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daring to transmit the lewd orgies of Aphrodite from night to day, being ambitious to deify a citizen prostitute.2.3.13 And others say that Melampus, the son of Amythaon, brought over from Egypt to Hellas the festivals of Deo, a sung lament. These men I would call the originators of evil, fathers of godless myths and ruinous superstition, who planted in life the seed of wickedness and corruption, the mysteries. 2.3.14 But now, for it is time, I will expose your very orgies as full of deception and monstrous fiction. And if you have been initiated, you will laugh all the more at these honored myths of yours. I will speak openly of the hidden things, not being ashamed 2.3.15 to say what you are not ashamed to worship. The "foam-born" and "Cyprus-born," then, the one dear to Cinyras, I mean Aphrodite, the "member-loving, because she appeared from the members," those genitals cut from Uranus, the lustful ones, those that after the cutting did violence to the wave, so that Aphrodite becomes for you a fruit worthy of licentious members; in the rites of this sea-born pleasure, a grain of salt and a phallus are given to those being initiated into the adulterous art, as a token of her generation; and the initiates bring her a coin, as lovers to a courtesan. 2.3.16 But the mysteries of Deo, and the Aphrodisian couplings of Zeus with his mother Demeter, and the wrath—I know not what else to call it—of Deo, whether as mother or wife, on account of which she is said to have been named Brimo; the supplications of Zeus, and the drink of gall, and 2.3.17 the heart-pluckings, and the unspeakable deeds: these things the Phrygians celebrate for Attis and Cybele and the Corybantes. And they have babbled how Zeus, having torn off the testicles of a ram, carried them and threw them into the lap of Deo, paying a feigned penalty 2.3.18 for his violent coupling, as if he had castrated himself. The tokens of this initiation, if abundantly set forth, I know will move you to laughter, even if you are not inclined to laugh, because of the exposure: "I have eaten from the drum, I have drunk from the cymbal, I have carried the kernos, I have slipped under the bridal-chamber." Are not these symbols an outrage? Are not the mysteries a mockery? 2.3.19 But what if I were to add the rest? Demeter conceives, and the maiden is brought up; and again this same father Zeus has intercourse with Pherephatta, his own daughter, after his mother Deo, having forgotten his former foul deed, and 2.3.20 he has intercourse having become a serpent, as he was when exposed. At any rate, a symbol of the Sabazian mysteries to the initiates is "the god through the bosom"; this is a serpent, drawn through the bosom of the consecrated, a proof of the intemperance of Zeus. Pherephatta also conceives 2.3.21 a bull-formed child. In fact, a certain idolatrous poet says: "Bull of a serpent and father of a bull, a serpent, on the mountain the herdsman's hidden goad;" calling, I think, the narthex a herdsman's goad, which the Bacchants wreathe. 2.3.22 Do you wish me also to recount for you the flower-gatherings of Pherephatta, and the basket, and her abduction by Aidoneus, and the chasm in the earth, and the swine of Eubuleus that were swallowed up with the two goddesses, for which reason at the Thesmophoria 2.3.23 they throw pigs into the chasms? This mythology the women celebrate in festivals variously throughout the city, the Thesmophoria, the Scirophoria, the Arrhetophoria, in many ways making a tragedy of the abduction of Pherephatta. For the mysteries of Dionysus are completely inhuman; while he was still a child, and the Curetes were dancing around him in an armed dance, the Titans crept up by stealth, and having deceived him with childish toys, these Titans tore him apart while he was still an infant, as the poet of this rite, Orpheus the Thracian, says: "A cone and a bull-roarer, and jointed dolls, and beautiful golden apples from the clear-voiced Hesperides." 2.3.24 And it is not useless to set before you for condemnation the useless symbols of this rite: knucklebones, a ball, a spinning top, apples, a bull-roarer, a mirror, a tuft of wool. 2.3.25 Athena, then, having stolen away the heart of Dionysus, was called Pallas from the palpitating of the heart; and the Titans, who had torn him apart, placed a certain cauldron on a tripod, and throwing in the limbs of Dionysus, first boiled them down; then, piercing them with spits, they held them over the fire of Hephaestus. 2.3.26 But Zeus afterwards appearing—if

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περὶ τὴν Ἀφροδίτην μαχλῶντα ὄργια ἐκ νυκτὸς ἡμέρᾳ παραδοῦναι τολμήσας, φιλοτιμούμενος θειάσαι πόρνην πο2.3.13 λίτιδα. Μελάμποδα δὲ τὸν Ἀμυθάονος ἄλλοι φασὶν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου μετακομίσαι τῇ Ἑλλάδι τὰς ∆ηοῦς ἑορτάς, πένθος ὑμνούμενον. τούτους ἔγωγ' ἂν ἀρχεκάκους φήσαιμι μύθων ἀθέων καὶ δεισιδαιμονίας ὀλεθρίου πατέρας, σπέρμα κακίας καὶ φθορᾶς ἐγκαταφυτεύσαντας τῷ βίῳ τὰ μυστήρια. 2.3.14 Ἤδη δέ καὶ γὰρ καιρός αὐτὰ ὑμῶν τὰ ὄργια ἐξελέγξω ἀπάτης καὶ τερατείας ἔμπλεα. καὶ εἰ μεμύησθε, μᾶλλον ἐπιγελάσεσθε τοῖς μύθοις ὑμῶν τούτοις τοῖς τιμωμένοις. ἀγορεύσω δὲ ἀναφανδὸν τὰ κεκρυμμένα, οὐκ αἰδούμενος 2.3.15 λέγειν ἃ προσκυνεῖν οὐκ αἰσχύνεσθε. ἡ μὲν οὖν «ἀφρογενής» τε καὶ «κυπρογενής», ἡ Κινύρᾳ φίλη τὴν Ἀφροδίτην λέγω, τὴν «φιλομηδέα, ὅτι μηδέων ἐξεφαάνθη», μηδέων ἐκείνων τῶν ἀποκεκομμένων Οὐρανοῦ, τῶν λάγνων, τῶν μετὰ τὴν τομὴν τὸ κῦμα βεβιασμένων, ὡς ἀσελγῶν ὑμῖν μορίων ἄξιος Ἀφροδίτη γίνεται καρπός, ἐν ταῖς τελεταῖς ταύτης τῆς πελαγίας ἡδονῆς τεκμήριον τῆς γονῆς ἁλῶν χόνδρος καὶ φαλλὸς τοῖς μυουμένοις τὴν τέχνην τὴν μοιχικὴν ἐπιδίδοται, νόμισμα δὲ εἰσφέρουσιν αὐτῇ οἱ μυούμενοι ὡς ἑταίρᾳ ἐρασταί. 2.3.16 ∆ηοῦς δὲ μυστήρια καὶ ∆ιὸς πρὸς μητέρα ∆ήμητραν Ἀφροδίσιοι συμπλοκαὶ καὶ μῆνις οὐκ οἶδ' ὅ τι φῶ λοιπόν, μητρὸς ἢ γυναικός τῆς ∆ηοῦς, ἧς δὴ χάριν Βριμὼ προσαγορευθῆναι λέγεται· ἱκετηρίαι ∆ιὸς καὶ πόμα χολῆς καὶ 2.3.17 καρδιουλκίαι καὶ ἀρρητουργίαι· ταῦτα οἱ Φρύγες τελίσκουσιν Ἄττιδι καὶ Κυβέλῃ καὶ Κορύβασιν. τεθρυλήκασι δὲ ὡς ἄρα ἀποσπάσας ὁ Ζεὺς τοῦ κριοῦ τοὺς διδύμους φέρων ἐν μέσοις ἔρριψε τοῖς κόλποις τῆς ∆ηοῦς, τιμω2.3.18 ρίαν ψευδῆ τῆς βιαίας συμπλοκῆς ἐκτιννύων, ὡς ἑαυτὸν δῆθεν ἐκτεμών. τὰ σύμβολα τῆς μυήσεως ταύτης ἐκ περιουσίας παρατεθέντα οἶδ' ὅτι κινήσει γέλωτα καὶ μὴ γελασείουσιν ὑμῖν διὰ τοὺς ἐλέγχους· «ἐκ τυμπάνου ἔφαγον, ἐκ κυμβάλου ἔπιον, ἐκερνοφόρησα, ὑπὸ τὸν παστὸν ὑπέδυν». ταῦτα οὐχ ὕβρις τὰ σύμβολα; οὐ χλεύη τὰ μυστήρια; 2.3.19 Τί δ' εἰ καὶ τὰ ἐπίλοιπα προσθείην; κυεῖ μὲν ἡ ∆ημήτηρ, ἀνατρέφεται 2.3.19 δὲ ἡ κόρη, μίγνυται δ' αὖθις ὁ γεννήσας οὑτοσὶ Ζεὺς τῇ Φερεφάττῃ τῇ ἰδίᾳ θυγατρὶ μετὰ τὴν μητέρα τὴν ∆ηώ, ἐκλαθόμενος τοῦ προτέρου μύσους, καὶ 2.3.20 μίγνυται δράκων γενόμενος, ὃς ἦν ἐλεγχθείς. Σαβαζίων γοῦν μυστηρίων σύμβολον τοῖς μυουμένοις ὁ διὰ κόλπου θεὸς θέων· δράκων δέ ἐστιν οὗτος διελκόμενος τοῦ κόλπου τῶν τελουμένων, ἔλεγχος ἀκρασίας ∆ιός. κυεῖ καὶ 2.3.21 ἡ Φερέφαττα παῖδα ταυρόμορφον. ἀμέλει φησί τις ποιητὴς εἰδωλικός· ταῦρος δράκοντος καὶ πατὴρ ταύρου δράκων, ἐν ὄρει τὸ κρύφιον βουκόλος τὸ κέντρον· βουκολικόν, οἶμαι, κέντρον τὸν νάρθηκα ἐπικαλῶν, ὃν δὴ ἀναστέφουσιν οἱ Βάκχοι. 2.3.22 Βούλει καὶ τὰ Φερεφάττης ἀνθολόγια διηγήσωμαί σοι καὶ τὸν κάλαθον καὶ τὴν ἁρπαγὴν τὴν ὑπὸ Ἀϊδωνέως καὶ τὸ χάσμα τῆς γῆς καὶ τὰς ὗς τὰς Εὐβουλέως τὰς συγκαταποθείσας ταῖν θεαῖν, δι' ἣν αἰτίαν ἐν τοῖς Θεσμοφο2.3.23 ρίοις μεγαρίζοντες χοίρους ἐμβάλλουσι; ταύτην τὴν μυθολογίαν ποικίλως κατὰ πόλιν αἱ γυναῖκες ἑορτάζουσιν, Θεσμοφόρια, Σκιροφόρια, Ἀρρητοφόρια, πολυτρόπως τὴν Φερεφάττης ἐκτραγῳδοῦσαι ἁρπαγήν. τὰ γὰρ ∆ιονύσου μυστήρια τέλεον ἀπάνθρωπα, ὃν εἰσέτι παῖδα ὄντα ἐνόπλῳ κινήσει περιχορευόντων Κουρήτων, δόλῳ δὲ ὑποδύντων Τιτάνων, ἀπατήσαντες παιδαριώδεσιν ἀθύρμασιν οὗτοι δὴ οἱ Τιτᾶνες διέσπασαν ἔτι νηπίαχον ὄντα, ὡς ὁ τῆς τελετῆς ποιητὴς Ὀρφεύς φησιν ὁ Θρᾴκιος· κῶνος καὶ ῥόμβος καὶ παίγνια καμπεσίγυια μῆλά τε χρύσεα καλὰ παρ' Ἑσπερίδων λιγυφώνων. 2.3.24 Καὶ τῆσδε ὑμῖν τῆς τελετῆς τὰ ἀχρεῖα σύμβολα οὐκ ἀχρεῖον εἰς κατάγνωσιν παραθέσθαι· ἀστράγαλος, σφαῖρα, στρόβιλος, μῆλα, ῥόμβος, ἔσοπτρον, 2.3.25 πόκος. Ἀθηνᾶ μὲν οὖν τὴν καρδίαν τοῦ ∆ιονύσου ὑφελομένη Παλλὰς ἐκ τοῦ πάλλειν τὴν καρδίαν προσηγορεύθη· οἱ δὲ Τιτᾶνες, οἱ καὶ διασπάσαντες αὐτόν, λέβητά τινα τρίποδι ἐπιθέντες καὶ τοῦ ∆ιονύσου ἐμβαλόντες τὰ μέλη καθήψουν πρότερον, ἔπειτα ὀβελίσκοις ἀμπείραντες ὑπείρεχον Ἡφαίστοιο. 2.3.26 Ζεὺς δὲ ὕστερον ἐπιφανείς-εἰ