"*
But the Chaldeans, the great idolaters of fire, ab-
horred the burning of their carcases, as a pollution of
that deity. The Persian magi declined it upon the
like scruples, and being only solicitous about their bones,
exposed their flesh to the prey of birds and dogs. And
the Persees now in India, which expose their bodies
unto vultures, and endure not so much as
feretra or
biers of wood, the proper fuel of fire, are led on with such
niceties. But whether the ancient Germans, who burned
their dead, held any such fear to pollute their deity of
Herthus, or the earth, we have no authentic conjecture.
The Egyptians were afraid of fire, not as a deity, but
a devouring element, mercilessly consuming their
bodies, and leaving too little of them; and therefore
by precious embalmments, depositure in dry earths, or
handsome inclosure in glasses, contrived the notablest
ways of integral conservation. And from such Egyp-
tian scruples, imbibed by Pythagoras, it may be con-
jectured that Numa and the Pythagorical sect first
waived the fiery solution.
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