Who delights in just works and not unjust; And allows him who toils to exalt his own life, Ploughing the earth night and day. Sacrifice to God always, being just, Not splendid in your robes so much as in your heart. When you hear thunder, by no means flee far away, Conscious of no wrong in yourself, master; For God sees you, being present nearby. And again Plato in the Timaeus: But if anyone, examining these things in practice, were to put them to the test, he would be ignorant of the difference between human and divine nature, because God, being sufficiently knowing and at the same time able, mixes all things into one, but of men no one is capable of either of these things, neither now nor will he ever be in the future. And concerning those thought by some to partake of the holy and perfect name, which some have appropriated as gods by a vain tradition, Menander says in The Charioteer: No god walking about outside pleases me With an old woman , nor one creeping into houses On a small board. The just god ought To remain at home, saving those who established him. The same Menander in The Priestess: No god saves through a human, woman, One person by another; for if a man draws some god With cymbals to what he wishes, He who does this is greater than the god. But these are instruments of audacity and of a way of life, Invented by shameless men, Rhode, Fashioned for the ridicule of life. And in The Hated Man, again setting forth opinions about those who are accepted as gods, or rather, refuting them as not being, the same Menander: For if I could see this, and get my soul back again; for now—but where can one find gods so just, O Geta? And in The Deposit: There is unjust judgment, as it seems, even among the gods. And Euripides the tragedian in Orestes: Phoebus, who ordered the murder of a mother, Being rather ignorant of the noble and the just. We are slaves to the gods, whatever the gods are. Do you see Apollo, who, dwelling in the navel-centered seat, Dispenses a most clear oracle to mortals? We obey all that he says, And obeying him I killed her who bore me. Consider him unholy and kill him; He sinned, not I. What must I do? Or is the god not competent to save me, who refer the pollution to him.

Ὃς ἔργοις δικαίοις ἥδεται κοὐκ ἀδίκοις· Πονοῦντα δ' ἐᾷ τὸν ἴδιον ὑψῶσαι βίον, Τὴν γῆν ἀροῦντα νύκτα καὶ τὴν ἡμέραν. Θεῷ δὲ θῦε διὰ τέλους δίκαιος ὤν, Μὴ λαμπρὸς ὢν ταῖς χλαμύσιν ὡς τῇ καρδίᾳ. Βροντῆς ἀκούσας μηδαμῶς πόῤῥω φύγῃς, Μηδὲν συνειδὼς αὐτὸς αὑτῷ, δέσποτα· Ὁ γὰρ θεὸς βλέπει σε πλησίον παρών. Πάλιν τε Πλάτων ἐν Τιμαίῳ· Eἰ δέ τις τούτων ἔργῳ σκο πούμενος βάσανον λαμβάνοιτο, τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης καὶ θείας φύσεως ἠγνοηκὼς ἂν εἴη τὸ διάφορον, ὅτι θεὸς μὲν ἅπαντα εἰς ἓν συγκεράννυται, ἱκανῶς ἐπιστάμενος ἅμα καὶ δυνατὸς ὤν, ἀνδρῶν δὲ οὐδεὶς οὐδέτερα τούτων ἱκανὸς οὔτ' ἐστὶ νῦν οὔτ' εἰσαῦθις ἔσται ποτέ. Περὶ δὲ τῶν δοκούντων παρά τισι μετέχειν τοῦ ἁγίου καὶ τελείου ὀνόματος, ὅπερ παραδόσει ματαίᾳ τινὲς ἀπη νέγκαντο ὡς θεοί, Μένανδρος ἐν Ἡνιόχῳ λέγει· Oὐθείς μ' ἀρέσκει περιπατῶν ἔξω θεὸς Μετὰ γραός , οὐδ' εἰς οἰκίας παρέρπων Ἐπὶ τοῦ σανιδίου. Τὸν δίκαιον δεῖ θεὸν Oἴκοι μένειν σώζοντα τοὺς ἱδρυμένους. Ὁ αὐτὸς Μένανδρος ἐν Ἱερείᾳ· Oὐθεὶς δι' ἀνθρώπου θεὸς σώζει, γύναι, Ἑτέρου τὸν ἕτερον· εἰ γὰρ ἕλκει τινὰ θεὸν Τοῖς κυμβάλοις ἄνθρωπος εἰς ὃ βούλεται, Ὁ τοῦτο ποιῶν ἐστι μείζων τοῦ θεοῦ. Ἀλλ' ἔστι τόλμης καὶ βίου ταῦτ' ὄργανα, Eὑρημέν' ἀνθρώποις ἀναιδέσιν, Ῥόδη, Eἰς καταγέλωτα τῷ βίῳ πεπλασμένα. Ἐν Μισουμένῳ δὲ πάλιν ἀποφαίνων περὶ τῶν εἰς θεοὺς πα ραλαμβανομένων τὰς γνώμας, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐλέγχων ὡς οὐκ ὄντας, ὁ αὐτὸς Μένανδρος· Eἰ γὰρ ἐπίδοιμι τοῦτο, καὶ ψυχὴν πάλιν Λάβοιμ' ἐγώ· νυνὶ γὰρ-ἀλλὰ ποῦ θεοὺς Oὕτως δικαίους ἔστιν εὑρεῖν, ὦ Γέτα; Καὶ ἐν Παρακαταθήκῃ· Ἔστι κρίσις ἄδικος, ὡς ἔοικε, κἀν θεοῖς. Καὶ Eὐριπίδης ὁ τραγῳδιογράφος ἐν Ὀρέστῃ· Φοῖβος κελεύσας μητρὸς ἐκπρᾶξαι φόνον, Ἀμαθέστερός γ' ὢν τοῦ καλοῦ καὶ τῆς δίκης. ∆ουλεύομεν θεοῖς, ὅ τι ποτ' εἰσὶ θεοί. Ὁρᾷς δ' Ἀπόλλων', ὃς μεσομφάλους ἕδρας Ναίων βροτοῖσι στόμα νέμει σαφέστατον; Ὧι πειθόμεσθα πάνθ' ὅσ' ἂν κεῖνος λέγῃ, Τούτῳ πιθόμενος τὴν τεκοῦσαν ἔκτανον. Ἐκεῖνον ἡγεῖσθ' ἀνόσιον καὶ κτείνετε· Ἐκεῖνος ἥμαρτ', οὐκ ἐγώ. Τί χρή με δρᾶν; Ἢ οὐκ ἀξιόχρεως ὁ θεὸς ἀναφέροντί μοι Μίασμα σῶσαι.