§1.85.1προσθετέον δὲ τοῖς εἰρημένοις τὰ λειπόμενα τῶν γινομένων περὶ τὸν ἱερὸν ταῦρον τὸν ὀνομαζόμενον Ἆπιν.
And to what has been said we must add what remains of the practices concerning the sacred bull named Apis.
ὅταν γὰρ τελευτήσας ταφῇ μεγαλοπρεπῶς, ζητοῦσιν οἱ περὶ ταῦτʼ ὄντες ἱερεῖς μόσχον ἔχοντα κατὰ τὸ σῶμα παράσημα τὰ παραπλήσια τῷ προϋπάρξαντι·
For whenever it dies and is buried magnificently, the priests who are concerned with these matters search for a calf that has marks on its body very similar to those of its predecessor.
§1.85.2ὅταν δʼ εὑρεθῇ, τὰ μὲν πλήθη τοῦ πένθους ἀπολύεται, τῶν δʼ ἱερέων οἷς ἐστιν ἐπιμελὲς ἄγουσι τὸν μόσχον τὸ μὲν πρῶτον εἰς Νείλου πόλιν, ἐν ᾗ τρέφουσιν αὐτὸν ἐφʼ ἡμέρας τετταράκοντα, ἔπειτʼ εἰς θαλαμηγὸν ναῦν οἴκημα κεχρυσωμένον ἔχουσαν ἐμβιβάσαντες ὡς θεὸν ἀνάγουσιν εἰς Μέμφιν εἰς τὸ τοῦ Ἡφαίστου τέμενος.
And when it is found, the multitude is released from their mourning, and the priests whose duty it is take the calf first to Nilopolis, where they feed it for forty days, and then, having embarked it onto a cabin-boat containing a gilded chamber, they bring it back as a god to Memphis, to the sacred precinct of Hephaestus.
§1.85.3ἐν δὲ ταῖς προειρημέναις τετταράκονθʼ ἡμέραις μόνον ὁρῶσιν αὐτὸν αἱ γυναῖκες κατὰ πρόσωπον ἱστάμεναι καὶ δεικνύουσιν ἀνασυράμεναι τὰ ἑαυτῶν γεννητικὰ μόρια, τὸν δʼ ἄλλον χρόνον ἅπαντα κεκωλυμένον ἐστὶν εἰς ὄψιν αὐτὰς ἔρχεσθαι τούτῳ τῷ θεῷ.
And during the aforementioned forty days, only the women see it, standing before its face and showing, by pulling up their skirts, their own genital organs; but for all the rest of the time, they are forbidden to come into the sight of this god.
§1.85.4τῆς δὲ τοῦ βοὸς τούτου τιμῆς αἰτίαν ἔνιοι φέρουσι λέγοντες ὅτι τελευτήσαντος Ὀσίριδος εἰς τοῦτον ἡ ψυχὴ μετέστη, καὶ διὰ ταῦτα διατελεῖ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν ἀεὶ κατὰ τὰς ἀναδείξεις αὐτοῦ μεθισταμένη πρὸς τοὺς μεταγενεστέρους·
And some offer as the reason for the honor of this bull, saying that when Osiris died his soul migrated into this animal, and for this reason it continues up to the present always migrating to its successors at each of its manifestations.
§1.85.5ἔνιοι δὲ λέγουσι τελευτήσαντος Ὀσίριδος ὑπὸ Τυφῶνος τὰ μέλη συναγαγοῦσαν τὴν Ἶσιν εἰς βοῦν ξυλίνην ἐμβαλεῖν βύσσινα περιβεβλημένην, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὴν πόλιν ὀνομασθῆναι Βούσιριν.
But others say that when Osiris was killed by Typhon, Isis gathered his limbs and put them into a wooden cow covered with fine linen, and for this reason the city also was named Busiris.
πολλὰ δὲ καὶ ἄλλα μυθολογοῦσι περὶ τοῦ Ἄπιδος, ὑπὲρ ὧν μακρὸν ἡγούμεθα τὰ καθʼ ἕκαστον διεξιέναι.
And they tell many other myths about Apis, concerning which we think it would be tedious to go through the details of each.