A Plea for the Christians 29

The wise men of the Greeks in poetry and history also speak in the same way. Of Heracles: “Wretch, he respected neither the watchful eye of the gods nor the table he had set before his guest; and then he killed him too.” Being such a man, it is natural that he went mad, and natural that he lit a pyre and burned himself. Of Asclepius Hesiod says: “The father of men and gods was angry, and hurling a smoky thunderbolt from Olympus he killed Leto's dear son, stirring up his wrath.” And Pindar: “But even wisdom is bound by gain. Gold appearing in his hand turned him too, with a lordly fee. Then the son of Kronos, hurling with his hands through both of them, swiftly took the breath from their breasts, and the blazing thunderbolt struck them dead.” Either, then, they were gods and had no desire for gold (“O gold, fairest welcome for mortals, for neither a mother nor children give such delights”; for the divine lacks nothing and is above desire), and they did not die; or they were human beings, wicked through ignorance and slaves to money. Why should I say more, mentioning Castor or Polydeuces or Amphiaraus, who, so to speak, were human beings born of human beings only yesterday or the day before, and are considered gods, when people even think that Ino became a goddess after her madness and all she suffered in it: “Those who wander the sea will call her Leucothea,” and her son: “Holy Palaemon he will be called by sailors”?