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Οὐ γὰρ μωραίνομεν, ἄνδρες Ἕλληνες, οὐδὲ λήρους ἀπαγγέλλομεν, θεὸν ἐν ἀνθρώπου μορφῇ γεγονέναι καταγγέλλοντες. Οἱ λοιδοροῦντες ἡμᾶς συγκρίνατε τοὺς μύθους ὑμῶν τοῖς ἡμετέροις διηγήμασι. Δηΐφοβος, ὥς φασιν, ἦν ἡ Ἀθηνᾶ διὰ τὸν Ἕκτορα, καὶ χάριν Ἀδμήτου Φοῖβος ἀκειρεκόμης τὰς εἰλίποδας βοῦς ἐποίμαινε, καὶ πρεσβύτις ἀφικνεῖται πρὸς τὴν Σεμέλην ἡ τοῦ Διὸς γαμετή.Τοιαῦτα δὲ μελετῶντες πῶς ἡμᾶς διαγελᾶτε; Τέθνηκεν ὑμῶν ὁ Ἀσκληπιός, καὶ ὁ τὰς πεντήκοντα παρθένους μιᾷ νυκτὶ Θεσπιάσι διακορεύσας βορᾷ πυρὸς ἑαυτὸν παραδοὺς οἴχεται. Προμηθεὺς τῷ Καυκάσῳ προσαρτηθεὶς τιμωρίαν χάριν τῆς εἰς ἀνθρώπους εὐεργεσίας ὑπήνεγκεν. Φθονερὸς ὁ Ζεὺς καθ ὑμᾶς, καὶ κρύπτει τὸν ὄνειρον τοῖς ἀνθρώποις βουλόμενος ἀπόλλυσθαι. Διόπερ ἀποβλέψαντες πρὸς τὰ οἰκεῖα ἀπομνημονεύματα κἄν ὡς ὁμοίως μυθολογοῦντας ἀποδέξασθε. Καὶ ἡμεῖς μὲν οὐκ ἀφραίνομεν, φλήναφα δὲ τὰ ὑμέτερα. Γένεσιν ἄν λέγητε θεῶν, καὶ θνητοὺς αὐτοὺς ἀποφανεῖσθε. Διὰ τί γὰρ οὐ κύει νῦν ἡ Ἥρα; Πότερον γεγήρακεν,ἤ τοῦ μηνύσαντος ὑμῖν ἀπορεῖται; Πείσθητέ μοι νῦν, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἕλληνες, μηδὲ τοὺς μύθους μηδὲ τοὺς θεοὺς ὑμῶν ἀλληγορήσητε. Κἄν γὰρ τοῦτο πράττειν ἐπιχειρήσητε, θεότης ἡ καθ ὑμᾶς ἀνῄρηται καὶ ὑφ ὑμῶν· οἱ γὰρ τοιοῦτοι παρ ὑμῖν ὄντες οἱ δαίμονες, ὁποῖοι καὶ λέγονται, φαῦλοι τὸν τρόπον εἰσίν, ἢ μεταγενόμενοι πρὸς τὸ φυσικώτερον οὔκ εἰσιν οἷοι καὶ λέγονται. Σέβειν δὲ τῶν στοιχείων τὴν ὑπόστασιν οὔτ ἂν πεισθείην, οὔτ ἂν πείσαιμι τὸν πλησίον.Καὶ Μητρόδωρος δὲ ὁ Λαμψακηνὸς ἐν τῷ περὶ Ὁμήρου λίαν εὐήθως διείλεκται, πάντα εἰς ἀλληγορίαν μετάγων. Οὔτε γὰρ Ἥραν οὔτε Ἀθηνᾶν οὔτε Δία τοῦτ εἶναί φησιν ὅπερ οἱ τοὺς περιβόλους αὐτοῖς καὶ τεμένη καθιδρύσαντες νομίζουσι, φύσεως δὲ ὑποστάσεις καὶ στοιχείων διακοσμήσεις. Καὶ τὸν Ἕκτορα δὲ καὶ τὸν Ἀχιλλέα δηλαδὴ καὶ τὸν Ἀγαμέμνονα καὶ πάντας ἁπαξαπλῶς Ἕλληνάς τε καὶ βαρβάρους σὺν τῇ Ἑλένῃ καὶ τῷ Πάριδι, τῆς αὐτῆς φύσεως ὑπάρχοντας, χάριν οἰκονομίας ἐρεῖτε παρεισῆχθαι, οὐδενὸς ὄντος τῶν προειρημένων ἀνθρώπων. Ταῦτα δὲ ἡμεῖς προετείναμεν ὥσπερ ἐπὶ ὑποθέσεως· τὴν γὰρ ἡμετέραν περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ κατάληψιν οὐδὲ συγκρίνειν ὅσιον τοῖς εἰς ὕλην καὶ βόρβορον κυλινδουμένοις
希臘人哪，我們宣告神曾以人的形態降生，這並不是裝瘋，也不是胡言亂語。你們這些辱罵我們的，且把你們的神話與我們的記敘比一比。據他們說，雅典娜為了赫克托耳變成得伊福玻斯，為了阿德墨托斯，那未剪髮的福玻斯去牧放那曳足而行的牛群，宙斯的妻子又化作老婦來到塞墨勒那裡。你們竟演練這等事，怎還譏笑我們呢？你們的阿斯克勒庇俄斯死了，那一夜玷污了忒斯庇亞五十位處女的人，把自己交付火中也已逝去。普羅米修斯被釘在高加索山上，因他造福於人而受刑罰。照你們所說，宙斯是嫉妒的，他向人隱藏夢兆，存心要人滅亡。所以，你們若願意，就看看自己的記載，把我們也當作同樣講神話的人接納罷。其實我們並非裝瘋，倒是你們的傳說才是胡謅。你們若說諸神有出生，便也是宣告他們是必死的。不然，赫拉如今為何不再懷孕？是她已年老，還是找不著人來向你們稟報呢？希臘人哪，如今當聽我的勸，不要把你們的神話或你們的神加以寓意解釋。因為你們即便試圖如此行，按你們所言的神性也被廢除了，且是被你們自己廢除的；因為你們當中那等鬼魔，無論被說成怎樣，其行徑都是卑劣的；若把它們轉作較自然的解釋，它們又非如所傳的那樣了。至於敬奉那些元素的本體，我既不會被說服，也不會去說服我的鄰舍。蘭普薩庫斯的墨特羅多洛斯在他《論荷馬》一書中議論得極其愚拙，把一切都化作寓意。他說赫拉、雅典娜、宙斯都不是那些為它們建造圍欄聖域之人所以為的那樣，乃是自然的本體與元素的安排。如此，赫克托耳、阿基里斯、阿伽門農，以及一切希臘人與化外人，連同海倫與帕里斯，既都是同一本性，你便要說他們是為某種寓意之故而被引入，前述那些人物本不存在。但這些不過是我們姑且作為假設提出的；因為把我們對神的領會，拿去與那些在物質與污泥中打滾之人相比，本是不合宜的。
For we are not playing the fool, O men of Greece, nor are we reporting nonsense, when we announce that God came into being in the form of a man. You who revile us, compare your myths with our narratives. Athena, as they say, became Deiphobus for the sake of Hector, and for the sake of Admetus unshorn Phoebus tended the swing-footed cattle, and the wife of Zeus came as an old woman to Semele. But while you rehearse such things, how do you deride us? Your Asclepius died, and the one who deflowered the fifty maidens of Thespiae in a single night, having given himself over as fodder for fire, is gone. Prometheus, fastened to the Caucasus, endured punishment for the benefit he conferred upon men. Zeus, according to you, is envious, and hides the dream from men, wishing them to perish. Therefore, looking to your own memorials, accept us too as fellow myth-tellers, if you will. And we, for our part, are not playing the fool; it is your tales that are babble. If you say there is a genesis of gods, you also declare them mortal. For why does Hera not conceive now? Has she grown old, or is she at a loss for someone to report it to you? Be persuaded by me now, O men of Greece, and do not allegorize either your myths or your gods. For even if you attempt to do this, the divinity according to you is abolished, and by you yourselves; for such beings as your demons are, of whatever sort they are even said to be, are base in their manner; or, if they are taken in a more naturalistic sense, they are not such as they are even said to be. As for revering the substance of the elements, I would neither be persuaded, nor would I persuade my neighbor. And Metrodorus of Lampsacus, in his work On Homer, has discoursed very foolishly, turning everything into allegory. For he says that neither Hera nor Athena nor Zeus is that which those who established enclosures and precincts for them suppose, but rather substances of nature and arrangements of the elements. And Hector too, of course, and Achilles, and Agamemnon, and absolutely all the Greeks and barbarians together with Helen and Paris, being of the same nature, you will say were brought in for the sake of an economy, none of the aforesaid men having existed. But these things we have put forward as it were by way of hypothesis; for it is not even lawful to compare our apprehension concerning God with those who wallow in matter and mire.