Nor shall I forget the Samians: the Samians, as Euphorion says, reverence the sheep. Nor shall I forget the Syrians, who inhabit Phoenicia, of whom some revere doves, and others fishes, with as excessive veneration as the Eleans do Zeus. Well, then, since those you worship are not gods, it seems to me requisite to ascertain if those are really demons who are ranked, as you say, in this second order [next to the gods]. For if the lickerish and impure are demons, indigenous demons who have obtained sacred honours may be discovered in crowds throughout your cities: Menedemus among the Cythnians; among the Tenians, Callistagoras; among the Delians, Anius; among the Laconians, Astrabacus; at Phalerus, a hero affixed to the prow of ships is worshipped; and the Pythian priestess enjoined the Platæans to sacrifice to Androcrates and Democrates, and Cyclæus and Leuco while the Median war was at its height. Other demons in plenty may be brought to light by any one who can look about him a little.
"For thrice ten thousand are there in the all-nourishing earth
Of demons immortal, the guardians of articulate-speaking men." [901]
Who these guardians are, do not grudge, O Boeotian, to tell. Is it not clear that they are those we have mentioned, and those of more renown, the great demons, Apollo, Artemis, Leto, Demeter, Core, Pluto, Hercules, and Zeus himself?
But it is from running away that they guard us, O Ascræan, or perhaps it is from sinning, as forsooth they have never tried their hand at sin themselves! In that case verily the proverb may fitly be uttered:--
"The father who took no admonition admonishes his son."
If these are our guardians, it is not because they have any ardour of kindly feeling towards us, but intent on your ruin, after the manner of flatterers, they prey on your substance, enticed by the smoke. These demons themselves indeed confess their own gluttony, saying:--
"For with drink-offerings due, and fat of lambs,
My altar still hath at their hands been fed;
Such honour hath to us been ever paid." [902]
What other speech would they utter, if indeed the gods of the Egyptians, such as cats and weasels, should receive the faculty of speech, than that Homeric and poetic one which proclaims their liking for savoury odours and cookery? Such are your demons and gods, and demigods, if there are any so called, as there are demi-asses (mules); for you have no want of terms to make up compound names of impiety.
[877] What this is, is not known; but it is likely that the word is a corruption of ieran drun, the sacred oak.
[878] achresta chresteia.
[879] The text has anierou, the imperative of anieroo, which in classical Greek means "to hallow;" but the verb here must be derived from the adjective anieros, and be taken in the sense "deprive of their holiness," "no longer count holy." Eusebius reads anierous: "unholy interpreters."
[880] The cernos some take to be a vessel containing poppy, etc., carried in sacrificial processions. The scholiast says that it is a fan. [I have marked this as a quotation. See below: Eleusinian rites.]
[881] Proserpine or Pherephatta.
[882] The scholiast takes the rhimbos to mean a piece of wood attached to a cord, and swung round so as to cause a whistling noise.
[883] [See supra, p. 175, where I have affixed quotation-marks, and adopted the word "tokens" (instead of "signs") to harmonize these two places]
[884] This sentence is read variously in various editions.
[885] [A scathing retort upon those who called Christians atheists, and accused them of shameful rites.]
[886] Eph. ii. 12.
[887] Euripides.
[888] Eph. ii. 3-5.
[889] Iliad, v. 31.
[890] Iliad, v. 385.
[891] Iliad, xviii. 411.
[892] Iliad, iii. 243. Lord Derby's translation is used in extracts from the Iliad.
[893] The mss. read "small," but the true reading is doubtless "tall."
[894] Iliad, i. 528
[895] Odyss., viii. 324.
[896] Meursius proposed to read, "at Agra."
[897] The beams of Sol or the Sun is an emendation of Potter's. The mss. read "the Elean Augeas."
[898] Odyss., xix. 163.
[899] So Liddell and Scott. Commentators are generally agreed that the epithet is an obscene one, though what its precise meaning is they can only conjecture.
[900] An obscene epithet, derived from choiros, a sow, and thlibo, to press.
[901] Hesiod, Works and Days, I. i. 250.
[902] Iliad, iv. 48.