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it is profitable to fear him alone, not as unjust, but as just. For one fears an unjust person, lest he be unjustly killed, and the just person, lest having been caught in a sin he be punished. Therefore, by the one fear of him you can be freed from many harmful fears. For if you do not fear the one Lord and maker of all, you will be slaves of all evils to your own harm, I mean of demons and passions and of everything that is able in some way to harm. Therefore, taking courage, approach God, you who from the beginning were created to rule and have dominion over all things, you who have his image in the body, and likewise have the likeness in the mind of your intellect. Since, therefore, by acting like irrational animals, you have destroyed the human soul [of the soul], having become like swine, you have become the requests of demons. If, therefore, you accept the law of God, you become human beings. For it is not possible to say to irrational animals: "You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal," and the rest. Wherefore, do not begrudge yourselves, being called back to enter into your first nobility. For it is possible, if you are made like God through good deeds; and through this likeness, having been reckoned to be his sons, you will be able to be restored as masters of all. Begin, therefore, to put off the harmful fears of empty idols, so that you may flee from unjust slavery; for those have become your masters, who happen to be useless to you even as slaves. And I speak concerning the matter of the lifeless statues, which are not even useful for serving you. For it neither hears nor sees nor perceives, nor indeed is it able to be moved. For does any of you wish to see as it sees and to hear as it hears and to perceive and to be moved? But far be it to revile with such an insult any man whatsoever, who bears the image of God, even if he has lost the likeness. Your gods, then, the golden and silver ones, or those made from some other matter, restore to their first nature, I mean into bowls and basins and all the other things which can be useful to you for service, and the good things given to you from the beginning will be able to be restored. But perhaps you will say: The laws of the rulers do not allow us to do this. Good that it is the laws, and not the non-existent power of the worthless objects of worship themselves. How then have you considered them gods, who are avenged by human laws, guarded by dogs, protected by bolts? And this, if they are golden or silver or bronze; for the stone or earthen ones are protected by their lack of value, because no man desires to steal a stone or earthen god. So that your gods made of more expensive material are subject to great danger. How indeed are they also gods, being stolen, being melted down, being weighed, being guarded? O the minds of miserable men, fearing things deader than the dead; for I cannot even call them dead, things that have never lived, unless they are the tombs of ancient men. For sometimes, someone having come upon unknown places does not know, concerning the temples he sees, whether they are monuments of dead men or of the so-called gods; but having inquired and heard that they are of the gods, he worshipped, not being ashamed that if he had not learned by examining, because of

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συνφέρει τὸ αὐτὸν μόνον φοβεῖσθαι οὐχ ὡς ἄδικον, ἀλλ' ὡς δίκαιον. καὶ γὰρ ἄδικόν τις φοβεῖται μὴ ἀδίκως ἀναιρεθῇ, καὶ τὸν δίκαιον μὴ ἁμαρτίᾳ φωραθεὶς τιμωρηθῇ. δύνασθε οὖν ἑνὶ τῷ πρὸς αὐτὸν φόβῳ πολλῶν τῶν ἐπιβλαβῶν ἀπαλλαγῆναι φόβων. ἕνα γὰρ τὸν πάντων κύριον καὶ ποιητὴν ἐὰν μὴ φοβῆσθε, πάντων τῶν κακῶν δοῦλοι ἐπὶ τῇ ἑαυτῶν βλάβῃ ἔσεσθε, λέγω δὲ δαιμόνων καὶ παθημάτων καὶ παντὸς ρδήτινι τρόπῳ βλάπτειν δυνα- μένου. θαρσήσαντες οὖν πρόσιτε τῷ θεῷ, οἱ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐπὶ τῷ πάντων ἄρ- χειν καὶ κυριεύειν γεγενημένοι, οἵτινες ἔχετε αὐτοῦ ἐν μὲν τῷ σώματι τὴν εἰκόνα, ὁμοίως τε ἔχετε ἐν τῷ νῷ τῆς γνώμης τὴν ὁμοιότητα. ἐπεὶ οὖν ἀλόγοις ζσοις ἐοικότα πράξαντες [τῆς ψυχῆς] τὴν ἀνθρώπου ψυχὴν ἀπωλέσατε, ὥσπερ χοῖροι γενόμενοι δαιμόνων αἰτήματα ἐγένεσθε. ἐὰν οὖν τοῦ θεοῦ νόμον ἀναδέξησθε, ἄνθρωποι γίνεσθε. οὐ γὰρ οἷον ἀλόγοις ζσοις ἔστιν εἰπεῖν· «Oὐ φονεύσεις, οὐ μοιχεύσεις, οὐ κλέψεις» καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. διὸ μὴ φθονέσητε ἑαυτοῖς εἰς τὴν πρώτην ἀνακαλούμενοι εἰσελθεῖν εὐγένειαν. δυνα- τὸν γάρ ἐστιν, ἐὰν τῷ θεῷ διὰ τῶν ἀγαθῶν πράξεων ἐξομοιωθῆτε· καὶ διὰ τὴν ὁμοιότητα υἱοὶ ἐκείνου εἶναι λογισθέντες πάντων δεσπόται ἀπο- καταστῆναι δυνήσεσθε. Ἄρξασθε οὖν ἀποδύεσθαι τῶν κενῶν εἰδώλων τοὺς ἐπιβλαβεῖς φόβους, ὅπως τὴν ἄδικον φύγητε δουλείαν· δεσπόται γὰρ γεγόνασιν ὑμῶν ἐκεῖνοι, οἳ καὶ εἰς δούλους ὑμῖν ἄχρηστοι τυγχάνουσιν. λέγω δὲ περὶ ὕλης τῶν ἀψύχων ἀγαλμάτων τῶν μηδὲ πρὸς τὸ δουλεύειν ὑμῖν χρησιμευόντων. οὔτε γὰρ ἀκούει οὔτε βλέπει οὔτε αἰσθάνεται, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ μὴν κινηθῆναι δύναται. ἢ γὰρ βούλεταί τις ὑμῶν οὕτως ὁρᾶν ὡς ὁρᾷ καὶ ἀκούειν ὡς ἀκούει καὶ αἰσθάνεσθαι καὶ κινεῖσθαι; ἀλλ' ἀπείη τοιαύτῃ λοιδορίᾳ λοιδορεῖν πάνθ' ὁντινοῦν ἄνθρωπον, εἰκόνα περιφέροντα θεοῦ, εἰ καὶ τὴν ὁμοιότητα ἀπώλεσεν. τοὺς γοῦν θεοὺς ὑμῶν τοὺς χρυσέους καὶ ἀργυρέους ἢ καὶ ἐξ ἄλλης τινὸς ὕλης γεγενημένους εἰς τὴν πρώτην αὐτῶν φύσιν ἀποκαταστή σατε, εἴς τε φιάλας λέγω καὶ λεκάνας καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ πάντα, ὅσα ὑμῖν πρὸς ὑπηρεσίαν χρήσιμα εἶναι δύναται, καὶ τὰ ὑμῖν ἀπ' ἀρχῆς δοθέντα ἀγαθὰ ἀποκατασταθῆναι δυνηθήσεται. ἀλλ' ἴσως ἐρεῖτε· Oὐκ ἐῶσιν ἡμᾶς τοῦτο ποιῆσαι οἱ τῶν ἐφεστώτων νόμοι. καλῶς ὅτι νόμοι, καὶ οὐκ αὐτῶν τῶν εἰκαίων σεβασμάτων ἡ μὴ οὖσα δύναμις. πῶς οὖν αὐτοὺς θεοὺς νενομί- κατε, ὑπὸ ἀνθρωπίνων νόμων ἐκδικουμένους, ὑπὸ κυνῶν φρουρουμένους, ὑπὸ μοχλῶν φυλασσομένους; καὶ ταῦτα ἐὰν χρύσεα <ᾖ> ἢ ἀργύρεα ἢ χάλκεα· τὰ γὰρ λίθινα ἢ ὀστράκινα ὑπὸ τῆς ἀτιμίας φυλάσσεται, ὅτι οὐδεὶς ἀνθρώπων λίθινον ἢ ὀστράκινον ὀρέγεται κλέψαι θεόν. ὥστε μεγάλῳ κινδύνῳ ὑπόκεινται οἱ ἐκ πολυτελεστέρας ὕλης γεγενημένοι ὑμῶν θεοί. πῶς δὴ καὶ θεοί εἰσιν, κλεπτόμενοι, χωνευόμενοι, σταθμιζόμενοι, φρουρούμενοι; ὢ τῶν ταλαιπώρων ἀνθρώπων φρένες, νεκρῶν νεκρότερα δεδιότων· οὐδὲ γὰρ νεκρὰ αὐτὰ λέγειν δύναμαι τὰ μηδέποτε ζήσαντα, ἐκτὸς εἰ μὴ τάφοι ἀρχαίων ἀνθρώπων εἰσίν. ἐνίοτε γὰρ ἐπιβάς τις ἀγνώ- στοις τόποις οὐκ οἶδεν οὓς ὁρᾷ ναούς, πότερόν ποτε νεκρῶν ἀνδρῶν μνήματά ἐστιν ἢ τῶν λεγομένων θεῶν· πυθόμενος δὲ καὶ ἀκούσας ὅτι θεῶν, προσεκύνησεν οὐκ αἰδεσθείς, ὅτι εἰ μὴ ἐξετάσας μεμαθήκει, διὰ