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Why then do Epicurus and the Stoics teach as dogma that incest with siblings and sodomy with males be practiced, teachings with which they have filled their libraries, so that from childhood one might learn this lawless intercourse? And why should I waste more time on them, when they have proclaimed similar things even about the gods they speak of? For though they say there are gods, they then consider them as nothing. Some said they are composed of atoms, or else that they dissolve into atoms, and they say the gods can do nothing more than men. But Plato, though he said there are gods, wants to represent them as material. And Pythagoras, after toiling so much about the gods and making his journey up and down, finally defines nature and says that spontaneity is the cause of all things, and that the gods care nothing for men. And all that Clitomachus the Academic introduced concerning atheism. And why not also Critias and Protagoras of Abdera, who says: "For whether there are gods, I am unable to say, nor to declare what they are like; for there are many things that hinder me"? For concerning Euhemerus the most atheistic, it is superfluous for us even to speak. For having dared to utter many things about the gods, he finally holds that there are no gods at all, but that all things are governed by spontaneity. But Plato, who said so much about the monarchy of God and the soul of man, affirming the soul to be immortal, is he not himself later found saying things contrary to himself, that souls pass into other men, and some even enter irrational animals? How will his doctrine not appear terrible and impious to those who have understanding, that one who was once a man will again be a wolf or a dog or a donkey or some other irrational beast? Following this, Pythagoras is also found talking nonsense, in addition to abolishing providence. Whom of them, then, shall we believe? Philemon the comic poet who says: For those who worship God have good hopes for salvation, or those we mentioned before, Euhemerus and Epicurus and Pythagoras and the rest who deny that piety exists and who do away with providence. Concerning God and providence, then, Ariston said: Be of good cheer, God is accustomed to help all the worthy, and such people very much. if there is not some pre-eminence laid up for those who live as they ought, what is the advantage of being pious? For it might be so, but I also see very well those who have chosen to live piously faring badly, while those who pursue nothing other than their own advantage, are in a more honored condition than we. For the present; but one must look far ahead and await the end of all things. For it is not as some malignant and unprofitable opinion has prevailed among some, that there is some spontaneous motion or that it is awarded by chance; for they judge all these things to have

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Πρὸς τί οὖν Ἐπίκουρος καὶ οἱ Στωϊκοὶ δογματίζουσιν ἀδελφο- κοιτίας καὶ ἀρρενοβασίας ἐπιτελεῖσθαι, ἐξ ὧν διδασκαλιῶν μεστὰς βιβλιοθήκας πεποιήκασιν, εἰς τὸ ἐκ παίδων μανθάνειν τὴν ἄθεσμον κοινωνίαν; καὶ τί μοι λοιπὸν κατατρίβεσθαι περὶ αὐτῶν, ὅπου γε καὶ περὶ τῶν θεῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς λεγομένων τὰ ὅμοια κατηγγέλκασιν; Θεοὺς γὰρ φήσαντες εἶναι πάλιν εἰς οὐδὲν αὐτοὺς ἡγήσαντο. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐξ ἀτόμων αὐτοὺς ἔφασαν συνεστάναι, ἢ δ' αὖ χωρεῖν εἰς ἀτόμους, καὶ μηδὲν πλεῖον ἀνθρώπων δύνασθαι τοὺς θεούς φασιν. Πλάτων δέ, θεοὺς εἰπὼν εἶναι, ὑλικοὺς αὐτοὺς βούλεται συνιστᾶν. Πυθαγόρας δέ, τοσαῦτα μοχθήσας περὶ θεῶν καὶ τὴν ἄνω κάτω πορείαν ποιησάμενος, ἔσχατον ὁρίζει φύσιν καὶ αὐτοματισμὸν εἶναί φησιν τῶν πάντων· θεοὺς ἀνθρώπων μηδὲν φροντίζειν. ὁπόσα δὲ Κλιτόμαχος ὁ Ἀκαδημαϊκὸς περὶ ἀθεότητος εἰσηγήσατο. τί δ' οὐχὶ καὶ Κριτίας καὶ Πρωταγόρας ὁ Ἀβδηρίτης λέγων· Ἕἴτε γάρ εἰσιν θεοί, οὐ δύναμαι περὶ αὐτῶν λέγειν, οὔτε ὁποῖοί εἰσιν δηλῶσαι· πολλὰ γάρ ἐστιν τὰ κωλύοντά με"; τὰ γὰρ περὶ Eὐημέρου τοῦ ἀθεωτάτου περισσὸν ἡμῖν καὶ λέγειν. πολλὰ γὰρ περὶ θεῶν τολμήσας φθέγξασθαι ἔσχατον καὶ τὸ ἐξόλου μὴ εἶναι θεούς, ἀλλὰ τὰ πάντα αὐτοματισμῷ διοικεῖσθαι βούλεται. Πλάτων δέ, ὁ τοσαῦτα εἰπὼν περὶ μοναρχίας θεοῦ καὶ ψυχῆς ἀνθρώπου, φάσκων ἀθάνατον εἶναι τὴν ψυχήν, οὐκ αὐτὸς ὕστερον εὑρίσκεται ἐναντία ἑαυτῷ λέγων, τὰς μὲν ψυχὰς μετέρχεσθαι εἰς ἑτέρους ἀνθρώπους, ἐνίων δὲ καὶ εἰς ἄλογα ζῶα χωρεῖν; πῶς οὐ δεινὸν καὶ ἀθέμιτον δόγμα αὐτοῦ τοῖς γε νοῦν ἔχουσι φανήσεται, ἵνα ὅ ποτε ἄνθρωπος πάλιν ἔσται λύκος ἢ κύων ἢ ὄνος ἢ ἄλλο τι ἄλογον κτῆνος; τούτῳ ἀκόλουθα καὶ Πυθα- γόρας εὑρίσκεται φλυαρῶν, πρὸς τῷ καὶ πρόνοιαν ἐκκόπτειν. Τίνι οὖν αὐτῶν πιστεύσωμεν, Φιλήμονι τῷ κωμικῷ λέγοντι· Oἱ γὰρ θεὸν σέβοντες ἐλπίδας καλὰς ἔχουσιν εἰς σωτηρίαν, ἢ οἷς προειρήκαμεν Eὐημέρῳ καὶ Ἐπικούρῳ καὶ Πυθαγόρᾳ καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς ἀρνουμένοις εἶναι θεοσέβειαν καὶ πρόνοιαν ἀναιροῦσιν. περὶ μὲν οὖν θεοῦ καὶ προνοίας Ἀρίστων ἔφη· Θάρσει, βοηθεῖν πᾶσι μὲν τοῖς ἀξίοις εἴωθεν ὁ θεός, τοῖς δὲ τοιούτοις σφόδρα. εἰ μὴ πάρεσται προεδρία τις κειμένη τοῖς ζῶσιν ὡς δεῖ, τί πλέον ἐστὶν εὐσεβεῖν; εἴη γὰρ οὕτως, ἀλλὰ καὶ λίαν ὁρῶ τοὺς εὐσεβῶς μὲν ἑλομένους διεξάγειν πράττοντας ἀτόπως, τοὺς δὲ μηδὲν ἕτερον ἢ τὸ λυσιτελὲς τὸ κατ' αὐτοὺς μόνον, ἐντιμοτέραν ἔχοντες ἡμῶν διάθεσιν. ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος· ἀλλὰ δεῖ πόρρω βλέπειν καὶ τὴν ἁπάντων ἀναμένειν καταστροφήν. οὐχ ὃν τρόπον γὰρ παρ' ἐνίοις ἴσχυσέ τις δόξα κακοήθης τῷ βίῳ τ' ἀνωφελής, φορά τις ἔστ' αὐτόματος ἢ βραβεύεται ὡς ἔτυχε· ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα κρίνουσιν ἔχειν