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a sensible master will not overlook his own son or his servant being led away by his enemies, nor will a general of an army, when it is possible to save them, surrender his own men as captives to the enemy, nor a shepherd his flock to the wolves; but will gods, then, and good daemons surrender the 4.17.9 human race to the wicked and the vile? And will the "thirty thousand guardians of mortal men," who are indeed shepherds and saviors, kings and fathers and lords, so mercilessly and cruelly hand over their dearest ones to be led and carried off by their enemies and foes and savage beasts, and will they not rather fight in defense of the supplicants and drive away the hostile and wicked daemons far from the human flock, just like some savage and flesh-eating beasts, and will they not teach every person, who is akin to a multitude of ten thousand gods and good daemons, to be confident, and, being devoted not only to the better but also to the more numerous and greatest gods, to pay little, or rather no 4.17.10 heed to the weakness of wicked daemons? But since they did not do this, and instead collaborated with the wicked ones themselves, sanctioning through their oracles the aforementioned human sacrifices, and delighting in all foul language and the actions that follow from it, it is clear in practice, they say, that they themselves differed in no way in nature from the vile daemons, or rather, they were of one and the same purpose and mind; and to put it even more strongly, that there was no god at all, nor any good daemon, who was of old worshipped by all the gentiles 4.17.11 in cities and countries. For how could the vile ever be a friend to the good, unless someone could say that a single mixture of light and darkness could be made? And how much better is the reasoning among men than that of the reputed gods, which exhorts us not even to sacrifice to vile daemons? So then the aforementioned author says, in the passages where he stated one must not offer animal sacrifices, that one must not sacrifice to vile daemons either, in the following manner: 4.18.1 19. THAT ONE MUST NOT SACRIFICE TO WICKED DAEMONS "Therefore a prudent and sensible man will be cautious about using such sacrifices, through which he will draw such beings to himself, and will strive to purify his soul in every way; for they do not attack a pure soul, because of its dissimilarity to them. But if it is necessary for cities to propitiate these beings also, that is nothing to us; for to them, wealth and external and bodily things are considered good, and their opposites evil, and in them the part that cares for the soul is very small." Next to these things he adds, saying: 20. HOW ONE MUST BE CONSECRATED TO THE GOD OVER ALL "But we, as far as we are able, shall not ask for what these beings provide, but both from the soul and from without we make every effort to be like God and those around him, which comes about through passionlessness and the distinct conception of things that truly are, and by living toward them and according to them, and to be unlike wicked men and daemons and in general everything that delights in what is mortal and material." 4.19.2 "The philosopher whom we delineate as abstaining from external things, we reasonably say will not trouble daemons nor will he need seers nor the entrails of animals. For he has made it his practice to abstain from those things for which divinations exist. For he does not enter into marriage, so as to trouble the seer about marriage, nor into commerce, nor about a servant, nor about theft and the other chasing after opinions among men. But concerning the things he seeks, no seer nor the entrails of animals will reveal what is clear; but he himself, through himself, as we say, approaching God, who is established in his true inward parts, will receive the instructions concerning eternal life, having wholly flowed together there." 4.19.3 Most clearly, then, through these things the argument has revealed from whom one ought to consider oracles and inquiries through sacrifice to come, and the foreknowledge of hidden things admired by the many. For he rejects all these things, calling them a chasing after opinions, as being 4.19.4 energized by wicked daemons. At any rate, in going through the argument concerning vile daemons and stating that the prudent and sensible man would never give himself up to them nor draw them to himself through the

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ἂν τὸν αὑτοῦ παῖδα οὐδὲ τὸν οἰκέτην σώφρων δεσπότης ὑπὸ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ἀγόμενον περιόψεται οὐδέ γε πολέμου στρατηγὸς τοὺς οἰκείους, παρὸν διασώσασθαι, τοῖς πολεμίοις αἰχμαλώτους ἀνήσει οὐδὲ ποιμὴν τὰ θρέμματα τοῖς λύκοις· θεοὶ δὲ ἄρα καὶ ἀγαθοὶ δαίμονες ὑπὸ τοῖς μοχθηροῖς καὶ φαύλοις ἀνήσουσι τὸ 4.17.9 ἀνθρώπων γένος; καὶ οἱ «τρισμύριοι φύλακες μερόπων ἀνθρώπων», οἱ δὴ ποιμένες καὶ σωτῆρες βασιλεῖς τε καὶ πατέρες καὶ κύριοι, τοῖς ἐχθροῖς καὶ πολεμίοις καὶ ἀγρίοις θηρσὶν ἀνηλεῶς οὕτως καὶ ὠμῶς ἄγειν καὶ φέ ρειν τὰ φίλτατα παραδώσουσιν, οὐχὶ δὲ προπολεμήσουσιν ὑπερασπίζοντες τῶν προσφύγων καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἐχθροὺς καὶ πονηροὺς δαίμονας τῆς ἀνθρώπων ἀγέλης μακρὰν ὥσπερ τινὰς ἀγρίους καὶ ὠμοβόρους θῆρας ἀποδιώξουσιν, διδάξουσι δὲ πάντα ἄνθρωπον μυρίων θεῶν καὶ δαιμόνων ἀγαθῶν πλήθει προσῳκειωμένον ἐπιθαρσοῦντα καὶ τοῖς οὐ μόνον κρείττοσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πλείοσιν καὶ μεγίστοις θεοῖς καθωσιωμένον σμικρά, μᾶλλον δὲ τὸ μηθὲν 4.17.10 ἐπιστρέφεσθαι τῆς τῶν πονηρῶν δαιμόνων ἀσθενείας; ὅτε δὲ τοῦτο μὴ ἔπραττον, συνήργουν δ' ἔμπαλιν τοῖς πονηροῖς αὐτοί, διὰ τῶν χρησμῶν τὰς προδηλωθείσας ἀνιέντες ἀνθρωποθυσίας χαίροντές τε αἰσχρορρημοσύναις ἁπάσαις καὶ ταῖς τούτων ἀκολούθοις πράξεσιν, ἔργῳ, φασί, δῆλον ὡς οὐδέν τι καὶ αὐτοὶ φαύλων δαιμόνων τὴν φύσιν διήλλαττον, μᾶλλον δὲ μιᾶς καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ὑπῆρχον προαιρέσεως καὶ γνώμης· καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον εἰπεῖν, ὡς οὐδὲ ὅλως θεός τις ἦν οὐδέ τις ἀγαθὸς δαίμων ὁ πάλαι πρὸς τῶν ἐθνῶν 4.17.11 ἁπάντων κατὰ πόλεις τε καὶ χώρας προσκυνούμενος. πῶς γὰρ ἂν γένοιτό ποτε τῷ ἀγαθῷ τὸ φαῦλον φίλον, εἰ μὴ καὶ φωτὸς καὶ σκότους κρᾶσιν δύνασθαι μίαν φαίη τις ἂν γενέσθαι; πόσῳ δὲ κρείττων ὁ παρὰ ἀνθρώποις λογισμὸς τῶν νενομισμένων θεῶν, μηδὲ φαύλοις δαίμοσιν χρῆναι θύειν παρακελευόμενος; λέγει δ' οὖν ὁ πρόσθεν εἰρημένος συγγραφεύς, ἐν οἷς ἔφησεν μὴ δεῖν ζῳοθυτεῖν, ὅτι μηδὲ φαύλοις δαίμοσιν θυτέον, τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον· 4.18.1 ιθʹ. ΟΤΙ ΜΗ ∆ΕΙ ΤΟΙΣ ΠΟΝΗΡΟΙΣ ∆ΑΙΜΟΣΙ ΘΥΕΙΝ «∆ιὸ συνετὸς ἀνὴρ καὶ σώφρων εὐλαβηθήσεται τοιαύταις χρῆσθαι θυσίαις, δι' ὧν ἐπισπάσεται πρὸς ἑαυτὸν τοὺς τοιούτους, σπουδάσει δὲ καθαί ρειν τὴν ψυχὴν παντοίως· καθαρᾷ γὰρ ψυχῇ οὐκ ἐπιτίθενται, διὰ τὸ αὐτοῖς ἀνόμοιον. εἰ δὲ ταῖς πόλεσιν ἀναγκαῖον καὶ τούτους ἀπομειλίσσεσθαι, οὐδὲν πρὸς ἡμᾶς· ταύταις γὰρ καὶ πλοῦτος καὶ τὰ ἐκτὸς καὶ τὰ σωματικὰ ἀγαθὰ εἶναι νενόμισται, καὶ τὰ ἐναντία κακά, ὀλιγοστὸν δ' ἐν αὐταῖς τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπιμελούμενον.» Τούτοις ἑξῆς ἐπάγει λέγων· κʹ. ΟΠΩΣ ΑΝΑΚΕΙΣΘΑΙ ∆ΕΙ ΤΩΙ ΕΠΙ ΠΑΝΤΩΝ ΘΕΩΙ «Ἡμεῖς δὲ κατὰ δύναμιν οὐ δεησόμεθα ὧν οὗτοι παρέχουσιν, ἀλλ' ἔκ τε ψυχῆς ἔκ τε τῶν ἐκτὸς πᾶσαν σπουδὴν ποιούμεθα θεῷ μὲν καὶ τοῖς ἀμφ' αὐτὸν ὁμοιοῦσθαι ὃ γίνεται δι' ἀπαθείας καὶ τῆς περὶ τῶν ὄντως ὄντων διηρθρωμένης διαλήψεως καὶ πρὸς αὐτὰ καὶ κατ' αὐτὰ ζωῆς, πονηροῖς δὲ ἀνθρώποις καὶ δαίμοσιν καὶ ὅλως παντὶ τῷ χαίροντι τῷ θνητῷ τε καὶ ὑλικῷ ἀνομοιοῦσθαι.» 4.19.2 «Ὃν δὲ ἡμεῖς ὑπογράφομεν φιλόσοφον ἀφιστάμενον τῶν ἐκτός, εἰκότως φαμὲν μὴ ἐνοχλήσειν δαίμοσιν μηδὲ μάντεων δεήσεσθαι μηδὲ σπλάγχνων ζῴων. ὧν γὰρ ἕνεκα αἱ μαντεῖαι, τούτων οὗτος μεμελέτηκεν ἀφίστασθαι. οὔτε γὰρ εἰς γάμον καθίησιν, ἵνα περὶ γάμου τὸν μάντιν ἐνοχλήσῃ, οὐκ εἰς ἐμπορίαν, οὐ περὶ οἰκέτου, οὐ περὶ κλοπῆς καὶ τῆς ἄλλης παρὰ ἀνθρώποις δοξοκοπίας. περὶ ὧν δὲ ζητεῖ, μάντις μὲν οὐδεὶς οὐδὲ σπλάγχνα ζῴων μηνύσει τὸ σαφές· αὐτὸς δὲ δι' ἑαυτοῦ, ὡς λέγομεν, προσιὼν τῷ θεῷ, ὃς ἐν τοῖς ἀληθινοῖς αὐτοῦ σπλάγχνοις ἵδρυται, περὶ τοῦ αἰωνίου βίου λήψεται τὰς ὑποθήκας, ὅλος ἐκεῖ συρρεύσας.» 4.19.3 Σαφέστατα δὴ διὰ τούτων ὁ λόγος ἐξέφηνεν τίνων ἡγεῖσθαι χρὴ τὰ μαντεῖα καὶ τὰς διὰ θυτικῆς ἐρωτήσεις τάς τε παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς θαυμαζομένας περὶ τῶν ἀδήλων προγνώσεις. πάντα γὰρ ταῦτα, δοξοκοπίας ὀνομάσας, ὡς 4.19.4 ἂν ὑπὸ δαιμόνων πονηρῶν ἐνεργούμενα ἀποβάλλει. τὸν γοῦν περὶ φαύλων δαιμόνων διεξιὼν λόγον καὶ φάσκων τὸν συνετὸν ἄνδρα καὶ σώφρονα μή ποτε τούτοις ἑαυτὸν ἐπιδοῦναι μηδ' ἐπισπάσασθαι εἰς ἑαυτὸν διὰ τῶν