On Isis and Osiris

I will not say much myself; for the things which the Author puts forward about himself when dealing with a similar argument in On the Syrian Goddess fit him so well that I cannot easily refrain from placing the whole passage before the eyes of the reader; "As I was recording... the Goddess, whatever she is, many stories were told to me, some of them holy, others plain and manifest, others quite fabulous; and others barbarian, some agreeing with the Greeks, all of which I will tell, but accept none." For it is rightly observed regarding Plutarch, that to him inquiring about Isis and Osiris, who the gods were, many things were told, of which some were sacred, others plain and manifest, others quite fabulous, others barbarian, others agreeing with the Greeks, all of which the author recounts and reviews in this book, although he by no means approves of them all.

2 O Clea] It is clear from what follows that this Clea was a most illustrious woman, a leader indeed of the Thyiads at Delphi. Nor did Plutarch inscribe only this book to her name, but also another which he composed on the Virtues of Women; from which it is to be inferred that our Clea was both well-versed in the reading of books and devoted to philosophy: for which reason the most learned Menagius deservedly lists her name in the History of Women Philosophers.

3 not his own] All the other Editions, with one exception, offer "his own," without the negative particle; which particle, however, cannot be absent without the greatest loss of meaning. For the Author establishes, just as other Philosophers who have treated ethical matters, that there is a certain "affinity" between the Gods and truth, (or as Hierocles likes to speak (London Ed., the last, page 218) "truth and virtue exist not only in men, but also in the greatest degree in the gods.")