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Sacred Isidore says: The increase of sins compels, as it were, the divine and impassible nature to proceed from its natural goodness to unnatural wrath. Whence also Christ said to the Jews: how often I wanted to gather you together, and you were not willing? For since, he says, you do not accept philanthropy, you will know the power of punishment. For when God sees a man turning to the extreme of wickedness, He lifts His grace from him; of which the man being deprived is further hardened by the devil, and not having God in himself, the wrath of God seizes him. In the times previously written above, from the tribe of Japheth was born Serug, who first began Hellenism and the dogma of idolatry, as Eusebius of Pamphilus wrote; for this Serug and those with him honored with statues on pillars those who had long ago been either warriors or rulers and had done something worthy of remembrance in life for courage or virtue, and as being their forefathers, and they worshipped them as gods and sacrificed to them. But the men after them, being ignorant of the intention of their ancestors, that they honored them with memorials only as forefathers and discoverers of good things, honored and sacrificed to them as 1.82 heavenly gods. The form of apotheosis was such. In their sacred books their names were inscribed after death, and at that time they celebrated a festival for him, saying that their souls were in the isles of the blessed and would no longer be judged or burned by fire. And these things continued until the times of Terah, the father of Abraham. But also the most wise Sophocles set these things forth in his writings: One in truth, there is one God, who made heaven and the wide earth and the gleaming swell of the sea and the might of the winds. But we mortals, many wandering in heart, have established for ourselves as a consolation for our woes images of gods from stone and wood, or figures of gold-work or ivory, and making sacrifices and beautiful festivals for these, we think to be pious. For the same Sophocles seemed to glorify monarchy. But the Ionians, from Io, who became the leaders of the Hellenes, worshipped wooden images, which Plutarch of Chaeronea blames as introducing a certain error of images, deifying the heavenly luminaries, the sun and the moon, as the 1.83 theogony of the Egyptians contains. For he says that they administer and nourish the entire cosmos, increasing all things by the tripartite motion of the five planets and the rest of the celestial arrangement according to nativities and stars. In the times of Moses, Erechtheus was king of the Assyrians, and of the Egyptians Petisonios, also called Pharaoh, was king, who had the magicians Jannes and Jambres. And during his reign the race of the Hebrews multiplied in Egypt. But Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; and the Egyptians feared the Hebrews as they had become numerous, and they oppressed them with brickmaking and with clay, setting harsh taskmasters over them, and they groaned, being afflicted. And Moses and Aaron heeded their groaning, and prayed to God, who also commanded Moses to go in to Pharaoh, and to tell him to let the people of Israel go, to worship the Lord their God. And Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and announced to him the command of God. But Pharaoh says to them, "If you are telling the truth that your God has commanded these things, behold, there are Egyptians with me who perform wonders; if you defeat them through your God, I will grant you what he has commanded." And he set Jannes and Jambres opposite Moses and Aaron. And the magicians by sorcery made their rods into snakes; and Moses, casting his rod upon the ground, it became a great snake and swallowed up 1.84 the snakes made by the magicians. And Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord God had told them. And the Lord said

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ἱερὸς Ἰσίδωρός φησιν· ἡ τῶν ἁμαρ τημάτων ἐπίτασις ἀναγκάζει ὥσπερ τὴν θείαν καὶ ἀπαθῆ φύσιν ἐκ τῆς κατὰ φύσιν ἀγαθότητος εἰς τὴν παρὰ φύσιν ὀργὴν χωρεῖν. ὅθεν καὶ Ἰουδαίοις ἔφη Χριστός· ποσάκις ἠθέλησα ἐπισυναγαγεῖν ὑμᾶς, καὶ οὐκ ἠθελήσατε; ἐπειδὴ γάρ, φησίν, οὐ δέχεσθε τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν, ἐπιγνώσεσθε τὴν ἐξουσίαν τῆς τιμωρίας. ὅταν γὰρ ἴδῃ ὁ θεὸς εἰς ἄκρον κακίας ἐκκλίναντα τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἐπαί ρει τὴν ἑαυτοῦ χάριν ἐξ αὐτοῦ· ἧς ὁ ἄνθρωπος στερούμενος ἐπὶ πλεῖον τραχύνεται ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου, καὶ μὴ ἔχων τὸν θεὸν ἐν ἑαυτῷ καταλαμβάνει αὐτὸν ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ. Ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἀνωτέρω προγεγραμμένοις χρόνοις ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς τοῦ Ἰάφεθ ἐγεννήθη Σερούχ, ὅστις πρῶτος ἤρξατο τοῦ ἑλληνισμοῦ καὶ τοῦ δόγματος τῆς εἰδωλολατρείας, καθὼς Εὐσέβιος ὁ Παμφίλου συνεγράψατο· αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ Σεροὺχ καὶ οἱ σὺν αὐτῷ τοὺς πάλαι γενομένους ἢ πολεμιστὰς ἢ ἡγεμόνας καί τι πράξαντας ἀνδρίας ἢ ἀρετῆς ἄξιον ἐν τῷ βίῳ τοῦ μνημονεύεσθαι, καὶ ὡς ὄντας αὐτῶν προπάτορας, ἀνδριᾶσι στηλῶν ἐτίμησαν, καὶ ὡς θεοὺς προσεκύνουν αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐθυσίαζον. οἱ δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα ἄν θρωποι ἀγνοοῦντες τὴν τῶν προγόνων γνώμην, ὅτι ὡς προπά τορας καὶ ἀγαθῶν εὑρετὰς ἐτίμησαν μνήμαις μόναις, ὡς θεοὺς 1.82 ἐπουρανίους ἐτίμων καὶ ἐθυσίαζον αὐτοῖς. ἦν δὲ τὸ τῆς ἀποθεώ σεως σχῆμα τοιοῦτον. ἐν ταῖς ἱερατικαῖς αὐτῶν βίβλοις ἐτάσ σοντο τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν μετὰ τελευτήν, καὶ κατ' ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρὸν ἑορτὴν αὐτῷ ἐπετέλουν, λέγοντες τὰς αὐτῶν ψυχὰς εἰς τὰς τῶν μακάρων νήσους εἶναι καὶ μηκέτι κρίνεσθαι ἢ καίεσθαι πυρί. καὶ διέμειναν ἕως τῶν χρόνων Θάρρα τοῦ πατρὸς Ἀβραὰμ ταῦτα. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ σοφώτατος Σοφοκλῆς ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῦ συγγράμμασιν ἐξέ θετο ταῦτα· εἷς ταῖς ἀληθείαισιν, εἷς ἐστὶν θεός, ὃς οὐρανὸν τέτευχε καὶ γαῖαν μακρὰν πόντου τε χαροπὸν οἶδμα κἀνέμων βίας. θνητοὶ δὲ πολλοὶ καρδίᾳ πλανώμενοι ἱδρυσάμεσθα πημάτων παραψυχὴν θεῶν ἀγάλματ' ἐκ λίθων τε καὶ ξύλων ἢ χρυσοτεύκτων ἢ ἐλεφαντίνων τύπους, θυσίας τε τούτοις καὶ καλὰς πανηγύρεις τεύχοντες ἡμεῖς εὐσεβεῖν νομίζομεν. μοναρχίαν γὰρ ἔδοξε δοξάζειν ὁ αὐτὸς Σοφοκλῆς. Ἴωνες δὲ οἱ ἐκ τῆς Ἰοῦς, τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀρχηγοὶ γεγονότες, τοῖς ξοάνοις προσεκύνουν, οἷστισι μέμφεται ὁ Χερρονήσιος Πλού ταρχος ὡς πλάνην ἀγαλμάτων τινῶν εἰσάγουσι, τοὺς κατ' οὐρα νὸν φωστῆρας θεοποιούμενοι τὸν ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην, ὡς ἡ τῶν 1.83 Αἰγυπτίων θεογονία περιέχει. αὐτοὺς γὰρ λέγει τὸν σύμπαντα κόσμον διοικεῖν καὶ τρέφειν, αὐξάνοντας τὰ πάντα τῇ τριμερεῖ κινήσει τῶν πέντε πλανήτων καὶ τῆς λοιπῆς ἀστροθεσίας κατὰ γενέσεις καὶ ἀστέρας. Ἐν τοῖς χρόνοις δὲ τοῦ Μωϋσέως ἐβασίλευσεν Ἀσσυρίων Ἐρεχθεύς, Αἰγυπτίων δὲ ἐβασίλευσε Πετισώνιος ὁ καὶ Φαραώ, ὅστις εἶχε μάγους τὸν Ἰαννῆν καὶ Ἰαμβρῆν. ἐπὶ τῆς βασιλείας δὲ τούτου ἐπληθύνθη ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ τὸ τῶν Ἑβραίων γένος. ὁ δὲ Μωϋσῆς ἦν πεπαιδευμένος πάσῃ σοφίᾳ Αἰγυπτίων· οἱ δὲ Αἰγύ πτιοι ἐφοβοῦντο τοὺς Ἑβραίους ὡς γενομένους πολλούς, καὶ ἐκά κουν αὐτοὺς τῇ πλινθείᾳ καὶ τῷ πηλῷ, ἐπιστήσαντες αὐτοῖς ἐπι στάτας βαρεῖς, καὶ ἐστέναζον θλιβόμενοι. καὶ προσέσχε Μωϋσῆς καὶ Ἀαρὼν τῷ στεναγμῷ αὐτῶν, καὶ ηὔξαντο τῷ θεῷ, ὃς καὶ ἐκέλευσε τῷ Μωϋσεῖ εἰσελθεῖν πρὸς Φαραώ, καὶ εἰπεῖν αὐτῷ ἀπο λῦσαι τὸν λαὸν τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, λατρεῦσαι κυρίῳ τῷ θεῷ αὐτῶν. καὶ εἰσελθὼν Μωϋσῆς καὶ Ἀαρὼν πρὸς Φαραὼ ἀνήγγειλεν αὐτῷ τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ κέλευσιν. ὁ δὲ Φαραὼ λέγει αὐτοῖς "εἰ ἀληθεύεις ὅτι ὁ θεός σου ταῦτα ἐκέλευσεν, ἰδού, εἰσὶν Αἰγύπτιοι σὺν ἐμοὶ ποιοῦντες θαύματα· ἐὰν νικήσῃς αὐτοὺς διὰ τοῦ θεοῦ σου, παρέξω σοι ἅπερ ἐκέλευσε." καὶ ἔστησεν ἐναντίον ἀλλήλων τὸν Ἰαννῆν καὶ τὸν Ἰαμβρῆν καὶ τὸν Μωϋσέα καὶ Ἀαρών. καὶ ἐποίησαν οἱ μάγοι διὰ γοητείας τὰς ῥάβδους αὐτῶν ὄφεις· καὶ ῥίψας Μωϋσῆς τὴν ῥάβδον αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν γῆν, ἐγένετο ὄφις μέγας καὶ κατέπιε 1.84 τοὺς ὑπὸ τῶν μάγων γενομένους ὄφεις. καὶ κατίσχυσεν ἡ καρδία Φαραώ, καὶ οὐκ εἰσήκουσεν αὐτῶν, καθάπερ ἐλάλησεν αὐτοῖς κύριος ὁ θεός. καὶ εἶπε κύριος