Note 1475 — Chapter XI · ORPHIC ESCHATOLOGY.

M. Salamon Reinach (‘Une formule Orphique,’ Rev. Arch. XXXIX. 1901, p. 202) takes πίπτειν ἐς to be metaphorical and compares incidere in and the French tomber sur. But the division of verb and preposition and the fact that the sentence is a religious formulary are against this light colloquial sense. If the expression is metaphorical it has a close analogy in πίπτειν ἐς γένεσιν. Porphyry says (De Antr. Nymph. 13) of the souls ὅταν ἐς γένεσιν πέσωσιν. It may I think be worth noting that in Egypt, when the soles of the feet (of the mummy) which had trodden the mire of earth were removed, the gods were prayed to grant milk to the Osiris that he might bathe his feet in it. See Wiedemann, Ancient Egyptian Doctrine of Immortality, p. 48.