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PLUTARCH MORALIA ν

LCL 306

PLUTARCH

MORALIA

VOLUME V

WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY FRANK COLE BABBITT

HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS LONDON, ENGLAND

First published 1936 Reprinted 1957, 1962, 1960, 1984, 1993, 1999

LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY® is a registered trademark of the President and Fellows of Harvard College

_ ISBN 0-674-99337-3

Printed in Great Britain by St Edmundsbury Press Ltd, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, on acid-free paper. Bound by Hunter & Foulis Ltd, Edinburgh, Scotland.

CONTENTS

PREFACE ' ᾿ vii

TRADITIONAL ORDER OF THE MORALIA ix

ISIS AND OSIRIS

Introduction 3

‘text and ‘lranslation 6 THE E AT DELPHI ᾿

Introduction 194

Text and Translation 198 THE ORACLES AT DELPHI NO LONGER GIVEN IN VERSE

Introduction | 256

Text and Translation 258 THE OBSOLESCENCE OF ORACLES

Introduction 348

Text and Translation 350

INDEX . 508

PREFACE

A proof of Plutarch’s versatility may be found in the fact that the essays contained in this volume of the Moralia will probably appeal to a different class of readers from those who found the preceding volumes of interest. The Egyptian religion and the oracle at Delphi stand apart from the sayings of kings and commanders, for example, or the history of Rome, or the exploits of Alexander the Great. Yet they too have their appeal, and many will doubtless find them exceedingly interesting. The task of translation has not been easy, but it is hoped that the English version may be intelligible.

The present volume was written before Vol. IV. in order to take advantage of Vol. III. of the new Teubner edition (Ed. W. R. Paton, M. Pohlenz, W. Sieveking, Leipzig, 1929), and the 3rd fasicule of Vol. II. containing the Isis and Osiris.

The third volume of the new Teubner Edition is much superior to the first volume; the readings of the Mss. are more accurately recorded, as well as the conjectures, of which a sensible selection is given, and the modesty and moderation of Pohlenz’s suggestions contrast favourably with the certainty and assurance which used to characterize Wilamowitz-Méllendorff’s ~ corrections.”

vii

PREFACE

The Pythian Dialogues had already been edited by W. R. Paton (Berlin, 1893), and afforded a fairly full collation of the mss. Some few of Paton’s con- jectures are brilliant, and his contributions to the understanding of these essays will always stand to his

credit. F. C. B.

TRINITY COLLEGE,

HARTFORD, Conn. January 1935.

viii

ISIS AND OSIRIS (DE ISIDE ET OSIRIDE)

INTRODUCTION

Pictrarcu’s knowledge of Egyptology was not pro- found. Itis true that he once visited Egypt,” but how long he stayed and how much he learned we have no means of knowing. It is most likely that his treatise represents the knowledge current in his day, derived, no doubt, from two sources : books and priests. The gods of Egypt had early found a welcome in other lands, in Syria and Asia Minor, and later in Greece and Rome. That the worship of Isis had been intro- duced into Greece before 330 B.c. is certain from an inscription found in the Peiraeus (Z.G. Πα 168, or IL? 337; Dittenberger, Sylloge’, 280, or 551?), in which the merchants from Citium ask permission to found a shrine of Aphrodite on the same terms as those on which the Egyptians had founded a shrine of Isis. In Delos there was a shrine of the Egyptian gods, and in Plutarch’s own town they must have been honoured, for there have been found two dedica- tions to Serapis, Isis, and Anubis,? as well as numerous inscriptions recording the manumission of slaves, which in Greece was commonly accomplished by dedicating them to a god, who, in these inscriptions, is Serapis (Sarapis). An idea of the widespread

« Moralia, 678 ο. > Of. Collitz, Sammlung der griechischen Dialekt- inschriften, vol. i. pp. 149-155. 8

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

worship of Egyptian gods in Greek lands may be obtained from Roscher, Ausfiihrliches Lexikon der grie- chischen und römischen Mythologie, vol. ii. pp. 879-392, where the cults of Isis are listed.

Another source of information available to Plutarch was books. Herodotus in the fifth century B.c. had visited Egypt, and he devoted a large part of the second book of his History to the manners and customs of the Egyptians. Plutarch, however, draws but little from him. Some of the information that Plutarch gives us may be found also in Diodorus Siculus, principally in the first book, but a little also in the second. Aelian and, to a less extent, other writers mentioned in the notes on the text, have isolated fragments of information which usually agree with Plutarch and Diodorus. All this points to the existence of one or more books, now lost, which con- tained this. information, possibly in a systematic form. As a result, Plutarch has many things right and some wrong. Those who are interested in these matters may consult Erman-Grapow, Wörterbuch der dgyp- tischen Sprache (Leipzig, 1925-1929), and G. Parthey’s edition of the Isis and Osiris (Berlin, 1850).

One matter which will seem very unscientific to the modern reader is Plutarch’s attempts to explain the derivation of various words, especially his attempt to derive Egyptian words from Greek roots ; but in this respect he sins no more than Plato, who has given us some most atrocious derivations of Greek words, especially in the Cratylus; nor is it more disastrous than Herodotus’s industrious attempts (in Book IT) to derive all manner of Greek customs, ritual, and theology from Egypt.

In spite of minor errors contained in the Isis and

4

ISIS AND OSIRIS

Osiris, no other work by a Greek writer is more frequently referred to by Egyptologists except, possibly, Herodotus. Connected information may, of course, be found in histories of Egypt, such as those of Breasted and Baikie.*

The work is dedicated to Clea, a cultured and intelligent woman, priestess at Delphi, to whom Plutarch dedicated also his book on the Bravery of Women (Moralia, 242 Ἐ-968 ο, contained in νο], iti. of L.C.L. pp. 473-581). It is, no doubt, owing to this that the author, after he has unburdened himself of his information on Egyptology, goes on to make some very sane remarks on the subject of religion and the proper attitude in which to approach it. This part of the essay ranks with the best of Plutarch’s writing.

The ms. tradition of the essay is bad, as may be seen from the variations found in the few passages quoted by later writers such as Eusebius and Stobaeus ; yet much has been done by acute scholars to make the text more intelligible. It may not be invidious to mention among those who have made special con- tributions to the study of this work W. Baxter, who translated it (1684), and S. Squire, who edited it (1744). Many other names will be found in the critical notes.

The essay is No. 118 in Lamprias’s list of Plutarch’s works, where the title is given as an account of Isis and Serapis.

2 All the Greek and Roman sources for the religion of the Egyptians will be found conveniently collected in Hopfner, Fontes Historiae Religionis Aegyptiacae, Parts I. and II, (Bonn, 1922-1923).

(351)

D

ΠΕΡΙ ΙΣΙΔΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΟΣΙΡΙΔΟΣ

1. Πάντα μέν, ὦ Κλέα, δεῖ τἀγαθὰ τοὺς νοῦν ἔχον- A - ~ . τας αἰτεῖσθαι παρὰ τῶν θεῶν, μάλιστα δὲ τῆς περὶ αὐτῶν ἐπιστήμης ὅσον ἐφικτόν ἐστιν ἀνθρώποις 9 μετιόντες εὐχόμεθα τυγχάνειν παρ᾽ αὐτῶν ἐκείνων, ε ὑδὲ 5 θ + À A A 35 41 / 0 ὡς οὐδὲν ἀνθρώπῳ λαβεῖν μεῖζον οὐδὲ' χαρίσασθαι θεῷ σεμνότερον ἀληθείας. τἄλλα μὲν γὰρ ἀνθρώ- ε β ` - δ , δίδ ο. δὲ ` Ps ποις ὁ θεὸς ὧν δέονται δίδωσιν, νοῦ δε καὶ φρονη - A $ gews µεταδίδωσιν," οἰκεῖα κεκτημένος ταῦτα καὶ χρώμενος. od γὰρ ἀργύρῳ καὶ χρυσῷ μακάριον τὸ θεῖον, οὐδὲ βρονταῖς καὶ κεραυνοῖς ἰσχυρόν, F ? > £ . 7 A A 4 ἀλλ᾽ ἐπιστήμῃ καὶ φρονήσει. καὶ τοῦτο κάλλιστα πάντων "Όμηρος ὧν εἴρηκε περὶ θεῶν ἀναφθεγ- 7. ἑάμενος

5 A > LS ε 4 ’ 399 y , ἢ μὰν ἀμφοτέροισιν ὁμὸν γένος ἠδ᾽ ta πάτρη, ἀλλὰ Ζεὺς πρότερος γεγόνει καὶ πλείονα δει,

+ > ’ A ~ . ε $ 3 σεμνοτέραν ἀπέφηνε τὴν τοῦ Διὸς ἡγεμονίαν ἐπι- . στήμῃ καὶ σοφίᾳ" πρεσβυτέραν οὖσαν. οἶμαι δὲ καὶ

1 οὐδὲ Holwerda: οὐ.

2 γοῦ... μεταδίδωσιν added by Wyttenbach from Eustratius, Comment. ad Aristot. Ethic. vi. 8.

3 ἐπιστήμῃ καὶ σοφίᾳ Markland: ἐπιστήμης καὶ σοφίας. got ee l a

6 The priestess for whom Plutarch composed his collection of stories about the Bravery of Women (Moralia, 242 £ Β.).

6

ISIS AND OSIRIS

1. Aut good things, my dear Clea,* sensible men must ask from the gods ; and especially do we pray that from those mighty gods we may, in our quest, gain a knowledge of themselves, so far as such a thin is attainable by men.? For we believe that there is nothing more important for man to receive, or more ennobling for God of His grace to grant, than the truth. God gives to men the other things for which they express a desire, but of sense and intelligence He grants them only a share, inasmuch as these are His especial possessions and His sphere of activity, For the Deity is not blessed by reason of his possession of gold and silver,* nor strong because of thunder and lightning, but through knowledge and intelligence. Of all the things that Homer said about the gods, he has expressed most beautifully this thought τά

Both, indeed, were in lineage one, and of the same country, Yet was Zeus the earlier born and his knowledge was greater.

Thereby the poet plainly declares that the primacy of Zeus is nobler since it is elder in knowledge and in

è Cf. Plutarch, Moralia, 780 r-781 a and 355 c, infra,

e Cf. Themistius, Oration xxxiii. p. 365 B-D.

4 Iliad, xiii. 354; quoted also in Moralia, 32 4, and Life and Writings of Homer, ii. 114,

7

352

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

~ > £ ~ A F. + ” 1). τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς, ἣν ὁ θεὸς εἴληχεν, εὔδαιμον εἶναι τὸ τῇ γνώσει μὴ προαπολιπεῖν τὰ γιγνόμενα" τοῦ δὲ γιγνώσκειν τὰ ὄντα καὶ φρονεῖν ἀφαιρεθέν- > ’ 3 | / i 3 t τος, οὐ βίον ἀλλὰ χρόνον εἶναι τὴν ἀθανασίαν. 2. Διὸ θειότητος ὄρεξίς ἐστιν ἡ τῆς ἀληθείας - . - μάλιστα δὲ τῆς περὶ θεῶν ἔφεσις, ὥσπερ ἀνάληψιν ἱερῶν τὴν μάθησιν ἔχουσα καὶ τὴν ζήτησιν, ἁγνείας τε πάσης καὶ νεωκορίας ἔργον ὁσιώτερον, οὐχ ἥκιστα δὲ τῇ θεῷ ταύτῃ κεχαρισμένον, ἣν σὺ 7 E ,* Εἰ x / = θεραπεύεις ἐξαιρέτως σοφὴν καὶ φιλόσοφον οὖσαν, ε s , 1 / ” ` a 1. - ὡς τοὔνομά ye! φράζειν ἔοικε, παντὸς μᾶλλον αὐτῇ τὸ εἰδέναι καὶ τὴν ἐπιστήμην προσήκουσαν. “Ελ- ` ` esp 7 » ve , no / ληνικὸν γὰρ ἡ Ἶσίς ἐστι καὶ ὁ Τυφών, ὤν" πολέμιος τῇ θεῷ καὶ δι ἄγνοιαν καὶ ἀπάτην τετυφωμένος καὶ διασπῶν καὶ ἀφανίζων τὸν ἱερὸν λόγον, ὃν ἡ θεὸς συνάγει καὶ συντίθησι καὶ παραδίδωσι τοῖς τελουμένοις, ὡς ἱερώσεως” σώφρονι μὲν ἐνδελεχῶς A - . / διαίτῃ καὶ βρωμάτων πολλῶν καὶ ἀφροδισίων > a + νυν ` z ἀποχαῖς κολουούσης" τὸ ἀκόλαστον καὶ φιλήδονον, > ’ A . ` > t a F ἀθρύπτους δὲ καὶ στερρὰς ἐν ἱερος λατρείας ἐθιζούσης ὑπομένειν, ὧν τέλος ἐστὶν ἡ τοῦ πρώτου x a ~ . τ a καὶ κυρίου καὶ νοητοῦ γνῶσις, ὃν ἡ θεὸς παρακαλεῖ ζητεῖν παρ᾽ αὐτῇ καὶ per αὐτῆς ὄντα καὶ συνόντα. A 3 A a τοῦ δ᾽ ἱεροῦ τοὔνομα καὶ σαφῶς ἐπαγγέλλεται καὶ 1 γε Reiske: τε. 2 dy added by Reiske and placed by Bernardakis. 3 4 2 A F ο B h. et d ‘ / ὡς ἱερώσεως F.C.B. (or perhaps ὁσίως καὶ σωφρονιζομένοις

e. > κολουούσαις , . . ἐθιζούσαις): θειώσεως. 4 κολουούσης] most mss. have κολουούσαις.

a Of. Moralia, 181 a. > Plutarch is attempting to connect “ Isis ” with οἶδα, know, and “Typhon” with Tvg, puf up. See, however, 375 ο, infra. ο Cf. 355 E, infra. 8

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 351-352

wisdom. I think also that a source of happiness in| the eternal life, which is the lot of God, is that events which come to pass donot escape His prescience. But if His knowledge and meditation on the nature of Existence should be taken away, then, to my mind, His immortality is not living, but a mere lapse of time.*

2. Therefore the effort to arrive at the Truth, and especially the truth about the gods, is a longing for the divine. For the search for truth requires for its study and investigation the consideration of sacred subjects, and it is a work more hallowed than any form of holy living or temple service ; and, not least of all, it is well-pleasing to that goddess whom you worship, a goddess exceptionally wise and a lover of wisdom, to whom, as her name at least seems to indicate, knowledge and understanding are in the highest degree appropriate. For Isis is a Greek word, and so also is Typhon, her enemy, who is conceited, as his name implies,” because of his ignor- ance and self-deception. He tears to pieces and scatters to the winds the sacred writings, which the goddess collects and puts together and gives into the keeping of those that are initiated into the holy rites, since this consecration, by a strict regimen and by abstinence from many kinds of food and from the lusts of the flesh, curtails licentiousness and the love of pleasure, and induces a habit of patient sub- mission to the stern and rigorous services in shrines, the end and aim of which is the knowledge of Him who is the First, the Lord of All, the Ideal One. Him does the goddess urge us to seek, since He is near her and with her and in close communion. The name of her shrine also clearly promises knowledge and

9

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

- . s ~ 3. 3 4 ` (352) γνῶσι; καὶ εἴδησιν τοῦ ὄντος" ὀνομάζεται γὰρ σεῖον ὡς εἰσομένωνὶ τὸ ὄν, ἂν μετὰ λόγου καὶ ὁσίως εἰς τὰ ἱερὰ παρέλθωμεν τῆς θεοῦ. A m 8. "Ἔτι πολλοὶ μὲν Ἑρμοῦ, πολλοὶ δὲ Προμη- θέως ἱστορήκασιν αὐτὴν θυγατέρα, ὡς" τὸν μὲν ἕτερον σοφίας καὶ προνοίας, ᾿Ερμῆν δὲ γραμ- B ματικῆς καὶ μουσικῆς εὑρετὴν νομίζοντες. διὸ καὶ τῶν ἐν' Ἑρμοῦ πόλει Μουσῶν τὴν προτέραν Ἶσιν kd ` Δ a ” ~Y = 5 ο ἅμα καὶ Δικαιοσύνην καλοῦσι, σοφὴν οὖσαν, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, καὶ δεικνύουσαν τὰ θεῖα τοῖς ἀληθῶς καὶ δικαίως ἱεραφόροις καὶ ἱεροστόλοις προσαγορευο- μένοις. οὗτοι δ᾽ εἰσὶν οἱ τὸν ἱερὸν λόγον περὶ θεῶν πάσης καθαρεύοντα δεισιδαιμονίας καὶ περιεργίας ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ φέροντες ὥσπερ ἐν κίστῃ καὶ περι- στέλλοντες, τὰ μὲν μέλανα καὶ σκιώδη τὰ δὲ φανερὰ καὶ λαμπρὰ τῆς περὶ θεῶν ὑποδηλοῦντες" οἰήσεως, οἷα καὶ περὶ τὴν ἐσθῆτα τὴν ἱερὰν ἀποφαίνεται. διὸ καὶ τὸ κοσμεῖσθαι τούτοις τοὺς ἀποθανόντας Ἰσιακοὺς σύμβολόν. ἐστι τοῦτον τὸν λόγον εἶναι 0 μετ᾽ αὐτῶν, καὶ τοῦτον ἔχοντας, ἄλλο δὲ μηδέν, ἐκεῖ βαδίζειν. οὔτε γὰρ φιλοσόφους πωγωνο- A > τροφίαι, ὦ Κλέα, καὶ τριβωνοφορίαι ποιοῦσιν, οὔτ >Ï ‘ ε λ At λ £ 7 3 3 `I / σιακοὺς αἱ λινοστολίαι καὶ ξυρήσεις"' ἀλλ᾽ Ἰσιακός 1 εἰσομένων Baxter: εἰσόμενον. 3 ὡς Reiske: ὧν ὃν. 3 τὸν Basel ed. of 1542: τὸ. 4 ἐν added by Baxter. 5 σοφὴν οὖσαν Baxter: σοφίαν.

5 ὑποδηλοῦντες one Ms. and Meziriacus: ὑποδηλοῦντα. ? ἐυρήσεις Reiske: ξύρησις.

α As if derived from οἶδα, know, and ὄν, being.

> Of. 355 F, infra.

ο Gf. 365 F, infra, and Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis, i. 106. 1, 21 (p. 382, Potter).

10

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 352

comprehension of reality ; for it is named Iseion,* to indicate that we shall comprehend reality if in a reasonable and devout frame of mind we pass within the portals of her shrines.

3. Moreover, many writers have held her to be the daughter of Hermes,’ and many others the daughter of Prometheus, because of the belief that Prometheus is the discoverer of wisdom and forethought, and Hermes the inventor of grammar and music. For this reason they call the first of the Muses at Her- mopolis Isis as well as Justice: for she is wise, as I have said,? and discloses the divine mysteries to those who truly and justly have the name of " bearers of the sacred vessels ” and “ wearers of the sacred robes.” These are they who within their own soul, as though within a casket, bear the sacred writings about the gods clear of all superstition and pedantry; and they cloak them with secrecy, thus giving intimations, some dark and shadowy, some clear and bright, of their concepts about the gods, intimations of the same sort as are clearly evi- denced in the wearing of the sacred garb.¢ For this reason, too, the fact that the deceased votaries of Isis are decked with these garments is a sign that these sacred writings accompany them, and that they pass to the other world possessed of these and of naught else. It is a fact, Clea, that having a beard and wearing a coarse cloak does not make philo- sophers, nor does dressing in linen and shaving the hair make votaries of Isis; but the true votary of Isis

@ Supra, 351 F.

e Cf. Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum, Νο. 754 (not included in the third edition), or Altertiimer von Pergamon, viii. 2, p. 248, no. 326; also Moralia, 382 ο.

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PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

(562) ἐστιν ὡς ἀληθῶς 6 τὰ δεικνύμενα καὶ δρώμενα ` N ` , v 1 / z 2 περὶ τοὺς θεοὺς τούτους, ὅταν! νόμῳ παραλάβη, λόγῳ ζητῶν καὶ φιλοσοφῶν περὶ τῆς ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀληθείας. kd κ 2 4 . 4 ,

4. ᾿Επεὶ τούς γε πολλοὺς καὶ τὸ κοινότατον - . + [4 349? a x τοῦτο καὶ σμικρότατον λέληθεν, ἐφ᾽ ὅτῳ τὰς τρίχας οἱ ἱερεῖς ἀποτίθενται καὶ λινᾶς ἐσθῆτας ~ ε bS 309 wv / ΕΙΝ 7 φοροῦσιν: οἱ μὲν οὐδ᾽ ὅλως φροντίζουσιν εἰδέναι D περὶ τούτων, οἱ δὲ τῶν μὲν ἐρίων ὥσπερ τῶν κρεῶν σεβομένους τὸ πρόβατον ἀπέχεσθαι λέγουσι, ξυρεῖσθαι δὲ τὰς κεφαλὰς διὰ τὸ πένθος, φορεῖν δὲ A; - . 4 J A A + > ~ 3 t τὰ λινᾶ διὰ τὴν χρόαν, ἣν τὸ λίνον ἀνθοῦν ἀνίησι τῇ περιεχούσῃ τὸν κόσμον αἰθερίῳ χαροπότητι

- [4 3 » κ 3 7 7 / > / προσεοικυῖαν. ἡ δ᾽ ἀληθὴς αἰτία µία πάντων ἐστί: “καθαροῦ ydp,” ᾗ φησιν 6 Πλάτων, “ οὐ θεμιτὸν 9 A ~ 3} TA ` - ι ἅπτεσθαι μὴ καθαρῷ" ᾿’ περίττωμα δὲ τροφῆς καὶ

z IN ε ` IDA , ? $ Si σκύβαλον οὐδὲν ἁγνὸν οὐδὲ καθαρόν grw: ἐκ δὲ περιττωμάτων ἔρια καὶ λάχναι καὶ τρίχες καὶ yw > P. . 4 - ἊΝ ὄνυχες ἀναφύονται καὶ βλαστάνουσι. γελοῖον οὖν E ἦν τὰς μὲν αὑτῶν τρίχας ἐν ταῖς ἀγνείαις dmo- / r Π ` , ο. ε a τίθεσθαι ξυρουμένους' καὶ λειαινομένους πᾶν ὁμαλῶς τὸ σῶμα, τὰς δὲ τῶν θρεμμάτων ἀμπέχεσθαι καὶ - . A . ‘H ’ ὃ N 8 ὃ a λ ΤΑ φορεῖν" καὶ γὰρ τὸν 'Ησίοδον οἴεσθαι δεῖ λέγοντα 1 ὅταν] ἅττ᾽ ἂν Bentley. 3 παραλάβῃ Aldine: παραβάλῃ. 3 ἐυρεῖσθαι should probably be always read. in Plutarch (e.g. 180 B) instead of ξύρειν or ξυρᾶν: ξύρεσθαι. 4 ξυρουµένους] also ξυρωμένους.

12

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 352

is he who, when he has legitimately received what is set forth in the ceremonies connected with these gods, uses reason in investigating and in studying the truth contained therein.

4. It 15 true that most people are unaware of this very ordinary and minor matter : the reason why the priests remove their hair and wear linen garments.* Some persons do not care at all to have any knowledge about such things, while others say that the priests, because they revere the sheep,® abstain from using its wool, as well as its flesh ; and that they shave their heads as a sign of mourning, and that they wear their linen garments because of the colour which the flax displays when in bloom, and which is like to the heavenly azure which enfolds the universe. But for all this there is only one true reason, which is to be found in the words of Plato®: “for the Impure to touch the Pure is contrary to divine ordinance.” Νο surplus left over from food and no excrementitious matter is pure and clean; and it is from forms of surplus that wool, fur, hair, and nails originate and grow.? So it would be ridiculous that these persons in their holy living should remove their own hair by shaving and making their bodies smooth all over,’ and then should put on and wear the hair of domestic animals. We should believe that when Hesiod ή said,

α Cf. Herodotus, ii. 37 and 81.

è In Sais and Thebais according to Strabo, xvii. 40 (p. 812).

ο Phaedo, 67 8; cf. Moralia, 108 D.

a Cf. Apuleius, Apology, chap. 26.

e Cf. Herodotus, ii. 37.

1 Works and Days, 742-743. The meaning of these some- what cryptic lines is, of course, that one should not pare one’s nails at table; cf. also Moralia, ed. Bernardakis, vol. vii. Ῥ. 90.

19

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

3 > . / - 3 . / μηδ᾽ ἀπὸ πεντόζοιο θεῶν ἐν δαιτὶ θαλείῃ αὖον ἀπὸ χλωροῦ τάµνειν αἴθωνι σιδήρῳ,

διδάσκειν ὅτι δεῖ καθαροὺς τῶν τοιούτων γενο- μένους ἑορτάζειν, οὐκ ἐν αὐταῖς ταῖς ἱερουργίαις χρῆσθαι καθάρσει καὶ ἀφαιρέσει τῶν περιττωμά- των. τὸ δὲ λίνον φύεται μὲν ἐξ ἀθανάτου τῆς γῆς Ε καὶ καρπὸν ἐδώδιμον ἀναδίδωσι, λιτὴν δὲ παρέχει καὶ καθαρὰν ἐσθῆτα καὶ τῷ σκέποντι μὴ βαρύ- νουσαν, εὐάρμοστον δὲ πρὸς πᾶσαν ὥραν, KLOTO δὲ φθειροποιόν, ὡς λέγουσι" περὶ ὧν ἕτερος λόγος. 5. Οἱ δ᾽ ἱερεῖς οὕτω δυσχεραίνουσι τὴν τῶν περιττωμάτων φύσιν, ὥστε μὴ μόνον παραιτεῖσθαι τῶν ὀσπρίων τὰ πολλὰ καὶ τῶν κρεῶν τὰ μήλεια καὶ ὕεια, πολλὴν ποιοῦντα περίττωσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἅλας τῶν σιτίων ἐν ταῖς ἀγνείαις ἀφαιρεῖν, ἄλλας τε πλείονας αἰτίας ἔχοντας καὶ τὸ ποτι- κωτέρους καὶ βρωτικωτέρους ποιεῖν ἐπιθήγοντας τὴν ὄρεξιν. τὸ γάρ, ws ᾿Αρισταγόρας ἔλεγε, διὰ τὸ πηγνυμένοις πολλὰ τῶν μικρῶν ζῴων ἐν- αποθνῄσκειν ἁλισκόμενα μὴ καθαροὺς λογίζεσθαι τοὺς ἅλας εὔηθές ἐστι.

353 Λέγονται δὲ καὶ τὸν "Arw ἐκ φρέατος ἰδίου ποτίζειν, τοῦ δὲ Νείλου παντάπασιν ἀπείργειν, οὐ μιαρὸν ἡγούμενοι) τὸ ὕδωρ διὰ τὸν κροκόδειλον, ὡς ἔνιοι νομίζουσιν: οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτως τίμιον’ Αἰγυπτίοις ὡς ὁ Νεῖλος: ἀλλὰ πιαίνειν δοκεῖ καὶ

1 τὸ added by Wyttenbach. 3 ἡγούμενοι Markland: ἡγουμένους. 8 τίμιον Reiske: τιμὴ.

3 Plutarch touches briefly on this subject in Moralia, 642 ς.

14

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 352-353

Cut not the sere from the green when you honour the gods with full feasting,

Paring with glittering steel the member that hath the five branches,

he was teaching that men should be clean of such things when they keep high festival, and they should not amid the actual ceremonies engage in clearing away and removing any sort of surplus matter. But the flax springs from the earth which is immortal ; it yields edible seeds, and supplies a plain and cleanly clothing, which does not oppress by the weight required for warmth. It is suitable for every season and, as they say, is least apt to breed lice ; but this topic is treated elsewhere.*

5. The priests feel such repugnance for things that are of a superfluous nature that they not only eschew most legumes, as well as mutton and pork,’ which leave a large residuum, but they also use no salt 6 with their food during their periods of holy living. For this they have various other reasons, but in particular the fact that salt, by sharpening the appetite, makes them more inclined to drinking and eating. To consider salt impure, because, as Aristagoras has said, when it is crystallizing many minute creatures are caught in it and die there, is certainly silly.

It is said also that they water the Apis from a well of his own, and keep him away from the Nile altogether, not that they think the water unclean because of the crocodile, as some believe ; for there is nothing which the Egyptians hold in such honour as the Nile. But the drinking of the Nile water is

è Of. Herodotus, ii, 37, and Moralia, 286 £. ο Of. infra, 363%; Moralia, 684 F, 729 A ; and Arrian, Anabasis, iii. 4. 4. 15

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

(853) μάλιστα πολυσαρκίαν ποιεῖν τὸ Νειλῷον ὕδωρ πινόμενον. οὗ βούλονται δὲ τὸν Απιν οὕτως ἔχειν οὐδ᾽ ἑαυτούς, ἀλλ᾽ εὐσταλῆ καὶ κοῦφα ταῖς ψυχαῖς περικεῖσθαι τὰ σώματα καὶ μὴ πιέζειν μηδὲ καταθλίβειν ἰσχύοντι τῷ θνητῷ καὶ βαρύνοντι τὸ θεῖον.

6. Οἶνον δ᾽ οἱ μὲν ἐν Ἡλίου πόλει θεραπεύοντες τὸν θεὸν οὐκ εἰσφέρουσι τὸ παράπαν. eis τὸ ἱερόν, B ὡς οὐ προσῆκον ἡμέρας! πίνειν τοῦ κυρίου καὶ βασιλέως ἐφορῶντος: οἱ δ᾽ ἄλλοι) χρῶνται μὲν ὀλίγῳ δέ. πολλὰς δ᾽ ἀοίνους ἁγνείας ἔχουσιν, ἐν αἷς ib ee R καὶ μανθάνοντες καὶ διδάσκοντες τὰ θεῖα διατελοῦσιν. οἱ δὲ βασιλεῖς καὶ μετρητὸν ἔπινον ἐκ τῶν ἱερῶν γραμμάτων, ὡς “Ἑκαταῖος ἱστόρηκεν, ἱερεῖς ὄντες- ἤρξαντο δὲ πίνειν ἀπὸ Ὑαμμητίχου, πρότερον δ᾽ οὐκ ἔπινον οἶνον οὐδ᾽ ἔσπενδον ὡς φίλιον θεοῖς, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς αἷμα τῶν πο- λεμησάντων ποτὲ τοῖς θεοῖς, ἐξ ὧν οἴονται πεσόν- των καὶ τῇ γῆ συμμιγέντων ἀμπέλους γενέσθαι" 0 διὸ καὶ τὸ μεθύειν ἔκφρονας ποιεῖν᾽ καὶ παρα- πλῆγας, ἅτε δὴ. τῶν προγόνων τοῦ αἵματος ἐμπι- πλαμένους. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν E USogos ἐν τῇ, δευτέρᾳ Γῆς Περιόδου λέγεσθαί φησιν οὕτως ὑπὸ τῶν ἐρέων, ἡμέρας] ἱερέας Moser; ὑπηρέτας Michael, but ef. Diogenes Get ες 19 οἴνου δὲ μεθ᾽ ἡμέραν μὴ γεύεσθαι, 2 ἄλλοι] ἄλλοτε E. Capps.

8 ποιεῖν Markland: ποιεῖ. 4 Γῆς Pantazides: τῆς,

5 Cf. Aelian, De Natura Animalium, xi. 10. 5 Cf. Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras, 97 and 98, who says that the Pythagoreans would have nothing to do with

16

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 353

reputed to be fattening and to cause obesity.” They do not want Apis to be in this condition, nor them- selves either ; but rather they desire that their bodies, the encasement of their souls, shall be well adjusted and light, and shall not oppress and straiten the divine element by the predominance and preponderance of the mortal.

6. As for wine, those who serve the god in Helio- polis bring none at all into the shrine, since they feel that it is not seemly to drink in the day-time while their Lord and King is looking upon them.’ The others use wine, but in great moderation. They have many periods of holy living when wine is pro- hibited, and in these they spend their time exclusively in studying, learning, and teaching religious matters. Their kings also were wont to drink a limited quantity ὁ prescribed by the sacred writings, as Hecataeus 4 has recorded ; and the kings are priests. The beginning of their drinking dates from the reign of Psam- metichus ; before that they did not drink wine nor use it in libation as something dear to the gods, thinking it to be the blood of those who had once battled against the gods, and from whom, when they had fallen and had become commingled with the earth, they believed vines to have sprung. This is the reason why drunkenness drives men out of their senses and crazes them, inasmuch as they are then filled with the blood of their forbears. ‘These tales Eudoxus says in the second book of his World Travels are thus related by the priests. wine in the day-time. See also the critical note on the opposite page.

e Cf. Diodorus, i. ΤΌ, 11,

ἆ Diels, Fraymente der Vorsokratiker, ii. p. 153, Heca- taeus no. B 11.

17

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

(853) 7. ᾿Ἰχθύων δὲ θαλαττίων πάντες μὲν οὐ πάντων ἀλλ᾽ ἐνίων ἀπέχονται, καθάπερ ᾿Οξυρυγχῖται τῶν ἀπ᾽ ἀγκίστρου- σεβόμενοι γὰρ τὸν ὀξύρυγχον ἰχθὺν δεδίασι μή ποτε τὸ ἄγκιστρον οὐ καθαρόν ἐστι, ὀξυρύγχου περιπεσόντος αὐτῷ. Συηνῖται δὲ φάγρου' δοκεῖ γὰρ ἐπιόντι τῷ Νείλῳ συν-

, ` A Ν > , La D επιφαίνεσθαι, καὶ τὴν αὔξησιν ἀσμένοις φράζειν αὐτάγγελος ὁρώμενος. οἱ δ᾽ ἱερεῖς ἀπέχονται πάντων: πρώτου δὲ μηνὸς ἐνάτῃ τῶν ἄλλων Αἰγυπτίων ἑκάστου πρὸ τῆς αὐλείου θύρας ὀπτὸν ἰχθὺν κατεσθίοντος, οἱ ἱερεῖς οὐ γεύονται μὲν κατακαίουσι δὲ πρὸ τῶν θυρῶν τοὺς ἐχθῦς δύο λόγους ἔχοντες, ὧν τὸν μὲν ἱερὸν καὶ περιττὸν

fe 3 7 + a 3 ’ αὖθις ἀναλήψομαι, συνάδοντα τοῖς περὶ ᾿Ὀσίριδος

. - ¢ F [A e > 9 4 καὶ Τυφῶνος ὁσίως φιλοσοφουμένοις: ὁ δ᾽ ἐμφανὴς καὶ πρόχειρος οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον οὐδ᾽ ἀπερίεργον' ὄψον ἀποφαίνων" τὸν ἰχθύν, “Ὁμήρῳ μαρτυρεῖ μήτε Φαίακας τοὺς ἁβροβίους μήτε τοὺς ᾿Ιθακησίους

E ἀνθρώπους νησιώτας ἰχθύσι χρωμένους ποιοῦντι μήτε τοὺς ᾿Οδυσσέως ἑταίρους ἐν πλῷ τοσούτῳ καὶ ἐν θαλάττῃ πρὶν εἰς ἐσχάτην ἐλθεῖν ἀπορίαν. 9 ` yA , Η ΜΗ. ` ὅλως δὲ καὶ τὴν θάλατταν ἐκ πύους" ἡγοῦνται Kat

1 ρὐδ᾽ ἀπερίεργον Bentley : οὐδὲ περίεργον. 5 ἀποφαίνων Baxter: ἀποφαίνειν. 3 πύους F.C.B.: πυρὸς.

a Cf. Herodotus, ii. 37.

5 Of. Strabo, xvii. 1. 40 (p. 812); Aelian, De Natura Animalium, x. 46; Clement of Alexandria, Protrepticus, ii. 39. 5 (p. 34 Potter) ; also 358 s and 380 g, infra.

ε Of, Aelian, De Natura Animalium, x. 19.

4 Cf. Moralia, 729 a.

e Plutarch does not explain this elsewhere (cf. 363 z, infra), but the reason may be that given by Clement of

Alexandria, Stromateis, vii. 6. 34. 1 (p. 850 Potter), that fish do not breathe the same air as other living creatures.

18

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 353

7. As for sea-fish, all Egyptians do not abstain from all of them,? but from some kinds only ; as, for example, the inhabitants of Oxyrhynchus abstain from those that are caught with a hook®; for, inasmuch as they revere the fish called oxyrhynchus (the pike), they are afraid that the hook may be unclean, since an oxyrhynchus may have been caught with it. The people of Syené abstain from the phagrus¢ (the sea-bream) ; for this fish is reputed to appear with the oncoming of the Nile, and to be a self- sent messenger, which, when it is seen, declares to a glad people the rise of the river. The priests, how- ever, abstain from all fish ; and on the ninth day of the first month, when every one of the other Egyptians eats a broiled fish in front of the outer door of his house, the priests do not even taste the fish, but burn them up in front of their doors.¢ For this practice they have two reasons, one of which is religious and curious, and I shall discuss it at another time,’ since it harmonizes with the sacred studies touching Osiris and Typhon ; the other is obvious and commonplace, in that it declares that fish is an unnecessary and superfluous food, and confirms the words of Homer, who, in his poetry, represents neither the Phaeacians, who lived amid a refined luxury, nor the Ithacans, who dwelt on an island, as making any use of fish, nor did even the companions of Odysseus, while on such a long voyage and in the midst of the sea, until they had come to the extremity of want.’ In fine, these people hold the sea to be derived from purulent

f Homer, Od. iv. 369 and xii. 332. Cf. also Moralia, 730c,p. The facts are as stated, but the deduction that fishing was despised in Homeric times is not warranted.

19

μὴ

354

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

παρωρισµένην οὐδὲ μέρος οὐδὲ στοιχεῖον ἀλλ᾽ ἀλλοῖον᾽ περίττωμα διεφθορὸς καὶ νοσῶδες. ~ 4

8. Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἄλογον οὐδὲ μυθῶδες οὐδ᾽ ὑπὸ δεισιδαιμονίας, ὥσπερ ἔνιοι νομίζουσιν, ἐγκατεστοι- χειοῦτο ταῖς" ἱερουργίαις, ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν ἠθικὰς ἔχοντα καὶ χρειώδεις αἰτίας, τὰ δ᾽ οὐκ ἄμοιρα κοµψότητος ἱστορικῆς ἢ φυσικῆς ἐστιν, οἷον τὸ περὶ κρομμύου. τὸ γὰρ ἐμπεσεῖν εἲς τὸν ποταμὸν

. > ig r A » ld / καὶ ἀπολέσθαι τὸν τῆς Ἴσιδος τρόφιμον Δίκτυν που" κρομμύων ἐπιδραττόμενον ἐσχάτως ἀπίθανον" e A - οἱ δ᾽ ἱερεῖς ἀφοσιοῦνται καὶ δυσχεραίνουσι καὶ τὸ. κρόμμυον παραφυλάττοντες, ὅτι τῆς σελήνης φθινούσης μόνον εὐτροφεῖν τοῦτο καὶ τεθηλέναι ’ 3» A , yn? ε LA yn? πέφυκεν. ἔστι δὲ πρόσφορον οὔθ᾽ ἀγνεύουσιν οὔθ £ ld a A ο - m >; σ z ἑορτάζουσι, τοῖς μὲν ὅτι διψῆν, τοῖς δ᾽ ὅτι δακρύειν ποιεῖ τοὺς προσφερομένους.

ε + . . ` p > 7 ~ [1 -

Ομοίως δὲ καὶ τὴν ὃν ἀνίερον ζῷον ἡγοῦνται: ὡς μάλιστα γὰρ ὀχεύεσθαι δοκεῖ τῆς σελήνης φθινούσης, καὶ τῶν τὸ γάλα πινόντων ἐξανθεῖ τὰ σώματα λέπραν καὶ ψωρικὰς τραχύτητας. τὸν δὲ / a , ο ae 3 / ` λόγον, ὃν θύοντες ἅπαξ' ὃν ἐν πανσελήνῳ καὶ ἐσθίοντες ἐπιλέγουσιν, ὡς ὁ Τυφὼν v διώκων πρὸς τὴν πανσέληνον εὗρε τὴν ξυλίνην σορόν, ἐν ᾗ τὸ σῶμα τοῦ ᾿Ὀσίριδος ἔκειτο, καὶ διέρριψεν,

1 ἀλλ᾽ ἀλλοῖον] ἀλλ᾽ οἷον Bases, but see 729 B where ἀλλότριον stands in the parallel passage.

3 ταῖς added by Wyttenbach.

3 που F.C.B.: οὐ.

4 ἅπαξ] ἅπαξ τοῦ ἔτους Squire from Ael. Π. 4. x. 16.

5 καὶ ἐσθίοντες Bentley: κατεσθίοντες.

20

l | | j | |

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 353-354

matter, and to lie outside the confines of the world and not to be a part of it or an element, but a corrupt and pestilential residuum of a foreign nature.*

8. Nothing that is irrational or fabulous or prompted by superstition, as some believe, has ever been given a place in their rites, but in them are some things that have moral and practical values, and others that are not without their share in the refinements of histor or natural science, as, for example, that which has to do with the onion. For the tale that Dictys, the nurseling of Isis, in reaching for a clump of onions, fell into the river and was drowned is extremely in- credible. But the priests keep themselves clear of the onion ® and detest it and are careful to avoid it, because it is the only plant that naturally thrives and flourishes in the waning of the moon. It is suitable for neither fasting nor festival, because in the one case it causes thirst and in the other tears for those who partake of it.

In like manner they hold the pig to be an unclean animal,* because it is reputed to be most inclined to mate in the waning of the moon, and because the bodies of those who drink its milk break out with leprosy and scabrous itching. The story which they relate at their only sacrifice and eating of a pig at the time of the full moon, how Typhon, while he was pursuing a boar by the light of the full moon, found the wooden coffin in which lay the body of Osiris, which he rent to pieces and scattered,’ they do not

a Cf. Moralia, 729 B.

> Cf. Aulus Gellius, xx. 8,

¢ Cf. Herodotus, ii. 47.

4 Cf. Moralia, 670 Ff; Aelian, De Natura Animalium, x. 16: Tacitus, Histories, v. 4.

e Of. 358 a, infra.

21

PLUTARCH'S MORALIA.

> / 3 / ΄ 159 (964) οὐ πάντες ἀποδέχονται, παρακουσµάτιον ὥσπερ ἄλλα πολλὰ νομίζοντες.

᾿Αλλὰ τρυφήν τε καὶ πολυτέλειαν καὶ ἡδυπάθειαν οὕτω προβάλλεσθαι τοὺς παλαιοὺς λέγουσιν, ὥστε

` Ζ ” 22 z 2 Αα ε.α a g καὶ στήλην ἔφασαν" ἐν Θήβαις ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ κεῖσθαι κατάρας ἐγγεγραμμένας ἔχουσαν κατὰ Μείνιος τοῦ

Β βασιλέως, ὃς πρῶτος Αἰγυπτίους τῆς ἀπλούτου . καὶ ἀχρημάτου καὶ λιτῆς ἀπήλλαξε διαίτης. λέγεται δὲ καὶ Τέχνακτις ὁ Βοκχόρεως πατὴρ στρατεύων ἐπ᾿ "Άραβας, τῆς ἀποσκευῆς βρα- ’ ε la m t [4 P: δυνούσης, ἡδέως τῷ προστυχόντι σιτίῳ χρησά- µενος, εἶτα κοιμηθεὶς βαθὺν ὕπνον ἐπὶ στιβάδος, ἀσπάσασθαι τὴν εὐτέλειαν" ἐκ δὲ τούτου καταρά- σασθαι. τῷ Mein,’ καὶ τῶν ἱερέων ἐπαινεσάντων στηλιτεῦσαι τὴν κατάραν.

9. Of δὲ βασιλεῖς ἀπεδείκνυντο μὲν ἐκ τῶν ἱερέων ἢ τῶν μαχίμων, τοῦ μὲν δι᾽ ἀνδρείαν τοῦ δὲ διὰ σοφίαν γένους ἀξίωμα καὶ τιμὴν ἔχοντος. ὃ δ᾽ ἐκ μαχύμων ἀποδεδειγμένος εὐθὺς ἐγίγνετο τῶν

A - ’

C ἱερέων καὶ μετεῖχε τῆς φιλοσοφίας, ἐπικεκρυμ- + . À A 5Q . + 3 ὃ . > μένης τὰ πολλὰ μύθοις καὶ λόγοις ἀμυδρὰς ép-

+ ~ 3 tA ` La E ο ο φάσεις τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ διαφάσεις ἔχουσιν, ὥσπερ ἀμέλει καὶ παραδηλοῦσιν αὐτοὶ πρὸ τῶν ἑερῶν τὰς

1 παρακουσμάτιον Xylander: παρακουσμάτων.

3 ἔφασαν) ἔστησαν Sieveking, omitting κεῖσθαι. σα" ΚΠΣ 8 Mei. Baxter: Μεινέῳ.

a Usually known as Menes. The name is variously written by Greek authors as Min, Minaeus, Meneus, Menas. According to tradition he was the first king of Egypt. His reign is put circa 3500 or 3400 s.c. Cf. Herodotus, ii, 4. In Diodorus, i. 45, is found this same story.

è Tefnakhte (also spelled Tnephachthos or Tnephachtho by Greek writers), after much fighting, made himself king of Lower Egypt circa 725 B.C.

22

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 354

all accept, believing it to be a misrepresentation, even ` as many other things are.

Moreover, they relate that the ancient Egyptians put from them luxury, lavishness, and self-indulgence, to such a degree that they used to say that there was a pillar standing in the temple at Thebes which had inscribed upon it curses against Meinis,* their king, who was the first to lead the Egyptians to quit their frugal, thrifty, and simple manner of living. It is said also that Technactis,® the father of Bocchoris,¢ when he was leading his army against the Arabians, because his baggage was slow in arriving, found pleasure in eating such common food as was available, and afterwards slept soundly on a bedding of straw, and thus became fond of frugal living ; as the result, he invoked a curse on Meinis, and, with the approval of the priests, had a pillar set up with the curse inscribed upon it.

9. The kings were appointed from the priests or from the military class, since the military class had eminence and honour because of valour, and the priests because of wisdom. But he who was appointed from the military class was at once made one of the priests and a participant in their philosophy, which, for the most part, is veiled in myths and in words containing dim reflexions and adumbrations of the truth, as they themselves intimate beyond question by appropriately placing sphinxes* before their

è Bekneranef, king of Egypt cirea 718-712 B.c., was, according to Greek tradition, a wise and just ruler. An apocryphal story about him may be found in Aelian, De Natura Animalium, xii. 3.

4 Cf. Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis, v. 5. 31, chap. ὅ (p. 664 Potter).

23

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

(964) σφίγγας ἐπιεικῶς ἱστάντες, ὡς αἰνιγματώδη σοφίαν τῆς. θεολογίας αὐτῶν ἐχούσης. τὸ δ᾽ ἐν Σάει τῆς ΑΡ. A at . Ἱ E 3 x

vas, ἣν' καὶ “low νομίζουσιν, €dos ἐπιγραφὴν εἶχε τοιαύτην “ ἐγώ εἰμι πᾶν τὸ γεγονὸς καὶ ὂν καὶ ἐσόμενον καὶ τὸν ἐμὸν πέπλον οὐδείς πω θνητὸς ἀπεκάλυψεν." "Ἔτι δὲ τῶν πολλῶν νομιζόντων ἴδιον παρ᾽ Αἰγυπτίοις ὄνομα τοῦ Διὸς εἶναι τὸν ᾿Αμοῦν (6 ΄ ς al ’ . . παράγοντες ἡμεῖς "Άμμωνα λέγομεν), Μανεθὼς μὲν Ὁ ὁ Σεβεννύτης τὸ κεκρυμμένον οἴεται καὶ τὴν $. e Ν , A - "~ € κρύψιν ὑπὸ ταύτης δηλοῦσθαι τῆς φωνῆς' Exa- ταῖος δ᾽ ὁ ᾿Αβδηρίτης φησὶ τούτῳ καὶ πρὸς ἀλλή- - ? - κ) λους τῷ ῥήματι χρῆσθαι τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους, ὅταν Twa προσκαλῶνται: προσκλητικὴν γὰρ εἶναι τὴν φωνήν. διὸ τὸν πρῶτον θεόν, ὃν τῷ παντὶ τὸν αὐτὸν νοµίζουσιν, ὡς ἀφανῆ καὶ κεκρυμμένον ὄντα προσκαλούμενοι καὶ παρακαλοῦντες ἐμφανῆ γε- / ` ~ > - > - LA ε A νέσθαι καὶ δῆλον αὐτοῖς, ᾿Αμοῦν λέγουσιν’ ἡ μὲν D 3 z ~ . . m + 3 ’ οὖν εὐλάβεια. τῆς περὶ τὰ θεῖα σοφίας Αἰγυπτίων τοσαύτη ἦν. 10. Μαρτυροῦσι δὲ καὶ τῶν “Ἑλλήνων οἱ σοφώ- E τατοι, Σόλων Θαλῆς Πλάτων Εὔδοξος Πυθαγόρας, e 3 EA ΄ . - > [4 ὡς δ᾽ ἔνιοί φασι, καὶ Λυκοῦργος, εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἀφικόμενοι καὶ συγγενόμενοι τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν. Eù- δοξον μὲν οὖν Χονούφεώς φασι Μεμφίτου δι- ακωῦσαι, Σόλωνα δὲ Σόγχιτος Σαΐτου, Πυθαγόραν δ᾽ Οἰνούφεως “Ἠλιοπολίτου. μάλιστα δ᾽ οὗτος, Fós ἔοικε, θαυμασθεὶς καὶ θαυμάσας τοὺς ἄνδρας 1 ἣν Aldine ed.: ὃ ἣν. 3 Σεβεννύτης] often written σεβεννίτης. 3 ὃν added by Bentley.

24

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 354

shrines to indicate that their religious teaching has in it an enigmatical sort of wisdom. In Sais the statue of Athena, whom they believe to be Isis, bore the inscription : ‘‘ I am all that has been, and is, and shall be, and my robe no mortal has yet uncovered.”

Moreover, most people believe that Amoun is the name given to Zeus in the land of the Egyptians,’ a name which we, with a slight alteration, pronounce Ammon. But Manetho of Sebennytus thinks that the meaning “ concealed ” or “ concealment ” lies in this word. Hecataeus® of Abdera, however, says that the Egyptians use this expression one to another whenever they call to anyone, for the word is a form of address. When they, therefore, address the supreme god, whom they believe to be the same as the Universe, as if he were invisible and concealed, and implore him to make himself visible and manifest to them, they use the word “ Amoun’”’; so great, then, was the circumspection of the Egyptians in thcir wisdom touching all that had to do with the gods.

10. Witness to this also are the wisest of the Greeks : Solon, Thales, Plato, Eudoxus, Pythagoras, who came to Egypt and consorted with the priests 5: and in this number some would include Lycurgus also. Eudoxus, they say, received instruction from Chonuphis of Memphis, Solon from Sonchis of Sais, and Pythagoras from Oenuphis of Heliopolis. Pyth- agoras, as it seems, was greatly admired, and he also greatly admired the Egyptian priests, and, copying

‘a Gf, Herodotus, ii. 49. ἐν oe Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, Hecataeus (60), No. B, 8.

e Cf. Diodorus, i. 96 and 98; Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis, i. 69. 1, chap. 15 (p. 356 Potter); Moralia, 578 τ, and Life of Solon, chap. xxvi. (99 €).

25

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

ἀπεμιμήσατο τὸ συμβολικὸν αὐτῶν καὶ μυστηριῶ- 2 ’ ὃς A / ~ . δες, ἀναμείξας αἰνίγμασι τὰ δόγματα: τῶν γὰρ καλουμένων ἱερογλυφικῶν γραμμάτων οὐδὲν ἀπο- λείπει τὰ πολλὰ τῶν Πυθαγορικῶν παραγγελμάτων, et > 2 6 N 3 bi aN δύ yy i > μα οἷόν ἐστι τό “ μὴ ἐσθίειν ἐπὶ δίφρου 7 “ μηδ᾽ ἐπὶ χοίνικος καθῆσθαι’ “ μηδὲ φοίνικα φυτοτομεῖν ο ΄ ΄ 7 μηδὲ πῦρ μαχαίρᾳ" σκαλεύειν ἐν οἰκίᾳ. i οκῶ δ᾽ ἔγωγε καὶ τὸ τὴν μονάδα τοὺς ἄνδρας > Ζ » ή . ` 79.3 3 ὀνομάζειν ᾿Απόλλωνα καὶ τὴν δυάδα Ἄρτεμιν, ᾿Αθηνᾶν δὲ τὴν ἑβδομάδα, Ποσειδῶνα δὲ τὸν πρῶ- τον κύβον, ἐοικέναι τοῖς ἐπὶ τῶν ἱερῶν ἱδρυμένοις καὶ γλυφομένοις" νὴ Δία καὶ γραφομένοις. τὸν γὰρ βασιλέα καὶ κύριον "Όσιριν ὀφθαλμῷ καὶ σκήπτρῳ + 355 γράφουσιν: ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ τοὔνομα διερμηνεύουσι ld e A . — He Eppa ? πολυόφθαλμον, ὡς τοῦ μὲν BF τὸ πολὺ τοῦ δ᾽ ἴρι 4 /. τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν Αἰγυπτίᾳ γλώττῃ φράζοντος᾽ τὸν δ᾽ οὐρανὸν ὡς ἀγήρων δι ἀιδιότητα καρδίᾳ θυῶν" δε ς Ph > ` , ΜΝ ἐσχάρας ὑποκειμένης. ἐν δὲ Θήβαις εἰκόνες ἦσαν ἀνακείμεναι δικαστῶν ἄχειρες, ἡ δὲ τοῦ ἀρχιδικα- στοῦ καταμύουσα τοῖς ὄμμασιν, ὡς ἄδωρον ἅμα τὴν δικαιοσύνην καὶ ἀνέντευκτον οὖσαν. Τοῖς δὲ μαχίμοις κάνθαρος ἦν γλυφὴ σφραγῖδος: 1 φυτοτομεῖν F.C.B. : φυτεύειν. a ία 5 f. 2 μαχαίρᾳ Bernardakis: μαχαίρῃ. 3 τὴν δυάδα Squire: δυάδα τὴν. 4 γλυφομένοις F.C.B.: δρωμένοις, 6 φράζοντος Baxter: φράζοντες. 6 θυῶν F.C.B.: θυμό».

ee a For these precepts cf. Moralia, 12 £-F, and Life of Numa, chap. xiv. (69 ο): Athenaeus, x. 77 (452 p): Tamblichus, Protrepticus, chap. xxi. (pp. 131-160); Diogenes Laertius, viii. 17-18. è Cf. 365 B, infra, and Xenophon, Anabasis, ii. 3. 16.

26

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 354-355

their symbolism and occult teachings, incorporated his doctrines in enigmas. As a matter of fact most of the Pythagorean precepts ὁ do not at all fall short of the writings that are called hieroglyphs ; such, for example, as these: “ Do not eat upon a stool”; “ Do not sit upon a peck measure”; “ Do not lop off the shoots of a palm-tree ὃ”: “ Do not poke a fire with a sword within the house.”

For my part, I think also that their naming unity Apollo, duality Artemis, the hebdomad Athena, and the first cube Poseidon,* bears a resemblance to the statues and even to the sculptures and paintings with which their shrines are embellished. For their King and Lord Osiris they portray by means of an eye and a sceptre; there are even some who explain the meaning of the name as “ many-eyed”¢ on the theory that os in the Egyptian language means “many ” and iri “ eye”; and the heavens, since they are ageless because of their eternity, they por- tray by a heart with a censer beneath.” In Thebes there were set up statues of judges without hands, and the statue of the chief justice had its eyes closed, to indicate that justice is not influenced by gifts or by intercession.”

The military class had their seals engraved with the form of a beetle” ; for there is no such thing as a

¢ Cf., for example, 381 ε and 393 π, infra, and Iamblichus, Comment. in Nichomachi Arithmetica, 14.

4 Oceasionally found on the monuments; ο). 371 E, infra.

“* Cf. Diodorus, 1. 11.

? Cf. Horapollo, Hieroglyphics, i. 99.

9 Cf. Diodorus, 1. 48. 6.

* The Egyptian scarab, or sacred beetle. Cf. Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxx. 13 (30).

27

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

(355) οὐ γὰρ ἔστι κάνθαρος. θῆλυς, ἀλλὰ πάντες ἄρσενες. τίκτουσι δὲ τὸν γόνον εἰς σφαιροποίησιν,' οὐ τροφῆς μᾶλλον ὕλην ἢ γενέσεως χώραν παρα- σκευάζοντες,

B 11. Ὅταν οὖν ἃ μυθολογοῦσιν Αἰγύπτιοι περὶ τῶν θεῶν ἀκούσῃς, πλάνας καὶ διαμελισμοὺς | καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα. παθήματα, δεῖ τῶν «προειρημένων μνημονεύειν καὶ «μηδὲν οἴεσθαι τούτων λέγεσθαι γεγονὸς οὕτω καὶ πεπραγμένον. οὐ γὰρ τὸν κύνα κυρίως Ἑρμῆν 7 λέγουσιν, ἀλλὰ τοῦ ζῴου τὸ φυλα- κτικὸν καὶ τὸ «ἄγρυπνον καὶ τὸ φιλόσοφον, γνώσει καὶ ἀγνοίᾳ τὸ pov καὶ τὸ ἐχθρὸν ὁρίζοντος, ᾗ φησιν ὁ Πλάτων, τῷ λογιωτάτῳ τῶν θεῶν συν- οικειοῦσιν 5 οὐδὲ τὸν ἥλιον ἐκ λωτοῦ νομίζουσι

0 βρέφος ἀνίσχειν νεογιλόν, ἀλλ᾽ οὕτως ἀνατολὴν ἡλίου γράφουσι, τὴν ἐξ ὑγρῶν ἡλίου γιγνομένην ἄναψιν αἰνιττόμενοι. καὶ γὰρ τὸν ὠμότατον | Περ- σῶν βασιλέα καὶ φοβερώτατον Ὦχον ἀποκτείναντα πολλούς, τέλος δὲ καὶ τὸν Απιν ἀποσφάξαντα καὶ καταδειπνήσαντα μετὰ τῶν φίλων, ἐκάλεσαν “ ud- xupav,” καὶ καλοῦσι μέχρι νῦν οὕτως ἐν τῷ κατα- λόγῳ τῶν βασιλέων, οὐ κυρίως δήπου τὴν οὐσίαν

1 εἰς σφαιροποίησιν F.C.B.: ὡς σφαιροποιοῦσιν. (τ. y. ἀφιέντες εἰς ὄνθον ὃν σφαιροποιοῦσιν Pohlenz.) 3 παθήματα] μαθήματα most Mss. π

3 συνοικειοῦσιν Baxter: κυνικειοῦσιν.

o Οἱ 381 a, infra. The idea that all beetles are male was very common in antiquity; cf., for example, Aelian, De Natura Animalium, x. 15; Porphyry, De Abstineniia, iv. 9. .

> They are σκατοφάγοι,

ο Of. Plato's Republic, 375 =, and the note in Adam’s edition (Cambridge, 1902).

4 Cf. 368 τ and 400 a, infra.

28

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 355

female beetle, but all beetles are male.” They eject their sperm into a round mass which they construct, since they are no less occupied in arranging for a supply of food ® than in preparing a place to rear their young.

11. Therefore, Clea, whenever you hear the tradi- tional tales which the Egyptians tell about the gods, their wanderings, dismemberments, and many experi- ences of this sort, you must remember what has been already said, and you must not think that any of these tales actually happened in the manner in which they are related. The facts are that they do not call the dog by the name Hermes as his proper name, but they bring into association with the most astute of their gods that animal’s watchfulness and wake- fulness and wisdom, since he distinguishes between what is friendly and what is hostile by his knowledge of the one and his ignorance of the other, as Plato ὁ remarks. Nor, again, do they believe that the sun rises as a new-born babe from the lotus, but they portray the rising of the sun in this manner to indi- cate allegorically the enkindling of the sun from the waters.? So also Ochus, the most cruel and terrible of the Persian kings, who put many to death and finally slaughtered the Apis 5 and ate him for dinner in the company of his friends, the Egyptians called the “ Sword ” ; and they call him by that name even to this day in their list of kings.’ But manifestly they

¢ The sacred bull.

7 Both Cambyses and Ochus are said to have killed the sacred bull Apis; cf. 368 F, infra, and Herodotus, iii. 29, for Cambyses ; for Ochus, 363 c, infra, and Aelian, Varia Historia, iv. 8. In De Natura Animalium, x. 28, Aelian says that both Cambyses and Ochus were guilty of this offence.

29

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

(355) αὐτοῦ onpaivovres, ἀλλὰ τοῦ τρόπου τὴν σκληρό- τητα καὶ κακίαν ὀργάνῳ φονικῷ παρεικάζοντες. οὕτω δὴ τὰ περὶ θεῶν ἀκούσασα, καὶ δεχομένη παρὰ τῶν ἐξηγουμένων τὸν μῦθον ὁ ὁσίως καὶ φιλο-

D σόφως, καὶ δρῶσα μὲν ἀεὶ καὶ διαφυλάττουσα τῶν ἱερῶν τὰ νενομισμένα, τοῦ. δ᾽ ἀληθῆ δόξαν ἔχειν περὶ θεῶν μηδὲν. οἰομένη μᾶλλον αὐτοῖς μήτε θύσειν μήτε ποιήσευ᾽' κεχαρισμένον, οὐδὲν av? ἔλαττον ἀποφεύγοιοὶ κακὸν ἀθεότητος δεισιδαι- μονίαν.

19. Λέξεται δ᾽ ὁ μῦθος οὗτος ἐν βραχυτάτοις ὡς ἔνεστι μάλιστα, τῶν ἀχρήστων σφόδρα καὶ περιτ- τῶν ἀφαιρεθέντων.

Τῆς 'Ῥέας φασὶ κρύφα τῷ Κρόνῳ συγγενομένης αἰσθόμενον ἐπαράσασθαι τὸν Ἥλιον αὐτῇ μήτε μηνὶ μήτ᾽ ἐνιαυτῷ τεκεῖν: ἐρῶντα δὲ τὸν Ἑρμῆν τῆς θεοῦ συνελθεῖν, εἶτα παίξαντα πεττία; πρὸς τὴν σελήνην καὶ ἀφελόντα τῶν φώτων ἑκάστου τὸ ἑβδομηκοστὸν ἐκ πάντων ἡμέρας πέντε συνελεῖν'

E καὶ ταῖς ἑξήκοντα καὶ τριακοσίαις ἐπαγαγεῖν,᾽ ἃς νῦν ἐπαγομένας Αἰγύπτιοι καλοῦσι καὶ τῶν θεῶν γενεθλίους ἄγουσι. τῇ μὲν πρώτῃ τὸν Ὄσιριν

1 πονήσειν Diibner: ποιήσειν αὐτοῖς.

2 ἂν added by F.C.B.

3 ἀποφεύγοιο F.C.B.: ἀποφεύξοιο.

* λέξεται F.C.B.: λέγεται (λεγέσθω Paton; but the copyist evidently exchanged a letter with ἀποφεύγοιο).

5 merria Hatzidakis: πέττια.

€ συνελείν Xylander: συνελθεῖν. Ἰ ἐπαγαγεῖν Reiske: ἐπάγειν.

a Cf. Moralia, 1645, 165 c, 378 Α, 379 £E.

+ Cf. Moralia, 429r; Diodorus, 1. 13. 4; Eusebius, Praeparatio Evang. ii. 1. 1-32.

Plutarch evidently does not reckon the ἕνη καὶ νέα (the 30

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 355

do not mean to apply this name to his actual being ; they but liken the stubbornness and wickedness in his character to an instrument of murder. If, then, you listen to the stories about the gods in this way, accepting them from those who interpret the story reverently and philosophically, and if you always per- form and observe the established rites of worship, and believe that no sacrifice that you can offer, no deed that you may do will be more likely to find favour with the gods than your belief in their true nature, you may avoid superstition which is no less an evil than atheism.*

12. Here follows the story related in the briefest possible words with the omission of everything that is merely unprofitable or superfluous :

They say that the Sun, when he became aware of Rhea’s intercourse with Cronus,® invoked a curse upon her that she should not give birth to a child in any month or any year; but Hermes, being enamoured of the goddess, consorted with her. Later, playing at draughts with the moon, he won from her the seventieth part of each of her periods of illumination,° and from all the winnings he composed five days, and intercalated them as an addition to the three hundred and sixty days. The Egyptians even now call these five days intercalated? and celebrate them as the birthdays of the gods. They relate that on the first

day when the old moon changed to the new) as a period of illumination, since the light given by the moon at that time is practically negligible. An intimation of this is given in his Life of Solon, chap. xxv. (92 c). Cf. also Plato, Cratylus, 409 g, and the scholium on Aristophanes’ Clouds, 1186. One seventieth of 12 lunar months of 29 days each (348 days) is very nearly five days. 4 Cf. Herodotus, ii. 4. 31

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

γενέσθαι, καὶ «φωνὴν αὐτῷ τεχθέντι συνεκπεσεῖν ὧς ὁ πάντων" «κύριος εἰς φῶς πρόεισιν. ἔνιοι δὲ Πα- μύλην" τινὰ λέγουσιν ἐ ἐν Θήβαις ὑδρευόμενον" ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ τοῦ Διὸς φωνὴν ἀκοῦσαι διακελευομένην d dv- ειπεῖν μετὰ βοῆς ὅτι μέγας βασιλεὺς εὐεργέτης Ὄσιρις γέγονε" καὶ διὰ τοῦτο θρέψαι τὸν ΄σιριν, ἐγχειρίσαντος" αὐτῷ τοῦ Κρόνου, καὶ τὴν τῶν Παμυλίων" ἑορτὴν αὐτῷ τελεῖσθαι φαλληφορίοις è ἐοι- F κυῖαν. τῇ δὲ δευτέρᾳ τὸν ᾿Αρούηριν, ὃ ov ᾿Απόλλωνα, ὃν καὶ πρεσβύτερον ` Ὧρον é ἔνιοι καλοῦσι’ τῇ τρίτῃ δὲ Τυφῶνα μὴ καιρῷ μηδὲ κατὰ χώραν, ἀλλ᾽ ἆ ἀναρ- ρήξαντα πληγῇ διὰ τῆς πλευρᾶς ἐξαλέσθαι”' τετάρτῃ" δὲ τὴν Ἶσιν ἐν πανύγροις γενέσθαι" τῇ δὲ πέμπτῃ Νέφθυν, ἣν καὶ Τελευτὴν καὶ ᾿Αφροδίτην, ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ Νίκην ὀνομάζουσιν. εἶναι δὲ τὸν μὲν Ὄσιριν ἐξ Ἡλίου καὶ τὸν ᾿Αρούηρυ, ἐκ δ᾽ "Ἑρμοῦ τὴν 356 Ἶσιν, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ Κρόνου τὸν Τυφῶνα καὶ τὴν Νέ- φθυν, διὸ καὶ τὴν τρίτην ' τῶν ἐπαγομένων ἀποφράδα νομίζοντες οἱ i βασιλεῖς οὐκ ἐχρημάτιζον οὐδ᾽ ἐθερά- πευον αὐτοὺς μέχρι νυκτός. γήμασθαιζ δὲ τῷ Τυφῶνι τὴν Νέφθυν, Ἶσιν δὲ καὶ σιρυ ἐρῶντας ἀλλήλων καὶ πρὶν ἢ γενέσθαι κατὰ γαστρὸς ὑπὸ

1 ὁ πάντων Reiske: ἁπάντων. 2 Παμύλην . . . Παμυλίων] Παμμύλην . . . Παμμυλίων L. Dindorf. 3 ὑδρευόμενον Baxter: ὑδρευομένην (or else αὐτῷ in the fourth line infra must be changed to αὐτῇ). 4 ἐγχειρίσαντος Salmasius: ἐγχειρήσαντος. ὅ ἐξαλέσθαι Reiske: ἐξάλλεσθαι. 8 τετάρτῃ] τῇ τετάρτῃ to correspond with the other four? 7 γήμασθαι Xylander: τιμᾶσθαι.

~a What is known about Pamyles (or Paamyles or Pam- myles), a Priapean god of the Egyptians, may be found in Kock, Com. Att. Frag. ii. p. 289. Cf. also 365 s, infra,

32

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 355-356

of these days Osiris was born, and at the hour of his birth a voice issued forth saying, “ The Lord of All advances to the light.” But some relate that a certain Pamyles,* while he was drawing water in Thebes, heard a voice issuing from the shrine of Zeus, which bade him proclaim with a loud voice that a mighty and beneficent king, Osiris, had been born; and for this Cronus entrusted to him the child Osiris, which he brought up. It is in his honour that the festival of Pamylia is celebrated, a festival which resembles the phallic processions. On the second of these days Arueris was born whom they call Apollo, and some call him also the elder Horus. On the third day Typhon was born, but not in due season or manner, but with a blow he broke through his mother’s side and leapt forth. On the fourth day Isis was born in the regions that are ever moist’; and on the fifth Nephthys, to whom they give the name of Finality ὁ and the name of Aphrodité, and some also the name of Victory. There is also a tradition that Osiris and Arueris were sprung from the Sun, Isis from Hermes,? and Typhon and Nephthys from Cronus. For this reason the kings considered the third of the intercalated days as in- auspicious, and transacted no business on that day, nor did they give any attention to their bodies until nightfall. They relate, moreover, that Nephthys became the wife of Typhon ¢ ; but Isis and Osiris were enamoured of each other’ and consorted together in

d The meaning is doubtful, but Isis as the goddess of vegetation, of the Nile, and of the sea, might very naturally be associated with moisture.

ο Cf. 366 B and 375 B, infra.

4 Cf. 352 a, supra,

* Cf. 375 B, infra.

_ 1 978 B, infra. 83

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

(356) σκότῳ συνεῖναι. ἔνιοι δέ φασι καὶ τὸν ᾿Αρούηριν οὕτω γεγονέναι καὶ καλεῖσθαι πρεσβύτερον ρον ὑπ᾽ Αἰγυπτίων, ᾿Απόλλωνα δ᾽ ὑφ᾽ "Ἑλλήνων.

¥ 3 a > ο . 13. Βασιλεύοντα δ᾽ "Όσιρῳ Αἰγυπτίους μὲν > ` 3 ’ F . + :3 z εὐθὺς ἀπόρου βίου καὶ θηριώδους ἀπαλλάξαι kap- πούς τε δείξαντα καὶ νόμους θέμενον αὐτοῖς καὶ 8 AY ὃ δ ΄ 1 ιό ο 8 4 A A B θεοὺς διδάξαντα τιμᾶν: ὕστερον δὲ γῆν πᾶσαν τ + > “- 3 F A e ἡμερούμενον ἐπελθεῖν ἐλάχιστα μὲν ὅπλων ĝen- θέντα, πειθοῖ δὲ τοὺς πλείστους καὶ λόγῳ μετ᾽ ᾠδῆς καὶ πάσης μουσικῆς θελγομένους προσαγόµενον: a τ t ΄ ` 3 x τ ὅθεν Ἕλλησι δόξαι Διονύσῳ τὸν αὖτον εἶναι. Τυφῶνα δ᾽ ἀπόντος μὲν οὐδὲν νεωτερίζειν, διὰ τὸ ‘ ΩΙ ο 2 ΄ ` , 3 τὴν Ἶσιν εὖ μάλα φυλάττεσθαι καὶ προσέχει; ἐγ- κρατῶς ἔχουσαν} ἐπανελθόντι δὲ δόλον μηχανᾶ- σθαι, συνωμότας ἄνδρας ἑβδομήκοντα καὶ δύο πεποιημένον καὶ συνεργὸν ἔχοντα βασίλισσαν ἐξ Αἰθιοπίας παροῦσαν, ἣν ὀνομάζουσιν ᾿Ασώ: τοῦ 8 , > Γὰ , Ki ~ . CS ᾿Ὀσίριδος ἐκμετρησάμενον λάθρα τὸ σῶμα καὶ κατασκευάσαντα πρὸς τὸ μέγεθος λάρνακα καλὴν καὶ κεκοσμημένην περιττῶς εἰσενεγκεῖν εἰς τὸ συμ- πόσιον. ἠσθέντων δὲ τῇ ὄψει καὶ θαυμασάντων, ὑποσχέσθαι τὸν. Τυφῶνα μετὰ παιδιᾶς, ὃς ἂν ἐγ- ΠΗ ! 4 7 A ΣΑ p κατακλιθεὶς} ἐξισωθείη, διδόναι δῶρον αὐτῷ τὴν λάρνακα. πειρωμένων δὲ πάντων καθ᾽ ἕκαστον, ὡς > 4 > d 3 7 ` ”. οὐδεὶς ἐνήρμοττεν, ἐμβάντα τὸν Όσιριν κατακλι- 1 διδάξαντα Markland: δείξαντα. 3 ἔχουσαν] ἄρχουσαν Markland from Diodorus, i. 17. 3 ἐγκατακλιθεὶς Markland: ἐγκατακλεισθεὶς.

4 ἐξισωθείη] ἐξισωθῇ Bernardakis, but the potential use of the optative with a relative is well established.

a Cf. Diodorus, i. 13-16. 5 Of. Diodorus, i. 11. 1-3; 18. 5-6; 20. 3-4.

34

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 356

the darkness of the womb before their birth. Some say that Arueris came from this union and was called the elder Horus by the Egyptians, but Apollo by the Greeks. |

13. One of the first acts related of Osiris in his reign was to deliver the Egyptians from their desti- tute and brutish manner of living.” This he did by showing them the fruits of cultivation, by giving them laws, and by teaching them to honour the gods. Later he travelled over the whole earth civilizing it? without the slightest need of arms, but most of the peoples he won over to his way by the charm of his persuasive discourse combined with song and all manner of music. Hence the Greeks came to identify him with Dionysus.¢

During his absence the tradition is that Typhon attempted nothing revolutionary because Isis, who was in control, was vigilant and alert ; but when he returned home Typhon contrived a treacherous plot against him and formed a group of conspirators seventy-two in number. He had also the co-operation of a queen from Ethiopia ? who was there at the time and whose name they report as Aso. Typhon, having secretly measured Osiris’s body and having made ready a beautiful chest of corresponding size artistically ornamented, caused it to be brought into the room where the festivity was in progress. The company was much pleased at the sight of it and admired it greatly, whereupon Typhon jestingly promised to present it ‘to the man who should find the chest to be exactly his length when he lay down in it. They all tried it in turn, but no one fitted it; then Osiris got into it and

ε Cf. 362 B, 364 v-¥, infra, and Herodotus, 11. 42 and 144. ἆ Cf. 366 c, infra, 35

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

(356) θῆναι. τοὺς δὲ συνόντας! ἐπιδραμόντας ἐπιρράξαι"

τὸ πῶμα καὶ τὰ μὲν γόμφοις καταλαβόντας ἔξωθεν τῶν δὲ θερμοῦ μολίβδου" καταχεαμένους" ἐπὶ τὸν ποταμὸν ἐξενεγκεῖν καὶ μεθεῖναι διὰ τοῦ Τανιτικοῦ" στόματος εἰς τὴν θάλατταν, ὃ διὰ τοῦτο μισητὸν ἔτι νῦν καὶ κατάπτυστον ὀνομάζευ» Αἰγυπτίους. ταῦτα δὲ πραχθῆναι. λέγουσιν ἑβδόμῃ ἐπὶ δέκα μηνὸς ᾿Αθύρ, ἐν ᾧ τὸν σκορπίον ὁ ἥλιος διέξεισιν, ὄγδοον᾽ ἔτος καὶ εἰκοστὸν ἐκεῖνο" βασιλεύοντος ᾿Οσίριδος. ἔνιοι δὲ βεβιωκέναι φασὶν αὐτόν, οὐ βεβασιλευκέναι χρόνον τοσοῦτον.

14. Πρώτων δὲ τῶν τὸν περὶ Χέμμιν" οἰκούντων τόπον Πανῶν καὶ Σατύρων τὸ πάθος αἰσθομένων καὶ λόγον ἐμβαλόντων περὶ τοῦ γεγονότος, τὰς μὲν αἰφνιδίους. τῶν ὄχλων ταραχὰς καὶ πτοήσεις ἔτι. νῦν διὰ τοῦτο πανικὰς προσαγορεύεσθαι" τὴν δ᾽ Ἶσιν αἰσθομένην κείρασθαι’ μὲν ἐνταῦθα τῶν πλοκάμων ἕνα καὶ πένθιμον στολὴν ἀναλαβεῖν, 6 ὅπου τῇ πόλεω μέχρι; νῦν ὄνομα Κοπτώ. ἕτεροι δὲ τοὔνομα σημαί-

E vew οἴονται στέρησιν: τὸ γὰρ ἀποστερεῖν κόπτειν

λέγουσι. πλανωμένην δὲ πάντῃ καὶ ἀποροῦσαν οὐδένα προσελθεῖν" ἀπροσαύδητον, ἀλλὰ καὶ παι-

δαρίοις συντυχοῦσαν ἐρωτᾶν περὶ τῆς λάρνακος” τὰ 1 ; συνόντας] συνωμότας Meziriacus. ἐπιρράξαι Wyttenbach : τ ἐπιρρῆξαι. 3 raise ᾽μολάβδου), θερμὸν μόλιβδον Baxter. καταχεαμένους Bentley : καταχεαμένων. 5 Τανιτικοῦ Xylander: ταναϊτικοῦ. 5 ὀνομάζειν] νομίζειν Kontos. 7 ἐκεῖνο Xylander: ἐκείνου. 8 Χέμμιν Xylander: χέννιν. 5 κείρασθαι van Herwerden: κείρεσθαι. 10 τῇ πόλει] πόλις ᾗ Reiske. 1 προσελθεῖν] παρελθεῖν Meziriacus,

86

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 356

lay down, and those who were in the plot ran to it and slammed down the lid, which they fastened by nails from the outside and also by using molten lead. Then they carried the chest to the river and sent it on its way to the sea through the Tanitic Mouth. Where- fore the Egyptians even to this day name this mouth the hateful and execrable. Such is the tradition. They say also that the date on which this deed was done was the seventeenth day of Athyr,* when the sun passes through Scorpion, and in the twenty-eighth year of the reign of Osiris ; but some say that these are the years of his life and not of his reign.®

14. The first to learn of the deed and to bring to men’s knowledge an account of what had been done were the Pans and Satyrs who lived in the region around Chemmis,° and so, even to this day, the sudden confusion and consternation of a crowd is called a panic.? Isis, when the tidings reached her, at once cut off one of her tresses and put on a garment of mourning in a place where the city still bears the name of Kopto.¢ Others think that the name means deprivation, for they also express “ deprive ” by means of “ koptein.” f But Isis wandered everywhere at her wits’ end ; no one whom she approached did she fail to address, and even when she met some little children she asked them about the chest. As it

a November 13. Cf. also 366 Ὁ and 367 τ, infra.

è Of. 367 F, infra.

e Cf. Herodotus, ii. 91 and 156, and Diodorus, i. 18. 9.

4 Cf. E. Harrison, Classical Review, vol. xl. pp. 6 ff.

e Cf. Aelian, De Natura Animalium, x. 23.

7 The word kopto, “ strike,” “cut,” is used in the middle voice in the derived meaning “ mourn ” (i.e. to beat one- self as a sign of mourning). Occasionally the active voice also means “ cut off,” and from this use Plutarch derives the meaning “ deprive.”

37

357

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

δὲ -.ε Γ A ΄ ` ΄ ὃ > Καὶ A è τυχεῖν' ἑωρακότα καὶ φράσαι τὸ στόμα δι οὗ το > A ς ’ A - 3 4 ΄ ἀγγεῖον οἱ φίλοι τοῦ Τυφῶνος εἷς τὴν θάλατταν ἔωσαν. ἐκ τούτου τὰ παιδάρια μαντικὴν δύναμιν ἔχειν οἴεσθαι τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους, καὶ μάλιστα ταῖς τούτων ὀττεύεσθαι κληδόσι παιζόντων ἐν ἱεροῖς καὶ φθεγγομένων ὅ τι ἂν τύχωσι. > / ` ~ 2 a 2A LA ἰσθομένην ονέναι Aio θομένη ; δὲ τῇ ἀδελφῇ, ἐρῶντα συγγεγονένα δι᾽ ἄγνοιαν ὡς ἑαυτῇ τὸν Όσιρι καὶ τεκμήριον 3 - A ἰδοῦσαν τὸν µελιλώτινον" στέφανον ὃν ἐκεῖνος παρὰ a 7 ον A τῇ Νέφθυϊ' κατέλιπε, τὸ παιδίον ζητεῖν (ἐκθεῖναι' γὰρ »ΩΛ ~ . ΄ A - e . εὐθὺς τεκοῦσαν διὰ φόβον τοῦ Τυφῶνος)’ εὑρεθὲν δὲ χαλεπῶς καὶ μόγις κυνῶν ἐπαγόντων τὴν Ἶσιν ἐκτραφῆναι καὶ γενέσθαι φύλακα καὶ ὀπαδὸν αὐτῆς "Ανουβιν προσαγορευθέντα καὶ λεγόμενον τοὺς θεοὺς φρουρεῖν ὥσπερ οἱ κύνες τοὺς ἀνθρώπους. > . 4 Γ 4 . - [ή 15. Ἔκ δὲ τούτου πυθέσθαι περὶ τῆς λάρνακος, ε . κ $ 6 ΓΑ e . ~ 2 3 ὡς πρὸς τὴν Βύβλου" χώραν ὑπὸ τῆς θαλάττης ék- κυμανθεῖσαν αὐτὴν ἐρείκῃ τινὶ μαλθακῶς ὁ κλύδων + ή 2 3 i ΄ ” LA 7 προσέµειξεν' ἡ δ᾽ ἐρείκη κάλλιστον ἔρνος ὀλίγῳ όνῳ καὶ μέγιστον ἀναδραμοῦσα περιέπτυξε καὶ r Ἔξ , 3 ps ¢ P 7 > περιέφυ καὶ ἀπέκρυψεν ἐντὸς ἑαυτῆς' θαυμάσας ὃ ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῦ φυτοῦ τὸ μέγεθος καὶ περιτεμὼν τὸν περιέχοντα τὴν σορὸν οὐχ ὁρωμένην κόλπον" ἔρεισμα 1 δὲ τυχεῖν Baxter: δ᾽ ἔτυχεν. 3 ἰδοῦσαν τὸν μελιλώτινον Xylander: ἰδοῦσα τὸν μὲν λάτινον. 3 τῇ Νέφθυϊ Reiske: τὴν νέφθυν. 4 ἐκθεῖναι Xylander: ἐκεῖνο. 5 δὲ added by Squire.

5 Βύβλου Bentley: Βύβλον. 7 κόλπον] κορμὸν Salmasius,

-----υὙὐύ-υ---------θ---"

a Gf, Dio Chrysostom, Oratio xxxii. p. 364 p (660 Reiske) and Aelian, De Natura Animalium, xi. 10, ad fin.

38

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 356-357

happened, they had seen it, and they told her the mouth of the river through which the friends of Typhon had launched the coffin into the sea. Where- fore the Egyptians think that little children possess the power of prophecy, and they try to divine the future from the portents which they find in children’s words, especially when children are playing about in holy places and crying out whatever chances to come into their minds.

They relate also that Isis, learning that Osiris in his love had consorted with her sister? through ignorance, in the belief that she was Isis, and seeing the proof of this in the garland of melilote which he had left with Nephthys, sought to find the child; for the mother, immediately after its birth, had exposed it because of her fear of Typhon. And when the child had been found, after great toil and trouble, with the help of dogs which led Isis to it, it was brought up and became her guardian and attendant, receiving the name of Anubis, and it is said to protect the gods just as dogs protect men.°®

15. Thereafter Isis, as they relate, learned that the chest had been cast up by the sea near the land of Byblus4 and that the waves had gently set it down in the midst of a clump of heather. The heather in a short time ran up into a very beautiful and massive stock, and enfolded and embraced the chest with its growth and concealed it within its trunk. The king of the country admired the great size of the plant, and cut off the portion that enfolded the chest (which was now hidden from sight), and used it as a pillar to

> Nephthys; cf. 366 B, 368 £, and 375 η, infra. 5 Cf. Diodorus, i. 87. 2. 4 Cf. Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, ii. 1. 8.

59

(357)

C

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

τῆς στέγης! ὑπέστησε. ταῦτά τε πνεύματί φασι ’ > δαιμονίῳ φήμης πυθομένην τὴν “low εἰς Ῥύβλον ἀφικέσθαι, καὶ καθίσασαν ἐπὶ κρήνης ταπεινὴν καὶ δεδακρυμένην ἄλλῳ μὲν μηδενὶ προσδιαλέγεσθαι, Lal y lá hi ΄ > 4 ` τῆς δὲ βασιλίδος τὰς θεραπαινίδας ἀσπάζεσθαι καὶ φιλοφρονεῖσθαι τήν τε κόμην παραπλέκουσαν αὐτῶν ᾽ καὶ τῷ χρωτὶ θαυμαστὴν εὐωδίαν ἐπιπνέουσαν ἀφ Ly - 5 + λ - /. 4 ἑαυτῆς. ἰδούσης δὲ τῆς βασιλίδος τὰς θεραπαι- νίδας, ἵμερον ἐμπεσεῖν τῆς ξένης τῶν τε τριχῶν τοῦ τε χρωτὸς ἀμβροσίαν πνέοντος": οὕτω δὲ µεταπεµ- φθεῖσαν καὶ γενομένην συνήθη ποιήσασθαι τοῦ παι- δίου τίτθην. ὄνομα δὲ τῷ μὲν βασιλεῖ Μάλκανδρον εἶναί φασιν, αὐτῇ" δ᾽ οἱ μὲν ᾿Αστάρτην" οἱ δὲ Σάωσιν οἱ δὲ Νεμανοῦν, ὅπερ ἂν Ἕλληνες ᾿Αθηναΐδα προσείποιεν. | 16. Τρέφειν δὲ τὴν Ἶσιν ἀντὶ μαστοῦ τὸν δάκ- τυλον εἷς τὸ στόμα τοῦ παιδίου διδοῦσαν, νύκτωρ δὲ περικαίει τὰ θνητὰ τοῦ σώματος αὐτὴν δὲ γενομένην χελιδόνα τῇ κίονι περιπέτεσθαι καὶ θρη- - - 1 νεῖν, ἄχρι οὗ τὴν βασίλισσαν παραφυλάξασαν καὶ ἐκκραγοῦσαν, ws εἶδε περικαιόµενον τὸ βρέφος, 3 2 y > + 5 a ` κ . ἀφελέσθαι τὴν ἀθανασίαν αὐτοῦ. τὴν δὲ θεὰν φανερὰν γενομένην αἰτήσασθαι τὴν κίονα τῆς στέγης: ὑφελοῦσαν δὲ ῥᾷστα περικόψαι τὴν ἐρείκην, εἶτα ταύτην μὲν ὀθόνῃ περικαλύψασαν καὶ μύρον τῆς στέγης] τῇ στέγῃ Madvig. 4 3 ¥ . πνέοντος] ἀποπνέοντος Michael. αὐτῇ Markland: αὐτὴν.

᾿Αστάρτην Basel ed. of 1542: ἀσπάρτην.

προσείποιεν Markland: προσειπεῖν. 6 τοῦ παιδίου διδοῦσαν] “vel τῷ παιδίῳ vel mberar”

Wyttenbach. 40

am Oo me

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 357

support the roof of his house. These facts, they say, Isis ascertained by the divine inspiration of Rumour, and came to Byblus and sat down by a spring, all dejection and tears*; she exchanged no word with anybody, save only that she welcomed the queen’s maidservants and treated them with great amiability, plaiting their hair for them and imparting to their persons a wondrous fragrance from her own body. But when the queen observed her maidservants, a longing came upon her for the unknown woman and for such hairdressing and for a body fragrant with ambrosia. Thus it happened that Isis was sent for and became so intimate with the queen that the queen made her the nurse of her baby. They say that the king’s name was Malcander ; the queen’s name some say was Astarté, others Saosis, and still others Nemanis, which the Greeks would call Athenais.

16. They relate that Isis nursed the child by giving it her finger to suck instead of her breast, and in the night she would burn away the mortal portions of its body. She herself would turn into a swallow and flit about the pillar with a wailing lament, until the queen who had been watching, when she saw her babe on fire, gave forth a loud cry and thus deprived it ofimmortality. Then the goddess disclosed herself and asked for the pillar which served to support the roof. She removed it with the greatest ease and cut away the wood of the heather which surrounded the chest ; then, when she had wrapped up the wood in a linen cloth and had poured perfume upon it, she

5 Cf. the similar account of Demeter in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (ii.), 98 ff.

? ἐκκραγοῦσαν Bentley; ἐγκραγοῦσαν Stephanus: κεκρα- γοῦσαν. 41

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

(357) καταχεαμένην ἐγχειρίσαι τοῖς βασιλεῦσι, καὶ νῦν ἔτι σέβεσθαι Βυβλίους τὸ ξύλον ἐν ἱερῷ κείμενον D Ἴσιδος. τῇ δὲ σορῷ περιπεσεῖν καὶ κωκῦσαι τηλικοῦτον, ὥστε τῶν παίδων τοῦ βασιλέως τὸν νεώτερον ἐνθανεῖν, τὸν δὲ πρεσβύτερον pel ἑαυτῆς ἔχουσαν καὶ τὴν σορὸν εἰς πλοῖον ἐνθεμένην ἀναχθῆναι. τοῦ δὲ Φαίδρου ποταμοῦ πνεῦμα τραχύτερον ἐκθρέψαντος ὑπὸ τὴν ἕω, θυμωθεῖσαν ἀναξηρᾶναι τὸ ῥεῖθρον.

17. Ὅπου δὲ πρῶτον ἐρημίας ἔτυχεν, αὐτὴν καθ’ ἑαυτὴν γενομένην ἀνοῖξαι τὴν λάρνακα, καὶ τῷ προσώπῳ τὸ πρόσωπον ἐπιθεῖσαν ἀσπάσασθαι καὶ δακρύευν" τοῦ δὲ παιδίου σιωπῇ προσελθόντος ἐκ τῶν ὄπισθεν καὶ καταμανθάνοντος αἰσθομένην μετα-

Ε στραφῆναι καὶ δεινὸν ὑπ᾽ ὀργῆς ἐμβλέψαι. τὸ δὲ παιδίον οὐκ ἀνασχέσθαι τὸ τάρβος, ἀλλ᾽ ἀποθανεῖν. οἱ δέ φασιν οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλ οὗ εἴρηται πλοίου) ἐκπεσεῖν els τὴν θάλατταν. ἔχει δὲ τιμὰς διὰ τὴν θεόν" ὃν γὰρ ἄδουσιν Αἰγύπτιοι παρὰ τὰ συμπόσια Μανέρωτα,᾽ τοῦτον εἶναι. τινὲς δὲ τὸν μὲν παῖδα καλεῖσθαι Παλαιστινὸν ἢ ἢ Πηλούσιον, καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐπώνυμον ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ γενέσθαι κτισθεῖσαν ὑπὸ τῆς θεοῦ- τὸν δ᾽ ἀδόμενον Μανέρωτα) πρῶτον εὑρεῖν μουσικὴν ἱστοροῦσιν, ἔνιοι δέ /ῥασιν ὄνομα μὲν οὐδενὸς εἶναι, διάλεκτον δὲ πίνουσιν ἀνθρώποις καὶ θαλιάζουσε πρέπουσαν, “αἴσιμα τὰ τοιαῦτα"

F παρείη”' τοῦτο γὰρ τῷ Μανέρωτιξ φραζόμενον ἆνα-

1 οὗ... πλοίου F.C.B.: ὧς... τρόπον.

2 Perhaps Μανερῶτα and Μανερῶτι are to be preferred to

the mss. accent, but the matter is very uncertain. τὰ τοιαῦτα] ταῦτα Wyttenbach.

α At the end of the preceding chapter. 42

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 357

entrusted it to the care of the kings; and even to this day the people of Byblus venerate this wood which is preserved in the shrine of Isis. Then the goddess threw herself down upon the coffin with such a dreadful wailing that the younger of the king’s sons expired on the spot, The elder son she kept with her, and, having placed the coffin on board a boat, she put out from land. Since the Phaedrus river toward the early morning fostered a rather boisterous wind, the goddess grew angry and dried up its stream.

17. In the first place where she found seclusion, when she was quite by herself, they relate that she opened the chest and laid her face upon the face within and caressed it and wept. The child came quietly up behind her and saw what was there, and when the goddess became aware of his presence, she turned about and gave him one awful look of anger. The child could not endure the fright, and died. Others will not have it so, but assert that he fell over- board into the sea from the boat that was mentioned above.* He also is the recipient of honours because of the goddess; for they say that the Maneros of whom the Egyptians sing at their convivial gather- ings is this very child.’ Some say, however, that his name was Palaestinus or Pelusius, and that the city founded by the goddess was named, in his honour. They also recount that this Maneros who is the theme of their songs was the first to invent music. But some say that the word is not the name of any person, but an expression belonging to the vocabulary of drinking and feasting : “ Good luck be ours in things like this!”’, and that this is really the idea expressed

5 Cf. Herodotus, ii. 79 ; Pausanias, ix. 29. 3; Athenaeus, 620 a. 43

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

φωνεῖν ἑκάστοτε τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους" ὥσπερ ἀμέλει καὶ τὸ δεικνύμενον αὐτοῖς εἴδωλον ἀνθρώπου τεθνηκότος ἐν κιβωτίῳ περιφερόμενον οὐκ ἔστιν ὑπόμνημα τοῦ περὶ Ὀσίριδος πάθους, ᾗ τινες ὑπο- λαμβάνουσι, ἀλλ᾽ θεωμένους; παρακαλοῦν αὐτοὺς χρῆσθαι τοῖς παροῦσι καὶ ἀπολαύειν, ὡς πάντας αὐτίκα μάλα τοιούτους ἐσομένους, οὗ χάριν ἐπὶ κῶμον) ἐπεισάγουσι.

18. Τῆς δ᾽ Ἴσιδος πρὸς τὸν υἱὸν Ὥρον è ἐν Βούτῳ τρεφόμενον πορευθείσης, τὸ δ᾽ ἀγγεῖον ἐκποδὼν ἀποθεμένης, Τυφῶνα κυνηγετοῦντα νύκτωρ πρὸς

858 τὴν σελήνην ἐντυχεῖν αὐτῷ, καὶ τὸ σῶμα γνωρί- σαντα διελεῖν εἰς τετταρεσκαίδεκα μέρη καὶ δι- αρρῖψαι” τὴν. δ᾽ Ἶσιν πυθοµένην ἀναζητεῖν ἐ ἐν βάριδι παπυρίνῃ τὰ ἕλη διεκπλέουσαν- ὅθεν οὐκ ἀδικεῖσθαι τοὺς ἐν παπυρίνοις σκάφεσι πλέοντας ὑπὸ τῶν κροκοδείλων ἢ φοβουμένων ἢ σεβομένων ἰδίᾳ" τὴν θεόν.

Ἔκ τούτου δὲ καὶ πολλοὺς τάφους Ὀσίριδος ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ λέγεσθαι διὰ τὸ προστυγχάνουσαν ἑκάστῳ μέρει ταφὰς ποιεῖν. οἱ è οὔ φασιν, ἀλλ᾽ εἴδωλα ποιουμένην, διδόναι καθ᾽ ἑκάστην : πόλιν ὡς τὸ σῶμα

B διδοῦσαν ὅπως παρὰ πλείοσιν ἔχῃ τιμάς, κἂν ὁ Τυφὼν ἐπικρατήσῃ τοῦ Ὥρου, τὸν ἀληθινὸν τάφον

1 θεωμένους F.C.B., cf. 148 A; οἰνωμένους Markland: oio- μένους. παρακαλοῦν F.C.B.: .παρακαλεῖν. 5 οὗ χάριν ἐπὶ κῶμον] ἄχαριν ἐπίκωμον Emperius. τὰ Basel ed. of 1542: τὰ δὲ. ἰδίᾳ F.C.B.: διὰ. € διδόναι] διαδοῦναι Markland.

σι

α Cf. Moralia, 1484; Herodotus, ii. 78; Lucian, De Tnctu, 21. b Cf. 366 a, infra.

44.

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 357-358

by the exclamation “ maneros” whenever the Egyptians use it. In the same way we may be sure that the likeness of a corpse which, as it is exhibited to them, is carried around in a chest, is not a reminder of what happened to Osiris, as some assume ; but it is to urge them, as they contemplate it, to use and to enjoy the present, since all very soon must be what it is now and this is their purpose in introducing it into the midst of merry-making.*

18. As they relate, Isis proceeded to her son Horus, who was being reared in Buto, and bestowed the chest in a place well out of the way ; but Typhon, who was hunting by night in the light of the moon, happened upon it. Recognizing the body he divided it into fourteen parts ° and scattered them, each in a different place. Isis learned of this and sought for them again, sailing through the swamps in a boat of papyrus. This is the reason why people sailing in such boats are not harmed by the crocodiles, since these creatures in their own way show either their fear or their reverence for the goddess.

The traditional result of Osiris’s dismemberment is that there are many so-called tombs of Osiris in Egypt’; for Isis held a funeral for each part when she had found it. Others deny this and assert that she caused effigies of him to be made and these she distributed among the several cities, pretending that she was giving them his body, in order that he might receive divine honours in a greater number of cities, and also that, if Typhon should succeed in overpowering Horus, he might despair of ever finding

e Cf. 368 a, infra. Diodorus, i. 21, says sixteen parts. 4 Cf. Eusebius, Praepar. Evang. v. p. 198 B. * Cf. 359 a, 365 a, infra, and Diodorus, i. 21. 45

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

(358) δητῶν, πολλῶν λεγομένων καὶ δεικνυμένων ἀπ-

αγορεύσῃ. l

Μόνον. δὲ τῶν μερῶν τοῦ ᾿Ὀσίριδος τὴν Ἶσιν οὐχ εὑρεῖν τὸ αἰδοῖον’ εὐθὺς γὰρ εἰς τὸν ποταμὸν ῥιφῆναι καὶ γεύσασθαι τόν τε λεπιδωτὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸν φάγρον. καὶ τὸν ὀξύρυγχον, ὅσους' μάλιστα τῶν ἰχθύων ἀφοσιοῦσθαι” - τὴν & Ἶσυ ἀντ᾽ ἐκείνου μίμημα ποιησαµένην καθιερῶσαι τὸν φαλλόν, ᾧ καὶ νῦν ἑορτάζειν τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους.

19. Ἔπειτα τῷ Ὥρῳ τὸν "Όσιρι ἐξ "Αιδου παραγενόμενον διαπονεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν μάχην καὶ ἀσκεῖν. εἶτα. διερωτῆσαι τί κάλλιστον «ἡγεῖται", τοῦ δὲ | φήσαντος, '' τῷ πατρὶ καὶ μητρὶ τιμωρεῖν κακῶς

C παϑοῦσιν,᾽ δεύτερον ἐρέσθαι τί χρησιμώτατον" οἴεται ζῷον εἷς μάχην ἐξιοῦσι τοῦ δ᾽ Ὥρου ““ἵππον”"' εἰπόντος, ἐπιθαυμάσαι καὶ διαπορῆσαι πῶς οὐ λέοντα μᾶλλον ἀλλ᾽ ἵππον. εἰπεῖν οὖν τὸν ρον ὡς λέων μὲν ὠφέλιμον ἐπιδεομένῳ βοηθείας, ἵππος δὲ φεύγοντα διασπάσαι καὶ καταναλῶσαι τὸν πολέμιον. ἀκούσαντ᾽ οὖν ἡσθῆναι τὸν σιριν,

ws ἑκανῶς παρασκευασαµέγου τοῦ Ὥρου. λέγεται δ᾽ ὅτι πολλῶν μετατιθεμένων ἀεὶ πρὸς τὸν *Opov καὶ ἡ παλλακὴ τοῦ Τυφῶνος ἀφίκετο Θούηρις. ὄφις

D δέ τις ἐπιδιώκων αὐτὴν ὑπὸ τῶν περὶ τὸν "Ὥρον κατεκόπη, καὶ νῦν διὰ τοῦτο σχοινίον τι προβάλ- λοντες εἰς μέσον κατακόπτουσι. -

τ ὅσους F.C.B. (or οὓς ὡς Meziriacus): ὡς οὓς. * ἀφοσιοῦσθαι] ἀφοσιοῦνται Reiske.

5 χρησιμώτατον Emperius: χρησιμώτερον. 4 ἵππον] λύκον Benseler.

a Cf. Diodorus, i. 21. 5 Of. 365 c, infra. 46

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 358

the true tomb when so many were pointed out to’ him, all of them called the tomb of Osiris.

Of the parts of Osiris’s body the only one which Isis did not find was the male member,? for the reason that this had been atonce tossed into the river, and the lepidotus, the sea-bream, and the pike had fed upon it¢; and it is from these very fishes the Egyptians are most scrupulous in abstaining. But Isis made a replica of the member to take its place, and con- secrated the phallus% in honour of which the Egyptians even at the present day celebrate a festival.

‘19, Later, as they relate, Osiris came. to Horus from the other world and exercised and trained him for the battle. After a time Osiris asked Horus what he held to be the most noble. of all ‘things. When Horus replied, “ To avenge one’s father and mother for evil done to them,” Osiris then asked him what animal he considered the most useful for them who go forth to battle; and when Horus said, “ A horse,” Osiris was surprised and raised the question why it was that he had not rather said a lion than a horse. Horus answered that a lion was a useful thing for a man in need of assistance, but that a horse served best for cutting off the flight of an enemy and annihilating him. When Osiris heard this he was much pleased, since he felt that Horus had now an adequate preparation. It is said that, as many were continually transferring their allegiance to Horus, Typhon’s concubine, Thueris, also came over to him 5 and a serpent which pursued her was cut to pieces by Horus’s men, and now, inmemory of this, the people throw down a rope in their midst and chop it up.

e Cf. Strabo, xvii. 1. 40 (p. 812). 4 Cf. Diodorus, i. 99. 6.

ΑΠ

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

(358) Tiv μὲν οὖν μάχην ἐπὶ πολλὰς ἡμέρας γενέσθαι

καὶ κρατῆσαι τὸν ρον: τὸν Τυφῶνα δὲ τὴν Ἶσιν

ia ~ 3 > - > ` .

δεδεμένον παραλαβοῦσαν οὐκ ἀνελεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ

λῦσαι καὶ μεθεῖναι" τὸν δ᾽ Ὥρον οὗ μετρίως ἐν"

- > 3 > ip - . . ~

εγκεῖν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπιβαλόντα τῇ μητρὶ τὰς χεῖρας

ἀποσπάσαι τῆς κεφαλῆς τὸ βασίλειον: Ἑρμῆν δὲ περιθεῖναι βούκρανον αὐτῇ κράνος.

Τοῦ δὲ Τυφῶνος δίκην τῷ Ὥρῳ νοθείας λαχόντος, βοηθήσαντος δὲ τοῦ Ἑρμοῦ, καὶ τὸν Ὥρον ὑπὸ τῶν θεῶν γνήσιον κριθῆναι, τὸν δὲ Τυφῶνα δυσὶν

E ἄλλαις μάχαις καταπολεμηθῆναι. τὴν Ò Ἶσιν ἐξ ᾿Ὀσιριδος μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν συγγενομένου τεκεῖν ἠλιτόμηνον καὶ ἀσθενῆ τοῖς κάτωθεν γυίοις τὸν “Αρποκράτην.

20. Ταῦτα σχεδόν ἐστι τοῦ μύθου τὰ κεφάλαια τῶν δυσφημοτάτων ἐξαιρεθέντων, οἷόν ἐστι τὸ περὶ τὸν Ὥρου διαμελισμὸν καὶ τὸν Ἴσιδος ἀποκεφαλι- σμόν. ὅτι μὲν οὖν, εἰ ταῦτα περὶ τῆς μακαρίας καὶ ἀφθάρτου φύσεως, καθ᾽ ἣν μάλιστα νοεῖται τὸ θεῖον, ὡς ἀληθῶς πραχθέντα καὶ συμπεσόντα δοξά- ζουσι καὶ λέγουσιν,

5 Ζ a ` Ζ 8 2 3 ἀποπτύσαι δεῖ καὶ καθήρασθαι στόμα κατ᾽ Αἰσχύλον, οὐδὲν δεῖ λέγειν πρὸς σέ. καὶ γὰρ

F αὐτὴ δυσκολαίνεις τοῖς οὕτω παρανόμους καὶ βαρ- βάρους δόξας περὶ θεῶν ἔχουσιν. ὅτι δ᾽ οὐκ ἔοικε ταῦτα κομιδῇ μυθεύμασιν ἀραιοῖς καὶ διακένοις πλάσμασι», οἷα ποιηταὶ καὶ λογογράφοι καθάπερ οἱ

1 δὲ and καὶ] Reiske would omit. 2 στόμα Reiske: τὸ στόμα.

a Of. 377 B, infra.

> Cf Moralia, 1026c, and De Anima, i 6 (in Bernardakis’s ed. vol. vii. p. 7).

48

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 358

Now the battle, as they relate, lasted many days and Horus prevailed. Isis, however, to whom Typhon was delivered in chains, did not cause him to be put to death, but released him and let him go. Horus could not endure this with equanimity, but laid hands upon his mother and wrested the royal diadem from her head ; but Hermes put upon her a helmet like unto the head of a cow.

Typhon formally accused Horus of being an illegi- timate child, but with the help of Hermes to plead his cause it was decided by the gods that he also was legitimate. Typhon was then overcome in two other battles. Osiris consorted with Isis after his death, and she became the mother of Harpocrates, untimely born and weak in his lower limbs.¢

20. These are nearly all the important points of the legend, with the omission of the most infamous of the tales, such as that about the dismemberment of Horus > and the decapitation of Isis. There is one thing that I have no need to mention to you : if they hold such opinions and relate such tales about the nature of the blessed and imperishable (in accordance with which our concept of the divine must be framed) as if such deeds and occurrences actually took place, then

Much need there is to spit and cleanse the mouth,

as Aeschylus ° has it. But the fact is that you your- self detest those persons who hold such abnormal and outlandish opinions about the gods. That these accounts do not, in the least, resemble the sort of loose fictions and frivolous fabrications which poets and writers of prose evolve from themselves, after

* Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag., Aeschylus, πο. 354.

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

ἀράχναι γεννῶντες ἀφ᾽ ἑαυτῶν ἀπαρχὰς ἀνυπο- θέτους ὑφαίνουσι καὶ ἀποτείνουσιν, ἀλλ᾽ ἔχει τινὰς ἀποριῶν᾽ καὶ παθῶν διηγήσεις, συνήσεις αὐτή; καὶ καθάπερ of μαθηματικοὶ τὴν ἶριν ἔμφασιν εἶναι τοῦ ἡλίου λέγουσι ποικιλλοµένην τῇ πρὸς τὸ νέφος ἆνα-

359 χωρήσει) τῆς ὄψεως, οὕτως ὁ μῦθος ἐνταῦθα λόγου / 3

3 , τινὸς ἔμφασίς εστιν ἀνακλῶντος ἐπ ἄλλα τὴν διά-

e e ~ σ / ` + νοιαν, ὡς ὑποδηλοῦσιν αἵ τε θυσίαι τὸ πένθιμον ἔχουσαι καὶ σκυθρωπὸν ἐμφαινόμενον, αἵ τε τῶν ναῶν διαθέσεις πῇ μὲν ἀνειμένων eis πτερὰ καὶ δρόμους ὑπαιθρίους καὶ καθαρούς, πῇ δὲ κρυπτὰ καὶ σκότια κατὰ γῆς ἐχόντων στολιστήρια οἰκιδίοις" ἐοικότα καὶ σηκοῖς' οὐχ ἥκιστα δ᾽ ἡ’ τῶν ᾿Οσιρείων δόξα, πολλαχοῦ κεῖσθαι λεγομένου τοῦ σώματος"

is λ / 6 3 z 6 λέ λέ τήν τε γὰρ Διοχίτην᾽ ὀνομάζεσθαι πολίχνην Acyou-

ε 2 ` > . ” 34 >? 7

σιν, ὡς μόνην τὸν ἀληθινὸν ἔχουσαν, ἐν T Αβύδῳ τοὺς εὐδαίμονας τῶν Αἰγυπτίων καὶ δυνατοὺς

/ F LA e ΄ μάλιστα θάπτεσθαι, φιλοτιμουμένους ὁμοτάφους 5 ~ ΄ 3 + > 4 / ’ εἶναι τοῦ σώματος Ὀσίριδος. ἐν δὲ Μέμφει τρέ-

. Ων my 5 ~ 3 $ - φεσθαι τὸν “Anw, εἴδωλον ὄντα τῆς ἐκείνου ψυχῆς,

- A ε

ὅπου καὶ τὸ σῶμα κεῖσθαι: καὶ τὴν μὲν πόλιν οἱ A oe 3 - e z e 3 997 7 ΄

μὲν ὅρμον ἀγαθῶν ἑρμηνεύουσιν, οἱ δ᾽ ἰδίως τάφον

1. ἀποριῶν Sieveking and F.C.B.: ἀπορίας.

2 συνήσεις αὐτή (assuming haplography) or εἴσῃ F.C.B. ; οἶσθ' αὐτή Bernardakis; γινώσκεις Sieveking: αὐτῇ.

3 ἀναχωρήσει] ἀνακλάσει Reiske; ἀναχρώσει Wyttenbach.

4 otadios F.C.B.; θηκαίοις Bouhier: Θηβαίοις.

5 ἡ] ἡ περὶ 2 E. Capps.

6 Λιοχίτην Holwerda from Steph. Byzantinus: ἐχειτῖνον.

7 ἰδίως Wyttenbach: ὡς,

α Of. Strabo, xvii. 1. 28 (p. 804). 5 Cf. 358 a, supra, and 365 a, infra.

50

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 358-359

the manner of spiders, interweaving and extend- ing their unestablished first thoughts, but that these contain narrations of certain puzzling events and experiences, you will of yourself understand. Just as the rainbow, according to the account of the mathematicians, is a reflection of the sun, and owes its many hues to the withdrawal of our gaze from the sun and our fixing it on the cloud, so the somewhat fanciful accounts here set down are but reflections of some true tale which turns back our thoughts to other matters ; their sacrifices plainly suggest this, in that they have mourning and melancholy reflected in them; and so also does the structure of their temples, which in one portion are expanded into wings and into uncovered and unobstructed corridors, and in another portion have secret vesting-rooms in the darkness under ground, like cells or chapels ; and not the least important suggestion is the opinion held regarding the shrines of Osiris, whose body is said to have been laid in many different places.? For they say that Diochites ὁ is the name given to a small town, on the ground that it alone contains the true tomb ; and that the prosperous and influential men among the Egyptians are mostly buried in Abydos, since iù is the object of their ambition to be buried in the same ground with the body of Osiris. In Memphis, however, they say, the Apis is kept, being the image of the soul of Osiris,? whose body also lies there. The name of this city some interpret as “the haven of the good ” and others as meaning properly the “ tomb 5 The introduction of Diochites here is based upon an emendation of a reading found in one ms. only. The emendation is drawn from Stephanus Byzantinus, a late

writer on geographical topics.

a Cf. 362 ο and 368 c, infra.

51

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

(359) Ὀσίριδος. τὴν δὲ πρὸς Φίλαις' νησῖδ᾽ ἁγνὴν" ἄλλως μὲν ἄβατον ἅπασι καὶ ἀπροσπέλαστον εἶναι καὶ μηδ᾽ ὄρνιθας ἐπ᾽ αὐτὴν καταίρευ᾽ μηδ᾽ ἰχθῦς προσπελάζειν, ἑνὶ δὲ καιρῷ τοὺς ἱερεῖς διαβαί- νοντας ἐναγίζειν καὶ καταστέφειν τὸ σῆμα µηδικῆς' φυτῷ περισκιαζόμενον, ὑπεραίροντι πάσης ἐλαίας

-. μέγεθος.

C 21. Εὔδοξος δέ, πολλῶν τάφων ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ λεγομένων, ἐν Βουσίριδι τὸ σῶμα κεῖσθαι: καὶ γὰρ πατρίδα ταύτην γεγονέναι τοῦ ᾿Οσίριδος: οὐκέτι μέντοι λόγου δεῖσθαι τὴν Ταφόσιρω»: αὐτὸ γὰρ φράζειν τοὔνομα ταφὴν ᾿Ὀσίριδος. ἐῶ᾽ δὲ τομὴν ξύλου καὶ σχίσιν λίνου καὶ χοὰς χεομένας διὰ τὸ πολλὰ τῶν μυστικῶν ἀναμεμεῖχθαι τούτοις. οὐ μόνον δὲ τούτων" οἱ ἱερεῖς λέγουσυ», ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων θεῶν, ὅσοι μὴ ἀγέννητοι μηδ᾽ ἄφθαρτοι, τὰ μὲν σώματα παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς κεῖσθαι καμόντα καὶ θερα-

D πεύεσθαι, τὰς δὲ ψυχὰς ἐν οὐρανῷ λάμπειν ἄστρα, καὶ καλεῖσθαι κύνα μὲν τὴν Ἴσιδος ὑφ᾽ Ἑλλήνων, ὑπ᾽ Αἰγυπτίων δὲ LdOw, Ὠρίωνα δὲ τὴν Ὥρου,᾽ τὴν δὲ Τυφῶνος ἄρκτον. εἰς δὲ τὰς ταφὰς τῶν τιμωμένων ζῴων τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους συντεταγμένα

1 Midas Squire: πύλας or πύλαις.

2 γῃσῖδ᾽ ἁγνὴν (dubiously) F.C.B.: νιστιτάνην.

3 καταίρειν Xylander: καρτερεῖν.

« μηδικῆς F.C.B., assuming it to be a variant for περσέας: μηδ᾽ ἴθης or μηθίδης.

ἐῶ Wyttenbach: αἰνῶ.

6 τούτων] τούτου Baxter. 7 τὴν Ὥρου Xylander : τὸν ὥρον. 8 ταφὰς Salmasius: γραφὰς.

a Cf. Diodorus, 1. 22, and Strabo, xvii. p. 803, which 52

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 359

of Osiris.” They also say that the sacred island by Philae 4 at all other times is untrodden by man and quite unapproachable, and even birds do not alight on it nor fishes approach it; yet, at one special time, the priests cross over to it, and perform the sacrificial rites for the dead, and lay wreaths upon the tomb, which lies in the encompassing shade of a persea-? tree, which surpasses in height any olive.

21. Eudoxus says that, while many tombs of Osiris are spoken of in Egypt, his body lies in Busiris ; for this was the place of his birth; moreover, Taphosiris ¢ requires no comment, for the name itself means “ the tomb of Osiris.” I pass over the cutting of wood,‘ the rending of linen, and the libations that are offered, for the reason that many of their secret rites are involved therein. In regard not only to these gods, but in regard to the other gods, save only those whose existence had no beginning and shall have no end, the priests say that their bodies, after they have done with their labours, have been placed in the keeping of the priests and are cherished there, but that their souls shine as the stars in the firmament, and the soul of Isis is called by the Greeks the Dog- star, but by the Egyptians Sothis, and the soul of Horus is called Orion, and the soul of Typhon the Bear. Also they say that all the other Egyptians pay the agreed assessment for the entombment of the

seem to support the emendation “ Philae.” Others think that the gates (the ms. reading) of Memphis are meant.

5 The persea-tree was sacred to Osiris.

5 Cf. Strabo, xvii. 1. 14 (pp. 799 and 800). Tradition varies between Taphosiris and Taposiris, and there may be no “ tomb ” in the word at all.

4 Cf. 368 a, infra.

e Cf. Moralia, 974 F.

53

(359)

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

τελεῖν, μόνους δὲ μὴ διδόναι τοὺς Θηβαΐδα kar- οικοῦντας, ὡς θνητὸν θεὸν οὐδένα νομίζοντας, ἀλλ᾽ ὃν καλοῦσιν αὐτοὶ Ινήφ, ἀγέννητον ὄντα καὶ ἀθάνατον.

22. Πολλῶν δὲ τοιούτων λεγομένων καὶ δεικνυ- μένων, οἱ μὲν οἰόμενοι βασιλέων ταῦτα καὶ τυράν- νων, δι ἀρετὴν ὑπερφέρουσαν ἢ δύναμιν ἀξίωμα τῆς δόξης! θεότητος ἐπιγραψαμένων εἶτα χρησαμένων τύχαις, ἔργα καὶ πάθη δεινὰ καὶ μεγάλα διαμνημο- νεύεσθαι, ῥάστῃ μὲν ἀποδράσει τοῦ λόγου χρῶνται καὶ τὸ δύσφημον οὐ φαύλως ἀπὸ τῶν θεῶν én’ ἀνθρώπους μεταφέρουσι, καὶ ταύτας᾽ ἔχουσιν ἀπὸ τῶν ἱστορουμένων βοηθείας. ἱστοροῦσι γὰρ Αἰγύ- πτιοι τὸν μὲν Ἑρμῆν τῷ σώματι γενέσθαι γαλε- άγκωνα, τὸν δὲ Τυφῶνα τῇ χρόᾳ πυρρόν, λευκὸν δὲ τὸν Ὧρον καὶ μελάγχρουν τὸν "Ὄσιριν, ὡς τῇ φύσει γεγονότας ἀνθρώπους. ἔτι δὲ καὶ στρατηγὸν ὀνομάζουσιν "Όσιριν, καὶ κυβερνήτην Κάνωβον, οὗ φασιν ἐπώνυμον γεγονέναι τὸν ἀστέρα: καὶ τὸ πλοῖον, ὃ καλοῦσιν Ἕλληνες ᾿Αργώ, τῆς ᾿Ὀσίριδος νεὼς εἴδωλον ἐπὶ τιμῇ κατηστερισμένον, οὐ μακρὰν φέρεσθαι τοῦ ᾿Ὠρίωνος καὶ τοῦ Κυνός, ὧν τὸν μὲν Ὥρου τὸν) δ᾽ Ἴσιδος ἱερὸν Αἰγύπτιοι νομίζουσιν.

23. Ὀκνῶ δέ, μὴ τοῦτ᾽ ἢ τὰ ἀκίνητα κινεῖν καὶ ' πολεμεῖν ” οὐ '' τῷ πολλῷ χρόνῳ ” (κατὰ Σιµω- 1 σῆς δόξης F.C.B.: τῇ δόξη.

3 ταύτας] τοιαύτας Michael. 8 τὸν... τὸν Reiske (confirmed by one Ms.): TO... τὸ.

ο ικα ο Sa Re RL a re a Cf, Diodorus, i. 84, ad fin., for the great expense often involved. :

> That is, to die, and thus to lose their claim to divinity ; ef. 360 8, infra. This is common Euhemeristic doctrine.

5 Cf. 363 a and 364 B, infra.

54

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 359

animals held in honour,’ but that the inhabitants of the Theban territory only do not contribute because they believe in no mortal god, but only in the god whom they call Kneph, whose existence had no beginning and shall have no end.

22. Many things like these are narrated and pointed out, and if there be some who think that in these are commemorated the dire and momentous acts and experiences of kings and despots who, by reason of their pre-eminent virtue or might, laid claim to the glory of being styled gods, and later had to submit to the vagaries of fortune,® then these persons employ the easiest means of escape from the narrative, and not ineptly do they transfer the disrepute from the gods to men; and in this they have the support of the common traditions. The Egyptians, in fact, have a tradition that Hermes had thin arms and big elbows, that Typhon was red in complexion, Horus white, and Osiris dark,¢ as if they had been in their nature but mortal men. Moreover, they give to Osiris the title of general, and the title of pilot to Canopus, from whom they say that the star derives its name; also that the vessel which the Greeks call Argo, in form like the ship of Osiris, has been set among the con- stellations in his honour, and its course lies not far from that of Orion and the Dog-star ; of these the Egyptians believe that one is sacred to Horus and the other to Isis.

23. I hesitate, lest this be the moving of things immovable 4 and not only “ warring against the long years of time,” as Simonides ¢ has it, but warring, too,

4 Proverbial : cf. e.g. Plato, Laws, 684 p. * Cf. Bergk, Poet. Την. Graec. iii, Simonides, πο. 193, and Edmonds, Lyra Graeca, ii. p. 340 in L.C.L. 55

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

νίδην) μόνον, “ πολλοῖς δ᾽ ἀνθρώπων ἔθνεσι P” kal γένεσι κατόχοις ὑπὸ τῆς πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς τούτους ὁσιότητος, οὐδὲν ἀπολιπόνταςὶ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ pera- φέρειν ἐπὶ γῆν ὀνόματα τηλικαῦτα, καὶ τιμὴν καὶ 360 πίστιν ὀλίγου δεῖν ἅπασιν ἐκ πρώτης γενέσεως 3 - > + . > T ΄ A ἐνδεδυκυῖαν ἐξιστάναι καὶ ἀναλύειν, μεγάλας μὲν a nf ΠῚ / 2 / vo τῷ ἀθέῳ λεῷ" κλισιάδας ἀνοίγοντας καὶ ἐξανθρω- πίζοντας" τὰ θεῖα, λαμπρὰν δὲ τοῖς Εὐημέρου τοῦ Μεσσηνίου φενακισμοῖς παρρησίαν διδόντας, ὃς αὐτὸς ἀντίγραφα συνθεὶς ἀπίστου καὶ ἀνυπάρκτου μυθολογίας πᾶσαν ἀθεότητα κατασκεδάννυσι τῆς οἰκουμένης, τοὺς νομιζομένους θεοὺς πάντας ὁμαλῶς διαγράφων εἰς ὀνόματα” στρατηγῶν καὶ ναυάρχων καὶ βασιλέων ὡς δὴ πάλαι γεγονότων, ἐν δὲ B Πάγχοντι γράμμασι χρυσοῖς ἀναγεγραμμένων;᾽ οἷς οὔτε βάρβαρος οὐδεὶς οὔθ᾽ Ἕλλην, ἀλλὰ μόνος Εὐήμερος, ὡς ἔοικε, πλεύσας εἰς τοὺς μηδαμόθι γῆς d » 5 ΄ . + γεγονότας μηδ᾽ ὄντας Παγχώους καὶ Τριφύλλους ἐνετετυχήκει. 24. Καίτοι μεγάλαι μὲν ὑμνοῦνται πράξεις ἐν A f x a / δ AS D / 3 σσυρίοις Σεμιράμιος, μεγάλαι δε᾽Σεσώστριος ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ: Φρύγες δὲ μέχρι νῦν τὰ λαμπρὰ καὶ θαυ- μαστὰ τῶν ἔργων Μανικὰ καλοῦσι διὰ τὸ Μάνην" . - ΄ ’ 3 A 34 . A τινὰ τῶν πάλαι βασιλέων ἀγαθὸν ἄνδρα καὶ δυνατὸν γενέσθαι παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς, ὃν ἔνιοι Μάσδην καλοῦσι" Κῦρος δὲ Πέρσας Μακεδόνας δ᾽ ᾿Αλέξανδρος ὀλίγου 1 ἀπολιπόντας] ἀπολείποντας Sieveking. 3 ἐξ] τοῦ ἐξ Baxter. 5 λεῷ] Λέοντι Poblenz, omitting καὶ below. 4 ἐξανθρωπίζοντας Markland: ἐξανθρωπίξοντι or ἐξανθρωπί- ζοντες. 5 ὀνόματα Baxter: ὄνομα. 6 ἀναγεγραμμένων Salmasius: ἀναγεγραμμένοις. 56

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 359-360

against “ many a nation and race of men” who are possessed by a feeling of piety towards these gods, and thus we should not stop short of transplanting such names from the heavens to the earth, and eliminating and dissipating the reverence and faith implanted in nearly all mankind at birth, opening wide the great doors to the godless throng, degrading things divine to the human level, and giving a splendid licence to the deceitful utterances of Euhemerus of Messené, who of himself drew up copies of an incredible and non-existent mythology,“ and spread atheism over the whole inhabited earth by obliterating the gods of our belief and converting them all alike into names of generals, admirals, and kings, who, forsooth, lived in very ancient times and are recorded in inscriptions written in golden letters at Panchon, which no foreigner and no Greek had ever happened to meet with, save only Euhemerus. He, it seems, made a voyage to the Panchoans and Triphyllians, who never existed anywhere on earth and do not exist !

24, However, mighty deeds of Semiramis are cele- brated among the Assyrians, and mighty deeds of Sesostris in Egypt, and the Phrygians, even to this day, call brilliant and marvellous exploits “ manic ” because Manes,? one of their very early kings, proved himself a good man and exercised a vast influence among them. Some give his name as Masdes. Cyrus led the Persians, and Alexander the Mace-

* Doubtless ἡ iepà ἀναγραφή (sacra scriptio) ; see Diodorus, v. 41-46, and vi. 1.

> Cf. Herodotus, i. 94, iv. 45, and W. M. Ramsay, Mitteilungen des deutsch. arch. Institutes in Athen, viii. 71.

T ἐνετετυχήκει] ἐντετύχηκε Reiske. 8 δὲ Bases: δ᾽ αἱ. ° Μάνην Salmasius: μάνιν. 57

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

(360) δεῖν ἐπὶ πέρας τῆς γῆς κρατοῦντας προήγαγον" ἀλλ᾽ C ὄνομα καὶ μνήμην βασιλέων ἀγαθῶν ἔχουσι». “εἰ δέ τινες ἐξαρθέντες' ὑπὸ μεγαλαυχίας, ὥς φησιν ὁ Πλάτων, “ ἅμα νεότητι καὶ ἀνοίᾳ: φλεγόμενοι τὴν ψυχὴν μεθ᾽ ὕβρεως ” ἐδέξαντο θεῶν ἐπωνυμίας καὶ ναῶν ἱδρύσεις, βραχὺν ἤνθησεν ἡ δόξα χρόνον, εἶτα κενότητα καὶ ἀλαζονείαν μετ᾽ ἀσεβείας καὶ παρα- νομίας προσοφλόντες

> 4 - ’ 3 ΄ > + ὠκύμοροι καπνοῖο δίκην ἀρθέντες ἀπέπταν,

καὶ νῦν ὥσπερ ἀγώγιμοι δραπέται τῶν ἱερῶν καὶ ~ ~ 2 , 3 ` 3 λ᾽ a ` 2 τῶν βωμῶν ἀποσπασθέντες οὐδὲν ἀλλ᾽ ἢ τὰ μνή- para καὶ τοὺς τάφους ἔχουσιν. ὅθεν ᾿Αντίγονος Dé γέρων, Ἑρμοδότου τινὸς ἐν ποιήμασιν αὐτὸν 4t PAL - 4 0 ? »» 5 4 ae 3 ἡλίου παῖδα καὶ Bedv” ἀναγορεύοντος, οὐ aft » F ace Ζ [4 1 ο τοιαῦτά por,” εἶπεν, ' ὁ λασανοφόρος σύνοιδεν.’ εὖ . . z e + 3 - κ ’ ‘ δὲ καὶ Λύσιππος ὁ πλάστης ᾿Απελλῆν ἐμέμψατο τὸν 4 e A > 7 x >t ζωγράφον, ὅτι τὴν ᾿Αλεξάνδρου γράφων εἰκόνα 3 κεραυνὸν ἐνεχείρισεν, αὐτὸς δὲ λόγχην, ἧς τὴν δόξαν οὐδὲ εἷς ἀφαιρήσεται χρόνος ἀληθινὴν καὶ ἰδίαν οὖσαν. 25. Βέλτιον οὖν οἱ τὰ περὶ τὸν Τυφῶνα καὶ "O . 51 ε 7 ia θ ~ 0 + opw καὶ “Ilow ἱστορούμενα μήτε θεῶν παθη- 2.3 4 3 ` 9 + ατα μήτ᾽ ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλὰ δαιμόνων μεγάλων εἶναι , P V? / ` p , ` E νομίζοντες, οὔς᾽ καὶ Πλάτων καὶ Πυθαγόρας καὶ 1 ἐξαρθέντες Xylander: ἐξαιρεθέντες. 2 ἀνοίᾳ Plato: ἀγνοίᾳ. 5 οὓς Xylander from Euseb. Praep. Ευ. v. 5: ὡς.

a Adapted from Plato, Laws, 116 a.

ὃ From Empedocles: cf. H. Diels, Poetarum Philoso- phorum Fragmenta, p. 106, Empedocles, no. 2. 4.

ο Plutarch tells the same story with slight variations in Moralia, 182 ο

58

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 360

donians, in victory after victory, almost to the ends of the earth ; yet these have only the name and fame of noble kings. “But if some, elated by a great self- conceit,” as Plato% says, “ with souls enkindled with the fire of youth and folly accompanied by arrogance,” have assumed to be called gods and to have temples dedicated in their honour, yet has their repute flourished but a brief time, and then, convicted of vain-glory and imposture,

Swift in their fate, like to smoke in the air, rising upward

they flitted,®

and now, like fugitive slaves without claim to protec- tion, they have been dragged from their shrines and altars, and have nothing left to them save only their monuments and their tombs. Hence the elder Antigonus, when a certain Hermodotus in a poem pro- claimed him to be “the Offspring of the Sun and a god,” said, “ the slave who attends to my chamber- pot is not conscious of any such thing!” © Moreover, Lysippus the sculptor was quite right in his dis- approval of the painter Apelles, because Apelles in his portrait of Alexander had represented him with a thunderbolt in his hand, whereas he himself had represented Alexander holding a spear, the glory of which no length of years could ever dim, since it was truthful and was his by right.

25.4 Better, therefore, is the judgement of those who hold that the stories about Typhon, Osiris, and Isis, are records of experiences of neither gods nor men, but of demigods, whom Plato 5 and Pythagoras’

4 In connexion with chapters 25 and 26 one may well compare 418 p-419 a and 421 ο, infra, and Eusebius, Praepar. Evang. iv. 21-y. 5. e Cf. 361 ο, infra.

7 Cf, Diogenes Laertius, viii. 32,

59

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

- z . 2 ¢ os a f Ἐενοκράτης καὶ Χρύσιππος, ἑπόμενοι τοῖς πάλαι θεο- λόγοις, ἐρρωμενεστέρους μὲν ἀνθρώπων γεγονέναι λέγουσι καὶ πολὺ' τῇ δυνάμει τὴν φύσιν ὑπερ- φέροντας ἡμῶν, τὸ δὲ θεῖον οὐκ ἀμιγὲς οὐδ᾽ ἄκρατον ” 9 . ` a , 2 ` / ? ἔχοντας, ἀλλὰ καὶ ψυχῆς φύσει" καὶ σώματος at- σθήσειδ συνειληχός, ἡδονὴν δεχόμενον" καὶ πόνον, καὶ ὅσα ταύταις ἐγγενόμενα ταῖς μεταβολαῖς πάθη τοὺς - + > μὲν μᾶλλον τοὺς δ᾽ ἧττον ἐπιταράττει. γίγνονται γὰρ, ὡς ἐν ἀνθρώποις, κἀν" δαίμοσω; ἀρετῆς δια- ~ . ’ A ` x κ $ F φοραὶ καὶ κακίας. τὰ γὰρ Γιγαντικὰ καὶ Τιτανικὰ 3.9 3 / ` £ 6 ` fad παρ᾽ Ἕλλησιν ἀδόμενα καὶ Κρόνου" τινὲς ἄθεσμοι πράξεις καὶ Πύθωνος ἀντιτάξεις πρὸς ᾿Απόλλωνα, 1 z ` 7 , σολ φυγαί τε Διονύσου καὶ πλάναι Δήμητρος οὐδὲν 3 ’ - 3 ~ . ~ Ed ἀπολείπουσι τῶν ᾿Οσιριακῶν καὶ Τυφωνικῶν ἄλλων θ᾽ ὧν πᾶσα" ἔξεστι ἀνέδην μυθολογουμένων ἀκούειν ὅσα τε μυστικοῖς ἱεροῖς περικαλυπτόμενα” καὶ τελεταῖς ἄρρητα διασῴζεται καὶ ἀθέατα πρὸς τοὺς πολλούς, ὅμοιον ἔχει λόγον. 96. ᾿Ακούομεν δὲ καὶ “Ομήρου τοὺς μὲν ἀγαθοὺς 7 10 «έ re ee - 11 ` διαφόρως θεοειδέας ” ἑκάστοτε καλοῦντος καὶ ce 2 ’ 39) a - wv / > ww ” - 861 “ ἀντιθέους ” καὶ “ θεῶν ἄπο μήδε᾽ ἔχοντας, τῷ 1 πολὺ Eusebius: πολλῇ. 2 φύσει . . . αἰσθήσει] φύσεως . . . αἰσθήσεως Baxter. 3

αἰσθήσει Xylander from Eusebius: αἰσθήσει ἐν. 4 δεχόμενον (or δεχομένῃ) Eusebius: δεχομένην, 5 κἀν Hatzidakis: καὶ. 5 Κρόνου] πολλαὶ Eusebius. Ἰ φυγαί Xylander from Eusebius ; ρος Pips φθόγγοι.

8 πᾶσιν] παρὰ πᾶσιν Eusebius.

8 περικαλυπτόμενα] παρακαλυπτόμενα Eusebius. 10 διαφόρως] διαφερόντως Hatzidakis. 1 καλοῦντος added by Reiske.

60

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 360-361

and Xenocrates* and Chrysippus,’ following the lead of early writers on sacred subjects, allege to have been stronger than men and, in their might, greatly sur- passing our nature, yet not possessing the divine quality unmixed and uncontaminated, but with a share also in the nature of the soul and in the percep- tive faculties of the body, and with a susceptibility to pleasure and pain and to whatsoever other experience is incident to these mutations, and is the source of much disquiet in some and of less in others. For in demigods, as in men, there are divers degrees of virtue and of vice. The exploits of the Giants and Titans celebrated among the Greeks, the lawless deeds of a Cronus,’ the stubborn resistance of Python against Apollo, the flights of Dionysus,? and the wanderings of Demeter, do not fall at all short of the exploits of Osiris and Typhon and other exploits which anyone may hear freely repeated in traditional story. So, too, all the things which are kept always away from the ears and eyes of the multitude by being concealed behind mystic rites and ceremonies have a similar explanation.

26. As we read Homer, we notice that in many different places he distinctively calls the good “ god- like” ¢ and “ peers of the gods ”* and “having prudence

a Cf. Stobaeus, Eclogae, i. 9. 29.

> Cf. Moralia, 277 a, 419 a, and 1051 c-D; and von Arnim, Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, ii. 1103(p. 890).

5 The vengeance which he wreaked on his father Uranus,

* Homer, Jl. vi. 135 ff. If φθόροι is read (* destructions wrought by Dionysus”) there would be also a reference to the death of Pentheus as portrayed in the Bacchae of Euri- pides. Cf. also Moralia, 996 ο.

e The word is found forty-four times in Homer.

7 Homer employs this expression sixty-two times.

61

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

(361) δ᾽ ἀπὸ τῶν δαιμόνων προσρήματι χρωμένου κοινῶς

ἐπί τε χρηστῶν καὶ φαύλων,

δαιμόνιε σχεδὸν ἐλθέ: τίη δειδίσσεαι οὕτως

᾿Αργείους;

καὶ πάλιν ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε δὴ τὸ τέταρτον ἐπέσσυτο δαίμονι ἶσος’ `

kal

» δαιμονίη, τί νύ σε Πρίαμος Πριάμοιό τε παῖδες τόσσα κακὰ ῥέζουσιν, ὅ τ᾽ ἀσπερχὲς μενεαίνεις

Ἰλίου ἐξαλαπάξαι ἐυκτίμενον πτολίεθρον; μ ρ

e wn 2 κ ο... ΄ LAME A ὡς τῶν δαιμόνων μικτὴν καὶ ἀνώμαλον φύσιν ἐχόν- των καὶ προαίρεσιν. ὅθεν ὁ μὲν Πλάτων ᾿Ὄλυμ- πίοις θεοῖς τὰ δεξιὰ καὶ περιττὰ τὰ δ᾽ ἀντίφωνα Β τούτων δαίµοσιν ἀποδίδωσιν. ὁ δὲ Ξενοκράτης καὶ τῶν ἡμερῶν τὰς ἀποφράδας καὶ τῶν ἑορτῶν ὅσαι LA A A A / A + A πληγάς τινας ἢ κοπετοὺς ἢ νηστείας ἢ δυσφημίας ἢ > LA La a - - 94 αἰσχρολογίαν ἔχουσιν οὔτε θεῶν τιμαῖς οὔτε δαι- ‘4 [.4 + - 3 3 F ΄ μόνων οἴεται προσήκειν χρηστῶν, ἀλλ᾽ εἶναι φύσεις ἐν τῷ περιέχοντι μεγάλας μὲν καὶ ἰσχυράς, δυστρό- \ a πους δὲ καὶ σκυθρωπάς, at χαίρουσι τοῖς τοιούτοις, 8 y ` > 4 N A 2 καὶ τυγχάνουσαι πρὸς οὐδὲν ἄλλο χεῖρον τρέπονται" Τοὺς δὲ χρηστοὺς πάλιν καὶ ἀγαθοὺς 6 θ᾽ 62

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 361

gained from the gods,’* but that the epithet derived

from the demigods (or daemons) he uses of the worthy

and worthless alike ® ; for example :

Daemon-possessed, come on! Why seek you to frighten the Argives

Thus? ὁ

᾿ and again

When for the fourth time onward he came with a rush, like a daemon ἃ: and

Daemon-possessed, in what do Priam and children of Priam Work you such ill that your soul is ever relentlessly eager Ilium, fair-built city, to bring to complete desolation ? € The assumption, then, is that the demigods (or daemons) have a complex and inconsistent nature and purpose; wherefore Plato’ assigns to the Olympian gods right-hand qualities and odd numbers, and to the demigods the opposite of these. Xeno- crates also is of the opinion that such days as are days of ill omen, and such festivals as have associated with them either beatings or lamentations or fastings or scurrilous language or ribald jests have no relation to the honours paid to the gods or to worthy demigods, but he believes that there exist in the space about us certain great and powerful natures, obdurate, how- ever, and morose, which take pleasure in such things as these, and, if they succeed in obtaining them, resort to nothing worse.

Then again, Hesiod calls the worthy and good

@ See Homer, Od. vi. 12. d Cf. 415 a, infra.

5 Iliad, xiii. 810. 4 Ibid. v. 438, xiv. 705, xx. 447.

e Ibid. iv. 31.

1 Plato, Laws, 717 a, assigns the Even and the Left to the chthonic deities, and Plutarch quite correctly derives his statement from this.

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PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

361) Ησίοδος “' ἀγνοὺςὶ Saipovas”’ καὶ “ φύλακας ἀν- 7 a? yy + Ho θρώπων ” προσαγορεύει,

πλουτοδότας καὶ τοῦτο γέρας βασιλήιον᾽ ἔχοντας.

ο η ta ε . A "~ ae 1 L 18 τε Πλάτων ἑρμηνευτικὸν τὸ τοιοῦτον ὀνομάζει γένος καὶ διακονικὸν ἐν μέσῳ θεῶν καὶ ἀνθρώπων, εὐχὰς μὲν ἐκεῖ καὶ δεήσεις ἀνθρώπων ἀναπέμπον- τας, ἐκεῖθεν δὲ μαντεῖα δεῦρο καὶ δόσεις ἀγαθῶν , φέρ ον ` . , ` r ` Ἐμπεδοκλῆς δὲ καὶ δίκας φησὶ διδόναι τοὺς if: - ὭΣ > ΄ i F. δαίµονας ὧν äv? ἐξαμάρτωσι καὶ πλημμελήσωσιν, w’ ἐξαμ η

αἰθέριον μὲν γάρ σφε µένος πόντονδε διώκει,

πόντος δ᾽ ἐς χθονὸς οὖδας ἀπέπτυσε, γαῖα δ᾽ ἐς αὐγὰς"

ἠελίου ἀκάμαντος, ó δ᾽ αἰθέρος ἔμβαλε δίναις-

ἄλλος δ᾽ ἐξ ἄλλου δέχεται, στυγέουσι δὲ πάντες"

N - Ρα a a Lil >

ἄχρι οὗ κολασθέντες οὕτω καὶ καθαρθέντες αὖθις η A 2 ld . + 3 ΄

τὴν κατὰ φύσιν χώραν καὶ τάξιν ἀπολάβωσι.

D 27. Τούτων δὲ καὶ τῶν τοιούτων ἀδελφὰ λέγε- ’ . ~ e a A e . ’ σθαί φασι περὶ Τυφῶνος, ws δεινὰ μὲν ὑπὸ φθόνου καὶ δυσμενείας εἰργάσατο, καὶ πάντα πράγματα ταράξας ἐνέπλησε κακῶν γῆν ὁμοῦ τε πᾶσαν καὶ θάλατταν, εἶτα δίκην ἔδωκεν. ἡ δὲ τιμωρὸς

1 ἀγνοὺς] ἐσθλοὶ Hesiod, O.D. 123.

2 βασιλήιον] probably βασιλῇον (βασίλειον Ὁ) should be read as the metre demands.

3 ἂν added by Duebner from Eusebius.

4 αὐγὰς in Hippolytus, Refutatio: αὖθις.

5 ἀκάμαντος] φαέθοντος Hippolytus.

a Hesiod, Works and Days, 123 and 253. Cf. Moralia, 431 Ἐ, infra.

64

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 361

demigods “‘ holy deities” and “ guardiansof mortals” and

Givers of wealth, and having therein a reward that is kingly.’

Plato ° calls this class of beings an interpretative and ministering class, midway between gods and men, in that they convey thither the prayers and petitions of men, and thence they bring hither the oracles and the gifts of good things.

Empedocles ¢ says also that the demigods must pay the penalty for the sins that they commit and the duties that they neglect :

Might of the Heavens chases them forth to the realm of the Ocean ;

Ocean spews them out on the soil of the Earth, and Earth drives them

Straight to the rays of the tireless Sun, who consigns them to Heaven’s

Whirlings ; thus one from another receives them, but ever with loathing ;

until, when they have thus been chastened and purified, they recover the place and position to which they belong in accord with Nature.

27. Stories akin to these and to others like them they say are related about Typhon; how that, prompted by jealousy and hostility, he wrought terrible deeds and, by bringing utter confusion upon all things, filled the whole Earth, and the ocean as well, with ills, and later paid the penalty therefor.

> Works and Days, 126, repeated in 417 B, infra. e Symposium, 202". Cf. also Moralia, 415 a and 416 c-r, infra, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiq. i. TT. @ Part of a longer passage from Empedocles; ef. H. Diels, Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, i. p. 267, Empedocles, no. 115, 9-12. Cf. also Moralia, 830 F, | ; 65

(361)

E

F

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

Ὀσίριδος ἀδελφὴ καὶ γυνὴ τὴν Τυφῶνος σβέσασα καὶ καταπαύσασα μανίαν καὶ λύτταν οὐ περιεῖδε τοὺς ἄθλους καὶ τοὺς ἀγῶνας, οὓς ἀνέτλη, καὶ f 5 - A . A ca F A . πλάνας αὐτῆς καὶ πολλὰ μὲν ἔργα σοφίας πολλὰ ὃ 3 7 3 / ε αχ ` ΄ > ` ἀνδρείας, ἀμνηστίαν ὑπολαβοῦσα καὶ σιωπήν, ἀλλὰ ταῖς ἁγιωτάταις ἀναμείξασα τελεταῖς εἰκόνας καὶ ὑπονοίας καὶ μιμήματα’ τῶν τότε παθημάτων, εὐσεβείας ὁμοῦ δίδαγμα καὶ παραμύθιον ἀνδράσι καὶ γυναιξὶν ὑπὸ συμφορῶν ἐχομένοις ὁμοίων + 5 . . . 34 ? / καθωσίωσεν. αὐτὴ δὲ καὶ "Όσιρις ἐκ δαιμόνων > θῶ ὃ 3. > 1 i9 > 8 ‘ λ z $ ἀγαθῶν δι ἀρετὴν" εἰς θεοὺς μεταβαλόντες, ὡς ὕστερον 'Ηρακλῆς καὶ Διόνυσος, ἅμα καὶ θεῶν καὶ δαιμόνων οὐκ ἀπὸ τρόπου μεμιγμένας τιμὰς ἔχουσι πανταχοῦ μέν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς" ὑπὲρ γῆν καὶ ὑπὸ γῆν δυνάμενοι μέγιστον. od γὰρ ἄλλον εἶναι Σάραπιν bal t F a Σαν y $ ἢ τὸν Πλούτωνά φασι, καὶ Ἶσιν τὴν Περσέφασσαν, ε >A, , ” e Ed 4 A ¢£ Ji A ὡς ᾿Αρχέμαχος εἴρηκεν ὁ Ἰὐβοεὺς καὶ ὁ Ποντικὸς e λεί 6 ` , y K , TIA , Ηρακλείδης" τὸ χρηστήριον ἐν Κανώβῳ ov- τωνος ἡγούμενος εἶναι.

98. Πτολεμαῖος δ᾽ 6 Σωτὴρ ὄναρ εἶδε᾽ τὸν ἐν Σινώπη τοῦ Πλούτωνος κολοσσόν, οὐκ ἐπιστάμενος οὐδ᾽ ἑωρακὼς πρότερον οἷος τὴν μορφὴν ἣν; κελεύοντα κομίσαι τὴν ταχίστην αὐτὸν εἰς ᾿Αλεξ- άνδρειαν, ἀγνοοῦντι δ᾽ αὐτῷ καὶ ἀποροῦντι ποῦ

/ 4 1 - ’ ` ” καθίδρυται καὶ διηγουμένῳ τοῖς φίλοις τὴν ὄψιν

ς 7 ‘ ” ” ΄ 3 εὑρέθη πολυπλανὴς ἄνθρωπος ὄνομα Σωσίβιος ἐν

1 ὑπολαβοῦσα] ὑπολαβοῦσαν Meziriacus; ὑπολαβόντα Mark- land; but cf. 473 ο, 3 μιμήματα Baxter: μίμημα.

3 ἀρετὴν Reiske: ἀρετῆς. 4 τοῖς Xylander: τούτοις. ὑπὲρ γῆν καὶ] Xylander would omit.

"Ηρακλείδης Xylander: ἡράκλειτος.

ὄναρ εἶδε Baxter: ἀνεῖλε. 8 ἦν added by Meziriacus.

66

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ISIS AND OSIRIS, 361

But the avenger, the sister and wife of Osiris, after she had quenched and suppressed the madness and fury of Typhon, was not indifferent to the contests and struggles which she had endured, nor to her own wanderings nor to her manifold deeds of wisdom and many feats of bravery, nor would she accept oblivion and silence for them, but she intermingled in the most holy rites portrayals and suggestions and re- presentations of her experiences at that time, and sanctified them, both as a lesson in godliness and an encouragement for men and women who find them- selves in the clutch of like calamities. She herself and Osiris, translated for their virtues from good demigods into gods,* as were Heracles and Dionysus later,? not incongruously enjoy double honours, both those of gods and those of demigods, and their powers extend everywhere, but are greatest in the regions above the earth and beneath the earth. In fact, men assert that Pluto is none other than Serapis and that Persephoné is Isis, even as Archemachus € of Euboea has said, and also Heracleides Ponticus 4 who holds the oracle in Canopus to be an oracle of Pluto.

28. Ptolemy Soter saw in a dream the colossal statue of Pluto in Sinopé, not knowing nor having ever seen how it looked, and in his dream the statue bade him convey it with all speed to Alexandria. He had no information and no means of knowing where the statue was situated, but as he related the vision to his friends there was discovered for him a much travelled man by the name of Sosibius, who said that

4 Cf. 363 x, infra. è Cf. Moralia, 857 Ὁ. ε Müller, Frag. Hist. Graec. iv. p. 315, no. Te 4 Ibid, ii. 198 or Frag. 103, ed. Voss.

67

362

B

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

Σινώπῃ φάμενος ἑωρακέναι τοιοῦτον κολοσσὸν οἷον ὁ βασιλεὺς ἰδεῖν ἔδοξεν. ἔπεμψεν οὖν Σωτέλη καὶ Διονύσιον of χρόνῳ πολλῷ καὶ μόλις, οὐκ ἄνευ μέντοι θείας προνοίας, ἤγαγον ἐκκλέψαντες. 3 ` . ` y + ε ~ + ἐπεὶ δὲ κομισθεὶς ὤφθη, συμβαλόντες οἱ περὶ Τιμό- θεον τὸν ἐξηγητὴν καὶ Μανέθωνα τὸν Σεβεννύτην Πλούτωνος ὂν ἄγαλμα, τῷ Κερβέρῳ τεκµαιρό- μενοι καὶ τῷ δράκοντι, πείθουσι τὸν ΠἩτολεμαῖον e τ δ A + τ 2 A ΄ τ ὦ » ὡς ἑτέρου θεῶν οὐδενὸς ἀλλὰ Σαράπιδός ἐστιν. od γὰρ ἐκεῖθεν οὕτως" ὀνομαζόμενος ἧκεν, ἀλλ᾽ ? 3 + . . > > t εἰς ᾿Αλεξάνδρειαν κομισθεὶς τὸ παρ᾽ Αἰγυπτίοις ὄνομα τοῦ ἨἩλούτωνος ἐκτήσατο τὸν Σάραπιν. καὶ μέντοι" “Ἡρακλείτου τοῦ φυσικοῦ λέγοντος, κο ` , enya 5 / Η Αιδης καὶ Διόνυσος ωὗτὸς' ὅτεῳ μαίνονται καί ληναΐζουσιν, 5 εἰς ταύτην ὑπάγουσι τὴν δόξαν. ot ‘A > - y + ` - A ~ γὰρ ἀξιοῦντες "Αιδην λέγεσθαι τὸ σῶμα τῆς ψυχῆς οἷον παραφρονούσης καὶ μεθυούσης ἐν αὐτῷ, + 3 ~ t ~ . y γλίσχρως ἀλληγοροῦσι. - βέλτιον δὲ τὸν "Όσιριν εἰς ταὐτὸ συνάγειν τῷ Διονύσῳ, τῷ τ᾽ ᾿Ὀσίριδι τὸν σ Σάραπιν, ὅτε τὴν φύσιν μετέβαλε, ταύτης τυχόντι" τῆς προσηγορίας. διὸ πᾶσι κοινὸς ὁ Σάραπίς ἐστι, e 11 io» ε a τ. 5 ΄ ὡς δὴ τὸν "Όσιρι of τῶν ἱερῶν μεταλαβόντες ἴσασιν.

1 Διονύσιον from 984 a: διόνυσον. οὕτως Salmasius: οὗτος. μέντοι] Schellens would add τὰ. ωὐτὸς Wyttenbach from Eusebius: οὗτος, 5 ὅτεῳ . . . ληναΐζουσιν from Clement of Alexandra, Pro- trepticus 34 (p. 30 Potter): ὅτε οὖν . . « ληραίνουσιν. 5 τυχόντι Squire: τυχόντα. 7 δὴ Bernardakis: δὲ.

ew τὸ

a Cf. Moralia, 984.4; Tacitus, Histories, iv. 83-84, wha tells the story more dramatically and with more detail;

68

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 361-362

he had seen in Sinopé just such a great statue as the king thought he saw. Ptolemy, therefore, sent Soteles and Dionysius, who, after a considerable time and with great difficulty, and not without the help of divine providence, succeeded in stealing thestatue and bringing it away.* When it had been conveyed to Egypt and exposed to view, Timotheus, the expositor of sacred law, and Manetho of Sebennytus, and their associates, conjectured that it was the statue of Pluto, basing their conjecture on the Cerberus and the serpent with it, and they convinced Ptolemy that it was the statue of none other of the gods but Serapis. It certainly did not bear this name when it came from Sinope, but, after it had been conveyed to Alexandria, it took to itself the name which Pluto bears among the Egyptians, that of Serapis. Moreover, since Heracleitus ὃ the physical philosopher says, “ The same are Hades and Dionysus, to honour whom they rage and rave,” people are inclined to come to this opinion. In fact, those who insist that the body is called Hades, since the soul is, as it were, deranged and inebriate when it is in the body, are too frivolous in their use of allegory. It is better to identify Osiris with Dionysus ¢ and Serapis with Osiris,? who received this appellation at the time when he changed his nature. For this reason Serapis is a god of all peoples in common, even as Osiris is ; and this they who have participated in the holy rites well know.

Clement of Alexandria, Protrepticus, iv. 48 (p. 42 Potter) : Origen, Against Celsus, v. 38.

> Cf. Diels, Frag. der Vorsokratiker, i. 81, Heracleitus no. 14.

ο Cf. 356 B, supra, and 364 D, infra.

4 Cf. 376 a, infra, and Pauly-Wissowa, s.v. Sarapis (vol. i a, col, 2394).

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(362) 29. Οὐ γὰρ ἄξιον προσέχειν τοῖς Φρυγίοις γράμ- μασιν, ἐν οἷς λέγεται Σάραπις υἱὸς μὲν τοῦ “Ἡρακλέους γενέσθαι θυγάτηρ T” Iois, ᾿Αλκαίου" δὲ τοῦ “Ἡρακλέους ὁ Tupar: οὐδὲ Φυλάρχου" μὴ καταφρονεῖν γράφοντος ὅτι πρῶτος εἰς Αἴγυπτον > > - / ww + "~ - > ~ 4

C ἐξ Ἰνδῶν Διόνυσος ἤγαγε δύο βοῦς, ὧν ἦν τῷ μὲν > ” noo» ΄ » 5 - Ams ὄνομα τῷ δ᾽ "Όσιρις' Σάραπις δ᾽ ὄνομα τοῦ τὸ πᾶν κοσμοῦντός ἐστι παρὰ τὸ “ σαΐριν, 6 καλλύνειν τινὲς καὶ κοσμεῖν λέγουσιν. ἄτοπα γὰρ

~ m 7 n or / AB κ ταῦτα τοῦ Φυλάρχου, πολλῷ δ᾽ ἀτοπώτερα τὰ" τῶν λεγόντων οὐκ εἶναι θεὸν τὸν Σάραπιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν "Απιδος σορὸν οὕτως ὀνομάζεσθαι, καὶ χαλκᾶς τινας ἐν Μέμφει πύλας λήθης καὶ κωκυτοῦ προσ- αγορευοµένας, ὅταν θάπτωσι τὸν "Απιν, ἀνοίγε-

. A t ΄ X 3 σθαι, βαρὺ καὶ σκληρὸν ψοφούσας' διὸ παντὸς ἠχοῦντος ἡμᾶς χαλκώματος ἐπιλαμβάνεσθαι. με- τριώτερον' δ᾽ οὗ παρὰ τὸ “ σεύεσθαι 7 καὶ τὸ “ σοῦσθαι ’ τὴν τοῦ παντὸς ἅμα κίνησιν εἰρῆσθαι D φάσκοντες. οἱ δὲ πλεῖστοι τῶν ἱερέων εἰς ταὐτό ` ” , . ` 5

φασι τὸν "Όσιρι συμπεπλέχθαι καὶ τὸν "Απιν, ἐξηγούμενοι καὶ διδάσκοντες ἡμᾶς, ὡς ἔμμορφον" εἰκόνα χρὴ νομίζειν τῆς σιριδος ψυχῆς τὸν

1 Σάραπις Reiske, υἱὸς F.C.B. (the context seems to require Σάραπις here): χαροπῶς τοὺς.

> 7 added by F.C.B.

3 Iois Emperius, "Αλκαίου F.C.B.: ἰσαιακοῦ.

Φυλάρχου Nylander: φιλάρχου.

τὰ added by Squire.

μετριώτερον] μετριώτεροι Baxter.

οἱ added by Xylander.

ἔμμορφον, as in 368 ο, Wyttenbach: εὔμορφον.

o Of. Cicero, De Natura Deorum, iii. 16 (42). è Gf. Pauly-Wissowa, l.c., col. 2396-2397, for other etymolo- gies. The derivation from sairein (sweep) is wholly fanciful.

70

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ISIS AND OSIRIS, 362

29. It is not worth while to pay any attention to the Phrygian writings,* in which it is said that Serapis was the son of Heracles, and Isis was his daughter, and Typhon was the son of Alcaeus, who also was a son of Heracles; nor must we fail to contemn Phylarchus, who writes that Dionysus was the first to bring from India into Egypt two bulls, and that the name of one was Apis and of the other Osiris. But Serapis is the name of him who sets the universe in order, and it is derived from “ sweep ” (satrein), which some say means “ to beautify ” and “to put inorder.” è As a matter of fact, these statements of Phylarchus are absurd, but even more absurd are those put forth by those who say that Serapis is no god at all, but the name of the coffin of Apis; and that there are in Memphis certain bronze gates called the Gates of Oblivion and Lamentation,¢ which are opened when the burial of Apis takes place, and they give out a deep and harsh sound ; and it is because of this that we lay hand upon anything of bronze that gives out a sound.4 More moderate is the statement of those who say that the derivation® is from ‘ shoot” (seuesthat) or “ scoot ” (sousthai), meaning the general movement of the universe. Most of the priests say that Osiris and Apis are conjoined into one, thus explaining to us and informing us that we must regard Apis as the bodily image of the soul of Osiris. But

ο OF. Diodorus, i. 96, and Pausanias, i. 18. 4, with Frazer’s note,

4 Cf. Moralia, 995 £-F ; Aristotle, Frag. 196 (ed. Rose); or Porphyry, Life of Pythagoras, 41.

* This derivation (from seuesthai or sousthai) is also fanciful.

f Cf. 359 B, supra, and 368 c, infra, and Diodorus, i. 85.

vel

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

Ld (803) Ἆπιν. ἐγὼ δέ, εἰ μὲν Αἰγύπτιόν ἐστι τοὔνομα τοῦ Σαράπιδ. ἠφροσύν: τὸ δηλοῦν οἴομαι ράπιδος, εὐφροσύνην αὐτὸ δηλοῦν oto;

ο e ‘ καὶ χαρμοσύνην, τεκμαιρόμενος ὅτι τὴν ἑορτὴν Αἰγύπτιοι τὰ χαρμόσυνα “ σαίρει”’ καλοῦσιν. καὶ

- 3 γὰρ Πλάτων τὸν "Αιδην ὡς ὠφελήσιμον' τοῖς παρ αὐτῷ" γενομένοις καὶ προσηνῆ θεὸν ὠνομάσθαι φησί: καὶ παρ᾽ Αἰγυπτίοις ἄλλα τε πολλὰ τῶν ὀνομάτων λόγοι εἰσί) καὶ τὸν ὑποχθόνιον τόπον, εἰς ὃν οἴονται τὰς ψυχὰς ἀπέρχεσθαι μετὰ τὴν τελευτήν, ᾿Αμένθην καλοῦσι, σημαίνοντος τοῦ 5. . κ + . £ 1 . .

E ὀνόματος τὸν λαμβάνοντα καὶ διδόντα. εἶ δὲ καὶ τοῦτο τῶν ἐκ τῆς "Ἑλλάδος ἀπελθόντων πάλαι καὶ μετακομισθέντων ὀνομάτων ἕν ἐστιν, ὕστερον ? + ~ A . . lad > . la ἐπισκεψόμεθα: νῦν δὲ τὰ λοιπὰ τῆς ἐν χεροὶ δόξης προσδιέλθωμεν.

80. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ "Όσιρις καὶ ἡ “Tous ἐκ δαιμόνων ἀγαθῶν εἰς θεοὺς μετήλλαξαν: τὴν δὲ τοῦ Τυφῶνος ἠμαυρωμένην καὶ συντετριμμένην δύναμω», ἔτι δὲ καὶ ψυχορραγοῦσαν καὶ σφαδῴζουσαν, ἔστιν αἷς

n . oh παρηγοροῦσι θυσίαις καὶ πραὔνουσιν: ἔστι δ᾽ ὅτε + 3 A . ’ pA F πάλιν ἐκταπεινοῦσι καὶ καθυβρίζουσιν év τισιν ἑορταῖς, τῶν μὲν ἀνθρώπων τοὺς πυρροὺς καὶ προπηλακίζοντες, ὄνον δὲ καὶ κατακρημνίζοντες, ὡς Κοπτῖται, διὰ τὸ πυρρὸν γεγονέναι τὸν Τυφῶνα καὶ ὀνώδη τὴν χρόαν' Βουσιρῖται δὲ καὶ Λυκο- πολῖται σάλπιγξι οὐ χρῶνται τὸ παράπαν ὡς ὄνῳ φθεγγομέναις ἐμφερές. καὶ ὅλως τὸν ὄνον οὐ

1 ὠφελήσιμον F.C.B. (cf. Plato, Cratyl. 403 £ μέγας εὐεργέτης τῶν παρ᾽ αὐτῷ): αἰδοῦς υἱὸν. 3 αὑτῷ Wyttenbach: αὐτοῦ. 3 λόγοι εἰσὶ] λόγον ἔχει Pohlenz. πο

ISIS AND OSIRIS. 362

it is my opinion that, if the name Serapis is Egyptian, it denotes cheerfulness and rejoicing, and I base this opinion on the fact that the Egyptians call their festival of rejoicing φαίνει. In fact, Plato“ says that Hades is so named because he is a beneficent and gentle god towards those who have come to abide with him. Moreover, among the Egyptians many others of the proper names are real words; for example, that place beneath the earth, to which they believe that souls depart after the end of this life, they call Amenthes, the name signifying ‘‘ the one who receives and gives.” Whether this is one of those words which came from Greece in very ancient times and were brought back again ὃ we will consider later, but for the present let us go on to discuss the remainder of the views now before us.

30. Now Osiris and Isis changed from good minor deities into gods.4 But the power of Typhon, weakened and crushed, but still fighting and strug- gling against extinction, they try to console and mollify by certain sacrifices ; but again there are times when, at certain festivals, they humiliate and insult him by assailingred-headedmen with jeering, and by throwing an ass over the edge of a precipice, as the people of Kopto do, because Typhon had red hair and in colour resembled an ass. The people of Busiris’ and Lycopolis do not use trumpets at all, because these make a sound like an 3555; and altogether they

a Plato, Cratylus, 403 α-404 a, suggests various deriva- tions of the name Hades.

> Cf. 375 E-F, infra.

e Cf. 375 D, infra. å Cf. 361 E, supra. Cf. 359 E, supra, and 364 a, infra; for Kopto cf. 356 D. Cf. Moralia, 150 £-F. Cf. Aelian, De Natura Animalium, x. 28.

awo

73

363

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

καθαρὸν ἀλλὰ δαιμονικὸν ἡγοῦνται ζῷον εἶναι διὰ τὴν πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ὁμοιότητα, καὶ πόπανα ποιοῦντες > + - ο. A 3 ~ ` 4 ἐν θυσίαις τοῦ τε Παῦνὶ καὶ τοῦ Φαωφὶ μηνὸς ἐπιπλάττουσι παράσημον ὄνον δεδεμένον. ἐν δὲ τῇ τοῦ ἡλίου θυσίᾳ τοῖς σεβομένοις' τὸν θεὸν παρεγ- γνῶσι μὴ φορεῖν ἐπὶ τῷ σώματι χρυσία μηδ᾽ ὄνῳ

A / LA A . ε . τροφὴν διδόναι. φαίνονται δὲ καὶ οἱ Πυθαγορικοὶ τὸν ᾿Γυφῶνα δαιμονικὴν ἡγούμενοι δύναμιν. λέ- γουσι γὰρ ἐν ἀρτίῳ μέτρῳ ἕκτῳ καὶ πεντηκοστῷ γεγονέναι Τυφῶνα: καὶ πάλιν τὴν μὲν τοῦ τριγώνου [4 . + cn 4 A A Άϊδου καὶ Διονύσου καὶ "Αρεος εἶναι" τὴν δὲ τοῦ

” e ‘4 y9 ΤΑ a f. τετραγώνου “Ῥέας καὶ ᾿Αφροδίτης καὶ Δήμητρος ve + ,¢ 2 A . - 7

καὶ “Εστίας καὶ ρας”: τὴν δὲ τοῦ δωδεκαγώνου Διός" τὴν δ ἑκκαιπεντηκονταγωνίου" Τυφῶνος, ὡς Εὔδοξος ἑστόρηκεν.

B 31. Αἰγύπτιοι δὲ πυρρόχρουν γεγονέναι τὸν

Τυφῶνα νομίζοντες καὶ τῶν βοῶν τοὺς πυρροὺς καθιερεύουσιν, οὕτως ἀκριβῆ ποιούμενοι τὴν παρα- + 3 τήρησω, ὥστε, κἂν μίαν ἔχῃ τρίχα μέλαιναν ἢ 2 5 ς a z A 3 ’ λευκήν, ἄθυτον ἡγεῖσθαι. θύσιμον γὰρ οὐ φίλον > A > . . ’ big . 3 ’ εἶναι θεοῖς, ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον, ὅσα ψυχὰς ἀνοσίων ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἀδίκων εἰς ἕτερα μεταμορφουμένων σώματα συνείληφε. διὸ τῇ μὲν κεφαλῇ τοῦ

` ἱερείου καταρασάµενοι καὶ ἀποκόψαντες εἰς τὸν

1 σεβομένοις Xylander: ἐσομένοις.

2 καὶ Ἡρας] Emperius would omit.

5 τὴν δ] τὴν δὲ τοῦ Reiske; but, if we can trust the mss., Plutarch is very inconstant in keeping to a uniform phraseology.

4 ἐκκαιπεντηκονταγωνίου Xylander: ὀκτωκαιπεντήκοντα: γωνίου.

GA

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 362-363

regard the ass as an unclean animal dominated by some higher power because of its resemblance to Typhon,* and when they make cakes at their sacri- fices in the month of Pajni and of Phaophi they imprint upon them the device of an ass tied by a rope. Moreover, in the sacrifice to the Sun they enjoin upon the worshippers not to wear any golden ornaments nor to give fodder to an ass. It is plain that the adherents of Pythagoras hold Typhon to be a daemonic power ; for they say that he was born in an even factor of fifty-six; and the dominion of the triangle belongs to Hades, Dionysus, and Ares, that of the quadrilateral to Rhea, Aphrodité, Demeter, Hestia, and Hera, that of the dodecagon to Zeus,° and that of a polygon of fifty-six sides to Typhon, as Eudoxus has recorded.

31. The Egyptians, because of their belief that Typhon was of a red complexion, also dedicate to sacrifice such of their neat cattle as are of a red colour,’ but they conduct the examination of these so scrupulously that, if an animal has but one hair black or white, they think it wrong to sacrifice 117; for they regard as suitable for sacrifice not what is dear te the gods but the reverse, namely, such animals as have incarnate in them souls of unholy and unrighteous men who have been transformed into other bodies. For this reason they invoke curses on the head of the victim and cut it off, and in earlier times they used to

* Cf. Moralia, 150 F.

δ Cf. 371 D, infra.

e As the chief of the twelve gods presumably ; of. Hero- dotus, ii. 4.

4 Cf. 359 £, supra, and 364 a, infra,

e Cf. Diodorus, i. 88,

! Cf. Herodotus, ii. 38, and Diodorus, i. 88.

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2 ~ LY a (363) ποταμὸν ἐρρίπτουν πάλαι, νῦν δὲ τοῖς ξένους 2 lá . ` lÀ z A, ε ἀποδίδονται. τὸν δὲ μέλλοντα θύεσθαι βοῦν οἱ C σφραγισταὶ λεγόμενοι τῶν ἱερέων κατεσημαίνοντο, τῆς σφραγῖδος, ὡς ἱστορεῖ Κάστωρ, γλυφὴν μὲν ἐχούσης ἄνθρωπον εἰς γόνυ καθεικότα ταῖς χερσὶν ὀπίσω περιηγμέναις, ἔχοντα κατὰ τῆς σφαγῆς ξίφος ἐγκείμενον: ἀπολαύειν δὲ καὶ τὸν ὄνον, “ - + ὥσπερ εἴρηται, τῆς ὁμοιότητος διὰ τὴν ἀμαθίαν καὶ τὴν ὕβριν οὐχ ἧττον ἢ διὰ τὴν χρόαν οἴονται. . - - διὸ καὶ τῶν Ι[ερσικῶν βασιλέων ἐχθραίνοντες μάλιστα τὸν ὮὯχον ὡς ἐναγῆ καὶ μιαρόν, ὄνον ἐπωνόμασαν. κἀκεῖνος εἰπών, “Ò μέντοι ὄνος οὗτος ὑμῶν κατευωχήσεται τὸν βοῦν,’ ἔθυσε τὸν ΣΑ 5 A e / ε δὲ λέ > «"Απιν, ὡς Δείνων ἱστόρηκεν. οἱ δὲ λέγοντες ἐκ A / > > y - ~ y A e . D τῆς μάχης ἐπ᾽ ὄνου τῷ Τυφῶνι τὴν φυγὴν ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας γενέσθαι, καὶ σωθέντα γεννῆσαι παῖδας ε SÀ . Η! - » 7. ΛΑ. ΄ Ἱεροσόλυμον καὶ ᾿Ιουδαῖον, αὐτόθεν εἰσὶ κατάδηλοι τὰ ᾿Ιουδαϊκὰ παρέλκοντες εἰς τὸν μῦθον. ~ . T rg 1 if ’ 32. Tatra μεν οὖν τοιαύτας υπονοίας δίδωσον- 3 > 3, 3 3 ~ - ΄ ’ ’ ἀπ᾽ ἄλλης δ᾽ ἀρχῆς τῶν φιλοσοφώτερόν τι λέγειν δοκούντων τοὺς ἁπλουστάτους σκεψώμεθα πρῶτον. - > 3 4 τ / ο τ, 5 ’ οὗτοι δ᾽ εἰσὶν οἱ λέγοντες, ὥσπερ Ἕλληνες Κρόνον 3 ~ . / σ t 4 37 t ἀλληγοροῦσι τὸν χρόνον, ραν δὲ τὸν ἀέρα, yé- a ¢ / Ν $ - 37 ’ veow δὲ "Ηφαίστου τὴν εἰς πῦρ ἀέρος μεταβολήν, οὕτω παρ᾽ Αἰγυπτίοις Νεῖλον εἶναι τὸν "Όσιριν 1 ἡμέρας Markland: ἡμέραις. 3 δοκούντων Eusebius, Praep. Ev. iii. 3: δυναμένων.

a “To Greeks,” says Herodotus, ii. 39. Cf. Deuteronomy xiv. 21,“ Thou shalt give it (sc. anything that dieth of itself) unto the stranger that is in thy gates... or thou mayest sell it unto an alien.”

δ Of. Herodotus, ii. 38, and Porphyry, De Abstinentia, iv. 7.

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throw it into the river, but now they sell it to aliens," Upon the neat animal intended for sacrifice those of the priests who were called “ Sealers ὃ used to put a mark; and their seal, as Castor records, bore an . engraving of a man with his knee on the ground and his hands tied behind his back, and with a sword at his throat.° They think, as has been said,@ that the ass reaps the consequences of his resemblance because of his stupidity and his lascivious behaviour no less than because of his colour. This is also the reason why, since they hated Ochus* most of all the Persian kings because he was a detested and abominable ruler, they nicknamed him “ the Ass”; and he remarked, “ But this Ass will feast upon your Bull,” and slaughtered Apis, as Deinon has recorded. But those who relate that Typhon’s flight from the battle was made on the back of an ass and lasted for seven days, and that after he had made his escape, he became the father of sons, Hierosolymus and Judaeus, are manifestly, as the very names show, attempting to drag Jewish traditions‘ into the legend.

32. Such, then, are the possible interpretations which these facts suggest. But now let us begin over again, and consider first the most perspicuous of those who have a reputation for expounding matters more philosophically. These men are like the Greeks who say that Cronus is but a figurative name for Chronus 7 (Time), Hera for Air, and that the birth of Hephaestus symbolizes the change of Air into Fire.” And thus among the Egyptians such men say that Osiris is the

e Cf. Diodorus, 1. 88. 4-5. å 362 F, supra. e Cf. 355 ο, supra, and Aelian, Varia Historia, iv. 8, t Cf. Tacitus, Histories, v. 9. ΄ Cf. Cicero, De Natura Deorum, ii. 25 (64). > Cf. 392 ο, infra.

τη

(568)

E

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA -

Ἴσιδι συνόντα τῇ γῇ, Τυφῶνα δὲ τὴν θάλατταν, > a e - > £ > + * εἰς ἣν ὁ Νεῖλος ἐμπίπτων ἀφανίζεται καὶ δια- σπᾶται, πλὴν ὅσον ἡ γῆ μέρος ἀναλαμβάνουσα καὶ δεχομένη γίγνεται γόνιμος ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ. Κ . αι > e κ; ᾱ-. κ A , 1 io , 9 αἱ θρῆνός ἐστιν ἱερὸς ἐπὶ τοῦ Κρόνου' ᾠδόμενος”' θρηνεῖ δὲ τὸν ἐν τοῖς ἀριστεροῖς γιγνόμενον μέρεσιν, ? X a - + re A ἐν δὲ τοῖς δεξιοῖς φθειρόμενον: Αἰγύπτιοι γὰρ οἴονται τὰ μὲν ἑῷα τοῦ κόσμου πρόσωπον εἶναι, A 4 . - ΄ . κ A t » ΄ τὰ δὲ πρὸς βορρᾶν δεξιά, τὰ δὲ πρὸς νότον ἀριστερά. + x 3 ~ ’ ε - . A φερόμενος οὖν ἐκ τῶν νοτίων ó Νεῖλος, ἐν δὲ τοῖς βορείοις ὑπὸ τῆς θαλάττης καταναλισκόμενος, εἰκότως λέγεται τὴν μὲν γένεσιν ἐν τοῖς ἀριστεροῖς s ‘ . . = - - A rd ἔχειν, τὴν δὲ φθορὰν ἐν τοῖς δεξιοῖς. διὸ τήν τε θάλατταν οἱ ἱερεῖς ἀφοσιοῦνται καὶ τὸν ἅλα Τυφῶνος ἀφρὸν καλοῦσι" καὶ τῶν ἀπαγορευομένων τ᾽ > kA a > ‘ β΄ T bi ?, ἕν ἐστιν αὐτοῖς ἐπὶ τραπέζης ἅλα μὴ προτίθεσθαι. καὶ κυβερνήτας οὐ προσαγορεύουσιν, ὅτι χρῶνται θαλάττῃ καὶ τὸν βίον ἀπὸ τῆς θαλάττης ἔχουσιν. οὐχ ἥκιστα δὲ καὶ τὸν ἰχθὺν ἀπὸ ταύτης προβάλ- λονται τῆς αἰτίας, καὶ τὸ μισεῖν ἰχθύι γράφουσιν. 3 Σ , 3 ~ > - 5A, at ~ ~ ° AB. - ἐν Ede? γοῦν ἐν τῷ προπύλῳ τοῦ ἱεροῦ τῆς ᾿Αθηνᾶς Av γεγλυμμένον βρέφος, γέρων, καὶ μετὰ τοῦτον" eer 3 - > 71 + oN ~ 259 p: ἱέραξ, ἐφεξῆς δ᾽ ἰχθύς, ἐπὶ πᾶσι δ᾽ ἵππος ποτάμιος. 1 + 4 ~ oc ΄ . 3 ἐδήλου δὲ συμβολικῶς, “ ὦ γιγνόμενοι καὶ ano- 1 Κρόνου] Νείλου Meziriacus. nee id a ~ , 2 ἀδόμενος F.C.B.: γενόμενος. ([ἐπὶ] τοῦ Κ. λεγόμενος, Hart- man, avoids hiatus, but hiatus is not unknown in Plutarch.)

3 Σάει Hatzidakis (confirmed by papyri): Zde. 4 τοῦτον Bernardakis: τοῦτο.

78

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 363

Nile consorting with the Earth, which is Isis, and that the sea is Typhon into which the Nile discharges its waters and is lost to view and dissipated, save for that part which the earth takes up and absorbs and thereby becomes fertilized.*

There is also a religious lament sung over Cronus.® The lament is for him that is born in the regions on the left, and suffers dissolution in the regions on the right; for the Egyptians believe that the eastern regions are the face of the world, the northern the right, and the southern the left. The Nile, therefore, which runs from the south and is swallowed up by the sea in the north, is naturally said to have its birth on the left and its dissolution on the right. For this reason the priests religiously keep themselves aloof from the sea, and call salt the “spume of Typhon ”; and one of the things forbidden them is to set salt upon a table?; also they do not speak to pilots,? because these men make use of the sea, and gain their liveli- hood from the sea. This is also not the least of the reasons why they eschew fish,’ and they portray hatred by drawing the picture of a fish. At Sais in the vesti- bule of the temple of Athena was carved a babe and an aged man, and after this a hawk, and next a fish, and finally an hippopotamus. The symbolic meaning of this was’: “O ye that are coming into the world

a Cf. 366 a, infra.

δ For Cronus as representing rivers and water see Pauly- Wissowa, xi. 1987-1988.

ο Cf. Moralia, 282 n- and 729 g.

4 Ibid. 685 a and 729 a.

5 Ibid. 729 c.

’ Cf. 353 c, supra.

9 There is a lacuna in one ms. (E) at this point (God hateth . . . of departing from it). The supplement is from Clement of Alexandria ; see the critical note.

79

364

B

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

εννόμενοι, θεὸς! ἀναίδειαν μισεῖ’ τὸ μὲν yà γιγνόμενοι, p p

B ’ ’ , À 8 - δ᾽ e , ρέφος γενέσεως σύμβολον, φθορᾶς ὁ γέρων. ev δ . 4 β x + 1. 0 , δὲ - ἱέρακι δὲ τὸν θεὸν φράζουσιν, ἰχθύι δὲ μῖσος, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, διὰ τὴν θάλατταν, ἵππῳ ποταμίῳ 5᾽ ἀναίδειαν: λέγεται γὰρ ἀποκτείνας τὸν πατέρα τῇ μητρὶ βίᾳ μείγνυσθαι. δόξειε δὲ räv? τὸ ὑπὸ τῶν Πυθαγορικῶν λεγόμενον, ὡς ἡ θάλαττα Κρόνου δάκρυόν ἐστιν, αἰνίττεσθαι τὸ μὴ καθαρὸν

. ΄ 2 oA

μηδὲ -σύμφυλον αὐτῆ. ος, eee .

Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἔξωθεν εἰρήσθω κοινὴν ἔχοντα την ε + e δὲ / ~ ε / ? ἱστορίαν. (383) οἱ δὲ σοφώτεροι τῶν ἱερέων ου

Ld hi N TA 0 xr ~ δὲ T - μόνον τὸν Νεῖλον "Όσιριν καλοῦσω οὐδέ υφῶνα

A + 3 5» ` e - er 4 τὴν θάλατταν, ἀλλ᾽ "Οσιριν μὲν ἁπλῶς ἅπασαν την ὑγροποιὸν ἀρχὴν καὶ δύναμιν, αἰτίαν γενέσεως καὶ σπέρματος οὐσίαν νομίζοντες: Τυφῶνα δὲ πᾶν τὸ αὐχμηρὸν καὶ πυρῶδες καὶ ξηραντικὸν ὅλως καὶ πολέμιον τῇ ὑγρότητι. διὸ καὶ πύρρόχρουν᾽ ye- γονέναι τῷ σώματι καὶ πάρωχρον νομίζοντες οὐ

rs ΄ > 4 Σ ας A ΄ e À A πάνυ προθύμως ἐντυγχάνουσιν οὐδ᾽ ἡδέως ὁμιλοῦσι τοῖς τοιούτοις τὴν ὄψιν ἀνθρώποις.

Τὸν δ᾽ "Όσιρι αὖ πάλιν μελάγχρουν γεγονέναι μυθολογοῦσιν, ὅτι πᾶν ὕδωρ καὶ γῆν καὶ ἱμάτια καὶ νέφη μελαίνει μειγνύμενον, καὶ τῶν νέων ὑγρότης ἐνοῦσα παρέχει τὰς τρίχας μελαίνας: ἡ δὲ πολίωσις οἷον ὠχρίασις ὑπὸ ξηρότητος ἐπι-

1 θεὸς... δ᾽ ὁ γέρων is supplied from Clement of Alex- andria, Stromateis, v. 41. 4 (p. 670 Potter): δεο . . . γέρων or δεογέρων. If it were not for the lacuna in E, it would be possible to emend ᾧ γιγνόμενοι καὶ ἀπογιγνόμενοι ἐοίκαμεν.

3 δόξειε Baxter, δὲ κἂν F.C.B. (ἂν δὲ καὶ Baxter): δόξει δὲ καὶ.

8 πυρρόχρουν (=r χρόᾳ πυρρὸν, P- 359 κ) Bernardakis: πυρρόχρων.

a Of. 371 τ, infra. è Of. 353 ο, supra.

80 -

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 363-364

and departing from it, God hateth shamelessness.” The babe is the symbol of coming into the world and the aged man the symbol of departing from it, and by a hawk they indicate God,* by the fish hatred, as has already been said,’ because of the sea, and by the hippopotamus shamelessness ; for it is said that he kills his sire® and forces his mother to mate with him. That saying of the adherents of Pythagoras, that the sea is a tear of Cronus,? may seem to hint at its impure and extraneous nature.

Let this, then, be stated incidentally, as a matter of record that is common knowledge. (33.) But the wiser of the priests call not only the Nile Osiris and the sea Typhon, but they simply give the name of Osiris to the whole source and faculty creative of moisture,* believing this to be the cause of generation and the substance of life-producing seed; and the name of Typhon they give to all that is dry, fiery, and arid in general, and antagonistic to moisture. Therefore, because they believe that he was personally of a reddish sallow colour,’ they are not eager to meet men of such complexion, nor do they like to associate with them,

Osiris, on the other hand, according to their legend- ary tradition, was dark,’ because water darkens everything, earth and clothes and clouds, when it comes into contact with them.*? In young people the presence of moisture renders their hair black, while greyness, like a paleness as it were, is induced by

5 A Porphyry, De Abstinentia, iii. 23.

ἆ Cf. Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis, v. 50. 1. (p. 676 Potter), and Aristotle, Frag. 196 (ed. Rose).

e Cf. 365 B, infra. f Cf. 369 a and 376 F, infra. 1 Cf. 359 © and 968 B, supra, a Cf. 359 £, supra. * Cf. Moralia, 950 a. 81

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

La - t 4 4 4 y

(864) γίγνεται τοῖς παρακμάζουσι. καὶ τὸ μέν εαρ θαλερὸν καὶ γόνιμον καὶ προσηνές" τὸ δὲ φθινό- πωρον ὑγρότητος ἐνδείᾳ καὶ φυτοῖς πολέμιον καὶ

C ζῴοις νοσῶδες. i

> ~ Ὁ 8 ἐν “Ἠλίου πόλει τρεφόμενος βοῦς, ὃν M: “al À ~ 0 ’ ò δ᾽ e / my . Μνεθιν' καλοῦσιν (Ὀσίριδος ἱερόν, ἔνιοι δὲ . -ν / ’ / > . καὶ τοῦ "Απιδος πατέρα νομίζουσι), μέλας ἐστὶ καὶ δευτέρας ἔχει τιμὰς μετὰ τὸν Anw. ἔτι τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα μελάγγειον οὖσαν, ὥσ- . ’ “~ 3 ~ la ~ ` περ τὸ μέλαν τοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ, Χημίαν καλοῦσι καὶ καρδίᾳ παρεικάζουσι' θερμὴ γάρ ἐστι καὶ ὑγρὰ - - ο καὶ τοῖς νοτίοις µέρεσι τῆς οἰκουμένης, ὥσπερ ἡ καρδία τοῖς εὐωνύμοις τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, μάλιστα ἐγκέκλειται καὶ προσκεχώρηκεν.

84. Ἥλιον δὲ καὶ σελήνην οὐχ ἅρμασιν ἆλ Ad. πλοίοις ὀχήμασι χρωμένους περιπλεῖν φασιν’ D αἰνιττόμενοι τὴν ἀφ᾽ ὑγροῦ τροφὴν αὐτῶν καὶ γένεσιν. οἴονται δὲ καὶ Ὅμηρον ὥσπερ Θαλῆν µαθόντα παρ᾽ Αἰγυπτίων ὕδωρ ἀρχὴν ἁπάντων καὶ γένεσιν τίθεσθαι. τὸν γὰρ Ὠκεανὸν "Όσιρι

p ae 4a . . k e [4 id εἶναι, τὴν δὲ Τηθὺν Ἶσιν, ὡς τιθηνουμένην πάντα καὶ συνεκτρέφουσαν. καὶ γὰρ Ἕλληνες τὴν τοῦ σπέρματος πρόεσιν᾽ ἀπουσίαν καλοῦσι καὶ συνου- σίαν τὴν μεῖξιν, καὶ τὸν υἱὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος καὶ τοῦ ὅσαι: καὶ τὸν Διόνυσον “ ὕην ” ὡς κύριον τῆς ὑγρᾶς φύσεως, οὐχ ἕτερον ὄντα τοῦ Ὀσίριδος" καὶ

1 Μνεῦιν Basel ed. of 1542: μνύειν.

2 φασιν Badham; λέγουσιν Reiske: ἀεί. 3 πρὀεσιν Salmasius: πρόθεσιν. p p

a ha VAN σης a Cf. Aristotle, De Generatione Animalium, v. 1 (780 b 6). è Cf. Diodorus, 1. 21; Eusebius, Praepar. Evang. ii.

13. 1-3; Strabo, xvii. 1. 22; Aelian, De Natura Animalium,

xi. 11

82

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 364

dryness in those who are passing their prime. Also the spring-time is vigorous, prolific, and agreeable ; but the autumn, since it lacks moisture, is inimical to plants and unhealthful for living creatures.

The bull kept at Heliopolis which they call Mneuis,? and which is sacred to Osiris (some hold it to be the sire of Apis), is black and has honours second only to Apis. Egypt, moreover, which has the blackest of soils,° they call by the same name as the black portion of the eye, “ Chemia,” and compare it to a heart 4; for it is warm and moist and is enclosed by the southern portions of the inhabited world and adjoins them, like the heart in a man’s left side.

34. They say that the sun and moon do not use chariots, but boats¢® in which to sail round in their courses ; and by this they intimate that the nourish- ment and origin of these heavenly bodies is from moisture. They think also that Homer, like Thales, had gained his knowledge from the Egyptians, when he postulated water as the source and origin of all things; for, according to them, Oceanus is Osiris, and T ethys is Isis, since she is the kindly nurse and provider for all things. In fact, the Greeks call emission apousiaS and coition synousia, and the son (Aytos) from water (hydor) and rain (hysat); Dionysus also they call Hyes” since he is lord of the nature of moisture ; and he is no other than Osiris.¢ In fact, Hellanicus seems

5 Cf. Herodotus, ii. 19,

4 Horapollo, Hieroglyphica, 1. 22.

e Cf. Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis, v. 41. 2 (p. 566 Potter); Eusebius, Praepar. Evang. 111. 11. 48,

7 Il. xiv. 901.

9 Cf. Artemidorus, Oneirocritica, 1. 78.

è Cf. the name Hyades of the constellation.

t Cf. 356 n, 362 B, supra, and 365 a, infra.

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(364) yap τὸν σιρω “Ἑλλάνικος Ὕσιριν ἔοικεν; ἄκη- κοέναι ὑπὸ τῶν ἱερέων λεγόμενον" οὕτω yap ὀνομάζων διατελεῖ τὸν θεόν, εἰκότως ἀπὸ τῆς

E ος καὶ τῆς εὑρέσεως

Ὅτι μὲν οὖν ὁ αὐτός ἐστι Διονύσῳ τίνα μᾶλλον ἢ σὲ γιγνώσκειν, ὦ Κλέα, δὴ προσῆκόν ἐστιν, ἀρχηίδα" μὲν οὖσαν ἐν Δελφοῖς τῶν Θυιάδων, τοῖς δ᾽ ᾿Οσιριακοῖς καθωσιωµένην ἱεροῖς ἀπὸ πατρὸς καὶ μητρός; εἰ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων ἕνεκα δεῖ μαρτύρια παραθέσθαι, τὰ μὲν ἀπόρρητα κατὰ χώραν ἐῶμεν, ἃ δ᾽ ἐμφανῶς δρῶσι θάπτοντες τὸν Anw οἱ ἱερεῖς, ὅταν παρακοµίζωσιν ἐπὶ σχεδίας τὸ σῶμα, βακχείας οὐδὲν ἀποδεῖ. καὶ γὰρ ve- βρίδας περικαθάπτονται καὶ θύρσους φοροῦσι, καὶ F βοαῖς χρῶνται καὶ κινήσεσιν ὥσπερ ot κάτοχοι τοῖς περὶ τὸν Διόνυσον ὀργιασμοῖς. διὸ καὶ ταυρό- μορφοῦ Διονύσου ποιοῦσιν ἀγάλματα πολλοὶ τῶν “Ἑλλήνων: αἱ & ᾿Ηλείων γυναῖκες καὶ παρακαλοῦ- σιν εὐχόμεναι ποδὶ βοείῳ᾽ τὸν θεὸν ἐλθεῖν πρὸς αὐτάς. ᾿Αργείοις δὲ βουγενὴς Διόνυσος ἐπίκλην ἐστίν: ἀνακαλοῦνται δ᾽ αὐτὸν ὑπὸ σαλπίγγων ef ὕδατος, ἐμβάλλοντες εἷς τὴν ἄβυσσον ἄρνα τῷ Πυλαόχῳ: τὰς δὲ σάλπιγγας ἐν θύρσοις ἀποκρύ- πτουσιν, ὡς Σωκράτης ἐν τοῖς περὶ 'Ὁσίων εἴρηκεν.

1 ἔοικεν Valckenaer : : ἔθηκεν.

a φύσεως] ὕσεως Salmasius. 3 εὑρέσεως] ὑγρεύσεως Reiske; αἱρέσεως Strijd. 4 ἀρχηίδα Keramopoullos, based on inscriptions: ἀρχικλὰ. 5 ταυρόµορφα Markland: ταυρόμορφον. € Διονύσου Xylander: Διόνυσον. 7 βοείῳ] βοέῳ p. 299 a.

a See 366 £, infra. è Cf. Diodorus, i. 11.

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ISIS AND OSIRIS, 364

to have heard Osiris pronounced Hysiris by the priests, for he regularly spells the name in this way, deriving it, in all probability, from the nature of Osiris and the ceremony of finding him.¢

35. That Osiris is identical with Dionysus who could more fittingly know than yourself, Clea ? For you are at the head of the inspired maidens of Delphi, and have been consecrated by your father and mother in the holy rites of Osiris. If, however, for the benefit of others it is needful to adduce proofs of this identity, let us leave undisturbed what may not be told, but the public ceremonies which the priests perform in the burial of the Apis, when they convey his body on an improvised bier, do not in any way come short of a Bacchie procession ; for they fasten skins of fawns about themselves, and carry Bacchic wands and indulge in shoutings and movements exactly as do those who are under the spell of the Dionysiac ecstasies.” For the same reason many of the Greeks make statues of Dionysus in the form of a bull €; and the women of Elis invoke him, praying that the god may come with the hoof of a bull?; and the epithet applied to Dionysus among the Argives is “Son of the Bull.” They call him up outof the water by the sound of trumpets,’ at the same time casting into the depths a lamb as an offering to the Keeper of the Gate. The trumpets they conceal in Bacchic wands, as Socrates * has stated in his treatise on Zhe Holy Ones. Further-

* A partial list in Roscher, Lexikon d. gr. u. rém. Mytho- logie, 1. 1149.

4 Cf. Moralia, 299 a, where the invocation is given at greater length; also Edmonds, Lyra Graeca, iii. p. 510 L.C. E.)

l * Cf. Moralia, 671 £. t Miller, Frag. Hist. Graec. iv. p. 498, Socrates, no. δ.

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ὁμολογεῖ δὲ καὶ τὰ Τιτανικὰ καὶ Νυκτέλια' τοῖς λεγομένοις ᾿Οσίριδος διασπασμοῖς καὶ ταῖς dva- 365 βιώσεσι καὶ παλιγγενεσίαις: ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὰ . ` ΄ Ἡ z t . ? +

περὶ τὰς ταφάς. Αἰγύπτιοί τε γὰρ ᾿Οσίριδος πολ- λαχοῦ θήκας, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, δεικνύουσι, καὶ Δελφοὶ τὰ τοῦ Διονύσου λείψανα παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς παρὰ τὸ χρηστήριον ἀποκεῖσθαι νομίζουσι: καὶ θύουσιν οἱ Ὅσιοι θυσίαν ἀπόρρητον ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ τοῦ ᾿Απόλ- λωνος, ὅταν αἱ Θυιάδες ἐγείρωσι τὸν Λικνίτην. ὅτι δ᾽ οὐ μόνον τοῦ οἴνου Διόνυσον, ἀλλὰ καὶ

΄ e A ’ ο e ~ 2 πάσης ὑγρᾶς φύσεως Ἕλληνες ἡγοῦνται κύριον

- / καὶ ἀρχηγόν, ἀρκεῖ Πίνδαρος µάρτυς εἶναι λέγων δενδρέων δὲ νομὸν! Διόνυσος πολυγαθὴς αὐξάνοι, ἁγνὸν φέγγος ὀπώρας.

Β διὸ καὶ τοῖς τὸν Ὄσιριν σεβομένοις ἀπαγορεύεται να ιά 3 ΄ $ 4 τ’ > δένδρον ἥμερον ἀπολλύναι καὶ πηγὴν ὕδατος ἐμ-

φράττειν. 86. Οὐ μόνον δὲ τὸν Νεῖλον, ἀλλὰ πᾶν ὑγρὸν ~ - A e ~ ἁπλῶς ᾿Οσίριδος ἀπορροὴν καλοῦσι καὶ τῶν ἱερῶν ἀεὶ προπομπεύει τὸ ὑδρεῖον ἐπὶ τιμῇ τοῦ θεοῦ. καὶ θρύῳ᾽ βασιλέα καὶ τὸ νότιον κλίμα τοῦ κόσμου γράφουσι, καὶ μεθερμηνεύεται τὸ θρύον ποτισμὸς καὶ κύησις" πάντων, καὶ δοκεῖ γεννητικῷ μορίῳ 1 Νυκτέλια Squire: νὺξ τελεία. f 2 γομὸν Heyne: νόμον (τρόπον in 757 r; γόμον Reiske; 2 γόνον Wyttenbach).

3 θρύῳ Wyttenbach: θρύων or θρίω. 4 κύησις Xylander: κίνησις.

a 358 a and 359 a, supra.

è That is, the inspired maidens, mentioned at the beginning of the chapter.

ο Callimachus, Hymn to Demeter (vi.), 127; Anth. Pal. vi. 165; Virgil, Georg. i, 166. 86

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 364-365

more, the tales regarding the Titans and the rites celebrated by night agree with the accounts of the dismemberment of Osiris and his revivification and regenesis. Similar agreement is found too in the tales about their sepulchres. The Egyptians, as has already been stated,* point out tombs of Osiris in many places, and the people of Delphi believe that the remains of Dionysus rest with them close beside the oracle; and the Holy Ones offer a secret sacrifice in the shrine of Apollo whenever the devotees of Dionysus ὃ wake the God of the Mystic Basket.* To show that the Greeks regard Dionysus as the lord and master not only of wine, but of the nature of every sort of moisture, it is enough that Pindar? be our witness, when he says

May gladsome Dionysus swell the fruit upon the trees, The hallowed splendour of harvest-time.

For this reason all who reverence Osiris are prohibited from destroying a cultivated tree or blocking up a spring of water.

36. Not only the Nile, but every form of moisture 9 they call simply the effusion of Osiris; and in their holy rites the water jar in honour of the god heads the procession’ And by the picture of a rush they represent a king and the southern region of the world,” and the rush is interpreted to mean the watering and fructifying of all things, and in its nature it seems to bear some resemblance to the generative member.

4 Frag. 153 (Christ). Plutarch quotes the line also in Moralia, 745 a and 757 F. e Cf. 366 a, 371 B, infra, and 729 B. -f Cf. Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis, vi. 81. 1 (p. 758 Potter). s Such a symbol exists on Egyptian monuments. 87

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

(365) τὴν φύσιν ἐ ἐοικέναι. τὴν δὲ τῶν Παμυλίων ἑορτὴν ἄγοντες, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, φαλλικὴν οὖσαν, ἄγαλμα προτίθενται καὶ περιφέρουσιν, οὗ τὸ αἰδοῖον τρι- πλάσιόν è ἐστιν" ἀρχὴ γὰρ ὁ θεός, ἀρχὴ δὲ πᾶσα τῷ γονίμῳ πολλαπλασιάζει τὸ ἐξ αὐτῆς" τὸ δὲ πολ-

C λάκις εἰώθαμεν καὶ τρὶς λέγειν, ὡς τὸ “ τρισ- μάκαρες ” καὶ

δεσμοὶ μὲν τρὶς τόσσοι ἀπείρονες,

εὖ ' μὴ νὴ Δία κυρίως ἐμφαίνεται τὸ τριπλάσιον Ù ὑπὸ τῶν παλαιῶν" ἡ γὰρ ὑγρὰ φύσις ἀρχὴ καὶ γένεσις οὖσα πάντων ἐξ αὐτῆς' τὰ πρῶτα τρία σώματα, γῆν ἀέρα καὶ πῦρ, ἐποίησε. καὶ γὰρ ὁ προστιθέμενος τῷ μύθῳ λόγος, ὡς τοῦ ᾿Οσίριδος ὁ Τυφὼν τὸ αἲδοῖον ἔρριψεν εἰς τὸν ποταμόν, ἡ δ᾽ Ἶσις οὐχ εὗρεν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐμφερὲς ἄγαλμα θἐμένη καὶ kata- σκευάσασα τιμᾶν καὶ φαλλ ηφορεῖν ἔταξεν, ἐνταῦθα δὴ περιχωρεῖ᾽ διδάσκων ὅτι τὸ γόνιμον καὶ τὸ σπερματικὸν. τοῦ θεοῦ. πρῶτον" ἔσχεν ὕλην τὴν ὑγρότητα καὶ δι᾽ ὑγρότητος ἐνεκράθη τοῖς πεφυκόσι μετέχειν γενέσεως.

D "Άλλος δὲ λόγος ἔστιν Αἰγυπτίων, ὡς "Αποπις Ἡλίου ὢ ὢν ἀδελφὸς ἐπολέμει. τῷ Διί, τὸν δ᾽ Ὄσιριν 6 Ζεὺς συμμαχήσαντα καὶ συγκαταστρεψάμενον αὐτῷ τὸν πολέμιον παῖδα θέμενος Διόνυσον προσ- ηγόρευσεν. καὶ τούτου δὲ τοῦ λόγου τὸ μυθῶδες ἔστιν ἀποδεῖξαι τῆς περὶ φύσιν ἀληθείας ἁπτό-

* αὐτῆς Michael: ἀρχῆς. 3 δὴ περιχωρεῖ Madvig: δὲ παραχωρεῖ. 8 πρῶτον] πρώτην Reiske. 4 περὶ Xylander: παρὰ.

a 355 E, supra. è Cf. 911 F, infra, Herodotus, ii. 48, and Hgyptian monuments.

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ISIS AND OSIRIS, 365

Moreover, when they celebrate the festival of the Pamylia which, as has been said,* is of a phallic nature, they expose and carry about a statue of which the male member is triple ® ; for the god is the Source, and every source, by its fecundity, multiplies what proceeds from it ; and for ‘‘ many times ” we have a habit of saying “ thrice,” as, for example, “ thrice happy,” 5 and

Bonds, even thrice as many, unnumbered,#

unless, indeed, the word “ triple ” is used by the early writers in its strict meaning; for the nature of moisture, being the source and origin of all things, created out of itself three primal material substances, Karth, Air, and Fire. In fact, the tale that is annexed to the legend to the effect that Typhon cast the male member of Osiris into the river, and Isis could not find it, but constructed and shaped a replica of it, and ordained that it should be honoured and borne in processions,’ plainly comes round to this doctrine, that the creative and germinal power of the god, at the very first, acquired moisture as its substance, and through moisture combined with whatever was by nature capable of participating in generation.

There is another tale current among the Egyptians that Apopis, brother of the Sun, made war upon Zeus, and that because Osiris espoused Zeus’s cause and helped him to overthrow his enemy, Zeus adopted Osiris as his son and gave him the name of Dionysus. It may be demonstrated that the legend contained in this tale has some approximation to truth so far as

° Homer, Od. v. 306, and vi. 154. It is interesting that G. H. Palmer translates this “ most happy.”

d Jbiđ. viii. 340.

* Cf. 358 B, supra.

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’ A A µενον. Δία μὲν yàp Αἰγύπτιοι τὸ πνεῦμα καλοῦ- ow, ᾧ πολέμιον τὸ αὐχμηρὸν καὶ πυρῶδες: τοῦτο

» δ᾽ ἥλιος μὲν οὐκ ἔστι, πρὸς δ᾽ ἥλιον ἔχει τινὰ συγ- ’ τ > e , ΄ . e . γένειαν: ἡ δ᾽ ὑγρότης σβεννύουσα τὴν ὑπερβολὴν E τῆς ξηρότητος αὖξει καὶ ῥώννυσι τὰς ἀναθυμιάσεις, ὑφ᾽ ὧν τὸ πνεῦμα τρέφεται καὶ τέθηλεν. 37. Ἔτι δὲ τὸν κιττὸν "Ἑλληνές τε καθιεροῦσι - t . 2 > rf , εέ z τῷ Διονύσῳ καὶ παρ᾽ Αἰγυπτίοις λέγεται '' χενό- σιρις”’ ὀνομάζεσθαι, σημαίνοντος τοῦ ὀνόματος, σ x > ’ 3 ’ ’ ε ὥς φασι, φυτὸν ᾿Ὀσίριδος. ᾿Αρίστων τοίνυν ὁ γεγραφὼς ᾿Αθηναίων ἀποίκισω᾽ ἐπιστολῇ Twt 3 D a A Αλεξάρχου περιέπεσεν, ἐν Ñ Διὸς' ἱστορεῖται καὶ x ελ Ἂ τ / Ν «2 5 7 ΕΠΗ Ίσιδος υἱὸς dv ὁ Διόνυσος ὑπ᾽ Αἰγυπτίων οὐκ Ὄσιρις ἀλλ᾽ ᾿Αρσαφὴς (ἐν τῷ ἄλφα γράμματι) F λέγεσθαι, δηλοῦντος τὸ ἀνδρεῖον τοῦ ὀνόματος. ἐμφαίνει δὲ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Ἑρμαῖος ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ περὶ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων: ὄβριμον γάρ φησι μεθερμηνευό- . - - ενον εἶναι τὸν Ὄσιριν. ἐῶ δὲ Μνασέαν' τῷ > / θέ . 7, ` . ” Επάφῳ προστιθέντα τὸν Διόνυσον καὶ τὸν "Όσιριν A . 7 3A 1. καὶ i LA T καὶ τὸν Σάραπιν: ἐῶ καὶ ᾿Αντικλείδην λέγοντα, τὴν Ἶσιν Προμηθέως οὖσαν θυγατέρα Διονύσῳ ov- οικεῖν: αἱ γὰρ εἰρημέναι περὶ τὰς ἑορτὰς καὶ τὰς θυσίας οἰκειότητες ἐναργεστέραν τῶν μαρτύρων τὴν πίστιν ἔχουσι. 38. Τῶν τ᾽ ἄστρων τὸν σείριον loos” vopi- 366 ζουσιν, ὑδραγωγὸν ὄντα. καὶ τὸν λέοντα τιμῶσι 1 δὲ F.C.B.: τε. 3 κιττὸν Squire (κιττὸν οἱ 2}: κιττὸν ὃν. 3 ἀποίκισιν F.C.B.: ἀποικίαν. 4 περιέπεσεν, ἐν ᾗ Διὸς Valckenaer: περιπέσειε νηίδος. 5 καὶ Valckenaer: δὲ καὶ.

5 Μνασέαν Xylander: μνάσαν. 7 "σιδος] Ὀσίριδος Squire, but ef- 359 Ὁ as well as 372 υ.

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Nature is concerned ; for the Egyptians apply the name '' Zeus” to the wind,? and whatever is dry or fieryis antagonistic to this. This is not the Sun, but it E has some kinship with the Sun ; and the moisture, by doing away with the excess of dryness, increases and strengthens the exhalations by which the wind is fostered and made vigorous.

37. Moreover, the Greeks are wont to consecrate the ivy? to Dionysus, and it is said that among the Egyptians the name for ivy is chenosiris, the meaning of the name being, as they say, “the plant of Osiris.” Now, Ariston, the author of Athenian Colonization, happened upon a letter of Alexarchus, in which it is recorded that Dionysus was the son of Zeus and Isis, and is called not Osiris, but Arsaphes, spelled with an “ a,’ the name denoting virility. Hermaeus, too, makes this statement in the first volume of his book

© The Egyptians ; for he says that Osiris, properly inter-

preted,*means “ sturdy.” I leave out of account Mnaseas’s° annexation of Dionysus, Osiris, and Serapis to Epaphus, as well as Anticleides’* statement that Isis was the daughter of Prometheus’ and was wedded to Dionysus.” The fact is that the peculiarities already mentioned regarding the festival and sacri- fices carry a conviction more manifest than any testimony of authorities.

38. Of the stars the Egyptians think that the Dog- star is the star of Isis because it is the bringer of water.* They also hold the Lion in honour, and they

a Cf. Diodorus, i. 19. 9. 5 Diodorus, i. 17. 4. 5 Miller, Frag. Hist. Graec. iii. p. 324, 4 Ibid. iv. p. 427. 5 Thid. iii, p. 188, t Cf. Jacoby, Frag. Gr. Hist. 140, πο. 13. 5 Cf. 352 a, supra. » Cf. Herodotus, ii. 156. + Cf. 359 D, supra, and 376 a, infra. k In the Nile.

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s Ld ΄ ` - 1 - ” (966) καὶ χάσμασι λεοντείοις τὰ τῶν ἱερῶν θυρώματα ' κοσμοῦσιν, ὅτι πλημμυρεῖ Νεῖλος

5 λέ ` - Z t NE LOU τα πρωτα συνερχοµενοιο λέοντι.

Ὡς δὲ Νεῖλον ᾿Οσίριδος ἀπορροήν, οὕτως "Taos σῶμα γῆν ἔχουσι; καὶ νομίζουσιν, οὐ πᾶσαν, ἀλλ᾽ ἧς ὁ Νεῖλος ἐπιβαίνει σπερµαίνων καὶ μειγνύμενος" ἐκ δὲ τῆς συνουσίας ταύτης γεννῶσι τὸν ρον. ἔστι δ᾽ Ὥρος ἡ πάντα σῴζουσα καὶ τρέφουσα τοῦ περιέχοντος ὥρα καὶ κρᾶσις ἀέρος, ὃν ἐν τοῖς ἕλεσι τοῖς περὶ Βοῦτον ὑπὸ Λητοῦς τραφῆναι λέγουσιν"

- ἢ γὰρ ὑδατώδης καὶ διάβροχος γῆ μάλιστα τὰς B σβεννούσας καὶ χαλώσας τὴν ξηρότητα. καὶ τὸν αὐχμὸν ἀναθυμιάσεις τιθηνεῖται.

Νέφθυν δὲ καλοῦσι τῆς γῆς τὰ ἔσχατα καὶ παρόρεια" καὶ ψαύοντα τῆς θαλάττης: διὸ καὶ Τελευτὴν! ἐπονομάζουσι τὴν Νέφθυν καὶ Γυφῶνι δὲ συνοικεῖν λέγουσιν. ὅταν δ᾽ ὑπερβαλὼν καὶ πλεονάσας 6 Νεῖλος ἐπέκεινα πλησιάσῃ τοῖς ἐσχατεύουσι, τοῦτο μεῖξιν ᾿Ὀσίριδος πρὸς Νέφθυν

καλοῦσιν, ὑπὸ τῶν ἀναβλαστανόντων φυτῶν ἐλεγ- χομένην- ὧν καὶ τὸ μελίλωτόν ἐστιν, οὗ φησι μῦθος ἀπορρυέντος καὶ ἀπολειφθέντος αἴσθησιν γενέσθαι. Τυφῶνι τῆς περὶ τὸν γάμον ἀδικίας. ὅθεν ἡ μὲν 0 Ἶσις ἔτεκε γνησίως τὸν Ὥρον, ἡ δὲ Νέφθυς σκότιον τὸν "Ανουβιν. ἐν μέντοι ταῖς διαδοχαῖς τῶν βασι-

-

1 ἔχουσι] λέγουσι Wyttenbach. 3 παρόρεια Hatzidakis: παρόρια. 8 Γελευτὴν Squire (cf. 355 F): τελευταίη». i η

a Cf. Moralia, 610 ας Ἡοταρο]]ο, Hieroglyphica, 1. 21. ὃ Aratus, Phaenomena, 151. The Dog-siar rises at about the same time.

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ISIS AND OSIRIS, 366

adorn the doorways of their shrines with gaping lions’ heads, because the Nile overflows

When for the first time the Sun comes into conjunction with Leo.?

As they regard the Nile as the effusion of Osiris,¢ so they hold and believe the earth to be the body of Isis, not all of it, but so much of it as the Nile covers, fertilizing it and uniting with it.4 From this union they make Horus to be born. The all-conserving and fostering Hora, that is the seasonable tempering of the surrounding air, is Horus, who they say was brought up by Leto in the marshes round about Buto®; for the watery and saturated land best nurtures those exhalations which quench and abate aridity and dryness.

The outmost parts of the land beside the mountains and bordering on the sea the Egyptians call Nephthys. This is why they give to Nephthys the name of “ Finality,” f and say that she is the wife of Typhon. Whenever, then, the Nile overflows and with abound- ing waters spreads far away to those who dwell in the outermost regions, they call this the union of Osiris with Nephthys,’ which is proved by the upspringing of the plants. Among these is the melilotus,” by the wilting and failing of which, as the story goes, Typhon gained knowledge of the wrong done to his bed. So Isis gave birth to Horus in lawful wedlock, but Nephthys bore Anubis clandestinely. However, in the chronological lists of the kings they record that

e Cf. the note on 365 π, supra. 4 Cf 363 D, supra, e Cf. 357 F, supra, 7 Cf. 355 F, supra, and 375 B, infra. 3 Cf. the note on 356 £, supra. a Of. 356 F, supra. 93

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λέων ἀναγράφουσι τὴν Νέφθυν Τυφῶνι γημαμένην πρώτην γενέσθαι στεῖραν: εἰ δὲ τοῦτο μὴ περὶ γυναικὸς ἀλλὰ περὶ τῆς θεοῦ λέγουσιν, αἰνίττονται τὸ παντελῶς τῆς γῆς ἄγονον καὶ ἄκαρπον ὑπὸ στερρότητος.

39. ‘H δὲ Τυφῶνος ἐπιβουλὴ καὶ τυραννὶς aùx- μοῦ δύναμις ἦν ἐπικρατήσαντος καὶ διαφορήσαντος τήν τε γεννῶσαν ὑγρότητα τὸν Νεῖλον καὶ αὔξουσαν. ἡ δὲ συνεργὸς αὐτοῦ βασιλὶς Αἰθιόπων αἰνίττεται πνοὰς νοτίους ἐξ Αἰθιοπίας: ὅταν γὰρ αὗται τῶν ἐτησίων ἐπικρατήσωσι τὰ νέφη πρὸς τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν ἐλαυνόντων, καὶ κωλύσωσι τοὺς τὸν Νεῖλον αὔξον- τας ὄμβρους καταρραγῆναι, κατέχων ὁ Τυφὼν ἐπι- φλέγει καὶ τότε κρατήσας παντάπασι τὸν Νεῖλον εἰς ἐναντίον" ὑπ᾽ ἀσθενείας συσταλέντα καὶ ῥυέντα κοῖλον καὶ ταπεινὸν ἐξέωσεν εἰς τὴν θάλατταν. ἡ γὰρ λεγομένη κάθειρξις εἰς τὴν σορὸν ᾿Οσίριδος οὐδὲν ἔοικεν ἀλλ᾽ ἢ κρύψιν ὕδατος καὶ ἀφανισμὸν αἰνίττεσθαι: διὸ μηνὸς ᾿Αθὺρ ἀφανισθῆναι τὸν

l

” Ζ Y A ? 3 , σιρυ; λέγουσιν, ὅτε τῶν ἐτησίων ἀπολειπόντων

f e y N TÀ e - ~ δ᾽ παντάπασι; ὁ μὲν Νεῖλος ὑπονοστεῖ, γυμνοῦται ¢ τα ἡ χώρα, μηκυνομένης δὲ τῆς νυκτός, αὔξεται τὸ σκότος, ἡ δὲ τοῦ φωτὸς μαραίνεται καὶ κρατεῖται - - $ δύναμις, οἱ 8” ἱερεῖς ἄλλα τε δρῶσι σκυθρωπὰ καὶ ~ F e ’ ΄ t x βοῦν διάχρυσον ἱματίῳ μέλανι βυσσίνῳ περιβάλλον- τες ἐπὶ πένθει τῆς θεοῦ δεικνύουσι (βοῦν γὰρ "ἴσιδος 1 παντελῶς] παντελὲς in al] mss, but one.

2 ἐναντίον] ἑαυτὸν Bentley. 8 of & Wyttenbach: οἱ.

a Cf. 356 B, supra. è Cf. Moralia, 898 a, and Diodorus, i. 39.

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ISIS AND OSIRIS, 366

Nephthys, after her marriage to Typhon, was at first barren. If they say this, not about a woman, but about the goddess, they must mean by it the utter barrenness and unproductivity of the earth resulting from a hard-baked soil.

.89. The insidious scheming and usurpation of Typhon, then, is the power of drought, which gains control and dissipates the moisture which is the source of the Nile and of its rising ; and his coadjutor, the Queen of the Ethiopians,? signifies allegorically the south winds from Ethiopia ; for whenever these gain the upper hand over the northerly ος Etesian winds ὃ which drive the clouds towards Ethiopia, and when they prevent the falling of the rains which cause the rising of the Nile, then Typhon, being in possession, blazes with scorching heat ; and having gained com- plete mastery, he forces the Nile in retreat to draw back its waters for weakness, and, flowing at the bottom of its almost empty channel, to proceed to the sea. Thestory told of the shutting up of Osiris in the chest seems to mean nothing else than the vanishing ` and disappearance of water. Consequently they say © that the disappearance of Osiris occurred in the month of Athyr,° at the time when, owing to the complete cessation of the Etesian winds, the Nile recedes to its low levelandthe landbecomesdenuded. Asthenights grow longer, the darkness increases, and the potency of the light is abated and subdued. Then among the gloomy rites which the priests perform, they shroud the gilded image of a cow with a black linen vestment, and display her as a sign of mourning for the goddess, inasmuch as they regard both the cow and the earth 4

ο The month of November. Cf. 356 ο, supra. 4 Cf. 366 a supra.

95

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5, `“ a ’ 5} z e 7 εἰκόνα καὶ' γῆν νομίζουσιν) ἐπὶ τέτταρας ἡμέρας ἀπὸ τῆς ἑβδόμης ἐπὶ δέκα ἑξῆς. καὶ γὰρ τὰ πενθού- μενα τέτταρα, πρῶτον μὲν ὁ Νεῖλος ἀπολείπων καὶ ὑπονοστῶν, δεύτερον δὲ τὰ βόρεια πνεύματα κατα- σβεννύμενα κομιδῇ τῶν νοτίων ἐπικρατούντων, τρύτον δὲ τὸ τὴν ἡμέραν ἐλάττονα γίγνεσθαι τῆς νυκτός, ἐπὶ πᾶσι Ò? ἡ τῆς γῆς ἀπογύμνωσις ἅμα τῇ τῶν φυτῶν ψιλότητι τηνικαῦτα φυλλορροούντων. τῇ δ᾽ ἐνάτῃ ἐπὶ δέκα νυκτὸς ἐπὶ θάλατταν κατίασι." καὶ τὴν ἱερὰν κίστην οὗ στολισταὶ καὶ οἱ ἱερεῖς ἐκφέρουσι χρυσοῦν ἐντὸς ἔχουσαν κιβώτιον, els ὃ ποτίμου λαβόντες ὕδατος ἐγχέουσι, καὶ γίγνεται κραυγὴ τῶν παρόντων ὡς εὑρημένου τοῦ ᾿Ὀσίριδος- εἶτα γῆν' κάρπιμον φυρῶσι τῷ ὕδατι, καὶ συμμεί- ἕαντες ἀρώματα καὶ θυμιάματα τῶν πολυτελῶν ἀναπλάττουσι μηνοειδὲς ἀγαλμάτιον' καὶ τοῦτο στολίζουσι καὶ κοσμοῦσι», ἐμφαίνοντες ὅτι γῆς οὐσίαν καὶ ὕδατος τοὺς θεοὺς τούτους νομίζουσι.

40. Τῆς δ᾽ Ἴσιδος πάλιν ἀναλαμβανούσης τὸν Όσιριν καὶ αὐξανούσης τὸν ρον, ἀναθυμιάσεσι καὶ ὁμίχλαις καὶ νέφεσι ῥ ῥωννύμενον, ἐκρατήθη μέν, οὐκ ἀνῃρέθη δ᾽ ὁ Τυφών. οὐ γὰρ εἴασεν ἡ ἡ κυρία τῆς γῆς θεὸς ἀναιρεθῆναι παντάπασι τὴν ἀντικει-

t - ε T 2 > 5 > ΄ . 7 A μένην τῇ ὑγρότητι φύσιν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐχάλασε καὶ ἀνῆκε

Ὀυλομένη διαμένειν τὴν κρᾶσινᾶ- οὗ γὰρ ἦν κόσμον" εἶναι τέλειον ἐκλιπόντος: καὶ ἀφανισθέντος τοῦ πυρώδους. εἰ δὲ ταῦτα μὴ ἐλέγετοξ παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς,

1 καὶ] κατὰ H. Richards; but cf. “ the earth”? both before (ἡ ae and after (τῆς vis)!

* πᾶσι δ᾽ Bernardakis: πᾶσιν. ὃ κατίασι Baxter: κάτεισι.

4 γῆν} Xylander: τὴν. 5 κρᾶσιν Xylander: κρίσιν,

ὁ κόσμον] τὸν κόσμον Markland.

7 ἐκλιπόντος Markland: ἐκλείποντος. 96

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 366-367

as the image of Isis ; and this is kept up for four days consecutively, beginning with the seventeenth of the month. The things mourned for are four in number : first, the departure and recession of the Nile ; second, the complete extinction of the north winds, as the south winds gain the upper hand; third, the day’s growing shorter than the night ; and, to crown all, the denudation of the earth together with the defolia- tion of the trees and shrubs at this time. On the nineteenth day they go down to the sea at night- time ; and the keepers of the robes and the priests bring forth the sacred chest containing a small golden coffer, into which they pour some potable water which they have taken up, and a great shout arises from the company for joy that Osiris is found. Then they knead some fertile soil with the water and mix in spices and incense of a very costly sort, and fashion therefrom a crescent-shaped figure, which they clothe and adorn, thus indicating that they regard these gods as the substance of Earth and Water.

40. When Isis recovered Osiris and was watching Horus grow up @ as he was being made strong by the exhalations and mists and clouds, Typhon was van- quished but not annihilated >; for the goddess who holds sway over the Earth would not permit the complete annihilation of the nature opposed to moist- ure, but relaxed and moderated it, being desirous that its tempering potency should persist, because it was not possible for a complete world to exist, if the fiery element left it and disappeared. Even if this story were not current among them, one would hardly

a Cf. 357 c-F, supra. > Cf. 358 D, supra.

8 ἐλέγετο F.C.B. (for a similar form of condition cf. Soph. Ajas, 962): λέγεται. Ἢ 97

| | | | | |

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

(367) εἰκότως οὐδ᾽ ἐκεῖνον ἄν τις ἀπορρίψειε τὸν λόγον, ὡς Τυφὼν μὲν ἐκράτει πάλαι τῆς ᾿Οσίριδος μοίρας” θάλαττα γὰρ ἦν ἡ Αἴγυπτος: διὸ πολλὰ μὲν ἐν τοῖς

B μετάλλοις καὶ τοῖς ὄρεσιν εὑρίσκεται μέχρι νῦν κογχύλια ἐ ἔχειν πᾶσαι ϑὲ πηγαὶ καὶ φρέατα πάντα πολλῶν ὑπαρχόντων ἁλμυρὸν ὕδωρ καὶ πικρὸν ἔχουσιν, ὡς ἂν ὑπολείμματος' τῆς πάλαι θαλάττης ἑώλου" ἐνταυθοῖ συνερρυηκότος.

Ὁ δ Ώρος χρόνῳ τοῦ Τυφῶνος ἐπεκράτησε, τουτέστιν εὐκαιρίας ὀμβρίων γενομένης, ὁ Νεῖλος ἐξώσας᾽ τὴν θάλατταν ᾿ἀνέφηνε τὸ πεδίον καὶ ἀνεπλήρωσε ταῖς προσχώσεσιν" ὃ δὴ μαρτυροῦσαν ἔχει τὴν αἴσθησιν: ὁρῶμεν γὰρ ἔτι viv ἐπιφέροντι

C τῷ ποταμῷ νέαν ἰλὺν καὶ προάγοντι’ τὴν γῆν κατὰ μικρὸν ὑποχωροῦν ὀπίσω τὸ πέλαγος, καὶ τὴν θάλατταν ὕψος τῶν ἐν βάθει λαμβανόντων διὰ τὰς προσχώσεις ἀπορρέουσαν" τὴν δὲ Φάρον, ἣν Ὅμηρος δει δρόμον ἡ ἡμέρας ἀπέχουσαν Αἰγύπτου, νῦν μέρος οὖσαν αὐτῆς, οὐκ αὐτὴν ἀναδραμοῦσαν οὐδὲ προσ- αναβᾶσαν, ἀλλὰ τῆς μεταξὺ θαλάττης ἀναπλάττοντι τῷ ποταμῷ καὶ τρέφοντι τὴν ἤπειρον ἀνασταλείσης.

Ἕλλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ὅμοια τοῖς ὑπὸ τῶν Στωικῶν θεολογουμένοις é ἐστί" καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι τὸ μὲν γόνιμον πνεῦμα καὶ τρόφιμον Διόνυσον εἶναι λέγουσι, τὸ πληκτικὸν δὲ καὶ διαιρετικὸν “H ρακλέα, τὸ δὲ δεκτικὸν "Αμμωνα, Δήμητρα» δὲ καὶ Κόρην τὸ διὰ

1 ὑπολείμματος F.C.B.: ὑπόλειμμα. 2 ἑώλου F.C.B.: ἕωλον. 3 ἐξώσας Wyttenbach: ἐξεώσας, t προάγοντι Bernardakis: προσαγαγόντι or προαγαγόντι. 5 Δήμητρα Bernardakis: δήμητραν.

a Cf. Herodotus, ii. 5; Diodorus, iii. 3, and 1. 39. 11. 98 f

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 367

be justified in rejecting that other account, to the effect that Typhon, many ages ago, held sway over Osiris’s domain ; for Egypt used to be all a sea,* and, for that reason, even to-day it is found to have shells in its mines and mountains.® Moreover, all the springs and wells, of which there are many, have a saline and brackish water, as if some stale dregs of the ancient sea had coilected there,

But, in time, Horus overpowered Typhon ; that is to say, there came on a timely abundance of rain, and the Nile forced out the sea and revealed the fertile land, which it filled out with its alluvial deposits. This has support in the testimony of our own observation ; for we see, even to-day, as the river brings down new silt and advances the land, that the deep waters gradually recede and, as the bottom gains in height by reason of the alluvial deposits, the water of the sea runs off from these. We also note that Pharos, which Homer € knew as distant a day’s sail from Egypt, is now a part of it; not that the island has extended its area by rising, or has come nearer to the land, but the sea that separated them was obliged to retire before the river, as the river reshaped the land and made it to increase.

The fact is that all this is somewhat like the doc- trines promulgated by the Stoics 4 about the gods ; for they say that the creative and fostering spirit is Dionysus, the truculent and destructive is Heracles, the. receptive is Ammon, that which pervades the Earth and its products is Demeter and the Daughter,

> Cf. Herodotus, ii. 19,

5 Od. iv. 356. Cf. also Strabo, xii. 2. 4 (p. 536), and xvii. 1. 6 (p. 791).

4 Cf. von Arnim, Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, ii. 1093 (p. 319).

99

(967)

D

Ξ:

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

- - - - - - 4 A τῆς γῆς καὶ τῶν καρπῶν διῆκον, Ποσειδῶνα δὲ τὸ διὰ τῆς θαλάττης. (41.) Οἱ δὲ τοῖσδε τοῖς φυσικοῖς καὶ τῶν ἀπ᾽ ἀστρολογίας μαθηματικῶν" ἔνια per- γνύντες Τυφῶνα μὲν οἴονται τὸν ἡλιακὸν κόσμον,

= $ Ὄσιριν δὲ τὸν σεληνιακὸν λέγεσθαι. τὴν μὲν γὰρ σελήνην γόνιμον τὸ φῶς καὶ ὑγροποιὸν ἔχουσαν εὐμενῆ καὶ γοναῖς ζῴων καὶ φυτῶν εἶναι βλα- στήσεσι' τὸν δ᾽ ἥλιον ἀκράτῳ πυρὶ καὶ σκληρῷ καταθάλπειν" τε καὶ καταυαίνειν τὰ φυόμενα καὶ τεθηλότα, καὶ τὸ πολὺ μέρος τῆς γῆς παντάπασιν ὑπὸ φλογμοῦ ποιεῖν ἀοίκητον καὶ κατακρατεῖν πολ- a Loa 7 ` ` - x >03 αχοῦ καὶ τῆς σελήνης. διὸ τὸν Τυφῶνα Σὴθ dei Αἰγύπτιοι καλοῦσιν, ὅπερ ἐστὶ καταδυναστεῦον ἢ + Ἀ - . [Ὁ νά . ε + καταβιαζόμενον. καὶ τῷ μὲν ἡλίῳ τὸν ‘Hpaxdéa μυθολογοῦσι; ἐνιδρυμένον συμπεριπολεῖν, τῇ δὲ σελήνῃ τὸν "Ἑρμῆν. λόγου γὰρ ἔργοις ἔοικε καὶ a 4g 7 Να 7 a ao ens - τελείας" σοφίας τὰ τῆς σελήνης, τὰ δ᾽ ἡλίου πληγαῖς ὑπὸ βίας καὶ ῥώμης περαινοµέναις. οἱ δὲ Στωικοὶ τὸν μὲν ἥλιον ἐκ θαλάττης ἀνάπτεσθαι καὶ τρέφε- σθαί φασι, τῇ δὲ σελήνῃ τὰ κρηναῖα καὶ λιμναῖα νάματα γλυκεῖαν ἀναπέμπειν καὶ μαλακὴν dva- θυμίασιν. -

49. Ἑβδόμῃ ἐπὶ δέκα τὴν ᾿Οσίριδος γενέσθαι τελευτὴν Αἰγύπτιοι μυθολογοῦσιν, ἐν ᾗ μάλιστα γίγνεται τελειουμένη" κατάδηλος ἡ πανσέληνος. διὸ

1 μαθηματικῶν] μαθημάτων Markland. 2 καὶ σκληρῷ θάλ Madvig: λ ήτα θάλ και OK, ρῳ κατα! OANE Vig: KEK, ἠρωκοτα αλπειν. 3 dei del. Squire. 4 τελείας F.C.B.: περὶ. -

5 περαινοµέναις Baxter: περαινοµένης. 5 τελειουμένη Ε.0.Β.: μειουμένη Wyttenbach: πληρουμένη.

a Of, Cicero, De Natura Deorum, i. 15 (40), ii. 28 (71); and Diogenes Laertius, vii. 147. > Of. 658 B, infra. ο Cf. 871 B and 376 a, infra.

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ISIS AND OSIRIS. 367

and that which pervades the Sea is Poseidon.* (41.) But the Egyptians, by combining with these physical explanations some of the scientific results derived from astronomy, think that by Typhon is meant the solar world, and by Osiris the lunar world ; they reason that the moon, because it has a light that is generative and productive of moisture,” is kindly towards the young of animals and the burgeoning plants, whereas the sun, by its untempered and piti- less heat, makes all growing and flourishing vegeta- tion hot and parched, and, through its blazing light, renders a large part of the earth uninhabitable, and in many a region overpowers the moon. For this reason the Egyptians regularly call Typhon '' Seth,” 5 which, being interpreted, means “ overmastering and compelling.” They have a legend that Heracles, making his dwelling in the sun, is a companion for it in its revolutions, as is the case also with Hermes and the moon. In fact, the actions of the moon are like actions of reason and perfect wisdom, whereas those of the sun are like beatings administered through violence and brute strength. The Stoics ἆ assert that the sun is kindled and fed from the sea, but that for the moon the moving waters from the springs and lakes send up a sweet and mild exhalation.

42. The Egyptians have a legend that the end of Osiris’s life came on the seventeenth of the month, on which day it is quite evident to the eye that the period of the full moon is over. Because of this the

a Von Arnim, Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, ii. 668. Cf. also Diogenes Laertius, vii. 145; and Porphyry, De Antra

ympharum, 11.

¢ Fourteen days, or one half of a lunar month, before the ἔνη καὶ νέα, if the lunar month could ever be made to square with any system of chronology !

101

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

F καὶ τὴν ἡμέραν ταύτην ἀντίφραξιν οἳ Πυθαγόρειοι καλοῦσι, καὶ ὅλως τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦτον ἀφοσιοῦνται. τοῦ γὰρ ἑκκαίδεκα τετραγώνου καὶ τοῦ ὀκτωκαί- δεκα ἑτερομήκους, ots μόνοις ἀριθμῶν ἐπιπέδων συμβέβηκε τὰς περιμέτρους ἴσας ἔχειν τοῖς mept- εχοµένοις ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν χωρίοις, μέσος ὁ τῶν ἑπτακαί- δεκα παρεμπίπτων ἀντιφράττει καὶ διαζεύγνυσιν ἀπ᾽ ἀλλήλων, καὶ διαιρεῖ τὸν’ ἐπόγδοον λόγον εἰς ἄνισα διαστήματα τεμνόμενος.

᾿Ἐτῶν δ᾽ ἀριθμὸν οἱ μὲν βιῶσαι τὸν Ὄσιριν οἱ δὲ 368 βασιλεῦσαι λέγουσιν ὀκτὼ καὶ εἴκοσι’ τοσαῦτα γὰρ ἔστι φῶτα τῆς σελήνης καὶ τοσαύταις ἡμέραις τὸν αὑτῆς κύκλον ἐξελίττει. τὸ δὲ ξύλον ἐν ταῖς λεγο- μέναις Ὀσίριδος ταφαῖς τέμνοντες κατασκευάζουσι: λάρνακα μηνοειδῆ διὰ τὸ τὴν σελήνην, ὅταν τῷ ἡλίῳ πλησιάζῃ, μηνοειδῆ γιγνομένην ἀποκρύπτε- σθαι. τὸν δ᾽ εἰς δεκατέτταρα μέρη τοῦ Ὀσίριδος διασπασμὸν αἰνίττονται πρὸς τὰς ἡμέρας ἐν ais φθίνει μετὰ πανσέληνον ἄχρι νουμηνίας τὸ ἄστρον.

Β ἡμέραν δὲ ἐν ᾗ φαίνεται πρῶτον ἐκφυγοῦσα τὰς αὐγὰς καὶ παρελθοῦσα τὸν ἥλιον ' ἀτελὲς ἀγαθόν ” προσαγορεύουσιν. ὁ γὰρ σιρις ἀγαθοποιός, καὶ τοὔνομα πολλὰ φράζει, οὐχ ἥκιστα δὲ κράτος ἐνεργοῦν καὶ ἀγαθοποιὸν ὃ λέγουσι. τὸ δ᾽ ἕτερον ὄνομα τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν "Oppo" εὐεργέτην ὁ “Eppatás φησι δηλοῦν ἑρμηνευόμενον.

43. Ὀἴονται δὲ πρὸς τὰ φῶτα τῆς σελήνης č ἔχειν τινὰ λόγον τοῦ Νείλου τὰς ἀναβάσεις. ἡ μὲν γὰρ

1 διαιρεῖ] διατηρεῖ Xylander. 2 a κατὰ τὸν Wyttenbach. v} ΄Όνουφιν ὃ Parthey.

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ISIS AND OSIRIS, 367-368

Pythagoreans call this day “ the Barrier,” and utterly abominate this number. For the number seventeen, coming in between the square sixteen and the oblong rectangle eighteen, which, as it happens, are the only plane figures that have their perimeters equal to their areas,* bars them off from each other and disjoins them, and breaks up the ratio of eight to eight and an eighth ? by its division into unequal intervals.

Some say that the years of Osiris’s life, others that the years of his reign, were twenty-eight ος for that is the number of the moon’s illuminations, and in that number of days does she complete her cycle. The wood which they cut on the occasions called the | “ burials of Osiris” they fashion into a crescent-shaped coffer because of the fact that the moon, when it comes near the sun, becomes crescent-shaped and disappears from our sight. The dismemberment of Osiris into fourteen parts they refer allegorically to the days of the waning of that satellite from the time of the full moon to the new moon. And the day on which she becomes visible after escaping the solar rays and passing by the sun they style “ Incomplete Good”; for Osiris is beneficent, and his name means many things, but, not least of all, an active and beneficent power, as they put it. The other name of the god, Omphis, Hermaeus says means “ benefactor ” when interpreted.

43. They think that the risings of the Nile have some relation to the illuminations of the moon ; for

α That is: 4x4=16 and 4+4+4+4=16: so also 3x6=18 and 3+6+3+6=18. > That is, 4 of a number added to itself: thus 16+ 48 =18. Eighteen, therefore, bears the epogdoon relation to sixteen, which is broken up by the intervention of seventeen, an odd number. 5 Of. 358 a, supra. 103

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

(368) μεγίστη περὶ τὴν ᾿Ελεφαντίνην ὀκτὼ γίγνεται καὶ

a - / εἴκοσι πήχεων, ὅσα φῶτα καὶ μέτρα των ἐμμήνων

περιόδων ἑκάστης ἔστιν: ἡ δὲ περὶ Μένδητα καὶ Ξόιν βραχυτάτη πήχεων Č πρὸς τὴν διχότομον' ἡ δὲ μέση περὶ Μέμφιν, ὅταν ἢ δικαία, δεκατεσσάρων πήχεων πρὸς τὴν πανσέληνον.

Τὸν δ᾽ "Amu? εἰκόνα μὲν ᾿Ὀσίριδος ἔμψυχον εἶναι, γενέσθαι δὲ ὅταν φῶς ἐρείσῃ γόνιμον ἀπὸ τῆς σελήνης καὶ καθάψηται βοὸς ὀργώσης. διὸ καὶ τοῖς τῆς σελήνης σχήμασιν ἔοικε πολλὰ τοῦ "Απιδος, περιµελαινομένου τὰ λαμπρὰ τοῖς σκιεροῖς. ἔτι δὲ" τῇ νουμηνίᾳ τοῦ Φαμενὼθ μηνὸς ἑορτὴν ἄγουσιν, ἔμβασιν ᾿Οσίριδος εἰς τὴν σελήνην ὀνομάζοντες, ἔαρος ἀρχὴν οὖσαν. οὕτω τὴν ᾿Ὀσίριδος δύναμιν ἐν τῇ σελήνῃ τιθέντες" τὴν Ἶσιν αὐτῷ γένεσιν οὖσαν συνεῖναι λέγουσι. διὸ καὶ μητέρα τὴν σελήνην τοῦ κόσμου καλοῦσι καὶ φύσιν ἔχειν ἀρσενόθηλυν οἴονται πληρουμένην ὑφ᾽ "Ηλίου καὶ κυϊσκομένην, αὐτὴν δὲ πάλιν εἰς τὸν ἀέρα προϊεμένην γεννητικὰς ἀρχὰς καὶ κατασπείρουσαν: οὐ γὰρ ἀεὶ τὴν φθορὰν ἐπικρατεῖν τὴν τυφώνειον, πολλάκις δὲ κρατουμένην ὑπὸ τῆς γενέσεως καὶ συνδεοµένην αὖθις ἀναλύεσθαι καὶ διαμάχεσθαι πρὸς τὸν Ὥρον. ἔστι δ᾽ οὗτος ὁ mepi- γειος κόσμος οὔτε φθορᾶς ἀπαλλαττόμενος παντά- πασιν οὔτε γενέσεως.

1 εξ] ἑπτὰ Squire. 2 ,Απιν] Baxter would add φασιν. 3 ἔτι δὲ Baxter: ὅτι. 4 τιθέντες Petavius: τίθενται. 5 ἀναλύεσθαι Wytienbach: ἀναδύεσθαι.

a Besides the famous ancient Nilometer. at Elephantiné, others have been found at Philae, Edfu, and Esna.

> Cf..359 B and 362 ο, supra.

ο Cf. Moralia, 718 », and Aelian, De Natura Animalium, xi. ΤΟ, 104

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 368

the greatest rising,* in the neighbourhood of Elephan- tiné, is twenty-eight cubits, which is the number of its illuminations that form the measure of each of its monthly cycles ; the rising in the neighbourhood of Mendes and Xois, which is the least, is six cubits, corresponding to the first quarter. The mean rising, in the neighbourhood of Memphis, when it is normal, is fourteen cubits, corresponding to the full moon,

The Apis, they say, is the animate image of Osiris,> and he comes into being when a fructifying light thrusts forth from the moon and falls upon a cow in her breeding-season,* Wherefore there are many things in the Apis that resemble features of the moon, his bright parts being darkened by the shadowy. More- over, at the time of the new moon in the month of Phamenoth they celebrate a festival to which they give the name of “ Osiris’s coming to the Moon,” and this marks the beginning of the spring. Thus they make the power of Osiris to be fixed in the Moon, and say that Isis, since she is generation, is associated with him. For this reason they also call the Moon the mother of the world, and they think that she has a nature both male and female, as she is receptive and made pregnant by the Sun, but she herself in turn emits and disseminates into the air generative principles. For, as they believe, the destructive activity of Typhon does not always prevail, but oftentimes is overpowered by such generation and put in bonds, and then at a later time is again released and contends against Horus,? who is the terrestrial universe ; and this is never completely exempt either from dis- solution or from generation.

4 Cf. 358 d, supra,

105

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

(368) 44. Ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ τῶν ἐκλειπτικῶν αἴνιγμα ποι- οὔνται τὸν μῦθον. ἐκλείϑει μὲν γὰρ ἡ σελήνη mav- - $ 4 σέληνος ἐναντίαν τοῦ ἡλίου στάσιν ἔχοντος πρὸς ! $ Ν - “~ a αὐτὴν εἰς τὴν σκιὰν ἐμπίπτουσα τῆς γῆς, ὥσπερ ` . ” 8 . 7 9 y . a φασὶ τὸν Ὄσιριν εἰς τὴν σορόν. αὐτὴ δὲ πάλιν E ἀποκρύπτει καὶ ἀφανίζει ταῖς τριακάσιν, οὐ μὴν ἀναιρεῖται παντάπασι τὸν ἥλιον, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ τὸν Τυφῶνα ἡ "Iois. Γεννώσης τῆς Νέφθυος τὸν "Ανουβιν, “Iois ὑπο- + / ΄ ? ` κ 4 -- ay κ 7 βάλλεται. Νέφθυς γάρ ἐστι τὸ ὑπὸ γῆν καὶ ἀφανές, > ~ Ίσις δὲ τὸ ὑπὲρ τὴν γῆν καὶ φανερόν. ὁ δὲ τούτων" ε F 1 + € t , > ’ ὑποψαύων καὶ καλούμενος ὁρίζων κύκλος, ἐπίκοινος Ἂ > - ” / ` © A N ὢν ἀμφοῖν, "Ανουβις κέκληται καὶ κυνὶ τὸ εἶδος ἀπεικάζεται" καὶ γὰρ ὁ κύων χρῆται τῇ ὄψει νυκτός . - > TE καὶ ἡμέρας ὁμοίως. καὶ ταύτην ἔχειν δοκεῖ παρ Ad ’ A 8 2 e ΑΙ ο ς E 7 γυπτίοις τὴν δύναμιν ὁ "Ανουβις, οἷαν ἡ “Εκάτη > τ r A e - A 3 , nap Ἕλλησι, χθόνιος ὢν ὁμοῦ καὶ ὀλύμπιος. LERE A - 4 F ἐνίοις δὲ δοκεῖ Κρόνος ὁ "Άνουβις εἶναι: διὸ πάντα + - - - m τίκτων ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ kal κυῶν ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὴν τοῦ κυνὸς > r 3 A ἐπίκλησιν ἔσχεν. éon? δ᾽ οὖν τοῖς σεβομένοις τὸν ww + . A Άνουβιν ἀπόρρητόν τι" καὶ πάλαι μὲν τὰς μεγίστας 7 > t 4 A ε ww > . . + ἐν Λἰγύπτῳ τιμὰς ὁ κύων ἔσχεν: ἐπεὶ δὲ Καμβύσου . [ΩΙ 3 F A er 2 ` - τὸν “Arw ἀνελόντος καὶ ῥίψαντος οὐδὲν προσῆλθεν 309 2 2 A ΄ > 5 kad / e a οὐδ᾽ ἐγεύσατο τοῦ σώματος ἀλλ᾽ ἢ μόνος ὁ κύων, ἀπώλεσε τὸ πρῶτος εἶναι καὶ μάλιστα τιμᾶσθαι τῶν ἑτέρων ζῴων.

ων σαν

1 τούτων Bentley: τούτῳ. 3 ἔστι Reiske: ἔτι. a Cf. 356 E, supra, δ Cf. 375 £, infra. ο Plutarch would connect κύων, “ dog,” with the participle of κυῶ, “ be pregnant.” If the animal were a bear, we might say, “ bears all things . . . the appellation of Bear,” which would be a very close parallel.

106

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 368

44. There are some who would make the legend an allegorical reference to matters touching eclipses ; for the Moon suffers eclipse only when she is full, with the Sun directly opposite to her, and she falls into the shadow of the Earth, as they say Osiris fell into his coffin. Then again, the Moon herself obscures the Sun and causes solar eclipses, always on the thirtieth of the month; however, she does not completely annihilate the Sun, and likewise Isis did not annihilate Typhon.

When Nephthys gave birth to Anubis, Isis treated the child as if it were her own; for Nephthys is that which is beneath the Earth and invisible, Isis that which is above the earth and visible ; and the circle which touches these, called the horizon, being common to both,® has received the name Anubis, and is represented in form like a dog ; for the dog can see with his eyes both by night and by day alike. And among the Egyptians Anubis is thought to possess this faculty, which is similar to that which Hecaté is thought to possess among the Greeks, for Anubis is a deity of the lower world as well as a god of Olympus. Some are of the opinion that Anubis is Cronus. For this reason, inasmuch as he generates all things out of himself and conceives all things within himself, he has gained the appellation of “ Dog.”* There is, therefore, a certain mystery observed by those who revere Anubis; in ancient times the dog obtained the highest honours in Egypt ; but, when Cambyses @ had slain the Apis and cast him forth, nothing came near the body or ate of it save only the dog ; and thereby the dog lost his primacy and his place of honour above that of all the other animals.

ἆ Cf. the note on 355 c, supra. 107

PLUTARCH’S MORALIA

ἔα] ~ . Εἰσὶ δέ τινες οἱ τὸ σκίασµα τῆς γῆς, εἰς ὃ τὴν + 3 7. 3 ’ la a. σελήνην ὀλισθάνουσαν ἐκλείπειν νομίζουσι, Τυφῶνα ~ - Η 369 καλοῦντες. (45.) Ὅθεν οὐκ ἀπέοικεν εἰπεῖν ὡς ἰδίᾳ - ~ 4 7 > ~ μὲν οὐκ ὀρθῶς ἕκαστος, ὁμοῦ δὲ πάντες ὀρθῶς λέγουσιν. οὐ γὰρ αὐχμὸν' οὐδ᾽ ἄνεμον οὐδὲ θάλατ- > ` , 3 N - e c + . ταν οὐδὲ σκότος, ἀλλὰ πᾶν ὅσον ἡ φύσις βλαβερὸν καὶ φθαρτικὸν ἔχει, μόριον τοῦ Τυφῶνός θετέον. οὔτε γὰρ ἐν ἀψύχοις σώμασι τὰς τοῦ παντὸς ἀρχὰς θετέον, ὡς Δημόκριτος καὶ Επίκουρος, οὔτ᾽ ἀποίου" e δημιουργὸν ὕλης ἕνα λόγον καὶ μίαν πρόνοιαν, ὡς ’ . A οἱ Στωικοί, περιγιγνοµένην ἁπάντων καὶ κρατοῦ- - A /. σαν. ἀδύνατον γὰρ ἢ φλαῦρον ὁτιοῦν, ὅπου πάν- Bror, ἢ στόν, ὅπου' δενὸς ὁ θεὸς αἴτιος, > / ce ’ gn ΄ κε r ΄ ἐγγενέσθαι. '' παλίντονος’ γάρ '' ἁρμονίη κόσμου, τ 5 ΄ . : a > t ΄ 1 ὅκωσπερ" λύρης καὶ τόξου ” καθ᾽ ᾿Ἡράκλειτον' καὶ κατ᾽ Εὐριπίδην

> a“ Ε κ > . A , οὐκ ἂν γένοιτο χωρὶς ἐσθλὰ καὶ κακά, > - ἀλλ᾽ ἔστι τις σύγκρασις ὥστ᾽ ἔχειν καλῶς.

A 4 + er a b ’ Διὸ καὶ παμπάλαιος αὕτη κάτεισι; ἐκ θεολόγων - ΄ καὶ νομοθετῶν εἴς τε ποιητὰς καὶ φιλοσόφους δόξα, ` τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀδέσποτον ἔχουσα, τὴν δὲ πίστιν ἰσχυρὰν καὶ δυσεξάλειπτον, οὐκ ἐν λόγοις μόνον οὐδ᾽ ἐν , > - φήμαις, ἀλλ᾽ ἔν τε τελεταῖς ἔν τε θυσίαις καὶ βαρ- - κ βάροις καὶ Ἕλλησι πολλαχοῦ περιφεροµένη, ὡς F αὐχμὸν] αὐχμὸν μόνον Sieveking. Ν ; a 2 βετέον F.C.B. (ἔστιν εἰπεῖν Bernardakis; νοµιστέον Strijd). ἐστιν. 3 ἀποίου Meziriacus: ἄποιον οὗ, 4 ὅπου Meziriacus: ὁμοῦ. ὅ ὅκωσπερ Wyttenbach: ὅπωσπερ. 8 περιφερομένη Holwerda: περιφερομένην.

μμ LL e

3 Cf, 373 Ἐν infra. t OF. 364 a, supra, and 376 r, infra.

108

ISIS AND OSIRIS, 368-369

There are some who give the name of Typhon to the Earth’s shadow, into which they believe the moon slips when it suffers eclipse.” (45.) Hence it is not unreasonable to say that the statement of each person individually is not right, but that the statement of all collectively is right ; for it is not drought nor wind nor sea nor darkness,® but everything harmful and de- structive that Nature contains, which is to be set down as a part of Typhon. The origins of the universe are not to be placed in inanimate bodies, according to the doctrine of Democritus and Epicurus, nor yet is the Artificer of undifferentiated matter, according to the Stoic doctrine,* one Reason, and one Providence which gains the upper hand and prevails over all things. The fact is that it is impossible for anything bad whatsoever to be engendered where God is the Author of all, or anything good where God is the Author of nothing ; for the concord of the universe, like that of a lyre or bow, according to Heracleitus,? is resilient if disturbed ; and according to Euripides,’

The good and bad cannot be kept apart, But there is some commingling, which is well.

Wherefore this very ancient opinion comes down from writers on religion and from lawgivers to poets and philosophers ; it can be traced to no source, but it carried a strong and almost indelible conviction, and is in circulation in many places among barbarians and Greeks alike, not only in story and tradition but also

e Cf. von Arnim, Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, ii. p. 1108, and Diogenes Laertius, vii. 134. 4 Cf. Diels, Frag. der Vorsokratiker, i. p. 87, πο. B δ]. Plutarch quotes this again in Moralia, 473 τ and 1026 η. e Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag., Euripides, no. 21, from the Aeolus ; quoted again in Moralia, 25 ο and 474 a. 109

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y) y i oo” * 3 / > A 0 οὔτ᾽ ἄνουν καὶ ἄλογον καὶ ἀκυβέρνητον αἰωρεῖται A > 4 y - yn? τ > Lg - ` (569) τῷ αὐτομάτῳ τὸ πᾶν, οὔθ᾽ εἷς ἐστιν ὁ κρατῶν καὶ F: - κατευθύνων ὥσπερ οἴαξιν ἤ τισι πειθηνίοις χαλινοῖς Lg 3 . 4% . LA - . λόγος, ἀλλὰ πολλὰ καὶ μεμειγμένα κακοῖς καὶ > θ - ἀλλ δὲ δέ e ε λῶ > - a ἀγαθοῖς, μᾶλλον δὲ μηδέν, ὡς ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν, ἄκρα- - a , - τον ἐνταῦθα τῆς φύσεως φερούσης, οὐ δυοῖν πίθων els ταμίας ὥσπερ νάματα τὰ πράγματα καπηλικῶς - > 3 . - % διανέμων ἀνακεράννυσιν ἡμῖν, ἀλλ᾽ ἀπὸ δυοῖν ἐναν- - - ΄ - A τίων ἀρχῶν καὶ δυοῖν ἀντιπάλων δυνάμεων τῆς μὲν 1.1 x 4 . 3 3 A e , ἕω ? ἐπὶ τὰ δεξιὰ καὶ Kar’ εὐθεῖαν ὑφηγουμένης, τῆς ὃ ” > ΄ . A ΄ μα t 7 ἔμπαλιν ἀναστρεφούσης καὶ ἀνακλώσης, ô τε βίος 1 ο + 3 3 x a ἀλλ᾽ ε r D μικτὸς ὅ τε κόσμος, εἰ καὶ μὴ πᾶς, ὁ περίγειος οὗτος καὶ μετὰ σελήνης! ἀνώμαλος καὶ ποικίλος γέγονε καὶ μεταβολὰς πάσας δεχόμενος. εἰ γὰρ οὐδὲν ἀναιτίως πέφυκε γενέσθαι, αἰτίαν δὲ κακοῦ > 3 3 Ἂ E - $. 55 A τἀγαθὸν οὐκ ἂν παράσχοι, δεῖ γένεσιν ἰδίαν καὶ 4 ‘ A ~ . ἀρχὴν ὥσπερ ἀγαθοῦ καὶ κακοῦ τὴν φύσιν ἔχειν. 46. Καὶ δοκεῖ τοῦτο τοῖς πλείστοις καὶ σοφω- F τ ’ . ε ` 8 . > ὃ a 6 τάτοις: νομίζουσι γὰρ οἱ μὲν θεοὺς εἶναι δύο ral- + 3 ΄ A A > ~ . . ta άπερ ἀντιτέχνους, τὸν μὲν ἀγαθῶν, τὸν δὲ φαύλων / $: . A \3 > 7 ’ . 3 δημιουργόν. ot δὲ τὸν pèr? ἀμείνονα θεόν, τὸν ὃ 9 ῃ a σ z 4 £ E ἕτερον δαίμονα καλοῦσιν: ὥσπερ Ζωροάστρης ὁ 1 σελήνης F.C.B.: σελήνην.

2 μὲν Markland: μὲν γὰρ. 3 Ζωροάστρης from Life of Numa, ch. iv.: ζωρόαστρις.

α The language is reminiscent of a fragment of Sophocles quoted by Plutarch in Moralia, 767 £, and Life of Alexander, chap. vii. (668 B). Cf. Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag., Sophocles,

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in rites and sacrifices, to the effect that the Universe is not of itself suspended aloft without sense or reason -or guidance, nor is there one Reason which rules and guides it by rudders, as it were, or by controlling reins,* but, inasmuch as Nature brings, in this life of ours, many experiences in which both evil and good are commingled, or better, to put it very simply, Nature brings nothing which is not combined with something else, we may assert that it is not one keeper of two great vases ® who, after the manner of a barmaid, deals out to us our failures and successes in mixture, but it has come about, as the result of two opposed principles and two antagonistic forces, one of which guides us along a straight course to the right, while the other turns us aside and backward, that our life is complex, and so also is the universe ; and if this is not true of the whole of it, yet it is true that this terrestrial universe, including its moon as well, is irregular and variable and subject to all manner of _ changes. For if it is the law of Nature that nothing comes into being without a cause, and if the good cannot provide a cause for evil, then it follows that Nature must have in herself the source and origin of evil, just as she contains the source and origin of good.

46. The great majority and the wisest of men hold this opinion : they believe that there are two gods, rivals as it were, the one the Artificer of good and the other of evil. There are also those who call the better one a god and the other a daemon, as, for example,

πο. 785. “A task for many reins and rudders too ” (πολλῶν Χαλινῶν ἔργον οἰάκων θ᾽ ἅμα).

> The reference is to Homer, Jl. xxiv. 527-528, as mis- quoted in Plato, Republic, 379 o. Cf. also Moralia, 24 a (and the note), 105 c (and the note), and 4738. Moralia, 600 c, is helpful in understanding the present passage.

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΄ + ~ ~ μάγος, ὃν πεντακισχιλίοις ἔτεσι τῶν Τρωικῶν ye- A > γονέναι πρεσβύτερον ἱστοροῦσιν. οὗτος οὖν ἐκάλει hi s, ε Z 4 3 >? / . τὸν μὲν Ὡρομάζην, τὸν δ᾽ ᾿Αρειμάνιον' καὶ mpoo- απεφαίνετο τὸν μὲν ἐοικέναι φωτὶ μάλιστα τῶν αἰσθητῶν, τὸν δ᾽ ἔμπαλιν σκότῳ καὶ ἀγνοίᾳ, μέσον δ᾽ ἀμφοῖν τὸν Μίθρην εἶναι: διὸ καὶ Μίθρην Πέρσαι ` Ἂ , > 2 ».- 19 a ` τὸν Μεσίτην ὀνομάζουσιν. ἐδίδαξε δὲ’ τῷ μὲν εὐκταῖα θύειν καὶ χαριστήρια, τῷ δ᾽ ἀποτρόπαια καὶ σκυθρωπά. πόαν γάρ Twa κόπτοντες ὅμωμι + > a A 4 3 ~ . καλουμένην ἐν ὄλμῳ τὸν "Αιδην ἀνακαλοῦνται καὶ τὸν σκότον: εἶτα μείξαντες αἵματι λύκου σφαγέντος εἷς τόπον ἀνήλιον ἐκφέρουσι καὶ ῥίπτουσι. καὶ γὰρ τῶν φυτῶν νομίζουσι τὰ μὲν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ θεοῦ, τὰ δὲ τοῦ κακοῦ δαίμονος εἶναι: καὶ τῶν ζῴων ὥσπερ κύνας καὶ ὄρνιθας καὶ χερσαίους ἐχίνους τοῦ aya- θοῦ, τοῦ δὲ φαύλου μῦς᾽ ἐνύδρους εἶναι διὸ καὶ τὸν κτείναντα. πλείστους εὐδαιμονίζουσιν. » A > - . ΑἹ. Οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ' κἀκεῖνοι πολλὰ μυθώδη περὶ τῶν θεῶν λέγουσιν, οἷα καὶ ταῦτ᾽ ἐστίν. ὁ μὲν O , > A 6. Γ ΄ 5 £ δ᾽ A: ὀροµάζης ἐκ τοῦ καθαρωτάτου φάους; ὃ ρει- ΄ 3 - , ΄ - > / μάνιος ἐκ τοῦ ζόφου γεγονώς, πολεμοῦσιν ἀλλήλοις" καὶ ὁ μὲν ἓξ θεοὺς ἐποίησε, τὸν μὲν πρῶτον εὐνοίας, ών ολ 7 > t ` ` > + τὸν δὲ δεύτερον ἀληθείας, τὸν δὲ τρίτον εὐνομίας' ~ A - A . / . ` Z τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν τὸν μὲν σοφίας, τὸν δὲ πλούτου, 1 ἀγνοίᾳ] ὀρφναίᾳ (9). 2 δὲ added by Meziriacus. 3 μῦς Squire from 670 D: τοὺς. μῦς Sq

4 ἀλλὰ added by Reiske. 5 φάους] φωτός Hatzidakis.

6 The casual reader will gain a better understanding of chapters 46 and 47 if he will consult some brief book or article on Zoroaster (Zarathustra) and the Persian religion.

» That is, one of the Persian Magi or Wise Men.

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Zoroaster? the sage,” who, they record, lived: five thousand years before the time of the Trojan War. He