CHAP. XIII. CHARACTERS OF ISIS. SC)0 



the receptacle of all things that are born, call it 

 mother, as the Greeks in like manner denominate 

 it Demeter; — the word being slightly altered by 

 time from the ancient yrjU ixrirspoi (mother Earth), as 

 Orpheus attests, ' yr^ fJ-rirr^^ Travrwv Ari'xr^Tr^p ttJ^outo- 



The numerous characters she bore, arose from 

 the various combinations into which she entered. 

 She was considered to be matter in reference to 

 the Intellect of the Deity, which operated upon it 

 in the creation. And, in accordance with this idea, 

 Osiris and Isis were supposed to resemble the 

 two members of " the Nuptial diagram of Plato, 

 representing a right-angled triangle, whose per- 

 pendicular side is equal to 8, the base to 4, and 

 the hypothenuse to 5; and in which the per- 

 pendicular is designed to indicate the masculine 

 nature, the base the feminine, and the hypothenuse 

 the offspring of both. Accordingly," adds Plu- 

 tarch, " the first of these aptly represents Osiris, 

 or the })rime Cause ; the second, Isis, or the re- 

 ceptive power; and the last, Orus, or the common 

 effect of tlie other two." t She was thought to 

 answer to Proserpine, because she presided with 

 Osiris in Amenti ; and the hieroglyphics not only 

 identify her with Hecate, but point out the Egyp- 

 tian origin of that name in the legends accom- 

 panying her name, where she is styled " Isis, the 

 potent Hekte." In comparing Anubis and Hecate, 

 Plutarch would have been more correct if, for 

 the former, he had substituted the name of Isis, 



* Conf. Cic. Nat. Dcor. lib. ii. t Pint, de Is. s. bd. 



VOL. I. — Second Serifs. B B 



