Ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν ἴσως λεπτότερον· ᾧ δὲ παρακολουθοῦμεν ξύμπαντες, ἀμαθεῖς καὶ ἰδιῶται, φιλόσοφοι καὶ λόγιοι, τίνα ἐν τῷ παντὶ δύναμιν ἀνίσχων ἔχει καὶ καταδυόμενος ὁ θεός; νύκτα καὶ ἡμέραν ἐργάζεται καὶ μεθίστησι φανερῶς καὶ τρέπει τὸ πᾶν. [135] καίτοι τίνι τοῦτο τῶν ἄλλων ἀστέρων ὑπάρχει; πῶς οὖν οὐκ ἐκ τούτων ἤδη καὶ περὶ τῶν θειοτέρων πιστεύομεν, ὡς ἄρα καὶ τὰ ὑπὲρ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀφανῆ καὶ θεῖα νοερῶν θεῶν γένη τῆς ἀγαθοειδοῦς ἀποπληροῦται παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ δυνάμεως, ᾧ πᾶς μὲν ὑπείκει χορὸς ἀστέρων, ἕπεται δὲ ἡ γένεσις ὑπὸ τῆς τούτου κυβερνωμένη προμηθείας; [B] οἱ μὲν γὰρ πλάνητες(646) ὅτι περὶ αὐτὸν ὥσπερ βασιλέα χορεύοντες ἔν τισιν ὡρισμένοις πρὸς αὐτὸν διαστήμασιν ἁρμοδιώτατα φέρονται κύκλῳ, στηριγμούς τινας ποιούμενοι καὶ πρόσω καὶ ὀπίσω πορείαν, ὡς οἱ τῆς σφαιρικῆς ἐπιστήμονες θεωρίας ὀνομάζουσι τὰ περὶ αὐτοὺς φαινόμενα, καὶ ὡς τὸ τῆς σελήνης αὔξεται καὶ λήγει φῶς, πρὸς τὴν ἀπόστασιν ἡλίου πάσχον, πᾶσί που δῆλον. πῶς οὖν οὐκ εἰκότως καὶ τὴν πρεσβυτέραν τῶν σωμάτων ἐν τοῖς νοεροῖς [C] θεοῖς διακόσμησιν ὑπολαμβάνομεν ἀνάλογον ἔχειν τῇ τοιαύτῃ τάξει; (However, this is perhaps somewhat subtle; but as for that guide whom we all follow, ignorant and unlearned, philosophers and rhetoricians, what power in the universe has this god when he rises and sets? Night and day he creates, and before our eyes changes and sways the universe. But to which of the other heavenly bodies does this power belong? How then can we now fail to believe, in view of this, in respect also to things more divine that the invisible and divine tribes of intellectual gods above the heavens are filled with power that works for good by him, even by him to whom the whole band of the heavenly bodies yields place, and whom all generated things follow, piloted by his providence? For that the planets dance about him as their king, in certain intervals, fixed in relation to him, and revolve in a circle with perfect accord, making certain halts, and pursuing to and fro their orbit,(647) as those who are learned in the study of the spheres call their visible motions; and that the light of the moon waxes and wanes varying in proportion to its distance from the sun, is, I think, clear to all. Then is it not natural that we should suppose that the more venerable ordering of bodies among the intellectual gods corresponds to this arrangement?)