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he did not want the truth, but has remained an ape, or rather a jackdaw, beautifying himself with others' feathers. 7.38 This man, having written many arguments about the need to abstain from animate beings, introduced Theophrastus saying, that the men of old offered neither frankincense nor any other sacrifice, "but having taken up in their hands some downy shoot of fertile nature, as it were, they burned it," with this sacrifice propitiating the visible heavenly gods. 7.39 Then having gone through many such things, he added: "But as the lawlessness of men progressed far from the first-fruits of sacrifices, the adoption of the most terrible victims was introduced, full of cruelty, so that it seemed that the curses previously spoken against us have now come to pass, men having slaughtered 7.40 and bloodied the altars." Then having gone through many arguments, he said that one must not suppose those who rejoice in sacrifices of animals to be gods; for sacrificing animals is most unjust and unholy and abominable and harmful, and for this reason not even pleasing to the gods. And he added these things: "Rightly does Theophrastus forbid those who wish to be truly pious from sacrificing animate beings, 7.41 using also other such reasons." Then he shows what it is proper to sacrifice, and says: "And indeed we must sacrifice those things, by sacrificing which we will harm no one; for nothing so much as sacrificing should be harmless to all." And again: "Therefore one must abstain from animals in sacrifices." And he recalls the manslaughters dared of old: "For," he says, "in Rhodes on the sixth of the month Metageitnion a man was sacrificed to Cronus; which indeed having prevailed for a long time was changed into a custom. For they used to keep one of those publicly condemned to death 7.42 until the Cronia." Then he says that also in Salamis of Cyprus a man was sacrificed to Aglaurus the daughter of Cecrops, and in Heliopolis of Egypt three men were slaughtered each day. And he says that the Lacedaemonians sacrifice a man to Ares, and that in Laodicea of Syria and in Carthage of Libya such sacrifices were offered of old, and that the Greeks going out to war practice human sacrifice, 7.43 and he recounts very many other such things. And Philo the historiographer says that Aristomenes the Messenian slaughtered three hundred for Ithometan Zeus. And Plutarch also recorded things in agreement with these, and other writers wrote many such things; and tragic poets made tragedies of such misfortunes, that of Menoeceus in Thebes, and that of Codrus in Athens and of the daughters of Leos. 7.44 And it is easy for one who wishes to consult the ancient histories and 7.44 to know that these sacrifices were made at the command of the so-called gods. But the maker and master everywhere condemns such lawlessness, and through David he cries out: "And they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons; and they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the carved images of Canaan," and through the prophet Ezekiel, again reproaching, he says: "And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to me, and you offered them to your lovers. This is beyond all your fornication." 7.45 These things, then, were dared of old by Greeks and Romans and Egyptians, and indeed also by Hebrews and the other barbarians; but after the epiphany of our God and Savior all those things have been extinguished, and the divine laws of the gospels are our constitution. 7.46 Making a tragedy of those blood-defiled murders, Sophocles the Athenian spoke excellently of theology, and very wisely ridiculed the images of demons and the lawless slaughters of the sacrifices; and he speaks thus: One in truth, one is God, who made both heaven and the broad earth and the gleaming swell of the sea and the might of the winds. But we mortals, many of us, wandering in heart, have established for ourselves a comfort for our woes, images of gods from stones or bronzes or figures wrought of gold or ivory; and dedicating to these both sacrifices and fine festivals, in this way we think we are pious. 7.47 Therefore not only we, but also your poets and writers and philosophers laugh at these things, which you consider divine. And I think also

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οὐκ ἠθέλησε τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἀλλὰ μεμένηκε πίθηκος, μᾶλλον δὲ κολοιός, ἀλλοτρίοις πτίλοις 7.38 καλλυνόμενος. Οὗτος περὶ τοῦ δεῖν ἐμψύχων ἀπέχεσθαι πολλοὺς λόγους ξυγγεγραφώς, εἰσήγαγε τὸν Θεόφραστον λέγοντα, ὅτι οἱ πάλαι ἄνθρωποι οὔτε λιβανωτὸν οὔτε ἄλλο θῦμα προσέφερον, "ἀλλὰ χλόης οἷόν τινα τῆς γονίμου φύσεως χνοῦν ταῖς χερσὶν ἀράμενοι κατέκαον", ταύτῃ τοὺς φαινομένους οὐρανίους θεοὺς 7.39 τῇ θυσίᾳ δεξιούμενοι. Εἶτα πολλὰ ἄττα τοιαῦτα διεξελθών, ἐπήγαγεν· "Πόρρω δὲ τῶν περὶ τὰς θυσίας ἀπαρχῶν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις προϊουσῶν παρανομίας, ἡ τῶν δεινοτάτων θυμάτων παράληψις ἐπεισήχθη ὠμότητος πλήρης, ὡς δοκεῖν τὰς πρότερον λεχθείσας καθ' ἡμῶν ἀρὰς νῦν τέλος εἰληφέναι, σφαξάντων τῶν 7.40 ἀνθρώπων καὶ τοὺς βωμοὺς αἱμαξάντων." Εἶτα πολλοὺς λόγους διεξελθών, ἔφη μὴ χρῆναι θεοὺς ὑπολαμβάνειν τοὺς ταῖς διὰ ζῴων θυσίαις χαίροντας· εἶναι γὰρ ἀδικώτατον τὸ ζῳοθυτεῖν καὶ ἀνόσιον καὶ μυσαρὸν καὶ βλαβερὸν καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μηδὲ θεοῖς προσ φιλές. Προστέθεικε δὲ καὶ ταῦτα· "Εἰκότως ὁ Θεόφραστος ἀπα γορεύει μὴ θύειν τὰ ἔμψυχα τοὺς τῷ ὄντι εὐσεβεῖν ἐθέλοντας, 7.41 χρώμενος καὶ τοιαύταις ἄλλαις αἰτίαις." Εἶτα δείκνυσι, τίνα θύειν προσήκει, καί φησιν· "Καὶ μὴν θύειν δεῖ ἐκεῖνα, ἃ θύοντες οὐδένα πημανοῦμεν· οὐδὲν γὰρ ὡς τὸ θύειν ἀβλαβὲς εἶναι χρὴ πᾶσιν." Καὶ αὖ πάλιν· "Ἀφεκτέον ἄρα τῶν ζῴων ἐν ταῖς θυσίαις." Ἀναμιμνήσκει δὲ καὶ τῶν πάλαι τολμηθεισῶν ἀνδροφονιῶν· "Ἐθύετο γάρ" φησιν "ἐν Ῥόδῳ μηνὶ Μετα γειτνιῶνι ἕκτῃ ἱσταμένου ἄνθρωπος τῷ Κρόνῳ· ὃ δὴ ἐπὶ πολὺ κρατῆσαν εἰς ἔθος μετεβλήθη. Ἕνα γὰρ τῶν ἐπὶ θανάτῳ δημοσίᾳ 7.42 κατακριθέντων μέχρι τῶν Κρονίων ξυνεῖχον." Εἶτα λέγει, ὡς καὶ ἐν Σαλαμῖνι τῆς Κύπρου ἄνθρωπος ἐθύετο τῇ Ἀγραύλῳ τῇ Κέκροπος, καὶ ἐν Ἡλιουπόλει τῆς Αἰγύπτου ἄνθρωποι κατεσφάζοντο τρεῖς καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν. Καὶ Λακεδαιμονίους δέ φησι τῷ Ἄρει θύειν ἄνθρωπον, καὶ ἐν Λαοδικείᾳ δὲ τῆς Συρίας καὶ ἐν Καρχηδόνι τῆς Λιβύης τοιαύτας πάλαι θυσίας προσε νεχθῆναι, καὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας εἰς πόλεμον ἐξιόντας ἀνθρωποθυ 7.43 τεῖν, καὶ ἄλλα δὲ πάμπολλα τοιαῦτα διέξεισιν. Καὶ Φίλων δὲ ὁ ἱστοριογράφος φησὶν Ἀριστομένη τὸν Μεσσήνιον τῷ Ἰθωμήτῃ ∆ιῒ τριακοσίους ἀποσφάξαι. Καὶ ὁ Πλούταρχος δὲ ξυνῳδὰ τού τοις ἱστόρησε, καὶ ἕτεροι ξυγγραφεῖς πολλὰ τοιαῦτα ξυνέγραψαν· καὶ τραγῳδοποιοὶ τοιάσδε ξυμφορὰς ἐτραγῴδησαν, Μενοικέως μὲν ἐν Θήβαις, Κόδρου δὲ ἐν Ἀθήναις καὶ τῶν Λεὼ θυγατέρων. 7.44 Καὶ ῥᾴδιον ἐντυχεῖν τῷ βουλομένῳ ταῖς παλαιαῖς ἱστορίαις καὶ 7.44 γνῶναι, ὡς τῶν καλουμένων θεῶν ταῦτα κελευόντων ἐθύετο. Ὁ δέ γε ποιητὴς καὶ δεσπότης πανταχῇ τῆς τοιαύτης παρανομίας κατηγορεῖ, καὶ διὰ τοῦ ∆αυὶδ μὲν βοᾷ· "Καὶ ἔθυσαν τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτῶν καὶ τὰς θυγατέρας αὐτῶν τοῖς δαιμονίοις· καὶ ἐξέχεαν αἷμα ἀθῷον, αἷμα υἱῶν αὐτῶν καὶ θυγατέρων, ὧν ἔθυσαν τοῖς γλυπτοῖς Χαναάν", διὰ δὲ τοῦ προφήτου Ἰεζεκιὴλ πάλιν ἐπι μεμφόμενος λέγει· "Καὶ ἔλαβες τοὺς υἱούς σου καὶ τὰς θυγα τέρας σου, ἃς ἐγέννησάς μοι, καὶ προσήγαγες αὐτοὺς τοῖς ἐρασταῖς σου. Τοῦτο ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν τὴν πορνείαν σου." 7.45 Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν πάλαι παρ' Ἑλλήνων καὶ Ῥωμαίων καὶ Αἰγυπτίων, καὶ μέντοι καὶ Ἑβραίων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐτολμᾶτο βαρβάρων· μετὰ δὲ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐπιφάνειαν ἐκεῖνα μὲν ἔσβεσται ἅπαντα, οἱ δὲ θεῖοι τῶν εὐαγγελίων πολιτεύ 7.46 ονται νόμοι. Ἐκείνας τραγῳδῶν τὰς μιαιφονίας Σοφοκλῆς ὁ Ἀθηναῖος ἄριστα μὲν ἐθεολόγησεν, ἄγαν δὲ σοφῶς ἐκωμῴδησε τὰ τῶν δαιμόνων ἀγάλματα καὶ τῶν θυσιῶν τὰς παρανόμους σφαγάς· λέγει δὲ οὕτως· εἷς ταῖς ἀληθείαισιν, εἷς ἐστιν θεός, ὃς οὐρανόν τ' ἔτευξε καὶ γαῖαν μακρὴν πόντου τε χαροπὸν οἶδμα κἀνέμων βίας. Θνητοὶ δὲ πολλοὶ καρδίαν πλανώμενοι ἱδρυσάμεσθα πημάτων παραψυχήν, θεῶν ἀγάλματ' ἐκ λίθων ἢ χαλκέων ἢ χρυσοτεύκτων ἢ ἐλεφαντίνων τύπους· θυσίας τε τούτοις καὶ καλὰς πανηγύρεις στέφοντες, οὕτως εὐσεβεῖν νομίζομεν. 7.47 Τοιγάρτοι οὐ μόνον ἡμεῖς, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ ὑμέτεροι ποιηταὶ καὶ ξυγγραφεῖς καὶ φιλόσοφοι ταῦτα γελῶσιν, ἃ θεῖα νομίζετε. Ἐγὼ δὲ οἶμαι καὶ