| | "Behold,...moved by your prayer I
come to you--I, the natural mother of all life, the mistress of the elements,
the first child of time, the supreme divinity, the queen of those in hell, the
first among those in heaven, the uniform manifestation of all the gods and
goddesses--I, who govern by my nod the crests of light in the sky, the purifying
wafts of the ocean, and the lamentable silences of hell--I, whose single godhead
is venerated all over the earth under manifold forms, varying rites, and
changing names. "
Apuleius, 2nd. century C.E.
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