οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀεὶ φαίνονται, καὶ τοῖς τὴν ἀντίσκιον οἰκοῦσι γῆν ἀμφοτέροις ἀμφότεροι, τῶν δὲ οἱ θάτερον ὁρῶντες οὐδαμῶς ὁρῶσι θάτερον. (From eternity there subsisted, surrounding Helios, the visible world, and from eternity the light that encompasses the world has its fixed station, not shining intermittently, nor in different ways at different times, but always in the same manner. And if one desired to comprehend, as far as the mind may, this eternal nature from the point of view of time, one would understand most easily of how many blessings for the world throughout eternity he is the cause, even Helios the King of the All who shines without cessation. Now I am aware that the great philosopher Plato,(708) and after him a man who, though he is later in time, is by no means inferior to him in genius—I mean Iamblichus(709) of Chalcis, who through his writings initiated me not only into other philosophic doctrines but these also—I am aware, I say, that they employed as a hypothesis the conception of a generated world, and assumed for it, so to speak, a creation in time in order that the magnitude of the works that arise from Helios might be recognised. But apart from the fact that I fall short altogether of their ability, I must by no means be so rash; especially since the glorious hero Iamblichus thought it was not without risk to assume, even as a bare hypothesis, a temporal limit for the creation of the world. Nay rather, the god came forth from an eternal cause, or rather brought forth all things from everlasting, engendering by his divine will and with untold speed and unsurpassed power, from the invisible all things now visible in present time. And then he assigned as his own station the mid‐heavens, in order that from all sides he may bestow equal blessings on the gods who came forth by his agency and in company with him; and that he may guide the seven spheres(710) in the heavens and the eighth sphere(711) also, yes and as I believe the ninth creation too, namely our world which revolves for ever in a continuous cycle of birth and death. For it is evident that the planets, as they dance in a circle about him, preserve as the measure of their motion a harmony between this god and their own movements such as I shall now describe; and that the whole heaven also, which adapts itself to him in all its parts, is full of gods who proceed from Helios. For this god is lord of five zones in the heavens; and when he traverses three of these he begets in those three the three Graces.(712) And the remaining zones are the scales of mighty Necessity.(713) To the Greeks what I say is perhaps incomprehensible—as though one were obliged to say to them only what is known and familiar. Yet not even is this altogether strange to them as one might suppose. For who, then, in your opinion, are the Dioscuri,(714) O ye most wise, ye who accept without question so many of your traditions? Do you not call them