This idea at the present time the priests
intimate with great circumspection in acquitting
themselves of this religious secret and in trying to
conceal it : that this god Osiris is the ruler and king
of the dead, nor is he any other than the god that
among the Greeks is called Hades and Pluto. But
since it is not understood in what manner this is true,
it greatly disturbs the majority of people who suspect
that the holy and sacred Osiris truly dwells in the
earth and beneath the earth,1 where are hidden away
the bodies of those that are believed to have reached
their end. But he himself is far removed from the
earth, uncontaminated and unpolluted and pure from
all matter that is subject to destruction and death ;
but for the souls of men here, which are compassed
about by bodies and emotions, there is no association
with this god except in so far as they may attain to a
dim vision of his presence by means of the apperception which philosophy affords. But when these souls
are set free and migrate into the realm of the invisible
and the unseen, the dispassionate and the pure, then
this god becomes their leader and king, since it is
on him that they are bound to be dependent in their
insatiate contemplation and yearning for that beauty
which is for men unutterable and indescribable.
With this beauty Isis,2 as the ancient story declares,
[p. 185]
Is for ever enamoured and pursues it and consorts
with it and filis our earth here with all things fair
and good that partake of generation.
This which I have thus far set forth comprises that
account which is most befitting the gods.