XX. 1. These are approximately the chief headings of

their myth, after the most Ul-omened have been removed, — such as, for instance, the one about the cutting up into pieces of Horus, and the beheading of Isis.
2. That, however, if people suppose and say these things about that Blessed and Incorruptible Nature according to which especially the Divine conceives itself, as though they were actually enacted and really took place, '* thou shouldst spit out and cleanse mouth," according to .^Sschylus,^ there is no need to tell thee ; ^ for of thyself thou showest displeasure at those who hold illegitimate and barbarous notions about the Gods.
1 The BymboliBer as well as the interpreter of the Gods. « Of. liv. 3.
* Or it may mean '* completion " (rcXt vrV).
^ In Eg. Heru-p-khart, ».«., " Horus the Younger." ' r»(r xirw^cr yvlois — but, presumably, not from above down- wards.
• Ed. Nauck, p. 84. ^ Se. Klea.
292 THRICE-0REATB8T HKRMICS
3. Bat that these things are not at all like lean taki and quite empty figments, such as poets and pross- writers weave and expand as though they were spideo spinning them out of themselves from a souioe that hii no basis in fact, but that they contain certain infonni- tions and statements, — thou knowest of thyaelf.
4. And just as the Mathematici^ say that ''Iris*' is the sun's reflexion many-coloured by the return of its visual impression to the cloud, so the myth do?m hers is a reflexion of a certain reason (logos) that bends its thinking back on other things; as both the sacred offerings suggest by the reflected element of moamfol- ness and sadness they contain, and also the dispodtions of the temples which in one direction open out into side-walks and courts for moving about in, open to the sky and clear of objects, while in the other they hxn hidden and dark robing-rooms under ground, like plioei for putting coffins in and burying-spots.
CONCEBNINQ THI TOMBS OF OaiRffi
5. And not least of all does the belief of the Osirians — since the body [of Osiris] is said to be in many places — [suggest this].
6. For they say that both DiochitS is called PolichnS,* because it alone has the true one ; and [also] that it iB at Abydos that the wealthy and powerful of the Egyptians are mostly buried, — their ambition being to have a common place of burial with the body of Osiris ; and [again] that it is at Memphis that the Apis is
1 Presumably, again, the Pythagorean grade above the Hearefi.
* Se, the rainbow.
' Either the reading is at fault, or some word-play is intended. Dio-chitS is probably Zeus-something ; bat I cannot resolve it While Polichng is a rare diminutiye of vJaii, and would thus mean "Little City."
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 293
leared as the image of the soul of Osiris, because it is there also that his body lies.
7. And as for the City,^ some interpret it as *' Harbour of Grood Things/' but others give it the special meaning of " Tomb of Osiris " ; it is, however, the little island one • at Philffi [they say] which is in other respects inaccessible and inapproachable by all, and that not even the birds light on it or fish come near it, but at a certain season the priests cross over [to it] and make offerings to the dead, and place wreaths on the monument which is overshadowed by a . . . ' tree, which is greater in size than any olive.
XXL 1. Eudoxus, however, [says] that, though many tombs are spoken of in Egypt, the body lies at Busiris, for that this had been the native city of Osiris ; never- theless Taphosiris requires no further reason [to eBtablish its claim], for the name explains itself — namely, " Burying of Osiris."
'' But I rede of cutting of wood, of rending of linen, and pouring of pourings, because many of the mystery- [meanings] have been mixed up with them"^
* 1 Memphis ; or, perhaps, as contrasted with the Little City above . ' 8c city ; no'Tir^r is a hopeless reading, and as the editors
can make nothing oat of it, I suggest n^o'/nSa or wrtvillniv {w6\i¥),
* ItiffiiZns — apparently an error ; Bemardakis suggests iiivBiit (Lat rMfniKa\ '* mint" Can the right reading be m^^^t (v^at) 1 The ^«r&a mediea was, however, the sainfoin or lucerne, which, though reminding ns of the melilote of xiv., is hardly capable of overshadowing a tomb even in the most intricate symbolioil sense.
^ Evidently a verbal quotation from Eudoxus. The '^cutting of wood " presumably refers to the trunk with lopped branches, which, as we have already mentioned, ocean so frequently on so- called '* Qnoetic" gems ; the *' rending of linen " (klwv) might also be made to refer to Linus, the Bard, and his being torn to pieces like Osiris ; Linoi also means the ** Song of Linus," so called, it is supposed by some, because in earliest times the strings of the dthara were made of flax. For other names of singers used for lays or modes of song, compare ManerOs and Paean ; though, of
294 THRICE-ORSATB8T HKRlfWS
2. Bat the priests say thai not onl j of these Oodi» but also of all the other gods also who are not iDgener- able and indestructible, the bodies lie buried with them when they^ have done their work, and hmwe serrioe rendered them, while their souls shine in heaven u
coune, the modem way is to regard the nnger as the penoniiba- tion of the lay. Thui in Emil Naonunn*! JKftory tf Mwm (trans, bj F. Praeger ; London, 1888X p. 3» we rmd: *Tki Qreek tribes of Peloponnesus and Hellas, ai well is the E^7ptiiB% PhcBDicians, the Greeks inhabiting the isles of the JBgaui Sea, and especially those of Cyprus, had a primitive ' Lament' whid^ seems to have oome originally from Phoenicia. It was a fmMnl chant on the death of the youthful Adonis. . . . The E^jplitm changed its signification into a lament of Isia for Onria The Greeks called it Ltnot, and the Egyptians MoMmrm.^ The beginning of the ^Maneros," or the Lament of laia £or hm Beloved, is given as follows by Naumann (p. 40) :
^ Return, oh, return ! Ood Panu, return 1
Those that were enemies are no more here. Oh lovely helper, return. That thou may'st see me, thy sister, Who loves thee. And com'st thou not near me t
0 beautiful youth, return, oh, return I When I see thee not
My heart sorrows for thee. My eyes ever seek thee,
1 roam about for thee, to see thee in the form of the Nai, To see thee, to see thee, thou beautiful lov'd one.
Let me the Radiant, see thee
God Panu, All-Glory, see thee again I
To thy belovM come, blessed Onn6friB,
Come to thy sister, come to thy wife,
God Urtuhet, oh, come !
Come to thy consort ! "
Unfortunately, Naumann does not give any refereneet l^ which we can control his statements.
1 The bodies ; presumably referring to the mummies of those men and women who were believed to have reached the god-sUgB while living.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 295
stars; and that [of the former] the [soul] of Isis is called Dog by the Greeks, but Sethis by the Egyptians, while the [soul] of Horus [is called] Orion,^ and Typhon's Bear.'
3. And [they say] that for the burials of the animals to whom honour is paid, the rest [of the Egyptians] pay the [dues which are] mutually determined; but that those alone who inhabit the Thebaid give nothing, since they believe that no Qod is subject to death, and that he whom they themselves call Kneph is ingener- able and immortaL
CONCEBNINO THE THEORY OF EVEMEBUS