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stripping bare his purpose, he again uses these words: "First, I said, the one who told the greatest falsehood about the greatest things did not lie well, how Uranus did the things Hesiod says he did, and how Cronus in turn took vengeance on him. And what about the deeds of Cronus and his sufferings at the hands of his son? Even if they were true, I should not think that they ought to be told so lightly to the foolish and the young, but it is best to be silent; and if there were some necessity to speak, for as few as possible to hear them in secret, having sacrificed not a pig, but 2.7.5 some great and unobtainable victim, so that it would fall to the lot of the very fewest to hear. For indeed, he said, these tales are difficult. And they must not be told, Adeimantus, in our city. Nor must it be told to a young listener that in committing the worst injustices he would be doing nothing surprising, nor again in punishing an unjust father in every way, but that he would be doing what the first and greatest of the gods did. Nor do I myself think them suitable 2.7.6 to be told. Nor indeed, I said, should it be told at all that gods war with gods and plot against them and fight—for it is not even true—if those who are to guard our city must consider it most shameful to be easily hostile to one another. Far from it must we tell them stories of battles of giants and embroider them, and of other various enmities of gods and heroes against their own kin and relatives. But if we are somehow to persuade them that no citizen has ever been at enmity with another citizen and that this is not holy, such things rather must be told to the children from the start, and to old men and women, and as they grow older, and 2.7.7 the poets must be compelled to compose tales close to these. And the binding of Hera by her son, and the casting out of Hephaestus by his father when he was about to help his mother who was being beaten, and all the battles of the gods that Homer has composed, must not be admitted into the city, whether composed with allegorical meanings or without allegories." 2.7.8 Clearly through these words the philosopher teaches that both the ancient myths about the gods and the natural philosophies of the myths thought to be spoken in allegories must be rejected; so that it is no longer unreasonable for us that the teaching of our Savior preaches a departure from these things, when 2.7.9 it has been rejected even by their own. Whence it occurs to me to marvel at the ancient Romans, in what way, having understood that all the Greek natural philosophies about the gods were absurd and unprofitable, or rather forced and inconsistent, they circumscribed their own theology with the myths themselves. And you can learn this from the Roman Antiquities of Dionysius of Halicarnassus; for he, in the second book, recounting the story of Romulus, the first founder of the city of the Romans, goes through his other achievements, and also the things concerning these matters, writing in this manner: 2.8.1

11. CONCERNING THE THEOLOGY ACCORDING TO THE ROMANS

"But he knew that good laws and a zeal for noble pursuits make a city pious and temperate and practicing justice and good at warfare; of which he took great care, beginning with the veneration of divine 2.8.2 and spiritual things. Therefore, he established sacred places and precincts and altars and the setting up of wooden images, and their forms and symbols and powers and gifts, with which they benefited our race, and festivals, of what kind it is fitting to celebrate for each of the gods or spirits, and sacrifices, in which they rejoice when honored by men, and also truces and public assemblies and cessations from labor, and all such things he similarly established from the best of the Greek customs. But the myths 2.8.3 handed down about them, in which there are certain blasphemies about them or accusations, he, supposing them to be wicked and unprofitable and unseemly and worthy not only not of the gods, but not even of good men, cast them all out and prepared men to speak and think the noblest things about the gods, attributing nothing unworthy to them

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ἀπογυμνῶν προαίρεσιν πάλιν τούτοις κέχρηται τοῖς ῥήμασιν· «Πρῶτον μέν, ἦν δ' ἐγώ, τὸ μέγιστον καὶ περὶ τῶν μεγίστων ψεῦδος ὁ εἰπὼν οὐ καλῶς ἐψεύσατο, ὡς Οὐρανός τε εἰργάσατο, ἅ φησιν δρᾶσαι αὐτὸν Ἡσίοδος, ὅ τε αὖ Κρόνος ὡς ἐτιμωρήσατο αὐτόν. τί δὲ δὴ τὰ τοῦ Κρόνου ἔργα καὶ πάθη ὑπὸ τοῦ υἱέος; οὐδ' ἂν εἰ ἦν ἀληθῆ, ᾤμην δεῖν ῥᾳδίως οὕτω λέγεσθαι πρὸς ἄφρονάς τε καὶ νέους, ἀλλὰ μάλιστα μὲν σιγᾶσθαι, εἰ δ' ἀνάγκη τις ἦν λέγειν, δι' ἀπορρήτων ἀκούειν ὡς ὀλιγίστους, θυσαμένους οὐ χοῖρον, ἀλλά 2.7.5 τι μέγα καὶ ἄπορον θῦμα, ὅπως ὡς ἐλαχίστοις συνέβη ἀκοῦσαι. καὶ γάρ, ἦ δ' ὃς, οὗτοι δὴ οἱ λόγοι χαλεποί. καὶ οὐ λεκτέοι γε, ὦ Ἀδείμαντε, ἐν τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ πόλει· οὐδὲ λεκτέον νέῳ ἀκούοντι, ὡς ἀδικῶν τὰ ἔσχατα οὐδὲν ἂν θαυμαστὸν ποιοῖ οὐδ' αὖ ἀδικοῦντα πατέρα κολάζων παντὶ τρόπῳ, ἀλλὰ δρῴη ἂν ὅπερ θεῶν οἱ πρῶτοί τε καὶ μέγιστοι. οὐδὲ αὐτῷ μοι δοκεῖ ἐπιτήδεια 2.7.6 εἶναι λέγειν. οὐδέ γε, ἦν δ' ἐγώ, τὸ παράπαν, ὡς θεοὶ θεοῖς πολεμοῦσι καὶ ἐπιβουλεύουσιν καὶ μάχονται οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀληθῆ, εἴ γε δεῖ ἡμῖν τοὺς μέλλοντας τὴν πόλιν φυλάξειν αἴσχιστον νομίζειν τὸ ῥᾳδίως ἀλλήλοις ἀπεχθάνεσθαι. πολλοῦ γε δεῖ γιγαντομαχίας τε μυθολογητέον αὐτοῖς καὶ ποικιλτέον καὶ ἄλλας ἔχθρας παντοδαπὰς θεῶν τε καὶ ἡρώων πρὸς συγγενεῖς τε καὶ οἰκείους αὐτῶν· ἀλλ' εἴ πως μέλλοιμεν πείσειν ὡς οὐδεὶς πώποτε πολίτης ἕτερος ἑτέρῳ ἀπήχθετο οὐδ' ἔστι τοῦτο ὅσιον, τοιαῦτα μᾶλλον λεκτέα πρὸς τὰ παιδία εὐθὺς καὶ γέρουσι καὶ γραυσὶ καὶ πρεσβυτέροις γενομένοις, καὶ 2.7.7 τοὺς ποιητὰς ἐγγὺς τούτων ἀναγκαστέον λογοποιεῖν. Ἥρας δὲ δεσμοὺς ὑπὸ υἱέος καὶ Ἡφαίστου ῥίψεις ὑπὸ πατρός, μέλλοντος τῇ μητρὶ τυπτομένῃ ἀμύνειν, καὶ θεομαχίας ὅσας Ὅμηρος πεποίηκεν οὐ παραδεκτέον εἰς τὴν πόλιν, οὔτ' ἐν ὑπονοίαις πεποιημένας οὔτε ἄνευ ὑπονοιῶν.» 2.7.8 Σαφῶς δὴ διὰ τούτων ὁ φιλόσοφος καὶ τοὺς τῶν παλαιῶν μύθους τοὺς περὶ θεῶν καὶ τὰς τῶν μύθων ἐν ὑπονοίαις εἰρῆσθαι νομιζομένας φυσιολογίας παραιτητέας εἶναι διδάσκει· ὡς μηκέτ' ἀλόγως ἡμῖν καὶ τὴν ἐκ τούτων ἀναχώρησιν τὴν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν διδασκαλίαν εὐαγγελίζεσθαι, ὁπότε 2.7.9 καὶ πρὸς τῶν οἰκείων ἀποβέβληται. ὅθεν ἔπεισί μοι καὶ τοὺς παλαιοὺς τῶν Ῥωμαίων θαυμάζειν, τίνα τρόπον ἁπάσας τὰς Ἑλληνικὰς περὶ θεῶν φυσιολογίας ἀτόπους οὔσας καὶ ἀνωφελεῖς, μᾶλλον δὲ βεβιασμένας καὶ ἀσυστάτους κατανοήσαντες, αὐτοῖς μύθοις τῆς οἰκείας περιέγραψαν θεολογίας. καὶ τοῦτο δέ σοι γνῶναι πάρεστιν ἀπὸ τῆς ∆ιονυσίου τοῦ Ἁλικαρνασέως Ῥωμαϊκῆς ἀρχαιολογίας· οὗτος γὰρ ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ τὰ κατὰ Ῥωμύλον τὸν πρῶτον κτίστην τῆς Ῥωμαίων πόλεως ἱστορῶν τά τε ἄλλα αὐτοῦ διέξεισι κατορθώματα, ἀτὰρ καὶ τὰ περὶ τῶνδε, τοῦτον γράφων τὸν τρόπον· 2.8.1

ιαʹ. ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΚΑΤΑ ΡΩΜΑΙΟΥΣ ΘΕΟΛΟΓΙΑΣ

«Ἀλλ' ἔγνω ὅτι νόμοι σπουδαῖοι καὶ καλῶν ζῆλος ἐπιτηδευμάτων εὐσεβῆ καὶ σώφρονα καὶ τὰ δίκαια ἀσκοῦσαν καὶ τὰ πολέμια ἀγαθὴν ἐξεργάζονται πόλιν· ὧν πολλὴν ἔσχε πρόνοιαν, τὴν ἀρχὴν ποιησάμενος ἀπὸ τῶν περὶ τὰ 2.8.2 θεῖα καὶ δαιμόνια σεβασμῶν. ἱερὰ μὲν οὖν καὶ τεμένη καὶ βωμοὺς καὶ ξοάνων ἱδρύσεις μορφάς τε αὐτῶν καὶ σύμβολα καὶ δυνάμεις καὶ δωρεάς, αἷς τὸ γένος ἡμῶν εὐηργέτησαν, ἑορτάς τε, ὁποίας τινὰς ἑκάστῳ θεῶν ἢ δαιμόνων ἄγεσθαι προσήκει, καὶ θυσίας, αἷς χαίρουσι γεραιρόμενοι πρὸς ἀνθρώπων, ἐκεχειρίας τε αὖ καὶ πανηγύρεις καὶ πόνων ἀναπαύλας καὶ πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα ὁμοίως κατεστήσατο τῶν κρατίστων παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι νομίμων. τοὺς 2.8.3 δὲ παραδεδομένους περὶ αὐτῶν μύθους, ἐν οἷς βλασφημίαι τινές εἰσι περὶ αὐτῶν ἢ κατηγορίαι, πονηροὺς καὶ ἀνωφελεῖς καὶ ἀσχήμονας ὑπολαβὼν εἶναι καὶ οὐχ ὅτι τῶν θεῶν, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἀνθρώπων ἀγαθῶν ἀξίους, ἅπαντας ἐξέβαλεν καὶ παρεσκεύασεν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τὰ κάλλιστα περὶ θεῶν λέγειν τε καὶ φρονεῖν, μηδὲν αὐτοῖς προσανάψας ἀνάξιον