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He is the maker of all things, as indeed He is, therefore He is also the creator of the water and of the seas. But Hesiod himself not only told of the birth of the gods, but also of the cosmos itself. and while he said the cosmos was created, he failed to say by whom it came to be. Furthermore, he said that the gods were Cronus and his son Zeus, and Poseidon and Pluto, and we find these to be later than the cosmos. And further still he recounts that Cronus was warred against by Zeus, his own child. For thus he says: "Having conquered his father Cronus by force; he then duly arranged all things among the immortals and assigned them their honors." Then he adds, speaking of the daughters of Zeus, whom he also calls the Muses, of whom he is found a suppliant, wishing to learn from them in what way all things came to be. For he says: "Hail, children of Zeus, give lovely song. And celebrate the holy race of the deathless gods who are for ever, those who were born of Earth and starry Heaven, and of murky Night, and them that briny Sea did rear. Tell how at the first gods and earth came to be, and rivers, and the boundless sea with its raging swell, and the gleaming stars, and the wide heaven above, how they parted their wealth, and how they divided their honors, and how at the first they took possession of many-folded Olympus. These things declare to me from the beginning, you Muses who dwell on Olympus, and tell me which of them first came to be." But how did the Muses know these things, being later than the cosmos? Or how could they relate them to Hesiod, when indeed their father had not yet been born? And in a way he posits matter, and the creation of the cosmos, saying: "Verily at the first Chaos came to be, but next broad-bosomed Earth, the ever-sure foundation of all the deathless ones who hold the peaks of snowy Olympus, and dim Tartarus in the depth of the wide-pathed Earth, and Eros, fairest among the immortal gods, the limb-loosener, who of all gods and of all men overcomes in their breasts their mind and thoughtful counsel. From Chaos came forth Erebus and black Night. But Earth first bore starry Heaven, equal to herself, to cover her on every side, and to be an ever-sure abiding-place for the blessed gods. And she brought forth long hills, graceful haunts of the goddess Nymphs who dwell among the glens of the hills. She bore also the fruitless deep with his raging swell, Pontus, without sweet union of love. But afterwards she lay with Heaven and bore deep-swirling Oceanus." And having said these things, not even so did he make clear by whom they came to be. For if in the beginning was chaos, and a certain matter pre-existed, being uncreated, who then was

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ὅλων ποιητής ἐστιν, καθὼς καὶ ἔστιν, ἄρα καὶ τοῦ ὕδατος καὶ τῶν θαλασσῶν κτίστης ἐστίν. Ἡσίοδος δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς οὐ μόνον θεῶν γένεσιν ἐξεῖπεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ κόσμου. καὶ τὸν μὲν κόσμον γενητὸν εἰπὼν ἠτόνησεν εἰπεῖν ὑφ' οὗ γέγονεν. ἔτι μὴν καὶ θεοὺς ἔφησεν Κρόνον καὶ τὸν ἐξ αὐτοῦ ∆ία, Ποσειδῶνά τε καὶ Πλούτωνα, καὶ τούτους μεταγενεσ- τέρους εὑρίσκομεν τοῦ κόσμου. ἔτι δὲ καὶ τὸν Κρόνον πολεμεῖσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ ∆ιὸς τοῦ ἰδίου παιδὸς ἱστορεῖ. οὕτως γάρ φησιν· Κάρτεϊ νικήσας πατέρα Κρόνον· εὖ δὲ ἕκαστα ἀθανάτοις διέταξεν ὅμως καὶ ἐπέφραδε τιμάς. εἶτα ἐπιφέρει λέγων τὰς τοῦ ∆ιὸς θυγατέρας, ἃς καὶ Μούσας προσαγορεύει, ὧν ἱκέτης εὑρίσκεται βουλόμενος μαθεῖν παρ' αὐτῶν τίνι τρόπῳ τὰ πάντα γεγένηται. λέγει γάρ· Χαίρετε, τέκνα ∆ιός, δότε δ' ἱμερόεσσαν ἀοιδήν. κλείετε δ' ἀθανάτων μακάρων γένος αἰὲν ἐόντων, οἳ γῆς ἐξεγένοντο καὶ οὐρανοῦ ἀστερόεντος, νυκτός τε δνοφερῆς, οὓς ἁλμυρὸς ἔτρεφε πόντος. εἴπατε δ' ὡς τὰ πρῶτα θεοὶ καὶ γαῖα γένοντο, καὶ ποταμοὶ καὶ πόντος ἀπείριτος, οἴδματι θύων, ἄστρα τε λαμπετόωντα καὶ οὐρανὸς εὐρὺς ὕπερθεν, ὥς τ' ἄφενος δάσσαντο καὶ ὡς τιμὰς διέλοντο, ἠδὲ καὶ ὡς τὰ πρῶτα πολύπτυχον ἔσχον Ὄλυμπον. ταῦτά μοι ἔσπετε Μοῦσαι Ὀλύμπια δώματ' ἔχουσαι ἐξ ἀρχῆς, καὶ εἴπαθ' ὅ τι πρῶτον γένετ' αὐτῶν. πῶς δὲ ταῦτα ἠπίσταντο αἱ Μοῦσαι, μεταγενέστεραι οὖσαι τοῦ κόσμου; ἢ πῶς ἠδύναντο διηγήσασθαι τῷ Ἡσιόδῳ, ὅπου δὴ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτῶν οὔπω γεγένηται; Καὶ ὕλην μὲν τρόπῳ τινὶ ὑποτίθεται, καὶ κόσμου ποίησιν, λέγων· Ἤτοι μὲν πρώτιστα χάος γένετ', αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα γαῖ' εὐρύστερνος, πάντων ἕδος ἀσφαλὲς αἰεὶ ἀθανάτων, οἳ ἔχουσι κάρη νιφόεντος Ὀλύμπου, Τάρταρά τ' ἠερόεντα, μυχὸν χθονὸς εὐρυοδείης, ἠδ' Ἔρος, ὃς κάλλιστος ἐν ἀθανάτοισι θεοῖσι, λυσιμελής, πάντων τε θεῶν πάντων τ' ἀνθρώπων δάμναται ἐν στήθεσσι νόον καὶ ἐπίφρονα βουλήν. ἐκ Χάεος δ' Ἔρεβός τε μέλαινά τε Νὺξ ἐγένοντο. Γαῖα δέ τοι πρῶτον μὲν ἐγείνατο ἶσον ἑωυτῇ Oὐρανὸν ἀστερόενθ', ἵνα μιν περὶ πάντα καλύπτῃ, ὄφρ' εἴη μακάρεσσι θεοῖς ἕδος ἀσφαλὲς αἰεί· γείνατο δ' οὔρεα μακρά, θεᾶν χαρίεντας ἐναύλους Νυμφέων, αἳ ναίουσιν ἀν' οὔρεα βησσήεντα· ἠδὲ καὶ ἀτρύγετον πέλαγος τέκεν οἴδματι θῦον, πόντον, ἄτερ φιλότητος ἐφιμέρου· αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα Oὐρανῷ εὐνηθεῖσα τέκ' Ὠκεανὸν βαθυδίνην. καὶ ταῦτα εἰπὼν οὐδὲ οὕτως ἐδήλωσεν ὑπὸ τίνος ἐγένοντο. εἰ γὰρ ἐν πρώτοις ἦν χάος, καὶ ὕλη τις προϋπέκειτο ἀγένητος οὖσα, τίς ἄρα ἦν