Thus, if I am right, the key to the mysteries of Osiris is furnished
by the melancholy cry of the Egyptian reapers, which down to Roman
times could be heard year after year sounding across the fields,
announcing the death of the corn-spirit, the rustic prototype of
Osiris. Similar cries, as we have seen, were also heard on all the
harvest-fields of Western Asia. By the ancients they are spoken of
as songs; but to judge from the analysis of the names Linus and
Maneros, they probably consisted only of a few words uttered in a
prolonged musical note which could be heard at a great distance.
Such sonorous and long-drawn cries, raised by a number of strong
voices in concert, must have had a striking effect, and could hardly
fail to arrest the attention of any wayfarer who happened to be
within hearing. The sounds, repeated again and again, could probably
be distinguished with tolerable ease even at a distance; but to a
Greek traveller in Asia or Egypt the foreign words would commonly
convey no meaning, and he might take them, not unnaturally, for the
name of some one (Maneros, Linus, Lityerses, Bormus) upon whom the
reapers were calling.
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