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all the so-called prose writers and poets and philosophers, and moreover, those who pay attention to them. For they composed myths and follies rather than truths concerning their own gods; for they did not show them to be gods but men, some as drunkards, and others as fornicators and murderers. But also concerning the creation of the world they have declared things inconsistent with one another and worthless. First, that some declared the world to be uncreated, as we also showed before, and those who say that its nature is uncreated and eternal did not say things consistent with those who taught that it was created. For by conjecture and human conception they uttered these things, and not according to truth. But others again said that there is a providence, and they refuted the dogmas of these others. Aratus, for instance, says: From Zeus let us begin, whom we men never leave unspoken. Full of Zeus are all the streets, and all the marketplaces of men; full is the sea and the harbors; in every way we are all in need of Zeus. For we are also his offspring. And he, being gentle, gives favorable signs to men, and rouses the people to work, reminding them of their livelihood; he tells when the soil is best for oxen and for mattocks, and he tells when the seasons are favorable both to plant the trees and to cast all the seeds. Whom then shall we believe, whether Aratus or Sophocles when he says: There is no providence for anything, it is best to live at random, as one is able? But Homer again does not agree with this. For he says: Zeus increases and diminishes the valor of men. And Simonides: No one without the gods obtained virtue, not a city, not a mortal; God is the all-counsellor, and nothing is without harm among them. Likewise also Euripides: There is nothing for men without God. And Menander: No one then cares for us but God alone. And again Euripides: For whenever it seems good to God to save, he gives many pretexts for salvation. And Thestius: If God wills it, you are saved, even if you sail on a mat. And having said countless such things, they uttered things inconsistent with themselves. Sophocles, at any rate, having spoken of lack of providence, says in another place: A mortal does not overleap a blow from God. But they have introduced a multitude or spoken of a monarchy, and to those who say there is no providence they have spoken the contrary things. Whence Euripides confesses, saying: And we are zealous about many things because of our hopes, having our labors in vain, knowing nothing.

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συγγραφεῖς πάντες καὶ ποιηταὶ καὶ φιλόσοφοι λεγόμενοι, ἔτι μὴν καὶ οἱ προσέχοντες αὐτοῖς. μύθους γὰρ μᾶλλον καὶ μωρίας συνέταξαν περὶ τῶν κατ' αὐτοὺς θεῶν· οὐ γὰρ ἀπέδειξαν αὐτοὺς θεοὺς ἀλλὰ ἀνθρώπους, οὓς μὲν μεθύσους, ἑτέρους δὲ πόρνους καὶ φονεῖς. Ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τῆς κοσμογονίας ἀσύμφωνα ἀλλήλοις καὶ φαῦλα ἐξεῖπον. πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι τινὲς ἀγένητον τὸν κόσμον ἀπεφήναντο, καθὼς καὶ ἔμπροσθεν ἐδηλώσαμεν, καὶ οἱ μὲν ἀγένητον αὐτὸν καὶ ἀΐδιον φύσιν φάσκοντες οὐκ ἀκόλουθα εἶπον τοῖς γενητὸν αὐτὸν δογματίσασιν. εἰκασμῷ γὰρ ταῦτα καὶ ἀνθρωπίνῃ ἐννοίᾳ ἐφθέγ- ξαντο, καὶ οὐ κατὰ ἀλήθειαν. Ἕτεροι δ' αὖ εἶπον πρόνοιαν εἶναι, καὶ τὰ τούτων δόγματα ἀνέλυσαν. Ἄρατος μὲν οὖν φησιν· Ἐκ ∆ιὸς ἀρχώμεσθα, τὸν οὐδέποτ' ἄνδρες ἐῶμεν ἄρρητον. μεσταὶ δὲ ∆ιὸς πᾶσαι μὲν ἀγυιαί, πᾶσαι δ' ἀνθρώπων ἀγοραί, μεστὴ δὲ θάλασσα καὶ λιμένες· πάντη δὲ ∆ιὸς κεχρήμεθα πάντες. τοῦ γὰρ καὶ γένος ἐσμέν· ὁ δ' ἤπιος ἀνθρώποισιν δεξιὰ σημαίνει, λαοὺς δ' ἐπὶ ἔργον ἐγείρει μιμνήσκων βιότοιο· λέγει δ' ὅτε βῶλος ἀρίστη βουσί τε καὶ μακέλῃσι, λέγει δ' ὅτε δεξιαὶ ὧραι καὶ φυτὰ γυρῶσαι καὶ σπέρματα πάντα βαλέσθαι. τίνι οὖν πιστεύσωμεν, πότερον Ἀράτῳ ἢ Σοφοκλεῖ λέγοντι· Πρόνοια δ' ἐστὶν οὐδενός, εἰκῇ κράτιστον ζῆν ὅπως δύναιτό τις; Ὅμηρος δὲ πάλιν τούτῳ οὐ συνᾴδει. λέγει γάρ· Ζεὺς δ' ἀρετὴν ἄνδρεσσιν ὀφέλλει τε μινύθει τε. καὶ Σιμωνίδης· Oὔτις ἄνευ θεῶν ἀρετὰν λάβεν, οὐ πόλις, οὐ βρότος· θεὸς ὁ παμμῆτις, ἀπήμαντον δ' οὐδέν ἐστιν ἐν αὐτοῖς. ὁμοίως καὶ Eὐριπίδης· Oὐκ ἔστιν οὐδὲν χωρὶς ἀνθρώποις θεοῦ. καὶ Μένανδρος· Oὐκ ἄρα φροντίζει τις ἡμῶν ἢ μόνος θεός. καὶ πάλιν Eὐριπίδης· Σῶσαι γὰρ ὁπόταν τῷ θεῷ δοκῇ, πολλὰς προφάσεις δίδωσιν εἰς σωτηρίαν. καὶ Θέστιος· Θεοῦ θέλοντος σώζῃ, κἂν ἐπὶ ·ιπὸς πλέῃς. καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα μυρία εἰπόντες ἀσύμφωνα ἑαυτοῖς ἐξεῖπον. ὁ γοῦν Σοφοκλῆς ἀπρονοησίαν εἴρων ἐν ἑτέρῳ λέγει· Θεοῦ δὲ πληγὴν οὐχ ὑπερπηδᾷ βροτός. Πλὴν καὶ πληθὺν εἰσήγαγον ἢ καὶ μοναρχίαν εἶπον, καὶ πρόνοιαν εἶναι τοῖς λέγουσιν ἀπρονοησίαν τἀναντία εἰρήκασιν. ὅθεν Eὐριπίδης ὁμολογεῖ λέγων· Σπουδάζομεν δὲ πολλ' ὑπ' ἐλπίδων, μάτην πόνους ἔχοντες, οὐδὲν εἰδότες.