(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 citadel[756] 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 Homer[758] and the famous men of Greece call it by this name, but also the god himself, when he says:)
Ὀρχηθμῷ λυκάβαντα δυωδεκάμηνα κέλευθα.
(“With dancing does he bring to a close his journey of twelve months, even the lycabas.”)
[C] βούλει οὖν ἔτι σοι φράσω μεῖζον τεκμήριον, ὅτι ἄρα ὁ τῆς πόλεως ἡμῶν οἰκιστὴς οὐχ ὑπ᾽ Ἀρεως κατεπέμφθη μόνον, ἀλλ᾽ ἴσως αὐτῷ τῆς μὲν τοῦ σώματος κατασκευῆς συνεπελάβετο δαίμων ἀρήιος καὶ γενναῖος, ὁ λεγόμενος ἐπιφοιτῆσαι τῇ Σιλβίᾳ λουτρὰ τῇ θεῷ φερούσῃ, τὸ δὲ ὅλον ἐξ Ἡλίου κατῆλθεν ἡ ψυχὴ τοῦ θεοῦ Κυρίνου· πειστέον γὰρ οἶμαι τῇ φήμῃ. [D] σύνοδος ἀκριβὴς τῶν τὴν ἐμφανῆ κατανειμαμένων βασιλείαν Ἡλίου τε καὶ Σελήνης ὥσπερ οὖν εἰς τὴν γῆν κατήγαγεν, οὕτω καὶ ἀνήγαγεν ὃν[759] ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἐδέξατο, τὸ θνητὸν ἀφανίσασα πυρὶ κεραυνίῳ τοῦ σώματος. οὕτω προδήλως ἡ τῶν περιγείων [pg 424] δημιουργὸς ὑπὸ αὐτὸν ἄκρως γενομένη τὸν ἥλιον ἐδέξατο εἰς γῆν πεμπόμενον διὰ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς τῆς Προνοίας τὸν Κυρῖνον, ἀνιπτάμενόν τε αὖθις ἀπὸ γῆς ἐπὶ τὸν βασιλέα τῶν ὅλων ἐπανήγαγεν αὐτίκα Ἥλιον.
(Now do you wish me to bring forward a still greater proof that the founder of our city was sent down to earth, not by Ares alone, though perhaps some noble daemon with the character of Ares did take part in the fashioning of his mortal body, even he who is said to have visited Silvia[760] when she was carrying water for the bath of the goddess,[761] but the whole truth is that the soul of the god Quirinus[762] came down to earth from Helios; for we must, I think, believe the sacred tradition. And the close conjunction of Helios and Selene, who share the empire over the visible world, even as it had caused his soul to descend to earth, in like manner caused to mount upwards him whom it received back from the earth, after blotting out with fire from a thunderbolt[763] the mortal part of his body. So clearly did she who creates earthly matter, she whose place is at the furthest point below the sun, receive Quirinus when he was sent down to earth by Athene, goddess of Forethought; and when he took flight again from earth she led him back straightway to Helios, the King of the All.)
[155] Ἔτι σοι βούλει περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν φράσω τεκμήριον τοῦ Νόμα τοῦ βασιλέως ἔργον; ἄσβεστον ἐξ ἡλίου φυλάττουσι φλόγα παρθένοι παρ᾽ ἡμῖν ἱεραὶ κατὰ τὰς διαφόρους ὥρας, αἳ δὴ τὸ γενόμενον[764] περὶ τὴν γῆν ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ πῦρ φυλάττουσιν. ἔτι τούτων μεῖζον ἔχω σοι φράσαι τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦδε τεκμήριον, αὐτοῦ τοῦ θειοτάτου βασιλέως ἔργον. οἱ μῆνες ἅπασι μὲν τοῖς ἄλλοις ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς σελήνης ἀριθμοῦνται, [B] μόνοι δὲ ἡμεῖς καὶ Αἰγύπτιοι πρὸς τὰς ἡλίου κινήσεις ἑκάστου μετροῦμεν ἐνιαυτοῦ τὰς ἡμέρας. εἴ σοι μετὰ τοῦτο φαίην, ὡς καὶ τὸν Μίθραν τιμῶμεν καὶ ἄγομεν Ἡλίῳ τετραετηρικοὺς ἀγῶνας, ἐρῶ νεώτερα· βέλτιον δὲ ἴσως ἕν τι τῶν παλαιοτέρων προθεῖναι. τοῦ γὰρ ἐνιαυσιαίου κύκλου τὴν ἀρχὴν ἄλλος ἄλλοθεν ποιούμενος, οἱ μὲν τὴν ἐαρινὴν ἰσημερίαν, οἱ δὲ τὴν ἀκμὴν τοῦ θέρους, οἱ πολλοὶ δὲ φθίνουσαν ἤδη τὴν ὀπώραν, [C] Ἡλίου τὰς ἐμφανεστάτας ὑμνοῦσι [pg 426] δωρεάς ὁ μέν τις τὴν τῆς ἐργασίας ἐνδιδομένην εὐκαιρίαν, ὅτε ἡ γῆ θάλλει καὶ γαυριᾷ, φυομένων ἄρτι των καρπῶν ἁπάντων, γίνεται δὲ ἐπιτῆδεια πλεῖσθαι τὰ πελάγη καὶ τὸ τοῦ χειμῶνος ἀηδὲς καὶ σκυθρωπὸν ἐπὶ τὸ φαιδρότερον μεθίσταται, οἱ δὲ τὴν τοῦ θέρους ἐτίμησαν ὥραν,[765] ὡς ἀσφαλῶς τότε ὑπὶρ τῆς τῶν καρπῶν ἔχοντες θαρρῆσαι γενέσεως, τῶν μὲν σπερμάτων ἤδη συνειλεγμένων, ἀκμαίας δὲ οὔσης [D] τῆς ὀπώρας ἤδη και πεπαινομένων τῶν ἐπικειμένων καρπῶν τοῖς δένδροις. ἄλλοι δὲ τούτων ἔτι κομψότεροι τέλος ἐνιαυτοῦ ὑπέλαβον τὴν τελειοτάτην τῶν καρπῶν ἁπάντων ἀκμὴν καὶ φθίσιν· ταῦτά τοι καὶ φθινούσης ἤδη τῆς ὀπώρας ἄγουσι τὰς κατ᾽ ἐνιαυτὸν νουμηνίας. οἱ δὲ ἡμέτεροι προπάτορες ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ τοῦ θειοτάτου βασιλέως τοῦ Νόμα μειζόνως ἔτι τὸν θεὸν τοῦτον σεβόμενοι τὰ μὲν τῆς χρείας ἀπέλιπον, ἅτε οἶμαι φύσει θεῖοι καὶ περιττοὶ τὴν διάνοιαν, αὐτὸν δὲ εἶδον τούτων τὸν αἴτιον [156] καὶ ἄγειν ἔταξαν συμφώνως ἐν τῇ παρούσῃ τῶν ὡρῶν τὴν νουμηνίαν, ὁπότε ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἥλιος αὖθις ἐπανάγει πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀφεὶς τῆς μεσημβρίας τὰ ἔσχατα καὶ ὥσπερ περὶ νύσσαν τὸν αἰγοκέρωτα κάμψας ἀπὸ τοῦ νότου πρὸς τὸν βορρᾶν ἔρχεται μεταδώσων ἡμῖν τῶν ἐπετείων ἀγαθῶν. ὅτι δὲ τοῦτο ἀκριβῶς ἐκεῖνοι διανοηθέντες οὕτως ἐνεστήσαντο τὴν ἐπέτειον νουμηνίαν, ἐνθένδ᾽ ἄν τις κατανοήσειεν. οὐ γὰρ οἶμαι καθ᾽ ἣν ἡμέραν ὁ θεὸς τρέπεται, καθ᾽ ἣν δὲ τοῖς [B] πᾶσιν ἐμφανὴς γίνεται χωρῶν ἀπὸ τῆς [pg 428] μεσημβρίας ἐς τὰς ἄρκτους ἄταξαν οὗτοι τὴν ἑορτήν. οὔπω μὲν γὰρ ἦν αὐτοῖς ἡ τῶν κανόνων λεπτότης γνώριμος, οὓς ἐξηῦρον μὲν Χαλδαῖοι καὶ Αἰγύπτιοι, Ἵππαρχος δὲ καὶ Πτολεμαῖος ἐτελειώσαντο, κρίνοντες δὲ αἰσθήσει τοῖς φαινομένοις ἠκολούθουν.
(Do you wish me to mention yet another proof of this, I mean the work of King Numa?[766] In Rome maiden priestesses[767] guard the undying flame of the sun at different hours in turn; they guard the fire that is produced on earth by the agency of the god. And I can tell you a still greater proof of the power of this god, which is the work of that most divine king himself. The months are reckoned from the moon by, one may say, all other peoples; but we and the Egyptians alone reckon the days of every year according to the movements of the sun. If after this I should say that we also worship Mithras, and celebrate games in honour of Helios every four years, I shall be speaking of customs that are somewhat recent.[768] But perhaps it is better to cite a proof from the remote past. The beginning of the cycle of the year is placed at different times by different peoples. Some place it at the spring equinox, others at the height of summer, and many in the late autumn; but they each and all sing the praises of the most visible gifts of Helios. One nation celebrates the season best adapted for work in the fields, when the earth bursts into bloom and exults, when all the crops are just beginning to sprout, and the sea begins to be safe for sailing; and the disagreeable, gloomy winter puts on a more cheerful aspect, others again award the crown to the summer season,[769] since at that time they can safely feel confidence about the yield of the fruits, when the grains have already been harvested and midsummer is now at its height, and the fruits on the trees are ripening. Others again, with still more subtlety, regard as the close of the year the time when all the fruits are in their perfect prime and decay has already set in. For this reason they celebrate the annual festival of the New Year in late autumn. But our forefathers, from the time of the most divine king Numa, paid still greater reverence to the god Helios. They ignored the question of mere utility, I think, because they were naturally religious and endowed with unusual intelligence; but they saw that he is the cause of all that is useful, and so they ordered the observance of the New Year to correspond with the present season; that is to say when King Helios returns to us again, and leaving the region furthest south and, rounding Capricorn as though it were a goal-post, advances from the south to the north to give us our share of the blessings of the year. And that our forefathers, because they comprehended this correctly, thus established the beginning of the year, one may perceive from the following. For it was not, I think, the time when the god turns, but the time when he becomes visible to all men, as he travels from south to north, that they appointed for the festival. For still unknown to them was the nicety of those laws which the Chaldæans and Egyptians discovered, and which Hipparchus[770] and Ptolemy[771] perfected: but they judged simply by sense-perception, and were limited to what they could actually see.)
Οὕτω δὲ ταῦτα καὶ παρὰ τῶν μεταγενεστέρων, ὡς ἔφην, ἔχοντα κατενοήθη. πρὸ τῆς νουμηνίας, εὐθέως μετὰ τὸν τελευταῖον τοῦ Κρόνου μῆνα, ποιοῦμεν Ἡλίῳ [C] τὸν περιφανέστατον ἀγῶνα, τὴν ἑορτὴν Ἡλίῳ καταφημίσαντες ἀνικήτῳ, μεθ᾽ ὃν οὐδὲν θέμις ὧν ὁ τελευταῖος μὴν ἔχει σκυθρωπῶν μέν, ἀναγκαίων δ᾽ ὅμως, ἐπιτελεσθῆναι θεαμάτων, ἀλλὰ τοῖς Κρονίοις οὖσι τελευταίοις εὐθὺς συνάπτει κατὰ τὸν κύκλον τὰ Ἡλίαια, ἃ δὴ πολλάκις μοι δοῖεν οἱ βασιλεῖς ὑμνῆσαι καὶ ἐπιτελέσαι θεοί, καὶ πρό γε τῶν ἄλλων αὐτὸς ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν ὅλων Ἥλιος, ὁ περὶ τὴν τἀγαθοῦ γόνιμον οὐσίαν ἐξ ἁιδίου προελθὼν μέσος [D] ἐν μέσοις τοῖς νοεροῖς θεοῖς, συνοχῆς τε αὐτοὺς πληρώσας καὶ κάλλους μυρίου καὶ περιουσίας γονίμου καὶ τελείου νοῦ καὶ πάντων ἀθρόως τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀχρόνως, καὶ ἐν τῷ νῦν ἐλλάμπων εἰς τὴν ἐμφανῆ μέσην τοῦ παντὸς [pg 430] οὐρανοῦ φερομένην ἕδραν οἰκείαν ἐξ ἀιδίου, καὶ μεταδιδοὺς τῷ φαινομένῳ παντὶ τοῦ νοητοῦ κάλλους, τὸν δὲ οὐρανὸν σύμπαντα πληρώσας τοσούτων θεῶν [157] ὁπόσων αὐτὸς ἐν ἑαυτῷ νοερῶς ἔχει, περὶ αὐτὸν ἀμερίστως πληθυνομένων καὶ ἑνοειδῶς αὐτῷ συνημμένων, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν ὑπὸ τὴν σελήνην τόπον διὰ τῆς ἀειγενεσίας συνέχων καὶ τῶν ἐνδιδομένων ἐκ τοῦ κυκλικοῦ σώματος ἀγαθῶν, ἐπιμελόμενος τοῦ τε[772] κοινοῦ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένους ἰδίᾳ τε τῆς ἡμετέρας πόλεως, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ τὴν ἡμετέραν ἐξ ἀιδίου ψυχὴν ὑπέστησεν, ὀπαδὸν ἀποφήνας αὑτοῦ. ταῦτά τε οὖν, ὅσα [B] μικρῷ πρόσθεν ηὐξάμην, δοίη, καὶ ἔτι κοινῇ μὲν τῇ πόλει τὴν ἐνδεχομένην ἀιδιότητα μετ᾽ εὐνοίας χορηγῶν φυλάττοι, ἡμῖν δὲ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον εὖ πρᾶξαι τά τε ἀνθρώπινα καὶ τὰ θεῖα δοίη, ἐφ᾽ ὅσον βιῶναι συγχωρεῖ, ζῆν δὲ καὶ ἐμπολιτεύεσθαι τῷ βίῳ δοίη ἐφ᾽ ὅσον αὐτῷ τε ἐκείνῳ φίλον ἡμῖν τε λώιον καὶ τοῖς κοινοῖς συμφέρον Ῥωμαίων πράγμασιν.
(But the truth of these facts was recognised, as I said, by a later generation. Before the beginning of the year, at the end of the month which is called after Kronos,[773] we celebrate in honour of Helios the most splendid games, and we dedicate the festival to the Invincible Sun. And after this it is not lawful to perform any of the shows that belong to the last month, gloomy as they are, though necessary. But, in the cycle, immediately after the end of the Kronia[774] follow the Heliaia. That festival may the ruling gods grant me to praise and to celebrate with sacrifice! And above all the others may Helios himself, the King of the All, grant me this, even he who from eternity has proceeded from the generative substance of the Good: even he who is midmost of the midmost intellectual gods; who fills them with continuity and endless beauty and superabundance of generative power and perfect reason, yea with all blessings at once, and independently of time! And now he illumines his own visible abode, which from eternity moves as the centre of the whole heavens, and bestows a share of intelligible beauty on the whole visible world, and fills the whole heavens with the same number of gods as he contains in himself in intellectual form. And without division they reveal themselves in manifold form surrounding him, but they are attached to him to form a unity. Aye, but also, through his perpetual generation and the blessings that he bestows from the heavenly bodies, he holds together the region beneath the moon. For he cares for the whole human race in common, but especially for my own city,[775] even as also he brought into being my soul from eternity, and made it his follower. All this, therefore, that I prayed for a moment ago, may he grant, and further may he, of his grace, endow my city as a whole with eternal existence, so far as is possible, and protect her; and for myself personally, may he grant that, so long as I am permitted to live, I may prosper in my affairs both human and divine; finally may he grant me to live and serve the state with my life, so long as is pleasing to himself and well for me and expedient for the Roman Empire!)
Ταῦτά σοι, ὦ φίλε Σαλούστιε, κατὰ τὴν τριπλῆν τοῦ θεοῦ δημιουργίαν [C] ἐν τρισὶ μάλιστα νυξὶν ὡς οἷόν τε ἦν ἐπελθόντα μοι τῇ μνήμῃ καὶ γράψαι πρὸς σὲ ἐτόλμησα, ἐπεί σοι καὶ τὸ πρότερον εἰς τὰ Κρόνια γεγραμμένον ἡμῖν οὐ παντάπασιν [pg 432] ἀπόβλητον ἐφάνη. τελειοτέροις δ᾽ εἰ βούλει περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν καὶ μυστικωτέροις λόγοις ἐπιστῆσαι, ἐντυχὼν τοῖς παρὰ τοῦ θείου γενομένοις Ἰαμβλίχου περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν τούτων συγγράμμασι τὸ τέλος ἐκεῖσε τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης [D] εὑρήσεις σοφίας. δοίη δ᾽ ὁ μέγας Ἥλιος μηδὲν ἔλαττόν με τὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ γνῶναι, καὶ διδάξαι κοινῇ τε ἅπαντας, ἰδίᾳ δὲ τοὺς μανθάνειν ἀξίους. ἕως δέ μοι τοῦτο δίδωσιν ὁ θεός, κοινῇ θεραπεύωμεν τὸν τῷ θεῷ φίλον Ἰάμβλιχον, ὅθεν καὶ νῦν ὀλίγα ἐκ πολλῶν ἐπὶ νοῦν ἐλθόντα διεληλύθαμεν. ἐκείνου δὲ εὖ οἶδα ὡς οὐδεὶς ἐρεῖ τι τελειότερον, οὐδὲ εἰ πολλὰ πάνυ προσταλαιπωρήσας καινοτομήσειεν· ἐκβήσεται γάρ, ὡς εἰκός, [158] τῆς ἀληθεστάτης τοῦ θεοῦ νοήσεως. ἦν μὲν οὖν ἴσως μάταιον, εἰ διδασκαλίας χάριν ἐποιούμην τοὺς λόγους, αὐτὸν[776] μετ᾽ ἐκεῖνόν τι συγγράφειν, ἐπεὶ δὲ ὕμνον ἐθέλων διελθεῖν τοῦ θεοῦ χαριστήριον ἐν τούτῳ τόπον ὑπελάμβανον τοῦ[777] περὶ τῆς οὐσίας αὐτοῦ φράσαι κατὰ δύναμιν τὴν ἐμήν, οὐ μάτην οἶμαι πεποιῆσθαι τοὺς λόγους τούσδε, τὸ