40

at the ceremony for the foundation of the city, having yoked a bull with a heifer, he went around the wall, yoking the male on the side of the field, and the female on the side of the city, so that the males would be fearsome to those outside, and the females fertile to those within; and taking a clod of earth from the parts outside the city, along with those brought by others, he would throw it into the city, taking this as an omen that it would always be increased by the contribution of outsiders, and after a little while. And when many strangers had gathered in it, the chosen men of Romulus ceded half of their own property to the newcomers, having persuaded them to inhabit Rome; whom Romulus first proclaimed patricians because they had become well-born, and had given their own abundance to the strangers for the sake of their country. Ilia, the mother of Romulus. 4.74 That to those who speak against providence and find fault with these small creatures, I mean locusts and crop-blight, and how they seem to have been produced improperly, Apollonius says that it is ridiculous to blame providence, or rather laughable, if fleas and bugs have come into being; for in order that there be no fleas, no animal at all should exist, nor humans in order that there be no bugs; since bugs come from the friction of a person against certain woods, and fleas from all urine, and flies from excrement or other warm moisture. 4.75 Rome [is] Flora and the city of Constantine, that is, Anthousa. 4.76 Maius. We have shown no small power of the tetrad in numbers, which one might call both a tetraktys and a pyramid; a tetraktys according to the principle of the elements, and a pyramid according to the principle in contemplation; for the pyramid, being contained by four bases and four angles alone, and being first three-dimensional according to the most elementary plane of the triangle, as Plato says in the Timaeus, it displays a similar cohesive order of the universe. There remains the fifth, and the Romans call it Maius. And since, as we have often said, the number of the pentad is separated from the more divine things according to Hesiod, it was fitting for it to be assigned to the departed. For the pentad is dedicated to perceptible nature, for it is a sphere; for however many times one multiplies the number five, it will be restored to itself; for indeed the five, accompanying the numbers in the series, when multiplied, ends in the same quantity. And in other ways the number five seems to have encompassed a certain natural power in itself; for of the things in creation composed of even and odd, it is itself of such a nature, being composed from the triad and the dyad. Therefore, for the honors of the ancestors the Romans dedicated the fifth month, honoring the departed with the even part, and those still living with the odd part; for after the gods, the ancients brought no lesser honor to their own ancestors; and calling their ancestors maiores in their native tongue, they named the month Maius from their honor. But those who think that Maius was named after Maia, daughter of Atlas and mother of Hermes, looking to another thing, say so, and also because of her temple, because it is said to have been consecrated in this month. And concerning her Proclus says thus: "Maia is she who brings forth the hidden things from the unseen into the manifest, similarly to the midwives here, and Hermes is her child, the Logos that comes through all things, who first and eternally revealed the domain of beings in the unseen through the diastasis and providence of logoi, creating sequence and continuity and interdependence, as one who makes manifest the unseen passions of the soul within us." And Aquilinus in his commentary on the numbers says thus: "Maia stands for the procession into the manifest, with the Logos being lord, which is by nature the arranger of all beings, which is why also

40

τὴν ἐπὶ τῇ ἀναγορεύσει τῆς πόλεως τελετὴν ζεύξας ταῦρον μετὰ δαμάλεως περιῆλθε τὸ τεῖχος, τὸν μὲν ἄρρενα ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ πεδίου πλευρὰν ζεύξας, τὴν δὲ θήλειαν ἐπὶ τὸ τῆς πόλεως μέρος, ὥστε τοὺς μὲν ἄρρενας τοῖς ἔξω γίνεσθαι φοβερούς, τὰς δὲ θηλείας τοῖς ἔνδον γονίμους· καὶ λαβὼν βῶλον ἐκ τῶν ἔξω τῆς πόλεως μερῶν σὺν καὶ ταῖς πρὸς τῶν ἄλλων ἐπικομιζομέναις ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν ἠκόντιζε, ταύτῃ οἰωνισάμενος, διὰ παντὸς αὐτὴν ἐκ τῆς τῶν ἔξωθεν ἐπαυξηθῆναι συνδόσεως, καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα. πολλῶν δὲ ξένων συνελθόντων ἐν αὐτῇ, οἱ τοῦ Ῥωμύλου λογάδες τὴν ἡμίσειαν τῆς ἑαυτῶν κτήσεως τοῖς ἐπήλυσι παρεχώρησαν, οἰκῆσαι τὴν Ῥώμην αὐτοὺς πείσαντες· οὓς ὁ Ῥω μύλος πατρικίους πρώτους ἀνηγόρευσε διὰ τὸ εὐπατρίδας γενέσθαι, καὶ τὴν ἑαυτῶν περιουσίαν τοῖς ξένοις ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος ἐπιδοῦναι. Ἰλία, ἡ τοῦ Ῥωμύλου μήτηρ. 4.74 Ὅτι πρὸς τοὺς ἀντιλέγοντας τῇ προνοίᾳ καὶ μεμφομένους τουτοισὶ τοῖς ζωϋφίοις, ἀκρίσι λέγω καὶ ἐρυσίβαις καὶ ὡς οὐ προσηκόντως φαίνονται παρηγμένα, φησὶν ὁ Ἀπολλώνιος, ὅτι γελοῖόν ἐστιν ἐγκαλεῖν τῇ προνοίᾳ, μᾶλλον δὲ καταγέλαστον, εἰ ψύλλαι γεγόνασι καὶ κόρεις· ἔδει γὰρ ἵνα μὴ ψύλλαι γένωνται ζῶον μηδ' ὅλως γενέσθαι, μηδ' ἵνα κόρεις ἀνθρώπους· ἐπειδὴ ἐκ μὲν τῆς ἀνθρώπου πρὸς ἔνια τῶν ξύλων παρατρίψεως κόρεις γίνονται, ἐκ δὲ παντὸς οὔρου ψύλλαι, μυῖαι δὲ ἐξ ἀποπάτου ἢ καὶ ἄλλης θερμῆς ὑγρασίας. 4.75 Ῥώμη Φλῶρα καὶ ἡ Κωνσταντίνου πόλις ἤγουν Ἄνθουσα. 4.76 Μάϊος. Οὐ μικρὰν ἐν ἀριθμοῖς ἐδείκνυμεν τὴν τῆς τετράδος δύναμιν, ἣν ἄν τις καὶ τετρακτὺν καὶ πυραμίδα καλέσοι· τετρακτὺν μὲν κατὰ τὸν τῶν στοιχείων ὅρον, πυραμίδα δὲ κατὰ τὸν ἐν θεωρίᾳ λόγον· ἡ γὰρ πυραμὶς ὑπὸ τεσσάρων βασέων καὶ τεσσάρων γωνιῶν μόνη περιεχομένη, καὶ πρώτη τριχῆ διαστάτη κατὰ τὸ στοιχειωδέστατον τοῦ τριγώνου ἐπίπεδον, ὡς ὁ Πλά των ἐν Τιμαίῳ φησίν, ἐμφερῆ τὴν συνεκτικὴν τοῦ παντὸς ἐνδείκνυται τάξιν. λείπεται ὁ πέμπτος, Μάϊον δὲ αὐτὸν οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι καλοῦσιν. ἐπειδὴ δέ, ὡς πολλάκις εἰρήκαμεν, ὁ τῆς πεντάδος ἀριθμὸς τῶν θειοτέρων κατὰ τὸν Ἡσίοδον κεχώρισται, εἰκὸς ἦν αὐτὸν τοῖς κατοιχομένοις ἀπονεμηθῆναι. ἡ γὰρ πεντὰς τῇ αἰσθητῇ φύσει ἀνάκειται, σφαῖρα γάρ ἐστιν· ὁσάκις γὰρ ἂν τὸν πέντε πολυπλασιάσῃ τις ἀριθμόν, εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἀποκαταστήσεται· καὶ γὰρ ὁ πέντε παρεπόμενος τοῖς ἐν πλήθει ἀριθμοῖς εἰς τὴν αὐτὴν καὶ πολυπλασιαζόμενος καταλήγει ποσότητα. καὶ ἄλλως δὲ φαίνεται φυσικήν τινα δύναμιν ἐν ἑαυτῷ ὁ πέντε περιλαβὼν ἀριθμός· τῶν γὰρ ἐν γενέσει ἐξ ἀρτίου καὶ περιττοῦ συνεστώτων, αὐτὸς εἶναι τοιοῦτος πέφυκεν ἐκ τριάδος καὶ δυάδος συναγόμενος. ταύτῃ γοῦν ταῖς τῶν προγόνων τιμαῖς οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι τὸν πέμπτον ἀνέφερον μῆνα, τῷ μὲν ἀρτίῳ τοὺς κατοιχομένους τιμῶντες, τῷ δὲ περιττῷ τοὺς ἔτι σωζομένους· μετὰ γὰρ θεοὺς οὐχ ἥττονα τιμὴν τοῖς ἑαυτῶν προγόνοις εἰσέφερον οἱ πάλαι· μαίορες δὲ τοὺς προγόνους πατρίως καλοῦντες Μάϊον τὸν μῆνα ἐκ τῆς ἐκείνων τιμῆς ὠνόμασαν. οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς Μαίας τῆς Ἄτλαντος τῆς Ἑρμοῦ μητρὸς ἀξιοῦντες ὀνομασθῆναι τὸν Μάϊον πρὸς ἕτερον βλέποντες οὕτω φασίν, ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ διὰ τὸ ἱερὸν αὐτῆς, ὅτι κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν μῆνα ἱερωθῆναι λέγεται. περὶ δὲ αὐτῆς ὁ Πρόκλος φησὶν οὕτως· «ἡ Μαῖά ἐστιν ἡ τὰ ἐν ἀφανεῖ κεκρυμμένα εἰς τὸ ἐμφανὲς προάγουσα παραπλησίως ταῖς τῇδε μαίαις, Ἑρμῆς δὲ ἐκείνης παῖς ὁ λόγος ἥκων διὰ πάντων, ὃς τὴν ἐν τῷ ἀφανεῖ τῶν ὄντων περιοχὴν ἐν διαστάσει καὶ προνοίᾳ λόγων ἀϊδίως πρώτως ἐξέφηνεν, εἱρμὸν καὶ συνέχειαν καὶ ἀλληλουχίαν ποιήσας ὡς ἐκφαντικὸς τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀδήλων παθημάτων.» ὁ δὲ Ἀκυλῖνος ἐν τῷ ὑπομνήματι τῶν ἀριθμῶν οὕτω φησίν· «ἡ Μαῖα ἀντὶ τῆς εἰς τοὐμφανὲς προόδου ἐστὶ, κυρίου μὲν τοῦ λόγου τοῦ διὰ πάντων πεφυκότος διατακτικοῦ τῶν ὄντων, διὸ δὴ καὶ