But there are some that will have this tale to be a
figurative representation of the eclipses. For the moon is
under an eclipse at the fill, when the sun is in opposition
to her, because she then falls into the shadow of the
earth, as they say Osiris did into his chest. But she hides
and obscures the sun at the new moon, upon the thirtieth
day of the month, but doth not extinguish the sun quite,
any more than Isis did Typhon. And when Nephthys was
delivered of Anubis, Isis owned the child. For Nephthys
is that part of the world which is below the earth, and
invisible to us; and Isis that which is above the earth, and
visible. But that which touches upon both these, and is
called the horizon (or bounding circle) and is common to
them both, is called Anubis, and resembles in shape the
dog, because the dog makes use of his sight by night as
well as by day. And therefore Anubis seems to me to
have a power among the Egyptians much like to that of
Hecate among the Grecians, he being as well terrestrial as
Olympic. Some again think Anubis to be Saturn; wherefore, they say, because he produces all things out of himself and breeds them in himself, he had the name of Kyon
(which signifies in Greek both a dog and a breeder).
Moreover, those that worship the dog have a certain secret
meaning that must not be here revealed. And in the more
remote and ancient times, the dog had the highest honor
paid him in Egypt; but after that Cambyses had slain the
Apis and thrown him away contemptuously like a carrion,
no animal came near to him except the dog only; upon
this he lost his first honor and the right he had of being
[p. 105]
worshipped above other creatures. There are also some
that will have the shadow of the earth, into which they
believe the moon to fall when eclipsed, to be called
Typhon.
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