(However, this is perhaps somewhat subtle; but as for that guide whom we all follow, ignorant and unlearned, philosophers and rhetoricians, what power in the universe has this god when he rises and sets? Night and day he creates, and before our eyes changes and sways the universe. But to which of the other heavenly bodies does this power belong? How then can we now fail to believe, in view of this, in respect also to things more divine that the invisible and divine tribes of intellectual gods above the heavens are filled with power that works for good by him, even by him to whom the whole band of the heavenly bodies yields place, and whom all generated things follow, piloted by his providence? For that the planets dance about him as their king, in certain intervals, fixed in relation to him, and revolve in a circle with perfect accord, making certain halts, and pursuing to and fro their orbit,[647] as those who are learned in the study of the spheres call their visible motions; and that the light of the moon waxes and wanes varying in proportion to its distance from the sun, is, I think, clear to all. Then is it not natural that we should suppose that the more venerable ordering of bodies among the intellectual gods corresponds to this arrangement?)
Λάβωμεν οὖν ἐξ ἁπάντων τὸ μὲν τελεσιουργὸν ἐκ τοῦ παντὸς ἀποφαίνειν ὁρᾶν τὰ ὁρατικά· τελειοῖ γὰρ αὐτὰ διὰ τοῦ φωτός· τὸ δὲ δημιουργικὸν καὶ γόνιμον[648] ἀπὸ τῆς περὶ τὸ ξύμπαν μεταβολῆς, τὸ δὲ ἐν ἑνὶ πόντων συνεκτικὸν ἀπὸ τῆς περὶ τὰς κινήσεις πρὸς ἓν καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ συμφωνίας, τὸ δὲ μέσον ἐξ αὐτοῦ[649] μέσου, τὸ δὲ τοῖς νοεροῖς αὐτὸν ἐνιδρύσθαι βασιλέα ἐκ τῆς ἐν τοῖς πλανωμένοις μέσης τάξεως. [D] εἰ μὲν οὖν ταῦτα περί τινα [pg 368] τῶν ἄλλων ἐμφανῶν ὁρῶμεν θεῶν ἢ τοσαῦτα ἕτερα, μή τοι τούτῳ τὴν περὶ τοὺς θεοὺς ἡγεμονίαν προσνείμωμεν· εἰ δὲ οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδὲν αὐτῷ κοινὸν πρὸς τοὺς ἄλλους ἔξω τὴς ἀγαθοεργίας, ἧς καὶ αὐτῆς μεταδέδωσι τοῖς πᾶσι, μαρτυράμενοι τούς τε Κυπρίων ἱερέας, οἱ κοινοὺς ἀποφαίνουσι βωμοὺς Ἡλίῳ καὶ Διί, πρὸ τούτων δὲ ἔτι τὸν Ἀπόλλω[650] συνεδρεύοντα τῷ θεῷ τῷδε παρακαλέσαντες μάρτυρα· φησὶ γὰρ ὁ θεὸς οὗτος “Εἷς Ζεύς, εἷς Ἀίδης, [136] εἷς Ἥλιός ἐστι Σέραπις· κοινὴν ὑπολάβωμεν”, μᾶλλον δὲ μίαν Ἡλίου καὶ Διὸς ἐν τοῖς νοεροῖς θεοῖς δυναστείαν· ὅθεν μοι δοκεῖ καὶ Πλάτων οὐκ ἀπεικότως φρόνιμον θεὸν Ἅιδην ὀνομάσαι. καλοῦμεν δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν τοῦτον καὶ Σάραπιν, τὸν ἀιδῆ δηλονότι καὶ νοερόν, πρὸς ὅν φησιν[651] ἄνω πορεύεσθαι τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν ἄριστα βιωσάντων καὶ δικαιότατα. μὴ γὰρ δή τις ὑπολάβῃ τοῦτον, [B] ὃν οἱ μῦθοι πείθουσι φρίττειν, ἀλλὰ τὸν πρᾷον καὶ μείλιχον, ὃς ἀπολύει παντελῶς τῆς γενέσεως τὰς ψυχάς, οὐχὶ δὲ λυθείσας αὐτὰς σώμασιν ἑτέροις προσηλοῖ[652] κολάζων καὶ πραττόμενος δίκας, ἀλλὰ πορεύων ἄνω καὶ ἀνατείνων τὰς ψυχὰς ἐπὶ τὸν νοητὸν κόσμον. ὅτι δὲ οὐδὲ νεαρὰ παντελῶς ἐστιν ἡ δόξα, προύλαβον δὲ αὐτὴν οἱ πρεσβύτατοι τῶν ποιητῶν, [pg 370] Ὅμηρός τε καὶ Ἡσίοδος, εἴτε καὶ νοοῦντες οὅτως εἴτε καὶ ἐπιπνοίᾳ θείᾳ καθάπερ οἱ μάντεις ἐνθουσιῶντες πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν, [C] ἐνθένδ᾽ ἂν γίγνοιτο γνώριμον. ὁ μὲν γενεαλογῶν αὐτὸν Ὑπερίονος ἔφη καὶ Θείας, μόνον οὐχὶ διὰ τούτων αἰνιττόμενος τοῦ πάντων ὑπερέχοντος αὐτὸν ἔκγονον[653] γνήσιον φῦναι· ὁ γὰρ Ὑπερίων τίς ἂν ἕτερος εἴη παρὰ τοῦτον; ἡ Θεία δὲ αὐτὴ τρόπον ἕτερον οὐ τὸ θειότατον τῶν ὄντων λέγεται; μὴ δὲ συνδυασμὸν μηδὲ γάμους ὑπολαμβάνωμεν, ἄπιστα καὶ παράδοξα ποιητικῆς μούσης ἀθύρματα. [D] πατέρα δὲ αὐτοῦ καὶ γεννήτορα νομίζωμεν τὸν θειότατον καὶ ὑπέρτατον· τοιοῦτος δὲ τίς ἂν ἄλλος[654] εἴη τοῦ πάντων ἐπέκεινα καὶ περὶ ὃν πάντα καὶ οὗ ἕνεκα πάντα ἐστίν; Ὅμηρος δὲ αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς Ὑπερίονα καλεῖ,[655] καὶ δείκνυσί γε αὐτοῦ τὸ αὐτεξούσιον καὶ πάσης ἀνάγκης κρεῖττον. ὁ γάρ τοι Ζεύς, ὡς ἐκεῖνός φησιν, ἁπάντων ὢν κύριος τοὺς ἄλλους προσαναγκάζει· ἐν δὲ τῷ μύθῳ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦδε λέγοντος,[656] ὅτι ἄρα διὰ τὴν ἀσέβειαν τῶν Ὀδυσσέως ἑταίρων [137] ἀπολείψει τὸν Ὄλυμπον, οὐκέτι φησίν
(Let us therefore comprehend, out of all his functions, first his power to perfect, from the fact that he makes visible the objects of sight in the universe, for through his light he perfects them; secondly, his creative and generative power from the changes wrought by him in the universe; thirdly, his power to link together all things into one whole, from the harmony of his motions towards one and the same goal; fourthly, his middle station we can comprehend from himself, who is midmost; and fifthly, the fact that he is established as king among the intellectual gods, from his middle station among the planets. Now if we see that these powers, or powers of similar importance, belong to any one of the other visible deities, let us not assign to Helios leadership among the gods. But if he has nothing in common with those other gods except his beneficent energy, and of this too he gives them all a share, then let us call to witness the priests of Cyprus who set up common altars to Helios and Zeus; but even before them let us summon as witness Apollo, who sits in council with our god. For this god declares: “Zeus, Hades, Helios Serapis, three gods in one godhead!”[657] Let us then assume that, among the intellectual gods, Helios and Zeus have a joint or rather a single sovereignty. Hence I think that with reason Plato called Hades a wise god.[658] And we call this same god Hades Serapis also, namely the Unseen[659] and Intellectual, to whom Plato says the souls of those who have lived most righteously and justly mount upwards. For let no one conceive of him as the god whom the legends teach us to shudder at, but as the mild and placable, since he completely frees our souls from generation: and the souls that he has thus freed he does not nail to other bodies, punishing them and exacting penalties, but he carries aloft and lifts up our souls to the intelligible world. And that this doctrine is not wholly new, but that Homer and Hesiod the most venerable of the poets held it before us, whether this was their own view or, like seers, they were divinely inspired with a sacred frenzy for the truth, is evident from the following. Hesiod, in tracing his genealogy, said[660] that Helios is the son of Hyperion and Thea, intimating thereby that he is the true son of him who is above all things. For who else could Hyperion[661] be? And is not Thea herself, in another fashion, said to be most divine of beings? But as for a union or marriage, let us not conceive of such a thing, since that is the incredible and paradoxical trifling of the poetic Muse. But let us believe that his father and sire was the most divine and supreme being; and who else could have this nature save him who transcends all things, the central point and goal of all things that exist? And Homer calls him Hyperion after his father and shows his unconditioned nature, superior to all constraint. For Zeus, as Homer says, since he is lord of all constrains the other gods. And when, in the course of the myth, Helios says that on account of the impiety of the comrades of Odysseus[662] he will forsake Olympus, Zeus no longer says,)
Αὐτῇ κεν γαίῃ ἐρύσαιμ᾽ αὐτῇ τε θαλάσσῃ,
(“Then with very earth would I draw you up and the sea withal,”[663])
οὐδὲ ἀπειλεῖ δεσμὸν οὐδὲ βίαν, ἀλλὰ τὴν δίκην φησὶν ἐπιθήσειν τοῖς ἡμαρτηκόσιν, αὐτὸν δὲ ἀξιοῖ φαίνειν ἐν τοῖς θεοῖς. ἆρ᾽ οὐξὶ διὰ τούτων πρὸς τῷ αὐτεξουσίῳ καὶ τελεσιουργὸν εἶναί φησι τὸν [pg 372] Ἥλιον; ἐπὶ τί γὰρ αὐτοῦ οἱ θεοὶ δέονται, πλὴν εἰ μὴ πρὸς τὴν οὐσίαν [B] καὶ τὸ εἶναι ἀφανῶς ἐναστράπτων ὧν ἔφαμεν ἀγαθῶν ἀποπληρωτικὸς τυγχάνοι; τὸ γὰρ
(nor does he threaten him with fetters or violence, but he says that he will inflict punishment on the guilty and bids Helios go on shining among the gods. Does he not thereby declare that besides being unconditioned, Helios has also the power to perfect? For why do the gods need him unless by sending his light, himself invisible, on their substance and existence, he fulfils for them the blessings of which I spoke? For when Homer says that)
Ἠέλιόν τ᾽ ἀκάμαντα βοῶπις πότνια Ἥρη
Πέμψεν ἐπ᾽ Ὠκεανοῖο ῥοὰς ἀέκοντα νέεσθαι[664]
(“Ox-eyed Hera, the queen, sent unwearied Helios to go, all unwilling, to the streams of Oceanus,”)