Note 460 — Chapter XXXIX · LEGES AND EPINOMIS. (continued 3)

Plato, Legg. xii. p. 953 D-E. Τούτοις δὴ τοῖς νόμοις ὑποδέχεσθαί τε χρὴ πάντας ξένους τε καὶ ξένας καὶ τοὺς αὑτῶν ἐκπέμπειν, τιμῶντας ξένιον Δία, μὴ βρώμασι καὶ θύμασι τὰς ξενηλασίας ποιουμένους, καθάπερ ποιοῦσι νῦν θρέμματα Νείλου, μηδὲ κηρύγμασιν ἀγρίοις. Stallbaum says in his note (p. 384):— “μὴ βρώμασι καὶ θύμασι — peregrinos non expellentes cœnis et sacrificiis, h. e. eorum usu iis interdicentes”. This surely is not the right explanation. Plato means to say that the Egyptian habits as to eating and sacrifice were intolerably repulsive to a foreigner. We may see this from κηρύγμασι, which follows. The peculiarities of Egypt, which Herodotus merely remarks upon with astonishment, may well have given offence to the fastidious and dictatorial spirit of Plato.