§1.23.1εἶναι δὲ ἔτη φασὶν ἀπὸ Ὀσίριδος καὶ Ἴσιδος ἕως τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου βασιλείας τοῦ κτίσαντος ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ τὴν ἐπώνυμον αὐτοῦ πόλιν πλείω τῶν μυρίων, ὡς δʼ ἔνιοι γράφουσι, βραχὺ λείποντα τῶν δισμυρίων καὶ τρισχιλίων.
And they say that the years from Osiris and Isis to the reign of Alexander, who founded the city in Egypt named after himself, were more than ten thousand, or, as some write, slightly less than twenty-three thousand.
§1.23.2τοὺς δὲ λέγοντας ἐν Θήβαις τῆς Βοιωτίας γεγονέναι τὸν θεὸν ἐκ Σεμέλης καὶ Διός φασι σχεδιάζειν.
But those who say that the god was born in Thebes of Boeotia of Semele and Zeus are, they say, talking at random.
Ὀρφέα γὰρ εἰς Αἴγυπτον παραβαλόντα καὶ μετασχόντα τῆς τελετῆς καὶ τῶν Διονυσιακῶν μυστηρίων μεταλαβεῖν, τοῖς δὲ Καδμείοις φίλον ὄντα καὶ τιμώμενον ὑπʼ αὐτῶν μεταθεῖναι τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν γένεσιν ἐκείνοις χαριζόμενον· τοὺς δʼ ὄχλους τὰ μὲν διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν, τὰ δὲ διὰ τὸ βούλεσθαι τὸν θεὸν Ἕλληνα νομίζεσθαι, προσδέξασθαι προσηνῶς τὰς τελετὰς καὶ τὰ μυστήρια.
For Orpheus, having traveled to Egypt and participated in the initiation and the Dionysiac mysteries, brought them over, and, being a friend to the Cadmeans and honored by them, transferred the birth of the god to please them; and the multitudes, partly through ignorance and partly because they wished the god to be thought a Greek, accepted the initiations and the mysteries with pleasure.
§1.23.3ἀφορμὰς δʼ ἔχειν τὸν Ὀρφέα πρὸς τὴν μετάθεσιν τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ γενέσεώς τε καὶ τελετῆς τοιαύτας.
And Orpheus had the following motives for the transfer of the birth and initiation of the god.
§1.23.4Κάδμον ἐκ Θηβῶν ὄντα τῶν Αἰγυπτίων γεννῆσαι σὺν ἄλλοις τέκνοις καὶ Σεμέλην, ταύτην δὲ ὑφʼ ὅτου δήποτε φθαρεῖσαν ἔγκυον γενέσθαι, καὶ τεκεῖν ἑπτὰ μηνῶν διελθόντων βρέφος τὴν ὄψιν οἷόνπερ οἱ κατʼ Αἴγυπτον τὸν Ὄσιριν γεγονέναι νομίζουσι· ζωογονεῖσθαι δʼ οὐκ εἰωθέναι τὸ τοιοῦτον, εἴτε τῶν θεῶν μὴ βουλομένων εἴτε τῆς φύσεως μὴ συγχωρούσης.
Cadmus, who was from the Egyptian Thebes, begat Semele along with other children, and she, having been seduced by some person or other, became pregnant, and after seven months gave birth to an infant whose appearance was such as the people of Egypt believe Osiris to have been; but such a child is not accustomed to survive, either because the gods do not wish it or nature does not permit it.
Κάδμον δʼ αἰσθόμενον τὸ γεγονός, §1.23.5καὶ χρησμὸν ἔχοντα διατηρεῖν τὰ τῶν πατέρων νόμιμα, χρυσῶσαί τε τὸ βρέφος καὶ τὰς καθηκούσας αὐτῷ ποιήσασθαι θυσίας, ὡς ἐπιφανείας τινὸς κατʼ ἀνθρώπους Ὀσίριδος γεγενημένης.
But Cadmus, perceiving what had happened, and having an oracle to preserve the customs of his ancestors, gilded the infant and offered the sacrifices due to him, as if some manifestation of Osiris had occurred among mankind.
§1.23.6ἀνάψαι δὲ καὶ τὴν γένεσιν εἰς Δία, σεμνύνοντα τὸν Ὄσιριν καὶ τῆς φθαρείσης τὴν διαβολὴν ἀφαιρούμενον· διὸ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἐκδοθῆναι λόγον ὡς ἡ Κάδμου Σεμέλη τέτοκεν ἐκ Διὸς Ὄσιριν.
And he also attributed his birth to Zeus, thus magnifying Osiris and removing the slander from his seduced daughter; for which reason also the story was spread among the Greeks that Cadmus's Semele had given birth to Osiris by Zeus.
ἐν δὲ τοῖς ὕστερον χρόνοις Ὀρφέα, μεγάλην ἔχοντα δόξαν παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἐπὶ μελῳδίᾳ καὶ τελεταῖς καὶ θεολογίαις, ἐπιξενωθῆναι τοῖς Καδμείοις καὶ διαφερόντως ἐν ταῖς Θήβαις τιμηθῆναι.
In later times Orpheus, having a great reputation among the Greeks for melody, initiations, and theology, was hospitably received by the Cadmeans and exceptionally honored in Thebes.
§1.23.7μετεσχηκότα δὲ τῶν παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις θεολογουμένων μετενεγκεῖν τὴν Ὀσίριδος τοῦ παλαιοῦ γένεσιν ἐπὶ τοὺς νεωτέρους χρόνους, χαριζόμενον δὲ τοῖς Καδμείοις ἐνστήσασθαι καινὴν τελετήν, καθʼ ἣν παραδοῦναι τοῖς μυουμένοις ἐκ Σεμέλης καὶ Διὸς γεγεννῆσθαι τὸν Διόνυσον.
And having participated in the theological teachings of the Egyptians, he transferred the ancient birth of Osiris to later times, and, to please the Cadmeans, established a new initiation, in which he handed down to the initiates that Dionysus was born of Semele and Zeus.
τοὺς δʼ ἀνθρώπους τὰ μὲν διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν ἐξαπατωμένους, τὰ δὲ διὰ τὴν Ὀρφέως ἀξιοπιστίαν καὶ δόξαν ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις προσέχοντας, τὸ δὲ μέγιστον ἡδέως προσδεχομένους τὸν θεὸν Ἕλληνα νομιζόμενον, καθάπερ προείρηται, χρήσασθαι ταῖς τελεταῖς.
And the people, being deceived partly through ignorance, and partly because they paid attention to Orpheus's credibility and reputation in such matters, and most of all because they gladly accepted the god as being considered a Greek, as has been said before, made use of the initiations.
§1.23.8ἔπειτα παραλαβόντων τῶν μυθογράφων καὶ ποιητῶν τὸ γένος, ἐμπεπλῆσθαι τὰ θέατρα, καὶ τοῖς ἐπιγινομένοις ἰσχυρὰν πίστιν καὶ ἀμετάθετον γενέσθαι.
Then, when the mythographers and poets took up the lineage, the theaters were filled with it, and for succeeding generations it became a strong and unchangeable belief.
καθόλου δέ φασι τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐξιδιάζεσθαι τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους ἥρωάς τε καὶ θεούς, ἔτι δʼ ἀποικίας τὰς παρʼ ἑαυτῶν.
In general, they say that the Greeks appropriate as their own the most famous heroes and gods, and furthermore, even the colonies sent out from themselves.