Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. I — G. R. S. Mead (1906)

7. And that Greeks consider Dionysus to be lord and
prince not only of wine, but of every moist nature,
Pindar witnesses sufficiently when he sings :

May gladsome Dionysus make the pasturage of trees to grow —
Pure light of autumn.2

8. For which cause also they who give worship to Osiris are forbidden to destroy a cultivated tree or to stop up a water-source.

THE THEORY OF THE PHYSICISTS RESUMED

XXXVI. 1. And they call not only the Nile, but also without distinction all that is moist, " Osiris' efflux " ; and the water-vase always heads the processions of the priests in honour of the God.

2. And with "rush"3 they write "king" and the "southern climate" of the cosmos; and "rush" is interpreted as "watering" and "conception" of all things, and is supposed to resemble in its nature the generative member.

3. And when they keep the feast Pamylia, which is phallic, as has been said,4 they bring out and carry round an image having a phallus three times the size of it.

1 Cf. xx. 5. 2 Bergk, i. 433.

3 Optov — confounded by King (in loc.) with 0Pw, "fig leaf" (perhaps connected with rpJj, from the three lobes of the leaf) ; the " rush " is presumably the papyrus. 4 Cf. xii.

4. For God is source, and every source by the power of generation makes manifold that which comes from it. And "many times" we are accustomed to call " thrice," as, for instance, " thrice-blessed," and " three times as many, endless, bonds"1 — unless, indeed, " three fold " was used in its authentic meaning by those of old ; for the Moist Nature, as being source and genesis of all, moved from the beginning the first three bodies — earth, air, and fire.

5. For the logos that is superadded to the mythhow that Typhon cast the chief part of Osiris into the river, and Isis could not find it, but after dedicating an object answering to it, and having made it ready, she commanded them to keep the Phallephoria in its honour — comes to this : namely, an instruction that the generative and spermatic [powers] of the G-od had moisture as their first matter, and by means of moisture were immingled with those things which have been produced to share in genesis.

6. But there is another logos of the Egyptians — that Apophis, as brother of the Sun, made war on Zeus, and that when Osiris fought on his [Zeus'] side and helped him to conquer his foe, Zeus adopted him as his son and called him Dionysus.

7. Moreover, the mythical nature of this logos goes to show that it connects with the truth about nature. For Egyptians call [Cosmic] Breath2 Zeus — to which Dry and Fiery is hostile ; this [latter] is not the Sun, but it has a certain kinship with him. And Moisture, by quenching the excess of Dryness, increases and strengthens the exhalations by which the Breath nourishes itself and waxes strong.

XXXVII. 1. Moreover, both Greeks consecrate the

1 Bernardakis gives the references as II., vi. 154 and viii. 340, but I am unable to verify them. 2 Or " Spirit " (iri/«S/ia).

ivy to Dionysus and [also] among Egyptians it is said to be called chen-osiris — the name meaning, they say, " Osiris-plant."

2. Further, Ariston, who wrote Colonies of the Athenians, came across some Letter or other of Alexarchus's,1 in which it is related that Dionysus, as son of Osiris and ]sis, is not called Osiris but Arsaphes by the Egyptians — ([this is] in Ariston's first book) — the name signifying " manliness."

3. Hermseus also supports this in the first book of his Concerning the Egyptians, for he says that " Osiris " is, when translated, " Strong." 2

4. I disregard Mnaseas,3 who associated Dionysus and Osiris and Sarapis with Epaphos ; 4 I also disregard Anticleides,5 who says that Isis, as daughter of Prometheus,6 lived with Dionysus ; for the peculiarities which have been stated about the festivals and offerings carry a conviction with them that is clearer than the witnesses [I have produced].