I will begin this friendly correspondence with you to learn what is believed regarding the gods and good spirits (dæmons), as well as the various philosophical speculations concerning them. Many things have been set forth on these subjects by Greek philosophers, but for the most part, they have derived the substance of their beliefs from mere conjecture.

I

THE GODS AND THEIR PECULIARITIES

First, it must be taken for granted that gods exist. I ask, then: what are the characteristics of the superior races by which they are distinguished from one another? Are we to suppose the cause of this distinction to be their energies, their passive motions, or their consequences? Or is it a classification established by the difference of their bodies—the gods being distinguished by ethereal bodies, the spirits by aerial bodies, and souls by bodies pertaining to the earth?

Since the gods dwell only in heaven, I ask why invocations in the theurgic rites are directed to them as if they belonged to the earth or the underworld. How is it that, despite possessing power that is unlimited, undivided, and unrestricted, some are referred to as belonging to the water or the atmosphere, while others are assigned by definite limitations to different places or to distinct parts of bodies? If they are actually separated by the circumscribed limits of their parts, or by the diversity of places and physical subjects, how can there be any union among them?

How can the theosophers Those considered learned in arcane knowledge, especially theurgy. consider them to be impressionable? It is said that for this reason phallic images are set up and immodest language is used in the rites. If they are truly impassive and unimpressionable, then invocations of the gods—which announce favorable inclinations, propitiations of their anger, and expiatory sacrifices, or what are called "necessities of the gods"—would be entirely useless. That which is impassive cannot be charmed, forced, or constrained by necessity.