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these are the names: arctic, antarctic, summer, winter, equinoctial, zodiacal and in addition the milky way; for such a number is divine. Therefore the things concerning our soul are divided sevenfold through the governing reason, into the five senses, and the organ of speech, and over all, the faculty of generation. And this whole universe is also contemplated in seven things: in body, in dimension, in shape, in size, in color, in motion, in rest; and besides these nothing else happens to visible things; for of sensible things, the solids are preconceived, and of solids, the planes, and of planes, the surfaces, and of surfaces, the lines, and of lines, the points, and of points, the numbers, which indeed belong to the body. And there are also seven changes of voice, acute, grave, circumflex, diphthong, smooth, and long and short. Hence also seven-month infants are naturally born perfectly formed, as Hippocrates says; for the soul-producing power of the number makes seven-month infants perfect, because a perfect spherical period is contained by a perfect and cosmic number, the soul-governing and soul-producing; for Timaeus also constituted the soul from seven numbers. And all motions are only seven, up and down, right and left, forward and backward, and circular. And of the letters, the vowels are seven, since they seem to be voiced by themselves and, being arranged with the others, to produce articulate sounds; for they supply what is lacking in the semi-vowels, and make the sounds complete, and of the voiceless they turn and change their natures, so that the unutterable may become utterable. And why do we speak at length, when not even the nature of waters has been left outside the power of the heptad? At any rate, Dionysius in his Creations says, that the Chalcidian Euripus, turning seven times a day, stands still only during the weeks. And from the intelligible aeon itself it is possible to perceive the sails; for they are gathered first from hours, then days, then weeks, then months, then years, from there seasons, and finally aeons, towards the archetypal form of the intelligible and father-begotten aeon. 3.t LIBER TERTIUS. Concerning the month. 3.1 That Anacharsis the Scythian said that a dispute once arose between the Egyptians and the Scythians concerning the antiquity of each, perhaps because each claimed precedence in affairs from the two Bears, but that the Scythians were judged to be more ancient because their country lies under the Great Bear and our sea naturally takes its beginning as if from an upper story from the hyperborean ocean; for it is clear to all that there are two inlets that form it; one from Spain, and the other, as has been said, from the hyperborean ocean, which the chorographers also call the Cronian sea, contrary to the opinion of Ptolemy; for he holds that there is one and only one inlet, the one from the western ocean through Gades. And indeed concerning universal antiquity one might suppose the Scythians to be first from the fluid substance, which is indisputably the first of the elements. Hence also the Parthians or Persians are very proud of their antiquity; and all testify that they are Scythians, and Arrian shows it; for according to him the name Parthian is interpreted in the Scythian tongue as the Scythian and incomer. But concerning Greek antiquity, the books hand down the Arcadians and the Sicyonians as the first of all Greek men after Deucalion, as it were, originators and archetypal and first-born; hence the Arcadians also honored Pan, that is, this universe, believing that nothing exists beyond sensible things. That the myth also holds them to be pre-lunar; not

11

ὀνόματα τάδε· ἀρκτικὸς ἀνταρκτικὸς θερινὸς χειμερινὸς ἰσημερινὸς ζωδιακὸς καὶ προσέτι γαλαξίας· ὁ γὰρ τοιοῦτος ἀριθμὸς θεῖός ἐστιν. ὅθεν τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν ψυχὴν διὰ τοῦ ἡγεμονικοῦ λόγου ἑπταχῆ σχίζεται, πρός τε πέντε αἰσθήσεις καὶ τὸ φωνητικὸν ὄργανον καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσι τὸ γόνιμον. καὶ τὸ πᾶν δὲ τοῦτο ἐν ἑπτὰ θεωρεῖται· ἐν σώματι ἐν διαστάσει ἐν σχήματι ἐν μεγέθει ἐν χρώματι ἐν κινήσει ἐν στάσει· καὶ παρὰ ταῦτα οὐδὲν ἕτερον συμβέβηκε τοῖς ὁρωμένοις· τῶν γὰρ αἰσθητῶν τὰ στερεὰ προὐπινοεῖται, τῶν δὲ στερεῶν τὰ ἐπίπεδα, τῶν δὲ ἐπιπέδων αἱ ἐπιφάνειαι, τῶν δὲ ἐπιφανειῶν αἱ γραμμαί, τῶν δὲ γραμμῶν αἱ στιγμαί, τῶν δὲ στιγμῶν οἱ ἀριθμοί, οἳ δὴ καὶ τῷ σώματι τυγχάνουσιν. ἑπτὰ δὲ καὶ φωνῶν μεταβολαί, ὀξεῖα βαρεῖα περισπωμένη σύμφθογγος ψιλή τε καὶ μακρὰ καὶ βραχεῖα. ἔνθεν καὶ τὰ ἑπτάμηνα βρέφη τελειογονεῖσθαι πέφυκεν, ὡς Ἱπποκράτης λέγει· ἡ γὰρ τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ ψυχογονικὴ δύναμις τὰ ἑπτάμηνα τέλεια ἀποφαίνει, διότι τελείας περίοδος σφαιρικῆς ἀριθμῷ τελείῳ καὶ κοσμικῷ, τῷ ψυχοκρατητικῷ καὶ ψυχογονικῷ περιέχεται· καὶ γὰρ τὴν ψυχὴν ὁ Τίμαιος ἐξ ἑπτὰ ἀριθμῶν συνέστησε. καὶ κινήσεις δὲ αἱ πᾶσαι μόναι εἰσὶν ἑπτά, ἥ τε ἄνω ἥ τε κάτω, ἡ ἐπιδέξια ἡ εὐώνυμα ἡ πρόσω ἡ κατόπιν ἡ ἐν κύκλῳ. στοιχείων δὲ τὰ φωνήεντα ἑπτά, ἐπειδὴ καὶ ἐξ ἑαυτῶν ἔοικε φωνεῖσθαι καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις συν ταττόμενα φωνὰς ἐνάρθρους ἀποτελεῖν· τῶν γὰρ ἡμιφώνων ἀναπληροῖ τὸ ἐνδέον, ὁλοκλήρους δὲ κατασκευάζει τοὺς φθόγγους, τῶν δὲ ἀφώνων τρέπει τε καὶ μεταβάλλει τὰς φύσεις, ἵνα γένηται τὰ ἄρρητα ῥητά. καὶ τί μακρηγοροῦμεν, ὅταν οὐδὲ ἡ τῶν ὑδάτων φύσις ἔξω τῆς δυνάμεως τῆς ἑπτάδος ἀπολέλειπται; ὁ γοῦν ∆ιονύσιος ἐν ταῖς Κτίσεσί φησι, τὸν Χαλκιδικὸν Εὔριπον ἑπτάκις καθ' ἡμέραν στρεφόμενον κατὰ μόνας τὰς ἑβδομάδας ἵστασθαι. καὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ δὲ τοῦ νοητοῦ αἰῶνος ἔστι συνιδεῖν τοὺς ἀρτέμονας· συνάγονται μὲν γὰρ πρῶτον ἐξ ὡρῶν, εἶτα ἡμερῶν, εἶτα ἑβδομάδων, ἔπειτα μηνῶν, εἶτα ἐνιαυτῶν, ἐκεῖθεν καιρῶν, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν αἰώνων, πρὸς τὸ ἀρχέτυπον εἶδος τοῦ νοητοῦ καὶ πατρογενοῦς αἰῶνος. 3.t LIBER TERTIUS. Περὶ μηνός. 3.1 Ὅτι Ἀνάχαρσις ὁ Σκύθης ἔφη φιλονεικίαν γενέσθαι ποτὲ Αἰγυπτίοις καὶ Σκύθαις περὶ ἀρχαιότητος ἑκατέρων, ἴσως ἐξ ἑκατέρων τῶν ἄρκτων προέχειν τῶν πραγμάτων ἀξιούντων, κριθῆναι δὲ τοὺς Σκύθας εἶναι πρεσβυτέρους διὰ τὸ καὶ ὑπὸ τὴν μεγάλην ἄρκτον κεῖσθαι τὴν κατ' αὐτοὺς χώραν καὶ κατὰ φύσιν ὥσπερ ἐξ ὑπερῴας ἀρχὴν τὴν καθ' ἡμᾶς θάλασσαν ἐκ τοῦ ὑπερβορείου λαμβάνειν ὠκεανοῦ· δύο γὰρ εἰσβολὰς εἶναι τὰς ἀποτελούσας αὐτὴν παντὶ δῆλον· μίαν μὲν ἐξ Ἱσπανίας, τὴν δὲ ἑτέραν, ὡς εἴρηται, ἐκ τοῦ ὑπερβορείου ὠκεανοῦ, ὃν καὶ Κρόνιον πέλαγος οἱ χωρογράφοι καλοῦσι, παρὰ τὴν Πτολεμαίου δόξαν· αὐτὸς γὰρ μίαν καὶ μόνην εἰσβολὴν εἶναι τὴν ἐκ τοῦ δυτικοῦ ὠκεανοῦ βούλεται τὴν διὰ Γαδείρων. καὶ ἐπὶ μὲν τῆς καθόλου παλαιότητος Σκύθας ἄν τις ὑπολάβῃ πρωτεύειν ἐκ τῆς ῥευστῆς οὐσίας, ἣν τῶν στοιχείων πρώτην εἶναι ἀναμφισβήτητον. ὅθεν καὶ Πάρθοι ἤτοι Πέρσαι μέγα φρονοῦσιν ἐπὶ παλαιότητι· Σκύθας δὲ αὐτοὺς εἶναι πάντες μὲν μαρτυροῦσιν, Ἀρριανὸς δὲ δείκνυσι· τὸ γὰρ Πάρθος ὄνομα ὁ Σκύθης καὶ ἔπηλυς κατ' αὐτὸν τῇ Σκυθῶν φωνῇ ἑρμηνεύεται. ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς ἑλληνικῆς ἀρχαιότητος πρώτους πάντων ἀνθρώπων μετὰ ∆ευκαλίωνα Ἕλληνας παραδίδωσι τὰ βιβλία Ἀρκάδας τε καὶ Σικυωνίους, ὡσανεὶ ἀρχάδας καὶ ἀρχετύπους καὶ πρωτογενεῖς· ὅθεν καὶ Πᾶνα Ἀρκάδες ἐτίμησαν, τουτέστι τόδε τὸ πᾶν, μηδὲν παρὰ τὰ αἰσθητὰ εἶναι νομίσαντες. ὅτι καὶ προσελήνους αὐτοὺς ὁ μῦθος ἔχει· οὐχ