Page:Books on Egypt and Chaldaea, Vol. 32--Legends of the Gods.pdf/328

 the daughter of Hermes, and by others of Prometheus, both of them famous for their philosophic turn of mind. The latter is supposed to have first taught mankind wisdom and foresight, as the former is reputed to have invented letters and music.

They likewise call the former of the two Muses at Hermppolis Isis as well as Dikaiosune, she being none other, it is said, than Wisdom pointing out the knowledge of divine truths to her votaries, the true Hierophori and Hierostoli. Now, by the former of these are meant such who carry about them locked up in their souls, as in a chest, the sacred doctrine con­cerning the gods, purified from all such superfluities as superstition may have added thereto. And the holy apparel with which the Hierostoli adorn the statues of these deities, which is partly of a dark and gloomy and partly of a more bright and shining colour, seems aptly