Blair Collection > History of the Celtic language

110 HISTORY OF THE
" The Cabiri of Samotliracia, or three principal figures,""
says he, " of the Egyptian ceremonial, were carried to Berytus
in Phoenicia, and thence into several islands of the iEgian
sea. Their worship became very famous They were
called the Cabiri {Cabirium Potentes), meaning the power-
ful gods, and their name of Cabiri, which is Phcenician, was
as much used in Egypt as in Phoenicia itself; which is a
standing proof of the mixture of the Phoenician terms with
the Egyptian language, if the ground of both be not exactly
the same.''''
And again, same page —
" They often add to these 2l fourth god, which they some-
times call Mercury, which signifies a minister or messenger,
in all which it is plain that we again meet with the four
principal Keys of the ancient Egyptian writing, changed on
account of their human figure into so many tutelar and
powerful gods."
Put we ^Sfor C, and we have Sibil, another equi-
valent term.* The ideal meaning is in the group
of animals or tutelar trinity of Pagan-worship,
whether tattooed on the hody, or cut upon stones
or round columns : each animal or emblem is a
* Most people have read of the S\b)'T\ne. books. A woman
came once to Tarquin with nine books of the oracles of the
Sybils, which she offered to sell : the king hesitating about
the price, she went away and burned three of them, and then
came and asked the same price for the remaining six. He
again refused to accede to her demand, when she went away
and burned three more, and returning, still asked the same
price. The Augurs advised the king to pay her, and preserve
the books as sacred, which was done.