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and is not all of history filled with the memory of these things? For to Cronus the Phoenicians would sacrifice each year their beloved and only-begotten children, and to this same one in Rhodes, on the sixth day of the month Metageitnion, they used to slaughter men. And in Salamis in the same precinct of Athena Agraulis and of Diomedes, a certain man, being pursued, would run around the altar three times, then the priest would strike him in the stomach with a spear, and so burn him whole on the heaped-up pyre. And in Egypt very many human slaughters also took place, and three were sacrificed to Hera per day in Heliopolis, in place of whom Amosis the king, perceiving the horror, ordered an equal number of wax figures to be offered. And in Chios they sacrificed a man to Dionysus Omadius, tearing him apart, and in Tenedos likewise, and in Lacedaemon they performed the sacrifice of men to Ares. And in Crete they did this very thing, sacrificing humans to Cronus. And to Athena a virgin was sacrificed each year in Laodicea of Syria, but now a doe. Moreover, Libyans and Carthaginians also would propitiate their own gods with human sacrifices. And the Dumatenes of Arabia would sacrifice a child each year, whom they buried under the altar, and history teaches that all Greeks in common, before going out to wars, would commit human slaughter, and Thracians and Scythians likewise. And the Athenians recall the daughters of Leos and the slain daughter of Erechtheus. But even now who does not know that in the great city, at the festival of Zeus Latiaris, a man is slaughtered? 13.8 These things even the most approved of philosophers have testified to be so, and Diodorus, who abridged the libraries, says that the Libyans publicly sacrificed to Cronus two hundred of the most noble children, and that not less than three hundred others gave themselves in addition to the sacrifice, and Dionysius, the writer of Roman history, says that Zeus himself and Apollo by name asked for human sacrifices in Italy from those called Aborigines. He says therefore that those who were asked sacrificed to the gods the due portion of all their crops; but because they did not also sacrifice humans, they fell into all kinds of calamities, and had no pause from their evils before they tithed themselves; and so in this way, by taking and sacrificing tenths of the people, they became the cause of desolation for their country. With so many evils was the whole race of men afflicted long ago. 13.9 And in addition to these things, it was not enough to fare badly, but it was enslaved by countless other incurable calamities. For all at once the nations throughout the whole world, both Greek and barbarian, as if maddened by a demonic power, were in a state of dissension with a terrible and most harsh disease, in that the human race was unsociable and irreconcilable with itself, the great body of our common nature being torn apart here and there, in every corner of the earth men being in revolt and fighting one another with their laws and governments, 13.10 and not only this, but also being driven to savagery by frequent rebellions against one another, so that they were always and throughout their whole life occupied with battles and wars against one another, and it was not possible for anyone who wished to travel anywhere unless armed in the manner of an enemy, and in the fields and villages the farmers carried swords and possessed military equipment rather than agricultural tools, and they considered it a mark of virtue to plunder and enslave their neighbors. 13.11 And not only this, but also from the very stories which they fabricated about their own gods, they took provisions for a shameful and lawless life, and with all kinds of licentiousness utterly corrupted their own souls along with their bodies. And not only this, but also overstepping the bounds of nature, they proceeded to unspeakable practices and committed against one another things incredible to hear in their drunken violence; «men with men working that which is unseemly, and the recompense which was due for their error in themselves

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καὶ πᾶσά γε ἡ ἱστορία τῆς τούτων μνήμης πεπλήρωται; Κρόνῳ μὲν γὰρ Φοίνικες καθ' ἕκαστον ἔτος ἔθυον τὰ ἀγαπητὰ καὶ μονογενῆ τῶν τέκνων, τῷ δ' αὐτῷ τούτῳ καὶ ἐν Ῥόδῳ μηνὶ Μεταγειτνιῶνι ἕκτῃ ἱσταμένου ἀνθρώπους ἔσφαττον. ἐν δὲ Σαλαμῖνι ὑφ' ἕνα περίβολον Ἀθηνᾶς Ἀγραύλιδος. καὶ ∆ιομήδους ἐλαυνόμενός τις ἀνὴρ τρὶς περιέθει τὸν βωμόν, ἔπειτα ὁ ἱερεὺς αὐτὸν λόγχῃ ἔπαιεν κατὰ τοῦ στομάχου, καὶ οὕτως αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὴν νησθεῖσαν πυρὰν ὡλοκαύτιζεν. ἐγίγνοντο δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς Αἰγύπτου πλεῖσται ὅσαι ἀνθρωποκτονίαι, ἐθύοντό τε τῇ Ἥρᾳ ἐν Ἡλίου πόλει τῆς ἡμέρας τρεῖς, ἀνθ' ὧν Ἀμώσης ὁ βασιλεὺς τὸ δεινὸν συνιδὼν κηρίνους τοὺς ἴσους ἐκέλευσεν ἐπιτίθεσθαι. καὶ ἐν Χίῳ δὲ τῷ Ὠμαδίῳ ∆ιονύσῳ ἄνθρωπον διασπῶντες ἔθυον, καὶ ἐν Τενέδῳ δὲ ὡσαύτως, ἐν δὲ Λακεδαίμονι τῷ Ἄρει τὴν δι' ἀνθρώπων ἐτέλουν θυσίαν. καὶ ἐν Κρήτῃ δὲ αὐτὸ τοῦτ' ἔπραττον, ἀνθρωποθυτοῦντες τῷ Κρόνῳ. Ἀθηνᾷ δὲ παρθένος κατ' ἔτος ἐθύετο ἐν Λαοδικείᾳ τῆς Συρίας, νῦν δὲ ἔλαφος. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ Λίβυες καὶ Καρχηδόνιοι ταῖς ἀνθρωποθυσίαις τοὺς ἑαυτῶν ἱλεοῦντο θεούς. καὶ ∆ουματηνοὶ δὲ τῆς Ἀραβίας καθ' ἕκαστον ἔτος ἔθυον παῖδα, ὃν ὑπὸ τὸν βωμὸν ἔθαπτον, κοινῶς δὲ πάντας Ἕλληνας, πρὶν ἐπὶ πολέμους ἐξιέναι, ἀνθρωποκτονεῖν ἡ ἱστορία διδάσκει, Θρᾷκας τε καὶ Σκύθας ὁμοίως. Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ τὰς Λεὼ κόρας καὶ τὴν Ἐρεχθέως θυγατέρα σφαγιασθεῖσαν μνημονεύουσιν. ἀλλ' ἔτι καὶ νῦν τίς ἀγνοεῖ κατὰ τὴν μεγάλην πόλιν τῇ τοῦ Λατριαρίου ∆ιὸς ἑορτῇ σφαγιαζόμενον ἄνθρωπον; 13.8 ταῦτα μὲν φιλοσόφων οἱ καὶ δοκιμώτατοι μεμαρτυρήκασιν οὕτως ἔχειν, ∆ιόδωρος δὲ ὁ τὰς βιβλιοθήκας ἐπιτεμὼν φησὶ τῷ Κρόνῳ διακοσίους τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων παίδων δημοσίᾳ θῦσαι τοὺς Λίβυας, οὐκ ἐλάττους δὲ ἐπιδοῦναι τῇ θυσίᾳ τριακοσίους ἑτέρους, ὁ δὲ τῆς Ῥωμαϊκῆς ἱστορίας συγγραφεὺς ∆ιονύσιος αὐτὸν ὀνομαστὶ τὸν ∆ία καὶ τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα αἰτῆσαι ἀνθρωποθυσίας ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ παρὰ τῶν καλουμένων Ἀβοριγινῶν. τοὺς αἰτηθέντας οὖν φησι καρπῶν μὲν ἁπάντων τὸ λάχος ἀποθῦσαι τοῖς θεοῖς· ὅτι δὲ μὴ καὶ ἀνθρώπους ἔθυσαν, παντοίαις περιπεσεῖν συμφοραῖς, μὴ πρότερόν τε κακῶν παῦλαν σχεῖν ἢ δεκατεῦσαι ἑαυτούς· οὕτω δ' οὖν ἀνθρώπων δεκάτας ἀφαιρουμένους τε καὶ θύοντας ἐρημίας αἰτίους γενέσθαι τῇ χώρᾳ. τοσούτοις κακοῖς τὸ πᾶν τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος πάλαι πρότερον κατετρύχετο. 13.9 οὐκ ἤρκει δ' ἐπὶ τούτοις τὸ κακῶς πράττειν, μυρίαις δὲ καὶ ἄλλαις ἀνηκέστοις καταδεδούλωτο συμφοραῖς. ὁμοῦ γὰρ τὰ καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης ἔθνη, Ἕλληνά τε καὶ βαρβάρα, ὡς ὑπὸ δαιμονικῆς ἐνεργείας οἰστρούμενα δεινῇ καὶ χαλεπωτάτῃ νόσῳ διεστασίαζεν, τῷ ἄμικτον εἶναι καὶ ἀκατάλλακτον αὐτὸ πρὸς ἑαυτὸ τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος, ὧδε κἀκεῖσε τοῦ μεγάλου σώματος τῆς κοινῆς φύσεως διεσπασμένου, ἐφ' ἑκάστῃ γωνίᾳ γῆς ἀποστατούντων ἀνθρώπων νόμοις τε καὶ πολιτείαις διαμαχομένων ἀλλήλοις, 13.10 καὶ οὐ τοῦτο μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐξαγριουμένων πυκναῖς ταῖς κατ' ἀλλήλων ἐπαναστάσεσιν, ὥστ' ἀεὶ καὶ διὰ παντὸς τοῦ βίου μάχαις ταῖς κατ' ἀλλήλων καὶ πολέμοις σχολάζειν, μὴ ἐξεῖναί τέ ποι τῷ βουλομένῳ στέλλεσθαι μὴ πολεμίου τρόπον καθωπλισμένῳ, κατ' ἀγρούς τε καὶ κατὰ κώμας ξιφηφορεῖν τοὺς γεωπόνους καὶ μᾶλλον τῶν πρὸς γεωργίαν ὀργάνων τὰς ἐνόπλους κεκτῆσθαι παρασκευάς, τό τε ληΐζεσθαι καὶ ἀνδραποδίζεσθαι τοὺς ἐκ γειτόνων ἐπ' ἀρετῆς τίθεσθαι μέρει. 13.11 καὶ οὐ τοῦτο μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐξ αὐτῶν, ὧν ἐλογοποίησαν περὶ τῶν οἰκείων θεῶν, αἰσχρᾶς καὶ παρανόμου ζωῆς ἐφόδια προσλαβόντες, παντοίοις τρόποις ἀκολασίας ὁμοῦ τοῖς σώμασι καὶ τὰς αὐτῶν ψυχὰς προσδιέφθειραν. καὶ οὐ τοῦτο μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ὅρους ὑπερβάντες, τῆς φύσεως ἐπέκεινα ἐχώρουν ἀρρητοποιΐας καὶ τὰ ἀκοαῖς ἄπιστα κατ' ἀλλήλων ἐμπαροινοῦντες· «ἄρρενές τε ἐπ' ἄρσεσι τὴν ἀσχημοσύνην κατεργαζόμενοι, καὶ τὴν ἀντιμισθίαν ἣν ἔδει τῆς πλάνης αὐτῶν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς