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For they mourn Typhon and Osiris and other chthonic beings, wailing for them shrilly as if they were their dead relatives. At any rate, this one says: if they are gods, why do you lament 104.2 them? But if they are dead, you lament them in vain. But another, a comic poet, Eudaemon by name, says, "If indeed they are gods, I am not able to speak about them nor to declare what sort of form they have. For there are many things 104.3 that hinder me." And Homer says, "The rule of many is not good." And Philemon, another comic poet, says, "Those who worship one god have 104.4 good hopes for salvation." For Apis, the straw-eating calf, is immediately struck in the thigh with a sword by Cambyses, the king of the Assyrians, 104.5 so that, if blood should flow, he might be proven not to be a god. And the followers of Cronus do not deny that their own god is imprisoned in iron chains, believing it so. But if someone is in prison, it is not simply because he is subject to one who is greater, but such a one is in prison also as an evildoer. 104.6 But if I am to speak of * Isis, who is also called Atthis and Io, the daughter of Apis the Cappadocian, who is also called Inachus, perhaps I am ashamed to proclaim their deeds; 104.7 yet I will not be ashamed to say what they themselves are not ashamed to worship. Let the worshipers of this one and of the foam-born goddess be ashamed, who exhort their own daughters and wives and sisters to imitate the 104.8 deeds of their gods. And immediately, she falling in love with her own brother Osiris, and on account of Typhon the other brother, her own brothers campaign against one another. And great is the shame of a goddess who has no sense of shame before her own brother, but who is in love and not content with men from outside, but goes so far as 104.9 her own brother. Not only that, but she also introduces fratricide to her dearest ones on account of her own insatiable desire. 104.10 And she bears one son, Horus, for whom she was not able to establish who his true father really is. For if she should name Typhon, she doubts that he is not his parent; but if Osiris, who could establish 104.11 the certainty of this? And such a mother taught him to become a fine god, having taken him and having prostituted herself in Tyre for 104.12 ten years. And as for Serapis, who was called king Apis, the sons of the Sinopeans, by deifying him, served tyranny rather than truth. 105.1 These are the wages of the gods honored among the Egyptians, to speak of whom in detail * much time would be spent. But the Greeks, who think themselves to be something, philosophizing only in words and sharpness of tongue and not in deeds, have run aground more than all others; 105.2 who bring Cronus down from Uranus, saying that he was born from Uranus and had cut off the members of his own father—oh, what an evil deed, and a shameful insinuation! who, if he had not been cut, there would have been many 105.3 sons of Cronus. But this noble one, who went as far as his father, was not content with his first impiety, but while he was young he wronged his 105.4 father, and having become old, his own children, swallowing Poseidon and Pluto, but seeking Zeus and being tricked by Rhea and swallowing a great stone wrapped in swaddling clothes instead of the infant; 105.5 as if he were a god, forsooth *. And his son, Zeus by name, being from noble parents, so to speak, was apt to become the husband of all women, as was his son Hermes. And would that he had become someone's dowry-husband according to the laws and not always a secret-seducer 105.6 and an evildoer; for he corrupts Penelope, becoming a goat for pleasure; and a goat, I think, he became because of the vigorous growth of his beard's 105.7 tresses. And to Danae, Zeus, whom we call the first, became gold, in order to corrupt a chaste maiden shut up in her chamber; but that gold was not
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Τυφῶνα γὰρ καὶ Ὄσιριν καὶ ἄλλους καταχθονίους λιγυρῶς θρηνῳδοῦντες ὡς κεκηδευμένους πενθοῦσι. φησὶ γοῦν οὗτος· εἰ θεοί εἰσι, διὰ τί θρηνεῖτε 104.2 αὐτούς; εἰ δὲ τεθνήκασι, μάτην θρηνεῖτε αὐτούς. ἄλλος δέ, κωμικὸς Εὐδαίμων τοὔνομα, φησίν «εἴπερ εἰσὶ θεοί, οὐ δύναμαι περὶ αὐτῶν λέγειν οὐδ' ὁποῖοί τινές εἰσι ἰδέαν δηλῶσαι. πολλὰ γάρ εἰσι τὰ 104.3 κωλύοντά με». καὶ Ὅμηρος δέ φησιν «οὐκ ἀγαθὸν πολυκοιρανίη». ὁ δὲ Φιλήμων, ἕτερος κωμικός, φησίν «οἱ ἕνα θεὸν σέβοντες ἐλπίδας 104.4 ἔχουσι καλὰς εἰς σωτηρίαν». Ἆπις γὰρ εὐθὺς ὁ ἀχυροφάγος μόσχος ὑπὸ Κάμπυος, τοῦ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων βασιλέως, ξίφει τὸν μηρὸν πλήτ104.5 τεται, ἵν', εἰ ῥεύσει αἷμα, ἐλεγχθῇ μὴ ὢν θεός. Κρονικοὶ δὲ οὐκ ἀρνοῦνται τὸν ἴδιον αὐτῶν θεὸν ἐγκαθεῖρχθαι ἁλύσεσι σιδηραῖς, οὕτως ἡγούμενοι. εἰ δέ τις ἐν καθείρξει ὑπάρχει, οὐχ ἁπλῶς ὅτι ἑνὶ μείζονι ὑπόκειται, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὡς κακοῦργος ὁ τοιοῦτος ἐν καθείρξει ἐστίν. 104.6 εἰ δὲ καὶ περὶ * Ἴσιδός μοι ἔσται λόγος τῆς ἤδη καὶ Ἀτθίδος καὶ Ἰοῦς λεγομένης, θυγατρὸς δὲ Ἄπιδος τοῦ Καππαδόκου τοῦ καὶ Ἰνάχουκαλουμένου, αἰσχύνομαι μὲν ἴσως τὰς ἐκείνων πράξεις ἀνακηρῦξαι· 104.7 πλὴν δὲ οὐκ αἰσχυνθήσομαι λέγειν ἃ αὐτοὶ προσκυνεῖν οὐκ αἰσχύνονται. αἰσχυνέσθωσαν δὲ οἱ ταύτης προσκυνηταὶ καὶ τῆς Ἀφρογενείας τὰς ἑαυτῶν θυγατέρας τε καὶ γυναῖκας καὶ ἀδελφὰς τὰς 104.8 τῶν θεῶν αὐτῶν πράξεις μιμεῖσθαι παραινοῦντες. καὶ εὐθὺς μὲν Ὀσίρεως ἐρῶσαι τοῦ ἰδίου αὐτῶν ἀδελφοῦ Τυφῶνός τε τοῦ ἄλλου ἀδελφοῦ τοὺς ἰδίους ἀδελφοὺς κατ' ἀλλήλων στρατεύουσι. πολλὴ δὲ αἰσχύνη θεᾶς τῆς μήτε αἰδοῦς τοῦ ἰδίου ἀδελφοῦ αἰσθομένης, ἀλλ' ἐρώσης μὲν καὶ μὴ ἀρκουμένης τοῖς ἔξωθεν ἀνδράσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἕως 104.9 τοῦ ἰδίου ἀδελφοῦ φθανούσης. οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀδελφοκτονίαν διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ἀκορεστίαν τοῖς φιλτάτοις ὑποδείκνυσι. 104.10 καὶ Ὧρον μὲν ἕνα γεννᾷ παῖδα, ἣ οὐκ ἠδυνήθη παραστῆσαι, τίς ὁ γνήσιος ἀληθῶς ἔστιν αὐτοῦ πατήρ. εἰ γὰρ μὲν Τυφῶνα ὀνομάσῃ, διστάζει μὴ οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτοῦ γονεύς· εἰ δὲ τὸν Ὄσιριν, τίς τούτου 104.11 τὴν ἀκρίβειαν παραστήσειε; καλὸν δὲ θεὸν αὐτὸν γενέσθαι ἡ τοιαύτη μήτηρ ἐδίδασκε, παραλαβοῦσα αὐτὸν καὶ ἐν Τύρῳ πορνεύσασα 104.12 ἔτη δέκα. Σέραπιν δὲ τὸν Ἆπιν βασιλέα καλούμενον Σινωπέων παῖδες θεοποιοῦντες τυραννίδι μᾶλλον ἐδούλευσαν ἤπερ ἀληθείᾳ. 105.1 Ταῦτά ἐστι τῶν παρ' Αἰγυπτίοις τιμωμένων θεῶν τὰ ἐπίχειρα, ὧν τὸ κατὰ μέρος εἰπεῖν * πολὺς χρόνος ἀναλωθήσεται. Ἕλληνες δὲ οἱ δοκοῦντές τι εἶναι ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, λόγοις μόνον καὶ ὀξύτητι γλώσσης φιλοσοφοῦντες καὶ οὐκ ἔργοις, πλέον πάντων ἐξώκειλαν· 105.2 οἵτινες κατάγουσι Κρόνον ἀπ' Οὐρανοῦ, λέγοντες αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ Οὐρανοῦ γεγεννῆσθαι καὶ τὰ μόρια τοῦ ἰδίου πατρὸς τετμηκέναι ὢ κακῆς πράξεως, αἰσχρᾶς τε ὑπονοίας· ὃς εἰ μὴ ἐτμήθη, πολλοὶ 105.3 Κρονίωνες ἦσαν. οὗτος δὲ ὁ γεννάδας, ὁ ἕως πατρὸς πεφθακώς, οὐκ ἠρκέσθη ἐπὶ τῇ πρώτῃ ἀσεβείᾳ, ἀλλὰ νέος μὲν ὢν ἀδικεῖ τὸν 105.4 πατέρα, πρεσβύτης δὲ γεγονὼς τὰ ἴδια αὐτοῦ τέκνα, Ποσειδῶνα μὲν καταπίνων καὶ Πλούτωνα, ∆ία δὲ ἀναζητῶν καὶ ἐμπαιζόμενος ὑπὸ τῆς Ῥέας καὶ πέτραν μεγάλην ἐσπαργανωμένην ἀντὶ βρέφους κατα105.5 πίνων· ὡσεὶ θεὸς τάχα *. εὐγενῶν δὲ γονέων ὑπάρχων ἵν' οὕτως εἴπω ὁ τούτου παῖς, Ζεὺς τούτῳ ὄνομα, ἐκινδύνευε πασῶν τῶν γυναικῶν ἀνὴρ γίνεσθαι καὶ ὁ τούτου υἱὸς Ἑρμῆς. καὶ εἴθε κατὰ τοὺς νόμους ὑποπροίκιός τις ἐγένετο καὶ μὴ κλεψίγαμος πάντοτε 105.6 καὶ κακεργάτης· Πηνελόπην μὲν γὰρ φθείρει, δι' ἡδονὴν τράγος γενόμενος· τράγος δὲ οἶμαι ἐγίνετο διὰ τὸ ἀκμαῖον τῆς τοῦ γενείου 105.7 παραπλοκῆς. πρὸς ∆ανάην δὲ Ζεὺς ὁ πρῶτον ἡμῖν καλούμενος χρυσὸς ἐγίνετο, ἵνα παρθένον σώφρονα θαλαμευομένην φθείρῃ· χρυσὸς δὲ ἐκεῖνος οὐκ