Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride 43

οἴονται δὲ πρὸς τὰ φῶτα τῆς σελήνης ἔχειν τινὰ λόγον τοῦ Νείλου τὰς ἀναβάσεις. ἡ μὲν γὰρ μεγίστη περὶ τὴν Ἐλεφαντίνην ὀκτὼ γίγνεται καὶ εἴκοσι πήχεων, ὅσα φῶτα καὶ μέτρα τῶν ἐμμήνων περιόδων ἑκάστης ἔστιν· ἡ δὲ περὶ Μένδητα καὶ Ξόιν βραχυτάτη πήχεων ἓξ πρὸς τὴν διχότομον· ἡ δὲ μέση περὶ Μέμφιν, ὅταν ᾖ δικαία, δεκατεσσάρων πήχεων πρὸς τὴν πανσέληνον. τὸν δʼ Ἆπιν εἰκόνα μὲν Ὀσίριδος ἔμψυχον εἶναι, γίγνεσθαι δέ, ὅταν φῶς ἐρείσῃ γόνιμον ἀπὸ τῆς σελήνης καὶ καθάψηται βοὸς ὀργώσης. διὸ καὶ τοῖς τῆς σελήνης σχήμασιν ἔοικε πολλὰ τοῦ Ἄπιδος, περιμελαινομένου τὰ λαμπρὰ τοῖς σκιεροῖς. ἔτι δὲ τῇ νουμηνίᾳ τοῦ Φαμενὼθ μηνὸς ἑορτὴν ἄγουσιν, ἔμβασιν Ὀσίριδος εἰς τὴν σελήνην ὀνομάζοντες, ἔαρος ἀρχὴν οὖσαν. οὕτω τὴν Ὀσίριδος δύναμιν ἐν τῇ σελήνῃ τιθέντες τὴν Ἶσιν αὐτῷ γένεσιν οὖσαν συνεῖναι λέγουσι. διὸ καὶ μητέρα τὴν σελήνην τοῦ κόσμου καλοῦσι καὶ φύσιν ἔχειν ἀρσενόθηλυν οἴονται, πληρουμένην ὑφʼ ἡλίου καὶ κυισκομένην, αὐτὴν δὲ πάλιν εἰς τὸν ἀέρα προϊεμένην γεννητικὰς ἀρχὰς καὶ κατασπείρουσαν· οὐ γὰρ ἀεὶ τὴν φθορὰν ἐπικρατεῖν τὴν τυφώνειον, πολλάκις δὲ κρατουμένην ὑπὸ τῆς γενέσεως καὶ συνδεομένην αὖθις ἀναλύεσθαι καὶ διαμάχεσθαι πρὸς τὸν Ὧρον. ἔστι δʼ οὗτος ὁ περίγειος κόσμος οὔτε φθορᾶς ἀπαλλαττόμενος παντάπασιν οὔτε γενέσεως.

They think that the risings of the Nile have some relation to the illuminations of the moon; for the greatest rising, in the neighbourhood of Elephantinê, is twenty-eight cubits, which is the number of its illuminations that form the measure of each of its monthly cycles; the rising in the neighbourhood of Mendes and Xoïs, which is the least, is six cubits, corresponding to the first quarter. The mean rising, in the neighbourhood of Memphis, when it is normal, is fourteen cubits, corresponding to the full moon. The Apis, they say, is the animate image of Osiris, and he comes into being when a fructifying light thrusts forth from the moon and falls upon a cow in her breeding-season. Wherefore there are many things in the Apis that resemble features of the moon, his bright parts being darkened by the shadowy. Moreover, at the time of the new moon in the month of Pharnenoth they celebrate a festival to which they give the name of Osiris’s coming to the Moon, and this marks the beginning of the spring. Thus they make the power of Osiris to be fixed in the Moon, and say that Isis, since she is generation, is associated with him. For this reason they also call the Moon the mother of the world, and they think that she has a nature both male and female, as she is receptive and made pregnant by the Sun, but she herself in turn emits and disseminates into the air generative principles. For, as they believe, the destructive activity of Typhon does not always prevail, but oftentimes is overpowered by such generation and put in bonds, and then at a later time is again released and …