“It is not, therefore, anything to excite
amazement if, although the earth sends up many
streams, it is only such as these that dispose souls to
inspiration and impressions of the future. Certainly
the voice of legend also is in accord with my statement;
[p. 475]
for they record that here the power hovering
about this spot was first made manifest when a
certain shepherd fell in by accident and later gave
forth inspired utterances, which those who came into
contact with him at first treated with disdain ; but
later, when what he had foretold came to pass, they
were amazed. The most learned of the people of
Delphi still preserve the tradition of his name, which
they say was Coretas. But I incline most to the
opinion that the soul acquires towards the prophetic
spirit a close and intimate connexion of the sort that
vision has towards light, which possesses similar
properties. For, although the eye has the power of
vision, there is no function for it to perform without
light1; and so the prophetic power of the soul, like an
eye, has need of something kindred to help to kindle
it and stimulate it further. Hence many among
earlier generations regarded Apollo and the Sun as
one and the same god ; but those who understood and
respected fair and wise analogy conjectured that as
body is to soul, vision to intellect, and light to truth,
so is the power of the sun to the nature of Apollo ;
and they would make it appear that the sun is his
offspring and progeny, being for ever born of him that
is for ever. For the sun kindles and promotes and
helps to keep in activity the power of vision in our
perceptive senses, just as the god does for the power
of prophecy in the soul.
1 See 436 d, infra, and Plato, Republic, 508 a - 509 b.