[117] The Egyptian gods were also served by priestesses. (See Herodotus, Euterpe, sec. 54.) Tales of scandal similar to those which the Greeks circulated respecting them, have been told of the Aztec virgins. (See Le Noir’s dissertation, ap. Antiquités Mexicaines (Paris, 1834), tom. ii. p. 7, note.) The early missionaries, credulous enough certainly, give no countenance to such reports; and Father Acosta, on the contrary, exclaims, “In truth, it is very strange to see that this false opinion of religion hath so great force among these young men and maidens of Mexico, that they will serve the Divell with so great rigor and austerity, which many of us doe not in the service of the most high God; the which is a great shame and confusion.” Eng. trans., lib. 5, cap. 16. [118] Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 9.--Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, lib. 2, Apend.; lib. 3, cap. 4-8.--Zurita, Rapport, pp. 123-126.--Acosta, lib. 5, cap. 15, 16.--Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 9, cap. 11-14, 30, 31.--“They were taught,” says the good father last cited, “to eschew vice, and cleave to virtue,--_according to their notions of them_; namely, to abstain from wrath to offer violence and do wrong to no man,--in short, to perform the duties plainly pointed out by natural religion.” [119] Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 8, cap. 20, 21.--Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.--It is impossible not to be struck with the great resemblance, not merely in a few empty forms, but in the whole way of life, of the Mexican and Egyptian priesthood. Compare Herodotus (Euterpe, passim) and Diodorus (lib. 1, sec. 73, 81). The English reader may consult, for the same purpose, Heeren (Hist. Res., vol. v. chap. 2), Wilkinson (Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians (London, 1837), vol. i. pp. 257-279), the last writer especially,--who has contributed, more than all others, towards opening to us the interior of the social life of this interesting people. [120] [Humboldt has noticed the curious similarity of the word _teocalli_ with the Greek compound--actual or possible--θεόκαλία; and Buschmann observes, “Die Ubereinstimmung des mex. teotl und θεός, arithmetisch sehr hoch anzuschlagen wegen des Doppelvocals, zeigt wie weit es der Zufall in Wortähnlichkeiten zwischen ganz verschiedenen Sprachen bringen kann.” Uber die aztekischen Ortsnamen, S. 627.--K.]