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And concerning Asclepius, Hesiod says: "The father of men and gods grew angry, and casting from Olympus a sooty thunderbolt he killed the son of Leto’s son, stirring up his dear spirit." And Pindar: "but even wisdom is enthralled by gain. Gold appearing in his hands turned even him with its splendid reward. But the son of Cronus, casting with his hands, quickly took away the breath from the chests of both, and the blazing thunderbolt brought on their doom." Either, therefore, they were gods, and were not disposed towards gold—"O gold, fairest prize for mortals, <which> neither a mother has such joys, nor children"—(for the divine is without need and superior to desire), and they did not die; or they were born as men and were wicked through ignorance and overcome by money. Why <must> I say much, mentioning either Castor or Polydeuces or Amphiaraus, who, so to speak, yesterday and the day before were born as men from men and are considered gods, when even Ino, after her madness and the sufferings during her madness, wanderers of the sea believe to have become a goddess, surnamed Leucothea, and her son "shall be called by sailors august Palaemon"? For if even those who were abominable and hated by the gods got the reputation of being gods, and Semiramis, the daughter of Derketo, a lustful and murderous woman, was considered a Syrian goddess, and on account of Derketo <the fish> and on account of Semiramis the doves are worshipped by the Syrians (for the impossible thing, the woman was changed into a dove; the myth is in Ctesias), what is surprising that some were called gods by their contemporaries on account of their rule and tyranny—the Sibyl (and Plato also mentions her): "Then indeed the tenth generation of articulate-speaking men, from the time when the flood came upon the former men, and Cronus reigned and Titan and Iapetus, best children of Earth and Heaven, whom men called Earth and Heaven, giving them the name, because they were the very first of articulate-speaking men"—and others on account of strength, like Heracles and Perseus, and others on account of their art, like Asclepius? To some, therefore, either their subjects themselves gave a share of honor, or the rulers themselves, some through fear, and some also through reverence, partook of the name (and Antinous, through the philanthropy of your ancestors towards their subjects, came to be considered a god); and those after them accepted it without examination. "Cretans are always liars;" "For even a tomb, O lord, for you the Cretans built; but you did not die."

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περὶ δὲ Ἀσκληπιοῦ Ἡσίοδος μέν· "πατὴρ ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε χώσατ', ἀπ' Oὐλύμπου δὲ βαλὼν ψολόεντι κεραυνῷ ἔκτανε Λητοΐδην φίλον σὺν θυμὸν ὀρίνων. Πίνδαρος δέ ἀλλὰ κέρδει καὶ σοφία δέδεται. ἔτραπε κἀκεῖνον ἀγάνορι μισθῷ χρυσὸς ἐν χερσὶ φανείς. χερσὶ δ' ἄρα Κρονίων ·ίψας δι' ἀμφοῖν ἀμπνοὰν στέρνων καθεῖλεν ὠκέως, αἴθων δὲ κεραυνὸς ἐνέσκηψε μόρον. ἢ τοίνυν θεοὶ ἦσαν, καὶ οὔτε αὑτοὺς πρὸς χρυσὸν εἶχον ὦ χρυσέ, δεξίωμα κάλλιστον βροτοῖς, <ὡς> οὔτε μήτηρ ἡδονὰς τοιάσδ' ἔχει, οὐ παῖδες (ἀνεπιδεὲς γὰρ καὶ κρεῖττον ἐπιθυμίας τὸ θεῖον) οὔτε ἀπέθνῃσκον· ἢ ἄνθρωποι γεγονότες καὶ πονηροὶ δι' ἀμαθίαν ἦσαν καὶ χρημάτων ἐλάττους. τί <δεῖ> με πολλὰ λέγειν ἢ Κάστορος ἢ Πολυδεύκους μνημονεύοντα ἢ Ἀμφιάρεω, οἵ, ὡς εἰπεῖν λόγῳ, χθὲς καὶ πρῴην ἄνθρωποι ἐξ ἀνθρώπων γεγονότες θεοὶ νομίζονται, ὁπότε καὶ Ἰνὼ μετὰ τὴν μανίαν καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς μανίας πάθη θεὸν δοξάζουσι γεγονέναι πόντου πλάνητες Λευκοθέαν ἐπώνυμον καὶ τὸν παῖδα αὐτῆς σεμνὸς Παλαίμων ναυτίλοις κεκλήσεται; εἰ γὰρ καὶ ὡς ἀπόπτυστοι καὶ θεοστυγεῖς δόξαν ἔσχον εἶναι θεοὶ καὶ ἡ θυγάτηρ τῆς ∆ερκετοῦς Σεμίραμις, λάγνος γυνὴ καὶ μιαι φόνος, ἔδοξε Συρία θεὸς καὶ διὰ τὴν ∆ερκετὼ <τοὺς ἰχθῦς> καὶ τὰς περιστερὰς διὰ τὴν Σεμίραμιν σέβουσι Σύροι (τὸ γὰρ ἀδύνατον, εἰς περιστερὰν μετέβαλεν ἡ γυνή· ὁ μῦθος παρὰ Κτησίᾳ), τί θαυμαστὸν τοὺς μὲν ἐπὶ ἀρχῇ καὶ τυραννίδι ὑπὸ τῶν κατ' αὐτοὺς κληθῆναι θεούς-Σίβυλλα (μέμνηται δ' αὐτῆς καὶ Πλάτων)· δὴ τότε δὴ δεκάτη γενεὴ μερόπων ἀνθρώπων, ἐξ οὗ δὴ κατακλυσμὸς ἐπὶ προτέρους γένετ' ἄνδρας, καὶ βασίλευσε Κρόνος καὶ Τιτὰν Ἰαπετός τε, Γαίης τέκνα φέριστα καὶ Oὐρανοῦ, οὓς ἐκάλεσσαν ἄνθρωποι Γαῖάν τε καὶ Oὐρανὸν οὔνομα θέντες, οὕνεκα οἱ πρώτιστοι ἔσαν μερόπων ἀνθρώπων- τοὺς δ' ἐπ' ἰσχύι, ὡς Ἡρακλέα καὶ Περσέα, τοὺς δ' ἐπὶ τέχνῃ, ὡς Ἀσκληπιόν; οἷς μὲν οὖν ἢ αὐτοὶ οἱ ἀρχόμενοι τιμῆς μετε δίδοσαν ἢ αὐτοὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες, οἱ μὲν φόβῳ, οἱ δὲ καὶ αἰδοῖ μετεῖχον τοῦ ὀνόματος (καὶ Ἀντίνους φιλανθρωπίᾳ τῶν ὑμετέρων προγόνων πρὸς τοὺς ὑπηκόους ἔτυχε νομίζεσθαι θεός)· οἱ δὲ μετ' αὐτοὺς ἀβασανίστως παρεδέξαντο. Κρῆτες ἀεὶ ψεῦσται· καὶ γὰρ τάφον, ὦ ἄνα, σεῖο Κρῆτες ἐτεκτήναντο· σὺ δ' οὐ θάνες.