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I consider it to have been clearly proved that their gods are found to be certain earthly and passionate demons; wherefore I think I have with sound reasoning made my renunciation of them. 5.15.4 You see, at any rate, how they say that the magical figures and characters of this sort hold them fast in certain regions of the earth, when, if there were anything truly divine, it ought to alight nowhere else but only in the mind of the soul, and this a soul purified from all filth and from every stain, and adorned with self-control and righteousness and the other virtues. 5.15.5 For when these things pre-exist in a man’s soul, as in a truly sacred place, the presence of a divine spirit would naturally come upon it; nor would there any longer be a need of the mischievous sorcery for those who have been prepared for the reception of the divine 5.15.6 by a virtuous and God-loving soul. So that from all this it is explicitly proven that the demons of whom our present discourse happens to be are earthly, passionate, and body-loving. But next to this, hear what the same author, concerning the failure of their famed oracles, sets down in the same works in this manner: 5.16.1 10.

CONCERNING THE ORACLES THAT HAVE FAILED, APOLLO HIMSELF ORACULARLY DECLARED

THESE THINGS: «About Pytho and Claros, the oracles of Phoebus, our report will speak with lawful utterances. Ten thousand divine oracles on the back of the earth gushed forth, both springs and whirling vapors; and some of them earth herself, gaping, received back into her chthonic folds, and others countless time destroyed. But for the light-bringing Sun alone there still remain in the glens of Didyma the inspired water of Mycale, and on the plain of Pytho beneath the Parnassian height, and rugged Claros, the harsh mouth of Phoebus's oracle. And giving an oracle to the Nicaeans he said: But it is not possible to restore the Pythian's babbling voice; for now, obscured by long ages, it has been struck with the bolts of an unprophetic silence. But perform, as is the custom, the divinely-sent sacrifices to Phoebus.» 5.16.2 To these things it is fitting here at this point to add also the words of Plutarch from the treatise which he composed, «On the Failure of the Oracles»: «When Ammonius had ceased, ‘Rather,’ said I, ‘tell us, Cleombrotus, about the oracle; for great is the ancient renown of the divinity there, 5.16.3 but now it seems to be fading away.’ And as Cleombrotus was silent and looking down, Demetrius said that there was no need to inquire and be puzzled about the things there, when we see the obscurity of the oracles here, or rather the failure of all except one or two, but that we should inquire in common for what reason it has become so weak. 5.16.4 For what need is there to speak of the rest, when Boeotia, which was full of voices on account of its oracles in former times, has now been completely abandoned, like streams, and a great drought of prophecy has possessed the land. For nowhere else now but around Lebadeia does Boeotia offer prophecy to be drawn by those who need it; but of the rest, some silence, others complete desolation has taken hold.» Further to these things, the same author writes these things concerning the demons also dying: 5.17.1 17. CONCERNING THE FACT THAT THE DEMONS, WHOM THEY INDEED HONOR AS GODS, ALSO DIE «That those who preside over the oracles,» he said, «are not gods, for whom it is fitting to have been freed from earthly affairs, but are demons, servants of the gods, does not seem to me to be poorly claimed. But to attribute to these demons, taking a cue as it were from the verses of Empedocles, sins and follies and wanderings sent by the gods, and finally to suppose deaths for them as for men, 5.17.2 I consider more rash and

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ἡγοῦμαι σαφῶς ἐληλέγχθαι ὡς ἄρα περίγειοί τινες καὶ φιλοπαθεῖς δαίμονες ἥλωσαν αὐτῶν ὄντες οἱ θεοί· διό μοι δοκῶ 5.15.4 σώφρονι λογισμῷ τὴν ἀποστροφὴν αὐτῶν πεποιῆσθαι. ὁρᾷς γοῦν ὡς κρατεῖν αὐτοὺς ἔν τισι γῆς χωρίοις τοὺς κατὰ μαγείαν φασὶ τύπους καὶ τοὺς τοιούσδε χαρακτῆρας, δέον, εἴπερ ἄρα θεῖόν τι ἦν ἀληθῶς, μηδ' ἀλλαχῆ πη ἐπιβαίνειν ἢ ἐν μόνῃ ψυχῆς διανοίᾳ, καὶ ταύτῃ παντὸς ῥύπου καὶ πάσης κηλῖδος κεκαθαρμένῃ σωφροσύνῃ τε καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις ἀρεταῖς 5.15.5 κεκοσμημένῃ. τούτων γὰρ ἐν ἀνθρώπου ψυχῇ ὡς ἂν ἀληθῶς ἱερῷ χωρίῳ προϋποκειμένων, εἰκότως ἂν ἐπέλθοι θείου πνεύματος παρουσία· οὐδ' ἂν ἦν ἔτι χρεία τῆς κακοτέχνου γοητείας τῶν εἰς ὑποδοχὴν τοῦ θείου 5.15.6 κατὰ τὴν ἐνάρετον καὶ φιλόθεον ψυχὴν προηυτρεπισμένων. ὥστε διαρρήδην ἐξ ἁπάντων τούτων περιγείους τινὰς ἁλίσκεσθαι φιλοπαθεῖς τε καὶ φιλοσωμάτους ὑπάρχειν δαίμονας τοὺς περὶ ὧν ἡμῖν ὁ προκείμενος τυγχάνει λόγος· ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἑξῆς τούτοις ἄκουε οἷα ὁ αὐτὸς συγγραφεὺς περὶ τοῦ ἐκλελοιπέναι αὐτῶν τὰ βοώμενα χρηστήρια ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῖς τίθησι τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον· 5.16.1 ιʹ.

ΠΕΡΙ ΤΩΝ ΕΚΛΕΛΟΙΠΟΤΩΝ ΧΡΗΣΤΗΡΙΩΝ ΑΥΤΟΣ Ο ΑΠΟΛΛΩΝ ΕΧΡΗΣΕ

ΤΑ∆Ε «Ἀμφὶ δὲ Πυθὼ καὶ Κλαρίην, μαντεύματα Φοίβου, αὐδήσει φάτις ἡμετέρη θεμιτώδεσιν ὀμφαῖς. μυρία μὲν γαίης μαντήια θέσκελα νώτῳ ἐβλύσθη πηγαί τε καὶ ἄσθματα δινήεντα· καὶ τὰ μὲν ἂψ χθονίοισιν ὑπαὶ κόλποισιν ἔδεκτο αὐτὴ γαῖα χανοῦσα, τὰ δ' ὤλεσε μυρίος αἰών. μούνῳ δ' Ἠελίῳ φαεσιμβρότῳ εἰσέτ' ἔασιν ἐν ∆ιδύμων γυάλοις Μυκαλήϊον ἔνθεον ὕδωρ Πυθῶνός τ' ἀνὰ πέζαν ὑπαὶ Παρνάσιον αἶπος καὶ κραναὴ Κλαρίη, τρηχὺ στόμα φοιβάδος ὀμφῆς. Νικαεῦσι δὲ χρῶν ἔφη· Πυθῷον δ' οὐκ ἔστιν ἀναρρῶσαι λάλον ὀμφήν· ἤδη γὰρ δολιχοῖσιν ἀμαυρωθεῖσα χρόνοισι βέβληται κληῖδας ἀμαντεύτοιο σιωπῆς. ῥέξατε δ' ὡς ἔθος ἐστὶ θεόπροπα θύματα Φοίβῳ.» 5.16.2 Τούτοις κατὰ καιρὸν ἐνταῦθα προσήκει καὶ τὰ Πλουτάρχου προσθεῖναι ἀφ' οὗ πεποίηται συγγράμματος «Περὶ τῶν ἐκλελοιπότων χρηστηρίων»· «Παυσαμένου δὲ τοῦ Ἀμμωνίου, Μᾶλλον, ἔφην ἐγώ, περὶ τοῦ μαντείου δίελθε ἡμῖν, ὦ Κλεόμβροτε· μεγάλη γὰρ ἡ παλαιὰ δόξα τῆς ἐκεῖ θεότητος, 5.16.3 τὰ δὲ νῦν ἔοικεν ἀπομαραίνεσθαι. τοῦ δὲ Κλεομβρότου σιωπῶντος καὶ κάτω βλέποντος ὁ ∆ημήτριος οὐδὲν ἔφη δεῖν περὶ τῶν ἐκεῖ πυνθάνεσθαι καὶ διαπορεῖν, τὴν ἐνταῦθα τῶν χρηστηρίων ἀμαύρωσιν, μᾶλλον δὲ πλὴν ἑνὸς ἢ δυεῖν ἁπάντων ἔκλειψιν ὁρῶντας, ἀλλὰ κοινῇ σκοπεῖν δι' ἣν αἰτίαν οὕτως ἐξησθέ5.16.4 νηκε. τὰ γὰρ ἄλλα τί δεῖ λέγειν, ὅπου γε τὴν Βοιωτίαν ἕνεκα χρηστηρίων πολύφωνον οὖσαν ἐν τοῖς πρότερον χρόνοις νῦν ἐπιλέλοιπεν κομιδῆ, καθάπερ νάματα, καὶ πολὺς ἐπέσχεν μαντικῆς αὐχμὸς τὴν χώραν. οὐδαμοῦ γὰρ ἀλλαχόθι νῦν ἢ περὶ Λεβάδειαν ἡ Βοιωτία παρέχει τοῖς χρῄζουσιν ἀρύσασθαι μαντικῆς· τῶν δ' ἄλλων τὰ μὲν σιγή, τὰ δὲ παντελὴς ἐρημία κατέσχηκεν.» Ἔτι πρὸς τούτοις ὁ αὐτὸς περὶ τοῦ καὶ θνήσκειν αὐτῶν τοὺς δαίμονας ταῦτα γράφει· 5.17.1 ιζʹ. ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΘΝΗΣΚΕΙΝ ΤΟΥΣ ∆ΑΙΜΟΝΑΣ ΟΥΣ ∆Η ΩΣ ΘΕΟΥΣ ΤΙΜΩΣΙΝ «Τὸ μὲν ἐφεστάναι τοῖς χρηστηρίοις, εἶπεν, μὴ θεούς, 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 θεηλάτους ἐπιφέρειν, τελευτῶντας δὲ καὶ θανάτους ὥσπερ ἀνθρώπων ὑποτίθεσθαι, 5.17.2 θρασύτερον ἡγοῦμαι καὶ