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one who has lived...ly from eternal punishment, and has also bestowed the benefit of the eternal and ineffable good things that come from God. But I shall return to the chief opinion of the Greeks, the one that tells myths of there being many gods subject to all passions. And so that I may not spend much time on things that are certain, by recounting the impious deeds of each of the so-called gods, I could not tell of all their loves, of Zeus and Poseidon, and Pluto and Apollo, and Dionysus and Heracles and of each one individually, which you yourselves are not ignorant of, coming as you do from a Greek education, the lives you were taught so that as emulators of the gods you might do similar things, but I will begin with the most kingly Zeus himself, whose father Kronos, swallowing his own children (as you say), and with a sickle of adamant having reaped the genitals of his father Ouranos, showed the pattern of piety towards parents and of love towards children to those who emulate the mysteries of the gods. And Zeus himself, having bound his own father, imprisoned him in Tartarus and punishes the other gods. And for those who wish to commit unspeakable acts, having made Metis pregnant, he swallowed her; and Metis was pregnant; for it is impossible to swallow an infant. And in defense of pederasts he seizes Ganymede. And helping adulterers in the matter of adultery, he himself is often found to be an adulterer. And he encourages incest by having intercourse with his sisters, Hera and Demeter and the heavenly Aphrodite, whom some call Dodone. And for those wishing to have intercourse with their daughters, having had intercourse with Persephone, he becomes a wicked example from the myths. And he has committed ten thousand other impieties, so that by the ungodly, on account of his excessive licentiousness, the myth that he is a god might be established. You might reasonably be somewhat indignant with common people about such assumptions, but as for those who come from education, what need is there even to speak? Some of whom, claiming to be grammarians and sophists, affirm that such actions are worthy of gods. For being licentious themselves, and taking hold of this mythical pretext, as if indeed imitators of their betters, they commit shameful acts with boldness. For this reason those living in the country sin much less than them, not having been wickedly instructed by the same means as those who dare these things, who learned to be impious from a bad education. For those who from childhood learn their letters through such myths, while the soul is still tender, graft the impious actions of the so-called gods into their own mind. Whence, as they grow older, like evil seeds sown in the soul, they bear fruit; and the most difficult thing of all is that it is not easy to cut out the rooted impieties, when, after they have become men, these are perceived to be grievous. For in whatever each person is accustomed from childhood, in these he takes pleasure to persist, and thus since habit has not much less power than nature, they become difficult to change towards the good things that were not sown in their soul from the beginning. Therefore it is necessary both for the young not to be trained in corrupting studies and for those in their prime to shrink carefully from listening to the mythology of the Greeks; for their teachings are much worse than ignorance, as from those dwelling in the country on account of not being educated in the things of the Greeks, less

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νως βεβιωκότα τῆς αἰωνίου κολάσεως, προσευεργέτηκεν δὲ τοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀιδίοις τε καὶ ἀπορρήτοις γιγνομένοις ἀγαθοῖς. Πλὴν ἐπάνειμι ἐπὶ τὴν πρωτίστην τῶν Ἑλλήνων δόξαν, τὴν πολλοὺς καὶ παντοπαθεῖς θεοὺς εἶναι μυθολογοῦσαν. καὶ ἵνα μὴ εἰς τὰ ἀσφαλῆ πολὺν ἀναλίσκω χρόνον, ἑκάστου τῶν λεγομένων θεῶν τὰς ἀσεβεῖς πράξεις εἰσηγούμενος, πάντας μὲν οὐκ ἂν εἴποιμι αὐτῶν τοὺς ἔρωτας, τοῦ ∆ιός τε καὶ Ποσειδῶνος, Πλούτωνός τε καὶ Ἀπόλλωνος, ∆ιονύσου τε καὶ Ἡρακλέους καὶ τῶν καθ' ἕνα ἕκαστον, ὧν οὐδὲ αὐτοὶ ἀγνοεῖτε ἐκ παι- δείας Ἑλληνικῆς ὁρμώμενοι οὓς ἐπαιδεύθητε βίους, ἵνα ὡς ζηλωταὶ τῶν θεῶν τὰ ὅμοια πράττητε, ἀπ' αὐτοῦ δὲ τοῦ βασιλικωτάτου ∆ιὸς ἄρξομαι, οὗ ὁ μὲν πατὴρ Κρόνος τὰ ἴδια τέκνα (ὡς λέγετε) καταπιών, τῇ ἐξ ἀδάμαντος ἅρπῃ τοῦ πατρὸς Oὐρανοῦ τὰ μόρια θερίσας, τῆς πρὸς γονεῖς εὐσεβείας καὶ τῆς πρὸς τέκνα φιλίας τοῖς τὰ μυστικὰ τῶν θεῶν ζηλοῦσιν τὸν ὑπογραμμὸν ἔδειξεν. αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Ζεὺς τὸν αὑτοῦ πατέρα δήσας καθεῖρξεν εἰς Τάρταρον καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους κολάζει θεούς. τοῖς δὲ ἀρρητουργεῖν θέλουσιν τὴν Μῆτιν γεννήσας κατέπιεν· ἦν δὲ ἡ Μῆτις γονή· βρέφος γὰρ καταπιεῖν ἀδύνατον. ὑπὲρ δὲ ἀπολογίας παι- δεραστῶν Γανυμήδην ἁρπάζει. μοιχοῖς δὲ ὑπὲρ μοιχείας βοηθῶν αὐτὸς πολλάκις μοιχὸς εὑρίσκεται. ἀδελφοφθορεῖν δὲ προτρέπει ἀδελφαῖς συν- ελθών, Ἥρᾳ καὶ ∆ήμητρι καὶ τῇ οὐρανίᾳ Ἀφροδίτῃ, ἥν τινες ∆ωδώνην λέγουσιν. τοῖς δὲ θυγατράσι μίγνυσθαι βουλομένοις Περσεφόνῃ συνελη- λυθὼς παράδειγμα πονηρὸν ἐκ τῶν μύθων γίνεται. ἄλλα τε μυρία ἠσέ- βηκεν, ἵν' ὑπὸ τῶν δυσσεβῶν διὰ τὴν ὑπερβάλλουσαν ἀκρασίαν θεὸς εἶναι ὁ μῦθος δογματισθῇ. ἰδιώταις ἔχοις περὶ τῶν τοιούτων ὑπο- λήψεων ἀγανακτεῖν μετρίως εὔλογον, τοῖς δὲ ἐκ παιδείας ὁρμωμένοις τί δεῖ καὶ λέγειν; ὧν τινες γραμματικοὶ καὶ σοφισταὶ ἀξιοῦντες εἶναι τὰς τοιαύτας πράξεις θεῶν ἀξίας εἶναι βεβαιοῦσιν. αὐτοὶ γὰρ ἀκρατεῖς ὄντες, ταύτης τῆς μυθικῆς προφάσεως λαβόμενοι, ὡς δὴ μιμηταὶ τῶν κρειττόνων ἄσεμνα διαπραττόμενοι παρρησιάζονται. διὰ τοῦτο αὐτῶν πολλῷ ἔλαττον οἱ κατ' ἀγρὸν βιοῦντες ἐξαμαρτάνουσιν, οὐκ εἰσηγμένοι πονηρῶς δι' ὧν εἰσήχ- θησαν οἱ ταῦτα τολμῶντες, ἐκ παιδείας κακῆς ἀσεβεῖν μεμαθηκότες. οἱ γὰρ ἐκ παιδὸς διὰ τῶν τοιούτων μύθων μανθάνοντες γράμματα ἔτι ἁπα- λῆς οὔσης τῆς ψυχῆς τὰς τῶν λεγομένων θεῶν ἀσεβεῖς πράξεις εἰς τὸν αὑτῶν συνφύουσι νοῦν. ὅθεν ἐπαυξηθείσης τῆς ἡλικίας ὡς κακὰ σπέρ ματα καταβληθέντα τῇ ψυχῇ τελεσφοροῦσιν· καὶ τὸ πάντων χαλεπώτα- τον ὅτι οὐδὲ ἐκκοπῆναι ·ᾳδίως ἔστιν τὰ ἐρριζωμένα ἀσεβήματα, ὁπόταν ἀνδρωθεῖσιν αὐτοῖς χαλεπὰ εἶναι νοῆται. ἐν οἷς γὰρ ἕκαστος ἐκ παίδων ἐθίζεται, τούτοις ἐμμένειν ἥδεται, καὶ οὕτως τῆς συνηθείας οὐ πολὺ ἔλαττον πρὸς τὴν φύσιν δυναμένης, δυσμετάβλητοι γίνονται πρὸς τὰ μὴ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς αὐτοῖς καταβληθέντα τῇ ψυχῇ καλά. διὸ χρὴ καὶ τοὺς νέους μὴ τοῖς διαφθείρουσιν ἀσκεῖσθαι μαθήμασιν καὶ τοὺς ἐπὶ τῆς ἀκμῆς ὄντας ἐπιμελῶς ὑποστέλλεσθαι τῆς Ἑλλήνων ἐπακούειν μυθολογίας· πολὺ γὰρ ἀμαθίας χείρονά ἐστιν τὰ παρ' αὐτοῖς μαθήματα, ὡς ἐκ τῶν κατ' ἀγρὸν οἰκούντων διὰ τὸ μὴ παιδευθῆναι τὰ παρ' Ἕλλησιν ἔλαττον