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they worship crafted wooden images; for the pose of Aphrodite is more shameless than any 3.80 courtesan standing on a roof. For who has ever seen a common prostitute standing naked in the marketplace without a tunic or a girdle? But the makers of statues and the sculptors of images fashion their teacher naked and do not even cover her with a little tunic. And painters paint Europa sitting on the bull, and bronze-workers mould her, and the creators of images carve her; and indeed, Dionysus is fashioned by them as a certain 3.81 limb-relaxing and effeminate one; and they create Pan and the Satyrs similarly desiring intercourse and mating like horses and donkeys; so also Zeus raging against Ganymede in the form of an eagle, and mating with Leda in the shape of a swan, and indeed being carried into Danae's lap in the likeness of gold; and the creators of images shape the other things likewise according to the suggestions of the poets. 3.82 If, then, you say that the poets have fabricated false myths, why do you put up with the makers of statues and sculptors of images and painters, who strengthen the falsehood by their art? And why do you assign so much reverence to the images crafted by them? 3.83 For it was necessary, if you were in fact truly accusing the poets, to burn their poems, and to forbid the artisans by law and to threaten them with death, so that no one might ever in any way fashion such images, and that the one doing anything against the law should be punished by death. And it was necessary also to smash and destroy what was crafted for the insolence and comedy of the so-called gods and to persuade everyone that the things rumored about them by the myths are false. 3.84 But none of these things has ever been done by you, but it is possible to see the opposite of these things being done: the poets being admired for their poems, the sculptors of images and makers of statues and painters being excessively praised for their own works of art, the wooden images condemned in word being worshipped and honored with sacrifices and rites, and that small figurine, I mean Priapus, being honored with his very large and erect member, and the phallus of Dionysus being worshipped in the phallus procession by the revellers, and the female comb—for so they name the female member—being deemed worthy of divine honor in the Thesmophoria by the initiated women. 3.85 And the Egyptians were so enslaved to shameful pleasures as to even name the goat a god on account of its madness for sexual intercourse. The Mendesians especially honor this one. And other cities have consecrated divine honors to other animals; for indeed the Memphites worshipped the bull, and the Lycopolites the wolf, and the Leontopolites the lion, and indeed the Cynopolites the dog, and the inhabitants of Latopolis a certain fish called the latus, and others the ibis, and others the crocodile; and each of these was consecrated in the temples, and they offered it its appropriate food; then, as to gods forsooth, they performed the sacrifices and when it died they deemed it worthy of a costly burial. 3.86 So great an error once upon a time possessed the inhabited world; but the one worshipped by us and unknown by you completely destroyed it and utterly drove it out, and showed the drunken and delirious nature of men to be sober and stable. But I suppose you will say that you too speak of certain invisible 3.87 powers, whom you name and call Angels and Archangels and Principalities and Authorities and Dominions and Thrones; and again others you know are called Cherubim and Seraphim according to the Hebrew tongue. Why then are you angry with us, for believing in and honoring certain second gods after the one who always is and is likewise and in the same state, and who are quite inferior to him? 3.88 But I confess that the divine scripture has taught us that there are indeed certain invisible powers, who praise the creator and

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σκευασμένα ξόανα προσκυνοῦσι· πάσης μὲν γὰρ ἑταίρας ἐπὶ τέ 3.80 γους ἑστώσης ἀναιδέστερον τῆς Ἀφροδίτης τὸ σχῆμα. Τίς γάρ τοι χαμαιτύπην γυμνὴν ἐπ' ἀγορᾶς ἄτερ χιτῶνος καὶ διαζώματος ἑστῶσαν ἐθεάσατο πώποτε; ἀλλὰ τὴν τούτων διδάσκαλον γυμνὴν καὶ οἱ ἀνδριαντοποιοὶ καὶ οἱ ἀγαλματογλύφοι κατασκευάζουσι καὶ οὐδὲ τῷ χιτωνίσκῳ καλύπτουσιν. Καὶ τὴν Εὐρώπην δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ ταύρου καθημένην καὶ οἱ ζωγράφοι γράφουσι, καὶ οἱ χαλκοτύποι διαπλάττουσι, καὶ διαγλύφουσιν οἱ τῶν ἀγαλμάτων δημιουργοί· καὶ μέντοι καὶ ὁ ∆ιόνυσος λυσιμελής τις καὶ γύννις ὑπὸ τούτων 3.81 κατασκευάζεται· καὶ τὸν Πάνα δὲ καὶ τοὺς Σατύρους ἵπποις καὶ ὄνοις παραπλησίως ὀχείας ὀριγνωμένους καὶ θορνυμένους δη μιουργοῦσιν· οὕτω καὶ τὸν ∆ία ἐν ἀετοῦ σχήματι κατὰ τοῦ Γανυ μήδους λυττῶντα καὶ τῇ Λήδᾳ ἐν εἴδει κύκνου μιγνύμενον, καὶ μέντοι καὶ εἰς τὸν ∆ανάης κόλπον χρυσοῦ δίκην φερόμενον· καὶ τἄλλα δὲ ὡσαύτως κατὰ τὰς τῶν ποιητῶν ὑφηγήσεις διαμορφοῦ 3.82 σιν οἱ τῶν ἀγαλμάτων δημιουργοί. Εἰ τοίνυν ψευδεῖς μύθους 3.82 φατὲ διαπλάσαι τοὺς ποιητάς, τί δήποτε τῶν ἀνδριαντοποιῶν καὶ ἀγαλματογλύφων καὶ ζωγράφων ἀνέχεσθε, κρατυνόντων τῇ τέχνῃ τὸ ψεῦδος; ἀνθ' ὅτου δὲ τοσοῦτο σέβας προσνέμετε τοῖς ὑπὸ τού 3.83 των τεκταινομένοις ἀγάλμασιν; Ἔδει γάρ, εἴπερ ἀληθῆ ἄρα κατηγορεῖτε τῶν ποιητῶν, τὰ μὲν ἐκείνων ἐμπρῆσαι ποιήματα, νόμῳ δὲ τοὺς τεχνίτας κωλῦσαι καὶ προσαπειλῆσαί γε θάνατον, ὥστε μηδένα ποτὲ μηδαμῇ τοιαύτας κατασκευάζειν εἰκόνας, τὸν δὲ παρὰ τὸν νόμον τι δρῶντα ζημιοῦσθαι θανάτῳ. Ἐχρῆν δὲ καὶ τὰ ἐφ' ὕβρει καὶ κωμῳδίᾳ τῶν καλουμένων θεῶν τεκταινόμενα ξυντρίβειν καὶ διαφθείρειν καὶ πείθειν ἅπαντας, ὡς ψευδῆ τὰ 3.84 περὶ τούτων παρὰ τῶν μύθων θρυλούμενα. Ἀλλὰ τούτων μὲν οὐδὲν πώποτε γεγένηται παρ' ὑμῶν, τἀναντία δὲ τούτων δρώμενα ἔστιν ἰδεῖν, θαυμαζομένους μὲν τοὺς ποιητὰς ἐπὶ τοῖς ποιήμα σιν, ἐπαινουμένους δὲ ἄγαν τοὺς ἀγαλματογλύφους καὶ ἀνδριαν τοποιοὺς καὶ ζωγράφους ἐπὶ τοῖς σφετέροις τεχνήμασι, προσκυ νούμενα δὲ τὰ τῷ λόγῳ κατηγορούμενα ξόανα καὶ θυσίαις καὶ τελεταῖς γεραιρόμενα, καὶ τὸ σμικρὸν ἐκεῖνο ζῴδιον, τὸν Πρίαπον λέγω, μετὰ τοῦ μεγίστου καὶ τεταμένου μορίου τιμώμενον, καὶ τὸν τοῦ ∆ιονύσου φαλλὸν ἐν τῇ φαλλαγωγίᾳ παρὰ τῶν ὀργια ζόντων προσκυνούμενον, καὶ τὸν κτένα τὸν γυναικεῖον-οὕτω δὲ τὸ γυναικεῖον ὀνομάζουσι μόριον-ἐν τοῖς Θεσμοφορίοις παρὰ τῶν τετελεσμένων γυναίων θείας τιμῆς ἀξιούμενον. 3.85 Αἰγύπτιοι δὲ τοσοῦτον ταῖς αἰσχραῖς ἐδουλώθησαν ἡδοναῖς, ὡς καὶ τὸν τράγον διὰ τὴν περὶ τὰς μίξεις μανίαν ὀνομάσαι θεόν. Μενδήσιοι δὲ τοῦτον διαφερόντως τιμῶσιν. Καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις δὲ ζῴοις αἱ ἄλλαι πόλεις θείας τιμὰς ἀφιέρωσαν· ἔσεβον γὰρ δὴ καὶ Μεμφῖται τὸν ταῦρον, καὶ Λυκοπολῖται τὸν λύκον, καὶ Λεοντο πολῖται τὸν λέοντα, καὶ μέντοι καὶ Κυνοπολῖται τὸν κύνα, καὶ ἰχθύν τινα λάτον ὀνομαζόμενον τῆς Λατοῦς οἱ οἰκήτορες, καὶ ἄλλοι τὴν ἶβιν, καὶ ἕτεροι τὸν κροκόδειλον· καὶ ἕκαστον δὲ τούτων ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς καθιέρωτο, καὶ τὴν κατάλληλον αὐτῷ προσέφερον ἐδωδήν· εἶτα, ὡς θεοῖς δῆθεν, τὰς θυσίας ἐπετέλουν καὶ τελευ τήσαντα δὲ ταφῆς ἠξίουν πολυτελοῦς. 3.86 Τοσαύτη πάλαι ποτὲ κατεῖχε πλάνη τὴν οἰκουμένην· ἀλλὰ ταύ την ἄρδην ἠφάνισε καὶ πάμπαν ἐξήλασεν ὁ παρ' ἡμῶν προσκυ νούμενος καὶ παρ' ὑμῶν ἀγνοούμενος, καὶ τὴν μεθύουσαν καὶ παραπαίουσαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσιν σωφρονοῦσαν καὶ καθεστηκυῖαν ἀνέδειξεν. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ οἶμαι ὑμᾶς ἐρεῖν, ὡς καὶ ὑμεῖς ἀοράτους τινὰς 3.87 δυνάμεις φατέ, οὓς καὶ Ἀγγέλους καὶ Ἀρχαγγέλους ὀνομάζετε καὶ προσαγορεύετε καὶ Ἀρχὰς καὶ Ἐξουσίας καὶ Κυριότητας καὶ Θρόνους· καὶ ἄλλας αὖ πάλιν κατὰ τὴν Ἑβραίων γλῶτταν Χερουβὶμ καὶ Σεραφὶμ ἴστε προσαγορευομένας. Ἀνθ' ὅτου τοίνυν ἡμῖν νεμεσᾶτε, μετὰ τὸν ἀεὶ ὄντα καὶ ὡσαύτως καὶ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ἔχοντα δευτέρους τινὰς θεούς, καὶ κομιδῇ γε ἐκείνου ἀποδέοντας, νομίζουσί τε καὶ γεραίρουσιν; 3.88 Ἐγὼ δὲ ὁμολογῶ μὲν τὴν θείαν ἡμᾶς διδάξαι γραφήν, εἶναι δή τινας ἀοράτους δυνάμεις, καὶ ὑμνούσας τὸν ποιητὴν καὶ