¶The steeds that bear me carried me as far as ever my spirit desired when it brought me to the much-renowned pathway of the Goddess, who directs the knowing man through all things. Along this way I was conveyed, for by this way the wise steeds bore me, drawing my chariot, while maidens led the way.
¶The axle, glowing in its socket, gave forth the sound of a pipe as it whirled around, for it was pressed hard on either side by the two well-turned wheels at each end, as the daughters of the Sun hastened to escort me, leaving the halls of Night for the light.
¶There stands the gate of the paths of Night and Day, held fast in place by a lintel and a threshold of stone. The gates themselves are filled with great doors, and avenging Justice holds the alternate keys. The maidens with gentle words cunningly persuaded her to push back the bolted bar swiftly from the gates.
¶And they flung the doors wide open, revealing a yawning gap between them, swinging the bronze hinges in their sockets this way and that, fast fixed with dowels and nails. Then, through these gates, the maidens held the chariot and horses straight along the broad way.
¶And the Goddess received me kindly, took my right hand in hers, and spoke these words: 'Young man, you who come to my house in the company of immortal charioteers and the steeds that bring you, welcome—for it is no ill fortune that sent you forth to travel this road (far indeed does it lie from the beaten paths of men), but Right and Justice.'
¶'You must learn all things—both the unshaken heart of well-rounded Truth and the opinions of mortals, in which there is no true reliance. Yet these too you shall learn, seeing that appearances must be plausible, being always with what is.'
¶Thus, with these words, the Goddess begins her demonstration: that what is, is, and cannot not be; that what is not, is not, and cannot be thought. For the same thing is there both to be thought and to be.