ons are assigned for the worship paid to animals by the
Egyptians.(354)

The first is drawn from fabulous history. It is pretended that the gods,
in a rebellion made against them by men, fled into Egypt, and there
concealed themselves under the form of different animals; and that this
gave birth to the worship which was afterwards paid to those animals.

The second is taken from the benefit which these several animals procure
to mankind:(355) oxen by their labour; sheep by their wool and milk; dogs
by their service in hunting, and guarding houses, whence the god Anubis
was represented with a dog's head: the ibis, a bird very much resembling a
stork, was worshipped, because he put to flight the winged serpents, with
which Egypt would otherwise have been grievously infested; the crocodile,
an amphibious creature, that is, living alike upon land and water, of a
surprising strength and size,(356) was worshipped, because he defended
Egypt from the incursions of the wild Arabs; the ichneumon was adored,
because he prevented the too great increase of crocodiles, which might
have proved destructive to Egypt. Now the little animal in question does
this service to the country two ways. First, it watches the time when the
crocodile is absent, and breaks his eggs, but does not eat them. Secondly,
when the crocodile is asleep upon the banks of the Nile, (and he always
sleeps with his mouth open,) the ichneumon, which lies concealed in the
mud, leaps at once into his mouth; gets down to his entrails, which he
gnaws; then piercing his belly, the skin of which is very tender, he
escapes with safety; and thus, by his address and subtilty, returns
victorious over so terrible an animal.

Philosophers, not satisfied with reasons which were too trifling to
account for such strange absurdities as dishonoured the heathen system,
and at which themselves secretly blushed, have, since the establishment of
Christianity, supposed a third reason for the worship which the Egyptians
paid to animals, and declared, that it was not offered to the animals
themselves, but to the gods, of whom they are symbols. Plutarch, in his
treatise where he examines professedly the pretensions of Isis and Osiris,
the two most famous deities of the Egyptians, says as follows:(357)
"Philosophers honour the image of God wherever they find it, even in
inanimate beings, and consequently more in those which have life. We are
therefore to approve, not the worshippers of the