Julian, Emperor of Rome, Hymn to the Mother of the Gods

Ἀλλ’ ἐκεῖνο ἴσως ἄξιον προσαπορῆσαι· διττῆς γὰρ οὔσης τῆς ἰσημερίας, οὐ τὴν ἐν ταῖς χηλαῖς, τὴν δὲ ἐν τῷ κριῷ προτιμῶσι. τίς οὖν αἰτία τούτου, φανερὸν δήπουθεν. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἡμῖν ὁ ἥλιος ἄρχεται τότε πλησιάζειν ἀπὸ τῆς ἰσημερίας, αὐξομένης οἶμαι τῆς ἡμέρας, ἔδοξεν οὗτος ὁ καιρὸς ἁρμοδιώτερος. ἔξω γὰρ τῆς αἰτίας, ἥ φησι τοῖς θεοῖς εἶναι τὸ φῶς σύνδρομον, ἔχειν οἰκείως πιστευτέον τοῖς ἀφεθῆναι τῆς γενέσεως σπεύδουσι τὰς ἀναγωγοὺς ἀκτῖνας ἡλίου. σκόπει δὲ ἐναργῶς· ἕλκει μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς πάντα καὶ προκαλεῖται καὶ βλαστάνειν ποιεῖ τῇ ζωπυρίδι καὶ θαυμαστῇ θέρμῃ, διακρίνων οἶμαι πρὸς ἄκραν λεπτότητα τὰ σώματα, καὶ τὰ φύσει φερόμενα κάτω κουφίζει. τὰ δὴ τοιαῦτα τῶν ἀφανῶν αὐτοῦ δυνάμεων ποιητέον τεκμήρια. ὁ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς σώμασι διὰ τῆς σωματοειδοῦς θέρμης οὕτω τοῦτο ἀπεργαζόμενος πῶς οὐ διὰ τῆς ἀφανοῦς καὶ ἀσωμάτου πάντη καὶ θείας καὶ καθαρᾶς ἐν ταῖς ἀκτῖσιν ἱδρυμένης οὐσίας ἕλξει καὶ ἀνάξει τὰς εὐτυχεῖς ψυχάς; οὐκοῦν ἐπειδὴ πέφηνεν οἰκεῖον μὲν τοῖς θεοῖς τὸ φῶς τοῦτο καὶ τοῖς ἀναχθῆναι σπεύδουσιν, αὔξεται δὲ ἐν τῷ παρ’ ἡμῖν κόσμῳ τὸ τοιοῦτον, ὥστε εἶναι τὴν ἡμέραν μείζω τῆς νυκτός, Ἡλίου τοῦ βασιλέως ἐπιπορεύεσθαι τὸν κριὸν ἀρξαμένου· δέδεικται δὴ καὶ ἀναγωγὸν φύσει τὸ τῶν ἀκτίνων τοῦ θεοῦ διά τε τῆς φανερᾶς ἐνεργείας καὶ τῆς ἀφανοῦς, ὑφ’ ἧς παμπληθεῖς ἀνήχθησαν ψυχαὶ τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἀκολουθήσασαι τῇ φανοτάτῃ καὶ μάλιστα ἡλιοειδεῖ. τὴν γὰρ τοιαύτην τῶν ὀμμάτων αἴσθησιν οὐκ ἀγαπητὴν μόνον οὐδὲ χρήσιμον εἰς τὸν βίον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς σοφίαν ὁδηγὸν ὁ δαιμόνιος ἀνύμνησε Πλάτων. εἰ δὲ καὶ τῆς ἀρρήτου μυσταγωγίας ἁψαίμην, ἣν ὁ Χαλδαῖος περὶ τὸν ἑπτάκτινα θεὸν ἐβάκχευσεν, ἀνάγων δι’ αὐτοῦ τὰς ψυχάς, ἄγνωστα ἐρῶ, καὶ μάλα γε ἄγνωστα τῷ συρφετῷ, θεουργοῖς δὲ τοῖς μακαρίοις γνώριμα· διόπερ αὐτὰ σιωπήσω τανῦν.

But perhaps that point is worth raising as a further question: since the equinox is twofold, they give preference not to the one in the Claws but to the one in the Ram. What the reason for this is, is surely plain. For since at that time the sun begins to draw near to us from the equinox, the day, I suppose, increasing, this season seemed more fitting. For apart from the reason which states that light runs together with the gods, one must believe that the uplifting rays of the sun are akin to those who hasten to be released from generation. Consider it clearly: he draws all things from the earth, calls them forth and makes them sprout by his life-kindling and wondrous warmth, separating bodies, I think, to the utmost fineness, and he makes light the things that are by nature borne downward. Such things, then, we must treat as evidence of his invisible powers. For how should he who thus accomplishes this in bodies through bodily heat not draw and lead upward the fortunate souls through the invisible, wholly incorporeal, divine and pure substance established in his rays? Since, then, this light has been shown to be akin to the gods and to those who hasten to be led upward, and such [light] increases in our world so that the day is longer than the night when King Helios has begun to travel through the Ram, it has indeed been shown that the [nature] of the god's rays is by nature uplifting, both through its visible activity and through the invisible one, by which vast numbers of souls have been led upward, following the brightest of the senses and the most sunlike. For this sense of the eyes the divine Plato praised in hymns as not only beloved, nor only useful for life, but also a guide to wisdom. And if I should touch also on the ineffable initiation which the Chaldaean celebrated in Bacchic frenzy concerning the Seven-Rayed god, leading souls upward through him, I shall be speaking of things unknowable, and quite unknowable to the rabble, but known to the blessed theurgists; therefore I shall keep silent about them for now.