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having been driven out of the kingdom by his own son, Zeus, having gone down into the west, he rules Italy. Then Zeus, having withdrawn from the Assyrians 1.29 comes to his father; and he yields to him to rule Italy. And having reigned for many years, then having died, he is laid to rest in Crete. And after Ninus, Thourus reigned over the Assyrians, who was also called Ares as he was most warlike; him the Assyrians, having renamed the god Baal or Bel, and having erected a stele, worship. And after the death of Zeus, Faunus his son reigned, who was renamed Hermes; for he was very rational and mathematical; who also discovered the nature of gold from metals for men. However, Aphrodite, called rational and diverse, was married to Adonis the son of Cinyras, he too being a philosopher; whom they are recorded to have lived with one another, philosophizing until death. And after Picus, also called Zeus, had reigned over the Assyrians for thirty years, having left his son named Belus and Hera his wife and sister in charge, he comes to his father Cronus, who had already grown old and was worn out; to whom he also immediately yields the kingdom, and he, being powerful, is said to have reigned over Italy for another sixty-two years. But Belus the son was so called because he was swift in motion, and having reigned over the Assyrians for two years, he dies. And Ninus his uncle, having become master of the realm, reigned over the Assyrians for 52 years. Therefore from his race also Zoroaster, the renowned astronomer, having been born among the Persians, prayed to be struck by aerial fire and consumed, having commanded the Persians 1.30 to take up his bones after the burning and to guard and honor them; and as long as, he says, you shall keep these safe, the kingdom of your country will not fail. So then, when he was consumed by heavenly fire, the Persians held his remains in honor, until, having become contemptuous of them, they also fell from the kingdom. Therefore, after Ninus, the brother of Zeus, Thourus reigns over the Assyrians. Him his father Zames, who was the brother of Rhea, called Ares, after the name of the wandering star. And this Ares was a bitter and exceedingly unconquerable warrior, who, having attacked a certain powerful giant-born man Caucasus, sprung from the tribe of Japheth, and having defeated him in war and killed him, took over his country, and having come to Thrace and having died, is buried there. To this Ares the Assyrians erected the first stele, and they worship him as a god, naming him Baal, which is interpreted Ares, god of wars. After him Lamis reigned over the Assyrians, then Sardanapalus the great, whom Perseus, the son of Zeus and Danae, having killed, and having taken away the kingdom from the Assyrians, renamed them Persians after his own name, and reigned over them for 53 years. But let it not escape any of the men who profess the truth, that this Picus, Zeus, of all men who have arisen since the beginning of time—deceivers, sorcerers, illusionists, terrible magicians, abominable men, performers of outrageous rites—was himself more abominable and 1.31 more potent and more detestable, with adulteries and passions for men and all unspeakable acts and pollutions and impurities and all lawless deeds and most accursed shameful acts, having been occupied from infancy until one hundred and twenty years of his life (for they say he lived so long), having surpassed all the lawless ones before him and after him. For a god-fighting spirit and the most unclean of all evil spirits was upon him, who, having reigned over Italy for many years through the exceeding long-suffering of the highest and only God, and having corrupted all the beautiful maidens, as many as he saw with lecherous eyes, numbering to 70, and having relations with many of them with unspeakable and mystic illusions, not only so but also with most of his own daughters, he persuaded the many that this one should be famed and proclaimed as a god. and what is yet worse than this and more monstrous, that also after the

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ἐξωσθεὶς τῆς βασιλείας ὑπὸ τοῦ ἰδίου υἱοῦ ∆ιός, κατελθὼν ἐν τῇ δύσει κρατεῖ τῆς Ἰταλίας. εἶτα ὁ Ζεὺς ὑποχωρήσας τῶν Ἀσσυρίων 1.29 παραγίνεται πρὸς τὸν πατέρα· ὁ δὲ παραχωρεῖ αὐτῷ βασιλεύειν τῆς Ἰταλίας. καὶ πολλοῖς ἔτεσι βασιλεύσας, εἶτα τελευτήσας κατατίθεται ἐν τῇ Κρήτῃ. μετὰ δὲ Νῖνον ἐβασίλευσε τῶν Ἀσσυ ρίων Θοῦρος ὁ καὶ Ἄρης κληθεὶς ὡς πολεμικώτατος, τοῦτον οἱ Ἀσσύριοι Βάαλ θεὸν ἤτοι Βῆλ μετονομάσαντες καὶ ἀναστηλώ σαντες σέβονται. μετὰ δὲ τὴν τοῦ ∆ιὸς τελευτὴν Φαῦνος ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ ἐβασίλευσεν, ὃς μετωνομάσθη Ἑρμῆς· ἦν γὰρ λογικώτα τος πάνυ καὶ μαθηματικός· ὃς καὶ τοῦ χρυσοῦ τὴν φύσιν ἐξεῦρεν ἐκ μετάλλων ἀνθρώποις. ἡ μέντοι Ἀφροδίτη λογικὴ καὶ ποικίλη λεγομένη ἐγαμήθη τῷ Ἀδώνιδι τῷ υἱῷ τοῦ Κινύρου, φιλοσόφῳ ὄντι καὶ αὐτῷ· οὓς καὶ ἄχρι θανάτου φιλοσοφοῦντας σὺν ἀλλή λοις βιῶσαι ἱστοροῦσι. μετὰ δὲ τὸ βασιλεῦσαι Ἀσσυρίων Πῖκον τὸν καὶ ∆ία ἔτη τριάκοντα, τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ Βῆλον ὀνομαζόμενον καὶ Ἥραν τὴν γυναῖκα τὴν καὶ ἀδελφὴν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς καταλιπὼν πρὸς τὸν αὐτοῦ πατέρα Κρόνον παραγίνεται, ἤδη γεγηρακότα καὶ ταλαιπωρήσαντα· ᾧ καὶ παραχωρεῖ τῆς βασιλείας εὐθύς, καὶ οὗτος δυνατὸς ὢν ἄλλα ἔτη ἑξήκοντα δύο κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν βασι λεῦσαι λέγεται. Βῆλος δὲ ὁ υἱὸς διὰ τὸ ὀξυκίνητος εἶναι οὕτως ἐκλήθη, καὶ δύο ἔτη βεβασιλευκὼς Ἀσσυρίων τελευτᾷ. Νῖνος δὲ ὁ τούτου θεῖος ἐγκρατὴς γενόμενος τῆς ἀρχῆς νβʹ ἔτη τῶν Ἀσσυ ρίων ἐβασίλευσεν. ἐκ τοῦ γένους οὖν αὐτοῦ καὶ Ζωροάστρης ὁ περιβόητος ἀστρόνομος ἐν Πέρσαις γενόμενος ηὔξατο ὑπὸ πυρὸς ἀερίου κεραυνωθῆναι καὶ ἀναλωθῆναι, ἐντειλάμενος τοῖς Πέρσαις 1.30 τὰ ὀστᾶ αὐτοῦ μετὰ τὴν καῦσιν ἀναλαβεῖν καὶ φυλάττειν αὐτοὺς καὶ τιμᾶν· καὶ ἕως οὗ, φησί, σώσεσθε ταῦτα, τὸ βασίλειον τῆς ὑμῶν χώρας οὐκ ἐκλείψει. οὕτως οὖν τούτου πυρὶ οὐρανίῳ τε φρωθέντος τὰ λείψανα αὐτοῦ διὰ τιμῆς εἶχον οἱ Πέρσαι, ἕως τού του καταφρονήσαντες καὶ τῆς βασιλείας ἐξέπεσον. τοίνυν μετὰ Νῖνον τὸν τοῦ ∆ιὸς ἀδελφὸν Θοῦρος τῶν Ἀσσυρίων βασιλεύει. τοῦτον ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ Ζάμις, ὃς ἦν τῆς Ῥέας ἀδελφός, ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ πλάνητος ἀστέρος Ἄρεα ἐκάλεσεν. ἦν δὲ ὁ Ἄρης οὗτος πικρὸς καὶ ἄγαν δυσκαταγώνιστος πολεμιστής, ὃς Καυκάσῳ τινὶ ἀνδρὶ γιγαντογενεῖ δυνατῷ, ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς Ἰάφεθ ὡρμημένῳ, ἐπελθὼν καὶ καταπολεμήσας καὶ ἀνελὼν παρέλαβε τὴν χώραν αὐ τοῦ, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν Θρᾴκην ἐλθὼν καὶ τελευτήσας ἐκεῖ θάπτεται. τούτῳ τῷ Ἄρεϊ πρώτην στήλην ἀνέστησαν οἱ Ἀσσύριοι, καὶ ὡς θεὸν προσκυνοῦσι, Βάαλ ὀνομάζοντες, ὃ ἑρμηνεύεται Ἄρης πολέμων θεός. μετὰ τοῦτον Λάμις τῶν Ἀσσυρίων ἐβασίλευσεν, εἶτα Σαρδανάπαλος ὁ μέγας, ὃν καὶ ὁ ∆ιὸς καὶ ∆ανάης υἱὸς Περσεὺς ἀποκτείνας, καὶ ἀπὸ Ἀσσυρίων τὴν βασιλείαν ἀφελόμενος, εἰς τὸ ἴδιον ὄνομα Πέρσας μετωνόμασεν αὐτούς, καὶ ἐβασίλευσεν αὐτῶν ἔτη νγʹ. Μὴ λανθανέτω δὲ μηδένα ἀνθρώπων τῶν ἀληθείας ἀντι ποιουμένων, ὅτι Πῖκος οὗτος ὁ Ζεὺς πάντων ἀνθρώπων τῶν ἀπ' αἰῶνος ἐξεγηγερμένων πλάνων, γοήτων, φαντασιαστῶν, μάγων δεινῶν, μυσαρῶν, τελεστῶν ἐκτόπων, αὐτὸς ἦν μυσαρώτερος καὶ 1.31 δραστικώτερος καὶ βδελυρώτερος, μοιχείαις καὶ ἀνδρομανίαις καὶ ἀρρητοποιίαις τε πάσαις καὶ μιαρίαις καὶ ἀκαθαρσίαις καὶ πάσαις ἀθεμιτουργίαις καὶ αἰσχρουργίαις ἐναγεστάταις ἐκ νηπίου ἕως ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι χρόνων τῆς ζωῆς αὐτοῦ (τοσαῦτα γάρ φασιν αὐτὸν ζῆσαι) ἐσχολακώς, πάντας τοὺς πρὸ αὐτοῦ καὶ μετ' αὐτὸν ἀθεμίτους ὑπερβα λών. πνεῦμα γὰρ θεομάχον καὶ ἀκαθαρτότατον πάντων πνευμάτων πονηρῶν ἦν ἐπ' αὐτῷ, ὃς ἐπὶ πλείους χρόνους τῆς Ἰταλίας βασι λεύσας δι' ὑπερβολὴν τοῦ ὑψίστου καὶ μόνου θεοῦ μακροθυμίας, καὶ πάσας κόρας ὡραίας, ὅσας λίχνοις εἶδεν ὀφθαλμοῖς, δια φθείρας, εἰς οʹ ποσουμένας, καὶ ταῖς πολλαῖς αὐτῶν μετὰ φαν τασιῶν ἀρρήτων καὶ μυστικῶν συναπτόμενος, οὐ μὴν δὲ ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῖς πλείοσι τῶν αὐτοῦ θυγατέρων, θεὸν φημίζεσθαι τοῦτον καὶ ἀνακηρύττεσθαι τοῖς πολλοῖς ἀνέπεισε. καὶ τὸ δὴ χεῖρον ἔτι τού του καὶ ἀτοπώτερον, ὅτι καὶ μετὰ τὴν