desire of glory, he left his kingdom to his
brother AEgi{)a}lus, and went into Egypt, in search of a new name and
kingdom there. The Egyptians were not so much overcome by the valor of
Os{=i}ris, as obliged to him for his kindness towards them. Having
conferred the greatest benefits on his subjects, by civilizing their
manners, and instructing them in husbandry and other useful arts, he
made the necessary disposition of his affairs, committed the regency to
Isis, and set out with a body of forces in order to civilize the rest of
mankind. This he performed more by the power of persuasion, and the
soothing arts of music and poetry, than by the terror of his arms.

In his absence, Typhoeus, the giant, whom historians call the brother of
Os{=i}ris, formed a conspiracy to dethrone him; for which end, at the
return of Os{=i}ris into Egypt, he invited him to a feast, at the
conclusion of which a chest of exquisite workmanship was brought in, and
offered to him who, when laid down in it, should be found to fit it the
best. Os{=i}ris, not suspecting a trick to be played him, got into the
chest, and the cover being immediately shut upon him, this good but
unfortunate prince was thus thrown into the Nile.

When the news of this transaction reached Coptus, where Isis his wife
then was, she cut her hair, and in deep mourning went every where in
search of the dead body. This was at length discovered, and concealed by
her at Butus; but Typhoeus, while hunting by moonlight, having found it
there, tore it into many pieces, which he scattered abroad. Isis then
traversed the lakes and watery places in a boat made of the _papyrus_,
seeking the mangled parts of Os{=i}ris, and where she found any, there
she buried them; hence the many tombs ascribed to Os{=i}ris.

Plutarch seems evidently to prove that the Egyptians worshipped the Sun
under the name of Os{=i}ris. His reasons are: 1. Because the images of
Os{=i}ris were always clothed in a shining garment, to represent the
rays and light of the sun. 2. In their hymns, composed in honor of
Os{=i}ris, they prayed to him who reposes himself in the bosom of the
sun. 3. After the autumnal equinox, they celebrated a feast called, _The
disappearing of Os{=i}ris_, by which is plainly meant the absence and
distance of the sun. 4. In the month of November they led a cow seven
times round the temple of Os{=i}ris, intimating thereby, that in seven
months the sun would return to the summer solstice.

H