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a special characteristic, for example the land of the Thessalians had its horses, that of the Athenians its silver mines, India its gold-bearing sand, and likewise Lacedaemon its hunting dogs (whence also the Laconian hounds) and its brave and fearless women. Sicily also had a spring of water, so called Arethusa, with which the river Alpheus is fabled to have fallen in love. The water of Arethusa is pure and clear and sweet. Therefore, the divine Gregory says that just as some lands and cities and citizens have had some exceptional characteristic, so the teaching of the Christians has all these things: orphanages, hostels, hospitals, poorhouses, and all such good things. 4.75 The seventy-fifth story is about Plato's city in words. Plato the philosopher composed a work which he entitled the Republic. In this work he says what kind of city should exist, and composed of how many men, and governed by what customs and laws. But this city of his was established in word only; in deed it was neither established nor did it function as a state. In that work, therefore, he says this little phrase: "Let the citizens be set before us, uttering these things, so that we may see their thought in motion." 4.76 The seventy-sixth story is about Hesiod's Theogony. Hesiod is one of the poets in circulation, of whom three poems are in circulation: the so-called Theogony, and the so-called Works and Days, and the so-called Shield. In the Theogony, then, Hesiod begins to enumerate the generations of the gods: that from Chaos and from Aether so-and-so was born, from Heaven and Earth Cronus, from Cronus Zeus, Poseidon, Pluto. Then he brings down successions of generations and the names of newer gods, and that these gods warred with those, and these were defeated, and these tore this one or those apart. For the Titans are said to have torn Dionysus apart. And these names which he mentions here, such as Cottus, Briareus, Hesiod says that certain men were born having a hundred hands each, who warred with the gods against the Giants. For the Giants are fabled to have risen up against the gods, until Zeus struck them with lightning. Likewise concerning the serpent-footed, Hesiod says that serpent-footed men were born. And now he calls the gods thunder-bearers, either Zeus himself, as having launched the thunderbolt against the Giants, or Steropes and Brontes, who forged the thunder, the lightning, and the thunderbolts for Zeus. And he says that islands and missiles and tombs were hurled at the Giants by the gods. These things, therefore, he mythologizes. And their bitter offspring, he says that from the blood of the Giants these death-bearing creatures came to be, such as those he himself enumerates: the Hydra (this is the nine-headed serpent which Heracles killed), the Chimera (about which we have already said that it was a lion in front, a serpent behind, and a she-goat in the middle, and that Bellerophon killed this beast), and likewise we have also already spoken about Cerberus, that it was a dog at the gate of Hades with three heads, and it would fawn on those going down to Hades, but would devour those coming up, which Heracles slew. And the story about the Gorgons was as follows: that there were three women with faces so terrible that those who looked at them died. And it is said that Perseus killed one of them with the sickle-sword. 4.77 The seventy-seventh story is the one that says, "Let Orpheus approach with his lyre." And it is this. Orpheus was a musician, a Thracian by birth, who is said to have sung so sweetly that the oak trees and the irrational animals, and the stones, and the rivers followed his song. Poems of his are in circulation which the Greeks hold as theologies. And in these poems, through mythical symbols, he tells of the orders and successions of the gods, and whose works are whose and whose fulfillments are whose, and who are the creators of whom. Of this Orpheus, therefore, the divine Gregory cites some verses, which are spoken concerning Zeus and Demeter. the

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ἰδίωμα, οἷον ἡ Θετταλῶν χώρα ἔσχε τοὺς ἵππους, ἡ Ἀθηναίων τὰ μέταλλα τοῦ ἀργύρου, ἡ Ἰνδία τὴν χρυσίτιδα ψάμμον, ὁμοίως καὶ ἡ Λακεδαίμων κύνας θηρευτικοὺς (ἔνθεν καὶ οἱ Λακωνικοὶ κύνες) καὶ γυναῖκας ἀνδρείας καὶ ἀπτοήτους. ἔσχε δὲ καὶ ἡ Σικελία πηγὴν ὕδατος, Ἀρέθουσαν οὕτω καλουμένην, ἧς ἐρασθῆναι τὸν Ἀλφειὸν ποταμὸν μυθεύουσιν. τὸ δὲ ὕδωρ τῆς Ἀρεθούσης ἀκραιφνές τε καὶ καθαρὸν καὶ γλυκύ. λέγει οὖν ὁ θεῖος Γρηγόριος ὅτι ὥσπερ ἔνιαι χῶραι καὶ πόλεις καὶ πολῖται ἔσχον τι κατ' ἐξαίρετον ἰδίωμα, οὕτω τὸ δόγμα τῶν Χριστιανῶν πάντα ταῦτα, ὀρφανοτροφεῖα, ξενῶνας, νοσοκομεῖα, πτωχοτροφεῖα καὶ πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα ἀγαθά. 4.75 Ἑβδομηκοστὴ πέμπτη ἐστὶν ἱστορία ἡ περὶ τῆς Πλάτωνος ἐν λόγοις πόλεως. Πλάτων ὁ φιλόσοφος συνεγράψατο σύνταγμα ὃ Πολιτείαν ἐπέγραψεν. ἐν τούτῳ τῷ συντάγματι λέγει ὁποίαν δεῖ γενέσθαι πόλιν καὶ ἐκ πόσων ἀνδρῶν συγκειμένην καὶ ποίοις ἤθεσι καὶ νόμοις πολιτευομένην. αὕτη δὲ αὐτῷ ἡ πόλις λόγῳ μόνον συνέστη, ἔργῳ δὲ οὔτε συνέστη οὔτε ἐπολιτεύσατο. ἐν ἐκείνῳ οὖν τῷ συντάγματι λέγει τοῦτο τὸ ῥησίδιον, ὅτι, Ὑποκείσθωσαν ἡμῖν οἱ πολῖται τάδε φθεγγόμενοι, ἵν' ἴδωμεν αὐτῶν κινουμένην τὴν ἐπίνοιαν. 4.76 Ἑβδομηκοστὴ ἕκτη ἐστὶν ἱστορία ἡ περὶ τῆς Ἡσιόδου Θεογονίας. Ἡσίοδος εἷς ἐστι τῶν πραττομένων ποιητῶν, οὗ πράττονται τρία ποιήματα, ἡ καλουμένη Θεογονία καὶ τὰ καλούμενα Ἔργα καὶ Ἡμέραι καὶ ἡ καλουμένη Ἀσπίς. ἐν τῷ οὖν Θεογονίᾳ ὁ Ἡσίοδος ἄρχεται καταριθμεῖσθαι τὰς γενέσεις τῶν θεῶν, ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ Χάους καὶ ἐκ τοῦ Αἰθέρος ἐγγενήθη ὁ δεῖνα, ἐκ τοῦ Οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς Γῆς ὁ Κρόνος, ἐκ τοῦ Κρόνου ὁ Ζεύς, ὁ Ποσειδῶν, ὁ Πλούτων. εἶτα καταφέρει σειρὰς γενῶν καὶ θεῶν καινοτέρων ὀνόματα, καὶ ὅτι οἵδε οἱ θεοὶ μετὰ τῶνδε ἐπολέμησαν, καὶ οἵδε ἡττήθησαν, καὶ οἵδε διεσπάραξαν τόνδε ἢ τούσδε. οἱ γὰρ Τιτᾶνες λέγονται διασπαράξαι τὸν ∆ιόνυσον. Ταῦτα δὲ τὰ ὀνόματα ἅτινα λέγει ὧδε, οἷον Κόττον, Βριάρεων, ὁ Ἡσίοδος λέγει γεννᾶσθαί τινας ἀνθρώπους ἀπὸ ἑκατὸν χειρῶν ἔχοντας, οἵτινες μετὰ τῶν θεῶν ἐπολέμησαν τοὺς Γίγαντας. οἱ γὰρ Γίγαντες μυθεύονται κατὰ θεῶν ἐπαναστῆναι, ἕως οὗ ἐκεραύνωσεν αὐτοὺς ὁ Ζεύς. ὁμοίως δὲ περὶ τῶν δρακοντοπόδων Ἡσίοδος λέγει ὅτι ἐγεννήθησαν ἄνθρωποι δρακοντόποδες. κεραυνοφόρους δὲ λέγει νῦν θεούς, ἢ αὐτὸν τὸν ∆ία, ὡς κεραυνὸν ἐπαφέντα τοῖς Γίγασιν, ἢ Στερόπην καὶ Βρόντην, τοὺς χαλκεύσαντας τῷ ∆ιὶ τὴν βροντὴν καὶ τὴν ἀστραπὴν καὶ τοὺς κεραυνούς. νήσους δὲ καὶ βέλη καὶ τάφους λέγει ἐπαφεῖσθαι τοῖς Γίγασι παρὰ τῶν θεῶν. ταῦτα οὖν μυθολόγει. Τὰ δὲ πικρὰ τούτων γεννήματα λέγει ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ αἵματος τῶν Γιγάντων ταῦτα τὰ θανατήφορα ζῷα γεγόνασιν, οἷον ἃ αὐτὸς καταριθμεῖται, τὴν Ὕδραν (αὕτη δέ ἐστιν ὁ ἐννεακέφαλος ὄφις, ὃν ἀνεῖλεν ὁ Ἡρακλῆς), τὴν Χίμαιραν (περὶ ἧς προφθάσαντες εἰρήκαμεν, ὅτι πρόσθε μὲν ἦν λέων, ὄπισθε δὲ δράκων, μέση δὲ χίμαιρα, καὶ ὅτι τοῦτο τὸ θηρίον ἀνεῖλεν ὁ Βελλεροφόντης), ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ περὶ τοῦ Κερβέρου ἤδη εἰρήκαμεν ὅτι κύων ἦν περὶ τὴν πύλην τοῦ Ἅιδου τρεῖς κεφαλὰς ἔχων, καὶ τοὺς μὲν κατιόντας περὶ τὸν Ἅιδην ἔσαινε, τοὺς δὲ ἀνιόντας κατήσθιεν, ὃν ἐφόνευσεν ὁ Ἡρακλῆς. Τὸ δὲ περὶ τὰς Γοργόνας τοιόνδε ἦν, ὅτι τρεῖς ἦσαν γυναῖκες φοβερὰ τοσοῦτον ἔχουσαι τὰ πρόσωπα ὥστε τοὺς θεωμένους αὐτὰς ἀποθνήσκειν. λέγεται δὲ ὅτι ὁ Περσεὺς τὴν μίαν τούτων ἀνεῖλε τῷ λογχοδρεπάνῳ. 4.77 Ἑβδομηκοστὴ ἑβδόμη ἐστὶν ἱστορία ἡ λέγουσα, Ὀρφεὺς παρίτω μετὰ τῆς κιθάρας. ἔστι δὲ αὕτη. Ὀρφεὺς γέγονε μουσικός, Θρᾷξ τὸ γένος, ὃς λέγεται ὅτι οὕτω προσηνῶς ᾖδεν ὥστε ἐπακολουθεῖν τῇ ᾠδῇ αὐτοῦ τὰς δρῦς καὶ τῶν ζῴων τὰ ἄλογα, καὶ τοὺς λίθους, καὶ τοὺς ποταμούς. Τούτου δὲ φέρονται ποιήματα ἅτινα ὡς θεολογίας ἔχουσιν Ἕλληνες. ἐν δὲ τούτοις τοῖς ποιήμασι διὰ μυθικῶν συμβόλων λέγει τὰς τῶν θεῶν τάξεις τε καὶ σειράς, καὶ τίνων τίνα ἔργα καὶ ποῖα τίνων τελέσματα, καὶ τίνες τίνων δημιουργοί. τούτου τοίνυν τοῦ Ὀρφέως ἔνια ἔπη παρατίθησιν ὁ θεῖος Γρηγόριος, ἅ εἰσι περὶ τοῦ ∆ιὸς εἰρημένα καὶ τῆς ∆ήμητρος. τὰ