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they say she is the mother of Hermes. Such is intelligible matter, to adorn the procession into manifestation and to work out the generation of beings; for beings are from matter and form.” Thus according to theology, but according to the method of natural philosophy, many wish Maia to be water; for even among the Syrians who speak a foreign tongue, water is still now so called, so that water-carriers are called *maïouri*. And Varro does not seem unreasonable for having dedicated a month to her; for it seems to the philosophers that a swell is produced by the movement of subterranean water; and the first festival of May among the Romans is the supplications concerning earthquakes. For the mythographers make Maia the child of Atlas, and we receive that Hermes is the guardian of the waters, and for this reason springs are dedicated in his precincts or wells are dug. But there are those who say allegorically that Hermes is the son of Zeus and Maia, intimating that Zeus is mind, Maia is prudence, and Hermes, the child of both, is speech. And they have made him the youngest of all, since indeed speech does not grow old. Moreover, they have made him most swift, having furnished his ankles with wings, intimating the sharpness of mind and the speed of speech through such a device. At any rate the poet says: "winged words," and "as a wing or a thought." Then the Greeks also fashion him in a quadrangular shape, providing the greatest proof that he is speech, and true speech. For there are also shapes of speech: false speech ...., deceptive speech is more polygonal, but true speech is equal to itself from all parts, and wherever it may be turned it is supported indefinitely on all its bases, which is indeed the quadrangular shape. If therefore he has been shown to be mind and speech, the Egyptians make the ape an idol of him, since it happens to be intelligent beyond all animals, and is receptive of understanding and knowledge. But indeed we also know that the Egyptian ibis, the bird, is dedicated to him; for it resembles the heart, its body being whitened, but blackened on both sides, which is the shape of thought-speech; for before it is spoken it is dark, but when spoken it is illuminated, and having been said it goes away into invisibility. And the animal is nourished beside the waters, just as in us the heart takes its power from a moist substance; but the ibis alone of all winged things does not know how to swim, and is most helpless when drawn down into greater depth. The same thing is also to be observed in the case of the heart; for when a moist drink is applied in measure, it is its nature to be strengthened and supported in its reasonings, and not to be displaced from its proper seat, which they call the diaphragm, and to be sober; but when flooded, to work out its own agitation through the whole body by its pulsations. And men suffer these things from drunkenness, having preferred unmixed wine to their own strength. And it is conjectured that both the ibis and the ape are sympathetic to the moon; the ibis is similar in its very shape, being dark at the ends, but white in the middle, just like the ethereal moon. For when the sky is moonless, the ibises do not see either, but they close their eyes during this time and endure without food, awaiting their kindred element. But the ape has clearer activities; for when the moon waxes, the circle of its eyes then widens, but when it wanes, the circumference of its eyes contracts. 4.77 That Aristotle mocked Callisthenes, saying that the one had an extraordinary mind, but had lost his human one. 4.78 That the Alpheius river is seen sinking in the Peloponnese, and rising up in Sicily; and they say that the Tigris suffers this same thing, and the Lycus, and certain others. 4.79 That just as of our body one part flows through and another breathes through, it is flowed through by the blood along the veins, and breathed through by the spirit along the arteries, so also of the earth one part is flowed through by waters, and another is breathed through by winds, but of blockage or intrusion or compression

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Ἑρμοῦ μητέρα φασί. τοιαύτη δὲ ἡ νοητὴ ὕλη, τὸ κατακοσμεῖν τὴν εἰς τὸ ἐμφανὲς πρόοδον καὶ γένεσιν ἀπεργάζεσθαι τῶν ὄντων· ἐκ γὰρ ὕλης καὶ εἴδους τὰ ὄντα.» οὕτως μὲν κατὰ θεολογίαν, κατὰ δὲ τὸν τῆς φυσιολογίας τρόπον τὴν Μαῖαν οἱ πολλοὶ τὸ ὕδωρ εἶναι βούλονται· καὶ γὰρ παρὰ τοῖς Σύροις βαρβαρίζουσιν οὕτως ἔτι καὶ νῦν τὸ ὕδωρ προσαγορεύεται, ὡς καὶ μηΐουρι τὰ ὑδροφόρα καλεῖσθαι. καὶ οὐκ ἔξω λόγου ὁ Βάρρων φαίνεται ὡς καὶ μῆνα ἀναθέμενος αὐτῇ· κινήσει γὰρ τοῦ ὑποβρυχίου ὕδατος γίνεσθαι σάλον τοῖς φιλοσόφοις δοκεῖ· πρώτη δὲ ἑορτὴ τοῦ Μαΐου παρὰ Ῥωμαίοις αἱ περὶ σεισμῶν ἱκεσίαι. ταύτῃ γὰρ Ἄτλαντος παῖδα τὴν Μαῖαν οἱ μυθικοὶ ποιοῦσι, καὶ ἔφορον δὲ τῶν ὑδάτων τὸν Ἑρμῆν εἶναι παραλαμβάνομεν, καὶ διὰ ταύτην τὴν αἰτίαν ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῦ πηγαὶ ἀνατίθενται ἢ φρέατα ὀρύττεται. εἰσὶ δὲ οἵ φασιν ∆ιὸς καὶ Μαίας τὸν Ἑρμῆν εἶναι ἀλληγορικῶς υἱόν, νοῦν μὲν εἶναι τὸν ∆ία, Μαῖαν δὲ τὴν φρόνησιν, παῖδα δὲ ἐξ ἀμφοῖν Ἑρμῆν λόγιον αἰνιττόμενοι. πάντων δὲ νεώτατον εἰργάσαντο, ἅτε δὴ μὴ γηράσκοντος τοῦ λόγου· ἔτι μὴν ὠκύτατον πεποίηνται τοῦτον ταρσώσαντες πτεροῖς, νοῦ ὀξύτητα καὶ τάχος λόγου διὰ τῆς τοιᾶσδε τέχνης αἰνιττόμενοι. ὁ γοῦν ποιητής φησιν· ἔπεα πτερόεντα, καὶ ὡσεὶ πτερὸν ἠὲ νόημα εἶτα δὲ τετράγωνον σχήματι Ἕλληνες ἀναπλάττουσι τοῦτον, τεκμήριον μέγιστον παρεχόμενοι λόγον εἶναι τοῦτον, καὶ λόγον ἀληθῆ. ἔστι γὰρ καὶ λόγου σχήματα, ὁ μὲν ψευδὴς λόγος ...., ὁ δὲ ἀπατηλὸς πολυγωνό τερος, ὁ δὲ ἀληθὴς αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ ἐκ πάντων μερῶν ἶσος, ὅπου δὲ στρέφοιτο πάσαις βάσεσιν ἀορίστως στηρίζεται, ὃ δὴ τετραγωνικὸν σχῆμα τυγχάνει. εἰ τοίνυν νοῦς καὶ λόγος εἶναι δέδεικται, τούτῳ τὸν κέρκωπα εἰδωλοποιοῦσιν Αἰγύπτιοι, ἐπεὶ παρὰ πάντα τὰ ζῶα νοήμων τυγχάνει, συνέσεως δὲ καὶ ἐπιστήμης ἐστὶ δεκτικός. ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τὴν Αἰγυπτίαν ἶβιν, τὸ ὄρνεον, ἴσμεν ἀνακειμένην αὐτῷ· καρδίᾳ γὰρ ἔοικε λευκαινόμενον μὲν τὸ σῶμα, ἐξ ἀμφοῖν δὲ τῶν μερῶν μελαινομένη, ὅπερ ἐστὶ τοῦ κατὰ διάνοιαν λόγου σχῆμα· πρὶν μὲν γὰρ λεχθῆναι σκότιος, λεγόμενος δὲ φωτίζεται, καὶ ῥηθεὶς εἰς ἀφανὲς οἴχεται. τρέφεται δὲ τὸ ζῶον παρὰ τοῖς ὕδασι, καθάπερ ἐν ἡμῖν ἡ καρδία ἐξ ὑγρᾶς οὐσίας τὴν δύναμιν λαμβάνει· μόνη δὲ πτηνῶν πάντων νεῖν ἡ ἶβις οὐκ ἐπίσταται, ἀδρανεστάτη δὲ εἰς μεῖζον βάθος καθελκομένη. τὸ δ' αὐτὸ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς καρδίας παρατηρητέον· τῆς γὰρ ὑγρᾶς πόσεως συμμέτρως προσαχθείσης ῥώννυσθαί τε καὶ τοῖς λογισμοῖς διεστηρίχθαι πέφυκε, καὶ τῆς μὲν οἰκείας ἕδρας, ἥνπερ φρένα καλοῦσιν, οὐκ ἐξίστασθαι νηφαλέαν τε εἶναι, ὑποβλυσθεῖσαν δὲ τοῖς παλμοῖς τὸν ἴδιον σάλον δι' ὅλου τοῦ σώματος ἐξεργάζεσθαι. πάσχουσι δὲ ταῦτα ὑπὸ μέθης ἄνθρωποι τὸν ἄκρατον τῆς ἰδίας ἰσχύος προτετιμηκότες. καὶ τὴν ἶβιν δὲ καὶ τὸν κέρκωπα σελήνῃ συμπαθῆ εἶναι προσείκασται· ἡ μὲν ἶβις αὐτῷ τῷ σχήματι ἐμφερής, τὰ ἄκρα μὲν ὀμιχλαίνουσα, λευκαίνουσα δὲ τὰ μέσα καθάπερ ἡ αἰθερία μήνη. ὅτε γὰρ οὐρανὸς ἀσέληνος, οὐδὲ ἴβιδες ὁρῶσι, μύουσι δὲ τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον καὶ ἄσιτοι ἐγκαρτεροῦσι τὸ συγγενὲς στοιχεῖον ἀναμένουσαι. ὁ δὲ κέρκωψ δηλοτέρας ἔχει τὰς ἐνεργείας· ὅτε γὰρ αὔξει σελήνη, ὁ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν κύκλος τότε εὐρύνεται, ὅτε δὲ μειοῦται, τὸ τῶν ὀμμάτων περιφερὲς συστέλλεται. 4.77 Ὅτι ὁ Ἀριστοτέλης τὸν Καλλισθένην ἀπέσκωψεν εἰπὼν τὸν μὲν περιττὸν νοῦν ἔχειν, τὸν δὲ ἀνθρώπινον ἀποβεβληκέναι. 4.78 Ὅτι ὁ Ἀλφειὸς ποταμὸς ὁρᾶται καταδυόμενος μὲν ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ, ἀναδυόμενος δὲ ἐν Σικελίᾳ· λέγουσι δὲ καὶ τὸν Τίγρητα ταὐτὸ τοῦτο πάσχειν καὶ τὸν Λύκον καὶ ἑτέρους τινάς. 4.79 Ὅτι ὥσπερ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ ἡμετέρου τὸ μὲν διαρρεῖ, τὸ δὲ διαπνεῖ, διαρρεῖται μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ αἵματος κατὰ τὰς φλέβας, διαπνεῖται δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος κατὰ τὰς ἀρτηρίας, οὕτω καὶ τῆς γῆς τὸ μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν ὑδάτων, τὸ δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν πνευμάτων διαρρεῖσθαι καὶ διαπνεῖσθαι, ἐμφράξεως δὲ ἢ παρεμπτώσεως ἢ συνθλίψεως