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possessed by an animal; and again, in turn, a human head and parts of certain other animals, in one place lying beneath, in another place set on top; through which they show that by the will of the gods these also have fellowship with one another, and that the wild beasts are our companions and tame, not without some divine will. 3.4.8 Hence the lion is also worshiped as a god, and a certain part of Egypt, which they call a nome, has the eponym Leontopolite, another Busirite, another Cynopolite. For they worshiped the power <of the divine> over all things through the kindred animals which each 3.4.9 of the gods provided. They also revere water and fire, the fairest of the elements, as these are the chief causes of our salvation, and they show these in the temples, just as, I suppose, even now at the opening of the holy Sarapis the worship is performed through fire and water, with the hymnodist pouring the water and showing the fire, when standing on the threshold he rouses the god in the ancestral voice of the Egyptians. 3.4.10 These things, therefore, they revere [which are participants], and even more than these they revered those that for the most part participate in the sacred rites. Such are all the animals, since they also revere a man in the village of Anabis, where sacrifice is made to him and 3.4.11 the sacred offerings are burned on the altars; but after a little while he would eat what was prepared for him privately as a human. As, therefore, one must abstain from a man, so also from the 3.4.12 others. Moreover, from their exceeding wisdom and their familiarity with the divine, they apprehended that certain animals are dearer to some of the gods than men are, as the hawk is to the sun, having its entire nature from blood and spirit, and also pitying man and wailing over a dead body and scraping earth upon it.” And after a little he says: 3.4.13 “An ignorant person might loathe a beetle, being unacquainted with divine things, but the Egyptians revered it as a living image of the sun. For every beetle is male, and having discharged its seed into mud and made it spherical, it rolls it backwards with its hind feet, 3.4.14 as the sun does the heaven, and it awaits a period of lunar days. So also they philosophize something about the ram, and something else about the crocodile, and about the vulture and the ibis, and in general about each of the animals, so that from prudence and excessive divine wisdom they came to the worship even of animals.” 3.5.1

5. That These Things Too Were Full of Every Condemnation Such are the things set down by the aforementioned author concerning the noble natural philosophy of the wise Egyptians, having explained to us the secret doctrines of the Egyptians, that they revere water and fire, and that among them the substance not only of the bodies but also of the soul of rational and irrational beings is judged to be one, so that it seems reasonable to him that the beasts were proclaimed gods. 3.5.2 And yet how is it not most unreasonable to admit to deification the irrational and beastly nature because it partakes, as they say, of the same soul as humans? For it would have been necessary, if so, to consider them men also, and to impart to them human rank and honor. 3.5.3 But they, not having done this, did not deem it worthy to accept in the same way as humans those beings that by nature itself were made irrational beasts and received this name and were not even deemed worthy of the address of men; but they have cast down the highest title of the all-king and of the creator God of all things to the nature of beasts, and have acclaimed as gods things which 3.5.4 by God himself were not deemed worthy even of the name of men. In addition to these things you have heard also of the mystic theosophy, on account of which the wonderful Egyptians revered wolves and dogs and lions; you have learned also the wonder of the beetle and the virtue of the hawk; do not, then, henceforth laugh at the gods, but pity for its great simplicity and blindness the thrice-wretched race of men. 3.5.5 And indeed, surveying all things, consider of what great goods the Christ of God has stood forth as the giver to us, of such a long and

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ζῴου κεκτημένος· καὶ πάλιν αὖ κεφαλὴ ἀνθρώπειος καὶ ἄλλων τινῶν ζῴων μέρη, πῆ μὲν ὑποκείμενα, πῆ δὲ ἐπικείμενα· δι' ὧν δηλοῦσιν ὅτι κατὰ γνώμην θεῶν καὶ ταῦτα ἀλλήλοις κοινωνεῖ καὶ σύντροφα ἡμῖν καὶ τιθασά ἐστιν τῶν θηρίων τὰ ἄγρια οὐκ ἄνευ τινὸς θείας βουλήσεως. 3.4.8 ὅθεν καὶ ὁ λέων ὡς θεὸς θρησκεύεται καὶ μέρος τι τῆς Αἰγύπτου, ὃ καλοῦσιν νομόν, ἐπώνυμον ἔχει Λεοντοπολίτην, ἄλλο δὲ Βουσιρίτην, ἄλλο δὲ Κυνοπολίτην. τὴν γὰρ ἐπὶ πάντα δύναμιν <τοῦ θείου> διὰ τῶν συννόμων ζῴων ὧν ἕκαστος 3.4.9 τῶν θεῶν παρέσχεν ἐθρήσκευσαν. ὕδωρ δὲ καὶ πῦρ σέβονται, τὰ κάλλιστα τῶν στοιχείων, ὡς ταῦτα αἰτιώτατα τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν, καὶ ταῦτα δεικνύντες ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς, ὥς που ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἐν τῇ ἀνοίξει τοῦ ἁγίου Σαράπιδος ἡ θεραπεία διὰ πυρὸς καὶ ὕδατος γίνεται, λείβοντος τοῦ ὑμνῳδοῦ τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τὸ πῦρ φαίνοντος, ὁπηνίκα ἑστὼς ἐπὶ τοῦ οὐδοῦ τῇ πατρίῳ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων 3.4.10 φωνῇ ἐγείρει τὸν θεόν. ταῦτ' οὖν σέβονται [τὰ μέτοχα] καὶ πλεῖον τούτων ἐσέφθησαν τὰ ὡς ἐπὶ πλέον τῶν ἱερῶν μέτοχα. τοιαῦτα δὲ πάντα τὰ ζῷα, ἐπεὶ καὶ ἄνθρωπον σέβουσιν κατὰ Ἄναβιν κώμην, ἐν ᾗ καὶ τούτῳ θύεται καὶ 3.4.11 ἐπὶ τῶν βωμῶν τὰ ἱερὰ ἐκκάεται· ὁ δὲ μετ' ὀλίγον φάγοι ἂν τὰ ἰδίᾳ αὐτῷ ὡς ἀνθρώπῳ παρεσκευασμένα. ὡς οὖν ἀνθρώπου ἀφεκτέον, οὕτω καὶ τῶν 3.4.12 ἄλλων. ἔτι δὲ ἐκ περιττῆς σοφίας καὶ τῆς περὶ τὸ θεῖον συντροφίας κατέλαβόν τισι τῶν θεῶν προσφιλῆ τῶν ζῴων τινὰ μᾶλλον ἀνθρώπων, ὡς ἡλίῳ ἱέρακα σύμπασαν μὲν τὴν φύσιν ἐξ αἵματος ἔχοντα καὶ πνεύματος, οἰκτείροντα δὲ καὶ ἄνθρωπον καὶ κωκύοντα ἐπὶ νεκρῷ κειμένῳ γῆν τε ἐπαμώμενον.» Καὶ μετὰ βραχέα φησί· 3.4.13 «Κάνθαρον δὲ ἀμαθὴς μὲν βδελυχθείη ἂν ἀγνώμων ὑπάρχων τῶν θείων, Αἰγύπτιοι δὲ ἐσέφθησαν ὡς εἰκόνα ἡλίου ἔμψυχον. κάνθαρος γὰρ πᾶς ἄρρην καὶ ἀφιεὶς τὸν θορὸν ἐν τέλματι καὶ ποιήσας σφαιροειδῆ τοῖς ὀπισθίοις ἀνταναφέρει 3.4.14 ποσίν, ὡς ἥλιος οὐρανόν, καὶ περίοδον ἡμερῶν ἐκδέχεται σεληνιακήν. οὕτω δὲ καὶ περὶ κριοῦ τι φιλοσοφοῦσιν καὶ ἄλλο τι περὶ κροκοδείλου περί τε γυπὸς καὶ ἴβεως καὶ ὅλως καθ' ἕκαστον τῶν ζῴων, ὡς ἐκ φρονήσεως καὶ τῆς ἄγαν θεοσοφίας ἐπὶ τὸ σέβας ἐλθεῖν καὶ τῶν ζῴων.» 3.5.1

εʹ. ΟΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΤΑΥΤΑ ΠΑΣΗΣ ΥΠΗΡΧΕΝ ΜΕΣΤΑ ΚΑΤΑΓΝΩΣΕΩΣ Τοιαῦτα καὶ τὰ περὶ τῆς γενναίας τῶν σοφῶν Αἰγυπτίων φυσιολογίας τέθειται ὁ δεδηλωμένος, Αἰγυπτίων διασαφήσας ἡμῖν τὰ ἀπόρρητα, ὅτι τε ὕδωρ καὶ πῦρ σέβουσιν καὶ μία λογικῶν καὶ ἀλόγων οὐ μόνον σωμάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ψυχῆς οὐσία κέκριται εἶναι παρ' αὐτοῖς, ὡς εὐλόγως αὐτῷ δοκεῖν θεοὺς 3.5.2 ἀνηγορεῦσθαι τὰ θηρία. καίτοι πῶς οὐ παραλογώτατον εἰς θεοποιίαν παραλαμβάνειν τὴν ἄλογον καὶ θηριώδη φύσιν διὰ τὸ τῆς ἴσης, ὥς φασιν, ἀνθρώποις μετέχειν ψυχῆς; ἐχρῆν γάρ, εἴπερ ἄρα, ἀνθρώπους καὶ αὐτὰ 3.5.3 ἡγεῖσθαι καὶ τῆς ἀνθρωπείας αὐτοῖς δόξης τε καὶ τιμῆς μεταδιδόναι. οἱ δὲ τοῦτο μὴ πράξαντες, τὰ πρὸς αὐτῆς τῆς φύσεως ἄλογα θηρία γενόμενα καὶ ταύτην εἰληχότα τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν καὶ οὐδὲ τῆς ἀνθρώπων προσρήσεως ἠξιωμένα οὐδ' ὁμοίως ἀνθρώποις ἠξίωσαν ἀποδέξασθαι· τὴν ἀνωτάτω δὲ τοῦ παμβασιλέως προσηγορίαν καὶ τοῦ τῶν ἁπάντων δημιουργοῦ θεοῦ φέροντες εἰς τὴν θηρίων φύσιν καταβεβλήκασιν καὶ θεοὺς ἐπεφήμισαν ἃ 3.5.4 μηδὲ τῆς ἀνθρώπων πρὸς αὐτοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ κατηξίωται προσηγορίας. ἐπὶ τούτοις ἀκήκοας καὶ τῆς θεοσοφίας τῆς μυστικῆς, δι' ἣν οἱ θαυμάσιοι τῶν Αἰγυπτίων λύκους καὶ κύνας καὶ λέοντας ἐσεβάσθησαν· ἔγνως καὶ τοῦ κανθάρου τὸ θαῦμα καὶ ἱέρακος τὴν ἀρετήν· μὴ δὴ γέλα τοῦ λοιποῦ τοὺς θεούς, ἐλέει δὲ τῆς πολλῆς εὐηθείας καὶ ἀβλεψίας τὸ τρισάθλιον ἀνθρώπων γένος. 3.5.5 καὶ δὴ σκόπει τὰ πάντα περιαθρῶν οἵων ἡμῖν ἀγαθῶν παρέστη δοτὴρ ὁ Χριστὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, τοιαύτης νόσου μακρᾶς τε καὶ