As For The Serpent Its Form Is Like That
Of The Watersnake; And It Has Wings Not Feathered But Most Nearly
Resembling The Wings Of The Bat.
Let so much suffice as has been said
now concerning sacred animals.
Of the Egyptians themselves, those who dwell in the part of Egypt
which is sown for crops practise memory more than any other men and
are the most learned in history by far of all those of whom I have had
experience: and their manner of life is as follows: - For three
successive days in each month they purge, hunting after health with
emetics and clysters, and they think that all the diseases which exist
are produced in men by the food on which they live: for the Egyptians
are from other causes also the most healthy of all men next after the
Libyans (in my opinion on account of the seasons, because the seasons
do not change, for by the changes of things generally, and especially
of the seasons, diseases are most apt to be produced in men), and as
to their diet, it is as follows: - they eat bread, making loaves of
maize, which they call /kyllestis/, and they use habitually a wine
made out of barley, for vines they have not in their land. Of their
fish some they dry in the sun and then eat them without cooking,
others they eat cured in brine. Of birds they eat quails and ducks and
small birds without cooking, after first curing them; and everything
else which they have belonging to the class of birds or fishes, except
such as have been set apart by them as sacred, they eat roasted or
boiled. In the entertainments of the rich among them, when they have
finished eating, a man bears round a wooden figure of a dead body in a
coffin, made as like the reality as may be both by painting and
carving, and measuring about a cubit or two cubits each way; and this
he shows to each of those who are drinking together, saying: "When
thou lookest upon this, drink and be merry, for thou shalt be such as
this when thou art dead." Thus they do at their carousals. The customs
which they practise are derived from their fathers and they do not
acquire others in addition; but besides other customary things among
them which are worthy of mention, they have one song, that of Linos,
the same who is sung of both in Phenicia and in Cyprus and elsewhere,
having however a name different according to the various nations. This
song agrees exactly with that which the Hellenes sing calling on the
name of Linos, so that besides many other things about which I wonder
among those matters which concern Egypt, I wonder especially about
this, namely whence they got the song of Linos. It is evident however
that they have sung this song from immemorial time, and in the
Egyptian tongue Linos is called Maneros. The Egyptians told me that he
was the only son of him who first became king of Egypt, and that he
died before his time and was honoured with these lamentations by the
Egyptians, and that this was their first and only song. In another
respect the Egyptians are in agreement with some of the Hellenes,
namely with the Lacedemonians, but not with the rest, that is to say,
the younger of them when they meet the elder give way and move out of
the path, and when their elders approach, they rise out of their seat.
In this which follows however they are not in agreement with any of
the Hellenes, - instead of addressing one another in the roads they do
reverence, lowering their hand down to their knee. They wear tunics of
linen about their legs with fringes, which they call /calasiris/;
above these they have garments of white wool thrown over: woolen
garments however are not taken into the temples, nor are they buried
with them, for this is not permitted by religion. In these points they
are in agreement with the observances called Orphic and Bacchic (which
are really Egyptian), and also with those of the Pythagoreans, for one
who takes part in these mysteries is also forbidden by religious rule
to be buried in woolen garments; and about this there is a sacred
story told.
Besides these things the Egyptians have found out also to what god
each month and each day belongs, and what fortunes a man will meet
with who is born on any particular day, and how he will die, and what
kind of a man he will be: and these inventions were taken up by those
of the Hellenes who occupied themselves about poesy. Portents too have
been found out by them more than by all other men besides; for when a
portent has happened, they observe and write down the event which
comes of it, and if ever afterwards anything resembling this happens,
they believe that the event which comes of it will be similar. Their
divination is ordered thus: - the art is assigned not to any man but to
certain of the gods, for there are in their land Oracles of Heracles,
of Apollo, of Athene, of Artemis, or Ares, and of Zeus, and moreover
that which they hold most in honour of all, namely the Oracle of Leto
which is in the city of Buto. The manner of divination however is not
established among them according to the same fashion everywhere, but
is different in different places. The art of medicine among them is
distributed thus: - each physician is a physician of one disease and of
no more; and the whole country is full of physicians, for some profess
themselves to be physicians of the eyes, others of the head, others of
the teeth, others of the affections of the stomach, and others of the
more obscure ailments.
Their fashions of mourning and of burial are these: - Whenever any
household has lost a man who is of any regard amongst them, the whole
number of women of that house forthwith plaster over their heads or
even their faces with mud.
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