XV. 1. It was from him she got intelligence about

the chest : — that after it had been wave-tossed out by the Sea to the Byblos^ country, the land-wash had gently brought it to rest in a certain heather-bush." ^
2. And the heather-bush, in a short time running up into a most beautiful and very large young tree, en- folded, and grew round it,^ and hid it entirely within itself.
3. And the King,^ marvelling at the greatness of the
» Sc, Nephthya.
* Meli-lote — lotos in Greek stands for several plants ; it might be translated as " honey-lotus." Cf. xxxviiL 5.
* Her legitimate spouse.
* A term used frequently among the Greeks (who presumably got the idea elsewhere) for the servants, agents, or watchers of the higher Gk)ds ; thus the Eagle is called the *' winged dog" of Zeus {JEach,y JPr., 1022). "Dog," as we have seen (xi 1, n.) signifies a power of the World, Soiil or Great AnimAl^ also of individual souls.
* That ifl, " Papyrus." This Byblos was a ** city in the Papynii Swamps of the Delta." (So Budge, op, cie., ii. 190.)
* iptUn — probably a play on the root-meaning of ip^Utiw^ "to quiver," is intended. The Egyptian erica was taller and more bushy than ours. Or it may be the tamarisk ; elsewhere it is called a mulberry-tree.
' Sc the "coffin" — perhaps here signifying what has lately been called the " permanent atom " in man.
* The ruler of the form-side of things.
THB MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 285
tree, after cutting off the branches, and rounding off the trunk that surrounded the cofBn without its being aeen,^ set it up as the prop of his roof.
4. And they say that on her hearing of these things by the daimonian spirit of a voice,' Isis came to Byblos, and, sitting down at a fountain-head, downcast and weeping, held converse with no one else, but she embraced and showed affection to the maids of the Queen, curling' their hair and exhaling from herself on their skin a marvellous fragrance.
5. And when the Queen saw her maids, longing for the ambrosiaHsmelling hair and skin of the stranger came upon her.
And so when she had been sent for and had become an inmate [of the palace, the Queen] made her nurse of her little one.
6. And the name of the King, they say, was Malkander,^ while her name according to some was Astarte, according to others Saosis, and according to others Nemanous,^ — or whatever is the name for which the Greek equivalent would be Atheuaifs.^
^ On the erroneously called '* Qnostic " gems, the lopped trunk is a frequent symbol ; the lopped " five-branched," presumably.
' Notice the three stages of awareness : (i.) the babbling of children; (ii.) the intelligence given by the dog; (iii.) the daimonian spirit of a voice (Heb. BaiK-kol),
' Isis, when she first lost Osiris, cut off a curl (xiv. 2).
^ Apparently, though curiously, a play on the Semitic MLK or Malek, "king," and the Greek an(ir," man "—that is, **king of men."
' Or *' Neman5s." The names seem to have been impartially maltreated by the copyists ; thus we find such variants as Asparte, Sooees, Neimanoe.
* There was among the ancients an art of name-translation, as Plato teUs us in the Story of Atlantis, in which the Atlantic names he says, were translated into Qreek by Solon or by the priests of S^LB. Here, I believe, there is also a word-play intended. Isis, as we have seen, was pre-eminently Nurse, rtriiif a further intensifica-
286 THRICE-ORKATBST HERMES
XVL 1. And [they say] that instead of giving it^ Ae breast, Isis reared the little one by patting her finger* into its mouth, and that at night she burnt round ' Urn mortal [elements] of its body, and, turning herself into a swallow, flew round the pillar and twittered a diigs; until the Queen, through spying [on her] and dy- ing out^ when she saw the babe being burnt round, deprived it of its immortality.^
2. That when the Goddess revealed herself, she claimed for herself the pillar of the roof; and, taUng it down with the greatest care, she cut away the heather- tree from round it, then wrapping this * up in fine linen, and pouring the juices of sweet herbs over it^' she plaosd it in the hands of the royal couple ; and even unto tim day the people of By bios venerate the wood* lying in the holy place of Isis.
tion of the intensified rt-i^ from >/9m^ " snckle " ; the ft'*""*^" fom of '* nurse " was n-f^-ni. On the contrary, U^p§is is a daughter or derivative of A-M^ni, one who does not give suck ; for A£h#ma^ wv bom from the head and was the virgin goddess par rrrirffini Mythologically, Athenals was wife d Ahdkomeneus^ the epony- mous hero of a city in Boeotia, where was a very ancient tonpfo of Athena. In the Pindaric ode quoted in S. (1) of chapter, * Myth of Man in the Mysteries," Aklkomeneni is given as one d the equivalents for the ** first man." > The child's name was Diktys, according to viii. 8.
* The VSf« in UktvXos is said to be the same as that in Mn^ " ten," and " ten " is the number of " perfection."
* Or "away."
* Lit., "croaking" like a raven, to match the "twittering "of the swallow.
^ This presumably hints that Isis, as the Divine Mother^ endeavours to make all perfect and sound, while the earthly mother prevents this.
* &. the erica.
' Cf. John xix. 40 : "So they took the body of Jesoa and wrapped it in fine linen together with sweet herbs."
* rh^6k§m — the term used repeatedly in the New Teatament for the cross.
THE MTSTBBIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 287
3. As for the coflBn, she fiimg henelf lound it. and kept moaning so long, that the jounger of the little ones of the king died awaj ; ^ and, taking the elder with her- self, and placing the coflSn on a boat, she sailed away.
4. And when the BiTor Phcdms ' nosed too rough a wind ' jnst after dawn,^ waxing wrath, she dried up his atreauL
XVIL 1. And [thej saj] that when first she found soli- tude and was bj herself, she opened the chest, and laying her face on his face, she Idssed [him] and shed tears.
2. And that when the little one came up in silence from behind and understood, on sensing it she turned herself about, and passionately gave him an awe-ful look. And the little one could not hold himself up against the awe of her, and died.
3. But some say [it was] not thus, but, as it has been said before,^ that he fell out * into the river.
4 And he has honours owing to the Goddess, for the Maneros^ whom Egyptians hymn at their symposia is he.
5. While others relate that the boy was called Pahestinos® or Pelousios, and that the city* was named after him when it was founded by the Goddess ; and that the Maneros who is hjrmned was the first to discover the art of the Musea^
1 Or "BWOQned," or lost oonBciotigneBa.
* ^9p»s — ^lit., Bright^ Beamings Shining — that is, the Sun- fltreanL
' Or "breath" (wwtvum), * That is "at mm-riae."
* (y. viiL 2. • &. of the boat of kis.
^ yiw4pmt. I fancy thia is a play, in conjunction with the ffcT«-/iay-9^»rr« and Artf-fir-vrra (the '^ understanding " and of understanding" or ''understanding of love."
* vaXa40Tir^f — perhaps a play on voXmo't^S) **& wrestler"; hence a " rival " or ** suitor."
* Pelusium ; the Pelnsian was the eastern mouth of the Nile. *^ See note on xxL 1.
288 THRICE-ORKATEST HKRMR8
6. But 8ome say that it is the name of no one, bat a manner of speech for men drinking and feasting; — with the meaning " May such and such things be present in, becoming measure!" For the Egyptians on eTeiy such occasion shout out this, it being indicated to tbem by " Maneros."
7. Just as, doubtless, also their being shown the image of a dead man carried round in a small woodeo coffin, is not a reminder of the Osirian passion, as some suppose ; but it is in order to exhort them while filled with wine to make use of things present, in that all will very presently be such [as it], that they bring in an unpleasing af ter-reveL