- Egypt, Though It Borders Upon Libya, Does Not Very Much
Abound In Wild Animals, But Such As They Have Are
One and all
accounted by them sacred, some of them living with men and others not.
But if I should
Say for what reasons the sacred animals have been thus
dedicated, I should fall into discourse of matters pertaining to the
gods, of which I most desire not to speak; and what I have actually
said touching slightly upon them, I said because I was constrained by
necessity. About these animals there is a custom of this kind: -
persons have been appointed of the Egyptians, both men and women, to
provide the food for each kind of beast separately, and their office
goes down from father to son; and those who dwell in the various
cities perform vows to them thus, that is, when they make a vow to the
god to whom the animal belongs, they shave the head of their children
either the whole or the half or the third part of it, and then set the
hair in the balance against silver, and whatever it weighs, this the
man gives to the person who provides for the animals, and she cuts up
fish of equal value and gives it for food to the animals. Thus food
for their support has been appointed and if any one kill any of these
animals, the penalty, if he do it with his own will, is death, and if
against his will, such penalty as the priests may appoint: but
whosoever shall kill an ibis or a hawk, whether it be with his will or
against his will, must die. Of the animals that live with men there
are great numbers, and would be many more but for the accidents which
befall the cats. For when the females have produced young they are no
longer in the habit of going to the males, and these seeking to be
united with them are not able. To this end then they contrive as
follows, - they either take away by force or remove secretly the young
from the females and kill them (but after killing they do not eat
them), and the females being deprived of their young and desiring
more, therefore come to the males, for it is a creature that is fond
of its young. Moreover when a fire occurs, the cats seem to be
divinely possessed; for while the Egyptians stand at intervals and
look after the cats, not taking any care to extinguish the fire, the
cats slipping through or leaping over the men, jump into the fire; and
when this happens, great mourning comes upon the Egyptians. And in
whatever houses a cat has died by a natural death, all those who dwell
in this house shave their eyebrows only, but those in which a dog has
died shave their whole body and also their head. The cats when they
are dead are carried away to sacred buildings in the city of Bubastis,
where after being embalmed they are buried; but the dogs they bury
each people in their own city in sacred tombs; and the ichneumons are
buried just in the same way as the dogs.
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