[The cat was probably the most sacred of all the animals worshipped by the Egyptians.  Herod tells that when a house was on fire the Egyptians never thought of extinguishing the fire until their cats were all saved, and that when a cat died, they shaved their heads in sign of mourning.  Whoever killed one of these animals, whether intentionally or by accident, suffered the penalty, of death, without any chance of mercy.  Diod. (I. 81.) himself witnessed the murder of a Roman citizen who had killed a cat, by the Egyptian people; and this in spite of the authorities, who in fear of the powerful Romans, endeavored to prevent the deed.  The bodies of the cats were carefully embalmed and buried, and their mummies are to be found in every museum.  The embalmed cat, carefully wrapped in linen bandages, is oftener to be met with than any other of the many animals thus preserved by the Egyptians.  In spite of the great care bestowed on cats, there can have been no lack of mice in Egypt.  In one nomos or province the shrew-mouse was sacred, and a satirical, obscene papyrus in Turin shows us a war between the cats and mice; the Papyrus Ebers contains poisons for mice.  We ourselves possess a shrew-mouse exquisitely wrought in bronze.]

“Everything was going well,” continued the officer, “when we left Memphis two years ago.

“I confided my pair of cats to the care of one of the Egyptian servants at the palace, feeling sure that these enemies of the rats would keep my dwelling clear for the future; indeed I began to feel a certain veneration for my deliverers from the plague of mice.

“Last year Amasis fell ill before the court could adjourn to Memphis, and we remained at Sais.

“At last, about six week ago, we set out for the city of the Pyramids.  I betook me to my old quarters; not the shadow of a mouse’s tail was to be seen there, but instead, they swarmed with another race of animals not one whit dearer to me than their predecessors.  The pair of cats had, during my two years’ absence, increased twelve-fold.  I tried all in my power to dislodge this burdensome brood of all ages and colors, but in vain; every night my sleep was disturbed by horrible choruses of four-footed animals, and feline war-cries and songs.

“Every year, at the period of the Bubastis festival, all superfluous cats may be brought to the temple of the cat-headed goddess Pacht, where they are fed and cared for, or, as I believe, when they multiply too fast, quietly put out of the way.  These priests are knaves!

“Unfortunately the journey to the said temple” did not occur during the time of our stay in Memphis; however, as I really could not tolerate this army of tormentors any longer, I determined at least to get rid of two families of healthy kittens with which their mothers had just presented me.  My old slave Mus, from his very name a natural enemy of cats, was told to kill the little creatures, put them into a sack, and throw them into the Nile.