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to be left behind by their dearest ones as they went out, and to remain among their greatest enemies. First, then, these people migrated from Italy and wandered over much of both Greece and the barbarian land. And after the first ones, others suffered the same thing, and this continued to happen for years. For those ruling in the cities did not cease taking the first-fruits of the youth who were always coming of age, claiming to minister what was due to the gods and fearing seditions from those who escaped notice. And there were many who were driven out by their adversaries because of enmity, under a plausible pretext; so that many migrations occurred, and the Pelasgian race was scattered over most of the earth.” 4.16.18 And a little later he says: “And they say that the ancients performed sacrifices to Cronus, just as in Carthage, for as long as the city remained, and it is done among the Celts to this day, and in certain other of the western nations they practice homicide, but that Heracles, wishing to stop the law of this sacrifice, both established the altar on the Saturnian hill and initiated pure sacrifices consecrated on a pure fire, and so that men might have no reminder of fear for having neglected their ancestral sacrifices, he taught the inhabitants, to appease the wrath of the god, instead of the men whom they used to bind hand and foot and cast into the stream of the Tiber, to make man-like images, adorned in the same manner as them, and throw them into the river, so that whatever dread remained in the souls of all might be removed, the images of the ancient suffering being still preserved. And this the Romans continued to do even to my time, [still] a little after the vernal equinox in the month of May on the day called the Ides, wishing this day to be the middle of the month, on which, after sacrificing victims according to the laws, those called pontifices, the most distinguished of priests, and with them the virgins who guard the undying fire, and the praetors and those other citizens who are permitted to be present at the sacred rites, cast thirty images made in the likeness of men from the sacred bridge into the stream of the Tiber, calling them Argives.” 4.16.19 So much for these things. And Diodorus relates things similar to these in the twentieth book of his Historical Library, after the death of Alexander the Macedonian in the time of the first Ptolemy, concerning the Carthaginians being besieged by Agathocles the tyrant of Sicily, writing these things word for word: “They also charged that Cronus was hostile to them, inasmuch as in former times they used to sacrifice the best of their sons to this god, but later, secretly buying and raising children, they sent them to the sacrifice; and when an inquiry was made, it was discovered that some of those who had been sacrificed were substitutes. Taking thought of these things, and seeing the enemy encamped before their walls, they were filled with superstitious dread, as having forsaken the ancestral honors of the gods. And hastening to correct their errors, they chose out two hundred of the noblest children and sacrificed them publicly; and others who were under suspicion gave themselves voluntarily, being no fewer than three hundred. Now there was among them a bronze statue of Cronus, his hands extended, palms up and sloping toward the ground, so that the child who was placed on them would roll off and fall into a certain chasm full of fire.” 4.16.20 Such things, then, he also has handed down through his own history. Rightly, then, does the scripture among the Hebrews also blame those of the circumcision who emulated such practices, saying: “and they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons; and the land was polluted with blood and defiled by their works.” But indeed I think that through these things it has been clearly proved that the most ancient and first establishment of wooden images was something demonic, and all the idolatrous deification of the nations was of demons not good, but entirely most wicked and vile; so as to confirm the oracle that says in the prophecies: “all the gods of the nations are demons” and the apostolic one, through which

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ἐξιοῦσιν ἀπολείπεσθαι τῶν φιλτάτων καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἐχθίστοις ὑπομένειν. πρῶτον μὲν δὴ οὗτοι μεταναστάντες ἐξ Ἰταλίας εἴς τε τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ τῆς βαρβάρου πολλὴν ἐπλανήθησαν. μετὰ δὲ τοὺς πρώ τους ἕτεροι τὸ αὐτὸ ἔπαθον, καὶ τοῦτο διετέλει γινόμενον ἐπὶ ἔτη. οὐ γὰρ ἀνίεσαν οἱ δυναστεύοντες ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι τῆς ἀνδρουμένης αἰεὶ νεότητος ἐξαιρούμενοι τὰς ἀπαρχάς, τοῖς τε θεοῖς τὰ δίκαια ὑπουργεῖν ἀξιοῦντες καὶ στασιασμοὺς ἐκ τῶν διαλαθόντων δεδιότες. ἦν δὲ πολὺ καὶ τὸ πρὸς ἔχθραν σὺν προφάσει εὐπρεπεῖ ἀπελαυνόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν διαφόρων· ὥστε πολλαὶ αἱ ἀπαναστάσεις ἐγίνοντο καὶ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον γῆς τὸ Πελασγικὸν γένος διεφορήθη.» 4.16.18 Καὶ μετὰ βραχέα φησίν· «Λέγουσι δὲ καὶ τὰς θυσίας ἐπιτελεῖν τῷ Κρόνῳ τοὺς παλαιούς, ὥσπερ ἐν Καρχηδόνι, τέως ἡ πόλις διέμεινεν, καὶ παρὰ Κελτοῖς εἰς τόδε χρόνου γίνεται, καὶ ἐν ἄλλοις τισὶν τῶν προσεσπερίων ἐθνῶν ἀνδροφονοῦσιν, Ἡρακλέα δὲ παῦσαι τὸν νόμον τῆς θυσίας βουληθέντα τόν τε βωμὸν ἱδρύσασθαι τὸν ἐπὶ τῷ Σατορνίῳ καὶ κατάρξασθαι θυμάτων ἁγνῶν ἐπὶ καθαρῷ πυρὶ ἁγιζομένων, ἵνα δὲ μηδὲν ᾖ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις δέους ἐνθύμιον ὡς πατρίων ἠλογηκόσι θυσιῶν, διδάξαι τοὺς ἐπιχωρίους ἀπομειλισσομένους τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ μῆνιν ἀντὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, οὓς συμποδίζοντες καὶ τῶν χειρῶν ἀκρατεῖς ποιοῦντες ἐρρίπτουν εἰς τὸ τοῦ Τιβέριος ῥεῖθρον, εἴδωλα ποιοῦντας ἀνδρείκελα, κεκοσμημένα τὸν αὐτὸν ἐκείνοις τρόπον, ἐμβάλλειν εἰς τὸν ποταμόν, ἵνα δὴ τὸ τῆς ὀττείας ὅ τι δή ποτε ἦν ἐν ταῖς ἁπάντων ψυχαῖς παραμένον ἐξαιρεθῇ, τῶν εἰκόνων τοῦ παλαιοῦ πάθους ἔτι σῳζομένων. τοῦτο δὲ καὶ μέχρις ἐμοῦ ἔτι διετέλουν Ῥωμαῖοι δρῶντες [ἔτι] μικρὸν ὕστερον ἐαρινῆς ἰσημερίας ἐν μηνὶ Μαΐῳ ταῖς καλουμέναις Εἰδοῖς, διχομήνιδα βουλόμενοι ταύτην εἶναι τὴν ἡμέραν, ἐν ᾗ προθύσαντες ἱερεῖα τὰ κατὰ τοὺς νόμους οἱ καλούμενοι ποντίφικες, ἱερέων οἱ διαφανέστατοι, καὶ σὺν αὐτοῖς αἱ τὸ ἀθάνατον πῦρ διαφυλάττουσαι παρθένοι στρατηγοί τε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πολιτῶν οὓς παρεῖναι ταῖς ἱερουργίαις θέμις, εἴδωλα εἰς μορφὰς ἀνθρώπων εἰκασμένα τριάκοντα τὸν ἀριθμὸν ἀπὸ τῆς ἱερᾶς γεφύρας βάλλουσιν εἰς τὸ ῥεῦμα τοῦ Τιβέριος, Ἀργείους αὐτὰ καλοῦντες.» 4.16.19 Τοσαῦτα μὲν δὴ ταῦτα. καὶ ὁ ∆ιόδωρος δὲ τὰ ὅμοια τούτοις ἐν εἰκοστῇ βίβλῳ τῆς ἱστορικῆς Βιβλιοθήκης ἱστορεῖ, μετὰ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Μακεδόνος τελευτὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ πρώτου Πτολεμαίου, περὶ Καρχηδονίων ὑπὸ Ἀγαθοκλέους τοῦ Σικελίας τυράννου πολιορκουμένων, ταῦτα πρὸς λέξιν γράφων· «Ἠιτιῶντο δὲ καὶ τὸν Κρόνον αὐτοῖς ἐναντιοῦσθαι, καθ' ὅσον ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν χρόνοις θύοντες τούτῳ τῷ θεῷ τῶν υἱῶν τοὺς κρατίστους, ὕστερον ὠνούμενοι λάθρα παῖδας καὶ θρέψαντες ἔπεμπον ἐπὶ τὴν θυσίαν, καὶ ζητήσεως γενομένης εὑρέθησάν τινες τῶν καθιερουργημένων ὑποβολιμαῖοι γεγονότες. τούτων δὲ λαβόντες ἔννοιαν καὶ τοὺς πολεμίους πρὸς τοῖς τείχεσιν ὁρῶντες στρατοπεδεύοντας ἐδεισιδαιμόνουν ὡς καταλελυκότες τὰς πατρίους τῶν θεῶν τιμάς. διορθώσασθαι δὲ τὰς ἀγνοίας σπεύδοντες διακοσίους μὲν τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων παίδων προκρίναντες ἔθυσαν δημοσίᾳ, ἄλλοι δ' ἐν διαβολαῖς ὄντες ἑκουσίως ἑαυτοὺς ἔδοσαν, οὐκ ἐλάττους ὄντες τριακοσίων. ἦν δὲ παρ' αὐτοῖς ἀνδριὰς Κρόνου χαλκοῦς, ἐκτετακὼς τὰς χεῖρας ὑπτίας ἐκτεταμένας ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, ὥστε τὸν συντεθέντα τῶν παίδων ἀποκωλύεσθαι καὶ πίπτειν εἴς τι χάσμα πλῆρες πυρός.» 4.16.20 Τοιαῦτα δὴ καὶ οὗτος διὰ τῆς οἰκείας ἱστορίας παρέδωκεν. εἰκότως ἄρα καὶ ἡ παρ' Ἑβραίοις γραφὴ καταμέμφεται τοῖς τὰ τοιαῦτα ζηλώσασι τῶν ἐκ περιτομῆς, φάσκουσα· «καὶ ἔθυον τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτῶν καὶ τὰς θυγατέρας αὐτῶν τοῖς δαιμονίοις· καὶ ἐφονοκτονήθη ἡ γῆ ἐν τοῖς αἵμασι καὶ ἐμιάνθη ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις αὐτῶν». ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἡγοῦμαι διὰ τούτων ἀπεληλέγχθαι σαφῶς δαιμονικήν τινα γεγονέναι τὴν παλαιτάτην καὶ πρώτην τῶν ξοάνων ἵδρυσιν, καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν εἰδωλικὴν τῶν ἐθνῶν θεοποιίαν καὶ δαιμόνων οὐκ ἀγαθῶν, ἀλλὰ πάντα μοχθηροτάτων καὶ φαύλων· ὡς ἐπαληθεύειν τὸ φάσκον ἐν προφητείαις λόγιον· «πάντες οἱ θεοὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν δαιμόνια» τό τε ἀποστολικόν, δι' οὗ