§21τοὺς δʼ Ἀπόλλωνα καὶ ἥλιον ἡγουμένους τὸν αὐτὸν ἀσπάζεσθαι μὲν ἄξιόν ἐστι καὶ φιλεῖν διʼ εὐφημίαν, ὃ μάλιστα τιμῶσιν ὧν ἴσασι καὶ ποθοῦσιν, εἰς τοῦτο τιθέντας τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν ἐπίνοιαν.
As for those who think Apollo and the sun to be the same, it is worthy to welcome and love them for their pious reverence, since they place their conception of the god upon that which they most honor and yearn for among the things they know.
ὡς δὲ νῦν ἐν τῷ καλλίστῳ τῶν ἐνυπνίων τὸν θεὸν ὀνειροπολοῦντας ἐγείρωμεν καὶ παρακαλῶμεν ἀνωτέρω προάγειν καὶ θεάσασθαι τὸ ὕπαρ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν οὐσίαν· τιμᾶν δὲ καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα τήνδε καὶ σέβεσθαι τὸ περὶ αὐτὴν γόνιμον, ὡς ἀνυστόν ἐστιν αἰσθητῷ νοητοῦ καὶ φερομένῳ μένοντος, ἐμφάσεις τινὰς καὶ εἴδωλα διαλάμπουσαν ἁμωσγέπως τῆς περὶ ἐκεῖνον εὐμενείας καὶ μακαριότητος.
But as if we were now awakening them, who are dreaming of the god in the most beautiful of dreams, let us arouse them and exhort them to advance higher and behold his real existence and his essence; and to honor also this image, and to revere the generative power around it, so far as is possible for the sensible to copy the intelligible and the moving to copy the stationary, as it somehow radiates some reflections and images of the benevolence and blessedness around him.
ἐκστάσεις δʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ μεταβολὰς πῦρ ἀφιέντος, αἳ αὐτὸν ἀνασπῶσιν ὡς λέγουσιν, αὖθις τε καταθλίβοντος ἐνταῦθα καὶ κατατείνοντος εἰς γῆν καὶ θάλασσαν καὶ ἀνέμους καὶ ζῷα, καὶ τὰ δεινὰ παθήματα καὶ ζῴων καὶ φυτῶν, οὐδʼ ἀκούειν ὅσιον ἢ τοῦ ποιητικοῦ παιδὸς ἔσται φαυλότερος, ἣν ἐκεῖνος ἔν τινι ψαμάθῳ συντιθεμένῃ καὶ διαχεομένῃ πάλιν ὑφʼ αὑτοῦ παίζει παιδιάν, ταύτῃ περὶ τὰ ὅλα χρώμενος ἀεί, καὶ τὸν κόσμον οὐκ ὄντα πλάττων εἶτʼ ἀπολλύων γενόμενον.
But as for his departures and changes, when he emits fire, which they say dissolve him, and in turn squeeze him back here and stretch him out into earth and sea and winds and animals, and the dreadful sufferings of animals and plants—it is not even holy to hear of these, or else he will be baser than the poetic child, who plays a game on some sand that is piled up and scattered again by himself, always playing this game with the universe, and shaping the world when it does not exist, then destroying it when it has come to be.
τοὐναντίον γὰρ ὅσου ἁμωσγέπως ἐγγέγονε τῷ κόσμῳ, τοῦτο συνδεῖ τὴν οὐσίαν καὶ κρατεῖ τῆς περὶ τὸ σωματικὸν ἀσθενείας ἐπὶ φθορὰν φερομένης.
For on the contrary, whatever of him has somehow entered into the world, this binds its essence together and masters the weakness of the physical element which is borne toward corruption.
καί μοι δοκεῖ μάλιστα πρὸς τοῦτον τὸν λόγον ἀντιταττόμενον τὸ ῥῆμα καὶ μαρτυρόμενον
εἶ
φάναι πρὸς τὸν θεόν, ὡς οὐδέποτε γιγνομένης περὶ αὐτὸν ἐκστάσεως καὶ μεταβολῆς, ἀλλʼ ἑτέρῳ τινὶ θεῷ, μᾶλλον δὲ δαίμονι τεταγμένῳ περὶ τὴν ἐν φθορᾷ καὶ γενέσει φύσιν, τοῦτο ποιεῖν καὶ πάσχειν προσῆκον· ὡς δῆλόν ἐστιν ἀπὸ τῶν ὀνομάτων εὐθὺς οἷον ἐναντίων ὄντων καὶ ἀντιφώνων.
And it seems to me that, as opposing this view above all and bearing witness to it, the phrase "Thou art" is said to the god, since there is never any departure or change taking place around him, but it is fitting for some other god, or rather some daemon appointed over the nature in corruption and generation, to do and suffer this; as is clear at once from their names, which are as it were opposite and sounding against each other.
λέγεται γὰρ ὁ μὲν Ἀπόλλων ὁ δὲ Πλούτων, καὶ ὁ μὲν Δήλιος ὁ δʼ Ἀιδωνεύς, καὶ ὁ μὲν Φοῖβος ὁ δὲ Σκότιος· καὶ παρʼ ᾧ μὲν αἱ Μοῦσαι καὶ ἡ Μνημοσύνη, παρʼ ᾧ δʼ ἡ Λήθη καὶ ἡ Σιωπή· καὶ ὁ μὲν Θεώριος καὶ Φαναῖος, ὁ δὲ
"νυκτὸς ἀιδνᾶς ἀεργηλοῖὸ θʼ Ὕπνου κοίρανος· "
καὶ ὁ μὲν
"βροτοῖσι θεῶν ἔχθιστος ἁπάντων"
πρὸς ὃν δὲ Πίνδαρος εἴρηκεν οὐκ ἀηδῶς
"κατεκρίθη δὲ θνατοῖς ἀγανώτατος ἔμμεν. "
εἰκότως οὖν ὁ Εὐριπίδης, εἶπε
"
λοιβαὶ νεκύων φθιμένων
ἀοιδαί, τὰς χρυσοκόμα
Ἀπόλλων οὐκ ἐνδέχεται.
For one is called Apollo, and the other Pluto; and one Delios, and the other Aidoneus; and one Phoebus, and the other Skotios; and with one are the Muses and Mnemosyne, and with the other Lethe and Siope; and one is Theorios and Phanaios, and the other "ruler of dark night and of idle Sleep;" and one is "most hateful of all gods to mortals," but of the other Pindar has said not unpleasantly, "he was judged to be most gentle to mortals." Reasonably, then, Euripides said, "Libations to the decayed dead are songs, which golden-haired Apollo does not accept.
"
καὶ πρότερος ἔτι τούτου ὁ Στησίχορος,
"
μάλα τοι μάλιστα
παιγμοσύνας τε φιλεῖ μολπὰς τʼ Ἀπόλλων,
κάδεα δὲ στοναχάς τʼ Ἀίδας ἔλαχε.
"And even before him, Stesichorus said, "Truly, most of all, games and songs does Apollo love, but griefs and groans did Hades obtain as his lot.
"
Σοφοκλῆς δὲ καὶ τῶν ὀργάνων ἑκατέρῳ προσνέμων ἑκάτερον δῆλός ἐστι διὰ τούτων,
"οὐ νάβλα κωκυτοῖσιν οὐ λύρα φίλα"
καὶ γὰρ ὁ αὐλὸς ὀψὲ καὶ πρῴην ἐτόλμησε φωνὴν
ἐφʼ ἱμερτοῖσιν
ἀφιέναι· τὸν δὲ πρῶτον χρόνον εἵλκετο πρὸς τὰ πένθη, καὶ τὴν περὶ ταῦτα λειτουργίαν οὐ μάλʼ ἔντιμον οὐδὲ φαιδρὰν εἶχεν, εἶτʼ ἐμίχθη πάντα πᾶσι.
"And Sophocles, assigning to each of the instruments its respective god, is clear through these words: "no nabla is friendly to lamentations, nor the lyre." For indeed the flute dared only late and recently to emit its voice for lovely things; but in the first period it was drawn toward mourning, and had its service in these matters not very honorable nor cheerful, but then all things were mixed with all.
μάλιστα δὲ τὰ θεῖα πρὸς τὰ δαιμόνια συγχέοντες εἰς ταραχὴν αὑτοὺς κατέστησαν.
But especially by confusing the divine with the daemonic, they brought themselves into confusion.
ἀλλά γε τῷ Ε τὸ
γνῶθι σαυτόν
ἔοικέ πως ἀντικεῖσθαι καὶ τρόπον τινὰ πάλιν συνᾴδειν· τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἐκπλήξει καὶ σεβασμῷ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ὡς ὄντα διὰ παντὸς ἀναπεφώνηται, τὸ δʼ ὑπόμνησίς ἐστι τῷ θνητῷ τῆς περὶ αὐτὸν φύσεως καὶ ἀσθενείας.
Yet the "Know thyself" seems somehow to be opposed to the "E", and in a way to harmonize with it again; for the one is uttered with amazement and reverence toward the god as existing through all eternity, while the other is a reminder to the mortal of his own nature and weakness.