Plutarch and Varro: Egyptian animals and human-shaped gods are mystical vessels, not crude bodies of deity
Plutarch’s Isis treatise reads Egyptian animal cult as mystical symbolism of divine virtues.
Varro (via Augustine, Civ. 7.5): human-shaped gods are vessels signifying rational soul— Liber’s wine-jar for the vine.
Latin
XX. Et quidem quod attinet animalium figuras, aut etiam ipsa animalia viva ab Aegyptiis culta, Plutarchus idem, tractatu de Iside & Osiride, prolixe docet varias numinis virtutes, atque beneficia, iis fuisse mystice & symbolice adumbrata. Apud Augustinum vero de Civitate Dei Varro testatur, Antiquos, qui Deorum simulachra hominis specie fecerunt, hoc videri secutos, quod mortalium animus qui est in corpore humano, simillimus sit immortalis animi: tanquam si vasa ponerentur causa notandorum Deorum, & in Liberi aede Oenophorum sisteretur quod significaret vitem, per id quod continet, id quod continetur: ita per simulachrum quod formam haberet humanam, significari animam rationalem, eo quod velut vase, natura ista soleat contineri, cujus naturae volunt Deum esse, vel Deos. lib. 7. cap. 5.
About this text
Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu - Sedan Theological Theses, newly rendered from the 1675 London Latin. Covers De Theologia through Angelorum & Hominum Sanctorum Cultu Romana I-LXXVII and Pars Secunda (Reformata) I-XL. Not the collected folio.
English follows locked Pitt Latin through Imaginum CLOSED + Sanctorum Cultu Romana CLOSED + Pars Secunda Reformata I-XL. 1675 PDF ~384-390 (book ~370-376); Vision OCR + pdftotext + tess. No modern English. This slice densifies Sanctorum Pars Secunda I-XL. Next: Pars Secunda XLI–fin (~CI). Claim stays claimed (book densify not done).
Catalogue & scope
ESTC R17887; Wing L802. IA bub_gb_eOkHAW4G0-wC (+ EEBO 1675 for gap leaves). Densify through Sanctorum Cultu Romana I-LXXVII + Pars Secunda Reformata I-XL (Pars Secunda not closed; not whole folio).
Witnesses
- Copy-text Locked Latin, De Theologia I-XLIII (Pitt 1675) (Latin)
- Checked print Internet Archive PDF of the 1675 Pitt folio (Latin)
- Checked print pdftotext of De Theologia pages (Latin)
- Checked print Internet Archive DjVu OCR of the 1675 Pitt folio (Latin)
- Copy-text Locked Latin, De Fide I-XXII (Pitt 1675) (Latin)
- Copy-text Locked Latin, De Authoritate Scripturae Pars I I-XLVII + Pars II I-XXXV + Pars III I-VIII (Pitt 1675) (Latin)
- Copy-text Locked Latin, De Scripturae plenitudine densify (Pitt 1675) (Latin)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.