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For first he speaks concerning Zeus, and later concerning Demeter. And the meaning of the verses concerning Zeus is this: "O Zeus, glorious and greatest of all the gods, surrounded by all the dung, both that of sheep, and that of horses and mules." And "sheep dung" is that of the sheep; for sheep are "mêla." And through this verse, Orpheus supposedly signified that Zeus sends forth his life-giving powers even to bestial matter. And the meaning of the verse concerning Demeter is this: "The goddess, coming on, pulled up her thighs (he speaks of her garments), in order, he says, that she might deem her lovers worthy of intercourse." And through these things Orpheus hints that the divine power is ready to give herself to those who desire her and to initiate them. Therefore, the divine Gregory, as this is shameful and the one about Zeus is unclean, reviles and laughs at them. 4.78 The seventy-eighth story is the one that says, "Over all, Phanes and Ericapaeus." It is this. In the Orphic poems these two names were introduced along with many others, of which he introduces Phanes as having his genitals behind, around his rump. And they say that he is the overseer of the life-giving power. And likewise they say that Ericapaeus is the overseer of another power. But concerning "He who swallows all the gods," he does not speak of Ericapaeus but of Cronus. For he is said to have swallowed again the sons he bore, and to have vomited up those he had already swallowed. For he is said to have swallowed a stone instead of Zeus, and when the stone went down, to have vomited up everyone. 4.79 The seventy-ninth story is the one that speaks about Homer. And the story about this is much-talked-about. For in his poems he tells tales up and down of Cronus and Zeus, and Hera and Aphrodite, and Athena over all these, and simply as many as we know from his poetry. And he called Homer a comedy-writer because of some jests said by him against the gods, like that Hera, having dressed splendidly and adorned herself, went to Zeus and deceived him and slept with him, and if anything is more ridiculous than this? And a tragedy-writer, because he told some mournful tales about the gods, such as that he hurled Hephaestus down to Lemnos, and that Aphrodite was wounded by Diomedes. These things are supposedly worthy of tears. For tears follow tragedy, but laughter, comedy. 4.80 The eightieth story is about Oceanus and Tethys. And the poets introduce this myth, that Oceanus is the father of all the gods, and Tethys the mother (and Oceanus and Tethys are an androgynous couple), and that long ago they were separated from each other, but through the entreaty of Hera their union and friendship came about again. And the myth, he says, hints that Oceanus is the wet nature, and Tethys the dry, that is, the earth; and that long ago when the wet nature was not joined with the earth, nothing was brought to life, and all things were perishing. Then Hera, being overseer of the yoking, reconciles the two elements, and so life-generation occurs. 4.81 The eighty-first story is of cloud-gathering Zeus towards Hera. Zeus was favoring the Trojans more, and was causing the Greeks to be defeated because of the supplication of Thetis on behalf of Achilles, so that the Greeks, being defeated, would seek Achilles. But Hera was concerned for the Greeks; and being concerned, she planned to deceive Zeus into intercourse and sleep, driving him to a Bacchic frenzy, so that, with Zeus sleeping, the Trojans, becoming helpless, would be defeated by the Greeks. Having planned these things, she takes all the adornments from the cestus of Aphrodite. The cestus is mythologized to be a kind of girdle, in which all things relating to beauty and good form and charms are stored. Then, having adorned herself, she goes up to Zeus, and moves him to pleasure and lust. And the earth, he says, sprouted herbs, such as crocus, lotus, and hyacinth. 4.82 The eighty-second story is how Hera, hanging in the aether and clouds and weighed down with iron anvils and bound with golden fetters. This is the story. Hera, as we often know, was jealous of

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μὲν γὰρ πρῶτα περὶ τοῦ ∆ιὸς λέγει, τὰ δὲ ὕστερα περὶ τῆς ∆ήμητρος. καὶ ὁ νοῦς μὲν τῶν περὶ τοῦ ∆ιὸς ἐπῶν οὗτός ἐστιν ὅτι, Ὦ Ζεῦ ἔνδοξε καὶ μέγιστε τῶν πάντων θεῶν, περιεχόμενε τῇ κόπρῳ πάσῃ, ὅση τε προβάτων, ὅση τε ἵππων καὶ ἡμιόνων. μηλείη δὲ κόπρος ἐστὶν ἡ τῶν προβάτων· μῆλα γὰρ τὰ πρόβατα. διὰ δὲ τοῦδε τοῦ ἔπους δῆθεν ὁ Ὀρφεὺς ἐσήμανεν ὅτι ὁ Ζεὺς ἄχρι τῆς κτηνώδους ὕλης ἐκπέμπει τὰς ἑαυτοῦ ζωογόνους δυνάμεις. τοῦ δὲ περὶ τῆς ∆ήμητρος ἔπους ὁ νοῦς ἐστιν οὗτος, ὅτι, Ἐπερχομένη ἡ θεὰ τοὺς ἑαυτῆς μηροὺς ἀνεσύρατο (λέγει δὲ περὶ τῶν ἱματίων), ἵνα, φησί, τοὺς ἐρῶντας αὐτῆς ἀξιώσῃ τῆς συνουσίας. διὰ δὲ τούτων ὁ Ὀρφεὺς αἰνίττεται ὅτι ἡ θεία δύναμις τοῖς ἐπιθυμοῦσιν αὐτῆς ἕτοιμος γίνεται τοῦ ἐπιδοῦναι ἑαυτὴν καὶ μυῆσαι αὐτούς. ὁ οὖν θεῖος Γρηγόριος, ὡς καὶ τούτου ὄντος αἰσχροῦ καὶ τοῦ περὶ τὸν ∆ία ἀκαθάρτου, διασύρει καὶ γελᾷ αὐτούς. 4.78 Ἑβδομηκοστὴ ὀγδόη ἐστὶν ἱστορία ἡ λέγουσα, Ἐπὶ πᾶσιν ὁ Φάνης τε καὶ ὁ Ἠρικαπαῖος. ἔστι δὲ αὕτη. Ἐν τοῖς Ὀρφικοῖς ποιήμασιν εἰσηνέχθη τὰ δύο ταῦτα ὀνόματα μετὰ καὶ ἄλλων πολλῶν, ὧν τὸν μὲν Φάνητα εἰσφέρει αἰδοῖον ἔχοντα ὀπίσω περὶ τὴν πυγήν. λέγουσι δὲ αὐτὸν ἔφορον εἶναι τῆς ζωογόνου δυνάμεως. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὸν Ἠρικαπαῖον λέγουσιν ἑτέρας ἔφορον εἶναι δυνάμεως. Περὶ δὲ τοῦ Ὁ πάντας καταπίνων θεούς οὐ λέγει περὶ τοῦ Ἠρικαπαίου ἀλλὰ περὶ τοῦ Κρόνου. λέγεται γὰρ οὗτος οὓς ἔτεκεν υἱοὺς πάλιν καταπιεῖν, καὶ ἐμέσαι οὓς ἤδη κατέπιεν. λέγεται γὰρ λίθον καταπιεῖν ἀντὶ τοῦ ∆ιὸς καὶ τοῦ λίθου κατελθόντος ἐμέσαι πάντας. 4.79 Ἑβδομηκοστὴ ἐνάτη ἐστὶν ἱστορία ἡ λέγουσα περὶ Ὁμήρου. Καὶ ἡ περὶ τούτου πολυθρύλητός ἐστιν ἱστορία. ἐν γὰρ τοῖς ποιήμασιν αὐτοῦ ἄνω καὶ κάτω Κρόνον τε καὶ ∆ία μυθολογεῖ, Ἥραν τε καὶ Ἀφροδίτην, Ἀθηνᾶν δὲ ἐπὶ πᾶσι τούτοις, καὶἁπλῶς ὅσους ἐκ τῆς ποιήσεως ἴσμεν. Κωμῳδοποιὸν δὲ τὸν Ὅμηρον ἐκάλεσεν ὡς ἔνια ἀποσκώμματα εἰς θεοὺς εἰρημένα παρ' αὐτοῦ, ὅτι ἡ Ἥρα φορέσασα λαμπρῶς καὶ κεκαλλωπισμένη ἀπῆλθε παρὰ τῷ ∆ιί, καὶ ἠπάτησεν αὐτόν, καὶ συγκαθεύδησεν αὐτῷ, καὶ εἴ τι τούτου γελοιοδέστερον; Τραγῳδοποιὸν δέ, ὅτι ἔνια πένθιμα περὶ τῶν θεῶν μυθολογήσας οἷον ὅτι τὸν Ἥφαιστον κατεκρήμνισεν ἐν Λήμνῳ, καὶ ὅτι ἐτρώθη ἡ Ἀφροδίτη ὑπὸ τοῦ ∆ιομήδους. ταῦτα δὲ δῆθεν δακρύων ἄξια. τῇ μὲν γὰρ τραγῳδίᾳ ἕπεται τὰ δάκρυα, τῇ δὲ κωμῳδίᾳ, ὁ γέλως. 4.80 Ὀγδοηκοστή ἐστιν ἱστορία ἡ περὶ τοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ καὶ τῆς Τηθύος. Καὶ τοῦτον δὲ τὸν μῦθον εἰσφέρουσιν οἱ ποιηταί, ὅτι ὁ Ὠκεανὸς πατήρ ἐστι πάντων τῶν θεῶν, ἡ δὲ Τηθὺς μήτηρ (ἀνδρόγυνον δὲ ὁ Ὠκεανὸς καὶ ἡ Τηθύς), καὶ ὅτι πάλαι διέστησαν ἀπ' ἀλλήλων, διὰ δὲ δυσωπήσεως τῆς Ἥρας γίνεται πάλιν συνάφεια αὐτῶν καὶ φιλία. ὁ δὲ μῦθος, φησίν, αἰνίττεται ὅτι ὁ Ὠκεανὸς μέν ἐστιν ἡ ὑγρὰ φύσις, ἡ δὲ Τηθὺς ἡ ξηρά, τουτέστιν ἡ γῆ· καὶ ὅτι πάλαι τῆς ὑγρᾶς φύσεως μὴ συγγινομένης τῇ γῆ, οὐδὲν ἐζωογονεῖτο, καὶ ἀπώλλυτο πάντα. εἶτα ἡ Ἥρα, ὡς ἔφορος οὖσα τῆς συζεύξεως, καταλλάττει τὰ δύο στοιχεῖα, καὶ γίνεται λοιπὸν ζωογονία. 4.81 Ὀγδοηκοστὴ πρώτη ἐστὶν ἱστορία τοῦ Νεφεληγερέτου ∆ιὸς πρὸς τὴν Ἥραν. Ὁ Ζεὺς μᾶλλον ἐχαρίζετο τοῖς Τρωσί, καὶ ἐποίει ἡττᾶσθαι τοὺς Ἕλληνας διὰ τὴν ἱκετείαν τῆς Θέτιδος ἕνεκεν τοῦ Ἀχιλλέως, ἵνα ζητήσωσιν τὸν Ἀχιλλέα οἱ Ἕλληνες ἡττώμενοι. ἡ δὲ Ἥρα ἐφρόντιζε τῶν Ἑλλήνων· φροντίζουσα δέ, βουλεύεται ἀπατῆσαι τὸν ∆ία πρὸς μίξιν καὶ ὕπνον, ἐκβακχεύουσα αὐτόν, ἵνα, καθεύδοντος τοῦ ∆ιός, ἀβοήθητοι οἱ Τρῶες γενόμενοι, ἡττηθῶσιν ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων. ταῦτα βουλευσαμένη λαμβάνει τὰ καλλωπίσματα πάντα ἐκ τοῦ κεστοῦ τῆς Ἀφροδίτης. ὁ δὲ κεστὸς μυθεύεται εἶναι καμψίον τι, ἐν ᾧ πάντα τὰ πρὸς κάλλος καὶ εὐμορφίαν καὶ χάριτας ἐναπόκεινται. εἶτα κοσμησαμένη ἄνεισι παρὰ τὸν ∆ία, καὶ κινεῖ αὐτὸν πρὸς ἡδονὴν καὶ λαγνείαν. καὶ ἡ γῆ δέ, φησίν, ἐβλάστησε βοτάνας, οἷον κρόκον, λωτὸν καὶ ὑάκινθον. 4.82 Ὀγδοηκοστὴ δευτέρα ἐστὶν ἱστορία πῶς ἡ Ἥρα τῷ αἰθέρι καὶ νεφέλαις κρεμαμένη καὶ σιδήροις ἄκμοσι καθελκομένη καὶ χρυσαῖς δεδεμένη πέδαις. ἔστι δὲ αὕτη ἡ ἱστορία. Ἡ Ἥρα, ὡς πολλάκις ἴσμεν, ἐζηλοτύπει τὸν