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similarly they called her a virgin. And Dionysus, as the muddler of the wits, they name the turbid and intoxicating substance from the vapors above and below. The water below the earth, being one in nature and running through all the passages of the land and being divided into many parts (as if it were being cut to pieces), they called Osiris. They take Adonis to mean the seasonal fruits, Aphrodite for intercourse and generation, Demeter for the earth, Kore for seeds, and some take Dionysus for the grapevine. And understand that all such things likewise have some such allegory for me; Believe Apollo to be the sun which revolves around, being the offspring of Zeus, whom they also called Mithras, completing the period of a year. Let these many transformations of the all-pervading Zeus be understood by you as seasons, and conceive his countless wives to be years or generations. For from the aether itself the power that penetrates the air, having intercourse with each year and generation, turns it in various ways and thus generates or destroys the seasonal fruits. And the seasonal fruits are called children, but the unions with males are the barrennesses at certain times. While Appion was allegorizing these things, I, being attentive, seemed not to be following what was said by him, wherefore interrupting his discourse he said to me: If you are not following what I am saying, why am I discoursing at all? And I answered: Do not suppose me to be insensitive to the things said by you; for I understand them very well, since indeed I have not heard them for the first time. But that you may know that I am not ignorant of what is said by you, I shall summarize what was said by you, and of what was omitted by you in order, as I have heard from others, I will fill out the allegories. And Appion said: Do as you say. And I answered: I omit for now speaking precisely of the animate egg produced from the infinite matter by a chance mixture, from which, when it was broken, according to some, the male-female Phanes leaped forth. And I summarize all those things, until the broken vessel received its harmony, its marrow-like matter having been left behind, and I run through the account of what was born within it in summary with the things that follow. For there were born (as you say) from Cronus and Rhea (that is, from time and matter), first Pluto, as the lower sediment that settled—second Poseidon, who is the middle moist substance floating upon the lowest, most heavy nature—and the third, being highest and aether, which is Zeus, who was not swallowed down, but being a hot power and having an upward-tending nature, as if by some impulse, flew up into the highest, most sovereign aether. And the bonds of Cronus are the solidification of heaven and earth, as I have also heard others allegorize, and the cutting off of his members is the separation and distinction of the elements, because all things were cut off from their own nature and were separated, each to be ordered by itself; and time no longer begets, but the things born through it produce their successions by the law of nature. And Aphrodite who rose from the deep is the fertile substance from the moist, with which the hot breath being mixed creates the desire for intercourse and brings to perfection the beauty of the world. And the wedding banquet, where Zeus was celebrating the feast

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ὁμοίως παρθένον ἐκάλεσαν. ∆ιόνυσον δὲ ὡς φρενῶν θολωτικὸν ὀνομά- ζουσιν τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ἄνω τε καὶ κάτω ἀτμῶν θολερὰν καὶ μεθύουσαν σύστασιν. τὸ δὲ κατωτέρω τῆς γῆς ὕδωρ, ἓν Χν τῇ φύσει καὶ διὰ πάν- των τῶν χερσαίων πόρων διεῖρον καὶ εἰς πολλὰ διαιρούμενον (ὥσπερ συγκοπτόμενον), Ὄσιριν ἐκάλεσαν. λαμβάνουσι δὲ καὶ Ἄδωνιν εἰς ὡραί- ους καρπούς, Ἀφροδίτην εἰς μίξιν καὶ γένεσιν, ∆ήμητρα εἰς γῆν, Κόρην εἰς σπέρματα καὶ ∆ιόνυσόν τινες εἰς ἄμπελον. καὶ πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα ὁμοίως τοιαύτην τινὰ ἀλληγορίαν ἔχοντα νόει μοι· Ἀπόλλωνα δὲ ἥλιον τὸν περιπολοῦντα εἶναι νόμιζε, γονὴν ὄντα τοῦ ∆ιός, ὃν καὶ Μίθραν ἐκάλεσαν, ἐνιαυτοῦ συμπληροῦντα περίοδον. αὗται δὲ αἱ μετα- μορφώσεις τοῦ πανταχῆ διήκοντος ∆ιὸς αἱ πολλαὶ νοείσθωσάν σοι τροπαί, τὰς δὲ μυρίας αὐτοῦ γυναῖκας ἐνιαυτοὺς ἢ γενεὰς ἐπινόει. ἀπ' αὐτοῦ γὰρ τοῦ αἰθέρος ἡ διικνουμένη τὸν ἀέρα δύναμις ἑκάστῳ ἐνιαυτῷ καὶ γενεᾷ συνουσιάζουσα διαφόρως αὐτὸν τρέπει καὶ οὕτως γεννᾷ ἢ φθείρει τὰ ὡραῖα. καὶ παῖδες μὲν λέγονται οἱ ὡραῖοι καρποί, αἱ δὲ πρὸς τοὺς ἄρρενας μίξεις αἱ κατ' ἐνίους καιροὺς ἀκαρπίαι. Ταῦτα τοῦ Ἀππίωνος ἀλληγοροῦντος, σύννους ὢν ἐγὼ ἔδοξα τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ λεγομένοις μὴ παρακολουθεῖν, διὸ τὸν λόγον ἐγκόψας ἔφη μοι· Eἰ μὴ παρακολουθεῖς οἷς λέγω, τί καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν διαλέγομαι; κἀγὼ ἀπεκρινά- μην· Μή με ὑπολάμβανε ἀναισθήτως ἔχειν τῶν ὑπὸ σοῦ λεγομένων· πάνυ γὰρ αὐτὰ συνίημι, ἅτε δὴ οὐ πρῶτον αὐτῶν ἀκηκοώς. ἵνα δὲ γνῷς ὅτι οὐκ ἀγνοῶ τὰ ὑπὸ σοῦ λεγόμενα, τὰ μὲν σοὶ ·ηθέντα ἐπιτεμοῦμαι, τῶν δὲ παραλειφθέντων σοι κατὰ ἀκολουθίαν, ὡς παρ' ἑτέρων ἤκουσα, ἀποπληρώ- σω τὰς ἀλληγορίας. καὶ ὁ Ἀππίων ἔφη· Ποίησον οὕτως ὡς λέγεις. κἀγὼ ἀπεκρινάμην· Παρίημι νῦν ἐπ' ἀκριβὲς λέγειν τὸ ἐκ τῆς ἀπείρου ὕλης κατὰ ἐπιτυχίαν κράσεως ἀποκυηθὲν ἔμψυχον ὠόν, οὗ ·αγέντος κατά τινας ἀρρενόθηλυς ἐξέθορεν Φάνης. καὶ πάντ' ἐκεῖνα ἐπιτέμνομαι, μέχρις οὗ τὸ ·αγὲν κύτος τὴν ἁρμονίαν ἔλαβεν, ὑπολειφθείσης αὐτοῦ μυελώδους ὕλης, καὶ τὸν λόγον τῶν ὑπ' αὐτῆς ἔνδοθεν γενομένων ἐπὶ κεφαλαίων μετὰ τῶν ἀκολούθων ἐπιτρέχω. ἐγεννήθη γάρ (ὡς λέγεις) ἐκ Κρόνου καὶ Ῥέας (ὑπό τε χρόνου καὶ ὕλης) τὰ μὲν πρῶτα Πλούτων, ὡς ἡ κάτω παραχωρήσασα ὑποστάθμη-δεύτερα δὲ Ποσειδῶν, ὃς ἡ μέση ἐστὶν ὑγρὰ οὐσία ἐπιπολάσασα τῇ κάτω ὁλκοτάτῃ φύσει-ἡ δὲ τρίτη ἀνω- τάτη τε καὶ αἰθὴρ οὖσα, ὅσπερ ἐστὶν Ζεύς, ἥτις οὐ κατεπόθη, ἀλλὰ θερμὴ οὖσα ἰσχὺς καὶ ἀνωφερῆ ἔχουσα τὴν φύσιν ὥσπερ ὑπό τινος ·ιπῆς εἰς τὸν ἄνω ἡγεμονικώτατον ἀνέπτη αἰθέρα. δεσμὰ δὲ τὰ Κρόνου ἐστὶν ἡ σύμπηξις οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς, ὡς καὶ ἄλλων ἀλληγορούντων ἀκήκοα, ἡ δὲ ἀποκοπὴ τῶν μορίων ὁ τῶν στοιχείων χωρισμὸς καὶ διά- κρισις, ὅτι πάντα ἐκ τῆς ἰδίας φύσεως ἀπετμήθη καὶ ἀφωρίσθη καθ' ἑαυτὰ τετάχθαι ἕκαστον· καὶ οὐκέτι γεννᾷ χρόνος, ἀλλὰ τὰ γεννηθέντα δι' αὐτοῦ νόμῳ φύσεως ποιεῖται τὰς διαδοχάς. ἡ δὲ ἐκ τοῦ βυθοῦ ἀνα- κύψασα Ἀφροδίτη ἡ ἐκ τοῦ ὑγροῦ γόνιμος οὐσία, ᾗ τὸ θερμὸν πνεῦμα μιγὲν τὸν τῆς μίξεως ποιεῖται ἔρωτα καὶ τελεσιουργεῖ τοῦ κόσμου τὸ κάλλος. τὸ δὲ συμπόσιον τὸ γαμήλιον, ἔνθα τὸ δεῖπνον ἐτέλει Ζεὺς