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consider those who put forward evil pretexts for good works, so that those wishing to become imitators of better things might emulate the deeds of the so-called gods, which I, in discussing on the day before this, did not hide, I mean patricides, infanticides, impious unions of mothers, daughters, and sisters, and unbecoming adulteries and male-to-male intercourse and abominable, unspeakable acts, in addition to countless other such unlawful unions. More impious than these are those who wish these things to seem to be true, so that in doing similar things they might not feel shame. If these men wished to be pious, it would have been necessary for them (as I just said), even if the gods had in fact committed the evil deeds told of them, out of respect for the gods to cover up the unseemly things with some more seemly myths and not the opposite (as you say), when good deeds have been done by them, to cast evil and unseemly forms around them, which things, when allegorized, can scarcely be understood even through great labors and, when they are understood by some, they grant to them, in return for their great toil, not to be deceived, when it was possible not to toil, but those who were deceived, they utterly destroyed. However, I accept those who allegorize them toward the more venerable, just as those who speak enigmatically that wisdom leaped forth from the head of Zeus. But perhaps that seems more plausible to me: that since wicked men had acquired the reputation of gods, those outrages were dared against them. But we do not find the poetic allegory of all the gods to be consistent. For instance, then, concerning the ordering of the universe, at one time the poets say it is nature, and at another time, that mind became the author of the whole creation. For they say that the first motion and mingling of the elements has come to be from nature, but has been ordered by the providence of mind. And having declared that the universe was created by nature, but not being able to prove this irreproachably because of the artfulness of the creation, they also weave in the providence of mind, as if able to carry away even the very wise. But we say to them: If, on the one hand, the world came into being from spontaneous nature, how then has it received proportion and order? which things it is possible to have come into being only by a surpassing wisdom and to be comprehended by a knowledge that alone is able to define these things precisely. But if by wisdom all things have received their mixture and ordering (which must needs be so), how then was it possible for these things to happen to come into being from spontaneity? Those, therefore, who wished to allegorize divine things toward the more shameful (for instance, that Metis was swallowed by Zeus) have fallen into aporia, not understanding that those who discoursed obliquely on the nature of the gods have also denied that they are gods, having dissolved their forms through allegory into the substances of the world. It is more plausible, therefore, to say that the gods presented by them were certain evil magicians, who, being wicked men, transformed by magic, dissolved marriages, corrupted lives, and to those of old who did not know what magic is, they seemed through what they did to be gods; of whom both the fates and the tombs are shown in city after city. For instance, then (as I have also said at another time), in the Caucasian mountains the tomb of a certain man Cronus is pointed out, a savage and child-slaying tyrant. And his son, Zeus by name, becoming worse, of magic...

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νόμιζε, οἵτινες κακὰς ὑποθέσεις ἔργων καλῶν προεβάλλοντο, ἵνα οἱ θέ- λοντες μιμηταὶ γενέσθαι τῶν κρειττόνων τὰς τῶν λεγομένων θεῶν ζηλῶ- σιν πράξεις, ἃς διαλεγόμενος τῇ πρὸ ταύτης ἡμέρᾳ οὐκ ἀπεκρυψάμην, λέγω δὲ πατροφονίας, τεκνοκτονίας, μίξεις ἀσεβεῖς μητέρων θυγατέρων ἀδελφῶν, μοιχείας τε ἀπρεπεῖς καὶ ἀρρενομιξίας καὶ μιαρὰς ἀρρητουργίας, πρὸς ἄλλαις μυρίαις τοιαύταις ἀθεμίτοις μίξεσιν. ὧν ἀσεβέστεροι οἱ ταῦτα ἀληθῆ δοκεῖν εἶναι θέλοντες, ἵνα τὰ ὅμοια ποιοῦντες μὴ αἰδῶνται. οἵπερ εἴγε εὐσεβεῖν ἐβούλοντο, ἐχρῆν αὐτούς (ὅπερ ἀρτίως εἶπον), εἰ καὶ ὄντως οἱ θεοὶ τὰ περὶ αὐτῶν δόμενα διεπράξαντο κακά, τιμῇ τῇ πρὸς θεοὺς εὐπρεπεστέροις τισὶ μύθοις τὰ ἄσεμνα ἐπισκέπειν καὶ μὴ τοὐναντίον (ὥς φατε) καλῶν αὐτοῖς πράξεων γεγενημένων κακὰ καὶ ἄσεμνα περιβάλλειν σχήματα, ἅτινα ἀλληγορούμενα καὶ διὰ καμάτων μόγις νοηθῆναι δύναται καί, ὅταν νοηθῇ τισιν, ἐκείνοις μὲν ἀντὶ τοῦ πολ- λοῦ μόχθου παρέσχον τὸ μὴ πλανηθῆναι, ἐξὸν μὴ μοχθῆσαι, τοὺς δὲ πλανηθέντας ἄρδην ἀπώλεσαν. πλὴν τοὺς εἰς τὸ σεμνότερον ἀλλη- γοροῦντας αὐτὰς ἀποδέχομαι, ὥσπερ τοὺς ἐκ τῆς ∆ιὸς κεφαλῆς αἰνιξα- μένους ἀναπηδῆσαι τὴν φρόνησιν. ἴσως δὲ ἐκεῖνό μοι πιθανώτερον ὅτι μοχθηρῶν ἀνδρῶν δόξαν θεῶν ἀπενεγκαμένων ἐκεῖναι ἐτολμήθησαν αἱ ὕβρεις. ἁπάντων δὲ τῶν θεῶν τὴν ποιητικὴν ἀλληγορίαν οὐκ ἀκόλουθον εὑρίσκομεν. αὐτίκα γοῦν ἐπὶ τῆς διακοσμήσεως τῶν ὅλων ποτὲ μὲν φύσιν λέγουσιν ποιηταί, ποτὲ δὲ νοῦν ἀρχηγὸν γενέσθαι τῆς ὅλης δημιουργίας. ἐκ φύσεως μὲν γὰρ τῶν στοιχείων τὴν πρώτην κίνη- σιν καὶ σύμμιξιν γεγονέναι, ὑπὸ δὲ τῆς τοῦ νοῦ προνοίας διακεκοσμῆσθαι. καὶ ἀποφηνάμενοι μὲν φύσει δεδημιουργῆσθαι τὸ πᾶν, μὴ δυνάμενοι δὲ ἀνεπιλήπτως τοῦτο ἀποδεικνύναι διὰ τὸ τῆς δημιουργίας ἔντεχνον, παρεμπλέκουσιν καὶ τοῦ νοῦ τὴν πρόνοιαν, ὡς συναρπάσαι καὶ τοὺς πάνυ σοφοὺς δυνάμενοι. ἡμεῖς δέ φαμεν πρὸς αὐτούς· Eἰ μὲν ἐξ αὐτο- μάτου φύσεως ὁ κόσμος γέγονεν, πῶς ἔτι ἀναλογίαν καὶ τάξιν εἴληφεν; ἅπερ ὑπὸ μόνης ὑπερβαλλούσης φρονήσεως γενέσθαι δυνατόν ἐστιν καὶ καταληφθῆναι ὑπὸ ἐπιστήμης τῆς μόνης ταῦτα ἀκριβοῦν δυναμένης. εἰ δὲ φρονήσει τὰ πάντα τὴν σύγκρασιν καὶ διακόσμησιν εἴληφεν (ὅπερ ἀνάγκη μὴ ἄλλως ἔχειν), πῶς ἔτι ἐκ τοῦ αὐτομάτου συμβῆναι ταῦτα γενέσθαι δυνατὸν ἦν; οἱ τοίνυν τὰ θεῖα ἐπὶ τὸ αἴσχιον ἀλληγορῆσαι θελήσαντες (οἷον τὴν Μῆτιν καταποθῆναι ὑπὸ ∆ιός) εἰς ἀπορίαν ἐνπε- πτώκασιν, οὐ συνιέντες ὅτι οἱ πλαγίως φυσιολογήσαντες περὶ θεῶν καὶ τὸ εἶναι θεοὺς αὐτοὺς ἀνῃρήκασιν, τὰ εἴδη αὐτῶν διὰ τῆς ἀλληγορίας εἰς τὰς τοῦ κόσμου οὐσίας διαλύσαντες. πιθανώτερον οὖν λέγειν ὅτι οἱ ὑπ' αὐτῶν δόμενοι θεοὶ κακοί τινες γεγόνασιν μάγοι, οἵτινες ἄνθρωποι ὄντες μοχθηροί, μαγείᾳ μεταμορφούμενοι γάμους διέλυον, βίους διέφθει- ρον, τοῖς δὲ πάλαι οὐκ εἰδόσιν τί ποτ' ἔστιν μαγεία δι' ὧν ἔπραττον ἐδόκουν εἶναι θεοί· ὧν κατὰ πόλεις καὶ οἱ μόροι καὶ οἱ τάφοι φαίνον- ται. αὐτίκα γοῦν (ὡς καὶ ἄλλοτε εἶπον) ἐν τοῖς Καυκασίοις ὄρεσιν Κρόνου τινὸς σῆμα ἀνθρώπου δείκνυται, τυράννου ἀγρίου καὶ τεκνοκτό- νου. ὁ δ' ἐκείνου υἱός, Ζεὺς τὸ ὄνομα, χείρων γενόμενος, μαγείας δυ-