Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride 51

τὸν δʼ Ὄσιριν αὖ πάλιν ὀφθαλμῷ καὶ σκήπτρῳ γράφουσιν, ὧν τὸ μὲν τὴν πρόνοιαν ἐμφαίνειν, τὸ δὲ τὴν δύναμιν, ὡς Ὅμηρος τὸν ἄρχοντα καὶ βασιλεύοντα πάντων Ζῆνʼ ὕπατον καὶ μήστωρα καλῶν, ἔοικε τῷ μὲν ὑπάτῳ τὸ κράτος αὐτοῦ, τῷ δὲ μήστωρι τὴν εὐβουλίαν καὶ τὴν φρόνησιν σημαίνειν γράφουσι δὲ καὶ ἱέρακι τὸν θεὸν τοῦτον πολλάκις· εὐτονίᾳ γὰρ ὄψεως ὑπερβάλλει καὶ πτήσεως ὀξύτητι, καὶ διοικεῖν αὑτὸν ἐλαχίστῃ τροφῇ πέφυκε. λέγεται δὲ καὶ νεκρῶν ἀτάφων σώμασι γῆν ὑπερπετόμενος ἐπιβάλλειν· ὅταν δὲ πιόμενος ἐπὶ τὸν ποταμὸν καταίρῃ, τὸ πτερὸν ἵστησιν ὀρθόν· πιὼν δὲ κλίνει τοῦτο πάλιν· ᾧ δῆλός ἐστι σεσωσμένος καὶ διαπεφευγὼς τὸν κροκόδειλον· ἂν γὰρ ἁρπασθῇ, μένει τὸ πτερὸν ὥσπερ ἔστη πεπηγός. πανταχοῦ δὲ καὶ ἀνθρωπόμορφον Ὀσίριδος ἄγαλμα δεικνύουσιν, ἐξορθιάζον τῷ αἰδοίῳ διὰ τὸ γόνιμον καὶ τὸ τρόφιμον. ἀμπεχόνῃ δὲ φλογοειδεῖ στέλλουσιν αὐτοῦ τὰς εἰκόνας, ἥλιον σῶμα τῆς τἀγαθοῦ δυνάμεως ὡς ὁρατὸν οὐσίας νοητῆς ἡγούμενοι. διὸ καὶ καταφρονεῖν ἄξιόν ἐστι τῶν τὴν ἡλίου σφαῖραν Τυφῶνι προσνεμόντων, ᾧ λαμπρὸν οὐδὲν οὐδὲ σωτήριον οὐδὲ τάξις οὐδὲ γένεσις οὐδὲ κίνησις μέτρον ἔχουσα καὶ λόγον, ἀλλὰ τἀναντία προσήκει· καὶ αὐχμόν, ὃς φθείρει πολλὰ τῶν ζῴων καὶ βλαστανόντων, οὐχ ἡλίου θετέον ἔργον, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἐν γῇ καὶ ἀέρι μὴ καθʼ ὥραν κεραννυμένων πνευμάτων καὶ ὑδάτων, ὅταν ἡ τῆς ἀτάκτου καὶ ἀορίστου δυνάμεως ἀρχὴ πλημμελήσασα κατασβέσῃ τὰς ἀναθυμιάσεις.

Then again, they depict Osiris by means of an eye and a sceptre, the one of which indicates forethought and the other power, much as Homer in calling the Lord and King of all Zeus supreme and counsellor appears by supreme to signify his prowess and by counsellor his careful planning and thoughtfulness. They also often depict this god by means of a hawk; for this bird is surpassing in the keenness of its vision and the swiftness of its flight, and is wont to support itself with the minimum amount of food. It is said also in flying over the earth to cast dust upon the eyes of unburied dead; and whenever it settles down beside the river to drink it raises its feather upright, and after it has drunk it lets this sink down again, by which it is plain that the bird is safe and has escaped the crocodile, for if it be seized, the feather remains fixed upright as it was at the beginning. Everywhere they point out statues of Osiris in human form of the ithyphallic type, on account of his creative and fostering power; and they clothe his statues in a flame-coloured garment, since they regard the body of the Sun as a visible manifestation of the perceptible substance of the power for good. Therefore it is only right and fair to contemn those who assign the orb of the Sun to Typhon, to whom there attaches nothing bright or of a conserving nature, no order nor generation nor movement possessed of moderation or reason, but everything the reverse; moreover, the drought, by which he destroys many of the living creatures and growing plants, is not to be set down as the work of the Sun, but …