The
meaning of all these is evidently, "O you who are coming into the
world, and you who are going out of it (i.e., both young and old), God
hateth impudence."  For by the child is indicated "all those who are
coming into life"; by the old man, "those who are going out of it"; by
the hawk, "God"; by the fish, "hatred," on account of the sea, as has
been before stated; and by the hippopotamus, "impudence," this creature
being said first to slay his sire, and afterwards to force his
dam.[FN#329]  The Pythagoreans likewise may be thought perhaps by some
to have looked upon the sea as impure, and quite different from all the
rest of nature, and that thus much is intended by them when they call
it the "tears of Kronos."



[FN#325]  Plutarch here refers to Osiris as the Moon, which rises in
the West.

[FN#326]  According to the texts the front of the world was the south,
khent, #### and from this word is formed the verb #### #### "to sail to
the south."

[FN#327]  In the texts the west is the right side, unemi, #### in
Coptic, ####.

[FN#328]  In the texts the east is the left side, abti.

[FN#329]  Each of these signs, ####, except the last, does mean what
Plutarch says it means, but his method of reading them together is
wrong, and it proves that he did not understand that hieroglyphics were
used alphabetically as well as ideographically.



[Secs. XXXIII., XXXIV.  Some of the more philosophical priests assert that
Osiris does not symbolize the Nile only, nor Typhon the sea only, but
that Osiris represents the principle and power of moisture in general,
and that Typhon represents everything which is scorching, burning, and
fiery, and whatever destroys moisture.  Osiris they believe to have
been of a black[FN#330] colour, because water gives a black tinge to
everything with which it is mixed.  The Mnevis Bull[FN#331] kept at
Heliopolis is, like Osiris, black in colour, "and even Egypt[FN#332]
itself, by reason of the extreme blackness of the soil, is called by
them 'Chemia,' the very name which is given to the black part or pupil
of the eye.[FN#333]  It is, moreover, represented by them under the
figure of a human heart."  The Sun and Moon are not represented as
being drawn about in chariots, but as sailing round the world in ships,
which shows that they owe their motion, support, and nourishment to the
power of humidity.[FN#334]  Homer and Thales both learned from Egypt
that "water was the first principle of all things, and the cause of
generation."[FN#335]]



[FN#330]  Experiments recently conducted by Lord Rayleigh indicate that
the true colour of water is blue.

[FN#331]  In Egyptian, Nem-ur, or Men-ur, and he was "called the life
of Ra."

[FN#332]  The commonest name of Egypt is Kemt, "black land," as opposed
to the reddish-yellow sandy deserts on each side of the "valley of
black mud."  The word for "black" is kam.

[FN#333]  Plutarch seems to have erred here.  The early texts call the
pupil of the eye "the child in the eye," as did the Semitic peoples
(see my Liturgy of Funerary Offerings, p. 136).  The Copts spoke of the
"black of the eye," derived from the hieroglyphic "darkness,"
"blackness."

[FN#334]  There is no support for this view in the texts.

[FN#335]  It was a very common belief in Egypt that all things arose
from the great celestial ocean called Nu, whence came the Nile.



[Sec. XXXVI.  The Nile and all kinds of moisture are called the "efflux of
Osiris."  Therefore a water-pitcher[FN#336] is always carried first in
his processions, and the leaf of a fir-tree represents both Osiris and
Egypt.[FN#337]  Osiris is the great principle of fecundity, which is
proved by the Pamylia festivals, in which a statue of the god with a
triple phallus is carried about.[FN#338]  The three-fold phallus merely
signifies any great and indefinite number.]



[FN#336]  Plutarch refers to the vessel of water, with which the priest
sprinkles the ground to purify it.

[FN#337]  He seems to refer here to the olive-tree: Beqet, "olive
land," was one of the names of Egypt.

[FN#338]  Plutarch seems to be confounding Osiris with Menu, the god of
generation, who is generally represented in an ithyphallic form.  The
festival of the phallus survived in Egypt until quite recently.



[Sec. XXXVIII.  The Sun is consecrated to Osiris, and the lion is
worshipped, and temples are ornamented with figures of this animal,
because the Nile rises when the sun is in the constellation of the
Lion.  Horus, the offspring of Osiris, the Nile, and Isis, the Earth,
was born in the marshes of Buto, because the vapour of damp land
destroys drought.  Nephthys, or Teleute, represents the extreme limits
of the country and the sea-shore, that is, barren land.  Osiris (i.e.,
the Nile) overflowed this barren land, and Anubis[FN#339] was the
result.[FN#340]]



[FN#339]  The Egyptian Anpu.  The texts make one form of him to be the
son of Set and Nephthys.

[FN#340]  Plutarch's explanations in this chapter are unsupported by
the texts.



[Sec. XXXIX.  In the first part of this chapter Plutarch continues his
identification of Typhon with drought, and his ally Aso, Queen of
Ethiopia, he considers to be the Etesian or north winds, which blow for
a long period when the Nile is falling. He goes on to say:--]

As to what they relate of the shutting up of Osiris in a box, this
appears to mean the withdrawal of the Nile to its own bed.  This is the
more probable as this misfortune is said to have happened to Osiris in
the month of Hathor, precisely at that season of the year when, upon
the cessation of the Etesian or north winds the Nile returns to its own
bed, and leaves the country everywhere bare and naked.  At this time
also the length of the nights increases, darkness prevails, whilst
light is diminished and overcome.  At this time the priests celebrate
doleful rites, and they exhibit as a suitable representation of the
grief of Isis a gilded ox covered with a fine black linen cloth.  Now,
the ox is regarded as the living image of Osiris.  This ceremony is
performed on the seventeenth and three following days,[FN#341] and they
mourn: 1.  The falling of the Nile; 2.  The cessation of the north
winds; 3.  The decrease in the length of the days; 4.  The desolate
condition of the land.  On the nineteenth of the month Pachons they
march in procession to the sea, whither the priests and other officials
carry the sacred chest, wherein is enclosed a small boat of gold; into
this they first pour some water, and then all present cry out with a
loud voice, "Osiris is found."  This done, they throw some earth,
scent, and spices into the water, and mix it well together, and work it
up into the image of a crescent, which they afterwards dress in
clothes.  This shows that they regard the gods as the essence and power
of water and earth.



[FN#341]  The 17th day is very unlucky; the 18th is very lucky; the
19th and 20th are very unlucky.  On the 17th day Isis and Nephthys made
great lamentation for their brother Un-nefer at Sais; on the 19th no
man should leave the house; and the man born on the 20th would die of
the plague.



[Sec. XL.  Though Typhon was conquered by Horus, Isis would not allow him
to be destroyed. Typhon was once master of all Egypt, i.e., Egypt was
once covered by the sea, which is proved by the sea-shells which are
dug out of the mines, and are found on the tops of the hills.  The Nile
year by year creates new land, and thus drives away the sea further and
further, i.e., Osiris triumphs over Typhon.]



[FOURTH EXPLANATION OF THE STORY.]



[Sec. XLI.  Osiris is the Moon, and Typhon is the Sun; Typhon is therefore
called Seth,[FN#342] a word meaning "violence," "force," &c.  Herakles
accompanies the Sun, and Hermes the Moon.  In Sec. XLII. Plutarch connects
the death-day of Osiris, the seventeenth of Hathor, with the
seventeenth day of the Moon's revolution, when she begins to wane.  The
age of Osiris, twenty-eight years, suggests the comparison with the
twenty-eight days of the Moon's revolution.  The tree-trunk which is
made into the shape of a crescent at the funeral of Osiris refers to
the crescent moon when she wanes.  The fourteen pieces into which
Osiris was broken refer to the fourteen days in which the moon wanes.]



[FN#342]  In Egyptian, ####, or #### which Plutarch seems to connect
with set, ####.



[Sec. XLIII.  The height of the Nile in flood at Elephantine is twenty-
eight cubits, at Mendes and Xois low Nile is seven cubits, and at
Memphis middle Nile is fourteen cubits; these figures are to be
compared with the twenty-eight days of the Moon's revolution, the
seven-day phase of the Moon, and the fourteen days' Moon, or full moon.
Apis was begotten by a ray of light from the Moon, and on the
fourteenth day of the month Phamenoth[FN#343] Osiris entered the Moon.
Osiris is the power of the Moon, Isis the productive faculty in it.]



[FN#343]  Marked in the papyrus Sallier IV. as a particularly unlucky
day.



[FIFTH EXPLANATION OF THE STORY.]



[Sec. XLIV.  The philosophers say that the story is nothing but an
enigmatical description of the phenomena of Eclipses.  In Sec. XLV.
Plutarch discusses the five explanations which he has described, and
begins to state his own views about them.  It must be concluded, he
says, that none of these explanations taken by itself contains the true
explanation of the foregoing history, though all of them together do.
Typhon means every phase of Nature which is hurtful and destructive,
not only drought, darkness, the sea, &c.  It is impossible that any one
cause, be it bad or even good, should be the common principle of all
things.  There must be two opposite and quite different and distinct
Principles.  In Sec. XLVI., Plutarch compares this view with the Magian
belief in Ormazd and Ahriman, the former springing from light (Sec.
XLVII.), and the latter from darkness.  Ormazd made six good gods, and
Ahriman six of a quite contrary nature.  Ormazd increased his own bulk
three times, and adorned the heaven with stars, making the Sun to be
the guard of the other stars.  He then created twenty-four other gods,
and placed them in an egg, and Ahriman also created twenty-four gods;
the latter bored a hole in the shell of the egg and effected an
entrance into it, and thus good and evil became mixed together.  In Sec.
XLVIII. Plutarch quotes Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Aristotle, and Plato in
support of his hypothesis of the Two Principles, and refers to Plato's
Third Principle.  Sec. XLIX.  Osiris represents the good qualities of the
universal Soul, and Typhon the bad; Bebo[FN#344] is a malignant being
like Typhon, with whom Manetho identifies him.  Sec. L.  The ass,
crocodile, and hippopotamus are all associated with Typhon; in the form
of a crocodile Typhon escaped from Horus.[FN#345]



[FN#344]  In Egyptian, Bebi, or Baba, or Babai, he was the first-born
Son of Osiris.

[FN#345]  See the Legend of Heru-Behutet, {pr. 67}.



The cakes offered on the seventh day of the month Tybi have a
hippopotamus stamped on them.  Sec. LI.  Osiris symbolizes wisdom and
power, and Typhon all that is malignant and bad.]

The remaining sections contain a long series of fanciful statements by
Plutarch concerning the religion and manners and customs of the
Egyptians, of which the Egyptian texts now available give no proofs.