Martianus Capella
The Marriage of Philology and Mercury

/34/

Book II
The Marriage

→ lat [99] At length, when she learned the decrees of the gods, Philology, wakeful though the night was now far advanced, pondered long and anxiously⁴ with great concern. First she must enter the heavenly assembly, and she must be examined by Jove without preparation, and she must migrate to the heavens and to the gods’ way of life. → lat [100] Then again, she was to be united to the Cyllenian, whom admittedly she had always desired with a remarkable passion, but whom she had barely glimpsed while she was picking blooms amongst certain select little herbs⁵ and he was running back after being anointed for exercise. What is this? Was she anxiously wondering whether this grand marriage was in her own interest?⁶ She /35/ had a fear,⁷ not without substance, that after she had ascended to the sky, she would forgo altogether the myths and legends of mankind, those charming poetic diversities of the Milesian tales.

→ lat [101] And so, first she sought from numbers to discover whether a marriage would be beneficial and whether the winged swiftness of the celestial whirlwind⁸ would unite with her by a suitable bond in the harmony of marriage. → lat [102] She soon counted up on her fingers the number of letters in her own name and that of the Cyllenian – not the name which the conflicting stories of different nations had given him, not the name which the different rituals of peoples, varying according to the interests and cults of each place, had created, but that name which Jove himself had settled upon him by a celestial proclamation at his birth and which the faulty research of man had claimed was made known only through the ingenuities of the Egyptians. She took from each end of his name the bounding element that is both the first and the perfect terminus of number.⁹ Next came that number which is worshiped as Lord in all temples, for its cubic solidity.¹⁰ In the next position she took a letter which the Samian sage regarded as representing the dual ambiguity of mortal fate.¹¹ Accordingly, the number 1218 flashed forth. → lat [103] Diminishing /36/ this figure by the rule of nine, by substituting units for the tens, she cleverly reduced it to the number three.¹² → lat [104] Her own name, which was set out in numeral form as 724, she reduced to the number four;¹³ these two numbers (three and four) are marked by a harmonious relationship with each other. → lat [105] For the number three is certainly perfect, because it may be rationally arranged as a beginning, a middle, and an end; it alone both makes a line and defines the surfaces of solids (for solids are defined by length and depth);¹⁴ furthermore, the triplication of the number three is the first to yield a cube from the odd numbers. Who does not know the threefold harmonies in music? And an odd number is attributed to masculinity. All time changes in a threefold sequence;¹⁵ the number three is also the seedbed of perfect numbers, namely of six and of nine, by different forms of connection.¹⁶

→ lat [106] It is therefore properly associated with the god of rationality. But Philology, because she is herself a most learned woman, although she is reckoned amongst the female (even) numbers, yet is made perfect by complete computation. For the number four with its parts makes up the whole power of the decad itself¹⁷ and is therefore perfect and is called quadrate, as is the Cyllenian himself, with whom are associated the four seasons of the year, the regions of heaven, the elements of earth.¹⁸ → lat [107] That celebrated oath of old Pythagoras, who did not refrain from swearing “by the tetrad” – what does that signify except the number of perfect ratio? Within itself it contains the one, the dual, the triad, and is itself the square of two, within which proportions the musical harmonies are produced. /37/ For the ratio three to four is called the epitritus in arithmetical calculation, and it is named the fourth by musicians. Within it lies the ratio three to two, which is a hemiolius, and these two numbers produce the secondary concord called a fifth. The third harmony is called the octave by musicians and is produced by a double ratio that is in the proportion of one to two. And so the number four, being perfect, contains all the concords within its parts, and by the distribution of harmonies it brings together the whole range of songs. Thus, in her examination of agreement among numbers, the clever maiden was delighted. → lat [108] Then she joined them with each other, and three joined to four makes the heptad [seven]. But this number is the perfection of the celestial rationality, as the fullness of sevens testifies. For what else is shown by the passage of the fated climacteric, by the circuits and movements of the planets, and by the viability of the fetus in the seventh month in the darkness of the womb?¹⁹ Furthermore, three times three makes nine, while four doubled gives eight. But the proportion nine to eight gives the ratio of the epogdous [major ninth]²⁰ and it has the same value in number as the full octave has in music, which [octave] produces the full tone – that is, a sustained tone of a consonant unity. As a result, there was no intermediate number to upset the harmony and sequence, and the numbers suited each other by their congruent juxtaposition.

→ lat [109] Thus the numbers represented by their names were in concord. Therefore the concord established between them bound their nuptial union with a true proportion, so that the maiden delighted in a marriage so advantageous to herself; but being circumspect, she was disturbed for another reason. For although having no misgivings about her mental capacities, she began to fear for her appearance, her form and physical substance; not without reason was she in a state of trepidation at the spheres of celestial flame²¹ through which /38/ she must pass, the fires of burning stars which she must endure, though her limbs were still those of a mortal and exhausted because of their meager thinness. → lat [110] But against this she prepared a certain ointment of the old man of Abdera²² in which she put many herbs and green shoots²³ mixed in. A magic preparation of the Colchian herb “hundred heads” is given a special power by the inclusion of a tuft of adamantis;²⁴ she was putting this up as some defense against the fires of heaven and the neighborhood of the gods to protect her appearance from the radiance of beauty.²⁵ Then, in the reflection of the moon, she smeared the dewy fluid²⁶ on her body.

/39/ → lat [111] While the maiden was arranging this, her attendant Periergia,²⁷ whether sent by the maiden’s mother or by her own concern (for she was her foster sister), perceived what she was doing. → lat [112] When she peeped through the chinks of the door and saw Philology making these arrangements, she began to rebuke another of her handmaids—whose name was Wakefulness²⁸ and who acted as guard within the bedroom—because she had not allowed the maiden even a little sleep²⁹ to preserve her beauty, although Wakefulness herself was able to do all these things if Philology commanded her. → lat [113] For she claimed that she had already gone around to many places and had found out what skills, what dress and ornaments her dowry—slaves should assume. It was also not unknown to her what the bridegroom himself was doing, what was happening at Jove’s palace, whether Leucothea was lighting her torch and her ruddy light, whether the oarsmen of the sun were awake and the horse of Phosphoros [the daystar] was being groomed. She added innumerable details of this kind, which she had noted by diligent scrutiny.

→ lat [114] Suddenly Philology’s mother, Phronesis [Wisdom], burst into³⁰ the privacy of the bedroom. When Philology saw her she ran to her and kissed her bosom reverently and told her of the aids she had prepared; but the mother stripped her daughter of the clothing and ornaments in which she would have had the courage to enter the society of the gods. She gave her a dress and robe white as milk, which seemed made of that fleece from the precious shrub in which, they say, the sages of India and the inhabitants of the mountain of shadow are clothed, and of threads of shining cotton, as much as that country produces.³¹ Then she placed on her head a virginal /40/ crown, which shone brightly with the luster of its central gem, from which gleamed forth, cut deep into the stone, like the Trojan Palladium, a maiden wearing a helmet and with her face shielded. → lat [115] The mother thoughtfully also took off the belt which she was wearing and put it on Philology, to make her more appropriately dressed, so that she should not be without the adornments of Phronesis herself. Furthermore, she tied on her feet slippers of pleated papyrus so that no carrion³² should defile her feet. The maiden’s hands were filled with an incense box, shining and heavy with spice.

→ lat [117] Before the door, sweet music with manifold charms was raised, the chorus of assembled Muses singing³⁵ in well-trained harmony to honor the marriage ceremony. Flutes, lyres, the grand swell of the water organ blended in tuneful song and with a melodious ending as they became silent for an appropriate interval of unaccompanied singing by the Muses. Then the entire chorus with melodious voices and sweet harmony outstripped the beauty of all the instrumental music, and the following words were poured forth in notes of sacred song:

→ lat [118] Then, while the others kept quiet a moment, Urania began:³⁶

→ lat [119] Then sang Calliope:³⁷

→ lat [120] Thus sang Polymnia:⁴²

→ lat [121] Thus sang Melpomene:⁴³

→ lat [122] Thus sang Clio:⁴⁵

→ lat [123] Next spoke Erato:⁴⁶

→ lat [124] Then sang Terpsichore:⁴⁸

→ lat [125] Then Euterpe⁵¹ began:

→ lat [126] Then Thalia⁵⁵ spoke:

→ lat [127] While the Muses thus wove their web of song, now singly, now in unison, and in turn repeated their sweet melodies, there came into the maiden’s quarters and her bedroom some matrons dressed with commendable sobriety, their faces beautiful without artifice but glowing with the charm of simplicity. One of them, scrupulous in her careful examination,⁶³ who checked everything with analytical care, was said to be called Prudence. → lat [128] Her sister gave to all their due, and to no one what had not been deserved; she was said to bear the name Justice. → lat [129] The third was praiseworthy for her restraint and contempt of gifts, and from her self-control she received the name Temperance. → lat [130] The last one was very brave and always steadfast in bearing all hardships, ready too with strength of body to undertake all labors; her name was Strength. They approached to embrace and kiss Philology; but when they saw her in her bedroom, cowering full of fear, shunning the light of day, and numb with hesitancy, they turned her body and head into their full view and made her show her face.

→ lat [131] After these, there entered a dignified woman,⁶⁴ with flowing hair, who was verv proud of the fact that through her Jupiter permitted anyone to ascend to the heavens.⁶⁵ When the maiden saw /46/ her, she ran to her with the deepest affection, inasmuch as the newcomer herself had prophesied, with certain confidence based on knowledge, that Philology would ascend to heaven, and now the woman had been sent to Philology by Maia’s son himself [Mercury] to conduct her to the marriage. → lat [132] Besides, three splendid girls of equal beauty in face and bearing, clasping each other’s hands and wearing garlands of roses, approached the maiden. One of them kissed Philology on the forehead on the smooth skin between the eyebrows, the second embraced her face, the third her waist; the first that “she might breathe joy and honor into her eyes,”⁶⁶ the second laid grace upon her tongue, and the third gave her gentleness of spirit. They were called the Graces, and they bestowed charm on whatever they touched. After they had filled the maiden with light, they mingled with the Muses and broke into the rhythmic movements⁶⁷ and steps of the wedding dance. → lat [133] Then they all danced together, with a great booming of tambours and ringing of cymbals, so much that the sound of the Muses was to some extent drowned by the booming sound of the tambours. To this accompaniment a palanquin was brought in, bedecked with stars, to which they sang their loud songs with the ritual of the mysteries, as was the custom when a goddess-bride was entering the bond of celestial matrimony. → lat [134] There stood before her a woman of reverend countenance, shining with holy and celestial light in all the dignity of a priestess. All the company, when they saw her, paid homage to her glorious majesty as the guardian of all the gods and of the world; her name was Immortality. “O maiden!”⁶⁸ she said, “the father of the gods has commanded that you be carried to the courts of heaven in this royal palanquin, which no carthborn creature may touch,⁶⁹ not even yourself before you drink this cup.”

→ lat [135] With these words,⁷⁰ she lightly felt with her right hand /47/ Philology’s heartbeat and breast; when she found that it was greatly swollen with some inner fullness, she said: “Unless you retch violently and void this matter which is choking your breast, you will never attain the throne of immortality at all.” The girl strained hard and with great effort vomited up the weight she was carrying in her breast. → lat [136] Then that nausea and labored vomit turned into a stream of writings of all kinds. One could see⁷¹ what books and what great volumes and the works of how many languages flowed from the mouth of the maiden. There were some made of papyrus which had been smeared with cedar oil, other books were woven of rolls of linen, many were of parchment, and a very few were written on linden bark. → lat [137] There were some written with a sacred ink, whose letters were thought to be representations of living creatures;⁷² when Immortality saw the writings of these books, she ordered them to be inscribed on certain imposing rocks and placed inside a cave within the sanctuaries of the Egyptians, and she called these stones stelae⁷³ and ordained that they should contain the genealogies of the gods.

→ lat [138] But while the maiden was bringing up such matter in spasms, several young women, of whom some are called the Arts, and others the Disciplines, were straightway collecting whatever the maiden brought forth from her mouth, each one of them taking material for her own essential use and her particular skill. Even the Muses themselves, especially Urania and Calliope, gathered countless volumes into their laps. In some of these books the pages were marked with musical notation and were very long; in others there were circles and straight lines and hemispheres, together with triangles and squares and polygonal shapes drawn to suit the different theorems and elements; then a representation joined together the limbs of various animals into a particular species. There were also /48/ books which contained the harmonics of music and the notations of rhythm and some pieces for singing.

→ lat [139] After the maiden had with travail brought forth from deep inside herself all that store of literary reproduction, worn out and pale with exhaustion,⁷⁴ she asked help from Immortality, who had witnessed such a great effort. The latter said: “Drink this so that you may be borne up and rise to heaven reinvigorated.”⁷⁵ → lat [140] From her own mother, Apotheosis, who had come with her and who was already blessing the books which had flowed from the mouth of Philology, touching them with her hand and counting them, Immortality took a smooth, living sphere and gave it to the maiden to drink from. It had the appearance of an egg⁷⁶ inside, but its outside shone, being anointed with saffron; within that, it seemed transparent with void and a white humor, and then something more solid at the center. When Philology received this, being extremely thirsty after such physical ordeals and the seething of her mind, once the secrets of the sphere had been revealed and she had discovered its extreme sweetness, she drank it in a draught:

→ lat [141] But when the goddess saw that Philology had drunk the cup of immortality, in order to show her by the svmbol of a wreath that she was leaving earth for heaven and had been made immortal, she crowned the maiden with the wildflower whose name is Everlasting; she ordered her to rid herself of all that she had put on her body as a mortal to protect herself against the power of heaven, /49/ reminding her that those were trifles⁷⁷ of a transitory and mortal nature. Her mother took all these things away from her after she realized that she had risen beyond earthly concern. → lat [142] Then Philology first of all made an offering to Immortality with a preparation of spice and with her own box of incense, and then made a thank offering to her mother with much sacrifice, because she herself would not now behold Vedius⁷⁸ and his wife, as Etruria⁷⁹ used to tell her; nor did she fear the Eumenides, those Chaldean mani-. festations; nor would Apotheosis (the mother of Immortality) burn her with fire, nor bathe her with water;⁸⁰ nor would she chastise the image⁸¹ of her soul according to the teaching of some Syrian;⁸² nor would she by dying first, according to the ritual of old Colchis, consecrate an immortality bound up in the hands of Charon.⁸³

→ lat [143] Meantime, although she had been ordered to get into the palanquin, she thought it extremely difficult, not to say impossible, since it seemed to be at a verv great height. Consequently, to achieve this, she summoned the faithful ward whom she loved above all others, and with his support she overcame all the difficulty of the ascent; but he, whom she called Labor, not only lifted her right into the palanquin, but swiftly traversed heaven with his mistress. → lat [144] He had for company a brilliant boy, who was not the son of the pleasure-loving Venus⁸⁴ but was nevertheless called by philosophers Amor; together they did not delay in supporting the palanquin from the forward end. → lat [145] For at the rear, Attention and Wakefulness, /50/ servants dear to the maiden, carried her. Thus Immortality had ordered, that each sex should be able to rise to heaven with Philology. Immediately before her as she ascended went a procession of Muses singing together and the awesome assembly of her companions we have described. → lat [146] But Periergia followed, accompanied by her other servants and her bridal attendants, carefully examining and investigating everything. So the retinue with the maiden approached the summit of the citadel of the sky.

→ lat [147] Suddenly it was announced that Juno, sponsor of divine marriages, was approaching, and in front of her were coming Concord, Faith, and Modesty; → lat [148] as for Cupid, her lure of physical pleasure, although he always flew in front of Juno, yet he did not dare to be amongst those to meet Philology.

→ lat [149] When the goddess came into the bride’s sight, and, as was the custom with a virgin, Philology had made an offering of spices, she spoke to the goddess in these words: “Fair Juno, although the heavenly host has given you a different name, and we call you Juno because of your help,⁸⁵ from which we also name Jove; or we call you Lucina,⁸⁶ because you give light to those being born, and it is appropriate to name you Lucetia—for it is not necessary for me to invoke the names Fluvonia, Februalis, and Februa, since I am a virgin and have suffered no physical pollution; mortal brides ought to summon you to their marriages as Iterduca and Domiduca, as Unxia or Cinctia, in order that you may protect their journeys and /51/ bring them into the abodes that they desire; and, when they anoint the doorposts, you should fix a favorable sign thereon; and you should not leave them when they put aside their girdle in the bridal chamber; those whom you protect in the crisis of childbirth will call you Opigena; the common people ought to call you Poplona, and in their battles ought to call upon Curitis; now I call upon you as Hera, named from your kingdom of the air;⁸⁷ grant my request to know what goes on in the vastness of the sky and in these fields of living souls glowing with conflicting atoms, and which of the deities is said to fly here. I am not asking about that lower level of air, which is traversed by birds, which the crest of Mount Olympus soars above, which is barely ten stades high; I mean the higher air. I think it is now legitimate to see whatever I had understood from my reading Peri eudannonias [about blessedness].”

→ lat [150] Juno did not disdain the prayers of the maiden in her ascent, but led her into the citadels of the sky and from there showed her the main different kinds of spirits. “Those,” she said, “whom we see up there of a fiery or flaming substance, those who wander from the ether itself and from the circuit of the celestial sphere even to the solar sphere, are called gods, and elsewhere they are called inhabitants of heaven, and they dispose the secret workings of hidden affairs. They are the purer ones: the entreaties of human anxieties do not trouble them at all; they are said to be free from suffering.⁸⁸ In that region Jove is indubitably king. → lat [151] Between the pathway of the sun and the orb of the moon are the deities of the second stage of blessedness, those of almost equal power, through whom prophecies and drcams and portents are disposed. These, by the soothsayer’s art, divide certain prophetic entrails and utter sounds and speak through foretelling omens. Often to those who question them they give advice, either by the course of a star or by the thunderbolt or by some unprecedented sign. → lat [152] Since each one of them serves some one of the gods above, by the power of the superior gods and by the obeisance of the inferior ones a /52/ universal guardian is assigned to all men, a particular Genius⁸⁹ to each individual, whom they have called the Supervisor because he is to supervise all that is to be done; prayers are made to the Genius of a people when the universal guardian is invoked, and each individual owes obedience to his own supervisor. The spirit is called a genius because he is immediately assigned to a person at the moment when the person is generated. As a guardian and most loyal kinsman, he protects the minds and spirits of all men; → lat [153] and because he announces to a higher power the secrets of their thoughts, he can also be called an angel.⁹⁰ → lat [154] The Greeks called them all daemones, from the Greek word for ‘distributing,’⁹¹ and in Latin they call them medioximi.⁹² As you see, they are all of a less clear and brilliant nature than the superior gods, yet they are not so corporeal as to be visible to men. → lat [155] Here, then, the Lares live; here, after their union with their bodies, live those purer spirits who, if they are borne aloft by outstanding merits, often even leap beyond the flaming ramparts and the orbit of the sun. → lat [156] There is a space between earth and moon,⁹³ and this space is itself divided into partitions, but the upper section contains those whom they call demigods and who are generally known in Latin as Semones or Semidei.⁹⁴ These have celestial souls and godlike minds and are born in human form for the good of the whole world. → lat [157] Often by some miracle they gave proof of their celestial nature; as when the night, in service at the conception of Hercules, doubled its length,⁹⁵ or /53/ when the same infant strangled the serpent and showed the power of his divinity; or when Tages⁹⁶ sprang from the furrows and immediately demonstrated the ritual of his family and the vessel. Hammon appeared with the horns of a ram⁹⁷ and showed his clothing of wool and showed to the thirsty people the water of a fountain.

→ lat [158] What am I to say of those who first showed to mortals the uses and outstanding advantages of natural products? For instance, Dionysus’ discovery of the vine at Thebes; and, among the Egyptians, Osiris’ discovery of the use of wine as a drink; Isis taught the cultivation of grain in Egypt; and Triptolemus, in Attica; and the same Isis pointed out the use and cultivation of flax. Italy ascribes to Pilumnus⁹⁸ the milling of different grains. Greece ascribed medicine to Asclepius. → lat [159] Other humans of this kind were created to practice divination and foreknowledge, such as Carmentis in Arcadia, who got her name from the songs she poured out as prophecies,⁹⁹ or the Erythraean sibyl who is also the Cumaean sibyl, or the Phrygian. You know that there were not ten of these sibyls, as they say, but two – namely, Herophila, a Trojan, daughter of Marmensus; and Symmachia daughter of Hippotcnsis, who was born at Erythrae but prophesied at Cumae. For this power of divination Amphiaraus and Mopsus¹⁰⁰ were celebrated.

→ lat [160] From the middle of the region of the air down to the borders of the mountains and the earth, roam the demigods and Heroes, who are called Heroes because the ancients called the Earth Hera. And there are the Manes, too—that is, guardians assigned to the /54/ human body – who have flowed¹⁰¹ from the seeds of parents. → lat [161] Next, all this expanse of air¹⁰² below the moon is under the power of Pluto, who is also called Summanus, being as it were the chief (suvnnus) of the Manes. Here Luna, who is foremost in this air, is called Proserpina. → lat [162] But those Manes, since they are assigned to bodies at the very moment of conception, are attracted by the same bodies also when life is ended; and, remaining with them, are called Lcmurcs.¹⁰³ If they have profited by honorable conduct in the preceding life, they become Lares of homes and cities; → lat [163] but if they were corrupted by the body, they are called Larvae and Maniac. There are then good Manes as well as fell, whom the Greeks distinguish as good and bad daemons. → lat [164] In these regions also are the lesser Manes and their overseers Mana and Mantuona, gods whom they also call the Dark Ones; then too Fura and Furinna¹⁰⁴ and Mother Mania¹⁰⁵ and the Furies and other fell deities live here.

→ lat [165] Around the sphere of the earth itself, air, set in motion by the heat above and the exhalations and moisture below, striking the souls with a certain turbulence as they come out of the bodies, does not allow them to fly forth easily. → lat [166] Hence the poet in his sagacity alludes to the Pyriphlegethonian region; and, tossed in this everlasting uproar, the wicked souls which Vedius has condemned, are dashed. [That is, Pluto, whom they also call Dis and Vejovis.]¹⁰⁶ → lat [167] Where the earth is inaccessible to men it is crowded with the ancient beings who inhabit the woods and forests, the groves, lakes, springs and rivers—the beings called Pans, Fauns,¹⁰⁷ Fones, Satyrs, /55/ Silvani, Nymphs, Fatui and Fatuae¹⁰⁸ or Fantuae or even Fanae; Fanes are named after these, whose custom it is to prophesy. All these beings die, just like men, after an extended lifespan; but they have extraordinary powers of foreknowledge, assault, and injury. → lat [168] The divine Genius which attended you while you were still a mortal maiden will remain amongst the first Genii. For behold!¹⁰⁹ your Genius, or Vesta, is celestial Juno”;¹¹⁰ speaking now as to an immortal and a goddess, she hade Philology: “Take your seat openly in the council of Jupiter”; and at last she took a portion from the maiden’s box of incense.

→ lat [169] Then the bearers picked up the goddess’ palanquin and with great effort carried her aloft.¹¹¹ Borne up by their buoyancy they rose 126,000 stades, and completed the first of the celestial tonal intervals; then the maiden entered the circle of the moon, and in those vapors suitable to a goddess, which came from sacrifices close at hand, she saw a soft spherical body composed with the smoothness of dew from heaven, reflecting, like a gleaming mirror,¹¹² the rays of light that fell upon it. → lat [170] In it there appeared the sistra of Egypt, the lamp of Eleusis, Diana’s bow, and the tambours of Cybele. Changing in color, and threefold in form during its cycle, it shone with awesome majesty. Although it was thought to be horned and rough, yet when it emptied itself it showed, according to its season, a cat or a stag, or any of four appearances.¹¹³

/56/ → lat [171] After this, by half of the tone by which she got to the moon she came to the circle of the Cyllenian. When she crossed that hemitone a large and joyful crowd of attendants came to meet her, their mistress who was being married. → lat [172] Amongst them a woman of outstanding beauty and appearance, rich in the embellishments of a readv eloquence, greeted the maiden and confidently came forward to kiss her. The crowd of attendants—which, according to a certain Syrian,¹¹⁴ was beyond numbering¹¹⁵ – were surprised that a woman who (the Etruscan claimed) had been married to the Cyllenian, clasped and embraced the maiden with no trace of jealousy. → lat [173] But Eloquence (for that was her name) recalled that she had been born and reared in the house of Philology, and that she was not slighted if her foster mother,¹¹⁶ who constantly provided her with embellishment and sustenance from many disciplines, was preferred to herself.

→ lat [174] There came also a girl of beauty and of extreme modesty, the guardian and protectress of the Cyllenian’s home, by name Themis or Astraea or Erigone;¹¹⁷ she carried in her hand stalks of grain and an ebony tablet engraved with this image:¹¹⁸ → lat [175] In the middle of it was that bird of Egypt which the Egyptians call an ibis. → lat [176] It was wearing a broad-brimmed hat, and it had a most beautiful head and mouth, which was being caressed by a pair of /57/ serpents entwined; under them was a gleaming staff, gold-headed, gray in the middle and black at the foot; under the ibis’ right foot was a tortoise and a threatening scorpion, and on its left a goat. → lat [177] The goat was driving a rooster into a contest to find out which of the birds of divination was the gentler. → lat [178] The ibis wore on its front the name of a Memphitic month.

→ lat [179] When the revered maiden realized that this tablet had been brought for her, although she recognized her bridegroom as the subject of the picture she did not dare to go across to it without a prayer. → lat [180] Then came forward the brightest of Atlas’ daughters,¹¹⁹ who had been exalted both by Jove’s lying with her and by the elevation of her son; she did not think it right to appear without her pair of scales¹²⁰ even in honor of her daughter-in-law. When the maiden had done homage to her, because Maia acknowledged her as a satisfactory companion for her son, Philology began to pay honor to her together with the Master of Wealth [Mercury] by dedicating two sheep to them.

→ lat [181] Philology ascended rapidly from here and flew by a half tone as far as the circle of Venus; when she had supplicated Venus as much as was appropriate (for Venus looked favorably on the marriage), she is said to have perceived in Venus that, fair though she was, she had her forelocks curled about with snakes and her thick hair¹²¹ flowing loosely; but she was mild on meeting her.

→ lat [182] Soon she was eager to make the laborious journey to the sun’s circle—an ascent rendered toilsome by its distance of three half tones, or a tone and a half. → lat [183] She saw there a ship¹²² which was laden with celestial goods, full of flame, and which controlled according to different appetites the courses of the whole of nature.

/58/ Seven sailors, all alike and all brothers,¹²³ were in charge of it. The image of a cat¹²⁴ was painted on the prow, a lion¹²⁵ on the mast, and a crocodile¹²⁶ on the stern. → lat [184] On that ship a fountain of celestial light poured forth,¹²⁷ spreading in mystical emanations into lights which illumine the whole world. When she saw this, Philology rose and fervently and devoutly, her eyes half-closed, prayed to the god in these words:

→ lat [194] After this speech she was bidden to pass through the abodes of the gods. But when she ascended a half tone she was delayed by the circle Pyrois,¹³⁶ where Jove’s greatest son was. → lat [195] From this circle the river Pyriphlegethon was seen to flow to the lower regions. → lat [196] When she had crossed this (for it was no effort¹³⁷ to cross the space of a half tone), she came to the brightness of Jove’s planet, whose circle rang with Phry gian sound.¹³⁸ There was a planet whose temperature gave life,¹³⁹ a constellation flashing with a healthy brightness and gentle gleam; its light, glowing with a mixture of warmth and moisture, was such that it shone with the /60/ peace which good fortune brings. That was truly Jove’s planet; he himself was said to have gone to the celestial senate and the rule of the gods, lighting up all the quarters of the universe. → lat [197] When she went an equal distance beyond this circle, from her lofty position she saw the creator of the gods, stiff with cold and with chill hoarfrost clinging to him; she tried to circle round the planet, which rang with Dorian sound.¹⁴⁰ Saturn himself wore now the face of a dragon, now the gaping jaws of a lion, now a crest made of the teeth of a boar. In his raging fury he caused horror and destruction, and his power was reckoned to exceed all others according as the size of his circle exceeded theirs. At length, terrified by the swords and drums, the maiden fled from an encounter she could not endure.

→ lat [198] From there they rose with great effort one and a half tones; in that distance they reached the globe of the celestial sphere itself and the periphery studded with stars. → lat [199] Thus they were worn out with complete exhaustion after so many stades – an ascent of six tones. When they noticed that all that they had traversed gave forth a concord of the whole octave in full and perfect harmony, they were refreshed, and rested a little after their mighty efforts.

→ lat [200] Philology herself leaped down from the palanquin and saw enormous fields of light, the springtime of heavenly peace; she discerned at one moment the many varied aspects of the decan gods; at another moment she wondered at the eighty-four attendants standing by in the heavens;¹⁴¹ she saw besides the shining orbs of a multitude of stars, and the constitution of the celestial circles and their intersections;¹⁴² → lat [201] she beheld the very sphere which contains the outermost periphery, driven on at astonishing speed, and the poles, and the quivering axis which from the highest point of heaven pierces the depth of earth and itself makes the whole mass and fabric of heaven revolve; → lat [202] she was aware that the god who was the father¹⁴³ of such a work and so great a system had withdrawn even from the very acquaintance of the gods, for she knew that he had /61/ passed beyond the felicity that is itself beyond this world, and he rejoiced in an empyrean realm of pure understanding. On her knees¹⁴⁴ beside the wall of the outer periphery, concentrating the whole attention of her mind, she prayed long in silence, → lat [203] and according to ancient ritual, uttered certain words with her inner voice, words varying in number according to the practice of different peoples, words of unknown sound, made up of alternating combinations of letters. In these words she paid reverence to the presiding deities of the world of pure understanding, and to their ministers, to whom the powers of the sensible world owe veneration, and to the entire universe contained by the depth of the infinite Father; → lat [204] then she invoked those certain three gods¹⁴⁵ and the others who shine on the seventh day and night. → lat [205] She prayed also, according to the mysteries of Plato, to those powers Once and Twice hapax kai dis epekeina,¹⁴⁶ to the Maiden of the Source.

→ lat [206] With these prayers she long besought with her whole heart the flower of the fire¹⁴⁷ and that truth which arises from nonexistent things (the uncreated truth); then she seemed to perceive that she had earned deification and worship. → lat [207] The incandescence of a milk-white river gradually flowed down from the burning stars. → lat [208] Full of jov and thanksgiving she turned toward the Galaxy, where she knew that Jove had assembled the divine senate. There was the abode of Jove, which, astonishing in size, encompassed the periphery of the universe, surpassed in its brilliant beauty the shining /62/ of the stars, and in the strangeness of its situation cut across the starry circle.¹⁴⁸ Moreover, it shone so brightly that one would think it made of silver. There glowed refulgent walls and a white-edged roof, → lat [209] and Jupiter was now sitting there¹⁴⁹ with Juno and all the gods, on white benches placed on a great dais, waiting for the nuptial party to approach. He heard the voices of the Muses and the sweet strains of varied songs as the maiden drew near, and so he ordered the Cyllenian to come forward.

→ lat [210] Liber [Bacchus] and the Delian, the Cyllenian’s fondest and loyal brothers, and Hercules, Castor and Pollux, and Gradivus [Mars], and all the divine progeny of Jove were in attendance on him. → lat [211] The guardians of the elements followed the progress of Maia’s son, as did a glorious assembly of angelic beings and the souls of the ancients who had attained celestial bliss and had earned temples in heaven. → lat [212] Linus, Homer, and the Mantuan poet¹⁵⁰ were to be seen there, wearing crowns and chanting their poems; Orpheus and Aristoxenus were playing their lyres; Plato and Archimedes made golden spheres rotate. → lat [213] Heraclitus was afire, Thales was soaked with moisture, and Democritus appeared surrounded with atoms. Pythagoras of Samos was cogitating certain celestial numbers. Aristotle with the utmost care was seeking Entelechia throughout the heights of heaven. Epicurus was carrying roses mixed with violets and all the allurements of pleasure.¹⁵¹ Zeno was leading a woman who practiced foresight, Arcesilas was examining the neck of a dove, and a whole crowd of Greeks were singing discordantly; yet, loud as they were, they could not be heard through the harmonious songs of the Muses. → lat [214] As the Cyllenian approached and entered, the whole senate of the gods rose in honor, to his exaltation. Jupiter himself sat him /63/ down next to himself, with Pallas on Mercury’s right. → lat [215] After a brief interval, Philology was brought in, surrounded by the Muses, with her mother walking ahead of her. As she entered and poured out that scented box of perfume upon Vesta, the nurse of the gods, and on Vesta’s servant, the whole celestial array delighted in the Arabian fragrance, and shared it out amongst themselves. → lat [216] Jove ordered the maiden to sit down at his side; but she, ever modest, preferred to sit where she had seen the Muses sitting, away from the company of Pallas. → lat [217] Then her mother arose and asked of Jove and all the gods that whatever Maia’s son had prepared in the way of a dowry should be handed over in the sight of all, and then that a gift should be given by the maiden, and after that, let them permit the recital of the Papian and Poppaean laws.¹⁵² → lat [218] In reply to this most reasonable plea, the senate of the gods decreed that the offerings should be approved in the full assembly of heaven. Now Phoebus arose, without usurping his brother’s duty, and he began to bring forward, one by one, chosen members of the Cyllenian’s household, women who shone with a beauty in every way equal to their raiment.