Page:History of Greece Vol I.djvu/457

 CHARACTER OF THE DEMONS. 425 and intelligence, but without appetite, passion, or infirmity : the demons were of a mixed nature between gods and men, ministers and interpreters frcm the former to the latter, but invested also with an agency and dispositions of their own. They were very long-lived, but not immortal, and subject to the passions and pro- pensities of men, so that there were among them beneficent and inaleficient daemons with every shade of intermediate difference. 1 1 The distinction between Beol and hat/iovef is especially set forth in the treatise of Plutarch, De Defectu Oraculorum, capp. 10, 12, 13, 15, etc. He seems to suppose it traceable to the doctrine of Zoroaster or the Orphic mysteries, and he represents it as relieving the philosopher from great per- plexities : for it was difficult to know where to draw the line in admitting or rejecting divine Providence : errors were committed sometimes in affirming God to be the cause of everything, at other times in supposing him to be the cause of nothing. 'Eirsl TO diopiaat Trwf xprjaTeov Kal fiexpt TLVUV rfj irpovoia, Xafanbv, ol fiev ovdevb? dnvlaif TOV tfeov, ol 6e bfiov TI TCO.VTUV alrtov JTOI- aviTff, uaTOXovai TOV fierpiov not TrpeTrovrof. Eii fiev ovv Xeyovaiv ol Ac- yovTef, OTI IIAaruv rb Talc yevvu[j,Evai TroioTijaiv viroKel[ievov aroixelov i^evpijv, b vvv v7t,7jv Kal ifrvaiv Ka^ovaiv, TCO^UV arni^a^e Kal fieyaXuv UKO- ptuv Toi)<; tyikooofyovs efiol t5e doKovai TrXsiovaf Aiicrat Kal [tei&vae UTropictf ol rb TUV daifiovuv yevo<; kv fiEtru deuiv Kal uv&pUTruv, Kal rpoirov riva rrjv noivuviav rifj.uv avvayov elf ravro Kal aiivaTtrov, i^evpovTEf (c. 10}. 'H Sat- uovuv (j>vaif exovaa Kal 7rdi?of &VIJTOV Kal -&EOV 6vvaftiv (c. 13). 'Elal yap, wf Iv av&puiroL<;, Kal daifioaiv aperrjf 6ia(j>opal, Kal TOV Tra&rjTiKOv tal akoyov roif (J.EV aa&evst; Kal upavpbv ITI faiipavov, uairep TrepiTTUfta, TOI( ie TToTii) Kal SvuKaTuafieaTov eveaTiv, uv lxvi) Kal oiiftfloha TroXhaxov ftvaiai Kal rekeTal Kal ^ni?oAoytat au^ovai Kal 6iav2.u.TTOvaiv evdiea7rapfj.eva (ib.) : compare Plutarch, de Isid. et Osir. 25. p. 360. Kal fir/v baa<; EVT e [tv'&oif Kal v ivoiq Tieyovai Kal a S ov a i t -OVTO fj.ev apTrayae, TOVTO 6s nhavaf i^euv, Kpirfieif TS Kal vyuKal Aarpaaf, ov deuv elaiv aAAa fiaipov-jv 7rai?^ara, etc. (c. 15) : also c. 23 ; also De Isid. et Osir. c. 25. p. 366. Human sacrifices and other objectionable rites are excused, as necessary for the purpose of averting the anger of bad demons (c. 14-15). Empedokles is represented as the first author of the doctrine which im- puted vicious and abominable dispositions to many of the daemons (c. 15, 16, 17, 20), roilf elaayonevovf virb 'E/i/reeJoKAeovf doi/zovaf ; expelled from heaven by the gods, i?e^Aarot Kal ovpavoireTele (Plutarch, De Vitand. Afir. Alien, p. 830) ; followed by Plato, Xenokrates, and Chrysippus, c. 17 : com- pare Plato (Apolog. Socrat. p. 27 ; Politic, p. 271 ; Symposion, c. 28. p. 203), though he seems to treat the SaifiovEs as defective and mutable beings, rather than actively maleficent. Xenokrates represents some of them both as wick- ed and powerful in a high degree : Sevcwcpan/f Kal TUV tifiepuv raf into-