Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. I — G. R. S. Mead (1906)
The text is shown on its own: no facing layer is held for this issue.
" But I rede of cutting of wood, of rending of linen, and pouring of pourings, because many of the mystery- [meanings] have been mixed up with them."4
1 ? Memphis ; or, perhaps, as contrasted with the Little City above .
- 2 Sc. city ; v\.am6.vi\v is a hopeless reading, and as the editors can make nothing out of it, I suggest vya-lnSa or vT\<r&&vi\v (ircto.jp).
3 /MJ0/S7JS — apparently an error ; Bernardakis suggests pivOtis (Lat. mentha\ " mint." Can the right reading be wtititris (Was) ? The herba medico, was, however, the sainfoin or lucerne, which, though reminding us of the melilote of xiv., is hardly capable of overshadowing a tomb even in the most intricate symbolical sense.
4 Evidently a verbal quotation from Eudoxus. The " cutting of wood " presumably refers to the trunk with lopped branches, which, as we have already mentioned, occurs so frequently on socalled " Gnostic " gems ; the " rending of linen " (\ivov) might also be made to refer to Linus, the Bard, and his being torn to pieces like Osiris ; Linos also means the " Song of Linus," so called, it is supposed by some, because in earliest times the strings of the cithara were made of flax. For other names of singers used for lays or modes of song, compare Maneros and Paean ; though, of
2. But the priests say that not only of these Gods, but also of all the other gods also who are not ingenerable and indestructible, the bodies lie buried with them when they1 have done their work, and have service rendered them, while their souls shine in heaven as course, the modern way is to regard the singer as the personification of the lay. Thus in Emil Naumann's History of Music (trans, by F. Praeger ; London, 1882), p. 3, we read: "The Greek tribes of Peloponnesus and Hellas, as well as the Egyptians, Phoenicians, the Greeks inhabiting the isles of the 2Egean Sea, and especially those of Cyprus, had a primitive ' Lament ' which seems to have come originally from Phoenicia. It was a funeral chant on the death of the youthful Adonis. . . . The Egyptians changed its signification into a lament of Isis for Osiris. The Greeks called it Linos, and the Egyptians Maneros? The beginning of the " Maneros," or the Lament of Isis for her Beloved, is given as follows by Naumann (p. 40) :
" Return, oh, return !
God Panu, return !
Those that were enemies are no more here.
Oh lovely helper, return,
That thou may'st see me, thy sister,
Who loves thee.
And com'st thou not near me 1
0 beautiful youth, return, oh, return !
When I see thee not
My heart sorrows for thee,
My eyes ever seek thee,
1 roam about for thee, to see thee in the form of the Nai,
To see thee, to see thee, thou beautiful loVd one.
Let me the Radiant, see thee
God Panu, All- Glory, see thee again !
To thy beloved come, blessed Onnofris,
Come to thy sister, come to thy wife,
God Urtuhet, oh, come !
Come to thy consort ! "
Unfortunately, Naumann does not give any references by which we can control his statements.
1 The bodies ; presumably referring to the mummies of those men and women who were believed to have reached the god-stage while living.
stars; and that [of the former] the [soul] of Isis is called Dog by the Greeks, but Sdthis by the Egyptians, while the [soul] of Horus [is called] Orion,1 and Typhon's Bear.2
3. And [they say] that for the burials of the animals to whom honour is paid, the rest [of the Egyptians] pay the [dues which are] mutually determined; but that those alone who inhabit the Thebaid give nothing, since they believe that no God is subject to death, and that he whom they themselves call Kneph is ingenerable and immortal.
CONCERNING THE THEORY OF EVEMERUS
XXII. 1. Now, since many of such [? tombs] are spoken of and pointed out, those who think these [myths] commemorate the awe-inspiring and mighty works and passions of kings and tyrants who, through surpassing virtue and power, put in a claim for the reputation of divinity, and afterwards experienced reverses of fortune, — employ a very easy means of escape from the [true] reason (logos), and not unworthily transfer the ill-omened [element in them] from Gods to men, and they have the following to help them from the narratives related.
2. For instance, the Egyptians tell us that Hermes had a short-armed 3 body, that Typhon was red-skinned,
1 Cf. xxii. 3.