(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. χαριτοδότης[721] 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 ἁδρᾷ[722] δόσει. πᾶσαν γὰρ ἐπιτροπεύει[723] 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 in[725] 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 circle[726] 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 Horus[727] 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 Pronoia[728] 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:)
Ἵκετο δ᾽ ἐς Πυθῶνα καὶ ἐς Γλαυκῶπα Προνοίην.
(“He came to Pytho and to grey-eyed Pronoia.”[729])
[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:)
Τιοίμην δ᾽ ὡς τίετ᾽ Ἀθηναίη καὶ Ἀπόλλων,[730]
(“May I be honoured even as Athene and Apollo were honoured”)
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 τό[732] 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 ἐπιμετρῆσαι[733] βούλομαι τῆς Φοινίκων θεολογίας· εἰ δὲ μὴ μάτην, ὁ λόγος προïὼν δείξει. οἱ τὴν Ἔμεσαν[734] 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.