(3) * Yajnavalkya/ said he, ' how many Rig verses will the Hotri make use of today in this sacrifice? ' ' Three/ e Which are those three? ' 'The introductory verse, the accompanying verse, and the benediction as the third.' ' What does one win by these? '

(6) From him come the Rik, the Sâman, the Yagush, the Dîkshâ (initiatory rites), all sacrifices and offerings of animals, and the fees bestowed on priests, the year too, the sacrificer, and the worlds, in which the moon shines brightly and the sun.

(3) Then Vidagdha Sakalya questioned him. ' How many gods are there, Yajfiavalkya? ' He answered in accord with the following Nivid (invoca- tionary formula): ' As many as are mentioned in the Nimd of the Hymn to All the Gods, namely, three hundred and three, and three thousand and three [=3,306].' ( Yes/ said he, ' but just how many gods are there, Yajna- valkya? ' 'Thuty-three/ valkya? ' valkya? ' ' Yes,' said he, ' but just how many gods are there, Yajna- valkya? ' valkya? ' valkya? 3 and those three thousand and three? ' a. He [i.e. Yajnavalkya] said: ' Those are only their powers (ma/nman). There are just thirty- three gods/ ' Which are those thirty-three? ' ' Eight Vasus, eleven Rudras, twelve Adityas. Those are thirty-one. Indra and Prajapati make thirty-three/

(2) God produced Vau, predominant in Mind, crowned, combined, and formed Taurus in the world, Yiar in the year, and the right kidney of man.

(3) 'Yajnavalkya/ said he, c how many hymns of praise will the Udgatri chant today in this sacrifice? ' 'Three.' ' The introductory hymn, the accompanying hymn, and the benediction hymn as the third.' < Which are those three with reference to the self? ' 'The introductory hymn is the in-breath (prana). The accompanying hymn is the out-breath (apand). The bene- diction hymn is the diffused breath (yyana).' ' What does one win by these? ' ' One wins the earth-world by the introductory hymn, the atmosphere-world by the accompanying hymn, the sky-world by the benediction hymn.' Thereupon the Hotri-priest Asvala held his peace,

(1) Come, then, let us at last, if you please, rest our mental vision from the strain of lofty contemplation, befitting Angels, and descend to the divided and manifold breadth of the many-shaped variety of the Angelic forms, and then return analytically from the same, as from images, to the simplicity of the Heavenly Minds. But let this first be made plain to you, that the explanations of the sacredly depicted likenesses represent the same ranks of the Heavenly Beings as sometimes ruling, and, at other times, as being ruled; and the last, ruling, and the first, being ruled; and the same, as has been said, having first, and middle, and last powers --without introducing anything absurd into the description, according to the following method of explanation. For if indeed we were to say that some are ruled by those above them, and then that they rule the same, and that those above, whilst ruling those below, are ruled by those same who are being ruled, the thing would manifestly be absurd, and mixed with all sorts of confusion. But if we say that the same rule and are ruled, but no longer the self-same, or from the self-same, but that each same is ruled by those before, and rules those below, one might say appropriately that the Divinely pictured presentations in the Oracles may sometimes attribute, properly and truly, the very same, both to first, and middle, and last powers. Now the straining elevation to things above, and their being drawn unswervingly around each other, as being guardians of their own proper powers, and that they participate in the providential faculty to provide for those below them by mutual communication, befit truly all the Heavenly Beings, although some, pre-eminently and wholly, as we have often said, and others partially and subordinately.

(3) [Sakalya said:] f What divinity have you in this fixed quarter [L e. the zenith]? ' ' The god Agni/ ' That Agni — on what is he based? ' ' On speech/ ' And on what is speech based? '

(1) He desired: ' Would that this [body] of mine were fit for sacrifice! Would that by it I had a self (atmanmn)! J Thereupon it became a horse (asva), because it swelled (a£vat). ' It has become fit for sacrifice (medhya) \ ' thought he. There- fore the horse-sacrifice is called A6va-medha. He, verily, knows the A3va-medha, who knows it thus. He kept him [i.e. the horse] in mind without confining him. After a year he sacrificed him for himself, [Other] animals he delivered over to the divinities. Therefore men sacrifice the victim which is consecrated to Prajapati as though offered unto all the gods. free for a year. Verily, that [sun] which gives forth heat is the Asva-medha. The year is its embodiment (atmau). This [eaithly] fire is the ar&a. The worlds are its embodi- ments. These aie two, the arka sacrificial fire and the A^va- medha sacrifice. Yet again they are one divinity, even Death. He [who knows this] wards off death again, death obtains him not, death becomes his body (atman\ he becomes one of these deities.

(39) "For from his concurrence with his thought, the powers very soon appeared who were called 'gods'; and the gods of the gods from their wisdom revealed gods; from their wisdom revealed lords; and the lords of the lords from their thinkings revealed lords; and the lords from their power revealed archangels; the archangels from their words revealed angels; from them, semblances appeared, with structure and form and name for all the aeons and their worlds.

(1) O Tmu, Shu, Tefnut, Seb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Sut, Nephthys, Horus of the two Horizons, Hathor in the great dwelling, Chepera, Mentu lord of Thebes, Amon lord of Nestaui, ye the great cycle of the gods, ye the small cycle of the gods, ye gods and goddesses issued from Nu, Sebek of Shet, Sebek in all his manifold names, in all the abodes where his ka likes to be; ye gods of the South and of the North, ye gods in heaven and on earth, grant a pure garment to the mighty Chu N. ; give him to be glorious by it and destroy all that was wrong in him

(22) And he answered me and said unto me: 'These three have been made that the spirits of the dead might be separated. And such a division has been made 〈for〉 the spirits of the righteous, in which there as the bright spring of water.

(77) These spirits, thus incorporated or compacted together, had the knowledge, the skill and the eternal, infinite and unbeginning law of God, and knew full well, I. How the Deity had generated them.

(3) ' Yajnavalkya/. said Sakalya, t by knowing what Brahma is it that you have talked down the Brahmans of the Kurupafi- calas? ' ' I know the quarters of heaven together with their gods and their bases.' their gods and their bases, [20] what divinity have you in this eastern quarter? ' < The sun/ ' On the eye/ c And on what is the eye based? ' { On the heart/ he said, ' for with the heart one knows appear- ances, for on the heart alone appearances are based/ ' Quite so, Yajnavalkya/

(4) These hierarchies of Gods, then, being thus and [in this way] related, from bottom unto top, are [also] thus connected with each other, and tend towards themselves; so mortal things are bound to mortal, things sensible to sensible. The whole of [this grand scale of] Rulership, however, seems to Him [who is] the Highest Lord, either to be not many things, or rather [to be] one. For that from One all things depending, and flowing down from it,—when they are seen as separate, they’re thought to be as many as they possibly can be; but in their union it is one [thing], or rather two, from which all things are made;—that is, from Matter, by means of which the other things are made, and by the Will of Him, by nod of whom they’re brought to pass. XX

(1) Let us, however, now proceed to the appearances of the Gods and their perpetual attendants, and show what the difference is in their appearance. For you inquire, “ by what indication the presence of a God, or an angel, or an archangel, or a dæmon, or a certain archon [i. e. ruler ], or a soul, may be known .” In one word, therefore, I conclude that their appearances accord with their essences, powers, and energies. For such as they are, such also do they appear to those that invoke them, and they exhibit energies and ideas consentaneous to themselves, and proper indications of themselves. But that we may descend to particulars, the phasmata, or luminous appearances, of the Gods are uniform; those of dæmons are various; those of angels are more simple than those of dæmons, but are subordinate to those of the Gods; those of archangels approximate in a greater degree to divine causes; but those of archons, if these powers appear to you to be the cosmocrators, who govern the sublunary element, will be more various, but adorned in order; but if they are the powers that preside over matter, they will indeed be more various, and more imperfect, than those of the archons [properly so called]; and those of souls will appear to be all-various.

(4) And from thence came the Names of the Thrones and Principalities, all according to the Essences of the first and great God goes forth again into many thousand Thousands, yet there is a certain Number [of them,] and in the Center of God none, [or no Number but Infinity;] and thus out of the Fountain of every Essence are gone forth, first the Thrones, and in the Throne many thousand Thousands.

(28) From his concurrence with his thought, the powers appeared who where called 'gods'; and the gods from their considerings revealed divine gods; and the gods from their considerings revealed lords; and the lords of the lords from their words revealed lords; and the lords from their powers revealed archangels; the archangels revealed angels; from the semblance appeared, with structure and form for naming all the aeons and their worlds.

(2) But the soul which verges downward draws along with it the signs of bonds and punishments, is heavy with material spirits, is detained by the anomalous tumults of matter, and exhibits before itself, genesiurgic presiding dæmons. And, in short, all these genera exhibit their proper orders; viz. the aerial genera exhibit aerial fire; the terrestrial a terrestrial and blacker fire; and the celestial a more splendid fire. But in these three boundaries all the genera are distributed according to a triple order of beginning, middle, and end. And the Gods, indeed, exhibit the supreme and most pure causes of this triple order. But the genera of angels depend on those of archangels. The genera of dæmons appear to be subservient to those of angels; and in a similar manner to these, the genera of heroes are ministrant. They are not, however, subservient to angels in the same way as dæmons. Again, the genera of archons, whether they preside over the world or over matter, exhibit the order which is adapted to them. But all the genera of souls present themselves to the view as the last of more excellent natures. Hence, also, they exhibit places in conjunction with themselves; souls of the first rank primary, but those of the second rank secondary, places, and the rest conformably to their arrangement, in each of these three genera.

(80) Now when we speak or write of the three Persons in the Deity, you must not conceive that therefore there are three Gods, each reigning and ruling by himself, like temporal kings on the earth.

(6) The three Divine are in this hierarchy, First the Dominions, and the Virtues next; And the third order is that of the Powers. Then in the dances twain penultimate The Principalities and Archangels wheel; The last is wholly of angelic sports. These orders upward all of them are gazing, And downward so prevail, that unto God They all attracted are and all attract. And Dionysius with so great desire To contemplate these Orders set himself, He named them and distinguished them as I do. But Gregory afterwards dissented from him; Wherefore, as soon as he unclosed his eyes Within this heaven, he at himself did smile. And if so much of secret truth a mortal Proffered on earth, I would not have thee marvel, For he who saw it here revealed it to him, With much more of the truth about these circles."