OF THE EGYPTIAN RITES
BY VOLTAIRE
In the first place, did the Egyptians acknowledge
one supreme God? If this question had been propounded
to the commonality of that people themselves, they
would not have known what to reply: if to the young
students in Egyptian theology, they would have
harangued for a long time, without understanding
themselves: if to any one of the sages consulted by
Pythagoras, Plato, or Plutarch, he would ingenuously
have replied that he adored only one God, which
answer would be founded upon the ancient inscription
of the statue of Isis, "I am what is;" and
this other, "I am all that has been and shall
be; no mortal can raise my veil." He would have
pointed out the globe, placed upon the temple-gate
at Memphis, which represented the unity of the
divine nature, under the word Knef.
The most sacred name amongst the Egyptians, was that
of Y-ha-ho, which the Hebrews adopted. It is
variously pronounced; but Clement of Alexandria
assures us, in his Stromates, that those who
entered into the temple of Serapis, were obliged to
wear the inscription of the name I-ha-ho, or I-ha-hou,
which signified the God eternal. The Arabians have
retained only the syllable hou, afterwards adopted
by the Turks, who pronounce it with still greater
respect than the word Allah, for they use Allah
in conversation, and they never use hou, but when
at prayer. Let us observe here, en passant, that
when the Turkish ambassador, Said Effendi, saw the
representation of the Bourgeois Gentilhomme, or
Tradesman turned Gentleman, and that ridiculous
ceremony in which he is made a Turk, and hearing
the sacred word hou pronounced with derision
and extravagant gestures, he looked upon this
diversion as the most abominable profanation.
But to resume. The Egyptian priests fed a sacred
ox, a sacred dog, and a sacred crocodile it is
true; and the Romans had also their sacred geese.
They had gods of every kind, and the devotees had,
among their household deities, the god of the
open-chair, Deum Stercutium, and the god Pet, Deum crepitum;
but did they the less acknowledge the Deum optimum maximum --
the master of gods and men.
Which is the country that has not abounded with
superstitious bigots, and a small number of reasonable
people?
What should be particularly observed with respect
to Egypt and all other nations, is, that they never
had any invariable opinions, any more than laws,
that were always uniform, notwithstanding the
attachment which men have to their ancient customs.
There is nothing immutable but Geometry, all things
else undergo incessant variation.
The learned dispute, and will dispute. One asserts
that the ancient people were all idolaters, another
denies it; one says that they adored only one God,
without an image; another says that they adored several
gods in several images. They are all right; nothing
more is requisite than to distinguish the times and
men which have changed; there never was any agreement.
When the Ptolomies and the principal priests made a
joke of Apis's bull, the people prostrated themselves
before it.
Juvenal says that the Egyptians adored onions; but
we do not find it in any history. There is a great
deal of difference between a sacred onion, and an
onion that is a god. Every thing is not adored that
is placed, that is consecrated, upon the altar. We
read in Cicero, that those men who have drained every
kind of superstition, have not yet arrived at that
of eating their gods; and that this is the only
absurdity they are deficient in.
Is circumcision derived from the Egyptians, the
Arabians, or the Ethiopians? I am ignorant. Let
those who know speak. All I know is, that the priests
of antiquity imprinted upon their bodies marks of
their consecration, as the Roman soldiers were
afterwards marked with a hot iron. There, the
sacrificing priests slashed the bodies, as did
afterwards the priests of Bellona: Here, they made
themselves eunuchs, in imitation of the priests
of Cybele.
The Jews adopted circumcision from the Egyptians,
with part of their ceremonies. They have always
retained it, as well as the Arabians and the
Ethiopians; the Turks have submitted to it, though
it is not ordered in the Alcoran. It is only an
ancient usage, which was introduced by superstition,
and which has been preserved by custom.
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