XLIX. 1. For though the genesis and composition d

this cosmos has been blended from opposing, though not equal-strengthed, powers, the lordship is neverthe- less that of the Better [one].
2. Still it is impossible the Worse should be entirely destroyed, as it is largely innate in the body and largely in the soul of the universe, and ever in desperate conflict with the Better.
3. In the Soul [of cosmos], then. Mind and Reason {Logos), the guide and lord of all the best in it^ is Osiris ; and so in earth and air and water and heaven and stars, that which is ordered and appointed and in health, is the efflux of Osiris, reflected in seasons and temperatures and periods.
4. But Typhon is the passionate and titanic and reasonless and impulsive [aspect] of the Soul, while of
1 This is a very brief summary of the argoment in Ltgg^ x. 896 flf. (Jowett, V. 888 fllX
« Cy. xlv. 6.
s This ''argument" is Plutarch's own treatise sod not Flafeo^ dialogue, as King supposes.
THE MTSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 329
its corporeal [side he is] the death-dealing and pestilent and disturbing, mth unseasonable times and intemperate atmospheres and concealments of sun and moon, — as though they were the charges and oblitera- tions of Typhon.
5. And the name is a predicate of Seth, as they call l^hon ; for [Seth] means *' that which oppresses and constrains by force ;"^ it means also, frequently, " turning upside down," and, again, " overleaping."
6. Some, moreover, say that one of the companions of Typhon was Bebon;* while Manethos [says] that Typhon himself was also called Bebon, and that the name signifies "holding back" or "hindering," since the power of Typhon stands in the way of things going on their way and moving towards what they have to.