To Autolycus 2.5

So the opinions of the philosophers and writers do not agree. While they declared these views, the poet Homer is found introducing, on another theory, the origin not only of the world but also of the gods. He says somewhere: “Ocean, origin of the gods, and mother Tethys, from whom come all the rivers and every sea.” In saying this he no longer establishes a god; for who does not know that Ocean is water? And if water, then not a god. God, if he is the Maker of all things, as indeed he is, is also the Creator of water and of the seas. Hesiod too told of the origin not only of the gods but also of the world itself. And though he said the world was created, he lacked the strength to say by whom it was made. Moreover he said that the gods were Kronos, and Zeus his son, and Poseidon and Pluto; and we find that these are later than the world. He also relates that Kronos was warred upon by Zeus, his own son. For he says: “Having conquered by might his father Kronos; and he ordered all things well for the immortals alike and appointed their honors.” Then he goes on to tell of the daughters of Zeus, whom he calls the Muses, and he is found as their suppliant, wishing to learn from them how all things came into being. For he says: “Hail, children of Zeus, and grant me lovely song; celebrate the holy race of the immortals who are forever, who were born of Earth and starry Heaven and dark Night, and whom the salt Sea nourished. Tell how at first the gods and earth came to be, and the rivers and the boundless sea raging with its swell, and the shining stars and the wide heaven above; how they divided their wealth and shared out their honors, and how at first they took possession of Olympus with its many folds. Tell me these things, you Muses who have your homes on Olympus, from the beginning, and say which of them first came to be.” But how did the Muses know these things, since they were later than the world? Or how could they tell them to Hesiod, when their father had not yet been born?