V.  Once thou didst praise me thy Mendesian Goats, and thy Memphite Apis, a fatted and fleshy calf, and the rites of Isis, and the mutilations of Osiris, and thy venerable Serapis, a log that was honoured by myths and ages and the madness of its worshippers, as some unknown and heavenly matter, however it may have been aided by falsehood; and things yet more shameful than these, multiform images of monstrous beasts and creeping things, all of which Christ and the heralds of Christ have conquered, both the others who have been illustrious in their own times, and also the Fathers whom I have named just now; by whom, O admirable country, thou art more famous today than all others put together, whether in ancient or modern history.

Εʹ. Σὺ δέ μοι τοὺς τράγους ἐπῄνεις τοὺς Μενδησίους, καὶ τὸν Μεμφίτην Ἄπιν, μόσχον σιτευτόν τινα καὶ πολύσαρκον, καὶ τὰς Ἴσιδος τελετὰς, καὶ τοὺς Ὀσίριδος σπαραγμοὺς, καὶ τὸν σεμνόν σου Σάραπιν, ξύλον προσκυνούμενον μετὰ μύθου, καὶ χρόνου, καὶ τῆς τῶν προσκυνούντων ἀνοίας, ὡς ὕλην ἄγνωστόν τινα καὶ οὐράνιον, πλὴν ὕλην, κἂν βοηθῆται τῷ ψεύδει: καὶ τὰ ἔτι τούτων αἰσχρότερα, κνωδάλων τινῶν καὶ ἑρπετῶν πολυειδῆ πλάσματα, ὧν πάντων ὑπερῆρε Χριστὸς, καὶ οἱ Χριστοῦ κήρυκες: ἄλλοι τε ἄλλως κατὰ τοὺς ἑαυτῶν ἕκαστοι χρόνους ἐκλάμψαντες: καὶ δὴ καὶ οἱ νῦν μνημονευθέντες Πατέρες: ἀφ' ὧν σὺ γινώσκῃ μᾶλλον, ὦ θαυμασία, σήμερον, ἢ πάντων ὁμοῦ πάντες, καὶ παλαιῶν καὶ νέων διηγημάτων.