Michael Psellus on the Operation of Daemons

name by which the ancients designated the river, he almost says that ancients and gods are convertible terms. It may be objected, “Can Jupiter himself be included under this idea—Jupiter, to whom almighty power and supreme dominion are attributed, and who is styled by the poets ‘the father of gods and men, the greatest and best of beings?’” De La Motte’s reply to Madame Dacier is here very apposite:—“What! could Homer seriously believe Jupiter to be the creator of gods and men? Could he think him the father of his own father Saturn, whom he drove out of heaven, or of Juno, his sister and his wife, of Neptune and Pluto, his brothers, or of the nymphs who had charge of him in his childhood, or of the giants who made war upon him and would have dethroned him if they had been then arrived at the age of manhood? How well his actions justify the Latin epithets, optimus, maximus, (most gracious, most mighty) so often given him, all the world knows.” (De la Critique, seconde partie, Des Dieux.) On the whole, we are rather inclined to think that Homer considered all gods (the dii majorum gentium not excepted) as daemons of human origin. Hesiod follows next in order of time; he seems decidedly of opinion that all gods were daemons, and originally human; he intimates that the daemons are the men of the golden age, who lived under Saturn, and avers that they are the protectors of mankind, φυλαχας των θνητων ανθρωπων (guardians of mortal men). (Vide Scholiast on Homer's Iliad, A. 222.) Socrates’ sentiments on this subject, as also those of Plato and his immediate disciples, may be gathered from the following extract from Plato's Cratylus:—“Soc. What shall we consider next? Hermogenes. Daemons, to be sure, and heroes, and men. Soc. Let it be daemons, then, and with what propriety they are so named. Consider, Hermogenes, if I say aught worthy of your attention as to what might have been the sense of the word daemon. Hermog. Proceed. Soc. Are you aware that Hesiod says certain are daemons? Hermog. I don't remember it. Soc. Nor that he says the first generation of men were