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being but 4.2.7 a child's game in the rites? Thus the whole thing was neither divine nor superior to human invention, so that even in the greatest calamities, those indeed hanging from above from the King of all, God, over the impious, their very temples endured 4.2.8 utter destruction for their dedications and wooden images, and sudden collapses. For where for you is the temple at Delphi, famed among all the Greeks from of old? Where is the Pythian, the Clarian? Where also the Dodonaean? Indeed, the story holds that the Delphic oracle was burned for the third time by the Thracians, with the oracle contributing nothing to the knowledge of the future, nor indeed was the Pythian able to protect his own possessions. And the Capitol in Rome is recorded to have suffered the same thing in the times of the Ptolemies, in which it is said that the temple of Hestia in Rome also endured being burned; and around the time of Julius Caesar they record that the great and Olympic statue of the Hellenes, the one at Olympia itself, was struck by a thunderbolt from God; and at other times they say the temple of Capitoline Zeus was burned; and that the Pantheon was destroyed by a thunderbolt and the Serapeum in Alexandria was likewise 4.2.9 burned down. And of these things, written testimonies are brought forward by the Greeks themselves. But it would be a long account, if anyone were to recount the particulars, trying to demonstrate that the wonderful oracle-givers have been detected as unable even to defend their own sanctuaries; and those who have not even been useful to themselves in calamities would scarcely ever be able to assist others. 4.2.10 But adding one thing to what has been said would be to have considered a most important point, how already even of the most divinely inspired, those indeed who were for them the chief hierophants and theologians and prophets, many, not only in old times but also recently in our own, having been aided by this divine wisdom, through the torture of examinations in Roman courts have revealed the whole deceit to be the work of men's deceptions, confessing that the whole thing was an artful sorcery; who indeed have also recorded in the depositions given by them the entire method of the contrivance and the techniques of the evil art 4.2.11 in the words let loose in their memoirs. Wherefore also, paying the just penalty for their destructive deceit, they <ἀν>uncovered the whole account, confirming the proof of what was revealed by their own deeds. And what sort of men were these? Do not think them some of the outcasts and obscure; some of them indeed started from this wonderful and noble philosophy, being of those with the worn cloak and the raised brow, while others were caught from among the officials of the city of Antioch, those indeed who most distinguished themselves also by their outrages against us in the persecution against us. And we know also of the philosopher and prophet at the same time who endured similar things to what has been said, in Miletus. 4.2.12 Indeed, anyone collecting these things and still more than these might say that those responsible for the oracles in the cities were not gods nor even demons, but the deceit and 4.2.13 trickery of sorcerers. And indeed there were among the Greeks themselves these distinguished schools of philosophy that held this opinion, such as those from Aristotle and all who followed from the Peripatos, and the Cynics and Epicureans, whom I myself especially admired, how, though reared in the customs of the Greeks and having received from their fathers since they were babes in swaddling clothes that the aforementioned were gods, they were not taken in by the other view, but forcefully refuted that the proclaimed oracles and the divinations pursued by all brought nothing true, 4.2.14 and declared them to be both useless and rather harmful. And though there are countless authors and though many have effected the overthrow of the oracles, I think it sufficient for my part for the sake of testimony of what has been said for the present, and the one citation of one of these men, responding to what was constructed by Chrysippus concerning fate from the prediction of the oracles. The author, then, writes to him, refuting that he poorly infers fate from the oracles and that in most cases the oracles of the Greeks are false and that rarely for them from

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δὲ ὄντας 4.2.7 τῆς ἐπὶ τοῖς τελουμένοις παιδιᾶς; οὕτω δὲ τὸ πᾶν οὐ θεῖον οὐδὲ ἀνθρωπίνης ἐπινοίας κρεῖττον ἦν, ὥστε κἀν ταῖς μεγίσταις συμφοραῖς, ταῖς δὴ ἄνωθεν ἐκ τοῦ παμβασιλέως θεοῦ κατὰ τῶν ἀσεβῶν ἐπαιωρουμέναις, αὐτοῖς ἀφιερώμασι καὶ ξοάνοις φθορὰν ἐσχάτην καὶ πτώσεις ἀθρόας τοὺς νεὼς αὐτῶν 4.2.8 ὑπομεῖναι. ποῦ γάρ σοι τὸ ἐν ∆ελφοῖς ἱερὸν παρὰ πᾶσιν Ἕλλησιν ἐξ αἰῶνος βεβοημένον; ποῦ ὁ Πύθιος, ὁ Κλάριος; ποῦ καὶ ὁ ∆ωδωναῖος; τὸ μέν γε ∆ελφικὸν χρηστήριον τρίτον ὑπὸ Θρᾳκῶν ἐμπρησθῆναι κατέχει λόγος, οὐδὲν τοῦ μαντείου εἰς τὴν τοῦ μέλλοντος γνῶσιν, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τοῦ Πυθίου τὰ οἰκεῖα προφυλάξασθαι δεδυνημένου. ταὐτὸν δὲ παθεῖν καὶ τὸ ἐν Ῥώμῃ Καπιτώλιον ἱστορεῖται κατὰ τοὺς τῶν Πτολεμαίων χρόνους, καθ' οὓς λέγεται καὶ τὸ τῆς Ἑστίας ἱερὸν ἐπὶ Ῥώμης ἐμπρησμὸν ὑπομεῖναι· ἀμφὶ δὲ Ἰούλιον Καίσαρα τὸ μέγα τῶν Ἑλλήνων καὶ Ὀλυμπικὸν ἄγαλμα,τὸ ἐν αὐταῖς Ὀλυμπίασι, κεραυνῷ πρὸς τοῦ θεοῦ βληθὲν ἀναγράφουσιν· καὶ ἄλλοτέ φασι τὸν νεὼν τοῦ Καπιτωλίου ∆ιὸς ἐμπρησθῆναι· καὶ τό γε Πάνθεον ὑπὸ κεραυνοῦ διαφθαρῆναι τό τε ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ Σαραπεῖον ὁμοίως 4.2.9 καταφλεχθῆναι. καὶ τούτων παρ' αὐτοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἀνάγραπτοι φέρονται μαρτυρίαι. μακρὸς δ' ἂν εἴη λόγος, εἰ μέλλοι τις τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον ἐξαριθμεῖσθαι, παριστάναι πειρώμενος ὅτι μηδὲ τοῖς οἰκείοις ἱεροῖς ἐπαμῦναι οἱ θαυμαστοὶ χρησμοδόται δυνατοὶ πεφώρανται· οἱ δὲ μηδὲ σφίσιν αὐτοῖς ἐν συμφοραῖς γενόμενοι χρήσιμοι σχολῇ γ' ἄν ποτε κἂν ἄλλοις ἐπαρκέ4.2.10 σειαν. ἓν δέ τι προσθεὶς τοῖς εἰρημένοις μέγιστον ἂν εἴη καθεωρακὼς κεφάλαιον, ὡς ἤδη καὶ τῶν ἄγαν θεοφόρων, αὐτῶν δὴ τῶν μάλιστα ἱεροφαντῶν θεολόγων τε αὐτοῖς καὶ προφητῶν, πλείους οὐ μόνον πάλαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἔναγχος καθ' ἡμᾶς αὐτούς, ἐπὶ τῇ θεοσοφίᾳ ταύτῃ βοηθέντες, διὰ βασάνων αἰκίας ἐπὶ τῶν Ῥωμαϊκῶν δικαστηρίων τὴν πᾶσαν ἐξέφηναν πλάνην ἀνδρῶν ἀπάταις γίγνεσθαι, γοητείαν τετεχνασμένην τὸ πᾶν εἶναι ὁμολογήσαντες· οἵ γε καὶ τὸν πάντα τρόπον τῆς κατασκευῆς καὶ τὰς μεθόδους τῆς κακοτεχνίας 4.2.11 ταῖς πρὸς αὐτῶν ἐν ὑπομνήμασιν ἀφεθείσαις φωναῖς ἐνεγράψαντο. διὸ δὴ καὶ τὴν ἀξίαν τῆς ὀλεθρίου πλάνης δίκην ἐκτίσαντες πάντα λόγον <ἀν>εκάλυψαν, αὐτοῖς ἔργοις τὴν τῶν δηλουμένων ἀπόδειξιν πιστωσάμενοι. ὁποῖοι δὲ ἦσαν οὗτοι; μὴ δὴ νόμιζε τῶν ἀπερριμμένων καὶ ἀφανῶν τινάς· οἱ μέν γε αὐτοῖς ἀπὸ τῆς θαυμαστῆς ταύτης καὶ γενναίας φιλοσοφίας ὡρμῶντο, τῶν ἀμφὶ τὸν τρίβωνα καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ὀφρὺν ἀνεσπακότων, οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν τέλει τῆς Ἀντιοχέων ἡλίσκοντο πόλεως, οἱ δὴ μάλιστα καὶ ἐπὶ ταῖς καθ' ἡμῶν ὕβρεσιν ἐν τῷ καθ' ἡμᾶς διωγμῷ λαμπρυνάμενοι. ἴσμεν δὲ καὶ τὸν φιλό σοφον ὁμοῦ καὶ προφήτην τὰ ὅμοια τοῖς εἰρημένοις κατὰ τὴν Μίλητον ὑπομείναντα. 4.2.12 Ταῦτα δή τις καὶ τούτων ἔτι πλείω συνάγων εἴποι ἂν μὴ θεοὺς εἶναι μηδὲ μὴν δαίμονας τοὺς τῶν κατὰ πόλεις χρηστηρίων αἰτίους, πλάνην δὲ καὶ 4.2.13 ἀπάτην ἀνδρῶν γοήτων. καὶ ἦσάν γε παρ' αὐτοῖς Ἕλλησιν αἵδε φιλοσοφίας διαπρεπεῖς αἱρέσεις ταύτης προϊστάμεναι τῆς δόξης, ὡς οἱ ἀπὸ Ἀριστοτέλους καὶ πάντες οἱ καθεξῆς τοῦ Περιπάτου Κυνικοί τε καὶ Ἐπικούρειοι, οὓς καὶ μάλιστα ἔγωγε ἐθαύμασα, ὅπως ἐν τοῖς Ἑλλήνων ἤθεσι τραφέντες ἐξέτι τε σπαργάνων παῖς παρὰ πατρὸς θεοὺς εἶναι τοὺς δηλουμένους παρειληφότες, οὐ θατέρᾳ ληπτοὶ γεγόνασιν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ κράτος καὶ τὰ βοώμενα χρηστήρια καὶ τὰ παρὰ πᾶσιν μεταδιωκόμενα μαντεῖα οὐδὲν φέρειν ἀληθὲς ἀπήλεγξαν 4.2.14 ἀνωφελῆ τε εἶναι ἀπεφήναντο καὶ μᾶλλον ἐπιβλαβῆ τυγχάνειν. μυρίων δὲ ὄντων καὶ διὰ πλειόνων τὴν τῶν μαντείων ἀνατροπὴν πεποιημένων, ἐξαρκεῖν ἔμοιγε μαρτυρίας χάριν τῶν εἰρημένων ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἡγοῦμαι καὶ μίαν ἑνὸς τούτων παράθεσιν ἀπαντῶσαν πρὸς τὰ Χρυσίππῳ περὶ εἱμαρμένης ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν μαντείων προρρήσεως κατασκευασθέντα. γράφει δ' οὖν ὁ συγγραφεὺς πρὸς αὐτόν, ἀπελέγχων ὅτι κακῶς ἐκ τῶν μαντείων σημειοῦται τὴν εἱμαρμένην καὶ ὅτι ἐν τοῖς πλείστοις τὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων μαντεῖα διαψεύδονται καὶ ὅτι σπανίως αὐτοῖς ἐκ