VIII.  Let us turn further to the Greeks also, that we may know what opinion they hold as to the true God.  The Greeks, then, because they are more subtle than the Barbarians, have gone further astray than the Barbarians; inasmuch as they have introduced many fictitious gods, and have set up some of them as males and some as females; and in that some of their gods were found who were adulterers, and did murder, and were deluded, and envious, and wrathful and passionate, and parricides, and thieves, and robbers.  And some of them, they say, were crippled and limped, and some were sorcerers, and some actually went mad, and some played on lyres, and some were given to roaming on the hills, and some even died, and some were struck dead by lightning, and some were made servants even to men, and some escaped by flight, and some were kidnapped by men, and some, indeed, were lamented and deplored by men.  And some, they say, went down to Sheol, and some were grievously wounded, and some transformed themselves into the likeness of animals to seduce the race of mortal women, and some polluted themselves7    Professor Nöldeke’s emendation, ***, in place of *** ="they were reviled,” is adopted in the translation given. by lying with males.  And some, they say, were wedded to their mothers and their sisters and their daughters.  And they say of their gods that they committed adultery with the daughters of men; and of these there was born a certain race which also was mortal.  And they say that some of the females disputed about beauty, and appeared before men for judgment.  Thus, O King, have the Greeks put forward foulness, and absurdity, and folly about their gods and about themselves, in that they have called those that are of such a nature gods, who are no gods.  And hence mankind have received incitements to commit adultery and fornication, and to steal and to practise all that is offensive and hated and abhorred.  For if they who are called their gods practised all these things which are written above, how much more should men practise them—men, who believe that their gods themselves practised them.  And owing to the foulness of this error there have happened to mankind harassing wars, and great famines, and bitter captivity, and complete desolation.  And lo! it was by reason of this alone that they suffered and that all these things came upon them; and while they endured those things they did not perceive in their mind that for their error those things came upon them.

[8] Ἔλθωμεν οὖν ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἵνα ἴδωμεν εἴ τι φρονοῦσι περὶ θεοῦ. οἱ οὖν Ἕλληνες σοφοὶ λέγοντες εἶναι ἐμωράνθησαν χεῖρον τῶν Χαλδαίων, παρεισάγοντες πολλοὺς θεοὺς γεγενῆσθαι τοὺς μὲν ἄρρενας τοὺς δὲ θηλείας παντοίων [δούλους] παθῶν καὶ παντοδαπῶν δημιουργοὺς ἀνομημάτων._οὓς ἐκεῖνοι αὐτοὶ ἐξέθεντο μοιχοὺς εἶναι καὶ φονεῖς, ὀργίλους καὶ ζηλωτὰς καὶ θυμαντικοὺς, πατροκτόνους καὶ ἀδελφοκτόνους, κλέπτας καὶ ἅρπαγας χωλοὺς καὶ κυλλοὺς καὶ φαρμακοὺς καὶ μαινομένους καὶ τούτων τινὰς μὲν τετελευτηκότας, τινὰς δὲ κεκεραυνωμένους καὶ κοπτομένους καὶ θρηνουμένους καὶ δεδουλευκότας ἀνθρώποις καὶ φυγάδας γενομένους καὶ εἰς ζῷα μεταμορφουμένους ἐπὶ πονηραῖς καὶ αἰσχραῖς μίξεσιν_ ὅθεν γελοῖα καὶ μωρὰ καὶ ἀσεβῆ παρεισήγαγον οἱ Ἕλληνες, βασιλεῦ, ῥήματα, τοὺς [τοιούτους] μὴ ὄντας προσαγορεύοντες θεοὺς κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας αὐτῶν τὰς πονηράς, ἵνα τούτους συνηγόρους ἔχοντες τῆς κακίας μοιχεύωσιν, ἁρπάζωσι, φονεύωσι καὶ τὰ δεινὰ πάντα ποιῶσιν. εἰ γὰρ οἱ θεοὶ αὐτῶν τοιαῦτα ἐποίησαν, πῶς καὶ αὐτοὶ [οἱ προσέχοντες αὐτοῖς ἄνθρωποι] οὐ τοιαῦτα πράξουσιν; ἐκ τούτων οὖν τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων τῆς πλάνης συνέβη τοῖς ἀνθρώποις πολέμους ἔχειν συχνοὺς καὶ σφαγὰς καὶ αἰχμαλωσίας πικράς.