Chapter XXX.—Reasons Why Divinity Has Been Ascribed to Men.

For if detestable and god-hated men had the reputation of being gods, and the daughter of Derceto, Semiramis, a lascivious and blood-stained woman, was esteemed a Syria goddess; and if, on account of Derceto, the Syrians worship doves and Semiramis (for, a thing impossible, a woman was changed into a dove: the story is in Ctesias), what wonder if some should be called gods by their people on the ground of their rule and sovereignty (the Sibyl, of whom Plato also makes mention, says:—

and others for their strength, as Heracles and Perseus; and others for their art, as Asclepius? Those, therefore, to whom either the subjects gave honour or the rulers themselves [assumed it], obtained the name, some from fear, others from revenge. Thus Antinous, through the benevolence of your ancestors towards their subjects, came to be regarded as a god. But those who came after adopted the worship without examination.

Though you believe, O Callimachus, in the nativity of Zeus, you do not believe in his sepulchre; and whilst you think to obscure the truth, you in fact proclaim him dead, even to those who are ignorant; and if you see the cave, you call to mind the childbirth of Rhea; but when you see the coffin, you throw a shadow over his death, not considering that the unbegotten God alone is eternal. For either the tales told by the multitude and the poets about the gods are unworthy of credit, and the reverence shown them is superfluous (for those do not exist, the tales concerning whom are untrue); or if the births, the amours, the murders, the thefts, the castrations, the thunderbolts, are true, they no longer exist, having ceased to be since they were born, having previously had no being. And on what principle must we believe some things and disbelieve others, when the poets have written their stories in order to gain greater veneration for them? For surely those through whom they have got to be considered gods, and who have striven to represent their deeds as worthy of reverence, cannot have invented their sufferings. That, therefore, we are not atheists, acknowledging as we do God the Maker of this universe and His Logos, has been proved according to my ability, if not according to the importance of the subject.

εἰ γὰρ καὶ ὡς ἀπόπτυστοι καὶ θεοστυγεῖς δόξαν ἔσχον εἶναι θεοὶ καὶ ἡ θυγάτηρ τῆς ∆ερκετοῦς Σεμίραμις, λάγνος γυνὴ καὶ μιαι φόνος, ἔδοξε Συρία θεὸς καὶ διὰ τὴν ∆ερκετὼ [τοὺς ἰχθῦς] καὶ τὰς περιστερὰς διὰ τὴν Σεμίραμιν σέβουσι Σύροι (τὸ γὰρ ἀδύνατον, εἰς περιστερὰν μετέβαλεν ἡ γυνή· ὁ μῦθος παρὰ Κτησίᾳ), τί θαυμαστὸν τοὺς μὲν ἐπὶ ἀρχῇ καὶ τυραννίδι ὑπὸ τῶν κατ' αὐτοὺς κληθῆναι θεούς–Σίβυλλα (μέμνηται δ' αὐτῆς καὶ Πλάτων)· δὴ τότε δὴ δεκάτη γενεὴ μερόπων ἀνθρώπων, ἐξ οὗ δὴ κατακλυσμὸς ἐπὶ προτέρους γένετ' ἄνδρας, καὶ βασίλευσε Κρόνος καὶ Τιτὰν Ἰαπετός τε, Γαίης τέκνα φέριστα καὶ Oὐρανοῦ, οὓς ἐκάλεσσαν ἄνθρωποι Γαῖάν τε καὶ Oὐρανὸν οὔνομα θέντες, οὕνεκα οἱ πρώτιστοι ἔσαν μερόπων ἀνθρώπων– τοὺς δ' ἐπ' ἰσχύι, ὡς Ἡρακλέα καὶ Περσέα, τοὺς δ' ἐπὶ τέχνῃ, ὡς Ἀσκληπιόν; οἷς μὲν οὖν ἢ αὐτοὶ οἱ ἀρχόμενοι τιμῆς μετε δίδοσαν ἢ αὐτοὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες, οἱ μὲν φόβῳ, οἱ δὲ καὶ αἰδοῖ μετεῖχον τοῦ ὀνόματος (καὶ Ἀντίνους φιλανθρωπίᾳ τῶν ὑμετέρων προγόνων πρὸς τοὺς ὑπηκόους ἔτυχε νομίζεσθαι θεός)· οἱ δὲ μετ' αὐτοὺς ἀβασανίστως παρεδέξαντο. Κρῆτες ἀεὶ ψεῦσται· καὶ γὰρ τάφον, ὦ ἄνα, σεῖο Κρῆτες ἐτεκτήναντο· σὺ δ' οὐ θάνες. πιστεύων, Καλλίμαχε, ταῖς γοναῖς τοῦ ∆ιὸς ἀπιστεῖς αὐτοῦ τῷ τάφῳ καὶ νομίζων ἐπισκιάσειν τἀληθὲς καὶ τοῖς ἀγνοοῦσι κηρύσσεις τὸν τεθνηκότα κἂν μὲν τὸ ἄντρον βλέπῃς, τὸν Ῥέας ὑπομιμνήσκῃ τόκον, ἂν δὲ τὴν σορὸν ἴδῃς, ἐπισκοτεῖς τῷ τεθνηκότι, οὐκ εἰδὼς ὅτι μόνος ἀΐδιος ὁ ἀγένητος θεός. ἢ γὰρ ἄπιστοι οἱ ὑπὸ τῶν πολλῶν καὶ ποιητῶν λεγόμενοι μῦθοι περὶ τῶν θεῶν καὶ περισσὴ ἡ περὶ αὐτοὺς εὐσέβεια (οὐ γὰρ εἰσὶν ὧν ψευδεῖς οἱ λόγοι), ἢ εἰ ἀληθεῖς αἱ γενήσεις, οἱ ἔρωτες, αἱ μιαιφονίαι, αἱ κλοπαί, αἱ ἐκτομαί, οἱ κεραυνοί, οὐκέτ' εἰσίν, παυσάμενοι εἶναι, ἐπεὶ καὶ ἐγένοντο οὐκ ὄντες. τίς γὰρ τοῖς μὲν πιστεύειν λόγος, τοῖς δὲ ἀπιστεῖν, ἐπὶ τὸ σεμνότερον περὶ αὐτῶν τῶν ποιητῶν ἱστορηκότων; οὐ γὰρ ἂν δι' οὓς ἐνομίσθησαν θεοὶ σεμνοποιήσαντας τὴν κατ' αὐτοὺς ἱστορίαν, οὗτοι τὰ πάθη τὰ αὐτῶν ἐψεύσαντο. Ὡς μὲν οὖν οὐκ ἐσμὲν ἄθεοι θεὸν ἄγοντες τὸν ποιητὴν τοῦδε τοῦ παντὸς καὶ τὸν παρ' αὐτοῦ λόγον, κατὰ δύναμιν τὴν ἐμήν, εἰ καὶ μὴ πρὸς ἀξίαν, ἐλήλεγκται.