Taylor - Eleusianian and Bacchic Mysteries.pdf - Platonic Philosophy

132 Eleusinian andmadmen;unless we speak in the same manner as when, from established custom, we callthe orb of the sun and its rays the sun itself.But we may perceive the mixed kind offables, as well in many other particulars, aswhen they relate that Discord, at a banquetof the gods, threw a golden apple, and thata dispute about itarising among the goddesses, they were sent by Jupiter to take thejudgment of Paris, who, charmed with thebeauty of Venus, gave her the apple in preference to the rest. For in this fable thebanquet denotes the super-mundane powersof the gods and on this account;they subsist in conjunction with each other :but thegolden apple denotes the world, which, onaccount of its composition from contrarynatures, is not improperly said to be thrownby Discord, or strife. But again, since different gifts are imparted to the world by different gods, they appear to contest with eachother for the apple. And a soul living according to sense (for this is Paris),not perceiving other powers in the universe, assertsthat the apple is alone the beauty of Venus.