EGYPTIAN
Was
35
SYMFOl^J..
not the intention of the Egyptian priests thus man, symbolized by the bull, only becontinent when chained by marriage, represented it
to express that
came
by the
fig-tree?
at least none that I know It is probable that represents a bull tied to a fig-tree. this passage of HorapoUo relates tt» a proverb or popular saying borrowed from tiie sacred tongue.
No Egyptian monument,
of,
ANT. The Egyptians represented
knoivledgc or intelligence^
the ant, because it finds what man hides with yvujais, by care another reason, adds Horapollo, was, that, unlike other animals, when gathering provisions for winter, it never mistakes the place, but arrives there without ;
error (Horap.
The ant
I.
52).
here presented as a symbol of initiation, or of an Initiate who has received knowledge, hidden by the priests from the vulgar. The name of the ant, i'i^^i nmle, is formed by the verb b-ij nml, signifying to circumcise. is
We
learn from Herodotus (II. 36 and 104), Diodorus of Sicily (III. 32 in fine, Wessel, p. 198) and Philon (lib. iieoi tTtnouF,^), that the initiates in the mysteries, secret doctrines of the tlie who were instructed the cynocephalus, were circumcised ; Egyptian priests, according to IlorapcjUo, represented the priesthood, be-
m
naturally circumcised (Horap. I. 14. Leep. 204). The Jewish [teople were initiated in the mysteries of true religion, and all Israelites had to be circumcised. The fable of the Myrmidons, or ants changed into
cause mans,
it
is
Ad not.
who acquire knowlaJgc .•signifies that the jtrofane the mysteries, that tlie circumcised, or untSy become true n)en. The particular relation between the ant and circumcision is, tliat the ant, according to tin* ancicnits, cut Hie to use tlie Ii«;breW top of the ear to gtit the grain (jut men,
ol
;
oxftression, it oS7 et 8e({. p.
circumcised ;
Job,
it
(l)0(;liart, c. xxiv. v. 21).
Iliervzo'icon,
H