And when Damis arrived, they sat down together, as they were wont to do, and they allowed Apollonius to ask questions; and he asked them of what they thought the Cosmos was composed; but they replied:
"Of elements."
"Are there then four?" he asked.
"Not four," said Iarchas, "but five."
"And how can there be a fifth," said Apollonius, "alongside of water and air and earth and fire?"
"There is the ether," replied the other, "which we must regard as the stuff of which Gods are made; for just as all mortal creatures inhale the air, so do immortal and divine natures inhale the ether."
Apollonius again asked which was the first of the elements, and Iarchas answered:
"All are simultaneous, for a living creature is not born bit by bit."
"Am I," said Apollonius, "to regard the Universe as a living creature?"
"Yes," said the other, "if you have a sound knowledge of it, for it engenders all living things."
"Shall I then," said Apollonius, "call the Universe female, or of both the male and the opposite gender?"
[COMMENT: This translation was composed about 100 years ago. I am surprised to find the use of the word "gender" instead of the word "sex". Some people, mainly religious ones like this translator probably was, just can't stand to say the word "sex". I know a woman in my town who is so uptight she refers to this as "sek", not "sex", as if she is trying to be modest Scarlett O'Hara or whoever. In our modern times, the ultra-feminists have been the ones to start the current tradition of referring to "sex" as "gender". "Gender" refers to the use of pronouns only; it is a purely grammatical term. "Sex" refers to what we are at birth. Revisionism Rules, I suppose. RS]
"Of both genders," said the other, "for by commerce with itself it fulfills the role both of mother and father in bringing forth living creatures; and it is possessed by a love for itself more intense than any separate being has for its fellow, a passion which knits it together into harmony. And it is not illogical to suppose that it cleaves unto itself; for as the movement of an animal is obtained by use of its hands and feet, and as there is a soul in it by which it is set in motion, so we must regard the parts of the Universe also as adapting themselves through its inherent soul to all creatures which are brought forth or conceived.
"For example, the sufferings so often caused by drought are visited on us in accordance with the soul of the Universe, whenever justice has fallen into disrepute and is disowned by men; and this animal shepherds itself not with a single hand only, but with many mysterious ones, which it has at its disposal; and though from its immense size it is controlled by no others, yet it moves obediently to the rein and is easily guided.
"And the subject is so vast and so far transcends our mental powers, that I do not know any example adequate to illustrate it; but we will take that of a ship, such as the Egyptians construct for our seas and launch for the exchange of Egyptian goods against Indian wares. For there is an ancient law in regard to the Red Sea, which the king Erythras laid down, when he held sway over that sea, to the effect that the Egyptians should not enter it with a vessel of war, and indeed should employ only a single merchant ship.
"This regulation obliged the Egyptians to contrive a ship equivalent to several at once of those which other races have; and they ribbed the sides of this ship with bolts such as hold a ship together, and they raised its bulwarks and its mast to a great height, and they constructed several compartments, such as are built upon the timber balks which run athwart a ship, and they set several pilots in this boat and subordinated them to the oldest and wisest of their number, to conduct the voyage; and there were several officers on the prow and excellent and handy sailors to man the sails; and in the crew of this ship there was a detachment of armed men, for it is necessary to equip the ship and protect it against the savages of the Gulf that live on the right hand as you enter it, in case they should ever attack and plunder it on the high seas. Let us apply this imagery to the Universe and regard it in the light of a naval construction, for then you must apportion the first and supreme position to God.
"The begetter of this animal subordinates posts to the Gods who govern its parts; and we may well assent to the statements of the poets, when they say that there are many Gods in heaven and many in the sea, and many in the fountains and streams, and many round about the Earth, and that there are some even under the Earth. But we shall do well to separate from the Universe the region under the Earth, if there is one, because the poets represent it as an abode of terror and corruption."
[COMMENT: When Apollonius and Damis left Iarchas, they travelled southwardly to what they called "the Red Sea". Obviously, this sea, also mentioned above, was what is now called the Indian Ocean, so in earlier centuries "Red Sea" meant both the current Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. RS]