ÉPINOMIS.

according to us, and the other terrestrial and mortal, let us try to speak in the clearest and most probable manner of the three species of beings that hold the middle ground in the union of the five species and serve to bind these two together. After fire, let us place ether, and let us say that the soul forms a species from it which, similar in this point to the other species, partakes primarily of the element from which it is formed, the other elements entering into it only slightly, as much as is needed to bind all its parts together. After the ether comes the air, of which the soul similarly forms another species of animals. Finally, the third species is formed of water. It is probable that the soul, after having given being and form to these diverse animals, has filled the entire universe with them, destining each to its own proper uses, and having communicated life to all; that, having begun with the formation of the visible gods, it has passed to the animals of the second, third, fourth, and fifth species, and that it has finished with the human species. As for the gods known by the names of Jupiter and Juno, and for all the others, let them be placed in whatever rank one wishes, following the order we have just assigned, and let this discourse be held as firm and assured. Thus, it must be said that the stars and all other beings which we judge by the senses to have been formed with them are, among the visible gods, the first, the greatest, the most honorable, and those whose sight is the most piercing. After them and immediately below are the daemons divine spirits, an aerial species, which occupy the third place, that of the middle, and serve as interpreters to men: we must honor them through prayers to obtain from them happy messages. These two species of animated beings, the one of ethereal nature, the other of aerial nature,