DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.53553#0323
289
the mysterious situation in the sarcophagus, in which we
made his first acquaintance, and which had been the cause
of his preservation.
Eup. In complying with thy request, I shall, perhaps,
appear in your eyes guilty of a weakness little consonant
with the name of a philosopher, which in my time I was
proud to bear. But, at all events, I will not forfeit my
claim to it by telling you an untruth. My father, a freed-
man of the Emperor Cajus (Caligula), being sent by his
master on an extraordinary mission to expedite the shipping
of grain from Alexandria, at a time when Italy, from a de-
fective harvest, labourer! under a severe famine, married
there a woman of Canopus, the niece of Thamuphis, a priest
in the temple of Serapis, at the latter place. Soon after
the return of my parents from Egypt, I was born, and in due
time instructed in every branch of useful and liberal know-
ledge. While at Athens, where I had been sent to finish my
education, I received the tidings of my father’s death, ac-
companied with a request from my mother to return to Italy
as soon as the course of my studies would permit, and her
leave to visit our Egyptian friends in my way home. A
thirst after knowledge made me embrace my mother’s offer
with joy. I left Athens and sailed for Canopus, where I was
received with open arms by all my maternal relations, and
especially by Hermonthis, the son of her uncle, who had suc-
ceeded his father in the priesthood of Serapis. The wisdom
of that Egyptian, powerfully seconded by his kindness to
me, created in my youthful breast a wish to be initiated in
the mysteries of the great God. My docility and my con-
duct shortened the time of probation. Hermonthis’ in-
struction gradually revealed to my mind eternal and sacred
truths, many of which a solemn oath forbids the adept from
divulging to the sensual and prejudiced profane. I re-
nounced, joyfully, the cold and impious errors of the Epi-
p p curean
the mysterious situation in the sarcophagus, in which we
made his first acquaintance, and which had been the cause
of his preservation.
Eup. In complying with thy request, I shall, perhaps,
appear in your eyes guilty of a weakness little consonant
with the name of a philosopher, which in my time I was
proud to bear. But, at all events, I will not forfeit my
claim to it by telling you an untruth. My father, a freed-
man of the Emperor Cajus (Caligula), being sent by his
master on an extraordinary mission to expedite the shipping
of grain from Alexandria, at a time when Italy, from a de-
fective harvest, labourer! under a severe famine, married
there a woman of Canopus, the niece of Thamuphis, a priest
in the temple of Serapis, at the latter place. Soon after
the return of my parents from Egypt, I was born, and in due
time instructed in every branch of useful and liberal know-
ledge. While at Athens, where I had been sent to finish my
education, I received the tidings of my father’s death, ac-
companied with a request from my mother to return to Italy
as soon as the course of my studies would permit, and her
leave to visit our Egyptian friends in my way home. A
thirst after knowledge made me embrace my mother’s offer
with joy. I left Athens and sailed for Canopus, where I was
received with open arms by all my maternal relations, and
especially by Hermonthis, the son of her uncle, who had suc-
ceeded his father in the priesthood of Serapis. The wisdom
of that Egyptian, powerfully seconded by his kindness to
me, created in my youthful breast a wish to be initiated in
the mysteries of the great God. My docility and my con-
duct shortened the time of probation. Hermonthis’ in-
struction gradually revealed to my mind eternal and sacred
truths, many of which a solemn oath forbids the adept from
divulging to the sensual and prejudiced profane. I re-
nounced, joyfully, the cold and impious errors of the Epi-
p p curean