Note 628 — TEMPLE RITES

The history then of Menelaus in Egypt, if such a person ever existed, amounts to this. In a state of uncertainty he applied to a temple near Canobus, which was sacred to Proteus. This was one title out of many, by which the chief Deity of the country was worshipped, and was equivalent to On, Orus, Osiris, and Canobus. From this place Menelaus obtained proper advice, by which he directed his voyage. Hence some say, that he had Φροντις, Phrontis, for his pilot. [628]Κυβερνητης αριστος Μενελαου ὁ Φροντις, ὑιος Ονητορος. Menelaus had an excellent pilot, one Phrontis, the son of Onetor. This, I think, confirms all that I have been saying: for what is Phrontis, but advice and experience? and what is Onetor, but the Pharos, from whence it was obtained? Onetor is the same as Torone, Τορωνη, only reversed. They were both temples of Proteus, the same as On, and Orus: both Φλεγραιαι, by which is meant temples of fire, or light-houses. Hence we may be pretty certain, that the three pilots, Canobus, Phrontis, Pharos, together with Onetor, were only poetical personages: and that the terms properly related to towers, and sanctuaries, which were of Egyptian original.