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| The Interpretation of the Mutilation of Atys Which the Doctrine of the Greek Sages Set Forth.
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Chapter 25.—The Interpretation of
the Mutilation of Atys Which the Doctrine of the Greek Sages Set
Forth.
Varro has not spoken of that Atys,
nor sought out any interpretation for him, in memory of whose being
loved by Ceres the Gallus is mutilated. But the learned and wise
Greeks have by no means been silent about an interpretation so holy
and so illustrious. The celebrated philosopher Porphyry has said
that Atys signifies the flowers of spring, which is the most
beautiful season, and therefore was mutilated because the flower
falls before the fruit appears.286
| 286 In the book De Ratione Naturali
Deorum. | They have not, then, compared the
man himself, or rather that semblance of a man they called Atys, to
the flower, but his male organs,—these, indeed, fell whilst he
was living. Did I say fell? nay, truly they did not fall, nor
were they plucked off, but torn away. Nor when that flower was
lost did any fruit follow, but rather sterility. What, then, do
they say is signified by the castrated Atys himself, and whatever
remained to him after his castration? To what do they refer
that? What interpretation does that give rise to? Do they,
after vain endeavors to discover an interpretation, seek to
persuade men that that is rather to be believed which report has
made public, and which has also been written concerning his having
been a mutilated man? Our Varro has very properly opposed this,
and has been unwilling to state it; for it certainly was not
unknown to that most learned man.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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