with him in his own far-famed chains.
Her. There is a deal of truth in what you say.
Soc. Yes, Hermogenes, and the legislator called him Hades, not from
the unseen (aeides)- far otherwise, but from his knowledge (eidenai)
of all noble things.
Her. Very good; and what do we say of Demeter, and Here, and Apollo,
and Athene, and Hephaestus, and Ares, and the other deities?
Soc. Demeter is e didousa meter, who gives food like a mother; Here is
the lovely one (erate)- for Zeus, according to tradition, loved and
married her; possibly also the name may have been given when the
legislator was thinking of the heavens, and may be only a disguise of
the air (aer), putting the end in the place of the beginning. You will
recognize the truth of this if you repeat the letters of Here several
times over. People dread the name of Pherephatta as they dread the
name of Apollo- and with as little reason; the fear, if I am not
mistaken, only arises from their ignorance of the nature of names. But
they go changing the name into Phersephone, and they are terrified at
this; whereas the new name means only that the Goddess is wise
(sophe); for seeing that all things in the world are in motion
(pheromenon), that principle which embraces and touches and is able to
follow them, is wisdom. And therefore the Goddess may be truly called
Pherepaphe (Pherepapha), or some name like it, because she touches
that which is (tou pheromenon ephaptomene), herein showing her wisdom.
And Hades, who is wise, consorts with her, because she is wise. They
alter her name into Pherephatta now-a-days, because the present
generation care for euphony more than truth. There is the other name,
Apollo, which, as I was saying, is generally supposed to have some
terrible signification. Have you remarked this fact?
Her. To be sure I have, and what you say is true.
Soc. But the name, in my opinion, is really most expressive of the
power of the God.
Her. How so?
Soc. I will endeavour to explain, for I do not believe that any single
name could have been better adapted to express the attributes of the
God, embracing and in a manner signifying all four of them,- music,
and prophecy, and medicine, and archery.
Her. That must be a strange name, and I should like to hear the
explanation.
Soc. Say rather an harmonious name, as beseems the God of Harmony. In
the first place, the purgations and purifications which doctors and
diviners use, and their fumigations with drugs magical or medicinal,
as well as their washings and lustral sprinklings, have all one and
the same object, which is to make a man pure both in body and soul.
Her. Very true.
Soc. And is not Apollo the purifier, and the washer, and the absolver
from all impurities?
Her. Very true.
Soc. Then in reference to his ablutions and absolutions, as being the
physician who orders them, he may be rightly called Apolouon
(purifier); or in respect of his powers of divination, and his truth
and sincerity, which is the same as truth, he may be most fitly called
Aplos, from aplous (sincere), as in the Thessalian dialect, for all
the Thessalians call him Aplos; also he is Ballon (always shooting),
because he is a master archer who never misses; or again, the name may
refer to his musical attributes, and then, as in akolouthos, and
akoitis, and in many other words the a is supposed to mean "together,"
so the meaning of the name Apollo will be "moving together," whether
in the poles of heaven as they are called, or in the harmony of song,
which is termed concord, because he moves all together by an
harmonious power, as astronomers and musicians ingeniously declare.
And he is the God who presides over harmony, and makes all things move
together, both among Gods and among men. And as in the words
akolouthos and akoitis the a is substituted for an o, so the name
Apollon is equivalent to omopolon; only the second l is added in order