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Ὑπόθεσις δὲ αὐτοῖς τῆς ἀποστασίας οἱ ἄνθρωποι γίνονται. Διάγραμμα γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἀστροθεσίας ἀναδείξαντες, ὥσπερ οἱ τοῖς κύβοις παίζοντες, τὴν εἱμαρμένην εἰσηγήσαντο λίαν ἄδικον.Ὅ τε γὰρ κρίνων καὶ ὁ κρινόμενος καθ εἱμαρμένην εἰσὶ γεγονότες, καὶ οἱ φονεύοντες καὶ οἱ φονευόμενοι, καὶ οἱ πλουτοῦντες καὶ οἱ πενόμενοι, τῆς αὐτῆς εἱμαρμένης ὑπάρχουσιν ἀπογεννήματα· πᾶσα τε γένεσις, ὥσπερ ἐν θεάτρῳ, τερπωλὴν παρέσχε τούτοις, παρ οἷς, ὥς φησιν Ὅμηρος, Ἄσβεστοςδ ἄρ ἐνῶρτο γέλως μακάρεσσι θεοῖσιν. Οἱ γὰρ τοὺς μονομαχοῦντας βλέποντες καὶ θάτερος θατέρῳ σπουδάζων, καὶ ὁ γαμῶν καὶ παιδοφθορῶν καὶ μοιχεύων, γελῶν τε καὶ ὀργιζόμενος, φεύγων τε καὶ τιτρωσκόμενος, πῶς οὐχὶ θνητὸς εἶναι νομισθήσεται; Δι ὧνπερ γὰρ ἑαυτοὺς ὁποῖοί τινες πεφύκασι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις πεφανερώκασι, διὰ τούτων τοὺς ἀκούοντας ἐπὶ τὰ ὅμοια προετρέψαντο. Καὶ μήτι γε οἱ δαίμονες αὐτοὶ μετὰ τοῦ ἡγουμένου αὐτῶν Διὸς ὑπὸ τὴν εἱμαρμένην πεπτώκασι, τοῖς αὐτοῖς πάθεσιν ὥσπερ καὶ οἱ ἄνθρωποι κρατηθέντες; Καὶ ἄλλως δὲ πῶς τιμητέον τούτους παρ οἷς δογμάτων ἐναντιότης ἐστὶ πολλή; Ῥέαν μὲν γάρ, ἣν οἱ ἀπὸ τῶν Φρυγίων ὁρῶν Κυβέλην φασίν, ἀποτμήσεις αἰδοίων νενομοθετηκέναι διὰ τὸν ἐρώμενον ταύτης Ἄττιν· Ἀφροδίτη δὲ γάμου πλοκαῖς ἥδεται. Μάγος ἐστὶν Ἄρτεμις, θεραπεύει ὁ Ἀπόλλων. Καὶ μετὰ τὴν Γοργοῦς καρατομίαν, τῆς Ποσειδῶνος ἐρωμένης, ἀφ ἧς Πήγασος ὁ ἵππος καὶ ὁ Χρυσάωρ ἀνέθορε, τὰς σταγόνας τῶν αἱμάτων ἡ Ἀθηνᾶ καὶ Ἀσκληπιὸς διενείμαντο· καὶ ὁ μὲν ἀπ αὐτῶν ἔσωζεν, ἡ δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν ὁμοίων λύθρων ἀνθρωποκτόνος καὶ πολεμοποιὸς ἐγίνετο.Ταύτην μοι δοκοῦσιν Ἀθηναῖοι μὴ βουληθέντες διαβάλλειν καὶ τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἡφαίστου μίξεως γινόμενον τῇ γῇ προσάπτειν, ἵνα μὴ νομίζηται καθάπερ ἡ Ἀταλάντη διὰ τὸν Μελέαγρον οὕτω καὶ ἡ Ἀθηνᾶ διὰ τὸν Ἥφαιστον τῆς ἀνδρείας ἐστερῆσθαι.Ὁ γὰρ ἀμφιγυήεις, ὡς εἰκός, ὁ πόρπας καὶ γναμπτὰς ἕλικας δημιουργῶν, τοῖς κοροκοσμίοις ἠπάτησε τὴν ἀμήτορα παῖδα καὶ ὀρφανήν. Ποσειδῶν ναυτίλλεται, πολέμοις Ἄρης ἥδεται, κιθαριστής ἐστιν ὁ Ἀπόλλων, Θηβαίοις Διόνυσος τυραννεῖ, Κρόνος τυραννοκτονεῖ. Ζεὺς καὶ θυγατρὶ συγγίνεται, καὶ ἡ θυγάτηρ ἀπ αὐτοῦ κύει. Μαρτυρήσει μοι νῦν Ἐλευσὶς καὶ δράκων ὁ μυστικὸς καὶ Ὀρφεὺς ὁ Θύραςδ ἐπίθεσθε βεβήλοις λέγων. Ἀϊδωνεὺς ἁρπάζει τὴν Κόρην, καὶ αἱ πράξεις αὐτοῦ γεγόνασι μυστηρια· κλαίει Δημήτηρ τὴν θυγατέρα, καί τινες ἀπατῶνται διὰ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους. Ἐν τῷ τεμένει τοῦ Λητοΐδου καλεῖταί τις Ὀμφαλός· ὁ δὲ Ὀμφαλὸς τάφος ἐστὶν Διονύσου. Ἐπαινῶ σε νῦν, ὦ Δάφνη· τὴν ἀκρασίαν τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος νικήσασα ἤλεγξας αὐτοῦ τὴν μαντικήν, ὅτι μὴ προγνοὺς τὰ περὶ σὲ τῆς αὐτοῦ τέχνης οὐκ ὤνατο.Λεγέτω μοι νῦν ὁ ἑκατηβόλος, πῶς Ὑάκινθον διεχρήσατο Ζέφυρος. Ζέφυρος αὐτὸν νενίκηκε· καί, τοῦ τραγῳδοποιοῦ λέγοντος Αὔρα θεῶν ὄχημα τιμιώτατον, ὑπὸ βραχείας αὔρας νικηθεὶς ἀπώλεσε τὸν ἐρώμενον
而人竟成了他們悖逆的緣由。原來這些鬼魔向人展示了星辰位置的圖表，像擲骰賭博的人一般，便引進了那極不公義的「命運」。因為審判者與被審判者都是照命運生成的，殺人者與被殺者、富人與窮人，都是同一命運的產物；每一次出生都像在戲院裡一般，給這些鬼魔提供了消遣，正如荷馬所說，他們當中「在有福的諸神之間騰起不滅的笑聲」。那些觀看角鬥士、各自為其鬥士喝采的，以及那娶妻、姦淫男童、行淫、嬉笑、發怒、逃跑、受傷的——這樣的，怎能不算為必死的呢？他們藉以向人顯明自己本性如何的那些事，正是藉這些事煽動聽眾去行類似的勾當。難道這些鬼魔連同他們的首領宙斯，不也淪在命運之下，被那與人相同的情慾所轄制嗎？再說，這些彼此教義如此矛盾的，又怎配受敬奉呢？因為那些來自弗呂家山地之人稱為庫柏勒的瑞亞，據說因她所愛的阿提斯而立例割除生殖器；阿芙羅狄忒卻喜悅婚姻的締結。亞底米是行邪術的，阿波羅是行醫的。在波塞冬所愛的戈耳工被斬首之後——從她身上躍出飛馬珀伽索斯與克律薩俄耳——雅典娜與阿斯克勒庇俄斯分了那血滴；阿斯克勒庇俄斯用血滴救人，雅典娜卻用同樣的血污成了殺人者與興戰者。在我看來，雅典人正是因為不願毀謗她，才把那由她與赫菲斯托斯交合所生的歸給大地，免得有人以為她像阿塔蘭忒因墨勒阿革洛斯一般，雅典娜也因赫菲斯托斯而失了她的勇武。原來那跛足者，理所當然地，既製作扣環與彎曲的螺旋飾物，便用這些小玩意兒誆騙了那無母又孤苦的少女。波塞冬航海，阿瑞斯喜好戰爭，阿波羅彈琴，狄俄尼索斯轄制底比斯人，克洛諾斯殺戮暴君。宙斯與自己的女兒交合，女兒便由他懷孕。如今厄琉息斯要為我作證，那神祕的蛇，還有俄耳甫斯——他說：「對褻瀆者關上門。」哈得斯擄走了少女，他的所作所為竟成了祕儀；得墨忒耳為女兒哭泣，有些人因雅典人之故而受迷惑。在勒托之子的聖域裡有一處稱為臍石；那臍石卻是狄俄尼索斯的墳墓。達芙妮哪，我如今要稱讚你；你勝過了阿波羅的縱慾，揭穿了他占卜的虛妄，因他既不能預知關乎你的事，他的法術便毫無用處。如今讓那遠射之神告訴我，澤費羅斯是怎樣害死雅辛托斯的。澤費羅斯勝了他；那悲劇詩人說「微風是諸神最尊貴的車輦」——他卻被一陣輕風所勝，失了他的愛寵。
And men become the occasion of their apostasy. For having displayed to them a diagram of the placement of the stars, like those who play with dice, they introduced fate, which is exceedingly unjust. For both the one who judges and the one judged have come into being according to fate, and the murderers and the murdered, the rich and the poor, are all the offspring of the same fate; and every birth, as in a theater, furnished amusement to these beings, among whom, as Homer says, "unquenchable laughter arose among the blessed gods." For those who behold gladiators, each cheering on his man, and the man who marries and corrupts boys and commits adultery, who laughs and grows angry, who flees and is wounded—how shall he not be reckoned mortal? For by the very things through which they revealed to men what sort of beings they are by nature, through these they incited their hearers toward like deeds. And have not the demons themselves, together with their leader Zeus, fallen under fate, being mastered by the same passions as men? And in any case, how can these be honored among whom there is such great contradiction of teachings? For Rhea, whom those from the Phrygian mountains call Cybele, they say ordained the cutting off of the genitals on account of her beloved Attis; while Aphrodite delights in the weavings of marriage. Artemis is a sorceress, Apollo a healer. And after the beheading of the Gorgon, the beloved of Poseidon, from whom sprang the horse Pegasus and Chrysaor, Athena and Asclepius divided between them the drops of blood; and the one healed from them, while the other, from the same gore, became a slayer of men and a maker of wars. This is why, it seems to me, the Athenians, unwilling to slander her, attribute to the earth the offspring born of intercourse with Hephaestus, lest she be thought, as Atalanta on account of Meleager, so Athena on account of Hephaestus, to have been deprived of her manliness. For he, the lame one, naturally, who fashions buckles and bent spirals, deceived the motherless and orphan maiden with trinkets. Poseidon goes sailing, Ares delights in wars, Apollo is a lyre-player, Dionysus tyrannizes over the Thebans, Cronus is a slayer of tyrants. Zeus has intercourse with his own daughter, and the daughter conceives by him. Eleusis will bear me witness now, and the mystic serpent, and Orpheus, who says, "Shut the doors against the profane." Aïdoneus (Hades) seizes the Maiden, and his deeds have become mysteries; Demeter weeps for her daughter, and certain people are deceived on account of the Athenians. In the precinct of the son of Leto there is one called Omphalos; and the Omphalos is the tomb of Dionysus. I praise you now, O Daphne; for by conquering the incontinence of Apollo you exposed his power of divination, since, having failed to foreknow the things concerning you, he gained nothing from his art. Let the far-darter tell me now how Zephyr did away with Hyacinthus. Zephyr conquered him; and—while the tragic poet says, "the breeze, most honored chariot of the gods"—conquered by a slight breeze, he lost his beloved.