Page:The religion of Plutarch, a pagan creed of apostolic times; an essay (IA religionofplutar00oakeiala).pdf/200

 afterworld and the beings who inhabit it. The main object of the story seems to be to establish and elucidate the ethical value of the doctrine of Dæmonology, while at the same time we note that a mystical significance now begins to be attached to certain principles long the topic of discussion in the schools. Timarchus is informed by the invisible spirit that there are four principles which operate throughout the universe: the first of Life, the second of Motion, the third of Generation, the fourth of Corruption. The sphere of Life is united to the sphere of Motion by the Monad in the world of invisibility; the sphere of Motion is united to the sphere of Generation by Nous in the Sun; the sphere of Generation is united to the sphere of Corruption by Nature in the Moon. Over each of these unions a Fate presides. The other "islands" are peopled by gods: but the Moon is inhabited by Epichthonian Dæmons, being raised only a little above Styx, which is "the way to Hell." Styx periodically seizes upon many of these souls in the Moon, and they are swallowed up in Hell. Other souls, at the end of their participation in the life of generation, are received into the Moon from below, except such as are "polluted and unpurified," these being driven away from her by thunder and lightning to undergo another period of generation. As in the myth of Thespesius, there is a chasm through which the souls pass and repass to and from the life of earth. "What," asks Timarchus, "are these stars that dart about the chasm, some descending