Chapter XXXV.

But I should like, in answer to him who for some unknown reason advances such statements as the above, to make in a conversational way478    ἀδολεσχῆσαι. some such remarks as the following, which seem not inappropriate to him.  Are then those persons whom you have mentioned nonentities, and is there no power in Lebadea connected with Trophonius, nor in Thebes with the temple of Amphiaraus, nor in Acarnania with Amphilochus, nor in Cilicia with Mopsus?  Or is there in such persons some being, either a demon, or a hero, or even a god, working works which are beyond the reach of man?  For if he answer that there is nothing either demoniacal or divine about these individuals more than others, then let him at once make known his own opinion, as being that of an Epicurean, and of one who does not hold the same views with the Greeks, and who neither recognises demons nor worships gods as do the Greeks; and let it be shown that it was to no purpose that he adduced the instances previously enumerated (as if he believed them to be true), together with those which he adds in the following pages.  But if he will assert that the persons spoken of are either demons, or heroes, or even gods, let him notice that he will establish by what he has admitted a result which he does not desire, viz., that Jesus also was some such being; for which reason, too, he was able to demonstrate to not a few that He had come down from God to visit the human race.  And if he once admit this, see whether he will not be forced to confess that He is mightier than those individuals with whom he classed Him, seeing none of the latter forbids the offering of honour to the others; while He, having confidence in Himself, because He is more powerful than all those others, forbids them to be received as divine479    τὰς τουτων ἀποδοχάς. because they are wicked demons, who have taken possession of places on earth, through inability to rise to the purer and diviner region, whither the grossnesses of earth and its countless evils cannot reach.

Ἐβουλόμην δὲ πρὸς τὸν οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως τοιαῦτα λέγοντα τοιαῦτά τινα πρεπόντως αὐτῷ ἀδολεσχῆσαι· ἆρ' οὖν οὐδέν εἰσιν οὗτοι, οὓς κατέλεξας, καὶ οὐδεμία δύναμίς ἐστιν ἐν Λεβαδίᾳ κατὰ τὸν Τροφώνιον οὐδ' ἐν Θήβαις περὶ τὸν τοῦ Ἀμφιάρεω νεὼν οὐδ' ἐν Ἀκαρνανίᾳ περὶ τὸν Ἀμφίλοχον οὐδ' ἐν Κιλικίᾳ περὶ τὸν Μόψον; Ἢ ἐστί τις ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις εἴτε δαίμων εἴτε ἥρως εἴτε καὶ θεός, ἐνεργῶν τινα μείζονα ἢ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον; Εἰ μὲν γάρ φησι μηδὲν ἕτερον εἶναι μήτε δαιμόνιον μήτε θεῖον περὶ τούτους, κἂν νῦν ὁμολογησάτω τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γνώμην, ἐπικούρειος ὢν καὶ μὴ τὰ αὐτὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι φρονῶν καὶ μήτε δαίμονας γινώσκων μήτε κἂν ὡς Ἕλληνες θεοὺς σέβων, καὶ ἐλεγχέσθω ὅτι μάτην καὶ τὰ προειρημένα ὡς παραδεξάμενος αὐτὰ εἶναι ἀληθῆ ἐκόμισε καὶ τὰ ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς ἐπιφερόμενα. Εἰ δὲ φήσει εἴτε δαίμονας εἴτε ἥρωας εἴτε καὶ θεοὺς εἶναι τοὺς κατει λεγμένους, ὁράτω ὅτι ὅπερ οὐ βούλεται κατασκευάσει δι' ὧν εἴρηκεν, ὡς καὶ ὁ Ἰησοῦς τοιοῦτόν τι ἦν· διὸ καὶ δεδύνηται ἑαυτὸν παραστῆσαι οὐκ ὀλίγοις τῶν ἀνθρώπων θεόθεν ἐπιδεδημηκέναι τῷ γένει τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Ἅπαξ δὲ τοῦτ' ἐὰν παραδέξηται, ὅρα εἰ μὴ ἀναγκασθήσεται ἰσχυρό τερον αὐτὸν φῆσαι τούτων, οἷς αὐτὸν συγκατηρίθμησεν· ἐπεὶ ἐκείνων μέν γε οὐδεὶς κωλύει τὰς πρὸς τοὺς ἑτέρους τιμάς, οὗτος δὲ ἑαυτῷ θαρρῶν ὡς πάντων ἐκείνων δυνατώ τερος ἀπαγορεύει τὰς τούτων ἀποδοχὰς ὡς μοχθηρῶν δαιμόνων καὶ τόπους ἐπὶ γῆς προκατειληφότων, ἐπεὶ τῆς καθαρωτέρας οὐ δύνανται ἐφάψασθαι χώρας καὶ θειοτέρας, ἔνθα μὴ φθάνουσιν αἱ ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ μυρίων κακῶν παχύτητες.