The Titanic mode of life is the irrational mode, by which rational life is torn asunder.

It is better to acknowledge its existence everywhere, since in any case at its source there are Gods, the Titans; then also on the plane of rational life, this apparent self-determination, which seems to aim at belonging to itself alone and neither to the superior nor to the inferior, is wrought in us by the Titans; through it we tear asunder the Dionysus in ourselves, breaking up the natural continuity of our being and our partnership, so to speak, with the superior and the inferior. While in this condition, we are Titans; but when we recover that lost unity, we become Dionysus and we attain what can be truly called completeness.

Damascius, Commentary on Plato's Phaedo 1.9

"Let everyone dearly love his lawful wife and beget children by her. But let none shed the seed due his children into any other person, and let him not disgrace that which is honorable by both nature and law. For nature produced the seed for the sake of producing children, and not for the sake of lust.

A wife should be chaste and refuse impious connection with other men, for otherwise she will subject herself to the vengeance of the daimons, whose office it is to expel those to whom they are hostile from their house, and to produce hatred."

Preface to the Laws of Charondas the Catanean

Indeed, it cannot be denied that in every component of the universe there is a striving for ultimate perfection. For example, in vines or cattle we see that nature will proceed along her own path to the goal of completeness unless some outside force intervenes. We know that with painting or architecture or other arts, there is an idea of perfect workmanship. Even more so with nature as a whole it is necessary that there must be some process of moving toward completion and perfection. Of course, the many individual parts of nature at times encounter obstacles which block their path to perfect realization of their potential, but it cannot be that nature as a whole can be frustrated, since she embodies and contains all things. This is why the fourth and highest level must exist [ = divine universe], so that no external force can approach it.

It is on this fourth level that the nature of all things rests. Since this level is such that it presides over everything and nothing is able to impede it, it necessarily follows that the universe is intelligent and indeed wise.

Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods 2.35-36

Julian - Against the Galileans

I. [193-4] «(...) Then Jupiter set over her [Rome] the great philosopher Numa. This then was the excellent and upright Numa who dwelt in deserted groves and ever communed with the gods in the pure thoughts of his own heart. (...) It was he who established most of the laws concerning temple worship. Now these blessings, derived from a divine possession and inspiration, (...) were manifestly bestowed on the City by Jupiter.»

@collispalatinus

Now, the members of this small group have tasted how sweet and blessed a possession philosophy is, and at the same time they've also seen the madness of the majority and realized, in a word, that hardly anyone acts sanely in public affairs and that there is no ally with whom they might go to the aid of justice and survive, that instead they'd perish before they could profit either their city or their friends and be useless both to themselves and to others, just like a man who has fallen among wild animals and is neither willing to join them in doing injustice nor sufficiently strong to oppose the general savagery alone. Taking all this into account they lead a quiet life and do their own work. Thus, like someone who takes refuge under a little wall from a storm of dust or hail driven by the wind, the philosopher - seeing others filled with lawlessness - is satisfied if he can somehow lead his present life free from injustice and impious acts and depart from it with good hope, blameless and content.

Plato, Republic 496c-d

All these rules are brought forth as from a fountain and first principle, namely the saying, ‘be ashamed before yourself’, and this exhortation already implies the other saying, ‘know yourself’, which must be presumed for all serious practices and all forms of theoretical knowledge. Since from where should we get the knowledge that it is our duty to moderate the passions and to know reality? For there is a difficulty here, first, whether it is possible for men, and then, whether there are advantages for those who can. In fact, the upright man demonstrates just the opposite, because he gets the worst of it in the daily affairs of life by not unjustly taking from where he should not and by justly spending on what he should, and more than anyone he is prone to be easily assailable in his body, because he is not concerned with seeking power nor does he slavishly serve those in power. As a result, unless there were some other substance in us that benefits from virtue, we would hardly reject wealth or a position of power on account of virtue. For this reason also those people who consider the soul mortal speak ingeniously, rather than truthfully, about rejecting these things for the sake of virtue. Surely, if there were not something of us that should remain after death and this part by nature be capable of being adorned with truth and virtue, such a part as we say the rational soul is, our desire for noble things would not be pure. For a suspicion of the soul’s destruction robs people from the outset of their zeal for these goods and leads to bodily enjoyments, of whatever sort they may be or from whatever source they can be provided.

Hierocles of Alexandria, Commentary on the Golden Verses 10.18-20

"I beseech you, Lord, father and guide of the reason in us, remind us of our noble origin, which we were deemed worthy to receive from you. Act with us (as we are self-movers) for our purification from the body and its irrational emotions, that we may be superior to them and rule them, and that we may use them as instruments in the fitting way. Act with us also for the precise correction of the reason in us and its unification with the genuinely existent things through the light of the truth. And the third request to the Saviour: I beseech you, completely remove the mist from the eyes of our souls, 'so that we may clearly know,' as Homer says, 'both God and man.'"

Simplicius, Commentary on Epictetus' Handbook 454

And then Diomedes of the war cry prayed:
"Hear me, child of Zeus who wields the aegis, Weariless One, Athena;
if ever you stood by my father in kindness of heart
in deadly battle, now also be my friend, Athena;
and grant that I kill this man and come within spear-cast of him,
who struck me before I saw him and boasts about it, and declares that
I will not look long upon the shining light of the sun."
So he spoke, praying; and Pallas Athena heard him,
and made his limbs light and his feet and his arms above,
and standing close she addressed him with winged words:
"With good heart now, Diomedes, go to battle with the Trojans;
for in your breast I have caused to flow the mighty spirit of your father,
unshakable, such as the shield-wielding horseman Tydeus possessed.
I have taken from your eyes the mist that was before upon you,
so that you may well distinguish god and also mortal man.
Therefore now, should a god come here to test you,
do you in no way wage head-on battle with the immortal gods,
with any of the others - only if Aphrodite daughter of Zeus
comes to war, her you can wound with sharp bronze."

Homer, Iliad 5.114-132

Plutarch warns against naturalistic pseudo pagan atheists

As regards piety towards the gods, you should know that the most important point is to hold correct opinions about them, regarding them as beings who exist and govern the universe well and justly, and to have made up your mind to obey them and submit to everything that comes about, and to fall in with it of your own free will, as something that has been brought to pass by the highest intelligence.

Epictetus, Handbook 31.1

Three things, therefore, are asserted by Plato in [the Laws]; that there are Gods; that their providence extends to all things; and that they administer all things according to justice, and suffer no perversion from worse natures.

Proclus, Theology of Plato 1.13

Homeric Hymn XXIX. To Hestia

Hestia, you have obtained in the high-ceilinged homes of all parties,
Whether the immortal gods’ or humans’, who go upon earth, a
Place everlasting, respect, veneration, and honor, and worship.
Yours is a beautiful privilege also, and honor; without you
There are no banquets for mortals, for nobody pours the libation
At the beginning, of honey-sweet wine unto Hestia, first and
Last. With the slayer of Argus, the offspring of Zeus and of Maia,
Messenger unto the blessed, whose wand is of gold, handsome giver,
Live in your beautiful dwellings, endeared in your hearts to each other.
Hermes, propitious, aid us, along with august and beloved
Hestia. Both of you, knowing of men, who are born upon earth, the
Noble achievements, support them with intellect, also with vigor!
Hail to you, Cronus’s daughter, and you with the golden rod, Hermes!
I shall remember you both and an alternate hymn on this subject.

Homeric Hymn XXIV. To Hestia

Hestia, who as a housekeeper serves in the sacrosanct home of
Lordly Apollo, the long-distance archer, at excellent Pytho,
Endlessly out of the hair of your head the slick oil is exuded.
Come to this house and with spirit take heart and come unto this
dwelling.
Come with the counselor, Zeus, and grant grace, too, to this
composition.

Just wanted to add a couple of points I missed in my most recent film about the World Tree which grows from Hell: Here I also add info about the Islamic parallel of the world tree called Zaqqum (زقوم) and a Platonic parallel of the Celtic head cult, as described by Proclus and practiced by the most mystical of the theurgists.

Let me know in the comments if I missed any others!

https://odysee.com/@SurvivetheJive:c/theurgic-head:e

You might care to draw a parallel in which the entire city is analogous to the entire cosmos (for it does not follow that while a human being is a minicosmos, the city would not be a minicosmos), to split it all in two, the upper city and the lower, and to place the former alongside the heaven and the latter alongside generation. You would then find the analogy plausible in every way. Pursuing the tripartition, you would get in the city the labouring, warfaring, and guardian elements; whereas in the soul you would get the appetitive faculty that looks after the needs of the body, the spirited faculty that has been given the job of repressing all that is injurious to the animal, acting as bodyguard to what rules in us, and the rational part, which is in essence philosophical and lord over all our life. Further, in the totality of souls there is the part that labours over generation, that which helps out with the providential plans of the gods in the cosmic periphery, and that which returns to the intelligible; and among all the creatures in the cosmos there is the race of things mortal, the family of daemons, and the order of gods in heaven. These last are genuine guardians and saviours of the universe, while the daemons provide an escort for their creation, and check all the error in the cosmos, but there exists also a kind of natural providence among mortal things, which brings these into existence and conserves them in accordance with the divine intelligence.

Proclus, Commentary on the Timaeus 1.33.24-1.34.13

Other people are likely not to be aware that those who pursue philosophy aright study nothing but dying and being dead. Now if this is true, it would be absurd to be eager for nothing but this all their lives, and then to be troubled when that came for which they had all along been eagerly practicing.

Plato, Phaedo 64a

The Romans carried out their household rites in the lararium, a little sacred space within the house dedicated to the protector deities of the hearth and the family.

Lares, Penates and Genii were worshipped in the lararium; the rites were generally performed by the head of the household (pater familias) for the benefit of the family nucleus, the property and activities in general.

(Image: Lararium dated to the first century in the House of the Vettii, Pompeii)

@collispalatinus

Perhaps it’s worth clarifying that the meaning of this rather shocking statement is purification from bodily attachment. It does not suggest that life is meaningless, bad, or valueless. Indeed, it can’t mean those things, as Plato clearly felt that care for the body was important (though secondary to care of the soul) and that the state should be well ordered and protected.

See the prayer of Simplicius a few posts earlier to get some further clarity on this issue.

"Let not your feeble eyes expect to sleep
Until you have rehearsed each of the day's deeds three times:
'Where have I transgressed? what have I done? what duty not fulfilled?'
Beginning from the first go through them in detail, and then
Rebuke yourself for the mean things you have done, but delight in the good."

To honour the beings superior by nature according to their substantial rank; to accord parents and relatives the highest esteem; to welcome and befriend good men; to prevail over our bodily functions; to feel shame before oneself everywhere; to engage in justice; to know beforehand that our possessions and ephemeral lives are easily destroyed; to welcome our lot in life as assigned to us by divine judgement; to use prudent thought that is pleasing to god and to change one's thinking for the better; to practise the love of speaking, using real arguments; to be immune to deception and slavishness for the preservation of virtue; to use good counsel before we act, as a result of which our actions will be free from regret; to be pure of conceit; to pursue a life informed by knowledge; to reform the body and externals to make them cooperate with virtue. These are the prenoscriptions of the lawgiving intellect for souls. Our reflective power, after it has accepted these, becomes an untiring judge of itself, often saying to itself, 'Where have I transgressed? what have I done?', and undertaking to remember everything in orderly succession for the sake of virtue.

Hierocles, Commentary on the Golden Verses 19.3-4

For most people, [Epictetus] says, flatter women right from a young age, and honor them, addressing them as 'Ladies', with no other end in view than sleeping with them. Hence the women quite reasonably make themselves ready for this: they 'beautify themselves and put all of their hopes in this'. Nor should they be held responsible so much as the men, who honor them on this account. Hence it is necessary to provide them right from the start with the awareness that among us they would be honored for no other reason than that their characters have become orderly, and that they have subordinated themselves to their husbands through respect. For the woman who has these qualities will then easily be habituated to housework, child-rearing and caring for her husband, and the frugal life, all of which befit women who are going to be beautiful.

Simplicius, Commentary on Epictetus' Handbook 127.20-30

Gold-helmeted, strong Ares, chariot-mounted,
Hard in your will, hand, shield, and spear; bronze-armored,
Staunch city saver, bulwark of Olympus,
Father of Victory, helper of Themis,
Tyrant to enemies, leader of good men,
King over manliness! Your fiery globe whirls
Among the seven planets' tracks, your horses
Blazing forever over the third orbit.
Hear me, ally of mortals, maker of fine youth;
Rain gently from on high into my being
Brightness and martial strength. Let me have power
To shake out of my head the bitter panic,
Defeating with my mind my soul's false impulse,
And yet keep down the temper that provokes me
Toward icy strife. But, blessed god, give courage -
The kind that lives in peace among the mild laws,
Away from combat and death's savage demons.

Homeric Hymn To Ares