Neglected visible gods fitting honors and religious reform

Use in the book

At 985d the Athenian asks whether the same account condemns those who dare not speak about the gods genuinely manifest to us and make it manifest that there are other gods without rites or fitting honors. The demonstrative evidence and the rhetorical language of daring reverse the preceding case. Where an uninformed innovation would be reckless, silence about what the speaker takes to be clear would now be culpable.

The example is a person who has seen the sun or moon coming into being and looking down on everyone yet does not declare it. Their being “without a portion of honor” makes the omission unjust. The observer should do his own part by bringing them, plainly seen, into an honored place, arranging feasts and sacrifices, and setting apart appropriate times. The point is not literally to move celestial bodies to a civic platform. The language makes their acknowledged place in religious life the object of reform.

The phrase about times and the seasons of longer and shorter years leads toward the eight heavenly powers. The immediate proposal is that different heavenly beings should receive corresponding temporal honors; the next passage objects to giving one a year and another a month while giving others no portion or time. The unequal distribution of recognition is the wrong being corrected. The present sentence does not yet provide a complete festival calendar with dates or institutional procedures.

The conditional example becomes personal at 986a. Clinias agrees that the silent observer would be worst of all; the Athenian tells him that this is now happening in his own case. His announcement of the eight powers is thus made under a self-imposed duty to disclose what he knows. The transition is dramatic as well as doctrinal: the speaker identifies himself with the person who must not withhold the theological observation.

The reform is not stated as the abolition of traditional gods. The preceding paragraph protects ancestral sacrifices. Nor does the argument amount to a neutral classification of astronomical objects. It explicitly demands feasts, sacrifices, and honors, and judges failure to announce them morally bad. A reader may question the argument's authority, but the proposed result is genuinely cultic and legislative.

The phrase “other gods” also needs its force preserved. The visible gods' neglected standing is being made explicit alongside practices already known, rather than simply asserting that old rites had always fully honored every celestial body. Later names taken from traditional gods can assist recognition without erasing the distinction between divine titles and the heavenly powers to which honors are due.

Places to read

1. 985dἀνοργιάστους τε ὄντας ἑτέρους θεούς — Other gods are without rites
2. 985dτιμὰς μὴ δεχομένους τὰς προσηκούσας αὐτοῖς — They do not receive the honors belonging to them
3. 985eἥλιον ἢ σελήνην — The hypothetical observer's examples are the sun and moon
4. 985eτιμῆς τε ἀμοίρους — Their deprivation is expressed as lack of a portion of honor
5. 985eεἰς ἔντιμον χώραν καταφανεῖς ἄγων — Public acknowledgment brings the plainly seen beings into an honored place
6. 985eἑορτάς τε … καὶ θυσίας — Festivals and sacrifices are the proposed response
7. 985e–986aἐνιαυτῶν ὥρας διανέμειν — Appropriate times are to be distributed
8. 986aπερὶ ἐμὲ νῦν γιγνόμενον — The Athenian applies the obligation to himself

Translation in this edition

“Without rites” avoids narrowing anorgiastos to one particular mystery cult, and “other gods” retains ἑτέρους. At 985e Burnet prints ἀδύνατος, “unable,” where Grou proposed δυνατός, “able.” The English preserves the awkward inability to declare the observation; the apparatus alternative must not be presented as the passage's actual word. At 985d αὑτός is the contracted “the same,” not αὐτός, “himself.”

Culpable silence — τολμᾶν (tolman)

τολμᾶν (tolman)

Culpable silence. The same vocabulary reverses force when people fail to dare speaking about the manifest gods. Here reluctance suppresses a duty to disclose and honor. Attested: τολμῶντας (985d). Neglected visible gods fitting honors and religious reform.

The obligation to announce — φράζειν (phrazein)

φράζειν (phrazein)

The obligation to announce. The hypothetical observer fails to declare the seen sun or moon. The duty concerns communicating their divine standing and fitting honors, not simply reporting a light in the sky. Attested: ἔφραζεν (985e). Neglected visible gods fitting honors and religious reform.

Allotment of sacred time — διανέμειν (dianemein)

διανέμειν (dianemein)

Allotment of sacred time. Appropriate seasons of years are to be distributed to the heavenly recipients. The sentence leads to the eight powers but does not yet supply an operational festival calendar. Attested: διανέμειν (986a). Neglected visible gods fitting honors and religious reform.

Cultic recognition — ἑορτή (heortē)

ἑορτή (heortē)

Cultic recognition. Feasts are to be made for the visible gods alongside sacrifices. The reform is genuinely religious and civic, not merely a new astronomical naming convention. Attested: ἑορτάς (985e). Neglected visible gods fitting honors and religious reform.

Honor that is owed — προσήκειν (prosēkein)

προσήκειν (prosēkein)

Honor that is owed. The participle qualifies honors as belonging to the manifest gods. The issue is a just allocation of recognition rather than the observer’s personal preference for a new cult. Attested: προσηκούσας (985d). Neglected visible gods fitting honors and religious reform.

Manifest yet neglected divinity — θεός (theos)

θεός (theos)

Manifest yet neglected divinity. The stars are presented as genuinely manifest gods whose lack of rites makes knowledgeable silence culpable. Their visibility and their public acknowledgment are distinct. Attested: θεοὺς (985d). Neglected visible gods fitting honors and religious reform.

Owed religious recognition — τιμή (timē)

τιμή (timē)

Owed religious recognition. Honors should fit the manifest gods, whose neglect is the problem the lawgiver must disclose. Attested: τιμὰς (985d). Neglected visible gods fitting honors and religious reform.

A missing portion — τιμή (timē)

τιμή (timē)

A missing portion. The sun and moon are hypothetically without a portion of honor, making the observer’s failure to promote feasts and sacrifices culpable. Attested: τιμῆς (985e). Neglected visible gods fitting honors and religious reform.

A place in public worship — ἔντιμος (entimos)

ἔντιμος (entimos)

A place in public worship. The honored place is the recognized standing into which the observer should bring the plainly seen gods. It does not require physically moving celestial bodies into the city. Attested: ἔντιμον (985e). Neglected visible gods fitting honors and religious reform.

Celestial attention to humanity — ἐφορᾶν (ephoran)

ἐφορᾶν (ephoran)

Celestial attention to humanity. The sun or moon is imagined as looking down upon all humans in the observer example. The visible beings are also presented as perceiving; the phrase does not describe divine ocular anatomy. Attested: ἐφορῶντάς (985e). Neglected visible gods fitting honors and religious reform.

Evidence and public acknowledgment — φανερός (phaneros)

φανερός (phaneros)

Evidence and public acknowledgment. The gods are manifest to us yet must be made manifest as other gods lacking rites. The repetition distinguishes visibility from acknowledged religious standing. Attested: φανεροὺς (985d). Neglected visible gods fitting honors and religious reform.

Recognition of the speaker’s situation — φανερῶς (phanerōs)

φανερῶς (phanerōs)

Recognition of the speaker’s situation. Clinias is told to know plainly that the obligation to disclose neglected divinity now applies to the Athenian himself. The adverb makes the dramatic transition to the eight powers explicit. Attested: φανερῶς (986a). Neglected visible gods fitting honors and religious reform.

Visible object of owed honor — σελήνη (selēnē)

σελήνη (selēnē)

Visible object of owed honor. The moon accompanies the sun as an obvious heavenly being whose neglect would be blameworthy. The local emphasis is recognition and worship, not a new account of lunar arithmetic. Attested: σελήνην (985e). Neglected visible gods fitting honors and religious reform.

Publicly evident divinity — καταφανής (kataphanēs)

καταφανής (kataphanēs)

Publicly evident divinity. The heavenly beings are brought forward as plainly seen recipients of honor. This adjective is distinct from katadēlos, plain, in the earlier description of transparent intermediaries. Attested: καταφανεῖς (985e). Neglected visible gods fitting honors and religious reform.

Newly acknowledged divine recipients — θυσία (thysia)

θυσία (thysia)

Newly acknowledged divine recipients. Sacrifices for manifest but neglected gods accompany feasts and temporal honors. Their proposal shows that the preceding restraint is not an absolute ban on all religious change. Attested: θυσίας (985e). Neglected visible gods fitting honors and religious reform.

Time assigned to divine honors — ὥρα (hōra)

ὥρα (hōra)

Time assigned to divine honors. Seasons or periods of years are the times to be allotted. The local concern is proportional religious recognition of heavenly beings. Attested: ὥρας (986a). Neglected visible gods fitting honors and religious reform.

Neglected visible god — ἥλιος (hēlios)

ἥλιος (hēlios)

Neglected visible god. The sun is one example in the hypothetical duty to declare seen divinity and institute fitting honors. The example leads into the wider eightfold celestial account. Attested: ἥλιον (985e). Neglected visible gods fitting honors and religious reform.

Awkward limitation in the observer example — ἀδύνατος (adynatos)

ἀδύνατος (adynatos)

Awkward limitation in the observer example. Burnet retains unable in the description of the observer who does not declare what he has seen. Grou’s able is an apparatus conjecture and must not silently replace the printed difficulty. Attested: ἀδύνατος (985e). Neglected visible gods fitting honors and religious reform.

Deprivation of honor — ἄμοιρος (amoiros)

ἄμοιρος (amoiros)

Deprivation of honor. The visible gods are described as lacking a portion of honor. The allotment vocabulary prepares the distribution of times and festivals. Attested: ἀμοίρους (985e). Neglected visible gods fitting honors and religious reform.

Neglected divine honor — ἀνοργίαστος (anorgiastos)

ἀνοργίαστος (anorgiastos)

Neglected divine honor. The manifest gods lack the sacred observances that should belong to them. The word is not restricted here to initiation in one particular mystery cult. Attested: ἀνοργιάστους (985d). Neglected visible gods fitting honors and religious reform.

Manifest gods must also be made manifest (contextual phrase)

τοὺς δὲ ὄντως ἡμῖν φανεροὺς ὄντας θεοὺς (985d)

The gods are already truly manifest to us, yet the sentence requires people to speak and make manifest their neglected status. The repetition distinguishes sensory availability from public theological acknowledgment. Their presence in the sky does not mean their cultic honors have already been supplied. Neglected visible gods fitting honors and religious reform.

Other gods without rites (contextual phrase)

ἀνοργιάστους τε ὄντας ἑτέρους θεοὺς καὶ τιμὰς μὴ δεχομένους τὰς προσηκούσας αὐτοῖς (985d)

Other gods lack rites and do not receive the honors that fit them. The religious deficit is the point of the disclosure, not an assertion that every older god must be abandoned. Appropriate honor connects the astronomy to civic allocation and justice. Neglected visible gods fitting honors and religious reform.

Unable to declare as Burnet prints (contextual phrase)

μὴ ἔφραζεν ἀδύνατος ὤν πῃ φράζειν (985e)

The printed example says the observer did not declare what he saw, being in some way unable to declare it. Grou’s able is only an apparatus conjecture. The awkwardness must remain visible rather than being silently repaired in a quotation or a supposedly exact paraphrase. Neglected visible gods fitting honors and religious reform.

An honored place for plainly seen beings (contextual phrase)

εἰς ἔντιμον χώραν καταφανεῖς ἄγων αὐτούς (985e)

Bringing them into an honored place concerns the visible gods’ acknowledged standing in worship. It is not a practical instruction to move celestial bodies. The phrase leads directly to feasts and sacrifices, showing that the proposal goes beyond a verbal naming convention. Neglected visible gods fitting honors and religious reform.

The speaker assumes the obligation (contextual phrase)

περὶ ἐμὲ νῦν γιγνόμενον ἴσθι φανερῶς (986a)

The Athenian tells Clinias to recognize that the hypothetical case is now his own. This makes the transition to the eight powers an act of disclosure required by the preceding moral argument. It does not present him as the sole human capable of the observation. Neglected visible gods fitting honors and religious reform.