[Page 155].—“Cups of that frail crystal”—called Alassontes. For their brittleness Martial is an authority:—
Tolle, puer, calices, tepidique toreumata Nili,
Et mihi securâ pocula trade manu.
[Ib.]—“Bracelets of the black beans of Abyssinia.”—The bean of the Glycyne, which is so beautiful as to be strung into necklaces and bracelets, is generally known by the name of the black bean of Abyssinia. Niebhur.
[Ib.]—“Sweet lotus-wood flute.”—See M. Villoteau on the musical instruments of the Egyptians.
[Page 156].—“Shine like the brow of Mount Atlas at night.”—Solinus speaks of the snowy summit of Mount Atlas glittering with flames at night. In the account of the Periplus of Hanno, as well as in that of Eudoxus, we read that as those navigators were coasting this part of Africa, torrents of light were seen to fall on the sea.
[Page 158].—“The tears of Isis.”—“Per lacrymas, vero, Isidis intelligo effluvia quædam Lunæ, quibus tantam vim videntur tribuisse Ægypti.” Jablonski.—He is of opinion that the superstition of the Nucta, or miraculous drop, is of a relic of the veneration paid to the dews, as the tears of Isis.
[Page 158].—“The rustling of the acacias,” &c.—Travels of Captain Mangles.
[Ib.]—“Supposed to rest in the valley of the moon.”—Plutarch. Dupuis, tom. 10. The Manicheans held the same belief. See Beausobre, p. 565.
[Page 160].—“Sothis, the fair star of the waters.”—ὑδραγωγον is the epithet applied to this star by Plutarch, de Isid.