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is called Chance. And Sophocles the tragedian: says not even for the gods are all things of their own will, apart from Zeus; for he holds the end and also the beginning; and Orpheus: One power, one god came to be, the great blazing heaven, and one are all things made, in which all these things revolve, fire and water and earth 13.13.56 and what is upon them. And Pindar the lyric poet is, as it were, in a Bacchic frenzy to say outright: What is God? That which is the all and again: God is the one who makes all things for mortals. And when he says: Why do you hope for wisdom, since one man has but little more than another? To search out the counsels of the gods is difficult for a mortal mind; for he was born of a mortal mother. From there he has drawn the thought: “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?” 13.13.57 But also Hesiod, in what he writes, agrees with what has been said before: For there is no seer among men on earth, who could know the mind of aegis-bearing Zeus. Rightly, then, Solon the Athenian in his elegies, himself also following Hesiod, writes, “The mind of the immortals is altogether unseen by men.” 13.13.58 Again, when Moses prophesied that the woman would give birth in toils and pains because of the transgression, a certain not obscure poet writes: Nor will they ever cease from toil and misery by day, nor by night, being distressed; but the gods will give grievous cares. 13.13.59 Furthermore, Homer, saying: The Father himself stretched out his golden scales reveals that God is just. And Menander the comic poet, interpreting God as good, says: With every man a good spirit stands, from the moment he is born, as a mystagogue of life; for one must not think there is an evil spirit, harming a good life; then he adds: that God is all good, either saying every god is good or, what is more likely, that in all things God is good. 13.13.60 Again, Aeschylus the tragedian, setting forth the power of God, does not hesitate to call him also "highest" through these words: Separate God from mortals, and do not think he is established like yourself, a creature of flesh. You do not know him. At one time he appears as fire, unapproachable in his rush, at another, water, at another, darkness, and he becomes like wild beasts, wind, cloud, and lightning, thunder, rain. And the sea and rocks and every spring and gatherings of water serve him; and mountains tremble and the earth and the vast abyss of the sea and the great height of the mountains, when the fierce eye of the master looks upon them; for all-powerful is the glory of the highest God. Does he not seem to you to be paraphrasing that text, "The earth trembles at the presence of the Lord"? 13.13.61 In addition to these, the most prophetic Apollo, bearing witness to the glory of God, is compelled to speak about Athena, when the Medes were marching against Greece, how she both prayed and supplicated Zeus on behalf of Attica. And the oracle runs thus: Pallas is not able to propitiate Olympian Zeus, though she beseeches him with many words and cunning counsel. But he will give many temples of the immortals to raging fire, which now stand streaming with sweat, quivering with fear, and so on. 13.13.62 And Thearidas in his work *On Nature* writes: “The principle of existing things, a truly real principle, is one; for that is in the beginning both one and alone” "Nor is there any other apart from the great king," says Orpheus; persuaded by which, the comic poet Diphilus most sententiously says of the one who is father of all, "Honor this one to the end, the sole discoverer and creator of so many good things." 13.13.63 Rightly, therefore, Plato also accustoms "the best natures to arrive at that learning which we formerly said was the greatest, to see the Good and to ascend that ascent." "This, it seems, would not be the turning of a potsherd, but a turning of the soul from a day that is like night to the true ascent to being, which we shall indeed say is true philosophy," and he judges those who have partaken of this to be of the golden race, saying, "You are indeed all brothers," 13.13.64 but those of the golden race are so most precisely and in every way. Of the Father and Maker of all, therefore, all things by all things have an innate and untaught apprehension, inanimate things
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προσαγορεύεται Τύχη. Σοφοκλῆς δὲ ὁ τραγῳδοποιός· οὐδὲ θεοῖσι λέγει αὐθαίρετα πάντα πέλονται νόσφι ∆ιός· κεῖνος γὰρ ἔχει τέλος ἠδὲ καὶ ἀρχήν· ὅ τε Ὀρφεύς· ἓν κράτος, εἷς δαίμων γένετο, μέγας οὐρανὸς αἴθων, ἓν δὲ τὰ πάντα τέτυκται, ἐν ᾧ τάδε πάντα κυκλεῖται, πῦρ καὶ ὕδωρ καὶ γαῖα 13.13.56 καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τούτοις. Πίνδαρος δὲ ὁ μελοποιὸς οἷον ἐκβακχεύεται ἄντικρυς εἰπεῖν· τί θεός; ὅ τι τὸ πᾶν καὶ πάλιν· θεὸς ὁ πάντα τεύχων βροτοῖς. ἐπὰν δὲ εἴπῃ· τί ἔλπεαι σοφίαν ὀλίγον τοι ἀνὴρ ὑπὲρ ἀνδρὸς ἔχειν; τὰ θεῶν βουλεύματα ἐρευνᾶσαι βροτέᾳ φρενὶ δύσκολον· θνατᾶς δ' ἀπὸ ματρὸς ἔφυ. ἐκεῖθεν ἔσπακε τὴν διάνοιαν· «Τίς ἔγνω νοῦν κυρίου; ἢ τίς σύμβουλος αὐτοῦ;» 13.13.57 ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἡσίοδος δι' ὧν γράφει συνᾴδει τοῖς προειρημένοις· μάντις δ' οὐδείς ἐστιν ἐπιχθονίων ἀνθρώπων, ὅστις ἂν εἰδείη Ζηνὸς νόον αἰγιόχοιο. εἰκότως ἄρα Σόλων ὁ Ἀθηναῖος ἐν ταῖς ἐλεγείαις, καὶ αὐτὸς κατακολουθήσας Ἡσιόδῳ, πάμπαν δ' ἀθανάτων ἀφανὴς νόος ἀνθρώποισι γράφει. 13.13.58 Πάλιν τοῦ Μωσέως εἰς μόχθους καὶ πόνους διὰ τὴν παράβασιν τέξεσθαι τὴν γυναῖκα προφητεύσαντος ποιητής τις οὐκ ἄσημος γράφει· οὐδέ ποτ' ἦμαρ παύσονται καμάτου καὶ ὀϊζύος οὐδέ τι νύκτωρ στεινόμενοι· χαλεπὰς δὲ θεοὶ δώσουσι μερίμνας. 13.13.59 ἔτι Ὅμηρος μὲν εἰπών· αὐτὸς δὲ χρύσεια πατὴρ ἐτίταινε τάλαντα δίκαιον τὸν θεὸν μηνύει. Μένανδρος δὲ ὁ κωμικὸς ἀγαθὸν ἑρμηνεύων τὸν θεόν φησιν· ἅπαντι δαίμων ἀνδρὶ συμπαρίσταται εὐθὺς γενομένῳ μυσταγωγὸς τοῦ βίου ἀγαθός· κακὸν γὰρ δαίμονα οὐ νομιστέον εἶναι, βίον βλάπτοντα χρηστόν· εἶτα ἐπιφέρει· ἅπαντα δ' ἀγαθὸν εἶναι τὸν θεόν, ἤτοι πάντα θεὸν ἀγαθὸν λέγων ἤ, ὅπερ καὶ μᾶλλον, ἐν πᾶσι τὸν θεὸν ἀγαθὸν εἶναι. 13.13.60 Πάλιν αὖ Αἰσχύλος μὲν ὁ τραγῳδοποιὸς τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ θεοῦ παρατιθέμενος οὐκ ὀκνεῖ καὶ ὕψιστον αὐτὸν προσαγορεύειν διὰ τούτων· χώριζε θνητῶν τὸν θεὸν καὶ μὴ δόκει ὅμοιον αὑτῷ σάρκινον καθεστάναι. οὐκ οἶσθά γ' αὐτόν. ποτὲ μὲν ὡς πῦρ φαίνεται, ἄπλατος ὁρμῇ, ποτὲ δ' ὕδωρ, ποτὲ γνόφος καὶ θηρσὶν αὐτὸς γίνεται παρεμφερής, ἀνέμῳ νεφέλῃ τε καὶ ἀστραπῇ, βροντῇ, βροχῇ. ὑπηρετεῖ δ' αὐτῷ θάλασσα καὶ πέτραι καὶ πᾶσα πηγὴ καὶ ὕδατος συστήματα· τρέμει δ' ὄρη καὶ γαῖα καὶ πελώριος βυθὸς θαλάσσης καὶ ὀρέων ὕψος ἐπὶ μέγα, ἐπὰν ἐπιβλέψῃ γοργὸν ὄμμα δεσπότου· πάντα δυνατὴ γὰρ δόξα ὑψίστου θεοῦ. ἆρ' οὐ δοκεῖ σοι ἐκεῖνο παραφράζειν τὸ «Ἀπὸ προσώπου κυρίου τρέμει ἡ γῆ;» 13.13.61 Ἐπὶ τούτοις ὁ μαντικώτατος Ἀπόλλων, μαρτυρῶν τῇ δόξῃ τοῦ θεοῦ, λέγειν ἀναγκάζεται περὶ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς, ἡνίκα ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἐστράτευον οἱ Μῆδοι, ὡς ἐδεῖτό τε καὶ ἱκέτευε τὸν ∆ία περὶ τῆς Ἀττικῆς. ἔχει δὲ ὧδε ὁ χρησμός· οὐ δύναται Παλλὰς ∆ί' Ὀλύμπιον ἐξιλάσασθαι, λισσομένη πολλοῖσι λόγοις καὶ μήτιδι πυκνῇ. πολλοὺς δ' ἀθανάτων νηοὺς μαλερῷ πυρὶ δώσει, οἵ που νῦν ἱδρῶτι ῥεεύμενοι ἑστήκασι, δείματι παλλόμενοι, καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τούτοις. 13.13.62 Θεαρίδας δὲ ἐν τῷ Περὶ φύσεως γράφει· «Ἁ ἀρχὰ τῶν ὄντων, ἀρχὰ μὲν ὄντως ἀληθινά, μία· κείνα γὰρ ἐν ἀρχᾷ τέ ἐστιν ἓν καὶ μόνον» οὐδέ τίς ἐσθ' ἕτερος χωρὶς μεγάλου βασιλῆος Ὀρφεὺς λέγει· ᾧ πειθόμενος ὁ κωμικὸς ∆ίφιλος γνωμικώτατα τὸν ὄντα πάντων φησί πατέρα, τοῦτον διὰ τέλους τίμα, μόνον ἀγαθῶν τοσούτων εὑρετὴν καὶ κτίστορα. 13.13.63 εἰκότως τοίνυν καὶ Πλάτων ἐθίζει «τὰς βελτίστας φύσεις ἀφικνεῖσθαι πρὸς τὸ μάθημα, ὃ ἐν τῷ πρόσθεν ἔφαμεν εἶναι μέγιστον, ἰδεῖν τε τἀγαθὸν καὶ ἀναβῆναι ἐκείνην τὴν ἀνάβασιν.» «τοῦτο δή, ὡς ἔοικεν, οὐκ ὀστράκου ἂν εἴη περιστροφή, ἀλλὰ ψυχῆς περιαγωγὴ ἐκ νυκτερινῆς τινος ἡμέρας εἰς ἀληθινὴν τοῦ ὄντος οὖσαν ἐπάνοδον, ἣν δὴ φιλοσοφίαν ἀληθῆ φήσομεν εἶναι,» καὶ τοὺς ταύτης μετασχόντας τοῦ χρυσοῦ γένους κρίνει, «Ἐστὲ μὲν δὴ πάντες ἀδελφοὶ» 13.13.64 λέγων· οἱ δὲ τοῦ χρυσοῦ γένους ἀκριβέστατα καὶ πάντη εἰσί. τοῦ πατρὸς ἄρα καὶ ποιητοῦ συμπάντων ἐμφύτως καὶ ἀδιδάκτως ἀντιλαμβάνεται πάντα πρὸς πάντων, τὰ μὲν ἄψυχα