Again, the following divinities are also mentioned by Plato in
different parts of his works. In the first place, Pan, at the end
of the Phædrus; to which divinity Socrates addresses the following
admirable prayer: “O beloved Pan, and all ye other Gods, who are
residents of this place, grant that I may become beautiful within,
and that whatever I possess externally may be friendly to my inward
attainments! Grant also, that I may consider the wise man as one who
abounds in wealth; and that I may enjoy that portion of gold, which no
other than a prudent man is able either to bear, or properly manage!”
In this prayer, by Pan and the other Gods, we must understand local
deities under the moon. But Pan is denominated as it were _all_,
because he possesses the most ample sway in the order of local Gods.
For as the supermundane Gods are referred to Jupiter, and the celestial
to Bacchus, so all the sublunary local Gods and dæmons are referred to
Pan.
In the next place, Tartarus is mentioned by Plato in the Phædo, as one
of the greatest chasms of the earth; and of which, says he, Homer[169]
thus speaks:
Far, very far, where under earth is found
A gulf, of every depth, the most profound.
But Tartarus, says Olympiodorus, is the extremity of the universe, and
subsists oppositely to Olympus. It is also a deity, the inspective
guardian of that which is last in every order. Hence, there is a
celestial Tartarus, in which Heaven concealed his offspring; a
Saturnian Tartarus, in which likewise Saturn concealed his offspring;
and also a Jovian of this kind, which is demiurgic.
Again, the characteristic peculiarity of Prometheus, as mentioned by
Plato in the Gorgias, is thus unfolded by Olympiodorus in his MS.
Scholia on that dialogue: Prometheus is the inspective guardian of the
descent of rational souls. For to exert a _providential energy_
is the employment of the rational soul, and, prior to any thing else,
to know itself. Irrational natures indeed perceive through percussion,
and prior to impulsion know nothing; but the rational nature is able,
prior to information from another, to know what is useful. Hence,
_Epimetheus_ is the inspective guardian of the irrational soul,
because it knows through percussion, and not prior to it. Prometheus,
therefore, is that power which presides over the descent of rational
souls. But _fire_ signifies the rational soul itself; because, as
fire tends upwards, so the rational soul pursues things on high. But
you will say, why is this fire said to have been stolen? Because that
which is stolen is transferred from its proper place to one that is
foreign. Hence, since the rational soul is sent from its proper place
of abode on high, to earth, as to a foreign region, on this account
the fire is said to be stolen. But why was it concealed in a reed?
Because a reed is full of cavities, and therefore signifies the flowing
body in which the soul is carried. But why was the fire stolen contrary
to the will of Jupiter? Again, the fable speaks as a fable. For both
Prometheus and Jupiter are willing that the soul should abide on high;
but as it is requisite that she should descend, the fable fabricates
particulars accommodated to the persons. And it represents indeed the
superior character, which is Jupiter, as unwilling; for he wishes the
soul always to abide on high. But the inferior character, Prometheus,
obliges her to descend: Jupiter, therefore, ordered Pandora to be made.
And what else is this than the irrational soul, which is of a feminine
characteristic? For as it was necessary that the soul should descend
to these lower regions, but being incorporeal and divine, it was
impossible for her to be conjoined with body without a medium, hence
she becomes united with it through _the irrational soul_. But this
irrational soul was called Pandora, because each of the Gods bestowed
on it some particular gift. And this signifies that the illuminations
which terrestrial natures receive take place through the celestial
bodies.[170]
Again, in the Phædo, mention is made by Plato of Cadmus, who, according
to Olympiodorus, is the sublunary world, as being Dionysiacal, on which
account Harmonia or Harmony is united to the God, and also as being the
father of the four Bacchuses. The four elements likewise he informs
us are said to be Dionysiacal, viz. _fire_ to be _Semele_; _earth_,
_Agave_, tearing in pieces her own offspring; _water_, _Ino_; and
lastly, _air_, _Autonoe_. There is great beauty in conjoining Harmony,
the daughter of Venus and Mars, with Cadmus. For Venus, as we have
before observed, is the cause of all the harmony and analogy in the
universe, and beautifully illuminates the order and communion of all
mundane concerns. But Mars excites the contrarieties of the universe,
that the world may exist perfect and entire from all its parts. The
progeny, therefore, of these two divinities must be the _concordant
discord_, or _harmony_ of the sublunary world.
Farther still, the Syrens are mentioned by Plato, both in the 10th book
of the Republic, and in the Cratylus. And Proclus, in the 6th book of
this work, has explained the meaning of what Plato says of them in
the former of those dialogues. But in his MS. Scholia on the Cratylus
he says, “The divine Plato knew that there are three kinds of Sirens;
the _celestial_, which is under the government of Jupiter; _that which
produces generation_, and is under the government of Neptune; and that
which is _cathartic_, and is under the government of Pluto. It is
common to all these, to incline all things through an harmonic motion
to their ruling Gods. Hence, when the soul is in the heavens, the
Sirens are desirous of uniting it to the divine life which flourishes
there. But it is proper that souls living in generation should sail
beyond them, like the Homeric Ulysses, that they may not be allured
by generation, of which the sea is an image. And when souls are in
Hades, the Sirens are desirous of uniting them through intellectual
conceptions to Pluto. So that Plato knew that in the kingdom of Hades
there are Gods, dæmons, and souls, who dance as it were round Pluto,
allured by the Sirens that dwell there.”