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when we apply our two eyes to creation, we marvel at its size and its beauty and its gushing usefulness, but leaving these things behind, the mind runs to the one who wisely crafted 3. them. Therefore the divine apostle has said most excellently: "For his invisible attributes are seen from the creation of the world, being understood through what has been made, both his eternal power and deity." Then he says that those are unworthy of all forgiveness who, having beheld creation, did not marvel at its Creator, but assigned divine 3.21 reverence to it; whence he reasonably added: "So that they are without excuse; because, although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened." And increasing the accusation, he has also set forth their conceit; "For," he says, "'Claiming to be wise, they became fools.'" And he also speaks of the kinds of folly: "And they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for the likeness of an image of mortal man." 3.22 For though they called God immortal, having made an image of corruptible bodies—for they do not know the form of the immortal soul—to this they assigned divine reverence. And the madness of this folly was not sufficient for their impiety, but having also made images of birds and four-footed animals and reptiles, these too they have called gods; and the very things which, when living, they kill as both venomous and destructive, the images of these they have named savior gods. 3.23 But let us return to that which has generated these words for us, that both Egyptians and Phoenicians, and indeed the Greeks too, considered the sun and moon and earth and stars and the other elements to be the first gods; for this indeed both Plato and Diodorus Siculus and Plutarch of Chaeronea taught. 3.24 But later in time, those who had done some good deed or acted bravely in wars or introduced some form of agriculture or brought healing to certain bodies, 3.25 they both deified and built temples for them. For indeed Sanchuniathon said that Cronus was a man and Rhea his wife was a woman, and that Zeus and Hera were their children, and then, having been the authors of certain benefactions and having met the end of their life, they were deemed worthy of divine honor by the Phoenicians, and were proclaimed gods and were honored with altars and sacrifices and with annual 3.26 public feasts. And the Greeks deified Heracles, as one who was noble and brave, and Asclepius, as having been the discoverer of the medical science, they named a god after he died. And for the same reason the Egyptians also deemed Apis worthy of 3.27 divine address. And yet the Greeks say that Heracles, on account of the plot that came from Deianira, burned himself and in this way ended his life, and that Asclepius, being a man and having freed many men from very many sufferings through the medical science, was 3.28 struck by a thunderbolt by Zeus and was destroyed. And these things, along with many others, Diodorus Siculus wrote in the fourth book of his libraries. But nevertheless the Greeks, although they have learned these things, call both Heracles and Asclepius gods, and besides these also the sons of Tyndareus, Castor and Polydeuces, whom they call Dioscuri, although they were not even very ancient, but sailed with the Argonauts. 3.29 For both these and Heracles and, in addition to them, Orpheus, using his lyre and with his strains charming the fish and compelling them to follow the harmony of his sound, filled the roster of the Argonauts; and that they were older than the Trojan events by one generation, we have shown in the preceding dis 3.30 course. And Dionysus, as the first to have planted a vine and pressed its fruit and shown the use of wine, they added to the string of the other gods. But Aphrodite, who was not even the author of any benefaction, but was also a teacher of licentiousness—for they say she was a harlot and a courtesan 3.31 and a lover

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τῇ κτίσει τὼ ὀφθαλμὼ προσφέροντες, ἀγάμεθα μὲν ταύτης καὶ τὸ μέγεθος καὶ τὸ κάλλος καὶ τὴν ἀναβλύζουσαν χρείαν, καταλιπὼν δὲ ταῦτα ὁ νοῦς πρὸς ἐκεῖνόν γε τρέχει τὸν ταῦτα σοφῶς τεκτη 3. νάμενον. Ἄριστα τοίνυν ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος εἴρηκεν· "Τὰ γὰρ ἀόρατα αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ κτίσεως κόσμου τοῖς ποιήμασι νοούμενα καθ ορᾶται, ἥ τε ἀΐδιος αὐτοῦ δύναμις καὶ θειότης." Εἶτα πάσης ἀναξίους εἶναι ξυγγνώμης φησὶ τοὺς τὴν μὲν κτίσιν τεθεαμένους, τὸν δὲ ταύτης οὐκ ἀγασθέντας δημιουργόν, ἀλλ' αὐτῇ τὸ θεῖον 3.21 ἀπονείμαντας σέβας· ὅθεν εἰκότως ἐπήγαγεν· "Εἰς τὸ εἶναι αὐ τοὺς ἀναπολογήτους· διότι γνόντες τὸν Θεόν, οὐχ ὡς Θεὸν ἐδόξασαν ἢ ηὐχαρίστησαν, ἀλλ' ἐματαιώθησαν ἐν τοῖς διαλογι σμοῖς αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐσκοτίσθη ἡ ἀσύνετος αὐτῶν καρδία." Αὔξων δὲ τὴν κατηγορίαν, καὶ τὴν οἴησιν αὐτῶν εἰς μέσον προτέθεικεν· "Φάσκοντες" γάρ φησιν "εἶναι σοφοί, ἐμωράνθησαν." Λέγει δὲ καὶ τῆς ἀνοίας τὰ εἴδη· "Καὶ ἤλλαξαν τὴν δόξαν τοῦ ἀφθάρτου Θεοῦ ἐν ὁμοιώματι εἰκόνος φθαρτοῦ ἀνθρώπου." 3.22 Ἄφθαρτον γὰρ δὴ τὸν Θεὸν ὀνομάζοντες, τῶν φθειρομένων σωμάτων εἰκόνα κατασκευάσαντες-οὐ γὰρ δὴ τῆς ἀθανάτου ψυχῆς ἴσασι τὴν ἰδέαν-ταύτῃ τὸ θεῖον προσένειμαν σέβας. Καὶ οὐκ ἀπέχρησεν αὐτοῖς εἰς ἀσέβειαν ἡ τῆσδε τῆς ἀφροσύνης ἀπό νοια, ἀλλὰ καὶ πτηνῶν καὶ τετραπόδων καὶ ἑρπετῶν κατασκευά σαντες δείκηλα, θεοὺς καὶ ταῦτα κεκλήκασι· καὶ ἅπερ ζῶντα κτείνουσιν ὡς ἰοβόλα τε καὶ ὀλέθρια, τούτων τὰς εἰκόνας θεοὺς σωτῆρας ὠνόμασαν. 3.23 Ἀλλ' ἐπανέλθωμεν ἐπ' ἐκεῖνο, ὃ τούσδε ἡμῖν τοὺς λόγους γεγέννηκεν, ὅτι πρώτους θεοὺς ἐνόμισαν καὶ Αἰγύπτιοι καὶ Φοί νικες καὶ μέντοι καὶ Ἕλληνες ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ γῆν καὶ ἄστρα καὶ τἄλλα στοιχεῖα· τοῦτο γὰρ δὴ καὶ ὁ Πλάτων καὶ ὁ Σικελιώτης ∆ιόδωρος καὶ ὁ Χαιρωνεὺς ἐδίδαξε Πλούταρχος· 3.24 χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον τοὺς εὖ τι δεδρακότας ἢ ἐν πολέμοις ἀνδραγα θισαμένους ἢ γεωργίας τινὸς ἄρξαντας ἢ σώμασί τισι θεραπείαν 3.25 προσενηνοχότας ἐθεοποίησάν τε καὶ νεὼς τούτοις ἐδεΐμαντο. Καὶ γὰρ δὴ καὶ τὸν Κρόνον ἄνθρωπον εἶναι Σαγχωνιάθων ἔφησε καὶ γυναῖκα τὴν Ῥέαν τὴν ἐκείνου ὁμόζυγα καὶ τὸν ∆ία καὶ τὴν Ἥραν ἐκείνων γε παῖδας, εἶτα εὐεργεσιῶν τινων ἄρξαντας καὶ δεξαμένους τοῦ βίου τὸ τέλος, θείας παρὰ Φοινίκων ἀξιωθῆναι τιμῆς, καὶ θεοὺς ἀναγορευθῆναι καὶ βωμοῖς καὶ θυσίαις καὶ ἐτη 3.26 σίοις τιμηθῆναι δημοθοινίαις. Καὶ Ἡρακλέα δέ, ὡς γενναῖόν τε καὶ ἀνδρεῖον, ἐθεοποίησαν Ἕλληνες, καὶ τὸν Ἀσκληπιόν, ὡς τῆς ἰατρικῆς ἐπιστήμης εὑρετὴν γεγενημένον, θεὸν τελευτήσαντα προσηγόρευσαν. ∆ιὰ δὲ τὴν αὐτὴν αἰτίαν καὶ τὸν Ἄπιν Αἰγύπτιοι 3.27 θείας προσηγορίας ἠξίωσαν. Καίτοι φασὶν Ἕλληνες τὸν μὲν Ἡρακλέα διὰ τὴν ξυμβᾶσαν ἐκ τῆς ∆ηϊανείρας ἐπιβουλὴν ἑαυ τὸν καταπρῆσαι καὶ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον καταλῦσαι τὸν βίον, τὸν δὲ Ἀσκληπιόν, ἄνθρωπον ὄντα καὶ πολλοὺς ἀνθρώπους διὰ τῆς ἰατρικῆς ἐπιστήμης παμπόλλων ἀπαλλάξαντα παθημάτων, κε 3.28 ραυνῷ βληθῆναι ὑπὸ τοῦ ∆ιὸς καὶ διαφθαρῆναι. Καὶ ταῦτα πρὸς ἑτέροις πολλοῖς ὁ Σικελιώτης ∆ιόδωρος ἐν τῷ τετάρτῳ τῶν βιβλιοθηκῶν ξυνέγραψεν. Ἀλλ' ὅμως οὐδὲν ἧττον Ἕλληνες, καὶ ταῦτα μεμαθηκότες, καὶ τὸν Ἡρακλέα καὶ τὸν Ἀσκληπιὸν θεοὺς ὀνομάζουσι, καὶ πρὸς τούτοις καὶ τοὺς Τυνδάρεω παῖδας Κάστορα καὶ Πολυδεύκην, οὓς ∆ιοσκόρους προσαγορεύουσι, καίτοι οὐδὲ παλαιοτάτους ὄντας, ἀλλὰ τοῖς Ἀργοναύταις ξυμπλεύσαν 3.29 τας. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ οὗτοι καὶ Ἡρακλῆς καὶ πρὸς τούτοις Ὀρφεύς, τῇ κιθάρᾳ χρώμενος καὶ τοῖς κρούμασι τοὺς ἰχθύας καταθέλγων καὶ ἕπεσθαι τῇ τῆς ἠχῆς ἁρμονίᾳ καταναγκάζων, τὸν τῶν Ἀργο ναυτῶν ἐπλήρουν κατάλογον· ὅτι δὲ μιᾷ γενεᾷ τῶν Τρωϊκῶν οὗτοί γε ἦσαν πρεσβύτεροι, ἐν τῇ πρὸ ταύτης ἀπεδείξαμεν δια 3.30 λέξει. Καὶ τὸν ∆ιόνυσον δέ, ὡς πρῶτον ἄμπελον πεφυτευκότα καὶ τὸν ταύτης καρπὸν ἀποθλίψαντα καὶ δείξαντα τοῦ οἴνου τὴν χρείαν, τῷ τῶν ἄλλων θεῶν ξυνέταξαν ὁρμαθῷ. Τὴν δέ γε Ἀφροδίτην, οὐδὲ εὐεργεσίας τινὸς ἄρξασαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀκολασίας γεγενημένην διδάσκαλον-χαμαιτύπην γὰρ αὐτὴν καὶ ἑταίραν 3.31 γεγενῆσθαί φασι καὶ ἐρωμένην