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committed them and have not paid the penalty, for this reason being more obliged to pay it, as not being slaves to desire? But if they were subject to it, how were they gods? And Appion said: Let us no longer have the gods as our models, but the judges, looking to whom we shall be afraid to sin. And I said: It is not the same, O Appion; for he who has a man as his model will dare to sin in the hope of escaping notice, but he who has set an all-seeing God before his own soul, knowing that he cannot escape His notice, will refrain from sinning even in secret. When Appion heard this, he said: I knew, from the time I heard you associating with Jews, that your opinion had changed. For it has been well said by someone: “Evil communications corrupt good manners.” And I said: Then good communications correct bad manners. And Appion said: Today I have been fully informed so as to recognize your objection, for which reason we allowed you to speak first; but tomorrow here, if you please, when the same friends have gathered, I will prove that our gods are neither adulterers, nor murderers, nor corrupters of boys, nor have they had intercourse with their sisters or daughters, but the ancients, wishing that only the lovers of learning should know the mysteries, veiled them beforehand with the myths you have mentioned. For they explain Zeus physically as the fervent substance, and Kronos as time, and Rhea as the ever-flowing nature of water. But as I promised, tomorrow morning, when you have assembled, I will allegorize each specific type and reveal the truth of things. And I said to this: Tomorrow, as you have promised, so do; but now, from this point, hear also a reply to the very things you are about to say. If the deeds of the gods, being good, were veiled beforehand by evil myths, great wickedness is shown on the part of the one who concealed them, because he hid noble things with evil narratives, so that no one might become an imitator of them; but if they truly committed impious acts, it was necessary, on the contrary, to cover them with good ones, so that men, looking to them as their superiors, might not attempt to commit sins similar to theirs. When I had said these things, those present were clearly beginning to feel love for the words spoken by me. For, continually and earnestly asking me to be sure to come on the next day, they departed.

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διεπράξαντο καὶ δίκην οὐ δεδώκασιν, ταύτῃ μᾶλλον ὀφείλοντες διδόναι ὡς μὴ δουλεύοντες ἐπιθυμίᾳ; εἰ δὲ ὑπέκειντο, πῶς ἦσαν θεοί; καὶ ὁ Ἀππίων· Ἔστωσαν ἡμῖν σκοποὶ μηκέτι θεοί, ἀλλ' οἱ δικασταὶ εἰς οὓς ἀφορῶντες φοβη- θησόμεθα ἁμαρτάνειν. κἀγὼ ἔφην· Oὐκ ἔσθ' ὅμοιον, ὦ Ἀππίων· ὁ μὲν γὰρ πρὸς ἄνθρωπον ἔχων τὸν σκοπὸν ἐλπίδι τοῦ λαθεῖν τολμήσει ἁμαρτάνειν, ὁ δὲ θεὸν παντεπόπτην τῇ ἑαυτοῦ ψυχῇ ὁρισάμενος, εἰδὼς αὐτὸν λαθεῖν μὴ δύνασθαι καὶ τὸ λάθρα ἁμαρτεῖν παραιτήσεται. ταῦτα ὁ Ἀππίων ἀκούσας ἔφη· Ἤιδειν ἐξότε ἤκουσα Ἰουδαίοις σε προσομιλοῦντα, ἠλλοιῶσθαι τὴν γνώμην. καλῶς γὰρ εἴρηταί τινι· «Φθείρουσιν ἤθη χρηστὰ ὁμιλίαι κακαί». κἀγὼ ἔφην· Oὐκοῦν ἐπανορθοῦσιν ἤθη ἄχρηστα ὁμιλίαι καλαί. καὶ ὁ Ἀπ- πίων ἔφη· Σήμερον πεπληροφορήμην τὴν σὴν ἐπιγνῶναι ἔνστασιν, διὸ σοὶ πρώτῳ εἰπεῖν συνεχωρήσαμεν· αὔριον δὲ ἐνταῦθα, εἴ σοι φίλον ἐστίν, ἐπὶ τῶν αὐτῶν φίλων συνελθόντων ἀποδείξω, ὅτι οἱ θεοὶ ἡμῶν οὔτε μοι- χοὶ ὄντες τυγχάνουσιν οὔτε φονεῖς οὔτε παίδων φθορεῖς, οὐκ ἀδελφαῖς ἢ θυγατράσιν πλησιάσαντες, ἀλλ' οἱ ἀρχαῖοι τὰ μυστήρια μόνους τοὺς φιλομαθεῖς εἰδέναι θέλοντες μύθοις οἷς εἴρηκας αὐτὰ προεκάλυψαν. Ζῆνα γὰρ τὴν ζέουσαν οὐσίαν εἶναι φυσιολογοῦσιν, Κρόνον δὲ τὸν χρόνον καὶ Ῥέαν τὴν ἀεὶ ·έουσαν τοῦ ὕδατος φύσιν. πλὴν ὡς ὑπεσχόμην, αὔριον τὸ καθ' ἕκαστον εἶδος ἕωθεν ὑμῖν συνελθοῦσιν ἀλληγορήσας τὴν τῶν ὄντων ἀλή- θειαν ἐκφανῶ. κἀγὼ πρὸς ταῦτα ἔφην· Aὔριον ὡς ὑπέσχου, οὕτως ποίησον· ἤδη δὲ ἐντεῦθεν καὶ πρὸς αὐτὰ ἃ μέλλεις λέγειν, ἄκουσον. αἱ τῶν θεῶν πράξεις εἰ μὲν ἀγαθαὶ οὖσαι κακοῖς μύθοις προεκαλύφθησαν, πολλὴ τοῦ σκεπάσαντος δείκνυται κακία, ὅτι τὰ σεμνὰ ἀπέκρυψεν κακοῖς διηγήμασιν, ἵνα μήτις αὐτῶν ζηλωτὴς γένηται· εἰ δὲ ἀληθῶς ἀσεβῆ διεπράξαντο, ἐχρῆν τοὐναντίον ἀγαθοῖς αὐτὰ ἐπισκέπειν, ἵνα μὴ οἱ ἄνθρωποι, ὡς εἰς κρείττονας ἀφορῶντες, ἁμαρτάνειν ἐπιχειρῶσιν ἐκείνοις παραπλήσια. ταῦτά μου εἰπόντος οἱ παρόντες φανεροὶ ἦσαν ἀρχὴν λαμβάνοντες τῆς πρὸς τοὺς ὑπ' ἐμοῦ λεχθέντας λόγους ἀγάπης. καὶ γὰρ συνεχῶς καὶ ἐσπουδασμένως ἀξιοῦντες πάντως με τῇ ὑστεραίᾳ ἐλθεῖν ἀπηλλάγησαν.