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Footnotes. Concerning the sacred robes
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Footnotes
353: 2 π α λ ι γ γ ε ν ε σ ί α ν.
353: 3 Sc. for civilising the world.
354: 1 Lit., “sharp-snout. ”
354: 2 And such things occur “even to this day” in India under the British Rā j.
355: 1 ἐ ν ε ἰ λ ε ι θ υ ί α ς π ό λ ε ι.
355: 2 Over the fields?
356: 1 A lacuna occurs here which I have partially filled up, conjecturally, as above.
356: 2 An Egyptian animal of the weasel kind which was said to hunt out crocodiles’ eggs; also called “Pharaoh’s rat. ”
356: 3 Cf. Arist., Mirab., xxiii.
356: 4 Cf. xxii. 1—“Physiologus” again. For a criticism of this legend, see R. 43.
356: 5 Cf. x. 9.
356: 6 Budge (op. cit., ii. 379 f. ) writes: “The beetle or scarabæ us. . . belongs to the family called Scarabacidæ (Coprophagi), of which the Scarabæ us sacer is the type. . . . A remarkable peculiarity exists in the structure and situation of the hind legs, which are placed so near the extremity of the body, and so far from each other as to give the insect a most extraordinary appearance when walking. This peculiar formation is, nevertheless, particularly serviceable to its possessors in rolling the balls of excrementitious matter in which they enclose their eggs. . . . These balls are at first irregular and soft, but, by degrees, and during the process of rolling along, become rounder and harder; they are propelled by means of the hind legs. Sometimes these balls are an inch and a half, or two inches in diameter, and in rolling this along the beetles stand almost upon their heads, with the heads turned from the balls. ” The scarabæ us was called kheprerȧ in Egyptian, and was the symbol of Kheperȧ the Great God of creation and resurrection; he was the “father of the gods, ” and the creator of all things in heaven and earth, self-begotten and self-born; he was usually identified with the rising sun and new-birth generally.
357: 1 “Physiologus” again, doubtless; it might, however, be said that its tongue is rudimentary.
357: 2 Euripides, Tro., 887.
357: 3 Lit., “brow. ”
357: 4 That is, the First-born Reason.
358: 1 That is, presumably, either the 60 of the Chaldæ ans, or the 3 × 4 × 5 of the “most perfect” triangle of the Mathematici.
358: 2 Namely, the utilitarian and symbolical; cf. lxxiv. 1.
358: 3 Cf. xiv. 6.
358: 4 Cf. Rawlinson’s Herodotus, ii. 124, 125.
358: 5 There is a similar legend in India, I am told.
358: 6 May also mean “bewitched. ”
358: 7 That is, the moon in its third quarter.
359: 1 From τ ρ ι τ ὸ ς, “third. ”
359: 2 κ ο ρ υ φ α γ ε ν ν ῆ κ α ὶ τ ρ ι τ ο γ έ ν ε ι α ν, —that is, Koryphagennē s and Tritogeneia.
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359: 3 τ ρ ι σ ὶ κ α θ έ τ ο ι ς, —a κ ά θ ε τ ο ς (sc. γ ρ α μ μ ή ) is generally a perpendicular; but here the reference must be to this appended figure:
359: 4 That is, presumably, ἀ -π ό λ λ ω ν, from ἀ (priv. ) and π ο λ λ ο ὶ (many).
359: 5 δ ι ’ ἁ π λ ό τ η τ α, —the play being apparently ἀ -π ο λ (π λ ο )-τ η ς.
359: 6 Lit., in the midst.
360: 1 The Tetraktys was ordinarily considered to be the sum of the first four numbers simply, that is 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10; but here we have it given as 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 = 16, and 2 + 4 + 6 + 8 = 20, and 16 + 20 = 36. The oath is said to have been: “Yea, by Him who did bestow upon our soul Tetraktys, Ever-flowing Nature, Source possessing roots”—the “roots” being the four elements.
360: 2 Sc. which have at least been the vehicle of life.
361: 1 Plat., Phæ dr., 251 B.
361: 2 Mullach, i. 328.
361: 3 Reading π η ρ ώ σ ε ι ς.
CONCERNING THE SACRED ROBES
LXXVII. 1. Now as to robes: those of Isis [are] variegated in their dyes, for her power [is] connected with matters producing all things and receiving [all]—light darkness, day night, fire water, life death, beginning end; while the [robe] of Osiris has neither shade nor variegation, but one single [property]—the light-like, 4 for the Source is pure and the First and Intelligible unmixed.
2. Wherefore when they have once and once only received this [robe], 5 they treasure it away and keep it from all eyes and hands; whereas they use those of Isis on many occasions.
3. For it is by use that the things which are sensible and ready to hand, present many unfoldings and views of themselves as they change now one way now another;
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whereas the intelligence of the Intelligible and Pure and Single, shining through the soul, like lightning-flash, once and once only perchance allows [us] to contact and behold [It].
4. For which cause both Plato 1 and Aristotle call this part of philosophy “epoptic, ” 2 from the fact that they who transcend by the reason (logos) these mixed and multiform things of opinion, are raised unto that Primal [One], Simple and Matter-less, and [so] contacting in its singleness the pure truth concerning It, they think philosophy has as it were [its] perfect end.
LXXVIII. 1. The fact, moreover, which the present priests cautiously hint at by expiatory sacrifices and covering their faces—[namely] that this God is ruler and king of the dead, being no other than him who is called Hades and Pluto among Greeks—in that they do not know how it is true, confuses the multitude, who suppose that the truly sacred and holy Osiris lives on earth and under earth, where the bodies of those who seem to have [reached their] end are hidden [away].
2. But He Himself is far, far from the earth, unspotted and unstained, and pure of every essence that is susceptible of death and of decay. Nor can the souls of men here [on the earth], swathed as they are with bodies and enwrapped in passions, commune with God, except so far as they can reach some dim sort of a dream [of Him], with the perception of a mind trained in philosophy.
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3. But when [their souls] freed [from these bonds] pass to the Formless and Invisible and Passionless and Pure, this God becomes their guide and king, as though they hung on Him, and gazed insatiate upon His Beauty,
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and longed after it—[Beauty] that no man can declare or speak about.
4. It is with this the ancient tale (logos) makes Isis e’er in love, and, by pursuit [of it], and consort [with it], makes [her] full-fill all things down here with all things fair and good, whatever things have part in genesis.
5. Thus, then, these things contain the reason (logos) that’s more suitable to God.
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