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Of the god of gain. And it was said in the First Discourse, and will be said now, that the Greeks said Hermes was the overseer of gain, for which reason they also depict him carrying a purse, and overseer of speech and of theft. Therefore they call him Kerdoos and Logios and Angelos and Klops and anything of that sort. 5.27 The twenty-seventh story is about the honor paid by the Egyptians to the Nile. Herodotus says nothing about this; but I have read in the historian Aristainetos, who relates that the Egyptians celebrate a festival for the Nile with the whole populace, all men and women coming around the theaters of the cities, and there each man feasts on what he has and each woman on what she has. And having formed choruses, they sing to the Nile songs which they sing to Zeus as the Nile does the work of Zeus and waters the country. But he seems to speak of the honors of androgynes, that with the whole populace the males are frenzied along with the women and often, as in drunkenness, act licentiously. 5.28 The twenty-eighth story is about Isis and Mendes. It is this. Isis is honored among the Egyptians, and she is greatly honored. She is said to be Io, who was seized by Zeus from Argos and changed into a cow. For they make horns around the head of the statue. As I said, she was among the most honored among the Egyptians. The story about the Mendesians is this. The Egyptians call Pan "Mendes" because they also call the he-goat "mendes". Pan is goat-faced. Therefore they so worship this Mendes, that is, Pan, as not even to taste goat's meat, because their god has the form of a goat. The Apis are bulls honored by the Egyptians. These were born pure in former times, and they had a certain sign, which showed them to be Apis. They were born after a long time. But when one was born, the Egyptians and certain priests held a great festival around the newborn bull, priests who were consecrated to this bull. As for the painting of strange and composite beasts, he is speaking of what I myself saw in Alexandria, small statues having the head of a dog, and another head of a cat growing beside it, and another of a hawk. And the Greeks worshipped these, and depicted them in images. And not only did they depict such a nature, but also other shapeless beasts which the Egyptians worshipped. 5.29 The twenty-ninth story is about Pan and Priapus. The story about Pan is this. It is said that when the suitors were staying with Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, they all had intercourse with her, and Pan was born. He was called Pan because he was conceived from all the suitors. The Egyptians say that Pan is the overseer of this intercourse itself, for which reason they also make him goat-legged, because the goat is lustful, which the Egyptians call Mendes. The story about Priapus is this. It is said that after Aphrodite came up from Ethiopia she possessed immeasurable beauty, so that Zeus himself fell in love with her. And having lain with her, he left Hera with infinite jealousy. Immediately, therefore, Hera, foreseeing the future, and that the infant to be born from her would, surpassing in beauty, overcome all those born of Zeus, acting beforehand, touched the belly of Aphrodite, and caused the infant to be born unseemly. When, therefore, the infant was born shapeless, and the mother saw that the one born, being ill-formed, was going to bring the greatest blame upon her, she took him and cast him into a mountain. But a certain shepherd, happening upon him, took him and raised him. And thinking that his particular affliction (I mean that of the genitals) was for the fertility of the earth, he took him and set him up and honored him and named him Priapus, signifying, according to the language of the Italians, the one who from error saves those in error and solitude. And from that time he is said to be honored by the shepherds. 5.30 The thirtieth story is about the gods who were cut up and torn apart. To me this seems to be about the Titans and Dionysus. It is this. Persephone bears Zagreus Dionysus, having conceived him from Zeus. When he was born, the Titans (these are orders of daemons)

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Κερδῴου θεοῦ. Καὶ εἴρηται μὲν καὶ ἐν τῷ Πρώτῳ Λόγῳ, καὶ νῦν δὲ ῥηθήσεται, ὅτι τὸν Ἑρμῆν οἱ Ἕλληνες ἔφορον ἔλεγον εἶναι τοῦ κέρδους, διὸ καὶ μαρσίππιον αὐτὸν ποιοῦσι βαστάζειν, καὶ ἔφορον τοῦ λόγου καὶ τῆς κλοπῆς. καλοῦσιν οὖν αὐτὸν Κερδῷον καὶ Λόγιον καὶ Ἄγγελον καὶ Κλῶπα καὶ εἴ τι τοιοῦτο. 5.27 Εἰκοστὴ ἑβδόμη ἐστὶν ἱστορία ἡ περὶ τῆς τιμῆς τῶν Αἰγυπτίων τῆς γινομένης τῷ Νείλῳ. Περὶ δὲ ταύτης Ἡρόδοτος οὐδὲν λέγει· ἀνέγνων δὲ παρ' Ἀρισταινέτῳ τῷ ἱστορικῷ, ὃς ἱστορεῖ ὅτι ἑορτάζουσιν Αἰγύπτιοι τῷ Νείλῳ ἑορτὴν πανδημεὶ πάντες καὶ πᾶσαι ἐρχόμενοι περὶ τὰ θέατρα τῶν πόλεων, κἀκεῖσε θοινῶνται ἕκαστος ὃ ἔχει καὶ ἑκάστη ὃ ἔχει. χορούς τε συστησάμενοι ᾄδουσι τῷ Νείλῳ ᾠδὰς ἃς τῷ ∆ιὶ ᾄδουσιν ὡς τοῦ Νείλου τὸ τοῦ ∆ιὸς ἔργον ποιοῦντος καὶ ἄρδοντος τὴν χώραν. ἀνδρογύνων δὲ δοκεῖ λέγειν τιμὰς τὸ πανδημεὶ τοὺς ἄρρενας μετὰ τῶν γυναικῶν ἐκβακχεύεσθαι καὶ πολλάκις ὡς ἐν μέθῃ καὶ ἀσελγαίνειν. 5.28 Εἰκοστὴ ὀγδόη ἐστὶν ἱστορία ἡ κατὰ τὰς Ἴσεις καὶ τοὺς Μένδητας. ἔστι δὲ αὕτη. Ἡ Ἶσις τιμᾶται παρὰ τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις, καὶ μεγάλως τιμᾶται. λέγεται δὲ αὕτη εἶναι ἡ Ἰώ, ἡ ἁρπασθεῖσα παρὰ τοῦ ∆ιὸς ἐκ τοῦ Ἄργους καὶ μεταβληθεῖσα εἰς βοῦν. κέρατα γὰρ περὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν ποιοῦσιν τοῦ ἀγάλματος. ὡς εἶπον δέ, τῶν πάνυ τιμωμένων ἦν παρ' Αἰγυπτίοις. Ἡ δὲ περὶ τοὺς Μενδησίους ἐστὶν αὕτη. τὸν Πᾶνα Μένδητα καλοῦσιν οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι διὰ τὸ καὶ τὸν τράγον μένδητα καλεῖν. ὁδὲ Πὰν τραγοπρόσωπός ἐστι. σέβονται οὖν οὕτω τὸν Μένδητα τοῦτον, ἤτοι τὸν Πᾶνα, ὥστε μήδε γεύεσθαι αἰγῶν διὰ τὸ τὸ εἶδος τῶν αἰγῶν ἔχειν τὸν αὐτῶν θεόν. Οἱ δὲ Ἄπιδες βοῦς εἰσι τιμώμενοι παρὰ τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις. ἐτίκτοντο δὲ οὗτοι καθαροί τινες ἐν τῷ πρὶν χρόνῳ, καὶ σημεῖον εἶχόν τι, ὃ ἐδήλου αὐτοὺς εἶναι Ἄπιδας. ἐγεννῶντο δὲ διὰ χρόνου πολλοῦ. ἐπὰν δὲ ἐγεννήθη, ἑορτὴν μεγάλην ἦγον οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι καὶ ἱερεῖς τινες περὶ τὸν γεννηθέντα βοῦν, οἵτινες ἱεροῦντο τούτῳ τῷ βοΐ. Τὸ δὲ γράφειν θηρία ἀλλόκοτα καὶ σύνθετα, τοῦτο λέγει ὃ καὶ εἶδον ἐγὼ κατὰ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρειαν, ἀγαλμάτια μικρὰ ἔχοντα κεφαλὴν κυνός, καὶ παραφυομένην κεφαλὴν ἕτεραν αἰλούρου καὶ ἕτεραν ἱέρακος. καὶ ἐσέβοντο ταῦτα οἱ Ἕλληνες, καὶ ἐν εἰκόσιν ἐνέγραφον. οὐ μόνον δὲ τοιαύτην φύσιν ἐνέγραφον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄλλα θηρία ἄμορφά τινα ἃ ἐσέβοντο οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι. 5.29 Εἰκοστὴ ἐνατή ἐστιν ἱστορία ἡ περὶ τὸν Πᾶνα καὶ τὸν Πρίαπον. ἡ περὶ τὸν Πᾶνα ἱστορία αὕτη ἐστίν. Λέγεται ὅτι ὅτε οἱ μνηστῆρες τῇ Πηνελόπῃ, τῇ τοῦ Ὀδυσσέως γυναικί, παρέμενον, συνεμίγησαν αὐτῇ πάντες, καὶ ἐγεννήθη ὁ Πάν. Πὰν δὲ ἐκλήθη ἐπειδὴ ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν μνηστήρων συνελήφθη. λέγουσι δὲ Αἰγύπτιοι αὐτῆς τῆς μίξεως εἶναι ἔφορον τὸν Πᾶνα, ἔνθεν καὶ τραγοσκελῆ αὐτὸν ποιοῦσι, διὰ τὸ κατωφερῆ εἶναι τὸν τράγον, ὃν καλοῦσιν Αἰγύπτιοι Μένδητα. Ἡ δὲ περὶ τὸν Πρίαπόν ἐστιν αὕτη. λέγεται μετὰ τὸ ἀνελθεῖν τὴν Ἀφροδίτην ἐκ τῆς Αἰθιοπίας κάλλος ἀμέτρητον ἐπιφέρεσθαι, ὥστε καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν ∆ία ἐρασθῆναι αὐτῆς. καὶ συγγενόμενος αὐτῇ, ζῆλον ἄπειρον τῇ Ἥρᾳ κατέλιπεν. εὐθὺς οὖν ἡ Ἥρα τὸ μέλλον προσκοπήσασα, καὶ ὅτι ἤμελλε τὸ ἐκ ταύτης τικτόμενον βρέφος κάλλει ὑπερφέρον κατακρατῆσαι πάντων τῶν ἐκ ∆ιὸς τεχθέντων, προλαβοῦσα ἥψατο τῆς κοιλίας τῆς Ἀφροδίτης, καὶ παρεσκεύασε τὸ βρέφος κακόσεμνον τεχθῆναι. τεχθέντος οὖν τοῦ βρέφους ἀμόρφου, καὶ ἑωρακυῖα ἡ μήτηρ ὅτι μέλλει τὸ τέχθεν πλεῖστον αὐτῇ ψόγον ἐπιφέρειν κακόπλαστον ὄν, λαβοῦσα ἔρριψεν εἰς ὄρος. περιτυχὼν δὲ τούτῳ τις ποιμὴν ἔλαβεν αὐτὸ καὶ ἀνέτρεφεν. καὶ ὡς πρὸς εὐκαρπίαν τῆς γῆς νομίσας εἶναι τὸ ἐκείνῳ ὑπάρχον πάθος (λέγω δὴ τὸ τοῦ αἰδοίου) λαβὼν ἱδρύσατο καὶ ἐτίμησε καὶ ὠνόμασε Πρίαπον, δηλῶν κατὰ τὴν τῶν Ἰταλῶν γλῶσσαν τὸν ἐκ πλάνης τοὺς ἐν πλάνῃ καὶ ἐρημίᾳ σῴζοντα. καὶ ἐξ ἐκείνου λέγεται παρὰ τοῖς ποιμέσι τιμᾶσθαι. 5.30 Τριακοστή ἐστιν ἱστορία ἡ περὶ τῶν κεκομμένων καὶ διεσπασμένων θεῶν. Ἐμοὶ δὲ δοκεῖ αὕτη περὶ τῶν Τιτάνων εἶναι καὶ τοῦ ∆ιονύσου. ἔστι δὲ αὕτη. Περσεφόνη γεννᾷ τὸν Ζαγρέα ∆ιόνυσον, ἐκ τοῦ ∆ιὸς συλλαβοῦσα αὐτόν. τοῦτον γεννηθέντα οἱ Τιτᾶνες (δαιμονίων δὲ τάξεις αὗται)