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above the clouds, and beyond the measure of our comprehension? And yet if these things are true, let them neither be ashamed, nor ambitious, or, because they are not shameful, let them persuade us; and why must they take refuge in myth, as a cloak for their shame? For myth belongs not to those who are confident, but to those who are retreating; but if they are false, first let them show us their naked theologians, so that our argument may be with them; then let them say how it is not foolish, to be ashamed of things as mythical, and yet to glory in these things as powerful; and what was possible to conceal from the many, for not everyone is educated, to make these things public to the sight of all in fictions and figures, and most terribly, with 35.657 how much loss of money, in temples and altars, and statues, and votive offerings, and sacrifices worth many talents, and when it is possible to be pious without loss, to choose to be impious with loss?

118. But if they should say that these are the fictions and follies of poets, who use these two things for the pleasure of their poetry, meter and myth, and as it were sweeten the ear with them, but that the meaning hidden in these things is more secret and deeper for them, and accessible to only a few of the wiser, consider how simply and justly I will speak about these things. First, how do they praise those who insult the ones they worship, and almost deem them worthy of honors equal to the gods, for whom not paying the penalty for impiety was sufficient gain? For if death or a penalty from the laws is prescribed for those who blaspheme against one of their gods, even privately and in small matters, what ought those to suffer who direct their poetry against all of them at once and publicly, and in the most shameful ways, and have handed down the comedy for a long time? Then this too is worthy of consideration: there are also among us some teachings in concealment, I will not deny it, but what is the manner of their twofold nature, and what is its power? Neither is the outward appearance unseemly, and the hidden meaning is wonderful and most splendid to those who are initiated into its depth, and like some beautiful and unapproachable body, it is not covered with a mean garment. For it is necessary, as it seems to me at least, that not even the indications and manifestations of divine things should be unseemly and unworthy of the things signified, nor such as men would be offended by if said about themselves; but it should either be altogether most beautiful, or at least not most shameful, so that the one may delight the wiser, and the other may not harm the many.

119. But for you, neither is the thing understood trustworthy, nor is the thing set forth destructive. And what wisdom is it to lead to a city through mud, or to hasten to a harbor through projecting rocks and reefs? For what will come of this? and what is the end of the arguments; You will talk nonsense, and allegorize your misfortunes or fantasies; but there will be no one persuaded, for what is seen is more persuasive. Therefore you have neither helped the hearer, and you have destroyed the spectator, who has become one with what is seen. 35.660 But their contemplative part is of such a kind, and so far from its own hypotheses, that it would be easier to bring all other things together, and to unite things widely separated, than to combine and harmonize these things, and to say that they are of the same man, I mean both the mythologies and their veils.

120. What would you say about their ethical part? From where, and starting from what, and using what arguments, will they be able to form them to virtue, and make them most worthy by their exhortations? Concord is best, and for cities, and peoples, and households, and each individual to be in agreement with one another, following the law and order of nature, which has both distinguished and bound all things, and has made this whole universe one cosmos out of many things. With what examples will they teach this? By telling of the wars of the gods, and their seditions, and rebellions, and the multitude of evils, which they both have themselves, and inflict on one another, both privately and publicly, with which nearly all writing and poetry is filled? For sooner from peaceful ones

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ὑπερνεφοῦς, καὶ ὑπὲρ τὰ ἡμέτερα μέτρα τῆς καταλήψεως; Καίτοι ταῦτα εἰ μὲν ἀληθῆ, μήτ' αἰσχυνέσθωσαν, καὶ φιλοτιμείσθωσαν, ἢ, ὅτι μὴ αἰσχρὰ, πειθέτωσαν· καὶ τί δεῖ καταφεύγειν αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τὸν μῦθον, ὡς τῆς αἰσχύνης συγκάλυμμα; οὐ γὰρ θαῤῥούντων, ἀλλ' ὑποχωρούντων ὁ μῦθος· εἰ δὲ ψευδῆ, πρῶτον μὲν ἐπιδεικνύτωσαν ἡμῖν τοὺς γυμνοὺς θεολόγους, ἵν' ᾖ πρὸς ἐκείνους ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος· ἔπειτα λεγέτωσαν πῶς οὐκ εὔηθες, οἷς ὡς μυθικοῖς αἰσχύνονται, τού τοις ὡς ἰσχυροῖς καλλωπίζεσθαι· καὶ ἃ τοὺς πολλοὺς λανθάνειν δυνατὸν ἦν, οὐ γὰρ πάντων ἡ παίδευσις, ταῦτα δημοσιεύειν ταῖς ἁπάντων ὄψεσιν ἐν πλά σμασί τε καὶ σχήμασι, καὶ τὸ δεινότατον, μεθ' 35.657 ὅσης τῆς εἰς χρήματα ζημίας, ἔν τε ναοῖς καὶ βωμοῖς, καὶ ἱδρύμασι, καὶ ἀναθήμασι, καὶ θυσίαις πο λυταλάντοις, καὶ ἀζημίως ἐνὸν εὐσεβεῖν, ἀσε βεῖν αἱρεῖσθαι μετὰ ζημίας;

ΡΙΗʹ. Εἰ δὲ ταῦτα μὲν ποιητῶν εἶναι φήσουσι πλάσματα καὶ ληρήματα, δύο τούτοις προσχρωμένων εἰς τὸ τερπνὸν τῆς ποιήσεως, μέτρῳ καὶ μύθῳ, καὶ οἷον καταγλυκαινόντων τούτοις τὴν ἀκοὴν, αὐτοῖς δὲ ἀποῤῥητότερον εἶναι καὶ βαθύτερον τὸν ἐναποκείμε νον τούτοις νοῦν, καὶ διαβατὸν ὀλίγοις τῶν σοφωτέ ρων, σκοπεῖτε, ὡς ἁπλῶς καὶ δικαίως περὶ τούτων ἐγὼ διαλέξομαι. Πρῶτον μὲν πῶς ἐπαινοῦσι τοὺς ὧν σέβουσιν ὑβριστὰς, καὶ μικροῦ τῶν ἰσοθέων ἀξιοῦσι τιμῶν, οἷς τὸ μὴ δοῦναι δίκην τῆς ἀσεβείας κέρδος αὔταρκες ἦν; Εἰ γὰρ τοῖς εἰς ἕνα θεὸν αὐτῶν καὶ ἰδίᾳ καὶ μικρὰ βλασφημήσασι θάνα τος ἢ ζημία παρὰ τῶν νόμων, τί πάσχειν ἔδει τοὺς πᾶσιν ὁμοῦ καὶ δημοσίᾳ, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς αἰσχίστοις ἐπαφιέντας τὴν ποίησιν, καὶ μακρῷ χρόνῳ παραδόντας τὴν κωμῳδίαν; Ἔπειτα καὶ τοῦτο λογίζεσθαι ἄξιον· εἰσὶ καὶ παρ' ἡμῖν κατ' ἐπίκρυψιν λόγοι τινὲς, οὐκ ἀρνήσομαι, ἀλλὰ τίς ὁ τρόπος αὐτῶν τῆς δι πλόης, καὶ τίς ἡ δύναμις; Οὔτε τὸ φαινόμενον ἀπρε πὲς, καὶ τὸ κρυπτόμενον θαυμάσιον καὶ ὑπέρ λαμπρον τοῖς εἰς τὸ βάθος εἰσαγομένοις, καὶ ὥσπερ τι σῶμα καλὸν καὶ ἀπρόσιτον, οὐ φαύλῃ τῇ ἐσθῆτι πε ρικαλύπτεται· δεῖ γὰρ, ὡς γοῦν ἔμοιγε δοκεῖ, τῶν θείων μηδὲ τὰς ἐνδείξεις, καὶ τὰς ἐμφάσεις ἀπρεπεῖς εἶναι καὶ ἀναξίας τῶν δηλουμένων, μηδὲ οἵαις ἂν καὶ ἄνθρωποι λεγομέναις περὶ αὐτῶν δυσχεραίνοιεν· ἀλλ' ἢ τὸ κάλλιστον πάντως ἔχειν, ἢ μὴ τὸ αἴσχιστον, ἵνα τὸ μὲν τοὺς σοφωτέρους εὐφραίνῃ, τὸ δὲ μὴ βλάπτῃ τοὺς πλείονας.

ΡΙΘʹ. Ὑμῖν δὲ οὔτε τὸ νοούμενον ἀξιόπιστον, καὶ τὸ προβεβλημένον ὀλέθριον. Καὶ τίς ἡ σύνεσις διὰ βορβόρου πρὸς πόλιν ἄγειν, ἢ διὰ προβόλων τε καὶ ὑφάλων εἰς ὅρμον ἐπείγεσθαι; Τί γὰρ ἐκ τούτου συμβήσεται; καὶ τί τῶν λόγων τὸ πέρας· Σὺ μὲν ληρήσεις, καὶ ἀλληγορήσεις τὰς σὰς ἀτυχίας ἢ φαντασίας· ὁ δὲ πεισόμενος οὐκ ἔσται· τὸ γὰρ ὁρώμενον πιθανώτερον. Οὔτε οὖν τὸν ἀκροατὴν ὤνησας, καὶ τὸν θεατὴν ἀπώλεσας μετὰ τοῦ φαινομένου 35.660 γενόμενον. Ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν θεωρητικὸς τόπος αὐτοῖς τοιοῦτος, καὶ οὕτω πόῤῥω τῶν ὑποθέσεων, ὡς πάντα πρότερον εἶναι συμβαλεῖν ἀλλήλοις, καὶ εἰς ἓν ἀγαγεῖν τὰ μακρῷ κεχωρισμένα, ἢ ταῦτα συνθεῖναι καὶ συναρμόσαι, καὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἀνδρὸς εἶναι φῆσαι, τὰ μυθολογήματά τε λέγω καὶ τὰ σκεπάσματα.

ΡΚʹ. Τί δ' ἂν εἴποις περὶ τοῦ ἠθικοῦ μέρους αὐτῶν; Πόθεν, καὶ ἐκ τίνων ὁρμώμενοι, καὶ τίσι χρώμενοι λόγοις, πλάττειν αὐτοὺς εἰς ἀρετὴν δυνήσονται, καὶ πλείστου ποιεῖν ἀξίους ταῖς παραινέσεσιν; Ἄριστον ὁμόνοια, καὶ τὸ συμφρονεῖν ἀλλήλοις πόλεις, καὶ δήμους, καὶ οἰκίας, καὶ τοὺς καθ' ἕκαστον, νόμῳ καὶ τάξει φύσεως ἑπομένους, ἣ πάντα διεῖλέ τε καὶ συνέδησε, καὶ τὸ πᾶν τοῦτο κόσμον ἕνα ἐκ πλειόνων πεποίηκε. Τίσι τοῦτο διδάξουσιν ὑποδείγμασιν; Ἆρα τοὺς πολέμους λέγοντες τῶν θεῶν, καὶ τὰς στάσεις, καὶ τὰς ἐπαναστάσεις, καὶ τῶν κακῶν τὸ πλῆθος, ὧν αὐτοί τε ἔχουσι, καὶ ἀλλήλοις παρέχουσιν, ἰδίᾳ τε καὶ δημοσίᾳ, ὧν μικροῦ πᾶσα πεπλήρωται συγγραφή τε καὶ ποίησις; Θᾶττον μέν τ' ἂν ἐξ εἰρηνικῶν