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ideas and after God the first and second cause and after intellectual and immortal beings he legislated concerning the popular opinion, saying: 13.14.5 “But to speak of the other deities and to know their origin is beyond our power; but we must believe those who have spoken before, who were, as they said, offspring of the gods, and who must surely have known their own ancestors. It is impossible, therefore, to disbelieve the children of the gods, even though they speak without probable and necessary proofs, but, as they profess to be reporting family matters, we must believe them, in obedience to the law. Thus, then, in accordance with their account, let the origin of these gods be accepted and stated by us as follows: Of Earth and Heaven were born the children Oceanus and Tethys, and of these, Phorcys and Cronus and Rhea, and from Cronus and Rhea, Zeus and Hera and all whom we know as their brothers, and further, other offspring of these.” 13.14.6 For these reasons, indeed, we must abandon the philosopher, who, not philosophically nor in agreement with himself, hypocritically adopted the mythical genealogies of the poets. For one could hear him saying in the Republic the following: “In the greater myths,” said I, “we shall see also the lesser ones. For the greater and the lesser must have the same type and the same power; don’t you think so?” “I do,” he said; “but I do not understand which you mean by the greater.” “Those,” I said, “which Hesiod and Homer told us, and the other poets. For they, I suppose, composed false myths for men, and told them and still 13.14.7 tell them,” as was stated a little before. And again from him were the things through which he said: “We shall then erase,” I said, “beginning from this verse, all such things: ‘I would rather be a serf on the land of another man’” and what follows; through which he also adds: 13.14.8 “Again, we shall ask Homer and the other poets not to represent Achilles, the son of a goddess, ‘now lying on his side, and then again on his back’” and the things that follow this. to which he adds: 13.14.9 “Or Zeus, while the other gods and men were sleeping, as the only one awake, having easily forgotten all that he had planned because of his desire for sensual pleasures and being so smitten at the sight of Hera that he was not even willing to go into the chamber, but wished to lie with her there on the ground” like a lark; “and saying that he was so possessed by desire, not even as when they first came together, escaping the notice of their dear parents; nor the binding of Ares and Aphrodite by Hephaestus for other such reasons.”13.14.10 Since these things have been said in this way, what then does his subsequent statement mean, which calls the poets children of gods and says it is impossible to disbelieve them, even though testifying that they fabricated the myths about the gods without probable and necessary 13.14.11 proofs? And what does the irrational faith mean, put forward out of fear of the punishment from the laws? And how are Heaven and Earth the first of the gods, then their offspring, Oceanus and Tethys, Cronus and Rhea, and after all these, Zeus and Hera and all the children and brothers and offspring of these told in myth by Homer and Hesiod, when he himself refuted these very things, saying: 13.14.12 “The thing,” I said, “which one must first and most of all blame, especially if someone does not lie well. What is that? When someone represents badly in his story what the gods and heroes are like, like a painter who paints nothing that resembles that which he wished to paint.” And again: “First of all,” I said, “the greatest falsehood and about the greatest things, he who told it did not lie well, how Ouranos acted, what Hesiod says he did, and how Cronos in turn took vengeance on him” and the things that follow this. 13.14.13 How then could these now false and untrue poets again be called the offspring of gods? But indeed for these reasons, this man must be abandoned by us, having played the hypocrite to the people of Athens for fear of death; but Moses must be honored and the oracles of the Hebrews which throughout hold to the pure, only true, and unerring piety. See now

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ἰδέας καὶ μετὰ θεὸν πρῶτον καὶ δεύτερον αἴτιον καὶ μετὰ νοερὰς καὶ ἀθανάτους οὐσίας περὶ τῆς πανδήμου δόξης ἐνομοθέτει, λέγων· 13.14.5 «Περὶ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων δαιμόνων εἰπεῖν καὶ γνῶναι τὴν γένεσιν μεῖζον ἢ καθ' ἡμᾶς, πειστέον δὲ τοῖς εἰρηκόσιν ἔμπροσθεν, ἐγγόνοις μὲν θεῶν οὖσιν, ὡς ἔφασαν, σαφῶς γέ που τοὺς ἑαυτῶν προγόνους εἰδότων. ἀδύνατον οὖν θεῶν παισὶν ἀπιστεῖν, καίπερ ἄνευ εἰκότων καὶ ἀναγκαίων ἀποδείξεων λέγουσιν, ἀλλ' ὡς οἰκεῖα φασκόντων ἀπαγγέλλειν ἑπομένους τῷ νόμῳ πιστευτέον. οὕτως οὖν κατ' ἐκείνους ἡμῖν ἡ γένεσις περὶ τούτων τῶν θεῶν ἐχέτω καὶ λεγέσθω· Γῆς τε καὶ Οὐρανοῦ παῖδες Ὠκεανός τε καὶ Τηθὺς ἐγενέσθην, τούτων δὲ Φόρκυς Κρόνος τε καὶ Ῥέα, ἐκ δὲ Κρόνου καὶ Ῥέας Ζεὺς Ἥρα τε καὶ πάντες ὅσουἴσμεν πάντας ἀδελφοὺς λεγομένους αὐτῶν, ἔτι τε τούτων ἄλλους ἐγγόνους.» 13.14.6 ∆ιὰ δὴ ταῦτα ἀπολειπτέος ἡμῖν ὁ φιλόσοφος, οὐ κατὰ φιλόσοφον οὐδ' αὐτὸς αὑτῷ συμφώνως τὰς μυθικὰς τῶν ποιητῶν γενεαλογίας καθυποκρινάμενος. αὐτοῦ μὲν γὰρ ἦν ἀκοῦσαι φάντος ἐν Πολιτείᾳ τάδε· «Ἐν τοῖς μείζοσιν, ἦν δ' ἐγώ, μύθοις ὀψόμεθα καὶ τοὺς ἐλάττους. δεῖ γὰρ δὴ τὸν αὐτὸν τύπον εἶναι καὶ ταὐτὸν δύνασθαι τούς τε μείζους καὶ τοὺς ἐλάττους· ἢ οὐκ οἴει; Ἔγωγε, ἔφη· ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐννοῶ οὐδὲ τοὺς μείζους τίνας λέγεις. Οὓς Ἡσίοδός τε καὶ Ὅμηρος, εἶπον, ἡμῖν ἐλεγέτην καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι ποιηταί.οὗτοι γάρ που μύθους ψευδεῖς τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συντιθέντες ἔλεγόν τε καὶ λέ13.14.7 γουσι,» τὰ μικρῷ πρόσθεν τεθειμένα. πάλιν τε αὐτοῦ ἦν καὶ τὰ δι' ὧν ἔφησεν· «Ἐξαλείψομεν ἄρα, ἦν δ' ἐγώ, ἀπὸ τοῦδε τοῦ ἔπους ἀρξάμενοι πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα· βουλοίμην κ' ἐπάρουρος ἐὼν θητευέμεν ἄλλῳ» καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς· δι' ὧν τε ἐπιλέγει· 13.14.8 «Πάλιν δὴ Ὁμήρου δεησόμεθα καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ποιητῶν μὴ ποιεῖν Ἀχιλλέα, θεᾶς παῖδα, ἄλλοτ' ἐπὶ πλευρὰς κατακείμενον, ἄλλοτε δ' αὖτε ὕπτιον» καὶ τὰ τούτοις ἑπόμενα. οἷς ἐπάγει· 13.14.9 «Ἢ ∆ία καθευδόντων τῶν ἄλλων θεῶν τε καὶ ἀνθρώπων ὡς μόνος ἐγρηγορὼς ἃ ἐβουλεύσατο τούτων πάντων ῥᾳδίως ἐπιλαθόμενον διὰ τὴν τῶν ἀφροδισίων ἐπιθυμίαν καὶ οὕτως ἐκπλαγέντα ἰδόντα τὴν Ἥραν, ὥστε μηδ' εἰς τὸ δωμάτιον ἐθέλειν ἐλθεῖν, ἀλλ' αὐτοῦ βουλόμενον χαμαὶ συγγίνεσθαι» κορύδου δίκην· «καὶ λέγοντα ὡς οὕτως ὑπὸ ἐπιθυμίας ἔχεται, ὡς οὐδὲ ὅτε πρῶτον ἐφοίτων πρὸς ἀλλήλους, φίλους λήθοντε τοκῆας· οὐδὲ Ἄρεός τε καὶ Ἀφροδίτης ὑπὸ Ἡφαίστου δεσμὸν δι' ἕτερα τοιαῦτα.»13.14.10 Ὧν τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον εἰρημένων τί δῆτα βούλεται αὐτῷ ἡ μετὰ ταῦτα φωνὴ τοὺς μὲν ποιητὰς θεῶν παῖδας ὀνομάζουσα καὶ τό γε ἀπιστεῖν αὐτοῖς ἀδύνατον εἶναι φήσασα, καίπερ ἄνευ εἰκότων καὶ ἀναγκαίων αὐτοὺς ἀπο13.14.11 δείξεων τοὺς περὶ θεῶν μύθους πλάσαι μαρτυραμένη; τί δὲ ἡ ἄλογος ἐθέλει πίστις, δέει τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν νόμων τιμωρίας προβεβλημένη; πῶς δὲ θεῶν Οὐρανὸς καὶ Γῆ πρῶτοι, ἔπειτα τούτων ἔγγονοι, Ὠκεανὸς καὶ Τηθὺς Κρόνος τε καὶ Ῥέα, καὶ Ζεὺς μετὰ τούτους ἅπαντας Ἥρα τε καὶ πάντεςοἱ πρὸς Ὁμήρου καὶ Ἡσιόδου μυθευόμενοι παῖδες καὶ ἀδελφοὶ καὶ ἔγγονοι τούτων, ὁπότε ταῦτα αὐτὰ ἀνῄρει λέγων· 13.14.12 «Ὅπερ, ἦν δ' ἐγώ, χρὴ πρῶτον καὶ μάλιστα μέμφεσθαι, ἄλλως τε καὶ ἐάν τις μὴ καλῶς ψεύδηται. Τί τοῦτο; Ὅταν εἰκάζῃ τις κακῶς τῷ λόγῳ περὶ θεῶν τε καὶ ἡρώων, οἷοί εἰσιν, ὥσπερ γραφεὺς μηδὲν ἐοικότα γράφων οἷς ἂν ὅμοια βουληθῇ γράψαι.» Καὶ πάλιν· «Πρῶτον μέν, ἦν δ' ἐγώ, τὸ μέγιστον καὶ περὶ τῶν μεγίστων ψεῦδος ὁ εἰπὼν οὐ καλῶς ἐψεύσατο, ὡς Οὐρανός τε εἰργάσατο, ἅ φησι δρᾶσαι αὐτὸν Ἡσίοδος, ὅ τε αὖ Κρόνος ὡς ἐτιμωρήσατο αὐτόν» καὶ τὰ τούτοις ἑξῆς. 13.14.13 πῶς δὲ οἱ νῦν ψευδεῖς καὶ οὐκ ἀληθεῖς ποιηταὶ πάλιν οἱ αὐτοὶ θεῶν ἔγγονοι λέγοιντ' ἄν; ἀλλὰ γὰρ τούτων δὴ χάριν ἀπολειπτέος μὲν ἡμῖν οὗτος, δέει θανάτου τὸν Ἀθηναίων δῆμον καθυποκρινάμενος· τιμητέος δὲ Μωσῆς τά τε Ἑβραίων λόγια καθαρᾶς ἐξεχόμενα διόλου τῆς μόνης ἀληθοῦς καὶ ἀπλανοῦς εὐσεβείας. θέα δὴ