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Footnotes. The symbolism of the sistrum
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Footnotes
333: 1 Timæ us, 51 A.
334: 1 Cf. C. H., x. (xi. ) 10; Lact., iv. 6 (Frag. v. ).
334: 2 This shows that in one tradition Hermes and Osiris were identified.
334: 3 Cf. xix. 4.
334: 4 Sc. Horus.
334: 5 The sequel I think shows that “and Osiris” is a gloss; but see xii. 8.
334: 6 Cf. lxii.
334: 7 These two paragraphs are, in my opinion, of the utmost value for the critical investigation of the sources of the famous Sophia mythus of Gnosticism. The imperfect birth (Abortion) of the Sophia (Wisdom, Nature, Isis), as the result of her effort to bring forth of herself, without her consort, or syzygy, while still in the Plē rō ma (Womb of Rhea), paves the way for the whole scheme of one of the main forms of Gnostic cosmology and subsequent soteriology, the Creator Logos and Saviour having to perfect the imperfect product of Nature. This is, I believe, the first time that the above passage of Plutarch has been brought into connection with the Sophia-mythus, and all previous translations with which I am acquainted accordingly make havoc of the meaning. See F. F. F., pp. 339 ff.; and for the Pauline use of the technical term “Abortion, ” D. J. L., pp. 355 ff.; for “Balaam the Lame Man” (? a by-name for Jeschu-Horus), see ibid., p. 201. Reitzenstein (pp. 39, 40) quotes these two chapters, and adds some parallels from the Trismegistic literature.
335: 1 Adopting the suggestion of Bernardakis—ὁ υ ἱ ὸ ς for α ὐ τ ό ς.
335: 2 Or “defined, ” ὡ ρ ι σ μ έ ν ο ς —a play on ὧ ρ ο ς.
336: 1 All this according to the Mathematici, presumably; the “eye” of Horus would rather signify “mentality. ”
336: 2 Timæ us, 50 C.
336: 3 There is a lacuna in the text.
336: 4 Rep., 545 D ff. See also Adam (J. ), The Nuptial Number of Plato: its Solution and Significance (London, 1891).
336: 5 That is to say, that in Plutarch’s opinion Plato derived the idea originally from Egypt.
336: 6 That is, 9 + 16 = 25.
337: 1 “One” being reckoned neither odd nor even.
337: 2 That is, divisible by itself and “one” only.
337: 3 τ ε τ ρ ά γ ω ν ο ς ἀ ν ὸ π λ ε υ ρ ᾶ ς ἀ ρ τ ί ο υ τ ῆ ς δ υ ά δ ο ς.
337: 4 That is, the Egyptian alphabet consisted of 25 letters.
337: 5 In the Ritual (chap. xvii. 30), the deceased is made to say: “I am the God Ȧ msu (or Min) in his coming forth; may his two plumes be set upon my head for me. ” And in answer to the question: “Who, then, is this? ”—the text goes on to say: “Ȧ msu is Horus, the avenger of his father, and his coming forth is his birth. The plumes upon his head are Isis and Nephthys when they go forth to set themselves there, even as his protectors, and they provide that which his head lacketh; or (as others say), they are the two exceeding great uraei which are upon the head of their father Tem, or (as others say), his two eyes are the two plumes which are upon his head. ” (Budge, op. cit., ii. 258. )
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337: 6 Eg. Mut, the syzygy of Ȧ men. Mut means “Mother”; she was the World-mother. See Budge, op. cit., ii. 28 ff.
337: 7 Cf. lxix. 4, “Athyr” probably meaning Hathor.
338: 1 Theog., 116-122.
338: 2 Symp., 203 B; Jowett, i. 573 ff.
338: 3 ἀ π ό ρ ο ν —a play on π ό ρ ο ς.
338: 4 Cf. lviii. 6, last clause.
339: 1 ἐ κ μ α γ ε ῖ ο ν. Cf. Plat., Tim., 50 C; Thæ et., 191 C, 196 A.
339: 2 τ ὸ σ π έ ρ μ α τ ῆ ς γ υ ν α ι κ ό ς —lit., “the seed of the woman. ”
339: 3 Cf. lvii. 2.
340: 1 That is, non-Greek—β α ρ β α ρ ι κ ό ν. Cf. ii. 2.
340: 2 The word-play being θ ε ὸ ς —θ ε α τ ὸ ς —θ έ ο ν.
341: 1 Cf. ii. 3 for the word-play, and also for ὁ σ ί α in the next paragraph.
341: 2 They, however, probably called her something resembling Ȧ st.
341: 3 τ ὴ ν ὁ σ ι ά ν —but Plutarch is mistaken, for in Cratylus, 401 C it is a question of ο ὐ σ ι ά ν and ἐ σ ι ά ν and not of ὁ σ ι ά ν and ἰ σ ί α ν.
341: 4 ἱ ε μ έ ν ο υ, picking up the ἵ ε σ θ α ι above in paragraph 2.
341: 5 Cf. Crat., 415 D, where the word-play is ἀ ρ ε τ ὴ and ἀ ε ι -ρ ε ι τ ὴ (ever-flowing).
341: 6 Cf. Crat., 415 C—where the play is κ α κ -ί α = κ α κ ῶ ς ἰ ὸ ν (ἰ έ ν α ι )—badly going.
341: 7 ἀ π ο ρ -ί α —the word-play being ἀ (not) and π ο ρ -ε ύ ε σ θ α ι (going)—ibid., C, D.
341: 8 “δ ε ι λ ί α signifies that the soul is bound with a strong chain (δ ε σ μ ὸ ς ), for λ ί α ν means strength, and therefore δ ε ι λ ί α expresses the greatest and strongest bond of the soul” (ibid. ). See Jowett, i. 359 f.
342: 1 That is, things in Hades (the Invisible)—not Tartarus.
342: 2 Horus was endowed with many characteristics of other gods. Thus with Ȧ npu or Anubis he becomes Ḥ eru-em-Ȧ npu, i. e. Horus as Anubis, and is said to dwell in the “divine hall. ” This is the Hermanubis of Plutarch. Cf. Budge, op. cit., i. 493.
342: 3 “A cock to Æ sculapius. ”
342: 4 Cf. xxix. 8.
342: 5 γ λ ώ τ τ α ς —a technical term for obsolete or foreign words that need explanation.
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342: 6 Cf. xxi. 2.
343: 1 Cf. xli., xlix. (end).
343: 2 Cf. the “bone of the sea-hawk” in Hipp., Philo., v. 9 and 17; and note to J., in “Myth of Man in the Mysteries, ” p. 189.
343: 3 Cf. xxx., lxix., et al.
343: 4 The invisible serpent-form of the God.
343: 5 Cf. Plat., Tim., 44 D and 45 A; and liv. 5 above concerning the birth of the Elder Horus.
344: 1 Or “walked, ” suggesting some idea of single motion in itself—the motion of “sameness, ” symbolised by a serpent with its tail in its mouth. The serpent was one of the most favourite symbols of the Logos, and this perhaps accounts for the “legs grown together. ”
THE SYMBOLISM OF THE SISTRUM
LXIII. 1. The sistrum (σ ε ῖ σ τ ρ ο ν ) also shows that existent things must be shaken up (σ ε ί ε σ θ α ι ) and never have cessation from impulse, but as it were be wakened up and agitated when they fall asleep and die away.
2. For they say they turn aside and beat off Typhon with sistra, —signifying that when corruption binds nature fast and brings her to a stand, [then] generation frees her and raises her from death by means of motion.
3. Now the sistrum has a curved top, and its arch contains the four [things] that are shaken. For the part of the cosmos which is subject to generation and corruption, is circumscribed by the sphere of the moon, and all [things] in it are moved and changed by the four elements—fire and earth and water and air.
4. And on the arch of the sistrum, at the top, they put the metal figure of a cat with a human face, and at the bottom, below the shaken things, the face sometimes of Isis and sometimes of Nephthys, —symbolising by the faces generation and consummation (for these are the changes and motions of the elements), and by the cat the moon, on account of the variable nature, 2 night habits, and fecundity of the beast.
p. 345
5. For it is fabled to bring forth one, then two, and [then] three, and four, and five [at a birth], and then adds one by one until seven; 1 so that in all she brings forth eight-and-twenty, the number of lights of the moon.
6. This, however, is probably somewhat too mythical; anyway, the pupils of its eyes seem to become full and dilate at the full-moon, and to contract and shut out the light during the wanings of that luminary.
7. And by the human face of the cat is signified the intellectual and reasonable nature of the changes that take place in connection with the moon.
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