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he relates the incontinence of the mythical Zeus in this way: and he, touching neither feast nor lustral water, went to his bed, his heart stung, and all that night he was in a frenzy. 13.13.39 Let these things, then, be left to the follies of the theaters. But Heraclitus directly says: "Of the Logos which is," he says, "men are always without understanding, both before they hear and when they have first heard." And the lyric poet Melanippides, singing, says: Hear me, O Father, wonder of mortals, ruler of the ever-living soul. And Parmenides "the great," as Plato says in the Sophist, writes in this way about the divine: For in many ways it is unbegotten and imperishable, alone, of a single kind, and motionless and unbegotten. But also Hesiod: For he himself, he says, is king and sovereign of all the immortals, and no one else has vied with your power. 13.13.40 Yes, and tragedy, too, turning away from idols, teaches us to look up to heaven. For Sophocles, as Hecataeus the historian says in his work *On Abraham and the Egyptians*, openly exclaims on the stage: One in truth, one is God, who fashioned heaven and the long earth, and the gleaming swell of the sea and the might of the winds. But we mortals, many of us wandering in heart, have established for ourselves, as a solace for our woes, images of gods made of stones or bronze or gold or ivory. And dedicating to these sacrifices and wretched festivals, thus do we think to be pious. 13.13.41 And Euripides, writing tragedy on the same stage: You, the self-begotten, who in the aether and holds the earth about in moist arms? Consider this one Zeus, hold this one to be God. And in the play *Pirithous* the same poet also tragically says these things: You, the self-begotten, who in the aetherial vortex have woven the nature of all things, around whom is light, and around whom is dusky, many-colored night, and the countless host of stars perpetually dances. For here he has spoken of the self-begotten as the demiurgic Mind, and what follows is applied to the cosmos, in which are the opposites of light and darkness. And Aeschylus, the son of Euphorion, says of God very solemnly: Zeus is aether, Zeus is earth, Zeus is heaven, Zeus is all things and whatever is higher than these. 13.13.42 I know also that Plato testifies in agreement with Heraclitus who writes: "The one wise thing is unwilling and willing to be called by the name of Zeus." And again: "Law is also to obey the will of one." And if you would refer to that saying, "He that has ears to hear, let him hear," you would find it thus expressed by the Ephesian: "Without understanding, when they have heard they are like the deaf; the saying bears witness to them that being present they are absent." But do you desire to hear directly of one first principle from the Greeks as well? Timaeus of Locri in his work on nature will testify for me thus, word for word: "There is one unbegotten first principle of all things; for if it had come into being, it would no longer have been a first principle, but rather that from which the first principle came to be." For from there flowed the true doctrine: "Hear," it says, "O Israel, the Lord your God is one, and him only shall you serve." Behold, he is to all manifest and unerring, as the Sibyl says. 13.13.43 And Xenocrates of Chalcedon, calling one "the highest Zeus" and the other "the lowest," leaves an intimation of Father and Son. And most paradoxical, he who introduces the gods as subject to human passions seems to know the divine; whom Epicurus does not even reverence in this way. For he says: Why, son of Peleus, do you pursue me with swift feet, you who are mortal, while I am an immortal god? Nor have you yet known me, that I am a god. For he has shown that the divine cannot be captured or comprehended by a mortal, neither with feet nor hands nor eyes nor with the body at all. "To whom have you likened the Lord? Or to what likeness have you likened him?" says the Scripture, "Did a craftsman make an image, or a goldsmith, having melted gold, gild it over?" And the things that follow 13.13.44 these. And the comic poet Epicharmus clearly speaks about the Logos in his *Republic* in this way: The life of men has great need of reason and number; for we live in number and reason; for these things save mortals. Then explicitly

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ἀκρασίαν τοῦ μυθοποιουμένου ∆ιὸς ὧδέ πως ἐκδιηγεῖται· ὁ δ' οὔτε δαιτὸς οὔτε χέρνιβος θιγὼν πρὸς λέκτρον ᾔει καρδίαν ὠδαγμένος, ὅλην δ' ἐκείνην εὐφρόνην ἐθόρνυτο. 13.13.39 ταυτὶ μὲν οὖν παρείσθω ταῖς τῶν θεάτρων ἀνοίαις. ἄντικρυς δὲ ὁ μὲν Ἡράκλειτος· «Τοῦ λόγου τοῦ δέοντος αἰεί», φησίν, «ἀξύνετοι γίγνονται ἄνθρωποι, καὶ πρόσθεν ἢ ἀκοῦσαι καὶ ἀκούσαντες τὸ πρῶτον». ὁ μελοποιὸς δὲ Μελανιππίδης ᾄδων φησί· κλῦθί μοι, ὦ πάτερ, θαῦμα βροτῶν, τᾶς ἀειζώου ψυχᾶς μεδέων. Παρμενίδης τε «ὁ μέγας,» ὥς φησιν ἐν Σοφιστῇ Πλάτων, ὧδέ πως περὶ τοῦ θείου γράφει· πολλὰ μάλ' ὡς ἀγένητον ἐὸν καὶ ἀνώλεθρόν ἐστι, μοῦνον, μουνογενὲς δὲ καὶ ἀτρεμὲς ἠδ' ἀγένητον. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ Ἡσίοδος· αὐτὸς γὰρ πάντων φησί βασιλεὺς καὶ κοίρανός ἐστιν ἀθανάτων, σέο δ' οὔ τις ἐρήρισται κράτος ἄλλος. 13.13.40 Ναὶ μὴν καὶ ἡ τραγῳδία ἀπὸ τῶν εἰδώλων ἀποσπῶσα εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναβλέπειν διδάσκει. ὁ μὲν γὰρ Σοφοκλῆς, ὥς φησιν Ἑκαταῖος ὁ τὰς ἱστορίας συνταξάμενος ἐν τῷ κατὰ Ἅβραμον καὶ τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους, ἄντικρυς ἐπὶ τῆς σκηνῆς ἐκβοᾷ· εἷς ταῖς ἀληθείαισιν, εἷς ἐστιν θεός, ὃς οὐρανόν τ' ἔτευξε καὶ γαῖαν μακρὴν πόντου τε χαροπὸν οἶδμα καὶ ἀνέμων βίας. θνητοὶ δὲ πολλοὶ καρδίαν πλανώμενοι ἱδρυσάμεσθα πημάτων παραψυχὴν θεῶν ἀγάλματ' ἐκ λίθων ἢ χαλκέων ἢ χρυσοτεύκτων ἢ ἐλεφαντίνων τύπους. θυσίας τε τούτοις καὶ κακὰς πανηγύρεις στέφοντες, οὕτως εὐσεβεῖν νομίζομεν. 13.13.41 Εὐριπίδης δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς σκηνῆς τραγῳδῶν· σὲ τὸν αὐτοφυῆ, τὸν ἐν αἰθερίῳ καὶ γῆν πέριξ ἔχονθ' ὑγραῖς ἐν ἀγκάλαις; τοῦτον νόμιζε Ζῆνα, τόνδ' ἡγοῦ θεόν. ἔν τε τῷ Πειρίθῳ δράματι ὁ αὐτὸς καὶ τάδε τραγῳδεῖ· σὲ τὸν αὐτοφυῆ, τὸν ἐν αἰθερίῳ ῥόμβῳ πάντων φύσιν ἐμπλέξανθ', ὃν πέρι μὲν φῶς, πέρι δ' ὀρφναία νὺξ αἰολόχρως, ἄκριτός τε ἄστρων ὄχλος ἐνδελεχῶς ἀμφιχορεύει. ἐνταῦθα γὰρ τὸν μὲν αὐτοφυῆ τὸν δημιουργὸν νοῦν εἴρηκε, τὰ δ' ἑξῆς ἐπὶ τοῦ κόσμου τάσσεται, ἐν ᾧ καὶ αἱ ἐναντιότητες φωτός τε καὶ σκότους. ὅ τε Εὐφορίωνος Αἰσχύλος ἐπὶ τοῦ θεοῦ σεμνῶς σφόδρα φησί· Ζεύς ἐστιν αἰθήρ, Ζεὺς δὲ γῆ, Ζεὺς δ' οὐρανός, Ζεύς τοι τὰ πάντα χὤτι τῶνδ' ὑπέρτερον. 13.13.42 οἶδα ἐγὼ καὶ Πλάτωνα προσμαρτυροῦντα Ἡρακλείτῳ γράφοντι· «Ἓν τὸ σοφὸν μοῦνον λέγεσθαι οὐκ ἐθέλει καὶ ἐθέλει Ζηνὸς ὄνομα.» καὶ πάλιν· «Νόμος καὶ βουλῇ πείθεσθαι ἑνός.» κἂν τὸ ῥητὸν ἐκεῖνο ἀναγαγεῖν ἐθέλῃς· «Ὁ ἔχων ὦτα ἀκούειν ἀκουέτω», εὕροις ἂν ὧδε ἐμφαινόμενον πρὸς τοῦ Ἐφεσίου· «Ἀξύνετοι ἀκούσαντες κωφοῖσιν ἐοίκασι· φάτις αὐτοῖσι μαρτυρεῖ παρεόντας ἀπεῖναι». ἀλλ' ἄντικρυς μίαν ἀρχὴν καὶ παρ' Ἑλλήνων ἀκοῦσαι ποθεῖς; Τίμαιος ὁ Λοκρὸς ἐν τῷ φυσικῷ συγγράμματι κατὰ λέξιν ὧδέ μοι μαρτυρήσει· «Μία ἀρχὰ πάντων ἐστὶν ἀγένητος· εἰ γὰρ ἐγένετο, οὐκ ἂν ἦν ἔτι ἀρχά, ἀλλ' ἐκείνα ἐξ ἇς ἁ ἀρχὰ ἐγένετο.» ἐρρύη γὰρ ἐκεῖθεν ἡ δόξα ἡ ἀληθινή· «Ἄκουε φησίν, Ἰσραήλ, κύριος ὁ θεός σου εἷς ἐστι καὶ αὐτῷ μόνῳ λατρεύσεις.» οὗτος ἰδοὺ πάντεσσι σαφὴς ἀπλάνητος ὑπάρχει, ὥς φησιν ἡ Σίβυλλα. 13.13.43 Ξενοκράτης τε ὁ Καλχηδόνιος «τὸν μὲν ὕπατον ∆ία, τὸν δὲ νέατον» καλῶν, ἔμφασιν πατρὸς ἀπολείπει καὶ υἱοῦ. καὶ τὸ παραδοξότατον, γινώσκειν φαίνεται τὸ θεῖον ὁ ἀνθρωποπαθεῖς εἰσάγων τοὺς θεούς· ὃν οὐδ' οὕτως αἰδεῖται Ἐπίκουρος. φησὶ γοῦν· τίπτε με, Πηλέος υἱέ, ποσὶν ταχέεσσι διώκεις, αὐτὸς θνητὸς ἐών, θεὸν ἄμβροτον; οὐδέ νύ πώ με ἔγνως ὡς θεός εἰμι. οὐχ ἁλωτὸν γὰρ εἶναι θνητῷ οὐδὲ καταληπτὸν τὸ θεῖον οὔτε ποσὶν οὔτε χερσὶν οὔτε ὀφθαλμοῖς οὐδ' ὅλως τῷ σώματι δεδήλωκε. «Τίνι ὡμοιώσατε κύριον; ἢ τίνι ὁμοιώματι ὡμοιώσατε αὐτόν,» φησὶν ἡ γραφή, «μὴ εἰκόνα ἐποίησε τέκτων ἢ χρυσοχόος, χωνεύσας χρυσίον, περιεχρύσωσεν αὐτόν;» καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ 13.13.44 τούτοις. ὅ τε κωμικὸς Ἐπίχαρμος σαφῶς περὶ τοῦ λόγου ἐν τῇ Πολιτείᾳ λέγει ὧδέ πως· ὁ βίος ἀνθρώποις λογισμοῦ κἀριθμοῦ δεῖται πάνυ· ζῶμεν δ' ἐν ἀριθμῷ καὶ λογισμῷ· ταῦτα γὰρ σῴζει βροτούς. εἶτα διαρρήδην