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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. 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 tom 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.
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