22:22
Οἷα γάρ ἐστιν ὑμῶν καὶ τὰ διδάγματα; Τίς οὐκ ἂν χλευάσει τὰς δημοτελεῖς πανηγύρεις ὑμῶν, αἵ προφάσει πονηρῶν δαιμόνων ἐπιτελούμεναι εἰς ἀδοξίαν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους περιτρέπουσιν; Εἶδόν τινα πολλάκις, καὶ ἰδὼν ἐθαύμασα, καὶ μετὰ τὸ θαυμάσαι κατεφρόνησα, πῶς ἔσωθεν μέν ἐστιν ἄλλος, ἔξωθεν δὲ ὅπερ οὐκ ἔστι ψεύδεται, ἁβρυνόμενον σφόδρα καὶ παντοίως διακλώμενον, καὶ τοῦτο μὲν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς μαρμαρύττοντα, τοῦτο δὲ τὼ χεῖρε λυγιζόμενον, καὶ διὰ πηλίνης ὄψεως δαιμονῶντα, καὶ ποτὲ μὲν ὡς Ἀφροδίτην, ποτὲ δὲ ὡς Ἀπόλλωνα γινόμενον, ἕνα κατήγορον πάντων τῶν θεῶν, δεισιδαιμονίας ἐπιτομήν, διάβολον ἡρωϊκῶν πράξεων, φόνων ὑποκριτήν, μοιχείας ὑπομνηματιστήν, θησαυρὸν μανίας, κιναίδων παιδευτήν, καταδικαζομένων ἀφορμήν, καὶ τὸν τοιοῦτον ὑπὸ πάντων ἐπαινούμενον. Ἐγὼ δὲ αὐτὸν παρῃτησάμην πάντα ψευδόμενον, καὶ τὴν ἀθεότητα καὶ τὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον. Ὑμεῖς δὲ ὑπὸ τούτων συλαγωγεῖσθε, καὶ τοὺς μὴ κοινωνοῦντας ὑμῶν ταῖς πραγματείαις λοιδορεῖτε. Κεχηνέναι πολλῶν ᾀδόντων οὐ θέλω, καὶ τῷ νεύοντι καὶ κινουμένῳ παρὰ φύσιν οὐ βούλομαι συνδιατίθεσθαι. Τί θαυμαστὸν ἢ παρ ὑμῖν ἐξῃρημένον διαπράττεται; Ῥιναυλοῦσι τὰ αἰσχρά, κινοῦνται δὲ κινήσεις ἃς οὐκ ἐχρῆν, καὶ τοὺς ὅπως δεῖ μοιχεύειν ἐπὶ τῆς σκηνῆς σοφιστεύοντας αἱ θυγατέρες ὑμῶν καὶ οἱ παῖδες θεωροῦσι. Καλὰ παρ ὑμῖν τὰ ἀκροατήρια, κηρύττοντα πάνθ ἅπερ ἐν νυκτὶ μοχθηρῶς πραγματεύεται καὶ τέρποντα τοὺς ἀκροατὰς αἰσχρῶν λόγων ἐκφωνήμασι. Καλοὶ δέ εἰσιν ὑμῶν καὶ οἱ ποιηταὶ ψευδολόγοι, καὶ διὰ σχημάτων ἐξαπατῶντες τοὺς ἀκροωμένους
For what sort of things are your teachings too? Who would not scoff at your public festivals, which, celebrated on the pretext of wicked demons, turn men toward disgrace? I have often seen a certain person, and having seen, I marveled, and after marveling I despised him—how within he is one thing, but outwardly counterfeits what he is not; mincing exceedingly and contorting himself in every way, now flashing with his eyes, now bending both hands, raving through a clay-painted face, and becoming now Aphrodite, now Apollo—a single accuser of all the gods, an epitome of superstition, a slanderer of heroic deeds, an actor of murders, a recorder of adulteries, a treasury of madness, an instructor of catamites, an occasion for the condemned—and such a man praised by all. But I declined him as one wholly lying, both his godlessness and his practices and the man himself. And you are led off as plunder by these, and you revile those who do not share in your dealings. I do not wish to gape after many singers, and I do not wish to be in sympathy with the man who nods and moves contrary to nature. What marvelous or excellent thing is done among you? They pipe through their nostrils shameful things, and they move in motions that ought not to be, and your daughters and your sons watch those who play the sophist on stage as to how one ought to commit adultery. Fine are your lecture-halls, proclaiming everything that is wickedly transacted by night, and delighting the hearers with the utterances of shameful words. And fine too are your poets, the liars, who through figures deceive their hearers.
你們的教導又是何等貨色呢？誰不嗤笑你們那些公開的節慶呢？這些節慶藉惡鬼之名舉行，使人趨於羞恥。我常見到某一個人，見了便詫異，詫異之後便鄙視他——他內裡是一回事，外表卻假裝成他所不是的；他極盡扭捏作態，渾身扭動，一會兒眉目流盼，一會兒雙手翻轉，透過一張塗成泥色的臉發狂，一會兒扮阿芙羅狄忒，一會兒扮阿波羅——他是眾神獨一的控告者，是迷信的縮影，是英雄事蹟的毀謗者，是兇殺的扮演者，是姦淫的記錄者，是瘋狂的寶庫，是孌童的教師，是被定罪者的由頭——這樣的人竟被眾人稱讚。但我把他全然當作虛謊而予以摒棄，連他的無神、他的勾當、他這個人本身都摒棄了。你們卻被這等人擄去當作戰利品，又辱罵那些不與你們同夥之人。我不願張口呆望那許多歌者，也不願與那扭擺顫動、悖逆本性之人同流。你們當中有什麼可稱奇或卓越之事呢？他們用鼻孔吹奏污穢之事，扭動出本不該有的姿態，你們的女兒與兒子竟在觀看那些在台上賣弄技巧、演示「該如何行姦淫」的人。你們的講堂倒是「好」得很，把一切夜間卑劣行徑的勾當都公然宣揚，又以污穢言語的演說取悅聽眾。你們的詩人也「好」得很，他們是說謊者，藉著種種辭藻迷惑聽他們的人。