he snatched away to be his cupbearer. And these things the sons of Cronus did. For your greatly-named son of Leto, who professed the art of prophecy, convicted himself that he is a liar. He pursued Daphne, whom he did not catch; and while throwing the discus with his beloved Hyacinthus, he did not prophesy his death. For I am silent about the manliness of Athena, and the womanliness of Dionysus, and the prostitution of Aphrodite. Read to Zeus, men of Greece, the law against parricides, and the penalty for adultery, and the shamefulness of pederasty. Teach Athena and Artemis the works of women, and Dionysus the works of men. What dignity does a woman show adorned with weapons, while a man beautifies himself with cymbals and garlands and female clothing, and performs orgies with a herd of women? For the tri-evening Alceides, the leader of contests, the one celebrated for his bravery, the son of Zeus, who slew the mighty lion and destroyed the many-headed hydra, he who killed the tireless wild boar, he who was able to bring down the man-eating birds in flight, and brought up the three-headed dog from Hades, he who was able to take down the strong wall of dung of Augeas, and having slain bulls and a stag whose nostrils breathed fire, and he who took the golden fruit from the trunk, having slain the venom-spitting serpent and Achelous (for whose sake he killed him, it is not lawful to say) and the stranger-slaying Busiris, and he who leaped over mountains to get water that gave forth articulate speech, as the story goes, he who was able to do so many and such great and mighty deeds, like a child was deafened by the cymbals of satyrs and, conquered by a woman's love, took pleasure in being beaten on the buttocks by a laughing Lydian woman, and at last, being unable to take off the tunic of Nessus, he made a pyre for himself and thus met the end of his life. Let Hephaestus put aside his jealousy, and not be envious if, being an old man and lame in his foot, he was hated, while Ares was loved, being young and beautiful. Since, therefore, men of Greece, your gods were convicted of incontinence, and your heroes are unmanly, the tragic stories among you have revealed the pollutions of Atreus and the bed of Thyestes and the abominations of the Pelopidae, and Danaus murdering out of envy and making Aegyptus childless while drunk, and the Thyestean banquets which the Furies prepared. And Procne, having been turned into a bird, wails to this day, and her sister, the daughter of Cecrops, her tongue cut out, twitters. For what need is there to speak of the goads of Oedipus, and the murder of Laius and marriage to his mother, and the mutual slaughter of his brothers who were also his children? And I have hated your festivals; for there are immoderate feastings, and polished flutes calling forth to frenzied movements, and elaborate anointings with perfumes, and the putting on of garlands. And you circumscribe your shame with such a great heap of evils, and you fill your mind, being driven to Bacchic frenzy by incontinence; and you are accustomed to engage in unholy and frenzied unions. And I would say this to you also: Why are you indignant, being a Greek, at your child, if he imitates Zeus

εἰς τὸ οἰνοχοεῖν ἀνήρπασε. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν οἱ Κρονίδαι ἐποίη σαν. Ὁ γὰρ μεγαλώνυμος ὑμῶν ὁ Λητοΐδης, ὁ μαντικὴν ἐπαγγειλάμενος, ἑαυτὸν ἤλεγξεν ὅτι ψεύδεται. ∆άφνην ἐδίω ξεν, ἣν οὐ κατέλαβε· καὶ τῷ ἐρωμένῳ αὐτοῦ Ὑακίνθῳ δισκεύων τι τὸν αὐτοῦ θάνατον οὐκ ἐμαντεύσατο. Ἀθηνᾶς γὰρ τὸ ἀνδρικὸν σιγῶ καὶ ∆ιονύσου τὸ θηλυκὸν καὶ Ἀφροδίτης τὸ πορνικόν. Ἀνάγνωτε τῷ ∆ιΐ, ἄνδρες Ἕλληνες, τὸν κατὰ πατρολῳῶν νόμον καὶ τὸ μοιχείας πρόστιμον καὶ τὴν παιδεραστίας αἰσχρότητα. ∆ιδάξατε Ἀθηνᾶν καὶ Ἄρτεμιν τὰ τῶν γυναικῶν ἔργα καὶ ∆ιόνυσον τὰ ἀνδρῶν. Τί σεμνὸν ἐπιδείκνυται γυνὴ ὅπλοις κεκοσμημένη, ἀνὴρ δὲ κυμβάλοις καὶ στέμμασι καὶ ἐσθῆτι γυναικείᾳ καλλωπιζόμενος καὶ ὀργιῶν σὺν ἀγέλῃ γυναικῶν; Τὸν γὰρ τριέσπερον Ἀλκείδην, τῶν ἀγώνων ἡγήτορα, τὸν δι' ἀνδρείαν ­δόμενον, τὸν τοῦ ∆ιὸς υἱόν, ὃς βριαρὸν κατέπεφνε λέοντα καὶ πολύκρανον ὤλεσεν ὕδραν, ὗν δ' ἄγριον ἀκάματον ὁ νεκρώσας, ὄρνιθας δ' ἀνδροβόρους ἱπταμένας καθελεῖν ὁ δυνηθείς, καὶ κύνα τρικάρηνον ἐξ ᾅδου ἀναγαγών, Aὐγείου δ' ὀχυρὸν τεῖχος σκυβάλων καθελεῖν ὁ δυνηθείς, ταύρους δὲ καὶ ἔλαφον ἀνελὼν ὧν μυξωτῆρες ἔπνεον πῦρ, καὶ καρπὸν χρύσεον στελέχους ὁ λαβών, ἑρπετὸν ἰοβόλον ἀνελὼν καὶ Ἀχελῷον (τίνος ἕνεκεν ἔκτανεν, οὐ θέμις εἰπεῖν) καὶ τὸν ξενοκτόνον Βούσιριν, καὶ ὁ ὄρη πηδήσας ἵνα λάβῃ ὕδωρ ἔναρθρον φωνὴν ἀποδιδόν, ὡς λόγος, ὁ τὰ τοσαῦτα καὶ τοιαῦτα καὶ τηλικαῦτα δρᾶσαι δυνηθείς, ὡς νήπιος ὑπὸ σατύ ρων κατακυμβαλισθεὶς καὶ ὑπὸ γυναικείου ἔρωτος ἡττηθεὶς ὑπὸ Λυδῆς γελώσης κατὰ γλουτῶν τυπτόμενος ἥδετο, καὶ τέλος, τὸν Νέσσειον χιτῶνα ἀποδύσασθαι μὴ δυνηθείς, πυρὰν κατ' αὐτοῦ αὐτὸς ποιήσας τέλος ἔλαβε τοῦ βίου. Θέτω τὸν ζῆλον Ἥφαιστος, καὶ μὴ φθονείτω εἰ πρεσβύτης ὢν καὶ κυλλὸς τὸν πόδα μεμίσητο, Ἄρης δὲ πεφίλητο νέος ὢν καὶ ὡραῖος. Ἐπεὶ οὖν, ἄνδρες Ἕλληνες, οἱ μὲν θεοὶ ὑμῶν ὑπὸ ἀκρασίας ἠλέγχθησαν, ἄνανδροι δὲ οἱ ἥρωες ὑμῶν, αἱ παρ' ὑμῖν δραματουργοὶ ἱστορίαι ἐδήλωσαν τὰ μὲν Ἀτρέως ἄγη Θυέστου τε λέχη καὶ Πελοπιδῶν μύση καὶ ∆αναὸν φθόνῳ φονεύοντα καὶ ἀτεκνοῦντα Aἴγυπτον μεμεθυσμένον καὶ τὰ Θυέστεια δεῖπνα ἃ Ἐριννύες ἤρτυον. Καὶ Πρόκνη μέχρι νῦν ἐπτερωμένη γοᾷ, καὶ ταύτης ἀδελφὴ γλωσσότμητος τέτριγεν ἡ Κεκροπίς. Τὰ γὰρ Oἰδίποδος κέντρα τί δεῖ καὶ λέγειν, καὶ τὸν Λαΐου φόνον καὶ μητρὸς γάμον, καὶ τὴν τῶν ἀδελφῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ τέκνων ἅμα ἀλληλοκτονίαν; Καὶ τὰς πανηγύρεις ὑμῶν μεμίσηκα· ἄμετροι γὰρ ἐκεῖ πλησμοναί, καὶ αὐλοὶ γλαφυροὶ ἐκκαλούμενοι πρὸς οἰ στρώδεις κινήσεις, καὶ μύρων περίεργοι χρίσεις, καὶ στεφά νων περιθέσεις. Καὶ τῷ τοσούτῳ σωρῷ τῶν κακῶν τὴν αἰδῶ περιγράφετε, καὶ νοῦν πληροῦσθε, ὑπὸ ἀκρασίας ἐκ βακχευόμενοι· καὶ ταῖς ἀνοσίαις καὶ λυσσώδεσι χρᾶσθαι εἰώ θατε μίξεσιν. Eἴποιμι δ' ἂν ὑμῖν ἔτι καὶ τοῦτο· Τί ἀγα νακτεῖς, Ἕλλην ὤν, πρὸς τὸ τέκνον σου, εἰ τὸν ∆ία μιμού