89

nor benevolent guardians, but utterly harsh rulers. Therefore, lawful kings often overthrow them, pitying those treated lawlessly by them, and often soldiers and peoples strip them of their power, not bearing their audacity. 10.2 This is what the most wicked demons have both done and suffered. For having abandoned the station they had been allotted, and having fled from the most gentle lordship of the Creator, they seized tyranny, and having plundered the divine name, they called themselves gods and persuaded the foolish among men to offer them divine reverence; then, striving to strengthen their power, they boasted that they could foreknow and foretell future events, by this especially deceiving vulnerable men. 10.3 For this reason, they established the workshops of deception everywhere on earth and devised the tricks of divination: the diviners by meal, by the breast, and by the dead, and the Castalian spring and the Colophonian stream and the sacred oak and the Dodonian cauldron and the Cirraean tripod and the Thesprotian cauldron; and in Libya, the oracle of Ammon, and at Dodona that of Zeus, and at Branchidae and Delos and Delphi and Colophon that of Clarius and Pythius and Delius and Didymaeus; and at Lebadeia that of Trophonius, at Oropus that of Amphiaraus; and in the land of the Tyrrhenians and Chaldaeans the darkest caves of necromancy; and elsewhere that of Amphilochus, elsewhere that of Glaucus, and in another place that of Mopsus and of certain other ill-omened men. 10.4 That these oracles belonged to most wicked demons who had plundered the divine name is sufficiently proved even by the silence now imposed on them. For after the appearance of our Savior, those who brought this deception to men fled, unable to bear the brilliance of the divine light. 10.5 Plutarch of Chaeronea also testifies expressly, a man not Hebrew, but Greek in both race and tongue, and indeed enslaved to Greek opinions and knowing accurately the deception of the oracles. For Delphi and Lebadeia and Oropus are not far from Chaeronea, but are neighboring and close by. This man wrote many other things—for the man was learned and very experienced—, and he also wrote something about divinations and called this treatise *On the Obsolescence of Oracles*; in this, then, among many other things, he also said these things: 10.6 "That it is not gods, for whom it is fitting to be freed from earthly cares, who preside over the oracles, but demons, servants of gods, does not seem to me to be badly claimed; but to attribute to these demons, almost taking a drachma from the verses of Empedocles, sins and ruin and wanderings, and finally to suppose even deaths for them as for men, 10.7 I consider rather bold and barbaric." These things were said not by our prophet nor by an apostle, nor by any other of those who have believed them and striven to hold their opinions, but by a man trained in all learning, yet a slave to the ancient deception of the philosophers; this man said, first, that those who give oracles are not gods, but demons; and then, that their temple-keepers, possessed and driven to frenzy by them, prophesy for a fee, but foretell nothing true, but even about these things, of which they boast to have the vapor and inspiration, they foretell many terrible and harsh things, not only ruin and wanderings, but also deaths, just like men; and that they speak the verses not from any divine inspiration or trance, but by plundering the poetry of Empedocles. 10.8 And what follows has the same meaning; for he says: "And concerning the mysteries, in which it is possible to receive the greatest revelations of the truth about demons, let my mouth be guarded, as Herodotus says; but festivals and sacrifices, like unlucky and gloomy days, in which there are eatings of raw flesh and tearings apart, and fastings and lamentations, and often again foul language at the temples, and frenzies

89

οὐδὲ κηδεμόνες φιλάνθρωποι, ἀλλ' ἡγεμόνες παγχάλεποι. Τῷ τοι πολλάκις μὲν αὐτοὺς οἱ ἔννομοι καταλύουσι βασιλεῖς, τοὺς ὑπ' αὐτῶν παρανομουμένους οἰκτείροντες, πολλάκις δὲ καὶ στρα τιῶται καὶ δῆμοι γυμνοῦσι τῆς δυναστείας, τὸ θράσος οὐ φέρον 10.2 τες. Τοῦτο καὶ δεδράκασι καὶ πεπόνθασιν οἱ παμπόνηροι δαίμο νες. Τὴν γὰρ δὴ τάξιν καταλιπόντες, ἣν ἔλαχον, καὶ τὴν ἡμερωτάτην τοῦ πεποιηκότος ἀποδράσαντες δεσποτείαν, ἥρπασαν μὲν τὴν τυραννίδα, τὸ δὲ θεῖον ὄνομα σεσυληκότες, θεοὺς σφᾶς αὐτοὺς προσηγόρευσαν καὶ τὸ θεῖον σέβας σφίσι προσφέρειν τῶν ἀνθρώπων τοὺς ἀνοήτους ἀνέπεισαν· εἶτα κρατῦναι τὴν δυναστείαν σπουδάζοντες, καὶ προγινώσκειν τὰ μέλλοντα καὶ προλέγειν ἐνεανιεύσαντο, ταύτῃ μάλιστα τοὺς εὐαλώτους ἀνθρώπους παρακ 10.3 ρουόμενοι. ∆ιά τοι τοῦτο πανταχοῦ γῆς τὰ τῆς ἀπάτης κατε σκεύασαν ἐργαστήρια καὶ τὰς μαντικὰς ἐπενόησαν μαγγανείας, τοὺς ἀλευρομάντεις καὶ στερνομάντεις καὶ νεκυομάντεις καὶ τὴν Κασταλίας πηγὴν καὶ τὸ Κολοφώνιον ῥεῖθρον καὶ τὴν ἱερὰν δρῦν καὶ τὸ ∆ωδωναῖον χαλκεῖον καὶ τὸν Κιρραῖον τρίποδα καὶ τὸν Θεσπρώτιον λέβητα, καὶ ἐν Λιβύῃ μὲν τὸ μαντεῖον τὸ Ἄμ μωνος, ἐν δέ γε ∆ωδώνῃ τὸ τοῦ ∆ιός, ἐν δὲ Βραγχίδαις καὶ ∆ήλῳ καὶ ∆ελφοῖς καὶ Κολοφῶνι τοῦ Κλαρίου καὶ Πυθίου καὶ ∆ηλίου καὶ ∆ιδυμαίου, καὶ ἐν Λεβαδίᾳ μὲν Τροφωνίου, ἐν Ὠρωπῷ δὲ Ἀμφιάρεω, ἐν δὲ τῇ Τυρρηνῶν καὶ Χαλδαίων τῆς νεκυομαντείας τὰ ζοφώτατα ἄντρα, καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ μὲν Ἀμ φιλόχου, ἀλλαχοῦ δὲ Γλαύκου καὶ ἑτέρωθι Μόψου καὶ ἄλλων τινῶν δυσωνύμων ἀνθρώπων. 10.4 Ὅτι δὲ παμπονήρων ἦν δαιμόνων ταῦτα χρηστήρια τὴν θείαν προσηγορίαν σεσυληκότων, ἱκανὴ μὲν τεκμηριῶσαι καὶ ἡ νῦν αὐτοῖς ἐπικειμένη σιγή. Μετὰ γὰρ δὴ τὴν τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐπιφάνειαν ἀπέδρασαν οἱ τήνδε τὴν ἐξαπάτην τοῖς ἀνθρώποις προσ 10.5 φέροντες, τοῦ θείου φωτὸς οὐκ ἐνεγκόντες τὴν αἴγλην. Μαρτυ ρεῖ δὲ διαρρήδην καὶ Πλούταρχος ὁ Χαιρωνεύς, ἀνὴρ οὐχ Ἑβραῖος, ἀλλ' Ἕλλην καὶ τὸ γένος καὶ τὴν γλῶτταν, καὶ μέντοι καὶ ταῖς Ἑλληνικαῖς δόξαις δεδουλωμένος καὶ τὸν τῶν χρηστηρίων ἀκριβῶς ἐπιστάμενος πλάνον. Οὐ πόρρω γάρ που τῆς Χαιρωνείας ∆ελφοὶ καὶ Λεβαδία καὶ Ὠρωπός, ἀλλ' ὅμοροί τε καὶ πλησιόχωροι. Οὗτος πολλὰ μὲν καὶ ἄλλα ξυνέγραψε- πολυμαθὴς γὰρ ὁ ἀνὴρ καὶ μάλα πολύπειρος-, ξυνέγραψε δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν μαντειῶν τινα καὶ τόδε τὸ ξύγγραμμα Περὶ τῶν ἐκλελοιπότων χρηστηρίων ἐκάλεσεν· ἐν τοίνυν τούτῳ πρὸς πολ 10.6 λοῖς ἄλλοις καὶ ταῦτα ἔφη· "Τὸ μὲν οὖν ἐφεστάναι τοῖς χρη στηρίοις μὴ θεοὺς οἷς ἀπηλλάχθαι τῶν περὶ γῆν προσῆκόν ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ δαίμονας ὑπηρέτας θεῶν, οὐ δοκεῖ μοι κακῶς ἀξιοῦσθαι· τὸ δὲ τοῖς δαίμοσι τούτοις μονονουχὶ δραχμὴν λαμβάνοντας ἐκ τῶν ἐπῶν τῶν Ἐμπεδοκλέους ἁμαρτίας καὶ ἄτας καὶ πλάνας ἐπιφέρειν, τελευτῶντας δὲ καὶ θανάτους ὥσπερ ἀνθρώπων ὑποτίθεσθαι, 10.7 θρασύτερον ἡγοῦμαι καὶ βαρβαρικώτερον." Ταῦτα οὐ προφήτης ἡμέτερος οὐδ' ἀπόστολος εἴρηκεν, οὐδέ τις ἄλλος τῶν ἐκείνοις πεπιστευκότων καὶ τὰ ἐκείνων δοξάζειν ἐσπουδακότων, ἀλλ' ἀνὴρ πᾶσαν μὲν ἠσκημένος παιδείαν, τῇ δὲ παλαιᾷ τῶν φιλοσόφων ἐξαπάτῃ δουλεύων· οὗτος ἔφη, πρῶτον μέν, οὐκ εἶναι τοὺς χρῶν τας θεούς, ἀλλὰ δαίμονας, ἔπειτα δέ, τοὺς τούτων νεωκόρους καὶ ὑπὸ τούτων κατειλημμένους καὶ ἀναβεβακχευμένους ἐπὶ μι σθῷ χρησμολογεῖν, προλέγειν δὲ οὐδὲν ἀληθές, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τούτων, ὧν τὸν ἀτμὸν καὶ τὴν ἐπίπνοιαν ἔχειν νεανιεύονται, πολλὰ δεινὰ καὶ χαλεπὰ προαγγέλλειν, οὐ μόνον ἄτας καὶ πλά νας, ἀλλὰ καὶ θανάτους ἀνθρώποις παραπλησίως, καὶ τὰ ἔπη δὲ οὐκ ἔκ τινος θειασμοῦ καὶ κατακωχῆς λέγειν, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῆς Ἐμ 10.8 πεδοκλέους συλῶντας ποιήσεως. Καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς δὲ τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχει διάνοιαν· λέγει γάρ· "Καὶ περὶ μὲν τῶν μυστικῶν, ἐν οἷς τὰς μεγίστας ἐμφάσεις λαβεῖν ἔστι τῆς περὶ δαιμόνων ἀληθείας, εὔστομά μοι κείσθω, καθ' Ἡρόδοτον· ἑορτὰς δὲ καὶ θυσίας, ὥσπερ ἡμέρας ἀποφράδας καὶ σκυθρωπάς, ἐν αἷς ὠμοφαγίαι καὶ διασπασμοί, νηστεῖαί τε καὶ κοπετοί, πολλαχοῦ δὲ πάλιν αἰσχρο λογίαι πρὸς ἱεροῖς, μανίαι τε