and Pluto, were gods, though we find that they are later born than the world. And he also relates how Saturn was assailed in war by his own son Jupiter; for he says:[1]
"His father Saturn he by might o'ercame,
And 'mong th' immortals ruled with justice wise,
And honours fit distributed to each."
Then he introduces in his poem the daughters of Jupiter, whom he names Muses, and as whose suppliant he appears, desiring to ascertain from them how all things were made; for he says:[2]
"Daughters of Jove, all hail! Grant me your aid
That I in numbers sweet and well-arrayed,
Of the immortal gods may sing the birth;
Who of the starry heav'ns were born, and earth;
Who, springing from the murky night at first,
Were by the briny ocean reared and nursed.
Tell, too, who form unto the earth first gave,
And rivers, and the boundless sea whose wave
Unwearied sinks, then rears its crest on high;
And how was spread yon glittering canopy
Of glistening stars that stud the wide-spread heaven.
Whence sprang the gods by whom all good is given?
Tell from their hands what varied gifts there came,
Riches to some, to others wealth, or fame;
How they have dwelt from the remotest time
In many-nooked Olympus' sunny clime.
These things, ye Muses, say, who ever dwell
Among Olympian shades—since ye can tell:
From the beginning there thy feet have strayed;
Then tell us which of all things first was made."
But how could the Muses, who are younger than the world, know these things? Or how could they relate to Hesiod [what was happening], when their father was not yet born?
Chap. vi.—Hesiod on the origin of the world.
And in a certain way he indeed admits matter [as self-existent] and the creation of the world [without a creator], saying:
Broad-bosom'd earth's foundations firm were fixed,
