not
on the inner disposition of the believer, but on the correctness of the
words, gestures and intonation. Religion was not clearly differentiated
from magic. If a divinity was invoked according to the correct forms,
especially if one knew how to pronounce its real name, it was compelled to
act in conformity to the will of its priest. The sacred words were an
incantation that compelled the superior powers to obey the officiating
person, no matter what purpose he had in view. With the knowledge of the
liturgy men acquired an immense power over the world of spirits. Porphyry
was surprised and indignant because the Egyptians sometimes dared to
threaten the gods in their orations.[54] In the consecrations the priest's
summons compelled the gods to come and animate their {94} statues, and thus
his voice created divinities,[55] as originally the almighty voice of Thoth
had created the world.[56]

The ritual that conferred such superhuman power[57] developed in Egypt into
a state of perfection, completeness and splendor unknown in the Occident.
It possessed a unity, a precision and a permanency that stood in striking
contrast to the variety of the myths, the uncertainty of the dogmas and the
arbitrariness of the interpretations. The sacred books of the Greco-Roman
period are a faithful reproduction of the texts that were engraved upon the
walls of the pyramids at the dawn of history, notwithstanding the centuries
that had passed. Even under the Caesars the ancient ceremonies dating back
to the first ages of Egypt, were scrupulously performed because the
smallest word and the least gesture had their importance.

This ritual and the attitude toward it found their way for the most part
into the Latin temples of Isis and Serapis. This fact has long been
ignored, but there can be no doubt about it. A first proof is that the
clergy of those temples were organized just like those of Egypt during the
period of the Ptolemies.[58] There was a hierarchy presided over by a high
priest, which consisted of _prophetes_ skilled in the sacred science,
_stolistes_, or _ornatrices_,[59] whose office it was to dress the statues
of the gods, _pastophori_ who carried the sacred temple plates in the
processions, and so on, just as in Egypt. As in their native country, the
priests were distinguished from common mortals by a tonsure, by a linen
tunic, and by their habits as well as by their garb. They devoted
themselves entirely to their ministry and