Note 62 — ANALYSIS

It is said of the Cunocephali, that when one part was dead and buried, the other still survived. This can relate to nothing else but a society, or body politic, where there is a continual decrement, yet part still remains; and the whole is kept up by succession. It is an enigma, which particularly relates to the priesthood in Egypt: for the sacred office there was hereditary, being vested in certain families; and when part was dead, a residue still [62]survived, who admitted others in the room of the deceased. [63]Επεαν δε τις αποθανῃ, τουτου ὁ παις αντικατισταται. The sons, we find, supplied the place of their fathers: hence the body itself never became extinct, being kept up by a regular succession. As to the Cunocephali giving to Hermes the first hint of dividing the day into twelve parts from the exactness, which was observed in their [64]evacuations, it is a surmise almost too trifling to be discussed. I have shewn that the Cunocephali were a sacred college, whose members were persons of great learning: and their society seems to have been a very antient institution. They were particularly addicted to astronomical observations; and by contemplating the heavens, styled Ouran, they learned to distinguish the seasons, and to divide the day into parts. But the term Ouran the Greeks by a strange misconception changed to ουρειν; of which mistake they have afforded other instances: and from this abuse of terms the silly figment took its rise.