XII. 1. The myth which is told is — ^in its very

shortest possible [elements], after the purely uaeleiB and superfluous have been removed — as follows :
The Mysteby-Mtth
2. They say that when Shea ' secretly united with Kronos, Helios on sensing^ it imprecated her not to bring forth in month or year.*
3. That Hermes being in love with the (Goddess, came to conjunction [with her] ; then playing draughts* against Selene,^ and winning^ the seventieth of each
> Or "athedsm."
* Qenerally rendered ** superstition."
* The Mother of the Qods~ and simple, unordered or chaotia
* In the most primitive meaning of the word 9l90ifutww — from V«
* iL^wX Mv' ipiavr^. Both words are connected with roots meaning "one" in ancient dialects ; AiV=A-cIr (.^EoL) and hmw^ an-nia (Lat). Cf. *hy /i-la, U; hence ^ri-avr^ts'^one-fiameL' The QoddesB, therefore, apart from the Sun, could only bring forth in a da J.
* Wrrio, — 9*ffir6s was an oval-shaped stone for playing a game like oor draughts ; it was also used for the board on which the game was played, divided by 5 straight lines each way, and therefore into 36 squares.
7 8c. the moon. " Or " taking away."
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 279
of the lights, he con-duced from all^ five days and in-duced them into the three hundred and sixty [days] — which Egyptians call the "now in-duced,"* and keep as birthdays of the Gods.'
4 [And they say] that on the first Osiris was born, and tiiat a voice fell out^ together with him on his being brought forth — to wit: "The Lord of all forth comes to light."
5. But some say that a certain Pamyle,^ being moistened* from the holy [place] of Zeus, heard a voice directing her to proclaim with outcry that " Great Eang Good-doing Osiris is bom " ; and that because of this she nursed Osiris, Kronos entrusting him to her, and they keep with mystic rites the Pamylia in his honour, similar to the Phallephoria.^
6. And on the second [they say] Aroueris [was bom] — whom they call Apollo, and some call Elder Horus.'
On the third that Typhon, neither in season nor in place, but breaking through with a blow, leapt forth through her side.®
On the fourth that Isis was born in all moist
[conditions].
1 Se. the lights. ' hrayofjJvMs^-^T " now intercalated.''
' This is an exceedingly puzzling statement. The "lights" cannot be the "lights" of the moon, of which there were 30 phases. It more probably has some connection with 360, the 70th of which works out at 6*i42S6'7 — a number not so very far removed from our own calculations. The *' each " in the text may thus be an error.
* A voice from heaven, a Bath-kol, proceeding from the Womb of Rhea.
* va/AlXfi — ^presumably a play on wap (all) and Hxii (matter).
* UptvfUmir — presumably by the Great Moistener ; it is, how- ever, generally translated ^ drawing water."
7 That is the ** Phallus-Bearing." « Eg. Heru-ur.
* vAcvpa — meaning in man radically " rib " ; also side of a square, and root of a square (or cubic) number. Typhon would be represented by the diagonal
280 THRICE-GREATEST HWRinW
On the fifth Nepbtbys, whom thej name End and Aphrodite, while some [call] her also Vicioiy.
7. And [they say] that Osiria and Aroneris were fron Helios, Isis from Hermes, and Tjrphcm and Nephthys from Eronos, and therefore the kii^ considearing the third ^ of the "induced" [days] nefast, used neither to consult nor serve themselves till night*
8. And [they say] that Nephthys was married to Typhon;' but Isis and Osiris being in love with each other, united even before they were bom, down in the Womb beneath the Darkness.^
9. Some, moreover, say that Arou&ris thna came to birth, and that he is called Elder Horns by Egyptians, but Apollo by Greeks.