LXVII. 1. For a God is not a thing without a mind

or soul, or one made subject to the hand of man ; but it
1 or. Pb. Plut, D0 VUa Hamm, § 23.
348 THRICB-OREATEST HERMES
is from these things that we dedaoe that those irtio bestow them on us for our use and oflbr them [to us] in perpetual abundance, are Gods.
2. Not different [Gkxls] for different peoples, not non-Oreek and Greek, not southern and northern [Gods] ; but just as sun and moon and earth and sea [are] common to all [men], thou^ thej are called by different names by different peoples, so of the Beason (IiOffos) that orders all things, and of one Providenoe that also directs powers ordained to serve under her for all [purposes], have different honours and titles been made according to their laws by different [nations].
3. And there are consecrated symbols, some obecore ones and others more plain, guiding the intelligence towards the mysteries of the Gods, [thouj^] not without risk.
4. For some going entirely astray have stepped into superstitions, while others, shunning superstition as a quagmire, have unwittingly fallen into atheiBm^ as down a precipice.
LXVIIL 1. Wherefore especially with regard to such things, should we, taking with us Beason (Logos) as our mystic guide out of philosophy, reverently meditate upon each of the things said and done ; in order that, [we may avoid what] Theodorus said, [namely] that when he offered his words with his right hand some of his hearers took them with their left, — and so not miss the mark by taking in another sense what laws on offerings and feasts have well ordained.
2. For that all [these things] must be referred to the Beason (Logos), we may learn from themselves aba
For on the nineteenth of the first month,' when thej
* King Agftin, erroneously in my opinion, refers this to the Christians.
* Copt. Thoth— oorr. ronghly with September.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 349
keep a feast to Hermes, they eat honey and figs, saying when so doing, " Truth is sweet." And the amulet of Isis which the myth says she put round her [neck]^ is, when interpreted, " True Voice."
3. And we should not consider Harpocrates either as an imperfect or infant god, or a [god] of pulse,* but as protector and chastener of the babjrish and imperfect and inarticulate reason that men have about Oods. For which cause he has his finger laid upon his lips as a symbol of reticence and silence.
4. And in the month of Mesore' when they make offerings of pulse, they say : '' Tongue [is] fortune ; tongue is daimoa"
5. And they say that of the trees in Egypt the persea especially has been made sacred to the Goddess, because its fruit resembles a heart and its leaf a tongue.
6. For of all man's natural possessions nothing is more godlike than logos [word or reason], and especially that concerning the Gods, nor is there anything that decides more weightily for happiness.
7. Wherefore we commend him who goes down to consult the Oracle here ^ to think religiously and speak reverently. But the many act ridiculously when, after they have in the processions and feasts made proclama- tion to speak reverently, they subsequently speak and think the most irreverent things about the Gods themselvea