De Iside et Osiride

When Isis recovered Osiris and was watching Horus grow up[*](Cf. 357 c-f, supra.) as he was being made strong by the exhalations and mists and clouds, Typhon was vanquished but not annihilated[*](Cf. 358 d, supra.); for the goddess who holds sway over the Earth would not permit the complete annihilation of the nature opposed to moisture, but relaxed and moderated it, being desirous that its tempering potency should persist, because it w as 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

But, in time, Horas overpowered Typhon; that is to say, there carne 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[*](Od. iv. 356. Cf. also Strabo, xii. 2. 4 (p. 536), and xvii. 1. 6 (p. 791).) 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 doctrines promulgated by the Stoics[*](Cf. von Arnim, Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, ii. 1093 (p. 319).) 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,

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,[*](Cf. 658 b, infra.) is kindly towards the young of animals and the burgeoning plants, whereas the sun, by its untempered and pitiless heat, makes all growing and flourishing vegetation 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, [*](Cf. 371 b and 376 a, infra.) 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[*](Von Arnim, Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, ii. 663. Cf. also Diogenes Laertius, vii. 145; and Porphyry, De Antro Nympharum, 11.) 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.

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.[*](Fourteen days, or one half of a lunar month, before the ἕνη καὶ νέα, if the lunar month could ever be made to square with any system of chronology!) Because of this the

Some say that the years of Osiris’s life, others that the years of his reign, were twenty-eight[*](Cf. 358 a, supra.); 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.

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

The Apis, they say, is the animate image of Osiris,[*](Cf. 359 b and 362 c, supra.) and he comes into being when a fructifying light thrusts forth from the moon and falls upon a cow in her breeding-season.[*](Cf.Moralia, 718 b, and Aelian, De Natura Animalium, xi. 10.) Wherefore there are many things in the Apis that resemble features of the moon, his bright parts being darkened by the shadowy. Moreover, at the time of the new moon in the month of Pharnenoth 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,[*](Cf. 358 d, supra.) who is the terrestrial universe; and this is never completely exempt either from dissolution or from generation.

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[*](Cf. 356 e, supra.); 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,[*](Cf. 375 e, infra.) 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 Hecatê 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. [*](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.) 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[*](Cf. the note on 355 c, supra.) 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.

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.[*](Cf. 373 e, infra.)

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,[*](Cf. 364 a, supra, and 376 f, infra.) but everything harmful and destructive 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,[*](Cf. von Arnim, Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, ii. p. 1108, and Diogenes Laertius, vii. 134.) 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,[*](Cf. Diels, Frag. der Vorsokratiker, i. p. 87, no. b 51. Plutarch quotes this again in Moralia, 473 f and 1026 b.) is resilient if disturbed; and according to Euripides,[*](Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag., Euripides, no. 21, from the Aeolus; quoted again in Moralia, 25 c and 474 a.)

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

Wherefore this very ancient opinion comes dowTn 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

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,

However, they also tell many fabulous stories about their gods, such, for example, as the following: Oromazes, born from the purest light,and Areimanius. born from the darkness, are constantly at Avar with each other; and Oromazes created six gods, the first of Good Thought, the second of Truth, the third of Order, and, of the rest, one of Wisdom, one of Wealth,

Such, then, is the character of the mythology of the sages.

The Chaldeans declare that of the planets, which they call tutelary gods,[*](The translation is based on an emendation of Wyttenbach’s, which makes the words refer to Chaldean astrology (i.e. the planet under which one is born). Cf. Sextus Empiricus, Adversus Mathematicos, v. 29.) two are beneficent, two maleficent, and the other three are median and partake of both qualities. The beliefs of the Greeks are well known to all; they make the good part to belong to Olympian Zeus and the abominated part to Hades, and they rehearse a legend that Concord is sprung from Aphroditê and Ares,[*](That is, from Love and War.) the one of whom is harsh and contentious, and the other mild and tutelary. Observe also that the philosophers are in agreement with these; for Heracleitus[*](Diels, Frag. der Vorsokratiker, i. p. 88, no. b 53.) without reservation styles War the Father and King and Lord of All, and he says that when Homer[*](Il. xviii. 107, but Plutarch modifies the line to suit his context.) prays that

Strife may vanish away from the ranks of the gods and of mortals,

Empedocles[*](Ibid. p. 232, Empedocles, no. 18; p. 239, no. 17, 1. 19; and p. 269, no. 122 (=Moralia, 474 b).) calls the beneficent principle friendship or friendliness, and oftentimes he calls Concord

The adherents of Pythagoras[*](Cf.Moralia, 881 e, and Aristotle, Metaphysics, i. 5 (986 a 22).) include a variety of terms under these categories: under the good they set Unity, the Determinate, the Permanent, the Straight, the Odd, the Square, the Equal, the Righthanded, the Bright; under the bad they set Duality, the Indeterminate, the Moving, the Curved, the Even, the Oblong, the Unequal, the Left-handed, the Dark, on the supposition that these are the underlying principles of creation. For these, however, Anaxagoras postulates Mind and Infinitude, Aristotle[*](Cf. Aristotle, Metaphysics, i. 9 (990 b).) Form and Privation, and Plato,[*](Timaeus, 35 a; Cf.Moralia, 441 f.) in many passages, as though obscuring and veiling his opinion, names the one of the opposing principles Identity and the other Difference; but in his Laws,[*](Plato, Laws, 896 d ff.) when he had grown considerably older, he asserts, not in circumlocution or symbolically, but. in specific words, that the movement of the Universe is actuated not by one soul, but perhaps by several, and certainly by not less than two, and of these the one is beneficent, and the other is opposed to it and the artificer of things opposed. Between these he leaves a certain third nature, not inanimate nor irrational nor without the power to move of itself,[*](Cf. 374 e, infra.) as some think, but with dependence on both those others, and desiring the better always and yearning after it and pursuing it, as the succeeding portion of the treatise will make clear, in the

The fact is that the creation and constitution of this world is complex, resulting, as it does, from opposing influences, which, however, are not of equal strength, but the predominance rests with the better. Yet it is impossible for the bad to be completely eradicated, since it is innate, in large amount, in the body and likewise in the soul of the Universe, and is always fighting a hard fight against the better. So in the soul Intelligence and Reason, the Ruler and Lord of all that is good, is Osiris, and in earth and wind and water and the heavens and stars that which is ordered, established, and healthy, as evidenced by seasons, temperatures, and cycles of revolution, is the efflux of Osiris[*](See the note on 365 b, supra.) and his reflected image. But Typhon is that part of the soul which is impressionable, impulsive, irrational and truculent, and of the bodily part the destructible, diseased and disorderly as evidenced by abnormal seasons and temperatures, and by obscurations of the sun and disappearances of the moon,[*](Cf. 368 f, supra.) outbursts, as it were, and unruly actions on the part of Typhon. And the name Seth, [*](Cf. 367 d, supra, and 376 a, infra.) by which they call Typhon, denotes this; it means the overmastering and overpowering, [*](So also in the Egyptian papyri.) and it means in very many instances turning back, [*](Cf. 376 b, infra.) and again overpassing. Some say that one of the companions of Typhon was Bebon,[*](Cf. 376 a, infra.) but Manetho says that Bebon was still another name by which Typhon was called. The name signifies restraint or hindrance, as much as

For this reason they assign to him the most stupid of the domesticated animals, the ass, and of the wild animals, the most savage, the crocodile and the hippopotamus.

In regard to the ass we have already[*](supra, 362 f.) offered some explanation. At Hermopolis they point out a statue of Typhon in the form of an hippopotamus, on whose back is poised a hawk fighting with a serpent. By the hippopotamus they mean to indicate Typhon, and by the hawk a power and rule, which Typhon strives to win by force, oftentimes without success, being confused by his wickedness and creating confusion[*](The text and significance of this passage are none too clear.) For this reason, when they offer sacrifice on the seventh day of the month Tybi, which they call the Coming of Isis from Phoenicia, they imprint on their sacred cakes the image of an hippopotamus tied fast. In the town of Apollonopolis it is an established custom for every person without exception to eat, of a crocodile[*](Cf. Herodotus, ii. 69; Aelian, De Natura Animalium, x. 21; Strabo, xvii. 1. 47 (p. 817).); and on one day they hunt as many as they can and, after killing them, cast them down directly opposite the temple. And they relate that Typhon escaped Horus by turning into a crocodile, and they would make out that all animals and plants and incidents that are bad and harmful are the deeds and parts and movements of Typhon.

Then again, they depict Osiris by means of an eye and a sceptre,[*](Cf. 354 f, supra.) the one of which indicates forethought and the other power, much as Homer[*](Homer, Iliad, viii. 22.) in

Everywhere they point out statues of Osiris in human form of the ithyphallic type, on account of his creative and fostering power[*](Cf. 365 b, supra.); and they clothe his statues in a flame-coloured garment, since they regard the body of the Sun as a visible manifestation of the perceptible substance of the power for good.[*](Cf. 393 d and 477 c, infra.) Therefore it is only right and fair to contemn those who assign the orb of the Sun to Typhon,[*](Cf. 372 e, infra.) to whom there attaches nothing bright or of a conserving nature, no order nor generation nor movement possessed of moderation or reason, but everything the reverse; moreover, the drought,[*](Cf. 367 d, supra.) by which he destroys many of the living creatures and growing plants, is not to be set down as the work of the Sun, but rather as due to the fact that the winds and waters in the earth and the air are not seasonably tempered when

In the sacred hymns of Osiris they call upon him who is hidden in the arms of the Sun; and on the thirtieth of the month Epiphi they celebrate the birthday of the Eyes of Horus, at the time when the Moon and the Sun are in a perfectly straight line, since they regard not only the Moon but also the Sun as the eye and light of Horus.

On the 8th of the waning of the month Phaophi they conduct the birthday of the Staff of the Sun following upon the autumnal equinox, and by this they declare, as it were, that he is in need of support and strength, since he becomes lacking in warmth and light, and undergoes decline, and is carried away from us to one side.

Moreover, at the time of the winter solstice they lead the cow seven times around the temple of the Sun and this circumambulation is called the Seeking for Osiris, since the Goddess in the winter-time yearns for water; so many times do they go around, because in the seventh month the Sun completes the transition from the winter solstice to the summer solstice. It is said also that Horus, the son of Isis, offered sacrifice to the Sun first of all on the fourth day of the month, as is written in the records entitled the Birthdays of Horus.

Every day they make a triple offering of incense to the Sun, an offering of resin at sunrise, of myrrh at midday, and of the so-called cyphi at sunset; the

But let us now take up again the proper subject of our discussion.

Isis is, in fact, the female principle of Nature, and is receptive of every form of generation, in accord with which she is called by Plato[*](Cf. Plato, Timaeus, 49 a and 51 a; also Moralia, 1014 d, 1015 d, and 1023 a.) the gentle nurse and the all-receptive, and by most people has been called by countless names, since, because of the force of Reason, she turns herself to this thing or that and is receptive of all manner of shapes and forms. She has an innate love for the first and most dominant of all things, which is identical with the good, and this she yearns for and pursues; but the portion which comes from evil she tries to avoid and to reject, for she serves

It is not, therefore, out of keeping that they have a legend that the soul of Osiris is everlasting and imperishable, but that his body Typhon oftentimes dismembers and causes to disappear, and that Isis wanders hither and yon in her search for it, and fits it together again[*](Cf. 358 a, supra.); for that which really is and is perceptible and good is superior to destruction and change. The images from it with which the sensible and corporeal is impressed, and the relations, forms, and likenesses which this takes upon itself, like impressions of seals in wax, are not permanently lasting, but disorder and disturbance overtakes them, being driven hither from the upper reaches, and fighting against Horus,[*](Cf. 358 d, supra.) whom Isis brings forth, beholden of all, as the image of the perceptible world. Therefore it is said that he is brought to trial by Typhon on the charge of illegitimacy, as not being pure nor uncontaminated like his father, reason unalloyed and unaffected of itself, but contaminated in his substance because of the corporeal element. He prevails, however, and wins the case when Hermes,[*](Cf. 358 d, supra.) that is to say Reason, testifies and points out that Nature, by undergoing changes of form with reference to the perceptible, duly brings about the creation of the world.

But this Horus is himself perfected and complete; but he has not done away completely with Typhon, but has taken away his activity and strength. Hence they say that at Kopto the statue of Horus holds in one hand the privy members of Typhon, and they relate a legend that Hermes cut out the sinews of Typhon, and used them as strings for his lyre, thereby instructing us that Reason adjusts the Universe and creates concord out of discordant elements, and that it does not destroy but only cripples the destructive force. Hence this is weak and inactive here, and combines with the susceptible and changeable elements and attaches itself to them, becoming the artificer of quakes and tremblings in the earth, and of droughts and tempestuous winds in the air, and of lightning-flashes and thunderbolts. Moreover, it taints waters and winds with pestilence, and it runs forth wanton even as far as the moon, oftentimes confounding and darkening the moon’s brightness; according to the belief and account of

The better and more divine nature consists of three parts: the conceptual, the material, and that which is formed from these, which the Greeks call the world. Plato[*](Plato, Timaeus, 50 c-d.) is wont to give to the conceptual the name of idea, example, or father, and to the material the name of mother or nurse, or seat and place of generation, and to that which results from both the name of offspring or generation.

One might conjecture that the Egyptians hold in high honour the most beautiful of the triangles,[*](Cf. 393 d, infra.) since they liken the nature of the Universe most closely to it, as Plato in the Republic [*](Plato, Republic, 546 b-c.) seems to have made use of it in formulating his figure of marriage. This triangle has its upright of three units, its base of four, and its hypotenuse of five, whose power is equal to that of the other two sides.[*](Cf. 429 e, infra.) The upright, therefore, may be likened to the male, the base to the female, and the hypotenuse to the child of both, and so Osiris may be regarded as the origin, Isis as the recipient, and Horus as perfected result. Three is the first perfect odd number: four is a square whose side is the even number two; but five is in some ways like to its father, and in some wrays like to its mother, being

Horus they are wont to call also Min, which means seen; for the world is something perceptible and visible, and Isis is sometimes called Muth, and again Athyri or Methyer. By the first of these names they signify mother, by the second the mundane house of Horus, the place and receptacle of generation, as Plato[*](Plato, Timaeus, 52 d-53 a. Cf. also Moralia, 882 c and 1023 a.) has it, and the third is compounded of full and cause; for the material of the world is full, and is associated with the good and pure and orderly.

It might appear that Hesiod,[*](Theogony, 116-122.) in making the very first things of all to be Chaos and Earth and Tartarus and Love, did not accept any other origins but only these, if we transfer the names somewhat and assign to Isis the name of Earth and to Osiris the name of Love and to Typhon the name of Tartarus; for the poet seems to place Chaos at the bottom as a sort of region that serves as a resting-place for the Universe.

This subject seems in some wise to call up the myth of Plato, which Socrates in the Symposium [*](Plato, Symposium, 203 b.) gives at some length in regard to the birth of Love, saying that Poverty, wishing for children, insinuated herself

We must not treat legend as if it were history at all, but we should adopt that which is appropriate in each legend in accordance with its verisimilitude. Whenever, therefore, we speak of material we must not be swept away to the opinions of some philosophers,[*](Cf. 370 f, supra, and Diogenes Laertius, vii. 134.) and conceive of an inanimate and indifferentiated body, which is of itself inert and inactive. The fact is that we call oil the material of perfume and gold the material of a statue, and these are not destitute of all differentiation. We provide the very soul and thought of Man as the basic material of understanding and virtue for Reason to adorn and to harmonize, and some have declared the Mind to be a place for the assembling of forms and for the impression of concepts, as it were.[*](Cf. Aristotle, De Anima, iii. 4 (429 a 27).)

Some think the seed of Woman is not a power or origin, but only material and nurture of generation.[*](Cf.Moralia, 651 c, and 905 c.) To this thought we should eling fast and conceive that this Goddess also who participates always with the first God and is associated with him in the love[*](Cf. 372 e, and 383 a, infra.) of the fair and lovely things about him is not opposed to him, but, just as we say that an honourable and just man is in love if his relations are just, and a good woman who has a husband and consorts with him we say yearns for him; thus we may conceive of her as always clinging close to him and being importunate over him and constantly filled with the most dominant and purest principles.

But where Typhon forces his way in and seizes upon the outermost areas, there we may conceive of her as seeming sad, and spoken of as mourning, and that she seeks for the remains and scattered members of Osiris and arrays them, receiving and hiding away the things perishable, from which she brings to light again the things that are created and sends them forth from herself.

The relations and forms and effluxes of the God abide in the heavens and in the stars; but those things that are distributed in susceptible elements, earth and sea and plants and animals, suffer dissolution and destruction and burial, and oftentimes again shine forth and appear again in their generations. For this reason the fable has it that Typhon cohabits with Nephthys[*](Cf. 356 a, supra.) and that Osiris has secret relations with her[*](Cf. the note on 356 e, supra.); for the destructive power exercises special dominion over the outermost part of matter which they call Nephthys or Finality.[*](Cf. 355 f and 366 b, supra.) But the creating