Physics 163
because she receives these [seeds] and bears [offspring]. And seeing that
the heavenly bodies are always moving and are the cause of our ability
to observe [things], they called the sun and moon gods.- For the second and third types they divided the gods into the
harmful and the beneficial; the beneficial ones are Zeus, Hera, Hermes
and Demeter, while the harmful ones are the Penalties, the Furies, Ares;
these they abhor since they are difficult to deal with and violent. - They assigned a fourth and a fifth [type of gods] to activities and
passions, Eros, Aphrodite and Longing being passions and Hope, Justice
and Good Order being activities. - As a sixth type they added the fictions of the poets. For when
Hesiod wanted to make gods fathers of gods who were born, he introduced
sires for them like these:^35
Coeus, Krios, Hyperion and Iapetos- And it is for this reason that it is called mythical.
As a seventh, in addition to all these, there are [gods who were] born
human but were honoured because of their good deeds which benefitted
the life of all men; for example, Heracles, the Dioscuri and Dionysus. - They said that they were anthropomorphic on the grounds that
the divine is the most authoritative of all things and that man is the most
beautiful of animals, being adorned in a distinctive way by virtue, in
accordance with the constitution of his mind. So they thought that what
is best [in the cosmos] would be similar to those who are superior
[among animals].
Origen On Principles 3.1.2-3 (=SVF 2.988) [11-25]
- Of things that move, some have the cause of motion in themselves,
while others are moved only from the outside. Thus things which are
moved by being carried, such as sticks and stones and every form of
matter held together by he xis [condition] alone, are moved from the
outside ... Plants and animals, and in a word everything held together
by nature and soul have within themselves the cause of motion. They
say that this category includes veins of metal and, in addition, that fire
and perhaps springs of water are also self-moved. Of things which contain
the cause of motion in themselves, they say that some move from them-
selves and others by themselves. 'From themselves' applies to soulless
objects, 'by themselves' to things with soul. For ensouled things move - Theogony 134.