Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers

The Delay of the Deity
sorts of
green twigs bearing flowers; it also sent forth
a gentle and agreeable breeze which was singularly
pleasant and which produced the same effect that
wine does on those who are addicted to it. for the
souls that inhaled these fragrant odors were in
ecstasies of joy
around this place there was revelry
and embraced one another. All
and laughter, to
gether with every kind of enjoyment and merry
making. He said that here Dionysus had ascended
and had afterwards fetched up Semele and that it was
called the place of Forgetfulness (Lethe). Here, too.
Thespesius desired to tarry, but his conductor would
not allow it, and hurried him forcibly away, at the
same time telling him that the rational soul is melted
and dissolved under the influence of pleasure, but
that the irrational and carnal part, moistened and
clothed in flesh, revives the memory of the body, and
as a result of this reminiscense, a desire and a con
cupiscence that incites to procreation; for which
reason it is called an inclination loicard the earth
because the soul is weighed down with moisture.
Passing next over another way of equal extent, he
thought he saw a huge goblet into which streams
flowed, of which one was of a whiter color than the
foam of the sea or snow; another, purple like the
iris; while others again showed, from afar, different
lines, each of which shone with its own particular
luster, yet when he came near, the ambient air be
came more and more rarified, the colors became
fainter, and the goblet lost its brilliant tints, except
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