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They also declare - but I for my part do not credit it - that the
god comes down in person into this chamber, and sleeps upon the couch.
This is like the story told by the Egyptians of what takes place in
their city of Thebes, where a woman always passes the night in the
temple of the Theban Jupiter. In each case the woman is said to be
debarred all intercourse with men. It is also like the custom of
Patara, in Lycia, where the priestess who delivers the oracles,
during the time that she is so employed - for at Patara there is not
always an oracle - is shut up in the temple every night.
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