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to have become of man. If, therefore, they are gods, why were they not from the beginning? And why are they younger than their makers? And why did they need men and art in order to come into being? These are earth and stones and matter and elaborate art. Since, then, some say that these are images, but that the gods are those for whom the images exist, and that the approaches they make to these and the sacrifices are referred to them and are for them, and that there is no other way to approach the gods than this one ("for gods are hard to be seen face to face"), and they offer as proofs that these things are so the activities of certain idols, come let us examine their power which rests in their names. But I will ask you, greatest of emperors, to pardon me before my argument, as I offer true reasonings; for my purpose is not to refute the idols, but in clearing myself of the slanders, I offer a rational account of our way of life. You may also from your own affairs examine the heavenly kingdom; for just as to you, father and son, who have received the kingdom from above, all things have been subjected ("for the soul of a king is in the hand of God," says the prophetic spirit), so to the one God and to the Word from Him, who is understood as Son, undivided, all things have been subordinated. Consider this, then, for me before all else. The gods were not from the beginning, as they say, but each of them came into being just as we do; and on this all of them agree, with Homer [for] saying, "Oceanus, the genesis of gods, and mother Tethys," and Orpheus, who first discovered their names and recounted their births and told what was done by each and is believed by them to theologize more truly, whom Homer also follows in most things and especially concerning the gods, and he too establishing their first origin from water—Oceanus, which has been made the origin for all. For according to him, water was the beginning of all things, and from the water slime was formed, and from both of these was born a creature, a serpent having a lion's head attached, and between them the face of a god, named Heracles and Chronos. This Heracles begot an enormous egg, which, being filled by the force of its begetter, was burst in two by friction. The part of it at the top, then, was completed to be Heaven, and the part brought down below, Earth; and there came forth also a god with two bodies. And Heaven, mingling with Earth, begets females, Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos, and males, the Hundred-Handed, Cottus, Gyges, Briareus, and the Cyclopes, Brontes and Steropes and Arges; whom he bound and cast into Tartarus, having learned that he would be cast out of his rule by his children. Wherefore Earth, being angered, begot the Titans: The youths, the Uranions, did mistress Gaia bear,

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ἀνθρώπου γεγονέναι. εἰ τοίνυν θεοί, τί οὐκ ἦσαν ἐξ ἀρχῆς; τί δέ εἰσιν νεώτεροι τῶν πεποιηκότων; τί δὲ ἔδει αὐτοῖς πρὸς τὸ γενέσθαι ἀνθρώπων καὶ τέχνης; γῆ ταῦτα καὶ λίθοι καὶ ὕλη καὶ περίεργος τέχνη. Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν φασί τινες εἰκόνας μὲν εἶναι ταύτας, θεοὺς δὲ ἐφ' οἷς αἱ εἰκόνες, καὶ τὰς προσόδους ἃς ταύταις προσίασιν καὶ τὰς θυσίας ἐπ' ἐκείνους ἀναφέρεσθαι καὶ εἰς ἐκείνους γίνεσθαι μὴ εἶναί τε ἕτερον τρόπον τοῖς θεοῖς ἢ τοῦτον προσελθεῖν ("χαλεποὶ δὲ θεοὶ φαίνεσθαι ἐναργεῖς") καὶ τοῦ ταῦθ' οὕτως ἔχειν τεκμήρια παρ έχουσιν τὰς ἐνίων εἰδώλων ἐνεργείας, φέρε ἐξετάσωμεν τὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς ὀνόμασι δύναμιν αὐτῶν. δεήσομαι δὲ ὑμῶν, μέγιστοι αὐτο κρατόρων, πρὸ τοῦ λόγου ἀληθεῖς παρεχομένῳ τοὺς λογισμοὺς συγγνῶναι· οὐ γὰρ προκείμενόν μοι ἐλέγχειν τὰ εἴδωλα, ἀλλὰ ἀπολυόμενος τὰς διαβολὰς λογισμὸν τῆς προαιρέσεως ἡμῶν παρέχω. ἔχοιτε ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν καὶ τὴν ἐπουράνιον βασιλείαν ἐξετάζειν· ὡς γὰρ ὑμῖν πατρὶ καὶ υἱῷ πάντα κεχείρωται ἄνωθεν τὴν βασιλείαν εἰληφόσιν ("βασιλέως γὰρ ψυχὴ ἐν χειρὶ θεοῦ", φησὶ τὸ προφητικὸν πνεῦμα), οὕτως ἑνὶ τῷ θεῷ καὶ τῷ παρ' αὐτοῦ λόγῳ υἱῷ νοουμένῳ ἀμερίστῳ πάντα ὑποτέτακται. ἐκεῖνο τοίνυν σκέψασθέ μοι πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων. οὐκ ἐξ ἀρχῆς, ὥς φασιν, ἦσαν οἱ θεοί, ἀλλ' οὕτως γέγονεν αὐτῶν ἕκαστος ὡς γιγνόμεθα ἡμεῖς· καὶ τοῦτο πᾶσιν αὐτοῖς ξυμφωνεῖται, Ὁμήρου μὲν [γὰρ] λέγοντος Ὠκεανόν τε, θεῶν γένεσιν, καὶ μητέρα Τηθύν, Ὀρφέως δέ, ὃς καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν πρῶτος ἐξηῦρεν καὶ τὰς γενέσεις διεξῆλθεν καὶ ὅσα ἑκάστοις πέπρακται εἶπεν καὶ πεπί στευται παρ' αὐτοῖς ἀληθέστερον θεολογεῖν, ᾧ καὶ Ὅμηρος τὰ πολλὰ καὶ περὶ θεῶν μάλιστα ἕπεται, καὶ αὐτοῦ τὴν πρώτην γένεσιν αὐτῶν ἐξ ὕδατος συνιστάντος Ὠκεανός, ὅσπερ γένεσις πάντεσσι τέτυκται. ἦν γὰρ ὕδωρ ἀρχὴ κατ' αὐτὸν τοῖς ὅλοις, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ ὕδατος ἰλὺς κατέστη, ἐκ δὲ ἑκατέρων ἐγεννήθη ζῷον δράκων προσπεφυκυῖαν ἔχων κεφαλὴν λέοντος, διὰ μέσου δὲ αὐτῶν θεοῦ πρόσωπον, ὄνομα Ἡρακλῆς καὶ Χρόνος. οὗτος ὁ Ἡρακλῆς ἐγέννησεν ὑπερμέγεθες ᾠόν, ὃ συμπληρούμενον ὑπὸ βίας τοῦ γεγεννηκότος ἐκ παρατριβῆς εἰς δύο ἐρράγη. τὸ μὲν οὖν κατὰ κορυφὴν αὐτοῦ Oὐρανὸς εἶναι ἐτελέσθη, τὸ δὲ κάτω ἐνεχθὲν Γῆ· προῆλθε δὲ καὶ θεὸς γη δι σώματος. Oὐρανὸς δὲ Γῇ μιχθεὶς γεννᾷ θηλείας μὲν Κλωθώ, Λάχεσιν, Ἄτροπον, ἄνδρας δὲ Ἑκατόγχειρας Κόττον, Γύγην, Βριάρεων καὶ Κύκλωπας, Βρόντην καὶ Στερόπην καὶ Ἄργην· οὓς καὶ δήσας κατεταρτάρωσεν, ἐκπεσεῖσθαι αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τῶν παίδων τῆς ἀρχῆς μαθών. διὸ καὶ ὀργισθεῖσα ἡ Γῆ τοὺς Τιτᾶνας ἐγέννησεν· Κούρους δ' Oὐρανίωνας ἐγείνατο πότνια Γαῖα,