LETTER

XXX.

OF APIS, THE SACRED OX.

The fame of Apis: princes and kings came to offer him facrifice: bis diftinctive marks: Inauguration: The place where he was kept, and the temple to which carried at his death. The celebration of the birth of the new Apis: was the allegorical god of the folar year, the type of the cycle of twenty-five years, and the Symbol of inundation.

To M. L. M.

Grand Cairo.

APIS, become famous in Egypt, was renowned among neighbouring nations. Pomponius Mela (1), Ælian (m), and Lucian, who speak after the priests, inform us he was generally worshipped in the country, and his divinity proved by evident marks. Alexander, (1) Lib. I. (m) Lib. 11.

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Cc 2

having

having conquered the kingdom, disdained not to offer him facrifice (n). Titus (a), Adrian (p), and Germanicus (7), went to vifit and pay him homage. him homage. These great

princes, doubtlefs, knew the abfurdity of such adoration; but curiofity induced them to learn the mysteries of the priests, and the defire of gaining the love of the Egyptians led them to offer incenfe to their idol. The best and most authentic writers, on Egyptian my

thology, fay, Apis was a fymbolical deity.

Among their confecrated animals Mnevis "and Apis are the most famous; the first an " emblem of the fun, the second of the moon

(r)." Porphyrius (s), tells us Apis bore characteristic figns of both thofe luminaries; and Macrobius (t), confirming this opinion, adds, he was equally confecrated to them. You may well fuppofe, Sir, an ox become the object of public adoration, was not produced like other animals; the priests affirmed,

(n) Arrian. Expedit. Alexand."

(0) Sueton. in Vita Titi,

() Spartian. in Vita Adriani,

(2) Tacit. Annal. lib. 2,

(r) Ammian. Marcellin. lib. zz.

(5) Apud Eufeb. de Præp. Evan. Nb. 3.

Saturnal.

nature.

his origin was divine. Apis is feldom generated, nor ever according to the ufual laws of The Egyptians affirm it is by celestial fire (u). Plutarch explains this passage. "The priests pretend the Moon sheds a gene"rative light, with which fhould a cow, wanting the bull, be ftruck fhe conceives

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Apis, and he bears the figns of that planet (x)." Herodotus in Euterpe fays the fame. Such were the fables the priests taught, and the vulgar, to whom this god was the presage of Plenty, eagerly received, and blindly believed them. Pliny has defcribed the marks of the facred ox. "A white spot, like a crescent, on the right fide, and a swelling under the tongue, distinguished Apis (y)." When the cow, supposed to be impregnated by lunar rays, brought forth, the priests went to examine the calf, and, if thus marked, they proclaimed the birth of Apis and fertility. "An "edifice was built for the new god, facing "the rifing fun, according to the precepts of Hermes, where he was fed, four months, " with milk; after which the priests went in

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(u) Pomp. Mela, lib. 1.

(x) Plut. de Ifide et Ofiride,

{) Plin. l. 8. Confirmed by Alian, líb. 11.

pomp to his abode, and faluted him by the "name of Apis (z)." They then placed him in a veffel, magnificently ornamented, covered with a rich carpet, and sparkling with gold, and conducted him to Nilopolis, finging hymns and burning incenfe. Here they kept him forty days (a), during which women, only, had permiffion to fee and falute him in a manner I fhall not relate, but which ís proved from good authority: while he lived they were no more admitted into his presence. Having been inaugurated, in this city, the fame proceffion, with inumerable boats, took the god to Memphis (b), where, all ceremonies ending, he became wholly facred (c). Apis had a stately dwelling, and the place where he lay was mystically called the bed. Strabo (d) vifited, and thus defcribed his palace. "The edifice where

Apis remains is near the temple of Vulcan. "He is fed in a holy apartment, before "which is a grand court. The cow, his

(z) Elian. Hift. Animal. lib. II.

(a) Diod. Sic. lib. 2.-Eused. Præp. Evan. lib. 3. (b) Ammian. Marcellin.

(c) Plin. lib. 8.

*The Latin reads thalamus, chamber, T.

(d) Lib. 17.

"dam,

*dam, is kept in a house on one of its fides; " and, fometimes, to gratify the curiofity of

ftrangers, he is brought out, into this 86 court. He He may always be seen through a "window; but the priests also show him to "the public." Solinus fays they once a year present him a heifer, which they put to death on the fame day.

An ox, thus marvellously procreated, neceffarily had fupernatural knowledge. Thus the priests affirmed he foretold the future, by his geftures, motions, and other modes, which they intérpreted according to their fancies. .66 Apis has two temples, called beds, (thalamos) which ferve as oracles to the people. If, when confulted, he enters "the one, the prediction is favourable; and "the reverse, if the other. He gives anfwers "to individuals, by taking food from their "hands; this he refufed from the hand of "Germanicus, who died foon after (e)." It were unjust to imagine this respectable writer had faith in fuch predictions; he gives the opinions of the Egyptians, and only cites facts, without fpeaking his own fentiments.