(1) Not yet had Nessus reached the other side, When we had put ourselves within a wood, That was not marked by any path whatever. Not foliage green, but of a dusky colour, Not branches smooth, but gnarled and intertangled, Not apple-trees were there, but thorns with poison. Such tangled thickets have not, nor so dense, Those savage wild beasts, that in hatred hold 'Twixt Cecina and Corneto the tilled places. There do the hideous Harpies make their nests, Who chased the Trojans from the Strophades, With sad announcement of impending doom; Broad wings have they, and necks and faces human, And feet with claws, and their great bellies fledged; They make laments upon the wondrous trees. And the good Master: "Ere thou enter farther, Know that thou art within the second round," Thus he began to say, "and shalt be, till Thou comest out upon the horrible sand; Therefore look well around, and thou shalt see Things that will credence give unto my speech." I heard on all sides lamentations uttered, And person none beheld I who might make them, Whence, utterly bewildered, I stood still.

(1) Then they made the small wild animals, the guardians of the woods, the spirits of the mountains, the deer, the birds, pumas, jaguars, serpents, snakes. vipers, guardians of the thickets. And the Forefathers asked: 'Shall there be only silence and calm under the trees, under the vines? It is well that hereafter there be someone to guard them."

(359) possessed by Gyges, the ancestor of Croesus the Lydian 1 . According to the tradition, Gyges was a shepherd in the service of the king of Lydia; there was a great storm, and an earthquake made an opening in the earth at the place where he was feeding his flock. Amazed at the sight, he descended into the opening, where, among other marvels, he beheld a hollow brazen horse, having doors, at which he stooping and looking in saw a dead body of stature, as appeared to him, more than human, and having nothing on but a gold ring; this he took from the finger of the dead and reascended. Now the shepherds met together, according to custom, that they might send their monthly report about the flocks to the king; into their assembly he came having the ring on his finger, and as he was sitting among them he chanced to turn the collet of the ring inside his hand, when instantly he became invisible to the rest of the company and they began to speak of him as if he were no longer present. He was astonished at this, and again touching the ring he turned the collet outwards and reappeared; he made several trials of the ring, and always with the same result—when he turned the collet inwards he became invisible, when outwards he reappeared. Whereupon he contrived to be chosen one of the messengers who were sent to the court; where as soon as he arrived

(4) Search round thy neck, and thou wilt find the belt Which keeps it fastened, O bewildered soul, And see it, where it bars thy mighty breast." Then said to me: "He doth himself accuse; This one is Nimrod, by whose evil thought One language in the world is not still used. Here let us leave him and not speak in vain; For even such to him is every language As his to others, which to none is known." Therefore a longer journey did we make, Turned to the left, and a crossbow-shot oft We found another far more fierce and large. In binding him, who might the master be I cannot say; but he had pinioned close Behind the right arm, and in front the other, With chains, that held him so begirt about From the neck down, that on the part uncovered It wound itself as far as the fifth gyre. "This proud one wished to make experiment Of his own power against the Supreme Jove," My Leader said, "whence he has such a guerdon. Ephialtes is his name; he showed great prowess. What time the giants terrified the gods; The arms he wielded never more he moves."

(34) And he slew them in the pastures of Shechem, and pursued those who fled, and he slew them with the edge of the sword, and he slew fAresaj and Taphu and Saregan and Seld and f'Amanisakirf and Ga[ga]'as, and he recovered his herds.

(4) And nought can frustrate his almighty power.

But they thought that their opinions deserved to be believed, because he who first promulgated them, was not any casual person, but a God. For this was one of their questions; What was Pythagoras? For they say that he was the Hyperborean Apollo; of which this was an indication, that rising up in the Olympic games, he showed his golden thigh; and also that he received the Hyperborean Abaris as his guest; and was presented by him with the dart on which he rode through the air. But it is said that Abaris came from the Hyperborean regions, in order that he might collect gold for the temple, and that he predicted a pestilence. He also dwelt in temples, and was never seen either to eat or drink. It is likewise said, that rites which purify from evil are performed by the Lacedæmonians, and that on this account Lacedæmon was never infested with pestilence. Pythagoras, therefore, caused this Abaris to acknowledge [that he was more than man,] receiving from him at the same time the golden dart, without which it was not possible for him to find his way. In Metapontum also, certain persons praying that they might obtain what a ship contained that was then sailing into port, Pythagoras said to them, You will then have a dead body. In Sybaris, too, he caught a deadly serpent and dismissed it. In a similar manner likewise in Tyrrhenia, he caught a small serpent, whose bite was fatal. But in Crotona a white eagle, it is said, suffered Pythagoras to stroke it. A certain person also wishing to hear him discourse, he said that he could not, till some sign appeared. And after this a white bear was seen in Cauconia; the death of which he predicted to one who was about to tell him that it was dead. He likewise reminded Myllias the Crotonian that he had been Midas the son of Gordius. And Myllias passed over to the continent of Asia, in order to perform at the sepulchre [of Midas] those rites which had been enjoined him by Pythagoras. It is likewise said, that the person who bought his house, and who dug up that which had been buried in it, did not dare to tell any one what he saw [on this occasion]. But instead of suffering for this offence, he was seized at Crotona for sacrilege, and put to death. For he took away a golden beard which had fallen from a statue. These things therefore, and others of the like kind, are related by the Pythagoreans, in order to render their opinions worthy of belief. And as these are acknowledged to be true, and it is impossible they should have happened to one man, they consequently think it is clear, that what is related of Pythagoras, should be received as pertaining to a being superior to man, and not to a mere man. This also is the meaning of their enigmatical assertion, that man, bird, and another third thing, are bipeds . For the third thing is Pythagoras. Such, therefore, was Pythagoras on account of his piety, and such he was truly thought to be.

(4) They feared the people. And they answered, We cannot tell.

(120) He conquered, and with the god Dug-ga he counted him

(1) "Behold the monster with the pointed tail, Who cleaves the hills, and breaketh walls and weapons, Behold him who infecteth all the world." Thus unto me my Guide began to say, And beckoned him that he should come to shore, Near to the confine of the trodden marble; And that uncleanly image of deceit Came up and thrust ashore its head and bust, But on the border did not drag its tail. The face was as the face of a just man, Its semblance outwardly was so benign, And of a serpent all the trunk beside. Two paws it had, hairy unto the armpits; The back, and breast, and both the sides it had Depicted o'er with nooses and with shields. With colours more, groundwork or broidery Never in cloth did Tartars make nor Turks, Nor were such tissues by Arachne laid. As sometimes wherries lie upon the shore, That part are in the water, part on land; And as among the guzzling Germans there, The beaver plants himself to wage his war; So that vile monster lay upon the border, Which is of stone, and shutteth in the sand.

(2) Gôsûrvan, as the soul of the primeval ox came out from the body of the ox, stood up before the ox and cried to Aûharmazd, as much as a thousand men when they sustain a cry at one time, thus: 'With whom is the guardianship of the creatures left by thee, when ruin has broken into the earth, and vegetation is withered, and water is troubled? Where is the man of whom it was said by thee thus: I will produce him, so that he may preach carefulness?'

(6) E. Y. Kenealy, quoting from the Cosmodromium of Doctor Gobelin Persona, describes the incident of Alexander and the talking trees, into the presence of which the King of Macedon is said to have been brought while on his campaign in India: "And now Alexander marched into other quarters equally dangerous; at one time over the tops of mountains, at another through dark valleys, in which his army was attacked by serpents and wild beasts, until after three hundred days he came into a most pleasant mountain, on whose sides hung chains or ropes of gold. This mountain had two thousand and fifty steps all of purest sapphire, by which one could ascend to the summit, and near this Alexander encamped. And on a day, Alexander with his Twelve Princes, ascended by the aforenamed steps to the top of the Mountain, and found there a Palace marvellously beautiful, having Twelve Gates, and seventy windows of the purest gold, and it was called the Palace of the Sun, and there was in it a Temple all of gold, before whose gates were vine trees bearing bunches of carbuncles and pearls, and Alexander and his Princes having entered the Palace, found there a Man lying on a golden bedstead; he was very stately and beautiful in appearance, and his head and beard were white as snow. Then Alexander and his princes bent the knee to the Sage who spake thus: 'Alexander, thou shalt now see what no earthly man hath ever before seen or heard.' To whom Alexander made answer: 'O, Sage, most happy, how dost thou know me?' He replied: 'Before the wave of the Deluge covered the face of the earth I knew thy works.' He added: 'Wouldst thou behold the most hallowed Trees of the Sun and Moon, which announce all future things?' Alexander made answer: 'It is well, my lord; greatly do we long to see them.' * * *

(11) And all who were with him throughout all the land saw him cry out, and all the ravens turn back, and his name became great in all the land of the Chaldees.

(3) To Him the (Divine Righteousness) answered with his sanctity. (Great was our perplexity); a chieftain who war capable of smiting back (their fury), and who was himself without hate (was not to be obtained by us); among such things as these, those things are not to be known (by beings such as we) which are the influences which approach (and move) the lofty fires (revealing the favour and the will of God ). Of beings He is the mightiest to whom those who have performed their actions approach with invocations. (He has no need to ask!)

(9) The form of the evil spirit was a log-like lizard's (vazak) body, and he appeared a young man of fifteen years to Gêh, and that brought the thoughts of Gêh to him.

(1) Moreover, if we may believe in so many ancient and credible historians as have written concerning him, the words of Pythagoras contained something of a recalling and admonitory nature, which extended as far as to irrational animals; by which it may be inferred that learning predominates in those endued with intellect, since it tames even wild beasts, and those which are considered to be deprived of reason. For it is said that Pythagoras detained the Daunian bear which had most severely injured the inhabitants, and that having gently stroked it with his hand for a long time, fed it with maze and acorns, and compelled it by an oath no longer to touch any living thing, he dismissed it. But the bear immediately after hid herself in the mountains and woods, and was never seen from that time to attack any irrational animal.

Perceiving likewise an ox at Tarentum feeding in a pasture, and eating among other things green beans, he advised the herdsman to tell the ox to abstain from the beans. The herdsman, however, laughed at him, and said that he did not understand the language of oxen, but if Pythagoras did, it was in vain to advise him to speak to the ox, but fit that he himself should advise the animal to abstain from such food. Pythagoras therefore, approaching to the ear of the ox, and whispering in it for a long time, not only caused him then to refrain from beans, but it is said that he never after tasted them. This ox also lived for a long time at Tarentum near the temple of Juno, where it remained when it was old, and was called the sacred ox of Pythagoras.

It was also fed by those that came to it with human food. When likewise he happened to be conversing with his familiars about birds, symbols, and prodigies, and was observing that all these are the messengers of the Gods, sent by them to those men who are truly dear to the Gods, he is said to have brought down an eagle that was flying over Olympia, and after gently stroking, to have dismissed it. Through these things, therefore, and other things similar to these, he demonstrated that he possessed the same dominion as Orpheus, over savage animals, and that he allured and detained them by the power of voice proceeding from the mouth.

(45) The "talking" trees stood together, forming a sacred grove. When the priests desired answers to important questions, after careful and solemn purifications they retired to the grove. They then accosted the trees, beseeching a reply from the god who dwelt therein. When they had stated their questions, the trees spoke with the voices of human beings, revealing to the priests the desired information. Some assert that there was but one tree which spoke--an oak or a beech standing in the very heart of the ancient grove. Because Jupiter was believed to inhabit this tree he was sometimes called Phegonæus, or one who lives in a beech tree.

(1) And their gods spoke to them again. Thus Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz spoke to Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui-Balam: "Let us go, let us get up, let us not stay here, take us to a secret place! Already dawn draws near. Would it not be a disgrace for you if we were imprisoned by our enemies within these walls where you, the priests and sacrificers. keep us? Put each of us, then. in a safe place," they said when they spoke. "Very well. We shall go on, we shall go in search of the forests," all answered.

(51) He saw it was formed of a bright emerald, Forming as it were a ring round the world, He said, "Thou mighty hill, what are other hills? Before thee they are mere playthings." The Mount replied, "Those hills are my veins, A hidden vein from me runs to every city, When God desires an earthquake under any city, Then in anger I shake that vein When He says, 'Enough,' my vein remains still, I remain still, and then haste to perform my work.

(222) 199 To say: Stand thou upon it, this earth, which comes forth from Atum, the saliva which comes forth from prr; 199 be thou above it; he thou high above it, 199 that thou mayest see thy father; that thou mayest see R`. 200 He has come to thee, his father; he has come to thee, R`. 200 He has come to thee, his father; he has come to thee, Ndi. 200 He has come to thee, his father; he has come to thee, Pndn. 200 He has come to thee, his father; he has come to thee, Dndn. 201 He has come to thee, his father; he has come to thee, m-wr. 201 He has, come to thee, his father; he has come to thee, Sn-wr. 201 He has come to thee, his father; he has come to thee, Sopdu. 201 He has come to thee, his father; he has come to thee, Sharp of Teeth. 202 Cause thou that N. seize b.w, that he take the horizon; 202 cause thou that N. govern the Nine Bows, that he equip the Ennead; 202 cause thou that the shepherd's crook be in the hand of N., so that Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt may bow (before him). 203 He accepts ("takes on") his opponent and stands up, the great chief, in his great kingdom; 203 Nephthys praised him when he seized his opponent: 204 "Thou hast equipped thyself as the Great-in-magic, Set, who is in Ombos, lord of the land of the South; 204 nothing is lacking in thee; nothing ceases with thee, 204 for behold thou art more glorious, more powerful than the gods of Upper Egypt and their spirits. 205 Thou whom the pregnant brought forth, as thou didst cleave the night, 205 thou art equipped like Set, who mightily broke forth". Fortunate is he whom Isis has praised: 206 "Thou hast equipped thyself like Horus, the youthful, 206 nor is there anything lacking in thee, nor anything ceases with thee, 206 for behold thou art more glorious, more powerful than the northern gods and their spirits. 207 Thou puttest away thine uncleanness for Atum in Heliopolis, thou ascendest with him; 207 thou judgest distress in the underworld,. thou standest above the places of the abyss; 207 thou art (king) with thy father Atum, thou art high with thy father Atum; 207 thou appearest with thy father Atum, distress disappears. 207 The midwife of Heliopolis (holds) thy head. 208 Thou ascendest, thou openest thy way through the bones of Shu; 208 thou envelopest thyself in the embrace of thy mother Nut; 208 thou purifiest thyself in the horizon, thou puttest away thine impurity in the lakes of Shu. 209 Thou risest, thou settest, thou settest with R`, in obscurity with Ndi; 209 thou risest, thou settest, thou risest with R`, 209 thou appearest with Sn-wr; 210 thou risest, thou settest, thou settest with Nephthys, in obscurity with the mkt.t-boat; 210 thou risest, thou settest, thou risest with Isis; 210 thou appearest with the m`nd.t-boat. 211 Thou art master of thyself; there is no one in thy way. 211 Thou art born because of (like) Horus; thou art conceived because of (like) Set; 211 Thou didst purify thyself in the Falcon-nome; thou didst receive thy purification in the Nome of the Integral Ruler, from thy father, from Atum. 212 Thou hast come into being, thou hast become high, thou hast become content; 212 thou hast become well in the embrace of thy father, in the embrace of Atum. 213 Atum, let N. ascend to thee, enfold him in thine embrace, 213 for he is thy bodily son for ever". 5. THE DECEASED KING RECEIVES OFFERINGS AND IS RE-ESTABLISHED IN HIS FUNCTIONS AND POSSESSIONS,

(27) And he took one of the stones of that place and laid it (at his head) under the tree, and he was journeying alone, and he slept.