On the Mysteries

...so that they might reveal their hidden nature. Yet, if the Sun itself underwent any of these changes, as happens during eclipses, it would be seen by everyone who looked at it. Furthermore, why all these meaningless names? Why, among these, are most of them barbarian foreign/non-Greek rather than those that are proper to each? For if the Divine, while listening to the voice, looks to the meaning of what is said, surely the language, whatever its mode, provided the thought remains the same, will sufficiently reveal the whole matter through itself. Nor, I think, was the one being evoked of Egyptian lineage, nor, if he were, would he use the Egyptian language or a human voice at all. One must fear, therefore, that these are either the arts of tricksters, or that we are suffering from some of those passions which are commonly attributed to God, or perhaps that we hold opinions about the divinity that are completely different from how they actually exist.

I desire, furthermore, to have it explained to me what the Egyptians decide concerning the first cause of all: whether they consider it to be Intellect, or something above Intellect. Then, whether it is something solitary, or existing along with another, or many; further, whether it is corporeal or incorporeal; whether it is the same as the demiurge craftsman-god, or something prior. And whether all things are produced from one, or from many; whether they acknowledge matter or not, or first bodies endowed with qualities; and then whether they posit matter as generated or ungenerated. Chæremon, certainly, and many others, recognize nothing before this visible world, and they do not posit any other gods in the very beginnings of their writings for the Egyptians, except for those commonly called the Planets, and the signs of the Zodiac, and the stars appearing in sight along with these, and the divisions of the Decans a set of thirty-six stars or groups of stars used in Egyptian astrology and the Horoscopes. And those who are named as mighty and leaders, whose names and duties, and risings and settings, and indications of future events are contained in the Almenichiacis likely referring to Egyptian astronomical or astrological manuals. For he saw that those who said the Sun is the architect of the universe were turning not only everything that pertains to Osiris and Isis, but also everything of the sacred myths, partly into the stars and their appearances, occultations, and meetings,

(as in the case of eclipses, they would be visible to all who gaze upon them). And what of the meaningless foreign terms compared to those proper to each? For if the deity attends to the significance of what is heard, the meaning itself is sufficient to reveal the matter, regardless of what the word may be. For the one invoked was not Egyptian, even if he were Egyptian by lineage. And we do not use Egyptian speech, nor do we use a human voice at all. Either these are all fabricated masks or "fictions" hiding the passions occurring around the divine, or we are unaware that we hold false opinions about the divine, or it is truly deceived.

I wish to be shown what the Egyptians believe concerning the first cause: whether it is Mind, or above Mind; whether it is alone, or with another, or others; and whether it is incorporeal or corporeal; and if it is the same as the demiurge, or after the demiurge; if all things are from one, or from many; and if there is matter, or primary bodies with qualities; and if matter is ungenerated or generated. For Chæremon and the others believe in nothing else besides the world of the gods, which they place at the beginning of the Egyptians' accounts; and they place no other gods besides the so-called Planets, and those that complete the zodiac, and those that rise with them, and the divisions into decans, and the horoscopes, and the so-called powerful leaders, whose names are recorded in the Almenichiacis astrological texts, and their cures, and risings, and settings, and prognostications of future events. For he saw that those who call the Sun the creator, and speak of Osiris and Isis, and all the priestly myths, interpret them either into the stars and their appearances and concealments, or into the...