Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. III — G. R. S. Mead (1906)

1 De Defectu Oraculorum, xxi., xxii. (42lA-422c), ed. G. N.
Bernardakis (Leipzig, 1891), iii. 97-101. See my paper,
"Plutarch's Yogi," in The Theosophical Review (Dec. 1891), ix.
295-297.

The speaker is Cleombrotus, a Lacedaemonian gentleman and man of means, who was a great traveller, and a greedy collector of information of all sorts to form the basis of a philosophical religion. He had spent much time in Egypt, and had also been a voyage beyond the Eed Sea. On his travels Cleombrotus had heard of a philosopher-recluse, who lived in complete retirement, except once a year when he was seen by " the folk round the Ked Sea " ; then it was that a certain divine inspiration came upon him, and he came forth and " prophesied " to the nobles and royal scribes who used to flock to hear him. With great difficulty, and only after the expenditure of much money, Cleombrotus discovered the hermitage of this recluse, and was granted a courteous reception.

Our old philosopher was the handsomest man Cleombrotus had ever met, deeply versed in the knowledge of plants, and a great linguist. With Cleombrotus, however, he spoke Doric, and almost in verse, and " as he spake perfume filled the place from the sweetness of his breath."

His knowledge of the various mystery - cults was profound, and his intimate acquaintance with the unseen world remarkable ; he explained many things to Cleombrotus, and especially the nature of the daimones, and the important part they played as factors in any satisfactory interpretation of ancient mythology, seeing that most of the great myths referred to the doings of the daimones and not of mortals.

Cleombrotus, however, has told his story merely as an introduction to the quotation of a scrap of information let fall by the old philosopher concerning the plurality of worlds 1 ; thus, then, he continues :

1 In this referring to the passage in the Timceus, (55 c D), which runs : " Now, he who, duly reflecting on all this, enquires whether

"THE PLAIN OF TRUTH"

" He told me that the number of worlds was neither infinite, nor one, nor five, but that there were 183 of them, arranged in the figure of a triangle of which each side contained 60, and of the remaining 3 one set at each angle. And those on the sides touch each other, revolving steadily as in a choral dance. And the area of the triangle is the Common Hearth of all, and is called the ' Plain of Truth/ * in which the logoi and ideas and paradigms of all things which have been, and which shall be, lie immovable; and the ^on [or Eternity] being round them [sc. the ideas], time flows down upon the worlds like a stream. And the sight and contemplation (6eav) of these things is possible for the souls of men only once in ten thousand years, should they have lived a virtuous life. And the highest of our initiations here below is only the dream of that true vision and initiation2; and the discourses [sc. delivered in the mystic rites] have been carefully devised to awaken the memory of the sublime things above, or else are to no purpose."

the worlds are to be regarded as indefinite or definite in number, will be of opinion that the notion of their indefiniteness is characteristic of a sadly indefinite and ignorant mind. He, however, who raises the question whether they are to be truly regarded as one or five, takes up a more reasonable position" (Jowett's Trans., 3rd ed., iii. 475, 476).