- [Footnote: *sented also something divine, a god, and when honor was to be shown
to this god, then fire was as much the subject as the object of the sacrifice. Hence the first conception, that Agni sacrificed itself, i.e. that it produced for itself its own sacrifice, and next that it brings itself to the sacrifice." The contact of this line of thought with the Christian symbol is plainly apparent. Krishna utters the same thought in the "Bhagavad-Gîtâ," b. IV (translated by Arnold, London 1910):
"All's then God!
The sacrifice is Brahm, the ghee and grain
Are Brahm, the fire is Brahm, the flesh it eats
Is Brahm, and unto Brahm attaineth he
Who, in such office, meditates on Brahm."
The wise Diotima sees behind this symbol of fire (in Plato's symposium, c. 23). She teaches Socrates that Eros is "the intermediate being between mortals and immortals, a great Demon, dear Socrates; for everything demoniac is just the intermediate link between God and man." Eros has the task "of being interpreter and messenger from men to the gods, and from the gods to men, from the former for their prayers and sacrifices, from the latter for their commands and for their compensations for the sacrifices, and thus filling up the gap between both, so that through his mediation the whole is bound together with itself." Eros is a son of Penia (poverty, need) generated by Poros intoxicated with nectar. The meaning of Poros is dark; [Greek: po/ros] means way and hole, opening. Zielinski: "Arch. f. Rel. Wissensch.," IX, 43 ff., places him with Phoroneus, identical with the fire-bringer, who is held in doubt; others identify him with primal chaos, whereas others read arbitrarily [Greek: Ko/ros] and [Greek: Mo/ros]. Under these circumstances, the question arises whether there may not be sought behind it a relatively simple sexual symbolism. Eros would be then simply the son of Need and of the female genitals, for this door is the beginning and birthplace of fire. Diotima gives an excellent description of Eros: "He is manly, daring, persevering, a strong hunter (archer, compare below) and an incessant intriguer, who is constantly striving after wisdom,—a powerful sorcerer, poison mixer and sophist; and he is respected neither as an immortal nor as a mortal, but on the same day he first blooms and blossoms, when he has attained the fulness of the striving, then dies in it but always awakens again to life because of the nature of his father (rebirth!); attainment, however, always tears him down again." For this characterization, compare Chs. V, VI and VII of this work.]
