of as powers 'which interpret and convey to the gods the prayers and
sacrifices of men and to men the commands and rewards of gods.' Also
cp. de deo Socratis, chap. 6.
_fair and unblemished of body._ Beauty and virginity are insisted on
in various passages in the magical papyri (see Abt op. cit., p. 185)
as necessary in the boy through whom the god is to speak. Cp. also
Benvenuto Cellini's Autobiography (Symond's Translation, p. 126, ed.
1901).
_Pythagoras._ 'I think also it was said by the Pythagoreans respecting
those who teach for the sake of reward, that they show themselves to
be worse than statuaries or those artists who perform their work
sitting. For these, when some one orders them to make a statue of
Hermes, search for wood adapted to the reception of the proper form;
but those pretend that they can readily produce the works of virtue
from every nature.' Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras, chap. 34 (Taylor's
Translation).