τοῦτον οὖν τὸν Γάλλον, τὸν νοερὸν θεόν, τὸν τῶν ἐνύλων καὶ ὑπὸ σελήνην εἰδῶν συνοχέα, τῇ προτεταγμένῃ τῆς ὕλης αἰτίᾳ συνιόντα, συνιόντα δὲ οὐχ ὡς ἄλλον ἄλλῃ, [166] ἀλλ᾽ οἷον αὐτὸ εἰς ἑαυτὸ[828] λέγομεν[829] ὑποφερόμενον.
(We mean therefore that this Gallus, the intellectual god, the connecting link between forms embodied in matter beneath the region of the moon, is united with the cause that is set over matter, but not in the sense that one sex is united with another, but like an element that is gathered to itself.)
Τίς οὖν ἡ Μήτηρ τῶν θεῶν; ἡ τῶν κυβερνώντων τοὺς ἐμφανεῖς νοερῶν καὶ δημιουργικῶν θεῶν πηγή, ἡ καὶ τεκοῦσα καὶ συνοικοῦσα τῷ μεγάλῳ Διὶ θεὸς ὑποστᾶσα μεγάλη μετὰ τὸν μέγαν καὶ σὺν τῷ μεγάλῳ δημιουργῷ, ἡ πάσης μὲν κυρία ζωῆς, πάσης δὲ γενέσεως αἰτία, ἡ ῥᾷστα μὲν ἐπιτελοῦσα τὰ ποιούμενα, γεννῶσα δὲ δίχα πάθους καὶ δημιουργοῦσα τὰ ὄντα μετὰ τοῦ πατρός· αὕτη [B] καὶ παρθένος ἀμήτωρ καὶ Διὸς σύνθωκος καὶ μήτηρ θεῶν ὄντως οὖσα πάντων. τῶν γὰρ νοητῶν [pg 464] ὑπερκοσμίων τε[830] θεῶν δεξαμένη πάντων τὰς[831] αἰτίας ἐν ἑαυτῇ πηγὴ τοῖς νοεροῖς ἐγένετο. ταύτην δὴ τὴν θεὸν οὖσαν καὶ πρόνοιαν ἔρως μὲν ὑπῆλθεν ἀπαθὴς Ἄττιδος· ἐθελούσια γὰρ αὐτῇ καὶ κατὰ γνώμην ἐστὶν οὐ τὰ ἔνυλα μόνον εἴδη, πολὺ δὲ πλέον τὰ τούτων αἴτια. τὴν δὴ τὰ γινόμενα καὶ φθειρόμενα σώζουσαν [C] προμήθειαν ἐργᾶν ὁ μῦθος ἔφη τῆς δημιουργικῆς τούτων αἰτίας καὶ γονίμου, καὶ κελεύειν μὲν αὐτὴν ἐν τῷ νοητῷ τίκτειν μᾶλλον καὶ βούλεσθαι μὲν[832] πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἐπεστράφθαι καὶ συνοικεῖν, ἐπίταγμα δὲ ποιεῖσθαι, μηδενὶ τῶν ἄλλων, ἅμα μὲν τὸ ἑνοειδὲς σωτήριον διώκουσαν, ἅμα δὲ φεύγουσαν τὸ πρὸς τὴν ὕλην νεῦσαν· πρὸς ἑαυτήν τε βλέπειν ἐκέλευσεν, οὖσαν πηγὴν μὲν τῶν δημιουργικῶν θεῶν, οὐ καθελκομένην δὲ εἰς τὴν γένεσιν οὐδὲ θελγομένην· [D] οὕτω γὰρ ἔμελλεν ὁ μέγας Ἄττις καὶ κρείττων[833] εἶναι δημιουργός, ἐπείπερ ἐν πᾶσιν ἡ πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον ἐπιστροφὴ μᾶλλόν ἐστι δραστήριος τῆς πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον νεύσεως. ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸ πέμπτον σῶμα τούτῳ δημιουργικώτερόν ἐστι τῶν τῇδε καὶ θειότερον, τῷ μᾶλλον ἐστράφθαι πρὸς τοὺς θεούς, ἐπεί τοι τὸ σῶμα, κἂν αἰθέρος ᾖ τοῦ καθαρωτάτου, ψυχῆς ἀχράντου καὶ καθαρᾶς, ὁποίαν τὴν Ἡρακλέους ὁ δημιουργὸς ἐξέπεμψεν, οὐδεὶς ἂν εἰπεῖν κρεῖττον [pg 466] τολμήσειε. [167] τότε μέντοι ἦν τε καὶ ἐδόκει μᾶλλον δραστήριος, ἢ ὅτε[834] αὑτὴν ἔδωκεν ἐκείνη σώματι. ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτῷ νῦν Ἡρακλεῖ ὅλῳ πρὸς ὅλον κεχωρηκότι τὸν πατέρα ῥᾴων ἡ τούτων ἐπιμέλεια καθέστηκεν ἢ πρότερον ἦν, ὅτε ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις σαρκία φορῶν ἐστρέφετο. οὕτως ἐν πᾶσι δραστήριος μᾶλλον ἡ πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον ἀπόστασις τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον στροφῆς. ὁ δὴ βουλόμενος ὁ μῦθος διδάξαι παραινέσαι φησὶ τὴν Μητέρα τῶν θεῶν τῷ Ἄττιδι θεραπεύειν αὑτὴν καὶ μήτε ἀποχωρεῖν μήτε ἐρᾶν ἄλλης. [B] ὁ δὲ προῆλθεν ἄχρι τῶν ἐσχάτων τῆς ὕλης κατελθών. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐχρῆν παύσασθαί ποτε καὶ στῆναι τὴν ἀπειρίαν, Κορύβας μὲν ὁ μέγας Ἥλιος, ὁ σύνθρονος τῇ Μητρὶ καὶ συνδημιουργῶν αὐτῇ τὰ πάντα καὶ συμπρομηθούμενος καὶ οὐδὲν πράττων αὐτῆς δίχα, πείθει τὸν λέοντα μηνυτὴν γενέσθαι. τίς δὲ ὁ λέων; αἴθωνα δήπουθεν ἀκούομεν αὐτόν, αἰτίαν τοίνυν τὴν προüφεστῶσαν[835] τοῦ θερμοῦ καὶ πυρώδους, [C] ἣ πολεμήσειν ἔμελλε τῇ νύμφῃ καὶ ζηλοτυπήσειν αὐτὴν τῆς πρὸς τὸν Ἄττιν κοινωνίας· εἴρηται δὲ ἡμῖν τίς ἡ νύμφη· τῇ δὲ[836] δημιουργικῇ προμηθείᾳ τῶν ὄντων ὑπουργῆσαί φησιν ὁ μῦθος,[837] δηλαδὴ τῇ Μητρὶ τῶν θεῶν· [pg 468] εἶτα φωράσαντα καὶ μηνυτὴν γενόμενον αἴτιον γενέσθαι τῷ νεανίσκῳ τῆς ἐκτομὴς. ἡ δὲ ἐκτομὴ τίς; ἐποχὴ τῆς ἀπειρίας· ἔστη γὰρ δὴ τὰ τῆς γενέσεως ἐν ὡρισμένοις τοῖς εἴδεσιν ὑπὸ τῆς δημιουργικῆς ἐπισχεθέντα προμηθείας, [D] οὐκ ἄνευ τῆς τοῦ Ἄττιδος λεγομένης παραφροσύνης, ἣ τὸ μέτριον ἐξισταμένη καὶ ὑπερβαίνουσα καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ὥσπερ ἐξασθενοῦσα καὶ οὐκέθ᾽ αὑτῆς εἶναι δυναμένη·[838] ὃ δὴ περὶ τὴν τελευταίαν ὑποστῆναι τῶν θεῶν αἰτίαν οὐκ ἄλογον. σκόπει οὖν ἀναλλοίωτον κατὰ πᾶσαν ἀλλοίωσιν τὸ πέμπτον θεώμενος σῶμα περὶ τοὺς φωτισμοὺς τῆς σελήνης, ἵνα λοιπὸν ὁ συνεχῶς γιγνόμενός τε καὶ ἀπολλύμενος κόσμος γειτνιᾷ τῷ πέμπτῳ σώματι. περὶ 168 τοὺς φωτισμοὺς αὐτῆς ἀλλοίωσίν τινα καὶ πάθη συμπίπτοντα θεωροῦμεν. οὐκ ἄτοπον οὖν καὶ τὸν Ἄττιν τοῦτον ἡμίθεόν τινα εἶναι· βούλεται γὰρ δὴ καὶ ὁ μῦθος τοῦτο· μᾶλλον δὲ θεὸν μὲν τῷ παντί· πρόεισί τε γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ τρίτου δημιουργοῦ καὶ ἐπανάγεται πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν Μητέρα τῶν θεῶν μετὰ τὴν ἐκτομήν· ἐπεὶ δὲ ὅλως ῥέπειν καὶ[839] νεύειν εἰς τὴν ὕλην δοκεῖ, θεῶν μὲν ἔσχατον, ἔξαρχον δὲ [B] τῶν θείων γενῶν ἁπάντων οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοι τις αὐτὸν ὑπολαβών. ἡμίθεον δὲ διὰ τοῦτο ὁ μῦθός φησι, τὴν πρὸς τοὺς ἀτρέπτους αὐτοῦ θεοὺς ἐνδεικνύμενος διαφοράν. δορυφοροῦσι γὰρ αὐτὸν παρὰ τῆς Μητρὸς δοθέντες οἱ Κορύβαντες, αἱ τρεῖς ἀρχικαὶ τῶν μετὰ θεοὺς κρεισσόνων γενῶν ὑποστάσεις. ἄρχει δὲ καὶ τῶν [pg 470] λεόντων, οἳ τὴν ἔνθερμον οὐσίαν καὶ πυρώδη κατανειμάμενοι μετὰ τοῦ σφῶν ἐξάρχου λέοντος αἴτιοι τῷ πυρὶ μὲν πρώτως, διὰ δὲ τῆς ἐνθένδε θερμότητος ἐνεργείας τε κινητικῆς αἴτιοι [C] καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις εἰσὶ σωτηρίας· περίκειται δὲ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀντὶ τιάρας, ἐκεῖθεν ὥσπερ ἐπὶ γῆν ὁρμώμενος.
(Who then is the Mother of the Gods? She is the source of the intellectual[840] and creative gods, who in their turn guide the visible gods: she is both the mother and the spouse of mighty Zeus; she came into being next to and together with the great creator; she is in control of every form of life, and the cause of all generation; she easily brings to perfection all things that are made; without pain she brings to birth, and with the father's[841] aid creates all things that are; she is the motherless maiden,[842] enthroned at the side of Zeus, and in very truth is the Mother of all the Gods. For having received into herself the causes of all the gods, both intelligible and supra-mundane, she became the source of the intellectual gods. Now this goddess, who is also Forethought, was inspired with a passionless love for Attis. For not only the forms embodied in matter, but to a still greater degree the causes of those forms, voluntarily serve her and obey her will. Accordingly the myth relates the following: that she who is the Providence who preserves all that is subject to generation and decay, loved their creative and generative cause, and commanded that cause to beget offspring rather in the intelligible region; and she desired that it should turn towards herself and dwell with her, but condemned it to dwell with no other thing. For only thus would that creative cause strive towards the uniformity that preserves it, and at the same time would avoid that which inclines towards matter. And she bade that cause look towards her, who is the source of the creative gods, and not be dragged down or allured into generation. For in this way was mighty Attis destined to be an even mightier creation, seeing that in all things the conversion to what is higher produces more power to effect than the inclination to what is lower. And the fifth substance itself is more creative and more divine than the elements of our earth, for this reason, that it is more nearly connected with the gods. Not that anyone, surely, would venture to assert that any substance, even if it be composed of the purest aether, is superior to soul undefiled and pure, that of Heracles for instance, as it was when the creator sent it to earth. For that soul of his both seemed to be and was more effective than after it had bestowed itself on a body. Since even Heracles, now that he has returned, one and indivisible, to his father one and indivisible, more easily controls his own province than formerly when he wore the garment of flesh and walked among men. And this shows that in all things the conversion to the higher is more effective than the propensity to the lower. This is what the myth aims to teach us when it says that the Mother of the Gods exhorted Attis not to leave her or to love another. But he went further, and descended even to the lowest limits of matter. Since, however, it was necessary that his limitless course should cease and halt at last, mighty Helios the Corybant,[843] who shares the Mother's throne and with her creates all things, with her has providence for all things, and apart from her does nothing, persuaded the Lion[844] to reveal the matter. And who is the Lion? Verily we are told that he is flame-coloured.[845] He is, therefore, the cause that subsists prior to the hot and fiery, and it was his task to contend against the nymph and to be jealous of her union with Attis. (And who the nymph is, I have said.) And the myth says that the Lion serves the creative Providence of the world, which evidently means the Mother of the Gods. Then it says that by detecting and revealing the truth, he caused the youth's castration. What is the meaning of this castration? It is the checking of the unlimited. For now was generation confined within definite forms checked by creative Providence. And this would not have happened without the so-called madness of Attis, which overstepped and transgressed due measure, and thereby made him become weak so that he had no control over himself. And it is not surprising that this should come to pass, when we have to do with the cause that ranks lowest among the gods. For consider the fifth substance, which is subject to no change of any sort, in the region of the light of the moon: I mean where our world of continuous generation and decay borders on the fifth substance. We perceive that in the region of her light it seems to undergo certain alterations and to be affected by external influences. Therefore it is not contradictory to suppose that our Attis also is a sort of demigod—for that is actually the meaning of the myth—or rather for the universe he is wholly god, for he proceeds from the third creator, and after his castration is led upwards again to the Mother of the Gods. But though he seems to lean and incline towards matter, one would not be mistaken in supposing that, though he is the lowest in order of the gods, nevertheless he is the leader of all the tribes of divine beings. But the myth calls him a demigod to indicate the difference between him and the unchanging gods. He is attended by the Corybants who are assigned to him by the Mother; they are the three leading personalities of the higher races[846] that are next in order to the gods. Also Attis rules over the lions, who together with the Lion, who is their leader, have chosen for themselves hot and fiery substance, and so are, first and foremost, the cause of fire. And through the heat derived from fire they are the causes of motive force and of preservation for all other things that exist. And Attis encircles the heavens like a tiara, and thence sets out as though to descend to earth.)
Οὗτος ὁ μέγας ἡμῖν θεὸς Ἄττις ἐστίν· αὗται τοῦ βασιλέως Ἄττιδος αἱ θρηνούμεναι τέως φυγαὶ καὶ κρύψεις καὶ ἀφανισμοὶ καὶ αἱ δύσεις αἱ κατὰ τὸ ἄντρον. τεκμήρια δὲ ἔστω μοι τούτου ὁ χρόνος, ἐν ᾧ γίνεται. τέμνεσθαι γάρ φασι τὸ ἱερὸν δένδρον καθ᾽ ἣν ἡμέραν ὁ ἥλιος ἐπὶ τὸ ἄκρον τῆς ἰσημερινῆς ἁψῖδος ἔρχεται· εἶθ᾽ ἑξῆς περισαλπισμὸς παραλαμβάνεται· [D] τῇ τρίτῃ δὲ τέμνεται τὸ ἱερὸν καὶ ἀπόρρητον θέρος τοῦ θεοῦ Γάλλου· ἐπὶ τούτοις Ἱλάρια, φασί, καὶ ἑορταί. ὅτι μὲν οὖν στάσις ἐστὶ τῆς ἀπειρίας ἡ θρυλουμένη παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς ἐκτομή, πρόδηλον ἐξ ὧν ἡνίκα ὁ μέγας Ἥλιος τοῦ ἰσημερινοῦ ψαύσας κύκλου, ἵνα τὸ μάλιστα ὡρισμένον ἐστί·[847] τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἴσον ὡρισμένον ἐστί, τὸ δὲ ἄνισον ἄπειρόν τε καὶ ἀδιεξίτητον· κατὰ τὸν λόγον αὐτίκα τὸ δένδρον τέμνεται· [169] εἶθ᾽ ἑξῆς γίνεται τὰ λοιπά, τὰ [pg 472] μὲν διὰ τοὺς μυστικοὺς καὶ κρυφίους θεσμούς, τὰ δὲ καὶ διὰ[848] ῥηθῆναι πᾶσι δυναμένους. ἡ δὲ ἐκτομὴ τοῦ δένδρου, τοῦτο δὲ τῇ μὲν ἱστορίᾳ προσήκει τῇ περὶ τὸν Γάλλον, οὐδὲν δὲ τοῖς μυστηρίοις, οἷς παραλαμβάνεται, διδασκόντων ἡμᾶς οἶμαι τῶν θεῶν συμβολικῶς, ὅτι χρὴ τὸ κάλλιστον ἐκ γῆς δρεψαμένους, ἀρετὴν μετὰ εὐσεβείας, ἀπενεγκεῖν τῇ θεῷ, σύμβολον τῆς ἐνταῦθα χρηστῆς πολιτείας ἐσόμενον. τὸ γάρ τοι δένδρον ἐκ [B] γῆς μὲν φύεται, σπεύδει δὲ ὥσπερ εἰς τὸν αἰθέρα καὶ ἰδεῖν τέ ἐστι καλὸν καὶ σκιὰν παρασχεῖν ἐν πνίγει, ἤδη δὲ καὶ καρπὸν ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ προβαλεῖν καὶ χαρίσασθαι· οὗτως αὐτῷ πολύ τί γε τοῦ γονίμου περίεστιν. ἡμῖν οὖν ὁ θεσμὸς παρακελεύεται, τοῖς φύσει μὲν οὐρανίοις, εἰς γῆν δὲ ἐνεχθεῖσιν, ἀρετὴν μετὰ εὐσεβείας ἀπὸ τῆς ἐν τῇ γῇ πολιτείας ἀμησαμένους παρὰ τὴν προγονικὴν [C] καὶ ζωογόνον σπεύδειν θεόν.
(This, then, is our mighty god Attis. This explains his once lamented flight and concealment and disappearance and descent into the cave. In proof of this let me cite the time of year at which it happens. For we are told that the sacred tree[849] is felled on the day when the sun reaches the height of the equinox.[850] Thereupon the trumpets are sounded.[851] And on the third day the sacred and unspeakable member of the god Gallus is severed.[852] Next comes, they say, the Hilaria[853] and the festival. And that this castration, so much discussed by the crowd, is really the halting of his unlimited course, is evident from what happens directly mighty Helios touches the cycle of the equinox, where the bounds are most clearly defined. (For the even is bounded, but the uneven is without bounds, and there is no way through or out of it.) At that time then, precisely, according to the account we have, the sacred tree is felled. Thereupon, in their proper order, all the other ceremonies take place. Some of them are celebrated with the secret ritual of the Mysteries, but others by a ritual that can be told to all. For instance, the cutting of the tree belongs to the story of Gallus and not to the Mysteries at all, but it has been taken over by them, I think because the gods wished to teach us, in symbolic fashion, that we must pluck the fairest fruits from the earth, namely, virtue and piety, and offer them to the goddess to be the symbol of our well-ordered constitution here on earth. For the tree grows from the soil, but it strives upwards as though to reach the upper air, and it is fair to behold and gives us shade in the heat, and casts before us and bestows on us its fruits as a boon; such is its superabundance of generative life. Accordingly the ritual enjoins on us, who by nature belong to the heavens but have fallen to earth, to reap the harvest of our constitution here on earth, namely, virtue and piety, and then strive upwards to the goddess of our forefathers, to her who is the principle of all life.)
Εὐθὺς οὖν ἡ σάλπιγξ μετὰ τὴν ἐκτομὴν ἐνδίδωσι τὸ ἀνακλητικὸν τῷ Ἄττιδι καὶ τοῖς ὅσοι ποτὲ οὐρανόθεν ἔπτημεν εἰς τὴν γῆν καὶ ἐπέσομεν. μετὰ δὴ τὸ σύμβολον τοῦτο, ὅτε ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἄττις ἵστησι τὴν ἀπειρίαν διὰ τῆς ἐκτομῆς, ἡμῖν οἱ θεοὶ κελεύουσιν ἐκτέμνειν καὶ αὐτοῖς τὴν ἐν ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς ἀπειρίαν καὶ μιμεῖσθαι τοὺς ἡγεμόνας,[854] ἐπὶ δὲ τὸ ὡρισμένον καὶ ἑνοειδὲς καί, εἴπερ οἷόν τέ ἐστιν, [D] αὐτὸ τὸ ἓν ἀνατρέχειν· οὗπερ γενομένου πάντως ἕπεσθαι χρὴ τὰ Ἱλάρια. τί γὰρ εὐθυμότερον, τί δὲ ἱλαρώτερον γένοιτο ἂν ψυχῆς ἀπειρίαν μὲν καὶ γένεσιν καὶ τὸν ἐν αὐτῇ [pg 474] κλύδωνα διαφυγούσης, ἐπὶ δὲ τοὺς θεοὺς αὐτοὺς ἀναχθείσης; ὧν ἕνα καὶ τὸν Ἄττιν ὄντα περιεῖδεν οὐδαμῶς ἡ τῶν θεῶν Μήτηρ βαδίζοντα πρόσω πλέον ἢ χρῆν, πρὸς ἑαυτὴν δὲ ἐπέστρεψε, στῆσαι τὴν ἀπειρίαν προστάξασα.
(Therefore, immediately after the castration, the trumpet sounds the recall for Attis and for all of us who once flew down from heaven and fell to earth. And after this signal, when King Attis stays his limitless course by his castration, the god bids us also root out the unlimited in ourselves and imitate the gods our leaders and hasten back to the defined and uniform, and, if it be possible, to the One itself. After this, the Hilaria must by all means follow. For what could be more blessed, what more joyful than a soul which has escaped from limitlessness and generation and inward storm, and has been translated up to the very gods? And Attis himself was such a one, and the Mother of the Gods by no means allowed him to advance unregarded further than was permitted: nay, she made him turn towards herself, and commanded him to set a limit to his limitless course.)
Καὶ μή τις ὑπολάβῃ με λέγειν, ὡς ταῦτα ἐπράχθη ποτέ καὶ γέγονεν, [170] ὥσπερ οὐκ εἰδότων τῶν θεῶν αὐτῶν, ὅ, τι ποιήσουσιν, ἢ τὰ σφῶν αὐτῶν ἁμαρτήματα διορθουμένων. ἀλλὰ οἱ παλαιοὶ τῶν ὄντων ἀεὶ τὰς αἰτίας, ἤτοι τῶν θεῶν ὑφηγουμένων ἢ κατὰ σφᾶς αὐτοὺς διερευνώμενοι, βέλτιον δὲ ἴσως εἰπεῖν ζητοῦντες ὑφ᾽ ἡγεμόσι τοῖς θεοῖς, ἔπειτα εὑρόντες ἐσκέπασαν αὐτὰς[855] μύθοις παραδόξοις, ἵνα διὰ τοῦ παραδόξου καὶ ἀπεμφαίνοντος τὸ πλάσμα φωραθὲν ἐπὶ τὴν ζήτησιν ἡμᾶς τῆς [B] ἀληθείας προτρέψῃ, τοῖς μὲν ἰδιώταις ἀρκούσης οἶμαι τῆς ἀλόγου καὶ διὰ τῶν συμβόλων μόνων ὠφελείας, τοῖς δὲ περιττοῖς κατὰ τὴν φρόνησιν οὕτως μόνως ἐσομένης ὠφελίμου τῆς περὶ θεῶν ἀληθείας, εἴ τις ἐξετάζων αὐτὴν ὑφ᾽ ἡγεμόσι τοῖς θεοῖς εὕροι καὶ λάβοι, διὰ μὲν τῶν αἰνιγμάτων ὑπομνησθείς, ὅτι χρή τι περὶ αὐτῶν ζητεῖν, ἐς τέλος δὲ καὶ ὥσπερ κορυφὴν τοῦ πράγματος διὰ τῆς σκέψεως εὑρὼν πορευθείη, [C] οὐκ [pg 476] αἰδοῖ καὶ πίστει μᾶλλον ἀλλοτρίας δόξης ἢ τῆς σφετέρᾳ κατὰ νοῦν ἐνεργείᾳ.
(But let no one suppose my meaning to be that this was ever done or happened in a way that implies that the gods themselves are ignorant of what they intend to do, or that they have to correct their own errors. But our ancestors in every case tried to trace the original meanings of things, whether with the guidance of the gods or independently—though perhaps it would be better to say that they sought for them under the leadership of the gods—then when they had discovered those meanings they clothed them in paradoxical myths. This was in order that, by means of the paradox and the incongruity, the fiction might be detected and we might be induced to search out the truth. Now I think ordinary men derive benefit enough from the irrational myth which instructs them through symbols alone. But those who are more highly endowed with wisdom will find the truth about the gods helpful; though only on condition that such a man examine and discover and comprehend it under the leadership of the gods, and if by such riddles as these he is reminded that he must search out their meaning, and so attains to the goal and summit of his quest[856] through his own researches; he must not be modest and put faith in the opinions of others rather than in his own mental powers.)