XXVIII. 1. And Ftolemy the Saviour^ saw in a

dream the gigantic statue of Fluto — though he had not previously seen or known what form it was — ordering him to bring it to Alexandria.
^ See the note on ** sister- wife ** in comment on Mariamn$ (Hipp., PhUot, — Introd.) in chapter on ** Myth of Man.''— Piolegg., p. 147, n. 7.
* That is to say, according to this theory the myth represented the degree of initiation by which a man passed from the stage of daimon into the state of god, or from snper-man to chnst.
s MiiUer, iv. 316.
* The first Qreek King of Egypt, 324*286 B.a
302 THRICE-ORSATEST HKRlflW
2. And when he did not know and had no idet where [the statue] was set up even after he had described his vision to his friends, there was found a man, a great traveller, by name SdeibioB, who aaid be had seen at Sinopd just such a coloasos as the King seemed to have seen*
3. He [Ptolemy] accordingly sent Sdtelte and Dio- nysius, who, after expending much time and pain% nol^ however, without the help of God's providence, removed it secretly and brought it away.
4. And when it had been brought [to Alexandria] and set up publicly, the assistants of Timotbeos, the intrepreter, and of Manethos, the Sebennyte, coming to the conclusion that it was a statue of Pluto— judging by its Cerberus and huge serpent— convinced Ptolemy that it was that of no other of the (Sods than Sanctis; for it did not come from Sinopd with this deeignation, but after it had been brought to Alexandria it received the Egyptian name for Pluto, namely, Sarapia.
6. And yet people sink into the opinion of Heradeitos tho physicist, when he says: " Hades ^ and Dionysus are the same, for whomsoever they rage and rick'*
For those who postulate that Hades means the body, because the soul is as it were deranged and dmnken in it, put forward a [too] meagre interpretation.
6. But [it is] better to identify Osiris with DionjrBos^ and Sarapis' with Osiris, so designated after he had changed his nature.' Wherefore ** Sarapis " is common to alV just as, you know, those who share in the sacred rites know that " Osiris " is.
» That w, Pluto.
' Sar-apifl— a combination of Osiris and Apis, thm wonl «f Osiris ; ef. xxix. 5. In Eg. As&r-HftpL ' Presumably from that of a daimon to that of a god. * That is, apparently, a common principle in aU men.
THE MTSTERIBS OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 803
XXIX« 1. For it is not worth while paying attention to the Phrygian writings, in which Isis is said to have been the daughter of Charops,^ son of Heracles, and Typhon [son] of JSacus,* [also] son of Heracles.
2. Nor [is it worth while] refraining from disr^arding Fhylarehus* when he writes that "it was Dionysus who first brought two oxen from India to Egypt, of which the name of one was Apis, and of the other Osiris ; and Sarapis is the name of Him who orders [or adorns] the universe from sairein ['sweep,' 'clean'], which some say [means] ' beautifying ' and ' adorning ' " ; — for these [remarks] of Pliylarchus are absurd.
3. But still more so are those of them who say that Sarapis is not a god, but that the coffin of Apis^ is thus named, and that certain brazen gates at Memphis, called "* Gates of Oblivion and Wailing," open with a deep mournful sound, when they bury Apis, and that therefore at every sounding of brass ^ we are plunged into oblivion.
4 More moderate are they who claim that the
1 Lit " Bright- (or Glad-) eyed.**
« Lit, "Waller.''
' A liistx)rian ; flourished c. 216 B.a
♦ 'Avi8of o-^por— another word-play, " sor-apiij*
• lix^vrros . . . xa^^MCfof. Thia has, nevertheleae, pre- nunably some mystic meaning. In the myths, cymbals were said to have been used to protect the infant Bacchus, and infant Zeus, and to keep off the Titans— so, presumably, plunging them into oblivion. Compare also 1 Corinth, xiii. 1, where Paul, speaking of the exercise of the " gift of tongues ** (glosioialy) without love (iydwii), uses precisely the same term, when saying: "I am become as sounding brass (x«Air^f ^x«»0 or tinkling cymbal" — the latter being, perhaps, a reference to the iistrum, while the former is perhaps a metaphor, derived from the hardness and colour (" red ^) of brass, or rather bronze or copper, referring to a state of mind which plunges us into oblivion of our better part — namely, spiritual love.
304 THRICB-ORBATEST HKRMIW
Bimaltaneoii8 motion of the nniyene is thus called [jcl Sarapis], from muttkai and mmdhai ^ [** speed *].
5. But the majority of the priestB say that ''Osini' and " Apis " have been woven together into the same [name], explaining and teaching that we ahonld lock on the Apis as an en-formed image of the soul of Osiria
6. If, however, the name of Sarapis is E^orptian* I for mj part think it denotes ''Good Cheer" and *' Delight," — finding a proof in the fact that Kgyptiaoi call the feast " Delights "—Sairei.
And, indeed, Plato says that Hades has been so callsd as being " sweet " ' and gentle to those with hinL
7. And with Egyptians both many other of their names are logoi,^ and they call subterrene space, to which they think the souls depart after death, Amenthi — the name signifying "the [space] which takes and gives."*
8. But whether this, too, is one of the names tiiat left Hellas long ago and have been brought back again,* we will examine later on ; for the present, let as continue with the remaining [points] of the belief we have in hand.
CONCXRMINa Ttphon