ed on each side, and supported
both the image and the boat in which it was carried. They are said to have
been eighty in number; and they pretended to bear the Deity about, just as
they were by the divine impulse directed. _The God_, says [754]Diodorus
Siculus, _is carried about in a ship of gold by eighty of his priests. They
bear him upon their shoulders, and pursue their way by instinct, just as
the divine automaton chances to direct them._ These persons, who thus
officiated, were probably the same as the Petipharae of the antient
Egyptians, but were called Paterae by the Greeks. It was a name, and office,
by which the priests of Delphi, and of many other places besides those in
Egypt, were distinguished: and the term always related to oracular
interpretation. Hence Bochart describes these priests, and their function,
very justly. [755]Paterae Sacerdotes Apollinis, oraculorum interpretes.
Pator, or Petor, was an Egyptian word; and Moses speaking of Joseph, and
the dreams of Pharaoh, more than once makes use of it in the sense above.
It occurs Genesis. c. 41. v. 8.--v. 13. and manifestly alludes to an
interpretation of that divine intercourse, which the Egyptians styled
Omphi. This was communicated to Pharaoh by a dream: for the Omphi was
esteemed not only a verbal response, but also an intimation by
[756]dreams--[Greek: Omphe, pheme theia, theia kledon--oneirou
phantasmata.] Hesychius. So it likewise occurs in Eusebius; who quotes a
passage from the oracles of Hecate, wherein the Gods are represented, as
insensibly wafted through the air like an Omphean vision.

[757][Greek: Tous de mesous mesatoisin epembebaotas aetais]
[Greek: Nosphi puros theioio PANOMPHEAS eut' ONEIROUS.]

These Omphean visions were explained by Joseph; he interpreted the dreams
of Pharaoh: wherefore the title of Pator is reckoned by the Rabbins among
the names of Joseph. There is thought to be the same allusion to divine
interpretation in the name of the apostle Peter: [Greek: Petros, ho
epiluon, ho epiginoskon.] Hesych. Petrus Hebraeo sermone agnoscens notat.
Arator. From these examples we may, I think, learn that the priest was
styled Petor, and Pator: and that it was the place, which properly was
called Patora. The Colossal statue of Memnon in the Thebais was a Patora,
or oracular image. There are many inscriptions upon different parts of it;
which were copied by Dr. Pocock[758], and are to be seen in the first
volume of his travels. They