Chapter XXV.—False Gods abandoned by Christians.

And, secondly, because we—who, out of every race of men, used to worship Bacchus the son of Semele, and Apollo the son of Latona (who in their loves with men did such things as it is shameful even to mention), and Proserpine and Venus (who were maddened with love of Adonis, and whose mysteries also you celebrate), or Æsculapius, or some one or other of those who are called gods—have now, through Jesus Christ, learned to despise these, though we be threatened with death for it, and have dedicated ourselves to the unbegotten and impossible God; of whom we are persuaded that never was he goaded by lust of Antiope, or such other women, or of Ganymede, nor was rescued by that hundred-handed giant whose aid was obtained through Thetis, nor was anxious on this account50    i.e., on account of the assistance gained for him by Thetis, and in return for it. that her son Achilles should destroy many of the Greeks because of his concubine Briseis. Those who believe these things we pity, and those who invented them we know to be devils.

[25] Δεύτερον δ' ὅτι ἐκ παντὸς γένους ἀνθρώπων οἱ παλαιοὶ σεβόμενοι Διόνυσον τὸν Σεμέλης καὶ Ἀπόλλωνα τὸν Λητοΐδην, οἳ δι' ἔρωτας ἀρσένων ὅσα ἔπραξαν αἶσχος καὶ λέγειν, καὶ οἱ Περσεφόνην καὶ Ἀφροδίτην, τὰς διὰ τὸν Ἄδωνιν οἰστρηθείσας, ὧν καὶ τὰ μυστήρια ἄγετε, ἢ Ἀσκληπιὸν ἤ τινα τῶν ἄλλων ὀνομαζομένων θεῶν, καίπερ θανάτου ἀπειλουμένου διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τούτων μὲν κατεφρονήσαμεν, θεῷ δὲ τῷ ἀγεννήτῳ καὶ ἀπαθεῖ ἑαυτοὺς ἀνεθήκαμεν, ὃν οὔτε ἐπ' Ἀντιόπην καὶ τὰς ἄλλας ὁμοίως οὐδὲ ἐπὶ Γανυμήδην δι' οἶστρον ἐληλυθέναι πειθόμεθα, οὐδὲ λυθῆναι βοηθείας τυχόντα διὰ Θέτιδος ὑπὸ τοῦ ἑκατοντάχειρος ἐκείνου, οὐδὲ μεριμνῶντα διὰ τοῦτο τὸν τῆς Θέτιδος Ἀχιλλέα διὰ τὴν παλλακίδα Βρισηΐδα ὀλέσαι πολλοὺς τῶν Ἑλλήνων. καὶ τοὺς πειθομένους ἐλεοῦμεν: τοὺς δὲ τούτων αἰτίους δαίμονας γνωρίζομεν.