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to men for the sake of reward. Is he then in need? which is impossible, for a god to be needy and jealous and a cithara-player. 11.2 And they introduce Artemis as his sister, being a huntress, and having a bow with a quiver, and that she roams over the mountains alone with her dogs, in order to hunt a stag or a wild boar. How then shall such a woman be a god, both a huntress and one who roams with dogs? 11.3 And they say that Aphrodite herself is also a goddess, being an adulteress. For at one time she had Ares as an adulterous lover, at another Anchises, at another Adonis, whose death she also laments, seeking her lover; whom they say even descends into Hades, in order to ransom Adonis from Persephone. Have you seen, O king, a greater folly than this? to introduce a goddess who commits adultery and laments and weeps? 11.4 And they introduce Adonis as a god, being a hunter and that he died a violent death, having been struck by a wild boar, and was not able to help himself in his misery. How then will the adulterer and hunter and one who died a violent death take care of men? 11.5 All these things and many such things and many more shameful and wicked things the Greeks introduced, O king, having fabricated them concerning their gods, things which it is not right either to say or to bring to memory at all. From which men, taking occasion from their gods, practiced all lawlessness and licentiousness and impiety, defiling both earth and air with their terrible deeds.

12.1 But the Egyptians, being more stupid and foolish than these, have erred worse than all the nations; for they were not content with the objects of worship of the Chaldeans and Greeks, but even introduced irrational animals to be gods, both those of the land and those in the water, and plants and shoots, and they were defiled in all madness and licentiousness worse than all the nations upon the earth. 12.2 For from the beginning they worshipped Isis, who had a brother and husband, Osiris, who was slain by his brother Typhon. And for this reason Isis flees with Horus her son to Byblos of Syria, seeking Osiris, bitterly lamenting, until Horus grew up and killed Typhon. 12.3-5 Therefore, neither was Isis strong enough to help her own brother and husband; nor was Osiris, being slain by Typhon, able to help himself; nor did Typhon the fratricide, being destroyed by Horus and Isis, find a way to rescue himself from death. 12.6 And having been recognized in such misfortunes, they were considered gods by the foolish Egyptians. Who, not being content even with these or the other objects of worship of the nations, also introduced irrational animals to be gods. 12.7 For some of them worshipped a sheep, some a goat, others a calf and the pig, others the raven and the hawk and the vulture and the eagle, and others the crocodile, some the cat and the dog and the wolf and the ape and the serpent and the asp, and others the onion and garlic and thorns, and the rest of created things. 12.8 And the wretched ones do not perceive concerning all these things that they have no power. For seeing their gods being eaten by other men, and being burned, and being slaughtered, and decaying, they did not understand concerning them that they are not gods.

12,9-13.1 Therefore, the Egyptians and the Chaldeans and the Greeks have erred a great error, introducing such gods and making statues of them and deifying deaf and senseless idols. 12,9-13.2 And I wonder how, seeing their gods being sawn and hewn and shortened by craftsmen, and being made old by time and falling to pieces and being melted down, they did not understand concerning them that they are not gods. For those who have no power for their own salvation, how will they take thought for men?

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ἀνθρώποις χάριν μισθοῦ. ἆρα ἐπενδεής ἐστιν; ὅπερ οὐκ ἐνδέχεται θεὸν εἶναι ἐνδεῆ καὶ ζηλωτὴν καὶ κιθαρῳδόν. 11.2 Ἄρτεμιν δὲ παρεισάγουσιν ἀδελφὴν αὐτοῦ εἶναι, κυνηγὸν οὖσαν, καὶ τόξον ἔχειν μετὰ φαρέτρας, καὶ ταύτην ῥέμβεσθαι κατὰ τῶν ὀρέων μόνην μετὰ τῶν κυνῶν, ὅπως θηρεύσῃ ἔλαφον ἢ κάπρον. πῶς οὖν ἔσται θεὸς ἡ τοιαύτη γυνὴ καὶ κυνηγὸς καὶ ῥεμβομένη μετὰ τῶν κυνῶν; 11.3 Ἀφροδίτην δὲ λέγουσι καὶ αὐτὴν θεὰν εἶναι, μοιχαλίδα οὖσαν. ποτὲ γὰρ ἔσχε μοιχὸν τὸν Ἄρην, ποτὲ δὲ Ἀγχίσην, ποτὲ δὲ Ἄδωνιν, οὗτινος καὶ τὸν θάνατον κλαίει ζητοῦσα τὸν ἐραστὴν αὐτῆς· ἣν λέγουσιν καὶ εἰς Ἅιδου καταβαίνειν, ὅπως ἐξαγοράσῃ τὸν Ἄδωνιν ἀπὸ τῆς Περσεφόνης. εἶδες, ὦ βασιλεῦ, μείζονα ταύτης ἀφροσύνην; θεὰν παρεισάγειν τὴν μοιχεύουσαν καὶ θρηνοῦσαν καὶ κλαίουσαν; 11.4 Ἄδωνιν δὲ παρεισάγουσι θεὸν εἶναι, κυνηγὸν ὄντα καὶ τοῦτον βιαίως ἀποθανεῖν πληγέντα ὑπὸ τοῦ ὑὸς ἀγρίου καὶ μὴ δυνηθέντα βοη-θῆσαι τῇ ταλαιπωρίᾳ αὐτοῦ. πῶς οὖν τῶν ἀνθρώπων φροντίδα ποιήσεται ὁ μοιχὸς καὶ κυνηγὸς καὶ βιαιοθάνατος; 11.5 ταῦτα πάντα καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα καὶ πολλῷ πλέον αἰσχρότερα καὶ πονηρότερα παρεισήγαγον οἱ Ἕλληνες, βασιλεῦ, πλάσαντες περὶ τῶν θεῶν αὐτῶν, ἃ οὔτε λέγειν θέμις οὐτ' ἐπὶ μνήμης ὅλως φέρειν. ὅθεν λαμ-βάνοντες οἱ ἄνθρωποι ἀφορμὴν ἀπὸ τῶν θεῶν αὐτῶν ἔπραττον πᾶσαν ἀνομίαν καὶ ἀσέλγειαν καὶ ἀσέβειαν καταμιαίνοντες γῆν τε καὶ ἀέρα ταῖς δειναῖς αὐτῶν πράξεσιν.

12.1 Αἰγύπτιοι δὲ ἀβελτερώτεροι καὶ ἀφρονέστεροι τούτων ὄντες χεῖρον πάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐπλανήθησαν· οὐ γὰρ ἠρκέσθησαν τοῖς τῶν Χαλδαίων καὶ Ἑλλήνων σεβάσμασιν, ἀλλ' ἔτι καὶ ἄλογα ζῷα παρεισήγαγον θεοὺς εἶναι χερσαῖά́ τε καὶ ἔνυδρα καὶ τὰ φυτὰ καὶ βλαστὰ καὶ ἐμιάνθησαν ἐν πάσῃ μανίᾳ καὶ ἀσελγείᾳ χεῖρον πάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. 12.2 ἀρχῆθεν γὰρ ἐσέβοντο τὴν Ἶσιν, ἔχουσαν ἀδελφὸν καὶ ἄνδρα τὸν Ὄσιριν, τὸν σφαγέντα ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ Τύφωνος. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο φεύγει ἡ Ἶσις μετὰ Ὥρου τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτῆς εἰς Βύβλον τῆς Συρίας ζητοῦσα τὸν Ὄσιριν, πικρῶς θρηνοῦσα, ἕως ηὔξησεν ὁ Ὧρος καὶ ἀπέκτεινε τὸν Τύφωνα. 12.3-5 οὔτε οὖν ἡ Ἶσις ἴσχυσε βοηθῆσαι τῷ ἰδίῳ ἀδελφῷ καὶ ἀνδρί· οὔτε ὁ Ὄσιρις σφαζόμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ Τύφωνος ἠδυνήθη ἀντιλαβέσθαι ἑαυτοῦ· οὔτε Τύφων ὁ ἀδελφοκτόνος, ἀπολλύμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ Ὥρου καὶ τῆς Ἴσιδος, εὐπόρησε ῥύσασθαι ἑαυτὸν τοῦ θανάτου. 12.6 καὶ ἐπὶ τοιούτοις ἀτυχήμασι γνωρισθέντες αὐτοὶ θεοὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀσυνέτων Αἰγυπτίων ἐνομίσθησαν. οἵτινες, μηδ' ἐν τοιούτοις ἀρκεσθέντες ἢ τοῖς λοιποῖς σεβάσμασι τῶν ἐθνῶν, καὶ τὰ ἄλογα ζῷα παρεισήγαγον θεοὺς εἶναι. 12.7 τινὲς γὰρ αὐτῶν ἐσεβάσθησαν πρόβατον, τινὲς δὲ τράγον, ἕτεροι δὲ μόσχον καὶ τὸν χοῖρον, ἄλλοι δὲ τὸν κόρακα καὶ τὸν ἱέρακα καὶ τὸν γῦπα καὶ τὸν ἀετόν, καὶ ἄλλοι τὸν κροκόδειλον, τινὲς δὲ τὸν αἴλουρον καὶ τὸν κύνα καὶ τὸν λύκον καὶ τὸν πίθηκον καὶ τὸν δράκοντα καὶ τὴν ἀσπίδα, καὶ ἄλλοι τὸ κρόμυον καὶ τὸ σκόροδον καὶ ἀκάνθας, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ κτίσματα. 12.8 καὶ οὐκ αἰσθάνονται οἱ ταλαίπωροι περὶ πάντων τούτων ὅτι οὐδὲν ἰσχύουσιν. ὁρῶντες γὰρ τοὺς θεοὺς αὐτῶν βιβρωσκομένους ὑπὸ ἑτέρων ἀνθρώπων καὶ καιομένους καὶ σφαττομένους καὶ σηπομένους, οὐ συνῆκαν περὶ αὐτῶν ὅτι οὐκ εἰσὶ θεοί.

12,9-13.1 Πλάνην οὖν μεγάλην ἐπλανήθησαν οἵ τε Αἰγύπτιοι καὶ οἱ Χαλδαῖοι καὶ οἱ Ἕλληνες τοιούτους παρεισάγοντες θεοὺς καὶ ἀγάλματα αὐτῶν ποιοῦντες καὶ θεοποιούμενοι τὰ κωφὰ καὶ ἀναίσθητα εἴδωλα. 12,9-13.2 καὶ θαυμάζω, πῶς ὁρῶντες τοὺς θεοὺς αὐτῶν ὑπὸ τῶν δημιουργῶν πριζομένους καὶ πελεκουμένους καὶ κολοβουμένους παλαιουμένους τε ὑπὸ τοῦ χρόνου καὶ ἀναλυομένους καὶ χωνευομένους οὐκ ἐφρόνησαν περὶ αὐτῶν ὅτι οὐκ εἰσὶ θεοί. οἵτε γὰρ περὶ τῆς ἰδίας σωτηρίας οὐδὲν ἰσχύουσι, πῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων πρόνοιαν ποιήσονται;