Chapter III.—The Cruelty of the Sacrifices to the Gods.

Well, now, let us say in addition, what inhuman demons, and hostile to the human race, your gods were, not only delighting in the insanity of men, but gloating over human slaughter,—now in the armed contests for superiority in the stadia, and now in the numberless contests for renown in the wars providing for themselves the means of pleasure, that they might be able abundantly to satiate themselves with the murder of human beings.

And now, like plagues invading cities and nations, they demanded cruel oblations. Thus, Aristomenes the Messenian slew three hundred human beings in honour of Ithometan Zeus, thinking that hecatombs of such a number and quality would give good omens; among whom was Theopompos, king of the Lacedemonians, a noble victim.

The Taurians, the people who inhabit the Tauric Chersonese, sacrifice to the Tauric Artemis forthwith whatever strangers they lay hands on on their coasts who have been cast adrift on the sea. These sacrifices Euripides represents in tragedies on the stage. Monimus relates, in his treatise on marvels, that at Pella, in Thessaly, a man of Achaia was slain in sacrifice to Peleus and Chiron. That the Lyctii, who are a Cretan race, slew men in sacrifice to Zeus, Anticlides shows in his Homeward Journeys; and that the Lesbians offered the like sacrifice to Dionysus, is said by Dosidas. The Phocæans also (for I will not pass over such as they are), Pythocles informs us in his third book, On Concord, offer a man as a burnt-sacrifice to the Taurian Artemis.

Erechtheus of Attica and Marius the Roman47    Plutarch, xx. sacrificed their daughters,—the former to Pherephatta, as Demaratus mentions in his first book on Tragic Subjects; the latter to the evil-averting deities, as Dorotheus relates in his first book of Italian Affairs. Philanthropic, assuredly, the demons appear, from these examples; and how shall those who revere the demons not be correspondingly pious? The former are called by the fair name of saviours; and the latter ask for safety from those who plot against their safety, imagining that they sacrifice with good omens to them, and forget that they themselves are slaying men. For a murder does not become a sacrifice by being committed in a particular spot. You are not to call it a sacred sacrifice, if one slays a man either at the altar or on the highway to Artemis or Zeus, any more than if he slew him for anger or covetousness,—other demons very like the former; but a sacrifice of this kind is murder and human butchery. Then why is it, O men, wisest of all creatures, that you avoid wild beasts, and get out of the way of the savage animals, if you fall in with a bear or lion?

But though you perceive and understand demons to be deadly and wicked, plotters, haters of the human race, and destroyers, why do you not turn out of their way, or turn them out of yours? What truth can the wicked tell, or what good can they do any one?

I can then readily demonstrate that man is better than these gods of yours, who are but demons; and can show, for instance, that Cyrus and Solon were superior to oracular Apollo. Your Phœbus was a lover of gifts, but not a lover of men. He betrayed his friend Crœsus, and forgetting the reward he had got (so careful was he of his fame), led him across the Halys to the stake. The demons love men in such a way as to bring them to the fire [unquenchable].

But O man, who lovest the human race better, and art truer than Apollo, pity him that is bound on the pyre. Do thou, O Solon, declare truth; and thou, O Cyrus, command the fire to be extinguished. Be wise, then, at last, O Crœsus, taught by suffering. He whom you worship is an ingrate; he accepts your reward, and after taking the gold plays false. “Look again to the end, O Solon.” It is not the demon, but the man that tells you this. It is not ambiguous oracles that Solon utters. You shall easily take him up. Nothing but true, O Barbarian, shall you find by proof this oracle to be, when you are placed on the pyre. Whence I cannot help wondering, by what plausible reasons those who first went astray were impelled to preach superstition to men, when they exhorted them to worship wicked demons, whether it was Phoroneus or Merops, or whoever else that raised temples and altars to them; and besides, as is fabled, were the first to offer sacrifices to them. But, unquestionably, in succeeding ages men invented for themselves gods to worship. It is beyond doubt that this Eros, who is said to be among the oldest of the gods, was worshipped by no one till Charmus took a little boy and raised an altar to him in Academia,—a thing more seemly49    If we read χαριέστερον, this is the only sense that can be put on the words. But if we read χαριστήριον, we may translate “a memorial of gratified lust.” than the lust he had gratified; and the lewdness of vice men called by the name of Eros, deifying thus unbridled lust. The Athenians, again, knew not who Pan was till Philippides told them.

Superstition, then, as was to be expected, having taken its rise thus, became the fountain of insensate wickedness; and not being subsequently checked, but having gone on augmenting and rushing along in full flood, it became the originator of many demons, and was displayed in sacrificing hecatombs, appointing solemn assemblies, setting up images, and building temples, which were in reality tombs: for I will not pass these over in silence, but make a thorough exposure of them, though called by the august name of temples; that is, the tombs which got the name of temples. But do ye now at length quite give up your superstition, feeling ashamed to regard sepulchres with religious veneration. In the temple of Athene in Larissa, on the Acropolis, is the grave of Acrisius; and at Athens, on the Acropolis, is that of Cecrops, as Antiochus says in the ninth book of his Histories. What of Erichthonius? was he not buried in the temple of Polias? And Immarus, the son of Eumolpus and Daira, were they not buried in the precincts of the Elusinium, which is under the Acropolis; and the daughters of Celeus, were they not interred in Eleusis? Why should I enumerate to you the wives of the Hyperboreans? They were called Hyperoche and Laodice; they were buried in the Artemisium in Delos, which is in the temple of the Delian Apollo. Leandrius says that Clearchus was buried in Miletus, in the Didymæum. Following the Myndian Zeno, it were unsuitable in this connection to pass over the sepulchre of Leucophryne, who was buried in the temple of Artemis in Magnesia; or the altar of Apollo in Telmessus, which is reported to be the tomb of Telmisseus the seer. Further, Ptolemy the son of Agesarchus, in his first book about Philopator, says that Cinyras and the descendants of Cinyras were interred in the temple of Aphrodite in Paphos. But all time would not be sufficient for me, were I to go over the tombs which are held sacred by you. And if no shame for these audacious impieties steals over you, it comes to this, that you are completely dead, putting, as really you do, your trust in the dead.

Φέρε δὴ οὖν καὶ τοῦτο προσθῶμεν, ὡς ἀπάνθρωποι καὶ μισάνθρωποι δαίμονες εἶεν ὑμῶν οἱ θεοὶ καὶ οὐχὶ μόνον ἐπιχαίροντες τῇ φρενοβλαβείᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, πρὸς δὲ καὶ ἀνθρωποκτονίας ἀπολαύοντες· νυνὶ μὲν τὰς ἐν σταδίοις ἐνόπλους φιλονικίας, νυνὶ δὲ τὰς ἐν πολέμοις ἀναρίθμους φιλοτιμίας ἀφορμὰς σφίσιν ἡδονῆς ποριζόμενοι, ὅπως ὅτι μάλιστα ἔχοιεν ἀνθρωπείων ἀνέδην ἐμφορεῖσθαι φόνων· ἤδη δὲ κατὰ πόλεις καὶ ἔθνη, οἱονεὶ λοιμοὶ ἐπισκήψαντες, σπονδὰς ἀπῄτησαν ἀνημέρους. Ἀριστομένης γοῦν ὁ Μεσ σήνιος τῷ Ἰθωμήτῃ ∆ιὶ τριακοσίους ἀπέσφαξεν, τοσαύτας ὁμοῦ καὶ τοιαύτας καλλιερεῖν οἰόμενος ἑκατόμβας· ἐν οἷς καὶ Θεόπομπος ἦν Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλεύς, ἱερεῖον εὐγενές. Ταῦροι δὲ τὸ ἔθνος, οἱ περὶ τὴν Ταυρικὴν χερρόνησον κατοικοῦντες, οὓς ἂν τῶν ξένων παρ' αὑτοῖς ἕλωσι, τούτων δὴ τῶν κατὰ θάλατταν ἐπταικότων, αὐτίκα μάλα τῇ Ταυρικῇ καταθύουσιν Ἀρτέμιδι· ταύτας σου τὰς θυσίας Εὐριπίδης ἐπὶ σκηνῆς τραγῳδεῖ. Μόνιμος δ' ἱστορεῖ ἐν τῇ Τῶν Θαυμα σίων Συναγωγῇ ἐν Πέλλῃ τῆς Θετταλίας Ἀχαιὸν ἄνθρωπον Πηλεῖ καὶ Χείρωνι καταθύεσθαι· Λυκτίους γὰρ (Κρητῶν δὲ ἔθνος εἰσὶν οὗτοι) Ἀντικλείδης ἐν Νόστοις ἀποφαίνεται ἀνθρώπους ἀποσφάττειν τῷ ∆ιί, καὶ Λεσβίους ∆ιονύσῳ τὴν ὁμοίαν προσάγειν θυσίαν ∆ωσίδας λέγει· Φωκαεῖς δέ (οὐδὲ γὰρ αὐτοὺς παραπέμψομαι)– τούτους Πυθοκλῆς ἐν τρίτῳ Περὶ ὁμονοίας τῇ Ταυροπόλῳ Ἀρτέμιδι ἄνθρωπον ὁλοκαυτεῖν ἱστορεῖ. Ἐρεχθεὺς δὲ ὁ Ἀττικὸς καὶ Μάριος ὁ Ῥωμαῖος τὰς αὑτῶν ἐθυσάτην θυγατέρας· ὧν ὃ μὲν τῇ Φερεφάττῃ, ὡς ∆ημάρατος ἐν πρώτῃ Τραγῳδουμένων, ὃ δὲ τοῖς Ἀποτροπαίοις, ὁ Μάριος, ὡς ∆ωρόθεος ἐν τῇ τετάρτῃ Ἰταλικῶν ἱστορεῖ. Φιλάνθρωποί γε ἐκ τούτων καταφαίνονται οἱ δαίμονες· πῶς δὲ οὐχ ὅσιοι ἀναλόγως οἱ δεισιδαίμονες; Οἳ μὲν σωτῆρες εὐφημούμενοι, οἳ δὲ σωτηρίαν αἰτούμενοι παρὰ τῶν ἐπιβούλων σωτηρίας. Καλλιερεῖν γοῦν τοπάζοντες αὐτοῖς σφᾶς αὐτοὺς λελήθασιν ἀποσφάττοντες ἀνθρώπους. Οὐ γὰρ οὖν παρὰ τὸν τόπον ἱερεῖον γίνεται ὁ φόνος, οὐδ' εἰ Ἀρτέμιδί τις καὶ ∆ιὶ ἐν ἱερῷ δῆθεν χωρίῳ μᾶλλον ἢ ὀργῇ καὶ φιλαργυρίᾳ, ἄλλοις ὁμοίοις δαίμοσιν, ἐπὶ βωμοῖς ἢ ἐν ὁδοῖς ἀποσφάττοι τὸν ἄνθρωπον, [ἱερὸν] ἱερεῖον ἐπιφη μίσας, ἀλλὰ φόνος ἐστὶ καὶ ἀνδροκτασία ἡ τοιαύτη θυσία. Τί δὴ οὖν, ὦ σοφώτατοι τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων ἄνθρωποι, τὰ μὲν θηρία περιφεύγομεν τὰ ἀνήμερα, κἄν που περιτύ χωμεν ἄρκῳ ἢ λέοντι, ἐκτρεπόμεθα, ὡς δ' ὅτε τίς τε δράκοντα ἰδὼν παλίνορσος ἀπέστη οὔρεος ἐν βήσσῃς, ὑπό τε τρόμος ἔλλαβε γυῖα, ἄψ τ' ἀνεχώρησεν· δαίμονας δὲ ὀλεθρίους καὶ ἀλιτηρίους ἐπιβούλους τε καὶ μισανθρώπους καὶ λυμεῶνας ὄντας προαισθόμενοι καὶ συνιέντες οὐκ ἐκτρέπεσθε οὐδὲ ἀποστρέφεσθε; Τί δ' ἂν καὶ ἀληθεύσαιεν οἱ κακοί, ἢ τίνα ἂν ὠφελήσαιεν; Αὐτίκα γοῦν ἔχω σοι βελτίονα, τῶν ὑμεδαπῶν τούτων θεῶν, τῶν δαιμό νων, ἐπιδεῖξαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον, τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος τοῦ μαντικοῦ τὸν Κῦρον καὶ τὸν Σόλωνα. Φιλόδωρος ὑμῶν ὁ Φοῖβος, ἀλλ' οὐ φιλάνθρωπος. Προὔδωκε τὸν Κροῖσον τὸν φίλον καὶ τοῦ μισθοῦ ἐκλαθόμενος (οὕτω φιλόλοξος ἦν) ἀνήγαγε τὸν Κροῖσον διὰ τοῦ Ἅλυος ἐπὶ τὴν πυράν. Οὕτω φιλοῦντες οἱ δαίμονες ὁδηγοῦσιν εἰς τὸ πῦρ. Ἀλλ', ὦ φιλανθρωπότερε καὶ ἀληθέστερε τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος ἄνθρωπε, τὸν ἐπὶ τῆς πυρᾶς οἴκτειρον δεδεμένον, καὶ σὺ μέν, ὦ Σόλων, μάντευσαι τὴν ἀλήθειαν, σὺ δέ, ὦ Κῦρε, κέλευσον ἀποσβεσθῆναι τὴν πυράν. Σωφρόνησον ὕστατον γοῦν, ὦ Κροῖσε, τῷ πάθει μεταμαθών· ἀχάριστός ἐστιν ὃν προσκυνεῖς, λαμβάνει τὸν μισθὸν καὶ μετὰ τὸ χρυσίον ψεύδεται πάλιν. "Τέλος ὅρα" οὐχ ὁ δαίμων, ἀλλὰ ὁ ἄνθρωπός σοι λέγει. Οὐ λοξὰ μαν τεύεται Σόλων· τοῦτον εὑρήσεις ἀληθῆ μόνον, ὦ βάρβαρε, τὸν χρησμόν· τοῦτον ἐπὶ τῆς πυρᾶς δοκιμάσεις. Ὅθεν ἔπεισί μοι θαυμάζειν τίσι ποτὲ φαντασίαις ἀπαχθέντες οἱ πρῶτοι πεπλανημένοι δεισιδαιμονίαν ἀνθρώ ποις κατήγγειλαν, δαίμονας ἀλιτηρίους νομοθετοῦντες σέβειν, εἴτε Φορωνεὺς ἐκεῖνος ἦν εἴτε Μέροψ εἴτε ἄλλος τις, οἳ νεὼς καὶ βωμοὺς ἀνέστησαν αὐτοῖς, πρὸς δὲ καὶ θυσίας παραστῆσαι πρῶτοι μεμύθευνται. Καὶ γὰρ δὴ καὶ κατὰ χρόνους ὕστερον ἀνέπλαττον θεούς, οἷς προσκυνοῖεν. Ἀμέλει τὸν Ἔρωτα τοῦτον ἐν τοῖς πρεσβυτάτοις τῶν θεῶν εἶναι λεγόμενον ἐτίμα πρότερον οὐδὲ εἷς πρὶν ἢ Χάρμον μειράκιόν τι ἑλεῖν καὶ βωμὸν ἱδρύσασθαι ἐν Ἀκαδημίᾳ χαριστήριον ἐπιτελοῦς γενομένης ἐπιθυμίας· καὶ τῆς νόσου τὴν ἀσέλγειαν Ἔρωτα κεκλήκασι, θεοποιοῦντες ἀκόλαστον ἐπιθυμίαν. Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ οὐδὲ τὸν Πᾶνα ᾔδεσαν ὅστις ἦν, πρὶν ἢ Φιλιπ πίδην εἰπεῖν αὐτοῖς. Εἰκότως ἄρα ἀρχήν ποθεν ἡ δεισιδαι μονία λαβοῦσα κακίας ἀνοήτου γέγονε πηγή· εἶτα δὲ μὴ ἀνακοπεῖσα, ἀλλ' εἰς ἐπίδοσιν ἐλθοῦσα καὶ πολλὴ δὴ ῥυεῖσα, δημιουργὸς πολλῶν καθίσταται δαιμόνων, ἑκατόμβας θύουσα καὶ πανηγύρεις ἐπιτελοῦσα καὶ ἀγάλματα ἀνιστᾶσα καὶ νεὼς ἀνοικοδομοῦσα, τοὺς δή–οὐ γὰρ οὐδὲ τούτους σιωπή σομαι, πρὸς δὲ καὶ αὐτοὺς ἐξελέγξω–νεὼς μὲν εὐφήμως ὀνομαζομένους, τάφους δὲ γενομένους [τουτέστι τοὺς τάφους νεὼς ἐπικεκλημένους]. Ὑμεῖς δὲ ἀλλὰ κἂν νῦν δεισιδαιμονίας ἐκλάθεσθε, τοὺς τάφους τιμᾶν αἰσχυνόμενοι. Ἐν τῷ νεῲ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς ἐν Λαρίσῃ ἐν τῇ ἀκροπόλει τάφος ἐστὶν Ἀκρισίου, Ἀθήνησιν δὲ ἐν ἀκροπόλει Κέκροπος, ὥς φησιν Ἀντίοχος ἐν τῷ ἐνάτῳ τῶν Ἱστοριῶν. Τί δὲ Ἐριχθόνιος; Οὐχὶ ἐν τῷ νεῲ τῆς Πολιάδος κεκήδευται; Ἰμμάραδος δὲ ὁ Εὐμόλπου καὶ ∆αείρας οὐχὶ ἐν τῷ περιβόλῳ τοῦ Ἐλευσινίου τοῦ ὑπὸ τῇ ἀκροπόλει; Αἱ δὲ Κελεοῦ θυγατέρες οὐχὶ ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι τετάφαται; Τί σοι καταλέγω τὰς Ὑπερβορέων γυναῖκας; Ὑπερόχη καὶ Λαοδίκη κέκλησθον, ἐν τῷ Ἀρτεμισίῳ ἐν ∆ήλῳ κεκήδευσθον, τὸ δὲ ἐν τῷ Ἀπόλλωνος τοῦ ∆ηλίου ἐστὶν ἱερῷ. Λεάνδριος δὲ Κλέοχον ἐν Μιλήτῳ τεθάφθαι ἐν τῷ ∆ιδυμαίῳ φησίν. Ἐνταῦθα τῆς Λευκοφρύνης τὸ μνημεῖον οὐκ ἄξιον παρελθεῖν ἑπομένους Ζήνωνι τῷ Μυνδίῳ, ἣ ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος ἐν Μαγνησίᾳ κεκήδευται, οὐδὲ μὴν τὸν ἐν Τελμισσῷ βωμὸν τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος· μνῆμα εἶναι καὶ τοῦτον Τελμισσέως τοῦ μάντεως ἱστοροῦσιν. Πτολεμαῖος δὲ ὁ τοῦ Ἀγησάρχου ἐν τῷ αʹ τῶν περὶ τὸν Φιλοπάτορα ἐν Πάφῳ λέγει ἐν τῷ τῆς Ἀφροδίτης ἱερῷ Κινύραν τε καὶ τοὺς Κινύρου ἀπογόνους κεκηδεῦσθαι. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἐπιόντι μοι τοὺς προσκυνουμένους ὑμῖν τάφους ἐμοὶ μὲν οὐδ' ὁ πᾶς ἂν ἀρκέσῃ χρόνος· ὑμᾶς δὲ εἰ μὴ ὑπεισέρχεταί τις αἰσχύνη τῶν τολμωμένων, νεκροὶ ἄρα τέλεον ὄντες νεκροῖς ὄντως πεπιστευκότες περιέρχεσθε· ἆ δειλοί, τί κακὸν τόδε πάσχετε; νυκτὶ μὲν ὑμῶν εἰλύαται κεφαλαί.