Then Cleombrotus continued, ‘I shall be surprised if it does not appear to you much more strange
than what has already been said. Yet it seems to be
close to the subject of natural phenomena and Plato1
has given the key-note for it, not by an unqualified
pronouncement, but as the result of a vague concept,
cautiously suggesting also the underlying idea in an
enigmatic way ; but, for all that, there has been loud
disparagement of him on the part of other philosophers. But there is set before us for general use a
bowl of myths and stories combined, and where could
one meet with more kindly listeners for testing these
stories, even as one tests coins from foreign lands ?
So I do not hesitate to favour you with a narrative
about a man, not a Greek, whom I had great difficulty
in finding, and then only by dint of long wanderings,
[p. 411]
and after paying large sums for information. It
was near the Persian Gulf that I found him, where he
holds a meeting with human beings once every year ;
and there I had an opportunity to talk with him and
met with a kindly reception. The other days of his
life, according to his statement, he spends in association with roving nymphs and demigods. He was the
handsomest man I ever saw in personal appearance
and he never suffered from any disease, inasmuch as
once each month he partook of the medicinal and
bitter fruit of a certain herb. He was practised in the
use of many tongues ; but with me, for the most part,
he spoke a Doric which was almost music. While he
was speaking, a fragrance overspread the place, as
his mouth breathed forth a most pleasant perfume.
Besides his learning and his knowledge of history,
always at his command, he was inspired to prophesy
one day in each year when he went down to the
sea and told of the future. Potentates and kings'
secretaries would come each year and depart. His
power of prophecy he referred to the demigods. He
made most account of Delphi and there was none of
the stories told of Dionysus or of the rites performed
here of which he had not heard ; these too he assert ed
were the momentous experiences of the demigods
and so, plainly, were those which had to do with
the Python. And upon the slayer of that monster
was not imposed an exile of eight full years,2 nor,
following this, was he exiled to Tempê; but after
he was expelled, he fared forth to another world,
and later, returning from there, after eight cycles
of the Great Years, pure and truly the ‘Radiant
[p. 413]
One,’ he took over the oraele which had been
guarded during this time by Themis. Such also, he
said, were the stories about Typhons and Titans3;
battles of demigods against demigods had taken
place, followed by the exile of the vanquished, or else
judgement inflicted by a god upon the sinners, as, for
example, for the sin which Typhon is said to have
committed in the case of Osiris, or Cronus in the case
of Uranus ; and the honours once paid to these
deities have become quite dim to our eyes or have
vanished altogether when the deities were transferred
to another world. In fact, I learn that the Solymi,
who live next to the Lycians, paid especial honour to
Cronus. But when lie had slain their rulers, Arsalus,
Dryus, and Trosobius, he fled away from that place
to some place or other, where they cannot say ; and
then he ceased to be regarded, but Arsalus and those
connected with him are called the ‘stern gods,’ and
the Lycians employ their names in invoking curses
both in public and in private. Many accounts
similar to these are to be had from theological
history. But, as that man said, if we call some of the
demigods by the current name of gods, that is no cause
for wonder ; for each of them is wont to be called
after that god with whom he is allied and from whom'
he has derived his portion of power and honour. In
fact, among ourselves one of us is Dïus, another
Athenaeus, another Apollonius or Dionysius or
[p. 415]
Hermaeus ; but only some of us have, by chance, been
rightly named ; the majority have received names
derived from the gods which bear no relation to the
persons, but are only a travesty.’