§1.27.1νομοθετῆσαι δέ φασι τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους παρὰ τὸ κοινὸν ἔθος τῶν ἀνθρώπων γαμεῖν ἀδελφὰς διὰ τὸ γεγονὸς ἐν τούτοις τῆς Ἴσιδος ἐπίτευγμα· ταύτην γὰρ συνοικήσασαν Ὀσίριδι τῷ ἀδελφῷ, καὶ ἀποθανόντος ὀμόσασαν οὐδενὸς ἔτι συνουσίαν ἀνδρὸς προσδέξεσθαι, μετελθεῖν τόν τε φόνον τἀνδρὸς καὶ διατελέσαι βασιλεύουσαν νομιμώτατα, καὶ τὸ σύνολον πλείστων καὶ μεγίστων ἀγαθῶν αἰτίαν γενέσθαι πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις. §1.27.2διὰ δὴ ταύτας τὰς αἰτίας καταδειχθῆναι μείζονος ἐξουσίας καὶ τιμῆς τυγχάνειν τὴν βασίλισσαν τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ παρὰ τοῖς ἰδιώταις κυριεύειν τὴν γυναῖκα τἀνδρός, ἐν τῇ τῆς προικὸς συγγραφῇ προσομολογούντων τῶν γαμούντων ἅπαντα πειθαρχήσειν τῇ γαμουμένῃ. §1.27.3οὐκ ἀγνοῶ δὲ διότι τινὲς τῶν συγγραφέων ἀποφαίνονται τοὺς τάφους τῶν θεῶν τούτων ὑπάρχειν ἐν Νύσῃ τῆς Ἀραβίας, ἀφʼ ἧς καὶ Νυσαῖον τὸν Διόνυσον ὠνομάσθαι. εἶναι δὲ καὶ στήλην ἑκατέρου τῶν θεῶν ἐπιγεγραμμένην τοῖς ἱεροῖς γράμμασιν. §1.27.4ἐπὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς Ἴσιδος ἐπιγεγράφθαι “ἐγὼ Ἶσίς εἰμι ἡ βασίλισσα πάσης χώρας, ἡ παιδευθεῖσα ὑπὸ Ἑρμοῦ, καὶ ὅσα ἐγὼ ἐνομοθέτησα, οὐδεὶς αὐτὰ δύναται λῦσαι.
And they say that the Egyptians, contrary to the common custom of mankind, established a law to marry their sisters because of the success achieved by Isis in these matters; for she, having lived with her brother Osiris, and having sworn upon his death that she would never again accept the company of any other man, avenged the murder of her husband, continued to rule most lawfully, and, in short, became the cause of the greatest and most numerous benefits to all mankind. For these very reasons, it was established that the queen should enjoy greater authority and honor than the king, and that among private individuals the wife should rule over the husband, the men agreeing in the marriage contract of dower that they will obey the bride in all things. And I am not ignorant that some of the historians declare that the tombs of these gods are in Nysa in Arabia, from which also Dionysus was named Nysaeus; and that there exists also a stele of each of the gods, inscribed with sacred characters. Now upon the stele of Isis it is inscribed: "I am Isis, the queen of every land, she who was instructed by Hermes, and what I have established as law, no one is able to dissolve.
ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ τοῦ νεωτάτου Κρόνου θεοῦ θυγάτηρ πρεσβυτάτη· ἐγώ εἰμι γυνὴ καὶ ἀδελφὴ Ὀσίριδος βασιλέως· ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ πρώτη καρπὸν ἀνθρώποις εὑροῦσα· ἐγώ εἰμι μήτηρ Ὥρου τοῦ βασιλέως· ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἐν τῷ ἄστρῳ τῷ ἐν τῷ κυνὶ ἐπιτέλλουσα· §1.27.5ἐμοὶ Βούβαστος ἡ πόλις ᾠκοδομήθη.
I am the eldest daughter of Cronus, the youngest god; I am the wife and sister of Osiris the king; I am she who first discovered fruit for mankind; I am the mother of Horus the king; I am she who rises in the star that is in the Dog; for me the city of Bubastus was built.
χαῖρε χαῖρε Αἴγυπτε ἡ θρέψασά με. ” ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς Ὀσίριδος ἐπιγεγράφθαι λέγεται “πατὴρ μέν ἐστί μοι Κρόνος νεώτατος θεῶν ἁπάντων, εἰμὶ δὲ Ὄσιρις ὁ βασιλεύς, ὁ στρατεύσας ἐπὶ πᾶσαν χώραν ἕως εἰς τοὺς ἀοικήτους τόπους τῶν Ἰνδῶν καὶ τοὺς πρὸς ἄρκτον κεκλιμένους, μέχρι Ἴστρου ποταμοῦ πηγῶν, καὶ πάλιν ἐπὶ τἄλλα μέρη ἕως ὠκεανοῦ.
Rejoice, rejoice, O Egypt that nurtured me." And upon that of Osiris it is said to be inscribed: "My father is Cronus, the youngest of all the gods, and I am Osiris the king, who campaigned over every land as far as the uninhabited regions of the Indians and those leaning towards the north, even to the sources of the river Ister, and again to the other parts as far as the Ocean.
εἰμὶ δὲ υἱὸς Κρόνου πρεσβύτατος, καὶ βλαστὸς ἐκ καλοῦ τε καὶ εὐγενοῦς ᾠοῦ σπέρμα συγγενὲς ἐγεννήθην ἡμέρας.
And I am the eldest son of Cronus, and having sprung as a shoot from a beautiful and noble egg, I was begotten as a seed akin to the Day.
καὶ οὐκ ἔστι τόπος τῆς οἰκουμένης εἰς ὃν ἐγὼ οὐκ ἀφῖγμαι, διαδοὺς πᾶσιν ὧν ἐγὼ εὑρετὴς ἐγενόμην. ” §1.27.6τοσαῦτα τῶν γεγραμμένων ἐν ταῖς στήλαις φασὶ δύνασθαι ἀναγνῶναι, τὰ δʼ ἄλλα ὄντα πλείω κατεφθάρθαι διὰ τὸν χρόνον.
And there is no place in the inhabited world to which I have not come, distributing to all the things of which I was the discoverer." This much of what was written on the stelai they say can be read, but the rest, which was more, has been destroyed by time.
τὰ μὲν οὖν περὶ τῆς ταφῆς τῶν θεῶν τούτων διαφωνεῖται παρὰ τοῖς πλείστοις διὰ τὸ τοὺς ἱερεῖς ἐν ἀπορρήτοις παρειληφότας τὴν περὶ τούτων ἀκρίβειαν μὴ βούλεσθαι τἀληθὲς ἐκφέρειν εἰς τοὺς πολλούς, ὡς ἂν καὶ κινδύνων ἐπικειμένων τοῖς τἀπόρρητα περὶ τῶν θεῶν τούτων μηνύσασιν εἰς τοὺς ὄχλους.
Now, the matters concerning the burial of these gods are disputed among most, because the priests, having received the exact knowledge concerning these things in secret, are unwilling to publish the truth to the multitude, on the ground that dangers also threaten those who reveal the secrets about these gods to the crowds.