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those who have piously chosen to live but act absurdly, and those who nothing else than what is expedient for themselves alone, having a more honorable disposition than us. for the present; but one must look far ahead and await the final end of all things. For it is not as a certain malicious and unprofitable opinion for life has prevailed among some, that there is some automatic motion or that it is awarded as it happens; for the wicked judge that they have all these things as provisions for their own way. But there is both a preeminence for those who live holily, and for the wicked, a fitting desire; for not one thing happens without providence. And as many things as others, and indeed almost the majority, have said concerning God and providence, it is possible to see how they have spoken inconsistently with one another; for some have utterly done away with the existence of God and providence, while others again have established God and confessed that all things are governed by providence. Therefore, the intelligent hearer and reader must pay close attention to what is said, just as Simylus also said: It is the custom to call them poets indiscriminately, both those excellent by nature and the bad; but one ought to judge. just as in a certain place Philemon also: A difficult thing is an unintelligent hearer sitting by; for out of folly he does not blame himself. Therefore one must pay attention and understand what is said, critically examining the things spoken by the philosophers and the other poets. For while denying that gods exist, they themselves in turn confess them, and they have said that these perform lawless deeds. And indeed of Zeus first the poets sing most sweetly of his terrible deeds. But Chrysippus, who has uttered much nonsense, how is he not found indicating that Hera has intercourse with Zeus with a defiled mouth? For why should I recount the licentiousness of the one called the mother of the gods, or of Zeus Latiarius thirsting for human blood, or of Attis the self-mutilated, or that Zeus called Tragoedus, having burned his own hand, as they say, is now honored as a god among the Romans? I am silent about the precincts of Antinous and of the other so-called gods. For even when recounted they bring ridicule to the intelligent. Therefore, either on the charge of atheism are they convicted by their own doctrines, those who have philosophized such things, or also on the charge of promiscuity and lawless intercourse; moreover, cannibalism is also found among them through the writings which they composed, and they record that the very first gods whom they have honored have done these things. But we confess a God, but one, the founder and maker and creator of this whole universe, and by providence the things

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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 ἐφόδια πρὸς τὸν ἴδιον οἱ φαῦλοι τρόπον. ἔστιν δὲ καὶ τοῖς ζῶσιν ὁσίως προεδρία, καὶ τοῖς πονηροῖς ὡς προσῆκ' ἐπιθυμία· χωρὶς προνοίας γίνεται γὰρ οὐδὲ ἕν. ὁπόσα τε καὶ ἄλλοι καὶ σχεδόν γε οἱ πλείους εἶπον περὶ θεοῦ καὶ προνοίας, ὁρᾶν ἔστιν πῶς ἀνακόλουθα ἀλλήλοις ἔφασαν· οἱ μὲν γὰρ τὸ ἐξόλου θεὸν καὶ πρόνοιαν εἶναι ἀνεῖλον, οἱ δ' αὖ συνέστησαν θεὸν καὶ πάντα προνοίᾳ διοικεῖσθαι ὡμολόγησαν. τὸν οὖν συνετὸν ἀκροατὴν καὶ ἀναγινώσκοντα προσέχειν ἀκριβῶς τοῖς λεγομένοις δεῖ, καθὼς καὶ ὁ Σιμύλος ἔφη· Κοινῶς ποιητὰς ἔθος ἐστὶν καλεῖν, καὶ τοὺς περιττοὺς τῇ φύσει καὶ τοὺς κακούς· ἔδει δὲ κρίνειν. καθάπερ ἐν τόπῳ τινι καὶ ὁ Φιλήμων· Χαλεπὸν ἀκροατὴς ἀσύνετος καθήμενος· ὑπὸ γὰρ ἀνοίας οὐχ ἑαυτὸν μέμφεται. χρὴ οὖν προσέχειν καὶ νοεῖν τὰ λεγόμενα κριτικῶς ἐξετάζοντα τὰ ὑπὸ τῶν φιλοσόφων καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ποιητῶν εἰρημένα. Ἀρνούμενοι γὰρ θεοὺς εἶναι πάλιν ὁμολογοῦσιν αὐτοί, καὶ τούτους πράξεις ἀθέσμους ἐπιτελεῖν ἔφασαν. καὶ πρώτου γε ∆ιὸς οἱ ποιηταὶ εὐφωνότερον ᾄδουσι τὰς χαλεπὰς πράξεις. Χρύσιππος δέ, ὁ πολλὰ φλυαρήσας, πῶς οὐχὶ εὑρίσκεται σημαίνων τὴν Ἥραν στόματι μιαρῷ συγγίνεσθαι τῷ ∆ιΐ; τί γάρ μοι καταλέγειν τὰς ἀσελγείας τῆς μητρὸς θεῶν λεγομένης ἢ ∆ιὸς τοῦ Λατεαρίου διψῶντος αἵματος ἀνθρωπείου, ἢ Ἄττου τοῦ ἀποκοπτομένου, ἢ ὅτι ὁ Ζεὺς ὁ καλούμενος Τραγῳδός, κατακαύσας τὴν ἑαυτοῦ χεῖρα, ὥς φασιν, νῦν παρὰ Ῥωμαίοις θεὸς τιμᾶται; σιγῶ τὰ Ἀντινόου τεμένη καὶ τὰ τῶν λοιπῶν καλουμένων θεῶν. καὶ γὰρ ἱστορούμενα τοῖς συνετοῖς καταγέλωτα φέρει. Ἤτοι οὖν περὶ ἀθεότητος αὐτοὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ἰδίων δογμάτων ἐλέγχον- ται οἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα φιλοσοφήσαντες, ἢ καὶ περὶ πολυμιξίας καὶ ἀθέσμου κοινωνίας· ἔτι μὴν καὶ ἀνθρωποβορία παρ' αὐτοῖς εὑρίσκεται δι' ὧν συνέγραψαν γραφῶν, καὶ πρώτους γε οὓς τετιμήκασιν θεοὺς ταῦτα πεπραχότας ἀναγράφουσιν. Ἡμεῖς δὲ καὶ θεὸν ὁμολογοῦμεν, ἀλλ' ἕνα, τὸν κτίστην καὶ ποιητὴν καὶ δημιουργὸν τοῦδε τοῦ παντὸς κόσμου, καὶ προνοίᾳ τὰ