ΠΡΟΚΛΟΣ, ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΚΑΘ’ ΕΛΛΗΝΑΣ ΙΕΡΑΤΙΚΗΣ ΤΕΧΝΗΣ

     Ὥσπερ οἱ ἐρωτικοὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν αἰσθήσει καλῶν ὁδῷ προϊόντες ἐπ’ αὐτὴν καταντῶσι τὴν μίαν τῶν καλῶν πάντων καὶ νοητῶν ἀρχήν, οὕτως καὶ οἱ ἱερατικοὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ἐν τοῖς φαινομένοις ἅπασι συμπαθείας πρός τε ἄλληλα καὶ πρὸς τὰς ἀφανεῖς δυνάμεις, πάντα ἐν πᾶσι κατανοήσαντες, τὴν ἐπιστήμην τὴν ἱερατικὴν συνεστήσαντο, θαυμάσαντες τῷ βλέπειν ἔν τε τοῖς πρώτοις τὰ ἔσχατα καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἐσχάτοις τὰ πρώτιστα, ἐν οὐρανῷ μὲν τὰ χθόνια κατ’ αἰτίαν καὶ οὐρανίως, ἔν τε γῇ τὰ οὐράνια γηΐνως.

     Ἢ πόθεν ἡλιοτρόπια μὲν ἡλίῳ, σεληνοτρόπια δὲ σελήνῃ συγκινεῖται συμπεριπολοῦντα ἐς δύναμιν τοῖς τοῦ κόσμου φωστῆρσιν; Εὔχεται γὰρ πάντα κατὰ τὴν οἰκείαν τάξιν καὶ ὑμνεῖ τοὺς ἡγεμόνας τῶν σειρῶν ὅλων ἢ νοερῶς ἢ λογικῶς ἢ φυσικῶς ἢ αἰσθητῶς· ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸ ἡλιοτρόπιον ᾧ ἔστιν εὔλυτον, τούτῳ κινεῖται καί, εἰ δή τις αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὴν περιστροφὴν ἀκούειν τὸν ἀέρα πλήσσοντος οἷός τε ἦν, ὕμνον ἄν τινα διὰ τοῦ ἤχου τούτου συνῄσθετο τῷ Βασιλεῖ προσάγοντος, ὃν δύναται φυτὸν ὑμνεῖν.

     Just as lovers move on beyond the beauty perceived through the senses until they reach the sole cause of all beauty and all perception ¹, so too the priests, starting from the sympathy connecting visible things both to one another and to the invisible powers, and having understood how all things are in all, they established ² the hieratic ³ knowledge. They marvelled at seeing those things which come last in those which come first, and vice-versa; earthly things in the heavens in a causal and celestial manner, and heavenly things on the earth in a terrestrial way.

     How else could it be that the sunflower moves in accordance with the sun and the moonflower with the moon, each, according to its ability, turning around with the luminaries of the world? For all things pray according to their own order and hymn the leaders who preside over the whole of their lines, either spiritually, logically, naturally or sensibly ⁴. And so the sunflower moves with what makes it open as much as it can, and if one could hear how it makes the air vibrate as it turns around, one would realise from the sound that it is making a hymn to the King, of the kind that a plant can sing.

     Ἐν μὲν οὖν τῇ γῇ χθονίως ἐστὶν ἡλίους καὶ σελήνας ὁρᾶν, ἐν οὐρανῷ δὲ οὐρανίως τά τε φυτὰ πάντα καὶ λίθους καὶ ζῷα, ζῶντα νοερῶς. Ἃ δὴ κατιδόντες οἱ πάλαι σοφοί, τὰ μὲν ἄλλοις, τὰ δὲ ἄλλοις προσάγοντες τῶν οὐρανίων, ἐπήγοντο θείας δυνάμεις εἰς τὸν θνητὸν τόπον καὶ διὰ τῆς ὁμοιότητος ἐφειλκύσαντο· ἱκανὴ γὰρ ἡ ὁμοιότης συνάπτειν τὰ ὄντα ἀλλήλοις· ἐπεὶ καί, εἴ τις θρυαλλίδα προθερμήνας ὑπόσχοι τῷ λυχναίῳ φωτὶ μὴ πόρρω τοῦ πυρός, ἴδοι ἂν αὐτὴν ἐξαπτομένην μὴ ψαύουσαν τοῦ πυρός, καὶ τὴν ἔξαψιν ἄνωθεν τοῦ κατωτέρω γινομένην.

     Ἀναλόγως οὖν ἡ μὲν προθέρμανσις νοείσθω σοι τῇ συμπαθείᾳ τῶν τῇδε πρὸς ἐκεῖνα, ἡ δὲ προσαγωγὴ καὶ ἐν καλῷ θέσις τῇ τῆς ἱερατικῆς τέχνης κατά τε καιρὸν τὸν πρέποντα καὶ τρόπον τὸν οἰκεῖον προσχρήσει τῶν ὑλῶν, ἡ δὲ τοῦ πυρὸς διάδοσις τῇ παρουσίᾳ τοῦ θείου φωτὸς εἰς τὸ δυνάμενον μετέχειν, ἡ δὲ ἔξαψις τῇ θειώσει τῶν θνητῶν καὶ τῇ περιλάμψει τῶν ἐνύλων, ἃ δὴ κινεῖται πρὸς τὸ ἄνω λοιπὸν κατὰ τὸ μετασχεθὲν ὑπ’ αὐτῶν σπέρμα θεῖον, ὥσπερ τὸ τῆς ἐξαφθείσης θρυαλλίδος φῶς.

     Thus there are to be seen on the earth suns and moons in a terrestrial form, and in the heavens all the plants, stones and animals after a celestial manner, alive in a spiritual way. Having contemplated these things, the wise men of old brought together various things down here with their heavenly counterparts, and brought down divine powers into this mortal region, having drawn them down through similarity; for similarity is sufficient to attach beings to one another. For instance, if a wick which has been heated beforehand is placed under a lamp, not far from the flame, you will see it light up even though it has not touched the flame, and the kindling takes place downward from above.

     By analogy, you may consider the heat already there in the wick to correspond to the sympathy between things, and its being brought and placed below the flame to correspond to the priestly art making use of material things at the right time and in the right way. The transmission of the flame is like the presence of the divine light with those who are able to partake of it, and the kindling of the wick is analogous to both the deification of mortals and to the illumination of material substances, each thing then moves towards that which remains on high ⁵ according to its share of the divine seed, like the light of the wick once it has been lit.

     Καὶ ὁ λωτὸς δὲ παρίστησι τὴν συμπάθειαν, μεμυκὼς μὲν πρὸ τῶν ἡλιακῶν αὐγῶν, διαπτυσσόμενος δέ πως ἠρέμα τοῦ ἡλίου πρῶτον φανέντος, καὶ ὅσον ὑψοῦται τὸ φῶς, ἐξαπλούμενος, καὶ αὖθις συναγόμενος, ἐπὶ δύσιν ἰόντος. Τί δὴ οὖν διαφέρει τοὺς ἀνθρώπους αἴροντας ἢ τιθέντας τὰς γένυς ἢ τὰ χείλη ὑμνεῖν τὸν ἥλιον, ἢ τὸν λωτὸν τὰ φύλλα συμπτύσσοντα καὶ ἀναπλοῦντα; Γίγνεται γὰρ ἀντὶ τῶν γενύων ταῦτα τῷ λωτῷ, καὶ ὁ ὕμνος φυσικός. Καὶ τί δεῖ λέγειν περὶ φυτῶν οἷς ὑπάρχει ζωῆς ἴχνος τι γεννητικῆς;

     Ἀλλὰ καὶ λίθους ἔστιν ἰδεῖν ταῖς τῶν φωστήρων ἀπορροίαις ἐμπνέοντας, ὡς τὸν μὲν ἡλίτην ταῖς χρυσοειδέσιν ἀκτῖσιν ὁρῶμεν τὰς ἡλιακὰς ἀκτῖνας μιμούμενον, τὸν δὲ Βήλου προσαγορευόμενον ὀφθαλμὸν καὶ σχῆμα παραπλήσιον ἔχοντα κόραις ὀφθαλμῶν καὶ ἐκ μέσης τῆς ἐν αὐτῷ κόρης στιλπνὸν ἀφιέντα φῶς, ὅν φασιν ἡλίου χρῆναι καλεῖν ὀφθαλμόν, τὸν δὲ σεληνίτην τύπῳ τε καὶ κινήσει σὺν τῇ σελήνῃ τρεπόμενον, τὸν δὲ ἡλιοσέληνον τῆς συνόδου τῶν φωστήρων τούτων οἷον ἄγαλμα ταῖς κατ’ οὐρανὸν συνόδοις τε καὶ διαστάσεσιν ἀφομοιωθέν.

     The lotus also demonstrates the workings of sympathy. Its petals are closed before the appearance of the sun’s rays, but it gradually opens them as the sun begins to rise, unfolding them as it reaches its zenith and curling them up again as it descends. What then is the difference between the human manner of hymning the sun, by opening and closing the mouth and lips, and that of the lotus by opening and closing its petals? For those are its lips and that is its natural hymn. But why should we talk of plants where some trace of generative life still exists?

     For stones as well can be seen to be infused with the emanations of the luminaries, thus we see the rays of the sun reproduced in the golden rays of the sunstone. The stone called the Eye of Belos, which in form resembles the pupil of the eye, emits from the centre of its pupil a gleaming light which leads one to think that it ought to be called the Eye of the Sun. Moonstone changes both its markings and their motions ⁶ along with the moon. Sunmoonstone is just like an image of the conjunction of these two luminaries, portraying the conjunctions and separations which take place in the heavens.

     Οὕτω μεστὰ πάντα θεῶν, τὰ μὲν ἐν γῇ τῶν οὐρανίων, τὰ δὲ ἐν οὐρανῷ τῶν ὑπὲρ τὸν οὐρανόν, καὶ πρόεισιν ἑκάστη πληθυομένη σειρὰ μέχρι τῶν ἐσχάτων· τὰ γὰρ ἐν ἑνὶ πρὸ τῶν πάντων, ταῦτα ἐν πᾶσιν ἐξεφάνη, ἐν οἷς καὶ ψυχῶν συστάσεις ἄλλων ὑπ’ ἄλλοις ταττομένων θεοῖς, ἔπειτα ζῴων ἡλιακῶν εἰ τύχοι πλῆθος, οἷον λέοντες καὶ ἀλεκτρυόνες, μετέχοντες καὶ αὐτοὶ τοῦ θείου κατὰ τὴν ἑαυτῶν τάξιν. Καὶ τὸ θαυμαστὸν ὅπως ἐν τούτοις τὰ ἐλάττονα δυνάμει τε καὶ μεγέθει τοῖς κατ’ ἄμφω κρείττοσίν ἐστι φοβερά· ὑποστέλλεται γὰρ ὁ λέων, φασί, τὸν ἀλεκτρυόνα.

     Τὸ δὲ αἴτιον ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς αἰσθήσεως οὐκ ἔστι λαβεῖν, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς νοερᾶς ἐπιβλέψεως καὶ τῆς ἐν τοῖς αἰτίοις διαφορᾶς. Ἐνεργεστέρα γοῦν ἐστιν ἡ τῶν ἡλιακῶν συμβόλων εἰς τὸν ἀλεκτρυόνα παρουσία· δηλοῖ δὲ τῶν ἡλιακῶν περιόδων συναισθανόμενος καὶ ᾄδων ὕμνον τῷ φωστῆρι προσιόντι τε καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ λοιπὰ κέντρα τρεπομένῳ· διὸ καὶ ἄγγελοί τινες ἡλιακοὶ ὤφθησαν τοιαύτας ἔχοντες μορφάς, καὶ ὄντες ἀμόρφωτοι, φαίνονται τοῖς ἐν μορφῇ κατεχομένοις ἡμῖν μεμορφωμένοι. Ἤδη δέ τινα τῶν ἡλιακῶν δαιμόνων λεοντοπρόσωπον φαινόμενον, ἀλεκτρυόνος δειχθέντος, ἀφανῆ γενέσθαι φασὶν ὑποστελλόμενον τὰ τῶν κρειττόνων συνθήματα ἐπεὶ καὶ θείων ἀνδρῶν εἰκόνας ὁρῶντες πολλοὶ ἀνεστάλησαν ὑπ’ αὐταῖς τι τῶν μιαρῶν ἐνεργεῖν. 

     Thus all things are full of Gods. The earth is full of celestial Gods and the heavens are full of supercelestial Gods. Each line increases in number as it proceeds to its final terms, and the same qualities which are present in all the members of a line are there in the Unity preceding their manifestation. Thus we get the arrangement of [human] souls, some grouped around one God, others around another. For instance, there happen to be a large number of solar animals, like the lion and the cock, who partake of the divine, each according to their own order. The remarkable thing is that in this particular case, the bigger and stronger fears the lesser and weaker, for it is said that the lion shrinks back in fear at the sight of the cock.

     The reason for this is not be found in their visible qualities, but in spiritual considerations: that is, the differences lie in the causes themselves. At any rate, the presence of solar symbols is more effective in the cock. It clearly shows this by its sensitivity to the sun’s course, for it crows a hymn at sunrise and at the rest of the sun’s turning points. For the same reason, certain solar angels are seen in forms of this kind ⁷, for whilst they are formless in reality, they appear by concealing themselves in form to us who have been endowed with form. Thus it is said that certain solar daemones who appear with lion-faces, disappear at once when shown a cock, retreating before the signs of greater beings. In the same way, many people are held back from doing something wrong, when they see images of divine men. 

     Ἁπλῶς δὲ τὰ μὲν ταῖς περιόδοις τοῦ φωστῆρος συγκινεῖται, ὡς τὰ εἰρημένα φυτά, τὰ δὲ τὸ σχῆμα μιμεῖται τῶν ἀκτίνων, ὥσπερ ὁ φοῖνιξ, τὰ δὲ τὴν ἐμπύριον οὐσίαν, ὥσπερ ἡ δάφνη, τὰ δὲ ἄλλο τι. Ἴδοις ἂν οὖν τὰς συνεσπειραμένας ἰδιότητας ἐν ἡλίῳ μεριζομένας ἐν τοῖς μετέχουσιν ἀγγέλοις, δαίμοσι, ψυχαῖς, ζῴοις, φυτοῖς, λίθοις.

     Ὅθεν οἱ τῆς ἱερατικῆς ἡγεμόνες ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς κειμένων τὴν τῶν ἀνωτέρω δυνάμεων θεραπείαν εὑρήκασι, τὰ μὲν μίξαντες, τὰ δὲ οἰκείως ἀναιρούμενοι· ἡ δὲ μῖξις διὰ τὸ βλέπειν τῶν ἀμίκτων ἕκαστόν τινα ἔχον ἰδιότητα τοῦ θεοῦ, οὐ μὴν ἐξαρκοῦν πρὸς τὴν ἐκείνου πρόκλησιν· διὸ τῇ μίξει τῶν πολλῶν ἑνίζουσι τὰς προειρημένας ἀπορροίας καὶ ἐξομοιοῦσι τὸ ἐκ πάντων ἓν γενόμενον πρὸς ἐκεῖνο τὸ πρὸ τῶν πάντων ὅλον· καὶ ἀγάλματα πολλάκις κατασκευάζουσι σύμμικτα καὶ θυμιάματα, φυράσαντες εἰς ἓν τὰ μερισθέντα συνθήματα καὶ ποιήσαντες τέχνῃ ὁποῖον κατ’ οὐσίαν τὸ θεῖον περιληπτικὸν καθ’ ἕνωσιν τῶν πλειόνων δυνάμεων, ὧν ὁ μὲν μερισμὸς ἠμύδρωσεν ἑκάστην, ἡ δὲ μῖξις ἐπανήγαγεν εἰς τὴν τοῦ παραδείγματος ἰδέαν.

    To put it all plainly, some things move in accordance with the course of a luminary, like those plants we have spoken of. Others imitate the form of its rays, like the palm tree. Some again have a fiery essence, like the laurel; and others imitate some other quality. From these things one can see that the properties which are contained in the sun in a concentrated form are to be found in a divided-up state amongst those entities who partake of the sun’s qualities: Angels, daemones, [human] souls, animals, plants and stones.

     From these, the leaders of the priestly art found the way to pay divine honours ⁸ to the higher powers, by following what lay in front of their eyes and by mixing together some things and removing others, as appropriate. And when they made use of a mixture of things it was because they had observed that unmixed each thing has some quality of the god, but taken alone was not sufficient to invoke him. Ttherefore by mixing together many things they unified the emanations referred to previously and by the production of one thing from many, they made a likeness of that Whole which exists before every thing else comes into being. And they often construct statues and incenses from these mixtures, mingling into one the divided signs, and making by art that which the divine contains essentially. Thus they unified the multiplicity of powers which when dispersed are weakened, but when combined lead back up to the essential Form of its model..

     Ἔστι δὲ ὅτε καὶ μία πόα καὶ λίθος εἷς ἀρκεῖ πρὸς τὸ ἔργον· ἀπόχρη γὰρ πρὸς μὲν αὐτοφάνειαν τὸ κνέωρον ^α, πρὸς δὲ φυλακὴν δάφνη, ῥάμνος ^β, σκύλλα ^γ, κουράλιον, ἀδάμας καὶ ἴασπις, πρὸς δὲ πρόγνωσιν ἡ τοῦ ἀσπάλακος καρδία, πρὸς δὲ καθάρσεις τὸ θεῖον καὶ τὸ θαλάττιον ὕδωρ. Διὰ μὲν οὖν τῆς συμπαθείας προσήγοντο, διὰ δὲ τῆς ἀντιπαθείας ἀπήλαυνον, καθαίροντες εἰ τύχοι θείῳ καὶ ἀσφάλτῳ καὶ περιρραίνοντες θαλάττῃ· καθαίρει γὰρ τὸ μὲν θεῖον διὰ τὸ δριμὺ τῆς ὀσμῆς, ἡ δὲ θάλαττα διὰ τὸ μετέχειν ἐμπυρίου δυνάμεως. Καὶ ἐν ταῖς τελεταῖς δὲ καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις περὶ τοὺς θεοὺς θεραπείαις ζῷά τε προσήκοντα ἐξελέγοντο καὶ ἕτερ’ ἄττα.

     Ἀπὸ δὴ τούτων καὶ τῶν τοιούτων ὁρμηθέντες, τὰς δαιμονίους δυνάμεις ἔγνωσαν, ὡς προσεχεῖς εἰσιν οὐσίαι τῆς ἐν τῇ φύσει καὶ τοῖς σώμασιν ἐνεργείας, καὶ ἐπηγάγοντο δι’ αὐτῶν τούτων εἰς συνουσίαν· ἀπὸ δὲ τούτων ἐπ’ αὐτὰς ἤδη τὰς τῶν θεῶν ἀνέδραμον ποιήσεις, τὰ μὲν ἀπ’ αὐτῶν διδασκόμενοι, τὰ δὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ κινούμενοι παρ’ ἑαυτῶν εὐστόχως εἰς τὴν τῶν οἰκείων συμβόλων ἐπίνοιαν· καὶ οὕτω λοιπόν, τὴν φύσιν καὶ τὰς φυσικὰς ἐνεργείας κάτω καταλιπόντες, ταῖς πρωτουργοῖς καὶ θείαις ἐχρήσαντο δυνάμεσι.

     Sometimes it happens that just a single herb or stone is sufficient in a ritual act. So flax-leaved daphne ⁹ is sufficient for a manifestation; for protection, laurel or a thorny shrub ¹⁰, or the squill ¹¹, or coral, or diamond, or jasper. For knowledge of the future, the heart of a mole, and for purification, sulphur and seawater ¹². By means of sympathy, then, they attracted some things and repelled others through antipathy, using sulfur and bitumen for purification, for instance, or an aspersion of seawater. For sulphur purifies through the sharpness of its smell, and seawater because it partakes of the fiery power And so in their consecrations and other divine services they chose the appropriate animals and other materials.

     Longing to go beyond these and similar things ¹³, they came to know the daemonian ¹⁴ powers which are essentially linked to the activities of nature and physical bodies, and by these means they drew closer these powers in order to communicate with them. From the daemonian powers they moved straight up towards the actual Doings of the Gods, taught in some matters by the Gods themselves, and in others moved by their own efforts to an accurate conception of the appropriate symbols. And so, leaving nature and physical operations below, they came to directly experience the primordial and divine powers..