Once there came to Athens a man of Crete named Epimenides, bringing a story that is difficult to believe as told. While lying in the cave of Zeus Diktaios in a deep sleep for many years, he claimed to have been acquainted with the gods, and with the discourses of the gods, and with truth and justice. By telling these things, I think, Epimenides was hinting that for human souls, life on earth is like a long, many-year dream. But he would have been more persuasive had he also included in his story the verses of Homer, the ones about dreams. For Homer says somewhere there are two doors for fleeting dreams, one of ivory and the other of horn. Those coming through the one of horn are accurate and to be trusted, but the others are misleading tricksters and bring to the soul nothing of the waking world. This is what Epimenides was aiming at, whether you call it a fable or a true story. For this life here is simply a sleeping vision, during which the soul, buried in a body by stupor and satiety, hardly dreams of reality. And dreams come to the souls of the majority through the doors of ivory. And if somewhere someone is a pure and sober soul, and not much misled by the stupor and satiety, perhaps he might encounter dreams coming through the other doors, that are clear, distinct and very close to the truth. Such was the sleep of Epimenides.
Pythagoras of Samos was first among the Greeks who dared to say that his own body would die, but his soul would fly up and away, deathless and ageless, for it had existed before it came here. And people believed him when he said these things, and that he had already been born before in another body, and back then he had been Euphorbos the Trojan. And they believed due to this: he went into a temple of Athena, where there were many dedications of all kinds, and among them a shield of Phrygian style, and faded by time. He said: “I recognize that shield, and it was taken from me by the very man who also slew me back then in the battle at Ilios.” Astonished by the story, the locals took the dedication, and there was this inscription: “To Pallas Athena, Menelaos from Euphorbos.”
And if you wish I have yet another story to recount. The body of a man of Prokonnesos lay breathing, but faintly, and on the brink of death. And his soul escaped from his body and wandered in the ether like a bird, gazing at everything below: the land and sea and rivers and towns and nations of men, and their various circumstances and natures. And reentering his body and waking it up, [his soul] used it like an instrument, and began to describe what it had seen and heard in various places.
Whatever were Epimenides, Pythagoras, and Aristeas trying to hint at? What other than the relief of a good man’s soul from the pleasures and sufferings of the body, when the soul is set free from the tumult around that, and turning its thoughts back around to itself, encounters truth itself, having freed itself from semblances? This is like a beautiful sleep full of vivid dreams, and like a flight of the soul through the sky, not carried over the peaks of mountains in the cloudy and turbulent air, but high above them in the still ether, with calm and tranquility transporting it painlessly to truth, to its revelation.
And what is the manner of this transport, and what should we properly call it? Is it learning after all, or, in Plato’s language, remembrance? Or will we apply both names to this act, learning and remembrance? But it is something of the sort that happens with the eye. For it always has sight, but sometimes by some misfortune a fog covers and surrounds the organ and cuts off its connection to the things to be seen. And the one skilled at restoring sight does not implant it into the eye, but by removing the problem uncovers the eye’s path to the outside. Believe me truly that where sight is concerned the soul is something with clear vision and understanding of what exists, but due to the circumstances of bodies a thick fog covers it and blurs its vision, and takes away its precision, and quenches its innate light. And a specialist bringing reason, like a doctor, does not bring knowledge to add to the soul – something it never had – but awakens what it has, although weak, bound up, and drowsy.
Author: Maximus of Tyre
Title of Work: Orations
Location in Work: 10.1-3
Date of Work: c. 185 CE
Original Language: Greek (Attic)
Original Text:
Ἀφίκετό ποτε Ἀθήναζε Κρὴς ἀνήρ, ὄνομα Ἐπιμενίδης, κομίζων λόγον οὑτωσὶ ῥηθέντα πιστεύεσθαι χαλεπόν· ἐν τοῦ Διὸς τοῦ Δικταίου τῷ ἄντρῳ κείμενος ὕπνῳ βαθεῖ ἔτη συχνά, ὄναρ, ἔφη, ἐντυχεῖν αὐτὸς θεοῖς, καὶ θεῶν λόγοις, καὶ ἀληθείᾳ καὶ δίκῃ. τοιαῦτα ἄττα διαμυθολογῶν ᾐνίττετο, οἶμαι, ὁ Ἐπιμενίδης ὡς ἄρα ὁ ἐν γῇ βίος ταῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ψυχαῖς ὀνείρατι ἔοικεν μακρῷ καὶ πολυετεῖ. πιθανώτερος δ’ ἦν ἂν καὶ τὰ Ὁμήρου ἔπη προστιθεὶς τῷ αὑτοῦ λόγῳ, ἃ περὶ ὀνείρων ἐκεῖνος. λέγει γάρ που Ὅμηρος δύο εἶναι πύλας ἀμενηνῶν ὀνείρων, τὴν μὲν ἐξ ἐλέφαντος, τὴν δὲ ἐκ κεράτων· τοὺς μὲν οὖν διὰ κεράτων ἰόντας ἀτρεκεῖς τε εἶναι καὶ πιθανοὺς πιστεύεσθαι, τοὺς δὲ ἑτέρους σφαλεροὺς καὶ ἀπατεῶνας καὶ μηδὲν ὕπαρ ἐπὶ τὴν ψυχὴν φέροντας. ταύτῃ τοι ἔτεινεν καὶ ὁ Ἐπιμενίδου εἴτε μῦθος εἴτε καὶ ἀληθὴς λόγος. ἐνύπνιον γάρ τί ἐστιν ἀτεχνῶς οὑτοσὶ ὁ δεῦρο βίος, καθ’ ὃν ἡ ψυχὴ κατορωρυγμένη ἐν σώματι ὑπὸ κάρου καὶ πλησμονῆς μόγις πως ὀνειρώττει τὰ ὄντα. ἔρχονται δὲ ταῖς μὲν τῶν πολλῶν ψυχαῖς ὄνειροι δι’ ἐλεφαντίνων πυλῶν· εἰ δέ πού τίς ἐστιν καθαρὰ ψυχὴ καὶ νηφάλιος καὶ ὀλίγα ὑπὸ τοῦ δεῦρο κάρου καὶ τῆς πλησμονῆς ἐπιταραττομένη, εἰκός που ταύτῃ δι’ ἑτέρων ἰόντα ἀπαντᾶν ὀνείρατα σαφῆ καὶ διακεκριμένα καὶ ἐγγύτατα τῷ ἀληθεῖ. οὗτος ἦν ὁ Ἐπιμενίδου ὕπνος.
Πυθαγόρας δὲ ὁ Σάμιος πρῶτος ἐν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἐτόλμησεν εἰπεῖν ὅτι αὐτῷ τὸ μὲν σῶμα τεθνήξεται, ἡ δὲ ψυχὴ ἀναπτᾶσα οἰχήσεται ἀθανὴς καὶ ἀγήρως, καὶ γὰρ εἶναι αὐτὴν πρὶν ἥκειν δεῦρο. ἐπίστευον δὲ αὐτῷ οἱ ἄνθρωποι ταῦτα λέγοντι καὶ ὅτι ἤδη πρότερον γένοιτο ἐν γῇ ἐν ἄλλῳ σώματι, Εὔφορβος δὲ εἶναι ὁ Τρὼς τότε. ἐπίστευον δὲ ὧδε· ἀφίκετο εἰς Ἀθηνᾶς νεών, οὗ πολλὰ ἦν καὶ παντοδαπὰ ἀναθήματα, ἐν δὲ τοῖς καὶ ἀσπὶς τὸ μὲν σχῆμα Φρυγία, ὑπὸ δὲ χρόνου ἐξίτηλος. εἶπεν οὖν ὅτι “γνωρίζω τὴν ἀσπίδα, ἀφείλετο δέ με ὅσπερ καὶ ἀπέκτεινεν τότε ἐν Ἰλίῳ ἐν τῇ μάχῃ.” θαυμάσαντες οἱ ἐπιχώριοι τὸν λόγον καθεῖλον τὸ ἀνάθημα, καὶ ἦν ἐπίγραμμα· “Παλλάδι Ἀθηνᾷ Μενέλεως ἀπὸ Εὐφόρβου.”
Εἰ δὲ βούλει καὶ ἄλλον αὖ λόγον διέξειμί σοι. Προκοννησίῳ ἀνδρὶ τὸ μὲν σῶμα ἔκειτο ἔμπνουν μέν, ἀλλ’ ἀμυδρῶς, καὶ ἐγγύτατα θανάτου· ἡ δὲ ψυχὴ ἐκδῦσα τοῦ σώματος ἐπλανᾶτο ἐν τῷ αἰθέρι ὄρνιθος δίκην πάντα ὕποπτα θεωμένη, γῆν καὶ θάλατταν καὶ ποταμοὺς καὶ πόλεις καὶ ἔθνη ἀνδρῶν καὶ παθήματα καὶ φύσεις παντοίας· καὶ αὖθις εἰσδυομένη τὸ σῶμα καὶ ἀναστήσασα, ὥσπερ ὀργάνῳ χρωμένη, διηγεῖτο ἅττα εἶδέν τε καὶ ἤκουσεν, παρ’ ἄλλοις ἄλλα.
Τί δήποτ’ οὖν Ἐπιμενίδης καὶ Πυθαγόρας καὶ Ἀριστέας ἐθέλουσιν αἰνίττεσθαι; ἄλλο τι ἢ τὴν σχολὴν τῆς ψυχῆς τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἀπὸ τῶν τοῦ σώματος ἡδονῶν καὶ παθημάτων, ὅταν ἀπαλλαγεῖσα τοῦ περὶ ἐκεῖνο ταράχου καὶ ἐπιστρέψασα εἰς ἑαυτὴν τὸν νοῦν ἔμπαλιν ἐντυγχάνει τῷ ἀληθεῖ αὐτῷ, ἀφεμένη τῶν εἰδώλων; τοῦτο ἔοικεν μὲν ὕπνῳ καλῷ καὶ μεστῷ ἐναργῶν ὀνειράτων, ἔοικεν δὲ ψυχῆς πτήσει μεταρσίῳ, οὐχ ὑπὲρ ἄκρων φερομένης τῶν ὀρῶν ἐν ἀχλυώδει καὶ ταραττομένῳ τῷ ἀέρι, ἀλλ’ ὑπὲρ τοῦτον ὑψοῦ ἐν σταθερῷ αἰθέρι, γαλήνης καὶ ἠρεμίας αὐτὴν παραπεμπούσης ἀλύπως ἐπὶ τὸ ἀληθές, ἐπὶ τὴν ὄψιν.
Τίς δὲ ὁ τῆς παραπομπῆς τρόπος καὶ τί ἂν αὐτὴν ἐμμελῶς ὀνομάζοιμεν; ἆρά γε μάθησιν, ἢ Πλάτωνι ὁμοφώνως ἀνάμνησιν; ἢ δύο θησόμεθα ὀνόματα πράγματι ἑνί, μάθησιν καὶ ἀνάμνησιν; τὸ δέ ἐστιν τοιοῦτον οἷον τὸ περὶ τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν πάθος· σύνεστιν μὲν γὰρ αὐτῷ ἡ ὄψις ἀεί, ἤδη δέ που ὑπὸ συμφορᾶς ἐπιχυθεῖσα ἀχλὺς καὶ ἀμφιέσασα τὸ ὄργανον διετείχισεν αὐτοῦ τὴν πρὸς τὰ ὁρώμενα ὁμιλίαν· ἡ δὲ τέχνη παρελθοῦσα ὄψιν μὲν οὐκ ἐνεποίησε τῷ ὀφθαλμῷ, τὸ δὲ ἐνοχλοῦν παραναγαγοῦσα ἀπεκάλυψεν αὐτοῦ τὸν ἔξω δρόμον. νόμιζε δὴ καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ὄψιν τινὰ εἶναι διορατικὴν τῶν ὄντων φύσει καὶ ἐπιστήμονα, ὑπὸ δὲ τῆς τῶν σωμάτων συμφορᾶς ὑποκεχύσθαι αὐτῇ πολλὴν ἀχλύν καὶ συγχεῖν τὴν θέαν, καὶ ἀφαιρεῖσθαι τὴν ἀκρίβειαν καὶ ἀποσβεννύναι τὸ οἰκεῖον φῶς· προσιόντα δὲ αὐτῇ τεχνίτην λόγον ὥσπερ ἰατρὸν οὐ προστιθέναι αὐτῇ φέροντα ἐπιστήμην, πρᾶγμα ὃ μήπω ἔχει, ἀλλ’ ἐπεγείρειν ἣν ἔχει μέν, ἀμυδρὰν δὲ καὶ ξυνδεδεμένην καὶ καρηβαροῦσαν.
Reference Edition: Koniaris, Maximus Tyrius; Trapp, Maximus Tyrius.
Source of Date of Work: Race, Maximus of Tyre, ix.
Commentary:
This excerpt contains one of the two most detailed descriptions of Aristeas’ extracorporeal flight while cataleptic, and the other is also by Maximus. This account is particularly valuable for its clear description of the state of catalepsy that preceded the soul’s departure. The description here of Aristeas‘ soul flying like a bird is mirrored in stories told by Pliny the Elder in which Aristeas’ soul takes the appearance of a raven when it departs his body and by Herodotos in which Aristeas flies in the form of a raven to Italy.
This excerpt also provides the clearest explication of why Aristeas became associated with Pythagoreanism and why accounts of Aristeas’ extracorporeal flight were often grouped with accounts of Epimenides’ long sleep and Pythagoras’ reincarnation. Although Maximus interpreted these stories in line with his own Middle Platonist philosophy, he provides enough detail here to see the common theme: souls becoming untethered from their bodies without dying and going to the underworld, and untethered souls being able to see and learn things that are inaccessible to ordinary embodied souls.
Epimenides was also mentioned together with Aristeas in stories by Pliny the elder and Apollonius the paradoxographer, and in another story by Maximus, each of which also told the story of Epimenides’ long sleep, and by Iamblichos, Proklos of Lykia, Clement of Alexandria, Tatian and Claudianus Mamertus. A biography of Epimenides was written by Diogenes Laertios (1.10). For testimonies and fragments of writings attributed to him see BNJ Epimenides von Kreta (457) and DK Epimenides (3).
Aristeas was also mentioned together with Pythagoras by Iamblichos and Tzetzes, who each allude to the legend of Pythagoreas’ previous incarnations, and by Apollonius the paradoxographer, Maximus of Tyre and Clement of Alexandria. Iamblichos listed Aristeas among known Pythagoreans, although Aristeas’ life was usually set earlier than Pythagoras. Iamblichos, Porphyry and Diogenes Laertios (8.1) wrote biographies; the latter contains the fullest version of the legend of Pythagoras’ incarnations. For testimonies and fragments of texts attributed to him, see DK Pythagoras (14). See also Huffmann, Pythagoreanism and Guthrie, Pythagorean Sourcebook.
The referenced verses of Homer about dreams are in the Odyssey (19.562). The story of Menelaos killing Euphorbos is in the Iliad (17.59).
Concordance: EGEP Aristeas T12a; BNJ Aristeas (35) F1b; EGF Aristeas T11a; PEG Aristeas T12; Bolton, Aristeas T&F 19