(—by Zeus, that is to say, who is identical with Helios? And just as King Apollo, through the singleness of his thoughts, is associated with Helios, so also we must believe that Athene(735) has received her nature from Helios, and that she is his intelligence in perfect form: and so she binds together the gods who are assembled about Helios and brings them without confusion into unity with Helios, the King of the All: and she distributes and is the channel for stainless and pure life throughout the seven spheres, from the highest vault of the heavens as far as Selene the Moon:(736) for Selene is the last of the heavenly spheres which Athene fills with wisdom: and by her aid Selene beholds the intelligible which is higher than the heavens, and adorns with its forms the realm of matter that lies below her, and thus she does away with its savagery and confusion and disorder. Moreover to mankind Athene gives the blessings of wisdom and intelligence and the creative arts. And surely she dwells in the capitols of cities because, through her wisdom, she has established the community of the state. I have still to say a few words about Aphrodite, who, as the wise men among the Phoenicians affirm, and as I believe, assists Helios in his creative function. She is, in very truth, a synthesis of the heavenly gods, and in their harmony she is the spirit of love and unity.(737) For she(738) is very near to Helios, and when she pursues the same course as he and approaches him, she fills the skies with fair weather and gives generative power to the earth: for she herself takes thought for the continuous birth of living things. And though of that continuous birth King Helios is the primary creative cause, yet Aphrodite is the joint cause with him, she who enchants our souls with her charm and sends down to earth from the upper air rays of light most sweet and stainless, aye, more lustrous than gold itself. I desire to mete out to you still more of the theology of the Phoenicians, and whether it be to some purpose my argument as it proceeds will show. The inhabitants of Emesa,(739) a place from time immemorial sacred to Helios, associate with Helios in their temples Monimos and Azizos.(740) Iamblichus, from whom I have taken this and all besides, a little from a great store, says that the secret meaning to be interpreted is that Monimos is Hermes and Azizos Ares, the assessors of Helios, who are the channel for many blessings to the region of our earth.) Τὰ μὲν οὖν περὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἔργα τοῦ θεοῦ τοιαῦτά ἐστι, καὶ διὰ τούτων ἐπιτελούμενα μέχρι τῶν τῆς γῆς προήκει τελευταίων ὅρων· ὅσα δὲ ὑπὸ τὴν Σελήνην ἐργάζεται, μακρὸν ἂν εἴη τὰ πάντα ἀπαριθμεῖσθαι. πλὴν ὡς ἐν κεφαλαίῳ καὶ ταῦτα ῥητέον. [151] οἶδα μὲν οὖν ἔγωγε καὶ πρότερον μνημονεύσας, ὁπηνίκα ἠξίουν ἐκ τῶν φαινομένων τὰ ἀφανῆ περὶ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ σκοπεῖν οὐσίας, ὁ λόγος δὲ ἀπαιτεῖ με καὶ νῦν ἐν τάξει περὶ αὐτῶν δηλῶσαι.