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After his death and burial in Crete, according to his command, his relatives, having built a temple and a monument, buried him, on which they also inscribed thus, "Here lies dead Picus who is also Zeus." And after these things, the stench of his God-hating and arrogant spirit, running through the inhabited world, and having filled the hearts of kings and rulers and foolish peoples and nations, until the incarnation of the Word God and the manifestation to the nations through the holy apostles and martyrs, urged every soul held by ignorance and impiety to the worship and adoration of this falsely named god, Zeus, 1.32 and of his similar demons and kinsmen. They record that his mother was Semiramis and that Zeus himself and his generation were in the times of Abraham; for it was fitting, since the devil had chosen the generation of this most hateful Zeus for the ruin of many, that then also the true God, for the salvation of many, should call the righteous Abraham. This Zeus, in addition to his other sons, also had Faunus and Perseus and Apollo; but Faunus he called Hermes, after the name of the wandering star, who also after the death of Zeus ruled Italy for thirty-five years, and he was a cunning man, a mathematician, and most eloquent. But when he was plotted against by his other brothers (for he was the son of a woman, Maia, whom Zeus first had in Italy, and Alcmene the Theban after her, from whom he had Heracles of the three evenings), having pocketed much gold, he went to Egypt, and having been loved and deified by them for his bestowal and for his speech and for his divination and for his oracles, when Mestrem the son of Ham who was ruling there died, he is immediately proclaimed king, and in arrogance and in prediction of things to come, being famed as a god, he reigns over Egypt for 39 years. And Apollo, being possessed by a Pythian spirit from his youth until his death, not even after his death did the evil one cease from his babbling; for this is a most prophetic kind of spirit, saying many true things, but most things 1.33 ambiguous and doubtful on account of ignorance. And Heracles was the first to show how to philosophize in the western parts. Those of his lineage deified him after his death, and they called a star in the heaven by his name. This Heracles they depict clothed in a lion's skin instead of a tunic and carrying a club and holding three apples, which they mythologized that he took away by killing the dragon with the club, that is, having conquered the evil and complex reasoning of desire through the club, that is, of philosophy, having as a garment a noble mind like a lion's skin, and thus having taken away the three apples, which is the three virtues: not to be angry, not to be a lover of pleasure, not to be a lover of money. For through the club, the enduring soul, and the skin, that is, of sound reasoning, he conquered the earthly struggle of vile desire, having philosophized until death, just as the most wise Herodotus wrote, who also recorded that there were seven other Heracles. So Hermes, knowing the plot against him by his brothers, as we said (for there were about 70 born to Zeus from different women), departed to Egypt to the tribe of Ham, son of Noah, who received him with honor; and he stayed there, being arrogant towards all and wearing a golden robe. And he philosophized among the Egyptians, telling them divinations; for he was rational by nature. and they worshipped him as Hermes 1.34 as one who told the future and ministered to them the response concerning future things, supposedly from God, and provided them with money; whom they also called the wealth-giver, considering him the god of gold.

But in the times after these, during the reign of Phoenix, there was Heracles the philosopher, the one called the Tyrian, who discovered the purple-shell. for being raised up into

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αὐτοῦ τελευτὴν καὶ ταφὴν τὴν ἐν τῇ Κρήτῃ, κατὰ πρόσταξιν αὐτοῦ, οἱ οἰκεῖοι αὐτοῦ ναὸν καὶ μνημεῖον οἰκοδομήσαντες κατέθαψαν, ᾧ καὶ οὕτως ἐπέγραψαν "ἐνθάδε κεῖται θανὼν Πῖκος ὁ καὶ Ζεύς." καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἡ τοῦ θεομισοῦς αὐτοῦ καὶ ὑπερηφανοῦ πνεύματος ὀσμὴ τὴν οἰκουμένην διατρέχουσα, βασιλέων τε καὶ ἀρχόντων καὶ λαῶν ἀσυνέτων καὶ ἐθνῶν καρδίας πληρώσασα, ἕως τῆς τοῦ λόγου θεοῦ σαρκώσεως καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ ἔθνη δι' ἀποστόλων ἁγίων καὶ μαρτύρων ἀναδείξεως πᾶσαν ψυχὴν ἀγνοίᾳ καὶ ἀσεβείᾳ κρατουμένην εἰς λατρείαν καὶ προσκύνησιν τοῦ ψευδωνύμου θεοῦ τούτου τοῦ ∆ιὸς προετρέπετο 1.32 καὶ τῶν ὁμοίων αὐτοῦ δαιμόνων καὶ συγγενῶν. εἶναι δὲ τὴν τού του μητέρα Σεμίραμιν καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν ∆ία καὶ τὴν γενεὰν αὐτοῦ κατὰ τοὺς χρόνους ἱστοροῦσι τοῦ Ἀβραάμ· ἔπρεπε γὰρ τοῦ δια βόλου εἰς λύμην πολλῶν τὴν κατὰ τὸν ἔχθιστον τοῦτον ∆ία γενεὰν ἐκλεξαμένου, τότε καὶ τὸν θεὸν τὸν ἀληθῆ εἰς πολλῶν σωτηρίαν τὸν δίκαιον καλέσαι Ἀβραάμ. οὗτος ὁ Ζεὺς πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις υἱοῖς ἔσχε καὶ Φαῦνον καὶ Περσέα καὶ Ἀπόλλωνα· ἀλλὰ τὸν μὲν Φαῦνον ἐπ' ὀνόματι τοῦ πλάνητος ἀστέρος ἐκάλεσεν Ἑρμῆν, ὃς καὶ μετὰ τὴν ∆ιὸς τελευτὴν ἐβασίλευσε τῆς Ἰταλίας ἔτη τριάκοντα πέντε, ἦν δὲ πανοῦργος ἀνὴρ καὶ μαθηματικὸς καὶ λογιώτατος. ἐπεὶ δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ἄλλων ἀδελφῶν ἐπεβουλεύθη (αὐτὸς γὰρ Μαιά δος γυναικὸς ἦν υἱός, ἣν πρώτην ἔσχεν ὁ Ζεὺς ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ, Ἀλκμήνην δὲ τὴν Θηβαίαν μετ' αὐτήν, ἐξ ἧς τὸν τριέσπερον ἔσχεν Ἡρα κλέα), πολὺν χρυσὸν ἐγκολπωσάμενος εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἦλθε, καὶ τῇ τούτου ἐπιδόσει καὶ τῷ λόγῳ καὶ τῇ μαντείᾳ καὶ τοῖς χρησμῳδή μασιν ἀγαπηθεὶς καὶ ὑπ' αὐτῶν ἀποθεωθείς, Μέστρεμ τοῦ υἱοῦ Χὰμ τοῦ ἐκεῖ βασιλεύοντος ἀποθανόντος εὐθὺς ἀναγορεύεται, καὶ ἐν ὑπερηφανίᾳ καὶ τῶν μελλόντων προρρήσει ὡς θεὸς κλεϊζόμενος ἐπὶ λθʹ ἔτη Αἰγύπτου βασιλεύει. ὁ δὲ Ἀπόλλων πνεύματι Πύθω νος ἐκ νεότητος κάτοχος ὢν ἕως τελευτῆς αὐτοῦ, οὐδὲ μετὰ τελευ τὴν αὐτοῦ τῆς φληναφείας ἐπαύσατο ὁ πονηρός· ἔστι γὰρ τοῦτο εἶδος πνεύματος μαντικώτατον, πολλὰ μὲν ἀληθῆ, τὰ δὲ πλεῖστα 1.33 λέγον ἀμφίβολα καὶ ἀμφιρρεπῆ διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν. ὁ δὲ Ἡρακλῆς πρῶτος κατέδειξε φιλοσοφεῖν ἐν τοῖς ἑσπερίοις μέρεσι. τοῦτον ἀπεθέωσαν οἱ ἐκ τοῦ γένους αὐτοῦ μετὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ τελευτήν, καὶ ἐκάλεσαν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἀστέρα ἐπ' ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ. ὅντινα Ἡρα κλέα ἐγγράφουσιν ἀντὶ χιτῶνος δορὰν λέοντος ἠμφιεσμένον καὶ ῥόπαλον φέροντα καὶ τρία μῆλα κρατοῦντα, ἅπερ ἀφελέσθαι αὐ τὸν ἐμυθολόγησαν τῷ ῥοπάλῳ φονεύσαντα τὸν δράκοντα, τουτέστι νικήσαντα τὸν πονηρὸν καὶ ποικίλον τῆς ἐπιθυμίας λογισμὸν διὰ τοῦ ῥοπάλου ἤτοι τῆς φιλοσοφίας, ἔχοντα περιβόλαιον γενναῖον φρόνημα ὡς δορὰν λέοντος, καὶ οὕτως ἀφελόμενον τὰ τρία μῆλα, ὅπερ ἐστὶ τὰς τρεῖς ἀρετάς, τὸ μὴ ὀργίζεσθαι, τὸ μὴ φιληδονεῖν, τὸ μὴ φιλαργυρεῖν. διὰ γὰρ τοῦ ῥοπάλου, τῆς καρτερικῆς ψυχῆς, καὶ τῆς δορᾶς, τουτέστι τοῦ σώφρονος λογισμοῦ, ἐνίκησε τὸν γήϊνον τῆς φαύλης ἐπιθυμίας ἀγῶνα, φιλοσοφήσας ἄχρι θανάτου, καθὼς Ἡρόδοτος ὁ σοφώτατος συνεγράψατο, ὃς καὶ ἄλλους Ἡρακλεῖς ἱστόρησε γενέσθαι ἑπτά. Ὁ γοῦν Ἑρμῆς γνοὺς τὴν κατ' αὐτοῦ συσκευὴν τῶν ἀδελ φῶν αὐτοῦ, ὡς εἴπομεν (περί που γὰρ τοὺς οʹ ὑπῆρχον ἀπὸ δια φόρων γυναικῶν γεννηθέντες τῷ ∆ιί), ἀνεχώρησεν εἰς Αἴγυπτον πρὸς τὴν φυλὴν τοῦ Χὰμ υἱοῦ Νῶε, οἵτινες ἐδέξαντο αὐτὸν ἐν τιμῇ· ὃς καὶ διέτριβεν ἐκεῖ ὑπερηφανῶν πάντας καὶ φορῶν χρυ σῆν στολήν. καὶ ἐφιλοσόφει παρὰ τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις, λέγων αὐτοῖς μαντείας· λογικὸς γὰρ ἦν φύσει. καὶ προσεκύνουν αὐτὸν Ἑρμῆν 1.34 ὡς λέγοντα τὰ μέλλοντα καὶ διακονοῦντα αὐτοῖς τὴν τῶν μελλόν των ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ δῆθεν ἀπόκρισιν καὶ παρέχοντα αὐτοῖς χρήματα· ὃν καὶ πλουτοδότην ἐκάλουν ὡς τοῦ χρυσοῦ θεὸν νομίζοντες.

Ἐν τοῖς μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ χρόνοις, ἐπὶ τῆς βασιλείας Φοίνι κος, ἦν Ἡρακλῆς ὁ φιλόσοφος ὁ λεγόμενος Τύριος, ὅστις ἐφεῦρε τὴν κογχύλην. μετεωριζόμενος γὰρ εἰς