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the Greeks; but the Romans say Dionysus is the Reveller of Cithaeron, as if a reveller running up through heaven, whom they named Citharon from the harmony of the seven stars; whence Hermes mystically gives a kithara to Apollo, as the Logos gives the harmony of the universe to the sun. And the mysteries were performed for Dionysus in secret, because the sun’s communion with the nature of the universe is hidden from all. And they included phalluses in his sacred rites, as if the generative organs, and a mirror as if the transparent heaven, and a sphere as if the earth; for Plato says in the Timaeus: “to the earth, the spherical form.” Wherefore also Pythagoras says that souls are thus sown in it, in the ten spheres. They called him Pyrigenes and Pancrates in the sacred rites, because the sun is fiery in nature, and rules and holds power over the universe. And they make him accept the name of the panther, as if the panther-like earth receives from him its life-giving and gladdening nourishment. And they make the Bacchantes and Nymphs, as if the waters, obey him, and by the motion of the sun the nature of the waters is made alive; and they give them cymbals and thyrsi for the sound of the waters; and the Maenads being driven by Satyrs, as if by the winds pushing the nature of the waters, thunders and crashes are produced. And Dionysus as if the mind of Zeus, as if the soul of the cosmos; for we find in many places that the whole cosmos is named Zeus because it is ever-living and unending. And they make him the son of Semele, as being hidden under the earth and proceeding through Hermes, that is, the Logos; and being nurtured in the thigh of Zeus, as if hidden in the secrets of the cosmos; and Dithyrambus and Dimetor, he who has two courses, the one eastward towards the south in winter, the other northward towards the west in summer. And these things are concerning Dionysus. And on the day of the Bacchanalia, Democritus says the fish set, but Varro records that there will be a battle of the winds. Thus antiquity concerning the Dionysia. 4.52 That when a disturbance arose on the Capitolium from the rioters, it is said that at that time a shepherd, having appeared in the place and having judged that the people should be gathered to him, the multitude ran together; and there, the artisans having been separated by the shepherd, peace came to the people, but he himself disappeared. 4.53 That there has been and is much disagreement among the theologians concerning the God honored by the Hebrews; for the Egyptians and first Hermes speak of him as being Osiris, concerning whom Plato says in the Timaeus: “what is that which is always, but has no becoming, and what is that which is becoming, but never is?” But the Greeks, the Dionysus of Orpheus, because, as they say, at the inner sanctuary of the temple in Jerusalem, on either side of the doorposts, grapevines made of gold formerly held up the veils adorned with purple and scarlet, from which they supposed the sanctuary to be of Dionysus; but Livy in his general Roman history says the one honored there is unknown; and following this, Lucan says that the temple in Jerusalem is of an unknown god, and Numenius says that he is unshareable and the father of all gods, deigning that no one should share in his honor; and Julian the emperor, when he was campaigning against the Persians, writing to the Jews, says thus: “for I am raising up with all eagerness the temple of the most high God”; for which reason also some of the uneducated, and also because of circumcision, think that he is Kronos; for they say Kronos is higher than the planets; not understanding that circumcision is a symbol of the purification of the intellectual soul, as it seems to the mystics of the Hebrews, and that circumcision is not a Kronian rite; and of the Arabs those called Scenites in the thirteenth year

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μὲν οἱ Ἕλληνες· οἱ δέ γε Ῥωμαῖοι τὸν ∆ιόνυσον Βακχευτὴν τοῦ Κιθαιρῶνός φασιν, οἱονεὶ βακχευτὴν καὶ ἀνατρέχοντα ἀνὰ τὸν οὐρανόν, ὃν ἐκ τῆς τῶν ἑπτὰ συμφωνίας ἀστέρων Κιθάρωνα ὠνόμασαν· ὅθεν Ἑρμῆς κιθάραν δίδωσι μυστικῶς τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι, οἷον ὁ λόγος τῷ ἡλίῳ τὴν τοῦ παντὸς ἁρμονίαν. ἐν ἀπορρήτῳ δὲ τῷ ∆ιονύσῳ τὰ μυστήρια ἐτελεῖτο, διὰ τὸ πᾶσιν ἀπόκρυφον εἶναι τὴν τοῦ ἡλίου πρὸς τὴν τοῦ παντὸς φύσιν κοινωνίαν. καὶ φαλλοὺς ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς αὐτοῦ παρελάμβανον, οἱονεὶ τὰ γεννητικὰ ὄργανα, καὶ εἴσοπτρον οἱονεὶ τὸν διαυγῆ οὐρανόν, σφαῖραν δὲ οἱονεὶ τὴν γῆν· ὁ γὰρ Πλάτων ἐν τῷ Τιμαίῳ φησίν· «γῇ μὲν τὸ σφαιρικὸν εἶδος.» διὸ δὴ καὶ ὁ Πυθαγόρας ἐν ταῖς δέκα σφαίραις οὕτως καὶ αὐτῇ ψυχὰς ἐνεσπάρθαι φησί. Πυριγενέα δὲ αὐτὸν καὶ Παγκρατῆ ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἐκάλουν, ὅτι τὴν μὲν φύσιν πυρώδης ἐστὶν ὁ ἥλιος, τοῦ δὲ παντὸς ἐπάρχει καὶ κρατεῖ. καὶ πάνθηρα δὲ παρ' αὐτοῦ τοὔνομα ποιοῦσιν ἀποδεχόμενον, οἱονεὶ τὴν πάνθηρον γῆν ἐξ αὐτοῦ λαμβάνουσαν τὴν ζωοποιὸν καὶ εὐφραντικὴν τροφήν. καὶ Βάκχας αὐτῷ καὶ Νύμφας οἱονεὶ τὰ ὕδατα ποιοῦσι πειθαρχοῦντα, τῇ δὲ τοῦ ἡλίου κινήσει ἡ τῶν ὑδάτων φύσις ζωογονεῖται· κύμβαλα δὲ καὶ θύρσους αὐταῖς διδόασι τὸν τῶν ὑδάτων ἦχον· καὶ ὑπὸ Σατύρων ἐλαυνομένας τὰς Μαινάδας, οἷον ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνέμων ὠθουμένης τῆς τῶν ὑδάτων φύσεως βροντὰς καὶ κτύπους ἀποτελεῖσθαι. ∆ιόνυσον δὲ ὡσανεὶ τὸν τοῦ ∆ιὸς νοῦν οἱονεὶ τὴν τοῦ κόσμου ψυχήν· πολλαχοῦ γὰρ εὑρίσκομεν, ὡς ὁ σύμπας κόσμος Ζεὺς ὀνομάζεται διὰ τὸ ἀείζωον καὶ ἀτελεύτητον. Σεμέλης δὲ αὐτὸν ποιοῦσιν υἱόν, ὡς ὑπὸ γῆν κρυπτόμενον καὶ διὰ τοῦ Ἑρμοῦ, τουτέστι τοῦ λόγου, προϊόντα· καὶ τῷ μηρῷ τοῦ ∆ιὸς ἐντρεφόμενον, οἱονεὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀπορρήτοις τοῦ κόσμου λανθάνοντα· καὶ ∆ιθύραμβον καὶ ∆ιμήτορα τὸν δύο προόδους λαχόντα, τὴν μὲν ἀνατολικὴν πρὸς νότον ἐν χειμῶνι, τὴν δὲ βορείαν πρὸς δυσμὰς ἐν τῷ θέρει. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν περὶ ∆ιονύσου. Ἐν δὲ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῶν Βακχαναλίων ∆ημόκριτος δύεσθαι τοὺς ἰχθύας λέγει, ὁ δὲ Βάρρων ἀνεμομαχίαν ἔσεσθαι παραδίδωσιν. οὕτως μὲν ἡ παλαιότης περὶ τὰ ∆ιονύσια. 4.52 Ὅτι ἐν τῷ Καπιτωλίῳ ταραχῆς γενομένης ὑπὸ τῶν στασιαστῶν λέγεται τηνικαῦτα ποιμένος ἐπιφανῆναι δόξαντος τῷ τόπῳ καὶ κρίναντος ὡς αὐτὸν συναχθῆναι τὸν δῆμον, συνδραμεῖν δὲ τὸ πλῆθος· κἀκεῖσε πρὸς τοῦ ποιμένος τῶν βαναύσων χωρισθέντων εἰρήνην μὲν τῷ δήμῳ γενέσθαι, αὐτὸν δὲ ἀφανισθῆναι. 4.53 Ὅτι πολλὴ τοῖς θεολόγοις διαφωνὴ περὶ τοῦ παρ' Ἑβραίων τιμωμένου θεοῦ καὶ γέγονε καὶ ἔστιν· Αἰγύπτιοι γὰρ καὶ πρῶτος Ἑρμῆς Ὄσιριν τὸν ὄνταθεολογοῦσιν αὐτόν, περὶ οὗ Πλάτων ἐν Τιμαίῳ λέγει· «τί τὸ ὂν μὲν ἀεί, γένεσιν δὲ οὐκ ἔχον, τί δὲ τὸ γινόμενον, ὂν δὲ οὐδέποτε;» Ἕλληνες δὲ τὸν Ὀρφέως ∆ιόνυσον, ὅτι, ὡς αὐτοί φασι, πρὸς τῷ ἀδύτῳ τοῦ ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις ναοῦ ἐξ ἑκατέρων σταθμῶν τὸ πρὶν ἄμπελοι ἀπὸ χρυσοῦ πεποιημένοι ἀνέστελλον τὰ παραπετάσματα ἐκ πορφύρας καὶ κόκκου πεποικιλμένα, ἐξ ὧν καὶ ὑπέλαβον ∆ιονύσου εἶναι τὸ ἱερόν· Λίβιος δὲ ἐν τῇ καθόλου Ῥωμαϊκῇ ἱστορίᾳ ἄγνωστον τὸν ἐκεῖ τιμώμενόν φησι· τούτῳ δὲ ἀκολούθως ὁ Λούκανος ἀδήλου θεοῦ τὸν ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις ναὸν εἶναι λέγει, ὁ δὲ Νουμήνιος ἀκοινώνητον αὐτὸν καὶ πατέρα πάντων τῶν θεῶν εἶναι λέγει, ἀπαξιοῦντα κοινωνεῖν αὐτῷ τῆς τιμῆς τινα· καὶ Ἰουλιανὸς δὲ ὁ βασιλεύς, ὅτε πρὸς Πέρσας ἐστρατεύετο, γράφων Ἰουδαίοις οὕτω φησίν· «ἀνεγείρω γὰρ μετὰ πάσης προθυμίας τὸν ναὸν τοῦ ὑψίστου θεοῦ»· δι' ἣν αἰτίαν καί τινες τῶν ἀπαιδεύτων, ἔτι δὲ καὶ διὰ τὴν περιτομὴν Κρόνον αὐτὸν εἶναι νομίζουσιν· ὑψηλότερος γάρ φασι τῶν πλανήτων ὁ Κρόνος· οὐ συνορῶντες ὅτι ἡ περιτομὴ σύμβολόν ἐστι τοῦ καθαρμοῦ τῆς νοερᾶς ψυχῆς, ὡς τοῖς μυστικοῖς τῶν Ἑβραίων δοκεῖ, ὅτι δὲ οὐ Κρονία τελετὴ ἡ περιτομή· καὶ Ἀράβων οἱ λεγόμενοι Σκηνῖται ἐπὶ τοῦ τρισκαιδεκάτου ἐνιαυτοῦ