The Denizens of the Cosmos

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Empedocles writes,

All the potions which there are as a defence against evils and old age
you shall learn, since for you alone will I accomplish all these things.
You shall put a stop to the strength of tireless winds, [...]
and again, if you wish, you shall bring the winds back again, [...]
and you shall bring from Hades the strength of a man who has died. [...]
For if, thrusting [my words] deep down into your crowded heart,
you gaze on them in kindly fashion, with pure meditations,
absolutely all these things will be with you throughout your life,
and from these you acquire many others, for these things themselves
will expand to form each character, according to the nature of each.

That is, if you learn the true nature of things, you will gain all manner of magical powers and other things besides. Personally, I find the pursuit of power uninteresting, but the old magus isn't wrong: meditating on his poem has, indeed, given me other things, to my mind of far greater worth than mere magic. I'll be talking about some of these once I get my next Isis and Osiris post together, but in the meantime, let me share one of them with you that's tangential to that myth.

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Empedocles's four roots are not mere elements; in fact, I think:

1. Fire, Air, Water, and Earth are all gods. (Thus we are firmly in polytheistic territory.)
2. Fire and Air are spiritual, while Water and Earth are material.
3. Fire is (among other things) νοῦς "Consciousness." There is only one Consciousness but that Fire emits Light, and every ray of Light is a ψυχή "soul." Since there is only one Fire and nothing can be experienced apart from it, there is a sense in which it is not only a god, but the god. (Thus we are also firmly in monotheistic territory.)
4. Air is mediate between Fire and the material world. It is (among other things) the substance of θυμός "emotion" and home of the higher category of daimons.
5. Water is mediate between the spiritual world and Earth. It is (among other things) the subtle matter of the underworld, "the stuff dreams are made of" [NB: video link], the substance of ἐπιθυμία "desire," and home of both the lower category of daimons and the dead.
6. Earth is (among other things) the dense matter of the waking world, the substance of the body and sensation, and home of the living.

I've mentioned that I think this model is Egyptian in origin and imported to Greece several times; we see versions of it used all through classical philosophy, from Plato to "Hermes Trismegistus" to Plotinus. One of these imports was by Pythagoras, from whom Empedocles got it. I think another was by "Orpheus" (Diodorus Siculus, Library of History I xxiii), from whom Hesiod got it, and I would like to consider my favorite statement of theology, Hesiod's Ages of Man (Works and Days ll. 106–201) in light of it. The poet says that his story is about "how gods and mortals come from the same source," and so I think he is speaking of the nature and placement of beings in the cosmos in the above model.

If you wish, I shall recapitulate another story, correctly and skillfully, and you lay it up in your spirit: how the gods and mortal human beings came about from the same origin.

Let me give some preliminary keys first. Remember that Zeus is Fire, Hades is Air, Nestis is Water, and Hera is Earth. The Cyclopes gifted Zeus his thunderbolts, which are the rays of Light emitted by Fire (e.g. souls). They also gifted Hades his cap of invisibility, which is the incorporeality of Air and its denizens. When Hesiod speaks of "the immortals who dwell on Olympus," he is referring to the gods (e.g. roots) collectively. When he speaks of Zeus, he is referring to Fire specifically; the "time of Zeus" is the world subordinate to Fire; e.g. the material world of Water and Earth. When he speaks of the "time of Cronus," he is referring to the world of Zeus; e.g. the spiritual world of Fire and Air.

Golden was the race of speech-endowed human beings which the immortals, who have their mansions on Olympus, made first of all. They lived at the time of Cronus, when he was king in the sky; just like gods they spent their lives, with a spirit free from care, entirely apart from toil and distress. Worthless old age did not oppress them, but they were always the same in their feet and hands, and delighted in festivities, lacking in all evils; and they died as if overpowered by sleep. They had all good things: the grain-giving field bore crops of its own accord, much and unstinting, and they themselves, willing, mildmannered, shared out the fruits of their labors together with many good things, wealthy in sheep, dear to the blessed gods. But since the earth covered up this race, by the plans of great Zeus they are fine spirits upon the earth, guardians of mortal human beings: they watch over judgments and cruel deeds, clad in invisibility, walking everywhere upon the earth, givers of wealth; and this kingly honor they received.

The immortal, happy, and carefree golden race are Empedocles's δολιχαίωνες δαίμονες "daimons with lives a mile long." These are the beings that natively inhabit Air and never needed to descend into the material world at all to actualize their purpose. They are immortal since Fire and Air are spiritual substances. (They "die as if overpowered by sleep" if they violate the oaths of Necessity and thus fall into the material world.) They are "clad in invisibility" because they are made of Air. They are happy because Air is the substance of emotion; they are carefree since, without a Watery or Earthy component, they do not have appetites or needs. The overall description of the race is, presumably, what life is like in the world of Air (at least to the degree we can comprehend it).

Afterward those who have their mansions on Olympus made a second race, much worse, of silver, like the golden one neither in body nor in mind. A boy would be nurtured for a hundred years at the side of his cherished mother, playing in his own house, a great fool. But when they reached adolescence and arrived at the full measure of puberty, they would live for a short time only, suffering pains because of their acts of folly. For they could not restrain themselves from wicked outrage against each other, nor were they willing to honor the immortals or to sacrifice upon the holy altars of the blessed ones, as is established right for human beings in each community. Then Zeus, Cronus's son, concealed these in anger, because they did not give honors to the blessed gods who dwell on Olympus. But since the earth covered up this race too, they are called blessed mortals under the earth—in second place, but all the same honor attends upon these as well.

The long-lived but foolish silver race are those beings that natively inhabit Water and never needed to descend into Earth to actualize their purpose. They are long-lived since Water is much more mobile than Earth, but are mortal since Water is material. They seem unaging until just before they die since, not having an Earthy component, they have no fixed form. People who have near-death experiences report that beings appear to support and assist them and that these beings always conform to one's expectations or beliefs: Greek pagans might meet Vestal daimons, Christians might meet Jesus or St. Peter, Buddhists might meet a Boddhisatva, etc.; this is presumably because these beings are members of the silver race and because Water always takes the shape of its container. Similarly, the overall description of the race might be what our sojourns are like in the world of Water.

(Regarding those Vestal daimons, note that Latin Vesta is Greek Hestia, who I have hypothesized is Egyptian Nephthys and Empedocles's Nestis, who is Water. Thus Vestal daimons are precisely the ones we should expect to meet when we die.)

Zeus the father made another race of speech-endowed human beings, a third one, of bronze, not similar to the silver one at all, out of ash trees—terrible and strong they were, and they cared only for the painful works of Ares and for acts of violence. They did not eat bread, but had a strong-hearted spirit of adamant—unapproachable they were, and upon their massive limbs grew great strength and untouchable hands out of their shoulders. Their weapons were of bronze, bronze were their houses, with bronze they worked; there was not any black iron. And these, overpowered by one another's hands, went down nameless into the dank house of chilly Hades: black death seized them, frightful though they were, and they left behind the bright light of the sun.

When the earth covered up this race too, Zeus, Cronus's son, made another one in turn upon the bounteous earth, a fourth one, more just and superior, the godly race of men-heroes, who are called demigods, the generation before our own upon the boundless earth. Evil war and dread battle destroyed these, some under seven-gated Thebes in the land of Cadmus while they fought for the sake of Oedipus' sheep, others brought in boats over the great gulf of the sea to Troy for the sake of fair-haired Helen. There, the end of death shrouded some of them, but upon others Zeus the father, Cronus's son, bestowed life and habitations far from human beings and settled them at the limits of the earth; and these dwell with a spirit free of care on the Islands of the Blessed beside deep-eddying Ocean—happy heroes, for whom the grain-giving field bears honey-sweet fruit flourishing three times a year.

If only then I did not have to live among the fifth men, but could have either died first or been born afterward! For now the race is indeed one of iron. And they will not cease from toil and distress by day, nor from being worn out by suffering at night, and the gods will give them grievous cares. Yet all the same, for these people too good things will be mingled with evil ones. But Zeus will destroy this race of speech-endowed human beings too, when at their birth the hair on their temples will be quite gray. Father will not be like-minded with sons, nor sons with their father, nor guest with host, nor comrade with comrade, nor will the brother be dear, as he once was. They will dishonor their aging parents at once; they will reproach them, addressing them with grievous words—cruel men, who do not know of the gods' retribution!—nor would they repay their aged parents for their rearing. Their hands will be their justice, and one man will destroy the other's city. Nor will there be any grace for the man who keeps his oath, nor for the just man or the good one, but they will give more honor to the doer of evil and the outrageous. Justice will be in their hands, and reverence will not exist, but the bad man will harm the superior one, speaking with crooked discourses, and he will swear an oath upon them. And Envy, evil-sounding, gloating, loathsome-faced, will accompany all wretched human beings. Then indeed will Reverence and Indignation cover their beautiful skin with white mantles, leave human beings behind and go from the broad-pathed earth to the race of the immortals, to Olympus. Baleful pains will be left for mortal human beings, and there will be no safeguard against evil.

The remainder of the races all refer to those beings who descended all the way to Earth (e.g. incarnated as humans). The brazen race are the unrighteous, who after they die live in the world of Water for a time before reincarnating: they are thus, in a sense, the non-native inhabitants of Water, living beside and under the guidance of the silver race. The heroic race are the righteous, who after they die transition through the world of Water and go on to the Blessed Isles ruled by Cronus (e.g. the world of Air): they are thus, in a sense, the non-native inhabitants of Air, living beside and under the guidance of the golden race. The brazen race precedes the heroic race because it takes many lifetimes for one to develop and grow. Finally, the iron race are those who are presently living in the world of Earth. Their hard labor is because of the density and rigidity of Earth. They grow gray at a younger and younger age as the soul grows more and more world-weary every time it reincarnates. That they seem abandoned by the gods and must seek their own justice may be seen all around us: it is an injunction to accept the labors of this world and become as a hero from it.

Per Plotinus and Proclus, I presume some of us mortals have tutelary daimons of the golden race, while others of us have tutelary daimons of the heroic race. Whichever they are, may we follow them whole-heartedly...