674 



Ovid, Fast. Lib. 3d. 



Of the Four Months Sleep o/'Horus and Vishxu. 



The Abbe Pluche (to whose ingenious work I 

 am so much indebted), mentions two hieroglyphics, 

 one taken from the Isiac table, and the other de- 

 scribed upon a IMummy, They both relate to the 

 sleep of HoRus. 



The one represents a couch, in the form of a 

 lion, with Horus swaddled up and sleeping on it. 

 Beneath the couch are four jars: an Anubis is 

 standing b}^ the side of the couch; and an Isis at 

 the head of it, in the act of awakening Horus. 



When Anubis, or the Dog Star, rose heliacall}'-, 

 the Egyptians considered it as a warning to them 

 of the approach of the inundation, during which 

 the operations of husbandry were suspended; this 

 suspension was deemed a period of rest: to express 

 that inaction, Horus was described as swaddled 

 up, unable to use his arms, and sleeping upon this 

 lion-formed couch. Anubis is putting him to rest, 

 because the rising of the Dog Star proclaimed that 

 cessation of labour. The four jars denote the four 

 months. When, by the operations of nature, the 

 water has subsided, and the river has been reduced 



