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| Chapter X. Ridicule of the Heathen Divinities.
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Chapter X.—Ridicule of the Heathen Divinities.
There are legends of the metamorphosis of men:
with you the gods also are metamorphosed. Rhea becomes a tree; Zeus
a dragon, on account of Persephone; the sisters of Phaëthon
are changed into poplars, and Leto into a bird of little value, on
whose account what is now Delos was called Ortygia. A god, forsooth,
becomes a swan, or takes the form of an eagle, and, making Ganymede
his cupbearer, glories in a vile affection. How can I reverence
gods who are eager for presents, and angry if they do not receive
them? Let them have their Fate! I am not willing to adore wandering
stars. What is that hair of Berenicé? Where were her stars
before her death? And how was the dead Antinous fixed as a beautiful
youth in the moon? Who carried him thither: unless perchance, as men,
perjuring themselves for hire, are credited when they say in ridicule
of the gods that kings have ascended into heaven, so some one, in like
manner, has put this man also among the gods,450
| 450 [He uses the verb θεολογεῖν
as = θεοποιεῖν;
but Kaye directs attention to Justin’s use of the same as =
to discourse on divine things, and again in calling
Christ God.] | and been recompensed with honour
and reward? Why have you robbed God? Why do you dishonour His
workmanship? You sacrifice a sheep, and you adore the same animal. The
Bull is in the heavens, and you slaughter its image. The Kneeler451
| 451 Hercules—a sign in the sky.
Leaning on his right knee, he tries to crush with his left foot the right
side of the dragon’s head. | crushes a noxious animal;
and the eagle that devours the man-maker Prometheus is honoured. The
swan is noble, forsooth, because it was an adulterer; and the Dioscuri,
living on alternate days, the ravishers of the daughters of Leucippus,
are also noble! Better still is Helen, who forsook the flaxen-haired
Menelaus, and followed the turbaned and gold-adorned Paris. A just
man also is Sophron,452
who transported this adulteress to the
Elysian fields! But even the daughter of Tyndarus is not gifted with
immortality, and Euripides has wisely represented this woman as put to
death by Orestes.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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