[D] Ἀλλ᾽ ἵνα μὴ πλείω περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν λέγων διατρίβω, τὰς τροπὰς ἐργαζόμενος, ὥσπερ ἴσμεν, πατὴρ ὡρῶν ἐστιν, οὐκ ἀπολείπων δὲ οὐδαμῶς τοὺς πόλους Ὠκεανὸς ἂν εἴη, διπλῆς ἡγεμὼν οὐσίας. μῶν ἀσαφές τι καὶ τοῦτο λέγομεν, ἐπείπερ πρὸ ἡμῶν αὐτὸ καὶ Ὅμηρος ἔφη·

However, not to dwell too long on the same subject; since he causes the winter and summer solstice, Helios is, as we know, the father of the seasons; and since he never forsakes the poles, he is Oceanus, the lord of two-fold substance. My meaning here is not obscure, is it, seeing that before my time Homer said the same thing?

θνητῶν τε θεῶν θ᾽, ὡς ἂν αὐτὸς φαίη, μακάρων; [pg 404] ἀληθῶς. [148] ἒν γὰρ τῶν πάντων οὐδέν ἐστιν, ὃ μὴ τῆς Ὠκεανοῦ πέφυκεν οὐσίας ἔκγονον. ἀλλὰ τί τοῦτο πρὸς τοὺς πόλους; βούλει σοι φράσω; καίτοι σιωπᾶσθαι κρεῖσσον ἦν· εἰρήσεται δὲ ὅμως.

(yes, for mortals and for the blessed gods too, as he himself would say; and what he says is true. For there is no single thing in the whole of existence that is not the offspring of the substance of Oceanus. But what has that to do with the poles? Shall I tell you? It were better indeed to keep silence717; but for all that I will speak.)

Λέγεται γοῦν, εἰ καὶ μὴ πάντες ἑτοίμως ἀποδέχονται, ὁ δίσκος ἐπὶ τῆς ἀνάστρου φέρεσθαι πολὺ τῆς ἀπλανοῦς ὑψηλότερος· καὶ οὕτω δὴ718 τῶν μὲν πλανωμένων οὐχ ἕξει τὸ μέσον, τριῶν δὲ τῶν κόσμων κατὰ τὰς τελεστικὰς [B] ὑποθέσεις, εἰ χρὴ τὰ τοιαῦτα καλεῖν ὑποθέσεις, ἀλλὰ μὴ ταῦτα μὲν δόγματα, τὰ δὲ τῶν σφαιρικῶν ὑποθέσεις. οἱ μὲν γὰρ θεῶν ἢ δαιμόνων μεγάλων δή τινων ἀκούσαντές φασιν, οἱ δὲ ὑποτίθενται τὸ πιθανὸν ἐκ τῆς πρὸς τὰ φαινόμενα συμφωνίας. αἰνεῖν μὲν οὖν ἄξιον καὶ τούσδε, πιστεύειν δὲ ἐκείνοις ὅτῳ βέλτιον εἶναι δοκεῖ, τοῦτον ἐγὼ παίζων καὶ σπουδάζων ἄγαμαί τε καὶ τεθαύμακα. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν δὴ ταύτῃ, φασί.

(Some say then, even though all men are not ready to believe it, that the sun travels in the starless heavens far above the region of the fixed stars. And on this theory he will not be stationed midmost among the planets but midway between the three worlds: that is, according to the hypothesis of the mysteries, if indeed one ought to use the word “hypothesis” and not rather say “established truths,” using the word “hypothesis” for the study of the heavenly bodies. For the priests of the mysteries tell us what they have been taught by the gods or mighty daemons, whereas the astronomers make plausible hypotheses from the harmony that they observe in the visible spheres. It is proper, no doubt, to approve the astronomers as well, but where any man thinks it better to believe the priests of the mysteries, him I admire and revere, both in jest and earnest. And so much for that, as the saying is.719)

[C] Πολὺ δὲ πρὸς οἷς ἔφην πλῆθός ἐστι περὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν θεῶν, οὓς κατενόησαν οἱ τὸν οὐρανὸν μὴ παρέργως μηδὲ ὥσπερ τὰ βοσκήματα θεωροῦντες.720 τοὺς τρεῖς γὰρ τετραχῇ τέμνων διὰ τῆς τοῦ ζῳοφόρου [pg 406] κύκλου πρὸς ἕκαστον αὐτῶν κοινωνίας τοῦτον αὖθις τὸν ζῳοφόρον εἰς δώδεκα θεῶν δυνάμεις διαιρεῖ, καὶ μέντοι τούτων ἕκαστον εἰς τρεῖς, ὥστε ποιεῖν ἓξ ἐπὶ τοῖς τριάκοντα. ἔνθεν οἶμαι καθήκει ἄνωθεν ἡμῖν ἐξ οὐρανῶν [D] τριπλῆ χαρίτων δόσις, ἐκ τῶν κύκλων, οὗς ὁ θεὸς ὅδε τετραχῇ τέμνων τὴν τετραπλῆν ἐπιπέμπει τῶν ὡρῶν ἀγλαΐαν, αἳ δὴ τὰς τροπὰς ἔχουσι τῶν καιρῶν. κύκλον τοι καὶ αἱ Χάριτες ἐπὶ γῆς διὰ τῶν ἀγαλμάτων μιμοῦνται. χαριτοδότης721 δέ ἐστιν ὁ Διόνυσος ἐς ταὐτὸ λεγόμενος Ἡλίῳ συμβασιλεύειν. τύ οὖν ἔτι σοι τὸν Ὧρον λέγω καὶ τἇλλα θεῶν ὀνόματα, τὰ πάντα Ἡλίῳ προσήκοντα; συνῆκαν γὰρ ἅνθρωποι τὸν θεὸν ἐξ ὧν ὁ θεὸς [149] ὅδε ἐργάζεται, τὸν σύμπαντα οὐρανὸν τοῖς νοεροῖς ἀγαθοῖς τελειωσάμενος καὶ μεταδοὺς αὐτῷ τοῦ νοητοῦ κάλλους, ἀρξάμενοί τε ἐκεῖθεν ὅλον τε αὐτὸν καὶ τὰ μέρη τῇ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἁδρᾷ722 δόσει. πᾶσαν γὰρ ἐπιτροπεύει723 κίνησιν ἄχρι τῆς τελευταίας τοῦ κόσμου λ\ηξεως· φύσιν τε καὶ ψυχὴν καὶ πᾶν ὅ,τι ποτέ ἐστι, πάντα πανταχοῦ τελειοῦται. τὴν δὲ τοσαύτην στρατιὰν τῶν θεῶν εἰς μίαν ἡγεμονικὴν [B] ἕνωσιν συντάξας Ἀθηνᾷ Προνοίᾳ παρέδωκεν, ἣν ὁ μὲν μῦθός φησιν ἐκ τῆς [pg 408] τοῦ Διὸς γενέσθαι κορυφῆς, ἡμεῖς δὲ ὅλην ἐξ ὅλου τοῦ βασιλέως Ἡλίου προβληθῆναι συνεχομένην ἐν αὐτῷ, ταύτῃ διαφέροντες τοῦ μύθου, ὅτι μὴ ἐκ τοῦ ἀκροτάτου μέρους, ὅλην δὲ ἐξ ὅλου· ἐπεὶ τἆλλά γε οὐδὲν διαφέρειν Ἡλίου Δία νομίζοντες ὁμολογοῦμεν τῇ παλαιᾷ φήμῃ. καὶ τοῦτο δὲ αὐτὸ Πρόνοιαν Ἀθηνᾶν λέγοντες οὐ καινοτομοῦμεν, εἴπερ ὀρθῶς ἀκούομεν·

(Now besides those whom I have mentioned, there is in the heavens a great multitude of gods who have been recognised as such by those who survey the heavens, not casually, nor like cattle. For as he divides the three spheres by four through the zodiac,724 which is associated with every one of the three, so he divides the zodiac also into twelve divine powers; and again he divides every one of these twelve by three, so as to make thirty-six gods in725 all. Hence, as I believe, there descends from above, from the heavens to us, a three-fold gift of the Graces: I mean from the spheres, for this god, by thus dividing them by four, sends to us the fourfold glory of the seasons, which express the changes of time. And indeed on our earth the Graces imitate a circle726 in their statues. And it is Dionysus who is the giver of the Graces, and in this very connection he is said to reign with Helios. Why should I go on to speak to you of Horus727 and of the other names of gods, which all belong to Helios? For from his works men have learned to know this god, who makes the whole heavens perfect through the gift of intellectual blessings, and gives it a share of intelligible beauty; and taking the heavens as their starting-point, they have learned to know him both as a whole and his parts also, from his abundant bestowal of good gifts. For he exercises control over all movement, even to the lowest plane of the universe. And everywhere he makes all things perfect, nature and soul and everything that exists. And marshalling together this great army of the gods into a single commanding unity, he handed it over to Athene Pronoia728 who, as the legend says, sprang from the head of Zeus, but I say that she was sent forth from Helios whole from the whole of him, being contained within him; though I disagree with the legend only so far as I assert that she came forth not from his highest part, but whole from the whole of him. For in other respects, since I believe that Zeus is in no wise different from Helios, I agree with that ancient tradition. And in using this very phrase Athene Pronoia, I am not innovating, if I rightly understand the words:)

[C] οὕτως ἄρα καὶ τοῖς παλαιοῖς ἐφαίνετο Ἀθηνᾶ Πρόνοια σύνθρονος Ἀπόλλωνι τῷ νομιζομένῳ μηδὲν Ἡλίου διαφέρειν. μή ποτε οὖν καὶ θείᾳ μοίρᾳ τοῦτο Ὅμηρος· ἦν γάρ, ὡς εἰκός, θεόληπτος· ἀπεμαντεύσατο πολλαχοῦ τῆς ποιήσεως·

(This proves that the ancients also thought that Athene Pronoia shared the throne of Apollo, who, as we believe, differs in no way from Helios. Indeed, did not Homer by divine inspiration—for he was, we may suppose, possessed by a god—reveal this truth, when he says often in his poems:)

ὑπὸ Διὸς δήπουθεν, ὅσπερ ἐστὶν ὁ αὐτὸς Ἡλίῳ; καθάπερ δ᾽731 ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἀπόλλων ἐπικοινωνεῖ διὰ τῆς ἁπλότητος τῶν νοήσεων Ἡλίῳ, οὕτω δὲ καὶ τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν [D] νομιστέον ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ παραδεξαμένην τὴν οὐσίαν οὖσάν τε αὐτοῦ τελείαν νόησιν συνάπτειν μὲν τοὺς περὶ τὸν Ἥλιον θεοὺς αὖ τῷ βασιλεῖ τῶν ὅλων Ἡλίῳ δίχα συγχύσεως εἰς [pg 410] ἕνωσιν, αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν ἄχραντον καὶ καθαρὰν ζωὴν ἁπ᾽ ἅκρας ἁψῖδος οὐρανοῦ διὰ τῶν ἑπτὰ κύκλων ἄχρι τῆς Σελήνης [150] νέμουσαν ἐποχετεύειν, ἣν ἡ θεὸς ἥδε τῶν κυκλικῶν οὖσαν σωμάτων ἐσχάτην ἐπλήρωσε τῆς φρονήσεως, ὑφ᾽ ἧς ἡ Σελήνη τά τε ὑπὲρ τὸν οὐρανὸν θεωρεῖ νοητὰ καὶ τὰ ὑφ᾽ ἑαυτὴν κοσμοῦσα τὴν ὕλην τοῖς εἴδεσιν ἀναιρεῖ τὸ θηριῶδες αὐτῆς καὶ ταραχῶδες καὶ ἄτακτον. ἀνθρώποις δὲ ἀγαθὰ δίδωσιν Ἀθηνᾶ σοφίαν τό732 τε νοεῖν καὶ τὰς δημιουργικὰς τέχνας. κατοικεῖ δὲ τὰς ἀκροπόλεις αὕτη δήπουθεν καταστησαμένη τὴν πολιτικὴν διὰ σοφίας κοινωνίαν. [B] ὀλίγα ἔτι περὶ Ἀφροδίτης, ἣν συνεφάπτεσθαι τῆς δημιουργίας τῷ θεῷ Φοινίκων ὁμολογοῦσιν οἱ λόγιοι, καὶ ἐγὼ πείθομαι. ἔστι δὴ οὖν αὕτη σύγκρασις τῶν οὐρανίων θεῶν, καὶ τῆς ἁρμονίας αὐτῶν ἔτι φιλία καὶ ἕνωσις. Ἡλίου γὰρ ἐγγὺς οὖσα καὶ συμπεριθέουσα καὶ πλησιάζουσα πληροῖ μὲν τὸν οὐρανὸν εὐκρασίας, ἐνδίδωσι δὲ τὸ γόνιμον τῇ γῇ, προμηθουμένη καὶ αὐτὴ τῆς ἀειγενεσίας τῶν ζῴων, ἧς ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς Ἥλιος ἔχει τὴν πρωτουργὸν αἰτίαν, ἀφροδίτη δὲ αὐτῷ συναίτιος, [C] ἡ θέλγουσα μὲν τὰς ψυχὰς ἡμῶν σὺν εὐφροσύνῃ, καταπέμπουσα δὲ εἰς γῆν ἐξ αἰθέρος αὐγὰς ἡδίστας καὶ ἀκηράτους [pg 412] αὐτοῦ τοῦ χρυσίου στιλπνοτέρας. ἔτι ἐπιμετρῆσαι733 βούλομαι τῆς Φοινίκων θεολογίας· εἰ δὲ μὴ μάτην, ὁ λόγος προïὼν δείξει. οἱ τὴν Ἔμεσαν734 οἰκοῦντες, ἱερὸν ἐξ αἰῶνος Ἡλίου χωρίον, Μόνιμον αὐτῷ καὶ Ἄζιζον συγκαθιδρύουσιν. [D] αἰνίττεσθαί φησιν Ἰάμβλιχος, παρ᾽ οὗ καὶ τᾶλλα πάντα ἐκ πολλῶν μικρὰ ἐλάβομεν, ὡς ὁ Μόνιμος μὲν Ἑρμῆς εἴη, Ἄζιζος δὲ Ἄρης, Ἡλίου πάρεδροι, πολλὰ καὶ ἀγαθὰ τῷ περὶ γῆν ἐποχετεύοντες τόπῳ.

(—by Zeus, that is to say, who is identical with Helios? And just as King Apollo, through the singleness of his thoughts, is associated with Helios, so also we must believe that Athene735 has received her nature from Helios, and that she is his intelligence in perfect form: and so she binds together the gods who are assembled about Helios and brings them without confusion into unity with Helios, the King of the All: and she distributes and is the channel for stainless and pure life throughout the seven spheres, from the highest vault of the heavens as far as Selene the Moon:736 for Selene is the last of the heavenly spheres which Athene fills with wisdom: and by her aid Selene beholds the intelligible which is higher than the heavens, and adorns with its forms the realm of matter that lies below her, and thus she does away with its savagery and confusion and disorder. Moreover to mankind Athene gives the blessings of wisdom and intelligence and the creative arts. And surely she dwells in the capitols of cities because, through her wisdom, she has established the community of the state. I have still to say a few words about Aphrodite, who, as the wise men among the Phoenicians affirm, and as I believe, assists Helios in his creative function. She is, in very truth, a synthesis of the heavenly gods, and in their harmony she is the spirit of love and unity.737 For she738 is very near to Helios, and when she pursues the same course as he and approaches him, she fills the skies with fair weather and gives generative power to the earth: for she herself takes thought for the continuous birth of living things. And though of that continuous birth King Helios is the primary creative cause, yet Aphrodite is the joint cause with him, she who enchants our souls with her charm and sends down to earth from the upper air rays of light most sweet and stainless, aye, more lustrous than gold itself. I desire to mete out to you still more of the theology of the Phoenicians, and whether it be to some purpose my argument as it proceeds will show. The inhabitants of Emesa,739 a place from time immemorial sacred to Helios, associate with Helios in their temples Monimos and Azizos.740 Iamblichus, from whom I have taken this and all besides, a little from a great store, says that the secret meaning to be interpreted is that Monimos is Hermes and Azizos Ares, the assessors of Helios, who are the channel for many blessings to the region of our earth.)

Τὰ μὲν οὖν περὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἔργα τοῦ θεοῦ τοιαῦτά ἐστι, καὶ διὰ τούτων ἐπιτελούμενα μέχρι τῶν τῆς γῆς προήκει τελευταίων ὅρων· ὅσα δὲ ὑπὸ τὴν Σελήνην ἐργάζεται, μακρὸν ἂν εἴη τὰ πάντα ἀπαριθμεῖσθαι. πλὴν ὡς ἐν κεφαλαίῳ καὶ ταῦτα ῥητέον. [151] οἶδα μὲν οὖν ἔγωγε καὶ πρότερον μνημονεύσας, ὁπηνίκα ἠξίουν ἐκ τῶν φαινομένων τὰ ἀφανῆ περὶ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ σκοπεῖν οὐσίας, ὁ λόγος δὲ ἀπαιτεῖ με καὶ νῦν ἐν τάξει περὶ αὐτῶν δηλῶσαι.

(Such then are the works of Helios in the heavens, and, when completed by means of the gods whom I have named, they reach even unto the furthest bounds of the earth. But to tell the number of all his works in the region below the moon would take too long. Nevertheless I must describe them also in a brief summary. Now I am aware that I mentioned them earlier when I claimed741 that from things visible we could observe the invisible properties of the god's substance, but the argument demands that I should expound them now also, in their proper order.)

Καθάπερ οὖν ἐν τοῖς νοεροῖς ἔχειν ἔφαμεν τὴν ἡγεμονίαν Ἥλιον, πολὺ περὶ τὴν ἀμέριστον οὐσίαν ἑαυτοῦ πλῆθος ἑνοειδῶς ἔχοντα τῶν θεῶν, ἔτι δὲ ἐν τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς, [B] ἃ δὴ τὴν κύκλῳ διαιωνίαν [pg 414] πορεύεται μάλα εὐδαίμονα πορείαν, ἀπεδείκνυμεν ἀρχηγὸν καὶ κύριον, ἐνδιδόντα μὲν τὸ γόνιμον τῇ φύσει,742 πληροῦντα δὲ τὸν ὅλον οὐρανὸν ὥσπερ τῆς φαινομένης αὐγῆς οὕτω δὲ καὶ μυρίων ἀγαθῶν ἀφανῶν ἄλλων, τελειούμενα δὲ ἐξ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ παρὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἐμφανῶν θεῶν ἀγαθὰ χορηγούμενα, καὶ πρό γε τούτων αὐτοὺς ἐκείνους ὑπὸ τῆς ἀπορρήτου καὶ θείας αὐτοῦ τελειουμένους ἐνεργείας· οὕτω δὲ καὶ περὶ τὸν ἐν γενέσει τόπον θεούς τινας ἐπιβεβηκέναι νομιστέον [C] ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως Ἡλίου συνεχομένουσ, οἳ τὴν τετραπλῆν τῶν στοιχείων κυβερνῶντες φύσιν, περὶ ἃς ἐστήρικται ταῦτα ψυχὰς μετὰ τῶν τριῶν κρειττόνων ἐνοικοῦσι γενῶν. αὐταῖς δὲ ταῖς μερισταῖς ψυχαῖς ὅσων ἀγαθῶν ἐστιν αἴτιος, κρίσιν τε αὐταῖς προτείνων καὶ δίκῃ κατευθύνων καὶ ἀποκαθαίρων λαμπρότητι; τὴν ὅλην δὲ οὐχ οὗτος φύσιν, ἐνδιδοὺς ἄνωθεν αὐτῇ τὸ γόνιμον, κινεῖ καὶ ἀναζωπυρεῖ; ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῖς μερισταῖς φύσεσιν [D] οὐ τῆς εἰς τέλος πορείας οὗτος ἐστιν ἀληθῶς αἴτιος; ἄνθρωπον γὰρ ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπου γεννᾶσθαί φησιν Ἀριστοτέλης καὶ ἡλίου.743 ταὐτὸν δὴ οὖν καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων, ὅσα τῶν μεριστῶν ἐστι φύσεων ἔργα, περὶ τοῦ βασιλέως Ἡλίου προσήκει διανοεῖσθαι. τί δέ; οὐχ ἡμῖν ὄμβρους καὶ ἀνέμους καὶ τὰ ἐν τοῖς μεταρσίοις γινόμενα τῷ διττῷ τῆς ἀναθυμιάσεως οἷον ὕλῃ χρώμενος ὁ θεὸς οὗτος ἐργάζεται; [152] θερμαίνων γὰρ τὴν γῆν ἀτμίδα καὶ καπνὸν ἕλκει, γίνεται δὲ ἐκ [pg 416] τούτων οὐ τὰ μετάρσια μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅσα ἐπὶ γῆς πάθη, σμικρὰ καὶ μεγάλα.

(I said then that Helios holds sway among the intellectual gods in that he unites into one, about his own undivided substance, a great multitude of the gods: and further, I demonstrated that among the gods whom we can perceive, who revolve eternally in their most blessed path, he is leader and lord; since he bestows on their nature its generative power, and fills the whole heavens not only with visible rays of light but with countless other blessings that are invisible; and, further, that the blessings which are abundantly supplied by the other visible gods are made perfect by him, and that even prior to this the visible gods themselves are made perfect by his unspeakable and divine activity. In the same manner we must believe that on this our world of generation certain gods have alighted who are linked together with Helios: and these gods guide the four-fold nature of the elements, and inhabit, together with the three higher races,744 those souls which are upborne by the elements. But for the divided souls745 also, of how many blessings is he the cause! For he extends to them the faculty of judging, and guides them with justice, and purifies them by his brilliant light. Again, does he not set in motion the whole of nature and kindle life therein, by bestowing on it generative power from on high? But for the divided natures also, is not he the cause that they journey to their appointed end?746 For Aristotle says that man is begotten by man and the sun together. Accordingly the same theory about King Helios must surely apply to all the other activities of the divided souls. Again, does he not produce for us rain and wind and the clouds in the skies, by employing, as though it were matter, the two kinds of vapour? For when he heats the earth he draws up steam and smoke, and from these there arise not only the clouds but also all the physical changes on our earth, both great and small.)

Τί οὖν περὶ747 τῶν αὐτῶν ἐπέξειμι μακρότερα, ἐξὸν ἐπὶ τὸ πέρας ἤδη βαδίζειν ὑμνήσαντα πρότερον ὅσα ἔδωκεν ἀνθρώποις Ἥλιος ἀγαθά; γινόμενοι γὰρ ἐξ αὐτοῦ τρεφόμεθα παρ᾽ ἐκείνου. [B] τὰ μὲν οὖν θειότερα καὶ ὅσα ταῖς ψυχαῖς δίδωσιν ἀπολύων αὐτὰς τοῦ σώματος, εἶτα ἐπανάγων ἐπὶ τὰς τοῦ θεοῦ συγγενεῖς οὐσίας, καὶ τὸ λεπτὸν καὶ εὔτονον τῆς θείας αὐγῆς οἷον ὄχημα τῆς εἰς τὴν γένεσιν ἀσφαλοῦς διδόμενον καθόδου ταῖς ψυχαῖς ὑμνείσθω τε ἄλλοις ἀξίως καὶ ὑφ᾽ ἡμῶν πιστευέσθω μᾶλλον ἢ δεικνύσθω· τὰ δὲ ὅσα γνώριμα πέφυκε τοῖς πᾶσιν οὐκ ὀκνητέον ἐπεξελθεῖν. οὐρανόν φησι Πλάτων748 ἡμῖν γενέσθαι σοφίας διδάσκαλον. ἐνθένδε γὰρ [C] ἀριθμοῦ κατενοήσαμεν φύσιν, ἧς τὸ διαφέρον οὐκ ἄλλως ἢ διὰ τῆς ἡλίου περιόδου κατενοήσαμεν. φησί τοι καὶ αὐτὸς Πλάτων ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτα πρότερον. εἶτα ἐκ τοῦ φωτὸς τῆς σελήνης, ὃ δὴ δίδοται τῇ θεῷ ταύτῃ παρ᾽ ἡλίου, μετὰ τοῦτο προήλθομεν ἐπὶ πλέον τῆς τοιαύτης συνέσεως, ἁπανταχοῦ τῆς πρὸς τὸν θεὸν τοῦτον στοχαζόμενοι συμφωνίας. ὅπερ αὐτός πού φησιν,749 ὡς ἄρα τὸ γένος ἡμῶν ἐπίπονον ὂν φύσει θεοὶ ἐλεήσαντες [D] ἔδωκαν ἡμῖν τὸν Διόνυσον καὶ τὰς Μούσας συγχορευτάς. ἐφάνη δὲ ἡμῖν Ἥλιος [pg 418] τούτων κοινὸς ἡγεμών, Διονύσου μὲν πατὴρ ὑμνούμενος, ἡγεμῶν δὲ Μουσῶν. ὁ δὲ αὐτῷ συμβασιλεύων Ἀπόλλων οὐ πανταχοῦ μὲν ἀνῆκε τῆς γῆς χρηστήρια, σοφίαν δὲ ἔδωκεν ἀνθρώποις ἔνθεον, ἐκόσμησε δὲ ἱεροῖς καὶ πολιτικοῖς τὰς πόλεις θεσμοῖς; οὗτος ἡμέρωσε μὲν διὰ τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν ἀποικιῶν τὰ πλεῖστα τῆς οἰκουμένης, παρεσκεύασε δὲ ῥᾷον ὑπακοῦσαι Ῥωμαίοις ἔχουσι καὶ αὐτοῖς οὐ [153] γένος μόνον Ἑλληνικόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ θεσμοὺς ἱεροὺς καὶ τὴν περὶ τοὺς θεοὺς εὐπιστίαν ἐξ ἀρχῆς εἰς τέλος Ἑλληνικὴν καταστησαμένοις τε καὶ φυλάξασι, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις καὶ τὸν περὶ τὴν πόλιν κόσμον οὐδεμιᾶς τῶν ἄριστα πολιτευσαμένων πόλεων καταστησαμένοις φαυλότερον, εἰ μὴ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπασῶν, ὅσαι γε ἐν χρήσει γεγόνασι πολιτεῖαι, κρείσσονα· ἀνθ᾽ ὧν οἶμαι καὶ αὐτὸς ἔγνων τὴν πόλιν Ἑλληνίδα γένος τε καὶ πολιτείαν.

(But why do I deal with the same questions at such length, when I am free at last to come to my goal, though not till I have first celebrated all the blessings that Helios has given to mankind? For from him are we born, and by him are we nourished. But his more divine gifts, and all that he bestows on our souls when he frees them from the body and then lifts them up on high to the region of those substances that are akin to the god; and the fineness and vigour of his divine rays, which are assigned as a sort of vehicle for the safe descent of our souls into this world of generation; all this, I say, let others celebrate in fitting strains, but let me believe it rather than demonstrate its truth. However, I need not hesitate to discuss so much as is known to all. Plato says that the sky is our instructor in wisdom. For from its contemplation we have learned to know the nature of number, whose distinguishing characteristics we know only from the course of the sun. Plato himself says that day and night were created first.750 And next, from observing the moon's light, which was bestowed on the goddess by Helios, we later progressed still further in the understanding of these matters: in every case conjecturing the harmony of all things with this god. For Plato himself says somewhere that our race was by nature doomed to toil, and so the gods pitied us and gave us Dionysus and the Muses as playfellows. And we recognised that Helios is their common lord, since he is celebrated as the father of Dionysus and the leader of the Muses. And has not Apollo, who is his colleague in empire, set up oracles in every part of the earth, and given to men inspired wisdom, and regulated their cities by means of religious and political ordinances? And he has civilised the greater part of the world by means of Greek colonies, and so made it easier for the world to be governed by the Romans. For the Romans themselves not only belong to the Greek race, but also the sacred ordinances and the pious belief in the gods which they have established and maintain are, from beginning to end, Greek. And beside this they have established a constitution not inferior to that of any one of the best governed states, if indeed it be not superior to all others that have ever been put into practice. For which reason I myself recognise that our city is Greek, both in descent and as to its constitution.)

[B] Τί ἔτι σοι λέγω, πῶς τῆς ὑγιείας καὶ σωτηρίας πάντων προυνόησε τὸν σωτῆρα τῶν ὅλων ἀπογεννήσας Ἀσκληπιόν, ὅπως δὲ ἀρετὴν ἔδωκε παντοίαν Ἀφροδίτην Ἀθηνᾷ συγκαταπέμψας ἡμῖν, κηδεμόνα μόνον οὐχὶ νόμον θέμενος, πρὸς μηδὲν ἕτερον χρῆσθαι τῇ μίξει ἢ πρὸς τὴν γέννησιν751 τοῦ ὁμοίου; διά τοι τοῦτο καὶ κατὰ τὰς περιόδους αὐτοῦ πάντα τὰ φυόμενα καὶ τὰ παντοδαπῶν ζῴων φῦλα κινεῖται [C] πρὸς ἀπογέννησιν τοῦ ὁμοίου. τί χρὴ τὰς ἀκτῖνας αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ φῶς σεμνῦναι; [pg 420] νὺξ γοῦν ἀσέληνός τε καὶ ἄναστρος ὅπως ἐστὶ φοβερά, ἆρα ἐννοεῖ τις, ἵν᾽ ἐντεῦθεν, ὁπόσον ἔχομεν ἀγαθὸν ἐξ ἡλίου τὸ φῶς, τεκμήρηται; τοῦτο δὲ αὐτὸ συνεχὲς παρέχων καὶ ἀμεσολάβητον νυκτὶ ἐν οἷς χρὴ τόποις ἀπὸ τῆς σελήνης τοῖς ἄνω, ἐκεχειρίαν ἡμῖν διὰ τῆς νυκτὸς τῶν πόνων δίδωσιν. οὐδὲν ἂν γένοιτο πέρας τοῦ λόγου, εἰ πάντα ἐπεξιέναι [D] τις ἐθελήσειε τὰ τοιαῦτα. ἓν γὰρ οὐδέν ἐστιν ἀγαθὸν κατὰ τὸν βίον, ὃ μὴ παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦδε λαβόντες ἔχομεν, ἤτοι παρὰ μόνου τέλειον, ἢ διὰ τῶν ἄλλων θεῶν παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ τελειούμενον.

(Shall I now go on to tell you how Helios took thought for the health and safety of all men by begetting Asclepios752 to be the saviour of the whole world? and how he bestowed on us every kind of excellence by sending down to us Aphrodite together with Athene, and thus laid down for our protection what is almost a law, that we should only unite to beget our kind? Surely it is for this reason that, in agreement with the course of the sun, all plants and all the tribes of living things are aroused to bring forth their kind. What need is there for me to glorify his beams and his light? For surely everyone knows how terrible is night without a moon or stars, so that from this he can calculate how great a boon for us is the light of the sun? And this very light he supplies at night, without ceasing, and directly, from the moon in those upper spaces where it is needed, while he grants us through the night a truce from toil. But there would be no limit to the account if one should endeavour to describe all his gifts of this sort. For there is no single blessing in our lives which we do not receive as a gift from this god, either perfect from him alone, or, through the other gods, perfected by him.)

Ἡμῖν δέ ἐστιν ἐρχηγὸς καὶ τῆς πόλεως. οἰκεῖ γοῦν αὐτῆς οὐ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν μόνον μετὰ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς καὶ Ἀφροδίτης Ζεὺς ὁ πάντων πατὴρ ὑμνούμενος, ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἀπόλλων ἐπὶ τῷ Παλλαντίῳ λόφῳ καὶ Ἥλιος αὐτὸς τοῦτο τὸ753 κοινὸν ὄνομα πᾶσι καὶ γνώριμον. [154] ὅπως δὲ αὐτῷ πάντη καὶ πάντα προσήκομεν οἱ Ῥωμυλίδαι τε καὶ Αἰνεάδαι, πολλὰ ἔχων εἰπεῖν ἐρῶ βραχέα τὰ γνωριμώτατα. γέγονε, φασίν, ἐξ Ἀφροδίτης Αἰνείας, ἥπερ ἐστὶν ὑπουργὸς Ἡλίῳ καὶ συγγενής. αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν κτίστην ἡμῶν τῆς πόλεως Ἄρεως ἡ φήμη παρέδωκε παῖδα, πιστουμένη τὸ παράδοξον τῶν λόγων διὰ τῶν ὕστερον ἐπακολουθησάντων σημείων. ὑπέσχε γὰρ αὐτῷ, φασί, μαζὸν θήλεια λύκος. ἐγὼ δὲ ὅτι μὲν Ἄρης Ἄζιζος λεγόμενος [pg 422] ὑπὸ τῶν οἰκούντων τὴν Ἔμεσαν754 [B] Σύρων Ἡλίου προπομπεύει, καίπερ εἰδὼς καὶ προειπὼν ἀφήσειν μοι δοκῶ. τοῦ χάριν δὲ ὁ λύκος Ἄρει μᾶλλον, οὐχὶ δὲ Ἡλίῳ προσήκει; καίτοι λυκάβαντά φασιν ἀπὸ τοῦ λύκου τὸυ ἐνιαύσιον χρόνον· ὀνομάζει δὲ αὐτὸν οὐχ Ὅμηρος μόνον οὐδὲ οἱ γνώριμοι τῶν Ἑλλήνων τοῦτο τὸ ὄνομα, πρὸς δὲ καὶ ὁ θεός· διανύων γάρ φησιν

(Moreover he is the founder of our city.755 For not only does Zeus, who is glorified as the father of all things, inhabit its citadel756 together with Athene and Aphrodite, but Apollo also dwells on the Palatine Hill, and Helios himself under this name of his which is commonly known to all and familiar to all. And I could say much to prove that we, the sons of Romulus and Aeneas, are in every way and in all respects connected with him, but I will mention briefly only what is most familiar. According to the legend, Aeneas is the son of Aphrodite, who is subordinate to Helios and is his kinswoman. And the tradition has been handed down that the founder of our city was the son of Ares, and the paradoxical element in the tale has been believed because of the portents which later appeared to support it. For a she-wolf, they say, gave him suck. Now I am aware that Ares, who is called Azizos by the Syrians who inhabit Emesa, precedes Helios in the sacred procession, but I mentioned it before, so I think I may let that pass. But why is the wolf sacred only to Ares and not to Helios? Yet men call the period of a year “lycabas,”757 which is derived from “wolf.” And not only Homer758 and the famous men of Greece call it by this name, but also the god himself, when he says:)