50. For which reason they assign him the ass, the most brutal and sottish of all the tame beasts, and the crocodile and river-horse, the most savage and fierce of all the wild beasts. Of the ass we have spoken already. They show us at Hermopolis the statue of Typhon, which is a river-horse with a hawk on his back fighting with a serpent; where they set out Typhon by the river-horse, and by the hawk that power and principle which Typhon possesses himself of by violence, and thereupon ceases not to disturb others and to be disturbed himself by his malice. For which reason also, when they are to offer sacrifice upon the seventh day of the month Tybi, at the festival which they call the Arrival of Isis out of Phoenicia, they print the river-horse bound upon their sacred cakes. Besides this, there is a constant custom at the town of Apollo, for every one to eat some part of a crocodile; and having upon a certain set day hunted down as many of them at they are able, they kill them, and throw down their carcasses before the temple. And they tell us that Typhon made his escape from Horus in the form of a crocodile for they make all bad and noxious things — whether animals, plants or passions — to be the works, the members and the motions of Typhon.
50. τῶν δʼ ἀγρίων τὰ θηριωδέστατα, κροκόδειλον καὶ τὸν ποτάμιον ἵππον. περὶ μὲν οὖν τοῦ ὄνου προδεδηλώκαμεν. ἐν Ἑρμοῦ πόλει δὲ Τυφῶνος ἄγαλμα δεικνύουσιν ἵππον ποτάμιον· ἐφʼ οὗ βέβηκεν ἱέραξ ὄφει μαχόμενος, τῷ μὲν ἵππῳ τὸν Τυφῶνα δεικνύντες, τῷ δʼ ἱέρακι δύναμιν καὶ ἀρχήν, ἣν βίᾳ κτώμενος ὁ Τυφὼν πολλάκις οὐκ ἀνίεται ταραττόμενος ὑπὸ τῆς κακίας καὶ ταράττων. διὸ καὶ θύοντες ἑβδόμῃ τοῦ Τυβὶ μηνός, ἣν καλοῦσιν ἄφιξιν Ἴσιδος ἐκ Φοινίκης, ἐπιπλάττουσι τοῖς ποπάνοις ἵππον ποτάμιον δεδεμένον. ἐν δʼ Ἀπόλλωνος πόλει νενομισμένον ἐστὶ κροκοδείλου φαγεῖν πάντως ἕκαστον· ἡμέρᾳ δὲ μιᾷ θηρεύσαντες ὅσους ἂν δύνωνται καὶ κτείναντες ἀπαντικρὺ τοῦ ἱεροῦ προβάλλουσι, καὶ λέγουσιν ὡς ὁ Τυφὼν τὸν Ὧρον ἀπέδρα κροκόδειλος γενόμενος, πάντα καὶ ζῷα καὶ φυτὰ καὶ πάθη τὰ φαῦλα καὶ βλαβερὰ Τυφῶνος ἔργα καὶ μέρη καὶ κινήματα ποιούμενοι.
51. On the other hand, they represent Osiris by an eye and a sceptre, the one whereof expresses forecast, and the other power. In like manner Homer, when he called the governor and monarch of all the world “Supremest Jove, and mighty Counsellor,” seems to me to denote his imperial power by supremest, and his well-advisedness and discretion by Counsellor. They also oftentimes describe this God by a hawk, because he exceeds in quickness of sight and velocity in flying, and sustains himself with very little food. He is also said to fly over the bodies of dead men that lie unburied, and to drop down earth upon their eyes. Likewise, when he alights down upon the bank of any river to assuage his thirst, he sets his feathers up on end, and after he hath done drinking, he lets them fall again. Which he plainly doth because he is now safe and escaped from the danger of the crocodile; but if he chances to be catched, his feathers then continue stiff as before. They also show us everywhere Osiris’s statue in the shape of a man, with his private part erect, to betoken unto us his faculty of generation and nutrition; and they dress up his images in a flame-colored robe, esteeming the sun as the body of the power of good, and as the visible image of intelligible substance. Wherefore we have good reason to reject those that ascribe the sun’s globe unto Typhon, to whom appertaineth nothing of a lucid or salutary nature, nor order, nor generation, nor motion attended with measure and proportion, but the clean contrary to them. Neither is that parching drought, which destroys many animals and plants, to be accounted as an effect of the sun, but of those winds and waters which in the earth and air are not tempered according to the season, at which time the principle of the unordered and interminate nature acts at random, and so stifles and suppresses those exhalations that should ascend.
51. τὸν δʼ Ὄσιριν αὖ πάλιν ὀφθαλμῷ καὶ σκήπτρῳ γράφουσιν, ὧν τὸ μὲν τὴν πρόνοιαν ἐμφαίνειν, τὸ δὲ τὴν δύναμιν, ὡς Ὅμηρος τὸν ἄρχοντα καὶ βασιλεύοντα πάντων Ζῆνʼ ὕπατον καὶ μήστωρα καλῶν, ἔοικε τῷ μὲν ὑπάτῳ τὸ κράτος αὐτοῦ, τῷ δὲ μήστωρι τὴν εὐβουλίαν καὶ τὴν φρόνησιν σημαίνειν γράφουσι δὲ καὶ ἱέρακι τὸν θεὸν τοῦτον πολλάκις· εὐτονίᾳ γὰρ ὄψεως ὑπερβάλλει καὶ πτήσεως ὀξύτητι, καὶ διοικεῖν αὑτὸν ἐλαχίστῃ τροφῇ πέφυκε. λέγεται δὲ καὶ νεκρῶν ἀτάφων σώμασι γῆν ὑπερπετόμενος ἐπιβάλλειν· ὅταν δὲ πιόμενος ἐπὶ τὸν ποταμὸν καταίρῃ, τὸ πτερὸν ἵστησιν ὀρθόν· πιὼν δὲ κλίνει τοῦτο πάλιν· ᾧ δῆλός ἐστι σεσωσμένος καὶ διαπεφευγὼς τὸν κροκόδειλον· ἂν γὰρ ἁρπασθῇ, μένει τὸ πτερὸν ὥσπερ ἔστη πεπηγός. πανταχοῦ δὲ καὶ ἀνθρωπόμορφον Ὀσίριδος ἄγαλμα δεικνύουσιν, ἐξορθιάζον τῷ αἰδοίῳ διὰ τὸ γόνιμον καὶ τὸ τρόφιμον. ἀμπεχόνῃ δὲ φλογοειδεῖ στέλλουσιν αὐτοῦ τὰς εἰκόνας, ἥλιον σῶμα τῆς τἀγαθοῦ δυνάμεως ὡς ὁρατὸν οὐσίας νοητῆς ἡγούμενοι. διὸ καὶ καταφρονεῖν ἄξιόν ἐστι τῶν τὴν ἡλίου σφαῖραν Τυφῶνι προσνεμόντων, ᾧ λαμπρὸν οὐδὲν οὐδὲ σωτήριον οὐδὲ τάξις οὐδὲ γένεσις οὐδὲ κίνησις μέτρον ἔχουσα καὶ λόγον, ἀλλὰ τἀναντία προσήκει· καὶ αὐχμόν, ὃς φθείρει πολλὰ τῶν ζῴων καὶ βλαστανόντων, οὐχ ἡλίου θετέον ἔργον, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἐν γῇ καὶ ἀέρι μὴ καθʼ ὥραν κεραννυμένων πνευμάτων καὶ ὑδάτων, ὅταν ἡ τῆς ἀτάκτου καὶ ἀορίστου δυνάμεως ἀρχὴ πλημμελήσασα κατασβέσῃ τὰς ἀναθυμιάσεις.
52. Moreover, in the sacred hymns of Osiris they call him up “who lies hidden in the arms of the sun.” And upon the thirtieth day of the month Epiphi they keep a certain festival called the Birthday of the eyes of Horus, when the sun and the moon are in one direct line; as esteeming not only the moon but also the sun to be the eye and light of Horus. Likewise the three and twentieth day of the month Phaophi they make to be the nativity of the staves of the sun, which they observe after the autumnal equinox, intimating hereby that he now wants, as it were, a prop and a stay, as suffering a great diminution both of heat and light by his declining and moving obliquely from us. Besides this, they lead the sacred cow seven times about her temple at the time of the winter solstice. And this going round is called the seeking of Osiris, the Goddess being in great distress for water in winter time. And the reason of her going round so many times is because the sun finishes his passage from the winter to the summer tropic in the seventh month. It is reported also that Horus, the son of Isis, was the first that ever sacrificed to the sun upon the fourth day of the month, as we find it written in a book called the Birthdays of Horus. Moreover, they offer incense to the sun three times every day; resin at his rising, myrrh when it is in the mid-heaven, and that they call Kyphi about the time of his setting. (What each of these means, I shall after wards explain.) Now they are of opinion that the sun is atoned and pacified by all these. But to what purpose should I heap together many things of this nature? For there are some that scruple not to say plainly that Osiris is the sun, and that he is called Sirius by the Greeks, although the Egyptians, adding the article to his name, have obscured and brought its sense into question. They also declare Isis to be no other than the moon, and say that such statues of her as are horned were made in imitation of the crescent; and that the black habit in which she so passionately pursues the sun, sets forth her disappearings and eclipses. For which reason they used to invoke the moon in love-concerns; and Eudoxus also saith that Isis presides over love-matters. Now these things have in them a show and semblance of reason; whereas they that would make Typhon to be the sun deserve not to be heard.
52. ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἱεροῖς ὕμνοις τοῦ Ὀσίριδος ἀνακαλοῦνται τὸν ἐν ταῖς ἀγκάλαις κρυπτόμενον τοῦ ἡλίου, καὶ τῇ τριακάδι τοῦ Ἐπιφὶ μηνὸς ἑορτάζουσιν ὀφθαλμῶν Ὥρου γενέθλιον, ὅτε σελήνη καὶ ἥλιος ἐπὶ μιᾶς εὐθείας γεγόνασιν, ὡς οὐ μόνον τὴν σελήνην ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν ἥλιον ὄμμα τοῦ Ὥρου καὶ φῶς ἡγούμενοι. τῇ δὲ ὀγδόῃ φθίνοντος τοῦ Φαωφὶ βακτηρίας ἡλίου γενέθλιον ἄγουσι, μετὰ φθινοπωρινὴν ἰσημερίαν, ἐμφαίνοντες οἷον ὑπερείσματος δεῖσθαι καὶ ῥώσεως, τῷ τε θερμῷ γιγνόμενον καὶ τῷ φωτὶ ἐνδεᾶ, κλινόμενον καὶ πλάγιον ἀφʼ ἡμῶν φερόμενον. ἔτι δὲ τὴν βοῦν ὑπὸ τροπὰς χειμερινὰς περὶ τὸν ναὸν περιφέρουσι· καὶ καλεῖται ζήτησις Ὀσίριδος ἡ περιδρομή, τοῦ ἡλίου τὸ ὕδωρ χειμῶνος τῆς θεοῦ ποθούσης· τοσαυτάκις δὲ περίεισιν, ὅτι τὴν ἀπὸ τροπῶν χειμερινῶν ἐπὶ τροπὰς θερινὰς πάροδον ἑβδόμῳ μηνὶ συμπεραίνει. λέγεται δὲ καὶ θῦσαι τῷ ἡλίῳ τετράδι μηνὸς ἱσταμένου πάντων πρῶτος Ὧρος ὁ Ἴσιδος, ὡς ἐν τοῖς ἐπιγραφομένοις Γενεθλίοις Ὥρου γέγραπται. καὶ μὴν ἡμέρας ἑκάστης τριχῶς ἐπιθυμιῶσι τῷ ἡλίῳ, ῥητίνην μὲν ὑπὸ τὰς ἀνατολάς, σμύρναν δὲ μεσουρανοῦντι, τὸ δὲ καλούμενον κῦφι περὶ δυσμάς· ὧν ἕκαστον ὃν ἔχει λόγον, ὕστερον ἀφηγήσομαι. τὸν δʼ ἥλιον πᾶσι τούτοις προστρέπεσθαι καὶ θεραπεύειν οἴονται. καὶ τί δεῖ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα συνάγειν; εἰσὶ γὰρ οἱ τὸν Ὄσιριν ἄντικρυς ἥλιον εἶναι καὶ ὀνομάζεσθαι Σείριον ὑφʼ Ἑλλήνων λέγοντες, εἰ καὶ παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις ἡ πρόθεσις τοῦ ἄρθρου τοὔνομα πεποίηκεν ἀμφιγνοεῖσθαι, τὴν δʼ Ἶσιν οὐχ ἑτέραν τῆς σελήνης ἀποφαίνοντες· ὅθεν καὶ τῶν ἀγαλμάτων αὐτῆς τὰ μὲν κερασφόρα τοῦ μηνοειδοῦς γεγονέναι μιμήματα, τοῖς δὲ μελανοστόλοις ἐμφαίνεσθαι τὰς κρύψεις καὶ τοὺς περισκιασμοὺς ἐν οἷς διώκει ποθοῦσα τὸν ἥλιον. διὸ καὶ πρὸς τὰ ἐρωτικὰ τὴν σελήνην ἐπικαλοῦνται, καὶ τὴν Ἶσιν Εὔδοξός φησι βραβεύειν τὰ ἐρωτικά. καὶ τούτοις μὲν ἁμωσγέπως τοῦ πιθανοῦ μέτεστι, τῶν δὲ Τυφῶνα ποιούντων τὸν ἥλιον οὐδʼ ἀκούειν ἄξιον. ἀλλʼ ἡμεῖς αὖθις τὸν οἰκεῖον ἀναλάβωμεν λόγον.
53. But we must again resume our proper discourse. Isis is indeed that property of Nature which is feminine and receptive of all production; in which sense she was called the nurse and the all-receiver by Plato, and the Goddess with ten thousand names by the common sort, because being transmuted by reason she receives all manner of shapes and guises. But she hath a natural love to the prime and principal of all beings (which is the good principle), and eagerly affects it and pursues after it; and she shuns and repels her part of the evil one. And although she be indeed both the receptacle and matter of either nature, yet she always of herself inclines to the better of them, and readily gives way to it to generate upon her and to sow its effluxes and resemblances into her; and she rejoices and is very glad when she is impregnated and filled with productions. For generation is the production of an image of the real substance upon matter, and what is generated is an imitation of what is in truth.
53. ἡ γὰρ Ἶσίς ἐστι μὲν τὸ τῆς φύσεως θῆλυ, καὶ δεκτικὸν ἁπάσης γενέσεως, καθὸ τιθήνη καὶ πανδεχὴς ὑπὸ τοῦ Πλάτωνος, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν πολλῶν μυριώνυμος κέκληται, διὰ τὸ πάσας ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου τρεπομένη μορφὰς δέχεσθαι καὶ ἰδέας. ἔχει δὲ σύμφυτον ἔρωτα τοῦ πρώτου καὶ κυριωτάτου πάντων, ὃ τἀγαθῷ ταὐτόν ἐστι κἀκεῖνο ποθεῖ καὶ διώκει· τὴν δʼ ἐκ τοῦ κακοῦ φεύγει καὶ διωθεῖται μοῖραν, ἀμφοῖν μὲν οὖσα χώρα καὶ ὕλη, ῥέπουσα δʼ ἀεὶ πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον ἐξ ἑαυτῆς καὶ παρέχουσα γεννᾶν ἐκείνῳ καὶ κατασπείρειν εἰς ἑαυτὴν ἀπορροὰς καὶ ὁμοιότητας, αἷς χαίρει καὶ γέγηθε κυισκομένη καὶ ὑποπιμπλαμένη τῶν γενέσεων. εἰκὼν γάρ ἐστιν οὐσίας ἐν ὕλῃ ἡ γένεσις καὶ μίμημα τοῦ ὄντος τὸ γιγνόμενον.
54. And therefore not without great consonancy do they fable that the soul of Osiris is eternal and incorruptible, but that his body is often torn in pieces and destroyed by Typhon, and that Isis wanders to and fro to look him out, and when she hath found him, puts him together again. For the permanent being, the mental nature, and the good, is itself above corruption and change; but the sensitive and corporeal part takes off certain images from it, and receives certain proportions, shapes, and resemblances, which, like impressions upon wax, do not continue always, but are swallowed up by the disorderly and tumultuous part, which is chased hither from the upper region and makes war with Horus, who is born of Isis, being the sensible image of the mental world. For which reason he is said to be prosecuted for bastardy by Typhon, as not being pure and sincere, — like his father, the pure absolute reason, unmixed and impassible, — but embased with matter by corporeity. But he gets the better of him, and carries the cause, Hermes (that is, reason) witnessing and proving that Nature produces the world by becoming herself of like form with the mental property. Moreover, the generation of Apollo by Isis and Osiris, while the Gods were yet in Rhea’s womb, hints out unto us that, before this world became visible and was completed by reason, matter, being convinced by Nature that she was imperfect alone, brought forth the first production. For which reason they also say, this deity was born a cripple in the dark, and they call him the elder Horus; for he was not the world, but a kind of a picture and phantom of the world to be afterwards.
54. ὅθεν οὐκ ἀπὸ τρόπου μυθολογοῦσι τὴν Ὀσίριδος ψυχὴν ἀίδιον εἶναι καὶ ἄφθαρτον, τὸ δὲ σῶμα πολλάκις διασπᾶν καὶ ἀφανίζειν τὸν Τυφῶνα· τὴν δʼ Ἶσιν πλανωμένην καὶ ζητεῖν καὶ συναρμόττειν πάλιν. τὸ γὰρ ὂν καὶ νοητὸν καὶ ἀγαθὸν φθορᾶς καὶ μεταβολῆς κρεῖττόν ἐστιν· ἃς δʼ ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ τὸ αἰσθητὸν καὶ σωματικὸν εἰκόνας ἐκμάττεται, καὶ λόγους καὶ εἴδη καὶ ὁμοιότητας ἀναλαμβάνει, καθάπερ ἐν κηρῷ σφραγῖδες οὐκ ἀεὶ διαμένουσιν, ἀλλὰ καταλαμβάνει τὸ ἄτακτον αὐτὰς καὶ ταραχῶδες ἐνταῦθα τῆς ἄνω χώρας ἀπεληλαμένον καὶ μαχόμενον πρὸς τὸν Ὧρον, ὃν ἡ Ἶσις εἰκόνα τοῦ νοητοῦ κόσμου αἰσθητὸν ὄντα γεννᾷ. διὸ καὶ δίκην φεύγειν λέγεται νοθείας ὑπὸ Τυφῶνος, ὡς οὐκ ὢν καθαρὸς οὐδʼ εἰλικρινὴς οἷος ὁ πατήρ, λόγος αὐτὸς καθʼ ἑαυτὸν ἀμιγὴς καὶ ἀπαθής, ἀλλὰ νενοθευμένος τῇ ὕλῃ διὰ τὸ σωματικόν. περιγίγνεται δὲ καὶ νικᾷ, τοῦ Ἑρμοῦ, τουτέστι τοῦ λόγου, μαρτυροῦντος καὶ δεικνύοντος, ὅτι πρὸς τὸ νοητὸν ἡ φύσις μετασχηματιζομένη τὸν κόσμον ἀποδίδωσιν. ἡ μὲν γάρ, ἔτι τῶν θεῶν ἐν γαστρὶ τῆς Ῥέας ὄντων, ἐξ Ἴσιδος καὶ Ὀσίριδος γενομένη γένεσις Ἀπόλλωνος αἰνίττεται τὸ πρὶν ἐκφανῆ γενέσθαι τόνδε τὸν κόσμον καὶ συντελεσθῆναι τῷ λόγῳ τὴν ὕλην, τὴν φύσιν ἐλεγχομένην ἐφʼ αὑτῆς ἀτελῆ τὴν πρώτην γένεσιν ἐξενεγκεῖν. διὸ καί φασι τὸν θεὸν ἐκεῖνον ἀνάπηρον ὑπὸ σκότῳ γενέσθαι, καὶ πρεσβύτερον Ὧρον καλοῦσιν· οὐ γὰρ ἦν κόσμος, ἀλλʼ εἴδωλόν τι καὶ κόσμου φάντασμα μέλλοντος.
55. This Horus is terminate and complete of himself, yet hath he not quite destroyed Typhon, but only taken off his over great activity and brutal force. Whence it is they tell us that at Copto the statue of Horus holds fast in hand the privities of Typhon; and they fable that Mercury took out Typhon’s sinews and used them for harp-strings, to denote unto us that, when reason composed the universe, it made one concord out of many discords, and did not abolish but accomplish the corruptible faculty. Whence it comes that this power, being weak and feeble in the present state of things, blends and mixes with passible and mutable parts of the world, and so becomes in the earth the causer of concussions and shakings, and in the air of parching droughts and tempestuous winds, as also of hurricanes and thunders. It likewise infects both waters and winds with pestilential diseases, and runs up and insolently rages as high as the very moon, suppressing many times and blackening the lucid part, as the Egyptians believe. They relate that Typhon one while smote Horus’s eye, and another while plucked it out and swallowed it up, and afterwards gave it back to the sun; intimating by the blow the monthly diminution of the moon, and by the blinding of him its eclipse, which the sun cures again by shining presently upon it as soon as it hath escaped from the shadow of the earth.
55. ὁ δʼ Ὧρος οὗτος αὐτός ἐστιν ὡρισμένος καὶ τέλειος, οὐκ ἀνῃρηκὼς τὸν Τυφῶνα παντάπασιν, ἀλλὰ τὸ δραστήριον καὶ ἰσχυρὸν αὐτοῦ παρῃρημένος ὅθεν ἐν Κοπτῷ τὸ ἄγαλμα τοῦ Ὥρου λέγουσιν ἐν τῇ ἑτέρᾳ χειρὶ Τυφῶνος αἰδοῖα κατέχειν· καὶ τὸν Ἑρμῆν μυθολογοῦσιν ἐξελόντα τοῦ Τυφῶνος τὰ νεῦρα χορδαῖς χρήσασθαι, διδάσκοντες ὡς τὸ πᾶν ὁ λόγος διαρμοσάμενος σύμφωνον ἐξ ἀσυμφώνων μερῶν ἐποίησε, καὶ τὴν φθαρτικὴν οὐκ ἀπώλεσεν ἀλλʼ ἀνεπήρωσε δύναμιν. ὅθεν ἐκεῖ μὲν ἀσθενὴς καὶ ἀδρανής, ἐνταῦθα δὲ φυρομένη καὶ προσπλεκομένη τοῖς παθητικοῖς καὶ μεταβολικοῖς μέρεσι, σεισμῶν μὲν ἐν γῇ καὶ τρόμων, αὐχμῶν δʼ ἐν ἀέρι καὶ πνευμάτων ἀτόπων, αὖθις δὲ πρηστήρων καὶ κεραυνῶν δημιουργός ἐστι. φαρμάττει δὲ καὶ λοιμοῖς ὕδατα καὶ πνεύματα, καὶ μέχρι σελήνης ἀνατρέχει καὶ ἀναχαιτίζει συγχέουσα καὶ μελαίνουσα πολλάκις τὸ λαμπρόν, ὡς Αἰγύπτιοι νομίζουσι καὶ λέγουσιν, ὅτι τοῦ Ὥρου νῦν μὲν ἐπάταξε, νῦν δʼ ἐξελὼν κατέπιεν ὁ Τυφὼν τὸν ὀφθαλμόν, εἶτα τῷ ἡλίῳ πάλιν ἀπέδωκε· πληγὴν μὲν αἰνιττόμενοι τὴν κατὰ μῆνα μείωσιν τῆς σελήνης, πήρωσιν δὲ τὴν ἔκλειψιν, ἣν ὁ ἥλιος ἰᾶται διαφυγούσῃ τὴν σκιὰν τῆς γῆς εὐθὺς ἀντιλάμπων.
56. Now the better and more divine nature consists of three; or of the intelligible part, of matter, and of that which is made up of both, which the Greeks call Cosmos (that is trimness) and we the world. Plato therefore uses to name the intelligible part the form, the sample, and the father; and matter the mother, the nurse, and the seat and receptacle of generation; and that again which is made up of both, the offspring and the production. And one would conjecture that the Egyptians called it the most perfect of triangles, because they likened the nature of the universe principally to that; which Plato also in his Commonwealth seems to have made use of to the same purpose, when he forms his nuptial diagram. Now in that triangle the perpendicular consists of three parts, the base of four, and the subtense of five, its square being equal in value with the squares of the two that contain it. We are therefore to take the perpendicular to represent the male property, the base the female, and the subtense that which is produced by them both. We are likewise to look upon Osiris as the first cause, Isis as the faculty of reception, and Horus as the effect. For the number three is the first odd and perfect number, and the number four is a square, having for its side the even number two. The number five also in some respects resembles the father and in some again the mother, being made up of three and two; besides, πάντα (all things) seems to be derived from πέντε (five) and they use πεμπάσασθαι (which is telling five) for counting. Moreover, the number five makes a square equal to the number of letters used among the Egyptians, as also to the number of years which Apis lived. They are also used to call Horus Min, which signifieth as much as seen; for the world is perceptible to sense and visible. And Isis they sometimes call Muth, and sometimes again Athyri, and sometimes Methyer. And by the first of these names they mean mother, by the second Horus’s mundane house (as Plato calls it, the place and receptacle of generation); but the third is compounded of two words, the one whereof signifies full, and the other the cause; for the matter of the world is full, and it is closely joined with the good and pure and well ordered principle.
56. ἡ δὲ κρείττων καὶ θειοτέρα φύσις ἐκ τριῶν ἐστι, τοῦ νοητοῦ καὶ τῆς ὕλης καὶ τοῦ ἐκ τούτων, ὃν κόσμον Ἕλληνες ὀνομάζουσιν. ὁ μὲν οὖν Πλάτων τὸ μὲν νοητὸν καὶ ἰδέαν καὶ παράδειγμα καὶ πατέρα, τὴν δʼ ὕλην καὶ μητέρα καὶ τιθήνην ἕδραν τε καὶ χώραν γενέσεως, τὸ δʼ ἐξ ἀμφοῖν ἔκγονον καὶ γένεσιν ὀνομάζειν εἴωθεν. Αἰγυπτίους δʼ ἄν τις εἰκάσειε τῶν τριγώνων τὸ κάλλιστον … μάλιστα τούτῳ τὴν τοῦ παντὸς φύσιν ὁμοιοῦντας, ὡς καὶ Πλάτων ἐν τῇ πολιτείᾳ δοκεῖ τούτῳ προσκεχρῆσθαι τὸ γαμήλιον διάγραμμα συντάττων. ἔχει δʼ ἐκεῖνο τὸ τρίγωνον τριῶν τὴν πρὸς ὀρθίαν καὶ τεττάρων τὴν βάσιν καὶ πέντε τὴν ὑποτείνουσαν ἴσον ταῖς περιεχούσαις δυναμένην. εἰκαστέον οὖν τὴν μὲν πρὸς ὀρθὰς ἄρρενι, τὴν δὲ βάσιν θηλείᾳ, τὴν δʼ ὑποτείνουσαν ἀμφοῖν ἐκγόνῳ· καὶ τὸν μὲν Ὄσιριν ὡς ἀρχήν, τὴν δʼ Ἶσιν ὡς ὑποδοχήν, τὸν δʼ Ὧρον ὡς ἀποτέλεσμα. τὰ μὲν γὰρ τρία πρῶτος περισσὸς ἐστι καὶ τέλειος· τὰ δὲ τέτταρα τετράγωνος ἀπὸ πλευρᾶς ἀρτίου τῆς δυάδος· τὰ δὲ πέντε πῆ μὲν τῷ πατρὶ πῆ δὲ τῇ μητρὶ προσέοικεν, ἐκ τριάδος συγκείμενα καὶ δυάδος. καὶ τὰ πάντα τῶν πέντε γέγονε παρώνυμα, καὶ τὸ ἀριθμήσασθαι πεμπάσασθαι λέγουσιν. ποιεῖ δὲ τετράγωνον ἡ πεντὰς ἀφʼ ἑαυτῆς, ὅσον τῶν γραμμάτων παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις τὸ πλῆθός ἐστι, καὶ ὅσων ἐνιαυτῶν ἔζη χρόνον ὁ Ἆπις. τὸν μὲν οὖν Ὧρον εἰώθασι καὶ Μὶν προσαγορεύειν, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ὁρώμενον· αἰσθητὸν γὰρ καὶ ὁρατὸν ὁ κόσμος. ἡ δʼ Ἶσις ἔστιν ὅτε καὶ Μοὺθ καὶ πάλιν Ἄθυρι καὶ Μεθύερ προσαγορεύεται· σημαίνουσι δὲ τῷ μὲν πρώτῳ τῶν ὀνομάτων μητέρα· τῷ δὲ δευτέρῳ οἶκον Ὥρου κόσμιον, ὡς καὶ Πλάτων χώραν γενέσεως καὶ δεξαμενήν· τὸ δὲ τρίτον σύνθετόν ἐστιν ἔκ τε τοῦ πλήρους καὶ τοῦ αἰτίου· πλήρης γάρ ἐστιν ἡ ὕλη τοῦ κόσμου καὶ τῷ ἀγαθῷ καὶ καθαρῷ καὶ κεκοσμημένῳ σύνεστιν, δόξειε δʼ ἂν ἴσως καὶ Ἡσίοδος τὰ πρῶτα πάντα Χάος καὶ Γῆν καὶ τάρταρον καὶ Ἔρωτα ποιῶν οὐχ ἑτέρας λαμβάνειν ἀρχάς, ἀλλὰ ταύτας·
57. And it may be, Hesiod also, when he makes the first things of all to be chaos, earth, hell, and love, may be thought to take up no other principles than these, if we apply these names as we have already disposed them, to wit, that of earth to Isis, that of love to Osiris, and that of hell to Typhon; for he seems to lay the chaos under all, as a kind of room or place for the world to lie in. And the subject we are now upon seems in a manner to call for Plato’s tale, which Socrates tells us in the Symposium about the production of Eros (or Love), where he saith, that once on a time Poverty, having a mighty desire of children, laid her down by Plenty’s side as he was asleep, and that she thereupon conceiving by him brought forth Eros, who was of a nature both mixed and various, as coming of a father that was good and wise and had sufficiency of all things, but of a mother that was very needy and poor; and that by reason of her indigence she still hankered after another, and was eagerly importunate for another. For this same Plenty is no other than the first amiable, desirable, complete, and sufficient being; and matter is that which he called Poverty, she being of herself alone destitute of the property of good, but when she is impregnated by it, she still desires and craves for more. Moreover, the world (or Horus) that is produced out of these two, being not eternal, nor impassible, nor incorruptible, but ever a making, does therefore machinate, partly by shifting of accidents and partly by circular motions, to remain still young and never to die.
57. εἴγε δὴ τῶν ὀνομάτων τῇ μὲν Ἴσιδι τὸ τῆς Γῆς, τῷ δʼ Ὀσίριδι τὸ τοῦ ἔρωτος, τῷ δὲ Τυφῶνι τὸ τοῦ Ταρτάρου μεταλαμβάνοντές πως ἀποδίδομεν· τὸ γὰρ Χάος δοκεῖ χώραν τινὰ καὶ τόπον τοῦ παντὸς ὑποτίθεσθαι. προσκαλεῖται δὲ καὶ τὸν Πλάτωνος ἁμωσγέπως τὰ πράγματα μῦθον, ὃν Σωκράτης ἐν Συμποσίῳ περὶ τῆς τοῦ Ἔρωτος γενέσεως διῆλθε, τὴν Πενίαν λέγων τέκνων δεομένην τῷ Πόρῳ καθεύδοντι, παρακλιθῆναι, καὶ κυήσασαν ἐξ αὐτοῦ τεκεῖν τὸν Ἔρωτα, φύσει μικτὸν ὄντα καὶ παντοδαπόν, ἅτε δὴ πατρὸς μὲν ἀγαθοῦ καὶ σοφοῦ καὶ πᾶσιν αὐτάρκους, μητρὸς δʼ ἀμηχάνου καὶ ἀπόρου καὶ διʼ ἔνδειαν ἀεὶ γλιχομένης ἑτέρου καὶ περὶ ἕτερον λιπαρούσης γεγενημένον. ὁ γὰρ Πόρος οὐχ ἕτερός ἐστι τοῦ πρώτου ἐρατοῦ καὶ ἐφετοῦ καὶ τελείου καὶ αὐτάρκους· πενίαν δὲ τὴν ὕλην προσεῖπεν, ἐνδεᾶ μὲν οὖσαν αὐτὴν καθʼ ἑαυτὴν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ, πληρουμένην δʼ ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ ποθοῦσαν ἀεὶ καὶ μεταλαμβάνουσαν. ὁ δὲ γενόμενος ἐκ τούτων κόσμος καὶ Ὧρος οὐκ ἀίδιος οὐδʼ ἀπαθὴς οὐδʼ ἄφθαρτος, ἀλλʼ ἀειγενὴς ὢν μηχανᾶται ταῖς τῶν παθῶν μεταβολαῖς καὶ περιόδοις ἀεὶ νέος καὶ μηδέποτε φθαρησόμενος διαμένειν.
58. But we must remember that we are not to make use of fables as if they were doctrinal throughout, but only to take that in each of them which we shall judge to make a pertinent resemblance. And therefore, when we treat of matter, we need not (with respect to the sentiments of some philosophers) to conceit in our minds a certain body void of soul and of all quality, and of itself wholly idle and unactive. For we use to call oil the matter of an unguent, and gold the matter of a statue, though they are not destitute of all quality. And we render the very soul and mind of a man as matter to reason, to be dressed up and composed into science and virtue. There have been some also that have made the mind to be a receptacle of forms and a kind of imprimary for things intelligible; and some are of opinion again that the genital humidity in the female sex is no active property nor efficient principle, but only the matter and nutriment of the production. Which when we retain in our memories, we ought to conceive likewise that this Goddess, which always participates of the first God and is ever taken up with the love of those excellencies and charms that are about him, is not by nature opposite to him; but that, as we are used to say of a good natured woman, that, though she be married to a man and constantly enjoys his embraces, yet she hath a fond kind of longing after him, so hath she always a strong inclination to the God, though she be present and round about him, and though she be impregnated with his most prime and pure particles.
58. χρηστέον δὲ τοῖς μύθοις οὐχ ὡς λόγοις πάμπαν οὖσιν, ἀλλὰ τὸ πρόσφορον ἑκάστου τὸ κατὰ τὴν ὁμοιότητα λαμβάνοντας. ὅταν οὖν ὕλην λέγωμεν, οὐ δεῖ πρὸς ἐνίων φιλοσόφων δόξας ἀποφερομένους ἄψυχόν τι σῶμα καὶ ἄποιον ἀργόν τε καὶ ἄπρακτον ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ διανοεῖσθαι· καὶ γὰρ ἔλαιον ὕλην μύρου καλοῦμεν, χρυσὸν ἀγάλματος, οὐκ ὄντα πάσης ἔρημα ποιότητος· αὐτήν τε τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ τὴν διάνοιαν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ὡς ὕλην ἐπιστήμης καὶ ἀρετῆς τῷ λόγῳ κοσμεῖν καὶ ῥυθμίζειν παρέχομεν· τόν τε νοῦν ἔνιοι τόπον εἰδῶν ἀπεφήναντο καὶ τῶν νοητῶν οἷον ἐκμαγεῖον· ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ τὸ σπέρμα τῆς γυναικὸς οὐ δύναμιν οὐδʼ ἀρχήν, ὕλην δὲ καὶ τροφὴν γενέσεως εἶναι δοξάζουσιν. ὧν ἐχομένους χρὴ καὶ τὴν θεὸν ταύτην οὕτω διανοεῖσθαι τοῦ πρώτου θεοῦ μεταλαγχάνουσαν ἀεὶ καὶ συνοῦσαν ἔρωτι τῶν περὶ ἐκεῖνον ἀγαθῶν καὶ καλῶν, οὐχ ὑπεναντίαν ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ἄνδρα νόμιμον καὶ δίκαιον ἐρᾶν ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ γυναῖκα χρηστὴν ἔχουσαν ἄνδρα καὶ συνοῦσαν ὅμως ποθεῖν λέγομεν, οὕτως ἀεὶ γλιχομένην ἐκείνου καὶ περὶ ἐκεῖνον λιπαροῦσαν καὶ ἀναπιμπλαμένην τοῖς κυριωτάτοις μέρεσιν καὶ καθαρωτάτοις·
59. But where Typhon falls in and touches upon her extreme parts, it is there she appears melancholy, and is said to mourn, and to look for certain relics and pieces of Osiris, and to array them with all diligence; she receiving all things that die and laying them up within herself, as she again brings forth and sends up out of herself all such things as are produced. And those proportions, forms, and effluxes of the God that are in the heaven and stars do indeed continue always the same; but those that are sown abroad into mutable things, as into land, sea, plants, and animals, are resolved, destroyed, and buried, and afterwards show themselves again very often, and come up anew in several different productions. For which reason the fable makes Typhon to be married to Nephthys, and Osiris to have accompanied with her by stealth. For the utmost and most extreme parts of matter, which they call Nephthys and the end, is mostly under the power of the destructive faculty; but the fecund and salutary power dispenses but a feeble and languid seed into those parts, which is all destroyed by Typhon, except only what Isis taking up doth preserve, cherish, and improve.
59. ὅπου δʼ ὁ Τυφὼν παρεμπίπτει τῶν ἐσχάτων ἁπτόμενος, ἐνταῦθα δοκοῦσαν ἐπισκυθρωπάζειν καὶ πενθεῖν λεγομένην καὶ λείψανʼ ἄττα καὶ σπαράγματα τοῦ Ὀσίριδος ἀναζητεῖν καὶ στολίζειν, ὑποδεχομένην τὰ φθειρόμενα καὶ ἀποκρύπτουσαν, ὥσπερ ἀναφαίνει πάλιν τὰ γιγνόμενα καὶ ἀνίησιν ἐξ ἑαυτῆς. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἄστροις λόγοι καὶ εἴδη καὶ ἀπορροαὶ τοῦ θεοῦ μένουσι, τὰ δὲ τοῖς παθητικοῖς διεσπαρμένα, γῇ καὶ θαλάττῃ καὶ φυτοῖς καὶ ζῴοις, διαλυόμενα καὶ φθειρόμενα καὶ θαπτόμενα, πολλάκις αὖθις ἐκλάμπει καὶ ἀναφαίνεται ταῖς γενέσεσι. διὸ τὸν Τυφῶνα τῇ Νέφθυι συνοικεῖν φησιν ὁ μῦθος, τὸν δʼ Ὄσιριν κρύφα συγγενέσθαι. τὰ γὰρ ἔσχατα μέρη τῆς ὕλης, ἃ Νέφθυν καὶ Τελευτὴν καλοῦσιν, ἡ φθαρτικὴ μάλιστα κατέχει δύναμις· ἡ δὲ γόνιμος καὶ σωτήριος ἀσθενὲς σπέρμα καὶ ἀμαυρὸν εἰς ταῦτα διαδίδωσιν, ἀπολλύμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ Τυφῶνος, πλὴν ὅσον ἡ Ἶσις ὑπολαμβάνουσα σῴζει καὶ τρέφει καὶ συνίστησι.
60. And in general, Typhon is the prevailing power, as both Plato and Aristotle insinuate. Moreover, the generative and salutary part of nature hath its motion towards him, in order to procure being; but the destroying and corruptive part hath its motion from him, in order to procure not-being. For which reason they call the former part Isis, from going (ἴεσθαι) and being borne-along with knowledge, she being a kind of a living and prudent motion. For her name is not of a barbarous original; but, as all the Gods have one name (θεός) in common, and that is derived from the two words, θέων (running) and θεατός (visible); so also this very Goddess is both from motion and science at once called Isis by us and Isis also by the Egyptians. So likewise Plato tells us, that the ancients called οὐσία (being) ἰσία (knowledge), as also that νόησις (intelligence) and φρόνησις (prudence) had their names given them for being a φορά (agitation) and motion of νοῦς (mind), which was then, as it were, ἱέμενος and φερόμενος (set in motion and borne-along); and the like he affirmeth of συνιέναι (to understand), that it was as much as to say “to be in commotion.” Nay he saith, moreover, that they attribute the very names of ἀγαθόν (good) and ἀρετή (virtue) to the ideas of running (θέω) and of ever-flowing (ἀεὶ ῥέω) which they imply; as likewise, on the other hand again, they used terms opposite to motion by way of reproach; for they called what clogged, tied up, locked up, and confined nature from agitation and motion κακία (baseness or ill motion), ἀπορία (difficulty or difficult motion), δειλία (fearfulness or fearful motion) and ἀνία (sorrow or want of motion).
60. καθόλου δʼ ἀμείνων οὗτός ἐστιν, ὥσπερ καὶ Πλάτων ὑπονοεῖ καὶ Ἀριστοτέλης. κινεῖται δὲ τῆς φύσεως τὸ μὲν γόνιμον καὶ σωτήριον ἐπʼ αὐτὸν καὶ πρὸς τὸ εἶναι, τὸ δʼ ἀναιρετικὸν καὶ φθαρτικὸν ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ πρὸς τὸ μὴ εἶναι. διὸ τὸ μὲν Ἶσιν καλοῦσι παρὰ τὸ ἵεσθαι μετʼ ἐπιστήμης καὶ φέρεσθαι, κίνησιν οὖσαν ἔμψυχον καὶ φρόνιμον. οὐ γάρ ἐστι τοὔνομα βαρβαρικόν, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ τοῖς θεοῖς πᾶσιν ἀπὸ δυεῖν γραμμάτων τοῦ θεατοῦ καὶ τοῦ θέοντος ἔστιν ὄνομα κοινόν, οὕτω τὴν θεὸν ταύτην ἀπὸ τῆς ἐπιστήμης ἅμα καὶ τῆς κινήσεως Ἶσιν μὲν ἡμεῖς, Ἶσιν δʼ Αἰγύπτιοι καλοῦσιν. οὕτω δὲ καὶ Πλάτων φησὶ τὴν ὁσίαν δηλοῦν τοὺς παλαιοὺς ἰσίαν καλοῦντας· οὕτω καὶ τὴν νόησιν καὶ τὴν φρόνησιν, ὡς νοῦ φορὰν καὶ κίνησιν οὖσαν ἱεμένου καὶ φερομένου καὶ τὸ συνιέναι καὶ τἀγαθὸν ὅλως καὶ ἀρετὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς ῥέουσι καὶ θέουσι θέσθαι· καθάπερ αὖ πάλιν τοῖς ἀντιφωνοῦσιν ὀνόμασι λοιδορεῖσθαι τὸ κακόν, τὸ τὴν φύσιν ἐμποδίζον καὶ συνδέον καὶ ἴσχον καὶ κωλῦον ἵεσθαι καὶ ἰέναι κακίαν ἀπορίαν δειλίαν ἀνίαν προσαγορευόντων.
61. But Osiris had his name from ὅσιος and ἱερός (pious and sacred) compounded; for he is the common idea of things in heaven and things in the lower world, the former of which the ancients thought fit to style ἱερά, and the latter ὅσια. But the principle which discloses things heavenly, and which appertains to things whose motion tends upwards (ἄνω), is called Anubis, and sometimes he is also named Hermanubis, the former name referring to things above, and the latter to things beneath. For which reason they also sacrifice to him two cocks, the one whereof is white and the other of a saffron color, as esteeming the things above to be entire and clear, and the things beneath to be mixed and various. Nor need any one to wonder at the formation of these words from the Grecian tongue; for there are many thousand more of this kind, which, accompanying those who at several times removed out of Greece, do to this very day sojourn and remain among foreigners; some whereof when poetry would bring back into use, it hath been falsely accused of barbarism by those men, who love to call such words strange and outlandish. They say, moreover, that in the so-called books of Hermes there is an account given of the sacred names; and that power which presides over the circulation of the sun is called Horus, and by the Greeks Apollo; and that which is over the winds is by some called Osiris, and by others Serapis, and by others again in the Egyptian tongue Sothi. Now the word Sothi signifies in Greek to breed (κύειν) and breeding; and therefore, by an obliquation of the word κύειν, the star which they account proper to the Goddess Isis is called in Greek κύων, which is as well dog as breeder. And although it be but a fond thing to be over contentious about words, yet I had rather yield to the Egyptians the name of Serapis than that of Osiris, since I account the former to be foreign, and the latter to be Greekish, but believe both to appertain to one God and to one power.
61. ὁ δʼ Ὄσιρις ἐκ τοῦ ὁσίου καὶ ἱεροῦ τοὔνομα μεμιγμένον ἔσχηκε· κοινὸς γάρ ἐστι τῶν ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ τῶν ἐν ᾍδου λόγος· ὧν τὰ μὲν ἱερὰ τὰ δʼ ὅσια τοῖς παλαιοῖς ἔθος ἦν προσαγορεύειν. ὁ δʼ ἀναφαίνων τὰ οὐράνια καὶ τῶν ἄνω φερομένων λόγος Ἄνουβις, ἔστι δʼ ὅτε καὶ Ἑρμάνουβις ὀνομάζεται, τὸ μὲν ὡς τοῖς ἄνω τὸ δʼ ὡς τοῖς κάτω προσήκων. διὸ καὶ θύουσιν αὐτῷ τὸ μὲν λευκὸν ἀλεκτρυόνα, τὸ δὲ κροκίαν, τὰ μὲν εἰλικρινῆ καὶ φανά, τὰ δὲ μικτὰ καὶ ποικίλα νομίζοντες. οὐ δεῖ δὲ θαυμάζειν τῶν ὀνομάτων τὴν εἰς τὸ Ἑλληνικὸν ἀνάπλασιν· καὶ γὰρ ἄλλα μυρία τοῖς μεθισταμένοις ἐκ τῆς Ἑλλάδος συνεκπεσόντα μέχρι νῦν παραμένει καὶ ξενιτεύει παρʼ ἑτέροις, ὧν ἔνια τὴν ποιητικὴν ἀνακαλουμένην διαβάλλουσιν ὡς βαρβαρίζουσαν οἱ γλώττας τὰ τοιαῦτα προσαγορεύοντες. ἐν δὲ ταῖς Ἑρμοῦ λεγομέναις βίβλοις ἱστοροῦσι γεγράφθαι περὶ τῶν ἱερῶν ὀνομάτων, ὅτι τὴν μὲν ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ ἡλίου περιφορᾶς τεταγμένης δύναμιν Ὧρον, Ἕλληνες δʼ Ἀπόλλωνα καλοῦσι· τὴν δʼ ἐπὶ τοῦ πνεύματος οἱ μὲν Ὄσιριν, οἱ δὲ Σάραπιν, οἱ δὲ Σῶθιν Αἰγυπτιστί· σημαίνει δὲ κύησιν ἢ τὸ κύειν. διὸ καὶ παρατροπῆς γενομένης τοῦ ὀνόματος, Ἑλληνιστὶ κύων κέκληται τὸ ἄστρον, ὅπερ ἴδιον τῆς Ἴσιδος νομίζουσιν. ἥκιστα μὲν οὖν δεῖ φιλοτιμεῖσθαι περὶ τῶν ὀνομάτων, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἂν ὑφείμην τοῦ Σαράπιδος Αἰγυπτίοις ἢ τοῦ Ὀσίριδος, ἐκεῖνο μὲν ξενικόν, τοῦτο δʼ Ἑλληνικόν, ἄμφω δʼ ἑνὸς θεοῦ καὶ μιᾶς δυνάμεως ἡγούμενος.
62. And the Egyptian theology seems to favor this opinion. For they oftentimes call Isis by the name of Minerva, which in their language expresseth this sentence, “I came from myself,” and is significative of a motion proceeding from herself. But Typhon is called (as hath been said before) Seth, Bebon, and Smu, which names would insinuate a kind of a forcible restraint, and an opposition or subversion. Moreover, they call the loadstone Horus’s bone, and iron Typhon’s bone, as Manetho relates. For as iron is oftentimes like a thing that is drawn to and follows the loadstone, and oftentimes again flies off and recoils to the opposite part; so the salutary, good, and intelligent motion of the universe doth, as by a gentle persuasion, invert, reduce, and make softer the rugged and Typhonian one; and when again it is restrained and forced back, it returns into itself, and sinks into its former interminateness. Eudoxus also saith that the Egyptian fable of Jupiter is this, that being once unable to go because his legs grew together, he for very shame spent all his time in the wilderness; but that Isis dividing and separating these parts of his body, he came to have the right use of his feet. This fable also hints to us by these words, that the intelligence and reason of the God, which walked before in the unseen and inconspicuous state, came into generation by means of motion.
62. ἔοικε δὲ τούτοις καὶ τὰ Αἰγύπτια. τὴν μὲν γὰρ Ἶσιν πολλάκις τῷ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς ὀνόματι καλοῦσι φράζοντι τοιοῦτον λόγον ἦλθον ἀπʼ ἐμαυτῆς, ὅπερ ἐστὶν αὐτοκινήτου φορᾶς δηλωτικὸν ὁ δὲ Τυφών, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, Σὴθ καὶ Βέβων καὶ Σμὺ ὀνομάζεται, βίαιόν τινα καὶ κωλυτικὴν ἐπίσχεσιν, ὑπεναντίωσιν ἢ ἀναστροφὴν ἐμφαίνειν βουλομένων τῶν ὀνομάτων. ἔτι τὴν σιδηρῖτιν λίθον ὀστέον Ὥρου, Τυφῶνος δὲ τὸν σίδηρον, ὡς ἱστορεῖ Μανεθώς, καλοῦσιν· ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ σίδηρος πολλάκις μὲν ἑλκομένῳ καὶ ἑπομένῳ πρὸς τὴν λίθον ὅμοιός ἐστι, πολλάκις δʼ ἀποστρέφεται καὶ ἀποκρούεται πρὸς τοὐναντίον, οὕτως ἡ σωτήριος καὶ ἀγαθὴ καὶ λόγον ἔχουσα τοῦ κόσμου κίνησις ἐπιστρέφεταί τε καὶ προσάγεται καὶ μαλακωτέραν ποιεῖ, πείθουσα τὴν σκληρὰν ἐκείνην καὶ τυφώνειον, εἶτʼ αὖθις ἀνασχεθεῖσα εἰς ἑαυτὴν ἀνέστρεψε καὶ κατέδυσεν εἰς τὴν ἀπειρίαν. ἔτι φησὶ περὶ τοῦ Διὸς ὁ Εὔδοξος μυθολογεῖν Αἰγυπτίους, ὡς τῶν σκελῶν συμπεφυκότων αὐτῷ μὴ δυνάμενος βαδίζειν, ὑπʼ αἰσχύνης ἐν ἐρημίᾳ διέτριβεν· ἡ δʼ Ἶσις διατεμοῦσα καὶ διαστήσασα τὰ μέρη ταῦτα τοῦ σώματος ἀρτίποδα τὴν πορείαν παρέσχεν. αἰνίττεται δὲ καὶ διὰ τούτων ὁ μῦθος, ὅτι καθʼ ἑαυτὸν ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ νοῦς καὶ λόγος ἐν τῷ ἀοράτῳ καὶ ἀφανεῖ βεβηκὼς εἰς γένεσιν ὑπὸ κινήσεως προῆλθεν.
63. The sistrum likewise (or rattle) doth intimate unto us, that all things ought to be agitated and shook (σείεσθαι), and not to be suffered to rest from their motion, but be as it were roused up and awakened when they begin to grow drowsy and to droop. For they tell us that the sistrum averts and frights away Typhon, insinuating hereby that, as corruption locks up and fixes Nature’s course, so generation again resolves and excites it by means of motion. Moreover, as the sistrum hath its upper part convex, so its circumference contains the four things that are shaken; for that part of the world also which is liable to generation and corruption is contained by the sphere of the moon, but all things are moved and changed in it by means of the four elements, fire, earth, water, and air. And upon the upper part of the circumference of the sistrum, on the outside, they set the effigies of a cat carved with a human face; and again, on the under part, below the four jingling things, they set on one side the face of Isis, and on the other the face of Nephthys; symbolically representing by these two faces generation and death (for these are changes and alterations of the elements), and by the cat representing the moon, because of the different colors, the night-motion and the great fecundity of this animal. For they say that she brings forth first one, then two, and three, and four, and five, and so adds one until she comes to seven; so that she brings eight and twenty in all, which are as many as there are days in each moon; but this looks more like a romance. This is certain, that the pupils of her eyes are observed to fill up and grow large upon the full of the moon, and again, to grow less upon its de crease. And the human face of the cat shows how the changes of the moon are governed by mind and reason.
63. ἐμφαίνει καὶ τὸ σεῖστρον, ὅτι σείεσθαι δεῖ τὰ ὄντα καὶ μηδέποτε παύεσθαι φορᾶς, ἀλλʼ οἷον ἐξεγείρεσθαι καὶ κλονεῖσθαι καταδαρθάνοντα καὶ μαραινόμενα. τὸν γὰρ Τυφῶνά φασι τοῖς σείστροις ἀποτρέπειν καὶ ἀποκρούεσθαι, δηλοῦντες, ὅτι τῆς φθορᾶς συνδεούσης καὶ ἱστάσης, αὖθις ἀναλύει τὴν φύσιν καὶ ἀνίστησι διὰ τῆς κινήσεως ἡ γένεσις. τοῦ δὲ σείστρου περιφεροῦς ἄνωθεν ὄντος, ἡ ἁψὶς περιέχει τὰ σειόμενα τέτταρα. καὶ γὰρ ἡ γεννωμένη καὶ φθειρομένη μοῖρα τοῦ κόσμου περιέχεται μὲν ὑπὸ τῆς σεληνιακῆς σφαίρας, κινεῖται δʼ ἐν αὐτῇ πάντα καὶ μεταβάλλεται διὰ τῶν τεττάρων στοιχείων, πυρὸς καὶ γῆς καὶ ὕδατος καὶ ἀέρος. τῇ δʼ ἁψῖδι. τοῦ σείστρου κατὰ κορυφὴν ἐντορεύουσιν αἴλουρον ἀνθρώπου πρόσωπον ἔχοντα, κάτω δʼ ὑπὸ τὰ σειόμενα πῆ μὲν Ἴσιδος πῆ δὲ Νέφθυος πρόσωπον, αἰνιττόμενοι τοῖς μὲν προσώποις γένεσιν καὶ τελευτὴν αὗται γάρ εἰσι τῶν στοιχείων μεταβολαὶ καὶ κινήσεις, τῷ δʼ αἰλούρῳ τὴν σελήνην διὰ τὸ ποικίλον καὶ νυκτουργὸν καὶ γόνιμον τοῦ θηρίου. λέγεται γὰρ ἓν τίκτειν, εἶτα δύο καὶ τρία καὶ τέσσαρα καὶ πέντε· καὶ καθʼ ἓν οὕτως ἄχρι τῶν ἑπτὰ προστίθησιν, ὥστʼ ὀκτὼ καὶ εἴκοσι τὰ πάντα τίκτειν, ὅσα καὶ τῆς σελήνης φῶτʼ ἔστιν. τοῦτο μὲν οὖν ἴσως μυθωδέστερον· αἱ δʼ ἐν τοῖς ὄμμασιν αὐτοῦ κόραι πληροῦσθαι μὲν καὶ πλατύνεσθαι δοκοῦσιν ἐν πανσελήνῳ, λεπτύνεσθαι δὲ καὶ μαραυγεῖν ἐν ταῖς μειώσεσι τοῦ ἄστρου. τῷ δʼ ἀνθρωπομόρφῳ τοῦ αἰλούρου τὸ νοερὸν καὶ λογικὸν ἐμφαίνεται τῶν περὶ τὴν σελήνην μεταβολῶν.
64. To sum up all then in one word, it is not reasonable to believe that either the water or the sun or the earth or the heaven is Osiris or Isis; nor, again, that the fire or the drought or the sea is Typhon; but if we simply ascribe to Typhon whatever in all these is through excesses or defects intemperate or disorderly, and if on the other hand we reverence and honor what in them all is orderly, good, and beneficial, esteeming them the operations of Isis, and as the image, imitation, and discourse of Osiris, we shall not err. And we shall besides take off the incredulity of Eudoxus, who makes a great question how it comes to pass that neither Ceres hath any part in the care of love affairs (but only Isis), nor Bacchus any power either to increase the Nile or to preside over the dead. For we hold that these Gods are set over the whole share of good in common, and that whatever is either good or amiable in Nature is all owing to these, the one yielding the principles, and the other receiving and dispensing them.
64. συνελόντι δʼ εἰπεῖν οὔθʼ ὕδωρ οὔθʼ ἥλιον οὔτε γῆν οὔτʼ οὐρανὸν Ὄσιριν ἢ Ἶσιν ὀρθῶς ἔχει νομίζειν, οὐδὲ πῦρ Τυφῶνα πάλιν οὐδʼ αὐχμὸν οὐδὲ θάλατταν, ἀλλʼ ἁπλῶς ὅσον ἐστὶν ἐν τούτοις ἄμετρον καὶ ἄτακτον ὑπερβολαῖς ἢ ἐνδείαις Τυφῶνι προσνέμοντες, τὸ δὲ κεκοσμημένον καὶ ἀγαθὸν καὶ ὠφέλιμον ὡς Ἴσιδος μὲν ἔργον εἰκόνα δὲ καὶ μίμημα καὶ λόγον Ὀσίριδος σεβόμενοι καὶ τιμῶντες, οὐκ ἂν ἁμαρτάνοιμεν. ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν Εὔδοξον ἀπιστοῦντα παύσομεν καὶ διαποροῦντα, πῶς οὔτε Δήμητρι τῆς τῶν ἐρωτικῶν ἐπιμελείας μέτεστιν ἀλλʼ Ἴσιδι· τόν τε Διόνυσον οὔτε τὸν Νεῖλον αὔξειν οὔτε τῶν τεθνηκότων ἄρχειν δυνάμενον. ἑνὶ γὰρ λόγῳ κοινῷ τοὺς θεοὺς τούτους περὶ πᾶσαν ἀγαθοῦ μοῖραν ἡγούμεθα τετάχθαι· καὶ πᾶν ὅσον ἔνεστι τῇ φύσει καλὸν καὶ ἀγαθὸν διὰ τούτους ὑπάρχειν, τὸν μὲν διδόντα τὰς ἀρχάς, τὴν δʼ ὑποδεχομένην καὶ διανέμουσαν.
65. By this means we shall be able to deal with the vulgar and more importunate sort also, whether their fancy be to accommodate the things that refer to these Gods to those changes which happen to the ambient air at the several seasons of the year, or to production of fruit and to the times of sowing and earing, affirming that Osiris is then buried when the sown corn is covered over by the earth, and that he revives again and re-appears when it begins to sprout. Which they say is the reason that Isis is reported, upon her finding herself to be with child, to have hung a certain amulet or charm about her upon the sixth day of the month Phaophi, and to have been delivered of Harpocrates about the winter solstice, he being in the first shootings and sprouts very imperfect and tender. And this is the reason (say they) that, when the lentils begin to spring up, they offer him their tops for first-fruits. They also observe the festival of her child-birth after the vernal equinox. For they that hear these things are much taken with them and readily give assent to them, and presently infer their credibility from the obviousness and familiarness of the matter.
65. οὕτω δὲ καὶ τοῖς πολλοῖς καὶ φορτικοῖς ἐπιχειρήσομεν, εἴτε ταῖς καθʼ ὥραν μεταβολαῖς τοῦ περιέχοντος εἴτε ταῖς καρπῶν γενέσεσι καὶ σποραῖς καὶ ἀρότοις χαίρουσι τὰ περὶ τοὺς θεοὺς τούτους συνοικειοῦντες, καὶ λέγοντες θάπτεσθαι μὲν τὸν Ὄσιριν, ὅτε κρύπτεται τῇ γῇ σπειρόμενος ὁ καρπός, αὖθις δʼ ἀναβιοῦσθαι καὶ ἀναφαίνεσθαι, ὅτε βλαστήσεως ἀρχή. διὸ καὶ λέγεσθαι τὴν Ἶσιν αἰσθομένην ὅτι κύει περιάψασθαι φυλακτήριον ἕκτῃ μηνὸς ἱσταμένου Φαωφί· τίκτεσθαι δὲ τὸν Ἁρποκράτην περὶ τροπὰς χειμερινὰς ἀτελῆ καὶ νεαρὸν ἐν τοῖς προανθοῦσι καὶ προβλαστάνουσι. διὸ καὶ φακῶν αὐτῷ φυομένων ἀπαρχὰς ἐπιφέρουσι, τὰς δὲ λοχείους ἡμέρας ἑορτάζειν μετὰ τὴν ἐαρινὴν ἰσημερίαν. ταῦτα γὰρ ἀκούοντες ἀγαπῶσι καὶ πιστεύουσιν, αὐτόθεν ἐκ τῶν προχείρων καὶ συνήθων τὸ πιθανὸν ἕλκοντες.
66. Nor would this be any great harm either, would they save us these Gods in common, and not make them to be peculiar to the Egyptians, nor confine these names to the river Nile, and only to that one piece of ground which the river Nile waters; nor affirm their fens and their lotuses to be the subject of this mythology, and so deprive the rest of mankind of great and mighty Gods, who have neither a Nile nor a Buto nor a Memphis. As for Isis, all mankind have her, and are well acquainted with her and the other Gods about her; and although they had not anciently learned to call some of them by their Egyptian names, yet they from the very first both knew and honored the power which belongs to every one of them. In the second place, what is yet of greater consequence is, that they take a mighty care and fear lest, before they are aware, they change and dissolve the divine beings into blasts of winds, streams of water, sowings of corn, earings of land, accidents of the earth, and changes of seasons; as those who make Bacchus to be wine and Vulcan to be flame. Cleanthes also somewhere saith that Proserpine (or Persephone) is the breath of air which is carried (φερόμενον) through the corn and then dies (φονεύομενον); and again, a certain poet saith of reapers, “Then when the youth the legs of Ceres cut.” For these men seem to me to be nothing wiser than such as would take the sails, the cables, and the anchor of a ship for the pilot; the yarn and the web for the weaver; and the bowl or the mead or the ptisan for the doctor. And they over and above produce in men most dangerous and atheistical opinions, while they give the names of Gods to those natures and things that have in them neither soul nor sense, and that are necessarily destroyed by men who need them and use them.
66. καὶ δεινὸν οὐδέν, ἂν πρῶτον μὲν ἡμῖν τοὺς θεοὺς φυλάττωσι κοινοὺς καὶ μὴ ποιῶσιν Αἰγυπτίων ἰδίους, μηδὲ Νεῖλον ἥν τε Νεῖλος ἄρδει μόνην χώραν τοῖς ὀνόμασι τούτοις καταλαμβάνοντες, μηδʼ ἕλη μηδὲ λωτοὺς μὴ θεοποιίαν λέγοντες ἀποστερῶσι μεγάλων θεῶν τοὺς ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους, οἷς Νεῖλος μὲν οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδὲ Βοῦτος οὐδὲ Μέμφις· Ἶσιν δὲ καὶ τοὺς περὶ αὐτὴν θεοὺς ἔχουσι καὶ γιγνώσκουσιν ἅπαντες, ἐνίους μὲν οὐ πάλαι τοῖς παρʼ Αἰγυπτίων ὀνόμασι καλεῖν μεμαθηκότες, ἑκάστου δὲ τὴν δύναμιν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐπιστάμενοι καὶ τιμῶντες. δεύτερον, ὃ μεῖζόν ἐστιν, ὅπως σφόδρα προσέξουσι καὶ φοβήσονται, μὴ λάθωσιν εἰς πνεύματα καὶ ῥεύματα καὶ σπόρους καὶ ἀρότους καὶ πάθη γῆς καὶ μεταβολὰς ὡρῶν διαγράφοντες τὰ θεῖα καὶ διαλύοντες· ὥσπερ οἱ Διόνυσον τὸν οἶνον, Ἥφαιστον δὲ τὴν φλόγα· Φερσεφόνην δὲ φησί που Κλεάνθης τὸ διὰ τῶν καρπῶν φερόμενον καὶ φονευόμενον πνεῦμα. ποιητὴς δέ τις ἐπὶ τῶν θεριζόντων τῆμος ὅτʼ αἰζηοὶ Δημήτερα κωλοτομεῦσιν. οὐδὲν γὰρ οὗτοι διαφέρουσι τῶν ἱστία καὶ κάλως καὶ ἄγκυραν ἡγουμένων κυβερνήτην, καὶ νήματα καὶ κρόκας ὑφάντην, καὶ σπονδεῖον ἢ μελίκρατον ἢ πτισάνην ἰατρόν· ἀλλὰ δεινὰς καὶ ἀθέους ἐμποιοῦσι δόξας, ἀναισθήτοις καὶ ἀψύχοις καὶ φθειρομέναις ἀναγκαίως ὑπʼ ἀνθρώπων δεομένων καὶ χρωμένων φύσεσι καὶ πράγμασιν ὀνόματα θεῶν ἐπιφέροντες. ταῦτα μὲν γὰρ αὐτὰ νοῆσαι θεοὺς οὐκ ἔστιν.