rites, and
died a
violent
death on
her sacred
tree, the
pine, may
we not
detect a
close
resemblance
to Attis,
the
favourite
shepherd
or
herdsman
of the
goddess,
who is
himself
described
as a
piper, is
said to
have
perished
under a
pine-tree,
and was
annually
represented
by an
effigy
hung, like
Marsyas,
upon a
pine? We
may
conjecture
that in
old days
the priest
who bore
the name
and played
the part
of Attis
at the
spring
