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Τί μέγα καὶ θαυμαστὸν οἱ παρ ὑμῖν ἐργάζονται φιλόσοφοι; Θατέρου γὰρ τῶν ὤμων ἐξαμελοῦσι, κόμην ἐπιειμένοι πολλήν, πωγωνοτροφοῦσιν, ὄνυχας θηρίων περιφέροντες, καὶ λέγοντες μὲν δεῖσθαι μηδενός, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Πρωτέα σκυτοδέψου μὲν χρῄζοντες διὰ τὴν πήραν, ὑφάντου δὲ διὰ τὸ ἱμάτιον καὶ διὰ τὸ ξύλον δρυοτόμου, διὰ δὲ τὴν γαστριμαργίαν τῶν πλουτούντων καὶ ὀψοποιοῦ.Ὦ ζηλῶν ἄνθρωπε τὸν κύνα, τὸν θεὸν οὐκ οἶδας καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν ἄλογον μίμησιν μεταβέβηκας· ὁ δὲ κεκραγὼς δημοσίᾳ μετ ἀξιοπιστίας ἔκδικος γίνῃ σαυτοῦ, κἂν μὴ λάβῃς λοιδορεῖς, καὶ γίνεταί σοι τέχνη τοῦ πορίζειν τὸ φιλοσοφεῖν. Τοῖς Πλάτωνος ἕπῃ δόγμασι· καὶ ὁ κατ Ἐπίκουρον σοφιστεύων διαπρύσιος ἀνθίσταταί σοι. Πάλιν τε εἶναι θέλεις κατὰ τὸν Ἀριστοτέλην· καί τις κατὰ τὸν Δημόκριτον λοιδορεῖταί σοι. Πυθαγόρας Εὔφορβος γεγενῆσθαί φησιν, καὶ τοῦ Φερεκύδους δόγματος κληρονόμος ἐστίν· ὁ δὲ Ἀριστοτέλης τῆς ψυχῆς διαβάλλει τὴν ἀθανασίαν. Στασιώδεις δὲ ἔχοντες τῶν δογμάτων τὰς διαδοχὰς ἀσύμφωνοι πρὸς τοὺς συμφώνους ἑαυτοῖς διαμάχεσθε. Σῶμά τις εἶναι λέγει θεόν, ἐγὼ δὲ ἀσώματον· ἄλυτον εἶναι τὸν κόσμον, ἐγὼ δὲ λυόμενον· ἐκπύρωσιν ἀποβαίνειν κατὰ καιρούς, ἐγὼ δὲ εἰσάπαξ· κριτὰς εἶναι Μίνω καὶ Ραδάμανθυν, ἐγὼ δὲ αὐτὸν τὸν θεόν· ἀπαθανατίζεσθαι μόνην τὴν ψυχήν, ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ τὸ σὺν αὐτῇ σαρκίον. Τί βλάπτομεν ὑμᾶς, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἕλληνες; Τί δὲ τοὺς λόγῳ θεοῦ κατακολουθοῦντας καθάπερ μιαρωτάτους μεμισήκατε; Παρ ἡμῖν οὐκ ἔστιν ἀνθρωποφαγία· ψευδομάρτυρες οἱ πεπαιδευμένοι γεγόνατε· παρ ὑμῖν δὲ ὁ Πέλοψ δεῖπνον τῶν θεῶν γίνεται, καὶ Ποσειδῶνος ἐρώμενος, καὶ Κρόνος τοὺς υἱοὺς ἀναλίσκει, καὶ ὁ Ζεὺς τὴν Μῆτιν καταπίνει
What great and marvelous thing do your philosophers accomplish? For they leave one of their shoulders bare, wear their hair long, grow beards, carry about the nails of wild beasts, and while saying they have need of nothing, yet, like Proteus, they need a leather-worker for the wallet, a weaver for the cloak, a woodcutter for the staff, and—on account of their gluttony—the rich and a cook. O man who emulates the dog, you do not know God and have crossed over to irrational imitation; and crying out in public with an air of authority, you become your own avenger, and if you do not receive, you revile, and philosophizing becomes for you an art of making profit. You follow the doctrines of Plato, and the one who plays the sophist after Epicurus opposes you with full voice. Again you wish to be after Aristotle, and someone after Democritus reviles you. Pythagoras says he was once Euphorbus, and is the heir of the doctrine of Pherecydes; but Aristotle slanders the immortality of the soul. Holding the successions of doctrines in factious disagreement, you, who are out of harmony, do battle against those who agree among themselves. One says God is a body, but I that he is bodiless; that the world is indissoluble, but I that it is dissolved; that a conflagration comes about at intervals, but I that it is once for all; that the judges are Minos and Rhadamanthus, but I that it is God himself; that the soul alone is immortalized, but I that the flesh together with it is too. What harm do we do you, O men of Greece? Why have you hated those who follow the Logos of God as though they were the foulest of men? Among us there is no cannibalism; you who are educated have become false witnesses; but among you Pelops becomes a dinner for the gods, and the beloved of Poseidon, and Cronus devours his sons, and Zeus swallows Metis.
你們的哲學家成就了什麼偉大奇妙之事呢？他們袒露一肩，蓄著長髮，留著鬍鬚，掛著野獸的爪子，口稱一無所需，卻像普羅透斯一樣，為著皮囊需要皮匠，為著斗篷需要織工，為著手杖需要樵夫，又因貪饕需要富人與廚子。哦，你這效法狗的人，你不認識神，竟轉到無理性的模仿去了；你在公眾面前裝出威嚴大聲叫嚷，便成了自己的報仇者，若得不著就破口辱罵，於是「研習哲學」竟成了你謀利的行當。你跟從柏拉圖的學說，那效法伊壁鳩魯賣弄詭辯的人卻高聲與你作對。你又轉而想效法亞里斯多德，某個效法德謨克利特的人卻來辱罵你。畢達哥拉斯說自己前身曾是歐福耳玻斯，又是斐瑞庫德斯學說的繼承人；但亞里斯多德卻詆毀魂的不朽。你們承襲的學說各立門戶、彼此不和，你們既不能協調一致，竟去攻擊那些彼此相合的人。一個說神是有形體的，我卻說祂是無形體的；一個說世界不可消解，我卻說它要消解；一個說宇宙焚毀按時間隔發生，我卻說只此一次；一個說審判官是米諾斯與拉達曼提斯，我卻說是神自己；一個說唯獨魂得以不朽，我卻說連同魂的肉身也要不朽。希臘人哪，我們害了你們什麼？你們為何把那些跟隨神之道的人，當作最污穢的人來憎恨？我們當中沒有吃人之事；你們這些受過教育的，倒成了作假見證的；在你們當中，珀羅普斯成了諸神的筵席，又是波塞冬的所愛，克洛諾斯吞吃自己的兒子，宙斯吞下墨提斯。