8. Finally, who is this Jupiter into whose gardens (Plato said that)
Abundance entered? What are these gardens? As we have already agreed,
Venus is the Soul, and Abundance is the Reason of all things. We still
have to explain the significance of Jupiter and his gardens.
Jupiter cannot well signify anything else than the soul, since we
have already admitted that the soul was Venus. We must here consider
Jupiter as that deity which Plato, in his Phaedrus, calls the Great
Chief;[145] and, elsewhere, as I think, the Third God. He explains
himself more clearly in this respect in the Philebus,[146] where he
says that Jupiter "has a royal soul, a royal intelligence." Since
Jupiter is, therefore, both an intelligence and a soul, since he
forms part of the order of causes, since we must assign him his
rank according to what is best in him; and for several reasons,
chiefly because he is a cause, a royal and directing cause, he must
be considered as the Intelligence. Venus (that is, Aphrodite) which
belongs to him, which proceeds from him, and accompanies him, occupies
the rank of a soul, for she represents in the soul that which is
beautiful, brilliant, pure, and delicate ("abron"); and that is why she
is called "Aphrodite."[147] In fact, if we refer the male deities to
the intellect, and if we consider the female deities as souls--because
a soul is attached to each intelligence--we shall have one more reason
to relate Venus to Jupiter. Our views upon this point are confirmed by
the teachings of the priests and the (Orphic) Theologians, who always
identify Venus and Juno, and who call the evening star, or Star of
Venus, the Star of Juno.[148]