DE PRINCIPIIS ATQUE ORIGINIBUS. 273 



the mysterious antithesis on which all organic produc 

 tion depends. From him all other beings derive their 

 existence. There seems clearly more of a philosopheme 

 in this than in the simpler statements of Hesiod. 



The identification of Eros with Phanes or Ericapeus 

 rests on a passage in the Argonautics, in which it is 

 said that he was called Phanes by the men of later 

 time because he was manifested before all other beings ; 

 Trpwro; yap e^ai 6*?;. 1 It is confirmed by the authority of 

 Proclus. 



Phanes, in the common form of the Orphic the- 

 ogony, comes out of the egg into which Chaos had 

 formed itself. 2 But I am not aware that any one 

 except Aristophanes makes Night lay the egg from 

 which Eros afterwards emerges ; 3 and it seems that 

 this is only a playful modification of the common 

 myth, not unsuitable to the chorus of birds by whom 

 it is introduced. 4 It does not appear necessary to 

 suppose, as Cud worth seemingly does, that Aris 

 tophanes had in some unexplained way become ac 

 quainted with a peculiar form of &quot; the old atheistic 

 cabala.&quot; 5 



The most remarkable passage in which Eros (not 

 Phanes) is spoken of as the producer of all things, 

 is in the Argonauties : 



Trpcora p, 



d)S e7rayu,en// &amp;lt;ucrets, a&amp;gt;S r oipavos es Trepas r)\6ev, 



yiys T evpvtrTepvov yerecrtv, wvO^f.va.^ re @a\dcrcrr]s, 



1 Orph. Argon. 14. In the preceding line, Eros is made, according to 

 Gesner s reading, the son of Night. But for via there is another reading, 

 irarepa. 



2 See Lobeck, Aglaoph. i. 474. 8 Aves, 650. 

 * This seems to be confirmed by the half ludicrous epithet virrjve/uov. 

 5 See Cudworth, Intellect. Syst. 



VOL. v. 18 



