Egyptians have theirs together with beasts: other men live on wheat and
on barley, but to any one of the Egyptians who makes his living on these
it is a great reproach; they make their bread of maize, which some call
spelt: they knead dough with their feet and clay with their hands, with
which also they gather up dung: and whereas other men, except such as
have learnt otherwise from the Egyptians, have their members as nature
made them, the Egyptians practice circumcision: as to garments, the men
wear two each and the women but one: and whereas others make fast the
rings and ropes of the sails outside the ship, the Egyptians do this
inside: finally in the writing of characters and reckoning with pebbles,
while the Hellenes carry the hand from the left to the right, the
Egyptians do this from the right to the left; and doing so they say that
they do it themselves rightwise and the Hellenes leftwise: and they use
two kinds of characters for writing, of which the one kind is called
sacred and the other common.

They are religious excessively beyond all other men, and with regard to
this they have customs as follows:--they drink from cups of bronze and
rinse them out every day, and not some only do this but all: they wear
garments of linen always newly washed, and this they make a special
point of practice: they circumcise themselves for the sake of
cleanliness, preferring to be clean rather than comely. The priests
shave themselves all over their body every other day, so that no lice or
any other foul thing may come to be upon them when they minister to
the gods; and the priests wear garments of linen only and sandals of
papyrus, and any other garment they may not take nor other sandals;
these wash themselves in cold water twice in a day and twice again in
the night; and other religious services they perform (one may almost
say) of infinite number. They enjoy also good things not a few, for they
do not consume or spend anything of their own substance, but there is