71
This has been to no small degree the experience of the Egyptians in regard to those animals that are held in honour. In these matters the Greeks are correct in saying and believing that the dove is the sacred bird of Aphroditê, that the serpent is sacred to Athena, the raven to Apollo, and the dog to Artemis - as EuripidesNauck, Trag. Frag. Graec., Euripides, no. 968. says, Dog you shall be, pet of bright Hecatê. But the great majority of the Egyptians, in doing service to the animals themselves and in treating them as gods, have not only filled their sacred offices with ridicule and derision, but this is the least of the evils connected with their silly practices. There is engendered a dangerous belief, which plunges the weak and innocent into sheer superstition, and in the case of the more cynical and bold, goes off into atheistic and brutish reasoning.See the note on 355 d, supra. Wherefore it is not inappropriate to rehearse in some detail what seem to be the facts in these matters.