and the mixed tribes of Egypt, may have expressed them in this manner; for they were led by the ear; and did not inquire into the latent purport of the "theology transmitted to them. From hence we may perceive how little, in later times, even the native Egyptians knew of their rites and history.

Farther accounts may be produced from the same writer, in confirmation of what I have been saying. He not only mentions the great veneration paid by the Egyptians to dogs, but adds, that in many temples they kept xuvoxspaλo, a kind of baboons, or animals with heads like those of dogs, which were wonderfully endowed. By their assistance the Egyptians found out the particular periods of the Sun and Moon. These did not, like other animals, die at once, but by piece-meal; so that one half of the animal was oftentimes buried, while the other half survived. He more

14

13 The purport of the term Cahen, or Cohen, was not totally unknown in Greece. They changed it to zons, and zone; but still supposed it to signify a priest. Koνης, ἱερεὺς Καβείρων, ὁ καθαιρωμενος φονια. Hesychius. Κοιμται ἱεραται. Ibid.

λιθος;

It was also used for a title of the Deity. Κοιας, ὁ τρόγγυλος scilicet Baitulos. Moscopulus. p. 5. The Bætulus was the most antient representation of the Deity. See Apollon. Rhod. Schol. ad 1. 1. v. 919.

14

Ου, καθάπερ τα λοιπα ζώα εν ήμερα μια τελευτα, έτω και τέτες:

15

over assures us, that they could read and write; and whenever one of them was introduced into the sacred apartments for probation, the priest presented him with a " tablet, and with a pen and ink; and by his writing could immediately find out if he were of the true intelligent breed. These animals are said to have been of infinite use to the antient Egyptians in determining times and seasons; for it seems they were, in some particular functions, the most accurate and punctual of any creatures upon earth: " Per æquinoctia enim duodecies in die urinam reddere, et in nocte 17 compertus (Cunocephalus), æquali interstitio servato, Trismegisto ansam dedit diem dividendi in duodecim partes æquales. Such is the history of

16

αλλα μέρος

θαι. κτλ.

αυτων καθ ̓ ἑκασην ἡμεραν νεκρωμένον ὑπο των Ιερέων θαππεσα

Έως δ' αν ὧν ἑβδομήκοντα και δυο πληρωθῳσιν ἡμερας, τότε ὅλος robox. Horapollo. I. 1. c. 14. p. 2.

15 Εις ίερον επειδαν πρωτα κομισθη Κυνοκεφαλος, δελτον αυτῷ παρατίθησιν ὁ Ἱερευς, και σχοινίον, και μελαν, πειράζων, ει εκ της επιςάμενης 45' συγγένειας γραμματα, και ει γραφει. Horapollo. 1. 1. c. 14. P. 28.

16 Horapollo. 1. 1. c.

την ώραν ερει τοδε αυτο και

two Equinoxes.

16. p. 30. Δωδέκατος της ημερας καθ ̓ ἑκαστ ταις δυσι νυξι ποιεί, κτλ. Speaking of the

17 Hoffman: Cunocephalus.

Vossius de Idol, vol. 2. 1. 3. c. 78.

these wonderful 18 animals. That Apes and Baboons were, among the Egyptians, held in veneration, is very certain. The Ape was sacred to the God Apis; and by the Greeks was rendered Capis, and "Ceipis. The Baboon was denominated from the Deity" Babon, to whom it was equally sacred. But what have these to do with the supposed Cunocephalus, which, according to the Grecian interpretation, is an animal with the head of a dog? This characteristic does not properly belong to any species of Apes, but seems to have been unduly appropriated to them.

18 What Orus Apollo attributes to the Cunocephalus, Damas cius (in Vitâ Isidori) mentions of the Cat. Photii Bibliotheca. c. 242. p. 1049.

19 By Strabo expressed Kumos, who says, that it was reverenced by the people at Babylon, opposite to Memphis. 1. 17. p. 1167. Κειπον δε Βαβυλωνιοι οι κατα Μεμφιν (σεβασι).

Athenæus. 1.15.

20 Babun, Bav, of Hellanicus Lesbius. p. 680. called Bebon, Brew, by Manethon. Plutarch. Isis et Osiris. p. 371. 376. Babon was thought to have been the same as Typhon by some esteemed a female, and the wife of that personage. Plutarch. ibid.

The Ape and Monkey were held sacred, not in Egypt only, but in India, and likewise in a part of Africa. Diodorus Sicul. 1. 20. p. 793. Maffeus mentions a noble Pagoda in India, which was called the monkeys' Pagoda. Historia Ind. 1. 1. p. 25: and Balbus takes notice of Peguan temples, called by the natives Varelle, in which monkeys were kept, out of a religious principle. See Balbi Itinerarium.

The term Cunocephalus, Kuvoxeçaλes, is an Egyp tian compound: and this strange history relates to the priests of the country, styled Cahen; also to the novices in their temples; and to the examinations, which they were obliged to undergo, before they could be admitted to the priesthood. To explain this, I must take notice, that in early times they built their temples upon eminences, for many reasons; but especially for the sake of celestial observations. The Egyptians were much addicted to the study of astronomy: and they used to found their colleges in Upper Egypt upon rocks and hills, called by them Caph. These, as they were sacred to the Sun, were farther denominated Caph-El, and sometimes Caph-Aur, and Caph-Arez. The term Caph-El, which often occurs in history, the Greeks uniformly changed to Kepan, Cephale: and from Cahen-Caph-El, the sacred rock of Orus, they formed Kuronspain, and Κυνοκέφαλος; which they supposed to relate to an animal with the head of a dog. But this CahenCaph-El was certainly some royal seminary in Upper Egypt, whence they drafted novices to supply their colleges and temples. These young persons were, before their introduction, examined by some superior priest; and, accordingly as they answered upon their trial, they were admitted, or refused. They were denominated Caph-El, and Cahen-Caph-El, from the academy where they

received their first instruction; and this place, though sacred, seems to have been of a class subordinate to others. It was a kind of inferior cloister and temple, such as Capella in the Romish church; which, as well as Capellanus, was derived from Egypt: for, the church, in its first decline, borrowed largely from that country. That there was some particular place of this sort situated upon a rock or eminence, may, I think, be proved from Martianus Capella; and, moreover, that it was a seminary well known, where the youth of Upper Egypt were educated. For, in describing the sciences, under different personages, he gives this remarkable account of Dialectica upon introducing her before his audience. Hæc se educatam dicebat in Egyptiorum Rupe; atque in Parmenidis exinde gymnasium,; atque Atticam demeȧsse. And Johannes Sarisburiensis seems to intimate that Parmenides obtained his knowledge from the same quarter, when he mentions "in

21

21

Martianus Capella. 1. 4. sub initio,

Astronomia is made to speak to the same purpose.-Per immensa spatia seculorum, ne profanâ loquacitate vulgarer, Egyp tiorum clausa adytis occulebar. Martianus Capella. 1. S.

22 Johannes Sarisburlensis Metalogic. 1. 2. p. 787. Editio Lugd. Bat. anno 1639.

He speaks of Parmenides as if he were a native of Egypt; and seems to have understood that Parmenides took up his residence