Sect. 3. Of Daemons.
THales (saith* 1.1 Plutarch) with Pythagoras, Plato, and the Sto∣icks hold, that Daemons are spirituall substances, and the He∣ro's souls separated from the bodies, of which sort, there are two, good, and bad, the good Hero's are the good souls, the bad, the bad. The same or∣der * 1.2 Athenagoras attests to be observed by Thales, ranking the three degrees thus: First, that of the immortall Gods, next Dae∣mons, thirdly Heroes: This was followed by Pythagoras, that the Gods were to be prefered in reverence before Daemons, Hero's before men.
He affirm'd (as Stobaeus saith) the world to be full of these Daemons. This is thought the meaning of that of* 1.3 Aristotle, repeated by Cicero, Thales thought that all things were full of Gods. The same assertion Laertius ascribes to Pythagoras,* 1.4 that all the aire is full of souls,* 1.5 which are Hero's and Daemons.
This opinion was asserted by the Greeks, before the time of Thales, particularly by Hesiod; but whether that be argument enough, to deny, that Thales had it from the Aegyptians, I que∣stion; that they held it in the same manner, we may learn by * 1.6 Iamblichus. Besides, Pythagoras and Plato (whom Plutarch joynes in this Tenet with Thales) drew their learning from the same fountain.