ind. The priests made great profit out of corn and metals,
and the skill with which they conducted commercial operations in silver
was so notorious that no private person hesitated to entrust them with
the management of his capital: they were the intermediaries between
lenders and borrowers, and the commissions which they obtained in these
transactions was not the smallest or the least certain of their profits.
They maintained troops of slaves, labourers, gardeners, workmen, and
even women-singers and sacred courtesans of which mention has been made
above, all of whom either worked directly for them in their several
trades, or were let out to those who needed their services. The god was
not only the greatest cultivator in the State after the king, sometimes
even excelling him in this respect, but he was also the most active
manufacturer, and many of the utensils in daily use, as well as articles
of luxury, proceeded from his workshops. His possessions secured for him
a paramount authority in the city, and also an influence in the councils
of the king: the priests who represented him on earth thus became mixed
up in State affairs, and exercised authority on his behalf in the same
measure as the officers of the crown.

[Illustration: 203.jpg A VOTARY LED TO THE GOD TO RECEIVE THE REWARD OF
THE SACRIFICE]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a Chaldaean intaglio in the
Berlin Museum.

He, had, indeed, as much need of riches and renown as the least of his
clients. As he was subject to all human failings, and experienced all
the appetites of mankind, he had to be nourished, clothed, and amused,
and this could be done only at great expense. The stone or wooden
statues erected to him in the sanctuaries furnished him with bodies,
which he animated with his breath, and accredited to his clients as the
receivers of all things needful to him in his mysterious kingdom. The
images of the gods were clothed in vestments, they were anointed with
odoriferous oils, covered with jewels, served with food and drink; and
during these operations the divinities themselves, above in the heaven,
or down in the abyss, or in the bosom of the earth, were arrayed in
garments, their bodies were perfumed with unguents, and their appetites
fully satisfied: all that was further required for this purpose was the
offering of sacrifices together with prayers and prescribed rites. The
priest began by solemnly inviting the gods to the feast: as soon as