ταῦτα μὲν οὖν τοιαύτας ὑπονοίας δίδωσιν· ἀπʼ ἄλλης δʼ ἀρχῆς τῶν φιλοσοφώτερόν τι λέγειν δοκούντων τοὺς ἁπλουστάτους σκεψώμεθα πρῶτον. οὗτοι δʼ εἰσὶν οἱ λέγοντες, ὥσπερ Ἕλληνες Κρόνον ἀλληγοροῦσι τὸν χρόνον, Ἥραν δὲ τὸν ἀέρα, γένεσιν δὲ Ἡφαίστου τὴν εἰς πῦρ ἀέρος μεταβολήν, οὕτω παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις Νεῖλον εἶναι τὸν Ὄσιριν Ἴσιδι συνόντα τῇ γῇ, Τυφῶνα δὲ τὴν θάλασσαν, εἰς ἣν ὁ Νεῖλος ἐμπίπτων ἀφανίζεται καὶ διασπᾶται, πλὴν ὅσον γῆ μέρος ἀναλαμβάνουσα καὶ δεχομένη γίγνεται γόνιμος ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ. καὶ θρῆνός ἐστιν ἱερὸς ἐπὶ τοῦ Κρόνου γενόμενος, θρηνεῖ δὲ τὸν ἐν τοῖς ἀριστεροῖς γιγνόμενον μέρεσιν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς δεξιοῖς φθειρόμενον· Αἰγύπτιοι γὰρ οἴονται τὰ μὲν ἑῷα τοῦ κόσμου πρόσωπον εἶναι, τὰ δὲ πρὸς βορρᾶν δεξιά, τὰ δὲ πρὸς νότον ἀριστερά. φερόμενος οὖν ἐκ τῶν νοτίων ὁ Νεῖλος, ἐν δὲ τοῖς βορείοις ὑπὸ τῆς θαλάσσης καταναλισκόμενος εἰκότως λέγεται τὴν μὲν γένεσιν ἐν τοῖς ἀριστεροῖς ἔχειν, τὴν δὲ φθορὰν ἐν τοῖς δεξιοῖς. διὸ τήν τε θάλασσαν οἱ ἱερεῖς ἀφοσιοῦνται καὶ τὸν ἅλα Τυφῶνος ἀφρὸν καλοῦσι· καὶ τῶν ἀπαγορευομένων 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 προβάλλονται τῆς αἰτίας, καὶ τὸ μισεῖν ἰχθύι γράφουσιν. ἐν Σάι γοῦν ἐν τῷ προπύλῳ τοῦ ἱεροῦ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς ἦν γεγλυμμένον βρέφος, γέρων, καὶ μετὰ τοῦτον ἱέραξ, ἐφεξῆς δʼ ἰχθύς, ἐπὶ πᾶσι δʼ ἵππος ποτάμιος. ἐδήλου δὲ συμβολικῶς ὦ γιγνόμενοι καὶ ἀπογιγνόμενοι, θεὸς ἀναίδειαν μισεῖ· τὸ μὲν γὰρ βρέφος γενέσεως σύμβολον, φθορᾶς δʼ ὁ γέρων ἱέρακι δὲ τὸν θεὸν φράζουσιν, ἰχθύι δὲ μῖσος, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, διὰ τὴν θάλατταν· ἵππῳ ποταμίῳ δʼ ἀναίδειαν· λέγεται γὰρ ἀποκτείνας τὸν πατέρα τῇ μητρὶ βίᾳ μίγνυσθαι. δόξει δὲ καὶ τὸ ὑπὸ τῶν Πυθαγορικῶν λεγόμενον, ὡς ἡ θάλαττα Κρόνου δάκρυόν ἐστιν, αἰνίττεσθαι τὸ μὴ καθαρὸν μηδὲ σύμφυλον αὐτῆς.
ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἔξωθεν εἰρήσθω κοινὴν ἔχοντα τὴν ἱστορίαν.
And so much for the allegories and secret meanings which this head affords us. And now we begin at another head, which is the account of those who seem to offer at something more philosophical; and of these we will first consider the more simple and plain sort. And they are those that tell us that, as the Greeks are used to allegorize Kronos (or Saturn) into chronos (time), and Hera (or Juno) into aer (air) and also to resolve the generation of Vulcan into the change of air into fire, so also among the Egyptians, Osiris is the river Nile, who accompanies with Isis, which is the earth; and Typhon is the sea, into which the Nile falling is thereby destroyed and scattered, excepting only that part of it which the earth receives and drinks up, by means whereof she becomes prolific. There is also a kind of a sacred lamentation used to Saturn, wherein they bemoan him who was born in the left side of the world, and died in the right. For the Egyptians believe the eastern part to be the world’s face, and the northern its right hand, and the southern its left. And therefore the river Nile, holding its course from the southern parts towards the northern, may justly be said to have its birth in the left side and its death in the right; for which reason, the priests account the sea abominable, and call salt Typhon’s foam. And it is one of the things they look upon as unlawful and prohibited to them, to use salt at their tables. And they use not to salute any pilots, because they have to do with the sea. And this is not the least reason of their so great aversedness to fish. They also make the picture of a fish to denote hatred. And therefore at the temple of Minerva at Sais there was carved in the porch an infant and an old man, and after them a hawk, and then a fish, and after all a hippopotamus, which, in a symbolical manner, contained this sentence: O! ye that are born and that die, God hateth impudence. From whence it is plain, that by a child and an old man they express our being born and our dying; by a hawk, God; by a fish, hatred (by reason of the sea, as hath been before spoken); and by a river-horse, impudence, because (as they say) he killeth his sire and forceth his dam. That also which the Pythagoreans are used to say, that the sea is the tear of Saturn, may seem to hint out to us that it is not pure nor congenial with our race.
οἱ δὲ σοφώτεροι τῶν ἱερέων οὐ μόνον τὸν Νεῖλον Ὄσιριν καλοῦσιν οὐδὲ Τυφῶνα τὴν θάλασσαν, ἀλλʼ Ὄσιριν μὲν ἁπλῶς ἅπασαν τὴν 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 πυρρόχρουν γεγονέναι τῷ σώματι καὶ πάρωχρον νομίζοντες οὐ πάνυ προθύμως ἐντυγχάνουσιν οὐδʼ ἡδέως ὁμιλοῦσι τοῖς τοιούτοις τὴν ὄψιν ἀνθρώποις. τὸν δʼ Ὄσιριν αὖ πάλιν μελάγχρουν γεγονέναι μυθολογοῦσιν, ὅτι πᾶν ὕδωρ καὶ γῆν καὶ ἱμάτια καὶ νέφη μελαίνει μιγνύμενον, καὶ τῶν νέων ὑγρότης ἐνοῦσα παρέχει τὰς τρίχας μελαίνας· ἡ δὲ πολίωσις οἷον ὠχρίασις ὑπὸ ξηρότητος ἐπιγίγνεται τοῖς παρακμάζουσι. καὶ τὸ μὲν ἔαρ θαλερὸν καὶ γόνιμον καὶ προσηνές· τὸ δὲ φθινόπωρον ὑγρότητος ἐνδείᾳ καὶ φυτοῖς πολέμιον καὶ ζῴοις νοσῶδες. ὁ δʼ ἐν Ἡλίου πόλει τρεφόμενος βοῦς, ὃν Μνεῦιν καλοῦσιν (Ὀσίριδος δʼ ἱερόν, ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ τοῦ Ἄπιδος πατέρα νομίζουσι), μέλας ἐστὶ καὶ δευτέρας ἔχει τιμὰς μετὰ τὸν Ἆπιν, ἔτι τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα μελάγγειον οὖσαν, ὥσπερ τὸ μέλαν τοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ, Χημίαν καλοῦσι καὶ καρδίᾳ παρεικάζουσι· θερμὴ γάρ ἐστι καὶ ὑγρὰ καὶ τοῖς νοτίοις μέρεσι τῆς οἰκουμένης, ὥσπερ ἡ καρδία τοῖς εὐωνύμοις τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, μάλιστα ἐγκέκλεισται καὶ προσκεχώρηκεν.
These then are the things that may be uttered without doors and in public, they containing nothing but matters of common cognizance. But now the most learned and reserved of the priests do not term the Nile only Osiris, and the sea Typhon; but in general, the whole principle and faculty of rendering moist they call Osiris, as believing it to be the cause of generation and the very substance of the seminal moisture. And on the other hand, whatever is a-dust, fiery, or any way drying and repugnant to wet, they call Typhon. And therefore, because they believe he was of a red and sallow color when he was born, they do not greatly care to meet with men of such looks nor willingly converse with them. On the other side again they report that Osiris, when he was born, was of a black complexion, because that all water renders earth, clothes, and clouds black, when mixed with them; and the moisture also that is in young persons makes their hair black; but grayness, like a sort of paleness, comes up through over much draught upon such as are now past their vigor and begin to decline in years. In like manner, the spring time is gay, fecund, and very agreeable; but the autumn, through defect of moisture, is both destructive to plants and sickly to men. Moreover the ox called Mnevis, which is kept at Heliopolis (and is sacred to Osiris, and judged by some to be the sire of Apis), is of a coal-black color, and is honored in the second place after Apis. To which we may add, that they call Egypt (which is one of the blackest soils in the world) as they do the black part of the eye, Chemia. They also liken it to the heart, by reason of its great warmth and moisture, and because it is mostly enclosed by and removed towards the left (that is, the southern) part of the earth, as the heart is with respect to a man’s body.
ἥλιον δὲ καὶ σελήνην οὐχ ἅρμασιν ἀλλὰ πλοίοις ὀχήμασι χρωμένους περιπλεῖν φασιν, αἰνιττόμενοι τὴν ἀφʼ ὑγροῦ τροφὴν αὐτῶν καὶ γένεσιν. οἴονται δὲ καὶ Ὅμηρον ὥσπερ Θαλῆν μαθόντα παρʼ Αἰγυπτίων ὕδωρ ἀρχὴν ἁπάντων καὶ γένεσιν τίθεσθαι, τὸν γὰρ Ὠκεανὸν Ὄσιριν εἶναι, τὴν δὲ Τηθὺν Ἶσιν, ὡς τιθηνουμένην πάντα καὶ συνεκτρέφουσαν. καὶ γὰρ Ἕλληνες τὴν τοῦ σπέρματος πρόεσιν ἀπουσίαν καλοῦσι καὶ συνουσίαν τὴν μῖξιν, καὶ τὸν υἱὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος καὶ τοῦ ὗσαι· καὶ τὸν Διόνυσον ὕην ὡς κύριον τῆς ὑγρᾶς φύσεως, οὐχ ἕτερον ὄντα τοῦ Ὀσίριδος καὶ γὰρ τὸν Ὄσιριν Ἑλλάνικος Ὄσιριν ἔοικεν ἀκηκοέναι ὑπὸ τῶν ἱερέων λεγόμενον· οὕτω γὰρ ὀνομάζων διατελεῖ τὸν θεόν, εἰκότως ἀπὸ τῆς φύσεως καὶ τῆς εὑρέσεως.
They believe also that the sun and moon do not go in chariots, but sail about the world perpetually in certain boats; hinting hereby at their feeding upon and springing first out of moisture. They are likewise of the opinion that Homer (as well as Thales) had been instructed by the Egyptians, which made him affirm water to be the spring and first original of all things; for that Oceanus is the same with Osiris, and Tethys with Isis, so named from τίτθη, a nurse, because she is the mother and nurse of all things. For the Grecians call the emission of the genital humor ἀπουσία, and carnal knowledge συνουσία: they also call a son υἱοός, from ὕδωρ, water, and ὗσαι, to wet; and likewise Bacchus ὕης, the wetter, they looking upon him as the lord of the humid nature, he being no other than Osiris. For Hellanicus hath set him down Hysiris, affirming that he heard him so pronounced by the priests; for so he hath written the name of this God all along in his history, and that, in my opinion, not without good reason, derived as well from his nature as his invention.
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