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28Having put these to death, next he called the priests into his presence; and when the priests answered him after the same manner, he said that it should not be without his knowledge if a tame god had come to the Egyptians; and having so said he bade the priests bring Apis away into his presence: so they went to bring him. Now this Apis-Epaphos is a calf born of a cow who after this is not permitted to conceive any other offspring; and the Egyptians say that a flash of light comes down from heaven upon this cow, and of this she produces Apis. This calf which is called Apis is black and has the following signs, namely a white square[23] upon the forehead, and on the back the likeness of an eagle, and in the tail the hairs are double, and on[24] the tongue there is a mark like a beetle.
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Notes
[23] {leukon tetragonon}: so the MSS. Some Editors, in order to bring the statement of Herodotus into agreement with the fact, read {leukon ti trigonon}, "a kind of white triangle": so Stein.
[24] {epi}: this is altered unnecessarily by most recent Editors to {upo}, on the authority of Eusebius and Pliny, who say that the mark was under the tongue.