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are sick? For what the image is now said to do, it was also doing when Neryllinus was alive and sick. What then? First, the irrational and fantastic movements of the soul concerning opinions at different times draw different phantoms, some from matter, and others they form and conceive for themselves. And a soul especially suffers this when it has taken on and is commingled with the material spirit, not looking up to heavenly things and their Creator, but down towards earthly things, becoming, to speak generally, only blood and flesh, no longer pure spirit. These irrational and fantastic movements of the soul, therefore, give birth to idolatrous fancies. And whenever a soft and easily led soul, which has not heard and is inexperienced in strong arguments, has not contemplated the truth, and has no thought of the Father and Creator of the universe, has false opinions sealed upon it concerning itself, the demons who are concerned with matter, being gluttonous for the savor of sacrifices and the blood of victims, and deceivers of men, take on these false opinions of the soul’s movements of the many, and mounting their thoughts, they cause fantasies to flow into them as if from the idols and statues; and whatever things the soul, being immortal, is rationally moved to do on its own, either foretelling the future or healing present troubles, the demons reap the glory of these. But perhaps it is necessary, in accordance with what has been said before, to say a few things about the names. Herodotus, then, and Alexander the son of Philip, in his letter to his mother (and both are said to have entered into discussions with the priests in Heliopolis and Memphis and Thebes), say that they learned from them that they were men. Herodotus: "So then, of those whose statues they were, they showed them to have been such, but far removed from gods. And that before these men, the rulers in Egypt were gods, dwelling together with men, and of these there was always one who was in power. And that later Horus, the son of Osiris, whom the Greeks call Apollo, reigned over it. And that he, having put down Typhon, was the last to reign over Egypt. And Osiris is Dionysus in the Greek language." Both the others, then, and the last kings of Egypt. And from these the names of the gods came to the Greeks. Apollo, the son of Dionysus and Isis. The same Herodotus: "And they say that Apollo and Artemis are children of Dionysus and Isis, and that Leto became their nurse and savior." whom, having become heavenly, they had as their first kings, partly through ignorance of true piety concerning the divine, partly by favor of their rule they considered them gods along with their wives. "Now all the Egyptians sacrifice the clean male oxen and calves, but the
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νοσοῦσιν; ἃ γὰρ ἡ εἰκὼν λέγεται νῦν ἐνεργεῖν, ἐνήργει καὶ ζῶντος καὶ νοσοῦντος Νερυλλίνου. Τί οὖν; πρῶτα μὲν αἱ τῆς ψυχῆς ἄλογοι καὶ ἰνδαλματώδεις περὶ τὰς δόξας κινήσεις ἄλλοτ' ἄλλα εἴδωλα τὰ μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς ὕλης ἕλκουσι, τὰ δὲ αὑταῖς ἀναπλάττουσιν καὶ κυοῦσιν. πάσχει δὲ τοῦτο ψυχὴ μάλιστα τοῦ ὑλικοῦ προσλαβοῦσα καὶ ἐπισυγκραθεῖσα πνεύματος, οὐ πρὸς τὰ οὐράνια καὶ τὸν τούτων ποιητὴν ἀλλὰ κάτω πρὸς τὰ ἐπίγεια βλέπουσα, καθολικῶς εἰπεῖν, ὡς μόνον αἷμα καὶ σάρξ, οὐκέτι πνεῦμα καθαρὸν γιγνομένη. αἱ οὖν ἄλογοι αὗται καὶ ἰνδαλματώδεις τῆς ψυχῆς κινήσεις εἰδωλομανεῖς ἀποτίκτουσι φαντασίας· ὅταν δὲ ἁπαλὴ καὶ εὐάγωγος ψυχή, ἀνήκοος μὲν καὶ ἄπειρος λόγων ἐρρωμένων, ἀθεώρητος δὲ τοῦ ἀληθοῦς, ἀπερινόητος δὲ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ ποιητοῦ τῶν ὅλων, ἐναποσφραγίσηται ψευδεῖς περὶ αὑτῆς δόξας, οἱ περὶ τὴν ὕλην δαίμονες, λίχνοι περὶ τὰς κνίσας καὶ τὸ τῶν ἱερείων αἷμα ὄντες, ἀπατηλοὶ δὲ ἀνθρώπων, προσ λαβόντες τὰς ψευδοδόξους ταύτας τῶν πολλῶν τῆς ψυχῆς κινήσεις, φαντασίας αὐτοῖς ὡς ἀπὸ τῶν εἰδώλων καὶ ἀγαλμάτων ἐπιβατεύον τες αὐτῶν τοῖς νοήμασιν εἰσρεῖν παρέχουσιν, καὶ ὅσα καθ' αὑτήν, ὡς ἀθάνατος οὖσα, λογικῶς κινεῖται ψυχὴ ἢ προμηνύουσα τὰ μέλλοντα ἢ θεραπεύουσα τὰ ἐνεστηκότα, τούτων τὴν δόξαν καρ ποῦνται οἱ δαίμονες. Ἀναγκαῖον δὲ ἴσως κατὰ τὰ προειρημένα περὶ τῶν ὀνομάτων ὀλίγα εἰπεῖν. Ἡρόδοτος μὲν οὖν καὶ Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ τοῦ Φιλίππου ἐν τῇ πρὸς τὴν μητέρα ἐπιστολῇ (ἑκάτεροι δὲ ἐν τῇ Ἡλιουπόλει καὶ ἐν Μέμφιδι καὶ Θήβαις εἰς λόγους τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν ἀφῖχθαι λέγονται) φασὶ παρ' ἐκείνων ἀνθρώπους αὐτοὺς γενέσθαι μαθεῖν. Ἡρό δοτος· "ἤδη ὦν τῶν αἱ εἰκόνες ἦσαν, τοιούτους ἀπεδείκνυσάν σφεας [αὐτοὺς] ἐόντας, θεῶν δὲ πολλὸν ἀπηλλαγμένους. τὸ δὲ πρότερον τῶν ἀνδρῶν τούτων θεοὺς εἶναι τοὺς ἐν Aἰγύπτῳ ἄρχοντας, οἰκέον τας ἅμα τοῖς ἀνθρώποισιν, καὶ τούτων ἀεὶ ἕνα τὸν κρατέοντα εἶναι· ὕστερον δὲ αὐτῆς βασιλεῦσαι Ὧρον τὸν Ὀσίρεως παῖδα, τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα Ἕλληνες ὀνομάζουσιν· τοῦτον καταπαύσαντα Τυφῶνα βασιλεῦσαι ὕστατον Aἰγύπτου. Ὄσιρις δέ ἐστι ∆ιόνυσος κατὰ Ἑλλάδα γλῶσσαν." οἵ τε οὖν ἄλλοι καὶ τελευταῖος βασιλεῖς Aἰγύπτου· παρὰ δὲ τούτων εἰς Ἕλληνας ἦλθε τὰ ὀνόματα τῶν θεῶν. Ἀπόλλων ὁ ∆ιονύσου καὶ Ἴσιδος· ὁ αὐτὸς Ἡρόδοτος· "Ἀπόλλωνα δὲ καὶ Ἄρτεμιν ∆ιονύσου καὶ Ἴσιδος λέγουσιν εἶναι παῖδας, Λητὼ δὲ τροφὸν αὐτοῖσ<ι καὶ> σώτειραν γενέσθαι." οὓς οὐρανίους γεγονότας πρώτους βασιλέας ἔσχον, πῃ μὲν ἀγνοίᾳ τῆς ἀληθοῦς περὶ τὸ θεῖον εὐσεβείας, πῃ δὲ χάριτι τῆς ἀρχῆς θεοὺς ὁμοῦ ταῖς γυναιξὶν αὐτῶν ἦγον. "τοὺς μέν νυν καθαροὺς βοῦς τοὺς ἔρσενας καὶ τοὺς μόσχους οἱ πάντες Aἰγύπτιοι θύουσι, τὰς δὲ