Theophanies of the Ancients

Furthermore, on the part of the men to whom the Gods wished to appear, it was necessary that their finite and physical eyes be raised up, illuminated, and preserved by a certain singular and divine grace and power. This was due to the subtlety Latin: subtilitatem; in this context, it refers to a light so refined and "thin" that it is beyond the density of physical matter. of the light radiating from the nature of the Gods through the assumed body—a divine splendor which finite and physical eyes were, by themselves, unfit and incapable of beholding. This very point is quite elegantly explained in a passage by Iamblichus, Section II, chapter 8: The appearing Gods shed such a subtlety of light that physical eyes cannot endure it; indeed, they suffer the same fate as fish that are pulled out of murky and thick water into pure and clear air. For men who gaze upon the divine fire, being unable to breathe due to the subtlety of that divine fire, faint in their spirits as soon as they see it, their natural breath being cut off. original Greek: Τὴν λεπτότητα τοῦ Φωτὸς... original Latin: Tantam subtilitatem lucis... Iamblichus uses the analogy of a fish out of water to describe the "rarefied" atmosphere of a divine encounter.

However, since not all men whatsoever—as we have said—could see the appearing Gods with finite and physical eyes (unless they were illuminated and raised up by a peculiar divine grace), and since the Gods manifested themselves according to their own will to whomever they wished, as Proclus, already cited, teaches in Book II of his commentary on the Republic, page 358, saying: These things (the assumed bodies) both become manifest and become invisible according to the will of the Gods. original Greek: ταῦτα μὲν οὖν (σχήματα) καὶ Φαίνεται... original Latin: Ea autem (assumta corpora) & manifesta fiunt... From which it also follows that Homer asks: