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thinking them to be gods, but also to be the cause of the other things that came after them; then, descending further in their dark reasonings, they addressed the aether and the air and the things in the air as gods. And advancing in evil, they now hymned as gods even the elements, and the principles of the constitution of bodies, the hot and the cold and the dry and the wet substance. And just as those who have completely fallen wallow in the mud around the earth like snails on the land; so the most impious of men, having fallen and fallen away from the conception of God, finally set up as gods even men and the forms of men, some still living, and others after death. And yet devising and reasoning worse things, they now transferred the divine and super-cosmic title of God even to stones, and wood and reptiles, both those in the water and those on land, and to the savage beasts of the irrational animals, bestowing on them all the honor of God, and turning away from the true and really existing God, the Father of Christ. Would that the audacity of these foolish ones had stopped even at this, and that they had not gone further to defile themselves with impieties. For some have so fallen in their understanding and have been darkened in their mind, that even things which do not exist at all in any way, nor appear among things that have come to be, they have nevertheless contrived for themselves and deified. For having mixed the rational with the irrational, and having sown together things dissimilar in nature, they worship them as gods; such are the dog-headed and serpent-headed and donkey-headed figures among the Egyptians, and the ram-headed Ammon among the Libyans. But others, having divided the parts of bodies—a head and a shoulder and a hand and a foot—by themselves, set up each as gods and deified them, as if not content to have their worship from the entire whole body. And others, intensifying their impiety, as the pretext for the invention of these things and of their own evil, worship pleasure and desire, having deified them; such is the Eros among them, and the Aphrodite in Paphos. And some of them, as if striving for what is worse, dared to set up as gods their own rulers or even the children of these, either on account of honor for their rulers or on account of fear of their tyranny; such as the famous Zeus among them in Crete, and Hermes in Arcadia, and Dionysus among the Indians, and among the Egyptians, Isis, and Osiris, and Horus, and the now Antinous, the favorite of Hadrian the emperor of the Romans, whom they worship on account of fear of the one who commanded it, though knowing him to be a man, and not a respectable man, but full of licentiousness. For when Hadrian visited the land of the Egyptians, upon the death of Antinous, the servant of his pleasure, he commanded him to be worshipped, himself loving the boy even after death, but nevertheless providing a refutation against himself, and a mark against all idolatry, that it was invented among men for no other reason than through the desire of its fabricators, as also the wisdom of God testifies beforehand, saying: The devising of idols was the beginning of fornication. And do not be surprised nor think what is said to be far from belief, when indeed not long before, or perhaps even until now, the Senate of the Romans decrees those emperors who have ever ruled them from the beginning—either all, or whomever they themselves wish and judge—to be among the gods, and writes that they are to be worshipped as gods. For those whom they hate, they confess to be enemies by nature, and call them men; but those who are agreeable to them, they command to be worshipped on account of their manliness, as if having it in their power to deify, being men themselves, and not denying that they are mortal. But it were necessary that they, making gods, should themselves rather be gods; for that which makes must be better than that which is made, and he who judges of necessity rules him who is judged, and he who gives in any case bestows what he has; just as surely also every king bestows what he has, and is better and greater than those who receive. If therefore they decree whomever they wish to be gods, it were necessary that they themselves first be

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θεοὺς εἶναι νομίζοντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν μετ' αὐτοὺς αἰτίους τυγχάνειν· εἶτ', ἐπικαταβαίνοντες τοῖς σκοτεινοῖς λογισμοῖς, αἰθέρα καὶ τὸν ἀέρα καὶ τὰ ἐν τῷ ἀέρι προσηγόρευσαν θεούς. προβαίνοντες δὲ τοῖς κακοῖς, ἤδη καὶ τὰ στοιχεῖα, καὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς τῆς τῶν σωμάτων συστάσεως, τὴν θερμὴν καὶ τὴν ψυχρὰν καὶ τὴν ξηρὰν καὶ τὴν ὑγρὰν οὐσίαν θεοὺς ἀνύμνησαν. ὡς δὲ οἱ τέλεον πεσόντες περὶ τὴν γῆν ἰλυσπῶνται δίκην τῶν ἐν τῇ χέρσῳ κοχλιῶν· οὕτως οἱ ἀσεβέστατοι τῶν ἀνθρώπων, πεσόντες καὶ καταπεσόντες ἀπὸ τῆς περὶ Θεοῦ φαντασίας, λοιπὸν καὶ ἀνθρώπους καὶ ἀνθρώπων μορφάς, τῶν μὲν ἔτι ζώντων, τῶν δὲ καὶ μετὰ θάνατον εἰς θεοὺς ἀνέθηκαν. ἔτι δὲ καὶ χείρονα βουλευόμενοι καὶ λογιζόμενοι, ἤδη καὶ εἰς λίθους, καὶ ξύλα καὶ ἑρπετά, ἔνυδρά τε καὶ χερσαῖα, καὶ εἰς τὰ τῶν ἀλόγων ἀνήμερα ζῶα, τὴν θείαν καὶ ὑπερκόσμιον τοῦ Θεοῦ προσηγορίαν μετήνεγκαν, πᾶσαν τιμὴν αὐτοῖς Θεοῦ ἀπονέμοντες, καὶ τὸν ἀληθινὸν καὶ ὄντως ὄντα Θεὸν τὸν τοῦ Χριστοῦ Πατέρα ἀποστρεφόμενοι. Εἴθε δὲ κἂν μέχρι τούτων εἱστήκει τῶν ἀφρόνων ἡ τόλμα, καὶ μὴ περαιτέρω βαίνοντες ἑαυτοὺς ταῖς ἀσεβείαις ἐνέφυρον. τοσοῦτον γάρ τινες καταπεπτώκασι τῇ διανοίᾳ καὶ ἐσκοτίσθησαν τὸν νοῦν, ὥστε καὶ τὰ μηδ' ὅλως μηδαμῶς ὑπάρχοντα, μηδὲ ἐν τοῖς γενο μένοις φαινόμενα, ὅμως ἑαυτοῖς ἐπινοῆσαι καὶ θεοποιῆσαι. λογικὰ γὰρ ἀλόγοις ἐπιμίξαντες, καὶ ἀνόμοια τῇ φύσει ἐνείραντες ὡς θεοὺς θρησκεύουσιν· οἷοί εἰσιν οἱ παρ' Αἰγυπτίοις κυνοκέφαλοι καὶ ὀφιο κέφαλοι καὶ ὀνοκέφαλοι, καὶ ὁ παρὰ Λίβυσι κριοκέφαλος Ἄμμων. ἄλλοι δὲ τὰ μέρη τῶν σωμάτων, κεφαλὴν καὶ ὦμον καὶ χεῖρα καὶ πόδα καθ' ἑαυτὰ διελόντες, ἕκαστον εἰς θεοὺς ἀνέθηκαν καὶ ἐξεθεία σαν, ὥσπερ οὐκ ἀρκούμενοι ἐξ ὁλοκλήρου τοῦ ὅλου σώματος ἔχειν τὴν θρησκείαν. ἐπιτείνοντες δὲ τὴν ἀσέβειαν ἕτεροι, τὴν πρόφασιν τῆς τούτων εὑρέσεως καὶ τῆς ἑαυτῶν κακίας τὴν ἡδονὴν καὶ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν θεοποιήσαντες προσκυνοῦσιν· οἷός ἐστιν ὁ παρ' αὐτοῖς Ἔρως, καὶ ἡ ἐν Πάφῳ Ἀφροδίτη. οἱ δὲ αὐτῶν, ὥσπερ φιλοτιμούμενοι τοῖς χείροσιν, ἐτόλμησαν τοὺς παρ' αὐτῶν ἄρχοντας ἢ καὶ τοὺς τούτων παῖδας εἰς θεοὺς ἀναθεῖναι, ἢ διὰ τιμὴν τῶν ἀρξάντων ἢ διὰ φόβον τῆς αὐτῶν τυραννίδος· ὡς ὁ ἐν Κρήτῃ παρ' αὐτοῖς περιβόητος Ζεύς, καὶ ἐν Ἀρκαδίᾳ Ἑρμῆς καὶ παρὰ μὲν Ἰνδοῖς ∆ιόνυσος, παραδὲ Αἰγυπτίοις Ἶσις, καὶ Ὄσιρις, καὶ Ὧρος, καὶ ὁ νῦν Ἀδριανοῦ τουῬωμαίων βασιλέως παιδικὸς Ἀντίνοος, ὃν καίπερ εἰδότες ἄνθρωπον, καὶ ἄνθρωπον οὐ σεμνόν, ἀλλ' ἀσελγείας ἔμπλεων, διὰ φόβον τοῦ προστάξαντος σέβουσιν. ἐπιδημήσας γὰρ Ἀδριανὸς τῇ χώρᾳ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων, τελευτήσαντα τὸν τῆς ἡδονῆς αὐτοῦ ὑπηρέτην Ἀντίνοον ἐκέλευσε θρησκεύεσθαι, αὐτὸς μὲν καὶ μετὰ θάνατον ἐρῶν τοῦ παιδός, ἔλεγχον δὲ ὅμως καθ' ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ γνώρισμα κατὰ πάσης εἰδωλο λατρείας παρέχων, ὅτι οὐκ ἄλλως ἐφευρέθη παρὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις αὕτη ἢ δι' ἐπιθυμίαν τῶν πλασαμένων, καθὼς καὶ ἡ σοφία τοῦ Θεοῦ προμαρτύρεται λέγουσα· Ἀρχὴ πορνείας ἐπίνοια εἰδώλων. Καὶ μήτοι θαυμάσῃς μηδὲ μακρὰν πίστεως νομίσῃς εἶναι τὸ λεγόμενον, ὅπου γε καὶ οὐ πολλῷ πρότερον, ἢ τάχα καὶ μέχρι νῦν ἡ Ῥωμαίων σύγκλητος τοὺς πώποτε αὐτῶν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἄρξαντας βασιλέας, ἢ πάντας, ἢ οὓς ἂν αὐτοὶ βούλωνται καὶ κρίνωσι, δογ ματίζουσιν ἐν θεοῖς εἶναι, καὶ θρησκεύεσθαι θεοὺς γράφουσιν. οἷς μὲν γὰρ ἀπεχθάνονται, τούτους ὡς πολεμίους τὴν φύσιν ὁμολογοῦσι, καὶ ἀνθρώπους ὀνομάζουσιν· οὓς δὲ καταθυμίους ἔχουσι, τούτους δι' ἀνδραγαθίαν θρησκεύεσθαι προστάττουσιν, ὥσπερ ἐπ' ἐξουσίας ἔχον τες τὸ θεοποιεῖν, αὐτοὶ ἄνθρωποι τυγχάνοντες, καὶ εἶναι θνητοὶ μὴ ἀρνούμενοι. ἔδει δὲ θεοποιοῦντας αὐτοὺς μᾶλλον αὐτοὺς εἶναι θεούς· τὸ γὰρ ποιοῦν τοῦ ποιουμένου κρεῖττον εἶναι δεῖ, καὶ ὁ κρίνων τοῦ κρινομένου ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἄρχει, καὶ ὁ διδοὺς πάντως ὃ ἔχει χαρίζε ται· ὥσπερ ἀμέλει καὶ πᾶς βασιλεὺς ὃ μὲν ἔχει χαρίζεται, τῶν δὲ λαμβανόντων κρείττων καὶ μείζων ἐστίν. εἴπερ οὖν οὓς θέλουσιν αὐτοὶ τούτους θεοὺς δογματίζουσιν εἶναι, ἔδει καὶ αὐτοὺς πρῶτον εἶναι