Far more plausible is the explanation given of the dialogue of Athene with Achilles, and of Hermes with Ulysses. These dialogues are stated to be simply soliloquies of the two heroes respectively. [957] But the Stoic skill in interpretation appears in its fullest glory in supplying the etymological meanings of the various names and epithets which are attributed to Athene. [958] We learn, for instance, that the name Τριτογένεια refers to the three divisions of philosophy. [959] Heraclitus discovers the same divisions in the three heads of Cerberus. [960] Chrysippus, in a diffuse manner, proves that the coming forth of the Goddess from the head of Zeus is not at variance with his view of the seat of reason. [961] It has been already observed that Dionysus means wine, and Demeter fruit; [962] but, just as the latter was taken to represent the earth and its nutritious powers, [963] so Dionysus was further supposed to stand for the principle of natural life, the productive and sustaining breath of life; [964] and since this breath comes from the sun, according to Cleanthes, it was not difficult to find the sun represented by the God of wine. [965] Moreover, the stories of the birth of Dionysus, his being torn to pieces by Titans, his followers, [966] no less than the rape of Proserpine, [967] and the institution of agriculture, [968] and the names of the respective Gods, afforded ample material for the interpreting tastes of the Stoics. The Fates (μοῖραι), as their name already indicates, stand for the righteous and invariable rule of destiny; [969] the Graces (χάριτες), as to whose names, number, and qualities Chrysippus has given the fullest discussion, [970] represent the virtues of benevolence and gratitude; [971] the Muses, the divine origin of culture. [972] Ares is war; [973] Aphrodite, unrestrained passion, or, more generally, absence of control. [974] Other interpreters, and among them Empedocles, consider Ares to represent the separating, Aphrodite the uniting, power of nature. [975] The stories of the two deities being wounded by Diomedes, [976] of their adulterous intrigues, and their being bound by Hephæstus, [977] are explained in various ways—morally, physically, technically, and historically.