ust have come from them; for
they worshipped the Deity under the titles of Meed, Hippa, and Abadir; and
various other appellations.

There is an account given by [714]Palaephatus of one Metra, who in the more
authentic manuscripts is called [Greek: Mestra], Meestra. It is said of
her, that she could change herself into various forms, particularly [Greek:
ek kores genesthai boun, kai authis kuna, kai orneon,] _that she would
instead of a young woman appear an ox, or a cow; or else be in the shape of
a dog, or of a bird_. She is represented as the daughter of Eresicthon: and
these uncommon properties are mentioned by Ovid[715], who sets them off
with much embellishment. The story at bottom is very plain. Egypt, the land
of the Mizraim, was by the Greeks often styled [716]Mestra and
[717]Mestraia: and by the person here called Mestra we are certainly to
understand a woman of that country. She was sometimes mentioned simply as a
Cahen, or priestess, which the Grecians have rendered [Greek: kuna], a dog.
Women in this sacred capacity attended at the shrine of Apis, and Mneuis;
and of the sacred heifer at Onuphis. Some of them in different countries
were styled Cygneans, and also Peleiadae, of whom the principal were the
women at [718]Dodona. Many of them were priestesses of Hippa, and upon that
account styled Hippai, as I have shewn. Hence the mythologists under the
character of Meestra have represented an Egyptian priestess, who could
assume many departments, which were misconstrued different shapes. She
could become, if we may credit Ovid,

Nunc equa, nunc ales, modo bos.

or according to Palaephatus, [Greek: boun, kuna, kai orneon]: _a cow, a dog,
and a bird_. The whole of this related to the particular service of the
priestess; and to the emblem under which the Deity was worshipped.

* * * * *

RITES

OF

DAMATER, OR CERES.

I shall now proceed to the rites of Ceres: and the general character of
this Goddess is so innocent, and rural, that one would imagine nothing
cruel could proceed from her shrine. But there was a time, when some of her
temples were as much dreaded, as those of Scylla, and the Cyclops. They
were courts of justice; whence she is often spoken of as a lawgiver.

[719]Prima Ceres unco terram dimovit aratro,
Prima dedit leges.

She is joined by Cicero with Libera, and they are styled the Deities,
[720]a quibus initia vitae, atque victus, _legum, morum_, ma