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to say, surpassed the Egyptians. For of these, after the great Zoroaster, Petosiris, having interwoven the specifics with the general, is compelled to hand down many things according to his own method, but he does not hand these things down to all, but only to his own circle, or rather, to those of them who are better suited for conjecture. Antigonus after him distinguished and articulated the tradition, but, leaning toward the density of the lines in astronomy, he included in his writing a prodigious mass full of every obscurity. For the things said by Aristotle are most familiar. But Heliodorus and Asclation, and also Odapsos the Theban and Polles of Aigion and the most divine Ptolemy before them, were not completely able to cast out the ancient obscurity of the subject, although they were very eager to do this. But since for us, I mean those from Italy, Tages has become the founder of the subject, it is fitting to use his words, or rather, their meaning; for those things, composed in more ancient terms, are somehow difficult to follow and not very clear. But we will also make use of the rest, Tarchon the haruspex and Tarquitus the initiator and Capito the priest, so that from the things said by all these we may weave together some elegant harmony of the subject. It is necessary, therefore, to relate first who this Tages is and who the others are, and how such things were entrusted to writing, contrary to the prevailing custom in the sacred rites. 3 Tarchon, having this name, was a haruspex, as he himself is introduced in the writing, one of those taught by Tyrrhenus the Lydian. For these things are indeed indicated in the writings of the Tusci, since Evander the Arcadian had not yet appeared in those regions at that time. But the form of the letters was of a different kind, and not at all familiar to us; for otherwise none of the secret and more essential things would have remained hidden until the present time. Tarchon says, therefore, in the treatise, which some suspect to be by Tages, since there, in a kind of dialogue, Tarchon supposedly asks, and Tages answers as one who is always devoted to the sacred rites, that by chance something wonderful happened to him at a certain time while plowing, such as no one had ever heard of happening in all of time; for from the furrow a little child was given up, seeming to have been just born, but in no need of teeth and the other marks of age; and the child, it seems, was Tages, who was thought by the Greeks to be Hermes Chthonios, as Proclus the Successor somewhere says. This is veiled allegorically according to the hieratic law, since the discourse about more divine matters is not obvious on account of the uninitiated, but is handed down now mythically, now parabolically; for instead of saying that a most perfect soul, in no need of its own proper activities, came to matter, he says that a newborn infant was given up from the furrow. But Tarchon the elder—for there was also a younger one, who campaigned in the time of Aeneas—taking up the child and placing him in the sacred places, sought to learn something of the secrets from him. And having obtained what he asked for, he wrote a book from the things that were said, in which Tarchon asks in that customary tongue of the Italians, and Tages answers, abiding in ancient letters that are not very familiar to us, at least in his responses. But nevertheless, as much as has been possible for me, both from the Tusci and from the others who have interpreted them, I mean Capito and Fonteius, and Apuleius, Vicellius and Labeo and Figulus, and Pliny the naturalist, I will try to go through these things for you. 4 But our purpose is to speak about solar and lunar overshadowings—for so they call the ecliptic failings of the lights—and about comets and their different kinds, about furrows and shooting stars, about lightnings and thunders and thunderbolts and the other aerial phenomena

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εἰπεῖν, Αἰγυπτίους ὑπερβαλεῖν. τούτων γὰρ δή, μετὰ Ζωροάστρην τὸν πολύν, Πετόσιρις τοῖς εἰδικοῖς τὰ ἐν γένει διαπλέξας πολλὰ μὲν κατ' αὐτὸν παραδοῦναι βιάζεται, οὐ πᾶσι δὲ παραδίδωσι ταῦτα, μόνοις δὲ τοῖς καθ' αὑτόν, μᾶλλον δὲ ὅσοι καὶ αὐτῶν πρὸς στοχασμοὺς ἐπιτηδειότεροι. Ἀντίγονος δὲ μετ' ἐκεῖνον διέκρινε μὲν καὶ διήρθρωσε τὴν παράδοσιν, πρὸς δὲ τὸ πυκνὸν τῶν ἐν τῇ ἀστρονομίᾳ γραμμῶν ἀποκλίνας ἀμύθητον ὄχλον καὶ ἀσαφείας πάσης ἀνάμεστον τῇ γραφῇ συγκατέθετο. τὰ γὰρ Ἀριστοτέλει εἰρημένα γνωριμώτατα. Ἡλιόδωρος δὲ καὶ Ἀσκλατίων, ἔτι καὶ Ὠδαψὸς ὁ Θηβαῖος καὶ ὁ Αἰγιεὺς Πολλῆς καὶ ὁ θειότατος πρὸ αὐτῶν Πτολεμαῖος, οὐ μέχρι παντὸς ἴσχυσαν τὴν παλαιὰν ἀσάφειαν τοῦ πράγματος ἐκβαλεῖν, καίτοι γε σφόδρα καὶ τοῦτο ποιῆσαι σπεύσαντες. ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἡμῖν, τοὺς ἐξ Ἰταλίας φημί, Τάγης ἀρχηγὸς τοῦ πράγματος γέγονεν, ἀκόλουθον τοῖς αὐτοῦ ῥήμασι χρήσασθαι, μᾶλλον δὲ τῇ τούτων ἐννοίᾳ· τοῖς γὰρ ἀρχαιοτέροις ὀνόμασιν ἐκεῖνα συγκείμενα δυσπαρακολούθητά πώς ἐστι καὶ οὐ σφόδρα σαφῆ. χρησόμεθα δὲ καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς, Τάρχοντί τε τῷ θυοσκόπῳ καὶ Ταρκύτῳ τῷ τελεστῇ καὶ Καπίτωνι ἱερεῖ, ὥστε ἐκ τῶν πᾶσι τούτοις εἰρημένων γλαφυράν τινα διαπλέξαι τοῦ πράγματος ἁρμονίαν. δεῖ τοίνυν ἀφηγήσασθαι πρῶτον τίς τε οὗτος ὁ Τάγης καὶ τίνες οἱ λοιποί, καὶ ὅπως γράμμασιν ἐνεπιστεύθη παρὰ τὸ κρατοῦν ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς τὰ τοιαῦτα. 3 Τάρχων, ταύτῃ ἔχων τὴν προσηγορίαν, ἀνὴρ γέγονε μὲν θυοσκόπος, ὡς αὐτὸς ἐπὶ τῆς γραφῆς εἰσενήνεκται, εἷς τῶν ὑπὸ Τυρρηνοῦ τοῦ Λυδοῦ διδαχθέντων. καὶ γὰρ δὴ τοῖς Θούσκων γράμμασι ταῦτα δηλοῦται, οὔπω τηνικαῦτα τοῖς τόποις ἐκείνοις Εὐάνδρου τοῦ Ἀρκάδος ἐπιφανέντος. ἦν δὲ ἀλλοῖός τις ὁ τῶν γραμμάτων τύπος, καὶ οὐδὲ ὅλως καθημαξευμένος ἡμῖν· ἦ γὰρ ἂν τῶν ἀπορρήτων τε καὶ ἀναγκαιοτέρων οὐδὲν ἔμεινεν ἄχρι τοῦ παρόντος λανθάνον. φησὶ τοίνυν ὁ Τάρχων ἐπὶ τοῦ συγγράμματος, ὅπερ εἶναί τινες Τάγητος ὑποπτεύουσιν, ἐπειδήπερ ἐκεῖ κατά τινα διαλογικὴν ὁμιλίαν ἐρωτᾷ μὲν δῆθεν ὁ Τάρχων, ἀποκρίνεται δὲ ὁ Τάγης ὡς προσκαρτερῶν ἑκάστοτε τοῖς ἱεροῖς, ὡς τυχὸν συμβέβηκεν αὑτῷ κατά τινα χρόνον ἀροτριῶντι θαυμάσιόν τι, οἷον οὐδὲ ἀκήκοέ τις ἐν τῷ παντὶ χρόνῳ γενόμενον· ἀνεδόθη γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ αὔλακος παιδίον, ἄρτι μὲν τεχθῆναι δοκοῦν, ὀδόντων δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἐν ἡλικίᾳ γνωρισμάτων ἀπροσδεές· ἦν δὲ ἄρα τὸ παιδίον ὁ Τάγης, ὃν δὴ καὶ χθόνιον Ἑρμῆν εἶναι τοῖς Ἕλλησινἔδοξεν, ὥς που καὶ Πρόκλος φησὶν ὁ διάδοχος. τοῦτο δὲ ἀλληγορικῶς παρὰ τὸν ἱερατικὸν παρακεκάλυπται νόμον, ἐπεὶ οὐ προφανῶς ὁ περὶ θειοτέρων πραγμάτων λόγος διὰ τοὺς ἀνιέρους, ἀλλὰ νῦν μὲν μυθικῶς νῦν δὲ παραβολικῶς παραδέδοται· ἀντὶ γὰρ τοῦ εἰπεῖν ψυχὴν τελειοτάτην καὶ τῶν οἰκείων ἐνεργειῶν ἀπροσδεῆ ἐπὶ τὴν ὕλην ἐλθεῖν, βρέφος ἀρτιγενὲς ἐκ τοῦ αὔλακος ἀναδοθῆναί φησι. Τάρχων δὲ ὁ πρεσβύτερος γέγονε γὰρ δὴ καὶ νεώτερος, ἐπὶ τῶν Αἰνείου στρατευσάμενος χρόνων τὸ παιδίον ἀναλαβὼν καὶ τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἐναποθέμενος τόποις ἠξίου τι παρ' αὐτοῦ τῶν ἀπορρήτων μαθεῖν. τοῦ δὲ αἰτουμένου τυχὼν βιβλίον ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων συνέγραψεν, ἐν ᾧ πυνθάνεται μὲν ὁ Τάρχων τῇ τῶν Ἰταλῶν ταύτῃ τῇ συνήθει φωνῇ, ἀποκρίνεται δὲ ὁ Τάγης γράμμασιν ἀρχαίοις τε καὶ οὐ σφόδρα γνωρίμοις ἡμῖν γε ἐμμένων τῶν ἀποκρίσεων. πλὴν ἀλλ' ὅσον μοι γέγονε δυνατόν, ἔκ τε τῶν Θούσκων ἔκ τε τῶν ἄλλων ὅσοι τούτους ἡρμήνευσαν, Καπίτωνός τέ φημι καὶ Φοντηίου, καὶ Ἀπουληίου Βικελλίου τε καὶ Λαβεῶνος καὶ Φιγούλου, Πλινίου τε τοῦ φυσικοῦ, πειράσομαι ταῦτα πρὸς ὑμᾶς διελθεῖν. 4 Σπουδὴ δὲ ἡμῖν ἐστὶν εἰπεῖν περί τε ἡλιακῶν καὶ σεληνιακῶν ἐπισκιασμάτων οὕτω γὰρ τὰς ἐκλειπτικὰς τῶν φώτων ὀλισθήσεις ἐκεῖνοι καλοῦσι, κομητῶν τε καὶ τῆς κατ' αὐτοὺς διαφορᾶς, αὐλακισμῶν τε καὶ διᾳττόντων, ἀστραπῶν τε καὶ βροντῶν καὶ κεραυνῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀερίων