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Mithras, having compiled the mysteries, under the emperor Hadrian. For a virgin was also sacrificed yearly to Athena in Laodicea in Syria, 4.16.8 but now a hind is. And indeed also the Carthaginians in Libya used to perform the sacrifice which Iphicrates stopped. And the Doumathenoi of Arabia each year 4.16.9 sacrificed a boy, whom they buried under an altar, which they use as an idol. And Phylarchus relates that all the Greeks in common, before going out against enemies, committed human sacrifice. And I pass over the Thracians and Scythians, and how the Athenians slew the daughter of Erechtheus and Praxithea. But even now who does not know that in the Great City a man is slain at the festival of Latiarian Zeus?” 4.16.10 And again he says: “From which time until now, not only in Arcadia at the Lykaia, nor in Carthage to Kronos do all in common offer human sacrifice, but periodically, for the sake of the memory of the law, they always sprinkle the altars with kindred blood.” 4.16.11 Let these things, then, be cited from the aforementioned writing. And from the first book of Philo’s Phoenician History I will set forth these things: “It was a custom for the ancients in great calamities of dangers, for the rulers of either a city or a nation, to give up the most beloved of their children for slaughter as a ransom to the avenging daemons, in place of the destruction of all; and those who were given were slaughtered mystically. Kronos, then, whom the Phoenicians call El, being king of the country and later, after the end of his life, deified into the star of Kronos, having an only-begotten son by a local nymph named Anobret, whom for this reason they called Ieoud, as the only-begotten is still so called now among the Phoenicians, when the greatest dangers from war had beset the country, having adorned his son with royal attire and prepared an altar, sacrificed him.” 4.16.12 So these things were in this manner. Therefore, the admirable Clement, in his Protrepticus to the Greeks, rightly censuring these very same things, himself laments the error of men, saying as follows: “Come, then, let us add this also, that your gods are inhuman and misanthropic daemons, not only rejoicing in the madness of men, but also taking pleasure in human slaughter, now procuring for themselves as sources of pleasure the armed contests in the stadiums, now the countless rivalries in wars, so that they may be able to glut themselves unrestrainedly on human slaughter. And now, descending upon cities and nations like plagues, they have demanded cruel libations. Aristomenes the Messenian, for instance, slaughtered three hundred for Ithometan Zeus, thinking to offer so many hecatombs of such a kind at once; among whom was also Theopompus, the king of the Lacedaemonians, a noble victim. And the Tauri, the nation inhabiting the Tauric Chersonese, whichever of the strangers among them they capture—that is, of those who have been shipwrecked at sea—they immediately sacrifice to the Tauric Artemis; these sacrifices of yours Euripides dramatizes on the stage. And Monimus relates in his Collection of Wonders that in Pella of Thessaly an Achaean man is sacrificed to Peleus and Chiron. For Anticleides in his Nostoi declares that the Lyctians—they are a nation of Cretans—slaughter men for Zeus, and Dosidas says that the Lesbians offer a similar sacrifice to Dionysus. And the Phocaeans—for I will not pass over them either—Pythocles relates in the third book of On Concord that they burn a man as a whole-offering to the Taurian Artemis. And Erechtheus the Attic and Marius the Roman sacrificed their own daughters; of whom the one to Pherephatte, as Demaratus relates in the first book of Tragedies, and the other, Marius, to the Averting Gods, as Dorotheus relates in the fourth book of Italian History. From these things the daemons are certainly shown to be philanthropic; and how are the superstitious not correspondingly impious? The ones are praised as saviors, while the others ask for salvation from those who plot against salvation. For, supposing they are offering fair sacrifices to them, they have been unaware of themselves slaughtering men. For a murder does not, then, become a sacrifice because of the place; not even if one to Artemis

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Μίθρα συναγαγὼν μυστηρίων, ἐπὶ Ἁδριανοῦ τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος. ἐθύετο γὰρ καὶ ἐν Λαοδικείᾳ τῇ κατὰ Συρίαν τῇ Ἀθηνᾷ κατ' ἔτος παρθένος, 4.16.8 νῦν δὲ ἔλαφος. καὶ μὴν καὶ οἱ ἐν Λιβύῃ Καρχηδόνιοι ἐποίουν τὴν θυσίαν ἣν Ἰφικράτης ἔπαυσεν. καὶ ∆ουματηνοὶ δὲ τῆς Ἀραβίας κατ' ἔτος ἕκαστον 4.16.9 ἔθυον παῖδα, ὃν ὑπὸ βωμὸν ἔθαπτον, ᾧ χρῶνται ὡς ξοάνῳ. Φύλαρχος δὲ κοινῶς πάντας τοὺς Ἕλληνας, πρὶν ἐπὶ πολεμίους ἐξιέναι, ἀνθρωποκτονεῖν ἱστορεῖ. καὶ παρίημι Θρᾷκας καὶ Σκύθας καὶ ὡς Ἀθηναῖοι τὴν Ἐρεχθέως καὶ Πραξιθέας θυγατέρα ἀνεῖλον. ἀλλ' ἔτι γε νῦν τίς ἀγνοεῖ κατὰ τὴν Μεγάλην Πόλιν τῇ τοῦ Λατιαρίου ∆ιὸς ἑορτῇ σφαζόμενον ἄνθρωπον;» 4.16.10 Καὶ πάλιν φησίν· «Ἀφ' οὗ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν οὐκ ἐν Ἀρκαδίᾳ μόνον τοῖς Λυκαίοις οὐδ' ἐν Καρχηδόνι τῷ Κρόνῳ κοινῇ πάντες ἀνθρωποθυτοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ περίοδον, τῆς τοῦ νομίμου χάριν μνήμης, ἐμφύλιον ἀεὶ αἷμα ῥαίνουσι πρὸς τοὺς βωμούς.» 4.16.11 Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐκ τῆς προδηλωθείσης κείσθω γραφῆς. ἐκ δὲ τοῦ πρώτου συγγράμματος τῆς Φίλωνος Φοινικικῆς ἱστορίας παραθήσομαι ταῦτα· «Ἔθος ἦν τοῖς παλαιοῖς ἐν ταῖς μεγάλαις συμφοραῖς τῶν κινδύνων ἀντὶ τῆς πάντων φθορᾶς τὸ ἠγαπημένον τῶν τέκνων τοὺς κρατοῦντας ἢ πόλεως ἢ ἔθνους εἰς σφαγὴν ἐπιδιδόναι λύτρον τοῖς τιμωροῖς δαίμοσι· κατεσφάττοντο δὲ οἱ διδόμενοι μυστικῶς. Κρόνος τοίνυν, ὃν οἱ Φοίνικες Ἢλ προσαγορεύουσι, βασιλεύων τῆς χώρας καὶ ὕστερον μετὰ τὴν τοῦ βίου τελευτὴν εἰς τὸν τοῦ Κρόνου ἀστέρα καθιερωθείς, ἐξ ἐπιχωρίας νύμφης Ἀνωβρὲτ λεγομένης υἱὸν ἔχων μονογενῆ, ὃν διὰ τοῦτο Ἰεοὺδ ἐκάλουν τοῦ μονογενοῦς οὕτως ἔτι καὶ νῦν καλουμένου παρὰ τοῖς Φοίνιξιν, κινδύνων ἐκ πολέμου μεγίστων κατειληφότων τὴν χώραν βασιλικῷ κοσμήσας σχήματι τὸν υἱὸν βωμόν τε κατασκευασάμενος κατέθυσεν.» 4.16.12 Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν τοῦτον εἶχε τὸν τρόπον. εἰκότως ἄρα ὁ θαυμάσιος Κλήμης ἐν τῷ πρὸς Ἕλληνας Προτρεπτικῷ, ταὐτὰ δὴ ταῦτα ἐπιμεμφόμενος, τοιάδε καὶ αὐτὸς τὴν πλάνην τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀπολοφύρεται λέγων· «Φέρ' οὖν δὴ καὶ τοῦτο προσθῶμεν, ὡς ἀπάνθρωποι καὶ μισάνθρωποι δαίμονες εἶεν ὑμῶν οἱ θεοὶ καὶ οὐχὶ μόνον ἐπιχαίροντες τῇ φρενοβλαβείᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, πρὸς δὲ καὶ ἀνθρωποκτονίας ἀπολαύοντες, νυνὶ μὲν τὰς ἐν σταδίοις ἐνόπλους φιλονεικίας, νυνὶ δὲ τὰς ἐν πολέμοις ἀναρίθμους φιλοτιμίας ἀφορμὰς σφίσιν ἡδονῆς ποριζόμενοι, ὅπως ὅτι μάλιστα ἔχοιεν ἀνθρωπείων ἀνέδην ἐμφορεῖσθαι φόνων. ἤδη δὲ κατὰ πόλεις καὶ ἔθνη, οἱονεὶ λοιμοὶ ἐπισκήψαντες, σπονδὰς ἀπῄτησαν ἀνημέρους. Ἀριστομένης γοῦν ὁ Μεσσήνιος τῷ Ἰθωμήτῃ ∆ιὶ τριακοσίους ἀπέσφαξεν, τοσαύτας ὁμοῦ καὶ τοιαύτας καλλιερεῖν οἰόμενος ἑκατόμβας· ἐν οἷς καὶ Θεόπομπος ἦν ὁ Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλεύς, ἱερεῖον εὐγενές. Ταῦροι δὲ τὸ ἔθνος, οἱ περὶ τὴν Ταυρικὴν Χερρόνησον κατοικοῦντες, οὓς ἂν τῶν ξένων παρ' αὐτοῖς ἕλωσι, τούτων δὴ τῶν κατὰ θάλατταν ἐπταικότων, αὐτίκα μάλα τῇ Ταυρικῇ καταθύουσιν Ἀρτέμιδι· ταύτας σου τὰς θυσίας Εὐριπίδης ἐπὶ σκηνῆς τραγῳδεῖ. Μόνιμος δὲ ἱστορεῖ ἐν τῇ τῶν θαυμασίων Συναγωγῇ ἐν Πέλλῃ τῆς Θετταλίας Ἀχαιὸν ἄνθρωπον Πηλεῖ καὶ Χείρωνι καταθύεσθαι. Λυκτίους γάρ Κρητῶν δὲ ἔθνος εἰσὶν οὗτοι Ἀντικλείδης ἐν Νόστοις ἀποφαίνεται ἀνθρώπους ἀποσφάττειν τῷ ∆ιί, καὶ Λεσβίους ∆ιονύσῳ τὴν ὁμοίαν προσάγειν θυσίαν ∆ωσίδας λέγει. Φωκαεῖς δέ οὐδὲ γὰρ αὐτοὺς παραπέμψομαι τούτους Πυθοκλῆς ἐν τρίτῳ Περὶ ὁμονοίας τῇ Ταυροπόλῳ Ἀρτέμιδι ἄνθρωπον ὁλοκαυτεῖν ἱστορεῖ. Ἐρεχθεὺς δὲ ὁ Ἀττικὸς καὶ Μάριοςὁ Ῥωμαῖος τὰς αὑτῶν ἐθυσάτην θυγατέρας· ὧν ὁ μὲν τῇ Φερεφάττῃ, ὡς ∆ημάρατος ἐν πρώτῃ Τραγῳδουμένων, ὁ δὲ τοῖς ἀποτροπαίοις ὁ Μάριος, ὡς ∆ωρόθεος ἐν τῇ τετάρτῃ Ἰταλικῶν ἱστορεῖ. φιλάνθρωποί γε ἐκ τούτων καταφαίνονται οἱ δαίμονες· πῶς δὲ οὐκ ἀνόσιοι ἀναλόγως οἱ δεισιδαίμονες; οἱ μὲν σωτῆρες εὐφημούμενοι, οἱ δὲ σωτηρίαν αἰτούμενοι παρὰ τῶν ἐπιβούλων σωτηρίας. καλλιερεῖν γοῦν τοπάζοντες αὐτοῖς σφᾶς αὐτοὺς λελήθασιν ἀποσφάττοντες ἀνθρώπους. οὐ γὰρ οὖν παρὰ τὸν τόπον ἱερεῖον γίνεται ὁ φόνος· οὐδ' εἰ Ἀρτέμιδί τις