Plutarch On Isis and Osiris 370 b-c
“A fated time is coming when Areimanios, because he brings plague and famine, must be killed and then forced to disappear altogether. Then, when the earth is balanced and even, there will be one life and a shared government of all the lucky people with a shared language for all.
Theopompos claims that, according to the Magi, one of the gods rules for a term of three thousand years and then another rules in turn, and then for another three thousand years they fight and war and one destroys the accomplishments of another.
Finally, Hades is overcome and people will be happy because they no longer need food and they do not become ghosts. The god who made these things possible withdraws and rests for a time, and it is not a long time for a god it is is like a person sleeping a normal amount of time.”
ἔπεισι δὲ χρόνος εἱμαρμένος, ἐν ὧι τὸν ᾽Αρειμάνιον λοιμὸν ἐπάγοντα καὶ λιμὸν ὑπὸ τούτων ἀνάγκη φθαρῆναι παντάπασι καὶ ἀφανισθῆναι, τῆς δὲ γῆς ἐπιπέδου καὶ ὁμαλῆς γενομένης, ἕνα βίον καὶ μίαν πολιτείαν ἀνθρώπων μακαρίων καὶ ὁμογλώσσων ἁπάντων γενέσθαι. Θεόπομπος δέ φησι κατὰ τοὺς Μάγους ἀνὰ μέρος τρισχίλια ἔτη τὸν μὲν κρατεῖν τὸν δὲ κρατεῖσθαι τῶν θεῶν, ἄλλα δὲ τρισχίλια μάχεσθαι καὶ πολεμεῖν καὶ ἀναλύειν τὰ τοῦ ἑτέρου τὸν ἕτερον· τέλος δ᾽ ἀπολείπεσθαι τὸν ῞Αιδην, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἀνθρώπους εὐδαίμονας ἔσεσθαι μήτε τροφῆς δεομένους μήτε σκιὰν ποιοῦντας, τὸν δὲ ταῦτα μηχανησάμενον θὲον ἠρεμεῖν καὶ ἀναπαύεσθαι χρόνον, [καλῶς] μὲν οὐ πολὺν [τῶι θεῶι], ὥσπερ ἀνθρώπωι κοιμωμένωι μέτριον.
