an encomiast of the good things that remain. And since men and angels followed one who was wiser than the rest because he was first-born, and they declared him a god who was rising up against the law of God, then the power of the Word disowned both the originator of the folly and those 7.3 who followed him from the way of life with him. And he who was made in the image of God becomes mortal when the more powerful spirit is separated from him; but through the transgression and ignorance the first-born is shown to be a demon, and so are those who imitated him, and his phantoms have become an army of demons, and through their free will they were delivered over to their own stupidity. 8.1 And men become the pretext for their apostasy. For having shown them a diagram of the position of the stars, like those who play with dice, they introduced fate, which is exceedingly unjust. For both the judge and the judged have come into being according to fate, and the murderers and the murdered, and the wealthy and the poor are the offspring of the same fate, and every birth, as in a theater, provided amusement to them, among whom, as Homer says, unquenchable laughter arose among the blessed gods. For those who watch gladiators, and one striving against another *** and the one who marries and corrupts boys and commits adultery, and laughs and is angry, and flees and is wounded, how will he not be considered mortal 8.2? For by the things through which they have revealed to men what sort of beings they are, through these they have urged their hearers to similar things. And indeed, have not the demons themselves, with their leader Zeus, fallen under fate, being overcome by the same passions as men? And otherwise, how should those be honored among whom there is great opposition of doctrines? For Rhea, whom those from the Phrygian mountains call Cybele, legislated the cutting off of genitals on account of her lover Attis; but Aphrodite delights in the bonds of marriage. Artemis is a sorceress, Apollo heals. And after the beheading of the Gorgon, the beloved of Poseidon, from whom the horse Pegasus and 8.3 Chrysaor sprang up, Athena and Asclepius divided the drops of blood; and the one saved with them, while the other from the same gore became a man-slayer, a war-maker. It seems to me that the Athenians, not wishing to slander her, attribute the one born from the union of Hephaestus to Earth, so that Athena might not be thought to have been deprived of her manliness on account of Hephaestus, just as Atalanta was on account of Meleager. For the _lame one_, as is likely, the one who makes _brooches_ and _curved bracelets_ for girls' ornaments, deceived the motherless and orphan maid. Poseidon sails, Ares delights in wars, Apollo is a cithara player, Dionysus rules the Thebans as a tyrant, Cronus kills a tyrant. Zeus even 8.4 has intercourse with his daughter, and the daughter conceives by him. 8.4 Eleusis will now bear witness to me, and the mystic serpent, and Orpheus who says, _put on the doors, ye profane_. Aidoneus seizes Kore, and his deeds have become mysteries; Demeter weeps for her daughter, and some are deceived on account of the Athenians. In the precinct of the son of Leto, there is something called an omphalos; but the omphalos is the tomb of Dionysus. I praise you now, O Daphne; by conquering the incontinence of Apollo, you exposed his prophetic art, because not foreknowing what concerned you, he did not profit from his own skill. Let the far-shooter tell me now how Zephyrus destroyed Hyacinthus. Zephyrus conquered him; and as the tragic poet says, _a breeze, 8.5 the most honored chariot of the gods_, being conquered by a small breeze, he lost his beloved. 9.1 Such are these demons who have defined fate. And their elementary teaching was the worship of animals. For the reptiles on the earth and the swimming creatures in the waters and the quadrupeds on the mountains, with which they spent their time, having been cast out of the heavenly way of life, these they deemed worthy of celestial honor,

τῶν δὲ μενόντων ἀγαθῶν ἐγκωμιαστής. καὶ ἐπειδή τινι φρονιμωτέρῳ παρὰ τοὺς λοιποὺς ὄντι διὰ τὸ πρωτόγονον συνεξηκολούθησαν καὶ θεὸν ἀνέδειξαν οἱ ἄνθρωποι καὶ ἄγγελοι τὸν ἐπανιστάμενον τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ θεοῦ, τότε ἡ τοῦ λόγου δύναμις τόν τε ἄρξαντα τῆς ἀπονοίας καὶ τοὺς 7.3 συνακολουθήσαντας τούτῳ τῆς σὺν αὐτῷ διαίτης παρῃτήσατο. καὶ ὁ μὲν κατ' εἰκόνα τοῦ θεοῦ γεγονὼς χωρισθέντος ἀπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ δυνατωτέρου θνητὸς γίνεται· διὰ δὲ τὴν παράβασιν καὶ τὴν ἄγνοιαν ὁ πρωτόγονος δαίμων ἀποδείκνυται καὶ τοῦτον οἱ μιμησάμενοι, τούτου δὲ τὰ φαντάσματα δαιμόνων στρατόπεδον ἀποβεβήκασι καὶ διὰ τὸ αὐτεξούσιον τῇ σφῶν ἀβελτερίᾳ παρεδόθησαν. 8.1 Ὑπόθεσις δὲ αὐτοῖς τῆς ἀποστασίας οἱ ἄνθρωποι γίνονται. διάγραμμα γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἀστροθεσίας ἀναδείξαντες ὥσπερ οἱ τοῖς κύβοις παίζοντες, τὴν εἱμαρμένην εἰσηγήσαντο λίαν ἄδικον. ὅ τε γὰρ κρίνων καὶ ὁ κρινόμενος καθ' εἱμαρμένην εἰσὶν γεγονότες, καὶ οἱ φονεύοντες καὶ οἱ φονευόμενοι καὶ οἱ πλουτοῦντες καὶ οἱ πενόμενοι τῆς αὐτῆς εἱμαρμένης ὑπάρχουσιν ἀπογεννήματα, πᾶσά τε γένεσις ὥσπερ ἐν θεάτρῳ τερπωλὴν παρέσχε τούτοις, παρ' οἷς, ὥς φησιν Ὅμηρος, ἄσβεστος δ' ἄρ' ἐνῶρτο γέλως μακάρεσσι θεοῖσιν. οἱ γὰρ τοὺς μονομαχοῦντας βλέποντες καὶ θάτερος θατέρῳ σπουδάζων *** καὶ ὁ γαμῶν καὶ παιδοφθορῶν καὶ μοιχεύων γελῶν τε καὶ ὀργιζόμενος φεύγων τε καὶ τιτρωσκόμενος πῶς οὐχὶ θνητὸς 8.2 εἶναι νομισθήσεται; δι' ὧν γὰρ ἑαυτοὺς ὁποῖοί τινες πεφύκασι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις πεφανερώκασι, διὰ τούτων τοὺς ἀκούοντας ἐπὶ τὰ ὅμοια προὐτρέψαντο. καὶ μήτι γε οἱ δαίμονες αὐτοὶ μετὰ τοῦ ἡγουμένου αὐτῶν ∆ιὸς ὑπὸ τὴν εἱμαρμένην πεπτώκασι τοῖς αὐτοῖς πάθεσιν οἷσπερ καὶ οἱ ἄνθρωποι κρατηθέντες. καὶ ἄλλως δὲ πῶς τιμητέον τούτους παρ' οἷς δογμάτων ἐναντιότης ἐστὶ πολλή; Ῥέα μὲν γάρ, ἣν οἱ ἀπὸ τῶν Φρυγίων ὀρῶν Κυβέλην φασίν, ἀποτμήσεις αἰδοίων νενομοθέτηκεν διὰ τὸν ἐρώμενον ταύτης Ἄττιν· Ἀφροδίτη δὲ γάμου πλοκαῖς ἥδεται. μάγος ἐστιν ἡ Ἄρτεμις, θεραπεύει ὁ Ἀπόλλων. καὶ μετὰ τὴν Γοργοῦς καρατομίαν τῆς Ποσειδῶνος ἐρωμένης, ἀφ' ἧς Πήγασος ὁ ἵππος καὶ 8.3 ὁ Χρυσάωρ ἀνέθορε, τὰς σταγόνας τῶν αἱμάτων ἡ Ἀθηνᾶ καὶ ὁ Ἀσκληπιὸς διενείμαντο· καὶ ὁ μὲν ἀπ' αὐτῶν ἔσωζεν, ἡ δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν ὁμοίων λύθρων ἀνθρωποκτόνος ἡ πολεμοποιὸς ἐγίνετο. ταύτην μοι δοκοῦσιν Ἀθηναῖοι μὴ βουληθέντες διαβάλλειν καὶ τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἡφαίστου μίξεως γινόμενον τῇ Γῇ προσάπτειν, ἵνα μὴ νομίζηται καθάπερ ἡ Ἀταλάντη διὰ τὸν Μελέαγρον, οὕτω καὶ ἡ Ἀθηνᾶ διὰ τὸν Ἥφαιστον τῆς ἀνδρείας ἐστερῆσθαι. ὁ γὰρ _ἀ_μ_φ_ι_γ_υ_ή_ε_ι_ς, ὡς εἰκός, ὁ _π_ό_ρ_π_α_ς καὶ _γ_ν_α_μ_π_τ_ὰ_ς_ _ἕ_λ_ι_κ_α_ς δημιουργῶν τοῖς κοροκοσμίοις ἠπάτησε τὴν ἀμήτορα παῖδα καὶ ὀρφανήν. Ποσειδῶν ναυτίλλεται, πολέμοις Ἄρης ἥδεται, κιθαριστής ἐστιν ὁ Ἀπόλλων, Θηβαίοις ∆ιόνυσος τυραννεῖ, Κρόνος τυραννοκτονεῖ. Ζεὺς καὶ 8.4 θυγατρὶ συγγίνεται, καὶ ἡ θυγάτηρ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ κυεῖ. 8.4 μαρτυρήσει μοι νῦν Ἐλευσὶς καὶ δράκων ὁ μυστικὸς καὶ Ὀρφεὺς ὁ _θ_ύ_ρ_α_ς_ _δ_'_ _ἐ_π_ί_θ_ε_σ_θ_ε_ _β_ε_β_ή_λ_ο_ι_ς λέγων. Ἀϊδωνεὺς ἁρπάζει τὴν Κόρην, καὶ αἱ πράξεις αὐτοῦ γεγόνασι μυστήρια· κλαίει ∆ημήτηρ τὴν θυγατέρα, καί τινες ἀπατῶνται διὰ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους. ἐν τῷ τεμένει τοῦ Λητοΐδου καλεῖταί τις ὀμφαλός· ὁ δ' ὀμφαλὸς τάφος ἐστὶν ∆ιονύσου. ἐπαινῶ σὲ νῦν, ὦ ∆άφνη· τὴν ἀκρασίαν τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος νικήσασα ἤλεγξας αὐτοῦ τὴν μαντικήν, ὅτι μὴ προγνοὺς τὰ περὶ σὲ τῆς αὑτοῦ τέχνης οὐκ ὤνατο. λεγέτω μοι νῦν ὁ ἑκατηβόλος πῶς Ὑάκινθον διεχρήσατο Ζέφυρος. Ζέφυρος αὐτὸν νενίκηκεν· καὶ τοῦ τραγῳδοποιοῦ λέγοντος _α_ὔ_ρ_α 8.5 _θ_ε_ῶ_ν_ _ὄ_χ_η_μ_α_ _τ_ι_μ_ι_ώ_τ_α_τ_ο_ν, ὑπὸ βραχείας αὔρας νικηθεὶς ἀπώλεσε τὸν ἐρώμενον. 9.1 Τοιοῦτοί τινές εἰσιν οἱ δαίμονες οὗτοι οἳ τὴν εἱμαρμένην ὥρισαν. στοιχείωσις δὲ αὐτοῖς ἡ ζώωσις ἦν. τὰ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἑρπετὰ καὶ τὰ ἐν τοῖς ὕδασι νηκτὰ καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τοῖς ὄρεσι τετράποδα, μεθ' ὧν ἐποιοῦντο τὴν δίαιταν ἔκβλητοι τῆς ἐν οὐρανῷ διαίτης γεγενημένοι, ταῦτα τῆς ἐπουρανίου τιμῆς ἠξίωσαν,