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bosoms, no longer does the virgin flee, but the pursuer pursues and the virgin, according to the myth, relying on her chastity, fled, but the so-called god, being weakened by licentiousness, did not overtake her? And since the virgin fled, so that she might remain a virgin, but the god pursued, in order to violate the woman—I am ashamed to say it, but it is necessary to say it. And still, even after light has dawned, some act shamelessly and take offense at shameful statues, and wish for temples in which these things are preserved ... and the remains are useful, so that we may learn from what we have been delivered. But the pursuing god will be known by his deeds. Joseph, being young and serving as a slave unjustly, when his mistress made promises and used force and dragged him, he left his tunic and fled chastely; and the chaste man would rather be a slave in prison with self-control and with chastity than a master with licentiousness; but the so-called god of the false names pursued a virgin and did not catch her. For self-control strengthens even a female, for pleasure weakens even males; but as he drew near, the earth, herself also called a goddess, but being what she is, sparing the virgin according to the myth—for none of these things is true—and condemning the pursuer, changed the virgin, he says, into a plant. But he, even when the virgin had been changed, did not change his desire with her, but plucks a branch and crowns his defeated head from the one that conquered. And so I expose the crowns for the victors in the contest; providing a symbol of the defeated one, they wear upon their head a crown of Daphne, the crown of the one who was conquered, those who now seem to be victorious. But since these things are false, thanks be to the truth that we have been rescued. But if these things are true, let those who hasten to them have the shame. For if men invented these things, and the powers that are worshiped do not rejoice in them, let the slandered ones not inhabit the temples; for if the statue falsifies the story, let nothing attend the falsehood. If, therefore, it does not attend, you worship in vain; but if it attends while these things happen, it rejoices in them, and the demons who rejoice in these things are worthy to be hated and not worshiped.

8 And what would you say about the shedding of blood, and what about the smoke, and what about the stench? The worshipers hold their noses, and the worshiped receive it. And in your own house you do not wish to see a drop of blood, but in the temples, tens of thousands and thousands; and in your house you do not want a flute to sound, but at the festivals they play the flute; and you do not want your daughter to utter shameful things, but they sing shameful songs in the temples; and you do not want anyone to see your wife naked, nor even yourself, for that matter, but you worship the goddess naked, a bad example of modesty; and you would not choose to acquire a slave who betrays his nature—for it is necessary, as has been said before, to use more modest language—but you worship this young man who was seized for misuse; and you would not endure to acquire a female slave who acts as a prostitute, but you worship this one who practices prostitution. But the defense is worse than the accusation, and the medicine is more bitter than the wound. For when we bring these charges, what is their defense? "We also know," he says, "that they were never gods ...having learned when the sun rose." They are not gods. And why do you worship them? "Attendants," he says, "of the god." The defense is that they are attendants of the god. But let the falsehood not escape you. For he who created man, to men... For the attendants of God do not commit outrages nor do they lead astray the creation of the Creator, so as not to permit a man... and not to fall into a woman.... ...it is shown by what it does to be hostile and not an attendant. God granted marriage for the succession and consolation of mortals, so that men suffering from this affliction might be healed and women might obtain this philanthropy, but the demon that practices prostitution, having corrupted the chaste ones, is foreign and not an attendant, for just as the attendants of a chaste king are not the licentious but the chaste.

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κόλπους, οὐκέτι ἡ παρθένος φεύγει, ὁ δὲ διώκων διώκει καὶ ἡ μὲν παρθένος κατὰ τὸν μῦθον τῇ σωφροσύνῃ ἐπερειδομένη ἔφυγεν, ὁ δὲ λεγόμενος θεὸς τῇ ἀσελγείᾳ ἐκλυόμενος οὐ κατελάμβανεν; ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἡ μὲν παρθένος ἔφυγεν, ἵνα μείνῃ παρθένος, ὁ δὲ θεὸς ἐδίωκεν, ἵνα συλήσῃ τὴν ἄνθρωπον-αἰσχύνομαι λέγειν, ἀνάγκη δὲ εἰπεῖν. ἔτι δὲ καὶ φωτὸς ἀνατείλαντός τινες ἀναισχυντοῦσιν καὶ ἀγανακτοῦσιν ἐν ἀγάλμασιν αἰσχροῖς καὶ θέλουσι ναοὺς μὲν εἶναι ἐν οἷς ταῦτα τα μιεύονται ... καὶ χρήσιμα τὰ λείψανα, ἵνα μάθωμεν τίνων ἀπηλλάγμεθα. ὁ δὲ διώκων θεὸς ἐκ τῶν ἔργων γνωσθήσεται. Ἰωσὴφ νέος ὢν καὶ δουλεύων παρ' ἀξίαν ἐπαγγελλομένης τῆς δεσποίνης καὶ βιαζομένης καὶ ἑλκούσης ἀφῆκεν τὸν χιτῶνα καὶ ἔφυγεν σεμνῶς· καὶ ὁ μὲν σεμνὸς ἄνθρωπος μᾶλλον μετὰ σωφροσύνης εἰς δεσμωτήριον καὶ μετὰ σεμνότητος ὡς δοῦλος ἢ μετὰ ἀκολασίας δεσπότης· ὁ δὲ λεγόμενος θεὸς τῶν ψευδωνύμων ἐδίωκε παρθένον καὶ οὐ κατελάμβανεν. ῥώννυσι γὰρ σωφροσύνη καὶ θηλείαν, ἐκλύει γὰρ καὶ ἄρρενας ἡδονή· ὡς δὲ ἤγγιζεν ἡ γῆ καὶ αὐτὴ θεὸς λεγομένη, οὖσα δὲ ὅ ἐστι, φεισαμένη τῆς παρθένου κατὰ τὸν μῦθον-οὐδὲν γὰρ τούτων ἀληθές- καὶ καταγνοῦσα τοῦ διώκοντος μετέβαλεν εἰς φυτόν, φησίν, τὴν παρθένον, ὁ δὲ καὶ μεταβληθείσης τῆς παρθένου οὐ συμμετέβαλεν τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἀλλὰ κλάδον ἀποδρέπεται καὶ τὴν ἡττηθεῖσαν κεφαλὴν ἀπὸ τῆς νικησάσης στέφει. καὶ μηνύω γοῦν τοὺς στεφάνους τοὺς ἐν ἀγῶνι τοῖς νικῶσι· χορηγοῦντες τοῦ ἡττηθέντος σύμβολον φέρουσιν ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν στέφανον ∆άφνης, στεφάνωμα τοῦ νικηθέντος, οἱ νῦν νικᾶν δοκοῦντες. ἐπειδὴ δὲ ταῦτα ψευδῆ, χάρις τῇ ἀληθείᾳ ὅτι ἐρρύσθημεν. εἰ δὲ ταῦτα ἀληθῆ, ἐχέτωσαν τὴν αἰσχύνην οἱ σπεύδοντες. εἰ γὰρ οἱ ἄνθρωποι ταῦτα ἔπλασαν, αἱ δὲ θεραπευόμεναι δυνάμεις τούτοις οὐ χαίρουσιν, μὴ οἰκέτωσαν τοὺς ναοὺς αἱ συκοφαντούμεναι· εἰ γὰρ ψεύδεται τὸ ἄγαλμα τὴν ἱστορίαν, μηδὲν παρεδρευέτω τῷ ψεύδει. εἰ τοίνυν οὐ παρεδρεύει, μάτην προσκυνεῖς· εἰ δὲ τούτων οὕτως γινομένων παρεδρεύει, τούτοις χαίρει, οἱ δὲ τούτοις χαίροντες δαίμονες μισεῖσθαι καὶ οὐ προσκυνεῖσθαι ἄξιοι.

8 Τί δ' ἂν εἴποις περὶ αἱμάτων ἐκχύσεως, τί δὲ περὶ καπνοῦ, τί δὲ περὶ τῆς δυσωδίας; οἱ προσκυνοῦντες ἀποφράττουσι τὰς ῥῖνας καὶ οἱ προσκυνούμενοι δέχονται. καὶ ἐπὶ μὲν τῆς οἰκίας σου ῥανίδα αἵματος οὐ βούλει ἰδεῖν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ναοῖς μυριάδας καὶ χιλιάδας· καὶ ἐν μὲν τῇ οἰκίᾳ σου αὐλὸν οὐ θέλεις ἠχῆσαι, ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἑορταῖς καταυλοῦσι· καὶ τὴν μὲν θυγατέρα σου αἰσχρὰ φθέγγεσθαι οὐ βούλει, αἰσχρὰς δὲ ᾠδὰς ἐν τοῖς ναοῖς ᾄδουσι· καὶ τὴν γυναῖκά σου γυμνὴν οὐ θέλεις τινὰς θεάσασθαι, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ σεαυτόν, ὡς ἔξεστιν, τὴν δὲ θεὰν γυμνὴν προσκυνεῖς, κακὸν ὑπόδειγμα σωφροσύνης· καὶ δοῦλον προδιδόντα τὴν φύσιν κτήσασθαι οὐ προαιρήσει-δεῖ γάρ, ὡς προείρηται, σεμνοτέρᾳ χρήσασθαι τῇ γλώττῃ-τὸν δὲ ἁρπαγέντα νεανίαν εἰς παράχρησιν τοῦτον προσκυνεῖς· καὶ δούλην μὲν πορνεύουσαν οὐκ ἀνέχῃ κτήσασθαι, τὴν δὲ ἀσκοῦσαν πορνείας ταύτην προσκυνεῖς. ἡ δὲ ἀπολογία κατηγορίας χείρων καὶ τὸ φάρμακον τοῦ ἕλκους πικρότερον, ὅτε γὰρ ταῦτα ἐγκαλοῦμεν, τί ἀπολογοῦνται; οἴδαμεν καὶ ἡμεῖς, φησίν, ὅτι οὐ θεοί ποτε ... μαθόντες ὅτε ἥλιος ἄνισχεν. οὐκ εἰσὶ θεοὶ καὶ τί προσκυνεῖς; οἰκεῖοι, φησί, τοῦ θεοῦ· ἡ ἀπολογία ὅτι οἰκεῖοι τοῦ θεοῦ. μὴ λάθῃ δέ σε τὸ ψεῦδος· ὃς γὰρ ἄνδρα ἐδημιούργησεν, ἀνδράσι ... οἱ γὰρ τοῦ θεοῦ οἰκεῖοι οὐχ ὑβρίζουσιν οὐδὲ τοῦ κτίσαντος τὴν δημιουργίαν παραφέρουσι, ὡς μήτε ἄνδρα ἐᾶσαι ... καὶ εἰς γυναῖκα μὴ περιπεσεῖν .... ... δείκνυται δι' ὧν ἐργάζεται ἐχθρὰ καὶ οὐκ οἰκεῖα. θεὸς γάμους ἐχαρίσατο εἰς διαδοχὴν καὶ παραμυθίαν τῶν θνητῶν, ἵνα νοσοῦντες θεραπεύωνται ἄνθρωποι καὶ γυναῖκες τύχωσι τῆς φιλανθρωπίας, ἡ δὲ τὴν πορνείαν ἀσκοῦσα δαίμων τὰς σεμνὰς παραφθείρασα ἀλλότρια καὶ οὐκ οἰκεία, ὥσπερ γὰρ βασιλέως σεμνοῦ οὐχ οἱ ἀκόλαστοι οἰκεῖοι, ἀλλ' οἱ σεμνοί.