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the depositing, the reception, and the taking up. For he is not called a dog (kyon) from having the shades as food, which signifies the souls, but from being pregnant (kyein), in which role 3.11.12 Pluto is the provider, when he seizes the Maiden. But Attis and Adonis are related by analogy to the fruits. But Attis is of the flowers that appear in the spring and fall away before they bear fruit; from this they also attributed to him the cutting off of the private parts, because the fruits did not reach their seminal perfection; but Adonis is a symbol of the cutting of the perfect fruits. 3.11.13 And Silenus is a symbol of the spiritual motion, which contributes not a little to the universe. The symbols are the baldness and shininess of his head for the revolution of heaven, and the hair surrounding the lower parts 3.11.14 of him is a representation of the terrestrial density around the air. And since a certain power was also a partaker of the mantic power, that power is called Themis, for speaking of things that are established and lie in store for each one. 3.11.15 Through all these things, then, the terrestrial power, having found its interpretation, is worshipped: as a virgin and Hestia, the center-bearing; as a mother, the nurturer; as Rhea, the rock-making and mountainous; as Demeter, the bearer of green shoots; as Themis, the oracle-giver; while the spermatic reason that descends into her is represented by Priapus; of which the part concerning dry fruits is called Kore, and that concerning wet fruits and tree-fruits is called Dionysus; with Kore being seized by Pluto, the sun that goes under the earth, at the time of sowing; and Dionysus [representing] the passions of the power, while younger and of fair birth it begins to sprout under the earth, having Attis as a symbol of the power that is embattled at the time of flowering, and 3.11.16 Adonis for the cutting at the time of completion; and the spiritual power throughout all things being figured as Silenus, and the leading forth from them into ecstasy as a Bacchante, just as in turn the impulse that provokes to venereal acts is represented by the Satyrs. Through these symbols, then, the terrestrial power is revealed.” 3.11.17 Such, then, are these things, which I have set forth, necessarily abridging them, so that we may not be ignorant of the solemn doctrines of the philosophers. So therefore, according to what has been explained, Kore is the power of the sown crops, Dionysus that of the tree-fruits, and Attis is the symbol of the spring flowers, and Adonis of the perfect fruits. 3.11.18 Why then must one deify these things, which have been made for the nourishment of the bodies of animals on earth by the God of all things? And why is it fitting for us to worship the terrestrial power, we whose soul's nature is heavenly, rational, and immortal, capable of contemplating the king of all, God, with the purified eyes of the mind? 3.11.19 But when one hears that Silenus is the spiritual motion and the power that extends through all things, now showing the revolution of heaven by his head, and now the density of the air by the shaggy hair of his beard, how could one bear seeing him deemed worthy of no reverent honor, whom it was necessary to deify before all things, while Adonis and Dionysus, that is, the fruits and the tree-fruits, 3.11.20 are deified? And who could endure hearing Satyrs and Bacchantes spoken of solemnly, the shameful and licentious passions in human beings, if indeed the Satyrs signify the impulses that provoke to venereal acts, and the Bacchantes the 3.11.21 leading forth into ecstasy that happens concerning these things? And why must one refute each point in detail, when it is necessary to run through it, so that none of the secret doctrines may escape us, and again to summarize the next part of the natural philosophy, which the aforementioned writer has set forth, proceeding in the following way: 3.11.22 “The whole water-making power they called Ocean, naming its symbol Tethys. Of the whole, the part made of potable waters is called by them Achelous, and that of the sea waters Poseidon, while again the sea-making power, insofar as it is generative, is Amphitrite. And the partial powers of the fresh waters 3.11.23 are called Nymphs, and those of the sea waters Nereids. And in turn the power of fire
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τὴν καταβολὴν καὶ τὴν ὑποδοχὴν καὶ τὴν ἀνάδοσιν. οὐ γὰρ παρὰ τὸ τὰς κῆρας ἔχειν βοράν, ὃ δηλοῖ τὰς ψυχάς, κέκληται κύων, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τὸ κυεῖν, ᾗ χορηγὸς 3.11.12 ὁ Πλούτων, ὅταν ἁρπάσῃ τὴν Κόρην. Ἄττις δὲ καὶ Ἄδωνις τῇ τῶν καρπῶν εἰσιν ἀναλογίᾳ προσήκοντες. ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν Ἄττις τῶν κατὰ τὸ ἔαρ προφαινομένων ἀνθέων καὶ πρὶν τελεσιογονῆσαι διαρρεόντων ἔνθεν καὶ τὴν τῶν αἰδοίων ἀποκοπὴν αὐτῷ προσανέθεσαν, μὴ φθασάντων ἐλθεῖν τῶν καρπῶν εἰς τὴν σπερματικὴν τελείωσιν, ὁ δὲ Ἄδωνις τῆς τῶν τελείων καρπῶν ἐκτομῆς σύμβολον. 3.11.13 ὁ δὲ Σειληνὸς σύμβολον τῆς πνευματικῆς κινήσεως, οὐκ ὀλίγα συμβαλλομένης τῷ παντί. σύμβολα δέ ἐστι τὸ μὲν φάλανθον καὶ στιλπνὸν κατὰ τὴν κεφαλὴν τῆς οὐρανίου περιφορᾶς, ἡ δὲ περικειμένη κόμη τοῖς κάτω μέρεσιν 3.11.14 αὐτοῦ ὑπόδειγμα τῆς προσγείου περὶ τὸν ἀέρα παχύτητος. ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τῆς μαντικῆς δυνάμεώς τις μέτοχος ἦν δύναμις, Θέμις μὲν κέκληται ἡ δύναμις, τῷ τὰ τεθειμένα καὶ ἑκάστῳ κείμενα λέγειν. 3.11.15 ∆ιὰ δὴ πάντων τούτων ἡ περίγειος δύναμις ἐξηγήσεως τυχοῦσα θρησκεύεται, ὡς μὲν παρθένος καὶ Ἑστία ἡ κεντροφόρος, ὡς δὲ τοκὰς ἡ τροφός, ὡς δὲ Ῥέα ἡ πετροποιὸς καὶ ὄρειος, ὡς δὲ ∆ημήτηρ ἡ χλοηφόρος, ὡς δὲ Θέμις ἡ χρησμῳδός, τοῦ εἰς αὐτὴν κατιόντος σπερματικοῦ λόγου εἰς τὸν Πρίηπον ἐκτετυπωμένου· οὗ τὸ μὲν περὶ τοὺς ξηροὺς καρποὺς Κόρη, τὸ δὲ κατὰ τοὺς ὑγροὺς καὶ τὰ ἀκρόδρυα ∆ιόνυσος καλεῖται, τῆς μὲν Κόρης ὑπὸ Πλούτωνος τοῦ ὑπὸ γῆν ἰόντος ἡλίου ἁρπαζομένης κατὰ τὸν σπόρον, τοῦ δὲ ∆ιονύσου τὰ πάθη τῆς δυνάμεως ὑπὸ γῆν μὲν νεωτέρας καὶ καλλιγόνου βλαστάνειν ἀρχομένης, ἐπιμάχου δὲ τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἄνθην δυνάμεως σύμβολον τὸν Ἄττιν ἐχούσης, τῆς δὲ 3.11.16 κατὰ τὴν τελεσιουργίαν ἐκτομῆς τὸν Ἄδωνιν, καὶ τῆς μὲν πνευματικῆς διὰ πάντων δυνάμεως εἰς Σειληνὸν ἀναπλαττομένης, τῆς δὲ εἰς ἔκστασιν ἀπ' αὐτῶν παραγωγῆς εἰς Βάκχην, ὥσπερ αὖ τῆς εἰς τὰ ἀφροδίσια ἐρεθιζούσης ὁρμῆς διὰ τῶν Σατύρων. διὰ δὴ τούτων τῶν συμβόλων ἡ περίγειος ἐκκαλύπτεται δύναμις.» 3.11.17 Τοσαῦτα μὲν οὖν καὶ τάδε, ἃ καὶ ἀναγκαίως ἐπιτεμόμενος παρατέθειμαι εἰς τὸ μὴ ἀγνοεῖν ἡμᾶς τὰ σεμνὰ τῶν φιλοσόφων. οὕτω τοιγαροῦν κατὰ τὰ ἀποδεδομένα Κόρη μὲν ἡ τῶν σπορίμων, ∆ιόνυσος δὲ ἡ τῶν ἀκροδρύων δύναμις, καὶ τῶν μὲν ἐαρινῶν ἀνθῶν ὁ Ἄττις, τῶν δὲ τελείων καρπῶν ὁ 3.11.18 Ἄδωνις σύμβολον. τί δὴ οὖν ταῦτα χρὴ θεοποιεῖν εἰς τροφὰς σωμάτων τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς ζῴων πρὸς τοῦ τῶν ὅλων θεοῦ πεποιημένα; τί δὲ θρησκεύειν τὴν περίγειον δύναμιν προσῆκον ἡμῖν ἐστιν, οἷς φύσις ἐστὶ ψυχῆς οὐρανία λογική τε καὶ ἀθάνατος, τοῦ παμβασιλέως τῶν ὅλων θεοῦ διανοίας ὄμμασι 3.11.19 κεκαθαρμένοις θεωρητική; τὸν δὲ Σειληνὸν ἀκούων τὴν πνευματικὴν εἶναι κίνησιν καὶ τὴν διήκουσαν διὰ πάντων δύναμιν, τοτὲ μὲν τὴν οὐράνιον περιφορὰν διὰ τῆς κεφαλῆς ἐπιδεικνύμενον, τοτὲ δὲ τὴν περὶ τὸν ἀέρα παχύτητα διὰ τῆς λασίας κόμης τοῦ γενείου, πῶς ἄν τις ἀνάσχοιτο τοῦτον μὲν ὁρῶν οὐδεμιᾶς ἠξιωμένον σεβασμίου τιμῆς, ὃν ἐχρῆν πρὸ τῶν πάντων θεοποιεῖν, Ἄδωνιν δὲ καὶ ∆ιόνυσον, τοὺς καρποὺς δηλαδὴ καὶ τὰ ἀκρόδρυα, 3.11.20 θεοποιουμένους; τίς δ' ἂν ὑπομείνειεν σεμνολογουμένους ἀκούων Σατύρους καὶ Βάκχας, τὰ ἐν ἀνθρώποις αἰσχρὰ καὶ ἀκόλαστα πάθη, εἰ δὴ οἱ μὲν ἐδήλουν τὰς εἰς τὰ ἀφροδίσια ἐρεθιζούσας ὁρμὰς οἱ Σάτυροι, αἱ δὲ Βάκχαι τὰς 3.11.21 εἰς ἔκστασιν τῶν περὶ ταῦτα συμβαινούσας παραγωγάς; καὶ τί δεῖ κατὰ μέρος ἕκαστον ἀπελέγχειν, ἐπιδραμεῖν δέον, ὡς ἂν μηδὲν ἡμᾶς τῶν ἀπορρήτων λανθάνοι, καὶ τὴν τῶν ἑξῆς αὖθις ἐπιτεμέσθαι φυσιολογίαν, ἣν ἐκτέθειται ὁ δηλωθεὶς συγγραφεύς, τόνδε ἐπεξιὼν τὸν τρόπον· 3.11.22 «Τὴν δὲ ὑδροποιὸν ὅλην δύναμιν Ὠκεανὸν προσεῖπον, τὸ σύμβολον αὐτῆς Τηθὺν ὀνομάσαντες. τῆς δὲ ὅλης ἡ μὲν τῶν ποτίμων πεποιημένη Ἀχελῷος αὐτοῖς κέκληται, ἡ δὲ τῶν θαλασσίων Ποσειδῶν, πάλιν τῆς θαλασσοποιοῦ, καθὸ γεννητική, Ἀμφιτρίτης οὔσης. καὶ αἱ μὲν τῶν γλυκέων ὑδάτων μερικαὶ δυνά3.11.23 μεις Νύμφαι, αἱ δὲ τῶν θαλασσίων Νηρηίδες κέκληνται. τοῦ δ' αὖ πυρὸς τὴν δύναμιν