Note 64 — Chapter XIII · THE RELATION OF THE STOIC PHILOSOPHY TO RELIGION.

We learn from Ps. Plut. De Fluv. 5, 3, p. 1003, that Cleanthes wrote a θεομαχία, a small fragment of which, containing a portion or the Prometheus legend in a later and evidently apologetically moulded form, is there preserved. The theomachy described by Cleanthes (the Stoic Cleanthes seems to be meant) is, however, not the Homeric theomachy, but the struggle of the Gods with the Giants and Titans, described in the book περὶ γιγάντων (Diog. vii. 175). Perhaps on this occasion he may have discussed the other. At any rate the moral interpretation given by Heraclitus to Homer’s θεομαχία is quite in the style of the interpretation of the legend of Hercules, and was probably borrowed from Cleanthes. ↑