XIV. 1. And as the Pans and Satyrs^ that in-

habit round Ghemnus^ were the first to sense the
junction of certain cosmic forces, and also microcosmically to soak in a state of joy or festivity or bliss, prior to incarnation.
1 That is, prove the *' permanent atoms" were his own — if ve think in terms of reincarnation.
' 8e, the Sacred Nile, Great Jordan, etc., the Stream of Ooen, which, flowing downwurds, is the birth of men, and upwards, the birth of Gods.
> r«ir*iriit»v — probably a word-play connected with V^avy ^to stretch," and so make tense or thin, or expand, and so the " wide- stretched mouth of the Great River." Cf. the Titans or Stretehea.
* Copt Hathdr — corr. roughly to November.
* Cf, xliL 4.
* Two classes of elemental existences.
7 That is Apo, the Panopolis of the Greeks ; the name Chemmii, the modem Akhmlm, is derived from an old Egyptian See Budge, op. cU^ iL 188.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 283
passion ^ [of Osiris], and give tongue conceniing what was being done, [they say] that on this account sudden disturbances and emotions of crowds are even unto this day called "panica"
2. But when Isis ^ sensed it, she cut off one of her curls, and put on a mourning dress, whence the city to this day bears the name Koptd.^
But others think the name signifies privation,^ for they say that kapUin is to de-prive.
3. And [they say] that she, wandering about in every direction, and finding no way out, never ap- proached any one without accosting him; nay, she asked even little children whom she happened to meet, about the chest
4. And they happened to have seen, and showed the mouth ^ through which the friends of Typhon let the vessel^ go into the Sea.
5. Because of this [they say] Egyptians believe that little children have prophetic power, and they especially divine from the sounds of their voices, when playing in the holy places and shouting about anything.
6.^ And [they say] that when [Isis] was aware that
1 vd(^»f— the technical term of what was enacted in the mjBtery-drama.
* As Mother Nature.
' Meaning ** I cut" ; and in mid. " I cut or beat the breast,'' as a sign of mourning.
* " The depriving things of their power " or " negation ** ; Onris being the fertilising or generative or positive power.
^ 8e, the way or passage. In little children the life force is not sexuallj polarised.
* kyyuor — a vase or vessel of any kind, hence funerary urn or even coffin ; but ii%rtiyyl(%twmeaxkB " to pour from one vessel into another," and tMrayyt^tihs is the Pythagorean technical term for metempeychocis^or palingenesiB.
^ This paragraph, which breaks the narrative, is introduced to give the myth of the birth of Anubis.
284 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
Osiris in ignorance had fallen in love and united him- self with her sister ^ as with herself, and seeing as proof the honey-clover' wreath which he had left behind with Nephthys, she sought for the babe— (for she [N.] exposed it immediately she bore it, through fear of Typhon*).
7. And after it was found with toil and trouble- dogs^ guiding Isis to it — it was reared and became her guard and follower, being called Anubis, and is said to guard the Gods, as tlieir dogs men.