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the proclamation of salvation, through which the darkened things were enlightened, through which the wandering found the way, through which the lost and terribly captive were recalled? What is better, tell me, to worship God Almighty with His only-begotten Son and Holy Spirit, God uncreated and immortal, the beginning and source of good things, whose power is incomparable and glory incomprehensible, before whom stand thousands of thousands and ten thousands of ten thousands of angelic and heavenly orders, and heaven and earth are full of his glory, through whom all things were brought forth from non-being, through whom all is held fast and sustained and is governed by his providence—is it better to worship him, or destructive demons and lifeless idols, whose glory and praise is adultery and corruption of boys and the rest of the works of lawlessness, which have been written about your gods in the treatises of your superstition 480? Are you not ashamed, you wretched ones, food for the unquenchable fire, a likeness of the Chaldean race, are you not ashamed to worship dead wooden images, the works of human hands? For having quarried a stone or carved a piece of wood, you have called it a god; then taking the most beautiful bull from the herds, or some other of the finest animals, you sacrifice to a dead object of worship, you foolish ones. The victim is more honorable than your object of worship; for a man made the wooden image, but God created the animal. And how much more intelligent is the irrational animal than you, the rational being? For it knows the one who feeds it; but you have not known God, through whom you were brought forth from non-being, through whom you live and have been preserved, and you call a god the thing which a short while ago you saw being struck with iron and burned with fire and melted down, and beaten with hammers, which you covered with silver and gold and raising from the ground, suspended on high; then, falling on the ground, you lie lower than the lowly stone, worshipping not God but the dead and lifeless works of your hands. Rather, it would not be right to call the idol dead. For how could something be dead that never lived? But one should invent a new name for it, worthy of so great a madness. For the stone one is shattered, the earthen one is broken, the bronze one rusts, the gold and the silver one is melted down. But your gods are also sold, some cheaply, others for a very high price. For it is not their divinity, but their material that gives them their costliness. But who buys a God? Who sells a God? And how is an 482 immobile god called a god? Or do you not see that the one standing never sits, and the one sitting never stands up? Be ashamed, you fool, put your hand over your mouth, you who have been made a fool, praising such things. For having been estranged from the truth, you were led astray by false images, fashioning statues, and giving the name of God to the works of your hands. Come to your senses, wretch, and understand that you are older than the god made by you. These things are of great madness. But you have persuaded yourself, being a man, that you can make a God. And how can this happen? So you do not make a God, but a form of a man or some animal, having no tongue, no throat, no brain, nor any of the internal parts; so that it is the likeness neither of a man nor of an animal, but is altogether useless and full of vanity. Why then do you flatter the senseless things? Why do you sit before the immovable and useless things? If the skill of the stone-cutter or the carpenter or the hammerer were not present, you would not have a god. If guards were not sitting beside it, you would have lost your god. For that which a populous city of fools often prays to as a god to be preserved, to this thing a few guards remain by it so that it is not stolen. And if it is of silver or gold, it is carefully guarded; but if it is of stone or clay, or some other such cheaper material, it guards itself; for perhaps the clay one is stronger than the gold one, in your opinion. Is it not likely for you who are foolish, blind, and without understanding, justly

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σωτηρίας κήρυγμα, δι' ἧς τὰ ἐσκοτισμένα ἐφωτίσθη, δι' ἧς οἱ πεπλανημένοι τὴν ὁδὸν εὗρον, δι' ἧς οἱ ἀπολωλότες καὶ δεινῶς αἰχμαλωτισθέντες ἀνεκλήθησαν; τί κρεῖττον, εἰπέ μοι, Θεῷ λατρεύειν παντοκράτορι σὺν Υἱῷ μονογενεῖ καὶ Πνεύματι Ἁγίῳ, Θεῷ ἀκτίστῳ καὶ ἀθανάτῳ, τῇ ἀρχῇ καὶ πηγῇ τῶν ἀγαθῶν, οὗ τὸ κράτος ἀνείκαστον καὶ ἡ δόξα ἀκατάληπτος, ᾧ παρειστήκεισαν χίλιαι χιλιάδες καὶ μύριαι μυριάδες ἀγγελικῶν ταγμάτων καὶ οὐρανίων, καὶ πλήρης ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος παρήχθη, δι' οὗ κρατεῖται τὸ πᾶν καὶ συνέχεται καὶ τῇ προνοίᾳ αὐτοῦ διοικεῖται, τούτῳ βέλτιον λατρεύειν, ἢ δαίμοσι ὀλεθρίοις καὶ ἀψύχοις εἰδώλοις, ὧν ἡ δόξα καὶ ὁ ἔπαινος μοιχεία ἐστὶ καὶ παιδοφθορία καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῆς ἀνομίας ἔργα, ἃ περὶ τῶν ὑμετέρων ἀναγέγραπται θεῶν ἐν τοῖς συντάγμασι τῆς δεισιδαιμο 480 νίας ὑμῶν; οὐκ αἰδεῖσθε, ταλαίπωροι, πυρὸς ἀκοιμήτου βορά, ὁμοίωμα γένους Χαλδαϊκοῦ, οὐκ αἰσχύνεσθε νεκρὰ ξόανα προσκυνοῦντες, χειρὸς ἀνθρωπίνης ἔργα; λίθον γὰρ λαξεύσαντες ἢ ξύλον τεκτονεύσαντες, θεὸν προσηγορεύσατε· εἶτα τὸν κάλλιστον ἐκ βουκολίων ταῦρον λαβόντες, ἢ ἄλλο τυχὸν τῶν εὐπρεπεστάτων ζῴων, νεκρῷ σεβάσματι θύετε ἀνόητοι. τιμιώτερόν ἐστί σου τοῦ σεβάσματος τὸ θῦμα· τὸ μὲν γὰρ ξόανον ἄνθρωπος ἐποίησε, τὸ δὲ ζῷον ὁ Θεὸς ἐδημιούργησε. καὶ πόσον σοῦ μᾶλλον τοῦ λογικοῦ συνετώτερόν ἐστι τὸ ἄλογον ζῷον; τὸ μὲν γὰρ οἶδε τὸν τρέφοντα· σὺ δὲ τὸν Θεὸν ἠγνόησας, δι' οὗ ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος παρήχθης, δι' οὗ ζῇς καὶ συντετήρησαι, καὶ καλεῖς θεόν, ὃν πρὸ μικροῦ ἔβλεπες σιδήρῳ τυπτόμενον καὶ πυρὶ καιόμενόν τε καὶ χωνευόμενον, καὶ σφύραις ἐλαυνόμενον, ὃν ἄργυρον καὶ χρυσὸν περιέθηκας καὶ χαμόθεν ὑψώσας ἐφ' ὑψηλοῦ μετεώρισας· εἶτα, πεσὼν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, τοῦ ταπεινοῦ λίθου κεῖσαι ταπεινότερος, προσκυνῶν οὐ Θεὸν ἀλλὰ τὰ ἔργα τῶν χειρῶν σου τὰ νεκρὰ καὶ ἄψυχα. μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ νεκρὸν ἂν εἴη δίκαιον καλεῖσθαι τὸ εἴδωλον. πῶς γὰρ ἂν νεκρὸν εἴη τὸ μηδέποτε ζῆσαν; ἀλλά τι καινὸν ἔδει ἐφευρεῖν αὐτῷ ὄνομα καὶ τῆς τοσαύτης παραφροσύνης ἐπάξιον. ὁ μὲν γὰρ λίθινος θρύπτεται, ὁ δὲ ὀστράκινος κατάγνυται, ὁ χαλκοῦς ἰοῦται, ὁ χρυσοῦς καὶ ὁ ἀργυροῦς χωνεύεται. ἀλλὰ καὶ πιπράσκονται οἱ θεοί σου, οἱ μὲν εὐώνως, οἱ δὲ τιμῆς ὅτι πλείστης. οὐχ ἡ θεότης γὰρ αὐτοῖς, ἀλλ' ἡ ὕλη τὴν πολυτέλειαν δίδωσι. Θεὸν δὲ τίς ἀγοράζει; Θεὸν τίς πωλεῖ; θεὸς δὲ 482 ἀκίνητος πῶς ὀνομάζεται θεός; ἢ οὐχ ὁρᾷς ὅτι ὁ μὲν ἑστὼς οὐδέποτε καθέζεται, ὁ δὲ καθεζόμενος οὐδέποτε ἀνίσταται; Αἰσχύνθητι, ἀνόητε, χεῖρα θὲς ἐπὶ στόματι σῷ, μεμωραμένε, τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐπαινῶν. τῆς ἀληθείας γὰρ ἀλλοτριωθείς, ψευδέσι τύποις ἐπλανήθης, ἀγάλματα πλάττων, καὶ τοῖς ἔργοις τῶν χειρῶν σου Θεοῦ περιτιθεὶς ὄνομα. ἀνάνηψον, ἄθλιε, καὶ σύνες ὅτι πρεσβύτερος εἶ τοῦ ὑπὸ σοῦ γενομένου θεοῦ. ταῦτα πολλῆς ἐστι μανίας. πέπεικας δὲ σαυτόν, ἄνθρωπος ὤν, Θεὸν δύνασθαι ποιεῖν. καὶ πῶς ἐνδέχεται τοῦτο γενέσθαι; ὥστε οὐ Θεὸν ποιεῖς, ἀλλὰ μόρφωμα ἀνθρώπου ἢ ζῴου τινός, μὴ γλῶσσαν ἔχον, μὴ λάρυγγα, μὴ ἐγκέφαλον, μήτε τῶν ἐντός τι· ὥστε οὔτε ἀνθρώπου ἐστὶν ὁμοίωμα, οὔτε ζῴου, ἀλλ' ἄχρηστον πάντη καὶ ματαιότητος πλῆρες. τί οὖν τὰ ἀναίσθητα κολακεύεις; τί τοῖς ἀκινήτοις καὶ ἀνωφελέσι προσκάθησαι; εἰ μὴ τέχνη παρῆν τοῦ λιθοξόου ἢ τοῦ τέκτονος ἢ τοῦ σφυροκόπου, θεὸν οὐκ ἂν εἶχες. εἰ μὴ φύλακες παρεκάθηντο, ἀπώλεσας ἂν τὸν θεόν σου. ᾧ γὰρ πολλάκις πόλις πολυάνθρωπος ἀφρόνων εὔχεται ὡς θεῷ διαφυλαχθῆναι, τούτῳ ὀλίγοι παραμένουσι φύλακες ἵνα μὴ κλαπῇ. καὶ εἰ μὲν ἀργυροῦς ἢ χρυσοῦς ἔσται, ἐπιμελῶς φυλάσσεται· ἐὰν δὲ ᾖ λίθινος ἢ πήλινος, ἢ ἄλλης τινὸς τοιαύτης εὐτελεστέρας ὕλης, ἑαυτὸν φυλάσσει· ἰσχυρότερος γὰρ ἴσως ἐστὶν ὁ πήλινος τοῦ χρυσοῦ καθ' ὑμᾶς. Οὐκ εἰκότως ἐστὶν ὑμᾶς τοὺς ἄφρονας, τυφλοὺς καὶ ἀσυνέτους, δικαίως