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Egypt, though it borders upon Libya, is not a region abounding in
wild animals. The animals that do exist in the country, whether
domesticated or otherwise, are all regarded as sacred. If I were to
explain why they are consecrated to the several gods, I should be led
to speak of religious matters, which I particularly shrink from
mentioning; the points whereon I have touched slightly hitherto have
all been introduced from sheer necessity. Their custom with respect to
animals is as follows: For every kind there are appointed certain
guardians, some male, some female, whose business it is to look after
them; and this honour is made to descend from father to son. The
inhabitants of the various cities, when they have made a vow to any
god, pay it to his animals in the way which I will now explain. At
the time of making the vow they shave the head of the child, cutting
off all the hair, or else half, or sometimes a third part, which they
then weigh in a balance against a sum of silver; and whatever sum the
hair weighs is presented to the guardian of the animals, who thereupon
cuts up some fish, and gives it to them for food - such being the
stuff whereon they are fed. When a man has killed one of the sacred
animals, if he did it with malice prepense, he is punished with
death; if unwittingly, he has to pay such a fine as the priests choose
to impose. When an ibis, however, or a hawk is killed, whether it
was done by accident or on purpose, the man must needs die.
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