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tawny, clear-voiced, disturbing the air with their wings, and in the mountain glens he placed the savage race of beasts; and he subjected all cattle to us mortals, and appointed him the divinely-made leader of all, and subjected to man things various and incomprehensible. For what mortal flesh can know all these things? But he alone who made these things from the beginning knows, the immortal, eternal creator, dwelling in the aether, offering to the good a good and much greater reward, but for the evil and unjust stirring up wrath and anger, and war and pestilence and tearful woes. O men, why being vainly exalted are you rooted out? Be ashamed, deifying weasels and beasts. Does not madness and frenzy of mind take away sense, if gods steal dishes and plunder pots? Instead of dwelling in a rich, golden vault, he is seen moth-eaten, and ensnared by thick spiderwebs. You foolish ones, worshipping snakes, dogs, and cats; and you revere birds and creeping beasts of the earth and stone idols and hand-made statues, and piles of stones beside the roads. These things you revere, and many other vain things, which it would be shameful to speak of. These are the gods who are by deceit the leaders of senseless mortals, from whose mouth indeed is poured a death-bearing venom. But he who is life and imperishable, eternal light, and pours forth for men a joy sweeter than honey, to him alone you should bend the neck, and you would rest on a path for ages among the pious. Leaving all these things, you have all with foolish and maddened spirit drawn the cup full of justice—stronger, stout, heavy-laden, and very much unmixed; and you do not wish to become sober and come to a sound mind, and to know God the king, who oversees all things. For this reason a blaze of perceptible fire is coming upon you; you will be burned with torches throughout all ages, every day, having been shamed for false, useless idols. But those who honor the true and eternal God shall inherit life, for all time dwelling themselves in the exceedingly flourishing garden of paradise, feasting on sweet bread from the starry heaven. That these things, therefore, are true and beneficial and just and dear to all men, is evident, and also that those who have done evil must of necessity be punished according to the desert of their deeds. And some of the poets have already declared these things as if oracles for themselves, and as a testimony to those who do unjust things, saying that they are about to be punished. Aeschylus said: For it is owed that the one who has done something, also suffer.

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ξουθά, λιγυπτερόφωνα, ταράσσοντ' ἀέρα ταρσοῖς, ἐν δὲ νάπαις ὀρέων ἀγρίαν γένναν θέτο θηρῶν· ἡμῖν τε κτήνη ὑπέταξεν πάντα βροτοῖσιν, πάντων δ' ἡγητῆρα κατέστησεν θεότευκτον, ἀνδρὶ δ' ὑπαίταξεν παμποίκιλα κοὐ καταληπτά. τίς γὰρ σὰρξ δύναται θνητῶν γνῶναι τάδ' ἅπαντα; ἀλλ' αὐτὸς μόνος οἶδεν ὁ ποιήσας τάδ' ἀπ' ἀρχῆς ἄφθαρτος κτίστης αἰώνιος, αἰθέρα ναίων, τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς ἀγαθὸν προφέρων πολὺ πλείονα μισθόν, τοῖς δὲ κακοῖς ἀδίκοις τε χόλον καὶ θυμὸν ἐγείρων, καὶ πόλεμον καὶ λοιμὸν ἴδ' ἄλγεα δακρυόεντα. ἄνθρωποι, τί μάτην ὑψούμενοι ἐκριζοῦσθε; Aἰσχύνθητε γαλᾶς καὶ κνώδαλα θειοποιοῦντες. οὐ μανίη καὶ λύσσα φρενῶν αἴσθησιν ἀφαιρεῖ, εἰ λοπάδας κλέπτουσι θεοί, συλοῦσι δὲ χύτρας; ἀντὶ δὲ χρυσήεντα πόλον κατὰ πίονα ναίειν σητόβρωτα δέδορκε, πυκναῖς δ' ἀράχναις δεδίασται· προσκυνέοντες ὄφεις κύνας αἰλούρους, ἀνόητοι, καὶ πετεηνὰ σέβεσθε καὶ ἑρπετὰ θηρία γαίης καὶ λίθινα ξόανα καὶ ἀγάλματα χειροποίητα, καὶ παρ' ὁδοῖσι λίθων συγχώσματα· ταῦτα σέβεσθε ἄλλα τε πολλὰ μάταια, ἃ δή κ' αἰσχρὸν ἀγορεύειν, εἰσι θεοὶ μερόπων δόλῳ ἡγητῆρες ἀβούλων τῶν δὴ κἀκ στόματος χεῖται θανατηφόρος ἰός. ὃς δ' ἔστι ζωή τε καὶ ἄφθιτον ἀέναον φῶς, καὶ μέλιτος γλυκερώτερον ἀνδράσι χάρμα ἐκπροχέει τῷ δὴ μόνῳ αὐχένα κάμπτειν, καὶ τρίβον αἰώνεσσιν ἐν εὐσεβέεσσ' ἀνακλίνοις. ταῦτα λιπόντες ἅπαντα, δίκης μεστὸν τὸ κύπελλον ζωρότερον, στιβαρόν, βεβαρημένον, εὖ μάλ' ἄκρητον, εἱλκύσατ' ἀφροσύνῃ μεμανηότι πνεύματι πάντες· κοὐ θέλετ' ἐκνῆψαι καὶ σώφρονα πρὸς νόον ἐλθεῖν, καὶ γνῶναι βασιλῆα θεόν, τὸν πάντ' ἐφορῶντα. τοὔνεκεν αἰσθομένοιο πυρὸς σέλας ἔρχετ' ἐφ' ὑμᾶς· λαμπάσι καυθήσεσθε δι' αἰῶνος τὸ πανῆμαρ, ψευδέσιν αἰσχυνθέντες ἐπ' εἰδώλοισιν ἀχρήστοις. οἱ δὲ θεὸν τιμῶντες ἀληθινὸν ἀέναόν τε ζωὴν κληρονομοῦσι, τὸν αἰῶνος χρόνον αὐτοὶ οἰκοῦντες παραδείσου ὁμῶς ἐριθηλέα κῆπον, δαινύμενοι γλυκὺν ἄρτον ἀπ' οὐρανοῦ ἀστερόεντος. ὅτι μὲν οὖν ταῦτα ἀληθῆ καὶ ὠφέλιμα καὶ δίκαια καὶ προφιλῆ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις τυγχάνει, δῆλόν ἐστιν, καὶ ὅτι οἱ κακῶς δράσαντες ἀναγκαίως ἔχουσιν κατ' ἀξίαν τῶν πράξεων κολασθῆναι. Ἤδη δὲ καὶ τῶν ποιητῶν τινες ὡσπερεὶ λόγια ἑαυτοῖς ἐξεῖπον ταῦτα καὶ εἰς μαρτύριον τοῖς τὰ ἄδικα πράσσουσι λέγοντες ὅτι μέλλουσιν κολάζεσθαι. Aἰσχύλος ἔφη· ∆ράσαντι γάρ τοι καὶ παθεῖν ὀφείλεται.