which preserves it in increase and fructification; and of an animated body, that which preserves its composition. It is one thing, however, to nourish, and another to fatten; and one thing to impart what is necessary, and another to procure what is luxurious. Various, therefore, are the kinds of nutriment, and various also is the nature of the things that are nourished. And it is necessary,. indeed, that all.things should be nourished, but we should earnestly endeavour to fatten our most principal. parts. Hence, the nutriment of the rational soul is that. which preserves it in a rational state. But this is intel- lect; so that it is to be nourished by intellect; and we- should earnestly endeavour that it may be fattened \ -- 166 _ON ABSTINENCE FROM through this, rather than that the flesh may become pinguid through esculent substances. For intellect pre- serves for us eternal life, but the body when fattened causes the soul to be famished, through its hunger after a © ‘blessed life not being satisfied, increases our mortal part, ‘since it is of itself insane, and impedes our attainment of an immortal condition of being. It likewise defiles by corporifying the soul, and drawing her down to that which is foreign to her nature. And the magnet, indeed, imparts, as it were, a soul to the iron which is placed near it; and the iron, though most heavy, is elevated, and runs to the spirit of the stone. Should he, therefore, who is suspended from incorporeal and intellectual deity, be anxiously busied in procuring food which fattens the body, that is an impediment to intellectual perception? Ought he not rather, by contracting what is necessary to the flesh into that which is little and easily procured, be himself nourished, by adhering to God more closely than the iron to the magnet? I wish, indeed, that our nature was not so corruptible, and that it were possible we could live free from molestation, even without the nutriment derived from fruits. O that, as Homer”. says, we were not in want either of meat or drink, that we might be truly immortal!—the poet in thus speaking beautifully signifying, that food is the auxiliary not only. of life, but also of death. If, therefore, we were not in want even of vegetable aliment, we should be by so much the more blessed, in proportion as we should be more immortal. But now, being in a mortal condition, we render ourselves, if it be proper so to speak, still more mortal, through becoming ignorant that, by the addition of this mortality, the soul, as Theophrastus says, does not only confer a great benefit on the body by being its inhabitant, but gives herself wholly to 115. Hence, it is b Tliad, V. v. 341.
© Inthe original, ov πολὺ τὸ svoinsov, ὡς φησι ποὺ Θεόφραστος, τῷ σωμώσι διδουσης τῆς ψυχης, κιτιλ, But for ov πολὺ τὸ ἐγοίκίον, it appears to me to be necessary to read, ov provey πολύ τὸ ἐνοίκιον, κτλ.
oe much to be wished that we could easily obtain the life celebrated in fables, in which hunger and thirst are unknown; so that, by stopping the every-way-flowing river of the body, we might in a very little time be present with the most excellent natures, to which he who accedes, since deity is there, is himselfa God. But how is it possible not to lament the condition of the generality of mankind, who are so involved in darkness as to cherish their own evil, and who, in, the first place, hate them- selves, and him who truly begot them, and afterwards, those who admonish them, and call on them to return from ebriety to a sober condition of being? Hence, dis- missing things of this kind, will it not be requisite to pass ‘on to what remains to be discussed?
21]. Those then who oppose the Nomades, or Troglo- dytz*, or Ichthyophagi, to the legal institutes of the nations which we have adduced, are ignorant that these people were brought to the necessity of eating animals through the infe- cundity of the region they inhabit, which is so barren, that it does not even produce herbs, but only shores and sands. And this necessity is indicated by their not being able to make use of fire, through the want of combustible materials; but they dry their fish on rocks, or on the shore. And these indeed live after this manner from necessity. There are, however, certain nations whose manners are rustic, and who are naturally savage; but it is not fit that those who are equitable judges should, from such instances as these, calumniate human nature. For thus we should not only be dubious whether it is proper to eat animals, but also, whether we may not eat men, and adopt all other savage manners. It is related, therefore, that the Massa- getee and the Derbices consider those of their kindred to be most miserable who die spontaneously. Hence, pre- venting their dearest friends from dying naturally, they slay them when they are old, and eat them. The Tiba- reni hurl from rocks their nearest relatives, even while 4 Vid. Diod, Sic. lib. ii, $2.
168 ON ABSTINENCE FROM living, when they are old. And with respect to the Hyr- cani and Caspii, the one exposed the living, but the other the dead, to be devoured by birds and dogs. But the Scythians bury the living with the dead, and cut their throats on the pyres of the dead by whom they were especially beloved. The Bactrii likewise cast those among them that are old, even while living, to the dags. And Stasanor, who was one of Alexander’s prefects, nearly lost his government through endeavouring to destroy this custom. As, however, we do not on account of these examples subvert mildness of conduct towardg men, so neither should we imitate thase nations that feed on flesh through necessity, but we should rather imitate the pious, and those who consecrate themselves to the Gods. For Democrates* says, that to live badly, and not prudently, temperately, and piously, is not to live ja reality‘, but to die for a long time.
22. It now remains that we should adduce a few examples of certain individuals, as testimonies in fayeur of abstinence from animal food. For the want of these was one of the accusations which were urged against yg, We learn, therefore, that Triptolemus was the nyogt ancient of the Athenian legislators; of whom Hers mippus, in the second book of his treatise on Legislators, writes as follows: “ It 18 said, that Triptolemys esta- blished laws for the Athenians. And the philosapher Xenocrates asserts, that three of his laws still remain in Eleusis, which are these, Honour your parents; Sq. crifice to the Gods from the fruits of the earth; Injare not animals.” Two of these, therefore, he says, are © Reisk says, that he does not know who this Democrates 15) bas there can, I think, be no doubt of its being the Pythagorean of thag name, whose Golden Sentences are extant in the Opuscula Mythologicn of Gale, of which see Mr. Bridgman’s translation. _ f In the original, ov xaxwe Cov eves, But for ov κακῶς, I read, οὐκ ovr. For without this emendation, Democrates will ¢ontradies himself.
© This Hermippus is also cited by Diogenes Laertius in Pyth.
ANIMAL FOQD,—BOOK IV. 169 properly instituted. For it is necessary that we should as much as possible recompense our parents for the benefits which they have conferred on us; and that we should offer to the Gods the first-fruits of the things useful to our life, which they have imparted to us. But with respect to the third law, he is dubious as to the intention of Triptolemus, in ordering the Athe- nians te abstain from animals. Was it, says he, because he thought it was a dire thing to slay kindred natures, or because he perceived it would happen, that the most useful animals would be destroyed by men for food? Wishing, therefore, to make our life as mild as possible, he endeavoured to preserve those animals that associate with men, and which are especially tame. Unless, in- deed, because having ordained that men should honour the Gods by offering to them first-fruits, he therefore added this third law, conceiving that this mode of wor- ship would continue for a longer time, if sacrifices through animals were not made to the Gods. But as many other causes, though not very accurate, of the pro- mulgation of these laws, are assigned by Xenocrates, thus much from what has been said is sufficient for our purpose, that abstinence from animals was one of the legal institutes of Triptolemus. Hence, those who after- wards violated this law, being compelled by great neces- sity, and involuntary errors, fell, as we have shown, into this custom of slaughtering and eating animals.
The following, also, is mentioned as a law of Draco: “‘ Let this be an eternal sacred law" to the inhabitants of Attica, and let its authority be predominant for ever; viz. that the Gods, and indigenous Heroes, be worshipped publicly, conformably to the laws of the country, delivered by our ancestors; and also, that they he worshipped privately, according to the ability of each individual, in conjunction with auspicious words, the δ In the original, θεσμος, which, as we are informed by Proclus, signifies devine order, and a uniform boundary.
170 ON ABSTINENCE, &c.
firstlings of fruits, and annual cakes. So that this law ordains, that divinity should be venerated by the first offerings of fruits which are used by men, and cakes made of the fine flour of wheat.
' This book is evidently imperfect, because there are wanting at the end examples of illustrious Greeks and Romans, who, from the most remote antiquity, abstained from animal food. And this was also obvious to Reisk.
ΟΝ THE CAVE OF THE NYMPHS, IN THE THIRTEENTH BOOK OF THE ODYSSEY.
ee ee ee ey 1, Wuatr does Homer obscurely signify by the cave m Ithaca, which he describes in the following verses?
“‘ High at the head a branching olive grows, And crowns the pointed cliffs with shady boughs. A cavern pleasant, though involv’d in night, - Beneath it lies, the Naiades’ delight: Where bowls and urns of workmanship divine And massy beams in native marble shine; On which the Nymphs amazing webs display, Of purple hue, and exquisite array. The busy bees within the urns secure Honey delicious, and like nectar pure. Perpetual waters through the grotto glide, A lofty gate unfolds on either side; That to the north is pervious to mankind; The sacred south t’ immortals is consign’d.”
That the poet, indeed, does not narrate these particulars from historical information, is evident from this, that those who have given us a description of the island, have, as Cronius* says, made no mention of such a cave being found in it. This likewise, says he, is manifest, that it would be absurd for Homer to expect, that in Δ This Cronius, the Pythagorean, is also mentioned by Porphyry, in lis Life of Plotinus.
Ae 172 ON THE CAVE OF THE NYMPHS.
describing a cave fabricated merely by poetical license, and thus artificially opening a path to Gods and men in the region of Ithaca, he should gain the belief of man- kind. And it is equally absurd to suppose, that nature herself should point out, in this place, one path for the descent of all mankind, and again another path for all the Gods. For, indeed, the whole world is full of Gods and men: but it is impossible to be persuaded, that in the Ithacensian cave men descend, and Gods ascend. Cro- “nius, therefore, having premised thus much, says, that it is evident, not only to the wise but also to the vulgar, that the poet, under the veil of allegory, conceals some mysterious signification; thus compelling others to ex- plore what the gate of men is, and also what is the gate of the Gods: what he means by asserting that this cave of the Nymphs has two gates; and why it is both pleasant and obscure, since darkness is by no means delightéul, but is rather productive of aversion dnd horror, Like- wise, what is the reason why it is not simply said to be the cave of the Nymphs, but it is accurately added, of the Nymphs which are called Naiades? Why, also, is the cave represented as containing bowls and amphore, when no mention is made of their receiving any liquor, but ‘bees are said to deposit their honey in these vessels asin hives? Then, again, why are oblong beams adapted to weaving placed here for the Nymphs; and these not formed from wood, or any other pliable matter; but from stone, as well.as the amphore and bowls? Which last circumstance is, indeed, less obscure; but that, on these stony beams, the Nymphs should weave purple garments, is not only wonderful to the sight, but also to the auditory sense. For who would believe that Goddesses weave garments in 8 cave mvolved in darkness, and on stony beams, especially while he hears the poet asserting, that the purple webs of the Goddesses were visible. Im addition to these things likewise, this is admirable, that the cave should have a twofold entrance; one made for the descent of men, but the other for the ascent of Gods.
ON THE CAVE OF THE NYMPHS. 173 And again, that the gate, which is pervious by men, ᾿ς ghould be said to be turned towards the north wind, bat Ὁ the portal of the Gods to the south; and why the poet ‘did not rather make use of the west and the east for this - purpose; since nearly all temples have their statues and ᾿ entrances turned towards the east; but those who enter _ them look towards the west, when standing with their faces turned towards the statues, they honour and worship the Gods. Hence, since this narration is full of such * cbecurities, it can neither be a fiction casually devised for the purpose.of procuring delight, nor an exposition of ἃ topical history; but something allegorical must be indicated in it by the poet, who likewise mystically places _an olive near the cave. All which particulars the ancients thought very laborious to investigate and unfold; and we, with their assistance, shall now endeavour to develope the secret meaning of the allegory. Those persons, there- fore, appear to have written very negligently about the situation of the place, who think that the cave, and what is narrated concerning it, are nothing more than a fiction of the poet. But the best and most accurate wniters of geography, and among these Artemiderus the Ephesian, in the fifth book of his work, which consists of eleven books, thus writes: “ The island of Ithaca, containing an extent of eighty-five stadia’, is distant from Panormus, a port of Cephalenia, about twelve stadia. It has a port named Phorcys, in which there is a shore, and on that shore a cave, in which the Pheacians are reported to have placed Ulysses.” This cave, therefore, will not be entirely an Homeric fiction. But whether the poet describes it as it really is, or whether he hes added something to it of his own invention, nevertheless the same inquiries remain; whether the intention of the poet is mvestigated, or of those who founded the cave. For, neither did the ancients establish temples without fabulous symbols, nor » 4, 6. Rather more than ten Italian miles and a half, erent stadia making an Italian mile.
174 ΟΝ THE CAVE OF THE NYMPHS: does Homer rashly narrate the particulars pertaining to things of this kind. But how much the more any one endeavours to show that this description of the cave is not an Homeric fiction, but prior to Homer was conse- crated to the Gods, by so much the more will this conse- crated cave be found to be full of ancient wisdom. And. on this account it deserves to be investigated, and it is requisite that its symbolical consecration should be amply unfolded into light.
# 2. The ancients, indeed, very properly consecrated a ew aa 4’ “τ we tne « eave to the world, whether assumed collectively, according to the whole of itself, or separately, according to its parts. Hence they considered earth as a symbol of that matter of which the world consists; on which account some thought that matter and earth are the same; through the cave indicating the world, which was gene- rated from matter. For caves are, for the most part, spontaneous productions, and connascent with the earth, being comprehended by one uniform mass of stone; the interior parts of which are concave, but the exterior parts are extended over an indefinite portion of land. And the world being spontaneously produced, [. 6. being produced by no external, but from an internal cause,] and being also self-adherent, is allied to matter; which, according to a secret signification, is denominated a stone and a rock, on account of its sluggish and repercussive nature. with respect to form: the. ancients, at the-same time, asserting that matter is infinite through its privation of — Since, however, it is continually flowing, and is of itself destitute of the supervening investments: of form; ἱ through which it participates of morphe®, and becomes. _ visible, the flowing waters, darkness, or, as the poet says, : obscurity of the cavern, were considered by the ancients as apt symbols of what the world contains, on account of the matter with which it is connected. Through matter, ¢ In the original, & ov μορφουται, But morphe, as we are informed by Simplicius, pertains to the colour, figure, and magnitude of superficies..,.
ON THE CAVE OF THE NYMPHS. 175 “therefore, the world is obscure and dark; but through ” the connecting power, and orderly distribution of form, from which also it is called world, it is beautiful and delightful. Hence it may very properly be denominated a cave; as being lovely, indeed, to him who first enters into it, through its participation of forms, but obscure to him who surveys its foundation, and examines it with an intellectual eye. So that its exterior and superficial . parts, indeed, are pleasant, but its interior and profound parts are obscure, [and its very bottom is darkness itself]. Thus also the Persians, mystically signifying the descent of the soul into the sublunary regions, and its regression from it, initiate the mystic [or him who is admitted to the arcane sacred rites] in a place which they denominate a cavern, For, as Eubulus says, Zoroaster was the first. who consecrated,.in the. neighbouring. mountains of Per- sia, ἃ spontaneously produced cave, florid, and | having fountains, in honour « of Mithra, the maker ‘and father of all things; a cave, according to Zoroaster, bearing, a reséniblance οὗ -the--world, which - was” “fabricated © “by. ‘Mithra. But the things contained in the cavern being arranged according to commensurate intervals, were symbols of the mundane elements and climates.
3. After this Zoroaster likewise, it was usual with others to perform the rites pertaining to the mysteries in caverns and dens, whether spontaneously. produced, or made by the hands. For, as they established temples, groves, and altars, to the celestial Gods, but to the ~~ terrestrial Gods, and to heroes, altars alone, and to the subterranean divinities pits and cells; so to the world they dedicated caves and dens; as likewise to Nymphs, on account of the water which trickles, or is diffused -in caverns, over which the Naiades, as we shallshortly observe, . 4 “ Nymphs,” says Hermias, in his Scholia on the Phedrus of Plato, “‘ are Goddesses who preside over regeneration, and are ministrant to Bacchus, the offspring of Semele. Hence they dwell near water, that is, they are conversant with generation. But this Bacchus smpplies the regeneration of the whole sensible world.”
176 ON THE CAVE OF THE NYMPHS.
preside. Not only, however, did the ancients take a / cavern, as we have said, to be a symbol of the νοῦ, ‘ot of a generated and sensible nature; but they also assutwed ~~ 88 a symbol of all invisible powers; because, as caxvérra are obscure and dark, so the essence of these powers \ is occult. Hence Saturn fabricated a cavern in the ocean itself, and concealed in it his children. Thus, too, Ceres educated Proserpine, with her Nymphs, in ἃ ¢avé; and many other particulars of this kind may be found in the writings of theologists. But that the ancients dedicated . eaverns to Nymphs, and especially to the Naiades, whe dwelt near fountains, and who are called Naiades froma the atreams over which they preside, is manifest from the hymn to Apollo, in which it is said: “ ‘The Nytapha™ residing in’ caves ‘shall. deduce fountaina. of intellectual. waters to thee, (according to the divine. veiee-of~the ὸὶ Muses,) which are the progeny | of 8 terrene spirit, Heage ‘waters, butsting through every river, shall exhibie ¢6 mankind perpetiial effusions of sweet streams*.—Prom hence, as it appears to me, the Pythagoréans; and ater ‘@i¢m Plato; showed that the world is a cavertt-and ἀ daa. For the powers which are the leaders of souls, thas spoalt in a verse of Empedocles: Now at this secret cavern we’re arrived.
And by Plato, in the 7th book of his Republic, it is said, “ Behold men as if dwelling in a subterraneous cavern, and in a den-like habitation, whose entrance is widely expanded to the admission of the light through the whole cave.” But when the other person in the Dialogue says, “ You adduce an unusual and wonderful similitude,” he replies, “‘ The whole of this image, friend Glauco, must be adapted to what has been before said, assimilating this receptacle, which is visible through the sight, to the habitation of a prison; but the light of the fire which is in it to the power of the sun.”
4 These lines are not to be found in any of the hymns now extant,. ascribed to Homer.
ON THE CAVE OF THE NYMPHS. 177 4. That theologists therefore considered caverns as symbols of the world, and of mundane powers, is, through this, manifest. And it has been already observed by us, that they also considered a cave as a symbol. of the © intelligible essence; being impelled to do so by differ- ent and not the same conceptions. For they were οὗ" Opinion, that a cave is a symbol of the sensible world, because caverns are dark, stony, and humid; and they asserted, that the world is a thing of this kind, through the matter of which it consists, and through its reper- — cussive and flowing nature. But they thought it to be a symbol of the intelligible world, because that world 18 invisible to sensible perception, and possesses a firm and stable essence. Thus, also, partial powers are unappa- rent, and especially those which are inherent in matter. For they formed these symbols, from surveying the spontaneous production of caves, and their nocturnal, dark, and stony nature; and not entirely, as some suspect, from directing their attention to the figure of a cavern.
_ For every cave is not spherical, as is evident from this Homeric cave with a twofold entrance. But since a cavern has a twofold similitude, the present cave must not be assumed as an image of the intelligible, but of the ~ Sensible essence. For in consequence of containing per- “ petually-flowing streams of water, it will not be a symbol of an intelligible hypostasis, but of a material essence. ~ On this account also, it is sacred to Nymphs, not the mountain, or rural‘ Nymphs, or others of the like kind, but to the Naiades, who are thus denominated from streams of water. For we peculiarly call the Naiades, and the> powers that preside over waters, Nymphs; and this / term, also, is commonly applied to all souls descending into‘ generation. For the ancients thought that these souls are incumbent on water which is inspired by divinity, as Nu- menius, says, who adds, that on this account, a propheg” asserts, that the Spirit of God moved on the waters. The ~ ‘ In the original, ots ἀχραίων; but for argain, I read, αγραίων. N 178 ON THE CAVE OF THE NYMPHS.
Egyptians likewise, on thia account, represent all demons, and also the sun, and, in short, all the planets 5, not standing on any thing solid, but on a sailing vessel; for soule descending into generation fly to moisture. Hence, also, Heraclitus says, “ that moisture appeara delightful aad not deadly to souls;” but the lapse into generation 18 delightful to them. And in another place [speaking of unembodied souls], he says, ‘“‘ We live their death, and we die their life.” Hence the poet calls those that are HI generation humid, because they have souls which are profoundly steeped in moisture. On this account, such souls delight in blood and humid seed; but water is the nutriment of the souls of plants. Some likewise are of epinian, that the bodies in the air, and in the heavena, are nourished by vapours from fountains and rivers, and other exhalations. But the Stoics assert, that the sun is- nourished by the exhalation from the sea; the.moon from. the vapours of fountains and rivers.;. and the stars from. the exhalation of the earth. Hence, according to them, the sun is an intellectual composition formed from the sea; the moon from river waters; and the stars from terrene exhalations..
δ. It is necessary, therefore, that souls, whether. they are corporeal or incorporeal, while they attract to themselves body, and especially such as are about to be ᾿ bound to blood and moist bodies, should verge to hu- midity, and be corporalized, in- consequence of being drenched in moisture. Hence the souls of the dead. ane evocated by the effusion of bile and blood; and souls § In the original, τοὺς TE Αἰγυπτίους δια τοῦτο τοὺς δαίμονας ἁπαγτὰς οὐχ ἔσταγαι ἔστι στέρεου, ἀλλα πάντας ἔπι WAokov, καὶ Tov ἥλιον, Καὶ ἀπλος αντάς, ove moves εἰδέναι xen τὰς ψυχας επιποτωμέγας τῷ υγρῷ, τας εἰς γένεσιν κατιουσας, But after the words xa: απλως πάντας, it appears to me to be requisite to insext σοὺς whamrag, For Martianus Capella, in lib. ii. De Nuptiis Philologie, speaking of the sun, says: “ Ibi quandam navim, totius nature cursibus diversa cupiditate moderantem, cuuctaque flammarum congestione ple- nissimam, beatis circumactam mercibus conspicatur. Cui naute septem germani, tamen suique consimiles presidebant,” &c. For in this passage - the seven sailors. are evidently, the seven planets.
Ι!
- -- ΟΝ THE CAVE OF THE ΚΥΜΡΗΞΒ. 179 that are lovers of body, by attracting a moist spirit, con- dense this humid vehicle like a cloud. _ For moisture con- densed in the air constitutes.a cloud. But the pneumatic: vehicle: being: condensed: πὶ these souls, becomes visible through an excess of moisture. And among the number of these we tfiust reckOW those apparitions of images, which, from a spirit coloured by the fifluence ofimepina- tion, present themselves:to mankind. But pure souls ar& averse from generation; so that, a9 Heraclitus says, “a dry soul ts the wisest.” Hence, here also, the spirit becomes moist and more equeous through the desire of coition, the soul thus attracting ἃ humid vapour from verging to generation. Souls, therefore, proceeding into generation. are the Nymphs called Naiades. Hence it is usual to call; these that are married Nymphs, as being conjomed to generation, and to pour water into baths from fountains, ov rivers, or perpetual rills.
6. This world, then, is sacred and pleasant to soule who have now proceeded into nature, and to. nate demons, though it is essentially dark and obscure; [περοειδὰς} from which some have suspected: that souls also. are of ar obseure nature, [aepudas,} and essentially consist of ‘air: Hence ἃ cavern, which is both pleasant and dark, will be appropriately consecrated to souls ‘on the earth, con+ formably to its similitude to the world; in which, as in the greatest ofall temples, souls reside. To the Nymphs likewise, who preside over waters, a cavern, in which there are perpetually flowing streams, is adapted. Let, therefore, this present cavern be consecrated to: souls; — and, among the more partial powers, to nymphs, that preside over streams and fountains, and who, on this account, are called fontal and Natades. What, therefore, are the different symbols, some of which are-adapted to souls, but others to the aquatic powers, in order that we may apprehend that this cavern is consecrated in common to both? Let the stony bowls, then, and the amphore, be symbels of the aquatic Nymphs.. For these are, indeed, the symbols of Bacchus, but their composition is 180 ON THE CAVE OF THE NYMPHS, fictile, i. e. consists of baked earth; and these are friendly to the vine, the gift of the God; since the fruit df the vine is brought to a proper maturity ‘by the celestial fire of the sun. But the stony bowls and amphora, aie in the most eminent degree adapted to the Nymphs who preside over the water that flows from rocks. And to souls that descend into generation, ‘and are occupied in corporeal energies, what symbol can be more appropriate V than those instruments pertaining to weaving? Hence, also, the poet ventures to say, “ that on these the Nymphs weave purple webs, admirable to the view.” ‘For the formation of the flesh is on and about the bones, which in the bodies of animals resemble stones. Hence tliese instruments of weaving consist of stone, and not of any other matter. But the purple webs will evidently be the flesh which is woven from the blood. For purple woollen garments are tinged from blood; and wool is dyed from animal juice. The generation of flesh, also, is through and from blood. Add, too, that the body is @ garment with which the soul is invested,.a thing wonderful to the sight, whether this refers to the compo- sition of the soul, or contributes to the colligation of the soul [to the whole of a visible essence]. Thus, also, Proserpine, who is the inspective guardian of every thing produced from seed, is represented by Orpheus as weav- ing a web"; and the heavens are called by the ancients.