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concerning the Nereid Thetis and the fair Peleus, it has this allegory, so that you may know, Appion, that even without you we have heard such things. The symposium, then, is the world, the twelve are the heavenly pillars of the fates, which they call the signs of the zodiac-Prometheus is providence, by which all things came to be-Peleus is the clay from the earth, considered for the creation of man and mixed with the Nereid, that is, water. And from the mixture of the two (water and earth) the first man was not born but formed perfect, and because he did not bring his lips to breasts he was named Achilles; and he is also the prime of life, which, if desire—Polyxena, as being alien and foreign to truth—<...> is destroyed by the venom of a serpent, by an arrow in the heel, with death creeping up by the foot. Hera, therefore, and Athena and Aphrodite and Eris and the apple and Hermes and the judgment and the shepherd hint at some such meaning: Hera is solemnity, Athena is courage, Aphrodite is pleasures, Hermes is interpretive reason, the shepherd Paris is irrational and barbarous impulse. If, then, in the prime of life, the reason that shepherds the soul happens to be barbarous and, neglecting what is advantageous (having cast aside both courage and temperance), chooses pleasures alone and awards the victory to desire alone, as though receiving from it things that delight, the one who has not judged rightly will receive pleasure to the destruction of himself and his own. And Eris is contentious evil. The golden apple of the Hesperides would be wealth, which at times knows how to lead even the temperate (like Hera) to indifference, and makes the courageous (like Athena) more contentious in things not befitting them, and destroys the soul’s beauty (like Aphrodite) on the pretext of luxury. I will speak concisely: wealth provokes all to evil strife. But Heracles, who slew the serpent, the leader and guardian of wealth, is the genuine and philosophic mind, which, being stripped of all evil, travels about the world, visiting souls and bringing to their senses those it meets—I mean, men who are like bold lions or timid deer or wild boars or versatile hydras. Likewise, all the other things that Heracles is said to have labored at are riddles of intellectual virtue. But for now let what has been said suffice; for to speak on each point, not even all time would be enough. Yet I wonder how these things, which could be declared clearly, piously, and profitably with unveiled directness, are called by you prudent and wise, they who concealed them with oblique riddles and veiled them with evil myths, who, as if driven by an evil demon, laid a trap for nearly all men. For either these are not riddles, but true sins of the gods, and one ought not to have exposed them nor, in the first place, set them before men for imitation—or the things falsely done by the gods were spoken of in riddles, and they sinned, O Appion, because those whom you call wise, by covering solemn things with unholy myths, urged men to sin, and did so while insulting those whom they considered to be gods. Therefore, not wise men, but evil demons such persons

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ὑπέρ τε τῆς Νηρηίδος Θέτιδος καὶ τοῦ καλοῦ Πηλέως, ἀλληγορίαν ἔχει ταύτην, ἵνα γνῷς ὅτι καὶ ἄνευ σοῦ, Ἀππίων, τὰ τοιαῦτα ἠκούσαμεν. τὸ μὲν δὴ συμπόσιον ὁ κόσμος, οἱ δὲ δώδεκα τὰ οὐράνια τῶν μοιρῶν περιστηρίγματα, ἅτινα ζσδια καλοῦσιν-Προμηθεὺς ἡ προμήθεια, ὑφ' ἧς τὰ πάντα ἐγένετο-Πηλεὺς πηλὸς ὁ ἀπὸ γῆς εἰς ἀνθρώπου γέ- νεσιν περινοηθεὶς καὶ μιγεὶς τῇ Νηρηίδι, τουτέστιν ὕδατι. ἐκ δὲ τῆς τῶν δύο μίξεως (ὕδατός τε καὶ γῆς) ὁ πρῶτος οὐ γεννηθεὶς ἀλλὰ πλα- σθεὶς τέλειος καὶ διὰ τὸ μαζοῖς χείλη μὴ προσενεγκεῖν Ἀχιλλεὺς προση- γορεύθη· ἔστι δὲ αὐτὸς καὶ ἀκμή, ἥτις ἐὰν ἐπιθυμίαν-Πολυξένην ὡς ἀληθείας ἀλλοτρίαν οὖσαν καὶ ξένην-<...> ἰῷ ὄφεως ἀναιρεῖται, βέλει κατὰ πτέρναν καὶ κατὰ ἴχνος ἐνέρποντος τοῦ θανάτου. Ἥρα τοίνυν καὶ Ἀθηνᾶ καὶ Ἀφροδίτη καὶ Ἔρις καὶ μῆλον καὶ Ἑρμῆς καὶ κρίσις καὶ ποιμὴν τοιοῦτόν τινα νοῦν ὑπαινίσσεται· Ἥρα σεμνότης, Ἀθηνᾶ ἡ ἀνδρεία, Ἀφροδίτη αἱ ἡδοναί, Ἑρμῆς ὁ ἑρμηνευτικὸς λόγος, ὁ ποιμὴν Πάρις ἡ ἀλόγιστος ὁρμὴ καὶ βάρβαρος. ἐὰν οὖν κατὰ τὴν ἀκμὴν τῆς ἡλι- κίας ὁ τὴν ψυχὴν ποιμαίνων λογισμὸς τύχῃ ὢν βάρβαρος καὶ παρα- λιπὼν τὰ συμφέροντα (ἀνδρείαν τε καὶ σωφροσύνην παρωσάμενος) μόνας ἕληται τὰς ἡδονὰς καὶ μόνῃ τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ τὴν νίκην ἀποδῷ, ὡς παρ' αὐτῆς τὰ τέρποντα ἀντιλαμβάνων, ἐπ' ὀλέθρῳ ἑαυτοῦ τε καὶ τῶν αὐτοῦ ὁ μὴ ὀρθῶς κρίνας τὴν τέρψιν λήμψεται. Ἔρις δέ ἐστιν ἡ φιλονεικοῦσα κακία. τὸ δὲ τῶν Ἑσπερίδων χρυσοῦν μῆλον ὁ πλοῦτος ἂν εἴη, ὃς ἐνίοτε καὶ τοὺς σώφρονας (ὥσπερ τὴν Ἥραν) πρὸς ·ᾳθυμίαν παράγειν ἐπίσταται καὶ τοὺς ἀνδρείους (ὥσπερ τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν) εἰς τὰ μὴ αὐτοῖς πρέποντα φιλονεικοτέρους ἀπεργάζεται καὶ ψυχῆς κάλλος (ὥσπερ Ἀφρο- δίτην) προφάσει τρυφῆς ἀπολλύει. συντόμως ἐρῶ· πάντας εἰς κακὴν ἔριν ἀνερεθίζει ὁ πλοῦτος. ὁ δὲ τὸν τοῦ πλούτου ἡγεμόνα καὶ φύλακα ὄφιν ἀνελὼν Ἡρακλῆς ὁ γνήσιος καὶ φιλόσοφός ἐστι νοῦς, ὃς πά- σης κακίας γυμνὸς ὢν ἐκπερινοστεῖ τὸν κόσμον, ἐπιδημῶν ταῖς ψυχαῖς καὶ σωφρονίζων τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας, λέγω δὲ ἀνθρώπους ἐοικότας λέου- σιν τολμηροῖς ἢ ἐλάφοις δειλαῖς ἢ κάπροις ἀγρίοις ἢ ὕδραις πολυτρόποις. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα ὅσα ἀθλῆσαι λέγεται Ἡρακλῆς, νοερᾶς ἀρε- τῆς ἐστιν αἰνίγματα. αὐτάρκως δὲ νῦν ἐχέτω τὰ εἰρημένα· εἰς γὰρ ἕκαστον εἰπεῖν οὐδὲ ὁ σύμπας χρόνος ἀρκέσει. πλὴν θαυμάζω πῶς ταῦτα σαφῶς καὶ εὐσεβῶς καὶ ὠφελίμως ἀκαλύπτῳ τῇ εὐθείᾳ δηλοῦσθαι δυνάμενα οἱ πλαγίοις ἀποκρύψαντες αἰνίγμασιν καὶ μύθοις αὐτὰ προκα- λύψαντες κακοῖς ὑπὸ σοῦ ἔμφρονες καὶ σοφοὶ εἶναι λέγονται, οἵτινες ὥσπερ ὑπὸ κακοῦ προαχθέντες δαίμονος σχεδὸν τοὺς πάντας ἐνήδρευσαν ἀνθρώπους. ἢ γὰρ οὐκ ἔστιν ταῦτα αἰνίγματα, ἀλλ' ἀληθῆ τῶν θεῶν ἁμαρτήματα, καὶ ἐλέγχειν αὐτοὺς οὐκ ἔδει οὐδὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν αὐτὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις εἰς μίμησιν προτιθέναι-ἢ αἰνιγματωδῶς ἐλέχθη τὰ ὑπὸ τῶν θεῶν ψευδῶς πεπραγμένα, καὶ ἥμαρτον, ὦ Ἀππίων, ὅτι οἱ ὑπὸ σοῦ ὀνομαζόμενοι σοφοὶ τὰ σεμνὰ ἀσέμνοις μύθοις καλύψαντες ἁμαρτεῖν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους προετρέψαντο καὶ ταῦτα ὑβρίσαντες οὓς καὶ θεοὺς εἶναι ἐνόμισαν. διόπερ μὴ σοφούς, ἀλλὰ κακοὺς δαίμονας τοὺς τοιούτους