60
they perceived, for which reason they attributed to him the power of time; and they represent him as standing and grey-haired, 3.11.37 to emphasize that time grows old. The symbols of the seasons are the Cou3.11.38retes, who herd time, because time passes through the seasons. Of the Horae, the Olympian ones belong to the Sun, who also open the gates in the air, while the earthly ones belong to Demeter; and they hold the basket 3.11.39 of flowers as a symbol of spring, and the one of ears of corn as a symbol of summer. And having understood the power of Ares to be fiery, productive of wars and blood3.11.40shed, and capable of both harming and helping, they made him so. And as for the star of Aphrodite, observing it to be creative of birth and a cause of desire and of offspring, they fashioned a woman because of generation, and a beautiful one, because Hesperus is also the most beautiful star that is set in heaven. 3.11.41 And they represented Eros because of desire. And she covers her breasts and her private parts, because the power is a cause of generation and of nurture. And she is from the sea, an element moist and warm, much moved and foam3.11.42ing from its agitation, alluding to the spermatic substance. Hermes is representative of the word that is creative and interpretive of all things. And the erect Hermes indicates vigour, and also shows the spermatic reason that extends through all3.11.43 things. Moreover, there is a composite word: Hermes is the one in the sun, Hecate the one in the moon, and Hermopan the one in the universe; for the spermatic and creative principle is throughout all things. And Hermanubis among the Egyptians is also composite and, as it were, half-Greek. And since the word also belonged to the power of love, Eros is representative of this. Therefore Eros is the child of Hermes, but an infant because of his sudden fallings into desires 3.11.44. And they made Pan a symbol of the universe, giving him horns as symbols of the sun and moon, and the fawn-skin as a symbol of the stars in heaven or of the variety of the universe.” 3.11.45 And such are the Greek things; and he says that the Egyptian things again have such symbols: “The demiurge, whom the Egyptians call Kneph, is of human form, but with a skin of dark blue, holding a girdle and a sceptre, and wearing a royal feather on his head, because reason is hard to find and hidden and not manifest, and because he is life-giving and because he is a king and because he moves intellectually3.11.46; for which reason the nature of the feather is placed on the head. And they say that this god sends forth an egg from his mouth, from which is born a god, whom they call Phtha, but the Greeks Hephaestus; and they interpret the egg to be the world. And a sheep is dedicated to this god because the ancients were milk-3.11.47drinkers. And they fashioned an image of the world itself as follows: it is a statue of human form, having its feet joined together, and clad from top to bottom in a variegated robe; and on its head it has a golden sphere because it does not change place and because of the varied nature of the stars and because the world is spheri3.11.48cal. And they signify the Sun sometimes by a man embarked on a ship, the ship being placed upon a crocodile. The ship indicates the movement in a moist element, and the crocodile fresh water, in which the sun is carried. The sun was therefore signified to make3.11.49 its circuit through moist and sweet air. And they called the power of the heavenly earth and of the chthonic earth Isis, because of the equality, from which comes justice; and they call the moon heavenly, and chthonic also 3.11.50 the fruit-bearing earth, in which we dwell. And Demeter among the Greeks has the same power as Isis among the Egyptians, and again Kore among the Greeks and Dionysus and Isis and Osiris among the Egyptians. For she is the one who nourishes and raises up the things upon the earth; and Osiris among the Egyptians represents the fruitful power, which they propitiate with lamentations as it disappears into the earth in the sowing and 3.11.51 is consumed by us for food. And he is also taken for the river-power of the Nile; but when they mean the chthonic earth, Osiris is taken as the fruitful power, but when the
60
κατεῖδον, διὸ τὴν τοῦ χρόνου δύναμιν αὐτῷ προσανέθεσαν· ἀποτυποῦσί τε αὐτὸν ἑστῶτα πολιόν, 3.11.37 πρὸς ἔμφασιν τοῦ γηράσκειν τὸν χρόνον. τῶν δὲ καιρῶν σύμβολα οἱ Κου3.11.38 ρῆτες, τὸν χρόνον βουκολοῦντες, ὅτι διὰ τῶν καιρῶν ὁ χρόνος παροδεύει. τῶν δὲ Ὡρῶν αἱ μὲν Ὀλυμπιάδες εἰσὶ τοῦ Ἡλίου, αἳ καὶ ἀνοίγουσι τὰς κατὰ τὸνἀέρα πύλας, αἱ δὲ ἐπιχθόνιοι τῆς ∆ήμητρος· καὶ τὸν κάλαθον ἔχουσιν τὸν μὲν 3.11.39 τῶν ἀνθῶν σύμβολον τοῦ ἔαρος, τὸν δὲ τῶν σταχύων τοῦ θέρους. τοῦ δὲ Ἄρεως τὴν δύναμιν καταλαβόντες διάπυρον, πολέμων ποιητικὴν καὶ αἱμα3.11.40 τουργὸν βλάπτειν τε καὶ ὠφελεῖν δυναμένην ἐποίησαν. τὸν δὲ τῆς Ἀφροδίτης ἀστέρα, τηρήσαντες γενεσιουργὸν ἐπιθυμίας τε καὶ γονῆς αἴτιον, γυναῖκα μὲν ἀνέπλασαν διὰ τὴν γένεσιν, ὡραίαν δέ, ὅτι καὶ Ἕσπερος, ὃς κάλλιστος ἐν οὐρανῷ ἵσταται ἀστήρ. 3.11.41 καὶ Ἔρωτα μὲν παρέστησαν διὰ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν. σκέπει δὲ μαστοὺς καὶ τὸ μόριον, ὅτι γονῆς αἰτία ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἐκθρέψεως. ἔστι δὲ ἀπὸ θαλάττης, στοιχείου διύγρου καὶ θερμοῦ, πολλὰ κινουμένου καὶ διὰ τὴν συγκίνησιν ἀφριῶν3.11.42 τος, τὸ σπερματικὸν αἰνιττόμενοι. τοῦ δὲ λόγου τοῦ πάντων ποιητικοῦ τε καὶ ἑρμηνευτικοῦ ὁ Ἑρμῆς παραστατικός. ὁ δὲ ἐντεταμένος Ἑρμῆς δηλοῖ τὴν εὐτονίαν, δείκνυσιν δὲ καὶ τὸν σπερματικὸν λόγον τὸν διήκοντα διὰ πάν3.11.43 των. λοιπὸν δὲ σύνθετος λόγος, ὁ μὲν ἐν ἡλίῳ Ἑρμῆς, Ἑκάτη δὲ ὁ ἐν σελήνῃ, Ἑρμόπαν δὲ ὁ ἐν τῷ παντί· κατὰ πάντων γὰρ ὁ σπερματικὸς καὶ ποιητικός. σύνθετος δὲ καὶ οἷον μιξέλλην καὶ παρ' Αἰγυπτίοις ὁ Ἑρμάνουβις. ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τῆς ἐρώσης ἦν δυνάμεως ὁ λόγος, ταύτης ὁ Ἔρως παραστατικός. διὸ παῖς μὲν τοῦ Ἑρμοῦ ὁ Ἔρως, νήπιος δὲ διὰ τὰς αἰφνιδίους περὶ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας ἐμπτώσεις 3.11.44 αὐτοῦ. τοῦ δὲ παντὸς τὸν Πᾶνα σύμβολον ἔθεντο, τὰ μὲν κέρατα δόντες σύμβολα ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης, τὴν δὲ νεβρίδα τῶν κατ' οὐρανὸν ἀστέρων ἢ τῆς τοῦ παντὸς ποικιλίας.» 3.11.45 Καὶ τὰ μὲν Ἑλληνικὰ τοιαῦτα· τὰ δὲ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων πάλιν τοιαῦτά φησιν ἔχειν σύμβολα· «Τὸν δημιουργόν, ὃν Κνὴφ οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι προσαγορεύουσιν, ἀνθρωποειδῆ, τὴν δὲ χροιὰν ἐκ κυανοῦ μέλανος ἔχοντα, κρατοῦντα ζώνην καὶ σκῆπτρον, ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς κεφαλῆς πτερὸν βασίλειον περικείμενον, ὅτι λόγος δυσεύρετος καὶ ἐγκεκρυμμένος καὶ οὐ φανὸς καὶ ὅτι ζῳοποιὸς καὶ ὅτι βασιλεὺς καὶ ὅτι νοερῶς 3.11.46 κινεῖται· διὸ ἡ τοῦ πτεροῦ φύσις ἐν τῇ κεφαλῇ κεῖται. τὸν δὲ θεὸν τοῦτον ἐκ τοῦ στόματος προΐεσθαι ᾠόν φασιν, ἐξ οὗ γεννᾶσθαι θεόν, ὃν αὐτοὶ προσαγορεύουσι Φθᾶ, οἱ δὲ Ἕλληνες Ἥφαιστον· ἑρμηνεύειν δὲ τὸ ᾠὸν τὸν κόσμον. ἀφιέρωται δὲ τῷ θεῷ τούτῳ πρόβατον διὰ τὸ τοὺς παλαιοὺς γαλακτο3.11.47 ποτεῖν. αὐτοῦ δὲ τοῦ κόσμου τὸ δείκηλον τοιόνδε ἀνέπλασαν· ἀνθρωποειδές ἐστιν ἄγαλμα, τοὺς μὲν πόδας συμβεβηκότας ἔχον, ἄνωθεν δὲ μέχρι ποδῶν ποικίλον ἱμάτιον περιβεβλημένον· ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς κεφαλῆς σφαῖραν ἔχει χρυσῆν διὰ τὸ μὴ μεταβαίνειν καὶ διὰ τὴν τῶν ἄστρων ποικίλην φύσιν καὶ ὅτι σφαι3.11.48 ροειδὴς ὁ κόσμος. Ἥλιον δὲ σημαίνουσιν ποτὲ μὲν δι' ἀνθρώπου ἐπιβεβηκότος πλοῖον, τοῦ πλοίου ἐπὶ κροκοδείλου κειμένου. δηλοῖ δὲ τὸ μὲν πλοῖον τὴν ἐν ὑγρῷ κίνησιν, ὁ δὲ κροκόδειλος πότιμον ὕδωρ, ἐν ᾧ φέρεται ὁ ἥλιος. ἐσημαίνετο τοίνυν ὁ ἥλιος δι' ἀέρος ὑγροῦ καὶ γλυκέος τὴν περιπόλησιν ποιεῖ3.11.49 σθαι. τῆς δὲ οὐρανίας γῆς καὶ τῆς χθονίας τὴν δύναμιν Ἶσιν προσεῖπον διὰ τὴν ἰσότητα, ἀφ' ἧς τὸ δίκαιον· οὐρανίαν δὲ τὴν σελήνην, χθονίαν δὲ καὶ 3.11.50 τὴν καρποφόρον, ἐν ᾗ κατοικοῦμεν, λέγουσιν. τὸ δὲ αὐτὸ δύναται ∆ημήτηρ παρ' Ἕλλησιν καὶ Ἶσις παρ' Αἰγυπτίοις, καὶ πάλιν Κόρη παρ' Ἕλλησι καὶ ∆ιόνυσος καὶ Ἶσις καὶ Ὄσιρις παρ' Αἰγυπτίοις. αὕτη δὲ τρέφουσα καὶ αἴρουσα τὰ ἐπὶ γῆς· ὁ δὲ Ὄσιρις παρ' Αἰγυπτίοις τὴν κάρπιμον παρίστησι δύναμιν, ἣν θρήνοις ἀπομειλίσσονται εἰς γῆν ἀφανιζομένην ἐν τῷ σπόρῳ καὶ 3.11.51 ὑφ' ἡμῶν καταναλισκομένην εἰς τροφάς. λαμβάνεται δὲ καὶ ἀντὶ τῆς ποταμίας τοῦ Νείλου δυνάμεως· ἀλλ' ὅταν μὲν τὴν χθονίαν γῆν σημαίνωσιν, Ὄσιρις ἡ κάρπιμος λαμβάνεται δύναμις, ὅταν δὲ τὴν