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would rather find one explanation than for the kingdom of the Persians to come to be, and this, explaining in vain and without cause, as one starting from an empty principle and an erroneous hypothesis, not seeing the root and the common necessity of the nature of things, but considering the greatest wisdom to be the understanding of things that happen unwisely and foolishly, and setting up chance as mistress and queen of things in general and of divine things, and declaring that all things happen according to it, but rejecting it from human life and convicting as foolish those who honor it. At any rate, beginning his *Precepts*, he says: “Men have fashioned an image of chance, as a pretext for their own folly. For by nature, intelligence battles with chance; and they have said that this very thing, which is most hostile to wisdom, prevails; or rather, by utterly doing away with and destroying the one, they set up the other in its place. For they do not praise wisdom as fortunate, but they sing hymns to chance as most wise.” So then, the masters of works useful for life take pride in their assistance to their fellow kind, and they long for praise and fame for which they toil, some by feeding, others by steering, others by healing, others by governing; but the philosophers, who attempt to educate men, are exceedingly arrogant. Or will Epicurus or Democritus dare to say that they are distressed when philosophizing? But they would not prefer any other delight to this; for even if they think that the good is pleasure, they will at least be ashamed not to say that anything is more pleasant for them than philosophizing. But as for the gods, concerning whom their poets sing, “givers of good things,” these same philosophers speak reverently with mockery: “The gods are ungifted and have no share in all good things.” And in what way do they prove that gods exist, seeing them neither present nor doing anything, like those who, marveling at the sun and the moon and the stars, said they were called gods from their running, nor assigning any creative work or construction to them, so that from ‘placing,’ that is, making, they might deify them—for on this account in truth the maker and creator of all things is alone God—nor setting forth any administration or judgment or grace of theirs toward men, so that, owing them fear or honor, we might worship them? Did Epicurus, having peeked out of the cosmos and passed beyond the heavenly enclosure, or having gone out through some secret gates which he alone knows, see the gods in the void and declare their great luxury blessed, and from there becoming a desirer of pleasure and an admirer of the life in the void, thus exhort all to share in this state of blessedness, to be made like those gods, convening for them a blessed symposium, not, as the poets do, in heaven or on Olympus, but in the void, and setting before them ambrosia from the atoms and pouring for them nectar from those same things? And indeed, he writes in his own books countless oaths and adjurations by those who have nothing to do with us, swearing continuously “by Zeus” and “yes, by Zeus,” and adjuring those he meets and with whom he speaks “by the gods,” in no way fearing them himself or being terrified of perjury, but uttering this as an empty, false, idle, and meaningless appendage to his words, just as if he were to hawk and spit, turn his face, and move his hand. For such was his senseless and vain pretense in naming the gods. But this is very clear, that after the death of Socrates, being terrified of the Athenians, so that he might not seem to be what he was, an atheist, he devised and painted for them empty shadows of non-existent gods. For he neither looked up to heaven with the eyes of his mind, that he might hear the clear voice from above, which the attentive observer, having heard, testified that “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the work of his hands proclaims the

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βούλεσθαι μᾶλλον μίαν εὑρεῖν αἰτιολογίαν ἢ τὴν Περσῶν οἱ βασιλείαν γενέσθαι, καὶ ταῦτα μάτην καὶ ἀναιτίως αἰτιολογῶν, ὡς ἀπὸ κενῆς ἀρχῆς καὶ ὑποθέσεως πλανωμένης ὁρμώμενος καὶ τὴν ῥίζαν καὶ τὴν κοινὴν ἀνάγκην τῆς τῶν ὄντων φύσεως οὐχ ὁρῶν, σοφίαν δὲ μεγίστην ἡγούμενος τὴν τῶν ἀσόφως καὶ ἠλιθίως συμβαινόντων κατανόησιν καὶ τὴν τύχην τῶν μὲν καθόλου καὶ τῶν θείων δέσποιναν ἐφιστὰς καὶ βασιλίδα καὶ πάντα γενέσθαι κατ' αὐτὴν ἀποφαινόμενος, τοῦ δὲ τῶν ἀνθρώπων αὐτὴν ἀποκηρύτ14.27.5 των βίου καὶ τοὺς πρεσβεύοντας αὐτὴν ἐλέγχων ἀγνώμονας. τῶν γοῦν Ὑποθηκῶν ἀρχόμενος λέγει· «Ἄνθρωποι τύχης εἴδωλον ἐπλάσαντο, πρόφασιν ἰδίης ἀνοίης. φύσει γὰρ γνώμη τύχῃ μάχεται· καὶ τὴν ἐχθίστην τῇ φρονήσει ταύτην αὐτὴν ἔφασαν κρατεῖν· μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ταύτην ἄρδην ἀναιροῦντες καὶ ἀφανίζοντες ἐκείνην ἀντικαθιστᾶσιν αὐτῆς. οὐ γὰρ εὐτυχῆ τὴν 14.27.6 φρόνησιν, ἀλλ' ἐμφρονεστάτην ὑμνοῦσι τὴν τύχην.» οἱ μὲν οὖν τῶν βιωφελῶν ἔργων ἐπιστάται ταῖς πρὸς τὸ ὁμόφυλον ἐπικουρίαις ἀγάλλονται ἐπαίνου τε ὀρέγονται καὶ κλέους ἐφ' οἷς αὐτῶν προκάμνουσιν οἱ μὲν τρέφοντες, οἱ δὲ κυβερνῶντες, οἱ δ' ἰώμενοι, οἱ δὲ πολιτευόμενοι· οἱ δέ γε φιλόσοφοι καὶ σφό 14.27.7 δρα παιδεύειν ἐπιχειροῦντες ἀνθρώπους φρυάττονται. ἢ τολμήσουσιν Ἐπίκουρος ἢ ∆ημόκριτος εἰπεῖν, ὡς ἀσχάλλουσι φιλοσοφοῦντες; ἀλλ' οὐδὲ θυμηδίαν ταύτης ἂν ἑτέραν προθεῖντο· καὶ γὰρ εἰ τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἡδονὴν εἶναι φρονοῦσιν, ἀλλ' αἰδεσθήσονταί γε μὴ λέγειν ἥδιον αὐτοῖς εἶναί τι τοῦ φιλο14.27.8 σοφεῖν. τοὺς δὲ θεούς, περὶ ὧν οἱ μὲν ποιηταὶ παρ' αὐτοῖς ᾄδουσι «δοτῆρες ἐάων,» οὗτοι δὴ οἱ φιλόσοφοι μετὰ τωθείας εὐφημοῦσι· «Θεοὶ πάντων ἀγαθῶν ἀδώρητοί τε καὶ ἀμέτοχοι.» καὶ τίνι τρόπῳ τεκμηριοῦνται θεοὺς εἶναι, μήτε παρόντας καὶ πράττοντάς τι ὁρῶντες ὡς οἱ τὸν ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας θαυμάσαντες διὰ τὸ θέειν ἔφασαν κεκλῆσθαι θεούς μήτε τινὰ δημιουργίαν αὐτοῖς ἢ κατασκευὴν προσνέμοντες, ἵν' ἐκ τοῦ θεῖναι, τοῦτ' ἔστι ποιῆσαι, θεοποιήσωσιν αὐτούς τούτου γὰρ ἕνεκεν πρὸς ἀλήθειαν ὁ τῶν ἁπάντων ποιητὴς καὶ δημιουργὸς μόνος ἐστὶ θεός μήτε διοίκησιν ἢ κρίσιν ἢ χάριν αὐτῶν τινα πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ἐκτιθέμενοι, ἵνα φόβον ἢ τιμὴν ὀφλήσαντες προσκυνήσωμεν αὐτοῖς; 14.27.9 Ἦ τοῦ κόσμου προκύψας Ἐπίκουρος καὶ τὸν οὐράνιον ὑπερβὰς περίβολον ἢ διά τινων κρυφίων ἃς μόνος οἶδεν ἐξελθὼν πυλῶν οὓς ἐν τῷ κενῷ κατεῖδε θεοὺς καὶ τὴν πολλὴν αὐτῶν ἐμακάρισε τρυφὴν κἀκεῖθεν ἐπιθυμητὴς γενόμενος τῆς ἡδονῆς καὶ τῆς ἐν τῷ κενῷ ζηλωτὴς διαίτης, οὕτω πάντας ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ μακαρισμοῦ τούτου μετουσίαν ἐξομοιωθησομένους ἐκείνοις τοῖς θεοῖς παρακαλεῖ, συμπόσιον αὐτοῖς μακάριον οὐχ ὅπερ οἱ ποιηταὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἢ τὸν Ὄλυμπον, ἀλλὰ τὸ κενὸν συγκροτῶν ἔκ τε τῶν ἀτόμων τὴν ἀμβροσίαν αὐτοῖς 14.27.10 παρατιθεὶς καὶ προπίνων αὐτοῖς ἐξ ἐκείνων τὸ νέκταρ; καὶ δὴ κατ' ἐκείνων τῶν μηδὲν πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὅρκους τε καὶ ὁρκισμοὺς μυρίους τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ βιβλίοις ἐγγράφει, ὀμνύς τε συνεχῶς «μὰ ∆ία» καὶ «νὴ ∆ία» ἐξορκῶν τε τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας καὶ πρὸς οὓς διαλέγοιτο «πρὸς τῶν θεῶν,» οὔ τί που δεδιὼς αὐτὸς ἢ δεδιττόμενος ἐκείνους τὴν ἐπιορκίαν, κενὸν δὲ τοῦτο καὶ ψεῦδος καὶ ἀργὸν καὶ ἄσημον ἐπιφθεγγόμενος τοῖς λόγοις αὐτοῦ παράρτημα, οἷον εἰ καὶ χρέμπτοιτο καὶ πτύοι τό τε πρόσωπον στρέφοι καὶ τὴν χεῖρα κινοίη. τοιαύτη γὰρ ἀδιανόητος ἦν αὖ ἡ παρ' αὐτῷ καὶ ματαία ὑπόκρισις ἡ τῶν θεῶν ὀνομασία. 14.27.11 ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν πρόδηλον, ὅτι μετὰ τὸν Σωκράτους θάνατον κατεπτηχὼς Ἀθηναίους ὡς μὴ δοκοίη τοῦθ' ὅπερ ἦν ἄθεος εἶναι, κενὰς αὐτοῖς ἀνυποστάτων θεῶν τερατευσάμενος ἐζωγράφησε σκιάς. οὔτε γὰρ εἰς οὐρανὸν ἀνέβλεψε νοεροῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς, ἵνα τῆς ἐναργοῦς ἄνωθεν φωνῆς ἀκούσῃ, ἧς ὁ προσεκτικὸς θεατὴς κατακούσας ἐμαρτύρησεν ὅτι «οἱ οὐρανοὶ διηγοῦνται δόξαν θεοῦ, ποίησιν δὲ χειρῶν αὐτοῦ ἀναγγέλλει τὸ