§18. Heathen defence continued. (2) ‘The gods are worshipped for having invented the Arts of Life.’ But this is a human and natural, not a divine, achievement. And why, on this principle, are not all inventors deified?

What defence, then, what proof that these are real gods, can they offer who hold this superstition? For, by what has been said just above, our argument has demonstrated them to be men, and not respectable men. But perhaps they will turn to another argument, and proudly appeal to the things useful to life discovered by them, saying that the reason why they regard them as gods is their having been of use to mankind. For Zeus is said to have possessed the plastic art, Poseidon that of the pilot, Hephæstus the smith’s, Athena that of weaving, Apollo that of music, Artemis that of hunting, Hera dressmaking, Demeter agriculture, and others other arts, as those who inform us about them have related. 2. But men ought to ascribe them and such like arts not to the gods alone but to the common nature of mankind, for by observing nature32    φύσις is here used in a double sense. men discover the arts. For even common parlance calls art an imitation of nature. If then they have been skilled in the arts they pursued, that is no reason for thinking them gods, but rather for thinking them men; for the arts were not their creation, but in them they, like others, imitated nature. 3. For men having a natural capacity for knowledge according to the definition laid down33    By Aristotle, Top. V. ii.–iv. where man is defined as ζῶον ἐπιστήμης δεκτικόν: compare Metaph. I. i. ‘All men by nature desire to know.’ concerning them, there is nothing to surprise us if by human intelligence, and by looking of themselves at their own nature and coming to know it, they have hit upon the arts. Or if they say that the discovery of the arts entitles them to be proclaimed as gods, it is high time to proclaim as gods the discoverers of the other arts on the same grounds as the former were thought worthy of such a title. For the Phœnicians invented letters, Homer epic poetry, Zeno of Elea dialectic, Corax of Syracuse rhetoric, Aristæus bee-keeping, Triptolemus the sowing of corn, Lycurgus of Sparta and Solon of Athens laws; while Palamedes discovered the arrangement of letters, and numbers, and measures and weights. And others imparted various other things useful for the life of mankind, according to the testimony of our historians. 4. If then the arts make gods, and because of them carved gods exist, it follows, on their shewing, that those who at a later date discovered the other arts must be gods. Or if they do not deem these worthy of divine honour, but recognise that they are men, it were but consistent not to give even the name of gods to Zeus, Hera, and the others, but to believe that they too have been human beings, and all the more so, inasmuch as they were not even respectable in their day; just as by the very fact of sculpturing their form in statues they shew that they are nothing else but men.

18 Τίς οὖν ἀπολογία, τίς ἀπόδειξις περὶ τοῦ εἶναι τούτους θεοὺς γένοιτ' ἂν τοῖς ἐν τούτοις δεισιδαιμονοῦσιν; ἐκ μὲν γὰρ τῶν λεχθέν των μικρῷ πρότερον, ἀνθρώπους αὐτούς, καὶ ἀνθρώπους οὐ σεμνοὺς ὄντας, ὁ λόγος ἀπέδειξεν· εἰς ἐκεῖνο δὲ τάχα τραπήσονται, καὶ μέγα φρονήσουσιν ἐπὶ τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτῶν εὑρεθεῖσι τῷ βίῳ χρησίμοις, λέγοντες διὰ ταῦτα αὐτοὺς καὶ θεοὺς ἡγεῖσθαι, ὅτι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις χρήσιμοι γεγόνασι. Ζεὺς μὲν γὰρ λέγεται πλαστικὴν τέχνην ἐσχη κέναι, Ποσειδῶν δὲ τὴν τοῦ κυβερνήτου· καὶ Ἥφαιστος μὲν χαλ κευτικήν, Ἀθηνᾶ δὲ τὴν ὑφαντικήν· καὶ Ἀπόλλων μὲν τὴν μουσικήν, Ἄρτεμις δὲ τὴν κυνηγετικήν, καὶ Ἥρα στολισμόν, ∆ήμητρα γεωρ-γίαν, καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι ἄλλας, ὡς οἱ ἱστοροῦντες περὶ αὐτῶν ἐξηγήσαντο. ἀλλὰ ταύτας καὶ τὰς τοιαύτας ἐπιστήμας οὐκ αὐτοῖς μόνοις ἔδει τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἀναθεῖναι, ἀλλὰ τῇ κοινῇ τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσει, εἰς ἣν ἀτενίζοντες ἄνθρωποι τὰς τέχνας ἐφευρίσκουσι. τὴν γὰρ τέχνην καὶ οἱ πολλοὶ λέγουσι φύσεως αὐτὴν εἶναι μίμημα. εἰ τοίνυν ἐπιστή μονες περὶ ἃς ἐσπούδασαν τέχνας γεγόνασιν, οὐ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ θεοὺς αὐτοὺς νομίζειν ἀνάγκη, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἀνθρώπους. οὐ γὰρ ἐξ αὐτῶν αἱ τέχναι, ἀλλ' ἐν ταύταις καὶ αὐτοὶ τὴν φύσιν ἐμιμήσαντο. ὄντες γὰρ ἄνθρωποι κατὰ φύσιν δεκτικοὶ ἐπιστήμης κατὰ τὸν περὶ αὐτῶν τεθέντα ὅρον, οὐδὲν θαυμαστὸν εἰ τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ διανοίᾳ καὶ αὐτοὶ εἰς τὴν ἑαυτῶν φύσιν ἀποβλέποντες, καὶ ταύτης ἐπιστήμην λαβόντες, τὰς τέχνας ἐπενόησαν. ἢ εἰ διὰ τὰς τῶν τεχνῶν εὑρέσεις θεοὺς αὐτοὺς ἄξιον ἀναγορεύεσθαι λέγουσιν, ὥρα καὶ τοὺς τῶν ἄλλων τεχνῶν εὑρετὰς θεοὺς ἀναγορεύειν, καθ' ὃν λόγον κἀκεῖνοι τῆς τοιαύτης ὀνομασίας ἠξιώθησαν. γράμματα μὲν γὰρ ἐφεῦρον Φοίνι κες, ποίησιν δὲ ἡρωϊκὴν Ὅμηρος· καὶ διαλεκτικὴν μὲν Ζήνων ὁ Ἐλεάτης, ῥητορικὴν δὲ τέχνην Κόραξ ὁ Συρακούσιος· καὶ καρπὸν μὲν μελισσῶν Ἀρισταῖος, σίτου δὲ σπορὰν Τριπτόλεμος· καὶ νόμους μὲν Λυκοῦργος ὁ Σπαρτιάτης καὶ Σόλων ὁ Ἀθηναῖος· τῶν δὲ γραμμάτων τὴν σύνταξιν καὶ ἀριθμοὺς καὶ μέτρα καὶ στάθμια Παλαμήδης ἐφεῦρε· καὶ ἄλλοι ἄλλα καὶ διάφορα τῷ βίῳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀπήγ γειλαν χρήσιμα, κατὰ τὴν τῶν ἱστορησάντων μαρτυρίαν. εἴπερ οὖν αἱ ἐπιστῆμαι θεοποιοῦσι, καὶ διὰ ταύτας εἰσὶ θεοὶ γλυπτοί, ἀνάγκη καὶ τοὺς ὕστερον ἐκείνων ἐφευρετὰς τῶν ἄλλων γενομένους εἶναι κατ' αὐτοὺς θεούς· ἢ εἰ μὴ τούτους ἀξιοῦσι τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ τιμῆς, ἀλλ' ἀνθρώπους ἐπιγινώσκουσιν· ἀκολουθεῖ καὶ τὸν ∆ία καὶ τὴν Ἥραν καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους μηδὲ ὀνομάζεσθαι θεούς, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοὺς ἀνθρώ πους γεγενῆσθαι πιστεύειν, καὶ κατὰ περιττὸν ὅτι μηδὲ σεμνοὶ γεγόνασιν, ὡς καὶ ἀπ' αὐτῆς τῆς τῶν ἀγαλμάτων γλυφῆς οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ ἀνθρώπους αὐτοὺς ἐλέγχουσι.