"But is not the great god Apis the peculiar deity of Memphis?" I asked; "and is not his worship the most magnificent and imposing on earth?" "Yet here in the City of the Sun is the temple of Mnevis, the sacred ox of On, honored with a worship as profound and universal as that of Apis." "But do the more polished Egyptians indeed worship the ox, either here or in Memphis?" I asked with some hesitation, for, as prince, Remeses is first priest of the realm, next to the high-priest of Osiris. "Do not fear to ask freely any questions, my dear Sesostris," he said. "We do not worship these animals. They are but the embodiment of attributes. Under both of these gods, at On and at Memphis, Osiris the great Judge of men is veiled. They are but the living images of Osiris. The origin of their introduction is unknown save to the priests, whose office it is to keep the records of all things appertaining to religion." "What is revealed concerning the history of Osiris?" I asked; "for I am at a loss to understand the exact relation a deity known over the world by name, but of whose worship little is understood, holds to Egypt and to the other gods. At home, in Syria, I have marvelled how the Egyptian mythology could stand, when made up of such contradictory elements,--a part directing the worship of an invisible divinity, and a part directing the adoration of the hosts of heaven and beasts of the earth. In Phœnicia we worship the Invisible through the sun, as his representative. We worship nothing earthly. In Palestine, south of us, Ashteroth, Belus, and images of stone and brass are adored, but not with us."