Plutarch's Morals: Theosophical Essays, tr. by Charles William King, [1908], at sacred-texts.com [p. i] BOHN'S CLASSICAL LIBRARY PLUTARCH'S MORALS [p. ii] LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS PORTUGAL ST. LINCOLN'S INN, W.C. CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON, BELL & CO. NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO. BOMBAY: A. H. WHEELER & CO. [p. iii] PLUTARCH'S MORALS. THEOSOPHICAL ESSAYS. TRANSLATED BY THE LATE C. W. KING, M.A., AUTHOR OF "THE GNOSTICS AND THEIR REMAINS." LONDON GEORGE BELL AND SONS [1908] Scanned, proofed and formatted at sacred-texts.com by John Bruno Hare, September 2008. This text is in the public domain in the US because it was published prior to 1923. NOTE: Image caption and 'alt' text in brackets was inserted by the formatter based on the authors' 'Description of the Woodcuts.'--JBH. Click to enlarge Cover Click to enlarge Title Page Click to enlarge Verso [p. iv] CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. Plutarch's Morals: Theosophical Essays, tr. by Charles William King, [1908], at sacred-texts.com [p. v] [Gryphon] PREFACE. THE works which go by the name of Plutarch's "Morals" (though certainly not all from his hand) are a collection of short treatises upon a great variety of subjects--Ethics, History, Politics, Preservation of Health, Facetiae, Love-stories, and Philosophy. The last of these comprise dissertations upon the nature of the unseen world and spiritual beings, upon the creation and government of the universe, upon the human soul, upon the hidden sense of religious institutions, and similar speculations, which the ancients classed under the general head of "Theosophy," that is, "knowledge of the things pertaining unto God." In this series is preserved the only complete and circumstantial account of the religion of Egypt that has come down to us; and written at a time when that religion was still in full vigour, when, in fact, it alone (besides the Mithraic), of all the ancient creeds, as yet preserved its. original vitality--written, too, by a person who had been initiated into its deepest mysteries, and who had sought out the hidden sense of its myths and ceremonies with equal intelligence and industry. That the present treatise "upon Isis and [p. vi] [paragraph continues] Osiris," became, from the time of its publication, the chief authority upon the subject, is evident from the influence it exerted upon the writings of the Emperor Julian of the same character, such as his "Hymns to the Mother of the Gods, and to the Sun." Three other essays are devoted, more or less, to the subject of Oracles, and to the discussion of the question whether their inspiration proceeded from natural or supernatural causes; in which discussions the parts of the "rationalist" and the "believer" (in modern phrase), are most ably supported by the interlocutors of the dialogue. This is, perhaps, the most curious and most interesting phenomenon in the history of ancient civilization. These three treatises, therefore, are of the highest value, for, in the first place, they preserve the only particular description now extant of the most important of these fountains of prophecy, of the physical facts connected with its working, and the mode in which its powers were employed, and, what is yet more to the purpose, we have here the observations made upon all these circumstances by a clear-headed and highly educated man, far removed from all religious enthusiasm (which had not, at that time, been roused to blind partiality through opposition and vituperation from the other side); and who, residing in the neighbourhood of the mystic cavern, and regularly attending the consultation, had ample opportunity of detecting any deception or jugglery on the part of its ministers. We can, therefore, accept for truth what he relates concerning the visible and sensible effects of the Pythonic vapour; but of the conflicting theories as to its final cause (between which the writer himself is evidently at a loss to choose), we may decide upon the one best adapted to our own modes of thought. And if we substitute modern terms for ancient, and read "Scriptural" for "Delphic" inspiration, we can from the disputes of the present day form a very accurate notion of the state of [p. vii] feeling upon this subject that prevailed in Plutarch's times. We find then also, people urging the same objections against the Divine origin of sacred teachings, based upon the imperfections of the vehicle conveying them to. mankind; and parried by the same arguments derived from the consideration of the nature of such vehicles. And in the same connection, how curious it is to discover that the Divine government of "more worlds than one" was even then, too, a problem that puzzled far brighter minds than those which have attempted its solution in these later days! In order to place the trustworthiness of Plutarch, as our guide in similar researches, in a still clearer light by exhibiting his own view of religion, I have added his short treatise "On Superstition," one of the most eloquent and closely reasoned compositions of the kind to be found in antiquity; and which, from its intrinsic merit (the sterling coin of every period) might be studied with advantage by many a religious disputant of the present day. It is now almost three centuries since my ancient brother-fellow, the indefatigable Philemon Holland, published his gigantic translation of the whole "Moralia." Although he has done his work admirably, its unwieldy bulk, sufficient to deter most readers, in itself furnishes me with a plausible excuse for presenting a single section of its contents in a new dress. My translation was made some years ago, in the course of collecting materials for an undertaking then in hand, but now through untoward circumstances of necessity abandoned. The text used was principally Wyttenback's; it is in many places hopelessly corrupt, words and even whole sentences are often missing; the source was, apparently, a single manuscript, and that in bad condition. In such cases, conjectural emendations and supplements were unavoidable: but notice of all such attempts has always been given at the foot of the page. [p. viii] [paragraph continues] My translation keeps as close to the original as our language will allow--much too closely, indeed, to admit of any elegance of style; the faithful rendering of the sense in this antique report of discussions often very abstruse and curiously involved, being the sole object I kept in view when making it. C. W KING. TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, May 6, 1882. [Apollo seated before the Delphic Tripod] Plutarch's Morals: Theosophical Essays, tr. by Charles William King, [1908], at sacred-texts.com [p. ix] CONTENTS. PAGE DESCRIPTION OF THE WOODCUTS I. ON ISIS AND OSIRIS II. ON THE CESSATION OF ORACLES III. ON THE PYTHIAN RESPONSES IV. ON THE E AT DELPHI V. ON THE APPARENT FACE IN THE ORB OF THE MOON VI. ON SUPERSTITION Plutarch's Morals: Theosophical Essays, tr. by Charles William King, [1908], at sacred-texts.com [p. x] [p. xi] DESCRIPTION OF THE WOODCUTS. Title Page. DIANA of the Ephesians, a palm-branch in each hand, a hind on each side, looking up to her as their mistress: in the field over head, two scorpions. This deity originally symbolized Earth, and was actually identified with Isis; but in later times, being called by the name of the Grecian Artemis, she similarly became the President of the Moon. Trebellius Pollio therefore speaks of the Goths burning the Temple of the "Luna Ephesia," in the reign of Gallienus. (Black Jasper.) P. . A group of the chief attributes of Apollo, in his double character. The Gryphon, composed of the lion and eagle (types of solar power), grasps the lyre belonging to the god of Poetry, whilst on the Delphic rock behind is perched the raven, the most sure prophet of all birds of augury. (Amethyst.) P. . Apollo seated before the Delphic tripod, wearing the topknot and flowing robe alluded to by Plutarch (). He takes the title of "Musagetes" when arrayed in this costume; which therefore became the professional dress of all musicians. Nero, who thought himself the Roman Apollo, appeared in statues and struck coins (still extant) with his own figure "citharoedico habitu," as Suetonius has recorded. (Sard.) P. . Bust of Isis, with the lotus-flower on her forehead, and the sceptre in her hand. (Sard.) P. . Apollo standing in front of the Delphic tripod. The inscription LAUR. MED. shows that the gem once belonged to Lorenzo de' Medici. (Sard.) P. . The Pythia, seated in profound meditation in front of the Tripod. (Antique Paste.) P. . The Delphic E, "of gold," as the inscription declares. This symbol became a talisman in much request amongst the Romans, for reasons sufficiently obvious to any one who reads Plutarch's exposition of its meaning. (Cameo.) P. . Erinnys, the Avenger of Blood, hastening in pursuit of the guilty. Archaic Greek style. (Sard.) P. . Apollo, seated in the attitude of meditation: by his side stands the earliest Pythia, Herophile; the staff is placed in her hand to symbolize her extreme age. (Sard.) [p. xii] P. . "Deus Lunus," the Asiatic conception of the Spirit of the Moon. The earliest of all, the Assyrian, embodied the idea in the form of an aged man, "Sin," leaning on his staff, and almost the counterpart of our popular notion of the "Man in the Moon;" but in process of time it was softened down into the effeminate boy represented on the present gem. The chief seat of his worship was Carrhae in Mesopotamia, where it flourished down to a late period of the Roman Empire: for Julian paid him worship there, "after the established custom," as he marched by on his Persian expedition. (Sard.) Plutarch's Morals: Theosophical Essays, tr. by Charles William King, [1908], at sacred-texts.com [p. 1] PLUTARCH'S MORALS. THEOSOPHICAL ESSAYS. ON ISIS AND OSIRIS. I. ALL good things, O Clea, it behoves persons that have sense to solicit from the gods. But more especially now that we are in quest of the knowledge of themselves (so far as such knowledge is attainable by man), do we pray to obtain the same from them with their own consent: inasmuch as there is nothing more important for a man to receive, or more noble for a god to grant, than Truth. For all other things which people require, the Deity who gives them doth not possess, nor use for his own purposes. For the Godhead is not blessed by reason of his silver and gold, nor yet almighty through his thunders and lightnings, but on account of knowledge and intelligence, and this is the finest thing of all that Homer hath said, when he pronounced concerning the gods:-- "Both have one source, and both one country bore, But Jove was first born, and his knowledge more." [paragraph continues] He has represented the sovereignty of Jupiter as more majestic on account of his knowledge and wisdom, being at the same time the more ancient of the two. And I am of opinion that the happiness of the eternal life which is the attribute of God consists in his not being ignorant of [p. 2] future events, in virtue of his knowledge, for if the knowing and understanding of events were taken away, then immortality becomes not life but duration. II. On this account a desire for religious knowledge is an aiming at Truth, particularly that relating to the gods--a pursuit containing both in the acquisition and in the search a reception, as it were, of things sacred--an occupation more pious than any observation of abstinence, or religious service: but particularly well-pleasing to this goddess who is the special object of thy devotion; for she is both wise, and a lover of wisdom; as her name appears to denote that, more than any other, knowing and knowledge belong to her. For "Isis" is a Greek word, and so is "Typhon," her enemy, for he is "puffed up" by want of knowledge and falsehood, and tears to pieces, and puts out of sight, the sacred word which the goddess again gathers up and puts together, and gives into the charge of those initiated into the religion; whilst by means of a perpetually sober life, by abstinence from many kinds of food and from venery, she checks intemperance and love of pleasure, accustoming people to endure her service with bowels not enervated by luxury, but hardy and vigorous; the object of all which is the knowledge of the First, the Supreme, and the Intelligible; whom the goddess exhorts von to seek after, for he is both by her side, and united with her. The very name of her Temple clearly promises both the communication and the understanding of That which is--for it is called the "Ision," [*1] inasmuch as That which is shall be known if we enter with intelligence and piously into the sacred rites of the goddess. III. Besides this, many have made her out to be daughter of Hermes; many others, of Prometheus: of whom the latter they hold to be the inventor of wisdom and fore-knowledge; Hermes, of grammar and of music. [p. 3] [paragraph continues] For which reason, of the Muses at Hermopolis they call the foremost one "Isis," and "Justice-Wisdom," as hath been stated; and they show the divine mysteries to such as be truly and rightfully styled "carriers of sacred things," and "wearers of sacred robes": these are they that carry in the soul, as it were in a copper, the sacred story respecting the gods that cleanses the recipient from all superstition, and magical follies: and who wrap themselves up, sometimes in things black and dusky, at other times bright and conspicuous--darkly showing forth the same notions as regards opinion of the gods as are expressed with respect to the sacred vestment. For which reason, the circumstance that the votaries of Isis, upon their death, are clothed with these robes, is a symbol that they go into the next world carrying with them this Word, [*1] and nothing else. For it is not, Clea, the wearing of beards and the dressing in long gowns that makes people philosophers; neither does the linen surplice and shaven crown make votaries of Isis, but the real Isiacist is he that is competent to investigate by the aid of the Word, the symbolism, and the ceremonies connected with these deities (after he has been lawfully empowered so to do); and who meditates upon the Truth which is involved in them. IV. For it is a fact that most people do not understand that most general, and insignificant circumstance, for what reason the priests cut off their hair, and wear linen robes: some do not trouble themselves at all to know the cause for these two rules, whilst others say that they abstain from the use of wool, as they do from the flesh, out of veneration for the sheep; that they shave the head in token of their mourning (for Osiris), and that they wear linen on account of the colour the flax in blossom displays, which resembles the smiling atmosphere encompassing [p. 4] the earth. But the real cause is the same for all, because (as Plato observes), it is not lawful for one not pure to handle what is pure. Now no superfluity of nutrition or excrement is either chaste or pure. Now it is out of such superfluity that wool and hair, and down, and the nails, spring and grow. For it were absurd that people should divest themselves of their own hair, shaving the body very smoothly, during the fasts, and yet should envelope themselves in the hair of beasts, and we ought to suppose that when Hesiod says:-- "Nor from the five-branched thing, on holy day, Cut with the steel the dry from green away," [paragraph continues] He teaches that people ought to make themselves clear from such things beforehand, and so keep the festival, not in the middle of the religious services to occupy themselves with the cleaning and the removal of excrementitious things. Again, the flax springs out of what is immortal, the earth, and produces an edible fruit, and furnishes a smooth and cleanly clothing, that does not weigh one down with the covering, and well-suited also to any season, and is least of all others apt to breed lice, as they say, concerning all which points there is another legend. V. The priests so greatly dislike the nature of excrementitious things, that they not only reject most kinds of pulse, and the flesh of sheep and swine, as producing much superfluity of nutriment, but during the fasts they even banish all salt from their meals, assigning many other reasons for so doing, and particularly that salt makes people more fond of drinking and of eating, by sharpening the appetite: for to consider, as Aristagoras pretends, that salt is not pure because multitudes of little insects are caught and die in it as it is congealing, is mere folly. They are said also to give the Apis drink out of a well of his own, but to keep [p. 5] him away from the Nile; not that they hold the Nile water to be polluted by reason of the crocodiles, as some think, for nothing is so venerated by Egyptians as the Nile, but because drinking the water of the Nile is supposed above all other to fatten, and produce corpulence; for they do not wish to have the Apis in such condition, nor themselves either, but to render their bodies active and lightly moved by their souls, and not to weigh down and crush the divine part by the mortal ones growing strong and preponderating. VI. As for wine, they that serve the god at Heliopolis, do not usually carry it into the temple, for the reason that it is not decent to drink when the Lord and King of day is looking on. The others use it indeed, but sparingly, and keep many fasts where wine is forbidden; during which they spend their time in arguing, learning, and seeking things pertaining to religion: but the kings used to drink a measured quantity, prescribed by the sacred books (as Hecataeus relates in his History), although they were also priests. They began to drink from the reign of Psammetichus, for before him they drank no wine, neither did they make libation of it as a thing acceptable to the gods, but as the blood of the gods' greatest enemies, out of whom they believe it sprung when they were fallen, and mingled with the earth, for which reason the being drunk makes men out of their senses and furious, inasmuch as they are then possessed by the authors of the blood. This story Eudoxus tells us in the second book of his "Travels," is so related by the priests. VII. As to sea fish, all do not abstain from every sort, but from some kinds only, as for instance, the natives of Oxyrynchites abstain from all that are caught with a hook; for worshipping as they do the fish called oxyrynchus, they are afraid that the hook may not be unpolluted in consequence of an oxyrynchus having been caught by the same. [p. 6] [paragraph continues] The Syennites abstain from eating the phagrus; for that fish is thought to make its appearance together with the swelling of the Nile, and to announce its rise to rejoicing people, showing itself as a self-sent herald. But the priests abstain from all fish alike, and when on the first day of the ninth month the Egyptians feast each one on broiled fish before his house door, the priests do not taste thereof, but burn fish to ashes in front of their own doors, assigning two reasons for this usage; the one of which being religious and important, and connected with the pious inquiry concerning Osiris and Typhon, I will take up again further on; the other, an obvious and ready explanation, making out fish to be an unnecessary and over-luxurious article of diet, agrees with Homer who represents neither the luxurious Phaeaceans, nor the Ithacans, although islanders; as making use of fish, nor yet the shipmates of Ulysses on so long a voyage and out at sea, before they were reduced to the extreme of want. And in fine, they (the priests) hold the sea to proceed from fire, and as distinct from all else; neither a part nor an element of nature but something of a different sort, both destructive and the occasion of disease. VIII. For nothing that is irrational or fabulous, or springing out of superstition (as some suppose), has been established in the religious rites but what has partly moral and salutary reasons, partly others not devoid of ingenuity in their bearings upon history and physics. For example, take the garlic (for the fable that Dictys, foster father of Isis, fell into the river and was lost as he was laying hold of some garlic is improbable to the last degree), but the priests entertain religious scruples about it and avoid and dislike the garlic, because this is the only plant that naturally grows and flourishes while the moon is on the wane; and it is suitable neither for persons keeping fast, nor holding festival, because it makes the one thirsty, [p. 7] the other to shed tears when they eat thereof. In the same way they hold the swine to be an unholy animal because it seems to copulate most of all when the moon is on the wane, and of those who drink its milk, the bodies break out into leprosies and itchey eruptions; for the legend which they repeat over it, when they sacrifice (once for all) and eat a swine at the new moon, namely, that Typhon was pursuing a swine by the light of the full moon, and so found the wooden coffer, in which lay the body of Osiris and scattered the pieces, is not accepted by all; for they hold this, like many other things, to belong to false traditions. But they say that those of old were so hostile to luxury, extravagance, and delicate living, that they relate there was a column set up in the Temple of Thebes containing a curse engraved thereon against King Mnevis, the first that drew away the Egyptians from their old way of living without voyaging, without money, and of primitive simplicity. It is further said that Technatis, father of Banchoreus, once when marching towards Arabia, when his table-service was behindhand, dined upon what food was procurable and afterwards slept soundly upon a mattress, and thus became enamoured of simple fare; and in consequence of this, uttered a curse upon Mnevis, and with the approval of the priests, set up a pillar publishing the anathema. IX. For the kings used to be elected out of either the sacerdotal or the military class, the latter enjoying dignity and honour on account of valour, the former on account of wisdom; but he that was elected out of the military class immediately became one of the priests, and was initiated into their wisdom, which was for the most part shrouded in fables and stories giving obscure indications and glimpses of the truth, as indeed they themselves half acknowledge by kindly setting up the Sphinxes in front of their temples, as though their religious teaching contained wisdom hidden [p. 8] in enigmas. And the shrine of Minerva at Sais (whom they consider the same with Isis) bears this inscription, "I am all that hath been, and is, and shall be; and my veil no mortal has hitherto raised." Furthermore, as most people believe that the proper name of Jupiter amongst the Egyptians is "Ammies" (which we corruptly call "Ammon"). Manetho the Sebennyte is of opinion that the "hidden" and "hiding" is expressed by this word. Hecataeus of Abdera says that the Egyptians use this word to one another, when they are calling anyone to them; for the word is one of calling to, for which reason the Supreme God (whom they consider the same with the All) they invoke as being hidden and invisible, and exhort him to make himself visible and apparent, and therefore call him "Amun": so great therefore was the piety of the Egyptians in their teaching respecting the gods. X. The wisest of the Greeks bear testimony to this, such as Solon, Thales, Plato, Eudoxus, Pythagoras (some say Lycurgus also), by their travelling into Egypt and conversing with the priests. Eudoxus, for example, they say, received lessons from Chonupheus of Memphis; Solon, from Sonchis of Sais; Pythagoras from Oenuphis of Heliopolis; and he being probably the most admired of these visitors, and himself admiring the people, copied their symbolical and mysterious style, and wrapped up his doctrines in enigmas; for the most part of the Pythagorean precepts do not fall short of the so-called hieroglyphic writings in obscurity; such, for instance, as, "Not to eat off a chair;" "Not to sit down upon a corn-measure;" "Not to plant a palm-tree;" "Not to stir the fire with a sword in the house." And I myself think that the fact that the men (of his sect) call the unit "Apollo," the two "Diana," the seven, "Minerva;" and "Neptune" the first Cube; is analogous to the things set up upon the temples, and in truth to those done and painted there. For the [p. 9] king and lord, Osiris, they represent by an eye and a sceptre, and some even interpret the name as "Many-eyed," the "os" signifying many, and the "iri," eye, in the Egyptian language: and Heaven, as being exempt from old age by reason of its eternity, by a heart with an altar of incense placed below it. And in Thebes there were dedicated statues of Judges wanting the hands: whilst that of the chief-judge had also the eyes closed, showing that Justice is above bribes, and not to be moved by prayer. The Military class had the beetle for device on signet, for the beetle is never female, but all are males, and they breed by depositing their seed [in balls of dung]; since they make these balls, not so much to provide material for food, as a place for propagation of their kind. XI. When therefore you shall hear the fables the Egyptians tell about the gods--their wanderings, cutting to pieces, and many such like mishaps you ought to bear in mind what has been above stated, and not to suppose that any of them happened or was done in the manner related. For they do not really call the dog "Hermes," but the animal's watchfulness, sleeplessness, and sagacity (for by knowledge and absence of knowledge it distinguishes between friend and foe, as Plato says) make it appropriate to the most sagacious of the gods: neither do they suppose that the sun rises as a new born child out of a lotus, but it is in this way they picture the rising of the sun, enigmatically expressing that the solar fire is derived from moisture. For that most savage and terrible King of the Persians, Ochus--who put many to death, and finally butchered Apis and dined upon him along with his friends--they styled "The Sword," and still call him by that name in the list of kings; that is not actually describing his person, but likening the hardness and wickedness of his disposition to an instrument of slaughter. In the same way must you hear the stories about the gods, and [p. 10] receive them from such as interpret mythology, in a reverent and philosophic spirit, both performing constantly and observing the established rites of the worship, and believing that no sacrifice nor act is more well pleasing to the gods, than is the holding the true faith with respect to them, so will you escape an evil no less great than Atheism, namely, Superstition. XII. The following myth is related in the briefest terms possible, divested of everything unnecessary and superfluous. They tell that the sun having discovered Rhea secretly copulating with Saturn, laid a curse upon her, that she should not bring forth a child in either month or year: that Hermes being in love with the goddess copulated with her; and afterwards playing at counters with the Moon and winning from her the seventieth part of each one of her lights, out of the whole composed five days, the which he added to the three hundred and sixty, which days now the Egyptians call "additional," and keep as the birthdays of the gods; that on the first of these was born Osiris, and that, a voice issued forth with him in the birth, that "the Lord of all is entering into light." But some relate that a certain Pamyle, when drawing water out of the Temple of Jupiter at Thebes, heard a voice ordering her to proclaim with a loud cry, "A great king, beneficent Osiris, is born," and for this cause she nursed Osiris, when Saturn put him into her hands; and also the festival "Pamylia," is celebrated in his honour, resembling in character the phallic processions. On the second was born Aroeris, whom some call Apollo, some the elder Horus. On the third Typhon, neither in due time, nor in the right place, but, breaking through with a blow, he leaped out through his mother's side. On the fourth was Isis born, in very wet places. On the fifth was Nephthys, the same as the " End," and " Venus," whom some call Victory. They say that Osiris was begotten by the Sun, as also [p. 11] [paragraph continues] Aroeris, by Hermes Isis, by Saturn Typhon and Nephthys; that Osiris and Isis fell in love with each other and copulated under the cloak of darkness in the womb; some say that in this manner was Aroeris begotten, and therefore is called by Egyptians, the elder Horus, by the Greeks, Apollo. XIII. That when Osiris reigned over the Egyptians he made them reform their destitute and bestial mode of living, showing them the art of cultivation, and giving them laws, and teaching them how to worship the gods. Afterwards he travelled over the whole earth, civilizing it; far from requiring arms, he tamed mankind through persuasion and reasoning joined with song of all kinds and music which he brought over; wherefore he is held by the Greeks to be the same with Bacchus. That Typhon, during his absence, did not rebel, because Isis was on her guard, and able to keep watch upon him vigorously; but after Osiris returned Typhon laid a plot against him, having taken seventy and two men into the conspiracy, and having for helper a queen coming out of Ethiopia, whom they call Aso. That she secretly measured the body of Osiris, and made to the size a handsome and highly ornamented coffer which he carried into the banqueting room. And as they were all delighted with its appearance and admired it; Typhon promised in sport that whoever should lie down within it, and should exactly fit, he would make him a present of the chest; and after the others had tried, one by one, and nobody fitted it; then Osiris got in, and laid himself down, thereupon the conspirators running up shut down the lid, and fastened it with spike-nails from the outside, and poured melted lead over them, and so carried it out to the River, and let it go down down the Tanaite branch into the sea: which branch on that account is hateful, and unlucky for Egyptians to name. These things are said to have been done on the 17th day of the month [p. 12] [paragraph continues] Athor, when the sun is passing through the Scorpion, Osiris then being in the eight and twentieth year of his reign. Some have it that he had lived, not reigned, such a time. XIV. The first to discover the mischief were the Pans and Satyrs inhabiting the country round Chemmis and to give intelligence [*1] about what had happened, whence the sudden terrors and fears of the multitude are to the present day called "panics." Isis on the news, sheared off one of her tresses, and put on a mourning robe, whence the city, even to the present day has the name of "Copto" (I beat the breast); but others think the name signifies bereavement, from "coptein" "to deprive." As she wandered about everywhere, not knowing what to do, she met no one without speaking to him, nay, even when she fell in with little children, she inquired of them about the coffer; these last chanced to have seen it, and told her the branch of the River through which Typhon's accomplices had let the chest drift into the sea. From this circumstance the Egyptians believe that little children possess the faculty of prophesy, and that especially the future is fore-shown by their cries when they are playing in the temple courts, and calling out whatever it may be. And having discovered that he (Typhon) had fallen in love and copulated with his sister, in ignorance, as Osiris had done with herself, and seeing the proof thereof in the garland of melilote flower which he had left behind him with Nephthys, she sought for the infant (for she had brought it forth at once, through her fear of Typhon), she found it at last with trouble and difficulty, through dogs guiding her to the place. This infant Isis nursed, and he grew up her guard and minister, being denominated Anubis; and said to watch for the gods just as dogs do for men. [p. 13] XV. Proceeding thence, she learnt by inquiry that the chest had been washed up by the sea at a place called Byblus, and that the surf had gently laid it under an Erica tree. This Erica, a most lovely plant, growing up very large in a very short time had enfolded, embraced, and concealed the coffer within itself. The king of the place being astonished at the size of the plant, and having cut away the clump that concealed the coffer from sight, set the latter up as a pillar to support his roof. They tell how Isis having learnt all this by the divine breath of fame, came to Byblus, and sitting down by the side of a spring all dejected and weeping spoke not a word to any other persons, but saluted and made friends of the maid servants of the queen, by dressing their hair for them, and infusing into their bodies a wonderful perfume out of herself; when the queen saw her maids again, she fell a longing to see the stranger, whose hair and whose body breathed of ambrosial perfume; and so she was sent for, becoming intimate with the queen, was made nurse of her infant. The king's name they say was Malacander, herself some call Astarte, others Sooses, others Neinanoe, who is the same with the Greek Athenais. XVI. Isis is said to have suckled the child by putting, instead of her nipple, her finger into his mouth, and by night she singed away the mortal parts of his body. She turned herself into a swallow and flew around the pillar until the queen watched her, and cried out when she saw her child all on fire, and so took away the boy's immortality. Then the goddess, manifesting herself, asked .or the pillar of the roof, and having removed it with the greatest ease, she cut away the Erica that surrounded it. This plant she wrapped up in a linen cloth, pouring perfume over it, and gave it in charge to the king; and to this day the people of Byblus venerate the wood, which is preserved in the temple of Isis. The coffin she clasped in [p. 14] her arms, and wailed so loud that the younger of the king's sons died of fright at it, the elder she took with her and putting the coffer on board a ship, put to sea; but when the river Phaedrus sent forth too rough a gale, she grew wrath, and dried up the stream. XVII. As soon as ever she obtained privacy, and was left by herself, having opened the coffer and laid her face upon the face of the corpse, she wailed and wept; but when the little boy observed this, and came up quietly from behind to spy, she perceived him, and turning round gave him a dreadful look in her rage, the child could not stand the fright, and died. Some say it was not so, but in the manner just stated he tumbled (in his fright) into the sea, but that he receives honours for the sake of the goddess, for the Maneros, whom the Egyptians sing about at their feasts, is this child. Others say that the boy is called Palaestinos, or Pelusios, and that the city was named after him, having been founded by the goddess. The Maneros that is sung about, they relate, first invented music. But some pretend "Maneros" is not the name a person, but an expression suited to people drinking and keeping holiday and signifying "May things of the sort come with good luck," for that the Egyptians exclaim this, each time, upon the Maneros being uttered; just as, indeed, the exhibition of a dead man in his coffin carried round at feasts is not a reminder of the mourning for Osiris, as some interpret it, but merely intended [*1] to warn one to make use of the present and enjoy it, as very soon they themselves shall be as he, which is why they bring it in to the feast. XVIII. But when Isis had gone to see her son Horus (who was at nurse in the city Buto), and had put the coffer away, Typhon being out a hunting by moonlight came upon it, and recognising the corpse, tore it into fourteen pieces, [p. 15] and scattered them abroad. Isis having heard of this, sought after the fragments, passing over the swamps in a papyrus boat; for which cause such as sail in papyrus boats are never injured by the crocodiles, because they either fear or respect the goddess, from this circumstance there are many places called "Tombs of Osiris" all over Egypt, because she, whenever she came upon a fragment of the body, there celebrated a funeral. Some deny this, but say that she made images and gave them to the several cities, giving them as the actual body, in order that they may receive honours from those sailing past, and that if Typhon should get the better of Horus, when searching for the real tomb he may be baffled, from many being so called and pointed out. Of the members of Osiris the only one Isis was unable to find was the genital member, for it had been thrown at first into the River, and lepidotus, phagrus, and oxyrynchus had fed upon it, which kinds of fish the natives scruple to eat above all others, and that Isis in its stead made a model and consecrated it, namely the phallus, in honour whereof the Egyptians hold a festival. XIX: Afterwards Osiris came from the shades to Horus, and trained and exercised him for war, and then asked him " What he thought the finest thing possible?" and when he replied " to avenge one's father and mother when ill treated;" he asked him secondly " what he considered the most useful animal to people going to battle?" and when Horus answered, "the horse," Osiris wondered at it and was puzzled why he said the horse instead of the lion. But when Horus explained that the lion indeed was serviceable to one standing in need of aid, but the horse can both save him that flees and also destroy the enemy: Osiris on hearing this was rejoiced at the supposition that Horus had provided himself with horses. And as numbers came over from time to time to the side of Horus, Typhon's concubine, Thucris by name, came also, and a serpent pursuing [p. 16] her was cut to pieces by the friends of Horus; and now in memory of this event, they throw down a rope in the midst of all, and chop it to pieces. The battle lasted for many days, and Horus vanquished, but Isis having received from him Typhon in chains, did not destroy, but on the contrary unbound and let him go free. This Horus did not endure with patience, but he laid hands on his mother, and pushed the crown off her head; whereupon Hermes placed a bull's skull upon her instead of helmet. And when Typhon brought a charge of illegitimacy against Horus, Hermes acting as his counsel, Horus was pronounced legitimate by the gods. After this Typhon was beaten in two other battles; and Isis conceived by Osiris copulating with her after death, [*1] and brought forth the prematurely born, and weak in his lower limbs, Harpocrates. XX. These are pretty nearly the heads of the legend, the most blasphemous parts being omitted; for example, about the dismemberment of Horus, and the decapitation of Isis, because if these things people believe and say concerning blessed and incorruptible natures (by whose medium the idea of the deity is mainly conceived) as having been really done, and really having happened to them--then, as Aeschylus hath it:-- "We must spit at the tale, and rinse the mouth:" and there is no more need of talking to you, in fact, you are yourself disgusted at people holding such absurd and uncivilized notions respecting the gods. Are not these things exactly like the fine-spun fables and empty tales that poets and story tellers, like spiders, breed out of themselves, without foundation from first to last, and weave and spread them out? Nevertheless, this history [p. 17] contains certain questions, and descriptions of real events; and in the same way as mathematicians say that the rainbow is the image of the sun, variously coloured through the reflection of the image upon the cloud, so the legend before us is a kind of reflection of a history reflecting the true meaning upon other things; as is shown forth by the sacrifices containing a representation of mourning and sadness; as also by the ground plan of the temples, in some parts spreading out into colonnades, and courts open to the sky and lightsome, in others having under ground hidden and dark galleries (like that at Thebes), and halls as well; and above all, by the belief of the Osiris worshippers, where his body is said to be deposited in several places at once. Abydos, perhaps, or the little town Memphis, they say, is celebrated for possessing the only true body: and that at Abydos are buried the rich and noble of the Egyptians, ambitious to share the burial place of Osiris' body, whilst in Memphis is kept the Apis, the "Image of the soul of Osiris," where his body also is said to lie. XXI. That city's name also some interpret as "Harbour of good things," others as "Tomb of Osiris;" but the "Nisbitane" placed close to the gates, is universally shunned and unapproachable, not even a bird perches upon it, nor a fish comes up to it; but at a particular season the priests cross over, and offer burnt offerings, and crown the monument which is overshadowed with the shrub called "methides," and exceeding in size any olive tree. But Eudoxus states that though there are many so-called Tombs in Egypt, yet that the true monument was erected at Busiris, for that that was the birthplace of Osiris; for thy; name "Taphosiris" requires no explanation since the name itself means "Tomb of Osiris." I approve of the chopping of wood, [*1] the cutting down of flax, the pouring out [p. 18] of libation, inasmuch as the generality of mystic rites are interspersed with these ceremonies, and not only the priests of this, but also of the other gods (that is of all that are not unborn and incorruptible) assert that their bodies are deposited with them, and are taken care of after their decease, but that their souls shine in heaven as stars; and that of Isis so called by the Greeks the Dog-star, but by the Egyptians Sothis; that of Horus, Orion, that of Typhon, the Bear, and towards the keep of the sacred animals, all the rest of Egypt pay an assessment, but the inhabitants of the Thebaid alone refuse to pay, because they do not hold with mortal deities; but with them whom they themselves call "Kneph," who is unborn and incorruptible. XXII. Since many places of the sort are called and shown as divine Tombs, those who suppose them to be in reality those of kings and tyrants (who by reason of their extraordinary merit, or power, had arrogated honours to themselves by the fame of their superhuman nature, and had afterwards shared the common lot), whose terrible or mighty deeds or fates are thus commemorated, such persons find a very easy evasion of the legend, and shift its indecency from the gods upon men; and they obtain support from the religious rites. For the Egyptians relate that Hermes had one arm bent so that it could not be straightened, that Typhon was red in complexion, Horus white, and that Osiris was black skinned--just as so many men born in the course of nature. Besides, they call a general "Osiris," and a pilot "Canopus" (after whom the star is named); also that the ship which the Greeks call the Argo, was the representation of the bark of Osiris, made a constellation of in his honour; and it moves along at no great distance from Orion anti the Dog-star, of which the Egyptians hold the one to be sacred to Horus, the other to Isis. [p. 19] XXIII. I am afraid that this is "moving things that ought not to be moved, and making war not only upon antiquity" (as Simonides hath it), but upon many tribes and families of man, possessed with veneration for these particular deities, when people let nothing alone, but transfer these great names from the heavens to the earth, and do their best to eradicate and destroy (or nearly so) the respect and faith implanted in men from their infancy, and opening a wide door to the atheistical sort, [*1] and also to him that humanizes the gods, and giving a splendid opportunity to the deceptions of Evemerus, the Messenian, who, by composing treatises upon his false and unfounded mythology, disseminated atheism all over the world, reducing all deities alike to the names of generals, admirals, and kings, pretended to have flourished in old times; transcribing all this forsooth from the inscriptions in letters of gold set up at Panchon which said inscriptions no foreigner nor Greek, save Evemerus alone, as it seems, has met with, when he made his voyage to the Panchoans and Triphyllans, people that never were, nor are, in any part of the globe. XXIV. And yet great exploits are sung amongst Assyrians, namely those of Semiramis, and great in Egypt those of Sesostris; the Phrygians even to this day call splendid exploits "Manic," on account of Manis, one of their ancient kings, having been good and powerful amongst them, whom some also call "Masdes." [*2] Cyrus led the Persians, Alexander the Macedonians, conquering as they went, to all but the utmost limits of the world; they nevertheless have the name and the memory of good kings (not of gods); and if some few, puffed up with vanity, as Plato says, "with souls inflamed by youth and ignorance," [p. 20] have out of insolence assumed the style of gods, and the dedication of temples in their honour, yet their glory has flourished but a brief space, and thereafter they incurred the charge of vanity and arrogance, coupled with that of impiety and transgression of law:-- "Raised up like smoke, they quickly fell to earth:" And now like fugitives that can be arrested, they are dragged out from their temples and altars, they keep nothing but their names and tombs. On which account, Antigonus the Elder, when a certain Hermodatus, in his verses, compared him to the Sun, and styled him a god, replied, "The carrier of my night-stool has not so good an opinion of me"; and with reason did Lysippus, the sculptor, censure Apelles, the painter, because in painting Alexander's portrait he had put a thunderbolt into his hand, whereas he himself had put a spear, the glory of which no time shall efface, inasmuch as it is genuine and appropriate. XXV. Do they, therefore, better, who believe the legends told about Typhon, Osiris, and Isis, not to refer to either gods or men, but to certain great Powers (daemons), whom Plato, Pythagoras, Xenocrates, and Chrysippus (following the ancient theologians) assert to have been created far stronger than men, and greatly surpassing our nature in power, but yet having the divine part not entirely unmixed nor unalloyed, but combined with the nature of the soul and the senses of the body, susceptible of pleasure and pain, and all other emotions the result of these, that by their vicissitudes disturb, some in a greater, others in a less degree; for, in that case, as amongst men, so amongst daemons, exist degrees of virtue and of vice. For the deeds of the Giants and Titans, sung of by the Greeks, certain atrocious actions of Saturn, the pitched battle between Python and Apollo, the flight of Bacchus, the [p. 21] wanderings of Ceres do not fall short in absurdity of the legends about Osiris and Typhon, and the others that one may hear told by mythologists to any amount--all the things that are shrouded in mystic ceremonies, and are presented by rites, being kept secret and out of sight from the vulgar, and have a shape similar to those mentioned of the Egyptians. XXV. We also hear Homer perpetually styling the surpassingly good, "godlike," and "equal to gods," and-- ... " having from gods their sense:" whereas he applies the epithet derived from daemons indifferently to good and bad:-- "Approach Daemonian; wherefore fearest thou so--The Argives?" And again-- "When like a daemon the fourth time he charged:" "O daemon-like! what harm hath Priam done thee, Or Priam's race, that thus thou aye should strive The beauteous town of Troy from earth to raze?" [paragraph continues] As though the daemons had a mixed and inconsistent nature and disposition. For which reason Plato attributes to the Olympian gods all things ingenious and extraordinary; but the opposite of these to daemons; and Xenocrates thinks that the unlucky days of the month, and whatever festivals are accompanied with stripes and blows, abusive or obscene language, have nothing to do with honouring the gods or good daemons: but that there are certain Powers of Nature existing in the circumambient air, great and strong indeed, but malignant and ill-tempered, who take delight in such things, and if they obtain them, betake themselves to nothing worse. But the good ones, on the contrary, Hesiod styles "pure daemons," and "guardians of men";-- "Givers of wealth; and with such royal power." [p. 22] [paragraph continues] And Plato terms this species "Hermeneutic" and "Daemonean," a middle class between gods and men, conveying up thither vows and prayers from mankind, and bringing down from thence to earth prophesies and gifts of things good. Empedocles even asserts that daemons suffer punishment for their sins both of commission and omission:-- "Celestial wrath pursues them down to sea; Sea spits them out on earth: earth to the rays Of Sol unweared: he to the eddying air Sends back the culprits; each receives in turn, And all alike reject the hateful crew:" until having been thus chastened and purified, they obtain once more their natural place and position. XXVII. Akin to these and suchlike stories are, they say, the legends told concerning Typhon; how that he committed dreadful crimes out of envy and spite, and by throwing all things into confusion he filled with evils all the land and sea as well, and finally was punished for it. But the avenger of Osiris, his Sister and Wife, who extinguished and put a stop to the madness and fury of Typhon; did not forget the contests and struggles she had gone through, nor yet her own wanderings, nor did she suffer oblivion and silence to envelope [*1] her many deeds of wisdom, many feats of courage, but by intermingling with the most sacred ceremonies, images, hints, and representations of her sufferings of yore, she consecrated at one and the same time, both lessons of piety and consolation in suffering for men and women when overtaken by misfortune. And she, together with Osiris, having been translated from the rank of good daemons up to that of gods, by means of their virtue (as later was done with Hercules and Bacchus) receive, not inappropriately, the united honours of gods and of daemons everywhere, both in the regions [p. 23] above earth, and in those under ground, possessing the supreme power, for they say that Serapis is no other than Pluto, and Isis Proserpine, as Archemoros of Euboea has asserted; as also Heraclitus of Pontas, when he supposes the Oracle at Canopas to belong to Pluto. XXVIII. Ptolemy Soter beheld in a dream the Colossus of Pluto at Sinope, (though he had not before known nor seen what it was in appearance,) ordering him to bring it as soon as possible to Alexandria; and when he was ignorant and at a loss as to where the statue then stood, and was relating the vision to his friends, there was found a man, a great traveller, by name Sosibius, that declared he had seen at Sinope just such a Colossus as the king had dreamt he saw. He therefore despatched Soteles and Dionysius, who after much time and with difficulty (not, however, without divine aid) stole and brought away the statue. And when it was brought and seen, then Timotheus, the interpreter, and Manetho, the Sebennite, and their fellows, conjecturing that it was a figure of Pluto (drawing this conclusion from the Cerberus and the Serpent), made Ptolemy believe that it is of no other god, but of Serapis, for it did not come bearing such a name from the other place, but after it had been brought to Alexandria, it got the name that Pluto bears amongst the Egyptians, namely, Serapis. And seeing that Heraclitus, the natural philosopher, asserts that "Hades and Dionysos are the same person, when they are infuriated and rave," they (the Egyptians) slip unconsciously into the same belief. For such as explain that Hades means the Body, because the Soul is as it were out of its senses, and drunken, [*1] when confined therein, such people are too far fetched in their interpretation. It is better, therefore, to connect Osiris with Bacchus, and Serapis with Osiris, for [p. 24] the latter obtained this appellation after he had changed his nature, [*1] inasmuch as Serapis is common [*2] to all, in the same way as such as have partaken of the sacred rites know that Osiris is. XXIX. For it is not worth while paying any attention to the Phrygian sacred books, wherein it is said that Serapis [*3] was the daughter of Hercules, and Typhon, son of Isaicus, son of..., nor yet to avoid treating Phylarchus with contempt for saying that Bacchus first brought two oxen out of India to Egypt; the name of one of which was Apis, of the other Osiris. For Serapis is the name of Him who puts in order the universe (pan), joined to "sairein" which some say means "to beautify and arrange." [*4] For these remarks of Phylarchus are absurd; yet far more absurd the opinion of such as say Serapis is no god at all, but the coffin of Apis is so called: [*5] (they also talk of certain brazen doors at Memphis, named the "Doors of Oblivion and Wailing," which when they bury Apis utter a deep and harsh sound, for which reason [we are forbidden] to touch any sounding vessel of brass.) More endurable is the explanation of such as derive it from "stimulating (seuesthai) the motion of the universe. But the most part of the priests say that "Osiris" and "Apis" are united into the same word, for they explain and inform us that we ought to consider the Apis as a beautiful image of the soul of Osiris. But for my part, if the name of Serapis is really Egyptian, and I think it signifies Cheerfulness and Rejoicing, founding my conjecture on the fact that the Egyptians call the festival of Rejoicing, [p. 25] [paragraph continues] "Sai rei," in fact Plato says that Hades [*1] is so named as the "Son of Respectfulness," and a god benevolent to such as dwell with him; and amongst the Egyptians many other of the names (of gods) are significant words; also that subterraneous place whither they believe the souls go after death, they call "Amenthen," the name signifying "that which gives and takes," But whether this be one of the names carried out of Greece in ancient times, and brought back again, we will consider further on; at present it is our business to go through the remaining parts of this belief. XXX. Osiris and Isis passed from the rank of good daemons to that of deities; but the power of Typhon although dimmed and crushed, and still, as it were, in the last agony and convulsions, they nevertheless propitiate and soothe by means of certain sacrifices: but occasionally they humiliate and insult him at certain festivals, when they abuse red haired men and tumble an ass down a precipice; for example this is done by the people of Memphis, because Typhon was red haired, and like an ass in complexion. The people of Busiris and Lycopolis do not use trumpets at all because they make a sound like the ass: and altogether, they regard the ass as an unclean and daemon-like animal on account of his resemblance to that personage: they make cakes also at the sacrifice of the month Payni and of Phaophi, and print upon them for device an ass tied. And at the sacrifice to the Sun, they enjoin those that worship this god, not to wear upon the person ornaments of gold, [*2] nor to give food to an ass. The Pythagoreans, too, prove that they regard Typhon as a daemonic Power, for they say in perfect measure that Typhon was born on the fifty-sixth; and again that the [p. 26] [paragraph continues] (figure) of the Triangle belongs to Pluto, Bacchus and Mars; that of the Tetragon to Rhea, Venus, Ceres, Vesta, and Juno; that of the Dodecagon to Jove; but that of the Fifty-six sided figure to Typhon--as Eudoxus hath related. XXXI. The Egyptians, believing that Typhon was born with red hair, dedicate to sacrifice the red coloured oxen, and make the scrutiny so close that if the beast should have even a single black or white hair, they consider it unfit for sacrifice; because such beast, offered for sacrifice, is not acceptable to the gods, but the contrary (as is) whatsoever has received the souls of unholy and unjust men, that have migrated into other bodies. For which reason they heap curses on the head of the victim, cut it off, and formerly used to throw it into the River, but nowadays they sell it to foreigners. But the ox intended for sacrifice, those of the priests entitled "Sealers" used to seal: the signet bearing (as Castor relates) an engraving of a man forced down on his knees, with hands twisted round upon his back, having a sword placed against his throat. [*1] The ass has got the credit of this resemblance [to Typhon] as they think, on account of his stupidity and unruliness, as well as his colour; for which reason as they detest Ochus especially of the Persian Kings, as sacrilegious and polluted, they surnamed him "the Ass," and he replying, "The Ass shall feast upon your Bull," he slaughtered the Apis, as Dinon tells us. But those who say that Typhon made his flight out of the battle during seven days upon an ass; and after escaping begot Hierosolymus and Judaeus--these are discovered by that very fact to be lugging the Jewish history into the legend. XXXII. These things, then, afford grounds for the explanations above advanced. Let us start afresh, and consider the most straightforward expositions; that is to say, those who are reputed to treat the subject in a more philosophic [p. 27] manner. These are such as pretend, like the Greeks, that Saturn symbolizes Time, Juno the Air, the birth of Vulcan, the change of Air into Fire; and similarly amongst the Egyptians, that Osiris is the Nile, copulating with Isis the Earth; Typhon, the Sea, into which the Nile flowing vanishes and is dispersed, except as much part as the earth has taken from him and received, and becomes productive thereby. There is, too, a religious lament made over Saturn, and it laments "him that is born in the left region, and that dies in the right." For the Egyptians hold that the Eastern parts are the face of the World, the Northern its right hand, the Southern its left. The Nile, therefore, flowing from the North, and in the South swallowed up by the sea, is as reasonably said to have his birth in the left hand region, and his death in the right. On which account the priests abominate the sea, and call salt "the foam of Typhon," and it is one of their prohibitions, "Not to put salt upon the table," and they do not speak to mariners, nor make use of the sea, and they keep the ox away from the sea, and from this cause principally do they reject fish, and write up "Hate fish." At any rate, at Sais, in the forecourt of the temple of Minerva, there was sculptured a child, an old man, after this a hawk, next, a fish, and at the end of all, a river-horse, and it signifies symbolically, "O ye that are coming into life, and ye that are going out of it [The Deity abhors impudence] [*1] ... for the reason [they put the] old man .. . By the hawk they mean God, by the fish, hatred, on account of the sea, as has been above stated; by the river horse, impudence, for that beast is reported to kill its sire, and copulates forcibly with its dam: and the saying of the Pythagoreans that the sea is Saturn's tears, seed, may seem to imply the impurity and unsociable nature of the same element. [p. 28] XXXIII. Let these stories then be told by foreigners, since they offer an explanation within everybody's reach; but the more learned among the priests do not only call the Nile, "Osiris," and the sea, "Typhon," but give the name of Osiris generally to every Principle and Power productive of moisture; regarding this as the cause of generation and the essence of seed. "Typhon" they call everything dry, fiery, dessicative, and antagonistic to moisture; for which reason as they believe him to have been red skinned and yellowish in person, they do not very willingly meet, or converse with pleasure with people having such a complexion; on the other hand they fable that Osiris was black-coloured because all water blackens earth, clouds, and garments, when mingled therewith; and in young people the presence of moisture renders the hair black, whereas greyness is, as it were, a growing pale, that by reason of dessication, comes upon them who are past their prime. The Spring too is flourishing, generative, and agreeable; but Autumn through the deficiency of moisture is both injurious to plants, and pestilential to animals. And the Ox that is kept at Heliopolis, which they call Mnevis (sacred to Osiris, and which some believe to be the sire of the Apis) [*1] is black, and receives secondary honours to those paid to Apis. Besides, Egypt which is of a black soil to the highest degree, as well as the black part of the eye, they call "Chemia," [*2] and compare it to a heart, for it is hot and moist, and is chiefly inclosed and annexed to the southern parts of the habitable world, in the same manner as the heart is in the left hand parts of man. XXXIV. The Sun and the Moon they symbolize as [p. 29] using not chariots but boats for vehicles in performing their courses, expressing allegorically their nourishment and origin from moisture: and they think that Homer, like Thales, had learnt from the Egyptians to lay down that Water was the beginning and origin of all things, for that his ocean is Osiris, and his Tethys Isis, as nursing, and helping to breed up all things. For the Greeks call the emission of seed apoysia, and copulation synoysia; and yios from ydur and ysai, and Bacchus they entitle "gys," as being lord of the moist principle, he being no other than Osiris, in fact Hellenicus has put down that he heard Osiris called Ysiris by the priests; and he persists in so denominating that god, probably on account of his nature, and his invention. XXXV. That indeed he is the same with Bacchus, who is more fitted to know than yourself, Clea, you who have headed the Bacchanals at Delphi, and have been initiated into the rites of Osiris, ever since your childhood? But if for the sake of other people we must produce testimony, let us put on one side the things not to be revealed; but the ceremonies the priests perform in public when they are conveying the body on a raft, at the burial of the Apis, differ in nothing from the Bacchanalea; for they tie fawn-skins about them, and carry thyrsi, and make shoutings and motions like those possessed with the divine frenzy in honour of Bacchus; for which cause many of the Greeks represent Dionysos in the form of a Bull in his images; and the women of the Eleians when praying, exhort the "god with the bull's foot," to come to them. The Argives too have a Bacchus by title the "Bull-born;" and they call him up out of water by the sound of trumpets, casting into the deep pool as offerings to the "Pylaochus." The trumpets they conceal within the thyrsi as Socrates has described it in his treatise on Rituals. The Titanic also and Nyctelean rites are of the same kind with [p. 30] the fabled tearing to pieces of the body of Osiris, his re-turnings to life, and his new births; and, similarly, the stories about his burials. For the Egyptians, as already stated, show Tombs of Osiris in many places; and the Delphians believe that the relics of Bacchus are deposited with themselves by the side of the Oracle: [*1] and their "Holy Ones" offer a secret sacrifice in the Temple of Apollo at what time the Bacchantes waken up "Him of the winnowing fan." And that the Greeks hold Bacchus for lord and leader not only of the wine but of the whole element of Moisture, Pindar is sufficient testimony where he says, "May Bacchus that rejoiceth greatly in trees and pastures, augment the pure light of Autumn," for which reason it is forbidden to those that worship Osiris to destroy any cultivated tree, or to stop up any spring of water. XXXVI. For not the Nile only, but all moisture in general they call the "Issue of Osiris," and the water vase always leads the procession of the priests in honour of the god, and by the figure of a fig-leaf they represent a king, and the Southern quarter of the world; and the fig-leaf is interpreted as the watering and stimulation of all things, and it is supposed to resemble in its shape the organ of generation. And when they celebrate (as already stated) the feast of Pamylia, which is a phallic one, they expose and carry about an image of which the genital member is thrice the natural size; for the god is the Final Cause, and every Final Cause multiplied by generation a function, that which proceeds from itself: and for "often" we are accustomed to say "thrice," for example "thrice-happy," and-- "Three times as many chains, without an end." [paragraph continues] Unless perhaps, this triplication of the member was understood by the ancients in its strict sense; inasmuch as the [p. 31] moist Principle being the Final Cause and origin of all things, has produced from the beginning the three first elements, Earth, Air, Fire. For the tale that is tacked on to the myth, how that Typhon threw away the genital member of Osiris into the River, and that Isis could not find it, but deposited and prepared a model of the same, ordaining that people should honour it and carry the phallus about--all this permits us to infer that the generative and seminal power of the god had first for materials moisture, and by means of moisture was mixed up with the things fitted by Nature to participate in birth. There is another legend of the Egyptians that Apopis, being brother of the Sun, made war upon Jupiter, and that Jupiter adopted for son Osiris who had assisted him, and had brought the war to an end along with him, and surnamed him Bacchus. Of this legend the fabulous character can be shown to contain a touch of truth as regards natural history. For the Egyptians give the name of Jupiter to the breath, [*1] to which everything dry and fiery is antagonistic. This latter element is not the Sun, but has a certain affinity to the Sun; now moisture quenching the excess of dryness, augments and strengthens the exhalations by means of which the wind is nourished and made vigorous. XXXVII. And, moreover, the Greeks consecrate the ivy to Bacchus, and amongst the Egyptians it is called "Kenosiris," the name signifying (as they say) the "plant of Osiris"--Ariston, therefore, who wrote the "Colonies of the Athenians," met with an epistle of Alexarchus (a writer without any knowledge of the subject) in which it is related that Bacchus, being son of Isis, was not called "Osiris" by the Egyptians, but "Arsaphes" (in his First Book), this name signifying manliness. Hermaeus, too, declares the same thing in his First Book "Upon the [p. 32] [paragraph continues] Egyptians," for he says that Osiris" interpreted is "weighty." I pass by Mnaseas who identifies with Epaphus both Bacchus, Osiris, and Serapis; I also pass over Anticlidas who, says that Isis was daughter of Prometheus, and consort of Bacchus--for the above-stated peculiarities in the sacrifices and ceremonies carry with them proof more convincing than any testimony. XXXVIII. Of the stars, they hold Sirius to be Isis' Water-carrier, they honour the Lion, and decorate the gateways of temples with gaping lions' heads, because the Nile swells:-- "When first the Sun doth with the Lion join." [paragraph continues] And as they hold and believe the Nile the issue of Osiris, so do they regard the earth as the body of Isis: not indeed the whole earth but just as much as the Nile inundates, fecundating and mingling with it; for from the union they beget Horus. Horus is that which preserves and nourishes all thing, namely the Seasons and the regulator of the circumambient air; and they tell that he was nursed by Leto in the marshes round Buto, because the watery and thoroughly soaked earth chiefly nurses the exhalations that quench and relax the dryness and drought of the air. "Nephthys" they call the remotest parts and boundaries of the land, and those contiguous to the sea; for which reason they style Nephthys the "end," and say that she is the consort of Typhon. And when the Nile rising beyond the usual height, and growing great, approaches on the opposite side towards the extremities of the country, they call this the copulation of Osiris with Nephthys, which is betrayed by the springing up of plants; amongst which is the melilote, by which flowers having fallen off and been left behind (by Osiris) Typhon made the discovery of the injury done to his bed: from which same copulation [p. 33] [paragraph continues] Isis indeed conceived Horus legitimately, but Nephthys had Anubis, a bastard. However, in the "Successions of the Kings" they record that Nephthys, being married to Typhon, was at first barren, and if they tell this not of a woman, but of a goddess, they express enigmatically that the entire extent of the country was unproductive, and bore no crops from barrenness. XXXIX. The conspiracy and tyranny of Typhon means the power of drought getting the better of, and destroying the moisture that both generates and augments the Nile: and his helper, the Queen of the Ethiopians, signifies the south winds from Ethiopia; for when these prevail over the Etesian winds (which drive the clouds towards Ethiopia), and hinder them from dissolving into rains and swelling the Nile, then does Typhon take possession and burn; and at that time he has completely mastered the Nile, which through weakness is contracted and shrunk up within itself; and drives it out, hollow and humble, into the sea: for the shutting up of Osiris in the coffer probably means nothing else than the concealment and disappearance of the water: for which reason they say that Osiris vanished in the month Athyr, at which time, the Etesian winds having entirely ceased, the Nile recedes, and the country is laid bare, and night lengthening, darkness is increased, and the power of light wastes away and is subdued, and the priests also perform other dismal rites, and cover a gilt ox with a black veil of linen; and so exhibit it in mourning for the goddess (for they consider the ox as the animated image of Osiris) for four consecutive days, beginning with the seventeenth. For the things mourned for are four in number: first, the Nile failing and shrinking; secondly, the Northerly breezes entirely extinguished through the Southerly getting the upper hand; thirdly, the day growing shorter than the night; and in addition to all this, the exposure of the [p. 34] land, coupled with the stripping of the trees, which cast their leaves at that very time. But on the nineteenth at night they go down to the sea, and the "Dressers" and priests bring out the sacred coffer containing a little golden ark, into which they take and pour water from the river, and a shout is raised by the assistants, as though Osiris had been found: next, they knead garden earth with this water, and mingling therewith frankincense and precious spices, they model a little image in the shape of the Moon, and this they robe and decorate, expressing thereby that they hold these deities to be the Principles of Earth and Water. XL. But when Isis has recovered Osiris, and is making Horus grow, strengthened by means of exhalations clouds and mists, Typhon has been conquered indeed, but not destroyed, because the goddess of the Earth hath not suffered the Principle opposed to moisture to be entirely exterminated, but she lowered and slackened the same, wishing that the mixture might still continue: inasmuch as it was not possible for the world to be complete if the fiery principle failed and were exterminated, and if all this is not told in so many words, yet one may not reasonably regret the story that Typhon of old conquered the party of Osiris. For Egypt was once sea; for which cause many places in the mines and in the mountains are found to contain shells to the present day; and all springs, and wells, whereof there are many, have their water brackish and bitter; as though being a stale remnant of the former sea which had collected there. But in time, Osiris got the better of Typhon; that is a good season of rains having cone on the Nile drove off the sea, and brought to light the flat ground, and filled up the same with its alluvial deposits: a thing that has for it the testimony of our senses: for we see even now that through the River's perpetually bringing down fresh mud, and adding on the [p. 35] land, the deep water gradually recedes, and the sea runs back, in consequence of the bottom rising up through the alluvial deposit: and the Pharos which Homer knew as distant a day's sail from Egypt, is new a part thereof: not that the island itself has grown larger, or come nearer, but because the sea has retreated through the river's forming and making the mainland to grow. This however is of the same kind with the theological theories of the Stoics, for they too say that the generative and nutritive spirit is Bacchus; the impulsive and separative, Hercules; the receptive, Ammon; Ceres and Proserpine, that which pervades the earth and her fruits; and Neptune that pervading the sea. XLI. But such as mix with these physical doctrines others derived from astrology and the mathematics, think that Typhon signifies the solar world, and Osiris the Lunar: for that the moon having her light of a fertilising and more watery nature is favourable to the breeding of animals and the growing of plants: but that the sun is ordained with his unmitigated light to heat and parch up things that grow up and flourish, and to render the great part of the earth utterly uninhabitable through his blazing, and also to get the better of the Moon herself. For which reason the Egyptians always call Typhon "Seth," [*1] which signifies that which tyrannises, and which forcibly constrains, and they fable that Hercules resides in the Sun, and travels about with him, but Hermes does the same with the Moon; for the effects of the Moon resemble the actions of reason, and those dictated by wisdom; whereas those of the Sun are like strokes brought to pass through violence and force, and the Stoics say that the Sun is set on fire, and derives his nutriment from the sea, whereas to the Moon the fountain [p. 36] and lacustrine waters send up a sweet and gentle exhalation. XLII. On the seventeenth day of the month took place, as the Egyptians fable, the death of Osiris, on which day the full Moon being completed becomes most conspicuous: on which account the Pythagoreans call that day "Antiphraxis," (precaution); and generally abominate that particular number, for sixteen being a square number and eighteen having sides of unequal length which alone of the integral numbers have the peculiarity of possessing external measurements equal to the areas contained by them, [*1] the seventeen intruding hedges off and disjoins them from one another, and distracts the proportion of one to eight, because it is itself cut up into unequal parts. The number of years that some say Osiris lived, others that he reigned, was eight-and-twenty: for just so many are the lights of the moon, and for so many days doth she revolve about her circle. By the wood they cut down at the so-called burials of Osiris, and construct therewith a crescent-shaped coffer, they signify that the Moon when she approaches the Sun, becomes crescent-shaped and hides herself: and the tearing up of Osiris into fourteen parts they interpret of the days during which the luminary wanes after full moon, until the new moon, and the day when she first appears after escaping the brightness of, and passing by the Sun, they style "Imperfect Good"; for Osiris is a doer of good, and his name signifies many things, but especially, as they say, "the power that is active and beneficial"; and the other name of Osiris, namely, "Ompis" means, according to Hermaeus, by interpretation "Benefactor." [p. 37] XLIII. For they are of opinion that to the lights of the Moon the risings of the Nile bear a certain analogy: for the greatest rising, that about Elephantine, is of eight-and-twenty cubits, the same in number as the lights and measures of her monthly revolutions, the lowest, around Mendes and Xois, is of six cubits, analogous to her half-quartering; and the mean, that round Memphis, when it is of the regular height, is fourteen cubits, corresponding to the full moon. Apis, they say, is the animated image of Osiris, and he is conceived when a generative light falls strongly from the Moon, and touches a cow that is in heat; for which cause many of the decorations of Apis resemble the appearances of the Moon; for he blackens over his shining parts with dusky robes, because it is on the new moon of the month Phamenath that they hold the festival, called by them "the Entrance of Osiris into the Moon"; being the commencement of spring. Thus they place the power of Osiris within the Moon, and say that Isis, being cause of his birth is also his consort. On this account they call the Moon the Mother of Saturn, and hold that she is of hermaphrodite nature, for she is filled and impregnated by the Sun, and again she emits and disseminates in the air generative principles: for that she doth not always express the mischief wrought by Typhon; but being after conquered by the birth, and bound thereby, she nevertheless emerges again and fights her way through to Horus: this latter is the universe surrounding the earth, which is not entirely exempt either from generation or destruction. XLIV. Some make an allegory out of the rule of the eclipses, for the Moon is eclipsed at her full, when the Sun holds the station opposite to her when she falls into the shadow of the earth, in the same way as they tell Osiris did into the coffer; and she herself, upon the thirtieth conceals and puts out of sight, yet does not altogether destroy, [p. 38] the Sun, as neither did Isis Typhon. And when Nephthys conceives Anubis, Isis adopts him, for Nephthys signifies what is under the earth and invisible; Isis, what is above ground and visible; and the circle touching these, called the Horizon, and common to both, has been named Anubis, and is figured as a dog; for the dog has the use of his sight both by night and by day; and Anubis appears to have the same office with the Egyptians that Hermes has with the Greeks, being both infernal and celestial. Some, however, think that Anubis signifies Time, wherefore as he brings forth all things out of himself, and conceives all things within himself, he gets the title of Dog. Besides, the votaries of Anubis celebrate a certain mystery, [*1] and in old times the dog enjoyed the highest honours in Egypt. But when Cambyses had slain the apis and cast him out, nothing approached, or tasted of the carcase, except the dog, so he lost his place of the first, and the most honoured of all the other animals. And there are some that think he is the shadow of the earth into which the Moon passes when she is eclipsed, and they call him Typhon. XLV. From all which, it is not unreasonable to conclude that no one singly says what is right, and that all collectively do so; for it is neither drought, nor wind, nor the sea, nor darkness, but generally every hurtful and mischievous part that earth contains, which belongs to Typhon. For we must not place the principles of the all in lifeless bodies, as do Democritus and Epicurus: nor yet assume as modeller of untreated matter, one Reason and one Providence, like the Stoics, that prevails over and subdues all things: for it is impossible that anything at all, whether bad or good, should exist, where God is cause of nothing. For the harmony of the universe is reciprocal, like that [p. 39] of a lyre or bow, according to Heraclitus, and according to Euripides:-- "Evil and good cannot occur apart; There is a mixture to make all go well." [paragraph continues] Consequently this is a most ancient notion, that comes down from theologians and lawgivers to poets and philosophers, which has its origin unattributed, but the belief therein strong and not to be effaced, not consisting in words and reports, but in ceremonies and sacrifices, of Barbarians and Greeks alike, and diffused in many places, that neither is the Universe without mind, without reason, and without guidance, and tossed about at random, nor yet is there One Reason that rules and directs all things as it were, by a rudder and by guiding reins, [*1] but that there are many such directors, and made up out of good and bad; or rather, to speak generally, inasmuch as Nature produces nothing unmixed here below, it is not one Dispenser that like a retail dealer mixes together things for us out of two vessels and distributes the same, [*2] but it is from two opposite Principles and two antagonistic Powers; the one guiding us to the right hand and along the straight road, the other upsetting and rebuffing us, that Life becomes of a mixed nature; and also the Universe (if not the whole, yet that which surrounds Earth, and lies below the Moon), is made inconsistent with itself, and variable and susceptible of frequent changes. For if nothing can happen without cause, and good cannot furnish cause for evil, it follows that the nature of Evil, as of Good, must have an origin and principle of its own. XLVI. And this is the opinion of most men, and those [p. 40] the wisest, for they believe, some that there are Two Gods, as it were of opposite trades--one the creator of good, the other of bad things; others call the better one "God," the other "Daemon," as did Zoroaster the Magian, who, they record, lived 5,000 years before the Trojan War. He therefore calls the former "Oromazes," the latter "Arimanios;" and furthermore explains that of all the objects of sense, the one most resembles Light, the other Darkness, and Ignorance; and that Mithras is between the two, for which reason the Persians call Mithras the "Mediator," and he [Zoroaster] taught them to offer sacrifice of vows and thanksgiving to the one, of deprecation and mourning to the other. For they bruise a certain herb called "omoine" in a mortar and invoke Hades and Darkness, and mixing it with the blood of a wolf they have sacrificed, they carry away and throw it into a place where the Sun never comes, for of plants they believe some to belong to the good God, others to the evil Daemon; and similarly of animals, dogs, birds, and land hedgehogs belong to the Good, but to the Bad One water rats, for which reason they hold happy men that have killed the greatest number of such things. XLVII. They too, nevertheless, tell many fabulous stories concerning their gods--for example, the following: that Oromazes sprang out of the purest Light, but Arimanios out of Darkness; they wage war upon each other. Oromazes created six gods, the first of Goodwill, the second of Truth, the third of Order, of the rest one of Wisdom, one of Wealth, one of Pleasure in things beautiful. [*1] The other God created, as it were, opponents to these deities, equal in number. Then Oromazes, having augmented himself threefold, severed from the Sun as much space as the Sun is distant from Earth, and adorned the heavens with stars; and one star he appointed before all for guard [p. 41] and look out, namely Sirius. And having created four-and-twenty other gods, he shut them up in an egg; but those made by Arimanios, being as many as they, pierced the egg that had been laid, and so the bad things were mixed up with the good. But a time appointed by fate is coming, in which Arimanios having brought on famine and pestilence must needs be destroyed by the same and utterly vanish; when the earth becoming plain and level there shall be one life and one government of men, all happy and of one language. Theopompus says that, according to the Magi, one of the Gods shall conquer, the other be conquered, alternately for 3,000 years; for another 3,000 years they shall fight, war, and undo one the works of the other; but in the end Hades shall fail, and men shall be happy, neither requiring food nor constructing shelter: whilst the God who hath contrived all this is quiet and resting himself for a time, for that God may well slumber, but not long, like as a man reposing for a moderate space. The religious system of the Magi is of the aforesaid character. XLVIII. The Chaldeans hold that the gods belong to the planets, of whom two they call "doers of good," two "makers of evil;" the other three they describe as intermediate and neutral. But the notions of the Greeks are, I suppose, plain enough to every one, for they make the good part that of the Olympian Jove, that of the hostile deity they give to Hades; and they fable that Harmony was the child of Venus and Mars, of whom the one is cruel and quarrelsome, the other gentle, and presiding over birth. Consider too the philosophers that side with them, for Heraclitus directly calls Mars, father, lord, and ruler of all things; and says that Homer, when he prays that "Perish Contention, both from gods and men," forgets that he is cursing the origin of all things, inasmuch [p. 42] as they derive their origin from contention and antipathy, and the Sun will not overpass his appointed limits, otherwise: "The avenging tongue of Law would find him out," and Empedocles calls the Beneficent Principle "Love" and "Friendship," and frequently too, Harmony, "with glowing face," but the Evil Principle he styles "Contentiousness accurst, and blood-stained War." [paragraph continues] Now the Pythagoreans characterize these Principles by several names: the Good One, as the "One," the "Definite," the "Abiding," the "Straight," the "Exceeding," the "Square," the "Equal," the "Right-handed," the "Bright;" the Bad One as the "Two," the "Indefinite," the "Unstable," the "Crooked," the "Sufficient," the "Unequally-sided" (parallelogram), the "Unequal," the "Left-handed," the "Dark"--inasmuch as these are supposed the final causes of existence--Anaxagoras defines them as "Mind," and the "Infinite;" Aristotle, the one as "Form," the other as "Deprival." Plato, as it were mystifying and veiling the matter, denominates in many places one of the opposing Principles as "The Same;" the second, as "The Other;" but in his "Laws," being now grown older, he no longer speaks in riddles and symbolically, but names them directly. "Not by one soul," says he, "was the universe set in motion, but by several, perhaps, at all events, by not less than Two; whereof the one is beneficent, the other antagonistic to this, and the creator of opposite effects: and there is room for a Third Principle to exist, one intermediate between the Two, which is neither destitute of soul, nor of reason, nor of impulse from within (as some suppose), but subordinate to those Two Principles, ever seeking after the Better One, and desiring and following after it," as the part of the treatise [p. 43] which follows will show, for he adopts into this system chiefly the religious notions of the Egyptians. XLIX. For the origin and constitution of this world are mixed, being formed out of opposite principles--not, however, of equal force with each other, but the superiority belonging to the Better One. But it is impossible that the Bad One should be entirely destroyed, as it is largely implanted in the body, largely in the soul of the all, and always contending against the Better One. Now in the soul, Mind, and Reason, the best masters and guides, are Osiris; but in Earth and Water, Winds and Stars, that which is ordered, permanent, and healthy, in seasons, temperament, and revolutions, are the issue of Osiris, and the image of him made visible. But Typhon is the part of the soul that is subject to the passions, Titan-like, unreasonable, and impulsive; but of the body (he is) the part that is unsound, subject to disease, and liable to disturbance by bad seasons and inclement weather, by the concealments of the Sun, and the disappearances of the Moon--such as deviations from its course, vanishings, and whirlwinds. And the name "Seth," by which they call Typhon, proves this; for it signifies "That which tyrannizes and constrains by force," it likewise signifies a "return," and again an "overleaping." Bebaeon, again, some say, was one of the companions of Typhon, whilst Manethos asserts that Typhon was called "Bebon," and that the name signifies a "holding back," and "hindrance,"--implying that the power of Typhon stands in the way of things going on regularly and towards their proper end. L. For which reason, they give him for attribute the most stupid of all tame animals, namely, the ass; and of the wild, the most savage, namely, the crocodile and the hippopotamus. With respect to the ass we have already explained the meaning, but at Hermopolis they show as a figure of Typhon a hippopotamus, upon which stands a [p. 44] hawk fighting with a serpent; by the hippopotamus signifying Typhon, by the hawk power and virtue, [or sovereignty,] which Typhon frequently gains by force, and never ceases [*1] to be disturbed by his own wickedness, and to disturb others; for which cause when they sacrifice on the 7th of the month Sybi (which they call "The Coming of Isis out of Phoenicia") they stamp upon the consecrated cakes the figure of a hippopotamus bound. In the city Apollinopolis, it is the custom that every one must by all means eat a bit of crocodile [once a year]. And on one day they catch and kill as many crocodiles as they can, and lay them out in front of the temple, saying that Typhon ran away from Horus changing himself into a crocodile,--thus making out all animals, plants, and feelings, that are noxious and bad, to be the productive parts and instigations of Typhon. LI. Osiris, on the contrary, they represent by an eye and a sceptre, whereof the one signifies foresight, the other power; in the same way as Homer by calling Jupiter, who governs and reigns over all, by the titles "Supreme" and "Knowing," probably indicates by the "Supreme" his power, by the "Knowing" his good counsel and intelligence. They frequently represent this god by the figure of a hawk, for that bird excels all in acuteness of sight and swiftness of flying; and by nature digests its food most rapidly of all. The bird is also said, when corpses are lying about unburied, to hover over them, and drop earth upon their eyes. And when in order to drink it descends upon the river, it sets its wings upright, and having drank bends them back again; by which it is evident that it protects itself, and escapes from the crocodile, for if it should be swallowed up, the wing remains as it stood, fixed upright. [*2] In many places also, they exhibit a statue of Osiris in the [p. 45] human shape, erecting the genitals, on account of his generative and nutritive character, whilst the flame-coloured robe investing his images, is [put] because they regard the Sun as the body of the Good Principle, the visible form of the Intelligible Being. Hence we ought to pay no attention to such as assign to Typhon the sphere of the Sun--he that has nothing bright, nor salutary, neither order, nor power of generating, nor motion regulated by measure and reason; but all the opposite qualities belong to him. For drought which destroys many things, both of animals and vegetables, must not be put down as the effect of the Sun, but of the winds and waters in earth and air not being seasonably mingled together, when the Principle of disorderly and unregulated force has got loose and has extinguished the exhalations. LII. In the sacred hymns to Osiris they invoke "Him that is carried within the arms of the Sun," and on the 30th day of the mouth Emphi they celebrate "the Birthday of the Eyes of Horus," when the Sun and the Moon are come into one straight line, inasmuch as they consider not the Moon alone, but the Sun also as the eye and the light of Horus. And on the 8th day from the end of the month Phaophi they celebrate that of "The Sun's walking-stick," after the autumnal equinox, signifying that he requires as it were a support, and strengthening, as he grows weak both in heat and light, and moves away from us, bending down, and crooked. And again upon the eve of the winter solstice they carry the Cow seven times around the temple; and this circular procession is named the "Seeking for Osiris," as though the goddess were longing for the winter rays from the Sun; and they walk round so many times, because he completes his journey from the winter solstice to the summer solstice in the seventh month. And on the 4th day from the beginning of the month it is said that Horus, son of Isis, was the first that offered sacrifice, [p. 46] as it is written in what are entitled "The Birthdays of Horus," and in fact they on each day burn incense to the Sun of three different sorts, namely, resin at his rising, myrrh at noontide, that which is called "kyphi," at his setting, of which the signification that each bears I will explain further on; and by means of all these they believe they propitiate and worship the Sun. And what need is there to bring together many things to the same effect? There are some that assert point-blank that Osiris is the Sun, and is named Sirius by the Greeks (for amongst the Egyptians the prefixing of the article has caused the name to be mistaken [*1]), and make out Isis to be no other than the Moon; and one particular of her images, those figured with horns, are (say they) imitations of the crescent; whilst by those covered with black they interpret her wanings, and envelopment in darkness, during which she longs for, and follows after the Sun: for which reason they invoke the Moon for aid in love affairs; and Isis, says Eudoxus, presides over amours. These stories, indeed, have a certain share of plausibility, but as for those that make out Typhon to be the Sun, these are not even to be listened to. Let us, however, now resume our proper theme. LIII. For Isis is the Female Principle of Nature, and that which is capable of receiving all generation, in virtue of which she is styled by Plato, "Nurse," and "All-receiving," but by the generality, "The one of numberless names;" because she is converted by the Logos (Reason) into, and receives, all appearances and forms. But she has, implanted in her nature, the love for the First and Supreme of all, the which is identical with the Good, and this she longs after and continually pursues: whereas the part that belongs to the Bad One she flees from and repels, [p. 47] though she is the field and material for them both; of herself always inclining towards the Better One, and permitting it to generate and discharge into herself emissions and likenesses, wherewith she rejoices and is glad to be impregnated, and to be filled with births--for birth is an image of existence in Matter, and that which is born is a copy of that which is. LIV. From all this, they do not absurdly to fable that the soul of Osiris is eternal and incorruptible, but that his body Typhon did tear to pieces and put out of sight; and Isis wandered about, sought for it, and joined it together again; for that which is, the Intelligible and the Good, is above all change or corruption, but the Sensible and Corporeal models certain images after His likeness, and borrows certain rational principles, forms, and resemblances, which, like seal-impressions in wax, do not last for ever, but the disorderly and turbulent Principle, driven down hither from above, seizes upon them--that Principle which is at war with the Horus whom Isis bore, who is the Sensible image of the Intelligible World. For this reason he (Horus) is related to have had a charge of illegitimacy brought against him by Typhon, because he is not pure and without alloy like his father the Word (Reason), (who exists by himself free from admixture and from passion), but is bastardized by Matter, on account of his bodily part. Nevertheless he gains his cause through Hermes, that is the Word (Reason), bearing witness and proving how that Nature changing her from after the model of the Intelligible, produces the World. For the birth of Apollo that came to pass between Isis and Osiris, whilst the (twin) gods as yet lay within the womb of Rhea, darkly expresses that this world first became visible, and that Matter, being proved to be incomplete in itself, was perfected by the Word (Reason), and thus produced the first birth. On which account they tell that this god was lame and lying [p. 48] in darkness, and they name him the "Elder Horus;" for the world did not exist, but an image as it were, a spectre of the world that was to be. LV. Now this Horus is well-defined, and complete, he has not destroyed Typhon utterly, but stripped him of his activity and strength: for which reason they say the statue of Horus at Coptos grasps in his one hand the genitals of Typhon, and they fable that Hermes cut out the sinews of Typhon, and used them for lyre strings, thereby meaning that the Word brought the all into harmony, made it concordant out of discordant parts, and did not destroy its destructive principle, but merely ham-strung it. Hence, this principle is weak and inoperative here below, mingling itself and clinging close to such members as are subject to corruption and to change, it is the creator of earthquakes and tremors in the ground, of droughts in the air, and strange blasts; and, again, of whirlwinds and lightnings. and it infects waters and winds with pestilences, and rears up and tosses itself as far as the Moon, oftentimes checking and darkening her lustre, as the Egyptians believe. And they tell that Typhon at one time hit Horus; at another struck out his eye and swallowed it up, and then gave it back to the Sun; signifying by blow the monthly waning of the Moon, by blinding, her eclipse, which the Sun remedies, when he again reflects himself upon her, after she has passed through the shadow of the earth. LVI. Now the better and more divine Nature is made up of Three--the Intelligible, Matter, and that formed out of these two, which the Greeks denominate World. Plato calls the Intelligible "Idea," "Model," "Father," and Matter he terms "Mother," "Nurse," the seat and receptacle of generation; and that which results from both he is accustomed to denominate "Issue," and "Birth," and we may conjecture that the Egyptians [reverence] the [p. 49] most beautiful kind of triangle, [*1] because they liken it to the nature of the universe, and Plato seems to employ this figure in his "Republic," when drawing up his Marriage scheme. The triangle, too, has this property--three the right angle, and four the base, and five the hypothenuse, being of equal value with the lines containing it. We must therefore compare the line forming the right angle to the male, the base to the female, the hypothenuse to the child of the two; and the one to be Osiris, as the Final Cause; the other, Isis as the recipient; the third, Horus as the result; for as to the Three, the first, it is uneven and perfect; for the Four, a square with a perfect side, is the produce of the Two: as for the Five, it partly resembles the father, partly the mother, being made up of the three and the two; also the All derives its name from the Five (panta, pente) and to reckon is called "counting by fives," for the number Five produces when squared the same number as that of the letters of the Egyptian alphabet, and also the number of years that Apis lived. Horus they are accustomed to style "Kaimis," that is "He that is seen," for the world is an object of sense, and visible to the eye; and Isis is sometimes styled "Mouth," sometimes "Athyri" and "Methyer;" by the first of these names they signify "Mother," by the second "The worldly house of Horus" (in the same way as Plato has the "Seat" and "Receptacle of generation"); the third title is a compound from "full" and "cause," because Matter is full of the world; and is made up of that which is good, pure, and well arranged. LVII. Hesiod too may be thought, when he makes the first elements of Creation to be Chaos, Earth, Tartarus, Love, to assume no other first Principles than those aforesaid. Let us therefore distribute his names and assign them thus: to Isis that of Earth, to Osiris that of Love, [p. 50] to Typhon that of Tartarus, for his Chaos seems to imply a certain place or basis for the Universe; and the case, somehow or other, recalls that fable of Plato's which Socrates has related in the "Symposean" concerning the birth of Love, how that Poverty, being desirous of having children, laid herself down by the side of Wealth as he was asleep, and, conceiving by him, brought forth Love, who is small and of every shape, inasmuch as he is the offspring of a father that is good, wise, and competent for all things, but of a mother that cannot help herself, destitute, and through her need is always attaching herself to someone else and suing to someone else. For his "Wealth" is no other than the Primal Lover, Projector, Finisher, and All-sufficient; and by "Poverty" he means Matter, which is by itself in need of the Good One, is impregnated by him, is ever craving and ever receiving, whilst he that springs from the two (the World, or Horus), is neither eternal, nor free from passions, nor incorruptible, yet being ever re-born, contrives by means of the changes and revolutions of the passions to continue always young and never to be destroyed. LVIII. For we must make use of myths, not entirely as [real] histories, but taking out of them that which is to the purpose, and is in the form of a similitude. When, therefore, we speak of Matter, we must not borrow our notions from certain philosophers, and think of it as a body without soul, uncreative, idle, and inactive of itself, for we call oil the material of perfume, and gold of an ornament, though they are not devoid of every quality by themselves: and the soul itself and intellect of man we hand over to Reason to beautify and to regulate, as being the material of knowledge and virtue: and the mind some have made out to be the region of Ideas, and a thing modelled after the Intelligible world: and some are of opinion that the seed of generation is not a power nor final cause, but only [p. 51] the material and instrument of generation. These [theorists] we ought to follow, and conceive this goddess as having part in the Primal God, and ever joined with him out of love for the goodness and beauty that surround him, yet is never satiated; but like as we say that a man who is obedient to law and what is just, is enamoured of justice, and a virtuous woman that has a husband and lives with him, always desires him, so we must conceive this goddess as always craving after the Good One, though she be ever in his presence, and is ever being filled with the most powerful and purest influences. LIX. But where Typhon intrudes, laying hold of the extremities, in this case, where she appears to be of sad countenance, and is said to mourn and be seeking after certain scattered members of Osiris, and to robe the same, [she is] receiving into her lap and concealing the things that were destroyed, in the same way as she again brings to light the things that are born, and sends them forth out of herself. For the things that be in the heavens and the stars, the reasons, forms, and emissions of the God are unchangeable, whereas those disseminated through the things subject to passion, namely, in earth, sea, vegetables, animals, are interchangeable, perishable, and buried: and again afterwards come to light once more, and are made visible by their births: for which reason the fable tells that Nephthys was the wife of Typhon, but that Osiris lay with her by stealth; because the extreme parts of Matter (which parts they denominate "Nephthys" and "End") are chiefly possessed by the destructive Power, whereas the generative and life-giving Principle distributes amongst them but a weak and dull seed, and which is destroyed by Typhon, except what little Isis takes up and saves and nourishes, and unites together, for on the whole this world is more good than bad, as Plato suspected, as well as Aristotle. LX. For the generative and conservative Principle of [p. 52] [paragraph continues] Nature is set in motion against him (Typhon) for the purpose of Being, whilst the determinating and corrupting part is moved by him for the purpose of not being. Hence they name the former Isis, from its being "sent out" (iesthai), and travelling, with knowledge, as being a "motion endued with soul," and intelligence, since her Name is not a foreign word; for just as all gods have a common designation derived from "Visible" and "Running" (theoi from theatos and theein), so this goddess do we call Isis, and the Egyptians also Isis, from the word signifying "knowledge" and " Motion" at the same time. And thus Plato says that the ancients signified "Holy One" (osia) by calling her "Isia," and similarly "Intelligence" and "Perception," as being a current and movement impulse of the mind that longs for an object and is carried onwards; and that they placed understanding (to synienai) and, generally, goodness and virtue in the things that flow and that run; as on the other hand that thing is reviled by the opposite names, the which, according to its nature, is au impediment, binds down, holds back, and hinders from rushing after and going, for we denominate it "badness," "inability," "cowardice," "pain." LXI. Now "Osiris" has got his name compounded out of the words isios and ieros: for he is the common Word (Reason) of the things in heaven, and of those in hell, of which the former the ancients were wont to term iera, the latter osia. And he that reveals the things of heaven, the WORD of those that move above, is named "Anubis," sometimes "Hermanubis," [*1] the former as belonging to those above, the latter as belonging to those below; for which reason people sacrifice to the one a white cock, to the other a saffron-coloured [*2] one; for they believe the [p. 53] former character of the god to be unmixed and public, the latter composite and multifarious. You must not be surprised at this derivation of names from the Greek, for there are an infinite number of other words that went into exile along with those that emigrated [*1] from Greece, but remain in use and sojourn as foreigners amongst other nations; for adopting some of which certain people censure poetry as talking barbarously; those writers, [critics] I mean, who tern things of the kind "dialects" (glussai). And in what are named "the Books of Hermes," they relate that it is written concerning the Sacred Names, that the Power appointed to preside over the circuit of the Sun, Horus, the Greeks call Apollo; and that which presides over the Wind some call Osiris, some Sarapis, others Sothi, in the Egyptian language. The last word signifies "pregnancy," and "to conceive;" hence, through a corruption of the word, the star is called the Dog [*2] in Greek, which they consider an attribute of Isis. But we ought by no means to dispute about names, not but that we might have reclaimed from the Egyptians their name of "Sarapis" rather than that of Osiris, the former being a foreign and the latter a Greek word; but we hold them both as belonging to one God and to one Power. LXII. The Egyptian usage is cognate to the aforesaid, for they often designate Isis by the name of Athene, which expresses the same meaning, "I have proceeded out of myself," and is expressive of self-communicated motion. But Typhon, as above stated, is called Seth, Bebon, and Syn--these names being meant to declare a certain forcible and impeding check, opposition, and turning upside down. Besides, they call a loadstone "Bone of Osiris," but iron "of Typhon" (as Manetho relates), for just as the iron is [p. 54] often, like something alive, attracted to and following after the loadstone, but often turns away and is repelled from it in the opposite direction, in like manner the salutary good and rational motion of the world often attracts by persuasion, draws to itself, and renders more gentle that harsh and Typhonian force; and again, when it has been driven back into itself, it upsets the latter, and plunges it once more into helplessness. Besides, with respect to Jupiter, Eudoxus relates that the Egyptians have a legend that in consequence of his legs having grown into one, he was unable to walk, and out of shame remained in solitude, but that Isis, having cut asunder and separated these parts of his body, rendered his walking powers sound footed. Through these things also does Fable hint, that the Mind and Word of God, which had walked in the Invisible and the Hidden, carne out into Knowledge by means of Motion. LXIII. The Sistrum too shows that the things that are must be shaken, and never cease from motion, but be as it were aroused and stirred up when they slumber and are slothful, for they pretend they drive off and repulse [*1] Typhon with the sistra, showing that when Corruption has tied fast and brought it to a standstill, Generation again unlooses and restores Nature by means of Motion. And as the sistrum is circular in the upper part, the arch contains the four things that are shaken, because the part of the universe that is born and perishes, is surrounded by the Lunar sphere, but all things are set in motion and changed within it by means of the four elements, Fire, Earth, Water, Air. And on the arch of the sistrum, at the top, they figure a Cat having a human face [sphinx], and on the lower part, below the things that are shaken, sometimes a head of Isis, sometimes of Nephthys, symbolizing by these heads Generation and End [p. 55] [paragraph continues] (for these are the Changes and Motions of the elements), and by the Cat, the Moon, on account of the pied colour, [*1] nocturnal habits, and fecundity of the animal, for it is said to bring forth one, and then two, then three, then four, up to five at a birth, and always adds by one up to seven [to her litter], so that in all it produces eight-and-twenty young, the which are equal in number to the illuminations of the Moon. This, however, may be somewhat fabulous, but the pupils in its eyes appear to grow full and dilate themselves at the full of the moon, but become thin and dull during the wane of that luminary; and by the human head of the Cat they express the intelligence and rationality of the changes connected with the Moon. LXIV. And to speak comprehensively, neither Water, nor Sun, nor Earth, nor Rain, is it correct to regard as Osiris or Isis; nor on the other hand, Drought, or Sea, or Fire, as Typhon; but simply whatever in these elements is either excessive or disordered in its changes, or deficiencies, to assign this to Typhon: whilst all that is well-ordered, good, and beneficial, we must regard as the work indeed of Isis, but as the image, imitation, and Reason of Osiris. If so we worship and honour them, we shall not go wrong. Nay more, we shall make Eudoxus cease from disbelieving, and being perplexed, wherefore the superintendence of love-affairs is not given to Ceres, but to Isis; and why Bacchus is not empowered to raise the Nile or to rule over the Shades;--for by one common rule we hold that these two deities are ordained to preside over the whole empire of the Good; and that all whatever exists in Nature beautiful and good, exists through their means; the one supplying the final causes, the other receiving them, and continuing permanent. LXV. In this way we shall also meet those common [p. 56] and trivial stories of people whether to identify the legends concerning these deities with the seasonable changes of the atmosphere, or with the growth, sowings, and ploughings of the grain; and who say that Osiris is then buried when the sown grain is hidden in the ground, and that he comes to life and shows himself again when there is a beginning of sprouting; wherefore Isis perceiving that she is pregnant, ties an amulet round her neck on the 6th of the first quarter of the month Phaophi, and that Harpocrates is born about the winter solstice, unfinished and infant-like in the plants that flower early and spring up early, for which reason they offer to him first fruits of growing lentiles, and they celebrate her being brought to bed after the vernal equinox. For when they hear all this, people are satisfied and believe it; drawing as they do conviction from home, from things at hand, and with which they are familiar. LXVI. And it is no great harm if in the first place they make the gods our common property, and not the exclusive possession of the Egyptians; instead of by confining these names to the Nile alone, and the region the Nile waters, or by talking of marshes, lotus-flowers, and god-making, thereby deprive the rest of mankind of deities of the highest order nothing to do with either--who have neither Nile, Butos, or Memphis. But Isis, and the gods connected with her, all men have and know--some of them indeed they have, not long ago, learnt to call by names brought from Egypt; but of each one they knew and reverenced the power from time immemorial. And secondly, and what is more important--let them take good heed, and fear lest they unwittingly degrade and resolve divine beings into winds and currents and sowings and ploughings, and affections of the earth, and changes of seasons; like as those who say that Bacchus is wine, Vulcan flame; and, as Cleanthes somewhere or other says, [p. 57] that Proserpine means the air that that Proserpine means the air that pervades the crops, and is slaughtered; and as a poet has it:-- "What time the youths cut Ceres, limb from limb." [paragraph continues] For these persons differ in no respect from such as should consider sails, cables, and anchor as a pilot, or yarn and thread as a weaver; or a jug and basin as a potter, or else honeyed potions and gruel as a physician. LXVII. But those theorists engender horrible and impious notions, who apply the names of deities to natural productions and to things that be without sense, without life, and necessarily consumed by men in want of and making use of them. For these things themselves it is impossible to conceive as gods (for we cannot conceive God as an inanimate thing, subject to man), but from these productions we have drawn the inference that they who created them, and bestow, and dispense them to us constantly and sufficiently, are gods--not different gods amongst different people, nor Barbarian or Grecian, of the South or of the North--but like as the Sun, Moon, Sky, Earth, Sea, are the common property of all men, but yet are called by different names by different nations; in the same manner, as one reason regulates all things, and one Providence directs, and subordinate Powers are appointed over all things, yet different honours and titles are by custom assigned to them amongst different peoples: and these have established, and do employ, symbols, some obscure, some more intelligible, in order to lead the understanding into things divine. And this not without danger: for some having entirely missed their meaning, have slid into superstition; whilst others shunning every superstition like a quagmire, have unknowingly fallen into Atheism [*1] as down a precipice. [p. 58] LXVIII. For which cause it is especially fitting in this case that we borrow from Philosophy Reason for our guide, and so consider each particular of the things told and done: in order that we may not, as Theodorus expresses it, "when he offers words with his right hand some of his hearers take them with their left;" in the sane way we should go wrong by taking in a different sense what the laws have ordained well concerning sacrifices and festivals. For that we ought to construe all things according to their sense, we may learn from these people themselves of whom we are treating: for on the nineteenth day of the first month they hold a festival to Hermes, and eat honey and figs, repeating "A sweet thing is the Truth;" and again the charm which Isis hangs about her neck is interpreted as "A TRUE VOICE:" [*1] and Harpocrates we must not regard as an incomplete and infant god, or some sort of pulse, but as presiding over and correcting men's notions of the deities, when as yet new, incomplete, and inarticulate; for which reason he has his finger laid upon his mouth in token of reticence and silence. And in the month Mesori, they serve up pulse, repeating " The Tongue is Fortune, the Tongue is a deity," and of all the plants growing in Egypt they say the Persea is the most sacred to the gods, because its fruit resembles a heart, and its leaf a tongue. For of all that man possesses by nature nothing is more divine than speech, especially that which concerns the gods; nor has anything greater weight towards his happiness: wherefore I enjoin [*2] upon him that goes down here [*3] to consult [p. 59] the oracle "to think religiously, to speak auspiciously:" but most people act ridiculously, when in the processions and festivals they bid us speak auspiciously, whilst they both speak and think most blasphemously about the gods themselves. LXIX. In what manner therefore must we conduct those melancholy, laughterless, and mournful sacrifices, if it is neither right to omit what is established by custom, nor yet to adulterate our notions about the gods, and disorder them with absurd fancies? For amongst the Greeks also many things are done (and at the same time of year too) resembling the Egyptian ceremonies: for at Athens the women fast at the Thesmophoria, seated on the ground; and the Boeotians "move the house of Achaea," naming the festival "Epachthe;" as though Ceres were in mourning on account of the descent of her daughter into the shades. Moreover, this month coincides with the rising of the Pleiads, which the Egyptians call Athor, the Athenians Pyanepsion, and the Boeotians Damatrios; the Western nations [*1] also, as Theopompus relates, consider and call the winter Saturn, the summer Venus, and the spring Proserpine; and believe that all things come out of Saturn [*2] and Venus. But the Phrygians believing that God sleeps by winter, but wakes up in spring, at the one time hold with revelry the feasts of his "Going to bed," at the other those of his "Getting up:" whilst the Paphlagonians say He is bound down and imprisoned by winter, but loosened, and set in motion by spring. LXX. The time of year too suggests a suspicion that the mourning takes place upon the burial of the corn; [p. 60] which corn, indeed, those of old time did not regard as gods, but as gifts of the gods, both great and indispensable to the not living savagely and like the beasts: and at what season they saw the fruits of the trees vanishing entirely, and failing them, whilst those they themselves had sown as yet sparingly and clumsily, scraping away the soil with their hands, and covering them over again, so depositing them with the uncertainty of their reappearing and arriving at maturity--they used to do many things like to those that bury and that mourn:--and then, just as we say that one that buys the works of Plato, buys Plato; and he acts Menander that represents Menander's plays, so did they not scruple to call by the names of the gods the gifts and creations of the gods; doing them honour and reverence by use: whilst those who came after, receiving these names without understanding, and ignorantly transferring to the gods the vicissitudes of the seed corn, and not merely calling, but believing the appearances and concealments of the necessaries of life, "births" and "destructions" of gods, filled their heads with absurd, wicked and confused ideas. LXXI. And yet people, having in view the absurdity of the contradiction, like Xenophanes of Colophon, and those following him, who said "that the Egyptians, if they believe in gods, do not mourn for them, and if they mourn for them do not believe in them;" but that it was ridiculous to lament and in the same breath to pray for the seed corn to show itself again, and ripen itself, in order that it may be again consumed and mourned for. But such is not really the case; for they mourn for the seed corn, but pray to the gods, the givers and authors of the same, to make more anew and cause it to spring up in the place of that which has perished. Whence there is a very good maxim amongst philosophers, "that they who learn [p. 61] not how rightly to understand names make a bad use of things;" just as those Greeks that have not learnt or accustomed themselves to call the brazen, painted, and marble images, not ornaments and honours of gods, but actual gods, in the next place do not scruple to say that Lachares stripped Minerva bare; that Dionysius cropped an Apollo that wore curls of gold; that the Capitoline Jupiter was burnt and perished in the Civil Wars. Let them learn therefore that they are led astray, and imbibe false notions, modelled upon the names. This is especially the case of the Egyptians with respect to the animals to which honours are paid; whereas the Greeks in this particular, at all events, both speak and believe correctly, saying that the dove is the sacred animal of Venus, the dragon [*1] of Minerva, the raven of Apollo, the dog of Diana (as Euripides hath it-- "Thou wilt be a dog, torch-bearing Dian's pet"). [paragraph continues] But the most part of the Egyptians, by worshipping the sacred animals, and treating them as gods, have not only covered their rites with ridicule and mockery; although this is the least evil resulting from their simplicity; for a horrible belief grows up that gives over the weak-minded and innocent to superstition pure and unmitigated, whilst the acuter and bolder sort it leads into atheistical and bestial incredulity: hence it is not out of place to discuss the subject in the way that seems most appropriate to treat it. LXXII. The notion that the gods changed themselves into these animals out of fear of Typhon, as it were hiding themselves in the bodies of ibises, dogs, and hawks, exceeds in absurdity every kind of jugglery and fabulous tale. Also the notion that the new births of the souls of the deceased, so many as continue to exist, is merely the [p. 62] being born again under these shapes, is equally incredible. And of such as attempt to assign some political cause for these legends, some pretend that Osiris upon his great expedition divided his forces into several parts ("companies" and "ranks" the Greeks call them), and gave them badges of the figures of animals, each of which became sacred and venerated by the family of those banded under it. Others, that the succeeding kings, for the sake of striking terror unto their adversaries, used to make their appearance in the battles wearing the heads of wild beasts made of gold and silver: but one of these clever and ingenious monarchs, they tell, observing that the Egyptians were naturally fickle and disposed to change and innovation, because they were easily cajoled, whilst from their numbers they possessed irresistible and ungovernable strength in unanimity and joint action--on that account taught them an everlasting superstition in the sowing of the ground, as a pretext for unceasing dissension among themselves. For, inasmuch as the beasts, different kinds of which he ordered different tribes to honour and worship, behave with illwill and hostility towards each other, and are respectively inclined by nature to live upon different sorts of food, each party, in defending their own animals and being indignant when they suffered harm, should unwittingly be involved and compromised in quarrels against each other through the enmities between the different beasts. For even at the present day the people of Lycopolis are the only Egyptians that eat the sheep, because the Wolf, whom they worship, does the same; and the Oxyrynchites on one day, when the people of Cynopolis (Dog-Town) were eating the fish called Oxyrynchus, collected dogs and sacrificed and eat them as victims; and from this occasion setting to war, they handled each other roughly, and afterwards being punished for it by the Romans, were equally ill-treated. [p. 63] LXXIII. And as many pretend that the soul of Typhon himself is divided amongst these animals, the fable may be thought to express enigmatically that every irrational and bestial nature belongs to the share of the Evil Spirit: and that people in order to propitiate and soothe Him, treat these animals well, and do them worship: and if a long and severe drought should come on, inducing to an extraordinary degree either pestilential diseases, or other strange and inexplicable calamities, then some of these honoured animals do the priests lead out in darkness, quietly and in silence, and at first they threaten and scare away the creature; but if it remains fixed, [*1] then they consecrate and sacrifice it, as though this were some kind of punishment for its deity, or else a great mean of purification in the greatest emergencies. For in the city Idisthyas they used to burn men alive, as Manetho relates, calling them "Typhonians," and by tossing their ashes in a winnowing-fan made away with and scattered the same. This, however, was done publickly, every year, in the Dogdays, whereas the sacrificings of the worshipped animals are secret, taking place at irregular times according to the emergency, and are unknown to the commonalty, except at what time the animals receive burial, when the priests produce some of the other animals, and in the presence of all throw them along with the rest into the grave; thinking to retaliate upon Typhon's conduct and to prevent what he delights in. For the apis, along with a few others, is reputed sacred to Osiris, and if this explanation be true, I am of opinion it indicates what we are in search of in the case of the animals that are acknowledged and have joint honours with him, for instance, the ibis, the hawk, the baboon, and the apis himself; for so do they call the goat, that is, at Mendes. LXXIV. There remains the utilitarian and symbolical part of the question, where some of these figures partake [p. 64] of one quality, some of the other, many of both combined. The ox, the sheep, the ichneumon, it is evident they venerated on account of their usefulness to man, just as the Lemnians do the larks that seek out and break the eggs of the locusts; and the Thessalians the storks, because when their land bred many snakes the birds made their appearance, and destroyed them all; wherefore they made a law that whosoever killed a stork should be banished the country. The asp, weasel, beetle, because they discerned in them certain faint reflexions of the power of the gods, like that of the sun in raindrops. And of the weasel many hold and say that as it is impregnated through the ear, and brings forth its young through the mouth, it is a similitude of the generation of Reason; whilst the beetle has no female, all being males, and discharge their semen into the material they have rolled into balls, which they roll along, pushing it with their feet as they walk in the opposite direction, in the same manner as the sun seems to surround the heavens backwards, whilst he himself is travelling from west to east. The asp as being immortal and capable of motion without limbs, with equal facility and suppleness, they likened to a star. LXXV. Not even the crocodile receives honours that are devoid of any plausible reason, for it is said to have been made an emblem of the Deity, as being the sole animal destitute of a tongue. For the Divine Reason stands not in need of voice, but walking along a silent path and rule, guides mortal affairs according to justice; and the crocodile alone, of things living in liquid, veils its eyes with a thin transparent membrane which it draws down from the upper lid, so as to see without being seen, which is the attribute of the Supreme Deity; and wherever in the ground the female may have laid her eggs, that place they know is beyond reach of the rising of the Nile, because she cannot lay eggs in the wet, and yet is afraid to lay them at [p. 65] a distance from the water; so exactly do they foresee the future that they make use of the advancing river as they are bringing forth and hatching, and yet keep the eggs dry and free from damp, for they lay sixty and hatched them in as many days, and so many years live those that live longest, the which number is the first measure to the phenomena in the heavens. Again, as regards the animals worshipped--concerning the dog we have already spoken, but the ibis, besides destroying the venomous reptiles, first taught men the use of medicinal purging, when they observed the bird using clysters and getting cleared out by herself. Those of the priests that be most observant of rules, when they sanctify themselves use for the water of purification that out of which an ibis has drunk, because it neither drinks unwholesome or poisoned water, and does not even go near it, whilst by the relative position of its legs to each other (and the beak), it forms an equilateral triangle; besides, the variation and mixture of the black feathers with the white resembles the figure of the half moon. LXXVI. We ought not to wonder at the Egyptians being so pleased with these imperfect resemblances; the Greeks too, in their painted and in their sculptured images of the gods, have employed many things of the same kind; for example, in Crete there was a statue of Jupiter, which had no ears, because it behoves the Ruler and Lord of gods to hearken unto no one; at the side of his Minerva, Phidias has placed the serpent; at the side of the Venus at Elis, the tortoise, implying that virgins stand in need of watching after, but home-keeping and silence are suitable to married women; and Neptune's trident is an emblem of the third place which the sea occupies, assigned to it after sky and air, on which account Amphitrite and the Tritons have been so named [as derived from tritos]. The Pythagoreans have even adorned numbers and geometrical figures with the appellations of [p. 66] the gods; for the equilateral triangle they have named Minerva, "born out of the head," and "Tritogeneia," because it is described by three lines drawn from the angles: Unity they call Apollo; and by a plausible pretext, when the unit is doubled, the Two they name strife and audacity: but the Three they call justice, for it seems that wronging and being wronged exists by means of deficiency and excess, but what is just stands in the middle by reason of equality: and what is called the Four (the six and thirty), was their mightiest oath, as has been commonly reported; and the world [*1] has been so denominated because it was completed by the four first elements, and the four superfluous qualities being joined together into One. If, therefore, the most illustrious philosophers when they discerned an emblem of the Divinity even in lifeless and incorporeal things did not think right to neglect or slight any of them, still less, I fancy, did they do so, [*2] when they discerned moral qualities in natural objects endowed with sense, possessing life, passions, and tempers. LXXVII. We must therefore put up with, not indeed their paying honours to these creatures, but their discerning through their medium (as in clearer mirrors) the work of Nature; and conceiving rightly that which is Divine as being the instrument and act of the God who ordereth all things. And it is right that nothing without a soul be held superior to that with a soul, or that which is without sense to what possesses sense, not even though one should bring together all the gold and emeralds that are in the world (for Divinity does not reside in uses, forms, and polish), but those things hold a place lower in estimation than the dead, whatever neither have participated, nor by their nature can participate in life; whereas that Nature which lives and sees, and has the final cause of motive [p. 67] from within itself, as also the knowledge both of what is its own and that of others, and besides, hath derived an influence and a portion from the Wisdom by which the universe (according to Heraclitus) is governed. For which reason, the Deity is not worse shadowed forth in these things, than in artistic works in bronze, which, while equally susceptible of decay and defilement, are by their nature devoid of perception and understanding. As regards the worshipped animals, therefore, this explanation I approve of the most of all those offered. LXXVIII. Now to treat of the vestments of Isis, differing in their colours (for her power relates to Matter, as it turns itself into and embraces all things--light, darkness, day, night, life, death, beginning, end), whereas that of Osiris has no shadow nor variation but one, simple, the image of light; for pure is the Final Cause, and free from mixture the Primal and Intelligible. Wherefore, when they have once for all taken off that (vestment) they put it away, and preserve it out of sight and untouched. Whereas those of Isis they use on many occasions, because the objects of sense, being obvious and in constant use, present many unfoldings and exhibitions of themselves, as they succeed one after the other, whereas the conception of the Intelligible, the Unmixed, and the Holy, shines through at once, like a flash of lightning, touches the soul, and allows itself to be seen. For which reason Plato and Aristotle termed this part of philosophy "Speculative," because they passed over in reasoning these apparent, heterogeneous, and multiform ideas, and soar up towards the Primal, the Simple, and the Everlasting, and when they touch in any way the clear truth concerning these matters they think that philosophy is complete, and has gained its end. LXXIX. And what the present priests of these days darkly reveal, making scruples about it, and disguising it [p. 68] with caution, namely, that this deity presides over and is king of the dead (being no other than the Hades and Pluto amongst the Greeks)--since it is not known in what sense the doctrine is true, disturbs the minds of the vulgar, when they have the idea that the sacred and truly holy Osiris dwells in the earth, and under the earth, where are hidden the corpses of such as seem to have come to an end. But He Himself dwells at the greatest distance from the earth, being unmixed, undefiled, and pure from all nature admitting of corruption and of death; but the souls of men here below, enveloped in bodies and passions, have no participation in the Deity, except as far as lies in grasping Him by conception, like an indistinct dream, by means of philosophy; but where they are set free and migrate to the Formless, Invisible, Impassive, and Good, then this God becomes leader and king over them, whilst they hang, as it were, upon him, and contemplate without ever being satiated, and long for that Beauty which can neither be spoken nor described--for which the old legend makes Isis desire, seek after, and dwell with, and fills things here below, whatever partake of birth, with all things beautiful and good. Such notions as these, then, have a sense best befitting the idea of the deity. LXXX. And if I must speak of the kinds of Incense offered or their respective days (as I promised), let the reader before all things bear in mind that men have always felt the greatest anxiety about practices connected with health, especially as to religious ceremonies, purifications, and ways of living; this being done no less on account of religion than of health, because they did not consider it fitting to worship with festering or sickly bodies or souls, that which is pure, entirely exempt from decay, and free from pollution. And inasmuch as the air of which we make the most use and have most to do with, does not always keep the same constitution, but at night is condensed [p. 69] and weighs down the body, and disposes the soul to gloom and thoughtfulness, becoming, as it were, misty and heavy, therefore as soon as they get up they burn for incense Resin, thereby rectifying and purifying the air by its virtue, and blowing away the corrupted exhalation naturally given forth by the body, because this perfume possesses a strong and penetrating quality; and again at midday, perceiving that the sun draws strongly out of the earth a heavy exhalation, and mixes it with the air, they burn Myrrh, because its hot nature dissolves and disperses the turbid and muddy element in the surrounding air; in fact, physicians think they counteract pestilential diseases by making a great blaze, on the supposition that it subtilizes the air. It subtilizes it better, if they burn woods of a dry nature, such as of cypress, juniper, and pine. Acron, therefore, the physician at Athens during the Great Plague, is said to have gained credit by ordering fires to be burnt by the side of the sick, for he benefited them not a little thereby. And Aristotle asserts that the sweet smelling exhalations of perfumes, flowers, and meadows, conduce no less to health than to enjoyment, because by their warmth and subtileness, they spread themselves through the brain, which is by nature cold and in a state of congelation, and if amongst the Egyptians they call myrrh "Bal," and this word interpreted signifies pretty nearly " sweeping out of evacuations," the name furnishes some evidence to my explanation of the reason for which it is used. LXXXI. The kyfi is composed of sixteen ingredients: honey, wine, raisins, sweet-rush, resin, myrrh, frankincense, seselis, and besides, of calamus, asphalt, thryon, dock, and besides these of both arceuthids (one of which is called the greater, the other the less), and cardamums, and orris-root. These are compounded not at random, but sacred books are read aloud to the perfume-makers, whilst [p. 70] they are mixing the ingredients. And as for their number, if it certainly looks like a square made out of a square, and alone containing the equal number an equal number of times, and to bring its external measurement exactly equal to the area, this accidental circumstance must by no means be said to contribute nothing to this effect: but the majority of the ingredients possessing aromatical properties, send out a sweet breath and salubrious exhalation, whereby, when the air is changed and the body excited in the proper manner, they are [*1] themselves lulled to sleep, and have a seductive tendency; whilst the troublesomeness and tension of our daily anxieties they loosen and untie, like so many knots; and the imaginative and prophetic part of dreams, they brighten up and render more clear, like as it were a mirror, to no less degree than do the tunes on the lyre which the Pythagoreans used to play before going to sleep; thus charming down and doctoring the irrational and passionate portion of the soul. For things smelt at often call back the failing sense, often on the other hand blunt and stupify the same; their evaporations diffusing themselves through the body by reason of their subtilty in the same way as some physicians say that sleep is produced when the exhalations from the food taken, creeping gently, and as it were feeling their way around the inward parts, cause a kind of tickling. The kyfi they use both as a drink and as a composition [pastile]; for taken in drink, it is thought to purge the intestines, having the property of loosening the bowels. LXXXII. And apart from these considerations, resin is the work of the Sun; whilst the shrubs drop their tears of myrrh under the influence of the Moon: whereas the kyfi is compounded of those things that delight most in eight, inasmuch as they are made by Nature to be [p. 71] nourished by cold airs, shade, dews, and moisture: because the light of day is one and unmixed (for Pindar says, "the Sun rushes through empty rather"), whereas the night air is a compound and medley of many lights and properties; as it were, of seeds showered down from every star into one place. With good cause then do the first-named perfumes, as being simple and deriving their origin from the Sun, exhibit their virtues by day, whereas the last-mentioned do so when night begins to set in. Footnotes ^2:1 "The entering-place," as if derived from the Greek. ^3:1 The revealed Truth. ^12:1 logon embalontun, looks like a false reading for fobon: "spreading the alarm." ^14:1 oiomenoys in text makes no sense, perhaps oion monon. ^16:1 Alluding to the incident of the opening of his coffer, and explaining the sad fate of the too inquisitive little boy. ^17:1 Probably explaining the trunk, with lopped off branches, so frequently figured on the Gnostic stones. ^19:1 An evident allusion to the Christians. ^19:2 The common title of the Sassanean kings was "Masdesin," "servant of Ormuzd;" and the same probably was a title of this Manis. ^22:1 ypolaboysa, which makes no sense, add n and it agrees with amnestian. ^23:1 The doctrine of the Alexandrian Platonists, as is fully set forth by Macrobius in his description of the descent of the Soul. ^24:1 The name being compounded of Osiris and Apis, expresses that his soul, after death, had passed unto the sacred bull. ^24:2 Probably meaning, universal god, not a mere local Egyptian divinity. ^24:3 xarupus in text. ^24:4 This preposterous etymology is evidently that of Phylarchus. ^24:5 soros Apidos. ^25:1 Ades = Aidoys yios. ^25:2 Hence the Mohammedan rule of taking off all gold ornaments before saying prayers. ^26:1 Showing that the primitive human victim was commuted thus. ^27:1 Some words are here lost, but their sense appears from the context to have been what I supply in the translation. ^28:1 The Bull that was kept at Memphis. ^28:2 Is this the long sought for root of "Cameo?" The Nicolo was distinguished by the Romans as "Aegyptilla," and compared by them to the eye. ^30:1 Another proof of Indian origin, relics of a Buddha being indispensable for the foundation of any dagobah. ^31:1 Or wind. ^35:1 This has no connection with the Hebrew name, which means "Placed," "Settled." ^36:1 eteromekes is applied to Eighteen, because it may be represented by a parallelogram of which the sides are 6 and 6, 3 and 3, alternately: two of these multiplied give the area of the figure, which also is Eighteen--the same comparison of numbers to mathematical figures Plato uses in the beginning of the Theaetetus. ^38:1 A passage is lost here, containing a description of this rite, in which it is evident a dog played the principal part. ^39:1 The Epicurean and Stoic theories of the government of the universe, as opposed to the Neo-Platonic. ^39:2 Alluding to the Homeric picture of Jove, and his two vases of good and evil. ^40:1 The same notion is expressed in the Jewish Sephiroth. ^44:1 aniatai, in text, for anietai. ^44:2 In the crocodile's gullet, and so prevents his gulping down the bird. ^46:1 The Greeks mistaking osiris for o Seirios. "Egyptians" in text must be a slip of the scribe. ^49:1 The right-angled. ^52:1 The deity, so frequent on Gnostic talismans, bearing the caduceus of Hermes, and accompanied with the Cock. ^52:2 To typify infernal flames. ^53:1 Alluding to the old tradition about Danaus, &c. ^53:2 kuun, as if from kuein: these derivations cannot be preserved in translation. ^54:1 Hence the idea of driving away the Devil by the sound of bells. ^55:1 Showing the original colour of the Cat to be tabby. ^57:1 Another allusion to the spread of Christianity, the preachers of which drew their strongest arguments from the, apparently, absurd symbolism of the old religions. ^58:1 Translation of the Coptic inscription upon the amulet, perhaps the famous "Abracadabra." ^58:2 Some words are lost here; the sense requires, I enjoin on you in these matters, as the priests do him, &c. ^58:3 Delphi, where many of these small treatises were written, as appears from incidental remarks. ^59:1 The Celts; the regular expression for them in the early Greek writers. ^59:2 This seems connected with the belief of the Gauls that they sprung from Dis Pater, as Caesar mentions. ^61:1 Crested serpent, much resembling the Hindoo cobra. ^63:1 The ceremony of the scape-goat. ^66:1 Allusive to the primary sense of kosmos, order, arrangement. ^66:2 The early Egyptians. ^70:1 Rather, "they of themselves lull people to sleep." Plutarch's Morals: Theosophical Essays, tr. by Charles William King, [1908], at sacred-texts.com [p. 72] ON THE CESSATION OF ORACLES. I. SOME eagles, or swans, as the legend goes, my Terentius Priscus, starting from the opposite extremities of the earth, met together on the same point at Pytho, around what is now called the "Omphalos:" and in later times Epimenides of Phaestos, putting questions concerning this legend before the god of the place, and having received an unintelligible and ambiguous response, declared that:-- "There is no umbril of the land or sea: God only knows, man knows not, if there be." [paragraph continues] With good cause, therefore, did the god repulse him when he was testing the ancient story, like some old painting, by the touch. II. Shortly before the Pythian games held under Callistratus, there happened to be two holy men, met together from the opposite limits of the world at Delphi, visiting me. They were Demetrius the grammarian, [*1] returning home to Tarsus out of Britain, and Cleombrotus the [p. 73] [paragraph continues] Lacedemonian, after long wandering in Egypt, and up and down the region of the Troglodytes, and after voyaging beyond the Red Sea--not for the purpose of trading, but as being a person fond of seeing and fond of learning, having sufficient wealth, and not esteeming it a matter of importance to have more than sufficient, he employed his leisure for such purposes, and was collecting information as the materials for philosophy that had, as he himself expressed it, Theology for its end. Having lately been to the temple of Ammon, he evidently had not been greatly struck with the other things there, but with respect to the unextinguishable Lamp he relates a story well deserving of attention, told him by the priests; namely, that every year it consumes less oil, and that they took this for a proof of the inequality [diminution] of the years always making the last one shorter than that preceding it; for it was to be expected that with a shorter time the consumption of oil would be less also. III. When the rest of the company expressed our astonishment, and Demetrius had remarked "that it was ridiculous to draw such important inferences from trifling facts; which was not, as Alcaeus hath it, 'painting the lion from his talon,' but the measuring [*1] the heavens and universe with a wick and a lamp, and utterly upsetting all mathematicks." Cleombrotus answered, "Those people make no such attempt to upset that science: only they will not concede the point of accuracy to the mathematicians, considering that the calculation of time is more likely to deceive them in the case of movements and revolutions [p. 74] so far remote, than they themselves can be mistaken in the quantity of oil, which they continually observe and watch, on account of the singularity of the fact. And not to allow, my Demetrius, that small things are indications of great, has often been an obstacle to knowledge; for in that case the result will be that we shall deprive ourselves of the demonstrations of many facts, and of the prognosticks of many others. And yet it is no insignificant thing-which is proved to us, namely that people in the Heroic Age used to smooth their persons with a razor, when we find Homer mentioning a razor; and again, lending on usury, for he speaks of a 'debt accumulating, neither a recent one, nor yet a small one,' as though this signified the growth of the obligation. Again, when he styles Night ('rapid' or 'pointed'), you ought to be glad to lay hold upon this epithet, and say this very thing implies the shadow of the earth to be conical out of spherical. The medical art, too, foretells a sickly summer from the multitude of spiders, [*1] and from the Spring fig-leaves, when they grow like a crow's foot--facts omitted by none of those that pretend small things to be the signs of great ones. And who will have the impudence to measure the magnitude of the Sun against a pitcher and a cup of water; [*2] or that this square here, which makes what is called an acute angle with the plane, should be the measurement of the altitude by which the ... [*3] always visible from the horizon is elevated from the poles--for this fact was to be learnt from means like these. "This was the story told by the oracle-interpreters of [p. 75] the place; wherefore those persons (the objectors) must make some other reply to them, when they, judging according to the rule of their fathers, pronounce that the sun's appointed course is no longer passable by that luminary." IV. Ammonius the philosopher, who was present, exclaimed, "This remark applies not to the sun alone, but to all the visible heavens; for it follows as a matter of course that his revolution from one tropic to the other is thereby contracted, and does not continue to be so large a part of the horizon as the mathematicians say; but grows less, continually suffering contraction from south to north: whilst our summer is shorter, and the temperature colder, because he turns his course within (short of) his proper limits, and touches wider parallels of latitude in the tropical signs. Besides, the gnomons at Syene are proved to be no longer without casting shadow at the summer solstice; and several of the fixed stars have passed out of sight, whilst some touch, and are confounded with each other, from the failure of the space between. And if you should pretend that whilst all the rest remain as they were, only the sun grows irregular in his motions, you [*1] will neither be able to assign the cause that accelerates his course alone out of so vast a number of others; and you will at once throw into confusion the greatest part of astronomical facts, those connected with the moon utterly, so that there will be no need of measurement of oil in order to prove the discrepancy: for the eclipses will convict him of too frequently casting a shadow on the moon; and the moon also with her shadow ... each other, so there is little need to expose the falsity of the assertion at greater length." "But yet," replied Cleombrotus, "I saw the measure of oil also; for they showed me many curiosities; [p. 76] and the annual quantity fell short of the most ancient by not a little." But Ammonius, taking him up, said:--"Then this fact has escaped the notice of all the other people amongst whom ever-burning fires are kept up, and maintained for a term of years, so to speak, without limit? And if one should assume that the story is true, were it not better to suspect the existence of some coolness or moisture in the air, by which the flame is deadened, and naturally does not take hold of or consume so much nutriment; or, on the other hand, to assign heat and dryness as the cause. For I have long ago heard say respecting fire, that it burns better in winter through compulsion, because it is contracted and condensed in itself by the cold, whereas during hot weather, it grows weak, and becomes dull and relaxed: and if it be kindled in the sunshine it works worse, and lays hold of the fuel lazily, and consumes it more slowly. But, above all, one may ascribe the cause to the oil itself, since it is not unlikely that in old times it was less nutritious, and more watery, because of its coming from a young tree; but afterwards when ripened to perfection, and condensed, with an equal quantity it possesses more strength, and gives better nourishment to the flame--that is, if we needs must save their theory for the priests of Ammon, however absurd and unnatural it may appear." V. Now Ammonius having finished, "Tell us rather," said I, "my dear Cleombrotus, something about the oracle: for great was the ancient fame of the religion there--but nowadays it appears to have withered away." But as Cleombrotus made no reply, and kept his eyes fixed on the ground, Demetrius put in:--"There is no need to inquire about this matter, or to discuss the decay of the oracle, but rather, as we see the extinction of them all in general, except one or two, to consider this subject--for what reason they have so decayed. For what need is there [p. 77] to cite other instances, when Boeotia, herself, that was so celebrated for oracles in former times, has now failed utterly like the water-springs, and a great drought of prophesy hath overspread the land; for in no other place, save at Lebadeia does Boeotia, afford means to draw from the oracular fount: as for the rest, either silence or utter desolation has taken possession of them, and yet, at the time of the Persian War, that of Amphiaraus was in no less repute than the one at Lebadeia, and [Mardonius], as was natural, consulted both. And the prophet of the oracle there uttered in the Aeolic language a response to the envoys of the foreigners, so that none of the holy men present understood what he was saying: because barbarians have no partnership in inspiration--neither is it granted unto them to receive a language that subserves what is ordained. [*1] And the slave who was sent to the temple of Amphiaraus dreamed in the usual sleep, [*2] that a minister of the god appeared, and at first drove him away by word of mouth alone, on the score that the deity was not at home, but afterwards pushed him out with his hands, but when he persisted in staying, the minister took up a good-sized stone, and knocked him on the head; and these things were, as it were the counterparts of what came to pass, for Mardonius was beaten not by a king, but by the guardian and ministers of a king, who was general of the Greeks, and was hit by a stone, and fell, in the same way as the Lydian fancied he was struck in his sleep. At that time, too, the oracle at Tagyrae was in a flourishing condition, at which place the legend goes that the god (Apollo) was born; and of two brooks that flow past, the one is called the Palm, the other the Olive-tree to this day: and in the Persian War, Echecrates [p. 78] being prophet there, the god predicted victory and successive war to the Greeks. And it is said than during the Peloponnesian War an oracle from Delphi was brought to the Delians, who had been expelled from their native island, bidding them look out for the place where Apollo was born, and to perform certain sacrifices there. And when they had offered these sacrifices, and were disputing whether the god was born not amongst themselves, but in some other place, the Pythia gave an additional response that a crow would tell them the spot. They went off therefore and arrived at Chaeronea, where they heard their landlady talking with some guests that were going to Tagyrae, about the oracles; and when the guests, as they were departing, saluted and addressed their hostess by the name she was called, namely Corone, the Delians understood the meaning of the response, offered sacrifice, and obtained permission to return home after no long time. There have also been manifestations of the divine will at these same oracles more recent than the above-named events, but now they are completely come to an end, so that it were worth one's while to inquire at the Pythian oracle respecting the cause of the change." VI. And now, walking forward from the Temple, we arrived at the doors of the Hall of the Cnidians; and having passed within, we perceived the friends to whom we were going, sitting down and waiting for us. There was silence on the part of the others, on account of the hour, for they were either engaged in anointing themselves, or else in looking at the wrestlers: then Demetrius said with a smile: "Shall I be wrong, or shall I speak truth? You appear to me to be attending to a spectacle not worth your trouble, for I see you seated very listlessly, and with an idle air upon your countenances." Then Heraclitus of Megara, taking him up, replied: "Yes, for we are not seeking after the solution of the problem [p. 79] why the verb should lose one of its two lambdas in the future tense, or from what word in the positive the comparative xeiron and beltion, or the superlatives xeiriston and beltiston are derived; for these and such like questions, perhaps, do contract and consolidate the face. Other subjects you will find people inquiring into and discussing, with their eyebrows in their proper places, and looking untroubled, and not terrific, and not quarrelling with all present." "Admit us, therefore," replied Demetrius, and "in company with us follow up the question which has just occurred to us, as being one proper for the place, and, on account of the god, a matter of interest to all, and consider in what way you shall not have to contract your brows in discussing the same." VII. As soon therefore as we had joined company and sat down amongst them, and he had laid the question before us, then Didymus the Cynic, by surname Planetiades, jumped up, and striking on the ground two or three times with his staff, [*1] cried out, "Ho, ho! A difficult problem, truly, one demanding much investigation, is what you are come to bring us: for it were a wonder, when so much wickedness is spread abroad, if not merely Modesty and Shame (as Hesiod said of old) should have abandoned mankind, but if the divine Providence should not have packed up its oracles out of every quarter, and taken its departure! On the contrary, I propose to you to inquire how it was that oracles did not come to an end long ago, and why Hercules did not for a second time (or else some other of the gods), steal away the Tripod, all bewrayed as it was with filthy and impious questions that people propound to the deity; while some make trial of his cleverness, as though he were a sophist, and others tease him with questions about treasure-troves, successions to property, and illegal marriages: so that [p. 80] [paragraph continues] Pythagoras is most signally confuted in saying that men are then at their best when they are going to worship the gods: in such a way, those very thoughts and passions of the soul, which it were but decent to disclaim and to hide, if one's elder should be present, these same thoughts do they carry naked and fully exposed, into the presence of the gods." And while he was still intending to speak, Heracleon caught hold of his cloak; I too, being about the most intimate with him of all the company, said: "Stop, my dear Planetiades, from provoking the god, for he is irritable and not good-tempered, for 'he has been blamed for having been angry with mortals,' as old Pindar hath it; and whether he is the Sun, or the lord and father of the Sun, and placed at the farthest side of the visible creation--it is not likely he deems unworthy of his voice men as they now are; to whom he is the source of life, of nutrition, of being, and of thought, nor at the same time that Providence, who like a benevolent and kind mother makes and keeps aright every thing for our benefit, should be revengeful in the matter of oracles alone, and take the benefit away from us, after having given it at first--just as though the greatest part of mankind were not evil in more respects than now at the very time when the oracles were established in many places. Come hither, pray, sit down again, and after making a 'Pythian truce' with Vice, which you are wont ever to chastise with your speech, assist us in seeking for some other cause of the aforesaid cessation of oracles; but keep the god in good humour, and exempt from blame." [*1] By saying this I effected thus much--that Planetiades walked out through the folding-doors without saying a word. VIII. There was a silence for a short time, when Ammonius addressing himself to me said, "Take heed, Lamprias, to what we are doing, and look carefully to the [p. 81] argument, as to how we drop the god out of the case. For he that supposes the extinct oracles to have failed from some other reason otherwise than the will of the gods incurs the suspicion of believing that they did not arise, nor bad their being through the agency of the gods, but through some third means, since there is no greater and stronger power to take away and extinguish prophecy, it being an operation of the deity. The argument of Planetiades does not satisfy me for many reasons, especially for the inconsistency which he imputes to the god in his, at some places, turning his back upon Vice, and denying it admission to his presence, whilst in other places he admits her, just as though some king or tyrant should shut out the wicked at one door, but admit them at the other and do business with them. But as for the cause--the greatest, satisfactory, nowhere extravagant, everywhere sufficient, reason, and above all others suitable to the character of the gods, is if one should assume this for the final cause, and say that in the general depopulation which the former factions and wars have brought about over nearly all the world, Greece has had the largest share, so that she, taken altogether, can hardly raise three thousand fighting men, the same number that the single town of Megara sent to Plateae, and that the fact, therefore, that many oracles of the gods are become extinct is nothing else than a proof of the desolation of Greece. I would grant him the credit of exactly hitting the mark. For what use would be an oracle in Tegyrae, as there formerly was, or at Ptoum, where now it would take you a good part of a day to meet a man keeping of sheep! For certainly the latter place, though the most ancient in point of time, and the most celebrated by fame, according to report has now been long deserted and unapproachable in consequence of a terrible animal, a dragon that haunts it, which they improperly assume as the cause, though it is the converse, for it is the [p. 82] desertion that brought the creature thither, and not the creature has caused the desertion of the place. For at what time, as it so pleased God, Greece was strong in cities, and the place [*1] was thronged with people, they used to employ two prophetesses, sitting in turn, whilst a third was appointed as assistant to them. At present, there is a single prophetess, and we do not grumble, for she is amply sufficient for those that want her services. We ought not therefore to make the god in fault, for the oracular power [*2] that still exists and survives is sufficient for all requirements, and sends away everyone satisfied in what they demand. Just as Agamemnon employed nine criers and yet hardly kept the assembly in order, by reason of its greatness, whereas you will see here in a few days' time a single voice, in the theatre, making itself audible to all; in the same way, in those times, did the oracular power use more voices to speak to more people. But, on the contrary, one would be surprised at the god's suffering prophecy to run to waste, like so much water, or else to echo to the voices of shepherds and their flocks in the loneliness, after the manner of the rocks." IX. When Ammonius had said this, and I remained silent, Cleombrotus addressing me, observed: "You have already conceded the point, that the god did both establish and abolish these oracles here." "Not so," I replied, "I assert that no oracle or place of prophecy is abolished through the fault of the god, but as with many other things that she makes and provides for us, Nature produces a wasting away and a deprivation, or to put it better, Matter being itself a deprivation, reverts to itself, and dissolves [p. 83] what was made by the Better Cause; and thus obscurations and extinctions of oracular powers are brought about, inasmuch as God giveth many good things to men, but not one that is everlasting, so that 'the things of the gods do die, but not God,' as Sophocles hath it. Their essence and their operation, such as be knowing in Nature and in Matter ought to investigate, their final cause being, as is right, reserved for God. For it is silly, and very childish to suppose that the god, like the ventriloquist spirits formerly called 'Eurycles' now 'Pythons,' enters into the bodies of the prophets and makes proclamation, employing their mouths and voices in the way of instruments; for in mixing Himself up with human means, He does not respect His own majesty, neither does He maintain His dignity, nor the superiority of His being." X. Then Cleombrotus: "You say right; but since the assuming and defining how and how for we must employ the idea of a providence, is a difficult thing, whilst some make out the Deity to be simply the author of nothing at all, others, of all things universally, they miss what is reasonable and proper. Now, they say well who say that Plato having discovered the element that is the subject of the existing qualities (to which element they nowadays give the name of Matter, or Nature), has delivered philosophers from many and great difficulties. But to me those men appear to have solved more and greater difficulties who have made out a family of Daemons, intermediate between gods and men, and after a certain fashion bringing together and uniting in one the society of both; whether this doctrine belong to the Magi and the followers of Zoroaster, or is a Thracian one coming from Orpheus, or Egyptian, or Phrygian, as we may infer from the rites which point in either direction, for we perceive many things belonging to death, and of lugubrious sort in the orgies done and the ceremonies performed of the Greeks. Homer appears to have [p. 84] used both names indifferently, in some places calling the gods 'daemons;' Hesiod, however, was the first clearly and distinctly to make four species of rational beings--gods, then daemons 'numerous and beneficent,' then heroes, lastly men, the demigods being ranged in the class of heroes. Others make out a change in the bodies equally with the souls, in the same way as water is seen to be produced from earth, air from water, fire from air, in consequence of the essence tending upwards, so from men to heroes, from heroes to daemons, souls of the better kind go through a transition. Of daemons, some few in long process of time, having been thoroughly purified by means of virtue, become partakers of divinity; whilst with others it comes to pass that they do not contain themselves, but becoming relaxed and dissolved again into mortal bodies, they receive au existence without light and without form, like an exhalation. But Hesiod is of opinion that after certain periods of time daemons themselves have an end, for he says, speaking in the person of the Naiad and even obscurely defining the period:-- 'Nine generations lives the noisy Crow Of lusty men: four times the crow the Stag. Three stags outlives the Raven: but the Phoenix Nine times the raven: ten phenices we The long-haired Nymphs, daughters of mighty Jove.' [paragraph continues] This space is calculated at a vast extent of time by people incorrectly understanding the word 'generation' (for it really means a year), so that they make the total duration of the life of daemons to be nine thousand seven hundred and twenty years. Most mathematicians assign them a shorter duration, none a longer. Pindar hath said in verse, 'Nymphs that have allotted them a term of life equal to a tree's;' for which cause, too, people call them 'Hamadryads;'" and whilst he was still speaking, Demetrius interrupting him said, "How do you mean, Cleombrotus, [p. 85] that 'a generation of man' means a year, for such a period is neither that of a life that is 'young,' or that is 'old,' as some people read the passage? But those who read 'young,' reckon the generation at thirty years, according to Heraclitus, in which space of time, he who has begotten furnishes that which has sprung from himself capable of propagation in its own turn; whilst they who read 'old' in the place of 'young,' assign one hundred and eight years to a generation, on the ground that fifty and four years are the mark of the middle of human life, being a number made up out of unity, the two first even numbers, two squares, and two cubes, [*1] which calculations Plato too has accepted in his 'Generation of Souls.' But the whole story of Hesiod's seems to have an obscure allusion to the general conflagration, when it is natural to suppose that together with all things moist the Nymphs shall come to an end:-- 'Who haunt the beauteous groves, The river-fountains and the grassy meads.'" XII. "I hear," replied Cleombrotus, "the same story from many people, and I behold the Stoical 'general conflagration,' as it devours the verses of Heraclitus and of Orpheus, at the same time attacking the lines of Hesiod: but I do not put up with talk about the destruction of the universe, and as for things impossible, particularly stories about the Crow and the Deer....... [*2] For the year [*3] does not supply all at once within itself (its course) every thing that the seasons bring forth, and the earth produces, neither is it called a "generation" according to the rule [p. 86] with mankind. For you admit, I suppose, that Hesiod calls a man's lifetime a 'generation,' is it not so?" Demetrius assented. "But this also is evident," Cleombrotus went on, "that both the measure and the things measured are called by the same names: for example, the pint, the quart, the cask, the butt, according to which rule therefore, Unity, which is the smallest measure and beginning of all number, we call 'number.' In the same manner, the year by which first we measure the life of man, the poet has styled 'a generation,' as synonymous with the thing measured. For what those philosophers take for their numbers in this calculation have nothing in them, as numbers, of what is considered striking and conspicuous, whereas he has got his nine thousand seven hundred and twenty by the product of the four numbers following, unity being made successively four times four, these being four times squared produce the sum specified. But on these points it is not necessary for us to argue with Demetrius, for if the time be more or if it be less, if it be fixed or if it be indefinite, in which the soul of a daemon comes to an end, and the life of a hero also, the thing at which he is aiming will be proved for him all the same, and by testimony the most clear and ancient, namely, that beings exist, as it were, in the intermediate place between gods and men, that are susceptible of mortal vicissitudes and of involuntary changes, whom it is right for us, according to the law of our fathers, to regard as and name 'daemons,' and to hold in reverence. XIII. "As an illustration of the subject, Xenocrates the friend of Plato, has taken the different kinds of Triangles, comparing the equilateral to the divine, the scalene to the mortal, the isosceles to the nature of daemons. For the first is equal every way, the second unequal every way, the third equal in one way, unequal in another, just as the being of daemons, which has in it mortal passions and divine power. [p. 87] [paragraph continues] And nature has produced sensible images and visible likenesses of the gods in the sun and stars, of men in flashes of light, comets, and falling meteors, as Euripides hath said in his verse: 'The man erst sturdy, like some falling star Is clean gone out, leaving his breath in air.' [paragraph continues] But as a mixed body, and truly a copy of a daemon, she (Nature) exhibits to us the moon, through her resembling the revolution (cycles) of the class, and her being subject to visible decrements, augmentations, and changes; from seeing which, some have called her an 'earthy star,' some a 'heavenly earth,' others the 'province of Hecate,' who is at once celestial and infernal. For just as if one should take away the Air, and withdraw that which is between the earth and moon, he would destroy the unity and the connexion of the universe, because a void and disunited space would be made in the middle; similarly they who do not admit the existence of the order of daemons, necessarily make gods and men out as having no intercourse and no compact with each other, by taking away the 'interpreting and communicating being,' as Plato calls it; or else they force us to mix up and huddle all things together by making the Deity enter into human passions and affairs, and drawing him down to our wants, just as the Thessalian women are said to do the moon. But the craft of the latter received confirmation amongst women, when Aglaonice, daughter of Hegetor, as they tell, being one skilled in astrology, did always, during an eclipse of the moon, pretend to use enchantment and draw her down. Let us, then, neither listen to people saying that oracles are not divinely inspired, or that certain ceremonies and wild rites are unheeded by the gods; nor, on the other hand, let us imagine that the Deity goes up and down, and is present at, and assists in, things of the sort; but as is right and proper, [p. 88] let us assign these operations to agents, or as it were, servants and clerks of the gods, and believe in daemons, presiding over the performers in the divine rites and mysteries, whilst others go about as punishers of the proud and mighty sinners: some of them Hesiod has styled, very solemnly, 'Of wealth the pure and sanctified bestowers, Whose royal privilege is this to do,' as though doing good were part of the kingly office. For in daemons, as in men, there are degrees of virtue; some having but a feeble and obscure trace, as it were a remnant, of the part subject to passion and destitute of reason, whilst others have in them a large and scarcely extinguishable portion of the same, the vestiges and symbols of which ceremonies, sacrifices, and legends do in many places preserve and lock up interspersed amongst their own proceedings." XIV. "Now with respect to matters belonging to the Mysteries, in which one can obtain the plainest manifestations, and hints of the truth respecting daemons, 'let a bridle be set upon my tongue,' as Herodotus hath it; but as for festivals and sacrifices, as well as inauspicious and mourning days, upon which the eating of raw flesh, and the tearing to pieces of victims, as also fastings and beatings of the breast are in use, and again in many places, abusive language at the sacrifices and other mad doings attended with tumult and head-tossing, all which I should say they perform for the sake of no one of the gods, but for the purpose of turning away wicked spirits, as being actions propitiatory and soothing to the same. And the human sacrifices offered of old, it is not credible that it was the gods who demanded and accepted them; neither would kings and chiefs have vainly submitted to give up their own children, to cut off their hair as a preliminary, and to [p. 89] slaughter them, but that they were averting and satiating the rage of certain malignant and hardly pacified evil genii, and satisfying of some the furious and imperious lusts, that were neither able nor willing to have intercourse with living bodies, and by the instruments of bodies. But like as Hercules besieged Oechalia for the sake of a maid, so do powerful and impetuous daemons, when craving for a human soul yet enveloped in a body, and unable to have intercourse with it by the organs of the body, bring upon cities pestilences and barrenness of the earth, and stir up wars and seditions until they get and obtain what they lust after. Some people, on the contrary (as I observed when spending a considerable time in Crete), celebrate an absurd festival, in which they exhibit the headless figure of a man, and say that this was Molos, father of Meriones, who, lying with a nymph against her will, found himself without his head. XV. And again, all the stories they tell and sing of in legends and hymns, here the rapes, there the wanderings, the hidings, and banishments, and servitudes, are not of the gods, but are the sufferings and vicissitudes of daemons, converted into legends on account of the superiority and power of these beings, and neither has Aeschylus said, [*1] 'Apollo pure, from heaven a banished god;' nor the Admetus of Sophocles, 'My consort made him labour at the mill.' [paragraph continues] But the farthest of all from the truth wander the theologians of Delphi, in believing that the battle took place there between the god and serpent for possession of the Oracle; and in allowing historians and poets to tell the tale, when contending for the prize in the theatres, as though purposely bearing witness against their own proceedings at the most sacred rites. But when Philip (for [p. 90] the historian was present) expressed his surprise at this statement, and inquired upon what deities [*1] he supposed the actors in the theatre declaimed? 'upon those,' replied he, 'that belong to this Oracle, into whose mysteries the city lately initiated all the Greeks dwelling beyond Pylae, and marched out as far as Tempe. For the nest of faggots that is built up here around the threshing floor every tenth year is not a memorial of the subterraneous lurking hole of the Serpent, but of the habitation of some tyrant or king. The procession also made to it in silence along the road called 'Doloneia,' in which they conduct, with lighted torches and in a zigzag course (aiola), the virgin with both parents living, and having set fire to the nest, and overturning the table, they fly without looking back, through the gates of the Temple; and finally, the wanderings up and down, and the servitude of the boy, as also the rites of purification at Tempe, all raise a suspicion of some great crime or atrocity thereby implied. For it is utterly ridiculous to suppose, my good friend, that Apollo after slaying the reptile, fled away to the other end of Greece, seeking after purification, and caused a few pitchers to be poured over him, and did all the other things people do when they wish to propitiate and end the wrath of the daemons whom they call 'Alastors' and 'avengers of blood,' as if they were following up the recollections of some never to-be-forgotten and antique atrocities. As for the tale I have heard long ago about the 'Flight,' and the 'Change of place,' it is terribly absurd and marvellous, but if it contains some portion of truth, let us not think it was something trifling and commonplace that was done with respect to the Oracle in those ancient times. But that I may not appear to be as Empedocles says, 'to be fitting [*2] [p. 91] the heads of one set of fables to another set, and not to follow one path in my discourse,' permit me to put the proper end to the first discussion, for now we are arrived at it; and let me be bold enough to say, as many have already done, that together with the extinction of the daemons appointed to preside over oracles and places of prophecy, this sort of thing does likewise come to an end, and '' lose their force when the spirits aforesaid either flee from or change the place, and then, after a long interval, when they return, the places give out a sound like organs when those that play thereon are present and stand over them." XVI. When Cleombrotus had finished thus, Heracleon said: "There is no one present of such as be profane, uninitiated, and holding opinions about the gods, uncongenial with your own; but yet, my dear Philip, we must take heed to ourselves, lest we unconsciously assume absurd, and very extravagant hypotheses to support the argument." "Well said," replied Philip, "but, what is it in the opinions expressed by Cleombrotus, that particularly displeases you?" "The remark," replied Heracleon, "that it is not the gods (whom it is right to relieve--keep distinct--from matters pertaining to earth), but daemons subserving to them, seems to me a reasonable postulate enough; but to take these daemons, all but bodily, out of the verses of Empedocles, and impute to these some daemons' sins committed, calamities endured, wanderings imposed by heaven, and finally to suppose in their case deaths, as if they were mere men, seems to me too bold and uncivilized a theory." Hereupon, Cleombrotus inquired of Philip, who and whence the young man was that had just spoken, and having learnt his name and country answered: "We do not, Heracleon, conceal from ourselves that we are fallen into a strange line of argument; but in the case of great subjects, it is not possible, without making use of great assumptions, to arrive at au end consistent with our [p. 92] expectation. But you yourself do not perceive that you are retracting what you concede, for you allow there are daemons; but by your claiming that there are none bad, nor yet subject to mortality, you no longer keep your daemons; for in what respect do they differ from gods, if in regard to essence they possess immortality, and in regard to virtue, freedom from passion and immunity from sin." XVII. Thereupon, whilst Heracleon was considering something with himself in silence, Cleombrotus continued, "Nay, but not only Empedocles has bequeathed to us evil daemons that be evil by nature, but Plato, too, has done the same, as well as Xenocrates and Chrysippus; besides, Democritus, when he prays that 'he may meet with auspicious idola' (apparitions), shows plainly that he knows of others that have morose and mischievous dispositions and inclinations. But with respect to the mortality of beings of the kind, I have heard a tale from a man who is neither a fool nor an idle talker--from that Aemilian the rhetorician, whom some of you know well; Epitherses was his father, a townsman of mine, and a teacher of grammar. This man (the latter) said, that once upon a time he made a voyage to Italy, and embarked on board a ship conveying merchandise and several passengers. When it was now evening, off the Echinad Islands, the wind dropped, and the ship, carried by the current, was come near Paxi; most of the passengers were awake, and many were still drinking, after having had supper. All of a sudden, a voice was heard from the Isle of Paxi, of some one calling 'Thamus' with so loud a cry as to fill them with amazement. This Thamus was an Egyptian pilot, known by name to many of those on board. Called twice, he kept silence; but on the third summons he replied to the caller, and the latter, raising yet higher his voice, said, 'When thou comest over against Palodes, announce that the great Pan is dead.' All, upon hearing this, said Epitherses, [p. 93] were filled with consternation, and debated with themselves whether it were better to do as ordered, or not to make themselves too busy, and to let it alone. So Thamus decided that if there should be a wind he would sail past and hold his tongue; but should there fall a calm and smooth sea off the island, he would proclaim what he had heard. When, therefore, they were come over against Palodes, there being neither wind nor swell of sea, Thamus, looking out from the stern, called out to the land what he had heard, namely, 'That the great Pan is dead:' and hardly had he finished speaking than there was a mighty cry, not of one, but of many voices mingled together in wondrous manner. And inasmuch as many persons were then present, the story got spread about in Rome, and Thamus was sent for by Tiberius Caesar; and Tiberius gave so much credence to the tale that he made inquiry and research concerning this Pan; and that the learned men about him, who were numerous, conjectured he was the one that was born from Hermes and Penelope." Now, Philip found amongst those present witnesses to the truth of the story, who had heard it from the aged Aemilian. XVIII. Demetrius said, that of the islands lying round Britain, there were many desert, and scattered about, some of which were named after daemons and heroes; and that he, for the purpose of inquiry and investigation, sailed, by the emperor's order, [*1] to that which lay nearest of the desert isles, which had but a few inhabitants, and those religious men, and held sacred by the Britons. Just after his landing, [p. 94] there occurred a great tumult in the air, and many meteors, and blasts of wind burst down, and whirlwinds descended. But when it was calm again, the islanders said, that the extinction had taken place of some one of the superior powers, for as (said they) a lamp when burning does no harm, but being put out is noxious to many people, [*1] in like manner great souls, when first kindled, are benignant and harmless, whilst their going out and dissolution, often, as in the present case, stirs up stormy winds, and aerial tumults; nay, often infects the air with pestilential tendencies. In that region also, they said, Saturn was confined in one of the islands by Briareus, and lay asleep; for that his slumber had been artfully produced in order to chain him, and round about him were many daemons for his guards and servants." XIX. Then Cleombrotus, taking him up, said: "I, too, have something of the same sort to narrate, and it suffices for the supposition, that there is nothing that is contrary to, or prevents these things being so constituted. And yet the Stoics, we know, hold the same opinion that you mention, not only as regards the daemons, but also of the gods, so numerous as they be; they keep One as the Eternal and Incorruptible, but believe that the others are both born and die. As for the jeers and scoffs of the Epicureans, we must by no means be afraid of them, for such (weapons) they employ against Divine Providence, also making it out to be a fable. But we say their own ignorance is a fable that has, amongst so many worlds, not one that is guided by Divine order, but all of them spontaneously created and put together. But if we must laugh in matter of philosophy, we ought to laugh at their spectra, which, being both dumb, blind, and lifeless, where do they remain [*2] during infinite periods of time? making their appearance, [p. 95] and roaming about everywhere--spectra thrown off, partly from persons yet living, partly from those long ago reduced to ashes, or mouldered into dust, whilst their inventors drag bubbles and shadows into the domains of Natural History, and go into a rage [*1] if any one says there are daemons, not only by nature, but by report, and that they possess the power of preserving themselves and lasting for an immense time." XX. After these things had been said, Ammonius went on: "Theophrastus seems to me to have given sentence rightly, [*2] for what objection is there to accepting a sentiment at once noble and in the highest degree philosophical. Rejecting as it does many of things possible, yet not capable of being proved, it ignores them entirely; and being accepted as a rule, will involve many consequences, both impossible and without any shadow of reality. The only thing, however, that I have heard Epicureans advancing against the daemons introduced by Empedocles--'that it is not conceivable that being wicked and liable to error, they should be at the same time happy and long-lived, inasmuch as wickedness involves the idea of blindness, and a liability to fall into things destructive'--is a silly argument. For, according to this way of reasoning, Epicurus is made out worse than Hippias the sophist, and Metrodorus than Alexis the comedian, for the latter lived twice as long as Metrodorus, and the former above one-third longer than Epicurus. Besides, we say that virtue is a strong and vice a weak thing, not in reference to any durability or dissolution of body; for amongst animals we observe many that be dull and stupid, and again, [p. 96] others that be lascivious and untameable, live longer lives than the intelligent and sagacious kinds. Hence, they do not well to make God's eternity result from the guarding against and repulsion of the causes of destruction; because the freedom from passion and from corruptibility must necessarily exist in the nature of the Blessed One, and stand in need of no exertion on his part. But, perhaps, to talk of people behind their backs is not very polite; and therefore Cleombrotus, who lately dropped the word about the 'flight and migration of daemons,' has a right to resume the subject." XXI. Then Cleombrotus: "I shall be surprised if it does not strike you as even stranger than what has already been advanced by me; and yet it appears to be connected with Natural History, and Plato even has allowed its possibility--not that he has stated it directly, but from a vague supposition, and throwing out an enigmatical hint in a cautious manner--but, nevertheless, a great outcry was made against it by the other philosophers, and seeing that a bowl of mingled fables and facts is set before us, and, possibly, some one amongst our kinder listeners, as though he had met with foreign coins, will put these same stories to the touchstone. I do not scruple to present you with the narrative of a man, a barbarian, whom I hardly found out after long wanderings, and paying heavily for information, who made his appearance once every year among the tribes living round the Red Sea, and spent the rest of his time in company with the pastoral nymphs, and with the daemons, as he asserted, and with whom I obtained a conference and friendly reception. He was the handsomest of all men to look at, lived ever free from all disease, eating once a month the fruit of a certain herb that was like a drug [*1] and bitter to taste. He understood [p. 97] several languages, but to me he chiefly spake Doric, [*1] not far removed from poetry. Whilst he was speaking, perfume filled the air, from his mouth sending forth the sweetest smell. His other learning and recollections continued with him the whole time; but as regards prophecy he was inspired but for one day in each year, at which time he went down to the sea and delivered his predictions, and nobles and secretaries of different princes flocked to hear him, and then sailed away. His inspiration he ascribed to daemons. He talked with much pleasure about Delphi; as for the things related concerning Dodona, and the rites performed there he was ignorant of none; he said they all were the mighty workings of daemons, and the same respecting the Python, and that the slayer of the Python did not suffer an exile of nine years, or to the distance of Tempe; but that being expelled thence he went into another world, and there abode for the revolutions of nine Great Years, until at length having become pure, and really 'bright' (foibos) he returned, and received possession of the Oracle, which had in the meanwhile been taken care of by Themis. Of the same nature was the story of Typhon; and the affair of the Titans was only the fights of daemons against daemons, succeeded by the fleeing away of the vanquished; or else the punishment taken by a god upon such as had offended in the same way that Typhon is said to have sinned against Osiris, and Saturn against Uranus; of both of whom the honours have consequently become tarnished; or else these legends refer to such as have completely migrated to another world; since I learn that the Solymi, neighbours of the Lyceans, pay the highest honours to Saturn; [*2] but [p. 98] when, after killing their chiefs, Arsilas, Dryos, and Trosobeos, he fled away, and migrated somewhere or other, (for I cannot tell you this), he is neglected, and the Lycians call Arsilas and his companions hard-hearted gods, and utter solemn imprecations upon this crime, both in public and in private. Many like instances to these you can extract out of religious legends. And if we designate daemons by the customary names of the gods, there is nothing to be surprised at in our so doing (said the stranger), since to whatever god each daemon is assigned, and from whom he derives his power and privileges, after this one he is wont to be called. For amongst ourselves one man is 'Diius,' another 'Athenaeus,' another 'Apollonius' or 'Dionysius ' or 'Hermaeus,' but only some few are by accident properly so entitled, the most part have taken possession of the names of gods far from appropriately, in fact quite the reverse." XXII. And when Cleombrotus had done speaking, his story appeared to all a strange one. But on Heracleon's asking whereabouts in Plato these things are to be found, and in what way he had afforded a foundation for the argument, Cleombrotus replied: "You do well to remind me; for Plato from the first acknowledged the plurality of worlds, but with respect to their precise number he remained in doubt: and though as far as five he conceded the probability, to humour such as supposed one world for each element--yet he confined himself to a single one. And this appears to be peculiar to Plato, for the others were terribly alarmed at the notion of a plurality, as though when they did not limit the number to one, but went farther, an indefinite and perplexing infinity would take them up." "But," said I, "did the stranger decide about the plurality of worlds in the same way as does Plato, at what time you were in his company, [*1] or did you [p. 99] fail to put the question to him?" "I was not likely," replied Cleombrotus, "not to be an inquisitive and glad hearer of his opinion upon this subject, above all others, when he gave me the occasion, and showed himself so well disposed. He told me, in fact, that there were neither an infinite number of worlds, nor a single one, nor yet five, but one hundred and eighty-three, arranged in the form of a triangle, each side of which contains sixty worlds. Of the remaining three, one is placed at each angle; and those in line touch each other, revolving gently as if in a dance. The area within this triangle is the common hearth of them all, and is named the 'Plain of Truth,' in which the reason, the forms, and the pattern of all things that have been, and that shall be, are stored up not to be disturbed; and as eternity dwells around them, from thence Time, like a stream from a fountain, flows down upon the worlds. The sight and contemplation of these things is vouchsafed to the souls of men, once in every ten thousand years: that is, if they shall have lived a virtuous life. The best of our initiatory rites here below are the dreamy shadow of that spectacle, and of that rite; and the words used therein are ingeniously devised for the purpose of reminding us of the beauties of that place--or else are used to no purpose at all. [*1] All this did I hear him reciting exactly as though he were so doing at some ceremony, or rite of initiation, without offering any evidence or proof of his statements." XXIII. Then I, addressing Demetrius, said: "How do the words of the suitors run, when they are wondering at Ulysses whilst handling the bow?" and when Demetrius had repeated them, [*2] I continued: "The very same thing [p. 100] it occurs to me to say with respect to this stranger. Supposing he were really some seeker after, and pillager of creeds and legends of all sorts; one much versed in books of religion; no foreigner at all, but a Greek by birth, and well-stocked with Grecian learning? The number of his worlds betrays him, that being neither Egyptian nor Indian, but Dorian, and coming out of Sicily, and the property of a man of Himera, by name Petron. The treatise of that philosopher I have not read, nor indeed know whether it be still extant. But Hippys of Rhegium, whom Phaneas of Eresos quotes, bears witness that this notion and tale belongs to Petron, that is, about there being one hundred and eighty-three worlds, all touching one another in a row; but what this 'touching one another in a row' means, he neither explains, nor adduces anything plausible in its support." Demetrius taking me up replied: "What plausible argument can be found in matters of the sort, where not even Plato would say anything reasonable or probable when he commenced the subject." Then Heracleon: "But again, we hear you grammarians referring your notions to Homer, as though he divided the Universe into Five Worlds; viz., Heaven, Water, Air, Earth, Olympus: of which, two he leaves in common; Earth, belonging to all that is below; Olympus to all that is above; and the three in the middle are assigned unto the three gods. In this way, then, Plato appears to connect the first and most beautiful forms and patterns of bodies with the divisions of the Universe, and calls them Five Worlds--viz., that of Earth, that of Water. that of Air, that of Fire, and last, that which envelopes them all--namely, that of the Twelve-sided figure, which is widely diffused and versatile, [*1] by which supposition, forsooth, he has invented a figure the most appropriate and [p. 101] congenial to the revolutions and the movements of souls." Thereupon Demetrius: "Why do we meddle with Homer in the present case? we have had quite enough of fables. But Plato is very far from calling the five varieties of the universe Five Worlds--in which he is at war with those that suppose an infinity of Worlds: in fact he says thus much--"that he is of opinion this world is One, the sole production of God, and satisfying Him; being generated whole, perfect, and self-sufficient out of the entire Bodily element." Whence one may well be surprised how he, after having told the truth, has furnished others with the grounds of a notion equally improbable and irrational. For the very fact of not retaining one single world involves somehow the hypothesis of the Infinity of worlds; whilst to make them a definite number, just so many, neither more nor less than Five, is exceedingly strange, and remote from all probability--unless you have anything to say to the contrary," he added, looking at me. "It seems then, replied I, "that so we have thrown aside the question about Oracles as entirely concluded, and are taking up another quite as extensive." "Not throwing aside the former question," answered Demetrius, "but not passing over the present one that equally claims our attention, for we will not dwell upon it, but only sketch it out sufficiently to examine its probability, and then pass on to the original subject of discussion." XXIV. "In the first place then (said I) the objections to supposing an infinity of worlds do not preclude our supposing there is more than one, for it is possible for prophecy and foreknowledge to exist in several worlds at once, and Chance comes into the question very slightly; whilst the greatest part of, and those the most important things, are susceptible of birth and of change, neither of which does infinity by its nature admit of. In the next place, it is more consistent with reason to suppose the [p. 102] world neither to be the sole production of God, nor yet an empty one. For as He is perfectly good, and in no one virtue wanting, least of all in what concerns justice and love (for these are the most beautiful of virtues and the best befitting the Godhead), and as God has nothing in vain, or not to be put to use, then consequently must exist other Powers and worlds outside of this, to whom he extends his communicative virtues. For it is not upon Himself, nor upon a portion of Himself, that the exercise of His justice, of his benevolence, or of his goodness, is directed, but upon others; wherefore it is not probable that He is without a friend, and without a neighbour, nor that this world tosses about unsocially in a void infinity; since we observe that Nature also envelopes things one by one, as it were in vessels, or in the shells of seeds. For there is nothing in the number of things that be, neither is there a Common Reason, (or what receives such designation,) that is not of its own nature something acting in common with something else. Now the world is not predicated as 'common,' but it effects whatever it is capable of, through difference between individual parts; having itself been created such as it is, homogeneous and of one species. And if in Nature a single man, or a single horse has not been produced, nor yet a single star, god, or daemon--what objection is there to Nature's containing more worlds than One? For he that says there is a single earth overlooks what is self-evident--the circumstance of similar parts; for we divide the Earth into parts of the same name, and the Sea in like manner, whereas a part of the world is not a world, for the world is made up out of different parts. XXV. "And again, the thing that some people especially fear, and therefore use up the whole of Matter upon a single world, in order that nothing may be left outside and either by its impact or its concussions may disturb the constitution [p. 103] of this--there is no good cause for such apprehension. For if there be a plurality of worlds, and each one has individually had allotted to it an existence [*1] and materials possessing both measure and limitation, there is nothing left irregular or disorderly, like a superfluity, to dash against it from external space. For the Reason presiding over each world, being master of the accumulated Matter, will allow nothing out of course or running wild, to impinge upon another; nor yet any such accident from another world upon itself, by reason that Nature does not admit of an unlimited and infinite plurality, nor yet an irrational and irregular movement. And even if any emanation is carried from one set down to another, it must be congenial, agreeable, and mixing with them all in amicable fashion, like the rays and union of the several stars: whilst they must be delighted themselves in benevolently contemplating each other; whilst to numerous and good deities presiding over each, they afford the means of intercourse and hospitality. Nothing of all this is impossible, or romantic, or inconceivable, unless in truth some people will regard it with suspicion, after Aristotle's fashion, because it involves the idea of natural causes. For as he says: 'In the case of bodies, when each one has its own place, it is a necessary consequence that the Earth tends from all parts towards the centre, and the Water in the same way, because by its weight it sinks under the lighter particles.' If, then, there be several worlds, it will come to pass that the Earth will be placed frequently above the Fire and the Air, and as frequently below them; and Water and Air will be similarly treated; in some positions they will be in their natural places, in others in unnatural, which supposition being impossible (as he believes) there must be neither two nor several worlds, [p. 104] but this single One, composed out of all existence, and filled according to Nature, as is best suited to the varieties of bodies going to its composition. XXVI. "But this theory, too, is advanced more as a matter of probability than of certainty. View the matter," said I, "my dear Demetrius, in this manner: of bodies, some have a motion towards the centre, and downwards, as Aristotle says, some from the centre and upwards, others round the centre and in a circle; at what point does he assume his centre? Not certainly in the vacuum, for there is no vacuum according to him; for where a vacuum is, it admits of no middle point, neither does it of first or last, for these are limits, but the infinite is also unlimited. And if anyone should endeavour to prove that it is set in motion by Reason, although it be infinite, what is the difference in the movements of solid bodies, as compared with this? For neither does any force of the bodies exist in the vacuum, nor do the bodies possess any predisposition or property that tends towards the centre, and converges towards this point from every quarter. But yet it is impossible to conceive [the tendency] of bodies inanimate towards a place incorporeal, and unaffected by them; nor how a forward motion by them is produced, or a preponderating influence exerted by the other. The alternative then remains, that 'centre' is used not in the sense of locality, but of body. For as this world possesses a single unity and constitution, made up out of many and dissimilar bodies, these differences necessarily produce the motions of the several parts towards each other; since it is evident that the several parts when rearranged in their essences, will at the same time change their places also; since their repulsion from the centre will distribute in a circle the matter that raises itself upwards; whereas their mixing together and condensations press the same matter down, and impel it together towards the centre. [p. 105] XXVII. "Upon which subjects it is not necessary to expend more words; for if one should assume that the Creator is the author of these liabilities and changes, this cause will confine each world within itself; for each world contains an earth and a sea; each, also, possesses a centre and properties and changeabilities of component parts, and a nature, and a power that keeps in place and preserves each one. For that which is external--whether it be nothing at all, or whether it be an unlimited vacuum--does not afford a centre, as already stated. And if there be several worlds, in each one there exists a centre of its own; so that there is a movement of some bodies towards it, of others from it, and of others around it, in what manner they themselves determine. But he who demands that in the case of several centres, weights should tend down to a single centre only, differs not at all from one that should demand that in the case of several men their blood should all flow together in a single vein from all parts; and that the brains of all should be enveloped in one and the same membrane, because he thinks it hard that of things corporeal and physical the solid parts should not occupy one and the same place, and the liquid parts another! For the latter would be absurd in his conception; and equally so the man who makes a fuss if things collectively employ their own parts, which have their natural position and order inherent in each of them; for it were utterly absurd should any one assert that there is a world [*1] ... containing in itself the moon, just as though a man should carry his brain in his heels and his heart in his temples. But that in supposing several worlds distinct from each other, you define and divide their parts in conformity with the whole, this is not an absurdity: for in each of [p. 106] them the earth, the sea, the sky, will remain, after its nature, in its fitting place; also, each one of the worlds has its above, its below, its roundabout centre, not with reference to any other world, or to what is external, but contained in itself, and with reference to itself. XXVIII. "The case they put of 'the stone outside of the world,' does not easily present an idea either of immobility or of motion; for how will it remain motionless, being possessed of weight, or how will it move towards the world, like other weights, if it neither is a part thereof, nor yet constitutionally subordinate to its nature? And as for that (nature) which is presented, and contained within another world, there were no need to discuss, how it is that it does not pass over netherwards, detaching itself from the mass by reason of its weight,--when we consider the nature and tension of the bonds whereby each of the parts is kept together. Since, if we admit the ideas of above and below, not with reference to the world itself, but as external to it, we fall into the same difficulties with Epicurus, when he makes all his 'atoms' move towards the place under his feet, just as though the vacuum had any feet at all, or infinity allowed one to conceive the ideas of above and below within itself. For which reason we have cause to wonder at Chrysippus, or rather, indeed, to be at a loss to know what possessed him when he supposed that the world is fixed in the centre, and that its essence having taken possession of this middle place from all eternity, has principally worked it up for the object of stability, and as it were, for incorruptibility. [*1] For this very thing he asserts in his Fourth Book 'Upon Possibilities,' where he is dreaming absurdly about a centre of infinity,' and still more preposterously ascribing the efficient cause of the perpetuity of the world to the 'centre that has no beginning'-- [p. 107] and this, too, when he has declared in other places, and frequently also, 'that existence is both regulated and kept together by motions either tending towards the centre thereof, or away from the centre.' XXIX. "And again, who will be frightened by the objections of the stoics, when they ask how will a single Fate and a single Providence stand, or bow will there not be several Jupiters and several Joves if there be a plurality of worlds? [*1] In the first place, then, if the notion of there being several Jupiters and Joves be absurd, surely those ideas of their own are much more absurd: for suns, and moons, and Apollos, and Dianas, and Neptunes they suppose in infinite numbers in their infinite revolutions of worlds. Secondly, what absolute necessity is there for there being several Jupiters, if there be a 'plurality of worlds; and not [*2] one Ruler and Director of the Whole to each--a God possessing Reason and Intelligence, in the same way as He that is with us, entitled Lord and Father of all?' Or what objection is there to all these worlds being subject to the Fate and the Providence of Jupiter, and that He should superintend and direct them in turn, implanting in each and every one of them, final causes, and germs, and reasons of all things that come to pass therein? For, is not one body here below often made up out of several separate bodies--for example, a popular assembly, an army, a chorus--to each individual of whom belongs the faculty of living, of thinking, and of learning, as Chrysippus believes; whilst that in the whole universe the worlds, whether fifty or one hundred in number, should obey or follow a single Reason, and be administered under one [p. 108] government, is a thing impossible! But yet such a constitution as this is exactly adapted to the Divine character. For we ought not to imagine gods like queen-bees, never stirring from home, nor yet imprison them by fencing them round with matter, or rather fencing them in along with matter, as people do when they make out the gods to be influences of the atmosphere; and when they invent powers of Water and of Fire mixed up in the substance, and beget them along with the world; and, again, burn them up along with it, as not being removable or free agents, like charioteers, or pilots: but just as images are nailed up and soldered down in spite of themselves, so do they make them out locked up in the corporeal nature, and riveted down thereto, partners with it even so far as its entire destruction and transformation. XXX. "But that opinion, I think, is the more respectable and dignified, namely, that the gods, being immortal and independent, in the same way as the Tyndaridae come to the aid of tempest-tossed mariners, and calm the sea in spite of itself and the swift blasts of the winds, not that they themselves go on board the ship, or are partakers in the peril, but show themselves up aloft, and save it from destruction--by like manner that the world is put under gods, a different one to each, who are attracted by the pleasure of the spectacle, and assist Nature in the direction of them respectively. For Homer's Jove turns his eyes, no very great distance, from Troy to the parts of Thrace and the wandering tribes around the Danube; but the True One enjoys beautiful and congenial changes of sights [*1] in numerous worlds; He does not behold an infinite vacuum, nor contemplates Himself in solitary grandeur (as some do hold) and nothing else besides; but looks down upon the many operations of gods and men, the motions and courses of the stars, as they run in their [p. 109] appointed cycles. For the Godhead is no enemy to changes--on the contrary, He delighteth greatly therein, to judge from the alternations and revolutions of the visible phenomena of the heavens. Now, Infinity is entirely without judgment, and without reasoning; far from admitting the idea of God, it presents in every direction the operations of accident and self-will. But in a definite host and number of worlds, Superintendence and Providence of that which has invested itself with one body, and has been bound close to that one, and which transforms and models the same in infinite ways, strikes me at least as presenting no very unseemly or hardly conceivable idea." XXXI. Having spoken thus much I stopped; but Philip, after a short interval, replied: "Whether the truth about these matters be so, or of a different sort, I will not take upon myself to decide. But if we remove the Deity out of a single world, [*1] why do we suppose Him the Creator of five only; and what is the argument for this restriction in their number--a thing, I ween, I should be better pleased to learn than what was the meaning of the dedication of the golden E in this temple? [*2] for it (the number) clearly is neither triangular nor square, nor perfect nor cubical, or presenting any other curiosity of the sort for such as love and admire speculations of that kind; and the getting at it from the number of the Elements, which I myself lately hinted at, is in every way beset with difficulties, and holds out no gleam of any probability to draw us on to assert that it is likely when five bodies with equal angles, equal sides, and containing equal areas, are generated in matter, as a thing of course just so many worlds must result from them." XXXII. "And in fact," replied I, "Theodorus of Soli; [p. 110] seems to me to have followed out the subject in the right way, when he is explaining the 'Mathematics ' of Plato: he argues in this way: 'The pyramid, eight-sided figure, twenty-sided, and twelve-sided, which Plato proposes, are indeed beautiful things for the symmetry of proportions and equality; neither is it left in the power of Nature to produce, compose, or fit together any other figure better than, or equal to them. At any rate, all of then have not got one and the same constitution, neither have they a similar origin, for the most slender and simplest figure of all is the Pyramid; the greatest, and made up of the most parts, is the twelve-sided; of the remaining two, the twenty-sided is twice as great as the eight-sided figure in the number of the triangles it contains. Consequently, it is impossible they derive their origin from one and the same matter; for the small and thin and more simple in construction must necessarily be the first to obey whatever puts in motion and moulds the matter, and be perfected, and get the start of the more solid and more composite bodies, amongst which, displaying also a more laborious construction, is the eight-sided one. It follows from this, that the only first form is the Pyramid, but none of the rest, inasmuch as they are inferior to it in the nature of their generation.' There is, therefore, a remedy for this difficulty--that is, the division and separation of matter into Five worlds--one where to place the Pyramid (for that Plato assumes for the first), another for the Octohedron, a third for the Eicosihedron. The rest will derive their generation from the pre-existent element in each, according to the correspondence of their particles, there being a transition of all into all, as Plato himself hints, as he is going through nearly all the particulars: but we prefer to prove the thing expeditiously. Since Air, when Fire is extinguished, retires, and when rarefied again gives out Fire from itself, we must look for the cause of these [p. 111] properties and vicissitudes in each element. The element of Fire is the Pyramid, [*1] made up out of the four-and-twenty primitive triangles; that of Air is the Octohedron, made up out of eight-and-forty of the same. One element, therefore, of Air results from two of Fire, mixed together and united; that of Air being analysed is divided into two components of Fire, but being condensed and compressed into itself it goes off into the form of water. So that in all cases, the pre-existent thing readily supplies an origin from chance to the others; and not merely is there one First element, but since a different one possesses in a different system an initiative influence, provocative to generation, the identity of name is maintained by the whole." XXXIII. Then Ammonius: "This theory has indeed been worked out by Theodorus with equal courage and perseverance: yet I should not be surprised if he will be discovered to employ assumptions that are subversive of each other. For he assumes that the combination did not take place with all the five at once, but that the most subtile, and what was put together with the least amount of labour, presented itself first for birth. Next, he lays down as a necessary consequence of this, and not as contradicting it, that matter did not provide all things with the more subtile and simple principle; but that, in some cases, the weighty and composite elements were the first to come forward in the birth out of matter. Besides this, after five primitive substances have been assumed, and on the strength of this assumption, the worlds being declared to be of that same number, he employs the argument of probability with reference to four only of them, and withdraws the Cube, as is done in the game of counters, because it is not disposed by its nature to change into [p. 112] them, nor yet to allow them to change into itself--because, truly, all triangles are not of the same nature, for in the former figures the half-triangle in all is supposed empty; whereas in the latter the isosceles triangle, being peculiar to this figure alone, makes no inclination, or unifying conjunction with that empty space. If, therefore, there being five worlds and five bodies (elements), that part has the precedence of birth in which the Cube was first generated, there will be nothing left for the rest; because there is nothing of theirs into which the Cube is naturally disposed to change. And I say nothing about the circumstance that they make the element of the so-called Dodecahedron to be something else, and not the Scalene triangle out of which Plato composes his Pyramid, Octohedron, and Eicosihedron. "For that very reason," added Ammonius laughing, "you must either solve these questions; or else advance something of your own with respect to the common difficulty." XXXIV. Then I: "I have nothing to say that is more plausible, at least at the moment, but still it is better to submit to an examination of one's own opinion, than that of another's. I therefore say again, as I said at starting, that if we suppose the existence of two Natures,--the one Sensible in birth and destruction, subject to change and to be moved in different directions; the other Intelligible, ever remaining the same in the same course--it is strange that the Intelligible part should be divided and have variety in itself, and that we should be angry and scold if one does not leave the corporeal and passive part be one, concordant with and converging towards its own self, but divide and disperse the same. For things permanent and divine must surely cling faster to themselves, and shrink as far as possible from all severance and separation of parts, but even with these the power of the one laying hold of something greater than itself, produces in things [p. 113] intelligible, the dissimilarities that exist as to cause and form, of the divisions in locality; whence Plato, in opposition to such as make out the All to be One, declares that which is to be both the Same and Different, and over all, Motion and Rest. There being then these five figures, it were to be wondered at, if of the five corporeal elements [*1] each one had been produced as a copy and image of each quality--not, indeed, pure and unmixed, but participating as far as possible in each power each in its turn. For the Cube is palpably the proper emblem of Rest; on account of the security and firmness of the superficies: and of the Pyramid everybody will recognize the fiery and movable character in the slenderness of its sides, and the acuteness of its angles; the nature of the dodecahedron, being comprehensive of the other figures, may be supposed an image of 'That which is' with reference to the corporeal part: whilst of the remaining two, the Eicosihedron has got for its share the figure of the 'Different,' and the Octahedron the figure of the 'Same.' On this account, he has represented in one form Air, which holds together all existence; and on the other side, Water, which turns into the most numerous kinds of qualities by reason of its intermixture. If, therefore, Nature demands an equilibrium in all things, it is probable that the worlds are neither more nor less than their patterns, in order that each may have for each a rule of government and of power, just as it has got in the constitutions of bodies? [*2] XXXV. "Not but that these several divisions are a consolation to him that wonders why we divide the Nature existing in births and changes, into so great a number of [p. 114] species. Examine the case attentively in company with me: and observe how that of the highest Powers (I mean the One, and the undefined Two) that which is the element of all deformity and disorder is denominated 'infinity,' whereas the nature of the One that limits and checks [*1] the empty, [*2] undefined, irrational nature of infinity, renders it capable of form, and will produce it in some way or another obedient to, and susceptible of the consequent division into categories as regards the objects of intellect, and the Principles themselves make their first appearance with reference to Number: or rather Number is by no manner of means plurality, unless considered as a form of Matter, that arises out of the unlimited nature of the Infinite, and is subdivided in one place into more, in another, into fewer parts: for then each of the pluralities becomes Number, when it is defined by the One. But if the One be removed: then again the unlimited Two will confuse and make the All inharmonious, unlimited, and immeasurable. For since "Species" is not a doing away with Matter, but only a form and ordering of the subject-matter, it is a necessary consequence that both the Principles also should exist in Number, out of which Principles spring the greatest difference and inequality. For the undefined Principle is creator of the even; the better Principle of the odd numbers. The first of the even numbers is the Two, the first of the odd the Three, from the addition of which springs the Five--a number by composition common to both, but by its power, odd. For it was a necessary consequence of the intelligible and the Corporeal being measured out into several parts, by reason of the [p. 115] necessity implanted in their nature for variance, that neither the first should be even, nor the first odd but the third, made up out of them, so that it springs from both Principles--from that which creates the even, and that which creates the odd; since it was not possible for the one to be separated from the other, for either of them has the nature and power of a Principle, and when both are doubled, the Better One prevailed over the indefiniteness that divided the Corporeal part, and stood still, and because Matter was cut asunder between the two, this Principle placed the unit in the middle, and did not allow the Universe to be distributed into two parts, but the result was a plurality of worlds by means of the variance and the difference of the indefinite part. This plurality was rendered an uneven number by the power of the latter and of the Definite part, but such unevenness it was not allowed to overpass because the Better principle possesses a more extensive nature. For if the One were unmixed and pure, Matter would not have admitted of any separation at all; but since it is parted by the loosening property of the Two, it has admitted of dissection and division into parts; and stood still at this point, the even number being overpowered by the uneven. XXXVI. "For this reason it was the custom with the ancients to call reckoning 'counting by fives;' and I am of opinion that 'all things' (panta) were so named from 'five' (pente) by analogy; because, forsooth, the Five was made up out of the first numbers: for the other numbers when multiplied with others produce a number different from themselves; whereas the Five, if it be taken an even number of times, makes the Ten perfect; and if taken an uneven number of times, it reproduces itself. But if, for the reason that the Five was composed out of the two first squares, namely, Unity and Four, for it is the first that being of equal value with the two preceding it composes [p. 116] the most beautiful of right-angled triangles; and it first produces the sesquilateral proportion. All this, perhaps, has not much to do with the subject before us; but the other is more so, viz., what is by its own nature the division of number; and the fact that Nature does divide most things of the sort in this manner. Also in ourselves are five senses, and members of the soul--the physical, the sensitive, the appetitive, the irascible, and the rational; and five fingers of each hand; and the most fecundating semen is divided into five parts; for no woman is recorded to have brought forth more than five children at the same birth. Also the Egyptians fable that Rhea brought forth five gods, thus hinting at the creation of the five worlds out of one matter; and in the universe the earth's circumference has five zones; and the sky is divided into five cycles--two arctic, two tropic, and the equinoctial in the middle; five also have beers made the revolutions of the planets, for the Sun, Mercury, and Jupiter, keep in the same course. Harmonious also is the constitution of the world, in exactly the same manner as all musical composition amongst ourselves is divided into the arrangement of the five tetrachords,--the highest, the middle, the united, the separated, and the bass. Tunes also have five intervals--diesis, semitone, tone, tone and a half, double tone. Thus doth Nature appear to take more delight in making all things run in fives, than she does in making them spherical--as Aristotle used to say. XXXVII. "Why, then (somebody may ask), did Plato refer the number of the Five Worlds to the five geometrical figures, by saying 'that the Deity employed the fifth constitution upon the Universe, when he mapped out that universe'--and then by suggesting that question about the number of worlds, as to whether it is in reality proper to hold that they be one or five, he evidently thinks that the notion arises from that circumstance. If, then, we must [p. 117] bring forward probability as an argument against that notion of his--if you reflect that of the differences of those bodies and figures the necessary consequence is a habit of variation, as he himself teaches when he is proving that whatever is subdivided, or composite, does, along with the alteration of the essence, also change the form. For if Fire be produced from Air, in consequence of the Octahedron being dissolved, and split up into pyramids; [*1] or on the contrary, Air out of Fire, when it is driven together and compressed into the Octahedron--it is not possible for it to remain where it was at first, but it flies and is borne along into another place, forcing its way and struggling with all that oppose and check its course. But the case is better illustrated by a comparison: those using the various instruments for the winnowing of wheat observe that the elements shaking the material, and that are shaken by the same, always approach like to like into another position ... until the whole is put in order. [*2] In the same way, Matter being then in that condition in which it is probable the universe would be, where the Deity is absent, the first five Qualities, having tendencies of their own, were carried asunder; not entirely so, however, nor were they clearly separated, for the reason that when all things were mixed up together, those that were overpowered followed the stronger, in spite of their natural tendency. For which reason, in fact, they (these five Qualities) produced portions and intervals in like number for the different species of bodies that moved asunder in [p. 118] different directions--one, not of pure Fire, but of fiery nature; another, not of unmixed Aether, but aethereal; another, not of Earth pure and simple, but earthy; and above all, Air associated with Water, because, as already mentioned, it had gone off impregnated with elements of different sorts. [*1] For it was not the Deity who parted and distributed the Essence, but after it had separated itself and was moving asunder in such varieties of disorder, He took it in hand, arranged and fitted it together, by the rule of analogy and the golden mean: in the next place, He having set Reason, like a deputy and guard in each province, [*2] He created as many worlds as are the kinds of the primal substances. Let thus much be conceded in Plato's favour, for Ammonius's sake; but for my part I will not affirm positively respecting the number of worlds, that they are exactly so many as this; but yet I consider the opinion that has been advanced of their being more than one, not indeed infinite, but limited in number, to be more agreeable to analogy than any of the rest; when I consider the natural tendency to dispersion and subdivision of Matter, whilst it is not suffered by Reason to move in one direction only, nor yet in an infinite number of ways. But here, if anywhere, let us remember the Academy, and divest ourselves of too much confidence, and reserve certainty, as in a slippery place, for the argument about their infinity." [*3] XXXVIII. On my saying this, Demetrius replied: "Rightly does Lamprias advise, for-- "'The gods in form are many, not in thought,' [p. 119] as Euripides says: but they trip us up in facts, when we are so bold as to give our opinions on such great matters, as though we knew all about them: but we must bring back the discussion, as the same person says, to the original subject. For the assertion that the Oracles are lying idle and dumb, because the daemons have migrated or deceased, just as workmen leave their tools, starts another yet more important inquiry into the cause and power, whereby they render prophets and prophetesses possessed with inspiration, and capable of seeing visions. For it is not possible to lay the blame on their desertion as the cause why the Oracles are dumb, without first explaining in what way the daemons, when they do preside at them, and are present, render these same Oracles active and able to speak." Ammonius, taking up the word: "Do you think, then, that the daemons are anything else but spirits that go up and down, as Hesiod says, 'clothed in mist?' For it seems to me that whatever difference one man exhibits, as compared with another who is acting either tragedy or comedy, just the same difference will a spirit that has taken possession of the body exhibit with respect to ordinary life. [*1] It is, therefore, neither absurd nor strange if spirits encountering spirits do create in them visions of the Future; just as we ourselves signify to each other, not by voice alone, but also by writing; nay, often also by a touch, or by a look, many things of what has happened, and also tell beforehand many of what are about to happen by the same means. And if you, my Ammonius, [*2] say nothing to the contrary, for a rumour lately reached us of your having talked at length on the subject with your hosts at Lebadia, nothing of which did our informant exactly remember." [p. 120] [paragraph continues] "Do not wonder at it," answered I; "for many doings and occupations intervening, in consequence of there being an oracle and a sacrifice going on, rendered our discourses desultory, and full of interruptions." "But now," replied Ammonius, "you have got hearers quite at liberty, and anxious partly to inquire, partly to learn, all cavilling and contradiction being put out of the way, and full indulgence and freedom, as you see, granted to the discussion." XXXIX. When all the rest joined in this demand, I, after a short pause, continued: "In truth, Ammonius, by an odd coincidence, 'twas yourself that supplied the starting-point and introduction to those discourses of mine. For whether daemons be spirits separated from the body, or never united to one, according to you and the divine Hesiod, being "'Pure dwellers upon earth, keepers of mortals,' why shall we deprive souls in the body of that power by which the daemons are naturally enabled to foreknow and foretell future events? For that any new power or faculty is superadded to souls after they have left the body, which they did not previously possess, is by no means probable: but that they possess, indeed, those powers originally, but have them in inferior degree, whilst united with the body, some being imperceptible and latent, others feeble and obscure, in a similar way to things seen through a mist, or in moving water, inactive, and slow, and standing in need of much curing, and recovery of what is their own, [*1] and removal and clearing away of what obscures them--all this is probable enough. For just as the Sun doth not become bright, when he bursts through the clouds, but is so perpetually, yet he appears to us, when in a mist, dull and obscure, in like manner the soul doth not acquire the prophetic power, when it passes out of the body, as out of a [p. 121] cloud, but possesses it even now, though it is dimmed by its mixture and confusion with the body. We ought not to wonder or disbelieve this, when we observe, if nothing else, the faculty of the Soul which is the converse of Foreknowledge, that is what we call the Memory: how great an operation doth it perform in preserving and storing up things gone by, or rather, things that are! For of things past, none is or subsists, but all things are born and die together--both actions, and words, and passions--whilst Time, like a mighty river, sweeps them by, one by one; but this faculty of the Soul, laying hold upon them, I know not how, invests things not present with visible form and existence! For, truly, the oracle given to the Thessalians respecting Anna, promises "'To the deaf hearing, to the blind their sight.' [paragraph continues] But the Memory is to us the hearing of deaf actions, and the seeing of blind. No wonder, then, as I have said, if that which holds tight the things that be no more, should anticipate many of those that do not yet exist; for these belong more peculiarly to it, and for these it has a natural sympathy, inasmuch as it stretches itself out, and pushes forward towards the Future, but disengages itself from things that be past and come to an end, except so far as the remembering of them goes. XL. "Souls therefore possessing this faculty inherent in their nature, though obscured, and hardly showing itself, do nevertheless put forth blossom, and recover this power--in dreams often, on the point of death, [*1] some few--either that the body becomes purified, or assumes a new temperament on these occasions, [*2] or else that the reasoning and thinking parts of the soul are unbound and released [p. 122] from the irrational and visionary condition of the Present, and turn towards the Future. For it is not so, as Euripides says: "He's the best prophet that can guess the best,' but such a one is a man that has his wits about him, and follows the intelligent part of his soul as it guides him on his way, with a show of probability. For the prophetic part, like a tablet unwritten on, [*1] senseless, and indefinite of itself, but capable of receiving visionary impressions and forebodings, grasps the Future without any consideration, at the moment when it is first departing out of the Present. It makes the same escape from the Present by means of the temperament and condition of the body when in a state of change, which we call inspiration. Now the body doth frequently of its own accord acquire this predisposition; and the earth sends forth springs of water productive of various effects upon mankind--some being productive of delirium, and disease, and death; and others that are good, benignant, and salubrious, as they prove by experience to such as frequent them. But the prophetic stream or blast is the most godlike and most holy, whether it be taken in with the air or drawn from the liquid fountain; for when it unites itself with the body it engenders in the soul a temperament altogether unusual and strange, the peculiar nature of which it is difficult to explain clearly, although history in many places affords us means for a conjecture. That by means of its heat and diffusion it opens certain passages suited to admit impressions of the Future is probable enough, just as when wine gets up into the head it brings about other effects, and unlocks words stored up in memory and forgotten. Also the Bacchic frenzy and madness itself possesses much of the prophetic spirit, when the soul, becoming [p. 123] heated and full of fire, shakes off the caution that human prudence lays upon it, and thereby frequently turns aside and puts out the fire of inspiration. XLI. "At the same time one may, not without reason, suppose that dryness coming on together with heat, subtilizes the spirit, and renders it more ethereal and pure: because the soul itself is dry, according to Heraclitus. For moisture not only dulls the sight and hearing, but when it touches mirrors takes away from them reflection (mixos); and the brightness and the light descend from the air. On the other hand, again, that through a certain sudden cooling and condensation of spirit, as is the case in the tempering of iron, that the prophetic portion of the soul is both augmented and rendered keener, is a thing by no means impossible. And again, just as tin being melted together with it constringes and solidifies copper, naturally soft and porous, and renders it brighter and cleaner, in like manner the prophetic vapour, it is not improbable, having a certain sympathy and affinity to the soul, fills up the soft parts thereof, and cements and keeps them together. For different substances are congenial and have affinity to others, just as bean-flour is supposed to assist the dye of the murex, and natron [*1] that of the kermes, when mixed therewith: 'some of the blue crocus is mingled with flax,' and as Empedocles hath said. But with respect to the Cydnus, and the consecrated sword of Apollo at Tarsus, we have heard you, Demetrius, telling how that only the Cydnus cleanses that steel, and no other river cleanses that sword. At Olympia also, the ashes for the Altar [*2] they knead up, and bring to consistency, by pouring over them water out of the Alpheus, but if they wet these same ashes with any [p. 124] other water they are not able to solidify and cement the ashes. XLII. "It is therefore not to be wondered at if, although Earth sends up numerous streams, these [at Delphi] alone should dispose the soul to ecstasy, and to conceive visions of future events. And the voice of Fame likewise indisputably tallies with my argument, for the story goes that the power residing in the place first became manifest after a certain shepherd had accidentally tumbled into the well, and afterwards began to utter words that were inspired, which his neighbours at first laughed at, but when many things the fellow had foretold actually came about, then they were filled with wonder. And the best historians of Delphi keep up the memory of his name, and call him Coretas. But it seems to me that the soul acquires this tendency and inclination to dissolve into the prophetic spirit, for the same reason as the sight does with respect to the light, because the latter has a natural sympathy for it. For though the eye possesses the power of vision, there is no employment of it without the light; similarly the prophetic faculty of the soul, like the eye, stands in need of something of its own nature to assist in grasping objects, and to sharpen its force. For which cause, most of the ancients supposed Apollo to be the same with the Sun, and they that understood and admired the beautiful and ingenious comparison, guessed that what body is to soul, sight to mind, light to truth--the same is the Sun to the nature of Apollo; his offspring, and his child, perpetually born of 'Him that is,' perpetually reflecting [*1] the author of its being; for it kindles, promotes, and stimulates the power of vision of the sense, just as he does the prophetic faculty of the soul. XLIII. "Those, however, that supposed him one and the [p. 125] same god with the Sun, did with good reason dedicate the Oracle to Apollo and the Earth conjointly: for they believed that the Sun generated in the Earth the disposition and temperament out of which she sends forth the prophetic vapour. Earth herself, 'sure foundation of all things,' as Hesiod with far more sagacity than our philosophers hath called her, we hold to be everlasting and imperishable: [*1] but of the powers belonging to her, it is probable that in one place deceases happen, in another new births; elsewhere, migrations and influxes from different quarters, and that such revolutions come round no less frequently in the whole course of time, as we may conjecture from natural phenomena. For in the case of lakes, rivers, and yet more, of hot springs, there have occurred in some places failures, and wastings away, and in others, as it were, a flight and, self-interment: and on the other hand, their re-appearance in the same places as before, or their welling forth in the same neighbourhood. Also of mines, entire failures have happened in recent times, as for instance of the silver mines in Attica, and of the copper ore in Euboea, out of which the cold-hammered [*2] sword-blades used to be wrought, as Aeschylus says-- "'Taking his self-sharpened Eubean blade;' and in the case of the quarry at Carystus, 'tis no long time since it ceased to produce soft and thread-like veins of stone: [*3] for I believe some of you have seen towels and [p. 126] nets, and hair-cauls made thereof, which would not burn, but as many as became dirty from use, they threw into the fire, and got them back again bright and transparent; but now it has disappeared and scarcely fibres or hairs, as it were, of the substance, run about in the mines. XLIV. "And of all these effects the followers of Aristotle make out the Exhalation to be the author in the interior of the earth. Simultaneously with which exhalation it is a necessary consequence that effects of the kind must come to an end, change their places, and on the other hand be revivified once more. In fact, we must hold the same opinion with respect to oracular inspirations, inasmuch as they have not an everlasting, or undecaying power, but one that is subject to vicissitudes. For it is probable that excessive rains extinguish these exhalations; or that by the falling of thunder-bolts they are destroyed; or, above all, when the earth is affected by a trembling, and suffers settlements and jumbling together of her parts, in her inmost depths, that the said exhalations shift their place, or are put out entirely, just as in this place they say it [the oracular power] did not continue after the great earthquake, which also overthrew the whole city. [*1] And at Orchomenos they relate that a pestilence prevailing, many people perished, and the Oracle of Tiresias came to an end altogether, and remains idle and silent to this day. And if the same fate has befallen those in Cilicia, as we hear is the case, nobody will give us more authentic news of it than yourself, Demetrius." [p. 127] XLV. Then Demetrius: "I know not the present state of things: for, as you aware, I have now been away from home a very long time. But when I was there the Oracle of Mopsus still flourished, as well as that of Amphilochus. But I have a very wonderful event to tell, which happened during my visit to the Oracle of Mopsus. The governor of Cilicia, being sceptical in religious matters, disbelieving them, I fancy, out of wantonness, [*1] for he was an extremely insolent and wicked man, and had about him a set of Epicureans who after their fine fashion and their 'natural science' principles, made sport of all things of the kind, as they themselves openly profess; he sent his freedman, furnishing him as a spy going into the enemy's camp, with a sealed letter, in which the inquiry was written, nobody knowing the contents. The fellow therefore having passed the night, as is the rule, within the sanctuary, and having slept there, related to us next morning the following dream. He dreamed that a man of handsome appearance stood over him and shouted 'A black one!' and nothing more, but immediately retired. This seemed to us absurd, and occasioned great perplexity; the governor, however, was astounded at it, and making a gesture of adoration and opening the letter, showed written therein the question: Whether shall I sacrifice to thee a white or a black bull? so that the Epicureans were put to the rout, and he himself performed the sacrifice, and ever after held Mopsus in respect." [*2] [p. 128] XLVI. Demetrius having spoken thus much, ceased: but I, wishing to place, as it were, a crowning stone on the discussion, turned my eyes upon Philip and Ammonius, who were sitting together: they seemed to me to be wanting to say something, but they checked themselves again. At last Ammonius: "Philip has got something to say about the story just told, for he believes, as do many others, and I myself, that Apollo is no other god, but the same with the Sun: but my difficulty is a greater one, and concerning greater matters. At first, we went aside, I know not how, in the discussion, and transferred with all due respect the oracular office from the gods to the daemons; but now we seem to me to be pushing these latter gentlemen themselves from thence, out of the oracle and off the Tripod; when we resolve the final cause of prophecy, or rather its very essence and power, into blasts and vapours and exhalations. For the above mentioned 'temperatures' and beatings' and 'temperings,' the more they draw away our belief from the interposition of the Deity, suggest such an idea of the Final Cause as Euripides makes his Cyclops entertain:-- "'For will she, null she, dame Necessity Makes the grass grow, that feeds my sheep so fat.' [paragraph continues] Except that he says he does not sacrifice to the gods but to himself and 'his belly, that greatest of deities,' whereas we both offer sacrifice and make prayers at the Oracles, for what purpose, pray, if it is only winds that excite the prophetic power in them; or else sonic kind of temperature of the air or wind, that sets the same in motion? and what is the meaning of the presentation of the victims, and the fact of them not being acceptable unless the beast become all of a tremble from the top of the brow downwards, and stagger, when the libation is poured upon it. For it is not sufficient that it shake its head, as in the case of all [p. 129] other sacrifices, but the motion and quivering must spread over al] its limbs, accompanied with a tremulous sound; for whenever this does not take place, they say the Oracle is not at work, and do not bring in the Pythoness. And yet, if they supposed the chief cause to have nothing to do with either god or daemon, it would be reasonable for them to act and to think in this way: but according to your notions, it is not reasonable; for the exhalation, whether the victim do tremble or not, being there permanently will produce the inspiration, and that not merely in the Pythoness, but in any ordinary person. For which reason it is absurd to employ one woman only for the purpose of the Oracles, and to give leer trouble by keeping her all her life through, chaste and pure. For that Coretos, who, the Delphians say, first gave notice of the property residing in the place by tumbling into it, did not, I fancy, differ in any way from the other goatherds and shepherds--that is, indeed, if this be not an allegory, or an empty fiction, as I myself esteem it. But when I reflect of what great service to the Greeks this Oracle hath been the author, both in wars and in the founding of cities, also on occasions of pestilence and seasons of barrenness, I think it hard to assign both the discovery and the final cause not to God and to Providence, but to accident and natural means. On these points," added he, "my dear Lamprias, I wish to discourse--will you have patience with me?" [*1] "Yes, certainly," replied Philip, "and so will all of those present--for the subject interests the whole of us." XLVII. Then I in reply to him: "It has not only angered, but filled me with confusion, that I should be thought by you, and so numerous and respectable a company as you [p. 130] are, to have (in spite of my years), [*1] made out a fine story by plausible arguments, in order to destroy or upset any of the sound and religious notions entertained with respect to the Deity. I will therefore make my defence against the charge, and bring forward Plato for a witness and advocate in my cause; since that philosopher has censured Anaxagoras of old, seeing that he went too much into natural causes, and was always tracing out and hunting after what was necessarily accomplished by the properties of bodies, so that he neglected the higher causes, final and efficient, of the effect and of the agent. He (Plato) was the first, or did the most, of the philosophers, to investigate both points, assigning to the Deity the origin of the things that are constituted according to reason; without, however, depriving Matter of the efficient causes necessary for that which is done; for he discerned that all the world of sense was regularly arranged, but was not unmixed or pure, but receives its origin from Matter impregnated by Reason. And consider in the case of artificers: for example here at hand, the celebrated base and stand for the vase which Herodotus calls the 'Crater holder,' [*2] that has for natural efficient causes fire and iron, and above all the tempering of the metal by means of fire and water, without which there was no means for the work to be done. But the yet more valid cause that set these two in motion, and kept them incessantly at work, did Art and Reason furnish [p. 131] to the undertaking, and again the creator and artist of these pictures and figures around us, [*1] has inscribed himself 'Polygnotus of Thasos, son of Aglaophon, has painted the sacking of the citadel of Ilium'--as he is seen to have written. [*2] But without the aid of paints ground up together and dissolved into each other, there was no possibility for this work to have got its arrangement and visible form. Does then the person who wishes to trace out the material cause, by inquiring and explaining what effects and changes ochre produces when mixed with Sinope, or Melean white with lamp-black [*3]--does he thereby detract from the fame of Polygnotus? And he that tells about the hardening and the softening of iron, how that when deprived of rigidity by means of fire it spreads itself and yields to those who are beating it out, and bringing it into form, and having been thrown into pure water, by reason of the tenderness and liquidity produced on it by the fire, it becomes impregnated with cold, and acquires the elasticity and the density that Homer calls 'the strength of iron'--does he the less on that score wholly reserve to the artificer the cause of the production of the work? I, truly, do not think so. Again, there are some who investigate the properties of remedial agents, and yet do not subvert the science of medicine. In the same way, certainly, when Plato makes out that we see by means of the light resident in the eye being mingled with the light of the Sun, and that we hear by means of the repercussion of the air, does not disprove that we were born capable of seeing and of hearing by design and by providence. XLVIII. "And universally, as I say, existence having two [p. 132] efficient causes, the very ancient theologians and poets chose to pay attention only to the higher one of the two, applying to all subjects in common that invocation:-- "'Jove first, Jove last, all things spring out of Jove,' for they had not yet got as far as 'necessary' and physical causes.' But the more modern, and those styling themselves 'natural philosophers,' on the contrary, stray away from the superior cause, and place the whole theory of sensation in elements, conditions of elements, collisions, and interminglings of bodies. For which cause the reasoning on both sides is deficient in an essential part, for the one set ignore or omit the agent and the author; the others, the means, and the materials. Now he who was the first to handle both these points in a lucid manner, and who took into the account besides Him that makes according to Reason, and puts into motion, the necessarily subject and passive element, will clear us also of all suspicion and blame. For we do not make prophecy to be without God and without Reason, by assigning to it the human soul for the material, but the inspiring breath or exhalation, for the instrument as it were, or the thing that makes it give out a sound. For in the first place it is Earth that breeds these exhalations, but He who imparts to Earth the faculty for tempering and for changing, namely, the Sun, is, according to the belief of our fathers, a god to us. In the next place, as we have daemons, as it were, for presidents, ministers, and guardians, of this said natural constitution, who occasionally let it down, like a musical instrument, and again tighten it up, by diminishing its over-great ecstatic and maddening property, and tempering the excitement so as to be unproductive of pain or injury to such as experience it--we must not be thought to be doing anything unreasonable or impossible. XLIX. "For when we offer the preliminary sacrifice, and [p. 133] put garlands and pour libations upon the victim, we are not doing anything opposed to this view of the matter. For the priests and holy men say that they offer up the victim, pour the libation, and observe its movement and trembling for no other purpose than to discover whether the god is then performing his functions, [*1] because it is necessary that the thing to be sacrificed should be perfect both in body and soul, unblemished, and uncorrupted. Indications of this in the case of the body, it is not very difficult to discover; but the soul they test by putting upon the bulls barley-meal, and upon the he-goats vetches: for the beast that eats not thereof they judge not to be sound. For the she-goat cold water is the test--because the animal is not of a nature insensible to such sprinkling, and not disposed to tremble at it. But whether it be certain that the quivering of the victim be a sign of its being lawful to consult the Oracle, and its not quivering of the reverse, I do not perceive what objection results therefrom against my argument, because every power acts better or worse according to the season ordained for it by Nature; consequently when the season varies, it is but reasonable the Deity should give us warning of the fact. L. As for the Exhalation [*2] itself, I do not think it is constantly in the same condition, but that it is liable to fallings off, and on the other hand, to augmentations of force: and for the fact which I adduce as proof, I have the testimony of many visitors, and of all the people that [p. 134] minister to the Oracle. For the hall in which they make those who consult the god sit down, is filled, not frequently nor regularly, but at uncertain intervals, with a sweet smell, and a breath, like the most delicious and costly perfumes, in consequence of the sanctuary sending forth vapours as from a fountain: [*1] for it is probable that it is excited from time to time, either by heat, or some accidental compression. But if this does not seem to you credible, at least you will allow that the Pythoness herself has the part of her soul which is affected by the exhalation in different states and dispositions at different times, and does not always preserve the same temperament like an unchangeable harmony. For many infirmities and disturbances, to her own knowledge, and many more that be unperceived, seize upon her body, and pervade her soul, filled with which it is better she should not enter there; neither ought they (the priests) in that state to present her to the god when she is not perfectly pure, just as though she were some musical instrument, well finished indeed, and well sounding, but yet liable to be affected, and to get out of tune. For neither does wine always produce intoxication in the same manner, nor the fife, excitement, but at one time the same persons rave and rage more, at another time less, as the temperament in them varies. But especially does the imaginative part of the soul show itself to be mastered by the body, and to sympathize with its changes; as is apparent in the case of dreams. For sometimes we are involved in numerous and infinitely varied visions, whilst at other times, on the contrary, we have complete freedom and peace from anything of the sort, and we know that Cleon here, one of the people from [p. 135] [paragraph continues] Daulia, declares that in all the many years he has lived, he has never had a single dream. And of those of former times the same thing is told respecting Thrasymedes the Herman. The cause is the temperament of the body: for that of the atrabilious is very subject to dreams, and to visions, even though dreaming true seems to be their especial privilege: because turning themselves in their fancies to many things at many times, like those shooting often, they sometimes hit the mark. LI. "When, therefore, the prophetic and imaginative faculty is in a state that harmonizes with the assimilation of the vapour, like that of a medicine, inspiration must necessarily follow; just as, that not being the case, it must either not take place at all, or else be delirious, not genuine, and full of confusion--as we know happened in the case of the Pythoness lately deceased. For consulters of the Oracle having arrived from abroad, [*1] the victim is said to have withstood the preliminary agitations without feeling, and without motion; and when the priests in their zeal substituted others, and still persevered, with difficulty did it become tremulous [*2] and staggering about, to give the necessary sign. What, pray, happened with respect to the Pythoness? She descended into the place of the Oracle against her will, and in a bad humour; and directly upon the very first answers, she manifested by the harsh sound of her voice that she was not repeating [*3] the dictation of the god: like to a ship drifting before the gale, she was filled with an incoherent and evil inspiration. At last being completely driven out of her senses, and rushing [p. 136] with a shriek to the entrance, she threw herself on the ground; so that not only the consulters took to flight in terror, but even the interpreter [*1] Nicander, and such of the holy men as were present. After a little while, however, they went in again, and picked her up--she was insane, and only survived for a few days. [*2] This is the reason why they keep the body of the Pythoness pure from all sexual intercourse, and her life clear from all mixture and contact with and conversation of strangers: and also before consultation, observe the above-mentioned signs: for they believe that it is clearly understood by the god whether she has the proper frame of body and disposition, so as to receive the inspiration without injury. For the power of the vapour does not affect all persons indiscriminately, nor yet the same persons always in the sane way, but as above said, it supplies an incentive and cause to such as be suitably disposed to feel it, and undergo the change. The power is in reality due to a god, and to a daemon, yet it is not exempt from cessation, imperishable, undecaying, or capable of lasting to all eternity of time--by which all things between Earth and Moon are worn out, according to our theory. Some there be who hold that even things above that sphere do not hold out to all eternity [p. 137] and infinity, but are subject to violent revolutions and renewals. LII. "These subjects I exhort both you and myself to examine frequently; inasmuch as they present many holds for objections, and grounds for the opposite opinion; which time does not allow us to enumerate at length. So they must lie over, as also the question Philip raised about the Sun and Apollo." [Apollo before the Delphic Tripod. (once owned by Lorenzo de' Medici)] Footnotes ^72:1 Of whom a most interesting memorial is still extant in the Museum at York, a little bronze tablet inscribed with the letters, ThEOIS TOIS TOY EGEMONIKOY PRAITURIOY SKRIBA DEMETRIOS, a dedication tallying with the epithet "holy" here given to him. He was, [p. 73] probably, a scriba quaestorius, "treasury clerk," like Horace, and had been employed in the finance department in the government office at Eboracum, the headquarters for the Northern province. A second tablet bears, UKEALNUI KAI TEThYI DEMETRIOS. ^73:1 methistantes in text (perhaps metresantes), which, if correct, must mean "setting aside." ^74:1 Conversely, a remarkable absence of house-flies has been noticed here in the summers followed by cholera. ^74:2 Astronomers made their observations upon the sun's disk reflected on the surface of water, as Pliny notices in speaking of the heliotrope stone. ^74:3 The name is lost; as Reiske thinks, probably Ursa Major. ^75:1 "They" in text, which changes the person very awkwardly. ^77:1 i.e. declares the will of Fate. ^77:2 The answers were communicated in dreams to the inquirers sleeping inside the Temple. ^79:1 The regular badge of his sect. ^80:1 Or perhaps "refraining from abusive language." ^82:1 Should read "this place," Delphi, the scene of the dialogue. ^82:2 i.e. the intoxicating exhalation from the Delphic Cave was as powerful as formerly--an important notice, as refuting the story that it had been blocked up and destroyed by order of Nero, when Apollo rebuked him for his matricide. ^85:1 1 + 2 + 4 + 4 + 9 + 8 + 27 = 55, not 54; but this is near enough for the argument. ^85:2 This passage is hopelessly corrupt, but seems to have implied that one story was as ridiculous as the other. ^85:3 Referring to Lamprias' explanation of Hesiod's "generation" by "year." ^89:1 Of the real Apollo, that is. ^90:1 The real object of their verses and declamations was not the god, but the genii who haunted Delphi. ^90:2 prosaptun in text, must be prosaptein. ^93:1 This emperor must be Trajan, as Demetrius was just returned from Britain at the time of the dialogue. The island, as lying nearest to the coast, must have been Anglesey, the focus of Druidism. If Aemilian was an "old man" when he told the story just quoted, and his father had flourished under Tiberius. this dialogue comes down to the end of the first century. ^94:1 Lucretius mentions that the fumes of a smouldering lamp-wick produce apoplexy--which is still the popular belief in Italy. ^94:2 poi menoysin must be corrupt, as a plural following a neuter noun--[p. 95] poimainoysin is clearly the original reading, and gives the funny image of these philosophers driving about "their flocks of spectra." ^95:1 dyskolainontas must be dyskolainontes, and still referring to the Epicureans. ^95:2 Upon the theory of the Epicureans; which he goes on to quote. ^96:1 The chewing of betel-nut may be at the bottom of this story, and the man a Buddhist hermit. ^97:1 The popular dialect at Alexandria, which was peopled by emigrants from Sicily: the source whence a Hindoo would naturally get his smattering of Greek. ^97:2 An obscure allusion to the Jews, who claim Saturn for their star. ^98:1 othen ey egguoy in text, must be ote synegenon. ^99:1 According to this explanation, the Mysteries taught the theory of the creation, and of the government and laws of the universe: a doctrine clearly set forth in Julian's "Mother of the Gods." ^99:2 "Perhaps he makes bows or perhaps he steals." ^100:1 Julian's pempton, eilikton suma: the Quintessence of the later Aristotelians. ^103:1 The dative of these words must be corrupt, read them in the accusative. ^105:1 Something is wanting here; but what follows shows it to have been an hypothesis of the existence of several worlds depending upon some common and superior body. ^106:1 i.e. the chief end at which the Essence has been working from all eternity is the stability and incorruptibility of the world. ^107:1 The same difficulty has perplexed modern divines, substituting the technical terms "sin" and "atonement" for "Fate" and "Providence." ^107:2 kath' ekaston, an evident allusion to the Supreme and Nameless Deity, then recognized as supreme above all the gods of the old mythology. ^108:1 i.e. beautiful, congenial, ever-changing spectacles. ^109:1 i.e. no longer confine him to the creation of one world. ^109:2 The symbol ###853###, dedicated in gold by Livia Augusta, to replace the ancient one in wood presented by Pittacus. ^111:1 A Brahminical notion: Siva, god of Fire, being expressed by the Pyramid; Vishnu, of Water, by the same inverted. ^113:1 i.e., the five geometrical bodies are respectively images of the five predicates of the Deity, as defined by Plato. ^113:2 From this Platonic theory the Kabalists got the notion of their Four Worlds, the models, "Ideas," of which were furnished by the Ten Sephiroth, the Attributes of Jehovah. ^114:1 'The checking and limitation of this apeiria plays the chief part in Julian's "Hymn to the Mother of the Gods;" and he makes it to be typified by the mutilation of Atys. ^114:2 stenen, certainly an error for kenen, which the sense absolutely demands. ^117:1 The pyramid being equivalent to Fire, when a figure composed of pyramids is taken to pieces Fire must necessarily be produced. Again, if these pyramids be put together into the figure of the Octahedron, which is the equivalent of air, air must be the result. ^117:2 The whole of this paragraph has fallen into inextricable confusion; but the sense is that in the winnowing of corn, the different parts, such as the chaff and the grains, when put into violent motion, have a natural tendency to collect like with like. ^118:1 fullun anapepeplesmenon in text must be read ylun anapeples menon. ^118:2 Hence the Alexandrian school got the doctrine of the Logos acting as the deputy of the Supreme Deity. ^118:3 The infinity of the number of worlds may be denied with certainty; but the actual number must ever be a matter of dispute. ^119:1 There is the same difference between a man possessed by a Spirit and ordinary men, as there is between a tragedian or comedian when acting and other people. ^119:2 A mistake for "Lamprias," who replies in the next sentence. ^120:1 Their proper faculties. ^121:1 teletas for teleytas, beyond all doubt. ^121:2 "The soul's poor cottage, battered and decayed, Lets in new light thro' chinks that Time hath made." ^122:1 "A blank sheet of paper." ^123:1 Native carbonate of soda, got from the Natron Lakes, near Cairo: the ancient substitute for soap. ^123:2 This Altar was an immense heap of the ashes produced by the sacrifices from time immemorial; as Pausanias describes the same. ^124:1 apofainontes makes no sense; it must be apofainonta, referring to e?'lion. ^125:1 Julian, who evidently had studied this tract, uses the very same expression in his above quoted Hymn. ^125:2 Like the spear-heads and chisels of the ancient miners on Lake Superior, hammered out of the pure metal, without the use of fire, and yet of the most extraordinary temper: cutting the ore better than steel tools. Also the "cobre dos labradores" in Nicaragua, fit for use as it comes from the mine (Dan. Wilson: Boyle). ^125:3 A valuable notice of the origin of the asbestos cloth, specimens of which are still found in Roman tombs. Carystus supplied the Cipolline [p. 126] marble, largely employed at Rome at the time of this Dialogue. The pillars of the portico of the Temple of Faustina, immensely large, are made of it. ^126:1 This curious passage is unluckily so corrupt that the meaning can only be guessed from the context, paramenein ta peri ton megan seismon must certainly be read usper egeneto peri t.m.s. The cessation of the Delphic Oracle, was, however, only for a time. ^127:1 di astheneian apistias must be di aselgeian apistesas, or perhaps asebeian. "Epicureans, Atheists, and Christians," are classed together in the proclamation of the oracle-monger, Alexander of Abonetichos, as persons to be chased from the temple. ^127:2 Alexander the Prophet, by taking a cast in plaster of the seals of such letters of inquiry, was able to open them, learn the contents, frame his responses accordingly, reseal the letters, and return to the bringers with seal unbroken. Mopsus, doubtless, was acquainted with the same device to promote his "clairvoyance." ^129:1 perimenois must be perimeneis. ^130:1 One of the few indications of a date to be found in these Moralia, as showing they were written in Plutarch's old age. ^130:2 Dedicated by Alyattes, father of Croesus, and regarded as a miracle of art, being made of wrought iron, and all the parts welded together, not fastened by rivets. At the time of its making, the sixth century before our era (Alyattes B.C. 560), wrought iron was hardly known in Greece. Herodotus says the maker, Glaucus of Chios, first invented the welding of iron. The stand supported a great crater of silver, but this would not have escaped the melting-pot of Philomelus, or of Sylla after him. ^131:1 The celebrated fresco of the "Fall of Troy," painted on the walls of the Lesche. ^131:2 Aliter, as you may see he has written. ^131:3 The only colours used by the early painters were yellow, red, white and black. ^133:1 themisteuein, Themis having been first owner of the Oracle. ^133:2 An instance of a similar pneuma issuing from the earth is to be found at Gradovo, capital of Montenegro; where, within the monastery court, there issues from a chasm in the rock a strong and icy wind, coldest in the summer heats. This too produces inspiration, though indirectly, for the monks make use of it to cool their wine and beer. Nevertheless, the fact of its being enclosed within the sacred walls, proves that a character of sanctity was attached to it at the time of the conversion of the mountaineers ("Montenegro," by R. C. S.). ^134:1 An important fact, as showing that the emission of some intoxicating gas from the depths of the cavern was by no means a fable. The so-called "laughing gas," which produces immediate intoxication, has the smell of bitter almonds. ^135:1 From some Roman official, high in power, as may be inferred from the zeal of the priests in not keeping the envoys waiting for a more auspicious day. ^135:2 ypombron for yputromon. ^135:3 anaferein must apply to what she ought to have heard the dweller in the cave respond. Some words that followed are lost. ^136:1 The profetes must be rendered "interpreter," his business being to put into an intelligible form the incoherent utterances of the intoxicated woman. Such an officer was a necessary appendage to every Oracle, wherever established. At the Temple of Dens Nodens, in Lydney Park, Gloucestershire, Victorinus calls himself "Interpres Latine," not because the god was drunk like the Pythia, but because, as a local deity, he could only speak Welsh. This building was of the time of the Flavian family. ^136:2 The particulars just given prove the unfortunate Pythia died from a violent fit of delirium tremens, produced by the unusual strength of the nitrous gas she had inspired. But this was a rare exception, the gaseous intoxication as a rule being harmless, and not preventing her sisters from attaining to great age. Plutarch's Morals: Theosophical Essays, tr. by Charles William King, [1908], at sacred-texts.com [p. 138] ON THE PYTHIAN RESPONSES "Why are the Pythian Responses no longer given in verse? BASILOCLES--PHILINUS. I. Bas. "YOU have made it late in the evening, Philinus, by escorting your guest about amongst the dedicated things: I lost all patience in waiting for you both." Phil. "Yes, Basilocles, for we strolled along slowly--sowing as we went, and forthwith 'reaping words with fighting,' that sprung up and emerged along our path, like the crop of the Dragon's Teeth, spiteful and contentious." Bas. "Will it then be necessary to appeal to one of those who were present at the time; or are you willing yourself to gratify us, and repeat what the talk was, and who were the talkers?" Phil. "The task, as it seems, is mine, for none of the others will you easily find in the town, for I saw the most of them again going up in company with the visitor to the Corycium, and the Lycoreia." Bas. "How fond of sight-seeing, and extravagantly fond of hearing stories, our stranger is!" Phil. "Nay, rather, fond of history, and fond of learning: and not so much to be admired for these two points, as for a gentleness combined with much elegance of manner, and an incredulity and fondness for disputation, [p. 139] the result of intelligence, that has nothing in it ill-tempered or stubborn in receiving one's explanations: so that after being a little while in his company you exclaim, 'The child of a good father!' for you are acquainted with Diogenianus, that best of men?" Bas. "I have not seen him personally; but have met with many of those who greatly approve of the conversation and the character of that man, and say just the same things of him as you do of the youth. But what starting point and pretext had this discussion of yours to begin?" II. Phil. "The guides went through their appointed duties, [*1] paying no heed to our entreaties that they would cut short their long tales, and the reading the greatest part of the inscriptions. The sight and artistic merit of the statues did not so much attract the notice of the visitor, who had in all likelihood seen many fine things of the sort elsewhere; but he admired the colour of the bronze, which was not like dirt or verdigris, but shone with a dark blue dye, so as to contribute considerably to the effect of the statues of the admirals (for he had begun his round with them), standing as they did, sea-like as it were in colour, and truly men of ocean-deep. Had there been then, he asked, some mode of alloying and preparing the bronze, used by the ancient artificers, like the traditional tempering [*2] of swords, which process being lost, then bronze obtained exemption from all warlike employments? For it is known that the Corinthian metal acquired the beauty of its colour not through art, but through accident, when a fire consumed a house containing a little gold and silver, but a great quantity of bronze there stored up; all which being mixed and melted together, the preponderating part, by reason [p. 140] of its largeness, originated the name of the bronze." Theon, taking him up, said: "We have heard another story, more clever than yours--that a man at Corinth, a brasier by trade, having found a hoard containing much gold, and being afraid of detection, broke up little by little and quietly mixed the gold with his bronze, which acquired thereby a wonderful quality, and sold his metal at a high price, as it was much sought after on account of its colour and beauty. But both the one account and the other is a fable. It was, in all probability, a peculiar alloying and treatment of the metal--just as nowadays by alloying gold with silver they produce a peculiar and extraordinary pale colour, that looks to me sickly, and a mere spoiling of its beauty." [*1] III. "What then," asked Diogenianus, "do you say has been the cause of the peculiar colour of the bronze in this place?" And Theon replied: "Inasmuch as of the greatest and most natural things that are and shall be--namely, Fire, Water, Earth, Air--there is not one that comes near to, or has to do with the bronze except Air, it is clear that the metal has been thus affected by this element, and has acquired the peculiarity which it possesses by reason of this being always about it, and pressing upon it: you know, surely, that this once took place in the case [*2] of Theognis, according to the comic poet? But what property the air has, and what influence it exerts in its contact with the bronze--these are the two things, Diogenianus, that you desire to learn?" and upon Diogenianus assenting: "so [p. 141] do I, my dear boy; therefore, if you please, let us investigate the matter in concert: and as a beginning--for what reason does oil, above all other liquids, coat bronze with verdigris, [*1] for it does not generate the verdigris simply by being rubbed over the metal, because it is pure and clear when applied to the surface." [*2] " By no means," replied the young man, "does this seem to me to be the reason: but because the oil being thin, pure, and transparent, the verdigris falling upon it, is very perceptible, whereas in other liquids, it becomes invisible." "Well done," my dear boy," said Theon, "... but examine, if you please, the reason that is assigned by Aristotle." "I wish to do so," replied he. "Aristotle, therefore, asserts that verdigris, if put upon other liquids, runs through them and is dispersed, because they are porous and fluid; whereas it is arrested by the solidity or density of the oil, and remains collected in a mass. If, therefore, we can ourselves devise some hypothesis of the kind, we shall not be entirely at a loss for some charm or cure against the present difficulty." IV. "Thus then," said he, "did we pronounce and agree, that the air at Delphi, being dense and compact, and receiving tension from the repercussion and resistance of the surrounding mountains, is at the same time biting and penetrating, as the facts about the digestion of food clearly evince: this air, then, by reason of its subtile quality enters into and cuts the bronze and so scrapes off verdigris in plenty, and that of an earthy nature, which again it holds suspended and compresses, because its own density does not allow of its unlimited diffusion ... [p. 142] [paragraph continues] [but, on the contrary] [*1] permits it to settle down by reason of its abundance, and to bloom, as it were, and get brilliancy and polish over the surface." And upon our admitting this, the visitor said that the one supposition (of the density) was sufficient for the explanation. "The subtile quality," said he, "would seem to contradict the asserted density of the air: and it is assumed without any necessity; for the bronze does of itself emit and discharge the verdigris, while the density of the air compresses and thickens it, and makes it visible in consequence of its abundance." Then Theon, interrupting him, said: "What is there to prevent the same thing from being aL once both fine and dense, like silken and linen tissues, touching which Homer hath said:-- "'From the bright linen dropped the liquid oil:' indicating the accuracy and the fineness of the weaving by the oil's not adhering to it, but slipping off by reason of its closeness, does not penetrate the texture. And again one may bring into play not only for the abrasion of surface in the bronze, the subtility of the air, but the same cause is likely to render the colour also more agreeable and bluer, because it mingles lustre with the azure atmosphere." V. After this silence followed, and the guides again set to work with their stories. And upon the recital of a certain oracle in verse (concerning, I believe, the reign of Aegon the Argive) Diogenianus observed that he had often wondered at the badness and vulgarity of the verse in which the responses were uttered: although the god is the "Leader of the Muses," and the glory of the so-called oracle-making no less interests him, than that of tunes, songs, and auspicious words; and yet both Hesiod and Homer far excel him in utterance,--and the most part of [p. 143] his oracles we see are both as to the metre and as to the expressions a tissue of blunders and badness. Serapion, therefore, the poet from Athens, who was present, replied: "As we consider these verses to be the gods' own, we 'must sing this over again,' as the saying is; and make no use of the beauties of Hesiod and Homer, but correct our taste by means of bad habit." [*1] To this Boethus the mathematician (you know the man who has lately gone over to the Epicureans), answered: "Did you ever hear the story about Pauson the painter?" "Not I ever," replied Serapion. "This Pauson, having been commissioned to paint a horse rolling about, drew it as running. His customer being angry at this, Pauson, with a laugh, turned the picture about, so that it was upside down, when the horse was shown not galloping but rolling on its back. For the same reason some people will say not that the Oracles are well-made because they are the god's, but that they are not the god's, because they are badly made; because the first position is a matter of uncertainty, but the other, namely, that the verses containing the Oracles are not well-made is, to a critic like you, friend Serapion, a thing as clear as day. For you write poems yourself in a philosophic and serious style, which in force, elegance, and finish as to the diction, are inferior rather to Hesiod and to Homer, than to those uttered by the Pythian Virgin." VI. "Yes," replied Serapion, "because we are diseased both in ears and eyes, through our luxury and effeminacy, so that we think pleasant things fine things, and declare them so. Perhaps we shall find fault with the Pythia for not declaiming more musically than Glance, the lyrist nor using perfumes or clothing herself in purple robes when she goes down into the cave; nor burning on the altar [p. 144] cassia, or ladanum, or frankincense, but only bay-leaves and barley-meal. Do you not see," replied he, "what grace the songs of Sappho possess, that soothe and enchant all hearers? But the Sibyl, according to Heraclitus, 'uttering with raving mouth things without a smile, without embellishment, and without perfume, reaches down to a thousand years by means of the god.' And Pindar says that Cadmus heard the god giving forth 'a music that was neither correct, nor sweet, nor luxurious, nor yet broken and uneven in the tunes.' For the Passionless and the Pure does not admit Pleasure, but she hath been thrown down here below together with Pain, and the far largest portion of her, as it seems, has flowed in a stream into the ears of men." [*1] VII. And upon Serapion's saying this, Theon observed with a smile: "Serapion has given his customary scope to his feelings, by taking advantage of the conversations having turned upon the subject of pleasure; but we, Boethus, even though these verses may be very much worse than those of Homer, let us not suppose that the god himself made them, but that while he supplied the origin with the inspiration, the verses are the productions of each of the prophetesses in her turn. For if she were obliged to write down, and not to utter, the responses, we should not, I suppose, believe the handwriting to be the god's, and to find fault with it, because it is inferior in point of calligraphy to the imperial rescripts, for neither the old woman is the god's, nor her voice, nor her diction, nor her metre; but it is the god alone that presents the visions to this woman, and kindles light in her soul as regards the Future: for the inspiration is this. And to speak generally, it is impossible to evade you disciples of Epicurus (for you manifest yourself carried away by him), for you [p. 145] accuse of badness both the ancient prophetesses because they made inferior verses, and also those of the present day because they speak in prose and in every-day language, in order that they may not be responsible for headless, broken-backed, and deficient lines." Then Diogenianus: "Do not joke, for heaven's sake, but solve the problem for us, as it is a fine one; besides, there is no one but is seeking after the cause and reason why the Oracle has given up employing the metre and expression of poetry." But Theon in reply: "Nay, my dear boy, we already seem to have defrauded the guides of their proper business, by making experiments of our own: suffer them, therefore, to finish what they have to do, and then let us discuss this question at our leisure." VIII. And as we were now going forward and come opposite the statue of Hiero the tyrant: the visitor, although already knowing all about him, nevertheless out of good nature showed himself a patient listener to the guide's tale. But on hearing that a bronze column, the gift of Hiero, standing further up, had fallen down of itself upon the very day on which Hiero's death happened at Syracuse, he expressed his surprise, and at the same time reminded him (the guide) of other occurrences of like nature, for instance of Hiero [*1] the Spartan, how the eyes fell out of his statue at the moment of his death in the battle of Leuctra; and how the Twin Stars had vanished at the same time, which Lysander had dedicated after the sea-fight at Aigospotamoi; and the marble statue of Lysander himself shot forth wild briar and grass in [p. 146] such great quantity as to conceal his face; and how, on the other hand, in the Sicilian disasters of the Athenians, the golden dates dropped off the Palm-tree, and the shield of the little image of Pallas, ravens pecked all around. And the Crown of the Cnidians, which Philomelus, tyrant of the Phocians, had given to Pharsalia the ballet-girl, was the cause of her death after she had migrated from Greece into Italy, and was at Metapontum, disporting herself around the temple of Apollo. For the young men rushing to seize her crown, and quarrelling with each other for the gold, tore the poor creature into pieces. [*1] Now Aristotle used to say that Homer alone made "words that walked," on account of their vividness; but I say that of the statues standing here, very many walk and aid in foreshowing the fore-knowledge of the god; and of these no one part is void, or senseless, but all filled with the godhead. Then Boethus: "Nay, truly, is it not enough for us that the god is shut up once a month in a mortal body, but we must knead him up with every stone and piece of metal, just as though we had not a satisfactory explanation of all accidents of the sort you have mentioned, in Chance or in Nature?" "Then," replied I, "does each one of such events seem to you to resemble mere accident and self-movement: and is it credible that your 'atoms' should slip off, be separated, and move obliquely, neither before nor after, but exactly at the moment when each one of the dedicators was about to come to a bad or good end? And Epicurus benefits you by what he said or wrote three hundred years ago, [*2] but the god, unless he [p. 147] brings and shuts himself up in everything, and is mingled up with all, is not thought by you to supply anything that exists, either with the final cause of motion, or the efficient cause of passion?" IX. In this way did I reply to Boethus, and much else to the same effect respecting the Sibylline oracles. For when we were arrived, and stopped opposite to the Rock, over against the Council-house, upon which they tell that the first Sibyl used to sit, having travelled thither from Helicon, where she had been brought up by the Muses (some say she came to Maleon, and was child of Lamia, daughter of Neptune), Boethus mentioned the Sibylline verses wherein she says, "That not even after death shall she cease from prophesying, but shall travel around in the Moon, and become what is called the Face in the Moon: her breath mingling with the Air is ever borne alone in rumours and airy tongues; out of her body, metamorphosed in Earth's bosom, shall spring shrubs and grass on which shall browse sacred herds that carry on their entrails all kinds of. colours, forms, and qualities, whence omens of the future come to men." But Boethus laughed at these Oracles yet more openly than at the others. On which the visitor observed that even if these tales are much like fables, yet to the reality of these Oracles bear witness the uprootings and removals of many Greek cities, the sudden appearances of barbarian invasions, and the takings off of great personages. Again, these quite recent [*1] and new calamities at Cumae and Dicaearchia, hymned forth long ago and sung in the Sibylline verses, hath not Time made them good as though he were in debt for the same? "Burstings forth of mountain fire, boilings up of the sea, castings up by wind of rocks and fiery masses, destructions of so many and such great towns, so that [p. 148] with returning day all memory and trace was lost as to whereabouts they had stood, from the country being turned upside down." That such things have happened it is hard even to believe now--far more to foretell, without divine assistance so many centuries ago. X. Then Boethus: "What kind of calamity, my good sir, is not Time in debt to Nature for? What is there amongst things strange and improbable with respect to sea or land, cities or persons, that one can prophesy, and it not come true at last? And yet this is almost the same as not foretelling but telling, or rather casting out and scattering words that have no final cause into infinite space; which words as they wander about Chance encounters, and coincides with them of her own accord. For there is a great difference, I think, between a thing that has been said coming to pass, and a thing that is to come to pass being said; because the saying that foretells things that are not, keeps the failure [*1] in its own hands unfairly, and waits for its confirmation from accident; and does not adduce a real proof of its foretelling, when it knows the event that has happened after the prediction; because infinity of time offers all sorts of events (to fit the prophecy): 'He that guesses well,' whom the proverb has proclaimed 'the best diviner,' is like unto one that hunts for the footprints, and follows the track of the Future, through probabilities. The Sibyls and the Bacides flung aimlessly into all Time, as it were into an ocean, just as it chanced, the names and epithets of all sorts of calamities and accidents; amongst which number, though some few do come to pass through chance, nevertheless what is told by them to-day is a lie all the same, even though hereafter, by some chance or other, it may come to happen." [p. 149] XI. When Boethus had finished, Serapion said: "Boethus has well expressed his opinion with respect to predictions, made indefinitely and without foundation, like such as this, 'If victory hath been foretold to a general, he hath conquered; if ruin to a city, it hath fallen;' but in cases where the thing that is to happen is not only told, but where and when, and after what event, and through whose means, then it becomes not a guess at what may perhaps happen, but a foreshowing of things that certainly shall be. Take for instance this upon the lameness of Agesilaus:-- "'Beware, O Sparta! tho' thou be so vain, Lest thy sound goings hurt a limping reign, Unhooked for troubles are in store for thee, When rolls the war upon the murderous sea.' [paragraph continues] And that again upon the island which the sea threw up off Thera and Therasia, and this upon the war between Philip and the Romans:-- "'When Trojan race hath beat Phoenicians bold, Then things beyond belief shalt thou behold: With fire the sea shall shine, in upper air Whirlwinds from lightnings thro' the waves shall tear; Mingled with rock: but it shall stand for aye, Unnamed by man, an island on that day. And weaker men shall on the battle field By force of arms, the stronger make to yield;' [paragraph continues] That is, that in a short time the Romans should overcome the Carthaginians by entirely defeating Hannibal, and that Philip, having engaged in war with the Aetolians and Romans, should be worsted in battle; and, lastly, that an island should rise up out of the deep, along with much fire and boiling waves. No one will say that all these things hit and coincided together by mere chance and spontaneously; but their succession proves manifestly the fore-knowledge of the prediction, and the fact that she (the Pythia) foretold to the Romans, about five hundred years [p. 150] beforehand, the time in which all the nations of the world together should war with them (that is they should war with the revolted slaves); in all this there is nought said at random, or blindfold, or where the explanation must be sought after in perplexity, and depend upon accident; but it presents many sureties derived from experience, and points out the path along which destiny walks. For I do not imagine anyone will say in this case that events turned out in the way they were predicted, by mere chance; else what hinders us, my dear Boethus, from saying that Epicurus did not write his established doctrines, but that from the letters impinging upon one another by chance and spontaneously the book was brought about?" XII. Whilst this talk was going on, we continued to advance. And in the Hall of the Corinthians, when gazing at the Palm-tree in bronze, which is still remaining there of the offerings, the snakes and frogs in relief around the root of the tree occasioned surprise to Diogeneanus, and certainly to ourselves as well; because the palm is not like other trees, a native of marshes, nor is it a water-loving plant; neither have frogs anything to do with the Corinthians, so as to become a symbol or a badge of the city, in the same way that the people of Selinus are said to have once dedicated a parsley-plant in gold, and those of Tenedos an axe, from the crabs that are only found amongst them around the place called Asterion, because they are the only sort, it seems, that have the figure of an axe painted upon their upper shell. And, indeed, one would think ravens, and swans, and wolves, and hawks, and anything else than these reptiles would be agreeable to the god. And upon Serapion's saying that the artist had intimated thus the nutrition of the Sun from moisture, and his origin and exhalation, whether that he had heard Homer's-- "Hasten the Sun to quit the beauteous pond," [p. 151] or whether he had seen the Egyptians representing the beginning of sunrise as a new-born babe seated upon a lotus. Then I, laughingly, "Where, my good friend, are you pushing on the Porch, and still slipping into the story your 'lightings up' and your 'exhalations;' you certainly are not drawing down the moon and sun, like the Thessalian witches, because, according to you, they grow up and originate here below, out of earth and the waters. For Plato hath called Man 'a celestial plant,' because he is carried up from the head as from a root; but you laugh Empedocles to scorn for saying 'that the sun when going round the earth breaks off fragments of heavenly light, but again shines against Olympus with undismayed countenance;' whilst you yourselves make him out to be some earth-born animal or plant-lacustrine, and register him in the family of frogs or water serpents. But this sort of thing let us give up to stoical bombast; and the accessories of artists let us examine in a matter-of-fact sort of way; for in many cases they are ingenious enough, though they have not everywhere avoided the pedantic and over-refined. For example, he that placed the Cock upon the hand of Apollo, intimated thereby the morning tide and the hour of approaching sunrise; in the same way one may say the frogs here were made the symbol of the spring season, when the sun begins to get power over the air, and to loosen the bonds of winter; that is, if we must, like you, consider Apollo and the Sun, not as two different deities, but as one and the same." "What!" asked Serapion, "do not you think it so? and do you hold that the Sun is different from Apollo?" "Yes," replied I, "as much as the Moon differs from the Sun, but she hides the Sun not frequently nor from all men at once; whereas the Sun hath caused all people to forget Apollo, by diverting their attention, by the means of the sense, from the Real to the Apparent." [p. 152] XIII. After this, Serapion asked the guides, "Why do you name this Hall, not from Cypselus who first dedicated it, but from the Corinthians?" From their silence, there seems to me, at least, to be some uncertainty about the cause. "How, pray," said I, laughing, "do you expect them either to know or to remember anything at all, scared out of their wits as they be by your subtle disquisitions? We have already heard them telling how the Corinthians, when the tyranny was put down, were wishing to inscribe both the gods' statue that was at Pisa and the Treasury here with the name of the City: the Delphians granted the thing, as being just, and consented to it; but the Eleans refused it out of envy, whereupon the Corinthians passed a law that excluded them from the Isthmian Games; and from thenceforth no man of Elis has ever been a competitor at the Isthmian Games; but the slaughter of the Molionidae by Hercules, near Cleonae, is not the cause, as some think, why the Eleans are so excluded; for, on the contrary, it would have been natural to exclude them, had they quarrelled with the Corinthians on account of that slaughter, which they did not." Thus farther spoke I. XIV. And when the guide showed us the Hall of the Acanthians and Brasidas, the place where the iron spits [*1] of Rhodope the courtesan formerly lay, Diogenianus, being indignant, exclaimed, "'Twas surely right and proper for the same city to grant Rhodope a place wherein to deposit the tithes of her prostitution, and to put to death Aesop, her fellow in slavery." Then Serapion: "Why are you angry, my fine fellow, at this? look up there above, and behold amongst captains and kings the Mnesarete [*2] in [p. 153] gold, which Crates said was dedicated as a trophy over the incontinence of Greece." "But," said the youth, "was not this said of Phryne by Crates?" "Yes, truly," answered Serapion, "her real name was Mnesarete, but she got the nickname of Phryne [*1] by reason of her paleness; for the nicknames often obliterate the true names: for example, Alexander's mother, Polyxena, they say, was afterwards called Myrtale, then Olympias and Stratonice; and the Corinthian Eumelis most people to the present day call Cleobule by her family name; also Herophile of Erythrae, a woman with the gift of prophesy, they entitle Sibylla; and you will hear the grammarians pretending that Leda was named Mnesinaea, and Orestes Achaeus. But how," said he, looking towards Theon, "do you intend to refute this charge with respect to Phryne?" XV. And he, with a smile: "In such a way that I in my turn accuse you of censuring the very smallest of all Grecian faults. For like as Socrates, in the case of Callias, quarrels only with his perfuming himself, and puts up with the sight of dances of boys, and tumblers, and kisses, and buffoons, in the same way you seem to me to be shutting out of the sacred ground a poor wench for making use of her personal beauty in no very respectable manner; but though you see the god here surrounded on all sides with the first-fruits and tithes of slaughter, wars, and plunderings, and his temple filled with Grecian spoils and trophies, you do not get angry, nor call the Greeks most disgraced on the score of their fine offerings of the sort, when you read such inscriptions as 'Brasidas and the Acanthians, from the Athenians;' and 'The Athenians from the Corinthians;' and 'The Phocians from the Thessalians;' and 'The Orneatae from the Sicyonians;' and 'The Amphictyons from the Phocians.' But Praxiteles offended Crates [p. 154] only with his mistress, and met with his reward of her in such a place; [*1] whereas Crates ought rather to have commended him because he set up amongst these golden kings a courtesan in gold, thereby casting reproach on gold, as possessing nought that is to be admired or venerated; seeing that it is becoming to lay before the god the offerings of virtue, or temperance, and of magnanimity, both for kings and rulers, not those of golden luxurious wealth wherein even the men of most infamous lives have their part. XVI. "You do not mention the fact," said the other of the two guides, "that Croesus caused to be made and dedicated here the golden statue of the woman, his baker ... not out of wanton insult to the holy place, but because he had an honourable and just cause for so doing. For the story goes that Algattes, father of Croesus, had taken a second wife, and had children by the same; this woman plotted against the life of Croesus, and gave poison to the baker, ordering her to knead it up in a loaf for Croesus; but the bakeress privately told Croesus, and set the bread before the children of his step-mother; in return for which Croesus, when he came to the throne, requited the woman's kindness, taking, as it were, the god for witness of his gratitude, in which, truly, he did well. For which reason," added he, out of many cities, "such an offering as this, one of the Opuntians is deserving to be admired and honoured; for after the tyrants of the Phocians had melted down many of the gold and silver offerings and coined money therewith, and distributed it around different States, the Opuntians collected all that [p. 155] silver coin, and sent back a water-vessel [*1] to the god, which they dedicated to him. I commend the people of Myrina and of Apollonia for sending hither wheat-sheaves in gold, but yet more those of Eretria and of Magnesia who presented the god with the first-fruits of human beings, as the giver of fruits paternal, presiding over generation, and the friend of man. But I blame those of Megara, because they, almost alone of those in this place, set up the god with a spear in his hand, in memory of the fight in which, after the Persian War, they drove out the Athenians who had already got possession of their town; afterwards, however, they dedicated to the god a plectrum of gold, taking the hint, probably, from Scythinus [*2] saying of the lyre:-- "'Which Apollo takes, Jove's beauteous offspring, he that comprehends Of all things the beginning and the end; And has the sun-light for his shining plectrum.'" XVII. And when Serapion was attempting to make some remarks upon the subject, the visitor interrupted him with: It is indeed pleasant, listening to tales of this kind; but I am under the necessity to demand the fulfilment of your promise about the cause that has made the Pythia desist from delivering oracles in epic verse, or in other metres. Wherefore, if you please, let us suspend the rest of the sightseeing; let us hear something upon that point, sitting down here, since that subject is the one that most nearly concerns the credit of the Oracle, because one of two things must be the case--either that the Pythia no longer approaches the place where the divine thing resides, or else that the exhalation is extinguished, and its power come to an end." [p. 156] [paragraph continues] We therefore went round, and sat down upon the southern steps of the shrine, looking towards the Temple of the Earth and the Water; so that Boethus immediately observed that the place itself assisted the visitor in his inquiry, for there was a temple of the Muses by the pool [*1] of the Spring, which too they used for making libation as Stesichorus sings:-- "There, from above is drawn the pure water for the basins of the Muses with their beautiful locks." And again, somewhat more elaborately, Simonides addresses Clio as,-- "Chaste guardian of lustral basins, draw the far-famed water from the deep recesses--not cloaked in gold, but perfumed, undying, and much to be desired." Eudoxus, therefore, was wrong in believing those who make out that this was called the "Water of Styx." They therefore set up the Muses for companions of Prophecy, and for guardians round about the stream itself, and also built the Temple of the Earth, to whom the Oracle is said to have first belonged. ... [*2] The delivering of oracles in epic verse and poetry. But others assert that the heroic measure was heard here for the first time:-- "Collect your feathers, birds; your wax, ye bees"-- ... [On its] becoming necessary to the god to ... cast away his gravity. XVIII. Then Serapion: "This language is more gentle and more civil than what you used before; for we must not quarrel with Theon, and abolish along with the prophetic Power, Providence, and the Divinity as well; [p. 157] but rather seek for explanations of the facts that appear to run counter to these ideas; and not to cast away the pious faith of our fathers." "You say rightly, my excellent Serapion," replied I, "for neither do we despair of Philosophy as entirely destroyed and ruined, because in old times philosophers used to publish their dogmas and their arguments in the shape of poems, as for instance, Orpheus, Hesiod, Parmenides, Xenophanes, and Empedocles, and Thales--but afterwards they gave it up, and ceased making use of verses--all but yourself; for by your means Poetry doth once more descend into Philosophy, exhorting youth in martial and noble tone: nor has Astronomy been shorn of her glory by the schools of Aristarchus, Timocharis, Aristyllus, and Hipparchus writing in prose, whereas Eudoxus, Hesiod, and Thales formerly wrote in verse; if, indeed, Thales really did compose the 'Astronomy' attributed to him. And Pindar confesses that he himself is quite at a loss about the neglect of the use of verse, and is astonished. ... [*1] It is neither wicked nor absurd for people to inquire into the causes of changes of the sort; but to do away with the sciences themselves if anything belonging to them be meddled with or changed, is very unfair." XIX. Then Theon taking up the conversation: "These sciences have indeed undergone many changes and innovations: but as for things here, we know that many predictions in those old times were uttered in plain prose, and those too about matters of no ordinary kind. For when the Lacedaemonians consulted the Oracle concerning their war with the Athenians it predicted to them victory and success, and also that it would help them, asked or unasked; and that if they did not restore Pausanias, they would [p. 158] have to plough with a silver ploughshare. To the Athenians also, when consulting the Oracle about their expedition into Sicily, it advised them to bring up from Erythrae the priestess of Minerva. Now the wench was called 'Quiet' by name. And when Dinomenes the Sicilian consulted the Oracle about his sons, it responded that all three should be tyrants. That is, with a mischief to them--'is it not so, my Lord Apollo?' asked Dinomenes. 'This, too, I make you a present of, and give into the bargain as response,' it was the reply. You all know that Gelon reigned with the dropsy, Hieron with the stone, and Thrasybulus after passing a short time in the midst of war and seditious was driven out of his power. Procus, tyrant of Epidaurus, had destroyed many people cruelly and unjustly, and when Timarchus had come to him from Athens with money in his possession, after receiving him with great show of friendship, he murdered him secretly, put the body into a hamper, and sank it in the sea. This he did by the hand of Cleander of Aegina, unknown to all the rest. But afterwards, when his affairs were growing troubled, he despatched hither his brother Cleotimus, to consult in private the best means for escape and emigration. But the god responded 'that he granted Procus escape and emigration to where he had bidden his Aeginetan friend to deposit the hamper; or else where the stag puts down his horn.' The tyrant, therefore, understanding that the god bade him either drown or bury himself (because stags bury and hide in the earth their antlers when shed), [*1] waited a little while, and then his affairs being utterly ruined, was driven into exile. But the friends of Timarchus got hold of him, and having put him to death, flung his dead body into the sea. And, what is the greatest fact of all, the laws by which Lycurgus regulated the [p. 159] [paragraph continues] Lacedaemonian constitution were given to him word for word at this place. [*1] Now, though Alyrius, Herodotus, Philochorus, and Istrus, the persons most zealous in collecting oracles in verse, have also recorded responses not in metre, Theopompus, who has been as careful as any man in the matter of the Oracle, has sharply rebuked such as believed at that time that the Pythia no longer delivered metrical responses; and then, wishing to give proof of his assertion, found be had but a very scanty supply, inasmuch as even then the responses were usually delivered in prose. [*2] XX. "Even at the present day some Oracles run out in metre, of which I cite an example that has made a great noise in the world. There is in Phocis a temple of Hercules the Misogynist, where it is the law that the appointed priest shall not have to do with women during his year of office; for which reason they elect for priests men tolerably advanced in years. Not long ago, a young man, not a bad one, but ambitious, having an amour with a servant-girl, obtained the appointment, and at first was continent, and kept out of the way of the wench; but as he lay asleep after drinking and dancing, she fell upon him and he did her business for her. [*3] Being terrified and troubled in mind at what he had done he had recourse to the Oracle and inquired of the god about his sin, if there were any remedy or expiation for it; and he received this response-- "'God pardons everything that can't be helped.' [*4] "Not but that even if you grant that no response is delivered without metre in our days, will you be any the [p. 160] more perplexed with respect to the ancient Oracles delivering their answers sometimes in metre, sometimes without it. For neither the one nor the other, my dear boy, is contrary to reason, if only we entertain correct and unprejudiced notions about the deity, and do not suppose it was himself that composed the verses in former times, or that now prompts the Pythia and speaks through her as though through a mask. XXI. "But it is worth while to say something more at length, and to inquire about these points, and as we have taken a brief view of the present one, let us bear in mind that the body employs many organs, the soul employs the body and the members of the body, the soul itself is the organ of the god. Now, the goodness of an instrument lies in imitating that which employs its natural power, and in its producing the object of the design involved in its construction; though it is not competent to exhibit what that design was in its Maker, unmixed, impassive, and without error, but produces it mingled with much that is extraneous; for by itself it is senseless to us, but when made to appear another thing, and worked by the agency of another, it is then filled with its proper nature. And I pass over wax, and gold, and silver, and bronze, and whatever other sorts of plastic materials receive one form of resemblance modelled out of them, but yet each adds from itself a different variation to the copy. [*1] And the innumerable distortions of the appearances and images from one object in mirrors flat, or convex, or concave: for they are ... But there is nothing so like in form, or organ created for the use of Nature, that can afford us a more convincing proof, than does the Moon. For, though she receives from the Sun both that which is shining and that which is fiery, she does not send it back [p. 161] to us the same as it was, but when mingled with herself it both changes its colour, and acquires a different quality: its heat is entirely gone, and its light is also deficient by reason of its weakness. And I fancy you know the saying in Heraclitus, that the sovereign, whose Oracle is at Delphi, neither hides nor reveals the future, but hints at it.' Make an addition, therefore, to this, so well said, and conceive the god here as employing the Pythia for hearing [being heard] in the same way as the Sun employs the Moon for seeing [being seen], she shows his thoughts aloud, but she exhibits them mixed with something else, by the agency of a mortal body, and a soul that is not able to keep quiet. [*1] Unable to present herself, standing by herself, unmoved to the moving power, but as it were in a state of agitation, feeling about and entangled with the emotions in herself, and the passions that trouble her. For just as the whirlpools do not entirely master the bodies that are carried around with them, but as partly they be carried round in spite of themselves, partly tend to the bottom by their own nature, of both which forces the result is a confused and irregular circumvolution--in like manner the so-called inspiration is probably the mixture of two impulses, the one of the soul moved by external impressions; the other, as it is moved by its own nature. For since it is not easy to use inanimate and motionless objects for a purpose to which they are [not] [*2] naturally adapted, by using force to them, as for instance, [p. 162] to treat a cylinder as a sphere or as a cube, or a lyre in the manner of a flute, or a trumpet in the way of a guitar. But if, as is reasonable, the using each object according to the rules of art is no other than the using it for the purpose for which it is made: surely, then, it is impossible to say how anyone can handle that which is animated and self-impelled, and endowed with appetite and reason, otherwise than consistently with its constitution; ... [*1] one attempting to move by musical means one ignorant of music, or by grammatical, one who knows no grammar, or by logic, one who has neither the theory nor the practice of logic. XXII. "Homer himself bears me out, by representing nothing at all, so to speak, as coming to pass without the intervention of a god: not, indeed, that he makes the god use all means indiscriminately to all purposes, but each one according to its respective talent or force. Do you not see (said I), my dear Diogenianus, Minerva when she wants to persuade the Greeks to anything, incites Ulysses to speak; when she wishes to break the treaty she looks out for Pandarus; when the Trojans are to be routed she has recourse to Diomede: because one is robust and valiant; another an archer and thoughtless; another eloquent and wise. For Homer did not hold the same belief with Pindar, if indeed it were Pindar that wrote, 'If God pleases, you may go to sea upon a hurdle.' But he knew that different faculties and natures are made for different ends; each one of which is moved in a different manner, and [by that cause] in which resides that which moves all collectively: as, for instance, that which moves the pedestrian has no power in the way of flying, or that moving the stammerer in the way of distinct utterance, or the man with squeaking voice in that of a fine voice; although [p. 163] [paragraph continues] Battus, I ween, for this very cause, when he came to his full stature, did his friends send out as colonist to Libya, because he was a stammerer and had a squeaking voice, but possessed the qualities of a king, a statesman, and a philosopher--in the same way he is incompetent to discourse poetically who is unlettered, and has never listened to verses. For just as she who at present is servant to the god at this place was born legitimately and honourably, and has spent her life in a virtuous manner; but having been bred up in the house of poor country folks has acquired nothing from education or from practice or help of other sort, when she goes down into the oracular cave; but just as Xenophon recommends that the bride should cone to her husband, having seen as little as possible, having heard as little as possible, so doth she hold converse with the god, without experience, all but without hearing of anything, and truly a virgin in her soul. But we believe that the god, to signify his will, makes use of crying herons, wrens, and ravens; and we do not demand, in case they be the messengers and envoys of the gods, that they shall speak everything plainly and rationally. But the voice and language of the Pythia we demand to be presented to us as though from off the stage, not unadorned and plain, but in verse, bombast, and affectation, with metaphors of names, and declaimed to the accompaniment of the flute. XXIII. "What then shall we say about the Oracles of old? Not one thing, I fancy, but many. In the first place, they also generally declared themselves in prose. Secondly, those old times produced temperaments and constitutions of body that had quite a different tendency to poetry than ours, upon which immediately grew up desires, inclinations, and proclivities of soul, that required but a small hint or impulse front without, and made them very ready to be drawn along to what was congenial to [p. 164] their nature. As Philinus observes, we have known, not merely astrologers and philosophers, but persons under the influence of wine, or some powerful passion, either of overwhelming sorrow, or of sudden joy, sliding involuntarily into poetical language ... have filled feasts with amatory verses and songs, and books with compositions of the same kind. For Euripides hath said,-- "Love makes a poet of a clown before"-- not that Love puts in him the poetical and musical faculty, but only stirs up, and excites what before was concealed and dormant. Or must we say, Mr. Stranger, that nobody falls in love nowadays, and that Cupid is gone and vanished, because no one now, as Pindar hath it, 'In verses or songs swiftly shoots at youths his sweet-voiced strains?' Absurd this--for hosts of Loves drive man about, and consort with souls not indeed disposed by nature, or fitted for poetry--Loves, truly, that be unprovided with flute, unarmed with lyre, yet no less loquacious and fervent than those of old. For it is not allowable so much as to say that the Academy was loveless, nor Socrates and the school of Plato; since you may meet with their amatory treatises, and their amatory poems [*1] are not yet obsolete. For what difference is there in saying that Sappho was the only woman that ever was in love, and in asserting that the only prophetess was the Sibyl, or Aristonica, or all such as delivered oracles in verse. For wine, as Chaeremon says, mixes itself up with the tempers of such as drink it; whilst the prophetic inspiration, like the amatory, acts upon the subject faculty, and moves each one of those who take it in according to the way in which each is constituted by nature. [p. 165] XXIV. "Not but that if we consider the question of the god and his foreknowledge, we shall find the change made for the better. For the use of language is like the exchange of coin that acquires a different value at different times [and of it what is familiar and well-known passes current] [*1]. There was a time when people used for the currency of speech, verses and tunes and songs, converting into music and poetry, all history, all philosophy, every passion, and to speak generally, every circumstance that required more dignified utterance. For things that nowadays few people listen to, everybody then used to hear, and took pleasure in their being sung; 'ploughmen and fowlers too,' as Pindar hath it. Nay, through this aptitude for poetry most persons admonished others by means of the lyre and song: they spoke their minds, they comforted others, they did their business with fables and with songs; furthermore they caused to be made in verse and songs the hymns of the gods, prayers, and thanksgivings; partly from natural aptitude that way, partly from old custom. For which reason, the god did not begrudge decoration and grace to the oracular power either, nor did he drive away from hence the honoured Muse from the Tripod; on the contrary, he invited her hither, by stirring up and welcoming poetic temperaments and himself inspiring their imaginations, whilst he helped to promote the high-flown and verbose style in the responses, as appropriate and admired. But when, from the world's suffering change along with its vicissitudes and its tempers, Custom cast off everything superfluous, and removed the golden top-knots [of the god] and divested him of his soft gown, and perhaps cropped his too luxuriant locks, and unstrung his lyre; at which time [p. 166] we accustomed ourselves, not wrongly, to oppose the charms of economy to extravagant expense, and to hold in honour that which is simple and neat rather than what is ostentatious and over-refined. In the same way, from language changing together with the times, and similarly stripping itself bare, History descended out of verse, as it were out of a chariot, [*1] and the true was distinguished from the fabulous chiefly by the use of prose. Philosophy also, having embraced the clear and instructive in preference to the sensational style, pursued her investigations in ordinary language. The god too made the Pythia cease from calling her fellow-citizens "firebrands," the Spartans, "serpent-eaters," men "seers," and rivers "mountain-drinkers." He took away from his responses their heroic verses, glosses, circumlocutions, and obscurity; he presented them, so to speak, to such as consult him in the same form as laws speak to citizens, kings reply to their subjects, and scholars hear their teachers speak, and adapted himself to what is intelligible and persuasive. XXV. "For you ought to know that the god is, according to Sophocles, "'To wise men, an oracular riddle-maker, To fools a bad instructor even in trifles.' [paragraph continues] And together with intelligibility thus introduced, Faith also took a turn, sharing in the change of all the rest; for whereas of old time, whatever was unusual and not public, but obscure and regularly veiled, the vulgar construed into something hallowed, and were astounded thereby and revered the same; but afterwards being content with the learning things plainly and easily, and without bombast or fiction, they found fault with the poetry that enveloped the responses, as being an obstacle to understanding them [p. 167] in their true sense, because it mixed up obscurity and shade with the thing revealed. Nay, already had they viewed with suspicion all circumlocutions, enigmas, and double-senses, as contrived for loopholes and refuges for the blunders of prophecy. And one might hear many asserting that certain men of poetical faculty were ever sitting round about the Oracle, receiving and catching up all sounds, and weaving heroic verses, metres, and rhythms, like so many envelopes wrapped all about the responses, out of their own heads. And persons like Onomacritus and Prodotes and Cinesion--what blame did they not get on the score of their Oracles, for having added tragic phrases and bombast to what was in no need thereof--I omit to mention, or to join in the cry against them. [*1] The greatest discredit, however, of all, was brought upon poetry by the set of mountebanks, and market-haunters that roam about, and play off their buffoonery round the temples of the Great Mother, and those of Serapis: and who manufacture Oracles, some out of their own head, some according to lot from certain books, for the benefit of servants and poor wenches, who are led away more by the metre than by the poetical merit of the words. For which reason most of all, Poetry being seen to prostitute herself to cheats, jugglers, and false prophets, hath been expelled from the domains of Truth, and the oracular tripod. XXVI. "I shall not, therefore, be surprised if some of the ancient responses required a double, involved language, and obscurity. For in those times such and such a one did not go to consult the Oracle about the purchase of a slave, or another about the success of his speculations in trade, but mighty republics, and kings, and tyrants extravagantly proud, conferred with the god about their own affairs, whom to vex, and excite to hostility by their hearing before-hand many things contrary to their wishes, [p. 168] was by no to the advantage of the keepers of the Oracle. For the god doth not obey Euripides when he, as it were, lays down the law and says: "'Phoebus alone must prophesy to men;' but inasmuch as he employs mortal servants and mouthpieces, whom he is bound to care for and protect, that they be not annoyed by bad men when ministering to the god--he chooses not to obliterate the truth, but he deflects the manifestation thereof, like a sunbeam, in poetry, where it suffers many refractions, and is dispersed and scattered about in many directions, and thereby got rid of its offensiveness and harshness. The point was that tyrants should not [*1] be ignorant of what was coming, and that their enemies should not perceive the same beforehand. Wherefore he [Apollo] wrapped up all this in hints and double meanings, that concealed from the rest of the world what was meant, yet did not escape nor disappoint the persons themselves who requested his counsel and gave their minds to understand it. Hence the man is a great simpleton who now that the state of things is entirely changed, finds fault and cavils because the god thinks proper to help us in a different way from before. XXVII. "Besides, there is nothing in poetry more useful than in prose, beyond the fact that things told when bound in the fetters of metre and strung together, are better remembered and retained. Men of those times were far from possessing good memory, 'for of old the descriptions of places, the proper seasons for divers occupations, the festivals of the gods, the secret sepulchres of heroes, so hard to be discovered beyond seas, were all told in verse [*2] in the far-distant parts of Greece.' For [p. 169] you know the Chian, and the Cretan history--about Nesichus and Phalanthus, and all the other founders of colonies, how they by the aid of all necessary indications (from the Oracle) discovered the seat assigned and best suited for each of them. Of whom, some made a mistake, as did Battus; for he thought he had missed the sense of the Oracle, because he had not got possession of the place to which he had been despatched: he, therefore, came a second time to consult; the god replying, said: 'To Libya, nurse of sheep, udder of earth, thou hast not gone. I greatly admire thy wisdom in coming here,' [*1] and so sent him out again, and Lysander being entirely ignorant that a hill was called Archelades, and also Allopaeus, and a river Hoplites, and 'Earth's crafty son, the dragon, from behind approaching' [*2]--being beaten in a fight, he fell in the places so named by the people by whom the district [was so called, and by the hand of], [*3] a man of Haliartus, carrying a shield which had for device a serpent. But to enumerate more of these ancient examples, hard of interpretation, hard to recollect as they are, to you who know them already, is superfluous for me. XXVIII. "The now established state of things as concerns inquiries of the god, I for my part am content with and embrace. Profound peace and tranquillity prevail, war has ceased, so have migrations and factions, no more tyrannies or other distempers and evils of Greece, that stood in need, as it were, of variously remedial and extraordinary powers. For where there is nothing complicated, [p. 170] nor to be kept secret, nor dangerous, but all inquiries turn upon small and domestic affairs, like themes in a school, such as: Should one marry? should one make a voyage? should one lend money? and the most important matters belonging to States that are referred to the Oracle are the yield of corn, the produce of grapes, or the health of the public--in such cases to put forward verses, to invent metaphors, to stick epithets upon questions that require only a simple and brief answer, is the part of an ostentatious pedant, decorating the response for the sake of show; and the Pythia is by disposition high-minded, and when she descends into the cave, and is in company with the god, more ... cares not for fame, or whether men praise, or find fault with her words. XXIX. "We, perhaps, should behave in the same way. But as it is, as though we were struggling and fearful lest the place should lose its three thousand years' old reputation, and some should despise and go away from it, like a Sophist's school, we make excuses and invent causes and reasons for things that we neither know, nor is it fitting for us to know; whereby we encourage the faultfinder, and argue with him, instead of bidding him go his way:-- "'For he will be the first to feel the smart,' for entertaining such an opinion of the god as to accept and admire those maxims of the Wise Men, the 'Know thyself,' and the 'Nothing in excess,' no less on account of their brevity, as containing in itself condensed and close-hammered sense, in small compass--and yet finding fault with Oracles because they tell most things briefly, plainly, and in a straightforward manner; and these maxims of the Wise Men are in the same condition as streams pent up in narrow space, for they have no transparency or lucidity of meaning, yet if you examine what has been written and [p. 171] talked about them by such as wish to discover their full sense you will not easily find other treatises more lengthy than theirs. And the language of the Pythia, just as mathematicians define a straight line as 'the least one of those having the same extremities,' so it makes neither curve, circle, double, or zig-zag, but goes straight to the truth, and though liable to be overthrown by facts, and subject to the test of experience, it has never, to the present day, suffered any impeachment of its veracity, but has crowded the Oracle with the offerings and presents of both barbarians and Greeks, and with all the beauties and decorations of buildings erected by the Amphictyons. For you see, I suppose, many additions of buildings not previously existing, and many restorations of such as were dilapidated and tumbled down. For as with thriving trees, others spring up by their side; so doth the Pylaea [*1] renew its youth together with Delphi, and fattens in her company by reason of the opulence flowing from this source; and receives a beauty, shape, and decoration of temples, public offices, and fountains, such as it never had for the thousand years preceding. Now they that dwell round about the "dairy" of Boeotia were made sensible of the manifestation of the god in the flesh, by the abundance and excess of the milk: 'From all the flocks flowed down, as the best water from the rocks, nourishing milk, and they hastened to fill their pitchers; not one wine-skin or pitcher remained idle in the houses, pails and wooden casks were all filled to the brim.' But to us, better, more brilliant, and clearer signs than these, promise to restore to us, as it were after the drought of our former desolation and poverty, both opulence, honour, and splendour, [*2] and yet I congratulate myself on having been zealous and useful in these affairs, in concert with Polycrates and [p. 172] [paragraph continues] Piraeus. I likewise congratulate him that was governor of the State [*1] at the time, and who planned and provided for most of these works But it is not possible that such and so great a change should take place in a short time, but for the god being present here, and inspiring the Oracle to that purpose. XXX. "But just as in those old times there were people that found fault with the obliquity and obscurity of the responses, so nowadays some censure their too great plainness--whose conduct is equally unfair and silly. For little children take greater pleasure and delight in looking at rainbows, halos, and cornets, than at the sun and moon; so do they these cavillers regret the riddles, allegories, and metaphors, that are the reflections [*2] of the prophetic power upon the mortal and imaginative subject: and if they cannot find out the cause of the change to their own satisfaction, they immediately blame the gods; and not us, or themselves, as being unable to arrive by reasoning at the gods' intention." [The Pythia, before the Tripod] Footnotes ^139:1 Curious, as showing the establishment of regular custodi for the benefit of visitors. ^139:2 This shows that the good temper of the old bronze weapons was as much a problem to the Romans as it is now to us. ^140:1 Referring to the electrum, then much in vogue for table plate on account of its superior brilliancy; and witch was gold largely alloyed with silver, to one-fifth of its weight. ^140:2 prin in text must be peri. The joke probably was that Theognis got his red face from the contact of the atmosphere--not from the bottle; as some philosopher once attributed the paleness of our Fellows to the great brasier formerly warming the Hall; now, alas! banished, but without any benefit to their complexions. ^141:1 The ancient receipt for "patinating" statues was by "oleo et sole," to use Pliny's words; not by washing them with acid, as at present. ^141:2 The text is very corrupt here, merely from the confusion of nominative and dative terminations of the pronouns and articles: but the sense is clear enough, that the oil, a pure liquid, cannot coat a surface with rust, but must produce it by some secret action of its own. ^142:1 Some words have dropped out here, but their sense is easily supplied. ^143:1 i.e. must accustom ourselves to think this bad poetry beautiful; and not take Homer and Hesiod for the standard of excellence. ^144:1 Men get more pleasure through their ears than through any other sense. ^145:1 Probably a false reading for Cleombrotus, King of Sparta, who fell at Leuctra. The story shows that paste eyes were not a Roman invention for statues. See above. Feuardent has a bronze statue of a youth, half life-size, with carbuncle-garnets for eyes. It was discovered in the sand on the coast of Rhodes. From the posture it seems to have been a Palaemon seated on a dolphin. ^146:1 This crown, therefore, was of little weight, doubtless, from its distension, in the shape of a wreath of bay leaves, for the girl to have worn it constantly. Gold at the time was exceedingly scarce in Greece and Italy, as numerous recorded instances attest. ^146:2 Epicurus died B.C. 270; whence we get an approximate date for this Dialogue. ^147:1 This allusion shows this piece to have been written under Domitian, soon after the great eruption of Vesuvius, A.D. 79. ^148:1 Never confesses to a failure of a prediction, but waits for some lucky accident in the course of time to turn up corresponding to the prediction. ^152:1 This offering, besides its appropriate symbolism (which alone was remembered in Plutarch's days), had considerable pecuniary value at the time of its dedication, considering the then scarcity of the metal. ^152:2 Another celebrity of the same profession. ^153:1 A toad; paleness being yellowness in the south: "pallidior buxo, semianimisque fui." ^154:1 A far-fetched argument--Crates ought to have been more offended by an offering in gold being made to the god, than by the character of the person represented. "Golden" merely signifies gilt, or rather overlaid with a thick leaf of gold. And this multitude of statues was in existence after Nero had carried off five hundred at one swoop! ^155:1 ydria, the largest size of vase, made out of the sacrilegious coin, thus restored to its old destination. The fact shows that the coinage of the Phocian tyrants was known by its type--what has become of it all? ^155:2 Error for the name of some famous poet. ^156:1 anapnoe, i.e. where the stream tumbling from the rock finds a resting-place. ^156:2 Evidently parts of the same sentence displaced, and wanting some words to complete it, probably [and who invented]. Then Plutarch cites another tradition, ascribing the same thing to the latest owner, Apollo. ^157:1 The quotation has been omitted by the copyist, who (like other people), did not understand Pindar: or else "pardonably" thought he was talking nonsense. ^158:1 Which stags do not do; the god recommended the tyrant to use a tree, against which stags are in the habit of rubbing their antlers. ^159:1 The Spartans, as King Areius' letter to Simon Maccabeus shows believed themselves of the same stock as the Jews: this may have something to do with their assumption of a divine legislator. ^159:2 The fourth century B.C., he being a scholar of Isocrates. ^159:3 diexresato. ^159:4 apanta tanagkaia sygxurei theos. ^160:1 The same object modelled in different materials, has a different appearance. ^161:1 me dynamene cannot begin a sentence, and therefore must receive a final s and finish the preceding one. The first word of the next is lost, being probably of similar sound. It is curious to observe how, throughout all these treatises, the copyist has transcribed anecdotes and interesting matter correctly enough, but when he comes to dry philosophy he scribbles away without caring for or understanding what he is about, omitting words, and inserting them again in wrong places, as things quite immaterial to the reader. ^161:2 me has certainly dropped out here. ^162:1 Some words lost here to the effect: To act otherwise would be like .... ^164:1 Such as Plato's lines to Agatha "ten psyxen Agathuna filun epi xeilesin esxon, Elthe gar e glemun us apobesomene." ^165:1 kai dokimon men aytou esti xunethes kai gnurimon, which seems both imperfect and out of its place, there being no de to correspond in tho same sentence. ^166:1 As we should say, "from off the stage," referring to the old expression ex amaxes legein. ^167:1 metabolais in text must be diabolais. ^168:1 In text me has certainly dropped out--else we get a contradiction to the argument. ^168:2 "Verse" is required by the context; the passage is incomplete, but clearly a quotation from an ancient poet. ^169:1 Battus, sent by Apollo to Libya, at first colonized the island Platea off the coast: the colony not prospering he again consulted the god, whose answer was: "If thou who hast never gone to Libya, knowest Libya better than I who have been there, I greatly admire thy cleverness," and so sent him off once more. ^169:2 Or "darting," according to the breathing of the initial. ^169:3 This has fallen out of the text, but can be supplied from the Life of Lysander. He was slain by a sudden sally of the garrison. ^171:1 The little town itself, dependent upon Delphi, the sacred ground. ^171:2 pepoiekus here belongs evidently to the next sentence. ^172:1 The Roman governor of the province. ^172:2 Referring to the foregoing simile of rainbows, halos, &c. Plutarch's Morals: Theosophical Essays, tr. by Charles William King, [1908], at sacred-texts.com [p. 173] ON THE E AT DELPHI. I LATELY, my dear Serapion, met with some little verses, that are not bad; which Dicaearchus supposes Euripides to address to Archelaus:-- "I do not choose to offer thee a gift, For I am poor, whilst thou art passing rich; Else thou will either take me for a fool, Or think that in my giving I am begging.' [paragraph continues] For he does no favour who gives a little out of a little to those possessing much, and being suspected of not giving for no return, he incurs to boot the character of servility and meanness. In the same degree, therefore, that substantial presents fall short both in respectability and in beauty of those proceeding from reason and learning, is it a fine thing for the latter to be given, and for the giver to demand a return in kind from the receivers. For I, in sending off to you, and through you to our friends at the same place some of our Pythian conversation, in the way of first fruits, boldly confess that I expect from you in return others both longer and better done; seeing that you have the advantage of a very great city, and plenty of leisure in the midst of books and lectures of every kind. [*1] Now, our friend Apollo appears to cure and to settle all difficulties connected with life, by giving responses [p. 174] to such as consult him; but of himself to inspire and suggest doubts concerning what is speculative, by implanting in the knowledge-seeking part of the human soul an appetite that draws towards the truth; as is manifest from many other things, and from the dedication of the E. For this is not likely to have been done by chance, nor yet by lot only, in settling the precedence of all the letters of the alphabet before the god, did it obtain the rank of a sacred offering and object of admiration: but either those that first speculated about the god saw in it some peculiar and extraordinary virtue of its own, or else they used it as a symbol of some important mystery, and admitted [*1] it on those grounds. This question, though often propounded in the school, I had always quietly evaded and put off, until lately I was taught by my sons, uniting in entreaty [*2] with some others, visitors whom, as they were about to depart from Delphi, I could not politely divert from the point, nor excuse myself to them, anxious as they were to get some information upon the subject. Having, therefore, made them sit down about the Shrine, I began partly to investigate the matter myself, partly to put questions to them [being reminded], [*3] both by the place and by their words of what I had heard long ago (when Nero was visiting the spot), from Ammonius and others, when the same questions had been similarly started. II. "That the god is no less a philosopher than a prophet, Ammonius proved to the satisfaction of all by adducing his titles one by one, and showing that he is 'Pythian' to such as begin to learn and to inquire; 'Helius' and 'Phanaeus,' when part of the truth is already disclosed, and a glimpse thereof given; 'Ismenius,' when people have got the knowledge; and 'Leschenoieos' when they [p. 175] are active and enjoy that knowledge, and begin to converse and philosophize with one another. Now, since to philosophizing belongs to inquire, to wonder, and to doubt, it was natural, said he, that most parts of what related to the god should be hidden in enigmas, because they elicit discussion as to the wherefore, and information about the cause. For instance, in the case of the everlasting fire, that pine should be the only wood burned there, and bay-leaves used for incense; and the fact that two Fates are set up here, whereas everywhere else three are the regular number: also the rule that no woman is allowed to approach the Oracle; and the existence of the Tripod--and all such instances, which, when brought before people that be not entirely brutish and soulless, act as baits, and draw them on to inquire, to listen, and to argue with one another, Look, too, at the maxims written up here, the 'Know thyself,' and the ' Nothing in extremes'--how many philosophical inquiries have they not excited; and what a crop of discussions has there not sprung up from them, as though from one sowing seed; and no less prolific do I think is the question now raised." III. And when Ammonius had said this, my brother Lamprias replied: "And yet the explanation I have heard is a simple one, and very short; for they say that those Wise Men, by some denominated 'Sophists,' were really but five--namely, Chilon, Thales, Solon, Bias, Pittaeus--f or the Cleobulus Tyrant of the Lindians, and Periander the Corinthian, though they had no share either of virtue or wisdom, yet through their power, their friends, and their interest, forcibly took possession of the character, and usurped the name of the Wise Men, and sent forth and spread abroad all over Greece certain maxims and words similar to those uttered by the former, at which these being indignant, did not choose to expose their arrogance, nor to quarrel publicly for fame, and incur the hostility [p. 176] of persons of great power; having, therefore, held a meeting here, and conferred together, they dedicated that letter of the alphabet, which both holds the fifth place there, and also signifies the number Five, [*1] testifying to the god that they were but Five, and discarding and casting off the seventh and the sixth as not belonging to their number. That all this is not said at random, any one may know, from hearing those belonging to the Temple, calling the golden E that of Livia, [*2] wife of Caesar; the bronze one, that of the Athenians; whereas the original and most ancient one, wooden in material, they call the E of the Wise Men, not of one, but the joint offering of them all." IV. Now Ammonius, quietly smiling, and suspecting that Lamprias was asserting an idea of his own, while he pretended it a legend and a report heard from others, upon a matter admitting of no disproval [made no reply]. [*3] But someone else of those present observed: "All this is like the nonsense which the Chaldean visitor lately talked: that there are seven of the letters that utter a sound of their own; seven stars that move in the heavens with an independent and unconnected motion of their own. For at the time spoken of, the E was from the beginning, the second in place of the vowels, and the Sun, after the Moon, of the planets--now, all the Greeks, so to speak, regard Apollo as the same with the Sun. But this sort of stuff is [p. 177] mere idle talk. [*1] And indeed Lamprias has unwittingly stirred up the people belonging to the Temple against his argument, for what he has told us nobody at Delphi knows anything about; but all assert the common opinion and that of the guides, pretending that it is not the appearance nor the sound of the letter, but only the name of it that has any significance." V. "Furthermore, as the Delphians themselves suppose, and as Nicander the priest said in his address, the letter is the vehicle and the form of the demand made to the god, and it holds the place of honour [*2] in the queries of those consulting the Oracle and asking, If they shall be victorious? If they shall marry? If it is advisable to make a voyage? If to turn farmer? If to go abroad? The god, wise as he is, sends the logicians about their business, who believe that nothing comes out of the particle If, and the demand that goes along with it; for the Word both conceives the questions subordinate to this particle as real things, and accepts them as such. And since inquiry is his peculiar right, in his character of prophet; and prayer to him, is a joint right in his character of god, they think that this letter represents the precatory [*3] no less than the inquiring element. For each one of such as pray begins with 'Oh, if,' and Archilochus says, "'If I only were permitted Neobule's hand to touch!' "And in eithe someone says the second syllable is an expletive, as in that verse of Sophron's, Ama teknun then dysmenea, and that of Homer, us then kai egu son lusumenos, for that the precatory meaning is more than sufficiently expressed in the ei." [p. 178] VI. When Nicander had finished this--you know my companion Theon? well, he asked Ammonius if Logic was allowed free speech, after being so insulted? And when Ammonius encouraged him to speak and defend her, he began: "That the god is a very great logician, his own responses show, for it, forsooth, is the business of a logician both to invent and to solve double-senses. For as Plato said when an oracle was given commanding the doubling (squaring) the cubical dimensions of the altar, not the linear, which latter any mason could have done by simple measurement. An oracle had been given commanding the doubling the size of the altar at Delos, which is a problem requiring the utmost skill in geometry, that it was not this the god required, but that he encouraged the Greeks should study geometry. In the same way, the god by giving forth responses with double meanings promotes and establishes Logic, as being indispensable for all such as intend to understand him rightly. And if truly this bodily constitution of ours has its greatest force through Logic (Reasoning), inasmuch as it gives form to the most rational distinction, then assuredly such a conclusion as this is bound up with it, because even brute animals have a knowledge of the being of things, but to man alone hath Nature given the power of seeing and of judging consequences. For instance, that it is day, and is light, wolves, dogs, and birds understand; but that if it is day, it is light, no other creature understands save man alone; because he alone has the conception of prior and posterior, of appearance, and of connection, and of the relations of these things to one another; from which considerations proofs derive their most important principle. If, therefore, philosophy is busied about truth, and the light of truth is proof, and the foundation of proof is connection--with good reason has the faculty that embraces and causes this, been consecrated [p. 179] by wise men to the god that most of all loves truth: and the god himself is a diviner, but divination is an art busied about the Future, derived from things present or past. For of no one thing is the birth without a cause, or the signification without a sense; but all things that be, follow after and are connected with those that have been, and those that will be with those that are, in a succession bringing them to pass from the beginning to the end; so he, that by a natural gift understands how to connect together, and interweave with each other their causes, the same person knows how to foretell-- "'What is, what shall be, and what was before.' "And rightly hath Homer mentioned the Present first, and then the Future and the Past: because the reasoning comes from the things that are, according to the force of the connection; as for example, if this thing is, that thing precedes it; and conversely, if this thing is, that thing shall be, for what belongs to art and reasoning is the knowledge of consequences; but it is perception that gives the preconception to reason: whence, though it be indecent to say it, I will not shrink from saying this is the tripod of Truth, namely, Reason, which laying down as foundation the sequence of the ending to the preceding event, and then taking into account the existence, crowns all with the conclusion of the proof. And the Pythian god, if he really takes delight in music, and in the voices of swans and the twangings of the lyre--what wonder is it if he embraces and loves, out of fondness for logic, this part of the Reason of which he sees philosophers making chief and most frequent use? And Hercules, though he had not yet set Prometheus free, nor conversed with sophists like Chiron and Atlas, but being yet a youth, and a thorough Boeotian, though at first he knocked down logic, [*1] [p. 180] and laughed the E to scorn; yet, taken at a later time, he was seen forcibly dragging away the Tripod, and fighting with the god for the possession of the art, since as he advanced in age he too became, it is likely, an excellent diviner, and at the same time, logician." VII. And when Theon had done, Eustrophos, the Athenian, I think it was, who said to us: "You see how courageously Theon has defended Logic, all but putting on the lion's-skin for the purpose. In the same way we must count for nothing the whole lot put together, all things whatsoever, the natures and principles of men or gods, and consider this one as the leader and master of all things beautiful and precious--but we must [*1] hold our tongues, and sacrifice to this god the first fruits of his darling mathematics, because we believe that the E excels not the other vowels either in virtue, shape, or expression, but that it has been put in the post of honour as the symbol of a number which is great with reference to the whole and a capital one, that is the Five, from which the wise used to call reckoning 'counting by fives.'" [*2] This, said Eustrophos, not in joke, but because I, at that very tune, was zealously applying myself to mathematics, for as he lived in the Academy, he was perhaps disposed to pay particular respect to the maxim: "Nothing in extremes." VIII. I therefore replied that Eustrophos solved the difficulty well by means of the Numeral. "For," I continued, "as all numeration is divided into even and odd, and as [p. 181] unity is common to both, in power: it being added makes the even number odd, and the odd number even: for people hold the two for the beginning of the even, and the three for that of the odd: and the five is produced when these numbers are mixed with each other; so with good cause has it obtained honour, as being the first product of the first; and has been named 'Marriage,' from the comparison of the even to the feminine, and again of the odd to the masculine. For in case of divisions into equal parts, the even number being every way parted asunder, leaves behind a receptive principle, [*1] as it were, in itself, and a space; but when the odd is treated in the same way, a middle part still survives that is productive of division; in which way it is more generative than the other, and when united thereto it prevails, but it never overcomes; for the even comes from both in no conjunction of the two, whereas the odd does in all. [*2] Furthermore, when added and joined to itself, each of the two exhibits its own distinctive property; for no even number united to an even number produces an odd one, nor goes beyond its proper allotment; because through weakness it is unproductive of offspring different from itself, and imperfect; whereas uneven numbers united with uneven numbers generate many even numbers by reason of their universally prolific nature. The other differences and properties of numbers one cannot go through with on the present occasion. The Five, therefore, the Pythagoreans denominate as 'Marriage,' as being generated through the resemblance of the odd number to the male and the even to the female, and, somewhere or other, it has been called 'Nature,' because by multiplication into [p. 182] itself, it finally ends in itself again; like as Nature having received what is the seed, and buried the same, produces in the meanwhile divers forms and figures, through which she moves her work on towards her end, and at last she exhibits the wheat again, and restores the beginning at the end of all; in like manner the other numbers, when they are multiplied [*1] result in different numbers through the augmentation, whereas the numbers five and six alone, taken as many times, reproduce and resuscitate themselves: for six times six becomes thirty-six, and five times five becomes five-and-twenty: and again, this is the case with the six but once, and singly; that is, when squared into itself; but the same thing happens to the number five [frequently] [*2] in the multiplication, and also, in a way peculiar to itself, in addition: for it makes either itself or the number ten, when alternately added to itself, and this is the case throughout, for the number copies the Final Cause. For as that Principle watches over and produces the world out of itself, and in return produces itself out of the world, as Heraclitus says:-- "'Exchanging all for fire, and fire for all, Like goods for gold, or gold in place of goods;' similarly the conjunction of the five with itself by its own nature generates nothing incomplete nor different in kind, but undergoes strictly defined changes; for it produces either itself or the number ten--that is, either its own property, or that which is perfect." IX. "If, then, anyone should ask, What has this to do with Apollo? We reply: It has to do not only with him, but with Bacchus, who has no less property in Delphi than Apollo himself. We therefore hear theologians, partly in verse, partly in prose, setting forth and chanting [p. 183] how that the god, though by nature incorruptible and eternal, yet, as they tell, through some decree of fate, submitted to changes of condition, at one time set all Nature on fire, making all things like to all; at another time he was metamorphosed and turned into various shapes, states, and powers, in the same way as the universe now exists--but is called by the best-known of all his names. [*1] The wiser sort, cloaking their meaning from the vulgar, call the change into Fire 'Apollo,' on account of the reduction to one state, [*2] and also 'Phoebus' on account of its freedom from defilement and purity: but the condition and change of his turning and subdivision into airs and water and earth, and the production of animals and plants, they enigmatically term 'Exile' and 'Dismemberment.' They name him 'Dionysos' and 'Zagreus' and 'Nycteleos' and 'Isodi'; they also tell of certain destructions and disappearances and diseases and new births, which are riddles and fables pertaining to the aforesaid transformations: and they sing the dithyrambic song, filled with sufferings, and allusions to some change of state that brought with it wandering about and dispersion. For Aeschylus says: 'It is fitting the dithyrambus, with its confused roar, should accompany Dionysos: but Apollo, the orderly and sober paean.' The latter god they represent in pictures and images as exempt from age and youthful; but the other, under many guises and forms; and, generally, to the one they assign invariableness, order, and unmixed seriousness; whilst ascribing to the other a mingled playfulness and mischief, gravity and madness, they proclaim him 'Evius inciter of women, flourishing with frenzied honours, Dionysos!'--not wrongly taking [p. 184] what is the characteristic of either change. For, since the duration of the periods of such changes is not equal, but that of the one which they call 'Satiety' is the longer of the two, and that of the oracle giving the shorter, they observe the due proportion here, and during the rest of the year they employ the paean at the sacrifices; at the beginning of winter they revive the dithyramb and put a stop to the paean, and invoke the god with the former instead of the latter chant for the space of three months: which makes three to one the space of time they believe that the creation [*1] lasted compared to that of the conflagration." X. "But this discussion has been prolonged beyond the fitting limits--it is, however, clear that they appropriate the number five to him [*2] (Apollo), sometimes taking it by itself as Five, sometimes as generating the number Ten out of itself, as [he does] the World. But with the art most acceptable to the god, namely Music, we do not think this number has anything to do: seeing that the chief business of harmony is, as one may say, connected with the notes. That these are five and no more, reason disproves if anyone unreasonably attempts to hunt out such a number upon the harp-strings, and in the holes of the flute. For all notes receive their birth in the proportions of arithmetic: and the proportion of the diatessaron is one and a third, that of the diapente one and a half, that of the diapason double; that of the diapente and diapason triple; and that of the diapason quadruple. [*3] [p. 185] [paragraph continues] But as to the note which the harmonists add to these, calling it the diatessaron and diapason, that goes out of the measure, it is not right for us to accept it, and comply with the irrational sense of hearing in a matter of reason, as in [*1] the case of a law. That, therefore, I may dismiss the five 'threes' of tetrachords, and the first five whether they are to be called 'tones,' 'tropes,' or 'harmonies,' according as, through tension or slackening of the strings, they are screwed up more or less, bass or sharp notes are produced--whilst the intervals are not many, but rather infinite in number--are not the melodies produced only five? namely, dieses, semi-tone, tone, tone and a half, double tone, and no other place in the voice, either less or greater, as defined by flatness or sharpness, can be possibly sounded." XI. "Passing over many other instances of the same kind" (I continued), "I will adduce Plato, who says the world is one, but that if there be other worlds around this, and this be not the only one, they are five in number, and no more. Not but that, even if the world be one and only-created (as Aristotle supposes) it may in a certain sense be considered as composed and compacted out of five other worlds; for example, the one is of earth, the other of water, the third of fire, the fourth of air; the fifth element some call heaven, some light, others aether, others call this same thing the 'Quintessence,' [*2] to which alone of all bodies belongs by nature the revolving in a circle: and that not out of compulsion, or extraneous cause. For which reason truly having observed the five most beautiful and most perfect figures of things in nature, namely, the pyramid, the cube, the octahedron, the dodecahedron, [p. 186] the eikosihedron, and the duodecahedron, I have appropriately assigned each of them to a different element." [*1] XII. "There are some philosophers who identify with those primitive elements the powers of the senses which are the same in number: [*2] they see the touch repulsive and earth-like; the taste, by means of moisture, appreciating the properties of the things tasted; whilst air being struck becomes in the hearing, voice and sound; and of the two remaining, smell, which the olfactory sense has obtained for its share, being an exhalation and generated by heat, is a fiery substance. And of sight, that is transparent with aether and light by reason of its affinity thereto, the constitution and the action are of like condition with those elements. Other sense has neither living thing, nor other nature does the world possess, that is simple and unmixed; but there has been made, to all appearance, a certain wonderful distribution and acceptance of the one five between [*3] the other five." XIII. At the same moment, as it were checking myself, and leaving off, I exclaimed: "What have we been thinking of, Eustrophos, to have all but passed over Homer, as though not the first to divide the world into five portions? The three intermediate he has assigned to the three gods, the two extremes, Olympus and Earth, whereof the one is the boundary of things below, the other of things above, he has left common to all and unallotted to any. But 'the argument must be carried back,' as Euripides saith, for they that venerate [*4] the number Four do not ill to teach that by reason of this number every body has its [p. 187] origin. For since every thing that is solid consists in length and breadth admitting of depth; and before length exists a point set down in the way of unity; and as length is called a line without breadth, and is length: and the motion of a line in the direction of width gives origin to surface in the number three; and when depth is added to all these in four ways, the aggregate advances into a solid body--it is clear to everyone that the number four, after having carried. Nature forward up to completing a body and producing [double] [*1] bulk and resistance, has yet left it deficient in the most important article. For the thing inanimate, to speak generally, is helpless, imperfect, and serviceable for nothing at all, without a soul to direct it; but the motion or disposition, being a change produced in five different ways, generates therein a soul, imparts perfection to its nature, and possesses a value superior to the number four, in the same degree that the living thing surpasses the thing without life. Furthermore, the proportion and force of the number five, being the more powerful, hath not suffered animate nature to run off into infinite varieties, but hath produced five species only of things animate: for there are gods (I suppose), and daemons, and heroes, and the fourth kind of men; and then the irrational and brute creation. Again, if you divide the soul itself according to its constitution, the first and darkest part of it is the nutritive, the second the sensitive, the third the appetitive, the next to this the irascible, and having arrived at the faculty of reason, and completed its nature, it takes its rest in the fifth principle as upon the highest point." XIV. "And whilst the number possesses so many and such great virtues, its origin is likewise beautiful; not being that which we have lately discussed, springing out [p. 188] of the two; but what the beginning of the odd, coupling itself with the square, produces. For the beginning of all numbers is unity; and the first square is the four; and out of these as from a pattern or material having a limit, comes the five. But if, indeed, some are right in supposing the unit the first square number, being a power in itself and producing the same out of itself--in that case also the five, as generated out of the first two squares, has not lost its highest place of nobility." XV. "But the main point," I continued, "I fear if enounced will press hard upon our friend Plato, in the same way as he himself used to say that Anaxagoras was pressed hard by the name of the Moon, when he appropriated some very ancient notion amongst those current respecting her illuminations (phases); has he not said this in the Cratylus?" "Yes, certainly," replied Eustrophos, "but what similarity there is in the present case I do not perceive." "And yet," said I, "you surely know that in the 'Sophist' he makes out the most important principles to be five in number, namely, Being, Sameness, Diversity, and fourthly and fifthly, after these, Motion and Rest. But in the 'Philebus' he uses a different mode of division, and says that One is infinite and Other definite, and that all generation is composed from these two mixed together: and the Cause by which they are so mixed together he supposes the fourth kind; [*1] whilst the fifth he leaves us to conceive as that through which the two mixed principles again obtain separation and division. But I conjecture that these things are predicated as being images of those ideas just mentioned, that which is born being the image of that which is, the infinite that of Motion, the finite that of Rest; Sameness being the mixing principle, Diversity that which separates. And if these are otherwise, even on that supposition, they will similarly be [p. 189] classed in five kinds and differences. Some one, forsooth, previous to Plato had put the question [to the Oracle] and had learned this fact, and therefore dedicated two E's to the god, as an indication and symbol of the number of the all. But again, the same person may have done so because he had discovered that the Good is imagined [as being manifested] five kinds--whereof the first is what is moderate, the second what is consistent, the third Mind, the fourth the sciences, arts, and true conceptions dwelling in the soul; the fifth kind, whatever pleasure is pure and unalloyed with pain." Here he ceased, quoting the line of Orpheus:-- "'In the sixth period still the rage of song.'" XVI. After the discourse aforesaid, he continued to us: "One thing more, briefly, I will sing to the intelligent, like Nicander [*1] and his friends. On the sixth day of the new moon, when you conduct the Pythia to the Townhall, the first casting of the three lots takes place ... you throw neither three nor two [*2]--is it not so?" "It is so," replied Nicander; "but the reason must not be divulged to others." "Consequently," I said, smiling, "so far as the god allows us that be [not] sanctified to know the truth, this rule also has something to do with what has been said on the subject of the number five. So the list of the arithmetical and mathematical praises of the letter E, as far as I recollect then, is now concluded." XVII. Ammonius, inasmuch as he was one who held that by no means the least important part of philosophy lay in mathematics, was delighted with what had been said, and remarked, "To argue very critically against all this is not [p. 190] fitting for us beginners: yet each one of the numbers taken by itself will furnish much scope for such as wish to praise it. And what need is there to talk about the others, when the Seven, sacred to Apollo, will alone exhaust the whole day, should one attempt to enumerate all its properties? In the next place, we shall prove that the Wise Men quarrelled with common custom as well as with long tradition, when they pushed down the Seven from its place of honour and dedicated the Five unto the god as the more properly pertaining to him. Neither number, therefore, nor rank, nor conjunction, nor any other of the remaining parts of speech, I think, does the letter signify, but that it is an address to the god, or an invocation, complete in itself, that together with the utterance thereof puts the speaker in mind of the power of the deity. For the god addresses each one of us here, when approaching him, as if with a salutation, in the words, Know thyself,' which is neither more nor less than 'Hail,' whilst we, in requital to the god, say, 'Thou art,' [*1] as though paying to him the true, undying, and sole property of himself, the predicate of existence." XVIII. "For we ourselves have in reality no part in existence; for all mortal nature being in a state between birth and dissolution, presents no more than an illusion, and a semblance, shapeless and unstable of itself, and if you will closely apply your thought, out of the wish to seize hold of the idea, just as the too strong grasping at water when it is pressed together and condensed, loses it, for it slips through your fingers, in the same way Reason, in pursuing after the appearances, so extremely clear as they look, of each one of the conditions of life as they pass along, misses its aim; impinging on the one side against its coming into existence, on the other, against its going [p. 191] out; without ever laying hold upon it as a permanent thing, or as being in reality a power. It is not possible, according to Heraclitus, to step into the same river twice; neither is it to lay hold of mortal life twice, in the same condition; but by reason of the suddenness and speed of its mutation, it disperses and again brings together, or rather, neither again nor afterwards, but at one and the same time it subsists and it comes to an end; it approaches and it departs, wherefore it never ripens that of it which is born into actual being, by reason that Birth doth never cease nor stand still, but transforms; and out of the seed makes the embryo, then the child, then the youth, young man, full-grown man, elderly man, old man--obliterating the former growths and ages by those growing up over them. But we ridiculously fear one death, although we have already died, and are still dying, so many; for not only, as Heraclitus says, 'When fire dies is the birth of air, and when air dies is the birth of water,' but still more plainly may you see it from ourselves: the full-grown man perishes when the old man is produced, the youth had before perished into the full-grown man, and the child into the youth, and the infant into the child; and the 'yesterday' has died into the 'to-day,' and the 'to-day' is dying into the 'to-morrow,' and no one re mains, nor is one, but we grow up many around one appearance and common model, whilst matter revolves around and slips away. Else how is it, if we remain the same, that we take pleasure in some things now, in different things before; we love contrary objects, we admire and find fault with them, we use others words, feel other passions; not having either appearance, figure, nor disposition the same as before? To be in different states, without a change, is not a possible thing, and he that is changed is not the same person; but if he is not the same, he does not exist ... this very thing (the change) he [p. 192] changes [*1]--growing one different person out of another; but Sense, through ignorance of reality, falsely pronounces that what appears exists." XIX. "What then is really existing? The answer is, the eternal, unborn, undecaying, to which no length of time brings about a change: for Time is a thing movable and making move, making its appearance conjointly with matter; leaking and not holding water, as it were, a vessel full of decay and growth; for is not the predicate 'After' and 'Before,' 'Future,' and 'Past,' of itself an acknowledgment of non-existence? For to say that what has not yet been, or what has ceased from being, is in being, how silly and absurd! For in this way especially do we apply the notion of Time, and predicate the terms 'Instant' and 'Present' and 'Now' ... [*2] this, in turn, Reason distributes too much, dissolves and destroys. For it (Time) is diverted, like a ray of light, into the Future and the Past, necessarily separated, when we attempt to see it. And if the Nature that is measured is in the same condition as that which measures it, nothing is either stable or existing, but all things are either being born or perishing, according to their distribution with respect to time. Consequently it is not allowable so much as to say of Being [*3] that 'it was' or that ' it will be;' for all these modes are tenses, transitions, and interchanges of the thing formed by nature, never to stand still in existence. XX. "But the god is, we must declare; and is with reference to no time, but with reference to the eternal, the immovable, timeless, and indeclinable; that which there is nothing before nor after, nor more, nor past, nor older [p. 193] nor younger, but He being One with the one 'Now,' hath filled up the 'Ever;' [*1] and that which really is, alone is with reference to Him; neither born, nor about to be, nor growing, nor to have an end. In this way, therefore, ought we, when worshipping, to salute Him, and to address Him, or even, truly, as some of the ancients did, 'Thou art One!' For the Deity is not several, as each one of us is, made up out of an infinite number of different things in conditions of existence--a motley assemblage of articles of all sorts and gleanings. But that which is must necessarily be One, just as One must be that which is; for [*2] difference of that which is, springs out of that which is not, in form of births, consequently the first of the names (by which he is called) well suits the god, as also the second and the third. For 'Apollo,' inasmuch as it means 'denying many,' signifies also 'rejecting plurality.' [*3] He is also Ietos, because one and alone. 'Phoebus' the ancients called everything clean and chaste, and even now the Thessalians say that their priests, when living by themselves outside the city on the fast-days, 'are living Phoebus.' But the One is single and pure, for the mixing of one thing with another constitutes pollution; as Homer somewhere calls ivory turned purple by a dye 'polluted,' and dyers call the running together of colours 'being spoilt,' and such mixture they term 'corruption.' Hence, to be one and always unmixed belongs to the Immortal and the Pure. XXI. "But those who hold Apollo and the Sun for one and the sane, we ought to welcome and love for the omen's sake, because they embody the idea of the god in the thing [p. 194] which they most honour of all the objects that they know and long for. As though, therefore, they were dreaming about the god in the most beautiful of dreams, let us wake them up, and exhort them to carry their thoughts yet higher, and contemplate what is above them, and the essence; to honour indeed the Type, and venerate the creative force residing therein, as that which converts the Intelligible into the Sensible, and the Permanent into the Transitory--the type that shows forth in some way or other glimpses and images of the benevolence and felicity that dwell around that god. But as for his migrations and changes which bind him together when he emits fire, as they tell, and again quenches it, and directs it upon earth, sea, the winds, animals; and the dreadful sufferings of plants and living things, all such it is impiety even to hear mentioned. Otherwise the Deity would be worse than the child in the poem, as to the game it plays with a heap of sand, first built up and then thrown over: He would be playing the same game with the universe and the world; first making things that are not, then destroying what is made. For, on the contrary, whatever has been generated, in whatever way, in the world, this binds all existence together, and checks the infirmity inherent in the medley [*1] that tends to destruction. And to me what seems most opposed to, and testifying against the aforesaid legend is this very word, the addressing 'Thou art' to the god, as though neither change of place or transformation were possible with respect to him, but are applied to some other god (or better say daemon) appointed to preside over Nature as working in production and dissolution, to whom [*2] it pertained [p. 195] to do and suffer such things, as is evident at first sight from our god's titles, so contrary and contradictory to such a conception of his character. For the one is called Apollo, the other Pluto; the one is styled Delius (apparent), the other Aidoneus (invisible); the one Phoeleus (bright), the other Scotios (full of darkness); and by the side of the one stand the Muses and Memory, beside the other Oblivion and Silence; the one is entitled from completion and giving light, the other is the 'lord of unseeing Night and unworking Sleep;' the one is 'of all the gods most hateful to mankind,' touching whom Pindar hath said, not unpleasantly, 'He hath been condemned to be the most undelightful unto mortals.' With good cause, then, Euripides says, "'Drink offerings to the dead and gone. Chants that the god with golden hair. Phoebus, receiveth not.' and, before him, Sophocles, 'Above all things, sports and songs doth Apollo love; but mourning and groans Pluto hath gotten for his share.' Sophocles also has distinctly assigned to each of them his proper instruments in these words, "'Neither the mournful flute, nor merry lyre.' [paragraph continues] For it was late and only yesterday that the flute gave forth its sound at scenes of merriment; in old times it drawled out in lamentations, at funerals, and held this office (not a very respectable or cheerful one) at scenes of the kind. Afterwards, however, it was admitted to everything. But, to say the truth, those who have mixed up things relating to gods with those relating to daemons, have brought themselves chiefly into trouble. But indeed the maxim, 'Know [p. 196] thyself' appears to run counter to the 'Thou art,' and again, in one way, to harmonize with it; for the one is addressed through awe and veneration to the god, the other is a reminder to mortality of the nature and frailty that envelopes it." [The Delphic E] Footnotes ^173:1 Serapion lived at Athens, as appears from the last treatise. ^174:1 prosesthai must be prosiesthai, "be pleased with." ^174:2 xymfilotimoumenos must be ... un. ^174:3 Not in text, but clearly fallen out in the copy. ^176:1 This explanation, as all the rest, is founded on nothing but fancy, as a single consideration proves. The symbol, which is preserved to us by amulets, was indeed similar in shape to the lunar ###853###, but then that character was unknown before Imperial times. In all probability it was an Indian cast mark; and imported like the Swastika or Fylfot, and many other Indian symbols, in prehistoric times. ^176:2 In compliment to her husband, who wished to be thought son of the god: "Casta fave, Lucina, tuus jam regnat Apollo." ^176:3 This has dropped out of the text, but is indispensable for the sense. ^177:1 ek pinakos kai pylaias. Means, I suppose, fortune-tellers' technical talk. ^177:2 All inquiries begin with Ei, the sound of the Greek e. ^177:3 As we should say the ei stands for both notes of interrogation and exclamation. ^179:1 In his fight with the Centaurs, regarded as sophists. Here is the [p. 180] common play upon the various senses of , impossible to be translated. ^180:1 The text has eidus for eikos. ^180:2 pempazein, literally "to five fold " or "to quintuple." In early Greek numeration, the numbers up to 5 were denoted by as many vertical strokes; 5 by p; to which again were subjoined the proper amount of verticals up to 10, expressed by D. ^181:1 According to the Platonic plan of treating numbers as solid bodies. Cut a square body in two equal parts; these being separated, leave an empty space in the middle, a receptacle for anything else. ^181:2 The union of an odd and even number always produces an odd number. ^182:1 Into themselves, that is. ^182:2 Not in text, but required by context. ^183:1 i.e. retains his usual name under all his changes. ^183:2 As if derived from a privative, and polloi, and signifying "Destroyer of plurality"--the most preposterous of all the absurd derivations recorded by our Author. ^184:1 The work of creation took thrice as long a time as did its destruction by fire. ^184:2 in text . ^184:3 The copyist has made inextricable confusion of the passage, from want of knowing the "difference between tweedledum and tweedledee;" and being myself in the same condition, I am totally unable to correct him. ^185:1 Any more than it would be obeyed in the case of a law, i.e. these matters are to be judged by calculation, not by the sense of hearing. ^185:2 pempte oysia, which, from the property here mentioned, Julian calls to eilikton suma; and says is symbolized by Atys. ^186:1 The Chinese have a similar theory, making the Cube represent Earth. ^186:2 From these theorists Simon Magus stole the idea of appropriating the Rivers of Paradise to the Senses. ^186:3 Of the five senses to the five elements. ^186:4 The Pythagoreans. ^187:1 This word makes nonsense; and has slipped into the text from elsewhere. ^188:1 That is, Motion. ^189:1 Already mentioned as the High Priest of Delphi, and therefore appealed to in a mystic matter. ^189:2 This passage is hopelessly corrupt. Perhaps the meaning is that the dice so used wanted the deuce and tierce pips. ^190:1 Equivalent in sense to the Hebrew "Jehovah," and the o zun theos of the Athenians. ^192:1 Some words lost here: but probably to the effect that man's condition is not to be termed Existence, but Change. ^192:2 All confusion here in text, but it clearly alludes to the foregoing comparison of water slipping through the fingers when clutched at. ^192:3 That is, of true existence, not measured by Time. ^193:1 A beautiful and most expressive metaphor! ^193:2 eterotes might be well rendered by "otherness," did such a word exist. But as it is, write "Variety, which is," &c. ^193:3 Apollun being derived from a and polloi. Ietos, really "Archer," is here derived from the archaic ios = eis. ^194:1 The origin of the Gnostic migma, out of which it is Christ's business to extract the seeds of Light. ^194:2 The office of Siva, whose Puranic attributes are exactly described in what follows. As the god of Change he is regarded as the god of [p. 195] Death and destruction, which is in reality but a separation of collected particles for the purpose of reconstruction. Plutarch's Morals: Theosophical Essays, tr. by Charles William King, [1908], at sacred-texts.com [p. 197] ON THE APPARENT FACE IN THE ORB OF THE MOON. I. THEN said Sylla, "These things belong to my story, and form part of it: but if you come at all into collision with these popular notions, that are in everybody's mouth, about the Face in the Moon, I think I should be glad to learn it." "Why should we not," I replied, "driven back as we are by the difficulty in the first case, to the latter subject--just as people in lingering diseases, when they have lost all hope in the common remedies, and usual courses of diet, fly for refuge to purifications, spells, and dreams: in the same way it is a matter of compulsion in obscure and insoluble problems, when common, accredited, and customary arguments fail to convince, to make trial of others more out of the way, and not despise them; but to chant, as it were, over ourselves some old-fashioned charm, and hunt out the truth in all quarters. II. "For you see at once how absurd is the explanation that the apparent figure in the moon is merely an affection of the sight, which is dazzled by the brightness, by reason of its own weakness; a thing we call ... it [*1] takes no notice that this effect should rather take place in regard [p. 198] to the Sun, which strikes upon the eye both sharp and forcibly; whence Empedocles hath described the difference between the two, not inelegantly, "The shrill-voiced sun, the softly whispering moon,' designating in this way the attractive, cheerful, and inoffensive character of the latter luminary. Afterwards, giving the reason why dim and weak eyes discern no difference of form in the moon, but her orb strikes upon them as smooth and completely filled up, whilst those that have sharp and strong sight make out better, and distinguish the lineaments of the Face, and seize upon the difference more clearly. For the contrary ought to be the case, if that appearance were produced from the eye's being overcome; because where the sense affected was weaker, the stronger [*1] would be the impression produced. But the inequality [of the surface] refutes this explanation, for the sight does not rest upon a continuous and confused shadow. And Hegesianax in describing it hath not ill said, "'With fire she shines all round, but in the midst More blue than black appears a maiden's face And moisten'd [*2] cheeks, that blush to meet the gaze.' [paragraph continues] For in reality the shaded parts, as they go round, creep under the bright ones, and are in turn cut away and compressed, [*3] and in a word, are interwoven one with the other. So that the figure resembles a sketch in outline, [*4] according to Clearchus; which seems plausibly said to your Aristotle--for Aristotle is a man of your own, being, as he was, fond [p. 199] of antiquity, although he did introduce into it a good deal of the Peripatetic philosophy. III. And upon Apollonius taking up the conversation, and asking what was the opinion of Clearchus: "It better suits," replied I, "any other person than yourself to be ignorant of the story, inasmuch as it proceeds from the very focus of geometry: for the fellow says that the so-called face is only reflected images and appearances of the great sea (the ocean) that are shown upon the moon; for that her external circumference when concave [*1] is naturally adapted to catch the reflections rising up from various quarters, whilst the full moon is of all mirrors, in point of polish and of brilliancy the most beautiful and the most clear. For just as you suppose that the rainbow, when the light is reflected against the sun, is impressed upon the clouds that have received gradually a watery smoothness and surface, in the same way, that writer says, the external sea (our ocean) is reflected on the moon, not indeed from the place it occupies, but from where the reflection of the air has made the image of it, that is to say, its surface and reflection. And Agesianax, in another place, has said:-- "'Or some great wave of ocean, rising steep, Shows like an image on the blazing mirror."' IV. Apollonius then was amused, and exclaimed: "How original and entirely new is the construction of this theory--it bespeaks a man possessed of audacity as well as wit! But in what way is it open to objection?" "In the first place," I replied, "because the nature of the outer sea is one and the same, a uniform and unbroken expanse of water; whereas the appearance of the dark parts in the moon is not one and the same, but shows as it were projecting tongues of land, because the bright part diversifies [p. 200] and defines the dark; so that from each of these being separated, and having a boundary of its own, the projections of the bright parts upon the darkened, assuming the form of elevations and depressions, arrange in a most natural manner the features that appear around the eyes and lips; so that we must either suppose there are several outer seas intersected by tongues of land and continents, which supposition is both absurd and false, or else there being but one it is not reasonable that the image of it should be reflected diversified in this way. It is, however, safer to ask the question than to demonstrate, when you are present, whether the habitable world, being equal in length and width, it is possible for all the view at once from the moon to be reflected and reach the sea... nay, more, to such as are sailing on the great ocean, and live in the middle of it, like the Britons--and this too, whilst the earth, as you have told us, does not occupy the place of a centre with regard to the sphere of the moon." [*1] " It is your business," I replied, "to investigate this problem; the reflection of the prospect, however, against the moon, is neither your business to investigate, nor that of Hipparchus, although it is an interesting question. But many amongst natural philosophers are not satisfied to hold this doctrine of similar effects with respect to the sight; but it is more probable that the thing is a collision, or as it were impact and rebound of particles, in the same way as the atoms invented by Epicurus. Your Clearchus will not, I fancy, suppose the moon a ponderous and solid body, but a star composed of aether, and luminous, to use your language, ... it is natural she should reflect the view or the impact to the same extent that the reflection has gone away from her. And if he requires anything more, we will ask how it comes that the face in the moon alone is [p. 201] the reflection of the ocean, and not in any other of the stars, numerous as they be: and yet probability demands that the sight should be thus affected with respect to all alike, or no one at all. Look at Lucius, and remind him of what was said at first starting." V. Then Lucius: "But for fear we should seem to be insulting Pharnaces, by passing over the Stoical doctrine on the subject, without a word said for it, pray make some reply, by all means, to the man that supposes the moon a mixture of air and liquid fire, and asserts that as when a ripple runs over the sea in a calm, so when this air blackens, an appearance like definite shapes is produced ... [on the moon's face]." "You act kindly," replied I, "my dear Lucius, in thus cloaking their absurdity under decent names; but not so did our friend, who used to say, 'they gave the moon a black eye,' by thus covering her face with spots and dark patches, at one and the same time proclaiming her Artemis and Athene, and then making her out a composition and mass of dusky air and coaly fire, not possessing any kindling spark or light of her own, but to be a body hard of separation, and scorched by fire: just like those pieces of earthenware styled by the poets [*1] 'lustreless and ashy.' Because, however, a charcoal fire, such as they make out the moon's to be, has neither permanence nor consistence, unless it gets hold of a material that retains and at the same time feeds it, I fancy those philosophers have seen farthest into the matter who say in joke, that Vulcan is said to be lame, because fire cannot go on without wood any more than a lame man without a stick. If, then, the moon is fire, from whence is so large a quantity of air generated in her? for the region that revolves [p. 202] above and around her is not of air, but of a superior element, that has the natural property of sublimating and setting on fire everything in its reach. And if this air has been generated, how comes it that it continues so long a time, and does not fly off and change its form, being set at liberty by the fire, but maintains itself and co-exists such a length of time together with the fire, like a nail fixed in the same place and riveted close? For it behoves it, as being subtile and diffused, not to remain stationary, but to fly abroad; for that it should be condensed is not possible, inasmuch as it is mixed up with fire, and has no particle of moisture nor of earth, by which things alone are as naturally disposed to be solidified. And velocity of flight inflames the air contained in stones and in that cold substance, lead, [*1] much more, then, that contained in fire, whirling along too with such immense swiftness. For they (the Stoics) quarrel with Empedocles for making the moon 'a congelation of air, of the nature of hail, embraced by a sphere of fire;' whilst they themselves pretend that the moon, a ball of fire, contains air dispersed in different directions, and this, too, though she has neither fissures in her surface, nor deep places, nor cavities (things which those that make her out an earthly substance concede to her), but this same air is lying, forsooth, superficially upon her convexity. This arrangement is preposterous with respect to permanence, [*2] and impossible with respect to sight in the times of full moon; for, in that case, it ought not to define anything black and shaded, but either be hidden and darkened [completely], or else to be lighted up at the same time when the moon is taken possession of by the [p. 203] sun. For amongst ourselves, the air in the deep places and hollows of the earth, whither the light doth not enter, continues obscure and unilluminated; whilst that from without diffused around the earth acquires brightness and a lustrous colour, for it readily mixes itself with every kind of property, or force, by reason of its liquid nature, and especially if it but 'lay hold of the light,' as you call it, and touch the same, then is it entirely converted and lighted up. This selfsame fact, therefore, though it may seem to do good service to such as are for thrusting the air in the moon into her deep places and ravines, yet refutes those of you who knead up and compose her sphere, I know not how, out of air and fire; for it is not possible for shade to be left upon her surface, when the sun illuminates with his light the whole extent of the moon that we take in with the sight." VI. Then Pharnaces, whilst I was still speaking, broke in with: "Just what I expected conies against us, borrowed from the Academy, when we are engaged in arguing with other people: never to furnish proof of what they assert themselves, but they needs must treat as defendants such as do not attack them, whatever the case maybe. But me, at any rate, you will not draw into making a defence of the theory you impute to the Stoics, before I get satisfaction out of you for turning the affairs of the universe upside down." "Only," replied Lucius laughing, "do not bring an action for impiety against us, just as Cleanthes thought it right that the Greeks collectively should impeach Aristagoras [*1] the Stoic, of impiety, for overthrowing the altar of earth, because the fellow attempted to account for visible phenomena by supposing that the sky remains fixed, and that the earth rolls round down an oblique circle, [*2] turning at [p. 204] the same time upon its own axis. We, however, say nothing out of our own heads; whilst they who suppose the moon an earth, how do they turn things upside down, any more than you do who place the earth here in the air, although it be, by far, bigger than the moon, as mathematicians calculate her magnitude during her eclipses, and by the length of time [*1] consumed in her passage through the shadow? For the shadow of the earth is projected of lesser size by the illuminating body being the larger; and that the upper part of the shadow itself is fine and narrow, was not unknown, as he says, to Homer also, for he entitles night 'swift,' [*2] by reason of the pointed form of the shadow. But by this philosopher the moon is convicted on the strength of her eclipses, and gets off with hardly three of her own (apparent) magnitudes, for consider to how many moons the earth is equal, if it projects a shadow, which, al the shortest, is thrice the diameter of the moon. But yet you are afraid for the moon, lest she should tumble down; but as for the earth, Eschylus perhaps has reassured you, like Atlas, "'He stands, the pillar of the sky and earth, Propping a load not easy for the arms;' that is, if there flows under the moon only thin air, not competent to support a solid body; whilst the earth, according to Pindar, 'adamantine-shod columns keep in on every side.' And for this reason Pharnaces himself is under no apprehension of the earth's falling, whereas he [p. 205] compassionates such as lie under the roadway of the moon, namely, the Ethiopians and people of Taprobane, lest so vast a weight should drop upon them; and yet, a safeguard to the moon against falling down is her motion, and the rapidity [*1] of her gyration, just as objects placed in slings have a hindrance from falling out in the circular whirling. For the natural tendency acts upon each object, unless it be diverted by some extraneous force. Consequently, her own weight does not act upon the moon, because by means of her rapid rotation its downward tendency is neutralized; there were rather cause to wonder at her not remaining stationary, like the earth, and not rolling out of her place. As it is, the moon has the greatest reason for not being carried in our direction; but the earth, as being destitute of other motion, it was natural should remain fixed through the force of gravity alone, because it is heavier than the moon, not by the same proportion as it is the larger of the two, but in still greater degree inasmuch as the latter is all the lighter through heat and burning up of her substance. And, in fine, the moon, from what you say, if she be fire, naturally stands in need of earth and matter, in which she walks, and clings to, and keeps together, and fans the flame of her force. Now fire cannot be imagined as being maintained without fuel, but earth, you assert, remains fixed without either foundation or root." "Certainly so," replied Pharnaces, "because it occupies its proper and natural place, as being itself the centre, for this is the place around which all weights gravitate and rest, and are carried and tend together from all parts; whereas the whole upper region, even though it should receive some earthy substance forcibly thrown up, immediately excludes it--better say, discharges it, to be carried downwards in the way its own natural tendency directs." VII. In return for this, I wishing to obtain a little respite [p. 206] for Lucius whilst refreshing his memory, called to Theon: "Who was it, Theon," said I, "of the tragic writers that remarks of physicians that, "'With bitter drugs they purge the bitter bile?" and on his answering, "Sophocles," "This privilege must be granted to them," said I, "whether we will or no; but we must not listen to philosophers when they choose to defend absurdities by other absurdities, and in fighting for the monstrosities of their doctrines invent others yet more strange and wonderful, just as these men bring in the gravitation to the centre'--a notion, what amount of extravagance does it not involve? Do not they make out earth to be a sphere, though it contains such depths and heights and inequalities of surface? Do not they make the Antipodes live like caterpillars or lizards, turned upside down, clinging to the earth? And they represent ourselves as not walking erect to stand firm upon it, but wavering away all on one side, like so many drunken men! Don't they pretend that masses of a thousand talents weight falling through the depths of earth, when they arrive at the centre are arrested, though there be nothing to encounter or support them? and that if, carried along by their velocity, they shoot past the centre, they are turned back again and retrace their course spontaneously? Do not they teach that sections of beams, sawed off on each side of earth, [*1] do not tend downwards continually, but when they fall upon the ground [*2] are repelled from without, and are come together again at the centre, [*3] and that [p. 207] an impetuous stream of water flowing downwards, should it come to the central point (which they pretend is incorporeal) stands fast suspended in a circle around the pole, incessantly lifting up, and being lifted up incessantly? Some of these notions, indeed, they do not assert without foundation, if one should strain himself to the utmost to present them to his conception. This is indeed turning things upside down and making them run backwards, to make as far as the centre 'downwards,' and under the centre 'upwards.' So that if a person out of sympathy for the earth, should occupy the centre thereof, and should stand upon his head, holding at the same time his head upwards and his feet also, [*1] and dig through all the space opposite him, he would emerge turned upside down and be dragged along on coming to the surface; and if forsooth, another man be imagined as walking opposite to him the feet of both would be, and also be called, turned 'upwards.' VIII. "Of such and such great absurdities not a walletful, but rather a whole juggler's stock and shopful, have these men strapped upon their backs and drag after them, and yet they say others are idle chatterers for placing the moon, being an earth, up aloft, not where the centre is. And yet truly, if every ponderous thing does tend towards the same point, and presses with all its particles upon its own centre--earth will claim for herself all ponderous things, not so much because earth is the centre of the universe, as because they are particles of herself; and the fact of things gravitating downwards will be a proof, not of the centripetal force towards earth, but of affinity and sympathy, as it were, with earth, in particles once separated from her, and now flying back to her again. For in the same way that the sun attracts to himself the [p. 208] particles out of which he is composed, so doth earth receive the falling stone, and carries it to the place where in course of time each one of such bodies is made one with and assimilated to herself. But if it happens to be some other body, not assigned to earth from the beginning, nor a fragment separated from herself, but having a composition and nature of its own (as those men will say of the moon)--what prevents it from existing by itself, separately, following its own tendency, and fettered by its own particles? By no means is earth proved to be the centre of the universe, and the connection and relation of the latter here with earth, guide us to the manner in which it is probable the phenomena relating to the moon take their course. I do not see why the philosopher who forces all earthy and ponderous particles into one and the same place, and makes them out portions of one and the same body, does not concede the same natural tendency to such as are without weight, but allows so many composite bodies of fire to exist separately, and does not imperatively collect into one lump all the stars that be, and demand that there should be one common body of all upward tending and fiery particles." IX. "But," said I, "you assert that the sun, my dear Apollonides, is distant infinite myriads of miles from the superior circumference, while the Morning Star, and Mercury, and the other planets, all placed below him, keeping far aloof from the fixed stars, and at great distances from each other, pursue their course; [*1] whereas for the ponderous and earthy particles you suppose the universe offers no free space, nor interval between each other in its whole extent. You see it is ridiculous if we shall assert that the moon is not an earth because she is posted remote from the lower space, but should call her a star, seeing her [p. 209] thrust away so many myriads of miles from the superior circumference, and crept as it were into some hole and corner of creation: at least she is so much below the other stars that one cannot express the measure of the distance, but arithmetic fails you mathematicians in calculating the same; whereas, in a manner, she touches Earth, and revolving near, "'As of a chariot, follows in the rut,' says Empedocles. 'She around the point ...' "For neither does she often overpass the shadow [of Earth], and elevate herself a little, by reason that the illuminating body is exceeding great, but she appears to revolve so close to, and as it were in the embrace of Earth, as to be screened against the Sun by it, without ever soaring above this shady terrestrial and darksome region which is the allotment of Earth. Wherefore I think we must confidently declare the moon to be within the limits of Earth, and to be overcast by the point of Earth's shadow. [*1] X. "And consider, leaving out of the case the other fixed stars and planets, what Aristarchus points out in his treatise 'Upon Magnitudes and Distances,' that the distance of the sun is more than eighteen times, but less than twenty times the distance of the moon, by which she is separated from us: and yet the computation that gives the greatest elevation to the moon says she is distant from us fifty-six times the space from the centre of the earth [to the circumference]: [*2] this length is of forty thousand [*3] [p. 210] stadia, according to those who make a moderate calculation of it. And, calculated from this basis, the sun's distance from the moon amounts to over four thousand and thirty myriads of stadia. So far, then, is she separated from the sun by reason of her weight, and approximated to earth, that if one must define substances by localities, the constitution and beauty of Earth attracts the moon, and she is of influence in matters and over persons upon Earth, by reason of her relationship and proximity. And we do not go wrong, I think, when we assign to those bodies above denominated such immense depth and distance, and leave to that which is below a certain circular course and broadway as much as lies between earth and the moon: for neither the man who pretends the summit of heaven to be the sole 'above,' and denominates all the rest as 'below,' is reasonable in his definition; nor yet is he who circumscribes 'below' by the limits of Earth, or rather by the Centre, to be listened to: but even moveable ... inasmuch as the universe allows of the interval required by reason of its own extensiveness. But in reply to such as demand that all which is separate from earth shall be consequently 'above' and 'on high,' another directly responds with the contrary axiom, that all which is reckoned from the fixed circumference is to be considered as 'below.' XI. "And, finally, in what sense, and in reference to what thing is Earth said to be 'intermediate?' For the universe is infinite; now that which is infinite hath neither beginning nor limit, so it does not belong to it to possess a middle: for infinity is the deprivation of limits. But he who makes out Earth to be the middle not of the universe, but of the world, is ridiculous for his simplicity if he does not reflect that the world' itself is liable to the very same objections: for the universe hath not left a middle place for it also, but it is borne along without house or [p. 211] home in the boundless vacuum, towards nothing cognate to itself; perhaps it has found out for itself some other cause for remaining fixed, and so has stood still, but certainly not owing to the nature of its position. And it is allowable for one to conjecture alike with respect to Earth and with respect to the moon, that by some contrary soul and nature they are [*1] ..., differences, the former remaining stationary here, the latter moving along. But apart from these considerations, see whether a certain important fact has not escaped their notice. For if whatsoever space, and whatever thing exists away from the centre of Earth, is the 'above,' then no part of Earth is 'below,' but Earth herself and the things upon Earth; and, in a word, everybody standing around or investing the centre, become the 'above;' whilst 'below' is one sole thing, that incorporeal point, which has the duty of counterbalancing the whole constitution of the world; if, indeed, the 'below' is by its nature opposed to the 'above.' And this is not the only absurdity in the argument, but it also does away with the cause through which all ponderous bodies gravitate in this direction, and tend downwards: for there is no mark below towards which they move: for the incorporeal point is not likely (nor do they pretend it is) to exert so much force as to draw down all objects to itself, and keep them together around itself. But yet, it is proved unreasonable, and repugnant to facts, to suppose the 'above' of the world to be a whole, but the 'below' an incorporeal and indefinite limit: whereas that course is consistent with reason, to say, as we do, that the space is large and possessed of width, and is defined by the 'above' and the 'below' of locality. XII. "Not but that we may, if you please, suppose that motions in the heavens are contrary to the nature of those of terrestrial bodies; and let us examine the matter quietly, [p. 212] not in the tragic style, but in a good-humoured way, how such an assumption as this does not make out the moon not to be an earth, but only an earth in a position for which it is not naturally adapted. For the phenomena at Etna underground are against the order of Nature; but 'fire is there, and the blast imprisoned in the bellows is the upward force;' [*1] whereas that which by nature is imponderous, comes, in spite of itself, into places for which it was not made. And the Soul itself," I continued, "is it not locked up by God in the body against its own nature: the one swift, the other slow; the one fiery, the other frigid (as you assert); the one invisible, the other an object of sense? For this reason, therefore, let us not say that the soul is nothing to the body; but that it is a thing divine, which by reason of its gravity and density, travels round all heaven, earth, and sea, at one and the same moment, and being parcelled out pervades the flesh, the sinews, the marrow of our bodies, the cause of feelings in infinite variety, when coupled with moisture. But this Jupiter of ours doth not follow his own nature, nor is one great continuous fire; but occasionally he withdraws himself, bends downwards, and changes his form, having turned and still turning himself into every object in the course of his changes. But take heed, my good sir, and consider, lest by transposing and drawing away each thing in turn from the place where it is naturally meant to be, you philosophically bring about the dissolution of the world, and introduce the 'Discord' of Empedocles into its affairs; or, rather, lest you stir up to war upon Nature, the Titans and Giants of old, and should desire to see again the fabled terrific disorder and lawlessness of their times; apart everything ponderous, and apart everything light: "'Where no one views with awe Sol's glorious face, Nor Earth's own shaggy breed, nor Ocean's kind,' [p. 213] as Empedocles says; nor did Earth participate in heat, nor Water in air, neither was there anything of the ponderous up above, or of the imponderous down below, but unmixed, unsocial, solitary were the principles of the universe--not admitting the union of one with another, nor communication, but fleeing and shrinking away from each other, carried along by individual and independent impulses, they were so circumstanced as is everything from which God is absent, according to Plato (that is, just as our bodies are circumstanced, when mind and soul have left them); until what time Desire came upon Nature by the sending of Providence, when Amity was engendered, and Venus and Love, as Empedocles declares, as also say Parmenides and Hesiod, in order that they, by exchanging places and borrowing forces from one another, and the one set being bound by the necessity of motion, the other by that of rest, compelled to emerge and change pace from the position where Nature placed them, towards a better one, they might bring about the union and fellowship of the Whole. XIII. "For if no other part of the divisions of the world were placed contrary to its nature, but each lay where it was naturally fit, standing in need of no change of place nor re-arrangement, and without having needed anything of the sort at the beginning, I am puzzled to see what is the business of a Providence, or of what Jupiter has been creator and father, 'that most skilful artificer.' For there is no use of marshallers in a camp, if each one of the officers knows out of his own head the rank, station, and moment, that he is bound to occupy and to observe; nor of gardeners or builders, if the water of itself is disposed to move upon the things that require it, and to flow over and irrigate the same; and in the other case, the bricks, timbers, and stones following their natural tendencies and inclinations, should of themselves [p. 214] take up the requisite arrangement and position. And if this argument does not downright subvert the doctrine of a Providence, but leaves to God the government and distribution of things that be--why should we be surprised that Nature has been so ordered and divided, that here is fixed Fire, there Stars; and again, the Earth here, and overhead the Moon; all of them bound by a stronger chain than the natural one, that is, by the one in accordance with Reason? [*1] Wherefore, if all things must needs follow their natural tendencies, and move on in the manner for which they were created, then let not the Sun revolve in a circle, nor yet Venus, nor any other of the planets, do the same--for it is upward, and not in a circle, that imponderous and fiery bodies were created to move. But if Nature possesses such a power of exchange, in spite of the locality, [*2] that here Fire as it moves, moves upwards, but after it has arrived at heaven, it is carried around in company with the celestial revolution. What is there to be surprised at if it comes to pass with ponderous and earthy bodies, when transferred into another form of motion, that they be overpowered by the influence of the element that encompasses them? For in fact, it is not consistent with Nature that the upward tendency of imponderous bodies should be neutralized by the motion of the heavens; but rather that it should not be able to master such as be ponderous and gravitate downwards; nay rather, on occasion, when it has transposed the latter also by its own power, it should employ their nature to a better end than for what it was created. XIV. "Not but that if one must dismiss the notion of habits violently overcome, and speak one's opinion without disguise, it is probable no part of the universe possesses either place, order, or motion, of its own, which we can universally style its natural one; but that when each [p. 215] thing shows itself usefully and properly moving to that end on account of which, and for which, it was born or has been manufactured, and submitting to, or doing that which is conducive to its own preservation, perfection, or efficiency, it then appears to possess its natural place, motion, and disposition. Man himself, at any rate, who as much as anything that exists is naturally made, holds upward the ponderous and earthy portions of himself, especially about the head, and in his centre the hot and fiery particles. And of the teeth, part are planted above, part below, and yet neither set are placed contrary to Nature; nor of Fire, is the part that shines in the eyes placed according to nature, and that detached in the belly and the heart placed contrary to nature; but each respectively is stationed properly and serviceably: "'Truly the snail and thick-skinned tortoise,' and the nature of every shell-fish, as Empedocles says from his own observation: "'Where earth thou shalt behold above their flesh,' and the stony substance does not oppress their constitution, nor crush it by its incumbent weight; neither, on the other hand, doth the heat, by reason of its lightness, fly off and escape upwards; but they are mingled with each other and ranged together, in accordance with the nature of each. XV. "In the same way, therefore, is it probable the world is constituted, that is, if it be a living thing, containing earth in many places, in many others water and fire, and air, not forcibly compressed, but arranged in order by Reason. [*1] For neither is the eye squeezed out of the mass [p. 216] into the place it now fills in the body, in consequence of its levity, nor did the heart slip down and fall into the breast by reason of its weight, but because it was better each of the two should be so placed. Therefore, let us not think, of the parts of the world, either that Earth is lying here because she hath tumbled down through her own weight, or the Sun (as Metrodorus the Chian supposed) was shot up into the upper region, through his levity, after the manner of a bubble, or that the other stars got into the places where they now are, because they gravitated thither as though according to the discrimination of a pair of scales. [*1] But, inasmuch as He that rules by reason is the master, they, like light-giving eyes, are fixed in the brow of the universe, and stray about: whilst the sun fills the place of a heart, and, like blood and breath, distributes and disperses from out of himself both heat and light. Earth and sea the world uses according to Nature for whatever purposes an animal uses its belly and bladder: whilst the moon placed between Heaven and Earth, like the liver between the belly and the heart, or some other soft intestine, diffuses here the warmth from above, and the exhalations rising hence she subtilizes by a certain process of digestion and purification, around herself, and emits them again. But whether her earthy and solid part contains any region adapted for the reception of other things, is a matter we cannot ascertain. And in every case, the better part masters the subordinate part. And what can we gain, so consistent with probability as this, out of what those philosophers assert? They assert that the luminous and subtile part of the aether, was converted into sky by reason of its liquidity; and the condensed and conglomerated part into air, and that the moon is the most sluggish part of these two, and also the most turbid. But in spite of this, it is in anybody's power to see that the moon is not cut off from [p. 217] the aether, but rather floats on much of it in the space around herself, and having under her the wind in abundance ... revolve the comets. Thus, each one is put in its fold,' not in accordance with their tendencies depending on the gravity or levity of substance, but as having been arranged by another cause, namely Reason." XVI. After these things had been said, and I banded over the subject to Lucius, as I was advancing to the proofs of the theory, Aristotle said with a smile: "I testify that you have been directing your whole argument against such as suppose the moon to be half made of fire, and who pretend that universally some bodies tend upwards, others downwards, of their own accord. For if there is anyone that says the stars revolve in a circle by their own nature, and are made of an element entirely different from the four we know--something has just occurred to my recollection very opportunely to get them out of the difficulty." "But," said Lucius, "if we make all the other stars, and the whole of heaven, into one pure and unmixed nature, freed also from all necessity of change consequent upon passiveness, and if we trace out an orbit along which they all [shall move] with never-ceasing revolution--no one, perhaps, will quarrel with us on the present occasion; although a thousand difficulties are left still unsolved. And when the argument shall comprehend and touch upon the moon, she no longer keeps her impassiveness, and that vaunted beauty of her substance. But to pass over the other inequalities and differences [she exhibits], this very Face that appears in her, is produced either by seine affection of her own substance, or by the admixture of some different one. Now that which is mixed with another suffers something, for it loses its own purity, being infected by the quality of the inferior element. But her own spurious nature, the weakness of her pace, her heat so inefficient and dull, whereby, according to Ion, 'no grape is ripened black'--to [p. 218] what shall we attribute all this except to her feeble nature and passiveness; that is, if passiveness belongs to an eternal and celestial body? and, to sum up, my dear Aristotle, considered as an Earth the moon shows herself to be a perfectly beautiful, awful, and well-ordered thing; but viewed as a star or a luminary, or some divine and celestial body, I fear she will prove shapeless and uncomely, and bring shame upon that glorious appellation, if of all the so numerous bodies existing in the heavens, she alone goes about begging light from another, according to Parmenides, "'With eyes aye fixed upon the solar beams.'" Now my opponent in the dispute, quoting the saying of Anaxagoras, "The sun grafts brightness in the moon," was applauded by the company; but I will not repeat what I learnt either from you, or conjointly with you; but will gladly go on to what is left. [*1] " That the moon, then, is illuminated, not like glass or crystal, by the direct or transmitted light of the sun, is a probable supposition; nor again, by reason of collected illumination or collected reflection, in the same way as torches do, [*2] when the light is augmented; for in that ease it will be full moon to us none the less at the times of new moon, or first and third quarters, if she neither covers nor blocks out the sun; but the light rather passes through her by reason of her fluidity, or else it shines into her by way of intermixture, and lights up all around her. For it is not possible to lay the blame in the case of her dark quarters upon her deviations, or retreatings, as in the cases when she shows half her orb, or the same gibbous or crescent-shaped; but, according to Democritus, she stands in a vertical line to the illuminating [p. 219] body, and receives and takes in the sun: so that it were probable that she at the same time is illuminated and illuminates that body. But she is very far from doing this; for at that moment she is invisible, and she frequently hides, and causes him to disappear, 'she strips him of his beams,' as Empedocles says, "'Till up aloft, she veils so much his face As the width measures of the blue-eyed [*1] moon:' as though the [sun's] light fell upon night and darkness, and not upon another star. And as to what Posidonius says, that 'the light of the sun does not pass through her, on account of the depth of the moon,' is plainly confuted by the fact; for the air, though unlimited and having a depth many times greater than the moon's, is entirely illuminated and shone upon by his rays. There is left, therefore, the doctrine of Empedocles, that it is by means of a certain reflection of the sun upon the moon that the illumination which proceeds from her here below is brought about. Consequently it [her light] conies to us neither warm, nor brilliant, naturally enough, as there has been a kindling and a mingling of different lights in that case; but just as voices in the case of reflections send back the echo of the sound more dull, and the blows of shots that rebound from an object fall with greatly diminished force, "So the ray striking on the moon's broad disk,' makes a feeble and dull rebound upon us, being deprived of its strength by reflection." XVII. Then Sylla taking up the conversation said: "Certainly, this notion possesses some degree of probability, but the thing that is the strongest of those that [p. 220] make against it, pray, does it admit of any softening down, or has it escaped my companion's observation?" "What is this? " replied Lucius, "do you mean the question about the half-moon?" "Yes, certainly," answered Sylla; " for the assertion has some reason on its side, that, since all reflection takes place at equal angles, when the moon, showing but half her disk, rides in mid-heaven, the light from her does not travel towards us, but glides off to the part opposite to earth; for the sun, being upon the horizon, touches the moon with his rays; consequently, being refracted at an equal angle, it [the light from the sun] will rebound to the other extremity, and not throw the light so far as us; or else there will be a great distortion and parallax of the angle, which thing is not possible." "Nay, but indeed," replied Lucius, "this thing has been asserted;" and looking, as he was talking, towards Menelaus the mathematician, "I am ashamed, my dear Menelaus, to take up a mathematical question in your presence, which serves as the very foundation for the whole science of Opticks, but there is no help for it," he continued, "for the fact that all reflection extends itself at equal angles, is neither self-evident nor universally admitted, but is contradicted in the case of convex mirrors, when they make images larger than the objects themselves to one point of vision. It is also contradicted in the case of double mirrors, which being inclined to each other, and an angle formed between them, each of the surfaces presents the appearance of a double one, and gives four images from one face, two of them looking towards the left parts from outside, and two others, indistinct, looking to the right, in the depth of the mirror. Of the production of which images, Plato explains the cause; for he has said that in consequence of the mirror's having got height, [*1] on this side and [p. 221] on that, the eyes transfer the reflection, as they change their place from one side to the other. If, therefore, of the images some run back directly to us, whilst some slipping to the other side of the mirror are thrown back again from thence to us, it is not possible that all reflections take place in equal angles, as many as ... joining battle, they demand to do away with the equality of angles by means of the emanations flowing from the moon upon the earth, because they suppose this theory more plausible than the former. Not but that if we must needs gratify your great darling, Geometry, and concede the Point,--in the first place it is likely enough that such happens [*1] in the case of reflectors made very exact as to their polished surfaces; whereas the moon offers many inequalities and asperities of surface, so that rays from a great body [like the sun] going astray at considerable elevations, that allow of their reflecting and exchanging with one another, are reflected in all sorts of ways, and entangled with each other, and kindle up the lustre in itself, [*2] because it is thrown upon us from several reflectors at once. In the next place, even though we allow the reflections upon the moon herself to be at equal angles, it is not impossible that the rays, travelling through so vast a distance, may get reflections and circular slips of their own, so that the light is brought into one, and made to shine. Some, too, write to show that she casts many of her beams upon earth in the line ... under the inclined, subtended. To construct a diagram in illustration of this theory, and that, too, for many spectators, would be quite impracticable. XVIII. "To sum up, I wonder how they manage about the half-moon's reaching us, together with the full round, and [p. 222] the crescent. For if the mass of the moon, illuminated by the sun, were made of aether, or of fire, he would not have left her hemisphere shaded, and without lustre to the sense [perceptible], but had he touched her in ever so small a degree, in going round her, it would have been a natural consequence that the sun should fill her substance, and penetrate through the whole of it with his all-pervading light, from the want of any resistance. [*1] For where wine touches water at the edge, or a drop of blood falls into any liquid, the whole quantity turns red, and changes to the colour of blood; in like manner, they pretend that the air itself is illuminated, not by emanations of any sort, or rays mingling themselves in it, but by a conversion and transformation due to impact and contagion: how do they imagine that star touches star, and light light, without mixing together or making any confusion or change at all, but to illume those objects only which they touch upon their surface? For the circle which the sun, as he goes round, traces and turns about with reference to the moon, at one time falls upon the line which divides the visible from the invisible portion of her body, at another time rises up vertically so as to cut them, and to be cut by the moon, producing various inclinations and relations of the lighted to the darkened part, the complete circle and the crescent forms in her appearance, all which proves more than anything else that her illumination is not the result of mixture but of contact, not ignition but irradiation. And since not only she is lighted up, but transmits hither the image of her light, she supplies yet further reason for our insisting upon our own explanation of her nature; for reflections are produced by no object that is porous or of loose texture. There is no such thing as light [p. 223] rebounding back out of light, or fire out of fire, easily conceivable; but the object that will produce opposition and fracture must necessarily be something ponderous and solid in order there may be impact against it, and resilience from it. At any rate the sun [*1] himself penetrates the air because it neither furnishes obstacles, nor offers resistance; whereas from sticks and stones and clothes exposed to the light the sane sun gives back many reflections and irradiations. Thus, in fact, we see the entire earth illuminated by her, for she does not admit the light to a depth like water, nor through the whole substance like air, but whatever kind of orbit of the sun moves round the moon, and for as large a portion of her as is cut off thereby, just such another circle goes round the earth, and just so large a portion is there illuminating, and leaving the other not lighted up; for the hemisphere that is illuminated seems to be little larger in either case. Allow me to speak geometrically according to analogy, that if, there being three things which the light from the sun touches, namely, the earth, the moon, and the air, we see the moon illuminated, not in the same way as the air, but rather in the same way as the earth; it necessarily follows the two have the same nature, being made to be affected in the same way by the same agent." XIX. And when all had applauded Lucius, "Well done," I exclaimed, "you have added a good defence to a good subject; for I must not defraud you of your due." And he replied with a smile, "In the second place then, we must further make use of analogy in order that we may demonstrate the moon's affinity to Earth, not only from both being similarly acted upon by the sane thing, but by their both producing the sane effects. For that there is no one thing so similar to another amongst [p. 224] the phenomena connected with the sun, as the sun's being eclipsed is to his actual setting, [*1] you must allow to me if you call to mind the eclipse which took place the year [*2] before this meeting, when many stars became visible in different parts of the sky directly at the beginning of midday, and a mixture [of light and darkness] resembling daybreak pervaded the atmosphere, otherwise this Theon here will bring down upon us Mimnermus, and Cydias, and Archilochus, and Stesichorus, and Pindar to boot, all lamenting for 'the brightest one stolen away, and night coming on at midday, and the sun's ray [travelling] the path of darkness' ... as they say. And above all, Homer, telling how 'men's countenances were covered over with night and darkness, and the sun was lost out of heaven and vanished around the moon,' ... this happens when one lunar month is ending and the next commencing. The rest, with the accurate calculations of mathematicians, has been worked out and brought to a certainty; namely, that night is the shadow of the earth, and the eclipse of the sun is the shadow of the moon, when the light comes to be in it. For [*3] the sun when setting, is blocked up by the earth against the sight; but when eclipsed he is blocked up by the moon, and both phenomena are occultations, but that of setting is due to the earth, that of eclipse to the moon, because she intercepts the view of him with her shadow. What takes place is easily understood from the following considerations. If the effect is the same, the agents are the same; for it is a matter of necessity that [p. 225] the same things should happen in the same case from the same causes. But that the darkness attending eclipses is not complete darkness, and does not condense the atmosphere in the same degree that night does, is a circumstance we ought not to be surprised at; for the substance is the same of the object that causes night and that causes the eclipse, but the magnitude of each is not equal: for the Egyptians, I think, say the moon is the seventy-second part of earth in size; Anaxagoras, that she is as big as the Peloponnesus. But Aristarchus proves that the moon's diameter bears a proportion [to that of earth] which is less than sixty to nineteen, but somewhat greater than one hundred and eight to forty. Consequently earth entirely takes away the sun from sight, by reason of her magnitude; for the obstruction she presents is extensive, and endures the space of a night, whereas the moon, even though she may occasionally hide the sun, the occultation has no time to last, and no extensiveness, but some light shows itself round his circumference that does not allow the darkness to become deep and unmixed. Aristotle (the ancient one, I mean [*1]) gives as one cause, besides some others, of the moon's being seen eclipsed more frequently than the sun, 'that the sun is eclipsed by the obstruction of the moon, whereas the moon is ...' But Posidonius thus describes the phenomenon: 'The eclipse is the conjunction of the sun and the shadow of the moon, of which the eclipse ... for to those people alone is the eclipse visible from whom the moon's shadow shall occupy and block out the sight of the sun.' And when he agrees that the shadow of the moon is projected as far as us, I do not know what more he has left himself to say, for of a star there can be no shadow, because that thing which is unillumined is designated shadow--now light does naturally not produce shadow, but destroy it." [p. 226] XX. "But after this," said he, [*1] "what further evidence was adduced?" "The moon," I replied, "received the same explanation as to her eclipse." "You have done well to remind me," said he, "but beforehand, on the supposition that you are all convinced and hold that the moon is eclipsed because she is overtaken by the shadow, I now direct myself to the reason--or would you prefer that I should make a lecture and a display of eloquence beforehand, by enumerating the various attempts at the explanation, one after the other?" "Yes, truly, Theon," I replied, "lecture on these points; for I too require some persuasion, having only heard the question stated in this way--that the three bodies being come upon one straight line, namely, the earth, the sun, and the moon, the eclipses then happen, because the earth takes away the sun from the moon; on the contrary, the moon takes away the sun from the earth, for the sun is eclipsed when the moon, and the moon when the earth stands in the middle of the three; of which cases the one happens in the conjunction, [*2] the other in the time of full-moon." [*3] Then Lucius remarked: "These are about the most important of the theories current; but first of all, take in hand, if you please, the explanation derived from the figure of the shadow; for it is a cone, as though a great fire or light projected a mass, less indeed than a sphere, but still spherical in form, for which reason in eclipses of the moon the outlines of the darkened parts against the bright ones have their edges circular; for whatever sections a round thing coming in contact with another round thing, may either receive or produce, as they go off in all directions, they are made circular by reason of their resemblance [to what produced them]. In the second place, I fancy you know that the moon is first eclipsed on [p. 227] the parts towards the east; whereas the sun is on those towards the west, because the earth's shadow moves towards the west from the east. The sun and the moon, on the contrary, move towards the east. All this, visible facts enable us to discover, and may be understood without very lengthy explanations, and from them the shadow as the cause of the eclipse is established. For when the sun is eclipsed by being overtaken by, and the moon by meeting that which causes the eclipse, probably, or rather, necessarily, the sun [*1] is first overtaken from behind, the moon from the front, for the occultation begins from that side where the object in front first casts the shadow, and the moon first casts it upon the sun from the west, as she is racing against him, but upon her he casts it from the east, because she is moving below in a contrary direction, from the east. Thirdly, then, consider the question of the duration, and of the extent of her eclipses. When she is eclipsed high in heaven and at her apogee she is obscured for only a short time, but being in her perigee and low when thus affected, she is greatly oppressed, and emerges with difficulty from the shadow. And yet, when she is low, she is making the greatest movements, but when high the smallest of all. But the cause of the difference lies in the shadow, for it is broadest at the base, as all cones are, and contracting gradually, at the top it ends in a sharp and fine point. Consequently, the moon entering into this shadow when she is low down, is caught by it in its largest circumference and passes through its deepest and darkest part, but when up high, just grazing the shadow, as though in shallow water, she quickly makes her escape. I shall pass over all that has been said with special reference to bases [*2] and transits; because they admit the cause so far as possibility [p. 228] goes. But I return to the argument before me, that has ocular demonstration for its starting point. For we see that fire out of a shady place shows itself and shines abroad all the more; whether through the density of the obscured air not allowing of divergences and dispersions, but keeping together and compressing the element in one place; or else this is an affection of the sense [vision], just as hot things compared with cold seem hotter, and pleasures compared with pains seem more intense, even so bright things contrasted with dark become conspicuous, because they exaggerate their appearance through the opposite affections of the sense: the former supposition of the two is likely to be the more probable, for in the sunshine every sort of fire doth not only lose its brightness, but through yielding thereto becomes inoperative and duller; because the heat disperses and diffuses its proper force. If then the moon possesses an infantine and ineffective fire, being 'a feminine star,' as these philosophers pretend, it befits her to be affected in none of the ways in which she is affected at present, but altogether the contrary of them all; she ought to appear where now she is hidden, and be hidden exactly where she now appears: that is to say, be hidden for the rest of the time as being obscured by the circumambient aether, but emerge and become visible every six months, and again every five, when she enters into the shadow of the earth. For the 365 revolutions of the ecliptic full moons contain 404 periods of six months, and the rest of five months each. It would therefore be necessary that the moon should be visible at intervals of so many months, because she became conspicuous in the shadow; [*1] but she ... becomes eclipsed and loses her light, but recovers it again, when she emerges from the [p. 229] shadow, and often shows herself by day, as being anything rather than a fiery or star-like substance." XXI. Lucius having said this, Pharnaces and Apollonides in a way came into collision with each other [in their eagerness to answer him], but when Apollonides gave up the turn, Pharnaces continued, "This fact does most of all prove the moon to be a fire or a star, for she is not entirely invisible during eclipses, but displays the hot-coal [*1] and grim colour which is her own proper hue." But Apollonides stood firm with respect to the shadow, "for [he said] the mathematicians always so denominated the unillumined place, and that the heavens did not admit of 'shadow.'" "This [said I] is rather the disputing captiously with a name than dealing philosophically and mathematically with the fact, for the place obstructed by the earth, if one chooses not to call it 'shadow,' but ' unillumined region,' it is all the same unavoidable that the moon, on coming into it ... and altogether," added I, "it is silly to say the shadow of the earth does not reach so far.... the shadow of the moon impinging upon the sight, and ... towards the earth, causes an eclipse of the sun. I will now turn to you, Pharnaces, for that coal-like and glowing [*2] colour, which you pretend is the natural complexion of the moon, is really that of a body that possesses density and depth; for in things unsubstantial no remnant or vestige of flame is accustomed to remain; nor is there any food for fire except in a solid body that will receive and nourish the spark kindling it; as Homer also hath sung, "'When the fire-flower was spent and quenched the blaze, Spreading the ashes wide.' [paragraph continues] For the 'charcoal' is probably not fire, but an ignited substance, and affected by fire dwelling upon, and wearing [p. 230] itself out upon a mass which is both solid and possessed of durability; whereas the flames are but the lighting up and jets of an unsubstantial nutriment and material, speedily consumed by reason of its weakness. Consequently, nothing could have been so convincing a proof that the moon is an earthy and dense substance, than if 'smouldering coal' were proper to her as her colour. But is it not the case, my dear Pharnaces, that moons in eclipse assume various colours; and mathematicians (astrologers) define these colours, and distinguish them according to the time and the season? For instance, if the moon be eclipsed in the evening, she appears dreadfully black up to the third [*1] and one-half hour, but if at midnight she emits this [just mentioned] purplish light, and fire, and flame-colour, whilst from the hour of morning [*2] and half an hour later, the blush rises on her face; and finally at daybreak she puts on a dark blue and cheerful complexion, from which in reality the poets and Empedocles style her the 'Blue-eyed.' [*3] When, therefore, we see the moon putting on so many different colours when in the shadow, they do not deal fairly in dwelling upon a single one of them, namely, the smouldering coal, which we really may say is the most uncongenial to her of them all; and is rather a mixture and remnant of the fire shining through the shadow round about her; but her natural colour [we define] to be dark-blue and earthy. For whereas here below shady places in the vicinity of lakes and rivers that catch the sun are similarly dyed and made brilliant in robes of purple, yea, even of scarlet, [*4] [p. 231] and give forth many various images of colour, through the reflections of the light, what wonder is it if the vast flood of shadow, falling as it were into a celestial ocean of light, not steady nor at rest, but agitated by stars infinite in number, and receiving mixtures and changes of all kinds, should extract different colours at different times, and give them out from the moon? A star, or a fire, would not in the shadow show itself black, or glaucous, or dark blue; but over mountains, or plains, or sea, many variations of colour from the sun go and come; and he casts the lustre of the dye, [*1] tempered with shadows and with mists, as with the hues of the painter's palette; whereof that of the sea, widely diffused, Homer hath given a name to, calling it 'violet-coloured,' [*2] and 'wine-faced ocean,' and elsewhere the 'purple wave;' and, again, 'blue-green sea,' and the 'white calm;' whereas the variations about earth of colours showing themselves differently at different times he has passed over in silence as being endless in quantity. The moon is not likely to possess only a single visible appearance like the sea; but much more so to resemble the earth in her nature, concerning which Socrates of old told a fable, whether that he was hinting at this, or describing, it may be, some other creation. [*3] For it is neither incredible nor astonishing if she, having nothing in herself that is corrupting or turbid, but extracting the pure light out of heaven, and being full of heat, not of a consuming and fierce fire, but one that is liquid and harmless, and consistent with her nature, should possess wondrous beauties [p. 232] of scenery, flame-coloured hills, zones of purple, gold and silver, not dug out from her bowels, but cropping up in abundance to the surface, or overlaid upon polished eminences. [*1] And if the sight (vision) of these things penetrates through the shadow differently at different times, as far as us, by reason of some difference and variation of the surrounding medium (atmosphere), the moon doth not thereby lose the preciousness nor the holiness of her glory, which ... being held sacred by mankind, she is something more than 'a turbid and dreggy fire,' as the Stoics pretend. Fire, however, with the Medea and Assyrians enjoys honours well suited to barbarians, who worship things hurtful before things worthy of reverence, by way of deprecating their anger; but the name of Earth is, I ween, dear to all, and to the Greek even venerable, and with us [*2] it is the hereditary rule to worship her in the same way as any other deity. We men are far from thinking the moon, which is a celestial earth, to be a body without life, and without mind, and destitute of those things which the gods have a right to enjoy, when we, by law, pay the requital for her blessings, and naturally respect that which is superior in virtue and in power, and therefore to be respected. Wherefore let us believe that we do not offend in supposing her an earth; and as for this her face visible to us, just as our own earth contains deep recesses [let us believe that] in the same way she too is opened out into vast gulfs, containing either water or darkened air, into which the sun's light doth not descend, or even touch, but falls short of them entirely, and produces a reflection that is dispersed and lost in those places." XXII. Then Apollonides, scornfully interrupting, exclaimed: "What, then, in the Moon's own name, does it [p. 233] seem to you possible that this appearance is nothing but shadows of streams or of deep ravines, and comes all the way from the moon to us here to our sight? Perhaps you do not consider the consequences, must I tell them? Listen, then, even though you be not ignorant of them already. The diameter of the moon measures twelve fingers' breadth, [*1] as it appears to the eye, at her mean distances; whilst of the black and shaded parts each one appears larger than a half digit, so as to be larger than the twenty-fourth part of the diameter; and, again, if we should estimate the circumference of the moon at thirty thousand stadia [*2] only, and the diameter at ten thousand, according to the rule, then each one of the shaded parts in her, will not be less than five hundred stadia. [*3] Consider, pray, in the first place, whether it be possible that such cavities and such great inequalities of surface should exist in the moon as to produce an obscuration of this extent. In the next place, being so large, why are they not perceptible [*4] to us? " And I, smiling at him, replied, "Well done, Apollonides, to have invented such a demonstration, on the strength of which you will make out both yourself and me to be bigger than those Aloads [*5] of old; not, however, at all times of day, but chiefly at sunrise and sunset; you think that because the sun makes our shadows enormous, the fact furnishes this fine argument to the sense, that if the shadow cast be big the thing casting the shadow must be exceeding great. In Lemnos neither of us, I well know, has ever been; both of us, however, have often heard that popular iambic line-- "'Athos has hid the flank of Lemnian Cow.' [p. 234] [paragraph continues] For the shadow of the mountain, as it seems, strikes upon a little cow of bronze, extending a length of no less than seven hundred [*1] stadia across the sea ... [*2] to be the height that casts the shadow; for the reason that the divergences of the light make the shadows many times greater than the bodies themselves. Come, pray, and consider that the sun is at his greatest distance from the moon at what time she is full, and produces the most distinct figure of the face by reason of the deepness of the shading; for it is the receding of the illumining light that makes the shade deep, not the greatness of the inequalities on the surface of the moon. And, again, neither do the rays of the sun allow the projecting parts of mountains to be discerned by day, whereas their deep places, valleys, and shaded parts are visible from a great distance; it therefore is nothing strange if it is not possible to discern distinctly the reception (of solar light) and the illumination of the moon, whilst the strong contrasts of the shaded against the bright parts do not escape our sight and observation. XXIII. "But the fact," continued I, "which seems still more to upset the alleged reflection of light from the moon, is that when people are standing in reflected lights, it comes to pass they see not only the thing illuminated but the thing that illuminates. For when a bright light cast from water is dancing up and down against a wall, the sight of it takes place in the point that is illuminated in consequence of the reflection; it (the sight) distinguishes three different things, namely, the reflected light, the water producing the reflection, and the Sun himself from whom the ray, falling upon the water, has been reflected. These points being confessed and evident, (the Stoics) recommend such as assert the earth to be illuminated by [p. 235] the moon, [*1] to demonstrate that the Sun shows himself (is reflected) in the moon in the same manner [*2] by night, when the reflection from him is produced. But as he does not appear then, they believe that the illumination takes place in some other way than by reflection: but if this be not so, then neither is the moon an earth." "What answer, then, must be made to them?" replied. Apollonides, "for the phenomena of reflection are in all probability universal, and like our own." "Certainly," said I, "in one way they are universal, but in another way they are not universal. In the first place, observe how these people take the phenomena of the spectrum, upside down and inside out: for upon earth and below it is the water, but above earth, and on high, it is the moon. [*3] Consequently the reflected rays make the form of the angle corresponding--the one having its apex [*4] above upon the moon, the other having it below upon the earth. Let them, therefore, not demand that it shall produce every image proper to mirrors, or an equal reflection from every distance--for in so doing they are fighting against demonstration. But those who make out the moon to be a body, neither polished nor fluid like water, but ponderous and earthy, I understand how they borrow from the sun what the appearance is in her that meets the sight: for neither does milk produce the same kind of mirrors, [*5] nor render back reflections (as the water), owing to the inequality and density of its particles: by what means, therefore, is it possible that the moon should send out from herself an image in the same way as the more brilliant surfaces of mirrors? And yet, even in these, if a cobweb, or rust, [*6] or roughness should cover the [p. 236] focus from which the image is generated it is [not] [*1] reflected and imaged; and the mirrors themselves are seen, but give back no reflection. And whoso pretends that either our sight should reflect upon the sun, or else that the moon should not reflect the sun from herself upon us, is ridiculous [*2] by his requiring the eye to be a sun, the sight the solar beam, and the moon the heavens. For that the Sun's reflection, impinging with a blow upon the moon by reason of its intensity and brightness, should be carried as far as us, is reasonable enough; whereas the sight being feeble, unsubstantial, and ever so small a fraction [of the solar light], what wonder is it if it neither produces an impressive stroke, nor in rebounding preserves its continuity, but is broken up and comes to an end; not possessing a large stock of light, so as not to be dissipated around the inequalities and roughnesses of the (moon's) surface? From mirrors, indeed, and other reflecting surfaces, it is not impossible for the proceeding reflection to strike upon the eye, as it is near to its origin; but from the moon, even though there should be some slippery glances of herself, they will be feeble and indistinct, and come prematurely to au end by reason of the length of the distance they have to travel. And, besides, concave mirrors make the reflected light more intense than that surrounding them, so as frequently to emit a flame; whilst the convex and spherical kinds, by reason of the light striking on them from all sides, produce a feeble and indistinct For you observe, [*3] indeed, when two rainbows appear, from a cloud enveloping another cloud, that the one enclosing the other shows its hues weak and confused: because the exterior cloud, lying further off from [p. 237] the sight, produces a reflection neither intense nor powerful. And what need is there to say more, when the sun's light reflected from the moon doth lose all its heat, and of its brightness there comes to us merely an unsubstantial and ineffectual remnant? Surely, when the sight travels along the same course, is it conceivable that a single particle of a remnant shall reach the sun from the moon? I do not think it. Consider, too," added I, "that if the sight is similarly affected in the case of water and of the moon, the full moon would be obliged to render back the images of earth, plants, men, and stars, in the same way as the other reflecting surfaces return them. But if reflections (repercussion) of the view do not take place against the latter object, through its own weakness, or through the unevenness of the moon's surface, we must not demand that they shall be produced upon the sun." XXIV. "We therefore," I continued, "have now related to you all the different theories that have not slipped our memory. But it is now high time to call upon Sylla, nay, rather to exact from him his story, as having been our hearer upon certain conditions. Wherefore, if you please, let us end our walk, and, sitting down upon the steps, [*1] furnish him with a stationary audience." This was agreed to; and when we had sat down: "I," said Theon, "desire as much as any one of you to hear what is about to be said, Lamprias; [*2] but previously I would be glad to hear about those said to live in the moon--not who they are that dwell there, but whether it is possible to inhabit there: for if that is not possible, it is absurd to say the moon is an earth, for she will appear to have been made for no purpose, but all in vain, if she neither bears crops, nor furnishes men of some sort with habitation, birth, and [p. 238] living: for the which ends we say this earth was made, according to Plato, for our nurse, and unwearied keeper both by day and night, and our artificer.' For you see that many tales are told, both in jest and earnest, about these matters. For to those dwelling under the moon, as they say, she is suspended overhead, as though they were so many Tantali; those, again, living upon her surface, fast bound like so many Ixions, with such incredible velocity of revolution ... and yet she does not move with a single motion; but, as is said somewhere, she is a 'traveller on three roads,' at one and the same time carried onwards lengthways towards the Zodiac, and broadways, [*1] and deepways. Of which motions, the first the mathematicians call the 'circuit,' the second the 'spiral,' and the third, I know not why, the inequality:' although they have observed nothing equal or regular in her recessions. Consequently, if a lion [*2] once fell down into the Peloponnesus from her rapid gyration, it is [not] surprising--it is, on the contrary, a wonder we do not continually see showers of men, and heaps of cattle, [*3] diving down from thence, and turning round and round in the air. For it is ridiculous to argue about a residence there, if she is not capable of containing generation or stability. For whilst the Egyptians and Troglodytes, over whose heads the sun stands vertically for a single day at the solstice, and then departing, hardly escape being burnt up through the dryness of the atmosphere, pray is it likely people in the moon can stand twelve summer days in each year, when month by month the sun stands plumb-line over them, and remains stationary, when it is full-moon? At any rate, winds and clouds and showers, [p. 239] without which there is no growth of plants, or nourishment for things produced, cannot possibly be thought of under such circumstances, as being brought together, in consequence of the heat and rarefaction of the atmosphere; for neither do the mountains there, however lofty, harbour the furious and ascending winters; but ... now, the air kept in perpetual agitation through its lightness, escapes this settlement and condensation--unless, forsooth, we shall say, that like as Minerva dropped down nectar and ambrosia over Achilles, when he refused all food, so the moon that is both named and is Minerva, feeds her inhabitants, by issuing out unto them daily ambrosia, in the same way as Pherecydes of old supposes the gods are fed. As for the Indian root, which Megasthenes says they neither eat nor drink, but, as they are without mouths, they burn and use like incense, and are nourished by the fume [*1]--how is it to be found growing there if the moon is never rained on?" XXV. When Theon had spoken this, ... "Well done," I replied; "by the sportiveness of your discourse [you have relieved] the seriousness of the subject: which inspires us with courage to pursue the dispute, inasmuch as we do not look for a very spiteful or grave examination from our audience. For truly they differ greatly from the people that believe these tales [but they equally differ from those] who are disgusted with and utterly disbelieve them, and are not willing to consider dispassionately what is possible and probable. In the first place, then, it does not necessarily follow that because the moon is not inhabited by men, she was made for no purpose, and in vain. For neither do we see this earth of ours universally utilized and inhabited, but only a small portion thereof, like so many capes or peninsulas jutting out into the vasty deep, [p. 240] is capable of breeding animals and plants, whilst the rest lies partly desert and barren by reason of winters or of drought, whilst the greater portion of her surface is submerged under the spreading ocean. But you who love and admire Aristarchus do not attend to Crates when he acknowledges, "'Ocean, to all, the origin ordained Both men and gods, spreads over most of earth.' [paragraph continues] But these things are far from being created to no purpose, for the sea sends up mild exhalations, and the most refreshing airs in the height of summer; whilst from the uninhabited and frozen quarter, the snows quietly melting away, relax and disperse ... For the sake of day and night, an unwearied guardian in the midst, "according to Plato," and creator. There is no objection then to the moon's being really devoid of all living things, but affording reflection to the light diffused around her, and a rallying-point for the rays of the stars, and meeting-place within herself, in which she digests the exhalations rising up from earth, and in concert with the sun extracts the over fiery and harsh part of the same, and discharges it. And if we concede so much to ancient tradition, that she is named 'Artemis,' [*1] we shall say, as before, that she is unfruitful (like that virgin goddess), yet in other respects full of help and beneficial. For her revolution being accomplished with great evenness and tranquillity, smooths down and distends the atmosphere that moves against (encounters) her, so that there is no danger of those dwelling upon her falling off, or slipping down. For this [revolution] and the varied and erratic nature of her motion is not a sign of irregularity and confusion, but, as astronomers make out, of a [p. 241] wonderful order in these phenomena, and of a course in cycles revolving around other cycles, in which they confine her; some of them making her immovable, others travelling forwards with the same velocity [as the cycles] in the opposite direction. For these progressions of the cycles, their revolutions and their relations towards each other and to us, bring about in the most regular manner all the phenomena of the lunar motion, such as her elevations and depressions, her deviations in the direction of her breadth, and revolutions in that of her length. As for the intense heat and perpetual roasting [of her inhabitants] by the sun, you need not be too much afraid of all that, if you oppose to the eleven summer conjunctions all the full moons; and secondly, the continuity of the change, as a set off against the excessive heats, that indeed do not last for a long time, which circumstance produces a peculiar temperature, and softens down either extreme, and the mean between them, in all likelihood, produces a temperature resembling that of spring. In the next place, the [sun] sends down on us his heat through turbid air, [*1] and with much effort, which heat is nourished by the exhalations [of earth]; but there above, the air is rarefied and transparent, and disperses and diffuses the sun's rays, that have no excessive heat or substance. Wood and corn the rains themselves nourish, but in a different way: as up the country about Thebes, with you and at Syene, it is not the rain water [that nourishes], but the earth herself that drinks the earth-born water and employs the mind and dews, yet will not, I fancy, submit to a comparison, [*2] in point of fertility, with the best rain-watered soil, by reason of its goodness and natural constitution. Plants the same in kind amongst us, even though they be greatly pinched [p. 242] by the frosts, bring forth abundant and fine fruit; whereas in Libya and amongst you in Egypt they are difficult of cultivation, and very susceptible of the frosts. [*1] Whilst Gedrosea and the Troglodyte country, which reaches down to the ocean, is barren through want of rain, and entirely destitute of water, yet in the seas lying adjacent, and spreading round it, grow wonderful monsters of plants, and spring up from the bottom; some of which they call olive trees, some laurels, others Isis-hair. The plants called 'anacampsaroles,' [*2] not only live, when taken out of the ground, if hung up as long as you please, but even flower.... Some [crops] are sown towards winter, others again, for instance, sesame at midsummer, and millet, also thyme or centaury, if planted in good and rich soil, and watered and irrigated, degenerates from its natural character and loses its virtue, but loves dryness and reverts thereby to its own nature. And if it be true, as people say, that they [*3] do not even bear the dews, like most of the Arabian plants, which fade away when moistened and are destroyed--what wonder is it if there should grow in the moon roots, seeds, and woods that require neither rain nor winter, but are naturally adapted for a summer-like and rarefied atmosphere? Why is it improbable that the moon herself emits genial airs, and that currents (of air) are produced by the very rapidity of her gyration, that quietly supply dews and a slight moisture, which being diffused and dispersed assist the vegetation, and that her actual temperature is neither [p. 243] fiery nor droughty but soft and humid? For no feeling of dryness comes down to us from her, but on the contrary many proofs of moisture and a feminine nature; the growth of plants, the putrefaction of meat, the conversion [fermentation] and settling of wine, the softening of timber, the easy delivery of women. [*1] I am afraid of again provoking and stirring up Pharnaces, now that he is quiet, by talking of the tides of the ocean (as his own sect pretend), and the flooding of straits that are overspread and swollen by the action of the moon, through the renewal of their fluidity. [*2] Consequently, I will rather turn myself to you, my dear Theon; for you say, quoting to us those lines of Alcman's: "'Daughter of Jove, nourishing Dew! and Nurse of the sacred moon.' [paragraph continues] Because here he calls the air Jupiter, and says that he, being moistened by the moon, dissolves [*3] into the dew. She appears, my friend, to possess a nature the opposite to the sun's, that is, if not only whatever he is naturally disposed to condense and to dry up, she by her nature softens and dissolves, but also she moistens and cools down the heat proceeding from him, when it impinges upon and is mingled with herself. [*4] Those who think the moon to be a fiery [p. 244] and burning substance, are in the wrong; and they who demand that living creatures up there shall possess all the things that those here below require for their birth, nutriment, and existence, seem to pay no consideration to the disparities in nature of the two worlds, in which it is perhaps possible [*1] to find greater and more numerous differences and disparities of the living things between one another than are found between things that do not live at all [here on earth]. Granting that there be no such things in reality as men without mouths, and nourished by the smell, unless ... not seem, the virtue of which Ammonius told us about, and Hesiod has hinted at, when he says: "'Or how much enjoyment lies in the mallow and asphodel.' [paragraph continues] But Euripides really hath made it plain, by teaching that Nature with quite a small spark warms up and keeps together the living being, "if it shall have received the bigness of an olive, [*2] standing in need of no assistance more." And that those living upon the moon must be slender in person, and are content to be fed upon what comes to hand, is probable enough; for that the moon herself is, like the sun (which is a fiery living thing and many times bigger than the earth), said to be nourished by the moist vapours rising from the earth, as are also the other stars innumerable as they are: in the same way they suppose the necessary animals that the upper region produces are light and attenuated. But these facts we do not perceive, [*3] nor that there is place, nature, or other constitution of things [p. 245] adapted for them. As if, therefore, we were unable to approach or touch the sea, but only to stand afar off and contemplate it, and learning by inquiry that the water is bitter, undrinkable, and briny, someone should tell us that living creatures, numberless, huge, and varied in shape, are nourished in its depths, and that it swarms with wild creatures that use the water just as we do the air, you would think he was imposing upon you with fiction and prodigies. We appear to be similarly situated and to experience the same thing with respect to the moon in disbelieving that men of some sort inhabit her. They on their will, I fancy, much more wonder as they look down upon our earth, lying like the sediment and dregs of the universe amongst damps, mists, and clouds; showing through them a lightless, low, immovable spot, they must wonder whether it breeds and maintains living creatures endowed with motion, breath, and warmth. And if perchance they may have heard Homer's lines, "'Horrible dark, which dread the very gods: Sunk below hell as far as heaven from earth,' they will declare that all this is said with reference to this place, and that hell and Tartarus lie here; and that the one and only earth is the moon, which is equally distant from those upper and lower regions." XXVI. Almost whilst I was still speaking, Sylla took up the discourse with "Stop, Lamprias, and shut to the wicket of your speech lest you unwittingly run the fable aground, and throw this play of mine into confusion, for it has a different scene and plot. Now, I am the player, but first I will tell you the author of the piece, if there is no objection, who begins after Homer's fashion with, "'An isle Ogygian lies far out at sea,' distant five days' sail from Britain, [*1] going westwards, and [p. 246] three others equally distant from it, and from each other, are more opposite to the summer visits of the sun; in one of which the barbarians fable that Saturn is imprisoned by [*1] Jupiter, whilst his son lies by his side, as though keeping guard over those islands and the sea, which they call 'the Sea of Saturn.' [*2] The great continent by which the great sea is surrounded on all sides, they say, lies less distant from the others, but about five thousand stadia from Ogygia, [*3] for one sailing in a rowing-galley; for the sea is difficult of passage and muddy through the great number of currents, and these currents issue out of the great land, and shoals are formed by them, and the sea becomes clogged and full of earth, by which it has the appearance of being solid. [*4] That sea-coast of the mainland Greeks are settled on, around a bay not smaller than the Maeotis, the entrance of which lies almost in a straight line opposite the entrance to the Caspian Sea. [*5] Those Greeks call and consider themselves continental people, but islanders all such as inhabit this land of ours, inasmuch as it is surrounded on all sides by the sea; and they believe that with the peoples of Saturn [p. 247] were united, later, those who wandered about with Hercules, and being left behind there, they rekindled into strength and numbers the Greek element, then on the point of extinction, and sinking into the barbarian language, manners, and laws; whence Hercules has the first honours there, and Saturn the second. But when the star of Saturn, which we call the 'Informer,' but they 'Nocturnal,' comes into the sign of the Bull every thirty years, they having got ready a long while beforehand all things required for the sacrifice and the games ... they send out people appointed by lot in the same number [*1] of ships, furnished with provisions and stores necessary for persons intending to cross so vast a sea by dint of rowing, as well as to live a long time in a foreign land. When they have put to sea, they meet, naturally, with different fates, but those who escape from the sea, first of all, touch at the foremost isles, which are inhabited by Greeks also, and see the sun setting for less than one hour for thirty days in succession; and this interval is night, attended with slight darkness, and a twilight glimmering out of the west. [*2] Having spent ninety days there, treated with honour and hospitality, being both considered and entitled 'holy,' thenceforward they voyage with the help of the winds. No other people inhabit the islands save themselves and those that had been sent out before; it is, indeed, allowed to such as have served thirteen [*3] years in waiting upon the god, to return home, but the greatest part prefer to remain there, partly out of habit, partly because they have all things in abundance without toil and trouble, as they pass their time in [p. 248] sacrifices and hymn singing, or in studying legends and philosophy of some sort. [*1] For wonderful are both the island and the mildness of the climate; whilst the deity himself has been an obstacle to some when contemplating departure, by manifesting himself to them as to familiars and friends, not by way of dreams or by tokens, but conversing with them in a visible form with many apparitions and speeches of genii. For Saturn himself is imprisoned in a vast cavern, sleeping upon a rock overlaid with gold; for his sleep has been contrived by Jupiter for his chaining--whilst birds fly down from the rock, which are ordained to carry ambrosia to him, whilst the island is overspread with fragrance, diffused from the rock as from a fountain. Those genii wait upon and nurse Saturn, who had been his companions at the time when truly he used to reign over both gods and men; and they, being endowed with prophecy, foretell, on their own account, many things, but important matters, and such as concern the highest things, they go down into the cavern and report as the dreams of Saturn; for whatsoever things Jupiter is devising for the future, Saturn dreams [*2] what they are about, and that which is kingly and divine. [*3] The stranger having been carried there, as he told us, and waiting upon the god at his leisure, he gained acquaintance with astrology [*4] and [p. 249] geometry as far as it is possible to advance, whilst he took up 'natural science' for his department of philosophy. [*1] But, seized at last with a desire and longing to become acquainted with the 'great island,' for so, as was natural, they denominate the territories inhabited by ourselves; when the thirty years had expired, [*2] and the successors were come from home, he took leave of his friends and sailed away, having provided himself carefully with all other stores, and carrying his travelling expenses in [the shape of] cups of gold. [*3] All that he endured, and how many nations he passed through, consulting their sacred books, and receiving initiation into all their mysteries, would take a whole day to enumerate in the way that he related it to us, describing the circumstances very well and particularly; but as much of them as is connected with the present inquiry you must now hear, for he spent a very long time at Carthage, inasmuch as he received great honours amongst us for having discovered, deposited in the earth, some sacred parchments, which had been secretly carried off at the time when the former city was destroyed, and which had been concealed a very long time. Of the visible powers, he said we ought (and exhorted me also) especially to worship the moon, as being in reality, and also reputed, the sovereign of life." XXVII. When I was astonished at this, and begged for some clearer information, "Many things, Sylla," said he, "are told amongst the Greeks, but not all rightly, concerning the Gods. For instance, at starting, you are right [p. 250] in calling the same person 'Demeter,' and the 'Maid,' but not right in supposing the place of each as one and the same, and that both were occupied by the same things, for the one is on the earth, and mistress of things upon earth, the other in the moon, and of the things pertaining to the moon. She is named the 'Maid,' and 'Persephone,' [*1] the latter as being the bringer of light, but 'maid' because we call maid (pupil) that part of the eye in which the image of the spectator is reflected, just as the image of the sun is reflected in the moon. In the legends told about their wandering and going in search, there is a [certain amount of] truth; for they long for each other when they are apart, and often embrace under the obscuration. Now the being at one time in heaven and in the light, at another in the darkness and the night, is not false as regards the Maid; but the time has occasioned error in the counting, since it is not during six months, but at intervals of six months that we see her enveloped in shadow by the earth as if by a mother, but rarely experiencing this at intervals of five months; for it is impossible for her to leave the shades, and from them pass, as Homer disguising the thing hath not ill said, "'Into Elysian plains and Earth's recess.' [paragraph continues] For where the earth's shadow ceases to reach, this point we supposed the limit and end of earth. [*2] To this place no bad or unpurified person ascends; but the good, after decease, being carried hither, continue here enjoying a very tranquil life, not, however, a blissful one, nor that of gods, until the Second Death." [p. 251] XXVIII. "What, pray, is this, Sylla?" said I. "Do not ask questions about it," replied he, "for I am going to relate it all. Man most people rightly think a composite being, but wrongly think a composite of two parts only, for they reckon the mind as only a part of the soul, being no less in error than they who think the soul to be only part of the body; for the mind is as much better and more divine than the soul, as the soul is superior to the body. For the conjunction of body and soul produces [*1] ... . Reason, whereof the one is the origin of pleasure and pain, the other, of vice and virtue. Of these three combined things, the earth furnished for the birth the body, the moon the soul, the sun the mind, just as he supplies light to the moon. The death which we die makes the man two instead of three, the second (death) makes him one out of two. The first takes place in the region of Demeter [because the earth] and also the dead are subject to her, whence the Athenians of old used to call the [dead] "Demetrians." The second [death] takes place in the moon, the dominion of Persephone; and of the former the consort is the Earthly Hermes, of the latter, the Heavenly. The former separates the soul from the body, hastily and with violence; but Persephone gently and slowly loosens the mind from the soul, and for this reason she has been named the "Only-begotten," [*2] because the best part of the man becomes single when separated from the rest by her means. Each of these changes happens, according to nature, as follows: every soul, whether without mind, or joined to mind, on departing from the body, is ordained to wander in the region lying [*3] between the moon and [p. 252] earth for a term, not equal in all cases; but the wicked and incontinent pay a penalty for their sins; whereas the virtuous, in order, as it were, to purify themselves and to recover breath, after the body, as being the source of sinful pollution, must pass a certain fixed time in the mildest region of air, which they call the "Meadow of Hades." Then, as though returning to their native land after enforced banishment, they taste of joy, such as the initiated into mysteries feel, mingled with trouble and apprehension, joined with a peculiar hope, for [*1] it drives off and tosses away many of them when already making for the moon, and they [the virtuous] also see the ghosts of people there turned upside down, and, as it were, descending into the abyss. [*2] Such as are arrived above, and have got firm footing there [on the moon], like victors in the games, crowned with wreaths, encircle their heads with crowns called crowns of "Constancy," [*3] made of feathers, [*4] because the irrational and passionate part of the soul they have in life presented to Reason, manageable and kept in restraint. [*5] In the next place, their sight resembles a sunbeam, and the soul, wafted on high by the air surrounding the moon, gains tone and vigour from the same, just as here below steeled [p. 253] tools gain it by the tempering; for that which was unsubstantial and diffuse becomes solid and transparent, so as to be nourished by the exhalation it meets with there; and Heraclitus hath well said that 'Souls in Hades have the sense of smell.'" XXIX. "They contemplate, in the first place, the magnitude and beauty of the moon; also her nature, which is not simple and unmixed, but as it were a combination of star and earth; for just as earth mixed with air and moisture becomes soft, and the blood mingling itself with the flesh produces sensibility, in like manner they say the moon being mixed up [*1] from her inmost depth, becomes both animated and generative, and at the same time has the symmetrical arrangement of its levity around the centre of the mass for a counteracting force to its own gravity. For it is in this way that our world, being composed out of elements that by their own nature tend some upwards, some downwards, is free from all motion in its place. These facts Xenocrates appears to have discovered through a certain admirable process of reasoning, having taken his starting-point out of Plato. For it is Plato who proved that also each one of the stars is composed of earth and fire, by means of the ascertained analogy of the intervening substances; because nothing comes within the reach of sense that has not some portion of earth and of fire mingled with it. Now Xenocrates says the sun is composed of fire and the First Solid; but the moon of the Second Solid and her own air; and the earth out of water, fire, and the Third of the Solids; and, generally, that neither the solid, taken by itself, nor the fluid, is capable of a soul. Thus much, then, for the physical constitution [*2] of the moon. The breadth, and the magnitude of her is not what the geometricians assert, but much larger; for [p. 254] she measures the shadow of the earth only a few times [*1] with her own magnitude, not in consequence of her smallness, but because she puts out all her speed, that she may pass through the darkened spot, and carry out with her the souls of the good, that are eager for it and cry aloud to her; because they hear no longer, whilst they are in the shadow, the harmony of the heavens, and at the same time, the souls of those suffering punishment rush up towards her from below through the shadow, wailing and shouting (for which reason, during eclipses, most people clatter their brass pots and clap their hands, and make a noise to scare away the ghosts), for the so-called Face frightens them when they come nigh, looking grim and horrible. Such it is not really, but like [*2] as our earth has deep and great gulfs--one of them flowing inwards towards us through the Pillars of Hercules; others flowing outwards as the Caspian, and those in the Red Sea--in like manner there are deep places and gulf-like in the moon, whereof the largest is called 'Hecate's dungeon,' in which the souls either suffer or inflict punishment, for the things which they have either done or endured, when they have already been made genii: as for the two smaller depths, because the souls pass through them on the way towards heaven and towards earth back again, the one is denominated the 'Elysian Plain,' the other the 'Passage of Persephone the Terrestrial!'" XXX. "The genii do not always pass their time upon her (the moon), but they come down hither and take charge of Oracles; they are present at and assist in the most advanced of the initiatory rites [in the several [p. 255] [paragraph continues] Mysteries], as punishers and keepers of wrong-doers they act, and shine as saviours in battle and at sea; [*1] and whatsoever thing in these capacities they do amiss, either out of spite, unfair partiality, or envy, they are punished for it, for they are driven down again to earth and coupled with human bodies. Of the best of these genii they told him were those who [*2] wait upon Saturn now, and the same in old times were the Idaei Dactyli in Crete, the Curetes in Phrygia, the Trophonii in Boeotia Lebadea, and others without number in various parts of the world, of whom the holy places, honours, and titles still remain; though of some the powers have ceased since they have experienced a removal of their virtue to another locality. This change they suffer, some sooner, some later, when the mind has been separated from the soul. The mind separates itself out of a desire of reaching the Image in the sun, [*3] through which shines forth the Desirable, and Beautiful, and Divine, and Blissful, to which every unmixed nature aspires in different ways. For the moon herself, out of desire for the sun, revolves round and comes in contact with him, because she longs to derive from him the generative principle. The nature of the soul is left behind in the moon, retaining vestiges as it were and dreams of life; and on this account you must suppose it rightly said: "'Like to a dream, the soul took wing and fled.' [paragraph continues] For the soul does not suffer this all at once; nor as soon as separated from the body, but afterwards when she has become desolate and solitary, when the mind is departed. [*4] [p. 256] [paragraph continues] And Homer (said he) appears to have spoken especially through divine inspiration about the whole question: "'There midst the rest strong Hercules I marked, His spectre--for himself dwells with the gods.' [paragraph continues] For each individual of us is not anger, nor fear, nor desire, just as he is neither pieces of flesh nor humours; but that wherewith we think and understand is the soul, impressed by the mind, and in its turn impressing the body, and impinging upon it from all parts it models the form; [*1] so that, though it may continue a long time separated from both (the mind and the body), yet as it retains the likeness and imprint, it is properly denominated the "Image" (or Spectre). [*2] Of these images the moon is the element: for they are resolved into her substance, like as bodies into earth, of the dead. Quickly resolved are the temperate, such as have led a tranquil, philosophic, and leisurely life on earth; for being let go from the mind, and no longer subject to the passions, they wither away. Of those ambitious, busy, amorous, and irascible when in the body, the souls are visited, like dreams, with recollections of their past life, and are troubled with them; like that of Endymion of old. For their restless and passionate character stirs them up, and draws them away from the moon towards a second birth; she suffers them not, however [to escape], but recalls them to herself, and soothes them to remain. For it is far from quiet or orderly work, when souls, separated from mind, get possession of a body subject to passions. [*3] Of such souls came perchance the Tityi and the Typhons, and that Typhon [*4] [p. 257] who used to hinder and trouble the oracular power at Delphi: for they are destitute of reason, and actuated by the passionate part, puffed up with pride and self-conceit. But, in time, even these the moon absorbs into herself, and reduces to order. In the next place, the sun having impregnated [*1] the mind with vital force, produces new souls. And, thirdly, earth furnishes a body: for earth takes back after death that which she gave at birth; whereas the sun takes nothing, only takes back the mind, which he gave: but the moon both takes and gives, and puts together, and separates; in virtue of two different powers, of which the combining power is named 'Elithyia,' the separative one 'Artemis.' And of the Three Fates, Atropos, seated in the sun, supplies the origin of birth; Clotho, moving about the moon, unites together and mingles the various parts; lastly, Lachesis, on earth, who has most to do with Fortune, puts her hand to the work. For the inanimate part is powerless, and liable to be acted upon by others; but the mind is impassive and independent; and the soul is of mixed nature, and intermediate between the two: just as the moon hath been made by the Deity a mixture of things above and of things below, 'a great, full horn,' bearing the same relation to the sun that the earth bears to the moon. "All this," said Sylla, "I heard the stranger recounting; and the chamberlains and ministers of Saturn [*2] had related it, as he said, to him. You, Lamprias, are at liberty to make what use you please of the story." Footnotes ^197:1 This explanation of optical illusion. ^198:1 This word has dropped out of the text, but is indispensable. ^198:2 Or perhaps plump and polished, as the Italian "bagnato." ^198:3 piezei in text, for piezetai. ^198:4 grafike, drawing in outline, the first thing taught in Greek schools, as Pliny notes under "Pamphilus." This whole paragraph is in inextricable confusion. ^199:1 When the moon takes the form of a crescent. ^200:1 All this is in confusion, and some part quite lost, for the end of the sentence must be part of Apollonius's reply. ^201:1 A curious reference to the old times of Greece, when the painted vase manufacture was of the same importance as the porcelain of our times. With the Romans earthenware served only for the commonest household usage. ^202:1 Referring to the heating of sling-bullets--produced in reality by impact, but supposed by the ancients to be generated during their flight-- "Volat atque incandescit eundo." ^202:2 Because it would necessarily slip off a convex surface. ^203:1 Aliter, Aristarchus. ^203:2 The Zodiac. Modern savants pass this theory slightingly by, as "a guess amongst many;" but the rule in such cases assures every one [p. 204] who can use his common sense that Aristarchus had his own arguments, derived from observation of the phenomena, that satisfied himself and his disciples of the soundness of Isis hypothesis. How unfortunate that Plutarch did not take the trouble to give some brief notice of them, as he has done here of so many others of less value. ^204:1 teis epoxeis should be in the dative, else I cannot see how the passage can be construed. ^204:2 Or " acute." ^205:1 rhizudes must be rhoizudes, of similar sound. ^206:1 This must be an error for "centre." ^206:2 Meaning the outer circumference of the globe. ^206:3 A curious illustration, much bungled by the scribe. "Saw a beam in two at the centre, the globe being supposed hollow, each piece falls in an opposite direction until it strikes against earth's crust, when it is repelled, and the two pieces meet again at the centre." ^207:1 His head would be upwards with respect to the other surface of the globe; his feet with respect to ours. ^208:1 If all the heavenly bodies can more about at great intervals from each other, why must all earthly bodies gravitate into one mass? ^209:1 ayteis in text for skias? ^209:2 A radius of 4,000 miles, making the moon's distance from earth 224,000. The text, therefore, should read myriad for thousand in the sum, as also appears from what follows. ^209:3 4,000 * 10,000 = 40,000,000 30 * 10,000 = 300,000 40,300,000 About 40,300,000 miles. ^211:1 [Actuated, the consequence of the diversity being.] ^212:1 A quotation from some poet. ^214:1 The Platonic term for the Divine Will, or the "Logos." ^214:2 Natural position of each element. ^215:1 Better rendered by Wisdom, for it is the Achamoth of the Alexandrine Jews, and the Second Person, "the Spirit of God," in their Divinity. ^216:1 In proportion to the weight of each. ^218:1 This Treatise being in the form of a reported conversation. ^218:2 The moon does not collect a stock of light within her body--otherwise her light would not be intermittent. "When the light of torches is augmented" by the kindling of additional torches. ^219:1 Or "owl-faced," a far-fetched sense of glaykupis quite in Empedocles' style. ^220:1 There is sufficient head room in the mirror-face for the images to be repeated as the eyes involuntarily change their position. ^221:1 The doctrine of the equality of the angles of incidence and reflection may hold good for truly polished surfaces, but not for irregular surfaces. ^221:2 Independently of the moon, but somewhere in the heavens on the way towards her. ^222:1 Supposing the moon made of aether, the sun on the least contact would illuminate the whole orb, so there could be no half-moons or crescents. ^223:1 "Sun" and "Air" have got interchanged in the text; but the true sense is obvious. ^224:1 The phenomena attending an eclipse of the sun closely resemble those attending a regular sunset. ^224:2 April 30, A.D. 59: a notice fixing the date of this Treatise. ^224:3 When the sun is setting, the view of his orb is obstructed by the elevation of the horizon between him and the spectators; but when he is eclipsed, our sight of him is intercepted by the moon coming between us and him. ^225:1 Not the gentleman present. ^226:1 The person to whom Plutarch is relating the discussion. ^226:2 sunodos for moon's conjunction with sun = dark quarter. ^226:3 dixomenos when the moon is in opposition to the sun = full-moon. ^227:1 to men, in text for men, which is necessitated by the e de following. ^227:2 Doubtless "phases"--b being written for f in the text, in consequence of the similarity of sound, as the scribes pronounce it. ^228:1 If the moon were of the nature of a star, self-lighted, she would be conspicuous when passing through earth's shadow; whereas she now becomes invisible in her passage through it. ^229:1 anthrakudes, "smouldering," like that of a hot piece of charcoal, anthrax being always taken in an active sense. ^229:2 diakaes, not smouldering, but, like charcoal, fully alight. ^230:1 Counting from sunset, as the Romans still do. ^230:2 At what time "morning," as distinct from "day-break," commenced, I cannot discover. ^230:3 Plutarch's explanation cannot stand; a general epithet cannot be derived from a so transient state, and of rare occurrence. ^230:4 Our "Sultan red," the brightest dye the ancients could produce with their coccus, kermes. Their "purple" was a very dark red, bluish viewed in one light. ^231:1 bafas must be bafes. ^231:2 What flower the ion was is now impossible to define. The epithet "flame-coloured," given to it by Dioscorides, inclines me to think it the reddish-purple cyclamen, so common in South Europe: but W. G. Clark was in favour of the heartsease which he observed growing abundantly in Greece--clearly it was not our violet. ^231:3 The "True World," described in such Apocalyptical terms in the "Phaedo." ^232:1 Quoting Socrates' description of the True World. ^232:2 Citizens of Delphi; where the Oracle at first belonged to "Mother Earth," before she ceded it to Apollo. ^233:1 Nine inches English. ^233:2 3,750 miles English. ^233:3 Fifty-two miles. ^233:4 Perceptible as actual cavities in the moon's surface, not as mere patches of colour. ^233:5 The biggest giants of the Titans. ^234:1 Eighty-five miles across the sea. ^234:2 [You do not imagine this is the actual height of the mountain.] ^235:1 With her reflected light. ^235:2 As in the experiment just cited. ^235:3 That throws back the solar ray. ^235:4 koryfe. ^235:5 "Reflecting medium," as water does: referring to what was said before of the spectrum cast from dancing waves upon a wall. ^235:6 Mirrors in Plutarch's time were all made of speculum metal, and liable to be spoilt by rust. ^236:1 The negative here is certainly demanded by the sense of the whole argument. ^236:2 Rather, "makes himself ridiculous." ^236:3 orati must be orate. ^237:1 The grand flight of steps leading up to the Temple of Apollo, in front of which the conversation was held. ^237:2 Plutarch's brother, who relates this conversation. ^238:1 Sideways and downwards. ^238:2 leun for lithos, of which Anaxagoras predicted the fall; or was there some story of a bona fide lion tumbling out of the moon? ^238:3 biun must be boun. ^239:1 This looks like some tradition of the use of tobacco, brought by some prehistoric Columbus. ^240:1 ufelein must be u file, which makes the passage intelligible: "Nothing," my dear Theon, "of what has been said proves that her being inhabited is impossible." ^241:1 The sun's heat strikes on us so forcibly because it has to pass through thick atmosphere and exhalations rising out of earth. ^241:2 i.e., suffer by comparison. ^242:1 An evident slip of the pen for heats: the argument being that fruit trees that thrive in the North, in spite of the frost, will not answer in a hot climate. ^242:2 Probably the kind of Sedum, now called the Air plant, which grows when hung from a ceiling. ^242:3 The name of the plant is lost here; but, from the connection with Arabia, must be the frankincense tree (our olibanum), her special product: "Molles sua thura sabaei." ^243:1 This curious effect of moonlight, whether actually observed, or only fancied by the ancients, sufficiently explains the apparent anomaly of making the virgin Artemis to preside over parturition: "Qum laborantes utero puellas Ter vocata audis adimisque letho." ^243:2 The flow of the tides not produced by a mere return of water from the open sea, but by the actual increase of the quantity of water, due to lunar influence in the diminished bed of the strait. ^243:3 In the same manner as the female nature dissolves the male in the act of copulation. ^243:4 Because she converts the heat she receives from the sun into chilly and humid moonbeams. ^244:1 Possibly, the differences between living beings in the Moon and on Earth, are even greater than the differences between the various kinds of inanimate things here below. ^244:2 We have lost here some Egyptian story about nutriment compressed in marvellously small compass. [This phrase occurs extensively in the Talmud to indicate a small amount of food, and it may have also been used in the Hellenic world.--JBH.] ^244:3 Learn by the evidence of our senses. ^245:1 Ireland, probably, which lies at this distance from Rutupiae, the [p. 246] only British port known to Plutarch. The Romans had marched across the island as far as Anglesea in Nero's reign. ^246:1 Previously quoting the same legend, he says, by Briareus. "Visits" I can only understand by "risings," which makes these three isles lie N.N###853###. of the large one. ^246:2 All in confusion here, but by reading froyran for froyron, and putting us before exonta, there is some remedy. ^246:3 This looks like a vague tradition of the existence of America: by reading "myriads" for "thousands" of stadia, we should get the proper distance. This exchange we have had convincing reason for making in a former passage. ^246:4 Probably a vague tradition of icebergs and pack-ice seen by some very adventurous explorer, like Pytheas of Massilia. ^246:5 The Caspian Sea was believed by the Greeks to communicate with the ocean. This may really have been the case in historical times, for its waters are even now rapidly shrinking up, and may have extended indefinitely a few thousand years ago. ^247:1 As the period of years between each expedition, i.e., thirty. ^247:2 This looks like a vague tradition of an actual visit to the Shetlands: this particular could never have been invented by a Greek. The Romans knew the North Sea as "Mare Cronium." ^247:3 This seems a false reading for "thirty," when the arrival of the next expedition would relieve them of their duties. ^248:1 Some wandering Greeks having got amongst the Druids of Ireland, are probably the authors of the story. If admitted to all the privileges of the sacerdotal order, they certainly could not better their condition by returning home. The Druidical students, according to Caesar, spent all their time in learning by heart interminable religious stories in verse, together with a "course of Natural Science." ^248:2 einai de anastasin in text, must be einai, anastesi de, because sleep stirs up within him prophetic passions and emotions of the soul. ^248:3 The text in utter confusion here, but probably intended in this sense. ^248:4 genetai makes no sense, but reading ginetai, gives "is, of its own self, pure and unmixed." ^249:1 Pliny remarks that "Britain cultivates Magia [astrology] with such zeal that any one would suppose it was she who had communicated it to Persia." Now Britain was regarded in Gaul as the fountain-head of religion. ^249:2 From this we can correct the reading "thirteen" at . ^249:3 Perhaps ring-money, with the large cup-shaped extremities, is here meant. The whole story is evidently based upon the report of a visit to some Druidical sanctuary--perhaps Mona, or even Ireland. ^250:1 Of Demeter's long searchings after Persephone; and the abduction of the latter by the Lord of the Shades. ^250:2 A very far-fetched interpretation of Homer's word "Recess," by which he meant the abode of departed spirits in the vast hollow of the globe. ^251:1 "Sensation" must be the word lost here; as plainly appears from what comes next. ^251:2 Perverted into an active sense, as "begotten of one." ^251:3 "The Middle Space," which figures so largely in the theology of the Pistis Sophia. ^252:1 The word is lost here, but probably was "the incredible velocity of new gyration," or something to that effect. ^252:2 The spirits of the good rest above in a fearful hope, for from their place of rest they can see the ghosts of the wicked repelled by the circumference of the moon, tossed about, and falling headlong, as they fancy, into the abyss below. ^252:3 eystatheias, "steadiness." ^252:4 Perhaps suggested by the plumed cap, the badge of the Egyptian priesthood. ^252:5 Conversely, Dante sees the souls that had in life subjected their reason to their appetite, tossed about by whirlwinds in mid air: "Intesi ch' a cosi fatto tormento Eran dannati i peccator carnali, Che la ragion sommettono al talento." ^253:1 Being a mixture of starry and earthy natures. ^253:2 The Druidical story is here taken up again. ^254:1 The breadth of earth's shadow appears to be many times greater than the moon's diameter; not from the smallness of the latter, but from the rapidity of her transit. ^254:2 There is no actual Face, but the depressions of surface represent its features when viewed from afar. ^255:1 Appearing as the twin star, St. Elmo's Fire, upon the ship's mast. ^255:2 oi te for tous te. ^255:3 The sun being the visible type of the supreme godhead, to union (absorption) with whom every pure nature aspires: the grand Buddhist doctrine. ^255:4 apallattomene for ... noy. ^256:1 Moulds the soul into a shape oaf its own. ^256:2 eidulon; the portrait of the intelligence which has flown away from it. after moulding it to her own likeness. ^256:3 Read tou pathetikou, governed by epilabuntai. ^256:4 Error for "Python," whom Apollo destroyed, in order to recover his Oracle. ^257:1 This doctrine explains a curious gem (Matter, "Hist. Crit. du Gnosticisme," Pl. I. F., No. 1), exhibiting the Mithraic Lion copulating with a woman, quadrupedum ritu, in a cartouche placed over an outstretched corpse. ^257:2 A proof that the whole theory came from the Druids, who, according to Caesar, devoted themselves to speculations of this sort. Plutarch's Morals: Theosophical Essays, tr. by Charles William King, [1908], at sacred-texts.com [p. 258] ON SUPERSTITION. THE want of learning and the want of knowledge concerning the gods, splitting into two separate streams immediately at the source--the one, as if flowing in hard ground, has in unyielding dispositions generated Atheism; the other, as if in moist soil, produces in tender minds its opposite, Superstition. Now all false belief, especially if it be so on this subject, is a distressing thing; but that which is accompanied with passion is most troublesome of all: for every passion is like a stroke productive of inflammation; and just as dislocations of the joints attended with laceration, so perversions of the soul attended with passion, [*1] are the more difficult to cure. One man believes Atoms and the Vacuum to be the final causes of the universe--a false supposition this--but one that does not produce a wound, nor a bruise, nor distracting pain. Another man thinks Wealth to be the highest good--this is a fallacy that contains a corrosive poison: it eats into the soul, it excites, it suffers him not to sleep, it brings a swarm of gad flies about him, it drives him down precipices, it chokes him, it takes away all cheerfulness. On the other hand, one man fancies that Virtue and Vice are a body [element]: a disgraceful blunder, perhaps, but not [p. 259] worth crying for or lamenting over: but whatever are such maxims and opinions as this, "Poor Virtue! Thou wert then a name, but I Pursued thee as a truth," and cast aside injustice, the cause of wealth, and intemperance, the real source of all happiness; [*1]--these sentiments, indeed, we ought both to pity and be angry with! Consequently, as regards the subjects of our inquiry, Atheism being an ungrounded opinion that there is nothing essentially happy and incorruptible, appears to bring round the soul into a state of insensibility through a disbelief of the Deity; and its object in not believing in gods is the not being afraid of them: whereas for Superstition (Godfearing), its very name shows it to be an opinion involving passion (feeling), and a conception that, engenders fear which humiliates and crushes a man, inasmuch as he believes there are gods, but that they are spiteful and mischievous gods. For the Atheist appears to be one that is insensible to what is Divine; the Superstitious man to be sensible in the wrong way, and thereby perverted. For want of knowledge has produced in the one a disbelief in the Benefactor; whilst in the other case it has superadded the fear that the same Power is a malignant one. Consequently, Atheism is Reason deceived, Superstition a passion arising out of false reasoning. Ugly indeed are all passions and maladies of the soul, yet there is in some of them, a showiness, a loftiness, and a singularity by reason of their airiness, and they are not by any means, so to speak, destitute of practical energy. For it is the general fault of all the passions, that being impelled by practical tendencies they hang on to, and stimulate the reason: but Fear, being as deficient in [p. 260] courage as it is in reason, has its stupidity accompanied with indolence, perplexity, and helplessness: on which account its faculty of fettering at once and disturbing the soul has been called "terror" and "awe." [*1] Now, of all fears the most incapacitating from action, and the most helpless, is that springing from Superstition. He that goes not on voyages, fears not the sea; nor he that goes not for soldier, war; nor highwaymen, he that stays at home: nor the informer, he who has no money; nor envy, the man in private life; nor earthquakes, he who lives in Gaul; nor lightning, the dweller in Aethiopia. But he who is afraid of the gods, is in fear of everything--the sea, the air, the sky, darkness, light, a call, [*2] silence, a dream. Slaves forget their tyrants when they are asleep, slumber lightens the weight of their chains to those in fetters, even inflammations accompanying wounds, and fierce and agonizing ulcers that eat into the flesh quit for a while the sleeping man:-- "Sweet balm of sleep, true medicine for disease, How dear thy coming, truly at my need." This, Superstition does not allow one to exclaim, for it is the only thing that makes no truce with sleep, nor grants to the soul then, at least, to repose, and gain a little courage by driving off its burdensome and painful notions about the Deity, but as it were in the realms of the damned, it raises up in the sleep of the superstitious, terrific phantoms, monsters, apparitions, and tortures of all kinds; scaring the miserable soul, it chases it out of the refuge of sleep with spectres: while it is scourged and tormented by its own self, as though by the hand of another; and receives troubles both dreadful and of [p. 261] strange sort; and then, when they wake up, they do not come to their senses, nor laugh at their visionary fears, nor feel glad that nothing of what had so disturbed them was a reality; but after having escaped the visionary illusion that had no harm in it, they cheat themselves over again, waste their money, and vex themselves, by rushing to fortune-tellers and such like impostors, and saying-- "Hath a dream and vision troubled thy brain Or hast thou encountered the Night-hag's train? Send fur the crone that well can break the spell," and dip thyself in the sea, and pass a day seated on the earth. "O Greeks, inventors of barbaric woes!" through your own superstition, such as smearing with mud, wallowing in the mire, Sabbath-keeping, [*1] unseemly prostrations on the face, long sittings before the idol, extraordinary gestures of adoration. [*2] "To sing with a just mouth" was the advice to lyrists of those who professed to keep up the established rules of music--we, on our part, demand that men pray to the gods with mouths erect and as it should be, and not merely to examine whether the tongue or top of the entrails of the victim be clean and fitting, whilst they distort and pollute their own tongues with absurd titles and foreign [*3] invocations, to do shame to, and sin against, the divine and national dignity of religion. But the comic poet has said somewhere with respect to those who overlay their beds with gold or with silver, that sleep [p. 262] is the only thing the gods have given us gratis, "Why, then, dost thou make it too an expensive article to thyself?" It is equally right to say to the superstitious man: "Sleep the gods have bestowed upon us as the balm of troubles, and for refreshment; wherefore dost thou make it a torture-chamber for thyself, hateful and painful, thy wretched soul not being able to make its escape, and take refuge in a second slumber? Heraclitus observes that for men awake there is one and a common world; but of men asleep each one wanders away into a world of his own. But for the superstitious there is no world in common with the rest; for neither when awake does he enjoy the rational world, nor when asleep does he escape from the terrifying one; but his reason is always a-dreaming, he fears even when awake--escape is impossible, so is change of place. Polycrates was a terrible tyrant at Samos, Periander another at Corinth; yet nobody was afraid of them after he had migrated into a free city, democratically governed; but he that dreads the government of the gods as a gloomy and implacable tyranny--whither shall he migrate, where shall he flee, what land shall he find free from gods, what sea? into what part of the earth canst thou creep and hide thyself, poor wretch! and be sure that thou hast escaped from God? Even slaves without hope of manumission are allowed by law to demand to be sold, and to change their master for a milder one; [*1] but Superstition allows not of a change of gods, nor is it possible to find a god whom that man shall not fear who is afraid of those of his own country and own family--he that shudders at the Preservers and the Benevolent; he that trembles at and dreads the beings from whom we ask in prayer riches, plenty, peace, concord, the prospering of our works and [p. 263] best actions. And then these very people consider servitude a misfortune, and exclaim: "A sad misfortune 'tis to man or maid To be a slave, and get an unlucky master!" But how much more grievous do you hold their case who get masters whom they cannot flee from, cannot get out of their way, cannot pacify! Even slaves have an altar of refuge; even robbers hold many temples to be inviolable; and people fleeing from enemies take courage if they can embrace some idol or shrine--but these are the very things the superstitious man most shudders at, is frightened with, and fears--the very things in which such as dread dangers place their trust! Tear not away the superstitious man from the altar--it is there that he is tortured, and receives the punishment of his offence! What need is there to speak at length? The appointed limit of Life for all mankind. is Death; but to Superstition not even death is the limit--she leaps over the boundaries of Life into the other side, making Fear longer-lived than life, and tacking on to Death the imagination of never-ending woes. And when she comes to the end of her troubles, she fancies that she is entering upon others that have no end. Deep below are opened the gates of Hell, rivers of fire, and fountains of Styx are at once disclosed; a fantastic darkness envelopes all, where certain spectral forms flit about, offering frightful sights to the eye, piteous sounds to the ear; also judges seated, and executioners at hand; yawning gulfs and deep places, crammed with all manner of evil things. Thus unhappy Superstition has obtained through death an end of suffering, but has, through its folly, created an expectation of future misery for itself. Atheism is exposed to none of these evils; yet its ignorance is painful, and to be in error and blindness concerning things of such moment is a great misfortune [p. 264] to the soul--just as though it had had put out the brightest and most important of its many eyes, namely, the idea of the Deity; but still (as above remarked) passion, wounds, disturbance, and abjectness do not, as a matter of course, regularly accompany this state of belief. "Music," says Plato, "the creator of harmony and order, was not given by heaven to man for the purpose of amusement and tickling of the ears, but to disentangle gently, bring round, and restore again to its proper place the turbulence of the soul that has gone astray in the body as regards its revolutions and connections, and has often committed excesses through a deficiency in education and gracefulness, by intemperance and neglect of duty." "Whomsoever Jove loveth not," says Pindar, "are disgusted at hearing the voice of the Muses," for they are exasperated and vexed thereby. In fact, they say that tigers, if a tambourine be sounded over them, become furious, grow mad, and finally tear themselves to pieces. But it is a less evil [*1] for them upon whom is come a want of taste for, and insensibility to, the charms of music, by reason of deafness and loss of hearing. Tiresias suffered a misfortune in not seeing his children or his acquaintances; but Athamas suffered a greater one, as did Agave, in seeing them in the shape of lions or stags. And surely it had been better for Hercules in his madness, neither to have seen, or been sensible of their presence, rather than to have treated those most dear to him like so many foes. What then? Does it not seem to you that the state of the Atheists, as compared with that of the superstitious, presents exactly the same sort of difference? The former do not see the gods at all, the latter believe that they exist; the former overlook them; the latter fancy terrible what is benign, tyrannical what is paternal, mischievous what is preservative, savage and bestial that which is pure. And [p. 265] then they believe metal-workers, and sculptors, and wax-modellers, that the gods are of human form; and in such form do they model, and procure, and worship them: and despise philosophers and statesmen when they teach that the majesty of God is coupled with goodness and magnificence, with strength and with protective care for man. The one party, therefore, are possessed with an insensibility to, and a disbelief in, the good things that benefit them; the other party are filled with alarm at, and fear of, the things that benefit them. And to sum up--Atheism is insensibility to what is divine, which shows itself in not understanding what is good; Superstition an over-sensibility, in suspecting the good to be bad. People are afraid of the gods, and fly for refuge to the gods; they flatter them, and they revile them; they make vows to them, and they upbraid them. It is the common lot of mankind not to prosper to the end in all things. "For they are ever young, and free from sickness, unacquainted with all troubles, having escaped the loud-roaring fury of the Acheron," says Pindar of the gods; but human sufferings and doings are mixed up with chances flowing in different channels for different people. Come, now, and contemplate the Atheist in misfortune, and observe the way in which he behaves (that is, if he be one who practises self-control on other occasions)--how he makes the best of the matter, and supplies himself with consolations and remedies: and if he be impatient and annoyed by his troubles, how he lays all his complaints against Fortune and Chance, and exclaims that nothing goes according to right, and by the dispensation of Providence; but all are borne along confusedly and irrationally, and human affairs are all caprice. Such is not the behaviour of the superstitious man: but if the mishap that has befallen him is of the most trifling kind, he sits down building up upon his trouble yet further calamities, grievous, great, and not to [p. 266] be averted; and heaping besides upon himself apprehensions, fears, and suspicions, making the mischief burn [*1] with all sorts of weeping and groaning. For it is not man, nor chance, nor occasion, nor himself, but God on whom he lays the blame of all, and from Him he says the heaven-sent stream of calamity comes rushing down upon himself, and that he, not because he is unfortunate, but as being hateful to God, is therefore tormented and punished by the Powers above, and suffers everything according to his deserts, on account of his own misconduct. [*2] Now the Atheist, when sick, counts up to himself, and calls to mind his errors, and excesses, and irregularities as to diet, or his over great fatigue, or unaccustomed changes of climate and of place. Again, if he have met with disappointments in political matters, having got into bad odour with the populace, or into ill repute with the upper powers, he examines the mischance as though proceeding from himself, or those about him: "In what point have I erred; what fault committed; What duty have I, careless, left undone?" But to the superstitious man, every infirmity of body, every loss of money, or loss of children, every unpleasantness or failure in political matters, are called "plagues from God," and "assaults of the demon;" consequently, he ventures not to help himself under what has happened, nor to remedy it, nor resist it, lest he should appear to fight against God, and to resist when he is chastised; but, if sick, the physician is pushed away; if in sorrow, the philosopher who comes to advise and comfort him has the door slammed in his face. "Let me alone (says he), my good fellow, to suffer my punishment--impious, accursed [p. 267] as I am, hateful to gods and daemons!" And then, in tho case of a man that does not believe there is a God, but who is sick or suffering greatly in some other way, one can wipe away his tears, cut off his hair, remove his bed-clothes; but as for the superstitious man, how can you possibly address him, or in what way can you bring him help? He sits out of doors, wearing sackcloth, or else girded with filthy rags. Oftentimes wallowing quite naked in the mire, he makes confession aloud of his sins of omission and commission, of having eaten or drank this or that, [*1] or walked along a way that the genius had forbidden him. And if he come best off, and suffers from a mild form of superstition, he sits at home surrounded with burning incense, besmeared with unguents, "whilst the old women (says Bion) tie round him, and tie to him, like a peg, whatever they please." Tiribazus, they tell us, when arrested by the Persians, being a strong man, drew his sword and made a desperate resistance, until those who were seizing him protested and called out that they did so by the king's order, and then he threw down his weapon and allowed them to tie his hands. Is not this a parallel case? Other men struggle with their misfortunes, and push away their troubles, devising ways of escape for themselves, and means of averting their difficulties. But the superstitious man, by listening to nobody, by saying to himself: "Wretch! all these things dost thou suffer from Providence, and by God's command," has cast away all hope, has abandoned himself, fled from and baffled the efforts of those coming to his relief. Many trifling evils Superstition makes into fatal ones. Midas of old, as it appears, being dispirited and panic-struck by certain dreams he had had, was so [p. 268] affected in mind that he sought a voluntary death by drinking bull's blood. Aristodemus, King of the Messenians, in the war around Ithome, because his dogs howled in a way like the wolves, and furze grew up around his paternal hearthstone, and the diviners were alarmed at the omens, lost all courage and hope through utter terror, and slew himself with his own hand. And perhaps it had been better for Nicias, general of the Athenians, to have got rid of his superstition in the same way as did Midas and Aristodemus rather than to have sat still and allowed himself to be walled up by the enemy, because he was frightened at the shadow of the moon's eclipse; and finally, together with forty thousand of his men, either butchered or taken alive, to fall into their hands, and perish ingloriously. For the opposing barrier of earth that lay in his way, at a time for making the best use of his legs, was nothing formidable nor frightful, merely because a shadow crept over the moon, but what really was terrible was the darkness of superstition that fell upon him, to confuse and blind the man's judgment in a state of things the most requiring sound judgment. "Mark, my Glaucus, how the billows out at sea are heaving high; On the hills a cloud big-bellied rises wall-like to the sky: Omen of a coming tempest." [paragraph continues] The pilot seeing this, offers, it is true, vows to heaven for deliverance, and invokes the Saviour Gods, but at the same time he manages the rudder, lowers the yard, and striking his mainsail makes his flight from the loud billowing sea. Hesiod bids the husbandman, before ploughing and sowing, to offer vows to Terrestrial Jove and to chaste Ceres, with " his hand upon the plough tail." Homer says that Ajax, when about to fight in single combat with Hector, bade the Greeks offer vows to the gods in his behalf, and when they were offering their vows, put on his armour. [p. 269] [paragraph continues] Agamemnon, too, after he had commanded the Greeks, "To sharpen well the spear, and brace the shield," then begs from Jove: "Grant me this day to cast down Priam's city," for God is the hope of valour, not the cover for cowardice. But the Jews, it being the Sabbath, seated in their phylacteries, [*1] remained still whilst the enemy was laying scaling ladders and occupying the walls, being tied up together, as it were, in one and the same net by Superstition. Such then is Superstition in the circumstances and occasions called unlucky and changeful--but even in agreeable conditions of things it has nowise the advantage over Atheism. Now the pleasantest things of all to men are festivals and banquets at the temples, also ceremonies of initiation, bacchic rites, vows to gods, and adorations of their images. Contemplate well the Atheist on such occasions, as he smiles with an unfeeling and sardonic grin on his face at what is going on; and perhaps scoffs at them in a whisper to his [p. 270] friends, "that the people must be possessed and out of their senses to think that they did such things in honour of gods," but still he gets no further harm from his opinion. But the superstitious man wishes indeed but is unable to enjoy himself and receive pleasure from these doings: "With smoking incense is the city filled; With hymns and cries of woe together mingled!" [paragraph continues] The soul of the superstitious man turns pale under his crown of flowers, is affrighted whilst he sacrifices, offers the vows with a faltering voice, puts incense upon the flame with a trembling hand; and in fine proves futile the maxim of Pythagoras "that we are at our best when walking towards the gods;" for then the superstitious are in their most miserable and worst condition, approaching, as they do, the shrines of gods or chapels as though they were the dens of bears, the holes of dragons, the lurking-places of the monsters of the deep, and on this account I am seized with astonishment at people's saying that Atheism is impiety, and not saying that Superstition is so, and yet Anaxagoras stood his trial for blasphemy because he said that the sun was a stone; but no one ever called the Cimmerians impious because they think there is no sun at all. What do you say to it? Is the man a criminal that holds there are no gods; and is not he that holds them to be such as the superstitious believe them, is he not possessed with notions infinitely more atrocious? I for my part would much rather have men say of me that there never was a Plutarch at all, nor is now, than to say that Plutarch is a man inconstant, fickle, easily moved to anger, revengeful for trifling provocations, vexed at small things. If when you invite others to dinner, you should omit him, if, in consequence of pressing business, you did not approach his vestibule, or salute him, he will cling to you and eat up your body, or he will seize thy baby and beat it to [p. 271] death; or he will get a wild beast and turn it loose into thy garden, and spoil thy crops for thee. When Timanthes at Athens was singing a hymn to Artemis and calling her "Wild-runner, frantic, mad, infuriated"--Cinesias the song-maker, got up from among the audience and cried, "Mayest thou have a daughter like her!" And truly, similar things, and yet worse, do the superstitious believe about Artemis. "Whether thou art hurrying away from the strangling, whether thou hast rent in pieces the suckling, whether thou hast been midwife to the monster, whether thou art come upon us all stained with gore, whether thou hast been dragged hither from the cross-road for the purpose of fortune-telling, clasping thine arms around the murderers" [*1] Not one [*2] whit more decent notions than these will they conceive respecting Apollo, and Juno, and Mars, and Venus--for all these deities do they tremble at and awfully fear. And yet, what abuse like this did Niobe utter about Latona, like to what superstition has made senseless folks say about the goddess, that because she had been insulted, she killed with her arrows for the wretched woman: "Six daughters, and six sons in blooming youth," so insatiable was she with the sufferings of others, and hard to be appeased. But if in reality the goddess were capable of anger, a hater of vice, and annoyed at being ill-spoken of, and did not laugh at human ignorance and stupidity, but were exasperated thereby; in that case she ought to have shot those that invented such lies against her about her cruelty and spitefulness, and who wrote and [p. 272] told such stories. For we condemn the rage of Hecuba as barbarous and bestial, where she says: "----his inmost heart I will devour, And cling to him to eat it," but the Syrian goddess the superstitious believe, if anyone eats sprats or anchovies, cankers their shin-bones, fills their bodies with ulcers, and withers up their liver. Is it therefore wicked to speak evil things of the gods, but not wicked to think them? Or is it the thought that renders the voice of the blasphemer so offensive? And yet we censure abusive language as an indication of hostility, and those that speak evil of us we regard as enemies, as being treacherous and ill-disposed towards us. But you see what sort of things the superstitious think about the gods--imagining them to be furious, faithless, fickle, revengeful, cruel, covetous; from all which it necessarily follows that the superstitious man both hates and fears the gods: for how can he do otherwise, when he believes that the greatest evils have happened to him through their doing, and will happen to him again? Hating the gods and fearing them, he is their enemy; and though he may reverence and do obeisance, and sacrifice, and keep vigils in their temples, it is not to be wondered at, for people bow down before tyrants and pay court to them, and erect their statues in gold, but hate in silence all the time they are offering sacrifice to them. Hermolaus was physician to Alexander, Pausanias was a guardsman to Philip, Chaereas to Caligula, yet each one of these said to himself, as he followed his lord:-- "Revenge I will, if e'er I get the chance." The atheist thinks there are no gods, the superstitious man wishes there were none; but he believes in them in spite of himself, because he is afraid to die, and like as [p. 273] [paragraph continues] Tantalus seeks to evade the rock suspended over him, so does the latter evade his fear, by the weight of which he is no less oppressed, and would be content with, nay gladly accept the Atheist's state of mind, as a state of liberty. But as it is, Atheism has nothing in common with Superstition: for the superstitious man, though by inclination Atheist, is yet far too weak-minded to think about the gods what he wishes to think. And again Atheism is in no way responsible for Superstition--whereas Superstition has both supplied the cause for Atheism to come into being, .and after it is come, furnished it with an excuse--not, indeed, a just nor a sound one, but yet one not destitute of a certain plausibility; for it was not because they had discovered anything to be found fault with in the heavens, or in the stars, or in the seasons, or in the revolutions of the sun about the earth, the producers of day and night, or anything erroneous or disorderly in the mode of nutrition of living things, or in the growth of plants, that they passed sentence of Atheism upon the Universe; but it was the ridiculous doings and sufferings of Superstition, its impostures, witchcrafts, races in a circle, and beating of timbrels; its impure purifications, and uncleanly cleansings, its barbaric and illegal penances and self-defilement at the holy places, all these things have given occasion to some to say that it were better there should be no gods at all than that there should be any that accepted such worship, that took pleasure in such rites; gods so insolent, so covetous, so irritable. Were it not better for those Gauls and Scythians of old, to have no conception or notion of deities at all, nor acquired knowledge of them, than to believe there were gods that delighted in the blood of slaughtered men, and regarded such as the most perfect sacrifice, and religious ceremony? What an advantage had not it been to the Carthaginians to have taken Criteas or Diagoras for lawgiver from the [p. 274] first, rather than to have offered such victims as they used to offer to Saturn--not, as Empedocles says, when attacking such as sacrificed living things, "His metamorphosed child the sire himself Slaughters and offers vows--fool that he is," but with their eyes open, and knowingly did they sacrifice their own children. Childless persons used to buy infants of the poor, and slaughter [*1] them like so many lambs or chickens; the mother stood by, without a tear, without a groan, for should she weep, should she utter a groan, she was deprived of her price, and the child was sacrificed all the same: and the whole place was filled with noise in front of the image, by people sounding pipes and beating timbrels, in order that the sound of any lamentations might not be audible. Did the Typhons reign over us, or the Giants, after driving the gods from their thrones--what other sacrifices than these would they delight in, what other rites would they demand? Amastris, queen of Xerxes, being alarmed at something or other, buried men alive as offerings in her own stead to Hades--that god whom Plato calls " humane, wise and rich, controlling the ghosts by persuasion and by argument, and thence having got the name of Hades (the Pleaser)." Xenophanes, the naturalist, seeing the Egyptians beating their breasts and making lamentations at the festivals, advised them sensibly enough, saying, "If these people are gods, do not lament for them--if mortals do not sacrifice unto them." But no disease is so full of variations, so changeable in symptoms, so made up out of ideas opposed to, nay, rather, at war with one [p. 275] another, as is the disease called Superstition. We must, therefore, fly from it, but in a safe way, and to our own good--not like those who, running away from the attack of highwaymen, or wild beasts, or a fire, have entangled themselves in mazes that contain pitfalls as well as precipices: for thus, some people, when running away from Superstition, fall headlong into Atheism, both rugged and obstinate, and leap over that which lies between the two, namely, true Religion. [Erinnys, the Avenging Goddess] Footnotes ^258:1 "Excited feelings" in modern phrase. ^259:1 These words are clearly the continuation of the same quotation, but abbreviated into prose. Brutus quoted them when reduced to despair. ^260:1 deima, tarbos, as if derived from dein, and tarattein. ^260:2 The omen derived from words casually heard upon commencing any business--a thing to which great importance was then attached. ^261:1 A remarkable allusion to the influence of Judaism amongst the Greeks of the second century. ^261:2 Such as praying with the head bent down and held between the two knees; regularly practised by the Buddhists in great acts of devotion, and copied by their disciples in Syria. ^261:3 The long strings of Hebrew titles found on the talismans of the age, and even on public monuments, like the inscription at Miletus, which invokes the protection of IAU with his permutation of the seven vowels. ^262:1 A curious but effectual provision for securing their humane treatment. ^264:1 The not hearing the voice of the Muses. ^266:1 Fanning the flame of the evil. ^266:2 di ayton ton nun, which looks like a corruption, perhaps tun nun "of his present calamities:" di ayton," "through his own fault." ^267:1 Many kinds of food were forbidden in different religions, as pork to the Egyptians and their colonies, fish to the Syrians, all roots to the devotees of Cybele, &c., the mystic motives for which Julian has explained at length in his "Hymn to the Mother of the Gods." ^269:1 en agnamptois, which Reiske renders "vestibus non pexis," i.e. "sordidis," as if the reading were agnaptois: an absurd explanation every way, for the Jews always wear their best on the Sabbath. That profound Hebraist, Mr. Sinker, has solved the enigma for me; he points out that asaleyta,"immovable," is the regular Greek name for "phylacteries," because of the immobility the devout were bound to maintain whilst wearing them, and of which the Rabbinical writers give many instances. The Greek words for "immovable" and "inflexible" might very well be used as equivalent for the same article. These phylacteries, strips of leather with Scripture texts written on them, are always worn by Jews when saying their prayers. After all, en agnamptois may be nothing more than adverbially used for "inflexibly." In the wet August of 1881 the Sundays alone were fine; the farmers allowed the cut wheat to rot on the ground rather than labour to house it. Common sense has not advanced in nearly two thousand years. ^271:1 Evidently part of a chorus, addressed to Artemis in the character of Hecate, Queen of Hell; hopelessly corrupt, but a few words have escaped here and there, enough to enable us to recognize the usual attributes of the goddess. ^271:2 Some words lost here. ^274:1 The word here is used in its strict sense of "cutting the throats:" the children were not burnt alive, but their quivering bodies were placed on the extended palms of the great Moloch, whence they tumbled into the fiery pit below, as Davies has shown in his "Carthage," chapter "Moloch and his Victims." Plutarch's Morals: Theosophical Essays, tr. by Charles William King, [1908], at sacred-texts.com [p. 276] [p. 277] APPENDIX. P. . E for "Thou Art."--The Zohar uses "Atha," "Thou," as a synonym for God, in exactly the same sense that the E is here interpreted--a declaration of His self-existence. A well-known gem (Paris), bearing the portrait of Pescennius Niger, with a serpent placed across a burning altar in front, has also a long inscription, chiefly in initials; but which give, in full, the title O UN, "He that is," to the "Holy King Apollo," who had restored that virtuous emperor to health. This fact is expressed by the offering of the Serpent, that regular attribute of the god of medicine. P. . The Delphic E.--Schliemann's little gold model of a shrine ("Mycenae," No. 423) presents, upon each of its three panels, this letter, of the same form as when engraved on Roman talismans; but laid upon its back, like the caste-mark still in use. But the finder takes the central bar for a column, and ignores the remainder of the figure, comparing this part to the central pillar of the famous sculpture over the "Gate of the Lions." The sigil, thus arranged, at once suggests the origin of Apollo's signet, the anchor--the birth-mark of his progeny, the Seleucidae. A symbol of undying vitality, it has been lately found amongst the Masons' marks cut on the ashlar of the Templars' Chapelle de la Courvoirie, at Langley, Cote d'Or, see Nos. 20, 21 in the copy published in the "Bulletin de la Soc. Art. de France," for 1881, p. 212. [p. 278] P. . Phylacteries.--This solution of the difficulty must be abandoned. I am informed, upon the highest authority, that the phylacteries are not worn on the Sabbath, which typifying the same idea renders the use of the minor type unnecessary. In favour of the alternative explanation "without bending a limb," I may adduce the fact that the Karaite Jews (who pique themselves upon the strictest observance of the Law of Moses, rejecting all tradition) used, till our own times, to observe the Sabbath by sitting motionless on the same seat from its commencement to its close. Plutarch evidently is alluding to the massacre of unresisting congregations in the Maccabaean War; after which event the Rabbis discovered a sense in the words of Moses that permitted resistance against attack even on the Sabbath day. [Apollo, with the earliest Pythia, Herophile] Plutarch's Morals: Theosophical Essays, tr. by Charles William King, [1908], at sacred-texts.com [p. 279] INDEX. "Above" and " Below" defined, . Acanthians and Brasidas, Hall of, . Achamoth, Logos, note, . Adamantine pillars of Earth, . Admirals, statues of the, . Aegon of Argos, inscription of his date, . Aeolic dialect used in an oracle, . Aeschylus quoted, . Aetna, eruptions of, . Agesilaus, oracle given to, . Air, plants living on, . Alastores, . Alcaeus, quoted, . Alexander, holding the thunderbolt, . Alyattes, crater-stand of, . Amastris, buries men alive, . "Ammon," whence derived, . Ammon's Oracle, decay of, . Amphiaraus, consulted by Mardonius, . Amulet, worn by Isis, . Amulets, use of, . Anacampsarodes, . Anaxagoras, of the Moon, , . Animal-forms assumed by gods, . Animal-worship, source of, . --cause of a recent civil war, ib. Antigonus, joke of, . "Antiphraxis" of Pythagoras, . Antipodes, ridiculed, . Anubis, son of Nephthys, . Apelles and Lysippus, . Apis, conception of, . --the image of the soul of Osiris, . --tomb of, . "Apollo," Changed to Fire, . --a logician, . --generator of the Logos, . "Apollo " for "Unity," . Apollo, one with Sun, . --the same with Sun, . Apollo's titles, true sense of, . --golden top-knot, . --titles, . Archilochus quoted, . Aristarchus, on the Moon's magnitude, . Aristodemus of Ithome, . Argo, the boat of Osiris, . Ark, sacred golden, . Arimanios, god of Ignorance, . Aristagoras, quoted, . Aristarchus, "On Magnitudes and Distances," . Aristotle, on Gravitation, . Aristotle's " Quintessence," . Asbestos of Carystus, . Asp, why sacred, . Ass, type of Typhon, . Astrological interpretations of myths, . [p. 280] Atheism defined, . Atheism and Superstition, . Axe of Tenedos, . Bacchus, identified with Osiris, . --metamorphosis of, . Bacis, oracles of, . Battus, oracle given to, . Beam sawn in two at Earth's centre, . "Bebon," title of Typhon, . Beetle, signet of the military class, . "Blue-eyed Moon," . --glowing coal colour of, ib. Boats, vehicles of Sun and Moon, . Britain, visited by Demetrius, . British hermits, . Britons, living in the ocean, . Bronze, ancient tempering of, . --blue rust of Delphic, ib. --native malleable, . Bull's foot, god with the, . Calligraphy of Imperial rescripts, . Cambyses kills Apis, . "Canopus " = a pilot, . Canopus, oracle at, . Carthaginians, their human sacrifices, . Cat, emblem of Moon, . "Centre," doctrine of the, . Centre, theory of the, . Chaeremon, quoted, . Chaldean religion, . "Chemeia," pupil of the eye, . Chrysippus," Upon Probabilities," . Cilicia, governor of, . Coretus, discovers the Delphic oracle, . Clea, celebrates the Dionysea at Delphi, . Clearchus, quoted, . Cleombrotus of Lacedaemon, . --his discussion with the Indian hermit, . "Cobre dos labradores," note, Cock, offered to Osiris and Anubis, . Coffin of Osiris, . Coin-types, why chosen, . Contrariety necessary to creation, . Corinthian brass, how discovered, . Counters, game of, . Crates, of Ocean, . Creation, Plato's theory of, . Croesus' baker, statue of, . Crocodile, eating of, . --sagacity of, . --type of Typhon, . "Crow" guides the Delians to Tagyrae, . Crown of the Chalcidians, . Cube, properties of the, . --type of Rest, . Cubical dimensions of altar, to double, . Cups of gold, for money, . Continent, the Great, . Cumae, destruction of, . Curse, engraved on column, . Cydnus, swords tempered in, . Cypselus, Hall of, . "Daemon," for Evil Principle, . "Daemons clothed in mist," Hesiod's, . --Greek legends about, . --punished for sin, . --raised to gods, . --rites connected with, . --seeking for human bodies, . --spirits separated from the body, . --subject to mortality, . --their extinction attended with storms, . --their origin in the Moon, . --theories concerning, . --tormented in the Moon, . --waiting on Saturn, . Death, the Second, . Delphi, density of air at, . [p. 281] Delphi, rebuilt by the Romans, . Delphic donaria coined by the tyrants, . Delphic guides, . --oracle, how discovered, . --procession, . --prophetesses, their number, . Demeter, lunar deity, . Demetrius of Tarsus, . --visits the Holy Isle, . Depopulation of Greece, . Dew, daughter of Jove, . "Dairy of Boeotia," . Dice, thrown at Delphi, . Dictys, foster-father of Isis, . Didymus the Cynic, . Dioscuri, stars of the, . "Discord" of Empedocles, . Dog, emblem of Hermes, . "Dog," title of Anubis, . "Doors of Osiris," . Double-meaning of oracles, cause of, . Dragon haunting Tegyrae, . Dreams, people without, . --the averting of, . Druidical seminary (?), . E, for "Thou Art," . EI, true sound of E, . E of Delphi, the numeral Five, . E, why dedicated at Delphi, . Earless Jupiter, . Earth, a living creature, . --and Water, image of, . --and Water, Temple of, . --viewed from the Moon, . Earth's position, changes in, . --revolution taught, . --shadow, a cone, . Earthquakes, unknown in Gaul, . Eclipse, cause of, . --how produced, . --poetical descriptions of, . Egypt, once sea, . Egypt visited by the Greek philosophers, . Electrum gold in fashion, . Elements, how separated and distributed, . Elements, Plato's symbols of, . Emblems, explained, . Empedocles' Discord and Amity, . --quoted, . --of dye-stuffs, . --of the tortoise, . --on daemons, . --on eclipses, . --on the light of Sun and Moon, . --on the punishment of daemons, . --on the substance of the Moon, . Epimenides, quoted, . Epitherses, his strange story, . Erica, overgrows the coffin of Osiris, . Etesian winds, . Eudoxus, quoted, . --visits Egypt, . Euripides' Cyclops, . --lines to Archelaus, . Euripides, of sacrifices, . --on Good and Evil, . Evemerus, his theory, . Exhalation, Delphic, sometimes fatal in its action, . --affecting oracles, . --the Delphic, its nature and action, . Exile of gods explained, . Existence, defined, . Eyes inserted in statues, . "Eyes of Horus," festival, . "Face in the Moon," caused by cavities in her surface, . --terrifies the wicked souls, . --various theories about the, . False ideas of God, their evils, . [p. 282] Fates, places of the Three, . Fig-leaf, like a crow's-foot, . Fish, emblem of hatred, . --forbidden, , . Five children at a birth, . --gods born of Rhea, . --how generated, . --properties of the numeral, -. --worlds, the, . "Fives, counting by," . Flax, why sacred, . Flute, original use of, . "Four," Pythagorean oath, . Forbidden meats, . Frogs and snakes, emblems of spring, . Geld, Hiero, and Thrasybulus, . "Generation," length of a, . Generative power typified, . Geometrical figures dedicated to gods, . Geometrical figures symbols of the Elements, . GOD, the true idea of, . Gods, deified men, . Good and Evil, duration of their struggle, . --origin of, . Gradovo, exhalation at, note, . Grammatical problems, . Gravitation, theory of, . Greek names for Egyptian gods, . Guides to the Delphic donaria, . "Hades," derived by Plato, . --the body imprisoning the soul, . --whence named, . Human first-fruits dedicated to Apollo, . --sacrifices, . Harpocrates, birth of, . Hawk, type of God, . "He that is," title of Apollo, . Head of victim cursed, . Heat, generated by motion, . Hecataeus, quoted, . Hegesianax, on the Face in the Moon, , . Hell, description of, . Heraclitus, his "Harmony," . --of Identity, . --of the Final Cause, . Hercules directs the Sun, . --knocks down Logic, . Hermes directs the Moon, . --Earthly and Heavenly, . Hermolaus, Alexander's physician, . Hesiod, on the office of daemons, . --on daemons, . --on the Elements, . --on the duration of life, . Hiero's column at Delphi, . Hieroglyphic types explained, . Hierosolymus and Judaeus, sons of Typhon, . Hipparchus, quoted, . Homer's limited notions of God, . Homer, of Past, Present, and Future, . --of Tartarus, . --proofs of usages derived from, . --on daemons, . Horus and Typhon, group of, . --birthday of, . --his answers to Osiris, . --image of the Intelligible World, . Ibis, why sacred, . Ichneumon, why sacred, . Idaei Dactyli, good daemons, . Idolatry, source of, . Impious piety, . Impudence, emblem of, . Incense, varieties of, . Indian hermit, by the Red Sea, . Infinity of worlds, . Inspiration, double source of, . --theory of verbal, . Instruments, fitting, chosen for Divine ends, . [p. 283] "Intelligible," and "Sensible" Creation, . Interpreter of oracles, official, Inundation, Nilar, heights of, . Invocations in barbarian tongues, . Ion, quoted, . Isiacists, funeral robes of, . Isis and Osiris = Earth and Nile, . "Isis," derivation of, . --principle of Nature, --proceeding out of self," . --searches after the body of Osiris, . "Isis-hair," sea-weed, . Isosceles triangle, type of the universe, . Ivy, the "plant of Osiris," . Jewish notions, alluded to, . Jews, their observance of the Sabbath, . Justice, figured without hands, . "Kaimis," title of Horus, . "Knemosiris," ivy, . Kneph, sole god of the Thebaid, . Knowledge, prime attribute of God, . "Know thyself," Delphic motto, . Kyphi, how composed, . Lamp, of Ammon, . Legs grown into one, Jupiter's, . Life, duration of, . Life, stages of human, . Lion, tumbled out of the Moon, . Livia dedicates the Golden E, . "Logos," Reason, . --whence derived, . Love-affairs, ruled by Isis, . Love, fable of the birth of, . Lunar inhabitants, diet of, . Lyre, used by the Pythagoreans, . Lysander, slain by a dragon, . --statue of, . Man, "a celestial plant," . "Maneros," explained, . Manes, king of Phrygia, . Manetho, quoted, , . Mardonius, answer of oracle to, . "Marriage," the numeral Five, . Moon, atmosphere of, . Matter, Plato's "Poverty," . "Meadow of Hades," . "Measuring the lion by his talon," . Megasthenes, quoted, . Memory, nature of, . Metamorphosis of deities, . Mithras, intermediate principle, . Metrodorus' theory of Creation, . Mimnermus, quoted, . Minerva of Sais, . Mirrors, concave, effect of, . --reflection of rays in, . Mithidoes, shrub, . Moisture, typified by Osiris, . Molds, without a head, . Months, Egyptian names of, . --feast-days of the, . Moon, abode of Hermes, . --cavities in surface of, . --a feminine star, . --a fiery body, . --apparent diameter of, . --composed of air and fire, . --her colours during an eclipse, . --her utility to man, . --how illuminated, . --how supported in space, . --of what composed, . --possibly inhabited? . [p. 284] Moon's actual surface of various bright colours, . --atmosphere, fiery, . --distance from Earth, . --magnitude, . --nature heterogeneous, . --natural colour, . Mopsuestia, Oracle at, how tested, . "More Worlds than One," . Motto, put up at Delphi, . Muses, Temple of the, . Music, why given to Apollo, . Musical notation, . Mnevis, king, . Nails, not to be cut on holy days, . Names, taken at random, . Nature, typified by Isis, . Natural properties modified by position, . "Natural Science" charlatans, . Nephthys and Typhon, their legend explained, . Nephthys, wife of Typhon, . Nicias, superstition of, . Nick-names of celebrated persons, . Nile, inundations of, . --its connection with Osiris, . Nocturnal and mournful rites explained, . Number, a form of Matter, . Numerals expressing deities, . Nymphs, duration of life, . Ocean, origin of all things, . --reflected on the Moon, . Ochus, "The Ass," . "The Sword," . Octahedron, for air, . Ogygia, island, . Olympian altar of ashes, . Omens, derived from children's cries, . --given by donaria, . "Omphalos," at Delphi, . "Ompis," title of Osiris, . "One," and " Now," God, . Optical theories, . Opuntians, send back the coined donaria, . Oracle given by the Sibyl, . --given to Agesilaus, . --to Philip V., ib. Oracles, affected by natural causes, . --extinguished together with their presiding daemons, . --formerly numerous in Greece, . --given in prose, . --in verse, collections of, . --only hint at the Future, . --verified by the event, . Oromazes, god of Light, . "Osiris" = a general, . Osiris and Typhon = Moisture and Drought, . --the Two Principles, . Osiris, hieroglyph of, . --Isis, &c., true nature of, . --his body torn in 14 pieces by Typhon, . --history of, . --how entrapped by Typhon, ib. --"Many-eyed," . "Overturning the altar of Earth," . "Owl-faced " Moon, . Oxyrinchus, . Palm-tree of the Athenians, . --of the Corinthians, . Pamylia, Phallic festival, . "Pan, the great, is dead," . Parmenides, of the Moon, . --quoted, . Parturition, Moon's influence on, . Pausanias, oracle concerning, . --Philip's guard, . Pauson's reversible horse, . Persephone, office of, . Persea, sacred tree, . Phagrus, fish, . [p. 285] Phallus, origin of the, , . Pharos, once an island, . Pharsalia the Dancer, . Philip V. oracle given to, . Philosophers, respective ages of, . Phryne, golden statue of, . --origin of name, ib. Phylacteries of the Jews, . Pindar, of Apollo, . --of the Sun, . Planets, their relative distances, . Plato, of Efficient and Final Causes, . --of Music, . --of the Elements, . --of the Moon, . --on daemons, , . --on the Two Principles, . Plato's amatory verses, . --"auspicious idols," . --"Cratylus," quoted, . --doctrine of Providence, . --Marriage Scheme, . --nomenclature of the Principles, . --"One" and "Other," . --plurality of worlds, , . --"True World," . Platonist explanation of Egyptian Myths, . "Plough with a silver share," . Plurality of Providences necessitated by plurality of Worlds, . Polygnotus, his picture at Delphi, . "Pool of the Spring," . Pottery, burning of, . Praxiteles' mistress, statue of, . Principles, the Two, . "Prison of Hecate," . Prophecy, mere guess-work, . --its fulfilment explained, . Prophetic power of departing souls, . Purgatory in the Middle Space, . Pyramid, for Fire, . Pythagoras, of worship, . --scholar of Onyphis, . Pythagorean maxims derived from Egypt, ib. --names for the Two Principles, . --symbols, . Pythia, character of the, . --the instrument of the Oracle, . Python, a daemon, . Qualities of Nature, the Five, . Quarterings of the Moon explained, . Queries begin with If," . Questions, trivial, put to the Oracle, . "Quintessence," the Fifth Element, . Quintuple division of all Nature, . Rationalistic explanations, . Razors, known to Homer, . "Reason, He that rules by," . "Reason," Logos, typified by Osiris, . --of the Stoics, . Red-hair, typical of Typhon, . Red Sea, vegetation in, . Reflection of rays on the Moon, . Resin, work of Sun and Moon, . Rhodope, iron spits of, . Rites, absurd, reason for, . Ritualistic contortions, . River-horse, type of impudence, . Sabbath-keeping by Greeks, . Salt, why forbidden, . "Same and Different," Plato's, . "Satiety," vacation of the Oracle, . Saturn, enchanted slumber of, . --Greeks deputed to, . --prison of, . Saturn's prophetic dreams, . Scythinus, quoted. . [p. 286] "Sea of Saturn," 246. --the seed of Saturn, 27. --various colours of, 231. Seasons, alteration in the, 75. "Seeking for Osiris," festival, 45. Senses, compared to the Elements, 186. Serapis, how brought into Egypt, 23. "Serapis " = Osiris and Apis, 24. Serapis, theories concerning, 23. Serpent of Pallas, 65. "Seth," name of Typhon, 53. Seven, virtues of the numeral, 176. Shield-device, dragon, 169. Sibyl, Rock of the, 147. --becomes the Face in the Moon, ib. Signet-type of the "Sealer," 26. Silence of the Oracles explained, 118. Sistrum, type of creation, 54. Slaves, their privilege of changing masters, 262. "Sleep, sweet balm of," 260. Smoke, Indians living on, 239. Solar eclipse, phenomena of a recent, 225. --light, transmission of, 222. Sophocles' "Admetus" quoted, 89. --of physicians, 206. Sothis, the Dog-star, 18. Souls, fly up to the Moon, 252. Soul, how dissolved into its components, 256. --its composition and dissolution, 251. Soul's nature like that of the Moon, 257. Souls, their occupation in the Moon, 253. "Speculative " philosophy, 67. Spiders, abundance of, 74. Standards in the shape of animals, 62. Stars, the souls of great men, 18. Stoic doctrine about gods and daemons, 94. --explanation of the gods, 35. --theory of the Moon, 202. Sun, nourished by moisture, 150. --the sensible type of God, 193. --confounded with Apollo, 193. --wars against Jupiter, 31. Sun's distance from Earth, 209. "Sun's Walking-stick," festival, 45. Sunset, cause of, 227. Superstition defined, 258. Swallow, Isis becomes a, 13. Sweet smells, virtue of, 69. Swine, why unclean, 7. Swords, of native bronze, 125. Syene, climate of, 241. --gnomon at, 75. Sylla's story, 245. Symbolism, dangerous results of, 57. Syrian Goddess, 272. Tagyrae, Apollo's birthplace, 77. Tenedos, the axe of, 150. Thales, the "Astronomy " of, 157. Theophrastus, on daemons, 95. Thera, eruption at, 149. "Thou art," addressed to Apollo, 190. "Thou art," and "Know thyself," meaning of, 196. Tisaphernes, 267. Tiberius, examines the story of Thamus, 93. Tides, produced by the Moon, 243. Timanthes, 271. Time, dispersion of, 192. --predicates of, 192. Tityi and Typhones, 256. "Tomb of Osiris," city, 17. Tongue, offered to Fortune, 58. Tonsure, reason of, 3. Tortoise of Venus, 65. Trident, meaning of the, 65. Triangle, equilateral, symbol of Minerva, 66. Triangle, sacred to Pluto, 26. Trifles prove great things, 74. Triple nature of the Good Principle, 48. Trophies inscribed at Delphi, 153. "Truth, the Plain of," 99. [p. 287] Tyndaridae, assist mariners, . Typhon, animals sacred to, . --customs relating to, . Typhon's soul divided amongst his sacred animals, . Unity of God, . Unity, symbol of Apollo, . Universe, governed by Reason, . "Unlucky days," belong to daemons, . "Upwards," and "Downwards," . Vacuum, the Final Cause, . Veil, black, when used, . Verse, ancient universal use of, . --oracles in, discontinued, . Versification of Oracles, argument against inspiration, . Versification of Oracles, its badness, . Vestments of Isis, their symbolism, . Vesuvius, eruption of, . Victim, signs given by the, . Violet, the antique, . "Voice, a true," amulet, . "Wailing, Doors of," . Wallowing in mud, religious, . "Water-carrier of Isis,'' title of Sirius, . Weasel, type of Reason, . Wine, forbidden the priests, . "Wise Men," their true number, . "Woman-hater," title of Hercules, . --his priest bound to chastity, ib. Wooden E of the Wise Men, . "Word," Logos, is Osiris, . "Words that walked," . Worlds, Plurality of, . --plurality of, objections against, . Xenocrates on daemons, . Xenophanes joke of, . Xenophon, quoted, . Year, shortening of the, . Yellow complexion of Phryne, . "Ysiris" for "Osiris," . "Zagreus," title of Bacchus, . Zoroaster, doctrine of, . [Deus Luna] ____________________________________________________________________________ CHISWICK PRESS:--C. WHITTINGHAM AND CO., TOOKS COURT. CHANCERY LANE.