And in the first place where she could take rest,
and found herself to be now at liberty and alone, she
opened the ark, and laid her cheeks upon the cheeks of
Osiris, and embraced him and wept bitterly. The little
boy seeing her came silently behind her, and peeping saw
what it was; which she perceiving cast a terrible look
upon him in the height of her passion; the fright whereof
the child could not endure, and immediately died. But
there are some that say it was not so, but that in the forementioned manner he dropped into the sea, and was there
drowned. And he hath divine honors given him to this
very day upon the Goddess's account; for they assure us
that Maneros, whom the Egyptians so often mention in
their carols at their banquets, is the very same. But others
say that the boy was named Palaestinus or Pelusius, and
that the city of that name was so called from him, it
having been built by the Goddess. They also relate that
this Maneros, so often spoken of in their songs, was the
first that invented music. But some there are that would
make us believe that Maneros was not the name of any
person, but a certain form of speech, made use of to
people in drinking and entertaining themselves at feasts,
by way of wishing that all things might prove auspicious
and agreeable to them; for that is the thing which the
Egyptians would express by the word Maneros, when they
so often roar it forth. In like manner they affirm that the
likeness of a dead man, which is carried about in a little
box and shown at feasts, is not to commemorate the disaster of Osiris, as some suppose, but was designed to encourage men to make use of and to enjoy the present
things whilst they have them, since all men must quickly
become such as they there see; for which reason they
bring it into their revels and feasts.
[p. 80]
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