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Whence the gods severally sprang, whether or no they had all existed
from eternity, what forms they bore - these are questions of which the
Greeks knew nothing until the other day, so to speak. For Homer and
Hesiod were the first to compose Theogonies, and give the gods their
epithets, to allot them their several offices and occupations, and
describe their forms; and they lived but four hundred years before my
time, as I believe. As for the poets who are thought by some to be
earlier than these, they are, in my judgment, decidedly later
writers. In these matters I have the authority of the priestesses of
Dodona for the former portion of my statements; what I have said of
Homer and Hesiod is my own opinion.
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