Oration to the Greeks 10

Metamorphosis is told in myths of human beings, but among you the gods too are transformed. Rhea becomes a tree; Zeus a serpent, because of Persephone; the sisters of Phaethon, poplars; and Leto a common bird, because of which the island now called Delos was called Ortygia. Tell me, does a god become a swan, take the form of an eagle, and, using Ganymede as his cupbearer, glory in pederasty? Why should I revere gods who take bribes and are angry if they do not receive them? Let them keep their fate; I will not worship the planets. What is the Lock of Berenice? And where were its stars before that woman died? And how was the dead Antinous installed in the moon as a handsome youth? Who carried him up there, unless someone, just as with the emperors someone perjures himself for pay, mocking the gods, and is believed when he says they have ascended into heaven, likewise made a god of Antinous and was thought worthy of honor and reward? Why have you robbed God? And why do you dishonor his workmanship? You sacrifice a sheep and you worship the same animal; there is a bull in the sky, and you slaughter its image. The Kneeler crushes a noxious creature; and the eagle that devoured Prometheus, the maker of human beings, is honored. The swan is splendid, because it was an adulterer; splendid too are the Dioscuri, who live on alternate days, the ravishers of the daughters of Leucippus. Better still is Helen, who left fair-haired Menelaus and followed Paris with his turban and his gold. Just and self-controlled too is he who moved the woman who played the harlot to the Elysian fields. But not even the daughter of Tyndareus has been made immortal; and Euripides wisely brought in her killing by Orestes.