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flying through the air, they drew to themselves as assessors. Indeed, different men deified other mortal men; for the children of the Hellenes honored Dionysus and Heracles and Asclepius and Apollo and certain other men with the title of heroes and gods, while the Egyptians considered Horus and Isis and Osiris and again others similar to these, who were men, to be gods; nor indeed, though boasting of their excessive wisdom in the discovery of geometry and astronomy and arithmetic, did these wise men know or understand how to weigh within themselves and to calculate the measures of God’s power and the difference between mortal and irrational nature. 13.5 Wherefore they did not shrink from calling gods every form of hideous monster and all kinds of living creatures, both venomous reptiles and wild beasts, and the Phoenicians proclaimed as gods Melkatharos and Usoros and certain other more dishonorable mortal men again, just as also the children of the Arabs a certain Dusaris and Obodos, and the Getae Zalmoxis, and the Cilicians Mopsus, and the Thebans Amphiaraus, and among others, others again proclaimed others, differing in nature in no way from mortals, but being only truly men. Therefore all together, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Hellenes, and the whole mortal race, as much as the rays of the sun illuminate, the parts of the world and its elements, the fruits sprouting from the earth, and their own passions, yes, and even demonic madnesses and apparitions, and before these, mortal men who experienced human misfortunes, and had neither established schools of virtue in the time they lived, nor labored to provide men with lessons for a temperate life, nor set forth philosophical doctrines, nor demonstrated any beneficial work, nor left behind disciples of virtue, nor handed down discourses or writings conducive to a good life, but were occupied with women and shameful pleasures, rashly and at random, through the error of I know not what demonic energy, they proclaimed gods and heroes and honored with sacrifices and rites along with magical deceits, building temples and shrines for them throughout cities and countries, while the only true Word of God, the all-sovereign King and Maker of all things who is beyond the world, they have held in no account. And they proceeded to such a degree of madness and delusion as to proclaim at the same time certain random men as gods, and immediately to connect with the same beings the passions of mortals, attributing to them unlawful loves and shameful deeds and the ends of their lives and deaths. Then, affirming such things not as slanders from others, but being themselves witnesses of these things, and confessing their wanderings and mournings and deaths, and before these, their adulteries and corruptions of males and abductions of women, they nonetheless filled all cities and villages and countries with temples and statues and shrines, destroying their own souls by the likeness of their gods’ behavior. 13.6 So then, one could hear among them in word of gods and children of gods and heroes and good spirits, but in deed all was the contrary; for they revered opposite things with their opposites, as if someone wishing to show another the sun and the lights in the sky would not lift his eyes on high, but would cast his hands down to the earth and throwing himself down to the ground would seek the heavenly powers in mud and mire. So also the race of men, through delusion and the deceit of wicked demons, was persuaded that the divine and intelligible substance beyond heaven and the world was somewhere below in the generation of bodies and in the passions and deaths of mortals. And they proceeded to such a degree of folly as even to sacrifice their dearest to them, making no allowance for nature, but even slaughtering their only-begotten and beloved children in madness and ecstasy of mind. 13.7 For what could be more mad than this, to sacrifice men and to pollute all the cities and their own houses with kindred blood? Do not the children of the Hellenes bear witness to these things

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τὸν ἀέρα ποτωμένας παρέδρους ἑαυτοῖς ἐφειλκύσαντο. θνητούς γε μὴν ἄνδρας ἐθέωσαν ἑτέρους ἕτεροι· παῖδες μὲν γὰρ Ἑλλήνων ∆ιόνυσον καὶ Ἡρακλέα καὶ Ἀσκληπιὸν καὶ Ἀπόλλωνἄλλους τέ τινας ἀνθρώπους τῇ τῶν ἡρώων καὶ θεῶν τετιμήκασι προσηγορίᾳ, Αἰγύπτιοι δὲ Ὧρον καὶ Ἶσιν καὶ Ὄσιριν καὶ τούτοις παραπλησίους πάλιν ἀνθρώπους θεοὺς νενομίκασιν· οὐδὲ μὴν καθ' ὑπερβολὴν σοφίας γεωμετρίας τὴν εὕρεσιν ἀστρονομίας τε καὶ ἀριθμητικῆς αὐχοῦντες οὐκ ἔγνωσαν οὐδὲ συνῆκαν οἱ σοφοὶ σταθμήσασθαι παρ' ἑαυτοῖς καὶ λογίσασθαι μέτρα θεοῦ δυνάμεως θνητῆς τε καὶ ἀλόγου διαφορὰν φύσεως. 13.5 διὸ δὴ πᾶν εἶδος εἰδεχθῶν κνωδάλων καὶ παντοίων ζώων γένη ἑρπετά τε ἰοβόλα καὶ θῆρας ἀγρίους θεοὺς προσειπεῖν οὐκ ἀπώκνησαν, Φοίνικες δὲ Μελκάθαρον καὶ Οὔσωρον καί τινας ἄλλους ἀτιμοτέρους θνητοὺς πάλιν ἄνδρας θεοὺς ἀνηγόρευσαν, ὡς καὶ παῖδες Ἀράβων ∆ούσαρίν τινα καὶ Ὄβοδον, καὶ οἱ Γέται τὸν Ζάμολξιν καὶ τὸν Μόψον Κίλικες, καὶ τὸν Ἀμφιάρεων Θηβαῖοι, καὶ παρ' ἑτέροις ἄλλοι πάλιν ἑτέρους, τὴν φύσιν οὐδὲν τῶν θνητῶν διαλλάττοντας αὐτὸ δὲ μόνον ἀληθῶς ἀνθρώπους. ὁμοῦ δὴ οὖν πάντες Αἰγύπτιοι, Φοίνικες, Ἕλληνες, καὶ πᾶν τὸ θνητὸν γένος, ὅσον ἡλίου βολαὶ φωτίζουσι, τὰ μέρη τοῦ κόσμου καὶ τά γε στοιχεῖα τούς τε ἀπὸ γῆς βλαστοῦντας καρπούς, καὶ τὰ σφῶν αὐτῶν πάθη ναὶ μὴν καὶ τὰς δαιμονικὰς μανίας τε καὶ φαντασίας, καὶ πρό γε τούτων ἄνδρας θνητοὺς ἀνθρωπείαις χρησαμένους συμφοραῖς, καὶ οὐτ' ἀρετῆς διδασκαλεῖα καθ' ὃν ἔζων χρόνον συστησαμένους, οὔτε σώφρονος βίου μαθήματα ἀνθρώποις ἐπιπονήσαντας, οὐ φιλόσοφα δόγματα καταδείξαντας, οὐκ ὀνησιφόρον ἔργον ἐπιδεδειγμένους, οὐ μαθητὰς τῆς ἀρετῆς καταλείψαντας, οὐ λόγους, οὐ συγγράμματα πρὸς εὐζωίαν συντείνοντα παραδόντας, ἠσχολημένους δὲ περὶ γύναια καὶ αἰσχρὰς ἡδονάς, εἰκῆ καὶ ὡς ἔτυχεν οὐκ οἶδ' ὁποίας δαιμονικῆς ἐνεργείας πλάνῃ θεοὺς καὶ ἥρωας ἀνηγόρευσαν θυσίαις τε καὶ τελεταῖς σὺν γοητικαῖς ἀπάταις ἐτίμησαν, νεὼς μὲν αὐτοῖς καὶ ἱερὰ κατὰ πόλεις καὶ κατὰ χώρας δειμάμενοι, τὸν δ' ἐπέκεινα τοῦ κόσμου μόνον ἀληθῆ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγον παμβασιλέα καὶ ποιητὴν τῶν ὅλων ἐν οὐδενὶ τέθεινται. οἱ δ' εἰς τοσοῦτον ἤλαυνον μανίας τε καὶ φρενοβλαβείας ὡς ἐν ταὐτῷ τούσδε τινὰς τοὺς τυχόντας ἄνδρας θεοὺς ἀναγορεύειν, καὶ παραχρῆμα τοῖς αὐτοῖς θνητῶν συνάπτειν πάθη, ἔρωτάς τε παρανόμους καὶ πράξεις αἰσχρὰς ζωῆς τε καταστροφὰς καὶ θανάτους τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἀνατιθέναι. εἶτα τοιαῦτα οὐχ ὑφ' ἑτέρων διαβαλλόμενα φάσκοντες, αὐτοὶ δὲ μάρτυρες τούτων ὄντες, πλάνας τε καὶ πένθη καὶ θανάτους καὶ πρό γε τούτων μοιχείας αὐτῶν καὶ ἀρρένων φθορὰς γυναικῶν τε ἁρπαγὰς ὁμολογοῦντες, οὐδὲν ἧττον πόλεις πάσας καὶ κώμας καὶ χώρας ναοῖς καὶ ἀγάλμασι καὶ ἱεροῖς ἐπλήρουν, τῇ τῶν θεῶν ὁμοιοτροπίᾳ τὰς ἑαυτῶν προσαπολλύντες ψυχάς. 13.6 θεοὺς δὴ τοίνυν καὶ θεῶν παῖδας ἥρωάς τε κἀγαθοὺς δαίμονας λόγῳ μὲν ἦν παρ' αὐτοῖς ἀκούειν, ἔργῳ δὲ πᾶν τοὐναντίον· τἀναντία γοῦν τοῖς ἐναντίοις ἐσέμνυνον, ὡς εἰ καὶ ἥλιόν τις καὶ φῶτα τὰ κατ' οὐρανὸν δεῖξαί τῳ βουληθεὶς ἄνω μὲν εἰς ὕψος μὴ ἐπαίροι τὰς ὄψεις, κάτω δὲ εἰς γῆν τὰς χεῖρας βαλὼν καὶ χαμαὶ εἰς ἔδαφος ῥίψας ἐν πηλῷ καὶ βορβόρῳ τὰς οὐρανίους δυνάμεις ἐπιζητοίη. οὕτω δὴ καὶ τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος φρενοβλαβείᾳ καὶ δαιμόνων ἀπάτῃ πονηρῶν τὴν ἐπέκεινα οὐρανοῦ τε καὶ κόσμου θείαν καὶ νοητὴν οὐσίαν κάτω που ἐν σωμάτων γενέσει καὶ θνητῶν πάθεσί τε καὶ θανάτοις ἐπέπειστο εἶναι. οἱ δ' εἰς τοσοῦτον ἤλαυνον ἀνοίας, ὡς καὶ τὰ φίλτατα θύειν αὐτοῖς μηδὲ φειδὼ ποιεῖσθαι τῆς φύσεως, ἀλλ' ἤδη καὶ τὰ μονογενῆ καὶ ἀγαπητὰ τῶν τέκνων μανίᾳ καὶ διανοίας ἐκστάσει κατασφάττειν. 13.7 καὶ τί γὰρ ἂν γένοιτο τούτου μανικώτερον θύειν ἀνθρώπους καὶ τὰς πόλεις ἁπάσας καὶ τοὺς αὐτῶν οἴκους ἐμφυλίοις μολύνειν φόνοις; ἢ οὐ ταῦτα Ἑλλήνων παῖδες μαρτυροῦσι