[page 417] ... Caesar is God in his own city. Him, illustrious In war and peace, not so much his wars triumphantly achieved, his civic deeds accomplished and his glory quickly won, changed to a new heavenly body, a flaming star; but still more his offspring deified him.

For there is no work among [page 419] all Caesar's achievements greater than this, that he became the father of this our Emperor.....With him as ruler of the world, you have indeed, O heavenly ones, showered rich blessings upon the human race! So then, that his son might not be born of mortal seed, Caesar must needs be made a god.

When the golden mother of Aeneas saw ....that an armed conspiracy was forming, she paled with fear and cried to all the Gods as she met them in turn: "....Look! do you not see that impious daggers are being whetted? Ward them off, I pray, prevent this crime and let not Vesta's fires be extinguished by her high-priest's blood ! "[page 421]

The anxious goddess cried these complaints throughout the sky, but all in vain. The Gods were moved indeed ; and although they were not able to break the iron decrees of the ancient sisters [fate] ,

still they gave no uncertain portents of the woe that was at hand. They say that the clashing of arms amid the dark storm-clouds and fear-inspiring trumpets and horns heard in the sky forewarned men of the crime ; also the darkened face of the sun shone with lurid light upon the troubled lands. Often firebrands were seen to flash amidst the stars; often drops of blood fell down from the clouds ; the morning-star was of dusky hue and his face was blotched with dark red spots, and Luna's chariot was stained with blood. In a thousand places the Stygian owl gave forth his mournful warnings ; in a thousand places ivory statues dripped tears, and in the sacred groves wailing notes and threatening words were heard. No victim sufficed for expiation; the liver warned that portentous struggles were at hand and its lobe was found cleft amidst the entrails. In the marketplace and around men's houses and the temples of the Gods dogs howled by night, the shades of the silent dead walked abroad and the city was shaken with earthquakes.

Yet even so, the warnings of the Gods were unable to check the plots of men and the advancing fates. Naked swords were brought into the sacred curia; for no place in the whole city would do for this crime, this dreadful deed of blood, save only that.

... Then thus the Father spoke: ".... This son of thine, goddess of Cythera, for whom thou grievest, has fulfilled his allotted time, and his years are finished which he owed to earth. That as a God he may enter heaven and have his place in temples on the earth, thou shalt accomplish, thou and his son.

He as successor to the name shall bear alone the burden placed on him, and, as the most valiant avenger of his father's murder, he shall have us as ally for his wars. Under his command the conquered walls of leaguered Mutina shall sue for peace ; Pharsalia shall feel his power; Emathian Philippi shall reek again with blood; and he of the great name shall be overcome on Sicilian waters. A Roman general's Egyptian mistress, who did not well to rely upon the union, shall fall before him, and in vain shall she have threatened that our Capitol shall bow to her Canopus. But why should I recall barbaric lands to you and nations lying on either ocean-shore? Nay, whatsoever habitable land the earth contains shall be his, and the sea also shall come beneath his sway ! [page 425]

"When peace has been bestowed upon all lands he shall turn his mind to the rights of citizens, and as a most righteous jurist promote the laws. By his own good example shall he direct the ways of men, and, looking forward to future time and coming generations, he shall bid the son: born of his chaste wife, to bear his name and the burden of his cares;

and not till after he as an old mail shall have equaled Nestor's years shall he attain the heavenly seats and his related stars. Meanwhile do thou catch up this a soul from the slain body and make him a star in order that ever it may be the divine Julius who looks forth upon our Capitol and Forum from his lofty temple."

Scarce had he spoken when fostering Venus took her place within the senate-house, unseen of all, caught up the passing soul of her Caesar from his body, and not suffering it to vanish into air, she bore it towards the stars of heaven. And as she bore it she felt it glow and burn, and released it from her bosom. Higher than the moon it mounted up and, leaving behind it a fiery train, gleamed as a star.

And now, beholding the good deeds of his son, he confesses that they are greater than his own, and rejoices to be surpassed by him..../far distant be that day and later than our own time when Augustus, abandoning the world he rules, shall mount to heaven and there, removed from our presence, listen to our prayers!

Theron confessed. He began his story. "I saw riches being enclosed in the tomb and assembled a gang of robbers. We opened the tomb and found the corpse alive. We carried everything away and put it in our cutter. We sailed to Miletus, sold the woman alone, and then started to take everything else to Crete; but we were driven out into the Ionian Sea by winds, and you have seen what happened to us." He told the whole story but failed to mention one thing the name of the man who had bought Callirhoe.

[6.9.6] At the Festival previous to this it is said that Cleomedes of Astypalaea killed Iccus of Epidaurus during a boxing-match. On being convicted by the umpires of foul play and being deprived of the prize he became mad through grief and returned to Astypalaea. Attacking a school there of about sixty children he pulled down the pillar which held up the roof.

[6.9.7] This fell upon the children, and Cleomedes, pelted with stones by the citizens, took refuge in the sanctuary of Athena. He entered a chest standing in the sanctuary and drew down the lid. The Astypalaeans toiled in vain in their attempts to open the chest. At last, however, they broke open the boards of the chest, but found no Cleomedes, either alive or dead.]So they sent envoys to Delphi to ask what had happened to Cleomedes.

[6.9.8] The response given by the Pythian priestess was, they say, as follows:–
Last of heroes is Cleomedes of Astypalaea;
Honor him with sacrifices as being no longer a mortal.
So from this time have the Astypalaeans paid honors to Cleomedes as to a hero.

Celsus, however, shows that he has read a good many Grecian histories, when he quotes further what is told of Cleomedes of Astypalaea, "who," he relates, "entered into an ark, and although shut up within it, was not found therein, but through some arrangement of the divinity, flew out, when certain persons had cut open the ark in order to apprehend him."

[origen answers] …. or we shall say that some demoniac power, casting a glamour over the eyes, produced, in the case of the Astypalaean, a result like that which is produced by the performers of juggling tricks, while Celsus thinks that with respect to him he has spoken like an oracle, when he said that "by some divine arrangement he flew away from the ark."

Scorn not those flames! He who has conquered all things shall conquer these fires which you see; nor shall he feel Vulcan's power save in the part his Mother gave him. Immortal is the part which he took from me, and that is safe and beyond the power of death, which no flame can destroy. And when this is done with earth I shall receive him on the heavenly shores, and I trust that this act of mine will be pleasing to all the Gods. But if there is anyone, if there is anyone, I say, who is going to be sorry that Hercules is made a god, why then, he will begrudge the prize, but he will at least know that it was given deservedly, and will be forced to approve the deed."

....Meanwhile, whatever the flames could destroy, Mulciber had now consumed, and no shape of Hercules that could be recognized remained, nor was there anything left which his mother gave. He kept traces only of his father; and as a serpent, its old age sloughed off with its skin, revels in fresh life, and shines resplendent in its [page 23] bright new scales; so when the Tirynthian put off his mortal frame, he gained new vigor in his better part, began to seem of more heroic size, and to become awful in his godlike dignity. Him the Almighty Father sped through the hollow clouds with his team of four, and set him amid the glittering stars.

....Meanwhile, whatever the flames could destroy, Mulciber had now consumed, and no shape of Hercules that could be recognized remained, nor was there anything left which his mother gave. He kept traces only of his father; and as a serpent, its old age sloughed off with its skin, revels in fresh life, and shines resplendent in its [page 23] bright new scales; so when the Tirynthian put off his mortal frame, he gained new vigor in his better part, began to seem of more heroic size, and to become awful in his godlike dignity. Him the Almighty Father sped through the hollow clouds with his team of four, and set him amid the glittering stars.

6.13 "I cannot at the moment," replied the old woman. "I have certain rites for the dead to perform that can be performed only at night....

6.14 ... Supposing herself now secure against any intrusion or observation, the old woman began by digging a pit, to one side of which she lit a fire. After positioning her son's body between the two, she took an earthenware bowl from a tripod that stood beside her and poured a libation of honey into the pit, likewise of milk from a second bowl, and lastly of [page 486] wine from a third. Then she took a cake made out of fine wheat flour and shaped into the effigy of a man, crowned it with bay and fennel, and flung it into the pit. Finally she picked up a sword and, in an access of feverish ecstasy, invoked the moon by a series of grotesque and outlandish names, then drew the blade across her arm. She wiped the blood onto a sprig of bay and flicked it into the fire. There followed a number of other bizarre actions, after which she knelt over the dead body of her son and whispered certain incantations into his ear, until she woke the dead man and compelled him by her magic arts to stand upright.

.... the old woman had now begun to question the corpse in a somewhat louder voice. What she wanted to know was whether the corpse's brother, her one surviving son, would live to return home. The dead man made no reply, merely nodded his head in a way that left some doubt as to whether his mother could expect her wishes to be fulfilled or not. Then he suddenly collapsed and fell flat on his face. The old woman rolled the body over onto its back and persisted with her questions. Employing apparently more powerful spells of compulsion this time, she repeated her string of incantations into his ears, and, leaping, sword in hand, from fire to pit, from pit to fire, she succeeded in waking the dead man a second time and, once he was on his feet, began to put the same questions to him as before, forcing him to use speech as well as nods of the head to make his prophecy unambiguous.

The last-named author [Theopompus, 4th century BC]] says that according to the Magi men will live in a future life [anabiosesthi = αναβιωσεσθαι = to come to life again, to return to life (see eg Liddell Scott)] and be immortal, and that the world will endure through their invocations. This is again confirmed by Eudemus of Rhodes [4th century BC].

93. Before arriving at the Ister, the first people whom he subdued were the Getae, who believe in their immortality. ….

94. The belief of the Getae in respect of immortality is the following. They think that they do not really die, but that when they depart this life they go to Zalmoxis...

95. …. While he was acting in this way, and holding this kind of discourse, he was constructing an apartment underground, into which, when it was completed, he withdrew, vanishing suddenly from the eyes of the Thracians, who greatly regretted his loss, and mourned over him as one dead. He meanwhile abode in his secret chamber three full years, after which he came forth from his concealment, and showed himself once more to his countrymen, who were thus brought to believe in the truth of what he had taught them. Such is the account of the Greeks.

Ch 26: "What is there surprising in that?" said Antigonus : "I know a man who came to life more than twenty days after his burial, having attended the fellow both before his death and after he came to life."

"I myself was formerly more incredulous than you in regard to such things, for I thought it in no way possible that they could happen; but when first I saw the foreign stranger fly—he came from the land of the Hyperboreans, he said— I believed and was conquered after long resistance. What was I to do when I saw him soar through the air in broad daylight and walk on the water and go through fire slowly on foot?"

"Did you see that?" said I — "the Hyperborean flying, or stepping on the water?"

"Certainly," said he, "with brogues on his feet such as people of that country commonly wear. As for the trivial [page 341] feats, what is the use of telling all that he performed, sending Cupids after people, bringing up supernatural beings, calling mouldy corpses to life (anakalwn ανακαλων), making Hecate herself appear in plain sight, and pulling down the moon ?

Book 2, Chapter 54.
After this, forsooth, the Jew of Celsus, to keep up the character assigned to the Jew from the beginning, in his address to those of his countrymen who had become believers, says: "By what, then, were you induced (to become his followers)? Was it because he foretold that after his death he would rise again?" …

Book 2, Chapter 55.
The Jew continues his address to those of his countrymen who are converts, as follows: "Come now, let us grant to you that the prediction was actually uttered. Yet how many others are there who practise such juggling tricks, in order to deceive their simple hearers, and who make gain by their deception?--as was the case, they say, with Zamolxis in Scythia, the slave of Pythagoras; and with Pythagoras himself in Italy; and with Rhampsinitus in Egypt (the latter of whom, they say, played at dice with Demeter in Hades, and returned to the upper world with a golden napkin which he had received from her as a gift); and also with Orpheus among the Odrysians, and Protesilaus in Thessaly, and Hercules at Cape Taenarus, and Theseus.

But the question is, whether any one who was really dead ever rose with a veritable body. Or do you imagine the statements of others not only to be myths, but to have the appearance of such, while you have discovered a becoming and credible termination to your drama in the voice from the cross, when he breathed his last, and in the earthquake and the darkness? That while alive he was of no assistance to himself, but that when dead he rose again, and showed the Marks of his punishment, and how his hands were pierced with nails: who beheld this? A half-frantic woman, as you state, and some other one, perhaps, of those who were engaged in the same system of delusion, who had either dreamed so, owing to a peculiar state of mind, or under the influence of a wandering imagination bad formed to himself an appearance according to his own wishes, which has been the case with numberless individuals; or, which is most probable, one who desired to impress others with this portent, and by such a falsehood to furnish an occasion to impostors like himself."

Book 2, Chapter 56. [ORIGIEN REPLIES -- CONFIRMING THE PRESENCE, AND CURRENCY-- OF THE MYTHS]
But since the Jew says that these histories of the alleged descent of heroes to Hades, and of their return thence, are juggling impositions, maintaining that these heroes disappeared for a certain time, and secretly withdrew themselves from the sight of all men, and gave themselves out afterwards as having returned from Hades,--for such is the meaning which his words seem to convey respecting the Odrysian Orpheus, and the Thessalian Protesilaus, and the Taenarian Hercules, and Theseus also,--let us endeavour to show that the account of Jesus being raised from the dead cannot possibly be compared to these. For each one of the heroes respectively mentioned might, had he wished, have secretly withdrawn himself from the sight of men, and returned again, if so determined, to those whom he had left; but seeing that Jesus was crucified before all the Jews, and His body slain in the presence of His nation, how can they bring themselves to say that He practised a similar deception with those heroes who are related to have gone down to Hades, and to have returned thence?

"Everyone knows how I loved their mother, my wife of blessed memory; I made it plain by what I did for her not only while she was alive but even when she died, for I burned on the pyre with her all the ornaments and the clothing that she liked while she lived. On the seventh day after her death I was lying here on the couch, just as I am now, consoling my grief; for I was peacefully reading Plato's book about the soul. While I was thus engaged, Demaenete herself in person came in upon me and sat down beside me, just as Eucratides here is sitting now " --- with a gesture toward the younger of his sons, who at once shuddered in a very boyish way; he had already been pale for some time over the story.

"When I saw her," Eucrates continued, "I [page 363] caught her in my arms with a cry of grief and began to weep. She would not permit me to cry, however. but began to find fault with me because, although I had given her everything else, I had not burned one of her gilt sandals, which, she said, was under the chest, where it had been thrown aside. That was why we did not find it and burned only the one. We were continuing our conversation when a cursed toy dog that was under the couch, a Maltese, barked, and she vanished at his barking. The sandal, however, was found under the chest and was burned afterwards.

''Is it right, Tychiades, to doubt these apparitions any longer, when they are distinctly seen and a matter of daily occurrence?"

"No, by Heaven," I said: "those who doubt and are so disrespectful toward truth deserve to be spanked like children, with a gilt sandal! "

"We are only trying to persuade this man of adamant," said Eucrates, pointing at me, "to believe that spirits and phantoms exist, and that souls of dead men go about above ground and appear to whomsoever they will." I flushed and lowered my eyes out of reverence for Arignotus.

" Perhaps, Eucrates," he said, "Tychiades means that only the ghosts of those who died by violence walk, for example, if a man hanged himself, or had his head cut off, or was crucified, or departed life in some similar way ; and that those of men who died a natural detail do not. If that is what he means, we cannot altogether reject what he says."

"No, by Heaven," replied Deinomachus, " he thinks that such things do not exist at all and are not seen in bodily form."

"What is that you say ? " said Arignotus, with a sour look at me. "Do you think that none of these things happen, although everybody, I may say, sees them? "

16 And I said: "Do not pressure me to break my solemn undertaking to the dead. We have not left her region until we reach another shore. Have you not heard that she died at sea? Then I am still sailing over Leukippe's [page 241] grave. Perhaps her ghost is circling about the ship even now. They say that souls who die in the sea never descend to Hades but wander over the water. And is this an appropriate place to consummate any marriage? Our wedding night on choppy waves? Our first time on a rocking boat? Surely you want our bridal bed to stay in one place?"

And now he cries out repeatedly 'You set free a convict sentenced to death.'

What death? What conviction? Tell me the grounds for his death sentence.

'He has been judged guilty of murder,' he says.

He has committed murder then? Tell me who it was. The woman whom he killed and who you said had been murdered you see here alive. You would not be so foolhardy as still to accuse the same man of her murder. For this is not a ghost of the girl; Aidoneus has not sent the murdered woman to haunt you.

Now at this point she was alone, while Perilaus was still carousing with his friends. She made an excuse that the tension had made her thirsty and ordered one of the servants to bring her water to drink. And when a cup was brought, she took it while no one was in the chamber with her, threw in the poison, and wept.

"Habrocomes, my darling,"she cried, "as you see I am discharging my promises and am on my way to you; it is a sad road, but an inevitable one; welcome me gladly and make my life with you in the other world a happy one." With this she drank the drug and immediately fell into a deep sleep; she collapsed to the ground, and the drug took its full effect.

[Chapter 7] When Perilaus came in and immediately saw Anthia lying there, he was dumbfounded and cried out, and there was a great deal of commotion in the household: they felt a welter of emotions-grief, fear, and terror. Some pitied the girl who had apparently died; others shared Perilaus's grief; while all mourned the tragedy. Perilaus tore his clothes and fell on the body

"My poor dear girl," he exclaimed, "you have deserted your lover before your marriage, after only a few days as the promised bride of Perilaus. What kind of bridal suite will I take you to-the tomb! Happy Habrocomes, whoever he was; a fortunate man, indeed, to receive such gifts from his beloved!" Perilaus lamented in this fashion, fondly embracing her body all over and clinging to her hands and feet.

"Poor bride," he exclaimed, "and still more unhappy wife." He laid her out in all her finery and surrounded her with a great quantity of gold. And no longer able to bear the sight, when day came he put Anthia on a bier (she was still lying insensible) and took her to the tombs near the city. And there he laid her in a vault, after slaughtering a great number of victims and burning a great deal of clothing and other finery.

[Chapter 8] When he had carried out the accustomed rites, he was taken back to the city by his household. But Anthia, left in the tomb, recovered her senses, realized that the poison was not fatal, and moaned and wept.

"The poison has played me false!" she exclaimed. "It has barred the way of happiness back to Habrocomes. My misery is total; I have been cheated, even of my own wish to die. But by remaining in the tomb I can still do the poison's work by starving to death. No one would take me from here, nor could I look upon the sun nor will I go to the light." With this she strengthened her resolve and steadfastly waited for death. [page I52]

Meanwhile some pirates had found out that a girl had been given a sumptuous burial and that a great store of woman's finery was buried with her, and a great horde of gold and silver. After nightfall they came to the tomb, burst open the doors, came in and took away the finery, and saw that Anthia was still alive. They thought that this too would turn out very profitable for them, raised her up, and wanted to take her. But she rolled at their feet and kept pleading with them.

"Whoever you are, take away all this finery; take all there is and everything that is buried with me, but spare my body. I am a sacrifice to two Gods, Love and Death. Leave me to devote myself to them in peace. By the Gods of your own country, do not expose me to the daylight, when my misfortunes deserve night and darkness." So she pleaded, but she could not persuade the pirates: they brought her out of the tomb, took her down to the sea, put her into their skiff, and brought her to Alexandria. And they looked after her on the ship and tried to console her. But she took to moping once more over her dreadful misfortunes, as she wept and wailed.

But after all, I will tell you I saw him do in the house of Glaucias, son of Alexicles.

"Immediately after Glaucias' father died and he acquired the property, he fell in love with Chrysis, the wife of Demeas. I was in his employ as his tutor in philosophy, and if that Iove-affair had not kept him too busy, he would have known all the teachings of the Peripatetic school, for even at eighteen he was solving fallacies and had completed the course of lectures on natural philosophy.

"At his wit's end, however, with his love-affair, he told me the whole story; and as was natural, since I was his tutor, I brought him that Hyperborean magician at a fee of four minas down (it was necessary to pay something in advance towards the cost of the victims) and sixteen if he should obtain Chrysis.

The man waited for the moon to wax, as it is then, for the most part, that such rites are performed; and after digging a pit in an open court of the house, at about midnight he first summoned up for us Alexicles, Glaucias' father, who had died seven months before. The old gentleman was indignant over the love-affair and flew into a passion, but at length he permitted him to go on with it after all.

THE WONDERS BEYOND THULE Photius's Summary (Bibliotheca 166)
After the misfortune that befell her home, Dercyllis, he learned, was taken with her brother to Rhodes. From there she wandered to Crete, then among the Tyrrhenians and the people called the Cimmerians. While among these people, he learned, she saw Hades and learned much about it, making use of her personal maidservant Myrto as her informant; Myrto had died long ago and returned from the dead to instruct her mistress.

While they were delayed at sea for some days and as many nights, the girl gave birth in the ninth month. But the placenta failed to be discharged, her blood clotted, her breathing became constricted, and she suddenly died. …After the coffin had been made, he adorned it with royal accoutrements, placed the girl in the coffin, and…

Weeping bitterly, he ordered that the coffin be thrown into the sea. Three days later waves cast up the coffin. It came to rest on the shoreline of Ephesus, not far from the estate of a doctor… the doctor eagerly opened it, and, seeing a very beautiful girl adorned with royal ornaments and lying in a state of apparent death…ordered that a pyre be constructed immediately.

But while the pyre was being carefully and expertly constructed and assembled, a medical student of youthful appearance but mature judgment arrived. When he saw the corpse of the beautiful girl being placed on the pyre, he looked at his teacher and said, "What is the cause of this recent unexplained death?"

The teacher said: "Your arrival is timely; the situation requires your presence. Take a jar of unguent and pour it over the body of the girl to satisfy the last rites."

The young man took a jar of unguent, went to the girl's bier, pulled aside the clothing from the upper part of her body, poured out the unguent, ran his suspicious hands over all her limbs, and detected quiescent warmth in her chest cavity. The young man was astounded to realize that the girl was only apparently dead. He touched her veins to check for signs of movement and closely examined her nostrils for signs of breathing; he put his lips to her lips, and, detecting signs of life in the form of slight breathing that, as it were, was struggling against false death, he said, "Apply heat at four points." When he had had this done, he began to massage her lightly, and the blood that had coagulated began to flow because of the anointing.'"When the young man saw this, he ran to his teacher and said: "Doctor, the girl you think is dead is alive. To convince you, I will clear up her obstructed breathing."

With some assistance he took the girl to his bedroom, placed her on his bed, opened her clothing, warmed oil, moistened a woolen compress with it, and placed the compress on the upper part of the girl's body. Her blood, which had congealed because of severe cold, began to flow once heat was applied, and her previously obstructed breathing began to infiltrate to her innermost organs. With the clearing up of her veins, the girl opened her eyes, recovered her breath, and said in a soft, indistinct voice, "Please, doctor, do not touch me in any way other than it is proper to touch the wife of a king and the daughter of a king."