herodotus

give way and move out of the path, and when their elders approach theyrise out of their seat. In this which follows however they are not inagreement with any of the Hellenes,--instead of addressing one anotherin the roads they do reverence, lowering their hand down to theirknee. 81. They wear tunics of linen about their legs with fringes,which they call /calasiris/; above these they have garments of whitewool thrown over: woollen garments however are not taken into thetemples, nor are they buried with them, for this is not permitted byreligion. In these points they are in agreement with the observancescalled Orphic and Bacchic (which are really Egyptian),[71] and alsowith those of the Pythagoreans, for one who takes part in thesemysteries is also forbidden by religious rule to be buried in woollengarments; and about this there is a sacred story told.82. Besides these things the Egyptians have found out also to what godeach month and each day belongs, and what fortunes a man will meetwith who is born on any particular day, and how he will die, and whatkind of a man he will be: and these inventions were taken up by thoseof the Hellenes who occupied themselves about poesy. Portents too havebeen found out by them more than by all other men besides; for when aportent has happened, they observe and write down the event whichcomes of it, and if ever afterwards anything resembling this happens,they believe that the event which comes of it will be similar. 83.Their divination is ordered thus:--the art is assigned not to any man,but to certain of the gods, for there are in their land Oracles ofHeracles, of Apollo, of Athene, of Artemis, of Ares, and of Zeus, andmoreover that which they hold most in honour of all, namely the Oracleof Leto which is in the city of Buto. The manner of divination howeveris not yet established among them according to the same fashioneverywhere, but is different in different places. 84. The art ofmedicine among them is distributed thus:--each physician is aphysician of one disease and of no more; and the whole country is fullof physicians, for some profess themselves to be physicians of theeyes, others of the head, others of the teeth, others of theaffections of the stomach, and others of the more obscure ailments.85. Their fashions of mourning and of burial are these:--Whenever anyhousehold has lost a man who is of any regard amongst them, the wholenumber of women of that house forthwith plaster over their heads oreven their faces with mud. Then leaving the corpse within the housethey go themselves to and fro about the city and beat themselves, withtheir garments bound up by a girdle[72] and their breasts exposed, andwith them go all the women who are related to the dead man, and on theother side the men beat themselves, they too having their garmentsbound up by a girdle; and when they have done this, they then conveythe body to the embalming. 86. In this occupation certain persons